With the one-on-one portion of their session concluded, since Eric was a minor by anyone's standards, Frances walked to her office door and opened it long enough to say, "William? Martha? Could you please come in and join us?"
Eric's parents looked at each other and then obliged.
Neither had said a word to each other the whole time Frances was alone with Eric, but both were both clearly worried about what might be wrong with their son and if those issues could be addressed properly in time.
Even if they had thought to do so, their respective were hearing wouldn't have allowed Martha or William to hear any of the conversation between the therapist and their son because of the intentionally thick sound proofing within Frances' inner office.
Nervous about the results of the session, the Andersons entered and took a seat on either side of their son as Frances closed the door and then sat in her customary chair in front of the line of seats for multiple guests.
"Now then," began Frances, staring at everyone. "You were right that Eric still has some unresolved, or at least unaddressed, issues from previous events before your family moved to Moon Lake."
William and Martha looked at each other before glancing down at Eric, who seemed rather calm about everything, before they turned to face Frances again.
"Some of it does stem from the circumstances of what happened in the past, let alone things that occurred after you arrived here," announced Frances, as thoughts of Eric withdrawing into himself, William cheating on Martha, she repressing her true sexual nature, and the rogue werevixen Yvette Smith trying to make William hers and changing him into a werefox in the process crossed their minds.
"Part of it is just natural puberty issues and normal teenage angst. You will be quite happy to know that Eric realizes he does have some issues, and has already taken steps on his own to correct the situation," said Frances, which eased the tension each parent was experiencing a little. "You will also be happy to know that even if licensed therapists like myself were able to do so, I feel that Eric doesn't need any medication."
That made William smile as Martha released a breath she didn't know she was holding until now.
"So, what does need to be done?" asked Eric's father.
"First off, we still need to clear the air on a couple of things. Martha, Samantha and I already know the answer to this but, considering how intellectually Eric looks at life, do you care to explain to him why you were repressing your bi nature all these years?"
"What?" said Martha in shock, glancing from her friend and fellow werecat to her husband and then at her son.
"Well..." Martha said, wondering whether or not to continue. "It wasn't something that I set out to do at first, but over time felt that it was something I had to do because women weren't supposed to feel the things I was feeling toward other women."
"You mean like how Nate was so hesitant to tell us he was gay and it was Alex who made him a werewolf and that the two of them fell in love and hope to get married someday?" asked Eric.
"Similar," admitted his mother. "Your father is the only man I truly love and the only husband I'll ever have," which made William smile. "Yet there are times when some women, like myself, have... other needs that need to be taken care of. A desire for something different that only another woman can provide. The way I was raised by my parents, I was always told that was wrong and I shouldn't feel that way, which is why I tried my damnedest to repress those feelings. I know differently now, especially since we moved here and I became a werecat," added Martha, while smiling at Frances.
"It's okay mom," said Eric, nodding at her. "Sometimes I have such a strong yearning for Julie that nothing else matters except being with her."
"I can relate to that," said William. "Since I became a werefox and formed a life/soulmate bond with your mother, sometimes when I'm not at least near her, I feel so empty inside..."
"Which brings us to our next question. William, why did you cheat on Martha back in Minnesota to begin with?" asked Frances.
William was shocked to hear the family friend and next door neighbor ask, but Frances followed it up by saying, "You and Martha are thankfully long past that now, and it's an event that will never happen again, but Eric is still unclear how it could have happened to begin with."
William thought long and hard about that before admitting, "Sometimes I wonder about that myself. It's not that I have never stopped truly loving your mother," he began, turning to face Eric and Martha. "But as first Nate and then you entered our lives, she devoted more and more time to the two of you. Not that you boys are guilty of anything or that she was wrong in doing so," he quickly added, "but that there is only so many hours in any given day and that time spent here means time not spent there. In this case, and I don't hold it against any of you, but the more time she spent with you and Nate, the less time she spent with me."
"But that doesn't mean I never stopped loving you William," said Martha.
"I realize that now honey, but back then I was only human, with all the problems and shortcomings that go with it. For all I know, I could have been outright jealous of Nate and Eric having all your attention," he confessed.
"Well, they were both handfuls as toddlers," recalled Martha. "Even when Nate started school and I only had Eric at home, it seemed like I was still as busy with one as I was with both of them there."
"Anyway, I never started out with any intentions to cheat on you, but over time I just started noticing all the coeds around campus. There were always a few that tried to butter me up for better grades, extra credit, or whatever; and over time instead of just ignoring them and telling myself that a married man, let alone a tenured professor shouldn't be doing such things, I started returning the flirtations," confessed William. "From there, things just grew until one day I crossed the line I shouldn't have and..."
"Oh honey..." said Martha, reaching out past Eric to take William's hand in hers.
"But that's all over now," he said, bringing Martha's hand up to kiss it. "I'm yours, now and forever."
Frances smiled and Eric began to blush as his father started issuing small yips of happiness as his mother began to purr in pleasure.
"Okay. Moving on," said Frances, perhaps a little louder than need be, because the last thing she wanted was for the two of them to become more intimate in her office, let alone go furry in the process. "Your turn Eric," announced the therapist, before she had him recount some of the things he told her earlier.*
"...and so, I was just so afraid that I was losing the best thing that ever happened to me, like when Nate and I were afraid the two of you were going to get a divorce and split the family up," concluded Eric.
