As Gregory left his last class of the day, he found Katherine standing outside the room. "I'm here," she announced.

"Is that supposed to surprise me?" Gregory asked. "You're here all the time! Every day! What do you want me to do? Throw you a party?"

"Are you okay?" Katherine asked. "You're usually so happy to see me."

"You said you didn't like that, so I'm trying something else," Gregory replied. "Deal with it."

He strode off and Katherine hurried behind him. "Are you mad about what I said to you that one time? About not caring about you?"

"You told the truth," Gregory replied. "Thank you for your honesty."

"Well, you're welcome," Katherine replied. They were silent for a few minutes and then Katherine started to talk again. Gregory shut his eyes. "Stop talking!" He ordered. "Stop it right now! I don't care about anything you say!"

Katherine scoffed. "Well, fine," she said. "Whatever." She drove them home in awkward silence and dropped them off at the front door, then drove away.

"That was the best trip home we've had since she started driving us," Laura remarked. "Whatever you did to her, keep doing it. It's the only way all this will be bearable for me." She grinned and then she and Colin went inside the house. Gregory lingered by the door for awhile after they were gone. "That's just the thing," he said. "I didn't like doing what I did for her." He sighed and went in the house himself, then shut himself in his bedroom for the rest of the evening.

This same pattern continued for a couple more days. On the Friday of that week, the whole school was let out early on account of a teacher-in-service day, which had been announced earlier in the week. Gregory had neglected to tell Katherine about this and had told his mother instead, so it was Selina who met him outside of his classroom. When he saw her, he was so happy that he put his usual reserve aside and gave her a hug.

"Well, that was nice," she replied with a grin when he let her go. "What was it for?"

"He was probably happy that you're not Katherine," Laura replied. "And for the record, I am too. Thanks for coming to pick us up." Like their brother, Laura and Colin hugged Selina too, and then they went out to her car. As they pulled out of the school parking lot, Selina said, "Katherine did know about this early out you had today, right? She's not gonna show up in an hour and a half looking for you and find out that you're already gone?"

"Of course she knows!" Gregory said impatiently. "I wouldn't let her wander around the school aimlessly."

"Well, good," Selina nodded. "I just thought I'd check."

However, Katherine did show up at the school an hour later. Seeing no one in the parking lot, she went inside and found a janitor mopping one of abandoned hallways. "Where is everyone?" She asked, giving him a rough shake. "I have kids to pick up and their father will be angry with me if I don't bring them home!"

"Everyone's all gone," the janitor replied. "All the kids got out early. Your kids probably got picked up by someone else."

Katherine growled. "Gregory," She whispered, anger in her voice. The brat had probably known about this all week and had not told her just so she'd show up here and look like a total fool.

"Miss?" The janitor said, "Are you all right?" At this, Katherine growled, again, grabbed the man and sucked him dry. As she let go of his body and watched it hit the floor," She said, "I was mad. But I'm a little better now."

"Where are we going?" James asked Lenora. They had left Henry with Max and now Lenora was driving him to a location, but she wouldn't tell him where.

Lenora sighed. "Fine," she said. "I'll tell you now. We're going to buy you a suit."

"What do I need a suit for?" James asked. "It's not like I'll ever meet anyone. People are too scared to come near me, and I like that!"

"My friend Daniel is coming to visit, remember?" Lenora asked. "I told you that. And he's still nervous about you and you and me as a couple, so I want to show him that everything is all right."

"And you think forcing me into a suit is gonna undo centuries of a wicked reputation?" James asked skeptically. "Far be it from me to correct you, dear, but it's going to take a lot more than that for your little friend to be comfortable with me."

"Well, fine," Lenora replied, stopping quickly, then abruptly turning to go back to the house, ignoring the shouts of the drivers she'd inconvenienced. "How else would you suggest we put Daniel at ease?"

"I don't know," James replied. "But it would seem to me that lying about who we are is not the way to do it. Let him see the sort of person you've become. It's nothing to be ashamed of. *Are* you ashamed of it?"

"Well, no!" Lenora shook her head. "It's just that Daniel, he-"

"His father is a petty criminal," James reminded her. "And I don't exactly know what his mother is up to, but she's no angel with wings herself. So let young Mr. Potter come see us as we are. I'm sure he can handle it."

Lenora was nervous, but she decided to take James' advice and didn't do too much to the house in anticipation of Daniel's arrival. On the day he was supposed to come over, Lenora gave James one last warning. "I'm not gonna lecture you too much 'cause I know that won't do much good, but please, James, remember that Daniel is a friend of mine and don't deliberately do things that will scare him off. That's not too much to ask, is it?"

"All right, I'll be civil, I promise," James replied, rolling his eyes. Lenora had been holding Henry, but now she handed him to his father. "Here," she said. "Hold him. No one looks threatening when holding a baby."

