"How come you and my uncle don't like each other?" Lucy asked Damon as she sat at the kitchen table with a plateful of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. She dipped a cookie in the milk and took a bite. "Is it because of Mom?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Damon said without looking at her. She swallowed and opened her mouth. "All gone. See?"

Damon looked up at her. "Very good. And yes, what is between your uncle and me is about your mom. He seems to think I ruined her or something, that I drove her to drinking. But she was drinking long before she met him."

"Why?" Lucy asked. "Did she have trouble sleeping too?"

Damon shook his head. "No. It wasn't that. How about you eat your cookies and then we'll watch a movie, okay?"

Lucy nodded. "Okay." She picked up another cookie, but then knocked her milk with her arm as she brought the cookie to her lips. The milk splattered all over her blouse and shorts. She looked up at him sheepishly. "Oopsie," she said. "I made a mess."

Damon sighed. "Are you serious? Did you have to do that?"

"I didn't mean to," Lucy said. "The milk just fell over!"

"I'm guessing you can't dress yourself," Damon continued. "I'm going to have to help you, aren't I?"

"I could try," Lucy said. "I can do it!" She scampered off and Damon collapsed on the sofa. "Well, that's a relief," he said to himself. A few minutes later, Lucy returned. She was wearing a blue bathing suit under a lime green cardigan and a yellow skirt. "I'm dressed!" She said. Her hair was held back with a bright pink headband that sat lopsided on her head.

Damon tried not to laugh as he looked her over. "You look nice," he said.

She smiled. "Thank you!" She twirled.

"You look nice," he said, "but you can't wear a bathing suit as clothes."

Lucy stopped twirling and pouted. "Why not?"

He got down on his knees. "Because bathing suits are for swimming. Do you want me to come with you and help you pick out some clothes?"

She nodded. "Okay. I didn't even like this skirt anyways." And before Damon had time to mentally prepare himself, she pushed it down and kicked it away. Then she threw off the cardigan and was about to peel off the bathing suit when Damon said, "Wait. Don't take that off until you get to your room."

"Why?" Lucy asked.

"Because I don't want you to be cold," Damon said.

Lucy shook her head. "I'm not." She peeled off her bathing suit and stood naked in front of him. "Let's go to my room," she said. And without waiting for him to respond, she turned on her heel and strode away from him. About halfway down the hallway, she realized he wasn't following her and turned around. "Aren't you coming?" She asked.

Damon's eyes were closed now. "I will," he said. "In a minute. I have to make a phone call first."

Stefan looked up as Anna came out onto the deck and handed the phone to him. "It's your brother," she said. "Apparently, he's having a crisis."

Stefan took the phone. "Damon, what is it?" He asked. "Is everything okay? How's Lucy?"

"She's a mess," Damon replied. "Or she was. She was eating milk and cookies, she spilled her milk all over her clothes and now she wants me to help her change. In her bedroom. Stefan, she's naked. What should I do?"

"Wait for Anna and me," Stefan said. "Don't do anything until we get there."

"All right," Damon said. "I'll be seeing you. And Stefan? Please hurry."

Stefan assured him that he would and ended the call, only to have it ring again almost immediately. "What can I do for you?" Stefan said.

"I have a problem," Selina said. "Stefan, I really need you and Anna over at Elijah's right now!"

"Well, what happened?" Stefan asked. "Whatever it is, it can't be as bad as what Damon's going through right now."

"What?" Selina asked. "Problems with Lucy?"

"Apparently she spilled milk and needs Damon to help her change her clothes," Stefan said. "What's your problem?"

"Well, I think Elijah might know about my past as Lonely Heart," Selina said. "And if he doesn't, he will soon."

"So?" Stefan said. "What's so bad about that?"

"Well, he's not gonna like it, is he?" Selina cried. "He's gonna hate me and break up with me and it'll be the end of the first decent relationship I've ever had!"

