"And we're alone again…naturally," Victoria sighed.

"Oh, come on, Vicky!" Kai said and hugged her. "Why do you always act like this is such a bad thing?"

"Cause what if the kids leave and don't come back?" Victoria asked. "What if they decide to side with John or something and we never see them again? Can we trust them to love us or are they just gonna be so dazzled by having such powerful parents that we'll be left behind?"

"We are their parents," Kai told Victoria firmly as he put his hand under her chin to make her look at him. "And if we lose them, it's their loss, you know? I mean, we can only fight for them for so long."

"Are we giving up now?" Victoria wanted to know.

"No, we're not," Kai shook his head. "But we need to remember that that could be an option…and maybe think of having one that's actually our own."

"Oh, I don't know if we should do that," Victoria shook her head. "What if your mother tries to mess with that child too? I don't think my heart could take going through that again."

"Well don't worry," Kai said. "Now that we seem to be at least on non-hostile terms, I will ask her if she'll leave us alone to start our family this time. Then will you feel better about it?"

"Yes," Victoria nodded. "Yes, I will."

"You two are going to have another child?" Edele asked when they called her to their house to tell her the news. "Good for you!"

"We're mainly telling you this so you don't try and mess with it like you did Finn and Molly," Kai said. "Can we trust that you'll leave us alone this time?"

"Oh, of course!" Edele sighed. "This time the children will be all yours, and I won't interfere. Although I hope I'll be allowed to engage in grandmotherly activities?"

"Do you seriously think we'll let you do things like that after you put us through all this?" Victoria asked. "How deluded can you be?"

Kai then made a weak attempt to hold her back as she launched herself at Edele, knocked her to the ground, and then began beating on her. Then she bit her, and when Edele tried to put a spell on her, Victoria just deflected it with a spell of her own, which left Edele frozen and still on the living room carpet.

When it seemed like she was done, Kai got out of his chair and cautiously approached Victoria, who was breathing heavily. She turned to face him, Edele's blood on her mouth, and said, "I just…I had to do that. She deserved it."

"Do you honestly think that I'm gonna scold you for doing what I've wanted to do for years?" Kai asked and then took her in his arms so he could lick his mother's blood off her mouth. "I'm just stunned. And a little aroused too, but that should go without saying."

"Yeah," Victoria nodded. "Yeah, it should. The point is, we're gonna have another kid and no one is gonna take them from us."

"You know, I think we should tell your grandparents about this," Kai said. "They might be interested to hear and it's been a while since you've seen them, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," Victoria agreed. "It has. I mean, I don't know how much we'll see Grandpa Kol because he's probably involved in all the Phoenix defeat stuff, but I'm sure if we told Grandma Margot, she'd let him know."

"All right," Kai took her hand. "Let's go."

"But what about your mother?" Victoria asked. "Should we just leave her there?"

"Why not?" Kai shrugged.

"All right," Victoria agreed. "Going now."

"Well, look at this, Margot?" Kol called over his shoulder when he opened the door to Victoria's knock. "Our granddaughter finally decided to come and visit us." He then glared at Kai. "What's taken so long? Is it your fault?"

"No," Victoria told him quickly as they headed inside. "We know what's going on with Edele and the Phoenix and your sister and we didn't know how busy everyone was."

"We're never too busy to see you, darling," Kol told her. "So, what made you decide to come now?"

"She wanted to tell you about how she just beat the shit out of my mother," Kai said. "I was so proud of her."

Kol smiled. "Me too. But it's not surprising, given her heritage. Sounds like you're doing the family proud, Victoria."

"Are you part of the defense squad like Uncle Klaus and Uncle Elijah?" Victoria wanted to know. "Or are they basically keeping you out of it?"

"I'm not working with either of my brothers, but my father has been kind enough to let me in on what he's working on," Kol replied. "Actually, that was Gwen's idea. She thought that Father would be more likely to accomplish his goal if he had someone doing it with him."

"How do you feel about what Freya's doing?" Victoria asked him. "Are you all right?"

"Well, I was never particularly close to her since I was on the other end of the family, so to me, this is another instance of family politics," Kol told her. "Fortunately, more of us feel that way than not, so we should all get out of it okay unless something goes really wrong."

"Sorry I was late getting out here," Margot said, appearing in the living room and coming to hug Victoria. "I thought I heard you."

"We were just discussing Freya and what her betrayal might mean for the rest of the family," Kol told his wife.

"It's such a terrible thing what she's doing," Margot replied. "I wonder if, since she's a witch still, the Council will take her powers away after all this?"

