CHAPTER TWO

(Gender reveal for baby Lewis.)

"Look, it's a girl Rex!" Max held up the pink dinosaur to Magnus and Alec. They were currently at the mall because Max needed new shoes and shorts, he was a kid who destroyed his every year. Max spent so much time outside playing in the mud with Jace up north on the four-wheelers and campgrounds. It wasn't Alec's favorite place, like the farm, so he never went on their camping weekend which was excellent for Alec as it had become his thing with Jace so he let them have it. But that meant new summer clothes, every year. It was not warm enough yet for shorts but if you didn't buy them early than you would never find them. Alec wanted to stop by the toy store to see if there was anything Izzy wanted. The next day she was forcing everyone over to her house so she could reveal the baby's gender, Alec didn't understand but he was told to be at their home at 2pm and be prepared for cake. Max was getting on board with the baby. Lately, one of his classmates just got a new sister and she was okay for Max so Izzy's baby will be okay, but it still better be a boy, he had announced one night at dinner when it was just Alec and Izzy. She spits her food out and Alec had to laugh, the things children said with such innocents.

"Rex's got a girlfriend."

"No, for Izzy." Max frown at Magnus. "We should buy it."

"Sorry." Magnus held up his hands and winked at Alec.

Alec smirked, "Maybe Rex wants a boyfriend."

"Maybe Rex wants both." Magnus shot back with a perfectly arched eyebrow at him, daring for a response.

"Children's store. We are in a children's store." Alec winked back at him. "No, Max we are not getting the pink Rex, we don't know what Izzy is having yet." He knelt down next to him. "Remember I told you we aren't buying today, just looking."

"Otay." He put the dino back and walked up the aisle a little way.

"Where did he even pick that up from?"

"What? The 'otay'?" Magnus picked up some other pink toy, looked it over and sat it back down. "School, I would assume. Come on; I don't see anything."

"Don't see it anything or don't want to shop without buying?" Alec reached up for his hand and smiled; he knew Magnus.

"Shut up." Magnus whispered so none of the children milling about would hear them, "Alright, Smarts, let's go."

"Already?" Max came around the corner holding some new stuffed animal.

"No, nope, no more stuffed animals. You already play basketball with the ones you have." Alec shook his head and Max got the biggest frown on his face. Magnus and Alec rounded the corner at the same time Max threw the stuffed animal and it landed perfectly in the second row of them. It was Alec's turn to arch an eyebrow at Magnus, "Are sure basketball is off the table?"

Magnus shook his head this time and let go of Alec to pick Max up as the boy giggled and marched out of the store. He was done with the toy store and he didn't want Max to see something else to delay them from leaving.

"Alexander Lightwood?" A small voice called to him from across the quad area of the mall, he turned to the sound and had to smile. "Alec!"

"Lydia." Alec waited for her to finish her walk to him. "How are you?"

She went in for a hug which Alec was forced to return since they were in the middle of the mall. He did smile at her; it was a soft smile that light up his eyes. "I'm good, just moved home. Staying with my parents while my apartment opens up, there was a mix up on the dates." She smiled, brightly at him. "You should come by for dinner. My parents would love to see you."

"Alec?" Max came over to grab his hand, leaving Magnus a few steps behind. "Let's go." He tugged on his hand to get him moving.

"Just a second, Max." Alec let him continue to tug on his hand without much cause.

"Max?" Lydia's smiled got even brighter, "Oh wow, he's huge."

Max stopped tugging then and looked back at Magnus who was just standing there. "Magnus?"

Magnus was just standing there watching the exchange, they seemed more than just past friends but he couldn't tell since Alec has always said he was gay, not bisexual, he didn't think it was past lover but that didn't mean she wasn't. Many gay men had girlfriends before coming out. He didn't know what she was to Alec but she was more than a past friend. That much he knew, "Come on, Max, let Alec talk."

Alec turned then just remembering that he was there. "Lydia, this is Magnus Bane. Magnus this is Lydia Branwell. We went to high school together. Her parents used to live next door."

"Ah, hello, Lydia." Magnus held out his hand with the expectation of a weak handshake but he was wrong, she had a firm grip.

"Hello," then she looked at Alec with just a look.

He seemed to understand their unspoken question, "Yes."

"Really?" She had a bright smile on her face, lit up her eyes.

"Engaged." Alec smiled, and Magnus was shaken, he just told someone he hadn't spoken to in a long time that they were engaged, it was the first person other than family Alec had said anything to. Magnus was the one who told the help desk when then spread like wildfire around work; their love lives appeared always to be worthy of the gossip mill. Even Tessa gave him a satisfied nod when he came to fix her star phone. More than that, Alec and Lydia seemed to be able to communicate without words.

"Awe, I'm glad." Lydia smiled at him; then someone called her name from over the quad. "I gotta go but dinner soon, now that I'm home for good!" She kissed him on his cheek before looking to Magnus to utter a quick congratulations and she was off.

