They had both fallen asleep shortly after their conversation ended, and after they had cleaned up the next morning, Alec quickly returned to where they had left off.
"So," he tried to make it seem as though he was calm and collected, but Magnus smiled at the thinly vailed excitement and joy. "We never really clarified what was going to happen. You know, as far as a family is concerned."
Magnus sat down on the couch with a smile and a shake of his head. Before speaking, he took a long sip from his coffee mug, mostly because he knew it would drive Alec insane, the long pause, the anticipation. "Well, Alexander," he began as he took one of Alec's hands, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I was under the assumption that we had come to an agreement last night."
The way Alec's face lit up with pure elation at Magnus's words set Magnus's heart into frantic fluttering. Whereas Alec had simply been full of hope before, he was now absolutely bursting with happiness. It was as though Magnus had been looking directly at light bulb as it has been turned on. His entire body was full of energy now, all of his features had a new light in them, and the effect of it left Magnus speechless.
Although Alec's joy did not diminish in any way, he began to speak again, this time there was a tinge of worry to his tone. "So um, not that I'm not terribly excited, but how do we even begin to go about this? It's not like I've had any experience with this."
Chuckling under his breath, Magnus tried to relieve his building worry over what would come next through humor. "Well, I'm not exactly an expert either, but I'm fairly certain that the first course of action is to tell absolutely no one of our plans until we have a child in our arms. You know, to preserve our sanity."
Alec began nodding vigorously, apparently thinking of just how insane his family might become if they knew their intentions. He himself could only halfway imagine Isabelle's squealing and planning, not to mention Alec's parents. That, however, was when Alec caught up with Magnus's avoidance of the real question. That was one thing Magnus simultaneously loved and sometimes hated about Alec. No matter how stubble the hint, he always picked up on how Magnus was feeling or why he was acting the way he was.
"Really, Magnus, I mean, I know I am definitely not going to utter a word of this until things are happening for sure, but what do we really need to do. I know you can tell how happy I am, I'm not going to even attempt to hide it, so I want to get this done as soon as possible."
Magnus sighed, knowing that this would be the hardest step in their process. "Well first, I think we need to go to the Clave to get approval, and then-" had it been any other situation, he would have been amused at Alec cutting him off.
"Of course we do. Of course. Just perfect, Magnus. Because the Clave is always perfectly reasonable."
Not knowing what to say, Magnus pulled his husband into his arms and began to play with his hair. He closed his eyes as he did so, letting the silence fall over them. Finally, Magnus managed to gather himself enough to speak again. "Don't worry, they let us get married, Alexander. They let me take your name. What's the worst they could do?"
Alec chuckled slightly in Magnus's arms. "Nothing good ever happens when we say that about the Clave."
It didn't actually seem like Magnus and Alec had proposed the idea of them adopting a child. It seemed more to Magnus like they do away with the Calve entirely and put a group of monkeys in their place with the expressions they were given shortly after they had finished their proposal. Although he was thinking that monkeys could do a better job, Magnus kept himself composed when he could feel Alec's hope slipping by the second.
As the silence expanded, Magnus could feel the possibility of them being approved getting farther from them. No one seemed to want to utter a word, until finally, one brave soul blurted out the thing that Magnus knew all the Clave members were currently thinking. "And why on Earth, Bane, would we let you do that?"
Beside Magnus, Alec tensed considerably, his hand flailing outward, looking for any hold he could get on Magnus. Reaching for his husbands hand, Magnus remained as calm as ever, he had had years of practice in doing so.
"Before you say anything else," Magnus purposely kept his voice steady and full of authority, "allow me to clarify something for everyone. My name is Magnus Lightwood. Alexander and I were married under the approval of the Clave, and I will not stand here and be disrespected by those who allowed us to do so. If the Clave had a problem with Alexander and I being married, then they should not have voted in our favor. So to reiterate, my name, to absolutely everyone here, is Magnus Lightwood."
Magnus took a deep breath after finishing his speech, something he would never have dreamt of saying to the Clave just a few years ago. Now, however, he was filled with a new confidence, a new hope just at the thought of having Alec beside of him.
After his little speech, Magnus hardly noticed what was happening because he was so filled with rage. Some of the Clave members were actually for them, some were strongly against the idea, some were completely indifferent. A few were even arguing quite loudly that Magnus and Alec should have never been approved to be married in the first place, thought they were being widely ignored for the most part. In the end, the Clave decided to not speak on the matter at the time, scheduling a new meeting date and saying that they would come back to the subject and make a final decision at that time.
Looking back, Magnus knew he had been highly aware of the fact that Alec stood utterly quiet by his side, becoming more and more tense by the second.
Surprisingly, Alec stayed completely composed throughout every second of the meeting, it wasn't until they arrived home again that he broke down into terrible heart wrenching sobs at the thought that they would never be allowed to have a family.
It wasn't until they reached home that Magnus allowed himself to break down, too.
