Martha sat quietly on the couch with Frances beside her for a few moments with her mind racing. She'd come down to the clinic for some advice regarding what she'd seen going on with Eric and what had made her nervous that the cheerful and fairly outgoing weremer that Eric was becoming was sliding back into the silent and reserved and even antisocial teen that Eric had been in Minnesota. She'd hoped that Frances would have some thing would easily help Martha get things back on pace, either the right words to say or some sort of "act" that would solve things. However, Martha really wasn't quite sure on what to say with regard to what she got.
Especially when Frances told her that it was possible that Eric could have some psychological disease that was bigger than what Martha expected. It tugged at every heartstring that told her to protect her sons and keep them happy, everything that made her a mother and that went back before she became a were. It didn't solve her worries and that made her tremble slightly, even with Frances' hands holding her own at the moment.
"Have you eaten?" Frances asked.
"Hmm?" Martha asked back as she looked to one of the two women that had brought her into were society.
"Have you eaten?" Frances repeated the question.
"No... I knew it was getting close to lunch and I was hoping for help and advice... and..." Martha answered quickly, her voice carrying some degree of nervousness to it.
Frances kept a firm grip on Martha's hands, which she could tell were still trembling a little. Something Frances was sure any good mother would have when confronted with any sort of problem with their child. She then gave a small smile and helped Martha to her feet.
"Then now is the time for a quick lunch," Frances spoke, "My treat... and we can handle Eric's appointment on the way out."
"Thank you," Martha managed and then followed Frances out.
She continued to tremble a little, as her thoughts still worried that something might be something seriously wrong with Eric. Her only consolation was that it might prove to be nothing, which while it would confirm the "be patient" message that she and William had tried to convey to Eric, didn't fully alley her fears. She managed to hold herself together as she placed her order with Rudy for an actual session between Eric and Frances, though about the only thing that was holding her together was the hope that whatever was effecting Eric was nothing major and that she'd gotten too anxious over her son.
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They settled on the Burger King on the west end of town, right there on the edge as Moon Lake's Main Street transitioned back into the low level highway that went toward Seattle. It wasn't much, but Frances knew this was the best they could manage given the time. She would have to have her afternoon clear enough that some clients could be clear to come in, and that was assuming there wasn't a normal appointment scheduled. Many times Frances would join Samantha for lunch at her office or even returning home for that. However, Martha's arrival at the start of her normal lunch time had cut into the lunch time that she had available. That meant fast food, though, thankfully a were's metabolism remained high enough that they didn't have to worry about them being too fattening.
"You needn't worry yourself too much," Frances said to Martha in soft tones, "it could well be nothing and that some of the reactions Eric has had that you've mentioned are just responding to things he wasn't exposed to before... unless he had a girlfriend that you haven't told me about..."
Martha shook her head, "No... He really didn't have anyone of note. He did okay for a while at first... in Elementary School and so on. And he was active, but never active in any one area. When he went into Middle School he began to get interested in Little League, and was fairly good... but at times he did seem distant and he balanced that out with reading a lot into science and science fiction. It's that sort of balancing of interests between athletics and academics that lead to the incident with him being bullied..."
"Because he wouldn't commit one hundred percent to one or the other," Frances spoke with a nod.
None of this was new information. A lot of it was something that Martha or Eric had told her back before Halloween while Yvette was still running lose. To an extent, however, it did betray some information that she could see as potential signs of trouble with Eric. Eric didn't isolate himself because he was bullied, as to an extent that was already happening. The bullying likely only made that worse. Of course, some of that was likely just looking for someone that shared Eric's rather diverse sets of interests, but it still told Frances that there might be more in Eric's mind than just what was going on now. The good thing that Frances could guess at for the moment was that the cause of this was likely environmental rather than anything else, which would mean the likely worst case scenario was that Eric would need regular therapy, but Frances knew there was a lot worse than that.
"Yes," Martha nodded.
"Then you must remain calm and confident," Frances told her friend, "This could be all something small coming from things Eric's never experienced before..."
Martha swallowed the fry she was chewing on before she answered, "I know... but at worst... at worst it could be something far more serious..."
"At worst it may mean that Eric may need regular therapy," Frances admitted in a quiet enough voice that only Martha could hear her, "but there are worse things than that."
Martha nodded and managed a small smile. There were things worse than therapy, though that didn't fully alleviate her worries. There would be the fact that he would need to tell Eric about the appointment. She didn't want him to lash out as he had at William the previous night.
"I suppose... but how do I tell Eric?" Martha asked, "I mean... hopefully this turns out to be nothing and all is well... but... I don't know... with everything that's gone on with this... I feel like I've only made things worse."
"You haven't," Frances assured her, "even if this is nothing major... there is a lot that Eric's gone through that in many cases would be enough for some people to come in. Being bullied, having a stressed family life, feeling out of place... these are all things that can be rather normal stresses that some measure of therapy helps. It helps a person gets things off their chest so that it doesn't sit and fester until the person snaps."
Frances then reached out and placed a hand on Martha's shoulder and patted it softly.
"As for telling Eric... be calm and honest," Frances then continued, "I'm sure he'll understand so long as you let him know that you care and are honest and polite with him. You don't want to trick him into things like this."
"What if he doesn't want it?" Martha wondered, sounding nervous.
"That's where you letting him know that you're worried and concerned," Frances answered, "think of it as more of a "check up" than anything else. And even weres will go through with that sort of thing at the hospital from time to time."
Martha nodded and they made it through lunch with some degree of calmness. Martha was still understandably nervous, both on what might be wrong with Eric and how to tell him that she'd scheduled him for a formal session with Frances, but Frances had given her some degree of assurance that things would be fine and that Eric would be okay, even if things were beyond simple jealousy. It was something that Martha felt a great deal of relief for. Though, as they finished lunch, Martha glanced to her watch and noticed that it was getting late for the lunchtime period. It was nearly 1 PM. It wouldn't be too long before school let out for the day at around three thirty.
"I'm going to need to get back to my clinic soon," Frances stated after a moment, "You doing okay? Or at least doing better?"
"I am doing better," Martha answered, "and relieved that you'll be there to help Eric if anything is wrong."
Frances nodded with a small smile, "You have no need to worry there. I'll give you a ride home."