It had finally become the day that Bay Sarah, and Robert were to return to Alicante.
Alec leaned over his father's suit case, attempting to fix the stuck zipper while simultaneously reassuring Bay that he would see her in a couple days time.
"I'll have nothing to do," she complained, standing over him.
After a finally grunt as the zipper became loose, he stood up and told her, "you'll be going back to school, and I'm sure you'll have friends to play with who miss you."
At this Bay offered only a shrug by the up-turn of the corner of her mouth. The energy she previously contained left her.
Alec looked around, unsure what to do next. Magnus–– his eyes squinted closed–– was leaning against the side of the institute where the portal was to be made, likely attempting to collect enough energy. Magnus had luckily skipped morning sickness, but he was often exhausted. Alec had suggested paying another warlock to open a portal, but the man would hear nothing of it.
Maryse and Sarah were speaking tersely between them with Robert standing awkwardly beside them, hands in his pockets and surveying the uncared for grounds. The institute's lawn was clean cut with likely the last mowing of the season, but Alec noticed the plants were becoming over grown and the stones that made up the walls surrounding the institute were in need of some new mortar. Alec mused to himself that he and Bay could garden next spring if all went to plan with his mother.
"How do you open a portal?" Bay asked.
Alec whipped his head toward where she had been standing, but she was no longer there. She was standing next to Magnus, looking up at him. Alec held his breath. It had been two days since Magnus and he had found out, and Bay had collapsed. This was the third meeting between Bay and his husband. The last meeting he and Bay had talked, but it was a battle getting her to respond to the warlock's questions. She wouldn't look him directly in the eye.
Magnus peaked down at her. Bay stood with her head no taller than Magnus' hips. "It's very complicated," he addressed her. His demeanor was uncaring, but Alec thought he saw spark of hope in his almond-shaped eyes.
"Complicated is easy," she answered with an air of cockiness.
Magnus lifted an eyebrow. "Is it now?"
Bay squirmed in place, becoming bored. "Adults always say that when they don't want to answer me."
"How unfortunate for you, but it looks like you've caught me, blue-eyes."
"That's not my name," she said, her voice low and dark.
"No it's not, but you do have beautiful blue eyes… sometimes."
Bay's face contorted into an expression of so much shock and pain that Alec had almost taken a step toward her when her voice froze him and the other persons in their group. "Shut up!" she roared. "Don't ever say that! You're not allowed to say that. You can't–"
Bay was cut-off when a small stone bench crumbled into itself near where she was standing. The girl ran past Alec to Sarah where she proceeded to ransack the woman's purse for a pair of sunglasses. Not a moment after she placed them on her face, she buried her face into Sarah's stomach.
Alec imagined she was trying to hide inside Sarah. Like she had yet to be born, and the female nephilim sending him an apologetic look was her biological mother. His thoughts were morbid in a way he would normally try to dispel, but all he could envision was Sarah younger and carrying his baby. Every memory of an unborn child was given to her and Alec had nothing but a room full of baby furniture, a paradox that didn't belong in this different life he had just dreamed. Alec tried to clear his mind. He wanted to change everything yet absolutely nothing. It didn't matter because Magnus opened the portal, and it was taken collectively that business was done here.
Sarah quickly whispered something something to Bay he didn't understand. It sounded Hebrew to Alec. The woman pushed Bay in the direction of Magnus, and collected their bags. The girl didn't trudge across the ground to where Magnus was regarding her coldly. She strode, clenching and unclenching her fists as if returning the control of her body back to her reasonable mind.
Through her sunglasses, Bay intoned directly to the warlock's face, "I'm sorry I shouted. I'm sorry that I broke the bench. Sometimes I get mad, and hurt people and things. I am trying to be better. Will you forgive me?"
Magnus looked at the many crumbles that had once been a bench and pointed to it. "You think you broke that?" he asked.
"You're a warlock, and I'm half you, aren't I?"
Magnus nodded, but looked a bit perplexed. "I forgive you."
Bay didn't wait another second. She grabbed her bag from Sarah and marched straight into the portal.
Sarah opened her mouth to yell after her, but realized it wouldn't make a difference. She turned to Alec with an apology on her tongue. "You know Bay is better behaved than that."
"She's probably still tired," Alec excused.
Sarah hugged him with her spare arm, and told him, "see you soon." She joined Magnus by the portal and smiled sadly at him. "I wouldn't hint at her eyes being different."
