The guests all went home a week and a half after the wedding, and Effie wished they were all staying longer, especially Annie. She would miss sitting out in the garden with her while Haymitch helped her son to feed the geese. She already knew Haymitch was going to be heartbroken saying goodbye to the little boy – it warmed Effie's heart to see how much he had bonded with him.

"I was worried when you said you were staying here." Annie told her as they sat out on the front steps. The steps were her favourite place, she liked being outdoors and they were the site of a very happy memory. It was a cold morning but the pair had mugs of tea in hand to warm them up and they were both quite used to it by now. "But I really think you've taken it in your stride, you seem so happy being here." Effie nodded in agreement. She still looked very out of place in District 12 with her bright colours – today was a turquoise dress with a hooped skirt that went down to her knees – but she didn't mind that at all. Katniss several days ago had suggested she get a pair of shoes for walking here without heels which had horrified her. She was determined to keep wearing exactly what she liked which happened to be a slightly toned down version of her Capitol self.

"I like it much better here than I thought I would." Effie admitted. She liked the air here more than in the Capitol, she liked the woods, she liked being around Katniss and Peeta and getting to be a mother and a friend to both of them, and of course, Haymitch was here, which meant that even if she liked nothing else about it she would have stayed there. Effie looked over to where he was pretending to be too slow to outrun Annie's son and smiled. She kept wondering when he was going to pluck up the courage to ask her if she wanted a child. If he was putting off asking her because he was worried she would say no then he was worried about nothing. Effie had always been fairly indifferent towards children but motherhood was beginning to feel quite appealing to her. She wasn't sure she'd be much good at it – in fact she was sure that she wouldn't be, but Haymitch would likely make up for that. He seemed like he would be naturally very good at being a father.

"So do I actually." Annie said. "I wish we were staying a little longer."

"Well you'll have to visit again, and I would love a trip to District 4 to see you again, I think Haymitch is quite tempted by the idea."

"Get him down there and convince him that you should have your wedding there, it would be absolutely lovely, you could have it on the beach, it would be absolutely beautiful." Annie assured her. Effie was very tempted by the idea but she was determined not to make concrete plans yet, she had promised Haymitch that she would take some time for herself before launching into planning another stressful event. He wanted her to get settled in District 12 before they were married and she thought that was very sweet of him because he was eager to get married. She was still in genuine disbelief that they were getting married. If she could travel back and tell Haymitch when she first met him that he would be marrying her she would, the reaction would be utterly priceless.

"We should probably head down to the train station now." Haymitch said as he walked over, carrying the little boy on his shoulders. He sounded regretful about it and Effie squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

"I'll just run over and get my suitcase and the others." Annie told them both, waving at her son even though she was only leaving for a minute and hurrying across the road, letting herself into Katniss's house.

"I wish they all lived here." Effie said with a sigh.

"Me too actually." Haymitch agreed with her.

"Well I never thought I'd see the day that you were wishing more people were around that you had to interact with."

"Effie, I live with the human version of a hurricane that swirls around at a million miles per hours and is made entirely of colours and constant talking – who I of course love very much." he added quickly when he saw that she was glaring at him. "A few more people around wouldn't make much difference."

"And I'm sure they'd make a nice change from the human hurricane!" Effie huffed, although the smile she wore was enough to let him know that she wasn't really offended. She didn't take anything he said to heart these days, what he said was never intended as cruel. She had known him long enough to learn to ignore him most of the time, the one fight they'd had after she arrived was the last one they'd engaged in, and Effie hoped it would be the only one they ever had like that.

"Well, yes." Effie swatted him on the arm and Annie's son giggled. "At least the children will still be here."

"Katniss and Peeta? Yes, of course that's much better than no-one."

"I was referring to the geese, Eff."

"The geese are not our children, Haymitch!" she shrieked at the accusation.

"Until we have a real one I'm allowed to call them that." Effie was impressed by how sneakily he had managed to slip that in to their conversation, because she would either have to go along with it or say that real children weren't something she was interested in.

"And I will tell our poor future children that before they came along their father called the geese that and they will be very upset that you every thought there could be a comparison between them and those vicious creatures." Effie told him and he grinned seeming assured for now that she was at least amicable to the idea. In the future they would have to discuss it properly of course but hopefully this was enough to placate him for a while.

The others came out of the house and Effie thought it was very sad to see them all with their bags. Haymitch carried Annie's son the whole way to the train station. He said goodbye to everyone else with the little boy still on his shoulder and only when they were seconds away from getting on the train did he let him down and hug him tightly.

"Bye Fie! Bye Goose!" he called back to them, waving as he clutched his mother's hand and toddled onto the train. The pair stood side by side and waved until the train had left the station.

"I don't fancy going home." Effie announced as they finally made their way out of the station. "Would you like to come for a walk with me? I just fancy going through the forest for an hour or so, I'm happy to go alone."

"No, I'll come, you're going to break your ankle in those heels one day and I'd rather I was around when you do it. To laugh at you of course, not to help."

"Of course."

They walked hand in hand. Occasionally one of them spoke, usually Effie, but mostly they were content to walk in silence, just comfortable in each other's company and Effie knew she would be pleased to stay like this for the remainder of her life happy, peaceful, and by the side of the man she loved.

I've decided this is where I will be ending this fic because it seemed like a natural stopping point since things were slowing down. The first part of the sequel is already up titled Wilder Mind. I don't intend to write a third part unless it's a prequel but then again I said this was going to be a two chapter story so who knows where this will go. Thank you again for all the sweet comments, I'm so glad you've enjoyed this and I hope you enjoy the next one just as much!