Hello everyone!
I hope you all had great holidays and that your liver is in good health after all these food, alcohol and chocolate!
Here we are, at the end of this story… I hope you'll like it, and that it will answer to all your wishes!
A year after...
"Haymitch!"
The screech comes from the bathroom. Like almost every Sunday for a few month. It's the only day of the week Effie isn't up and gone when he wakes up. Or rather when the two little hurricanes come jumping in their bed to wake them up.
Haymitch doesn't bother answering her apostrophe, he simply buries his head further between the pillow, shielding himself for what he knows is coming.
"Haymitch! This has to stop!" she whines coming back in the bedroom. "Don't you listen to me?!"
"Ouch!" he half screams half laughs when he receives a bundled sweater on his bare back. He's glad the rest of his swearing is muffled by the pillows.
"This is all your fault! I took another pound! That's three in a month!" she rants before flopping at the edge of the bed, whacking his side for good measure.
"Ouch! Stop it! This is domestic abuse…" he grumbles, finally turning on his side to see her. Well, her back. She huffs. "See I can be a drama queen too…"
She sighs theatrically. Her arms crossed in front of her chest and her face angled away from him.
He has a hard time understanding why she is so upset about a little weight more or less, but he takes her in his arms all the same.
After all he had sworn not to make her cry ever again.
"You're gorgeous princess. It's not even noticeable." Well, it was. But it wasn't that dramatic and it had gone to all the right places. More breast to kiss, more ass to knead and stronger thighs, he wasn't to complain about it. She looked even more like a goddess to him. When does she not?… "That's more you for me…" he adds, kissing her neck and spreading his hands on her still honorably flat stomach.
"That's also more me that doesn't fit in my clothes…" she grumbles, softened by his attention but still mad. "From now on you'll only make salad for dinner!"
"The girls will be thrilled!" he deadpans shaking his head and rolling his eyes behind her back.
He's a little annoyed by her new obsession with her weight, but that is not the worst couple problem they could have, so he had made his peace with it.
"Come on. Time to eat your breakfast salad, or the girls will come to investigate." he pushes her up to get out of the bed and leaves her there with one last kiss.
When he enters the kitchen after a stop in the bathroom, the girls are already there, taking out of the cupboards all the necessary ingredients for their traditional Sunday morning pancakes.
"So, Blueberry or banana today?"
"Blueberry!"
The answer is unanimous, from his three woman standing in his kitchen.
They all sit to eat in a cheerful atmosphere. Effie seems to have forgiven him, even if she only eat one pancake with a white yogurt and clementines. The girls are all excited, more than usual because of the growing proximity of Christmas.
He isn't as anxious at the prospect of the Holiday as he had been in the past, but he still isn't thrilled. But seeing them all so happy appeases him a little. Now, the worst are the nightmares, and he isn't alone to face them anymore.
"Go get ready girls! We sail in an hour!" he tells the girls as he is gathering the empty plates to put them in the sink.
Effie comes closer to him, to help him with the dishes.
"We have more than an hour and a half." she laughs.
"Better be safe…" he mumbles.
"That leaves us plenty of time…" she purrs behind him, hugging him and tiptoeing to bite on his earlobe.
"Someone's greedy lately… Didn't have enough, yesterday night and that night and this morning?" he chuckles, turning to take her with his hands still soaking of water and soap.
"No. Never…" she breathes claiming his lips in a languorous kiss. Damn, he can't resist her when she kisses him like that, biting on his bottom lip and gliding her tongue on his palate. And she knows that too well.
"Shower?" he manages to ask between two kisses. She doesn't answer but puts her arms around his neck tightly. He takes the hint and lifts her to carry her there. It was becoming a little straining, he had to admit and he winced a little in the kiss.
She feels it and shoots him a glare but he kisses her again to avoid spoiling the mood. His sweatpants were loose but not that much and it's becoming quite uncomfortable…
He kicks the door open and sits her on the counter. They quickly undress and move under the steamy stream.
They had become very creative with their sex locations lately. With two little clueless girls a few feet away from them, intimacy wasn't always easy to find and the shower had become one of their best friends.
He kisses and laps at the drops running between her breast, sucking on them in turn and burying his face between them. Competition was hard between them and her absolutely perfect ass for the title of his favorite part of her. He loved everything in her anyway.
She strokes him to full hardness - not that she had much work to do-, scratching at his back and biting on her cheeks to hold on her moans.
Then he goes back to her face, kissing her everywhere from her mouth to her neck, lingering under her ear, while getting her ready for him. He only brushes against her silken folds than she's already whimpering in his shoulder. He pushes one finger in her soaked and warm core and she's biting him to muffle a cry.
"Damn, Effie…" he didn't know himself if it was out of pain or surprise. He wasn't that good to just make her come so quick.
"Sorry… sorry." she pants, kissing the injured patch of skin. "Take me Haymitch, please…"
He doesn't need to be told twice. He lifts her up by the thighs and enters her in one thrust, pinning her to the slippery wall. Her blond wet curls are stuck at the dark blue tiles, like a golden aureole around her head. But the noises she is making are everything but those of a saint.
She is moaning and sighing, holding a hand in front of her mouth, as he is thrusting into her. He isn't going to last long if she keeps going like that.
"Oh god… Oh god!"
"That's Haymitch actually…" he taunts but he comes too, feeling her walls tightening around him so strongly. God she had never been so insatiable lately. "Does the extra pounds come with extra libido?" he chuckles, holding her shaking figure as she untangles her legs from his waist.
She whacks his chest but doesn't reply, still panting from her couple of orgasms in five minutes.
"You okay sweetheart?" she nods and kisses his chest tenderly. "Turn around I'll wash your hair."
It had become a weird kink of his. He is completely in love with her golden blond hair and he loves passing his fingers in her wet curls and massaging her scalp. And she seems to like that too.
That's also how he had discovered the little white strand at her nape. Stress she had said. She always tries to hide it, but he loves it. It only make her a little more unique.
They wash quickly and get dressed to go.
Like every Sunday, there going to eat lunch at Sae's new house, one hour away, in the suburbs of the closest big city.
He had been reluctant to send her there at first, but he had to admit it was a good thing. She was away from her home town but he often took her back, and she was safe and happy enough with her independence there. She had a small house, big enough to have some guest, but not too big as too exhaust herself walking around. She had nice neighbors, Woof was a little old, but Mags was a very nice old woman around her age. They got along immediately when she had arrived and they have a lot of fun organizing poker nights in the neighborhood.
Effie had been right to insist, Sae is much safer and happier there, even if she misses the town sometimes. But it had left him with the house on his arms…
He is torn from his thoughts by Effie coming out of the bedroom, dressed in a sage green woolen turtleneck dress with black tights and leather boots. Even with her body all covered, he still feels his mouth water.
She gets down to get the pie she had prepared and he goes to get the girls in their room. Fifteen minutes later, they're gone.
They arrive at noon, as scheduled.
They eat, laugh and talk, and Mags comes to take coffee with them after lunch.
They talk about anything and everything, the girls are having their best time building a snowman in the garden, he holds his girls tight against him. Everything feels so right…
"So boy! What are doing with your house?" Sae asks for the hundredth time.
He rolls his eyes for the hundredth time and lies for the hundredth time.
"I don't know…" he tries to put enough strength in his sigh to make it believable. Effie doesn't even comment anymore, she just sighs. They had had this particular conversation so many times already he isn't sure how longer he'll be able to hold it…
He does know very well what he's going to do with the house. What he is doing.
