EPILOGUE – 5 years later


Haymitch watched Caleb run after his brother, looking out for the warning signs of an asthma attack.

They often hiked up to the lake for picnics but it was harder on Caleb in springs. His asthma could be bad enough to warrant trips down to the clinic in town. It had certainly panicked Effie and him more than once in the last five years. He had always been the most fragile of the three…

The toddler seemed fine though, despite the pollen in the air.

"I have the inhaler in the bag." Effie told him quietly, always attuned to his thoughts.

He stopped staring at the boys to lie back down on the thick picnic blanket next to her, propping himself on his elbows so he could still see what was going on. She didn't bother. She was lying down on her back, pink sunglasses on her nose, enjoying the trickles of sunshine that spilled through the thick foliage of the trees. He let his eyes roam over her for a moment, musing that the blue sundress was new and he was really digging it…

"I know." he finally acknowledged once he was done ogling her. When had she ever forgotten the inhaler? They always checked when they left the house with Caleb. Hell, they had three in case of emergency. "You're looking good, princess…"

She chuckled and shot him a look. "Flattery, flattery…"

Amy shrieked and they both turned their head in the direction of the lake in which Peeta was tossing the girl in the air. Haymitch had refused full point to enter the lukewarm water but the boy hadn't been able to resist the monster's little pleading eyes – because Peeta never said no to any of the babies if he could help it, it was a running joke in their little makeshift family and something of a plot twist since he had thought it would be either him or Effie who would be the whipped one.

"Dear, please be careful!" Effie called out.

Haymitch wasn't sure which one of them she was talking to: the boy or their intrepid girl. Amy had her water rings and Peeta would never let her come to any harm but she played rough sometimes –which would never stop being funny to him because she looked like a tiny Effie replica with grey eyes. Her long perpetually tangled blond hair flew around her head like a halo when Peeta tossed her again…

He smirked when her laughter echoed all around, musical enough that a few mockingjays took it up.

That brought an end to the boys' tag game. They both snapped their faces up, trying to spot the birds in the trees.

They were obsessed withthose birds. They had stuffed toys, pictures all over their walls and, not six months earlier, Peeta had illustrated for them a few of the made-up stories Katniss had invented for them. The stories were favorites of his children's. They were about a lost Mockingjay trying to find its way home, perpetually meeting and losing other animals…

The metaphors weren't subtle but he and Effie allowed it because… Well… It was meaningful, wasn't it? And they were too young to fully understand how sad the stories truly were. To them it was about the adventures of their favorite animal.

Amy was less fond of the stories or of the birds but, then again, the boys were a package deal and the girl was the boss of them. She was more independent than the boys, she wanted to do stuff by herself, stuff alone with him or Effie or Peeta or Katniss when Caleb and Brody hated being separated and wanted to do everything together.

"Auntie Kat!" Caleb exclaimed when Katniss appeared from between two trees, her hands full of little flowers. Primroses. "Auntie Kat! Look, the birds!"

Amy, having spotted the flowers, escaped Peeta's arms and paddled to the shore – well, she paddled to the shore and the boy helped speed up the process by helpfully pushing on her bottom.

"Auntie Kat, do the thing!" Brody added to his brother plea. "Do the thing!"

They looked so much alike, his boys… Like mirrors of each other. Their features were almost identical. But Caleb was shorter and had the same reddish blond hair his mother and his sister did when Brody's shade was lighter, closer to his own. They had his nose too, which was unfortunate according to some.

"Auntie Kat!" Amy joined her brothers, soon followed by the dog that had been lazing in a puddle of sunlight. "Auntie Kat, can I have the flowers? Please, please, please!"

In a matter of seconds, Katniss was swarmed by three very excited children and one dog. The four of them were jumping around, making a game of it.

Haymitch looked down at his wife who wasn't moving a finger and wasn't even watching the scene. There was a knowing smile on her lips though.

"You wanna save the girl?" he asked.

"Katniss and Peeta should have known better than sneak them cookies on the trek up when I forbade it." she declared, more amused than irritated.

He snorted. "Ah, I was wondering where the sugar rush was coming from…"

Peeta came to his girlfriend's rescue by grabbing both boys around the waist and swinging them around like bags of flour – which never failed to trigger giggles. Meanwhile, Katniss surrendered her flowers bounty to Haymitch's daughter with a small smile that told him it had been her aim all along.

