Chapter 2

Early morning at the New York Institute found Alec dressed in training clothes and ready to start the day. He slipped into three year old Aiden's room and was busy getting the little boy up for breakfast with daddy. Alec smiled softly at the thought of being a father. The child had been a joy to both Magnus and him, a blessing that neither had thought possible. At first the secrecy surrounding Aiden's birth had weighed heavily on Alec but, as time passed and no uncomfortable questions were raised by the Clave, he'd begun to relax.

"Where's papa?" Aiden asked sleepily, referring to Magnus.

"Papa is still sleeping, he was up very late so we'll see him in a little while." Alec responded. Magnus had been up working on a complicated spell for one of his clients. "Aunt Izzy will be in the kitchen though so you can show her your new t-shirt."

"Yay!" The toddler squealed in delight and raised his hands indicating he wanted Alec to pick him up.

Alec swung the little boy up onto his hip and headed off down the hall to the kitchen. Parenthood had made massive changes in his and Magnus' life, but they had adapted well and neither could imagine a life that didn't centre around their beautiful little boy.

Entering the kitchen, Alec let the child down so he could run to his Aunt Izzy who was sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee. As soon as he was about a foot from her chair, he started spinning around, proudly showing her his new Spiderman t-shirt.

"He gets his love of fashion from me!" Izzy said with a grin picking Aiden up and setting him in her lap before all that twirling made him too dizzy to stand on his little legs.

"He may have gotten some of that from his papa too." Alec said looking mournfully down at his all black training gear. At that moment a very tired looking Jace joined them in the kitchen. Jace and Clary had been married for a couple of years and just welcomed a new baby into their lives. Alec, who vividly remembered being woken every few hours by a hungry baby Aiden, gave his parabatai a sympathetic look and handed him a coffee. "It gets a little better when they start sleeping through the night." He said grinning as Jace groaned and lay his head down on the table.

"Yes, but once Jace starts getting proper rest again, we won't be able to dust the training room floor with him anymore;" Isabelle said with a grin.

"Just wait 'til you and Simon have kids;" Jace said raising his head to glare at his sister.

"We only just got engaged, I think I'm safe for a while yet." Izzy responded.

Before more could be said on the matter, Josh, Ian and Shivvy trooped into the kitchen, chattering among themselves and disrupting the relative quiet of the morning. The two older boys were now considered fully trained shadowhunters. Shivvy would share that status in just a few months time when she turned eighteen. Alec was very proud of the three young people, they had worked hard during their time at the New York Institute and he could no longer imagine the place without them. They were family.

Shivvy set a bunch of letters and messages down on the table, having obviously stopped to pick up the mail on the way to the kitchen. "Where's Magnus?" She asked looking around. "Most of this stuff is for him. He gets more junk mail than anyone I've ever met;"

Alec laughed; "He is High Warlock of Brooklyn and most of those are requests from clients, not junk mail,"

"Don't know about that;" She replied. "Does he get client calls from Bergdorf Goodman and Sephora?"

"No, more likely he's the client;" Laughed Izzy.

"Here that information package you've been waiting for from Idris, Ian;" Shivvy said as she handed her brother a large, official looking envelope. Josh and Ian were going to the shadowhunter home country to attend a special training course for parabatai. They'd been talking about it nonstop for weeks, much to Shivvy's annoyance.

Alec glanced over at the two young men who were currently looking at the course details and discussing them with Jace. Truthfully, he was a little worried about this trip. He knew that Josh and Ian were exceptionally close, maybe even too close. It was forbidden for parabatai to become romantically involved with each other, and the Clave was not known for turning a blind eye to rule breakers. They had been none too pleased about Alec admitting he was gay and marrying a downworlder, even though there was no specific rule against it. He did not like to think what the Clave would do if they suspected Josh and Ian were in love with each other. His troubled thoughts were interrupted by a sudden wail from Shivvy.

"Nnnnnnoooooo!"

Everyone turned to look at the girl who had an open letter, partly crumpled in her hand. "What's up Shiv?" Ian asked fighting a grin as he saw the melodramatic look of despair on his sister's pretty face.

"It's mom! She wants me to come home while you two are in Idris and she's planning lots of 'social' outings." Shivvy cried. She was well aware that 'social' outings meant being paraded in front of every eligible shadowhunter boy in the neighbourhood, a fate worse than death in her opinion. Shivvy had been so looking forward to her brother's trip as it meant she could spend some quality time with Daniel LaCroix, the young vampire who had helped them escape from Lucia. Shivvy and Daniel had become very close in the intervening years, but it had been hard to find any alone time, with two, overprotective older brothers. When she'd been younger, Shivvy had constantly tried to tag along with Josh and Ian, getting mad if she thought they were trying to ditch her. Now the shoe was on the other foot and the irony wasn't lost on her.

One simple letter from home had derailed all her plans, and her mother's directions, that she bring all her best things as it was time she started thinking about her future, and settling down with a nice boy from a good shadowhunter family, made her cringe. She knew her mother would never accept her feelings for Daniel, would be horrified and probably prevent her from returning to the New York Institute if she found out.

Ian moved over to Shivvy's side and put his arm around her. "It'll be okay Shiv, and it's not forever. You might even enjoy..."

Seeing Shivvy's shoulders tense and fearing the explosion that would undoubtedly follow Ian's well meaning, but thoughtless comment, Jace stood up and said; "Time for training!" In that commanding tone that brooked no dissention or comment.

Izzy grinned as she whispered in Jace's ear; "Good move bro, that could have been an epic argument!"

Alec kissed his son softly on the cheek as he rose to accompany the others to the training room. Izzy would be minding Aiden until Magnus was up. Just as he was about to leave, he turned to sister and said; "Magnus is expecting a package from Janus Dark sometime this morning. If it arrives while we're training, can you put it in Magnus' work room? I wouldn't want Aiden accidently getting into whatever it is!"

"Sure thing!" Isabelle called back as she scooped her nephew up; "Come on buddy, let's get that face cleaned up, then maybe we can play a game of hide 'n seek in the sanctuary!"

~~~~~ ! ~~~~~

Magnus tossed and turned restlessly, caught in the throes of a disturbing dream. He was back at the Mortar & Pestle collecting the ingredients for the spell that would make Lucia pregnant. Janus Dark stood there, pointing an accusing finger at Magnus as he said; " I hope you know what you are doing Magnus. I have only seen a list like this once before, centuries ago, and it ended very badly indeed...A child of extraordinary beauty, very powerful, but no empathy, no soul, an abomination ... abomination ... abomination ..."

Magnus woke with a start, his heart racing and his mind revolting against the idea that his beautiful child would ever be like the soulless monster that Janus Dark had spoken of. Aiden was sweet and loving like Alec, lively, spirited and innocent. It was just a stupid dream...