Three months later, Selina decided to take a day off from the bakery and stay home with the kids. While she was giving him his bath, Gregory suddenly stood up, grabbed hold of his penis and looked at her. "Mommy," he asked. "What does this do?"

"Well, what do you think it does?" Selina asked.

Gregory thought for a moment. "It helps me when I go potty. It's where my pee-pee comes out."

Selina nodded. "Yes it is."

Gregory digested this for a moment and then said, "What else does it do?"

Selina cleared her throat as Gregory sat back down in the tub and looked at her curiously. "Well, you know how Mommy and Daddy are gonna have another baby soon?"

He nodded.

"Well, penises help make babies. Only when you're a lot older," Selina said. "Boys have penises and girls have vaginas and when mommies and daddies love each other very much, the daddy will put his penis into the mommy's vagina and it will put stuff in the mommy's body that will make her have a baby. It's called sex."

Gregory nodded. "Sex makes babies."

Selina nodded, "Uh-huh. Any other questions?"

Gregory shook his head. "No. Could I tell Daddy what I learned?"

Selina snorted. "Okay," she said. "But make sure you tell me when you do that. I want to see the look on your daddy's face."

When Elijah got home later that day, Selina looked up at him serenely. "I think Gregory wants to have a talk with you about the interesting conversation we had while he was in the bathtub today. Why don't you go and see him? He's in his room now."

Elijah nodded and when he reached the room, knocked on Gregory's door and went inside. Gregory was sitting on his bed, his feet dangling over the floor. "Hi, Daddy," he said. He looked happy.

"Hi," Elijah said, coming to sit next to him on the bed. "Your mother told me you and she had a talk when you were in the bathtub today."

Gregory nodded. "Boys have penises and girls have vaginas. Sex is where babies come from. Daddy, could I have a baby?"

"No," Elijah shook his head. "Men can't have babies. Only women. But men help make babies. You should consider yourself lucky that you're a boy. Having a baby is a long and painful process."

Gregory's eyes widened. "The baby is going to hurt Mommy?" He hopped off the bed and ran out of the room. Realizing he might have just said something he shouldn't have, Elijah followed, going into the living room just in time to see Gregory push on Selina's stomach and say, "No, baby! Don't come out! Stay in there!"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Selina said. "Gregory, what is the matter with you?"

"Daddy said having the baby would hurt you and I don't want you to be hurted," Gregory explained.

Selina saw Elijah and glared at him. Then she turned back to Gregory. "Don't worry, sweetie," she said. "It's a long time before the baby comes, okay? And it's gonna hurt a little, but I'll be fine."

"Exactly," Elijah said, coming up beside them. "Gregory, you have nothing to worry about. It's not like when your mother and I were children. Women rarely die in childbirth anymore."

At that point, Gregory burst into tears. "Mommy's gonna die?" He wailed, and then ran back to his room. Selina pushed herself up and gave Elijah a look. "You know, I can't say a lot for your bedside manner."

"I just thought that it would be best to be honest with him," Elijah said. "You know, like you were."

"My honesty is different from your honesty," Selina said. "In my case, he was curious about what his penis did, so I told him and that turned into a conversation which I was very comfortable having. Your honesty is completely unnecessary. The kid is three years old. He doesn't need to think that I'm going to die! This will be my eighth time going through this, and you've freaked him out for no reason. I hope you're proud of yourself. I'm gonna go now and see if I can calm him down."

After Selina managed to get Gregory calmed down, she went back to her and Elijah's room.

"He's better," she said when she walked through the door and Elijah looked up at her. "At least he's not crying anymore." She sat down next to Elijah and looked him in the eye. "But you know what you're gonna do?" She asked. "You're gonna go in there and tell him that there's no way I'm gonna die, all right? Maybe highlight the great things about being a big brother. I don't care about specifics, just cheer him up!"

"Why can't you do it?" Elijah asked. "You're so much better with him than I am."

Selina nodded. "Well, that much is obvious, but you won't get better unless you practice. You want to get better, don't you? Especially since we're having another boy, which I'm kind of glad about."

"Really?" Elijah asked. "I wasn't expecting that."

"Well, think about it," Selina said. "I know you're going to kick up a big fuss when Laura reaches dating age and I only want to have to go through that once."

"Oh, don't be silly," Elijah said. "It won't be like that at all."

"Why not?" Selina asked.

