Chapter 11: Teacher Teach Me

TIME JUMP!

A month had passed since the whole finding a rune on Grace's shoulder, and nobody was none the wiser. Magnus had searched and researched everything he could think of and he came up blank. As did Catarina, who had never seen anything like it; even Dot, Grace's new tutor, didn't know what was going on with the eldest Lightwood-Bane child.

Lily and Nicholas were now crawling, almost walking and uttering words here and there. Alec's heart melted when he heard Lily say "Papa" for the first time, he was crying tears of joy and scooped her up into his arms. Nick hadn't said that much yet, but Magnus kept saying it would soon happen. Lily had now taken to flying around most of the loft, she obviously thought crawling was above her and would soar around the rooms of the apartment. She once got stuck on top of a wardrobe and had screamed for somebody to get her down, luckily Magnus was only in the next room over and ran to get her.

Supernatural children were very independent, even when they were tiny, so parents didn't really need to keep a constant eye on them. When kids got to Grace's age, they practically let them fend for themselves, unless you were Alec and Magnus of course. But Alec could recollect a time when he was around five, and his mother had nipped out somewhere and had left Alec in charge of Izzy who was only three, however both hadn't really even noticed she had gone, and she returned a couple of hours later to both of her children still alive and well.

Grace was sat with Dot at the breakfast bar, learning various spells and how to control her magic. Alec had made it clear to the warlock that Grace was adamant on becoming a Shadowhunter and needed to be taught both ways. Dot had agreed whole-heartedly and respected the family's wishes. Alec and Magnus were in their room, both twins asleep, and were enjoying some rare peace and quiet.

"How do you think Grace is doing with Dot?" Alec asked his husband, who was reading a book while laid on top of the sheets.

"She's fine. Her magic is already getting better and her control is pretty fantastic. You need to stop worrying Alexander," Magnus told him, dropping his book and holding his Shadowhunter's hand. Magnus loved days like this, it was one of the few that Alec got off duty from the Institute; before they had children Magnus would portal them around the world and they would have dates in various cities. Now they took what little time they could together and just enjoy lazy days.

"I'm not worried really, I'm just more… I dunno," Alec stuttered, not really sure how he was feeling at the moment. Magnus rolled onto his side and pushed some of Alec's hair out of his eyes, he kissed his cheek and heaved himself out of bed. "Where are you going?"

"I'll be right back my love, promise" he answered, floating from the room in a pair of Alec's sweatpants and a silk kimono he had gotten from Japan. Alec was used to his husband's dramatic exits by now and picked up the book Magnus was reading. It was exceptionally old and dusty, many of the pages torn or ripped. Alec took notice of the page Magnus was studying and read the title: Fascinavit Immortalia. Alec wasn't quite sure what it said as he hadn't learned Latin since he was fourteen, but he assumed it was some sort of spell. Alec shrugged it off and picked up his stele from the bedside table, he was twirling it around his fingers when he heard a yell from the twins' room.

Alec legged it into the room to find Magnus up on the ceiling on his back, his hands stuck underneath his body.

"What the hell?" Alec asked, staring down his daughter. Lily was sat there in her cot giggling and shouting, looking the picture of innocence.

"Daddy fly, Daddy fly!" she was laughing, pointing up at a very pissed off Magnus.

"No sweetie, Daddy no fly. Bring Daddy down?" Alec wondered, asking his daughter nicely. Lily just shook her head cheekily and Alec knew it was no good trying to pull Magnus down himself if he was stuck with magic.

"Get Dot, please," Magnus asked his husband. Alec nodded and ran off to get Dot from the kitchen.

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Alec got to the kitchen to find Grace identifying different runes that Dot was showing her.

"Dot, Lily stuck Mags to the ceiling," he told her, causing a giggle from Grace.

"That's kinda funny," his daughter laughed, Alec couldn't help but crack a smile and led the warlock to the twins' room.

