"My Way - Chapter Forty"

Author: Sydnie
Email: sydniep@hotmail.com

As Buffy lay on the table waiting to have her sonagram, Angel paced nervously. He had been so involved with her pregnancy and experienced everything first hand that he'd missed when she was pregnant with Meghan.

She ran her hands over her slightly large, round belly. "I still don't understand why they insist you drink a ton of water and then make you wait FOREVER. I swear if someone doesn't come in here in like 2 minutes, I'm going to pee right here."

"Okay, sweetheart. If that's what you ... Wait a minute, what did you say?"

Buffy started laughing. "Just seeing if you were paying attention. You need to relax."

He took her hand and kissed it. "I'm just excited. We get to see our baby. Find out if he's a boy or girl."

She smiled and tried not to laugh harder. "You really want a boy, huh?"

"What makes you think that?"

The lab tech FINALLY came in and began to do his job without saying much. He took all of the measurements ne needed and then began to point out the head, spine, feet, etc...

"You wanna know the sex?" He asked.

"YES!" Angel said rather quickly.

"Let me guess. This is your first?"

"Second." Buffy replied. "We have a little girl."

The tech smiled. It was the first time he'd shown any emotion. "Well, it looks like she's gonna have a baby brother."

Angel's entire being lit up. "Are you sure?"

Buffy pointed to the screen. "There's his little thingy right there."

He looked closer at the screen. "I'm going to have a son."

"Really? Me too." Her sarcasm didn't even register with her husband. He just stared at the image of his son on the screen.

The next day, Buffy waddled over to the table that Riley had sat up for her in her Abnormal Psych class because it was difficult for her to sit comfortably in one of the lecture hall chairs.

Riley and Buffy had become good friends. Especially after he realized that there would be nothering more than friendship between the two of them.

"Mrs. Cleary, it's so nice of you to join us." Professor Austin commented as she took her seat.

Buffy just smiled. "Sorry 'bout that." She ran her hand over what was once her waistline. "It's getting harder to navigate my way through the hallways. I'll try not to make it a habit."

He continued his lecture on kidnappers.

After class, Buffy waited for the room to clear before collecting her things. Riley approached her.

"You okay?"

She looked up at him. "Oh, yeah. I was just going through names in my head." She lied. "We found out yesterday that we're having a boy."

"Congratulations." He hugged her. "You know, Riley is a good Irish name." He grinned.

Buffy laughed slightly. "Oh yeah. I'm sure Angel will just jump naming our sone after you."

"It was just a thought." He teased.

"I gotta get goin'. I promised my mother that I'd stop by the gallery when I got out of class" She picked up her bag. I'll talk to you later."

With that, she left.

Joyce sat in her office going over inventory when Buffy walked in and sat in a straight back chair. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, sweetheart. How was your day?"

"Not too good. We started a new topic in Abnormal Pshchology togay and it made me remember something."

"What?" Joyce looked up at her daughter.

"Dawn. The subject was kidnappers and then all these memories flooded my mind. I had completely forgotten about her."

Tears immediately filled Joyce's eyes. "You were so young when she was taken."

"I was six." Her arms wrapped protectively around her baby. "How did you get through it?"

"I didn't. It's part of the reason your father and I fought all of the time. We blamed each other." Her eyes looked as if they were searching the past. "I remember setting the alarm."

Later that night, Buffy was waiting for Angel to get home from the Bronze.

When he arrived home around seven, she greeted him with a kiss and asked him to go into the living room and have a seat.

"I don't like the sound of this. Is everything alright?" He said as he sat on the couch.

"I need to ask you for a favor ... but before I do, there's something that I need to tell you."

Angel sat attentively, listening to Buffy tell him about her kidnapped little sister. When she finished, she ended up on her husband's lap, crying.

"I understand why you blocked the memory of her. You were scared. ... So, what's the favor?"

She took a deep breath. "I want to see if we can find out what happened to her. The thing is, it's more than likely going to be very expensive. I..."

"Don't even think about the cost, baby. We'll do whatever it takes to find out what happened to your sister and who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and find her."

CONNECTICUT

Ginny Winters sat at the desk in her dorm room doing her homework. She hated being stuck in boarding school, an all girl one at that, while her grandmother lived in California. It was times like this that she often thought of her parents. She'd never known them, or at least she didn't remember them. She was raised by a nanny until she was five and then she was sent to school. Basically, she'd been on her own since she was in kindergarden.

The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Ginny, dear. It's Grandmother. How are your studies?"

"Fine." She sighed.

"I just wanted to let you know that I've made your monthly deposit. I added a little extra for your birthday."

"Thanks. I guess that means you're not gonna come see me this year?" Tears welled up in her eyes.

"I do apologize. There are a few pressing legal matters that must be attended to and unfortunately they fall on and around your birthday."

"Yeah, uh, well, listen Gran, I have to get to the library and work on a research paper. I'll call soon. Bye." Ginny hung up the phone and cried.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Virgina Summers placed the phone back on it's base.