Portia completed her finishing touches to Haymitch, before the big interview. He didn't look that much different to his usual appearance, just tidied up a bit. He'd specifically told her he didn't want to look younger. Part of his approach would be about emphasising how young Katniss was, and that wouldn't work if he looked barely a decade older than her.

He was more than a little concerned about his suit though. It was a formal one, but there was something about it, the style, that made him concerned. He had a feeling he wasn't going to be pleased when he saw Katniss.

As he waited for Katniss to finish being prepped, someone entered his bedroom. Haymitch glanced over, shocked to see Darius there. The young Avox man seemed nervous. He'd avoided showing any sign of recognition since he was assigned to them, but it made Haymitch sick with fury whenever he saw Darius. It was this sort of thing that reminded him why he was going to free Katniss, why the revolution needed its spark.

The man didn't move from the door, but his eyes rose to meet Haymitch's, and the older man got to his feet. A message from the rebels? Haymitch knew there was a contact here, someone well placed, but he wasn't allowed to know the identity. If something went wrong, it was too important that the information couldn't be tortured out of him. Just as the contact didn't know exactly how Haymitch and his fellow tributes intended to free Katniss from the arena. Once he was in there, Peeta would have to be the information conduit.

He didn't say anything. The room was probably bugged. It might have cameras too, but Haymitch had never been able to find any.

Darius parted his lips, and he realised that something was sitting in Darius' mouth, something small and circular. A wafer. Haymitch recognised it, and without being able to see it clearly, knew there was a mockingjay printed on it. The moment Darius realised his recognition, he swallowed the wafer. Then he pulled a chunk of bread from his pocket and mouthed the word: count.

...

Haymitch's fears about Katniss were confirmed when he arrived and saw her decked out in an ostentatious wedding dress. Before he could even say a word, she said, "Snow made me wear it."

He scowled in disgust. The man was condemning Katniss to death, and he wanted to get in this last bit of humiliation. And what role was Haymitch playing? Father of the bride? He felt terrible for Katniss, having to go out there in front of all Panem wearing that. The Capitol would love it, but the Districts would realise what it really meant. Snow was going to kill the symbol of their revolution, and he was going to do it laughing.

The other victors weren't impressed with the dress either. Some were disgusted like him, some angry, some upset. It seemed to galvanise something in them all though, a unified feeling that they had been wronged, lied to. They were supposed to be safe from the Games, and they wanted the Capitol to look at its betrayal.

When Katniss' turn for an interview came, Haymitch was twisting his bracelet round his wrist in apprehension, but she played her role well. Flickerman asked her how she felt about going into the arena without Peeta this time, and she confessed that she had gone to Haymitch to ask if he could go in his place. She said that she could go to her death in peace, knowing that Peeta would be safe. This was greeted with much ooh-ing and aah-ing from the crowd, interspersed with camera shots of Peeta looking tragic on the balcony.

Katniss was better at showmanship this time around, and by the time she got up to show off her dress, she had blown Cashmere and Gloss's tragic sibling angle out of the water, and everyone had forgotten about Finnick's poem. In a way though, all of them were adding up to the main event, building tension.

Haymitch was starting to feel confident when Katniss' dress began to burn. There were cries of shock from the audience, but she didn't seem fazed at all, and twirled until it had burned away, revealing glossy black feathers. When she raised her arms, Haymitch stared in disbelief. Wings. Cinna had turned her into a Mockingjay.

The cameras picked him out of the audience, and the stylist gave a little bow, looking uncannily calm. Beside him, Peeta was transfixed in shock. Unlike the audience, he knew it wasn't just a fashion statement, just like Katniss' pin wasn't just a pin. Cinna had as good as signed his death warrant with that move. Haymitch had never even realised the man was affiliated with the rebels too.

With that bombshell, Katniss took her place with the other victors, and it was Haymitch's turn. She tried to catch his eye, but he didn't look at her. He had his own little revelation to deliver, thought up by him and Peeta to inflame the Capitol.

"I'm sure everyone in the audience recognises you, Haymitch," Flickerman began, laughing in a friendly way as if they were old friends.

"If they don't, I'd be happy to fall off stage to remind them," Haymitch said, as though it was all a big joke to him. "Though I'll have to do it without the drink."

Flickerman moved on swiftly from that topic. Don't want your pack of idiots to start thinking about why a victor might need to drink themselves into oblivion.

"How do you feel about your return to the arena?" the presenter asked. "This will be the second Quarter Quell you've been part of. Think it will give you an advantage?"

"I'd like to think I've got an edge in that respect, but I won't be using it to my advantage. I just want to make sure I can keep Katniss safe for Peeta."

The crowd made some 'aww-ing' sounds now.

"Yes, she just told us about how you agreed to enter the arena instead of him, at her request. That seems very brave of you! You must care about them very much."

"Oh definitely," Haymitch said, ladening his voice with as much sappiness as he could manage. "Those kids have had barely any time together, barely any time to live their lives. I think of them as my own children, Caesar. Keeping them safe... it's the least I can do."

"It must be hard for you to know that they'll never be able to marry, and have children of their own."

Haymitch could kiss him for that perfect opening. "Well, that's the thing, Caesar..." He leaned forward, trying to build the tension in the atmosphere. "Katniss and Peeta thought they were safe to spend their lives together... they already started trying for a family."

Flickerman looked at him uncertainly. "Are you saying...?"

"Yes. Katniss and Peeta are expecting a baby."

The crowd went nuts, and Haymitch watched in satisfaction as they started shrieking incoherently. It had been a risk, since neither he or Peeta could guarantee the Capitol would feel anything about condemning a foetus to death. After all, give the imaginary foetus several years, and the Capitol would be happily packing it off to the arena. It seemed that Peeta had been right though, they really did feel differently about babies. Or maybe it was just the tragedy of sending a pregnant girl into the arena.

Either way, by the time Haymitch joined Katniss with the other victors, he knew there was nothing else he could do now. Between Katniss pissing off the gamemakers, Cinna's mockingjay dress, and the baby bomb, they'd done just about every inflammatory thing imaginable. That was why he didn't feel any reservations at all when Katniss took his hand, and together with the other twenty-four victors, raised their joined hands into the air. A final show of defiance for all of Panem.

...