"Why are my parents so stubborn and pig headed?" Frances Twist wailed between tears, staring at her wife and greatest love. "What we have is real. Why can't they accept it?"
"I don't know honey. I just don't know," answered Samantha Twist, who could only hold Frances close and let her cry. The shoulder of Samantha's outfit was getting soaked, but she didn't care. All Samantha was worried about was taking care of Frances.
"If it matters, dad just disowned me for standing up for you, and he doesn't even know about my attempt to get us all together for Christmas," revealed her brother Samson Carter.
"What?" exclaimed Frances, turning to look at him. "This is ridiculous! What is going through whatever passes for his mind right now?"
"Wish I knew," admitted Samson. "I think he's gone deeper into religious fervor with mom getting sick."
"Come on honey," began Samantha. "I'll take you home. We'll have a nice, soothing bubble bath and—"
"NO!" exclaimed Frances, breaking away from her wife. "This ends now!" she declared, while getting up with more speed than Samantha or Samson thought and leaving the hospital chapel before they could stop her.
But their new chase only went as far as the closest Nurses' Station, where they found Frances addressing those on duty. "I'm Doctor Frances Twist," she said proudly, while holding up her ID. "I'd like to know how my mother, Angelica Carter is doing."
"Just a moment Doctor Twist," replied the nurse, before turning to her computer.
A few button pushes later and the answer was, "Angelica Carter just came out of surgery. Unfortunately, we had to do a total hysterectomy, but the attending surgeon's confident he got all the ovarian cancer out of her system and Mrs. Carter should make a full recovery in time. They'll be taking her back to her room within a couple of hours."
"Good. Moon Lake Hospital has an e-greeting card system for patients. Correct?" asked Frances.
"Yes ma'am. Would you like to send your mother one? She should get it tomorrow morning."
"Definitely," was Frances' reply, before the nurse escorted her to a public terminal.
Samantha and Samson could only follow, scratching their heads and wondering what Frances was up to as the nurse logged Doctor Twist in and set her up to send a card to Angelica Carter.
"You only have a 140 characters like Twitter. Just hit send when you're done," explained the nurse.
"Thank you," said Frances, as the nurse walked away. Then she began to type.
MOM. WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST. CAN’T VISIT BECAUSE FATHER HAS DISOWNED BOTH SAMSON AND MYSELF. HAVE A GREAT LIFE ALONE.—LOVE, FRANCES TWIST
With that, she pushed 'send', then turned to face Samantha and Samson.
"Now you can take me home beloved," Frances said with a smile, walking into Samantha's arms before she started crying again.
MEANWHILE...
With nothing else to do, Alyssa Cooper had fallen asleep in her jail cell when a loud noise startled her.
She awoke and looked up from her bunk to see her cousin and town Sheriff Douglas Cooper inside her cell, staring at her. There was a deputy standing in the open doorway, so even if she was foolish enough to attempt it, Alyssa knew there was no hope of escaping.
"Got a couple of questions for you cousin," said the Sheriff, still staring at her.
"Go ahead," she replied, sitting up to stare at him in return.
"Who's the brown haired werecat you shared Brian Walker with last week?"
Alyssa was about to speak when she realized what her cousin had said. So the kid was smart enough not to tell you everything, huh dear cousin? With that, Alyssa simply shrugged her shoulders and remained silent.
"How much did you get paid for setting up his audition?" the Sheriff wanted to know.
Is that what he called it? Walker's smarter than I thought. Alyssa simply shrugged her shoulders again.
"Why would you want to set Brian Walker up as a gigolo?" her cousin demanded to know.
This question Alyssa did answer. "Because the kid told me what he and his mother are going through since that jerk she married ran off on them. They needed the money and it's a fun way to earn a buck."
"You do know that prostitution is illegal, right?"
"So's what that bastard did to them. Abandoning his family, taking everything that wasn't nailed down, and leaving them with a ton of debt in the process," pointed out Alyssa. "Besides, who said I got paid?"
"So that afternoon during the storm in the motel room was just some kind of audition?" asked the Sheriff, rephrasing his earlier question in hopes of catching his cousin in a lie.
"If that's what you want to call it," replied Alyssa. Brian, next time I can safely see you, you're getting a night of fucking you won't forget for a mighty long time to come, she thought, while her face betrayed no emotion whatsoever.
Knowing his cousin the way he did, Douglas Cooper knew what few answers Alyssa had given were truthful, but he also knew that there was a whole lot more to the story that she had yet to tell.
"Okay. Why did you want Brian to use his computer skills to have Mayor Martin Stovall legally declared dead?"
This time, Alyssa just simply shrugged her shoulders again and remained silent. If you haven't figured that one out cousin, I'm not gonna clue you in.
Not liking the silence and the lack of cooperation, Sheriff Cooper simply turned around and left his cousin's cell.
The deputy locked the door and followed.
Rounding the first corner back toward the exit, the duo stopped and met the prosecuting attorney, who had stayed out of sight and listened in on the Coopers' conversation.
"So, how do we proceed from here?" the Sheriff asked.
"No evidence on the potential prostitution charge, since Walker said he never saw any money exchange hands," replied the attorney. "With all the parties involved being active weres and the sex occurring in Moon Lake's town limits, technically it was legal despite involving a minor. Even if we could put her on trial, the family's background is well known and might get your cousin the jury's sympathy for trying to help. The part about wanting the Mayor declared legally dead is more serious, but since Brian turned himself in and revealed the plot before anything happened, it's a he said/she said situation at best."
"The kid was nervous and did the right thing, as far as I'm concerned," said Sheriff Cooper.
"Didn't say Brian Walker was in any trouble. Only stating where our case is at: the toilet. A good defense lawyer could get it all flushed down the drain in less than 10 minutes as it stands right now," pointed out the prosecutor. "Best advice is, unless your adamant about the breaking and entering and trespassing charges, run your cousin out of town as fast as you can and threaten more serious charges if you ever catch her in Moon Lake again."
"Can I keep her overnight and let her stew awhile?" wondered Cooper.
"As long as you either have her appear before a judge for arraignment or release her within 24 hours of being arrested, be my guest," replied the prosecutor, as the three men left the holding cell facilities, leaving Alyssa Cooper to sit and fret about her future overnight.