"Good morning!" Selina said as she came downstairs wearing a light pink bathrobe with different colored flowers on it. Elijah looked up at her and choked on his coffee. "Good morning," he said after he was able to breathe again. "Did you forget something?"

"What do you mean?" Selina asked. She looked down at her bathrobe and then up at Elijah who was already wearing a navy blue two piece suit. "Are you implying that I should have dressed before I came down for breakfast?"

He opened his paper and began reading it. "I can imply whatever I want, but that doesn't mean you're going to listen, does it?"

Selina shook her head and sat down. "No, not really."

After a moment, Elijah put his paper down and looked at her with his chin balanced on his hand. "Just because I'm curious," he said, "what was that horrible racket I heard this morning? Did somebody die?"

Selina winced. "You heard that? Sorry. No, nobody died. I decided that Lucy should take a bath and when I got her near the water, she just started screaming bloody murder and wouldn't calm down until I put her back to bed."

"You seem surprised by this," Elijah told her. "Maybe floating around in a flooded bathroom was more traumatizing for her than you thought."

"Maybe," Selina said. "But I don't understand why. It's just water for crying out loud."

"What if someone threw you in a lake?" Elijah asked her. "Would you be able to swim to shore? Or would you drown if there wasn't someone to rescue you?"

Selina sighed. "I admit that I was never formally taught how to swim, but being thrown in a deep lake and forced to fend for yourself is a lot different than being in a baby bath and floating around in water that's only ankle-deep. I promise I wouldn't have let her drown."

"I'll give it a try after we finish eating and see if I can't succeed where you failed," Elijah said.

Selina nodded. "Thank you. " She got up to get coffee and a blast of warm air from one of the heating vents made her robe flare up and gave Elijah a clear view of her long legs. He moaned softly and when she looked up, he cleared his throat.

"Are you all right?" She asked.

"Yes," he nodded. "Of course. Fine. Just wonderful."

She grinned. "All right, then." She turned away from him and poured herself a cup of coffee, just as she was about to sit down again, moved the top of the robe off her thigh and sat down before covering up again. "Thanks for letting me and Lucy stay last night," she said.

Elijah nodded. "It was my pleasure. I assume you called and let David know you wouldn't be meeting him?"

She nodded. "Of course I did. That's just good manners. He actually told me when I called that he had just been about to call me and tell me not to come. He's so sweet that way."

"Yes," Elijah said. "I bet he is."

"I figured you'd think so," Selina said. "That's why you set me up with him, isn't it?"

They sat in awkward silence for a few seconds before Elijah put the paper down on the table and stood up. "I think I'll go see to Lucy now," he said. "Enjoy your coffee."

As he strode out of the kitchen, Selina called after him, "Wait! You didn't answer my question!" Once he was gone, she sighed and sat back down, smirking to herself. "I really shouldn't have done that," she said to herself. "It's not like I can't guess why he set me up with David, even if he hasn't said it yet."

When he came back into the kitchen holding Lucy, who was dressed and giggling, Selina said, "You want to know something?"

"Of course," Elijah said, putting Lucy down. "I always want to know something."

"Well," Selina continued, "I was reading a book on relationships the other day and it said that the love impulse in man often reveals itself in terms of conflict."

He looked up at her. "What? The love impulse? There is no such thing. That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard."

Selina grinned. "See? The very fact that you're fighting with me about it proves my point. Men never like to be told that they love somebody, even though they're the last people to know."

"Well, that's not true either!" Elijah said defensively. "I think that if I loved someone, I'd know it."

"So do you love someone?" Selina asked. "Me for instance? That secretary in those stories you wrote is a lot like me."

"I told you," Elijah said through his teeth, "I didn't write those. David did."

"Ah," Selina nodded. "So you have absolutely no feelings for me whatsoever?"

"Now I didn't say that," Elijah said. "In fact, in moments of quiet, I'm strangely drawn to you. But it's just...oh, never mind!" He sat down huffily and wouldn't meet her eyes.

Selina nodded. "Fine," she said. "I'll just go get dressed and then Lucy and I will be on our way. I wouldn't want to abuse your hospitality any longer." She left the kitchen, dressed quickly and then picked up Lucy and made her way out the door without telling Elijah goodbye.

