Prom tonight! Dawn goes to the dance…and Joyce and Kara catch up. Thanks to General Mac for the reviews.

Chapter 11

May 31.

Friday, a few hours before the dance…

"Okay, Mom, because I know you'll have a lot of questions before I leave, I wrote a list of the friends I'm going with, and all their parent's numbers. We all chipped in on a limo, so that's going to take us to the dance, then for food, then Cheryl's house for the girl's slumber party. And you're picking me up in the morning so we can get to Kara's party on time. Can I go get ready now?"

"Sure, honey. You know I just want to be informed. I'm sure it will be a wonderful evening. Do you want me to make you a snack first?"

"Okay. Doesn't matter what. I'm going to go wash my face before starting on my hair." Dawn raced up the stairs, grabbing a clean towel on the way. She secured her hair back, then scrubbed the bit of make-up she'd worn to school away so she would have a fresh canvas for tonight. She applied a little moisturizer, then clomped back down to the kitchen.

"Grilled cheese okay? I was thinking you should have something with a little staying power." Joyce flipped the sandwich to toast the other side.

"Yeah, that's cool. They're supposed to have some snacks at the dance, but who knows if it will be edible."

"Hello, hello!"

"Hey, Kara! We're in here," Dawn called out.

"Good afternoon, ladies. Ah, good. You're already prepped. I'm ready to start when you are, Dawnie."

"It's nice of you to come all this way to help out since Buffy won't be here, Kara. I hope the drive wasn't a hassle," Joyce commented.

"Nah. Everybody's going in the opposite direction at this hour, so it was fine. Ooo, grilled cheese. Good choice!"

"Would you like one?" Joyce asked.

"That's okay, I wouldn't want to trouble you…"

"Kara, it takes 5 minutes. One slice of cheese, or two?"

Kara grinned bashfully. "Two, please. So, where is the prom being held?"

"Hotel ballroom, the nice one by the college you used to stay at. The Prom committee got the day off to go decorate. We're all hoping it won't look really lame. At least it's not in the gym," Dawn relayed.

"Well, that's good. One of ours was at some mansion that looked like a castle. The theme was Cinderella's ball, or something. They even had a glass slipper in the pictures. The one thing every girl raved about afterwards was how fancy the bathroom was. That was hysterical. What's the theme of yours?"

"A Spring fairytale. Exactly – could be really cool, or really lame. Did you go to Prom, Mom?"

"My senior year. Of course, things were a little different then. It was all kept very proper, at least when the chaperones were watching. It was the '70s, so you can imagine my dress wasn't very impressive." Joyce handed Kara her sandwich.

"Ah, that means she doesn't want to show us the pictures. Did your date wear one of those frilly blue tuxes?" Dawn asked eagerly.

"You know, with all this Prom excitement, you haven't gotten around to telling me how you did on your test today, Dawn," Joyce retorted.

Dawn looked suitably nervous. "Uh, it was good. I've been fine since Spike helped me with those equations. We should get started on my hair, right, Kara?"

Kara and Joyce shared an amused look. "Sure, Dawnie. Go ahead and brush it out while I finish this." Dawn ran up the stairs after putting her plate in the dishwasher.

"Everything okay? We haven't seen you for a while," Joyce said, sitting down at the center island.

"I know. That's partly why I'm here, besides just wanting Dawn to look her best. April was an…interesting month, but I'm good. I'm enjoying playing around with my new recording studio. I hadn't realized how much I'd been neglecting the artistic outlet in favor of work. I should get upstairs before she starts yelling for me," she replied.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dawn was sitting on her bed, bouncing, while she waited. Yeah, they had time, but she still didn't want to risk being late. She was just about to go back downstairs when Kara came through the door, curlers and make-up case in hand.

"Okay, I'll get all these hot sticks in your hair, then start on your make-up while they cool. I brought the mineral powder colors, so your look will last all night, and it won't hurt your eyes if you fall asleep with the shadow on. Um, take a seat on the chair. It will be easier to move around you."

"Okay. How are you going to style it?"

Kara started parting sections in front and wrapping them around the flexible rods. "Well, after the curlers are done, I'm going to rough up the curls a bit, then pull your hair into a loose bun, and fasten it with these little crystal pins. The goal is to make it look like you pulled back naturally curly hair, so it's soft and romantic. Having it down would just cover the dress, and we don't want to hide it." Once all Dawn's hair was wrapped up, Kara started setting out the brushes and color pots she would be working with.

She lightly dusted translucent powder over Dawn's face, which was luckily clear of the typical teenage blemishes today, then swept on a little pink blush. She highlighted Dawn's cheekbones with a touch of shimmer, then applied eye shadows with a touch of shimmer, also. She worked with pastels that would match Dawn's dress and show off her blue eyes.

