"How much longer do you think you'll be able to get away with keeping that picture before Father knows that it's missing, Sam?"

Sam started badly when he heard the voice behind him, but still managed to keep a good grip on the picture. "I don't care if Dad knows it's missing or not. He probably does by now. He keeps it on his desk." Sam looked down at the photo of his mother sitting on the hood of a car and smiling at the camera cheekily. The photo was yellowed and had to have been more than twenty years old, but he could still see his mother in it, and how beautiful she was. Then, he looked up at Joshua. "Are you here for a reason? Most people's imaginary friends leave them by the time they get to be my age."

"Technically, you're still only six, no matter what the mirror says," Joshua told him. "And I'm here because I'm worried about you. If you need to talk about anything at all, I'll listen."

Sam sighed and put the picture back on his pillow, looking up at Joshua. "Look," he said. "I know you want to help me and all that stuff and I'm grateful for that because you're the only one that seems to care at all, so don't take this the wrong way, but I wish you weren't the one who cared. I wish it was someone else."

"I know," Joshua nodded, looking at the photo. "I know exactly who you wish to care about you. And she does, in her own way."

Sam scoffed. "Yeah, right. How long has it been since she's even come here? I bet she still thinks I'm six years old!" He looked angrily at Joshua. "You of all people should know how I feel. She abandoned you too. Didn't that ever make you feel angry?"

Joshua shook his head. "Not really. I spent my childhood thinking that she wasn't in my life because she died. Our grandfather wasn't really a fan of the truth and it's hard to get mad at someone for dying."

"What about after you found out she wasn't dead at all?" Sam asked. "Were you mad then?"

"I was too stunned to be mad," Joshua said quietly. "And I think she was as surprised by the sight of me as I was by the sight of her. And after we both got over our shock, we had a nice chat and then I brought my fiancee to meet her, and then, after her first marriage didn't work out, she moved in with me and my wife and helped us raise our children."

"Well, isn't that just jolly for you?" Sam said bitterly. "And just how is that story of yours supposed to help me if you weren't angry at her even the tiniest bit?"

"Well, why are you mad at her?" Joshua asked him. "She's doing the best that she can."

"How?" Sam asked. "Where do I benefit? Her best must mean that everyone gets to see her except me and that is just not fair!"

"Well, sometimes life isn't fair," Joshua told him. "You should consider yourself lucky. At least you have Father. Most children in your situation end up with no parents to care for them at all!"

"What do you mean 'most children in my situation'?" Sam asked. "What is my situation?"

"You were an accident," Joshua said quietly. "Mother and Father were both having a bad day and they got drunk together while wallowing in their misery and ended up having an evening of passion that resulted in you."

The room was so silent after this pronouncement that a cough sounded like a thunderclap. "Well, that explains a hell of a lot," Sam said. "No wonder Mom never comes to visit me if she never wanted me at all!"

"You aren't the only one," Joshua said. "She didn't exactly plan for me, either."

"You too?" Sam said. "Well, hey. What a coincidence. You and me both are Mom's unwanted bastard children."

"Well, actually-" Joshua began, and then stopped when he saw the hopeful look in Sam's eyes.

"What?" Sam asked. "You can tell me. Come on."

"It's nothing," Joshua said. "Don't judge Mother too harshly. She loves you in her own way, even if she can't show it to you every second. Can't you give her credit for that?"

"Well, I don't know, Josh," Sam said. "Really, I want to. I do. But I just don't know if I'm evolved enough yet."

"Well, I'm sorry for you," Joshua said. "Because by continuing to be this way, you'll only make yourself more miserable than you already are."

"Are you done?" Sam asked.

Joshua nodded. "I suppose, for now."

"Well then, just go!" Sam yelled. "I don't want to hear you talk anymore!"

Selina came back from lunch with Caroline later that day to find Elijah holding Gregory and looking as if he were at the end of his rope. Gregory was sobbing so hard his face was red.

"What's happened?" Selina asked Elijah. "Did something happen to him?"

"He just won't stop crying!" Elijah hollered. "And I don't know what to do!"

"Here," Selina said. "Give him to me."

Elijah handed him over and Selina stuck her finger in his mouth. "I thought so," she said knowingly. "He's teething. Here, hold on to him a minute." Elijah took him back and Selina went to the freezer and grabbed a long, frozen thing that said "Freezee Pop" on the side of the plastic. She rippped the top off and pushed it up so that red was poking out, then took Gregory back and put the popsicle in his mouth. He stopped crying and looked much more cheerful.