James decided to keep quiet and when the doorbell rang, he did his best to seem non-threatening like Lenora asked him. She opened the door and invited Daniel to come inside. However, he hovered in the doorway, looking anxious. Finally, James got annoyed and handed Henry back to Lenora. "Come in, would you?" He asked impatiently. "Yes, you think I'm scary. I get it. But your father is a criminal! To act like you're somehow better than us, well that makes you a hypocrite, doesn't it?"

"James," Lenora said warningly. But he acted as if he didn't hear her. Finally, Daniel nodded and came inside. "Thanks," he said quietly. "Thanks for inviting me, Lenora."

Lenora gave James a dirty look, and, taking Daniel's arm, led him to the dining room.

"You know you have a cemetery next door, don't you?" He asked.

"No," James replied sarcastically. "When we bought the place, we completely missed it. What are you, stupid? Of course we know we have a cemetery next door!" He winced as Lenora kicked him.

"You'll have to excuse James," She said. "He's not very good with people."

"Makes sense," Daniel nodded, trying to be agreeable. "So, how long have you been here?"

"Less than a year," James responded. "A few months. Who knows?"

"And did I see a ship in the backyard, or was I imagining things?" Daniel continued.

As much as James didn't like the boy, or having him here, when he asked about the ship, James felt himself soften a little. "No, you weren't hallucinating," he replied. "It's out there for me, my little first mate Henry, and sometimes Lenora too. It's something like a playhouse."

"Oh, how nice," Daniel replied. "But this is a human neighborhood. Don't they question why you have a giant ship in your backyard?"

James nodded. "They did until Lenora asked me to put a cloaking spell on it. Now, the only people who can see it are witches and warlocks."

"Clever," Daniel replied in appreciation.

"Would you like me to show you the inside?" James asked eagerly. "I'd be glad to."

Daniel nodded and as they headed away from the table, Lenora gave James a smile. "Keep this up," she encouraged. "This is how you're supposed to act around company."

James took Daniel on a tour of the ship and then afterward, they came inside and had a cake Lenora had picked up from Selina's bakery. Daniel left in high spirits and promised to come back again some time.

"That went surprisingly well for having such a dubious start," Lenora said when she turned away from the closed front door. "It was fortunate that Daniel brought up the ship."

"I enjoyed showing it to him," James admitted. "And don't worry. I didn't show him our bedroom. But he saw everything else. And...I apologize for my part in making the beginning of the party so unpleasant."

"Why did you do that?" Lenora asked.

"Because I-I don't want to say I feel threatened by him because I don't," James replied. "But he knew you from before. He's kind of like your Aunt Lucy. One of those people who look at you and me and always think to themselves that you could have done better. I don't like having those sort of people around."

Lenora sighed and put her arms around him. "I understand," She nodded. "But...and I'll say this again and again if I have to: The purpose of bringing these people into our lives is not because I want them to convince me to leave. I want to show them that I made the right choice, even though they might not understand it, or think it's right. I do. And if they can't accept that, then I'll gladly get them out of my life, but I think it's fair to at least give them a chance to accept us before I throw them away. Don't you think that's fair?"

James nodded. "I guess," he said. "And I promise that for any future parties with those people, I will behave better because believe me, I think you made the right choice just as much as you do."

"I'm worried about Gregory," Selina told Elijah. "You know he's in love with Katherine, don't you?"

"If he is, I don't think there's anything to worry about," Elijah said to her. "At least not at this point. He's too young. Don't let your negative feelings about Katerina turn this into something bigger than it is."

"This has NOTHING to do with me!" Selina replied. "I couldn't care less about who Gregory has a crush on. It's his own life! The problem is that she upset him and broke his poor little heart and now he doesn't know what to do with himself. He still likes her, but he's keeping her at a distance."

"You know," Elijah told her. "I thought you'd be proud of him for that."

"Why?" Selina asked.

"Because he's not letting his feelings for her get in the way of his own self-worth," Elijah replied. "He's allowing himself to stay in control. I'm proud of him for that, anyway."

"Is it because you know what it feels like to surrender all your emotions to a girl and then have her crush your soul into tiny little pieces cause you let yourself get too emotional and lost control?" Selina asked.

Elijah narrowed his eyes at her. "Perhaps," he replied icily. "But you, of all people, have no room to mock me for that kind of behavior, Lonely Heart."

Selina sighed. "You're right," she replied. "I don't. I'm sorry."

Elijah nodded. "Thank you," he replied. He looked out the window. The rain from earlier in the day had cleared up and the sun was coming out. "What do you say we take the children outside?" He suggested. "Alistair's finished the girls' hair decorations and Tristan's button, so we can take them outside now and not have a thing to worry about."

