Chapter Forty-Seven

Haymitch stroked her soft blonde hair, hearing nothing but her quiet sniffles. She gripped the back of his shirt tightly in her hands, anchoring herself to him. They were flawed people but her flaw was quickly turning out to be him. The loyalty she had for him made his heart swell and ache at the same time. He had never been shown such unparalleled faithfulness. Was this what it felt like to have someone love him?

Haymitch tightened his hold on her and squeezed his eyes shut, battling with the emotions roiling over him. He felt faint; the colours had drained from his face. If Effie wasn't careful, she would make him her own weakness and it would be her eventual downfall.

"Together….?" she hiccupped.

"Together."

"You – you won't… you said I should deal…on my own."

It was true. He had said it in a fit of anger and frustration, and fear. He had been afraid of what Elias and Adler was capable of. He was afraid of what they would take from him for Effie's mistake – a mistake she unknowingly committed for him.

"I was wrong," he kissed her temple. "You're not alone."

He had vowed on their wedding day more than a year ago that he would protect her. Leaving her alone to these vultures would have been a breach of that trust. If he didn't want Elias and Adler to take anything – Effie or his children – away from him, then he would have to do something about it and he could start by proving to his wife that she could depend on him, that she could trust him to keep them safe. He could offer her some of that loyalty she had shown him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

His right arm was beginning to lose sensation from holding Tristan in that position for so long. He shifted his arm which prompted Effie to look up, bright eyes shining with tears. Haymitch brushed his thumb lightly across her cheekbones, smearing the light powder on her face even further. There was a small scar just below her right eye – difficult to see unless one was looking for it – from where she had tripped as a child learning to walk in her heels. She had told him that story one night – something light and amusing to chase away her dark dreams - and they had laughed over it.

"Stop crying," he said quietly. "We don't want the guests to think – "

The reaction he received from Effie was instantaneous.

"The party," she gasped. "They'll be wondering about us! Haymitch, you can't go back down in that. Change your shirt, please."

She pushed herself off him, smooth out the creases on his shirt and clicked her tongue at the wet patch where her tears had soaked through. Effie stood in front of the mirror in the nursery, frowning at her reflection in the mirror.

"Worry about yourself," he said under his breath and gestured to her face. He glanced at the clock on the mirror. "It's going to be sun down soon. The party's going to be over in a while, anyway. I'll tell them Tristan threw up on me and you had a melt down at the state of my shirt."

"Nobody's going to believe that," she shook her head, smiling indulgently at him nonetheless.

They were at the top of the stairs that will lead them back down to the main hall when she stopped and turned to face him.

"Are we…" she nibbled her bottom lip. "You and I… Are we okay?"

"We're alright," he nodded. Haymitch reached out for her hand and laced their fingers together. "Come on."

"They don't believe in us – Elias and Klaus," Effie said as they walked down the stairs. "They think they could easily break…. Haymitch, maybe just for tonight, we should show them that -"

"We're a team?" he finished off her sentence.

"You said together. I just thought…"

His lips twitched into a smile.

XxX

The moment they appeared in the living room, Effie's cousins circled her. Haymitch handed Tristan over and escaped from the crowd. They were giving Effie well-wishes and raining kisses on his poor son, bidding farewell and inviting Effie over to the Capitol for a visit. There was no offer on their part for a social visit to see the boys in District Twelve anywhere in the near future and it was just as well. He was not keen on having her family members dropping by every so often.

Haymitch wandered away from them, looking around the room for Ethan. It didn't take long to locate the boy. Felix's shriek of horror was helpful. He held Ethan an arm's length away and if he wasn't a baby, Felix might just have throttled the child.

"You cannot – no, you… you…" he sputtered. "You naughty, naughty boy. You can't throw up all over me. That's absolutely forbidden. I'm your uncle. It is rude."

Katniss was looking at Felix incredulously. Haymitch noticed that she still had not warmed up to him which wasn't surprising. It took him a while to get used to Felix after all.

Johanna's laughter rang loud over the room.

"As if the boy knows who you are."

"Well, he better," Felix retorted, grabbing a handful of tissues to dab the front of his shirt.

"I told you not to move him around too much. Babies have sensitive stomach," Annie said. "You don't listen."

"This is an expensive – "

"Shirt. We know," Johanna rolled her eyes.

"Gave Felix a nasty present, did you, tiger?" Haymitch whispered conspiratorially. "Good job."

Plutarch was standing next to the hologram in their room projecting some show Haymitch had never watched before while proudly informing Beetee and Elias of a project he was currently producing. Johanna, Katniss and Peeta were deep in conversation as Annie watches over Finn and Prim.

Haymitch settled down on the sofa with Ethan held snugly in his arm. It wasn't long before Effie joined him, taking a seat next to him. She peered over at Ethan and wiped the drool off the corner of her son's lips.

"Where's Felix?"

"Bathroom," he answered distractedly.

He could feel Adler's gaze on them. It was deliberate how Haymitch casually rested his hand on Effie's thigh when she averted her attention from him to speak to Annie. Effie stiffened at his unexpected touch, something he would never do in front of so many people. She must have remembered their conversation just before they joined the party because Effie began to relax. Her hand moved on top of his thus giving Adler's the impression that these little touches they exchanged were normal. She turned her head to look at Haymitch but not before letting her gaze lingered for a brief second on Adler. Effie smiled at him.