"What did you give him?" Elijah asked.

"Oh, calm down," Selina said. "It's just frozen fruit juice, that's all. This one is cherry flavored, but I have other flavors too. I thought it would be good to have them around when he started teething and the time has come."

"He's not going to be like this all the time is he?" Elijah asked. "We aren't going to have a moment's peace!"

"Have a lttle sympathy for the kid, will you?" Selina asked him, running her hand down Gregory's back. "The poor little guy's gums are all swollen and sharp pointy teeth are pushing their way up through his soft, tender mouth. That has to hurt. You can't blame him for crying."

"Well if this will be going on for a long time," Elijah said, "the crying and the need for something cold to soothe his gums, I don't think we should keep relying on those popsicles as a way to soothe him."

"Oh, and why not?" Selina asked. "I told you they were made of frozen fruit juice. It's not like I'm just giving him junk food. I wouldn't do that."

"I know you mean well," Elijah told her. "But I think it would be better if we relied on his teething ring instead. The sugar in those popsicles alone will keep him up all night."

"Oh, it will not!" Selina said. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"May I see you in our room for a minute?" Elijah said through his teeth.

Selina rolled her eyes and went to put Gregory in his crib and then followed Elijah into their room. "If you want attention from me, this isn't the way to go about it," she said.

"I didn't bring you in here to try and seduce you," Elijah said seriously. "I think it would be best if he didn't have any of these popsicles of yours. They're poison and I don't want them in this house."

"Oh, shut up!" Selina said. "This is exactly how I handled Adrian and Lucy and even Roxie and Nicky didn't seem to mind."

"Well, I shouldn't have to remind you that I am not Niklaus and because of that, I do not do things the way he does."

"And how do you do things?" Selina asked. "I can't wait to hear."

"Gregory will have nothing sugary of any kind yet," Elijah said. "He's too young."

"I don't see why we need to be that strict," Selina said. "He seems to like the popsicles. And they don't have a lot of sugar. If you had one, I think you'd like it." She left the room and came back clutching one.

"I don't believe in putting things like that in my body," Elijah said, looking at the popsicle with distate. "It's what's best for Gregory, so I really think you should-"

At that moment, Selina stuck the popsicle in his mouth and said, "Let's get something straight: Where Gregory is concerned, I will compromise with you, but you will not get to make every decision concerning him by yourself. I gave birth to him, so I think that entitles me to give input on how he's raised. If we get in a situation like this one, where I put a suggestion out there and you can't come up with a better one, I want to hear you say, 'You're right, Selina. I won't argue with you anymore. And not only are you right, you're also intelligent and witty, not to mention incredibly sexy."

She finally let the popsicle go and Elijah took it out of his mouth, glaring at her. "So?" She asked. "I'm waiting."

He spanked her. "You are intelligent, witty and incredibly sexy, but that doesn't mean you're right."

Selina growled. "I could just smack you, you know that, right?"

"You're cute when you're angry," he said, smirking at her and running a hand up her thigh.

Selina moved his hand. "You didn't bring me in here to seduce me and I didn't come in here to be seduced. If you want to deal with this in a more grown up manner, I will be more than willing to talk with you." She looked down at his jeans and giggled. "Your popsicle is melting and it's getting all over your pants."

Elijah looked down at the dark stain that was spreading just above the right knee of his jeans. "Oh, damn," he said. "I'm going to have to go change. I guess I can be glad that I wasn't wearing one of my suits. That would have been a catastrophe." As he walked toward the closet, Selina watched his bottom, which was snugly encased in his jeans. "I think it's not just you who's glad you aren't wearing one of your suits," she thought to herself.

"Have you paid much attention to Sam lately?" Joshua asked Damon, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a small but heavy paper weight.

"What?" Damon looked up from throwing his papers out of all his desk drawers. "Did you say something?"

"I asked if you've been paying much attention to Sam lately," Joshua repeated. "Have you? Do you realize how morose he's become?"

"He's a teenager now," Damon said without looking up. "I'm sure it's just a phase and he'll be over it in a few years. Have you seen the picture of your mother that I used to have on my desk? It disappeared days ago and I haven't been able to find it!"

"That's just what I mean!" Joshua said. "Sam is in distress and all you can think about is a picture of Mother that's missing. You should be ashamed of yourself. I hope you are. And as for the picture, Sam has it. He snuck down here and took it and now he keeps it under his pillow. It's the closest thing he has to Mother since she hasn't come and visited him for so long."