Katniss wasn't as at ease with the monsters as Peeta was, she had never been, but there was no denying she loved them and was as fiercely protective of the three kids as the rest of them were. Sometimes, Haymitch mused that his babies were the best protected babies of Panem save, perhaps, for Finn Odair.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as she had her prize, Amy started running toward the blanket he and Effie were lying on, losing a few flowers on her way. Haymitch braced himself and was glad for it when his five year-old just flopped across his stomach like he was a perfect mattress for that sort of stunt. She also had the presence of mind of holding out the flowers so they wouldn't get crushed.

"Mama! Can you make me a crown?" she requested, dropping the flowers in the space between his and Effie's bodies.

Effie hummed thoughtfully. "I probably could if you remembered the magic word."

"Pleaaaaaaase!" Amy drew it out so long that Haymitch grabbed her and flipped her around so she was lying on his chest like they used to do when she was still a baby. She was getting too big for that now and he wanted to enjoy every second of this while it lasted. They were growing up so fast. "Papa!" she laughed. "No tickles!"

Which meant she actually wanted the tickles.

He obliged while Effie braided the flowers into a small crown, smirking as his girl twisted and wriggled, letting out peals of musical laughter that the mockingjays picked up and turned into a melody.

Meanwhile the boys had started their favorite game of let's climb Uncle Peeta. There was a variant called let's climb Papa and they were champions at it.

"Hey, frog…" He brushed Amy's hair back, knowing better than to suggest they tied it up in a ponytail – to Effie's despair, she hated having her hair done. "I think Uncle Peeta's winning…"

Amy gasped and twisted so she could sit on his stomach and have a good view of what was going on. The fact that Katniss was actually cheering Caleb and Brody was lost on exactly nobody.

"Here you go, sweetie." Effie said, dropping a crown of flowers on her head. Haymitch gave it approximately ten minutes before it was either lost or destroyed. "And one for Auntie Kat."

"Thank you, Mama!" she chipped and then took off running in the others' direction with a war cry. The war cry was probably a good thing because it alerted Peeta but not quickly enough that he could brace for the little rocket rushing toward him. He staggered back when Amy collided with his waist and, not unexpectedly lost his balance and fell backward in the water.

Effie immediately sat up, tensed and ready to run…

But Peeta had fallen where the water was still shallow and Katniss swiftly picked up the boys and settled them back on shore, both laughing their ass off. Amy had her water rings and started doing that dog paddle thing again. Peeta grabbed her before she could go too far into the lake and put her back on the shore where their dog greeted her by licking her all over the face.

"Be more careful! Play away from the water." Effie demanded in what they had long dubbed her mom voice. Even Katniss and Peeta knew better than disobey when she used that tone. More than 'yes, mama' and 'no, mama' had been sarcastically uttered in the last five years…

Katniss rolled her eyes but minded her order and sat on a clutter of rocks a little to the side, accepting the sodden flowers crown Peeta had rescued from the water and placed on her head. He told her something, too low for Haymitch to hear, and leaned down to kiss her.

The monsters all started making grossed-out noises as was their new habits when they caught people kissing. The dog barked. The mockingjays were still singing to each other over their heads.

"What are you thinking?" Effie asked softly, running her glittery golden nails up and down his forearm.

He strained his neck so he could steal a kiss of his own while the kids were busy. They always got between them when they caught them kissing, it was all about separating Mama and Papa those days. The boys wanted her all to themselves and Amy was glued to his side all day. Mostly, it was funny.

"I'm thinking…" he breathed against her lips. "Of all the times I couldn't stop myself from fucking you, that time in Thirteen was the best."

He could barely remember how he had felt back then when they had discovered she was pregnant. The terror, the dread, the regret

He couldn't imagine not having the monsters, now.

It hadn't all been easy, of course. They had had a rough couple of years, trying to jungle with three young children, Peeta's episodes, Katniss' depression and their own problems… But they had found some sort of stability too. They had found a way to live, to really live.

They had found peace.

She laughed. "How sweet you always make those things sound…"

He smirked and pecked her lips again, making that one linger a little. "I try, sweetheart."

