The end of the day came relatively quietly for Eric as he went through his afternoon classes. Some of the whispers of what this supposed meeting the following night would be about were still there, and while something related to the were-secret was often repeated, many aspects of these rumors had odd differences and deviations. It only reinforced what he and Julie had agreed on with regard to their own speculation as to the meeting's purpose. The big thing for the moment was the appointment he had to see Doctor Twist that afternoon. It meant he couldn't walk Julie home after school, but with what he remembered of his actions when he thought that Julie was going to run off with Arthur, he could understand his parents worry and didn't want to do anything that would hurt Julie.
He did smile though as he found Julie waiting for him at the front steps to the school. He smiled and approached her, and she turned and smiled to him as he got closer. They closed and shared a brief hug with smiles and noted the soft twinkle in each other's blue eyes, Julie's blue since birth, and Eric's since the growing reciprocal love between the two of them began to turn him into a weremer even before the afternoon with her that to Eric's mind and heart was magical beyond all belief.
"Hey," Eric managed with a small smile to his girlfriend, his mind fumbling with what else he could say at the moment. Julie only smiled back.
"Hey," Julie smiled back to him, joyful for being able to at least see him for a little bit after school, "You have a good afternoon?"
"Yeah... you?" Eric asked back, noting a familiar vehicle with is mother and father in the front seats pulling up to a visitor's parking space in front of the school, which was clear as the busses hadn't arrived yet.
"Yeah," Julie nodded, "Some things keep going... but it really wasn't a bad afternoon. You'll be okay?"
Eric nodded as he began to pull away from Julie. Every fiber in his being screamed at him to hold her and be close to her, but he knew the appointment wasn't something he could get out of and it was something he had to go through with. Though he did keep his eyes turned to her has slowly made his way toward the Anderson's SUV. He stumbled a little as he stepped off the curb, but managed to avoid face-planting on the pavement and he heard Julie give a giggle.
"I'll be fine, so long as I can keep my feet under me," Eric gave a small chuckle, "See you later? Either in person or on Skype?"
"Of course," Julie smiled back and then began to walk her way that would take her toward Wood Street.
Eric then managed to climb into the back seat and tossed his backpack to the other side. His father didn't put the vehicle in reverse until after the click of Eric fastening his seatbelt was heard.
"You came along, dad?" Eric wondered as he looked to his father.
"I came for you, son," William said softly from the driver's seat and his eyes focused on the rearview mirror, "both your mother and I love you and we will do anything to keep you safe, happy, and loved. Never forget that."
That much Eric understood. While his family might have been wrestling with some of the emotional aftereffects of what had happened in Minnesota regarding his father's infidelity and getting one of his students at the University of Minnesota pregnant when they first came to Moon Lake, Eric was always sure that his parents loved him. He then sat back and waited for them to make their way to Frances's clinic. As he did so, he could hear Martha providing directions that would get them from the high school to Frances's clinic.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It didn't take them long to get from the high school to Frances's clinic, and most of the time taken came from the unique way that Moon Lake as a town was laid out. Eric thought it didn't look too bad and quietly made his way in, with Martha holding the door open for him. He was greeted by Rudy as he came through the door.
"Hello, how may I help you?" Rudy asked to Eric as he came through the door.
"Yes... I'm Eric Anderson," Eric introduced himself, "I believe I had an appointment to see Doctor Twist."
Rudy nodded and checked a few things on the computer that was in front of him and then nodded and then reached under his desk to an intercom button and then spoke, "Doctor Twist, your three forty five is here, with his parents I believe."
"We can handle the billing matters out here," Martha and William said together, though not perfectly in sync making it sound a little off.
"Okay, Rudy, I'll be out in a moment," came Frances' voice over the intercom. From there, Rudy looked up from his desk and then gestured to the couch and chairs across the room from his desk, "Billing will be handled after the session. It shouldn't be too long before Doctor Twist comes out."
They nodded and made their way over. William and Martha sat down on the couch, and sat closely. Eric noted his father holding his mother's hand and softly patting it, as if trying to assure her. It was something that Eric could smile at, some of it being in the fact that becoming weres had helped his parents with many of the emotional issues they'd had when the Anderson family had first moved to Moon Lake. His mom was more confident in herself and his father seemed more capable of living up to the stories that Eric had gotten based on when his parents first met and fell in love. While they sat down, Eric busied himself with looking over the magazines that were placed on the small table in front of the couch. He was hoping for something that related to science or science fiction, though he found that most of the magazine titles seemed to focus on the news or on other topics. One was even a journal on psychology.
