Just a little something post MJ that's more focused on Katniss and Effie's relationship than hayffie but still there is some hayffie for you in there ;) I'm not that cruel.

Beverage Choices

It wasn't so unusual for Effie to find one of her former victors in her kitchen first thing in the morning that she was surprised when she saw Katniss sitting at the round table, a cup of coffee clutched between her hands.

"I hope you left some for me, dear." she hummed, still not quite awake. She was never awake before her morning coffee.

"In the pot." Katniss mumbled.

Effie darted a glance at the old clock on the wall, musing it was entirely too early for any of them to be up. Dawn was barely poking in the horizon, she saw, when she passed by the window over the sink. Haymitch would sleep for hours yet because he still preferred to sleep when it was light and she should have been snuggled up against him at least for another couple of hours. Nightmares had kept her up all night though. And she didn't feel like lying in bed, mulling over bad things she couldn't control.

It was different for the children, naturally. Peeta was always up very earlier for the bakery and Katniss had never been one to stay in bed when she could be up and about. Besides, from what she had been explained, it was best to go hunting early.

There was no bow propped against the wall, though, and the messenger bag the girl always took hunting was nowhere to be seen. Effie took her time to pour herself a big mug of coffee, wondering what this was about. Katniss wasn't dressed for the outdoors either. The girl was wearing tight black leggings and an oversized grey woolen sweater that Effie believed belonged to Peeta, her dark hair was tied down in a loose braid that hung over her shoulder…

She was dressed for comfort more than for practicality.

Now, it wasn't so unusual either for Effie to enter her kitchen in the morning and find one of her victors distressed from the demons that haunted their sleep that she was very alarmed by it all. It happened to all of them, herself included. Still, she didn't like the troubled look in Katniss' eyes.

She tightened the woolen dressing gown she had stolen from Haymitch – her lavender shorts and matching top were very decent but it was cold and she didn't want Katniss to remark, once again, that she should just invest in sturdiest pajamas; the last time they had shopped in town together, the girl had tried to make her buy monstrous flannel pants and a matching shapeless button-up shirt – and took a sip of warm coffee. The bitter taste was enough of a jolt that she felt a little more alert.

She quickly grabbed the bread leftovers, some butter and jam, and laid everything on the table – for Katniss' sake more than her own – before sitting down.

"Alright, dear, I am all yours." she cheerfully declared. "What is troubling you?"

Once upon a time, she would never have dared being so direct, however, with Katniss, being blunt was often the best way to get her to spill the proverbial beans.

Not unpredictably, the girl reached for the bread and buttered herself a toast. "Nothing." Effie pursed her lips and didn't say anything, taking another sip of her coffee. Silence stretched for about thirty seconds, long enough for Katniss to finish with the butter. Then the girl sighed. "I got a letter yesterday."

A letter that had clearly upset her.

She frowned. "Who was it from?"

She hoped it wasn't some sort of threat letters. Some fan mail, good or bad, found its way to them despite Plutarch's measures to prevent it.

"My mom." Katniss offered flatly.

"Ah." Effie answered in an equally flat tone. She reached for a piece of bread to busy her hands and give her something to focus on.

The girl snorted. "You hate her so much…"

"I do not!" she frantically denied. "She is your mother. Of course, I do not hate her."

She simply disliked her a lot.

Katniss snorted again, more amused than offended, it seemed. They were silent for a minute. Katniss eating her toast, Effie spreading jam on hers…

"It's not the first time she writes." the girl offered. "She used to call me in the beginning but it was weird so… She writes now."

Effie sure hoped the woman wrote regularly. That was the least she could do.

"That is nice. Isn't it?" she asked carefully.

Katniss hesitated, her grey eyes focused on her nearly empty cup of coffee… She wrapped her callused fingers around the mug once more, as if to warm them. "She's got new friends. From the hospital, from where she lives… She tells me about them a lot. She seems happy."

Effie was very aware she was walking on potential eggshells there, so she simply hummed, not expressing any opinion whatsoever. The girl hesitated some more, turning her mug one way and then the other. It was Haymitch's favorite mug, Effie noticed absent-mindedly, the green one with a cartoonish goose Peeta had bought him for his previous birthday.

"I think she's seeing someone." Katniss finally blurted out.

It took everything Effie had not to wince. That would have been a complicated situation even if the circumstances had been… normal but given what they were…

"Does that bother you?" she asked. That would be understandable, she supposed, the shrine Katniss had erected to her father in her head was only comparable to the one Haymitch had carried for his dead loved ones for so long. It had been close to a decade though. She couldn't blame Aster Everdeen for moving on and trying to find some happiness in a life that had been full of tragedies.