"I caught on to that," Magnus answered dryly.
Sarah's smile turned mischievous. "I'm sure you two will grow very close."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because when we got here Bay told me that you looked very pretty."
Magnus grinned, "I do so love people with good taste."
The woman continued, not sharing in his merriment, "In case this is the last time I see you for a long time, I want you to know that if anything happens to her I will make sure you regret any action taken against her."
The warlock straightened his height, looking down at her. It did nothing to faze her as she simply stared at him, appearing, as though, she were waiting for an answer. "You won't have to worry about that."
Sarah accepted his answer with a nod, and waved once last time before disappearing into another place in a different time zone.
Robert was the last that to go. He grabbed his bag from Alec with a customary thanks.
"You have to sniffle when you meet the guard," Alec told his dad. "If I'm going to visit you because you're sick than you need to make it believable."
Robert smiled fondly. "Will do, son."
Alec embraced his father quickly, muttering, "I'll see you in a couple days."
"Yes, of course." Robert turned to his son-in-law, and shook his hand firmly. "Congratulations, again," he told them both. "You two must be very excited to have Bay and two more on the way."
Magnus wrapped his arm around Alec's waist. "Yes, very."
Soon Robert was gone and it was only them.
The warlock leaned over and whispered in Alec's ear, "You're mother's left already."
Alec breathed in sharply and pecked Magnus' lips good-bye. He left the other man to close the portal as he ran to the front of the institute. Just as he turned the corner the front door was half shut. Alec cursed lightly as he ran around or over the foliage in his path. His goal: to make it inside before the door shut.
o.O.o
"Mom!" Alec yelled into the sanctuary. The lights were dim, but he could see his mother standing a few yards away from the elevator. She turned around, confusion and surprise evident in her demeanor. "Mom," he repeated walking to her. When he was a comfortable distance from Maryse he said, "I'm sorry."
Maryse regarded him without much aggregation, which Alec took for a good sign. "Sorry for what, Alexander?"
"Everything," he said immediately. "For Ignoring you for years, and getting angry every time I heard your name. That I wasn't there for you when you and dad divorced, that I kept you out of my life as much as possible, and didn't call you on your birthday. I'm sure there's more. I just can't think of any."
His mother shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. You don't have apologize. I caused you to do all that."
"Yes, but I'm trying to make things right between us," Alec insisted.
"Why?"
He gave her an exasperated look. "I finally have my daughter back and I'll be damned if she doesn't have the entirety of her family to come back to."
Maryse crossed her arms. "You seem to be forgetting that the reason this feud began was because of her."
"No, it wasn't," Alec said coldly, stepping closer to the woman. She rolled her eyes heavenward then shut them tightly, trying to hold back her frustration.
When her gaze met her son's she said, "Why do you think I yelled at you?"
"Dad told me you were angry because some nephilim died in a mission you had lead."
"Alec, when have I ever taken my anger out on you when something like that happened?"
The male shadowhunter opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. None of the rare memories which both mother and son had fought did Alec not do something worthy of her anger.
Maryse reached out her hand and brushed away a few hairs from the younger nephillim's forehead. She said in way that was almost fond, yet still held a sense of frustration, "I've tried so hard to train you out of it, but when it came to the bigger picture you could never quite see it."
"I was so angry at you, Alexander, that couldn't see straight," she continued, any trace of comfort gone from her voice, and the space between them seemed to grow more distant though neither dared to move. "Aside from the obvious I couldn't believe what was happening. You looked so hopeful, and Isabelle and Jace had been happy for you–– I can see that now. I couldn't then." Maryse took a breathe. "All I could see was you pulling away and turning into someone I didn't know."
Despite his mother's unorthodox attempt at consolation, Alec found himself snapping, "Then you should have taken it out on me! Not on my baby. Not my perfect baby."
"I think I began to realize something: you never changed. Everything around you did. You were adapting to it, and I felt like you weren't including me in your new life." She raised her arms as if to say she didn't have anything more to trade. "There's my side, now I want to hear yours."
"I don't have a side. I was never mad at you before that day, and after that I had more important things to worry about. I just hate it that you didn't try to involve yourself in my life. Since the last time I really talked to you I've had a child, I've had that child kidnapped, I've gotten married, I've started to make a name for myself- I've even been offered a position as head of the Boston Institute because I'm book smart. I have made an entire life without you, Mom, and it's entirely your fault that you weren't there."
