In one of your fics where Effie goes to 12 a while after the rebellion, you said that haymitch left her for a second time without a goodbye after the war was over and he went home. Could you please write about Effie finding out he had gone back to 12 with katniss and not said goodbye to her
It Doesn't Hurt
It didn't hurt.
It didn't.
Effie brought the cigarette to her lips, breathing in the familiar comforting smell of tobacco and she told herself to get a grip as she watched the brand young and pretty new news anchor prattle on about the end of the Mockingjay's trial. The trial itself had been going on for months, time enough to officiously sever Katniss from morphling – she knew that much even if it wasn't public knowledge. She had helped with the girl's defense as much as she had been able, drafting speeches for Plutarch and researching cases when needed.
Of course, she had helped.
That she had done so while not so successfully avoiding Haymitch was only a small detail.
She had told him she wanted space, that she needed him to stop crowding her, hovering behind her, stalking her… She had no use for his remorse, his guilt or his worry. She had told him as much. And so he had kept his distance but he had never wandered too far away either.
He had always been there, in easy reach, ready to fall back into her when she would say the word…
And she would have said the word eventually.
Given enough time, enough pleading, she would have caved and…
The pretty young redhead anchor kept on talking, confirming that the Mockingjay was on her way to Twelve where she would remain under the supervision of her mentor, now legally appointed guardian until her coming of age.
They were gone, both of them, and without a goodbye.
But it didn't hurt.
It didn't.
She brought the cigarette to her lips again, wondering how she could still marvel at how deceiving people could be. She was used to backstabbing friends and lying lovers, she had simply never thought Haymitch fell into either category.
Her mistake.
He could have at least told her, tried to…
He should have asked her to go with him.
She would have refused, she would have made a scene, she would have screamed and raged and… And maybe she would have let him kiss her. Maybe she would have let him pin her to a wall. Maybe she would have let him…
It didn't hurt.
She wouldn't let it hurt.