"No," Effie thought. "You have to be stronger than this, for Katniss."

Effie straightened up, took a deep breath and forced her mind to ignore her churning stomach as she walked through the front door. She stood at the far end of the room, unwilling to move any closer. Her view of Katniss was blocked by the medical team, which she was grateful for. She was afraid of seeing her body again. She didn't want to believe what she had seen when she first opened the door. She refused to believe that the beautiful young woman she had met three years ago had become nothing more than a living, breathing skeleton. At least, she hoped Katniss was still alive. She watched as the medical team whisked about in an organized flurry. They were so fast that their movements seemed to blur together and Effie couldn't figure out what they were doing. She saw lots of different types of equipment removed from bags, passed around and then disappearing into the center of the group where Katniss was. After a few moments the activity slowed and one of the doctors stepped back and just observed Katniss for a moment shaking his head. Then he turned and caught Effie's eye. He began to walk towards her removing his gloves and tossing them off to the side.

Effie's breath caught in her throat afraid she was about to hear the worst. The doctor signaled for her to sit on the couch. He sat next to her and spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. "Miss Trinket, we may have gotten here just in time. I'm afraid Katniss has deteriorated quite a bit. She's suffering from the effects of extreme starvation. Her body is literally feeding off of itself in a desperate attempt to stay alive She's in very critical condition."

Effie's stomach became a tangle of knots as she listened to the Doctor's words. "Will she survive?" Effie was barely able to choke the words out.

"I don't want to throw out all hope, but at this moment I'm not very optimistic. In this fragile state she could go into cardiac arrest at any moment. In fact, I've decided that the care required is beyond what we can do for her here. She's going to need round the clock care for quite some time. She'll need to be transferred to a Capital hospital immediately.

The fear washed over Effie again and again, each wave more powerful than the last. But she refused to break down. This was not the time or place. She had to stay strong if she was going to be of any use. "What can I do to help?"

"Just be there for her. Love her and support her. Sometimes that's better than any medicine we can give." The doctor stood up and turned back to Katniss who was being packed away onto a stretcher. Effie didn't need to be told to love Katniss. She had loved her ever since she first met her. Effie pushed down the lump in her throat and stood up slowly. Her legs felt weak, but she forced herself to walk over to Katniss who was having her vital signs taken by a nurse. She took Katniss' hand and nearly broke down over how it felt. It was bony and cold, as if Katniss were already dead. He arms were skeletal and her cheeks and eyes sunken in. The skin clung so loosely to her face that it appeared to be melting away. Effie couldn't see Katniss' body as it was covered with a blanket, but she could guess what a horrible sight it would be. She forced away the thought and looked into Katniss' eyes searching for a sign of recognition. Katniss simply stared blankly, almost as if she was looking straight through Effie.

"Katniss? Katniss dear? It's Effie. Say something, please?" One tear escaped from Effie's eyes and dripped down onto Katniss' hand, but she forced the rest back. "Please." Effie couldn't hide the desperation in her voice. "Just look at me." Effie felt a hand on her shoulder and lifted her head to look at the nurse on the other side of the stretcher.

"I'm so sorry she's just too weak to respond, but you should talk to her. She can still hear you." Effie nodded. The calm words from the nurse helped to settle her a bit. She calmed herself. She had to talk to Katniss while she still had the chance.

"Katniss, you're going to be ok dear. You're going to go to the hospital and I'm coming with you. I'm going to help take care of you, but I need you to do something for me. I need you to want to get better. Please. I know you've had a rough life, especially in the last few years. You've had far too many traumatic experiences at such a young age and it's not fair. But you can't give up on life. You may not be able to see it now, but it will get better I promise. I'm going to help you get through this and I'm so sorry that it took you nearly dying to get you the help that you need. I'll never forgive myself for not checking up on you. I should have never trusted Haymitch with the task. He's too damaged himself." Effie heard the hovercraft landing outside and she bent down to kiss Katniss on the forehead. "It's time to go now darling. I'll be with you the whole way."

The team began to wheel Katniss out the door and towards the hovercraft. Effie followed close behind not wanting to get too far behind. But she hesitated a moment as she walked past Haymitch's house. She imagined he would be drunk inside. She felt angry at him for allowing this to happen. He was so close. If he could have taken two minutes out of his day to walk across the street, this may not have gone as far as it had. A part of her wanted to confront him. To yell and scream at him, but that would have to wait. Katniss was more important. She would get to Haymitch later.

She boarded the hovercraft and stuck close to Katniss side. She held Katniss' hand and stroked her hair. She spoke soothing words to her the whole way, willing her to hang on.