Prompt: hi there :) i just love your OCs and was wondering whether you'd be able to do one about effie and lyssa's relationship and how it changes after the war? (with some hayffie, of course) ;)

I am not really satisfied with this one… Sorry :/ I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Family Old And New

Haymitch stumbled in the kitchen barefoot and bare-chested, just like he did most mornings – or late mornings rather – rubbing his face with one hand. Effie watched him as he went directly to the coffee machine, blinking heavily against the remnants of sleep. He let out a pleased groan when he realized the coffee was already made and he would only have to warm it. He pressed the button and finally turned to her, frowning a little when he realized what she was doing perched on the edge of the sink, the window wide open behind her.

"You always say you quitted." he grumbled. "You quitted an awful lot of times."

"Good morning, Haymitch." she replied tersely, slowly breathing out the smoke of her cigarette.

"Morning." he mumbled back, pouring himself a mug of coffee. "Will kiss you when you don't smell like that." He waved his hand in the vague direction of her lips where the cigarette was wedged. "What's the latest disaster, sweetheart?"

Cigarettes were always reserved for particularly dire situations. She found occasional comfort in the simple act of taking a smoke. He hated it when she smoked but he knew it wasn't a regular thing and as far as she was concerned he had no room to criticize her. He still drank far too much and got wasted far too regularly.

Truth be told, she could have gone smoking outside and he would never have known about it – that was what she had been doing ever since she had moved in – but she was wary of one of the children catching her. She didn't want them to follow her bad example.

"I called my sister." she explained, keeping her voice flat.

He studied her for a second and took a sip of his coffee. "Why?"

She flicked the ashes in the sink and gave a small shrug. "It had been a while."

"And?" he prompted, nudging a chair away from the table with his foot so he could sit. "She's still blaming you for everything?"

Of course, she was. Her husband had been a Gamemaker for a couple of years when the rebellion had started. She had asked Effie to intervene after the war, to help save Rufus from the mockery of trials, to use her influence with her rebel friends… What Lyssa had refused to understand was that she had had no real rebel friends at the time and that her own situation hadn't been as clear or as safe as her family had believed it to be.

Without Plutarch and Haymitch making deals and bargaining on her behalf…

Rufus had been sentenced to death before she was even out of her hospital room.

Lyssa had decided it was her fault, that she had refused to help because of misplaced resentment and jealousy, that she could have done something and had preferred to leave her nephews without a father and her sister without a husband.

"We talked two minutes and a half." she hummed distractedly. "I had my eyes on the clock. It is truly a record. Then again, it was probably the first time in six months she heard my voice so…"

She and Lyssa had never been close – not as much as her sister would have liked them to be in any case – but they had never been at odds before the war either. They had been friends if anything. Sisters. And now…

"You called your mom too?" he asked, a little too knowingly. When she called her sister, her parents were generally next.

"What is the point? She will only hang up on me." she replied, crushing the butt of her cigarette in the sink. She jumped from the counter and opened the tap to make the ashes disappear. "I don't know what my biggest crime is for my mother: being associated with the rebels or openly moving in with you and, to add insult to injury, living in sin with you." She added that part in a teasing tone as she closed the window, wishing to lighten the mood.

"Not a bad thing she won't talk to you." he muttered. "She's a bitch."

His interactions with her mother had been limited to a few chance encounters before and after the rebellion but she had told him enough and he had read enough in what she wasn't saying. Still. Elindra wasn't the best mother but she was her mother nonetheless and Effie missed her.

She also missed Lyssa.

"It's my nephew's birthday." she told him. "I wanted… I don't know. I ordered something for him but I am not sure she will pass along my gift." She busied herself by putting the clean dishes away, it gave her an excuse to keep her back on him. "I suppose it doesn't make much of a difference either way. I haven't seen her boys in so long… They probably don't even remember me."

It was an odd feeling to be estranged from her family. She had always been happy and almost eager to avoid them before, to escape the family house with its heavy silences, and now… Now she wasn't even welcomed there anymore. Now her mother refused to talk to her because she was a traitor and it had impacted on her social status, because she loved Haymitch and refused to hide it any longer, because Lyssandra was a widow and that was apparently her fault… And her father, as usual, stood by and let everything unfold. He had told Effie he wasn't angry with her, he had told Effie she was welcomed to call him or visit but that had been awkward because he had never taken an interest before and they were virtual strangers.

She was about to put away the last plate when it was taken away from her fingers and placed on the counter. His hands slowly ran up and down her arms and he pressed a kiss against her neck.

"Let's go back to bed." he suggested.

"That's your answer to everything." she scoffed.

"Better than cigarettes." he snorted. "Helps you unwind."

She leaned against his chest, content when his arms immediately sneaked around her waist.

"Please, do not take this the wrong way but I am not in the mood." she sighed. "Do you think the children would like to come over for lunch? It is such a beautiful day… We could carry the table outside…"

Katniss and Peeta usually had dinner with them almost every day. They rarely, if ever, did lunch but today was sunny and warm like it almost never was around there and she wanted to make the most of it.

"Sure." he agreed easily.

"I will go ask them." she decided. "I need to go into town anyway, we are low on almost everything. I will stop at the bakery."

She turned her head to plant a kiss against his neck. She felt better now that she had a plan, something she could focus on.

"Brush your teeth first." he grumbled, letting her go.

"I already did." she frowned. "Truly, Haymitch, this sort of comment coming from you who has a deplorable hygiene…"

"You reek of cigarettes, sweetheart." he cut her off. "You want Katniss and Peeta to find out your guilty pleasure, fine with me. Go ahead."

"Oh." she frowned. "Yes. Thank you."

She pressed a last kiss on his cheek and left him to his coffee. He watched her go with more attention than usual but she knew he would soon dismiss the incident. Living in Twelve was like living in a bubble. The Capitol was far away and he and the children hardly ever thought about it. Peace had its perks.

Effie thought about it a lot though. First because she missed it. She loved the people but she couldn't say she loved the District and the lack of… easiness that came with a life in the country. Secondly, because the feud with her family weighted more heavily on her mind than she let them know. Thirdly, because it was impossible not to think about the Capitol when memories of her time in prison still assaulted at random, triggered by the smallest incongruous thing. She had become better at handling that part of herself, at dealing with it, but it would never go away and it was the Capitol's fault.

"You're okay?" Haymitch asked later, as he passed her the salad bowl. He hadn't gotten dressed and she was mad about that: he was still wearing the same sweatpants, had barely bothered to slip on a shirt… The children didn't mind but she did.

It had made for some bickering as he and Peeta carried the table and the chairs outside. It had made the children laugh and shake their heads at them. Lunch was a cheerful affair. The food was simple but good, they were all having a nice time and Effie had relaxed sometimes between her first glass of wine and Peeta's cheese bun.

She smiled at Haymitch, not so accidentally brushing his fingers as she took the bowl from him. "Yes."

Family didn't replace family but, she thought, it was natural to leave one's behind when you created your own. And her family she wouldn't exchange against anything.

She just wished her mother and her sister would accept it for what it was.