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Adelaide "Hero" Barrett had been panicked by her family's desperation in the time following Barren Pines: smothered by their need, awkward in the wake of their unhappiness. The Barretts had grieved honourably in their turn, but on her miraculous recovery her father had found God and her mother had found parenthood as though neither had been there all along. Crystal Academy had, in the end, been a respite from her own resurrection. Sometimes she suspected the Barretts were more broken by her reappearance than her 'death.'

Which was a bitter, melodramatic thought, a primadonna thought. Things were going back to normal. They made a calm outward face because the Barretts always made calm, outward faces, well-worded statements to the press. William Barrett was no longer so much in the public eye, and John -- John used any notoriety to his advantage, he was John. "I can always use a resurrected sibling," he'd told her briskly. "Just append me 'the Baptist'."

Probably why they'd gotten Jonathan Barrett to come along to the ball on his break: auburn-haired, handsome, Harvard. Untouched by pain. She envied that untouchability.

*

Limosines, said her mother, are gauche. They're for homecoming, Adelaide. ('Adelaide'. Still.) They'd taken the private car and John had extracted her jacket, which most nights didn't irritate her but tonight did. His tuxedo jacket was crisp blacks, his shirt crisper whites. Barrett men were handsome. She was handsome too, she supposed, in the way of Barrett men, though when they passed the gauntlet of greeters to the tastefully aggressive statement of wealth that was the Chamberlyn home John gave a whistle underneath his breath.

"What's the daughter like?" He could talk without moving his Colgate smile.

She hated to admit she'd never come into contact with Jada. "Has a pony," she said, her own lips not moving. "Plays the harp."

"The mother got disinherited, didn't she? I hear they're more nouveau than ye olde riche."

"So's Dad." Belinda Barrett was Boston old money, but her father had always described himself as a self-made man. She naively thought she was above class issues. Hero suddenly loathed the whole party. It was only bearable if she couched it as duty, and made her spine ramroad stiff so John was suddenly escorting a United States Marine. "And Grandpa Barrett."

"I wasn't exactly born with a Senate silver spoon in my mouth, sis, one day they'll look at me and say 'look at all he had to deal with, never went to Aspen, pitiful, woe is him for shame.'"

All the girls were dressed in bright dresses and ruffles. Hero was well aware that she was in black with conservative heels and zero ruffle, but she never would have had a hope in hell nor whim in heaven of outshining Jonathan. She only perked up when she realised that the figure curtseying in front of Szelem Chamberlyn was Serenade, thank God.

The envelope John had in his hand contained all the guilty satisfaction of an Independent mayor being the face of all Destiny City's current hospital funding woes (her father could be smug with the rest of them), but in her relief to see her Princess she no longer cared about the figure. The relief harmed her pride a little. That she ignored.

Azzo finished dancing with his Grandmother when Lily wondered up. He'd noticed her first, he lead his grandmother off the dance floor out of the way. Motioning Lily to follow.

He smiled when they were out of the way. "Hello Lily, how've you been?" He asked before looking towards Grams.

"Ah Grams, this is Lily, Lily, meet Grams Crowley."

Grams looked at the girl that approached them. Her head tilted curiously nodding hello to the girl. "Nice to meet you young lady." She said with a smile. Eyes glancing over the rest of the room looking to see if there was anyone that might've known the Late Grandpa Crowley, the hypnotist. Shortly after she returned her eyes back to Lily.

As unexpected as the request was, Serenade thought the little boy was adorable and held back a giggle as he held out an arm to her. She was too polite to correct the mispronunciation of her name however, and took his arm with a nod. There was a sort of vague familiarity about this, but she shook it away as they made their way to the floor.

Serenade had not noticed Hero yet, since her Captain was behind her, and she couldn't spot Elke either. Perhaps she had to wait for her friends to arrive, she thought, and she let out a small sigh, before turning her attention to Lucas and addressing him with a light smile. "Do you dance?" Probably the most unoriginal question, but it was the only one she could think of.

