It was past midnight and Selina found herself pacing back and forth in the living room, still thinking about what Stefan had said. Could her father and Lucy have been involved? It didn't make sense. If they had, he would have told her so. It wouldn't have shocked her if her father would have admitted he was seeing somebody else; it was probably only natural that he might have been in other relationships. After all, her mother had married Mr. Pierce after her father had died. Why shouldn't her father have been in another relationship?

She stopped pacing, took a deep breath and lay down on the couch, staring at the chandelier. It was late. She probably should go upstairs and try to get some sleep. By thinking about this as much as she was, she was only torturing herself, and probably for no reason. She sat up and then went upstairs. She entered the bedroom she and Damon shared and headed straight for the bathroom. She opened the door and started when she saw that Damon was standing shirtless at the sink.

As the door burst open, he turned halfway and looked at her. "Can I help you?" he asked.

She blinked and shook her head. "No," she said after a moment. "I-I was just looking."

He grinned, turning the rest of the way so he was facing her. "See anything you like?"

She nodded and stepped in the rest of the way. "What do you think?" she asked. She straddled a bench in front of the tub and watched him.

After a moment, he came and sat behind her on the bench. "You seem tense," he told her as he unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it off her. "Are you still worrying that your father cheated on your mother and didn't tell you?"

"No," Selina replied as he began to rub her shoulders. "I think I've come to terms with that. I mean, Mama married Mr. Pierce after Daddy died, so why shouldn't he have been in another relationship?"

"That's very mature of you," he commented, moving to her back. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know," Selina replied. "I think maybe I'll sleep on it first, and maybe things will be clearer in the morning." She paused. "Do you think it's a bit warm in here?" she asked.

"Yeah," Damon nodded. "It's cooler in the bedroom." They looked at one another for a split second before standing up so fast that they knocked the bench over with a crash before racing for the bed.

The next day was a Saturday, so Selina could sleep in without worrying about missing school. It was close to noon before she finally opened her eyes and sat up. "What a night," she whispered to herself.

"Thank you," Damon said sitting up beside her. "You weren't so bad yourself."

Rolling her eyes and grinning, Selina punched him in the arm. "It's nice to know you're so modest."

He shook his head. "Modesty is for suckers. A person shouldn't be ashamed to embrace their talents."

Selina snorted. "And I'm sure you had many years to practice and polish yours."

Damon shook his head and embraced her. "I don't need practice," he said.

"Of course you do," Selina replied, grinning mischievously. "Even my old buddy Georges at the artists' colony had an off day every once in awhile."

Damon pulled away. "That was a cheap shot."

Selina shrugged. "I'm just saying. But don't worry. Last night wasn't an off night. In fact, I do feel better this morning."

"Good," Damon replied. "You're not freaked out anymore?"

Selina slowly pulled the covers away. "I told you I wasn't, remember? I've decided that since Mama married Mr. Pierce after Daddy died, I see no reason why Daddy shouldn't have been in another relationship after he was turned."

"Right, I remember that now," Damon said as he got out of bed and began dressing. "So what do you want to do today?" he asked.

"I want to see her," Selina replied immediately, heading for the bathroom.

"Her who?" Damon asked.

"Lucy," Selina answered. "Elena's new neighbor? The one who might have been involved with my father? Who else would I be talking about?"

"Wait a minute," Damon said just before Selina shut the bathroom door. "I thought you said you'd come to terms with her. Why do you want to go see her?"

"I said I'd come to terms with the possible relationship she had with my father," Selina corrected him. "That doesn't mean I'm not curious why she's here."

"All right," Damon told her. "We'll go over later today. Now, you're sure she knows you? Because it might be kind of strange if we show up on her doorstep and she has no idea who you are."

"Oh, she knows me," Selina assured him. "In fact, I bet she's gonna ask Elena where I live pretty soon so we can talk." She paused. "And if that's the case, let's just make things easier and go seek her out."

"Do you think we should call first?" Damon asked.

Selina shook her head. "Don't be silly. If it turns out she's not home, it'll be an ideal time to make some observations. We'll be able to find out just by looking around if she's up to no good."

"Okay," Damon nodded and threw on a shirt. "So we're going to go to Elena's neighbor's house and breaking in so that you can figure out whether or not she and your father were involved."

"No!" Selina shook her head. "Well, maybe," she admitted.

"As long as we're clear on motive, when do you want to leave?" he asked.

"Meet you at the car in twenty minutes," Selina said.

