Prompt for HADS: if you have time please. Thank you. Katniss goes to Effie to ask for condoms for her and peeta and is surprised when Effie tells her she has some upstairs; leaking the whole hayffie thing to katniss. Once again thank you

Of Burglars, Flavored Condoms and Yoghurt

Effie dropped the grocery bags on the kitchen table and wiped her brow in a most unladylike fashion, unused to a weather that wasn't controlled and programmed to be agreeable. Twelve was either dead cold or smoldering, there was no in-between – well, there might have been an in between and she might be behaving the spoiled city brat Haymitch was always accusing her of being but she thought she was allowed some complains when basic things like central heating and AC weren't easily available in this District.

It was her first summer in Twelve and it had been entirely too hot for a couple of days now. The air was dusty and hard to breathe and they needed to keep the blinds closed during the day.

She usually loved heat. She soaked it up. It beat the freezing cold of last winter. But there was heat and heat, and this felt like being dumped in a boiling caldron.

With a sigh, she started unloading the groceries, starting with the fresh products in case they went bad. The house was otherwise silent and so the noise upstairs was particularly loud.

Effie's heart immediately started hammering inside her chest, thoughts of burglars and strange men invading their house shooting through her head. She knew it wasn't Haymitch because she had left him in the Hob where Greasy Sae had enrolled him to help her setting up her brand new canopy. No one else should have been in that house.

She hesitated. Should she run to the children? But then they might want to come check for themselves and what if the burglars hurt them? No… No, it wouldn't do.

She had faced Peacekeepers, she could face a burglar.

She grabbed the biggest kitchen knife they owned and silently crept upstairs. The guestroom door – officially still her bedroom although she hardly ever slept there anymore – was slightly ajar, just as she had left it that morning. The noise came from Haymitch's room.

She took several deep breaths, ignoring the prickling feeling at the tips of her fingers. She wouldn't have a panic attack, she told herself, she was stronger than that. She had been captured, beaten and tossed alone in a cell for months. She had survived. She was a survivor. She wouldn't be scared of a burglar.

Johanna wouldn't be scared of a burglar.

If Johanna could do it, so could she.

She jumped in the room with a battle cry, waving the knife, hoping it would frighten the burglar enough that he would jump through the window.

There was an answering startled scream and then she got a pillow straight in her face for her trouble.

"Effie!" Katniss hissed, a hand on her heart "Don't do that! I could have killed you."

Effie blinked, taking in the scene and quickly decided that it was lucky the closest thing to the girl's hand had been a pillow and not something heavier. PTSD was nothing to be trifled with, as they were all aware.

"You, do not do that!" she retorted. "I thought you were an intruder. You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry!" the girl winced but then she eyed the knife Effie was holding with a frown. "You thought I was an intruder and you came charging in with a knife? Effie, if you think someone is in the house, you come get me or Peeta. Or Haymitch. Where is Haymitch?"

"At Sae's." she answered, placing the knife on top of the dresser before studying Katniss with a suspicious gaze. "What are you doing in Haymitch's bedroom?"

The children came and went in the house, that was a normal enough thing. But they rarely ventured upstairs and even more rarely to their bedrooms.

Katniss' cheeks flushed red and she looked down, awkwardly clearing her throat. "Looking for something."

"In his bedroom?" she insisted, folding her arms in front of her chest. "I do not need to tell you it is rude to search someone else's belongings without their permission, do I?"

"He won't mind." Katniss shrugged. "He's family."

"Yes. But that doesn't authorize you to look through his drawers in his absence." she retorted. A thought popped into her head and she narrowed her eyes. "Have you been through my drawers?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "I'm not spying, Effie, I'm looking for something Peeta knows Haymitch keeps in here. I didn't go through your stuff."

She pursed her lips, not happy at all about this explanation. "Was it so urgent you couldn't wait for Haymitch to come home? What is it you are looking for? I might be able to locate it for you without intruding on anyone's privacy."

Katniss hesitated for long enough that Effie understood she had had no intention of asking Haymitch for whatever she was after. After a minute though, the girl made a face and rolled her eyes. "Condoms."

