Thirteen (Part 1)
"Haymitch," Effie shook his shoulder lightly, "Haymitch."
He was sleeping on his stomach, snoring slightly and blowing wisp of his hair as he breathed. She pushed back his hair away from his face and called out his name again, louder this time round.
Years of sleeping lightly and being on edge meant that he was awake almost instantaneously with his hand under the pillow gripping the handle of his knife instinctively. Haymitch turned his head sideways to look at her, frowning slightly when he realized that they were not in any form of danger. The light on Effie's nightstand was switched on and she was sitting on the bed with a strap from her night gown falling slightly off her shoulder. She bit her bottom lip, a sign that she was anxious.
"What is it?" he asked groggily, letting his head fall back down on the pillow.
"Don't laugh at me," Effie warned, "but I really, really want strawberries."
Haymitch groaned loudly. "I told you already, it'll be here in two weeks. The guy at the shop told me so."
She shook her head, refusing to listen to Haymitch. "But I want it now, Haymitch. I don't want it two weeks from now."
"Go back to sleep," he mumbled, turning on his back and covered his face with the pillow. "When you wake up in the morning, you'll forget all about it."
"I can't go back to sleep. I've been thinking about it all night, I can taste it on my tongue."
Haymitch pulled the pillow off his face and turned to look at her in exasperation. "What do you want me to do? They ran out of strawberries. Go have a watermelon in the kitchen."
"If I wanted watermelon, I would have had them. I want strawberries. S-T-R-A-W – Haymitch? No, don't go back to sleep! Ugh, why do I even bother?" she muttered the last bit to herself.
Haymitch felt her move away from him and cracked an eye open. He watched as she started picking out clothes from her wardrobe. He had no idea what she was planning to do but when she stood in front of the vanity to tie her hair into a neat ponytail, grabbed her purse and moved towards the bedroom door, Haymitch pushed himself into a sitting position.
"Where are you going?"
"Where do you think? To buy strawberries for myself."
Haymitch looked at the clock. "It's 4 in the morning, Effie. Don't be absurd."
"No, I really must get them!" Effie replied stubbornly.
"Where the bloody hell do you plan on getting them? Do you understand a word I just said? There are no more stocks in District Twelve!"
"But there will be stocks at the Capitol," she insisted. "I'm sure of it. If you don't believe me, I'll call my cousin Felix and I'll check with him."
"Wha – No, don't be crazy! Come back to bed - you can go to the Capitol tomorrow morning," he tried to compromise.
"That's a few hours from now. Why should I wait? Take care of the house, see you!"
Just like that, Effie was gone, applying her lipstick as she trotted out of the room. Haymitch stared after at the closed door and blinked seemingly caught off guard at the turn of events. When it finally sunk it what Effie had done, Haymitch scrambled to their bedroom window and pushed it open, peering out to the front yard to look for Effie.
"Eff, Eff!" he shouted. She waved at him as she moved across the lawn. "You mad woman, come back here! Effie! Don't be stubborn – Effie!"
He cursed and swore loudly as he threw on a pair of jeans and a button down shirt hastily. Haymitch was in such a rush he never realized that he had left the house in a pair of leather flip flops which Effie had bought for him.
"How the hell do you manage to walk that fast?" he wheezed when he finally caught up with her. "Don't pregnant women waddle?"
"Don't be rude. I'm not a penguin," she replied. "What are you doing here?"
"You think I'm going to let you go off alone when you're half delusional like this?"
"Delusional?! How dare you! I'd like to see you being pregnant, let's see how you'll fare. Imagine yourself craving a glass of whiskey but they're only available at the Capitol. I bet my buttons you will leave for the Capitol immediately no matter how much you don't like that place."
"Fine, fair point," he concurred. "You bought tickets yet?"
"Yes, the earliest train is at 5 am, you should buy yours. I'll wait right here."
XxX
"All this for some fruit you're craving? This is insane. I'm losing precious sleep hours," Haymitch complained for the umpteenth time that day, crossing his arm in front of his chest and leaning his head on the train's glass window.
