"What are you doing?" Christine asked Matthew late one night after waiting for what seemed like hours for him to come to bed. "Are you still watching that tape of Sarah?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Matthew asked, his eyes locked on the TV screen. He was looking at a video that Christine had filmed of him and Sarah playing, which had, to their surprise, also included Sarah calling him 'Da-da' for the first time. It had been filmed just before she'd been dropped off at Malachai's, which was a big reason why Matthew had been so reluctant to let her go. "She said her first word and it was referring to me!"

"Yes, it was," Christine said, smiling as she came to put a hand on his shoulder. "Does that make you feel even a little better about what's going on with Malachai now?"

"It does," Matthew nodded. "Not that I'm not really excited for her to come back for her week tomorrow. Cause I am. I even think I can go and pick her up by myself."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Christine asked. "I don't know."

"I do," Matthew told her. "Let me do it. Please?"

"Oh, all right," Christine sighed. "You can go pick her up if you promise not to kill Malachai."

"All right, I promise," Matthew said.

"Good," Christine nodded even though she still wasn't sure she believed him and made a note to call Amelia and Andrew for backup in the morning. "Now, are you finally ready to come to bed?"

"I just need to watch it one more time," Matthew said. "Will you do it with me?"

"Sure," Christine said and sat down next to him as he rewound the recording again and Sarah's giggles filled the room and her little voice spoke, a little earlier than was typical, according to Christine's baby development books. "Why not?"

"You two don't have to come with me to pick up Sarah," Matthew said grumpily as he sat in the backseat of Andrew's car that Amelia was driving. "I'll behave myself."

"You tried to shoot Malachai and it would have ended with your daughter being dead if she'd been human," Amelia reminded him. "So you'll have to excuse us if we don't trust you just yet."

"Yeah," Andrew agreed. "If you learn not to be murderous, we wouldn't have to mind you like this, but I don't know if that will happen. And apparently Christine is concerned too, which is why she called us to come take you in first place."

"Are you all saying that I don't have a right to be upset about this whole situation?" Matthew wanted to know.

"Of course you have the right to be disconcerted," Andrew told him. "But maybe learning not to take it out on Malachai would be a useful thing for you."

"Fine," Matthew sighed. "I won't say a word."

"Good," Andrew replied. "That's a good idea."

They arrived at Malachai's, and after convincing Matthew to stay in the car, Amelia and Andrew headed to the door. They were momentarily confused when Percy answered it and not Helene because they'd never seen him before.

"Hello," Andrew told him. "We're here to see Malachai or Helene. Are they here?"

"Yes," Percy nodded. "Come on in. Did you come to pick up Sarah? Helene mentioned at breakfast this morning that you would stop by. I'm Percy, by the way."

"Andrew," Andrew replied. "And this is Amelia."

Percy sat them down and got them drinks and then went in search of Helene, who was dressing Sarah after her bath.

"You get to see your mommy and daddy again today and we want you to look pretty for them," she said as she got a red dress on Sarah. "I think they'll be very impressed." She picked her up and then Percy cleared his throat.

"They're here," he said. "I have them waiting in the living room.

"Oh, we have to keep them around for a little bit so Malachai can say 'Goodbye' before she goes!" Helene cried. "He's at the grocery store now." She sighed. "I told him not to go, but he said that he'd be back in a little bit. Lies!" She took Sarah out to the living room and handed her to Andrew.

"Would you two mind staying around for a little bit?" She asked. "Malachai is out and I want him to have a chance to say 'Goodbye' before Sarah leaves."

"Not a problem," Andrew said. "But we'll have to bring Matthew in. He's waiting in the car because we told him it wouldn't take a long time."

"All right," Helene nodded. "No problem."

So Andrew went outside and dragged his brother into the house.

"Why do we have to do this?" Matthew cried. "Why can't we just take Sarah and go?"

"Because that's not polite," Amelia told him. "We have to let Malachai have a chance to say 'Goodbye to her."

"Why?" Matthew asked irritably. "He's not her father! I am!"

