Frances was careful as she made her announcement, and noted that Ben looked up almost immediately. It had been something that had generated in the Twist household and created some concern with regard to their neighbors Nate and Eric Anderson. Frances had noted that in her session with Eric and from the debate with Ben and his mention of Ben discussing things with Nate and Alex. She knew that Ben wanted to play and originally she'd been against it. But in the course of the debate, she'd felt like she'd debated herself into a corner. That had been in her mind as she made her decision.
"If you can stay safe and careful... I'll agree to sign the permission slip," Frances said slowly, not liking the feeling that she was caving on the whole debate, but she'd felt like she'd debated herself into a corner. If she said "no," the only logical thing that she could do going forward would then be to block Ben from participating in man of the Pack's activities, which only made her wonder privately as to whether or not she was reacting the same way her parents had when she turned into a werecat right before they'd intended for her to go through the induction ceremony to be a weredog.
"Thanks, mom," Ben gave a small smile but didn't make any drastic celebratory gesture.
"Just remember that the important thing here is to stay safe," Frances insisted, "it may be flag football... but I wouldn't want you doing anything unnecessarily risky."
"Of course, mom," Ben nodded with some relief.
"It'll be signed before you go into school tomorrow," Frances promised, "and remember what I've asked..."
"To take no unnecessary risks," Ben nodded, "and none will be taken."
That earned a small smile and a nod as they resumed eating, though Frances did note a small smile on Samantha's lips and her eyes focused on Frances for a moment. Ben didn't notice it as he seemed to be looking down to the stew that was in front of him. Frances stayed silent for a moment and slowly returned to eating her own dinner. On some level she felt fairly good, as while she was caving to the pressure after she'd sworn she wouldn't, Ben wasn't celebrating or anything like that. He sat calmly while eating and taking some of the last bits of dumpling on his fork and then lifting it to his lips. That was something that Frances respected and more easily accepted.
After a few moments, Ben finished his meal and slowly stood up and walked his plate over the sink. Frances could hear him rinse his plate before he turned back to her and approached. She looked over to him as he gave a small smile and walked around the table. His smile in fact looked rather apologetic. which again gave Frances some sense of recognition that while Ben was pleased that Frances had changed her mind to give him permission to play but wasn't going to rub things in her face. Frances liked that.
"Thanks, mom," Ben said to her and slowly rubbed one shoulder with his free hand, "and I promise that I'll be careful. Everything will be fine."
Frances nodded as Ben then collected his backpack and then left the room to head back to his own bedroom. Once they heard the bedroom door shut, Frances turned back to Samantha for a moment and finally talked with her wife. The subject was obvious and Frances felt it best to talk quickly, figuring that Ben might go for a run and was merely putting things away. That would mean he might come back through the dinning room in order to go through the backdoor.
"You can stop smirking now," Frances said to Samantha as she slowly stood up.
"I'm not smirking," Samantha insisted, "though you did handle things well..."
"Ungh… I managed to debate myself into a corner," Frances grumbled, "either I cave and give Ben permission... or I might as well become my own parents."
"I don't think it was that bad, dear," Samantha answered.
"Sure it was," Frances answered, "You can remember how tense things are with my parents... how they responded to my being a werecat... or at least my becoming a werecat."
Samantha nodded as she followed Frances to the sink as both of them carried their plates to the sink to get started on cleaning up after dinner.
"Ben was right... particularly when it comes to some of the details on things," Frances spoke, "with flag football... the risks are lower and I jumped to conclusions on injuries to the point where I might as well have said that he shouldn't be a werewolf. Pretty much the same thing that my parents did with regard to the fact that I'm a lesbian and found love with you."
"Well, I would agree that you got a bit too heavily worried over Ben in this case," Samantha said slowly, "but... it's not as though worrying about him is wrong. The odds of him getting seriously hurt are rather low... and with it being flag football, this year, apparently, the odds get even lower... but that doesn't mean we can't worry about him."
"I'll probably still worry about him," Frances said softly.
"And that's fine..." Samantha answered.
"I do wish you could have..." Frances began slowly.
"Helped?" Samantha shook her head, "Dear, remember, I agreed that if a full agreement couldn't be reached, I would stand by the decision not to grant Ben permission... but that doesn't mean I felt the decision was the right one or that the risks were truly there to warrant it. In that sense... Ben was very much right. Perhaps not so much to the point that you'd urge him not to be a werewolf... but that may be a different issue. In this, when there were errors made... I put in my two cents to keep things civil and on point."
Frances sighed and looked down for a moment. She didn't get the chance to mope as she soon had Samantha come up and pull her into a firm hug, holding the two of them together. After a moment, Frances then heard Samantha say to her in a soft voice...
"Just as you've done the same for me whenever I've lost my temper over something," Samantha told Frances.