Magnus was terribly tired; he was on his fifth cup coffee, and yet he was fighting to stay awake. He was waiting on Alec, who had asked him to stay up until he was done with his demon hunting for the night. Which really meant far earlier in the morning than Magnus cared to stay up.

When they had first gotten together, Magnus had attempted to stay up each and every night, driven by worry for Alec. He had always fallen asleep trying to wait up anyways. Then, after they had gotten married, Magnus had somehow fallen into a routine, become more comfortable with their life and had stopped even trying to stay up.

He was trying to pass the time by reading a book from Alec's collection, but reading was causing him to fall asleep faster. It wasn't helping that he was continually distracted by wondering what Alec could possibly want to talk about. He had simply rushed out the door after giving Magnus a kiss and begging him to wait up.

Soon after Magnus had reached that haze state of "not asleep but not fully conscious", he felt a gentle hand pulling a blanket over him. Smiling, he, somewhat grudgingly, opened his eyes. If it had been anyone else waking him up, he would have immediately pulled the blanket all the way over his head and mostly likely would have complained for days. But waking up to Alec's face was always a complete joy. Alec being the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes caused his heart to flutter, caused him to fill with a happiness he once thought he could never feel.

Alec smiled widely when he saw Magnus move. "Sorry to wake you, love." He sat down at Magnus's legs and took one of his hands. Sitting up, Magnus wrapped his arm in Alec's, laying his head on Alec's shoulder.

"You didn't wake me, Alexander." He was trying to pretend like he had been perfectly awake, but even he could tell that his voice gave away just how tired he really was. Even so, Alec smiled and accepted it without protesting.

"We don't have to talk right now if you don't want to." Alec was keeping his voice soft, trying to keep his voice even as well, but Magnus knew him well enough to hear the thinly vailed excitement and anticipation.

Realizing that Alec was likely to burst with excitement before the night ended, Magnus shook his head and replied, "You've made me far too curious, Alexander. I think you best tell me what's going on before I go insane."

Alec smiled even wider and quickly got up without saying a word, headed toward the kitchen. Magnus was too tired to even attempt to find out what he was doing, until Alec came back with two cups of coffee in his hands. Handing one to Magnus, he sat back down on the couch, facing Magnus as much as possible and looking a bit anxious.

This only heightened Magnus's curiosity, but he knew enough to stay silent while he took the coffee from his husband. After taking a couple sips from his own coffee, Alec leaned back and seemed to think a bit, most likely trying to figure out where to start their conversation. Magnus had always been the one who was good with words; Alec, on the other hand, had always been the one who needed some work in that area.

"So," he began, taking a deep breath and avoiding Magnus's eyes ever so slightly. "I was thinking last night. About a lot of things. At first, I was thinking about how our marriage has essentially been everything I have ever asked for."

As he paused to take another breath, Magnus quickly interjected, picking up on the slightest of hints that most would have never gotten. "Essentially?" he inquired.

At that, Alec smiled sheepishly and began to blush. "Well," he seemed to be trying to recover, not really knowing how to answer. Then he seemed to decide to dive head first. "I was thinking about how I'd always dreamt of marrying someone, then I dreamt of marrying you specifically. Then I realized that my dream of being married wasn't the only dream I had."

He finally met Magnus's eyes as he finished explaining. "I've always dreamt of having a family too."

Magnus's sleep deprived mind was a little slow to begin with, but once he realized what was being asked of him, he quickly transitioned into shock. Of course, he knew that was ridiculous, that he had always known that Alec wanted a family. But that didn't mean that had prepared him any at all for Alec to say so.

Rarely had Magnus ever been speechless, but the look of hope and love in Alec's eyes took his breath away. He had no idea how to respond, even though he was in no way opposed to the idea of adopting children. Just as he was finally opening his mouth to respond, Alec grabbed his hand and began speaking again.

"Wait, there's something else I want to say before you talk." Magnus was slightly surprised that Alec was being so assertive, but it pleased him as well, so he simply nodded and waited for Alec to continue.

"I put a ton of thought into this, and I was kind of thinking that we could adopt warlock children." He stopped talking, simply smiling at Magnus and waiting for any kind of response. But Magnus was so speechless, so surprised that he was unsure he would ever be able to respond to a twist like that.

Finally he managed to get out a heavy, "And why is that, Alexander?" earning another smile from Alec.

"Well, like I said, I was thinking a lot about this." Alec couldn't keep the smile off of his face any longer, his eyes lit up as well. "And I was thinking about how many warlock children are feared or hated by their mundane parents who don't understand anything about them. Then I realized that you and I can love them, likely better than anyone else. I just thought that this would be my chance to make a difference in some way. That maybe we could change the lives of a few children."

Magnus knew tears were forming in his eyes, but he was beyond caring. Alec reached up to wipe one away as he continued speaking. "I was also thinking about how I'm not immortal. And I thought that us having warlock children would give you your own little family. Forever."

It would have taken everything Magnus had to keep from kissing Alec once he had finished speaking. So Magnus didn't put up a fight.