"I have to go," Lucy said after a moment of silence. "I don't think I can be here anymore."

"I'll come too!" Lenora said. "You can't leave me! Daddy would be mad at you."

Roxie watched Lucy go and grinned to herself. "I should definitely tell Dad about this," she said. "It's what a good sister would do." Just then, her phone rang. "Roxie, where the hell are you?" Vince barked. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Roxie nodded. "My niece just magicked me back home, that's all," she said.

Vince let out a sigh of relief. "Good. I thought the mob had come for you."

"No," Roxie said. "I'm fine. Are you and Tony and Charlie gonna come back?"

"Might as well," Vince said. "If you aren't here, what's the point for us to be?"

"I'll see you in a bit," Roxie said. "I have to stop off at Dad's first. And I might be there awhile."

She hung up with Vince and called Klaus. "Hi, Daddy," she said. "Where are you? We need to talk."

"I'm at home," he said. "But I have guests, so be nice when you get here."

"Oh, all right." Roxie took the phone away from her ear and found a car, which she took to Klaus', parking in the street and striding inside, freezing when she saw who was sitting with her father. "You," she breathed at Caroline. "What are youdoing here?"

"She lives here now, remember?" Klaus asked. "You knew that."

"You pushed me down the stairs," Caroline added.

Roxie nodded. "Oh, yeah!" Then she looked at the other person at the table. "Alfred, why are youhere?"

"Just having a chat with my relative," Alfred said, smiling at Caroline. "Strange how my mother and family worked so hard to protect ourselves from vampires and there are two in the family line."

"Speaking of family," Roxie said to Klaus, "I found out something very interesting from Lucy."

"Really?" Klaus asked. "I wasn't aware you two talked. How is second grade going for her?"

Roxie grinned. "She's not in second grade any more. They moved her up. Reallymoved her up. To high school."

"High school?" Klaus' eyes widened. "I know she's intelligent, but it can't be wise to send such a small girl into an environment like a high school."

"Well, I don't exactly know how it happened, but Lucy's sixteen now. She's not so little. And you want to know what else she isn't?" Roxie asked, grinning maliciously. "She's not a virgin anymore, either."

Klaus' eyes widened. "What?"

"I think you heard me," Roxie said. "So do you really want me to repeat it?"

Klaus shook his head. "Oh, no. Please don't. So who did it to her? Did she tell you? I want to know who I am going to be killing."

"Damon Salvatore," Roxie said. "She seemed upset about it."

"Well then I'm definitely going to kill him," Klaus said. "I can't just let him do that to her and get away with it."

"You still want to be on good terms with her?" Roxie asked.

"Well, yes," Klaus said.

"Killing him, as appealing as the idea would sound, might not be the best option at this point then," Roxie said. "After Lucy told me what happened, she made me swear not to tell you because she knew that it would make you angry if you knew. She must genuinely have feelings for him."

"Does she?" Klaus asked. "I would have thought she'd have better sense than to go after one of her mother's hand-me-downs. That's a very sensitive and surprising observation from you, Roxanne."

"And here's another one," Roxie added. "She might just have learned her lesson by now. She told me what she and Damon did, and then said it was a 'total waste because he's still stuck on Mom'."

Klaus scoffed. "I don't understand that. Your mother has her charm, but she's nothing to spend your life dwelling over when there are so many other options about."

"You mean like Lucy?" Caroline asked.

"Who asked you to join this conversation?" Roxie snapped at her.

Caroline shook her head. "Nobody asked me. But I just want to know what you think you'll accomplish by going after Damon. I mean, she must like him if she did what she says she did, and it clearly hurt her that he's not giving her his full attention, but is hurting him really the answer to all this?"

"Maybe not," Klaus said. "But it would make me feel better, certainly."

"And what does it have to do with you?" Caroline asked him. "It's Lucy's issue not yours, and she's older now, so you should let her handle it on her own."

"Lucy is my daughter, Caroline. A part of me," Klaus said. "By hurting her, he hurt me, and I never let anyone get away with hurting me. Ask Roxanne what happened after I found out about her and her boyfriend."

