"Do you want some coffee?" Selina asked Elijah the next morning. She'd woken up alone and after getting a bath robe on, she came into the kitchen and sat down, but he hadn't looked up to acknowledge her presence.

"Do you want some coffee?" She repeated. When he said nothing, she sighed, put the coffee put down and snatched his paper out of his hands so that he was forced to look up at her. "I was reading that," he said.

"You still can," she replied. "I'll give it back if you tell me whether you want coffee or not. You didn't even wish me good morning, and usually by this time, I've already endured more than one lecture about how it's better to be dressed for breakfast."

"I'm sorry," he said. "But no, I don't want coffee. Just a piece of toast, I think, and no butter."

"Well that's boring," she said. "I'm a woman of many culinary talents. Challenge me."

"Normally I would," he said. "But I got a phone call this morning and I have to be out of here right away. I have to meet someone."

"Who was it that called?" Selina asked. "Are you referring to the nut that called at two a.m.? Who does that?"

"You heard that?" Elijah asked. "What else did you hear?" His voice rose, sounding a little more threatening than he meant it to. He stood up, looming over her.

"Would you relax?" Selina asked. "The only person I heard talking was you and I thought it was some sort of audio hallucination because I was half-asleep anyway."

"Oh, right." Taking a deep breath, sat down and tried to act non-chalant. "You know," he said, "I think I just might have that coffee after all, please."

Selina grinned. "Let me guess: black?"

He shook his head. "No, I like a little milk."

Selina nodded. "All right." She poured milk in both their coffees and when they were both sitting and sipping them, Elijah said, "So what is it that you're going to do today? Is picking up Lucy on your list?"

"It can be," Selina said. "Do you miss her?"

He nodded. "Yes, I really do. It's so quiet around here without her."

Selina smirked. "Now, if it were fifteen years ago and we were talking about Roxie, that would be a good thing."

Just then, the door burst open and Roxie strode in. "Breakfast!" She said when she saw them drinking their coffee. "I would like a cheese and spinach omelet with bacon and toast please. And milk and orange juice."

Selina looked nonplussed. "Were you expecting me to make that for you?"

"Well, yeah," Roxie nodded. "You're making stuff for Uncle Elijah and yourself and I'm a guest, so shouldn't I get to eat too? That's just good hospitality."

Selina sighed. "Well, I suppose that since your uncle only wants dry toast and I need a challenge to wake myself up for the day, I'll make you the omelet, but you have to help me. I'm not going to let you just sit there."

"Well, you've obviously never chatted with Vince about how horrible I am around a stove," Roxie said. "He said it himself in no uncertain terms that if I ever pick up a spoon or a spatula, he will cut off my hands."

"Well, that's because you've never asked me for help," Selina said. "While I can't make you a culinary genius by any stretch of the imagination, if you let me help you, I'll at the very least make you competent in the kitchen. Would you like that?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I suppose. If it'll get me my omelet. Is this the only way I'll get my omelet?"

"Yes," Selina said immediately. "It's the only way."

They set about cracking eggs and melting cheese and Selina said to Roxie, "What brings you over here this early in the morning? Something else besides breakfast? You're usually never up before noon. Anything you want to talk about?"

"You mean like Dad and my roommate?" Roxie asked. "They're definitely a problem. So bad, I don't even want to be at the apartment anymore."

"Are they sleeping together?" Selina asked.

Roxie shook her head. "No, and Dad says they won't, but even seeing them sitting on the couch together watching TV makes me want to hurl. It would do the same for you if you saw it. Trust me."

"It's none of my business who your father decides to associate with," Selina said. "I just want him to be happy and the hell away from me."

"So he is seeing someone else?" Elijah asked Roxie.

Roxie nodded. "Seeing, using, manipulating, whatever. And he told me to tell you he's more than happy to get going on a divorce now." She pouted. "This is so not fair! Dad has dozens of minions already. Why does he have to take mine?"

"Your father's never happy unless he's taking things from other people," Elijah said. "He gets joy out of causing others misfortune."

"I just wish he could meet someone else," Roxie complained. "Someone who isn't my roommate."

"So you're okay with him seeing people too?" Selina asked. "I get the feeling you're a little resistant."

