"What do you mean you might be pregnant soon?" Roxie asked as she opened the front door of Damon's house without knocking the next day and strode up to Lucy.

"Will you keep it down?!" Lucy asked her. "Damon doesn't know and I don't want to make him worry if it turns out to be nothing!"

"I don't think he'd worry," Roxie said. "I think he'd marry you like any other halfway decent guy would."

"But I don't want to get married or have a kid now!" Lucy said. "Technically, I'm only eight years old!"

"I know," Roxie said to her. "You want to accomplish things, you want to see the world, you want to really make your mark first before you commit and settle down. I was scared as hell when I had my pregnancy scare."

"You did?" Lucy asked. "When? I had no idea about this."

"It was about nine months before you and Sam were born," Roxie said. "In fact, one might say you owe your very existence to my pregnancy scare."

"How dare you!" Lucy said. "How dare you take a problem that happened to me and make it all about you?"

"I'm not joking, though," Roxie said. "If I hadn't heedlessly had unprotected sex with Vince and then had my pregnancy scare, you and Sam would not exist." She sighed. "Mom was the first person I told, and it took a lot out of her to hide it from Dad. One night, she ended up at Damon's. She told him about my pregnancy scare and how stressed she was about it, and he told her what a bummer it was that he had just got dumped by his latest girlfriend. They began drinking, and eventually they got so drunk that they had sex. When they woke up the next morning, Damon freaked out and told her how sorry he was about what had happened because the previous day, he'd gone to Enid's and had her give him a potion to help him be able to have a kid, but she gave it to him on the condition that Mom would not be the mother of his baby. Once Mom realized what had happened, she went home and had sex with Dad, so that when Damon's baby came out of her, Dad would think that it was his. Instead, she ended up with twins: a boy that was Damon's and a girl that was Dad's, otherwise known as you and Sam."

Lucy looked horrified. "Oh, my god. You're not lying, are you?"

Roxie shook her head. "Nope."

"So what am I gonna do if I am pregnant?" Lucy asked.

"Well, the good thing is that it will be a human baby, so you could put it up for adoption without trouble," Roxie said. "You could get an abortion, or you and Damon could get married and raise the baby yourself. Those are all your options. And that's only if you're pregnant at all. There's a possibility you might not be.

"But how long will it take to figure that out?" Lucy asked. "Two months? Three? I can't wait that long! The stress will eat me alive!" She grabbed Roxie's collar, her eyes wide with panic. Roxie calmly removed her sister's hands and said, "Relax, all right? It won't take two or three months. All I need to do is take you to Enid's and she can tell you right off. It's one of her super powers."

"Roxie!" Enid said. "Did you come for a drink? You don't work until tonight, remember." Then she saw Lucy as Roxie nudged her sister toward the bar. "You're...Lucy, right?" she asked. Lucy nodded.

"Well, it's always nice to see someone I don't see very often. What will you have?"

"She wants to know if she's pregnant," Roxie said before Lucy's eyes widened and she punched Roxie in the shoulder.

"I could have asked her myself." Lucy's voice was full of irritation. "Here's the story, Enid: my boyfriend and I got the chance to be humans for a week for Christmas. We had sex, forgetting that we need protection as humans if we don't want to risk a pregnancy and now I'm worried as hell. So, is there a shotgun wedding in my future?"

Enid looked Lucy over and shook her head. "No. You're fine."

"Oh, thank you god!" Lucy said.

"What's your boyfriend normally?" Enid asked.

"He's a vampire," Roxie said. "It's Damon Salvatore."

Enid's eyes widened. "Oh, my god, really? Hazel mentioned that somebody had had a chat with her about turning two vampires human temporarily, but I had no idea that was you!"

"Now I'm beginning to wonder if maybe it wasn't such a good idea," Lucy said. "I mean, it's nice to be able to feel the sun on my face, but I can still have that as long as I wear my ring. And I hate having to wait for the pizza guy instead of being able to make him come right away. And eating food is no fun when I have to eat fruit and crap to keep myself healthy. I like it better when I can eat all the junk food in the world and it does absolutely nothing to me."

"And most importantly," Roxie finished for her, "Since Damon, as a vampire, cannot father children, you can have all the sex you want without worrying about pregnancy scares!"

Lucy eyed her sourly. "Yeah. That too."

"Look on the bright side," Enid said. "You only have to be human for a week. It's not gonna last forever."

