𝟑𝟓 | 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐊𝐎𝐋 were an interesting couple.

The two of them hate each other so much they couldn't live with each other. But they also love each other so much that they couldn’t live without each other. They wish each other dead, but don’t actually want them dead. They fight each other but also fight for each other.

Both had gone through so much until the glimpse of a blissful, wholesome, and warm life flashed before their eyes the minute they found out that Mary was pregnant. They had a chance to put their past behind them. To start over. To turn their lives around.

All for the sake of one little baby girl.

“I’m not gonna get the chance of spending eternity with you like I promised. The last thing I want to do is attend a wedding.” Kol complained. He was already looking worse every day that passed. Mary was relatively close, but unlike Kol, Mary just had to ingest a lot more blood than usual to keep herself from desiccating with their child’s constant siphoning.

There was no saving Kol.

“Then we shall not attend the wedding.” Mary said, clapping her hands with slight enthusiasm as she rose from sitting on the edge of the bed next to Kol. She turned around to face him with her hands still clamped together before she spoke. “Where do you suggest we go?”

She wasn’t going to lie, it was hurting her seeing him like this. It was one thing seeing him die within seconds. But seeing him slowly die with every that came and went, it was slowly driving her insane. It was a lot more painful for the former queen. She couldn’t even imagine what it was like for him.

“Don’t do that.” Kol muttered, his head falling forward as his fingers fiddled with each other.

The auburn haired heretic furrowed her eyebrows while she stared at the man who avoided her eye contact. “Do what?”

“Skip things you want to do for my sake.” He answered, still not bothering to spare her a glance.

Mary unfurrowed her eyebrows and instead arched one while she crossed her arms against her chest, her gaze not wavering from him.

“Well, whose sake should I do these things for then if not for my boyfriend and the father of my child?” Mary rhetorically asked.

Kol finally looked up at Mary only to send her an unamused glare. He kept that look as he spoke. “You know what I mean.”

Mary rolled her eyes at him and let her hands fall to her sides.

“You probably have less than a day. Do you think I want to spend it with you at a place you don’t even want to be at?” She pointed out. She witnessed the way his jaw visibly flexed and clenched before looking away. “Of course not. I’m going to make every second worth it until the day that I bring you back.”

“Mary—” Kol did not even get another word out as he stood up when Mary immediately jumped in.

“I will find a way to bring you back, Kol. You don’t get to escape me that easily.” the former queen stated, now looking up at the man as he towered over her. “I promised you an eternity of torment and I don’t go back on my word.”

A smile stretched on the witch’s lips as he slightly sighed, a soft, short laugh escaping along with it. He found her determination to torture him for eternity quite amusing. Then again, it was their thing.

Kol looked at her. Really looked at her. Mary felt her heart ache and flutter at the same time. He was looking at her with so much love in his eyes. And she knew it was because he loved her with all of his heart and also because it was going to be one of the last times he could do that.

“I do have one thing in mind that I want us to do.” Kol said.

However, Mary seemed to have a different assumption in mind of what Kol wanted to do.

“Do you want me to book a hotel room? Because the last thing I want is for everyone with vampire hearing to listen to you scream my name.” Mary joked…well, half-joked.

Another genuine and soft laugh escaped the ;ips of the blonde witch before he closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

“As tempting as that is, I regret to inform you that I barely have the energy to walk.” He told her, slightly pouting right after as an attempt to look cute.

Which Mary very much appreciated.

The heretic shrugged her shoulders. “You can just lay there.”

Kol’s eyebrows shot upward, his mind starting to get corrupted with the thought of the woman in front of her being on top of him.

“This…this is torture.” Kol groaned. Then he suddenly grabbed her hand. “You know what, forget my idea. Let’s just go right here, right now.”

It was Mary’s turn to laugh at Kol’s sudden display of enthusiasm. Before he could pull them toward the bed, Mary pulled back.

“Wait, what was your idea?” she asked.

His wide smile slightly faltered not because his idea wasn’t much better than what Mary had suggested. He just thought that kind of smile wouldn’t fit the conversation they were about to have. It needed a more heartwarming smile.

And he did exactly that.

“Let’s go to the hospital. I want to see our baby.” He said.

