Prompt: I thought it would be cute to write something similar where Haymitch gets sick during the Games and Chaff and company have no choice but to call an irritated Effie (she's at a party perhaps) because he's refusing help from any of them and nsistently requesting her.

Making it post MJ for reasons…

Strangely Sweet

Katniss pressed the damp cloth on Haymitch's forehead, trying to wipe away the sweat as well as to cool down his fever. She had never felt a calling for nursing, that had always been Prim's way and… Having to sit at Haymitch's bedside and take care of him brought back memories of her sister, memories that were intrusive and not quite welcomed at the moment.

"Effie." he muttered for what had to be the thousandth time in two days. He looked so frail and weak in his twisted bed sheets… His shirt was dark around the collar and under the armpits, his eyes were open but mostly unseeing, whenever he talked, he never made sense…

Her guts were twisting with worry. The healer had said it was simply a bad bout of flu, that it was going around between the refugees of the rebuilding District and that they should simply watch the fever and try to break it if possible. It had been three days and it had yet to break. It was less high than the previous day but it was high still and he was delirious on the drugs the healer had given them as well as on the lack of liquor in his body.

She was starting to consider turning to Thirteen for help.

"Where are you?" he mumbled, turning his head left and right, his neck straining under the effort. "Sweetheart… Sweetheart…"

"I'm here." she sighed, already knowing that it wasn't what he wanted to hear.

She wasn't surprised to be ignored.

"Effie…" he half sobbed in his fever. "Effie, please… Please, I beg you… I'm sorry…. Sorry…"

Katniss rubbed her face, tired from going on days without sleep, and pursed her lips.

"Peeta's gone to the station." she reminded him. "She should be on the next train."

They had put it off for as long as possible before calling the Capitol, certain he would feel differently once the fever would have passed. They weren't sure why he was begging for Effie Trinket out of anyone but they were very sure, on the other hand, that whatever had happened during the war, they had parted angry at each other – nothing to be shocked about in Katniss' opinion. However he had kept pleading for Effie, calling her, and talking to an imaginary ghost in the corner until Peeta had suggested that maybe they should warn her and let her decide if she wanted to come or not.

They didn't think his life was at risk, the healer came and went once a day and his general state wasn't worsening – although Katniss wasn't entirely sure she trusted the man, she would have felt better if her mother had been there; but that had never stopped her mother from running away. He was in a bad state though and he tended to reject their care and get angry when he realized they weren't his escort. He wanted Effie and no one else but Effie.

Eventually, they had called. She had been happy to hear from them but not quite thrilled at the prospect of dropping everything and coming to Twelve. It had taken Katniss throwing a fit for her to finally admit she didn't have the cash for train tickets. That, at least, had been easily solved. She had sent money.

Later on, Peeta had claimed she had been insensitive but Katniss still didn't see where the problem was. Haymitch was sick and wanted Effie there, Effie wanted to come but couldn't because she was short of money, Katniss had money. The situation was easily resolved. She didn't understand the fuss or Peeta's rant about Effie feeling humiliated. They were friends and Haymitch wanted her, there was nothing to be humiliated about.

Trains took forever though. There was no direct line from the Capitol to Twelve, connections needed to be caught and Twelve was so far from being rebuilt yet that trains that actually got there were few and far in between. Arrivals were hard to predict. Peeta had been lurking at the station for most of the day.

Katniss wished she had gone instead.

She really wasn't good at the nursing.

"It's going to be fine." she said for her benefits more than his.

"I need my Effie…" he slurred, clumsily reaching for his face and missing his mark by ten inches. He curled up on his side, a pitiful ball of a huge man, and Katniss sighed again, not knowing what to do. It wasn't time for his meds yet but she felt as if he should take something for the fever again. "I need my Effie… My Effie… Effie…"

"She's on her way." Katniss insisted. "Honestly, Haymitch… You're acting like a baby."

"My Effie…" he repeated again.

"I am here."

Katniss jumped to her feet, startled, and turned around, threatening the newcomers with the first thing that she snatched from the bedside table – she wouldn't do much damage with an empty bottle of liquor. She relaxed when she spotted Peeta and… She almost didn't recognize Effie. No wig, no flamboyant dress and, as soon as her blue eyes fell on the bed, no cheerful smile. Their escort didn't even greet her, she rushed straight to the bed and Katniss barely had time to step aside, a bit taken aback by the sight.

