Melissa waved politely to Eric and Julie as they went out the front door after they'd returned home. Both had collected their school books and Eric's Halloween costume that he'd worn the night before. Julie even waved back to her before moving along with Eric and looking to him as she went. Melissa couldn't help but smile at seeing them happy together. It was something that let her feel happy and assured that Julie wouldn't be denied the happiness that she'd denied Martin while they'd been dating.
"Are you okay, dear?" came Martin's voice from behind her, making her turn to see Martin coming in from the garage. In his arms were the discarded Halloween costumes and underwear that they'd been wearing the previous night to the Halloween dance when Martin had become extremely aroused by something and the two of them ended up leaving before even getting to say hello to Julie and Eric and the two of them were soon at it with Melissa not getting the chance to take her birth control pill for the previous day. And it was that actually what was at the heart of Melissa's present concerns.
"I'm okay," Melissa gave a sigh as she shut the front door and turned back her husband. She then carefully approached him and took at least some of the discarded clothes and the two together slowly made their way to their modest laundry room.
Martin followed and kept his eyes on her, as she seemed a bit interested in something when she suggested Eric and Julie stay with the Andersons. Eric going could make sense, as he was William and Martha's son and Julie's future in-laws. But Julie being sent was a bit of a puzzle to him. He knew Julie was smart and responsible, and from what he'd seen of Eric, he'd found him to be quite an intelligent young man as well. He found it doubtful that either needed "help" with homework. He also found it likely that they had gotten a lot of their homework done. And while he had no expressed problem with Eric and Julie being together, as like Melissa, his greatest concern was that Julie was happy, Martin was still a bit puzzled by Melissa's jump to urge them to both go over to the Andersons.
"Are you sure, dear?" Martin asked, "You seem a bit distant... you were a bit nervous over something this morning, and more than just the fact that I had an early morning meeting to go to."
Melissa didn't answer as she dumped the clothing into an empty laundry basket on top of the drier. The clothes could be sorted into independent loads later. Martin tossed the last of the clothing into the same hamper and turned to hold Melissa tightly and gently. She inwardly smiled at having him close to her. He glowed with the same light that told her he was her true love... the same light he glowed with to her after their wedding night when he brought her into weremer society.
"Please tell me what's wrong," Martin spoke, "and I'll try to make it better."
Melissa gave a small smile, "Nothing is necessarily wrong... and there is nothing that I'm complaining about. But remember what we talked about when we conceived Julie with regard to family planning?"
"That we wouldn't look into giving Julie a sibling until after Julie was old enough to move out...?" Martin wonder slowly as he looked to his wife.
"Yes," Melissa slowly nodded, "I've been thinking on that lately..."
The two of them held each other and in a way that let them be close to each other and look to each other's eyes. Melissa could feel Martin's hands resting on her hips and she had her hands on his hips. It let both of them lean back a little while Melissa took a deep breath.
"And some of it has come from looking to Eric and Julie as they talk together and at times voice their dreams," Melissa said slowly, "going through college... and then starting their own family. And while I'll be sure to make sure that Julie stays on her pill until at least age eighteen... that doesn't mean that it hasn't gotten me thinking."
"You're ready?" Martin asked.
"I'm not sure if I'm "ready," but it is something I've been thinking about," Melissa answered, "and wondered if you've thought on it... as try as we may wish for it to be... Julie isn't a little girl anymore. She's had her first transformation and has found her one true love. Even if we forbid her from being sexually active until she turns eighteen, that's not going to make her younger. She is growing up and will continue to do so, regardless of what we do."
Martin slowly nodded. While Julie had found Eric sooner in life than he'd found Melissa, that didn't change the very simple fact that Julie was growing up. He could remember holding Julie as an infant, looking down at her as she opened her blue eyes for the first time. He could remember Julie's first words, "wah-wah" in referring to "water." All of which were precious memories, and in many ways, a good part of Julie would always look that young to him. But he had to admit and recognize that she was growing up. She had found Eric and had her first transformation. It wouldn't be THAT terribly long before she was living on her own with Eric by her side and they were raising their own children.
"Do you want to have another child?" Martin asked calmly to her.
Dealing with sex and reproduction was something that had often taken a great deal of coordination. Because of a were's naturally high libido, outright prohibiting sex was near impossible. Adults and definitely mated pairs would see little reason to resist that sort of urge, particularly when it came to reflect the love they had for each other. The reasons for this varied. Many of which varied depending on where one thought the were virus came from. Mystical/magical origin theories credited some sexual perversion on the part of the creator as the reason while scientific origin theories suggested a biological need to reproduce. This included back and forth that commonly got fierce, but Martin could see some of the reasoning behind the later...