"Well somebody has to be, but I suppose it would be wrong of me to hope he spends the rest of his life by himself," Roxie said.

"Actually, he sort of wished to spend the rest of his life by himself," Selina said. "When Vanessa asked him what three wishes he wanted in return for rescuing her, one of them was that he would never fall in love with just one woman, that he would be free to go from woman to woman as he pleased for all eternity. I bet he's wishing he hadn't made that wish now," Selina said thoughtfully.

When the omelet was finally done, along with the toast, Roxie sat down again. "So are you going to see Dad about a divorce today?"

Selina nodded. "If he doesn't come and see me first."

"I didn't come here to be sociable," Selina said when Klaus opened the front door and saw her standing on the other side with Lucy in one arm. "I came because Roxie said you were ready to start divorce proceedings and I'm more than happy to go along with that."

"Well, nice to see you too," Klaus said. He took Lucy and cuddled her. "Mommy's in a bad mood today, I think," he said to her. "I think she misses me."

"I'm not in a bad mood and I don't miss you. I just want to be divorced like we should be," Selina said. "Now let's make this quick and go down to the courthouse to compel someone to make our divorce official."

"We can't go now," Klaus said. "Where would we put Lucy?"

"Whatever you do, don't send her to Damon's," Stefan said, coming up behind him. "I think there's something going on there."

"No there's not!" Selina said. "They're close. So what? God knows she gives him more attention then I ever did. Even though that was his fault and he was the one who left me for Katherine."

"But why did you leave him for Klaus?" Stefan asked her. He was grinning wickedly.

"She did it because obviously I gave her something your brother couldn't give her," Klaus said.

"And yet, your brother is now giving her the same thing instead of you," Stefan said. He turned back to Selina. "You really can't make up your mind, can you?"

"Oh, shut up!" Selina shot back. "Why are you even here anyway?"

"Can't a friend visit another friend?" Stefan asked. "We were about to go hunting when you rudely showed up here without calling first."

"Well fine!" Selina snapped. "Lucy and I can leave. We wouldn't want to interrupt anything important. But we're going to go to the courthouse tomorrow and compel whomever we have to so that we're unattached by the time we're clear of the courthouse doors." She narrowed her eyes at Klaus. "You can count on it."

Klaus nodded. "I have someone waiting for me in the wings," he said. "You won't see me trying to hold you back. Not anymore. But when you find yourself getting incredibly jealous because I'm paying attention to someone else who isn't you, don't come crying to me."

"Oh, I won't," Selina said. "I'll complain to your brother and then he and I will have the best sex of our lives."

He smirked. "That sentence last longer than the best sex of Elijah's life."

Selina rolled her eyes. "For god's sake, grow up, will you?" She left the house and drove back to Elijah's, where she noticed a familar car parked in the driveway. She parked beside it and went inside, finding her mother sitting next to Elijah, chatting with him. They were both drinking tea. Her mother turned to face her when Selina entered the room. Amelia Lockwood Warren's eyes were red her face was puffy.

"What's wrong, Mama?" Selina asked. "Why have you been crying?"

"We've had a death in the family," Amelia said. "It happened yesterday. We're all still in shock."

"Who died?" Selina asked. "Tell me, who was it?"

"It was Tyler," said another voice. "They don't quite know what killed him. Some sort of sports accident. Heart attack while playing football. That's what the doctors say." Selina handed Lucy to her mother and strode across the room to embrace the other speaker. "I'm sorry, Caroline," she said. "I know this must be a difficult time for you."

Caroline sobbed on Selina's shoulder for a little while and then pulled her head up, sniffling and taking the tissue Selina offered her. "Thanks," she said and gently blew her nose before throwing the tissue away. She wore a navy blue dress that was covered in wrinkles. "We thought you'd want to know. That's why we came."

"Well I did want to know, and thank you for telling me," Selina said. "I will do whatever you need me to do, help you in any way I can. You know that, right?"

Caroline nodded. "Thank you. We're going to hold the funeral tomorrow. Would you want to come and receive mourners with the rest of the family?"

Selina nodded. "Of course. I mean, I'll have to dye my hair or something so that people will be less likely to figure out that it's me, but it's been like, thirty years since I spent any real length of time in Mystic Falls, so I'm not too worried."

