They attempt to film Katniss, some quick messages for the districts and Snow, assuring everyone that the Mockingjay is alive and fighting. It becomes apparent quickly that it won't be happening today, and Haymitch feels impatience rear up at the looks of disappointment on the faces of the suits. She's 17! he wants to yell. She just saw her boyfriend, or whatever she wants to call him, beaten on live television, and survived four days in an underground bunker, while the president who has tried to kill her no less than twice, and everyone in her vicinity, had another pretty good shot at her. Could the filming not wait just one day?
He's about to ask, when he hears Plutarch ask, "What's wrong with her?"
And he hears Finnick's answer. "She's figured out how Snow is using Peeta."
Everyone sighs, like this is the end of the world. Haymitch looks around at the destruction. None of this is Katniss' fault. She never chose any of this. She had tried to die for her sister and everyone decided this made her some sort of war hero. But she's still just a child herself.
A few people step forward, as though to comfort her. He sees that she's crying. She holds her arms out like a small child and whispers, "Haymitch."
He pushes past the concerned crowd around her and wraps her in his arms. There will be no Mockingjay today. He'll get them to leave her alone, for one day, at least.
"It's okay. It'll be okay, sweetheart." He sits her down. She clings to him, so he rubs her back.
"I can't do this anymore," she whispers.
"I know," he tells her. She's crying harder, not calming down. He strokes her hair.
"All I can think of is -" she gasps, her breath shaky and heavy with emotions she's been holding in too long – "What he's going to do to Peeta -" gasp – "Because I'm the Mockingjay!"
And there he has it. A reason for Coin to "sanction" the rescue of the victors. He could kick himself. Why hasn't he thought of that before? Maybe if he hadn't been so miserable, drying out and recovering.
"I know."
She's almost screaming as she draws in breath. He's practically squeezing her, he's holding her so tight.
Katniss gives in to her hysterics. One of the suits jabs her with a needle.
A few of them carry her away, maybe to Finnick's old bed, in the embarrassment ward. God forbid anyone have feelings in this place.
He looks at Finnick, about to ask him to step aside with him. He's good at planning and he's a lot better at talking to the suits than he is. But Finnick is pale, too pale. He has his eyes closed, and he's breathing slowly through his nose and out through his mouth, but each breath comes in faster and goes out harder, and soon he's crying.
"Hey, hey," he says, getting up and walking over to him.
"What are they doing to Annie?" he asks, looking at Haymitch when he hears his voice. "My Annie, my Annie." He collapses, buries his head between his knees and someone jabs him, too.
Coin asks everyone to follow her back to Command. A few more suits carry Finnick away. Maybe he should cry, too. He wonders what's in that stuff they're jabbing into people.
Once they're all seated, Haymitch asks if he can speak. To his surprise, Coin nods. He wonders if she doesn't know what to do next herself.
Haymitch stands up, hands in his pockets. He needs to convince them. This may be his only chance to get them rescued. He can't fuck this up.
"Katniss is important to the rebellion, right? People want to fight for her. We don't know, at this point, what might happen to the fight if we lose our Mockingjay." He looks around the table, into all of their eyes, landing on Coin's last and asking, "Does anyone disagree?"
Coin doesn't speak, or move even, but he sees the flicker of annoyance in her eyes, and it only intensifies as she looks around the table, her eyebrows drawing down, and her lips going tight. She's a politician, even if she is the worst-dressed one he's ever seen. She won't go against popular opinion no matter how much she might personally disagree. Thankfully, no one else at the table does disagree, so Haymitch goes on.
"We've been talking about the right time to rescue the victors. Beetee seems to know enough about circumventing their security now, to give us a shot. I can guarantee, if we wait till the invasion of the Capitol, they'll be dead, if they're not already.
"We need Katniss. And to have her, we need Peeta." And Effie, Johanna, Enobaria, and Annie.
"That's all I have to say. Thank you, President Coin." He sits back down, takes his hands out of his pockets, and crosses his arms over his chest.
Boggs, Coin, and Plutarch exchange a look.
"Let's get Beetee up here," says Coin. "See what he has to say."
One of the suits leaves the room, presumably to fetch Beetee.
"Mr. Heavensbee, do we have enough operatives in the Capitol to pull off a rescue mission?"
Plutarch takes a deep breath.
"Of course, much will depend on what Beetee says, but yes, I think so. Their covers will be blown. We won't have spies in the Capitol anymore."
Coin nods, not in agreement, but in thought.
"We might be at the point that spies in the Capitol can't tell us more than we already know," Boggs says.
"Yes. I think I agree," Coin replies.
They wait for Beetee. His explanation is long, but it sounds like he thinks they can get into the Capitol.
