Chapter 3 – Marriage & Baby
Izzy threw herself onto her brother's bed where Alec and Magnus were still sleeping, she was in the center but facing Alec. Alec grunted at the movement when her elbow met his stomach. "What?" Alec looked over at the bedside clock, almost eight am on a Saturday morning.
Magnus groaned and pushed on her elbow to get her away from him. He sounded groggy with the sleep clouding his voice. "Are you sure throwing yourself in bed with two grown men is a good idea?"
"It's eight am; you two are the worst morning people on the planet. How do you two have children?"
"Alexander, get her out of here." Magnus pushed on her again to get her closer to Alec.
Alec opened his eyes when Izzy's elbow reconnected with his stomach, "Why are you here?"
"I'm getting married today and couldn't sleep. Wake up."
He smiled at her; she sounded like a giddy child. Her impression of Max was perfect, the same giddy laugh of his four-year-old. "You could have knocked on the door instead of jumping in our bed." He sat up as best he could with two other adults in his queen sized bed. Magnus kept telling him they should have brought over his king size bed but they would have had to rearrange the entire room and Alec wasn't ready for that yet. Not that he wasn't against it, just the thought of having to do all that work right now was not something he wanted. "We could be naked."
"You have two four-year-old's running around; you think you're sleeping naked?" She asked.
Alec nodded with complete understanding at her logic, she was not wrong but he was not going to tell her that, "Get out. I'll be down in a minute."
Izzy leaned over and kissed his cheek, "Hurry up, I got coffee." She twisted to look at Magnus and kissed his cheek as well, "You too."
Magnus groaned and tried to push her away but he missed since she was already up and out of the room, closing the door behind her. Magnus' hand connected with Alec's knee, he kept his hand there when he realized Izzy was no longer with them. "Can't we go back to bed?" He groaned out in exasperation.
Alec put himself back down next to his boyfriend, forcing Magnus to remove his hand, "You know that's not going to happen, she's going to jump on us again."
"Kiss me before I die," Magnus whispered.
Alec smiled at him, "We wouldn't want that, now would we."
Magnus licked his lips to welcome the kiss, "Yeah, who would you get to marry you then?" He smirked when Alec pulled roughly on Magnus' hair then kissed him; he put his hands on Alec's arm and side respectfully to get him to stay in place.
Alec pulled back; he knew what to say to get back at him. "You have five minutes before I'm sending Izzy back up here." He pulled back before Magnus could groan and get back at Alec for his smart remark. "Five minutes." He held up his hand with a five and a smile.
Magnus sat up on his elbows to watch Alec pull on the shirt Magnus had expertly removed the night before which led to further activities before sleep took them. If only Izzy knew the real reason, they were never morning people she would blush. He flopped back on the bed when Alec actually left the room. He heard the faint sounds of the children in the hallway before closing his eyes. He needed five more minutes of sleep but he wasn't going to get that any more.
By the time Magnus made it downstairs ten minutes later and fresh from a quick, cold shower, the kitchen was buzzing. Max was sitting in Alec's lap munching on peanut butter toast, with what looked like a peanut butter joker smile on his face. Raphael was next to Izzy with a slice of toast of his own. Both the kids had cups of chocolate milk while Alec and Izzy had coffee. Alec with black and Izzy with so much cream and sugar there was no way anyone would consider hers coffee anymore. Magnus took a seat next to Alec and across from Raphael to reach for the other cup on the table. He lifted the lid to cool it off faster while Raphael came to him wanting to be in his lap. He quickly moved his coffee to reach for his son, or he would have ended up with peanut butter all over himself. Raphael was clutching his toast to keep it within his grasp that his hands were going to be sticky for the rest of the day no matter how many times Magnus washed him. Both the boys got baths last night because Alec said there would be no time in the morning.
Magnus kissed the top of Raphael's head and messed with his jet black hair, "Sleep well?" He nodded, sleepily and continued to munch on his toast much in the same matter as Max.
