Frances Twist parked the Anderson family car in their driveway, completing her immediate duty to her friend and sister werecat Martha.
As they got out of the car, Frances was surprised to see her wife Samantha running towards them from their house next door.
"Is it true?" asked Samantha, as she hugged Martha.
"Yes!" said Martha with a smile. "I'm pregnant. William's last child. It's a girl, although it's too soon to tell if she'll be 100% werecat or a feline/vulpine mix. Conceived either the night before or the morning of his death," confirmed Martha, as Samantha continued to hold her close as Frances walked around the car to join them. "With everything that was going on with that damn rogue werevixen, I must have forgotten to take my werecat birth control pill that morning, because I know I haven't taken one since Yvette Smith killed my husband." Who knows what that would have done to the baby? she didn't say aloud.
"Well, whatever the explanation, I'm so happy for you," said Samantha, before giving Martha a very passionate kiss.
Frances waited a moment before saying "Ahem," to which the other ladies blushed a bit as they separated.
Then Frances turned and gave Martha a passionate kiss, before turning around and giving her wife a similar experience.
"Now then, at some point I promised Martha we would celebrate Wilma's impending arrival," said Frances, while hugging both women.
"Most definitely!" agreed Samantha, not commenting on the name, because even though he was trying to change his ways at the time of his death, Samantha still had issues with William Anderson. "I'm just not sure we can do it until after the Stovalls get back from Seattle with Julie."
"That's okay. I still have to break the news to Kat, because I'm still uncertain whether or not I want to have any kind of a relationship with her after I finish my substitute coaching gig at the junior high this week to begin with, let alone have no idea how being pregnant will affect that now. And of course I still need to tell the boys when they come home from school," said Martha, looking at her wristwatch and seeing it was now after 5 pm.
"Don't worry. I can help you with that last part," said Samantha, while reaching inside her suit jacket for her cellphone.
MEANWHILE...
The Homework Study Group, for lack of a better name, convened at Cassie O'Sullivan's house after school that day.
Nate and Eric Anderson, along with driver Ben Twist and Nate's boyfriend Alex Ramsey all sat around the O'Sullivan dining room table to do their homework and help each other out where they could.
Ben privately wished Sasha could join them, but she was picked up immediately by her mother when school let out, because she had an afternoon babysitting gig.
They were about to break up and head their separate ways, although Ben suspected Eric might hang around the O'Sullivan house a bit for some "private time" with Cassie, when his cellphone chimed it had a text message.
Reaching inside his shirt to pull out the over sized lanyard he wore around his neck with the cellphone on it (convenient for whenever he changed to his much larger werewolf fursona), Ben checked the message, then showed it to Nate and Eric.
IF U'R STILL WITH NATE & ERIC, BRING THEM HOME IMMEDIATELY! ALL'S WELL, BUT THEIR MOM NEEDS TO TALK TO THEM.—SAMANTHA.
"Any idea what that's about?" Nate asked his brother as they prepared to leave.
"Nope. But it says everything's all right. Just that mom needs to talk to us about something," pointed out Eric.
"Sorry you have to leave honey," Cassie told Eric as she walked everyone to the front door. "I was hoping we could go upstairs to my room and..." she whispered in his ear.
"Me too," Eric said with a smile before kissing her. "Definitely tomorrow," he promised, before leaving.
ELSEWHERE...
Arthur Curtis was nervous as he stood in the open doorway of Julie Stovall's hospital room in Seattle.
His brother was waiting for him elsewhere in the hospital, while the Stovalls had checked into a nearby local motel room to attempt getting some much needed rest.
For all intents and purposes, the two of them were alone together for the first time in their respective lives. Arthur hoped this wouldn't be their last private moment together, but that all the future ones were under much better circumstances.
Julie was asleep at the moment, but it was odd seeing her just lie there in that hospital bed, connected to all that monitoring equipment with her head completely shaved and wrapped in bandages and gauze.
So unlike the real her, and why haven't I noticed the REAL her before now? he wondered, quietly walking into her room.
Arthur set the potted plant he brought down on her tray table, for he didn't see the practicality of bringing cut flowers that would die in a few day's time.
The noise of the bottom of the pot touching the table surface must have disturbed Julie, for she started to stir.
"I'm thirsty," she said in a somewhat horse voice.
Seeing the plastic water cup with a straw in it sitting next to the accompanying plastic pitcher on the tray table, Arthur poured Julie a small glass and brought the straw to her ruby lips.
Where did that thought come from? he asked himself, as Julie sipped water. Although her lips, just like the rest of Julie Stovall, were beautiful...
"A-Arthur?" she asked, opening her eyes and becoming aware of who was in the room with her.
"Yes?" asked Arthur in return, as he set the glass back on the tray table.
"Please come closer. There's something I need to tell you," revealed Julie.
Not knowing what it could be, Arthur leaned closer to Julie's face.
AT THE NURSE'S STATION...
Doctor Mera Curry became alarmed when the monitor signals from Julie Stovall's room started reporting highly elevated body readings.
Concerned, she rushed over to Julie's room, but stopped in the open doorway.
There, laying in bed, Julie Stovall had her arms wrapped around Arthur Curtis' neck and shoulders the best she could under the circumstances with the IV drip tube and monitoring equipment; kissing the boy passionately.
This was a good sign to Doctor Curry that her patient was doing better.
The fact that Curtis was returning Julie's kisses gave Curry hope that whatever was going through Julie's mind, it no longer involved Eric Anderson and that the mental/emotional trauma caused by Anderson becoming a werewolf instead of a were-merman so he could eventually join the Moon Lake police department was something that would now be dead and buried in Julie Stovall's past, if she even remembered the incident at all.
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For those curious:
With the Numbers Lock of your keyboard on:
Hold ALT while pressing 0151 on the numbers pad gets you the long dash —
Hold ALT while pressing 0150 on the numbers pad gets you the short dash –
Hold ALT while pressing 14 on the numbers pad gets you ♫
Hold ALT while pressing 13 on the numbers pad gets you ♪
<> with a small i inside starts italics text while </> with a small i inside after the / indicates the end of what you want italicized
Replacing the small i's with small b's in that last sentence gets you bold text
And "Where The Boys Are" has been the title of a song, a book, and a movie all on the same subject from the early 1960s.—tmw.