Okay, I'm going to pay a lot of attention to this chapter simply because this and chapter 9 to a lesser extent will be the highlight of this story.

Note: Italized statements are flashbacks and/or song lyrics

She loosened her hold on the knob; her fears kept her from opening the door that will inevitably lead her to the truth. She has to know but a part of her feared the truth. She closed her eyes and allowed the memories to flood in her mind.

She held the small sleeping infant in her arms. She had never felt such happiness before; it was indescribable. She watched her baby's chest rise and fall; perfectly coordinated with her breathing. She felt her delicate soft pinkish skin against her hand. She felt her stir, the infant's face scrunched up and she started to cry.

Effie looked at her young daughter with compassion. She closed her eyes and she started to sing the familiar song that her own mother has passed down to her. It was a special lullaby that only those in her bloodline would know about.

Hush now my little angel...

Close your eyes and drift off to sleep

The stars are your guardians

and the clouds are your friends

I'll stay by your side till the very end...

Hush now my little angel...

I will keep you safe here in my arms

I love you my angel

You're a gift God has send

I'll stay by your side till the very end...

Her daughter ceased to cry. She looked up towards her mother and smiled. The tears welled up in Effie's eyes. At that very moment she couldn't be happier. Her daughter is safe and healthy; what more could she want. It felt as though a weight has been lifted from her heart the moment that her little girl smiled at her.

The pregnancy wasn't easy and time and time again she kept thinking if she should really keep the baby. The child wasn't planned, her birth wasn't intended to happened but it did. How can someone that once brought her sorrow and burden become a source of joy in her life? How can someone that has brought her so much pain become her means to heal? She knows not the answers to these questions but she is certain that she made the right choice.

That was then and this is now. What decision will she make? Will it be the right choice? Is she brave enough to handle the truth? These questions were too much of a burden now. She must know and there's no turning back.

She gripped the knob once again and proceeded to turn it. She peered in and took a step inside the room. The humming immediately stopped when the girl sensed her presence.

Amaryllis sat up and looked back at Effie. Fear was written in her eyes. She knew well that her attitude at the table was uncalled for and it probably didn't meet up with the standards of the prim and proper escort. She is most certain that she will receive a good scolding.

"H-hello Ms. Trinket... Is there anything I can do for you?" She stammered. A part of her felt that addressing her formally would help her case.

"Hello Amaryllis. Mind if I talk to you for a while?"She smiled sweetly at the young girl and that seemed enough proof that she never intended to reprimand the girl for her table manners.

"No, not at all..." She replied.

Effie walked towards her bed and sat next to the tribute. Amaryllis tried to mask her shock and confusion. She felt a strange closeness to District 12's escort and she wondered if she felt the same. The feeling was strange and indescribable but it felt good.

"You were humming a lullaby earlier." She said.

The tribute looked down and started to fiddle with the hem of her shirt and she kept her head down; she can't face her. She wasn't suppose to her the lullaby, no one was suppose to hear that. Back at the orphanage, only a handful of people knew about her lullaby. It was supposed to be a secret but now she knows and trying to deny it won't really help.

"Yes..." she replied.

Effie smiled once again. Maybe it's true, maybe she is her daughter. It's a possibility but she know better than to hold onto false hope. She has to confirm it, she must know where the girl learned the melody.

"It has a good tune. Tell me, where did you learn such a song?" She asked. She wished that the question won't have any negative effects towards the young girl. She feared that she would intrude too much on Amaryllis' personal life and the girl would try to cut off any contact from her and any hopes of knowing the truth will be lost forever.

"It's a rather sad and complicated story. I honestly doubt that it would interest you, ma'am." she replied. The story felt distant now. It used to give her hope but now it's just a constant reminder that she'll never feel her parents' touch ever again. She's going to die in the arena without having known the truth.

"It's fine, I want to know. I just hope I'm not intruding too much." She replied with all honesty.

