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Haymitch walked around his kitchen, holding on to his newborn daughter, just talking to her about the people around the seam. It was his first time being left alone with his daughter in the three weeks she had been alive. He had started this habit in the hospital after she was born, where he just paced back and forth with her, getting her caught up on everything he thought she might want to know. Lenore Dove thinks that it’s silly given that their daughter is a baby and she doesn’t need to know everything to have everything happen in the seam, but it’s also Haymitch, so she’s not quite sure what she was expecting. Well, Haymitch was going on a side tangent about how unbelievably expensive it is to buy rugs. He heard a knock on the door. He paused, telling his daughter that they would pick up this conversation later. He opened the door to see a familiar head of straight, sandy-blonde hair.
“Haybitch!” Maysilee happily greets him the second the door creaks open. She was wearing her typical summer outfit of tight jean shorts and a purple tank top. She seemed really pleased to see it be just Haymitch and the baby. He can’t even blame her because both he and Maysilee know they have had babies in the past year. Within the past three months, Asterid, Marilee, and now he have had babies, meaning you listen to the same conversations over and over, which gets old real fast. “ I have gifts!” Maysilee says, walking into the kitchen, she sets down a small box and a bottle of alcohol. Not the type of alcohol that you would buy from the Hob, but the type that she had to go into the city to buy. Haymitch propped his daughter up on his shoulder so that he could inspect the bottle. It was an expensive wine. “ Why’d you buy a baby a bottle of fifty-dollar wine? Lenore Dove and I aren’t drinking right now.” Maysilee rolled her deep blue eyes at him as if he had missed something obvious, but it wasn’t obvious at all. “ It’s a birth year wine; you save it for her until she’s older, then you can serve it at her 21st; Merri and I had one.” Haymitch gave her an uncertain look before setting the bottle down and inviting her into his living room to talk for a while. Over the past few weeks, he’s started to get used to talking to his daughter, who couldn’t exactly respond to him, so talking to a real adult human is probably good for his mental state. Well, Marysilee threw herself down onto the brown pleather couch with a smack from her naked thighs. Haymitch giggles at her. Well, he puts his
daughter down in her purple bassinet they keep in the living room so he and Lenore Dove can still do things while she naps, and not have to trek up the stairs if she has a problem.
“Where’s your wife?” Maysilee asked about stretching out on the couch
“Lenore Dove needed to get out by herself; being in the house drives her crazy”
“ So her Color is purple?” Maysilee pointed at the bassist and a few other things that were in the living room that were a similar shade. Haymitch nodded.
“ Kit Lavender Baird,” he sat next to Maysilee and sank into the back of the couch, dragging his dark curls against the leather. “Baird? Is she your kid?” “ Yes? I have been married for years; you should know that my last name is Abernathy Baird.” Haymitch smacked her shoulder with the back of his hand. Maysilee shrugged
“ At least Kit Lavender is cute, also it’s crazy that you have been married for years now, you were like a child bride”
Haymitch just silently looked at Maysilee for a good minute, just processing what she was trying to imply before bouncing back into conversation, ignoring her. “ I am glad you like my kid's name, Lenore Dove put me on the spot. She said it just made sense because it was my birthday, so I got to pick… I hated that, but now I have a birthday buddy”
“I had one at birth, but mine named her baby Margaret and is calling her MADGE.” The second time, Maysilee said her niece's name like it was a word that Maysilee Donner should not be saying because of how passionately hateful it was.
“ Hazelle, Lenore Dove's friend, had her son like last year, and his name is Gale. She brought him over to cook us dinner one night, and I just can’t take the kid seriously. He can’t walk well yet, and we’re calling him Gale?”
“ When did Hazelle get a man? Do I know them?”
“ Yes, it’s our favorite dead horse. Plus, it was supposed to be a one-night stand”
“Nooooooo! You're lying. How does Hazelle even know him? He’s older than us, and Hazelle was in Burdock's class”
“He and Burdock are on the same mining team. Burdie and Lenore Dove say he’s nice and good to Hazelle but also..”
