Chapter 3: A Mundane?

Alec woke up to the sound of his pager going off. Turns out the Institute couldn't function for a couple of hours without him. He quickly got dressed, left Magnus a note, and woke Grace up as well. He didn't have the heart to wake his husband after the ordeal last night, so decided to take his daughter to work with him. After all, she was Nephilim and had every right to be there as he did.

"You fancy Taki's on the way to the Institute, Gracie?" he asked his daughter as they walked away from the loft and onto the bustling streets of Brooklyn.

"Sure Papa, can I get some waffles?" she asked sweetly, holding onto her father's hand as they crossed the road to the hole in the wall café.

"You can have whatever you want princess."

Alec absolutely adored Taki's, it served every kind of food for Nephilim and Downworlders alike and the staff were always friendly towards everyone. They walked into the café to find it extremely busy, full of Downworlders on their way to work. He nodded to Lucian Greymark, the alpha of the New York pack and went to sit at the breakfast bar, where Maia was currently serving.

"Sup Lightwood," the girl grinned, waving at Grace as they sat down.

"Hey Maia, could we please get some blueberry waffles and some strawberry pancakes to go please?" Alec requested, making himself and his daughter comfortable on the stools.

"Coming right up! So, I heard there was some trouble at Pandemonium last night?" the werewolf girl asked, passing the order through to the kitchen.

"Yeah, some Shape-Shifters. We got 'em though," he smiled. Maia just grinned and passed Alec a coffee and Grace a strawberry milkshake.

"We didn't order-"

"Oh I know, on the house. Kinda like to spoil one of my favourite Shadowhunters," she smiled, winking at Grace as she supped her milkshake.

"Thank you Maia," Grace said, going to give the girl a hug. Alec nodded a thank you and drank his coffee slowly, liking the feel of the caffeine slowly making its way through his body and to his very tired brain.

"Hey guys, heard something went down at the club last night?" Lucian Greymark asked, as he came to pay for his food.

"Yeah, Shape-Shifters," Alec told once again, he was astonished as to how quickly news traveled around the Downworld.

"Besides that, I heard Magnus got hurt?" the alpha questioned, his face concerned as he threw some dollar bills onto the counter.

"Yeah, some mundane who Magnus knew the mother of. She didn't know that she was Nephilim. Mags said that her mother is called Jocelyn something or other and she used to pay him to block the girl's mind or something," Alec explained half-heartedly. The quicker he forgot last night at the club, the better. He saw Luke's face turn pale, he rushed a goodbye and ran out of the café, Alec didn't really register the occurrence as he was way too tired to think.

"Why did Luke run out so fast?" Maia asked as she came back with their order. Alec just shrugged and paid for the food. He thanked Maia for the free drinks and led his daughter out of the café. He was late to the Institute as it was.

BREAK

Alec arrived at the Institute with Grace in tow, they had eaten their breakfast on the way, and Grace was now complaining that she was stuffed. Alec was feeling his pancakes lying heavily on his stomach also, but that was probably because he rushed them. He greeted his passing Shadowhunters and made his way to his office, needing to get on with yesterday's paperwork.

"Why do you have so many papers Papa?" Grace asked, looking at the mountains of sheets on his desk.

"Because Papa has lots of paperwork to do that he missed out on yesterday sweetie, why don't you go and watch some TV?" he asked her, hoping she would just sit still and watch some mundane cartoons. He heard the click of the television and the mutter of voices on the television, it sounded awful but at least it kept his four year old entertained.

"Alec?" Alec heard his sister ask as she came through the door. Grace stood up immediately and ran to her Auntie Izzy like a flash, almost tackling her to the floor. "Hello to you angel," Izzy laughed, hugging her niece to her chest, the little girl's legs wrapped around her waist.

"Did you need something Iz?" Alec asked, head still down on his paperwork.

"The teens from Idris have arrived. You said you would give them a training session today?" she informed him, putting her niece back on the ground as she did so. She heard Alec groan loudly and put his forehead on the desk.

"Don't wanna," he complained childishly. "You're better with kids than I am," he argued.

"Yeah, but I'm not Head of the Institute," Izzy confirmed, chuckling at her brother's childish behavior.