"I don't understand him, Lucy," Selina said. "I mean, I know in my heart that the secretary in those stories is based on me, and that Elijah is the one who wrote them because I saw him do it, but he won't admit it. Why not? That would save us both a lot of trouble, pain and misery."

She made her way to Anna and Stefan's, took Lucy out of the car and burst into the house. "I think I screwed up!" She said.

"How?" Stefan asked. He and Sam and Damon were sitting on the sofa watching football on television.

"I can't tell you!" Selina said. "Where's Anna? Is she here?"

"She went out," Damon said. "Who knows when she'll be back. But just know that even if you don't like us, we still like you."

"I didn't say I didn't like you," Selina said. "I'm just having an issue right now that you would not be helpful with, so there's no point in talking about it."

She sat down and Sam tried to squirm out of Damon's lap toward her. "Wanna switch kids?" She asked.

Damon nodded. "I don't think we really have a choice," he said.

They switched twins and Selina stared at the television. "I never really got the point of this game," she said. "I enjoy it, but I don't get it."

"Yeah," Damon smirked. "You enjoy watching the players in tight pants."

Selina nodded. "Of course I do. What's not to like? And how come you never wore tight pants when you played football?"

"It's not like we had uniforms back then," Damon said. "But even if we had, it wouldn't have been the football uniform that drew you to me. If I recall correctly, you didn't even let me undress entirely when you and I had our little liasion the day I shipped out."

"Well, but none of that had anything to do with the fact that you looked hot in the uniform, okay? I wasn't like the rest of the stupid girls in town who threw themselves at any man wearing gray so they could say they'd done their part for the war effort and the soldiers' morale. I did it because you and I were engaged and you were going off to war, and I knew that if I didn't do it with you then, I might not get the chance to do it with you at all! I wouldn't get the chance to express how much I loved you and would miss you. But hey, if you want to reduce my heartfelt feelings to something shallow and disgusting, be my guest. I don't know why I expected you to think any different!" She stood up and picked up Sam with her. "I need to go see my dad," she said. "And I think I'll take Sam with me. Daddy hasn't met him yet. I don't know when we'll be back. The two of you enjoy."

Damon walked after her. "Wait," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." But she ignored him and when the door closed behind her, Damon turned back to Stefan, who sat on the sofa. "I fucked up, didn't I?"

"Yes," Stefan nodded. "You did. Congratulations."

"I didn't mean to," Damon said. "I thought I was making a joke!"

"Well, obviously, Selina didn't think so," Stefan said. "This is exactly why the two of you have a problem. You treat your past issues very flippantly when in reality, the two of you would benefit from a frank and honest discussion about what happened in the past."

"Oh, who died and made you the relationship guru?" Damon asked.

"Well, let's think about this," Stefan said. "I've had multiple functional relationships since I became a vampire and you've had, what? One, two...none?"

"I've had a couple!" Damon said. "What about Margaret?"

"All right," Stefan nodded. "I'll give you Margaret. And the woman you're seeing right now, whatever her name is. When are we going to get to meet her, by the way? Unless she's made up too?"

"No," Damon said. "She's real."

"Actually," Stefan said, "I don't know if I could call what you and Margaret had a real relationship. I don't think you were fully invested in it."

"Of course I was," Damon said. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you weren't in love with her," Stefan said. "She was a bookmark, a placeholder. Somebody you could be with until Selina came to her senses and came back to you. Even now you hope that she will."

"She might," Damon said.

"I don't think so," Stefan said. "Not based on that exchange."

Damon took a deep breath and sat down on the sofa looking dejected. After a few seconds, Lucy crawled on his lap and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He smiled at her. "You're a little young, but I suppose you'll do for now." She snuggled against him and he felt better all of a sudden. He sat her straight on his lap and began talking to her about all the moves in football that helped a player score. She watched him intently and babbled in response to what he said. He hugged her and looked up at Stefan. "Can you not see why I love this kid?" He asked.

Stefan nodded. "I can." He sat next to him and Damon said, "Now explain to me about Anna."

"What about Anna?" Stefan asked.

"Why you and her?" Damon asked. "I never would have put the two of you together. She seems to me to have a few screws loose. She's pretty, but nuts."

"But didn't you once say that hot trumps weird when it comes to women?" Stefan asked.

