Life was starting to make sense again. Alec was quite enjoying his new job and had even made friends there. Abby and Emma had proven to be rather good company when the other wasn't around, and Noah seemed like a solid guy, though very straight. Alec couldn't quite get a read on Magnus yet, but overall things were looking up.

With his phone working, Alec had gotten back in touch with Jace and Maia as well. Jace seemed super into the whole working thing, and asked if Alec could get him a position on Charlotte's crew as well.

"Don't you have college plans?" Alec asked.

"Gran can't afford to send me," Jace explained. "Besides, you're staying in town, so why would I go?"

Alec couldn't help but smile. No matter what else happened in life, it was good to have friends.

Maia had very unsurprisingly taken Jordan back, and the two of them had once again become that annoyingly adorable couple everyone loves to envy.

"Jordan's coming with me!" Maia exclaimed. "We start classes this September."

"That's wonderful, Maia," Alec beamed at her, and indeed he was happy for her, even if it sucked to have his best friend so far away.

"We will skype all the time," Maia told him. "And there's always texting."

"You better come visit on school vacations," Alec told her.

"Yes sir," Maia teased him.

"Oh, come here you!" Alec said as he pulled her into a bear hug.

"Air," Maia gasped. "Can't breath."

"Oh sorry," Alec chuckled as he let her go. "I'm really going to miss you."

"Well you have me for two whole months yet," Maia smiled. "Oh, have you heard from Izzy?"

"Not since yesterday," Alec replied. "Why?"

"She got a job," Maia explained. "At a clothing store. It's part time, but it's something for her to do over the summer and possibly continue during her senior year."

"I feel old," Alec whined. "What does one do after high school?"

"Get a life usually," Maia told him. "Or obsess over how high school is over and fail to move on."

"Oh yeah, no pressure then," Alec huffed.

"None whatsoever," Maia grinned. "I mean, it's your life right? So you get to decide what becomes of it."

"My parents decided what became of it," Alec grumbled. "Or rather what didn't."

"You can only blame your parents for your problems for so long Alec," Maia told him wisely. "At some point they just become your problems."

"Stop making sense," Alec told her.

"Never," Maia giggled. "I make dollars."

"That is just the worst pun ever," Alec whined. "And it isn't even true cause you don't have a job."

"I have an allowance," Maia stated. "Which equals dollars in the plural."

"So, two dollars then?" Alec mocked her.

"Shut up!" Maia replied, hitting him playfully on the arm.

"What am I going to do without you?" Alec sighed, beaming at her even as she was pretending to hurt him.

"Be miserable and alone?" Maia giggled.

"If Jordan ever does anything he shouldn't, I will fly up there to kick the crap out of him, understand?" Alec said.

"Pfft," Maia scoffed. "If Jordan ever does anything he shouldn't, I'd kick the crap out of him before you got the chance."

"I don't doubt it," Alec laughed. They'd reached the turn off, and with a sigh he bid her goodbye and headed towards work.

"See you later?" Alec said by way of a farewell.

"Always," Maia replied, skipping off likely to meet up with Jordan.

Alec walked the last little ways to what had quickly become his favourite place to be. Working on the house with Charlotte and Henry, Alec felt useful and needed, which was a good feeling. Upon his arrival, Alec saw Jace and Henry trying, and very nearly failing, to carry in a long piece of countertop, and at once rushed to help.

"Thanks," Henry said with a sigh as Alec took up a third of the counters weight.

"Why were you trying to carry that on your own?" Alec asked.

"What am I?" Jace scoffed. "Chopped liver?"

"This is clearly a three person job," Alec said by way of explanation.

"We are behind schedule," Henry explained. "And I just hate to tell Charlotte."

"And telling her you broke the new countertop trying to catch up is better?" Alec asked smiling. This confirmed what he already suspected of Henry. It was sweet really, though not in a terribly productive way.

"You make a fine point," Henry said, then turned and continued his work rather than the conversation.

"He's a funny guy," Jace chuckled when Henry was out of earshot. "A real stand up honest guy, couldn't hurt a fly, but funny, yah know?"

"Let's get this counter secured," Alec got them back on task while trying to hold back a smile.

The three of them worked on the kitchen all morning, and by the time Charlotte arrived with Abby and Emma, it was looking like they were far less behind than they actually were. Henry was clearly very pleased, and after a lunch break everyone got to work painting the cabinets.

Alec left work that day feeling very tired, but very happy. It was a good kind of tired. If the last few months had taught him anything, it was that there are many different types of tired.

And so the days blurred together as he worked, spent time with his friends, and generally tried his best to be okay. Grouting tile, painting walls, and pulling weeds gave Alec a much needed sense of control. Maybe Maia was right. Maybe he did get a say in how things went from here out. Then again, the power to control one's own destiny was in itself a rather daunting prospect. Of course that begs the question, is it better to be in charge of one's own destiny, or to take a step back and just be? Then again, maybe he was overthinking this. For what in life could an individual really control anyway? No one got a say in when or where they are born, who their parents are, or what quality of life they grow up with. The world just pulls you along a path until one day the path ends, and you're suppose to just know how to build your own without guidance or warning. Childhood and teenage life has such structure to it. From kindergarten to graduation there was an order to life. Sure there aren't a lot of options, but there is something to be said for that. With less options comes less opportunities to make mistakes. The end of high school meant the end of that structure, an end of coasting through life. Now there were so many - almost too many - options laid out before him, and to top it all off, consequences of choosing the wrong path are so much greater now than they had ever been before.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Alec blinked at the tiles he was grouting. He'd been so deep in his thoughts he hadn't realized anyone else was in the room. Turning around, Alec saw a tall man with Asian features and tanned skin staring back at him. Magnus was his name.

