"This is gonna seem like a weird question and feel free to say 'no'," Laura told Katherine. "But…you wanna go out for drinks or something after work?"

"What?" Katherine asked. "Did you just say you wanted to spend more time with me outside of work…voluntarily?"

Laura shrugged. "Nothing that will take a long time," she said. "I'm not saying we need to go out and have a ten course meal, but if our husbands can get along, and our kids can get along, don't you think we should try a little?"

"Possibly," Katherine replied. "Will you be paying?"

"Sure," Laura replied. "Of course I will."

"Okay, then," Katherine agreed. "When you wanna go, just tell me."

They decided to head out after the last customer left around five-thirty. They had a minor disagreement over whose car they would take until a flip of a coin led to victory for Katherine. She drove while Laura sat in the passenger's seat and tried to think of something to say to engage Katherine in conversation. She couldn't think of anything, however, and the next time they talked was when they reached the bar.

"Let's take a seat at the bar," Katherine suggested. "It shows me off to my best advantage."

"Why would you want to be shown off to your best advantage?" Laura asked. "It's not like you need to be picked up by anyone!"

"Well, of course!" Katherine nodded. "But if some men feel overcome by my beauty anyway and are compelled to buy me a drink, that's not a crime, is it? You should do the same thing."

"Why would I need to?" Laura asked. "I have money. I can pay for my own drinks."

Katherine sighed. "And I had such high hopes for you. At least try it once. Edward's not gonna mind. A drink is not a date."

"It's leading someone on when you have no intention of following up!" Laura replied.

"Oh, no it's not," Katherine hitched her skirt up to show a bit of thigh and within seconds, a couple of men had come to the bar and were fighting each other to get close to her. "Can we get you a drink?" One of them finally asked.

"Sure," Katherine winked. "As long as it's strong."

Laura watched this exchange with some trepidation, and despite Katherine's urging to let guys buy her drinks so she wouldn't be unnecessarily wasting her money, Laura ended up buying her own vodka and cranberry juices while Katherine just clicked her tongue. "It's such a shame," she said as they headed out.

"I know, I know," Laura replied. "You wanted me to have other guys buy me drinks. I get it. But I just can't do that. It feels wrong."

"Oh, dear god," Katherine rolled her eyes as she got behind the wheel. "Here come your daddy's morals popping up at the most inconvenient time. Why can't you be more like your mom?"

"You think my mom would just let strange men buy her drinks even though she's married?" Laura asked in surprise. "I don't know about that. I mean, you don't know my mother very well. She wouldn't do that cause she knows Daddy wouldn't like it so much."

"I know that there were multiple points in time where she had both your dad and your uncle under her thumb at the same time," Katherine replied. "Sure, she didn't use that to her advantage the way I did, but still…you can't say she's completely moral when it comes to her men."

"Maybe," Laura nodded. "But the only reason why she's like that is cause you stole her fiancé and left her all alone."

"I didn't steal anything that didn't want to be stolen," Katherine corrected. "Perhaps in her human days, your mother wasn't as attractive as she thought. At least not to a guy like her fiancé. Guys with hero complexes like your dad, sure. Guys who just wanna go out and have a good time? Not so much. At least not anymore. When she was Lonely Heart, I would have idolized her, though."

"What do you want to do now?" Laura asked, eager to change the subject to something that wasn't unwarranted criticism of her mother. "Have we had enough fun for one night? Would you like to head home?"

"Do you?" Katherine asked. "Have I scared you off?"

"Not necessarily," Laura replied. "I could stay out a bit longer. As long as talking about my mom is off limits."

"Fine," Katherine nodded. "I can do that. Wanna go see a movie?"

"Sure," Laura shrugged. "Why not?"

"I hope you're not mad at me," Laura told her mother. "But I've…I've extended the olive branch to Katherine."

"Well, that's nice," Selina replied. "Good for you. I just hope your father doesn't expect me to do the same thing."

"You're not mad at me?" Laura asked.

"No!" Selina shook her head. "I mean, I have so many issues with Katherine that it's logical for me to hate her guts with a passion. I think you just did it cause I did it. It wasn't because you actually hated her."

"Well, that's not strictly true," Laura countered. "I hated the way she was screwing with Gregory. But now that he no longer minds, I guess my dislike is misplaced. And it was like I told her: since our kids are married, it would make holidays a lot easier if we just got along."

"I'm proud of you, Laura," Selina told her. "I really am. And I think your father will be too, once he finds out, and beg me to follow your example."

"Oh, I don't think he'd do that," Laura shook her head. "He knows that you have issues with Katherine that go beyond just petty hatred, and wouldn't make you do something you weren't comfortable with."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Selina nodded. "So what did you and Katherine do? Or should I even be asking?"

"Oh, you can," Laura nodded. "It wasn't so bad, actually. We got a couple of drinks after work and then went to go see a movie. She tried to get me to use my sex appeal so that men would get me drinks for free, but I didn't think that was right."

"Yeah, I don't do that anymore either," Selina replied. "Although there were times when I did and it would allow me to get very, very smashed."

"And you'd wake up in bed with strange men you didn't know?" Laura finished.

"Actually, more often than not, I'd wake up with your aunt Anna cause she'd take me home," Selina replied. "Unless your uncle was at the bar with us. Then he would take me home, if I wasn't chatting up some other guy while he had his eye on another woman. Or Stefan. He was always a possibility for your uncle as well. I always thought that something was going on with those two. That was the fun thing about drinking. I never knew who I'd wake up with in the morning." She paused as her daughter stared at her, open mouthed. "What?" She asked. "I had a very crazy time in the twenties. It happened, it got out of my system, it's not gonna happen again. Are you disappointed in me? Cause you're making an Elijah face."

