Chapter Ninety-Two; Desperate Precious Time

(Stephanie's POV)

Stephanie watched until she was absolutely sure Frenkin was asleep as she listened quietly for each wavering breath and whooshing exhale.

She then tucked the blankets in around him for the second time; making sure they covered him so he would be warm but still loose enough that he wouldn't feel as though he were trapped in a cocoon.

Stephanie looked sadly and saw the dark shadows under Frenkin's young eyes. She guessed that he hadn't been sleeping properly for a while now but that he just didn't want to 'annoy' anyone by seeking one of them out.

How many times had this boy woken in the dead of night screaming for his mother, only to be met with suffocating darkness?

Stephanie pressed a lingering kiss on his temple before she moved quietly from the room.

However she didn't close his door tight. If Frenkin woke this time she would make sure he would not face the darkness alone.

Stephanie could feel her own salt tears dried tracks down her cheeks, her eyes stinging from the lack of moisture but as Stephanie walked there was a strange determinacy in her stride.

She didn't even bother checking his room. She knew he wouldn't be there.

Stephanie strode past her own room, down into the sitting room and paused.

Haymitch stood silently, his back to her, silhouetted against the glass windows by the bright lights of the Capitol below.

He had a glass of something undoubtedly alcoholic in his hand, his hair was predictably dishevelled, his clothes wrinkled and askew.

Stephanie didn't care.

She put it all out of her mind; Seneca and his poisonous love, the Games, her impending death…all of it.

If Frenkin had taught her anything it was that time was precious and she must make the most of what she had.

He heard her approaching just a second later than he would have, had he been sober.

She didn't know if he had been about to say something or not before her lips crashed onto his with the force of a tsunami, both of them powerless to stop it.

Stephanie distantly heard Haymitch's glass shatter as it hit the floor, his arms encircling her as he held her fiercely.

Stephanie's hands delved into Haymitch's hair as he almost lifted her of the ground.

She didn't remember moving at all but suddenly she felt the cold chill of the window pressing against her shoulder blades through her shirt.

Somewhere along the while her lips were cooled by the air as Haymitch's lips left hers, trailing a by now familiar path down her throat.

Stephanie felt her head almost lighten, her breathing quickening. Haymitch's hands slipped under her shirt, tracing tortuous patterns across her already burning skin.

Her shirt fell to the ground with an unnoticed rustle and Stephanie gasped sharply as the bare skin was now exposed to the cold of the glass.

Stephanie grasped Haymitch's face desperately bringing his head back up.

There was a split second where their gazes met and they paused, their hot breath mingled in the inches between their lips.

Stephanie could taste the bitter tang of alcohol on Haymitch's lips as she stroked her thumbs along his shadowed jaw.

"I love you Haymitch," Stephanie whispered, her golden eyes like two burning embers, "I will love you always until the day I di…"

Stephanie didn't get to finish before Haymitch's mouth had descended on hers with a desperation that stole both her words and breath away in one go.

Only when her lungs were burning did Stephanie draw back, resting her forehead against Haymitch's briefly.

"Don't say it," he whispered hoarsely.

Somehow among the frenzied kisses and desperate grasps they managed to stagger back to Stephanie's room.

They fell in a tangle of limbs unto the bed, with kisses so harsh they were almost violent, hands grasping so tightly they were sure to leave bruises in the morning; a desperation underlying every breathless gasp and stolen kiss.

Stephanie felt her heartbeat quicken, her breaths shorten, warmth built up in her until the only thing Stephanie could feel was Haymitch's hands grasping at the angles of her hips.

The world narrowed to a point before shattering and a few moments later Stephanie curled up against Haymitch, her breathing evening.

Stephanie propped herself up on one elbow to look down at Haymitch lying on his back, gazing up at her with storm grey eyes that managed to hold a tenderness in them that made Stephanie's heart flutter, but also a cold steeliness that sent a cold shiver racing up her spine with thoughts of pity for anyone who crossed him.

Stephanie reached out a hand, to push some of his hair off his sweat-dampened brow.

He watched her intently, silent yet there was a crooked smirk playing at the corners of his lips that she loved so well.

Stephanie looked into Haymitch's eyes again and this time she managed to see something else; something that she would rather not have seen but was glad to all the same.

There was that haunted look of one who has lost much, who has suffered much, whose eyes have stayed open many nights to avoid what the slumber in darkness holds.

A look that she would do all she could to chase away, even if only for a while.

Stephanie leaned down to press a soft kiss to his lips which he returned before she buried her head in the familiar crook at his neck and shoulder and draped a protective arm across his chest, her palm over his heart.

She couldn't feel it's beating beneath her fingertips but she could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, and that was enough to create a steady rhythm for them both to drift off into dreamless sleep.