Right now as they speak, Cinna and Portia must be bringing the last furniture and decorations, and Beetee -Wiress husband- finishing with the Automation he had asked for, mostly for Effie's comfort.
He had had it redone completely. From foundations to the roof, by all the friends he could find to help. Chaff had helped with the plumbing, Blight with the carpentry and painting and he had to have the whole electricity redone by an exterior company. He had asked Portia's help for the interior decoration to be sure it would suit Effie's tastes, but had kept a close eye on it. He wasn't ready to have fuchsia walls or designer furniture.
It might seem a little crazy for a year long relationship, but he still doesn't believe he had succeeded to have such a woman in his life, and he is ready to do anything to keep her as long as he can. To deserve her.
The girls had moved to another subject of gossip, and they were laughing good-heartedly.
He watched her, laughing with her throat offered and her head hitting the crook of his elbow. He could listen to her laugh forever, it was the most musical sound to his ears. It meant she was happy, and it was the only thing he wanted.
That and the tight fit of living at four in an apartment made for two had decided him. And the unfathomable thought of leaving his mother's house to someone else or worse, to decay.
She had been right, when he had gone back a few days after the incident to take some of Sae's stuff he had been horrified to see the state the house was in. He could even hear the ghost of his mother lecturing him all the while he had been inside.
It is better now that the house doesn't look like it used to. Well, it's still white, with a navy blue front door. But the inside is nothing like it was and it's better this way. Easier.
The sight of Prim coming back in the living room, her nose red from the cold and her eyelids dropping reminds him he has to go back and gives him the perfect excuse to take their leave.
They say their goodbyes and leave the house just in time for him to be at the house in time to welcome Blight and the huge Christmas tree he had ordered him.
When they arrive, the girls go directly to their rooms and Effie falls on the couch. He goes to peck her lips from behind the backrest.
"I have to go to Chaff's. I won't be long." he doesn't like lying to her but it's for the good cause.
"What? Again?" she pouts, clutching the lapels of his jacket. "Stay with me…" he would gladly cave to her shiny pleading eyes but it's the last rush and they're on a schedule.
"I'll be back for dinner, I promise." he says, taking her hands off him gently and pecking her soft lips one last time.
She doesn't answer, simply burrows herself in the cushions and takes the TV remote. She seems upset and it puzzles him a little, but it can wait. He really has to go.
The house is almost perfect. The paint is dry, the furnishing almost done and now, a huge tree, taller than him, is waiting to be decorated in the corner of the living room. Right between the fireplace and the bow window.
"Look what I found." Portia exclaims, approaching him with a big box of candles.
He frowns but she keeps her smiles on, showing him the label on the box.
"LED candles. They look like real ones and they are completely harmless." she explains softly with a reassuring smile. "I bought some of those a year ago and I swear to you they are perfectly safe. I'm still here to testify." she winks, putting a hand on his shoulder.
He is agreeably surprised she had thought about that kind of little detail. He watches her as she puts some on the bow window sill, right above the cushions on the sit and under the curtains.
His stomach makes a knot by reflex, but he soon rationalizes. The flames are still, only the little bulb hidden under it is flickering to give the impression of a moving flame. He takes one to test the switch button, it works, and it is perfectly cold in his hand.
"Thank you. That's really nice." Effie would love it, they both knew.
"You're welcome." she winks at him. "I have to go, see you on Wednesday?"
"Yeah. Yes… Wednesday…" Wednesday… He still had to find a good reason to be out of town for the day…
He doesn't even hear Portia leave, too absorbed in his contemplation of the room. Christmas is in two weeks, and he still has to do all the decking. But it would wait until Thursday at least. He needs to know what color to use for the ornaments.
For now, the living room is already perfect as it is. With the white and sandstone orange walls, the wooden floor covered by the plushy Persian rugs, the mahogany furniture, the huge sculpted fireplace and the chocolate sofa and armchairs with their colorful additional cushions. He has to admit Portia had done a great work. He loves it. It's modern but not too much, cozy and warm. Homey. He could already picture himself in the leather armchair, with the three women of his life running around and annoying him like they tend to do when he wants a moment of peace and quiet.
As promised, he comes back home by seven, right on time to make them a salad dinner. The girls are visibly in the middle of a game of some sort in one of their rooms, and Effie is nowhere to be seen.
He finds her in the bedroom, asleep, her back against her mountain of pillows with her book forgotten on her lap. There are tissues on the nightstand and her eyes seem slightly red.
He come in the bed next to her, kissing her on the forehead not to startle her awake. She hums and her eyelids flutter open, searching around for what had woken her up.
"Hey princess." he says with a smirk, passing a hand in her hair, the ways he knows she likes.
"Oh! I'm sorry… I didn't mean to fall asleep…"
"Don't be sorry. You're alright?" he would hate her to be sick for the holidays. It would spoil all her joy and all his surprise.
"Yes, yes!" she answers without missing a beat. Her smile is strained, and it's not only because she isn't properly awake. If she thinks she can still fool him… "Did you have a good time?" she asks, hugging herself tighter in what he realizes now is one of his sweaters.
"Yeah. Yeah I did..."
"Good."
Good? That's all?
Something was definitely amiss with her lately. She was… not distant but… wary. Yeah, wary again. Like after that awful fight a year ago. Afraid of saying or doing too much, walking on eggshells around him at times. Not all the time though.
Half of the time she was clingy and dragging him into more and more creative and awesome sex. That half he isn't complaining about.
But the changes of mood were weird and he didn't like that. There was something she wasn't telling him.
"You're sure you're okay?" he insists, trying to coax her into confessing… something.
"Yes, I am perfectly fine. Just a little tired that's all."
He brings her to him, her head in the crook of his neck so that he can bury his nose in her curls while massaging her nape. It always soothes her from her worries.
"You smell weird." she states flatly and he can hear her wrinkle her nose.
He tenses slightly and she must feel it.
"Yeah? What?" It would be his luck to fail so close of the end of the line only because he smelled like fresh paint and plaster.
"Pine and… vanilla?"
For the pine it was easy to explain, he had helped Blight getting the Christmas tree up. But for the vanilla it was… Fuck…
"Chaff has a huge tree because of the kids. And Seeder brought a cake." That's a better explanation than saying he smelled like her best friend's perfume…
"Oh, that's nice of her." she says but it lacks cheer. She has that look that means she is thinking way too much, about what he said or what she should or shouldn't say.
"Was not as good as yours." he adds to cheer her up a little. She laughs a little but she still isn't completely back to herself.
He hates to see her like that, he feels helpless.
So he kisses her. As tenderly and passionately as he can. Trying to load it with all the things he wants to say but doesn't know how to express.
After a beat she responds in kind, but she had hesitated.
They stay like that, kissing and cuddling for a while. But he breaks the embrace when he feels himself becoming painfully hard, knowing it wouldn't be useful until the girls are in bed, a few hours from now.
She frowns but he brings her hand on his groin to make her feel that the problem isn't a lack of desire for her.
"Let's keep it for later yeah? I need to go make your salad…" he jokes and she chuckles in his neck, letting out a sigh of relief. He takes a few breath and thinks really hard about the meaning of life to get his blood out of his dick before getting out of bed.
"You're coming?" he outstretches his hand to her. She takes it with a genuine smile this time.
"I'll take care of Lady and I'll come to help you."
He had forgot to buy things for the cat for the house. He quickly takes his phone to write a note for it.
If she thinks he doesn't see her watching him doing it from the threshold, she is mistaken. She ain't much of a spy.
xxx
It's Wednesday.
Finally.
