Chapter 15: An Unconventional Ending

Effie liked the yard a lot more since Haymitch had caved and mowed it. It had taken a lot of effort to dig up the dead weeds and pile them up to burn but it now, at last, looked like a proper garden – or it would once she would be done with it.

She was sitting on the old armchair that resided on the wrap-around porch, keeping an eye on the girls who were playing tag outside while jutting down a list of all the things she wanted to improve. Her top priority was painting the façade because it really did look too shabby. Haymitch hadn't refused but he had said it would have to wait for spring.

The porch railing would need a new coat of varnish too, if not to be replaced in some places. She wanted to change the chairs on the porch and she also wanted the garden to look a little more like a proper garden. With flowers. The backyard was mostly full what with the geese and Lady's pens but the front yard now…

Smiling without even realizing it at the sound of the girl's laughter, she started sketching a vague idea… Some flowerbeds around the porch, maybe a slide or a swing for the children… It was huge… They would have room for a pool. But a pool wouldn't suit the vibe of the house at all…

The wind picked up and she adjusted her scarf, automatically looking up to check Katniss and Prim were still appropriately covered… They had a tendency to shed their coats when they played but she didn't want them to catch a cold.

It was because she lifted her head that she caught the faint rumble in the distance.

She frowned, her eyes drifting toward the road on instinct…

Haymitch had taken the car to go grocery shopping but it hadn't been long enough that she was expecting him yet. It was possible that it was simply Chaff checking on them or coming to spend some time with the girls but he usually came on foot since it was only a ten minutes walk from his house…

She wasn't sure what made her stand up, abandoning her notepad on the floor, and walk to the railing. She gripped the half-rotten wood, dread turning her stomach in knots.

She wasn't even surprised when she spotted the nose of the long shiny black car slowly coming around the bend in the road.

"Girls!" she shouted. Was it the urgency in her voice? Prim and Katniss both froze and turned toward her. She forced herself to smile, to soften her face, to speak calmly despite her hammering heart even as she hurled down the steps that led up to the house and crouched next to them. She grabbed both of their arms but squeezed Katniss' a little harder. "I need you to go to Uncle Chaff's."

Katniss frowned and glanced at the car that was slowly turning off the driveway and directly onto the front yard toward them. "Why? Who's that?"

The windows of the car were tinted, it was too big and it would leave deep tire tracks in her newly weed-free yard.

"No one." Effie lied. "Katniss, I need you to get your sister to Chaff's, do you understand?"

"No." Prim protested, shaking her head and staring at the black car, that had come to a stop a few feet away, with open mistrust. "I want to stay with you."

"You never want us going anywhere alone anymore." Katniss reminded her with a scoff. "You say it's dangerous."

She hadn't liked the fact Katniss was allowed to roam around by herself and she had set rules in place, that was true, but she was also aware that Chaff's house was close enough that, realistically, nothing would happen to them on the way. Katniss knew the path, she had done it before, and she truly didn't want the girls around when her mother – because she was certain it was her mother – would open the car door. The fact that she was taking her sweet time before doing so told Effie she was simply letting her stew in her dread, letting her anxiety set in nice and slow so she would be easier to take down.

"Right now, I need you to do as I say." she insisted, a little too harshly.

Prim's blue eyes started glistening and Effie immediately gathered her close, hugging her tight. She met Katniss' troubled gaze over her sister's shoulder and decided that honestly was the best policy with that girl.

"I suspect my mother is in that car." she said quietly. "You know she is not the nicest person."

"Then we stay with you and kick her out." Katniss shrugged. "I'm gonna get my bow."

For a second, she entertained the idea of letting an enraged Katniss at her mother with her bow and her arrows.

As tiny as she was, she had no doubt that a confrontation between Elindra and Katniss would end with the girl a victor. She was fierce like that.

"That is very nice of you, darling, but it is a grown-up matter." she refused and, when the girl opened her mouth to protest, she spoke over her. "I do not want her upsetting Prim, Katniss. Please, take your sister to Chaff's and stay there until I come get you."

