Prompt: I have a prompt. What if instead of actually killing Haymitchs mother and brother snow took them captive just in case in his mansion(not tortured though bc that'd be pointless if Haymitchs didn't know they were alive) and post mj they are found and how they reacted to Effie and stuff.

I know Allonsysilvertongue did one like that, hopefully this one is very different, mostly because we have very different OCs. Mostly I say this because I really like her one shot about it so it was an opportunity to advertize it, so go check it out XD

Family Doesn't End With Blood

"Mama…" he whispered when his mother suddenly grabbed him as he walked past her, just like she had been doing ever since they had been reunited. She was overwhelmed by the suite they had been allotted at the Presidential Mansion, he figured. It was too much after spending years in a cell.

He melted into her embrace, still unable to believe it was real. It was too huge.

He had just been settling Effie in his room at the Mansion, having finally secured her release from Coin – and it wasn't a pardon but at least it was progress – when Plutarch had showed up with the news that a new underground prison where the Capitol had been keeping very special people had been found. He wasn't the only one who had seen people he had believed to be dead for decades walk out into the light.

It was still an adjustment.

The theory was that Snow had been keeping them in case he needed pressure points. Why he hadn't used the trump card during the war was anyone's guess. Haymitch had deduced it was because Snow had known he wouldn't believe him.

He could barely believe it right now.

He met his brother's eyes over their mother's shoulder. Hayden had been keeping his distance, staying close to Mabel. The two of them had been sharing loaded looks that Haymitch had been trying not to interpret. His reunion with his old girlfriend hadn't been what he would have expected – not that he knew what he would have expected. Suddenly, she had been there, flesh and blood again instead of the ghost who had haunted his nights for so long, and he had been struck by the realization they weren't sixteen anymore.

There had been no tearful hugs with her, barely an awkward shuffling of feet and an apology on his part.

He had been apologizing a lot.

They were skittish, the lot of them. Not that he could blame them. Twenty-five years in a prison, in a closed world where the only constant was each other, would do that to anybody. He couldn't imagine how it had been, how they felt now that they were free…

Hayden seemed angry with him and Haymitch couldn't blame him. He had only been eleven when they had been taken, it was more than half his life stole away. Because of him.

Truthfully, his mother was the only one of the three who looked pleased to have found him again. He hadn't left her side in the last twenty-four hours and he had answered her questions to the best of his abilities, trying not to take too much to heart her obvious disappointment and sadness at finding him single and without children. His life had come to a pause on the day he had won the Hunger Games.

The knocking on the door was a welcomed distraction and he broke the embrace, keeping a hand on his mother's shoulder, unwilling to let her go too far from him. She was so frail, so old…

"Come in!" he called out, in the authoritative voice he usually reserved for Thirteen's soldiers. If he had hated every second of his stay in that District, his dislike for Coin and her men had only increased since Snow's official surrender.

Effie's head popped in the suite, soon followed by the rest of her body. The blue dress hung loose on her underweight figure, she hadn't bothered with a wig – probably because it was more than she could manage with her right arm strapped in a sling – and her blond hair looked tousled. She flashed him a guilty look that soon morphed into a cheerful fake smile.

"My apologies." she offered brightly. "I did not mean to intrude." She briefly met his eyes before looking at everyone else in turn. "You will find me silly, of course, but I had the most horrible nightmare and I could not settle down. All those soldiers stomping in the corridors…" A fake laugh and shifting eyes. "Quite childish of me, of course."

She did her best to keep up a front but Haymitch saw what she wasn't quite saying. She was still shaking a little and she looked just as disturbed as every time he had been forced to hold her after a nightmare.

Ever since her rescue, he had stayed with her as much as he could, only leaving her to go sit with one of the kids. She had spent the last twenty-four hours on her own and he wasn't surprised she hadn't been faring so well.

"I am sorry for intruding." she added with obvious apprehension.

He didn't miss the way she seized Mabel up. His former girlfriend was standing next to the window with Hayden, apparently more interested by what was happening outside than in the room. After twenty-five years spent underground, he could understand. Effie didn't appear to be certain of her welcome and he wondered if she truly thought he would forsake her for Mabel after everything they had been through together.