"At least there's that," Lucy said with a nod. "Now, are you positive that I'm not pregnant?"

"Yes," Enid nodded. "I'm positive. You're fine."

In mid-January, Lucy had the final exhibition of the work she'd done in Europe. Everyone came and the comments were mostly the same. Great techique, dark subject matter. People were especially critical of the painting of Damon being attacked by Jason the wolf. Once everyone was away from it, Lucy went and sat on a bench and just stared at the picture. It was her favorite one out of all of them because it was a depiction of something that had really meant a lot to her.

"I might be in the minority here," said a voice behind her, "but I really like this one. Can I buy it?"

Lucy turned and saw Damon standing there. "Hi!" She said, walking over to him. "You made it! Thanks for coming!"

"Well, it looks like I wasn't the only one," he said. "Everyone you know seems to have showed up."

Lucy nodded. "It's kind of funny. A few of the pictures I have up are of you and every time Mom looks at them, she just kind of sighs and shakes her head. She told me that she was glad she found out about us before this and didn't have to find out from the pictures."

Damon grinned and sat down next to her. "Remember how I told you I was gonna bring you a present?"

"Yeah..." Lucy asked, looking excited as he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a ring box. "Here it is," he said, opening it. "Will you marry me?"

Lucy's jaw dropped a little. She couldn't think of anything to say. Finally, she found her voice. "Yes," she said. "In the future, I will marry you. Now it's too early."

"You already saw Europe," Damon said as he snapped the ring box shut. "What else do you need to do that we can't do together?"

"It's not like that," Lucy said. "Damon, I'm still a teenager. Give me two years, and on my twentieth birthday, ask me again."

"But then it won't be a surprise!" Damon said.

"Yes it will!" Lucy said. "I will have had two years to forget about it. Do you remember in detail things that happened two years ago?"

"No," Damon shook his head. "Not really?"

"Well, there you go," Lucy said. "You can propose in two years and I will still be surprised. Until then, I'll be living with you and we'll watch Lenora together. That's sort of like being married, isn't it?"

Damon sighed. "It's not exactly the same, but..." He grinned at her. "I love you, so I'll take what I can get. But I think it goes without saying that two years from now is gonna be great!" He looked up at the picture. "Now, who is it that I talk to about buying this again?"

As the year went by, Selina realized more and more that she was tired of coming home alone every night. She deserved some male companionship as long as she wasn't sleeping with the guy. She eventually met a man at a bookstore. His name was Ted, he was a bit older, he'd just lost his wife, and, like her, wanted a little companionship to ease his nights of loneliness rather than something serious. However, one day, he decided to suggest something a little out of the ordinary.

"Would you come to lunch with me?" He asked her. "We've been seeing each other for awhile now and I would like to go somewhere other than the bookstore. Expand our horizons a bit."

"Sounds good to me. Where would you like to go?" Selina asked.

"How about Le Cirque?" Ted asked. "My friend is the chef there and he can get us a really good table."

"I can't wait," Selina said. "It'll be just the thing to do for lunch tomorrow."

The next day, Selina and Ted were seated at a table and all ready to peruse their menus when Selina noticed something. "Oh, my god!" She exclaimed. Then she leaned closer to Ted. "My husband is at the next table!"

"Is he really?" Ted asked. "You want me to go have a word or two with him?"

"No," Selina said. "I wouldn't. It might not look like it, but he's very strong. If you tick him off, he could snap you like a twig."

"Maybe," Ted said, "but think about all he put you through and there he is with another woman!"

Selina saw and her eyes narrowed. "Would you excuse me for a minute, Ted? Thanks." She put her menu down and then strode over to the table where Elijah and his companion were sitting. She was a woman with long red hair and bright blue eyes. "Yes?" She said as Selina stood over them. "If you've come to take our order, I'll take a tea and the salmon, please."

"I am not your waitress!" Selina said. "You're sitting with my husband and I thought I would come over and say 'Hello', since I've never seen you before."

The woman;s eyes widened and she gave Elijah a look. "You didn't tell me you were married!"

"That's because it's not the sort of thing we usually discuss," Elijah said. "We talk purely about intellectual things."

"Well, yes, but that doesn't mean you should forget to mention that you're married!" The woman gave Selina a grin. "Turn around and let me have a look at you!"

"Excuse me," Selina told her, "But would it be out of line for me to ask who you are?"

"My name is Antonia," she said. "Your husband and I are old friends."

