"It's a full moon tonight," Selina told Elijah. "Do you want me to go out with you, or do you want to stay tied up in the basement?"

"Oh, I don't know," Elijah replied. "I think I might stay tied up in the basement. You probably wouldn't want to come out with me in the yard anyway."

"What makes you say that?" Selina asked.

"Cause you've been avoiding me," Elijah replied. "Ever since I brought up the idea of us having another child."

"Well, I just think it's a bit premature to talk about that right now," Selina told him. "Especially since Ethan won't be eighteen for another two years."

"Will you at least admit that this whole 'savor the silence' reasoning you're using as a way to stave off at least talking about having kids is complete bullshit?" Elijah asked. "If you just admitted it, I would be happy. You know you like to be busy. You can't stand to be bored."

Selina sighed. "All right. You wanna know why I'm avoiding talking about the whole kids thing? Cause I'm still thinking about whether I want to have any more, all right?"

"Well, why wouldn't you?" Elijah asked. "I don't understand."

"Because you're a werewolf now," Selina said. "And I have werewolf genes too, which means that any kid we have from now on could possibly be wild and unpredictable. It'd be like having another Annaliese. Or, worse case scenario, another Roxie before she matured. And you know that you don't bond well with kids like that. You push 'em away or yell at them and then I have to spend the rest of their lives trying to assure them that you do really love them, but you're just not a touchy-feely sort of person. And I don't wanna do that anymore, Elijah! If you want us to have more kids, you have to help me raise them no matter how difficult they get."

"Or they might not be difficult at all," Elijah pointed out. "We could get lucky."

"There's that," Selina nodded. "But the point of all this is that if you want us to have more kids, you have to promise to be my partner in raising them no matter what they turn out to be like. Cause I love kids, but they don't just look to me for support. They look to you too, and I don't want them to be disappointed."

"Don't you think I'm making progress?" Elijah asked. "I mean, haven't I handled the Ethan situation well?"

"You have, I'll give you that," Selina nodded. "And hopefully that means you've turned a corner. I hope so. Cause I do want another baby. I do. I just don't want to raise it by myself."

"And you won't have to," Elijah replied. "I'll really try to be involved in the life of this next child. I promise."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," Selina said. "Cause it's all well and good for you to say that when this possibly difficult child is only hypothetical. It's another when they actually show up and do the behavior that makes your instinct to close yourself off kick in."

"You make a good point," Elijah replied. "But I mean what I say."

"All right," Selina nodded and gave him a little kiss. "I'll believe you."

"Good," Elijah smiled and took her in his arms. "So, how are you planning to amuse yourself now?"

"I was thinking of repainting the library," Selina replied. "It's pure white in there and that really bothers me." She paused. "You wanna put some work clothes on and help me?"

"Well, I don't know," Elijah smiled. "You know how distracted you get when you see me in the clothes of a common working man."

"Yeah…" Selina nodded and licked her lips. "Especially if you have scruff too!" She shut her eyes and let the picture drift through her mind of him in a plaid shirt rolled up to the bend in his arm, torn jeans, scruff, and messy hair." Elijah just held her while she giggled and wondered what in the world was making her laugh so much. Finally, he tapped her on the head. "Darling?" He said. "Darling?"

"What?" Selina asked as her eyes snapped open and she stepped away from him. "Sorry. I got a little distracted for a second there."

"What were you thinking about?" Elijah asked.

"Nothing," Selina said quickly. "I'm gonna go get paint now. And get you a plaid shirt. That's very important. You do whatever work you need to do, and I'll be back soon."

Elijah raised an eyebrow as he watched her to. "It seems like her fantasies have gone beyond me just wearing jeans and no shirt, and she's now wanting me to be a lumberjack or something. How interesting," he said to himself before going to his office and checking to see if anyone from his companies had called about horrible disasters in his absence.

When he heard Selina announce her return home with the paint for the library, he was inspired to leave his office with his phone in his pocket and go help her out.

"If you still need help with painting the library, here I am!" He announced.

"Lovely," Selina replied, buckets of yellow paint in each hand while a shopping bag (presumably holding his new plaid shirt) hung on her arm. "Would you mind taking these paint buckets to the library while I go put your new shirt in your room? And you might want to change out of that suit and into something that can be stained without having to go to the dry cleaner's to fix it."

"All right," Elijah nodded. "But do you think you'll be able to work while I'm in the same room wearing casual clothes?"

"Yes, I do," Selina nodded. "I mean, it might make the job take a little longer cause I'm probably gonna be distracted from time to time, but we can get it done."

And she was correct. Much to Elijah's surprise, it was he who kept getting distracted as they painted. Watching her enthusiasm as she covered the office walls in bright yellow paint without caring where it splattered on her moved him in ways he hadn't thought it would. It touched him so much that he didn't even mind when she flicked paint on him and it got on his pants and in his hair. Instead, he just laughed and got some on her too. They took a break from the walls to have a paint fight and finally just decided to quit for the day, even though only half the library was covered in just one coat of yellow paint.

"You're a mess," Selina noted as he carried her back to their room, her legs wrapped around his waist and his hands cupping her butt. "Do you think we should go and take a bath?"

"No," Elijah smiled. "Not yet."

They reached the bedroom door and Selina got it open, allowing Elijah to bring her inside and set her down on the mattress while he climbed in bed after her and looked down into her eyes.

"I know you think sometimes that I have no appreciation for you having goals in your life and just want you to stay home and bear my children," he said. "But that's not true. Watching you paint today…that was one of the most wonderful and arousing experiences I've had in a while."