Maryse looked scandalized in a way that reminded him of Isabelle when she was over-zealous about things. Now that his sister was older and had grow into an adult, the similarities between mother and daughter were striking. Had Alec not been trying to get to the end of this conversation he may have commented on it.
"What do you mean you turned down the Boston Institute?" she demanded of him. "Do you not know how great––?"
"I would have had to divorce Magnus had I taken the position," Alec said in a sepulchral tone. He bore into Maryse' eyes with his own, daring her to say anything against Magnus' position in his career.
"I want you back in my life," Alec admitted when it looked like his mother was choosing not to respond. "I've gone through everything I mentioned without you, but I need your help."
Without intention, Alec had let out some of his desperation with his words. He could see the concern in the wrinkles between his mother's eyes. It had been some years since he'd seen her look at him like that, and the man could feel cracks beginning to form in the determination he'd built over the past few days.
"Alec, are you okay?"
The younger nephilim shook his head without looking at her. Alec was surprised when his mom embraced him and put his head on her shoulder, petting his hair as she had done when he was a child.
"You are doing an amazing job," she said. "I can't imagine how hard it must be to take all this change at once. You should be very proud of yourself."
Alec clung to her back, breathing in air through his mouth. His airways felt choked, and his chest like there was a thick rubber band compressing his ribs. A sob followed as his next escaping breath. "She's dying, mom. Bay–– she's–," he rasped out. "I finally found her, but I could loose her; and I can't do anything!"
Maryse kissed the side of his head, tenderly. She didn't dare speak, but continued to comfort him.
"I even dreamed last night that after the twins were born they were kidnapped, but I just knew that when Magnus and I would find them they'd be dead with what Bay has. Magnus hasn't had any prophetic dreams, which equally worries me as much as it… doesn't."
"You two are having twins?" she whispered.
Alec hugged her tighter, fearing that she may push away. "Didn't Isabelle tell you?"
He felt Maryse shake her head. "No, nobody has told me anything lately. I didn't learn about Bay until this morning when Sarah and she arrived."
Alec was shocked. Isabelle had always been the bridge of information between the quarreling pair. Though both ignored it, Alec and his mother had always known that they checked in on the other. Lightwoods stuck together.
"Well, we have Bay back, and Magnus is pregnant with twins. I'm going to go to Alicante in a couple of days to make Bay's return official. Any other news has to do with Bay's treatments."
Maryse began to pull away, but Alec was relive when the separation didn't feel forced. She brought him an arms length distance from herself, and fixed his hair, distractedly.
"How do you intend to bargain for parental rights?" she asked diplomatically. Her demeanor toward him had returned to the one of his childhood memories. Maryse had been loving in her own way of challenging her children, and trying to make them think a second time before making decisions. A task that was near impossible during their adolescent years. Alec didn't want her to look at him the same as she had when he was a child, but a bit of the past was welcome in his rapidly changing world.
"When I'm in Alicante–"
"What's your excuse for getting in?" she interrupted. She gestured to the nearest pew. "If we're going to continue we should sit down."
Once Alec was sat, Maryse leaning on the back of the pew in front of him, he recited, "Dad is pretending to be sick. That's how I'll be getting in. What I'll have to do when I get there is talk to Arthur Phineas, Bay's primary tutor."
Maryse made a sound in the back of her throat. "No, you want to avoid that. I know him personally, and if you want something of his, like I'm sure he feels Bay is, than you want to go through other people first. I'll give you a list of people who can get you the papers you need under the table."
"You'll do that?" Alec asked.
"Yes, of course," Maryse said brusquely as if her son's uncertainty was unwarranted. "I don't trust her training to be supervised by anyone but me."
Alec didn't say anything, confused by his mother's abrupt turn of opinion about his daughter and her well-care. Eventually a thank-you stumbled from his lips, which was then followed by silence.
Maryse cleared her throat. "Is Magnus waiting for you?" she asked.
"I told him to take a cab home."
"Ah."
Alec stood, the urge to leave suddenly upon him. "I'll call you later."
His mom walked him to the door, her hand on his upper back. She opened the door for him, but wouldn't let him go. Alec ducked his head obediently as she attempted to fix the front of his hair one last time. She made an exasperated noise at his hair's perchance not to lay flat.
"Go now," she shooed. "I'll talk with you later."
