***Diana P.O.V***

When I woke up on Saturday I found myself feeling excited. Gwyn was still fast asleep with his arms wrapped around me, so I snuggled up into him and enjoyed feeling him close to me. I knew when Gwyn had woken up as his arms tighten around my middle and him press a kiss to my neck. We stayed like that for a moment simply enjoying each other's company. "Looking forward to the date later?" Gwyn asked and I smiled. The picnic he had suggested earlier in the week had literally kept me going for the last few days. Gwyn had planned everything and had sorted all the food out, meaning I hadn't needed to worry about a thing. "Of course I am, how could I not be?" I said, which got me another kiss on the neck from Gwyn.

Eventually we got round to getting up and ready for the day, and as much as I didn't want to get out of bed, I couldn't exactly go to the park in my pyjamas so I knew I had to actually put some proper clothes on. Having changed, and Gwyn was able to gather the last few things together, we set of to the park. As much as Gwyn and I tried to make time for each other, like we were doing today, we didn't always manage it meaning that days were we actually went out and did stuff were even more special. Eventually we had arrived at the park, and found a spot by a pond and Gwyn set out a blanket for us to sit on.

We just stayed there for a bit, lying down cuddling, and just talking about whatever came into our heads. We would have stayed like that for longer had my stomach not started making weird gurgling noises, indicating that it was hungry and required feeding, making us both laugh. Sitting up, Gwyn opened up the basket he had brought with us, and revealed an assortment of food, all of which looked delicious. He'd even brought a bottle of wine, and for some reason this made me giggle. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore, which was when Gwyn picked up a couple of small packs out of his bag, making me look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I was thinking we could feed some of the ducks" Gwyn explained, and looked slightly embarrassed. Leaning forward, I gave him a soft kiss on the lips, before going "I'd like that". Gwyn, being the gentleman, stood up and put his hand out for me, helping me up. Taking one of Gwyn's packets, we walked hand in hand to the pond we had been sitting by, and fed the ducks. It made me feel like a child, and I loved it.

***Magnus P.O.V***

Having seen Alec again at his sister's fashion event, it had confirmed what I had originally felt, the first time we had met. That I wanted to see more of him outside of work. He was a beautiful human being and I had a feeling that there was more to Alexander Lightwood than just good looks and black clothing. I made it my mission to make this happen, and much to my surprise it didn't take much, I thought it would have been more of a challenge than it actually was. I had suggested he come to mine for a couple of cocktails, and much to my surprise he accepted. There was a part of me that thought he was straight, even though I knew it was wrong to assume things like that.

I'd just finished making sure that everything was ready, when the doorbell went and I found myself grinning. I had dated a few people on and off, but there was something that felt different about this, but I could not quite place what it was exactly. Opening the door, I was met with an Alec awkwardly clutching a bottle of wine, which he handed over. "My sister said it was customary to bring something so I got this" he said, blushing. God he was adorable. Taking the wine from him, I stepped aside to let him in, and closed the door. "You should listen to your sister more often" I said as I inspected the bottle. It was a good choice of wine, but not a good choice of drink for a cocktail night.

Once Alec had gotten himself sorted, I brought him through to my front room, and got him seated, I went to get us a couple of cocktails (I decided to start with Pina Coladas, because they were my personal favourites) and handed a glass. "So tell me about yourself Alexander" I said, taking a sip of my drink. Alec shrugged going "its Alec….What do you want to know?" which made me smile. "I prefer Alexander, I think it suits you better. And I'll take whatever you want to say. Seeing as I briefly met some of your family already, why don't you start with them?" I asked, and Alec visibly relaxed. Clearly his family was a safe topic and one he was happy to talk about.

"Well there's my younger sister Isabelle, or Izzy as she prefers to go by. She's the one who was at the fashion event you organised. She's the sort of person who never goes anywhere without her heals and can make anything look good. She's married to a guy called Simon, who's in a band. He's a bit geeky but he's a good man for my sister" he started. I knew what he meant by Izzy and her clothes, she had good taste and I had a feeling she was the sort of person I would get on well with. "There's also Jace, one of my younger brothers. He got adopted by my parents when he was ten, but despite a bit of a rough start, we're really close. He's a personal trainer, and recently married his childhood sweetheart Clary, who is a really good artist". I went through the group I had met and realised who Jace must have been: the blonde who looked like he spent too much time in the gym. Well it made sense if he was a personal trainer. It looked like Alec must have made the most of his brother's profession.

