Backtracking a bit...
"Doctor Twist?" began her trusted office assistant Rudy over the intercom. "Not only is your 11 o'clock appointment here, but Melissa Stovall just walked in looking VERY distraught!"
"I'll be right out," replied Doctor Frances Twist. She knew Julie Stovall's trial on Statute 1A* charges was scheduled to begin at 10 that morning before the Elders' Council, but why her mother wasn't there was an unanswered question as she stepped out of her private office where she actually saw patients and walked into the waiting room of her practice.
Looking over the situation, she walked over to her 11 AM appointment and said, "Mister Johnson, do you mind if I take her first? It looks like an emergency situation."
After he agreed, Frances walked over to Melissa Stovall, who was sitting in a chair with one hand over her stomach and the other rapidly going through the box of tissues on the nearby end table, as her tears continued to flow.
"Melissa, why don't we go into my office for a bit?" offered Frances in a tender voice.
The lady only nodded, slowly rose from her chair and walked to the open office door.
Before she followed her inside, Frances turned to Rudy behind the counter and said, "If I'm not out in 15 minutes, reschedule Mister Johnson and make that appointment free of charge because of the inconvenience. If my noon shows up before we're out, call me."
Rudy simply nodded in acknowledgement of his instructions as Frances entered her private office and closed the door behind her.
Waiting for Melissa to speak, Frances sat down in the chair next to her instead of the one in the center of the room she usually occupied during therapy sessions.
"Why?" was the first word out of Melissa Stovall's mouth when she was finally able to compose herself a couple of minutes later.
Frances, not knowing with complete certainty what the question pertained to, waited for clarification.
"Why is Julie the way she is? Why does she hate everybody so?" Melissa wanted to know.
"I've only talked to her so far in relation to family counseling. Are you suggesting I should expand the scope of my conversations with her?" asked Frances in return, keeping her voice more calm than Melissa's.
"Of all the bone headed, brainless decisions she's made over the past weeks, Julie tried to attack Eric Anderson and Frieda Knight again! This time in front of the Council building when they got out of her uncle's car."
That came as a shock to Frances, and something she might need to talk to her wife, Town Chancellor and future Mayor Pro-tem Samantha Twist about soon. "I honestly don't know at this time Melissa," said Frances, leaning on their friendship to attempt calming the distraught woman. "While they wouldn't make any sense to anyone else, Julie obviously believes she has reason to do so."
"Are you saying that my daughter's insane?" asked Melissa in return. "What does that mean for our future child?" she demanded to know, referring to the fact that she was now less than two weeks pregnant.
"I was only saying that right now only Julie can answer that question. Where is she? At the Elders'?"
"Yes. After her asinine confrontation, Martin saw how upset I was and suggested I come here. However, I drove around for a while hoping to clear my head and not need to bother you, but obviously that didn't work."
"You're never a bother," said Frances, reaching out to hold her hand momentarily.
"You know he's been a real rock the last couple of days?" asked Melissa, as the first smile in a long time crossed her face. "We've had our problems in the past, but I honestly think he's finally gotten his act together and wants to save our marriage because he still loves me."
"That's good to hear," replied Frances, "and obviously something that will help you too in the long run."
"Yes. I certainly don't want to try raising another child as a single parent. I may do okay financially, but with no family to speak of, it would certainly be a tough swim in other areas," replied Melissa, a sly reference to the fact that she was also a were-mermaid.
"Well, that's obviously not a stream you have to worry about crossing anytime soon," pointed out Frances. "Any idea how the trial is proceeding? Or am I even allowed to ask that?"
At this point, Brett Smithson was arguing Julie's side of the first accusation of violating Statute 1A, while Stovall was about to enter the woman's restroom and commit murder as part of her escape attempt.**
"Don't know. They hadn't officially gotten underway when I left, and I was aimlessly driving around for well over an hour before coming here, but I don't get it. While we've never spoiled her, Julie's never wanted for anything in her whole life. Where did we go wrong?" wondered Melissa.
"Without the opportunity to talk to Julie first, I'm afraid I can't answer that question," replied Frances.
"When I first saw him in college, I honestly thought Martin was the one, which is why I never took you up on..."
"That's okay. You've been happy with him, and I love Samantha."***
"Except for his cheating, yes, I have," said Melissa. "He may not have always been a good husband, but Martin's always been a great parent. Even if Julie turns out to be a lost cause, we are NOT making the same mistakes with our next child."
"It's too soon to say with any certainty whether Julie truly is a lost cause or not," replied Frances, just as their cellphones started going off in unison.
Not knowing what it could be, Frances fished hers out of her suit jacket pocket as Melissa pulled hers out of her purse, but both women were in shock to see what the text display said.
WERE ALERT!
Not instantly making the connection between the warning and Julie Stovall, Frances started looking for more details, but Melissa's phone started chiming the arrival of a more traditional call.
Answering it, Melissa Stovall screamed then fainted, as Frances read the news of Julie's successful but murderous escape attempt.
Not wasting a second, Frances ran to and opened her office door before yelling, "RUDY! CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
Then she ran back to check on her friend as Rudy dialed 911.
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*“Statute 1A is a crime in which a were does, without consent and/or with malice of forethought, force to attempt to change a normal against their will to the attacking were’s species. Regardless if they are successful of not, the penalty upon conviction is a minimum mandatory fifty year sentence for each charge convicted thereof.”—Tachibana no Akane, from previous episode "Opening Arguments".
**Three episodes ago in ♫I ain't spending my life here, I ain't living alone♫
***Franknfurter69 previously hinted about this possibility WAY back in a previous private conversation between the ladies.—tmw.