"I really have to thank you for taking us in for all this time," Thomas told Andrew and Amelia. "Just tell us when we've overstayed our welcome and we'll go. Or I will. I'm the odd man out here."
"Oh, no, don't be silly!" Amelia told him. "Stay as long as you want! It's no bother." She paused. "Unless you have a job you need to get back to or something. We wouldn't want to get in the way of that."
"Yes, my job," Thomas replied, his mind drifting back to his dreary night job cleaning up that dingy bar for way less money than he thought he deserved. "I actually called in my notice for that. I quit."
"You did?" Amelia asked while Charlotte cheered. "Why?"
"Cause I can do better," Thomas replied. "Before I came here, I thought that being a janitor was all I was good for, but that's changed."
"What would you like to do instead?" Amelia questioned.
"I have no idea," Thomas told her. "But I'm sure I'll think of something."
Finding a new position wasn't as easy as he thought though. Despite all the years that he'd been on the planet, he still didn't have much of an education, which made finding good prospects nearly impossible.
"Now I wish they wouldn't have been so okay with letting me go," Thomas sighed as he collapsed on the sofa after what seemed like several hours of looking at job postings, none of which seemed particularly promising. "What am I supposed to do with myself now?"
"You'll probably hate me for suggesting this," Charlotte told him. "But has it occurred to you that being a vampire, you don't necessarily need to work? You can use your powers to get what you want."
"Oh, I know that," Thomas told her. "I've known that since it happened. But I don't like feeling useless, you know? I've had to work my whole life. That's what I'm used to and I'm not sure I can just give it up."
"And that's good," Charlotte agreed. "But it sounds to me like after all you've been through, you're entitled to a bit of a break. Don't you want that?"
"I suppose," Thomas agreed. "I just don't want to feel like I'm imposing."
"You're not," Charlotte told him. "I promise." She paused and then called for Amelia and Andrew. "Are Thomas and I imposing on you two?"
"No, of course not," Andrew shook his head. "I like having another man in this house. It's a nice change."
"Why do you think you're imposing?" Amelia asked, coming to sit next to Thomas.
"Well, I quit my other job and I've been having some trouble finding something else," Thomas explained. "That's what happens when you don't have lots of education."
"Did you stop at eighth grade?" Amelia asked.
"Yes," Thomas nodded. "I did."
"Well, would you feel less useless if we focused on getting you educated while you were here?" Amelia wanted to know. "Would that be a good use of your time?"
"Yes, I would love that," Thomas nodded. "But would you let me pay for half? I couldn't let you shoulder the entire bill yourself."
"Well, when it comes time for you to have education that you need to pay for, if you choose to go that far, we'll think about that," Amelia told him.
"Thank you," Thomas told her and took her hand. "So much."
"You're welcome," Amelia replied.
"That was a very sweet thing you did for Thomas," Andrew commented. "You've really grown as a person since we came back, I think. You threw a fit at the idea of your daughter being educated, but you didn't hesitate with that boy."
"Well, how can I deny him help?" Amelia asked. "You heard what he said about wanting to do things with himself. That's noble. And just so you know, if Selina didn't have her own income and asked me for the same sort of help, now I'm at a point where I would feel comfortable giving it to her."
"Is that so?" Andrew asked. "That's a change."
"Well, I've been to school myself," Amelia told him. "You can't just have a tenth grade education and be a teacher anymore. Denying my daughter something I've already done myself would be hypocritical." She sighed. "If only Thomas' parents could see him now. I think they'd be proud of the person he became. Don't you?"
"Oh, I should think so," Andrew nodded. "I've only known him a short while and I'm proud of him. Such a good work ethic."
"Kind of reminds you of Matthew, but more laid back, doesn't it?" Amelia asked.
"Yes," Andrew nodded and put his arms around her. "It really does. Now, should we go sign him up for night school?"
"Yeah," Amelia agreed and headed for her computer. "I think we should."
"So time is changing?" Selina asked Helene when she came to tell them about what was going on. "How in the world is that?"
Helene sighed. "Well, in my case, I assume that it's because wherever they are, my parents have separated and are refusing to get back together. Klaus and Amy are separated too, and Adrian says that he's gonna be immune from all the time-changing craziness since Amy's not his mother, but I don't know."
"True," Selina nodded. "As long as wherever they are is after 1846, I'm gonna be there, so who knows what I could do to mess things up for Adrian?" She gasped. "And what about the rest of our kids!" She grabbed the lapels of Elijah's jacket and shook him, her eyes wide. "What are we going to do?!"