Caroline's gaze traveled to the little girl in Amelia's lap. "And who is this?" She asked, picking up Lucy.

"That's Lucy," Selina said. "She's my youngest. Well, one of my youngest. Damon has the other. A boy named Sam."

"What's Damon doing with a kid?" Caroline asked, looking surprised.

"It's a long story," Selina said. "It would take awhile to explain it."

"Actually it wouldn't," Amelia said. "You got drunk, you weren't careful, and you had children with two different men."

"One of them was my husband!" Selina said defensively.

"But I thought Damon couldn't!" Caroline said. She looked shocked.

"He had magic on his side," Selina said. "And inconvenient timing."

Caroline gave Lucy a hug. "Anyway, this one is incredibly loveable, isn't she?"

Selina nodded. "She loves people. In contrast to my other daughter who only pretends to like people in order to make them her minions."

"How in the world are you raising her?" Amelia asked. "How could you let her behave like that?"

"Oh, I don't know, Mama!" Selina snapped. "That's just how she is! She's gotten worse since Klaus and I decided that we're going to divorce. She's taking it hard."

"Well there's a simple solution to that!" Amelia said. "Don't get a divorce! It's not that difficult!"

"Well now I know why you spent all those years with Robert Pierce despite the fact that he abused us and made us miserable! Times have changed, Mother!" Selina said. "Women don't have to just sit demurely by while men run things. We can take action. If we're unhappy about something, say in my case a marriage to a man with a permanent case of arrested development, it's socially acceptable for us to be without men. No one will judge us except uptight fuddy-duddies like you!" She turned to Elijah. "You see?" She demanded, pointing at her mother. "This woman is responsible for making me a complete basket case. And a wuss and passive and so desperate to be loved and appreciated that I just...I let things go way too far."

"We should go," Amelia said. "But I assume you want us to come back and pick you up for the funeral tomorrow?"

"Sure," Selina nodded. "Why not?"

Caroline put Lucy down and they left. Selina sat down on a kitchen chair and shut her eyes. She felt emotionally drained.

"Are you going to be all right?" Elijah asked her. He put his arms around her, then they heard a whine and turned around to see Lucy pouting. She wanted to be hugged too. Elijah picked her up and managed to squeeze everyone in. When they parted, Selina said, "I think I'll go visit Sam. I haven't done that in awhile."

"I thought you said you weren't going come by anymore," Damon said over the phone. "And you want to come now. Why the change of heart?"

"I saw my mom," she said quietly. "She and Caroline came by because apparently Tyler had a heart attack or something and they wanted me to come to the funeral. And of course, Mama and I got in a fight. This time, it was about how I allowed Roxie to turn out and of course, Mama has to shame me for wanting to divorce Klaus. Oh, please. Like she's so perfect herself."

"In that case," Damon said, "feel free to come by. I have paints. We can go to the park and-"

"No, I'm too miserable to paint, but thank you," she said. "Could we just have a cocoa and watch a movie? I'd like that. It would cheer me up immensely."

"All right," Damon said. "Sure. Come right over. And bring Lucy."

Selina grinned. "All right. I'll bring Lucy."

"And by the way, I have some of your stuff in the attic," Damon said. "Would you like to bring it back to your house with you?"

"What sort of stuff?" Selina asked.

"Just a bunch of old pictures," he said. "And some of your junk."

"I'll come and have a look," Selina said. "See you soon." She hung up, grabbed Lucy, said goodbye to Elijah and headed off to Damon's.

"So where's the stuff?" Selina asked as she and Lucy followed Damon and Sam up to the attic.

"In the farthest corner, if you can believe it," Damon said. "I don't know why the boxes are so dusty. They haven't even been up here that long." Selina sat in a dusty maroon armchair with Sam and Lucy on her lap while Damon pulled a trunk out and pushed the lid off. It clattered to the floor and a burst of dust went into the air, causing Lucy to sneeze and Sam to cough.

Selina stood up, put Sam and Lucy down, tiptoed toward the box and looked inside. "Oh, my god." She gently pushed some stuff aside and pulled out a black and white photo of a young man in a suit and squishy dark tie. He looked like Damon but with some differences.

"Come here and look at this, Sammy," Selina said, taking Sam in her lap. "I'll take you downstairs and tell you who this is."

