When Peeta Mellark arrived in Grand Junction, Colorado on a Wednesday afternoon in early March of 1892, he drove his wagon to the clapboard building that served as Doctor Abernathy's office. Peeta knocked on the front door and, after no one answered, headed back to Main Street. The doctor was probably still out on house calls; Peeta would try again in the morning. He turned the horses around and headed to Sae's bunkhouse, where he paid for a room, then settled his horses in the barn and had a quick supper. From there, he walked to Latier's general store for a night of gossip and checkers by the fire.
Peeta had made the trip into Grand Junction half a dozen times in the two years he'd lived in the area. The general store in Fruita was much closer and stocked just about everything he and his brother needed for the apple farm. The thing that set Grand Junction apart was its medical man. Doctor Abernathy had been educated back east and sure had a way with amputated limbs.
Peeta woke up bright and early Thursday morning to a light dusting of snow and limped the half mile to the doctor's office, the early morning chill causing more pain to his leg than usual. He brought a gallon of hard cider to serve as payment for the doctor. Peeta hoped Abernathy would be able to tell him why his leg was so bad this winter. As he approached the building, he saw a single horse tied to the hitching post and heard a commotion inside. Whatever was going on in there, at least the doctor wasn't away making house calls again. He rapped on the door three times.
Doc Abernathy answered and gestured for Peeta to come in the front door. The building had two rooms: a small vestibule with a couple of chairs and a back room that served the double function of an exam room and the doctor's living quarters.
As Peeta removed his winter clothes, the doctor whispered to him, "I need a favor. There's a lawman bothering my patient. Pretend to be her husband and make him leave."
"What?" he asked, taken aback.
"No time for questions. Think fast and we'll pay you for your trouble."
Peeta whispered, "I'm not sure I -"
Raising his voice, the doctor said, "Mr. Mellark, I'm glad you're back. Your wife is just through here. I'm sorry, but the baby probably isn't going to make it."
"The baby?" Peeta asked, still confused as he removed his winter gear and left it on the hook by the front door.
Abernathy gave Peeta a pointed look. Then he explained, loudly, "She wasn't very far along. She must have been waiting to tell you. All we can do for her now is hope the bleeding stops soon and get her to calm down."
He opened the door to the exam room and Peeta took in the scene. The office looked the same as it always did. In the front of the room was a potbelly stove next to a small dish cabinet and hand pump for water with a sink basin below. There was a small table with two chairs in the middle and a single cot against the far wall.
A slight woman with wide-set eyes and a few short strands of brown hair peeking out of the front of her winter bonnet stood defensively between a tall man and the cot. The woman was shouting, "-And I'm telling you she's in no condition-"
The man, who was tall, severe, and lean, interrupted, "I'll be the judge of that. I just need to ask her a few questions, and then I'll be on my way."
Doctor Abernathy entered the room and held up his hands, gesturing for both of them to stop talking. In an overly calm voice he said, "Sheriff, I can assure you that we'll answer all of your questions, just as soon as we get my patient taken care of. Have a seat at the table and wait your turn."
Thread did as instructed.
"Anna, I need you to get me the blue bottle of pills from the bottom shelf in the closet," the doctor told the woman, pointing past the stove to a closet door. "And try to keep it together. Don't lose your head like that in front of a patient."
"Fine," the woman - Anna - huffed, and made for the door.
Peeta now had a clear line of sight to the patient that Anna had been defending. She was curled up in the cot, sobbing almost to the point of hysteria, her brown hair in a loose braid that was coming undone. The blanket that covered her lower body was spotted with fresh red blood. Peeta's heart wrenched for her. His sister-in-law Delly had a miscarriage last year, but at least she had Rye. If Peeta was being asked to pretend to be this woman's husband, it was safe to guess she came here alone, poor thing.
Doctor Abernathy turned his attention to the woman in the bed, "Katniss," he said gently, "your husband is back." She looked up at him, the barest hint of bewilderment in her eyes, which she quickly concealed by sobbing into her hands.
This comment reminded Peeta of his role in whatever this was, and he rushed to the woman's side. He knelt by the bed and patted her shoulder, hoping he didn't look as awkward as he felt. To his surprise she threw her arms around him and cried on his chest, quickly soaking his shirt with her tears and runny nose.
Anna called from the other room, "Is it on the top shelf?"
"No, the bottom one," Abernathy replied.
"It's all brown bottles down here. Oh wait, there's a green one. Should I bring you that?"
"No, don't touch that one. I'm coming." Lowering his voice, the doctor explained, "My niece means well but she's not too bright."
"I heard that!" she called angrily from the closet.
The woman in his arms - Peeta reminded himself that her name was Katniss - had calmed down considerably and the tall man took that as his cue to introduce himself to Peeta.
"I'm Sheriff Romulus Thread," he said.
"Peeta Mellark. I'd shake your hand but I think I've got my hands full." He smiled weakly.
"And her name?" the sheriff asked.
"Oh, she- she's Katniss Mellark."
"She's your wife?"
"Yes."
"What's her maiden name?"