Dot got Magnus down with ease, and Magnus went straight to Lily telling her off. She only looked guilty and mumbled an apology to her Daddy.

"I have an idea," Dot started. "I could teach Lily how to control her magic also, I mean, Grace has nearly nailed it down. Free of charge?" Magnus and Alec looked at each other and mentally agreed.

"Sure, but why for free?" Alec questioned, raising his brow.

"All day everyday all I would do is sit in my apartment and watch mundane TV, and you guys gave me something to look forward to each day with teaching Grace," she explained, with a smile and a wink to Grace who reciprocated with a two-eyed blink.

"Of course Dorothea, we deeply appreciate the help you have given ourselves and Grace, but please let us offer you something in return?" Magnus told her, not one for doing things for free himself.

"Okay how about this? You don't pay me for Lily's teaching, and I will take all three children off your hands twice a week? Spending time with these little treasures is payment enough," Dot offered. Both Magnus and Alec jumped at the offer and accepted instantly. Dot could only laugh, knowing she was doing a massive favour to the parents, she could guess by the way they accepted the offer that they didn't get much time together without the children.

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It wasn't long before Dot took over with Lily that an idea popped into Alec's head.

"Baby? You remember you asked me a while ago to teach you how to shoot?" he wondered, realising that now would be a perfect time.

"Yes, of course I remember," his husband told him, looking down from his book he had bag studying again.

"Well how about we go to the Institute now and I will teach you?" the Nephilim said, in all honesty he was actually looking forward to teach Magnus how to use his speciality weapon.

"Okay, sounds fun. I will ask Dot if she's okay to look after the kids if you want?" Magnus offered.

"Yes, that sounds great. You go ask and I will get changed," Alec admitted excitedly, the warlock got himself out of bed and laughed about his husband's amusement and childlike excitement.

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After clearing everything with Dot and getting changed, Magnus had portalled himself and Alec to the Institute's weapon's room. Thankfully nobody was in there, so Alec brought a couple of targets from the back, his favourite of the new bows and one he thought would suit Magnus. He also had a couple of quivers of arrows with him.

"So, get a firm grip on that, okay? Now notch the arrow on the bow and into the string," Alec instructed. It was evident that Magnus was indeed a beginner at archery, so Alec wrapped his arms around his husband, so to guide him properly. Magnus did as he was told and placed the arrow where it was supposed to go. "Now, draw the string back to your chin, that's it. And… let it fly."

Magnus let go of the arrow and it went soaring straight into the middle of the target.

"That's cheating baby," Alec chuckled, going to retrieve the arrow.

"I don't know what you mean my love," Magnus said innocently with a smile.

"I saw the sparks," the Nephilim told him, swatting him on the ass. Magnus just groaned loudly and notched the arrow up again. He wanted to do it right for Alec.

Alec placed his hands on both of Magnus' arms and moved his husband's arms as he would if he was shooting. Magnus released the string and the arrow hit the blue inner circle.

"Good job. Now let's try again without my help," Alec praised, fetching the arrow from the target quickly.

"But I like your hands on me," Magnus pouted, causing Alec to let out a snort of laughter. Magnus got another arrow into the string and pulled it back to his chin, determined to hit the bullseye this time; but to no such look, it hit the similar spot as it had last time, the blue area.

After a dozen attempts, Magnus was getting frustrated now and just wanted the damn arrow to hit the damn bullseye. Alec wrapped his arms around Magnus again, obviously seeing his husband's frustration and decided to help him a bit. The Shadowhunter pulled the warlock's arms back properly and gave Magnus a quick kiss behind his ear. Magnus shivered at the contact and turned his head to kiss Alec properly, letting the arrow go absent-mindedly. Magnus placed the bow on the floor and almost tackled Alec onto one of the crash mats.

They were both rolling around on top of each other kissing and feeling and touching, things they hadn't been able to do for a while. Tongues and teeth were scraping against each other messily, Alec pulling Magnus' shirt out of his jeans and scratching his nails up his lover's back. Magnus latched himself onto Alec's deflect rune on his neck and sucked multiple bruises, some blending in with the dark rune, some of them not so much.

