"What the hell is that?" Damon asked when he came down for breakfast several days later and found a picture in his usual chair. He squinted at it long enough to realize that one of the people in it was his mother, and the other was some guy who was nicely built. "Is this that picture that you told me you were making of my mother that you said I would never have to look at ever?"

"Well, yes, but I'm fishing for compliments," Lucy informed him as she came to position herself by the picture. "Come and tell me what you think."

"It's beautifully done, as always," Damon got out. "But I can't say I'm too fond of the subject matter."

"All right," Lucy nodded with satisfaction and removed the picture from his chair. "I knew that's what you were going to say, and it's good enough for me. I'm gonna go put this back in my studio now, all right?"

"Go ahead," Damon replied. "You'll get no complaints from me."

When Lucy came back from putting the picture away, she poured herself a cup of coffee and then got one for Damon, rolling her eyes as he added bourbon to his cup. "I don't know why you do that," she said.

"I do it because I like it," Damon told her. "Are you worried that it's gonna be bad for me?"

"Well, no, but…you drink a lot, don't you?" Lucy asked.

"I suppose I do," Damon nodded. "And Mother says that's part of why your mother got hooked, because I influenced her."

"Is that true?" Lucy asked.

"Maybe," Damon said. "I only know so many ways of coping with trouble and your mother looked like she needed one." He pushed the cup toward her. "This is good. You should try it."

"No, thanks," Lucy put a hand up. "You know I don't drink like you do."

"Well, all right," Damon nodded and took the cup back. "You're missing out, but it's more for me."

He drank his coffee and went to make himself some bacon and some blood, and once he finished those, took a look at Lucy's picture one more time and went to call his brother and tell him what was going on with their mother because there was no way he was suffering through this alone. Plus, it had been awhile since Lucy had seen Felicity anyway, so even if she did question his motives and tell him he was being ridiculous (and she would, because that's how Lucy Elizabeth Mikaelson rolled), he could just say he had invited her niece along for the ride, so she couldn't accuse him of being entirely self-serving.

He got on the phone, and called Stefan's number, figuring that he wouldn't be up yet, but refusing to get off the phone until his brother answered, no matter how many times it rang.

"Someone is on the phone," The blonde said as she sat up in bed and roused the man beside her. "Stefan, someone is calling us."

"Who cares?" Stefan Salvatore muttered. "There are so few people on this earth that I like talking to. If you want to talk to the person that's calling, go ahead and do it, Lissy."

"Oh, fine," Felicity Mikaelson said as she gave him a spank on the bottom and made her way to the phone, which was in his pants pocket. The pants were hanging on a chair by the door. "Hello?" She said. "Who is it?"

"Is my brother there, Felicity?" Damon wanted to know. "Tell him that I have to talk to him. It's kind of an important family emergency. And that if he doesn't talk to me now, I'll just keep calling til he does."

"All right," Felicity said. Usually it was her mother Helene that talked this way while she rhapsodized about Felicity's brother and sister and their jobs with the witch's council, so it was nice to see Stefan getting an earful for once.

"Your brother wants to talk to you," She said, breaking Stefan's neck to get his attention cause he'd fallen back asleep. "And you might as well answer it now, otherwise he'll keep calling."

"Oh, all right," Stefan growled at her as his neck came back into alignment and he rubbed it, giving her a scowl. "I guess I'll talk to him. Give me the damn phone, and you are a really awful person, you know that?"

"I'm not so bad," Felicity told him. "If I were any other way, you'd have been bored with me a long time ago. Enjoy talking to your brother." She strode away Stefan heard Damon's voice on the other side of the line.

"Are you there?" He cried. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why won't you talk to me?"

"It's nice to hear your voice too," Stefan told him dryly. "What is it that you want, Damon? What's so important that you felt the need to break the streak of all those days we went without talking to each other?"

"I believe our mother has a boyfriend," Damon told him.

"Our mother is dead," Stefan reminded Damon calmly. "Don't you remember that? What would make you say such a stupid thing?"

"Lucy heard it from Amelia," Damon informed him. "Mother's in Seattle and she made friends with a human man and had him write Amelia a letter so she would know that Mother was all right."

"And Amelia's dead too!" Stefan cried. "Why are you convinced all these people who are dead are alive?"

"Because they are!" Damon replied. "You're really behind the times, being a hermit with Felicity in the boardinghouse. Why don't you come and join me and get a taste of how things really are? You can bring Felicity too, if you'd like."

"Fine, whatever," Stefan replied. "But I'm only coming so I can tell you what an idiot you're being."

