Chapter 3: A Wish

Her ankle didn't thank her for the long hot shower but Effie felt a lot more human once her hair was free from all the hairspray and she was clean. Haymitch's clothes didn't fit her. The blue long-sleeved shirt was far too big and her lack of bra showed – not that she could do anything about that because she couldn't conjure one out of thin air and she hadn't been wearing one under her wedding dress – and the sweatpants wouldn't hold at her waist even when she pulled the cord to the maximum. She folded them properly and left them on the side of the sink. The shirt fell to her mid-thighs anyway. She had worn shorter dresses.

She wrapped her ankle as best as she could to keep it still and limped downstairs, tossing curious looks around as she went since she hadn't been able to get a good look at the house on the way in.

The inside was less neglected than the outside. Unlike in the guest room, there was no dust anywhere that she could see. It was obvious an effort was being made to keep it clean enough for the children's sake but it was also obvious at the same time that order wasn't a natural thing to this family. Or perhaps she just didn't know what a lived-in house looked like because her parents' and her friends' had always been kept perfectly neat and spotless. Soulless. She would have tidied up a little more but, all in all, the house looked homey. There were toys scattered here and there, children drawings tapped to the walls in random places next to old framed paintings that must have been hanging there forever, books on all available flat surfaces…

She followed the echo of voices down an hallway but paused when she realized what was being said.

"Sweetheart… She won't be staying, you know that, yeah?" Haymitch was saying quickly but quietly – gently. "It's fine to be friends with her but you've got to be ready to see her go, alright? Cause I don't want you to be upset when…"

"But her family doesn't sound nice. They don't want her." Prim's soft voice argued. "We can love her better."

"Doesn't work like that, little duck." Katniss scoffed. "Though, she could stay, right? If she's got nowhere else to go…"

"People like her aren't the same as people like us." he sighed. "She's gonna wake up tomorrow morning and realize she likes being rich better than being stranded here with us, mark my words. Besides… We're good, the three of us… We don't need anyone else."

"But she knows princess stories." Prim retorted.

"I know princess stories too." Haymitch replied, still in this patient voice. "You love my princess stories."

"Yes, but…" the little girl let her voice trail off…

There was a long silence and then Katniss' voice. "But what, little duck?"

Effie wondered how it was that Katniss could go from behaving and sounding like a normal ten years old to acting like someone that collected and much older in a blink of an eye.

"But all my friends have a daddy and a mommy." Prim finally whispered.

"We have a mommy and a daddy." Katniss answered, more firmly.

There was a small frustrated sigh from the youngest child. "But Uncle Haymitch doesn't have a sweetheart…"

"Honey, I've got you and your sister…" Haymitch countered. "I don't need…"

"But the daddy needs a mommy." she insisted and then amended. "Or another daddy. That happens sometimes, I saw on TV."

"Haymitch ain't our daddy, Prim." Katniss snapped suddenly. "Daddy died, remember?"

"Katniss." Haymitch growled, a warning in his voice. "Easy."

Katniss must have understood because she softened her voice. "We're fine like we are, little duck. We don't need anyone else."

"But Buttercup misses having a real mommy." Prim argued in a pleading voice.

And Effie developed a sudden lump in her throat. She cleared it and limped into view before she could eavesdrop even more, forcing a bright smile on her lips. She noticed the round kitchen table was set and everything was ready. "Oh, I hope I did not keep you waiting! How rude of me!"

The three of them were gaping at her and she gingerly touched her face, realizing a bit too late that all her make-up was gone and her hair was flowing down in the wild unruly curls she usually never allowed anyone to see. Added to the lack of proper clothes, she probably looked ridiculous.

She cleared her throat again but didn't let her smile waver. "You will have to excuse my look… Not quite fashionable but…"

"You're even prettier now." Prim professed with awe. "Don't you think she looks prettier, Uncle Haymitch?"

Katniss leveled a long complicated look at her sister, rolled her eyes with what appeared to be resignation and pulled back the chair between herself and Haymitch, glancing between the two of them. "You sit here."

The exchange between the girls was lost on Haymitch. He was still gaping and his eyes didn't seem to be able to choose a place to settle. They went from her long bare legs to her chest where his close attention didn't help make the bra-less situation more discrete, then up to her face and back down again.

"Uncle Haymitch, can I have some water, pretty please?" Prim asked.

He blinked himself out of his strange trance. "Yeah. Yeah, sure. Yeah."

He coughed a little, stood up, accidentally bumped into his chair, before finally filling a carafe with water at the tap.

Amused, Effie suppressed her smile and sat down, letting Katniss drop a cheese bun on each of their plate.

