7

Haymitch startled awake with a raging headache and a crick in the neck for having spent the night curled up in the armchair. He groaned, only remembering belatedly to be quiet so as to not disturb the two girls sleeping in his bed. Effie was dead to the world, Prim was twitching in her sleep. The girl had woken up several times during the night, he vaguely remembered, just like he vaguely remembered Katniss poking him in the arm to let him know she was back.

Without surprise, the nausea was still very much a thing.

But when he tried to stand up and walk to the bathroom, he was a little steadier on his feet than he had been the previous night and, while his head and his shoulder – his whole body really – throbbed, he didn't feel too sluggish or like he was about to keel over and die. His reflection in the mirror above the sink, on the other hand, did look like he was about to do just that.

He quickly used the bathroom, switched his sweaty clothes for clean ones and wandered out of the bedroom, not bothering with socks or slippers. Avoiding the creaking boards was instinct.

The door to the girls bedroom was open but he didn't need to look to know it would be empty so he went straight to the guest room, not surprised to find Katniss sitting at the foot of Peeta's bed, legs hugged close to her chest, in her fluffy looking flannel pajamas, wrapped in a matching green fleece dressing gown. Her hair was wet and pulled up in a bun at the top of her head.

She looked at him with tired eyes but all he could think about was that the pajamas were new and that, since she never bought new clothes for herself, either Prim had made use of the cash he had thrown at her to treat herself with something nice to buy something for Katniss instead or Effie had been hard at work. Effie was always trying to replace their Slayer's tattered wardrobe by tossing things at her she pretended she was about to throw away so Katniss didn't scream about pity or charity – which was stupid because they were in charge of her, now, they were supposed to make sure she had proper clothes. And she needed more winter clothes probably. They were patrolling late and it was cold nowadays, he needed to make sure she wouldn't catch pneumonia and he should really have thought about this before and…

Katniss was looking at him in a funny way, probably because he had been staring at her green flannel pajamas like he had never seen a pair before.

"You've slept yet?" he asked, gruff.

She shrugged. "Took a nap."

That wasn't good. Counting their trip to the hellish dimension, she had been up for…

"You're gonna take at least five hours and sleep today." he warned her. Then he let himself glance at the boy who looked pale, disheveled and, despite Katniss' efforts, still dirty. "He woke up yet?"

She shook her head, her features turning into a scowl. "No. I asked Cinna when he came back and he said it was okay, that whatever mojo the Peacekeeper had used, it probably tired his body a lot…"

He nodded. "Look… Let's give him until noon. If there's still no change, we'll get him to a hospital or call a doctor to check him over. That sounds good?"

She nodded but she didn't uncurl. She looked young, exhausted and worried.

And he would have liked it better if she had blown her hair dry because it was chilly in the house and she would catch a cold.

"Why is Prim sleeping in your bed?" she asked.

He shrugged. "She was scared of having nightmares."

Katniss rubbed her face. "I need to talk to her but I don't know what to say. What she did…"

"What she did was stupid but she's twelve so she's bound to fuck up sometimes." he interrupted. "She's grounded, obviously, but…" He shrugged again. "I think it's lesson learned, sweetheart, so I say… Don't be too hard on her. You thought about what I said about her? Sending her…"

"I don't know, Haymitch." Katniss whispered, pressing her face against her knees. "It feels like giving her up."

It did.

And it hurt.

He rubbed his own face.

"We can talk about it later, when you've slept and I don't feel like shit." he granted. "Cinna's back you said?"

"He didn't find her." she muttered, propping her chin on her knees to look at him. "He moved the…" She hesitated, clearly looking for the right words. "… his girlfriend's body to the basement 'cause it's cooler there. Apparently stasis spells only last so long. Since Prim was in yours, I told him to take my room."

They would need to figure out who would sleep where because it was stupid to play musical beds when Effie's house sat empty on the other side of the street. That could wait for him to find some aspirin, a coffee and probably a new dose of Cinna's dirty socks potion to keep his body from collapsing like it really wanted to do.

"Effie woke up." he told her.

Katniss lifted an eyebrow. "Don't sound so happy about it."

