This is kind of an unofficial sequel to the Elindra Trinket one shot… You don't need to have read it to understand this one, though, but it's centered more about the Trinkets and their prejudices about Effie and Haymitch so… Yep. That's it. Enjoy!
Her Savior
Tadius stepped out of the train with a feeling of foreboding that was impossible to ignore.
He wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting from Twelve but he had been bracing for the worst, for the disgusting poverty that used to take up the screens back in the days of Reapings… It wasn't as bad as he had feared. The station was small but clean enough for one of those country Districts and he couldn't see any suspicious dirt-specked child who might pounce on him to steal his wallet. In fact, there wasn't much activity at all around the station.
There was a bored-looking stationmaster in uniform at the very end of the platform, too far away to be of any use to any traveler – his scarred face didn't really invite questions anyway. There was only another passenger to disembark at this stop, a bulky woman who struggled with unloading her suitcase. Probably a local, Tadius mused as he politely helped her and she thanked him in that thick accent that barely made sense to him.
Nobody went aboard the train, which puzzled him. Somehow, he had pictured people bleeding out of Twelve. He couldn't imagine wanting to stay in this place now that the borders had been torn down. Even in other smaller Districts, the various train stations were always busier than this desert, people coming and going, visiting family or trying to find a fresh start somewhere else…
Eleven had been poor and dusty but people there had been moving with determined energy. Around here…
Tadius took a deep breath and told himself this was the right thing to do if nothing else. He hadn't told Elindra about his split decision to catch a train for Twelve. He had been in Ten for a business deal – the only way he had found of saving the business empire he had built in a Capitol now ironically hostile to Capitols had been to outsource to different Districts, expand the franchises he owned, gamble with various building companies, conclude business deals with mayors and Districts entrepreneurs who didn't have the education to fully understand law terms… Ten had gone well, much better than he had hoped because the mayor had surprised him by being a rather clever individual – which was refreshing – the business had concluded a day earlier than planned… He had been so close to Twelve…
He had already been battling the urge to hop on a short train ride when he had been in Eleven a few months earlier.
When the business had finished early, it had felt like fate.
His luggage already on his way to the city thanks to the assistant he had already sent back along with it, Tadius was free to bury his hands in the heavy coat he had purchased for the exact purpose of visiting outer Districts. The air was always chillier out there, cleaner too in a way. In the brisk autumn afternoon, the wind carried the rich smell of pine trees, firewood and a faint hint of coal.
He hesitated when he stepped out on the other side of the station, having expected to find himself in town proper. Clearly, that wasn't the case. There was nothing but nature around him, trees and abandoned fields… There was a battered path though and, in the distance, he could spot the harried woman dragging her suitcase. He followed her at a sedate pace, truly hoping he wasn't going to regret this.
But how could he regret checking on his youngest daughter?
It had been four years since the war and three years without any news from Effie.
She wrote sometimes but Elindra burned the letters without opening them, too caught up in her own bitterness about Effie's choices, and it killed Tadius not to know if their daughter was calling them for help or not. He had tried to hire someone discreet to investigate but the arbitrary ban on journalists in Twelve's Victors' Village to protect the Mockingjay and her husband had impeded the detective's effort. That and, according to his reports, people were very distrustful of strangers and hadn't taken kindly to his asking questions about one of their victors or his significant other.
Elindra insisted Effie would come home eventually, that she would see the errors of her way and crawl back to them begging for forgiveness. She clung to that idea like to a lifeline, dotted on Lyssandra and the boys to distract herself…
Tadius wasn't so sure.
Effie, after the war, could only have been described as unstable. There had been the concerning reports of her collapsing in various public places with what had tactfully be described as attack of nerves… There had been the succession of small jobs she hadn't been able to keep despite his discreet interventions and Secretary Heavensbee's influence… There had been the impressive amount of debts she had accumulated once the new government she had apparently chosen to support had seized her assets and left her penniless…
He had paid back a lot of those debts without Elindra's knowledge and it had been difficult because the company hadn't been doing so well at the time and they had been short of money for the first time in forever. Someone he strongly suspected to be Abernathy had covered the rest after she had disappeared to Twelve.
Well… She hadn't disappeared to Twelve as much as Elindra had pushed her there.