In the end, he was so engrossed in looking through the magazines that he didn't notice Frances coming out into the hallway area outside her office and then into the doorway to the waiting room. When she spoke, Eric jumped a little.
"Okay, Eric... I'm ready if you'd like to come back," Frances spoke making Eric jump.
"Okay..." Eric said slowly and then glanced to his parents for a moment.
"We can wait here... if Frances needs anything from us, that's fine," William commented, "we just want to make sure you're okay."
Eric nodded and slowly approached Frances and she stepped back slightly to allow him to enter the room. The room was fairly simple and Eric made his way up to the long couch that was there along the far wall. He glanced over to Frances who shut the door behind her and then sat down in an office chair while collecting a notepad at the same time.
"So is there anyway... I should sit? Or..." Eric began.
"That's up to you and however you feel comfortable," Frances answered.
Eric nodded and simply sat down and looked up to Frances while she had the notepad in her lap. In this, Eric guessed that she would be taking shorthand notes while the conversed.
"Now... Eric, I'm going to start with a question that may seem odd, but..." Frances began, "Do you understand WHY you're here in this session?"
Eric slowly nodded, "Yeah... I reacted poorly to somethings that I misinterpreted at school and that worried my folks. Some of it reminded them of how I was back in Minnesota which worried them... and then when they tried to assure me that things would be fine... I... I kinda snapped at them. It wasn't something that I wanted to do, and really if I'd been thinking clearly I probably wouldn't have done it... but what I'd misinterpreted had me so... down that I wasn't thinking clearly."
"And do you think this sort of thing could just be simple jealousy or anything like that?" Frances asked.
"Maybe that triggered it... when it happened... it just had me feeling so low... that I was losing everything that had made things for me here so good," Eric answered.
"And this relates to Julie?" Frances asked.
"Yes," Eric admitted with a slow nod, "You know that I was rather shy in social situations before we moved here... I know that I... or my mom have told you that much. And I'll admit that finding out that most everyone here is a were of some kind wasn't exactly comforting. The science-fiction fan in me might have some curiosity at the science behind weres in what enables them to transform so radically and change shape in ways if the normal rules of science were to be followed would be at the very least extremely taxing with regards to energy..."
"In a way... being a were and transforming can be taxing," Frances cut him off, "many weres eat more food than normal humans and humans that become weres often notice they need more to fuel those sorts of energy needs."
"Yes... and the science-fiction fan and the scientist in me might have some interest in the how or why all that works... but I'm not like Nate," Eric continued, "I was never really good at social issues... especially after what happened to me in Minnesota and at the same time, unlike Nate, I've never had a great interest in weres the way he has. He's been a fan of werewolf movies for as long as I can remember and that was probably a big part of why he was so eager when we first moved in. The rest left me nervous and afraid, especially after Yvette Smith attacked my dad and all the nonsense that caused."
Frances slowly nodded, remembering those issues. It had resulted in William becoming a werefox, which would mean that if his marriage with Martha was loving and that both sides loved each other, William would likely bond to Martha when his transformation was completed. There could have been some question as to whether or not that would happen, particularly given the commentary that William had been rather unfaithful for quite a period in Minnesota before the Andersons came to Moon Lake, but if that bond did form, it would mean that love was there and was reciprocated between William and Martha. It also meant that if William and Martha stayed together, Martha would have to become a were of some type, unless William was to be totally celibate around Martha. That had essentially rushed Martha's decision to become a werecat and set up the battle with Yvette Smith, later.
"And Julie fixed that?" Frances asked.
"Julie fixed everything," Eric answered, "She joined me at lunch... totally out of the blue. No girl had ever come up to me before... at least not to talk socially on anything more than homework or help with it. But Julie came up to me with a bright smile... a happy twinkle in her eyes, and asked about me, what I thought, how I was adjusting to things. Even invited me her place for a pool party... that ended up being just for the two of us... NO ONE outside my family had ever done anything like that before. It helped me adjust to things and she made me smile. Even before I became her weremerman... just seeing her made me smile and I began losing much of what worried me so much when we first moved in."
