Chapter Five
Haymitch backed her against the blue tiled wall of their bathroom, kissing her with an unrestrained desire. His hands cupped her ass before sliding lower to her thighs. He gripped them tight and raised her up, her long legs immediately wrapping around his waist.
With one of Haymitch's palm flat against the wall, Effie is held up by the wall behind her and Haymitch's body pressing against her.
She wriggled her hand in the space between them sliding it down to gently grab his erection and guiding it to her entrance
"So eager," he said breathlessly into her ear. The feeling of his warm breath on her caused her to grip him tighter and Haymitch hissed in pleasure.
She kissed him in response and gasped when he finally entered her. Effie clung to him. Her arms now wrapped around his neck as he pressed himself closer to her, trapping and pounding into the squirming woman. It gave Haymitch a sense of pride knowing he could make her lose the perfect control she had long cultivated.
Effie licked the water droplets trailing down his neck. The warmth of her tongue against the coolness of his skin made him shiver and he laced their fingers together, holding them up on the wall beside her head, joined together at the hips.
The mirror had misted from the steam of Effie's shower earlier. She was showering, humming softly to herself, her body covered in suds when he had barged in, and puked the contents of his stomach in the toilet bowl. She had screeched and screamed at him and he had shouted at her in return, but between the yelling and the anger, he had ended up kissing her, his clothes drenched as he stood below the shower, his finger pumping inside her. She made quick work of it, ripping his clothes off and flinging it over the shower screen.
He couldn't say that he wasn't pleased with how the morning had turned out – with Effie mewling and begging instead of screaming her heads off at him.
Haymitch buried his face on the crook of her neck; his teeth lightly grazing Effie's smooth skin. Her long nails dragging against the skin on his back, her hips bucking in rhythm with his thrusting.
"Faster, Haymitch," she urged him. "Oh, oh, yes."
He pulled himself nearly all the way out before slamming back into her, repeating it over and over when Effie began to writhe and moan in earnest. The noises she was making spurred him faster, his pace became erratic and his muscles wound tight waiting for the sweet release. He felt her walls clamped down on him, head thrown back in exquisite pleasure as she shuddered, her orgasm rocking her body.
Haymitch continued thrusting into her, a few more deep strokes before he felt his knees weaken and he spilt himself inside her.
Effie slid against the wall, dragging Haymitch down with her where they sat slumped on the bathroom floor, the shower still raining water on them.
XxX
"What? No food?" he asked. "Where's the food? Morning sex took up all of my energy."
"No, make your own breakfast, you brute! You took up all my time this morning and I'm running late," she said breathlessly, gulping down her morning coffee. "This is not to happen again, Haymitch!"
He smirked. Haymitch had woken up with a hangover but the things they did in the shower had more than made up for it and despite what she said, he doubt she meant it.
Effie grabbed her handbag, gathered her keys and dashed past Haymitch to the front door.
"I'll see you later," she shouted over her shoulder.
She disappeared from the kitchen; her small frame running in her red high heels out of the door before she could be accused of being late for work, never realizing that she had forgotten to take her pills that morning.
XxX
"Heard you're having a baby," Haymitch said walking in to Peeta's bakery.
The blonde young man turned around, a dish cloth slung over his shoulder with an easy smile etched on his face. Katniss emerged from the back of the shop when she heard Haymitch's voice. She was dressed in her hunting gear; a bow in her hand, her father's jacket zipped up all the way.
"Quick Peeta, get Plutarch's production team down at the bakery! Haymitch Abernathy is sober and has paid us a visit," Katniss said. "Finally."
Haymitch scowled. He couldn't fault Katniss that much since Haymitch had never once stepped foot in their bakery from the day Peeta opened it to the public months ago. He kept telling them he would drop by one of these days but he never did.
"Don't give me that attitude, Katniss," he grumbled. He moved behind the counter where Katniss was standing with Peeta's arm around her. Haymitch clapped Peeta's shoulder, the corner of his lips curling in a smile and then he turned to Katniss, his hand cupping her cheek.
"Congratulations, kid," he smiled. "Both of you – you deserve this."
Katniss smiled at him; the happiest he had ever seen her.