Around a year after the war, Effie had finally crawled home to ask for help after being kicked out of the pitiful apartment she was renting – something Tadius had been waiting for. She had been in a frightful state, according to Elindra, as unladylike as it came, but Lyssa had been in the house and Elindra had chosen to send her back. Tadius had been furious. He truly had been furious. All the more so when word had come, after he had looked for her everywhere in the city, scared that she would do something stupid like endanger her own life, that Heavensbee had lent her enough money for a train ticket to Twelve.
And then there had been nothing but the occasional letter that went unopened.
Tadius couldn't take it anymore.
He didn't share Elindra's confidence that Effie would come back at all. It had been years. And… Well, who knew what was happening in that house? His wife might feel incensed that Effie had discarded all the efforts and plans she had made for her future but Tadius was more concerned with the kind of life his daughter had sentenced herself to.
Abernathy had spent a huge amount of money to get her out of debts at the time and she might feel she owed him. And that was the more charitable explanation. The man was a drunk brute. He might simply be keeping her there by the force of his fists.
A town finally came into view as the path took a turn between two rows of trees and Tadius breathed more easily. He had been a bit afraid the woman was heading back to her own home lost in the woods. What did he know about how those people lived? Clearly they didn't have the common sense to have their train station in town. A five minutes walk wasn't a real hardship, of course, and he figured there had been no point having the train station in town back when travel had been forbidden but still, you would think the locals would be more practical.
The town was… rustic but it wasn't as bad as he had feared either. The streets were paved, the houses still looked brand new, there were very few cars but he saw more than a couple of old-fashioned carts and horses – he had gotten used to that in Ten and Eleven, though, so it didn't shock him as much anymore – people behaved a lot less intimidating than he had feared. They called out greetings to each other, often stopped to talk and exchange news… It all looked very pleasant, he mused, as he wandered the streets a bit at random.
Eventually, he ended up on a square he vaguely recognized from TV reports and such. Children played a game of tag in the middle of it while mothers heaved grocery bags in their arms going from shop to shop… It all looked so… normal. Maybe not Capitol elite but it was definitely a scene that could have taken place in the downtown area of the city where citizens weren't as wealthy.
He wasn't sure what he had been picturing.
Perhaps the same levels of sheer poverty that Twelve used to boost.
His eyes found the famous bakery he had unconsciously been looking for. There was a short line trickling outside the shop and the display window held a collection of impressive – and appetizing – cakes. Tadius wasn't sure if the business worked so well because of who the owner was or because it had to be the only bakery in the District, however nobody could deny Mellark's Bakery was doing well.
He didn't go any closer. He wasn't sure if Mellark would know him or not, he doubted Effie had been passing family pictures around but he didn't want to take the risk of alarming Abernathy of his presence before he had a chance to talk to his daughter.
He wandered around some more, a bit at random, before eventually admitting defeat. He would never find the Victors' Village on his own. He asked direction from a couple of boys playing in the street whose eyes widened when he flicked a gold coin at them.
Clearly, times hadn't changed that much.
The instructions the children had given him were convoluted but, once he found the mentioned meadow, it was easy to locate the slope leading up to the Village.
Unlike the rest of the District, that place clearly hadn't been renovated.
The huge metal gates were rusty, the fountain was covered with moss and didn't seem to be working…
Some of the houses closest to the gates showed signs of use but the furthest inside the clutter of houses he went, the more abandoned they looked.
He heard the screams long before he saw the house at the very back of the Village.
He would have known his daughter's voice anywhere.
The shriek made his blood run cold and sent his heart racing.
"No!" she screamed. "Haymitch! Haymitch, stop! Please!"
He ran to the house he knew from decades of interviews belonged to Abernathy only to stumble to a stop when he found himself faced with a flock of honking white birds wandering free in the yard.
Effie was still begging for her life, shrieking from time to time, her voice tight with pain… A dog was barking in time with her screams…
It all came from behind the house and Tadius wasn't going to let a sea of filthy birds stop him.
Hoping Abernathy's poultry – and he was probably forcing his daughter to care for them, the oaf – wouldn't attack him on sight, he rushed around the side of the house to what he assumed to be the backyard.