The younger smiled fondly. "Yes. Ma'am."
o.O.o
Alicante was busy with the morning commuters, who passed by Alec to get to their conclave jobs. He was walking through the historic part of town, the Accords Hall was visible in the distance above the smaller stucco buildings. The wind blew harshly and stung the shadowhunter's cheeks. He tightened the string in his hoodie and ducked his head. He blended in though he was wearing jeans and a hoodie, a backpack resting on his back, when the waves of persons were dressed for business.
Robert Lightwoods house was in the opposite direction of which Alec was walking. He was given directions where to meet Sarah and settle his bags down, but he made an executive decision to ignore the guidelines given to him and follow different directions. He ducked between two elder homes and passed through the city using backroads and alleys. Alec stopped outside a nameless government office. He walked in through glass doors into a waiting room, and gave his name to the receptionist. Within minutes he was leaving the elevator and entering one of the many offices scattered across the floor.
He peaked his head through the glass door without knocking. "I thought you worked from home," Alec said, smiling at his childhood friend.
Aline Penhallow grinned back at him, and stood from her chair. She jogged over to him and hugged him harder than warranted for there brief separation. When he tensed slightly, unused to the affection, she merely laughed and smiled up at him. "You need to get used to hugs. You have a little girl now."
In way of his congenial personality Alec tightened his grip before pulling away. The lady, dressed in a blouse and pant suit, stepped away as well. Her demeanor shifted as she motioned for Alec to take a seat, herself doing the same.
"Your mother talked to me yesterday and I've compiled all that I could get my hands on," Aline said, rummaging through one of her desk drawers. She pulled out a small stack of papers– no higher than an inch–, and gave Alec a weary smile. Though to he it looked more like a grimace. "I wasn't allowed access to Bay's personal file, but that could easily mean that it's filed privately," she consoled quickly.
Alec asked, "Is that important?"
The lady handed him a folder. "That depends. What you have there is Bay's school portfolio– feel free to check any grades if you wish. Since Bay is listed without any parentage she is technically an orphan and property of the state. We could send her to the New York Institute. Maryse would be her legal guardian, but it shouldn't be too much of a hassle for her to give the rights to you."
"What does 'that depends' mean?"
Aline was surprised that he was paying attention. Alec was flipping though the papers she had handed him slowly. Sometimes a corner of his lips would twitch into a smile; sometimes his mouth would draw into a tight line. There was a point to which she could't understand what he was thinking when he saw the thin file. There was nothing more than a few papers of information, since this was her first year attending school, but this was also the beginning of his relationship with Bay. Any information about the girl would interest him.
"I talked with Sarah Miller, Bay's legal guardian, and she told me that Arthur Phineas is also a guardian. Though Bay is technically an orphan she is equally as so adopted. Sarah has agreed to give up her guardianship, but you can't gain anything from that if Arthur doesn't relinquish his."
Alec looked at her, lost. "There's no way I or Sarah or whoever can take away his rights without him signing off on it?"
She shook her head solomly. "He's too high ranked in the Clave. If we file any suit against him, it would simply be pushed aside. I doubt you'd even get a hearing."
"I really like the sound of the first option." His eyes were downcast. He looked like a man whose plan was becoming increasingly impossible, which was, in his case, true.
"I thought I'd give you the least likely to work first. That was probably a bad idea."
Alec nodded enthusiastically, eyebrows raised, affirming Aline's suspicions.
"This could take a very long time, Alec–"
She stopped speaking when his head snapped up; his stare at her desperate enough that she could feel it.
"Do you have the papers I would need Arthur to sign?" Wordlessly she opened another drawer and pulled out an envelope, handing it to him almost hesitantly. "If I got Arthur Phineas to sign these what would I have to do after that?"
"Well, since he already is a consul member than his word would be final and you wouldn't have to make your case with the board. I could over see your becoming Bay's guardian when both Sarah and he give you the right. But you would need a written statement from them both that they agree to sign their rights to you."
He made to stand, but she held out her hands in warning. "Before you do anything, have you asked Bay what she wants?"
Alec, who up till this moment had been ready to leave, settled himself back into his seat. He stared back at Aline with realization. He had never asked Bay if she wanted to live with him and Magnus. Until this time Alec had assumed that she would come to New York and leave Alicante. He'd never stopped to wonder if Bay would want to leave Sarah, everything she knew and considered home.
"I've never asked her," he said dolefully.
