Martin and Melissa Stovall were getting ready for bed, after having checked on their suspended from school daughter Julie, who was serious trouble with the law and facing her initial day in court Wednesday morning with her arraignment hearing. But Julie was already asleep for the night, something they were preparing to do as well.
"Melissa," began Martin tentatively, while getting into bed, "there's something I need to discuss with you."
"Oh?" she replied, looking at her husband closely. A lot had happened of late, most of it far from good in their marriage, but deep down the two of them still loved each other and were trying to work things out, especially Martin, who had committed most, if not all of the errors.
"Yes," he said, sitting up in bed but looking directly at her. "I know I have a lot to atone for. Most of it in hopes of earning your forgiveness and preserving our marriage, especially since you're now pregnant again," added Martin, while reaching out to hold her hand. "But I need your opinion on something."
"What?" asked Melissa, wondering what it could be.
"When the time comes next year, I'm uncertain whether or not I should run for re-election as Mayor of Moon Lake."
This came as a shock to Melissa, for one thing her husband had done right over all their years together was being the best mayor he could possibly be, looking out for the best interests of weres and normals alike. "Why would you not run again? You've been the best mayor Moon Lake has seen in decades. You actually have the budget balanced again. Something that hasn't happened since the near economic collapse the country experienced during the George W. Bush administration where most of the banks and other major businesses were 'too big to fail'."
"I know, but first there's the strain being Mayor has put on our marriage over the years that I've never acknowledged before now. Which in turn gave me more opportunities than I should of had to cheat on you, let alone set a bad example for Julie, which could be part of the reason why she's turned out the way she has."
"While I can't totally disagree with that first part, our daughter is still young, so naturally she's bound to have made some bad choices in her life. Decisions whose consequences we have to face together as a family," pointed out Melissa.
"And I intend to stand by my family no matter what. Although we both know what we witnessed in school last week, especially when the Sheriff led her away in handcuffs and her parting words to Eric Anderson's parents."
"Part of that is on me too, and we'll just have to swim that stream when we come to it," said Melissa, making a sly reference to the fact that they were were-mers, despite the fact that neither of them were in their alternate forms at the moment.
"I want to be there more for our next child," said Martin, moving their joined hands to rest on Melissa's stomach, which was now carrying the days old fetus that would be their second bundle of joy sometime next year. "And hopefully to correct some of the problems I've made with Julie. Besides, like I said to her previously, for better or worse Julie is now a potential political liability to me. Whoever runs against me next year, provided I decide to seek re-election again, could try to make some kind of weird comparison between my failure as a parent to my failures in office. After all, we both know that being Mayor hasn't been easy, and that not everything I've hoped to accomplish in office has been achieved yet."
"Well, I think the best thing to do is wait and see how Julie's trial turns out. When would you have to officially make a decision one way or another?" asked Melissa.
"By next Spring, and either way, you know Benton Knight is going to try to cherry pick an opponent who he hopes will be a shoe in to beat whoever runs for my party," Martin reminded her.
"Do you really think that you won the last election just because Benton pulled his support after finding out the guy he was backing is gay?"
"If not for that, by all rights he should have won."
"Well, if you do decide not to run again, Moon Lake will be sorrier for the decision, but if that's the way you want to do it, maybe you should 'cherry pick' and endorse your own replacement," suggested Melissa. "Any idea who'd be ideal for the job?"
"Well, at first I was thinking Lance Knight, and not just because that would really piss Benton off," replied her husband. "But with him recently being named Benton's replacement on the Elders' Council to represent the werepanthers of Moon Lake, I'd have to find someone else, because whoever is Mayor cannot be both Mayor and a Council member too."
"I see. Well, it's still a few weeks before the end of the year, and Spring is still a couple of months away," Melissa reminded him. "I still think you should at least wait to see how Julie's trial turns out before making a formal decision, but I will tell you one thing that might help ease your burdens."
"What?" asked Martin, staring directly at his wife.
"Remember when I said that you had until Julie graduated high school to change your ways or I'd divorce you?"
"Yes," he replied, shuddering with dread at the thought of losing Melissa.
"Well, considering what I've seen the last few days, if you keep swimming properly on your current path, I'm willing to stay by your side until at least our second child graduates college, if not longer," she said with a smile, before kissing him.
"I'd love that darling. Despite how much of a chum head I've been in the past, I still love you Melissa Stovall," said Martin, holding her close.