"Well this is a surprise," Malachai said when he opened the door on the day Sarah was supposed to come back for the week and finding Matthew on the other side and not Christine. "Hello, Matthew."

"Hello," Matthew told him, trying to make his voice sound light and cheerful and not like he wanted to kill the man at the door. "I know you probably wish Christine would have brought Sarah, but she's out and about now, so I had to bring Sarah myself."

"I understand," Malachai replied. "Come in."

"Thank you," Matthew replied and stepped into the house. "Is Helene around?"

"No, she's out too, just like Christine." He paused. "Wouldn't it be just like our wives to conveniently get out of the way so we'd be thrown together like this and have no choice but to get along?"

"I never thought of it that way," Matthew replied and sat down as Sarah reached for Malachai. "But now that you mention it, I have to wonder if those sneaky women were planning this all along."

"They probably have," Malachai agreed. "I'll be asking Helene about that later on tonight."

"As I will with Christine," Matthew replied.

They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Malachai asked, "Would you like a beer or something?"

"Actually, I'm more of a whiskey person," Matthew told him. But then he looked down at Sarah. "I really don't think I should be drinking around Sarah, though. I need to keep my wits about me."

"Oh, Sarah," Malachai chided the baby and took her in his lap. "Have you been making your father nervous with your magic, you naughty girl?"

Sarah just gave him a look that said, 'Who, me?' and then cuddled against him.

Matthew gave them a long look, trying hard as he could to be supportive of their bonding, but then stood up and said, "You know what? I think I'll have that beer now."

"All right," Malachai nodded and put Sarah in her play pen. "Coming right up."

As they sat in different chairs in the living room, drinking their drinks and not saying a word, Percy came in and dropped his bag by the door.

"Did someone come to drop off Sarah?" He asked Malachai. He had a fondness for his baby sister. He was even doing more than Malachai or Helene to teach her magic. "I'll take her for a bit."

"No, no!" Malachai said. "You don't have to do that. Stay in here and talk with us!"

So Percy came in, pushed his dark hair out of his eyes, and picked Sarah up out of her play pen while staring at Matthew. "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't believe I've seen you before. What's your name?"

"I'm Matthew," Matthew told him and then took a swig from the beer bottle. "I'm Sarah's father."

"Oh," Percy nodded. "The one who tried to shoot Malachai."

"That wasn't my fault!" Matthew replied. "He stole my daughter! And it's not like the bullets hit him anywhere anyway."

Sensing that saying anything more on the subject would lead to an unnecessary fight, Percy decided to drop it and take Sarah to his room. "You two enjoy talking," he said quickly. "I'll even take Sarah off your hands so you don't have to worry about her."

"Good," Matthew replied. "Better you than him. I like you."

Percy just rolled his eyes, hoped that Helene would be back soon, and when he and Sarah were alone in his room, he told her. "I know they're both crazy, but it's because they love you. I wish I had that many people who loved me. I guess I've got a place here, but that's not the same as being so loved that you have two sets of people fighting to want to parent you and then getting jealous when the other pair has a turn. You're so lucky." He leaned over her to kiss her and tickle her stomach and then she reached up and he cuddled with her. He knew that he was a teenager and that she was a baby, but if he were totally honest with himself, she was the first person who had ever made him feel entirely, unconditionally loved. And that was one of the reasons he came over here so often. Not because Malachai was his father, even though that had been nice to find out. But because of the happy little baby who liked to be hugged and played with and didn't care about his grades or what he was gonna do in the future, or what hanging out with his shifty friends would mean for the life that his mother had worked so hard to build for him.

He kept the door open a crack, though, so he could hear what Matthew and Malachai were up to and run into the living room to stop any trouble that arose. He hoped he'd never have to do that, but it never hurt to be prepared.

"I am so proud of you for taking Sarah to Malachai's by yourself and not killing him in the process," Christine told Matthew as they drove over to Elijah and Selina's to visit that night as a reward for what Matthew had done. Victoria and Eva were watching Sarah along with the twins while they went out. "I was hoping that's what would happen when Helene and I decided to go out today."

"It was a sneaky thing of you to do," Matthew replied, his hands tight on the steering wheel. "You might have at least warned me first."

