Disclaimer: Only plot and original characters belong to me!

Victoria was suddenly awoken from sleep, though she didn't exactly know why. Pulling the covers up toward her chin and then let out a shriek when a dark shape began whizzing around her bed. Then she put the covers down and asked herself what the hell she had to be afraid of. Next time the figure came speeding by, she reached out and grabbed it and turned on the light, gasping when she saw she had Kai by the hair.

"Hi, Vicky," he said, chuckling awkwardly. "Surprise."

"I should say it is," she grumbled and let him go. "What was all that sneaking around in the dark for? You scared the crap out of me, Malachai John Parker!"

"I…I don't know," Kai shrugged. "I guess I wanted to make an entrance."

"Oh, all right," Victoria nodded as she gestured at his empty side of the bed. "Come and rest. You've come back to stay, right?"

"Yeah," Kai nodded, climbing beside her and taking her in his arms to give her a kiss. "I have. I promise." He paused. "Should I wake the kids up and tell them that I'm back?"

"No," Victoria shook her head and turned off the light. "Let them sleep. They'll find out in the morning." She then turned off the light, pulled him close, and shut her eyes as she inhaled the smell of the skin on his neck. "I'm glad you're back, Malachai," she told him before burying her head in his shoulder. "I really missed you."

"Well, I missed you too," he told her as he lay her back down on the mattress. "Why do you think I couldn't stay away so long?"

"Cause I'm wonderful and delightful and you miss looking at my face in the morning?" Victoria guessed.

"Your face and all the rest of you," Kai confirmed, making her giggle as he ran his hands over her body in the darkness and then kissed her stomach. "You wanna have a little fun since I woke you up anyway?"

"Might as well," Victoria nodded as they both undressed and settled back in bed. Then she felt him slip his hand between her legs and rub her gently and when she opened her mouth to gasp, he allowed her a brief breath before he captured her mouth with his.

"Oh, I've missed this," she whispered, bucking forward a little and throwing her arms around his neck.

"Me too," Kai replied. "My god, you have no idea how much. There were other things I missed too, of course, but your body beside mine in bed was what I missed most of all."

"Come inside me," she whispered. "Please?"

"All right," Kai nodded, parting her legs, kissing her deeply, and then burying himself inside her, pulling out, and then repeating this process several times while she moaned with every thrust and breathed his name.

They were both panting and tired when Kai finally rolled off her. "You tired yet?" He asked.

"Well, it is the middle of the night," Victoria reasoned. "And if we keep going on like this, it might wake the kids up."

"They're teenagers now. Do you think that even if they do hear us, they'll come and see what we're doing?" Kai asked.

"No, thank goodness," Victoria replied. "But I still think we should try and get some sleep anyway."

"All right," Kai nodded. "Goodnight, Vicky,"

"Goodnight, Malachai," Victoria told him.


"So, tell me nothing bad happened to you while I was gone," Kai requested of Finn and Molly. "I mean, you both look like you're in one piece." He narrowed his eyes. "Any more visits from my mother?"

"No, thank goodness," Molly replied. "Do you have a plan to kick her ass if she ever comes back?"

"Not 'if she ever comes back'," Kai corrected. "Cause she will. And yes, I do." He paused. "Where did you learn that kind of language?"

"You know," Molly told him. "You and Uncle Adrian say swears all the time."

"Do you," Victoria asked, locking eyes with Kai as she rose to her feet.

"Maybe," Kai said. "But what good would clobbering me do now? Vicky, we have to think of our present situation and why my mother hasn't shown up since I left. It could be that she left for good, but I don't think we're that lucky."

"You know, you're right," Victoria nodded. "What could she be doing?"

"Well, as you pointed out before I left, Vicky, now that Mother seems intent on claiming the twins as her biological children, probably the last thing she'll want to do is bother me. She's probably thinking up a big scheme so that she can overpower us and take the kids so we won't be able to fight back."

"If that's her plan, it's not gonna happen," Molly said with determination. "We're not babies who can just be picked up and brought anywhere against our will anymore. If she comes for us and expects a happy family reunion, she's got another thing coming."

"Yeah," Kai nodded. "I'm certainly not going to subject you to her presence ever. It was bad enough that I had to go through it. I wouldn't wish that on anyone else."

"Thanks, Dad," Finn told him as he and Molly hugged Kai. "We can still call you 'Dad', right?"

"Of course you can!" Kai said, feeling himself begin to choke up. "I'll be very unhappy if you two decide to call me anything else."


The crashing brought both Klaus and Lucien into room where the mummy was being kept. Just like they'd done in the past, Klaus and Amy had given Lucien a place to stay, but she was more enthusiastic about it than he was.