While Damon and Lucy played with some of Selina's old toys, Sam and Selina looked at the picture she had found in the trunk. "This is your brother, Sammy," Selina said. "His name was Joshua. I had him right before I became a vampire. Your daddy went off to war and I stayed home. I didn't get to raise Joshua like I should have because of a lot of crazy stuff that happened, but he grew up nice, was a reporter for the newspaper, got married, and then he and his wife had four kids. They were good kids."

She paused and sighed. "He was human. He stayed human his whole life and it never bothered him. He was okay with it, and I want that for you too. I don't want you to feel like you matter less because your brother and sisters are stronger than you. But I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. You can do what you want and I'll love you however you choose to be, but right here," she held the picture closer to Sam's face and she could feel her voice breaking, "right here is evidence that you don't have to have superpowers to have a good life. Remember that, Sammy. Please."

Sam reached for the picture, but Selina held it out of his grasp and then carried it over and put it on the mantel where everyone who went in the house could see it. "Don't move this," she said when Damon and Lucy came downstairs. "I want it to stay right where it is so you and I won't forget about who's in the picture. And we should visit his grave sometime."

Damon nodded. "All right," he said quietly. "I don't have a problem with that."

Selina paused. "Actually, let's drop the kids off and go right now."

Damon looked surprised. "Really?" He asked. "Are you sure?"

Selina nodded. "I just-I have to see him."

"You mean like dig up his body?" Damon asked, eyebrow quirking.

"No!" Selina shook her head. "Of course not! It's just that thinking about him hurts. It always has and I think going to his grave will give me closure."

Damon nodded. "All right," he said. "Let's drop the kids off somewhere and then we can go."

"Where is it you're going again?" Stefan asked Damon.

"To see Joshua's grave," Damon said. They were talking in the kitchen, away from Selina who still seemed a bit overwrought. "I found some of her old stuff and we brought it down for her to take home with her and she found a picture of Joshua and it really made her sad."

"Well, I don't blame her," Stefan said. "He got taken away from her when he was a month old or something. She never got to see him grow up because Doctor Stensrund made her a vampire and didn't tell her where Joshua was, but even if he had, I doubt Father would have let her in the house to see him anyway."

"Well, do you want to come with us since it's your nephew we're going to see?" Damon asked.

"Sure," Stefan shrugged. "Why not?"

"We're going on a field trip," Stefan said to Anna. "I don't think you'd be too interested in coming with us."

"Oh, yeah?" Anna looked up. "Where are you going?"

"To see my nephew's grave," Stefan said. "You've never met him. He was human and died awhile ago. But you can come if you want."

"No thanks," Anna shook her head. "I think I'll stay here and watch Sam and Lucy while the three of you go."

That being said, Selina, Stefan and Damon got in Damon's car and drove to what was left of the house the three of them had lived in while they were alive.

But as they drove up to it, they heard loud yelling and laughter in the surrounding trees. They parked on the side of the dirt road and slowly proceeded into the grass, kicking beer cans aside as they got closer to the raucous.

"Joshua's grave is on the other side of this tree," Selina said, peering around a small oak tree. She gasped. There was a group of young men lapping alcohol from a tub near her son's grave, while another trio were playing a game of paintball and being careless about where they aimed. The name on Joshua's grave was almost entirely covered with green paint.

Selina's eyes narrowed, her muscles tensed, and Damon and Stefan watched as she strode purposefully into the gang of men and tapped one on the shoulder. He turned around and grinned. "Hey, sweetie," he said to her. He was wearing a backwards baseball cap, jeans with the knees ripped out and a shirt with no sleeves, although there seemed to have been some once. "What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Selina grinned slyly. "Just walking around. Mind if I join the party?"

He nodded. "Sure. You could even take the next drink if you want. We wouldn't mind." He eyed his friends, who were watching Selina with interest, because she was wearing a tight sweater and a short black skirt with panty hose and heels despite the cold.

"Thanks," Selina said. "But I wouldn't want to interrupt anything. Who's turn is it next?"

"Mine," the guy said, showing his teeth. He went to stand over the tub.

"Oh," Selina said, locking eyes with him. "You'll be so good, you won't even need to come up for air, will you? It would really impress me if you didn't."

