Despite whatever fears Jennifer Harper might possess, the office building of their destination was a modest, two story structure surrounded by lots of open land bordered by tall pine trees. Harold Jenkins, her fiance, found an open space with a RESERVED FOR PATIENTS sign and parked. He walked around to the passenger side of the car, opened the door, and took Jenny's hand as he helped her out.
"It's going to be all right. I'm here every step of the way," promised Harry, kissing her on the cheek. Then he locked the car and escorted her inside.
Doctor Frances Twist's office was on the first floor. As they walked through the front door, the couple were surprised to find the reception area not as large and imposing as Jenny feared it might be. If anything, it was quiet the opposite. Small and cozy, almost like her dorm room, with a small couch and a coffee table full of potential reading material sitting across from a counter with a man behind it. There was a closed door to the right of the counter.
"Hello. I'm here with Jennifer Harper. She has a nine o'clock appointment with Doctor Twist," said Harry.
"Oh yes. I'm Rudy, her office manager," said a Hispanic male with neatly combed black hair and a slight mustache over his upper lip. He was sitting in a secretarial chair behind the counter. To his right was a desk with computer equipment on it. To the left a couple of file cabinets and a small fridge. The small cubicle was back lit by a window with a plant on either side. "I'll tell Frances you're here. Would either of you like something to drink?"
"Water, please. If it isn't too much of an imposition," said Jenny, meekly.
"One for me too, if you don't mind," requested Harry.
"Certainly," said Rudy. "Please have a seat and I'll be right with you," said Rudy, before reaching for a wall mounted phone on his right that Harry didn't see earlier.
When Rudy came with their bottles of water, Harry saw that the counter and the small portion of wall below it were on a hinge that opened outward to Rudy's left, allowing him access in and out of his work area.
"You don't have to worry about any forms or paperwork. I've been informed that the Skulk and the town are splitting your medical costs," Rudy informed them.
"That's nice. We'll have to thank Mrs. Tachibana for that too," said Jenny.
The couple sat on the couch, trying to relax, when Doctor Twist came out from behind the closed door and welcomed them to her office.
Her office was as deep as Rudy's work area, and took up the rest of the space width wise that composed the waiting room.
There was an executive style chair next to a desk in the back corner with a computer on it, along with a single file cabinet, but the rest of the space was pretty open, with comfortable chairs in somewhat of a circular arrangement sitting on top of an area rug.
"Interesting practice arrangement," observed Harry, as he and Jenny sat down.
"It's just me, so low overhead, and I try to keep the atmosphere as quiet and down to earth as possible to enhance the healing process," explained Frances.
"That's nice," said Jenny. "I wanted to be a vet, before..." and then her voice trailed off.
"That's part of the problem," Harry told Frances. "Since the incident, for lack of a better term, Jenny just hasn't had the confidence she used to possess. Whenever possible, she looks to me for strength and guidance. On one hand, I don't mind in principle. That's part of the reason why I decided to become a were. For her," he added, reaching out to grab Jenny's hand. "Even before our transformations, there was already a loving bond forming. Now that we're werefoxes, our life/mate bond is even stronger. But on the other paw, as much as I love Jenny, I would still like to see some of her old confidence and personality return. I know it will take time, but that's understandable. Right?"
"Being a were is certainly an unique experience for everyone, and it can be truly special on a daily basis with the right person," replied Frances, briefly thinking of her wife Samantha and their friend Martha Anderson. "Yet recent events were far from normal. Jenny, how do you feel?"
"Part of me loves being a werevixen, especially since I'm Harry's were," replied Jenny, turning to look at her mate. "We're getting married on Halloween, and I'm looking forward to being his wife and raising a big passel of kits together. Yet when I think about how my life was before Yvette Smith changed it, let alone the challenges I'll be facing in the coming days..."
"Like what?" asked Frances, to which Jenny started explaining about her family, how she was raised back home in Alabama, why she strived to earn a full scholarship to Moon Lake College and planned to live the remainder of her life anywhere but near the rest of the Harpers, and not knowing how her family would react to the 'new' Jenny, without even telling them about the were within. "They'll take one look at these and freak!" exclaimed Jenny, pointing out her newly expanded bosom, post transformation. "In the past, I looked like a stick. I couldn't even beat Olive Oyl in a beauty contest, not that they would ever have let me enter such a thing to begin with. But now..."
And then Jenny started crying.
Twenty minutes and half a box of tissues later...
"So, if I'm understanding things correctly," began Frances, "it's not that there is a new life before you, but that you're afraid no one back home will be accepting of your new life. Am I correct?"
Jenny thought about that for a moment, then shook her head affirmatively.
"How did you plan to go about establishing your new life when you first came here, before you even discovered what a were was, let alone became one?" asked Frances.
There was a long pause, before Jenny admitted that she didn't know.
"Then that's part of the problem. Whatever shape or form it would have taken, you can't truly begin your new life until you face the obstacles of your past life once and for all."
"How do I go about that Doctor Twist?"
"One day at a time Jenny."
Soon the ninety minutes of their first therapy session was over. Jenny actually hugged Frances before they parted company, thanking her for the help, and commenting that maybe she should switch her major from veterinary sciences to therapy.
"That's always a possibility, but you have your whole life ahead of you Jenny. Let's stop by Rudy's desk to work out your visitation schedule around your class schedules. That is if you still want Harry to be a part of your therapy."
"I don't think I can do it without him. Or at least, not right now," admitted Jenny.
"That's perfectly understandable. We'll schedule what we can until your wedding, and then a visit after the honeymoon and see how things go from there."
"You and yours are invited Doctor Twist," said Jenny.
"Frances," replied Twist, "and we'll be glad to attend." But after you leave, I'll definitely have to warn Samantha about your family.