It didn't take too long for William and Martha to get dinner ready, as the ham that they had technically had already been cooked. Frying it simply cooked it again to allow it to be presentable for dinner, and it smelled delicious to both of them. Martha eventually cuddled up behind William as he monitored the iron pan on the burner to make sure they didn't over cook the ham.
"You're doing rather well," Martha purred to him.
"I do my best," William answered back with a simple and knowing smile.
Martha didn't say anything but did nuzzle his shoulder. William noticed, and while he liked the friendly attention, something told him that this was more than just being friendly. Outside of summer grilling, more often than not, Martha had handled a lot of the cooking in the Anderson home. This wasn't because of any sort of "domination" on William's part or anything like that, as while William had his flaws, most of them had related to his following his libido without thinking. A lot of what lead to Martha doing a lot of the cooking and cleaning was more on the agreement to be a stay at home mom when Nate and Eric were born and that was it. She was there to take care of Nate and Eric while William had his professorship.
However, a lot of that was bound to change, particularly with regard to the fact that Nate and Eric were growing up and weren't needing constant attention they way did in the past. The fact that all of them had become weres had also meant things would change. As a werecat, Martha had felt that her own libido had grown greatly and that she could now keep up with her husband's sex drive and had also grown more comfortable with her own sexuality. That had effectively solved many of the problems on her end before the move to Moon Lake, and William's bond to her as a werefox had essentially fixed his. It was something that both had found themselves loving, and with the knowledge that Nate and Eric were growing up, Martha and William had agreed that Martha didn't need to be a "stay at home mom" anymore. Though, presently, William guessed that some of the "consequences" of what they agreed to were still sinking in.
"And there's nothing wrong with sharing some of the chores, dear," William said to her, "If you go back into teaching and get your certificate... you won't be home all day and will have a lot of time when you are at home devoted to school work and all that. It'll mean that from time to time I'll need to step up and cook and so on... Nothing wrong with that."
"I know..." Martha blinked and then said slowly, "I guess I've just gotten used to doing the cooking... that's all."
"It's okay," William smiled and the two paused for a brief kiss, "both of us have plenty of time to get used to new things."
"That sounds nice," Martha smiled and then gave a sniff, "I think dinner is ready."
William gave a nod as he sniffed at the ham that he'd been frying. It smelled good and the ham had clearly darkened in places after being in the pan and occasionally pushed along and flipped by the spatula that William had in his free hand. With the ham now done, he took his other hand, protected by a thick oven mitt and lifted the pan off the burner and turned to hold it over a serving dish and push the fried ham onto it with the spatula. While William finished that, Martha moved to doorway from the kitchen to the living room where Nate, Eric, and Julie were still watching television.
"Dinner's about ready, guys," Martha called to them, "thanks for waiting."
As Martha turned back the background noise of the television stopped with a click and she could soon hear her sons and Eric's fiancé moving toward the dining room. And they moved fairly quickly, for as William and Martha came into the dining room to set down the serving dishes and the cloth mats that they'd sit on while on the table, Nate was already sitting down and Eric was pulling out a chair next to his to offer to Julie. The two sitting as young lovers was beautiful in its own way, as Julie had treated Eric right, and from what Martha knew had done a lot to help him with regard getting used to Moon Lake and all that went with it. The biggest thing was that she'd gotten him to come out of his proverbial shell, which had been one of the things that Martha and William had both wanted with Eric ever since he'd been bullied while in Middle School.
Of course, there were some things that didn't sit quite as well with Martha. The fact that the two were formally engaged to be married being chief among them. While the idea of a pearl necklace being a weremer's equivalent to an engagement ring was beautiful, Eric and Julie were both too young. Even if there love was real and on par with what she'd had with William in the past that lead to their marriage and had now with his bond to her, by law they couldn't marry until they were eighteen. Eric was only fourteen and wouldn't turn fifteen until the end of the present school year. They could obviously wait until then, but in many ways, Martha was not even ready for that. A lot of it was very surprising and Martha knew she'd need the time to talk with Eric to make sure that he knew to wait.
