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Chapter One-Hundred-and-Fourteen; Small Victories
"I never knew you were so…flexible – "
"Dan I swear that better be your damn mother you're talking to," Haymitch snarled.
Dan gave a very un-manly shriek as he leapt to his feet, the phone in his hand falling to the ground with a noisy clatter.
Haymitch shot Dan a stony look while a very flustered Dan caught his breath, bending to swipe the phone hastily from the floor and ending the call before slipping it into his pocket.
"I didn't think the date was for a while yet!" Dan exclaimed panicked as he hurriedly smoothed down his rumpled shirt, looking to Haymitch paused at the threshold of the door, Stephanie concealed behind him.
"It's not," Haymitch said shortly, "so go take a walk."
Dan paused his hurried preening to blink slowly at Haymitch.
Stephanie was considering she had never seen the younger Flickerman brother so ruffled when Dan's expression instantly changed as he noticed her. That same perfect smile slid into place across his lips, his sea green eyes warming as he smoothed a hand through his glossy brunette locks.
"Darling," Dan addressed her richly and Stephanie arched a circumspect brow, her arms folded.
"Dan. Out – now," Haymitch enforced.
The winning and charming expression on Dan's face melted almost immediately as he smiled thinly at them both, "fine – I know when I'm not wanted," he said as he made his way to the door.
He looked to Stephanie once more as he passed her on the way out though, his eyes studying her expression.
"Well, I suppose you know now – " Dan began to address her airily when Haymitch cut across him.
"Walk!"
Without a second glance Dan turned tail and fled, flying down the stairs that led up to the private boxes.
Stephanie shook her head even as she snorted in amusement before they entered the room.
"Well I think we can rest assured that Dan isn't pretending to be my Capitol lover because of my flexibility," Stephanie said with an impish grin and a snigger.
Haymitch shot her a wry smirk in return as Stephanie went to the huge tinted windows at the front of the private box where a romantic table for two had been set up.
The view of the racetrack from up here was spectacular but Stephanie still sighed lightly when she considered it.
The thing she had enjoyed most about the event today was the feeling of a cool breeze sweeping across her skin and the sun on her back; natural and soothing. Trust the Capitolites therefore to build a 'private box' – their own little private compartment completely under their control right down to the temperature and how much sunlight could infiltrate the windows.
It seemed rather redundant to Stephanie; as far as she was concerned if Capitolites were going to watch the races from up here they might as well watch them on a screen for all the difference it would make.
But she had given up a while ago trying to understand anything the Capitol people did or deemed natural.
Stephanie turned to find Haymitch watching her curiously and she smiled at him.
"Is it…private in here?" Stephanie asked meaningfully, discreetly tapping her ear in case there were cameras though she considered with her last comment about Dan it was a tad too late to be checking.
Haymitch merely chuckled and nodded, "completely," he added.
Stephanie grinned as she rushed over to him then, flinging her arms around his neck as she crashed her lips upon his.
Haymitch made a faint mumbled protest against her lips and Stephanie pulled back, grinning apologetically as Haymitch flicked his tongue over his healing busted lip.
"Is it still sore?" Stephanie said tenderly as she brushed barely-there kisses across his face; against the still healing gashes and the deep bruising.
The marks still made her frown and made her stomach twist with unbearable guilt she thought as she sunk her fingers into Haymitch's sandy hair.
"Not so much," he replied quietly, his arms encircled tightly around her waist. One of his hands moved to drag lazily up and down her spine and Stephanie shivered against him, her eyes becoming hooded.
"You say this box is completely private?" Stephanie murmured quietly as she reached forward to brush another barely-there kiss against Haymitch's bruised cheekbone.
She knew if they were back home in District 3 the marks and bruising would be much worse; the cuts would have required stitches for sure but Capitol ingenuity meant the wounds were already half-healed though Stephanie was no nearer to being resolved of her guilt for them.
Haymitch hummed in assertion to her question, dragging her from her musings over less pleasant topics.
His hand continued to trail up and down her bare back, his fingertips moving lightly across her skin.
Stephanie sighed breathlessly, "how long will Dan be gone a walk for?" she asked, her eyes burning.
Haymitch chuckled, his hand stilling before he grasped the angles of her hips pulling her flush against him, "why sweetheart? – Do you have something in mind to pass the time?"
Stephanie grinned coyly as she leaned in to capture his lips in a lingering kiss.
Haymitch expelled a heavy sigh as they pulled back and Stephanie rested her forehead against his, his breath tingling against her wet lips.
