"Now, wait a minute!" Damon said. "We don't know for a fact that is Lucy. We could just be assuming things. It could be a coincidence!"

"I don't think so," Helene said. "I think it really is Lucy!"

Damon let the woman who was supposedly Lucy go and she walked unsteadily to a picture on study desk and picked it up. "Mom!" She said, waving the picture them.

Helene took the picture of Selina and showed it to Damon. "Does that answer your question?"

He nodded. "I guess. What do we do now?"

Helene shrugged. "I have no idea. I don't even know how this happened! Well, I do, actually. My magic is a bit on the unpredictable side these days when it comes to big spells. When I go to cast something, I never know what's gonna happen."

"Oh, and you couldn't have mentioned that before?" Damon asked.

"I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't let me!" Helene said. "And to top it all off, Adrian's going to realize that I'm missing and he'll be over here and..."

Just then, they heard a loud, persistant knocking on Damon's front door. "Well, look who's here!" Helene said. She narrowed her eyes at Damon. "Be prepared to explain yourself."

"Shouldn't we at least get Lucy some clothes before someone besides us comes in here?"

Helene sighed. "I suppose. Are there any around here?"

Damon nodded. "I still have some of Selina's stuff. She left clothes and other junk here that she hasn't taken from me yet."

"All right," Helene nodded. "You take Lucy with you and get those and I'll go answer the door."

"Right!" Damon nodded and let Lucy out of the study while Helene went to get the door. "Hi," she said to Adrian, who was on the other side looking perturbed. "How's it going?"

"Are you okay?" Adrian asked, charging into the house. "Where's he? I'll kill him! Did he hurt you?"

"No," Helene shook her head. "He didn't do anything to me so you shouldn't kill him. In fact, I did more damage than he did, so don't worry about it."

Adrian nodded. "Well, good for you. I think I can let it go this once then."

"Want to come in?" Helene asked.

"Sure," Adrian said. "You haven't been doing any big magic, have you? Remember, we don't know what will happen if you do."

"I had to do a little," Helene said. "But it was no biggie, really."

A few minutes later, Helene heard Damon coming down the stairs, but when he saw Adrian sitting next to Helene on the sofa, he sent Lucy back up again and came down alone. "I found what we needed," he said to Helene. "Cookie Monster's taken care of."

"Oh," Helene nodded. "That's good! Now we just need to decide what to do with him. Whether to send him to Selina's or if we should just keep him here..."

"I think I should keep him," Damon said. "I think if we sent him to Selina's, then Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird would find out and we'd be in trouble. Especially if Cookie Monster's father Oscar the Grouch found out..."

Adrian turned to Helene. "What is he talking about?"

"Oh, he's decided to make up for kidnapping me by helping me out with a play I'm doing for the daycare," Helene said easily. "We're talking about the plot..."

"Sounds kind of ridiculous," Adrian said. "I've been forced to watch a lot of Sesame Street over the years and there is no way that Oscar the Grouch or Big Bird could be Cookie Monster's father."

"It's called creative license," Helene said. "Just go with it, would you? Now, we need to write some more, so you just go home and I'll see you tonight..." Helene began pushing Adrian toward the door. "Wait, wait, wait!" Adrian said. "What's the rush?" He paused. "Is something going on here?"

Helene shook her head. "Of course not! We just want to work on our play because like you said the plot is terrible and we have a lot of rewriting to do, and...oh, crap."

"What?" Adrian turned just in time to see Lucy coming down the stairs on her butt. When she'd reached the ground floor, she ran to Adrian and threw her arms around him. "I love you," she said. Adrian's eyes widened as he looked at Helene behind Lucy's back. "I don't know her, I swear! She just started hugging me!"

"You do know her," Helene said and sighed. "That's Lucy."

"What?" Adrian held the young woman at arms' length and looked her over. The gray sweats she was wearing were a tad small on her, which made her chest and bottom more pronounced than they would ordinarily be. "This isn't Lucy! Lucy's two! This person has boobs!"

"So how do you want to make him believe us?" Damon asked.

"It really is her," Helene said. "I meant to cast a spell on Damon but Lucy must've got in the way of it so it hit her instead. It's not a joke. Do you think I would make something like this up?"