"Just life," Alec shrugged.

"Ah, I see," Magnus smiled. "Let me save you some trouble. The answer is 42."

"Huh?" Alec smiled.

"The answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42," Magnus explained.

"How do you know that?" Alec asked, totally lost.

"The real question is how did Douglas Adams know that," Magnus replied.

"That, in no way explained anything," Alec stated.

"Read 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', and all will become clear," Magnus chuckled.

"O-kay," Alec said slowly.

"Charlotte asked me to collect you for her," Magnus explained.

"Oh thanks," Alec replied, but Magnus didn't leave.

"I heard what happened with your parents," Magnus said after a moment.

Alec groaned. "You and everyone else in the world it seems," he sighed.

"Sorry," Magnus replied. "I didn't mean to drag up unwanted topics. I just thought… nevermind."

"Oh, just say it," Alec sighed. "If you don't I'll wonder what you were gonna say, and the chances are, my imagination will come up with something far worse than whatever you were actually gonna say."

"Well, I was just wondering if I could help," Magnus added. "I know what it's like to overthink stuff, and I know how it can mess with your head."

"Thanks," Alec smiled. He paused, considering if he should explain or not. Alec had seen quite a lot of Magnus over the last while, though only really in passing while at work, and never alone like this. Unlike everyone else on this crew, Alec really had no idea where Magnus stood on just about anything. The man was a walking enigma.

"It was just that I had the future figured out," Alec began. "I could picture it. And now that it's gone, I feel like the ground beneath me has fallen away."

"The future isn't gone," Magnus told him. "It's just changed. Life is change."

"I suppose," Alec sighed. "Still, it seems very much like staring the unknown in the face."

"Maybe don't think so far ahead," Magnus replied. "Focus on now, and the future should tend to itself."

"Thanks," Alec smiled. "I'll try."

"The future is coming one way or another," Magnus added. "There is nothing on this earth that can stop time, and all we can do is decide how that time gets spent."

"You must be old indeed," Alec laughed. "To be so wise."

"I just said that to shut Noah up," Magnus laughed. "He thinks he's such a hot shot just cause he's a quarterback."

"Oh, so he hadn't graduated then?" Alec inquired.

"Nope," Magnus replied. "That idiot still has one more year to go."

"Same as my sister," Alec explained. "She's starting her last year this September."

"Younger sister, I take it?" Magnus inquired. Alec nodded, not quite sure how Magnus knew this, but decided not to ask.

"I'll be eighteen in September," Alec said.

"So young," Magnus laughed, laying a hand dramatically over his forehead.

"Oh, come on," Alec chuckled. "You can't be that old."

"I'll have you know that I am almost twenty-six," Magnus stated proudly.

"Still not that old," Alec told him.

"Older than you, though," Magnus smirked.

"Does that mean your birthday is coming up?"

"Sort of," Magnus replied. "It means I tend to round up my age. My birthday is in December."

"Pfft," Alec scoffed. "You still have five months left."

"But I am more twenty-six, than twenty-five," Magnus counted.

"Twenty-five and a half, more like," Alec laughed.

"Don't you go telling everyone how old I am!" Magnus said, suddenly serious. "It's a well kept secret around these parts."

"Your secret is safe with me," Alec laughed.

Magnus smiled at him, and for a moment, Alec had the strangest feeling in his stomach, like his insides were trying to flip over. A moment later the feeling was gone, and Charlotte was calling both their names.

Hurrying to answer, Alec moved quickly through the halls to find Charlotte rolling white primer onto the kitchen walls.

"Oh good, there you two are," Charlotte said with a sigh as she put her work down and turned to face them.

"How can we help?" Alec asked.

"You can take this," Charlotte said, pulling something from her pocket and handing one to each of them. Alec looked over the plain white envelope. His name was written on it in small neat writing.

"What's this?" Alec asked.

"It's called a paycheck," Charlotte explained with a smile.

"Oh," Alec mumbled. He'd all but forgotten that it had been a little over two weeks since he'd started helping out here. The work had been so liberating he'd all but forgotten he was getting paid for it.

"Don't look so disappointed," Charlotte chuckled.

"Sorry," Alec mumbled, his hand suddenly rubbing the back of his neck like he always did when he was nervous. "I'm not disappointed, just surprised."

"First paycheck," Charlotte smiled at him. "I promise they get less surprising with time."

"Welcome to adulthood," Magnus told Alec. "It gets an infusion of energy once every two weeks, and the rest of the time you run of fumes."

"When you put it like that, I think I'll return to childhood," Alec replied. "It was a lot easier." Everyone laughed and Alec was relieved for the day, but he'd be back here again bright and early tomorrow morning.

This is like the fastest I've updated this story before! #ProudOfSelf :D I hope you like it. Please leave me a review and tell me what you liked or didn't. I think I've answered all the reviews with PMs so no guest reviews to reply to here. :)

Sneak Peek Chapter 8

"Thanks, Mrs. Grey," Alec grinned.

"Will you pretty please call me Tessa," she sighed. "I'm not at work, you are no longer my student and Mrs. Grey is so formal."

"Tessa," Alec said with a little flinch. "Still weird."

"Well suck it up buttercup," Mrs. Grey snapped. "From now on every time you don't call me Tessa no dessert for you!"

Alec loved her cooking and took this as seriously as it had been intended. "Okay Tess-a," Alec said more slowly trying to get better at it.

"Good," Tessa stated. Alec decided calling her Tessa in his head would help him say it out loud.

"Did you ever call your teachers by their first name?" Alec asked her.

"No," Tessa replied. "But I never lived with any of them either."

"Fair point," Alec chuckled.