Damon nodded. "Yeah, I did. But I never thought that would apply to you. I thought you were all hung up on being 'normal'."

"It was an experiment," Stefan said. "I managed it for awhile. But then I got bored. There's no problem with that, is there?"

"No," Damon shook his head. "Of course not. But can I say I like you better now?"

"Of course," Stefan said. "It's nice to see you being truthful about something."

"Where'd Anna go anyway? Did she say something about a party?"

"Yes," Stefan nodded. "In a few weeks, she and I are going to have a party. Just like the ones we threw years ago. You should come. It'll be fun."

"So what's going to happen?" Damon grinned. "You gonna get a DJ and some really bad punch and make everyone play charades?"

"No," Stefan shook his head. "It'll be more like a game. We'll invite a bunch of people and tell all the guests that they have to solve a murder."

"Like one of those murder mystery dinners?"

Stefan shook his head. "Not quite. We'll kill one person and then keep on killing until someone guesses who the killer is. And of course, then we'll have to kill the guesser."

"So you're going to invite humans to this party?" Damon asked. "It'll be you, me, Anna and a bunch of humans?"

"Actually," Stefan said, "It should be you, me, Anna, David, and Selina. This is a big house. There'll be enough space for all of us to be very well fed."

"Huh," Damon nodded. "Sounds good. I mean, I'll need to find a babysitter for Sam, but...sounds like fun."

"Good," Stefan said. "I'll tell Anna when she gets back that you want to come."

"He wants to come?" Anna said, coming in the door. "Wonderful! So it'll be three of us, Selina, David..."

"Elijah?" Stefan asked. "Do you want to invite him?"

Anna shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "I would much rather spend the night thinking about the look on Elijah's face when he realizes that David and Selina are together at a party and he's not with them."

Stefan gave her a look. "What is this fascination you have with torturing Elijah about Selina?"

"It's not my fault," Anna said. "He's asking for it! It's obvious that he likes her, so I'm just helping them along!"

"How is keeping them apart and putting Selina with somebody else going to bring Selina and Elijah together?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "I don't see why you don't get it. It's so obvious."

Stefan cleared his throat. "Well, if you would have been here earlier, you would have heard Selina going on about how she 'screwed up' somehow. She wanted to talk to you. I think it might have had something to do with Elijah."

Anna sighed and grabbed her phone, dialing Selina's number. "I have to do everything, don't I?" She muttered to herself.

Selina sat in her car, which was parked in the street next to her parents' house and stared at it longingly, wondering whether or not she should go in. Then her cell phone rang. She turned away from the house and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Stefan said you stopped by," Anna told her. "What happened?"

Selina sighed. "I think I might have overstepped with Elijah this morning. I asked him why it was exactly that he set me up with David, even though it's obvious to anyone with eyes that he wants me for himself, and he got all mad and stormed out."

"You shouldn't have done that!" Anna groaned. "This whole 'Getting Elijah to admit he likes you' thing is a bit like hunting a forest animal. You have to be real slow and subtle or you'll spook him and he'll run away. Now, just give it some time and he'll come around. Where are you now? You're not with him, are you?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "Damon and I had a fight and now I'm sitting outside my parents' house with Sam and wondering whether or not I should go in and have a chat with my father."

"Why?" Anna asked.

"Just something to do with what Damon and I talked about," Selina said. "Thanks for your help. I'll call you later." Without waiting to hear Anna say goodbye, she shut off her phone and turned to Sam. "So do you want to go inside and meet Grandpa?" She asked. She opened the door, got out of the car and came around to unhook Sam from his carseat and pick him up. "My mom's not here," she said. "This might be the most civil visit I've ever had to my parents' house."

She knocked on the door and when her father answered it, he did a double-take. "What are you doing here?" He asked her. "You never come here!"

"Am I not welcome?" She asked. "Cause I can leave."

"No, no!" He said, shaking his head. "I didn't mean it to sound bad. Come in!" He ushered Selina inside and sat her down on the living room sofa. "What's up?" He asked. "Your mother's not home, did you know that?"

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "I didn't see her car. That's what made me want to come in instead of just sitting in my car in the street, watching the house."

Matthew Warren looked heavenward for a moment. "I know you and your mother had a lot of problems," he said. "But you can't really blame her for everything. Under the circumstances, she did the best she could."

