Early the next morning, Faith and Bruce were down in his parents old set of rooms. Dr. Ferrick had arrived at precisely eight in the morning and now they were getting ready to do Faith's ultrasound. Dressed in a makeshift hospital gown, Faith was lying on the exam table while Bruce was sitting next to her—holding her hand as they patiently waited for the Doctor to get started.
"So," Dr. Ferrick began, "have you both decided on whether or not you want to find out the sex of the baby?"
Bruce squeezed Faith's hand and she smiled and nodded.
"Yes," Bruce replied with an obvious undertone of excitement, "we would very much wish to know."
"Excellent!"
The doctor proceeded to go through each step and as the machine next to Faith turned on and the Doctor began, they both could see the 3-D images of their child come to life up on the monitor.
"There's the heart," Dr. Ferrick pointed out, "and it's beating about 145 beats per minute. It looks good and the heartbeat is strong."
Faith sighed and felt her eyes welling with happy tears, and Bruce was enraptured by the clear images on the screen—as the movements of their child were fairly clear to see.
"And there!" The doctor smiled widely as he pointed to something on the screen. He readjusted the angle to get a different look and then nodded to himself. "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne. It looks like you're having a boy."
Faith gasped in shock, and Bruce's eyes widened and then the largest grin Faith had ever seen on her husband's face, spilt his countenance as he gazed at her like she'd hung the moon—then he whispered emotively, "I love you."
"Ditto." She choked out on a sob.
After several more images were captured, Dr. Ferrick turned off the machine and wiped the gel off Faith's tummy and set the vaginal wand down.
"So—you're at twenty weeks officially, Mrs. Wayne. Halfway home. Dependent on the blood test results, you may elect to do another sonogram in ten weeks, but for now everything seems to be looking right where it should be."
Bruce stood and shook the doctor's hand in gratitude.
"I can't thank you enough for doing this for us today, Sir. Faith and I appreciate it more than we can say."
"Nonsense, Mr. Wayne. I can't imagine your wife getting better care with all of the state of the art equipment you have here. I suspect this is where she will be giving birth?"
"That's the hope."
"I will let Dr. Levine know the results from today. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly."
"We will."
"Thank you, Dr. Ferrick." Faith's voice was still emotional and the man in question smiled genuinely at her, and nodded.
"You're very welcome."
"I'll see you out." Bruce winked as his wife, and she giggled at how happy he looked. Sitting up, she went into the ensuite to clean up and then made her way into the kitchen about thirty minutes later. Alfred turned to her with an expectant look on his face, and Faith rushed over and hugged the man.
"We're having a boy!"
Alfred beamed. "That's excellent news, Miss Faith."
By the time everyone had finally set down to breakfast around ten that morning, the news had been shared and congratulations were met all around. It wasn't until the end of the meal, that Oliver noticed that Buffy still hadn't come down to eat.
"Where's Buffy?"
Faith frowned slightly, so caught up in her excitement that she hadn't noticed Buffy wasn't there. Malcolm wasn't either, and Angel and Spike were gone too.
"I don't know. Maybe she went for a run?"
Glancing over at Dawn, Faith noticed Buffy's little sis was staring down at her plate and not saying a word.
"Dawn?"
"Yes?"
"Where's, B?"
Dawn sighed. "She's gone."
Forks clattered down the table, and Dawn could feel everyone's eyes on her.
"What do you mean, she's gone?" Oliver growled out in panic, as his gaze caught Laurel's and she was silently shaking her head at him.
"She and Spike left with Malcolm Merlyn last night. Angel, let them take the Wolfram and Hart jet. She's on her way to Nanda Parbat."
"What?"
"Who's idea was that?
"What was she thinking!?"
Several people were talking over each other, but Dawn's gaze locked onto Oliver's and she could see the abject fear and open regret there.
Dawn had known something had gone down between Buffy and the Queen Heir, but it wasn't her place to question her sister.
"Buffy had a dream not too long ago," Dawn began, "and in this dream, she was shown what she needed to do to defeat Ra's and destroy the pits."
