Evening dinner at the Twist house was fairly quiet, though not without its own issues. Ben did fairly well with regard to his homework, mostly to make sure he didn't have a lot to do on Sunday before heading back to school and knowing that much of Saturday would be consumed by first the wedding and later the Halloween dance. Both Samantha and Frances came home to find him working on his homework. There followed the pretty standard questions on how everyone's day had gone, and for the most part, there had been no trouble during the day, but that didn't mean there was nothing to worry about.
Frances noticed it as she started getting dinner ready. As she arranged ingredients from the fridge to either cook them or get them ready to cook, she would look up to Samantha walk into the kitchen/dining area with her eyes focused forward and downward, likely indicating that she was deep in thought over something. Thankfully, the floor was clear, so that Samantha wouldn't trip over anything, but her pacing and focus were such that Frances could easily tell that Samantha wasn't thinking about something "lighthearted." Even Ben noticed to some extent as he looked up from the kitchen table to follow Samantha's path as she came into the kitchen/dining area and then went out. However, Ben turned back to his homework as Samantha made her way out and Frances couldn't really turn away from getting dinner ready, no matter how odd some of Samantha's pacing might be, as it'd potentially let dinner go bad.
This sort of thing continued on for awhile and only came to a stop when Frances pulled the baked pork chops out of the oven, letting the scent of cooked meat drift through the room. As Samantha came back into the kitchen on of her paces back and forth through the house, she caught the scent and couldn't ignore it. Her stomach almost reflexively gurgled at the scent as it did smell good. That served to remind her that she was hungry.
"That does smell good," Samantha spoke as she looked over to Frances.
"Dinner always does," Frances answered with a small smile as she watched Ben put his books and papers into his backpack and ultimately tossing the bag so that it was laying against the wall. It landed with a pretty loud thud, but didn't really distract Frances from getting dinner ready and keeping a focus on her wife, "Is something troubling you?"
"Hmm?" Samantha blinked, actually sounding a bit puzzled.
"You've been pacing the house ever since you got home," Frances pointed out, "the only time you ever do anything like that is when you're worried about something."
That got Samantha to stop sigh and then look down for a moment before briefly scratching the back of her head.
"Mostly just going over the security plans for the wedding tomorrow," Samantha said to Frances, "We think we have everything arranged... but, that doesn't mean something could still go horribly wrong."
Frances nodded as she moved to begin serving dinner. Samantha's answer was the obvious one, but given her work at city hall as the Town Chancellor, there was a lot that she had to worry over and not all of it was what would normally assumed. Normally, her work was often limited to welcoming new citizens to Moon Lake and helping them adjust to Moon Lake's laws and particularly the mandatory were law. That was often stressful enough as generally that sort of thing brought more negative reactions than positive ones and carried the very potential that Moon Lake would have to take someone's choices away with regard to being a were if they either tried to flee the town or outright refused to become a were willingly, which wasn't something anyone in Moon Lake really supported. A lot of it was too similar to the actions taken by rogues weres to often force themselves on others and was why Moon Lake held an unwanted transformation being the second more serious crime in Moon Lake with the most serious being murder. However, the city government tolerated those provisions as it was seen as a means to protect were secrecy, but that didn't make it any easier.
Outside of that, there wasn't that much that Samantha was tasked with regard to the city's official role in things. She'd handle certain security matters that related to the secrecy of weres and so on, but typically that sort of thing wasn't a problem. However, at the present time that was some concern with things that had gone on in the relatively recent past. Yvette Smith, a young werevixen at the college had become enamored and possessive of William Anderson and clawed him in the hopes of securing him as a mate. That created some chaos that had brought Yvette's actions to Frances and Samantha's door as they'd been befriending Martha Anderson and that the Andersons were their next door neighbors. In the end, things were worse when William rejected Yvette's advances and she went completely rogue, clawing Jennifer Harper in the process. With Jennifer's transformation came her engagement to Harold Jenkins and the present wedding that was so supposed to happen tomorrow morning.
"But I trust you have everything ready that you can do?" Ben asked to Samantha as Frances served his dinner and as Samantha sat down.
"Everything that I can think of," Samantha commented, "We've gotten a lot of volunteers for additional security, including several weres from your pack... Which is helpful, and whatever request you made..."
"Actually, it was Nate's idea, being civic minded and all that," Ben corrected one of his moms.
"And that's good of him," Frances commented and watched Samantha nod in agreement as she moved to sit down with her own dinner, "and should show that the town won't just let anyone cause needless trouble."