"Not really. I don't know." The girl shrugged. "I mean… I will always love Dad but I have another family now so… It wouldn't really be fair to be angry about her for getting the same, right?"

Effie's heart warmed like every time one of the children referred to their little team as a family.

"I would not think so, no." she approved, proud of her former victor for being mature about this. "Is that what she is telling you in that letter?"

Katniss shook her head. "No. That's just…" The girl waved her hand in the air dismissively. "She wants to see me."

Effie's eyebrows shot up in surprised but she quickly schooled her features back into polite interest. "She is coming to Twelve?"

Katniss shook her head again. "She wants me to go see her."

She opened her mouth and closed it again before licking her lips. "Have you talked to Haymitch about this?"

Because Katniss wasn't supposed to leave the District. It would have been nice if she had been allowed to… Effie had gone to Four for a few days the previous summer and she would have loved for everyone to come with her but the children had been forced to stay behind and Haymitch wasn't supposed to leave Katniss unattended so…

The girl shrugged. "Not yet."

"It's been three years…" Effie remarked. "Perhaps they will… revise their sentence. The exile was never supposed to be forever."

At least that was not what she had been led to understand. It had just never… been reviewed. The question had never arose, she figured, and Haymitch hadn't wanted to poke the horn nest yet… However, if Plutarch got on it… Hopefully they could keep the whole thing quiet and… Yes, Effie believed it could be resolved easily enough. Doctor Aurelius would likely have to give the go-ahead but Katniss was so much better than…

"I'm not sure I want to go." the girl declared and Effie broke out of her dreams of summers in Four with the whole family to study the young woman sitting in front of her.

Katniss was scowling but that wasn't unusual in itself. The way she was glaring at her coffee though…

The coffee thing alone was unusual, now that Effie thought about it. It was so normal for Capitols to take coffee in the morning that she hadn't even questioned it but now that she was a little more awake… Haymitch and the children tended to prefer tea for breakfast, Katniss in particular was really partial to hot chocolate, and when they made an exception and turned to coffee it usually meant they had a very bad night and needed the boost of energy to face the day. She wasn't even sure Katniss actually liked coffee.

"How about some hot chocolate?" she offered.

If the girl was thrown by the abrupt change in topics, she didn't show it. She shrugged but there was a spark of interest in her eyes so Effie rolled with it and stood up. She banged the cupboard door a little too loud and winced, certain that would have woken up Haymitch – and, if it hadn't, the clings of pots when she took one out of the pile surely would. Perhaps that was her selfish aim. Haymitch was so much better than her at handling Katniss' problems… He didn't magically appear to save her though. Not when she put the milk to boil and not when she carefully poured some ready mix powder in two mugs. She added some whipped cream on top of Katniss' mug, just to see the girl smirk like always when she thought Effie was being ridiculous. The smirk was worth it though, just to see the happy twinkle in the girl's eyes.

"No whipped cream for you?" Katniss teased.

Effie sniffed disdainfully and emptied what was left of her coffee in the chocolate, ignoring the girl's disgusted wrinkle of her nose. When you didn't have decent coffee shops around, you learned to make-do yourself and that was the closest she would ever get to drinking a Mocha again.

"Do you know… If you do decide to go to Four, I do believe we would all come with you…" Effie hummed nonchalantly, as if discussing the weather. "You would not have to go alone."

Katniss watched her with fondness but didn't do a good job at hiding her eye roll. She did, however, do a decent job of scooping the whipped cream with her spoon before it melted too much into her chocolate. "I'm not scared to go alone, Effie. I think I can handle a solo train trip if I have to… I've done worse."

"The point is… You do not have to." she argued.

The girl's face softened a little. "I know." She was silent until there was no more whipped cream, then she stirred the chocolate with her spoon wistfully. "Maybe that's part of the problem."

Effie frowned a little. "You want to go alone? We would do whatever you want, darling, if you would rather…"

"No." Katniss cut her off rather rudely. Effie bit her tongue not to tell her off about it. "It's just… I've been doing things alone for a really long time. I'm better at letting Peeta in, now, at letting him help. And Haymitch. And you. But I didn't use to have that." The girl let out a frustrated breath. "I'm not explaining right. I…"

"No, I understand." Effie offered her a smile. "You did not use to have a support system." She hesitated a second and then shrugged a little. "I never had a family like this either. I dreamed about it, you know, when I was younger. A place to belong, where everyone would always love you no matter what, where you would always be accepted…"

Katniss gave her a brief nod. "Haymitch gets some of it. He never said but I guess he used to take care of his family too…"

"Yes, he did." she confirmed, hoping she wasn't crossing a line by discussing his family behind his back. "But, from what I understand, his mother was a force of nature. I doubt even at the mot difficult moments it was as bad as…"

She let her sentence trail off.

