"Okay," Lucy said. "Let's set up the tents!"

"We don't have tents anymore," Lenora said. "I made us a mobile home. See?"

Lucy sighed. "What am I supposed to do with that? There's no room for me to paint anything!"

"I could make another tent for you to paint in," Lenora told her. "Damon and I want to keep the mobile home."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Lucy said. "If you don't want the tents, it might be best to make us a house. It would be better for all your pets, don't you think, if they had more space?"

Lenora thought a moment. "Maybe," she relented. "But won't people wonder about a random house in the woods?"

Lucy shook her head. "Not necessarily. But if they do, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. However, I strongly doubt that anyone else will come poking around here since this is such a desolate place."

"So you want me to make a house now?" Lenora asked.

Lucy nodded. "Yes, please."

Lenora rolled her eyes and, slowly but surely, with a jerk of her hand, the mobile home morphed into a small but tidy house.

"Much better," Lucy said with satisfaction. "I approve."

Lenora took charge of her pets while Damon and Lucy took turns bringing the rest of the things in.

"So this is where we're gonna be for a whole month," Damon mused, looking around the place. "I suppose it could be worse."

"I did my best to make the hous comfy," Lenora told him.

"It's not about the house," Damon told her. "The house is great. It's just that...we're here in the woods, away from civilization for an entire month. It's not something I'm used to."

"I'm not used to it either," Lucy said. "I didn't choose to do this because I thought it would be some sort of picnic for any of us. But it will really help me at least gauge what I should do with my lycanthropy. If we do this for a month and it doesn't help me, we'll go back home and neither of you will have to be subjected to it again."

"And what if it works?" Lenora asked. "Will we just live here forever? I don't know if I like that. How am I supposed to make friends if no one ever comes around here."

"I'm sure someone will come at some point," Lucy assured her. "It's just that with this first time, I would feel a lot better if the amount of people who showed up was small. I would rather have just one or two more deaths on my conscience than a whole bunch."

"Well, I hope so," Lenora said. "But at the same time, I also hope people come soon."

And people came sooner than either Lucy or Lenora expected. One night a few days after they arrived in the woods, Lenora was awakened by the sound of voices nearby their house, practically in their backyard, in fact. Lenora sat up, rubbed her eyes and then got out of bed to walk to the window. She pulled the curtains aside and stared out at the widow. She saw a group people in flowing robes with drooping hoods trekking past the house. She stared at the procession for a few seconds and then put on a pair of sneakers and a coat, and sneaked out of the house. It took awhile, but eventually she caught up with the procession, ending up next to a young boy who brought up the rear.
"Hey," she said. "What's going on? Who are you people? You're not supposed to be here."

The boy looked up at her and put a finger to his lips. "Shhh!" he said, barely making a sound. "We're not supposed to talk."

"What are you doing here?" Lenora repeated. "What's going on?"

"It's a ceremony," the boy said. "This is a special year. For us, every February during a leap year is special, so we celebrate it the entire month. And now that you know, you need to go away. The elders don't like humans at the ceremonies."

"But I'm not human," Lenora shook her head. "I'm something else. I won't tell you what until you tell me what you are. Tell me now!"

Just then, the procession stopped. One of the people stepped out of the line and went down it, her hood falling back from her face and down her back. "All right," she said as she walked down the line. "Who's speaking and why? You know there's no excuse for that. This is a time of reverence. Not a time to chat." She walked down the line, but everyone stood in silence until she reached the end, where Lenora and the boy were. She looked between the pair of of them, then put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Daniel," she said to him, her dark eyes boring into his. "Who is your friend?"

"I don't know," he said. "I told her that she shouldn't be here, but she just kept following me!"

"All right," she said and looked at Lenora. "Young lady," she said. "This is a very important procession you're disrupting. Are you going to leave quietly, or am I going to have to make the decision for you to go?"

"I wasn't trying to interfere with anyone!" Lenora said earnestly. "I just wondered what you were doing here. Are you witches?"

"Who wants to know?" The woman asked.

"I'm one too," Lenora said. "It's okay. I won't put you on a stake and burn you or anything."

"Wait," the woman put her hands on Lenora's shoulders and peered at her. "Have I seen you before? You look familiar to me."

Lenora cleared her throat. "Well, if you're witches, my grandma Astrid is on the council and my Mom Helene and my Daddy just brought home the criminal that got turned into a cat. My name is Lenora."