"He had his goons beat Vince up pretty bad," Roxie confirmed. "Vince came to school the next day on crutches. And Dad likes Vince."

"You like him and you still beat him up?" Caroline asked.

"It's because I like him that I let him live," Klaus said. "About Mr. Salvatore, I can't say I feel the same."

"Well, I suppose you'll do what you think is best," Caroline sighed. "But when Lucy hates your guts for doing it and is refusing to speak to you, don't come crying to me. Because all you'll hear is 'I told you so'."

Lucy stormed into Anna and Stefan's house after dropping off Lenora. "Your brother is the biggest idiot in the world!" She fumed.

"What did he do?" Anna asked.

"I think I know," Stefan said.

"He's still stuck on Mom," Lucy said, ignoring Stefan. "I do all I can to be nice to him and he's still stuck on Mom!"

"I think 'nice' is an understatement of what you were," Stefan said. "But it's good to see you've learned your lesson and are moving on."

"And you won't tell Dad?" Lucy asked Stefan.

Stefan shook his head. "I don't see why that's necessary, since you're breaking things off anyway. It would only cause trouble to mention it to him at this point."

"Oh, thank you!" Lucy said, hugging him. "I'm gonna go back to Mimi's now. If your brother wants to tell me he's sorry, tell him not to bother."

Selina was reading Gregory a book in his room when he heard the doorbell ring. "Let's go see who that is," she told him, putting the book down and carrying him to the front door just the the doorbell rang again. Selina looked out the side window to see who it was and groaned. "My god," she asked herself. "Why?" She went to open the door and saw Damon standing on the other side.

"Hi," he said to her. "May I come in?"

"That depends," she said. "What did you come for?"

"I just want to talk," he said. "There's something on my mind that needs to be said. "Something I haven't completely been honest about with you. It won't take long, I swear."

"All right," she said. "It better not. Elijah's not home right now, but he could be any minute."

"I'll be in and out," Damon said. "And I'm touched that you're concerned for my safety."

"Well, I just don't want you getting any ideas," Selina told him. "How many more times are we going to have the 'I've moved on and you need to as well,' talk?"

"And that's exactly what I have to talk to you about," Damon said. "I have moved on."

"Good!" Selina said, sitting down with Gregory on the sofa. "Good for you. Who is she? Is she nice?"

"You know her," Damon said. "And I'm not gonna put it off any longer because that wouldn't do either of us any good." He took a breath. "The girl I'm with is Lucy."

The room was silent for a moment as Selina digested this piece of information. Then, she looked at Damon. "When you say 'Lucy,' you don't mean...?"

"I do," Damon said, his eyes averted. "Your daughter Lucy. She's sixteen now, just like Sam, and very pretty."

Another minute or so of silence and then Selina put Gregory down on the floor, growled, and punched Damon in the eye with all her might, knocking him to the ground. "What are you thinking?" Selina yelled. "She's a sixteen year old girl and you-you-"

Damon slowly pulled himself up from the floor, one hand on his eye. "I fucked up, I know. It's just that when she ran off, I was so scared and then she came back and I was so relieved that I didn't want let her go, and one thing led to another, and-I know it's a bad excuse, and you can hit me all you want, but that won't change what happened. I do love Lucy, though. I swear."

"How can you say you love her when you know in your heart of hearts you're not even over me yet?" Selina asked, looking at Damon with dismay. "It's not right to string her along like that, Damon. And you know it. If you love Lucy as much as you claim, don't make her another notch on your bedpost. Let her go until you feel you can make a commitment."

"Well that's kind of a moot point now," Damon said. "I accidentally called out your name when she and I were, you know. And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. She's done with me for now." He moved his hand from his eye and said, "You're taking this a lot better than I thought you would."

Selina sat down. "Yeah, well, I can't be too critical, can I? It's not like I've never been where she's been. Felt what she's feeling right now."

"When did you feel like that?" Damon asked. "Was it after I left for the war? You knew that I might not come back from it, despite my best intentions."