“EXACTLY!” Maysilee jumped up on her knees and clapped her hands together. Haymitch and her had hated Jesse Hawthorne since they were in high school and he had shot out Maysilee’s car window while hunting one morning. Then he denied it was him, but he was the only one in the area with a shotgun and 3 dead turkeys in his truck. Then he just continued to get up to stupid activities to this day,ay with today’s example being getting Hazelle pregnant after a hookup and naming his son Gale. Maysilee leaned back on her heels and gave Haymitch her “I am gonna make you hate me, but it’s funny” smile Trademark.
“May, what is it?"
“Would you let your kid date, Hawthorns?”
“Fuck no, we are gonna learn about having standards in this house.” Haymitch picked Kit Lavender out of her bassinet to, in a weird way, just protect her from the idea of dating anyone related to Hawthorne's dumb ass.
“Back down, Clerk Carmine”
Haymitch cringes at being compared to his uncle-in-law, who had never liked him and still doesn’t, but also thinking about it and the more he looks at his newborn daughter, his little gosling. The more he could understand why Clerk Carmine never liked him, the more he would hate to walk in on his gosling in some of the situations that got him dragged out of that house by his hair.
“For the record, I am starting to understand why he acted like that. Me and Lenore Dove should not have been so easy to walk in on” Maysilee snorted, laughing.
“ Did you remember when Lenore Dove opened the front door in your underwear shirt, well, you were on the couch naked, thinking it was a Mormon missionary, but it was Clerk Carmine. I remember me being in your kitchen when he dragged you back across town in just your underwear”
“I actually wasn’t thinking about that incident where my Ma was screaming at me about being irresponsible and trying to get myself killed like my dad in the mines for three hours because my girlfriend and I had sex, and we were 17”
“ That was funny as hell, Hay”
“Maybe for you, May….You know, should have a kid in the next couple of years”
“Ew, why would I have a kid? I wouldn’t be able to do things like spend 150 dollars on wine.” Maysilee adjusted her posture to sit cross-legged, and Haymitch brought his knees up to rest his daughter on them so he could talk to her at his full capacity.
“ Kit Lavander is gonna need a normal friend. I mean, her classmates are gonna be Burdie and Marilee’s daughters. You have until October to get pregnant if you want your kid to be a grade behind mine”
“ Your hope of me having the “normal kid” is lost on me. That kid's dad would be Wyatt Callow. Isn’t Blair’s wife pregnant again? Tell him his kid had to be normal.” Haymitch cocked his head over his shoulder to look Maysilee in the eyes, with them both having a silent agreement that Blair was not the person they should count on. He did name his first son Thom… who names their kid Thom?.
“My poor gosling is gonna need to be the fighter no matter what, it seems.” Haymitch lightly brushed his daughter's small brown curls with his fingers. Maysilee stood up off the couch and stretched her body out glancing at Haymitch and his baby from the corner of her eyes, truthfully Maysilee although described cold hearted had always liked babies and small kids and it was really adorable to see herself claimed brother interacting with her neice, her own twin and Astrid only really wanted to talk about pregnancy and how they felt after pregnancy which sounded like a horror movie and made pregnancy sound unsettling.
But also, she would just fall apart at the sight of Wyatt playing with their baby. But on the flip side she still feels like kid herself her and Wyatt had been dating for two years now despirte knowing each other for much longer and they both have talked about not even wanting to get married until they feel more “stable” whatever means because they both have degrees and jobs but neither of them really want to commit to something so permanent feeling they both are each other first relationship. so having a kid is most definitely off of their priority list.
But it wouldn’t be completely off the table eventually, although their kid would end up being younger than baby Kit Lavender, but also Haymitch and Lenore Dove aren’t exactly the type to stay off of each other for too long; they never had. But also, if they didn’t have another kid around the same time she did, that’s not her fault. Having everything with more than one kid sounds like a literal nightmare; she’d much rather spoil one kid than balance everything with two or three.