"Well, what would you like me to do?" Damon asked. "Go over to your mother's house and demand she come and visit Sam? I'm not exactly the most welcome person in that house, you know. Being the ex and all."

"If you don't go, I will," Joshua said. "One of us has to tell her."

Damon looked at Joshua's self-righteous expression and said, "Oh, fine. I'll go and do it. But I have no doubt it will end badly for me."

When Selina heard the doorbell ring and went to answer it, she had to shift Gregory to her left hip in order to open the door. "Damon," she said. "Come in! What brings you here?"

"Am I interrupting something?" Damon asked, eyeing Gregory a little uncomfortably.

"Oh, no," Selina said. "You're not. It's okay."

"Good," Damon said, striding into the house. "Because we have a bit of an emergency on our hands."

"What kind of emergency?" Selina asked. "Has something happened with Sam?" She went to the kitchen, put Gregory down in his baby seat and then grabbed another Freezee pop out of the freezer and began sucking on it.

"Yes," Damon nodded, when he could finally find his voice again. "But before I tell you, I have two favors I want to ask of you."

"What?" Selina asked.

"Damn it, will you stop sucking on that thing?" Damon snapped.

Sheepishly, Selina removed the popsicle from her mouth and stuck it back in the freezer. "I'm sorry, really. I'm not trying to drive you crazy. I just forgot." She paused. "What's the other favor?"

"Put on pants," Damon said. His eyes roamed down her legs, which seemed longer because she was wearing a very short skirt. "For god's sake, please put on pants!"

"Well, all right," Selina said. "Watch Gregory for a second and I'll go change." She left him alone with Gregory until Elijah came in, clutching a popsicle of his own. "You too?" Damon asked. "Those seem to be popular around here all of a sudden."

Elijah pulled it out of his mouth for a second. "Don't tell Selina that you saw me with one of these," he said. "I told her they were garbage and I don't want her to think she outwitted me about something."

"Don't worry," Damon told him. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Thank you," Elijah said. "Where has Selina gone, by the way?"

"To change into pants," Damon said. "She told me her legs were cold." He shrugged.

Elijah nodded and picked up Gregory. "I'm going to take Gregory over to my mother's for awhile. You wouldn't mind telling Selina that, would you?"

Damon nodded. "Oh, sure."

Elijah nodded and headed out just as Selina came back into the kitchen and pulled a chair into the center of the room, sitting down on it. "So," she said, "what did you have to tell me about Sam?"

"Joshua tells me he's been behaving oddly lately," Damon said. "He took a picture of you that I had on the desk in my office and he's been hiding it under his pillow."

"Well, why wouldn't he tell you about that?" Selina asked. "It doesn't seem like that's anything too bad."

"Well, I still think you should come and see him anyway," Damon said. "It would do him some good."

Selina nodded. "Well, of course. Just let me tell Elijah that he'll need to watch Gregory for a bit-"

"Gregory's gonna be all right," Damon said to her. "Elijah took him to his mom's."

"Well, all right then," Selina said. "Let's go."

"Sammy doesn't hate me, does he?" Selina asked. "I mean, he has every right to hate me, and I'm going to tell him that, but at present, does he hate me?"

Damon shook his head. "I don't think so. If he hated you, he wouldn't be clinging to the picture of you the way Linus clings to his blanket."

"Which picture?" Selina asked. "Not the one from 1864? I thought you got rid of it."

Damon nodded. "I did. It was the one I took of you right before I proposed to you the second time. The one where you're sitting on the car."

"Oh," Selina nodded. "Yeah, I remember that one."

As they drive up the drive to Damon's house, Selina said, "Would you mind leaving Sam and me alone while I make things up to him? It might be easier that way."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, at least not at first," Damon said. "You see, something's happened with Sam and he's a little different. And that difference can be jarring if you're not used to it."

"Oh, don't be silly," Selina said. "He's not my first son. I bet there's not a thing wrong with him that I haven't seen yet. Will you just leave the two of us alone for now? Please?"

"Fine," Damon said. "But when you see Sam, don't say I didn't warn you." He let Selina out of the car and then drove off without so much as a goodbye. Selina looked up at the house and took a deep breath. "Please let him still like me," she whispered to herself. "Please let him still like me."

She stepped inside the house and called out, "Sammy, I'm here to visit with you, but if you want me to leave, I understand completely."