He wakes up with Effie's body between his legs, her head bowed to kiss him all around his morning wood. It must be early if she's still there. A quick glance confirms that it's just five in the morning.
"Hello to you too sweetheart." he chuckles, running his hand in her hair, the other under his head so he can enjoy the show.
She doesn't answer him, instead she takes him whole in her mouth sensually, waiting for him to touch the back of her throat to finally lift her eyes into his. He can't help a guttural grunt to escape him.
She is so fucking perfect his wife.
Well, wife… not yet.
She releases him with an obscene 'pop' and a salacious grin. "Hello darling."
"To what..." he sucks in a breath as she begins toying with his head with her tongue. She had some tricks… "Do I owe... the honor?" he finishes with much difficulties.
Talking is the last thing he wants to do right now, but it might help him to last a little longer and not to embarrass himself.
"You asked me to wake you early today. So…" and she takes him again. Her eyes fixed on his face.
"Yeah. Yeah right…" he sighs, throwing his head back on his pillow and his arm on his eyes. If he looks at her, he will come in a second. So he takes deep breath and enjoys the warm and we sensation of her perfect mouth around his sensitive skin.
"God…" After a few minutes of bliss, he can't hold it much longer and puts a hand on her shoulder to warn her.
She lets go of him to look in his eyes and this time he holds her gaze as she crawls higher above him and takes him between her breast, squeezing them around him.
She had never done that before. And only for that, he wishes she never loses a single pound.
His face must be sight because she chuckles as she moves up and done, and the vibration is his undoing.
"Oh, Jesus fuck…" with a grunt he come all over her breast and his stomach.
Damn but he loved that woman.
He pulls her in a breathtaking kiss, not caring about spreading his cum all over their bodies. He can taste himself on her tongue and it makes him want to taste her.
He tries to maneuver her to the side but she cling to his neck, refusing to move an inch.
He frowns and break the kiss.
"What's wrong?"
"Do you really have to be away all day?" she pouts, kissing and nibbling on his neck. She is wriggling over him and he can feel her soaking wet right above his dick. He is not ready to get hard again, but slips his finger between them.
"Yeah. I have… things to do in the city. Boring things. Bank, attorney…" it wouldn't do to have her insist on accompanying him so he tries to make it look bad and to distract her from her worry.
He slides his fingers along her core but nothing more. Yet.
But she's already whimpering, and she kisses him hungrily.
"Oh…" she breathes. He doesn't know if it's a disappointed answer or a noise of pleasure.
"You'll be okay with the girls?" he asks her, maybe that's what's bothering her. It will be the first time they'll be a whole day without him.
"Yes... Yes, don't worry about that. Oh… yes..."
"Alright." he answers, quite surprised by her arousal. She is moaning and half incoherent above him and he hadn't even properly touched her yet…
He tries to rub his thumb on her clit and she has to bite her hand to muffle her cry.
"Shower." he says in a no argument tone as he takes her in his arms to carry her to the bathroom. It was as much to clean the mess he had made as to be sure to have some privacy, now that he is up and ready again.
After breakfast, while he is getting ready in the bedroom, Effie come in and hugs him from behind. Holding on to him for dear life.
"You're okay sweetheart?" he frowns.
"Yes." It's muffled in his sweater.
"Didn't you have enough earlier?" he teases. He isn't going for a third round, he's already late and Portia will have his head.
"Never." she answers, sounding far too serious and sad for such a topic.
He doesn't take this single little word lightly.
He turns to take her in a tender hug, and plants an equally tender kiss on her lips.
"I'll be back as soon as possible, princess. I need to go, I'm already late."
"Since when do you respect schedules?" They both snort. He would never admit she had succeeded in making him see the virtue of a well organized life. He still has his pride…
He kisses her one last time, intending to keep it short, but she wraps her arms around his neck and clings to him as she deepens the kiss. One could have believed he was going to war.
When he leaves, she gives him a sad smile and holds his hand until their arms are outstretched to the limit.
"I love you." she whispers tentatively. He simply winks at her as he closes the door.
He hates to see her sad and hesitant like that. The contrast between the bold woman sucking him awake this morning and the shy clingy thing he had left at the door puzzles him.
He arrives at the garage twenty minutes later than planned. Portia is tapping her foot on the floor, her arms crossed and her lips pursed.
"Here, I'm here. Don't scream at me, not my fault." he says, holding his hand in the air in a peace offering.
"I'm not the one who'll scowl if we arrive too late and don't find what I want!" she huffs. "You can always ask Chaff for a nut if you don't get anything. I'm sure she'll be thrilled." she adds wryly. He rolls his eyes when he hears Chaff laugh in the background.
"I have all forms and sizes, buddy!"
"Come on, lets go!" Cinna saves him for their friends gibes, throwing him the keys of a borrowed SUV. Much more adapted for the highway than his old coughing pick up truck.
The three of them get in the car, and make their way to the closest city.
Officially, he is going alone, and Cinna and Portia are gone to a fashion exhibit in an other city. In reality, they had offered to help him choose a ring for Effie.
A ring…
If anyone had told him five years ago that he would have girls and be about to propose to another today, he would have laughed at that person's crazy face. And yet, here he was.
They begin with the shopping center. There he finds some presents, but no ring. He finds a book for Chaff, cooking tools for Sae, and the toys and clothes the girls had put on their lists.
As he's walking in the alleys, he stops in front of a luxury brand store. He recognizes the white dress, with pearls and embroideries on the mannequin. He had caught Effie drooling in front of that particular model on the brand website a few times, complaining about the high price of the piece and sketching patterns to make a similar one. The price was crazily high, but he had to admit the dress was absolutely gorgeous. It was fancy but sober, classy. And it is presented coupled with a delicate silk scarf with blue roses printed on it. They were of the exact color of Effie's eyes…
He doesn't think much longer and enters the store. The salesman lifts an eyebrow at him, certainly not used to see someone with his look in his store, but comes to him with a perfect commercial smile and attitude. As long as he has the means to pay…
"Hello sir, how can I help you?"
"Hum, I'd like to see the white dress and the scarf there." he asks, pointing a finger to the right direction. The man hums and shows him the corner of the shop where the different sizes are on display.
"What size sir?"
A few month ago he would have said 4, but now she was closer of a 6, and he liked that much better. She had been almost too thin before, and he doesn't want to see her back to diets and counting calories.
And if it was slightly too big, she could still adjust it.
"A six, please."
The man takes out a dress from the display and shows it t him. The size seems right to him so he just nods, not daring to look at the price tag. He follows him to the counter.
"Do you need anything else?" he asks politely.
Haymitch takes a breath to answer no, but as he lifts his head from his wallet, his eyes fall on the scarf again.
"I'll take the scarf too." He rolls his eyes at himself in his head. He is so whipped…
This time he really doesn't look at the cash register screen when the salesman scans the two articles, and tunes him out when he gives him the card machine. He just composes his code, thanks the man, takes his bag and gets out of there.
He doesn't care if his credit card reach its fusion point today. She deserves it.
Portia's eyes grow wide, fixed on the bag in his hand, when he joins them to the car on the parking lot. Cinna shakes his head with an amused chuckle but his smile strains when Portia throws him a glare.
"Come on babe, I can make better ones just for you." he defends himself, adding a kiss on her forehead. Nice catching up.
They get in the car and go to the center of the city. Where all the best jewelry brands are situated. There are three they want to see, the only ones who make engagement rings.
The first one is really posh, too much even.
Portia and him exchange a look when they find themselves in front of the display. She wrinkles her nose and he winces.