His transformation into a weremer, based on how weremers fell in love and how deeply they apparently did so was one thing, and if his health came into concern, Martha could tolerate that. However, he WAS a weremer now, and as far as Martha knew there was no requirement that that bond had to be renewed physically. Of course, love a were's high libido might make resisting that difficult, but Martha did privately feel that she and William would need to talk with Eric on that subject. They were happy that Eric found someone he loved, but that didn't mean they were keen on their youngest being sexually active at his age. However, there also remained the worry that if they tried to put their foot down on the subject, they might do Eric more harm than good.
Children did have minds of their own, and regardless of how much parents and law makers liked to think that they weren't capable of conscious thought until eighteen at the earliest, that didn't mean that children wouldn't rebel when they felt threatened. There was a reason teens fighting back against their parents was called "teenage rebellion." Any such rebellion wouldn't work out well, and as much as some would call crushing that sort of thing as a triumph of "family values," Martha had seen enough back when she was teaching to see that sort of mentality wasn't perfect, even with little kids and certainly wouldn't be perfect with a teenager. Martha knew that any sort of discussion with Eric on the subject would need to be handled delicately and one where he understood that neither of his parents disliked Julie. In fact, Martha couldn't help but smile when she saw Eric smile to her. It was a sort of parental pride in seeing Eric go from not knowing what romantic love was to embracing being in love.
However, handling that would be something best handled at a moment when the Anderson parents could talk privately with Eric and assure him that they approved of the match but would prefer that he do his best to wait until he and Julie were older... at least to try and wait until they were older. At present, though, Martha figured that she'd need to discuss that with William in terms of how to approach that subject, and the dinner table wasn't the place for it. All that could really be heard was the clinking of silverware on the plates as everyone ate.
"This is very good," Julie spoke after a moment after swallowing a bite of the ham that she'd taken.
"Thank you," William spoke, "it's nothing fancy... but it's something that can be quickly made after all the chaos from this morning."
"I'm just glad that the crook was the only one who got hurt," Nate commented.
"Yeah... Frances was quite helpful... she helped me with realizing just how much I was falling for Julie, here, and was helpful with regard to getting used to Moon Lake," Eric nodded and reaching over to hold Julie's hand. She happily took his hand and the two held hands for a moment and Martha thought she could see their eyes twinkle for a moment.
"She helped me in getting used to Moon Lake too," Martha nodded, "and helped Samantha with my transformation... it was a good thing that she was okay. It was also good that all of you were okay and weren't hurt."
Nate nodded, though admittedly at the Ramsey's home, he wasn't close enough to easily hear things, and being inside muffled things further. However, his ability to hear the battle being limited wasn't enough to mean that he didn't have concerns about it when he found out. The report that Frances Twist had gone to the hospital to help the medical staff rather than as a patient was good news. Eric also nodded agreement, but he was of the opinion that they needed to get the conversation away from what happened that morning. It had been rough, but the issue was solved.
"So... you're going out for Moon Lake's football team?" Eric asked.
"Alex talked me into it," Nate answered, his voice a bit nervous, "I'm just hoping not to make a complete fool of myself... I mean... I like watching the games on TV... but I've never played football."
"That's what they have coaches for," Eric chuckled with a small grin.
"You're not going out... are you?" Nate asked.
"Football was never really my thing," Eric answered, "You know that... I thought I'd just add a joke in there..."
"Do you know when they play?" William asked.
"Alex said they actually play ON Thanksgiving day," Nate answered, "though beyond that... I really don't know about when it is."
"We'll come cheer you on if you can find out," Eric offered.
"Thanks," Nate said weakly. He might still have his worries about whether or not he'd be any good, but he did have to admit that support from the others did help. And in a way, getting that encouragement from Eric, who'd been so withdrawn before Moon Lake, was an even bigger boast.
And they all enjoyed their dinner. The conversation remained rather light and tried to avoid the chaos from the morning's battle between Dymixious and the Moon Lake PD, and for everyone present, it was more of a family meal that made everyone happy. Martha at the safety of her children. William for the pleasant atmosphere and everyone being happy. Nate at having a good meal before him. And for Eric and Julie, to have their one true love present.