"Mom, what's going on?" Damon asked Charlotte as she showed up at him and Lucy's again.

"I need to look up some ghost lore," Charlotte told him. "Is there any chance my old books are still around?"

"Our library is full of old books," Lucy replied. "You want me to take you there and show them to you?"

"I would like that," Charlotte nodded. "Thank you, Lucy." The three of them went to the library and Charlotte looked over all the books, breathing a sigh of relief that a lot of what she needed had been saved. She took a few of the books and sat down at a table, passing one to Lucy while she looked in another.

"What's going on?" Damon repeated. "Would you tell me now, please?"

"A dark spirit showed up at Matthew Warren's house," Charlotte told him. "I don't know who it is or why it came in the first place, and I think it would be for the best if Andrew, Amelia, and I made it all disappear."

"Well, if you need some help, just let me know," Damon told her.

"All right," his mother told him. "If I can think of a way for you to help, I will."

Lucy and Charlotte busied themselves with reading then while Damon sat near them, his bourbon in hand.

"Find anything yet?" He asked his mother after a while.

"Nothing that I didn't already know," she said in dismay. "I knew that having ghosts in a place can make it easier for others to come, even if they have nothing to do with the place itself. But I haven't found anything about how to get rid of them."

"What about an exorcism?" Damon asked. "I would have thought that would be pretty obvious."

"Ghosts can't perform exorcisms for other ghosts!" Charlotte cried. "That would be dangerous for everyone! You'd be getting rid of the good and the bad."

"I see your point," Damon told her. "I'll stop trying to help now, since the two of you seem more on top of this than I am."

"Thank you," Charlotte told him. "But I appreciate you trying to help."

"I do what I can," Damon replied.

"If you want something to do, why don't you go check on Mom?" Lucy suggested. "I bet she's still drinking a ton."

"I don't know if your uncle would like that," Damon told her. "You remember what happened last time."

"Well, that was just one time," Lucy said. "Maybe things have changed now."

"If you want me out of the house, just say so," Damon told her. "You don't have to make up a bunch of useless errands for me to do."

"They aren't useless errands," Lucy told him. "I really do think that going to see Mom would help her. What do you think, Charlotte?"

"I agree," Charlotte replied. "And if her husband is drinking too, you won't be met with much resistance, I'd imagine."

"You've never really met Selina's husband, have you?" Damon asked.

"No, but I still think you'd do some good," Charlotte told him firmly.

"Oh, all right, I'll go," Damon told her. "But if I fail, I'm coming back."

"All right," Charlotte called. "Good luck."

"Are you all right?" Andrew asked Selina as she stumbled into the kitchen. She looked like she hadn't slept for days.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Selina told him. "Well, not really, actually. I'm trying to be fine, but it's not working. Say something to take my mind off of the fact that Dad is married to my stepdaughter."

"Well, your mother and I have made a lot of positive progress," Andrew replied.

"Positive progress toward what?" Selina asked. "Did you manage to give her a heart like in the Wizard of Oz?"

"I think she's improved a lot," Andrew nodded. "She was very upset when she saw that Christine had a gun in her purse and wanted to shoot you."

"She what?" Selina asked, her eyes wide. "What the hell? To think I let her stay in my house and eat my food and stuff like that. Shows you what hospitality is worth these days. And you're supposed to be telling me stuff to keep my mind off of that."

"All right," Andrew nodded. "How about this: I think I'm in love with your mother again."

"There was a time when you weren't?" Selina asked. "I thought it was an on-going thing?"

"Well, more or less, I suppose," Andrew nodded. "But with the attitude she had and her habit of pushing people away, it sort of made the feelings fade, you know?"

"Oh, yes," Selina nodded. "The attitude made it hard for me to love her too. You're talking to someone who knows. Believe me." She paused. "So…you're in love with her again."

"Yes," Andrew nodded. "How do you feel about that? I know that adjusting to what your father has done has been very hard for you, and I don't want you to have the same difficulties with what's going on with your mother and me?"

