An update a day early because I was excited to post this up and a longer chapter! So I hope you enjoy :)
Chapter Sixty-Nine
The referendum gave them a spark of hope, something to work on other than the appeals. It was Effie who suggested that the appeal and the referendum should move forward concurrently. Plutarch and Haymitch wasted no time in getting the idea of a people's vote to the Council.
It was not surprising that half of the members of the Council rejected the proposal for a referendum outright, calling it an unnecessary political move meant to encourage discourse in a country that was still trying to integrate its people. The countless appeal was the work of only two men. It was easy to reject the arguments and opinions of two individuals who opposed the law especially since most of the debates were done in the Council's chambers, behind closed doors with the public having no knowledge of the finer details of their discussions. The voting, on the other hand, was the collective decision of the people. That was enough to rattle the Council and enough to make Haymitch lose his temper.
"This Council is a failure," Haymitch slammed his hand on the table, shouting. "This isn't what democracy is about!"
"We'll take it as a good sign that they're resisting," Plutarch smiled good-naturedly at him as they sat on a park bench after he had to drag Haymitch out of the building. "They can't let the people vote on the law. A yes or no option is enough to either make the law stand or for it to fall. The Council knows it, too. They're afraid. We just have to keep pushing however long it takes. Appeals after appeals, and motions to have a national referendum. We don't stop."
It could have been Johanna – Haymitch didn't know – but someone leaked the news of a referendum in District Seven and soon, that was all anyone could talk about. The idea caught up, spreading like wildfire across the nation.
Protests broke out in several districts with people marching across their districts, chanting and demanding for a chance to vote. There were no injuries or casualties but Haymitch knew it was only a matter of time. The Rebellion had given the people some measure of bravery to stand up for themselves.
Peeta suggested a campaign to push their idea of a referendum forward and with everything that was happening, Haymitch seized the protests to turn it into something they could all use, to direct people's energy to somewhere beneficial.
Plutarch and Fulvia started to organize campaigns – a call for a peaceful demonstration – which began in the City and spread across every district in a timely fashion over a period of several long months.
Fulvia, Felix and Adler started it at the City during the one winter afternoon and that campaign was attended by President Paylor herself as a guest of honor. She watched the speeches quietly and listened as people came up to her talking to her about the law.
Gale with the help of Delly Cartwright and Enaboria – an odd combination of trio in Haymitch's opinion – held a campaign at the square of the Community Centre in District Two before they travelled up to District One for the same. Beetee and Plutarch held another in District Three. He then teamed up with Johanna in District Seven and Six two weeks later.
In District Eleven and Twelve, Haymitch and Peeta was assigned to lead the campaign. Haymitch made sure that the cameras were nowhere near the twins or Prim when they left their houses, carefully shielding them from overzealous reporters over the two weeks event. He was running on adrenaline and was not sleeping properly which worried Effie to no end. He couldn't be seen in public with bags under his eyes but Effie knew he was anxious and restless.
"I'm tired, sweetheart," he admitted as he laid his head on her chest, listening to the steady beating of her heart. "If the appeal is rejected again and the referendum doesn't work, then I don't what else to do."
"You can't say that. You can't think like that," she said, trying to give him some encouragement.
"I know what it's like to dread turning a certain age and I don't want that for the boys," he mumbled. "I don't want them scared on their eighteen birthday; worrying 'bout who they would have to marry… about having to have their own babies when they're nineteen."
"Haymitch, you have done remarkably well so far. I know you will do your best tomorrow. Do not let anything dampen you. This is your dream and I believe in you," Effie whispered, dropping a kiss to the top of his head. "It will work. It has to. "
Haymitch nodded, kissing the top of her breast and closed his eyes, forcing himself to get some sleep.
When morning came, Haymitch walked with Peeta up the podium in front of Twelve's Community Centre where they were met with a deafening applause. His eyes searched the crowd for Effie and his children. He saw her sitting next to Greasy Sae, smiling encouragingly at him.
The event was being broadcasted live across Panem just like all the other campaigns so far. Peeta took the floor first. Just like how it was during the Games, he put the crowd at ease, joking and exchanging banter before he stood back, allowing Haymitch to delve into the matter of the referendum.
