Frances Twist yawned and stretched, coming awake to greet another Thursday morning.
A quick look around the master bedroom she shared with her wife didn't reveal any signs of Samantha around or even in the house to her acute werecat senses.
Frances almost went into a panic when she saw the clock radio on the nightstand proclaim it was after ten that morning.
Then she saw the note next to the clock radio.
Picking it up with one paw, Frances instantly recognized her wife's handwriting.
Hello Sleepy Head, it began.
You're as beautiful asleep as you are awake. Considering the long hours you've been putting in between here and Seattle dealing with Julie Stovall's brain aneurysm, I let you sleep in because I'm not going to risk the love of my life falling asleep behind the wheel and hurting herself. Already called your office. Rudy was supposed to clear your schedule until sometime this afternoon.
Frances reached for her cellphone with her free paw, but stopped to read the rest of the note first.
If you can, call me and we'll have brunch. Am definitely looking forward to our next "dessert" and when your exclusively mine and Moon Lake's again.
Then Frances saw the note was signed, As ever, yours! with a simple S underneath for Samantha.
A quick call to her office revealed that her office assistant Rudy had indeed rearranged her schedule once more. "You're totally cleared for today, but I'm afraid I couldn't give you any free time tomorrow."
"Oh well, but despite the fact this has been an emergency and everyone's been so cooperative, I'm going to have to make it up to them somehow," observed Frances.
"Short of seeing patients the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, which would cancel your winter vacation break* with Samantha and Ben, I don't see how," replied Rudy over the phone, while looking at her calendar.
"Dang," said Frances, the closest she ever came to cussing, publicly. "Well, we'll work something out in time," she promised Rudy, "but I can't do that without talking to my wife and son first." Besides, we weren't actually going anywhere. We just wanted the time alone as a family.
"How much longer will you have to travel between here and Seattle?" asked a concerned Rudy.
"Hopefully Julie will be back in Moon Lake by next weekend, but under the circumstances, will have to spend a few days at the hospital here before being released to convalesce at home," was Frances' reply, knowing that they still had to conduct what her doctors referred to as "The Anderson Experiment" before they would consider sending Julie back home.
"Well, if you need anything..." said Rudy.
"I'll call you," promised Frances, before ending the call.
Defurring and resuming her regular human appearance, a nude Frances Twist went to the bathroom to take a shower before getting dressed for the day.
Meeting Samantha for brunch would be great, but she also had to talk to Martha Anderson to get her permission for Eric's involvement in their experiment testing Julie's current mental state and well being, provided she could also get Arthur Curtis' parents (although Frances didn't know at the moment that the teenager was being raised by a widowed father) to allow him to participate too, because everything hinged on both boys.
But thinking about her wife and the promise of a future serving of dessert made Frances linger in the shower far longer than she should have.
She would still be able to meet Samantha for brunch, but contacting all the adults involved for their sons' cooperation would have to be postponed until that afternoon.
Then again, it was a much needed and quite enjoyable private Jilling session in the shower.
Physician, heal thyself, she chuckled, while drying herself off.
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*The Andersons moved to Moon Lake the week before Labor Day weekend. School started the Tuesday after Labor Day, and William unfortunately died defending his family against the rogue werevixen Yvette Smith in Earth-3 continuity around October 1st. Considering all the stressful events going on in their lives at that time, Martha forgot to take her werecat birth control pill that fateful morning and now finds herself pregnant with her late husband's last child and nearing the end of her first trimester. To our cast, it is now December 17th, the last Thursday before Christmas 2015. Moon Lake schools will be letting out for their winter break at the end of classes tomorrow, Friday December 18th. Eric will be attending Cassie O'Sullivan's 15th birthday party that Saturday, and schools resume January 4th, 2016 Moon Lake time.—A Masked Writer Who Does His Research!