"Which was?" Faith demanded.
Dawn turned to her friend and grabbed her hand and patted it. "Faith, this is Buffy's fight now. Whatever happens, she told me to tell you not to get involved. You have a family, a child on the way. Buffy doesn't..." Dawn swallowed, and shook her head, "this is the work she has to do."
"Shit." Oliver hissed lowly, ignoring everyone's gazes locked on him. "She's going to sacrifice herself, isn't she?"
Dawn's saddened eyes told Oliver everything he needed to know and without warning, he stood up and stormed out of the dining room, heading upstairs to grab his tech gear.
Maybe if he hurried, he could get to Nanda Parbat in time.
As he hurried around his room, he didn't notice he had company until he'd turned around and saw Tommy standing there.
"Oliver..."
"Don't try and stop me, Tommy!"
"I'm not going to...not exactly. Laurel told me last night what happened with you and Buffy, but you can't go in there alone. You don't know what kind of trap you might be walking into."
"So I'm just supposed to let Buffy sacrifice herself?" He growled out helplessly, as he tossed a few more items into his duffel. "I'm supposed to be okay with the fact that the last words I spoke to her were in anger? She's going to die thinking..."
"Don't do this to yourself, man! We both know Buffy and she has a better than average chance of coming out of this thing alive. If you truly care for her, then when she returns—beg for forgiveness and start again."
"She's not going to forgive me."
"How do you know?"
Turning away in pain, Oliver shook his head in defeat. "You didn't see her face last night, Tommy. You didn't see how much I hurt her with my thoughtlessness." Wrenching his hands through his hair, Oliver collapsed on the edge of the bed and hunched over his legs as his body shook with the force of his emotions. "I fucked up." He finished brokenly.
"You did," Tommy saw no reason to lie to his best friend, and based on Oliver's scowl—Tommy was fairly certain he'd hit a nerve—"but you will have a chance to fix this. You have to believe that, Oliver."
"And if she doesn't come back?"
"She will," Tommy implored beseechingly, "you can't give up hope."
Standing up, Oliver grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder as he gave his best friend a squeeze on the shoulder. "You're a good man, Tommy Merlyn."
"Yeah, well.." Tommy cleared his throat awkwardly, "don't let it get around, okay?"
"Sure."
Heading downstairs, Oliver was stopped by his Mother, Walter and Thea—who were clearly unhappy when they'd noticed his bag.
"Where are you going?" Moira demanded.
"I'm going after Buffy," Oliver replied firmly.
"Oliver, she's got at least a twelve hour head start," His mother reminded him, "just how much help do you think you'll be at this point?"
"I have to go, Mom! This is all my fault!"
"Ollie..."
"Don't, Sis. Please..."
Thea clamped her mouth shut as she could see the tortured pain on her brother's face. He was no longer the stoic, emotionless man he'd been when he'd come home after his disappearance. Right now, his body was radiating blistering emotion and it was all because of Buffy.
"Oliver?" A deep voice sounded from behind him, and he turned to see Bruce and Faith standing there. "Your Mother is correct. You'll never get to Nanda Parbat in time."
"So what do I do, Wayne? Sit here and do nothing?"
"Not exactly." He prevaricated, as gazed down at his wife—and Faith nodded reluctantly.
"D'Hoffyrn? Could you come to me, please?"
A portal opened and suddenly—the Lord of Vengeance Demons was standing before them all, his hands clasped together as he considered the new slew of people within the room.
"Slayer, you rang?"
"Wow, cool!" Thea whispered in shock, while everyone else just stood there completely flummoxed.
"Why, thank you!" D'Hoffryn bowed deeply in greeting.
"This is D'Hoffryn. He's been helping me with this situation." Faith offered lowly, before her gaze fell to the reddened one of the blue-horned demon. "I need to know if there is a way you can transport us to Nanda Parbat?"
D'Hoffryn sighed, but shook his head in the negative.
"Do you remember the chamber I showed you, Slayer?"
"Yes." Faith nodded.
