Liam and Mary had just come back from lunch when he saw a message on his answering machine. He played it and it turned out it was from Regina. "Hey buddy," she said brightly. "Did you forget about me? Why don't we go out to lunch sometime? You can bring Mary too, if you'd like."

"Well, now I feel like a terrible person," Liam sighed and sat down on the sofa. "I've been so busy with things that I forgot other people in my life." Then he looked guiltily at Mary. "Not that I'm blaming you, of course. All this stuff about you getting cursed was not your fault."

"I know," Mary nodded. "I don't think you're blaming me. In fact, I think it would be good for you to focus on something else for a little while. Why don't you call Regina up and tell her you'd be happy to go out to lunch with her."

"Are you sure?" Liam asked. "Cause I really don't have to."

"Do it," Mary said, and gave him a kiss. "I insist."

"All right," Liam replied. "You wanna come too?"

"Oh, I don't want to get in the way," Mary replied. "I'm the reason that you and Regina haven't talked so much over the years. I think the two of you should talk alone."

"If you say so," Liam replied. "It won't take forever, I promise. I'll be back before it gets dark."

"If you're not, I'll come and get you," Mary told him. "Have fun."

"I'll see you later," Liam promised and gave her a smile before calling Regina back and telling her that he'd be more than happy to meet her for lunch and any other sort of bonding that she wanted to do, as long as they were done before nightfall so he could get back to Mary and hold the curse off for yet another night.

"I have to confess," Regina told Liam as they sat down. "Me asking you out to lunch was not purely a desire to reconnect, although it was a big part of it."

"What else is there?" Liam asked.

"Well, as you know, in a couple of days, Victoria's class takes the annual field trip to the Council building to see how the government and law and order work," Regina replied as she put her napkin in her lap. "And there will be a point where they visit the jails. Now, knowing my daughter as I do, I have this horrible feeling in my stomach that she's gonna sneak off and, you know, set some dangerous man free or get hurt or something. Is it possible to have extra supervision for her? I ask because when she was with Eva the other day, they played that game the kids do where they talk to the bad criminal in the mirror and apparently, she didn't find Kai frightening at all, and I can totally see her wanting to pick more fights with him."

"I'll see what I can do," Liam assured her. "Your fears about Kai are well-founded, although since Victoria isn't scared of him, we might have to be worried for Kai more than we have to be worried for Victoria."

"Is that true?" Liam wanted to know. "Is she really that bad?"

"Remember how worried you were for me before Declan and I got together for real?" Regina asked. "Victoria is exactly like Declan was then. Now, I'm not trying to say that my daughter is a total monster, but she has some moments where she can be difficult and a little frightening."

"I'll do my best to keep an eye on her," Liam assured Regina. "But if something bad happens anyway, I'll apologize right now."

"If something happens anyway, I won't blame you because I know you're doing the best you can," Regina replied.

"Thanks," Liam smiled at her. He then bit into his burger while Regina stabbed at her salad and studied him while she chewed. "How is Mary? Is she all right?"

"She's better than she was," Liam nodded. "She's still cursed, but we're working on ending that and we got her her powers back."

"Well that's good!" Regina replied. "I wish I could get my powers back. Or get the powers I would have had if Mom hadn't been cursed to lose hers when she was pregnant. Dad's been trying to get Mom to talk to Astrid ever since Aunt Amy did it, but she won't. She says she's too used to being powerless and if she tried to get them back now, it would just mess her up. An interesting change of heart for someone who's been doing whatever she can to get her powers back for as long as I can remember."

"Yeah, that is really odd," Liam nodded. "But maybe it's a good thing."

"Perhaps it is," Regina shrugged. "Who knows, though? So…you'll watch out for Victoria the best you can?"

"Yeah, we will," Liam nodded. "I'll get someone on it immediately, I promise."

After they finished eating, they paid, left the restaurant, and after Liam walked Regina to her car, she gave him a hug. "Don't wait so long to call me next time if you can help it," she requested. "Please? If you don't call me, I'll call you."

"All right," Liam smiled. "I can't wait."

"And would you tell Mary that I say 'Hi' and that next time we go out, I want her to come too?" Regina wanted to know.

"Sure, I'll tell her," Liam nodded as Regina got in her car. "I'm sure she'll be thrilled." Regina then set off, and Liam rode back home to Mary, who was sitting in a chair and reading a book as he came through the door.

"So…how did it go?" She asked. "Did Regina ask about me?"

"Yes," Liam nodded, pushing his blond hair out of his eyes. "She wants you to come with next time we make a lunch date."

"Well, isn't that sweet of her?" Mary smiled. "I'll be coming with you for sure. If you don't mind, that is."

"Of course I don't," Liam told her. "If you wanna come to lunch with me and Regina, I won't stop you."

They spent the rest of the day doing stuff together, even going to see his parents, where his mother again chided him for forgetting to visit.

"I'm sorry!" Liam apologized. "I've been really busy."

"It's my fault," Mary said easily. "He's been busy with me. I'm a terrible influence."

"No, I'm a terrible influence," Adrian replied with a smile as he came up behind Helene, put his arms around her waist, and gave Mary a smile. "You just need lots of help."

"That's very true," Mary nodded. "Although I can't wait for the day when that's not an issue."

"It'll come," Helene told her and gave her a hug. "Soon it'll all be over, I promise."

"Thank you, Miss Helene," Mary replied and squeezed her hard.

"Now," Helene smiled as she pulled away. "How about you show us some of the magic you've been working on? I would love to see it."

"Really?" Mary asked. "Cause I'm not very good yet."

"Of course!" Helene replied. "It would be our pleasure!" She then rolled her eyes as Adrian took cover behind the sofa.

"All right," he said. "Whatever you wanna do, Mary, you can go ahead and do it."

