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Effie had brought a camera when she’d arrived in Twelve a year and a half ago. She’d gotten it because her head doctor had told her nature photography could be therapeutic. It wasn’t; not for her, at least. So she’d given the camera to Peeta after a while, who liked taking snapshots of the things happening around him. Sometimes he would later draw what he’d photographed and his paintings were always so much more beautiful than the picture he’d taken.
Two and half years after the war Effie had first visited Twelve and she hadn’t left ever since. She didn’t think she ever would. It had been half a year after her victors had first been to the Capitol again - for an anniversary celebration of the end of the war that had been Plutarch’s idea and for which he had somehow managed to get all the remaining victors to the Capitol.
She had been nervous when he’d asked her to welcome them, not as an escort, really, but because she was part of the team and part of what was left of the old Panem. She hadn’t wanted to do it at first. The nightmares and guilt and shame were still plaguing her. But she wanted to see them again so much. If they would have her, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
It turned out they would. It meant more to her than she could ever put in words. When she’d visited later, she’d thought it would be a vacation, perhaps an opportunity to come to terms with unresolved conflicts on her mind. In the end she’d stayed because Peeta taught her how to bake and there were always more possibilities of cake decorations that she still had to try. She stayed because there was always another night that Katniss asked for Effie’s help making Prim’s old clothes into something new. And there was always another talk with Haymitch.
It was curious, really. When they’d been working together, they’d rarely talked about the things they did outside of the Games.
It seemed they were now catching up on 25 years of conversations they’d never had.
It was surprising how easy it was talking to Haymitch. He’d gotten softer around the edges and she thought she started seeing more and more of the 16-year-old boy she’d first met in the man that was now standing before her. The one that had picked up her make-up box and asked her to get his token back to his girl and made sure she knew he wouldn’t hurt her.
It was the first time they really talked about what had happened to him. She had seen it hundreds of times in his drunken rages and nightmares and when he was calling for his mother at night, but they’d never discussed it. He told her how his mother and little brother died holding onto each other, how he forced his friends to leave him to his solitary confinement and how he’d fed his girl the gumdrops that had killed her.
He told her he still knew the poem she was named for by heart and she asked him to recite it for her, so he did. He confessed he was still talking to her ghost sometimes. Is that crazy? he asked and she told him, No, not crazy at all.
She told him when she was writing her diary, she was addressing Prosie nowadays and how she sometimes didn’t know how to be in this new world and that, sometimes, she wasn’t happy about it and that she felt terrible for even thinking such things. He told her none of them were always happy and that it wasn’t her job to be happy anymore, either.
It took a while for them to figure out what they were now that it wasn’t Escort and Mentor anymore.
They’d started with allies, because that’s what they’d always been and what still held true. She guessed with all the sharing of personal stories they somehow moved on to friends and then, one day, to something more. Something real this time.
Peeta’s house turned into her house. He’d offered to leave it to her when it became obvious that she wasn’t going back to the Capitol anytime soon. He’d practically begged her to take it, saying he was spending all his time at Katniss’ house anyway and it would give them an excuse to figure out the hard talks without him returning to his house when it all got too much. She’d taken it gratefully, telling him the door was still always open for him to come back. He never needed to, but he visited often.
Only Haymitch visited more. He was over one day to help her put up another clothing rack. Well, really, he was putting up the rack while she was sorting through her dresses. He asked her to move a small cabinet so that he could get proper access to the wall and when she did a whole family of spiders jumped at her.
Haymitch would later claim it was no more than two spiders and that they didn’t jump at her as much as they tried to hide from her, but she disagreed. They were also the biggest spiders she had ever seen in her life. So, naturally, she screamed. Which in turn made him jump, reaching for the knife on his belt on instinct. This new world was still that, after all - new.
Luckily he realized in an instant what had her screaming when she jumped up on the bed to get away from the disgusting insects.