The pair heard a cough from the doorway and saw Jace and Isabelle smirking and laughing at the two on the floor. Magnus practically fell off of Alec and groaned when his elbow smacked against the hard floor. Alec almost banged his head getting up from the mat, losing his footing on the rise and slamming back down again.

"You two look like you've been busy," Izzy laughed, going to help Magnus and her brother up from the floor.

"Alexander was teaching me how to shoot, and we got a bit-"

"Distracted?" Jace chortled, patting his parabatai on the shoulder.

"You could say that," Alec huffed, rubbing his back from where it had hit the mat.

"Well, good arrows anyway," Izzy praised, pointing the two in the direction of the target. Neither Alec nor Magnus had noticed that the last arrow had hit the bullseye perfectly. Magnus and Alec just stood there, mouths agape with Izzy and Jace just laughing in the background.

"Did you need actually need anything?" Alec asked, almost hissing at his siblings for interrupting them.

"Some weapons for a mission, nothing much," Jace informed his brother, going to grab a couple of seraph blades and daggers, Izzy's whip already wrapped around her wrist.

"What is it?" Magnus queried, going to put the bow he was using back on the shelf.

"Those shape-shifters are moving again. I managed to clear them from the abandoned warehouse they were in a few weeks ago, but apparently some werewolves found some on the pier near the Jade Wolf. We're just checking it out," Izzy told them, taking a couple of throwing knives and sheathing them in her thigh holsters.

"You need me to go?" Alec questioned, already grabbing a bow and some arrows. Magnus almost growled in frustration at his husband but managed to stop himself, instead he caught Izzy's eye and she knew what to do.

"Actually-" Jace started before Izzy cut in.

"Nope. We got it, right Jace," she smiled, side-eyeing her brother, hoping the blond would get the message. Apparently he did.

"Yep, totally got this. See you guys later," he told them, leaving them in the weapon's room and dragging Izzy along with him.

"That was weird," Alec muttered, but shook it off just the same. He turned around to smile at Magnus, to find his husband stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "Babe?"

"You were just going to leave me weren't you? If Jace said he needed you, you would have just swanned off to fight demons without so much as a goodbye," Magnus complained, not letting up even just a little bit.

"I wouldn't have-"

"Yes you would. Even on your rare day off, you would have rather gone to slaughter some shape-shifters than spend time with me, which we rarely get to do I might add. We were having a great time just now and then you go and ruin it. I swear you're more married to this Institute then you are to me," Magnus huffed, storming out of the weapon's room with a slam of the door. Alec just stood there, astonished at his husband's outburst and didn't even feel the urge to run after him; because he knew Magnus was right.

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Alec walked home from the Institute, feeling the portal go from the surveillance room ages ago. To be honest, he really needed the cool September air in his face, giving him a reality check.

The Shadowhunter made his way past Taki's, waving to Maia through the window, her bright smile taking the edge off the claw marks on her neck.

If he was honest with himself, Alec knew they had an argument coming up. Everything had been perfect for so long, and even though they rarely argued, someone would always crack after so long. Alec took into account the lack of sex they were having, the frustration from hardly having any alone time together. He and Magnus hadn't even done anything remotely sexual in the last month and a half. And it was really pissing both of them off. Not like they regretted having children, far from it, they just didn't take into account how much time away from each other since the twins arrived.

The cold wind was slapping Alec hard in the face, bringing tears to his eyes because of the harsh breeze. The sun was setting and the night was coming, dark skies overwhelming the crepuscular evening sky. Alec could see faint stars appearing as he looked up and knew it must be getting late, but couldn't bring himself to rush home. He only had three blocks to go and just wandered his way along the busy streets of Brooklyn.

Alec passed by an alleyway as he began to cross a road, when he heard a cry. To the Nephilim, it sounded like a children's cry and his fatherly instincts kicked in. He rushed his way down the dark alley to find two mundane children huddled together against the wall. Alec let his glamour down so they could see him.