"Oh, I can handle you and Mama," Selina assured him. "You probably think that I didn't pick up on feelings between you two when I was a kid, but I did."

"You did?" Andrew asked in surprise. "How?"

"Well, I remember that some of the only times I saw her happy were when she would ship me off with you and Aunt Abigail, and then when she came to pick me up, she'd be all happy, unlike when she was at home. I thought it was because she was coming to get me, but…I think you and I both know she was glad to be in your company. And let's not forget how the two of you were glued to each other's hips after Granny and Granddaddy Lockwood passed away. I almost thought things were gonna be good forever at that point."

"Yes, and then I died and that spoiled everything," Andrew nodded. "I know all this. Your mother made sure to tell me every time she and I were in the same room together."

"I don't blame you," Selina told him. "You did the best you could with a woman who was a lot to deal with and had a lot to deal with. Especially after Charlotte died, if it hadn't been for you, she wouldn't have had anyone." She paused. "Well, she had me. But since I was a kid, I couldn't do much for her."

"Now hold on," Andrew told her. "How many times did you run to Doctor Stensrund's after you found your mother hurt?"

"More than I should have," Selina replied.

"Exactly," Andrew told her. "You did as much for your mother as I did. Even more, I would say. It wasn't just me."

"Thank you," Selina nodded. "I hope you and Mama are really able to go somewhere this time. I think it would be good for her."

"Yes," Andrew nodded. "I do too."

"With that in mind, I have something I need to do real quick," Selina told him. "This was a nice talk we had, and I really do feel better."

"Good," Andrew told her. "I'm glad I could help."

It was as Selina made her way past the front door that she heard the knock. Retying her bathrobe, she opened the door and saw Damon on the other side.

"Hello," she said to him. "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing," Damon said. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay and not incapacitated from drinking."

"No, I'm actually good," Selina told him. "I'm really trying to be better about what's going on with my dad and Christine, and I've decided that drinking too much just makes it worse."

"Good," Damon said and stepped inside. "Ignoring my advice is probably the best thing you could do. What are you going to do now?"

"I'm gonna get dressed, shower, and then invite Roxie, Lucy, and Adrian over," Selina told him. "Since my mom and Uncle Andrew are in love again and it makes me feel sort of weird, I want to make apologies for any weird feelings that they had when I decided to divorce Klaus and marry Elijah. I think they deserve that. Would Lucy be able to come, or is she busy?"

"She and my mother are looking up ways to get rid of dark spirits, since one apparently came through the portal at your dad's and Mother is convinced that it's out to cause harm," Damon said and sat down. "But I'm sure Mother would give her some time off if she knew what it was for."

"All right," Selina nodded. "I'll invite Lucy too, then."

"I'm not gonna have to worry about Elijah showing up, am I?" Damon asked. "Where is he?"

"I think he went out with Alistair or something," Selina replied. "He's still recovering from when I invited my father and Christine to stay without asking him."

"Ah," Damon nodded. "All right."

"How does Astrid do it?" Elijah asked as he sat in Amanda and Viktor's living room. "How does she look at the two of you and handle it with such grace? I can't even handle Christine and Matthew in the same room! At least not without a stiff drink!"

"I guess I'm just lucky to have a very tolerant daughter who's seen it all so that nothing fazes her," Viktor shrugged.

"I've been around a thousand years. You'd think that I'd be able to say that I've seen it all by now," Elijah said. "But apparently not."

"Is part of why you're upset how Mom is reacting?" Amanda asked. "If she was okay with what was going on, do you think it would be easy for you too?"

"It's possible," Elijah nodded. "But I really don't know. I guess I can just be glad that they aren't at the house anymore. That'll help me pull myself back together."

"I hope so," Amanda told him. "But remember, if it fails and you need help, we'll be here."

"Good," Elijah nodded. "Cause I have no doubt I'll be back again." He told them goodbye and went home, finding Selina dressed and setting out place settings at the kitchen table. "What's going on?" He asked. "Don't tell me you've invited your father and Christine over again."

