That night, Elijah put on his jeans and waited for Selina to come to bed. But when she came into the room, she wore an oversized t-shirt, sweat pants and socks. He couldn't see any of her body. "Why are you dressed like that?" He asked her. "What's the matter?"

"I'm disappointed in you," Selina told him. "About how you carried on when your brother was here. Now, I don't know what happened to make you act that way, but I promise that whatever it was won't happen anymore. How many times do I have to say that? Don't you trust me?"

Elijah nodded. "It's my brother I don't trust." He reached for her and she moved away. "That's dumb!" She said. "He can't talk me into doing anything I don't want to do. I don't care how enticing he tries to be. I love you, and if you don't have enough faith in me to believe that, there's not a lot of hope for us, is there?"

"You wouldn't say that if you had any idea what made me feel the way I do," Elijah told her. "You'd say that I had every right to have these feelings."

"Well, the fact is that I don't have any idea, okay?" Selina said, sitting next to him. "So either you tell me what happened and we deal with it, or you just stop fussing. Those are your two options."

Elijah sighed. "Fine," he said. "You want to know why I'm so skittish? I'll tell you. My father taking your memories of us was not the first time he's tried to separate us. About thirteen or so years ago, he made another attempt. He invited you and me to lunch with promises of reconciliation and then plunged a dagger into my heart and locked me away in a coffin."

Selina's eyes widened. "He killed you?"

Elijah shook his head. "I'm not easily killed," he assured her, and grinned. "It's a perk of being one of the oldest vampires in existence. I can be immobilized by a specially made dagger dipped in white ash, but it takes something much rarer to finish me off and of course my family has done the best it can to destroy that something. You don't have to worry." He paused and cleared his throat. "Anyway, so I was immobilized and you were left alone with Gregory, Laura, and baby Colin. Soon after that, my brother came to your door with a child of his own, the daughter of your son Adrian, who for some reason decided to suspend all sense and give my brother his daughter, Felicity, to raise. Klaus, of course, had no idea what he was doing, so he asked for your help, and you took him in and raised the girl together. Things were fine for the first five years. And then you assumed I would never come back, so in a moment of weakness, you gave into your feelings for my brother and started spending nights in his bed, which led to you getting pregnant again. He proposed marriage to you, and the day of the wedding was when my father was kind enough to resurrect me. I found the location were your wedding was being held and surprised everyone with my presence."

"And then what happened?" Selina asked. "I bet you weren't too happy with me for what I did."

"No," Elijah shook his head. "I can't say that I was. I decided to let you live your life out with my brother and your new child but in exchange, I would take our children and you would never see me again."

"But obviously, I did," Selina said. "What changed?"

"Apparently, the thought of me leaving was so scary to you that you ran out into the street, trying to get my attention despite the fact that I was already being driven away. You were hit by a car and that caused you to miscarry the child. You spent time recovering, and after much begging, pleading, and groveling from you, I consented to take you back under the condition that you be absolutely faithful to me in the future. You promised, we remarried, and here we are."

"Have I kept my promise?" Selina asked. "Have I been faithful to you ever since then?"

"Yes," Elijah nodded. "And despite my efforts to trust you, the doubt just eats away at me sometimes."

"Why?" Selina asked. "There has to be a reason."

"He doesn't need you like I do!" Elijah burst out. "Niklaus has always been able to love in his own way, despite what's been done to him. Always! But I...I haven't, being under my father's thumb as I always have been. He always taught me that the only way to survive was to not show emotion so that people would see you as strong and fear you. I thought he knew best, so I went along with that. But over the years, I've realized what a mistake it was. That's why meeting you was such a good thing for me. You finally gave me a reason to pull away from my father and be out of his control. You're able to show love and kindness better than anyone else I've known in a thousand years. You make me aware of my emotions and assure me that it's okay to express them, and you stop me from turning into my father, which is something that I will never be able to repay you for. But if you leave me, I just know all that will change. Without your love, without your support, without your positive example around me every day, I just...I feel like I'm going to lapse into a cold, angry individual who ends up all alone and I don't want that. That's why I need you so much. Do you understand?"

