Lucy was surprised to see James standing on the other side of her and Damon's front door. "Yes?" She inquired. "Can I help you with something?"

"I have a question to ask you," James told her. "May I come in?"

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

They went inside to sit down and when they were both comfortable, Lucy asked, "What's on your mind?"

"When's Lenora's birthday?" James asked. "It has to be soon, doesn't it?"

"It is," Lucy nodded. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I want to give her a birthday party," James replied. "And not just a birthday party. A surprise party."

"Wonderful idea!" Lucy complimented, feeling very impressed. "I have some friends at a country club who-"

"If you don't mind," James interrupted, "I'd like to plan it myself. I only came to ask you what day it needs to be planned by. You and Damon are invited of course. If you feel coming to our humble abode won't be too much for your fragile sensibilities."

"I'll come!" Lucy replied, feeling offended. "I'm not a snob!"

"I never said you were," James replied.

"Yes, you did!" Lucy shot back. Before James could reply, his phone rang. He was still getting used to having it, but Lenora had insisted so she could get a hold of him easier. He pressed the button and shouted into the phone. "Hi!" He cried. "Lenora, what do you want?"

"I want you to stop shouting," Lenora replied. "I told you, this phone is no different than the one we have at home. You can use a normal voice."

"Oh," James replied. "Sorry." He put the phone to his ear. "I'm just out and about," he told her. "Do you need me to rush home?"

"No," Lenora replied. "You do what you need to and I'll be at home waiting for you."

James turned his phone off just as Damon and Sam came in the room. "Jimmy!" Damon cried. "Great to see you! What brings you here?"

"I came to ask when Lenora's birthday is," James told him. "I want to throw Lenora a surprise party."

"Do you?" Damon asked. "Sounds great."

James nodded. "I hope it will be," he replied. "So just when is it? The date of her birthday, I mean?"

"It's in a week," Lucy replied. "Are you sure that will be enough time for you to plan?"

"It should be," James replied. "It might not be enough time for me to plan something of your standards, but I'll have no problem meeting mine or Lenora's. Thanks for your help." He left and Lucy looked at Damon. "Not a nice guy, is he?"

Damon shrugged. "I think he's okay. Why don't you like him? Because he's taking Lenora away? We talked about that, remember?"

"No, it's not that!" Lucy yelled. "I've accepted the fact that Lenora is with him, all right? I can deal with it. But where does that leave me?"

"What do you mean?" Damon asked.

Lucy sighed. "I mean, look at my siblings: Roxie and Adrian are so much more fun than me. And Dad, and Mom. I'm just the boring, serious one who doesn't know how to have fun, which means I'm not gonna fit in and I'm gonna end up all alone!"

"Don't be silly!" Damon replied. "That's what you've got me for! James said we're both invited. "We'll go in a week and all you'll have to do is follow my lead."

"I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you by being at your house for so long today," Lenora apologized a week later. "I know you probably had other things you would have much rather done without me underfoot."

"Don't be silly," Lucy told her. "Today is your birthday and we wanted to celebrate it with you. You being at our house was not a problem."

They drove up the driveway of James and Lenora's house and Lucy let out a shriek. "There is a damn huge pirate ship in your yard!"

"Oh," Lenora replied, looking sheepish. "Yeah, I told James he could take the cloaking spell off it just for today."

They all got out of the car and Lucy kept looking up at the pirate ship in shock. Damon had to keep hold of her so that she wouldn't bump into anything. They reached the boat (which was festively decorated for Lenora's birthday) and went inside. It was very dark and when they reached one of the rooms, the lights suddenly went on and James, Max and Daniel yelled
"Surprise!" Henry would've if he could, but all he could do was dribble.

"Wait!" Lenora said in amazement. "Is this a surprise party for me?"

"Yes," James replied. Then he looked uncertain. "Do you like it? I know there aren't very many people, but-" Lenora cut him off as she ran to him and kissed him hard. "Thank you!" She exclaimed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Then she took Henry from Max. Henry was wearing a party hat, but didn't seem to be enjoying the experience much and after Lenora took it off him, he seemed much happier.

"So, what do we want to start with?" Lucy asked. "Cake, or presents?"

"I think you should start with a drink," James replied. "Come on, what will you have?"

"I don't know," Lucy said. "I've not drunk much before. You don't have lemonade, do you?"

"No," James replied. "Nothing like that."

"Oh, come on," Lenora told James. "If she doesn't want to drink, she shouldn't have to drink." Then, Damon whispered in Lucy's ear. "This is exactly how you can start fitting in," he remarked.

