Jennifer Harper, now Jennifer Jenkins, slowly opened her eyes as the alarm by Harry's bed went off playing an old rock ballad to rouse both of them from their slumber. She could hear him give a small grunt from beside her as she reached over to flip the alarm off, mostly to make sure that the early start didn't interrupt the present guests in the Jenkins home.
"Morning, sleepyhead," Jenny teased over to Harry as he rolled over and looked to.
"Hrrmmm," Harry answered in a low tone, more just waking up than anything else.
"Come on, Harry," Jenny chuckled as she sat up in bed and swung her legs over to a side to get up and go about the morning routine, "we may not have super early classes today or any therapy sessions... but there is still a fair amount TO do."
Harry nodded and tossed the covers off him. They lay in a small lump toward the end of the bed for the moment while stretched and looked over his shoulder to see his wife walking over a small combined bookcase and shelves. It had a set of drawers on its lower part, that in the past he'd kept some articles of clothing in, though now with Jenny as his wife, she would need some place to keep her things until they could things fully sorted out with regard to furniture and so on. There was the long term plan for a sort of apartment in the crawlspace above the garage that would be for the two of them, but real work on that probably wouldn't start until Huck was fully recovered from the assassination attempt that Dieter Wilhelm had ordered, and even if he was healthy, getting things done would probably still take time.
"More family stuff?" Harry asked referring to Jenny's younger siblings, who the two of them were hoping to save and bring to Moon Lake where they would be safe from the nonsense that Jenny's father had put the Harper family through over the years.
"There will be a fair bit of that," Jenny commented, thinking of her mother and her sudden independent streak where she was quite willing to stand up to James Harper Sr. It had been quite a surprise and one she'd never honestly expected. She couldn't explain how it happened, but then at the same time, it did seem to work as it looked as though that would help with regard to dealing with her father and moving things forward, "though in many ways... I think we're starting to come out of the woods as far as that is concerned."
"Which is good," Harry answered, "your siblings deserve a good and safe home to be in."
Jenny smiled as she felt Harry's arm settle on her shoulder. It reminded her that he was there and that their bond as a pair of married werefoxes was still strong, and she ultimately brought up one hand to touch Harry's as well. Jenny well agreed to that. The biggest things that remained in that regard was to talk with her older brother who would be returning to Alabama with her mother to deal with both getting her father the full medical care he needed regarding the case of heart disease that he'd left untreated for so long and making sure that everything regarding the transfer of custody of Janice and John to her and Harry in Moon Lake was handled. Her mother seemed more than willing to go along with it if it meant that James Sr. would get medical care and that her children would be happy, and Jenny knew that her older brother wouldn't let James Senior cause trouble, but there were some of the points of procedure that would need to be handled.
Outside of all that, there was also the issue of saying "goodbye." While she could care less about her father, for all that he'd done over the years, she did lover her older brother and had some measure of compassion and respect for her mother. Making sure that the "goodbyes" were arranged would be there, especially as she wasn't fully certain on all the timing for that. That combined with her class schedule at the college would keep her and Harry on their toes for a little while, at least.
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Morning came fairly early for Samantha and Frances, though it did come rather comfortably for both of them. Frances opened her eyes to find herself in bed with her wife looking back at her. Both were in their were forms at the moment and Frances saw a small smile form on Samantha's face as their eyes met. Frances happily smiled back and nuzzled her feline muzzle to Samantha's and the pair of them soon purred in contentment.
"Thank you for the quiet evening," Frances said to Samantha.
"You deserved it," Samantha answered, "after all that's gone on and well... because I love you."
"I love you too," Frances nodded.
The pair soon stood up and stretched, though Frances soon had her attention drawn to the covered window that the stray bullet had smashed through. The covering was still in place for the moment, though it was a reminder of all the excitement they'd had, ranging from first Yvette Smith going rogue and starting trouble with their neighbors, then the ominous shadow of Dieter Wilhelm and his agents trying to make Jennifer Harper-Jenkins his, and finally the battle between Moon Lake's police and Dymixious Drake. There had been so much action and tension that there were times that Frances felt stressed and she knew Samantha was stressed by it too. Most things came complications, such as William Anderson not having his transformation completed quickly and the fact that he hadn't been fully aware that Yvette had even scratched him at first.
"It make take Jenkins construction some time to replace the window," Samantha spoke from behind her, "though that will depend on whether or not they have the window in stock. The good thing is that none of the wiring or pipes were damaged. At least not as far as Henry Jenkins Junior can tell."
"He's the one who inspected the window?" Frances asked.
Samantha nodded, "Yes... and he did seem to be doing better after everything... which is good news."