"And the runes?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember where you've seen them before?"
Faith's face pinched in thought and then the truth hit her like a lead balloon. "Under Arkham. And in my dreams."
"Yes." The Lord of Vengeance replied. "As I've told you before, the runes are protective. As you have the blood of the Old Ones you can enter, but can't destroy. The pits are similar, but different. They can be destroyed as I've mentioned, but by the only power greater than they are."
"The Shadow Demon."
"Yes."
Faith paled in sudden horror as she whispered, "No" and shook her head emphatically. "She can't mean to..."
"She will have to, in order to do what needs to be done."
"This was what you couldn't tell me, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
Faith felt tears welling into her eyes, and her anger and fear spiking...Bruce however, sensing his wife's distress, pulled her against him.
"What are we missing?" Bruce demanded, and D'Hoffryn huffed—clearly put out but he answered all the same.
"Miss Summers before the fight with the First in Sunnydale, sought out a way to defeat the evil and spare the potentials and the Slayer here from their fate. She sought out the Shadow Men."
"But she refused them," Oliver blurted out, to the surprise of Faith, "she told me she'd incapacitated the demon."
"She did." The blue demon agreed with a feral smile. "But to destroy the pits, she will have to merge with the Shadow. She will have to give into the darkness completely. She will have no choice if she wishes to defeat the Demon's Head."
"Did she know this?" Faith whispered out pained and a voice spoke up behind her.
"She did." Dawn's melodious canter caused everyone to turn to her stunned. "This is the work she has to do. She knew it. She had a dream Faith, and we both know that the Powers don't give portents of what's to come, unless they understand what needs to be done."
"So I'm just supposed to let her go fight this fight alone?" Faith raged and Dawn sighed sadly.
"This isn't your fight, Faith. Just like the battle with Danthalzar wasn't Buffy's fight. This is her destiny. You need to let it go."
Tears started streaming down Faith's cheeks and Bruce held his wife tightly as he considered D'Hoffryn for a moment and then said with conviction, "Can you show us?"
The demon chuckled.
"You truly wish to know the horrors that awaits, Miss Summers?"
No one said a word to that—until Dawn's voice wavered slightly, "I think it's something we need to know, D'Hoffryn. I need to know."
The demon glanced around the room, which was now filled with the remaining members of the Slayer's little ragtag group of mortals. All warriors and champions in their own right, and he sighed in acquiescence.
"I will return here when the time comes. Miss Summers has not yet reached her destination, but when she does...I will be back."
Faith nodded and watched with a heavy heart as D'Hoffryn disappeared back the way he'd come, and she shook her head in sorrow.
What had Buffy gotten herself into?
The hours that followed were the longest of Oliver's life. He'd been through hell and back, but nothing could've ever prepared him for how helpless he felt in this moment. Part of him wanted to ignore everyone's pleas and leave for Nanda Parbat anyway—but there was a part of him that knew what the demon spoke of was the truth.
Laurel had been right. He had self-sabotaged himself with Buffy. He'd been so overwhelmed by how she'd made him feel that he'd panicked and lashed out at the first sign of possible duplicity. He'd been so badly damaged on that fucking island—used, abused and tormented that there were times when the paranoia snuck up on him and threatened to choke him alive.
He knew deep down, that Buffy would've never done anything to harm Thea...
...and yet, he'd lashed out and hurt the one person who truly made him feel alive.
The thought of not being able to say he was sorry...
To not be able to hold Buffy again...
Made him sick...
Hindsight, was twenty-twenty but in his case it was more like a mantra. He'd spent his whole entire life, wallowing in self-doubt and recriminations for his stupid choices.
And he didn't want to live that way anymore...
...he didn't want to be that man, anymore.
When the knock came at his door, Oliver felt his stomach fall and his heart move up into his throat.
He'd give every penny of his wealth for one more moment with Buffy.
To tell her that she was it for him...
And he'd do anything to make it right with her.
When he opened the door, it was to Tommy standing there with a pensive expression on his face.
"It's time."