"I think you'll have a change of tune once you get here," Damon told him. "See you in a few hours."

Stefan got off the phone then as Felicity came back and handed him a drink. "So…how was your talk?"

"It's very alarming what's going on in my brother's head," Stefan told her as he pulled her onto his lap. "So, I'm going to go visit him and try and talk some sense into him. You can come too, if you like."

"Sure," Felicity nodded. "It's been awhile since I've seen everyone back home. When are we leaving?"

"Once we both get dressed," Stefan replied and played with the gauzy over-skirt of the black teddy she wore. "Although this looks awfully good on you, I'm sure your aunt wouldn't let you in the house if you weren't wearing clothes."

"You're right," Felicity agreed. "I'll be dressed right away."

"Well, look who's here!" Lucy cried when she opened the door to Stefan's knock and hugged her niece. "Damon said he was inviting you to come visit, but I didn't actually think you'd agree to it."

"I was worried about some of the crazy things he was saying, so I told him I would come to talk some sense into him," Stefan said as Lucy let go of Felicity and took Stefan's hand for a few seconds. "I'm surprised you're allowing him to think things like our mother being alive. I thought you were too practical for that."

"Well, she's not alive," Lucy corrected. "She's a ghost. There's a difference. She came to keep a grip on Grandma Amelia when she thought Grandpa Matthew was being taken away from her. She stayed here with us for a bit and I saw her with my own eyes. That's why I believe him."

"And do you think the same favor could be done for me?" Stefan asked. "Can I see her? Where is she?"

"She's not here," Lucy told him. "She's in Seattle. At least that's what the letter her friend wrote said. So you won't be able to see her, I'm afraid. Unless…"

"Unless what?" Stefan asked. "Do you have an idea?"

"Yes," Lucy replied. "Just a minute. I need to run to the toy store downtown. You amuse yourselves while I'm gone. I'm sure you and your brother have a lot to talk about. I won't be gone long, I promise."

But instead of having conversation with his brother, Stefan chose to sit in awkward silence with him while Felicity tried again and again to chat, but failed.

"Okay, I give up," she huffed irritably and stood up from her seat, pushing some of her blonde hair out of her eyes. "If you two are just gonna sit here like a couple of lumps, I think I'll go hunting instead. That's much more stimulating anyway."

"I'll come with you," Stefan replied. "We were called here so fast, I didn't have time to feed."

So Damon was alone when Lucy returned with a box from the game store. "Where'd Stefan and Felicity go?" She asked. "Don't tell me you've driven them away already. They just got here!"

"Nah, I didn't," Damon told her. "They just went out hunting. I would have gone with them, but I figured someone should be here when you got back. What have you got there?"

"Ouija board," Lucy replied, taking it out and setting it on the table. "I thought that since Stefan can't see your mom, maybe he could talk to her."

"Do you think it really works that way?" Damon asked.

"Well, what would it hurt to try?" Lucy shrugged. "If it doesn't work, we won't be out anything. Not really."

"What do you think dear old Uncle Elijah would say if he knew you were dabbling in stuff like this?" Damon smirked.

"Well, he might be slightly exasperated with me, but really, it's no worse than any of the crazy stuff Mom's done, so…" Lucy shrugged.

By the time Felicity and Stefan returned from their hunt and had washed themselves off, the lights were dimmed, the board was set up, the curtains were closed, and candles were everywhere.

"What the hell is going on?" Stefan asked.

"Lucy bought a Ouija board so you can talk to Mother," Damon told him as they took their spots at the table. "She doesn't know if it will actually work, but she figures it's worth a shot."

So they all sat around the table, their hands joined, and Lucy called out for Charlotte. After that was done, she sat back and waited, hoping that it would come to something so that Stefan would know his mother was around and be able to help his brother.

"So I've told you enough about my family," Thomas told Charlotte. "What about you? Did you say you had boys?"

"That I did," Charlotte nodded. "Or maybe I should say 'I do'. They're vampires too now, just like you."

"How interesting!" Thomas smiled. "Maybe I could meet them sometime. I would love to meet them and everyone else you tell me about."

Charlotte smiled. "I would love for them to meet you too. Although my sons are somewhat like their father so they might get a bit territorial when they meet you."

"I can handle that, don't worry," Thomas said. Then he stood up. "Excuse me," he said. "I have to go flip my hamburger. I'll be back in a minute."

But Charlotte followed him to the kitchen and watched him make a good sized hamburger, and take some carrots and things out of a good-sized, full fridge. "You seem to eat well," she said with approval.