They put the bows and button on the triplets and took them outside to play, but they hadn't been out long when they saw a bunch of girls coming toward the house.

"It's a little late in the year for cookies, isn't it?" Selina asked, standing up.

"Yes," Elijah nodded. He picked up Margaret in one arm and Tristan in the other. Selina grabbed Annaliese and they all headed to the front of the house where some of the girls had broken from the line to the front door to eagerly and openly peer in the widows. They were all giggling. "Who are all these girls?" Elijah asked Selina. "Do you know any of them?"

Selina looked them over. "Yeah, recognize them. They all go to school with Gregory."

"All of them?" Elijah asked in surprise. "In that case, every girl from his class must be here!"

Just then, the knob to the front door turned and all the girls, some clutching baked goods, tensed in anticipation. When the door opened to reveal a grumpy Laura, they all groaned in disappointment.

"My brother is busy," Laura told them. "Go away and he'll see you all at school tomorrow, all right?"

There were various shouts of "That's not fair!" and "We just want to look a few seconds," but Laura remained firm and finally the girls left.

"What was all that?" Elijah asked.

Laura rolled her eyes. "Don't ask. Gregory's being nice to all the girls at school, you know, helping them carry their books, bringing them flowers if they're sad, blah, blah, blah. So now they all really like him and I'm stuck being his social secretary." She huffed angrily. "I should probably go tell him he missed a bunch of his 'fans'."

She stomped off and Elijah and Selina went inside. After they put the triplets in their rooms, Selina and Elijah sat down in the living room to discuss what they'd just heard.

"Can you believe that Gregory's gotten such a following from all the little girls in his class?" Selina asked in surprise. "I can't believe it."

"Why not?" Elijah asked, looking proud. "He's clearly being very kind and considerate to these girls and they decided to show their appreciation. Given the way boys Gregory's age typically choose to behave, can you blame the girls for latching on to a gallant boy when they see one?"

"Did you not see how many girls were out there?" Selina asked. "Way too many! It's weird! Not to mention unhealthy to idolize someone that much."

"Are you worried that the attention will affect Gregory in a negative way?" Elijah asked. "Because I don't think you have to worry. From the way Laura sounded, Gregory knew that the girls were outside, yet he still chose his schoolwork over adoration from throngs of females. I would say he has his priorities straight."

Selina nodded. "There is that, but I don't know if the image of a bunch of girls trying to peer in our front windows just to have a look at Gregory will ever be wiped from my mind."

"I could do it for you," Elijah offered.

"I know you can," Selina replied. "But I think I'll stick it out. Thank you for offering, though."

Later that night, she went to knock on Gregory's door.

"Come in," he called. She went in and found him sitting on his bed, reading a book.

"Can we talk about the horde of girls that came to the house today?" Selina asked.

Gregory looked up at her and put his book down. "Oh, them. Don't worry about it. They just like me, that's all."

"Well, there was an awful lot of them," Selina replied, sitting next to him. "What do you do to inspire such adoration? Your father is proud of your 'gallant behavior' by the way."

Gregory shrugged. "I'm nice, that's all. And some of them seem to think I'm handsome too."

Selina smiled and ran her fingers through his dark hair. "Well, thanks to your father, you're certainly not bad-looking. Why didn't you come out and talk to them? It was clearly what they wanted."

Gregory shrugged. "I know that, but I can't be a hero all the time. I had lots of important school work to get done, so I decided to send Laura out instead to tell them all that I would see them tomorrow."

"Well, I admire your dedication to your schoolwork," Selina praised. "But don't turn your sister into your social secretary. It's not fair to her."

"What if I pay her money?" Gregory asked. "She probably won't object if I pay her money."

"A good idea, but where do you plan on getting the money to give her?" Selina asked. "Do you have any?"

"No," Gregory shook his head. "But you could give me some to give to her, right?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "Why don't we just do this the easy way and you stop making Laura be your social secretary. She's your sister, not your lackey and you have to respect that."

Gregory sighed. "Oh, all right," he replied. "The next time the girls come, I'll talk to them."

"And you can tell them to stay away from our house," Selina added. "Your father and I would appreciate that very much."

Gregory nodded. Selina left and he continued to read until his bedtime. After his parents turned off his light, he lay awake for a few minutes before pulling a small portrait of Katherine that he'd taken from his father's office out from underneath his pillow. "I'm sorry for what I did to you today," he said to it. "I know it wasn't nice, but you aren't either, and I shouldn't have to put up with that. I won't put up with it, even though I like you. I deserve better and I hope someday you'll feel like you can finally give me that. Until then, though, things will have to stay the way they are. Goodnight, Katherine." He looked at it for another long moment, put it back under his pillow, and fell asleep.