"Very old friends," Elijah said.

"I'm a doctor," Antonia continued. "And let's just say I got interested in medicine while watching my father the alchemist try to cure the bubonic plague. Oops!" She put a hand over her mouth. "I probably shouldn't have said that, should I?"

"It's okay," Selina told her. "I lived through the Civil War."

"Oh, you cradle robber!" Antonia said, looking at Elijah with fondness. "But at least it's not a human girl this time."

"Gee," Selina said. "I would love to stay and chat, but I'm here with someone myself and I don't want to keep him waiting."

"Excuse me," Elijah said. "You're what? Did you say you were here with someone?"

"Yes," Selina nodded and pointed at the table where Ted was sitting alone. "That's him."

Elijah looked over at him. "What would you possibly see in a man who decides to dress business casual to come to a nice place like this? And he's a bit old for you, isn't he?"

"You know," Selina said, "it doesn't matter to me how he's dressed. And it is just ridiculous for you to comment on his age. I mean, think about how old you are!"

"But I don't look it, do I?" Elijah grinned. "Unlike him."

"I don't care how old he is, and that's all that matters," Selina said. "He's my date not yours. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to him and enjoy my lunch. Antonia, it was a pleasure." She turned her back on them and things were calm until their lunch came. Then, Selina heard a noise and looked up from her pasta to find Elijah standing beside the table. "Yes?" She asked. "What do you want?"

"Well, you introduced yourself to Antonia and I thought I would come over here and do the same to-" He looked at Ted. "Excuse me, what's your name again? My wife neglected to tell me."

"I'm Ted," Ted said, looking at Elijah with narrowed eyes and only reluctantly shaking his hand. Elijah then proceeded to pull up an empty chair and sit between Selina and Ted. "So," he said, looking at Ted. "Tell me, is that your real hair? Of course it is. No one in their right mind would wear a gray piece, would they?" He then shook out his own dark hair.

"Do you mind?" Ted asked. "We're trying to eat here."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Elijah said. "I had no idea I was interrupting something. How rude of me."

Selina saw Ted's hand begin to ball up into a fist. "Don't," Selina said. "You just enjoy your lunch. I will handle this." Selina stood up, grabbed Elijah's hand and dragged him into a corner. "What is your problem? I didn't mock your date and I expect you to extend me the same sort of courtesy."

"What do you mean by asking me what my problem is?" Elijah asked. "If you're going to show up with a date, which you shouldn't be doing anyway if you want to have any hope of getting back into my good graces, at least make sure he's good enough for you. But I guess that's not really possible because no one can be me except me."

Selina scoffed. "You think you're the only one who's good enough for me? Ted is a sweet man, he has a good job, and Laura especially really likes him."

Elijah froze. You let that near my daughter?"

Selina nodded. "They go for car rides all the time."

"I bet his car is a heap of junk that's going to explode any minute!" Elijah told her. "How could you let her in a car like that?"

"You know, none of this would have happened if you hadn't left me," Selina said. "Then you would be the one taking our kids in your stupid, German-engineered BMW, which is a stupid and impractical car because if it breaks down there are next to no places where you can get it fixed, whereas with Ted's car, which was made in America, he can take it anywhere if it breaks down!"

"Which is good because I bet that happens quite often," Elijah said.

"You have issues with his car, his job, his clothes, what else do you want to mock?" Selina asked. "His virility?"

"What do you know about that?" Elijah asked, his voice cold. "You haven't slept with him, have you?"

"Of course not, for goodness' sake!" Selina said. "I haven't slept with anyone since, you know. Ted just lost his wife! I'm just around to make sure he has company and someone to talk to. What about you and the queen of the nerds? Have you ever seen her sans clothes at any point since the two of you met?"

"No," Elijah shook his head. "Our relationship is purely intellectual. Antonia believes that using her brain and blessing the world with her brilliance is more important than anything else."

"Well, gee," Selina said. "What a frigid bitch."

"I prefer to see her as mature and worldly," Elijah told her. "Not everything has to center around sex, a lesson you would do well to learn."

"Oh, please," Selina said. "You can act as high and might as you want, but we both know that all you want now is me. Naked." Her tongue darted out and she slowly licked her lips. Elijah stared for a moment, but then got his composure back. "Don't make me laugh," he said. "I would have to be drunk to sleep with you."