Andrew and Amelia just looked at one another and sighed, holding Matthew down until Malachai walked in the door.

"Sorry about the wait," he apologized. "I know you must be eager to get Sarah back home, but you know what the lines at the grocery store can be like sometimes."

"Yes," Amelia nodded. "Even the so-called 'express lines'. So slow and so packed with people!"

Malachai took Sarah from Helene and Matthew tried not to swear or attack him as he gave Sarah a hug and a kiss and set her on his lap. "See you in a week, sweetheart," he told her. She smiled at him, and then turned to bury her face in Matthew's plaid shirt.

"Looks like she can handle transitions just fine," he remarked, trying not to sound smug.

"Yes, that's a very good thing," Malachai agreed.

"All right," Andrew stood up, wanting to get Matthew out of there as soon as possible. He was behaving well now, but who knew how long that would last. "We'll be going now. Thanks for your hospitality and we'll be back with Sarah in a week."

"Sounds good!" Helene replied and followed them out the door. "See you then!"

"So…where did Amelia and Andrew go?" Charlotte asked Thomas as he dusted the living room.

"They went out to help Matthew with something and then they were going to run some other errands," Thomas explained. "They should be back in a few hours."

"Oh, give me that!" Charlotte replied irritably, taking the duster and hurling it on the floor. "Why are you always doing some kind of housework every time I see you?"

"Because I have to earn my keep," Thomas told her. "It's only right."

"Oh, you poor boy," Charlotte said and put a hand against his cheek while he moved to hold her against himself. "You've had to work for everything, haven't you? Hasn't anyone ever given you something just out of kindness?"

Thomas smiled at her. "Well, you gave me your friendship," he told her. "That's something, isn't it?"

"Yes," Charlotte nodded, wanting to wrap the poor boy up and hide him away from the world. "Yes, it is."

Thomas tilted her face up toward his and then slowly leaned down to kiss her. She didn't hesitate to kiss him back and even (although it was preceded by a slight hesitation) pushed his shirt up a little so she could feel his muscles.

They pulled apart and Thomas asked, "Are you worried that someone will come in here and see us? Do you want to stop?"

"No," Charlotte replied. "I don't care who sees us. Let's keep going."

And so they did, not even noticing when Amelia and Andrew got home and came upon them, watched in surprise for a few seconds, and then quietly stepped away to let them be together in peace with a promise that Damon wouldn't hear about it.

"Poor Viktor," Elijah said to Selina as they lay in bed in their underwear and he pointed the remote at the television in their room to begin their screening of Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. "I really hope that he and Amanda are making the best of their vacation without any distractions."

"Yeah," Selina nodded and laid her head on Elijah's chest as the menu popped up on the screen and the theme song filled the room. "Poor man. But like we told him, I think all of them will come out just fine since Alistair is there with them. If they didn't have him, things would be worse, but they do, so no worries."

"Yes," Elijah nodded and kissed Selina's hair before pressing play. Selina shut her mouth and kept her arms around her husband and her eyes on the screen as Laurence Olivier began the narration of the two families of Verona, whose children fall in love and die as a result of their families' enmity. It wasn't Selina's favorite (she'd much rather have watched a comedy) but she'd lost best out of five at rock, paper, scissors, and now, as promised, this is what she and Elijah were watching. She kept her eyes on it, but felt herself lapse into boredom, reaching for Elijah's bare thigh and running her hand over it. She thought he would scold her, but instead, he put his hand over hers and kissed her hair before shifting his body so that he was on his knees and facing away from the TV before pushing up the skirt of her pink teddy and slipping off her panties.

"But what about the movie?" She asked as he nibbled on her earlobe. "You wanted to watch it."

"Do you want me to stop?" Elijah asked as he slid his hands up her inner thighs and parted her legs to give her a good rub.

"No!" Selina shook her head and lay back on the mattress, her jaw dropping a little. "No, please don't."

"Good," Elijah smiled as he got out of bed and slipped off his boxers before taking her in his arms and pushing into her while nibbling on her neck. "That's what I hoped you would say."