"His mom didn't check out to imaginary land and let him handle everything, you mean?" Katniss scoffed bitterly.

"I am sure it was a little more complicated than that." she carefully nuanced.

"Yeah." Katniss sighed. "Yeah, I know. She's sick. It's a real thing. Doctor Aurelius explained. Doesn't make it any fairer, right?" The girl pursed her lips. "She was good for a while. After my Games… In Thirteen…" She stayed silent a second and abandoned her hot chocolate to hug herself. "After Prim… I know I wasn't all there and it's all a bit of a blur but she started checking out again… I thought she was relapsing or something… Couldn't blame her… But… She was still fine." Katniss winced and met her eyes. "Not fine but…"

"I understand, darling." she promised. Aster hadn't left because she had relapsed.

"I get she didn't want to come back to Twelve or be stuck here where everything's a reminder…" The girl shrugged, hugging herself tighter. "But Haymitch did and he didn't have to."

"Oh, Katniss…" Effie bit down on her bottom lip, not quite sure how to say what she had to say. It was obvious Haymitch hadn't explained everything and… She didn't want to lie to Katniss. Not about this and not when she could find out the actual truth so easily. One conversation with her mother was all it would take and Effie didn't want to be the guilty party here, not when they had done nothing wrong. "The reason you were banished to Twelve… We had plans during the trial. We were all going to move away together, have a fresh start… It was not supposed to be Twelve."

The girl frowned. "What?"

"Your mother decided… Honestly, I think it was all too much for her so soon after your sister…" Effie didn't like having to play the devil's advocate. It wasn't just Katniss' life that Aster had left upside down by leaving. Effie had wanted the life Haymitch had offered. A fresh start somewhere far, together. Then he had been forced to leave her behind again and she hadn't been able to bear it. "You were supposed to be released into her custody but… She had to leave, darling, and that reflected badly on… the situation." She shook her head. "Haymitch stepped up immediately, of course, but… The judge decided it would be safer for everyone, yourself included if… Twelve was not in the plan but we were happy to do it anyway…"

That was a lot of bullshit and she stopped spilling it.

It wasn't Aster's fault, she knew that, but it was hard not to be resentful. Mostly because Effie would have killed for Katniss and she couldn't help but feel the other woman hadn't fought enough for her daughter.

"So she just left because she couldn't handle me? Even better." Katniss scoffed, her voice a touch too strangled. Her eyes weren't entirely dry either.

"Not everyone is equal in front of life, Katniss…" she whispered, reaching across the table for her victor's hand. She wasn't entirely surprised when the girl snatched it away after only a few seconds. It wasn't about her and Effie reminded herself of that. "Some people are stronger than others and…"

"No." Katniss interrupted, her lips stretched into a small snarl. "Some people stay and some people leave and that's all there is."

"I am not sure it is that easy." She sighed. "Perhaps your mother needed to leave in order to become strong enough to stay. I know I did…"

She had stubbornly tried to keep her head afloat in the Capitol for a whole year before she had caved and run to Twelve with her tail between her legs.

"You never left, Effie." Katniss argued. It was her turn to reach across the table and quickly squeezed her fingers. "You broke up with Haymitch, not with us. You called Peeta once a week. You're not someone who leaves. You'd never leave." The girl planted her feet on the edge of the chair to hug her legs close to her chest. "If you had two girls and Haymitch died, you'd never let the oldest one handle everything, you'd never let her go hunt in the woods at eleven and you'd never ever let her take tesseraes."

"I cannot even imagine the conditions you grew up in, Katniss…" Effie winced. "As Haymitch is so fond of reminding me I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth and…"

"Please." Katniss scoffed. "Tell me you wouldn't have done everything to keep us safe, clothed and fed."

She would have.

She would have done all sorts of terrible things to make sure her children would be alright – she had done things and Seneca's death weighted heavy on her conscience – and she would have sold herself before she had let her daughter sign up for tesseraes. But she was a resourceful person. Aster Everdeen…

Haymitch had this theory about people being potential victors, about being survivors at the core, and she didn't think Aster had it. As for herself… Well, for the ones she loved… She would move mountains.

