"How are you feeling?" Thomas asked Charlotte as they sat next to each other in the living room at Damon and Lucy's reading. "Good? Bad? Can I do anything for you?"

"You know, it's very sweet of you to want to take care of me, but you don't have to," Charlotte told him. "I'm not dying just yet." She paused. "Are you all right? If there's something you need to get off your chest, let me know."

"Thanks," Thomas told her. "But I don't want to burden you with it. You're going through enough already."

"Oh, come here," Charlotte insisted. She got up from the sofa and came over to put her arms around him, giving him a big kiss. "I know it probably won't help much, but we can try, can't we?"

"Yes," Thomas nodded. "I think it would be best for both of us if we made the most of the time we had left and tried not to even think about how there's a limit."

They kissed again and Thomas paused. "Do you really think we should do this here? I don't want to bother your son."

"Look at me," Charlotte told him firmly. "It's nice that you want to be considerate, but sometimes you should just do what you want. No matter what we do, my son won't approve of us, so it's better to just do what we need to do to be happy."

Thomas smiled and nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I think you're right." He then picked her up and carried her to her room. They made sure the door was closed and locked before undressing and hopping into bed together.

Thomas held Charlotte close and she closed her eyes breathed slowly as he kissed her hair, both her cheeks, and her lips. When he began kissing her neck, she tensed.

"What?" Thomas asked. "What's the matter?"

"If you want to do it, go ahead," she said. "Bite me."

"Oh, I can't," Thomas told her quickly. Then he paused. "Wait a minute. Why not? It would stop you from being sick. Stop you from dying."

"I know it would," Charlotte nodded, reaching up to cup his face. "But it just…it wouldn't be right. I've cheated enough to take this time to be with you."

"So if you don't want me to turn you, why did you ask me to bite you?" He wanted to know.

"I just…I wanted to do something that I've always been afraid of," she said. "I've always been told that vampires were bad. I've heard things about my sons' behavior that are frightening. But you…you're one of the good ones, aren't you?"

"Yes," Thomas nodded. "I try to be. But I've fallen off the wagon a little, I admit."

"No, you couldn't," Charlotte smiled.

Thomas was nervous about biting her, but since he'd already fed, he tried to give her what she wanted. He managed to stop after taking just a bit. Then, he buried himself inside her and hugged her tight.

"I have only one more thing I need to ask you," she said.

"What?" Thomas asked. "I'll do anything for you. You know that."

"Before I die," she said, letting him go and looking him the eye. "Will you…will you make an honest woman out of me? Even if it's only for a little while?"

"Yes," Thomas nodded and slowly kissed the fingers of the hand that would soon be wearing his ring. "Of course I will."

"So, that guy," Samantha said to Davina, "The one that bit me. Is he normally like that?"

"Not that I know of," Davina shook his head. "Normally I have to goad him into action."

"Who bit you?" Ian wanted to know. "Tell me who they are so I can punch them in the face!"

"No, that won't do any good," Samantha said. "Besides, I think Davina's got irritating him covered."

"Make sure you give him lots of trouble for Samantha's sake," Ian told Davina firmly.

"Oh, I will," Davina assured him, being careful not to mention how arousing watching Samantha being bitten had been for her. "And you might be a little nicer to that guy whose car you wrecked," she added. "I believe he's her knight in shining armor now."

Samantha scoffed when she heard that. "I doubt he did it to rescue me," she said. "He probably just wanted to make sure I wasn't dead so that he could do the same sort of thing himself when he had the chance."

"Don't worry," Ian told her and put a hand on her arm. "I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

Samantha sighed and gave her brother a long look. "Thank you for caring so much," she told him. "But you can have a life of your own, you know. You don't have to spend every waking moment looking after me. I can take care of myself."

"Are you sure?" Ian asked, some rare softness in his dark eyes as he took Samantha in her arms and Davina quickly shifted her gaze. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Nothing will," Samantha promised. "I won't let it."

The next day, Samantha went out without Ian at her heels for the first time in her life, and although she loved her brother very much, she had to admit that being alone was one of the most liberating things she'd ever experienced. She wasn't alone for long, though.

"Are there any other innocent people you plan on terrorizing today?" Stefan asked as he approached her table at the same bar where they'd met before.

