Chapter Twenty Four
With Effie's persistent assurance that she was fine, that the pain was not bothering her at the moment and Haymitch's stubborn insistent that she couldn't possibly be sure there would not be another episode, it came as no surprise that the pair were fighting as they made their way over to Annie's house.
"What's the doctor going to do, Haymitch? Induce me into giving birth?" she asked rather impudently.
"They can do that?" he asked with astonishment. It was a phenomenon he was not aware of.
Effie exhaled loudly. "I'm pregnant, Haymitch. I'm bound to have a little bit of discomfort here and there."
"I think this is more than just a little discomfort, Effie. Why are you so stubborn?"
Effie growled and raised her hands in frustration. "You're being overbearing! I'm fine. F-I-N-E!"
"Hate to point this out to you, sweetheart, but you ain't a doctor so you're no good giving out judgment like that."
"Is this how you're going to be with the twins?" she demanded with her hands resting on her hips. "You're going to drive them insane. You'll be one of those overprotective fathers, aren't you? If we're having girls, they're going to have a difficult time finding boys in their lives when the time comes around. I can picture it."
Haymitch squinted and pierced Effie with a glare.
"If you refuse to seek medical care, we don't even have to go there. You might not even have any children for all I know," he told her harshly. "And don't try to change the subject. For the record, no boys will come within ten foot of the twins, if they're girls."
His words had the intended effect. Effie looked visibly upset; her lips quivered and she reached out for him, seeking either his comfort or to reassure him, he didn't know.
"They're going to be okay," she whispered so quietly Haymitch nearly missed it.
"Can the both of you please take your lover's quarrel somewhere more private?" Johanna shouted at them from the open window they were under before Haymitch could reply. "I'm trying to sleep. Is that too much to ask? I'm sure I'm not the only one. Finn is still asleep and if you wake him up, I'm gonna kill you both. I spent the entire night entertaining that kid, I'm exhausted. Go and quarrel under Felix's window, if you must."
XxX
They had come to a compromise with Effie promising that she would visit Dr. Bell once they return home the next morning. It didn't mean he liked it but the alternative of irritating and making her angry in her condition wasn't a viable option. So he did what was within his power at the moment, Haymitch watched her like a hawk.
"My brother bothering you again?" Felix asked, coming to stand next to the tree Haymitch was leaning on.
"No," he frowned, perplexed by the sudden question. "Why'd you ask?"
"Just the way you look…Swallowed something sour then?"
He shook his head, his eyes never leaving Effie. At least she was making his job easier, sitting quietly on the bench by the pier, observing Johanna and Finn crab fishing while Annie went off to get them something cooling to drink. She told him once that she liked watching the way Johanna and Finn interacted. The things Johanna did to indulge her godson would spoil the boy rotten one day. It was effortless how the toddler brought a smile to Johanna's face, elicited that bark of laughter from her and lifted her spirit, allowing that glimmer of a woman in her early twenties to filter through the wall she had built around herself.
"Finn, I hate crab fishing!" Johanna's sharp voice pierced through the air.
Haymitch was momentarily distracted by the outburst and craned his neck to figure out what was making Johanna upset. He frowned as he watched the young woman hauled the dome-shaped crab trap out of the water before throwing it on the ground in frustration when all she discovered was seaweed in the trap.
Next to him, Felix gave a raucous laugh. "Nice try, Mason," he hollered.
It was still a mystery to him how someone as petite and small as Felix and Effie could have a voice so loud and piercing that it made him cringe. Johanna threw them a look of complete disdain the same time that Haymitch's lip quirked into a smirk waiting for the insult Felix was bound to throw in Johanna's way.
"Word of advice, darling, just stick to fishing, at least then we'll have something nice to eat," Felix teased.
"But we have two crabs here, Felix!" Finn defended her, running straight towards Felix with his pail swinging back and forth in his hand.
"Those are tiny. I don't think it's edible at all," Felix crouched down to Finn's height. "They're like baby crabs."
"I'm keeping them," Finna announced with finality. "They're my pets. Effie said Uncle Haymitch has geese so I'm keeping crabs."
Felix wrinkled his nose. "Why can't you have something more normal? Puppies?"
"Haymitch!" Johanna shouted suddenly.
He tore his attention away from Finn and Felix. In the distance, Johanna was crouching next to Effie whose face was scrunched in pain. I only looked away for a second, he thought fleetingly.
Haymitch sprinted towards them with Felix and Finn trotting behind him. "What happened, Eff?"
She shook her head, breathing heavily through her nose, her hand reaching out for his. For the second time that day, he let her squeezed it in an attempt to regulate the pain. Johanna rubbed her back awkwardly, looking up at Haymitch every few seconds with a questioning look on her face. Haymitch shook his head at her.
After a few minutes, Effie straightened up. "It's not so bad. Just some aching is all."
She released her hold on him and began rubbing her stomach gently, cooing something indiscernible to her unborn children.
"We're going back to Twelve," he announced.
"No, I'm fine," she assured him.