Selina shook her head. "It didn't have anything to do with the war," she said. "It had to do with Katherine. When I found out you were with her, it did hurt me. A lot. Why couldn't you have had the same commitment to me then that you have to me now?"

"But I did!" Damon said. "That's why she had to compel me to think that you cheated on me. Because her charms alone couldn't make me forget about you. And it made her irritated, so that's when she started using her powers on me."

Selina nodded. "Well, that's something, I suppose."

"Would you like to know something else?" Damon asked.

"Sure," Selina said. "Why not?"

"The reason why I'm having such a hard time letting you go, it's not exactly because I still love you or whatever. I'm not stupid. I can see you've moved on. It's that I carry a lot of guilt around for leaving you the first time and as weird as it sounds, part of me feels like I haven't made it up to you for that yet. That's one of the reasons why I'm having trouble letting you go."

"What's the other?" Selina asked.

"When I was growing up, very few people actually loved me," Damon said. "Do you realize that? There was my mother, and she died. And Stefan, and you. Even though you were just a little girl, you made me feel like I was special and smart and could do anything. And no one else, up until Lucy, made me feel the same way."

"And now that Lucy's old enough to give you that kind of love, you're starting to feel comfortable with the idea of pulling away from me," Selina finished. "I get it."

"Well, I wouldn't say she's exactly old enough," Damon said. "I still find myself thinking of her as a child sometimes."
"Well, techinically, that's what she is," Selina told him. "Even if the two of you have been in bed with each other."

Damon sighed. "I think that's going to have to stop, at least for now."

Selina put a hand on his shoulder. "I know that it'll be hard, but you're doing the right thing. You'll see that, eventually." She held out her arms. "Come here."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Damon asked. "Do you really think you should trust me?"

"Are you thinking of pulling anything?" Selina asked.

"Well, no," Damon said, giving Gregory the eye. "How could I, when I know we're being watched?"

Selina turned. "It's scary how much Gregory looks like Elijah sometimes, isn't it? Now, do you want a hug, or not?"

"Well, all right," Damon said. "But only a short one."

"Someone here to see you, Lucy," Mimi said, coming into her room.

Lucy gripped her paint brush tighter and began flicking red paint onto her canvas. "If it's who I think it is, I don't want to talk to him. Would you just tell him to go away?"

"I tried that," Mimi remarked. "But he wouldn't go. He's very persistent."

Lucy rolled her eyes and put her brush down. "Fine. Where is he?"

Mimi patted her on the shoulder and led her to the kitchen, where Damon was waiting. "Lucy!" he said. He tried to hug her, but she wouldn't let him. "Oh, go hug Mom!" she barked.

"Can we talk about that?" Damon asked.

"No!" Lucy shouted. "We can't!"

"If it makes you feel any better, when I told your mom about you and me, she punched me," Damon said. "See?"

Lucy finally looked at him and saw that his right eye was turning purple. "Well, good," she said. "I hope it hurt. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a painting to work on." She strode off, leaving Mimi and Damon to stare at each other awkwardly.

"The two of you have had lots of ups and downs, haven't you?" She asked.

Damon sighed. "This one was my fault. I really screwed up."

"And you want to make it up to her?" Mimi asked.

Damon nodded. "Yeah."

"Then leave it alone for awhile," Mimi said. "If you wanted, I could tell you when it's safe to try again."

"Why would you do that for me?" Damon asked.

Mimi shrugged. "You made a mistake. Everyone does that."

Damon nodded. "All right. Thank you." And then got up to leave the house.

When Elijah got home, he found the living room empty except for a checkered tablecloth on the floor and two places set out. "Selina?" He called. "Where are you? What is all this in the living room?"

"Coming!" She called, and emerged from the kitchen with a bottle of white wine. "Would you get a couple of glasses?" She asked.

"Oh, of course," he said and when he came back with the glasses, she filled them up.

"What is all this?" he asked again.

"I thought we could do with a picnic," she said. "And since we can't go outside without taking Gregory with us, the best solution is to do it inside."

"That does seem the most sensible solution," Elijah agreed. "Where's all the food?"

Selina stood up. "In the kitchen," she said. "I was just letting it rest for a bit. I made up more than one course."