"My sweet, sweet, darling husband, it's not too late to return home," Effie said, "we're only at District Ten, you can alight and take the train back to Twelve."
Haymitch grumbled under his breath and looked out the window. He nodded off once or twice during the journey but Effie, very much awake and alert, got up once in a while to stretch her aching back. Prior to her pregnancy, Effie never had any back problems but it's been aching for the past few days. It was the most uncomfortable feeling.
It was a few more hours before they reached the Capitol and once there, they wasted no time breaking into an argument in the middle of the train station. Haymitch had insisted that they go straight to Effie's apartment first but Effie was thinking of something entirely different. She was adamant that "my little girl wants her strawberries."
That led to another fight as he led her by the crook of her elbow out of the train station. Haymitch muttered under his breath about how impossible it was for a fetus to crave for a fruit it barely knew existed. Hearing that, Effie rounded up on him and narrowed her eyes into an angry slit.
"What did you say?", she hissed.
Haymitch backed off and conceded, gesturing for her to lead the way before she completely lost her head. He was never terrified of Effie but this spontaneous, unplanned trip to the Capitol was something his wife would never have done before and it scared him slightly.
In the taxi on the way to 'the largest supermarket in the Capitol' as Effie had called it, she shuffled close to Haymitch, seeking his warmth. She had on a thin layer of clothing and it was not doing a very good job of keeping her warm. Haymitch glanced briefly at her, not quite understanding what she needed and continued looking out of the window. She sighed, knowing Haymitch could be daft sometimes.
Effie headed straight for the fruit section once they alighted with Haymitch trailing behind her, his eyes searching for the liquor section. When she found what she was looking for, her face broke into a ridiculous, wide grin, her blue eyes lighting up as she turned to look at him. She had not smiled at him that way since the day they were married and he honestly couldn't remember her being that happy over something as insignificant as a fruit since the War ended. Seeing her that way made him feel that perhaps it wasn't that bad a deal being dragged out of bed at four in the morning. She had been upset by the article and if this could make her happy, why not?
"Okay?" he grumbled. "Happy?"
"Yes," she smiled up at him. "Let's go to my apartment now."
For all the grand speech and incessant nagging about table manners, the same woman who told him for years that the tributes upset her digestion, Effie showed him another side of her he had never seen before. She took the packet of strawberries out of the paper bag and eagerly opened the packaging as they sat at the back of the taxi.
"Effie," he called out urgently.
She looked at him in alarm. "What?"
"Keep it back in the bag. You can't eat them now."
She ignored him and bit into the red, juicy fruit with a loud satisfied moan. He stared at her in surprise.
"Oh, god, it's so delicious," she licked her lips. "I think the baby's happy. Do you want some, Haymitch?"
The taxi driver threw her a dirty look from his rear view mirror, telling her not to dirty his taxi.
"Sorry," Haymitch hastily apologised to the driver. "She's ah … pregnant. And she's got this craving, you know? Effie, that's enough! Save the rest until we're home."
XxX
Now that he thought about it, Haymitch had never once slept in Effie's room while at her apartment. When he had spent the time at her apartment while working with her for the Rebellion, their relationship had been professional with the frequent bark and snide comments they threw at each other. But for the first time that night, he slept in her room, in her bed.
He did not give it much thought about where he should be sleeping when night came around and had gone into the guest bedroom but just as he was halfway through his bottle of liquor, Effie appeared by the door, looking slightly uncertain.
"You know, if you want, you could… you could sleep with me in my room next door. It's just that, we've slept in the same bed since we're married and I'm used to having you next to me," she bit her lip shyly. "Unless you want to sleep here, then, that's fine, too."
Haymitch shrugged and followed Effie to her room. Just as it was for Effie, he was used to her warm body lying next to him and besides, he didn't really fancy sleeping on the cold bed alone.
He was already lying on the soft bed with an arm covering his eyes as he waited for sleep to claim him when he felt the bed dipped as Effie crawled in after her nightly ritual of brushing her hair before going to sleep. He felt her lips, soft and warm on his cheek as she kissed him lightly. Surprised, Haymitch moved his arm away from his eyes to look at her.