Haymitch's thumbs began to move in tortuous little circles on her hips and Stephanie fidgeted trying to edge closer, to somehow diminish the already non-existent space between them and meld into him.
Haymitch sighed again, this time the noise tinged with frustration as he leaned back to look at her; his storm grey gaze a heady mixture of arousal and exasperation.
"We really have got things to discuss," Haymitch told her in a quietly serious voice that made Stephanie quell the coiling of heat at the bottom of her stomach.
She matched his sigh and the rueful smirk that followed, "and here is hardly the place," he added and they both snickered.
Leaning up Stephanie pressed a feather-light kiss upon his lips as she grasped Haymitch's face within her hands, her thumbs swiping gently over the bruises cresting his cheekbone like a distorted blush.
"I love you," Stephanie whispered against his lips.
"I know," Haymitch exhaled, reaching up to brush back a few wisps of hair that had been displaced by the breeze. His fingertips lingered on the curve of her jaw where it melded into her neck and she leaned into the comforting touch.
She offered him a bright smile before taking a rallying breath.
"So what is it that we have to talk about? – What's changed?" Stephanie queried.
As she recalled Haymitch's words and even Dan's – now you know – Stephanie chewed on her bottom lip anxiously.
She had come to learn that when things changed in the Capitol it was rarely for the better.
However the feeling of still being held in Haymitch's arms soothed her and the usual rising tide of panic she would feel in this situation normally; was diminished considerably.
Haymitch leaned back slightly, until he was propped up against the edge of the table and his hands slipped from Stephanie's hips. She frowned at the loss of contact but Haymitch's hands swiftly found hers as he toyed with their hands together, his fingers flexing against hers.
Stephanie watched their hands entwine around one another; her long fingers slipping across Haymitch's scarred knuckles and hands still peppered with bruises. Haymitch frowned at the reddish smears across her hands, the snapped Capitol nails where Stephanie had dug them into her palm at Prall's words.
"You have to stop doing that," Haymitch muttered.
"It was either my hand or Prall's face," Stephanie replied and Haymitch snorted in amusement as he squeezed her fingers within his, "alliance going well then sweetheart?" he teased.
"Actually…" Stephanie began, "I have quite a bit to tell you concerning the erm…alliance."
Haymitch looked up at her, arching a circumspect brow, "why does that not sound at all encouraging?" he remarked dryly.
Stephanie shot him an apologetic smile and Haymitch merely shook his head hopelessly, seemingly accepting that as regards Stephanie nothing would ever go to plan.
"We'll discuss your alliance later," Haymitch instructed, "along with the arena." Haymitch glanced up at her and Stephanie sucked in a sharp breath. But she offered Haymitch a grim smile to assure him that she was ready to discuss the brutal aspects.
Haymitch's eyes dropped and a slight line appeared between Stephanie's brows. She had never known Haymitch to dither over anything but she could feel the agitation in Haymitch and she gripped Haymitch's hands tight within her own.
He looked up and saw the concern clear in Stephanie's eyes.
Haymitch gritted his teeth as he gripped her hands as tightly back, fighting to remember that this was for her.
"We need to talk about…" Haymitch inhaled an agitated breath while Stephanie waited as patiently as she could manage with her nerves fraying in the tense silence.
"Seneca Crane," Haymitch ground out the name as though he were chewing rocks.
Stephanie felt her whole self-jolt, her fingers stilled their soothing patterns drawing across Haymitch's palms. She was sure she had misheard him but then how many friggin words sounded like Seneca Crane her brain demanded.
Stephanie took a steadying breath, "alright," she agreed meekly. She didn't feel particularly comfortable discussing the blue-eyed Gamemaker, with Haymitch especially, but considering how intrinsically Seneca had become ensnared with Stephanie in his dealings there were numerous things Haymitch could want to ask of her about Seneca. Stephanie was just surprised that it was Haymitch who had willingly brought Seneca up.
Stephanie noted that Haymitch was breathing rather harshly looking more choleric with each passing second.
Stephanie resumed her calming motions, her fingertips tracing across Haymitch's skin.
Haymitch's gaze was drawn once more down to their hands and he seemed to draw some molecule of calm.
"You need to trust Seneca."
Stephanie's hands not only stilled, they completely disengaged from Haymitch's entirely as she took a deliberate step back staring incredulously at him. Haymitch's hands, bereft of their companions fell to the table at either side of him, as he returned her gaze unflinchingly.
She didn't fool herself that she had maybe misheard what Haymitch had said this time. She could still hear the words clearly, ringing in her ears, reverberating through her skull.