"Fine! Then I am no longer the Head, Jace can have it," Alec grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.

"Come on Papa, if you said you would then you can't back out of a promise," Grace added in, looking at her Papa sternly.

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side?" Alec questioned, pouting at his daughter.

"Come on big brother, if you do this then you can have some ice cream," Izzy laughed sarcastically. Alec just glared at his sister and slumped out of his chair. "I'll look after Grace, so get going. They're waiting!" she shouted to him from the corridor, taking her niece along with her.

BREAK

Alec grumbled and complained to himself all the way down to the weapon's room, where the kids were waiting. He didn't know why he volunteered again, because last time he almost put a seraph blade through a cocky nine year old.

He walked through the door to find around twenty kids and teenagers ranging from about ten to seventeen. They all quietened down as soon as Alec entered the room. Respect, now this is more like it, Alec thought to himself.

"Group up. Ten to fourteen, and fifteen and upwards. Quickly now," he directed them, and to his surprise, they all moved swiftly and followed his instructions. He was actually quite looking forward to this!

BREAK

About an hour later, all of the kids were worn out. All except one. His name was Tyler, he was eleven years old and had been clearly trained by his parents. However, he was way too over confident and Alec wanted to knock him down a few.

"Sir, not being funny, but this is way too easy," Tyler complained, easily disarming his sparring partner.

"Well, that means you have to work harder. Having things easy isn't always a good thing," Alec told him, observing some of the older teens.

"Can I spar against you? That might prove more of a challenge," the boy sneered, standing to face Alec. Alec was ready for this!

"Go ahead. Everyone clear the area. Come on Tyler, come at me." And with that, everybody moved out of the way and Tyler was running at him. Alec quickly sidestepped the boy and he almost crashed into a wall of seraph blades. Alec had learned from a young age to know how to fight without a weapon, and this was going to be a piece of cake. The kid ran at him again, this time from behind, and Alec did a back-flip over him, so the boy nearly collided with a seventeen year old.

"That's not fair!" Tyler whined, brandishing his seraph blade even more. Alec just chuckled and shook his head. Tyler took another run, but caught Alec in the side with the blade, making Alec hiss in pain. Alec grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled it around his back, making him drop the blade. The boy fell forward from Alec's grasp and tumbled to the floor. Alec had easily won this challenge.

BREAK

Alec was applying an iratze rune to his hip when the boy came up to him and apologized for being rude. Alec was surprised at the gesture and forgave him, the lad reminded him of Jace when he was younger, all about himself and his incredibly strong abilities. The boy had walked off to get some lunch with the other kids, when he felt a portal arriving in the Institute. Alec took a walk into the surveillance room, the center of the Institute, and found his husband talking to Jace.

"Magnus, what are you doing here?" Alec asked in surprise, his husband being the last person he expected to see.

"I've come to see my beloved at work of course," Magnus smiled, kissing Alec lightly. "Now, where's my little princess?"

"Izzy had her in my office, I'm sure she'll still be in there," Alec told him, taking his hand and leading him to his office. And sure enough, his sister was sat on the floor with Isabelle, and they were reading one of Alec's work books. Not that he minded of course, the more his daughter could learn about the Shadow World the better and easier it would be when she was older. Grace looked up from her reading and spotted Magnus stood at the door, smiling at her.

"Daddy!" she yelled and ran to him. He picked her up and span her around while she squealed cutely. "I thought you were asleep!"

"I was princess, but now I'm here and ready to take you out. If I can steal you away from your Auntie Izzy?" Magnus chuckled, kissing his daughter's hair. Alec could see that Izzy had braided it for her so it was out of her eyes, Magnus would normally do it but Alec was no good with hair so she had to leave it down that morning.

"Not a problem, I was just called out to the Seelie court anyway. Apparently some of their children are disappearing," Izzy told them, applying some runes to her body.

"Can I do one?" Grace asked from her father's arms. Alec looked at Magnus and Izzy and Izzy nodded.

"Of course you can angel. Come here," Izzy smiled, beckoning her niece to her. Magnus put her down and let her run to Isabelle. "Now I need an iratze rune, do you know what that looks like?" Isabelle asked her. Grace thought to herself for a minute, then ran to her Papa. She pushed Alec's shirt up and pointed to the newly drawn iratze on his hip, Alec blushed a little and Magnus just laughed.

