Hi! Yes, I know I'm two days late for this update, but there's a reason for it. You see, on Saturday, when I was supposed to be transcribing, my family said "Hell no, we're celebrating New Year's Day" and then I became sick (I still am, a bit, but I had to get this out),
This chapter is very special to me because a) It's little Rafe's first appearence in this story, b) It includes a lot of my personal headcanons about the Lightwood-Bane family, c) It's full of love and fluff.
I have to thank JelloDVDs for the idea for this chapter because it wasn't until I read her story "Saving Catarina" (you should totally go and check it out) that I remembered Catarina is originally from Spain and, therefore, speaks Spain, just like Rafe, and just like me. You should already know I have a soft spot for languages, more so when it comes to my mother language, and since I haven't read a story with a similar theme I decided to write it myself.
Also, a big shoutout for xx ShamiksXa xx, who kindly beta read this one-shot and is a wonderful person.
PD: I'm changing the summary of this story because, once upon a time, very long ago, this was supposed to be a one-shot and not a series of one-shots.
We Have a Plan
Magnus and Alec were no strangers to introducing new members to their ever-growing family.
For starters, it had been scarcely two years since Max had been taken into the family, and after that ―well, maybe probably even because of that― they'd also had to add Lily, Maia, and Catarina into the mix.
Until then, it had all worked wonderfully. Sure, Robert still had a few sore spots with Lily, but he managed to be decent around her and while they surely had to work with his relationship with vampires, he had affection to Catarina. Maia was alright, too, as long as there were no transformations in the living room. Overall, they were just fine.
Both Magnus and Alec knew that it might have seemed peculiar, silly even that they allowed ―and had obliged― their second son to call those downworlders "aunts", but they sincerely didn't mind.
In all justice, theirs was a family that consisted of people that had been carelessly tossed away and then picked up to be put back together by a loving hand. It had been like that from the beginning and, as far as they were concerned, those were their children's aunt as much as Isabelle and Clary were.
Besides, Max loved the attention and had no shame whatsoever showing it, which basically meant that the young warlock was a believer that, of course, the more, the merrier.
Rafael, though… Rafael was another story.
The elder boy certainly had a different opinion on the matter, and while both Alec and Magnus wanted to confirm that from the moment they had welcomed him into their house there was nothing he had to fear, much less the introduction to the unquestionable members of his new family, they couldn't blame him.
Thus they had gone slowly, taking baby steps, making pauses when they were necessary and being patient when it came to their eldest son.
That was why they had waited so long before finally starting to introduce Rafael to his aunts and uncles and, of course, Rafael's first appearance into the family had been nothing like Max's, so noisy, so boisterous.
No, far from that Rafael had seen things that Max hadn't, things that, in all honesty, he shouldn't have seen, and he reacted quite differently to crowded places and unknown faces when compared to the young warlock.
For starters, when they had first found him, Rafael had ran from them, first fleeing from Alec's attempts to catch him when he caught glimpse of the boy in the streets of Buenos Aires and then hiding behind the shadowhunter's legs a couple of days later when he met Magnus, too terrified by the newcomer, not only because he was unknown, but mostly because of the amber glimmer of his eyes because, no matter how gentle his voice was, no matter the fact that he actually understood his words as he spoke in Spanish there was something in him, something that set off his alarms.
The nightmares were, too, an issue. It was hard to teach a child trust when all he had known were fear and loneliness.
It had taken three months to make Rafael understand that when someone touched him it didn't have to be accompanied by pain and to get him to stop flinching when one of them offered him their hand. That did not mean that he wasn't scared by sudden movements or that, when he entered a room, the first thing he did was to search for an exit, if given any reason to escape.
As if that wasn't enough, Rafael had a major speech delay, which was not to come in as a surprise, since he had been living on his own since the age of two. Now, of course he didn't speak English, the real problem was… he didn't speak much Spanish either.
And then, naturally, there was the malnourishment and the panic attacks and the tantrums and the screams and–it was getting better, yes it was.
Right then, they could go as much as a week with no incidents of Rafael waking up in screams; right then they had managed to gain enough trust from the child for him to actually slip his small hand into one of his father's when he got nervous.
Rafael had also been gaining weight, and though he was still some pounds under what he should be, they were getting there. And last but not least, the young boy had gone a very long way when it came to speaking, which was probably his greatest achievement then.
