"Oh, not this again," Klaus said as he came in and saw Selina pulling her clothes out of her dresser one morning. "What terrible, unforgivable offense did I commit now?"

Selina looked up at him. "It's not you," she said. "It's me. I'm not ready to sleep with you yet and I think it wouldn't be fair to you for me to be in here if you're not gonna get anything out of it. So I'm gonna go back to my room."

"Wait just a minute now," Klaus told her. "You said at Roxanne's birthday that you'd be willing to give me a present and your hands went places that they usually only go if you do want to sleep with me, so what gives? Why are you doing this now?"

"Because I know I overstepped and I'm trying to fix it," Selina replied. "I don't want to lead you on."

"You know," Klaus told her, "There's an easy way to fix that: actually sleeping with me! It's not hard. You've done it before."

"I can't just do it now!" Selina said. "I am gonna do it, though. Just when we have a deeper emotional connection."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Klaus asked. "Is that some fancy talk that I should take to mean you're gonna string me along for who knows how long until you drive me crazy? Selina, I want you, and no one else but you, but I have needs, you know, and if you're gonna tie my hands like this, I guess I have no choice but to seek satisfaction elsewhere!"

"Fine," Selina replied. "Do that. But I know you won't be as fulfilled as you would be if you were with me!"

"Who cares?" Klaus replied. "Some fulfillment is better than no fulfillment at all."

Selina knocked on Gregory's bedroom door. "Sweetie," she called. "Can I come in?"

After a few seconds, the door was opened and her and Elijah's eldest son glowered at her. "Yes?" He said.

"I thought we could talk," she said, as she came into his room and sat on the bed. "Come here and sit next to me." She patted the spot beside her.

"It's good you still remembered I live here," he said. "I thought you forgot cause you were busy with the other kids."

"I know," Selina said. "And sweetie, I'm sorry. But that's one of the things that happens when you're the oldest and your mother has lots of other kids to take care of. Not that that excuses the fact that I've not paid you much attention, but at least it explains it. If your daddy was here, he'd probably explain it better than I do."

"Where is Daddy?" Gregory asked. "I want him to come back."

Selina sighed. "Well, he can't exactly come back right now. He's resting somewhere."

"Go wake him up!" Gregory said. "Where is he?"

"I don't know," Selina shrugged. "But Uncle Klaus and I will figure that out."

Gregory shook his head. "No you won't! You want to forget all about Daddy and keep making kissy faces at Uncle Klaus! I saw you do it and I hate him!"

"Now, sweetie, it's not nice to hate people," Selina reminded him.

"I don't care!" Gregory fumed. "I hate you too! I want to go away from here...maybe be with Grandpa."

"No!" Selina shook her head. "You are not going near your grandfather, do you understand me? He hurt your daddy, all right? He hurt your daddy because he was upset about your daddy and me being married and that is why your daddy is gone."

"He's dead?" Gregory asked. "Is Daddy dead?"

"Not exactly," Selina shook her head. "But he's hurt enough that I don't know when or if he'll ever come back."

"If Daddy knew what you do with Uncle Klaus, it would make him cry," Gregory said. "You're being very mean to Daddy and hurting his feelings."

Selina sighed and tried to take Gregory in her lap, but he moved away from her. "Listen," she said. "I love your daddy, all right? But he's not here right now. He's been gone for an awful long time and I have to start living my life again. I can't mourn him forever. That's not how to live. I have feelings and your Uncle Klaus has feelings and when you're older, you'll have feelings too that you'll need a nice girl to help you with. But just because I need Uncle Klaus to help me with these feelings doesn't mean I don't love your daddy. I do."

"I don't believe you," Gregory said.

"Fine," Selina told him. "You can not believe me all you want, but that doesn't mean it's not true. You're just a little boy. What do you know about all this? Nothing, that's what!" Frustrated, she left his room, slamming the door closed and throwing herself down on her bed before coming to a decision. She was gonna sleep with Nicky. And she was gonna sleep with him now. The decision made, she took off her clothes, put on a bathrobe and went to Klaus' bedroom.

"Hey, Nicky," she said. "I want to show you something." She dropped her robe so she was standing just inside the room in her red underwear and bra. When she realized Klaus wasn't in the room, she decided to get on the bed and wait for him, but then she heard Laura coming. She put her robe on and stuck her head out the door. "Laura?" She called. "Have you seen your Uncle Klaus?"

"He went out the door," Laura said. "And he told me to tell you something."

"Oh, yeah?" Selina said. "What was it?"

"This!" Laura grinned and blew a raspberry.

"Well," Selina said, "that wasn't very nice of him, was it?"

"It's fun to do that!" Laura grinned.

Selina nodded. "I bet you think it is." She paused. "Want to come read with me in my room?" She asked. "Let me get Felicity and the three of us will read together."

"Okay!" Laura said eagerly. "Let's do it!"

Klaus came back from his date that evening and shut the front door behind him. Just then, the lights came on. "Where were you?" Selina asked.

"I was out," Klaus replied. "And I don't believe that I need to be held accountable to you or anyone else for how I spent my time. I'm going to bed."

"Just a minute now," Selina put a hand on his arm. "Tell me about where you were. Did you have fun?"

Klaus shrugged. "I wouldn't say it was fun, but I did what I had to do. I met a lovely young lady and then she and I went to a hotel and we..." he trailed off.

Selina twisted her mouth to one side. "So you met a random woman, went to some hotel and slept with her," she said. "Okay. It's good to know that while I was sitting at home like this," here she dropped her robe to the floor to reveal the skimpy red panty set, "You were out with someone else."

"You were here dressed like that?" Klaus asked. "Why?"

"Just for fun," Selina said sarcastically. "Why do you think?"

"You said that you had no interest in you and I being together right now," Klaus reminded her. "You said it just earlier today."

Selina nodded. "But then I had a talk with Gregory to see how he was handling Elijah being gone, you know, just in case he was as damaged as Laura, and he just started in on me about how I was being mean to Daddy and how Daddy would hate the way I was acting, and I thought, 'I have been damn good when it comes to Elijah's memory, but as long as his son already thinks I'm horrible, I might as well give myself permission to have a little fun'." She unhooked her bra and threw it on the floor, sashaying towards him, grabbing his face and kissing him hard as his hands went up her stomach and around her breasts. When she pulled out of the kiss, she grinned. "Don't you agree with that, Nicky?"

"I like it," he grinned and picked her up. "Let's not delay any longer." She giggled as he carried her to his bedroom and lay her down on the bed while he removed his shirt and unzipped his pants. Then he climbed on the bed beside her and kissed her, his arms going around her neck as he pushed her back on to the bed. Her eyes flicked downward as she noticed his length struggling to stay in his pants. She gasped and then grinned. "Well, hello there," she said, reaching out and gently freeing it. "It's been awhile since I've seen you."

Klaus groaned. "Keep doing that, love, please."

"Doing what?" She asked, a wicked gleam in her eye as she stroked him. "This? You want me to keep doing this?"

"Yes," he nodded, trying to keep his breath steady. "Oh, god, yes! Woman, you're torturing me!"

Selina grinned and kissed him. "Yeah," she said. "But you like it." Klaus moved on top of her, kissing down her neck and gently sucking on her nipples. Then, he gently massaged her stomach and rolled his tongue around her belly button.

She groaned. "More!" She said impatiently. "I want more!" She thrust her hips forward impatiently. "Come inside me Nicky. Please!"

He grinned as he kissed the skin under her belly and slipped his fingers under her panties, rubbing her gently. "You're an impatient little thing, aren't you?" He laughed and gently slipped her panties off, throwing them over his shoulder.

Selina nodded, gripping the mattress so tightly that when Klaus' tongue slipped inside her and she let out a shriek of joy, she accidentally pulled out pieces of the mattress with her fists.

"That was good, Nicky!" She said when she got her breath back. "Do it again!"

He shook his head. "No, no," he said, his fingers running through her sweaty dark hair. "No more preliminaries, love. It's time for the big event."

"You always have come up with interesting names for your penis, haven't you?" She asked with a grin. Then, she pushed herself up on her elbows so that her and Klaus' lips met, then with a movement of his body, he was inside her. She clutched him tightly, her fingers poking into his back hard enough to draw blood while he entered her again and again and again. Finally, though, he let her go and lowered her onto the mattress.

"Oh, my god," She breathed. "What the hell was that?" She turned to face Klaus who was grinning. "Whatever it was," he said, "it was long overdue."

A week or so later, it was the day of the full moon.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Lenora asked Lucy. "I know you're nervous."

"Yeah," Lucy nodded. "I'll be fine. Of course I'll be fine. It's nothing that hasn't happened to me before. Just that this time, I won't be tied up. I'll be free to do whatever I need to."

"Okay," Lenora said. "I just wanted to be sure you were all right." She looked around Lucy's moderately sized studio. Half finished paintings covered nearly every empty space. "I mean, you've been in here all day and usually you come out. Damon's worried."

"Yeah," Damon said, peeking in the studio door. "You can't stay in here all day. You need to come out and eat or watch TV or something. You're not a werewolf yet. You won't hurt anyone by being amongst people."

Just then, there was a knock at the front door. "That's Daniel!" Lenora said. "I told him he could come and visit today. I hope that's okay."

"Yeah, okay," Lucy said. "He's a nice enough kid." While Damon was left to deal with Lucy, Lenora eagerly went to answer the door. "Hi!" She said to Daniel. "Come on in!"

Daniel came in, taking a cap off his curly brown hair and removing his coat. "Were you serious when you said you actually had Tobias Potter in your possession?"

"You mean the cat?" Lenora asked. "Yeah, he said his name was Tobias Potter. Why do you care?"

"He's my dad," Daniel said. "Mom was real upset when the council convicted him."

"My Grandma Astrid is on the council," Lenora told him. "Do you hate me?"

"No," Daniel shook his head. "You didn't decide to punish my father, did you?"

"No," Lenora shook her head. "Of course I didn't!"

"Well, then why would I hate you?" Daniel asked.

Lenora shrugged. "I don't know. Wanna see your daddy now?"

"Yes," Daniel nodded. "I do."

Lenora led him to her room where Tobias sat on the bed. "Oh, my god!" He said when he saw Daniel come into the room. "Son, what are you doing here?"

"We're here for the February festivities," Daniel said. "But since they're not until tonight, Mom said I could come over to see Lenora."

"Wait," Tobias said. "Why would your mother let you be friends with Lenora? Her grandmother is one of the people who got me convicted!"

"So?" Lenora said. "That's not my fault!"

"Yeah!" Daniel agreed. "In fact, when Lenora found us in the woods and introduced herself, Mom seemed really happy to have another witch around here."

"You watch your mother carefully," Tobias said. "I don't know what your mother has up her sleeve, but I highly doubt she let you befriend Lenora just out of the goodness of her heart. And I don't want her to do anything that might get her put in jail or worse, like harming Lenora."

"You mean his mom might want to hurt me?" Lenora asked.

"I don't know," Tobias replied. "But it's a possibility, so be careful."

"Okay," Daniel nodded.

After that got out, the atmosphere became much less severe. Daniel, Lenora and Tobias spent the day talking together in Lenora's room, but as night hit, Damon knocked on the door frame. "I think it's time for your friend to be heading home," he said to her. "Cause it's almost time for your aunt to, you know, turn and we wouldn't want him to get stuck in the crossfire."

"All right," Daniel said, getting up. "Looks like I have to be on my way now, Dad," he said to Tobias. "I hope to see you again." He left the house and got back home just in time to be safe from Lucy. By morning, Lucy had changed back and Damon found her, naked and shivering, in the woods.

"Damn," she said, her teeth chattering. "Why didn't I bring a coat? It completely slipped my mind how cold it was gonna be when I turned back once I had that fur coat all over me."

Damon dropped a bag of clothes down beside her. "You can put those on," he said.

"No," Lucy shook her head. "I have an even better way to warm up." She stood up, fully naked before him, her hair tousled and dried blood around her mouth, and kissed him, unzipping his pants. "Wanna have a little fun in nature?" She whispered in his ear.

He grinned. "Yes, please," he said. He undressed the rest of the way and then they rolled around on the forest floor for a bit before finally pulling away from each other. "I needed that," she said. "I really needed that."

"So," Damon said, reaching out and rubbing her stomach. "How did it go last night? Did you kill anyone? Was it helpful?"

Lucy sighed. "I might have killed a few campers and a hiker or two. That's bad, right?"

"No," Damon shook his head. "If you're just doing what you have to do to survive, it's not bad. You shouldn't feel guilty about what you did."

"Okay," Lucy nodded. "I won't." She got up off the ground and put the clothes on that he'd brought her. "I'm definitely gonna need a bath when we get back to the house," she said as she pulled a sweatshirt over her head. "You wouldn't mind assisting me with that, would you, Damon?"

Damon grinned. "Of course not," he said. "Now let's get you inside before you really start to feel the cold.

"I agree," Lucy said, and shivered. "Let's get in the house right now!"

"Can I ask a favor?" Daniel said to Lenora.

"Sure," Lenora nodded. "What is it?"

"My mom wants to see my dad," he said. "Just for a little bit. Would it be okay if I took him to my camp and then brought him back?"

Lenora sucked in her breath. "I don't know," she said. "Your daddy said to watch out for your mother because she could be up to something sneaky."

"She's not!" Daniel shook his head insistently. "When I told her that you had Dad here, she said all she wanted was to see him and talk to him for a bit and then she'd give him back."

"Well," Lenora considered. "I suppose if I came too, it would be all right." She went in and got Tobias and then came back to meet Daniel. "Where are we going, the cat asked.

"We're going to see Mom," Daniel answered. "She wants to see you and talk to you."

"Remember what I said about being careful of your mother, son," Tobias warned.

"She's not gonna do anything bad," Daniel assured him. "She promised me!"

They got to the place where Daniel and his mother were staying and Daniel knocked on the door. "Mom!" He called. "I brought Lenora and she's got Dad!"

Just then, the door opened. "Well, thank you," Theresa said to Lenora as she took Tobias back. "How kind of you to return my husband to me."

"I'm not returning him to you," Lenora shook her head. "I'm just letting you borrow him temporarily. When you've talked to him, you have to give him back."

Just then, a spark shot out of Theresa's hand and Lenora went flying across the wood and smashed headlong into a tree. She crumpled to the ground, blood gushing from a wound in her head.

"Lenora!" Daniel said in shock. He tried to reach her, but his mother pulled him back. "Forget about her, son." She said. "She gave us what we want. She's of no importance anymore."

Later, at lunch, Daniel put some sleeping potion in his mother's wine, which gave him enough time to sneak out to where Lenora had fallen. He found her sitting up and no longer bleeding, but still not well. "What happened?"

"It was my mom," he said. "She tricked us and she hurt you. I'm gonna get you home, okay? Your aunt's probably wondering where you are." He put an arm around her shoulder and helped her walk back to Damon and Lucy.

"Oh, my god!" Lucy said when she saw that Lenora was covered in blood. "She's hurt! What happened to her?"

"She got on the bad side of my mother," Daniel said. "I'm very sorry. And if you've done what you came to do, I suggest you leave now, before my mother decides she wants to cause Lenora any more harm."

A/n: Up next, what seems to be one of my most popular stories, When Love Grows Cold!