Lucy looked at herself in the mirror. She knew she'd behaved childishly with Damon and that was what had driven him away. She had to change somehow, to show him that she was grown up. She wasn't six years old anymore and he had to know. But how could she do that? She began opening drawers and finally found a pair of scissors. She looked at them for a moment and then grabbed a chunk of her long blonde hair and began cutting until she had a pile of hair at her feet and her face was framed by a jagged, uneven bob.

Just then, she heard a knock at the door. "Are you all right, Lucy?" Mimi called.

"Yes!" Lucy called. "I'm great!" She opened the bathroom door and found Mimi on the other side. "What did you do to your hair?" She asked, looking bewildered.

"I cut it," Lucy said. "I thought it would make me look older."

"Is this for that man you're crazy about?" Mimi asked.

"Maybe a little," Lucy admitted. "I think I'll go show him right now."

But when she reached Damon's house and he answered her knock, he didn't say a word about her hair. He lifted her up off the front step and carried her into the house, kissing her all over her face.

"Don't you ever leave again!" Damon scolded. "Do you understand me? You had me worried sick!"

Before Lucy could respond, however, he was kissing down her neck and onto her collarbone. She decided it would be best to say nothing. Who knew what would come out of this relief he was feeling?

Lucy put her arms around his neck and he kept kissing lower and lower, until he had to unbutton her shirt. Then he picked her up and carried her to his bed. He removed her shirt and her skirt, but once he realized what he was looking at, his eyes widened and he pulled away. "What am I doing?" He groaned. "I can't do this, Cookie Monster. I'm sorry."

Lucy sat up angrily. "Oh, no!" She said, standing up on the bed and removing her bra and panties, standing naked before him. "We've already come this far. We're going to go all the way, damn it!"

"Lucy, I can't!" Damon said. "You know why!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I know. Because I'm Cookie Monster, and small and innocent and cute. I should be, I admit that. But I'm not anymore. I mean for god's sake, look at me!"

Damon resisted for a second, then his eyes locked on her breasts. She definitely wasn't a little girl anymore.

"Exactly!" Lucy said, making note of how long it took him to remove his gaze. "You're attracted to me, I'm attracted to you. And the only thing that will make you stop thinking of me as a little girl is for us to have sex. Now are you gonna take off your clothes, or am I gonna have to rip them off you?"

Damon watched her and was overcome with a combination of awe and the urge to laugh. She was absolutely serious.

"You're giving me a choice?" He asked. "You know, your mother wouldn't," he said. "She'd just rip everything off."

Lucy got down on her knees on the bed and ripped off his shirt, pulling him to her and kissing him deeply. She deftly unzipped him and wiggled out of her panties.

"Don't keep me waiting," she said. "This was the whole reason I came back."

He grinned and stroked her. "Well, I'll have to make it worth your while," he said. "We wouldn't you to leave again." She whimpered, and then shrieked as he pushed into her. "And by the way," he said when they'd finished for the moment, "I really like the haircut."

Lucy blushed a little. "Thank you for noticing," she said. "I thought it would make me seem more grown up. Did it work?"

"Put your clothes on and I'll be able to focus more on your face," Damon said.

Obligingly, Lucy dressed. "Now have a look," she said. "And tell me honestly, what do you think of my hair?"

"It's something," Damon said. "Did you cut it yourself?"

"Well, yeah, I did," Lucy nodded. "Is it that obvious? Should I go to a professional to have it evened out?"

"Oh, no. Don't!" Damon said. "I like it this way. It makes you look very singular."

"All right," Lucy said after a moment. "I'll keep it like it is." She took a deep breath and then said, "You do realize what we just did, don't you?"

Damon sighed. "Yep. Do you realize how much trouble that'll get me in with your relatives? Your mother and every man you're related to will want my head."

"Well, that's only if you tell them," Lucy said. "And you wouldn't be silly enough to tell them yet, would you?"

"Do you think I have a death wish?" Damon replied. "And do you swear you won't tell them?"

"Oh, no!" Lucy said, eyes wide. "I want to do this several more times. I definitely wouldn't be stupid enough to tell them."

"Well that puts us both in an awkward position," Damon said. "You want to do this more, yet neither of us want to be caught. How do you suggest we handle that?"

