"What's the matter with you?" Elijah asked as Selina stomped back into their bedroom the next morning clutching the phone and looking perturbed.
Selina heaved an exaggerated sigh. "Damon said he won't let me see Sam anymore. Apparently he's decided to have a less than grown-up reaction to the fact that I've moved on with my life and feel that he should do the same." She sighed. "I should probably go over and talk to him."
Elijah shook his head. "Oh, no. I will. Let me."
Selina shook her head. "That's really not necessary. I can handle it."
"Why are you so eager to see him?" Elijah asked. "Is it because you want to continue whatever went on between the two of you yesterday?"
"Of course not!" Selina said. "Why would you even think...?"
"Never mind!" Elijah thundered. "You're going to stay here and I am going to deal with Damon."
Selina's lips became a thin line. "Over my dead body." She scampered over to the door and blocked it. "You're not leaving this room!"

Elijah just smirked and picked her up, placing her on the bed. "You will stay here until you stop acting like a child."

Selina's eyes narrowed. "Well, maybe if you stopped treating me like a child, I'll stop acting like one! I mean seriously, what is your deal? I know I'm way younger than you. But I've been around some. I know stuff. Why can't you just acknowledge that?"

He turned to face her. "Why can't you let me handle Damon? You know it's not a problem for me."

"Exactly!" Selina nodded. "It's not your problem! It's my bullshit that I have to deal with and you shouldn't have it on your shoulders."

Elijah advanced toward the bed and put a hand on Selina's cheek. "You're acting like taking care of you is a burden for me, but it's not. I want to take care of you because you mean a lot to me and I don't like seeing you be hurt by Damon or Klaus or anybody else."

Selina put a hand on his wrist. "Really? So you're like my knight in shining armor or something?"

He nodded. "If you want to think that way, I suppose I am."

Selina put her arms around him. "I do want to think that way, even if the idea of the 'knight in shining armor' is actually just a bunch of schlock. In reality, knights were more like gangsters or loan sharks. They spent more time beating up the peasants for the lord of the manor's rent than they did protecting ladies."

He put a hand under her chin. "What happened to you?" He asked her. "You're not supposed to sound jaded like this. When we were watching La Traviata, you went on and on about love conquering all. Have you forgotten about that already?"

Selina rubbed her eyes. "Well it's kind of hard to remember when you've got a romance resume like mine. Hell, maybe I should have stayed with Nicky. At least when I was with him years ago, I didn't have to worry about my feelings or anyone else's feelings. I just did what I wanted and it was so nice."

He kissed her forehead. "Yes, but were you happy?"

She nodded. "I was."

He shook his head. "No you weren't. You couldn't have been. Were you lonely?" He paused. "What about the years after Aleksandr left you? You were all alone in that big, empty house..."

Selina's lip began to tremble. "Stop talking like that!" She said shrilly. "You're going to make me cry!"

He ignored this. "You were all alone in that big empty house. I mean, of course you had all the money you could want, didn't you? But you didn't have anyone to go to bed with at night, no one to put his arms around you and hold you and..." He put his arms around her and pulled her to him, hugging her tight.

"No," she said, burying her head in his shoulder. She was sniffling now. "No, I didn't. And it wasn't any fun at all! I was so alone!" Her body was shaking.

"I know, I know, shhh...but you don't have to be alone anymore. I'm not going to leave you. I promise." He kissed the tears off her cheeks and then she brought her lips to his, slowly easing off his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt, taking that off too after unzipping his pants. He moved her so she was underneath him and slowly removed the tank top and shorts she wore as pajamas. He kissed down her stomach and she squirmed when he ran his tongue over the inside of her thighs before pulling away and entering her slowly, almost to the hilt. Then he slowly pulled out and did it again and again until she looked about ready to fall asleep.

"Do you need a break?" He asked her.

She nodded. "Just a lil' one. But you can wake me up in half an hour and we'll have another go."

He nodded. "All right," he said. "You just relax and go ahead and sleep..." He gently rubbed her back and her eyes slowly closed. When her breathing was steady and regular, he moved his hands off her back, got off the bed, zipped up his pants and put his shirt and coat on before tucking her in, grabbing her phone off the bedside table, and then locking the bedroom door behind him. He had some business to take care of, but he knew it wouldn't take very long. She wouldn't even know that he had gone.

