Disclaimer: Only plot and original characters belong to me.

"Yes, thank you, Lucy," Elijah said as he gripped the phone tightly after hearing her relay the story of William growing up and suggesting that it could happen to Drew and Stephanie as well. "Are you sure about this? You're not just making it up as a practical joke on me?"

"No," Lucy replied. "Have you ever known me to do something like that? I'm telling you so that if or when your grown up children come and say 'Hello' to you, you won't die of shock."

"Well, just because it happened to William doesn't mean it will happen to our children," Elijah said. But then he dropped the phone as two people came into the kitchen and the young woman who had long dark hair and brown eyes said, "Hello, Daddy. What's for breakfast?"

"I-I-I…" Elijah put the phone next to his ear, apologized to Lucy, ended the call, and ran to get Selina and tell her what had happened.

"What?" Selina asked when he reached the bedroom. "I know I'm dressing for breakfast just like you asked me to. You don't have to remind me." She froze when she saw the distressed look on his face. "Okay," she said and sat down on the bed. "You're not here about my clothes, are you?"

"No," Elijah replied, shaking his head. "It's something far more troubling than that. Our children have aged somehow! There are two teenagers in the kitchen asking for breakfast! Lucy called and said that might happen cause it's happened with all the other babies in our family. And she called just in time, too."

"Honey, if this is an attempt to play a joke, it's not your best effort," Selina told him.

"It's not a joke!" Elijah cried. "Put your robe on and come and see!" He ran over to the door, opened it, and then tapped his foot impatiently when she was still looking at him with a face full of doubt. "Well, come on!" He commanded. "I'm not going to stand here all day."

With a sigh, Selina did as he asked. He hardly ever lost his mind this way, so whatever it was that made it happen must be pretty big.

But when they got to the kitchen, she didn't have the reaction Elijah was expecting.

"Oh, my god," she said, her jaw dropping a bit. "You…you really are teenagers."

"Yeah," Drew nodded. "But it's not our fault. We don't even know how it happened. Please don't be mad at us."

"Mad?" Selina chuckled a little and a wide smile broke out on her face as she kissed and hugged them. "I'm not mad! I couldn't be happier!"

"You don't think this is weird at all?" Stephanie asked. "Daddy does."

"Well, you two haven't been around so long, so you don't know this, but I'm very different from your father. I have the ability to go with the flow a lot more than he does. And though it might surprise you, I have to say that this is not the first time that this has happened to a child of mine." Selina reassured them.

"Really?" Elijah asked pausing his freak out for a moment. "Who was the other one?"

"Lucy, remember?" Selina told him. "Lenora put that spell on her and Sam so she could take all their Halloween candy when she was four."

"Ah, yes," Elijah nodded. "That was the beginning of her obsession with Damon, so I think I've blocked it all out. But that explains why she's always seemed so grown up to me."

"But anyway, back to the present," Selina said as she turned her attention back to the two teenagers who were staring at her nervously. "Who wants to eat? And what would you like?"

"Just coffee for me," Elijah said.

"Pancakes!" Drew and Stephanie told her at the same time.

So she got Elijah his coffee and then made buttermilk pancakes for Drew and chocolate chip ones for herself and Stephanie.

"Do you think Daddy's gonna be all right?" Stephanie asked as she poked her fork into her first bite.

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Selina assured her. "He just needs time to get used to you two suddenly being big. That's all. He waited a long time to have more babies in the house."

"Do you think he still loves us?" Drew asked.

"Of course he does," Selina nodded. "Now, I'm gonna go get some blood for myself. You two wanna feed now or later?"

"We might as well do it now," Drew said while Stephanie nodded in agreement. "Go ahead and get some for us too, please."


"I don't see why you're so shocked," Mikael told Elijah. "If the kids are grown, that's not a bad thing. You can be thankful that you don't have to spend all those years caring for them while they do nothing for you."

"I love that time period," Elijah replied glumly. "I'm not happy I'm missing out." He looked at Gwen. "Do you have any idea why this happened? Is it some sort of magic?"

"I would say it has to be," Gwen nodded. "Possibly it's an effect of a time travel spell that wasn't done correctly. And unfortunately, I have to warn you that it might not be reversible. You still love your children as they are, right?"

"Of course," Elijah nodded. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, it's just that you seem so heartbroken about this sudden change that I wonder," Gwen replied. "How is Selina taking it?"

"Wonderfully," Elijah told her, his voice glum. "A little too wonderfully if you ask me. She's over the moon because the children being grown up means that she can drink again and have caffeine and sleep more. Is it wrong of me to wish that she thought differently? That she was just as heartbroken by what happened as I am? Sometimes I have to wonder if she even likes children, or if she just has them for my benefit."

"Oh, I don't think she'd have them just for your benefit," Gwen chuckled. "She's not the type to be that self-sacrificing. If she's willing to get pregnant, it means that she wants to have children too. Talk to her about this. I think you'll be glad you did."

Mikael rolled his eyes. "Here we go again, talking about feelings. When you're done being upset about the blessing you were given, bring the children over to meet us sometime."

"All right," Elijah nodded. "I will."


"Hey," Selina said as she made her way into Elijah's office later that day. "How were things at your dad's?"

"Fine," Elijah replied, taking another swig of scotch and sighing. "Just wonderful."

"You wanna talk about what's going on with you?" She pressed, sitting down in the chair on the other side of the desk. "I really think we should."

"All right," Elijah nodded, putting both his palms down on the table and leaning forward. "Let's talk. And I'm going to be completely honest here, even saying some things that you might not want to hear."