It took him less than a minute to reach it but it was enough for him to spin a scenario in his mind where he would find his daughter bleeding and bruised on the ground, her tormentor towering over her… He would save her and bring her home and all would be well…
All would be…
He wasn't sure how to interpret what he saw when he burst out into the backyard at first.
Everything froze.
He froze.
Abernathy and Effie froze.
It wasn't what he had been expecting.
At all.
Effie was trapped in the man's arms, true enough, but there was a look of pure delight on her face that slowly faded when she spotted him, peals of laughter died on her lips… Abernathy's arms tightened protectively around her when his grey eyes found his, his fingers stilled on her side and under her armpit…
The whole thing lasted less than a second.
The huge white fluffy dog that had been jumping around them – because clearly that had all been some kind of game, there was a dirty chewed ball forgotten in the dead grass – was suddenly hunched over between him and his owners, ears fully flat, fur standing on end, snarling and growling low in his belly, flashing his teeth and aggressively barking in turn…
In the same moment, Abernathy shoved Effie behind him, his hand flying to his belt, probably looking for a weapon, but coming up empty.
Tadius lifted both hands, eyes wide, head spinning a bit with the backsplash of expectations versus reality.
The dog slowly moved closer, forcing him to step back just as slowly, wary of triggering…
"Down!" Effie suddenly ordered, shock still ringing in her voice. "Nugget, down. Down, pretty boy. Down."
"Effie." Abernathy protested, a warning clear in his voice when she stepped out of his protective shadow to grab the dog.
Tadius thought it was about the beast, at first, that he was concerned about her coming so close to an attack dog…
"Down, Nugget." she repeated again. "Good boy. My pretty boy…"
Her hands buried in the bristled fur and the dog immediately relaxed, its head swinging from her to him a few times… It still growled a little when Tadius finally lowered his hands but a few well placed scratches had it wriggling its tail and seeking more caresses in no time. Quicker than Tadius could process, the beast had its tongue lolling out and was butting its head against Effie's leg.
"Effie, come back here." Abernathy insisted, eyeing him like he was the threat to his daughter, like he was the drunk brute here.
"It's alright, darling." she countered in the same soothing tone she had used on the dog. "He's my father."
Her tone was hesitant, still a bit shocked…
"Oh." was all Abernathy found to say. He didn't sound overjoyed. But, then again, why would he be? He probably knew that, with Tadius there, whatever hold he had on Effie would weaken… "Nugget, here." The man clicked his fingers once and the dog bounced away from Effie to come sit at his feet. "Good boy."
Abernathy scratched his head but his eyes stayed on Tadius, wary and full of mistrust.
"I apologize for bursting in." he said, when he realized Effie wouldn't say more, was too confused to greet him properly. "I heard screams. I thought… I thought someone was getting hurt."
Abernathy scoffed with loathing but no surprise.
It wasn't the right thing to say, that was obvious at once. Effie's face closed and the little warmth on her face vanished. "We were playing with the dog. Haymitch was tickling me."
"Yes." Tadius cleared his throat. "I see that now."
She had gone native at some point during the last three years. Her accent certainly wasn't Twelve but it wasn't exactly Capitol either anymore. That, and she looked District. Fashion may have moved away from wigs, heavy make-up and bright clothes but fashion was still a thing and whatever it was she was wearing wasn't it: blue leggings, inelegant heavy brown boots and a woolen sweater that was far too large for her – and that he strongly suspected belonged to the man standing behind her. Was Abernathy refusing her basic funds for clothing?
Effie must have caught the disbelieving look he gave her outfit because she blushed and hastily patted the loose curls that tumbled down on her shoulders. Her natural hair, he realized, he wasn't sure he had ever seen it before. It had copper hues that was closer to his own natural shade than Elindra's and Lyssa's glossy honey color.
"I was not expecting company. We just came back from a hike in the woods." she explained quickly.
"You don't have to justify shit, sweetheart." Abernathy chided her, stepping closer to place a big restrictive hand on her shoulder.
Tadius wanted nothing more than to slap that hand away and that was why he walked closer… He wasn't going to talk to his own daughter from the other side of the yard.
