13. This Woman's Work

Kol entered his room to see Aria still laying on his bed, last night after her and Damon's fight, Damon had disappeared from the Mikaelson mansion, when Kol came back to the mansion he saw Aria in the living room still crying, after a lot trying, Kol had finally managed to get Aria to spill what happened, and straight away Kol wanted to find Damon and punch some sense into him but he knew Aria needed him right now so he stayed by her side, when he had tried to get her to go to sleep, Aria refused to enter the bedroom she shared with Damon so Kol took her to his room and while she took the bed, Kol stayed on the couch but neither of the vampires slept for even a bit, Aria because of her heartbreak and Kol because he was making sure Aria was okay.

"You awake?" Kol asked.

"Nope" Aria replied, staring at the ceiling.

Kol sighed, "Ri, talk to me, please tell me how can I help you?" he asked, "I hate seeing you like this".

Aria stayed silent for a moment, she then sat up and looked at Kol, "Last night I told myself that I'm going to fight for Damon, but the whole night I've been awake, all I can think about is his words, he said he doesn't need me Kol, how can I fight for someone who doesn't need me anymore, who no longer wants to fight for our happy ending?".

Kol sat next Aria and grabbed her hand in his, "Look Ri, I don't know what's going on in Damon's head, I can't tell you what to do and what not to do, but whatever you decide, know that I will always support you".

Aria looked at Kol with teary eyes, "What if one day you don't need me as well?".

"That's never going to happen" Kol assured, "I waited for you for a thousand years, I'm always going to need you Ri".

"Swear?" a vulnerable Aria asked.

"I swear" Kol promised.

"Then can you promise me something?" Aria asked.

"Anything you want" Kol replied.

"I'm going to talk to Damon one last time, if it really is over between us and he doesn't want me or ours kids, take me away from here?" Aria asked, "I don't want to live in a town plagued with his memories, I won't be able to survive Kol".

Kol nodded, "I promise, if it really is over between you and Damon, I will take you and your kids away from here".

Aria gave Kol a grateful smile, today was a huge day for her, today will decide the fate of her and Damon's relationship.

***

While Kol had gone to check on the triplets who were currently with Klaus and Caroline, Aria, who was still laying in his bed, received a call from Nora.

"This is a bad time, Nora" Aria said, staring at the ceiling, hoping somehow, someway, she will suddenly have the answers to all her questions.

"Damon gave Rayna the Phoenix Sword" a panicked Nora revealed.

Hearing Nora's words and the panic in her voice, caused Aria to sit up, realising something had gone wrong, "There's no way Damon could have done that, I hid that sword, Damon can't find it".

"Damon knows you Aria" Nora reminded, "He knows your hiding spots, it wasn't hard for him to find the sword".

"Dammit Damon" a frustrated Aria whispered, getting out of bed and looking around Kol's room for her car keys, "Say Damon did get the sword, how are you so sure he gave it Rayna, wait, I thought Rayna was dead, Enzo killed her infront of her".

"She was blessed by the Shaman's, Aria" Nora reminded, "She isn't going to die this easily".

"Great, just what I needed" Aria mumbled, "And you didn't answer my first question, how do you know Damon gave Rayna the sword?".

"Because Beau's scar opened up, which means, she's coming for him, and she'll never stop coming for him and once she kills him she'll go after every other vampire in her path" Nora replied.

"Okay Nora, take a deep breath" Aria instructed, just as Kol entered the room, "Tell me where you are, I'm on my way".

"In the hospital with your friend, helping deliver her babies" Nora informed.

"Excuse me, what?" Aria asked shocked, no one having told her that Rebekah had gone into labor, Aria looked at Kol for answers but he looked as shocked as her, letting her know he had no idea about this either.

"We're all in danger, Aria" Nora said, "Beau's scar is the mark from her sword and it will lead Rayna Cruz straight to him, once you've been marked she will chase you to the ends of the Earth until your soul is back in that stone, once she gets Beau, she'll go after any other vampire in her path, and right now, this hospital is full of them, which includes your currently pregnant unconscious friend".

***

Kol parked his car infront of the hospital, and both him and Aria stepped out.

"Kol" a worried Aria said, pointing to Beau's burnt up corpse, "She's already here".

"Okay Ri, you go help Valerie with Rebekah, I'll find Rayna" Kol instructed.

"No Kol, wait" Aria said, grabbing Kol's wrist, "Let me come with you".

"Not happening" Kol stated.

"Why not?" Aria challenged.

"Because I need you to be safe" Kol said.

"Me being safe means nothing if you're in danger" Aria snapped.

"Aria, right now Rebekah needs you more then me" Kol reminded, "She is about to give birth and she needs her best friend by her side".

"She needs her brother by her side as well" Aria retorted.

"And I will be" Kol promised, "But first I need to make sure this hospital is safe for not just Rebekah but also Ric's twins".

Aria sighed, she knew Kol was right, being Rebekah was more important then fighting Rayna, but that doesn't mean she was okay with Kol dealing with Rayna alone.

"Fine, I'll go to Rebekah, but try not to fight her, just reason with her, the last thing we need is for you to end up in that stone again" Aria said.

"I'll try but no promises" Kol said.

"Kol--".

"Ri, enough talking more walking" Kol interrupted, turning around and walking into the hospital before Aria could say anything else.

Aria shook her head but nonetheless ran after Kol into the hospital.

***

While Kol had gone to distract Rayna from Rebekah, Aria barged into the operation theatre where they were operating on Rebekah.

"How is she?" Aria asked Valerie.

"The babies are about to come out" Valerie informed, but she frowned seeing the sad expression on Aria's face, "Aria, what's wrong?".