"By giving in to peer pressure?" Lucy asked. "Come on, I'm smarter than that!"

"It's not peer pressure if you're old enough to drink and you are!" Damon replied. "And even your wonderful uncle Elijah has a drink every once in awhile. It's not a bad thing."

Lucy sighed. "Fine," she said. "Give me whatever you've got."

James poured her a large glass of rum, and then watched her eagerly to see her reaction. He thought she was gonna hate it at first, but she took a liking to it and quickly downed the glass, asking for another.

After James poured it, Lenora took him into a corner. "What are you doing? Why are you getting my Aunt Lucy drunk?"

James sighed. "Come on, darling!" He said. "It's a party! People drink at parties. And that includes you. It probably wouldn't hurt you to have a little."

"Technically I'm not old enough," Lenora pointed out.

"You've had a kid, you and I are living together, you're old enough," James said. "Come on, just a little one now, please? Just think of the games we'll be able to play! I'll be the dashing pirate and you can be my saucy wench-"

"Not in front of Aunt Lucy, I hope," Lenora replied. "You know how sensitive she is to stuff like that."

"Something tells me that after another mug or two of rum, she's not gonna mind so much," James replied. "Max is watching Henry so we can have all the fun we want and not worry about a thing!"

"Did you give Max time to have fun too?" Lenora asked. "Having him do all the work while we have all the fun is really not fair to him."

"Don't worry," James assured her. "He'll have his fun."

They got the cake and when they went back into the main room, they found Daniel sitting awkwardly by himself while Damon and Lucy made out in a corner.

"Well, well, well," James smiled appreciatively. "Nice to see your aunt finally enjoying herself. What do you say we follow her lead?"

"Not until I have cake," Lenora replied. They had a few drinks themselves and then James called Max to bring the cake out.

"You want me to get silverware too?" Max asked when he plunked the cake down on the table.

"No, thank you," James replied. "We'll manage."

Looking doubtful, Max left and then Lenora looked at James. "How are we supposed to eat cake without silverware?"

"I would think it would be quite easy," James replied, grabbing hunk of cake off the side and shoving it into Lenora's face. "See?" He asked, laughing. "I told you. Easy." Her eyes narrowed and her face covered in cake, Lenora grabbed another chunk and smeared it all over James. They continued this for a little while longer before James decided to pitch some cake in Lucy and Damon's and Daniel's directions. Lucky for him, it was a large cake.

When the piece hit Damon on the side of the face, he immediately broke away from a half-dressed Lucy and began throwing cake back too. Lucy and Daniel joined him and pretty soon, everything and everyone was covered in cake.

"Damn!" James remarked when he looked around the room. "We forgot about the candles!" Lenora picked a candle up. "Wanna light it?" She asked. James clumsily lit the match and then lit the candle. Lenora handed it to him. He held it as steady as he could, then she leaned forward and blew it out. Afterward, she fell upon him and then they made out under the cake table, undressing each other and advancing to sex soon after.

The next morning, James swore as he sat up and hit his head on the underside of the cake table. "Damn!" He sucked in his breath. "That was so-" He tried to finish his thought but got distracted when he noticed Lenora's naked body next to him. She was a beautiful girl. There was no doubt about that.

Just then, she stirred, her eyes opening. "Oh, god!" She groaned. "My head hurts."

"It's called a hangover, dear," he said, grinning. "It happens when you drink."

"You knew this was gonna happen to me and you let me drink so much anyway?" Lenora asked grumpily. "What kind of a man are you? If my head didn't hurt so much, I'd hit your stupid face!" She winced.

James just kissed her. "I'm the kind of man who wants you to have fun on your birthday," he told her. "And you had fun. I know you did. Admit it."

"All right," Lenora nodded. "I had fun. You did a good job."

"And how about after everyone leaves, you and I have more fun?" He asked with a wink.

"All right," Lenora nodded. "But I'm not drinking for that. You'll have no choice but to deal with a sober saucy wench!"

James shrugged as he and Lenora got out from under the table. "That doesn't bother me," he replied. "I'll take you either way."

"All right," Lenora nodded, grabbing a shirt from under the table and putting it over herself. "But first we have to clean this room. It's a mess."

"Don't think of it as a mess!" James told her. "Think of it as the sign of a good time."

Lenora rolled her eyes and cleaned the room just as Damon and Lucy woke up.

"Oh, god," Lucy replied. "Never again!"