"Well," Lucy said thoughtfully, "first things first, we'll have to stop coming here. Everyone knows that you live here and it's where they'll expect you to be. Now when I left, I ran into the most wonderful woman in the park. Her name is Mimi and she runs a gallery downtown. She told me I could stay with her. If she met you, I'm sure she'd love you and let us have our little meetings at her house. No one knows about that but you and me. It's full proof!"

Damon looked at her eager face and sighed. "This is really wrong, you know," he said.

Lucy's eyes narrowed. "Don't you start with that 'You're still a little girl' crap. I though we got over that already!"

Damon sighed. "Well, I think for the moment we have. I mean, what this was, what we just did, was that I just let my emotions get the better of me. I was so glad to see you back that I let myself do whatever the hell I felt like. I'm very impulsive like that sometimes."

"When you had sex with Mom the first time," Lucy said, "Whose idea was it? Yours or hers?"

"Hers," Damon said. "I was about to leave with the army and she had this idea that she didn't wnat me to leave and possibly die without us ever, you know..."

"Having sex?" Lucy supplied. "Come on, you can say it. I know you can. How come you're always so twitchy around me?"

"I am not twitchy!" Damon said. "You got what you came here for, so why don't you just go back to this Mimi and live your life and we'll tuck this little event away and keep it between the two of us."

"I'll remember it fondly," Lucy said. "Will you?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Damon said. "Now just go, please!"

Lucy sighed. "Fine, but you know I'll come back. You know it. And you'll be damn glad when I do!"

She strode out the door, leaving Damon alone to run his fingers through his hair and collapse on the living room sofa.

"So did it work?" Mimi asked. "Did your hair make an impression on him?"

"It really did," Lucy nodded. "I mean, really. Actually, it wasn't the hair at all. It was the fact that when he saw me, he was so relieved that I wasn't lost or dead that he took me into his arms, carried me to his room, and then we-"

"You...?" Mimi said. "You don't mean you had sex with him."

"Yeah!" Lucy laughed. "I did! And he only noticed the hair after we'd finished. He told me not to get it evened out. Said it looked better this way."
"Well, it's good you got what you wanted," Mimi said.

Lucy nodded. "Of course my family's gonna be real unhappy about it if they ever find out. Because Damon's a bit of a Casanova and most of the men in my family are way overprotective of me."

"So that's it for the two of you then?" Mimi asked. "One glorious moment and then nothing?"

"Oh, I don't see any reason why we should have to end things," Lucy said. "I just thought we could have our meetings somewhere nobody in my family knows about. Could we have them here, please, Mimi? I'll bring Damon over to meet you, I promise."

"Wow," Mimi said. "Just how bad are the men in your family?"

"Really bad," Lucy told her. "You have no idea."

"Oh, my god," Selina moaned. "How long have we been going for?"

Elijah kissed down her neck. "Twelve hours with the occasional break to go tend to Gregory," he said. "Have you tired out yet?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "Have you?"

Elijah grinned. "Of course not." They were in the throes of passion when Elijah's cell phone, which was next to the bed, began ringing.

"Well, this is awkward," Selina said. "Neither of us are really in a position to answer it, are we?"

They maneuvered a little bit until Elijah could finally reach for the phone. "Yes?" he said. "What is it?"

He was greeted by sobs on the other side of the line. "Anna?" He said. "Anna, what is it? What's happened?"

"It's Aleksandr," she sniffled. "I came to visit him today to see how he was dealing with Father being gone and I found him...Oh, Elijah, he's dead! Aleksandr's been killed!"

Elijah's eyes widened for a moment, then he took a deep breath. "It's all right," he said. "There's an easy way to fix this. Just go and pull the dagger out of him and then he'll spring back to life, like we all do."

"No," Anna said. "You don't understand! He's been completely finished off. There's no way to bring him back. You have to come see for yourself!"

Elijah sighed. "Oh, all right, Anna. I'll be right there. Just stay where you are and try to be calm."

"What's the matter?" Selina asked. "Is something wrong?"

Elijah shrugged. "Anna has the idea in her head that Aleksandr has been killed. She says she's at Father's house and found his body."

"Well, are you going to go over there and have a look to be sure?" Selina asked. "She could be overdramatizing things."