"I am not!" Laura shook her head. "You can do whatever the heck you want. I mean, Katherine told me she thought you were into some crazy stuff, but it's so unlike who you are now that I thought she was lying."

Selina sighed. "Well, she does lie about things, but that is not one of them."

"I'm still a bit nervous about being friends with Katherine," Laura confessed. "But if it will make work and family holidays better, I suppose it's a good thing."

"Yeah, and I mean, your brother found good qualities in her," Selina added. "Who knows? You might just be able to find them too. You never know."

"Why won't you tell me what we're doing?" Selina asked Elijah as they left the house a few nights later. "Is it a surprise? The day we spent at the museums was a treat enough."

"No, it's not that kind of surprise," Elijah replied. "We're having dinner with Laura and Edward and Gregory and Katherine, and I thought if I told you Katherine was going to be there, you wouldn't come. Laura and Katherine have extended the olive branch, you know, so this should be a nice dinner if you behave yourself as well."

"I know what you're gonna say next," Selina told him. "And no, I'm not gonna be permanently nice to Katherine. I will be civil, but I won't be nice. This is exactly what I thought would happen when you found out that Laura and Katherine were getting along. That you'd want me to join in too. But I can't. There are things that I've dealt with involving her that I just can't forget."

"I understand," Elijah replied. "You and she have a past, and don't worry. Based on that, civility will be all I ask from you."

"Well, thank you," Selina replied. "I think I can handle that. But just for my own piece of mind, will there be some sort of reward for good behavior?"

"Why do you always feel like you can only be good if you're gonna be rewarded?" Elijah asked.

"Well why the fuck shouldn't I be rewarded?" Selina cried. "That I'd like to know!"

"You behave yourself during dinner and then we'll discuss rewards," Elijah replied. "I'm not making promises of rewards upfront."

"Damn," Selina pouted. "This is gonna be so hard!"

"It doesn't have to be," Elijah replied. "Just act like a mature adult. You know how to do that, right?"

"Yes," Selina sighed. "I suppose."

"Good," Elijah nodded. "Thank you."

When they arrived at Katherine and Gregory's for the dinner, it was Katherine who opened the door to let them in. "That's a really nice dress," she told Selina. Selina looked down at her red dress and nodded. "Thank you," she said without even needing Elijah to nudge her. "You look nice too."

"Well, aren't you sweet?" Katherine replied, wiping off her black and white mini dress. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go see if Gregory needs help in the kitchen."

"If I can do anything, just let me know!" Selina called.

"I'm so proud of you!" Elijah told her, hugging Selina to himself. "Actually returning Katherine's compliment instead of accusing her of trying to make you look bad? That's good."

"Thanks," Selina replied. "I thought you would appreciate that."

But as good as Selina was being, it was actual dinner time that was the biggest test for her. There were several times when, as Katherine reached for dishes, her hands would touch Elijah's or Gregory's, which would result in Selina having twitches that she hoped no one would notice cause she was trying so hard to behave herself, and the fact that she was drinking to keep her mouth occupied wasn't helping much either. The angel on her shoulder was reminding her that Elijah would be happy about how well she was behaving while the devil was whispering that just maybe Katherine and Elijah's hands were touching for way too long over the mashed potatoes and she should do something about that.

"Are you all right, Mom?" Laura asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You don't seem well."

"Oh, no, I'm fine," Selina replied, trying to control her twitch. "Don't mind me."

"But you're twitching," Laura insisted. "If there's something we can do for you, just say so."

"No, there isn't," Selina replied, standing up. "You all just keep talking and getting along amongst yourselves. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

"Edward, would you go stand outside the bathroom door?" Laura asked her husband. "Something could be wrong with Mom and I don't want her to hurt herself."

"You know, I was just thinking the same thing myself," Edward replied, standing up and putting his napkin on his chair. "Did you see how much she's been drinking?"

"You don't have to trouble yourself, Edward," Elijah told him. "I'll go." He went to the closest bathroom and called Selina's name from the other side of the closed door. "Darling, are you all right?"

"Don't yell at me!" Selina replied and then threw up. "I behaved myself. You have no right to be mad. I was nice to Katherine!"

Elijah opened the door and sighed as he caught sight of his wife who was hunched over the toilet. "Darling, if I knew you were going to do this to yourself, I would have kept us home."

"Yeah, that would have been a better idea," Selina replied. "But you can't say I didn't try tonight."

"You did," Elijah replied and took her in his arms. "I just didn't realize how much being civil to Katherine takes out of you."

"Well, now you know," Selina nodded. "Can we go home?"

"Yes," Elijah nodded. "I think that would be best."

"But before we go, we have to get somebody to put dessert in a take home container," Selina replied. "Or we could just stay for dessert. That would be easier."

"Are you sure?" Elijah asked. "Do you think you'll be able to make it?"

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "As long as you take the wine away from me and I don't drink anything else, I should be fine."

"Good," Elijah replied and picked her up to carry her out of the bathroom. "Laura will be relieved that you're all right. She was worried about you."

"She's a good daughter," Selina nodded. "A very good daughter."

When they reached the table, a slight adjustment to seating was made. Where before, Elijah had been sitting by Gregory, he now sat by Selina so he could keep the wine from her just as she asked. They got through dessert just fine, and afterward, Selina had recovered herself enough that she was even able to play a game before Elijah took her home, got her dressed for bed, and bade her goodnight.