Disclaimer: Only plots and any original characters belong to me!
"Mom?" Selina felt herself be shaken awake and for a moment, she was disconcerted. "What?" She asked, staring at Arthur. "Who are you?"
"Mom, it's me, Arthur!" He told her and sat down next to her on the bed. "I made some tea. Would you like a cup?"
"Sure," Selina nodded, noting how much Arthur had looked like Dorian for a moment. "Thank you. And I'm sorry if I frightened you." Then she put her hands on either side of his face. It looked as if he'd been crying just like she had. "What's wrong?" She asked. "Are you sad about your father going missing? I am too. But we'll find a way to deal with it."
Arthur froze. "Dad's gone? Lily is too! I was at Elijah and Amy's last night and they said she'd been at the breakfast table and just disappeared in thin air!"
"Really?" Selina asked. "Do they know why? Maybe this means your dad didn't just run off after all. Would you call Katherine to see if Rodan's gone too? I think I might have an idea of where they went."
"All right," Arthur nodded. He got up to leave the room and Selina's voice made him pause by the door.
"Arthur, we're going to get your father back. I promise you," she said. "And Lily, too."
He turned and nodded. "Thanks. I really needed to hear that." He then continued. "Are you sure there isn't anything I can do for you?"
"No, no," Selina shook her head. "But thank you. I'll shower and get dressed, then throw my sheets in the wash. That'll make me feel better."
"All right, then," Arthur told her. "While you go do that, I will call Katherine."
"Thanks!" Selina told him when Arthur returned with her tea. "I appreciate it."
"Well, isn't this a coincidence!" Katherine remarked when Arthur called. "You know, I was just about to phone you! Cause Rodan's gone, and I wondered if-"
"Nope," Arthur cut her off. "Dad's gone too. And Lily."
"Oh, damn!" Katherine swore. "How's your mother? I hope she's doing well, but part of me thinks not."
"Well, I can tell she's been crying but she says she has some idea of where Dad and Lily and Rodan went, so I think that cheered her up a little."
"Good," Katherine remarked. "So what's her idea?"
"I don't know yet," Arthur replied. "But she'll probably tell me after she gets out of the shower."
"When she does tell you, will you ask her to call me too, please, and let me know?" Katherine requested.
"Oh, of course," Arthur assured her, pushing his dark hair out of his eyes. "I'm sure that once she knows Rodan is gone too, she'll want to call you in any case."
"Should I wait on the line?" Katherine questioned. "Or should I hang up and she can call me later?"
Arthur paused and waited. He heard the shower turn off, and told Katherine, "Her shower just ended and it never takes her long to dress, so I suppose you could stay on the line if you wanted to. Just depends on how long you want to wait."
"I'll stay on the line," Katherine decided. "How are you doing? I understand that the answer could be 'horrible'."
"Yes," Arthur nodded. "I mean, I know he wouldn't just up and leave without telling us why, so that must mean something happened that was beyond his control and that he loved us when he left, but still…to find him gone and not know why…it's hard! And Lily too. That's just the cherry on the fucking sundae."
Just then, Selina came into the room and he put the phone on his shoulder. "Want to talk to Katherine?" He asked. "She's interested to know about your plan to figure out what happened to Dad and Lily because Rodan is gone too."
"He is?" Selina asked. "Damn!" She reached out her hand and took the phone. "I'm so sorry to hear about Rodan," she said.
"Thank you," Katherine told her. "Now…what's this plan Arthur says you have to get him and Lily, and Dorian back?"
"Well, it's not necessarily a plan yet," Selina hedged. "But I think I know who took them, so that's a start, right?"
"Yeah…" Katherine nodded. "Who was it?"
"Lucifer," Selina replied. "You know, the devil? Dorian said he'd been nosing around the office for a bit and I think Rodan and Dorian were talking about it at one point or something."
"You think the devil stole our husbands?" Katherine asked. "And Lily too?"
"I'm not sure, maybe," Selina replied. "It wouldn't hurt to hunt him down and ask."
"You're gonna walk up to the devil and ask him if he took Dad and the others?" Arthur questioned, skeptical of this plan. "And what if he says he did? Will you demand they be brought back?"
"Of course!" Selina said. "Why would I go to all the trouble to find out where they were if I had no intention of bringing them back?"
"It sounds complicated and dangerous," Arthur remarked. "Maybe I should go and you should stay home."
"I will not," Selina told him firmly. "You can help me with this if you want, but I am not going to be left out of bringing your father back. I'm just not. I don't care how dangerous it is!"
"It's just because I'm worried about losing you too," Arthur explained. Then he paused. "Wait a minute."
"What?" Selina asked.
"You being that mad would normally show your demon face," Arthur told her. "But nothing happened. What if…what if you're not a demon anymore?"
"What?" Selina asked and ran to the hall mirror, quickly ascertaining that he was right.
Arthur was grateful for the diversion of his mother's attention and picked the phone up from the floor where Selina dropped it. "Are you still there, Katherine?" He asked. "Would you like to come devil hunting too?"
"I wouldn't miss it if you'll have me," Katherine replied.
Although it had been easy at one point to say that she was going to be a better mother to Christopher than she'd been to Eric, once they got him settled into his own bassinet, it was harder. The crying and screaming and lack of sleep, the constant attention that the child needed; It was a big change for Sybil, who had lived so long for herself. She did the best she could to make an effort and Klaus knew that, but a few evenings after his birth, Klaus remembered just what this child was, and made it his mission to prevent Sybil from finding out just how hideous their child could look, in case that was something that would end her desire to be more hands-on.