"It's a little bit scary, Haymitch. I – We don't know what to expect and I've been thinking about the Games a lot lately. More than usual and what if she asked me about it? What do I tell her?"
"Or him," Peeta added.
"That's what the book is for, isn't it?" Haymitch said, turning his back abruptly to the pair of them. Even now, he still hated any talk that relates back to the Games. "The one you made after the war, every story of those who died."
"I didn't want to forget them but I – I'm not sure if …" she trailed off.
Haymitch took a cheese bun from the cooling rack and brought it up to his nose, inhaling the sweet smell melted cheese. He took a bite from it before turning to look at them again.
"How are you and Effie?" Peeta asked, changing the subject. "You've been married for 3 months, yes? Any luck?"
He gave half a shrug from where he was standing, hips propped against the counter. Nobody knew that she was on birth control and he rather kept it that way. He shuddered to think the trouble they would both be in for actively contravening the law if the wrong person knew that Effie was on contraceptive.
"I thought I read somewhere that couples are expected to have a child or at least expecting the arrival of one by the first year of the marriage," Katniss pointed out, her brows furrowed as she tried to recall if that was in fact true. "Or they would be sent for medical screening to determine if there are any complications."
"By the second year," Haymitch corrected. "But every year, there will be medical screening to determine a couple's continued fertility and health. They don't want any health risk that could affect the baby – minimalise the risk of birth defect. There's some random blood testing, too, to make sure we're clean of drugs, birth controls, whatever."
"They're very thorough," Peeta commented. "Have to, I supposed, considering the aim is to promote child birth."
Yeah, whatever," Haymitch said. "Listen, I'm hoping it wouldn't get to that – me and Effie having a child, I mean."
Katniss and Peeta exchanged a look, and with a sense of dread, Peeta asked, "Meaning?"
"Been talking to Plutarch and reading the papers – the suicides and the general unhappiness of the masses. We need to dissolve this law and we need to do it now. They want to promote population growth but all those suicides from both men and women alike are putting the population in decline even more."
"Hold on – did you say we?"
"It was Plutarch's idea that it would be more well-received if the public sees the two of you rallying behind this. I just wanted this whole mess to end, Peeta. I don't want to drag you both into the spot light to be used again but I promised him I would ask you about it."
"No," Peeta said firmly. "No."
"Peeta…" Katniss began.
Haymitch exhaled slowly. "I understand. And with Katniss' condition, I don't want to complicate things."
"Condition? You make pregnancy sound like it's a terrible thing! I'll help," Katniss told him.
She turned to look at her husband, whose eyes bore into hers, silently imploring her to rethink her decision. "We don't have to be on the cover of the news or have a camera crew on our back. But we could help, Peeta. Whatever needs to be done, we'll do it quietly in the background. This law isn't right. People shouldn't be forced to get married like this. It's supposed to be sacred, isn't it? Between two people who love each other and need each other. That's why we got married, didn't we?"
"Alright," Peeta nodded finally. "But we do not want unnecessary publicity. Make that clear to Plutarch, please. I'm assuming Effie has drawn up a schedule or some sort of plan on how we're going to go about this?"
"Ah, yes," Haymitch chuckled suddenly, moving hastily towards the door. "She doesn't know."
"What?!"
"Not yet, anyway. I'll tell her, she'll be glad to be rid of me. Thanks again for agreeing to be part of this."
Haymitch disappeared for the rest of the day.
XxX
Walking around in town is something Haymitch actively detest. Due to the open gate policy which allows for relocation of the citizens and also partly to the marriage law, the original resident of District Twelve has been diluted to a handful of them. The rest of the population came from different corners of the country. Some had moved in with their spouse or relocated here for reasons Haymitch wasn't privy to.
"Aye, there, Haymitch," someone greeted, tipping his straw hat.
He had absolutely no idea who that was so he simply nodded his head and continued walking.
"Oi! You want some of my stew, boy? Give this old lady some business, eh?" Greasy Sae shouted at him.
