"So, have you found the person who'll help me the way Amy helped you?" Kol asked Margot.
"No, and I've been looking," Margot replied.
"Well, keep going," Kol replied. "Cause, not to worry you, but I think I really need that pep talk."
"I know you do," Margot replied. "Just be patient."
Finally, Margot decided to talk to Amy and see if she knew anyone who could help Kol.
"So," Amy said. "The person you need is a guy who became a father suddenly when he never thought he'd be fit to be one," Amy said. Kol nodded.
"I might have someone for you," Amy told him.
"You do?" Kol asked. "Who is it?"
"One of Klaus' grandsons in law," Amy said. "His name is James and he was once one of the most notorious warlocks alive, but family living has changed him a little."
"It has?" Kol asked, feeling his stomach drop. "Just how much?"
"Don't be so worried," Amy told him. "I think that once you meet James, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how things could turn out for you."
"Are you kidding?" Lenora asked Amy. "No! I don't want Kol in my house! He tried to kill me just so he could keep sleeping with my mom!"
"I'm aware of that," Amy replied. "But he's changed now. He and Margot are expecting a kid."
Lenora scoffed. "Well, I feel sorry for the kid, I really do. But that doesn't mean I have to help."
"You don't have to," Amy replied. "I was thinking James could have a talk with him. I mean, Henry was sudden, wasn't he? And James wasn't really the type to deal with children easily when Henry was born?"
"Yeah," Lenora asked bitterly. "So what?"
"So I think that Kol is in the same position and that he would really benefit from hearing what James went through," Amy replied patiently. "You don't have to have any part of it. Where is James, by the way? Not that it hasn't been delightful talking to you."
It was then, to Amy's surprise, that Lenora reached out and slapped her. That resulted in a shouting match until James came out and stood between them. "What is going on between you two ladies?" He asked. "I can barely hear myself think with all this yelling!"
"She wants us to invite my uncle Kol, a man who tried to kill me, into this house so you can talk to him about being a parent because he's allegedly become a better person," Lenora replied.
"Well why does he need to come so badly?" James asked Amy.
"I was thinking that maybe you could talk to him," Amy replied. "He and my sister Margot are dealing with a surprise pregnancy right now, and I thought you could tell him how you dealt with Henry showing up unexpectedly. It could help him."
"All right," James replied. "I'll give it a try." He glanced apologetically at Lenora, who seemed livid. "But we won't be able to meet here. Can we set up our meeting some place else?"
Amy nodded. "I figured that would be the case," she said. "Kol is waiting for you at his house."
"All right," James replied. "Let's go."
Kol was sitting in the dark in the living room. Margot was in bed sleeping, but just prior to that, a huge burst of power from her had short-circuited the entire house. Amy had called his cell phone earlier to say she was bringing his pep talk by, and he wished that she could fix the electricity too, but unfortunately, magic couldn't do that. He'd have to get an electrician soon if the power didn't come back on its own. He heard a knock on the door, then Amy called out, so that when she opened the door with her key a few seconds later, he would know it was her and wouldn't be alarmed. She came in and nearly tripped in the darkness.
"Why is it so dark in here, Kol?" Amy called. "And where the heck are you?"
"Sorry about the power," Kol called back. "Everything short-circuited and I have no idea why. It's been like this for hours."
Suddenly, a beam of light blossomed from a flashlight Amy had conjured up. "Better?" She asked.
"Better," Kol agreed. "I think I know why you're here. Or at least I hope I do."
"I think you do know," Amy replied. "Although, I don't think having your talk here would be the best place. I can take you to my house instead."
"I don't know," Kol replied. "Margot's asleep and I really don't want to leave her alone."
"I'll stay with her," Amy volunteered. "You and James here just go and talk."
"All right," Kol shrugged. Then, Amy zapped the pair of them to her and Klaus', and Kol squinted for a bit as his eyes adjusted to the sudden amount of light after all the time in the darkness. Then, he looked at James. "Have we met?"
"I'm not sure," James replied. "But I've heard enough from my wife about the time you tried to kill her so you could be with her mother."
"And your wife is...?" Kol asked, feeling clueless.
"Lenora," James replied. "She's really your niece, I think."
"Oh," Kol nodded. "That."
"But I'm not here to yell at you," James told him. "Even if Lenora really wants me to. Amy said you're gonna be a parent soon, and that it was a bit unexpected?"
"That's putting it mildly," Kol nodded. "Margot even wanted to abort our potential child, and we're still thinking about the changes to our lifestyles that will have to be made if we're gonna be raising a child full time."
"When Lenora had Henry, our son," James said, "She was sixteen, and the last time I'd dealt with children was when I was a child in Ireland and I was helping my parents raise my truckload of siblings."
"What about after that?" Kol asked. "What did you do between when you were a boy and when you met Lenora?"
