A/N: Hello,

Makayla: I'm really glad you think so.

red wolf: We shall see.

Thank you for all your reviews, follows, favorites.

Beta'd by the most amazing Red Coral. Check out her stories for TMI, Arrow and Criminal Minds fandom. As well as check her personal blog piecesofmyown . wordpress . com

Characters belongs to Cassie Clare, except for OCs.

Warning: Chapter includes a heavy topic.

Enjoy reading.

Chapter XXV

"It's a war"

Alec was wriggling on the chair in the 'Clarkson & Co-workers' lawyer's office. He couldn't stop snapping his fingers and sighing loudly - it was his habit when he was really nervous. Asmodeus was sitting next to him, all stoically calm; the man had been in New York for the past three days. He worked out a pretty good plan of action for them to not let Kaelie take Jake away from Alec and Magnus. He wanted to help them, he cared for his son's happiness, even if the said son didn't accept him as a father.

"Your heart's racing like crazy," Asmodeus whispered to Alec, getting the boy out of his thoughts. "It'll be ok. That wanna-be-good-lawyer isn't that good at all. I did my research. He won a few divorce cases, a few small cases, but still, I'll win this with him."

"You think so?" Alec looked at him with his blue eyes, filled with a desire to believe the man's words.

"Of course, boy. There's a reason they call me a demon."

The door of the room opened and Kaelie with some blond haired man wearing a brown suit walked inside. When Alec laid his eyes on Kaelie, his hands clutched into fists, blood boiled in his veins. He got up from the chair, feeling a crave to jump Kaelie and rip her heart out. He was stopped by a firm squeeze of Asmodeus's cold hand on his bicep. The man drew him back down on the chair, giving him a warning look. Alec let out the air loudly through the nose, folding his arms on his chest, sending a freezing blood look to the mother of his son.

"Good morning," said Miss Whitewillow's lawyer. "I'm glad we could meet. Harry Clarkson Jr.," he reached his hand to Alec and Asmodeus. Both of them shook it and gave Clarkson polite smiles. "My client, Kaelie Whitewillow."

"Asmodeus Hellsking and my client, Alexander Lightwood."

"Let's get to the point of the meeting," Clarkson took out a few papers from his bag and laid them on the table before him. "So, how 'bout I start…"

Alec focused his look at Kaelie, who was looking anywhere else but Alec. The boy knew that she's afraid of him; well, everyone would be if they saw what Alec could have done a few days ago. When he thinks about it now, his body still trembles with rage. Of course, he had calmed down a bit now, Magnus forced him to do so by saying that they can't lose their control in front of Jake. The little boy still had no idea what was going on between all of his parents. It was best to keep him in the dark. He wouldn't understand it anyway, he's just a child.

"Hm," Asmodeus spoke up, gaining Alec's focus on him. "You don't think that my client will agree with this application. An idiotic application if I may add."

"I understand that you don't agree to work this out outside the court," both of them shook their heads. "All right, so we have to set the date of the trial. I'll try to do it today and inform you. Thank you for the meeting."

"I won't give you my baby," Alec announced, on his way out. "I'll win this war in court. You have no chances against me."

"I'll see you in court, Alec."

They met in court precisely thirteen days later. As it turned out, Clarkson pulled some strings and the date of the trial was earlier than usual in such cases. Alec was pacing the floor in the court, trying to calm himself down. Magnus was talking with his father and his and Alec's parents. Jace, Izzy, Max, Alli and Seth were sitting and observing the rest of the family. Across from them was Kaelie with her cousin and lawyer talking about something.

Magnus stepped away from the parents and walked to Alec, wrapped his arms around Alec from behind. Lightwood immediately relaxed in the arms of his beloved, who was brushing the side of his neck now to calm him down a bit at least. Every other time it would work, but now nothing could calm or distract Alec. His mind was playing every possible scenario that could happen in the trial. He wanted to believe that Magnus's dad will bring hell in there, like he had promised him.

"It's going to be ok, darling," Magnus moved himself to stand before Alec. He drew him closer to himself, pressing him into his chest. "Father will do everything so Jake stays with us."