"What's wrong with him?" Mary whispered.

"Well, one of the things that drove us apart is that I would let our daughter Lenora practice magic on him, so whenever he even gets a hint of magic being performed now, he runs for cover."

"But why?" Mary asked. "Isn't he a warlock too?"

"No," Liam shook his head. "I got the magic from Mom. Dad's little extra is being a werewolf, which he got both from Grandma Selina and Grandpa Klaus."

"Ah," Mary nodded. "All right."

"Are you gonna do magic or not?" Adrian asked from behind the sofa.

"I will," Mary replied, and, to her surprise, successfully made a pillow fly around the room. "There, it's over," Helene said, peering at Adrian who was still behind the sofa. "The pillow is safely back where it belongs. You can come out now."

"All right, good," Adrian nodded. He came out from behind the sofa, took Helene in his arms, and began kissing her, which led Liam to take Mary's hand and make a quick exit. Liam said goodbye, but he doubt his parents heard, which was all right with him.

"I think it was good that we visited your parents today," Mary said as she and Liam got ready for bed. "Your mom was really happy to see us."

"Oh, I think it was good too," Liam agreed. "I just wish she wouldn't make me feel so guilty about not visiting when I'm not forgetting on purpose."

"How about I be your ambassador?" Mary asked. "When you get really busy and you realize you haven't visited your mom in a while, just tell me and I'll go instead? That way, at least she'll know you're not dead. And I enjoy talking to your mom."

Liam gave her a long look, smiled, and then kissed her. "You wonderful woman, you! That is a perfect solution!" He then removed his pants and turned off the light, tickling Mary and kissing the soft skin of her bare body before entering between her parted legs and kissing her soft lips while she played with his messy blond hair.

"Why aren't you dressed for school?" Regina asked her daughter, who was sitting on the sofa in her pajamas even though it was time for her to leave for the day.

"I don't think I wanna go," Victoria replied and zapped herself up a third bowl of cereal. "We're doing that stupid field trip and I think it'll be boring."

"I already signed the permission slip for you and you can't just skip school!" Regina replied. "Get up now and put on your clothes."

Victoria gave her mother an angry look and then stomped off to find Declan. When her mother was being difficult, she could at least count on her father to think the way she did.

"Why aren't you dressed yet?" Declan asked when she finally found him. "Isn't it almost time for your mother to take you to school?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to," Victoria replied. "We're not even learning anything today. Just going on a stupid, boring field trip to learn about government at the council building. Will you tell Mommy to let me stay here?"

"No, I think you need to go to school," Declan replied firmly. He gave her a couple of spankings and then ordered her back to her room to change, which she did, albeit grudgingly, and then spent the rest of the day plodding after her class as the Council official chosen to guide the kids' visit droned on and on about nothing. Victoria spent more time plotting about how to escape then she did paying attention to the lecture. When they finally reached the room that was the gateway to the prison worlds, Victoria asked the guard Liam had put on her which door led to the place where the most dangerous criminals were kept.

"I don't think you should be told that information," he said. "That's for authorized personnel only."

But that didn't stop Victoria. She zapped them into an area off the hallway, waited until her class had disappeared, punched the guy who was watching her in the face, and then ran off toward the spot where the doors were. Using ingenuity since she didn't have the keys, she got the door to Kai's prison world open and jumped.

When he heard the thud of her bottom hitting the floor, he turned around. He was about to make some cutting remark, but when he saw Victoria, he stopped, cause he didn't recognize her at all, due to the rules of the prison world, which aged outsiders who accidentally ended in one of them if they were too young and inexperienced to face the evils the prison world held. Thus, Victoria was no longer the annoying twelve year old he was used to sparing with, but a leggy seventeen year old with long brown hair, wicked brown eyes, and very pert breasts shoved into a very tight black dress.

"Well, hello there," he said with a grin as he swaggered toward her. "What's a nice girl like you doing in a bad place like this?"

"You look happy to see me," Victoria told him. "Which is a surprise, cause you've never been happy to see me before. You look much older up close."

"We've met?" Kai asked, leaning forward to try and kiss her.

"Yeah," Victoria gave him a slap. "I'm Victoria, you idiot. Who did you think I was?"

"Someone much nicer, that's for sure," Kai replied and rubbed his reddening. "You looked like someone nicer. Or prettier for sure."

"What do you mean?" Victoria demanded. Kai then opened the door in front of the mirror and let Victoria have a look. "Is that me?" She asked. "I'm gorgeous!"

"Yeah, you're personality's still rotten, but at least you're pretty," Kai scoffed. Then he said, "So what are you doing down here? Have you been punished?"

"No," Victoria shook her head. "We were on a field trip at the Council building and I got bored and sneaked away, found your door, and here I am."

Kai smiled. "Well, aren't you clever, you naughty girl? And how is it that you plan to get back if I let you? Your mommy and daddy will probably be terrified that something bad happened to you."

"Not really," Victoria shook her head. "Mom figured I would do something like this. She was counting on it."

"Well, isn't that funny?" Kai asked. "I don't know if it's funny or sad. I get those emotions mixed up sometimes. If your mother was counting on you to do something like this, I bet she'll be happy that you're stuck down here."

"That's not true!" Victoria replied. "It just means that she won't have to look a long time to find where I am." She then looked around. "I'm bored cause you're boring. Let me out, please."

"Whoops!" Kai replied, smiling wickedly. "It's a shame there's no actual way out. You honestly think they would give someone like me a prison with an easy exit?"

For the first time, Victoria began to feel a little nervous, but tried not to show it. To make herself feel better, she zapped Kai back into a chair and tied him to it using magic rope. "I guess since we'll be stuck here for a while, we'll have to find a way to amuse ourselves," she told him. "What do you want to play first?"