Mary was caught off guard by his boyfriend’s request. A smile curled on her lips. It was sincere and contained the purest of joys. Even her eyes smiled seeing this side of him that she never knew existed.

She was glad to have witnessed it.

“Okay.” Was all she could answer.

• ─────────────── •

“Are you nervous?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Why are your hands sweating?”

“No, I’m not.”

Mary cocked an eyebrow at him. She was already laid on the exam table with Kol sitting on the chair beside her with their hands intertwined. She noticed the way his hand started sweating as he sat there, zoning out a couple of times as he did.

“Yes, I am.” He finally admitted. “Is this how Nik was feeling when he found out he was having Hope?”

Mary remembered the day Kol started continuously saying sorry to her when he found out that the secret that she was keeping from him was the fact that Klaus and Hayley’s daughter was still alive. Much to Mary’s surprise, he understood the need to keep it from him. He was very understanding at that time. She wasn’t sure if he just didn’t want to fight over that when they had little time left with each other or if he had just gone soft-hearted. Either way, she appreciated it.

“I didn’t ask, but possibly.” the heretic answered.

Their conversation was cut short when the doctor finally arrived. Kol’s grip on Mary’s hand tightened when the doctor started talking to them. Mary could not even be nervous herself because she was too busy trying to calm down the man next to her.

The blonde witch watched as the doctor lifted Mary’s shirt up to reveal her stomach. Looking closely, he already saw a small bump. And it made him even more anxious.

“Kol?”

“Hmm?”

“Breathe.”

“I am breathing.”

“I don’t think you are.”

Kol rolled his eyes at the woman before taking her advice and slowly taking deep breaths to calm his thrashing heart beating inside his chest.

Mary was unbothered by the cool gel that made contact with her stomach. Just a couple of seconds later, the head of the ultrasound spread the gel ever-so-gently across her skin and the monitor that was filled with nothing but black, gray, and white indistinct patterns started moving.

Kol already knew how this worked. Mary, on the other hand, did not have time to brush up completely on the evolution of medical technology—specifically on obstetrics and gynecology.

“See that?” the doctor pointed at the little sac seen on the monitor. “That’s your baby.”

Kol melted at the sight of his unborn daughter. It was like all his nerves and fears disappeared. For a moment there, he forgot that he was dying. That he only had a couple of hours left. At that time, he looked like a father so excited to meet his daughter in the coming months.

Mary was the same. It seemed as though all the problems they had suddenly vanished when her eyes landed on what at first she couldn’t decipher.

“Have you already thought of a name for her?” the doctor asked.

Her. They were right. It was a girl.

“Not yet.” Mary answered after a couple of seconds of silence when she realized that Kol wouldn’t be able to answer for them.

“Here’s the sonogram.” The doctor handed them the sonogram of their baby and their eyes never left that piece of paper for a while. They just sat there in awe of the first picture of their baby.

Who knew that all those tormenting and killing and fighting would lead to them having a baby?

Certainly not them.

• ─────────────── •

Night had fallen. The sky had gone darker, the atmosphere heavier, the situation sadder. Mary didn’t want to face it, but she had felt Kol grow weaker as she held him under the blanket of twinkling stars, slowly swaying at the rather lively music in the background—one that she had even heard while still in French Court.

“Have I told you how much I’ve wanted to dance with you during our time in the French Court?” Kol asked, his face almost buried in her hair as he did.

The heretic smiled at his words. “I thought you still hadn’t realized you were in love with me back then?”

“Oh, I didn’t want to dance with you because I fancy you. Not at all. I actually wanted to break your arm once I spun you around.” Kol admitted.

Mary, with her smile still intact, rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. Of course that's what he wanted to do. It made sense.

“God, I hated you so much.” the male witch muttered.

“You still do.” Mary corrected.

He stifled a laugh. “Yeah, I still do.”

Kol pulled away from her slightly, looking into her brown eyes as he reached inside the pocket of his jacket.

“So much so that I want to tie you to the man you hate the most.” He said, taking out a white ring box.

Mary’s heart started beating faster than normal at the sight of the box in the man’s hand.

“This is assurance that we will find our way back to each other.” Kol said. He opened the ring box and it revealed a big princess cut pink diamond ring line with the band riddled with little diamond stones.