Recognition flashed in the woman's eyes. "I'm Theresa," she said. "And the boy you're standing next to is my son, Daniel. We're holding a ceremony here. It will take all month."

Lenora sucked in her breath. "Is that necessary?" She asked. "Can't you postpone it, or go somewhere else?"

"No," Daniel shook his head. "Lenora, this is where we've always had it. Why should we leave?"

"Cause if you don't, you could be in danger," Lenora told the group. "I'm here with my Aunt Lucy, and she turns into a werewolf once a month. We came here because she was told that really giving into her werewolf nature was the only way she'd be able to accept the way she is. That means that when the full moon comes, you all could be hurt and I don't want that to happen."

"Thank you for the warning," Theresa said. "But we have to stay. Even with your aunt around, that is a risk we're willing to take."

"We came here because she thought we'd be by ourselves," Lenora said quietly. "If we'd known you'd be coming, we wouldn't have come. We can leave, you know. I'll talk to Aunt Lucy about it tomorrow, since we still have time before the full moon."

"Where are you staying?" Theresa asked. "I didn't see any tents around or anything."

"I made us up a house," Lenora told her. "I don't blame you for not knowing it's here, cause it's invisible. That was my idea. I thought people would have weird reactions to a single house around here."

"That's a smart idea," Theresa said approvingly. "You can never be too careful, even though it's not the burning times anymore."

Lenora sighed. "Well, I suppose I should let you get back to your procession and go home myself," she said. "My aunt doesn't exactly know that I'm gone."

She was about to go when Daniel came and put a hand on her arm. "We're on our way to set up camp a few clearings over," he said. "Maybe, once you've talked things over with your aunt, you could come visit us sometime?"

Alistair looked around Felicity's room and sighed. It looked so much like a normal baby's room. Nothing to distinguish it at all. He thought about how to remedy that and then it came to him. He went into Klaus' room and looked through a box Klaus kept in the closet. Toward the bottom was a small picture album full of yellowing photos covered by plastic. He looked at each one of them and then finally picked one out of Klaus and Selina looking particularly happy, cheek to cheek and grinning widely at the camera. It was dated January 1st, 1929.

He grinned at it and took it to Felicity's room, placing it on her changing table for a moment before picking her up out of her bassinet and carrying her over to the rocking chair, and sitting her down in his lap.

"Look at this," he said, showing her the picture. "This is your Grandma and Grandpa. See how happy they are? They were a lot, toward the end, even if they won't admit it out loud..."

"Hey everybody!" Selina said as she stood on the bar, a bottle of whiskey in hand. "Who wants to see me dance again?" Everyone cheered. She laughed and the bowler hat that had been perched jauntily atop her dark head fell to the floor as she began to shuffle on the bar. "Hey, Jimmy!" She said to the piano player. "How about you give me a bit of the Maple Leaf Rag?" Jimmy began to play, and Selina danced, but then she misstepped and nearly fell off, but Klaus caught her first.

"Careful you don't hurt yourself, love," he said. "If you're hurt, I won't have anyone to kiss at midnight." She kissed him. "Even if I was out of commission, it'd never be bad enough that I wouldn't kiss you, Nicky."

Just then, the clock chimed midnight and as everyone cheered and the strains of Auld Lange Synge echoed through the bar. Selina clung to Klaus, her head resting gently on his shoulder, both because she wanted to dance with him and because she was almost too drunk to stand on her own.

They danced for a little while, and then Klaus felt a hand on his shoulder. "I think you should take her home," Alistair told him. "It looks to me like she's had enough for the evening."

Klaus looked down at Selina, who was dozing on his shoulder. There was even a little drool on his jacket, which he deftly wiped off. "It's times like this that I remember she's just a baby," he commented. "It's strange. Usually she's so energetic, but she's slowed down lately. I've actually seen her sleep. That's not normal for her, Alistair."

"I don't think it's something you need to worry about, though," Alistair told him. "Maybe she's just decided to calm things down after all these years. A person can only do the sort of things you two have done for so long before they tire of them and need to do something else."

"Not me," Klaus said. "I like things just the way they are, and that will never change. And I want Sera to be the one to do them with me. She's one of the few who could actually keep up with me. But I suppose if she decides she wants something else, I'll just have to let her go, won't I?"

"Maybe that would be kindest," Alistair said. "Now, what do you say we get her home and put her to bed?"

"Your grandmother is a good woman, Lissy," Alistair said. "And I was right about her. She changed. She grew. And although he'd never admit it out loud, I'd say that over time, your grandfather has too."

"What do you think we should do for Roxie's birthday this year?" Selina asked Klaus. "It's almost that time."

"Well, we could show up at her front door and tell her we're living together again so that she can draw what conclusions she will," Klaus suggested. "That would be the best present we could give her, and it wouldn't cost us anything."

"Do you really think it's a good idea to tell Roxie about our arrangement this early?" Selina asked him. "I mean, you didn't exactly move in here for romantic purposes, did you?" She paused. "Just why did you move in here?" She asked. "I mean, I assumed at first that it would be because needed my help with Felicity, but now you have Alistair here and you won't let me do a thing!"

"You're grieving over the loss of my brother," Klaus reminded her. "And so am I. It's a lot easier to grieve with someone then by yourself."

"Okay," Selina nodded. "I guess I can accept that. But I still don't think it's a good idea to Tell Roxie about us unless something actually happens."

Klaus lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'unless something happens'? Don't you mean 'Until something happens'? Because you know something will. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, or even next week. But at some point, it will. Because no matter how rational we try to be, eventually, it will come back to us that we're animals inside and one morning we'll wake up together and realize that we couldn't hide that fact anymore."

Selina gazed at him and tried to control her breathing. "So?" She asked. "What's your point?"

Klaus shrugged. "Just that you might want to get some other pants that don't fit you so snugly if you want to continue this charade of normalcy between us. That's all." He made his way toward the stairs to the second floor in a way that almost imitated a super model's walk. Selina kept her eyes on his backside as he progressed toward the stairs. When he was gone, she yelled out, "Well, I'm not the only one that needs to go pants shopping, Buster! All your pairs must be too small too! If we're gonna go pants shopping, we might as well go together!"

After taking care of Felicity, Klaus took the picture of him and Selina that Alistair had left behind to the living room for her to look at.

"Look what I found in Felicity's room," he said, plunking the picture down in front of her. "Look like anyone you know?"

Selina picked it up. "It's us. We looked really happy." She looked at the back of the picture. "Oh, look. New Year's, 1929. The beginning of the end."

"It wouldn't have had to have been the beginning of the end," Klaus said, sitting down. "The only reason why it was was because you left!"

"Well, Mikael was after me," Selina replied. "What did you expect me to do? Stay and just wait to be killed?"

"That wouldn't have happened," Klaus told her. "We would have stayed away from him. You would have been okay. And you wouldn't have had to have so many years alone, either. I know being on the run would have been hard for you, but were all those years you spent by yourself really a better alternative?"

"Only in that I wasn't constantly looking over my shoulder for a man with a stake," Selina answered. "That's all." She paused. "Besides, by '29, I'd basically healed up emotionally. I wasn't bad anymore. I thought you were getting bored with me."

"You were exactly the way you are now," Klaus said. "And do I like you?"

Selina looked up. "I don't know. Do you? Or do you like Felicity and Laura better? You pay a lot more attention to them."

"Not because I want to!" Klaus cried. "Not because they mean more to me than you do. They don't! I just...I remember why you've been alone for the last year and a half and I don't want you to feel like I've been pushing you the wrong way. I've been waiting for you to make the first move."

"You have?" Selina asked in surprise. "Really?"

Klaus nodded. "It's been very difficult."

Selina smiled a little. "Well, if you want me to make the first move, would you like to watch a movie tonight, after the kids have gone to bed? Just you and me?"

Klaus nodded. "I would love to."

It was really hard for Selina to get through the rest of the day, knowing that she would be in very close proximity to Klaus that night.

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" she said to herself as she washed the dishes. "I'm acting like a silly school girl! He's just a man, for heaven's sake! Not some super being who is paying me some great honor by allowing me to be near him! And it's not like I haven't seen everything he's got, so that's not a surprise. I just haven't seen it in awhile. And besides that, I won't even see it tonight, so what's the point in getting myself all worked up? I must be out of my mind!"

"Hey!" He said. She turned around quickly, hitting him on the shoulder with a wooden spoon. "Don't sneak up on people like that!" She snapped. "You could get yourself hurt! Wear a bell, why don't you?"

"You're certainly in a bad mood for someone who will be going on a date tonight," he said.

"It's not a date," Selina corrected. "It's just you and me watching a movie together, that's all."

"What's the difference between two people watching a movie together and a date?" Klaus asked. "Just so I know ahead of time and don't make any faux pas."

"The difference between a date and two people watching a movie is...I don't know, where your hands are, I guess." Selina through her hands up. "I have no idea!"

"Why are you so agitated?" Klaus asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you like this."

Selina took a deep breath and did her best to calm herself down. "Like what?" She asked, her expression becoming nonchalant. "I'm not being agitated. You must be imagining things."

"Maybe," Klaus nodded. "Like you and me sitting next to each other in a dark room, watching a movie, and a scary part happens. You're absolutely terrified, so you reach over and take my hand. No, wait. Since you're really terrified, you grab me and hold me tight, burying your face against my chest." He reached over to tuck a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes behind her ear. "I move some of your hair out of your eyes." He stepped forward and gently pulled her to him. "I take you in my arms and tell you that it's just a movie and everything will be all right..."

Selina felt herself start to relax against him, her eyes closed for a second or two before she opened them again and gently pushed him away. "Stop that!" She said. "Behave yourself. Stop making me feel all squishy inside! It's too early!"

"Stop making you feel squishy?" Klaus asked, an eyebrow rising. "What does that mean?"

"You know..." Selina said, flushing a little. "Squishy, like..."

"Oh, I know," Klaus nodded, giving her a wink. "I'm making you hot, aren't I? Shame on me. I guess I'll stop." He let her go and stepped away from her. "See you tonight," he said with a grin as he left the kitchen. Once he was gone, Selina stared down at the soapy dishwater in the sink, and then sped out of the kitchen and right to her bedroom. She began going through her clothes and throwing them onto the bed. She needed a really hot outfit to wear tonight. To make Klaus feel just as hot as he made her feel.

But nothing felt right, even after she'd tried on every dress she owned. Finally, she put on a black Def Leppard concert tee and a pair of jeans and pulled her hair back from her face with a jaw clip. Her feet were bare, and her toes were painted with dark purple polish. She took a deep breath and sprinted for the stairs, taking them down two at a time. She went to the room where they kept the movies and picked out a few options before heading back to the living room to put them by the TV. Then, when it got closer to the time she and Klaus were gonna start the movie, she made popcorn and then put it on a TV tray near the sofa. She sat down and put one leg over the other, and as Klaus came in, she grinned at him.

"Hi," she said. "I made popcorn. You want some?" She held out a handful.

Klaus looked down and shook his head, grinning. "Hand me the bowl, would you?"

Selina put the pile of popcorn from her hand on a TV tray and handed him the bowl. He picked out a smaller handful than the one she had. "I wonder," he said. "Can you catch popcorn in your mouth?"

Selina shrugged. "I don't know. I've never tried. Sorry I'm not more dressed up, by the way. I tried on every dress in my closet and nothing seemed to feel right."

"Oh, it's not a problem," he told her. "I think you look very sexy."

Selina grinned. "Well, good. That was what I was going for, you know. Not in a 'I want you to rip my clothes off' sort of way, but just a 'I want to feel attractive to you, so this is what I'm wearing to do it' sort of way."

"Well, you pulled it off," Klaus replied. "But it looks like I'd have to peel that outfit off of you rather than rip it off. It seems too tight for ripping. Is it tight?"

"Not in an uncomfortable way," Selina replied. "But I can't say it's roomy."

Klaus nodded. "Now that we have that cleared up, open your mouth."

She opened her mouth and he threw a piece of popcorn at it, but he missed and it hit her cheek instead. She picked it up off the carpet and popped it into her mouth. He tried again, hitting her in the nose.

"All right," he said when he had the third piece. "One last time before we give up on this for today. And this time, stop twitching. Just relax."

Selina nodded and took a deep breath. "All right," she said, putting her hands on her knees. "Bring it on." He threw it and it almost missed her, but she moved her head to the side just in time to catch it. "Yes!" She cried after she swallowed. "I did it!" She picked a piece of popcorn from her pile and held it aloft, a twinkle in her eye. "You want to take a turn now?"

"Not now," Klaus said, shaking his head. "Maybe later. Let's see what movies you picked. Or do I need to go downstairs and get some?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "I picked out a few options. See if you like any of them and if you don't, you can go pick out some of your own."

Klaus looked through the pile and picked one. "The Thin Man," He said appreciatively. "Good movie."

"I know, right?" Selina grinned. "I see a lot of Nick and Nora in you and me, especially when we had Rusty. It's why I call you Nicky, you know. Like Nora does."

Klaus just grinned, popped the DVD in, turned off the lights and went to join her on the sofa. "So how do you want to do this?" He asked. "Do you want to just sit?"

"No," Selina said, getting up. "I don't see why we can't stretch out. You go first. Get all nice and comfy on your side."

Klaus climbed onto the sofa and lay on his side, facing the television, where the movie menu was flashing on the screen. Selina grabbed the TV remote and started the movie.

"You really think the two of them are like us?" Klaus asked Selina as the camera trained on a bar where it zoomed toward a man shaking a cocktail shaker. "The important thing is the rhythm. Always have rhythm in your shaking. Now a Manhattan you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time, a dry martini you always shake to waltz time."

"Nick Charles sound like anyone you know?" Selina asked.

"What are you implying?" Klaus asked, his arm sneaking around Selina's waist.

"I'm just implying that you have style," Selina said. "And that you like to drink."

They watched a little while longer and were compelled to converse again as a cute young woman in a hat resembling the one Peter Pan wore and a long dark coat entered the bar. Nick Charles gazed at her as she approached their table. His look didn't escape his wife, Nora. "Pretty girl," she said dryly. Nick agreed. "She's a nice type."

"Really?" Nora asked. "You got types?"

Nick grinned. "Only you, darling. Lanky brunettes with wicked jaws."

Selina laughed. "What's your type, Nicky?"

"I would say it's you," he said. "Do you feel the same about me?"

"Well, after a lot of soul-searching," Selina replied. "I think I'd have to agree. No one else makes me feel the way you do, Nicky."

After that, they lapsed into silence to continue watching the movie, with Selina occasionally getting popcorn for either Klaus or herself. Then, to Klaus' surprise, he felt Selina take the hand he had around her waist and slowly move it upward to rest on her breast. "Surprise," she whispered.

Klaus laughed a little as he moved his hand around a little. "It certainly is," he said. "You wouldn't, perhaps, be willing to take off your top, would you? I could get a better grip that way."

"No," Selina said. "Don't be greedy. You'll get more soon. You just have to be patient."

Klaus sighed and moved his hand. "I suppose you're right," he said. "But that doesn't mean it will be easy."

Selina nodded. "I know," she said. "Not for me either. I still think about Elijah a lot. I do. And the dreams are hard. Cause it's like he's with me, but he's not, you know? If I even move just a teeny bit, it all pops like a bubble. My brain is really messing with me."

Klaus didn't know what to say to that, so he stayed silent until the movie ended. After Selina put the disk away, she said, "Thanks for doing this with me, Nicky. I had fun. I hope you did." Her voice was quiet.

"Yes," he nodded. "It was nice. And not only because you let me touch you. The company was good."

Selina grinned. "Yeah, I thought you'd like that. That's why I did it." She yawned. "I think I need to go to bed and you should too. No doubt our little charges will have us up bright and early tomorrow."

"Children have so much energy, don't they?" Klaus observed. "Where do you think it all comes from?"

"I have no idea," Selina shrugged. "But it makes me feel old, you know. I never feel old unless I'm with one of the kids. That's when I remember how old I am."

Klaus burst out laughing. "Please," he said. "You're just over two-hundred. You're a baby yourself. I'm in a house full of babies."

"Well, maybe," Selina nodded. "But at least I can take care of myself and don't need you to dress me and bathe me and whatnot."

"I enjoy bathing and dressing you," Klaus replied immediately. "It gives me great pleasure. You have no idea."

"I was married to you for quite awhile," Selina grinned. "I think I have some idea." She giggled nervously. "We need to stop talking about this," she said. "Or neither of us will be able to get to sleep."

"Or we will," Klaus replied. "But we'll have very, very good dreams."

Selina grinned. "Well, goodnight, Nicky."

Klaus inclined his head. "Goodnight, Selina." She left him and he went to his room, undressed and pulled his cool sheets over himself, still trying to calm down from the fact that she let him touch her. She was a naughty little thing when she put her mind to it. Grinning, he shut his eyes, hoping that at least in his dreams, he'd get to see all of her again.