Selina was shocked into silence. She put her arms around him and squeezed him tight, thinking about how all she wanted to do was hug him, kiss him, and fill him full of pie and hot chocolate until all he felt were good, positive, happy things.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I had no idea." She lay her head on his shoulder and held him for a moment before he brought her chin up so they were eye to eye. "I need you now," he said. "I want to hold you close to me and never let you go."

Selina nodded. "All right," she said, feeling herself tear up. He began removing her clothes and she felt tears squeeze out of her eyes. When she lay naked in front of him and he'd undressed himself, she said, "Your father was wrong, you know. Life's not worth living if you have to live it alone and the thought makes you unhappy. Having fear and respect is not the same thing as having love and I'm sorry it took so long before you were able to learn that."

"Yes," Elijah nodded, taking her in his arms and kissing her neck. "It took a long time, but I won't be forgetting it any time soon." He ran his hands over her body, his lips brushing the warm skin of her inner thighs, and as he slipped inside her and she let out a giggle and a shriek, he thought about how much he loved her, and how lucky he was to be able to hold her every day and wake up to her beautiful smile, and sparkling blue eyes, and that is what he planned to do every day for the next thousand years and beyond.

"Do you think my mom and dad are gonna be okay?" Laura asked Edward. "Ever since Mom got her amnesia, Dad's been kind of on edge."

"Yeah," Edward assured her. "I think they'll be fine. Your mom seems pretty firm about the two of them staying together in spite of your uncle. Can I ask what happened to make him so nervous, or would that be out of line?"

Laura grinned. "I think it would be out of line if you asked my dad, but since you asked me, it's okay. When I was three, Dad was kidnapped by my grandfather, immobilized, and locked in a casket for six years. In that time, Mom tried her best to be faithful even though my father was gone, but then my uncle moved in with his baby granddaughter Felicity, who is also Mom's granddaughter, and they raised her together. Then, after five years or so, Mom sort of despaired that Dad was ever gonna come home, so she got in a relationship with my uncle, they decided to get married, and my grandfather released Dad just in time for him to show up at their wedding."

"Wow," Edward replied. "No wonder your dad is insecure with your uncle nosing around your mom."

"Yeah," Laura nodded. "And my dad is so stubborn. Even if Mom tried to make him listen to reason, I doubt he would."

Just then, they heard giggling and Laura saw Elijah and Selina coming into the kitchen, grinning, kissing, and holding on to each other.

"Well, that solves that," Edward told her. "It looks like you don't have to worry."

Laura watched them for a few seconds before becoming a little sickened. "Hey!" She cried. "You two need to get a room! You obviously left your bed too early."

"What's the matter with you?" Selina asked. "You shouldn't have a problem with the fact that your father and I love each other and are unashamed of expressing that. Think about how many children in your family have divorced parents and how lucky you are not to be one of them." She and Elijah continued to kiss and Laura frowned and looked at Edward. "Let's go somewhere else," she told him. "I'm starting to feel sick."

"I don't get it," Edward told her as they left. "Two seconds ago, you were scared that your parents were gonna split up and now that you know for sure they're gonna be together, you don't like that."

"I do like that," Laura replied. "I just don't like it when they kiss and touch each other in front of me. It's disgusting."

"You don't seem to think it's so disgusting when we do it," Edward pointed out. "Even though a lot of your friends probably do."

"Well, what I do with you is not any of their business," Laura told him. "And if they think it is, well then I guess I'll just have to get some new friends."

"Like my friends?" Edward asked. "I think you need to meet them sometime. They've wondered about you ever since you won second place at the science fair."

"They have?" Laura asked. "They do realize that the only reason why I did so well was because I had your help, right? Or is it because they want to congratulate you for being with a girl like me?"

"No, it's not that," Edward shook his head. "Glad to see you're so modest."

"Well, come on!" Laura told him. "How many of your friends have girlfriends?"

"Not many," Edward replied. "And the ones who do, their girlfriends look more like Ruth."

"Oh, my god!" Laura said. "You haven't seen her in awhile, have you? Is she mad?"

"No," Edward shook his head. "She and one of my friends became a couple, actually, so it's not like she's sitting alone by the phone waiting for me to call."

"Good," Laura nodded. "Great. Now you can start paying attention to me!"