Effie had blond curly hair, which surprised her for some reason, that barely reached her chin. She was wearing a light pink dress that clearly wasn't haute-couture and that had seen better days – and she would freeze to death in Twelve if all her stuff was that thin – the make-up on her face was almost natural compared to what she used to cake herself with…

"I didn't think we would startle you." Peeta apologized, sneaking closer to Katniss and placing a steadying hand on her shoulder. "How is he doing?"

"I had my bad ear to the door." She waved that away. "He's not better."

"Stupid man." Effie hummed, sitting down on the bed and brushing back Haymitch's long tangled hair from his face. "What have you done to yourself now?"

"Effie…" he breathed out, uncurling a little to reach out for her.

Their escort grabbed his hand and brought it to her cheek, pressing a kiss on the inside of his wrist. "I marvel at your ability to get into trouble when I am not around you. Truly, I do not think you can survive without me."

"Maybe we should leave them alone." Peeta suggested.

Katniss made a face. "I don't know."

Effie was part of the team but she wasn't sure if she trusted her with Haymitch's health. She was there because he had asked for her but Haymitch was family and it was her responsibility to make sure her family was alright.

"Effie…" Haymitch croaked, watching her as if he wasn't certain she was real. "Don't leave…"

"After the trouble I went through to get here, I am certainly not leaving." she huffed. "Now. We need to get this shirt off you. Why, it is damp with sweat! And a bath would do you some good too."

"He can't stand." Katniss argued.

"Oh, I have plenty of experience with that." Effie countered, standing up to face them. "I am sorry, my dear, I did not even say hello. How rude of me…"

She accepted their escort's hug, happy that Effie knew to keep it brief.

It was clearly too long for Haymitch's taste though. "Come back… Effie… Effie, come back…"

He was working himself into a panic, trying to kick the blankets off and Effie clucked her tongue, clasping his shoulder to make him stop. He went limp again as soon as she made contact.

"You are a drama queen when you are ill." she accused. "Very well. I will help him wash, you two change the sheets if you will. And open a window. The room needs airing."

How and why they found themselves under her command, Katniss wasn't sure. However Effie seemed to know what to do and she couldn't help but be a little bit impressed when their escort managed to maneuver Haymitch in a standing position without any help.

"Shouldn't it be you in the bathroom with him?" Katniss asked when she heard the shower in the other room. She was trying to keep her teeth from chattering but the draft from the open window was chilling her to the bones.

Peeta bundled the dirty sheets and tossed them in the corner, glancing at her with a shrug. "Why?"

She rolled her eyes as she disposed of the pillowcases. "Because, you know… He's man and she's…"

"A woman?" Peeta finished for her when her voice trailed off, more amused than she liked. "Where does Haymitch keep the clean sheets?"

"Does he even have clean sheets?" she scoffed. There was nothing in the wardrobe or the dresser but they eventually tracked some down in the corridor's cupboard. She waited until they had started making the bed again to make her point. "She's a Capitol."

"She's Effie." Peeta immediately argued, a note of warning in his voice.

She knew he felt close to her in ways Katniss didn't understand. She liked Effie, she did, but Effie was their escort not… To her, she wasn't at Haymitch's level in the ranking of her priorities. Peeta didn't make the same distinction.

"Well, it would still make sense for you to help him in the bathtub." she insisted. "I'm not sure he will like it when he's better."

Peeta made a face. "There are parts of Haymitch I won't touch even to help. I don't think Effie has the same reservations." Her eyes grew wide because it was even worse, and Peeta winced. "What I mean is I don't think it's the first time she helps him wash when he can't do it himself, that's all. She's been working with him for thirteen years… And… I've seen her help him before."

"When?" she frowned.

"The very first night we were on the train." he sighed. "I helped him back to his room and I cleaned him a bit but then she walked in and she took over, sent me back to my room."

The first night of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games had happened a long time ago and her memory wasn't exactly on par.

"But she was furious with him." she argued.