"Because," Elijah said, "Laura will not be seeing any boys until I say. That's why not." Selina burst into giggles. "Oh, good luck with that," she said. "Good. Luck. With. That."

Once she was gone, Elijah went to cuddle with Laura and said to himself, "At least I won't have to sit through any more awkward conversations. I've already gotten through the worst. At least for awhile."

"Hey," Lucy said, grabbing Damon around his waist as he made his way to the door the next day. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see Elijah," Damon replied. "To ask him if it's okay to marry you. Cause it's almost your birthday and I remember what you told me."

"Why does it matter if you ask him?" Lucy asked. "It would be a lot easier if you didn't. All you're doing is making it easier for him to say no." She let him go, looking sad.

He kissed her. "Oh, come on," he said. "I love you. Do you honestly think I'll skip marrying you because your uncle is against it? What I'm doing now is just a formality. They won't be able to say I wasn't courteous before we got married."

Lucy sighed. "Well, all right," she said. "If you're sure this is the right thing to do, I'm not gonna stand in your way. Only, promise me you'll be careful. I don't want to be a widow before I even have the chance to get married."

"Don't worry about it," Damon said. "Everything will be fine."

"Damon," Selina said when she opened the front door. "What are you doing here?"

Damon was trying not to stare at her, but he couldn't help it. She was huge. "Are you having twins again?" He asked.

"No, you smartass!" Selina said. "I'm just gonna have a boy who's bigger than usual. What brings you here?"

"I need to talk to you and Elijah," Damon told her, stepping inside. "Is he here?"

"Why do you need to talk to him?" Selina asked. "Is it really necessary?"

"Yes," Damon nodded. "Lucy and I want to get married now and I thought the process would be smoother if I asked his and Klaus' permission first."

"Oh, my god," Selina said, sitting down. "You're not serious."

"About marrying Lucy? Or about asking Elijah and Klaus for permission?" Damon asked. "Of course I am. After all those pictures she painted of me and put up at her show, the least I can do is make an honest woman out of her." He sat down and gave her a look. "You want to protest too, don't you?"

"What?" Selina asked him, suddenly finding the remark she was going to make about how ballsy he was somewhat inappropriate.

"You want to protest too, about me marrying Lucy," Damon said. "Go ahead and spill your guts."

"Well, I obviously can do nothing to stop it since Lucy's a grown-up now and you two have made up your minds, but I can't let this go one without pointing out at least once that I'm giving my former husband the and father of two of my children permission to marry my daughter by another one of my husbands and it just feels really, really weird!"

"Well, you had to have seen this coming," Damon said. "You didn't exactly have the most conventional love life up until now."

"No," Selina shook her head. "I haven't."

"Why are you having such a problem with this?" Damon asked. "You and I are over. We've moved on. Yeah, we had this same chance once and we missed it, but maybe that's a sign."

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "It was a sign. So you just go on and marry Lucy and have a nice life."

Just then, they heard someone clear their throat. "What brings you by, Damon?" Elijah asked.

"He and Lucy are thinking about getting married and want to ask your permission first," Selina said. "Isn't that polite of them?" She went over to stand behind him, rubbing his shoulders to keep him calm.

"Yes," Elijah said. "I suppose it is. In a way."

"Yeah, I mean, if he were truly a weasel, they would have eloped or something, but he's being brave enough to give you a chance to say 'no'," Selina said.

Elijah sighed. "I'm not happy about this," he said. "But I'm not foolish enough to assume that if I tell you you can't marry her, you'll actually listen to me, so I will say 'Thank you' for at least paying me the minimum of courtesy before you took my niece away from me and leave it at that." He reached up, moved Selina's hands from his shoulders, and strode out of the room.

Once he was gone, Selina turned back to Damon. "Well, that went better than I thought it would," she said.

Damon nodded. "Yeah. I should probably be getting home now that I have my answer so Lucy doesn't think that I'm dead. She was really worried about that, you know."

"I can see why," Selina agreed. "I'll walk you to the door if you do one thing for me first."

"What's that?" Damon asked with a grin. "Do you need help hauling yourself off the sofa?"

"You know, you're pretty ballsy talking like that to a pregnant woman," Selina said.

"Yes, or no?" Damon replied, looking unshaken. "Do you need help getting off the sofa?"

"Yes," Selina sighed, giving him her hand. He hauled her up and she walked him to the door and told him goodbye, then she went to Elijah's study.

"Damon's gone," Selina said when she went in. "You can come out now."