Kallista bowed respectfully to the host and hostess before making her way across the dance floor, weaving lightly in between dancers, she had picked up the bottom of her dress to make traveling a lot easier and quicker, acting somewhat shy to the people she didn't know. She made her way to the other side of the ballroom and lightly stood by the windows and gazed out of them humming lightly along to the music that was playing.

Trevor blinks as watched his sister scurry to the other side of the ball room to gaze out the window, since she loved looking out at the sky. He lightly bowed to the host and hostess before deciding to mingle around as well, hopefully he would get a moment to talk with Liliana and Emmy during the ball, but it was hard to determine given there was lots of guest they also knew that they would mingle with.

Peering once more down into the ballroom, the amount of people that had suddenly appeared while Elke was bubbling through the tiny waiting room was truly astounding. It was vitally important that Audrey secure herself and Fallon a table for those who Truly Cared About Jada so that at any point during the night one of them could spot her and potentially ride to a victorious rescue. Belatedly, she'd made a suggestion about Jada wearing a wire and they could have earpieces to hear everything, but it had been impossible to secretly procure last-minute. So they were doing things very 20th century, and it was a total bear.

Gliding again down the stairs, trying to look as at-home as she could, Audrey drifted slowly through the ballroom, pausing here and there to take vantages of the room. Of course the Chamberlyn family had a reserved table for themselves in the best point of the room. Of course Audrey didn't want to be anywhere near the dragon Szelem. Eventually her target was acquired, a table that the waiters passed quite frequently, on the edge of the ballroom dance floor, but there was still a nice air flow and you could see just about anything. Because it was almost outside as well, it would be easy to peer into the gardens as well, should their pretty little debutante be whisked out there against her will. Jada didn't have much of a will where this was concerned, so they were determined to be hers for the night.

Satisfied, the peasant girl took her seat, signaled a waiter and waited. Eventually someone would potentially recognize her or drift over, or she'd be summoned to again deal with the whirlwind that was currently masquerading as one of her best friends. Until then, she would relax and bask in the lovely April evening.

Lucas grinned at the girl when she agreed to a dance, giving her a little bow. "Do you know how to waltz?" he asked eagerly.

Lucas hated dancing.

But this was a lady. Who had provided the perfect excuse to get out of bowing to everyone. "If you don't know how to waltz," he leaned up onto his toes, hand cupped to his mouth, "You can step on my feet."

They'd gone the rounds with Szelem Chamberlyn. John had just kissed her hand over small talk and not chosen to make any joke about so where was the mother, because all he saw was an older sister goodness me. Harvard was giving him more discretion. Dad had always said John's jokes would be fine if he was forty-three, something Jonathan had rankled at each time.

"Dr. Rasmussen" was. Another thing altogether.

Hero Barrett was staring. Jonathan Barrett was staring. John recovered first, as Dr. That Was Dylan Rasmussen had stuck out his hand to shake and the older Barrett had automatically received it in a bit of a daze. Her brother didn't really like to be the butt of any joke he hadn't constructed beforehand, so it was a bit forcedly he said, "Everyone needs a bathroom, right?" with bluff cheer.

It was 8:30P.M.

It was decided that John was quite charming.

The young man walking around in a lab coat on her ballroom floor was another matter.

All of these things were facts.

How had the blonde even made it that far?! Szelem paled slightly.

Upstairs, Jada was blissfully unaware of the events going on down below, preparing for the fact that in another half hour she got to go out and perform a daring feat that could cause her to pop out her back, get stuck, or fall down the stairs. With luck, it would cause none of these things.

But most importantly, Lucas Chamberlyn was having his first waltz with an older woman. (The boys at school would have conniptions.) He took her into his arms, very gentlemanly, setting his hand at an appropriate place on her back that he could reach, and began escorting her around the room. 1-2-3, 1-2-3... He wasn't half bad, he really wasn't. Serenade would have to adjust for his shorter legs, but all in all...