"Magnus?" Max leaned over in Alec's lap, forcing Alec to grip his sides to keep him from falling off.
He smiled and leaned over to kiss his head as well; it was adorable to him how they got into a groove of being such a tightknit family. "How did you sleep?" Max seemed to be more talkative this morning.
"Good." He moved back to straight on Alec's lap, causing Alec to readjust again.
Magnus leaned over, pulling Alec's shirt to get him to lean into him, kissing right below his ear, too intimate for the breakfast table setting but it was more for Izzy's benefit than theirs. "And how did you sleep?"
Alec pushed on his arm when both boys and Izzy came out with a round of 'eww' and 'gross', "You mean after we finally went to sleep?" Also for Izzy's benefit.
"You guys don't think Simon and I don't have late nights?"
"Why are you here?" Magnus looked at her; it wasn't mean or harsh, just a normal questioning tone.
Alec shook his head, "Magnus." The tone was clear that he needed to back off but that never stopped him before and Alec knew it wouldn't stop him now.
"I was bored. Everything is all set, I have hair and makeup with Clary at noon before heading to the courthouse and I had no one else to hang out with." Izzy went back to her coffee.
Izzy and Simon decided that they didn't need a big affair for their wedding. His mother was holding out strong against the marriage because Alec's lifestyle was too much to ask for in-laws. They had friends but not a lot of money and instead of spending thousands on glitter and glam they opted for the courthouse. The only people invited were her siblings and their significate others plus the boys. Then they rented out a small backroom at a local restaurant where they would have dinner and cake. That is the only idem Izzy spent money on; her cake. It was a two-tiered masterpiece that she had been dreaming of for weeks. She was also spending the afternoon with Clary to have a girl's day before meeting at the courthouse at four pm; their scheduled time to tie the knot. She had a simple white dress that went to mid-thigh and sleeveless with small white flowers all over to give it a little something extra; you could only see the flowers with specific movements and lighting. Simple yet pure. She demanded the boys wear black pants and ties; she didn't care about colors or style. She just wanted to have beautiful pictures. Clary's dress was going to be simple and a similar fashion to Izzy's just in a deep green and long sleeves, Clary was beginning to show and her dress only made her look even more pregnant. Clary was not happy about that but she said it was Izzy's day and she would dress in whatever dress she wanted. Izzy claimed it was all in her head and she looked beautiful. None of the boys said anything other then they would look beautiful in anything they wore.
Magnus went with the boys to get them little suits with button-down shirts, a fun vest, and a cute tie to match. Max's was in sky blue while Raphael's was in mint green. He and Alec were planning on wearing their regular everyday business casual clothes but Magnus couldn't resist getting the matching ties so they would match their children. Overall the entire affair was going to be simple and clean just the way Izzy wanted. Alec offered to help her pay for more but she finally confessed it didn't feel right having a large wedding without Simon's family. She would rather marry at the courthouse with just her family then be flashy with no one to show off to. Alec let it go with a kiss to her forehead and did what he could to just be helpful. Magnus made one snarky comment about Izzy being pregnant because of the rushed wedding, but one harsh kick from Alec to his shin which bruised for a week and Simon choking on his water for an hour straight to get him to shut up. Never mentioning it… ever again.
Tomorrow they would be doing their regular Sunday family dinner except with a twist; they would be having a different cake so Jace and Clary could do a small gender reveal for their baby. Everyone had taken bets on the gender but Jace was tight-lipped about the how affair. Izzy offered to let them make the announcement during their dinner but Clary refused to say, it should be about Izzy not their baby and never brought it up again. Jace purchased a small cake where the insides were colored with either blue or pink. Alec did pay for that cake because he wanted to do something for his siblings.
"Where's Simon?"
