Martha was truly in a terrible state after her husband's death and seeing her as such shook Lavina terribly. She could see how distressed the beautiful woman looked due to the loss inflicted upon her and for one fleeting second it made her wonder whether her mother had reacted the same way when her father had been killed.

But right then there was no time to dwell on her own past, she reprimanded herself, turning her attention back towards Martha Wayne. She shook those thoughts away as she approached her, letting the elder woman embrace her.

"Lavina, my dear..." Tears fell from those sorrowful eyes as Martha engulfed her in an embrace and though she was the one who was in a loss, the way she had held Lavina was almost like she was trying to give reassurance to both of them.

Lavina did not know what to say to her in order to console her so she simply sat beside the woman, stroking her head gently and providing silent reassurance.

Bruce had left the room because seeing his mother break down as such was difficult for him too.

It took a long while for Martha to get stable and Lavina stayed with her throughout. When at last the woman was considerably better than before, she wiped away her tears, turning to face Lavina.

"How have you been?" She asked, her voice still hoarse from grief and the tears she had shed.

"I'm... Fine," Lavina replied, unable to look in those pale blue irises that were exactly like Bruce's.

"Thomas had been asking about you too... He had been worried, he... He said he had seen you that night..." Martha's tone was uncertain and Lavina had stiffened at that statement. But the woman quickly changed the course of the conversation, "and I was so worried for you too, dear. It has been a long time since you last visited. Though I had never thought this would be the cause that would bring you to see us..."

Lavina took her hands in her own, guilt flickering in her dark irises, "I'm so sorry, Martha. If I had even the slightest idea that this was going to happen, I would have done all in my power to prevent it." 

But the woman merely shook her head, "don't say that, child. We can not intervene in fate."

That statement though simple struck her deep. 

How could an average human intervene with fate? 

Yet she had herself done so multiple times, changing the course of fate for her own plans had been an easy task for her. But right then she could see that manipulating the chessboard of fate came with a price. And she wasn't exempt from that either.

Each move she made on that chessboard, each pawn she forfeited came with a dreadful price that she would have to pay in exchange for it.

And right then the price was seeing the Waynes suffer due to a plan she had put in action. The price was feeling guilty yet not being able to confess.

The price was seeing the only people she had almost thought of as a family be torn apart right in front of her eyes.

"Lavina, there's only one thing I want to ask from you," Martha's voice shook her out of her thoughts and she looked back at her again, "I would be very grateful if you could do that for me."

"I will try my best to be of any help I can to you," her reply was immediate though deep down she had a feeling that what the woman was going to ask from her wouldn't be something easy for her to accomplish.

And she had been right in thinking that because Martha's next words proved that assumption.

"Bruce has been very affected by Thomas's death," she spoke up, her hands holding Lavina's in an entreating grip, "and you know him, don't you? He doesn't let it come to the surface but I can see how distressed he is. I... I am worried for him. I am worried that him bottling it all up within him will hurt him."

Lavina gulped, fully aware what words were going to follow.

"Dear, you are the only one who can help him out in this state," those pale blue eyes had widened in request, "please don't forsake him. I entreat you."

 Guilt was striking her hard but at that moment she couldn't say no to Martha nor could she tell her the truth because of her already distressed condition.

She did not want to cause further pain to her yet the request which the woman had made of her was also near impossible considering all that had happened between her and Bruce.

"Please, Lavina, promise me you won't leave my son alone to face everything," Martha resumed, "I am already old and weak. I know it's not far for my time to come too. But I don't want Bruce to be left alone after me. And since you're the only person he would allow to stay with him, I can only ask you to not forsake him."

It almost seemed as if Martha knew that Bruce and Lavina were no longer engaged and that was the woman's last attempt to prevent them separating their paths from one another.

"Martha... You're putting me in a very difficult position," the words escaped her at last, eyes full of conflict as she looked up.

"But why are you saying that? Do you not love him? Do you not want to spend the rest of your life with him?" Even though the tone wasn't accusatory, the words felt no less than an accusation and Lavina had to withdraw her gaze again, the guilt increasing in her heart, "tell me, Lavina, has something happened between you two?"

"Nothing happened," she bit off the full truth, knowing that she would have to hide parts of it that once, "I... I care for Bruce too. I don't want to see him hurt."

"Then please don't leave him on his own. Please."

All Lavina had to do to convince Martha was lie to her and tell her that she would honor her request.

And even though she had never hesitated to lie before, that once she was truly conflicted. She felt terrible in giving false hope to a mother who wanted nothing more than to see her son recover from the loss of his father's death.

Though she was spared giving her the answer as Bruce had returned and seeing him standing in the doorway, Martha had gone silent again.

It was almost as if she hadn't asked anything from Lavina and that flicker in her demeanor made Lavina all the more convinced that Martha suspected that she and Bruce were hiding something from her.

"Mother, can I take Lavina to the cemetery? She has yet to pay her last respects to Father," Bruce remarked.

Martha let go of Lavina's hand, wiping away her tears and nodded, "alright, I will wait for you two here."

He nodded and looked at Lavina as if asking her to follow him.

Lavina was quite shaken by Martha's words that were still ringing in her conscience, tormenting her worse than any other torture she could think of.

But seeing Bruce waiting, she composed herself and stood up, gently squeezing Martha's hands in a reassuring gesture and then left the room, following Bruce outside.

The Wayne Manor had its own family graveyard within the property where generations upon generations of the family had been buried.

Thomas Wayne had been buried there too and Bruce led her through the Wayne Cemetery until they reached the newly erected gravestone.

Lavina's eyes however landed on the grave beside Thomas Wayne's and the blood froze in her veins upon seeing the name on that gravestone.

Alan Wayne.

"Lavina, are you alright?" Bruce spoke up, seeing that her features had gone pale and those dark irises had welled up.

"I... I am alright. I just..."

He had never before seen her that shaken up and when the streak of tears escaped her eyes, that made him more worried.

He felt as if his mother had probably said something to her that had shaken her up. But even though Lavina had been shaken due to Martha's words, right then the cause to her tears was different.

"I'm sorry," she wiped the tears away and took the flowers from him, bending down to place them upon Thomas's grave.

However, she took two roses from that bouquet and when Bruce looked at her questioningly, she shook her head slightly.

"I will join you at the Manor, please can I be alone here for some time?"

Bruce found that odd of her to ask but didn't probe further, "alright. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Please... Go to Martha. I know the way back, I will come to the Manor myself. I promise."

He didn't object to that and turned, making his way back to the Manor. Though halfway he stopped, still confused on why she had wanted to be there alone. Therefore, he stopped at a considerable distance from her so that she wouldn't suspect he was still there.

Much to his surprise, he watched her take those two roses she had picked from the bouquet to the grave of Alan Wayne. She bent down, placing the roses by the gravestone and tears were again streaking down her cheeks.

Bruce had no idea why she did that and nor was he going to ask her because unlike earlier, she was no longer his fiance and whatever she did must not concern him. Hence before she could straighten and see him spying on her, he turned back and returned to the Manor.

But he couldn't push away the question that had formed in his mind.

By the sorrow that had been in her eyes upon seeing Alan's grave, one could easily suspect that she must have personally known the man and he could have been quite important to her.

Why and how, he didn't know. But Bruce knew for a fact that Lavina wouldn't shed tears for just a stranger who she had never met.

There had to be a connection between her and his uncle Alan Wayne.

***