Edward couldn't help laughing. "I've always paid attention to you. It's hard not to. You're difficult to avoid."

"Yep," Laura agreed. "If I want your attention, I won't stop until I get it!"

"So," Edward asked. "Will you come with me and meet my friends sometime?"

"Sure," Laura nodded. "Why not?"

The next day, at lunch, Edward and his friends were talking when all of a sudden, one of them looked up and started having an asthma attack.

"Oh, my god," Edward cried. "What could have possibly made you-" He cut off the question when he saw Laura put her lunch tray down at the table and sit in the seat next to his. "Oh, right."

"You boys don't mind if I sit here, do you?" She asked with a smile.

"No, of course not," Edward told her. "Although it would have been better for you to tell me you were gonna do this ahead of time so I could prepare everyone. Some of them don't handle shocks well. David is an example." He indicated his friend who was just becoming able to get his breath back.

"Why is she sitting with us?" He gasped.

"I thought it would be nice to meet some of Edward's friends," Laura told him. "But if you want me to go..."

"No!" They all said at the same time.

"Don't worry," Edward told her. "You can stay. It's all right."

Finally, the boy next to him, a redhead named Jonathan, cleared his throat. "I saw your project at the science fair," he said. "I'm glad you got second."

"Well, I didn't do it all by myself," Laura told him. "Edward helped, so he deserves the ribbon just as much as I do."

She looked at David, who was flushing and avoiding looking at her. "Is he all right?" She asked. "Have I offended him somehow?"

"No," Jonathan shook his head. "He's always had a bit of a crush on you and now that you're here, it's a bit overwhelming for him."

"Wait a minute!" Laura said. "I recognize him! Whenever I do a play, he comes and sits in the front row and applauds louder than anyone else." She paused. "Hey," she said to David. "Look at me, would you, please?"

David finally got the courage to look into her eyes. "Thank you," she told him. "Thanks for coming to my plays and supporting me. It means a lot."

He looked at her for a second, then got up, put his hand over his mouth, and ran out of the lunch room.

"That wasn't the reaction I was expecting," Laura said. "I didn't think he'd get sick. Should I be offended? Or worried? Should I see if he's okay?"

"No," Edward shook his head. "It happens more than you think. He'll be fine."

They continued to eat and at Laura's insistence, Edward went and found David afterward and reported to Laura that he was, in fact, okay.

"I'm glad all your friends aren't as sensitive as David is. You and I wouldn't be able to go anywhere with any of them if that was the case." Laura smiled.

"Thanks for making such an effort to get along with them," Edward told her. "I know they're not your normal crowd."

"Oh, it's no problem at all," Laura told him. "I actually enjoyed myself."

Edward raised an eyebrow. "Because a lot of the conversation was about what a good actress you are or how great your science project was?"

"Yeah," Laura nodded. "I'm not gonna lie. That was great!" She paused. "I thought that it would be a good start to sit with you guys at school, and then if you wanted, we could go to the science museum or whatever it is you guys do for fun and you could teach me stuff. I'd like that."

"Yeah," Edward nodded. "I'd like that too."

"But we'll have to make sure David has enough time to mentally prepare himself," Laura finished. "That's important."

"Yep," Edward nodded. "Very."

Katherine was lounging in bed when she heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" She asked.

"It's Gregory!" Gregory called. "Your roses finally came!"

Katherine looked around the flower-filled room. "Do you think there will be space for them in here?"

Gregory opened the door and looked around. "I don't know," he said. "But I bet that we could make some." He shifted around a vase of daisies and a vase of red tulips and plopped the white roses between them. "There," he said. "Now they fit."

They were directly in Katherine's line of vision and she just grinned and shook her head. "You really are a smooth operator," she said. "Or at least you think you are."

"Oh, don't do this," Gregory told her. "It's okay to admit you liked the flowers. I'm not gonna think any less of you."

"They're pretty," Katherine nodded. "Thanks for getting them. But what happens now? What do flowers even mean? Did you get them for me cause you wanted to be nice, or what?"

Gregory shrugged. "I did want to do a nice thing for you. And I figured that if you reacted well to the flowers, I might consider asking you on a date. What do you think about that?"