"Why would they?" Kol asked. "It's not like she's betraying witches. The Council doesn't exactly like us Mikaelsons and they'll probably give her a medal for making sure we're exterminated."

"Under any other leader, that could very well be true, but remember, Astrid is in charge again now and she's much smarter than many when it comes to interspecies politics," Margot reminded him.

"And isn't your sister working with Astrid too?" Kol asked. "Or is that not happening anymore?"

"I don't know," Margot shrugged. "I really need to talk to Amy again, don't I?"

Just then, Mikael burst into the room. "Hello," he said. He was breathing hard and both Kol and Margot had to help him to a chair to sit down.

"What's wrong, Father?" Kol smirked. "Still thinking of that dream where you and Lonely Heart got married?"

"No," Mikael shook his head. "I had blessedly forgotten about that until you brought it up again, Kol. I'm gonna have to go thank your brother for such pleasant mental images."

"Well, I'm sure that it wasn't pleasant for Selina to think of either," Kol told him. "I'm sure you're not the only one who's scarred for life." As Mikael glared at him, he quickly said, "Okay. Why is it that you actually came over?"

"Well, in honor of our new…partnership," Mikael got out, "I thought I should tell you everything that your sister has told me."

"Yes, that would be nice," Kol nodded. "And why are you glaring at me like that? I've not betrayed you like Elijah has. I don't deserve to be glared at. My descendants are the ones you get along with the best."

"You have a point," Mikael conceded, to everyone's surprise. "I apologize, Kol."

"You do?" Kol got out. "Wow. Being with Gwen seems to have softened you up a bit, hasn't it?"

"Do you want to know what you're up against or not?" Mikael asked in a testy voice.

"Well, what more is there to know besides the fact that my dear sister wants to kill all of us to save herself?" Kol asked. "Do I have it right?"

"Yes," Mikael nodded. "And…and she offered me the chance to go with her. That's the weird part." He paused. "You're the king of self-interest. Does it seem like she's playing both sides of the fence to see who will give her the better deal?"

"It could be," Kol nodded. "But you know her better than I do. Is that something that's reasonable for her to do? Was she always so full of self-interest?"

"Well, she was constantly having to fight with Alexander for my attention and since I was basically raising them alone until I married your mother, it was difficult," Mikael admitted. "I would like to think that this is just an attention bid and she won't actually kill us, but who knows?"

"I know we haven't always gotten along," Kol said as he went and put a hand on his father's shoulder. "But I think you made a good choice deciding to have me help you."

"Well, it takes a troublemaker to recognize a troublemaker, doesn't it?" Mikael asked.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Kol told him.

Then Mikael abruptly turned his attention to Kai. "And what's going on with your mother?" He asked him. "How much trouble is she gonna cause us?"

"At the moment, none because thanks to Vicky here, she's frozen solid on our living room floor," Kai told him.

"Good job!" Mikael complimented her. "We have one less thing to worry about and I couldn't be more appreciative."

"It's my pleasure," Victoria told him. "It's always nice when your self-serving gestures end up benefitting more people than just yourself."

"I'm gonna go call Amy now," Margot remarked. "Anyone need me for anything before I go?"

"We're good," Kol assured her and gave her a kiss and a spank on the butt. "Go call your sister."

"All right," Margot replied and began making her way to her and Kol's bedroom to look for her phone. "I will."

"Why do you keep looking over at your brother and Clarissa eating?" Percy asked Stephanie.

"Sorry," Stephanie apologized. "I know that could be seen as rude, so I'll stop and pay attention to you again."

"Thank you," Percy replied. "That's very nice of you. But really, what's going on?"

"Drew sneaked out of his room the other night and I just want to know why so badly!"

"You mean you have no idea?" Percy asked. "I thought twins shared thought patterns or something."

"That's a myth by and large," Stephanie replied. Then she smiled. "I like your shirt, Percy."

"Thank you," Percy told her. "We have a new girl at the house, you know. Helene took her to get some new clothes and I went with and got some stuff for myself."

"And you're such a good dresser," Stephanie pouted. "Damn!"

"Were you hoping to make me over?" Percy asked.

"Well, a little, yes!" Stephanie nodded. "Or at least to go shopping with you."

"We can still do that," Percy replied. "I can get more clothes, you know."

"Particularly of the leather variety?" Stephanie asked and waggled her eyebrows.

"Leather? Really?" Percy asked, scoffing. "You're going to go the conventional route? I thought you would be more creative than that."

"Oh, all right," Stephanie replied. "We'll just go to the mall and see what jumps out at us, okay?"

"All right," Percy nodded and took a bite of Stephanie's pudding. "Sounds good to me."