"Ah." Effie said, her lips twitching in amusement as tension left her. It explained everything. "Well… That is certainly an emergency."

Katniss was red as a tomato and awkwardly shuffling from one feet to the other. She cleared her throat again. "Peeta says there are some in his room."

Effie shook her head. "You shouldn't use those. They are old and old condoms are not reliable, I told him to throw them out a long time ago." And she wasn't surprised he hadn't. "Come with me." Katniss looked as if she would rather jump through the window than having this talk but she did follow Effie back to her room and waited while the former escort rummaged through what she had left in her vanity case. Eventually, she handed the girl a box. "They are flavored, I do not think you can find any like that around here. Do enjoy them."

Katniss was so obviously embarrassed, it was almost funny. "I only need a couple…"

"Take the box." Effie insisted, forcing it in her hands. "We haven't used condoms in ages. They will only gather dust here."

She had talked without thinking and now it was her turn to be embarrassed. She couldn't quite look the girl in the eyes.

"Wait…" Katniss frowned. "What do you mean we?"

Oh. She had thought the children had figured that much out. She had thought they were just being tactful by not mentioning the obvious.

Apparently not.

"Well…" she winced.

"Oh." Katniss squeaked in a most uncharacteristic fashion. Understanding and growing horror flashed on her face. "Oh."

"Now, Katniss…" she chided her.

"What's going on?" Haymitch asked, popping his head in her room with a frown. "There's ice cream melting on the kitchen table."

"Oh dear, the groceries!" Effie exclaimed. She had completely forgotten about that.

"You're sleeping with Effie!" Katniss accused, waving the box of condoms between her former escort and her mentor, her eyes still wide and horrified.

To his credit, Haymitch took it in stride. He looked at the girl, then at the box and then at her.

"Yeah, you're dealing with this one, sweetheart." he shrugged and then disappeared down the corridor. She hoped he would at least take care of the groceries.

"How long has this been going on?" Katniss asked, sounding freaked out.

Effie didn't see what the fuss was about. "A little over ten years."

"Ten years?" the girl shouted.

"Dear, I think you should breathe." Effie advised.

"But… But…" Katniss stammered.

"Does it change anything?" she asked curiously, not quite understanding why the girl was reacting the way she was.

Katniss opened and closed her mouth a few times and then turned even redder. "No?" She stared at Effie like she had grown a second head. "I need to talk to Peeta. Thanks for…" She awkwardly waved the box and then fled, absolutely too loud as she hurtled down the stairs.

Effie was slower in making her way to the kitchen, not sure if she should have been amused or hurt by the girl's reaction. Haymitch was leaning against the counter, eating a yogurt – even though he had ranted and ranted about girlish stuff when she had started buying them, now she was lucky if she got to sample one before he ate them all. She was happy to see the groceries had been put away.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"She was looking in your bedroom for condoms." she informed him. "I gave her my stock and then, well… I thought they knew about us."

"Peeta figured it out, I think." he shrugged. "Katniss… You know the kid. Not the most astute."

He snorted the last part with fondness and she couldn't help a soft smile at his open affection for the girl. She wandered closer, wrapping her arms around his torso and leaning against his chest. He kept on eating his yogurt, bringing the spoon to her mouth twice before she could ask him for some, and then finishing it. He dropped the whole thing on the counter and finally embraced her back.

"She didn't look pleased about it." she hesitated.

"She'll get used to it." he scoffed. "Not my problem what she likes or not. Probably got spooked by the sex thing."

"The sex thing." she huffed. "What a lovely way to talk about us."

"Fine." he humored her. "She probably got spooked by the awesome hot sex we're having. Better?"

"I think you are rather missing the point but I suppose so." she sighed.

He pressed a kiss on the top of her head and she snuggled closer, a smile stretching her lips because…

"Want to go have some awesome hot sex, sweetheart?" he suggested.

Somehow, she had known that would be coming.

"Why…" she laughed. "When you put it like that, how can I refuse?"