"Oh, I'm used to that by now," Selina told him. "You say what you want and I'll just correct you."

"Good," Elijah nodded. "Here's my first question: why aren't you as heartbroken about us not having babies anymore as I am? It's not because you hate them, is it?"

"No!" Selina shook her head and stared at him, aghast. "Do you honestly think I would put myself through the whole child-bearing process if I didn't want children just as much as you? If I didn't want children, I wouldn't get pregnant. The only time I ever remember not wanting them was when I was Lonely Heart and just wanted to be with guys and have sex."

"Doesn't it upset you that we won't have baby pictures or movies or hear their first words or see their first steps?" Elijah asked.

"Yeah, it does," Selina told him. "But the way I see it, bemoaning all we lost because of this won't change anything. It won't turn them back into babies or whatever. So we just have to enjoy what we have now, even if certain things are more memorable when the people doing them are tiny, chubby, and wobbly and not teenagers." Her voice gave out a little at the end and he came around and held her. "It's okay," he assured her. "Go ahead and cry if you'd like. They won't know. And we have to figure out how this happened. Who caused it. Because it obviously wasn't either of us."

"No," Selina shook her head, pulling away from him. "It most certainly wasn't."


"Mom, do you think there's anything we can do to cheer Daddy up?" Stephanie asked Selina a few days later, her dark eyes full of concern. "I know he's trying to hide how shocked he is so we don't think he doesn't love us, but you can still tell."

"I know what might cheer him up," Selina said.

"What's that?" Drew asked, his blue eyes bright.

"I think I might just go ask your grandmother when his birthday is, and even if it's nowhere near today, we'll throw him a surprise party." Selina clapped, happy with this decision.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Drew asked. "Or do you want us to stay here?"

"Oh, no, you can come," Selina smiled. "Let's go."

Before they were able to go see Esther, they had to stop by Roxie's to ask Ronan what in the world their address was.

"If it's something that I can help you with, I would be more than happy to," he told her as he poured her her first drink in a while and then got the twins some sodas.

"That's very sweet, but in this particular case, I don't think you'll be able to do any good," Selina told the man who was Klaus' father. "What I have to ask isn't about Klaus."

"We want to know when our father's birthday is so we can throw him a surprise party," Stephanie added.

Ronan chuckled at this and gave Selina a look. "Do you really think that man of yours will be able to tolerate a surprise party? I don't think he's going to be happy about it."

"Of course he will," Selina nodded and took a sip of her drink. "Now, what's your address? And is she home so we can just go and talk to Esther once we leave here?"

"Yes, you should be able to," Ronan nodded. "And I know you and she haven't had much time to talk to one another. Would you like me to come with you when you do?"

"No, thanks," Selina smiled and shook her head.

"All right," Ronan nodded. "Good luck."


"Okay," Selina said as she put the cake she bought from the store on the table, along with a few presents. "Who wants to go get your father?"

"I will," Stephanie replied and strode off.

"Is there a reason why you didn't bake the cake yourself?" Drew asked. "You bake a lot."

"Yes, but I knew that if I baked this, he would come out early and see what was going on," Selina explained. "I didn't want to ruin the surprise." She then turned to fix the "Happy birthday" sign she'd made, chuckling. Apparently, Elijah's birthday was on Christmas Eve, which was, in a way, the opposite of her own birthday on All Hallows' Eve. It just seemed to fit, oddly enough. And it explained all the times he'd asked her if he could open a few of his presents early and then when she told him he could do whatever he wanted because he was an adult, he'd just open a couple of presents and chuckle to himself as if he were in on a secret she didn't know. Well, now she knew it: it had been his subtle way of celebrating his birthday without letting her in on it.

"Surprise!" Selina cried when Stephanie brought Elijah into the kitchen. His eyes widened and then he tightened his hold on Stephanie's hand. "What in the world is going on here?" He asked her.

"Mom thought a surprise birthday party would cheer you up," Stephanie replied and ushered him into a chair. "Did it?"

"Well," Elijah turned his body to face the table. "I'd never say 'No' to a cake. That's for certain." He looked at it and then at his wife. "Thank you for buying the cake so the surprise wouldn't be ruined."

"You're welcome," Selina smiled. "You're not mad at this?"

"No," Elijah assured her. "I'm not. But how…how did you find out my birthday?"

"I did what I should have done a long time ago," Selina smiled. "I asked your mother."

"Oh, yes," Elijah nodded. "That would certainly get you an answer. Do I get candles?" He looked at her hopefully.

"Of course!" Selina nodded. "You get presents. Why wouldn't you get candles?"

"I'll get them," Drew volunteered. "How many do you want?"

"Not one for every year of my life," Elijah told him. "That's for certain."

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "Otherwise the house would be set on fire!"

"As it would for you," Elijah reminded her.

"Good point," Selina nodded.

So Elijah arbitrarily picked ten candles to put on his cake and then Drew lit them with a lighter. Afterward, Selina and the kids sang "Happy Birthday", and once the cake was eaten, the presents were opened, and the twins had left to do their own thing, Selina gave Elijah a hug.

"Are you feeling better about all this?" She asked. "It seems like you are."

"Yes," Elijah sighed. "It was like you were saying before: being upset won't change anything. It'll just make things worse for me. Plus, if I dwell too much on what isn't, the twins really will pull away, and I think that's what I was most worried about more than anything else. So I'll do the best I can to bond and we'll see what happens."

Selina hugged him and smiled. "That," she said, giving him a deep kiss, "is a very healthy attitude. I'm very proud of you."