Adrian sighed. "No, I don't see any reason why. It's not like it would be a good laugh or anything." He sighed. "I'll probably end up being the one to tell Mom what happened."

"She is closest to you," Helene agreed. "The only thing is, your dad and your uncle can't know about it, at least not yet, which creates another issue: the fact that my dad can't know either, because if he knows, then he'll definitely tell your dad or your uncle and that's more trouble than it's worth." She paused, watching Lucy as she ambled toward the kitchen. "Lucy, honey," she called, "Stay in here with us where we can see you."

Lucy turned around and came back, pouting. "I want cookies."

Damon patted the empty spot next to him on the sofa and she sat there. "If you stay here like a good girl, I'll get you cookies, all right?"

Lucy nodded. "Okay."

"I think we need to do one more thing," Damon said, looking at Helene. "Can we make it so she...talks better? I don't know how else to phrase it. So that she talks more like a grown-up than a little kid? I mean, this is weird enough already. I'll have to be able to communicate with her if I'm going to take care of her when she's like this."

"When did we decide you were going to?" Adrian asked.

"Well, I just naturally assumed," Damon said. "I mean, we want to keep this a secret until we get it fixed, right?"

"I guess," Adrian nodded.

"Well, if she goes home to Selina's or stays with you, everyone and their mother will find out what happened. But if she stays with me, no one will because your mother hates me right now and your father and uncle and I don't talk, so they won't come by here and find out, so why not me?" Damon gave Adrian a look.

"He does have a point," Helene said.

"Fine," Adrian said. "But you better watch out for her and don't do anything stupid. Remember, she's still a little kid in her head."

"I raised her for the first six months of her life when your mom didn't want your dad to know that Sam wasn't his," Damon said, locking eyes with Adrian. "She's like a daughter to me already. If you think I'd let anything bad happen to her, you don't know how wrong you are."

"All right," Adrian said. "I just wanted to be sure."

"And as for Lucy's speech, we can ask my mom," Helene said. "I think there's a potion that she knows that would make Lucy easier to understand. She used to tell me that she used something like that on me when I was learning to talk. Really cut down on the frustration."

"Will it make Lucy Mensa-smart?" Damon asked.

Helene shook her head. "No, it'll just make it easier for her to articulate what she wants to say. She won't know a whole bunch of new stuff all of a sudden. You'll just feel like you're having a conversation with a grown up instead of a toddler, although she'll probably still like Barney, or whatever it is that she likes now. She'll maintain her little kid interests."

"And can we trust your mom?" Damon asked Helene. "Will she blab to your dad?"

"I think we'll be all right. Mom's not a blabbermouth," Helene assured him.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Adrian asked. "Let's go!"


After Damon and Helene set off for Astrid's with Lucy, Adrian made his way back to his house and called Selina. "Hey Mom, would you come over? I have to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Selina asked. "What happened? Did somebody die?"

"Oh, no!" Adrian said quickly. "Nothing like that."

"Well, why can't you come over here and talk to me about it then?" Selina asked. "If it's nothing that bad?"

"Because Helene's gone and Rusty is in a bad mood and I don't want to leave him alone with the furniture," Adrian said. "Please come, please?"

Selina sighed. "Sure, I'll be right over."

Adrian hung up the phone and went to wait by the door until Selina arrived, and when she finally did, he said, "Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Selina said as he ushered her over to a sofa. "Now what did you want to talk to me about?" She noticed Rusty dozing under the coffee table. "He does seem angry. I can't remember the last time I got that mad."

"I just needed to get you over here," Adrian said. "Now, I'm going to tell you something that might shock you, but you have to hear it. And you can't let Dad or Uncle Elijah know. At least not yet."

"Well, what is it?" Selina asked. "Honey, I lived through the Civil War for crying out loud. Very few things on this earth have the power to shock me anymore."

Just then, the door opened. "We're back!" Helene called. "Is your mom here yet, Adrian?"

"Yeah," Adrian called back. "And I was just about to tell her about the thing."

"What thing?" Selina asked. "The shocking thing? Bring it on. Just spit it out. I can handle it."

"All right," Adrian nodded. Damon, Lucy and Helene entered the room.