She was, by all means she was intruding too much but Amaryllis didn't tell her that. She is aware about the lullaby so what hurt would it do if she also knew the story behind it.

Amaryllis closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She tried to collect her thoughts and attempted to form them into understandable words. It was hard and painful for her to think and recall the past that can never be repeated.

"I don't know if you are aware of this but I am an orphan so you'll probably surprised to know that I first heard that melody from none other than my parent. I think it was my mother but I'm not really sure. I-I'm sorry, I know that doesn't really make sense." Tears welled up in her eyes. It was just too much for her to handle; pain, sadness and joy somehow intermingled in her system . She doesn't really know what she's suppose to feel.

"It actually makes perfect sense." Effie replied. In a way, she understood what the girl meant. Tears started to stream down from her eyes. The girl before her was the same one she held in her arms a few years ago.

"I recalled it from my infancy. The only thing I can remember about my parents- the smell of liquor and that lullaby. I've been trying to locate them for years... I don't know who they are or if they're still alive but I do know that they loved me. That lullaby proves it... Do you think they loved me?" It was strange that she was so hesitant at opening up at first and now she has just shared such valuable thoughts. These were the things that she has kept in her heart for so long and now they're all coming out of her mouth in a burst of emotion.

Effie couldn't hold it much longer. She moved closer to the girl and hugged her tight then she started to sing the song she sought comfort to whenever she remembered her lost daughter; the same one that served as a sanctuary to her little girl.

Hush now my little angel...

Close your eyes and drift off to sleep

The stars are your guardians

and the clouds are your friends

I'll stay by your side till the very end...

Hush now my little angel...

I will keep you safe here in my arms

I love you my angel

You're a gift God has send

I'll stay by your side till the very end...

Amaryllis was surprised by Effie's sudden gestures but it felt good. She sought comfort in her embrace and the song brought happiness and hope to her heart. The song spoke of safety and in that very moment the games were forgotten. There were no games and she was taken back to her mother's arms.

"You're right... They loved you and they still do... They very much do... We very much do..." Tears of joy kept flowing down her cheeks. It has been 12 years since she last held her little girl. 12 years of sorrow, mourning and wishing wasn't all in vain for she has her daughter once again.

Amaryllis wasn't quick to process the sudden turn of events but it all made sense; Effie knew the lyrics to the lullaby that was once just a tune to her and the hug; it was no ordinary hug. It felt as though her heart could leap out of her chest. All those years of dreaming and wishing was for something and hope came back when she lost it. She was with her mother once again.

"M-mother?" She asked for a confirmation; to see if she wasn't mistaken.

Effie just nodded her head and hugged her daughter tighter. Amaryllis buried her head in her mother's shoulder and wept tears of joy.

"I-I'm s-sorry... We should've tried harder! We shouldn't have given up..." 12 years of regret hit her hard. She and Haymitch should have tried harder. It shouldn't have come to this. She missed so much; her little girl's first words, her first step, her first day of school and a lot more. Neither she nor Haymitch was there to witness all of this and that felt like an arrow through her chest.

"I-it d-doesn't matter. T-the past doesn't matter. The most important thing is the present and that we're back together, mommy..." Mommy-the word was unfamiliar to her tongue. She never did once spoke of such a word until that very moment but it felt so natural.

Effie's heart lightened. Her burdens were lifted once she heard her daughter call her mommy. It was a simple gesture but it meant so much to the both of them.

For a long while they both just sat there; making up for all of the lost years apart from each other. It felt like a dream come true for both of them. Effie could hardly believe that this was the same baby she held in her arms so many years ago and Amaryllis could hardly believe that even in the final days of her life there was still this lingering piece of hope; her mother gave her that hope.

Effie loosened her hold on the little girl and smiled sweetly at her. There was a hint of fear in her eyes but that fear was not for her. She fears for Haymitch; what would their daughter think of him? Will she be able to readily accept him the same way she accepted her? It's very likely but there was still this hint of doubt that kept nagging her.