"Seriously?" Selina asked. "It actually arouses you to watch me work? I mean, I know it does cause I felt it while you carried me here, but…why?"

"Because work makes you happy," Elijah replied. "And when you're happy, you smile, and you laugh…and that's beautiful."

"Well, that explains why we had so many of our kids while I was working at the bakery," Selina laughed. "I always wondered about that." She paused. "So…we're not gonna take a bath and get all the paint off ourselves?"

"Maybe later," Elijah replied as he undressed. "But not now. Now, I'm feeling particularly inspired and if we bathe, it will just ruin it."

"Sounds good to me," Selina nodded as she undressed too and then giggled as he lightly ran his fingers over every inch of her body, and kissed her paint covered face before embracing her and gently pushing into her.

"I'm still on my pills, you know," she whispered to him. "So this won't be the time to start getting me pregnant."

"Oh, I figured as much," Elijah replied. "But there'll be other times, as long as it doesn't take forever. Now, where was I?"

"Sorry," Selina smiled to herself. "I didn't mean to throw off your concentration."

"No matter," he replied, pulling out of her slowly and pushing in again, causing her to let out a shriek. "Didn't throw me off a bit. Oh, and I think I want to go into the yard tonight when I transform. Will you come with me?"

"Of course I will," Selina nodded. "Can't wait!"

"I think you and I have to talk," King said as he led Rebecca into Roxie's and sat her down at a table near the bar.

"Oh, yeah?" Rebecca smiled. "What about? Please tell me."

"It's about you and me," King said. "I know you and I have had our fun and that you seem to have a bit of a crush on me even though technically I'm your brother, but…"

"Of course I have a crush on you!" Rebecca gushed. "I mean, have you even looked at yourself?"

"Every damn day," King smiled. "Anyway…despite the crush, you need to move on. I don't like you the way you want me to, and I don't want to lead you on any longer."

"Who do you like better than me?" Rebecca asked, her eyes narrowing. "What's her name?"

"What are you so mad about?" King asked, feeling shocked and a little scared. After all, he was dealing with a woman who'd been raised by his mother. "I thought you'd be able to handle what I had to tell you in a mature manner."

"What. Is. Her. Name?" Rebecca repeated, putting a distinct emphasis on each word. "And if you don't tell me…" King then winced and leaned back, eyes wide, as, with a wave of Rebecca's hand, all the windows of the bar smashed at the same time, making glass fly everywhere.

"Oh, fuck!" Roxie swore. "This is exactly why we don't allow people of other species in here." She strode up to Rebecca. "You're going to have to leave."

"Fine," Rebecca replied. "It's not like I enjoy spending time at this hell hole surrounded by slobs anyway!" She grabbed King and held him up by his collar. "Before I go, though, tell me her name. It's Vivi, isn't it? That bitch who practically killed me?"

"Yeah," King nodded. "It is."

With a growl, Rebecca threw him to the ground with such force that when his head made contact with the ground, there was a very pronounced cracking noise before she strode out of the bar and slammed the door behind her.

"Are you all right?" Roxie asked, pulling him to his feet.

"I'll be okay, thanks," King replied. "And don't worry, I'll fix your windows. I had no idea she was gonna react so badly, otherwise I wouldn't have brought her here. "

"Oh, that's all right," Roxie replied, grabbing a broom and sweeping up the glass shards she could reach. "But I wouldn't say 'No' to your offer of fixing up the windows."

After he made up for all the damage Rebecca had done to the bar, he called Eli and asked him to come down to Roxie's to talk with her. He'd dealt with her crush on him in his usual bad way, and he thought that seeing Eli would cheer her up. After he got Eli's promise that he'd come for her, King zapped himself back home and did his best to avoid his mother in case Rebecca had told her what he'd done. He couldn't handle two rounds of that in the same day. He just wasn't strong enough for that.

Meanwhile, it didn't take long for Eli to find Rebecca sobbing on the steps outside the bar. "Rebecca?" He asked. "King told me what happened. He wanted me to see that you were okay."

"Oh, go away!" Rebecca snapped. "I don't need that bastard's pity and I sure as fuck don't need the pity of some child who is so inept with girls his own age that he has to follow me around instead. Leave me the fuck alone!"

Eli was reaching into his pocket to pull out the poem he'd written her so he could read it aloud, but her harsh words stung him. He pulled the poem out and ripped it into lots of tiny pieces and let the wind blow them away.

"Is that what you really think of me?" He asked, his voice shaking cause he was trying not to cry. "I know that when people are angry, they say things they don't really mean."

"Oh, I mean everything I say," Rebecca replied. "You're obsessed with me! It's annoying! I didn't ask you to come sit at my bedside for hours every day. In fact, I should have just had Robbie throw you out! I don't know why I didn't. You're pathetic!"

"Well, I don't know why you didn't either!" Eli replied, tears beginning to fall down his cheeks now, and staining his sweater-vest. "It would have saved me a lot of trouble. And it's nice to know that I wasted so much of my life showing genuine affection for someone who's actually a vain, delusional lunatic! You think I'm childish for liking you? Well, I have news for you, Rebecca: I may be pathetic, but at least I'm not the one who's pining over my brother who happens to be who knows how many hundreds of years older than me, even though he loves another woman and told me so. I think on the scale of being pathetic, at the current moment, you rate much higher than me. Just something to think about while you sit here sad and alone on the front steps of a bar." He then strode off, tears falling down his cheeks more freely now, while Rebecca made no effort to respond or come after him.

The End

Up next: Eli and Rebecca's story, entitled When A Man Loves A Woman