Author's note: All of my stories are based on the movies/actors, not on the books.

The Long Way Home

Chapter 1

Professor Haymitch Abernathy from the University of Richmond was on his way home, or trying it at any rate. Sitting in his rusty car he was stuck in an endless traffic jam leading up the freeway. It was the day before Thanksgiving and the whole country seemed to be gearing itself up for roast turkey, pumpkin pies and family hugs.

He couldn't care less.

Two miles before, the flickering display of his dashboard had told him that the remaining fuel wouldn't be enough to get him home. Cursing, he ran a hand through his longish hair, keeping an eye out for the next petrol station along the road.

Passing a poor-looking hitchhiker with a crumpled cardboard sign in their hand, Haymitch was able to read the name of his small, meaningless hometown in Kentucky. He laughed wryly and wished the pitiful hitcher all the best in snagging a ride home. As far as he knew, no one who had ever found their way out of Lynch felt the desire to head back.

After choosing between diesel and gasoline, his bored gaze moved back towards the hitchhiker at the roadside. Judging by the long braid under the black baseball cap, it must be a woman, although he could hardly tell from her worn out and bulky clothes.

As he pushed his credit card into the machine, a battered Chevy with a group of young men had come to a stop next to her, inviting her to travel with them, but she wished them all to hell.

Colorfully.

Smart girl, Haymitch thought, screwing the fuel cap onto his old Mercedes while a light drizzle had started, falling icy into his face. Finally, his gaze fell on the bags piled near her on the turf. He was able to make out the crest of the University of Richmond.

So she must be one of his students, although her pale face told him absolutely nothing. This didn't surprise him as his students represented a faceless mass to him.

A long time ago, he had realized that it was far better for him to exchange only meaningless empty phrases with his pupils. He didn't want to get close to any of them.

As a result, he couldn't exactly be praised for being one of the most committed teachers on campus. Mostly he did his best to ignore his students or treated them with biting comments on their poor exam papers.

In order to bear the joyless days of his depressing life, he had started drinking. What had begun with a glass of delicate whiskey in the evening for relaxation had ended with a sip of cheap booze before attending his morning lecture. At some point, he had realized that his reputation among his colleagues didn't concern him anymore.

His grim gaze fell back on the young woman, who was talking to a dodgy character, trying his best to convince the girl to travel with him, and Haymitch asked himself how many people he knew who had managed to escape from the dark little mining town to find a better life for themselves.

As far as he knew, he was the only one.

"Professor Abernathy?" His student could hardly conceal her surprise as she looked through the open passenger window into the tired face of her college professor.

"I'm driving to Lynch," He offered and his gaze went to the empty seat next to him. "Do you want to join me?"

She didn't have to think twice about the offer. Even if her professor usually looked like he'd just spent the night in the gutter, her common sense told her that he was someone completely trustworthy. Before he could rethink his offer, she threw her bags onto the backseat of his car and flung herself next to him.

"What's your name again?" Haymitch asked, starting the engine.

"Everdeen. First semester." She answered, her voice cool and clear just as her serious intense eyes. "I am attending your lecture series on financial mathematics."

He glanced at the rain-soaked girl; neither her rigid face under the baseball cap nor her name told him anything. Well, he hadn't expected anything different. Haymitch nodded at her briefly and drove his car back into the traffic.

Not used to talk to many people in his dull life, he started a conversation, trying his best to show some interest in the young hitchhiker.

"Do you like our university?"

"It's good."

"Have you settled in yet?"

"Yes."

"Do you often travel by hitchhiking?"

"Sometimes."

"Could be dangerous..."

The young woman just shrugged and starred out of the side window.

Taking the hint, Haymitch gave up the stupid question-and-answer game. The girl had made it clear that she wasn't interested in having a conversation with him. Fine, it suited him perfectly. He couldn't stand chatty people at all.

Katniss's gloomy gaze stayed fixed on the boring landscape. Trees and yet more trees would be their companions for the next six hours. She was glad that her professor had finished the forced small talk after a few minutes. She wasn't interested in a superficial conversation. Nor did she wish to volunteer the sad story of her young life.

Many years ago, she had decided to live her life without any help. No one should know about the dreadful death of her father in a mine accident, and the health problems of her mother. She wasn't looking for any sympathy and still less for anyone to interfere in her family's affairs.

Last spring, she had received a scholarship and her initial joy was tremendous. But afterwards it had been very difficult for her to leave her home as well as her little sister and mother as she was used to care for them. Over the past few years, Katniss had done her best to earn some money by working as a waitress or a babysitter after school. But in the end it was never enough.

As a result, she spent more time cleaning tables in a fast food restaurant than attending her lectures on campus. She knew she was risking a lot with her behaviour, but she couldn't leave her loved ones without financial help. At the end of the month the money wasn't even enough for a bus ticket home.

To her deep regret, she had failed to find new friends. Most of the carefree and well-off students she had met found her unlikeable. She couldn't even name the reason for this, but since the death of her father six years ago, she had become more and more of a loner.

Sighing, her stoic gaze followed the endless road before her, and she wondered if it had really been a good idea to leave her shabby but familiar home.

The rain poured down from the dark sky and Haymitch wallowed in his own dark thoughts. Why he still travelled home after all these years, he didn't know.

His lips twisted in a bitter smile. Home. Even the word mocked him. No one waited for him anymore. No family, no woman, no children, not even a cat.

He played with the idea of taking a sip of whiskey from the flask inside his crumbled jacket. Then abandoned the thought after glancing at the young woman next to him. Haymitch was in no mood to contribute to any more snide gossip about himself.

Around midnight, they passed the boundary sign of the little mining town and Haymitch turned the car into a dark alley with broken streetlamps and toppled garbage cans. Some dogs barked far away, making sure to keep strangers away.

"That it?" He asked before turning off the engine in front of a small house. Katniss nodded slowly. All her bones felt stiff and sour, she wasn't used to sit nearly motionless for over six hours.

Watching the girl with tired eyes as she got out of the car, gathering her things in the freezing rain, Haymitch felt a need to give her something for the future, a word of advice.

"Everdeen!" He called through the open passenger window, his voice rough but caring. "Get yourself a can of pepper spray for your dangerous road trips!"

Katniss looked up and blinked, feeling the icy wind and rain on her cheeks, her sullen gaze fixed on the exhaustion-lined face of her math professor. She could see a deep crease between his brows, and his lips were pressed together in a hard line.

In another life, at another time, she would have given him a smile and would have thanked him for his concern. But the moment passed and the only thing she did was send a short cool nod in Haymitch's direction.

Five minutes later he entered his own dark house on the other side of the village. It was cold and abandoned and reminded him more of a grave than a home.

In the long, dark shadows of his study, an unfailingly patient friend was waiting for him; Mister Jack Daniels.

Thanks for 'Katniss & Haymitch – Come Along' on YouTube and Nine Bright Shiners brilliant AU Haymitch/Katniss story 'Hold Back That Night' for inspiration.