The guy nodded. "Sure," he said. "Sure, I'll drink as much as I can without coming up for air."

Selina grinned. "You'll drink more than you can." She eyed the tub that was holding the beer. It was still pretty full. "In fact," she said, circling the guy, "drink the rest of the tub."

He nodded. Okay."

Looking at Selina nervously, two of the other guys picked him up, turned him over, and began cheering as he drank, but eventually, he began to squirm and struggle. His friends tried to make him stop drinking, but they couldn't. Finally, his struggling stopped and he was still. They pulled him out. His face was blue and his eyes were wide. "He's dead!" they said to Selina.

"Well that's what he gets for being disrespectful at a gravesite," Selina said. "Now, how shall I punish the rest of you?" She noticed that the drowned man still had a rope around his waist, which had been put there at an earlier period.

"Untie the rope," she ordered another one of the group. "And give it to me."

He brought her the rope and she tied it into a noose, then took the noose and hung it over a tree. "Come here," she told the man who'd given her the rope. He was looking terrified, but he came anyway. She put the noose around his neck and said, "stay put." Then, she took the last of the trio aside and whispered in his ear, "Hang your friend, now. Just go give the rope a little tug and he'll be dead. But don't worry. I won't make you live with the guilt. You'll be next." Gulping, the guy approached his friend. Two of the other men tried to stop him, but Selina snapped their necks and they crumpled to the ground. "Now," she said, dusting off her hands and giving each one of the bodies a swift kick in the head. "Where were we?" She paused. "Oh, yes, the hanging." She put her hand over the guys and together, the two of them pulled, his friend's neck breaking quickly as he was strung up.

Meanwhile, Damon and Stefan had retreated a safe distance away and saw everything. "What's going on, Stefan?" Damon asked. "Has Selina completely lost her mind?"

"She's actually showing remarkable restraint, considering the circumstances," Stefan said. He sounded vaguely amused and was smirking openly. "There was this one time in '25 that Anna and me and Nick and Selina decided to go to this really snazzy new restaurant in Paris, but traffic was bad and we missed the reservation, and when they wouldn't let us in, Selina got everyone in the restaurant to finish each other off so we had the place entirely to ourselves. That was a good night."

Damon sighed. He felt something like unease in the pit of his stomach as he watched Selina throw the man who'd hanged his friend to the ground and bash him over the head repeatedly with a rock until all that was left of his head and face was a bloody mess. Finally, when a majority of the men were dead, with only one or two scampering away from the gravesite after Selina had compelled them never to tell what they saw, Selina collapsed and burst into tears, futilely rubbing at the green paint on Joshua's gravestone with her fingers.

"You should probably go over there," Stefan said. "The fun seems to be over."

Damon nodded and advanced slowly into the clearing, touching Selina on the shoulder, then leaping back when she started.

"Oh," she said, sniffling as she turned around. "It's only you. I thought it was someone else coming to cause trouble. Can we get out of here now?" She asked him. "I think I need a drink."

Damon nodded and pulled her up, taking her in his arms until she stopped shaking. "After seeing all that, I think I do too. We'll go somewhere, have a talk, and if it'll make you feel better, we'll even play a game where every time you say 'Joshua,' you can have a shot. Would you like that?"

Selina nodded. "Well, it would help a little. And it would be a wiser course of action than the two of us having sex. An alcohol hangover is so much easier to deal with than a guilt hangover. I mean, telling Elijah that I slept with you in a weak moment is not a conversation I want to have."

They left the mens' bodies in the woods for the animals and headed to a bar in town after dropping Stefan off with Anna, Lucy and Sam.

They sat down at the bar and Selina ordered ten shots of whisky and once they were placed in front of her, Damon started talking. "So," he said, "Has thinking about Joshua always affected you this way?" He paused and grinned as she gulped down a shot and sucked in her breath, nodding. "The last time I really remember, I ended up killing Bonnie Bennett. Ripped her throat right out and lapped her blood up. Not that anything was her fault, of course. It was Emily that put Joshua's life in danger. And mine. But Emily's dead, so she can't make stuff up to me. Bonnie was a good substitute." She drank another shot.

"How did Emily put Joshua's life in danger?" Damon asked.

