Prompt : :Hi I do not know if you've written this but you do poderia one in which Effie gets to 12 for the collection of children pros games and is surprised when he finds the house clean and Haymitch it with Hazelle

I'm not entirely sure in how many languages that prompt was but I think I made sense of the general idea ;)

The Housekeeper

Effie would have denied spending the whole trip from the Capitol to Twelve crying.

Still, her make-up didn't make a good job at hiding the blotched patched of skin around her eyes.

She hurried down the streets from the train station to Victors' Village, doing her best to stay a few steps ahead of the squad of Peacekeepers shadowing her. Peacekeepers had never followed her before when she had made her yearly pre-Reaping call on her victor but she figured men in black suits had never followed her in the Capitol before either. The Quarter Quell Reaping might only have three names in the glass bowls but it was obvious to her that she had been tossed in the same frying pan all the same.

She wavered by the Everdeens' house and decided that she would finish with the children. The children, she knew, would be ready for the Reaping. Haymitch was another matter entirely.

It had become a habit to go to his house before the Reaping and make sure he was fit to be seen in society – it had been included in her schedule since forever now – so she did as she always had done before and walked in his house without knocking or announcing her presence, certain already that he would be passed out drunk somewhere. A quick glance in the kitchen and the living-room revealed no victor slumped over some convenient piece of furniture so she went directly upstairs.

It occurred to her halfway to his bedroom that the house was awfully clean and that it didn't smell like rot anymore.

It occurred to her when she reached his bedroom door that perhaps that was why her mother had always insisted on proper manners, because knocking and calling out would have saved her from the instant embarrassment when she walked in on Haymitch and a woman laughing together.

Laughing

Bare-chested.

In the middle of his bedroom.

In his very clean house.

With a woman who wasn't young but was certainly still pretty enough by District standards.

A woman who was now staring at her with obvious dislike.

And Effie was instantly jealous.

That surprised her.

She hadn't seen that coming.

"I apologize." she offered swiftly. "I didn't think you would have company."

It clearly wasn't the right thing to apologize for, her mother's voice chastised her in her mind, she had barged in unannounced and uninvited. That was the breach in manners, not failing to predict he wouldn't be alone.

Haymitch was watching her with a knowing smirk and she wondered if the word jealous was flashing all over her face. She tried to school her features but she wasn't certain she was successful. Being jealous over a man was a novelty for her. Men usually threw themselves at her feet. All she had to do was snap her fingers.

Not Haymitch, of course, never Haymitch.

But that was the problem. She hadn't been aware she had wanted him until now, until she had seen him laughing bare-chested with another woman in his bedroom in his very clean house.

"Right on time, sweetheart." he shrugged, picking up two shirts from the bed and showing them to her. "White or blue?"

The shirts were clean and pressed.

Came to think of it, he was clean too, his hair had been cut into something resembling a proper hairstyle and his stubble was actually trimmed. And…

"Are you sober?" she asked, shocked out of her mind.

"Sober, clean and almost dressed. Happy at last?" Then he let out a bitter snort. "'Might be my last Reaping, after all, I have to make an impression."

"Don't talk like that." the woman chided him, whacking his arm before Effie could say anything. "And put that shirt on. You're acting like a peacock. I'm sure we both have seen naked men before, no need to show off, Haymitch."

She tugged on the white shirt to indicate it was the right choice.

"Put on the grey one." Effie ordered, not because it was a better choice but only because she felt the need to counter the woman.

For a second, Haymitch's grey eyes darted from her to the woman and then the smirk deepened.

"You don't want me to introduce you, Effie?" he asked, too casually to be genuine. "How rude of me."

"I don't think it is necessary." the woman hissed. "Don't be annoying for the sake of being annoying."

"Hazelle, I'm not one of your boys." Haymitch grumbled. "Stop mothering me."

"You are annoying." Effie pointed out. She looked at the woman who wouldn't meet her eyes now and felt stupid. How utterly stupid of her. She had no claim on Haymitch, no claim at all. She had no right to be jealous, no right to feel angry or hurt. "I am afraid I am intruding. I will… I will check on the children since you don't need me."

She turned and fled as fast as her heels would take her.

He caught up with her at the bottom of the stairs, grabbed her arm and effectively stopped her dash for the door.

He had put on the grey shirt but hadn't bothered buttoning it. She suppressed the urge to touch the large scar on his side. She was familiar with every of his scars, she had helped him change out of soiled clothes often enough over the years.

"What's up with you?" he frowned.

"I don't understand what you mean." she lied.

Grey eyes locked with hers, worried and a little panicked – not because of her, she supposed, but because of the Reaping looming ahead.

"You've got no fire today." he insisted, brushing a tentative hand against her cheek.

She could still hear the woman moving upstairs.

"I didn't mean to interrupt." she said again, flushing red. "I didn't know you…" She pursed her lips and turned her head away. "She's pretty."

She couldn't hide the contempt in her voice.

Mainly because Effie was prettier.

"I'm probably going to be send back to my death in less than an hour and you're choosing now to get jealous on me?" he chuckled. "You've got a bloody sense of timing, sweetheart."

"You are not going to your death." she snapped, grasping his shirt and bundling it in her fists. "You are not."

"You'd rather it's the boy?" he shrugged. "Come on, Effie. You know what's going to happen out there."

Of course, she knew. She had already figured it out. If she called Peeta, Haymitch would volunteer. Katniss had probably made a very powerful speech to convince him, utterly unnecessary too. She had understood the moment the Quell had been announced that Haymitch would volunteer for the boy anyway.

She liked to think that, if she had been able, she would have taken the girl's place too.

They were theirs, after all.

"Don't." she begged. She knew but that didn't mean she wanted to think about it. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder. "Don't."

His arms wrapped around her shaking frame without a second of hesitation.

"See?" he taunted. "Bloody sense of timing."

She did, that was the sad thing.

"I should let you to enjoy the time you have left with your girlfriend." she mumbled in his shoulder.

"Housekeeper." he said casually.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, looking up at him.

His smirk was far too smug.

"Housekeeper." he repeated. "And friend, I guess, even if she's a pain in the ass. But not girlfriend, no."

She couldn't help it, she blushed. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." he taunted. "So, you're going to actually do something or…"

She used her grip on his shirt to pull him forward.

Their mouth crashed together and she realized she should have thought of that to shut him up years earlier.