Frances Twist was at her desk, diligently catching up on paperwork and reports from her various therapy sessions that day, when her inner office door opened.
"What is it Rudy?" she asked, not even bothering to look up from her computer screen.
"He said the outer door is locked for the night and the only thing keeping him here is whether or not you still need his help on anything," announced her wife Samantha.
Frances, upon realizing it wasn't her office manager talking, dashed out of her chair and said, "Hello darling," before giving Samantha a romantic kiss.
Then she paused long enough to tell Rudy he was free to go home, and that she would set the alarm system before departing. Then Frances closed the door to her private office and smiled. "You're a sight for sore eyes."
"Really? I could say the same to you," replied Samantha, even as she grabbed a patient/guest chair and sat down next to her wife's desk.
"Rough day?" asked Frances, moving her desk chair to be closer to Samantha.
"Fielding calls and questions about that damn meeting tonight," complained Samantha, as she kicked her shoes off. "I couldn't get any of my regular work done," as she sat there, just slumped in the chair and wiggling her bare toes.
"Just a lot of patients for me," replied Frances, copying her wife's moves. "But of course, everyone I did see today brought up whatever's going on tonight in the big town council meeting."
Then there was a pregnant pause between the two women, before Frances finally asked, "Would they really do it?"
Samantha thought long and hard about that for a moment before answering.
"Your guess is as good as mine," she admitted. "From what I hear, the Skulk have some new member who is pushing for honesty* under the belief that it'd be best to get out in front of this before the secret is exposed and the media circus starts, especially if it isn't pro-were."
"Well, it's not like that argument has never come up before," Frances pointed out, even as she moved her feet a bit closer to tease and caress Samantha's. "Besides, if it wasn't for our isolation between keeping to ourselves for the most part and Moon Lake's relative remoteness, we'd probably would have been discovered long before now."
"True," agreed Samantha, even as she casually played 'footsies' with her wife. "What worries me most is drones. No one actually has any reason to come looking for us, but what if one of those things finds us by accident? From what I hear, those things are getting smaller and more advanced every day, let alone becoming more difficult to track."
"Then it might be a good thing to at least reveal we exist, that we aren't animals and creatures to be feared like weres are depicted in a lot of normal media, especially the horror movies," said Frances.
"Yeah, but considering how long we have been 'under the radar', so to speak," replied Samantha.
"The so-called Resistance Movement?" asked Frances.
"Yeah. Their basic position is still the same. If our ancestors stayed hidden, then it was for a good reason and we should do the same. But it's a lot more difficult to do so now than it was back then."
"I know these would normally be isolated cases, but what about Lionel Ulysses and Dymixious Drake?"(*2) asked Frances. "One alone would be cause for concern, but two within so short a time?"
"Well, the fact that they were connected might explain that," Samantha pointed out.
"Okay. That might have been a freak occurrence, but can we risk such a freak again?" asked Frances. "What about the panic Yvette Smith caused?(*3) What if she had turned more people before being captured?"
"William because she wanted him, and Jenny just to create a distraction in hopes of escaping capture. If Yvette did that once, she might have done so again. Don't you think I haven't asked myself these same questions?" Samantha asked in return while sitting upright, which pulled her feet away from Frances'.
Frances was startled to see her wife's reaction.
Then she realized the possible cause.
"Moon Lake has weathered other storms before," Frances said, moving from her chair to sit in Samantha's lap. "I remember this one ruckus. This lonely girl had just moved to town with her family and fell in love with her neighbor across the street."
"Please, don't," said Samantha, looking intently at her wife.
"They were both young, didn't know everything then that they do now, but the one thing they were both sure of was how they felt about each other," Frances continued, even as she put her arms lovingly around Samantha.
"Even if it wasn't actually at first sight, although I still think otherwise, there was no denying that the love between them was true. They held nothing back and explored everything together," added Frances, even as she laid her head on Samantha's shoulder to nuzzle her neck.
"Oh, honey..." moaned Samantha, even as she wrapped her arms around Frances the best she could.
"My parents freaked when I had my first werecat transformation at the ceremony that was supposed to make me a weredog like them," Frances reminded her wife. "Oh the storm that developed over finding out I was a lesbian, let alone a werecat now and how I felt about you."
"Even by accident, I never should have taken your choice away. Why do you think I entered public service?" asked Samantha, even as she felt herself fighting tears.
"So what if we didn't know that even if you hadn't had your first transformation yet when we first met, that you could still affect me? I still would have become whatever you were to be with you for the rest of our lives together," purred Frances, even though she was still in her human form. "Maybe things could have been handled differently, but would they have been for the better? You could have a weredog wife for a mate right now. I'd hate being canine till my dying day but I'd still love you. That's all that matters to me. Every single, precious second we've had together so far I treasure. The only thing more important is our time together now and in the future," added Frances, before giving Samantha a kiss.
When their lips parted, Frances' nose touched the tip of her wife's as she looked Samantha in the eye and said, "I love you Mrs. Twist."
"And I love you Mrs. Twist," replied Samantha, before kissing Frances.
The happily married lesbian werecat couple held each other close for awhile, each issuing purrs of contentment, until Frances glanced at her wall clock.
"It's after 6. We still have time to grab a bite to eat somewhere, but are we going to the meeting or not?" she asked.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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*Tom Herald, in our Moon Lake, Tad series.
*2) Ulysses was a were-rat briefly exposed in Tad. Drake assassinated Lionel for risking were exposure before he was killed resisting arrest.
*3)The rogue were-vixen responsible for making William Anderson and Jenny Harper-Jenkins werefoxes in this series.—tmw.