a/n: I absolutely love Will and Tessa, and I always will. I desired to capture some of those moments in my writing, but the honest truth is—I honestly don't know if I'll finish them all. I may hit the complete button on this story at any time, just because I don't have time, so be aware of that. Anyways, as for this one-shot, I always wanted to know how the rest of the conversation between Will and his parents at the end of the Clockwork Princess would have gone. This is my interpretation of it.

Summary: The one hour at the Herondale's in Yorkshire.

Linette Herondale had given up on any of her children coming home a long time ago. Ella was beyond their reach, in a place no living soul could reach. Will had left them, had joined a place she couldn't join. Now Cecily had departed for the same place as well, and she feared that they would change her last daughter like they had changed all the others.

"Mrs and Mr. Herondale!" their maid, a kind sweet thing named Annabelle called, her voice frantic with an emotion Linette couldn't quite place her finger on—excitement? "It's Miss Cecily, and another boy—I think it's Master William!" Linette's heart froze in her chest. Annabelle had never met Will; certainly it couldn't be her boy, because these things simply didn't happen. Will couldn't be coming home—

Still, Annabelle had met Cecily, and at last one of their children had returned. She dashed down the steps, and she could hear Edmund coming behind her, his feet pounding out a reassuring beat on the steps.

She flung open the door, and there she was, Cecily, standing next to a handsome gentlemen with soft green eyes and brown hair. Her gaze moved to the other people standing with them.

Will. She would recognize him anywhere, her son, even if all the angular and softness of his boyhood had turned into rock hard muscle, even if he was inked with Shadowhunters runes and was very much taller then her. There was a girl standing next to him, holding his hand but Linette found she couldn't focus on her, not when her boy had just come home.

"Go on," she heard the girl whisper softly, releasing Will's hand and pushing him slightly forward. Linette stepped forward, and then threw her arms around him, crushing him into her embrace, trying very hard not to cry.

"I knew you'd come back. I knew you would," she whispered, because with whatever thoughts she might have had about never seeing any of her children again were soon quenched, and she realized that somewhere inside her she had always known he would return home to her. She never wanted to let him go, but soon Will drew back, smiling, and patted her on the shoulder. She couldn't but help but laugh, shakily, as if some part of her soul had just been wrenched back together. He was taller then her now, and she found herself murmuring that to him in Welsh, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Little mother, " he said, and his voice was deeper, crisped with a British accent instead of the steady Welsh she was used to. She finally moved her gaze to the girl who had come with him, a pretty little thing with wide grey eyes that had somehow seen far to much, a thin pale face and smooth brown hair pulled back. She seemed to shrink back slightly from Linette's gaze, as if scared that the other woman would bite. "Mam and Dad, this is Theresa Gray," Will said, stepping down to stand beside the girl once more, "We are engaged to be married, next year," he declared.

Linette couldn't help but gasp, but it wasn't because she objected, it was because she couldn't possibly believe that her William was so grown up now. It was as if in her mind, her boy had stayed the same, had been the same age in her head. It was hard to see him now; grown up and about to get married to a girl she had never met.

"And who is this gentleman?" Edmund asked, his eyes fixating on the man with Cecily. Linette froze. She knew Edmund would be fine with Will marrying so soon, but Cecily? She was their baby, the one who had stayed with them the longest. After only a couple months apart, she couldn't be getting married could she?

Will grinned, and she saw happiness there, a sight she was pleased to see, but it was mingled with something sad, something haunted. "Oh him," he said. "This is Cecily's—friend, Mr. Gabriel Lightworm."

Gabriel had been stretching his hand out for Edmund to shake, but now he froze. "Lightwood," he sputtered. "Gabriel Lightwood—"

"Will!" Cecily cried out in outrage, stepping out of her Father's arms to glare at her brother.

Will turned to look at his Theresa, his smile widening, and that was when she knew that he loved her, and she loved him. Theresa's expression started out as annoyed, as if she going to reprimand Will for making fun of Gabriel. Then as Will's blue eyes met her's, an expression of mirth canceled out all other things, and the girl was laughing, and Will was looking at her with admiration and pride—as if he lived to make this girl laugh.

"Miss. Gray," she began.

"Oh please, call me Tessa," Tessa replied, her laugh fading away, and she again looked slightly scared.

"How did you two meet?" she asked curiously, as Gabriel shook Edmund's hand and made his greetings. Will and Tessa exchanged glances, full of meaning she couldn't decipher.

"It's rather a long story," Will finally answered.

"I was being held captive by some very bad people," Tessa broke in, her eyes glimmering faintly, "and Will rescued me."

"Not before you had the opportunity to whack me over the head with a pitcher," Will muttered, "I could've died."

"You were fine!" Tessa exclaimed, and in her eyes as she looked at Will was something so adoring, so beautiful that she couldn't but feel that Will and Tessa would last. This wasn't a passing fancy.

"And how did you and Mr. Lightworm meet?" Edmund asked, and Gabriel went beet red.

"It's Lightwood!" Cecily protested, "and I helped him kill his Father," she said this so casually, that Linette couldn't help but stare at her daughter in shock, and Gabriel went an even brighter red. Will and Tessa both began to laugh again, and out of the corner of her eye she caught him slipping his hand back into hers.

"Demon pox," Will declared happily, and Edmund's face flashed with recognition.

"Oh I know—"

"Maybe we could switch onto different topics," Linette broke him off, flashing him a look of warning. "Are you two here to stay?" she couldn't help but ask, not matter how hopefully pitiful it was. She already knew the answer, but it still hurt to hear Will and Cecily answer in unison.

"No."

"But we will visit," Will said shyly, and she saw his grip on Tessa's fingers tighten. The moment of laughter had passed, and now she could see the many years on her Will, her wonderfully innocent Will, as he suddenly looked shameful and stared at his feet. "I am sorry," he said suddenly, "for leaving."

No one said anything, and she saw Tessa look at Will with concerned eyes. He had been through a lot in the last few years she realized, something she didn't know and probably would never know.

"It's okay," she said, her tongue slipping into Welsh. Will glanced up in surprise, "I just want to know why."

"There was a curse," Will's voice broke, and Tessa immediately filled in.

"I'll tell it," she said bravely, "For I know the tale as well, and it might be easier for me to say it." And she told the truth behind her Ella's death, and why Will had left. Why he had the haunted look of someone that had lived through to many days.

Linette stepped forward again, and her arms roped tightly around her son. "I love you," she whispered in Welsh in his ear, because she knew their time was almost up, and they wouldn't see each other for several more years. "And take care of that girl. She's a special one."