She would never admit these thoughts out loud, especially not to Haymitch’s gossipy ass, but she did say what she would admit “Kit Lavender will get to learn from her favorite rich aunt how to defend herself and friends just
Fine, because I know you and Lenore Dove are gonna tell her to do something stupid if kids make fun of her or her friends, like be positive instead of doing something to stop them from ever doing it again”
“If I want my daughter to be able to throw a glass bottle at gamblers, I’ll send her your way, May”
Maysilee looked out the window and saw that Lenore Dove had made her way home and was checking the mail, which seemed like there were a lot of things in it. “ Why do you have so much mail?” Like, I get you just had a baby, but that seems excessive. Who’s sending you that much stuff? Haymitch stood up with his daughter to see what Maysilee was going on about.
“ Well, there are the other victors, who we all give each other birthday cards. Normally, I am, you know, in Utah and just get them; this year I wasn’t. Then, if you're a victor for your baby's first games, the others send the baby little trinkets from your district. Then times that by what, 57 of us? Plus, Lenore Dove has a cousin who lives in three and is married to a three victor. Then, even more on top of that, none of them knew that Lenore Dove was pregnant. I don’t take her to Victor events with me, so Effie told them, and I know Wiress and Sequoia Mason were pissed,” Haymitch said, pacing back and forth in the living room before walking into the kitchen to see his wife first thing.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone? Don’t you have Victor events like once every two months?” Maysilee points out, following behind Haymitch
“ Really, it’s Sequoia Mason’s fault she’s always been the first person to put a drink in my hand. Last time I saw them, I was half a pack of fourlocos down two hours in. I am sure I mentioned it, but it probably came out as I want to get my wife pregnant and then me and Chaff made out like we always do.” Maysilee has no idea how she lost a scholarship competition to him.
“ I want to get drunk and get my wife pregnant” Maysilee parroted back to him. Haymitch looked at her and rolled his dark eyes at her comment
“I am sure Wyatt would love it if you got him pregnant,” He said sarcastically.
“ Damn right, Hay”
“ Are you pregnant, Maysilee?” Lenore Dove was setting down a box she brought from outside, very confused about what conversation she had just walked in on. Haymitch couldn’t help but laugh at his wife's comment
“ I wish Silka Sharp killed you,” Maysilee sharply told him, pulling Lenore Dove to the kitchen table and focusing on her, handing her the small box that she had brought with the wine, “ I am gonna head out and go see my sister, but I want you to open this little gift I got for Kit Lavander. It’s for when she’s a bit older. She’ll be matchy matchy with Madge and Katniss.” This brings excitement to Lenore Dove's brown eyes, and she takes it, opening the box. The small gift that Maysilee got for their baby was a handmade necklace, woven with dark purple and red thread, with a silver coin as a pendant.
“Maysilee! This is so pretty, then, with the thread being my and Hay’s favorite colors. She will be wearing this as soon as she can. Thank you!” Lenore Dove gave Maysilee a hug. She knew that Lenore Dove would love a gift like this, plus she could start building her nieces' jewelry collections. “ Wyatt told me to tell you that the coins are coins that were produced in the month and year of her birth. When I told him about this project, he went into the City and asked the people at the bank if they had any coins right from the mint. I also have what I assumed were her initials on the back. I forgot Haymitch took your name, sorry about that”
“ Don’t even worry about it, technically, Abernathy is her middle name because Kit Lavender is a double-barrel name, so it still works in her favor.” Lenore Dove smiled before looking like she almost forgot something. “ I know you said you're going to your sisters, but do you and Wyatt want to come over for dinner tonight? Because Haymitch is trying to set his brother and Louella up, having you and Wyatt wouldn’t make it as weird. Maysilee always agreed to dinner and invited Wyatt as well. Both hated cooking, so most of the time they ate at Wyatt's parents' or if Wyatt was setting odds, they would buy and share one thing of bar pretzels. Then they drink coffee in the morning; she really doesn’t eat lunch, and she knows Wyatt forgets to eat lunch most days. when Maysilee thinks about it, it’s kinda a miracle that she and Wyatt are even alive with how inconsistently they eat real food.
“ One favor tho for you coming over, can you bring some of Mrs. Callows' noodles? You told me she bulk makes them and gives them to Wyatt and his brothers, and I really like them, so I want to use them”
“ I’ll be on that. I gave you the last of our stock, but if I go ask Daliah, she’ll give me more. I need to go. I told Merri I would come and see her and Madge at two”