"I know, but…"

"You're nervous, I know. I know you better than myself, kitten," Magnus kissed the top of Alec's nose, and the blue eyed boy crunched it. "I'd like to help you somehow, take some of the weight off of your shoulders, but I know that I can't. All I can do is promise you that we'll fight her till the end. We won't let her take our baby away from us. We're going to fight for our son, Alexander. You and me, together."

"I love you, Magnus," Alec rose on his toes to kiss Magnus shortly on the lips. It was a passionate, fast kiss with tongues. It a was rather slow, calm kiss full of love and support.

"I love you too, sweet pea," before Alec had the chance to say that he hates the pet name, the doors of the court room opened widely. Alexander pulled away from Magnus and turned his head to the door. An elegant woman in a gray suit with blonde hair made up in a ponytail stepped outside. She had glasses with a green frame on her nose. There were a few papers in her hands.

"Case: Kaelie Whitewillow and Alexander Lightwood," Alec, Kaelie and their lawyers came closer to her. The woman led them inside, ordering the rest of the families to stay outside the room, until any of them are called as a witness.

Asmodeus led Alec to one side, where a bench and table has been standing. Kaelie and her lawyer sat next them, on the other side of the room. In a few moments the battle between her and Alec will start, the battle for the custody over their son. His heart started to beat faster, his breath became fast and shallow, he had a feeling that his blood will start to freeze in his veins.

"Stand up, please. The Judge is coming," said the woman. Asmodeus almost jumped off the chair, pulling Alec up along with him. A man walked in the room, he looked around forty. He was tall, black skinned, with black ebony hair and eyes. He looked at both sides of the room and moved to sit behind his bench.

"I'm opening the trial about the sole custody over the young Jacob Gabriel Lightwood. Are both sides present in the room?" both Kaelie and Alec stood up from their places. "Miss Whitewillow, your application was brought twenty two days ago. Yours, Mr. Lightwood, ten days ago. Both of them were submitted by your lawyers, Mr. Harry Clarkson Jr., and Mr. Asmodeus Hellsking. From the briefing with your lawyers, I know that you didn't manage to work this out outside the court. Now, I'll hear the statements from both sides, then I'll make a decision regarding who will get the custody of young Jacob. From you statements I know that your representatives will be speaking for you. Miss Whitewillow, you start."

"Your Honour," started the lawyer, getting up from his place. "We've submitted the application for sole custody over Jacob for my client, due to the latest events made by Mr. Lightwood. My client, who came back to the country a while ago wanting to finally take care of her child,as she'd become an adult and the legal guardian of the young boy, she couldn't do it properly, because of Mr. Ligthwood's doing…"

"Objection," Asmodeus spoke up. "My client did not forbid Miss Whitewillow contact with Jacob. He hasn't done so for the past three and a half years, since the boy came into the world. I'd like to remind everyone here, because it seems that the opponent forgot that Miss Whitewillow abandoned Jacob right after his birth. She stated then that she doesn't want to be a mother, that she wants to have a normal life, she wants to live her life. I'd like to add that my client, despite his young age - he was fifteen back then - compared to your client, he took care of his son. He became his father, sacrificing himself completely for his child."

"Maybe," Clarkson mused. "But you can't forget about the latest events. You have to agree with me. Your client clearly forbade my client contacting with her own son. With no real reason. Moreover, he attacked her and almost beat her."

"I have to disagree," Asmodeus replied, fixing his red tie. "My client didn't attack her, nor did he harm her physically. The truth is that he reacted aggressively to your client's application, but it was a reaction coming from the fear of losing his beloved's child. And you're mistaken. My client didn't forbid miss Whitewillow contact with her son, he only told her to come and visit on particular dates, which was induced for the well-being of the young Jacob. Let me remind you that Jacob got an allergic reaction and ended up in the hospital, while he was under your client's watch. He ate cookies with nuts that he's allergic to, under your client's care."

"My client did not know that the boy is allergic…"

"Aha!" Hellsking shouted lively. "That's the point. What mother doesn't know what her child is allergic to? Even I know what my son is allergic to even though I've seen him three times in his entire nineteen-year-life. You have to admit, that your client is bad at being a mother."