"Why not?" Damon asked. "You seemed like you were having a good time!"

"Well, all right," Lucy amended. "Maybe I'll do it again. But not for a very long time." She looked at Lenora. "Are you hungover too?"

Lenora put a hand to her head. "Would you be mad at me if I said 'Yes'?"

"No," Lucy shook her head. "All that matters is that you enjoyed your birthday."

"I did," Lenora nodded. "But if this is how I'll be celebrating all my birthdays, I have to say I'm glad the next one won't be for a year. I'll need that long to recover." She got dressed, said goodbye ti everyone, and then she and James opened her presents.

Felicity came into the kitchen crying.

"What's the matter, pet?" Klaus asked. "Why are you crying?"

"Cause I can't do magic anymore!" Felicity sobbed. "Ever since Uncle Stefan went away, I can't do it!"

"I'm sure there's a reason for it," Klaus told her. "We'll just call Alistair and have him take a look at you."

Alistair appeared half an hour later.

"So what's the problem?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "I just can't do magic. See?" She tried to make one of the cups from her tea set rise in the air a few times, but nothing happened. Then she tried a few other simple bits of magic with the same result.

"Am I broken, Daddy Alistair?" She asked, her voice full of worry.

"Well," Alistair replied, "Sometimes, if a witch or warlock is really upset about something, it stops their powers. Are you upset about something?"

"Yes!" Felicity cried with feeling. "Uncle Stefan left and that made me sad!"

"Well, that explains why your powers are out. You're not broken. You just need to start thinking about happy things and your powers will come back."

"Okay," Felicity nodded. "I'll try." She hugged him. "Thank you, Daddy Alistair."

"You're welcome," Alistair replied. He let her go and then left. Felicity tried to focus on pleasant things, like chocolate cake and the funny look her uncle Stefan had had when he fell in the hole in the woods. Then she tried to raise the teacup again. Nothing.

Klaus watched her and sensed more frustration was going to show itself, so he tried to head it off.

"How about we get out of the house for awhile?" He suggested. "I'll take you somewhere very fun. It's called Enid's and there will be lots of people there that you'll like. How about it?"

Felicity sighed. "I don't think it will work, but okay."

Klaus gave her a smile and the two of them drove to Enid's. They sat down at a table and Enid approached them. "Well, well," she said. "Look who finally decided to show his face. I was beginning to think you hated us or something."

"No, of course I don't hate you!" Klaus said. He gestured at Felicity. "This is the reason I haven't come by lately. Felicity, this is Enid. Enid, this is Felicity."

"Hi." Felicity waved half-heartedly and didn't meet Enid's eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" Enid asked.

"I miss my Uncle Stefan!" She burst out. "I made him mad and he left and he won't come back!"

"Theirs is a complicated relationship, Enid," Klaus added, running his fingers through Felicity's hair as she buried her face in his arm.

"I see," Enid replied. "Just how complicated?"

"I think that if she was a little older, it might improve things between them," Klaus replied. "Could you make them the same age? Just for a little bit, anyway? She's having trouble with her magic and Alistair thinks it's because she's upset. And getting along with Stefan might make her feel better."

"I suppose that could work," Enid replied. "And it wouldn't even have to be permanent. How many years would I have to add to her age so that she and Stefan are the same?"

"I don't know," Klaus shrugged. "Maybe ten years."

"How old are you now, sweetie?" Enid asked.

"I'm seven," Felicity told her, putting seven fingers up.

"All right," Enid nodded. "Do you want me to make you the same age as your uncle Stefan?"

"Will it be forever?" Felicity asked.

"No," Enid shook her head. "Not forever. Just long enough for you two to be friends again."

"I just realized something," Klaus said. "What if she's pretty when she's seventeen years old and Stefan falls in love with her or something? I'm beginning to detest this idea."

"Okay, here's what we'll do," Enid told him. "We'll make her older, but if she and Stefan kiss, she'll turn back immediately and be seven again. Will that be all right?"

"Yes," Klaus nodded. "I suppose that would be good enough."

Stefan wasn't faring much better than Felicity, although he kept trying to convince himself he was fine. No one believed him, though. Not even himself.

"So," Damon said when they were at a bar one day. "Sam told me you're moping. Why? It can't be because of Anna. I thought you would have made peace with that by now."

Stefan nodded. "I have. Can we just let this go, please?"

"Is it another girl?" Damon pressed. "I've wondered what made you suddenly decide to leave Klaus' and come back to live with me."

