"Hey! John! Wake up!" John Harper felt himself being shook awake.
John poked his head up from the blankets to see Janice looking down to him. She was in old plaid nightgown, which was likely a hand-me down from the matriarch of the Jenkins family, and had both hands on his shoulder.
"Come on!" Janice urged, "I think Harry and Jenny are up already! We can get up and go to see them on their way out!"
"Okay... let me get dressed," John said slowly and waved one hand at Janice.
Janice gave a shrug and left the "guest room," or rather what had been Huck's room before he moved out. As she disappeared passed the door, John managed to get up and set about not only getting himself dressed but also cleaned up after the dreams that he'd had the previous night. Privately, he was highly embarrassed by everything that had happened and he really didn't want anyone to know about it if he could help it. He guessed that Lisa might figure out what happened when it came to doing the laundry, unless he could figure out how the Jenkins family's machine worked, but the matronly Lisa Jenkins wasn't likely to mess with him over it. That was something John preferred, as everything that had been going on as he tried to find out who he was... was something he was privately wrestling with. And the dream he'd had only seemed to reinforce that, with the pondering question of "WHO is John Harper?"
He managed to get into a clean pair of underwear and pants and a clean shirt while dropping the soiled underwear into the laundry basket. The last thing he did before making his way toward the dinning/kitchen area was to wash his hands thoroughly. When he came to the dinning area, he found his older sister and her husband pouring cereal for Janice, with Janice happily kicking her legs in the chair she was seated in. The thought he heard some other footsteps in the kitchen as well, but he couldn't see into the kitchen through the living room to tell who it was. Jenny looked up as he entered the doorway to the dining area of the kitchen, at which point he noted that the other person in the kitchen was Henry Jenkins Senior who seemed to be getting something ready at the refrigerator.
"Hello, John, sleep well?" Jenny asked to him.
"I did okay," John answered, unsure on whether or not to go any further. Henry Senior might already know about his private concerns and worries, but Janice wouldn't understand and he didn't want to put any further strain on Jenny's efforts, particularly when they'd probably have some time before he could be enrolled at Moon Lake High and Janice at Moon Lake Middle School.
"I'm afraid that Harry and I have some early classes," Jenny spoke, "so I can't make a big breakfast."
"I can help with that," Henry promised from the refrigerator, "make sure my helper is well fed."
John nodded in agreement. That was more in relation the fact that Henry "Huck" Jenkins Junior was still recovering from the attempted assassination attempt that Dieter Wilhelm had arranged. In general the repair job at the Twist house wasn't too big, but the wound had been enough to give Huck some trouble at keeping even the fitted windows steady. Henry Senior had volunteered to handle the work and John had volunteered to help. Construction and repair wasn't exactly his thing, but he figured it was a good idea to pick up some new skills here and there. It might allow him learn more about Moon Lake and help him figure out on WHO he was.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
At the Anderson household, William awoke early and with the alarm, as was the case that would come with the standard school days. In this, with it being Wednesday, William had his regular work as a professor at Moon Lake's local college. He had classes to get to and he had two sons to make sure they were getting ready for school as well. The only thing that was different from other mornings was that his bed was empty aside from him. In this, he figured that Martha had likely stayed overnight with the Twists, likely in relation to the stress she'd felt regarding worries for their younger son, Eric.
"I'm sure Frances helped her... and will help Eric," William thought to himself as he heard a few footsteps out in the hallway.
He then made his way to the door from his bedroom to the hallway. He saw Eric slowly walking across the hallway toward the bathroom while the door to Nate's room was open, but there was no sound that William could pick out.
"Felling good, Eric?" William asked to his younger son and looking to see how Eric responded.
"Yeah... I slept well," Eric answered, "No real dreams... but then... I also slept peacefully, which after everything that had gone on... and the misunderstanding that got me jealous... peaceful sleep is a good thing."
"Well, that's good," William commented, noting that Eric looked comfortable and even managed a small smile. William took that as a good thing, "Is Nate up?"
"I... I don't know," Eric answered as he looked back to his father. He thought he could hear his brother's radio playing, but he couldn't hear closely enough to know for sure as to whether or not Nate had gotten up. That was one of those things where his hearing as a weremer was really at its best when underwater. However, he didn't exactly want to say that to his father. He had noticed the concern his parents had had for him when he'd mistakenly worried that Julie might dump him for another weremer. In that he feared that explaining his specific were-species limitation would only make them worry more since werefoxes, werewolves, and werecats all seemed to have very good hearing.
William nodded, "Okay... I'll check on Nate, you focus on getting ready. You don't want to be late, right?"
"Right," Eric nodded and continued on into the bathroom.
