Author's note: Sorry it took so long to get this update to you, but I hope you feel the contents were worth the wait.

Happy reading!

Chapter Ten

Haymitch walked into the clinic and was confronted by Coin. "My office. Now."

"Good morning to you, too." He mumbled as he followed her inside.

"What are you doing with Effie Trinket?" She demanded.

"Doing with her?" He was sure they had been careful.

"You were spotted out with her at a restaurant looking very chummy."

"And who claims to have spotted us?"

"Glimmer Matthews. She was out with her boyfriend and she said she swore she saw you two. Now, I don't like to make assumptions about people, but you and I both know the rules. So if she did see the two of you out together, I sure hope it was a one-time thing. You are risking your career dating a woman in our treatment."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I will not give you another warning, Haymitch. She's one of our clients."

"I understand." He got up and left her office without another word. He quickly sent Effie a text, "We were seen." He let himself into his office and booted up his computer.

Effie quickly replied, "What does that mean for us?"

"We can't get together for a while. I could lose my job." He rubbed his face.

Her next reply took longer. "How long is a while?"

"I don't know. But I can't lose my job."

"I understand."

"I'm sorry, Effie." He sat his phone off to the side and waited for her response, but none came as he waited for his first client of the day to arrive. He shut the phone off and put it aside.

She didn't send another text for the rest of the day. And maybe it was a good thing. But he couldn't stop thinking about what it meant for their future. Because he had wanted to tell her how he felt about her and was too scared of the words. He wasn't the kind of guy to bear his soul in the way he did around her and it frightened him to no end that he always ended up telling her those secrets about himself that no one else knew.

He ran into Glimmer in the break room. She was alone. He almost let it go, but decided he had to say something.

"I don't know where you think you have the right to rat out a guy on a date when I know you've fucked clients in your office who were patients residing in the facility at the time."

She smiled at him. "I don't know what you mean."

"Cut the shit, Glimmer. Tell me what I did that made you think you needed to tell on me."

"You dumped your client on me." She said. "And then I had to hear about this 'perfect guy' she was dating every week for two hours. And then I found out it was you and I couldn't believe it. And it's against the rules."

"What you did was against the rules. Should I bring that to Coin, too?"

"You wouldn't."

"No, I wouldn't. Because I'm not petty. But you're a bitch." He poured himself a cup of coffee and left the room.

Haymitch tried calling Effie as he drove home, but it went to voicemail. "I just wanted to talk. I'm sorry about this. But I don't want to stop talking to you. We just can't meet up anymore. I'm sorry. Please call me back."

Effie stayed in bed all day after Haymitch's text. She alternated between sobbing into her pillow and staring at the ceiling. She refused to eat. And she wouldn't talk to Cinna.

He finally sat down beside her on the bed and handed her a steaming cup.

"What's this?" She asked.

"Tea. And you're going to tell me what's wrong." He drank from his own cup.

"Haymitch and I…what we're doing is against the rules. And someone saw us out last night." Her phone started ringing and she looked at it. She grumbled when she saw Haymitch's name and she hit ignore. "He could lose his job." A sob escaped her. "I never meant to threaten his way of life. But I've never been happier than when I'm with him and I don't know how I'm going to go on if we can't see each other anymore."

He took her cup and her phone and then pulled her into his arms. She cried into his shoulder until she was again exhausted. She pulled up his texts and handed the phone to him.

"He's not saying he doesn't want to see you." Cinna pointed out.

"I know. But if he could lose his job… It comes down to what's more important."

"What if you transferred your treatment?"

"I don't know if I can." She sniffed.

"He left you a voicemail." He held out the phone.

Effie listened to the message and shook her head. She put her phone away. "He wants to talk. I can't talk."

"So don't." Cinna rubbed her back. "Let's go make dinner and put on a movie."

"I want a drink."

"Effie, you can't drink."

"Like hell I can't." She got out of the bed and walked to the other side of the house. She opened the cabinet that held the wine she had only used for cooking in the time that she had lived there. She knew Cinna drank it and she was usually okay with watching him have a drink with dinner. But she was okay with sipping juice or water while he sipped his wine.

She took out a bottle at random and opened it. She took out a glass and filled it almost to the rim. She held her nose over it and breathed in deeply. She let out a sigh.

Cinna walked in. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Effie locked eyes with him as she took the first sip. "Mmm." She took a bigger drink. "I've missed this."

He picked up the bottle and put the cork back in. "No more."

She grabbed the bottle back from him. "I'll drink as much as I want."

"Effie, he didn't break it off. He just wants to back off for a while. I listened to the message. He wants to talk."

"Well, I don't want to talk." She brought the wine into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Effie finished the glass and poured another, but she didn't drink it. She sat it on the table beside her bed and stared at it. She hadn't had a drink in so long and hadn't eaten anything all day, so the single glass she'd consumed already gave her a faint buzz. It wasn't enough to actually get her tipsy, but it was enough to feel it.

The doorbell rang as she kept her eyes on the glass. She heard two voices approach her door. She recognized them as Cinna and Haymitch. She looked around for her phone and realized it wasn't there. Cinna must have taken it upon himself to call Haymitch.

There was a tap on her door.

She picked up the glass and the bottle and opened the door. She held them out. "I drank one glass and that was it. Please don't bother me anymore."

Cinna took the wine from her and backed away.

She tried to close the door, but Haymitch put up his hand. "Let me talk to you."

"It's not worth your job, Haymitch." She tried to close the door.

"Let me talk to you, Effie." He repeated. "Please?"

She looked over his shoulder at Cinna and then nodded and stepped back. She closed the door behind Haymitch and walked toward the bed. She sat and pulled a pillow to her chest.

"I've made a decision." Haymitch said as he paced back and forth.

"Okay."

"I have a ton of leave. A month worth. I'm going to take it and I'm going to spend some time with my sister and my nieces. You still have a month required in treatment. You finish that up and I will stay away."

"So we can't see each other anymore?"

"I don't want to go without seeing you. But we can't go on a real date again until your treatment is done. I want to make dinner with you. I want to sit with you on my couch and watch the news and complain about the world."

"Go to bed together? Make love? Fall asleep in a tangle of limbs?"

"All of it."

"Okay. You do what you need to do."

He leaned down and cupped her face. "And you keep getting better. No more wine. And go eat something, please. Cinna said you haven't at all today."

"Will you join us?"

"Okay." He pressed a kiss to her lips and held out his hand.

She slipped hers into it and allowed him to haul her to her feet. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her eyes into his shoulder. "You make me stronger, Haymitch."

He returned her embrace. "You make me feel like there are still good things in this world."

She looked up at him. "Really?"

He nodded. "I want you to meet my family."

"I want to meet them."

Effie picked at her food while the men ate seconds. Haymitch rubbed her leg under the table, but didn't say anything.

Cinna retired to his studio after the kitchen was cleaned up. Effie and Haymitch relaxed on the couch to watch TV for a while. He brushed his hand over her hair. She moved to rest her head on his lap and started to doze off.

"You should go to bed." Haymitch said.

"You should come with me." Effie said with a smile.

"I didn't bring any clothes."

"So just come have sex with me and then leave."

He chuckled. "Well, if you insist."

She got up and hauled him to his feet. She winked, slapped his bottom, and darted out of the room.

He followed and grabbed her up, throwing her over his shoulder. "I got you, woman." He said with a laugh. He threw her down on the bed and quickly started undressing.

She laughed and did the same.

They made love slowly, leisurely. Afterward, they lay together in silence for a long time. Haymitch needed to go home, but he was reluctant. Effie was almost asleep against his chest and for the life of him, he didn't want to lose this feeling.

But he had to go. He kissed her temple and slowly removed himself from underneath her. She rolled over and stretched and then rolled toward him once more. She watched him dress in silence for a while.

"I don't want you to leave." She said softly.

"I don't want to, but I can't stay."

"Why?"

"You know why." He sighed and pulled his shirt on.

She sat up against the headboard and pulled her knees to her chest. "I could go somewhere else."

"There's nowhere else close." He sat down and started pulling on his socks. "You're almost done. Just one more month. And then we can be a little more open about this."

Effie threw her arms around Haymitch's shoulders and kissed his ear. "I'm still invited to meet your family, though, right?"

"Yes." He rubbed her arm and turned his head to meet her lips. "I'm going to an AA meeting tomorrow. Want to come with me?"

"I've never been to one outside of the center." She kissed him again. "Do you think it's time?"

"I do. You need to figure out your meeting schedule. There are a few different options. You don't have to go with me if you don't feel comfortable, but you need to go outside of the center."

"Are you talking as my boyfriend or as a counselor?" She let him go and sat back.

"Boyfriend. Because of what happened tonight and because you need help outside the center. Because I care about you." He smiled and leaned close. He whispered so softly neither were entirely sure he said it until it was completely out of his mouth. "Because I love you."

Tears sprang to her eyes and she pulled him close for a deep kiss. "I love you, too." She said as she broke away. She smiled and kissed him again.

He chuckled. "Don't tell my nieces I said that, okay?"

She laughed. "We'll keep the declarations to ourselves. For so many reasons, least of all your humiliation with your nieces."

He nodded and kissed her one more time. He pulled his shoes on. "Meeting's at seven. I'll pick you up at fifteen till. If you decide you don't want to come, let me know."

"I'll come. As long as you take me home with you for a little while after."

"You got it." He leaned over her for one more kiss. He was very tempted to just stay there the rest of the night anyway, but he stood up with great resolve and left the house.