"Thank you, Haymitch," she said, "for accompanying me here when you don't have to."
Her hand was resting on the mattress, partially supporting her weight and Haymitch's fingers unconsciously began trailing the gold bracelet around her wrist.
"Do you have any more cravings I should know about?" he blinked at her lazily.
"No," Effie shook her head, "at least not at the moment!"
The groan that escaped his lip made her giggle.
"I don't think I like you very much when you're pregnant," Haymitch teased.
She gave him a small smile. "You've never liked me very much whether or not I'm pregnant."
In that second, the mood turned serious. Haymitch sighed. He really needed to keep up with her mood swings. It was getting a bit frustrating for him to figure her out when she couldn't even tell that he was teasing.
Effie made to move away but his fingers curled around her wrist and stayed her hand.
"I was joking. I don't mean it that way," he explained.
Effie nodded understandingly and waited for him to continue.
"It's just… I – I don't know, Effie. My life's changed so much in less than a year. I'm married and to you, no less and now you're pregnant. I just spend hours on a train ride with a craving pregnant woman who happened to be my wife, and carrying my child. This is all very new to me, you understand? I'm scared, Eff," he whispered the last part softly.
Then he blinked and the slight moment of vulnerability vanished from his grey eyes. "You should probably sleep. I'm gonna get myself something more to drink."
He propped himself up on his elbows and was about to get off the bed when Effie unexpectedly leaned forward with her hands on his chest, pushing him back down on the bed. She kissed him for the second time that night; a soft, lingering kiss and when she opened her mouth to speak, her warm minty breath mingled with his own.
"You're not alone, you know. I don't know what's happening to my own body, Haymitch and that's even frightening."
He couldn't remember Effie ever initiating anything in bed. The few times that they had come together intimately sort of just happened for them. And having a woman making the first move made his body react naturally. He didn't know how much he craved to touch her until now and in light of the admittance of their vulnerable feelings towards each other, Haymitch gave in. He cradled her head and kissed her back, his tongue skimming her bottom lips and nibbling on them slightly as his other hand glided up from her waist, passed her ribcage to cup her face.
Effie kissed him with more passion than she ever had and Haymitch silently thanked his lucky stars. If he was going to be rewarded for accompanying this slightly stubborn, determined woman halfway across the country to fulfil her cravings, then he damn well deserved the very best.
The kiss grew heated quickly with an almost desperate note, and Effie was soon straddling him on the bed. His hand traveled to her back, a finger trailing down her spine and she arched her body deliciously in respond. He pulled back from the kiss to look at her and slowly, he tugged the nightgown off her shoulders. Just as he did to her back, he trailed a finger down between the valley of her breasts and stopped at her sternum. His eyes flickered up to meet hers and when she nodded encouragingly, he laid his palm flat on the slight bump on her stomach.
Haymitch took in a deep breath and smiled to himself, remembering what Effie had whispered to her unborn child the day before. Daddy.
"Will it move?" he whispered.
"No, it's far too early."
He nodded and his eyes immediately focused on her breasts. He eagerly unhooked the clasp of her bra and when he tried to take it off, Effie groaned.
"No, don't," she said, "it's uh… it's sore and tender."
Haymitch remembered her telling him about breast tenderness and made a mental note to himself to avoid that area altogether. Just to be certain, he asked, "did your book say if it was okay to have sex during pregnancy?"
He thought that was an honest, legitimate question but when Effie laughed and buried her face in his chest to contain her laughter, he felt slightly foolish - as though he was missing something that he should have known.
"Of course, Haymitch," she chuckled, "although when I'm in my second trimester and I've gotten a lot bigger that this, you would need to be more creative with the positions."
He smirked, "oh, I'll show just how creative I can be."
I slashed this chapter into two because it was too long & at 1.35 am in the morning, i got tired of editing something with more than 4,000 words! I'm sorry. If I have the time on hand tomorrow, I'll edit the second half and post it right up. If not, then, i'll merge it with Chapter 14 and post it next week!
Anyway, i hope you like this chapter because I've been excited about writing Effie with her cravings! Do review, thank you!