Monday rolled into Tuesday without a hitch. Martha and William woke wrapped in each other’s furry arms, while Samantha and Francis found themselves in a similar position next door. Ben and Alex fell asleep while talking to each other on the phone. Nate had spent most of his night dreaming about panthers. No one in particular, just panthers.
And Eric, well he’d fallen asleep after scanning the Moon Lake guidebook for more options on what kind of were he could be. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he walked downstairs for breakfast with the book in hand. Nate noticed, and asked if he’d made a decision yet.
“What are you talking about?” Eric asked, still unaware he had the book in his hand. Nate merely took his spoon and pointed down. Eric blushed when he realized he’d brought it with him. Actually he’d slept with it in his arms like it was a life preserver. Also pretty embarrassing.
Both Martha and William were upstairs freshening up from last night’s events. Which gave the two Anderson brothers a chance to talk privately for the first time since the past weekend.
“I haven’t made up my mind.” Eric finally said. It was the truth, he didn’t know what were he’d finally settle on.
“There’s no rush, you know that right? Spencer’s not pressuring you like Julie was.” Nate reminded his brother between bites of cereal.
“I know. It’s just tough to pick something. At least with Julie I knew what the best option was. But Spencer’s got both wolf and panther mixed together. I’m not sure which one I should be leaning towards. And even then, I’m not that comfortable with the whole ‘werecats are usually gay or bi’ thing.” Eric said.
“Well don’t rule out werewolf on my account. You pick whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“Really? That wouldn’t bother you?”
“Why should it?”
“I dunno. Werewolves have always been your thing. I didn’t want to take it from you.”
“Sometimes I wonder where all your smart cells go when you need them the most,” Nate chuckled, “Eric, I couldn’t care less what kind of were you want to be. Sure, I’ve always had a bit of an obsession with werewolves. But that doesn’t mean you can’t like them too. Besides, Ben and Alex are werewolves, and I don’t either of them ‘took my thing’. Of course they were wolves before me, but still.”
“So if I did want to be a wolf, you wouldn’t mind?” Eric asked once more.
“People become werewolves all the time. And you’re my brother, I’d be happy to welcome you into the pack, provided you want to join. It’s all up to you buddy.” Nate said.
Eric smiled, and started his own breakfast. He didn’t know if that solved all his “were-dilemma” but it broadened his options by one. Tigers, lions and the other “big cats” were still an option, though Eric still wasn’t that interested “swinging the other way”.
So that left him with the candid weres; wolves, coyotes, foxes, or domestic dogs. Of course there was also the matter of finding someone willing to turn him. And then joining a pride, pack, or whatever group that species of were belonged to.
A thought dawned on him, that Spencer never talked much about her being in a pride or pack. Eric made a mental note to ask her next time he saw her. Which would hopefully be this afternoon.
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As the Andersons went off to school, their last full day before their Thanksgiving break, Spencer was once again lying on a table in the x-ray room. They, being her doctor, Garrett, and her mom, had agreed to taper her off the painkillers so they could get a good sense of how her arm was doing post-transformation.
“Alright Spencer, you can get up now.” Garrett said from behind the equipment. Spencer sat up, and winced when she accidentally moved her shoulder the wrong way. She hadn’t realized how widespread the pain was she was off the drugs. She didn’t know if it was because she’d changed again, but there was a strong stinging sensation going up and down her arm every time she moved her shoulder.
Spencer’s wrist couldn’t be moved either, not without her forearm screaming in protest. She longed for her arm to be numb and limp again.
“How bad is it?” she asked.
Garrett, the technician, and her mother were talking in hushed tones. Evan was waiting outside, keeping an eye out in case anyone tried to enter the room who wasn’t a were, or at the very least were friendly.
“Well, the good news is the metal plate we imbedded yesterday hasn’t caused any further damage.” Garrett said.
“That means there’s bad news, or are you just being dramatic?”
“No, there’s some bad news. Not terribly bad news, but still it’s…”
“Could you just tell me? I’m really NOT in the mood for the theatrics.” Spencer cut off her mom. Maggie resigned, and told Spencer what was wrong, without overloading her brain with medical jargon.