"That's what I suspect is going on," Elijah said. "But I'll humor her. And you'll stay here with Gregory, won't you?"

Selina sat silently for a moment, and then said, "Yes, I will. But if you go, and it turns out he is dead, will you take me to see him so that I can say goodbye? I mean, Aleksandr and I were married for ten years, and even though they weren't the happiest ten years I've ever had, it's not like I can forget them."

Elijah nodded. "All right. But I have to have your word that you will promise to stay put this time."

Selina nodded. "I promise I'll stay here."

When Elijah arrived at his father's house, he found Anna sobbing and shaking just inside the front door. "All right," he said. "Where is Aleksandr?"

Anna burst into sobs again. "He's in the b-b-bedroom! But don't make me go back in there, please! It's just awful."

"All right," Elijah nodded. "You can stay in here. I won't make you come with me."

Anna sniffled again and Elijah began walking from room to room looking for Aleksandr's body. Finally, he came upon a door that had You'll be next! written on it in blood. Elijah looked at it for a moment, then reached out with his handkerchief and smeared the words. The blood was fresh. It couldn't have been put on the door that long ago. Then, he looked at the bed and he saw Aleksandr's head poking out from under the covers, his skin gray, his eyes vacant and glassy, his arms resting behind his head. Elijah advanced slowly toward the bed, pulling the covers aside and groaning as Aleksandr's head, which had been severed cleanly from his neck, rolled off his arms and under the bed. That left Elijah gazing at his brother's headless torso, where the dagger stood straight up in his heart. He pulled at Aleksandr's arms, which had been hanging off his shoulders by a thread. His legs were much the same way. Who would have done this?

Just then, he heard a small sound and looked up to see a dark-haired, dark-eyed little girl standing by the door and cradling a large, bloody knife. "He didn't scream," she said, her voice expressionless. "He begged me to kill him."

"You!"Elijah said. "You did this!"

"I didn't really want to," she said. "Believe me, I didn't. But with your father out of the way thanks to your mother, Aleksandr had control of our entire operation and was doing a horrible job of running things. We've really accomplished nothing. So, knowing that I could handle things much better, I did what I had to to put myself in charge." Her eyes narrowed. "You have a choice," she said. "Are you going to cooperate with me? Or do I have to kill you, too?"

Elijah stared at her for a moment, then ran at her, and with a yell, grabbed her around the throat and began shaking her until she was as limp as a rag doll, then threw her down on the floor. When her eyes opened, she looked at him and gave a gurgling laugh. "Are you going to kill me now?" She asked. "Go on, I deserve it."

Elijah shook his head. "No, Mary Anne. I won't kill you. It's not my place, although I suppose you do deserve to die. But I know someone else who would be more than happy to end your life."

"And who is that?" Mary Anne asked.

"You'll see," Elijah said. "You'll see." He left her at the house, locking the door behind him and then went back home.

"So is he dead?" Selina asked shakily. "Is Aleksandr dead?"

Elijah nodded. "Yes."

Selina gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"And I know I promised you that I'd let you see him so you could say goodbye, but after seeing him myself, I don't think it would be wise. His killer was very thorough when she finished him off."

"She?" Selina repeated. "Who killed him?"

"Mary Anne," he said.

Selina sucked in her breath. "Oh, god. That little bitch! If I could just get my hands around her neck, I'd-"

"That was my original plan, to ask you to handle her," Elijah said.

"Well, then, let's drop Gregory off at your mother's and go and finish off Mary Anne," Selina said. "I won't take long with her, I promise."

"Look at yourself!" Elijah said. "I won't have you acting like this. Not when you've worked so hard to recover from the dark times. Do you really want things to be like that again?"

Selina sighed. "Well, no. Not really. I just think that she should pay for what she did to Aleksandr. Don't you think that? Aren't you as upset about this as I am?"

"Of course I am!" Elijah told her. "Which is why I am going to deal with Mary Anne and you are going to stay here!"

Selina sighed. "Oh, all right," she said. "But watch yourself. Mary Anne's a tricky little monster. I've always known that. And just think: if it weren't for Nicky, she'd have been dead a long time ago."

"Niklaus turned her?" Elijah asked.

Selina nodded. "Granted I wasn't there when it actually happened, but who else could have done it?"