He let his knife be and took a few deep breaths. Then he started laughing, really laughing, while he told her they were gone and they wouldn’t hurt her anyway. It was just spiders, after all. He held out his hand to help her down from the bed and when her feet hit solid ground, he pulled her in and kissed her.
It was like he’d never kissed her before. Tender and careful and still smiling. He was trembling a little, too, and when they broke the kiss, he exhaled shakily as if he was letting go of a breath he’d been holding for a long time.
She made him search the room for the spiders that had escaped and she was only satisfied when she personally oversaw him putting them outside - from a safe distance, of course, while he caught them with his bare hands which seemed like a superpower to her. While he finished putting up the clothing rack he informed her that spiders weren’t technically insects, but she didn’t care since they were equally disgusting.
When he went home in the evening, he kissed her goodnight, quick and sweet and unashamed.
Now, a year and a half after she’d arrived in Twelve they were sitting on the train again with the kids. It was a different kind of train. Seats in every car that were filled with people traveling for work or leisure. It was still unfamiliar, but she was slowly getting used to it. On the kids it seemed to have a calming effect, though. They’d fallen asleep somewhere around District 8, their heads leaned against each other’s.
Haymitch, next to her, was reading something that had arrived with Plutarch’s box of books he sent to Twelve every month. It was Plutarch’s passion project: Building a public library in every district. Haymitch liked to look through whatever Plutarch sent and read what interested him before putting it in the library that was merely a small shop operated by Delly Cartwright at this point, yet steadily growing.
Effie was stitching little stars into the dark blue sweater she’d gotten for Finn at the market the other day. She hoped it would fit, the boy was growing so fast.
It was his birthday, the reason they were travelling to Four in the first place.
“What are you reading?” she asked quietly although the chatter of other people on the train was much louder and the kids slept through it anyway.
“It’s called Animal Farm,” he said, turning a page without looking up.
“Are you thinking about getting an addition to the geese?” she asked, only half joking. She knew he loved those loud creatures.
A small smile crept on his face. “It’s not really about animals.”
She shifted in her seat so that her arm and shoulder brushed against his on the armrest between them.
“Read to me?”
She asked him to read to her so often, he didn’t even hesitate.
It was Johanna and Finn who were picking them up at the train station. The boy was hanging from Johanna’s neck piggyback style and they both raised an arm in an overtly joyful greeting as they stepped off the train. They were hopping in place, waving, with Finn giggling as they shouted for them.
If other people getting out at Four hadn’t been staring at the Victors on the platform they sure were doing it now.
Neither Finn nor Johanna cared for that, though. Finn wriggled from Johanna’s back and pulled her by the hand toward them. The boy had grown so much. Whenever he looked up at them with sea-green eyes and a radiant smile he was the perfect image of his father.
“Did you bring me presents?” he asked, bouncing with the prospect of it.
“Of course, we did,” Peeta smiled.
“But it’s not your birthday yet, so no presents today,” Johanna interjected, lifting Finn, whose face had turned into a pout, up to her back again. The boy held on grumbling. “Let’s get you losers to the village.”
That got Finn giggling again. “Mommy says you need to be nice.”
Johanna feigned shock. “I am nice!” She looked at them. “Aint I?”
“Very nice,” Katniss said dryly.
“By your standards,” Haymitch added.
To their surprise Johanna and Finn were leading them to a black automobile that was parked just outside the train station and Johanna opened the trunk.
“Who in Panem gave you permission to drive a car?” Haymitch asked as soon as they came to stand by it.
Johanna snorted. “Please. Everyone ‘round here gets a license, it’s not that hard. Get in.”
Finn climbed into the back door as soon as Peeta opened it and Katniss started getting in into the passenger seat when Haymitch took her arm. “My seat, sweetheart.”
Katniss scowled at him. “And why’s that?”
“‘Cause I’m an old man. You can cuddle with Peeta in the back.”
“You’re an as-“ Effie coughed and Katniss’ gaze fell on Finn who was watching their exchange. “You’re annoying,” Katniss said flatly and Haymitch chuckled. She got out of the car and into the back anyway.
