TUSETHA (Edited)

16 ~ In Need of Focus

I pull away from the kiss and place my hand on his chest. "Haymitch, if this is going to work, which...I really don't see happening, we need to come clean about everything..."

"Effie, I don't have anymore secrets."

I shake my head very slightly. "I don't believe you..."

"Why not, Princess?" He seems genuinely confused. What on earth is this man drinking at 5 in the morning that kills of his brain cells so much that he can't imagine why I don't believe him?

Effie, I say we just leave him be. He'll pull himself together without an explanation if you leave now. Let him drink. Let him kill himself, drowning out every last bit of reality with alcohol. No. Why not? He's given you nothing but hell. I want to know what else he's been hiding, if anything.

"You kept Katniss a secret, a 16-year-old secret, Haymitch. That's, it's...it's insane!" I lean back into my chair, my hands running through my short hair. I laugh softly, probably sounding delusional.

"You want me to come clean? Alright. Katniss was my biggest secret." He speaks quietly and twiddles his thumbs, staring quietly down at his hands. "And my second biggest secret...was that shortly after we got married...I had an affair." He glances to me out of the corner of his eye.

Euphemia Lucida Trinket you get up, smack him, and never speak to him again. The promise we made to ourselves can now go back into action, no turning back now. No, we knew that already. Can't be mad at him for something we knew about from day one.

I nod a little, biting the inside of my cheek, my 'posh' accent fading as I stare out the window. Everything gliding by smoothly is almost soothing. "I know you did. You'd disappear in the middle of the night, and I knew it wasn't to drink because you wouldn't come home wasted. You'd come home after being with 'Chaff,' then when I called Chaff he said he hadn't seen you in weeks. You were different, distant, more distant than usual... Haymitch, I'm not stupid."

He sighs. "Princess..."

I stand and set my blanket down. I close my eyes momentarily and regain my thick accent that he hates so much. "Mr. Abernathy, we are in need of focus. Katniss is getting out of there alive and you, you are going to cut back on drinking as much as humanly possible, so help me." I start to walk to my quarters. "And don't call me Princess." I give an upturn of my nose and briskly walk to my room.

As the door shuts behind me I put my head into my hands. "What in the hell am I going to do?" I ask myself quietly.

We need to focus, and I'll be damned if that buffoon gets in our way.

(A/N: Comment! Vote! And as always, keep on reading my little Hayffie shippers! I'd love suggestions for the next chapter!

My lovelies, I'm sorry this is short but I'm not entirely sure where I want this to go. I want it to be different from the original, and I'm not sure if that means leading Effie to someone new for a little while or having her refrain from Haymitch until she caves and says screw it. Let me know what you think I should do, I really need your input.)