Quite honestly, Magnus had a theory that Rafael, either consciously or unconsciously, paid more attention to the grammar of the words he was saying and to their correct pronunciation in favor to push away the fear of how new everything still was, and while that thought was heart-breaking, Magnus couldn't help the pride that blossomed in his chest when he heard Rafael actually speak, with his sweet, whispered voice.
Things were getting better, that much was true,
And, on happier news, if there was one thing that always managed to bring back hope to Alec and Magnus after a troublesome night, that was the fact that, from the very beginning, Rafael had taken a special liking to Max.
It was more than a bit surprising, to say the least, that upon seeing Max's smiley blue face Rafael didn't start screaming, but the sight had been so sweet that Alec and Magnus decided not to think too much about it.
Honestly, they deserved that warming relief after nearly three weeks of worrying because, though they wanted to spare their youngest the feeling of rejection, they couldn't continue traveling back and forth from Buenos Aires to New York leaving Max with Maryse or Izzy or Catarina. The children needed to meet each other.
Magnus and Alec were prepared for fire, for explosions, for screams and tantrums―it was to be expected, after all, Rafael had been terrified of Magnus, whose only visible demon trait consisted in a vertical line for a pupil instead of a circle while Max's was… a little harder to ignore, with the deep blue color of his skin and the horns that had just started to grow out, making him a tad clumsy and forcing him to turn his head all too suddenly, unaccustomed to the weight.
Surprisingly, none of that happened.
It would never cease to amaze them, the couple had decided a long time in the past, that the first time Rafael and Max met, under the very worried eyes of their parents, Max carefully put down by Magnus while Rafael hid behind Alec's legs―that the first time they'd met, when Max, boisterous and trusting as he was immediately jumped from Magnus' grip and wrapped his arms around the terrified shadowhunter… Rafael didn't jerk away or jump in fright.
It had taken Alec a solid half an hour to get Rafael to stop screaming when he'd met Magnus, Magnus, who spoke his language, who had a normal skin color, let alone let the warlock touch him. The couple had expected way worse when it came to Max―it hadn't been so.
For the first three seconds, Alec speculated that perhaps Rafael was too shocked to push Max away, but when by the fifteenth second Rafael's arms, ever so slowly, wrapped around the warlock's shoulders, both Magnus and Alec exhaled sighs of relief.
It had been like that ever since―for some reason that Magnus and Alec neither knew nor questioned, Rafael trusted Max blindly, and the warlock adored his brother. So, when it had finally felt right to start introducing Rafael to other things, trying new foods, taking him out and into crowds more often now that he trusted them not to leave him behind and, overall, the rest of the family, their little blueberry had taken it upon his shoulders to be Rafael's guide.
Of course Magnus and Alec hadn't been able to keep the new addition to the Lightwood-Bane family secret for too long ―with people like Isabelle Lightwood around nothing was easy to hide―, but after they had explained their reasons to keep Rafe away from them for a little longer their relatives had agreed that it was the wisest thing to do.
That, however, hadn't withheld them from asking for pictures and videos so, basically, everyone knew about Rafe and knew him―he just had no idea of who they were.
They had taken baby steps when it came to the family, as they had with everything else.
After six months with them, when they considered Rafael was comfortable and stable enough around them, they had first introduced him to Isabelle and Jace ―mainly because if she was not the first one introduced to the boy, Isabelle was probably going to go berserk on them, and also because I'm your parabatai, Alec, I need to be there―, after two weeks it had come Robert and Maryse's turn, then Clary and Simon's. And then they had run out of shadowhunters.
It was the downworlders' turn now.
They had decided to introduce Rafael to Catarina first, on her own, and then to Lily and Maia.
To say the least, they were worried. It didn't matter that the blue skin had proved not to be an issue in the past, it didn't matter that until then those family meetings had gone perfectly fine―they both could feel their breath stuck in their throats.
Magnus had started pacing in the living room when the doorbell finally rang.
Peering his head from his spot on the couch, Rafael slowly stood up and went to hide behind Alec's legs, who had come out of the kitchen and was now about to open the door of the apartment.
"She's here, aren't you excited?" Alec asked to no one in particular before sighing and, finally, opening the door.
They had warned Rafael that the aunt he was to meet that day was very special and that she was a warlock, with blue skin just like Max's, but there was still no telling to how Rafael would react.
