Jon awoke to a damp feeling, but for some reason it didn't bother her. At some point during the night she'd worked her slug half out the door of the tent, and the morning dew actually felt kind of nice on the moist skin. On the other hand, she definitely minded the temperature. Early fall in that part of the country meant mornings in the mid-to-lower 40s, and her human skin was clammy and goose-pimpled. She sat up, rubbing her arms, and winced slightly as she felt her shirt brush across her stiffened nipples.
Brushing her hair out of her face, Jon looked around for Michael, but she wasn't in the tent. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and slid out into the clearing, where she found the raptor-girl huddled over the remains of the fire, trying to get some less-than-perfectly dry wood to catch. She turned and smiled at Jon, teeth chattering. "M-morning!" she said. "I was g-going to make some breakfast, but I'm not so good with f-fires."
Jon nodded. "Let me give it a try. Can you get some coffee ready to brew?" Michael nodded and started to rummage through their supplies as Jon swapped out the damp sticks for some of tye dry tinder she'd set aside the previous evening. It still took some coaxing, but she got it to catch, and in a little while she'd built it into a workable cooking fire.
With that taken care of and Michael tending to breakfast, Jon slid over to the rotting log they'd left Zoe on. The shell she'd left behind was still there, but it was already starting to decay and break apart. Jon looked at the log more closely to find that it was indeed covered in patches of slime mold growth, but she was distracted by a sudden motion. There was something inside of the log; she could see it move through the various cracks and gaps.
Fearing for Zoe's safety and wondering if slime molds even had any natural predators, Jon lurched around to one end of the log and peered inside. She was relieved to see that the thing inside was the bright yellow-orange Zoe was, but was kind of unnerved when it began to move toward her. What was it like? Was she going to witness some sort of David Cronenberg half-formed body thing, with loose organs draped here and there? Or was it just an undifferentiated mass of cells?
The thing emerged from the hollow log, and Jon gasped in surprise, not horror. Standing in front of her was a creature about the size of a cat, a sort of cartoon-character version of her younger sister, with an oversized head and small, underdeveloped body. The chibi-Zoe was rather crude, constructed from simpler shapes like she'd been just before her dissolution, but at this size and proportion it looked a lot more appropriate.
Jon just stared as the little creature looked up at her. It gazed at her curiously for a long moment, and then its face lit up with a definitely human smile of recognition. It made a sound; nothing close to intelligible speech, but a simple vocalization of happiness. Startled back to reality, Jon smiled back.
"You're safe," she murmured. "I guess we just wait for you to finish reforming, then?"
"Well, I just got off the phone with Danielle Black," Mrs. Madison said. "She said that she's not sure how Karyn'll take it, but their guest room is open for Sarah."
"That's good to hear," her husband replied. "And Karyn's a good kid; I'm sure she can spare a little mercy for Sarah. As for Biff, I think it's dark enough for us to go over to the Meadows's house now."
Mrs. Madison sighed. "Are you sure we should take her with us?" she asked. "We don't even know what we might find there..."
Mr. Madison shrugged. "I doubt it'll be anything worse than what she already saw, if that," he said. "And I'd rather she hear what her parents have to say from their own mouths."
"I suppose you're right," his wife said. "Well, I guess we'd better get it over with."
Ten minutes later they were standing on the doorstep of Biff's house. With the windows smashed in it looked somewhat sinister, but there were some lights on, at least. Nevertheless, Biff clung tightly to Mrs. Madison's leg, and she kept her hand on the little girl's shoulder. Mr. Madison took a deep breath, then rang the doorbell. Almost immediately they heard rapid footsteps, and shortly thereafter the door was flung open.
In the doorway stood a petite woman in a bathrobe and nothing else. She was quite an eyefull; the robe, cinched tightly around her slender waist, emphasized her breasts, which were C-cup but looked larger on her small frame, the smooth creamy skin displayed invitingly in the mostly-open front. It hung partway down her shapely legs, but not far enough to hide the pronounced curve of her hips and buttocks. Long, wavy black hair framed two large, white-furred rabbit ears that stood up a good eight inches frow her head before collapsing forward. She was, simply put, dynamite.
She was also a mess. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes were bleary, and her face was tear-streaked. "Wh-who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Kevin Madison," Mr. Madison said. "This is my wife Linda, and this," he said, gesturing to the little girl who had emerged from behind Linda's leg, "this...is your son Biff."
The bunny-girl stared at the little girl for a moment before sweeping her up into her arms and bursting into tears. She barely managed to choke out an invitation for the Madisons to come inside, then turned and carried Biff in, giving a good view of her furry tuft of a tail, which she didn't seem to realize was lifting up the hem of her bathrobe.
The Madisons followed her inside, where another bunny-girl, equally shapely but taller and darker-skinned with fiery red hair, was sitting at the kitchen table, looking extremely upset. The dark-haired woman set Biff down on the table and breathlessly explained who she was, and soon the redhead was sobbing as well. Seeing her parents crying, Biff joined in.
It was some time before things had settled down enough for any of the Meadows family to pay attention to their guests. "Uh, sorry," the brunette said at last, her voice shaking. "I'm Layl-uh, Lyle Meadows, and this is my wif-uh, husb-uhm, Kathy." Kevin and Linda reintroduced themselves.
"I don't know how we could thank you enough for returning Biff to us," Kathy said. "We just got so caught up in, uh, things...god, that sounds so stupid now, but I guess we're just glad to have him...err, her back safely."
Linda smiled. "It was nothing," she said. "We're just glad we could help."
Lyle shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well," she said, "uh...I guess I don't know how else to say this, but...you wouldn't know someone who could take care of her, do you?" She saw the astonished looks the Madisons were giving her and sighed. "See, I, um, I turned into kinda a ditz with this whole thing,. Well, not even kinda, I guess. Really, more like. And Kathy's got kind of a one-track mind now, too. It's not that we don't care about Biff, but if we could both go as long as we did without even thinking to check on her..."
"We can take care of ourselves, we think," Kathy said. "But we're not so sure about taking care of kids. And looking at Biff now, she's gonna have a tough enough time getting used to this without having to look after herself..."
Linda nodded. "We'd discussed the possibility earlier, actually," she said. "We'd be happy to let her stay with us."
Biff's eyes went wide. "Mommy?" she gasped. "You don't want me here?"
Kathy shook her head. "It's not like that, honey," she said. "Your daddy and I love you very much, but you need a better home right now, and we're kinda mixed-up right now, just like you. But we'll still be here, and we'll visit you and you can visit us. We just want you to be taken care of while you're growing back up into a young lady."
Biff's lower lip began to tremble. "B-but I'm a boy!" she stammered. "I don't wanna grow up into a lady!"
Lyle smiled wistfully. "I know you don't," she said, taking Biff back in her arms. "But you're a girl now, just like me. We both just have to get used to it. And we'll need girls' names, won't we? You can be Becca, and I'll-" She took a deep breath. "I'll be Layla." Biff opened her mouth to object, but the raven-haired bunny-girl shushed her. "That's final," she said, kissing her daughter on the cheek. "Now, you be a good girl for Mr. and Mrs. Madison, and we'll see you soon."
The full goodbye process was significantly longer and more tearful, but they finally got Biff back to the Madison house. She was emotionally drained, and they decided to get her to bed. She fell asleep almost as soon as she hit the pillow; tomorrow, she would begin life as Rebecca Anne Meadows.
