A/N-This is a oneshot written while I was trying to avoid working on Starvation 1, and as such is complete. And by the way, non-ownage of the Hunger Games and its characters; I have it. A big thanks to LoveTheBoyWithTheBread for being my beta; without you, I'd probably make a fool of myself.

The group crowded around the plasma T.V.

The picture was even clearer than real life; it made Katniss and Peeta look too real, so real that they looked fake. It was a strange effect.

They sat as close to each other on the one small couch as the children did in the cave. Well, almost as close. Haymitch had moved as far to the left side of the couch as he possibly could. He didn't like touching people, and he didn't like being touched all that much either. Effie, on the other hand, was gripping Cinna's arm in one hand, and a tissue box in the other. She always had the tissues with her. "Just in case," she'd said when Cinna had asked her why she was carrying a tissue box around with her.

Cinna was sitting close to Portia, who was scraping nail polish off the nails of her slim fingers, something she only did when she was nervous enough to start climbing the walls. She'd be horrified later when she saw what she'd done.

Members of the prep team floated in sometimes, but they never kept vigil like those four.

They were here all the time, when they weren't sleeping. It hadn't been like that at first. During the preliminary part of the Games, Haymitch was off getting drunk as usual, and Effie was always working the sponsors, though to be honest, it was mostly out of boredom and excitement to finally have an interesting pair of tributes to escort. The sponsors were already drooling at their feet.

Portia and Cinna were often off working in their design studios; they needed to have something ready for next year. A badly designed Hunger Games getup could end a designer's career for good, after all. They always had a radio or small T.V. handy, but their lives did go on.

Then neither Katniss nor Peeta died. Peeta joined the Careers, and Katniss held her own in the face of whatever the arena threw at her. Soon, Cinna and Portia were sitting and designing together for support while they watched the Hunger Games. They found themselves cheering on the death of everybody whose demise would help their children get home. Their children. Not just those kids they designed for. Then came the day when they simultaneously put away their sketchbooks. They weren't going to look away from their children.

Eventually Effie joined them, so she would have other insiders to talk in rushed tones with. None of her tributes had ever gotten this far before. And they were most definitely her tributes. She was so, so, so proud of them!

Slowly but surely, Haymitch was drawn to their couch as well. He tried his best to resist; it never paid to get close to the kids you mentored. The odds that either would survive were slim, and besides, only one could possibly see the end of these Games even if you thought optimistically. He fought against the pull, floated around the edges of their T.V. room in Portia's mansion, but eventually gave in. After all, he was allowed to watch his tributes, wasn't he? Nobody could deny him that, of all things.

And now they felt like a collective of parents as the four of them sat together on that couch, desperately hoping against hope for Peeta and Katniss to live.

In the cave their children were doling out the last of that lamb stew that Katniss like so much. They planned to hunt today. It probably didn't matter, since there were only four competitors left. It was going to be over soon, one way or the other.

They shoveled down the stew and rice like it was their last meal, which it could easily have been. Effie chuffed indignantly. "My!"

Right on cue, Katniss said, "I can feel Effie Trinket shuddering at my manners."

"Hey, Effie, watch this!" Peeta called, and proceeded to lick the stew juice off his plate, smacking loudly for her benefit. "We miss you, Effie!" He blew a kiss at the cameras.

Effie sputtered indignantly. "What- what- why on earth would he do something like that?"

"Probably just to make you say something along those lines, Effie," Portia put in with a small smile.

"Those children! They're so frustrating! But so endearing." Effie sighed.

"But mostly frustrating," Haymitch drawled, at the exact same time as Cinna said, "But mostly endearing."

The two men stared at each other; mouths open a little, like they couldn't believe what the other had just said. All at once everyone burst out laughing. It may not have really been the funniest thing they'd ever heard, but really, in this Game, you took the laughs where you got them.

As Katniss and Peeta set out, attention turned back to the screen. They were spread evenly over the couch now, shoulders touching. This was the power held by those two young tributes, the power to make people unite and come close to one another. They even touched people like Haymitch.

That's why the rebellion, still in its infancy, needed them. That's why past victors would die for them next year. This incredible power their children possessed would set the world on fire.

As they set off to hunt, Effie mused, "Maybe I should have sent them a napkin…"