DOUBLE UPDATE!

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Thirty-Nine; Over

Stephanie sighed as she placed their empty cups in the sink with dull clunks. She could still feel the alcohol buzzing through her body making her feel a little light-headed.

For better or worse, she considered now – Electra Hocol knew everything.

From that very first party where she had met Seneca and kissed Haymitch until yesterday when she had kissed Seneca and left Haymitch and all the events in between.

Frenkin was shovelling food into his mouth hungrily when Stephanie approached the table and slumped into one of the seats. She smiled fondly across the table at him, recalling that they had only had a few cupcakes for their supper last night.

Isa was eerily quiet at the top of the table as she told them of the event today.

A party that evening.

Stephanie had groaned in exasperation. There was only one minuscule reason she was possibly looking forward to the party later on, and 'looking forward to' seemed rather too positive a term.

Stephanie hoped to at least find out, at a party attended by all the tributes, mentors and so on what had become of Slena.

For despite quizzing every stylist ruthlessly as they came through the door and scouring through the channels doggedly she could find no scrap of news that would tell her what had been decided about the District 4 girl.

Bright had reassured her though that Slena would be sentenced accordingly. Stephanie resisted the urge to slap the silly look from Bright's face, that assumed Stephanie was merely inquiring because she wanted to see Slena properly punished.

"The party will be a very grand affair," Isa began brightly before her smile lessened and she looked down at her plate.

The reason for Isa's sudden despondency was only too clear to see as Electra grinned unnervingly at the escort.

Isa as a lover of all things perfect and pretty didn't exactly relish the arrival of Electra nor did any of the other stylists. But rather more so, Electra herself seemed to take a perverse amusement in deliberately making the styling teams cringe. Hence why she was sitting at the dining table, even though she had finished eating ages ago, the ruined half of her face in plain view for Isa to see every time the escort looked up.

Stephanie wasn't eating anything and sat only with a glass of water in front of her that she sipped at sporadically. The alcohol was still very much thrumming through her blood from her candid conversation with Electra that morning.

Eventually Isa hurriedly excused herself unable to take anymore of Electra.

Stephanie gazed after the fleeing escort for a moment before dragging her gaze back to a proudly grinning Electra.

"What on earth is so amusing about deliberating unnerving people?" Stephanie asked.

Electra shrugged. "I spent years feeling uncomfortable because people couldn't stop staring. Now it's time to repay the favour."

Stephanie made to get up then, lifting her glass from the table to return it to the sink when Frenkin called out.

"Haymitch!" Frenkin cried, looking relieved.

The glass almost slipped from between Stephanie's numb fingers as she swivelled on her heel instinctively.

He was standing there so real and lifelike that it physically pained Stephanie not to be able to reach over and touch him. Not to be able to race across the room and launch herself into his arms, peppering him with kisses even as she scolded him for worrying her like that.

But she did restrain herself because Haymitch's gaze snapped to hers for the briefest moment. There was the flare of something warm and familiar in his storm-cloud eyes and then…steely flint. It was as though a wall had descended between them as he averted his gaze.

"Haymitch!" Electra exclaimed in greeting as she stood to walk around the table towards him. "Well you certainly took your time. You look like hell by the way."

A rueful smirk crossed Haymitch's lips as he took in Electra, dressed in an odd mixture of Capitol and District clothing. She looked rather like an extremely affluent District dweller or a very boring and poor Capitolite.

Stephanie stood frozen, her chest burning with each second she held her breath.

Apart from his fading bruises Haymitch looked physically fine. He had evidently been out drinking as she could tell by his still bleary eyes but, he was otherwise well. The fact eased the pained ache in Stephanie's chest a little.

"Well I see you found this old place easily enough," Haymitch replied casually as Electra tugged him into a brief hug.

Electra chuckled as she pulled back, "you always did have a twisted sense of humour," she remarked.

…

Electra drummed her nails irritably against the table. The longer ones that she hadn't bitten off yet rapped the table smartly in a rhythm that perfectly portrayed her annoyance. Not that anyone could mistake her deepening scowl for anything other than complete irritation.

The boy with the big eyes and bigger glasses – Frenkin or Tiny Tim as Electra liked to think of him as, kept shooting her anxious glances across the table.

Electra wasn't sure if the fretful glances were directed at her, as Frenkin worried over her shortening temper. Or…if Frenkin was concerned about the other huge issue in the room.

Namely; Stephanie and Haymitch.

They weren't ignoring one another which was a good thing, because Electra would have banged their heads together if they had of engaged in something so petty.

But the choking atmosphere in the room was enough to suffocate Electra.

"We can't trust Prall," Stephanie stated, her gaze flickered to Haymitch as it had been doing all morning. Her golden eyes were filled with half-longing and half-guilt.

