Samantha and Frances both felt a great deal of personal relief once they were finally able to drop the Harpers off at Henry and Lisa Jenkins' home. James Harper Jr. had been polite and Janice had seemed quite interested with weres, weremers in particular, which wasn't a bad thing, but the issues with Elizabeth Harper had been trying. Especially given that they had likely come from James Harper Sr. and that despite everything, Elizabeth Harper didn't seem to have the will to think for herself. Frances could tell that her wife was essentially tired with the entire situation.
"Well... on the bright side... it would look as though things should be fine for Jenny and Harry... and Jenny's siblings are on her side," Frances commented reaching across the car to touch Samantha's shoulder.
Samantha, despite being in her human form, almost purred at the contact. Frances voice was soft and reassuring and her and was strong yet gentle. It was something that made her feel a lot better and let her breathe a sigh of relief.
"Yes," Samantha nodded, "a shame that we couldn't do more with regard to the paper work today... but..."
"It'll all work out in the end," Frances assured her, "You know that. All we can do is look for a little fun..."
Samantha glanced for a moment over her shoulder and looked to Frances before returning to the road. She did notice many of the Halloween decorations that were out already. It did remind her of the day and what normally came with Halloween. Parents with little kids took them trick or treating and the High School put on its dance and party that the whole town had soon gotten in on. Those were the normal things that happened on Halloween, regardless on whether or not the town was populated by were-beasts.
"And what did you have in mind, dear?" Samantha wondered.
"Well... I was thinking... maybe we could call in on Jen... Jen Decker, see how she's doing and see if she'd like to come to the dance," Frances commented, "I know you go as a chaperone... but..."
"Are you afraid she's going to become something of a shut in?" Samantha asked.
"She took Jeff's death hard, you could see that from our pride picnic," Frances answered, "In a way... getting her out of the house for more than just her job search and errands would be a good thing for her. And the dance should provide enough fun to get all the stress that dealing with the Harpers off of your shoulders. It'd be good for both you."
"Well... I suppose you have a good idea," Samantha smiled, "that could be fun... Though we'll head home first and let Ben know we're okay... not to mention that neither of us have a costume ready..."
"Costumes was never the issue," Frances chuckled, "If need be we can simply go as we TRULY are."
Samantha nodded at that continued on their way home. As they pulled onto the driveway, they soon heard a door open and turned to see Ben coming back over from the Andersons. Samantha had barely gotten out of the car when she was pulled into a strong hug from her adopted son. As Frances came around the car, she too, was given the same friendly greeting.
"I'm glad you two are okay," Ben said to them.
"Hopefully things didn't worry you too much," Frances smiled to him and straightened his hair for a moment. She could remember him being worried about them as well, and it was touching.
"Things got a bit better there when Mr. Anderson got back," Ben answered, "said that James Harper Sr. had a heart attack and Wilhelm was arrested shortly after walking in the door."
"Yes, it was an... anxious second ceremony," Samantha spoke, "but things turned out well enough. Harper Sr. will live, but the doctor's said he'll be very weak for quite a while and Jenny did assert herself well, and her siblings took her side. On that front, all we can do now is wait."
"I'm just glad you both made it out okay," Ben answered as the three began to head in.
"We are too," Frances smiled, "So... do you have any plans with Kenya?"
"We are going to the dance... yeah," Ben answered, "there will be time for me to shower....?"
"They'll be time for everybody if you go quickly," Frances answered, "Samantha and I will be taking Jen Decker... let her get out of the house and give all of us some fun to unload the unneeded stress."
"I'll be quick," Ben promised.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Next door, the Andersons also were in the process of getting ready. Alex had gone home to get changed for the dance with one "warning" to Nate that his costume better be good while Martha set about getting Eric's costume ready. As Eric came home and was scooted upstairs by Martha, William set about getting things ready for trick or treaters. They had bought a fair number of party packs of candy and so on. So, while Martha worked with Eric's costume, William set about getting things ready. He retrieved a large metal bowl and moved a chair from the dining room so that it was right next to the front door. He then proceeded to tear open the party packs of candies and other snack foods and dumped them into the bowl. He finished by making sure things were appropriately mixed. In that things were ready.
"There," William said with pride, "all set for handing out candy."
He stepped back for a moment and looked out toward the front windows in the dinning room and could see that night was falling and the first street lights were coming on.
"And the bewitching hour arrives," William smiled with some mischief in his tone of voice and kicked off his shoes and socks, "And I can be me."
