Mary took a deep breath and grabbed both Sean's and Liam's hands as the three of them headed into the council building. "I don't know why I'm so nervous about this," Mary got out. "It's not like Astrid will tell me I'm not allowed to have my powers back." She eyed Liam nervously. "Right?"
"Right," Liam assured her. "You didn't lose them by being evil; you lost them for reasons that weren't even your fault. The same thing happened to your grandma Amy at one point."
"It did?" Mary asked in surprise, feeling relieved. "I guess there's hope for me after all then." She looked back and forth between her boyfriend and her brother. "Can you come into the room with me? I don't know if I can face this by myself. It's the first real witch thing I've done without my parents."
"You'll be fine," Sean promised her. "Liam and I will be waiting right outside for you. There's nothing to be afraid of."
"Are you sure?" Mary asked.
"Yeah," Sean promised and gave her a kiss as Liam squeezed her hand. "I'm sure." He then nudged her towards Astrid's office and after he gave her one more assuring smile, Mary knocked on the door and Astrid called out, "Mary, is that you?"
"Yes, it's me!" Mary called back. "May I come in?"
"Of course," Astrid replied as she opened the door and ushered Mary inside. "I've been expecting you." She shut the door and Sean and Liam were taken out of Mary's sight. "How are you feeling?" Astrid wanted to know as Mary sat down. "Are you okay?"
"Well, I'm as good as someone who was cursed with a horrible curse can possibly be," Mary told her. "Is it wrong for me to ask for my powers back? If it is, then that's fine, cause I've never had them before, so I don't know what I'm missing."
"Don't worry," Astrid assured her. "Everyone around here is well aware of why you don't have your powers, and based on the circumstances under which they were lost, I'd be more than willing to give them back to you."
"That's what Liam said, but I just wanted to be sure," Mary replied. "When we do this, will it hurt?"
"Well, it's a big surge of power coming into your body, so it'll definitely feel strange, but I shouldn't think it would hurt," Astrid replied. "When you lose your powers, it's like they go to sleep in your body. They never actually disappear. The spell I'm about to do just wakes them up again."
"Ah," Mary nodded. "Okay."
"Now, give me your hands," Astrid instructed, pushing a strand of her blonde hair out of her eyes.
Mary gave her her hands and then Astrid shut her eyes and began muttering a spell. Soon, Mary began feeling an immense pressure within her body, and then it was as if she'd been hit with a wall of light which ripped her out of Astrid's grip and sent the chair she was sitting in flying back against the wall.
"Are you all right?" Astrid asked, coming to help her up.
"Yeah, I think," Mary replied. "Does that usually happen?"
"Yes," Astrid nodded. "Although it might have been more intense for you because of the curse you have. The magic has to fight extra hard because of it."
Just then, there was an urgent knock on the door. "Everything all right in there, Grandma Astrid?" Liam called. "Mary's not hurt is she?"
"Just some bruises," Mary called back. "I should be fine."
"Good," Liam told her. "I heard that loud thump and I was curious."
"Now, how about you try and do something for me so we can see if it worked or not?" Astrid asked Mary. "Can you do something with your powers?"
"Okay," Mary nodded. "Just remember that I have no idea what I'm doing and that something could go horribly wrong."
"Don't worry about it," Astrid assured her. "That's why I'm here."
So Mary muttered something under her breath and then pointed at Astrid's window. The top pane disappeared and Mary groaned. "I meant to make the whole thing disappear. I guess my powers don't work."
"Oh, they do," Astrid replied. "It's just that if you have a curse on you, it stops your powers from being as strong as they could be. Not to mention the fact that this was your first try. For a first try, that was awfully good."
"Well, thank you," Mary replied, even though she didn't feel as positive about what she'd done as Astrid did. She sat back down in her chair again and Astrid went to let Liam and Sean back into the room.
"So she has her powers back now?" Liam asked.
"She does," Astrid nodded. "But they're a little off because of the curse. I assume you got Edele to tell you how to end the curse before you killed her?"
"He did," Mary replied, blushing a little. "And we're working on it."
"Well, good," Astrid smiled. "Good things are happening to me left and right all of a sudden. We get to vanquish a villain like Edele, I get to right a wrong and give Mary her powers back, my father broke off his relationship with that horrible Alexandra Croft…granted they're only separated now, but…the divorce will happen in its own time." She then looked at Liam and Sean, who were staring at her. "Sorry," she apologized quickly. "Got lost in my own thoughts for a moment there."
"That's okay," Liam said at last. "You need anything more from Mary, or are you done?"
"No, I think we're done here," Astrid replied. "Good luck with your powers, Mary. And I hope that that curse is gone from you soon."