The argument of Prim getting upset was all that was needed to sway Katniss but it was clear she wasn't liking it. "What if the witch kidnaps you?"

Prim let out a little gasp and clung to her neck harder. The crouching position was starting to hurt and Effie gently freed herself from her small arms.

"I am not so easily kidnapped, I promise you." She flashed them a blinding smile. "Now, run along, dear. I am sure Chaff has those sugary little cakes you like and I pretend not to know about."

Katniss forcefully grabbed her sister's hand, her eyes darting between Effie and the car. Prim was struggling against her grip, trying to grab Effie again.

"I will come get you in a little while." she promised again, curbing her voice into something reassuring.

"If you don't, I'm coming after you." Katniss swore right back.

Her smile softened into something a little more genuine. "I certainly hope so. Who else would rescue me?"

Katniss' eyebrows shot up. "Better me than Uncle Haymitch 'cause if you're not here when he comes back, he's gonna flip."

All in all, she was fairly certain her mother had timed her visit accordingly. It was too much of a coincidence that she would show up exactly when Haymitch was away for several hours.

And she had no doubt that Elindra had done her research. Confronting Haymitch directly would not be wise, not in the least because he hadn't stayed on the defensive but had placed calls and made subtle threats about her mother staying away, but attacking when Effie was without his protection… That was more Elindra's style.

"Go now." she ordered. She watched them run down the road, Katniss more or less dragging Prim behind, and then finally turned toward the car, squaring her shoulders as if preparing for battle.

She didn't bother going to the driver's side, knowing a random man in an uniform was probably sitting there – because god forbid Elindra Trinket drove herself anywhere. She went straight for the back of the car and, surely enough, the door opened when she neared it.

She had to jump back to avoid getting hit by it.

"If you are quite done playing with your little urchins, get in the car." her mother ordered.

Effie had zero intention of stepping inside the car, too aware that her mother wouldn't be above slamming the door behind her once she was in and ordering her employee to drive away.

"We do have a driveway, you realize." she deadpanned. "You could have done the polite thing and parked there."

A flash on irritation passed on her mother's face. She had never liked it when Effie talked back. "As if I would tread in that mud."

There was no mud.

It was cold and the earth was dry.

The implied insult felt cheap.

"Why are you here, Mother?" she asked, in no mood to play that familiar game of veiled attacks.

Elindra pursed her lips in obvious displeasure. "It became clear to me you were not going to come back to reason by yourself so here I am. Now, let's put an end to all that nonsense, shall we? Get in the car. Your father arranged everything. It cost him a pretty penny but the scandal will be avoided. The wedding has been rescheduled…"

"I should have known." She snorted and then shook her head. She wondered how much her father had promised and if the benefits to the business would out balance the cost. "I am not getting married, Mother, I am sorry to disappoint."

"You do not look very sorry but, then again, you were never the grateful sort." Elindra snapped. "Haven't you played house long enough yet? Would you rather keep cleaning after that oaf and his two bastards instead of…"

"Do not…" she hissed, taking a threatening step toward the car, hands bundled into fists. "Do not call my daughters names."

Pity and triumph glinted in her mother's blue eyes. "They are not your daughters, Euphemia. And that man, whatever you think you see in him, is beneath you. Resourceful, I will grant you that… Why, Plutarch gave me quite the passionate speech about him… And that lawyer he hired? Tenacious little thing. But he is beneath you all the same." Effie had known from the start Elindra would not care about the lawyer. The law did not apply to their social circles, there were always ways around it. It was only relevant when it could further their own agendas. "Interesting past, he has, your lover… Horrific too. Why, half his military file is censured. Do you even know whose bed you are slipping in at night? Do the people in town know what sort of killer they have in their midst?"

She clenched her jaw. "I forbid you from going after him, do you understand? And so help me if you so much as look at my girls…"

"Your girls." Elindra scoffed. "How many times must I say it? They are not yours. Are you delusional?"