"Well, Emily was working with Katherine, wasn't she?" Selina asked. "So it was under Katherine's order that Emily did the spell that made the flowers infected with scarlet fever, which I then caught, and that caused me to have to go to Doctor Stensrund's and that's when I found out I was pregnant with Joshua." Another shot down. "So just think: If Doctor Stensrund hadn't healed me with his blood, then there probably wouldn't have been any Joshua to begin with." One more shot and Selina was beginning to get woozy.

"Can you even stand up?" Damon asked her. She tried, but fell over.

"I tell you what," the bartender told Damon, "since she seems to be very troubled, you take her home and put her to bed and I won't charge you for the shots she didn't drink I'll pass those around to other people."

Damon nodded. "Thank you." He carried Selina out of the bar and set her in the back seat. Once the car started, she promptly threw up all over the upholstry and Damon rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long ride back to Elijah's. A long ride. He pulled out his phone and gave Elijah a call to make sure he'd be there when they arrived.

"This will be easier now that we have your help," Mikael told Elijah. They were sitting in the living room having a talk. Aleksandr and Mary Anne had gone out for the afternoon, but would be back later.

"You know that I'm ready and willing to do whatever you ask of me, Father," Elijah said.

Mikael nodded. "Good, good. What do you know of Lonely Heart?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," Elijah said. "I know of her reputation. That's all."

Mikael stood up, grabbed his file of newspaper articles and handed them to Elijah. "Each article gives a detailed analysis of the murders committed by Lonely Heart. I've even added articles about a murder of a couple that happened on a cruise ship, even though it was fairly recently and doesn't match Lonely Heart's previous methods of killing. It's close enough."

Elijah felt himself go cold. "Are you saying that you think Lonely Heart killed the couple on the cruise ship?"

"It could be," Mikael said. "Or it could just be a coincidence. But it warrants our attention because like I said, it's close enough to the sort of thing Lonely Heart would do."

Elijah put the folder on the cushion beside him and said, "It couldn't have been Lonely Heart. From what I remember, she was a very enthusiastic killer. There haven't been any more murders since the ones on the ship, have there?"

Mikael shook his head. "No. That's why I suspect a copy cat, but I'm still on my guard just in case, and you should be too. Read those clippings so you're aware of what we're up against and then after you're familar with everything Lonely Heart has done, we'll figure out what we're going to do next."

Elijah nodded. "Yes, Father." He stood up and took the folder, going out of the house as Aleksandr and Mary Anne were coming in. "You said you'd tell me why you have a picture of Sera," she said. "Go on and tell me."

"She and I were married for a short period, Mary Anne," Aleksandr said. "That's all. Things were difficult sometimes because she was depressed and she drank a lot, but sometimes they were good."

Mary Anne nodded. "That sounds like Sera. I'd believe it." Elijah paused outside the door, listening to this statement. Then, his phone rang and he got in his car before he answered it. "Hello?"

"It's Damon," Damon said. "I have Selina here with me. She had an upset and drank a little too much, so can you come home?"

"Of course," Elijah said. "I'll be there as quickly as I can."

"So what happened?" Elijah asked Damon after they'd tucked Selina into bed. "What set her off?"

Damon sighed. "We were moving some of her old stuff out of my house and when she was looking through it, she found a picture of our first kid, one that she had right before we turned. She never got to raise him and it's always been a very tough thing for her to deal with."

Elijah moved some hair out of Selina's face and then turned back to Damon. "I had no idea," he said. "She never mentioned that to me, but if it's a sore subject, then it's no wonder she never said anything." He looked at Selina again. "I just hope she has a better day tomorrow."

The next day, she had something to smile about, however, as Klaus arrived one morning with Agnes in tow, and announced that he'd taken care of things and he and Selina were now divorced.

"Did you tell Roxie yet?" Selina asked. "How did she take the news? Not well, I bet."

Klaus shook his head. "I actually haven't told her. I was hoping you'd do that."

"Why me?" Selina asked. "You're the one who gets along with her. Me she only tolerates."

"Well you have such a warm and loving air about you," Klaus said.

Selina shook her head. "Oh, no," she told him. "You aren't going to get off that easily. We're going to tell her together. I don't care if you're scared of getting yelled at. This is an issue for both of us and we're both going to deal with it." She paused. "But it can't be right now. I have to go to a funeral and we have to leave like, right now."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "Fine. I guess it can wait."

