The young couple remained silent, holding hands while walking together, until Eric Anderson noticed they were at the edge of the property line to Julie Stovall's house. Then he turned to her and asked, "I was wondering. Whenever it happens, do you have any idea what I will look like once I become a were-merman?"
Julie stared at her boyfriend for a moment, and then admitted, "That's kind of hard to say. First off, you will gain some muscle mass, but it will be more gymnastic than athletic in nature. You'll be more toned than muscle bound. Were-mers swim with grace and speed."
"Your dad told me about how were-mers also have thicker skin and better physical endurance."*
"True. On vacation last summer, our family swam from Moon Lake to Hawaii in about 7 hours. It would have been less if I hadn't been distracted by that pod of dolphins," bragged Julie. "Anyway, there's no real way of knowing for sure. When mom became a were-mermaid, her hair stayed blonde, but her eyes turned from brown to sea-green, and her tail's more of a salmon-ish color. With dad being born a were-mer, his hair's always been a 'dirty' blonde, for lack of a better name; but his eyes are like sea-mist gray and his tail is more trout-ish. Me on the other hand, bright blonde hair like mom's, but deep blue eyes, and you saw that my tail's the classic goldfish tone**. Hand webbing is always the person's skin tone though."
Eric silently stared at her, lost in thought, until Julie gave him a brief kiss on the lips.
"Sorry about that. I was trying to remember my dreams. I always see you, and know and feel everything that's going on at the time, but I never actually see myself. Do you ever see me as a were-mer in your dreams?" he asked.
"Funny you should mention it. I clearly see you until that point. I do know you become a were-mer, but I feel your presence more than actually see it," admitted Julie. "Guess that's because neither or us actually know how you'll look until the time comes." But I do know you'll have beautiful deep blue eyes, like me, she thought, recalling their brief change earlier during the walk home.***
"Say, where do the dreams come from anyway? And how accurate are they?" asked Eric.
"I could give you the standard answers about the unconscious mind and wish fulfillment, but if you're looking for an answer specific to Moon Lake, nobody knows," revealed Julie. "There are a lot of weres who say Moon Lake is very special, almost magical in nature, but only the dreams of any personal nature seem to have any accuracy. You'll never get a winning lottery ticket or find out exactly what's on the next science test through them, but if it has anything to do with you and someone special in your life..." as she put her hands across his shoulders to pull Eric closer for another round of French kissing.
Eric reached around Julie's waist below her backpack the best he could to embrace her even tighter as their tongues continued dancing between each other's mouths.
It was only when he felt his young penis begin to stir that Eric pulled away, hoping that Julie didn't feel it.
"I really don't want to leave, but it is getting late," said Eric, with genuine sadness at the thought of leaving Julie once more.
"Promise me we'll chat tonight before bedtime? I want to know how your parents are as dance instructors."
"Only if you do the same."
"Deal," swore Julie, giving Eric a quick kiss on the cheek before walking up to her front porch and letting herself in. A quick wave goodbye, and she was gone.
Until later, my beautiful mermaid, Eric thought to himself, as he turned to walk on to his house, unaware that his brown eyes briefly turned deep sea blue once more at the thought of having further contact with Julie later.
Julie entered her house to discover her parents cuddling together on the couch. She thought it great that they were still as deeply in love now as the day they got engaged, but was uncertain why they were in different outfits now than what they left for the day in.
What she didn't know was that her parents both got out of their respective jobs early for once, came home, and had a private pool party for two in the backyard, swimming and enjoying some sexual afternoon delights in all the various stages of their were-mer forms. What she saw now was after they took a long, pleasurable shower together before getting dressed and going downstairs to wait for her to come home from school.
"How was your day dear?" her mother Melissa asked, as both parents looked up from the magazine they were glancing at.
"Great. Eric walked me home again, but I need to ask you something," replied Julie, as she sat her backpack down on the coffee table and then moved to sit between her folks.
The Stovalls made room for her as Julie told them about noticing how Eric's eyes changed color.
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" her father asked in a stern, more mayoral than fatherly tone of voice.
"If it was just during lunch today, I would have said no. But it happened again during our walk home," revealed Julie.
Martin Stovall looked at his 'not so little any more' girl, desperately trying to hold back the tears in his eyes.
Both Stovall women looked at him with great concern as Melissa asked, "What is it?"
When he finally found his voice again, Martin simply said, "Congratulations!" as he hugged his daughter.
"Thank you daddy, but for what?" asked Julie, while returning the hug.
"If there was still any doubt in your mind about it, you can rest easy now. That is positive confirmation that Eric Anderson definitely IS your soul mate!"
"Oh, my baby!" exclaimed her mother, as Julie found herself now being hugged by both parents.