"Are you hurt? What's going on?" Alec asked the two children. Two boys who looked ragged and dirty immediately launched themselves at Alec, hugging him tightly.

"A lady took us from the park, she was nice and then she wasn't," the apparent younger boy cried, burying himself deep into Alec's jacket.

"Do you remember what she looked like?" he questioned, checking both boys over for injuries.

"She had long browny-black hair, quite pale with a pretty dress on. She had bright yellow heels on and pointy teeth," the older boy informed him. From Alec's judgement, the older boy looked about seven and the younger boy around Grace's age. He thought about the description the boy gave him, it almost sounds as if he was describing-

"Hello Alec," a voice he knew too well greeted from behind him.

"Camille," Alec growled to the vampire, placing the boys behind him and reaching for his glamoured bow.
"No need for all the violence, Lightwood. I was just playing," Camille drawled, flashing her fangs to the young boys.

"With mundanes? You know you've broken the Accords right?" the Shadowhunter snapped, glaring at the woman. He hated Camille for two reasons, one, she tried to kill him and his siblings and Raphael on numerous occasions, and two, she broke Magnus' heart.

"Accords sh'mords," she dismissed with a laugh. "I wasn't going to harm them."

"Why take them then? You kidnapped them!"

"I was bored and they looked like fun. Besides, their mother never even noticed that they had gone, she was too busy chatting up some hot dog vendor," Camille cackled, snarling at the Shadowhunter.

Before Alec could say anything else, Raphael appeared down the alleyway before them.

"Thank God I found you," Raphael huffed. "Magnus called me to see if I could find you."

"Why?" Alec grumbled to his friend.

"Coz he's worried dumb-ass," Raphael said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Alec just rubbed his face with his hands and stood up.

"Well you can tell him I'll be home once I've taken these kids home. You and your clan might need to have a word with this one," Alec told the vamp. Raphael gave Alec a nod and flashed off with Camille in his grasp. By the Angel he despised that bitch. "Right kiddies, I'm going to take you home now okay?" The boys nodded up at the Nephilim and both boys took a hand.

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After the boys took him to their house, Alec made note of the address to send to the Institute so they could send a warlock out to wipe their memories of Camille, Raphael and himself.

Alec made his way to the loft, feeling like a dick if he was honest. He had hurt Magnus, didn't even go after him and decided to take a sulky walk home. Then added on to all of that, he nearly had to kill Camille and save the kids from the undead bitch.

He took the stairs as it was quicker than the elevator and entered the loft. He toed his boots off and chanced a quick glance to the clock, ten pm! Alec didn't even realise he had been that long, so that's why Magnus had sent Raphael after him.

The Shadowhunter put some coffee on and made his way through the loft, he quickly opened Grace's door to find her fast asleep. He couldn't believe he had missed the full evening with his family. He knew Magnus would be more than pissed at him, and knew he was a dead man walking.

"You took your time," Magnus said from behind the Nephilim. Alec shut Grace's door and turned to face his husband.

"Yeah. The Queen Bitch kidnapped some mundane children, took them home," Alec told him, hoping the excuse would suffice.

"So you were with somebody else's kids?" his husband questioned, scoffing.

"So what, you wanted me to leave them out in the alleyway, just to become a murder investigation in the morning?" Alec growled, not believing what Magnus just said. Magnus said nothing and stalked off through the loft, leaving Alec alone with his thoughts. Magnus knew it was Alec's job to protect mundanes, he was just so annoyed.

"You're really mad at me aren't you?" Alec asked, catching up to Magnus in the kitchen. Magnus dropped the mug he was holding and cursed loudly, crouching down to pick up the shattered porcelain.

"I'm not mad Alec, I'm pissed off," Magnus told him, throwing the chunks of mug into the bin.

"They're kind of the same thing," Alec pointed out, reaching down for another mug for Magnus.