"Well done sweet-pea," Magnus praised, and took Alec's stele out of his back pocket, Alec's blush just kept rising. "Now take this and draw that rune on Auntie Izzy." Grace took the stele from Magnus and took it to Isabelle. Grace knew it need to be easily reached, so found a spot on her left forearm and drew one almost identical to her Papa's, except for an off squiggle.

"Is that okay?" Grace asked, looking back and admiring her handy work. Alec was flushed with pride as he saw his daughter's rune on his sister's arm. Watching your child apply their first rune was always a special moment, Maryse had once told him. And now he knew what his mother meant; this was Grace's first step to becoming a Shadowhunter.

"Very good Gracie, now can Papa have his stele back?" Alec told her, hugging her as she gave the object back.

"Her rune work is practically brilliant, and she only had to be shown what it looked like once. That is pretty amazing," Isabelle said, kissing her niece's cheek. Grace beamed and said goodbye to her Aunt as she went off on a mission.

BREAK

Alec and Magnus brought Grace back to the surveillance room and arrived to quite the scene. Alec heard Jace arguing with somebody, but couldn't quite see who it was. Grace let go of Magnus' hand and ran to her Uncle, she could just make out the top of his blond head.

"Uncle Jace!" she squealed as she attacked his leg, hugging him tightly. Jace looked away from the girl he was arguing with and picked up Grace easily.

"Hey gorgeous. How are you today?" he asked, now completely ignoring the red-head.

"I'm great. I just drew my first rune on Auntie Izzy!" Grace told him proudly, smiling a huge grin. Jace also looked mega proud of his four year old niece and kissed her on the head. He began whispering something to her and she began to giggle uncontrollably. Alec and Magnus arrived as she exploded in a fit of laughter, and Alec just raised an eyebrow at his brother. He had his hand in Magnus' and he immediately felt it tense up.

"What's wrong Mags?" Alec asked and turned to where he was looking. The red-haired girl from last night; Clary. She was stood in the Institute as if she owned the place, glaring at Jace from a distance. "What is she doing here?" he hissed to his parabatai. Jace looked a little guilty and apologetic, what had he done now?

"I went to Taki's for lunch and found Luke talking to her. I kinda had to pass them to get in and that was when she pulled me aside. Apparently Luke is a friend of her Mom's," Jace explained solemnly, he regarded Magnus' face and immediately regretted bringing her there.

"So you just brought her here?" Magnus asked, Jace just nodded and put Grace back on the ground. He went over to Clary.

"Who's that lady?" Grace asked, realizing she didn't know the red-head, which was strange because she knew most of the Shadowhunters in New York. She looked up at her dads and just watched them stare at the girl, then she saw Uncle Jace bring her up to them.

"This is Clary Fray, she wanted to formally apologize for last night-" Jace started.

"You had no right to bring her here without my permission. I am Head of this Institute, and you should have run it passed me first," Alec growled at his brother, sometimes he could really be a huge idiot.

"Look I had to bring her here, she started shouting about magic and stuff in the middle of Brooklyn, would you rather have a bunch of mundanes or just one?" Jace questioned, he knew he'd messed up bad but kinda felt bad for the girl, besides, she was hot.

"I don't care if she was singing I Shot The freakin' Sheriff, she doesn't belong here. Her mother raised her as a mundane, and that is what she is," Alec spat, his temper was really running out with Jace and his mundane.

"A mundane?" Clary asked, looking at Jace.

"A human with no magical or supernatural power-" Grace answered, before being shushed by her Papa.

"Babe, get her out of here. Please?" Alec asked his husband, the last thing he wanted was his daughter to watch him lose his temper big style. Magnus nodded and gave him a quick kiss before taking Grace through a portal, Alec watched her wave to him before being sucked through the dimension.

"Was that your daughter?" Clary queried, watching as she saw two people disappear into thin air. "She looks like you," she told Alec.

"Yes, I'm aware," Alec told her coolly. "Now, Jace, get her out of here. I'm not nearly focused enough to deal with this." Alec huffed and took himself to his office, locking the door for the rest of the day.