"She's so perfect…"

"Haymitch, leave her be, she's sleeping." Effie said from the doorway. He turned around to smile at her. Haymitch was terrible at leaving Amelia alone. Every time he left the side of her crib to try to do something else he would find his way back up to the lilac room where his daughter was sleeping. He liked watching her sleep, making sure that she was okay. He was terrified of anything happening to her. This morning he had got up, promising to make Effie some of the peppermint tea she was still so fond of. After half an hour she had gone to investigate and found him in there. She couldn't be annoyed about it, seeing him with their daughter warmed her heart.

"She likes having me here." he insisted, and Effie tried to laugh quietly. They baby stirred and opened her eyes, not making a sound. She very rarely cried. "See, she's awake now anyway. She wants to come and feed the geese with me." Haymitch scooped her out of her crib.

"I'm certain that she doesn't." Effie said before she walked over to them and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead which made the little girl wrinkle her nose in the most adorable way. "Good morning, sweetie." Effie stroked a hand over Amelia's soft blonde hair. She hoped her little eyes stayed as blue as they were now.

"Here, you take her and feed her, I'll feed the geese." Haymitch said as he gently passed Amelia over to her. Effie laughed. She hoped that was a sound her daughter heard a lot of the years, she fully expected it to be.

"I'm very pleased to know where your priorities lie."

"We can't neglect our other children, Eff." Haymitch said with a wink as he kissed her cheek.

"I really hope that joke stops before she's old enough to know you're comparing her to the most disgusting bird that exists." Effie sighed. She knew it wouldn't, Haymitch latched onto the jokes he liked and never let go of them. "Come on then Euphemia." He had decided he liked calling her by her full name when she was holding the baby because she couldn't give him a sharp swat with whatever she was holding at the time if her hands were occupied with the baby.

"I swear, if I wasn't holding our darling daughter…"

"But you are, so you won't do anything. Euphemia." If looks could kill, Haymitch would be lying on the floor unable to breathe.

"You have no idea how much I regret telling you that." Haymitch grinned. Oh well, better he knew now thank find out when being asked to repeat her full name at their wedding and ruin the whole thing by laughing so much he would be unable to continue. This was probably a small price to pay to avoid that embarrassment.

Effie sat on the steps outside their house to feed Amelia, she did most mornings. She sat there, nursing the little girl who had quickly become the most precious thing in her life. She would sit there and talk to her which Haymitch teased her for even though he did just the same whenever he fed or held her. Effie was paranoid that if she didn't talk, she might forget what he voice sounded like.

"Not much chance of that, Eff, since when have you ever been quiet for more than thirty seconds at a time?" Haymitch had asked her. The comment irritated her, but it was hardly something she could argue with, she did talk nearly constantly.

Today she talked to Amelia about how terrible the geese were and how ridiculous her father was, knowing he could hear every word she said, often loudly interjecting something to contradict what she was saying until he went inside to finally make her the tea she had been craving since she woke up, unable to resist ruffling her hair on the way in so it stood up in a way he knew she hated.

"As I was saying, darling, your father is an utter nightmare. An utter nightmare who I could not adore any more than I do already. Who loves you so dearly. I'd almost be jealous if I didn't love you just as much." She stroked her hair again. Since giving birth she had understood why Haymitch liked to play with her hair so much, there was something delightfully soothing about Amelia's hair under her palm and Amelia always went very still and quiet whenever she did it which made Effie think she was enjoying it too. That was definitely an inherited trait.

Haymitch brought her tea out and she passed their baby to him so she could cradle the mug in her hands instead. Effie loved watching how he doted on Amelia.

Katniss and Peeta spotted them out of the window and Effie waved them both over, not caring that she wasn't even dressed yet. She was so pleased not to be pregnant anymore that she was determined to enjoy the first few weeks in as much comfort as possible, which meant no impractical dresses. Still dresses of course, she would never wear anything else, just comfortable ones that she could easily hold Amelia while she was wearing, and ones that she didn't put on straight away when she got up. She had however gone back to her usual towering heels as her ankles had gone back to normal size almost the second that she had given birth. Everyone was impressed by how well Effie could carry Amelia while she wore them, although Haymitch stood close by her, ready to catch both of them if she fell over. Effie thought that he needn't have worried about it; she would never do anything so unladylike as falling over.