Peeta responded with the first name that came to mind, "Cartwright." He must still be thinking of Delly and her own misfortune last year. It was as good a name to give as any.
"I'm here because myself and a posse have been following a pair of wanted criminals. We exchanged gunfire a few miles outside of town," Thread explained. "They managed to evade capture but I believe one of them was wounded in the fight." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.
"Have you seen either of these two men?" Thread asked, getting up to show Peeta the paper. It was a handbill featuring a sketch of two men. The first sported long, wild hair and the ugliest beard Peeta had ever seen. The second man had hair down to his ears and features that could almost be described as delicate, but he wore a scowl that could probably curdle milk. Crazy beard was labeled Wildcat Everdeen, while his companion bore the name Joe Mason. Peeta saw that the crimes listed included train robbery and horse thieving.
"I can't say that I have," Peeta answered. And a good thing too. It looked like a run-in with either would not end well.
"You from around here?" Thread asked.
"I - we -," Peeta corrected himself, remembering his supposed wife, "-live with my brother on his farm about five miles east of Fruita."
"So what are you doing in Doctor Abernathy's office? That's what, nearly twenty miles from home? Isn't there anyone closer who could help you with," he paused, "woman's troubles?"
Peeta thought quickly, "We were already halfway into town when when she started complaining of pain, so I took her straight to the doctor last night. He wouldn't let me stay with her, though, and I had to get a spot in the boarding house."
"And just what would motivate you to drive your wife over twenty miles of rough road in the middle of winter, especially in her condition?"
"I had to go anyway on account of my leg," Peeta explained, inwardly shocked at how easy the lies were coming. He extricated an arm from the woman still clinging to him, in order to lift his pant leg to show the sheriff his wooden leg. "I want Doc Abernathy to help me figure out why it aches so bad in the cold. And Katniss tagged along because she and Delly - that's my brother's wife - have been fighting something fierce all winter. I think she just wanted the peace and quiet for a couple days. I didn't - she hadn't told me about the baby."
Abernathy, who had come out of the closet with the correct pill bottle, gave Peeta an encouraging look from behind Thread's back.
"That so?" Thread asked Katniss.
She replied, "Yes she's awful mean. Last week I burned the cornbread and she-" she choked on a sob and was unable to finish the sentence.
Peeta patted her back in a hopefully comforting manner.
"Sheriff," Abernathy asked, "Is there a point to this? All I see is you upsetting my patient. I need to take another look at that bleeding soon."
"Alright. I'll leave this with you, doctor." He set the paper down on the table. "If you notice anything, you can report it at Sheriff Cray's office. Thank you for your time." Thread took his leave of the room.
Abernathy filled a pot with water and set it on top of the stove. He pulled some tools out of his medical bag. Peeta rubbed the woman's back as she sobbed. Meanwhile Anna paced back and forth across the room.
After a few minutes, the doctor instructed, "Johanna, go make sure the lawman's gone."
Peeta was about to ask who Johanna was, but Anna strode briskly into the front room. "Alright, Everdeen," she drawled upon her return, "The coast is clear. You can shut off the waterworks."
Katniss promptly let go of Peeta and sat up, wincing as she adjusted her position on the cot. She used a clean corner of the blanket to wipe her face. Peeta grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket to hand to her but she waved him off.
"Here, drink this," the doctor told Katniss, handing her a tin cup full of liquid, "It'll help with the pain. Mellark, I'll get some for you too. You deserve it after that performance."
"I deserve - pain medicine?"
"No, it's whiskey."
"Oh. Um, no thank you." Last he checked, it was barely past eight in the morning.
"Suit yourself." Abernathy took a sip from the bottle then corked it and put it away.
Johanna fished around in a satchel by the sink and pulled out a coin. Tossing it to Peeta, she said, "Thanks for covering for us. We're lucky you showed up when you did."
It was a twenty-dollar gold piece. He must have looked as surprised as he felt, because she explained, "It's also for your silence."
"Oh, of - of course," he said.
The doctor looked up from setting his medical tools out on the table and remarked, "You did great, Mellark, that was some quick thinking."
"Oh, um, thank you."
Abernathy continued, "Of course, the real standout performance was Katniss here. How did you manage such convincing crocodile tears?"
She shrugged, "It wasn't too difficult, considering I've got a bullet in my leg that hurts like hell. Could you take a look at that now, Abernathy?"
Author's Note: One my favorite things about writing fanfiction is the chance it gives me to improve my writing. I love feedback, and I would be particularly interested in hearing from you about any of the following questions:
Is the beginning engaging enough that you want to keep reading or do you prefer authors start with more excitement?
This chapter is a scenario that depends heavily on my ability to explain things well, without giving too much away. Were you able to tell what was true in their explanations and what was lies? Would you have preferred more background or set-up before I jumped into this situation? Did it make sense?
Did you feel there was a good balance of dialogue and other actions?
Was the dialogue adequately labeled and described? Could you tell who was talking and in what attitude they spoke?
Was there anything that bothered you about my writing style? This is un-beta-ed, so I'm sure I have typos or grammatical issues somewhere.
Do the characters still seem like themselves, despite the change in setting?