"She makes mistakes, yes, but she's a young mother, she's still learning, but for sure she's a better role model for young Jacob," at that both of them - Alec and Asmodeus - quirked their eyebrows in a confusion. "Tell me, what example is Mr. Lightwood giving to the young Jacob? Let's start with the fact that he's working at a gay club, and is gay himself. Where my client can give the boy a full family, with mother and father, and not two fathers."

"That's bullshit!" Hellsking laughed. "My client's sexual orientation has nothing to do with giving an example to young Jacob. It can rather teach him to be tolerant in the future and not a homophobic ass like you seem to be, sir."

"Mr. Hellsking," the Judge said warningly. "One more word like that and I'll have to give you a cash penalty."

"I apologize, Your Honour, but it's not my fault that Mr. Clarkson isn't tolerant," he sighed turning back to the other lawyer. "And my client's job proves that he's willing to work anywhere just so he can give a stable life to his son. Thanks to that job, he pays for the apartment they're living in, the kindergarten and a babysitter who stays with Jake when Mr. Lightwood can't. I think it's rather an advance of Mr. Lightwood, something that you could look up to. He's willing to sacrifice his nights - and not so long ago he was still attending high school - to provide a stable life for his son."

Kaelie's lawyer sighed with frustration, when Asmodeus smirked provocatively at him. His whole posture was shouting 'come on, give me more, you can't beat me anyway'. Alec was so thankful, that Magnus's father decided to help him. He hoped that Asmodeus will win this.

"I'd like to add," Asmodeus spoke again, "that my client provided a full family to the young Jacob. He and his partner are taking care of the well being and health of the boy."

"Please," Clarkson cut him off. "You're only saying this, because your client is dating your son. Otherwise, I don't think you'd be so tolerant to such relationships."

"Ah," Asmodeus took a sip of the water, standing before him. "Now you're latching onto anything. The fact that my client is dating my son has no connection to this case. I'd like to remind you that we met here to state who will have the sole custody over the young Jacob Lightwood. Which is obvious that it should lay into my client's hands, like it's been so far. Your Honour," he turned to the man behind the bench. "My client has been providing a stable life for the young Jake ever since the boy was born. He was the one who took care of him, didn't sleep at night to calm the boy down. He took care of him when the boy had a jaundice at the age of six months. And where was the mother then? Oh right, she was having fun in Paris, living her life. My client sat by the boy's bed when the boy was frightened after a nightmare. Mr. Lightwood fed him, taught him how to walk, speak, he wiped his every tear. Alec stayed in his head to finish school and work at the same time, so he could pay for the kindergarten. He bought him toys, clothes. And what was Miss Whitewillow doing then? She partied in Europe's clubs. And you just want to be a mother now just like that, huh? Let's be honest, you don't know how to be a mother. What if you decide that you don't want to be a mother again? Can you assure me, now, that you will want to be a mother to Jake forever? Can you assure me that you'll drop everything in your life, to take care of him day and night? That you'll care more of his well being than your own?"

"Yes," she whispered, avoiding Asmodeus's look. "Jake is my son, I want to take care of him."

"Why?!" Asmodeus asked louder. "Why did you come back so suddenly?! Why do you want to be Jake's mother now?! Why now and not before?! Why do you want to be his mother now?!"

"Because I can't have children anymore!" the whole room was dead silence. From the light blue eyes of Kaelie streamed tears, when she got up from her place and ran out of the room.

Alec stared blankly at the place where Kaelie had been sitting a few seconds ago. He couldn't believe what he had heard. It was too surreal. It couldn't be possible, Kaelie is a girl and girls can have children. Alec on the other hand can't have children anymore.

"I order twenty minutes of break," said the Judge, getting up from his chair. A few moments later, he left the room.

"Well, I didn't expect such a turn," Asmodeus's voice got through Alec's thoughts. "I fear that it can influence the judge's statement. But I'll strike into some other point now, I'll force her..."

Alec stopped listening to him, the latest words of Kaelie were still ringing in his mind. 'I can't have children anymore'. Why didn't she say that earlier? Something hit him then, though he wasn't sure what. His body got up on its own, and he moved to the door. Outside, he spotted his family with confused looks on their faces.

