Holy macaroni, no, it can't be true!
No, you can't repeat a single word I'm telling you.

-"It Can't Be True" from 13 The Musical

Date: October 31

Location: District 12

"Tessa, you have no grounds to take Esther away from Marigold," argued Finch. After dropping her niece off, she had come upstairs, only to find a frantic Tessa pacing around her room.

"But did you SEE Esther's eye?"

"No…"

"The whole area around it was black and blue, and one of the blood vessels in her eye popped."

"Yes, but that still doesn't give you grounds for removing Esther from parental custody," argued Glimmer. "For us to get Esther away from Marigold, we need to have clear-cut evidence of either abuse or neglect. We have nothing more than puzzle pieces of evidence of abuse right now."

"But we still need to do something about it," begged Tessa. "Remember, I was never treated well by my parents. I don't want the same thing to happen to Esther. Thankfully, it never reached abuse with me, but I don't want things to get worse for her."

"I see where you're coming from," said Glimmer, "but we could have lots of problems if we jump the gun and try to get Esther too early. If someone comes up to Marigold without proof, she'll vehemently deny it, and then find out that someone's on to her and run away. If Marigold doesn't run, and then we get evidence, the police might ignore us the next time because of the false alarm the first time. We need to do things carefully to make sure that we don't lose our opportunity."

"So what can we do?" asked Tessa.

"I don't know," said Glimmer. "I don't know."

Glimmer woke up the next morning and realized the importance of the day.

Four weeks had passed, and she still had not gotten her period.

"Penny," she said, noticing that her friend was awake. "It's been four weeks. Today, on the nose."

"Four weeks since what?" asked Penny groggily.

"Since the last time we talked. About my period. You know?"

"Oh. That thing. Right." Penny propped herself up. "Weren't you talking to Finch about that?"

"Well, you were in the room. Maybe you could give good advice."

Penny scoffed. "Giving advice is not my forte," she admitted. "Why don't you explain the situation to Tessa?"

"She's still asleep," exclaimed Glimmer!

Tessa groaned, "Well, now I'm not. Tell me, what's the problem?" She sat up in bed, interested in the sudden vulnerability from Glimmer.

"Well, four weeks ago, I should have gotten my period. And it was weird for me, because I haven't missed a period since I got my first one. So Finch said that, if it didn't come in four weeks, she'd take me to an OB/GYN."

Tessa took a deep breath. "But Glimmer, wouldn't it be natural for your period to be a bit off? After all, your body just went through a lot of trauma. My period also still hasn't come back yet. I wouldn't be freaking out about it yet."

"But… but…"

Katniss knocked on the door. "Good morning, ladies. Is everything OK?"

Tessa looked at Glimmer, who nodded her head. "Glimmer's just freaking out because she hasn't gotten her period since she woke up."

"But wouldn't that be natural if you went through trauma?"

"I DON'T CARE!" yelled Glimmer, who still wasn't quite sure why she'd made the decision to tell Katniss about this in the first place. "It feels awkward and unnatural to me, and I don't like it."

Katniss took a deep breath and attempted to weigh the situation. This was a problem she definitely didn't anticipate when she took in the girls from the Games. "I think," she said, slowly and carefully, "that if it would make you more comfortable to see an OB/GYN, you should go see one. I would advise you not go to see mine, though, as my OB/GYN is my mother and that would be awkward. So feel free to research some other ones and make an appointment, and I'll bring you there."

"Thank you, Katniss," said Glimmer.

"Of course. Now, get ready for tutoring, ladies!"

As Katniss left the room, she thanked heavens that Dalia still had eight years before she became a teenager. She had a feeling that it would be much more difficult for her to handle these types of problems with her own daughter. And having five teenagers in the house at the same time after the triplets were born would be even less fun.

After tutoring, Tessa and Glimmer sat at Glimmer's laptop.

"So how do we find an OB/GYN using this thing?" asked Glimmer. Though she'd grown up in District One, and had many forms of technology at her disposal, it was not her forte in any sense of the word.

Tessa clicked a few buttons. "So this," she explained, "is how you get to the search engine. Now, you plug in OB/GYNs near me, and boom!" Tessa clicked the first response. "Hmm. That's interesting."

"What?"

"Look at the first entry on the list. It's for a Marigold Snow."

"What does it say about her? She could be good."

"So she lives here in District Twelve, but it said she moved from the Capitol to Twelve, then to Two from here a few years ago before coming back here."

"Let's read her reviews."

Reviews for Marigold Snow, OB/GYN

-Marigold was very punctual and proper, and always lent a helping hand. However, she seemed to be less than successful at establishing a successful birth procedure. I was carrying three babies, but only two survived delivery.

-I was very impressed with Marigold's professionalism in the office, but was heartbroken when she told me that one of my quadruplets had died in delivery. I wonder if another OB/GYN could have prevented it.

-Marigold interested me when she told me that I was just her third client, and that she had two adopted children, from mothers who had complications in childbirth. It was also interesting to me that she had a specialty in multiples, which was good for me, as I had twins. Unfortunately, one of my twins died in the womb as well under her care.

-I am an OB/GYN, but couldn't well do my own examinations, especially as I was having twins. So, I decided to approach Marigold and ask her to help me out, as we were colleagues. I know enough about how the kids were doing that, despite Marigold's insistence that one of my daughters came out stillborn, I didn't believe her.

"Hmm. You're right, Tessa. Those reviews are interesting."

Tessa was determined to figure out what was up with all of these odd reviews of Marigold. "I have to do more research," she said, before furiously taking Glimmer's laptop and beginning to search things up."

"Just don't spread anything until you know things for sure."