"I left because I needed my space," Stefan replied. "That brat granddaughter of his was becoming too much for me to deal with."

A grin curved Damon's lips. "Granddaughter? You mean that little girl you were with at the playground? The cute blonde one?"

"Yeah, her." Stefan nodded. "And she's not cute. She's a little menace."

Damon smirked. "If only she were ten years older, she'd be perfect for you. Hey!" His eyes suddenly lit up. "You know, I see Lenora pretty much every week now. I could ask her to put the same spell on Felicity that she put on Lucy so you won't have to wait ten years."

"No!" Stefan replied quickly, his eyes wide. "Damn it, Damon! If there's anything I don't need in my life right now, it's Felicity with a chest, all right?"

"Fine," Damon replied. "But I do think you like her."

"How many drinks have you had?" Stefan asked. "I think you've had too many."

"I've had fewer than you," Damon replied. "So, what are you gonna do?"

"What am I gonna do about what?" Stefan asked testily.

"This crush on Felicity," Damon said.

"For the last time," Stefan replied, trying to keep hold of his temper. "I don't have a crush on Felicity, all right? I'm gonna go now. Goodbye."

He left, and just as he got out of the bar, his phone beeped. He looked at the message and groaned. It was from Felicity, who had somehow gotten her hands on Klaus' phone. "I'm sad," it said. "Please come back." Stefan shut his eyes tight, deleted the message, and continued on his way. He wasn't sure where he wanted to go, but he knew that going back to Damon and Lucy's was out of the question. He knew that if he went back, he'd have to face more interrogation about Felicity and he just didn't want to deal with that. He needed a woman. He didn't care who it was, just someone who he could talk to, at the very least, and if she ended up in bed with him afterward, so much the better.

But the streets seemed devoid of people and finally he decided that the best thing to do (even though he hated the idea) was to go back to Klaus'. He was just down the street from the house when someone bumped into him and sent him sprawling face first on the pavement.

"Oh, god!" She cried. "I'm so sorry! Sometimes I just completely lose track of things and don't look where I'm going."

"It's all right," Stefan replied, getting up. "I'm not hurt." He got to his feet and found himself face to face with a cute blonde who had big blue eyes. This was Felicity under the influence of the spell she'd gotten from Enid, but Stefan wasn't supposed to know that. She smiled shyly. "Sorry again," she replied.

"Oh, it's all right," Stefan assured her. "I've never minded running into a pretty girl before."

Felicity grinned. "You think I'm pretty? You're so nice! No one but my father's ever told me that before."

Stefan grinned. "Well, that's their loss." He looked around. She seemed to be all by herself.

"What are you doing out here all alone?" He asked.

"Oh, um, well," Felicity stammered. "I was just going out for a walk, but I'm almost done now."

"Really?" Stefan asked. "I could take you with me if you want. The place where I'm going is nearby too."

"Is it really?" Felicity asked, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah," Stefan nodded. He gave her the address. "It's a nice place, really."

Felicity sighed. "I know this might seem like a strange question since, you know, we just met and all, but do you think your friend would be willing to take me in for a bit?" She asked. "The place where I normally stay is...being fumigated for bugs and I can't go back there for awhile."

"Sure," Stefan nodded. "I'll see what I can do for you." He led Felicity up to Klaus' front door, and knocked three times. Klaus opened the door. "Stefan!" He said. "You came back!"

"Yeah, well, Damon and Lucy were getting to be a little too much so I figure between them and Felicity, she's the lesser evil. So would you mind taking me in again? And my friend here?"

Felicity and Klaus' eyes met and they both tried not to laugh. Unlike Stefan, Klaus was fully aware who the girl next to him really was. "All right," Klaus told Stefan. "I guess she can stay since Felicity's...out for awhile."

"What?" Stefan asked in surprise. "She's gone? Where did she go?"

"I thought that wouldn't matter to you," Klaus replied slyly. "I thought all she did was make you irritated."

"Well, yeah, she does!" Stefan answered. "But-sorry," he told Felicity, who was looking very intrigued. "We're talking about his...daughter. She and I have a very complicated relationship."

Felicity grinned. "You don't say," she replied.

"How about you two come inside, then?" Klaus asked. "What do you say?"

Much to Felicity's surprise, Stefan held his hand out to her after he made his way up the three steep front steps. "Need some help?" He asked her.

She nodded and put her hand in his. "Thank you," she said. "What a nice thing for you to do." Stefan put his arm around her and they went inside the house, the front door closing and locking behind them.