"No, she didn't!" Selina shook her head. "She married an asshole when Grandma and Grandpa Lockwood told her she didn't have to, and then let me think that he was my father for years! All that could have been avoided if she had just sucked it up and realized that it's not so bad to be alone."

"Do you think that?" Her father asked. "Could you be alone rather than be with someone who wasn't good to you?"

"If that was the only choice I had then I would risk being alone," Selina said. "I wouldn't let anyone harm my child, especially if that person also made me miserable enough to want to kill myself several times over."

Matthew shook his head. "I don't think all the problems you have are your mother's fault," he said. "I think that a lot of them have to do with me."

"You?" Selina said. "What did you do?"

"Tell me about your romantic life," Matthew told her. "How many men have you been interested in over the years?"

"Well," Selina said, "Three. Four, if you count the relationship I'm attempting to get into now."

"That's not many," her father said.

Selina nodded. "And I've been married or at least engaged to all those men. And they've all left me or screwed me over somehow. Damon went off to war and then through a series of misadventures ended up with another woman and I didn't see him for years, Alek left me without a word after ten years of marriage, and Nicky...well, let's just say that our relationship wasn't based on mutual love and understanding to begin with, so I don't know why I thought it would be as the years went by."

"That's three," Matthew said, brushing some of his brown hair out of his eyes. "What about the fourth man? How has he mistreated you?"

Selina shook her head. "He hasn't. You met him. He was the one that came with me to visit when Nicky was unable to."

"Ah," Matthew nodded. "I like him."

"So focus," Selina said. "What did you mean when you said that a lot of my problems have to do with you?"

"You've told me that all the men you've gotten close to in your life have deserted you either physically or emotionally, and you've named all of them," Matthew said. "But you've forgotten one. Probably the most important one."

"Who is that?" Selina asked.

"Me," he said. "I deserted you. I went off to war just like Damon and left you and your mother to fend for yourselves."

"But you came back to see me, right? After you became a vampire?" Selina said. "You told me that you did. And that you and Doctor Stensrund would always wipe my memory of it afterwards so I wouldn't go blabbing to Mama and freak her out. Was that a lie? Tell me it wasn't, please!"

Matthew looked at her hopeful face and shook his head. "Of course it wasn't. I did come back, because I didn't like the thought of you growing up all alone, but then I got scared about the effect of it all on your mother if you mentioned my visits to her, so we made sure that you could never say anything. We weren't thinking of you, were we?"

Selina swallowed. "Well, there were times when it would have been nice to have memories of a father who loved me, but I suppose you did what you thought was best."

Matthew nodded. "I did what was best for your mother. I didn't do what was best for you. When your grandfather told me that I was going to have to go fight against Mexico, your mother did her best to try and talk your grandfather out of it and let me stay home with you, but I came home one day wearing my uniform, and your mother had this look on her face, this wondrous, adoring look, and I loved it, foolish, self-absorbed boy that I was. I decided I would do what I had to to see that look in her eyes, and if that meant going off to war, then so be it."

"And if it hadn't been for that look, you would have stayed home with me?" Selina asked. "I don't blame you for what you did or why you did it. I mean, how can a little baby compete with the woman you married and slept with? That was before I was even old enough to be cute!"

Matthew grinned. "Oh, you were always cute."

Selina grinned and flushed. "Thank you."

"Do you understand what I'm saying to you, though?" Matthew asked. "That perhaps my leaving you has put fear in you in regards to other men and that's why you have trouble with relationships?"

"That's not why," Selina said. "It's because all the guys I go out with are completely wrong for me and them leaving is the universe's way of telling me that."

"So you don't think you and Damon would have worked out in the long run if things hadn't gone wrong?"

"Actually," Selina said, "I think we would have worked out great. I mean, we had a kid together and Damon knows me pretty well, almost better than I know myself. It's just that sometimes...he tends to leap before he looks and that doesn't always end well."

Matthew looked over at Sam. "Speaking of kids of yours, who's that?"

"This is Sam," Selina said, taking him into her lap. "He was my special little surprise."

"Why was he a surprise?" Matthew asked. "Were you not being careful?"