"Okay, look up, so I can curl your lashes, unless you want to do it."

"I can do it. I've gotten it down since you guys helped me for Winter Formal."

Once that was done, a couple sweeps of black waterproof mascara were added, and it was time to remove the curlers. The pins had an iridescent crystal at the curve, and several were placed in Dawn's hair since it was so thick. Kara played with it until it reached the effect she was aiming for, then sprayed it for hold.

"You just have to change into your dress, now, and then we can do your lip-gloss."

"Good idea. I don't want to get any on my dress. I totally wouldn't have thought of that."

"Just part of what you learn by trial and error, Dawnie. I'll give you some privacy so you can change. Let me know if you need a hand." Kara stepped out into the hallway.

Dawn's dress had two layers, and was sleeveless, with a modest square neckline, and wide straps. The base fabric was the palest silver. It had a sheer overlay that was decorated with beaded designs. It was this that really made the gown special. There were little butterflies in pale blue, rosebuds in pink, and tiny leaves in pale green. The patterns in tiny beads were scattered all around the dress to the hem. She had picked it to go along with the theme for the dance, and knew the design would pass inspection with her mother. The gown skimmed her curves to the floor, with a center slit up to her knees to aid walking.

"Kara, you can come in. I need a hand zipping this up."

She zipped up the back of the dress for Dawn, who then turned around to show it off.

"Well?"

"Dawn, you look gorgeous. It's perfect for this time in your life. Where are your shoes?"

"The silver heels, over there." Kara found them and set them in front of the teen, so she could step in the sandals without trying to bend over and step on the dress, which now rest a half-inch from the floor.

"Jewelry?"

"I got it." Dawn slipped blue crystal dangles in her ears, and fastened a crystal butterfly pendant around her neck. Kara dusted a bit of shimmer on her collarbones. Lip liner, then gloss, and she was done.

"I'll go down and tell your mom to set up the camera for your grand entrance. You look great."

"Thanks, Kara. I couldn't have achieved this look on my own," Dawn said modestly.

The older woman smiled, and left the room. Joyce was sitting in front of the television when she came down.

"Is she done?"

"Yep. All ready for her close-up. You're going to like the dress," said Kara.

Joyce scurried off to find her camera and check the film, and was back in a flash. Dawn's friends were picking her up at 7 o'clock, so there was just enough time to take pictures before she had to leave.

"Dawn, we're ready for you!"

She came down the stairs with a wristlet handbag in one hand, and her overnight bag in the other.

"Shouldn't there be a Sixpence None the Richer song playing right now?" Dawn joked, tossing her bag towards the door before stopping and posing for her mother.

"Oh, pumpkin! You look like a princess!" Joyce exclaimed.

"Mom! Don't start getting teary. We already did this for the last dance I went to. Kara, make her stop, 'cause if she goes, I go, and I am not ruining this eye make-up!"

"It's alright, Dawnie. I'm just touched by how grown up you are. My baby's not a baby anymore." Joyce went into the other room to get a tissue.

"Well, she lasted longer than last time. You'd think she'd be used to this now after Buffy went to all the dances," Dawn sighed.

"Nope. She was the oldest, so everything was for the first time, and you are the baby, which means it's all for the last time. Big moments in mom-speak. You'll cry when it's your turn, too."

The front door burst open, followed by a panting Slayer rushing into the living room. "I hurried from work…as fast…as I could. Oh, Dawnie, you look beautiful. And way too tall…that's not fair, you know. Where's Mom?"

"I'm here. I just had to get a tissue. Stand together, girls, so I can get a picture before Dawn leaves." Buffy groaned, feeling gross and sweaty, but moved to her sister's side, anyway. "You, too, Kara." After being blinded by the flash a few times, they heard the honk from the limo.

Dawn hugged them, grabbed her bag, and hurried out the door to her friends.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The girls and their dates were impressed when they walked into the hotel ballroom. The Prom committee had gone all out with trying to transform the room into a fairy land. The chandeliers were dimmed, and there were candles floating in bowls on each table, and gossamer fabric was draped over the back of each chair. They must have cleared out a prop store, with all the various characters on display along the walls, including a few suits of armor. It would probably have looked cheesy in bright light, but it was clear that they had tried their best with the budget given. It started to make sense why the tickets were $80 a couple this year.

The group made their way over to the food and drinks table, which actually had a pretty good offering. Whomever the faculty advisor was this year needed to be thanked for letting the kids pick what they would actually eat.

