Sean and Eva were out eating one day when he noticed Vivi at the next table with Tom. "There's your mother," he told Eva. "See? Why don't we invite them to sit with us?"
"No," Eva replied without even looking. "I don't want my mom coming over here with another man."
"Oh, don't be silly!" Sean said, getting up and making an exasperated Eva come with him to Vivi and Tom's table. "Do you two want to be alone?" He asked. "Or would you like to come sit with us?"
Eva eyed Tom harshly. "You don't have to," she told him. "If you want to say 'No', it's perfectly all right."
"And just who are you, you little ray of sunshine?" Tom asked Eva.
"This is my daughter, Eva," Vivi told him. "She's very attached to her father, and doesn't approve of what I'm doing, so don't expect to get a warm reception from her.
"Oh, I'm sure that if we had a little talk, things would improve between us," Tom replied. He let Sean sit at his spot, and then took Eva a distance away.
"Nothing you say will make me like you," Eva huffed.
Tom then turned back into King, causing Eva's eyes to widen. "Oh, my god!" She cried.
"Do me a favor, please?" King requested. "Don't breathe a word of this to your mother."
"You mean, you're having sex with her without her knowing that it's actually you?" Eva asked. "Isn't that bad?"
"Yeah," King sighed. "And when I tell her the truth, I'll have to pay for it big time, but for now…for now, say nothing, all right?"
"Okay," Eva nodded. "I'll keep the secret. Don't worry." He turned back into Tom and they walked hand in hand back to the table.
"Well, look at the two of you getting along so well," Vivi said with a smile. "That really makes me happy, having the two most important people in my life right now be friends."
"It's not a problem," Eva replied. "When we talked, I discovered that he's really not much different from Dad, so I have nothing to worry about."
Vivi didn't suspect anything, but King kicked her under the table anyway and gave her a look when Vivi's attention was elsewhere. They had their lunch, and then, with a promise to meet again put on the table, Sean and Eva headed home.
Eva had promised her father that she'd keep his plot a secret from Vivi, but she had to tell someone. "That Tom guy Mom is dating is really my dad in disguise!" She burst out at last when she and Sean were safely at home. "I'm not supposed to tell her, but I have to tell someone!"
"Oh, is that why you were much better behaved when you and he came back from talking to each other?" Sean asked. "Cause he wasn't a random man trying to replace your father after all?"
"Well, yeah!" Vivi nodded. "Duh!"
"And here I thought it was just plain old maturity," Sean mused. "I guess I should have known better."
"Well how did you handle it after your mom died and then your dad married Mary's mom?" Eva asked. "Did you hate her too?"
"No," Sean shook his head. "Mary's mother was one of the sweetest women I've ever met in my entire life. In some ways, she was an even better mother to me than my own mother had been."
"So you weren't worried at all?" Eva asked.
"No," Sean replied, taking Eva in his arms and kissing her forehead. "But I can understand how jarring this whole situation with your mother is. If Tom had really been someone else, you and I could have worked through it together."
"I know we could have," Eva told him. "Thank you. I just…I don't understand why my mom needs to date other people in the first place. My daddy is great!"
"You're aware that your parents were teenagers when you were born, right?"
"Yeah," Eva nodded, "I know that. That's why lots of my young life was spent living in Grandpa Klaus' attic."
"Well, when most people are the age your parents were when you were born, they date many people," Sean explained. "Most teenagers don't look at the person they're dating and say, "You're the one I want to be with for the rest of my life, forsaking anyone else. Usually you only think that when you're much older."
"Not me," Eva proclaimed. "I always knew I wanted to be with you! Other boys suck!"
"That's very sweet, thank you," Sean acknowledged. "But how you and your sister feel about me and Jonathan is sort of atypical. Like, I'm sure your mother loves your father. She just wants to make sure she didn't cheat herself."
"Are you saying that I ruined my mother's chances to find love?" Eva wanted to know, her lip jutting out.
"No, of course not," Sean shook his head. "You just made it difficult for her to take part in the usual teenage dating practices. But I'm sure she doesn't blame you."
Eva didn't quite believe him, though, and he sighed as she ran off to talk to her mother.
"I'm sorry my being born stopped you from being able to date," Eva apologized to Vivi.
"Honey, it's not your fault," Vivi replied. "Who told you it was?"
"Sean said that my being born when I was stopped you from being able to date like a typical teenager cause you and Dad had to raise me," Eva explained.
"Honestly, I could have dated when you were little, but I chose not to. That was when your father wasn't as insufferable as he is now, so I didn't feel like I was missing out. But now…now it's different. And I swear it has nothing to do with you. I even still love your father very much. I just…I need some time."
"All right," Eva nodded and gave Vivi a hug. "I like Tom. He's nice."
"I'm glad," Vivi replied. "I like him too."
Meanwhile, King was making an honest effort to try and figure out what it was about him that was driving Vivi away. Well, actually, he was pretty sure he knew, but just to be positive, he used a spell that would allow him to talk to the best and worst parts of himself. Maybe that would help. He did the spell and found the forms of his father (clad in dark red and black) and Vivi (clad in white and looking very angelic) standing before him, everything coming out of their mouths representing his own thoughts.
"I need to talk to you," he said to them. "I think my relationship with Vivi is in trouble."
"I don't see why," the form of his father replied. "You're doing things perfectly. She exists to please you, and that's what you're using her for."
"Oh, don't be an idiot!" The form of Vivi shot back. "Vivi deserves better than that, and that's why she's leaving him. Cause thanks to you, he's acting like a clingy child who expects her to act more like his mother than a partner who deserves his love and attention just as much as he deserves hers. If you'd actually shown him some love and affection, he wouldn't be so desperate for it now that he expects Vivi to fill in all the gaps!"
"There was absolutely nothing wrong with how his mother and I raised him," his father shot back. "We did the best we could. He's lucky we didn't kill him!"
"Oh, would you shut up?" Vivi cried, throwing up her hands. "You're just making everything worse." She then came over to King and put a hand on his shoulder. "If you want things to be better between you and Vivi, you're going to have to give it time. You have to deal with the effects of listening to this idiot-" she pointed her thumb over her shoulder at his father, who gave a huff and disappeared-"and let Vivi date. This is good for you though. You can use it as a learning experience."
"Oh, yeah?" King raised an eyebrow. "How do I do that?"
"Find someone to talk to," Vivi urged. "Someone with just as much experience with your father who got through it all okay and is in a good relationship. Ask how they did it, and that'll help you learn new behavior that hopefully will stamp out all the troublesome stuff. By the time Vivi is ready to come back, things will be much better between the two of you. The waiting will be the toughest part, I think."
"Yeah," King replied. "No kidding." He then looked at her. "I know you're not really Vivi and you're just a figment of my imagination, but…thanks."
"I didn't do anything," she said. "You knew all this yourself. You just needed to get all the other nonsense out of the way in order to be able to use it." She kissed him. "Good luck, King." Then she disappeared, leaving King alone. He thought about who to talk to, and then when he finally made his choice, pulled out his phone and called his brother Elijah.