Before Haymitch could take her place, though, Effie laid a hand on his arm. “You know, going by age, that really is my seat.” She smiled sweetly. “And you know, my skirt is so prone to wrinkling.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, a betrayed look on his face, while Johanna and Katniss started cackling.
“You were sitting on the train for hours in that skirt, I don’t see a wrinkle!”
Effie just shrugged, raising an eyebrow expectantly.
“You made the rules, you play by them,” Johanna said, who was enjoying this far too much.
“Yeah, Haymitch, come cuddle,” Peeta cooed, grinning.
Haymitch sighed dramatically and got into the backseat, grumbling about being ganged up on.
When they were finally all settled in the car they made their way through District Four, which was in a lot better shape than Twelve, but also still rebuilding after the war. Finn pointed out his favorite places, pressing his face to the car window, telling Peeta about the sweet shop and the playground and art school.
They arrived at Victors’ Village which was set against the dunes, looking out at the ocean. It’d been a long while since Effie had last seen the ocean and even then it had been with a tour guide who quickly ushered them towards a lavish beach party. It’d been very different from what she saw before her now.
They got out of the car and Finn charged past her, up the stairs of a house that was decorated with wind chimes made of colorful seashells. Annie greeted him at the door where he launched himself into her arms and she cradled him against her as if he’d been away for days.
Greetings were exchanged, bags dropped in guestrooms before they gathered in the kitchen where Annie had prepared a delicious smelling dinner. Fish cooked in leaves, herbs, and vegetables. Finn was not-so-secretly shoveling his beetroot onto Johanna’s plate, his nose scrunched up in disgust, which Katniss observed with a strange expression on her face.
It was one of those photograph moments, late that evening.
When all plates had been cleared and washed, Annie had offered to take them to the beach, show them the ocean. Peeta and Effie had been delighted, Johanna and Katniss had agreed grudgingly and Haymitch and Finn didn’t want to go at all. Annie’s face had become worried and so had Johanna’s, but Haymitch promised that he could handle a four-year-old, they shouldn’t make such a fuss about it. (To Finn’s great delight.)
And so, they had wandered down to the beach as the sun had just set behind the horizon, still casting the last pale rays of light up at the sky and Peeta had taken off his shoes, dipping his toes into the water. Johanna and Katniss hadn’t made it past the dunes, claiming the view was infinitely better from up there, but really, they all knew that water still was not something Johanna particularly loved. Not that she particularly loved a lot of things, although, given the fact that she was living near a huge body of water, Effie thought, Johanna had to love Finn and Annie a lot.
Annie tells them about seashells and fish and about the tides and how Finnick had loved them, as they wandered along the beach. When the sky had turned entirely dark and stars were forming constellations on the horizon and Peeta noted that walking in the sand with his prosthetic leg became a little strenuous, they decided to go back.
They found Johanna a hammock on the porch, a bottle of beer in hand, looking out over the grass that swayed softly in the wind and the lazy cresting of the waves.
“Where are the others?” asked Peeta.
Johanna grinned. “See for yourself,” she said, nodding towards the house behind her.
Annie’s home was quiet, when they entered. No giggling Finn, no bickering Katniss and Haymitch. There was merely something, it almost sounded like snoring. And when they finally entered the hall and peaked inside the living room, they saw exactly where it came from.
In an armchair at the other end of the room sat Haymitch, his feet propped up on the coffee table, his head fallen to the side, snoring lightly. One arm was holding Finn in his lap, while the other was hanging down the armrest, where Katniss sat on the ground, her head leant against Haymitch’s arm – both fast asleep.
The smile that crept on her face was inevitable and she was glad that Peeta thought of getting the camera, because she and Annie were so delighted by the sight that they could only stand and stare.
She hung the portrait that Peeta drew of it later in her living room, while Annie and Peeta each kept a copy of the photo.