Just then, a young man came running down the stairs and hugged her eagerly. "Oh, no," he said. "It's okay, you can stay. I can't believe you're here!"

"Oh, my god!" Selina said, pushing the young man away. "Who the hell are you? You're not Sammy! What the hell's happened to my kid? Did you do something to him? Tell me where he is, or I swear on my life I will beat the hell out of you."

"Relax, Mother," said a calming voice behind her. "That is Sam. I promise."

Selina turned to face Joshua. "How did this happen? He's only supposed to be six years old! I know I've been negligent, but I don't think It's been bad enough that I let ten or so years slip by unnonticed.

"Lenora," Sam said. "She wanted some of Lucy's and my candy after trick or treat last Halloween and when Lucy and I wouldn't give it to her, she migicked us big and took it."

"So Lucy's older as well?" Selina asked. "Is she all right? Where is she?"

"She moved in to some artists' boardinghouse downtown," Sam said. "She really seems to like it."

Selina let out her breath. "Oh, I am so relieved. If you hadn't told me, I would have had images in my head of her being sick or injured or dead, or-" she paused and looked at Sam guiltily. "But never mind. We're not here to talk about Lucy. We're here to talk about you. Aside from the aging ten years, how have you been?"

"I can't complain," Sam said. "Things have been good enough for me. How about you?"

"I've been busy," Selina said. "What with the fact that Elijah and I had the baby and everything."

"Do I have a sister or a brother?" Sam asked.

"His name is Gregory," Selina said. "He's a very sweet boy, although he has a tendency to stare at me judgmentally when I make cookies and sneak some of the dough before I bake them." She grinned.

"Did I ever do anything like that?" Sam asked. "Or do you even remember?"

"Oh, I remember," Selina said. She put her arms around Sam. "You know, for the first six months of your life, it was you, your dad, Lucy and me all living together in the same house. That happened because I didn't want Lucy's father to find out that one of you wasn't his, but then your father, in his usual abrupt way, went and blabbed, so Klaus knew, and that's when I thought it would be better if I just brought you and Lucy back to live with me. I told your father he could have three days to say goodbye, but when the time ended and Lucy and I came back to get you, the house was empty and there was a note by the phone from your father that said, 'I know I promised I'd make it easy for you to get Sam, but last night, I decided against it. Sam is my son and I'm not just gonna give him up. I'm sorry'."

"So Dad sorta kidnapped me?" Sam asked.

"It would be harsh to phrase it that way," Selina said. "I know why he did it. We had to give up your brother and I guess that the thought of having to give up another child was just too much for him to bear, even though I told him that he was allowed to come visit you."

"So you did want me?" Sam asked, looking hopeful. "Even if I was an accident?"

"Who told you you were an accident?" Selina said, looking angry.

"Joshua did," Sam said. "He said I was an accident, just like him."

Selina growled. "Joshua Damon Salvatore, you get yourself out here right now. I want to have a word with you!"

Joshua appeared, looking sheepish."I'm sorry, Mother. But someone had to tell Sam the truth."

"That is not the truth!" Selina said. "Sam wasn't an accident and neither were you!"

"I always thought I was," Joshua said. "That's what Grandfather used to say, although that's not how he phrased it."

"Well, you weren't!" Selina said. "I figured that your father was probably going to die when he went off to war, so I wanted to have a piece of him to remember him by and that was you. I knew exactly what I was doing, and when Doctor Stensrund told me you were on the way, I was as happy as anything."

Joshua flushed a little. "Sorry, Sam," he said. "I guess I was wrong."

Selina looked at Sam. "You were my little something extra," she told him. "I mean, it's true that I didn't exactly sit down and say, "I want to have another child with Damon,' but its exactly what I thought my whole life and couldn't say. Not being able to raise Joshua was one of my biggest regrets and I always thought that if your father and I had another one, I would be able to make up for everything that I missed out on the first time around."

"So you did want me?" Sam asked, looking hopeful.

Selina nodded. "Of course I did. And don't you ever think otherwise."

"Would it be a problem for me to come and meet my new little brother?" Sam asked. "I want to."

"Well, of course!" Selina said. "In fact, you should come and stay for a couple of weeks. Would you like that? It wouldn't be any trouble."

"Thanks," Sam said. "I would love to."