And with that, Selina strolled over to a table, grabbed a couple of large beers and chugged them, ignoring the protestations of the people at the table. Then she grabbed two more and offered them to Elijah. "I dare you to drink these," she said. "If you don't, that means I hold my alcohol better than you."

"You're drunk," he said. "And I refuse to do something so juvenile."

Selina began clucking first softly and then louder. Finally, Elijah took the two beers and drank them, along with two more. When the two of them were thoroughly soused, Selina said, "Let's go out to your car. I have something I want to show you." She was leading Elijah out when Ted came over and put a hand on her arm. "Are you gonna come back to the table or not?"

"Oh, sorry," Selina said. "I can't. I'm busy at the moment." She burst out giggling. A few minutes later, Antonia came over to them and looked at Elijah sternly. "Are you aware of how foolish you look?" She asked him. "If you don't stop acting ridiculous, I'm going back to my hotel room right now."

"Fine," Elijah said. "Go."

Both Ted and Antonia rolled their eyes and left, and then Elijah let Selina to his car. "Now," he said. "What did you want to show me?"

She pulled off her shirt and her bra and said, "I wanted to show you these. Remember them?"

"Oh, yes," Elijah said, reaching out and stroking her breasts. "Very fondly." They climbed into the trunk (which in Elijah's car was very big) and Selina gave Elijah a look. "I showed you mine. Now you have to show me yours." She eased him onto the floor of the trunk and unzipped him. "Wow," she said, stroking him. "I really missed this!" He pulled her down to him after easing off her skirt and kissed her deeply. Then, she giggled as he kissed down her neck and rubbed her panties. "Take them off!" She said desperately. "Take them off!" He eased off her panties and pushed into her. She let out a shriek and then he pulled out of her and did it again. By the time they stopped, they were both panting and sweaty.

"Well," Selina said, sitting up and reaching for her panties. "That was enjoyable. Thank you. I think I'll be going on my way now. Good day." She put on her panties, skirt and top and crawled up to the middle row of seats and opened the door to get out of the car. "Wait" Elijah said, getting out and taking hold of her hand. "It's November, it's cold, and you're wearing a very short skirt. I want to drive you home. Also, you're drunk."

"It won't do any good for you to drive me home," Selina said. "You're as drunk as me!"

"I can call someone to come and drive us," Elijah said. "That shouldn't be a problem."

They got home and Mrs. Stevens met them at the door. "Who are you?" She asked, looking at Elijah.

"It's okay," Selina said. "He's my husband. We just had sex!"

Elijah nodded. "And we plan to do it some more!"

"So make sure the kids don't come into our room," Selina finished.

They got into the room and as they were undressing again, Selina gasped.

"What?" Elijah asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I have a feeling there's something I need to tell you, but I forget what it is, so it's probably not that important," she said and they finished undressing one another and engaged in another session of frenzied, energetic lovemaking.

Finally, Elijah rolled off her with a sigh. "How is it that you can do this to me?" He asked. "How is that even when I'm mad at you, I still find myself here with you like this?"

Selina ran her fingers lightly over his abs. "I don't know," she said. "Maybe because you still love me somewhere deep down in spite of all the bad stuff I did?"

He gave her a look.

She sat up. "So what happens now?" She asked. "Are you gonna get mad, deny everything and storm out?"

"No," Elijah shook his head. "That won't help anything. It's been a year and I think it's time we started moving forward."

"You mean you're ready to take me back?" Selina asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Elijah told her. "I want you to talk to me. Explain why it was that you didn't feel I could come with you to see Sam."

She sighed. "It was because you thought that Sam was the same as all my other kids and you didn't understand how him being a vampire could be a problem. Well, here's why it was a problem: Damon and I got engaged and then he left for the war, but not before I asked him to make love to me just in case he never came back and we missed our chance. That one time ended up getting me pregnant but I didn't know that until I got sick with scarlet fever. When I went to the doctor, he told me about both the illness and the pregnancy, but he had a cure that could save both me and the baby. That's when I found out he was a vampire. He gave me his blood and it did save both of us. Then, I stayed at his house until I had the baby, who was a boy. I named him Joshua. When he was three weeks old, Doctor Stensrund sent him to live with Damon's father, and I didn't see him again for another eighteen years. It was on Halloween, 1883. Aleksandr and I had separated by then, Doctor Stensrund had died, and I was living as a hermit in his house. Since I was barely seen, there was a rumor that I was a ghost. Every Halloween, a person would come and prove their bravery by spending a night in my 'haunted' house.