Her smile to him was motherly in its kindness. "Don't panic. I'm sure if she didn't want you then you would know."
Alec wasn't wholly convinced, but he accepted her consoling words appreciably. "Thank-you, Aline," he complimented, standing fully. Alec tucked the manilla envelope in his backpack. "I couldn't…"
"You couldn't do any of this without me?" she smiled. "I know." The brown-eyed nephilim stood, and offered a handshake good-bye. Alec accepted, leaving the room with a sense of determination surrounding him.
o.O.o
Alec let himself ride the wave of people in the general direction of the Accords Hall. In truth, as much as he was uneasy with determination to do something… he didn't know what that something was. That was until he stopped, waiting to cross the street, next to no other than Arthur Phineas. Alec didn't stare. He didn't so much as turn his head toward the man. Alec simply followed him down the road to the same cafe where he first met Bay's seven year old self.
Alec followed him past the bell over-hanging the door and sat himself across from the bearded elder.
"Don't do something stupid," Arthur said, barely a glance taken at his intruder. He waved at the waitress on shift.
"I didn't plan on it." What he said was only a half-truth. Up to this point he hadn't thought of a plan. He only saw an opportunity.
Arthur didn't say anything to him until the waitress had left with only his order. He had said that Alec wasn't eating with a finality that made even the girl stutter over her repeat of two eggs sunny-side-up and one coffee. "I don't know what you want, but I'm not in the giving mood."
"Are you ever?" Alec asked genuinely.
The elder considered this for a moment. "I've never had an employee complain about how much I pay them," he mused.
"That's not what I meant," the blue-eyed nephilim snapped. Alec was tired of Arthur's games. Shouldn't the other man know by now who he was and what he wanted? Judging by the tension growing in his hands, Alec noticed of himself, it would be wise for both of them to get to the point.
"I have no idea what you met then. Who, in the name of the angel, are you?"
"Alec Lightwood," he said with an equal sense of finality. "Bay's father."
Arthur's eyes widened, though the rest of his face remained the same. With a blink the look was gone. His demeanor lost it's nonchalance, and when he spoke there was tension to his words. "Are you here to bargain a deal?"
"I'm not bargaining over my daughter."
"That may be in good for you because you don't have anything to bargain."
"It's not about have something over the other," Alec insisted. "It's about whats best for Bay."
Arthur burst into harsh, bitter laughter. "You can't provide that. You can't know her like I do. She has one of the best minds I have ever known. She has proven to be much more than I had ever hoped."
"What did hope to gain with her?–– Taking her away from me?" Alec demanded. Vulnerability fell out of his mouth without his intension. He found himself pausing, shocked almost with the amount of emotion he let out over the small rounded table at which they were seated. Arthur did the same. He watched the younger nephilim with pulsating waves of intrigue, but in the spaces Alec thought he saw a bit of guilt.
"A member from the New York Clave told be about a warlock/nephilim child yet to be born, and equally as interesting, the son of the institute's head was due to give birth," said the elder. "I saw a chance to mold the perfect ambassador between the shadowhunters and downworlders. impure nephilim are rare, and she is the rarest."
"Shadowhunter is a dominant gene. Bay is Nephilim."
"She is capable of so much more, and that capability has its best chance here where she has the best schools and private tutoring and where counsel meeting she can sit in are held."
"Bay is not eighteen. She shouldn't be allowed to listen in. It's against law," said Alec, stubborn as always.
Arthur sighed, "In a way, Bay is outside the law. Her life has been fort of my personal experiment. To see if sitting a child in a meeting would lead to future, better involved adults. The point of my experiment was to create a idealistic member of the clave. Someone who could stand in front of crowds of people and represent nephilim with knowledge and pride. Do you really want to take her away from such a future as that?"
Alec stared blankly at him. What Arthur was saying couldn't be true. Would taking her away with him ruin any potential of a great future for her? Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he couldn't go home without her, but for a moment doubt crossed his mind with a heavy stone bridge underfoot. Arthur took advantage of his hesitation and continued to speak.
"You seem reasonable. Wouldn't any father want that for his daughter?"
"What any father would want is to have his daughter!" Exploded Alec in haste. His hands had fisted and smacked the table hard enough that a crack split the middle. The few patrons loitering after their late breakfast fell silent. "You either sign over any right you have over Bay, or I swear on Raziel's name that if you don't I will do everything in my power to make your life miserable. Sometimes marrying a man with unlimited power, who has a shorter fuse than I, comes in handy."