“There are some new, very small splinters in your ulna. It’s nothing to worry about at the moment, but if they get worse then we’ll definitely have to operate again. Right now they’re too small to do anything about them.”
“So, what does that mean?”
“We’ll stick to the original plan. Tomorrow morning we’ll do another x-ray, and if the fractures are worse you’ll stay longer. If they’re the same, you can go home and finish recovering there. With close supervision.” Garrett added.
“Quick question, did you make Jeremy change back? You guys said the feds took him away. And I really doubt he got taken away as a ten foot Rottweiler.” Spencer said.
“He’ll have to heal in his human form.” Maggie said, indifferent. She cared for Jeremy as much as her husband did.
“For the last time, you don’t have to worry about him anymore. Your only priority is getting better.” Evan said.
“So you keep saying.” Spencer sighed. She went back to her room, glad she was finally allowed to talk around the hospital a little. Well only on her floor, which was designated for were related injuries. But it was better than being stuck in that damn room 24/7.
“I’ve got to head back to work, will you be able to manage her without me?” Evan asked once Spencer had gone.
“I’m more than capable to ‘managing’ out daughter. Go on. I’ll call you if anything develops.” Maggie said encouraging her husband to leave. Evan did, however reluctant. He wanted to stay there and protect his family from any other threats. It was the alpha male in him.
Maggie took the opportunity to talk to Spencer privately about things. She found Spencer in her room, channel flipping. She was sitting upright, and had a juice box wedged into her sling so her could sip juice and still use the remote.
“Multitasking I see.” Maggie said entering the room.
“Making lemonade from broken lemons.” Spencer said, finding some morning cartoon to watch.
“You know, we never got to finish that talk from the other day.”
“What talk? We haven’t had any sort of talk since you and Dad sat me down to give me THE TALK.” Spencer said.
“I mean about Eric.”
“Oh.” was all Spencer could say to that.
“Your father has already signed off on the relationship. I suppose I should to.”
“What do you ‘should’? You don’t like Eric?” Spencer asked, worried it would be her mother to pt the nail in the coffin.
“No I do. His parents are very nice, and Eric comes from a good family. But that’s not the reason for my… worry.”
“What do you have to worry about? Eric and I both agreed to just have a platonic relationship for now. And I wouldn’t force him to change before he’s ready.” Spencer said.
“I know. But you’ve never really maintained a relationship with anyone for more than a few weeks. And Eric’s in a fragile place since he just broke up with his girlfriend. I don’t want you to go leading him on, or worse…”
“Mom, I’m not going to. I really like Eric, and the last thing I’d want to do is land myself in the same pile as Julie.”
That eased a few of her mother’s concerns. Not all of them, but a few. No one realized it, but Martha and Maggie both had similar concerns regarding their children. Spencer and Nate were more alike than they probably knew. And yet, Spencer had picked Eric, and Nate had Kenya.
“I just worry about you. After what happened with Jeremy, I know Eric would never do anything like that. But you’re… well you’ve never really talked about what happened.”
“And I’d really prefer not to.” Spencer said quickly. That was the LAST thing she wanted to discuss with her mother. Jeremy was gone, why bring up old wounds?
“Spencer, you really should talk to someone. Francis is…”
“I know, I know. She’s a shrink and you want me to see her and talk about feelings and crap.” Spencer groaned.
“Well it couldn’t hurt? I haven’t heard you say one thing on the subject, except to the police. It’s not good to keep all that bottled up.”
“No kidding. Don’t worry, I just bite through part of Jeremy’s skull. That relieved a lot of tension.” Spencer said.
“Spencer, I would really feel better if you at least talked to Francis about what happened. You don’t want to go putting any of that on Eric do you?”
“He doesn’t know about that.” Spencer muttered. But he did, thanks to Evan Lawson. Spencer knew what Eric’s reaction would be. The same as everyone else’s. He’d start treating her like she was made of glass. And Spencer absolutely HATED being treated like a victim.
“All the same, just go at least once. We can go from there after we see how things are.” Maggie was almost pleading to her daughter.
“Fine. If it makes you that damn happy, I’ll go get myself cross-examined.” Spencer sighed. She turned her attention back to the TV, and her mother slipped back into the hallway. For the rest of the day, Maggie felt like someone had taken a great pressure from her chest.