"Daddy!" Selina cried. Then she flushed a little. "Well, no. Not exactly. But in my defense, Damon didn't tell me beforehand that a witch had put a spell on him so he'd get one shot at having a kid. Of course the one condition of him getting it was that I not be the mother of the kid, but that was shot to hell. And at the same time, I also got pregnant with Nicky's daughter, so I have twins with men who I can't or shouldn't be in long-term relationships with, which is about as fun as getting invasive surgery, but I'm getting everything worked out."

"Can I see him?" Matthew asked.

"Sure," Selina said, handing Sam over. Matthew looked him over and then up at Selina. "I can tell he's Damon's son," he said. "Looks a lot like him."

Selina nodded. "I as much as suspected that would be the case. It was how Joshua was too."

"Have you and Damon ever talked about Joshua?" Matthew asked.

"Not much," Selina said. "But a little bit, yes. Maybe we should start again. Cause when Sam gets older, he's going to spend a lot of time around his other siblings who are vampires and he's not, and then he's going to want to be one too, and I have to be prepared for that."

"Do you want him to be one?" Matthew asked. "Joshua wasn't one, was he?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "He lived a long, full human life. Truth be told, that's what I want for Sam too, but I'm not going to demand that. I know what it feels like to be told you don't have a choice."

Matthew nodded and rubbed Selina's back. "I know you do," he said. She lay her head on his shoulder. "This is nice," she said.

"Yeah," Matthew nodded. "I think so too. But from now on, you have to promise me something."

"What's that?" Selina asked. "Anything."

"Remember that I left you too," he said. "I'm not some magical figure in a shiny uniform. I'm just a man. I have faults, I make mistakes. If you ever listen to anything I tell you, listen to that."

"Why would you want me to remember you that way?" Selina asked.

"Because it will help you." He said. "It's about time I did something with your interests at heart. And try to remember any good times you had with your mother. It might help the two of you get along."

"Actually, according to Uncle Jacob, werewolf mothers and daughters hardly ever get along. It's in our psychology," Selina said. "I don't know if there's anything I can do to fix it."

"Well, try," Matthew said. "Please?"

"Okay," Selina said, standing up. "You're tired of being in the middle. I get it."

"Are you going to go now?" Matthew asked.

Selina nodded. "I think so. Probably won't be too long before Mama gets back and I don't want to start any trouble."

"All right," Matthew said. "And darling, you take care of yourself, all right?"

Selina nodded, her hand on the doorknob. "All right, Daddy. Thank you."

Selina and Damon talked it over and decided that Selina should keep Sam for a few days because they hadn't spent a lot of time together. Damon took Lucy in exchange, something that Selina was more than happy to agree to because Klaus was getting more and more involved with Myna and more likely to become a bad influence on his daughter.

"Okay," she said, as soon as Damon left after dropping Sam off. "What do you want to do first, Sammy? Should we play with your ball?"

Sam went into the living room and got down on the floor in front of the television. "TV."

"No," Selina said, picking him up. "We aren't going to rot our brains by sitting in front of the TV. We're going to go outside and have fun."

Sam's lip began to tremble and as Selina carried him away from the living room, he reached out toward the television, sobbing "TV! TV!"

Selina rolled her eyes. "I'm going to be having a talk with your daddy when he comes to pick you up," she said. She brought him outside, sat him down on the grass and threw his ball at him. Instead of catching it, however, he just eyed her balefully and then picked up a bug and started to bring it towards his mouth.

"No, no, no!" Selina said, snatching the bug from him and throwing it away with a squeak. "We don't eat those. They're icky." She picked Sam up and gave him a look. "Don't tell me your daddy lets you eat bugs too?"

"Bug!" Sam grinned.

Selina took Sam inside and called Damon. "Do you let him eat bugs?" She asked.

"Why would I do that?" Damon asked.

"Well, we were outside and he got hold of this bug, and..."

"Lots of little kids try and eat bugs," Damon said patiently. "You yourself tried to swallow several ladybugs when we were kids, but I never let any get in your mouth."

"You didn't?" Selina asked.

"No," Damon said. "What do you think I am, stupid?"

"I would never say that!" Selina said. "By the way, my dad thinks you and I should talk about Joshua in case that has any effect on Sam."

"Why would we need to talk about Joshua?" Damon asked. "He died years ago."

Selina nodded. "That's cause he was human. We need to decide what we're going to tell Sam when he says he wants to change."

