A/N: This is my second fanfic, so hopefully it's better than my first (which was a total disaster...). Anyways, I got the idea to write this by someone else's story, who did an Alphabet Stories kind of thing, except it was Malec. This one is completely Jalec. Just a warning, none of the chapters are in order. Also, some of these are pre-CoB, others are post-CoLS, and there are probably some for in between. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Let's just say that if I owned anything other than the plot for this fanfic, The Mortal Instruments books wouldn't have become popular, wouldn't have become a best- seller, and definitely wouldn't have turned into a movie.

D Is For Ducks

"Alec!" Jace yelled, swinging from the chandelier. "Help!"

Even at the age of twelve, Alec's senses were always fine tuned towards his siblings. Though he was just coming out of the shower, he quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and dashed through the Institute's hallways, rushing into the dining room to see his best friend and half brother perched dangerously on top of the light fixture, a wild and terrified look prominent in his golden eyes.

"What is it?" he asked, looking around wildly. "Are you hurt? Did Isabelle do something? Jace, what happened?"

"D-d-d-d," Jace stuttered.

"Demon? That's impossible!"

Jace shook his head and pointed down. Alec looked where Jace was pointing and saw nothing.

"Where is it?" he asked, thinking that maybe Jace was trying to trick him into something. It wouldn't have been the first time something like that had happened.

"Under," Jace managed.

Alec looked under the table and did a double take. Waddling around through the legs of the chairs stood the beast that had Jace petrified - a common green duck.

He wasn't sure whether to be angry, amused, or exasperated. "Jace," he said, through gritted teeth. "It's a duck."

Jace flinched at the word.

"This is ridiculous," Alec said, turning around again. "I'm going back to my room." He ignored Jace's protests and walked out.

Half an hour later, he was about to walk into the kitchen to get himself a snack when he stopped in his tracks. Jace was still on the chandelier. The duck was still waddling around right underneath, except it had somehow managed to get on the tabletop. The younger boy was still whimpering and looked more frightened than ever.

Hodge walked in right then - oblivious to the figure near the ceiling - carrying a couple of chinese take-out bags. "Alec, gather your siblings for lunch," he ordered. "They just delivered the food."

Alec grinned. "I'll get Izzy," he said. "Jace is already here." He pointed to Jace, who was giving him dirty looks, and ran off to find Izzy. "What the...?" he faintly heard Hodge say in the distance.

As expected, he found Izzy in her room.

"Lunch is here," Alec said, opening the door.

Izzy immediately came out of her room. "Something else is here, too," she said mischievously.

"What are you talking about?" Alec asked, but his sister was already running happily towards the dining room. When Alec got there, he could hear Hodge trying to coax Jace into coming down. Jace still adamantly refused to step foot anywhere, and the duck still happily stomped around the bags of food. Isabelle was in the corner of the room, laughing herself to death.

"Alec!" Hodge called out. "Take this duck and release it outside, please."

Smiling up at Jace, Alec scooped the duck in his arms and walked out of the room. Isabelle followed him.

"Give it to me," she said.

"What are you planning?" he asked.

"I'm going to release it outside,"she said, batting her eyelashes and attempting to look innocent. It worked.

"Alright," Alec agreed, handing her the duck, which was quacking at an obnoxiously loud volume.

Glad to be rid of the animal, he walked back to the dining room.

"Honestly, Jace," Hodge was saying. "Would you be doing this if your parents were here instead of in Idris with Max?"

"Absolutely," Jace said, nodding his head. He was still up on the chandelier.

"It's okay," Alec said, "it's gone."

Slowly and shakily, Jace made his way down the chandelier, ignoring Hodge's protests as he walked on the dining table cloth in his boots.

"Ooh, look," Isabelle taunted, holding up a packet of orangish sauce. "Duck sauce." She made a duck face, twisting her pretty features into a weird look.

Alec laughed, earning himself a dirty look from Jace. "She's never letting you forget that," he said. "You know that, right?"

