Lenora heard Damon's cell phone ring. She looked around, but didn't see Damon nearby. Instead of yelling for him, she picked it up and answered it. "Hello?"

"Lenora, it's me, Aunt Lucy," Lucy said.

"Hi!" Lenora told her. "Damon's not here. I could get him."

"No, no!" Lucy said quickly. "Please, Lenora. Don't you do that! I'm going to tell you a secret, but don't tell him, all right?"

"What is it?" Lenora asked.

"I'm scared to death," Lucy told her. "My uncle wants me to help him kill a werewolf and I don't really want to."

"I'm sorry," Lenora said.

"Thank you," Lucy told her. "I just wanted to get that off my chest. Now remember, don't tell Damon."

"I won't," Lenora said. Lucy told her goodbye and they hung up just as Damon came into the room. "Who were you talking to?" He asked her.

"Aunt Lucy," Lenora said. "She told me a secret that I can't tell you."

Damon got down on his knees. "What sort of secret? Lenora, is your aunt hurt?"

Lenora shook her head. "No. She said I'm not supposed to tell you that her uncle is making her kill werewolves and that she's scared."

Damon's eyes widened and he stood up quickly. "Lucy's uncle is making her do what?!"

"He's making her kill werewolves!" Lenora exclaimed, gesticulating wildly, her eyes wide. "And she said she's scared!"

"The hell she's gonna kill werewolves!" Damon said. "I'm gonna go put a stop to this right now!"

"What about me?" Lenora asked. "I can't be here by myself."

Damon shut his eyes. "Fine," he said. "I'll go drop you off at Stefan and Anna's and then I've got a plane to catch."

Damon was able to get tickets on a plane to Paris a few days later. When he stepped off the plane, a figure shot toward him, throwing herself into his arms.

"Lucy?" He asked after he'd finished coughing and regained his composure. "How did you know I was gonna be here?"

Lucy grinned. "Oh, please! I told Lenora to keep what I told her a secret, so I knew she'd tell you the second I hung up."

"So this whole 'Uncle Jake is making me kill werewolves' thing was just a ploy to get me here?" Damon asked. "You didn't have to go through all that. You just had to say you wanted me to come and I would have."

"No," Lucy said, sobering up and taking off her little pink hat that went with her suit. "That part's true, unfortunately. I wanted you to come help me with this because I thought I could deal with it better that way. But I felt awkward asking you after all the fuss I made about wanting to be independent, so I had Lenora get you here in a more roundabout fashion."

"Well, whatever," Damon said. "The point is that I'm here now and we'll deal with this together."

Lucy nodded. "By they way, what did you do with Lenora, rushing out here so quickly?"

"I left her with Stefan and Anna," Damon said. "Don't worry. Helene knows what I did and she seemed fine with it."

"So what do we do now?" Lucy asked.

Damon shrugged. "You tell me. What does Uncle Jake have in mind?"

"Well, first we should probably get to the place where I'm staying," Lucy said. "It's not here in Paris. It's in Lozere, which is in south-central France."

"Thanks for the geography lesson," Damon said. "Does your uncle know I'm going to be joining you?"

Lucy's gaze dropped. "Well, no, not really," she said. "He might even be upset with me when he sees you, but you know what? I don't care. You had to save me once before from a werewolf, so I'm not facing them again by myself."

Damon nodded. "Damn right you're not. You're not even gonna go to this Lozere place. You're gonna stay here in Paris with Mimi and do your pictures. That's what's safer for you."

"But I don't want to do what's safer for me!" Lucy complained. "I came here to Paris to take risks and have adventures and I can't think of anyone I would rather take risks and have adventures with than you!"

"Well, that's sweet," Damon said. "But what if you get hurt? You won't do me a lot of good if you get hurt and die. Do you know how much that would hurt me?"

"Well, yeah," Lucy nodded as they made their way through the airport. "But remember what we learned last time? If a werewolf bites me, it won't kill me. It will just make me human. And that's not so bad, is it?"

"Yes, yes it is bad!" Damon said insistently. "If you become a human, that will make you even more vulnerable than you are now! Don't you have any sense of self-preservation at all? At the rate you're going, you wouldn't last five seconds as a human!"

"I could too last as a human!" Lucy said, looking affronted as they left the airport and headed for the car that Lucy had brought. "I could be a very good human, I think!"

"Have you ever been one?" Damon asked. "No. No, you haven't. You have no idea what it's like. How hard it is."

"Well I'd be better at being human than Roxie or Adrian, I think," Lucy said. "Because thanks to Uncle Elijah, I know how to practice restraint." She opened the car door and said, "get inside, please."

Frowning, Damon sat in the passenger's seat and Lucy took the wheel. As they pulled out and got on the road, Damon said, "You can't be serious about this whole human thing. Do you have any idea how risky it could be for you?"

"How could it be risky?" Lucy asked. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Well, for one thing, you could accidentally kill someone, and then your werewolf gene will be activated, and your victim will not be the only one who will be dead," Damon said. "I will be too because your mother will kill me! And what happened to 'Uncle Jake wants me to kill werewolves and I'm so scared'? Now you're like 'Uncle Jake wants me to kill werewolves and I hope I screw up and one of them bites me so I can become human'."