Mary’s surprise turned from good to bad, her eyebrows shooting upward at the sight of the very pink ring.

“What the hell is that?” She couldn’t help but blurt those words out while she stared at the ring.

“It’s an engagement ring. What else would it be?” Kol said, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Kol, it’s pink.” Mary pointed out the obvious before looking up at the man giving her the ring. “Like…really pink. Barbie pink.”

If she knew Beauty and the Beasts, she definitely knew Barbie.

“I know.” he answered.

“I hate pink.” She told him.

Instead of responding, Mary watched as a teasing and amused grin spread across his face like a mischievous, stubborn little kid. It was only then that Mary realized what he was doing.

“You did this on purpose.” She spelled out.

A laugh erupted from the man’s throat, unable to hide how entertained he was witnessing the woman’s reaction to the ring he was giving her.

“Who else would buy you a ridiculously large and ridiculously pink ring? No one. And that’s the point. The ring you hate the most given by the person you hate the most.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m funny that way.”

The heretic narrowed her eyes at the man as she shook her head, a smile creeping on her red lips.

“I can definitely knock someone out with this ring.” She commented, taking the ring box to take a closer look at the vibrant pink ring. “You are unbelievable.”

“Thank you.” Kol answered, his mischievous smile still lingering on his lips. “Do you hate it?”

Mary ripped her gaze away from the ring long enough to look up at him and answer in the most sincere way possible.

“I despise it.” she answered, though the smile never faltered, not even for a second.

“You flatter me.” The witch retorted. Then his roguish grin disappeared when he thought of something. “You’re not going to say no just because you hate it, right?”

“I might.”

“Mary.”

“What, you’re the only one who can joke around here?” Mary said. She straightened herself up before giving the box back to the man. “I will not share my answer until you ask me properly. You don’t have to kneel. Just say it.”

Kol hadn’t laughed this much in a day. And yet he managed to do so today because of the love of his life. It felt heavenly. It felt like nothing he had ever felt before. Such happiness. Such relief. Such peace. Such love.

“Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, will you do me the honor of being your King.” He officially asked.

“King Consort, actually. Titles are important. It shows who’s really in power.” She corrected, earning an eye roll from the witch before she proceeded. “And yes. It will be a pleasure to have you by my side as I take over the world.”

Kol finally took the ring out of the box and slipped it in Mary’s ring finger. The auburn haired heretic watched with her lower lip caught in her teeth in excitement as he slipped the ring on. It was the perfect size. It hugged her finger just right. The color was ridiculously bright and vibrant that she knew that it would be the first thing people will notice when they look at her for the years to come.

Kol placed a cold hand on Mary’s cheek and it took everything in her not to fall apart at one of the reminders that he was slowly withering away in front of her. Then he leaned in and caught her lips into his. Their mouths were in sync with each other even when their minds weren’t always; their tongues dancing, even when they barely had the energy to do it themselves; their touches as freezing as the night itself, even if the kiss warmed their hearts.

After a couple of seconds, Kol had to pull away to catch his breath. Then he abruptly turned his back on Mary when he started to cough hard, the sound breaking Mary’s composure. She couldn’t hold back the tears anymore as her hand flew to her mouth to at least suppress her sobs.

Once Kol had recovered from that painful cough, he whispered.

“I think I want to be alone for this bit.” Kol muttered.

“I’m afraid that’s not an option.” Mary and Kol averted their gaze to the male original vampire. There he stood with their other siblings, Rebekah and Klaus. Mary would never get used to this new body of Rebekah’s.

“Well, isn’t this a sight?” the female witch said. “A marriage proposal at the cemetery. How romantic.”

Kol shot them a smile, surprised that they were even here to see him.

“It’s a kindness to you lot so all you have to do is bury me.” the blonde witch joked.

The original hybrid took a step forward, his blue eyes staring right at Kol’s, seeing bittersweetness lingering in them.

“‘Always and forever’ is not just something you weasel out of, brother.”

It was at that time that Kol felt the most loved.

• ─────────────── •

i've lost count on how many times they've lost each other lmaooo. and i'm not even finished. this act is called "ode to the star-crossed" for a reason.