"How do you know he's going to?" Damon asked. "He might just want to stay the way he is."

"With three vampire half-siblings?" Selina scoffed. "Please. He's going to want to change. We have to be prepared for that eventuality."

"All right," Damon said. "I'll come over sometime and we'll talk."

"Good," Selina said. "Let's set up a time when you come to drop off Lucy."

"Sure," Damon said. "Why not?"

They said goodbye and she hung up the phone. Then she went to get Sam again. "Wanna come with me and watch while I paint my sketch?" She asked him. They walked to her bedroom where the easel was set up, surrounded by paints. She set him down on the floor and began painting. Remember the incident with Lucy swallowing paint, Selina put the lids on the colors she wasn't using so Sam wouldn't be able to get into them. But as she painted the sky, she heard a giggle. She peered around the easel and gasped. Sam had stuck one of his little fingers in the paint can and was now smearing blue paint all over her pristine white wall.

"No!" She said, hurrying over to move his hand. "Stop putting paint on Mommy's wall!" But as she pulled him away and he let out an indignant cry, she looked at the streaks of blue paint again. "You know," she said, "that's not such a bad color after all. In fact, this room would look so good in that color!" She kissed him. "Sammy, you little genius, you gave Mommy an idea!"

The next day, after he'd had time to think about it, Elijah decided that he needed to go over and have a talk with Selina about what had happened the day before. He got in his car and drove over to her apartment, letting himself in. "Hello?" He called. "Anyone home?"

He didn't get a reply, but when he stepped further inside, he saw Sam in his playpen playing with a ball. He went over and peered at him. "Where's your mother?" He asked.

Sam looked up at him and grinned. "Paint!" He said.

Elijah ruffled Sam's hair and turned away, walking down the hall. When he went past Selina's bedroom, he noticed the door was open a crack and that loud, pulsing music was issuing from inside. He pushed the door open the rest of the way and stood with his hand against the doorframe, smirking to himself. Selina was standing on a ladder, shaking her hips to the music. Half of her room was covered with blue paint and so was she. As she danced, her foot missed the ladder and she shrieked as she felt herself fall. Elijah sped over and grabbed her, rolling them both over so that he was on the floor looking up at her and she was on top of him.

"Hi," she said, looking down at him in surprise. "When did you show up?"

"Just a few seconds ago." He winced. "Could you turn that radio off so we can talk?"

Selina stood up. "Sure," she said. She winced a little when she saw that some of the paint on her overalls had gotten onto his suit. "Sorry about that," she said. "It'll come off, I swear."

Elijah looked down for a moment, then shook his head and looked back up at her. "That doesn't matter," he said. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Thanks to you." She grabbed a towel and wiped herself off. "I know I'm a mess," she said. "If I'd known you were coming, I'd have cleaned myself off."

"That doesn't matter," he said. "You look beautiful, even if you are covered in paint." He looked at the walls. "I've often thought that you'd have made a good model for a Renaissance painter."

"Really?" Selina asked. "Thanks, but frankly, I'd prefer to be a painter rather than a model."

He reached out his hand and stroked her cheek. "You'd do well being both," he said.

"You think so?" She said. "If you want, I could show you my interpretation of Venus on the Half-Shell. Want to see it?"

"Maybe later," he said. "I do want to see it sometime. But not now."

"Come on," She said. "Are you sure? You gave Lucy a bath yesterday, and here I am covered in paint. Why don't you give me one?"

He grabbed her shoulders and gave her an intense look. "Not now," he said. "I told you that."

She grinned slowly, running a hand down his chest. "Why do you always have to wear button-down shirts?" She asked. "It makes touching very difficult. Don't you want me to touch you?"

He shut his eyes tight and then pulled her against him, kissing her deeply. She put her hands on his cheeks and then ran them down his neck, and when she reached the top button of his shirt, she lost patience and ripped the shirt off, sending buttons flying everywhere.

"There," she said, running her hands down his stomach. Elijah was breathing heavily. She backed him up against the wall and kissed him again. He undid the straps of her overalls and she obligingly stepped out of them. "I'm wearing lace panties," she whispered right next to his ear. "Want to see them?"

Just as Elijah felt himself reach for her to lift her onto her bed, he heard the door open and Sam toddled in. "Hungry, Mama!"