He made a face. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you." Then he made another face. "She told me something back in that castle and I fucked it up. I ain't sure she's gonna be too happy to see me."

He would never have admitted that much if he hadn't felt so weak and rattled in body and soul.

"Boys are stupid all the time, she'll get it." Katniss dismissed.

"Not everyone can be Peeta." he mocked but without any edge to it. For a sixteen year-old teen, Peeta had pretty smooth moves, Haymitch had to admit.

"Exactly." she retorted and then snorted. "You're gonna have to apologize. But it's Effie so you will have to make it special."

He wasn't sure how you were supposed to apologize for failing to answer a love declaration appropriately, anything short of an 'I'm sorry, I love you too' wouldn't cut it and…

It's alright to lean on someone, to need them. To love them. You were so good at loving. So good at loving me.

He chased the fuzzy memory of his hallucination out of his mind.

"I'm gonna go hunt down some coffee." he grumbled, stifling a yawn. "Maybe something to eat."

He was still feeling like puking but his stomach had been empty so long it might be why he felt like his body was ready to pass out.

"Gale's sleeping on the couch." she announced. He had half-turned toward the door when he stopped and turned back to look at her, eyebrows raised in questions. She rolled her eyes. "Peeta's truck is busted, you're gonna need to have it fixed. I didn't want to let Gale drive back to the trailer park with it like that so we called his mom." She paused and snorted. "Seems like she has the same rule you do about boys in the bedroom 'cause she wasn't happy with it. We told her he was actually having a sleepover with Peeta at Effie's so… Chances are she's gonna call you to check. Don't mess it up."

That was a lot of information and he chose to focus on the most relevant one. "Define busted."

She fidgeted a little. "Cracked windshield. Some bumps. It was working just fine but it started doing a weird noise by the time we came home."

He licked his lips. His headache was about to worsen, he could feel it.

She had poked him awake the previous night to tell him she was back, she hadn't mentioned anything and he had stupidly assumed that meant she had followed his orders and simply had nothing to report.

When would he learn?

"How did you crack a windshield on a surveillance mission?" he asked oh so sweetly.

She wasn't fooled.

She scowled harder. "Gale had to run Enobaria over to stop her from getting me." She paused and then shrugged. "I don't think that killed her."

It obviously wouldn't have killed her.

Severed her spine if they were lucky, which would buy them a few days or a few weeks, but vampires healed fast so…

He pinched his nose, rubbed the painful spot between his eyes… "Anything I should know that can't wait half an hour?" She hesitated and then shook her head. "Okay. Then, we're having a group meeting in thirty minutes. Make sure Cinna knows."

"It's a school day." she reminded him, sounding even more tired.

And so it was.

"I'll shoot Heavensbee a text." he grumbled.

At this point, his and Effie's careers as teachers would come to a glorious end soon. Then again, with Snow free, it would be war soon. They might not have time to pretend they were all living normal lives.

He wandered downstairs and made a beeline for the coffeemaker only to groan when he found a mug full of a yellow-brown liquid in front of it. There was a note stuck to the coffee maker in Cinna's flowery script that said he had to drink the new dose and not mix it with coffee.

He grumbled under his breath as he flicked the electric kettle on and then looked around for his phone. Plutarch's answer was almost immediate. Classes were cancelled anyway, school was only open for people who wanted to see a counselor because of the Capitol Slaughter, as the Reaping had apparently been labeled.

He downed the potion, gagged at the horrible taste but managed not to throw it back up.

He opened and closed cupboards, not quite sure what he was looking for until he realized… Liquor. He was looking for liquor.

Cinna had said the potions wouldn't stop the cravings and he hadn't lied.

Haymitch's mouth was parched, his hands were shaking and there was this persistent thought in his mind that he would die if he didn't…

The kettle clicked, startling him. He poured the boiling water in a mug, added a random teabag from the pink tin box Effie had brought over and then decided it was time to suck it up.

He picked up his phone once more, scrolled through his contacts, took one deep breath and then called the Council.