"Oh, I'm sure you're exaggerating," Stefan said. "You can deal with this on your own. You don't need my help. I'm sure every fiber of your motherly being wants me to run over to Damon's and protect your daughter."

Selina sighed. "I suppose. Yes, fine, go ahead."

"Who is it?" Anna asked Stefan. "Is it Damon again? And what about Lucy?'

Stefan took the phone away from his ear. "It's Selina," he said. "She thinks Elijah knows or will soon know that she was Lonely Heart and it's freaking her out."

"Well, I don't blame her," Anna said. "Give me the phone."

Stefan handed her the phone and she put it to her ear. "Are you all right?" Anna asked her. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Selina told her. "I saw him this morning and he said he was going to be out all day because he was working on a project with Aleksandr. He left carrying this briefcase full of papers and on his way out the door, a scrap of paper fell out of the briefcase, but he didn't notice. I picked it up and read it and it was an article about one of my Lonely Heart killings, the one where I dangled the guy's head outside the bedroom window! What if the briefcase had articles about all the other murders in it? What if Elijah finds out what I did? He'll dump me for sure!"

"Not if we don't find the briefcase and take it away from him before he has the opportunity to put two and two together," Anna said.

The other end of the line was quiet before Selina finally said, "You think?"

"I don't think," Anna said. "I know. I'll be there as soon as I can to help you with it."

"There's no rush," Selina said. "Elijah has the briefcase now and he's not even home yet. I'll call you when he gets here."

"Or better yet, why don't I come with you and we can wait for him together?" Anna said. "Where are you now?"

"I'm at Nicky's," Selina said. "But I was just leaving."

Anna nodded. "All right. I'll see you in a bit." She ended the call and put the phone down on the deck table. "So, what did Damon want?" She asked. "And you didn't answer my question about Lucy."

"You're not gonna belive this," Stefan said. "But Lucy's a little different now. Apparently, Damon kidnapped a witch to get her to do a spell that would make Selina fall in love with him again, but the witch's magic was on the fritz, she did a spell, and Lucy accidently got in the way of it, so it hit her and turned her into a fully developed teenager. Damon assured me that it won't last forever, but that's how things are now. And you have to keep that a secret from Klaus and Elijah. They aren't allowed to know."

"Well I can see why," Anna said. "A teenage Lucy in the same house as your reluctantly single Lothario of a brother? It would drove both Nick and Elijah ballistic if they knew!"

"But you won't tell them?" Stefan said.

Anna shook her head. "No, I'll keep it quiet. I'll probably be too busy helping Selina to talk to Nick or Elijah anyway."

Stefan nodded. "So you'll go over and help Selina and I'll go over and help Damon. That works." He scoffed. "What would they do with out us?" He said. "I mean really?"

"What took you so long?" Damon asked after he ushered Stefan inside. "I've been waiting forever!" He paused. "And where's Anna? I wanted her to come too! She was the one I needed here the most!"

"Why?" Stefan asked. "Between the two of us, we can handle this. We don't need Anna. Besides, she desperately needed to help Selina handle her lastest romantic emergency with Elijah, because it will just kill her if Selina and Elijah break up." He rolled his eyes. "So where's Lucy?"

"I locked her in her bedroom," Damon said, leading him to the door of the room Lucy was using. "Before we go in, I should warn you that she is naked at the moment. I know I told you that on the phone, but it's a bit of a shock to see, even if you know it's coming."

Stefan took a deep breath. "I'll go in first," he said. "You follow me." Damon nodded and Stefan opened the door and strode into the bedroom.

"Hi!" Lucy said brightly. "What took you so long? I was lonely in here!"

"Oh, my god," Stefan said, stopping so quickly that Damon bumped into him from behind.

"I know," Damon whispered. "She's something else, isn't she?"

Stefan shook his head. "Damon, look up! I think we have a problem."