Haymitch's heart doubles its rhythm. Effie, Peeta, Effie, Peeta. Finally.
Boggs says, "I'd like to call a meeting in the mess hall."
Coin nods. Another suit runs away, and soon, they're all tromping down to the hall.
Boggs makes the announcement. He's the one running this mission. Like Coin, he doesn't waste time with speech making. He just lays down the facts. Some of 13 is comforting in its dependability.
"All right, folks, I know this is a disruption to all our schedules, so let's make this quick.
"President Coin has sanctioned a rescue of the victors in the Capitol. Our leading expert on their security systems," he gestures to Beetee, "Says he thinks he knows how to get us in and out undetected. We're not totally friendless there, as we know. But there's no point pretending this won't be dangerous. District Thirteen, and the rebellion, cannot survive the capture of anyone who's lived here, and we will destroy the hovercraft ourselves, rather than risk such capture. Therefore, President Coin has decreed this will be a volunteer-only mission. I myself will be leading. Who will join me?"
Hands shoot up all over the place, including Haymitch's. A chance to enter the action and die, rather than worry on the sidelines again? But Boggs ignores him. Haymitch knows he sees him. There are a lot of hands in the air, Haymitch is pleased to see, but they lock eyes momentarily. Boggs does not pick him.
"Soldier Hawthorne, Soldier Wesson, Soldier Davies, Bronn, and Munroe. Suit up, and meet me in the Situation Room in thirty to go over the plan. Let's move out!"
Haymitch is used to the idea that everyone in 13 hates him for being a drunk, and miserable to be around sober, but he still finds it strange that Boggs wouldn't choose to bring along at least one victor, someone who knows the layout of the Capitol and the Training Center the victors are being held in. He thinks of Katniss and Finnick's meltdowns aboveground, his own first week here, which must have been relayed to leaders via status reports. He doesn't like the feeling of being looked after, but admits to himself that maybe Boggs is just trying to be kind.
He finds the Everdeens' new compartment, and knocks on the door. Willow answers, and he's relieved to see that Prim isn't here. Haymitch isn't very comfortable around children.
"Haymitch," she says, so surprised to see him, the emotion actually shows on her face. She recovers herself and says, "Please, come in."
He does. She invites him to sit on the chair at the desk. It's the only chair in the compartment, just like his, so she sits at the end of their cot beds. A cat comes out of nowhere. He recognizes it from the Victors' Village and knows it must be Primrose's.
"Is Katniss okay?" she asks.
Haymitch feels his cheeks turn red. He should have assured her of that from the first. It's not like he ever drops in for a visit.
He tells her about trying to film, and how they knocked out Katniss and Finnick.
As he's speaking, the cat winds in and out between his legs, purring madly. Willow reaches down to grab him at one point, but the cat just leaps into Haymitch's lap, and starts kneading his legs, like he thinks Haymitch is his mother. He's oddly moved by the gesture and his voice goes hoarse.
"I'm going to check on her, wait till she wakes up. I want to be the one to tell her about the rescue mission."
Willow nods. "I would come with you, but Katniss usually recovers more quickly when she's not worried about my reaction."
She looks so sad.
"She just doesn't like to worry you," Haymitch says. He realizes he's petting the cat, though he doesn't remember starting.
"I know," Willow says softly, watching her hands twisting over each other in her lap. "I'm supposed to take care of her. I'm her mother. But when her father died, she became the mother, and there was never any going back."
He sighs. Katniss doesn't talk about that time very often, but the details she has dropped were worrying. He's not sure what to say, if there is anything to say.
"You married a man who taught his kids to fend for themselves. And fending for herself is why she survived her Games, why she's so freakishly good with a bow and arrow."
Willow smiles, a quick twitch. She stops running her hands over each other, loses that distant look in her eye.
"You're right. I wish she needed me. I guess a mother never stops wishing that. But children grow up. And I'm proud of who she grew up to be."
She looks at him, sees the cat stretched out on his lap, and laughs lightly.
"I'm sorry. I hope you're not allergic to cats."
Haymitch smiles. "No. I'm not allergic to anything except forced sobriety."
That makes her laugh again.
"I have to go see Katniss. I don't want her to wake up and wonder what's happening."
He stands up. He tries to do it slowly, but it still startles the cat, who jumps to the ground and gives him a look like he's just made a powerful enemy, before darting under one of the cot beds.
"Thank you for telling me about Katniss."
Haymitch surprises himself by pulling her in for a hug.
"Thank you for helping me out in the recovery room."
She squeezes him tight, and they release each other.
He finds Katniss' bed, not Finnick's old one, because Finnick is in it. He sits down beside her bed, and waits for her to wake up.