"For god's sake, Sammy, could you wait just one minute?" Selina asked exasperatedly. "Mommy's busy!"

"You should go," Elijah said to her. "And you should pick up the buttons from my shirt off the floor before he swallows any of them."

Selina frowned at him as she put her overalls back on. "Well, that was a waste."

"Come on!" Sam said. He took his mother by the hand and pulled her along to the kitchen. Elijah came in a second later, his suit coat buttoned up higher than usual to compensate for what happened to his shirt.

"I can't believe you did that to my shirt," Elijah said. "It was new."

"It could be worse," Selina said. "I could have broken the zipper on your pants. I was thinking about it."

"You and I, we have to be careful," Elijah said.

"Why?" Selina asked. "Cause you don't want David to find out, even though you set me up with him?"

"Exactly," Elijah said. "You have to think of David. He's your boyfriend, not me."

"You know, you're right," she said. "He's the one writing all those super sexy stories about me. I don't know why I'm wasting my time with you when you're clearly not interested in me that way. I should go to David's house dressed like Miss Stinson in one of those fantasies of his. Like that one where they end up at Ted's cabin and they make love on that bear skin rug..." She paused. "Do you think that would be a nice surprise for him?"

"I don't know," Elijah said. "David's not going to be home tonight, but you could always test it out on me so we can make sure you're doing it right. A proper replication of that scene, I mean."

She grinned. "Would you like that?" She asked, stroking his cheek.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Are you sure?" She asked. "It might get in the way of your morals. I wouldn't want to get in the way of your morals." She trailed her hand off his cheek and backed away.

"Well, you have shot my morals to hell, haven't you?" He burst out. "The whole reason why I set you up with David in the first place wasn't because I wanted you to be with him! It was to keep you away from me!"

"What?" Selina asked, looking shocked. "Are you serious?"

"No," he said, looking at her sarcastically. "I'm telling you that every time I see you all I want to do is rip off your clothes and throw you into the nearest bed because I think it will be a good laugh!" He scoffed.

She grinned and put her hands on him again. "If you want me so bad, then what's the problem?"

He shut his eyes, breathed deeply, thinking of how his horse had once looked after it had died and been left in the sun, and stepped away from her. "The problem is," he said through his teeth, "That you and Niklaus are still married and if I were to 'make my move' as it were, I wouldn't be any better than him, now would I?"

"Yes you would!" Selina insisted. "Because you really love me! You're not just looking for a fling, so it's totally different!"

Elijah shook his head. "Please don't make this any harder than it is. Call David and arrange to see him when he gets home."

"Well, what are you going to do?" Selina asked. "I could spritz one of my shirts and give it to you if you'd like. Would that help?"

He gave her a weak smile. "Thank you, but I'm a grown man and I should be able to spend the night alone."

"All right," Selina said. "And I suppose it would only be right of me to do as you ask and not push you anymore. I'll be patient. I can wait."

He nodded and took her hand, kissing it gently. "It will happen," he promised her. "The time will come for us. It just isn't now."

She nodded. "I suppose you'd like to go now."

He nodded. "Maybe I should. Goodbye."

She watched him go and then turned back to Sam feeling absolutely heartbroken. He wanted her. He'd said so. But they couldn't be together and it was all stupid Nicky's fault, and now poor Elijah had to go home and be all by himself...

She slammed the door closed and leaned against it, tears running down her cheeks. Sam took one look at her and went into the bathroom to grab a tissue, then came out and handed it to her.

"Thank you, Sammy," she said. "It's just so sad to think of Elijah home all by himself, pining away for me."

Sam gave her a kiss and a hug and then Selina took him into the kitchen to get him something to eat. She decided to halt panting for the day. She could keep going tomorrow.

That night, although he tried his hardest, Elijah couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned for hours and even sat in front of the television watching dreadful infomercials, but that didn't help his insomnia either. Then he vaguely remembered Selina suggesting that he take an article of her clothing to help him deal with their situation. It seemed like the only option at this point. Standing up from the living room chair, he got dressed, got in his car and drove to her apartment. He managed to get inside and up to her apartment door, then slowly opened it with the key she'd given him and turned some lights on so he could find his way. Then he made his way quietly to her bedroom door, and, praying the hinges wouldn't squeak, pushed it open.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he crossed her threshold, pausing to admire the way her face looked in shaft of light that entered the room from the hallway. Then he cleared his throat and proceeded over to her chest of drawers and opened each drawer to figure out which one her shirts were located in.