Elijah sighed. "I'm going to go back to Father's house, deal with Aleksandr's body, Anna and Mary Anne. You stay here. You promised me."

"I know," Selina said. "Just go already, would you?"

When Elijah got back to Mikael's house, Anna was gone. And so was Mary Anne. All that was in the right spot was Aleksandr's body. He called his mother and she came over. "So this is what happened to him?" Elissavetta asked. "Who did it?"

"A girl named Mary Anne," Elijah said. "A vampire, turned by Niklaus. She was originally helping Father with his work, but since Father is currently out of commission, she thought it would be best if she took charge on her own, and thus felt the need to get rid of Aleksandr."

Elissavetta sighed. "I know you might be opposed to this, but maybe we should go and release your father. I mean, Selina's had Gregory, and she's been good lately, so what reason would he have to want to go after her? And it was your father's being gone that made this Mary Anne person kill your brother."

Elijah shook his head. "Father doesn't forget easily, Mother. Even after all these years, he still has the memories of those Selina killed ingrained deeply in his brain. He feels she did wrong and has to pay for it, despite the fact that she's behaved herself and given birth to his grandson. No, Mother. Under no circumstances should we release Father."

"Then what do you intend to do about this?" Elissavetta asked. "We can't just let it go unpunished. We can't!"

Elijah sighed. "I know, Mother. And when I think of a way, Aleksandr will finally be avenged."

"Vince!" Roxie called. "Come here! I got another splinter. And there's a dead rat in the basement. I don't want to touch it anymore. I think it has rabies or something."

Vince came downstairs. "How many rats is that today? Three? Six? Eight?"

"Ten," Roxie said. "And I can hear more scratching around down there." She gagged. "Can I stop? Please? I want to stop."

Vince sighed. "All right. For today, you can stop."

"What's the point of all this?" she asked him. "Why did you even bring me here? What are you trying to prove?"

"Why did you kill those people?" Vince asked. "For god's sake, Roxie, that first woman was pregnant! Are you so spiteful that you'd ruin an innocent person's life because you feel bad that your mother is happy with your uncle and you're not?"

"It's not being spiteful," Roxie said. "Vince, I have to kill people. I'm a predator. It's what I do."

"Well, if you want to be with me at all, you're going to stop," he said. "I only date people."

"I only killed the first woman!" Roxie said. "The other two drowning victims were just stupid. I had nothing to do with them."

"Give me your hand," Vince said. He pulled a needle out of his pocket and stuck it under her splinter. Roxie shut her eyes. "Will this hurt much?" She asked.

"It'll hurt just as much as it hurt when I took out the other splinters," Vince said. He rolled his eyes. "My god, you've had enough of them. You should be used to this by now."

"No," Roxie shook her head. "I don't want to be used to this! Ever! Not the vermin, not the dirt, not the splinters! You get me out of here right now!"

Jus then, one of their cell phones rang. They went up the stairs to answer it, but Charlie got hold of it first. "Hello? Oh, hi, Selina."

"What's my mom doing calling my number?" Roxie whispered.

"What's up?" Charlie asked. "Yeah, sure Roxie's here." She handed Roxie the phone. "Your mother wants to talk to you. About something important."

Roxie rolled her eyes and took the phone. "What's going on, Mother?"

"You're going to think I'm ridiculous for bringing this up, but you haven't done anything bad recently, have you?" Selina asked.

"Define 'bad'," Roxie said. "Have I stolen money, have I compelled someone and cheated at school, have I-"

"Have you killed anyone?" Selina blurted out. "Roxanne, have you killed anyone?"

"Why?" Roxie asked. "Why would that matter?"

"I'll tell you after you answer the question," Selina said shortly.

"Well, there was one person," Roxie said. "I killed her in Vegas after I found out you and Uncle Elijah were expecting."

"Well, one person isn't the worst you could do," Selina said.

"Does it matter that it got TV news coverage?" Roxie asked. "It was a pregnant woman. I strangled her and dumped her in a fountain."

Roxie heard a strangled gasp on the other end of the line. "Oh, my god," Selina said. "How could you do something like that? I would have thought that even you wouldn't go that far."