"She's cute," Magnus said, there was more portrayed in that voice then he meant and he knew Alec picked up on it since he pulled on his hand to keep him from walking away.

"She was my cover, while I wanted to stay in the closet and still do things in high school. I wasn't always so confident in being openly gay." Alec felt Max tug on his arm again, but the child was silent. "Michigan is different than New York City and I wasn't always prepared for the opinions of others." He was slightly defensive and he knew it but Magnus' tone wasn't pleasant either.

"Alec?" Max continued to tug on his arm.

"Yes, Max?" Alec was happy for the distraction for a moment, he saw the look in Magnus' eyes and it was going to start an emotional conversation he wasn't ready for. Not in a very public mall.

"I'm tired, can we have ice cream?"

That sent Magnus over the edge with laughter, "It's always time for ice cream."

Alec had to laugh, he wanted to fight him on it but Max had caught on, he knew to ask for ice cream when Magnus was around because he always said yes and Alec only said yes, half the time. This kid had them wrapped around his little fingers.

They were sitting in the food court while Max munched on his superman cotton candy flavored ice cream, Alec could feel Magnus' eyes on him. Max was playing on Magnus' phone because it was cooler than Alec's and blissfully unaware of the world around him.

"I'm sorry," Magnus spoke up finally.

Alec burrowed his eyes up, "What for?"

"I shouldn't have said what I did. You knew I was being sarcastic and I'm sorry. I didn't know who she was and I should have just asked first."

"She was my cover, my best friend, and my fake girlfriend but she was also my first kiss. We had a lot of real moments but high school ended and she went away to school, then grad school. I heard she got engaged. I didn't know she moved back."

"You loved her," Magnus stated, he didn't know how he felt about this conversation other than he was glad he was hearing it.

"Yes, I did. I was never attached to her but I loved her as I would any best friend not romantically. She was there for me a lot as I was for her. Her parents use to look out for us, whenever I didn't know what to do about an adult situation like taxes or paying certain bills, they helped. They taught me a lot. I think they thought Lydia and I would get married."

"But?"

"They were traditional. Lydia's parents moved away the year I came out as gay." Alec faced the table then, "They didn't say it was the reason but they went from being great mentors to not speaking to me or my siblings overnight then a month later they just up and move. Lydia was away at school, so I didn't even get to see her one last time. We talked but I had Max and she had school almost two hours from here. We drifted."

"It's only natural, I'm sorry. That must have been painful for you." Magnus reached out and took Alec's hands into his over the table. "I love you."

"Thanks, I love you too." Alec finally looked up from the table. "Coming out was the best thing I could have done for myself, I know that but I had friends just stop talking to me overnight like I was the plague. I had prepared myself for that but then it happened and I realized I wasn't prepared at all. If it wasn't for Izzy and Jace, I don't think I would have survived."

"It's always so shocking to me how closed minded and cruel teenagers can be." Magnus squeezed his hands. Alec was upset and he brought it on by being sarcastic about someone he didn't even know. He and Alec never really spoke about how they came out just that they were out, he never knew it was so hard for Alec. Magnus always thought the keeping it professional at work all the time was a bit extreme since couples work together all the time but now he knew. He had a bad experience coming out and announcing their relationship at work was another form of that. Granted it was Jace who really did the announcing but it was still terrifying for Alec and he had no clue. "I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that, I understand. You didn't know and that's my fault for not telling you. It's not something I talk about often, not even to Izzy and Jace. I just lived through it and moved on, I never felt talking about it would ever do it any good."

"You have a horrible track record for talking about emotional things that need to be talked about, you realize that, right?" Magnus was trying to keep his tone light but it was difficult with their current discussion. He still had to remind Alec to talk to him from time to time or he would forget that. He now knew why behind the angry at his parents. He was mad at Lydia's parents as well so he bottled everything up.

"Yeah, I'm aware. I have this fiancée who won't let me shut up anymore." Alec smirked, hoping he would get the joke and just let it all drop, he was drained of the topic and wanted it to end. He was ready to finish shopping.

Magnus took the hint, "Alright, Smart, my phone. Let's shop." He heard Max whining to him but he was becoming better at tuning him out, Alec said it came with time and when you can genuinely do it then you have officially become a parent. He wasn't there yet but close.

Max was sitting on the counter with his Sissy while she eyed the blue and pink colored cake in front of her. She kept eyeing it and trying to resist it.

"Sissy, I want cake."

"Me too, little man but we have to wait."

"No, the longer we wait, the longer dad has to tell me no."

Izzy got out of her resolve then and stared at Max, she rarely heard him call Alec 'dad' but he was doing it a little more as the weeks went on. She got a little teary-eyed at the idea of him always having a home here and calling Alec 'dad' all the time, her hormones went wild on her then. She always had a firm stance on no crying her entire life then she had to get herself knocked up and now she couldn't stop crying. She was over it. Simon kept telling her she was only crying now because she never did before.

"Sissy! Sissy's crying again." Yelled to the whole house, he was too high off the ground and would never be able to jump down.