"Yes and I'm Plutarch Heavensbee. Stop deluding yourself. We're getting you to Dr. Bell," he retorted tersely. Haymitch stared down at Effie, daring her to disagree with him further.
"It's probably nothing, right, Annie? It's a normal part of pregnancy," she turned towards Annie; her blue eyes were wide with worry, seeking comfort from someone with the necessary experience. Annie handed a paper cup to Effie wordlessly having joined the group the same time Johanna called out for him.
Haymitch looked at Annie imploringly, seeking the same sort of answers.
"It could be Braxton Hicks but that's usually painless. Has this happen before?" she asked.
"A few times," Haymitch answered, explaining the few occasions when he witnessed Effie in pain.
Annie frowned with a contemplative look on her face. "I'm sorry, Effie, I think I agree with Haymitch on this one. You should see your doctor. There's a doctor here, of course, but if it is as Haymitch explained with irregular intervals before the next pain, you should see your doctor – she'll know your history best. "
"What's wrong with them, Effie?" Finn looked up, pressing his ear to her stomach surprising both Effie and Haymitch himself. A smile broke across his face and his eyes lighted up with excitement, "they're coming to play with me?"
Effie smiled at him, brushing his lock of bronze hair softly. "Not for a few more months, sweetie. You have to wait a little while longer, okay?"
Finn nodded and moved to stand next to his mother. He tugged Annie's dress, whispering in her ears while casting furtive glances at Haymitch.
"Will Uncle Haymitch get angry if I don't play with them. I don't like girls."
"If they're girls, you have a duty to look after them," Haymitch said gruffly, having heard what Finn was whispering. Haymitch shifted his attention to Effie, arching an eyebrow silently asking if she was ready to return to Twelve.
With a sigh of resignation and defeat, she pushed herself off the bench with Haymitch's arms supporting her.
"Take me home, then."
XxX
Haymitch wondered if they would have to fight and argue before they ever came to a decision, if that was how things would always be with them. He wanted them to go to the hospital the moment the train pulled into District Twelve but with all their luggage and things they brought with them from Four, Effie wanted to deposit them at home first.
She raised a valid point, one he tried to counterargue unsuccessfully. Their journey home was relatively painless for Effie without any more episode of abdominal cramp.
Effie had gone on ahead while he juggled with their bags up the stairs. He was halfway up when he heard her calling out for him. Letting go of the bags in his hands, he ran up and came to an abrupt stop when he saw that she was fine. She was standing just outside the room to the nursery, with a hand covering her mouth.
"Stop scaring the shit out of me," he grumbled.
Slowly, she twisted her body towards Haymitch, blue eyes glistening with unshed tears and a look of disbelief written across her face.
"What did you – Haymitch, it's beautiful," she breathed out.
Effie walked in, fingertips trailing across the painted wall, a hand resting on her stomach. Haymitch watched passively from the doorway, nerves tingling in anticipation as he waited for her approval or comments.
She better like what I've done or that'll be the last of it - I'm not doing anything anymore.
"Did you do this?"
"Yeah," he answered. "Yeah, I did."
She gave him a smile. "You didn't pay someone to paint this room for you?"
He glared at her. "Sweetheart, it took me one and half day to paint the entire room. The effort it cost me was –"
"I'm joking, Haymitch," she giggled at how defensive he sounded. Effie held out her hand and tugged him closer to her. He rubbed the back of his neck suddenly feeling silly for flaring up.
"I didn't mean for you to find out this way. I thought maybe… Well, I haven't actually thought of how best unveil this room to you but I guess it's pointless now. It's to your satisfaction, I hope?"
"Yes, it is," she moved towards one end of the wall where a mural had been painted on. "I know for a fact that this wasn't you."
"No," he chuckled. "It's the kid."
Effie stood to admire the drawing of a train docked at the station with a flock of birds taking flight. She began to notice the details – there were four train cars with the first two bearing the name "Haymitch" and "Effie". "Why are the other two cars empty? Oh, is it meant for the twins' names?"
"Yeah, I think that's the idea. I told him to do whatever's appropriate. In case that you don't like it, let me just say that I left it completely up to Peeta and I had nothing to do with it. If you have any complains, take it up to him. Personally, I think the names on the train are slightly over the top. It's cliché at best but that sentimental boy thinks -"
"Haymitch!" she admonished him. "I like it. I would prefer a painting of a garden, like the one in Primrose's room but that would be too feminine, I supposed. Since we don't know their gender, this is good. He chose a neutral colour scheme too. I think we can buy a chest for their toys and put it on this wall. A play area, what do you think?"
He shrugged. How was it that he was standing here with Effie Trinket of all people discussing wall designs and room decorations for their children? It was so surreal that if five years ago anyone had told him that this was what he would be doing, he would send them to a psychiatric ward.
"Oh," she squealed. "I like what you did with this wall, Haymitch."
