I would have given up there and then, tossed in the towel knowing what I'd done. All but for my son who smiled up at the grim and worried Order soldier and shook his blond head.
"No," he said with such surety I instantly believed him over Oliver's fear. "I am the Gateway and for as long as the veil holds and the Universe remains, I won't allow it."
And in that instant, holding my son against me like the boy I still thought of him, I understood at last just how gigantic my kid was. How huge and all encompassing, how Universal. That he could simply stop the Order from coming to our side of things with a simple decision to make it so.
Proud Mama right here. Terrified, shaken. But proud.
Oliver knelt before my son and smiled at him. "So you're the Gateway," he said before looking up at me and winking. "Stealth mode?"
I had to laugh. No other option seemed to fit. "I learned from the best."