Eric Anderson was helping his mother clean up after their dinner, when he suddenly said, "A tiger!"
"Huh?" asked Martha Anderson, wondering what her son was talking about.
"Cassie told me she loves the tigers, but every time her mom takes her to the Seattle Zoo, they freak out over her werewolf scent."
"I see. So hopefully Cassie doesn't already have a stuffed one someplace," replied his mother.
"No," said Eric confidently, recalling every inch of the O'Sullivan house he saw, especially Cassie's bedroom.
Not realizing the full implications of his answer, Eric couldn't understand why his mother was smiling at him all of a sudden.
"You kids are growing up so fast," was all she would say to him.
MEANWHILE...
"So, if I can ask, just how much of the future do the two of you have planned out?" wondered Peyton Ramsey, while staring at his son Alex and his boyfriend Nate Anderson.
"Well," began Alex, as the two teenagers looked at each other. "Because of his father's untimely passing, it took us longer than it should have to reach this point..." wondering how to say what needed to be said.
"That's understandable," agreed Alex's mother Shelley. "But now...?" she asked hopefully.
"Alex keeps talking about being a professional cook and opening his own place someday, but something more along the lines of the local diner than some fancy set up that it would take weeks just to get on a waiting list to be put on a waiting list," said Nate, picking up where Alex left off. "But I don't know what I want to do with my life professionally, I do love your son, dearly," he added, while grabbing his boyfriend's hand. "And while we won't be picking out china patterns or sending out invitations any time soon, I honestly cannot see anyone else in my life or heart but him."
Mister and Mrs. Ramsey turned to look at each other for a moment. Then they turned back to look at the boys as Shelley said, "Good!"
"What my wife means, besides the fact that we're happy for you both," began Peyton, "is that for better or worse, children never come with instruction books. In the end, you do the best you can to be the best parent you can be and raise the best child you possibly can."
"As you can imagine in our case, it was a little more difficult trying to raise Alex once we all discovered he was gay," added Shelley. "Not that we have anything against it, mind you. It is what it is. But trying to teach your child right from wrong is difficult enough without some people trying to tell you that what your son believes about himself is wrong too."
"Shelley's family live in and around the area, and most of them are weres too. The rest of the Ramseys live out of state, so they have no idea about Moon Lake," continued Alex's father. "That secret we've managed to successfully keep. My relatives just know we live here and are happy. But while Shelley's side of the family tree have been very accepting of Alex, at the last Ramsey family gathering, when Alex decided to come out, things... didn't go well."
"I see," was all Nate could say.
"I still can't believe my own flesh and blood would turn on him like that, but it doesn't matter now," said Peyton.
"Alex is happy. He has you, and as long as the two of you treat each other well with all the love and respect you deserve, you have our blessing," added Shelley, while reaching over to give Nate a kiss on the cheek. "Welcome to the family son," she said, as Nate actually began to blush and Alex wondered if he was going to start crying.