Damon looked up and his eyes widened. "We certainly do," he said. Lucy was sitting naked on her bed with a black permanent marker in her hand. She'd drawn at least a little something on every part of her body.

After a moment, Stefan tiptoed toward the bed and held his hand out. "Lucy, how about you give me the marker now?"

Lucy shook her head and held it out of his grasp. "No!" She said. "It makes me pretty!"

Stefan shook his head and held out his hand. "Lucy, give me the marker!" He grabbed the edge of it and started pulling, but her grip was pretty strong. Finally though, he manged to get it away from her. Her lip trembled and she let out a steam engine wail.

"Good job, Stefan!" Damon said. "You made her cry!"

"Oh, who cares?" Stefan said. "Pick her up so we can get her into the bath and get the marker off. I'll go run the water."

"Oh, I don't think so!" Damon said. "You get her into the bath and I'll run the water!"

"Who cares who does what just as long as we do it while she's distracted!" Stefan said. He found a bathrobe in the bedroom closet and put it on her so that she was covered up and then half-dragged, half-carried her to the bathroom. By the time they got there, the bathtub was filling up.

As Lucy continued to sob, Stefan looked at Damon. "Shut your eyes," he ordered. Once he was sure Damon's eyes were closed, he untied the bathrobe and took it off, then attempted to get a resistent Lucy into the tub.

"This is more difficult than when we tried to wash Spot that day Father was out of town," Stefan said. Lucy scratched and kicked, but he and Damon finally succeeded. Lucy looked at them balefully and splashed some water in their direction. Stefan managed to avoid it, but it hit Damon's shirt, soaking it.

"Well, that's not very nice," he said.

"I want out!" Lucy said.

"Not until all the marker is off of you," Stefan said. "Damon, get me a loofah or a sponge or something, would you?"

Damon nodded and turned his back on them, rooting around in the cabinets under the sink before he finally managed to come up with a small pink loofah. "Here," he said. "Good luck." Then he was out of the bathroom like a shot. He went to the living room and sat down with the paper, thinking for the first time that he couldn't wait for Lucy to be a little again. She was so much more cheerful as a baby.

An hour or so later, Damon heard a noise and looked up. Stefan and Lucy were standing before him and Lucy was wearing a simple light blue dress.

"Damon, Lucy has something she'd like to say to you," Stefan said and gave Lucy a gentle push in Damon's direction. She came toward him and climbed up next to him on the sofa. "I'm sorry I splashed you," she said. "Baths are funner when you do them with me. Maybe next time." She ran her foot over his leg. "This bath just hurt, see?"

Damon took the arm she offered. "My god," he said to Stefan. "Her skin's all raw. What did you do?"

"That was permanent marker she had on her," Stefan said. "I really had to scrub and even then, there was still a tinge left."

"Why didn't you just let me be pretty?" Lucy asked Stefan.

"Because your mother wouldn't like it if you had marker all over yourself," Stefan said. "She would say you're prettier without it."

Damon moved some of Lucy's hair out of her eyes. "It's true," he said. "You're very pretty just like this." He looked over at Stefan. "Speaking of Selina, how do you think she and Anna are doing?"

Stefan shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "And frankly, it scares me to even guess."

Selina and Anna were absently flipping through television channels when they heard the front door open. "I think that's Elijah," Anna said. "You want to go and see?"

"I'm back," Elijah said. "And everything seems to be in one piece, so I assume everything is well here?" He came into the living room and put the briefcase down on the floor. "Anna!" he said when he saw her. "Did you bring Lucy with you?"

Anna shook her head. "No, I didn't."

"Well is she back with Stefan?" Elijah asked.

Anna nodded. "Yep, that's right. She's with Stefan. That's correct."

"Good," Elijah said. "I was going to just go over and see her, but I thought I'd better make sure that's exactly where she was."

"But they're not at our house," Anna said. "They're somewhere else."

"Where are they?" Elijah asked. "Where else is left?"