"You won't grow up without a mother," Klaus promised Christopher who, at the moment, had gray skin, horns coming out of him, and something resembling fur as he screamed. As if the child's perpetual anger had stuck him in a werewolf form. But how could that be? He was just a baby. He'd never killed anyone. But then again, he was a strange sort of hybrid. For his type, this could be the proper development. Klaus was as uncertain as anyone, but loved his son anyway.
Once he'd managed to get Christopher calmed down enough that he maintained a human appearance for longer periods of time, Klaus decided it was time to tell Sybil everything.
"You and I have to talk," he said while Christopher was talking a nap. "It's about our son."
"All right, but if you're planning on scolding me for not taking care of him as well as I should, may I remind you that you are the one who decided to hijack him and leave me out of the loop," Sybil said.
"And I'm filling you in now," Klaus told her. "That's the point. The reason why I hijacked his care is because he's begun showing a demon appearance, and I thought it would horrify you so much that you'd be unwilling to care for him."
"Really?" Sybil was shocked by this. "Do I really come off so heartless that you think I would do that?"
"No," Klaus shook his head. "But I know you've been very overwhelmed and I…I didn't want to get you to try and do anything before you were ready." He paused. "You know, when Selina and I would reminisce about our terrible childhoods, she said that she always suspected that one of the reasons why she and her mother had such difficulties was that she was born before her mother was truly ready to have children, and the fact that she wasn't ready mentally, despite the fact that she knew she loved her daughter, made bonding difficult. I was trying to stop that from happening with you and Christopher by giving you a little more time. I wasn't trying to make it seem like you were a bad mother or that you would hurt him."
"Well, thank goodness for that," Sybil smiled and looked around the bright-blue painted nursery. "Cause I…I really do want to give mothering a shot, even if it's gotten off to a rough start."
"It's harder than it seems," Klaus told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. "Give yourself a break. Time to learn things and adjust. You don't have to know it all right now."
"What's happened to you?" Sybil gave him a playful grin. "You just seem so different!"
Klaus shrugged and smiled. "I'm apparently good at being a parent. Who knew?" They then went into Christopher's room and found him waking up from his nap.
"You want to take this?" Klaus questioned her. "I can stand here and watch in case you need help?"
"No," Sybil said after taking a breath and reaching into the bassinet. "I think I can handle it." She snuggled Christopher against her chest and took him to the rocking chair nearby. "Hi, little guy," she told him. "Sorry I've been away. But Daddy's been taking good care of you, hasn't he? But it's my turn now. I promise I'm ready. I love you, Christopher." She kissed the baby's head and rocked him before shooing Klaus out of the room so she could feed him too.
"He's just gone!" Sarah sobbed into her father's shirt. "He disappeared, just like Junior! I don't know what I'm going to do now! How can I help Ellie get through being abandoned again if I can't even handle it myself?"
Matthew ran his fingers through Sarah's hair. "I know I had reservations about Josh at first, but I firmly believe he loves you and the life you've made together with Ellie. He didn't just leave like Junior did. Something else had to be going on. If he left suddenly, there has to be a good reason!"
"But do you think I'll ever know that?" Sarah asked. "Cause I love Josh and I want so badly to believe you, but without proof…I just don't know. And I…something happened at the gym, too. I went to work and…it seemed like it was abandoned! As if no one had ever been there at all, and I know for certain it's not true!"
"I'm sure there's an answer somewhere," Matthew hugged her hard. "We'll just have to find it."
"And while we do, you don't mind watching Ellie, do you?" Sarah questioned.
"Of course not!" Matthew replied. "I would love to watch her! As would anyone else!"
Just then, the doorbell rang and Sarah stood up. "I'll get it," she said. She headed toward the door, wondering who it could be, and of course, wondering what she would do without Josh's help. She opened the door and gasped. Junior was on her doorstep!
Shocked, she slapped him and slammed the door in his face.
"I suppose I deserved that," he told her. "But I heard that Josh is gone and I came because I thought you would need help with Ellie. Do you?"
"How do you know that Josh is gone?" Sarah called from the other side of the still-closed door. "Did you have a part in it? Did you make it so he had to leave and it would be easy for you to come striding over here and act like a hero?"
"I promise that I personally didn't have anything to do with Josh's disappearance," Junior told her. "But if you open the door and let me in, I'll tell you who did."
"You tell me from behind the closed door and if it sounds like you're being honest, I'll let you in," Sarah called back. "That's the deal, take it or leave it."
"It was your dad and mine," Junior said immediately without another word of protest. "And Mikael. They wanted to get rid of the demons and found a way to do it, so that's why Josh is gone now."
Sarah wanted to protest, but the words wouldn't leave her mouth. She cursed when she realized that although she didn't want to believe what he was saying, it was credible, cause she knew of Malachai's hatred for demons. And John's. It wasn't impossible that they were so desperate to be without demons that they would even risk rifts in their families to make it happen. She paused and then finally opened the door and let Junior in. "But don't get any ideas and try to put moves on me," she said firmly. "You're here to be a nanny for Ellie and that's it. Don't try and be her dad or bond with her if she doesn't want you to. Just keep an eye on her while I try and find Josh and get my life back together. You think you can do that?"
"Yes," Junior nodded. "I can." He paused. "Is the next step in getting your life together confronting Malachai and telling him how pissed you are about what he did to Josh?"
"Oh, hell yes," Sarah nodded.
"All right," Junior replied. "Would you like me to come with you when you do it?"
"No," Sarah shook her head. "No, thank you. This is something I need to do by myself. You watch Ellie with Dad until I get back."
"All right," Junior told her. "Be careful, all right?"
"I don't need you to tell me that!" Sarah snapped. "I'll be just fine. I've always been fine. Most of the time, no thanks to you. Goodbye!"
