The next morning, Selina woke up and as she moved her head, she hit it on Elijah's chin. He grunted and his eyes opened, then he let her go and she scrambled away from him.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to hit you. But I mean since we both fell asleep sitiing up, a collision was bound to happen."

Elijah nodded. "Yes, well...I think I'll just get dressed now. And I'm sure you've got a big day planned as well."

Selina nodded. "Yep. Anna and I are taking Sam to get some nice clothes. Because I can bet you all the money in the world and win that Damon hasn't bought Sam a suit yet."

"That surprises me," Elijah said. "You actually want Sam to look presentable."

Selina nodded. "Of course I do. I mean, I dress nice when the occasion calls for it. I wouldn't expect anything less of my children." She looked at the clock. "All right, it's eight-thirty. I have an hour until Anna gets here and we go and get Sam. Just enough time to shower, dress and eat."

"I'll go see to Lucy and then get ready myself," Elijah said.

By the time Selina got to the kitchen, Lucy and Elijah were already eating.

"Well, this is nice," Selina said, sitting down. She looked at Elijah. "Coffee?" She asked.

He nodded. "Please."

Selina went and got the coffee pot, bringing it to the table, but when she went to pour it, she misjudged where Elijah's coffee cup was and some of the hot coffee went in his lap.

"What did you do that for?" He asked, jumping up. "Did you do that on purpose?"

"No!" Selina shook her head. "I'm sorry, it was an accident!" She went to the sink and ran some water over a dish towel, then handed it to him. "Here," she said. "Dab this on the stain. That'll stop it from soaking in too much."

"Are you crazy?" Elijah asked. "I can't get this suit wet!"

Selina sighed and sat down. "Fine," she said. "Go put on an entirely new outfit. I don't care."

Elijah frowned, but then got up and as he walked away from the table, he knocked a small pitcher of cream and it went all over Selina's blouse."

"Okay!" Selina said, standing up. "That's it! That you did on purpose!"

"No, I didn't," Elijah said. "It was an accident. And it's not like you don't have a million other things to change into."

"Well, fine!" Selina glared. "You change and I'll change. But you started it!"

She stomped out of the kitchen. Elijah sat down, mournfully stroking the stain on his gray pants and then looked at Selina's orange juice, which she'd left unattended. He picked up the pepper and tapped a bunch of it into Selina's glass, stirring it in good. Then he looked at Lucy. "Don't say anything," he said.

When Selina returned, Lucy and Elijah watched her as she sat down and picked up her orange juice. She took a sip and spit it all over the table. "My god," she said. "What's in this?"

"Just a little pepper," Elijah said, shaking the pepper shaker. "I don't know how it got in there." He grinned.

"You are such a baby!" Selina said. "What kind of a person puts pepper in another person's orange juice?"

"The kind of person who doesn't like it when people purposely spill coffee all over their nice pants that just got back from the cleaners yesterday," Elijah said.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Selina asked. "It really was an accident."

"Whatever you say," Elijah said, taking a bite of his toast and then wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"I was going to share my waffles with you, but now I don't think you deserve any," Selina said. She went to dump the remainder of her orange juice in the sink and then got out the ingridients necessary to make Belgian waffles. When they were finally done, she brought them out to the table, put two on her plate, topped them with strawberries, and then ate with exaggerated appreciation.

"Mmmmm! This is so good! I bet you wish you had some!" She kept her eyes on him the whole time she was eating.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," he said. "It's not attractive." She frowned at him, her cheeks still bulging with waffle, then she swallowed. "You're really no fun, you know that, right?"

"Waffle!" Lucy said. Selina cut one up and then put the plate down in front of her and Lucy ate the waffle a piece at a time, watching Selina and Elijah without blinking.

For awhile, the kitchen was quiet, until the doorbell rang, causing both Selina and Elijah to start badly. "That's probably Anna," Selina said to Elijah. "You go change your suit and I'll get the door."

Elijah went to change his clothes and Selina grabbed Lucy and went to answer the door. "Are we going to go to the mall?" Selina asked Anna. "I'm ready when you are."

Anna studied her. "And how are things with you and Elijah today?"

"Good," Selina said. "Okay."

"Really?" Anna asked. "Selina, are you lying to me?"

"He put pepper in my orange juice this morning!" Selina said.

"Why would he do that?" Anna asked.

"I accidently spilled coffee in his lap, but he thought I did it on purpose and it started a whole bit thing," Selina said.

When Elijah appeared, Anna cleared her throat and took Lucy from Selina. "I'm going to drop Lucy off with Stefan and I'll have Damon come with me to help pick out suits for Sam. The two of you have more important things to work on."

