Hi! If you're still taking prompts, could you please write a fanfic where Effie wakes up one day (because of some illness; post mj) and she thinks Peeta is Haymitch and vice versa and Haymitch gets extremely jealous? Love your work.

In Sickness and In Health

"How is she?" was the first question to pass Haymitch's lips as soon as the back door was safely closed behind him to keep the snow storm outside. "Did the fever break?"

"No." Katniss made a face, taking the kettle off the fire. "Peeta is sitting with her. Did you get the meds?"

"Yeah." he grumbled. "Almost had to fight for them too. People are getting restless."

He accepted the cup of tea Katniss wordlessly slid his way on the counter and spiked it with some liquor from his flask. Not too much though – not enough by any mean – he didn't want to get drunk when Effie might need him.

As if the flu outbreak hadn't been enough the last few weeks, a snowstorm was cutting Twelve from the rest of Panem, slowing down the delivery trains and generally making everyday life very difficult. Having lived in Twelve their whole lives, Haymitch and the kids had been prepared to weather the storm : they were well stocked on food, wood, water – and liquor. However, they hadn't planned on Effie catching the flu. It was harmless enough, a few days sickness at worst, but the snow was making it hard for doctors to visit everyone, the brand new hospital was already full to the brim and the pharmacy was low on meds and impatiently waiting for the train to soldier through the vast amount of snow covering the tracks. The apothecary was starting to be out of herbal remedies too.

All in all, Haymitch had to beg and call in a few favors to put his hands on one of the last bottles of pills. It was worth it, though. Effie's fever had reached a peak earlier in the morning despite Katniss' mother's herbal tea. The plants hadn't been enough to bring the fever down : she had been tossing and turning on their bed ever since, whimpering and crying out in turns, locked in less than joyful memories.

Haymitch knocked down his share of tea in three long swallows, letting the burning hot liquid warm his bones. The cold, outside the house, was biting.

"I better check on her." he said, accepting the new cup Katniss handed him for Effie and taking the bottle of pills out of his pocket. The girl flashed him a knowing smile but it was lacking its usual teasing, she was worried too. They might have been accustomed to Twelve's difficult weather but Effie wasn't.

He kicked off his snow covered boots in the corridor and dispatched his coat on the banister before making his way upstairs. He was careful not to make too much noise in case she was finally sleeping.

"It's okay…" Peeta's voice was soothing and Haymitch instinctively avoided the creaking boards.

"We can't tell them." Effie answered. "We can't. We can't."

Haymitch frowned and peered in the bedroom. The boy was sitting on the bed, his back turned to the door and was brushing her hair out of her face, combing his fingers though the blond strands dampened by sweat. Effie's eyes were bright and glassy, her attention was focused on Peeta alone.

"They wouldn't understand. No one would understand. We have to keep it a secret. We have to." she repeated, gripping Peeta's forearms as if to make her point. "They would hate me. Us."

"We won't tell them." the boy offered calmly, never stopping his petting. "Nobody knows about us, Effie. We're safe."

Haymitch almost had a small, tiny heart attack. What was the boy talking about now? What us. There was only a single us where Effie was concerned and that was their us.

"But I love you…" Effie whispered, her voice breaking in several places. "I love you…"

"I love you too." Peeta said.

Instead of calming her, the sentiment seemed to make her more frantic.

"Don't say that! Don't lie to my face! You hate me." she spat, suddenly struggling against the boy's loose fingers in her hair. She batted his hand away. "That's what they say… You left me behind! You left me behind."

She broke into a sob and it finally dawned on Haymitch what was happening. He stepped in, ignoring Peeta's startled intake of breath and placed the steaming cup on the bedside table. Effie's head rolled on her pillow as she thrashed against the fever and imaginary opponents.

"I think she thinks she's an escort again…" Peeta explained awkwardly. "She mistook me for you. I tried to tell her but… It seemed to comfort her to think you were here."

He nodded his thanks to the boy and rested a hand on her forehead despite the fact that it was obvious she was still very much feverish. Consciously or not, she leaned into his hand.

"Did you find one of the doctors?" Peeta asked, inspecting the pills he had brought back.

"No." Haymitch was annoyed at his own failure. "Two are at the hospital and the other one is somewhere downtown but with the snow…" It had been difficult enough to fight his way from the victors' village to the town. "We need to bring the fever down. That's the only thing to do."

"Haymitch…" Effie rasped out, hot tears rolling down her cheeks. "Don't leave me."

"'Not going anywhere, sweetheart." he shushed her. He glanced at the boy. "The pills should do it. You don't have to wait here. I have this."

Katniss would have lifted a dubious eyebrow at his ability to nurse someone but Peeta accepted it at face-value and walked out, leaving the door ajar.

"Shout if you need anything." Peeta told him.

Haymitch sat on his side of the bed, willing himself not to get affected by Effie's distressed whimpers, and took two pills out of the bottle. Then he blew on the tea just to make sure it wouldn't burn her even though it had already stopped steaming. Helping her swallow the pills was harder than he though, she kept turning her head away, begging him to leave her be only to plead with him not to leave her the next second and crying for no good reason.

It didn't take long for the pills to work their magic though and soon enough she fell in a deep slumber, her thrashing was reduced to a minimum and her whining was easily stopped with a soft reassurance on his part. He watched the flush on her cheek gradually faint to a healthier pink over the following hours and only left her side to get more tea so he could coax more pills into her. The herbal tea and the pills were good enough of a mix that by dusk, her brow was less clammy and her shivers were less pronounced.

He laid down next to her and watched carefully, ready to burst into action at the smallest sign that her condition was getting worse. He couldn't live without her now and he had never told her before, she didn't know it – he could survive without her, of course, but his only hope at living was her. He couldn't lose her.

It was the middle of the night when the fever finally broke.

"Haymitch?" Her teeth were chattering.

He reacted immediately, getting her out of the bed and into the shower to wash the illness' sweat off her body before dressing her with one of his warmest flannel pajamas – because none of her nightdresses would keep the chill of winter at bay. She was like a rag doll long before he was done with her and she slumped on the stool in front of her dressing table while he unmade the bed and changed the sheets as quickly as he could. He left the dirty sheets bundled in a corner of the room.

"Clothes hamper." she muttered weakly but disapprovingly.

It made him smirk in relief. "You want them in the bloody hamper, you put them in the bloody hamper." he grumbled for show more than by real irritation. He didn't actually let her try to pick them up because she could barely stand on her own two feet. He helped her back to bed and tucked her in, ignoring the fondness on her face.

He was such a softie, he mused, what had she made of him?

"You want some chicken soup?" he asked, after pushing new pills her way.

"No…" She barely placed her hand in front of her mouth in time to hide her yawn. "I want to sleep."

"You do that." He pressed a kiss on her forehead. Her skin was still warm but it wasn't burning anymore.

She coiled a hand around his wrist, tugging weakly until he laid back down next to her.

"Don't leave me?" she pleaded with a vulnerability she wasn't usually prone to displaying.

He pressed his lips to her slightly flushed cheek.

"Never."