Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Seven years later.

"Miss Anders, Jason is teasing Kaylie again."

A small girl with blonde pigtails tugged on the young teachers' shirt, whining at how mean Jason was to the girls, and shouldn't she put him in the corner since she was the teacher and he deserved to be punished?

Kory sighed, rubbing her forehead as if to clear away the headache that was coming on. Looking down at the small girl she said gently, "Juliet, do not fret over it. I will take care of everything."

Giving her teacher a suspicious look, the girl nodded before skipping away.

Sighing once more at the parting girl, Kory purposely strode toward where a chubby boy was advancing on a crying girl with a frog in his grimy hand.

"Jason!" she called out sharply, annoyance radiating from her in waves.

The boy panicked at the sound of her voice and moved as if to run. Only, it didn't quite happen that way. His sneakered foot slipped in one of the many puddles and he fell, opening both hands to catch himself. Kory moved quickly, catching Jason before his face collided with the pavement. Looking down at his flushed face, she asked coolly, "You are unharmed?" when a high-pitched scream came from behind her.

When Jason had let go of the frog, it had flung itself to the nearest surface. And landed on Kaylie's head.


"Shh, do not worry." Kory gently said, trying to console the still crying Kaylie. They were outside on a faded red bench - Kaylie had not wanted to wait in the class room where the boys were laughing and the girls insisted she now had 'the cooties.' Nor had she wanted to wait inside the awkwardly quiet office; Jason had been in there with the principal lecturing him.

Which was absolutely fine with her. The sun was beaming warmly down upon them, and the crystal blue skies were filled with rolling fluffy clouds. The day could not be more beautiful. If only Kaylie would stop her bawling. Kory gave the small girl a hug, hoping that would help a bit.

Kaylie gave a tentative smile to her, and began wiping tears from her plump cheeks. "Miss Anders, d'you think that I have cooties?.." She asked, her chocolate brown eyes staring up curiously.

The older female seemed to ponder the meaning of the word for a minute before beaming down at her. "I do not believe you have 'the cooties'." She stated firmly. She was about to say more when a gorgeous, icy silver Aston Martin squealed into the parking lot. A tall female figure got out of the car and slid a pair of designer sunglasses on. Kory could immediately see where Kaylie got her perfectly flawless mocha skin from, as well as her lanky slimness.

Kory stood when Kaylie's mother reached them. Her lips curved into a pleasant smile, "Hello, I am Kaylie's teacher -"

"STARFIRE!!" With a squeal the other woman flung herself onto Kory in a huge embrace. Kory was shell-shocked to hear that name; she had not heard for seven years now. She awkwardly returned the hug, with small patting motions on the other woman's back.

Kaylie stared at them in open-mouthed wonder.

Her mother let go of Kory and slipped her sunglasses off. With a dazzling smile she asked, "Just where have you been, Star? Everybody searched for years... Well, we thought you had returned to Tamaran."

"Bumblebee." She stated, the numb shock not having worn off yet.

"Well, it's Karen now, but yeah, that would be me." She said, her grin faltering. "Star?"

Kory's attention snapped up at that. Her emerald eyes were unreadable when she told Karen, "My name is Kory. Kory Anders. Starfire is but a distant memory.." She trailed off, wisps of despair creeping up. She could not let that happen.

Forcing a wide grin on her face, Kory smiled and hugged Karen once more. "I am overwhelmed to see you, my friend." Kory told her.

"Uhm.. Mom? Miss Anders?" A voice from below asked. Karen looked down at her daughter, then exclaimed "Oh! Kaylie!" and scooped her into her arms. Clearly she had not lost the built-up strength from her teenage years, Kory noticed.

"So what happened exactly?" Karen asked with an eyebrow raised. Kory told the story of Jason and the frog to her while Kaylie watched the two of them interact through narrowed eyes. Although she was young, she was quite intelligent and observant for her age.

"My poor baby." Karen sighed and kissed Kaylie's forehead. "Just be glad that I found out before your father. Otherwise that little boy would be in a lot more trouble.." Her warm chocolate eyes locked onto Kory's emerald ones when she said that.

"He'll be so glad to see you!" She exclaimed with realization.

Kory was more than confused at this statement. She rubbed her slim arms as if to ward off a chill, then smiled at Karen. "Why would he be glad to see me?" she asked, biting the inside of her lip softly.

Karen set Kaylie down and handed her the key to the car. "Honey, hop inside the car and find some tunes to listen to okay?" With a wordless nod Kaylie ran towards where the beautiful car was parked, her pink backpack swinging on her arm.

Ignoring Kory's question, Karen took a step back and sized up her long-lost friend. There was a new air of maturity around her, although she still seemed like the most innocent person in the world. Her long locks of flaming hair were pinned into a no-nonsense bun and she was dressed in a pair of black pants with a white blouse.

How boring. Karen thought to herself, frowning a bit. What had happened to the glamorous, carefree alien girl they had lost so long ago?

Uncomfortable with the other female's eyes on her, Kory tried to remain still under the other's scrutiny. She knew she was not half as well off as the other, but there was no need to get into that. Finally Kory folded her arms across her chest and fixed her jade eyes on the other.

"Yes?"

"You really don't know, do you?" Karen persisted, refusing to tell her.

Annoyance flashed over Kory's features. "No." she said calmly, refusing to bend.

"I ended up marrying Victor.. Well, I guess that would be Cyborg to you."

Author's Note: Still a bit slow, but everybody has to be re-introduced and the such. Oh, and just for the record. Starfire is not the happy go lucky girl she was before. Obviously what Robin did to her took a toll. Also, everybody will be referred to in their other names. Obviously. That means Star will remain Kory, Bee will be Karen etc. Hopefully there isn't any confusion over that. As for why Star is a kindergarten teacher, well, she loves people. She loves kids as well as childlike things. I don't know. I just see her being around little kids. It works. Thanks for reading this, I'm glad you have stuck with it this far.