Effie's attention was now focused on an opposite wall where Haymitch had done something he was actually quite proud of. On a dark blue string, hanging on wooden pegs he had taken from the clothes lining were the sonograms from Effie's nightstand, all three of them. She fished through her purse for a pen and stood on tiptoes to write down the weeks the sonograms were taken.
"If you wanted to show them their development or something…," he muttered.
She sidled up to him and looped her arms securely around his neck. Almost naturally, he rested both hands on her waist, one of his thumb idly rubbing circles on it.
"Is this where you get all sentimental and emotional?" he asked in a snarky manner.
"Oh just let me be," she rolled her eyes. "You're sweet, you know. You are when you want to be. Thank you for sending me away with Felix so you could work on this without my knowledge and without me interfering with it. I'm sorry, Haymitch, for overreacting about this room weeks ago. I was just… frustrated and -"
"I know. Overdramatic, too," he smirked. His voice took on a serious tone. "But listen, Eff, if you ever tell anyone or repeat that I'm "sweet"- although I'm rather certain you're delusional for even thinking it - there will be hell to pay."
"Did you threaten me just so that I'll hide the best of you from the world?"
"Yep," he replied smugly. "Now, I believe it's time we go to the hospital?"
XxX
Haymitch folded his arms across his chest when he saw the frown gracing Dr. Bell's face the moment Effie began telling her the symptoms she had been experiencing. His chest tightened and constricted as he contemplated the possibility of Effie's pain being part of a larger complication.
"I'm gonna have to keep you here," the doctor told Effie who promptly, as he expected, put up a fight.
Dr Bell patiently told the resistant woman that a few days in the hospital wouldn't hurt while she ran some test. A disgruntled look from Haymitch silenced all argument Effie had on her lips. Her eyebrows crinkled in annoyance, her lips set in a straight line.
"Don't be selfish," he snarled at her when the doctor was out of ear shot. "I don't care if you're indifferent about your health but that's my children you're carrying."
Effie glared at him, the offended look at his insinuation that she was selfish were plain for him to read. Haymitch studiously ignored her only catching her eyes minutes later when he slid the admission papers across the desk for her to sign.
The nurses took blood samples, sent her for multiple ultrasounds which eased the worry in Haymitch's mind when he saw the babies' movement on the screen, something that Dr. Bell seemed to be satisfied with at the same time.
"You little ones are fine," she smiled. "I'll let you listen to their heartbeats, if it makes you feel better."
It was the third day of her stay in the hospital, right after Peeta and Katniss left with Prim that Dr. Bell came over to Effie's room with a folder clutched in her hand.
"I have good news and bad news," she told them.
"Isn't it always that way," he muttered.
"The good news," she started when Effie asked for it, "is that the babies are healthy. During the ultrasound, you both saw for yourself how active they were. So that's good – steady heartbeats and fetal movements."
"And now the bad?" Haymitch prodded.
"What's causing Effie's abdominal cramp are uterine fibroids. They are tumours that grow from the cells of your uterus."
"Tumours?" interrupted Haymitch.
"Don't be alarm; it's benign," Dr. Bell assured them when she saw the look of horror Effie exchanged with Haymitch. "Yours it would seem is growing on your uterine wall. It's very small, about the size of a pea and is non-life threatening. Most women with fibroids sometimes go through their entire life not knowing they have one."
During Dr. Bell's explanation, Haymitch had unconsciously moved closer toward Effie's bed and hovered next to her protectively as if his mere presence could somehow erased everything and cure her.
Effie listened intently as the doctor began listing out the common symptoms of fibroids – painful periods, backache which are more severe than those normally experienced by pregnant women and pelvic pain amongst others - nodding once in a while when she recognised some of the symptoms.
"What about my babies? How are they affected?" Effie questioned worriedly, her children's safety at the very forefront of her mind.
"Like I've said, it's very benign in your case. It's small and I don't see it causing much of a problem except for the discomfort you've already been experiencing. In some cases, if the fibroids are blocking the cervical opening - which is not the situation for your case - normal delivery would not be possible. There is however, a recorded risk of premature delivery or miscarriage associated with fibroids," Dr. Bell explained. "This is where things get a bit more difficult. As I've already told you early on in your pregnancy, you have a high risk of miscarriage considering the trauma your body went through during your imprisonment –"
"What?" Haymitch blurted in surprise, his head swivelled towards the doctor. Effie's eyes widened in astonishment and shook her head discreetly at her treating doctor.
Dr. Bell took no notice of Haymitch's outburst, thinking that he was still in shock about the news of Effie's fibroids instead of the fact that this was the first time he ever heard of his wife having such a risk.
"- and I'm really, really pleased with your progress so far especially now that you're in your second trimester, the risk has decreased minimally. But with the fibroids to take into account, I just want you to be very, very careful and everything should be fine," she smiled kindly at Effie whose attention was now distracted by her very irate husband standing next to her. "You and your twins just need to hold on for three more months."
To the Guest reviewer who is worried about Effie dying, don't be.
Apologies for not updating last week! I wasn't feeling too good, so ... yeah. Anyway, do review and see you in next chapter for some tense Hayffie situation.