And as William got his socks off his feet, he began to transform as he pictured himself, his REAL self in his mind. A part of him wondered if every were felt this way, that their human form wasn't much more than a disguise and that who and what they truly were was anthropomorphic animal they could turn into. It might be something he and Martha could ask Frances when things had quieted down and the two families could have some more social interaction that didn't relate to responding to a crisis of some kind. As it was a sensation that William had felt ever since his transformation was completed. The strength of his bond to Martha and the almost pure joy of being a werefox. It seemed to reinforce everything that was good in him and good in his love for Martha. He loved it.
He felt his body warm up slightly as his fur blossomed out from his skin. In some places it itched a little under his clothes, but thankfully things were loose enough that his fur wasn't messed up by the fact that he was still dressed. Short claws pushed out from his fingertips and his toe tips and William soon felt himself rising up as if to stand on tip-toe as his feet lengthened to form a digitigrade stance. He could feel the cartilage in his ears reshape and expand as his ears became triangular and rose to the top of his head. At the same time he could soon feel the bones in his face shaping and cracking as they pushed forward into his narrow and pointed vulpine muzzle and he gave a few short barks and yips as it pushed out in front of his face. His transformation ended with his long fluffy brush like tail grew out behind him and William couldn't help but wag it as it grew.
"Much better," William smiled as he looked down at himself and then turned his right ear when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
He then turned to see Eric coming down the stairs looking quite pleased with himself in his Jacques Cousteau costume. He looked quite ready to head out.
"Ready to go?" William asked with a small smile.
"Pretty much," Eric answered, "I think we're just waiting for mom to check with Nate to see if he's ready."
William nodded. He and Martha had heard plenty about this dance, and both were intrigued by it, but between curiosity over what trick or treaters would dress up as and the fact that William and Martha would have some responsibility to play out the specific tricks the Skulk had come up with for Halloween, they really couldn't go to the dance. The best they could manage was that they would drop Eric and Julie off at the dance and get a look at it before heading back to tend to their "responsibilities." There was some idea about taking Nate and Alex as well, but that was more up in the air.
"Well... I think we have a few moments," William said to him.
"We don't need to wait," came Martha's voice from the top of the stairs. Like William she was now in more comfortable and less formal clothing than what she'd worn to the wedding and like William she was fully transformed. "Nate's still getting ready. He said he'll walk over to Alex's and they'd walk together."
William found himself smiling as Martha came down the stairs with her green werecat eyes partially glowing in the low light of the evening and as her brown fur seemed to make all her curves and muscle tone look even better. She walked confidently and in a way happily with her tail twitching lazily behind her as she descended the stairs.
"Then shall we go?" William asked he opened the door.
"Yes," Eric said somewhat eagerly, "Let's."
They slowly made their way out and they were quick to drive down to the Stovall house. William managed a safe U turn so that he could park right in front of the Stovall home, and both he and Martha smiled as Eric made his way out to pick up Julie. The two returned soon after, with Julie in her stage two form and wearing a two piece swimsuit that had a very tropical vibe to it.
"And no we see the beauty that kept Jacques coming to explore the ocean deep," William gave a small quip.
Julie blushed a little in response to the line. Some of her coordination with Eric on costume ideas had been based on that idea, but she also noticed that both William and Martha had fairly warm and welcoming smiles. The line wasn't meant to be mean or anything like that.
"Well, "Jacques" is quite handsome, himself," Julie managed playfully and watched William and Martha nod.
"You look good Julie," Martha then spoke, "I'm sure you and Eric will be the cutest couple there."
"I'm just looking to have a nice evening with my one true love," Julie answered.
She watched them nod in response, and as William began to pull out and head toward the high school. There were a few signs of trick or treaters getting ready, but they largely rode quietly to the high school with Eric and Julie providing directions along the way. From there, William pulled into a parking space and shut down the engine.
"You two are coming to the dance?" Julie asked as William and Martha got out as well.
"We're only coming in to see how things look," Martha answered, "satisfy some curiosity. From there, we'll head back home to hand out candy to trick or treaters and help with the Skulk's planned tricks and treats... what they are I can't say."
"We can come pick you up at the end of the evening, though," William added.
"We'll be fine walking home, dad," Eric answered.
"You sure?" William asked.
Both Julie and Eric nodded.
"But thank you for the ride to the dance," Julie spoke.
William and Martha then nodded and let Julie and Eric walk ahead. They were curious to see what was up, but they didn't want to put a cramp on Eric's style. They'd had the fear that Eric would be forever withdrawn, but no one could describe the joy they felt at seeing Julie being able to get Eric to open up and to be happy in a more social setting. They didn't want to ruin it for him. They let Eric and Julie go ahead while they leisurely made their way forward to see how things had turned out with the school's prep-work for the party. Once that was done, they'd head out.