Karen Yuletide, her fiance Peter Talbot, and Monica Yuletide's (surprise!) fiance Joanne Howard were getting over the unexpected run in with Monica's ex-husband and well estranged father to Karen; when the ICU doctor at San Diego General approached them.
"Hello. I'm Doctor Moria Alexander. Are you here about Monica Yuletide too?" she asked, since her's was the only room in the ICU ward currently occupied.
"Yes. I'm her daughter Karen. This is my fiance Peter Talbot, and this is my mother's fiance Joanne Howard," said Karen, completing the introductions.
"Well, as you can see," began Dr. Alexander, moving aside so the trio could get a good look at the patient through the glass partition to her room from where they stood, "Monica is still in her medically induced coma at the moment, but her vitals are steady. Barring anything unforeseen, we will be bringing her out of it tomorrow, but we do prefer that patients wake up on their own whenever possible. However, if Monica shows no signs of doing so by Monday morning, then we can induce consciousness if necessary. How long will you be here?"
"I live with my fiance," said Joanne. "Karen and her fiance are from out of town."
"Oh? Where?" wondered the Doctor.
"A small place in Washington called Moon Lake," said Peter, eyeing the Doctor for her reaction. She's a weretigress! he realized.
"We're both college students there, so our schedule is dependent upon both classes and mom's status," explained Karen.
"I see," said Alexander, not having any reaction at all that Peter could discern. "Well, until Monica does regain consciousness and we can run some more tests on the subject, I'm afraid any questions concerning possible brain damage and spinal injury will remain unanswered. We are hopeful on that, though..."
"I sense a but coming," said Karen.
"It's just that, according to the forms I've gone over, you live in an apartment, correct?" Dr. Alexander asked Joanne.
"Yes. Monica's been there for years and I just moved in with her recently."
"We were lucky and got in on the ground floor when the place first opened, so it's still under rent control," explained Karen. "I moved out before September to start school in Moon Lake, but Mom's name has been the only one on the official lease contract, hence maintaining a flat rate on the rent all these years."
"I see. My concern is, what floor is it on?" asked the doctor.
"Second," both Karen and Joanne replied, almost in unison.
"That's going to be a problem," realized Doctor Alexander. "Over the coming months Monica will be going from wheelchair to walker to crutches to a cane to hopefully no artificial assistance at all as she works her way through rehab and regains her strength and the use of her legs. So unless the building has an elevator..."
MEANWHILE...
Back in Moon Lake...
It was a short walk for William and Martha Anderson, along with their son Nate and his boyfriend Alex Ramsey; to go to their next door neighbor's residence.
Upon ringing the doorbell, Frances Twist promptly answered it.
"Hi," she said cheerfully. "I can hazard a pretty well educated guess as to why you're here, but I'm afraid Samantha is still at the town hall right now. Would you still like to come in?" she asked.
"If you don't mind," said William, to which Frances agreed.
"It's been too long," Martha purred to her fellow werecat, kissing her on the cheek before entering.
"Next week for sure honey. With or without Samantha," promised Frances, knowing what was on her sister werecat's mind.
"Hey Ben!" shouted Nate, as he and Alex brought up the rear behind his father.
"Hey guys!" said Ben, coming out of the kitchen. "Some decision last night, huh?"
"Nothing to howl happily at," agreed Alex, since the three boys were all werewolves when not in their normal forms. "Can't say I'm not surprised though. Moon Lake has run some pretty serious exposure risks before. Perhaps it's time to let the cat out of the bag if we can do so in a controlled manner that benefits us." Then, realizing where he was, turned to the ladies and said, "Sorry."
"No need to apologize Alex. The council vote last night has got a lot of people concerned," said Frances, as she sat down with the gathering. "Are you all here to see me professionally as a therapist, or..."
"Only as a friend, who we were hoping might have some news," said Martha, taking Frances' hands in hers.
"I talked to Samantha about a half hour ago, when she called and asked what we wanted for dinner, since she's going to pick up on the way home," said Frances, trying to get comfortable with the topic at hand.
"As you can imagine, the town hall has been fielding a lot of phone calls and visitors today. Samantha says their e-mail server crashed from all the comments, but Melissa Stovall of Stovall Systems has been told not to bother getting it up and running again until Monday, since the rest of their website is working just fine," began Frances.
"Anyway, the council won't be getting back together until their regularly scheduled meeting Monday morning, but from what Samantha has been able to gather, the 4 who voted against revealing the existence of were society to the world might not be in any kind of a major hurry to come up with a plan to do so, which would also delay enacting whatever said plan turns out to be."
"But wouldn't that be counter productive?" asked William. "After all, what if something happens between now and having a plan ready to go that risks exposing were society again?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," was all Frances could say. "The biggest concern a lot of folks are expressing at the moment is how the rest of the world will react once they do discover we exist."
"Understandable," agreed William. "I wasn't too happy when I first found out, and I certainly didn't enter were society under the best of circumstances," he added, briefly thinking about the rogue werevixen that changed him against his will, "but now..."
"At least whatever plan is devised will only reveal that weres exist. Moon Lake's involvement with them will remain confidential," said Martha happily. "I do so worry about the kids. Especially Eric. He's so happy now that he's become a were-merman and has Julie."
"The thing that I'd like to know is, once the secret is out, do we get to be furry 24-7, no matter where we are?" asked Nate. "I've wanted to be a werewolf my whole life, and now that I am one..."
"Like I said, at the moment, everything is up in the air, so your guess is as good as mine," replied Frances.
AND ELSEWHERE...
The lonely lady sat in her motel room.
She had flipped through all the channels on the free cable twice before turning off the TV in disgust.
She had already read through the entire newspaper, and even did all the puzzles.
Now, even going through the room's free copy of Gideon's Bible, she couldn't find the peace and solace she craved.
My divorce is almost final. No good two timer of a husband. Or was he a three timer? Even my lawyer wasn't sure how many he had on the side. Certainly won't make that mistake again though. Thankfully we never had any kids. I'd hate to raise any as a single parent. Geez, I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with my life now? I'm pushing 40 and the only career I've ever had has been wife and homemaker.
She shook her head sadly, but resisted the urge to grab a tissue, let alone cry.
Anyway, once the lawyer finishes the details and I sign the paperwork, I can't wait to get out of here and visit what's left of my family. It's been so long since I've seen my kin and relatives. I wonder what that Moon Lake is like?
TO BE CONTINUED...
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The lady in the last sequence has made scattered appearances in previous episodes. But who she is and what impact she will have upon Moon Lake remains to be seen.—tmw.