"No, we don't!" Selina said. "I can come! It's okay, really!"

"You're not coming," Anna said, shaking her head. "You're staying here and working out your problems and that's final!"

She left the house and drove off with Lucy and Elijah and Selina were left staring at each other.

Selina and Elijah sat in silence at the kitchen table, each one waiting for the other to say something. Finally, Selina brough her palms down hard on the table. "This is ridiculous!" She said. "Talk to me. We haven't been close since the incident and yes, I take some responsibilty for that, but what do I have to do to make things better? Scream, weep, yell, throw myself into your arms, what?"

Elijah just blinked. "I wouldn't want to make you do anything you wouldn't want to," he said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Selina asked. "That doesn't help me at all! Here I am doing the best I can to make us stop fighting because I hate it, and you're not holding up your end of the deal by telling me what I need to do! Do you wantto be fighting forever?"

"Oh, of course not!" Elijah snapped. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Well then why won't you tell me what I need to say or do to make everything better?" Selina asked.

"Because if I toldyou, it wouldn't be sincere, would it?" Elijah asked. "You'd just recite it like an actor reading lines from a play. You wouldn't mean it. You'd be saying whatever you have to to get your way."

"I wouldn't!" Selina said. "Stop putting me in a bad light!"

"I'm just being honest," Elijah said. "What I want to hear from you is something you have to discover for yourself."

He left the room. Selina followed him and they ended up in their bedroom where Elijah began throwing clothes into suitcases.

"Wait a minute!" Selina cried. "What are you doing?"

"I want to hear one thing from you," he said. "I know you won't be able to say it yet, so I'm going to leave until you do. I've made arrangements with Niklaus and he'll take you in for as long as you need. Hopefully we'll see each other again." He ran a hand over her cheek.

"Wait!" Selina said. "Not only are you leaving, you're dumping me with Nicky? No! No, no, no!" She threw his clothes from the suitcase to the floor and sat down in the suitcase. "You're not leaving!"

"Why not?" Elijah asked.

"Because I need you!" Selina burst out. "I hate it when we fight! I want it to stop. Because being with you when we're fighting...it's like you're not even with me anymore. It makes me very lonely. I want you to stay. Don't ever leave me, please."

He looked at her in stunned silence for a moment. He'd known that threatening to leave would get some emotional response out of her, but he hadn't expected the tears that were threatening to break free and run down her cheeks. He reached out and slowly wiped them away with his thumb.

She put her hand firmly around his wrist and pulled him to her, her head going on his shoulder as soft sobs began.

"It's all right," he said, running his fingers through her hair and muttering nonsense to sooth her. "I'm not going to leave, I promise. I was just pretending."

She looked up at him. "Why would you pretend to leave me? That's so mean!"

He nodded. "I know," he said. "And I'm very sorry. It's just that it was the only thing I could think of that would make you say what you said."

She sniffled. "What? That I love you and need you and all that stuff?"

He nodded. "I'm right about that, aren't I?"

"Well, I know I'm not a particularly emotional person," Selina said. "But neither are you, right?"

He nodded. "I suppose you could say that. But anyway, I promise I won't leave. Never ever. Do you forgive me?"

Selina nodded after a moment. "All right," she said. "I forgive you." Then she leaned forward and kissed him, pushing off his jacket, her nimble fingers unbuttoning his shirt as he lowered her to the floor, his hands going all over her. Her head turned and then she looked up at him. "Wait," she said.

"What?" He asked, looking up from kissing her neck. "What's wrong?"

"We're on top of your suits," Selina said. "Do you really want to keep going with this if we're on top of your suits?"

He put a hand on her mouth. "Remember what I said about my suit when you fell into the water in Paris and I saved you?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, remember it again and stop talking," he said.

She grinned and moved his hand off her mouth. "Kiss me again then. That'll keep me quiet. Until I start screaming that is. And you know I always do."

He smirked and kissed her. He slipped his hand under her skirt and she moaned. She undid her skirt and managed to slip it off as his hands went all over her, making her feel warm everywhere he touched. When she was warm all over, she reached out and helped him undress and then they made love to each other until a loud, obtrusive ringing sound shattered their bliss.

"What in the hell is that?" Selina asked.

"I think it's the phone," Elijah said. He was breathing hard. "Should I go answer it?"

"No, don't," Selina said, pulling him down again. "If we don't answer, they'll assume we're busy and hang up."