"No more than you if you think you are going to intimidate me into going back to the city with you to marry someone I really do not care to see ever again." she deadpanned.

For a second, her mother looked surprised that Effie had grown a backbone when she had always submitted to her orders.

"Euphemia." Elindra growled.

"Do you even know his ex-wife accused him of beating her?" she snapped.

"Fiddlesticks." her mother dismissed. "She felt cheated during the divorce and spread the worst lies." Blue eyes bore into hers. "Is that what sent you running? Ridiculous rumors?"

"How disappointingly unsurprising you would not even care." Effie mocked.

"Do you imagine any husband of your would dare raise his hand against you?" Elindra pursed her lips. "That oaf of yours might, mind you. He seems the type…"

Haymitch would never hurt a fly.

Well… He might hurt more than a fly if he felt the need to protect the children – or her for that matter – but if she knew one thing deep down, it was that Haymitch would never be violent with her. She had never been scared of it.

And this conversation was sterile.

"You should leave, Mother." she declared, feeling a strange sense of calm wash over her. "I am not going back with you and you are not accepting my choices so this discussion is rather pointless, wouldn't you say?"

Her mother's blue eyes studied her and then she pursed her lips tighter. "You will change your mind. You were not raised to be a slave. You might enjoy your little rolling in the mud but once the honeymoon phase is over, you will sing a different tune. You will change your mind and you will come crawling back and I might not be so forgiving then."

She licked her lips and grabbed the car door. "I will take my chances."

She did not let herself hesitate before slamming it shut.

The car lingered only for a few seconds more before it turned around, narrowly avoiding hitting her on its way back to the drive.

Effie surveyed the tracks it had left in her yard with pursed lips. For someone who insisted on manners above all else, Elindra Trinket could be so ill-bred…

Feeling a little shaky, she let out a long breath and climbed the few steps that led up to the house. She found the phone in the kitchen and immediately dialed Chaff's number.

He answered at the first ring. "Are you okay, love?"

"Yes." she promised but her voice wasn't as steady as she would have liked. She sat down, her throat closing a little. Her eyes were burning with tears she refused to shed. "She is gone but… Could you… Could you keep the girls with you for a little while? I will be right over to fetch them. I just need…"

"Got you." Chaff said when her sentence trailed off without an end in sight. "Take all the time you need."

"Thank you." she whispered before placing the phone down.

She buried her face in her hands and swallowed back the tears, the sorrow and the bitter wasn't sure how long she remained like that, bowed over the kitchen table, but it was long enough that a headache was starting to develop behind her eyes.

She was about to stand up, shake it off and go get her girls – not matter what her mother had to say about it they were hers – when she heard the engine of a car rushing down toward the house. Half-certain Elindra had come back for another round, she froze. She so wasn't up for a second row with her mother…

The car door was slammed shut and the front door banged open a few seconds later and Effie finally relaxed because even her mother wouldn't be so rude as to come in uninvited, besides the footsteps were too heavy and too familiar to belong to Elindra.

She barely had time to get to her feet before Haymitch barged in the kitchen, looking slightly panicked.

The moment he spotted her, he tugged her into his arms and she went willingly, melting against his chest with a relief she wouldn't have been able to put into words.

"Fuck." he breathed out into her hair.

"Chaff called you." she surmised.

"Katniss." he muttered. "The moment they got to Chaff. I came back as quickly as I could."

She buried her face in his neck. "I am fine. I called Chaff as soon as she left, he should have called you…"

"He probably did. Didn't answer. Wasn't stopping that car for anything." he snorted. "Thought you'd need rescue… Should have known you'd rescue yourself."

"Well…" she chuckled. "There were no opportune car with a dashing stranger inside but I managed." He snorted again but tightened his embrace and she closed her eyes, breathing him in… "She wanted me to go back with her. They must have worked out some deal… She said the wedding was back on."

His arms locked so tight around her it was almost painful. "But you're not going."

It wasn't quite a question but it wasn't quite a statement either.

There was a hint of uncertainty there, as if he wasn't entirely sure.