"Relax, relax," Elijah told her as he gently loosened her hold on him. "We might not even have anything to worry about now. Let's just wait and see, shall we?"
"Okay," Selina took a deep breath. "I suppose…I suppose I can do that."
"Good," Elijah told her as he massaged her shoulders. "Good for you."
"Sorry," Helene quickly apologized. "I didn't expect you to be more worried about this than I am."
"Oh, I'm not," Selina assured her, trying to control her breathing. "I just…no point in worrying since we can't do a thing about it, can we? Not without messing things up even more."
"Do you think it would really be messing things up even more if I went back and told my brother to be with Amy where he belongs?" Elijah asked.
"Who knows?" Helene shrugged. "The only good thing about this is that since my dad is back too and still has his mind, unlike everyone else, he should stop things from getting messed up too badly, or at least be able to fix them if they do."
"True," Elijah nodded. "That's just the sort of thing that we can depend on your father for." He paused. "Since you know Klaus isn't with Amy, is there any indication of who he is with?"
"Not at the moment," Helene shook her head. "But if it will make you feel any better, I'll check with Adrian again. Maybe Selina's around just like she said and she and Klaus have gotten together somehow. That would be better than nothing, wouldn't it?"
"Yes," Elijah muttered through his teeth. "Just perfect."
"Niklaus," Elijah said as he came down to dinner in a room lit only by the curtains being open just a crack to let in moonlight and a few candles. "I'm so proud you didn't pursue Amy today. Good for you."
"I've got a new project," Klaus said. "Alistair was so kind to remind me of it."
Elijah sighed. "Not that ridiculous plan to become a werewolf," he said.
"Yes," Klaus nodded. "That." He then got to his feet as a young woman in a green dress entered the room. She had big blue eyes and her dark hair was piled on her head with a few wisps settled against her cheeks. Elijah groaned when he was just able to make out a pin that said "Votes for women" on her dress.
"Oh, damn," he groaned. "Not a suffragette! Niklaus, what have I told you about bringing people like that into this house?"
"Well, lovely to meet you too," she said sarcastically, then turned to Klaus. "Would you care to introduce me to this person?" She asked as she pushed her own chair back and sat down. "Though I don't really need to know him. He's just the sort that is stopping the world from progressing."
"This is my brother, Elijah," Klaus told her. "Elijah…this is Miss Warren."
Elijah scoffed. "Of course you're a Miss. No sane man would tolerate you."
"No, I am a Miss because there's no man in the world I can tolerate," she shot back. "At least not long term when those who are marrying sorts are just as pigheaded as you are." She then turned around before Elijah could say another word, grabbed Klaus, and gave him a big kiss before sitting down and putting her napkin in her lap.
"That was a pretty display," Elijah told her.
"I'm glad you liked it," she smiled and gripped her soup spoon, making every effort to slurp loudly while keeping her eyes on her nemesis.
Every slurp made him wince, which caused both Klaus and Alistair (in spite of himself) to laugh.
Finally, Elijah threw his towel down on his chair, excused himself, and told one of the footmen that he would prefer to finish dinner in his room.
"I think you hurt my brother's feelings," Klaus told Selina.
"Are you telling me I should go and apologize to him?" She asked, wiping her mouth with her napkin.
"Oh, no," Klaus shook his head. "I was just making an observation and wondering if you could keep up the good work."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Selina told him.
Elijah had peace and quiet until he was preparing for bed and heard an awful racket coming through the wall next door.
"Would you like me to see what that is?" His valet asked.
"That's kind of you," Elijah told him and reached for his bathrobe. "But I think I can handle it." He headed next door and opened the door, crying out for the pair to stop whatever it was they were doing so he could get some sleep. When the situation actually presented itself to his eyes, he was overcome by cold sweat and anger. He strode into the room and began beating his brother over and over again. He had no idea why he was so upset.
Miss Warren watched all this with an odd look of concern and she said, "All right, all right, stop!" When he didn't, she reached over and slapped him hard, then he woke up, breathing heavily as Selina's big blue eyes stared back at him.
"Are you all right?" She asked. "You were thrashing and kicking and punching. What happened? Did you have a bad dream?"
"The past…you and Klaus…together…naked…" He got out and then fell back onto pillow, unable to say more.
"Poor man," Selina replied and kissed him. "I thought I would be the one worried more about this time thing, but it turns out that it's you."
"Apparently," Elijah told her wearily. "Apparently."