But the caller didn't give up easily. When the house phone stopped ringing, Selina's cell was next, the ringing just as annoying and much closer.

Groaning, Elijah eased himself off Selina and she grinned, looking him over. "You're cute when you're all disheveled like that," she said. She went to pick up her phone.

"What?" She asked. "Oh, hi. How did it go with Sam? Did he really get loose from the dressing room and run around the mall in his underwear? Yeah, I bet Damon thought it was hilarious. So did you actually end up getting him a suit or not? You did? Good. Oh, no, don't worry. I wouldn't ask you to do it again. You're a saint for doing it once. No, you weren't interupting anything." She watched as Elijah crawled around the bed, got on his knees in front of her and began running a hand up her leg. She giggled. "That tickles," she said. "Oh, nothing. I wasn't talking to you," she said to the person on the other end of the line. "It's just-" She burst out laughing again as Elijah, who was still on his knees, backed her up against the wall and blew on her stomach. She began to laugh so hard her whole body shook. "Sorry," she said to the person on the phone. "What did you say? Sure, we'd love to. All right, bye." She shut her phone and got down on her knees with Elijah, putting her arms around his neck. "That wasn't very nice you know. You shouldn't interrupt people when they're talking on the phone."

"I just couldn't help it," Elijah said. "You're too irresistible."

She grinned, flushing a little. "Oh, stop," she said. "We have to take a break. We have a social obligation in a little while."

"Who called?" Elijah asked.
"That was just Anna on the phone," Selina said. "You wouldn't happen to have at least one suit we didn't ruin, would you?"

Elijah nodded. "Of course I do. Why?"

"She wants us to come to dinner with her and Stefan," Selina said. "I don't think she believes we've made up and wants to see it for herself."

"Well, I don't see why it's any of her business, but all right," Elijah said.

"On time as usual," Anna said as Selina and Elijah came into the restaurant and met her and Stefan at the table.

"Actually, we were here much earlier," Selina said. "About half an hour ago. But I made Elijah stay in the car until it was closer to the time we were supposed to be here."

"And I don't see why that had to be," Elijah said. "There's nothing wrong with being early for things. Most people appreciate punctuality."

Selina gave him a look. "Honey, five minutes is 'early.' You wanted us to be way early."

"Well, you have to make allowances for traffic and things," Elijah said. "You never know when something will pop up."

"And has anything ever?" Selina asked. "It's only when you're late for things that inconveniences occur to make you even later."

"And since thanks to me we've always been early, nothing bad has ever happen to us," Elijah said. "See? I rest my case."

Anna looked back and forth between them. "I thought you two were getting along now, but it seems like you're still fighting."

"Oh, no," Selina said, ruffling Elijah's hair. "This is normal. We talk like this all the time."

"Okay," Anna said. She looked at them oddly for a few minutes and then the waiter came with the menus.

"Thank you," Selina said as he handed her hers. After he left, she began to look over the choices. "What to have, what to have."

"Get your elbows off the table," Elijah whispered. "And put your napkin in your lap."

"Does it look like I'm eating anything yet?" Selina asked. "When I'm actually eating something, then I'll do that, all right? I swear."

"Oh, all right," Elijah said. "Just make sure that you do."

Selina rolled her eyes.

"Are you sure everything's better between you two?" Anna asked.

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "We made up, I swear."

"So you've forgiven her for everything?" Anna asked, looking at Elijah.

"Yes," Elijah nodded. "We had a talk and I forgave her for everything."

"Wonderful!" Stefan said. "I would have thought it would take much longer for you to forgive her for being Lonely Heart."

Elijah sighed. "Well, that was in the past," he said. "Everyone makes mistakes and we regret them. Carrying around the guilt is bad enough. I don't want to make her feel worse."

"Yeah," Anna said. "Especially since you have your own past to think about."

"What do you mean?" Selina asked, leaning across the table. "Tell me!"

Just then, Anna winced as Elijah kicked her under the table. "I hate to stop this stirring dinneer conversation, but it appears that the waiter is coming for our dinner orders. Everyone know what they want?"

"Why did you hush me up at dinner?" Anna asked Elijah angrily as they left the restaurant later that night. "You're going to have to tell her the truth some time. You might as well do it now."

"I will tell her," Elijah said. "I'm just not ready yet."

"I'd tell her quick," Anna said. "She probably already suspects you're keeping something big from her and if you don't tell her, she'll go to great lengths to find out on her own. You know that, right? And it probably won't be as hard as you think. She had to leave a child behind when she became a vampire."

"Well, it's not the same as killing your own child," Elijah said. "I killed all my children, remember? I couldn't stop myself."