Though Martin's reasoning for this came more from what he'd had in his own history classes in college. The teacher pointed to various journals and records that came from weres that came to Moon Lake when it was first formed that included many different events. They often included stories and tales that would indicate that many of the different were species didn't immediately get along with other were groups when they came in first contact with each other, and could have well meant that while weres could live to be nearly four hundred, for many years that DIDN'T happen because weres found reasons to kill each other for many of the same way regular humans did. Predatory weres fought each other over hunting rights or over who was the "top" predator. Werecattle and werehorses fought over the protection of their farms and ranches as well as attacks on their livestock, and that this could be included in expanding these to new territory. And as normal human society went from simple hunter-gatherers, were society along side them would often have members fighting for the respective countries and empires that developed.
In this, if were society could be just as prone to warfare as normal society, it would reflect the need for a higher libido to replace losses in any of these sorts of conflicts. it would often mirror why normal humans often had larger families before industrialization, that health, war, and accidents could take their toll and a larger family was about the only way to carry on. Though, Martin had to admit that was a historical/sociological reason, not biological. All the same, it was enough for Martin to believe more in the scientific theories on the were virus's origins.
Even with that, though, there was a lot of need for weres to retain some active thought on family planning and so on. With a potential lifespan of four centuries, a were could potentially have hundreds of children before they were even middle aged, particularly when combined their high libido. Wars, accidents, and conflict may have prevented many weres from living that long, but as things changed as the world progressed, things such as family planning became more important, particularly if a were couple weren't looking at having children as repeatedly as possible. And until the specialized birth control pills were developed this often meant that a were couple had to avoid the one week time period when the female was in heat and thus receptive to those matters for reproduction if they didn't wish to have children.
Martin and Melissa didn't have that problem, as the were-birth control pills appeared well before Melissa even joined were society, and thus so long as Melissa was on her pill, they could enjoy each other's company as much as they desired. And they did wish to have children and were greatly overjoyed when Julie was born, but they had agreed that for the sake of timing they would wait until after Julie grew up before having a second child. But for Melissa, her thoughts had clearly changed, and with their unexpectedly heavier than normal romp the night before, it was possible that Melissa could be well on her way to pregnancy.
"I wouldn't be opposed to it," Melissa admitted after a moment and looked down, "as... while it was a lot of work... having Julie around has brought a great deal of joy in our lives..."
"But she's growing up," Martin said slowly.
"And faster than either of us expected," Melissa nodded, "which has raised my wondering... and even raised thoughts on whether or not Julie would like having a younger brother or sister."
Martin held his wife close to him and gently kissed her forehead. He had some sense that Melissa had been nervous about something based on what Melissa had said to Julie and Eric when they all left the Local Diner, and it didn't take a werefox's instinctive knowledge of and response to their bonds to know that. If worries over whether or not he'd be agreeable to having more children was it, then there was no problem. Martin was a very patient man and would firmly support being an equal partner in all things. It was why he had been willing to wait as long as he did for Melissa work through what thoughts and questions she had regarding joining weremer society.
"I'm sure Julie would more than happy to have a younger sibling," Martin assured her, "and if you REALLY want to have a baby, then you can stop taking your pill and let nature take it's course."
Melissa smiled in response, "You're okay with the idea?"
"Of course," Martin answered, "your computer company is doing well and we are reasonably secure where we are right now... And while it might mean some changes... if Julie is concerned about spending money... she is getting to the age where she can do some part time jobs. Her hours would be limited and she couldn't handle anything that would be considered "dangerous" but... it would be something she could do to earn some spending money."
"I'm glad..." Melissa smiled, "and a bit relieved."
"Relieved...?" Martin raised an eyebrow.
"Do you remember last night, after we got to the Halloween Dance?" Melissa asked.
"I remember taking a drink of punch... after that... I was..." Martin said slowly, "Well... more interested in mating with you than anything else. I barely noticed when Eric and Julie arrived and jumped in the pool... I'm sorry if anything I did was..."
Melissa slowly raised a finger to her husband's lips, "I wasn't complaining. You are every bit as handsome today as wen we first met. My point is that we were so active that I MISSED my pill for yesterday..."
"You mean...?" Martin said slowly.
"If our activity last night triggered my heat cycle... I could already be on the way to pregnancy," Melissa confirmed, "which had me afraid that you wouldn't want a new child right now and..."
"Do you know for sure?" Martin asked as he pulled his wife close to him.
"Not at the moment," Melissa said weakly.
"Well... all we can do is wait," Martin answered, "if you are pregnant... we'll welcome a new baby to the family and he or she will be loved. If not... and you want a baby, there is nothing stopping us from trying again... or making sure of it now..."
"Oh... you," Melissa answered and kissed him, glad to have his assurance and putting her worries at ease.