Just then, Caroline came in from the garage. "Are you ready to go, Selina?" She asked. Then she noticed Klaus and Agnes. "I'm sorry," she said. "Am I interrupting something? Because we can wait a few minutes."

"No," Selina said when she saw Klaus trying to catch Caroline's eye. "We can go now, really. It's no trouble."

"Wait just a minute," Klaus said. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Selina shook her head. "No," she said simply, and then herded Caroline out the door and into her car where Amelia was already waiting for them.

As Klaus stared after them, he turned back to Agnes. "We have to go back to your apartment," he said, "And have a chat with Roxie."

"Who was that guy?" Caroline asked. "I mean, how do you know him?"

"Well, now he's my ex-husband," Selina said, ignoring Amelia's glare from the backseat. "He's the father of the little girl that you met and two of my other kids."

"What are your other kids like?" Caroline asked as she made a turn.

"Well," Selina sighed. "Our son looks like Nicky, but acts like me, and our daughter Roxanne looks like me but acts like him."

"Ah, Roxie the spoiled brat." Caroline nodded knowingly. "Jake came to visit several years ago and told Tyler and me some very unflattering things about a girl named Roxie."

"So you don't want to meet her?" Selina asked. "Good instincts."

"Wha about Adrian?" Caroline asked. "Is he okay?"

Selina nodded. "Well, yeah. He's great. Married now, to a woman named Helene. I like her."

"Four out of five isn't bad," Caroline said.

"It's not that I don't like Roxie completely," Selina said. "I mean there's a part of me that grudgingly admires her for her kick-ass, take-no-prisoners manner, but I'd never tell her that."

"Maybe you should," Caroline said. "It might help. She might only act crazy 'cause she wants your attention. Or your ex-husband's."

Selina looked thoughtful. "That could be. If it's Nicky's attention she wants, it'll be hard for her to get. The only person he really pays attention to is himself."

"And me, apparently," Caroline said. His glances hadn't escaped her.

"Please tell me that you don't feel flattered."

"Of course not!" Caroline said. "My husband just died! What kind of a person do you take me for?"

"Good!" Selina nodded. "I just wanted to be sure you weren't entertaining any ideas about him."

"I thought he was your ex," Caroline told her. "That's what you said."

"He is my ex," Selina said. "And it should stay that way. He's juvenile, self-absorbed and treated me like an object. Not even the best body in the world can make up for that."

"If you hate him so much, then why were you with him in the first place?" Amelia asked.

"I could ask you the same thing about Robert Pierce, Mama," Selina said. Amelia lapsed into silence in the backseat and nobody talked again until they reached the funeral home.

"What do you want?" Roxie asked when she saw her father and Agnes on the other side of the apartment door. She opened her eyes in surprise as Klaus shoved Agnes into her arms. "Here, take her," he said. "She's yours and I was wrong to try and steal her away."

"Well, good," Roxie said. She paused and narrowed her eyes. "Wait a minute. What's going on? Did you find a better toy? What's she like? And what about Mom?"

"She's a friend of your mother's," Klaus said. "I believe her name is Caroline. They went to a funeral for one of your mother's cousins, who just happened to be Caroline's husband. And your mother and I are officially divorced now, so my going after Caroline is okay."

"Grieving widow," Roxie rolled her eyes. "So typical of you, Daddy. Do you even know where the funeral is?"

"It's back in Mystic Falls," Klaus said. "There can't be too many funeral parlors there, can there?"

"Oh, my god," Selina said as they exited the funeral home after Tyler's memorial service. "Look who's here."

"Did he follow us?" Caroline asked, following Selina's gaze and seeing Klaus leaning against his car and grinning at them.

"What are you doing here?" Selina asked under her breath when they reached him.

Klaus handed Caroline some flowers. "I'm just here to offer my condolences to the bereaved," he said. "She's a member of your family after all, and even though you and I are divorced. I hope I can still consider your family my family."

Selina shook her head. "Not really. What are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything," Klaus said. "I'm trying out a new sort of lifestyle, you know, being altruistic and selfless and stuff like that. I figure it could give my life more meaning." He grinned at Caroline and she didn't smile back.