"We will never know so it is a moot point to wonder." Effie answered, closing that avenue of thoughts. "The real question is… Are you interested to hear what your mother has to say or not? And bear in mind I know all there is to know about difficult relationships with mothers so I would not blame you for saying no."

"Would you go?" Katniss asked curiously. "If your mom summoned you to the city?"

She took a sip of her drink to delay her answer, pondering the question. Would she? "The situation is slightly different and my mother is older." And she had never really broken off the vicious circle of seeking her approval even if she had resolved herself to always being a disappointment to her parents. "But, yes, I suppose I would go."

And come back miserable and disillusioned, no doubt.

Hopefully Aster had more common sense than Elindra did.

"You think I should go see her." Katniss insisted.

Effie didn't want to make it sound too influential one way or another because the decision was Katniss' and Katniss' alone. "I think… everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves."

"She had more than one chance." the girl muttered. "And I don't like that she expects me to go to her. If she wants to see me so much…"

"Then, write back and tell her that." Effie advised. "Perhaps she will be willing to come here or meet you halfway. In any case, it will take some time before we sort out your traveling situation so if what she has to say is urgent it would be easier for her to come to Twelve…"

She would call Plutarch later, at a more decent hour.

Katniss mulled that over while she finished her hot chocolate and then nodded once as if reaching a conclusion. "I'm gonna do that. Thanks."

The girl hesitated a second and then stood up, walked around the table and awkwardly hugged her. Effie hugged her back. "Any time, darling."

Katniss flashed a rare small soft smile and then said her goodbyes. The back door had barely closed behind her when Haymitch made his presence known by leaning against the doorframe. He was only wearing a pair of sweatpants and his worn out slippers. He must have been freezing.

She sighed. "How much of that conversation did you hear?"

He snorted but the amusement didn't reach his eyes. "Thought the banging door was a subtle way to summon me down, so…"

So he had been out there long enough that he could have helped.

She pursed her lips. "You could have come in."

"You were doing great." he countered. "And she wanted to talk to you not to me or she wouldn't have said a pip until she had cornered me alone." He shrugged, walked closer to her and dropped a good morning kiss on the top of her head. "And for the record, if we had two kids and I died, you'd be out there fighting like a tigress to make sure they didn't lack anything, we both know that."

"We both know Aster does not deserve her." she grumbled. "And yet you persist in making excuses for her."

"'Cause she didn't have an easy life and grief messes you up. I get that." he retorted, stealing what was left of her tepid makeshift Mosha. He took a sip and made a face, placing it back down in front of her. "Look, am I pissed Aster took off and left her to fend for herself again? Yeah, I am. Still doesn't change the fact she's her mom… Family's too precious, sweetheart."

"Funny how you do not sing the same tune when it comes to my family…" she hummed.

"That's different. They're assholes who don't treat you right." he scoffed.

"One could argue Aster has not treated our girl right either." she pointed out.

Haymitch tossed her a knowing smile as he went to fill the electric kettle for his morning tea. Then, he seemed to think better of it, muffled a yawn in his elbow and switched tracks to pour himself a cup of coffee instead. "You know you won't lose her cause her mom might come back in the picture, right?"

That was easy for him to say. The father figure spot was empty. Her relationship with Katniss had always been so rocky she wasn't sure she would enjoy some competition for the mother figure role. And she liked their little family just like it was. She loved the children as if they were her own and she liked to pretend…

"Hey." She hadn't seen him move, too lost in her own mind, but she looked up when he nudged her chin. "I know Katniss, sweetheart. Nothing's gonna change. She needs you more than she needs Aster and she keeps what she needs close by."

That wasn't exactly flattering but she sighed and forced a small smile, accepting the peck he planted on her lips. "I just hope she does not end up brokenhearted again."

"I'm gonna give Aster a call and check what she wants with our girl." he told her, not quite surprisingly. "I'm all for family but I'm also all for people not messing around with my kids."

He pecked her lips again, probably to erase the knowing smirk from her mouth, and then went to doctor his coffee with enough milk and sugar to make her wrinkle her nose in disgust.

Perhaps Katniss thought it was ridiculous to mix coffee with hot chocolate but she thought it was entirely ridiculous to drink coffee so sweetened it almost looked white.

She had never understood his coffee preferences.

Although, it probably didn't really matter… At least, she understood him.

I hope you liked it! Please let me know!