"I don't believe you!" Selina said to Damon. "Going after young women like that! You haven't learned anything, have you? And letting her borrow my clothes? Granted, that sweatsuit looked horrible on me, but it's much too small for her. You would pick an outfit that would put emphasis on her butt and her boobs!"

"The outfit wasn't my fault," Damon said. "Lucy's clothes didn't fit anymore after Helene cast the spell that made Lucy grow up, and all I had at the house were yours. Apparently when she grows up, she's going to be taller than you, and again, I repeat, that is not my fault!"

"Stop yelling!" Helene said as she watched Lucy curl herself into a ball. "I don't think Lucy likes that. Let's all be nice to each other."

Damon immediately turned away from Selina and got down on his knees to crawl over next to Lucy and put his arms around her. "It'll be okay," he said. "I didn't mean to yell, I'm sorry."

Lucy relaxed and put her face in his shoulder. After a moment, Selina sat next to them and looked up at Adrian. "So this really is Lucy?" She asked. "What happened?"

Helene sighed. "Well, as you know, I can't do really big magic right now, at least nothing that will work out the way it's supposed to. Damon asked me to come over to his house and help him out with something, and while I was doing that, Lucy got caught in the crossfire of a spell and it made her become older."

Selina moved some of Lucy's hair out of her face. "So is she going to be like this forever?"

Helene shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm just not sure how long it will last."

"But until she gets back to normal, Damon's going to keep an eye on her because remember I said that it wouldn't be wise for Dad or Uncle Elijah to get wind of this?" Adrian said to Selina.

She nodded. "You're probably right about that. If she was at anybody else's house, one or the other of them would more than likely put two and two together. But what if either of them asks where Lucy is before she gets better? They won't just blindly accept that she fell off the face of the earth. We'll have to get their minds on something else, so they don't even think about Lucy," Selina said. "I could get Elijah to go away with me somewhere. That'll take some work, but I can manage."

"You're going to talk to him?" Damon asked. "Why don't you just charge into his room, lock the door, rip off all your clothes and not come out for a week or so?"

"Because Elijah doesn't think that way," Selina said to him. "Not every man's brain works the same way yours does."

Damon just rolled his eyes and Lucy gave him a hug. "See?" He said. "At least someone here appreciates me."

"And on that note," Selina said, "I'm letting you take care of Lucy because there aren't a lot of other options open to us, but watch yourself. If you do anything bad, I will deal with it."

"I already gave him that speech, Mom," Adrian said. "I think we'll be okay."

Selina nodded after a moment. "All right. I just wanted to make that clear."

"Well, you did," Damon said. "You can go now. I'm sure Elijah is keeping the bed warm for you."

"Oh, don't pout," Selina said to him, her hand on the doorknob of the front door. "You're not cute when you pout." And with that, she left Adrian's house and went back home.


"Where's Lucy?" Elijah asked when he met her at the door. "You told me you were going to pick up Lucy."

"I know I said that," Selina told him. "But when I got there, she was gone because Anna came and picked her up to take her for the next couple of days with the message that you and I should really spend some time in bed. Can you believe Anna would say something like that?"

"Yes," Elijah nodded. "I would. That does sound like something she would say."

"Exactly," Selina said, attempting to push Elijah in the direction of the bedroom. "So what do you say we do as she suggests?"

But he wasn't budging of course. "Wait a minute," he said. "I haven't seen Lucy in a couple of days. I want to see her. I think I'll just go call Anna and tell her and Stefan we're planning to stop by."

"We can't stop by!" Selina said.

"Why not?" Elijah asked. "You told me that's where Lucy is, so why can't we stop by and visit her? Is something wrong?"

"Of course not!" Selina said. "Why would anything be wrong?" She giggled nervously.

"You're a terrible liar," he said. "Let's go." When Selina refused to go to the car with him, he picked her up and carried her, placing her in her seat and buckling up her belt for her before getting in the driver's seat and pulling out of the driveway.


"So," Anna said to Stefan as they played darts in the basement, "who was on the phone?"

