*Ring Ring, Ring Ring*
Alec woke up suddenly to the ringing of his phone on his bedside table. He looked at the clock to see it was 6.25am and his alarm was due to go off any minute anyhow. His parents were coming home today from their trip to LA, so he had set his alarm early so he could make sure the house was neat and tidy before they got back. Not that it was him that made any of the mess whilst they were away, it was Izzy and Jace who had a house party a couple of nights ago and hadn't yet made any effort to clean up after themselves. He didn't want any of them to face the wrath of his parents even though he felt it somewhat unfair that he was the only one who cared enough to do anything about it.
Whilst rolling out of bed Alec picked up his phone and eyed the caller ID, nobody he recognised so he let it go to voicemail considering it was so early. His parents were due back in a few hours so he threw on some clothes and went to the kitchen to grab a bin bag to start picking up empty beer bottles and red plastic cups. He was making progress when his phone rang again from his pocket. It was the same number as earlier so Alec picked up the call, assuming that the caller would keep trying and he wouldn't be able to make any more progress with tidying.
"Hello" said Alec gruffly into the phone.
"Hello, is this Alexander Lightwood?" asked the serious voice on the other end.
"Yes, how can I help?" Alec said
"Hello, I'm Doctor Wilson, and I'm afraid I have some bad news", there was a pause and in this brief moment Alec processed what the Doctor has said. When Alec didn't respond the Doctor continued "I believe I have your parents and little brother in the ICU here at the Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles, their car was hit head on by a runaway truck on the 405 highway towards the airport last night". Alec let out a squeak, he had never really got on with his parents, especially not recently, but he did of course care that they were hurt. The reason for the giant sob that he let out was his little brother "Is.. Is Max okay?" Alec practically yelled down the phone. "If you are referring to your little brother, then yes he's fine, he will be kept in for a short while for observation, and until you or another family member can come here to collect him". Alec let out a huge sigh of relief, then felt guilty that he hadn't asked about his parents… "and my parents, how are they?". "They are both in the operating theatre now, they have suffered a lot of internal bleeding, I would recommend you get here as soon as possible." the Doctor said in her best calming voice. "Okay, okay. Yea, we'll get on a plane now."
With that, Alec ended the call, threw his phone on the sofa and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He dropped the bin bag on floor with a thunk and ran upstairs to Izzy's room. He pushed the door open urgently and rushed over to Izzy's bed, grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the bed. "Alec?" Izzy murmured sleepily. "Come on Izzy. Mum, Dad and Max were in a car accident last night and they're in the ICU in LA". Alec replied in one breath, whilst he went to Izzy's wardrobe and hauled a suitcase from it and onto the floor. Izzy shrieked "Is Max okay?" Izzy's feelings towards their parents were similar, if not worse than Alec's. "Yea, he's fine, but he's on his own, being looked after by strangers, whilst Mum and Dad are in the operating theatre. We need to get to the airport now, pack some clothes".
Alec went across the hall to Jace's room, he was already sitting up in bed "What's all the thudding and shouting about?" Jace questioned. "We have to get to LA now, Mum, Dad and Max were in an accident. Mum and Dad are being operated on now so Max is on his own." Jace jumped out of bed and started rifling through his drawers. Now Izzy and Jace were getting on with their packing, he went back to his own room to grab some of his clothes and shoved them into a backpack. He packed the barest minimum and then sat at his desk and opened his laptop and bought the first flights he could find to LA.
Less than twenty minutes later Alec, Jace and Izzy were in a cab to JFK. Izzy and Jace were sitting silently staring out the windows in the back as Alec was politely answering the driver's small talk with "mmhmm" and "yea" periodically. He wasn't listening, so he hoped he was answering in the right places. All he could think about was Max sitting in a coldly decorated hospital room with some miserable nurse checking on him and trying to comfort him, when Alec knew that wouldn't be possible. Max was only two, but he was a very shy two year old and hadn't ever really been looked after by anyone other than his parents or siblings.
The plane ride felt longer than it was to all three of the Lightwood siblings; Alec couldn't stomach even attempting to eat something and Izzy and Jace picked at their food. Finally, they touched down in LA, snatched their luggage from the overhead locker and hurried through the airport as quickly as they could, all wanting to get to the hospital as soon as possible.
When they arrived at the hospital Alec ran up to the front desk with Izzy and Jace right behind him. They all pretty much roared at the receptionist "Which room is Max Lightwood in?" over the top of each other. The receptionist had them answer some questions which Alec answered with minimal patience and she eventually told them his room number. Alec left Izzy and Jace stragelling behind him as he went to the elevator and pressed the up button repeatedly until the doors dinged open. All three siblings piled into the elevator and went up to the 4th floor where Max's room was located. They once again ran and skidded down the hallway until they arrived outside the door of Max's room. Alec burst through the door to find a nurse with Max in her lap rubbing his back trying to stop his crying. Alec took Max straight into his arms and held him so tight to his chest that Izzy had to pull Alec's arms away slightly to make sure Max could still breathe. Max immediately relaxed into Alec and nuzzled his face into Alec's neck, whilst Alec stroked his hair trying to get him to calm down. This worked after a minute or so and Alec, Izzy and Jace all let out a breath they had seemingly been holding until they saw that Max was alive and well.
It was at this moment that a short, blonde haired woman walked into the room and introduced herself as Doctor Wilson, the Doctor Alec had spoken on the phone with earlier that morning. She had a frown on her face and asked Alec if he could put Max down so she could talk to all the Lightwoods outside for a minute. Alec refused to let go of Max, even when Jace offered to stay behind and look after him whilst Alec and Izzy talked to the Doctor. Although Jace considered himself well and truly brother to Alec, Izzy and Max he hadn't completely come to terms with being part of the Lightwood family and felt that this was a family moment.