"Did we win?" Jace asked. "Jake stays with you?"

"No. Where did Kaelie go?" Magnus pointed in the bathroom's direction, giving Alec a confused look. "We'll talk later, I have to find her."

When he walked into the female's bathroom, Kaelie was sitting on the cold floor, with her back pressed to the wall. Her cousin was sitting next to her, with her arms around Kaelie's trembling body. She was crying.

"Leave us alone," Alec spoke coldly to Kaelie's cousin. The girl looked at him murderously and shook her head.

"No way, I won't let you beat her!"

"I won't do anything to her. I just want to talk," Kaelie nodded, whispering to her cousin to leave her and Alec alone. The other girl did it reluctantly, saying that she'll wait by the door in case Alec does something to her. She also warned him, that she'll beat him if he tries something. When Kaelie and Alec stayed alone, he sat on the floor before her, wrapping his arms around his bend knees. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Would that change something?"

"Tell me, what happened? Why can't you have children anymore?" Alec asked, looking her into the eyes.

The girl sighed out loud, playing nervously with her fingers. The loud beats of her heart echoed in the bathroom. Her tears fell down on the cold floor.

"A little less than a year ago, I was knocked up by some man at one party. But my boyfriend said that he can't have children at all, so I didn't even mention this to him. Besides, how was I supposed to explain that to him that I'm pregnant, when he's infertile. He'd know that I cheated on him. And, I was underage then and didn't have enough money. A friend of mine recommended some doctor to me, and he did an abortion," she looked sadly at Alec. "That so-called-doctor did the abortion, but he did it so badly that a few days later I ended up in the hospital with horrible bleeding. The doctors took me to the surgery room and tried to do everything they could. But, apparently that doctor had damaged my uterus so badly during the abortion, that the doctors in the hospital had to remove it. And I can't have children anymore," she made a break for a moment. "Jake is my only child, Alec…"

"I can't give him to you," Alec stated with a shaky voice. "Jake is my son, I won't have anymore children. I'm gay, it's not possible for me to have anymore children. Jakey is the most important to me, Kaelie. I can't live without him. I'm sorry that you can't have anymore children. It must be horrible for a woman to not be able to have anymore children. But I can't give Jake up to you. I can't."

"You can adopt kids with Magnus. I can't…"

"You don't understand!" He screamed. "Jake is my life. Without him there's no me. He's my everything. I won't give him up."

"I love him too, he's my son. I want to be a mother for him, Alec. Please…"

She stared at him with big eyes, full of tears and begging. His heart was aching at such view, but he couldn't give Jake to her, he was the most important to him. No one mattered to him more than his son.

"Please, Alec...please…" she was cut off by the loud knock on the door. Soon, Asmodeus peeked inside and looked confused at the young people.

"The break's over. We have to go back to the room."

A heavy atmosphere that you could cut with a knife had filled the whole room. The dead silence was interrupted by the fast breaths of Alec and Kaelie's sobbing, which was a bit less than moments before in the bathroom. Lightwood felt again that his stomach was being squeezed by the nerves and fear. He'd give everything for Magnus to be here and hold his hand reassuringly.

"Stand up, please. The Judge is coming," the four of them got up again, observing the Judge who sat down behind his bench. Once he was seated, all of them sat too, and waited for the judgement.

"This case isn't easy, especially since the parents are very young. You became parents at the age of fifteen, while you were still children yourselves. You, Mr. Lightwood," he turned to Alec. "You did the right thing and took care of your son. Not many fathers would do such thing at your age. You, Miss Whitewillow," he turned his head to Kaelie. "You are a young woman. A mother, who's still learning how to be a parent. Even though you left your child after birth, now you want to be a mother for him. You want to be a part of Jacob's life. You understood your mistake," he sighed loudly and pursed lips in a thin line. "After analyzing all statements, and talks with your families and reports of the psychologist, I state that the custody over the young Jacob Lightwood will have…"

Dum dum dum...

You must hate me for this cliffhanger, right? I would. *evil laugh* Now, I'm going to keep you a bit in a suspense. Remember the next one is the epilogue!

Review if you feel like to,

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