"I couldn't think of any when I came in, but now that you're here, I'm getting ideas," she said. "And may I remind you that last time we met, I was the one who was the victim?"

Stefan scoffed. "You can point it out, but that doesn't mean I'm going to feel sorry for you."

"I'm not asking you to!" Samantha told him. "I never asked for your pity or anyone else's." She then zapped the drink he held into her hand and drank it herself, choking and spitting it back into the cup. "I don't like this," she said. "What the hell is it?"

"Bourbon," Stefan informed her, a smirk on his lips. "Straight up. And now that you've tainted it with your spit, I'm not taking it back."

"I'm not drinking this," Samantha said and threw the drink all over him. "There. Now you can get a new drink and so can I!"

"Right," Stefan nodded. "But first I'm going to dry my shirt off." He then headed off to the bathroom and after waiting a few seconds to give him a head start, Samantha decided to follow, just to see what he looked like under that shirt. She opened the door as much as she could without being noticed, but even with so small a visual window, she could see abs. perfectly sculpted abs. She shut the door gently, turned around, and sucked in her breath. She sure knew how to pick 'em. Even if he didn't have a pleasant personality, he could still be fun. There was no way she was letting this one go.

Selina had let her mother finish the hats and bootees for the twins, and just as she was driving to pick them up, her water broke. She managed to get to Amelia and Andrew's house and get inside, but by the time they got her in a bed, the pain was so bad Selina felt she was going to pass out.

"So this just happened when you were in your car?" Amelia asked, holding tight to Selina's hand.

"Actually, I've been having pains since this morning, but they weren't so bad, so I didn't tell Elijah," Selina said. "I probably should have, but he got a call from one of our friends whose parents are currently away to come check on her, and I didn't have time to mention it before he left."

"Well, I believe I should tell your uncle to go call him now, shouldn't I?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah," Selina nodded and groaned. "That-that might be a good idea."

"What in the world is going on in here?" Andrew asked in response to Amelia's summons. "I've been trying to read and all the yelling makes it very difficult."

"Selina is in labor!" Amelia told him. "That's what all the yelling is about! Go call her husband and tell him to get over here so he can see his children being born!"

"Oh, sweetheart, I am so sorry!" Andrew told his niece, his expression much less gruff than it had been before. I had no idea. I'm not mad at you, I promise!"

"There's no time for apologies!" Amelia snapped. "Just go and call Elijah! Please!" She looked at her daughter. "And do you think there would be time to call some sort of doctor, or are we gonna have to do this on our own?"

"I think…I think we'll have to do this on our own," Selina replied and then screamed. "But don't worry. Elijah's delivered one of our kids before. I trust him."

By the time Elijah threw himself into the room, he was panting just as much as Selina was. "Sorry," he told her as he got up and ran over the bed. "I tried to get over here as fast as I could because I didn't want to be late."

"Well, you're just in time," She said as he removed his coat. "The first one is coming. And you don't have to use your coat this time. They have towels."

"Right," Elijah nodded. He ran to get a large white towel and then looked at Amelia. "This doesn't feel like an expensive towel. Is it okay to use?"

"It doesn't matter," Amelia assured him. "Not in this instance."

A few minutes later, baby Andrew emerged. Stephanie took a bit more time to come out, and once she was, Selina was full of relief. "Do you think we should call the ambulance or something to take me to the hospital?"

"Yes," Elijah nodded and got out his phone. "I think that would be a very good idea."

While he called the hospital, Selina gave her mother a smile. "Thank you for helping me through this," she said. "I appreciate it."

"Oh, that's no problem," Amelia said and kissed her cheek. "I-I really liked it. It really made me feel like your mother."

When the ambulance arrived, Amelia even held Selina's hand during the ride to the hospital while Elijah stood behind the drivers and urged them to go faster because he had two children and a wife who needed to be taken care of.

"Sir, we understand that," the driver told him patiently. "We're doing the best we can."

"Well, you better be!" Elijah replied. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

"Just relax." Selina urged. "We're going to be okay. It's not good to antagonize people who, if angered, could drive us into a tree or something. Not that they would do that, but it's a good thing to remember.

"You're right," Elijah nodded and ran his hand through his hair before going to stand next to Amelia who held Stephanie while Selina held baby Drew. "You're right. I can be calm. Nothing is solved by being agitated."

"Exactly," Selina nodded. "Nothing."