"You know…" he said, with his back still turned, his tone halfway between a tease and a mock. "I like you better, Effie, without all that crap."

Two could play at the flirting game and Effie didn't bother fighting off her smile this time. "I am glad to see you are able to remember my name after all… I was starting to be concerned about your short term memory."

He paused – so briefly it was almost unnoticeable – and then turned around and poured Prim a glass of water before putting the carafe down in easy reach. "Eat your cheese bun."

She wasn't sure if he was talking to her or to the girls but she was famished so she decided it didn't matter. She was used to four stars restaurant and to having an actual chef in residence so she didn't expect the cheese bun to be that good. When the flavor hit her tongue, it was so good she let out a sound that was almost a moan. Everyone was looking at her again. Embarrassed, she winced. "I never tried that before. It is so good."

Haymitch lifted his eyebrows, not quite surprised. The girls however were scandalized.

"You never had cheese buns?" Katniss gaped. "What did you eat?"

She asked the question as if she suspected Effie had been kept in a cave at the backend of the world instead of in a mansion on Capitol Avenue.

"Canard à l'orange?" she answered uncertainly, because it was the first thing that popped into her mind.

"What does that mean?" Prim frowned, patiently waiting for Haymitch to finish cutting her bun into small pieces.

"Fancy way to say duck with orange sauce." Haymitch muttered.

"Oh." Katniss shrugged. "Uncle Haymitch cooks chicken with oranges sometimes. Or olives and tomatoes. It's really good."

Clearly embarrassed by the compliment, Haymitch mumbled something Effie didn't catch.

"I am a helpless cook myself." she volunteered. "But this… This is a delight."

A delight that would go straight to her hips but it was so good, so rich and creamy on her tongue, that she didn't even care.

Dinner was lively like she couldn't remember it being in her childhood. By the time she and her sister had been old enough to be allowed to share their parents' meals, propriety had been ingrained into them. They were to be silent unless spoken to. Perfect dolls to be showed off to their friends and not…

Prim and Katniss never hesitated to speak and Haymitch seemed to be encouraging it, or at least he didn't seem to find it improper that children dictated the course of the conversation. There was a clear intent on the girls' part – a very obvious unsubtle one – to somehow trick them into complimenting each other. The attempts at matchmaking were cute if a little unnecessary because sparks flew enough by themselves but Effie was a little wary to give in to the blatant connection because of the conversation she had overheard.

The last thing she wanted to do was upset the children and Prim did seem to get attached quickly. If she decided to try something with Haymitch she already instinctively knew it couldn't be a fling. And she didn't have the best track records with serious relationships.

She enjoyed herself so much during dinner that she was sad when they had polished their plates plus the yoghurts Prim insisted was good for their health – because she had been told at school and, since she wanted to be a doctor, health was a serious thing. The little girl was rubbing her eyes by the end of the meal though and she didn't protest much when Haymitch declared it was time for bed. She gave Effie a big hug and then outstretched her arms so Haymitch could carry her up upstairs.

Feeling a little awkward under Katniss' scrutiny, Effie limped around the kitchen, clearing the table and starting on the dishes. Now… She had never done the dishes before but she had watched enough TV that she knew how to do it. In theory. She considered it a great personal victory that the girl didn't seem to realize it was her first time doing a chore that seemed so basic.

She was an expert at politely evading the real serious questions – because in polite society a lady never raise controversial subjects – so she kept on a stream of innocent chatter, shifting her weight to her good ankle as much as she could because the bad one was throbbing.

"Are you gonna stay?" Katniss cut her off bluntly after five minutes, studying her with far too much intensity.

Effie was not used to blunt people.

Nevertheless, she abandoned the dishes to turn toward the little girl who had a serious look on her face. She looked far too mature suddenly. Or perhaps mature wasn't the right word but… Adult maybe. She looked like an adult trapped in a child's body. There was a look far too old for her ten years on her face.

"Katniss, darling, even if I wanted to… I do not live here." she countered gently. "You were all very kind to take me in for the night but…"

"Haymitch won't care if you stay more than a night." the child interrupted again.

Effie clenched her jaw to stop herself from reminding her not to talk over adults.

"Be that as it may…" she sighed. "I couldn't possibly impose more. It's…"

"It ain't imposing if we invite you." Katniss pointed out, tilting her head to better stare at her. "Prim wants a real mom. You look like you could be a real mom."

She opened her mouth and closed it twice, not sure how to address that. Blunt people. How did you deal with them? "You have just met me."

"Yeah, but you said to mind our language a lot and you did our hair and Haymitch likes you." Katniss argued. "He doesn't like anybody."