"No," Selina shook her head. "This time, it's Lucy, Adrian, and Roxanne. I just found out that my mother and Uncle Andrew decided to give their relationship another shot, and as I feel a bit odd about it, I want to take this time to apologize to my kids for any weird feelings that divorcing Klaus and marrying you might have caused them."

"That shouldn't take very long," Elijah said. "From what I remember, Roxanne was really the only one who had issues with it."

"True," Selina nodded. "But I just want to be sure, okay?"

"All right," Elijah replied and kissed her cheek. "I'll be in my office if you need me."

"Why are we all here, Mom?" Adrian asked as he sat between his sisters across from Selina at the kitchen table about half an hour later and they all reached for cookies from a plate at the center of the table. "What's the matter? Is something wrong?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "I just found out that my uncle is in love with my mom, and it feels weird, and I wanted to take this time to apologize to the three of you and thank you for being such troopers when I decided to divorce your dad and move in with your uncle, cause you probably felt the same way I do right now."

"Your mother is in love with someone? I thought she was dead!" Roxie cried.

"She is," Lucy told her sister. "But she's a ghost now, and so is Uncle Andrew. They're both haunting Grandpa Matthew's house."

"How in the world do you know that?" Adrian asked her.

"Cause Damon's mom's also come back from the dead and we see her from time to time," Lucy told her brother, a grin wide on her face. "It's awesome."

"Damn it, I wanna see ghosts too!" Adrian huffed. "How come nothing interesting ever happens to me?"

"I guess that means you probably don't want to hear about Liam dealing with the ghost of a criminal that he killed?" Roxie asked. "It's threatened his life, you know."

"Yeah, I know that," Adrian said. "That's why he and Mary are camping out with Savannah and Jonathan for a bit, although they said they might come by and see us soon too. Now that's the kind of excitement I could do without."

"Me too," Lucy replied.

"And me three," Roxie finished.

"So…are we good here?" Selina asked. "Do we all feel peachy keen, jelly bean?"

"Yes, Mom," the three of them said at once.

"Do you need us to ask you how you feel?" Adrian added.

"No," Selina told him as he came around to give her a hug. "I'm fine."

"If not, your seat at the bar is always open," Roxie told her.

"And Charlotte's concerned about you," Lucy said. "Should I tell her you're fine?"

"Go ahead," Selina told her. "She probably won't believe you, though." The kids left then, and Selina sat at the table for a few minutes before going to Elijah's office to see if he'd let her have some of that scotch he usually only kept for himself.

"I hope you don't mind," Andrew told Amelia. "But I've mentioned our new domestic arrangement to Selina."

"You did?" Amelia asked. "How did she take it?"

"She seemed fine," Andrew replied. "Glad to know that you were finally doing what made you happy. She mainly just wondered why it took us so long."

"How sweet of her," Amelia said. "I thought she never wanted me to be happy."

"What would make you say that?" Andrew asked. "Because she didn't often do what you told her to when she was a child? That was completely different and I honestly don't blame her for fighting you as much as she did."

"Well, especially during her teenage years, if I didn't fight with her, I didn't have much else to do with my time," Amelia pointed out. "The slaves did everything around the house, you were dead, Charlotte was dead, Matthew was gone...Selina was the one person I could focus my attention on. I know it was unhealthy and caused her to resent me horribly, but what else could I do?"

"I'm sure you could have thought of something," Andrew replied. "Like sitting down and having a nice conversation about everything you two were fighting about? Wht fight when you can get along?"

"Cause that's more exciting," Amelia replied.

"Is that why you picked fights with me?" Andrew asked.

"I was never the one who picked fights," Amelia countered. "It was always you that picked fights. I just responded."

"I had my reasons," Andrew said. "I just wanted to get you used to expressing emotions like anger. That was my goal and I really think you're a better person for it."

"Yes," Amelia nodded and leaned toward him. "Keeping all your emotions inside...it's not good."

"No," Andrew shook his head. "It really isn't."

Then their lips met as they pulled each other close, and nothing else seemed to matter.