Simon and Magnus came into the kitchen. Simon is holding a box of tissues with him. Magnus is picking Max off the counter. "What is going on in here?" He held Max away from the cake who groaned when it left his sight.

"Max-" Izzy hiccupped, "-called Alec dad." Then she was lost to a new silent fit of tears.

Simon shook his head, "She cried over a chip commercial last night because we didn't have any in the house and so I had to make a Meijer run to get some. It was an 11pm. She was asleep by the time I got home and this morning she won't touch 'em."

Magnus just nodded and carried Max out of the room who spent the next hour about how he was so close to getting cake. When it was finally time for cake, Max was passed out in the armchair with Izzy and Simon's dog, they had been chasing each other all day and wore themselves out.

The party was filled with the Lightwoods, Izzy's co-workers and friend, plus Simon's employees. His store was a small family and all five of them showed up, Simon got a temp to cover the store for an hour than one of his employees would be returning to the store to close out.

"Max," Alec gently rubbed his back, the dog popped its head up and notice Alec then went straight back to sleep. The dog had already become overprotective of him and if anyone besides family came too close, he would stand in front of him. He wouldn't bark or bite but just stand there, right in front of him. "Max, buddy, time for cake." He also didn't want him to sleep too long, or he would never go to bed that night and it was a school night. "Come on." Alec picked Max up when he began to return from his sleeping state, he leaned over and rested his head on Alec's shoulder. He carried him to the backyard where everyone was waiting. His first reaction was to look for Magnus but he wasn't there, in the yard at all.

"His phone went off, so he went inside to check it," Jace answered after Alec began looking around for a second time. Alec sent him a wondering look, "He's always the first person you search for in a crowd after Max."

"Ah, thanks."

"I saw Lydia here; you talk to her."

"I saw her at the mall yesterday with Magnus and Max. We spoke for a moment. I told Magnus about her." Alec turned back to the reveal as Izzy and Simon cut the cake and let out a squeal.

The inside of the cake was pink. Izzy and Simon were having a girl.

Jace just laughed and said, "Poor Max."

Magnus came out then, having missed the entire reveal, "I take it, it's pink."

"Neon pink." Alec rocked Max to try and get him to wake up, but he was firmly back asleep.

"I'll get him a piece and save it for later."

"Magnus?" He wanted to ask about the phone call but he couldn't. He wanted to know what they were about, Magnus always seemed annoyed to get them. But he wouldn't be the boyfriend to check his caller ID; he would just need to wait and see when Magnus was ready to talk. He wanted Magnus to talk to him.

Magnus didn't seem to understand what he wanted, so he leaned in and kissed him, "Congrats on your niece."

Our niece, he wanted to correct him but he couldn't bring himself to do it, he just found a seat somewhere amongst a few tables and tried again to wake Max with slightly more success this time. Magnus arrived with the cake then and Max slowly ate it, almost face diving in the cake a few times with his fight from sleep. Magnus laughed and took some pictures of just Max then them all together. And Alec felt stupid for having any kind of doubt, he didn't know what his problem was. Lately, he should be happy with his life but something about the phone calls bugged him and he wanted Magnus just to tell him before he had to ask.

"I spoke to Lydia."

Alec looked up at Magnus then; he was taking a picture of Max who had given up the fight and went to sleep, rubbing his cake face all over his shoulder, he didn't care about that, he wanted to know about Magnus and Lydia. "You did?"

"We were waiting for the bathroom. I reintroduced myself." Magnus put his phone down and smiled at Alec; he had a wild look in his eyes, Magnus would tell he didn't know what emotion he was supposed to be feeling. "She asked if you ever mentioned her. I didn't know if it would hurt her feelings if I said yeah but only after we met, so I just said yes and then I thanked her for taking such good care of you before I got here to finish the job."

That was all it took, that one sentence was all it took to erase any doubt Alec had about stupid phone calls or any other uncertainty in this world. Magnus and Max were his entire world, and he was so deep in love there was no climbing out. "You said that?"

"Well I had to, she did take good care of you and if it wasn't for her love and support you wouldn't have come out and then we would have never dated."

"You don't think you could have pulled me out."

"Maybe, but that's a tough road and it's a hard one. We've both been down it; I just had longer to adjust. I came out at the beginning of high school. She's a brave friend for helping you down it. So yeah I had to thank her."

"How do you do it?" Alec found himself in awe.

"Do what?"

"Find more reasons that I'm head over heels in love with you," Alec smirked at Magnus' laugh.

"Let's go home. Put Max to bed and you can show me how much more you love me now."

Alec couldn't talk, just nod. They had to find Izzy and Jace then they started the short walk down the street to their own home. Magnus offered to carry Max but Alec wasn't ready to put him down, he was still his baby boy and he loved when he clung to him. Magnus just nodded, understanding written across his face. Max was in bed before his bedtime, so Alec just prayed he stayed asleep all night. Then he went to into their bedroom and smiled as Magnus was under the covers waiting for him with not a stitch of clothing on.