"Oh, yeah?" Selina asked as she and Caroline turned away. "Well I'll believe that when I see it."

When summer finally came, it was a breath of fresh air for everyone. Selina's episode about Joshua had made her realize that she needed to spend more time with Sam. He had begun coming over for the afternoon a few times a week, and he and Lucy were beginning to get used to one another and even got along occasionally. One day, they were splashing around in the kiddie pool in the driveway at Elijah's while Selina, in jean shorts and a purple one piece bathing suit, supervised them. Suddenly, Sam turned, something in the grass at the side of the house catching his eye. He immediately stopped splashing Lucy and kept watching it, tracking it across the grass. Then, he got out of the pool and took off running for the backyard. "Sammy, came back!" Selina said, running after him.

When Sam came running back, he was brandishing a small frog which he waved in his mother's face. Selina picked him up and begged him to throw the frog away. "It's yucky," she said. "You have to get rid of the frog. Let it go!"

"Okay," he said, and grinning, dropped the frog down her bathing suit. She let out a shriek and did the best she could not to drop Sam in the pool next to Lucy. Then she hauled them both up and led them into the house before sprinting in the direction of the library. She opened the door and said breathlessly, "I'm having a problem!"

Elijah looked up and surveyed her for a moment, how she squirmed uncomfortably and winced. "The bathroom is down that way if you need to use it," he said. pointing out the library door and to the left.

"No!" She cried. "I don't need the bathroom! I-" She shrieked again and only then did Elijah see the shape moving under her suit.

"There seems to be something in your suit," he said, smirking. "Did you notice?"

She looked incredulous. "Of course I noticed! It's a frog. Sam dropped it in my suit, which wouldn't have happened if you'd have let me wear a bikini like I wanted instead of this stupid one piece!"

"Well it's a matter of dignity, isn't it?" Elijah said, getting out of the desk chair and coming toward her. "You should think more of yourself then to just show off your body to every person who comes walking by."

"There's nothing dignified about squirming around like a crazy person because a toddler drops a frog down your suit." Selina snapped. "Now stop lecturing me and help me get it out. And quick! It's beginning to get uncomfortable!"

Elijah put his hands on her shoulders to stop her from squirming as he dipped his fingers into her suit. "And just what do I get in return for rescuing you from this horrible frog?" he asked.

"Whatever you want," she said. As his hand went down further, she said, "But it seems like you've started collecting your reward already."

It took Elijah a long time to get a good grip on the frog because he kept pausing to stroke her stomach and breasts and it felt good enough that Selina almost forget the real reason he had his hand down her suit in the first place. When he finally got a good grip on the frog, he slowly brought it up and out of her suit.

"Here it is," he said, show it to her. "It's just a small one. What's so bad about that?"

"How about I put him down your pants and you can see?" Selina asked. She opened the window and he threw the frog out. "It's not pleasant having an animal like that touching your bare skin," Selina said to him, backing him up against the wall. "And if it happened to you, if somehow you did end up with an animal down your pants, would you like me to show you how I would help you?"

He nodded.

"I'd start with your shirt," she said. She unbuttoned his shirt and threw it near the dresser, then turned back to him. "I'd have to start with your shirt because once I got it off of you, then I'd have better access to your pants, the buttons, zipper, all that." She deftly unbuttoned and unzipped him and when his manhood burst free of his pants, she got down on her knees and began sucking on it.

He breathed deeply, closing his eyes and running his fingers through her hair. After awhile, Elijah breathed. "We should get in bed now," he said. "I want to get in bed now." She stopped sucking on him for a moment, then they got in bed and she continued, her long hair brushing his chest. "Do you feel sufficiently rewarded?" She asked him after he came.

"Almost," he said, moving her so that she was underneath him. "Are the children well-occupied?"

Selina nodded. "Yeah, I left them with Alistair."

"All right," Elijah said. Then he peeled off her suit and began leisurely sucking on her, then blazed a trail of kisses down her stomach before thrusting into her until she screamed. When they were separated and resting, Elijah turned to her and said, "Aleksandr made a new friend, a girl named Mary Anne. She's a vampire, I think, and she knows you. Do you remember ever meeting a young girl named Mary Anne?"