Except the dog, who had been happily entertaining itself with his toy, was back between him and Effie in a flash, not quite making the same aggressive display as he had earlier but still showing enough teeth and growling low enough to make him reconsider coming any closer.
"Nugget." Effie rebuked, clicking her tongue once. Chastised, the dog fell flat on his belly and tossed her a pleading look, as if it wanted nothing more than take a bite out of Tadius. "My apologies, he his extremely protective."
"Comes in handy when noisy Capitols come poking." Abernathy muttered.
"Journalists." Effie corrected quickly. "He means journalists. You are most welcome, of course, Father."
She elbowed the victor in the ribs. Abernathy grumbled but the tension in his shoulders relaxed a fraction.
"Right." he said, without any enthusiasm whatsoever. "Sure. Welcome." Effie pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes and shot him a warning look. The man rolled his eyes, forced a smile that was very obviously fake and turned back to Tadius. "Sorry about the dog."
"Are you… Are you alone?" Effie asked, apparently deciding her victor's manners were a lost cause. "Is Mother…"
"She is in the city." Tadius confirmed quickly. "I was on a business trip in a nearby District. I thought…"
"Oh…" his daughter said awkwardly before faking a smile. "Lovely. Would you like to come in? You must be parched. How about some tea?"
She moved to the back porch as she babbled, Abernathy and the dog hot on her heels like two overprotective shadows. Tadius followed her inside, a bit… puzzled.
The house was not at all what he had expected either.
The kitchen was painted a bright sunny yellow – the exact shade of sunny yellow Effie always ended up painting her kitchen in all the apartments she had lived in over the years. That surprised him somehow. He hadn't thought Abernathy would allow her the eccentricity of her preferred colors. The rest of the room felt homey. It was spotless, with barely a hint of clutter on the sideboard, but clearly lived-in in a way that would immediately put a visitor at ease.
"Are you hungry?" Effie asked nervously, waving at a plate half-full with muffins on the round kitchen table. "They're fresh, Peeta brought them this morning… Or would you like something more substantial? There is some duck left from lunch…"
"Duck?" Tadius frowned. The thought of Effie in a kitchen…
"It is delicious." For the first time, a genuine grin stretched her lips as she shot Abernathy a softer look. "Haymitch is a great cook."
"He… does the cooking." he commented, not quite daring to glance at the man who had just eased himself down at the kitchen table even though anyone with a modicum of manners would have left them alone to talk in private. But it made sense the victor wouldn't leave if he was keeping her there under duress, he wouldn't want to give Tadius an opportunity to…
"Well, I tried twice and I almost burned down the house twice." Effie joked, glancing at Abernathy again. She was beaming with amusement and, even though he didn't comment, the victor looked just as amused at the shared memory. "We all decided it is much safer if I just stick to boiling water and brewing coffee."
This was all mind-boggling and Tadius slowly closed the backdoor behind him. "I… Just tea, if you would not mind."
"Of course." she quickly agreed. "Sit down, please. Make yourself at home."
She was a nervous bustle of energy, shooting left and right to fill the kettle, grab mugs… It made the transition all the more brutal when she went suddenly unnaturally still, staring at Tadius' fingers wrapped around her wrist.
He hadn't really meant to.
She had passed right by him and…
The dog growled but it shut up quickly when Abernathy absent-mindedly nudged it with his leg. The man was pretending to inspect a tattered golden bangle around his own wrist instead of staring, which Tadius appreciated, but he was also very obviously surveying them from the corner of his eye.
It had been four years since he had last seen her, before the rebellion and the months spent wondering if she was alive or dead. They had been certain, Elindra and him, that she was in Capitol custody – for the many interrogations they had been submitted to, the Peacekeepers had never once asked where she was, which kind of hinted they knew already – but not quite certain what that meant. He didn't remember the last time he had seen her. On a Sunday, more likely than not, at the family brunch always invaded by prestigious guests… It would have had to be before the Quell and he probably hadn't said much to her. A greeting and banalities about the weather, no doubt, because he had never had much to say to his daughters – not before the war rolled over and crushed the Capitol to dust.
"Euphemia…" he whispered around the sudden lump in his throat. He tugged on her wrist and, she while walked willingly enough into his embrace, she remained tense and still. Her hands tentatively fell on his sides but she didn't hug him back with open arms.
