A/N: Hello, hello, HELLO! SO, in case the two previous "updated" chapters didn't give you a clue (which have since been deleted), I AM BACK. My Hayffie fever came back out of the blue about a week ago... Perhaps Wednesday 3/26, or maybe Tuesday... All I know is I had a vacation in Cabo on 3/28 and I spent most of it re-reading all my previous stories and falling back in love with these characters.

Since then, I have written over 20 new one-shots that are waiting to be posted, including this one. I know in my older stories I mentioned having a few one-shots left to post, but I cannot find them anywhere, so I'm forced to believe that they must be gone. Anyway, I hope new and old start enjoying these stories again. I still do not have a set post date, but I will figure it out. Buckle up, Buttercups, we're BACK!

OF HOME, MARRIAGE, & HAPPINESS

Rated M

Haymitch and Effie found themselves having a heated debate about the geese. All their debates were about the geese. She hated them, but he didn't, and the only time he volunteered the "This is my house" line was when it came to the geese.

It was their house. It had been, and for years. They both called it home, because it was. They shared a life here. He had let her redecorate and renovate the house about ten years ago without a fight. He had told her she had the right to do whatever she wanted as long as she didn't bother him with insignificant things like picking colors and shit. When she had suggested something big like adding a skylight in the bedroom to help with the darkness, he had thought it was thoughtful and he'd taken her against their bedroom door so hard he was absolutely sure they broke something.

The door had needed replacing anyway.

She'd wanted a clawfoot tub so he'd ordered her one that he knew she'd like and surprised her with it, and he fucked her in it so many times that it had become theirs too.

There was nothing off limits to her besides the kitchen, and that's because she was a lousy cook - even worse than Katniss and that was saying something because the girl was hopeless. It took Effie fifteen years to be able to make decent eggs and toast and he thought it was fucking adorable.

Their life was good. Better than good. But her disdain for his pets was a constant discussion and he found himself once again reminding her that he would not be getting rid of them.

She had her retort ready when a ball flew into their yard, startling the geese and Haymitch and Effie. Once they realized it was only a blue bouncy ball they chuckled.

Kids lived in Victor's Village now, and had for quite some time. It was a law reinstated back when Paylor was president and all standing presidents since had kept it.

Only a few short moments had passed when they heard a soft but persistent knock on the door. Haymitch and Effie made their way back inside, Haymitch letting Effie answer as he grabbed the ball and closed the back door.

The kid was probably about seven or eight with shocking red hair and cinnamon freckles along the bridge of his nose. Haymitch thought that his name might be Bradley or Braxton or something but he couldn't remember.

"Looking for this?" Haymitch smirked, and the kid's eyes brightened and he nodded enthusiastically.

"Thank you Mr. Abernathy," beamed the kid, and then those deep brown eyes stared at Effie and without missing a beat the kid said, "and Mrs. Abernathy."

She flinched so hard it had his stomach dropping, and before the kid had fully even finished she was correcting him.

"Please, dearest, call me Ms. Effie." The kid nodded and then he was gone, presumably to finish playing with his friends.

Suddenly Effie wasn't meeting his eye anymore and she was cleaning the house as if it wasn't already spotless. She hated a dirty house and she hated a cold house, so they had neither, because this was her home.

But the way she was acting… maybe it wasn't.

Dinner was silent and tense. They didn't do tense anymore. They had arguments, they always had arguments, they always would, but though the house may be quiet with charges of anger and/or annoyance it wasn't tense anymore.

That was for seventeen years ago, when she'd shown up at his doorstep and it had taken them two years to rebuild enough trust to stumble into bed together. Tense was for those moments in the Capitol when they were fucking and eventually falling for each other and they were cruel to each other and refused to communicate.

Tense was fear and walking on eggshells and being afraid of being overheard.

Tense was before open I love you's.

When it was time for bed and she put on one of her old nightgowns instead of his shirt he felt his mouth go dry, but damn it he was the one who should be pissed off. What was she mad for?

They lied in bed, both staring at moon.

"You are upset about earlier," she stated into the night.

"No shit," snapped Haymitch before he could stop himself.

She let out a long-suffering sigh. "Haymitch it is not my fault. He was but a child. He didn't know. I tried to correct him. I try to correct them all, especially before you can hear it. There are worse things in the world, though, than being upset that someone bloody called me Mrs. Abernathy. Perhaps after all this time you still prefer Haymitch's bitch?"

He froze at her words.

"What the fuck did you just say?"

"Haymitch's whore was always my favorite. It had a nice ring to it."

"Effie stop it." His voice was low. He looked at her but she wasn't looking at him, and he needed her to look at him. He was trying to understand but he couldn't without seeing those blue eyes of hers that never hid anything.

She had her mouth clamped shut and her arms wrapped tightly around her.

"I try to correct them. I do." She sounded almost desperate for him to understand "I am admittedly not always fast enough."

"Why the fuck would you need to correct them?" snarled Haymitch.

Effie snorted and rolled her eyes - a habit she swore she picked up from him - and huffed.