"Letting everyone vote is a peaceful option. We had enough fighting. We don't want any more violence," he said to which the crowd cheered. Haymitch began to relax. It was no different than convincing sponsors and Council members, except on a larger scale. "This is now a democratic country. We voted our district representatives. We voted for our president and she's a good president, isn't she?" Haymitch smiled and the crowd laughed. "Let us vote on whether we want this law to continue or not. This has gone on long enough – nearly 4 years now – you should be heard and this referendum will allow you to."
Three weeks later, in District Four, Katniss visited Annie. That campaign gained such notorious media attention, drawing visitors from other districts. Haymitch watched from the television in his sitting room as the crowd continued to swell in size. Four was different because the campaign was led by Andrea Fitz herself, the representative from District Four who sat in the Council. She was among those that were in favour of the referendum.
The situation in Four became more chaotic when Annie stunned the press and even Katniss herself with a shot of her emerging from her house carrying a malnourished six month old baby girl. Haymitch and the rest of the nation began to piece the story of the baby together from Annie's disjointed explanation which was later aided by Katniss' helpful narrative after the girl got the full story out of Annie.
Haymitch spent five minutes shouting at Johanna over the phone for having known what was happening with Annie but keeping it from him. It took a lot of coaxing and talking from Effie to eventually calm him down.
"Your cousin knew," Haymitch spat. "Jo told him but she couldn't pick up the damn phone to let us know."
"Is that baby hers?" Effie asked. "That child looks sick, Haymitch."
"No, not hers. Some couple in Four. Father's a morphling user. The girl was left on her own with an inept young mother. Finn found them while he was playing by the beach, mother and child. Annie took the baby in but the mother fled now that it's become a national sensation. Search is underway for the mother. Father's been apprehended."
"How long did Annie have the baby with her?"
"About a month," Haymitch dropped on the sofa, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Katniss is bringing them back to Twelve; Annie, Finn and Arianne. Annie will be hounded by reporters if she's left alone. Since reporters are banned from entering Victor's Village here in Twelve since the Rebellion, they'll be safe here."
"Arianne…" Effie repeated, and then she smiled. "That's a… beautiful name. I can't wait to meet them."
Haymitch scowled. He didn't need another baby anywhere near their houses now that Tristan, Ethan and Prim had grown up and had stopped waking the entire village in the middle of the night with their wailing.
XxX
Before Katniss could bring the three of them back to Twelve, Plutarch had spun the story surrounding Arianne as the driving force for the campaign in Four, to stress the need for a referendum. The girl's face was everywhere. Haymitch backed him up.
Katniss had not liked it at all and neither did Effie with the latter refusing to talk to Haymitch for a week. Annie settled into one of the spare houses in the Village. Over time, Haymitch was left alone in his house because Ethan and Tristan insisted on playing with the baby, which meant Effie spent half of her time with Annie.
He worked on the appeal while the campaign went on in the remaining districts. The issues were debated long and hard over the course of that year. It was no longer about the law but the merits of holding a national referendum. Within that year, the Council rejected his appeal twice.
"The entire nation is gripped by the chance to exercise their rights. You deny them this, Madame President and they will lose faith in the system," Haymitch said as he appeared before the Council after the appeal was rejected. "Let's settle this issue once and for all. Call for a referendum. Forcing people to get married, to have children and start a family so soon after the war will not help them."
"It's placing unrestrained burden on them. These people need to heal. They need to mourn the loss of their loved ones during the war. They need to rebuild their lives, gain some stability before they can move on. You each have families of your own or people you've lost. You understand this, yeah?" Haymitch paused, watching their faces.
"You're not allowing them any of this," Haymitch continued. He could have said 'the law' but he wanted to hold the Council accountable. "You want them to skip the mourning and the healing to throw them straight into living their lives as if the war didn't just happen. Some people don't cope that way. With time, Madame President, you will see these people slowly regaining their will to live. You'll see them coming back from the horrors of the Games and the war. They need to find stability in this new world and then trust me - people will fall in love, get married and have children. That's what people do. They continue living but you cannot force it upon them. It will do them more harm than good," he repeated what he had said earlier.
