After his last comment Haymitch watched Effie fade fast under the copious amounts of alcohol she consumed. He had noted before that he rarely saw her drink another other than a single glass of champagne or fruity drinks that were more juice than liquor. Effie was by all means a lightweight, and lasted surprisingly long for mixing several alcohols and drinking out of anger.
"I don't feel well." She hiccupped and clumsily set her glass down. Her head spun and her stomach clenched. "Move!" She uttered and took off for her room.
Haymitch watched as she slammed the door and then the bathroom door in her room. He knew all too well she'd be in for a rough night.
About an hour later Haymitch knocked on her door, "Effie… Are you alright?" He waited for her to respond. Slowly he opened the door and saw her bed was vacant. "Effie?"
He stepped in and heard the water running, "Effie… If you don't answer I'm coming in there." He knocked on the bathroom door and waited. He heard rustling and no answer. He pushed open the door and walked in.
Effie was cradling her head in her hands on top of her knees. Inside the shower she was fully dressed and sitting on the floor under the warm spray of water. "Go away." She mumbled and tucked her head away.
"I'm not going anywhere sweetheart." He leaned over the toilet to get a bunch of dry towels and noticed smear of blood on the edge of the top part of the toilet. Decorative candles that had been on the back of it where scattered on the floor. What the hell did she do.. hit her head?
Haymitch sighed and grabbed a towel and reached into the shower and shut off the water. "Look at me." He said and grabbed her arm.
Effie squirmed and picked up her head. Her makeup had all washed off leaving a small cut above her eyebrow. "You had to go and crack your head on the toilet?" Haymitch pulled her up and wrapped a towel around her. He thought it was a bit funny that Effie had gone into the shower fully clothed, wig an all. He tipped up her chin and looked closely at the cut. "Well you did a good job on your face, Trinket."
Effie blinked a few times and gripped his arm as she staggered back, not easily balanced by herself. Haymitch supposed this was the right thing to do since she seemed to take care of him all the time when he was drunk. Effie winced and squinted at the lights, "It's too bright."
Haymitch was no stranger to knocking his head on the toilet when he was drunk. "Ok, just relax, I'll turn it off." He reached for the lights and dimmed them considerably. "You need to lay down." He noted and led her to the small seat at her vanity. "Take off all that crap you wear. I'm not looking." He reminded and tried to help her get the wig off.
Even drunk Effie seemed to remember where all the pins and clips were in her hair. She haphazardly tossed all kinds of jewelry off her wrists, fingers, ears and neck on to the vanity. She tugged at her blouse and tossed it on the floor and unzipped her skirt. "Shut your eyes." She breathed.
"They are, woman. Hurry up." Haymitch snapped and pulled out something from a draw that looked like it was something she could sleep in. He tossed black shorts and a t-shirt at her and clapped his hand over his eyes as he heard her open her mouth to complain again. He took the moment to request a doctor from the medical floor to come see her shortly, just to make sure she didn't need a trip to the hospital.
He waited and heard Effie struggle to get the clothes on. Inside he laughed considerably and tried to be kind about it. "I can hear you struggling, you've got 10 minutes before a doctor is here to check out your head."
Effie groaned, "I don't need help!"
"Prove it then." Haymitch shook his head and waited.
Effie was standing against her vanity in fresh underwear and couldn't do it. She tried to balance to put the shorts on but nearly fell face forward.
"Just let me help, Effie." Haymitch said quietly.
"No! I'm…" She started.
"Oh, please Effie. I've seen a woman in underwear before. Relax. I'd much like to go to bed sometime this century." He reminded.
Effie huffed and pulled on the t-shirt. "Fine." She admitted her need for help and waited.
Haymitch turned around and directed her to sit on her bed. He put her feet through the leg holes and easily pulled them up to her waist. He laughed to himself as it was usually him undressing women, not the other way around.
"Lay down and don't do anything crazy for the next couple of minutes." He said and went to clean up the mess she made in the bathroom. When he emerged, Effie was sitting up and a doctor was examining her head.
"Hello, Doctor." Haymitch said with a yawn, it was nearing 3 am now.
"Ah.. good morning Mr. Abernathy." The doctor smiled and handed Effie a couple pills to swallow.
"What's the verdict for Miss Trinket, will she live?" He laughed to which Effie scowled and tried to touch the lump over her eyebrow.
The doctor caught Effie's hand and pushed it away, "I think Miss Trinket will be just fine aside from a mild concussion and a hangover."
"She hit her head that hard?" Haymitch asked, actually feeling guilty that he hadn't tried to stop her when she ran off.
"It appears that way." The doctor unstopped a bottle and soaked a cotton ball in a glittering gel. He smeared it over her cut and placed two band aids over it. "There should be no sign of a scar or swelling in a few hours. I gave her medicine to help with the hangover. I'm afraid no serious painkillers until she's sober." He handed Haymitch a bottle of pills. "You can probably give her some of the painkillers around 10 am. Oh.. She should be checked on every couple of hours when she's sleeping. In "
The man stood up and nodded as he left. Haymitch groaned and looked over at Effie. Of course this would happen and her boyfriend wasn't around to do all the work. Effie rolled over and cradled her head. She covered her face and hid the fact that this was the most awful day of her life and she had started to cry again.
Haymitch sat down on the bed and tucked her in. "Hey… Don't cry Effie… Everyone gets drunk and does things."
Effie whimpered, "Our tributes are dead, District 12 is a joke, Seneca hates me, I broke my face on a toilet and made an absolute fool of myself while drinking. It is not okay."
Haymitch bit back a laugh, "First of all Crane is an asshole and I made him leave. So get mad at me if you must. Your face is fine, it'll be back to normal soon. Everything else you can deal with later. Just go to sleep. I'll be waking you up every hour until you're sober enough to get painkillers."
Effie knew he meant well and squeezed his hand, "…Thank you for taking care of me."
"I think I owe you a few. You've done the same for me." He looked down at her hand in his and didn't know how to proceed. He hated the fact that she loved Crane, and it wasn't exactly right for him to be holding her hand, or changing her clothes.
"Haymitch… can you stay here?" She asked softly.
"Sure." He answered and scooted around to the empty side of her bed. What the hell are you doing Haymitch? Go to your room. For all you know Crane will come barging in here in the morning.
Effie shut her eyes and breathed slowly. She didn't say anything else until the next hour when he shook her awake at 4 am.
"Effie." Haymitch grumbled, bleary from sleep himself.
Effie was pissy and half sat up, "What?" She breathed.
"What's 14 plus 6?" He asked.
"You woke me up for a math problem!" She hissed.
"You can go back to sleep as soon as you answer, princess."
Effie huffed and rubbed her eyes, "20, now leave me alone!"
He laughed and set her tablet for the next hour. At 5 am now he had a headache and stiffly rolled onto his back. Effie had rolled closer to him and her leg rested close to his own.
He jostled the bed again and poked her shoulder, "Effie." He said loudly.
She hissed into her pillow and sat up, "Seriously! What now." She whined and brushed the hair out of her eyes.
"What are the colors of the rainbow?" He almost laughed as he asked it.
"Why are you doing this to me?" She whined again and rolled over and covered her head.
"You have a concussion I have to." He pulled the covers off her head, "Tell me about the colors of the rainbow."
Effie groaned, "Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet." She pulled covers over her head again and went to sleep.
At 6 am he asked her to complete the lyrics to a popular song. By 7 am Effie actually cried when he woke her up. Frustrated tears splashed down her cheeks as she Haymitch quizzed her about Districts and their industries. She got up and went to the bathroom and came back with water. Her eyes were blotchy and red, and he did feel bad about making her cry.
"Why are you crying?" He asked at 7:15 when she hadn't stopped and gone to sleep.
"My head hurts, I'm tired, and I remember everything. I'm ashamed, embarrassed and my heart hurts, Haymitch." Effie breathed and wiped at her eyes.
He listened and nodded, "I'm sorry.. I can't give you anything for pain until 10 am." He admitted, "Time will help with all those problems Effie. You can't beat yourself up over it now."
She sighed and curled up in the blankets again. He watched her drift off to sleep again and when 8 am rolled around he gently grabbed her elbow, "Effie…"
"I know you mean well by checking on me but I seriously want to punch you in the face!" She grumbled.
Haymitch laughed, "What's your favorite color."
Effie whimpered, "You don't even know that, how'd you know if I'm lying or have forgotten?"
"I'm guessing what I suspect it is is the right color, you wear it a lot." Haymitch threw his arm over his eyes to block out the light from the sun.
"Blue." Effie answered, "Not plain blue though. Bright blues, like ocean water or sapphires." She rolled over and buried her face again.
By 9 am, Effie was up waiting for Haymitch to ask a question. She wasn't amused when he slept through the alarm he set for himself. Effie fired off questions at him like he was the one with a concussion.
"Jesus, woman, alright! I'm up!" He groaned after she had pinched him as he
"Now you know how it feels. Ask me a question." She sassed.
"Name the last 20 victors." He grumbled.
"No, that's ridiculous!" Effie cried out and sat up. "Ask me another question."
"Fine, what is 27 plus 7?"
"Do you even know that answer?" Effie said huffily.
"Just answer it, Trinket."
"34, goodnight!" Effie turned over and shut her eyes.
Haymitch grumbled and did the same, at 10 am Effie was sitting up against the headboard of the bed. She was rubbing sides of her head and trying not to cry. "It's 10, Haymitch… can I please have those pills?" She asked quietly.
He rolled over as he heard her and looked up, "What's wrong?"
"I feel like I was run over by a train. My head is throbbing."
Haymitch got up and handed her two pills and her water, "Drink up, you'll feel better soon." He flopped back into her bed and covered up.
Effie slowly did the same and tucked her arms under her pillow. She slept for the next 8 hours uninterrupted. Haymitch slept as well but quietly crept out sometime after noon and went about the rest of his day in the victors lounge. He noted how Seneca Crane had come down to the lounge for several drinks with a few other victors.
*As always please review! I 'd love to hear what you all are thinking.*