We couldn't NOT have the cuddles in front of a fireplace, could we?

Prompt "This should help to warm your hands up"

When You Are Cold, I Will Warm You Up

Haymitch reentered the living-room to find Effie still shivering, curled up on the couch with her legs tucked close to her chest, buried under the same heap of blankets he had tossed over her shoulders. She was sitting as close to the fireplace as the armrest would allow her.

"Here." he offered quickly, handing her the hot bottle he had just prepared. It disappeared under the heaps of blankets, probably to be placed on her frozen feet.

"Thank you." She flashed him a poor grateful smile. "I am alright. Truly."

She didn't look alright and he was mad with Katniss for not realizing that before. The two of them had gone on a walk but it had started to snow lightly halfway through – nothing threatening but Katniss should have remembered that Effie was very sensitive to the cold since the war and…

"Haymitch, I can see you fretting." she mocked with some fondness. "I promise I am fine."

He still added another log in the fireplace and poked the fire until it was roaring again. He had already upped the heating system even though he was hot enough that he had shed his sweater and was moving around in a thin long-sleeved white undershirt.

He had to avoid colliding with the huge Christmas tree she had forced him to chop and decorate on his way back to the couch. He had grumbled about it at the time. A lot. And now that she looked so pitifully miserable under her blankets despite her attempts at shrugging off the discomfort, he regretted it. He knew how much she loved her Christmas shit and he should have just rolled with it to make her happy instead of making it difficult.

"How's your shoulder?" he insisted, sitting behind her and carefully searching for her right shoulder under the blankets. Her instinctive groan when he finally found it was all the answer he needed. "You want me to give it a rub? You want some painkillers?"

The reparative surgery she had gone through after she had been rescued from the Capitol prison had only done so much. She had regained as much range of movement as possible but it still pained her, particularly when it was cold. And since she refused to have another surgery with uncertain outcomes, it was something she would have to endure for the rest of her life. And it had taken her a long time to confess that much to him, which annoyed him to no ends.

"It is fine." But it wasn't fine and she must have finally realized that because she let out a long sigh and handed him the hot water bottle over her good shoulder. "Here. Maybe the heat will help." He was careful when he pressed the hot bottle to her shoulder blade. He didn't want to burn her. He moved it around after a little while, so it wouldn't be too uncomfortable. After a few minutes, she tossed him a look over her shoulder. "You know I find it very endearing when you worry about me, darling, but I am truly fine."

"Don't look fine to me." he grumbled. "You look frozen stiff."

She rolled her eyes but wrinkled her nose a little. "My feet and my hands do feela bit frozen."

He gave her the hot water bottle back so she could place it on her feet and moved to perch himself on the armrest. "This should help to warm your hands up. Give them to me."

He outstretched his, palms up, and she placed hers on top of his. Her fingers looked a little swollen at the knuckles. He wasn't sure if that was a consequence of her time in prison or if it was because she sewed and sketched so much. Either way it was recurrent. He gently cradled her delicate hands between his big ones and carefully rubbed some warmth back into them, blowing on them from time to time.

After a while, he glanced up to find her watching him with a tender smile, her blue eyes shining with feelings.

"What?" he asked, a bit too gruff.

"I love you." she answered matter-of-factly.

He managed to not flinch but it was a near thing. He had given her his blessing to use the words but he was still growing used to them. They still sent his heart racing with a panic that had nothing to do with his actual feelings on the matter.

"Yeah, well…" he mumbled, bringing her hands to his lips so he could kiss them, trying to convey with his mouth what he couldn't actually say. "You're warmer, sweetheart?"

She must have been. There was some color back in her cheeks and she wasn't shivering anymore.

She hummed, her smile morphing from sweet to wicked in a flash. "I could be warmer…"

He smirked, lifting his eyebrows. "How?"

She tugged on his shirt with a laugh.

She didn't have to pull too hard for him to cover her body with his.

Her skin was still a bit cold but he did his best to warm her up with his lips…

Is Haymitch a mother hen or what? If she so much as gets a scratch he will riot XD Hope you enjoyed this! Please let me know!