"Finally there's Max, the youngest. He does animation for an independent film studio and recently started dating someone called Livvy. She does something with computers for the police. I don't really get it, but Max seems happy with her and that's more important than understanding her job" Alec finished and took a sip of his drink. There was a slight pause, and I expect him to start talking about his parents, having covered his siblings. When he didn't start talking again, my curiosity got the better of me. "What about your parents? They were there weren't they?" I asked and Alec glanced at his lap. I suddenly realised his parents might be a more difficult subject than his siblings and I felt bad for asking.

"They were cool growing up, making sure we all went to a good school and did well but things changed when I realised I liked guys, and not in a platonic way and came out as gay. Izzy, Jace and Max were all really chill about it. They just said I was still their brother, gay or not. But my parents? They were more concerned with how having a gay son would have an impact of their career than about my wellbeing. They avoided talking about it, with the exception of my Dad asking me what had turned me gay and going "how do you know you aren't attracted to girls when you haven't dated one?" I was made to feel dirty for my sexuality. I left to go to University and my parents never asked how I was doing, and they outright said not to bother come home for the holidays, so I didn't" he said, and he took a deep breath.

I felt sick, how could parents not care for their child, just because they weren't straight? Alec continued talking "thankfully my siblings visited as much as they could, and let me know I still had family that cared. They were the ones who came to my graduation, where my parents didn't even acknowledge it. I started to work as a Social Worker, wanting to make sure nobody felt alone and had a loving family. I later went on to start the Alicante Institute and my parents finally realised I was more than my sexuality and made attempts to repair their relationship with me, and my siblings. Apparently because Izzy, Jace and Max had supported me, it had caused problems with our parents. We have a long way to go but we have made a start" Alec finished. He'd opened himself up to me and it had taken me by surprise.

"But enough about my family, what about yours?" Alec asked. He'd been honest with me, so I decided to be honest with him. Like I said, things felt different with Alec, not like they had with the other flings I'd had. "I don't have a family, not really. My mother had fallen in love with a man, and they had a short relationship. She fell pregnant with me, and once my father learnt she was pregnant with his child he ran away and was never seen again. My mother quickly entered into a marriage of convenience. Where we lived, it was frowned upon for an unmarried woman to be pregnant so she married the only person who would take her. But my step-father was abusive and my mother, unable to take it anymore took her own life. My step-father decided he wanted nothing to do with me and put me into the care system as soon as he could, which was where I grew up. I had to make myself the person I am today, because I didn't have the support network most people have" I said.

We sat in silence, going over what we had both admitted, and quite quickly we finished our drinks. Deciding to lighten the mood, I got us some more drinks, I started talking about safer topics: the books we enjoyed reading, the TV shows we were watching and things we wanted to achieve before we died. I admitted I was fluent in Spanish, and regularly visited Peru, and Alec confessed he'd never had a real relationship before. A couple of drinks later, we found ourselves getting onto deeper topics: the weirdest dreams we'd ever had, did we think that aliens existed, and whether or not we believed in ghosts. When we had really started feeling the effects of the alcohol, one of my favourite songs (Reggaeton lento by CNCO) came on, and I decided it would be a really good idea to dance to it. Standing up, I turned to Alec going "dance with me" causing Alec to look horrified and shake his head.

"I don't…no can't dance" Alec said which made me laugh for some reason. "Can't or won't" I challenged and Alec was immediate with his answer of "both!" which made me laugh even more. Despite his protests, I pulled Alec up and pulled him into an awkward dance and despite himself, Alec found himself smiling, but I don't know if that was because of the dancing, or our proximity. "See you are dancing!" I exclaimed and Alec laughed. "Only because you are helping" he protested just as the song came to an end. We attempted to dance for a few more songs before Alec caught sight of the time, and decided to leave. "I enjoyed myself tonight" I said, at the door. Alec looked at me and smiled going "so did I, it was fun" and despite myself, I leant forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Alec looked at me with his surprise clear on his face. He blurted out a "thank you" then he realised what he'd said, quickly said his goodbyes, and left. I smiled as I watched him go. Yes, Alexander Lightwood was going to be different.