Lucy pulled up in front of the large white house and stared at it. It didn't look much different. The only unusual thing was that the yard looked as if it had been dug up. But then again, that was easy to account for; maybe there was a mole problem in this area. She put the car in park and stepped out of it, taking a deep breath before striding up the front steps and pushing the door open. "Father?" she called. "Are you here?"

When she got no response, she stepped further into the front entryway. The place was remarkably clean; either her father had taken to doing housework, or else he'd hired a maid. She took a seat on the sofa and thought a moment. There probably wouldn't be a note about his whereabouts anywhere because he hadn't known she was coming. She'd just have to wait until he came back.

Until then, she thought to herself, I might as well take the opportunity to look around and see what Father's been up to since I saw him last. She stood up from the couch and began looking in the different rooms. When she entered the attic, she gasped. The floor and walls were spattered with blood. The stains shown in the early afternoon light. "What happened here?" she whispered to herself. She began to panic. What if something had happened to her father? She'd heard rumors that there'd been a push to cleanse the town of vampires just prior to the end of the Civil War. Had her father been a victim? Is that why he wasn't here? She left the attic and took a few deep breaths. "He's fine," she whispered to herself. "The stains probably came from when he was fighting his attackers off. He's probably off on business in some other town and will be back soon. I'll just go home and come back tomorrow. Maybe he'll be back by then." Resolute, she went downstairs and back to her car, heading home.

"We're here!" Selina announced as she pulled up to Lucy's house.

"Great," Damon told her. "Now how do you plan to get in?"

"That won't be a problem," Selina assured him. "I brought a hairpin to jimmy the lock." She opened the door and stepped out of the car, walking slowly to ascend the front steps. She pulled the pin from her skirt pocket and was just about to slip it into the door when she noticed something shiny sticking out from the side of the welcome mat in front of the door.

"Ha!" she laughed, picking it up. "Damon," she said, holding it out to him. "Look at this, it's a key! It's like she knew we were coming!"

"How fortunate for you," Damon replied, coming up behind her. "If you have a key, that's not breaking and entering."

Selina fit the key in the lock and opened the door. Stepping inside, she gasped as she looked around. "I did not expect it to look like this," she said.

"What were you expecting?" Damon asked. "Pictures and love letters to your father on every available surface?"

"Yes," Selina admitted.

Instead, she saw green velvet couches, a tiffany lamp next to the chaise longue in the corner, a Monet painting over the fireplace, and a vase of daisies on coffee table. "She has good taste, I will admit that." Then, she saw it on the fireplace mantle. "Look at what I found," Selina crowed. "I knew there'd be at least one of those somewhere."

A picture of her father stared back at her. It gave Selina chills just looking at it, even though she had one of her own that she kept on her bedside table.

"So there's a picture of your father," Damon replied. "Maybe he gave it to her out of a sense of gratitude because she stopped him from dying."

Selina shrugged. "Maybe." She thought a moment. "Maybe I was exaggerating when I said she might be up to something nefarious," she said. "I mean, do you honestly think this seems like the house of a dangerous person?"

"I don't know," Damon replied, looking out the window. "Maybe you can ask her what she's here for. She just pulled up."

"Damn," Selina muttered. "You think we should hide?"

But before either of them could move, the doorknob turned and the door opened. Lucy stepped inside and when she saw them standing there, she started.

"Selina!" she said after she recovered her equilibrium. "This is a nice surprise." She sat down.

"Sorry we didn't call first," Selina said. "But you weren't here, and there was a key under your mat so we just let ourselves in." she paused, indicating Damon beside her. "This is my fiancé Damon Salvatore. I hope you don't mind that I brought him along."

"That's all right," Lucy replied. "I actually left the key there for you in case you did stop by today. I thought you might. Now," she said, "what can I do for you?"

Selina took a deep breath. "I want to know about you and my father. Because he told me you weren't involved with each other, but you call yourself Lucy Warren, and I just want to be absolutely certain about things. And don't go saying that it's none of my business, because it is."

"No, I wouldn't dream of saying something like that," Lucy assured her. "You have every right. But, first…you've seen your father? And you know about me and him?" She looked at Selina eagerly.

"Yes." Selina nodded.

"Is he here?" asked Lucy. "Let's go see him right now."

Damon and Selina looked at one another for a long moment.

"What's the matter?" Lucy asked finally.

"My father's dead," Selina told her. "I got in trouble a few weeks ago, and Daddy was killed trying to save me."