So this is going to be a series of snapshots into the family life of Alec, Magnus, Max and Rafe. I know this isn't an original idea but hopefully you guys will like it anyway. I've based the first chapter off the chapter in "The Tales of the Shadowhunter Academy" in which Max enters Malec's life. The story is going to be from various people's point of view. Depending on the chapter will determine whose P.O.V it will be (hope that makes sense)

If there is anything you liked/didn't like about the chapter, or if there is a is a snapshot you want to see (I will give you credit as being the one who suggested the idea) let me know in the reviews or by private message.

***Magnus P.O.V***

Life was always full of surprises, and some surprises were just bigger than others. I had thought, by being a four hundred year old Warlock, I had had my fair share of surprises, especially when it came to the Nephilim. Alec Lightwood however was a Nephilim and continually surprised me. He had surprised me at the start of our relationship, and simply hadn't stop since. Half the time he hadn't meant to surprise me, it just happened, and that was the case with the latest surprise.

I had been asked to give a few lectures at the Shadowhunter Academy, and had only accepted after they had agreed to a few of my demands (one of which was bringing Alec with me) which was how I found myself there. Whatever I had been expecting to happen during that trip, it didn't come close to what actually happened. The day itself was off to a really good start, as Alec and I were making love. Well we were until Simon came barging in, much to my annoyance and Alec's embarrassment. He did leave, only after blurting out several apologies and saying that there was a Warlock baby at the entrance to the Academy. Once changed, I left to investigate with Simon, leaving Alec to sort himself out.

Once we made our way through the assembled crowd, it seemed Simon had been right about the baby being a Warlock. The navy blue skin was a somewhat give away. Taking the baby into my arms, I was able to establish that the baby was both a boy and about eight months old. Although it broke my heart that he had been abandoned, at least the mother hadn't tried to kill it, as my step-father had done to me. I was brought out of my thoughts when Alec arrived, and asked to hold the baby and I was more than happy to oblige. Despite the fact that I had had experience with babies before, it was obvious to all who were gathered that Alec clearly had more experience as the child immediately fell silent, its earlier whimpers gone.

It was at this precise moment that the Dean, Catarina and some Shadowhunter called Scarsbury decided to turn up. Scarsbury seemed to want to hand the child over to the clave, but I wouldn't let that happen, I couldn't let that happen. In my mind the best option was for the child was for Alec and I to care for the child until a suitable home could be found for him. Little did I know that I was the only one who had this plan. We'd taken the baby back to our room, and all they wanted to was cry. It went for so long that I found myself needing to get out and take a walk, otherwise I too would find myself crying.

I'm not sure how long I had been out, but found myself heading back to Alec, the baby and our room with Lily, who was the leader of the New York vampire clan because she needed to discuss something with Alec. And this was where major surprise number two of the day occurred. When I had left the room, there had only been Alec and the child in the room. On my return I found that Alec and the baby had been joined by Alec's parents Maryse and Robert, his sister Isabelle, his parabatai Jace and Jace's girlfriend Clary.

Where I was trying to make sense of the scene in front of me, Lily went charging in to talk to discuss whatever it was she needed to discuss with Alec, which thankfully was already in the process of being dealt with. It was only then she realised what Alec was holding, and temporarily turned soft before leaving. As soon as she was gone, I tried to get to the bottom of why so many Lightwoods were in the room. Apparently Simon had told Izzy, and Izzy had told Maryse and Jace, and Jace had been with Clary. They had all unanimously decided to close ranks and turn up and help child proof my room. Izzy then nearly gave me a heart attack by saying she had been child-proofing the room USING MY CLOTHES and planned doing the same to my loft. I swear these Shadowhunters were going to be the death of me.

If that wasn't bad enough, they all seemed to be under the impression we were keeping the child. Where they had gotten this idea I had no idea. It wasn't until they started discussing names did major surprise number three happen (honestly you spend years with no big surprises then three happen in one day. What was a Warlock to do these days?) The offered to use their surname for the child until they were old enough to choose their own. They understood I had chosen Bane for myself, and it wasn't custom for Warlocks to pass on their name, so offered name of Lightwood, an old, proud Shadowhunter name for a Downworlder. The gesture was a huge, significant one. On top of that, they (well Izzy and Maryse) suggested his first name be Max, after the son and brother they had lost. Max had once been family, so the fact they wanted the baby to carry that name meant something.

Whilst I was still in shock over the name suggestion, Alec thanked his family for the suggestion, but said that the decision was ultimately for me and him to make, and we hadn't actually discussed it yet. It was then I realised that it wasn't just Alec's family who thought we were keeping the baby, Alec thought that as well. Conversations needed to happen and they needed to happen soon. It seemed that all the major surprises had caught up with me, leaving me feeling rather light headed. I sat down on one of the chairs in an attempt to process what was happening. Robert made that very difficult by asking if Alec and I had made the baby ourselves. He did understand how biology and baby making working worked didn't he?

Somehow we managed to get all of the Lightwoods out (it was gone midnight before Maryse and Robert finally left. I think they would have stayed longer had we let them) and I finally got to talk to Alec. I decided that I would just come straight out with it and say I had no intention on keeping the child, with the intention of making him understand and agree with me. That's not what happened of course, and (you've guessed it, surprise number four of the day) somehow managed to not only convince me to keep the child but somehow ended up proposing to me. It broke my heart to decline, it wasn't because I didn't love him that I declined, it was because I lived him so much and wanted him to have the wedding he deserved, in gold that I declined. One day Alec, I promise.

The following day there was a party to introduce the baby to the people we cared about. A few years ago, if someone had told me that I would be introducing my son to a group of Shadowhunters and Downworlders (all of whom meant something to me) I would have assumed they were either high, drunk or were suffering a head injury, and yet here I was doing just that. Proof that life was full of surprises, even if you were a 400 year old Warlock. There was a pause in the music, and Robert Lightwood had chosen that precise moment to ask about the babies name, causing everyone in the room to turn and stare. "Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to formally introduce you to my son: Max Michael Lightwood-Bane" I said.