Although he figured that wasn't so surprising…
She had come home for help and Elindra had turned her away…
"I miss you." he confessed.
"I am… glad to see you, Father." she answered, which was as warm a welcome as he had hoped for. He didn't try to hold her back when she drew back and stepped closer to where Abernathy was sitting. He told himself not to take it personally when she relaxed at the fainted touch of the victor's hand brushing against her trembling fingers.
"Sit down." Abernathy told her, in a gentle voice that Tadius would never have suspected him of being able to muster. The man's grey eyes passed on him without stopping. "You too."
Tadius did as he was bid while the victor took over the tea making.
It didn't add up with the imaginary life he and Elindra had pictured her living. In their minds, she was barely more than a slave in that house, a glorified maid that the drunk used and abused as he saw fit.
Abernathy didn't look that drunk although there was an open bottle on the counter that told Tadius that particular demon hadn't been vanquished and Effie looked neither used nor abused. There was not a bruise in sight – not always a real proof, he knew, but he couldn't imagine Abernathy would care to hide his mistreating and he couldn't believe anyone in Twelve would care about the fate of their former escort.
It was a bit as if someone had pulled the rug from under his feet.
He had wanted to be the savior, to come rescue his daughter and bring her home.
And instead…
"So…" Effie hesitated. "How is everyone? I tried to call a few times. Lyssa… Lyssa still does not feel like talking to me, it seems."
He winced. "Nobody told me you called."
"I wrote too." she retorted, a hint of anger and hurt in her voice. It was smoothed over though, polished under polite disinterest.
He winced harder. "I know."
The admission was followed by a rectangular tin box being tossed on the table with a clang. She shot Abernathy a chiding look but the man just scowled at him as if he couldn't express just how much he loathed him.
How was it, Tadius mused, that he had come here to judge that man and he was the one being judged instead?
"I see." Effie hummed, riffling through the heaps of tea bags inside the metal box. It seemed they were going to use teabags like ruffians instead of fixing a teapot. Perhaps she had gone native. Elindra would have been appalled at that sort of tea time.
He cleared his throat, picking a tea bag at random and dropping it in the mug Abernathy placed in front of him with another scornful look. "Your mother is… I would not say she is still angry but, I suppose, you could say she is… disappointed in your choices."
"I see." she repeated but there was no more hesitation in her voice. It had gone cool. Dangerously calm.
The kettle whistled and Abernathy silently poured the water in the three mugs, briefly coiling his free hand around Effie's nape when he filled hers. The grip felt oppressive and dominant to Tadius but his daughter relaxed into it as if it was the best thing. She briefly bumped her head against his forearm before he retreated to put the kettle in the sink.
The dog sat down next to her chair and placed its big head on her lap.
"What kind of breed is that?" he asked, curious despite himself. He had never seen that sort of dogs in the city.
"Samoyed." Abernathy answered when she stayed silent a beat too long.
It didn't escape Tadius' notice that the victor had taken the chair between them, like a human buffer.
He wanted to think that it was to keep her isolated from her family but it seemed rather obvious that it was a protective move. His whole behavior since Tadius had showed up had been protective. Not possessive. No… Protective.
It was mind-boggling.
"He's a good dog." the victor continued when it became clear no one else would. "Effie's his whole world. Real protective of her, he is… Hates it when she's hurt or upset… That can make him a bit dangerous."
Tadius hadn't needed the pointed look to understand the threat or the fact they weren't talking about the dog anymore.
Effie rolled her eyes and snorted, her lips stretching into a smile, absolutely not fooled either. Abernathy scowled at her but she just looked at him with unabashed fondness.
Such open affection wasn't exactly proper in public and it wasn't at all representative of the way he and Elindra had raised her but… Well… He preferred a lack of decorum to her bleeding under heavy fists.
"Tell me about Mother and Lyssa, Father." she said, putting some cheer back in her voice. "They might not want to hear about me but I would like to hear about them. And the boys, of course! Why, they must be so big now…"
Real little men already, really, he mused, and he was going to tell her just that when she reached for one of the muffins and the oversized sweater slid a little off her shoulder. There was an ugly swollen scar curling over her shoulder down to her collarbone and, smaller, fainter surgical lines around it.
