William Anderson's evening to night went fairly quietly. He was a bit lonely in that Martha wasn't there, but he'd guessed that the Twists had some sort of "special therapy" that was there to help his wife, and that was a good thing. As she'd been so worried over their younger son. It wasn't that he wasn't worried about Eric, as he didn't want to see Eric drift back into the quiet and withdrawn teen that he'd been in Minnesota, but at the same time, the fact that Martha was so heavily worried tugged heavily at his bond. He knew he could give her some comfort, and there was some indication that some of it did help, but it wasn't enough to give her the assurance that things would be fine and that Eric wouldn't be in any danger.
That was why he let Martha go over to the Twists. Frances had training in helping people deal with their various mental issues and had likely given her the advice that helped her finally recognize and accept that she was bisexual, something he'd never been aware of before. And as he got to know the werecat that Martha became soon after, he'd found her more confident, more energetic, and more comfortable with herself in a way that she'd never truly been before. It was something glad that she'd stood by him after what happened in Minnesota and stayed by him after Yvette Smith had clawed him. It was something that made Martha truly worth it, and to a certain extent was part of what drew him to her and what made him love her in the first place.
"If only I hadn't... hadn't let things other than my brain do my thinking," William thought to himself, knowing full well that it was his own lusts that sat at the heart of the Anderson family's past difficulties. Even if Martha had been repressing a part of who she was, that wasn't an excuse, and a better man would have fully recognized where something was wrong and honestly tried to make it better. But William hadn't, and in the end had gotten caught in it, and he honestly felt lucky that Martha didn't divorce him then and there, and it drove him and his inner fox to try and be better.
Becoming a werefox had probably saved his marriage as once that bond was formed and the Anderson family learned more of the details regarding the specific behaviors and aspects of specific weres, with werefoxes, despite being possibly the most sexual and sensual of Moon Lake's weres, were also heavily devoted to their mates in a bond that was completely unbreakable. Knowledge of that gave Martha the trust him to truly prove himself, and William had no intention of letting that chance pass. And as such, when he was a lone, he would often think over things on how to make things better.
And that was largely what he focused on after dinner. While Martha went next door and Nate walked Alex home, William busied himself with clearing the table, washing the dishes, and then getting things in order for the next day. At some point he even let himself slip into his werefox form. In some way it felt odd, but still good. The rug in the living room tickled the pads underneath his digitigrade feet as he straightened out Martha's study materials and folded the corners so that Martha would be able to know where she was when she stopped. His tail in his were form was soft and fluffy, and while something that could "change with him" might be nice, things weren't too uncomfortable. And there was of course the enhanced hearing that he'd gained, and as he straightened things in the living room, his triangular vulpine ears soon picked up the howls coming from the area to the west of the Anderson home, which gave him some indication that Nate and Alex probably stopped for some fun on the way to the Ramsey home.
"We're all seeming to do rather well," William commented to himself with some degree of satisfaction, "it would have been preferable if Yvette had asked if I wanted to be a werefox and if I'd been given an honest choice in the matter... but in the end, all of that chaos seemed to have worked out well. Even with all Martha and I have had to worry about Eric... but we're happy. Martha's more confident in herself. Nate's practically in heaven..."
William privately chuckled at the fact that his eldest son had been a big werewolf fan well before the family had even moving to Minnesota. There had even been some debates that William remembered between Eric and Nate over Nate's fandom of werewolf movies over whether or not a were's transformative abilities was even scientifically possible. It was amusing in the sense that now all of them were weres of some kind, William a werefox, based off of the Red Fox in the standard color phase, Martha a werecat, based off of the Havana Brown, Nate a werewolf, with his were form largely matching his hair color, and Eric a weremerman with blue green scales. It was probably something that Nate had some private enjoyment at, that he'd been right.
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Next door, Martha cuddled next to her pride mates, Samantha and Frances Twist. She had come over to the Twists in the hopes that Frances could give her the assurance that things would be fine with regard to Eric. To some extent, they'd done that very well. Frances sharing her skills as a therapist and Samantha as a friend and fellow werecat. Both of them in their way had helped her come to grips with the fact that she WAS bisexual, and in a way she'd never felt happier as a werecat and with William as a werefox bonded to her. It brought her the joy of both worlds, her loving husband being the man she'd always known he truly was, and becoming a werecat brought the openness and lack of guilt with regard to dealing with her attraction to fellow women.
