It was a little bit after four when Jen was able to aid Claire into the Decker home from the hospital's emergency room. Much of her day had been fairly calm as she'd tended to her own job search and the related appointments that came with it. On that front things weren't too bad as things progressed. As for the short term, Jen could afford to be patient, as Jeff's pension could cover her and Tad for a little while, but she knew that that couldn't cover her forever and that had her looking for work. That hunt had gone slowly, and at times that was to be expected, particularly with Moon Lake. Particularly when most of the population was made up of long lived weres. Turnover to retirement wasn't something that was common. A lot of that really only happened historically when Moon Lake expanded or when someone moved away.
But when a position opened in Moon Lake that was available came open, Jen had jumped for it. Especially when it matched what skills Jen had picked up and performed while moving with her husband's career in the Marines. This was rather wide, and many of them had been temporary or low level jobs that often had high degrees of turnover. She'd already had one interview with Moon Lake's Wells Fargo Back, and that had gone relatively well. She'd had another interview scheduled for the previous Saturday with Moon Lake's hospital for one of a pair of nursing positions. However, something had ultimately forced that that interview to be postponed and the only interview that she knew was scheduled ahead of her was on the coming Wednesday for a secretarial position at Tachibana Enterprises. So far the latter of the two hadn't had any problem and that was still scheduled for 10 AM on Wednesday.
Jen couldn't be quite sure what had caused the cancellation of her appointment with hospital on Saturday. All that she knew was that at about eight AM, before Jeff's parents had come over with their worries and concerns about the City Council Meeting and even before Tad got up, there had been a brief call from the hospital. That call had been from the staff in charge of the interview announcing that the people scheduled to conduct the interview had had a bit of a family emergency and wouldn't be available for a few days, though how many days that would be was an unknown. Jen was told that they would get back to her when they could reschedule the interview. She'd hoped that the call she'd gotten earlier that day would be the notice on when the interview would be scheduled, but was then horrified to learn that there had been riot that had seen Claire injured in the course of it. That had then sent Jen rushing to pick up her present girlfriend/fiancé.
"Easy," Jen spoke as she helped Claire through the front door.
"I'm okay, Jen," Claire said slowly and stumbled a little bit, but managed to steady herself once inside the door, "even the doctors said I'm doing better."
"You still took a blow to the head and are only recovering through lycanthropic regeneration thanks to a riot," Jen answered firmly, "I've already lost one lover to some idiot's rage... I'm not about to lose another."
Claire didn't answer as Jen took her by the arm and lead her up the stairs to the room they now shared. She'd heard enough on what had brought Jen Decker back to Moon Lake with her son Tad to know that her husband was killed in Quantico, Virginia and that a real part of Jen Decker was still grieving for her lost husband. She'd never expected to be in a serious relationship with the werecat that turned her, as much of her desire was simply focused on becoming a werecat, regardless of what it did to her sexuality or anything else. She was happy to have become a werecat and didn't mind becoming a lesbian. Though the biggest surprise was how close she'd become with Jen, she loved it, but she was still startled by it. A part of her wondered if this was just a coping mechanism on Jen's part to help her get over Jeff's death. However, the more Claire had spent with Jen, the more she'd come to love more and more about Jen Decker. As such, she smiled and dutifully smiled. Right now things weren't worth fighting over.
"You won't lose me," Claire promised, "all this was just some stuff that got out of hand... which you've said was possible, given how weres have tried to protect their secrets."
Jen felt a soft squeeze on her hand from Claire as they made their way up the stairs. She soon returned the gesture, with the understanding that the fight was something that related to the chaos that had gone on as a result of the decision that Moon Lake would allow for the were secret to be revealed once all the information was put into a plan. It was something that some would passionately fight against, and when she'd been told that Claire had been in the fight, her heart was literally in her throat. She'd lost Jeff to Lionel Ulysses' jealousy and she was immediately afraid of losing Claire to some other weres that were upset over changes in how weres would operate. Even if Claire was pronounced fine other than a few stitches, Jen wasn't going to just let any risks be taken. Especially if the recommendation was that avoid anything sexual for the night.
"I know," Jen said to her as they reached the top of the stairs, "but you still got hurt, and if you weren't a were... you'd at least have a concussion."
"Yeah... not quite like air vent that isn't working," Claire quipped as they made their way into Jen's bedroom and noticing the serious look on the other woman's face. Jen's narrowed eyes and small frown were enough for Claire to know that there was no room for humor that was available at present. With a weak smile she managed, "sorry... but I will be fine. Sure the doctor said no sex... but that doesn't mean we can't do something else. We could talk or watch a movie... something light-hearted."
"That'll be fine," Jen smiled as she sat Claire down on the bed and then moved to untie her shoes, "and we can do that... but for right now... I'd just want you to rest for a little while. I'll get started on dinner in a bit and Tad will be home fairly soon... We'll have a nice dinner and then enjoy a good movie."
"So long as I rest?" Claire asked, to which Jen nodded. As Jen finished, Claire accepted that, "Okay... I'll rest. But remember, I'm fine. It may seem scary... but I'm fine. I'd think the biggest problem in all this will be the shuttling around tomorrow to make sure I can get to work and recover my car."
"Assuming you have no blurry vision or dizziness," Jen finished.
"Which I haven't had," Claire responded.
"And I intend to see that you don't have that," Jen spoke, while holding back a sigh. She could understand people having fears, but that didn't justify outright fighting and it certainly didn't justify pummeling Claire, who hadn't even been involved in the fight. As Claire scooted back on the bed and lay back to rest on the pillow, Jen turned back to the door to the bedroom and hoped that people could regain their senses in dealing with the whole issue with the reveal. It might not be the most popular decision, but Jen had seen enough of the outside world and the amount of sophistication that went into the technology that was used that much of the were secret was only staying secret due to pure luck. Fighting over it wouldn't make things better and only tear Moon Lake apart.