A/N The post date of this chapter's the two-year anniversary of losing my mom site time, so I felt inspired to have Autumn comfort Thomas once more. Next chapters, I'll take her through the rest of her age nine, then including some requests I got in guest reviews for the following school year from where she is now, as they involve the new girl befriending Autumn and coming to her 10th birthday party. Then, I go to my Tales OCs, perhaps putting those in first person if I feel like.
Autumn was in her room, playing with her Thomas set when she felt like going to Sodor again. She was feeling a little lonely, as her friends were busy that day. One's visiting an aunt and the other's at an older cousin's wedding, she thought. She sat on her bedroom floor, looked at her Thomas toy and floated away.
Autumn landed on Sodor and sang The Island Song as she went to where Thomas was. She saw him wearing his sad face and knew it was grief yet, along with somehow knowing she was the only person with her friend. Knowing this, she hugged his face, saying "Just let it all out, if you need to cry, because it's a healthy way to make yourself feel better.". Then, she let go and pulled out her handkerchief.
Huge water droplets welled up in Thomas's eyes, as he began to cry in the same wailing sobs as before, making him unable to speak.
"There, there, Thomas," Autumn said, drying his tears. "I'm here for you, so let me wipe your eyeballs. I know your heart's still broken, so I just want to wipe your pain away.". She gently rubbed his sodden cheeks and held her hankie to his streaming eyes, doing her best to be attentive and present as she imagined how he must feel, looked at contexts and thought of something to inspire her friend.
Thomas went on crying and wailing loudly. He was sniffling hard, coughing, choking on his tears and hiccupping. He gasped and gulped, shaking as he wept as hard as he could, so his tears came not once stopping as Autumn comforted him.
She said, as she continued to wipe his tears away, "Remember I'm not about to rush your healing or try to put a positive spin on this. Your emotion's valid, given your experience.". She wiped all his tears away as best she could.
Thomas's tears poured until he had no more left to cry. Autumn dried his last tears away, softly wiping his cheeks and eyes dry of tears. As she dried his eyes, she gave him the inspiration she thought of. She put her sodden handkerchief away.
Thomas said, "Only those who love me dry my tears. I'm not afraid to cry, but prefer to cry my eyes out to those who love me. The first time in my life I ever cried was on the Mainland when someone was mean to me. Driver told me about crying and comforted me. The next time I was in tears because I was very sad, "Driver, can you dry my tears?" I said, sniffling, because when he dried my tears with a cloth the other time, it felt so comforting.". His face was all red and his eyes were deep pink and swollen from all his crying.
Autumn then went on her rounds of the island and came back to Thomas at the end of that.
Thomas, when Autumn came back to him, was in Knapford, wailing his broken heart out at the water column after pulling a train and being comforted by his driver.
Autumn said to her friend, "I'll be here until you finish your cry, Thomas."
Thomas's driver heard Autumn and said, as he pressed a cloth to the tank engine's eyes, "Thomas just pulled Annie and Clarabel here and when we got to the water column, he said he needed to cry. He's been alternating between being not so bad and then having times he's got to cry. He's shed a great many tears for his siblings, but he's got my care and compassion when I'm with him. I just let him know I'm there for him, try to pick up on his values and cues, let him feel his sorrow and dry his tears as an act of comfort. He says you've comforted him a few times."
Autumn said, "Today's the third time I've wiped his eyeballs. I dry his tears with my hankie because I care deeply for him. Because I love him, I wipe his face. I want to wipe his sadness and sorrow, so I wipe his eyes."
Thomas's driver said to Autumn, "It's all right that you get a sodden handkerchief from wiping away his tears. I've got a sodden piece of cloth now." He turned to Thomas, "You shall have a drink now.", then went back to the cab.
Autumn hugged her friend and they said their good-byes. She then went home and back to her day, then had her bedtime routine and fell asleep hugging her stuffed Thomas.
A/N The wedding's meant to imply it's a Saturday and this is still set in fall. Winter, spring and summer vacation for Autumn, age 9, will be covered in the next chapters, then the requests. Her bedroom's a place she spends so much time because she's autistic.