As Elijah pushed his shopping cart through the fruit section of the grocery store a few days later, he heard a beep coming from his inside jacket pocket. He pulled out his phone and saw that there was a message on it from Selina. He sighed. She was supposed to be resting. She'd practically fallen face first into her cereal this morning. She'd been overworking herself, but she wouldn't tell him why. He opened the message, thinking that it was jus a note from her about something she wanted him to pick up. But when he saw what it was, his eyes widened and he quickly stuffed his phone back in his pocket. She'd sent him a picture of herself standing near the velvet floor length curtains in his office, wearing nothing but a coy smile and holding a feather duster in front of herself to cover up the lower front of her. He took a deep breath, warmth flushing his face and tried to forget the image. But just as he reached the melons, he was overcome by the urge to look at it again. This time though, he wasn't so quick to put it away and pushed his cart along with his eyes on it, not moving them until his cart hit someone else's and his phone flew out of his hand.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" He said, looking up.
"It's okay," Damon said. "I wasn't looking where I was going either. You know how it is when you get to doing stuff on your phone. It's so easy to get distracted. I must have dropped mine when we crashed."
"Me too," Elijah said. "Did you see where they went? It's very important I get mine right away."
"Why?" Damon asked slyly. "Are there love notes from Selina on there you don't want anyone else to see?"
"Well there's certainly something on there from Selina I don't want anyone else to see!" Elijah snapped. "That's why we have to find our phones now!"
"I got you," Damon said. "I feel exactly the same way."
When they found the phones, they realized they both looked exactly the same and neither were sure whose was whose.
"You know what?" Damon asked, "Why don't we just pick one and then switch if we're wrong? I mean, what else can we do?"
"All right," Elijah said. "But if you get mine, you have to promise to give it back."
They shut their eyes and each grabbed a phone off the floor, opening them.
"Selina's sending you naked pictures?" Damon asked, eyeing the image on Elijah's phone enviously. "She never sent me any naked pictures!"
"Give me that!" Elijah said, snatching the phone away. "Besides, I don't see what you've got to complain about. The girl I see here is quite comely, although do you really think it's wise to date someone so much younger than you?"
"You're the expert on that," Damon said shortly, taking the phone back. "You tell me."

"Oh, stop being bitter about Selina and think instead about the woman whose picture is on your phone," Elijah said. "She must like you, or she wouldn't do that."

"Oh, she does like me," Damon said. "She's a sweet girl, really. She doesn't like to be away from me very long. Does Selina feel that way about you?"

"Well, no," Elijah said. "We're both secure enough in our relationship that we can spend time without one another. It's healthy. Although there is something that she's seemed intent on keeping from me the last week or so. Has she mentioned anything to you? Something that I might not like that's going to happen?"

"The only thing I can think of is that she told Sam he could come and stay for a couple of weeks," Damon said. "And she might have thought you'd be less than enthusiastic about Sam coming to stay, since he's not yours and all."

"I'm well aware of Sam and that situation and I'm all right with it," Elijah said.

"Well, good," Damon told him. "Then you won't be alarmed when Sam comes to visit in a bit."

"No," Elijah said. "I won't. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to pay for my things, then go home and ask Selina why she didn't think she could tell me about Sam."

"Good luck," Damon called after him. Then he got his phone out and texted Lucy: "Are you crazy sending me stuff like that picture? Your uncle Elijah saw it and you are DAMN lucky he had no idea it was you!"

When Elijah got home, the first thing he did was check on Gregory, who was fine, happily chewing away on his teething ring, and then he went to look for Selina. But he didn't find her. She found him.

"So," she said, sneakily coming up behind him as he made his way out of Gregory's room and kissing his neck. "Did you get anything interesting on your phone while you were at the supermarket?"

"Well," Elijah said, "some naughty-minded woman sent me a naked picture of herself, but I don't know who could have done it."

"Well I might know," Selina said. "If you let me look."

"No!" Elijah said, clutching his phone to himself. "That's not necessary."

Selina giggled. "Would you relax? I was just teasing you. I know the picture you're talking about is the one of me."

"What would possess you to send me something like that while I was out in public?" Elijah asked. "Someone could have seen it!"

"No they wouldn't!" Selina said. "Not unless you're suddenly in the habit of handing your phone to other people, which I know you aren't. And you liked looking at it. I know you did. You're not as prudish as you pretend."

"Well, of course not," Elijah said. "I have needs and desires just like everyone else, but there is a time and a place for those desires to be expressed."

"And just what would that time and place be?" Selina asked. "Safely within the confines of a person's bedroom just before bedtime?"