Mary then smiled at Liam. "Oh, I really don't mind now that it doesn't actually happen anymore. It can take its own sweet time to go away. Thanks for your help, Astrid. I know you have a lot to do around here and all."
"Oh, it's no trouble," Astrid assured her as she linked arms with Liam and Sean again. "It's part of my job to do stuff like this, as well as my pleasure."
"I'll be back in a bit," Liam assured his grandmother. "Will my next assignment be on my desk?"
"Yes," Astrid nodded. "See you when you get back, Liam."
"I have to ask," Eva said to Mary a few days later, "Are you still cursed? Or are you all better now?"
"Well, I am still cursed, but Liam and I are working on fixing it," Mary told her.
"Why didn't you ask Astrid to take the curse off when you were getting your powers back?" Eva wanted to know.
"Cause she can't get rid of it," Mary replied. "Only someone who loves me can."
"You mean like Sleeping Beauty or something?" Eva wanted to know.
"Yeah," Mary nodded. "Something like that."
"What does Liam have to do?" Eva asked. "Cause I assume it's Liam."
"He-" Mary began, but couldn't get it out. She tried again. "He-" Finally, she gave up saying it out loud and whispered it in Eva's ear, causing her eyes to widen. "If my brother asks about it, tell him something else besides what I told you," Mary begged her, her cheeks bright red. "Please?"
"Why?" Eva asked. "Sean knows about sex."
"Yeah, but he's my brother and I don't want him to lose his temper," Mary replied. "So you'll be quiet?"
"I don't understand why," Eva replied. "He'll have to know sometime. I'll tell him. I'm sure that when he finds out it's the only way to break the curse, he'll understand."
"You think?" Mary replied.
"Of course!" Eva replied optimistically. "I can get him to understand anything. Even the stuff he doesn't like." So when Sean came in from the yard, she strode up to him and blurted out, "In order for Mary's curse to go away, she and Liam have to sleep with each other five hundred times!"
"You have to what?" Sean asked his sister, his eyes wide.
"Sean, don't get mad. I didn't even want to tell you," Mary said, trying to calm him down. "It was all Eva's idea!"
"Is that really how the curse ends?" Sean wanted to know. "Or is that just some nonsense that Liam is feeding you so you'll get in his bed?"
"I choose to believe it's the truth," Mary replied. "It might make me naive, but it's how I feel. Liam is my friend. He wouldn't manipulate me like that. Think of all the effort he put in to finding me! And if you ask him, Liam will tell you the same thing."
"That's true," Sean admitted. "But I still don't know if I believe this." He then disappeared and headed to the council building to confront his friend.
"Eva just told me what has to be done to end the curse," Sean said, striding into Liam's office without knocking. "Is it the truth, or are you just trying to manipulate my sister? Cause she's already been through enough in her life and you shouldn't make it worse!"
"It's the truth!" Liam exclaimed. "Although now that Edele is dead, I can't offer you definitive proof of that, and you'll just have to believe me."
"Fine," Sean replied, eyes narrowed. "But if you're lying, I hope the guilt eats you alive."
"Well, I'm not, so it isn't," Liam told him. "You have a nice day now." He then turned away from Sean and continued with his work while Sean headed out of his office and went back home.
"Liam told you exactly what I did, didn't he?" Mary asked her brother smugly. "I knew that going to confront him would be a waste. But you just didn't listen to me, did you?"
Sean groaned, stared at Eva and Mary in turn, and then stomped off to his room. Eva followed soon after.
"Well, someone is grumpy," she remarked.
"Yes, and I would like to be left alone, please," Sean snapped.
"Why are you so upset about this?" Eva asked. "It's the only way to get rid of the curse, so there's no sense in worrying about it unless you'd rather have Mary be cursed forever cause you can't stomach the thought of her having sex."
"Of all the men in the world, why did it have to be Liam?" Sean cried. "If it was a total stranger, it would be much easier to deal with, but the knowledge that my sister has to sleep with one of my closest friends…well, that's almost too much for me to deal with right now."
"Don't worry, baby," Eva replied, pushing Sean's hair out of his face and kissing his cheek. "Everything will be okay."
"No, it won't," Sean replied and collapsed on the bed. "But thank you for taking a shot at reassuring me anyway."
Eva sighed. "What can we do to take your mind off this? Cause I have a suggestion or two."
"No, thank you," Sean shook his head. "Your usual methods of distraction are not something I can deal with right now."
"Are you sure?" Eva asked and removed her shirt and her bra.
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Sean snapped. "Cover up, will you? I'm not in the mood!" He then dramatically collapsed onto a pillow, and Eva put her shirt back on and left him to wallow in his misery in peace.
"You know," Mary told Klaus as he asked her to show him her powers again while Amy watched, "I didn't think you'd be so interested in this. You're not even magical, after all."
