2 | LAST DANCE ━ Peter Parker ✓

20 - EPILOGUE

ONE YEAR LATER.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Kaelyn exclaimed as she grabbed her boyfriend tightly. The boy swung her around before her feet landed on the ground and she pulled him in a tight hug. "Peter Parker, my dear, you are a high school graduate."

"And my dear, Kaelyn Albright, you are also a high school graduate!" the boy returned with a laugh as he pressed a passionate kiss to her lips while their classmates tossed their caps and reunited with their family members. The whole thing was very cinematic, but instead of the disaster movie Kaelyn's life had once been, it was a bittersweet moment in a coming-of-age. After a disastrous summer, there was finally a point where there were no more monsters to fight. It had been a while since any extraterrestrial attacks or supervillains. Sure, Peter's identity had been revealed the world almost a year ago now, but things had cooled off since then. If anything, things got easier for him. Thanks to money left from Tony, the trials for the murder of Quentin Beck were ruled self-defense, and Peter was free to go. Thanks to Kaelyn's handy-dandy cellphone, there had been at least one piece of un-manipulated video evidence that cleared his name. She really did have a knack for filming the right things at the right time, didn't she?

As they were flooded by other Midtown graduates, through the crowd Beth came up to them with both of their families in tow. Immediately May ran for Peter and grabbed him in a bear hug while Kaelyn laughed and went to embrace Beth. Her parents came, too, pulling her into a group hug with Caden who was back from college for the summer. Now that things were finally back to the normal they had come to know, he was finally able to go back to school a few years late. Things had gotten better now that the Albright siblings no longer held the world on their shoulders. Now, they were just normal kids with parents who were more loving than ever, even with the rockier than average start. Kaelyn blended into a crowd, she was background character in someone else's motion picture and she was more than okay with that.

"I bet this feels like the end of the world, doesn't it?" Beth asked with a teasing nudge, "Did you ever think this was how it was going to end up? I swear the world did not want you to make it to your high school graduation."

Kaelyn laughed, but it was real and genuine, she had life within her again. "Yeah, no, I should most definitely be dead by now. I'm alive though, I'm so alive. It doesn't feel real, did it feel real when you graduated?"

Beth shook her head before the question had even finished being asked, saying, "No, it didn't feel real because I didn't have my best friend beside me."

"Beth!" Kaelyn exclaimed with a teary-eyed laugh, "Don't say shit like that, you're gonna make me cry! I don't know, this whole thing just feels weird. I mean, Peter, my parents, it feels too good to be true. I feel like my alarm is about to go off and it's gonna be sophomore year and none of this will have ever happened."

The older dark-haired girl just laughed as she wrapped her arms around her best friend, whispering in her ear, "It's real. You're here, you're alive and most importantly, you did it."

"I did it," Kaelyn repeated, almost not believing the words leaving her mouth. She really was here, wasn't she? Sure, she had college and the rest of her life to live, but Kaelyn never expected to make it this far. There were so many times where she had looked death in the face and her life flashed before her eyes, but this moment felt so unattainable for so long, she really just couldn't believe she was here.

"Don't look so grim, you just graduated," Caden came up to the girl with the biggest smile she had ever seen as the boy pulled her into a hug. "God, it only took you eight years, jeez."

"Shut up!" Kaelyn exclaimed as she smacked him, but hugged him back anyway. Things had gotten unbelievably better with them and for the first time in a really, really long time, he actually felt like her big brother. Not some protector, not her father, but just the big brother he was supposed to be. It turns out once neither of them are carrying their world on their shoulders, they're pretty fun to be around.

It was amazing to look at this moment through Kaelyn's eyes and think back to the person she used to be. Before Peter came into her life, she never let anyone in. She was closed off, hard to be around, hard to love. Now, she was surrounded by people who cared about her and that was something she never thought she would get to have. There was someone else coming through the crowd towards them that Kaelyn noticed -- it seemed Pepper Potts Stark had made an appearance with little six (and three quarters, as she wanted everyone to know) year-old Morgan in tow. Immediately, the young girl ran over to Kaelyn and grabbed ahold of her legs in a hug. Right away, Kaelyn wrapped her arms around the girl and pulled her into her arms even if she was getting a bit too big for her to hold, it never stopped her from trying.

"Hey, Morg, how've you been?" Kaelyn asked with a wide grin as the girl smiled in her arms. Turning to Pepper, she asked, "I'm glad you guys could make it! How was the drive?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," Pepper exclaimed as she hugged Kaelyn, "You guys are my kids as much as you were Tony's. The drive wasn't awful, but this one couldn't wait to see you guys. You guys are still coming up for her seventh, right? Please say yes."

Kaelyn nodded with a laugh, "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

The girl in her arms giggled before turning and making grabby arms for Peter who had been talking to Kaelyn's parents. She put the girl on the ground and she ran over to her boyfriend while Kaelyn laughed. She watched lovingly as the girl ran up behind Peter and surprised him. Pepper smiled at the two, placing a gentle hand on Kaelyn's shoulder before walking away to join them.

Looking at the way her family interacted, Kaelyn almost couldn't believe it. That's really what they were: One giant family. They practically lived at Pepper and Morgan's gorgeous cabin in the summers, Kaelyn spent half of her time at Peter's apartment, May had even given her a key. Beth spent more time lounging on Kaelyn's bed than she ever did at her own house, her parents had gotten real, non-shady jobs and they had made themselves a neat little family just like they had been at one point. It was strange to see how many different people had blended together to become hers. That was the part she really couldn't believe. They were hers.

After a moment, Peter walked up to her with a smile on his face, grabbing her and kissing her again before saying, "What's going through your head right now?"

She shook her head, a smile forming clear on her face, "I'm just happy. I'm really, really happy."

THE END.