"Hi, Dawn. You look beautiful."

She turned around to see Michael. "Thanks, Michael. How's the move coming?"

"Organizationally – pretty well. The fact that it's actually happening – still sucks. Dad's already up in Seattle, preparing the new house. We leave as soon as school is out. I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too," she murmured. "I thought it would be easier to get used to you leaving if we didn't see each other as much," she added softly.

"And how's that working?"

"Not so well. You?"

"About the same. Will you dance with me tonight?" he asked hopefully.

"I'd love to," she said, smiling. Michael took her hand as the group found a table. The house music was playing, the band not coming on for another hour. It was a student band that had played to some success at The Bronze, so a lot of the kids would be arriving when they were going to start to play.

"About time you two got back together. Moving from Sunnydale isn't the end of the world, you know."

"Hush, Amber. Dawn and Mikey are just playing their part in the group. They're our star-crossed lovers," Janice teased.

"Yeah, yeah. Bite me. Some people happen to value a relationship that lasts longer than two weeks, Janice. How can you not think they're cute?" Amber retorted.

"Don't you girls have dates to find?" Michael said in exasperation. He liked Dawn's friends, but they had been teasing the couple all year since they had started dating, and he really didn't want to think about leaving Dawn tonight.

"Okay, we can take a hint. Let's leave them to make out before the band starts."

Dawn groaned, blushing in the soft light. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I think they've been sniffing too much nail polish."

"It's okay. Nothing we haven't heard all year, anyway. How have you been?"

"Good, you know, the usual. Still working at The Magic Box on Sundays. Everybody's good. Kara helped me get ready today. We're going down to her birthday party tomorrow. My sister finished another year of college, amazingly. Buffy didn't inherit the study gene, so for her to want to keep going is pretty amazing. Mom says 'hi'. She wanted me to tell you to stop by for dinner before you go."

"That's nice of her. Your mom's pretty cool, as far as moms go. And scary, too. Remember when we went on our first date alone?"

"How could I forget? She threatened to hit you on the head with an ax if you tried anything, then wished us a good time. I think she was even worse with Buffy's dates," Dawn replied, laughing. "It was Spike you really had to win over. I think he's still mad at you for making me sad," she teased.

His grey/blue eyes sobered. "I'm really sorry about that, you know. I'd stay if I could."

"I know, and that's why I'm not mad at you. As long as you promise to write, or send e-mails, we're cool."

He kissed the back of her hand. "I promise. Are you hungry?"

She shrugged. "I could nibble."

"Cool." Michael stood and extended his hand, which she took, and they walked to the buffet table.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tea?"

"Please." Buffy had been right back out the door for a date after Dawn left, so it was just Joyce and Kara again. "Uh, decaf, please. If you have it."

Joyce switched the tea bags. "Didn't think I'd ever see you shy away from caffeine," she teased.

"I haven't been sleeping that well, lately, so I'm trying not to drink it in the evenings."

Joyce turned back to face her and leaned on the counter, waiting for the water to boil. "What's been bothering you?"

"Hmm? I didn't say anything was," Kara said, confused.

"Well, you have that look that's setting off my 'mom sense', so there must be something."

The younger woman deflated where she sat. "Yeah, alright. I participated in a spell, when I was last in Ossiriand, that had a small side-effect. It was supposed to temporarily drain my powers for a day, two, tops."

"Okay…"

"Well, it's been 6 weeks. All I can do is teleport, and even that leaves me exhausted afterwards. See, Kalari's power is almost infinite. I hate the term, but for all intensive purposes, she was a goddess. The only limit is that I can't create something out of nothing. If you wanted a specific original Renoir, right here, I'd only need to know what it looked like, and poof! On the table. Now, I can't even float a pencil," Kara explained.

Joyce squeezed her friend's hand in comfort. "Well, I don't know anything about magic, but I'm sure Rupert could look over the spell for you and see what might have gone wrong."

"I'd rather not discuss this spell with him," was Kara's somber reply. "It was…personal."

"Oh. Have you looked over it yourself, then?"

Kara shook her head. "I haven't been back, yet. I was hoping this would just straighten itself out." She stood and started to pace, pushing her hands through her hair in a gesture that mimicked her mate. "I don't know what I am, right now. I can't even shift, either, so I'm less than a Protector, let own 'Goddess Kalari'. All this new stuff kept getting thrown at me, and I thought, 'Hey, I'm a mature young woman. I run my own business and handle my finances. I can just handle this, too', but I don't think I'm cut out for all this supernatural crap. I had a fine life before I took that trip to South America, but now…"

"Kara, sit. I'm going to pour you this cup of tea, hand you a plate of cookies, and you're going to take a deep breath and relax, okay?"