Elijah nodded. "Exactly. Although based on what Damon told me about Sam when I saw him at the supermarket, we might not even be able to have privacy within our four walls soon."

"You know about Sam coming here?" Selina asked. "I know I should have told you, but when I invited him, Sam seemed so happy about it that I didn't want to risk you saying no."

"So you just decided not to tell me?" Elijah asked. "Selina, we can't do this. That's not how a relationship works. Now, I know about Sam, and I know how he came to exist and I'm all right with that. But you have to tell me when you invite people into our house. It's just a polite thing to do!"

"Well, all right," Selina said. "I apologize. I thought the picture would make up for not telling you, but since you obviously need to hear me say it too, I apologize for not telling you about Sam before now. You are all right with his coming? He won't be here for too long, I promise. Just a week or two. And he wants to meet Gregory."

Elijah nodded. "Yes, I am all right with him coming. Just promise me we'll have some alone time while he's here? You won't forget about me, will you?"

"Of course not," Selina said, hugging him. "I could never forget about you."

The day that Sam was supposed to come, Selina was very eager. She was bouncing off the walls and having trouble sitting still. Even a game of Monopoly, which was usually very easy for Selina and Elijah to play, was very difficult because she was so hyperactive.

Elijah rolled the dice and moved his car down the Monopoly board, landing on St. James place.

"Yay!" Selina cheered. "You owe me a ton of money. Fork it over."

"I don't!" Elijah said. "I'm not paying you for all three properties!"

"But you have to!" Selina said. "I own all the properties that are gold. That means you have to pay me for all of them."

"We'll just see about that," Elijah said. He went to one of the cupboards and got out a piece of red construction paper, putting it down on all the gold space properties Selina owned. "There," he said. "Now they've all burned down and I don't have to pay you for any of them."

"You can't just burn my properties down!" Selina said.

"Oh, yes I can," Elijah said. "My people used to do it all the time."

"Is that so?" Selina asked. "What did you do with the people in the houses once you burned them down?"

"Well," he got up and came to sit behind her. "The men we'd usually kill, and the women, if they were pretty like you, we would..." He leaned forward and kissed her, lowering her down onto the Monopoly board. She had a game piece digging into her back, but she didn't care. As she wiggled out of her panties, she said, "Wait a minute! What about there being a time and place for everything?"

Elijah paused and looked down at her, his eyes wide, his breathing heavy. "Are you saying you want to stop now? Because I can't. Not at this point."

"What I'm saying is, you know Sam comes today and we don't want him to come in here and find us," Selina said. "That would be incredibly embarrassing, wouldn't it?"

"Well that would only be true if he could just walk in here," Elijah said. "And you and I both know that he can't because we lock the door like civilized people."

"Well, I might have given him a key," Selina said. "So if you don't want to be a part of any really embarrassing situations, I suggest we pause for a moment and go and continue this in our bedroom."

"Fine," Elijah rolled his eyes. "You are lucky that I'm still dressed."

"Why do you think I mentioned it now, rather than later?" Selina asked.

He got off her and then they hurried to the bedroom, but not before Selina left Sam a note, telling him when he arrived that they were busy but would be done soon.

"Not that soon, I hope," Elijah said.

When they got to their bedroom, they quickly undressed each other and fell into bed, their hands going everywhere on each other. As he drove into her and Selina let out a shriek, the bedroom door burst open and they saw Sam staring at them, wide-eyed. "Oh," he said, blushing. "I'm sorry. I heard the screaming and I thought Mom was in trouble and...well, I'm sorry. You two take all the time you need. I'll be waiting for you in the living room."

"It's about time you got here!" Damon said when he opened the door that night and saw Lucy on the other side.

"Well, I'm sorry!" She snapped. "I've just been processing what you said about Uncle Elijah seeing the naked picture of me. Did he really see it?"

Damon nodded. "Yeah, he said you were 'quite comely'."

"Really?" Lucy said. "If he'd known that was me, he probably would have poked out his eyes." She paused. "Now that we have that sorted out, let's get to kissing!" She threw herself at him and kissed him deeply.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Damon said. "There's one more thing."

"What's that?" Lucy asked. "And do you have to tell me it now? Can't it wait?"

"Sam's visiting your mother and uncle this week," Damon said. "It means they know about his aging. And doubtlessly, he's told them about you by now. So we'll see what happens then, won't we?"

"Yeah," Lucy said, suddenly feeling cold. "I guess we will."