On the way to the hospital, Mel couldn't help be worried. Was her dad ok? Was he horribly scarred? Despite the assurances of Megumi, Mel's mind was racked with worries, and the assurances did little to calm her mind. When the car pulled into the parking lot and the engine turned off, Mel practically launched herself out of the car and almost ran into the hospital. She took a moment to speak with Henry Jenkins Sr.
While Melissa was in the waiting room talking to Henry Jenkins, Harold was in an examination room. He could hear his daughter's voice as well as smell her scent all the way down the hall. Not wanting to necessarily scare his daughter, he decided to shift back to his new normal self. And being back to normal, Harold found it easier to cover himself and preserve his modesty. He barely got himself back into bed when he heard Mel's footsteps rapidly approaching the room.
It wasn't long before he was tackled into a hug by a familiar red-headed girl. "Dad, I heard that you were in a hospital, and that you got hurt, and...and...and..." she started between sniffs.
"Shhh..." Harold said quietly. "It's ok. The doctors have given me a ninety percent chance that I'll...that I'll..."
Mel looked up at her dad with a most serious expression on her face, "That you'll what?"
"That I'll be able to walk out of here in the next hour or so," Harold replied, a grin forming on his face. Mel responded with a punch to the arm, but a smile on her face. She could see some of her old dad back, and she was grateful.
She looked up at him and examined him a little closely. His balding head was replaced by a head full of red hair. The wrinkles that were around his mouth and eyes were gone, and his face had a youthful glow. "Wow, dad, they really did a number on you. I mean, no scars or anything. What happened?"
"Well, it's a bit of a long story. But to make it short, I learned that you should never step between two weres fighting. I ended up getting scratched, and apparently that's all it takes."
"So does that mean..."
"Yeah, apparently I have a new fur coat. Fortunately, it was Virginia that scratched me and not Alice. So, now I'm a weretiger."
Mel took a few moments to process all this and then asked, "What does this mean? For you? For us? For me?"
"Well," he said after thinking a little, "It means that I guess we're now in compliance with that law, and neither one of us has to worry about being transformed against our will. And if you want to stay normal, you can now." He sighed as he stretched out his hand and examined it for a bit. "Although, this isn't exactly how I imagined things would go."
Mel grinned and said, "Well, to be honest, I don't think either one of us was imagining become a were." She took in a moment to examine her dad before asking, "So, how does it feel?"
"Well, to be honest, it feels kinda good to change. I feel so much stronger now, and better. I see life so much differently now than I did before." He looked at his daughter and asked, "And how about you? Last I heard, you were still trying to decide what group to join."
"Well," Mel said as she looked off to the side. "To be honest, before I heard you were in the hospital, I was thinking about becoming a werecow. I was going to tell you later tonight, but seeing as we're here."
"I see," Harold said as he looked at her. "And I take it Trevor might have something to do with it." She nodded indicating agreement. He sighed and said, "Figures. Although I'm not one to talk. If things went forward with Virginia, I'd probably become a weretiger anyway." He gently lifted his daughter's chin to look at her eyes. "Are you sure you want this?" he asked.
Mel sighed and said, "If you're asking if I'm 100% postive that I want to do this, the answer is no, but I don't think I'll ever get to that point until after I change. But of all the choices out there, this is one that I think I want to go with."
Harold sat back, folded his arms, and closed his eyes in thought. "All right," he said after a few minutes. "We'll see about getting you birth control pills once I can leave. But I'll be expecting you to wait till tomorrow before you think about changing. If you change your mind, let me know."
She smiled at him and hugged him saying, "Thanks, dad."
He smiled as he returned the hug saying, "I love you, dear."
She looked up at him and said, "I love you too, dad." Internally, though, she started to think second thoughts about her own decision.