"In 1883, the person who came was my son. I thought he was Damon come back at first. It's not an unreasonable mistake. But he introduced himself and showed me the pendant of a locket that had been turned into a lapel pin. It had my and Damon's pictures in it. Joshua and I got to talking and it seemed like a life with his grandfather had allowed him to become a sensible, intelligent, well-adjusted young man. He later introduced me to his girlfriend and after they married and had children, I moved in and helped them raise their family. Joshua seemed so happy with his life, you know? And I just wanted Sam to experience that same happiness and sense of fulfillment. That's why I got so upset when he became a vampire, and why telling me that he was just the same as my other children was no comfort to me whatsoever."

They sat in silence for a moment, and then Elijah said "Thank you for telling me that. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," Selina replied. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"Oh, my god!" Selina said, bursting into Anna and Stefan's house the next day. "I have done something very good and very terrible."

"I want to hear the good news first," Anna said. "Does it involve you and Elijah?"

"Yes," Selina nodded. "We had sex yesterday. Lots and lots of sex. Yeah, we were drunk for most of it, but it still counts. The problem is that I haven't taken a birth control pill since Elijah left because I didn't have a reason to, so now I think we might have another kid on the way." She sat down and lay her head on the kitchen table. "Do you realize if this happens, I will have spent the majority of the last three years being pregnant? My god, it's so depressing! I mean, I love my kids, but being pregnant isn't exactly a trip to Disney World."

"Well, think about this," Anna said. "If you get pregnant, and especially if the baby is a boy, it will do wonders bringing you and Elijah together for good." She looked around. "Where's Stefan?"

"He and Nik are out doing something," Anna said. "Something very secret they refuse to tell me about."

"Why wouldn't they want to tell you about it?"

"I asked and they told me it was because I would tell you and you wouldn't be too happy about it."

"Wait," Selina said. "They're keeping something from the both of us? That's outrageous! I say we leave and find out what they're doing right now!"

Just then, the front door opened. "Hello, everyone!" Stefan said. "We're back!" He and Klaus came inside followed by a young man Selina had seen at the bakery several times.

"I know you!" Selina said to him. "You come to my bakery! You're the one who came to visit his father! Have you seen him yet?"

"Nope," he shook his head. "Not yet." Then he darted out of the room, not saying another word to her. "Well, that was kind of rude," Selina said.

"You'll have to excuse Kevin," Klaus told her. "He's not rude. He's just shy."

They sat in silence for a moment before Selina stood up and said, "Well, I think I'll just go home and wait for the inevitable. Goodbye."

After she left, Klaus looked at Anna. "What does that mean?"

"She thinks she and Elijah might be having another baby," Anna told him.

"That's the third one in three years!" Klaus remarked. "They're even worse than she and I were!"

Four months later, spring was on its way and Elijah and Gregory were at the grocery store. They noticed a tiny woman trying to reach for cookies on a shelf that was too high for her. "Here you go," Elijah said, handing the woman the bag.

"Thank you," she said. She turned to face him and they both gasped. "Selina!" Elijah said.

"Hi," Selina said.

Elijah looked at her in disbelief. Her belly was protruding in a disturbingly familiar way.

He put his hands over Gregory's ears. "How in the world are you pregnant?" Elijah asked her.

"Remember how you and I spent time together four months ago?" Selina asked. "Well, I forgot to take my pill that day. That's not a surprise seeing as how before you and I did what we did, I'd been completely abstaining. And I wasn't with anyone after you, so this one is yours."

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Elijah asked.

"Well, I didn't think you would care all that much!" Selina said. She sighed. "If you don't believe me, that's all right. I know I screwed up and I should have talked to you about the Sam thing rather than doing what I did with Nicky. It was wrong, it was selfish, and honestly, it didn't really make me feel a whole lot better, but I didn't, and now, I'll just go to where I've been staying and let you tell me when it's right for us to be together. When that happens, I'll be waiting for you."

She started to walk away.

"Wait a minute," Elijah said. "I'm gonna take you home. I don't want you walking around by yourself in your condition. Especially if the child is mine."

They drove to her house and Selina expected him to just leave her at the door and go. But he didn't. Instead, he told her, "In light of the circumstances, Gregory and I will move back in here with you and Laura. But it's only for the child's sake, and nothing else."

"Okay," Selina nodded. "I understand."

But inside, she was so happy she thought she was going to burst. And he'd never mention it, but so was he.