Not even in her most warped of realities could Stephanie conjure the scene before her; Haymitch Abernathy asking her to trust Seneca Crane.
The silence in the room was so thick it pressed in around them like a suffocating cloud.
"What?" Stephanie breathed finally, her voice unusually rasping.
Haymitch inhaled a deep breath, his knuckles were stretched white where they clutched the table on either side of him.
"It was him who sent Dan," Haymitch told her and strangely Stephanie felt some sense of normalcy return to the situation as Haymitch refused to name Seneca, merely spitting 'him'.
But that was the only shred of normalcy in the otherwise staggering conversation. Haymitch had barely spoken twenty words and Stephanie already felt like fainting.
Haymitch reached out and immediately caught her by the elbows when Stephanie staggered forward slightly. Her stomach twisted nauseatingly as her head spun. The colour had already been entirely leached from her face, the soft glow she had acquired from the few hours of sunshine dispelled within a few moments.
"Stephanie," Haymitch spoke urgently as belting one arm around her waist to ensure she stayed standing he used his other hand to cup her cheek forcing her to maintain eye contact with him.
Stephanie grasped desperately at the front of Haymitch's blazer, twisting the blue material that was well and truly smudged now with gold from her skin, between her pale fingers.
"Haymitch," Stephanie croaked, feeling a cold sweat break out across her skin despite the heat of the room being warmed by the sun's rays.
Haymitch pressed his hand firmer against Stephanie's cheek, his fingers slipping into her brunette hair, not caring that locks tumbled loose at his insistent and less than gentle caresses.
"Stephanie – look at me," Haymitch enforced sternly.
Stephanie forced herself to focus on Haymitch's familiar silver-grey eyes. They reminded her of the billowing ash clouds that splurged from the factory chimneys' back home in District 3 but Haymitch's eyes were not the dead ashen colour of the smoke clouds – not anymore, they glinted and sparked with life. They were dark now, like gathering storm-clouds as he silently urged her to stay awake and not to faint.
"Haymitch I – " Stephanie began. It was like an invisible hook was latched somewhere deep inside her and was dragging her down. Her knees felt weak beneath her.
Haymitch's arm around her waist tightened as he held her flush against him so that she wouldn't fall down.
"Don't faint." His words were somewhere between a plea and a command and the rest of Stephanie's Capitol nails snapped as she wound the material of Haymitch's jacket tighter within her fingers.
She swallowed, her throat and mouth suddenly dry like she had swallowed a mouthful of ash and yet moisture beaded across her forehead. Stephanie squeezed her eyes tightly, forcing it back, willing herself to focus.
Haymitch watched as Stephanie shuddered feeling utterly helpless and hating it. But it was more than that; Haymitch was never one to put much faith in things like 'signs' but somehow he couldn't quite shift the thought; that maybe if he could stop Stephanie fainting this time rather than Seneca with his Capitol technology then things would somehow work out.
"Stephanie, don't faint," Haymitch repeated as he slipped his hand through her dark hair, now well and truly unpinned. Haymitch threaded his fingers through the silken strands and slowly…ever so slowly it seemed Stephanie's spurts of breathing evened, colour started to tinge her cheeks and Stephanie blinked open her eyes.
"I didn't faint," she breathed almost incredulously, as she locked eyes with Haymitch; her golden irises having a look of quiet victory about them, even if her general appearance was one of tousled weariness.
Stephanie was breathless; she had never managed to prevent herself from fainting once it had reached a certain stage and yet she had.
A shaky laugh burst forth from her lips as she released her death grip on Haymitch's jacket and the rest of her Capitol nails fell unnoticed to the floor.
Stephanie swayed slightly and Haymitch caught her, "here sit down," he told her with a rueful smirk, kicking out the chair nearest to them.
Stephanie sunk into it gratefully, running a hand through her dishevelled hair that fell unchecked about her bare shoulders. Hours of Silver's hard work had been undone in barely a few minutes and Bright and Lashes' gold swirls had been completely smudged by Haymitch's steadying hands. Half of the sparkling gold had been smudged onto Haymitch's now very crumpled blazer, his own hair somehow becoming ruffled.
Stephanie looked up at Haymitch, a slightly dazed look about her.
But before either of them could voice anything more the door burst inwards and Dan waltzed once more into the room.
He took one look at them, his green eyes discerning every minute wrinkle in their clothes and Stephanie's slightly wild appearance and a lascivious smirk curved his lips.
"Well…what have you two been up to?"
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