"You did?" Elijah asked. "Really? What are we starting with?"

"I thought either fruit salad or cucumber soup," Selina said.

"Well, I'll try a little bit of both," he told her.

She nodded. "All right. Being a bit adventurous, I see." She got up and headed to the kitchen. Elijah followed. "Could I help you carry anything?" He asked.

"Sure," she said, handing him the bowl with the soup in it. "By the way, speaking of eating, Gregory was being a bit fussy today after I fed him and I thought that since his teeth were coming in, it might be time to start him on blood. I cut my finger and gave some to him and he handled it just fine, but I wanted to know what you thought before I took it any further."

"I think it would be wise to start slow," Elijah said. "Maybe give him yours first, and if he handles it well, like you say he has, then we'll gradually introduce mine and then blood bags. But we shouldn't feel the need to rush yet, don't you think?"

"Well, not to the point where we're forcing him to drink. Not that we'd do that anyway, but you know what I mean," Selina said. She held up the fruit bowl. "How much do you want?"

"Well, what did you make for the main course?" Elijah asked.

"I found a recipe for chicken Marsala that looked good," Selina said. "And it only took half an hour."

"Is that why you called me to ask how long it would take me to get back?" He asked.

"Well, yeah," Selina nodded. "Why did you think I did it?"

"I don't know," he said. "Problems with Gregory and you needed my assistance?"

She told him to put his wine down and then she hugged him. "That is so sweet that you'd drop whatever you were doing to come down here and help me if I was having a problem with Gregory," she said. "But he really is one of the most even-tempered kids I've ever known. Except for around bedtime. Then he likes to mess with me. Not unlike you." She grinned, and spooned a little of the soup and a little of the salad onto his plate.

He grinned. "Well, that is your own fault," he said. "You're too pretty to resist." He paused. You really do have a way with food," he commented. "And I mean that in a good way."

She grinned. "Well, thank you. It was just one of those things where, when I was growing up, Mama took note of every single bit of food I put in my mouth and told me that I couldn't eat as much as I wanted because it was considered unladylike, so when I was free of her and out seeing the world, one of the first things I did was learn how to cook things I really liked, and then I ate as much of them as I wanted. It really was very liberating for me."

"When I was alive, we couldn't choose not to eat," Elijah said. "It was a pure matter of survival. If we didn't eat, then we would become weak and vulnerable, so we ate whatever we were able to catch and we ate it with gusto." He watched her eat, grinning at how she did it in a very ladylike manner, but wasn't ashamed with the amount she was consuming, even though she knew he was watching her.

"What?" She asked when she realized he had his eyes on her. "Haven't you ever seen a woman eat before?"

"Not recently," Elijah said. "It seems to have fallen out of fashion for women to actually eat normally when men are watching. Have you noticed that?"

"I have," Selina nodded. "And if you ask me, women today are just stupid. I could never imagine being so stuck on how I looked that I stopped eating because of it." She shuddered. "That's Mama's thinking, not mine."

They sat in silence, finishing the salads, and then Selina brought out the chicken. As they cut into their chicken, Elijah said, "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

Selina shook her head. "Nothing happened. It was pretty quiet, I'd say."

"Good," Elijah nodded. "I like it best when things are calm and quiet with nothing troublesome on the horizon."

Just then, there was an insistent knock on the door. "Who could that be?" Elijah asked. He looked at Selina, who was starting to get up. "No, you stay here," he said. "I'll go get it."

"Well, all right," she said. "If you insist."

Elijah went to the door and opened it to find Klaus and Roxie on the other side. "Hello," he said. "If the two of you wouldn't mind waiting with whatever it is that you came to tell me until Selina and I have finished our lunch, I would be most appreciative."

"I don't think it would be wise to wait that long, Elijah," Klaus said, elbowing his way into the house with Roxie following. "I have something urgent to tell you. It's about Lucy."

"What about Lucy?" Elijah asked. "Is she hurt? Is she in trouble? What?"

"She's been deflowered," Roxie said bluntly. "Damon Salvatore did it, but he's still kind of stuck on Mom, so Lucy's a tad upset."