Haymitch's jaw gave an almost imperceptible twitch as Stephanie spoke, like he also had been doing all morning.

Electra recalled the phone call she had received from Haymitch the previous night where Haymitch had conveniently left out the part about him falling in love with his tribute. Electra had immediately discerned however, that something was most definitely different, about the boy, turned man that had been drowning in despair the past ten years, by his voice over the telephone alone.

There was something bright and fierce that would flare in his eyes when his sight would land on the golden-eyed girl by Electra's side.

Electra blinked to refocus herself in on the conversation they had been having about Stephanie and Frenkin's new-founded alliance.

Stephanie was speaking again, expressing her concern over the District 5 boy Prall Underling.

"Look," Electra interrupted her, "out of all your alliance partners Prall seems like he could be the most useful. You can't get rid of him just because you don't trust him. You're in the arena – you're not meant to trust anyone."

Stephanie frowned and Electra saw her golden eyes flicker as though to look to Haymitch for support. But she stopped herself in the last moment, dropping her gaze to her hands as she worked her jaw angrily.

"Fine then," Stephanie ground out, "what am I meant to do when it comes to my grand secret talent reveal then?"

Electra rolled her eyes, "stall him."

"I've stalled him for as long as I can. He wants to see my talent at training," Stephanie shot back heatedly.

Electra drummed her nails against the table harder.

"Then stall him some other way."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Use your imagination. There are other persuasions you could use to stall him," Electra snapped, as she narrowed her eyes warningly at Stephanie. "You're not as innocent as Tiny Tim here and the tension between you two is so thick it's frankly stifling!"

Stephanie's eyes widened even as she flamed red in chagrin.

"Ellen!" Haymitch called. He was the only one who ever called her that anymore.

Frenkin looked between them all wide-eyed and perplexed.

"Haymitch you asked me to mentor your little lovebird here; not because you think she has what it takes to be a Victor but because you want her to get out alive. Now if you still want that to happen you need to be prepared for little Miss here to do the dirty work."

Chaos erupted then.

Haymitch shouted. "She's not doing - !"

Stephanie shouted. "I would never - !"

Frenkin cowered in his seat.

Perfect Electra thought smirking as she stood.

"Tiny Tim why don't you show me where the cupcakes are kept," Electra commandeered as she grasped Frenkin's shoulder.

Frenkin looked up at her, frankly terrified.

Electra smirked as she began nudging the smaller boy to the kitchen.

"Take as much time as you need to get rid of that tension," she called over her shoulder smugly.

…

Both Haymitch and Stephanie had fallen silent as Electra's intent had become all too clear, and now a strained silence lay around them.

Stephanie watched Electra disappear with Frenkin out of the room, feeling something like panic well up in her and then feeling ridiculous for feeling that way at all.

This was Haymitch!

The man she knew and loved intimately yet she could barely look at him now.

Stephanie clenched her fists at her side, knowing that she couldn't look at Haymitch because she was afraid to see the coldness in his gaze that killed her a little more each time.

Stephanie flinched as she heard Haymitch sigh heavily.

Standing here less than a metre away from him it seemed like miles. She had never felt so distant from the man she was supposed to marry than at that moment.

"What's happened to us Haymitch?"

Stephanie raised her gaze to look at him candidly.

Haymitch tensed so much he almost looked to be in pain and Stephanie swallowed thickly.

"This was hardly the time to start a relationship," Haymitch replied, sounding as though he were forcing out each word.

Stephanie felt as though she had been punched in the stomach, she felt sick and dizzy like she was about to faint. She felt like Slena's hands were around her throat again squeezing every last breath from her body painfully.

"A-and what is that supposed to mean?" Stephanie managed to get out, hearing the tears in her voice but unable to help it.

"It means this that this is the Capitol and things," he swallowed for a gathering moment, "things like we had never last here," Haymitch finished quietly.

Stephanie felt the first tears burn silent tracks down her cold cheeks.

"Things like we…had," Stephanie repeated hollowly.

Haymitch looked up at her, for the first time meeting her gaze.

He couldn't maintain the cold look of flinty steel Stephanie could see. His eyes were like quicksilver as they darted across her face worriedly.

"Yes," he confirmed and Stephanie was sure she felt something tear inside her. Something that had been hanging tentatively by a thread since the moment Haymitch had stormed off.

She and Haymitch were over and the final blow had come straight from Haymitch's lips.

"Stephanie!" Haymitch called, concern colouring his tone.

The world narrowed perfectly to a pair of storm grey eyes that Stephanie loved so well before turning to black.

For once in her life when Stephanie fainted she didn't try to fight it at all. She welcomed the numb darkness, practically induced it in herself, unable to bear to listen to Haymitch completely break her anymore.