"Wait, if you're my mother and I'm from 12. That means that my father is also from 12. And knowing that the only man from District 12 that you have been so long affiliated with is Ha-... My father is HAYMITCH ABERNATHY?" She exclaims in shock.

Effie managed to nod but she couldn't find the right words to say. Her daughter's reaction was something she had not expected.

"Oh, does daddy know?" After recovering from the initial shock she was quick to accept that Haymitch was her father.

"No, do you want us to tell him?"

She only nodded in reply but Effie could tell that she is bursting with excitement. The happiness was written in her eyes; she couldn't hide it.

Effie walked out of the room and went back to the drawing room. There she saw a passed out Haymitch with a bottle in hand. He was lying face down on the couch and the smell of liquor hung around him. This did not really surprise her but she was still disappointed nonetheless.

She went back to her daughter's room. It was empty when she returned. She panicked at first but then she noticed that the bathroom's lights were opened and she could hear the water running from the other side of the door. She sat down on the edge of the bed and breathed a sigh of relief and thought that she was overreacting. It was probably an effect of being apart for so long or maybe it was just a motherly instinct, she's not really sure.

After calming down for a while her heart raced once again for she heard her daughter scream in pain. She panicked; a lot of things could happened in there. What if she fell and broke her head or what if she got some bathroom cleaner on her face and what if that bathroom cleaner was the type that can corrode the skin?

She tried to calm herself before she rushed towards the door. Her hand was inches away from the knob when the door opened. She looked at her daughter and saw that her right eye was close shut and her face was wet and covered in some white minty sticky substance.

"I got some soap in my eye then I pushed the wrong button and got some toothpaste all over my face." she said.

Effie sighed in relief, for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She got some tissue and wiped the toothpaste off her daughter's face. All the while, thoughts ran through her head; unpleasant ones. She mainly worried that the toothpaste and soap could make her blind. Probably not, but still...

"Let me see your eye."

Amaryllis reluctantly opened her right eye. It still hurts a little but it was mainly shut because of the mint. The coldness of the menthol wasn't really painful- it was just extremely unpleasant. Her eye was a little reddish but it looked like there was no permanent damage.

"It's a little red. Does it hurt?" she asked.

"A little..."

"Let's just rinse it off with some water and I'll send you off to bed."

After the whole fiasco with the toothpaste the both of them were feeling very tired. Amaryllis stretched and gave out a yawn.

"It's late, You should go to sleep. Tomorrow is a big big big big day." Effie stated with a smile on her face.

Amaryllis scratched her eye and groggily replied. "Yeah, I know... We'll get to tell daddy."

Effie would've tucked her daughter in but she was hesitant to rush things. She would love to kiss her daughter goodnight but she was scared that that would mean rushing things and it will drive her further away. She was already a step away from the door when Amaryllis called her back.

"Mommy, can you please tuck me in?" She asks.

Effie nodded in reply and walked over to her daughter's bed. She covered her up with the soft satin blanket before brushing off a few stray hairs off her forehead.

"Good night sweetie..." Effie said before kissing her daughter's forehead.

"Good night mommy... I love you..." A tear escaped from her eye before she closed them.

Before drifting off to sleep she heard the gentle humming of her mother. She now knows the lyrics to the familiar tune. It spoke of love and safety. There are no Hunger Games...

Effie watched her daughter drift off to sleep as she hummed their song. She knows the lyrics but sadly the song spoke of a promise that she can never fulfill. She can't protect her little girl from the games but at least she has this moment, at least she can feel her daughter's warm embrace... even if it's just for a little while...

Life is short and time is fleeting so savor this moment for all of eternity...

Is this chapter a little too cheesy? Nah, I like it that way. Sorry for the late update guys, I had to do a lot of revisions and screenings with this one and the lyrics were really hard to make. Mainly because there's an actual tune.

Anyways, please tell me what you think :D