"Annie's still in bed." Peeta said as they came over and sat cross legged in front of her and Haymitch. Her son was a nightmare at the moment, Annie was saying, sleeping for most of the day then keeping Annie up all night. Effie was sure that Amelia would be a polite enough child that she would never do that, although Haymitch insisted it wasn't an issue of politeness. Effie disagreed, everything was an issue of manners, Haymitch had surely known her long enough to realise that? "Do you mind if I hold her?" Peeta asked with a smile.

"Haymitch…" Effie said warningly. He was fine sharing the baby with her, but apparently one other person who wanted to hold her was quite enough to share with. He handed Amelia over albeit reluctantly and Effie tried to pretend that she didn't see the longing in Peeta's eyes as he held her. She knew he wanted to be a father desperately, and that he would be good at it if he ever got the chance. She couldn't blame Katniss for not wanting a child, Effie herself hadn't wanted one for most of her life, but that didn't mean she didn't feel incredibly sympathetic towards Peeta. Effie watched Katniss eyeing her husband with Amelia. Katniss had not held the baby yet, something she had only noticed when Haymitch pointed it out the day before. She wouldn't address the issue in front of everyone, she wasn't that tactless, but she was going to bring it up with Katniss at some point in the future. Come to think of it, she tended to avoid Annie's son when she could too, would never walk around with him attached to her hip the way that Peeta did sometimes. Effie wondered if the younger children made her remember Prim.

"She is gorgeous." Peeta said softly as Amelia wrapped her tiny hand around one of his fingers.

"Of course she is." Haymitch said, and for a moment Effie was tricked into thinking he might say something nice about her. "She takes after me." Katniss and Peeta laughed loudly and Effie scoffed at the idea.

"I think she looks more like Effie." Katniss said, taking Effie's hand and giving it a squeeze.

"That's sweet, but I think she just looks like a baby for the moment." Effie commented, making Haymitch laugh. "We can argue about whose good looks she has when she's a little bit older."

"Sounds good, Eff. Could I have my daughter back now, please?" he asked Peeta, surprisingly polite about it. Peeta grinned at him and gave Amelia back to him. Effie smiled at the way he hugged her close before he let her settle back into his arms. Perhaps it was a good thing that Katniss didn't want to hold her, anymore people wanting a turn of her daughter and it would probably be like pass the parcel. Effie didn't want to disturb her too much by passing her about, although hopefully Amelia wouldn't mind and she would just know that there were a lot of people who wanted to spend as much time with her as possible because they loved her so much.

Effie got Katniss on her own later that afternoon. Annie was giving Haymitch some parenting tips while he fed Amelia which he was surprisingly receptive too – he might have hated being told what to do but he was eager to be as good a parent as he could be, and if that meant taking advice from someone more seasoned than he was then so be it.

"I don't want to talk about it, Effie." Katniss said firmly when Effie brought the topic up as they were walking outside. Effie hadn't wanted anyone to hear them which was probably a good decision based on how the conversation between them went.

"It's okay." Effie said, using almost the same tone she used when she spoke to Amelia, wanting Katniss to understand that she wasn't angry about it, just that it was something they needed to speak about. "I know that. And I know that you love her even if you can't hold her, and she knows that too." Katniss nodded, her eyes blurry with tears, and Effie took her into her arms, feeling as though Katniss was every bit the daughter to her that they joked she was.

"She reminds me of Prim." Katniss had sobbed into her chest and Effie brushed her fingers through her hair to calm her down.

"I know, darling, I know."

They lay down on the grass together and Katniss used Effie like a pillow, falling asleep on her once she had finished crying. Katniss was dealing with Prim's death in her own way, slowly. She very rarely said her name.