Effie noticed that, far from her sister's ears, Katniss had dropped the "uncle" honorific.

"It is more complicated than that." she insisted. "You cannot just… You cannot meet a woman on a street, decide she would be a good mother to you and your sister and just…"

"I don't need a mother." the girl petulantly argued.

Effie sighed, dried her hands on the dishtowel and gently nudged Katniss towards the chairs so they could sit down. Her ankle was killing her. "Listen, dear… Even if this whole idea was not crazy, I wouldn't know the first thing about being a mother."

The girl shrugged. "You care about how we talk, you played with Prim and you did our hair. It's better than what our real mom has bothered to do in years."

Effie winced. "You mother is ill, isn't she? I am sure she is doing her absolute best. That does not mean she does not love the two of you…"

A satisfied smile burst on Katniss' lips. "See? You're even lying about mom to make me feel better. Haymitch does that all the time. That means you're gonna be good at it. Prim believes this shit."

"Language." she hissed before she could think better of it. Katniss beamed as if she had just proved her point. "Dear, you have to realize what you're asking is a tiny bit on the insane scale."

The girl crossed her arms in front of her and scowled. "You ran away from your wedding, your mom looked like she wanted to kill you, you've got no friends and nowhere to go." When it was summed up like that, of course… Katniss rolled her eyes before Effie could even try and answer that. "Besides, if it's not you it's gonna have to be Hazelle… She's the only other woman who's not a dinosaur that Haymitch likes." The girl made a face. "But she's got five kids already and Prim needs someone to herself."

At that moment Effie realized that unless she ran out the door right then, Katniss would strive her best to make this happen.

"Do you always make sure your sister gets what she wants no matter how ridiculous?" she asked, careful not to sound judgmental.

Katniss didn't even bat an eyelash. "Yes."

Effie contemplated that, shocked and flabbergasted. The idea of her older sister doing the same for her was so ludicrous that she couldn't even begin to fathom it.

The clearing of a throat made them both startle and they turned to see Haymitch leaning against the threshold. He wasn't a small man and Effie didn't know how they hadn't heard his approach. Clearly, he could be stealthy when he wanted to be and she wasn't the only one prone to eavesdropping.

"Get upstairs, sweetheart. We're gonna have a serious conversation before bed." he growled. Katniss didn't look the slightest bit afraid. She just shrugged and disappeared down the hall without even a good night. Effie pursed her lips and very purposefully avoided the man's grey eyes. "Don't fucking finish the dishes. Rest that ankle before it gets worse, for fuck's sake."

She narrowed her eyes, tilted her head and finally made eye contact. "You're awfully vulgar."

"And you're awfully proper." he scoffed, as if it was an insult instead of a virtue.

They glared at each other even though Effie wasn't quite sure what she had done wrong. She had the feeling if he could have decently kicked her out the door right then, he would have, that he felt threatened by all this sudden talk about her staying and about his girls needing a feminine presence in their lives… There was no question he had heard a lot, if not all, of her conversation with Katniss and that he clearly didn't like it.

She felt bad because he had been so helpful to her… But, on the other hand, she hadn't been the one launching the topic so it was truly unfair that he would be held responsible for it.

"May I borrow your phone?" she asked politely, curbing her tone so it wouldn't sound too aggressive. "Mother may have calmed down by now."

And since he so obviously wanted her gone…

He showed her to the living-room – that was just as much a semi-organized chaos as the rest of the house – and retreated upstairs, his face a scowling mask.

Effie sat down sideway on the couch, with her bad leg stretched in front of her, and glared for a second at her wrapped ankle before finally letting out a long deep sigh and taping her mother's number from memory. She had always been good at remembering numbers, that was part of why she had wanted to become an architect at some point in her youth – an idea that had made her whole family laugh at her as they quickly reminded her that it was a job for smart people and she didn't qualify.

Her stomach churned with dread while she waited for the call to go through, her hands were trembling, her breathing was erratic… Saying that she was terrified of facing the music would be too kind.

It was her fourth engagement but she had at least had the decency to break the three previous ones off before they got to the actual wedding day – although she had also dragged them off as long as possible in a pitiful attempt at wasting time in the vain hope she would end up developing feelings for men who were often more than twice her age…

Anyway… There had been precedents.

How surprised could her family that she had gotten cold feet?

Surely, it couldn't be that bad?

Could it?

Soooo that's not a request you hear every day... XD What do you think will happen now? Will Effie play mother? Will Elindra take her back? Will Haymitch get over his sulk? Will the girls be good little matchmakers? Let me know your thoughts!