To blackjack88: as a contributor to Julie Stovall's life across the various Moon Lake threads, I just could not bring myself to kill the character off outright. Glad you like current events in her life. But while I know where we are within the original/Earth-1 story threads, where are we in regards to the calendar? Before Halloween? Before Christmas? After New Year's Day 2016?—tmw.
Now, back to our story in progress...
"Now, if I may ask, what are your intentions towards my daughter?" Anna O'Sullivan asked Eric Anderson, to which she heard an audible gulp from both children as they stared wide eyed at her.
"Truthfully? I don't know," admitted Eric, turning his head back and forth between Cassie and her mother. "I just met her last night. All I told the pack alpha when he asked who I wanted to induct me was female. Ben Twist chose your daughter specifically, because I suspect he was trying to play matchmaker between us. I admit that I'm starting to find her intelligent, intriguing, charming, cute," he said, blushing, "and a few other things that I can't really put words to right now. While it's all positive, my head, my heart, and my new fursona are all telling me slightly different things, so I'm still trying to sort it out myself."
"I see. Well, you're honest," conceded Anna. "You've only been a werewolf less than a day now," she said, noting that it was just now sundown outside. "I can tell you from first hand experience, when a were turns a normal, they form a sort of bond between them. Most of the time it's just friendship, and nothing more comes of it. When I turned George, that night was magical for both of us, and I took my name off the availability list and married Cassie's father within six months of first meeting him. He later told me that the only reason he initially picked me was that I was the only red head present that night, so if he was going to lose his virginity and become a werewolf, he might as well do it with style," Mrs. O'Sullivan recalled with a smile.
"Mom, are you saying..." began her daughter.
"What I'm saying young lady is that whether or not the two of you want to pursue a relationship is your decision, but you have my blessing. I can see why Ben did what he did, and I'll have to thank him for it later. You two have both survived the tragic loss of your fathers, and have decided to dedicate yourselves to helping others. Cassie wanting to be a doctor while Eric's desire to be a police man are both noble callings, and there is no way I would talk either of you out of it even if I had a chance to do so. Yet if you had continued along your chosen career paths as is, you would have become so obsessed you both would have forgotten one very important thing. Your own happiness!" revealed Anna.
Cassie and Eric looked at each other, and then back to Mrs. O'Sullivan in disbelief as she continued speaking. "Like I said, whether or not the two of you want a relationship, let alone whether or not it actually works out is just between you. All I ask is three things. One: no wedding until at least after high school graduation. Two: no grandchildren until after you've both been working in your new careers for at least a year, so that means you're staying on the werewolf birth control pill for at least another decade Cassie Margaret O'Sullivan," said her mother, which caused her daughter to start blushing in embarrassment redder than her hair.
"And three, that the two of you give each other all the love and respect you so richly deserve," said Anna in a much softer tone of voice. "Now, I'll be back in a couple of minutes with dessert. Hope you like vanilla ice cream Eric. It's Cassie's favorite and all I had in the freezer." With that, Mrs. O'Sullivan left the room.
"So. Vanilla, huh? I'm partial to chocolate chip cookie dough myself," said Eric.
"Don't you think we have more important stuff to discuss than ice cream?" asked Cassie.
"You're right," agreed Eric, turning in his chair to face her directly. "Like I told your mother, I honestly don't know how I feel about you right now Cassie. Part of me really wants to find out if there could be something between us. Part of me is saying I should stick to my plan of becoming a police officer while you become a doctor, but now we have both your mother and Ben telling us that all work and no play, let alone no love isn't a good thing. And I'll also admit that there's a small part of me that's still worried about Julie Stovall and will probably always be concerned about her to some extent, but that portion of my life not only appears to be over since I became a werewolf, but is rapidly growing smaller the longer I'm with you," confessed Eric. "But this isn't my decision alone to make. Tell me what you want and I'll abide by whatever you decide."
Anna O'Sullivan couldn't help but smile when she came back into the dining room with three bowls of ice cream, for her daughter Cassie was sitting in Eric Anderson's lap anxiously kissing him while he returned each smooth with a growing passion of his own.