Even without the time zone difference, they would have made him wait just to prove a point. Any other time, he might have hung up and waited for them to call him back. But it wasn't any other time and he wasn't really in a position to climb on his high horse so he waited while an operator handed him to another, mumbling on a stale piece of toast.

He considered it a success that he didn't immediately throw it up.

Then he decided Katniss needed some food too because grilled lizards and burgers wouldn't sustain a Slayer for long – and wasn't the healthiest – and that Prim needed something more nutritional than chicken soup in her stomach. He saved what was left of the soup though, for when Effie woke up again. Or Peeta. Would the boy be able to handle solids right away or would he need to work up his appetite too?

By the time Coin finally picked up her phone, he had enough bacon, toasts and eggs to feed an army.

"Abernathy." The woman said, making the greeting sound reproachful.

There was no beating around the bush so he chose to cut to the chase. "Snow's free."

There was a very long pregnant pause on the other end of the line. "Talk."

He did. He shifted most of the blame on himself because there was no reason to incriminate Katniss' or Effie's decisions.

"Are you telling me we lost Effie Trinket?" she interrupted when he was at the part where the Hellmouth had sucked the other Watcher in – he carefully left Peeta out of the tale. The Council wasn't aware Katniss wasn't working alone as a proper Slayer ought to do. His journal would reflect the truth because he made a point not to lie in his active Slayer diary but the Council would only get their hands on it when it would be too late to change anything.

"No." he sighed. "We got her back."

"You… got her back." Coin hesitated, sounding incredulous. "How?"

He had hoped he wouldn't have to tell her about that part. "Cinna opened a portal."

"Did you let your Slayer hop through a portal to a hellish dimension when a Master vampire who almost managed to take over the United States roams free?" she snapped, her voice going freezing cold.

"Of course I didn't let her." he scoffed, knowing he wasn't helping his case. "I went with her."

There was a long, long silence. "Were you drunk?"

"No." he snapped. "I wasn't about to leave her to her death."

He wasn't sure who he was even talking about: Effie or Katniss?

"A Watcher's sacrifice is a tragic thing but we all know it is a possibility. I ordered Trinket to take charge weeks ago because I could sense you were going soft-hearted on that Slayer. It seems she was not the only one you went soft-hearted on." Coin retorted. "Put her on the phone."

Even though Coin couldn't see him, he shook his head. "She's in no state to talk to you. She's recovering."

"As soon as she's recovered, I want her to call me. Do you understand?" the Head of the Council hissed. "I should replace you. I should replace you both right now."

He had sort of been expecting her to do just that. "So… You're… not?"

"There are many young Watchers here eager to prove themselves and I have no doubt they would do better. There are many senior ones too still eager to get another Slayer. A rogue Slayer on the Hellmouth with Coriolanus Snow roaming free, though?" she spat. Yeah, he mused, not many people would take those odds. "Unfortunately, you are the most experienced when it comes to this particular Hellmouth and to this particular vampire so you will remain at your post and you will fix this, do you hear me? Trinket is another matter entirely. I thought she would keep you in line and offer tactical support. Clearly, I was mistaken. Have her call me. And kill that vampire, Abernathy, or so help me…"

She hung up on him.

"Could have gone worse." he muttered, carrying the plates of food to the library because it was the only table big enough to sit everyone. His hands were shaking so badly that he almost dropped everything twice and it took him a few trips to get everything on the table.

He was rummaging around the fridge to find Prim's orange juice when he felt the presence at his back and startled, bringing a hand to his chest to calm his racing heart with a curse.

"Shit, Cinna." he scoffed. "Wear a bell around your neck."

The warlock looked grumpy – which might be explained either by the fact his girlfriend was dead or a magic hangover. "Madge just passed the boundaries. I am going to Effie's. I won't be long."

He didn't have time to ask what had happened with his search because Cinna disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He rolled his eyes. That was annoying.

He grabbed the orange juice and carried it to the library only to go back on his steps and open the front door when he heard the tentative knocking.

"Shouldn't you still be at the hospital, sweetheart?" he asked, stepping aside to let Madge in.