"Oh, of course!" Thomas replied. "I get crappy furniture and stuff so I can spend more money on food. That's my plan. Even though I don't need it, I still think it tastes good."

Charlotte was about to respond, but then she heard a voice calling her name and felt herself beginning to fade. "Thomas!" She cried. "Thomas, help!"

He quickly turned around, but even with his speed, she was gone by the time he was facing her. He called out her name a couple of times and then gave up when she didn't come back, resigned himself to cooking his hamburger and hoping that wherever she'd disappeared to, she'd come back sometime soon.

"Where am I?" Charlotte asked at first, but relaxed when she saw where she'd landed and spotted her daughter-in-law across the table. "Hello, Lucy. What is it that I can do for you?"

"Sorry if I interrupted anything," Lucy apologized, "but…"

"Oh, my god," Stefan's soft voice interrupted. "Damon wasn't lying, was he?"

"Of course I wasn't," Damon snapped at his brother. "What do you think I am, an idiot? I wouldn't make up Mother being around."

"All right, you boys," she told them. "No fighting now. That doesn't help anything." She went to stand next to Stefan. "Yes, son. I'm here. I came with Amelia, and I've decided to stay so I can live the life I never got to live when I was married to your father. I'm happy."

"And are you with a man?" Stefan asked.

"Well, I wouldn't say that we're together, but…he needs someone to take care of him, so I'm staying at his place of residence." She crinkled her nose. "It's so small and dirty that I don't know how he can live like that, but…who am I to criticize if he's happy?"

"And you are too?" Stefan asked, looking into his mother's blue eyes.

"Yes," she told him, feeling him shiver as she gave him a kiss. "I love you, though, Stefan. I do." She then looked around. "Is there anything else you need from me?" She asked Lucy. "Because I left rather suddenly and I don't want Thomas thinking that I left him and I'm not coming back. Poor boy was an orphan, you know. He's had enough people leave him without me adding to the list."

"No, we're good," Lucy said. "You can go."

But after she disappeared, Damon scowled at her. "Why did you let her go? I wanted to ask her more about that Thomas guy!"

"That's exactly why I did it," Lucy told him. "She's clearly not ready to talk about it yet, but when she is, I'm sure she will. You two should be happy for your mother."

"Yeah, fine," Damon sighed. "I guess."

He got up and strode away, and Lucy asked Stefan, "We haven't heard the end of this, have we?"

"No," Stefan replied. "Definitely not."

Thinking that the problems Stefan and Damon had with their mother were best solved between the two of them, both Lucy and Felicity decided to go see other people. Felicity went to see Klaus while Lucy went to visit Elijah.

"There you are!" He smiled and gave her a hug. "You promised me you wouldn't wait so long to visit!"

"Well, you know how Damon is," Lucy told him. "He has to be watched every minute so we really haven't had a chance to get away. But now his brother is here, so I get a bit of a break. How have you been? How's Mom?"

"She's not bad at all," Elijah replied. "She went to pick up her sister Sarah, but she should be back in a minute."

"Really?" Lucy asked as she sat down. "I didn't know Mom had a sister named Sarah."

"Well, she was born just recently," Elijah explained. "Your grandfather remarried. I don't know if you've heard that. He's having some issues with the man who fathered Sarah, so they've been sending her out of the house a lot while they deal with that."

"What a shame," Lucy sighed.

When Selina returned a few minutes later, she plunked Sarah down in Elijah's lap and took her and Klaus' youngest daughter in her arms. "How are you?" She asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Lucy nodded. "Of course. I just came to visit cause I hadn't in some time."

"Well, good!" Selina replied. "And if you want to stay the night, you know all you have to do is pick a room."

"I might take you up on that," Lucy said. "Damon told Stefan about Charlotte and now the two of them are back at the house dealing with it, especially the news that Charlotte is living with a man. Grandma Amelia read about it in a letter and then told me about it, and the boys aren't taking it well. Felicity and I decided that them coming to terms with it would be better accomplished with us out of the way, so she's visiting Dad and I came here."

"Well, good!" Selina said and hugged her again. "You just decide what you want to do and we'll make it work, all right?"

"All right," Lucy nodded. "Have you seen Charlotte's boyfriend, by the way?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "I'm curious about this guy myself."

"How curious?" Elijah asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just want to know what he looks like," Selina told her husband firmly. "That's all."

"It better be," Elijah replied.

"Wow," Lucy sighed as she put one arm around her mother and one arm around her uncle. "I really have come home again, haven't I?"