Arthur was silent as the other persons around them were, but the look he was sending Alec was far more severe than the irritated stares focusing on both of them. "I will discuss this with my lawyer."
"No. I already discussed this with my lawyer," Alec growled. "All you need to do is sign some papers, and your part would be done."
He spluttered under the verbal assault.
"You don't have much choice, Arthur," he spat his name like a curse bitter on his tongue, "The child is my blood, not yours and I don't want you to be associated with her in any way. If she becomes a great spokes person for the nephilim, I will be so proud, but you will have nothing to do with her success. We both know what you did was not legal. And I think most people would look at it worse than that."
The elder's skin had turned a bleached white, and was blotched with red on his cheeks. He was holding in his rage. "Nothing can be done at the moment. So, leave, and arrangements will be made––"
"I already have the papers. If you have a pen we can finish this here and we won't ever have to hear from each other." The blue-eyed man shifted his backpack so he could procure what he needed. "All you need is to sign these."
After a pen was procured from the waitress, both men talked about important sections, and what needed to be signed and where, through tight lips. Not even when the final stoke of Arthur's hand had graced the page, was the uneasiness between them gone.
Arthur said to him, "I don't understand you, but even with your own stupidity you've managed to make a fool of me."
Alec clung the papers near his chest with both arms, as if guarding it from possible attacks, and stood. With a pseudo pleasant smile he said, "I hope you choke on your eggs."
o.O.o
"Glad you finally showed up," said Sarah, climbing the stars to her apartment. "I took off work today so someone would be here to great you this morning."
Alec bowed his head as he followed behind her. After his chance meeting with Arthur, he hadn't met with Sarah as he was supposed to once he had arrived in Idris. Even after his two detours it would have still been morning had the nephilim decided he couldn't meet with her then. Alec roamed the streets until he was sure he was lost. He wanted to call Magnus and tell him everything that had happened within the last few hours. He almost needed to talk to his parabatai, who would make him feel grounded and not like he was floating aimlessly. It wasn't until past lunch did Alec set back to find the Accords Hall.
He genuinely felt bad for making Sarah miss her work. That hadn't been his intension.
"Was I wrong that you were arriving in the morning?" the woman asked when Alec didn't say anything.
"You were right. I'm sorry I didn't think about that."
Sarah turned in the archway to look at him, light from inside the flat highlighted her silhouette. "What were you doing then?"
"I got Arthur to sign over his guardianship," Alec answered truthfully.
"No, you didn't!" Her disbelief had turned her voice into a shameful version of her posh Oxford accent. She cleared her throat, feeling the need to compose herself. "Did you torture him? Use magic to control him?–– Recite _ until his ears bled? He does so hate The Importance of Being Earnest."
"I didn't do any of that," he said slightly offended. "We argued, and eventually I got him to sign the papers I had on me."
"Do you still have them?"
"No, I gave them back to Aline for safekeeping."
Sarah nodded with consideration. "That was probably wise," she mused, turning around and walking through the archway, into the apartment.
"No door?" Alec asked.
Sarah shrugged, "No need. Not many people know this is here, and, really, what's a door?"
"Not an obstacle for a steele," Alec recited. While he spoke he could hear Hodge's voice in the back of his mind. A steele is one of the most powerful, useful weapons a shadowhunter could have. There is nothing man-made this steele can't overcome.
Alec followed Sarah into the flat's hallway. The witch lights overhead began to glow as she walked under them, bringing life back to the empty house. Sarah's flat was decorated like many other Alicantian homes. The hallway was long and thin with five doors along the walls. At the very end was an entrance to a library, which Sarah was entering.
He hurried after her, trying not to gawk at the place Bay called home. Where she grew up, learned to walk and talk. It was surreal to think that for years he would have given the world to know where she was and he was there.
"It's a bit chilly," Sarah said, attracting his attention. She was throwing logs into the fireplace. She stood, wiping her hands on her pants, and murmured to herself, "Now where did I hide it…?"
Alec watched as Sarah rummaged through the built-in bookshelves. After a minute more of searching, she pulled out a book.
"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," Sarah read as she opened the book from the back and plucked out a steele. She walked back to the fireplace.
"You kept your steele at home?" Alec asked.