"Yeah, save me the lecture," Roxie said. "Vince has told me it all before and now he's dragged me off to Hillbilly hell. He's forcing me to live in a shack in the country and cook meals and kill vermin."

"Well, good for him," Selina said. "I hope he keeps you there for a long time."

"Wow, Mom," Roxie said. "Way to be vindictive about something that's just as much your fault as it is mine. Now did you just call to berate me, or did you have something else you wanted to say?"

"Actually, I did," Selina said. Her voice had become quiet now. "You know about Mary Anne, right? The little girl your father turned back during my bad period?"

"Yeah," Roxie nodded. "The one you hated and wanted to kill yourself."

Selina cleared her throat. "Yes, well, she's apparently killed your Uncle Aleksandr and is out and about now. With your uncle's father out of commission, I thought we'd all be safe, but Mary Anne's just as fanatical about catching vampire miscreants as he was, maybe even more, so since you have killed someone and it's been all over the news, just watch out for Mary Anne. She might be after you to, and even though we've had differences of opinion over the years, it still took a lot for me to bring you into this world and I don't want you to die."

Roxie was silent for a moment. "All right," she said finally. "I mean, we're in the middle of nowhere, so I doubt she'll be able to find us, but I promise we'll keep an eye out for her, Mother."

"So did you tell Roxanne about Mary Anne?" Elijah asked Selina that night. "And did she believe you?"

Selina nodded and put her arms around him. "I told her. And she really seemed to be listening this time. She says that Vince has taken her to a cabin or something in the middle of nowhere. It was almost like he knew about Mary Anne ahead of time. Or else he was just damn lucky. She says that she and her friends will keep an eye out for Mary Anne and be cautious if she shows up. Because Roxie has killed someone, a nationwide case with lots of TV coverage, so there's no way Mary Anne wouldn't know about it. Roxie would definitely be Mary Anne's next target, considering I haven't done anything." She sighed. "Look, what do you want to do tonight? I know you've had a long day and I'd be more than happy to spend the night with Gregory so you can have peace, quiet and no distractions."

Elijah sighed. "That might be best," he said. "I just really need to be able to sleep tonight and as lovely as you are, because of that, you're a very big distraction."

Selina grinned. "That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." She put her hands in the back pockets of his jeans and squeezed. His eyes widened. "What did you do that for?"

She winked. "I just wanted a little something to tide me over and I thought you wouldn't mind." She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his forehead. "Goodnight, honey. Try and sleep well. We'll have fun tomorrow." She spanked him twice and then walked up the stairs, shaking her butt a little.

"You really are shameless, you know," he said, trying not to laugh. Or run after her, grab her and have his way with her right there on the stairs.

"Oh, I know," she said, not turning to face him. "But that's what makes you love me so much." When she got to Gregory's room, she shut the door behind her and burst out laughing. She really shouldn't have done that. He did need his sleep, and it wasn't fair of her to have worked him up like that, but it was just so much fun.

Her giggles startled Gregory, who started crying. Selina undressed to her underwear and fed him, cradling him in her arms. "It's okay," she said. "Mommy was just having a little fun at Daddy's expense but she's done now." She sat down in the rocking chair next to his crib and began rocking him slowly back and forth, humming a tune her mother used to hum when she'd been in a good mood, which hadn't been often. Once Gregory was asleep, she tucked him in, got in her pajamas and crawled into bed, falling asleep right away.

Damon was glad Lucy had gone sleep somewhere else that night. Maybe he'd finally be able to get some peace and quiet. He'd gotten a call from Sam, saying that he planned to come home now that Lucy had moved somewhere else. He'd apparently moved into an apartment with a girl he'd met and she was getting a little too close for comfort.

After he'd hung up the phone, Damon had sighed. He recognized this pattern of behavior, this not being able to commit to anyone. He'd had it himself, starting when he was about sixteen or so. Louisa Forbes had been the first of his conquests and she too had become too close for comfort. And yet, she'd never really let him go.

Selina had really been the only steady female presence in his life after his mother had fallen off her horse and died. She'd expected more from him, looked up to him, made him feel like he could accomplish things. Like he was worth something. And then he'd been stupid and left her.

Things had been bad for him while she'd been gone, but they'd gotten together for a time. Then, she'd left him. Left Sam. Didn't she understand what she was to both of them? She was the one reason they had for being good at all. No one else saw them as worth anything. He shook his head and sighed. Oh, well. He'd just have to deal with it. He couldn't change what didn't want to be changed.