"Of course, I am not!" she huffed, drawing back long enough to glare at him. His face was all relief and fondness and she didn't protest when he dropped a kiss on her forehead. She didn't protest either when he placed another one on her cheek and a third one on her lips.

The peck turned into something longer and, when he deepened it, she finally relaxed for the first time since she had glimpse her mother's car.

"You know…" he mumbled against her mouth. "If you weren't so commitment phobic…"

"I am not commitment phobic." she hissed, punishing him for that comment by biting down on his bottom lip.

He let out a hiss of his own but it couldn't have been that painful because he kissed her back in earnest.

"Still…" he insisted in a gruff tone. "If I wasn't half-sure it would send up running out the door, I'd marry you and be done with your mother's nonsense."

That made her freeze.

She tried to picture it, marrying Haymitch. A beautiful dress – one that she would actually like – the girls for bridesmaids… A spring wedding in their garden.. She thought it was possible she could go through with it.

Even if the simple idea of a wedding now made her want to run away and not look back…

"I ain't proposing." he said in a hurry.

She realized she had been standing there, unresponsive to his kisses, for a moment too long and she blinked, forcing herself to focus. "It sounded like you were."

"Nah." He shook his head, brushing the back of his hand against her cheek. "Give me some credit, sweetheart, I know you better than that." He cupped her cheek and she leaned into his palm out of reflex. "But… You know… I've got a counter-proposal for you."

She frowned. "A counter proposal to your not-proposal?"

"Yeah." He smirked. "How about we live in sin for the rest of our lives?"

She couldn't help but let out a snort of her own. "Well, that would certainly infuriate Mother."

"Nice bonus." he admitted. "But… You know, I just can't…"

He stopped and let out a frustrated huff but she simply smiled, leaning in to steal a soft kiss.

"I know." she whispered against his lips.

He couldn't lose her. He didn't want to live without her.

She shared the sentiment wholeheartedly.

"Not quite the classic fairy tale ending." she mused, stealing another kiss. "But I suppose that does not mean we cannot live happily ever after…"

He shrugged, more amused than he wanted to let on. "As long as I never drive you to jump in someone else's car…"

She couldn't see that ever happening.

As crazy as he could drive her sometimes…

Eyes twinkling, she stepped back. "We should go get the children and tell them the good news."

"What?" He lifted an eyebrow. "That we're not getting married?"

"That we decided we were going to be happy and we are quite determined not to let anything change that." She winked at him. "No witch will rain on my parade, even my own Mother."

He shook his head at her antics but let her tug him toward the door…

Toward their very unconventional happy ending.

THE END

And thus it ends! I promised there wouldn't be much angst and nobody believed me, which I think is very insulting XD How rude of all of you not to trust me. As if I am in the habit of drowning you in angst by sending hayffie in an arena, killing off random people or making the situation even worse than in canon. Truly, I do not understand the mistrust at all. :p

Jokes aside, I hope you enjoyed this last chapter and this little crack story. Let me know your thoughts!

For what's next (because I know you, greedy readers, you are going to ask), there will be a week of hiatus next week and then the week after that (May 22nd) I will publish the first part of a two shot. After that two shots, we will either move on to a angsty - very - cracky baby fic story (YES I KNOW I SWORE OFF THOSE BUT IT'S NOT MY FAULT IT STARTED AS A JOKE AND I WILL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT IN TIME) or to an angst amnesia story depending on which one I finish first. The baby fic is 3/4 finished though so it's leaning that way.

I realize neither option sounds appealing when you put it like that... Well... The baby fic is really really crack with a touch of angst because I cannot write crack and run with it for several chapters without injecting some angsty moments but really it is crack, absolute crack. And the amnesia story, I've done plenty, but this time there's a twist. If you follow me on tumblr you know what I'm talking about cause I detailed it there but... YEP. that's the plan. Hopefully. I'm likely not going back to work before September so i will be poor but at least it gives me time to write.

Anyway! Thoughts! Opinions! Feedback! I take everything!