"It was Selina," he replied, pausing to take a drink of whisky before putting his glass down and throwing a dart at the man they'd compelled to stand against the wall. He screamed as it stuck in his forehead. "She said there's something going on with Lucy that she doesn't want Elijah to know about, so if he calls looking for her, we're supposed to say that we have her and she's fine"

Anna threw a dart and it landed in the man's eye. She winced. "Wow. How many points was an eyeball shot again?"

"A thousand, I think. Or some large number." Stefan shrugged. "I don't really remember. What do you think's going on that Selina doesn't want Elijah to know about?"

"I hope she's not cheating on him," Anna said. "I went through enough to get those two together. I will not allow them to break up."

"If it was about them, then why bring Lucy into it?" Stefan asked.

Anna shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't you ask your brother? Isn't he in love with Lucy or something? Maybe he'll know."

Stefan sighed. "I wouldn't say he's in love with her, but there's definitely an unsually strong bond between the two of them. And you have a point. Maybe I'll just run over to his house and ask, just so we know what we're getting ourselves into. Oh, and Selina said something about Klaus too. That if Klaus asks about Lucy, we're supposed to distract him until she says we don't have to anymore."

"That's odd too," Anna said. "Anyway, if you find anything out at Damon's, let me know."

Stefan nodded. "And same thing if you go over to Klaus'. Or talk to him or anything."

"Good luck!" Anna called after she gave him a kiss. "Love you!"


"I'm telling you," Selina said as she and Elijah drove toward Stefan and Anna's, "We don't need to go over there and see Lucy. She's fine."

"If she was as fine as you say, then there would be no problem with me seeing her, would there?" Elijah stopped the car. "Now tell me what is going on right this minute!"

Selina sighed. "Oh, all right, sure we'll go to Anna and Stefan's if that'll make you feel better. I'll just call Anna right now and tell her that we're coming."

"That's what I wanted from the beginning, so what was all the fuss about?" Elijah asked as he watched Selina punch in Anna and Stefan's number.

"Well, you're hot, all right?" Selina said. "Can you blame me for not liking anything that would delay my getting my hands on you?"

Elijah grinned a little. "Well, I suppose I can't blame you for that." He ran his hand lightly down her thigh as she cleared her throat and started talking to Anna.

"Anna, it's Selina. Elijah wants to come over and see Lucy. Is it okay if we do that? He did? Awww, too bad."

Elijah's hand went still on her thigh. "What?" He said. "What happened?"

Selina took the phone away from her ear. "Apparently, Lucy and Stefan just went out."

"Well, isn't that convenient?" Elijah asked. "I want to see Lucy, you stall, and then when it seems like there might be a chance, Lucy is out of the way."

"Would you like to talk to Anna?" Selina asked, handing him the phone. "Would that make you feel better?"

Elijah held his hand out and Selina handed him the phone. "Anna, yes, hello. Please tell me why Selina is preventing me from seeing Lucy. You know, don't you?"

"I do, as a matter of fact," Anna said. "She wants you bad. And what is so wrong about giving her what she wants?"

"But I haven't seen Lucy in days," Elijah said. "Something could have happened to her. I'm concerned."

"Well, you don't need to be," Anna said. "We have her, and Stefan took her out and she's still her bubbly, perky self. I swear."

Elijah sighed. "Well, all right. I suppose if you say she's fine, then I'll leave it at that and see her at a later time."

"Good!" Anna said. "You and Selina have fun now. She probably bought new panties for the occasion and everything." Then she ended the conversation. Elijah hung up and gave Selina a look.

"There," Selina said. "You got your answer about Lucy. Do you feel better?"

"I suppose," Elijah said.

"Good," Selina said. "Then let's go home!" They drove home and ran inside, then raced up the stairs to the bedroom. He got there first and backed her up against the wall, kissing her hard, his hand going down her back and over her butt. She moaned and her hips bucked forward, then he eased her shorts down until they were around her ankles and peeled off her shirt. He looked her over. "You did buy new panties," he whispered.

She grinned and kicked her shorts aside. "I knew you'd notice," she said. He picked her up and carried her over to the bed, laying her down on it, then undressing slowly as she watched, then got into bed with her and they rolled around. She put her arms around his neck and kissed down his neck, then took her other hand and ran it down his stomach, before he entered her and she moaned and yelled out his name. Afterward, he lay her back down, leaning over her. "How are you feeling?" He asked her.