The smirk on his face was telling. Effie had done that on purpose and he could not have been more proud. She raised an eyebrow at him, a silent challenging gesture. 'Your turn', it says.

Haymitch turned his palm upwards so that their fingers were intertwined in full view of Adler who, much to Haymitch's immense satisfaction, had quickly averted his gaze away from them.

"Well, sweetheart," he leaned in close to whisper in her ear, "I never thought I would ever play this jealousy game with you."

"Seems rather childish, isn't it?"

XxX

There were movements beyond the front door, shadows dancing and shifting. Felix parted the curtain and peered outside to see Effie and Adler talking at the front porch. He turned abruptly and caught Haymitch's eyes, discreetly jerking his head questioningly towards the pair outside. Haymitch gestured for him to step aside so he could keep an eye on Effie from the now slightly parted curtain.

Effie had told him that she needed to speak privately to Adler earlier and while he didn't like the idea, he understood that perhaps, there were things Effie needed to settle on her own. Haymitch watched as Effie returned the silver necklace which Adler had given to her. Adler, on the other hand, was growing increasingly agitated with each passing second; his face a mask of distress as he ran his hand through his hair. When Adler took hold of Effie by the crook of her elbow, Haymitch was ready to go over should anything happen. Adler was adamantly shaking his head, clearly trying to convince Effie of something or the other.

When she returned to him, Effie was frowning in confusion. She glanced back sympathetically at Adler.

"Everything okay?"

"He didn't know," she said in a hushed undertone. "Klaus swore he knew nothing about the deal Elias offered you."

"He's lying, then."

"Except I don't think he's lying – that's the problem," she fretted. "He was… really surprised when I asked him about the deal. He seems genuine when I asked him why he was helping us. He's in shock out there, Haymitch."

Adler was sitting by the wicker chair staring at the necklace in his hand. He looked up just then, unexpectedly finding himself staring straight at Haymitch through the window.

"It's an act," Haymitch stated.

It had to be an act. Haymitch glanced at Effie. She had spent a good deal of her time as an escort pretending to support the Games when she was only trying to find the truth about her sister and she had done so very well, so well in fact, that Haymitch had bought her act. Perhaps pretending and acting was something those born in the Capitol were gifted with.

Nothing added up. Adler's claim that he knew nothing made no sense to Haymitch. He had to be a part of it – him and Elias. They were the snake in his garden and Haymitch wasn't going to fall for his claim of innocence. His mind had started racing; forming connections to events that had transpired and trying to logically piece all the information together.

"Mr Abernathy," the edgy, jittery voice of the very man Haymitch was thinking off called out for his attention. "Could I… perhaps… speak with you? In private, if possible."

He glanced nervously around him. Out of the corner of Haymitch's eyes, he saw Elias glanced briefly at them. He excused himself from Beetee's and Plutarch's company and made his way towards Adler.

"It is quite late, don't you think? Perhaps it is time to leave. Klaus?"

Adler wiped his brows with his thumbs. His eyes darted around the room before it landed on Felix perched on the armrest of the sofa where Johanna was sitting with Annie, oblivious to the group's discussion.

"My apologies, Elias. I have made prior arrangements with your brother. It slipped my mind to inform you earlier. I will take my leave with him when he's ready on Mr. Heavensbee's hovercraft," Adler said.

"What about?"

Haymitch snorted at how demanding he was. Did he really think he would always get things done his way?

"Felix had wanted to discuss with me about… the building he's living in. There was a problem that the management still had not rectified, you see, and I have to do something. It was my company that was in charge of designing that building."

"Why didn't you discuss it with him earlier?" Elias questioned.

"We thought it would be rude to discuss such affairs during Effie's baby shower," Adler answered quickly. "Isn't that right, Felix?"

"What?" Felix's head snapped up at the mention on his name.

"The water problem," Adler prompted. "Rusty water running through the bath? You've complained to the management but the problem still persisted. That was what you said."

"Ummm," Felix glanced uncertainly at Adler and then at Haymitch. Haymitch tilted his head slightly and nodded towards Klaus imperceptibly. He hoped that was enough for Felix to get the message. "Oh, that! Yes! That's very, very troubling. Dirty water, honestly! Which century are we living in? It's a very serious issue. I paid a fortune for rent. You would think they could at least install water purifier."

Elias eyed them suspiciously. Haymitch knew a flimsy excuse when he heard one and Elias, no doubt, knew the same but in a room full of people, there was nothing much he could do. He bade farewell, swooped down to give Effie a kiss on her cheek and left the house without so much as a glance in Haymitch's direction. Such ill-mannered gesture did not go unnoticed by Effie. Growing up, they had been taught better than that and this rude behaviour coming from Elias made her even more suspicious of him.

The conversation between Haymitch & Adler was due to be in this chapter but I didn't want to have so many things going on at once.

On a different note, apologies for not updating for the past two weeks. I was revising for exams and couldn't really devote my time to Consortium. My exams will only end on 20 May so if there's no update next week, then it'll only be the end of May.

And! It's been a year since I started writing Consortium! (Well 23 May to be exact but.. technicalities) Anyway, please, leave a review :)