The sound of one of the neighbors cutting down a tree roused Selina from sleep. "Elijah?" She said drowsily, "where are you? I'm rested and ready to go again!" She sat up and looked around. He wasn't anywhere in sight. And her phone was gone off the bedside table. She got out of bed and put a bathrobe on, going around the bed to see if it had fallen onto the floor where she couldn't see it, but it wasn't anywhere in the room. She went to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. She shut her eyes. "Oh, shit," she whisped. "I've just been screwed, haven't I?" Growling, she went and punched a hole through the window. It made her hand bleed, but she didn't care. Then, she took a deep breath. "I'll just try the door again, shall I?" She whispered to herself. She went to the door and pulled on the knob again and pulled and pulled and pulled until it came out in her hand. She looked down at the knob and back at the hole in the door where it had been and she burst out laughing. "You're kidding me, right?" She tried to put the knob back in the door, but it wouldn't go. She was stuck in the bedroom with no way out until Elijah came back and opened the door from the outside. She rolled her eyes and went to sit on the bed. He probably knew that would happen. He was probably laughing at her right now. She sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about what to do next, then ran at the door, hoping the force of her body would knock it down. It probably wouldn't, but it was worth a shot.

"Oh, hello," Wendy said when she opened the door in response to Elijah's knock. "Who are you?"

"I have urgent business with Damon," he told her. "May I come in?"

Wendy narrowed her eyes. "It depends. Do you know Damon's crazy ex-wife? Are you here because of Sam?"

Elijah nodded. "Why, yes I am. Now, step aside, please."

Wendy shook her head. "I think not. I think you should go."

Elijah reached out and ran his fingers through her hair. "Has anyone ever told you that you have nice hair?" He asked.

Wendy shook her head. "No, they haven't."

Elijah put his hands on both of her cheeks and then deftly snapped her neck, dropping her crumpled body to the floor. "And they never will," he said. "Stupid humans." He rolled his eyes.

"What's going on in here?" Damon came in. He saw Wendy's body and then looked up at Elijah. "What did you do that for?" He asked.

"She wouldn't let me in," Elijah said. "And you and I have some things to discuss."

"You didn't have to kill her," Damon said. "She had a daughter!"

"Well, she should have thought of her child before she declined to let me inside."

"What brings you here?" Damon asked. "Did Selina send you? Why didn't she come and talk to me herself?"

"She didn't come because I offered to come instead," Elijah said. "Now, we can either have a pleasant enough conversation ending with you giving me Sam and keeping all your limbs, or we can skip the conversation, you join your friend here," he looked dismissively at Wendy, "and I take Sam afterward. Either way, Sam leaves with me. It just depends how much you value your own life."

Damon sighed. "Look, if Selina is upset about our talk this morning, I didn't intend for it to go the way it did. I was upset. I was going to call her later and apologize, I swear!"

Elijah pushed Damon against the wall, his hand on Damon's throat and stuck a knife from the kitchen table in his ribs. "I certainly hope you aren't lying to me," he said through his teeth. "She's already given you more chances than you deserve. You have no idea how lucky you are." Damon groaned as Elijah pulled the knife out and released him. "Make the phone call. Now."

"I can't," Damon said. "I'm in the middle of something and..."

Elijah brandished the knife again and Damon picked up the phone, dialing quickly. It rang and rang, but there was no answer.

"She's not answering," Damon said after he'd let it ring for a minute and a half. "Maybe Selina went out. I'll try again later."

Elijah's eyes widened. "She can't have gone out! I locked her in our room!"

"Something must've happened to her," Damon said. "You might want to go and see." He winced. Blood seeped through his fingers as Elijah picked up Sam and left the house with him.

"And just who was that?" Joshua asked when he appeared a few seconds later. "And where is he taking Sam?"

Damon groaned. "He's taking Sam to see your mother," he said. "That guy? He's her new boyfriend."

"Vince!" Roxie said when she opened the apartment door. "What are you doing here?"

"I just came by to see you," Vince said. "I feel like it's been ages."

Roxie motioned for him to come in. "Have a seat," she said. "I'll have Agnes get you a drink if you want."

He sat down and sighed. "You know, you should probably let her go. Her parents' termite thing ended a few days ago and they want her to come back."

"Well, that's just too bad," Roxie said. "I like having a minion. Agnes!" She called imperiously, "Vince is here and he could use a drink!"