Katherine stared at him for a long moment and then shrugged. "It's a free meal," she said. "All right."

"Great!" Gregory replied. "I'll go make reservations right now. Do you have any objection to going tomorrow night?"

"You're actually making reservations?" Katherine scoffed. "Why can't we just go to the restaurant and force them to give us a table? What's the point of having all these great vampire powers if we don't use them?"

"Why would you want to use them for something so lame as getting restaurant reservations?" Gregory asked. "It's not like we won't get reservations if we don't use our powers. I know people. We'll get in."

"Oh, all right," Katherine sighed. "It's not as exciting to do it that way, but I guess it's all right."

"Well, I'm glad her highness approves," Gregory winked. "Enjoy your roses."

He left to go make the reservations and once the bedroom door was closed, Katherine got off the bed and went to take one of the white roses out of the vase. It really was pretty and she hadn't been lying to Gregory when she'd told him that they were her favorite flower. She got back in bed and looked around at the flowers in the room. They all were for her, she couldn't believe it. She'd had situations like this happen in the past, but usually it was because the man had ulterior motives and gifts like flowers were only given to lull her into a sense of false security before they pulled something awful.

She sighed. As weird as it was, she knew Gregory wouldn't be that way. He was one of the best men she'd ever met, even better than his father. Maybe he was too good to be true. He had to be. Or maybe he wasn't even real. Why else would he get her a whole room full of flowers just to make up for the fact that her roses hadn't come on time? And now he wanted to take her to dinner some place fancy. It was like a fairy tale. But bad things happened to people in fairy tales. Even the sanitized ones that were told to children. And she'd never been particularly lucky. Sooner or later, this good streak she was on was bound to run out.

She sighed, supposing that it wouldn't hurt her to at least try to enjoy the evening. She might actually end up having a good time. One never knew.

The next night, Katherine curled her hair and put on a long blue dress sleeveless dress with a shimmery bodice and over-skirt, curled her hair, and as she was looking for her shoes, she heard Gregory call out, "Are you almost ready?"

"Yes!" She called back. "I just need my shoes!" She found them, put them on, and prepared to make an entrance. She went to the top of the stairs and walked down them slowly so that Gregory, who was looking very smart and handsome in a tux, could get a good look at her. But as she got to the last couple of steps, she became so moved by the look of awe in his eyes that she didn't notice when the heel of her shoe got caught in her over-skirt. She tripped and started to fall down those last three steps, but Gregory caught her.

"Careful there," he said. "I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself before our big date. Then you won't be able to dance with me."

"Dance?" She asked in surprise. "We're going dancing too?"

"If you have the energy for it, I thought it would be fun," he replied. "There's an old ballroom not far from the restaurant we're going to. You look beautiful, by the way."

"Yeah, I figured you thought that from that goofy look you had on your face," Katherine replied, laughing nervously at the compliment. "It's good you found a suit that fits properly. I bet it's hard since you're so tall."

"Yeah, it's hard," Gregory nodded, adjusting his jacket. "But lucky for me, I know a place."

"You know all sorts of places," Katherine remarked. He offered her his arm. "You might want to keep a tight hold on me," he said. "We wouldn't want you to fall again."

"Ha-ha," Katherine replied. But she took his advice and let him lead her to his car and help her inside. "Your carriage, my lady," he said with a wink, and then shut the door after he made sure that her skirt wouldn't get caught. Then he climbed into the driver's seat beside her and started the car. As they backed out of the driveway, he said to her, "I'm really excited to do this tonight. Are you?"

He looked so eager she felt she needed to at least give him some enthusiasm. "Sure," she said. "I've always loved dancing."

"I'm really good, I promise," Gregory assured her. "I won't step on your toes or anything." Then he looked at her face. "I'm being too eager, aren't I? I know you hate that." He cleared his throat and sobered up, and they drove the rest of the way to the restaurant in silence. Gregory was somber as the waiter led them to the table, and after holding out her chair for her, he took a seat across from her and hid his face in his menu.

Katherine sensed she'd done something to hurt his feelings, so to get him talking again, she tapped his menu. "Hey," she asked. "What are you going to have to eat?"

He looked up. "I think a spinach salad and a steak. What about you?"

