A/N: So…I was in the middle of writing a Shadowhunters one-shot fic continuing the 207 Malec scene that features some heavy Magnus flashbacks and I got to a difficult spot and stopped to take a look at tumblr ( .com fyi). Then I got pissed at all those people getting on fans for daring to think Madzie could possibly be adopted by Magnus (and Alec) even though it's clearly just a fun fandom idea so people should chill out like we already know it's not gonna happen in the show holy shit. Then I got a bug to write a plausible scenario of Magnus adopting Madzie so…I went ahead and wrote the first half of a two-shot. It's not Beta'd so…

I'm slowly getting a grip on what I feel is Magnus' internal voice but it's a process. Obviously, since this is a Madzie and Magnus centered story, it does take place in the show universe as that is my favorite iteration of this story. However, I'm pulling from both the books and show and straight up disregarding both so it's probably not canon compliant to ANYTHING.

PS. I'm old enough to remember and want to write an ownership disclaimer but I'm resisting because we as a people have moved beyond such petty lawsuits, haven't we?

Chapter 1

It was late evening in the fall and Magnus shivered. A wind had picked up and blown through his open balcony doors, wrapping cold fingers around his entire body. Madzie made a high pitched whine in her sleep and curled deeper into his chest at the chill. A snap of Magnus' fingers and an undulating wave softly closed the balcony doors before the wind did any more damage to Madzie's peaceful slumber. He wrapped one arm around the small girl and let his magic wash over her to warm her up again.

His coffee table and the floor around it was strewn with crayons, paper scrawled with colorful drawings and scratched handwriting, and several rainbow building blocks of various sizes. Some of the blocks were their original forms, some were misshapen, some were oversized, and some were undersized. Madzie and Magnus had been practicing her item transformation magic that afternoon and she had grown tired from the exercises. So the two had taken a break and had a warm drink—a cup of hot cocoa for her and an Irish coffee for him—in order to wind down from heavy magic use. Before long Madzie had fallen asleep against him while they lounged on the couch.

She was so advanced! Item transformation was usually something he waited to start with children in their teens. Physical transformations required the cognitive and magical ability to scan, understand, deconstruct, and reform complex physical structures of which all solid matter was made. Madzie couldn't transform inanimate items larger than a small cat or more complex items like living organisms but the fact that she could do it at all so young was simply phenomenal.

Magnus wrapped his other arm around her and rested his cheek against the soft curls of her hair, set free into its natural state of coiled strands yet still held from her face by a headband. She was a curious girl. Timid and shy seeming at first because she didn't talk much…until she revealed the power, intelligence, and discernment hidden underneath. Oh, Madzie was a fascinating little warlock. A child truly after Magnus' own heart.

Magnus was starting to worry. He had a decision to make but it would affect at least three people once he made it. He had to decide if he would stop trying to place Madzie and take her under his wing full time.

Eight months before, Clary and Alec had come to him after a disastrous attempt to raise Jocelyn Fairchild from her grave and informed him of a warlock-human trafficking ring being run secretly by the one Iris Rouse, a certain disreputable warlock who was unfortunately of Magnus' long acquaintance. He had had many run-ins with Iris in his time, each one leaving more of a bad taste in his mouth than the last. None had been quite as bad as the most recent.

In all the time Magnus had known her—going on four centuries now—Iris had usually trucked in dark magic and necromantic spell work with the occasional magical larceny thrown in for good measure. While some of that was illegal by Clave standards, for warlocks it had all been mostly just frowned upon and strongly discouraged but not strictly against their few laws. Warlocks were a largely solitary bunch who mostly self-governed themselves. As long as it didn't threaten harm to the balance of the Downworld, the Accords, and the Mass Mundane Secrecy Pact, what you did with your own magic was your own business.

Kidnapping and coercing human and shadowhunter women into deals so that you could exploit them in some horrific demon-rape, baby-farm was definitely not protected under the warlock self-governing system, however. If ever there was a time for a High Warlock to step in, it was then.

Magnus had tried. Alec, Clary, Jace, and Izzy had called him directly after their encounter with Iris and informed him of what happened. When Clary had calmed enough after her traumatic experience and explained everything Iris had said and Alec had described what he saw, Magnus had made his way to Iris' home to oversee the care and placement of the nine warlock babies and the memory wiped young mundane woman who had been left behind.

Considering the fact that hiring a warlock to perform necromancy was actually illegal by Clave standards, they had brainstormed an alternative explanation for Clary and Alec's presence in Iris' home. They had decided to file a report with the Institute that Clary and Alec were investigating a tip that Iris was up to her usual illegal dealings and decided to use Jocelyn's death as the perfect cover story—the Clave loved when their perfect soldiers sacrificed their own emotions and pain for the good of the Law—and set up Iris to see if she would bite at Clary's dead mother "sob" story.

