It turned out that Karyn thought Mikey had swapped her with her sister as punishment for being too strict with him in her capacity as his babysitter. Sharon enjoyed being the older sister and able to drive a car amongst other things so she had kept quiet about it. No one was quite sure if this happened in the old neighborhood or the new one. Only Jack seemed to precisely understand the ins and outs of the new timeline and after unsuccessfully trying to explain it twice he got frustrated and waved off any further questions.
"I wish Karyn and Sharon swapped names and ages," Jack said at last.
Everyone looked away and when they looked back Karyn was at something close to approximating her old self. She was still blonde, all he family was after he, ill considered wish in what seemed like another life. She had more freckles than the old Karyn and was actually a couple inches taller, but her bustline was not quite as impressive as the one that had been wished up with the blonde hair.
"Oh thank God!" Karyn breathed a sigh of relief, one small tear leaking from the corner of her eye, "And thank you, Mr. Madison!"
"Not at all, my dear," Jack nodded graciously, "I'm sorry to have you dragged into all this to begin with. If you would prefer I can make you forget it ever happened?"
"No! No, that's fine," Karyn waved away the offer with a panicked look, "There were times I thought I would go crazy, but I actually think I learned a few things. Like not condescending to kids - - an next time Jo can babysit her own little brother!"
Karyn laughed at her joke, but it faltered and died when she saw the strange look on Jo's face. "Jo, what's wrong? What did I say?"
"She knows me?" Jo threw her grandfather a look.
Jack nodded, "It seems so. The stone typically conserves energy when it can. No sense in completely rewriting everything about the timeline. Karyn has been an almost day-to-day part of your family's life whether it was you or Mikey she was interacting with. No sense in completely cutting her out of the picture just because Mikey is back to his real age and the, well, changes shall we say to you."
"Changes?" Karyn threw a bewildered look from Grandpa Jack to Jo and back, "What changes?"
"That is for Jo to tell you if she wants," Jack shrugged, "For now, I think we should change venues before trying to fix anything else."
One wish later and they were all back at the old Madison home. Luckily Linda wasn't there, so they could all speak freely. Unfortunately, that meant Jo had a decision to make. Should she even bother to tell Karyn about who and what she really was and all she had been through? Was there even any point if Grandpa could find a way to fix it and soon?