"You know you wouldn't have taken her unless you absolutely had to," Christine reminded him. "You know that and I know that. But next time, I'll tell you beforehand. Deal?"

"All right," Matthew nodded. "Deal."

They sat in silence until they reached Selina and Elijah's house, then went to knock on the door and be let in. Selina hugged her father and Christine hugged her father, then they went to the kitchen to get some wine.

"So, long day, I take it," Elijah said to Matthew. "Given the purpose of this little get-together, I mean."

Matthew sighed. "It's always a long day when Sarah has to go see Malachai and Helene. Then I don't get to see her for a whole week." He looked at his daughter. "You have experience with this. Do you think it's going to mess her up, being passed back and forth like this? It didn't work so well for you, did it?"

"Well, not really," Selina admitted. "But Helene is great with children, and while I don't know much about Malachai, Helene thinks a lot of him, so Sarah should be all right. She seems perfectly fine."

"You can't always go on how Helene judges character," Elijah replied. "Remember how highly she thought of Adrian."

"Hey, that's my son you're talking about!" Selina cried. "And I know he's made some mistakes and has issues with children, but he's not a bad guy most of the time. You and I made sure of that when he was a boy, remember?"

"True," Elijah conceded. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Selina replied. Then she turned to her father. "Don't worry," she said again. "I'm sure that Sarah will come out of her childhood a lot better than I did. In fact, I can guarantee it."

"Good," Matthew nodded. "Cause I wonder sometimes."

"On another subject," Christine said quickly before they could lapse into an uncomfortable silence, "how have you two been doing? Not too bored because the school closed down, I hope?"

"Oh, no," Elijah shook his head. "In fact, the closing of the school was fortuitous. It gives us time to work on a project we've wanted to do for quite some time."

"Well, how nice!" Christine smiled. "It's always nice to have time to work on things like that."

"It is," Elijah nodded. "I hope it comes to something soon."

"Yeah," Selina nodded and rested her head on Elijah's shoulder. "Me too." She then sat up and said, "Sorry, I haven't offered anyone anything yet. Is anyone hungry? In either sense of the word?"

"I wouldn't mind some blood," Matthew remarked.

"Yeah, me too," Christine agreed.

So Selina went to get them some and then she and Matthew went to a shooting range to help him deal with his anger while Christine and Elijah stayed home, he taught her how to play chess, and, and they talked about this and that until their spouses came home and, after a call to Victoria, decided to spend the rest of the day and then the night at Selina and Elijah's house.

"Sorry about what Christine and I did today," Helene apologized to Malachai at dinner. "But we just…we thought it was high time you and Matthew learned how to get along."

"Why are you including me in that?" Malachai wanted to know. "When have I ever not gotten along with Matthew? He shot at me! He antagonized me! And I did nothing to deserve that!"

"Point taken," Helene nodded and reached for his hand. "I'm sorry."

Malachai side and leaned across the table to kiss her. "You're a very sneaky person," he told her.

"And is that a bad thing?" Helene asked with a smile.

"No," Malachai shook his head and gave her a wink. "I like that in a woman." He paused, taking her hand in his and twirling her around so that he could get a good look at what she was wearing. "Why don't you go change in to something more comfortable after we finish eating? Surely you don't want to be wearing those tight heels and your regular clothes this late in the day? Why don't you go put on a bathrobe or something?"

"Okay," Helene replied. She was beginning to feel excited. She ate her dinner a lot quicker than usual, and to Malachai's surprise, managed not to choke before running out of the dining room and going to change her clothes while Malachai prepared to surprise her with the thing that he knew she wanted so badly.

When she returned, she didn't see Malachai anywhere. She called out his name, but got nothing in reply, so she decided to push up the sleeves of her robe and occupy herself with washing the dinner dishes until he came back. It wasn't long, however, until she heard soft footsteps.

"Guess what I got you?" Malachai whispered right up against her earlobe as he came up behind her and wrapped one hand around her waist.

"What?" She giggled. "What did you get me?"