While it was distasteful to Magnus to use Jocelyn's memory in this way and he himself had often been the victim of Clave Law entrapment investigations, the usual shadowhunter duplicity worked in their favor this time. Alec drew up the initial investigation report, Jace and Izzy witnessed and signed, and Magnus added his addendum report as a warlock consultant charged with the care and dispatch of the discovered warlock children and impregnated woman. A Missing Person's Report was filed for the young Madzie and a Wanted BOLO was filed for Iris.

Aldertree had been extremely suspicious considering how he thought they were all in some dark, insubordinate cabal wanting to overthrow the Clave or some nonsense. However, there was nothing he could pin on them. Everything in the paperwork had been carefully worded so that anything Iris could possibly tell anyone once she was captured could be explained as part of their undercover investigation. It was a neat bit of cover up work, if Magnus did say so himself. Plus, to keep the lie as authentic as possible, he got a bit of bonus pay out of the entire thing as he technically was consulting on a case.

But it still had left Madzie in the wind and that did not sit well with Magnus at all. He had tried a number of tracking spells including some that only worked warlock to warlock. He had even called up a minor demon to wrangle into the search. All to no avail. Iris had cloaked herself well and Madzie was nowhere to be found.

It was a couple weeks later that Iris had infiltrated his home and stolen one of his most personal and protected grimoires for Valentine. Before he had tossed her to the Clave to face their justice, she had told him that Valentine had Madzie. His heart had shattered for the young girl. He had already been heartbroken at not being able to find Dot and the dozens of other downworlders who had been captured by that evil man but to know that Valentine had a little warlock girl too? Terrifying. Especially when Magnus had added in that Valentine had his grimoire of counter spells. Whatever that man was planning, it had simultaneously chilled and enraged Magnus.

They had soon found out the plan, though. Magnus and a few warlocks who volunteered, Luke and his wolves, and Alec and his shadowhunters had exhausted themselves trying to find Valentine and the captured downworlders but it wasn't until Clary's blood oath activated that they gained any ground. Presumably Valentine was not willing to let Clary die, so he had allowed Madzie to go to fulfill the blood oath. Magnus should've been suspicious that Valentine would come out of hiding for his daughter but he counted his blessings and ignored his reservations. Before he could get to Madzie, the girl had portalled Clary and herself away. Everything had fallen apart in short order after that.

They got Clary back, then lost Simon, who was promptly tortured on camera for Clary and Magnus to see. Valentine had made sure to send them a live feed via Clary's phone. The Institute was attacked with the help of Magnus' spell book and Valentine had managed to nearly kill Alec and Izzy. Magnus had exactly three nightmarish memories of that day: seeing a near fatally wounded Alec being cradled in his parabatai's arms as the blonde screamed, seeing Clary's hand be forcibly pressed to the Soul Sword as it stabbed through Simon, and coming upon a little Madzie standing over the corpses of several shadowhunters that she clearly had just killed.

Frankly, it had been the worst day of his entire life and, considering Magnus' age and the things he had experienced, that was truly saying something. It had been a pitched battle and everyone had lost something vital in there. A Pyrrhic victory if ever a victory could be called one. They had regained the Institute but lost the Soul Sword again, only this time the Sword had been successfully corrupted.

Valentine had Kansas City Shuffled them all. While they had been worried about him activating the Soul Sword to kill all the downworlders, he had actually been trying to flip the mortal instrument's alliance from angelic to demonic. Magnus had seen young Simon skewered by the Sword, a dark red pulse echoing out from the moment, and everything fell into place in his mind. What a fool he had been! An obtuse and brainless dupe. His grimoire! It hadn't held just counter spells but also several dark, ancient rituals to use on angelic items.

In his youth Magnus had spent some time with his father, the fallen angel Asmodeus, before renouncing that life but during his short apprenticeship he had learned and recorded several forbidden and dangerous magical rituals. Magnus was a true Nephilim, a child of an angel and human, and his father thought it fitting that he learn magic suitable to his nature as a dark Nephilim. Corrupting angelic relics was certainly something a Prince of Hell should prioritize. It would have been the ethical and moral thing to erase those rituals from written record and destroy them in his own memory but Magnus had wanted to make sure if anyone had the full scope of those rituals, he at least would know them and how to counter them. He had kept the knowledge even from the Spiral Labyrinth and secreted it away in his vault.

If he was honest with himself, he had also kept the spells because he was a little greedy, a little arrogant, and a little reckless. He who has power can never be powerless, Magnus' mind supplied to him in a sibilant whisper. You wanted those spells for yourself and now everyone is paying the price. How much power shall you attain? How does it weigh against your friends, your children, your lover? Was it worth it? Do you feel in control?

