"Well, look who showed up?" Roxie remarked as her mother came into the bar, followed by Anna. "How are you two?"
"Why do you always act surprised when I show up?" Selina asked and sat down. "I love it here."
"But you know that Uncle Elijah doesn't," Roxie reminded her.
"True," Selina nodded. "Every full moon night, your uncle asks me if we're gonna go to 'that zoo that Roxanne runs'." She rolled her eyes. "You know, he'll only come here if your dad tricks him into it."
"I can't believe he's still critical of this place," Roxie huffed. "You would think that he'd give me credit for running my own successful business at least. Doesn't that mean something to him?"
"Oh, I'm sure it does," Selina assured her and Klaus' eldest daughter. "He's just not good with his feelings."
"Nope," Anna concurred. "He takes after our father that way. Kind of unfortunate, really."
"Oh, well," Roxie shrugged. "What can I get you two?"
"Give them that new drink I made up for you yesterday," Roxie's husband Vince encouraged her as he came from one of the storage rooms with full bottles of vodka and rum and put them on the shelves while Roxie turned for a moment to get a good view of the back of him like she always did when he was restocking the alcohol. "I think they'd like it. I thought it was brilliant and you know there aren't many regulars we can give it to."
"Okay, now I'm intrigued," Anna told her niece as Vince finished and Roxie turned back around to face them. "What is it?"
"It's called a bloody Shirley," Roxie explained. "A Shirley Temple with blood mixed in."
"So no alcohol?" Anna clarified. "I might have to take a pass on that. How about a Tequila Sunrise for me, please?"
"I'll give it a shot," Selina volunteered as Anna got her drink, abandoned her stool and headed for the pool room. "It's something your uncle would probably love me to have since it's got no alcohol and probably a measured level of blood, right?"
"Yep," Roxie nodded. "Exactly. That's one of the reasons why Vince made it up; He thought it would be good for you."
"How sweet of him," Selina smiled and took the drink Roxie offered her, then took a long pull and grinned with satisfaction. "You know that is not bad at all."
"Yeah, I know," Roxie agreed. "I didn't think so either."
Selina took another drink and said, "Have you heard from Sam lately? Has he called you and said anything about wanting to come and play here for a few days or so? Cause I haven't heard anything from him and when I don't, it makes me nervous." Sam was her and Damon's younger son, and as he was a chance for her to finish what she'd not gotten to in her human life (being a mother to a Salvatore son) she had a special spot in her heart for him, even though she was no longer with his father.
"Well, I haven't heard from Sam specifically, but I've heard from Addie, and based on what Addie's told me, I know why you probably haven't heard from Sam," Roxie explained. "Apparently, the two of them have decided to go their separate ways."
"Oh, no!" Selina sighed. "What caused it? Sam seems to have gotten his father's charm. I hope there was no wandering eye happening."
"No, I don't think it was anything like that," Roxie assured her. "I think they just grew apart."
"Well, that happens," Selina mused. "But I have no doubt he'll get right back on the horse and so will Addison."
"Oh, I have no doubt," Roxie agreed. "Joey and Diana are already trying to set her up with one of their werewolf friends. Apparently they were never too fond of her relationship with Sam in the first place."
"Good," Selina nodded. "But what's wrong with Sam? What have they got against him?"
"Well, I think Joey never quite got over the idea that he would break Addie's heart someday, so he always was a bit suspicious," Roxie replied. "Sammy's reputation with the ladies precedes him." Roxie smiled at how committed her twins were to each other.
Selina grinned and nodded at this. "But that's to be expected when you remember who his dad is. But Sammy's more like my uncle Andrew overall: a bit of a rake, but when he decides to commit to someone, he really does commit. And Damon would have too, if things hadn't gotten screwed up."
"You think?" Roxie asked.
"Well, of course!" Selina nodded. "But then I wouldn't have met your dad or your uncle, so things worked out for the best, I think. And the same can be said of Sam and Addie and wherever they choose to go from here."
"That will be interesting to see," Roxie said. "I can't wait. Oh, and Sam comes to sing in a few days. You gonna be here?"
"Yeah," Selina smiled. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"How're you doing?" Percy asked Leslie one afternoon a few days later. "Does it feel good to finally take a breath after all you've been through?"
"Oh, definitely," Leslie agreed. "Nice to have a roof over my head and clean sheets." She looked around. "This is a surprisingly nice house. Not as big as the one I grew up in, but not small, either."
"Yeah," Percy agreed. "It's a nice home." He then excused himself to go answer the door, and Leslie followed him, watching as Stephanie strode in. "Hey!" She greeted. "Are you Percy's new sister? He's talked about having a new sister."