"Out with Jace decorating the backroom we rented. Clary had to work the morning shift and I will be picking her up around eleven but I didn't want to sit at home alone. So I came here." Izzy shrugged her shoulders as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Done packing?" Magnus asked but his eyes were on Raphael's hands. He could never figure out how he was such a messy eater; it usually grossed him out on some level.
"Yep! I am so excited to just go lay on the beach." She and Simon did spend a little extra money to go to Florida for five days, they were leaving Monday morning and would return the following Saturday. "And don't think for a second I don't know why you asked." She pointed at him.
Magnus laughed and grinned at her, "What? You mean like how are you at my house at this god-awful hour instead of at home repacking for your honeymoon?"
"Oh Jesus, you two, just stop. It's too early for this crap." Alec stood up, wrapping an arm around Max's stomach to hold him up, Max giggled and they left the room. Max's giggle seemed to vibrate off the ways, getting lower with the echo on the stairs.
Magnus smiled, Alec was doing something to make the small child that way and it was like a shot of liquor warming his entire insides. Raphael craned his head and practically jumped from Magnus' lap, taking off at full speed to follow them. Magnus knew he was going to have to check every surface for smeared peanut butter in his path. "That kid is going to get peanut butter everywhere."
"Alec is a little cranky this morning." Izzy frowned after him.
"I think it has something to do with your wedding." Magnus looked at her, "He's happy and wants you to get married but I have this feeling he wants you to have more than a courthouse wedding. Like even though you said that's what you want, you don't really mean it."
Izzy nodded, "I used to play wedding like any little girl would. I would talk about this grand event like the princess weddings we watched on TVs. I wanted glitter on everything. White with gold glitter." She giggled a little, "I use to make Jace and Alec take turns walking me down the aisle. They hated it, calling it gross but I would cry until my dad made them play along. My eight-year-old self was so happy; they, on the other hand, hated it."
"Which I'm sure made it even better for you."
"Oh yeah, of course."
Magnus heard the giggling even loud now, "I should go help Alec, wanna come?"
"Nah, I'm good. Do me a favor, get to the courthouse a few minutes early, I want to see Alec first."
Magnus nodded, "Sure thing." He went to kiss her cheek.
"Wait, Magnus?" Izzy actually pulled on his arm, "I didn't want to say anything with the others because I think I feel like I have no right but how is Alec handling Lydia and Raj's return?" She had sat there and listened to Alec tell them at their family dinner last week of Lydia showing up on his door talking of her return and wanting nothing to do with Max. She had questions but she didn't want to speak up because she was afraid to bring up bad memories.
Magnus sighed, it was low and long, "He throws up when he talks about it because he has this fear they are going to take Max away, so we don't talk about it often." If Jace had asked him the same question he would have given him a much different answer, even if Clary asked she would have gotten a different answer, both would have been sugar coated; but not Izzy. Izzy needed the truth. "Lydia says they don't want Max, so we are going with that for now. But Raj hasn't made a play yet so Alec is sitting in panic mode on the edge of his seat waiting for something to happen."
"So the plan is just to ignore Alec's fear until it goes away?"
"For now." Magnus nodded, "Alec isn't ready to talk about it, but I pulled a number for a therapist we use at work, I'm slowly bringing in the idea he needs to talk to someone about it. I don't think this is a fear we can work on. It's something Alec needs to come to terms with and I think only professionals can help." He frowned, he hated not being able to do more but he felt strongly that Alec would need to deal with this fear, no one would be able to help him with this one. He would try his best to be there and get him talking when he needed it but internally, Alec needed to let go of it in his own time. "He bottles a lot of his stress up, from work to personal because he's always felt like he had to. It does not seem to matter how good of a support system he has."
"It's only going to get worse." Izzy nodded, "Let me know if there's anything I can do." She left then.
...