"Rafael, this is Catarina Loss" Magnus explained, placing his right hand on Catarina's shoulder, just to let Rafael know that it was okay to touch her. "She's a very dear friend of―"
"Aunt Cat, aunt Cat, aunt Cat!" Max declared, coming out of the room he shared with Rafael now that he knew the female warlock had arrived.
"Max, thanks for your interruption" Magnus satirized, coming out ignored by everyone but Alexander, who choked down a laugh.
"Ha-ha, I think someone here knows my name" Catarina laughed, kneeling down to hug Max when the toddler wrapped his arms around her legs.
"I do, I do!" Max nodded, before stepping back to take Rafael's hand from behind Alec. "Aunt Cat, this is Rafe" he declared
"Rafe?" Catarina asked gently, her only answer Rafael's shy raise of his eyes.
"Rafe, this is aunt Cat" Max continued, all but dragging his brother away from their father with a small yelp of the shadowhunter. "She has blue skin just like me and she makes the best chocolate cookies―just don't tell that to aunt Izzy."
"Hi," Catarina greeted as Rafael eyed her shyly.
"You are blue" Rafael pointed out as if he didn't yet believe it. "But not like Max, it's… it's más*… just… different" he said, unable to remember the word he wanted to say in English.
"Yeah, my skin is a little lighter, isn't it?" she said, smiling, to what Rafael nodded curtly. "Y también hablo español*" she offered gently, deciding that, perhaps, what Rafael needed to listen to were kind words in his mother language.
As soon as the first word left her lips, Rafael raised his gaze, believing for a second that he had heard her wrong. On her side, she simply winked him an eye.
"¿Español?*" he asked, giving a couple of shy steps towards her.
"I was born in Spain" Catarina explained, to what Rafael nodded once more. "That's where I met your papa."
"She's amazing" Max declared cheerily, causing the female warlock to laugh heartedly.
"Well, that certainly means something coming from the most handsome warlock in here, sweetheart" she chuckled as she tried to reach Max to tickle him, although Max, knowing the trick, shrieked in excitement and jumped out of her grasp.
Turning back to Rafael, Catrina sent him a smile.
"Extrañas el español, ¿no es cierto?*" she asked gently. "You miss Spanish, don't you?"
"Yeah," the shadowhunter nodded. "Papa has tried to teach dad Spanish but he… no aprende nada*" he whispered as if telling her a secret.
"He's a little hopeless, isn't he?" Catarina said, causing the boy to nod vigorously. "I hear you're Max's brother, ah? That makes me your aunt too, did you know?" she continued gently, brushing dark bangs away from his eyes.
Feeling a knot tie itself in her chest as she saw the surprised sparkle that immediately lit in the eyes of the young boy ―as if he hadn't believed it, as if he hadn't stopped to consider that, since she was a part of Max's family, she was part of his family too―, Catarina continued.
"¿Puedo abrazarte?*" she asked, waiting for Rafael to gesture his approval before tenderly wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I'm so glad to finally meet you" she whispered, pressing a kiss to Rafael's temple before standing up.
"It's nice to see you" Alec welcomed her, now that he had her attention at last.
"It's always nice that you invite me" she replied, already following the Lightwood to the kitchen.
"It's not our fault that you're so busy at the hospital" Alec laughed. "You know you're welcomed to come whenever you want."
"Of course" she nodded. "I promise I'll try to come more often, I-" she stopped, feeling Rafael coyly slip his tiny hand into hers. She smiled down at him to let know it was alright before continuing. "I'm free next Sunday, why don't you all come over to my place?"
"Sounds like a plan to me" Magnus piped in from behind them, Max clapping excitedly in his arms.
"What do you say then, Rafe? Would you like that?" Cat inquired.
"Sí*" he nodded, before switching back to English. "I'd like it very much… aunt Cat."
"Then next Sunday it is. We have a plan, gentlemen" the female warlock laughed.
And they did, didn't they? After all the trials and tribulations, the unexpected appearances and confessions… they had a plan, a plan, and a family.
I seriously love Catarina, just saying.
Anyways, here go my translations. All of the are, of course, Spanish.
*1 más, more.
*2 y también hablo español, and I also speak Spanish.
*3 ¿español?, Spanish
*4 Extrañas el español, ¿no es cierto?, you miss Spanish, don't you?
*5 No aprende nada, He doesn't learn anything.
*6 ¿Puedo abrazarte?, can I hug you?
*7 Sí, yes.
That's all for now, beautiful people, please let me know in the comments if you liked this chapter as much as I did and... read you soon!