The rings are… old-fashioned. Too put it nicely. They remind him of the old women in the Town council. With their huge rings with equally obnoxiously huge stones, their big earrings and their tweed suit. He was sure he could find one like that for far less money in Snow's pawnshop.
They all seemed to be on one mind about that because they left the store without a word, avoiding the saleswomen eyes.
The second is better in his opinion. But not in Portia's.
The rings are pretty, of a reasonable price -on the expensive side, but still reasonable for an engagement ring. But she declares them too classic.
She isn't wrong. Effie isn't the plain and classic kind.
So they make their way to his third and last chance.
It's a small shop, hidden in a back-street. Their isn't many models in the outside display, but they are all homemade. They could see the young saleswoman inside and the old man crafting something in his workshop in the back.
Haymitch immediately likes it. He turns toward Portia to see her beaming.
They enter and the young woman comes to them with a genuine smile. Not one of those fake one plastered on every other sellers face.
"Hello, my name is Octavia, how can I help you?"
"We'd like to see the engagement rings."
"Alright, they're all here." she guides them to a small display in the back, with no more than a dozen models of rings.
He looks at them attentively.
He hears her chat with Cinna and Portia behind him. He learns that it's only her and her father there, and that they design and craft all their models themselves. They also do some custom command.
That could have been an interesting thing, but he won't need it. He has the perfect one in front of his eyes. Two thin twisted steel bands, embedding three little stones. A clear blue sapphire in the middle, and two pure smaller diamonds on each side of it.
It looked like an eye. Her eyes. He was seeing them everywhere. Like if she was always watching him.
The ring was perfect. Modern, classy, unique. Gorgeous.
"Portia?" he calls, not caring that he cuts her mid-phrase. Rude or not, he needs her help.
"Yes?" she approaches and bows to look at what his finger is pointing. "Yes. Yes!"
She tries it, because they wear the same size, and it fits just right.
So he buys it. He pays, hearing her grinning and clapping her hands in joy behind his back, Cinna laughing at her excitement.
Octavia hands him a small paper bag with a small white box inside.
White it will be then…
When they come back to the garage, Portia leaves him with a hug and Cinna with a tap on the shoulder.
He walks back home in the chilly night, leaving footsteps in the fresh snow.
He has never been so happy and scared in the same time.
He has no reason to be scared, he knows. But the last time he had come back home with a ring in his pocket…
He doesn't want to think about it. He had promised her to stop dwelling on the past.
He leaves his bags in the diner's storage room and climbs upstairs.
He opens the door to finds them all in their pyjamas -well very pretty green nightgown in Effie's case-, on the sofa, with a tray full of cocoa, cookies and candies in front of them, watching Christmas movies on TV. They watch him like deers caught in headlights.
"Girls, I think we've been caught." Effie whispers playfully and the girls giggle.
"What happened to the no-sugar-after-five rule?" he asks, lifting a falsely angry eyebrow.
"It's Christmas?" they try in a perfect choir after exchanging a partner-in-crime look.
He shakes his head fondly at their newfound complicity and falls on the sofa next to Effie, stuffing a cookie in his mouth. He puts an arm around her shoulders and she leans against him, as much as she can with Prim on her lap.
He wonders while they watch the end of their movie, in a comfortable domestic silence, only broken by their occasional laugh.
He wonders at how much his life has changed. He would never have dreamed it not so long ago.
And now, he had a family of his own. And it wasn't even that scary.
Because he wasn't alone to face this life.
It might have only been a year, but they already had their little habits.
Effie would be up well before him, but he would see her at the diner for her morning coffee before she opens the shop. Hazelle still takes care of the girls, but he can be with them until Effie comes back at the end of her day, thanks to the young woman he had hired to help him, Cecelia.
Effie had not been thrilled by her presence at first, but she's in her early twenties, married and very much not his type. His type being strictly blond with perfect legs and asses lately, and she is tall, muscular with no real forms, with brown eyes and hair in a pixie cut.
Then he would join them around bed time, read Prim a story, and they would cuddle on the couch or in the bed for a while before going to sleep. And on Sundays they have breakfast all together before going to Sae and end their day quietly, relaxing before going for an other week.
They had a routine, but they made sure it wasn't boring. They often did things to spice things up. Just him and Effie or with the girls.
He would never let her get bored. He is still marveling at the fact he had managed to get such a perfect creature, so he isn't going to take her for granted anytime soon.
He is so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't realize that the movie is over and Prim is asleep on Effie's lap.
He is startled when she kisses his cheek to bring him back with them. They take the girls to bed and he takes his girl to bed too.
They cuddle in their bed. Him sat against the headrest reading a book, with her sprawled on his chest, scrolling on her phone for new recipes.
He is caressing her collarbones absent-mindlessly, tracing senseless patterns on her chest. After a few minutes she puts down her phone and just closes her eyes, enjoying the attention.
He lifts his eyes from his book and realizes he has a perfect view of her cleavage from where he was, especially with that nightgown.
He slowly moves his hand down her chest, continuing his patterns, until reaching her breast. He only caresses them, kneading softly at first. They are certainly the part of her that had 'suffered' the most of her weight gain, they barely fit in his hand now.
And he isn't complaining…
Her breathing has quickened, but she still hasn't said anything. So he keeps going, a little more teasingly, taking her hardened nipple between his fingers sometimes on his path, squeezing a little but nothing more. Everytime he touches them, she moans one of those moans that goes straight to his groin.
When she turns her head to bite and kiss on his neck, he tosses his book aside and switches off his bedside lamp.
xxx
The end of the week goes as expected.
It's the last week before Christmas, the last rush, and the town is buzzing with people shopping, carolers and children running around.
They barely see each other during the day, Haymitch is busy with the diner and the girls, and Effie and Portia are overwhelmed by orders. Even when she comes back at night, she brings some sewing work to finish.
When he wakes up on Sunday morning, he expects to find her beside him.
But he only finds cold sheets. He opens his eyes to see that it's still dark outside. It's barely five am. She can't have gone to work so early on a Sunday… Can she?
But then he hears the flush in the bathroom, and she reappears a minute later.
"Everything's okay sweetheart?" he asks sleepily.
"Oh, yes. I just got thirsty and needed the bathroom. Sorry I woke you." she answers, getting back in the bed.
If she had only needed the bathroom, the sheets wouldn't have had time to get cold and her eyes wouldn't be red and puffy. And whatever she had drank had a lemony taste he learns by pecking her lips once she's safely back in his arms. But he doesn't insist, his brain isn't awake enough.
He just snuggles against her, holding her close and safe, and falls back to slumber.
They sleep a few more hours, until the girls shattering entrance.
He needs to pee first thing, and when he comes in the kitchen Effie is already bustling with the breakfast. Yogurts, eggs and bacon, pancakes, orange juice… So much for a woman on a diet.
Again, later in the afternoon after coming back from Sae's, he goes to his secret meeting with Portia and Cinna in the house.
Effie isn't pleased to see him leave again, he can see it. She has that sad, yearning thing in her eyes.
But today isn't any day, it's Christmas decorating. Something he hasn't done without help for years. Until last years he hadn't done it at all since his teenage years to be honest.
He had bought some things and they had bought others. They have five bags full of decoration to literally deck the halls today. It's going to be a lot of work.
They begin with putting some ivy and pine branches garlands around the arch doors and the windows frames, before adding some ornaments in them. Mostly balls of different sizes and some fake edelweiss and poinsettia flowers Portia had found.
They had chosen white and gold as a color theme.