"Damn it!" Klaus cried. Everything in the room surrounding the mummy case had been ruined and the room was a mess. He threw his body over the case so it wouldn't be damaged and waited.

"Do you really think that's gonna do it any good if we're dealing with a curse or a supernatural entity, Klausy?" Lucien smirked.

Klaus looked at him and growled. "Don't just stand there making smart remarks. Do something to help me! I don't want my mummy ruined!"

They both tried their best to protect the mummy case, but they were immediately thrown backward away from it, then watched as a woman appeared to stand over the case, opening it and making the mummy rise up. Although she was more shimmery than opaque, they could make out long dark hair and evil blue eyes. "This is mine, boys," she said. "I'll be taking it now." And then both she and the mummy disappeared, leaving Klaus and Lucien speechless.

"What do we do?" Lucien asked Klaus at last. "Where do you think it went?"

"I don't know," Klaus replied. "But we're gonna get it back, no question about that."

"Damn right," Lucien nodded. "Let's go."


But the coffin and Edele were in a place where they would never find them, at least not until they wanted to be found. Using her ghostly powers, she opened the mummy case, stared lovingly down at the mummy for a few seconds, and then muttered a spell that made her split in two.

"Hello," she said to the man who was now standing beside her. "It's nice to finally be out in the world, isn't it?"

"Yes," the dark and silver-haired spirit nodded, his dark eyes warm as he gazed at her. "It was a good idea you had to have us joined together, though, so nothing would happen until we found my body."

"And it got me more power in the bargain, so how could I refuse you?" Edele wanted to know. "After we've joined you with your body, you can do your part of the deal. You remember how to do that, right?"

"Of course," the man nodded. "If it's illegal, I know how to do it. We'll both be alive soon."

"Oh, John," Edele said to the man she considered the love of her life. Not surprisingly, she'd had a history of dating men with the same name, including Kai's human father. "I just…it's almost perfect. Of course it'll take much longer than I would like to retrieve our children, but…one step at a time."

With a sigh, she muttered a spell that sent his spirit hurtling into his body. Once it was in place, the process of animation began and soon, he was sitting up, clad in the clothes he'd been buried in.

"Well," he said, sitting up and coughing. "What a change."

He then looked at Edele. "It's your turn now," he said.

"But my body," she said. "It's…it's been taken away. How can we make me come back without my body?"

"There's a way," John promised her. "It's more complicated than if we would have had your original body, but I'm not going to live while you don't. I'll do whatever I have to so that you can be brought back. I promise."


"Thanks for letting me come to the museum with you," William told Lucy as they walked together through the local art museum. "Dad woke up early this morning and was in the worst spirits. He had a nightmare about his dead sister coming back to life and was muttering stuff that made him sound crazy." He chuckled bitterly. "Good thing he doesn't set himself on fire like I do when he's upset. The whole house would have burned down. That's why Mom thought it might be best if I left until he calmed down. She didn't want to risk him doing something that would make me angry."

"Do you think that was the right thing to do?" Lucy asked as they paused in front of a picture of some boats on the water. "Do you wish people would talk about your angry reactions to things instead of just sending you away to avoid having to experience them?"

William sighed. "I don't blame them. I'd rather people be safe from me than try and make me feel accepted and risk something going wrong." He looked at her and smiled. "I like it more here with you than at home with my parents anyway."

"Good," Lucy smiled. "I like spending time with you too." They sat down on a bench and looked at the boat painting.

"I love that picture," William told her. "It makes me feel so serene. And as you can imagine, it's not something I feel very often."

"Have you ever thought of painting a picture like that for yourself so you could hang it in your room to look at every time you get upset?" Lucy asked as she gave him a back rub.

"I have, but…I don't know how to paint," William told her. "If I tried, it would just be a bunch of blue blobs on paper that don't really look like anything."

"But see, that's the great thing about art," Lucy said. "Just because you paint something, it doesn't mean it has to look exactly like that thing. You can interpret water or boats in lots of different ways. Finding your own style is very important. You could do it. I know."

"You think?" William smiled.

"Yes," Lucy nodded. "I really do."

"Could we…could we start now?" He asked, his tone hesitant, as if he were waiting to be told 'No'.

"Of course!" Lucy nodded. "I have the house to myself and I could use another project. You want to look at some more pictures for inspiration before we go?"

"No," William shook his head. "I don't think I need to. And Lucy?"

"Yes?" She asked.

"Thank you," he told her, taking her hand and kissing it gently before striding out of the museum and pulling her along behind him as she struggled to keep up with his steps and not fall on her face.