AN: Two or three chapters, readers, okay? Prom, and doing the deed, and that's about it, I don't see any more.

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"Mom? Dad?"

They looked up from where they were sitting in bed, Pete with his laptop, Daisy with a book.

"Mimma, what's the matter?"

"Would you care if I stayed out all night on Prom night?" Francie walked from the bedroom door to sit on the edge of their bed. With her face freshly washed and in her summer nightie, she looked all of ten years old to Pete.

Daisy put her book down and reached over the coverlet to grasp her husband's hand.

"Are you asking if we'd care, or we'd let you?" Pete asked carefully.

Francie took a deep breath, and looked around, before meeting her mother and father's gazes once more. "Either, I guess? Both?"

"Where would you be going, love?" Daisy asked.

"Well, we, a bunch of us, thought it would be fun to rent a suite at the Plaza," Francie said hopefully. "Maeve's parents said they'd pay for the whole thing, and it would only be Maeve and her boyfriend, Allegra and Ross, Veronica and Tyler, and Chester and me."

"So you'd go there the day of the prom, and we wouldn't see you at all?" Pete asked.

"No no," Francie assured him. "I'd get ready here, Chester would come pick me up here and pin me and all that, then we'd go have dinner there, then go to Prom, then go back to the Plaza and play video games and board games and stuff in our pajamas until morning, then have brunch there and come home."

"And you'd be the youngest one there," Pete said. "Everyone else you mentioned is eighteen, right?"

"But that's not her fault, Pietro," Daisy pointed out. "We're the ones who taught her to read so young, who put her in school so early and had her skip a grade. It's not her fault that all her friends are older than her, is it?"

Francie, who knew when things were going her way, kept her mouth shut.

"If we wanted her to be friends with other sixteen year olds, we should've put her in school with them, shouldn't we?"

Pete turned to give his wife a look. "Did you two plan this, cara? What chance do I have against the two of you?"

He turned back to Francie. "Your mother and I have to talk about this, okay, Francesca? I'm sorry, but I really have to think about it."

"Okay, Dad," Francie agreed with a nod. She rose, and leaned over the bed to kiss them. "And thank you for thinking about it. I love you guys. Good night."

After she left, Pete and Daisy put their lights out and lay down, turning to each other in the dark.

"You know that she's going to have sex with Chester if we say yes? Lose her virginity to him?" Pete said forlornly.

"How do you know she already hasn't?" Daisy returned.

Pete sat up abruptly, turning to his wife, even though he couldn't see her. "What are you saying? Have you heard something from Clio? Or did she tell you herself?"

Daisy laughed, shaking her head. Pete could hear her hair rustling on the pillow. "No, Daddy, I haven't heard anything, I'm just saying that they're past the age when they tell us everything, I think, don't you?" She pulled her husband back to lie down beside her and patted his chest where his tattoo was. "Besides, would it be so terrible? She's going to have sex eventually, she's mature enough, she's in love with him, he's in love with her, and he's a nice boy."

"No, it wouldn't be terrible," Pete admitted. "I know he's nice and all that. He's certainly a better option than that horrible swimmer, Antonio, would've been."

"Heaven forfend," Daisy said dramatically with another laugh. "Other than Francie sleeping with Chester, what else are you worried about? Are you worried about drinking or drugs or anything like that?"

"No." Pete spoke without hesitation. "As you said, our Francie is a smart girl, I trust her. Even if someone else brought something, I think she would know to avoid it, or even to leave if things got out of control."

"And at least if she's there, with kids we know, we don't have to worry that she'll be at some awful party, or out in some drunk teenager's car, right?"

Pete took a deep breath. "It's so obvious you want to let her go, why don't you just say so?"

"Now, Pete, it's not that want to, exactly, I just don't see the harm," Daisy retorted with yet another laugh. "But if you really don't want to, I'll agree with you and we'll present a united front, as usual, I promise. I'd never do that to you, you know that."

"Thank you for that, cara. Good night."

"Good night, Pete."

**************

The next morning, Pete came to talk to Francie while she was cleaning her room. Clio unashamedly eavesdropped from the bathroom, toothbrush in hand.

"Mimma?"

Francie turned around, pillow in her hand. She put it down and sat on her bed, looking at Pete expectantly.

"Your mamma and I have decided to let you go to the Plaza on prom night, but I have a couple of conditions, okay?"

Francie, whose face had blossomed like a flower, nodded and continued to listen.

Pete ticked the items off on his fingers as he spoke. "Your phone must stay on the entire time, with the Friends App on the entire time. If I text you at any time while you're gone, you must text me back immediately, no exceptions. I don't care what you're doing, is that clear? I don't want to hear later that you were in the restroom, or that you fell asleep, or anything. I don't care. If you don't text me back immediately, I'm assuming you're in trouble, and I'm coming for you, which will probably turn out embarrassing for you, capsisci?"