Then it's time to decorate the tree. They spray fake snow on it first, then put a thin LED garland Haymitch had accepted, at the condition that it was turned off when nobody was in the room. After that they moved to the other garlands and ornament of all shapes and sorts until they could barely distinguish the tree under them.
He has to climb on a table for the last touch.
A star made of real mother of pearl. One of the few things he had salvaged from the ruins of his house.
How it had survived, it was a mystery. But he had decided that it was a sign. The star is his mother and his brother watching him. Them. Protecting his family.
Last touch, not exactly.
When he climbs down and turns around, he finds Portia handing him a paper bag with a grin.
He takes the little box inside and goes back to the tree to dissimulate it in the ornaments. He settle it slightly in the back, facing the side of the fireplace, between a glass angel and a lace heart. The chances that she would notice it there are more than slim.
xxx
When he come back home, he hears that the girls are in their room. He searches for Effie and finds her in an armchair, watching him like a hawk. Like if she had been waiting for him.
The moment their eyes meet, she pounces on him and kisses him hard. Her hands roam all over his torso. When they part, she all but shoves him in the bathroom and makes him sit on the edge of the bathtub.
Fuck but he is already hard just from her kiss and the fire in her eyes.
She kisses him again as her hands work expertly on his belt and zipper.
"Damn sweetheart, what's that for?" he chuckles in the kiss.
"I missed you." she purrs, getting on her knees between his parted legs.
"I have only been away a few hours."
"A few hours too much." she whispers far too close of his, now exposed, very hard dick. Her breath is hot on him and it makes him shiver. And then she licks his length.
"Fuck, I should leave you alone more often…" he jokes, but the light scrape of her teeth is an efficient rebuke. And the flick of her tongue on his vein takes away all desire to joke.
All his desire is on her and her mouth and her tongue and … God…
She sucks and licks on his cock, massaging his balls with a hand and clutching his thigh with the other.
He is so far gone that he forgets to warn her when he's about to come. His grunt is the only warning she gets, and she takes him deeper in her throat.
He come like that, thrusting deep in her mouth, and she takes it all.
It's not the first time it happens so he doesn't worry, until she chokes on him and withdraws hurriedly. She turns on her knee to reach the, fortunately close, toilets just in time to throw up everything, coughing and crying from the fright.
"Shit. Shit, Effie you're okay, sweetheart?" he kneels next to her, holds her hair out of the way and puts a hand on her back, rubbing it to comfort her.
"Yes, yes I'm sorry. I don't know what happened…" she answers after taking a few deep calming breaths.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…"
"I pushed you to do it." she laughs, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
He kisses her forehead, feeling like an idiot. All the more with his dick still hanging in the air. He puts him back in his pants and carries her to their bed.
For all her reassurances, she's still pale and shaking slightly.
He brings her some warm pyjamas and makes sure she's well tucked under the covers before going to the kitchen.
"Don't move, I'll be right back." he orders her.
He comes back five minutes later with a cup of her favorite peppermint tea and a plate of cookies. She's on her side still burrowed under the blankets, already dozing off. She shakes her head awake when he enters and sit a little.
"Oh, thank you Haymitch, but you shouldn't. I am fine really, only a little tired."
"I can see that." he huffs kindly, putting everything on her bedside table and coming beside her on the bed. "You stay there, take all the time you need. I'll tell the girls you're not well." he says, rubbing her stomach with his big hand and pressing soft kisses on her forehead.
He leans to kiss her, but she recoils and turns her face to avoid it. She certainly doesn't want him to kiss her after throwing up. He really wouldn't care but he understands.
"Alright. Thank you." she presses a light kiss on his jaw and nuzzle his neck.
He stays with her until she falls asleep and goes back to the girls.
Katniss is the first to come down. Her mouth pursed on the side in a worried face.
"You're okay sweetheart?" he asks as she comes to sit next to him on the couch.
"Effie's sad… She doesn't like that you leave all the time…" she doesn't look at him, she keeps her eyes on her hands on her lap.
"What do you mean?" so he wasn't the only to see it then. And if even Katniss had picked up on it…
"She was crying doing the dishes earlier…"
"What?!"
"Prim and I saw her so she said she had only bumped her feet in the counter but she really looked sad… And she sleeps a lot when you're not there. She doesn't want us to tell you…" she stops and looks at the small tree they he had bought and let them decorate. When she speaks again her voice is small and shaky. "Is she sick? Is she going to leave us?"
"No… No of course not, sweetheart…" he takes her in his arms. "It's okay. She won't ever leave you."
At least he really hopes not. She is different, but he doesn't think that's coming from her. She is hiding something from him. He wouldn't say she's depressed but she is unwell, and she doesn't want him to know…
He fears that something he did. Maybe it's going too fast for her… Maybe he said or did something… Now that Katniss had pointed it, she was more clingy when he was leaving the house…
Or maybe she was missing her family after all. The holidays have that effect on many people. Maybe she wants to go back to them in NYC. Or maybe they want her back, now that water has ran under the bridges. The thought causes chills on his nape.
It's not a good moment for that, but he wants to ask about it later. Maybe they could compromise something. He doesn't want to lose her for that.
He makes some soup, eat with the girls and take them to bed.
When he comes back in their bedroom with a bowl, she's reading, sitting against a pile of pillows.
"You better princess?"
"Yes, much better. Thank you." she takes the bowl from his hands eagerly. Not caring about her own rule of no food in the bedroom.
Well, they had already transgressed this rule a few times, but not in the same context…
"It's delicious!" she beams, while he tucks a few wayward strand back behind her ears and coils his hand around her nape.
He watches her. Searches her eyes for something. Fear, resentment, anger at him, but he doesn't find anything like that. Just a hint of sadness and yearning sometimes.
He keeps combing her hair distractedly.
"Are you okay, Haymitch?" she asks, once she has finished her soup and looks at him.
"I love you." It escapes his mouth without his assent. But it's the truth, and it makes her grin and kiss him so maybe that was the good thing to say.
The kiss morphs into making out, and soon he goes down on her in order to make it up to her.
She holds his head between her thigh, clutching and scratching at his scalp with her red painted nails.
Twice he feels her come undone on his tongue inside her or on her clit, wriggling under him and biting his pillow to muffle her screams – because she downright screams- of bliss.
He comes back up next to her, kissing her neck while she come back from her literally breathtaking orgasms. They are both flabbergasted by the strength of them…
"Wow… That was…. Intense."
She chuckles, still panting, and reaches for his – rock hard – cock with her hand.
"No. no. That was just for you." he whispers, taking her hand away gently.
"But I want you…" she whines, tears in her eyes. "Don't you want me?"
"Isn't the answer obvious?" he snorts, he is struggling to keep his hips far from her. If he thinks a little too much about what had just happened, a small touch would be enough to make him burst in his pants like a teenager. "You're already tired, I don't want to exhaust you…"
"I don't care." she breathes in the hottest and sexiest voice, and straddles him so fast he doesn't have time to react.
She undoes his pants and kisses him hard. He has to bite his cheeks strong enough to draw blood to avoid cumming right then when she sinks on him, her tits bouncing a few inches away from his face, moaning in the most obscene fashion.
She rides him like it was the last time.
When they collapse in the ruined sheets, his brain begins to work again.
"What… Fuck… Was that… three for you?" he frowns. She had never… it was… five in total? In what? Twenty minutes?…
She nods, too spent to say more.
He gathers her in his arms and they fall asleep like that, naked and sweaty.
The only thing he has the will to do is praying that none of the girls would come barging in after a nightmare and find them like that…
xxx
The next day, he goes one last time to the house, to make sure everything is done and perfect.
And it is.