Elijah watched them for a moment, the muscle in his cheek twitching. "Are you serious?" He asked Klaus. "When did you find this out?"

"Only today," Klaus said. "Who knows how long it's been going on."

"She's just a little girl!" Elijah said. "How could he do that?" Elijah stormed into the living room and frowned at Selina. "You should be ashamed of yourself!" He said.

"For what?" Selina asked. "What have I done?"

"You sent Lucy into Damon Salvatore's den of iniquity and now he's-he's-oh, I'm so mad I can barely even say it!"

"Now he's ruined her!" Klaus raged. "Selina, did you know about this?"

"Yes," Selina nodded. "But I only found out about it earlier today. Damon came by and he told me."

"He came by today and told you about this, yet you didn't see fit to mention it to me?" Elijah asked. "Selina, when I ask you if anything happened while I was gone, that is the sort of thing you should mention to me!"

"No, it's not!" Selina said. "Because I knew that if I did, you would get all in a snit like you're in right now, and that's not necessary. He told me Lucy's let him go for now, so that should be that. And it's not like when I found out, I didn't give him a punch in the eye for good measure."

"So you've had your chance," Klaus said. "And now it's our turn. Elijah, would you like to come with me?"

Elijah nodded. "Of course, brother. Lead the way." They marched out the door and Selina looked sourly at Roxie. "I might have known you started all this," she said.

"You mean, you actually want Lucy to be with Damon?" Roxie asked. "That surprises me, Mother."

"Why?" Selina asked. "It's not like I'm with him anymore. And he really does like Lucy and Lucy likes him and he's not related to her in any way, so if they wait a couple of years, I don't see what the problem is. It's like with you and Vince. You started being with him when you were the same age Lucy is now and he's good for you, and I think, in spite of how flippant you act about relationships, you've never been with anyone other than Vince, have you?"

"Well, what's the point?" Roxie asked. "I can tell without much effort that everyone else would suck."

"And you love him," Selina said. "Don't pretend you don't."

"Aren't you gonna go after Dad and Uncle Elijah?" Roxie asked, quickly changing the subject.

"What's the point?" Selina asked. "It's best when they're this angry to just let them do what they feel they need to do. Damon will heal and will have learned a good lesson. The only reason I would have stopped them was that I made flan and I didn't want it to go to waste, but with them gone, I suppose that means more for you and me."

"What's going on?" Jason said when he opened his front door and saw Lucy on the other side. "You sounded pretty worked up on the phone."

"I've just had a bad day," Lucy said. "A really, really bad day."

"I'm sorry," Jason told her as he led her to the sofa. "Would you like to tell me what happened, or is that best kept private?"

Lucy sighed. "No, I can tell you. I slept with this guy and now I feel used. That's the long and the short of it. He told me he loved me and everything, and then the other night when we were doing it, he called out his ex-girlfriend's name instead of mine."

Jason sucked in his breath. "Oh, that's rough. But there are worse things that could happen to a person, trust me."

"Oh, yeah?" Lucy asked. "Like what?"

"Well, I'm going to tell you a big secret about myself and you have to promise you won't tell anyone. Hell, my family would be pissed off if they knew I was telling you."

"Well, what is it?" Lucy asked.

"You probably won't believe me, and it will probably make you laugh, but I swear it's true," Jason said. He leaned closer and whispered in her ear. "I'm a werewolf."

Lucy's eyes widened as he pulled away. "You're a what?"

"I'm a werewolf," Jason repeated. "Well, not yet exactly. Next week, when the full moon comes up. Then it will be official."

"But in order for that to happen, don't you have to kill someone?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah," Jason said quietly. "My stepfather was drunk and beating up on my mom. I came in and when I saw her all bruised and bleeding, I got so mad, I just began beating up on him until he died. And then my mom looked up at me, burst into tears, ran into the bathroom and didn't come out. When I went in to check on her, I found that she'd drowned herself in the sink. There was water all over the bathroom and everything."