Magnus sucked in a deep breath and pressed his nose into Madzie's soft hair, pushing away those self-flagellating thoughts. It would not do to wind himself up tonight. His mind needed to be on the task at hand: finding Madzie a home.

After everything had gone absolutely wrong, Valentine had fled with the Sword. Magnus, Jace, and Luke had tried to pick up the pieces. Luke had rounded up the still living Institute shadowhunters and some of his werewolves to start a sweep for straggling Circle members. Magnus had poured his power into stabilizing Alec and Izzy and moved them to the infirmary. Jace had healed Simon with his blood as Clary, exhausted after having the Soul Sword's power siphoned through her, weakly held the hand of her vampire lover. Last week they had accidentally discovered that something about that night had turned Simon into a day walker, the lucky boy. Which…was a strange side effect of the Sword ceremony if that truly was the cause and, frankly, he should look into that.

In his final search of the Institute, Magnus had come across little Madzie standing over the broken corpses of several Institute shadowhunters. Valentine had manipulated and lied to the poor doll and told her that killing those shadowhunters would lead her back to her nana. Seeing a little warlock girl abused and used for her powers like that was possibly Magnus' worst nightmare. It was terrible on its own but as an added bonus it had also reminded him of his own past and the many people who had hurt him and used him in that same way. He would have screamed if he had not needed to keep it together for Madzie. He had approached her tentatively, shown her his eyes, gotten on his knees, and talked in a gentle voice.

Magnus had not wanted to contribute to the people who had hurt Madzie so he had told her the full truth right then and there. Something she hadn't heard in some time.

"He told me Nana was here."

"He lied."

"Then where is she?"

Madzie had shouted the last part and it had echoed along the corridor. Magnus had watched as her bottom lip trembled and tears welled up in her eyes. His own throat had closed up a little but he had cleared it and rallied his emotions.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Madzie. I don't want to be like those other men. I'm going to tell you the truth, okay sweet pea?"

"Where is she?"

"I sent her away, honey. I sent her away."

The tears that had been gathered in Madzie's eyes spilled over.

"She did bad things and hurt some very nice people, some very nice ladies. Okay, sweet pea? Do you understand?"

He had bared his heart to Madzie and accepted the consequences.

She had understood…and she hadn't. Her entire face had crumbled and wracking sobs had choked out of her. Her little gills had fluttered erratically and the wind that had previously died down rose back up and had whipped around the hall. Red sparking magic had lashed out around Madzie and burned streaks into whatever it touched. Magnus had put up personal shields around the bodies of the fallen to preserve them for their last rites and had stayed close to Madzie but decided not to try and touch her yet.

Madzie had been extremely upset. She had no concept of the horrific things Iris had done to those poor women and to Madzie herself. She only knew Iris as her precious nana. Madzie's magic had torn through the hall in her heartache. Magnus had tried to minimize the damage to her but ultimately let the child feel what she was feeling and left her to work through everything, staying close by to keep watch. She had tired herself out though it took nearly a full half hour for her to stop. When the bulk of her power had run its course, the child had collapsed right into his waiting arms, her tear streaked cheeks warm from her exertion and her little hands curled into fists.

Magnus had had a few wounds from the adolescent's spell work. Her magic had raced across his body several times, leaving cuts and burns in some places but he had taken it in stride and healed them after the fact. Every injury had felt like justice for everything he had done wrong that lead up to that day. Later he told Madzie that he would try to let her see her nana if she wished but he could make no promises.

Everyone had recovered as much as possible and Madzie had managed to forgive him once he had found a way to keep his promise to let her see her nana one last time. A month later the two had made the trip. He owed Imogen Herondale a favor for his effort but it had been worth it. They had visited Iris in her Clave cell and even managed to convince the Silent Brother guards to let Madzie in the cell to hug the vile woman. It was not somewhere he would normally take a child but it was what Madzie needed so he had ignored his own reservations.

Iris had been pale and emaciated. Her eyes had sunken in and her limbs trembled beneath the wool sack she wore. She could barely stand at all and had sat slumped on a straw pallet in a corner of her cell. Madzie had thrown herself into the woman's arms as soon as she could. They had talked for a time but eventually just settled into silence so Magnus decided to engage Iris himself.

They had spoken in Middle French, the language of her birth, but Magnus had still waved a mild confusion spell over the young girl that jumbled the words she heard in order to protect her from what they would speak on.

"Why would you do such a thing, Iris?"

"You know why."

Magnus had scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Our…personal history aside, a zombie here or there or a bit of thievery is forgivable. This…this was evil, Iris."