Christmas is in four days, but he isn't sure he'll be able to wait that long to bring Effie here. The more he waits, the more afraid he gets. And it might also be good they come here before having to host a party inside. He knows the kitchen but he hasn't cooked in it or tried the appliances yet, and Effie will want to know where everything is stored, to be the perfect hostess.
He goes back to their apartment with a question and a proposition she certainly will not like at first.
He goes back to the dinner, it's seven thirty pm, so she must be home now. He asks Cecelia to stay ten more minutes, and runs upstairs.
He finds Effie fixing herself a cup of tea, munching on a blueberry muffin.
"Oh!" she startles spotting him on the threshold. "I wasn't expecting you so soon."
He can read guilt on her face. She wasn't expecting him to see her eating what she had forbidden herself. She won't be able to accuse him of making her fat anymore.
"Sorry." he laughs, stealing a bite of her muffin. "I wanted to talk to you."
"Oh…" she puts down her cup and muffin on the counter and crosses her arms in front of her chest.
He is a little surprised by the defensive stance but he doesn't stop at that.
"Did you hear from your family recently?"
"What? No, not at all. Well, except from my sister who calls sometimes. Why? Did you?" she's working herself up, panicking even. Her eyes are wide and she recoils under her back is against the counter.
"No. No, don't worry about that. I just wanted to be sure…" he quickly reassures her.
"Why?" she frowns.
"I was afraid… I thought that maybe you were missing them. It's the holiday and you've been…"
She crosses the space between them in two hurried strides and crashes against him.
"You are my family. I'll never leave you to go back to them. Ever." she blurts against his chest. "I'm sorry…"
He closes his arms around her.
"Nothing to be sorry about princess. That's good." he says with a kiss in her hair. "Would you like to go somewhere with me tomorrow? You'd need to leave the shop earlier…"
"Where?" she frowns. Visibly not fine with missing hours of work, she has a lot of orders to prepare and not enough time on her hands.
"Can't tell you." he shrugs with a smirk.
She studies his face for a while, searching for something, a sign of what he is up to. But he is careful to erase all emotion of his face. Only his smirk resists.
"Okay. When?"
"Around five? Meet me here. I'll take you."
"Alright."
"Great." he can't hold back the smile spreading on his lips, and kisses her lovingly. "I have to go back downstairs. See you later?" She nods and they part with light goodbye kisses.
xxx
The next day, he doesn't open the diner. He puts a sign on the door and drives straight to the house.
He still has some last minute details to take care of to be sure the surprise is perfect.
He begins with putting some framed picture of them and the girls on the fireplace, along with a huge bouquet of white peonies, camellias, hellebore, baby's breath, jasmine and foliage. Next he installs some of Portia's candles in the living room and in the bathroom attendant to the master bedroom, especially around the huge bathtub he had ordered custom made to be certain they would both fit in. And finally he goes to the kitchen to prepare their diner. Nothing too extravagant, some salad, roasted chicken with garlic, tomatoes and red bell peppers and the lemon pie she loves.
During his last tour of the house, he gives an almost yearning long look to the shiny new grand piano in the study. She would have loved to hear him play for her, she had hinted at it a few times. And he would have loved to be able to. But he is out of practice, and the tremors in his hands aren't helping.
Maybe one day… He would never be able to play like he used to, but maybe he could try to go back to it.
To get rid of his last demon.
He shakes his head and goes back to pick her up at the diner.
It's four thirty, he takes a quick shower, puts on the black slacks that always have her drooling over his backside, a grey button up shirt, and just have time to spray some cologne when he hears her open and close the apartment door.
"Haymitch?" she calls him from the living room. He comes to join her. "Oh! You look… dashing! Should I go get changed?" her eyes are wide and she licks her lips eyeing him up and down with a grin.
"If you want to, yes, you can." he says, welcoming her with a soft kiss.
"I will then. I clearly feel underdressed." she laughs and disappears in the bedroom.
When she reappears twenty minutes later, it's in a dark blue blazer dress with big golden buttons on black woolen tights and black boots. Classy and gorgeous. And mouth watering.
"Where are the girls? Aren't they coming?" she frowns, seeing him alone waiting against the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee.
"I arranged with Hazelle for a sleepover tonight. It's just us princess." he says, taking her by the waist and brushing his lips on hers teasingly. "Come on!"
He takes her hand and urges her down the stairs. There he stops and takes a thick kerchief on the hanger.
She jerks her head when he approaches it of her eyes.
"Trust me…" he sighs with a smirk. She makes a face but closes her eyes and lets him have his way.
He guides her to his truck, then all the way up the alley to the house and into the living room.
She wrinkles her nose when he stops her in the middle of the room.
"It smells like paint…" she winces.
He frowns because they had made sure to do the painting first so the fumes would be dissipated by now. To him it smells like new furniture, pine and chicken.
He comes behind her and slowly undoes the blindfold's knot at her nape.
His heart is hammering against his rib cage. But it's too late to doubt now. And he can't wait any longer to see her reaction.
"Merry Christmas, Effie."
The fabric hasn't fallen on the floor yet that he hears her gasp, putting her hands on her mouth.
That he expected.
What he didn't expect however was her bursting into tears, and whacking his chest vigorously when she turns to face him.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" he laughs.
"You stupid, stupid man…" then she stops hitting him and falls in his arms. "I thought you were cheating on me…"
"What?!" he barks. "Why on Earth would I do that?"
"I don't know. Men gets bored. I'm getting huge… And…"
"Wow, wow, wow…. Stop right there." he says putting his hand on her mouth to stop her stupid rant. He doesn't want to laugh anymore. "I don't cheat. And I certainly won't get bored of you. You're the most gorgeous woman I have ever met and I'm still wondering how you ended up with an old ex-drunkard like me."
She doesn't have to retort at that, so she cries again, melting on his chest, he holds her tight until she calms down.
"So…" he clears his throat. "What do you think?"
Because that's what he wants to know. That's why he brought her here. To know if she likes the house he had re-built for them.
She leaves his arms to take a walk around the room.
"It's perfect…" she seems speechless, her eyes are still full of tears but her mouth is stretching wider wider in a blinding smile. "I love it…" she comes back to him and kisses him hard.
He kisses her back but doesn't linger.
"And you haven't seen everything."
He takes her hand and drags her around the first floor. To the green kitchen, the cream dining room, the brown study.
She stops when she spots the piano in the middle of the bookshelves and leather armchairs. She look at him expectantly, but he can't do more than shrugging with an apologetic smile.
Later, he wants to promise her. But he doesn't want to make promises he won't be able to keep.
So he just takes her hand again and guides her up the stairs. There he does things in order. The girls bedrooms first, then the two bathrooms. Then the two guest rooms. And finally, their bedroom. With the light turquoise and white walls, the king size bed with a thousand pillows and cushions just like she loves. And the balcony. She walks straight to the floor to ceiling windows, opens the door and remains speechless at the balcony's railing.
He comes behind her and puts one of the bed's blankets on her shoulders. He simply takes her in his arms and watches the view with her.
The back of the house gives on the garden and further on the Meadow and the woods. In winter, when the trees are naked, you can even glimpse the lake in the middle of the sea of naked trees.
They stay like that for a few minutes, not caring one bit about the cold. Until she turns in his arms and wraps her arms around his neck.
"I love you…" she whispers before taking him in kiss that made him see stars.
He would have gladly skipped the dinner and romantic bath steps to go straight to the bed part, but he had organized the perfect night, so he has to behave.