"But trouble has already BEEN caused," Samantha pointed out, "he had an agent that shot the groom's older brother thinking he'd shot the groom and we know that there is another agent coming with Wilhelm. There is every potential for things to go wrong."
There was a fairly eerie silence that followed. There was the sound forks and knives hitting the plate as they ate. Frances kept an eye on Samantha as she still looked rather downcast. That worried her, as Samantha did seem to agree that the extra help the city was getting with regard to security for the wedding was a good thing, but Samantha's actions demonstrated a great deal more worry than what she thought would be there given the overall situation. That in the end worried Frances, as she'd always seen Samantha as the stronger of the two of them in many ways. Ben didn't say anything and simply ate. After awhile he finished, he stood up.
"Well, I'm sure you have everything planned out," Ben said to Samantha, "and you've never let the city down before, mom."
"Thank you, Ben," Samantha said simply.
"Can I...?" Ben began nervously, glancing between Frances and Samantha.
"Go on," Frances urged, "though, you will have your curfew tonight so that we can all go to the first wedding tomorrow."
Ben nodded and then made his way out toward the backdoor. Frances, kept her focus on Samantha. Eventually the backdoor shut, and she then focused her attention on Samantha to ask the question that addressed the proverbial elephant in the room.
"You've done a lot, Samantha," Frances said reaching for her wife's hands, "and you've even said to me that there has been enough eyes and ears and between the Skulk's security forces, the male Talbots, and the volunteers from Ben's pack... and that's in ADDITION to the police. Even if certain things are delayed, the odds of Dieter Wilhelm actually succeeding in whatever plot he has is next to nothing. He might not even get through the door."
"But we can't be sure of that," Samantha answered, "We didn't expect the guy to sand any agents to Moon Lake, and he's sent at least two... and he has another either coming with him or meeting him when he arrives in Seattle."
"And when they enter the church, they'll be arrested," Frances said to her.
"That's the plan, but what if he pulls something we haven't thought of?" Samantha answered, "What if he just opens up with an Uzi or something from outside the church? What if Jenny's father is actually in on it and is just as armed as Wilhelm?"
"I doubt he'd go so far as to shoot up the church from the outside," Frances spoke, "Wilhelm wants Jenny as his own, and while the whole "if I can't have her, no one will" is possible, criminals that go to that generally don't jump to that when they think they have a chance of actually getting what they want. Wilhelm would only make that jump if he comes face to face with Jenny and she tells him "no." By that point... police or security forces will have both Wilhelm and his henchman in custody."
"And what of her father?" Samantha asked, "what if we've overlooked something and he's jumped to the decision to kill her for disobedience?"
"Well that is theoretically possible," Frances admitted, "but not likely. And even if he does, he'd be stopped before he could actually succeed, given all the security being gathered around the wedding. The only real confrontation that is likely to go on is the head to head "talk" that Jenny will need to have with her father to assert her independence and essentially put her past behind her."
"But there's already been so much that has been done... things that have done harm to Moon Lake," Samantha answered, "we've done a lot to protect Jenny, but we can't accurately predict everything and there's just so much that could happen..."
Frances frowned and then stood up. As she did so, she approached Samantha, she noted that Samantha was only stared at her empty plate. Frances carefully reached down and gripped Samantha by her shoulders. Frances helped her wife up so that both were standing up.
"This isn't so much about the threats that might occur, is it?" Frances asked as she looked Samantha in the eyes, "this is about the fact that Wilhelm has already pulled tricks..."
"Part of my job is to help keep Moon Lake safe," Samantha said weakly, "keep us from being exposed and put together plans that help serve to protect Moon Lake... and..."
Samantha then collapsed into Frances' arms. Frances held Samantha to her, and while both were in their human forms, Frances purred to try and provide some comfort Samantha.
"...and I failed," Samantha said weakly.
"You haven't failed," Frances spoke, "you couldn't know about what this Dieter Wilhelm would do, and you aren't in law enforcement. The fact that Wilhelm has sent agents here is NOT your fault and that these agents have tried things were not your fault. Wilhelm has pulled some surprises, but you've helped put together ideas to handle all possible contingencies and learning from the mistakes and the surprises from what Wilhelm has done. There is a lot that could happen... but Sam... you are the smartest woman I know and there is NO ONE else I would trust with Moon Lake's security with. I'd say the plan that you and the city government have put together will more than handle the worst possibilities before they can even begin... Because, you are the smartest woman I know."
"Really?" Samantha asked, actually forming a weak smile.
"Really," Frances answered, purring as she did so, even while in her human form. She then began to lead Samantha toward their bedroom.
"What about the dishes?" Samantha asked.
"We can handle that tomorrow morning," Frances answered.