She had bought a small area in District Twelve's Town Market, which was previously the Hob except the town was now much larger, cleaner and organized. Greasy Sae had set up her restaurant and moved in with her granddaughter to the upper floor of the two-story small bricked building. A wooded hand painted sign that simply said "Welcome", had been nailed to the door. A small cloth was spread out on the window – Sae's Best Soups; a ridiculous name for a restaurant, Haymitch had thought each time he passed by it. Despite the less than creative name, business was good for the old woman mostly thanks to the open market economy of Panem. With trading and exports of ingredients from various districts, her soup became popular. The taste had improved drastically with more flavour and seasoning from spices that had been rare before the Rebellion and her soup now contains meat that didn't come from wild dogs.
He raised his hand in greeting. "Not today, I'm afraid. Thank you. I just had something from the bakery."
"You bring your lovely wife here one day, boy, and I'll meet her proper and Sandy here would sure love to talk to her!"
Haymitch cringed. He was very certain he had long passed the stage of a boy but as far as he could remember, that was what Greasy Sae had called him since he first met her as a scrawny little kid running around in the Seam. Sandy, her granddaughter stared at Haymitch blankly but otherwise did not acknowledge him.
The unassuming two story building finally came into view and Haymitch heaved a sigh of relief at having finally reached his destination. District Twelve finally has a library from which he could search for information pertaining to the law. The library wasn't as big as the one in the other districts and it didn't have a wide collection of books either but Haymitch was glad for it nonetheless.
"Where can I find copies of the newspaper for the past few months?"
Haymitch leaned forward and drummed his fingers, waiting impatiently for the girl to look up from the book she was reading.
"That way," she pointed, her eyes never leaving the page in her book.
"Right, thanks."
The library was eerily quiet and Haymitch felt slightly cut off from the world especially since he just weathered through the hubbub at town. He found what he was looking for and started to gather papers from a few months before the law was passed to the day he was married.
He brought it to an empty table at the back of the library, diligently perusing it, making small notes on a pad of yellow papers he gotten from the librarian out front. Haymitch's goal was to gather as much information as he could about Population White Paper, the law, the effects of it and anything else related to it.
His progress was slow as he decided not to only peruse the newspaper but other sources as well - journals or articles – and he was determined to work his way through.
XxX
Hours passed unnoticed as he sat hunched over his notes. His hand was aching, his neck and shoulder stiff and he decided he had done enough work for the day. He would return tomorrow. Glancing at the clock mounted on the library wall, he noted that he had only been there for 3 hours.
"Ridiculous, it felt like half a day," he grumbled to himself.
When he stepped outside the library, rolling his shoulders to relieve the ache, the sky was tinged orange and there weren't as many people in town. He made the slow walk to his favourite hangout – the bar - his mind going through the facts that he had learned in the library today.
Haymitch didn't notice the figure around the corner until he collided into the person.
"Damn it! Are you blind?"
"Polite as always," Effie said snidely, picking up her bag off the floor. "What are you doing here?"
"What? You're keeping tabs on me now? Do you want to know who I've been with and what time I'll be home?" he asked with irritation.
"That's not what –" she sighed. "Never mind."
She walked away from him and from the way her heels were clicking furiously against the cobblestone he could tell she was angry.
"Eff," he called out. "You going home?"
She spun around. "Oh you're allowed to ask the questions now?"
"Alright, fine," he raised his palm in mock surrender. "You wanna come with me? To the bar?"
"Why would I go to the bar with you?!" she asked crossly. "Honestly, Haymitch."
"Something I want to talk to you about. Come along, you haven't eaten, have you? We'll get something to eat."
Effie narrowed her eyes at him.
"Are you asking me out?" she looked suspicious but her voice betrayed her. She almost sounded hopeful.
"God, no," he scoffed. "I told you I wanted to talk to you."
"Not at the bar, Haymitch," she ran her hands through her hair tiredly.
"Fine," he took her by the elbow and steered her away from the group of shop owners idly chatting by the side walk. "We'll talk as we walk home."
In the next chapter, Haymitch finally tells her what he has in mind and we'll see how Effie reacts to it.
A/N: As I was editing this chapter, I was listening to In Pieces by Linkin Park & that song, echoes this story perfectly somehow. Imagine Effie telling Haymitch whatever is in that song. That's a clue!
Anyway, reviews, reviews, thank you! :)