"Sounds magical," Frances gave a soft smile, thinking back on her own courtship with Samantha. It had been magical back then for her, and while Samantha hadn't been old enough to have her first transformation at that time, Frances had been going into puberty then and had some recognition and knowledge on who she was. Some of the timing for hers and Samantha's first time together could have been done better, but neither knew that Samantha's status as a werecat was still "infectious" even if Samantha hadn't had her first transformation yet, and thankfully she and Samantha had had enough fun that "first" time that Frances's own transformation was completed even though she wasn't yet old enough to physically take were form at the time earlier. Regardless, it was still magical to Frances and she wouldn't change anything about it.
"It was... everything she did was kind and loving... and while it took a little bit of explanation and discovery on what love was, I couldn't help but feel it bloom for her," Eric answered, "Julie was rapidly becoming everything to me... my one true love... and there is no one else I'd really want to spend my time with. It made me feel like I could do anything and I was more than happy to become a were for her."
"And then... this misunderstanding happened," Frances said slowly, "can you tell me about it? How you felt?"
Eric nodded and then looked down for a moment before he answered Frances's question. "Well... the big part of it is that Julie and I don't share any classes this semester. The only times we can see each other during school for brief moments in the hall or at lunch. We don't even have our study halls at the same period of the day. This made lunch very important... but then Julie commented on a class assignment that she had to share with another weremer that she did share a class with. His name is Arthur Curtis... he seemed to be very interested in Julie and they were assigned to work on a project together... and to me it seemed like he was flirting with her and she was letting him do so."
"And?" Frances wondered.
"I wasn't just jealous but I began to get the sense that Julie didn't want me... because I wasn't born a were, because I was so uneasy with things and that she preferred Arthur to me because he'd been a were longer than me, if not being born one," Eric said weakly, "It felt like I'd lost everything and I just started sulking in expectation of Julie eventually saying that she'd moved on. That then made me feel upset and at times I lashed out when my folks tried to comfort me and assure me that things were fine... I knew I was over-reacting... but... I just couldn't help it. It was something that just left me feeling powerless and like things like this had happened before."
There was a silence as Frances wrote a few things down, though from what she heard, the intense highs and lows seemed to confirm France's suspicion of bipolar disorder that had manifested in an emotional manner rather than a physical manner. Though there were still some other questions she needed to ask.
"Now... you mention all of this was from a misunderstanding... I trust that's been resolved?" Frances asked.
"Yes," Eric gave a weak smile, "Arthur WAS interested in Julie and he was attempting to court her, but she was unaware that that was what he was trying to do and he didn't know that Julie and I are engaged... at least as far as weremers will be concerned. When they figured it all out... they explained things they sorted themselves out."
"Well, that will be good news," Frances commented, ignoring the "engaged" issue. That was probably something that was weremer specific that she didn't want to get into. The good thing for the moment was that Eric had come out of the "low" period. Though, dealing with the condition would still need to be determined by what triggered it and how severe it was. If it was an emotional situational cause, Frances was sure that all that Eric would need is support and periodic therapy or moments to get things off his chest as it were and let him work through those raging emotions. If it was something that the cause could be moved to something more severe and more than just situational triggers, there would be other steps that might need to be taken. Determining that was what Frances had to do next...
"Now... you say you've had highs and lows like this before?" Frances asked, "were they to the same extent?"
"Maybe not to the same extent, but yeah... I have had feelings like this before," Eric admitted, "it was really the extent of this past one that really scared me the most. As I ended up shunning Julie and lashed out at my parents... Neither of which deserved that, as my parents have always been there for me an Julie had done so much for me. That's the big part of why I'm here... I don't want to hurt anyone."
"Can you describe when you first had these sorts of sensations?" Frances answered nodded.
"I think that's with the bullying issue that happened a few years ago while I was in middle school," Eric answered, "and mostly because I wasn't focused on one thing. Maybe some of that was part of the problem on my end there, particularly as enjoyed being able to read and study things from science and science fiction as well as baseball."
"Baseball?" Frances asked.
