Hello and thank you for continuing to read my story, it means so much! I've loved everyone's speculations about the Haymitch/Vieve storyline, hopefully that means I'm keeping you all on your toes! Please feel free to leave me reviews as they really do mean the world to me.
I do not own the Hunger Games nor its characters.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I breathe a sigh of relief as the train finally pulls in to 12, this was definitely harder than last year and I thought that was bad. Last year being away from Vieve left my whole body aching but this year it feels like a tight squeeze that won't subdue until I'm holding her, again.
I always thought that the worst part of my trip to the Capitol was seeing my tributes meet their gruesome fates but I was wrong, not having Vieve by my side every day is far worse. She's the only fragment of hope I have in my life and being without it is pure torture.
When I see her waiting for me at the station I cannot get over how beautiful she looks, despite the bags under her eyes. I hope she hasn't been losing sleep over me. I've been worried about her for a month, worried that Snow might do something to her and I would never know about it. But now that I can see her all I can think about is how much I love her.
She runs in to my arms and smothers my face in tiny kisses, which I should find embarrassing but I don't at all. I've missed the warmth of her body and her sweet perfume for too long.
"It's nice to see you, too," I say and kiss her properly on the lips.
"Well, sorr-y for missing my husband!"
I chuckle and grab her hand, "Come on, I've got something I need to tell you."
We almost run home, not because we can't wait to get our hands on each other but because I'm so desperate to fill her in on the Snow situation that I don't want to waste a minute, who knows what could happen in that time. I suppose that most husbands would keep this news to themselves but I know Vieve, she'd get it out of me somehow and then be furious that I didn't tell her.
"What's going on?" She asks, worriedly, once we're inside the house. "Are you okay?"
I sit her down on the sofa and tell her everything. I tell her that Snow knows about our relationship, although I'm not sure if he knows that we're married, and that anything to do with the rebellion has to be put on hold for the moment in case Snow is watching us. I find myself apologising more in the last ten minutes that I have done in my entire life.
"I understand if you want to leave, Vieve, all of this drama is too much for anyone."
Rather than get a reply I feel a burning pain across my cheek and it isn't until I see Vieve's hand retract that I realise she's slapped me.
"Stop moping!" She chastises, "I'm your wife and I'm not going to leave you over something as stupid as this. Snow will have won, again, then, won't he?"
I smirk, still clutching the side of my face, I didn't realise how strong she was. She's right, of course. If we did split up then we'd just be bowing to Snow's every whim and letting him know how terrified we are of him, which is partly true, but I have to put Vieve first. If the only way to keep her safe is for her to leave me then I'll have to deal with the pain, it would be far worse to see her die just for me.
I spend the next three days in a complete bubble. Vieve keeps finding ways to stop me from leaving the house and I'm more than happy to oblige, leaving her for just one second fills me with a small amount of dread. In an odd way I think this issue with Snow has brought us closer together, if that's possible.
When I finally manage to leave the house I head for The Hob with the intention of spending as much money as I can there. I feel like I've been spending way too much time in Town lately and, to be honest, I'm sure they can get by without my money for a while.
I buy some questionable stew from Greasy Sae before heading over to the white liquor stall but before I get there Cray, one of our peacekeepers who is a little bit older than me, steps in front of me. The peacekeepers in 12 tend to turn a blind eye to most of the things that go on here, the Capitol are not bothered by our humble district and so the peacekeepers rarely hand out harsh punishments, not since the whippings after I won. They went on for about a year and then everything seemed to revert back to the way it was. Cray, however, has always seemed sly to me.
"Hey, Cray, everything all right?" I ask in my most chipper of voices just to annoy him.
"Yes, thanks, I'm great. What about you? How was the Capitol?"
"Oh, you know. Excitable."
He smirks. "I heard that Snow found out about you and Vieve."
How could he know that? I haven't seen anyone since I got back. Of course! It must have been him that told Snow!
I clench my fist and grit my teeth, ready to strike the laughing idiot's face before I hear Sae shouting at me to stop. I look over to her and see that she's shaking her head.
"You'll make it worse, Haymitch," she says and I have to agree. The last thing I need right now is Snow finding out that I've attacked one of his peacekeepers.
I unclench my fist and walk away, hearing Cray shout at me as I leave He's telling me that he'll be watching my every move.
When I get home Vieve is in the kitchen, stirring something in a bowl. She must see how angry I look because she quickly sets it down and runs over to me.
"What's happened?" She says.
"Cray told Snow about us!" I yell, "And he's made it quite clear that he's going to keep spying on us!"
"Haymitch, it doesn't matter! We're not doing anything wrong, are we?"
"It does matter! He could torture you just to spite me, that's how he works! We should never have got married!" The moment the words are out of my mouth I regret them. Vieve moves away from me and tears begin to form in her eyes. "Vieve-"
"Don't! Don't you dare touch me!" She shouts and runs up the stairs, tears streaming down her face. I hear the door slam and I let out a frustrated scream, why do I always have to screw everything up?!
I wait a few hours before I attempt to rectify the situation but when I open the door to our bedroom she just screams at me to get out. Rather than push my luck anymore I pour myself a large glass of white liquor and go to bed in one of the spare bedrooms.
We hardly speak to each other over the next few days, every time I enter a room she leaves and every time I try to talk about what I said Vieve just shouts obscenities at me. I can't be mad at her, though, she's right, I'm as vile as she says I am.
"Are we ever going to talk about this?" I ask her one day as she's stitching a new cushion.
"Maybe. But not right now." She doesn't even look at me when she speaks.
"Fine," I snap, "I'm going out, if you even give a damn."
I grab my jacket and storm out of the house towards The Hob, hoping to see Cray so that I can finally take a swoop at his face. He may have a gun but I have a fist and a hell of a lot of anger. If he hadn't wound me up so much the last time I saw him Vieve and I would be perfectly happy. This is all his fault.
However, when I get to The Hob all I see are the regular guys from the Seam and the traders, laughing and joking with one another. I immediately head for the bottles of white liquor and keep drinking until I pass out.
When I wake up I'm lying outside The Hob with no idea how I got there. It's starting to get dark and the building is closed so I can only assume that someone dragged me out of there at closing time.
I slowly stand up and, thankfully, I only feel a little bit tipsy now. Walking home isn't too much of a problem, apart from the looks of disgust I get from the passers-by. When I reach the gates of Victors' Village I want to turn around but I know that, despite our current situation, Vieve will still be worried if I don't come home. At least, I hope she'll be worried. Maybe she doesn't care, anymore.
I open the door and walk in to find that Vieve hasn't left the sofa, she's still working on the cushion she was making earlier. Her head shoots up towards me and I can see that she's been crying.
"I thought you were never going to come back," she weeps.
"Why would you think that?"
"Because of how horrid I've been, I'm sorry."
"No, no, no, don't you say sorry," I say and sit beside her, resting my hand on hers. "Vieve, I'm the one who has acted like an amazing jerk. You do know that I didn't mean it, don't you? Without you I'd be even more of a mess than I am now! You're the only reason I try to act like a half decent person."
"Then why did you say-"
"Because I was angry, you know I don't think, sometimes." I gently stroke the side of her face, "Vieve, I hope you know that I would do anything for you. You are my life."
"And you're mine," she says before cuddling in to me. "I can't wait until someone takes out Snow."
"Me neither."