Francie nodded attentively.

Pete continued. "When Chester comes to pick you up, I want everyone in your group to come upstairs, here, to our apartment so I can talk to them and take a photograph."

Francie nodded and waited, but Pete was silent.

"That's it?" she asked.

Pete nodded, and Francie jumped up from the bed to hug her father. "I love you, Dad, those things are so easy! You're the best dad in the whole world, ti amo tantissimo!"

Pete hugged her back, kissing her. "Anch'io. You're such a good girl, Francie, and you never ask us for anything. Why would we say no? I want you to go because I trust you, but I'm putting these conditions in place because I don't trust the rest of the world, you see?"

Francie nodded in his arms.

"Clio, Clio, did you hear? They said yes!"

Clio, came out, scrubbing at her mouth vigorously. "I heard," she said through her toothpaste. "You lucky duck, you're going to have so much fun!"

"You know what this means, right?" Francie asked. "Shopping for prom dresses!"

Clio spat out her toothpaste and whooped from the bathroom. "I'm free today, as a matter of fact," she informed her sister.

"Perfetto," Francie agreed.

Daisy, too, was free, as it turned out, so an hour later, the three of them, along with Finn, who insisted, set out for a day of frivolous shopping in New York City.

"What's my budget?" Francie asked her mother when they were in the car.

"Fuck the budget," Daisy responded.

All three of her children looked at her.

"I'm serious. You're the least foofy of all my kids, and I've never gotten to buy you anything like this before, and I probably never will again until you get married."

"If I get married," Francie interjected. "I'm not sure I believe in marriage, it's a really sexist institution that subjugates and oppresses women."

"There, see?" Daisy said. "I'm going to enjoy this while I can, so no budget."

"So we're talking designer?" Clio asked carefully. "Couture?"

Daisy nodded. "Whatever."

"Oh boy!" Finn crowed. "Designers and couture! This is going to be so fun!"

"Finn, are you gay?" Francie asked politely.

Finn shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? But I sure do think Zelda Ravenstein is cute, though. And when she smiles my tummy gets the zoomies."

Francie hugged her little brother to her, kissing him all over his curly head. "God, could you be any cuter?"

"Francie, stop, you're tickling me," Finn begged, giggling.

They first went to Bergdorf Goodman, where Francie tried on a bewildering assortment of dresses, but found nothing that tickled her fancy. Then it was on to Neiman Marcus, then a late lunch, then Saks Fifth Avenue.

"Mom, what if we don't find anything I like?" Francie asked.

"Then we'll just have to start hitting the smaller stores, the boutiques and stuff," Daisy said airily. "No worries."

"Could I borrow something of yours?" Francie asked. Her mother, as the wife of Pete Santangelo, had some pretty nice stuff.

"If it comes to that, sure, we could have something of mine altered," Daisy assured her. "But I'm sure we'll find something, love, don't fret."

Clio popped out from between two racks with a mint green dress and held it out toward Francie. "How about this?"

Francie looked at it. "Too ruffly," she told her sister.

Just then they heard Finn's voice. "They're around here somewhere," he said. "Francie? Mommy?"

"Finn?" Daisy called.

"There they are!" He came around the corner leading a sales assistant by the hand. "See? I told you. I found your dress, Francie, but I couldn't reach it, so this nice lady, Sophia, helped me. Sophia, this my mom, and these are my sisters."

Sophia, who obviously believed this adorable little boy was leading her on a wild goose chase, shifted the material of the dress draped over her arm to give a little wave as she smiled.

"Hello, ladies," she said. "Your little man here said you needed a dress for Prom?"

"Francie, look!" Finn said, gathering some of the material for the skirt in his eight-year-old hand. "Isn't it beautiful? The color will go perfect with your eyes, I think."

It was indeed beautiful, a vivid blue, with sparkles down the skirt. Francie saw with a sinking heart that it was strapless, which was usually a no go for someone with her bust, but for Finn she was willing to try it.

"The only problem I could see was that it's strapless," Finn continued, "but with the right bra, I think it could work, you know?"

All four women looked at Finn in surprise.

"What? I live with four sisters and a mom, I listen," he responded with a shrug.

They laughed as Francie went into the changing room with Clio. She shrugged out of the bra straps and tucked them in and Clio zipped up the back, and Francie stepped out.

"Oh, Francie, I think you've found your dress," Daisy said with a smile.

"With a few alterations, I must say I'm inclined to agree," Sophia said, nodding. "It's stunning on you, Miss."

Finn just looked smug.

Francie looked at herself in the mirror and nodded, too. "Thanks, Finn, you're amazing."

Sophia whipped out her tablet and measuring tape and started making notations after first taking a photograph. "It will be ready in three days," she promised.

"Now, how are you set for shoes?"

"Shoes!" Finn shouted happily.