Before you go on to read this chapter, I just want to say thank you for reading this and for your reviews so far. I read each and everyone of them and I always look forward to know your opinion each time I updated a chapter. So thank you! You've all been such marvelous readers.
Chapter Fifty-Five
The plan was to leave the boys with Katniss and Peeta, both of whom were less than agreeable with said arrangement. They felt that, as one of Johanna's friends, they should also make the trip to District Two to make sure she was okay.
They would have gone if not for the fact that Prim was not a fan of train rides – having cried during the journey the last time her parents took her on a trip to Four – which made travelling by that mode of transport difficult for the family. Desperately needing a baby sitter, Haymitch promised to keep them updated on Johanna.
Tristan and Ethan were left in their care for all but five minutes. At the archway of the quiet old village, Effie paused, listening intently to the children's wailing. Her face scrunched in pain.
Turning to Haymitch, she said, "I can't leave them behind, not even for a few days. We have to take them with us. I can't take them crying for us like that."
That was how the children came to take their second trip out of District Twelve on the train which was no better than their first. They were restless and agitated. Ethan squirmed as Effie held him in her lap, wanting to walk around but she was too concerned for his safety. The train swayed under their feet and she did not want him to fall.
"If he hurt himself, he'll learn," Haymitch said.
The train bound to District Two seemed to crawl at a snail's pace. When she was not distracted by Ethan, her thoughts were occupied with Johanna. Felix had made little to no sense at all over the phone, repeating and insisting that it was his fault.
"Years ago, if you had told me that one day, you'd be taking a train all the way to Two, worried about Johanna Mason, I would have thought you were ill."
"You know times have changed, Haymitch," she said distractedly. "I'm no longer the person I was before. She… Johanna wasn't much, to be honest, but she was a familiar face in a terrible place and …"
She was speaking of a time long gone and Haymitch waited for her to go on, to talk to him and give him a hint of what had happened but she trailed off. His eyes lingered on her for a brief second before he let it go, knowing that there was no use pressing her for answers.
"She'd be okay," he gave her knee a squeeze. "You'll see. We'll get to District Two only to find her and your cousin in a heated fight. The whole trip would have been for nothing."
Effie managed a small smile. "I hope she's okay enough to be arguing with Felix. I never thought I'd say that but I hope you're right."
XxX
Being a large district, it followed that District Two's hospital was similarly in proportion to its population size. They lost their way twice trying to find the right wing to Johanna's ward.
Haymitch gritted his teeth in frustration as they walked down yet another hallway. He forced himself to move forward, his distaste for medical institution was clear for all to see. The smell of antiseptic clung to him.
As they walked past a man on a wheelchair with a huge cut across his forehead and blood flowing down his face, Effie was quick to avert her gaze. The sight of blood made her nausea. Working with the Games meant that even if she was not comfortable, she was used to the sight of blood and gore but she could hardly stomach it anymore since her capture. She could feel the metallic taste of blood in her mouth and paused in the hallway, trying to convince herself that it was all in her head.
"You okay?" Haymitch turned back to check on her. Effie nodded. "I think it's down this way."
The hurried down the hallway with the children peering curiously out of their stroller to look at the surroundings.
"Look at how adorable he is!" a woman gushed, as Ethan gave her his smile that showed off his four front teeth. Effie managed to thank the woman even as Haymitch urged her forward.
As they rounded the corner, Felix came into view. Unlike Haymitch, Felix was not a pacer. He was sitting on a chair, moodily inspecting his nails. As they approached, Felix looked up and jumped to his feet. He enveloped Effie in a tight hug which nearly suffocated the petite woman. He was clinging to her almost in desperation, Haymitch noted.
"What happened?" Effie asked.
"I… I don't know how bad it is. The nurses wouldn't tell me. But she…" he took a breath. "Gale said they found her bleeding and… I should have never told her any of that. He blamed me. He wouldn't let me see her either, told me to go back to the City. It's my fault, all of this," Felix cried, shaking his head in distress.
"Bleeding?" Effie asked in alarmed.
Haymitch frowned, his eyes flickering between Effie and Felix. As Effie tried her best to comfort her cousin and get a little more out of him, Haymitch moved towards the door. He peered through the glass panel and saw Gale sitting by Johanna's bed, holding on to her hand and sweeping her hair back. Haymitch had seen those two behaved around each other and he could honestly say that he had never seen Gale or Johanna be affectionate with each other. They were married so it shouldn't come as a surprise to see Gale looking so pained and miserable but it did.
Turning the knob in his hand, Haymitch pushed the door open.
"I already told you to go, Felix. What are you still doing here?"
"What happened to Johanna?"
Gale shifted in his seat to look at Haymitch, staring at him in surprise.
"I'm guessing that Felix called you."
"Called Effie," Haymitch answered. As he approached the bed, Haymitch saw just how pale she was. Something glinted out of the corner of his eyes at the end of the bed. He pushed the back of the white hospital blanket aside to expose the metallic cuff locking her to the bed. "She in some kind of trouble or somethin'?"
"I told the officers that she's Johanna Mason; victor, rebel and a friend to Katniss Everdeen. I told them I fought for the Rebellion along with Katniss. I pulled the mockingjay card and it didn't work. Told me they would check with their superiors. They won't take the cuffs off."
"Yeah? What the hell did she do?"
"Broke the law."
"How?" Haymitch questioned him, trying to suppress his frustration. Was it so exceptionally difficult to just tell him what was going on?
"Why don't you ask him?" Gale spat, his eyes lighted up with fury.
"Listen here, boy," Haymitch growled, "stop being so evasive and tell me straight up why Johanna is on that hospital bed and why she is being treated like a criminal. I didn't travel down from Twelve to mediate between you and Felix. So let me ask again – what happened to her?"
Gale fixed him with a glare which Haymitch returned with a bored indifference. He had years to get used to the town's folks glaring at him and calling him a drunk, and this was no different. Gale exhaled heavily; his body slumped against the chair. Haymitch studied him, taking in the sight of the young man's thumb rubbing over Johanna's knuckles. He was clearly upset and had not let go of her hand since Haymitch stepped in.
Johanna had always made it seemed like Gale cared nothing for her and she for him but Haymitch had only ever heard her side of the story, never from Gale.
Could she possibly be wrong about him?
"Johanna never wanted children," Gale started, "and neither did I, initially. Took me a while to wrap my heard around the idea of having a family and… I'm starting to think it's not the worst thing to happen."
Haymitch pulled a chair to the bed, across from Gale and settled down. He had a feeling that this would take a while.
"You and your wife made it work. Katniss and Peeta - even with everything that they've been through - are happy. I saw them during your baby shower, saw how they are with their girl and you know, I got to thinking, that maybe I could have…." he shrugged. "This law doesn't look like it's gonna end and she's my wife. Whether she liked it or not, we have to have a child."
"She told me you have someone."
"She said that?" he looked up at Haymitch in surprise. To Haymitch, it felt as though this was the first time Gale had heard such accusation. If there truly was someone else, did Johanna not confront him about this before?
"I think she's talking about Delly - Delly Cartwright," he said. "You remember Delly? From home."
"Yeah, I remember."
"Delly relocated to Two a few months after we were married. I didn't know until I saw her moving in. I've never really talked to her before. We weren't friends but we knew each other. Could be because we were in Two but she was someone I felt I had a connection with since she was from home."
Even as he spoke, Gale fixed his gaze on Johanna, refusing to look at Haymitch. Gale may be trying to explain the situation to Haymitch but he was really just talking to Johanna.
"We had a shared history in Katniss, in Peeta, in Twelve, the bombing and as a refugee in Thirteen. So maybe I got a little close to her without meaning to. Jo and I, we… don't talk much. Maybe she had her own idea of what I was doing and as for me, I never had the feeling that she wanted to put in as much effort into this marriage."
"Okay," Haymitch said, "so how'd she end up in hospital?"
"It goes back to the children. I asked and she said no. I told her that if she just think about it, give it sometime, maybe the idea wouldn't feel so terrible. No kids, she said. Can't look after her own was what she told me."
"So you were pressing the issue?"
"Guess I did," he mumbled reluctantly. "The officials were paying us a visit every few months, sending each of us for medical screening to understand why we're still childless. Look, I fought back, telling them we need more time but I can't hold them off forever. When your third appeal was rejected, I knew we'd be in for a long haul."
"And?"
"I tried something different; told her the money would be good. We could use the cash payout given to a child and it could help out with Vick's and Posy's expenses, at least. I'm still responsible for them. Johanna lost it. She got angry, she screamed, telling me I was expecting too much. And then this…" he gestured at Johanna's unmoving form.
"She called me," Felix chimed in, filling in the rest of the story. He leaned against the door, looking miserable. Gale glared at him and rose out of the chair until Haymitch snapped at him to sit back down. "She said she was gonna do what I did. I told her to think about it but she wouldn't listen. I shouldn't have told her about my vasectomy. She's rash and stubborn and I rushed down to Two thinking if I could talk to her personally, I could change her mind but it was too late."
Effie's brows wrinkled as she pieced the story together.
"Did she… Be serious, Felix. That's not something to joke about."
"He isn't joking. Permanent sterilization," Gale's contorted into one of anger.
Effie gave a loud gasp and Haymitch, who was rarely ever caught off-guard, was stunned silence by the information.
"You … She can't have…?" Effie trailed off, the thought too horrific for her to consider.
"We don't know. It wasn't ... completed, was it?" Felix answered, looking at Gale for confirmation.
"Doctors are still trying to assess the extent of the damage," said Gale. "Ever since the law was implemented, procedures of this kind are illegal, as are abortions. You can't just walk into any hospitals and make an appointment to have these surgeries. You want something like this, you better know someone who knows someone," by the end of this, Gale was staring at Felix again in anger. His accusation was clear.
"I would never have encouraged her to do something of this nature," Felix replied angrily. "If you think it was me who told her where to go, then I'm sorry but you couldn't be more wrong."
"Enough," Haymitch snapped. "Something went wrong with the surgery, I assumed?"
"There was a raid; the place was raided by the police in the midst of her surgery. She was on the operating table, unconscious and with incisions on her stomach. The surgeon was apprehended. She was sent to the hospital but she had already lost too much blood."
XxX
With visiting hours over and they were chased out of the hospital, Haymitch found them a place at the nearby inn.
If he thought the boys would be wary of the unfamiliar room, he was wrong. Safe in the knowledge that their parents were nearby, the toddlers went about exploring the room. Tristan, with his curious soul and sharp eyes, overturned the magazine rack as he inspected and made a mess out of the reading materials. He pawed at the magazine excitedly while his brother followed Haymitch around.
"Don't make a mess," he said to Tristan. "Your mother will lose her head and we don't need that. We need sleep."
In the bathroom, Effie stood rigid in front of the mirror, tracing a scar on her collarbone with a forlorn, blank expression as she stared at her reflection.
"Effie, where are the boys' bottle? Effie?"
Getting no answer, Haymitch walked into the bathroom carrying both of his sons in his arms.
"Sweetheart?" he called out.
Effie spun on her heels, a pair of scissors clutched tight in her hand which was raised in a defensive manner and slashed the air. Haymitch's victor reflexes kicked in. He staggered back and turned his back partially to protect the children.
"I – Haymitch?" she blinked, her frightful eyes darting around the room. "No, I'm sorry!"
He gave her a look over his shoulder as he walked out of the bathroom, leaving her standing alone looking after them in horror. Haymitch placed the children in the playpen where a few of their toys were scattered around. It should keep them occupied for a while.
When he came back for her, he found Effie sitting at the edge of the bath tub, breathing heavily. She stared at the tiled floor. Haymitch approached quietly and sat next to her, careful not to touch her. From personal experience, when he had woken up brandishing his knife at imaginary assailant, he didn't like to be touched. It was difficult trying to shake the nightmare from what was real.
"What's the matter?"
Effie swallowed and shook her head.
"It's not nothing, sweetheart."
"I know it's not," Effie said. "I attacked the children."
"I gotta disagree with you on that. You didn't attack them. Look out the door, go on," he nudged her lightly, "they're fine, aren't they?"
"I know what I did! I could have hurt them."
"What's going on in your head, sweetheart? What were you thinking about at that point?"
"Nothing….and everything," she answered. "Does that make sense?"
"No," Haymitch said slowly.
He wasn't in the business of lying, trying to pretend to understand her when he didn't. But what had just happened was serious. Effie had never acted that way, as though she was in some kind of danger. Terrified enough to defend herself.
She was the one who had insisted he sleep with his knife kept in the drawer of the night stand instead of under his pillow for fear of him accidentally hurting the children while she was pregnant.
"I'm scared… for Johanna," Effie admitted.
"She's tough – "
"She must have been so desperate…. Why would she have done it otherwise?"
Haymitch kept quiet. He couldn't speak for Johanna.
"It's the law, Haymitch," she said firmly. "The law has hurt my friend. Why won't they end it?"
"You know why," Haymitch said. "We've talked about this."
Haymitch wrapped his arm around her, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. His eyes rested on the counter where Effie had placed the scissors. Discreetly, without her noticing, Haymitch moved his free hand to take it away. He kept it on him to be discarded later.
Even so, the uneasy feeling swirled in the pit of his stomach. The same feeling he had after he won his games, when Katniss went to the Capitol during the Rebellion and when he received the phone call to tell him Effie was in labour. It felt as if something terrible was about to happen. His gaze dropped to Effie's trembling hand, clasped tight in her lap.
As he sat there in the bathroom with Effie, one thing became clear to him - he needed to know what the Capitol had done to his wife.
Did anybody suspect Johanna going through that?
I've never written Gale before in any of my fics. So I really hope he turns out okay here.
To Cathy: In answer to your question, I'm not very sure how many chapters are left. I've only written the last chapter. But, we're nearing the end of Consortium. Almost there!
