"So tell me again," Elijah asked for what seemed like the thousandth time. "That boy that Charlotte likes is your brother? The one that your mother took to the orphanage?"
"They think it's true," Selina nodded. "And I don't have any reason to doubt them. Aren't you happy? I'm happy."
"I know you want a sibling, but we really can't be too careful about this," Elijah cautioned. "A poor young man shows up out of nowhere claiming to be your brother? What if he's just after your mother's money and playing on her vulnerability to get it?"
Selina burst into giggles at this despite how serious Elijah's tone was. "You are so unreasonably suspicious!" She said. "No more watching the soap opera channel for you. I don't think he has any angle. Now if he'd said immediately that he was Mom's son, that would be one thing, cause that was something she never even told me, but I think it's legit."
"All right," Elijah sighed. "Whatever you say."
"You're not going to give up on this whole 'he's an imposter out to steal the family money' issue, are you?" Selina asked him dryly.
"I think that for your mother's sake, we should at least talk to her about the possibility," Elijah nodded. "I bet she hasn't even considered it. You'd think that your uncle would at least, because he's a lawyer, but apparently not."
"I suppose you could mention it, even though they'll probably just laugh at you and say you're being ridiculous," Selina warned. "And when you mention it, mention it to Uncle Andrew before you mention it to my mother. Cause she's so happy about the prospect of having her son back that I don't want to wreck it for her until or unless there's definite proof of what you're worried about."
"Oh, all right," Elijah sighed. "I'll talk to your uncle. But I just…why isn't anyone in your family practical? Why do I have to think of all these things myself because no one else will?"
"Because that's your purpose!" Selina smiled and gave him a kiss. "Everyone needs a purpose in life and yours is to think of things that we're too optimistic and carefree to think of! And you're so good at it."
"Yes," Elijah nodded and straightened his jacket with a smile. "I guess I am, aren't I?"
"You are," Selina agreed and gave him a push toward the door. "Now go talk to Uncle Andrew before you drive yourself crazy with all this worry about my brother, okay?"
"All right," Elijah nodded. "I'm going."
"You think what?" Andrew asked in surprise. Out of courtesy to Elijah cause he could tell the man was genuinely worried for him, he was trying not to laugh at what he'd just been told.
"I know you heard me," Elijah told him firmly, leaning forward so that he was looking into Andrew's dark eyes. "Don't make me repeat myself."
"I'm sorry," Andrew shook his head. "I just find what you say really hard to believe."
"How could you?" Elijah asked in exasperation. "A boy that you've never met before shows up and makes Amelia think that he's the son she wanted so desperately to bond with. As wealthy as the two of you are, you have to think of what his motives are to say such a thing."
Andrew scoffed at this. "You sound exactly like my father. I never listened to him and though I feel you mean well, I think your worry is misplaced."
"Somehow I knew you'd say that," Elijah nodded as he got to his feet. "I've clearly done all I can do, but if something bad happens to you and Amelia, or this boy gives you trouble, you can't say you weren't warned."
"Yes, I'll remember that, but don't expect me to grovel and thank you," Andrew told him firmly.
Elijah left then, thinking to himself that it was probably Andrew, more than her father, from whom Selina had picked up her impudent personality.
"Let me guess," Selina said as Elijah strode into the house gnashing his teeth and sitting down hard on the sofa. "It didn't go well, did it?"
"No," Elijah huffed. "And I don't understand why! You'd think a person would appreciate a warning like that!" He saw that she was working on a crossword puzzle and reached for it. "Do you need help with that?"
"Okay," Selina nodded and handed it to him. She really didn't need the help, but having a chance to show off how intelligent he was got Elijah out of bad moods like the one he was in now. "And it's sweet of you to worry about Mama and Uncle Andrew, but I think this is one of the cases where you have to let them make their own mistakes, if it turns out to be a problem in the end."
"I suppose," Elijah told her as he wrote that the six-letter word for Death's tool was scythe. "But it just seems like such a waste to let something go wrong when I could have prevented it."
"I know," Selina nodded, reaching out to pat his leg. "You want to save everyone and it drives you nuts when you can't. But maybe…maybe I could think of something I need your help with."
Elijah smiled at her hand near his leg. "You know, you have a point," he got out. "Just what did you have in mind?"
She stood up, kissed him, and led him to their room while she gripped his belt. "Come on," she said as they undressed. "I'll show you."
"Oh, I don't need to be shown," he told her with a grin as they both climbed naked on to the mattress and he planted his lips all over her warm porcelain body and she let out a giggle. "I know exactly what I'm doing."
"I think we need to talk," Charlotte told Amelia. "About Thomas." She'd appeared so suddenly in Amelia's vanity mirror that it caused Amelia to mess up her eyeliner.
"What do we need to talk about?" Amelia asked, turning to face Charlotte with tracks of black trailing off the side of her eyes. "What about Thomas?"