"I'm sorry I doubted you…"
He kisses her worry away. "I understand. I must have been acting weird from your point of view." he chuckles. "You should have told me. I don't want to lie to you. I really thought you hadn't paid attention. If I had known…"
"It's okay. I shouldn't have thought… I should have known you weren't like the others…" she bows her head to hide her face, but he saw the flash of insecurity and hurt in her eyes as she spoke. He wants to strangle all those men who hurt and broke her, but it wouldn't help.
No, instead, he makes a silent oath to mend her as best as he can.
"Come on, I have other things for you."
They get back down to eat the dinner he had prepared. They take their meal talking and laughing, she insists he tells her all the details of the renovation and he explains everything gladly. She is beaming, happy and carefree again. Just like when they first met.
Her smile is blinding, her eyes sparkling and her laugh deafening.
Every little doubt was left in his mind just vanish like dust in the wind.
After dinner, they go to the romantic bath with rose petals and candles he had planned. Needless to say it doesn't stay on the romantic side for long.
They're kissing, her straddling his legs in the warm water that almost seems cold to him because his blood is boiling.
"I've been so scared. I realize it was stupid now but…" she chuckles with some uncertainty in her voice. She's still set on that. So persuaded that she isn't worth someone's love…
He shushes her with an other kiss. Much more tender than the heated previous ones.
"Never." he simply says, holding her head in his hands and locking his eyes in hers. "Never."
He frown lightly, looking at this incredible woman he doesn't think he deserves. But as long as she will want him, he will keep her. She's his most precious treasure.
After that, he carries her to their brand new bed in their brand new bedroom, still naked like the day they were born.
Afterwards, when she complains about their lack of night wear – it's true that the room is a little chilly because he has only turned the heating on today – he stands up and opens a drawer half full of clothes for them both. Some new and some he had sneaked out of the apartment in the last days without her noticing.
She laughs at his foresight and then at the content of her side of the drawer.
"You only took things I am not very likely to keep all night…" she purrs, slipping on her almond silk night gown he had gifted her last year.
"Oops…" he smirks, taking a pair of black sweatpants and pushing her playfully back in the bed. "We should get some sleep. We'll have work tomorrow." he adds more seriously, taking her mouth in a last intense kiss before leaning them into the pillows.
She burrows under the blankets and against him, tucking her head under his scratchy chin.
"Thank you." she whispers.
He doesn't see her face, but he can hear the tears in her voice.
xxx
And a lot of work they do have the next day.
From telling the girls to moving the first necessity items from their place to the house, it takes them half of the day. The other half is filled by going back to their respective work and catch up for the missed hours.
He had taken care of all the paper work already, and put the house in both their names. Even if he hopes she wouldn't be Effie Trinket for much longer.
It takes them two days to completely move there and find their new routine. They all have to wake up a little earlier, he takes care of the girls on the evenings until she comes back – entrusting the diner to Cecelia in the meantime- and goes back to take his night shift.
By Christmas Eve, they are both completely exhausted and they haven't seen each other more than a few hours a day, and they had spent most of them sleeping.
He is seriously considering taking either a babysitter for the afternoons or an other associate to have his night for himself and his family. He refuses to have done all this and not being able to enjoy it.
When he comes back with all grocery bags full of what they need for the dinner and the next day's feast, he finds Effie taking a nap on the couch, still dressed with her shop's apron - a white and pink striped monstrosity that kinda look cute on her -, with her half undone ponytail spreading blond curls on the pillows
He goes silently to the kitchen to store the groceries and comes back to her with a big cup of black coffee just like she loves.
Her nostrils twitch at the smell and she stretches like a content cat with a grin on her lips.
"Morning princess." he chuckles.
"Hmm sorry… didn't mean to fall asleep. I'm so tired…" she yawns with a smile, outstretching her hands like a child to take her coffee.
"Don't tell me…" he sighs, falling next to her on the sofa. It was so soft and comfortable, no wonder she had fallen asleep. "How are the girls?"
"Katniss is helping Prim organize her numerous books and stuffed toys in her room. They are adorable." she laughs with fondness. "But I was kicked out of Katniss's room because apparently there are things there that I shouldn't see…" she frowns and purses her lips in a mock of irritation.
Katniss was eight now, old enough to know that Santa wasn't real and he had asked her shelter for some of his gifts. There weren't that many cupboards that Effie wouldn't open in a nearby future and it was the only idea he had found.
"Should I worry?" he growls, laughing through his nose. "How did it go?" he asks, nodding toward her apron.
"It was madness. There was a never ending line. I had to ask Portia to replace me twice, just so I could go to the toilets…" she shakes her head. "Next year I'll put a limit to the commands. Not more than one two things per person or something like that… I had one with fifty petits fours and five logs. Ten boxes just for her! Never again! Ever!"
He hides a fond laugh behind a smirk and coils his hand around her ankle.
If it had been anyone else, he would have cut her saying he didn't give a damn about her rambling. But he could listen to her foolish stories for hours.If she's talking, she's happy, and that's what he wants. He'll worry the day when she'll have nothing to tell him at the end of the day.
Like last year, they have a quiet Christmas Eve dinner and night, just the four of them in their new sitting room in their new house, enlightened by the fake flames in the fireplace and the slowly blinking lights of the light string in the tree.
It still feels unreal to Haymitch, but it's a pleasant kind of unreal.
He feels like his ghosts are finally at peace when he looks at the star at the top of the Christmas tree. A warm wave spreads from his heart to all his body, and he presses a kiss on the top of the woman in his arms.
For the first time in a while, he is at peace.
xxx
The next morning, they open their presents, sitting crossed legs on the plushy rugs sprawled all over the room, with trays full of food and drinks on the coffee table and fresh snow all over the garden.
The girls scream their happiness at every ripped paper, Effie throws him an amused glare when she spots the brand on the box of the lingerie set he had bought her, but she quickly forgives him when she opens the big blue box containing the dress and scarf from luxury store.
Her eyes fills with tears and he can see she refrains from jumping on him for the girls sake. She intently places the box on top of the lingerie with a wink, and goes back to her other gifts -books, fabrics and sparkly threads.
He gets collection books, cooking tools and new clothes he knows she made herself. Two button up shirts, one timber green with lapels and cuff of a lighter shade, and a white one with grey marble buttons. It was telling of how much time he spent listening to her rambling about fashion that he knew both would make the grey of his eyes pop.
He doesn't gives her the ring. Not yet. Not sitting on the floor in their pyjamas with the girls around.
He wants it to be a private moment, just the two of them.
After that, he lets his girls new toys and takes his truck to go get Sae for lunch. It would become a new tradition, having her with them for the holidays. She's part of the family too.
When they get back home, Sae beams at what he had done with the house. She had heard about it and seen pictures, but being inside makes tears fill her eyes.
She quickly wipes them when they hear the clicks of Effie's stilettos coming closer and the steps of the two little elephants running upstairs.
"No running in the stairs!" they hear Effie scream at the girls who don't care the slightest and storms into Sae's arms. Effie arrives behind them rolling her eyes but grinning at the old woman.
She looks stunning -as always – in her knee length pine green empire dress, with a thin golden chain as a belt right under her breasts. It must be the cut of the dress but they really look huge and Haymitch has to gather all his self control to tear his eyes off them and keep his hands to himself.
"How are you Sae? Come in, come in, you must see the living room!" She drags Sae to the living room, explaining her everything like if she had done it herself, before calling everybody to the dining room where she had already set the table and the dishes.
She acts like a perfect hostess in her house, and he loves it.
The meal is delicious, from the vegetable soup to the lemon, vanilla and cardamom log Effie had created.