"Exactly." he said, matter-of-fact. "I don't think it's the first time she sees him naked, Katniss. She's not going to molest him. And I'm not sure he would protest if she tried, to be honest…"

"Shut up!" Her instinctive reaction was to toss the pillow she was holding at his head. He caught it easily and added the pillowcase as if everything was fine with what he was implying. She folded her arms in front of her chest. "He hates her."

He shot her an incredulous look. "He spent the last three days calling her name."

"He has a fever. He doesn't know what he's saying." she insisted.

"Which actually says a lot, don't you think?" Peeta retorted.

The sound of running water died down in the bathroom and Katniss held her tongue, letting Peeta give the final touches to the bed while she went to close the window. At least, it did smell a bit better in there now.

Katniss wasn't sure how Effie had managed it but when they walked out, Haymitch was wearing clean pajamas. He was still clinging to her like he would never let go but he looked a tad more lucid too.

"Where are you staying?" Peeta asked. "I can get your bags home if you…"

"I will take Haymitch's guest room." she cut him off.

"I'm not sure how clean it is…" Peeta warned her.

"Do not trouble yourself. I will manage." she hummed, tucking Haymitch in, never letting her attention wander away. "The two of you should go home and get some sleep. You both look exhausted."

"He can be agitated…" Katniss replied. "You won't…"

"I will manage." Effie repeated.

Either very confident that she could actually manage or desperate for some actual sleep, Peeta dragged Katniss away after saying goodnight. She didn't relax and she barely slept. She was back at Haymitch's house at the brink of dawn.

She froze on the back door's threshold, struck by the pungent smell of cleaning products. The kitchen was gleaming. The tiles were so clean they were slippery, the counters were spotless, the dishes that had been soaking in the sink for at least a week had been washed and put to dry…. She could hear the rumble of the washing machine coming from the cellar… She wandered further inside the house, noticing the hallway had been given the same treatment but the living-room was yet to be touched by the cleaning spree. The upper floor seemed to have entirely been vacuumed and mopped though.

"Have you slept at all?" she asked as soon as she stepped in Haymitch's bedroom.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to find but it wasn't Effie sitting cross-legged in a – clearly borrowed – old blue shirt on his bed, spoon-feeding him something that must have been soup. Effie looked startled and the spoon clattered noisily in the bowl. Haymitch, who was propped up against the pillows, let out a groan of protest at the noise.

"I do not sleep well." Effie hummed, averting her gaze. "The house badly needed cleaning and you know I do not bear chaos for long."

The tone was joking. She sounded more like her usual self than the previous day. Katniss' eyes fell on the brand new bottle of brandy on the nightstand though.

"What are you giving him?" she hissed.

Haymitch's grey eyes were still glassy but he immediately coiled his fingers around Effie's wrist. At first Katniss thought it was an attempt at preventing her from feeding him whatever was in the bowl but then she realized it was her he was perceiving as a threat and the grip on Effie's wrist was a preventive measure in case he needed to protect her.

It was a bit pathetic, truth be told, because Katniss didn't think he would have been able to stand still.

"He is in withdrawals, Katniss." Effie declared, calmly but simply. "That is why the medicine isn't effective. Your healer should have known."

"We can't mix liquor and meds." she argued. "He has the flu. He needs…"

"Right now, his body needs the liquor." their escort argued. "Trust me."

"You're no doctor." she protested.

"No, but I have been taking care of him for a long time. It is not the first time he gets sick." Effie sighed. "And I know him. I also know I am right."

She deeply resented the way Haymitch automatically seemed to defer to her. He relaxed when she talked, he opened his mouth when she brought the spoon to his lips…

Katniss had been fighting for three days for him to accept food and water…

"And it gives you the right to steal his stuff too?" she scoffed, out of annoyance more than out of any interest. "What? You forgot your pajamas?"

Effie pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, clearly irritated.

"I stole nothing." the Capitol hissed. "And may I remind you that I am here because you called me, Katniss?"

"He wanted you." she retorted.

"And here I am." Effie snapped.

"It's his shirt." she accused. "You shouldn't take stuff without his permission. He's not dead."

She was being over-protective, she knew that. But seeing Haymitch so pale and weak… It made her terrified of losing someone else. So she lashed out.

"It is his shirt." Effie admitted. "But it has been mine for a long time. Would you like to ask more impertinent nosy questions about this particular subject or can we focus on Haymitch's health?" Katniss clenched her jaw, hating the way Effie always chided her like she was a child. Their escort cleared her throat and handed her the bowl. "If you would take my place… I need to get dressed."

She took the bowl without a word, trying and failing to ignore Haymitch's protests when Effie left the bed. She was a bit brutal with the spoon feeding.

Effie came back before ten minutes had passed and fussed over him – which he seemed to enjoy a lot more than when she and Peeta did it. Eventually, Peeta joined them and they spent the day waiting for Haymitch to get better. The mood was a bit awkward, mostly because Katniss wasn't happy with Effie and wasn't afraid of letting it known.

"Cut her some slack." Peeta demanded around lunch time, when they went downstairs to fix themselves something. Effie declared she wasn't hungry and remained upstairs.

"I'm not…" she started but he didn't let her finish.

"She loves him too, you know?" he cut her off. "She's not going to poison him. She's not going to make it worse. She loves him. He loves her. It's been so obvious to me… If you can't see that, then I'm sorry, but…" He shook his head. "She's been through hell in the Capitol, Katniss. Stop acting like she's an enemy. She's family and, if I have anything to say about it, she's staying. So cut her some slack."

Peeta didn't talk to her that way often and she didn't like that he was angry with her. She tried to be nicer. Effie clearly noticed and she must have appreciated it because she softened. She was still a bit frosty but it wasn't the worst their relationship had been over the years.

It seemed Effie did know what to do with a sick Haymitch though , by the time the evening rolled around, the fever was gone and he was asking for liquor. As soon as he was lucid, Effie seemed to take a seat back. She didn't sit on the bed anymore and she was uncharacteristically quiet. Haymitch kept tossing her glances but didn't seem to know what to say.

"You're… here." he stated eventually, as if not quite sure she wasn't a hallucination.

"Well, unlike others, I do not make a habit of leaving my friend in their times of need." Effie retorted at once, in a huff.

Haymitch's face contorted in annoyance. "I told you…"

"Oh, you told me, didn't you?" Effie cut him off with a hiss. "So it erases everything."

Soon they were screaming at each other, Haymitch's shouts interrupted by bouts of coughing, and Peeta dragged Katniss out of the room again, loudly declaring they would go make dinner. Not that Effie or Haymitch cared about dinner.

They could still hear them clearly from the kitchen. Effie repeatedly accusing him of leaving her behind, not once but twice… Haymitch denying… Insisting he had been wrong to trust Plutarch with her safety but swearing left and right that he had always meant for her to be brought to Thirteen… Claiming it was not fair to accuse him of having left her after the war because he had a responsibility to Katniss and they had both agreed on that… Haymitch snapping that she had been the one to tell him she didn't want to see him again… More and more arguments about feelings and who was feeling what or not…

"Maybe we should…" Peeta suggested halfway through, nodding at the door.

Katniss refused to leave, not caring that she was intruding on private matters. It was another side of the story she had never heard before. Peeta might have thought there had been more to their escort and their mentor for a long time but Katniss hadn't.

It took hours, hours they spent sitting in the kitchen nibbling on stale bread, before it finally abruptly went silent upstairs, in the middle of one of Effie's rants.

"Should we go check?" Katniss asked after ten minutes of uninterrupted silence. "You don't think… He wouldn't have hurt her, right?"

Peeta didn't look sure and she wasn't either. Haymitch wasn't the most stable man at the best of times and he had been delirious for days…

They climbed the steps in a hurry, hoping for the best and dreading the worst. They rushed into his bedroom, half certain they would find Effie lying on the floor…

She wasn't lying on the floor, she was lying on the bed, which, Katniss figured, was slightly better.

What wasn't better, however, was the fact that Haymitch was lying on top of her and that they were both very busy kissing like there would be no tomorrow. And, to make everything worse, tongues were obviously involved.

The gagging sound escaped her without her notice. They didn't even notice.

For the third time in twenty-four hours, Peeta dragged her away – far, far away to their own house where they didn't risk walking on people kissing.

"This was disgusting." she declared.

Peeta made a face, silently granting her the point, but it was soon chased by a beaming smile. "But strangely sweet, right?"

She breathed out a deep sigh and then shrugged. "Right."