Jen tossed her purse on her bed with a sigh of relief after she and Linda finally got home. Her sister had probably had one margarita too many and basically made a beeline for her own bedroom when they got home. That or she was just wanting to put off the inevitable confrontation with Mike until the next day. Jen was so glad she had a shift scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, so she could be well clear of that blast radius. Oh shit, work! Jen rubbed her temples in pain as experience and education seared its way into her mind. She sat down on the bed, holding her head, as she remembered her profession. Jen was a nurse and worked at Lakeview general downtown, an entire shelf of her dresser filled with various pastel scrubs.
Despite getting pregnant in highschool, Jen had managed to earn a college education. It had just taken longer than it otherwise might, with her commuting and taking classes at a slower pace to allow her to take care of Zoe. Her parents had been supportive, and while she hadn't had a typical college experience, she did earn her nursing degree and graduated proudly. She suddenly found herself full of opinions, like how Dr. Talia was full of herself, or that Dr. Stewart needed a better bedside manner, that would have been completely foreign to her before. Still, based on her new memories, she genuinely enjoyed her job and helping patients.
Shaking her head, the new woman walked over to her daughter's room, to find Zoe, still dressed, snoring softly on her bed. Smiling softly, she sat down beside her and gently ran her fingers through Zoe's downy brown hair. She just looked so sweet and peaceful when she was napping like this, and it made Jennifer want to hang on to these moments with her little girl, who was growing up so fast, as much as possible.
Slowly Zoe's eyes blinked open, as she came to to find her mom sitting with her. "How was the conference?" She mumbled as she sat up.
"It was good, your teacher's seem to think your the bee's knees," Jennifer teased.
"Yeah,' Zoe asked with a watery smile. She was pretty sure she was most of her teacher's least favorite student due to her attitude in the old world, so it was surreal to find she was so well liked now. "And how are you doing?" Zoe asked hesitantly.
Jennifer let out a long sigh, "I'm coping. It's hard to deal with two sets of memories, and they keep interacting in weird ways."
"Tell me about it," Zoe agreed, "I know I haven't changed physically but old me and me me feel like two completely different people in a lot of ways. Can you believe I didn't like Lexi?"
Jenn let out a little groan as memories of her daughter's best friend, who she' naturally known since she was just a little kid, slotted themselves away. Zoe looked worried, but Jenn waved her off, "Just assimilating the memory of you and Lexi totally ruining the blender when you decided you wanted to brew potions."
"Ugh, when are you going to let that go," Zoe moaned, "I was eight!"
Jennifer smiled and pulled her daughter into a side hug, "You know I'm just teasing you. That said, I think the memory think might be a bit more intense for me than it is for you pumpkin."
Zoe raised an eyebrow quizzically, "how so?"
"Well, I'm a lot older than you, or than Jon was, so there's a lot more Jen memories to sort through. It's probably part of why I'm feeling so much more Jennifer than Jon."
"C'mon mom, you're not that old," Zoe teased.
Jen stuck out her tongue, "I said older, not old, you little brat. I'm still the cool young mom and don't you forget it." Both Madison women giggled to each other as they leaned against one another. After a minute, Zoe spoke quietly, "I'm sorry for changing you with my wishes, and wishing the rock away."
"It's okay, sweetie," Jennifer replied, "I know you were just trying your best to fix things. Besides, I don't know if I could ever be really mad that you wished I was the mom of the best kid in history." Zoe smiled and blinked away a few tears; this kind of tender emotional closeness was so foreign to her formal memories, that she didn't want it to ever go away.
"We'll get through the month, and then we'll figure out what to do, as we always do, as a team," Jen declared. Zoe nodded and snuggled into her mom's side, happy to have her mom to rely on. Jennifer cleared her throat, "That said, I had something else I needed to talk to you about, Jennifer to Zoe so to speak."
Zoe scrunched her nose in confusion, but focused on her newer set of memories. "Sure mom, you can talk to me about anything."
"Um, well I wanted to ask how you felt about me dating."
Zoe blinked in confusion, "Like as Jennifer?"
Jen rolled her eyes, "Yes, as Jennifer. I may or may not have been asked out for this weekend by a lovely woman, but I want to make sure you're okay with it before I get into anything."
"But, won't whatever relationship you make just go away once you get the stone back and undo the wishes?" Zoe asked. Jen grimaced, unsure of exactly how to answer. She knew from her experience with Karyn that straight up reversing wishes wasn't something the stone could do, but she didn't want to tell Zoe that and make her daughter feel even guiltier over a mistake. Plus, if she was truthful, the idea of turning herself back into Jon was feeling weirder by the minute.
"Honey, for this month we need to live our lives like they'll keep on going. That means no going on a crazy bender, or blowing off our responsibilities. We don't know exactly what will happen when we get the stone back, so we shouldn't put our lives on hold till then. This world, our world isn't a fake one, it's just a different one."
Zoe nodded as she processed that. The girl was actually dreading the idea of becoming so angry again, of losing Lexi, of losing her mother, that putting that inevitability out of her mind for the time being sounded super appealing. She focused on how she, New World Zoe, felt about her mom dating, before answering. "Then you should totally go on that date! You're a catch mom, and you shouldn't hold yourself back on my account. As long as they're kind and treat you well, I'm all for you finding some happiness!"
I've raised such a good kid Jen thought as she pulled her daughter into a tight hug, "I've already go happiness in my life, but I'm glad you're open to me finding a little more. I love you Zoe."
"Love you too, Mom."
