Julian woke up to the sun shining brightly into his eyes. Emma and he had been in such a rush the night before, they'd forgotten to close the curtains and now he was almost being blinded by the sun. He blinked and turned his head to watch Emma lying next to him on her stomach. Her bare back and the scars that ran down and across it always made Julian both proud and angry. He ran a finger down the - thankfully - faint whip-scars that ran down her back, and Emma made a sound into the pillow she was currently cradling her face into.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Didn't mean to wake you." Emma turned her face slowly and squinted as she tried to focus on his face.

"You never do," she said with a small smile and moved closer to him, putting her hand on his chest and making small patterns on it. Julian grabbed her hand and took it to his mouth to give it a kiss, and she smiled as he did so.

"We should get up," Emma stated. "If we don't, Tavvy will run in any minute asking for pancakes."

Julian groaned. "I hate that you're right," he said and kissed her forehead before rising from the bed. Emma couldn't help but admire him as he stood and put on his clothes.

"If you keep staring at me like that, I won't be leaving this room," he stated and Emma laughed and then too got out of bed. Sleeping in Julian's room always made for a better morning.

Julian left the room first and went for the kitchen while Emma stayed to put on her own pants and then fiddled around in a few drawers to find a shirt of Julian's she could wear on the way to her room. She quickly found a pair of pajamas shorts and chose a new shirt from her closet before walking down to the kitchen. As predicted, Tavvy was already up and waiting for the usual Sunday Pancakes. Dru was up as well, but she was outside training with Livvy before breakfast. Ty and Kit - as per usual - were nowhere to be found. Mark and Helen were probably both still asleep - with good reason - and no one wanted to wake them. It wasn't until the smell of pancakes filled the entire institute that everyone came running into the kitchen where Emma was now finding plates for everyone.

Mark and Helen scrambled their way in a few minutes after the kids had sat down to eat.

"This smells delicious," said Helen and gave her younger brother a good morning hug. Julian smiled and said, "You can have all you want."

Mark clasped his younger brother on the shoulder and said good morning with a smile. Julian was still reluctant to give one back, but an elbow from Emma could always make him see his faults.

Only when everyone else had taken their fair share of the pancakes and sat down, did Emma give Julian and herself a plate as well. All the chairs were taken, so Julian leaned against the counter top and when Emma had poured enough syrup on her own pancakes she decided to be bold and lean against Julian, who had already finished his meal. The two had decided not to spring their relationship on the kids too suddenly (Mark and Helen of course already knew) so they went with small gestures like leaning against each other or a small touch of hands, until they could truly show their affection for each other.

No one seemed to notice anything different, and Emma didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed with that. Even when Livvy looked up to ask Julian if he would spar with her, so she could practice for the yearly gradings, and Emma said she could always do it if Julian was busy, she didn't even blink an eye, as if nothing was new. In fact they had a running conversation like this and nothing seemed to faze Livvy until Julian put his hand on Emma's hip just to give it a very small squeeze, meaning she should take a step forward so he could step away, did Livvy seem to see anything. Her eyebrows rose the smallest amount and there was a slight pause in her sentence, but she brushed it over quickly and went on with the conversation.

~~ One month later ~~

The Blackthorn's and Emma had once again decided to share the mundane tradition called Christmas and they had bought a Christmas tree that needed decorating. Julian, Mark and Ty had a lot of trouble finding a tree - they searched for days, because they wanted a real, actual tree, not the plastic one they usually used, which - mind you - it had now been now two years since its last use.

But they had miraculously found a huge pine tree, which they were barely able to fit through the door, and put it in the living room where Helen, Livvy and Dru were now decorating it.

It had taken them hours to just make the tree stand by itself because they didn't own a foot for the tree-stub, but Mark was able to figure something out. Julian was exhausted by the day and - after a shower - sat down on the living room floor with his back against the wall, watching as the girls in his family decorated the tree. Everyone besides Emma that is; she would never be caught dead decorating a Christmas tree. Last Julian had seen her, she was on the beach with Kit, training, and Ty at the side watching as Kit moved fluently in everything he did. Ty watched Kit the way Julian liked to watch Emma, but Julian still wasn't entirely sure if Kit watched Ty the same way. Emma told him once that Kit had gone red in the face when Ty had taken his shirt off because it was so warm out, but he wouldn't believe anything until he saw it with his own eyes.