"Indeed," Frances nodded, "Good news for everyone."
The two stood silently together for a few moments and looked to each other. Eventually it was Frances who asked the question on her mind.
"So... what do you have planned for your Tuesday?" Frances asked, "any big city business?"
"I may have some business here or there," Samantha commented, "though for the moment I'll want to be available in case Jenkins Construction as a window in stock. I should get a call on that later this morning. What about you? Any major cases?"
"For the moment things should be quiet," Frances spoke, "Jen should have session tomorrow with regard to her grief counseling, but most of the things on my plate are more of the routine cases... which will be good to get to."
Samantha nodded and they both smiled as they prepared to get ready for the day. Frances remembered what they'd talked about the previous night and the wants and desires that she had regarding children. Frances knew it was a rather fanciful dream on her part to have herself and Samantha have a baby together, and there had been plenty of times where the dream she'd had before Halloween with her talking to her brother while cradling a newborn actually wasn't that new. She'd had some dreams like that before, but had written them off as wishful thinking, as she knew that with both her and Samantha being female there was no way that either could conceive together. Though, as they walked into the bathroom, a part of Frances's mind did wish that there was some way that the two of them could pull off what would be a miracle as far as medical science was concerned.
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Martha's morning was fairly quiet and many of her worries from the previous night didn't really fade. Particularly as Eric still seemed rather nervous as he went through the process of getting ready for school and having breakfast. He'd seemed to be a bit quiet and perhaps even a bit tired. In some ways he seemed to be going through the motions of getting ready and not much more than that. It only served to remind her of all the worries she and William had had with Eric in the past, particularly with regard when he'd been bullied in the past. There were differences in the causes between the past and the present, but to Martha it seemed as though the result of both was the same, that Eric seemed to be isolating himself.
It was something that Martha was very fearful to see and had no answers to. Meeting Julie and becoming a weremerman had seemed to fix Eric's isolation when it came to things that related what had happened in Minnesota, as Eric seemed more open in Moon Lake. He was more willing to talk with others and befriend others, especially Julie, and Martha felt her heart swell with pride at that. There were the parental worries that Julie and Eric's relations were progressing far too fast, and both she and William agreed on that. And some of the things that caused her present set of worries seemed to reinforce that point. As Eric was only fourteen, and while it would be too long before Nate turned seventeen and Eric turned fifteen, the fact that Eric was so young was enough that things like sex shouldn't be what Eric focused on with regard to his relations with Julie... or at least shouldn't be the sole focus of his relations with Julie.
However, the present issue seemed very different and seemed to be causing similar issues. For one, Eric seemed to be worried about something with relation to his relationship with Julie that came off as nervous and insecure to borderline possessive. It seemed like he was afraid this Arthur Curtis was out to steal Julie away from him and that Julie was all too eager to be stolen, the way Eric articulated his fears. This reinforced Martha and William's point for Eric to be patient and tolerant and not to jump to conclusions regarding how Julie felt, particularly when Julie hadn't done anything that would truly betray anything remotely close to dishonest. But as she watched Eric eat slowly that morning, and look rather tired, Martha felt like Eric was sliding back into the same reserved and quiet place that Eric seemed to stay in before the move to Moon Lake.
In fact Martha thought she saw some bags under Eric's eyes, like he hadn't slept well and that seemed to reinforce it. In fact, after moving to Moon Lake, while Martha had noted changes in all the Andersons. Some of it was odd like the town itself had a magic all its own. Even before William was scratched slowly began his first transformation into a werefox, Martha had noted odd and rather cat-like behavior in herself, even though she didn't become a werecat until the night after William first changed into a werefox. Martha also noted that with William, even before Yvette attacked him and while both of them were trying to figure out what to do with regard to Moon Lake's were secret that many of the things that she loved in William seemed to be growing stronger, his care and love for his children especially. In Eric it was the growth of his self confidence and willing to socialize.
But at present, Eric seemed to be pulling inside himself again, and she didn't know how to get him out of it. It made her worry, and at the same time that seemed to affect William. He knew she was worried and his bond to her as a werefox drove him to try and do whatever he could to make her smile, but he wasn't fully sure on what to do get Eric out of his shell and he had his own time schedule to meet. William didn't have an eight o'clock class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and some times the two of them had taken advantage of that, but that didn't mean William didn't have work to do. In that, William left the house and headed toward the college shortly after Nate and Eric left with Ben for Moon Lake High School.
That left Martha alone with her worries for Eric and the question of whether to study for the Washington State Praxis exam and the other tests Martha knew she'd need to take to get her teaching license back in order. And for the moment, her worries for Eric were winning out...