"You see?" Stephanie smiled as she stood behind Percy and they both admired his new leather jacket in the bedroom mirror. "I knew you would be able to find one that worked. You look great!"

"Yes, but I feel ridiculous!" Percy said. They marched out of his room and came across Malachai, whose eyes widened when he saw him.

"Well, that's a new look," he got out.

"See?" Percy groaned as he turned to face Stephanie. "I knew it looked wrong!"

"I didn't say that!" Malachai told him quickly. "Just that it's different. I like that you went with brown leather instead of black leather. It goes better with your eyes."

"Doesn't it, though?" Stephanie asked and pulled Percy into a bone-crunching hug while smiling at Malachai over his shoulder. "That's exactly why I insisted he buy it!"

"Um, Stephanie?" Percy asked in a muffled voice from where he was smushed up against her chest. "You wanna let me go so I can breathe, please?"

"Oh, sorry," Stephanie apologized and let him go. "Although I know of several guys who would be envious of where you just were a few seconds ago."

This made Percy raise an eyebrow.

"I didn't say I was glad for the attention!" Stephanie quickly clarified as a light blush colored her cheeks. "I just said I knew it was there. There's a difference, you know."

Her phone rang then and when she saw who it was, she quickly answered it. "Mom?" She asked. "What's going on? Are you okay? Do I need to come over and do some sort of intervention?"

"No, I'm fine," Selina assured her. "I just…I wondered if you wanted to come hunting with me."

"I thought Daddy said he didn't want you to go hunting," Stephanie replied.

"Well, he doesn't run my life," Selina told her. "And he said I couldn't do it alone. That's why I called you. I'm sure he wouldn't object if he knew I had a buddy that would tell me when to stop."

"I'm sure he'd find some reason to," Stephanie replied. "But I suppose if you insist on doing this, I'll be willing to help you."

"Thank you," Selina told her.

The call ended and Percy asked her, "Is everything okay?"

"Mom wants to go hunting even though that's technically a risk for her. I'm gonna go make sure she doesn't overdo it. Enjoy your new clothes!" She kissed him and went on her way then, leaving Percy to look through his bags and wonder how the hell she'd convinced him to buy all this stuff that he didn't even need. He looked up. Being told that something made your butt look good was a very powerful motivator it seemed. Yep, that was probably what had done it. It definitely was.

"As much as I love you mother, is she going to be chaperoning tonight?" Ian asked Ethan.

"No," Ethan shook his head. "We can do whatever we want and she won't be coming." He paused. "I know we usually go to the fights or something, but can we start doing things that are more private?" He paused. "Unless you're not sure about me and want a way out if you get bored."

"Oh, please," Ian replied, taking Ethan's face in his hands and giving him a kiss. "You should know me better than that by now. What did you have in mind?"

"Well," Ethan said, a little surprised by Ian's showing of affection. "I was thinking we could eat and then maybe…um…I don't know. My brain has stopped there."

"Maybe that's a good thing," Ian smiled. "I have a few ideas."

"And are these ideas ones that benefit you or me?" Ethan asked, coming close enough to him that their chests touched and Ian could feel Ethan's breath on his lower lip.

"Well, of course they would benefit me," Ian replied. "But I'd make it worth your while." He whispered something in Ethan's ear and soon, Ethan found himself making dinner in his underwear and the leather jacket while Ian watched from the sofa.

"You know, I'm really enjoying the view from back here," Ian said appreciatively.

"Good," Ethan told him as he sautéed the mushrooms for the pasta dish he was making. "Cause I wouldn't want to be this scantily clad for nothing." He then paused and turned to face Ian, who sucked in a breath, his eyes widening at the sight of Ethan's bare chest. "It really wouldn't be for nothing," he got out in a husky voice. "Can I help with the cooking?"

"Sure," Ethan told him. "Why not?"

So Ian got his butt off the sofa and went to stand at the stove while Ethan stood behind him and put one arm around his waist and helped him stir up the pasta and sauce with his other hand.

"This smells awfully good," Ian admitted. "Where'd you get the recipe?"

"I get them from a lot of places," Ethan whispered.

Then Ian turned to face him. "I'm feeling a little warm," he said and then Ethan watched while he stripped off his shirt to reveal a sweat-covered chest and threw the shirt on the floor.

"Hell, if we keep this up, we might not have any trouble thinking of what to do after dinner after all," Ethan got out as his eyes swept Ian's body.

"You think?" Ian asked.

"Yeah," Ethan nodded. "I do. Now turn around and stir again. "It's okay for us to be overheated, but it won't do the sauce a lot of good."

"No," Ian turned and put some of the wine sauce on his spoon to taste it. "It really wouldn't."