Martha and Eric Anderson chatted with Spencer Lawson for a few more minutes, getting to know each other better.
Eric had assumed his customary spot in the guest chair by Spencer's hospital bed while Martha stood during the conversation.
Soon Martha realized the children (for there was really no other way she could think of them) wanted some time alone, so she excused herself and left the room.
With that, Eric took the opportunity to kiss his girlfriend on her muzzle again, before telling Spencer about his day at school.
"So, Frieda Knight couldn't see it, huh? Her loss," was Spencer's only reply as she sipped her soda. She knew who the girl was and, given the bi nature she inherited from her mother, wouldn't mind sampling some of Frieda's honey for herself if the opportunity ever presented itself. However, Spencer didn't want to hurt her budding relationship with Eric Anderson and besides, she didn't know whether or not Frieda was even a were.
Remaining silent on that subject, Spencer just told Eric, "No one's ever realized what a catch you truly are before now. Unfortunately, not even me, but if you're willing, I'd like to make up for lost time now."
"I have no problem with that," Eric said with a smile. "I do have to warn you though. Despite my time with Julie Stovall, dating and relationships are still fairly foreign territory for me."
"For me too, but we can learn together," said Spencer, before telling Eric what she said to his mother about him being the first guy who had ever shown her any real affection without having some kind of an ulterior motive. "Even if it was just to get in-between my legs," she added to his edition. "You are something I honestly didn't think existed any more. A true gentleman."
"Thanks," he said, blushing.
He's cute when he does that too, thought Spencer, before changing the subject. "Thank you for opening my soda before you handed it to me."
"No problem. I just thought you'd have trouble doing it one handed."
"True. I'm not a southpaw," confirmed Spencer, noting her right arm was still immobilized in a sling from her recent injuries. "But I'll be honest with you. Sometimes I have trouble with people being nice to me."
"Oh?" asked Eric, concerned, as he looked up from his soda.
"After Bower's last attack, the one that left the physical scars you saw on my feet and... other places," began Spencer, recalling the time they spent at her house Friday night when he got to see her nude and Eric was in just a bathrobe because his rain soaked clothes were in the Lawson family dryer, "people started treating me like I was more fragile than Humpty Dumpty. Always going overboard to care for me and make sure I wasn't hurt again, but I didn't need all that. If it's one thing my dad has done right, it's to raise me so I can take care of myself."
Eric thought about that for a moment. Spencer didn't know that her father had loaned him a copy of the Virginia police report, so that he now knew everything that previously happened to her. That fact was something Eric quickly realized he could never tell her because, despite recovering from new injuries in a hospital bed, here was Spencer Lawson telling him that no matter what happened to her, she was still a normal person/were and wanted to be treated as such.
"I know that," was his response. "In fact, you could probably teach me a thing or two on that subject. But there is something you have to understand about me," said Eric, standing up and setting his soda bottle on the rolling table by her bed. "I grew up in a household where, regardless of anything else that was going on, my parents continue to love each other and express that love in a lot of minor and major ways even before gaining the life/mate bond of becoming werefoxes together. That's the way I was raised and the only way I know how to treat a lady. So you will be getting another e-get well card from me tomorrow morning. Once you're out of here and we're actively dating again, don't be surprised if I hold a door open for you or pull out your chair before you sit down because that's just me saying I love you, not some stupid declaration that I think you're weak and can't take care of yourself."
The lower portion of Spencer Lawson's muzzle started to tremble as tears began to form in her eyes.
Not seeing any tissues anywhere nearby, Eric reached out and wiped them off her facial fur with his bare hand.
Spencer smiled and then the two of them hugged each other the best they could considering her arm sling.
They were still in a loving embrace when Martha Anderson came back to the room because it was time to go home.