"I have said this again and again over the past several years. I have shown you what it's like out there; spousal abuse, abandon babies, illegal abortions, buying and selling of children! Is this what our society has come down to? Selling away a baby because they're in a marriage neither of them wanted. Abandoning a child because they just don't know how to cope? Putting themselves under the knives without proper anesthesia because they don't want to be subjected to the law? Can you blame them? I don't know what more proof any of you need. Give them a chance to build their lives at their own pace, let these people be happy. Don't … Don't sentence them to this and for how long? Another 75 years? Let's just… all of you think about this for a minute."
Haymitch straightened up.
"Thank you, Mr. Abernathy. Council shall reconvene in a week's time," the President nodded.
"Great speech," Plutarch clapped his shoulder. "Effie always has a flair with words."
"Effie and Peeta," he corrected. "You should have seen the original speech they came up with. I had to take off poetic sentences about 'a breath of life…' or 'you can't force a flower to bloom out of their season'. They were trying to draw an analogy between flowers and people," Haymitch rolled his eyes.
"Must be all the gardening you're letting her do back in Twelve," Plutarch laughed. "How's that apple tree of hers doing? Still standing?"
"Yeah," Haymitch nodded. "The twins love that tree. Effie's put a small kids table under that tree with two chairs. They'll have their lunch there sometimes."
XxX
Dinner was extravagant and boisterous. The year was winding to a close and the campaigns were done. There was nothing left to do but wait for the Council's word on the referendum. Everyone was gathered in Twelve, celebrating the success and the end of the campaigns.
Peeta and Haymitch set up tables outside, long enough to accommodate everyone in attendance. Johanna would not stop snickering about how romantic it was to dine under the stars until Katniss told her that she was more than welcome to dine alone inside the house.
The children sat around the table under the twins' apple tree with Haymitch keeping a watchful eye on them, his arm slung over the back of Effie's chair.
"She's adorable," Effie cooed, wiping the bit of puree from the corner of the girl's lips. "Just a little bit more, darling, come now, just one bite, please."
It was Annie's second month in Twelve and Arianne was slowly filling out, her cheeks now sporting a healthy pink glow.
"What are you feeding her?" Plutarch asked. "Doesn't seem like she is enjoying it much."
"Something I used to make for the twins when they were at this age," answered Effie. "Are you taking notes for your own son?"
Plutarch merely smiled at that. Haymitch watched as Tristan ran over to them, carrying his empty bowl. He climbed on to Haymitch's lap, pointing to his bowl.
"More," he said.
Haymitch obliged, spooning more stew on it. Tristan turned his gaze on the little girl, reaching out to pat her cheek, smiling at her.
"Came for seconds?" Effie asked her son. "Do you like the dress Uncle Felix bought for her? She's the prettiest tonight, isn't she?"
Tristan was never given a chance to answer because Haymitch had carried him and his bowl back to the table under the tree. Effie sighed, the smile sliding off her face. Haymitch was always careful to put some distance between his two children and the baby, insisting that there was no need for them to get too attached. It would only be more difficult when social services arrive for the girl. He warned Effie of the same, told her to be careful where her feelings were concerned.
Haymitch returned to the adult's table just in time to hear Beetee's question.
"When will the social services be coming?"
"In two… two weeks," Annie answered.
Social Services had been visiting Twelve on several occasion to check on Arianne's progress while they tried to find a suitable solution. The girl's mother was receiving help and the father was currently in rehabilitation.
"It's happening then?" Johanna asked. "They're taking Ari away this time?"
Haymitch had not liked it when Johanna had given the girl a nickname but he kept quiet about it. There was no point to it, no point in cooing and fawning over her either. This was just temporary after all.
He could already see Annie and Effie beginning to care about the girl. Felix doted on her as he did with the twins, Prim and Finn. He had not arrived empty handed. When he came, Felix spilled toys on their living room, driving all the children giddy with happiness. Prim was giving a set of cooking toys, the twins each received a battery operated toy car which they rode around with abandon on the front yard much to Effie's dismay while Finn was given a bicycle. For Arianne, Felix bought her a doll – "to keep her company when she's gone away from us."
"If we can pass her off as one of yours, we don't have to return her to social services," Felix mused. "Pity she doesn't look like any of you. Dark hair and green eyes… If only they were grey, we can say it's yours, Haymitch."