Agnes appeared and came to stand in front of him. "What would you like?"

"Beer, I suppose," he said. "If you have any."

Agnes nodded mechanically, then looked at Roxie. "I'll have my usual Diet Coke with ice," she said. "You're a dear. So," she turned back to Vince, "You just decided to come and see me? That's nice. But kind of bad timing. Dad and I are going to see a movie in about half an hour."

"Oh, what a shame," Vince said. "What movie?"

She told him and he said, "I've been wanting to see that for ages. Why don't you and I go instead? And we can go to lunch first."

"Oh, you mean like a date?" Roxie brightened.

Vince nodded. "But I mean, I understand if you want to see it with your dad, but I thought that you and I could..."

"You know what? Who cares about him?" Roxie said. She scoffed. "What kind of lame teenager goes to the movies with their parents anyway?"

"All right, if you insist," Vince said. He stood up and offered her his hand. "Let's go," he said. They left the apartment building and headed to the parking lot. "You brought a car here?" Roxie asked, eyeing the black Sedan. "Since when did you have a car?"

"I borrowed it from Uncle Pete," Vince said. "My bike's in the shop. I hope you don't mind." Roxie was just about to get into the car when Agnes appeared, clutching a sweating glass of Diet Coke in one hand and a beer in the other. "Don't forget these," she said. Once she was gone, Vince and Roxie drank their drinks and then drove away from the apartment complex, but as they were driving toward the movie theater, Roxie noticed something strange. "Oh, my god," she said. "The car next to us is my dad's!"

"Are you sure?" Vince asked. "It can't be!"

"But it is!" Roxie insisted. "I can see him through the window! And there's a blonde woman I've never seen before next to him in the passenger's seat!"

"So what?" Vince asked.

"So, who the hell is she?" Roxie asked. "And what's she doing in the car with him when he's supposed to be going to the movies with me? The way they're driving is the opposite way of my apartment. Dad was going to ditch me for some woman!"

"Why does that even matter?" Vince asked. "I thought you said that cool people didn't go places with their parents."

"Let's follow them," Roxie said. "I don't care about the movie anymore."

"No," Vince said. "We're not going to stalk your father and his new girlfriend. We're going to go to lunch and a movie and have a good day."

Roxie turned on him. "Are you part of it?" She asked him. "Did you know that Dad was gonna ditch me? Did he send you over to the apartment as some sort of distraction so I wouldn't figure out what he was up to?"

"No!" Vince exclaimed. "I came because I wanted to and because your father wanted me to distract you while he took out his new girlfriend instead of taking you to the movies. But my wanting to see you came first."

"Pull over," Roxie said. "I'm driving this car."

"No," Vince shook his head.

"Pull over." Roxie said through her teeth. "And let me drive the damn car." When he didn't acquiesce, she grabbed the wheel and caused the car to swerve. Vince righted it and looked at her in amazement. "What the hell did you do that for?" He asked. "You could have wrecked my uncle's car!"

"If you don't want me to try it again, let me drive," Roxie said. Rolling his eyes, Vince let Roxie into the driver's seat and they continued to follow Klaus and Caroline until both cars ended up at a small outdoor cafe.

"What do you want to do now?" Vince asked as they stood behind a particularly tall, leafy plant. "Are we going to stand behind this plant forever?"

"Well, we can't very well just stroll out into the open and say 'Hi,' can we?" Roxie asked. "Now who is that woman?"

"That's Caroline, your mom's friend," Vince said. "I can't believe you haven't heard about her."

Roxie looked at the woman next to her father in shock. "That's Caroline? But she looks like such a...cheerleader. I would have thought my mother associated with better types of people, but apparently not."

"That's it," Vince said. "You've seen her, you hate her, can we go to the movie now?"

"No!" Roxie said. "We're staying right here. We just have to be stealthy."

"You're insane, you know that?" Vince whispered, just as Klaus looked toward them. Roxie grabbed Vince, threw him behind a bush and kissed him hard.

"Well that was fun," he said when it was over.

"You owe me," Roxie said, getting up off him and dusting off her skirt. "If Daddy had seen you failing at your mission to keep me from being here, you would have been in trouble. But I saved you. You should thank me."

"For what?" Vince asked. "Making me get a bruise the size of a golf ball?" He winced and rubbed his arm.