His adoptive brother only scowled, pushing his empty plate to the center of the table. "I'm done," he said. "Can I go now?"

Hodge nodded his consent. Before anyone could do or say anything, Jace was off.

Izzy snickered.

"Why are you laughing?" Alec asked.

"Wait for it," Isabelle said. "Three, two, one-"

"ALEC, YOU LYING BASTARD!" Jace yelled, right on cue.

Wide-eyed, Alec looked at his sister. "What did you do?"

She paused her snickering to smile sweetly at him. "I would go see what happened if you don't want to be decapitated by today evening."

Muttering under his breath, Alec abandoned his half-eaten orange chicken and went to see what Isabelle had done. Cautiously, he knocked on the door, only to find it swing open as he rapped his fingers on the wood. The terrorizing duck was sitting on the outside of Jace's windowsill, fast asleep. Jace, meanwhile, was brandishing a dagger at the poor animal.

Alec laughed.

"It's not funny," Jace glowered. He whacked his brother on the back when he started to laugh harder. "You told me you brought it outside."

The raven haired boy shook his head. "I gave it to Isabelle," he said. "She's the one who did this, so if you're going to kill anyone, it's her you want."

"Well, get it out of here!" he whined.

Alec took the younger boy by the hand and sat him down on his immaculately clean bed, stroking his gold hair as Jace rested his head on Alec's shoulder. "Why are you so scared of ducks, anyway?" he asked.

Jace shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "I just know that I've never liked them."

Alec pulled his brother into a tight hug. "It's okay, it's not going to hurt you."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do," Alec said, standing up again. "Now, I'm going to open the window, and all you have to do is stroke it once. Okay?"

Jace shook his head. "Absolutely not," he said.

What was it with Jace and ducks? Putting his hands on his hips, Alec stood in the middle of the room, a stubborn expression set on his face. "If you don't do it, I won't put it outside."

"That's blackmail!" Jace cried.

"Which I learned from you," Alec pointed out.

"Fine," Jace said, refusing to look Alec in the eye. "Let's get it over with."

Alec opened the window and gently pulled the duck inside, carrying it in his arms. Closing his eyes tightly, Jace poked the duck. Immediately, it's eyes snapped open, and it started to quack again.

"See?" Jace said, stepping onto his bed, which was the farthest piece of furniture from Alec. "I told you. Ducks hate me."

"I give up," Alec said exasperatedly, and went off to get rid of the duck once and for all.

On his way back, he saw Izzy come out of the training room, her hands full of grocery bags. Alec peered into it and saw hundreds of empty little duck sauce packets.

"Oh no," he said, alarmed. "What did you do now?"

Isabelle gestured at the training room door. "Take a look," she said, smiling.

Alec followed her into the room, his jaw dropping at what he saw. Each sibling had their own shelf to stow away their personal belongings, and on Jace's shelf, all of his things were covered from top to bottom with the sticky orange coating, including a book he'd left behind from last time.

Jace walked in at that moment. Alec quickly stood in front of the shelf Isabelle had so thoughtfully, er, decorated, hoping against hope that Jace wouldn't suspect anything.

Of course, he did. "Hey, Alec, want to spar?" he asked.

The blue-eyed boy shook his head. "No, why don't you ask Izzy?" he suggested.

Jace's eyes narrowed. "But I'm asking you."

"Izzy did it!"he blurted out, stepping aside from the shelf. Jace shook his head from side to side, looking for his half sister. She was nowhere to be seen.

Alec smiled. "I don't think you'll find her for a while now," he said, as Jace snarled curses under his breath.

"When I find her," Jace said in a dangerously controlled voice, "I am going to kill her. And then I will bring her back to life and kill her again."

Alec shook his head, still smiling. Even at ten years old, Izzy was quite a piece of work.

A/N: Okay, so hopefully I didn't botch that up too much... What did you think? For the next chapters they'll be a little older hopefully, because otherwise I can't put any romance in. I'm sorry for any OOCness and suggestions are always welcome. Please review!