"No they're not. Mad requires me to be angry at you, and I'm not. I'm just annoyed that you left me to portal out of the Institute and didn't think to even text me where you were. Why do you think I sent Raph after you?" Magnus explained, his tone softening slightly. Alec was relieved to know that Magnus wasn't angry with him, but annoyed was still pretty bad.

"I know and I'm sorry Mags. I should have gone after you, or called you or something. I never should have volunteered for a mission during my free time with you anyway, I know how precious little time we get to spend with each other," Alec apologised, going to stand in front of his husband and caress his cheek. He was glad to feel Magnus relax under his touch and was upset at himself that he put the tension there in the first place.

"I know. I just wished you would have even asked me first, before outright saying you would go. It was like you were a Shadowhunter first and a husband and father second," Magnus admitted, feeling a tear run down his cheek, he cursed himself mentally for that.

"Ever since you came into my life, I have always strived to put you first baby. It's just sometimes I forget for a moment the responsibilities I have now, being a Shadowhunter is in my DNA," Alec confessed, wiping away Magnus' stray tear and staring into his eyes.

"I know you have Alec. It's just, you have walking examples of your genetics now, in our children. You don't understand the worry I feel when you go out on missions. The dread I feel if I get a single phone call while you are out, thinking it could be Jace or Isabelle telling me you had died at the hands of a demon. The thought of losing you kills me," the warlock wept, letting all of his emotions run awry, tears escaping by the dozens now. Alec could feel himself tearing up and just wrapped Magnus up tightly into his arms, kissing his head and telling him that everything was okay.

"I had no idea you felt like that Mags," Alec said, both him and his husband teary messes now. Magnus couldn't even find the words at the moment, and just kissed Alec for all he was worth. Alec sighed into the kiss, giving himself up to his husband completely. Alec pulled away after a moment, looking Magnus into his de-glamoured cat eyes. "Growing up, I was always taught that emotions were a distraction, something that made you weak. But you taught me how to get lost in your love for somebody, but I guess I never took into account how you felt." Alec admitted, kissing Magnus on his forehead.

"I have been through the ringer Alec, you know that. In all my centuries, people have found ways to break me down, use me for what they wanted, because I was so desperate to be loved. You unlocked something in me, you broke down my walls that I built up after Camille, and you shattered them with those blue eyes and that smile," Magnus smiled, the smile lighting up his face and making his eyes sparkle. "I have never felt the fear that I feel with you, the worry I put myself through each and every day. I don't know why I do it; the old me would have ran away ages ago if I even felt even an inch of what I do now."

Alec didn't even know what to do, he was so naive that he never twigged after all these years together, that he hadn't even considered how Magnus felt about him. He knew that Magnus loved him with everything he was, but up until now, Alec didn't really know how much Magnus needed him.

"I think that we're both idiots," Alec laughed, causing Magnus to chuckle with him. "I know you are worried about me baby, I have always known that. I just always wondered why you chose me, over somebody else who can live forever," he spoke, finally releasing the question he had had in his mind for the past sixteen and something years.

"I chose you because you weren't like everybody else that I had courted. You were Alec Lightwood, the man of honour who grew up in his siblings' shadows. The guy who could shoot an arrow like nobody's business, a leader. The Shadowhunter who was in love with his parabatai, and thought he would never be loved like that. The guy who nearly married a woman to hide his true feelings from his parents, and then kissed a man in front of everybody. That's why I chose you Alexander, you never cease to amaze me," Magnus listed, explaining every detail to his husband.

Alec's eyes began to glitter at his husband's words, more tears falling in this hour than in his entire life. But that was what Magnus did to him, he taught him that emotions were weapons, not weaknesses. And that to love someone the way they loved each other made anything seem possible. Alec Lightwood-Bane had the best teacher ever.

Long chapter here, and it isn't a Shadowhunter's fic without an appearance by Camille ;) Hope you enjoyed, only one chapter left, Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx