Haymitch finally gets Effie to sleep at night but each time, he will wake up to the sound of her screaming. He will get to her room and wake her up from the nightmare. It happened for a week until he insisted for her to sleep in his room so it will be easier for the both of them. She sleeps longer hours, still with nightmares, but his touch calms her every time and she falls back to sleep. The four of them became a family unit of their own. Effie remains quiet than her usual self but she is finally starting small conversations with them and sometimes talking about random stuff she used to talk to before. There were times when she will drift off in the middle of conversation. The others will notice that and they will snap her out of it.

One day, Effie decided to try to go to town to buy a surprise food for the house since Peeta joined Katniss for hunting in the woods. Eyes followed her everywhere but she ignored it the best she can. She has tough skin and she knows that. It will take more than glaring eyes to make her fold. She reached Greasy Sae's diner and she knows how much Haymitch loves her cooking. He told her about that during their time in the Games. Of course, back then Sae cooked rats but now they have enough livestock to cook.

"Good morning, can I have that please and also the chicken?" she ordered at the counter.

Sae recognized her of course. The two already met in Thirteen. She didn't say nice words to her but she didn't say bad words to her as well. They were civil.

"Thank you", Effie said politely when Sae handed her the food.

She remembered her being polite despite being at a bad shape in Thirteen. Sae didn't fail to notice the cuts on her arm but she didn't say anything about it. She watched as Effie walked away and reached the door when two men blocked her way.

"Capitol whore in Twelve…why you here for, huh? You ran out of children to reap in the Capitol?" one of them asked.

Effie remained quiet.

"You can take all those shit off your face but we can still smell you, slut. You're a Capitol slut who's using the victors as shield", the other said.

The first guy walked closer to her and Sae saw Effie flinched. His hand ran at the back of her neck and sniffed her. Of course, Effie smells lot better than the rest of them. She knows how to take care of herself.

"I can see why Abernathy keeps you in his bed. He ain't always gonna be there, you know…when that comes, we can play", he whispered to her ears but Sae didn't hear that.

"Do we have a problem over there?" Sae yelled from the counter and two boys distanced themselves from Effie. "Let the woman pass or I will whip your asses", she added and Effie walked as fast as she can away from her diner.

Effie remained quiet the entire day. Katniss and Peeta praised her move on going to town. They think it's a bold one and a progress for her. Haymitch, on the other hand, can sense that something is bothering her. It's like she took two steps backward after she set foot outside of the village. All she ever uttered throughout the meal is thank you.

He decided to get to Sae's diner to find out what happened. Effie will not tell him. He's sure of that because she wants to appear tough.

"Oh, Trinket just bought you food. That ain't enough?" she asked.

"I'm not here for that. She was quiet after she came here. What happened?" he asked her back.

"Hey, I didn't say anything bad to your girl if that's what you came here for", she said in her defense.

He shook off her term 'your girl' and get to his point.

"I know it wasn't you. Look, she's doing great. She's finally opening up and talking and after she came back from town, she's quiet again and spacing out so what happened?' he asked.

Sae sighed and told him what she saw earlier. He clenched his fists in anger. This is his district and his people are bothering and threatening the woman he cares about.

"Where are they?" he asked Sae.

"Oh, you're not touching those boys, Abernathy. They are fools. That's what they are. You cannot blame them for how they view the Capitol and its people the same way we cannot blame Trinket. I will do my best to keep them at bay but you will not touch them", she said.

He so wants to beat the shit out of them for insulting and threatening Effie. She's doing well. She's helping and off the pills. She is having less nightmares too. He's afraid, everything they did, all the work they've done will be undone because of what happened.

"Eff! I'm back! I got those movies you asked me to!" he called when he got home but she's not answering.

He put down the tapes on the table and waited to hear her footsteps upstairs but he heard none. He began to worry.

"Effie?" he called again but still nothing.

He peeked at his window and saw Peeta and Katniss in their living room watching something on TV while eating some bread. It's just the two of them and no Effie.

"Effie!" he yelled and then ran upstairs.

The bedroom is empty. He checked the guestroom as well and she's not there either. He knows how much Effie hates when he came in the bathroom while she's in there but he doesn't care. He's worried and she's not answering so he reached for the knob and turned but it's locked. She never locked the bathroom door before.

"Effie, open the door", he said but all he can hear is the water running. "Effie Trinket, open the goddamn door!" he yelled and banged on the door but still nothing so he kicked the door down.

There he saw Effie in the bathtub…under the water.

"Effie!" he exclaimed.

Haymitch almost slipped on the floor as he leaped to get to her and got her out of the tub. He barely remembered how to do CPR but his little skill worked and Effie began coughing water out of her chest.

"Oh…for the love of Panem, Effie…" he muttered in relief.