"I don't know if I want to," Elijah said.

Selina sighed and began rubbing his shoulders. "You know, you handled yourself very well out there. I'm so proud of you."

Finally he turned to face her. "Really? You handled finding out about Kevin pretty well. You even let him move in here. So being civil to Damon was the least I could do."

Selina nodded. "Uh-huh. I bet Nicky's not gonna handle things half as well as you did."

"Where are you going?" Lucy asked Damon the next day. "Are you gonna ask my dad if you can marry me now?"

"Yes," he said.

Lucy followed him as he strode toward the door. "Do you really have to do this? You know you don't, right? We can just elope. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

With his hand on the doorknob, Damon turned to look at her. "When you and I got together, we didn't tell your parents about it. Your father and your uncle beat me up. If I tell them that I want to marry you and they still beat me up, at least I'll know that I wasn't hiding anything from them this time. I am not ashamed of us, Lucy. I'm not gonna run off and elope just so we can avoid things that are unpleasant. I'm going to ask your father for your hand so everyone can know that I love you. And don't worry. I called Roxie last night. She'll help me managed your father. I won't be handling this alone."

"Well, that's nice, but-" Lucy didn't get to finish as Damon shut the door behind him, cutting her off. He got in his car and drove to Klaus'. He saw another car in the driveway and when he knocked on the door, it was Roxie who answered it. "Hi," she said. "You ready to face the Spanish Inquisition?"

"Thanks for coming," Damon said. "I thought this would go easier if I had some help."

Roxie nodded. "If you handled this alone, you wouldn't last two seconds." She led him into the living room where Klaus and Caroline were sitting next to each other on a sofa looking somber.

Roxie and Damon sat on the opposite sofa. Finally, Roxie said, "I think we know why we're all here. Let's get this over with. Damon, say what you came to say."

Damon cleared his throat and looked Klaus in the eye. "I love Lucy very much and I came here to ask for your permission to marry her," he said.

"And just what makes you think that I will allow you to marry my daughter?" Klaus asked.

Damon looked at Roxie, who nodded encouragingly. "Well," Damon said, trying to keep his voice steady, "I love her very much and I can't imagine my life without her."

"Those are pretty words," Caroline said quietly. "How do we know you're not just saying them to impress us? Who knows what kind of crap you're going to pull later."

Roxie's eyes narrowed. "Listen, you," she said to Caroline. "This man loves Lucy, all right? The whole reason why she's even still alive is because he took a werewolf bite for her! She loves him so much that she came to Dad begging for the one thing that would save him. If he didn't give a damn about her, would he have put his life in mortal peril to save hers? You should let him marry her for that alone."

"I repaid the debt incurred for saving Lucy when I gave him my blood," Klaus told her. "He's going to have to do better than that."

"I helped Selina raise her," Damon said, his voice shaking. "When you were off doing who knows what, letting your marriage to Selina fall apart, they stayed with me. I was the first guy she ever connected with and loved and over the years that hasn't changed one bit. So you can sit here and tell me that I'm not worthy by whatever standards you have, but the point is, I came here to ask your permission as a courtesy. It doesn't matter to me whether or not you think I love Lucy because I know I do, and she knows I do, she loves me too, and you know what? Frankly, that's really all I give a damn about."

And with that, he got up and strode out of the house before Caroline or Klaus could say another word.

As Klaus and Caroline sat there with their mouths opening and closing in shock, Roxie looked at them and said, "See? I told you he wasn't afraid of you."

"Oh, my god!" Lucy said, throwing herself into his arms when Damon came through the door. "You're here! I'm so glad you're not dead! Are you hurt? You're not hurt, are you?"

"No," Damon shook his head, feeling her squeeze him tighter and tighter. "Sweetie, could you let me go for a second? You're making it very difficult for me to breathe."

"Oh," Lucy said, letting him go and flushing a little. "Okay. I'm sorry. I'm just so glad you're not hurt or dead or-"

"What other 'or' could there possibly be?" Damon asked. "I can't think of anything you'd worry about more than me being dead."

"And that's not something I want to think about, thank you very much," Lucy said. "So since you've asked Dad and Uncle Elijah for their permission, does that mean we can get married now?"

"Well, yeah," Damon said. "I guess. But I have to do one more thing first."

"Oh, no!" Lucy said, looking worried. "What?"

He looked her in the eye and got down on his knee, taking a box out of his pocket. "Lucy, will you marry me?"

"Oh, my god, yes!" Lucy said. And then she burst into giggles. "How silly am I, really?" She asked when she got her breath. "How could I forget that you haven't actually proposed to me yet?"

Damon shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's cause you worry too much. You need to relax."

"Well can you blame me for worrying?" Lucy asked him. "Dad and Uncle Elijah could kill you if they want to! By the way, how did they both take it? You never told me."

"Well," Damon said, "You're mother was a little freaked out, but resigned to it, your uncle was displeased but agreed anyway, and your father and Caroline are still against it, but Roxie will talk them into it, I have a feeling. Everything is gonna be all right."

Lucy nodded as he slipped the ring on her finger. Then, she shut her eyes. "What about Sam?" She asked.

"What about Sam?" Damon said.

"Well, shouldn't we tell him we're getting married?" Lucy asked. "Don't you think he should know?"

Damon went over to the sofa, sat down and ran his fingers through his hair. "No," he said finally. "I don't think he should know. I think we should just leave it alone with him. The whole reason why he stopped talking to me was because of our relationship. It clearly makes him uncomfortable, so I think it would be kindest to spare him the details."

Lucy nodded. "I guess you're right. It would be kindest to spare him the details."

But that night, after Damon had gone to sleep, she wrote him a note anyway. Just a short one, without much information in it. Just telling Sam that she and Damon were getting married and that she hoped his tour was successful. She put it in an envelope and hid it where Damon wouldn't find it before going back to bed. She would mail it tomorrow.

"What is that?" Adrian asked when Lucy arrived at his and Helene's house the next day. "What's that on your finger?"

"It's a ring," Lucy said, moving it around in the light. "What does it look like?"

"From whom did you get it?" Adrian asked. "Do I know them?"

"You better," Lucy replied. "Seeing as he's the one that watches your daughter every day."

Adrian nodded. "That's what I thought. Why didn't he ask me before he went and decided he wanted to marry you? That would have been polite."

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "He asked Uncle Elijah and he asked Dad. That is enough. You just have to deal with it."

Adrian was looking mutinous. He turned and yelled for Helene.

"What is it, my god!" Helene said. "What's the problem?"

"Damon is marrying Lucy and he didn't even have the courtesy to ask me first!" Adrian said. "Can you believe that, Helene?"

"I can," she nodded. "Adrian, you are Lucy's brother. Even the most strict protocols do not require the fiance to ask every male in a woman's family for permission to marry her. So just lighten up, will you? You'll have your chance to terrify innocent young men when Lenora starts to date."

"You're not funny," Adrian said.

"Are you going now, Daddy and Mommy?" Lenora asked. She looked eager. Then when she saw Lucy, he face fell a bit. "Where's Damon?" She asked. "Didn't he come?"

"He'll be here in a little while," Lucy said.

"Okay," Lenora nodded. Then her eyes widened as she noticed Lucy's ring. "What's that?" She asked, snatching up Lucy's hand. "It's so pretty!" She turned to her father. "I want a pretty ring like Aunt Lucy's, with a big shiny diamond in it!"

"No," Adrian said immediately. "You're way too young."

"Why?" Lenora asked. "It's just a ring!"

"No, it's not!" Adrian said. "It's not just a ring, you're not getting one, and that's that!" He looked at Lenora. "Can we just go, please?"

"We can't," Helene shook her head. "Not until Damon gets here so we can ask him and Lucy about the thing."

"Do we really have to ask him about that?" Adrian replied. "Why can't we ask your parents to watch Lenora while we chase that crazy relative of yours around the country and bring him back? And why do we have to do that, anyway?"

"Because it's part of Mom's new job as a member of the witches' council," Helene said patiently. "Once criminals receive their sentences, they have to be watched over. And usually it's the council members' job, but Dad is allergic to cats, so Mom can't have any in the house. She asked me if I would mind taking the guy in and I said no, I wouldn't mind. It's not like we don't know how to handle animals, Adrian."

"We're getting another pet?" Lenora asked. "Can I make him play with Rusty and Snowball?"

"Oh, sure," Adrian nodded. "That would probably be a better punishment than anything the council could come up with."

"What is he talking about?" Lenora asked Helene.

"Well," Helene told her, "Mommy and Daddy have to go on an errand for Grandma Astrid and we'll be gone for awhile. When we come back, we're going to have a kitty with us."

"But he's not actually a kitty," Adrian said. "He's a warlock who did a lot of bad things, so the witch council is turning him into a kitty as punishment."

"I thought they did other stuff when you broke the magical rules," Lucy said. "Like, Helene got killed and Alistair got stuck working for Dad, and Astrid's family got their powers taken away..."

"Oh, those were big crimes that broke the cardinal rules," Helene said. "Duke just committed a minor infraction, but then he went on the run for years, so that's why they decided to turn him into a cat. He's a flight risk and this is the best way to ensure someone will be watching over him at all times."

"Oh," Lucy nodded. "He sounds like a great guy." She rolled her eyes. Just then, Damon walked in. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "My car was having some trouble. What did I miss?"

"Daddy's mad because you gave Aunt Lucy a ring and he and Mommy are going on a trip for Grandma Astrid to get me another kitty!" Lenora told him.

Damon turned to Helene. "You want to get her another pet? That's brave of you."

"Actually, he's not gonna be so much a pet as a prisoner," Adrian said. "He's a warlock criminal and thanks to Helene, we have to watch him to make sure he doesn't try and run away again."

"But first we have to go and get him, and that's gonna take awhile," Helene said. "So would the two of you mind watching Lenora while we're gone? Or would it be too much of an inconvenience?"

"No," Lucy shook her head. "That's fine."

"Thanks," Helene said. "You're a couple of lifesavers."

"When is that gonna be?" Damon asked. "Are you leaving today?"

"No," Helene shook her head. "Sometime next week. Is that a problem? Will it interfere with your wedding plans?"

Lucy shrugged. "No. We haven't set a date or anything. We'll just get married after you get back. It's no problem."

"Good," Helene said. "Thanks again. "We'll be out with my mom for the rest of the day sorting this whole mess out and should be back tonight. See the three of you then." She gave Lenora one last kiss on the cheek and then she and Adrian left.

"I thought they'd never leave!" Lenora said. She looked at Lucy with excitement. "Can I see your ring again?"

"Sure," Lucy nodded. "Why not?" They went into the living room and she showed her.

"Can I try it on?" Lenora asked. "Please?"

Lucy covered it possessively. "No, I'm sorry," she said. "I think it's too big for your finger and we wouldn't want it to fall off and get lost, now would we?"

Lenora looked sad. "I guess not." She looked at Damon. "I wanna see you ask her to marry you!" she said. "Please, please, please!"

"Okay, okay," Damon said. "We'll show you!"

"Just a minute!" Lenora said. She went to her room and came back with Rusty and Snowball. "They should see this too," she said. She lay them down on either side of her and then they all watched Damon and Lucy intently.

"Well, gee this is hard to do with an audience," Damon said. Lucy gave him her ring and then they replayed the proposal over again and after they were done, Lenora looked underwhelmed. "That's it? I thought it would be more romantic!"

"Well, I thought it was," Lucy said and gave Damon a quick kiss. Then she looked at Lenora again. "Were you expecting flowers and doves and stuff?"

Lenora shrugged. "I don't know. Are you gonna have them when you get married?"

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think so, though. I don't want anything too big."

"I kind of do," Damon said.

"Me too!" Lenora agreed. "Aunt Lucy, you could be a princess!"

Lucy sighed. "I suppose we could have more than one ceremony. That wouldn't be so bad."

"Yay!" Lenora cheered. "Aunt Lucy's gonna be a princess!"

Damon just looked up at Lucy and grinned, kissing her hand. "I think she already is one."

"This came for you," Corrie said, tossing the letter down on Sam's bed. "It's from your sister." Sam got up from the chair he was sitting in and went to the bed to pick up the envelope. "You didn't open it."

"Of course not," Corrie said. "That wouldn't be polite."

Sam grabbed a letter opener, used it, and took the paper out, reading it slowly.

"Dear Sam,

Damon proposed and he and I are getting married soon. He didn't want me to tell you, but I thought I would anyway. I don't expect you to come back for the wedding, or even to reply to this note. I just couldn't let this go by without telling you anything. I hope your tour is going well and that you're having a good time.

All my love,

Lucy."

Sam looked up at Corrie. "My dad and my sister are getting married."

Corrie nodded. "I heard. Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "I will be, eventually. I'm going out, but I promise I'll be back in time for the concert tonight."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Corrie asked. "Cause I will. It wouldn't be any trouble."

Sam shook his head. "Thanks, but no thanks. See you tonight."