Once upon a time, maybe…

Now?

His mother was looking at him curiously and Haymitch cleared his throat, outstretching his hand without really thinking about it.

"Come meet my family, sweetheart." he offered. "That's my mother. My brother Hayden. And… Mabel." Effie nodded to all of them in turn, grabbing his hand without needing to be offered twice, standing closer to him than propriety dictated. She had lost her obsession for manners and appearances somewhere in the Capitol's cells. His mother visibly brightened, she was studying Effie and their linked hands with rapt attention. He cleared his throat again. "Mama, this is Effie. She's my…"

And he faltered, his eyes darting to Mabel, who was still ignoring them.

"Colleague." Effie supplied easily, without missing a beat. "I am delighted to meet you, Mrs Abernathy."

His mother, he saw, was already taken. And why not? She was a charmer. Even with the bags under her eyes, the absence of make-up and the unhealthy pallor of her skin.

"She's Capitol." Hayden growled with open hatred, glaring at Effie.

She flinched and stepped closer to him before remembering herself and looking embarrassed. He squeezed her hand, his thumb running soothing circles on her skin.

"Yeah, she is." he replied. "She's also my friend. You've got a problem with that?"

"Boys." their mother chided them, sounding distraught.

"Just think it's odd you would make friends with the people who locked us up." his brother retorted.

"He thought we were dead." Mabel cut in, turning her head to look at Hayden. Their eyes met and the stare they shared was meaningful enough that he felt Effie relax a little next to him.

"Which makes it worse." Hayden argued.

"She's not like them." Haymitch snapped. "Don't judge when you don't know shit."

"Sorry I didn't keep up with your life, there were no newspapers where they kept us." his brother scowled.

"I shouldn't have come." Effie cut in before he could answer, untangling her fingers from his. "Please, do not fight on my account. I am sorry, Haymitch, it was selfish of me."

She was halfway to the door when he caught her arm – and ignored her instinctive flinching. "Wait." He was almost defiant when he turned back to his family. "Effie's not just my friend, either."

"You don't say." Mabel snorted, rolling her eyes at him. A small smile played on her lips though. "You're still an idiot. Nice to know some things don't change." She nudged Hayden's shoulder, her voice was teasing. "Okay, she's a Capitol. He still has bad taste in girls. So what? It's not like she's an escort…"

Effie made a face and it was apparently enough that his brother's scowl deepened. "Oh, you're fucking kidding me!"

"Haymitch?" his mother asked, uncertain.

"I am Twelve's escort." Effie announced, loud and clear. "And I am sorry for what happened to you but I am not your enemy. Trust me, I have enough of those." She escaped his grip, lowering her voice. "I did not mean to embarrass you, I am sorry, I just couldn't be alone anymore. I will go back to our room. Your room."

"Our's fine." he grumbled. "Won't be long, sweetheart."

She hesitated and then pressed a kiss on his cheek before leaving.

"An escort, Haymitch?" his mother said as soon as she was out.

"My escort." he corrected. "And one of the bravest women I know. She's been through hell…"

"And we haven't?" Hayden sneered.

"It's not a competition." Mabel cut in. "Everyone in this room has been through bad things." Her Seam grey eyes found Haymitch's. "But did it have to be an escort?"

"She's been my family for a long time now." he declared, a note of warning in his voice.

"Then I'm sure she's a nice girl." his mother interrupted firmly. "And I can't wait to get to know her better."

He relaxed. "Thank you, Mama."

"Without me." Hayden spat, storming off to his bedroom.

"I'll talk to him." Mabel declared, going after him.

Alone with his mother, Haymitch made a face. The whole encounter had made him desperate for a drink. He understood his brother's resentment and anger. He understood. That was the worst part.

"You love her, don't you?" his mother hummed and she didn't wait for an answer. "That's enough for me. If you love her, I will love her too."

He wrapped his arms around her just because he could.

"She's impossible but you'll like her." he promised. "She's in my life to stay."

He wouldn't toss her aside just because anyone disapproved.

She deserved much better than that.