The wedding went off without issue. Izzy looked beautiful with her hairpin to the side with curl upon curl flowing down over her exposed shoulder. She even made Alec walk her in the courtroom, it helped ease his mind but he couldn't help but thinking she deserved more. They went to the restaurant and stayed much later then they planned to, leaving Alec and Magnus with two extremely cranky children the next day. It was only noon and Alec was ready to scream. It was his own fault for not leaving when he knew he should but it was Izzy's day and the kids wouldn't settle down.
Magnus overslept again, leaving Alec extra time with the children and finally threaten divorce if Magnus didn't get his 'ass' downstairs to help. Magnus shot back they had to be married first. Which didn't help Alec's mood who said the weddings off and stormed out of the room, make Magnus jump out of bed to follow.
Max was going from whiny to hyperactive and dragging Raphael down the same tunnel of child craziness; Max always seemed to be the ringleader of their antics despite him being the younger one of the two. Magnus finally settled them in Raphael's room with a book and forcing them to read to one another which had the desired effect in calming them.
Jace and Clary finally arrived with Izzy and Simon in tow. Alec carted Max and Raphael out to the living room to hang all over their aunts. Raphael did his standard straight for Clary and sat down right in front of her while Max hung onto Alec by outstretching his little hands to hang on his belt. He wasn't whining, just wanted to be near him. Alec finally sat on the floor, dragging his son across his lap. Max was content to watch the activity around the room, calming down enough to just relax with Alec.
An hour into the time together Simon and Magnus left to go pick up lunch while Jace went to pick up the cake. Alec wanted to go but Magnus said no and Max wouldn't leave his lap.
Lunch was simple; they picked up a few pizzas, salad, and breadsticks. Clary had sure it was pizza or Jace was going to feel pain like never before. He quickly gave in and it was pizza for lunch. But it was the cake everyone was waiting for. There was a tie who wanted it more; Clary or the boys. Both for different reasons; Clary for the baby and the boys for that fact that it was cake and they never got cake unless it was something extraordinary. And this would be their second day in a row with cake, the children were in heaven and mouths were watering at the sight of a second cake.
"Boys, back up." Alec grabbed Max around the waist and hoisted him back a bit to allow Clary to get to her cake first. "Raphael." He looked back at Alec then joined him, crawling over to sit on his knees. Alec held a groan in which Magnus caught as he sat down next to Alec, picking up his hand, and leaning into him. Raphael climbed onto his father's lap, leaning back hard on his chest, bouncing a little, Alec got the chance to smirk at Magnus' slight discomfort. Their children were small but still a force to deal with when they put their into weight into their movements.
Jace sat next to Clary on the couch; they were both leaning towards the cake with Clary holding the knife. Izzy was on the floor in front of the chair where Simon was sitting; she had the plated and silverware.
Clary looked around, "Can I do this now?" She didn't wait for an answer sliced into the small round pink and blue frosted cake, she made a second slice and pulled the piece out to reveal a bright blue center. "I'm having a boy!"
"Oh, god, we are going to be outnumbered forever!" Izzy cried out mixed in with all the congratulations.
The party went on for a little longer before Clary needed to go, she kept falling asleep in Jace's arms. Izzy and Simon said they needed to pack some more which earned Izzy a dirty look from Magnus who clearly asked her if she needed to pack the day before.
It didn't take long for everyone to leave which left Alec and Magnus making a deal on who would do what; clean the kitchen or clean the boys.
"I gave them baths on Friday." Alec shot back at Magnus.
"That was nothing; they were already- basically clean." He pointed to them now; both had icing faces, nothing bad but still enough that neither wanted to man-up and be the parent for the evening. "I'll get em' next time." He smirked at Alec's frown. He leaned over to give a quick kiss, "I love you, darling."
Alec frowned deepened at the words, "You're so mean." He grunted when he inexpertly had to catch a flying four-year-old. Max and Raphael barreled down on him since he was still on the floor. They were both talking a mile a minute about cake and bath time. Leaving enough room for Magnus to pick up plates and make a hasty retreat from the living room. Alec glared at him before listening to the boys who continued to demand his attention.