"Yep," Leslie nodded and pushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face. "That's me."
"It sounds like you've been through a lot," Stephanie told her. "You wanna go have a drink or something?"
"What sort of a place would serve someone our age?" Leslie questioned. "The second we get carded for most places, they'd throw us out."
"My sister/cousin has a place," Stephanie told her. "Very loose alcohol policy. Lots of fun. Wanna go?"
"Sure, why not?" Leslie replied, curious about how Stephanie had termed her relationship to the bar owner, but feeling it would be presumptuous to ask for an explanation when she'd only just met Stephanie. "Let's go." She looked at Percy. "You coming too?"
"Yeah," Percy nodded. "Why not?"
"It's about time you let me take you here again," Adrian told Kai as they headed into Roxie's. "I thought you would be so busy being a slave to that one guy that I'd never see you."
"Oh, I did him a favor, so he lengthened the leash a bit and let me have some time to myself," Kai told him. "It won't happen all the time, but on occasion."
"Hey, Champ," Adrian yelled at his sister and pounded on the bar. "Couple of beers for me and my friend, please?"
"Coming right up," Roxie told him, her blue eyes bright. "Although if you wouldn't have said 'Please', I wouldn't have given them to you until you had."
"To us," Adrian said as he and Kai clinked bottles.
"And to my impending fatherhood," Kai added. "Whenever Vicky and I find the time to make our next baby, that is." He paused. "And I need you to assure me right now that you won't fall in love with that kid."
"I can't make any promises," Adrian replied jokingly. "But I'm pretty sure Molly is it for me."
"Good," Kai nodded. "Then I won't have to beat the crap out of you."
It was then that the entertainment began for the day, the audience erupting in cheers as Sam Salvatore strode onto the stage, wincing and blushing when he realized that, as usual, the loudest cheers were coming from his mother.
"Thanks for the encouragement, Mom," he told Selina. "But you can relax now, all right?"
"Okay," Selina replied, but she was still grinning broadly. "Sorry, sweetie!"
Leslie and the others arrived just in time to hear the exchange between mother and son and she chuckled to herself. How embarrassing. She was glad she wasn't in his place.
When his set was over, she'd left her stool at the bar to go to the bathroom, and when she returned, she found him sitting in her seat and drinking her drink. "Hey!" She cried and tried to snatch it away. "That's mine! Give it back!"
He looked her over. "You can't be more than eighteen, can you? You shouldn't be drinking. I'm doing you a favor, princess. And while we're talking, what's a nice girl like you doing in a bar like this?"
"Oh, spare me your lines," she told him and gave him a push that sent him tumbling from his bar stool. She used her magic to whisk the drink away from him so that the glass wouldn't break when he hit the floor, and by the time he got to his feet, she was happily drinking it again, only pausing as he brushed off his bare knees to say, "You gonna go have your mommy kiss your boo-boo now? It'll be easy for her in those ratty, awful jeans you're wearing. Can't you afford anything better than that?"
"Oh, I could," he assured her. "I just like dressing like this better." He then reached out and ripped the long sleeves off her shirt so her arms were exposed. "You know, ripped clothes don't look so bad on you either," He complimented, a wicked grin on his lips and his blue eyes sparkling.
"Okay, okay you two," Roxie broke in before Leslie could spit out a scathing retort. "Let's be nice, shall we?"
"He started it," Leslie pointed out. "Would you tell him that he shouldn't be stealing people's drinks or destroying their clothes?"
"I think you just did," Roxie replied as Leslie tried to ignore everyone staring. "I don't think I need to."
"You know, I think I'll dedicate my next song to you," Sam told her. "I guess I was unnecessarily harsh."
"Well, thank you for admitting that," Leslie told him. "It's very big of you."
"It's my pleasure," Sam smiled. "I can't wait to see the look on your face."
He went back to the stage and then said to the crowd, "All right, we're gonna start out the second part of the set with something a little different. It's not something we've ever rehearsed, but I'm feeling inspired." He turned to look at the band. "So you guys can take five, all right?"
After the band retired, he began singing an acapella version of "Rich Girl" by Hall and Oates, but mid-song, a very pissed off Leslie strode up to him, snatched the microphone away, and began her own (somewhat tone deaf) version of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain." They kept singing the different songs at the same time, louder and louder, until they finally both ended at the same time and the room burst into applause while Sam and Leslie looked on in stunned silence. They'd been so worked up with each other that they'd completely forgotten about the audience.
"What just happened?" Sam asked as he and Leslie approached a very amused Roxie.
"Yeah," Leslie added as Stephanie and Percy came toward her. "What happened?"
"I think you two are a hit," Roxie smiled. "Can you both come and sing again tomorrow?"