He can't help but to corner her in the kitchen between the soup and the beef roast to kiss her and nuzzle her intriguing breast.
"Haymitch stop, we have guests…" she chuckles in his neck, keeping her voice low so it wouldn't carry to the next room.
She responds eagerly to his kiss though, but winces when he cups her breast through her dress.
"What's wrong?" he frowns, he hadn't kneaded enough to hurt her, he had barely squeezed.
"Nothing, it's just the dress, it itches a little." she answers, smiling and wrinkling her nose, but her eyes aren't following the lead and he can taste the lie on her lips when she kisses him before going back to the table.
After that she seems a little… off. To an untrained eye she would be perfectly normal, but he can see something is amiss. She is her usual cheerful self with everyone, but she spaces out, he eyes glassy fixed on her glass of water when she thinks no one is paying attention. She's deep in her thoughts.
When the girls get out of the table to go play in their rooms, the three of them settle in the living room for coffee.
They speak about everything, the house, the girls, their lives. Effie snuggles against his side, tracing random patterns on his thigh with her fingers, and Sae throws periodically pointed looks in her direction. He silently nods at one loaded look she gives him during a beat and the smile that stretches her lips could have powered the city for a week.
"It's getting late for an old woman like me!" she exclaims suddenly, slapping her hands on her legs. "Haymitch, why don't you get me back now? You would be back to your lovely family for dinner!"
He takes the hint and nods.
"Yeah, if you want. Even if I doubt I'll be able to eat ever again." he jokes.
Effie gets on her with a kind smile hiding a relieved expression in her eyes.
"I'm going to tell the girls."
They wait until she disappears and Sae pounce on him to whack his arm. He is lucky she didn't use her cane.
"You should have told me! You idiot!" she scolds him laughing. "When?"
"Tonight." he answers in a low voice rubbing his neck. "I hope…"
"She will. Looking at the two of you, I have no doubt!"
They have to stop when they hears steps in the corridor. The girls say goodbye and go back to their new toys. Effie lingers a little. Insisting that she takes some leftovers home and taking her time filling some Tupperware.
Ten minutes later, they finally get in the car.
They talk almost all the drive about Haymitch's proposal. He doesn't really know how to do that. He hasn't prepared any speech or anything, but it's not his thing, it would sound fake. He'll… go with the flow.
When he parks in front of her tiny house, she turns one last time toward him, with a content expression and a smile on her face.
"Good luck my boy! Make an honest woman of her!"
"I will. I'll try at least…" he smiles a boyish smile he reserves only to her, his mother of substitution.
"You built a perfect nest for her. I'm proud of you." She opens her door, gets out and bows one last time to look at him through the window. "And remember to take everything life will give you, nothing dreadful will happen Haymitch."
She turns around without giving him time to answer and leaves him frowning at her words.
She has a point. A few years ago he would have pushed everything away, out of fear. Persuaded he was bad luck.
He mulls her words over during the drive home, wondering what made her say that. But he can't find any good explanation.
He takes a deep breath before turning the handle of the front door.
In a few minutes, he'll know. In a few minutes, he's going to spill his guts out and offer her his hand, his heart and his life.
With a little luck, in a few minutes he will be hers, and she'll be his.
And he doesn't have a freaking idea of what he's going to say…
He gets in the living room and finds her asleep again, with Lady curled on her hip. She has washed her face and changed in black leggings and a thick oversize red and white Christmas sweater that makes her look like a giant candy cane. She's buried under layers of blankets, and the TV is still on with the sound low enough that she could hear any unusual noise in the house.
He sits on the edge of the cushion and brushes tenderly her blond locks away from her face. Enjoying the sight and the feel of her glowing soft skin, her pink lips and her silky golden hair.
She wakes up and frowns looking around her.
"Oh… I fell asleep again…" she frowns, rubbing the sleep off her eyes.
"You're really tired. You're sure you're okay?" he asks. They might have worked hard this week and she might have had a lot of emotion, but is it enough to fall asleep everytime she ends up in a horizontal position…
"Yes. Yes I am perfectly fine." she reassure him. "The girls are asleep, they were exhausted and more than sated. So am I… This is my best Christmas so far…" she chuckles, getting up to leave him some place to sit next to her. "Are you okay?"
He realizes he has been fixing her without answering anything she had said. He nods and kisses her before standing up and walking slowly to the tree. Summoning all his courage and his meager talent for speeches.
"Haymitch?"
He seizes the small white box still hidden at the back of the tree, and plays with it for a second. He has his back at her and he can feel her insisting gaze on his nape.
"Did I say something wrong?" He can hear the frown on her face.
He takes one last deep breath and turns around to go back to the couch.
He can't go back now. He can't hesitate.
"Haymitch?" she asks again, puzzled. Until she spots the little velvet cube in his hand. Her hands fly to her mouth and tears flood her eyes. "Haymitch…"
He crouches in front of her. She's still sitting on the sofa, her legs bent under her, and he's kneeling facing her, looking at his hands holding the box.
"Effie… You know me, I'm not a man of many words." He chuckles nervously. "But… I know it's been only a year, it's not a long time but… I… I love you. You changed my life, our life. And I don't want this to end. So…" he lifts his hand and slowly opens the box. Not daring looking at her yet. "Will you marry me, and the whole crazy package that come with me?" he adds nodding to the ceiling and to the girls sleeping above their heads.
"Yes…" he barely hears the faint whisper coming from above his head. But he very well hears the sob, and immediately lifts his head to see her beaming and sobbing in the same time, hiding her mouth behind her right hand and lifting the left one to take the box.
He grasps her hand before she can touch it, keeps it in his, puts the box on the cushion next to her knees and takes the ring. He presses a light kiss on her knuckles before slipping the ring on her finger.
She fixes it for a second, her lips wobbling, but them she throws her arms at his neck and kisses him like if there was no tomorrow.
"I love you… It's so beautiful… I love you…" she repeats in loop between kisses.
He can tell she's happy but he senses there is something else. She is clinging too hard at him, her tears never stop to spill and she's shaking.
He retreats to look in her eyes.
"Sweetheart. There is something you're not telling me."
She bites her bottom lip, pecks his lips one last time and stands up, pushing him in her place on the couch.
And she walks to the tree. And takes something next in it on the other side of where he had hidden the ring, next to the window.
She doesn't turn around before speaking.
"Haymitch, you do love me." it doesn't sound like a question but it calls for a response.
"Yes."
"Promise me you won't be angry…"
"Angry? No. Why…"
His question trails off when she turns around with a little thing in her palm and kneels in front of the couch.
"Merry Christmas Haymitch." she whispers with an anxious smile.
She takes his hand and puts a tiny thing in it, and keeps her palm on it for a moment.
He can only feel it. It feel really tiny, and like … wool?
Then she takes her hand away.
And his breath with it.
He had never been one for the Christmas stockings tradition. It was stupid, most of the gifts wouldn't fit in them, and really putting socks next to roaring fire?…
But this one…
Only one thing would fit in it …
A really tiny foot.
The End
xxx
And that's it! They lived happily ever after. With a lots of fights and hot smut of course…
So, did you like it? Tell me everything!
Feedback are more than welcome in this dreadful time of the year – yeah unlike Haymitch, I haven't fought my demons yet… - and I always love hearing from my readers!
And of course I want to thank you all, writers, readers, who comment or not, for helping me get through this terrible year. This fandom is clearly the best thing that happen to me in 2020 and I really want to thank you all! 3
See you soon for new foolish Hayffie stories and the next part of Vicarious!
xxx