He climbed into bed and shut his eyes, drifting easily into sleep...

When he opened his eyes again, the bedroom door was open a crack and he could hear breathing outside. "Who is it?" he called. "Is someone outside?"

The door opened farther and a woman entered the room. It took awhile for him to realize who it was, but he finally saw that it was Selina, wearing a ruby bra and panties and a gauzy bathrobe, which she untied and shrugged off, letting it glide to the floor. "Hi," she said. "Any room in the bed there for me?"

"Sure," he said. "But won't your husband mind? Does he know you're here?"

Selina sashayed over to the bed and climbed in beside him. "Of course he doesn't know," she said, running her fingers through his hair. "You're not gonna tell him, are you?" She kissed his forehead, her red lipstick making her lips look really full.

"No," he managed to get out. "I won't if you won't."

She nodded, easing herself down under the blankets and pulling down his boxers and running her fingers over him. "I made a mistake leaving you," she said. "Would you let me come back if I said I was sorry?"

He moaned and flipped her over so he was on top. "All right," he said. "How sorry are you?" She kissed down his neck. "I'm very sorry. So sorry, I'll let you do whatever you want to me."

They were enthuasiastically making love when they heard a knock on the bedroom door. "Who is it?" Damon called.

"It's the police," said a female voice he vaguely recognized. "And I'm coming in!"

She kicked the door down and Selina let out a shriek and covered herself up. The officer walked into the room and peered at them from the foot of the bed. "I see you've been enjoying yourself," she said. She locked eyes with Selina and then came to the side of the bed. "I'd leave if I were you," she said. "We've been cracking down on girls like you lately."

"What will you do if I don't?" Selina asked.

"I'll have to take you downtown," the officer said. "It would be easier if you just left."

"Are you serious?" Selina asked.

The officer nodded, a wisp of short blonde hair falling from her cap. "Do you want to try your luck?"

"No," Selina said. "I'll go!" She got out of bed, put on her panties, grabbed her robe and then scampered out of the room. "Now as for you," the officer said, looking at Damon and pulling off her cap. "I wonder what I should do with you..."

"Lucy...?" Damon whispered when she was next to the bed. She pulled off the top layer of her uniform so that her long dark pants were Daisy Dukes and her shirt was tied up in a knot showing off her midriff.

"Yeah, it's me," she said, grabbing his wrist and slamming a handcuff on it, attaching the other cuff to the bedpost. "So, what do you think the appropriate punishment is for a guy who goes after a married woman when there are other perfectly lovely single women available, hmmm?"

"Oh, I don't know," Damon said. "What do you think it should be?"

She licked her lips. "I'm gonna make sure you never do something like this again." She untied and unbuttoned her shirt and eased off her shorts, climbing into bed beside him, running her hands over him as Selina had before he went into her and made her screech. They rolled around on the bed for awhile and then finally rolled over far enough that they fell off the bed and hit the floor hard. That was what woke him up. He sat up feeling very warm and quickly showered and dressed. He left his room and went to the kitchen to get breakfast, starting violently when he saw Lucy sitting at the table, grinning at him. "So," she said, "How did you sleep last night?"

When Selina opened her eyes, she let out the beginning of a shriek before she was shushed. "Don't scream," Elijah said. "You'll wake up Gregory!"

She blinked a couple of times to make sure that it really was him in the bed beside her and not some hallucination. "What are you doing in here?" She whispered, running a hand down his abs. "You were supposed to be getting a good night's sleep by yourself!"

He grinned and ran his hand over her butt. "You'll have to forgive me," he said. "But I got lonely. And that perfume of yours really permeated the sheets and the pillowcases, so can you blame me for not being able to spend a night by myself?" He took her in his arms and put her underneath him, kissing her.

"Well, I suppose I can't blame you," Selina said. "Although I slept pretty well." She kissed him. "I'm sorry I got you all worked up last night. I'm naughty like that."

He grinned. "Well, yes you are." Just then, they heard gurgling. Gregory was awake. Selina got out of bed, went to get him and brought him back to bed with them. "I have a feeling that this might be a much better day," she said.