"I drank," James replied. "I gambled, I spent several years on the high seas as a pirate. I murdered my unfaithful wife. I definitely was not parent material. And when Henry came along, I was nervous, but I stuck to what I knew. I got him a boat, I played with him in the boat, taught him what I knew about being a pirate (aside from the murdering and the pillaging. His mother wouldn't have stood for me teaching him that.) And it got easier. I wasn't trying too hard, or trying to be perfect. I was just teaching what I knew best (leaving some things out, of course) and it all fell into place."
"Margot and I are partiers too," Kol replied. "We spent most of our nights before this having drinking contests, going to dance clubs, and having sex. And we just...we don't know if that will be able to translate into any good parenting on our part. I mean, we sort of know we can do it because we watch Klaus and Amy's daughter Savannah quite a bit, and no harm has come to her in our care, ever. But it's one thing to watch a kid for a couple of hours and then give them back to their parents, and something else entirely when they're yours, you know?"
"Well, what do you do when you babysit Savannah?" James asked.
Kol shrugged. "Just play games and stuff, mostly."
"Well, it sounds like you already know a thing or two about raising a child," James replied. "Even if your time with Savannah isn't permanent. When you have a child of your own, just pretend like you're babysitting them every day, instead of thinking that you have this child whose life you'll ruin if you do something wrong. And do what you know, as long as it's not gonna harm the child. It'll be less stressful for you that way."
"And that plan of attack seriously worked for you?" Kol asked, skeptical that it could really be that simple.
"Yeah, it worked for us," James replied. "I mean, some might say Henry is a bit rough around the edges, but I think that considering our circumstances, he's doing pretty well."
"Really?" Kol asked. "You don't suppose I could meet him sometime?"
"Sure," James shrugged. "But when you meet him, he probably won't be alone. He has a fascination with his aunt Margaret and the two of them don't like to be separated from each other."
"His aunt Margaret?" Kol repeated.
"Yes," James replied. "The daughter of Lenora's grandmother and her husband, Elijah. Your brother, I suppose he is."
"Wow," Kol replied. "So when I meet Henry, I'll actually be meeting two members of the family I've never met before. Great." He paused. "And thanks for the chat," he said to James. "It actually...it actually did help me."
"Well, good," James nodded. "I hoped it would. "Good luck, Kol."
Kol nodded, and then James disappeared, leaving him alone with his thoughts about impending parenthood, only now, they were much more hopeful.
When Kol came into his and Margot's bedroom that night (after the power finally came on again), he was surprised to find her skimpily dressed and trying to be seductive, despite the fact that she obviously didn't look well.
"You don't have to do this, you know," he told her as she began doing a sexy dance for him. "I understand that you're not feeling well, and I can wait."
"No, you can't," Margot replied, taking hold of him. "You don't have to lie to spare my feelings."
Despite Kol's reservations, they ended up in bed anyway, pulling off each other's clothes, kissing every inch of each other's bodies, and ending with Kol pushing into Margot several times until they were both worn out.
"Are you all right?" Kol asked as Margot panted and pushed her sweaty hair out of her eyes. Then, there was an alarming noise, and suddenly, the roof over their heads seemed to explode for no reason, allowing the rain outside to spatter through the hole and soak them both.
"Can you fix that?" Kol asked as they clung to each other, shivering. He'd pulled her out of a falling piece of roof's way just in time.
"Yeah," Margot nodded. "Just a minute." She sat up and tried to fix the hole in the roof, but no matter what she did, it wouldn't fix.
"Damn!" She cried and began sobbing after several tries with no luck. "What are we gonna do? Everything is all wet!"
"It's all right," Kol replied, holding on to her and running his fingers through her hair that was rapidly becoming soaking wet. "We'll get the roof fixed and everything dried off. I promise."
"You will?" Margot asked.
"Yes," Kol nodded. "I will. Now why don't you go sleep in another room and I'll call Amy tomorrow and see if we can't get this fixed up."
"And we need to see why my powers aren't working," Margot added.
"Yeah," Kol nodded. "We'll figure that out too." She went to settle herself in another room and after doing the best he could to fix the hole in the roof, he joined her.
"I know why the roof fell in," Margot told him. "All the energy I had circulating around from when you and I had sex, it weakened the roof and made it broken."
"Well, maybe that means, as much as it pains me to suggest this," Kol said, "that we should delay sex until we see someone who can help you get things under control."
"Really?" Margot asked. "You seriously think that's a good idea?"
"Well, no," Kol replied. "But our roof is already broken. Who knows what else our sex could destroy in the future?"
"I'm sorry to have to do this to you," Margot apologized. "Really. First, I screw up the electricity, then I break the roof."
"It's all right," Kol said, putting his arms around her. "At least we know it won't be like this forever."
"I hope not," Margot replied, cuddling against him. "Cause that would really suck."