"You can't just keep this from her," Anna said. "It won't make her think any less of you. We all have our problems. Selina was Lonely Heart for crying out loud!"

Elijah nodded. "I know. I know that. But some time in the future, we might think about having children of our own. What if, when she finds out about what I did, Selina gets scared I'll kill our child too?"

"Oh, I don't think so," Anna said. "She puts a halo on your head like you put a halo on hers. She'd never believe you could do something so evil as kill your own children. Or she might. But seriously, I think you're being silly. She had three kids with Nick, who's a lot more unpredictable than you and she never once thought he'd kill any of them."

Elijah nodded. "You have a point."

"So just tell her," Anna said. "She won't judge you if you didn't judge her about the Lonely Heart thing."

"That's not the only thing I have to tell her," Elijah said. "I have to tell her that I was working with Father to kill her before I sent her away. Even though it might make her hate me, I have to tell her."

"Yeah, you do," Anna said. "But she'll forgive you. She'll understand. You didn't betray her at all. You saved her. That's gotta count for something."

Elijah sighed and headed to his car where Selina was already in the front seat. "I should probably go," he said. "I bet she's wondering where I am."

"Good luck," Anna told him. "You can do this."

Elijah nodded and got in the car, then Anna watched as the two of them drove away.

"So what was the point of that little dinner party?" Stefan asked Anna in bed later that night.

"I just wanted to make sure Selina and Elijah were okay," Anna said. "I'm still not convinced they are, but whatever."

"Why is it that you feel you need to be so involved with them?" Stefan asked. "It's almost too much! Do you realize that we hardly ever do anything for ourselves? Our entire lives consist of socializing with them and watching Selina's kids. That's it! Don't you want more out of our lives?"

Anna sighed. "I suppose. But-"

"But what?" Stefan asked. "We used to have so much fun! Don't tell me you're becoming a softie like Selina is."

Anna frowned. "Hey, I'm not! Don't even say that!"

"Oh, I think you are," Stefan said.

"You want me to tell you why I've been so low key lately?" Anna asked.

"Yeah," Stefan nodded. "I do. It's like, you left and then you got all soft."

"Oh, look who's talking Mister 'fall in love with a human and go on the bunny diet'!" Anna said, hitting Stefan with a pillow. "Who are you to criticize me about being soft?"

"Well I had a good reason," he said. "It started when I killed my father in order to transition. It was the guilt from that that made me be as bad as I was. The more I killed, the more the bad feelings would go away. And then, after you and I parted, I met someone who taught me there was more to life, you know?"

Anna smirked and moved some of Stefan's hair out of his eyes. "You mean you met someone who brainwashed you into going against your nature. I can't leave you alone for a second, can I?"

"Why did you?" Stefan asked. "You shouldn't have."

Anna kept her eyes off his. "I did it for you," she said. "My father was after Nick and I and with your record of kills, I didn't want him to have a reason to kill you too. Father kills without mercy, you know. That's why Selina left Europe and why she's been so good ever since. I don't blame her, frankly. I just wish she wasn't so cautious sometimes. Elijah's on Father's good side so I bet he could get anything she did covered up as long as she didn't kill too often."

Stefan grinned. "Oh, the days when she was reckless. Remember that New Year's where you and she went streaking near that seminary and then seduced and killed the head priest there?"

Anna nodded. "And we seduced all the novice priests." She giggled. "We were bad little girls."

Stefan suddenly sobered. "Did you do anything bad when you first became a vampire?" He asked her. "Anything you're not proud of?"

"It was harder for me," Anna said. "Father watched me like a hawk. I didn't have much time to do anything too terrible. Except one night I went into the woods and stumbled on a group of men holding a sacrificial ritual. They wanted favors from some of the dark spirits we believed in once and when they saw me, they thought I would make a better offering than the animals they'd slaughtered. They picked me up and were going to bury me alive when I killed two of them. I got away, but the next morning, the neighboring village was in an uproar over the boys' deaths. Father scolded me for being so foolish as to put our family in danger like I did, but at the time I couldn't help myself. The whole process was so new to me that I didn't know how to handle it.

"So we left town and Father dropped me off in a nearby village. Told me that since I was so eager to kill, I could do it, but I wouldn't be a danger to the rest of them. He ordered the rest of the family leave me behind. It was years and years before Nick finally came back for me. That's when the two of us started staying together; he promised me he would never leave me again and apologized for not sticking up for me earlier."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Stefan said.

