Kara and Peter were going to the prom. They were going with Tim and Diana and Jeremy and Branwyn. Oksana had rented a limousine to take them to the Port Charles Hotel, where the prom was always held nowadays. Oksana had also made sure that Deception did Kara's make up, hair and clothes again. She had arranged all this before going on her honeymoon, and Kara felt touched by this. Kara's mother, Beth, agreed with Kara it had been a really nice thing to do.

Kara's hair had grown another inch, and she was starting to feel used to it. She still wore a scarf for ordinary days, letting her bangs peek out of it. Beth was starting to pester her that she didn't need it. "You might not like your hair short, but now it looks like a normal short haircut," Beth pointed out. "It's not like having no hair at all."

"I just feel the same," Kara said. "As if I have no hair."

"You're too worried about your appearance," Beth said. "Anyone worth knowing understands, after what you went through with the tumor."

"I know, it's for me, not them," Kara said. She didn't quite understand it, herself, and wished Beth wouldn't bug her about it and just let her leave off the scarf in her own time.

Peter treated her that way, never mentioning the scarf and saying things that made her feel better. His asking her to the prom had thrilled her, though it hadn't been in any real doubt that he would. But now she wondered if her illness had somehow been responsible for the fact she still had this wonderful boyfriend. Though he was very good looking, he was also a nice guy and wouldn't break it off while she was ill.

If anything, her illness had brought them closer. The whole experience had thrown Kara for a loop. Peter said he loved her, but she wasn't sure he wasn't just trying to be nice to someone who might be dying of cancer. She felt fairly sure he believed it himself, but wondered if he had been fooling himself. She felt also a new urgency for everything in life, having taken it all for granted before. The cancer scare had her realizing that you could lose it, and suddenly, and maybe you should make the most of each day.

Kara had told Peter she loved him, too, but didn't have any of the same doubts about herself saying it - that she said it to experience it or to that Peter could at least know she had loved him if she died.

Peter helped Kara out of the limousine. They went in to have their pictures taken, right behind Jeremy and Branwyn. Tim and Diana came just after Peter and Kara.

That reminded her of their first date, when they'd gone to a museum with two other couples, one of them Tim and Diana, the other that time Peter's brother Zander and his fiancée, Quinn. The other two couples had been much closer and lagged behind Peter and Kara.

"Tim and Diana are behind us again," Kara said. "Like at the museum at Fort Niagara."

Peter smiled and hugged her. "That was really a fun day," he said. "Our first date, so I'll never forget it."

Kara started to relax. It was fun to dance and to just be there with Peter and her cousin Branwyn, with whom she had been good friends all her life, along with Peter's best friend Tim.

She danced with Jeremy and Tim, too, and with Greg Wentworth and a few other guys. She and Branwyn talked here and there. It was all very pleasant.

Branwyn and Kara went off together to the ladies' room at one point. There was a little hallway there, and as they went towards the door, Taryn came out of the ladies' room. She seemed a little drunk, and do did the girl who was with her.

"Hey," she said. "It's the good girls. The vestal virgins."

The other girl laughed as if that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard, and Taryn giggled too.

"Well, Bran," Kara teased. "I guess Jeremy still doesn't pressure you to go all the way. Wonder why that is?"

Taryn was already down the hall, still giggling with the other girl. Kara didn't know if Taryn had heard her remark, and wondered at herself. It was a little mean. But then so was Taryn's silly remark. But Kara was much more forgiving these days. She felt a little sorry for Taryn now, where she'd used to feel threatened. Taryn had dated Peter for a while, before he had started seeing Kara. Kara had felt less attractive than Taryn on her best day.

Now Kara had a much broader perspective. What had appeared to be Taryn's greater sophistication no longer seemed so alluring or impressive.

"I wonder," Branwyn said. "I'm relieved about that. Then on the other hand-well, you know, if he were really crazy about me-"

"Exactly," Kara said. "It's a real poser."

"Yes," Branwyn smiled.

"But you know, I'm not as positive now that it's a bad idea," Kara said.

"Yeah, 'cause you might get run over by a bus one day and then never experience it."

"I don't think of it that crudely," Kara said. "More like just living, life, appreciating the beauty."

"Hmmm," Branwyn said. "I know what you mean, but if it's not a good experience, why not miss it and be happier? That's the problem. You can't know. Or I can't know. You can."

"I'm just thinking next year, when we're in college and have dorm rooms," Kara said. "Nothing definite. Just maybe."

"Well, you can't just do maybe when it comes right down to it," Branwyn said. "Better go to the doctor's first, and get on the pill or whatever."

"Now that scares me. And I'd have to do it without Mom finding out."

"But of course."

"Hey, you go with me."

"Oh, no. I'm not even going to tempt myself."

"OK, just go for the support."

"I can do that."

"My hair'll be grown out by then, too," Kara said.

"That's not what you're really waiting for!"

"No, it's just – a bonus."

"Oh Kara. Your hair looks fine now. In fact, really cute."

"Thanks, Branwyn. Yours looks nice, up that way, too."

"It feels sophisticated. Which you ought to feel like, too, with that dress and that hair."

Kara smiled. "Thanks," she said.

Back out on the dance floor, Kara danced with Peter.

"It's nice of your mom to help me through her company," Kara said. "Have you heard from her, on her honeymoon?"

"Not much, just after they got there, so we'd know they were there safe."

"It's a long trip."

"It sure is. Australia is way far away. But I'm glad he's showing her his native land."

"She has to do the same for him."

"Someday. Though most of them are finding their way over here. Still, she can show him where she went to school and stuff like that. I found it really interesting when she showed me."

"What about your Dad?"

"He doesn't have much of a past. No family."

"That's sad. Guess he isn't into showing you where he grew up."

"He took us around when we lived in Moscow with him," Peter said. "Sander and I. Your parents – they can do that easily, can't they?"

"Oh sure. Mom went to Mercy High, even. She said in her day, they had the prom in the gym, and not at some fancy hotel!"

"She was young once."

Kara giggled. She looked up into Peter's eyes. "She was young once, too, Mom was," she said. "But it was back in the dinosaur age, when proms took place in gyms."

"Logical place for the prom, really," Peter said. "Your mom's generation knew what they were doing."

Kara's eyes danced with amusement.

"I'll tell her you said that," she said.

He leaned down and kissed her then. Kara felt like she was in heaven.