It was all Martha could do to keep from hugging her son as William said, "I'm sorry I put your mother, let alone you and Nate through all that. I remember verbally giving your old principal hell over letting the fight happen, but I never fully knew why the other kids were mad at you for allegedly losing that game before now."
"And while we are right, both morally and legally that the two of you are too young yet, even by were standards, we'll try to be more understanding about you and Julie needing time together, as long as you two keep your promises of not getting married, let alone having kids, until at least after high school graduation," added Martha.
"There is absolutely no way we would ever risk doing anything to jinx the prophecy dreams we've shared to not come true, but like Julie told me, for weremers, the concepts of love at first sight and happily forever after are proven scientific facts, akin to the Skulk's life/soulmate bond," explained Eric. "Once a couple realizes that each has found their significant other..."
"I have heard rumors about that," admitted Frances, "but until now no weremer has ever wanted to elaborate on the subject," to which Eric looked at her with a shocked expression on his face. "Don't worry Eric. Even if it didn't go against the therapist code of ethics, I'd never tell a soul," she promised, to Eric's great relief.
"So, where do we go from here?" wondered William.
"As I said, even if I was authorized to prescribe them, Eric doesn't need any medications. However, while granting him more time to be with Julie when reasonable between both yourselves and the Stovalls is a start, he does need other outlets."
"Like what?" asked Martha.
"Unfortunately, because of our greater athletic abilities as weres, Moon Lake doesn't have any real sports teams, because it wouldn't be fair to the normal athletes," began Frances. "You can always start watching baseball games on TV together when the new season starts next Spring."
"Say, perhaps we can even drive up to Seattle sometime and catch a Mariners game," William suggested.
Eric looked happy at the prospect as Frances said, "Now there's a thought. But Eric, you still have a lot of work ahead of you."
"Oh? What?" he asked, surprised to hear that.
"Two things. First off, I don't want you to keep internalizing everything that might be troubling you," instructed Frances.
"But I don't, or at least, I don't think I always do," said Eric in return.
"The situation with Julie and Arthur seems to indicate otherwise," Frances pointed out to him. "It's not that you're incapable of dealing with things on your own. Just that you don't always have to. You have your parents, Nate, Julie. Even me, Ben, Samantha, Alex, and the Stovalls if necessary. If something's troubling you that you can't handle on your own, don't hesitate to ask for help. Doing so isn't a sign of weakness, but of intelligence realizing that you have family and friends willing and ready to help you if they can."
"Okay," promised Eric.
"The second thing is, I want you to start working on coming out of your shell more and become more socially active, and I don't mean by spending more time with Julie or with your online activities," explained Frances.
"How do I do that?" wondered Eric.
"Well, I'm not up on the current high school curriculum as well as I should be with Ben a Junior," admitted Frances, "but I'm sure there's some club or after school activity that you could participate in. If not at the high school itself, maybe the library?"
"I see what you're getting at, but what if that leads to—"
"Considering the nature of most of its citizens, Moon Lake has a Zero Tolerance Policy towards bullies, so there's absolutely no risk of anything bad that ever happened to you in Minnesota being repeated here," promised Frances. "Now, officially, we'll schedule a follow up meeting for next month sometime before Christmas to see how you're doing, but unofficially you know that I'm right next door if you need anything," she added, before rising from her chair.
"When do you think the next time we'll be able to play chess again is?" asked Eric, sensing that the session was drawing to a close.
"We'll try to schedule a rematch soon, especially considering that you're up on me by three victories out of four games," replied Frances, knowing how good her opponent was. "But have you ever tried teaching Julie the game?"
"She does know how to play. It's just that we always seem to start a match, but for some reason never get to finish one," explained Eric, blushing.
"Oh-kay," replied the therapist, realizing what Eric was probably getting at, as the Andersons started to rise.
"Thank you Doctor Twist, and Frances?"
"Yes Eric?"
"I'm not sure of all the details, but from what little I've overheard of Alex and Nate talking, I personally don't see why you won't let Ben play in the Thanksgiving Flag Football game."
Now it was Frances' turn to go pale. "I'm afraid that's a private matter that we're still trying to work out."
"Okay. Sorry."
"I'll take Eric outside and start making arrangements with your receptionist," said William, as the men walked out of Frances' office, leaving the women alone.
"Eric is a really good kid who just got over his head on a few things that he couldn't completely cope with on his own. It was the fear of possibly losing Julie Stovall, who he considers to be the best thing that ever happened to him, that triggered recent events. Getting him out of his shell and more active socially will help Eric build more confidence over time and everything will turn out all right," explained Frances.
"Thanks," replied Martha, as she hugged her sister werecat, although everyone was currently still in their human forms. "Sometime, do you think you and me, or maybe even the three of us?" she asked, thinking of Frances' wife Samantha.
"Not sure exactly when, but definitely looking forward to the occasion," said Frances with a smile.
"Me too," said Martha, before giving Frances a quick but passionate kiss that got both ladies momentarily purring.
As their lips parted, Martha briefly rubbed her nose against the tip of Frances' in a gesture of feline familiarity, before leaving the office to join the rest of her family in the waiting room.
___________________________________________________
*Which you can discover by hitting the "Previous Chapter" button in the upper left hand corner of this page.—tmw.