"DUDE! I've just got the best phone call! You won't believe this!"

"Oh really? That car that you've lost last week after a great -only drinking- party came back?"

"Haha.. fuck you. Amanda Sande has just invited us to her party, Jace!"

"Cool." said Jace and drank from his glass of lemonade.

"So, I work the shit out of me to get us invited to Amanda Sande's party, and all you can say is COOL?!"

Jace laughed in his head. Alec has always been the boy who wanted to be in the centre of attention, like his sister, Isabelle. Going to a party like that was a big achievement. Jace had to go with him, if he didn't go, Alec will talk about that damn party over and over and how his friend didn't want to go.

"Fine, I'll go. When and where?"

"At her place, tomorrow, at 7 PM."

"Great. See you there."

He put his phone on the table and took an old book from the shelf. It was an old and dusty book, his father's codex. What the hell is this doing in my room? He looked outside, checking if his father was coming home. When he saw that nobody was outside, he sat on his bed and opened the book. Dusty and yellow pages were full of runes , steles, mostly shadowhunters' weapons. At the end there were some letters. 'From Valentine' All of them were short, and they were about his father's trips to Idris.. but there was one with a different 'theme'.. and that one has been burnt.

"I'm home, Jace!" his father's voice came from downstairs. He threw his keys on the counter and carried the training equipment upstairs.

"Hey dad.. how was training today?"

"I had a new student today. She was a total pain in the ass."

"Well that sounds just lovely... By the way, I'm going to a party with Alec tomorrow."

"You don't like parties Jace."

"I know, I know, but if I don't go, Alec will be mad at me the entire year."

"His mother was like that."

While Stephen was unpacking the equipment, Jace was thinking about talking to him about the letter. Was it such a bad idea?

''Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What... what were you doing with Valentine?"

Stephen looked at his son with wide eyes. I knew it was a bad idea, I knew it.

"I'm.. sorry that I've asked." he said and left the room.

*Flashback*

"Will Alec and uncle Robert be there?"

"Of course, Jace."

He was holding his father's hand so tight that his hand was white. Around him there were strangers that were smiling at him -or his dad, he couldn't figure it out- and applauding.

"Why are they applauding,dad?"

"Because you're a hero, Jace! You're the first child that has learned all of the skills with no trouble."

"But dad.. I want to go home!"

After the celebration, Jace and Alec wanted to go the park's playground, so the dads had no choice. The sun was shining after the cold summer rain. The kids' joy was too big to describe. Jace went to the slide and dug under it. He got out two wooden swords, one for him and one for him. They didn't care how dirty, sticky and gross they were smelling, they were swords, and that was all that mattered.

While the boys were playing there, Stephen and Robert were talking:

"Jace will ask me sooner or later. I have o idea how to tell him that his father helped his mother's killer."

"Just make sure he won't find out."

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?"

"Uhh, just hide every letter and picture from him. And don't forget the college ones, you don't want him to see that."

"I don't know, since his mother died I feel like I'm a bad father."

"You're one of the greatest fathers, Stephen."

"Why not the best?"

"Hah, because, of course I'm the best!"

Changing the subject was a good way to brighten the mood, so they talked about how they were when they were teenagers: 'totally different from how our kids will be, I assure you'. The time when they just threw on a t-shirt and some jeans was a long time ago, now they need to care on how the dress, the act, they talk, to be examples for their kids. Talking about all of these things made them seem like some proud moms, talking only about their kids.

"We should do a reunion.. some day." offered Robert.

"That sounds like a great idea!"

That reunion has never happened.