William then moved toward his older son's room. He could hear his radio playing, which meant that he should be up, but that didn't mean that Nate wasn't still asleep. He made his way to the doorway and checked in to find that Nate was indeed up, though a bit groggy. Nate was sitting up and scratching his back while leaving his blankets lay in his lap. William was glad for that, and then put in his words of encouragement.
"Come on, Nate," William said to his older son, "We all have school today. I'm going to get myself dressed and ready. Eric is getting ready. You don't want to miss your ride to school."
"Right, dad," Nate nodded.
With that, William then set about getting cleaned, dressed, and ready for his day.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Next door, Martha Anderson found herself standing in Samantha and Frances' bedroom and looking to the window on the northern wall of the room. She'd returned to her human form after the night of passionate lovemaking with the two werecats that had ushered her into were society. The night had relieved a lot of the stress that she'd felt in relation to what had been going on with Eric and her worries for her youngest son. In that she did feel better when she woke up than she had the previous evening, though there was something that she couldn't help but notice something.
It was the window that had been shot through during the battle between Dymixious Drake and the Moon Lake police. By now the broken glass had been cleared away, but there was still a blanket tacked to the window frame that was there to keep the night air. Though she was more than capable of remaining fairly warm regardless of the fact. She'd known about the window being broken, as Samantha and Frances had said as much after the battle, but this was the first time she'd even been in the room since the battle between the werekomododragon and the police. It presented it's own sense of shock and realization seeing it so closely.
"Jenkins Construction has already looked at it," came Samantha's voice from behind her, "and they've said that someone would be by to put in a new window."
Martha jumped a little bit in surprise, only just realizing that she'd she had been looking at the window for so long that she'd barely noticed the sounds of Samantha and Frances getting ready for their day or Ben getting ready for school. In this she was a bit embarrassed as she looked back to her neighbor and Moon Lake's Town Chancellor. Samantha had also returned to her human form and looked relatively calm and comfortable as she stood in the doorway looking to Martha.
"I'm sorry," Martha couldn't help but say, feeling ashamed at simply staring at a broken window in someone else's bedroom when she theoretically already knew about what happened with it.
"You needn't be sorry," Samantha raised a hand.
"But... I've just... I've just kind of stood here..." Martha began, "and you already told me about the battle that happened and Frances recounted the bullet round coming through the window when we picked her up from the hospital after the battle."
Samantha nodded, remembering her own panic at the battle when it was mentioned that Frances had been "involved." She was thankful that in the end the reason Frances had ended up at the hospital was to help Dymixious's wife who went into labor after seeing Dymixious being shot. However, it served as a bit of a reminder of some of the stresses that had brought Martha over the previous night and her worries over her youngest son. In this, Samantha could understand the stresses and worry that Martha had, and if something like that had been a concern for her regarding Ben or Frances, she'd probably have been in much the same condition as Martha was. She wasn't a professional therapist, but she had picked a fair amount of things up from Frances over the years and had even talked with Frances a bit before Ben left for school and Frances left for work.
"I know," Samantha said slowly, "but you've been under stress with regard to what was going on with Eric... and while it may be nothing, that doesn't mean it didn't have an effect on you."
Martha didn't answer immediately and merely looked down toward her feet for the moment. Eventually, Samantha came forward and put her hands on Martha's shoulders, which was got Martha to look up.
"And while we did tell you about the damage done to the window," Samantha spoke softly, "that isn't the same as seeing it first hand."
Martha nodded. She remembered the sounds of the battle and the fact that the gunshots had also raised the fear that Eric might have been in danger as the gun shots had sounded like they'd been close to the Anderson home, which would put him close to the shooting. It was only later that they learned that Eric was fine and healthy and that the battle had been on the other side of the Twist's home. The fact that the Twists were having to replace a window was proof of that. Thankfully, Frances hadn't been hurt.
"It's still amazing on how many close calls have gone on," Martha said slowly, "be it Yvette Smith's rampage... going after William... the wedding and all the excitement that went around with that... and then Dymixious Drake battling the police."
"Yeah... it's been an... interesting fall," Samantha answered, "with more action than we normally get... but... it's not something I would complain with. Because it brought you as a good friend for Frances and myself. It's helped your sons... and I assure you, if there is anything truly wrong with Eric... Frances will help him."
"Thanks," Martha said again.
"Now... come on," Samantha urged and began to lead Martha away from the window, "I'm going to stay at home today until after the window is replaced, so why don't we get some food in you. Everything will be fine... unless your husband doesn't know how to get kids too school."
"He can manage," Martha found herself giving a small smile, "and in many ways... parental duties was something I never had any issue with even back in Minnesota."
"Still... best to get a breakfast in you," Samantha answered back.