Haymitch stared pointedly at Katniss with her dark hair and Seam grey eyes.
Felix started laughing.
Katniss scowled. "Or Gale's," she retorted. "Look alike if she's got grey eyes. Maybe you pass her off as your kid then, Jo."
Johanna rolled her eyes.
"The story's already out there. Everybody knows she's not one of ours," Peeta shrugged, bringing his arm around Katniss shoulder. "Pity, really. She's a delightful, isn't she?"
"I'm going to miss her," Felix said.
"Me too!" Finn chimed, having abandoned the kids' table to stand next to his mother. "Can't we keep her, mummy?"
That startled her. Annie blinked.
Social Services would never deem Annie fit to look after the child as a foster parent. When the news broke, Katniss promised the department that there would be capable people in Twelve to look after the welfare of the girl while things were being sorted out. They took turns caring for the baby while briefly "making use of her as publicity stunt" as Effie had hissed angrily to Haymitch one night before the campaign ended.
"Plutarch's got a point, y'know. The rebellion had the Mockingjay, this campaign needs a face," Haymitch said defensively. He bit his tongue when Effie glared at him. "Come on, sweetheart, the entire nation loves her. It's only for the remainder of the campaign which will be over soon anyway. Her father's been sent to rehab and when he's out hopefully he'll be capable enough to look after her. Silver lining, right? And her mother – "
"Is only an 18 year old child," Effie finished.
"Technically, already an adult but, yeah," he shrugged. "We can get people and the Council especially, to sympathise with her. That's a good thing."
Effie had not seen it that way. It was just something else in their long history that they couldn't agree on.
XxX
The clouds hung heavy in the sky above as they gathered outside the Council's building in the City for President's Paylor announcement.
Plutarch had an easy smile on his face as he stood next to his wife. Haymitch and Felix each had the twins in their arms while Effie held on to little Ari. Katniss and Johanna stood on each side of Annie who had her arms loop around Finn standing in front of her. Peeta was there with Gale and Beetee, and behind them, there was a crowd of people.
Media vans were lined on the streets.
"Reporters' here," Haymitch whispered. "Could mean anything."
Plutarch nodded but his eyes were fixated on the President who was ready to make her announcement.
"After careful and deliberate consideration, by the power decreed upon me as the President of Panem, for the first time in the history of this nation," she paused.
Haymitch clenched his jaw. His arm tightened around Effie's shoulder reflexively and she touched his fingers, curling her own around his hand.
"A referendum is called to resolve the issues pertaining to Population White Paper and the resulting marriage law."
Haymitch sucked in a breath. Effie gasped.
"It is called upon as an effort to objectively decide the options presented to the people of Panem. Mr. Plutarch Heavensbee and Mr. Haymitch Abernathy campaigned long and hard for this referendum to be held and I thank you for your effort and your services to this country," Paylor glanced at them briefly.
"That's sarcasm," Johanna muttered.
"Shush," Peeta said.
"Instead of dismissing the call for a referendum, the Council has decided to expand the two options – a 'yes' or a 'no' to the continued enforcement of the law – to include a third option for voters to decide on. The law will then be dealt accordingly to the mandate of the people."
"What?" Fulvia frowned. "Surely, that's – "
"The third choice would allow voters to opt for the law to remain in place for another ten year period before it is abolished. This will allow for a grace period to grow the population as best as we could," President Paylor smiled, nodding encouragingly at everyone. "It is a compromise we are willing to come to. A compromised that the Council feel will work for everyone. With that being said, voting will take place in three months' time next year. Details will be made known through radio and television broadcast, newspaper and bulletin boards at each district's Community Centre."
"We did it," Haymitch breathed, amazed and astounded. "We did it, sweetheart."
He barely had time to let Ethan down before Effie turned in his arms, framing his face and kissing him soundly on his lips. Little Ari was pressed in between them with the twins standing next to their parents, holding on to each other's hands.
The cameras started flashing.
Just to let you all know, there will only be 2, maybe 3 chapters left after this so Consortium will end hopefully (!) before 2015 rolls around! In the next chapter, we'll deal with the voting itself and also Effie's vote (there are three options after all ;))
See you next week and please leave a review to let me know what you think!