"Oh, it's all right," Anna said. "In his way, Father was right. We had to be careful, especially in the early days. But I haven't been. I guess it was because I've always been curious about whether or not he'd kill me if he did catch me."

"It shouldn't be this hard to catch her!" Mikael growled. "We've been reading about it and following her for weeks! Where is she?"

"If you ask me," Mary Anne said, "you haven't really done much of anything."

"And I suppose you have?" Aleksandr asked. "You left Niklaus' after only a few days. What could you possibly know that's helpful?"

"I can't tell you any of my secrets, but what I will say is that I don't think we'll accomplish anything by just sitting here. Why can't we get out and walk around?" She pointed out the window. Lonely Heart is out there, you know. Not here."

"Perhaps you're right," Mikael said. "Tomorrow, Aleksandr and I will go and look around."

"Well, what about me?" asked Mary Anne, looking perturbed. "You have to let me come! This was my idea."

"I don't think it would be wise," Aleksandr said. "She doesn't like you. And she won't just stand there while you kill her. It might be best for me to go. She still at least tries to be civil with me."

Mary Anne shrugged. "Fine," she said. "You two be big strong men. I'm just a little girl. What difference can I possibly make?"

"Good girl," Mikael said. "Now you just go back to Niklaus' and see if you can find anything useful. And don't leave this time!"

"It wasn't my fault," Mary Anne grumbled. "That stupid airhead daughter of his is a pain in the ass!"

"Daughter?" Mikael asked. "Niklaus has a daughter?"

"Yes," Mary Anne nodded. "A complete moron named Roxie. I wish I could kill her. But for some reason Klaus is attached to her, and it wouldn't be wise to alienate him, not at this point."

"So you'll go back?" Mikael said. "You'll go back and talk to him?"

Mary Anne rolled her eyes. "Oh, all right," she said. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt me too much."

She left the house and headed back to Klaus', but not before sneaking out one of those fancy daggers that Mikael kept underneath his bed. If Klaus didn't voluntarily tell her about Sera, she'd make him.

"Where have you been?" He asked. "I've been worried about you!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mary Anne said. "I just had to visit a friend, that's all. But I won't do it again, I promise."

"Oh, you can visit people," Klaus told her. "I would just feel better if you told me first." He led her to her room and tucked her in. "Good night," he said. "With Roxie gone at her apartment, you should have a pleasant enough night."

Mary Anne slept fitfully and the didn't wake up until almost noon. She got out of bed, dressed and went to the kitchen. "Good morning," Klaus said.

Mary Anne rubbed her eyes. "Good morning, even though it's not, really." She saw that he was sitting next to a young woman who seemed vaguely familar to her. It wasn't Sera, but it was close.

"You remember my sister Anna," Klaus said. "Anna, remember Mary Anne?"

"Oh, yes," Anna said. "How are you?"

"I was able to get out of bed today, so I consider that a victory," Mary Anne said.

Klaus looked at the clock. "I had no idea it was almost noon," he said. "I have to run out and get a few things. Will the two of you be all right here by yourselves?"

"Yes," said Anna and Mary Anne at once. "We'll be fine."

Klaus nodded. "All right."

Once he was gone, Mary Anne advanced on Anna. "Where is she?" She asked. "You know where she is. Tell me!" She brandished the white oak dagger. "Or this goes right in your heart!"

Anna's eyes widened. "Are you insane? What is it that you want?"

"I want to know where Lonely Heart is!" Mary Anne said. "You were her friend. You must know."

"I'm still her friend!" Anna said. "And I'm not going to tell you a thing, so you can put that dagger away."

"I think not!" Mary Anne said. "She was evil then and she's evil now! She killed those people on the cruise ship and I bet she won't hesitate to kill more."

Anna shook her head. "You're wrong about her," she said. "She may have been bad back then. But she's changed. She has a family now. She doesn't deserve to die at your hands."

"Oh, don't make me ill," Mary Anne said. "If anyone deserves to have her blood on their hands it's me. After all I suffered at hers. And by the way, your father sent me. I'm sure if I killled you, he wouldn't mind."

"You can't kill me," Anna said. "You're young and weak."

"That's not my fault!" Mary Anne said. They exchanged punches and kicks until Mary Anne went flying into the wall. Her eyes closed and she ceased to move. Anna got down to check on her, and as she examined the little girl for signs of life, she felt a pain in her middle. She looked down as her body stiffened. The dagger had entered just between her ribs. She fell hard on the floor, unable to move. After Mary Anne was sure Anna was immobilized, she dragged her down into the cellar and shut her in a trunk before leaving the house.