Charlotte swallowed. "I came because I want to assure you that our friendship is more important to me than he is, so since this is a weird situation, I'll step away from everything and let you have time with your son. I think that's best for all of us."
Amelia's jaw dropped a little as Charlotte disappeared without waiting for her to respond. "Oh…all right. Thanks, I guess…if that's what you want."
It was only after Charlotte had disappeared that she realized she should have done something more supportive like say that despite her and Thomas' newfound relationship, him being with her best friend wouldn't be a problem, since they were both adults and since when was it her business?
She tried to call Charlotte back and give her the okay that she clearly needed to have, but she didn't come. "Wonderful," Amelia told herself, resting her elbow on the table and resting her chin on her palm. "I've screwed up bad and now I can't fix it. I'm the worst friend in the world."
But it soon occurred to her that if she couldn't talk to Charlotte, she could talk to Thomas. The ideal time came when he asked her if she'd seen Charlotte or knew why she hadn't been around for a while.
"I hope I haven't done anything to offend her," He said. "She's always had a bit of a problem with our age difference, but I didn't think it would actually motivate her to run away, especially without saying 'Goodbye' first."
"Of all the things that could be an issue for you two, the one that bothers her most is the age difference?" Amelia asked. "How interesting!" She paused and then confessed what she'd done.
"Charlotte came to me a few days ago and told me that, given the fact that you're my son, she'd feel kind of awkward about dating you cause it might hurt my feelings. And I might…I might not have done as good a job as I should have of assuring her that I was okay with your relationship. That's why she's gone now and hasn't come back."
"Are you all right with me having affection for your friend?" Thomas asked. "You've already done so much for me that I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable."
"No, it doesn't make me uncomfortable," Amelia assured him. "I'm fine with it if you're both happy. Now all we have to do is convince Charlotte of that."
"You think we can?" Thomas asked.
"Yes," Amelia nodded. "But I believe it might take a while, so prepare to be patient."
"We should do something for Charlotte," Lucy said to Felicity when they hadn't seen their 'mother in law' for a while, although from her weeping and window rattling, they knew she was in the house. "I know our boyfriends are over the moon that she's ended things with Thomas, but that doesn't seem right somehow. I think they had a hand in it."
"I think they did too," Felicity agreed and went over to question Stefan. Well, not so much question as beat a confession out of him. "You ruined your mother's relationship, didn't you?" She asked, the pillow hitting him with every word as he reached up with his arms to protect his face.
"Not the face!" He cried. "Damn it, Lissy! Not the face! Or the hair!" He glared at her as he moved a strand of hair back into place. "What is it you're going on about now?"
"It wasn't nice to break up your mother's relationship with Thomas," Felicity chided. "How do you even comfort a ghost?"
"We didn't ruin her relationship on purpose," Damon corrected.
"Oh, really?" Lucy asked. "What did you do, then?"
"We simply advised her that Amelia might not like her best friend dating her son," Damon told her. "That's all. It was Mother's choice to actually end the relationship."
"But you gave her that advice knowing that she would most likely listen to you!" Lucy huffed. "I think that wasn't very nice of you."
"If you expect us to be nice all the time, Lucy, then you clearly don't know us very well," Stefan told her. "My nice days are behind me."
"I don't think they are," Felicity told her aunt and then looked at Stefan. "I think you're just trying to save face in front of your brother. Don't you want your mother to be happy? If you were able to help me when I was cutting and miserable, I think you can help her too."
"All right," Stefan replied. "I suppose if you expect Damon and me to be grownups, I can do it for a little bit, cause we know he sure won't!"
"Thank you," Lucy told him and glared at her husband. "Are you coming too?"
"How about I help by giving Mother a drink if she needs it?" Damon suggested. "That's really more my area of expertise than all that touchy-feely stuff."
"All right," Lucy replied. It was better than nothing.
When they found Charlotte in Damon's room, she was still crying.
"Sorry I've been keeping you awake at night with all my sobs," she said with a sniffle. "I must be. But I'm just…I'm really sad about having to leave Thomas. He's such a nice boy. But Amelia said that us being together would make her uncomfortable and I don't want that."
"If you want my honest opinion, I think you gave up too soon," Stefan told her as he sat next to her and took her hand. "You get told once that someone is uncomfortable with what you want and you just give up? That's not the mother I know."
"I know this is odd behavior for me, and I suppose I could try and talk to Amelia again sometime when she's had time to adjust to Thomas being her son. But now it's too soon. I have to make peace with that and stop crying. I have to be patient. I can do it." Charlotte tried to get more light in her blue eyes.
"Are you sure?" Stefan asked.
"Yes," Charlotte said firmly, wiping tears out of her eyes as he put his arms around her. "I can. I have to. There's no other way around it."