She had some colors back in her cheeks but Madge still looked pale and tired. She had bags under her eyes but, then again, so did them all. Her blond hair was tied into a low messy ponytail and he suspected the yoga pants poking from under her coat were more pajamas outfit than outwear. She was also carrying a pink box with Mellark's Bakery logo on it.

"They let me out early this morning." she explained. "I'm supposed to rest but Dad had to go back to work and Mom took a sleeping pill so I sneaked out through the window. As long as I'm back by noon, it should be fine." She talked quickly, with a nervous sort of excitement. "I guess I'm also missing school so you might have to cover for me. I've never broken that many rules."

"School's out today." he told her, propping the lid of the box open. Donuts. He liked that girl. He stole a chocolate one.

"Oh, good…" Madge wrinkled her nose. "Dad was furious about me skipping, not as furious as finding me injured at a murder scene though… I told him I was meeting my boyfriend, like you said…" She was talking fast and he wondered if that was the blood loss or if they had given her some pain meds at the hospital because she wasn't usually that keyed up. Her face brightened suddenly as her blue eyes found something behind him – or rather someone, because when he turned Hawthorne was leaning against the threshold, rubbing sleep out of his eyes with one hand and tugging his shirt lower with the other. "That's you by the way!" she exclaimed. "My boyfriend. I had to give him a name so… You know, if you two ever meet, play along. He's angry you had me skipping school but he's also impressed because all the rescued kids told the police about you and how you helped…"

Typical, Haymitch mused. Katniss had risked her very life going into the fray and Hawthorne who had shot a few arrows from the safety of a truck roof would get the laurels.

Hawthorne didn't look entirely awake but he smiled at the girl pleasantly enough. "You're okay?"

Madge trudged closer to him, having apparently forgotten that Haymitch was still there.

Yeah, he decided, there were definitely meds involved because he had never seen the kid with a loopy smile on her lips. Good thing she hadn't driven there.

"I'm better." she told the boy. "And you? How are your ribs?"

He groaned. "Sore. But that's because of last night's fight."

Ah, Haymitch thought, munching on his donuts, so there had been a fight. He should never have left Katniss go by herself.

"You went out to fight again?" Madge almost gasped, sounding worried. She reached for the boy's ribs – something Haymitch was very sure she wouldn't have done if she had been in her right mind.

Hawthorne puffed like a peacock, a suffering expression on his face. "Someone had to go help Katniss…"

Madge took another step closer and Haymitch wondered at which point he would need to loudly acknowledge the drug thing because he wasn't letting that boy take advantage of…

"Madge!" Katniss exclaimed from the top of the stairs, clearly happy to see her friend.

Hawthorne hastily stepped back with a panicked expression and Madge's hand fell in the space between them.

Haymitch rolled his eyes and retreated to the library.

Teenage drama. So unnecessarily complicated.

He dropped on one of the chairs and told himself he didn't need a drink, that he could do this even if the terror was mind-numbing.

The three teenagers were chatting on their way in but they all froze and went dead silent when they caught sight of the table.

Yeah, Haymitch thought, maybe he had gone overboard.

He had pushed all the books to one side and the table was now covered with plates full of bacon, eggs and toasts… And the box of donuts.

"Don't stand there and stare and don't tell me you're not fucking hungry." he grumbled. " Sit down and eat."

Miraculously, they did so without complaining. When she finally appeared on the threshold, still in her pajamas like her sister, Prim paused too but then she shrugged and rolled with it, filling a plate for herself before taking her usual chair next to Katniss.

Katniss avoided the girl's eyes.

"Oh… I forgot…" Madge said, still with that same excited edge in her voice. "After everything yesterday… Peeta's dad was trying to reach him but his phone is off."

His phone wasn't off.

His phone was likely somewhere in that hellish dimension.

With Effie's.

With a long-suffering sigh, he grabbed a pen and a piece of paper because, his head being what it currently was, he would need a list.

Getting new phones went right under Getting Peeta's truck fixed.

And that went right under Kill Snow.

Is Haymitch the best dad or what? Sorry I digressed. So... Aside from the fact Katniss needs more clothes and Madge should stay off pain meds... What did we learn today? I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts!