With Selina coming in and out to be with Klaus, Alistair began to miss Astrid and even began thinking about trying to make peace with her, even though she hadn't spoken to him since the day he botched the marriage proposal. Finally, he took a deep breath and "ran into" her as she came out of Klaus' bedroom after polishing all the wood in there.

"What is it that you want?" She huffed, adjusting her maid's cap. "Make it brief, because I still don't like you."

"Still?" Alistair's jaw dropped a little. "How many times does a man have to apologize to get back on your good side?"

"If he ruined a marriage proposal, many, many times," Astrid replied. "In fact, you'll be lucky if I take you back at all."

"Oh, dear god, this is terrible," Alistair growled in frustration as he pushed his dark hair back. "You're going to be more trouble for me than Klaus is, aren't you?"

"And what do you mean by that?" Astrid asked, hands on hips. "If you're trying to coerce me into being in a relationship with you, you are sorely mistaken. I won't allow myself to be cowed or bullied!"

"I know you think I'm a crazy man who's trying to bully you," Alistair told her. "And since you don't know what I know, it's totally understandable. But would you listen to me, please? If you and I don't make some sort of peace, several lives will be ruined!"

"That's a bit over-dramatic, don't you think?" Astrid asked him.

"No," Alistair shook his head as his dark hair whacked his cheeks. "I don't think so at all. Because, see…remember when I told you that I was from the future?"

"Yes," Astrid sighed, rolling her blue eyes. "That should have been the first sign to me that you weren't right in the head."

"Well, you're from the future too, but you don't remember because of the nature of the spell that was put on you," Alistair told her. "When we're where we belong, we're very happily married and we have a daughter and several children and great-grandchildren."

Astrid frowned. "Are you crazy? Is this some sort of trick?"

Alistair growled in frustration. This would be so much easier if they would just believe whatever he said! "No, it's not a trick!" He continued in exasperation. "It's…never mind. Nothing I can say will get you to believe me anyway."

"It'll be all right," Astrid told him, putting a warm hand on his cheek, the first physical contact they'd had in a while. "I'll talk to Klaus or Elijah about getting you the help you need." She then quickly strode away from him and after a few second pause, Alistair tried to reach Klaus before she did. He didn't make it, but even so, he was sure that Klaus would be more likely to believe him than Astrid.

"Aren't you the least bit concerned that Alistair has lost his mind?" Astrid asked in desperation. "Is that the sort of help you want?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with him," Klaus shrugged. "As long as he gives me the help I need, I see no reason to upset our arrangement."

Feeling like he needed a friend, and having no one else to talk to, Alistair went and told Klaus that he was going out for a bit, promised he'd be back soon, and then headed out to see Amy. She'd always been a very calm person to be around. Maybe she could help him out. Or at least make him feel not so alone anymore.

But when he reached Amy and Jonathan's house, he was met with surprise and skepticism. "Are you here at Klaus' request?" Amy asked as she opened the door and stared at him. "Because I'm married to Jonathan now and nothing that silver-tongued devil of a master of yours can say will make me change my mind."

"I'm not here for Klaus," Alistair told her honestly. "I'm here for myself. I hope that even though things between you and him didn't go so well, you and I can still be friends."

"Of course we can!" Amy smiled. "Why don't you come in? You look troubled. Can I get you a drink?"

"Yes, please," Alistair nodded as Amy led him to the living room and sat him down. "I could really use a drink about now."

When he had his drink, Amy said, "Before you explain your troubles to me, would you like me to have Jonathan be a part of this as well? It might be easier to solve if two people are helping you rather than just one."

"All right," Alistair nodded. "I suppose it couldn't hurt, anyway."

And to be totally honest, Alistair was glad to have all the help he could get. Careful not to mention the whole time travel angle (since it hadn't worked with Astrid and he really didn't want either of these two turning against him as well), he only told them about Astrid and the failed proposal.

"Well, isn't that a shame?" Jonathan asked and clicked his teeth. "You seem like a perfectly delightful fellow. I don't know why she's refusing to speak to you. You didn't say that you would never marry her."

"That's true, I didn't!" Alistair agreed. "But I don't know how to get in her good graces." He looked over at Amy. "Do you have a suggestion?"

"I suppose I could talk to her," Amy replied. "But it would have to be here, if you don't mind. Based on what happened between me and Klaus, I don't feel comfortable going to his house."

"That is completely understandable," Alistair agreed. "I'll see what I can do to get her over here."

"I'm going out for a little while," Astrid told Klaus. "I hope that's all right. I promise to get my cleaning done when I get back."

"Where is it that you're going?" Klaus asked.

"Oh, just to see a friend, that's all," Astrid replied.

"All right," Klaus nodded. "I'll be busy tonight myself."

"Are you taking Miss Warren to the theater?" Alistair asked. "Not those same horrid shows you drag me to. You're going to drive her away."

Klaus laughed at this and brushed Alistair's fear away. "I don't think so," he smiled. "You clearly have no idea about Miss Warren."

This was true, Alistair thought to himself later as Astrid and Alistair made their way to Amy and Jonathan's while sitting on opposite sides of a carriage. If this Selina was anything like the one he knew in the present, she probably did have a bit of a dark side, and no Elijah to rein it in. It could be disastrous. But he had other things on his mind at the moment. He couldn't help Klaus if he didn't have Astrid to help him and hopefully, Amy could help her see him in a better light than she saw him now.

"So what's the matter with Alistair?" Amy asked after she and Astrid had settled into the parlor and Jonathan and Alistair had taken the carriage to his club. "He seems perfectly wonderful.

"He believes he's from the future!" Astrid cried. "And that I am too! What would you say if a man told you nonsense like that? Surely you wouldn't spend any more time with him, let alone marry him."

"Maybe if you took him to the doctor, they would make him better," Amy suggested. "Jonathan's father is a doctor. He can help him out."

"All right," Astrid nodded. "I do really like him when he's not being insane. I'll do anything I can to help him get better."

When Jonathan returned home, Amy took him into the kitchen to talk to him in private. "Astrid and I talked," she told him. "And we think that if we just had Alistair put in a place where he could get help…where he could be cured of this delusion that he's from the future, he and Astrid could have a future together. Couldn't you talk to your father about getting him admitted to the hospital?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Jonathan told her. "Admitting someone to the hospital is a very serious thing. They cage them up. Treat them like animals, don't do anything to make them better. And Alistair seemed very lucid when I spoke to him. We can't subject him to time at the hospital."

"Well, then, what do you think we should do about him?" Amy asked.

"Why don't we try humoring him?" Jonathan suggested. "Maybe all he needs is someone to believe him and that will help him out of whatever is ailing him."

"I don't understand that logic," Amy told him. "But I suppose if you think it will make Alistair better, we should do it. You are the doctor's son, after all."

"You believe me?" Alistair asked Astrid, nearly crying with relief as he gave her a hug. "You don't know how happy that makes me! How much that eases my mind!"

Astrid smiled. "It's no trouble. Tell me more about the future. You said we have a daughter? What's she like?"

"Her name is Helene," Alistair replied. "She's dealing with things alone now, but she's so much like you, so calm and stable and organized, I think she can handle it."

"You do?" Astrid asked.

"Yes," Alistair nodded. "I do."

"I'm so glad we're doing this!" Christine commented as she, Matthew, Sarah, Percy, Helene, and Malachai sat around the lunch table at Malachai and Helene's. "Helene, this was a wonderful idea."

"Well, I just think it's about time we all worked on getting along since we'll be seeing a lot of each other for many years to come," Helene replied. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

Matthew and Malachai were struggling a bit more to find common ground.

"Have you ever hunted?" Matthew asked Malachai at last. "Because I hunt a lot."

"What is it you hunt?" Malachai asked interestedly. "It's not one of my prouder moments, but I hunted elephants and rhinos in Africa several years ago. I had to do some time traveling to do it, but it was quite an invigorating experience nonetheless."

"I…I hunt rabbits and deer," Matthew got out, feeling a little envious at the fact that Malachai had probably hunted all over the world. "I have dogs to help me. They and Sarah are very close."

"I'm envious that when you hunt you actually use your dead," Malachai told him to his surprise. "Most of the hunting I've done is just for sport and collecting trophies. Kind of shameful really."

"He and his group of hunter friends make an excellent rabbit stew," Christine got out, looking at her husband. "Maybe you and the boys could make it for Malachai sometime."

"Oh, don't trouble the man with that," Matthew told her. "I'm sure he has other things he would much rather do with his time."

"Don't be silly," Malachai replied. "I would love to come. If you'll let me hunt with you that is. If I just stayed in, I would feel useless."

"All right, sure," Matthew nodded. "Next time you're bringing Sarah back, we can do it then."

"All right," Malachai agreed. "Sounds good to me."

Later that night after he read Sarah a bedtime story and put her to bed, Helene took Malachai in her arms and gave him a kiss. "I'm so proud of you for how you got along with Matthew when we were visiting them today. I feel like you deserve some sort of reward."

"Oh, you shouldn't feel you need to reward me for being decent to the boy," Malachai said about Matthew, who ironically was much older than him. "I'm just glad that we've finally got this whole mess sorted out." He went and got a copy of H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, a novel that he'd loved as a boy and one of the works that had inspired him to go on a life of adventure. "Have you ever read this?" He asked. "There aren't a lot of women in it, but it's a treasure hunting adventure."

Helene took it and looked through it. It had Malachai's name in the front and the pages were full of notes in his handwriting. "This is one of your favorite books?" She asked.

"Well, yes," Malachai nodded. "Yes it is."

"And you…you want to share it with me?" Helene asked again, feeling touched that he was letting her in on something so personal.

"Yes," Malachai nodded.

Helene smiled, read the summary on the back cover, and then told him, "It sounds lovely. Let me get in my bathrobe and slippers and I'll meet you in your room. Would you like some tea or something? I'm making myself a cup."

"I wouldn't mind some," Malachai smiled and gave her one more kiss. "Thank you."