She grinned. "Wonderful. Let's do it again!"


"Damon?" Stefan called. "Where are you?" He looked around the house, but no one answered him. When he reached the kitchen, he saw that the refrigerator door was open and that someone was rummaging around inside it, probably Damon's girlfriend of the week. He could just see her bottom, but he cleared his throat. "Excuse me," he said to her. "Could you tell me where Damon went?"

She stood up and gave him a grin. "He went to get popsicles. I told him I wanted some. He should be back in a little while, Uncle Stefan."

Stefan blinked. "Excuse me? What did you call me?"

"Uncle Stefan," she repeated. "What else am I supposed to call you?"

"That seems to be an awfully familiar nickname for someone I haven't even met properly," Stefan said. "Who are you?"

The woman shut the refrigerator door and he got a better look at her. Her blonde hair was in a French braid and she wore jean shorts and a white and pink plaid button down shirt with a pair of pink flats. "You know me," she said. "I'm Lucy."

Stefan stared at her in stunned silence for a moment before bursting into laughter. "No, seriously," he said when he got his breath back. "Who are you, really?"

"I'm Lucy," she repeated. "Why don't you believe me?"

"Because my niece Lucy is only two years old and you're...not." Stefan said, looking her up and down. If he was going to be completely honest, she was pretty. In a purely aesthetic sense of course.

"Well, look who's here!" Damon came into the kitchen, carrying two grocery bags. "Stefan, I see you've seen Lucy."

"Why would you hire someone to pretend to be Lucy when she's older?" Stefan asked him. "I knew that whatever was going on between the two of you was sick!"

Lucy gave Damon a look. "He doesn't believe me," she said. "Can I have a popsicle?"

Damon took out the box of popsicles and handed her one. She unwrapped it and sat down at the kitchen table, licking it slowly.

"Oh, my god," Damon said. Stefan turned and saw that Damon's eyes were locked on Lucy. He elbowed Damon in the gut.

"What was that for?" Damon asked.

"Stop looking at her like that!" Stefan said.

"You wouldn't say that unless you actually believed that she was Lucy," Damon said. "Do you?"

Stefan shrugged. "I don't know. How is it possible?"

"She got in the way of a spell cast by a witch whose magic is on the fritz," Damon said. "That's the absolute truth. We don't know how long she's going to be like this, but it won't be forever."

"And Selina left her in your care?" Stefan asked. "Has she lost her mind?"

"Well, she couldn't go anywhere else," Damon said. "Selina doesn't want Elijah and Klaus to know what happened, and this is the one place where the two of them hardly ever go. And by the way, since you and Klaus are buddies now, you shouldn't breath a word of this to him."

Stefan blinked. "Oh, don't worry. I want to forget I ever saw this. I definitely wouldn't want to trouble anyone else with it."

"Good," Damon said.

"Are you going already?" Lucy said to Stefan. "You can stay. Have a popsicle."

Stefan shook his head. "No, thanks. You go ahead and enjoy." He darted out of the house, got in his car and drove home with his foot on the gas pedal.


"Dad?" Adrian said. "Are you here?"

"Yes," Klaus said. "Adrian, what brings you here? This is a surprise."

"I came because we hadn't talked in awhile and I wondered what was up," Adrian said. "What's new in your life?"

Klaus sighed. "Well, I have a new girlfriend." He paused. "Well, perhaps that's an optimistic term for her, but she's a woman who isn't your mother that I've gone out with a couple of times. Are you all right with that?"

"Yeah," Adrian nodded. "Sure. Why? Did Roxie not take the news well?"

"Actually, I was hoping to hold off the conversation with her until much later, but she found out. She followed me and Caroline to the restaurant where we were having lunch. I thought my plan was fullproof. I thought for sure she would be distracted."

"What did you do?" Adrian asked.

"I told Vince to take her to the movie she and I were supposed to see while I took out Caroline," he said. "I figured she would prefer to go with him. Apparently, I was wrong."