Kara complied, dropping her forehead onto her arms as she regained composure. She raised her head to glare at Joyce when she heard the mug and plate being set on the table.

"You used the 'mom voice' on me," she pouted. "That's totally not fair. Part of me is older than dirt, you know."

"And most of you is a 28 year-old woman still figuring out life. This other woman, the memories you carry, did she have everything figured out at whatever age she was?"

"No," Kara replied reluctantly.

"Then there's no reason to expect yourself to have all the answers. Maybe you need to get away for a while," Joyce suggested.

"What, to 'find myself', or something?"

"Call it what you want, but you obviously aren't at peace in your own head." Joyce shrugged, sipping her tea. "That's my best advice right now. You certainly don't have to take me up on it, since you're a grown-up old woman," she teased.

The corner of Kara's mouth quirked almost into a smile. "No, you're right. I didn't take any time for myself to adjust to gaining a new personality in my head. Well, not a personality. It's more that I had memories unlocked that I'd forgotten, because she thought like me, just with more life experience. It's weird." Noticing her teacup, "This is the set Spike gave you, huh?"

"Yes, it is. I don't bring them out around the girls, since they're both accident prone, but Rupert and I use them. They're very pretty, but that doesn't surprise me anymore from Spike," Joyce replied, smiling.

"Me, neither. It's amazing how much of William stayed in him, under the surface. I think I'd adore him just has much then, too," Kara said fondly. "He's not going to like me taking time off alone. I haven't exactly been fun to live around recently, and he's already frustrated with me," she admitted.

"Just be honest and tell him how you're feeling. And if he loves you as much as I think he does, he may not like the idea, but he'll understand what you need to do. He's intelligent and perceptive, so give him the credit he's due." Joyce snagged another cookie. "What time do we show up for your party tomorrow?"

Kara laughed. "I don't even know! Spike's been planning the whole thing. He keeps shooing me out of the room when he's on the phone, if he's even at the house. I'm a bit worried about all the secrecy. I have no idea what I'm going to find when I come downstairs tomorrow."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael and Dawn stood posed in front of a backdrop for pictures. The backdrop was a night scene of a few clouds highlighted by the moon and surrounded by stars. It created the illusion of the couple standing on a hilltop or balcony with nothing but the sky behind them. The photographer snapped a few shots, then called for the next group. Dawn had already posed with her girls, too. She put the slip with their package number on it in her purse, and they headed back to the dance floor.

Dawn rest her head on his chest as they swayed to the slow ballad. She tried to remind herself not to look beyond tonight, but it was hard to ignore the past several months of dates and kisses. Her mantra over the past few weeks had been the old adage about loving something enough to set it free, that it would come back to you if it was meant to. And her fifteen-year-old self couldn't imagine finding a better guy. She looked up at him, and he gave her that little crooked smile that said he knew what she was thinking, and he understood, and then he kissed her softly on her forehead. Wanting to lighten her thoughts, Michael spun her away from him and back again, making her giggle, and just like that, they were having fun again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Prom King and Queen had been crowned, the food was all gone, and most of the girls had long ago lost their high-heeled shoes.

"Last dance, everyone. Make it a good one."

"One last spin around the floor, milady?" Michael proposed, bowing in a courtly gesture.

Dawn laughed. "Of course, good sir." She took his hand, and they joined the others.

"What are your plans after this?" he asked.

"Slumber party at Cheryl's house, with no boys. We're taking the limo for food first, though. The boys can come for dinner," she hinted.

"And there's room in the limo?"

"Oh, definitely. We just have to drop you off before going to Cheryl's. How can you pass up burgers and fries!"

He grinned. "Okay, you twisted my arm."

"Good."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, when they were dropping the boys off back at their cars…

"So, I guess I'll see you at school Monday," Dawn said.

"Yeah…just two and a half weeks of school left…"

"Wow, this is awkward. And stupid. Let's just say good-bye like normal. You don't leave for 3 weeks, so tonight is no big deal," she said firmly.

"You're right. Goodnight, Dawnie. You were the most beautiful woman in the room tonight. I'm a lucky guy."

She blushed, and batted his arm. "Damn right, you were," she mumbled.

They shared one last kiss for the night, which ended when the girls in the limo had the driver honk the horn.

"Okay! I'm coming!" Dawn hollered. She hurried to the car, waving to Michael before getting in.

"You guys are so cheesy," Janice teased.

"Whatever!"

The girls had a blast at Cheryl's, eating way too much junk food, singing along to cheesy songs, and gossipping about the dance.