"This was necessary."

She had rubbed a gnarled hand over Madzie's head at that. His own hands had gripped his elbows as he tried desperately to keep from snatching Madzie away from Iris' weakened embrace.

"Valentine threatens us all. We warlocks are a dying people because he keeps killing us. Not to mention all the warlocks killed by the Clave under the guise of the Accords. We have no way to breed or increase our numbers except like this."

"You dare- You dare to act like you care about warlocks after what you did to those women and children? All of us, every one of us, are born from that horror. We all know what it feels to be born from violation. And you did that to someone else? To countless women? You don't get to talk about the warlock community and our welfare after that, Iris."

"Wake up, Magnus! We have no community. We have no protection. The High Warlocks? You're a joke. Too scared of your own power to step up and fight to your fullest ability." Iris' face folded into a vicious sneer. "Do you think these shadowhunters care about our people? Have they lifted a finger in the years since the Uprising when we all said Valentine and his Circle wasn't gone? Hell, they even pardoned some. It was all over the gossip circles that you're even dating one. A Lightwood? Really, Magnus? After everything that disgusting family did to us?"

"Alec is not- Alec is not the same as his parents. I will not discuss him with you, especially after you nearly killed him when he came to you with Clary."

"Oh, was that the boy?" She had tried to suck in air as if she were about to spit but she choked and coughed a little instead. Dehydration ensured she couldn't follow through on that particular insult.

"Do you really think him different from his upbringing? A Lightwood? The son of Maryse, the Red Angel? Whose broadsword is soaked in the blood of so many downworlders? Don't be a fool, Magnus. Apples never fall far from the tree. Stop relying on Nephilim justice to protect you. If you wait for their hearts to warm to us, even your immortality would run out before they changed."

Magnus had wanted to rip into her for what she had done and for what she had said but the woman was right about one thing, they could never fully rely on shadowhunters to prioritize downworlder wellbeing. Their precious Law and duty and honor and whatever always came first. Even his own dear friends…his own love Alec displayed casual shadowhunter superiority at times. At the end of the day, shadowhunters were part angel and downworlders were part demon and they would never, ever let anyone forget it.

He had stubbornly ignored her words and focused on something else. "I've taken care of the warlock babes you abandoned when you ran. I found good homes for them."

"I figured as much. The Silent Brothers' torturous questions let me guess." A pause. "I- Thank you, for taking care of them. I usually try to find a home for them before they are born but I couldn't finish the process for these latest ones, obviously…" She had trailed off and bit at a cracked lip.

"I have- I had a ledger," she had said suddenly. "I'll tell you the geographic location and ward counter spells to get to it. It has records of my adoption work. Some records were lost in a fire but I saved what I could. I- There is some information on the mothers too if- if you want that."

Magnus had stood in shock for a second. He had not expected anything of the sort let alone that Iris would voluntarily give up the information to him.

"Y- yes. That would be…thank you. Yes."

Iris, for all her fairly sociopathic methods, had seemed to at least tangentially care for her warlock baby-farm children. Even evil has a drop of good, Magnus supposed as he made a mental note of the coordinates and requisite access spells she rattled off.

"Why did you keep Madzie?" He had wondered for a long time. Why this child? Why then?

"I got lonely."

Silence had fallen between them then, broken only by Madzie's soft sniffles. It had been awkward suddenly. Iris knew and Magnus knew what would happen once they left. It was a strange thing to know you were about to die. Even more so as an immortal. Iris' infractions had racked up and culminated in her trafficking ring. That wasn't something the Clave gave a slap on the wrist for. Oh, they might keep Iris for some time as they interrogated her and set her up as a painful reminder for the rest of the downworld but eventually she would die. Her life was forfeit. Magnus could not afford to owe more favors in order to get visiting rights for Madzie so this was it for them as well.

The Silent Brother who had been waiting a few cells down had then made a motion towards him.

"We have to go."

"I know. I know…"

Magnus had dropped the confusion spell and Iris had pulled Madzie up from her lap. "You have to go, honey."

"No."

"Honey, y- you can't stay."

"No!"

A strong wind had swirled around the cell and Iris had gasped before letting out a nervous chuckle.

"She's so strong, Magnus. Look at her. She's so perfect." A weak smile had pulled at her thin lips and she had patted Madzie's head. Magnus had shifted in place and his eyes had darted away.

"Go with Magnus, Madzie. He's Nana's…friend…and he's going to take good care of you from now on."

"I don't want to."

"You have to, hun. He's going to find you a nice place to stay with nice people and it's going to have ice cream and hot chocolate and toys to play with and…you're going to love it."

"Will Nana be there?"