"I think she would have taken it better if you hadn't lied to her about it," Adrian said. "If you would have just told her 'I have a girlfriend now and want to take her to lunch, wouldn't you rather see the movie with Vince?' She might have taken it a lot better than she apparently has. So has Roxie actually met Caroline face to face?"

Klaus shook his head. "No."

Adrian grinned. "Can I be there when she does?"

Klaus frowned at him. "That's not helpful, Adrian. Think of something helpful." He sighed. "I wish Lucy was here. Lucy loves Caroline."

"Well, she isn't," Adrian said. "So we have to focus on the problem at hand. I'll help you. But it will require every ounce of your focus. You can't even be thinking about anything else: not Mom, not Lucy, nothing. Can you do that?"

Klaus nodded. "I suppose. How do we start?"

"Well for starters," Adrian said, "How about I meet Caroline, so I know what I'm dealing with. Can we arrange that?"

Klaus nodded. "Well, sure."

About half an hour later, there was a knock on the front door. "That's her," Klaus said. "Would you go and answer the door, Adrian?"

Adrian got up. "Sure," he said. He opened the door. "So where's this guy you wanted me to meet?" Caroline asked as she strode in, not noticing Adrian at all.

"You just missed him," Klaus said. "Turn around." Caroline turned and saw Adrian, who had his had on the door. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm Caroline. Who are you?"

Adrian grinned and shook her hand. "I'm Adrian," he said. "Nice to meet you, Caroline."

"This is my son," Klaus said to her. "He says he'll help us with Roxie. I'd believe him. He's the only person I know who can handle her as well as me."


That night around eight, Damon picked Lucy up from the sofa. She yawned. "I think you need to go to bed," he said. "You look sleepy."

She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "I'm not sleepy."

He carried her to a bed and tucked her in. "Good night, Lucy," he said, leaving the door open a crack.

"Don't go yet!" Lucy said. "We have to play the tickle game!"

"No," Damon shook his head. "We aren't playing the tickle game."

"Why not?" Lucy asked.

"Because I'm too tired," Damon said.

Lucy sat up and took off her top, throwing it on the floor. "Will you at least blow on my tummy? You always do that."

He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't look away from her beautiful body. He walked slowly toward the bed, got down on his knees, reached his hand out, and then at the last second, managed to look away and hand her her shirt. "Put this on," he ordered. "And go to sleep!"

"No!" Lucy said. "Not until we play the tickle game!"

"We're not playing that!" Damon growled. "Put your shirt on and go to sleep!"

Suddenly, Lucy's lip began to quiver and she burst into tears. "You're yelling at me!" She whimpered. "You don't love me anymore!"

He looked her in the eye. "I do. I'm just tired. If I don't get enough sleep, I get cranky. Do you understand?"

She sniffled. "Yes."

"Isn't there any other way you can think of to get to sleep? I mean, your mother doesn't play the tickle game."

Lucy brightened. "I got an idea!" She got out of bed and Damon followed her to the kitchen. She rummaged around in the fridge and resurfaced clutching a beer. "Open this, please," she said to Damon.

"No," Damon said. "You don't get to have beer. Why would you want that?" He took it away from her.

Lucy smiled. "Cause Daddy drinks it sometimes and it makes him sleepy. Would it make me sleepy too?"

Damon nodded. "Perhaps, but it's icky. You wouldn't like it."

"Can I sleep with you?" She asked him.

Damon choked on his spit and started coughing. "Don't ever ask me that!" He said. "Go to bed, please. Just go to bed!"

Lucy pouted and headed off to bed. He tucked her in and turned off her light. Everything was quiet until he heard a thump and a scream. He ran into Lucy's bedroom and turned on her light. He found her on the floor, sobbing.

"What happened?" He asked, getting down beside her and putting his arms around her.

"I hit my head," she sobbed. "Will you kiss it and make it better?"

He sighed. "If I do, will you go to sleep?"

She nodded. "Okay."

He put a hand under her chin and lightly kissed her on the lips. When they pulled apart, she giggled. "That's like how Mom and Dad kiss."

"All right," Damon said. "You told me if I kissed you, you'd go to sleep."

She nodded. He tucked her in and then shut off her light. "Goodnight, Lucy," he said.

She grinned at him. "Goodnight, Damon."