Prompt : Hey so I hope you still writing. Can you do one where in district 13 the people from 12 are giving Effie a hard time cause she was who took the kids in the reaping and Haymitch is the one who comforts her?

More than Enough

Escaping the oppressing atmosphere of the strategic room even for a few minutes was a relief Haymitch couldn't possibly have put into words. It seemed to him he had done nothing in the last week but work on the taking of the Capitol, nibbling on sandwiches on the side and grabbing a couple hours of sleep when he could. He badly needed a break – before he drove anyone mad, as Plutarch so kindly put it. His first stop had been his quarters for a nap and a shower and he decided a real meal wouldn't go amiss either so he stopped at the cafeteria before heading back to the strategic room.

It was late enough that the place wasn't cramped. Two of the big tables were full of people from Twelve who greeted him when he came in and invited him to join them. He was about to accept when he noticed the lonely figure sitting at the other end of the room, at an empty table. He made his excuses and grabbed a tray to get his food, all the while glancing at his former escort.

The grey uniform slacked on Effie's bony shoulders, it was far too big for her, like something she would have borrowed from her boyfriend. It was the smallest size they had in stock though, he knew, she had just lost a lot of weight during her time in prison. She was staring at her plate seemingly deep in thoughts, she hadn't looked up once since he had entered the room. She was also sitting at a table close to a wall she was carefully keeping at her back to face the rest of the room. When he reached the end of the line and grabbed the small portion of cheese that served as desert, his decision was made.

She jumped with a gasp when he dropped his tray on the other side of the table. Her blue eyes were wide and he saw pure terror in there when they meet his. She had been skittish ever since her rescue in a way she had never been before. He didn't know precisely what had been done to her during her captivity, only that bad things had happened. Things she didn't want to talk about with him.

"Sorry, sweetheart." he mumbled. "Didn't mean to startle you."

The fact that the room was now silent despite the large group sitting a few feet away wasn't lost on him. He didn't need to turn around to know everyone was watching them, he could feel their stares burning a hole on the back of his neck.

"It's alright." Her answer was soft and uncertain, far from her usual bubbly excited voice. "May I help you?"

"You can pass the salt." He shrugged, before digging in his vegetables. "This things has absolutely no taste at all." She frowned a bit but reached for the shaker and handed it over before going back to her intense survey of her plate. Half-full still, he couldn't help but notice. She stirred her own carrots around with her fork. "I know it's not up to your standards, Princess, but frankly you could use the weight. Eat."

She rummaged through the carrots a second longer and then looked up in distress. "I'm not… I'm not hungry anymore." She flushed. "The doctor said I would make myself sick if I force myself to eat. He said my stomach isn't used to that much food anymore."

"Oh." He hadn't been made aware of that. He doubted starving her was the worst thing they did to her in the Capitol, though. "Well, then… Why don't you head back to… wherever it is they had put you?"

He was relieved to see the flash of annoyance on her face. He didn't like brooding Effie much. "There is no need to be rude, Haymitch. I didn't ask you to come and sit with me."

"Yeah, 'cause you have so many friends fighting to come and eat with you, is that it, sweetheart?" he snorted. She looked hurt by his comment and took a sip of water to hide it, just like she would usually take a sip of wine at dinner during the Games when he was being out of line and she didn't want to lose her temper. He knew her better than she thought. "Come on, why are you glaring at your carrots like they offended you?"

She glanced over his shoulder to the two tables full of people. Conversations had started up again but it mostly consisted of hushed murmurs and angry whispering. Haymitch could guess what they were discussing and he also could guess she was perfectly aware of it.

"Perhaps it would be best for you to join your friends." she suggested uncertainly.

"I am with my friend." he retorted, loud enough for everyone to hear. He should have checked on Effie sooner, he had popped in a few times in her hospital room but he had barely seen her since her release, too caught up with the war. "Now, spit it out. What's wrong?"

Her eyes darted from him to the people from Twelve and back to her plate. She stabbed a few pieces of carrots with her fork with a dejected face and ate them slowly. "It's nothing unexpected. Don't concern yourself with me, you have bigger issues right now." She took another mouthful and then another and he stopped eating himself because she looked ready to throw up.

He grabbed her wrist to prevent her from bringing the fork to her mouth again. "You said you weren't hungry anymore."

She licked her lips nervously. "I don't want to waste food."

"It will be wasted if you get sick." He squeezed her wrist gently and she let go of the fork. She turned her palm up tentatively and he let his fingers trail down her wrist to grab her hand. It was weird to hold someone's hand over a table, it held romantic undertones he wasn't sure he was comfortable with. He and Effie were certainly not about romance. It was the right choice, however, her face softened and she closed her eyes for a second. When was the last time someone had touched her to comfort and not to harm? He had seen enough when she had been rescued to know she had been tortured. Perhaps not as badly as Johanna or Peeta, perhaps they had gotten bored with her quickly, but she had been tortured and they hadn't found her in one of those nice little political prison either. She had been in a maximum security center. They had clearly thought they could find a possible use for her, maybe to hurt Katniss or Peeta. Maybe to hurt him.

"I can't just… leave it." Effie sighed, lowering her voice. "They will think I don't care. I tried to offer the rest to someone else at first but… They got mad, they said they didn't want my leftovers, that they wouldn't be contended with scraps from…" She fell silent but he didn't need her to elaborate.

"An escort?" He started eating again with his free hand. "A Capitol bitch? A stupid cow?" That was only a few of the nice epithets people usually used around Twelve to refer to her when Peacekeepers weren't in earshot. "You sent their children to their death, sweetheart, I think you can understand there's a bit of bad blood there."

She flinched and looked down at her plate again. "I know. I don't blame them. I just want… I'm just trying to make amends."

His vegetables were gone, they were absolutely disgusting and he would be glad to never eat that crap again. "Yeah, well… Stuffing yourself with carrots won't cut it." The things he did for that woman… He reached over and stabbed the rest of her carrots with her fork. "It will take time." And help. He should talk to a few people, try to explain she wasn't as bad as they thought. He needed Katniss and Peeta to be seen talking to her in public too. They wouldn't win everyone over but that would square her some points with some of them.

Her thumb stroke his skin once quickly, like she was afraid he would take it the wrong way and tear his hand away. "Is that how you think of me? The Capitol bitch?"

She made a face as she spat the word, like the vulgarity of it all was far too much to take. That made him smirk around the last mouthful of carrots.

"Sometimes." he shrugged. "When you're being really annoying."

"What about the rest of the time?" Her blue eyes demanded an answer he wasn't sure how to give.

"The rest of the time…" He busied himself with spreading the cheese on his share of bread, a feat that wasn't that easy when you were one-handed but he didn't think letting go of her now would be a good idea. She looked sad and lonely, he didn't like that. "The rest of the time I think of you as my really annoying friend. Good enough for you, sweetheart?"

Her smile was small but honest. "More than enough."

"Good." he smirked.