Ignoring him, Roxie peered back at Klaus and Caroline, tensing every time Caroline smiled or laughed. "But you're right about one thing," she said. "I hate her."

Gingerly, Vince stood up and led Roxie to the car, locking her in, and then went to see Klaus. "Roxie saw you," he said. "I just thought you should know."

"Roxie saw us?" Klaus asked. "Vince, you were supposed to keep her occupied!"

Vince nodded. "And I was doing a damn good job until you pulled up next to us on the road! Then Roxie saw! I couldn't just pretend like you weren't there. What was I supposed to say?"

"You could have thought of something, I'm sure," Klaus said.

"Am I in trouble?" Vince asked.

Klaus sighed. "I suppose not. I forgot how determined she is when she wants something. I should have known she'd figure me out, but I hoped it wouldn't be so soon."

"What's going on?" Caroline asked. "Did the Brat find out about us?"

Vince nodded. "Yeah," he said. He looked at Caroline. "And she doesn't like you very much. But don't worry, I'm sure I can stop her from doing anything too horrible to you." He cleared his throat. "You two enjoy your lunch."

Once he was gone, Caroline looked at Klaus. "Was he kidding? About Roxie possibly doing horrible stuff to me?"

"Sadly no," Klaus shook his head. "But don't worry. Between him and me, we can handle her so you'll be safe."

He grinned and took her hand. "It'll be all right, I promise."

When Elijah arrived back home, he ran to his and Selina's bedroom with Sam in tow, and heard a persistant banging coming from the other side of the bedroom door. He opened it and watched as Selina sprawled on the floor, half in the bedroom and half in the hallway. She was bruised, sweating and breathing hard.

"What happend to you?" Elijah asked.

Selina sat up. "I've been trying to get out of this room," Selina said. "I thought my body weight would break down the door, so I've been trying that ever since I pulled the handle out."

"Are you serious?" He asked her. "Are you telling me that you've spent the last who knows how much time running against the door again and again in hopes of breaking it down because the knob broke off? Why didn't you just wait for me?"

"Because you're mean!" She said. "I can't believe you seduced me and then locked me in my room!" She glowered at him. "You suck."

"Well, if you think I'm such a bad person, then I suppose I can take Sam back to Damon's," Elijah said. "You probably don't want to see him much anyway." He turned and started to walk away, but Selina said, "Wait! I'm sorry! Thank you for getting Sam for me!"

Elijah turned. "You're welcome," he said, handing Sam over to Selina. "I should have gotten Lucy too, while I was there. But I didn't think of it."

"Oh, it's all right," Selina said. "She can stay one more day. What's the worst that could possibly happen?"

"Looks like you took quite a beating," Helene said as Damon came back to the study. "What happened?"

Damon shut his eyes tight. "None of your business," he said. "I didn't bring you here to make smart remarks."

"Why did you bring me here?" Helene asked.

"You're a witch, right?" Damon asked.

Helene nodded. "Yeah, but-"

"All right then," Damon cut her off. "I need you to do a spell for me. I need you to cast a spell that will make Selina like me again."

Helene scoffed. "I won't, that's stupid! Besides I-"

"I don't care!" Damon interrupted her again. "Just do the damn spell!" He made to hit her, but never got the chance. She hit him with brain pain and as he was moaning on the ground, Helene muttered under her breath. Just as she cast the spell, however, a spell that would make Damon look the age he acted, Lucy, naked and giggling, toddled into the study, right in the spell's path. There was a boom, a scream and then a shower of light specks. When things were quiet again, Helene opened her eyes. "Oh, my god," she whispered.

"Did you do the spell?" Damon asked. "Did it work? What was that screaming?" He got up off the floor just as someone else struggled to do the same. A woman who was naked and willowy, with blue eyes and long blond hair. When she'd righted herself, she looked up at Damon and grinned, then ran and hugged him.

"Why is a naked blonde woman hugging me?" Damon asked. "Normally I wouldn't be opposed to that, but she wasn't here before!"

"I don't know!" Helene said. She walked around the woman and gasped. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Damon asked.

"I think I know who it is," Helene replied. "She's got a mark on the back of her leg just like Lucy does. It's exactly the same."

Damon held the young woman at arms' length. "Are you telling me this is Lucy?" He asked Helene.

Lucy clung to him and grinned. "Where's cookies?" She asked.

Sighing, Damon said, "Yep, it's Cookie Monster."