She caught him staring and abandoned the muffin to right her sweater, hiding the scar from view.
His jaw clenched and he stared at Abernathy. "Did you do that?"
The man stared back, without a blink or a flinch. "Yeah."
"No." Effie cut in with a brief glare for the victor.
Abernathy shrugged, regret and guilt passing over his face. "What's the difference? Weren't my hands but it was my fault."
"No, it was not." she hissed, turning her glare to Tadius. "It was a Peacekeeper, if you must know. Yes, there are more. No, I do not wish to discuss it." She took an agitated sip of her tea. "Now, why are you really here?"
Tadius frowned. "I told you. I was on a business trip to…"
"I am fairly confident there were many business trips before this one." she snapped, her breathing a little harsh. "I read the papers, you expanded the company all over Panem. You could have come at any time in the last three years. You could have come to see me any time while I was still in the city for that matter, so why now?"
The dog let out a small distressed whine.
"Sweetheart." Abernathy abruptly said with no trace of heat in his voice despite the urgency of his tone. "Easy." For a second, Tadius thought she would snap at him too but then she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Her hands were still shaking when she opened her eyelids again but she seemed a bit more composed. The victor slowly covered her fingers, searching her eyes. "You're good, princess?"
There was so much affection in his voice, so much – dared he think it – love…
"Yes." she whispered. The dog was still whining and she smiled faintly, scratching him behind the ears before planting a kiss on top of its head. "I'm fine, my pretty boy."
Tadius wasn't sure what had just happened – or not happened – but Abernathy only relaxed once she picked up her mug for another sip of tea. He didn't take his hand back though and not a single muscle of his face twitched when she turned her palm up and entwined their fingers. As if it was perfectly natural.
And maybe it was.
What did Tadius know? It would never have occurred to him to hold his wife's hand over the dinner table when they had guests but this was Twelve, not the Capitol, perhaps they were in a habit of doing things like that here.
"My apologies, Father." she offered coldly. "The question stands though."
He sighed. "I wanted to come see you sooner. Your mother forbade it."
"At least we know who's wearing the pants." Abernathy mocked.
Effie shot him another of those chiding looks and he rolled his eyes but fell silent.
"Yes." Tadius replied with a pointedly lifted eyebrow. "I rather think we do."
He half-expected the man to attack him for implying he was domesticated but after a second of heavy scowling, Abernathy snorted as if it was a good joke. "Well, I've always said Effie's a bossy bitch…"
He spluttered from outrage at his daughter being called…
"He is just trying to aggravate me, Father. Do not take the bait." Effie sighed, pouting a bit sadly at her victor. "I am fine, Haymitch, truly. You can stop worrying."
Tadius failed to see how insulting her might be a show of concern on the man's part but, clearly, she seemed to think it was and Abernathy didn't hurry in protesting.
He shook his head, deciding the only sane thing to do was ignore their strange behavior.
"I waited for you to come to me." he told Effie, getting the conversation back on track. "I paid your debts hoping you would come find me."
She frowned. "No, you didn't."
"I agreed to be the guarantee card when you took loans." he scoffed. "Who do you think covered those debts?"
Her cheeks flushed red. "I will pay you back."
"That is not the point." Tadius dismissed. "The point is… I hoped you would come home. What happened when you did was… unfortunate. But it was not my choice. I kept an eye out for you after the war. If you had come straight to me, things would have been different."
"Perhaps." she granted hesitantly. "But likely not. I did come home eventually, the only real one I have ever known."
It took him a while to figure that one out and it was only when his eyes drifted to their still linked hands that he got it.
He couldn't claim to be able to relate.
Imagine home being a person rather than a mansion… No. He couldn't relate. Perhaps at one point, early on in his relationship with Elindra, he had thought… But that had been a long time ago. And short lived.
"So you are… happy here?" he insisted.
The question seemed redundant.
The look on her face when he had burst in that yard, right before she registered his presence, it had been pure joy. The kind he hadn't seen on her face since her early childhood when Elindra's father took her for illicit outings to the skating ring in winter or not-so-secret trips to the fair in summer.
The dog shot up and darted to the door, barking like mad, a second before the back door was flung open without a knock or a warning.