A few minutes passed and Emma walked into the living room. She took one look at the huge tree - which she had adamantly protested about since the moment it came inside - and rolled her eyes. She grinned at Julian though, and walked into the kitchen. Ten seconds had barely passed before she came back in and walked towards Julian with a water bottle in hand. With no words having to be said, Julian spread his legs to make room for Emma and she sat down and leaned against him. She was very warm, heat radiating off on Julian the minute they touched.

"You're sweaty," Julian stated.

Emma laughed and whispered, "You love sweaty," to which Julian had no answer that wouldn't get him in trouble. Dru looked over at the two of them when she heard Emma laugh. She made eye contact with Julian and raised an eyebrow in question to which Julian smiled back, not really answering her yet somehow giving her an answer that seemed to satisfy her. She grinned and went back to decorating the tree. He relaxed against the wall and put his hands in Emma's lap as he felt her relax against him as well, and then he closed his eyes enjoying the quiet.

Unfortunately, it didn't last long. A moment later Kit and Ty barged into the room.

"Kieran is here," said Ty.

"What?" Julian asked and gently shoved Emma away so he could get up. "Where?"

"In the courtyard!" yelled Kit, always much louder than Ty. "We can't find Mark!"

"Did you look in his room?" Julian asked, knowing Kit too well by now.

"No…" he replied slowly. Julian raised both his eyebrows and Kit understood the meaning, running upstairs to look in Mark's room.

"You don't have to be so mean," said Ty. Julian sighed and walked towards him to ruffle his hair.

"I'm not mean," answered Julian and Emma walked up to him, stood on her toes and said, "Sometimes you actually are kind of mean," before giving him a kiss on the cheek and walking towards the courtyard. "I'll see if he wants anything specific," she yelled down the hall, all of them already knowing what he wanted because it was the same every time he came.

Ty looked up at Julian with the kind of face that meant he was saying that didn't make sense in his mind.

"What?" asked Julian.

Ty shrugged and looked behind Julian at the tree. "Nothing, I guess."

"I want to see Mark," Kieran said the moment Emma stepped through the front doors of the institute and into the courtyard.

"I know, we're looking for him," she answered and leaned against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. He nodded and sat on the ground fiddling with his fingers while they waited. Emma was always surprised to see how some parts of the unseelie prince was so adamantly fairie while other parts of him seemed so strikingly human. A few minutes passed in silence before the door opened again and Mark walked out. Like every other time he visited, Kieran once again seemed surprised to see Mark show up, as if he weren't sure he would.

"I've got it from here, thanks," Mark told Emma, and she nodded and went back inside.

Mark walked slowly down the steps towards Kieran and said his name. He stood up and looked straight at Mark. Kieran never thought he would become so attached to this shadowhunter, but somehow he had. He couldn't seem to go an hour without missing him, his eyes, his mouth, his words.

"What are you doing here?" Mark asked like every other time Kieran had come. And like every other time Kieran had come, he answered with a shrug and the five words: "I needed to see you."

Mark put a hand on Kieran shoulder, and before he knew it, had pulled Kieran into him and held him close to his chest, his hands fiddling with the strands at the back of Kieran's neck. Kieran breathed in a large breath and put his arms around Mark's waist. For a while they stood there, breathing each other in, having missed the other enough to not need any words to express themselves. It was as if every time Kieran came to visit, Mark could tell that even if it had barely been a week for himself it had been ages for Kieran. He knew and he could tell and he did his best to comfort the hole in Kieran's heart.

For a while, Kieran believed that being held by Mark would be enough, but he was beginning to wonder if that were really true, and if Mark would actually continue the way they were now, only seeing each other for a few minutes a couple times a week if he was lucky.

"I miss you," Kieran whispered, slowly, saying it for the first time in all the visits he had taken here.

"I miss you too," answered Mark, but Kieran shook his head.

"No." He lifted his head so he could look Mark in the eye. "You know what I mean," he said. "And I miss you."

And Mark did know what he meant. He did know that when Kieran said those words, he was saying how he missed their nights together, their talks, their confessions and not at all least their kisses.

Mark ran his fingers over Kieran's cheek and felt him lean into his hand.

"Come with me, please," he whispered. "Please, Mark."

Mark closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against Kieran's. He sighed and said, "I can't. You know I can't, I'm sorry." He felt Kieran breath hitch. "I need to be with my family."

And that was the last straw before the tears started rolling silently down Kieran's cheeks. Kieran felt his body deflate, and Mark found it so hard not to cry along with him because he knew exactly how he felt.