"Yeah... I may not be quite as open as Nate is to have fun with Ben and Alex with the Thanksgiving football game from the social side of things, but I've always enjoyed baseball and when I was younger, and I figured I could do both," Eric answered, "and to an extent... I did okay at first. The team was pretty good and I managed things okay."
"How did you interact with your teammates?" Frances wondered. She remembered Eric being a bit shy and withdrawn when the Andersons had first moved in and she had some awareness that bullying had been a part of that, but so far she hadn't gotten the full details.
"I did okay... I could talk and encourage them with what to do on the field and even direct movements on the field to play to specific situations, be it a shift or dealing with left handed versus right handed batters and so on," Eric answered, "Some times during breaks I might have asked a question or two on other things that I've liked... science and science fiction. That sort of thing. As... everyone seemed to get along well at practice and I did fairly well in games. So I figured people would like that. They'd like to have friends that would do many of those sorts of things... Like Nate agreeing to be in the flag football game because his friends are playing... But more often than not... no one seemed interested in the other things that I liked. So... I just stayed quiet on that and focused on what was to be done on the field."
"I take it these kids that didn't have interest in science or science fiction took things further than that?" Frances asked.
Eric looked down and then nodded, "Yeah... school had just ended for the day at the start of the fall semester. And a couple of the kids that had been on the league for middle school age students... I'm not sure how they'd refer to that level in Washington... but tired of the fact that I'd also had interests in things other than baseball, they jumped me after school and quite literally beat me to a pulp ranting about how if I focused more on the game we would have won the league title the previous summer or something like that... I think it was Nate who ultimately drove them off... or maybe another adult... but I went home bruised and beaten up and utterly broken hearted."
"Because you thought them friends?" Frances inquired.
"Or at least friendly enough to let me be interested in things other than just baseball," Eric nodded as he looked back up to Frances, "but they didn't and that really hurt me deeply... It's why from there that I became so withdrawn. I didn't want to take that sort of risk of being hurt again, especially when the only ones who came up to defend me proved to be my family. Nate, my mom, and my dad... He took a day off from the college to berate the school's principal and staff for being so lax with regard to the two kids that beat me up... especially as it happened only JUST across the street from the school. I felt glad at having their defense... but I didn't want to be in that position again. Thus... why I was quiet and most of the interactions outside of my family was limited to those online who liked things like Star Wars and Star Trek... because I had the sense there that at least with their forums... I'd be "talking" to people that shared the same interests..."
"Until you met Julie," Frances finished.
"And everything became wonderful," Eric said with a small smile appearing on his lips.
"Were there any arguments there?" Frances asked, "anything that might be troublesome?"
"In some cases it was some sort of argument on who would win the Enterprise or a Star Destroyer... the thing that was troubling was rarer, usually when some Evangelical tried to explain on a science forum that all science was wrong because "God said so" or that sort of thing..." Eric gave a shrug, "but that sort of thing I stayed out of."
"Well... that's good," Frances replied with a small smile, "Now... I have to ask... was there every any other instance in which you might have had these sorts of highs and lows?"
"I'd... I'd think about the only other time would be with regard to some of the stuff that happened when Nate and I figured that dad had been cheating on mom and leading into what happened that saw his dismissal from the University of Minnesota," Eric said slowly, "For me... it was a major let down as dad has always been good to Nate and me. I felt safe and secure with him... so I couldn't understand why he'd make the decisions he made. Especially at the time, I didn't know that Mom was bi and was repressing it... I still don't know why she was repressing it... though, neither have I asked. All that seemed to fix itself with mom and dad became weres."
"Did that depress you?" Frances asked.
"Maybe... neither Nate nor I wanted to repeat dad's mistakes, and in a way we were glad that he did apologize and admit he'd done wrong," Eric admitted, "and when some angry woman tried to insult mom during all of the mess that followed... dad stood between them and her and said that it was HE they should hate, not his wife. That told me that their love was real and that dad was honestly sorry for what he'd done..."
"Though there was still healing to come," Frances surmised.
"And that's been going along fairly well," Eric commented, "Especially given the pleasure filled yips and mews coming from their bedroom on some nights..."
Frances chuckled and wrote down a few notes and then looked to Eric, "Well... I think I've gotten enough for now, and I am glad to see that you're doing better. About all that is left will be to let you and your parents know what I think based on what I've heard here today and where we go from here. Does that sound good?"
Eric nodded.