Heavens above! Iris was literally one of the worst people he had ever met and what she had done to Madzie and those other people was unconscionable. He'd be damned back to Edom and his father's embrace before he fucking shed a tear over her.

"No, honey bun, I- I have to stay here and you can't ever come back. We're not going to see each other anymore so you have to trust Magnus, okay?"

"He said you did a bad thing."

Iris had pursed her lips and cut her eyes towards Magnus. He had met her gaze head on and raised a single, elegant eyebrow as if to dare her to say otherwise.

"He's, ah- he's right, Madzie. I did a bad thing. Now we can't see each other anymore."

Madzie's temper had flared at that and her red lightning magic lashed across Iris' chest and burned her shoulder. Magnus had made a move to throw up a shield for her but Iris had raised her hand to stay him. She had winced a bit and turned back to Madzie.

"Nana did a bad thing so it's all my fault, okay, Madzie? Everything is my fault. You have to go with Magnus and you do what he says. Do you hear me, Madeleine? You're to do what he says from now on."

As quick as her temper and the wind of her magic had risen, it had dropped. Gone had been the little fire cracker of a warlock and instead there stood the little girl whose entire world was disintegrating around her. Iris had jerked her chin at Magnus and he had glided forward. He had gathered the girl up in his arms, her screams and cries reverberating around them as they swept down the corridor. The gate of Iris' cell had magically slammed shut behind him. The last he had seen of Iris was her wobbling to her feet and over to the barred front of the cell as she pressed her face against the enchanted metal, trying desperately to catch one last glimpse of the little girl in Magnus' arms.

Six months later and Magnus was still working through all the records of Iris' adoption registry trying to figure out what to do. Iris' warlock baby-making scheme had been going on since the first time the Circle had risen in the 90s. There were…a lot of victims. Though many warlocks, including his dear friends Tessa and Catarina had pitched in to help, he felt a personal need to investigate each and every one to make sure the warlock children were with families worthy of them and check in on all those women to try and help them regain some agency in their lives.

It was a fucking mess, to be honest. Did he take the children from families that didn't even know about the human trafficking part of their adoption? Some of the children were now Clary's age. How do you tell a family, a child, anything like what had happened? How do you help a woman whose mind was erased grapple with the horrific truth of what had happened to her? Some of the women had been used multiple times and the repeated violations and memory wipes had left them damaged cognitively and/or physically. Some of the women had not taken to the wipes and latent memories had resurfaced causing them to fall into despair, depression, self-destruction, and at times suicide.

Madzie's mother had been one of those. Eloisa Cantrell. A young librarian who had come to Iris looking for a new gynecologist and gotten caught up in her disgusting scheme. Magnus had looked through the records for her first. Iris had recorded that Madzie's mother had started to remember and had killed herself shortly after giving birth to Madzie. Iris had discovered later that the woman had been a touch clairvoyant, descended in some way from a Seelie, most likely. She had resisted Iris' memory wipes and couldn't bear what had happened to her. She had been found dead in her Queens apartment by her landlord, an empty bottle of pills next to her and a suicide note scrawled with sharp, slanted words some of which were drawn over and over in pressed bold:

"My memory comes and goes. Everyone thinks I'm crazy but I know I'm not. I know what happened was real! I can't hold on to this anymore. I don't want to. My thoughts, my dreams…every waking moment is plagued by memories of that thing touching me, hurting me.

I thought I could feel- I remember a full belly, pressure pushing down on my guts, and vomit in my mouth. But the memory flies away before I can grab it. If that evil- If I had a baby, I don't want it. But if I did have one, name them something beautiful. I can't do this anymore but maybe they'll be better. Madeleine or Matthias Moses, for a boy. I can't I just want to stop. I'm sorry."

Madeleine Cantrell. Madzie Rouse.

Eloisa had had no living family other than Madzie but Magnus could not officially claim her meager things for Madzie without putting the young girl on the radar of the mundane child services system. He absolutely would not do that so he had tracked her things to a police owned storage locker where they were being held for the short period of time before they would be auctioned off. The nature of her suicide note, her personal therapy records, and some evidence from other mundane women with similar stories had actually caused the police to suspect human trafficking was involved. Her things were being held as potential evidence in what was considered a sprawling cold case.

The police had no chance of truly solving the case but it meant much of Eloisa's things were still around. Magnus had broken into the police department's evidence storage locker and stolen a photo album and some trinkets that seemed to hold value to the deceased woman based on the photos. He had covered his tracks by leave transmogrified duplicates that would last for at least 10 years to replace what he took. The energy expenditure had tired him out some and had been extremely risky but Magnus had felt it worth it to give Madzie even a hint of a connection to her birth mother.