"Technically, I was," Klaus told her. "My mother is a witch. When we became vampires, only she and my sister Anna kept their powers, probably because of some intervention from the magical powers that be so that the vampires wouldn't be too powerful or something. Don't ask me how those crazy people think. Anyway, it fascinates me to watch magic being done, in any case. It has since I was a child."
"Astrid said my curse has sort of messed my powers up a bit, but for someone who's never done magic before, I'm doing pretty well." She tried to do levitation and grunted in frustration when the little button hardly left the ground.
"Well, I have to agree with her," Amy replied after watching everything Mary tried. "I think you're doing awfully well."
"Thanks," Mary sighed. "But can you blame me for being disappointed? I finally have powers like other people in this family and they still suck! I bet Edele is laughing in her grave right now."
"I know it's annoying and you probably don't want to be told to be patient, but you'll get better," Amy replied. "No one starts out marvelous."
"Yeah, but everyone starts out with all the power they'll have at their disposal," Mary sighed. She gave up trying to do magic and then went to sit next to her grandfather. "Say something to cheer me up, please. "All of this is just making me sad."
"Anyone who tries to taunt you about the trouble with your powers, you can just kill them," Klaus pointed out. "You don't need magic to do that."
"Klaus, don't you tell her horrible things like that!" Amy remonstrated.
"Why not?" Mary replied. "It's helping."
"Of course it is," Amy sighed. "Why shouldn't I be surprised that it's helping?"
Feeling a little better, Mary stared at the button again, and with renewed confidence, it went much higher than it had gone before.
"There you go!" Klaus smiled. "Good for you, sweetheart."
"Thank you," Mary told him while Amy rolled her eyes. "And thanks for your help." Then she looked sheepishly at Amy. "And thanks for your help too. It really did a lot for me."
"You're welcome," Amy sighed and then got up to leave the room.
"Did I say something wrong?" Mary asked.
"Don't you worry about it," Klaus assured her. "I'll fix it later. She gets in these moods sometimes when she feels people aren't measuring up to her high moral standards. It's not your fault."
"Okay," Mary replied and raised the button again. "If you're sure."
"I am," Klaus replied. "Trust me."
Although Liam had felt confident when Sean had confronted him about Mary, after it was all over and he'd been alone with his thoughts, he realized that Sean might have a point. What was his motivation for helping Mary with her curse? Was it because he liked her? Was he just trying to get a little sex on the side? He didn't have a lot of time to meet women because of how busy he was and maybe he was taking advantage of this thing with Mary because of that. And it wasn't right. He had to tell her the truth, and lay all the cards out on the table.
When Mary came to his apartment that night (he decided to have a change of pace from the hotels and finally suck it up and show Mary where he lived), he told her everything about his feelings and about what the resolution of the curse meant for them.
"I know sex is a very emotionally charged thing," Liam said. "And I don't want you to feel like I'm leading you on or anything. What we're doing now is strictly to get rid of the curse."
"What the hell?" Mary cried. "You have to have feelings for me that are genuine! If you don't, then why are we wasting our time when I could be out finding a guy who will actually do me some good instead of just using my misfortune as a way to have sex!" She paused. "Wait a minute...is this because Sean came and yelled at you? What the hell did he say?"
"He's worried about you," Liam replied. "He wanted me to examine my feelings and make sure I was doing this for all the right reasons."
"And you are...aren't you?" Mary wanted to know.
"Yes," Liam nodded. "But this...this is a difficult situation for everyone and when we started it, we had no idea what the effect on Sean would be. The thought of us sleeping together is clearly too much for him to handle right now, so...what do you say we just keep things strictly professional for the time being, at least until Sean has a chance to get used to us?"
"When you say 'professional', you mean you do what you need to do and then I go home, right?" Mary asked. "No cuddling or anything like that."
"Yeah, I'm sorry," Liam replied. "I know this might upset you, but I think it would be best for now."
"I guess," Mary sighed. "But that still won't stop me from going home and punching my stupid brother in the face. This is none of his damn business! He is so lucky we care about him." She then looked at Liam and stripped down. "As long as I'm here, we might as well get this over with."
"Yeah," Liam nodded. "Okay." He undressed too, they got in bed and kissed for a while, and then, after pushing into Mary once, he stopped. "I think that's enough for now," he said. "We don't want to get too involved."
"Sure," Mary nodded, feeling disappointed. "I guess." She got out of his bed, dressed, and then went by herself to the door without telling him so much as a goodnight.
Liam was underwhelmed and unsatisfied as he stared up at his bedroom ceiling, but he told himself it was for the best, and that it would be worth it when he came out of this with his relationships with both Sean and Mary still intact.