"Because I want to show you that I can do it!" Lucy said, her voice rising hysterically. "And I want to know what it's like to be human. You and Mom both know and I don't."

"Look," Damon said. "Being human is not all it's cracked up to be."

"Would you be human again if it was possible?" Lucy asked him.

"No," Damon said almost immediately. "Well, yes. Kind of. I don't know. That's a loaded question!"

"Why?" Lucy asked. "I would say it's a pretty simple question. All you need to say is 'yes' or 'no'."

"No, it's not a simple question!" Damon said. "I would be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that does miss being human. When I became a vampire, as you know, I missed out on some stuff: getting to marry your mom, and meet my son Joshua, having a semblance of a normal life. Yeah, part of me misses that. But, if I would have stayed human, I never would have met you, so..."

"But that's not the question!" Lucy said. "If someone came to you right now and said, "Damon Salvatore, I can make you human right this second, would you like that?' Would you take them up on the offer?"

He sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I would. But there's no point in even talking about that, because it won't happen. Now, back to what we were actually talking about: Are you seriously going to put yourself in harm's way on purpose just so you can experience what a human life is like?"

"Yes!" Lucy nodded. "But don't worry. When we get home, I will tell Mom it was all my idea and that you are in no way responsible."

"How would I not be responsible?" Damon asked. "I was here, I could have prevented you from being bitten, but you became human anyway! She'll find some way to make this my fault, not to mention what your dad and your uncle will think!" He shut his eyes and rubbed his temples. This was turning into a problem.

"Just trust me, would you?" Lucy asked. "Nothing bad will happen to you because of what I'm gonna do!" When he opened his mouth to protest some more, she put a finger on it. "Shh! Discussion is closed!"

They drove in silence to the hospital, where Jake was waiting for them. "What is he doing with you?" Jake asked Lucy, looking at Damon.

"I asked him to come," Lucy said. "I don't have the best luck with werewolves, see? I told you about that werewolf Jason I knew at school, right?"

"Yeah," Jake nodded. "What about him?"

"He attacked her," Damon said. "Almost ripped her throat out when he turned one full moon. I saved her. He bit me instead."

"Yeah, whatever," Jake said. He turned to Lucy. "I got a call from a guy that I know who says he spotted the creature. We should be going now."

Lucy nodded and began following Jake out the hospital door. They would be going out into the country, which was where most of the werewolf attacks were taking place. Damon followed after Lucy, causing Jake to ask, "Does he really have to come?"

"Yeah, I do," Damon said. "Because if I don't, then Lucy is planning to-"

Lucy quickly clapped a hand over Damon's mouth. "Never mind," she said. "Just let him come, please? He'll be useful."

Jake nodded. "Well, all right," he said. "Perhaps we can use him as bait."

Damon swallowed and Lucy took his hand and they left the creature's latest victims behind and drove out to the countryside.

"It's so peaceful out here," Lucy said. "But it's daytime. How do you expect us to catch any werewolves, uncle Jake?"

"I was inaccurate when I said that it was an actual werewolf," Jake told her. "We don't actually know exactly what it is. It does have werewolf qualities, though." They reached a small cluster of houses and a short, balding man ran at the car. "It's here!" He yelled. "It's here! It's attacking my cattle!"

"Be calm!" Jake said to him. "We came to help." Jake parked the car and followed the man to his pasture, where a creature was running after the terrified cows, nipping at their heels.

Jake gripped both Damon's arms and yelled at the creature. "Don't mess with those!" He yelled. "I've got something better for you! A vampire!"

At the sound of the word 'vampire' the creature's head turned and he changed his plans, leaving the cows be and running at Damon instead. When the creature was close enough that Damon could feel its hot breath one his face. he heard a hiss, saw a shape bound over him and heard Jake shout "No!" The beast sank its teeth into the figure's neck and she crumpled to the floor. Jake dropped Damon immediately, plunged an extra-large wolfsbane dart into the creature's hide and then leaned over the crumpled figure in the grass.

"Damn it, Lucy!" He said. "What the hell did she have to go and do that for?" Lucy was moaning on the ground, her breathing shallow. Her blood was everywhere.

"Maybe she didn't like the idea of you using me as werewolf bait," Damon said. "You go put that thing, whatever it is, in the car and take it home. I'll stay here with Lucy. She did this for me. I owe her that much."

Jake gave him a long look and then picked up the creature to put in the car, so he could take it home and study it to figure out exactly what it was, leaving Damon alone with Lucy's body.

"I know you're gonna wake up," he said. "But that doesn't make this any less difficult for me. You got what you wanted. I just hope this will all be worth the trouble."

Two weeks later, it was Halloween and Selina's birthday. She sat up, feeling pretty good. Then she noticed that she was in bed alone. Again. She threw her covers aside and walked to Laura's bedroom, seeing that the door was closed. She heard Elijah's voice, so she knocked.