The first one he opened had her panties in it. Once he realized that, he started to close it, but then decided to look around. One of the first pairs he found was the one that she'd worn pretending to be Miss Stinson, and here was the pair she'd worn when she'd offered him her coat, and this black pair, he hadn't seen her in them, but he'd take it up with her for next time she tried to pull something...

A moan from the bed startled him badly and he shut his hand in the drawer as he quickly tried to close it. Sucking in his breath, he turned around and saw Selina sit up. "Who's there?" she said.

"It's just me," Elijah said quietly. "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you."

She grinned and got out of bed. "Why would I be afraid?" She asked, smiling and putting her arms around his neck. "I see you every night."

"No, you don't," he said. "This is the first time I've come here. But I was just leaving. I came to grab one of your shirts like you offered and then I'll be on my way. Which drawer are they in?"

"Why would you want my clothes?" She asked. "You never ask for my clothes."

"What do I usually do?" He asked, looking at her and realizing for the first time that she wasn't wearing anything.

She grinned. "Well, first you kiss me, and then..." she giggled. "We'll have to take off your clothes to do the rest."

"No, I don't think so," he said. "We decided today that we aren't going to do that anymore, remember?"

She pouted. "I don't like this dream anymore!"

His eyes widened. "Dream? Then you're asleep? Where do you think you are?"

"I'm in a castle," she said. "I'm a princess and you're my knight in shining armor. You rescued me from the wicked king and this is our wedding night..."

"Is it really?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. But you've kept me waiting. And that makes me sad!"

"No, no!" He said quickly. "I'm here. I'm here."

She looked down at him. "Well, I'm not letting you into bed like that!"

He looked down at himself. He was still fully dressed. She came toward him and took off his suit, but left his tie on, using it to lead him to bed with. He climbed in next to her and she kissed him for a long while, and then he ran kisses in a trail down her neck and ran his hands over her breasts and stomach. When he suddenly remembered that she was asleep, he stopped and tried to roll away, but she pulled him right back, running her hands along him, and stroking him gently.

He moaned with pleasure, but when she paused for a moment, he said, "Shouldn't we pause until tomorrow? Your father the king must be throwing parties for the man who vanquished the man who took his daughter and we want to be well-rested."

"Don't be silly!" Selina said. "Father said we can take as long as we want!"

"Fine," he said when he realized she wasn't going to let up. "Why don't I give you a back rub?"

She nodded and turned over onto her stomach. He rubbed her back gently until she fell asleep. Then he turned on his other side and closed his eyes. He would probably have a better night here, based on how his attempts to sleep had gone at home.

Selina was the first one awake the next morning. She reached over under the cover and felt something strange. She moved her hand a little and heard a pleasured moan. She looked over and saw Elijah in the bed next to her. Then, she let out a shriek, causing him to open his eyes and bolt up in bed.

"What are you doing in my bed?" She asked. "I thought we said we weren't going to do stuff like this anymore!"

"We-we aren't!" He muttered. "I couldn't sleep at my house last night, so I decided...to come over and..."

"Sleep with me?" She asked.

"No!" Elijah shook his head. "That wasn't my intention. My intention was to get one of your shirts and leave, but...I got distracted."

"By what?" Selina asked.

"Your underwear drawer," he groaned. "And you were having some weird dream and you dragged me into it and I didn't have the heart to say no."

"Gee, that explains why it was much more realistic than it usually is." Selina said. "Let's not panic now. This could be perfectly fine. We might not have even done anything last night. I think I would remember it if we did."

"You certainly would!" Elijah said.

"Well, don't we think a lot of ourselves?" Selina asked.

Just then, the door opened and Klaus strode in. "Listen, Selina, I was wondering if you could tell me where..." He looked up and saw her and Elijah in bed together. He grinned widely. "I was wondering if you could tell me where Lucy was."

"She's not here," Selina said. "She'll be back in a few days. Don't come back until then. Bye!"

Klaus left the room and shut the door behind him, chuckling and dialing Anna's number. "Anna, dear, you'll never guess what I just saw."