While Magnus was determined to visit each victim of Iris' ring and help them, he was trying to do so off the mundane police's and the Clave's radars. Luke promised to use his police position to run interference from his end as much as possible. Alec also promised to keep a look out for any signs that the Clave might poke their noses into the left over case as well. Doubtful they would care to look beyond punishing Iris but Magnus accepted Alec's help in the spirit it was given.

He could tell Alec felt a convoluted obligation to help after he felt had he failed to stop Iris the first time. It was more of that unfortunate tendency his Alexander had to take the entirety of all blame for every failing onto his own shoulders. A worrisome tendency in Magnus' opinion but not something that could be solved in one night so he let it go for now. He was sure it would crop up again during a more opportune time for Magnus to touch on it.

Magnus shifted the sleeping Madzie a little to the left and magically snapped his Irish coffee up from the table and into his right hand. He took a sip at the biting liquid, savoring the flavor. All of the cases he had investigated had been difficult but none as much as Madzie's case.

The girl hated everyone he placed her with. Every time he thought he had found a warlock or warlock family that would match her, he soon found she did not agree. The day before he had had to come to Orlando to get her from her fifth family. She had thrown such an immense tantrum that her magic had literally melted a wall on the side of their house so that it exposed the inside to the street. Though he had extensively explained Madzie's situation to them, the young Colombian warlock-werewolf couple had not been magically or emotionally able to handle such an event. Both women had been beside themselves at the destruction. The mundane police had even been called. It was a mess.

Amirah Farouk, the High Warlock of Miami, had not been appreciative of the cleanup she'd had to do to keep the secrecy of the downworld from the mundanes. She'd also been forced to deal with the Miami Institute to explain what had happened. Magnus most definitely owed her after this.

He had underestimated Madzie's trauma and her growing attachment to Magnus. Magnus banished his empty cup to the kitchen sink and summoned his cell phone. He waved a sound muffling spell over Madzie before he dialed. She would possibly know he was talking from the rumble of his chest but the sound would not disturb her sleep, he hoped. The line rang seven times before Catarina picked up and her harried voice rang out, sharp and speaking in German.

"Hello."

He switched to German to follow. "Hey, Cat…am I interrupting? You sound…busy and vaguely enraged."

"Magnus."

In the background of the call he could hear two men arguing loudly in the same tongue.

She sighed, "I am busy but it's not you that has me angry. I'm in Vienna with Manu and this fool of a sprite is refusing to let us heal him unless we use fairy magic which obviously neither of us can do being a warlock and a vampire, respectively. At this point, I'm liable to just let the man lose his entire left arm and part of his torso just to spite him."

"Is there no fae healer available?"

"Of course there is; I could call one up in a jiffy. The problem is that he was in a car accident and skewered with a rusted metal pipe. He has cold iron burning through the veins of his arm and shoulder fast. Obviously fae magic would heal him eventually but-"

"But it would take too long to counter the iron and he'd lose the arm anyway. Got it."

He could hear Catarina walking and the voices of the arguing men growing faint. "I miss New York. This trip has been horrible."

"You need to stop taking jobs when you're on vacation. 'Clock out, rock out,' as I always say."

"You have literally never said that before in your life and you never should again."

Rude.

"I will have you know that I am an amazing catch-phrase neologist. Here, I'll come up with a new one…"

"Magnus, no."

"No, wait. I've got one on the tip of my tongue. Vacation-"

"Magnus!"

He paused. "I- what?"

"Why did you call? What happened?"

"What makes you think something happened?"

"You called me and yet somehow managed to talk for ten minutes about everything but why you called. Something happened and you need my help but you're also avoiding asking me."

He sighed, closed his eyes, and shifted lower on the couch, careful to keep from jostling Madzie too much.

"You're right…it's Madzie."

"She's back with you. I thought for sure the Moreno family would work out."

"They were the perfect fit. Gigi was even familiar with children from difficult homes from her work with you."

"What happened?"

"She got frustrated doing her homework and it devolved into a full magical blow out."

"Oh, dear…"

"She took out an entire side of their house. It was chaos. Some teenager caught some of the blast on camera and uploaded the footage to both Vine and YouTube. Over 800,000 hits in two days so…there's that."

"Amirah must be fuming."

"I'm fairly certain she never wants to see me ever again."

"Immortal Mario Kart Nights are certainly going to be awkward if that's true."

Magnus barked a laugh. "Don't joke. I live for those. She's going to destroy me every game we play after this."

The laughter faded from Magnus' voice as the reality of the situation set in again.

"I don't know what to do."

Catarina stayed quiet and left him to continue.

"She won't settle and there's no one trustworthy who is powerful enough to handle her magic and also able or willing enough to actually raise a child."

"What has Tessa said?"