Aria sighed, "It's Beau" she replied, "He couldn't outrun Rayna".

Valerie looked at Aria in shock, "No" she whispered, "No, that's not possible".

"I'm really sorry Valerie" Aria apologised.

"And what about the others?" a worried Valerie asked

"I don't know where Nora and Mary Louise are but I think Rayna might be inside this hospital" Aria replied.

"What the hell's going on?" Alaric asked, entering the operation theatre.

"In a few minutes you're about to become a father" Aria informed, "And if we're being technical, I'm about to have two step sisters, I think".

"You ready?" Valeria asked Aria.

Aria nodded, "Always" she replied.

Valerie and Aria stood next to Rebekah and both of them started chanting, trying to get the babies to come and stop feeding on the magic in Rebekah.

"How are we doing?" a nervous Alaric asked the doctors.

"Almost there".

***

Unknown to Aria, Damon was also in the hospital and he had decided to deal with Rayna himself after she threatened to harm Aria if Damon didn't get her sword to her.

After an intense fight, Rayna had brought Damon to his knees, she grabbed her sword from the ground and walked towards Damon.

"You wanna send me back to hell?" Damon asked Rayna, causing her to stop mid step, "Well, let me tell you something lady, I'm already there".

Rayna glared at Damon and she lifted her sword up and stabbed Damon right in his heart.

"No!" Kol yelled, running over to the duo and seeing the scene infront of him, Kol speeded behind Rayna, he grabbed her head and smashed to the wall, rendering her unconscious, after  throwing Rayna's unconscious body to the ground, Kol looked at Damon, who was looking down at the scar on his chest, "Damon".

Damon didn't look at Kol, his mind was too preoccupied remembering his and Aria's memories, he was remembering all their promises, promise that now were never going to be fulfilled.

"This is exactly where I'm supposed to be, I couldn't have you die without me telling you how much I love you".

"Damon and Aria will always find a way back to each other, no matter where they go in this world".

"I am ready for our forever".

"Forever and ever, Damon Salvatore".

After clearing his head, Damon finally looked at Kol, "Take care of them Kol, all four of them are your responsibility now".

"Damon wait" Kol said, realising what Damon was about to do.

Damon gave Kol a sad smile, "I'll see you, brother".

And before Kol could stop him, Damon speeded away.

***

In the operation theatre, Valeria and Aria were still chanting.

"Okay, now is our chance, first baby's ready" one of the surgeon's said, after a while she pulled out baby number one and immediately Alaric was in awe, hearing the baby's cry, Aria opened her eyes and smiled seeing Alaric's dream come true right infront of her very eyes, he was finally get the family he thought was lost forever, "And now, baby number two", Alaric smiled seeing his daughter.

One of the nurse brought over Alaric's eldest daughter, with shaky hands, Alaric gently picked the baby up in his arms.

"Are they okay, Ric?" Aria asked, slightly worried.

Alaric smiled at Aria, "They are okay" he assured, "They're both okay".

Aria smiled back at Alaric, she was about to walk over to him, when suddenly she clutched her chest.

"Aria?" a concerned Valerie called out, seeing Aria's action.

"Something's wrong" Aria whispered, clutching her shirt tightly, fear rising in her heart.

"With who?" Valerie asked confused, looking at Rebekah and the twins but seeing everything was fine.

"With Damon" Aria whispered, "Something's wrong with Damon".

Before Alaric or Valerie could stop her, Aria had rushed out the operation theatre to search for her soulmate.

***

As Aria was running down the hospital corridor to get to Damon, she suddenly bumped into Kol.

"Careful Ri" Kol said, steadying Aria before she could fall.

"Kol, I have to find Damon" a panicked Aria said, "Somethings wrong with him, I need to find him".

"Ri, wait" Kol said, grabbing Aria's wrist, stopping her from running away.

"I can't wait!" Aria yelled, ripping her her wrist from Kol's hold, "Damon's in trouble Kol, he needs me".

"You can't help him, Ri" Kol whispered.

"What do you mean?" Aria asked confused, "You know what happened to Damon?", Kol nodded, "Then tell me, Kol?! Where is he? Is he okay?".

"Rayna Cruz marked Damon with her sword" Kol revealed, shocking Aria as she remembered Nora's words about what happened to the people who Rayna marked.

***

Damon was driving his car, trying to put as much distance as he could from him and Mystic Falls, when his phone started ringing, looking at his phone, he realised Aria was calling him.

"One last time" Damon whispered to himself, accepting Aria's call, "Ria".

"Damon" Aria cried.

"Don't cry Ria" Damon said, "I'm not dead yet".

"Don't say that" Aria snapped, "Don't talk about death, please, I can't take it, Damon I promise I will bring you back home, I will kill that bitch myself but I won't stop till you're home".

Damon stayed silent for a moment, "I have to keep moving if I wanna stay ahead of her" he finally said.

"I understand" Aria whispered, "I'll call you later, is that okay?".

Damon paused for a moment, "Yeah" he said, "Talk to you later".

"Okay" Aria said, "Bye Damon, I love you".

Damon closed his eyes hearing Aria, "Bye Aria" he said, hanging up on Aria before he lost all self control and turned his car back and ran to Aria.

Meanwhile on the other side, Aria looked at her phone with tears in her eyes, Damon thought she didn't notice but she did, Aria noticed that Damon didn't say I love you back, something he never did before.

"What is happening to us Damon?" Aria whispered, suddenly realising that her and Damon's future no longer seemed clear to her.

***

Presenting 7x13 of Cold Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Aria asking Kol to take her away from Mystic Falls if her and Damon really are over?

Thoughts on Damon getting stabbed by Rayna's sword?

Thoughts on Rebekah giving birth to Josie and Lizzie?