It was that sort of thing that brought her to the Twists to update them on things with Eric, and while she was still worried, it was much less so than when she first came over. She was more confident that Frances would be able to help Eric help deal with the issues that Eric had that were there. And in a way, Frances and Samantha also provided a sense of confidence that Martha and William both lacked in that regard, possibly because they'd been weres longer than any of the Andersons. Or possible it was because they were able to look at what Martha had presented with a degree of detachment that Martha and William couldn't because Eric was their child and their worries about him would always be pressing.
That was something that had helped Martha relax and drift off to sleep with Samantha and Frances beside her. The three of them even purred together.
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After finishing things up, William settled things down and watched TV for a little while, though it wasn't what Nate and Alex had. He watched for a little while as he waited for Nate and Eric to come home. Nate was the first to return home as he came in through the back door. Nate was in his werewolf form with his clothes and shoes tucked under his arm. He gave a small wave to his father as he came in.
"I'm not late for curfew," Nate said quickly with his lips drawn back nervously on his brown furred muzzle.
"No, you're not late," William pointed to the digital time display on the VCR/DVD player, "In fact you might be a bit early... not that I'm complaining, mind you."
Nate nodded and shrugged. He noticed that Martha wasn't with him and he couldn't hear anything coming from upstairs. He'd known that his parents relations had healed completely since they became weres. Nate had known that it had been healing, even before they'd come to Moon Lake. William had apologized to Martha and admitted to pretty much everything, and promised to do better. Nate never wanted to repeat his father's mistakes, but he could admit that his parents did love each other and firmly so. It was in a sense one of those things that made William's infidelity in Minnesota so surprising. It's also what made what happened after Yvette attacking and clawing William come off as so much of a problem at first, until his bond to Martha solidified and so on. Because his actions while incomplete opened up old wounds that had been thought to be healing.
But after his parents became weres, things seemed to heal rather quickly. In fact, as far as Nate's own werewolf ears could detect, since they'd become weres, his parents had been intimate with each other far more often than he'd ever suspected they were before. Some of that might just be a were's libido, but he'd also noticed that his parents were also far closer to each other since they became werefox and werecat. In this, he'd half expected Martha to be there, even with some awareness of the fact that William had openly allowed an even encouraged Martha to enjoy being bisexual and all the desires that came with it.
"Where's mom?" Nate wondered curiously.
"She went next door to update Frances on some things regarding your brother," William answered, not wanting to reveal the potential that Eric might be bipolar. There'd been enough worry on all that already and it would be better that they wait until Frances had had a chance to see Eric on an official basis.
"And you're sure he's okay?" Nate asked. They may have had some periodic squabbles as all siblings did, but Nate was not the sort to wish ill on family.
"I'm fairly confident that if anything is wrong, Frances can help and even fix it... or at least give us instruction on how to fix it," William answered, "Your mother was just letting her know on what has been noticed this afternoon and that Eric looked better."
"He did," Nate nodded in agreement as he looked up to the front door open.
It opened to reveal Eric coming in, looking rather happy as he shut the door behind him. He had a rather dopy grin as he stood just inside the Anderson home and looking to his father and older brother.
"Was dinner good?" William asked.
"Yes... it was even better than the Local Diner's," Eric answered, "Julie was happy... and there were some ideas regarding our wedding and honeymoon..."
"Let's not rush anything," William spoke, "Remember... patience and the things that you fell in love with Julie for... Hopefully her personality and her smarts."
"Right, dad," Eric answered with a nod and then noted there was one Anderson missing, "where's mom?"
"She's updating the Twists on something," William answered as he shut off the TV and stood up, "which could mean that she's otherwise occupied at the moment. In the meantime... we all have school tomorrow."
"Right, dad," Nate nodded.
Eric nodded as well and the two made their way up the stairs. William watched with a small smile, glad to see Eric smile as he moved to turn out lights and soon make his own way to bed. Eric remained a bit quiet as he went up the stairs, as he was well aware of how jealous he'd felt of Arthur Curtiss and the things he'd said and did while in that state. And while there was some memory of hurt that was there in relation to William Anderson's past infidelity, Eric knew that didn't excuse just snapping at him the way he had the previous night. Especially when things in his parents marriage had healed so much since they became weres.