"She can't take her full time with everything happening at the Spiral Labyrinth what with Valentine flipping the Soul Sword and gearing up for war. She's already working with me to look into Iris' victims, anyway. And she's had a sudden influx recently of warlocks seeking refuge and hasn't the time or ability to take on a child."

"What about Dorothea? I know after her trauma we shouldn't stress her even more with potential child-rearing but I also know that she and Madzie have an acquaintance from their time with Valentine."

"You saw Dot's state after Valentine's experiments. She cares for Madzie, of course, but she's too magically damaged to handle one of Madzie's tantrums and she's still too physically weak to look after her for too long. There aren't enough of us that I know who are also powerful enough to handle her. Power wise, there's who? You, me, Tessa…Arnoud, maybe."

"You know Arnoud would rather die than be within five feet of anyone under a century. He's definitely out." He heard a glass clinking and liquid pouring as she got herself something to drink. "What are her levels reading?"

"Through the roof for a six year old and growing rapidly each month. We were practicing transformation magic earlier and she had small transformations down within a few hours. She reminds me of myself in so many ways, Cat."

"How is she so powerful, so young? Have you looked into her lineage? What kind of demon was her sire?"

"I have, actually. It took me some time to find as Iris lost records in a fire, apparently." He paused and inhaled. "Her father is Carreau."

Catarina choked on her drink as she sucked in a breath. "The Fallen Power? Carreau, the Pitiless? What-? How? How did Iris manage to trap a second tier greater demon to use in a baby factory?"

"I have absolutely no idea. Even worse, I can't ask Iris because Imogen has barred access to her indefinitely."

"The demon your Clary described was not a Fallen One, Magnus. What in the world?"

"I don't know. Whatever happened, it didn't last for long as I could not find any evidence that she had gotten any other women pregnant with Carreau. Madzie was the only surviving offspring. Iris switched demons multiple times over the years, actually. The one Clary encountered was just the latest."

"No wonder she decided to raise Madzie herself."

"Lonely, my ass. She wanted the power. Of course, she did. That split second I thought about crying for her makes me so angry now."

"So…Madzie is a true Nephilim."

"Yes."

"Like you…"

"That's right."

"And she keeps sabotaging all of her placements."

Magnus hummed in agreement. He pinned the phone to his shoulder and carefully shifted both himself and Madzie into laying lengthwise along his couch. Madzie stretched her little limbs out and her hand slapped him in the face as they both settled into a more comfortable position. The front of his sapphire and gold flannel shirt grew damp as a little dribble leaked from her slightly opened mouth. Magnus bit back a laugh as he wiped her face and gently closed her jaw.

"You know why she's doing this. You must, Magnus."

"I do."

He only heard Catarina sip more of her beverage as she waited for him to say what she knew he was desperate to avoid.

"I can't- I don't have- I'm the High Warlock of Brooklyn."

"Yes."

"I'm the High Warlock of Brooklyn in the middle of a war."

"Yes."

"I have duties and downworlder charges and these damned shadowhunters can't seem to do anything without me, always barging into my loft. 'Save me, Magnus, I've done the very thing you told me not to do and the exact bad thing you said would happen actually happened!'"

"Undoubtedly."

"I- And I just started a relationship less than a year ago."

"True."

"Alexander is barely in his mid-twenties and has his own responsibilities now that he's regained leadership of the New York Institute. What would it look like asking him to deal with parenting right now? He's not ready for something like this."

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"I- what? No. Because I'm not going to do this."

"I'm sure."

"I'm not. Plus, I don't even know if I'm ready for this. The youngest child I've ever taken in long term was fifteen. I have no idea what I'd do with a six year old."

"You love children."

"Oh my god, I do. I really love kids."

"You'll figure out a six year old in no time. You're a wonderful father, Magnus."

"Am I? Because, frankly, Rapha has me questioning my fatherhood skills lately."

"What happened with Raphael and Isabelle Lightwood was not your fault. They were the victims of an evil and terrible man."

"We had another fight last week."

"What happened this time?"

"It was over Clary. He insinuated once again that she was destroying us and that my involvement with her and Alexander was a mistake. I admit that I got a little angry."

"He's recovering but, Magnus, falling off the wagon after over fifty years of sobriety is not something easy to get through. You have to be patient with him."

"I know and I'm trying. You will remember I told you that he sided with the Seelie Queen when it was suggested we kill Clary at the Downworld Council that Luke called. He thinks we'd all be better off if she was out of the picture."

"Well…"

"You cannot be agreeing with him, Cat."

"Absolutely not. Calling for violence or harm towards an innocent person is against everything I am but for Raphael…you have to admit that knowing Clary and Company has been disastrous for him and, in some ways, for you as well."