She laughed harder, coiled a hand at the back of his nape and…

They were attacked by three little bodies that weren't happy until they were nestled between the two of them. They both chuckled and obliged by closing their arms around the three of them in the sort of general cuddles they had been doing since the kids had been big enough for it. Eventually, Brody wriggled free long enough to rummage through the huge bag they dragged everywhere – toys, wipes, Caleb's inhaler, anything they might need – and fished out his soft threadbare monkey. One glance at his brother and sister and he wedged the monkey under his armpit to grab Amy's plushy frog and Caleb's mouse. No words had been spoken but the triplets often worked like that.

The stuffed toys were joke gifts from Johanna.

The joke was on her, though, because the stuffed toys, like the nicknames, had stuck.

Brody settled back against Haymitch's side after having handed the toys to their respective owner. He leaned against him, more tired than he was ready to admit, probably.

"Nap time, monsters, what do you say?" he suggested, reaching out to brush Caleb's bangs out of his eyes. It was a mess of curls on his head.

There was a chorus of negative answers but when the dog came to curl up with them, they stopped protesting so much. Haymitch and Effie lied back down too.

That was a rule when you had triplets: if you could nap at the same time they did, do it.

Peeta and Katniss joined them after a few minutes, hands loosely linked.

"Auntie Kat, do the thing…" Brody asked, not having forgotten about the mockingjays. "Please, please…"

"Pretty please." Caleb added, slipping his hand in his brother's.

Amy grabbed Caleb's hand on his other side. "Please, Auntie Kat."

The birds were still twirling and chirping over their heads.

"You do not have to, dear." Effie was quick to remind her, wary of triggering bad memories.

"It's fine, I don't mind." Katniss dismissed and, Haymitch thought, she truly didn't. It wouldn't have been the first time she humored the babies that way.

She started whistling a few notes. Never the same four notes as in the arena. Those were cheerful, random.

The mockingjays, to the children's delight, immediately picked up the melody, turning it into a beautiful chaotic chorus. Peeta slowly lied down next to Effie, watching the girl with big enamored eyes.

If Haymitch hadn't know about the ring hidden amongst painting supplies in the kids' cellar, he would ask Peeta what the hell he was waiting for.

Katniss whistled another couple of notes and the chorus of birds changed their tune, combined the two…

It was truly beautiful to hear, soothing even.

He watched his monsters sleepily peering at the foliage in hope of catching sight of a bird… One of them sometimes pointed up when they spotted a dash of white or a back tail…

After a few minutes, once the children were well and truly on their way to falling asleep, Katniss stopped playing with the birds to sing a ballad. The mockingjays slowly fell silent. And, as always when this happened, it felt magical.

Haymitch met Effie's eyes over their babies' heads.

She smiled back at him.

So perfectly happy, so perfectly content…

Not unlike him.

It was weird how a meager number of years could make a difference in someone. He wasn't angry all the time anymore, he didn't feel hatred, most days he didn't even remember to be sad for all he had lost… He was too focused on all he had gained.

When it rains, it pours, he had told her after they had learned they were having three babies. And he had meant it in a bad way then because they had been stuck in a fucking storm, threatened to see their life destroyed by the hurricane that was the rebellion…

When it rains, it pours but he had long decided the babies weren't a storm or a hurricane, they were the fucking monsoon after years of drought. Terrifying in its intensity but so necessary for life to crawl through, to bloom

And what fucking beautiful blossoms they made, his monsters…

Katniss finished her song and, for a few minutes, all was still, as if the woods themselves were holding their breath, in case she picked up the tune again...

Next to him, his three toddlers were sleeping soundly.

Everything was peaceful.

Even him.


THE END

(of the crack story that should have been 5 chapters)


Don't mind me I'm emotional! Well... This is the end of the crack story I wrote in the first lockdown around a year ago... (And we're still in the same shit, who would have guessed XD). It was supposed to be a short 5 chapters things and as always with me, I let it turn into a baby monster of a chaptered story... I hope you enjoyed the ride! I hope it distracted you during those last few months!

You're going to ask what next and the truth is for the first time ever I don't have another chaptered story ready to go after this one so I don't know. I have a two-shots story that will go up next week... After that we will see, I suppose.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this epilogue! About the story! Please let me know!