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Haymitch sat outside on his porch in the morning sun, basking in the warming weather of spring. He had slept nearly through the entire night, and his body woke him naturally at sunrise. A few of his geese were in the front yard, grazing for insects and any new dandelions that might have popped up. He watched them until his eye caught movement at Katniss and Peeta's house. The door cracked open slightly. He furrowed his brow as Willow's tiny body escaped from the house, and then he watched as the little girl made her way over to his yard, with neither parent following after her.
“Isn't it a bit early for you to be wandering around out here?” He called out to her as she reached the edge of his lawn.
Willow just pointed at the geese.
“Ducks!” She replied.
Haymitch chuckled. “You be nice to them!”
He watched as she smiled while chasing them around the small garden on the edge of his property. The geese weren't too particularly fond of her but they endured her little visits anyway. It surprised him that they weren't more aggressive towards her. Haymitch was about the only person the geese were cordial with, but there was something about Willow that forced them to show a sliver of kindness and patience.
It was about five minutes later when Peeta came through the opened front door of their house, looking around frantically until he spotted his daughter. Haymitch smirked and gave him a little wave. Peeta waved back, turned into the house – presumably to tell Katniss where their daughter had run off to – then walked over.
“Has she been here long? We were trying to get breakfast started.”
Haymitch shrugged. “Just a couple minutes.”
He gestured for Peeta to sit down, and they enjoyed each other's company in companionable silence for a few minutes as they watched Willow with the geese.
A few years back, they had built the porch together. Somehow, Haymitch's house had been designated as the place to be on occasional weeknights to hang out and unwind after a long day. Haymitch had made four chairs. It was before Katniss and Peeta had their kids, but sometimes a neighbor or two would stop by. Plus, usually three or four times a year, Effie would come stay with him for a few weeks at a time. All four of them had a lot of fun on the porch during those nights, reminiscing about the things they could still fondly look back on or laugh about.
That reminded Haymitch he had to call Effie later in the day. They talked on the phone every Monday and Thursday, at the very least. Years ago, she had insisted on a schedule of regular phone calls so that she could be content in knowing he was still alive and sober enough to adhere to it. Both had agreed that he would call her on Mondays and she would call him on Thursdays, and Effie got upset whenever he forgot or if he waited until too late in the night to call. Though, in the past year or so, they called each other nearly every day, but she still insisted on keeping true to their agreement. Haymitch didn’t mind. He liked talking to her anyway. Or, he liked listening to her talk. Sometimes they were on the phone for hours, even after having talked a couple days prior.
His mind was pulled from his reverie as he noticed Katniss coming out from her and Peeta’s house with a baby in tow. She walked up the porch steps and immediately sat in a chair next to Haymitch. Her hair was undone and snarled and she had dark circles under her eyes.
“Well, good morning, sweetheart. Don't you look like a ray of sunshine.”
Peeta looked pointedly at Haymitch with fear in his eyes, silently urging him not to poke the bear. But poking this one was just so much fun.
Katniss sighed. “He didn't sleep at all last night.”
“Shows.” Haymitch smirked as he reached his arms out for Rye.
Katniss rolled her eyes, too exhausted to retort, as she handed her son over to him.
Rye was sleeping now, at least, which happened to be when Haymitch loved being around babies. “Looks like you've got a nocturnal baby on your hands.”
“Lovely.” Katniss deadpanned then turned to Peeta. “Willow wanted to play with the geese again, huh?”
Haymitch's gaze wandered over to the girl and he watched as she tried to pet them, never giving up no matter how many of them ran away from her or hissed in her face.
“I don't know.” Haymitch said. “I think she secretly wanted to spend some quality time with Papaw Hay.”
A small smirk formed at the corner of Katniss's lips as she watched Willow chase after the geese. “Sure.”
A comfortable silence passed over as they all watched the scene unfold in front of them — Willow grabbing onto a goose and trying to pet its head despite the insistent honking to be free and despite its light nips at her skin. A little amount of pain wasn't enough to deter her however. Her tiny arm wrapped itself tighter around the goose's neck to keep it from escaping her grasp.
“Hey, careful!” Haymitch called out. “You'll choke him!”
They all laughed lightly as his booming voice startled Willow into losing her grip on the goose and seeing the girl's subsequent glare at Haymitch.
“Did you ever want kids?” Peeta asked. His face almost looked surprised, as if he didn't know those words were going to come out of his mouth before he spoke them.
Katniss shot him a dirty look and reprimanded him sternly with only a word.
“Peeta.” She snapped.
“No, no. It's okay.” Haymitch reassured her. He looked down at the baby in his arms. Blonde hair and olive skin — a perfect mix of both of his parents. Sometimes, he wondered what a baby that Lenore Dove and him made would have looked like, how beautiful it would have been. “I thought about it sometimes, before everything. I'm not sure my girl would've been all too keen on it though.”
“Why not?” Peeta prompted.
Haymitch shrugged. “She didn't exactly like being beholden to anything.”
“Just you.” Katniss said.
“And the geese.” Peeta added.
He smiled. “Yeah, just her family. But even then... Lenore Dove was like the wind.”
“Impossible to control.” Katniss said softy after a few seconds of silence.
Haymitch nodded. “Difficult to predict.”
There was another silence. Haymitch rubbed his fingers against the soft hair on Rye's head.
“Well, you ended up with two kids anyway.” Peeta said.
Haymitch couldn't help a small smile from forming on his lips. “That's true. Big pains in my ass. The grandkids though. They make it worthwhile.”
Peeta laughed, while Katniss just shook her head and smiled.
“You wanna come over for breakfast?” She asked.
Haymitch nodded, standing up from the chair, careful not to disturb the sleeping baby.
“You just want me to make my hash browns, don't you?” He said with a smirk as he walked down the porch steps into the yard.
Katniss and Peeta followed behind him towards their house.
“Willow, come on, Papaw Hay is making hash browns!” Peeta yelled across the yard.
Haymitch watched as the girl's head shot up and a big grin plastered her face. She ran over to him, bumping her body lightly against his legs. Haymitch shifted Rye's weight into one arm and brought his free hand down to her, patting her head.
“Were you nice to Papaw's geese, like I asked?”
She looked up at him. “Mhm.”
“Good job.” He winked.
Haymitch knew that a traditional family had never been possible for him in this life, with the way everything turned out, but he was glad that he ended up with something of a family anyway. After fulfilling his promise to Lenore Dove, that was what kept him going now — watching his kids, the two he had been able to save, grow into adults and then watching their kids grow into the new generation. The first free generation, where a sunrise would always just be a sunrise, no matter the day.
Haymitch felt a gentle breeze soft against his cheek, caressing his skin for a few seconds before flitting away, and he smiled.