"Your mother's eyes started changing color off and on about a month before the first time I proposed to her," revealed Martin Stovall. "The first time I saw that, I knew there was no way I was ever going to give up on our love, no matter how long it took to win her heart," he added, looking lovingly at his wife.
"Oh honey," began Melissa, but Martin raised his hand and said, "There's also something else you should know."
"What daddy?" asked Julie.
"Eric is going to start feeling... urges soon, if he isn't already," began Martin, choosing his words carefully. "As a normal, he'll be a lot more vulnerable to them than you will. As time passes, it will be like the salmon wanting to swim upstream to spawn."
"You mean like Mister Spock entering pon farr during the Amok Time episode of classic Star Trek?" asked his wife, realizing what her husband was saying.
"Yes. I still want the two of you to wait as long as you can, but I realize now neither of you won't be able to keep your promise of not doing it until your sixteenth birthdays," he conceded. "The compulsion will grow between you until... HOWEVER, that doesn't mean you stop taking your were-mer birth control pills young lady."
"Yes, sir," swore Julie. "But will Eric, let alone me, be all right?"
"Once your first... coupling is completed and Eric becomes a were-mer, your hormone levels will balance out."
"Daddy..." said Julie, actually blushing.
"Hey. This is difficult for me to talk about too," acknowledged her father. "Anyway, after you... finally address the issue, it won't be a mandatory thing anymore like it is for the salmon," explained her father. "Then you can... you know, whenever the mood or the moment is right. But your first time should be a VERY special occasion, especially since Eric told me he's a virgin too. Which is why I do want you two to wait for as long as you can, in hopes of finding the proverbial right moment."
"I understand," said Julie, as she grabbed the closest hand of each parent within hers. "I won't let you down," she added, as a tear started to leak out of her eye too. "But should I tell Eric?"
"No," her parents said, almost in unison.
"We don't want to rush or spoil the moment, now do we?" asked her mother, moving to hug her daughter closer to her.
"And even if we have to pay for it ourselves, we will be maintaining your pill prescription, at least until after your honeymoon." Which I sincerely hope isn't until after you two graduate college and are ready to face the world, because you're both so young right now...
Father stared lovingly at his daughter, with mixed emotions on his face for several moments as Melissa continued to hug Julie, neither lady able to completely stop their tears.
"Now then," finally began Martin, while trying to dry his face with the back of his hand, "why don't you go upstairs and freshen up, and when you come back down, I'll take us out to dinner to celebrate your impending entry into womanhood."
"Okay daddy. Thank you," said Julie, kissing him on the cheek before standing up, grabbing her backpack, and running upstairs with one thought on her mind. November?
The moment they were alone, Melissa Stovall turned to her husband. "Well, if I hadn't of been so stubborn to begin with, considering it was almost eight years from your first proposal to our wedding night... No wonder I was so horny by our honeymoon. But how long do they have?"
"I can't really say," he admitted. "Depending upon how far along Eric actually is, tomorrow? The end of the month? There's no way to know for sure."
"And you're okay with this?"
"Totally? Hell no," confessed Martin. "Life, love, and sex is far different for weres than it is normal human beings; but I honestly thought there would be more time since they just started seeing each other seriously, but what can we do? Their love is much stronger than I thought. Imagine what it will be like by their honeymoon! Anyway, I can check with the pod elders if you want me to, but this has to be the youngest case in recorded were-mer history."
"At least they won't have to wait ten years until..." began his wife, as she reached for a tissue from the box on the coffee table. Maybe Julie and Eric truly are us in reverse, and whatever fates exist are granting my daughter a better courtship than I allowed myself...
"I know that look on your face darling," said Martin, pulling his wife into a tender embrace, because the decade between their first meeting and their wedding was the only negative aspect of their entire relationship, at least as far as she was concerned. "I've told you before and I'll tell you again, you were worth waiting for, and I was prepared to wait as long as it took to be with you. Besides, considering what I knew would happen the first time we were intimate, I wanted it to be VERY special for you."
"That's very sweet, my wonderful mer-man," said Melissa, smiling at him before giving Martin a brief kiss. Then she added, "You do realize that even with the best of intentions behind not informing Eric, we will have to tell the Andersons."
"Yes. But privately. I'll go to the college and tell William, while you visit and talk to Martha. Tomorrow," promised Martin, as they waited on the couch for Julie to come back downstairs so they could go out to dinner.
________________________________________________________________________________
*WAY back in "Of Life, Love, and Were-mers", episode 175 of this thread.
**Even farther back in "Back To Eric and Julie", episode 50.
***A few episodes back in "Early (Private) Dancing Lessons".
And this is Episode 221 of our ongoing saga. ENJOY!—tmw.