"You exaggerate. Clary is not-"

"Raphael has lost several vampires in their unsanctioned raid of his clan, Simon betrayed him after he went out of his way to help the boy and Clary, they let Camille go and you yourself provided what she needed to legally slip from his control, he was almost tortured to death by Victor Aldertree because of Camille's nonsense, Ragnor died while helping Clary, and now Raphael is back at square one trying to ween himself off of shadowhunter blood after Isabelle got him hooked again."

"Well, if you put it that way…"

"I am not overly fond of Sir Meliorn, as you know, but you told me what he said at the meeting and he is right about one thing. You are biased. You love Clary and you dote on her because you consider her to be a beloved niece and you feel guilty about erasing her memory all those years. You let her get away with things and demand things of you that you would never allow from others. I won't even touch on your bias towards the eldest Lightwood boy but know that I see that too."

"Catarina…"

"I am not asking you to stop feeling what you are feeling for these young people but please recognize the truth of your heart. It is dangerous to ignore such a vulnerability in your objectivity."

Magnus had nothing to say. Catarina was right. He liked to pretend that he didn't care about shadowhunters and that he could ignore them wholesale if he wanted to but, in truth, so many had managed to irreversibly worm their way into his life. None so deeply as Alexander. And now he was thinking of adopting a child. What was going on with him?

"You need to talk to Raphael about what has been happening to him and to your relationship."

"I will."

"And talk to young Alec about Madzie. You cannot assume you know what he is thinking. Talk with him about it first before you make a decision."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Don't get cheeky with me."

Magnus laughed and the tension that had been building in his body was released.

"It's late in New York, Magnus. You must be tired. Go to sleep. I have work to do here, anyway. Maybe Manu has convinced this puck to let us heal him."

"If not, try showing him detailed and vibrant pictures of Iron Burn as incentive."

"How grotesque."

"But brilliant, as are all my suggestions and invented phrases. Wait, wait…here's one: burn to learn."

"Hang up the phone, Magnus."

Magnus laughed a final time and disconnected the call. He sat his phone down on the coffee table and sighed.

Talking with Catarina had been exactly what he needed. She was right about everything, of course. He let Clary and Alexander get away with murder with him. He had taken Simon under his wing and now he too had become important to him. He got on quite well with Isabelle, current complications with Raphael notwithstanding. Even Jace Wayland was a weakness now. He had been living with Magnus for several months because of his love for both Clary and Alexander but a begrudging affection had grown between them independent of their mutual acquaintances. And now he wanted to add Madzie.

He should put up a sign outside of his building: "Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn. Happy Home for Lost Souls."

He did want Madzie. He wanted to hold her and teach her magic and about life and how to love. He wanted to protect her and help her heal. He wanted to make sure nothing bad ever happened to her again. The only other thing he had desired this strongly in the last decade of his life had been Alexander.

And what would Alec have to say about all of this? Even though Magnus was inclined to adopt Madzie on his own without burdening Alec with any parenting responsibilities, he still had to consider what a child would do to their relationship. When they had started dating, Magnus was certain Alec had not signed up to date a man with a daughter. But here he was about to ask him to do just that.

He needed to see Alexander as soon as possible but the shadowhunter had been called to Idris for a week for a strategy conference and quarterly debriefing by the Clave. Alec had said they'd grown concerned by all of the events happening in New York and since two of their representatives had failed to garner results, he was being called to face them directly as the former Acting Head and alleged source of both Lydia Branwell and Victor Aldertree's failings. He wasn't scheduled to return for another three days at the earliest. Provided, of course, Alec didn't get arrested for treason or some such nonsense. This was certainly a conversation to be had face to face so Magnus would have to wait.

Magnus' eyelids grew heavy. He was tired just as Catarina suggested. He also had absolutely no desire to move so he decided to stay right where he was. He gently pulled off Madzie's little headband and set it next to his phone on the table beside them. Very carefully he rolled Madzie into the back of the couch, boxing her in with his own broad torso and cradling her head on his left bicep.

A snap of fingers pulled her hair into a silk bonnet and a soft wave down her body changed her cute flower dress into kitty cat pajamas. A second snap removed his makeup from his face and a second wave changed him into sleep clothes as well. A third snap dimmed the lights in his living room to a soft gold and a final snap summoned a blanket from his bedroom that he draped over them both. He pressed a short kiss to Madzie's forehead and curled around her little body before sinking his face into the couch's throw pillow.

Sleep would surely do nothing but help. He would come up with what to say to Alexander tomorrow. For now, he would just live in this moment holding a little girl, who he was rapidly coming to love, safe and warm in his arms.

A/N: Well…there you go. Give me some feedback.