I woke up to find myself in Haymitch's arms. A sharp pain between my legs was a reminder of what happened last night. It hurt, but I still loved him. It's not his fault it hurt. I looked over at the clock to see that it was only three. 'I have to be back at the Justice Building by five; before everyone wakes up. Then I can come back here. Until two. Then I have to get to the train station before everyone else so nobody can question me.' I began to think about my day and plan it out, out of habit. I was so lost in thought, I barely noticed Haymitch's breath and kisses on the back of my neck.

"Mmm... Good morning, Haymitch." I murmured softly and he began to rub my shoulders gently.

"No hangover?" He asked and continued to rub my shoulders.

"No. I can hold my alcohol much better than you, I suppose."

"You lucky bitch."

"You don't seem to be having one, yourself," I say, ignoring his comment.

"That's 'cause I wasn't drunk last night."

"Oh, really?" My eyebrows went up.

"It's just like you. You have to act like a Capitol bitch and I have to act like an idiot drunk." He said and squeezed my shoulders gently.

"Will you walk me to my room in the Justice Building?" I rolled my shoulders into Haymitch's large, calloused hands. His massage felt good and it was relaxing. I rolled over to face him after he didn't answer right away. He had a mischievous smile plastered on his lips. "What?" I asked, running a hand down his torso. In response, his lips covered mine in a wholehearted kiss. As I shut my eyes, I felt his member poke the inside of my thigh. I jerked away and looked at Haymitch in anguish.

"I'm going to get dressed." I announced, getting out of bed. I began to look for my clothes before I remembered they were all downstairs. I exited the room and went down the stairs, tripping on the last one and barely regaining my balance. I picked up my underwear and slipped it on before seeing my bra floating in the sink. It was soaked. I took it out, wrung out as much water as I could and then hung it on a cabinet to dry. Haymitch appeared as I was tugging at the zipper on my dress.

"Why?" He asked.

"Why what?"

"Why do you like me?"

"Will you walk me to my room in the Justice Building?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Sure. Will you tell me why?"

"Maybe," I say with a sigh.

On the walk to the Justice Building, we talked. We talked about pets. I had only ever had cats, but Haymitch takes care of geese and a couple of times he secretly snuck food to a stray dog he had called 'Rugby.'

"My brothers are allergic to dogs." I said as I began packing my stuff in my suit cases.

"Brothers?" By the look on Haymitch's face, he was genuinely shocked.

"Yeah. One older and one younger one. I actually live with Thur, the older one. The younger one is Syden." I said looking up as I zipped the last suit case.

"I had a brother and sister once. They were both younger than me. My sister, Anisal, was six when I went into the Games. My brother, Castor, was only a year old." Haymitch said and looked at his feet.

"I'm so sorry." I said standing. His entire family was killed about a year after he won, all of their deaths within a week or so of each other. "Do you want to stay here or go back to your house?"

"Let's stay here." He said and turned on the small TV sitting on a table. We watched the news, the same stuff repeating over and over for hour upon hour, we cuddled and we napped right on up to noon. We had napped through breakfast and we were both ravenous. I went to the mini refrigerator and got out the stuff to make sandwhiches. Haymitch claimed he couldn't make anything without screwing it up and I believed him. I made us both two sandwhiches containing chicken breast, tomato, lettuce, onion, cheese, and green pepper.

"So," Haymitch said after we had both finished our sandwiches. "You never told me why." I gave a loud groan. I didn't want to share. Nobody knew except me. And Thur. I had told him when I was twelve; when I began training for the escort position.

"I, uh... You were my favorite tribute that year. I don't know why, but you were." We begin to walk down the hall to the elevator. "You stood out, I suppose. I guess it was how young you were. And that you were sweet on Maysilee. I think you two would have married if not for being in those Games." I said this looking ahead, not at Haymitch, as we walk. "Well, um," I pause. It was more than a little bit awkward telling this to the guy I've liked for twenty five years.

"You best hurry, Eff. We're almost there." He was right. I could see the station a little ways in front of us.

"Well, it was during the middle of my fifth birthday party. They were singing happy birthday and Thur had been at a friends house and he was late coming back. He ran in the house shouting for us to turn the TV on, that it was the face down of the final two. The TV was turned on almost instantly. When that girl threw that axe, we all held our breath." My brow furrows at the memory. "You ducked and that axe came back and stuck into her head. You won and I was thrilled." I blushed slightly, stopping as we came to the train platform.

"Oh, it was an accident." He said, giving me a hug.

"Well, it was a lovely one." I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him, thinking how I hated being short.