***Ash P.O.V***

I was back in my old room. My Dad was screaming at me for something and I was crying. Dad hated me crying and it often made him get violent with me. So it was no surprise when he slapped me across the face then started shaking me intently. I heard my name being said, over and over again. I then realised that it was someone else saying my name, and shaking me awake. Opening my eyes, I saw Jaime standing over me, with a look of concern on his face. I felt sick, I was very private about my nightmares and didn't even admit to having them, so the fact Jaime had seen me have one made me feel terrible. I sat up then, and felt the tears running down my face.

Jaime sat on my bed and looked at me. "I was coming back from the toilet and heard you crying out. I came to check on you because I was concerned about you, and realised you were having a nightmare so I decided to wake you up. Do you want to talk about it?" he explained. I stared at my lap, thinking. Jaime and Dru were my best friends and I trusted them, but I hadn't told them my biggest secret. I knew the other two had nightmares as they actually dealt with them by talking about them. "You don't have to and I won't tell Dru if you don't want me to" Jaime said reassured me. Jaime had trusted me with his secrets, and I knew I could not keep this inside me forever. "I'll tell you, and you can tell Dru, just don't it in front of me" I said and Jaime promised me that he'd respect that. I switched on my lamp, and started talking.

"My Father was a man called Sebastian Morgenstern. He was very much a Jekyll and Hyde sort of person. When Mum was around, he was very affectionate and loving to her, and he well, put on an act around me. Because Mum has to travel a lot for work (she did travel documentaries and was a professional photographer) she wasn't always around. As soon as Mum was out the door, Sebastian would turn into a monster. He shouted a lot, and tried to make me keep to impossible, and sometimes contradictory standards, just to see me fail. He would also turn violent when I couldn't keep to these standards. I would be on the receiving end of his violent anger on a regular basis. But he would only hurt me on places that could be hidden so no one would know. He was in a gang, and would often have them round ours when mum was away. She earned loads so could afford a nice house and nice things, but Sebastian claimed he'd paid for it all".

I could see the anger on Jaime's face at my words, but thankfully he remained silent and allowed me to continue to talk. "He'd allow his gang members to boss me around and beat me if I didn't do something to their liking and they took advantage of this, and hurt me regularly. Sebastian was murdered a few years ago, and that's when Mum learnt about his involvement with a violent criminal gang and was furious. I stopped calling him Dad after that, only Sebastian, not that I ever talked about him. It's been me and Mum ever since and things have gotten better. One of the reasons I came to university was to be able to get a good job and prove I wasn't going to sponge of my rich mum and was more than the son of a violent criminal" I said, suddenly feeling very exposed and vulnerable now my past was out in the open.

Jaime looked at me then going "you didn't need to come to university to prove that Ash. No one could be convinced you'd turn out like that….monster" he said and moved and put his arm round my shoulders, giving me a squeeze. "I cannot say how sorry I am that this happened to you" I said and I shrugged. "Why? You weren't the abusive one" I said and Jaime squeeze my shoulders again. I found myself leaning into him, desperately needing his comfort. "I know but you are my friend and I don't like thinking of you being hurt" he said and after a slight pause, he added "have you ever told you mum what he did to you?" he asked and I shook my head. I had always wanted to but never felt like I could. "No. When he was alive, he was always so affectionate to her I knew she would never believe me. And when he died, Mum and already suffered two massive shocks: her husband had been murdered and had been a violent criminal gang leader. I couldn't add to that by saying he had also abused her son. So I didn't. And we were both quite happy to pretend he had never existed" I said.

There was another pause and Jaime was clearly choosing the right words to say. "I think that talking to your Mum will help. Not only will it act as closure for you but you're her son, and she deserves to know" he said. He was right of course but it didn't make the prospect any less scary. We talked a bit more and then tried to get some more sleep. As promised, Jaime told Dru the following day, whilst I was out, working on a project. On my return, Dru gave me a massive hug and they both said that if I ever had another nightmare, I could come to their room and sleep in their bed, with them hugging me if I wanted to, and I could always talk to them about stuff. They also stayed in the room with me as I skyped my mum and told her the truth. It was difficult but like Jaime had said, things started to get better after that.