"Nugget, down, you idiotic dog!" a female voice snapped, right before she fearlessly nudged the dog aside with her leg. Katniss Everdeen walked in as if she owned the place, closely followed by a laughing Peeta Mellark. "Don't laugh, that dog hates me!"
The two young victors suddenly froze when they spotted him.
Tadius figured they weren't used to finding a stranger sitting at Abernathy's kitchen table.
"Haymitch?" the burned girl asked and it wasn't really a question, it was more of a…
Let's say that if Abernathy had given the order, Tadius was pretty sure the girl would have pulled out a weapon, any sort of weapon, and turned it on him.
"Katniss, Peeta, this is my father." Effie smoothly cut in before blood could be shed. "Father, you will remember my victors, naturally."
She put so much pride in that possessive pronoun, as if they were truly hers by blood instead of random lack of luck on their part.
He and Mellark exchanged polite, although guarded, how do you do? while the girl glowered menacingly. She leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded on her chest. He thought it was about him invading her mentor's house initially, but then…
"Effie's not going back to the Capitol." she declared full point, even though nobody had talked about that yet.
"Of course I am not, dear." Effie chuckled, standing up to fetch two more mugs – an excuse, Tadius mused, to better ran a soothing hand down the girl's arm on her way. "Father is just visiting. Aren't you, Father?"
"Yes." he confirmed.
Mellark immediately relaxed and flopped down on a free chair, snatching a muffin from the plate despite Effie's disapproving look. The boy's hand stilled but his eyes turned a little pleading. "I'm starving."
Abernathy's reaction was to push the plate closer to the boy without a moment of hesitation but Effie glanced at the old noisy clock on the wall. "We will have dinner in an hour, won't you spoil your appetite?"
Tadius had to blink. First because the boy was in his twenties and should have been able to decide if he wanted a pre-dinner snack for himself but, mostly, because he had never expected to hear his childless daughter use that sort of motherly tone.
He had known she cared for those two victors, naturally, but it was one thing to know it in the abstract way and another to witness… this. Whatever this was.
"True." Mellark regretfully sighed.
"Take half of it." Abernathy grumbled. "Ain't as if you don't eat like a bottomless pit anyway."
Effie seemed happy with the compromise and let it go. Mellark split the muffin with Abernathy like it was the most natural thing in the world. And the Mockingjay was still glaring at Tadius as if she suspected him of planning the kidnapping of their escort.
"Are you staying for dinner, Father?" Effie offered politely. "Where are you staying?"
A part of him was a bit tempted to say yes but another part, the rational part, realized that he wasn't really welcomed. He felt like he was intruding on someone's family time. Because, as weird as it was, it was what they all looked like. A family.
"I am not staying." he answered. "There is another train in…" He glanced at the clock again. "Half an hour, actually. I should probably go."
"That was a short visit." she commented.
"Behind your mom's back." Abernathy muttered around a mouthful of muffin.
Tadius elected to ignore him. "I did not expect it to take long."
"I see." she said.
He wasn't sure she did but Abernathy, on the other hand, probably had an inkling because once Tadius stood up and Mellark and Effie offered to pack him a snack for the train ride – with the Mockingjay still glaring in the background – the man cornered him next to the table.
"She's safe here." he mumbled, low enough that it didn't carry to anyone else. "She's doing well. She's happy."
Which was all well and good but…
"Would you walk me back to the Village's gates, dear?" he hesitated.
"Oh, I can walk you back to the station even." Effie offered, clicking her fingers like Abernathy had done earlier. The dog came to heel immediately. It was a long walk and it was getting dark so he almost asked if she was sure and he expected someone to protest but nobody did. He figured the beast was enough of a deterrent to anyone who would have liked to hurt her.
"What was that about?" he heard the Mockingjay ask right before Effie closed the back door behind them.
They walked in silence for a while, until they passed the Village's gates and quickly reached the end of the slope. When Effie didn't follow the same path he had taken to get there, he figured she probably knew shortcuts and he didn't have much time left with her.
It was hard to find the right words though.
She was guarded, keeping herself at an emotional distance, and he could only understand. He had barged back into her life for a couple of hours only to bow back out and…
"I did not plan for a longer visit because I was truly expecting you would be leaving with me." he confessed, burying his hands in the pockets of his coat.