The Doctor could tell that Alec wasn't going to let Max out of his sight so she asked the nurse if there was any reason she needed Max to stay in his room. The nurse replied that there didn't seem to be anything physically wrong with Max but he was so inconsolable that he had made himself sick, so she had been assigned to just sit with him. With that confirmation the Doctor said that Alec could choose to discharge Max and look after him himself given he was over 18. Alec immediately asked where the discharge papers were and signed them.
After that was over Alec recalled the Doctor wanted to speak with them. She lead them to an empty room with a few tables and chairs and asked them to sit down. Alec sat down with a now sleeping Max on his lap and looked at the doctor expectantly, whilst Izzy and Jace did the same.
"I'm afraid neither of your parents survived their operations..." Doctor Wilson began. She was obviously expecting some sort of reaction from the siblings but when none came she continued "your mother hit her head in the accident and had bleeding on the brain, we think this lead to a stroke during the operation. And your father had a lot of internal bleeding in his chest cavity, and when we opearted to try to remove this to relieve pressure on his heart and lungs, he lost too much blood during the surgery." All three siblings continued to stare blankly at the Doctor. "I'm so sorry for your loss, I wish there was more we could do". Izzy seemingly managed to break out of the spell and asked the Doctor "How come Max survived, if both our parents were so badly hurt?". Alec answered the question in his own head - Max was sitting in the back of the car in his car seat when the truck hit the front of the car head on. He realised he hadn't told Izzy or Jace how the car accident had happened, just that they had been in one. The Doctor went in to more detail with Izzy and Jace asking further questions as Alec continued to be in a world of his own. He stared down at Max's small face as he snored softly. What would happen now? Max would grow up without parents. Him and Izzy and Jace would have to get through life on their own too. Although his parents hadn't been the greatest parents, often flying off around the country and leaving them to their own devices, he would miss them. If only for the fact that they wouldn't be there to support them financially anymore. No, Alec would miss them for more than that. When he was a kid, they had been good parents and he would try to remember them like that.
Alec startled when Jace put his hand on Alec's shoulder. "Come on bro, we need you to sign some more papers, let me take Max whilst you do that". Alec reluctantly passed the still sleeping toddler over to Jace and followed the Doctor.
A week later all four Lightwood siblings were back at home, adjusting to life without the supervision of their parents. Alec found that Izzy and Jace had somewhat forced upon him, once again, all the responsibility, and he was having to make arrangements for funerals, what would happen with their parents assets and Max's future. He didn't really blame them, Izzy was only 18, having just finished school and although Jace was a few months older than Alec but he had never been the mature one of the three of them.
Alec made the decision to quit college, he was only a third of the way through and he hadn't yet decided on a major so didn't feel like it was a huge waste if he stayed at home to look after Max. He forced Jace to carry on with his degree, and settled on the fact that they would use their inheritance to pay for it and also if Izzy chose to go to school in the future. He cared more about the future of his siblings than he did for his own, but Alec had always been like that. He put other people first, especially his siblings and that wasn't about to change.
It was late July when the funerals took place. The night before, Max had been awake almost the whole night crying. He was young and didn't understand where his Mum was, although he was getting used to having Alec around all the time over the last few weeks, he still had times where he would cry for his Mama for hours on end. Unfortunately last night had been one of those night and he had ended up in Alec's bed with him, meaning Alec didn't get much sleep with Max's little legs kicking him every so often. Alec tried to dress Max in some black chinos and a black button up shirt but he wasn't having any of it. Max squirmed and cried until Alec walked out of his room and passed the clothes over to Izzy with a simple "Help me please". It was at that moment that Izzy realised she hadn't been supporting her older brother as much as she should have been, instead she had been selfishly sulking that she would now have to look after herself and didn't have her parents to pay for her designer shoe habit anymore. Alec had informed her that the inheritance would be used to pay for the upkeep of the house, their education and to look after Max. She had negotiated an 'allowance' each month but Alec was sticking to his guns and it wouldn't nearly be the amount she was used to.
Izzy went to get Max from Alec's room and distracted him with a book whilst Alec yanked Max's trousers up his skinny legs. Once Max was finally dressed Alec went to his room and left Izzy reading to Max. He sat on his bed, stared at his plain white wall and let the tears fall. This was the first time he had let himself cry, he knew he needed to be strong for the others and he couldn't do that if he was having a breakdown every other day. After ten minutes of the tears flowing down his face, he pulled himself together and went to shower and get himself ready for the day.
The funerals were a somber affair, of course. It was nice to hear the words of some of his parents' friends, some he had never met, who came up afterwards and talked about the good memories they had with the Lightwood parents. When the day was over Alec drove himself and his younger siblings home, picking up some pizza on the way.
They sat on the sofa together, all crammed on to one with Max lying across all three of their laps, stretched out. They put cartoons on so Max would be entertained while they sat and talked about what their lives would be like now they had made the final step in putting their parents to rest. Alec had done a lot of thinking about this, but not much talking, and ultimately decided that he didn't want his siblings lives to have to change. As much as could be prevented obviously. So much had changed in the last few weeks but he was determined that Jace and Izzy would shortly continue on as normal and he would settle further into the life of looking after a two year old full time.
By the end of September, Jace was back at college in Syracuse, Izzy had applications in for a few fashion design courses and Max was nearly back to being a chirpy two, almost three year old. Alec felt that the worst was behind them, and in fact, he had done a fairly good job at looking after his siblings through this massive change in their lives. With that thought, after putting Max down, he treated himself to a beer from the fridge and sat down at his laptop to research what he could now do with his own life, whilst having the task of raising a toddler.