Katherine shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't eaten recently enough to know what I like."

"You haven't eaten?" Gregory asked in surprise. "Really?"

"Well, nothing more than blood, of course. Not every vampire has someone who lives with them and is as enthusiastic about cooking as your mother," Katherine told him.

"Right," Gregory nodded. "Sometimes I forget that eating is not a typical thing since I've done it my whole life. Well, why don't you just have what I'm having? I promise it's good."

"All right," Katherine shrugged and put down her menu. "Why not?"

When the waiter came, they placed their orders and then when the food came, Gregory ate with gusto while Katherine consumed her food slowly.

"No good?" Gregory asked. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's good," Katherine assured him. "I just have to get used to eating normal food again. You know I only eat blood and whipped cream at home."

"I can see how it might take some adjustment," Gregory nodded. "But if you don't like it, don't force yourself to eat it."

To his surprise though, she finished all of what was on her plate and even made room for a piece of cheesecake they both shared. When they went out to his car to drive to the ballroom, she seemed much more relaxed than she'd been on the ride to the restaurant.

"I can't wait to get to this ballroom and dance," she told him. "I think it'll be fun!"

"I think it will be too," Gregory told her. They pulled into the ballroom parking lot and went inside. Katherine stared at all the couples who were already dancing. The floor was wooden, the room had the lights low, and a disco ball (she couldn't remember the other term for it) hung from the ceiling above. She and Gregory had come in the middle of a song, so they waited until it ended and the next one started before they began dancing. The first song was a slow song. Katherine knew how to do actual dances of course, but that night, she didn't feel like it, so she just hung on to Gregory and let him sway her back and forth. The pressure and warmth of his fingers felt good against her waist, and she felt bad when the song ended and he let her go to applaud the band. They tried dancing to one of the faster songs, but Katherine found herself quickly tiring of that because of the lack of physical contact required while dancing.

"Can we only dance slow dances?" She asked.

"Sure," Gregory asked, surprised. "I don't mind that."

"And I wouldn't mind if you moved your hands around a little," she continued. "I wouldn't mind if they went somewhere other than my waist. It's not like anyone will pay attention and judge us."

"We're in public," Gregory reminded her. "If we were at home, I'd be happy to touch you wherever you wanted, but in public we have to maintain some level of decorum."

"Yeah, whatever," Katherine rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna go get a drink. You want something?"

"No," Gregory shook his head. "I don't need anything."

They did a couple more slow dances and then left. The ride home felt awkward again and Gregory thought he knew why. When they got home, Katherine yawned and stretched. "I think I wanna go to bed if you don't have anything else in mind for us," she said. "I had a good night."

"I'm glad," Gregory told her. "But just a minute. I want to do one more thing if you're not too tired."

"What is it?" Katherine asked.

He found a CD of smooth jazz, and once it started, he held out his hand to her. "May I have this dance?" He asked.

"Sure," Katherine nodded. He twirled her into him so that their chests were touching and she was looking into his eyes. Then, he kissed her as they swayed back and forth, and she could feel his hands roaming around her body.

"You sneaky man," she whispered. "If you want me out of my dress, all you have to do is say so."

"I want you out of your dress," Gregory breathed. Katherine stopped the music and grinned wickedly at him. "I'll race you to the bedroom," she said. "First one there gets to undress the other."

Gregory grinned. "You're on," he replied, and then the two of them sprinted for the stairs, each sabotaging the other along the way. Katherine ended up reaching the door frame first. "I win," she said.

"You did," Gregory nodded. "What does that mean for me?"

She pushed him against the wall and got his jacket and shirt off without a word, followed by his pants. They were kissing pretty deeply as he reached around and unzipped her dress. It fell in a puddle on the floor next to the bed, along with her underwear, and Gregory was so aroused he didn't worry about hanging it up. Katherine put her arms around him and he picked her up and made love to her against the wall.

"Are all our dates gonna end like this?" Katherine asked, breathing heavily. "Cause if so, we should have more of them."

He spun her around and tossed her in bed before climbing in after her. "We could have more dates," he replied, squeezing her breasts, and then slowly pushing into her with a smirk that she found even more arousing than his touching. "But I would rather just stay home and do this. Wouldn't you?"