Anna groaned as Selina punched her in the arm. "Actually, I was apparently mistaken," she said. "Lucy is at our house."

Elijah put the briefcase down on the floor. He was frowning. "Well, which is it?" He snapped. "Is she, or isn't she? How is it possible that she's been gone for almost three days without a word? Do either of you know something you aren't telling me?"

"Okay!" Anna said. "Maybe we are lying, but we won't tell you the truth until we find out what's in that briefcase!"

Selina's eyes widened. "Anna, for god's sake!"

Anna shrugged. "Come on. You want to know what's in there, he wants to know where Lucy is, it's just easier this way."

Elijah strode up to Selina and put his hand under her chin. She tried to avoid his eyes, but it was impossible. "Darling," he said to her, "Where's Lucy?"

"She's at Damon's," Selina said and hated herself for it. "And the reason why we didn't tell you was that something's happened to her. Something bad."

Elijah's eyes widened. "Something bad happend to Lucy and you didn't think I should know? Well, what is it? Tell me, now."

"Helene's magic is on the fritz and Lucy got hit by a spell and it turned her into a teenager with a two-year old's mind. It's not permanent. Helene assured me that Lucy will change back. And I knew that if I told you you would fly off the handle, so I thought it would be best to keep you out of the loop until the spell wore off. And we sent her to Damon's cause you hardly ever go there and he raised her after she was born so he loves her like a daughter and he would never do anything to put her in danger..."

Elijah pulled Selina to her feet and began dragging her toward the front door. "You and I are going to go to Damon's and we are going to get Lucy and bring her home. And if you ever keep something like this from me again-"

"Then what?" Selina cut him off. "You'll kill me? You know you won't. And let me tell you something: I was perfectly within my rights as Lucy's mother to keep this from you. You are not Lucy's father, no matter how much it might seem like it, so I am not obligated to tell you everything that goes on in her life, especially if telling you will do more harm than good." His grip slackened after this speech and she pulled her arm free. "I think I've done a damn good job raising her and I thank you for your help, but I will not let you lecture me and make me think that I'm raising her wrong or that I'm a bad parent. Because I'm not, all right? Now if you want to pick her up, let's go. Since you don't trust Damon, we wouldn't want to waste any more time."

Elijah was looking livid, but he kept silent. He pushed the briefcase in Anna's direction and followed Selina out of the house.

"Tired?" Damon asked Lucy when he saw her yawn.

She nodded. "A little. The warm water in the bath made me sleepy."

"Want me to take you to your room?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah." Damon led her to her room and tucked her in, then went to shower. In the middle of his shower, he heard a loud noise from the living room. He turned off the water and toweled off his hair, putting the towel around his waist, and then went out to the living room to see what had happened.

"Oh, hi," he said when he saw Selina and Elijah. "What's going on?"

"Where's Lucy?" Elijah asked, grabbing Damon by the throat. "What did you do with her?"

"She's in bed," Damon choked out.

Elijah's frown became deeper. "You weren't planning on joining her, were you? I know about what happened to her."

"Let him go," Selina said. "This isn't helping anything."

Elijah let Damon go and he ended up in a heap on the floor. "What room is he talking about?" he asked Selina.

"We'll find it," she said. They looked from room to room until finally they opened a door with a bed that had a lump under the covers. They entered the room and heard crying and saw that the covers were moving. Elijah hurried over to the bed and pulled the covers down to reveal a mass of blue fabric. Elijah pulled the blue fabric down and found himself looking at a very grumpy two year old. "Lucy!" He said, picking her up and hugging her to him. "You're all right! Your mother told me the craziest story. I think she was just trying to drive me insane." He turned and gave Selina a frown. "And she did a very good job."

Damon entered the room a few seconds later. "What's going on?" He asked.

"Lucy turned back," Selina said. She patted her daughter on the head. "And in the nick of time, too. I'm so glad."

"Me too," Damon nodded. "You have no idea."