"Oh, Jason, I'm so sorry," Lucy said, putting her arms around him. His problems really made her problems with Damon seem trivial and stupid.

"How do you know about it?" Jason asked. "How did you know that you have to kill someone in order to change?"

"Because I'm like you," she said. "I've got the gene as well. From both my parents. My brother and sister are both active, and so are my mom and dad, but I'm not."

"Do you ever plan to be?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "No, I don't think so. It's just not me." She paused. "Are you...scared to change?"

"A little," he said. "I hear it hurts. A lot."

"I've heard that too," Lucy said. "Do you want me to come be with you next week when it happens? Because I will come and be with you if you don't want to be alone."

"I don't," Jason said. "I don't want to be one of those crazy psycho killer werewolves, you know? I have to find out before next week if there's any way I can go through my transition without killing people."

"Well, you're in luck," Lucy said. "I have this uncle who is a veritable encyclopedia of werewolf knowledge. I could take you to meet him and he'd tell you everything you need to know. Would you like that?"

"Yeah," Jason nodded. "I would. Thank you, Lucy."

Damon looked up as the front door of his house burst off its hinges. "Here you are!" Elijah said. "So what do you have to say for yourself?"

"About what?" Damon asked.

But before Elijah could say more, Klaus picked Damon up by his collar and threw him against the wall. "You know," he said, "When I was alive, we used to have special punishments for men like you. And castration was only the beginning."

"We found out about you and Lucy," Elijah said. "I hope you're ashamed of what you've done."

Klaus put his free hand on around Damon's throat and began choking him. Damon tried to nod, but couldn't move much. "I think after I choke you, I'll disembowel you," he said conversationally. "Or maybe I could do what they did to sacrifices in South America and crack open your ribs and pull out your heart while it's still beating, hmmm? It would be quite painful."

Damon groaned, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. Then Klaus suddenly let him go and flung him at Elijah. "Say what you have to say," he said. "There won't be much of him left for you to talk to after I get through with him. But don't take too long. I don't want to be kept waiting."

Damon found himself facing Elijah's cold gaze. Elijah began to pace around him. "Tell me," he said, "why what happened between you and Lucy happened. Why was she hurt?"

Damon looked up at him nervously and didn't say a word. Elijah slapped him so hard that Damon thought his head would go flying off, but it didn't. "Answer me when I speak to you!" Elijah barked. "Why did you hurt Lucy?"

"I didn't mean to!" Damon finally got out. "It was an accident! She and I were together and I said Selina's name instead of hers. That's what happened."

"You're unbelievable," Elijah said quietly. "It's bad enough that you take Lucy's virtue when she's so young, but to do it under false pretenses while you still harbor feelings for her mother? That's just despicable. I ought to kill you right here and now!"

"Oh, don't do that," said a voice. Elijah looked up and saw a young woman with short blonde hair standing just inside the front door. "He might have said the wrong thing, but that doesn't mean he deserves to die for it."

"Well, thank you!" Damon got out. He looked at Elijah. "See? This whole thing just didn't come out of nowhere. She and I have a connection and-"

"Oh, shut up!" Lucy yelled at him. "Don't you dare say all that crap now! Just because I said they couldn't kill you doesn't mean they aren't allowed to bat you around a little for good measure."

"Lucy!" Damon said, feeling shocked.

"Grow up," Lucy said. "It's not like it will kill you. You'll heal, eventually."

Damon looked into Lucy's cold eyes and found no light or forgiveness in them. She was serious.

"I'm going now," Lucy said quietly. "I only came because Mom called and told me Dad and Uncle Elijah were thinking of killing you. She thought I could stop them, and I have." She looked at Elijah and Klaus, who came back into the room. "Have I stopped you from killing him?"

"You're Lucy?" Klaus and Elijah said at the same time.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm Lucy. She smirked at Klaus. "Are you going to go poke your eyes out now, Daddy?" She asked.

"Eventually, I just might," he said.

Lucy gave Damon one last dismissive look and then, as she made her way out the door of Damon's house, she said over her shoulder, "Remember, you two: you can do anything you feel you need to except kill him. Killing is much too good for him after what he did."