"Come in!" He said. She strode inside. He was sitting in Laura's rocking chair, feeding her from a bottle. "You didn't have to do that," Selina said. "You did it all night last night. You can take a break now."

Elijah cuddled Laura to him. "No, it's okay," he said. "I don't mind taking care of my little princess. It doesn't bother me at all." Selina's lip curled and she turned on her heel, walking out of the room, muttering under her breath, "'I don't mind taking care of my little princess," She spat out the last word and kicked aside a toy that Gregory had left in the hallway.

"Damn it!" She muttered. "She's not the princess! I am!" She ripped off her nightgown and dressed quickly, then decided to go out, yelling to Elijah that he'd have to watch the kids. She drove to Stefan and Anna's and strode in, sitting down heavily on the sofa.

"You're here by yourself?" Anna asked her. "I would have thought you'd bring Laura with you. I was actually kind of hoping you would. We haven't seen her yet."

"Yeah, well, neither have I, really," Selina said grumpily. "Your brother can't seem to be apart from her for even a second. You know, this is exactly how Roxie started growing up wrong. And he was at it again this morning. You'd think he'd make time for me today at least, seeing as how it's my birthday, but no, I don't matter now that he has a little princess to look after."

"Are you jealous of her?" Stefan asked. "It seems like you're jealous of her."

Selina nodded. "I know it's stupid, but it's a werewolf thing. Enid says it happens with girl babies sometimes."

"Do you want this to turn into Roxie the sequel?" Anna asked her.

Selina shook her head. "No. No I don't."

"Then go and tell Elijah to put Laura down for two fricking seconds and listen to you!" Anna said. "I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he's acting the way that he is. I'm sure he wouldn't just ignore you on purpose."

Selina nodded. "Right. And I know that. I just, I have to handle this in a calm, mature manner. He responds to that. If I throw a fit, he'll just get pissed off and we'll probably get in a fight."

"What do you say we go to the mall, get you some new outfits so you look awesome and then you can talk to my brother?" Anna suggested.

Selina nodded. "I think I like that plan."

Elijah was reading in his office after putting Laura and Gregory down for naps when he heard a knock on the office door. "Come in!" He said. The door opened and Selina came in. She was wearing a tight orange sweater and black jeans. "Happy Halloween," she said.

"Happy Halloween," he replied. "You look very festive."

"Yeah?" She asked. "Being festive never hurts. So, how are you?"

"I'm well," Elijah nodded. "How are you?" Selina pushed back the chair on the opposite side of the desk and sat down. "Actually, I'm not all right," she said. "I have a problem, and I thought we could talk it over in a mature, civilized manner."

Elijah put his book down and leaned forward. "What's the problem?" He asked.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but I feel like ever since Laura was born, you've been paying a lot of attention to her and next to none to me. Why is that?" Selina asked. "Is it because we're not allowed to have sex for six weeks?"

Elijah sighed. "Yes," he said. "It is."

"Wow," Selina said, standing up quickly and knocking the chair to the ground. I never thought you could be so shallow, Elijah!" She prepared to stride angrily from the room when Elijah grabbed her wrist. "You didn't let me finish," He said. "I'm not done explaining myself."

Selina sat back down, her expression severe. "Dazzle me," she said.

"I've been paying more attention to Laura rather than you because you're beautiful and it physically pains me to be around you, knowing that I can't touch you or make love to you," he said.

"You can still touch me!" she protested. "There's no harm in that!"

Elijah shook his head and grinned at her. "I know myself too well," he said. "I can think that I'm capable of keeping things to only a touch, but that's never enough. Would it be enough for you?" He asked her.

"No," Selina shook her head after a moment. "Not really." She sighed. "I thought you were avoiding me because you liked Laura better."

"Oh, no!" Elijah said. He leaned across the desk and kissed Selina long and deep. When he pulled away, he said, "What made you think that?"

"Well, you called her your princess," Selina said.

Elijah nodded. "Yes, and what is the princess' mother called?"

"The queen," Selina said.

Elijah nodded. "She is my princess and you are my queen." Just then, noise came from the baby monitor. "I'll go see to her," he said. "Then after that, you'll get to have your turn."

"Why can't I take my turn now?" Selina asked.

Elijah grinned. "I've got a surprise for you."

Selina sat alone in the office and then Elijah came back a few minutes later, carrying Laura, who was dressed in a baby-sized pumpkin costume. "Surprise," he said. Selina grinned. "Thanks," she said. "She looks adorable." He put Laura in her lap and said eagerly, "the outfit has a little pocket in it. See what's in it."

Selina put her hand in the little pocket of Laura's costume and pulled out a ring box. "What's this?" She asked.

Elijah took Laura so Selina could open the box and she gasped. It was a silver ring with a large pink tourmaline in a setting surrounded by tiny diamonds. "Wow!" she said. "Oh, my god, Elijah you shouldn't have! Thank you." She put it on. It fit perfectly.

"So you like it?" Elijah asked hopefully.

"Is that a serious question?" Selina asked incredulously. "Of course I like it! It's beautiful."

He kissed the top of her head. "So are you," he said. "Happy birthday, darling."