"No, mine is in my bag. I didn't feel like rummaging through it." She stood and turned to him. The adamas in her open palm was decorated with what appeared to be atoms interacting and splitting apart. At the end was the star of David. "No, this was my mother's."
From inside the fireplace the wood logs crackled. Sparks flew from runes etched dark into the wood.
Sarah noticed were Alec's attention was kept, and explained, "my mom made this herself. She was practically a Iron Sister before she left the nephilim. I was going to give it to Bay when she was older."
"What happened to your mom?" Alec asked with sincerity.
Sarah was surprised at his caring tone. But answered, "my dad," with a shortness that indicated she knew what she was saying would be funny to him.
Alec was the first to grin. Sarah followed suit with a little laugh. "Why, don't you take a seat and I'll fetch us a cuppa," she said, gesturing to the lounge chairs.
When she'd gone, Alec allowed his eyes to wonder about the room from where he sat–– in a worn velvet armchair, it's twin to the left of it. In front of him was a desk, where a couple stacks of books cluttered the wooden surface. From his place, he could read such titles as Science in History and The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud. On the opposite side of the room where the bookshelves encompassed the walls, lay an impressive Grand piano, and by that, placed almost carelessly on an small reading table, a Tiffany lamp.
When Sarah reentered the room she handed him a mug full with warm tea, and set about moving the second chair across from him. She sat, one leg crossed over the other, sipping at her tea. She smiled thoughtfully at him. "Bay should be home any minute now."
Alec smiled sheepishly at her. "Was I that obvious?"
"Not really, but since that's who you're here to see… "
"What time is it? he asked, searching the walls for a clock. He was fighting the urge to drink his tea all at once. His mind may have been elsewhere, but his body was aware that he'd skipped both breakfast and lunch.
"Almost four," she answered. "After dinner I have a class to teach. Would you mind watching her while I'm gone."
"Yeah, of course," Alec agreed quickly. "You trust me enough to be here alone with her?"
He didn't realize what he was asking until he had finished speaking. In truth, the enormous leash Sarah gave Bay terrified him. Alec wouldn't ever let his daughter play with an adult he barely knew.
Sarah sighed sympathetically at him. "I wouldn't if you weren't going to take her home with you. The only reason I let her play with you in New York was that I had my suspicions of who you really were, and I grew to trust you. You probably think I let her run everywhere and do what she wants."
Alec eyes widened fractionally, and Sarah smiled. He said hurriedly, "I don't think you've done a bad job. I haven't thought anything like that."
"I know, just,"–– she leaned forward, watching her words as carefully as she did Alec––, "try to be aware of how over-protect you're going to be with Bay. I understand that you won't let her out of your sight for a very long time. I'm just warning you that though Bay is well behaved when she needs to be, she needs to feel like she is in control. The best parenting trick you'll learn is to make your ideas sound like her ideas."
"I haven't asked her if she even wants to come home with me," Alec said with a dip of his head in shame.
Before Sarah could respond, the bang of a metal door was heard in the loft, followed by the running footsteps of a child. Alec turned in his chair toward the hallway when the banging had stopped as she had reached their floor.
"Sarah," Bay called, shuffling through the archway with her arms scanning the air around her and her eyes shut. "I have gone blind."
He heard rather than saw Sarah chuckle. "That must be absolutely terrible," she said with a sort of grandeur concern. "When did it happen?"
Bay continued to stumble along the hallway, one hand on the wall beside her. She was halfway near them when she said, "After I left school. Peter guided me here, and now you must lead me to you by the sound of your voice."
Sarah played along. "I think I have a cure for your blindness."
"I doubt that."
"I lied to you," she prompted.
Bay paused briefly, but continued her journey.
When she was entering the living room, Sarah said, "Alec is not arriving tomorrow. He is sitting right next to you."
Without further persuasion Bay's eyes snapped open, and she jumped onto his lap as if a miracle had truly been preformed. "You're here," she declared, hugging him around his neck.
Alec turned his head to kiss her cheek. His arms wrapped around her, and he could smell her scent–– dust and strawberries.
o.O.o
An–– I had no plans completely set with this chapter and the next one to come, so I'm a bit strung out. Sorry about the delay. I have to admit that a lot of things happened in this chapter. Alec and MAryse are beginning to get on good terms, though Magnus and Bay have things to work out. I kinda sped through this adoption process. I think what I wrote was believable for the clave.
I love to hear your thoughts, and Happy Easter.
Victoria