"Oh, should I wait for you to do it?" Her voice was using that tone, that terribly detached Capitol tone that she used to protect herself from him. It's the voice she used to do when she slipped about her feelings, only she hadn't had to use that fucking tone in years. "Should I wait to see you flinch? Wait for you to announce like it's nothing 'she's not my wife.'? I am not even allowed to be your girl, that is still reserved for Nova, is it not?"

Silence… loud, deafening silence. And then, the explosion. "Oh, fuck off, Effie. Seventeen fucking years- at least- and you think I wanna see you flinch when someone calls you Mrs. Abernathy? I've been in love with you since I found out you bought time with Finnick, and shit was different then, yah? Couldn't call you my girl, no, and definitely couldn't marry you, but I fucking made my feelings known the second I asked you to come back to Twelve with me. And it's fucking hard to get up the courage to ask you to be my wife when you're correcting everyone when they do. Had no clue the thought of being Mrs. Abernathy was that diabolical."

"You- I - do not… you never gave me any inkling that your thoughts on marriage had changed. Never. Not once," she hissed. "And I made peace with it. I no longer needed a piece of paper to let me know you loved me. We have built a good life. But your communication skills have always been subpar at best. What was I supposed to think? That is a real question, and I want a real answer."

She looked at him expectingly, her face flushed, her eyes seething, her chest heaving.

He pounced on her, needing her like air.

"This is how tonight's gonna go, Princess," he growled, and he already had her underneath him and his mouth was brutal. "I'm gonna fuck you until the only thing you can say is my name, and then we're gonna go down and have Toasting. And then there will be nothing else to fucking be confused about."

Effie flipped him so that she was on top. "No, I am going to fuck you and then you will ask me to marry you like I have wanted since I was thirteen bloody years old."

They couldn't get to each other fast enough. He desperately wanted her naked but he didn't think he could get take a second longer to sink himself into her.

He turned her back over. He wanted to look at her. Needed to.

When she bit his shoulder and then arched her back he sunk himself into her and just stayed there, one, to torture her and then two, so he could catch his breath.

She trembled out an orgasm in seconds, and it had to be a new record, and dug her nails into his back as she screamed his name. The only reason he wasn't worried everybody heard because the bed board had to be blocking the noise.

He was convinced they would break the bed.

Wouldn't be the first time.

Effie was breathily saying his name and he didn't think he'd be able to last long if he wanted to.

He heard the noises he was making and thought how once upon a time it'd have pissed him off.

Not now, though.

Not in years.

The came together, and he wasn't sure his heart would ever return to its normal speed.

When he caught his breath, he finally mustered up the strength to ask, "You ready to get married, Princess?"

She lifted on to her elbows to stare at him with heavily lidded eyes. "I have been ready, Haymitch."

He rolled over, planting another kiss on her lips, and got up.

"You're gonna make me dress up ain't you?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Of course you will," he scoffed. Turning on a light he headed to the closet. "Sure I got something in here," he muttered more to himself than her.

She gave him two minutes before she heard the first curse word, and taking pity on him she made her way to the closet and found him something, and then herself.

They showered - and helped themselves to another round - and then dressed.

"I do not have a ring for you," she stated quietly, and he understood without having to ask it was important to her. He didn't need it. The toasting was enough. But since she did, they would wear rings.

"Might have something." He walker back into their closet and grabbed an old, worn jewelry box. "You used to have a shit ton of accessories for me each year. Most of it was too flashy, til you started to get to know me. I'm sure there's an old ring or two in here I can use."

Effie hesitated, her eyes unsure. "Is it… you think it is okay? I would not want you to wear anything I had to get that was for the Games…."

"The suit's from Games," he deadpanned. "I'd say one of the last few before the kids yah? Navy was in… in what, Johanna's year?"

"Yes, but wearing a suit for a small ceremony but a ring for the rest of your life?"

"You'd get me a ring from the Capitol regardless, Princess. Twelve's come a long way but we haven't exactly made it to Capitol status. Swear to God I hope we never do. But this one's not so bad." He presenter her a round copper colored ring.

"I will get you a ring from Twelve. Twelve is our home and we should support smaller businesses. Though at this rate it will not be a small business for long. Who would have thought Sae's granddaughter would completely go away from cooking like the women in her family and be so good at making jewelry? We can go ring shopping tomorrow."

He nodded, as it sounded final, and they made their way downstairs to Toast. She didn't cry but she was close and he snorted but kissed her eyes.

The next day in Town they got their rings. Haymitch splurged and got their names engraved on their bands- Effie in cursive for his and Haymitch in block letters for hers. Her ring was simple enough - a blue Safire the color of her eyes with two smaller diamonds on the side.

There was no official announcement. The kids probably noticed the rings but what was there to say except "it's about time?"

They honeymooned in Four and came back home and years down the line he'd still catch her glancing at it with awe.

He would smirk at her when their eyes locked and she would blush prettily and usually hit him playfully.

But sometimes, when she didn't know he was watching, a smile would grace his lips.

She was happy. He was happy. And it had taken a long time to get to happy, but they were there. Always.

And they were happiest as Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy.

A/N: LMK what you think! Also, I'm back to taking prompts. I went through my Reviews and found 9 prompts that sparked a one-shot, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come with, old and new fans alike.