She shot him a surprised look but quickly redirected her eyes to the dog who was trotting ahead. "Did you think you would just have to whistle for me to come back?"
He winced. "No. But the life we pictured you having is really different from the one you seem to be living."
She snorted. "Mother really does not care for Haymitch."
"He does have the reputation of being a drunk brute." he countered.
Irritation flickered on her face, quickly hidden behind a smooth mask of disinterest. "And everyone is saying I am a slut who escaped the Purge by spreading my legs for Twelve's victor. Neither of you ever cared to try to see behind the façade." She pursed her lips hard. "He is a good man. He has his flaws but I have my own. We fit. We are happy together."
That was the impression they gave, he could grant her that.
"If he ever hurt you…" Tadius hesitated.
She huffed. "That you would even suggest that… He would cut his own hand before he lifted it on me. He is not nor has he ever been that kind of men."
"But if he did…" he insisted. "You know you could come home, don't you? You know we would welcome you home."
She studied him. He couldn't read her expression. She was his daughter but she was also a stranger, which made him feel old and sad.
"If something like that ever happened, if he somehow completely changed and started hurting me…" she countered slowly. "The children would hand him what he was due and take care of me." She shook her head. "I am sorry, Father, but your home is not my home anymore. I am not sure it ever was. My family is here." She hesitated and then briefly laid her hand on his arm. "But put that thought out of your head. Haymitch would never hurt me." She snorted, her lips twitching with amusement. "He is overprotective on a good day, you know… He would never let anything happen to me, never mind cause me harm himself." The amusement faded to sadness. "It is one of his triggers, actually… Me or one of the children getting hurt…"
He wasn't sure what she meant by triggers or why she was calling children two people who were clearly adults but she seemed honest enough about the state of things with him.
"Did you ever get married?" he asked, as an afterthought. It would have seemed logical given what he had witnessed.
"No." She shook her head. "Not officially. But I use his name more often than not. It is easier to be Effie Abernathy than Effie Trinket nowadays."
"If you were to get married…" he hesitated. "I would like to be there. If you would have me."
She flashed him a small smile as the station appeared around the bend. It was a much more direct route than he had taken on the way in. "That implies keeping in touch, Father. How can I do that when Lyssa hangs up on me every time I call and Mother won't read my letters?"
True, that was a conundrum.
But even the fact that it was a problem made him angry.
He understood Lyssa's resentment but he was still furious with Elindra for closing the door in their youngest daughter's face.
And for having taken the choice from him.
"Write to me at the office." he suggested. "You can even call me there, if you wish."
She seemed surprised but the small hesitant smile on her lips was, for the first time he felt, genuine. "I will."
"Good." He nodded. "Perhaps I could visit again. Longer than a couple of hours."
"I would like that." she agreed, still a bit guarded but less on the defensive. "I would like you to meet Katniss and Peeta properly. They are mine, you know."
She added the last part as an afterthought, as if it had been a long time since she had been forced to clarify that to anyone.
"I deduced." he confirmed. "And I would like that. If your Mockingjay would stop glaring at me, that is."
"She is perhaps more protective than Haymitch is." She chuckled. "But she is a good girl. She means well."
He wasn't entirely surprised, when they reached the station, to see the dog suddenly double back to joyfully jump and bark around a vague figure in the distance. The man didn't try to come any closer, he picked up a tree branch and tossed it, clearly happy playing fetch with the dog while they concluded their business…
Effie was smiling that blinding smile again, a mix of love and tenderness. "See? Overprotective. I am perfectly safe with Nugget."
But Abernathy wouldn't let her walk back alone in the dark and that was an unexpected comfort to Tadius.
It seemed the man did love her.
"I cannot fault him for wanting to keep you safe." Tadius argued.
When the train came into the station, he pressed a kiss on her forehead and said his goodbyes. It was obvious he was more emotional than she was. There was not even one small tear on her part, she simply looked impatient to go back home, to her family.
He hoped that maybe, in time, he could find a little room for himself there.
I hope you enjoyed this dip in Tadius' mind! It was a looong one so please let me know your thoughts!