Even a full minute after Mark had left the house Jon still just stood there staring at the door.
So many things were running through his (well, now actually hers) little head. First she thought about Mark and all the things he said he wanted to do after he came back. She thought about how people change in unexpected ways. Next for a brief second she thought of how the hell she managed to get into this ridiculous situation. And then, when she considered it and realized that she can see no possible way out of this she felt all her rational thoughts falling apart and the only thing left to do was to break into tears.
Jon didn't really want to cry. She remembered the last time she cried was a very long time ago but obviously now her situation changed quite a bit.
She thought it might have been the little girl's hormones running in her bloodstream. Or it might have been Mark's wish for Jon to spend her time until 7pm behaving like a girl her age would. Breaking into tears was probably a natural thing for a 10 year old girl who learned what Jon just had learned.
Regardless of the reason, Jon was still standing in the hall, crying loudly with big round tears running down her freckled cheeks.
"What happened sweetie?" Jon heard concerned Mark's mom voice as she felt her soft hand on her shoulder. "Was it Mark? Did he tell you something bad again?"
Jon opened his eyes, now red from tears, and looked up at Mark's mom. Standing little above 5 feet she was significantly shorter than Mark. Still, Jon was merely eye-level with her chest. The little girl's head nodded shyly.
"Oh there..." Mark's mom said "Don't you worry... It's just how he is. He can be a hard son to raise sometimes."
Jon felt Mark's mom embracing him. Her head rested on the older woman's soft bosom. Jon thought it would be really comfortable to stay like this forever was it not for Mark's mom nipple poking into her eye.
A nipple big enough to poke in an eye Jon thought. If everything goes as Mark desires, soon I will sprout my own...
And with that thought Jon burst into tears again.
Jon stood there cuddling with Mark's mom for a while still. Full-on-tears turned into quiet cry, the cry turned into delicate sobbing and Jon thought how amazing it was that such a simple act of physical contact with a mother made her feel so much better.
"Lizzie?" Mark's mom said. Apparently in this reality Jon's name was Elizabeth. "Everything is allright now. Don't you worry. Those were just words. Don't mind what your brother is saying. Now why don't you go to your room and check what's up with your new dollhouse? That should cheer you up!"
Jon looked up at the woman and nodded without a word again. He then turned and run up the stairs (which, Jon noticed, were much too high for her now to take more than one at a time). She had no conscious idea where her room was in Mark's house but somehow that wasn't a problem. It's amazing how accurate muscle memory can be...