He undid her robe and let it fall to her feet, then pulled out a red rose from behind his back, gently running it down her bare neck and over her collarbone. The gentle touches combined with the hot look in his eyes when she turned to look at him made her just want to throw herself at him. But he put a hand on her chest to stop her.

"Go sit," he ordered.

Pouting, she sat down and watched as he stripped down in front of her until his clothes lay in a pile around him. Then he came over, grabbed her, and sat her down on the kitchen table, her legs wrapped around his waist as he buried himself inside her, grabbed her face in both hands, and kissed her so deeply, she felt like she couldn't breathe. Then he broke the kiss, pulling in and out of her as she moaned loudly with every sharp, hard thrust that filled her body.

When he pulled out for the last time and braced himself against the counter, they were both panting loudly. Malachai still held the stem of the rose tightly in one hand while Helene tried to stand up on unsteady legs that wanted so badly to give out and let her fall to the floor in a puddle.

"Here you go," he said as he held her steady. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Helene nodded and let out a breath. "Wow…that was…that was…wow."

Malachai chuckled. "Was that what you were hoping for since you weren't wearing anything under your robe?"

"Oh, I am always hoping for that," Helene replied.

"Good," Malachai nodded. "Next time, though, it will be in a bed, I promise."

"I wouldn't worry," Helene assured him. "Apparently, a nice and sturdy table works just as well."

"I think it was such a good idea for us to do this," Victoria said to Eva as they sat in Kai and Victoria's living room. "Don't you agree with me?"

"Oh, yes," Eva smiled as they gazed at their husbands who were standing on opposite sides of the room and refusing to come any closer, even though the twins and Sarah, who were crawling around their feet, were trying to get them closer together. "Even if our husbands are being stubborn, at least we get to see each other."

It was then that Kai moved from his corner. "Wait," he said to Victoria. "You mean, you're not gonna force Sean and me to get along?"

"No," Victoria shrugged. "I mean, we thought we'd give it a shot, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. You can ignore each other all you want even though you're one of the few family members the other has. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Oh, here it comes," Kai sighed. "Fine." He headed over to his cousin. "We have to do a bonding thing. What should it be?" He turned to face a bigger version of the picture that had fallen out of Sean's wallet. "There's another picture of your girlfriend. What's her name?"

Sean sighed. "Olivia," he said. "Her name is Olivia."

"There now," Kai slapped him on the shoulder before putting his arm around him. "Was that so hard?"

"No," Sean sighed heavily. "I guess not."

"Now," Kai continued and took Molly in his lap as Sean took hold of Finn and Sarah, who were more than happy to sit together. "How did you meet her?"

"My mom knew her," Sean explained. "That's all I'm going to tell you. The rest isn't interesting."

Kai sighed. "I wish Aunt Bridget was still around so I could ask her. She'd probably tell me."

"No, she wouldn't," Sean shook his head. "And there's a reason for that." He looked urgently at Victoria. "Can we get a change of subject, please?"

"Of course," Victoria nodded. "Kai, stop pestering Sean and think of something else to talk about."

"But I'm trying to show interest in his life!" Kai cried. "What's so bad about that?"

"When people don't want to tell you things, that's called prying," Victoria replied. "It's a bad thing."

"Have you ever tried taking the twins swimming?" Eva asked suddenly.

"No, I don't think we have," Victoria remarked, grateful for the sudden change of subject. "We don't have a pool, though."

"Now we do," Kai replied with a quick zap. "Now, are we going swimming with suits, or without them?"

"With," Sean told him. "If it was without, I would have to gouge out my eyes." He zapped on a suit and went in search of the pool, while Eva followed suit and took Sarah from him.

"What are you doing?" Victoria asked as Kai went into the kitchen and came back with a plate full of food. "Are you gonna eat in the pool?"

"Yes," Kai nodded. "If I sit on one of those floating recliners it shouldn't be a problem.

"All right," Victoria sighed. "Given how Molly handles bath time, I wonder about her being in a pool."

"She'll do great," Kai said. "You need to stop worrying."

"All right, I'll try," Victoria replied and zapped herself into a tiny black bikini that made Kai drop his plate and his jaw.

"Looks like you dropped something," she said and kissed him before sashaying off in the direction of the pool as he chased after her.