Alec had meant what he'd said to Magnus despite his previous self promises to never be close to his parents again. But for Magnus there wasn't much Alec wouldn't do, and going back on his word to himself seemed a small thing when put into that context.

First Alec texted his manipulative sister to tell her to set up a meeting of some kind. It seemed easier at the time to go through her rather than text mom or dad directly. Baby steps, he told himself.

Alec knew Magnus only wanted what was best for him, and if he believed this was a good idea, then maybe he had a point? And even if he didn't, Alec had little to lose by trying, right?

"And I'll be right out here the whole time if you need me," Magnus told Alec for probably the third time.

"You don't have to," Alec replied like he had before. "I mean I'm sure you have better things to do than sit in a parked car."

"There is nothing more worthy of my time than supporting you," Magnus smiled.

"If you say so, but really, if you need to go it's not a big deal just text and I'll take the bus home," Alec said.

"Never gonna happen," Magnus replied with affection, before quickly giving Alec a peck on the lips and sending him on his way.

With a sigh, Alec closed the car door. Despite all Alec had said he was really glad Magnus was staying, even if he felt he shouldn't need the support.

Alec walked through the door, eyes peeled for the two people he'd thought he'd never talk to again as well as the one who'd organized this whole ambush. Albeit, an ambush he was walking into voluntarily.

"Hey," Alec said quietly as he sat down across from his parents in their new living room. Izzy had texted him the address this morning. The place was smaller than their old house, and Alec suspected his parents were renting, but still Izzy had been living here with them for quite a while now and it wasn't unliveable even if it was smaller and not as nice as his old home. Alec did recognize a few pieces of their old furniture that his parents must have managed to reclaim.

"Thank you for coming to see us," his mother smiled at him.

"Magnus and Izzy ganged up on me," Alec stated.

"Izzy has told us very little about Magnus," his father added. "But he sounds wonderful, especially if he makes you happy, and added bonus if he encourages you to speak to your parents."

"He does make me happy," Alec confirmed, and he couldn't help but smile. Just thinking of Magnus always made him smile.

"I can see that in your eyes," Maryse told him with affection.

"What did you guys wanna talk about?" Alec asked.

"Is there anything you specifically want to talk about?" Robert threw his question back at him.

"Hey I didn't organize this meeting," Alec offered. "I just showed up."

"Yes, but you are the one who needs… something. Closure maybe, or some kind of-" she seemed lost for words.

"What your mother is trying to say," Robert began. "Is all we want is to have you in our lives again."

"I'm here now aren't I?" Alec reminded them.

"True, still there must be something you want to say," Robert continued. "Something you want to get off your chest, or else why have you been so against speaking to us for so long?"

Alec shrugged.

"In order for us to get back to a stable place," Maryse began. "I think it's important that you don't hold back, so I want you to tell me everything you're thinking no matter how bad."

"I think it might be easier if we just stick to small talk," Alec replied.

"I don't want a shallow relationship with my son," Robert said. "I would rather hear the worse than pretend."

Alec shook his head. He didn't feel like it would matter if he told them. It would just hurt everyone and help nothing. No, it was best to keep them all inside.

"We know we messed up," Robert said with a huff. "But we are still your parents despite all your attempt to replace us with your teachers."

"At least Tessa and Jem never lost the roof over my head, playing cards," Alec spat.

"They didn't change your diapers either, or drop you off at your first day of school, or join the teachers board to put a stop to homophobic bullying at your school when you came out."

And for a moment Alec was taken aback. He hadn't known why his parents had joined the school board at his high school. But now that he thought about it, the timing made sense since the bullying stopped soon after.

"We are just saying," Maryse tried with more understanding in her voice. "We know we aren't perfect, but we've done the best we can. Parents are just people you know. We make mistakes like everyone else."

"Mistakes are things like forgetting to pick up your kids from school, or being late to work, or driving your car into a telephone poll," Alec said, his voice rising. "Simply making a mistake does not include forgetting all about your real kids to lose everything you had mourning someone who was never really here!"

"He was real to-" Maryse tired to speak, and was cut off.

Alec stood up now, his plans of small talk forgotten. "Do you have any idea what it was like to just watch totally powerlessly as everything you own, and everything you'd ever known is carried away and you don't know why?!"

"We were ther-" Robert began, but Alec interrupted them.

"And then to blame myself for not noticing something was wrong sooner. Worrying about how I'd support Izzy if she got put into foster care. Feeling like everything had fallen from your shoulders to mine." Alec was yelling now, but he didn't care. He couldn't stop the flow of words now that they'd started.

"Everything I owned in a garbage bag like my life was garbage," Alec could feel tears in his eyes now. "This little brother I never knew stole my family away from me, and yet you still love him the most!"

"What would we have done that night if not for my allowance, huh?" Alec smirked. "Slept in the street? If Izzy hadn't had Simon I don't even want to think about what would have happened."

Alec was breathing hard now, almost panting with his heart pounding. It was done. He'd said all the things he'd felt sure he'd never say, all the things he'd decided weren't worth sharing with such people. The fears and hurts he'd barely admitted to himself were now out in the world and in the minds of his family.

And he felt lighter.

It was quite remarkable actually. They hadn't even spoken yet and still it was better. Almost as if the understanding of why he hurt expressed out loud, floated in the air around them instead of being held tight to his chest.

There was silence for a moment; the only noise Alec's laboured breathing. When his breathing slowed down and Alec sat back on his chair.

"Okay, I'll admit that was hard to hear," Robert finally spoke. "Small talk would have been easier."

"But not nearly as useful Robert," Maryse contradicted him. "Alec, sweetheart, I can understand your frustrations and pain," she continued softly. "I just ask that in turn you try and see our side of it. We didn't set out to - as you say - forget you. I know you found out about it all at once, but it didn't all go wrong all at once."

"And you shouldn't blame yourself for any of it, not even for a second, son," Robert stated firmly in such a way as to broke no argument.

"Yes I agree," Maryse seconded. "You were a victim of our failure to cope, you and your sister."

"It was so brave of you to think our crumbling meant that it was your job to pick up the pieces," Maryse continued with affection. "But that is never your job, okay? Because no matter how we fall, we are your parents and it is our job to get ourselves back up on our feet again so we can be there for you."

"Someday if you ever have children you might understand," Robert added. "No child should ever have to support their parents. Though, I know it does happen, it's supposed to be the other way around."

"Watching you pay for that horrid motel was not easy for us either," Robert said, as if admitting this took great effort. "Even after losing the house what really made me feel how badly I'd messed up was watching you take over at that horrible hotel. I vowed to myself then and there that I'd never let my kids take care of me ever again."

"We got our act together after that," Robert continued. "It wasn't an easy journey, and I suspect yours wasn't either, but even if the path was bumpy what matters is that we are all here together."

"All of us except Max," Alec added.

"Oh no, he's here too," Maryse smiled somewhat sadly. "His memory is with me always. I have three children, even if I only get the privilege to know two of them." She took a deep breath before continuing. "We should have shared our grief with you, and our joy for while he was here he was quite a beautiful thing to behold. If we'd loved and lost as a family instead of apart, we'd have stayed a family, and that's what I want for us always: to be a family."

The tight feeling in his chest was gone. Alec couldn't quite believe it. He'd gotten so used to it's presence he hadn't noticed it was there, but now its absence was quite remarkable.

"So what do we do now?" Alec asked.

"Catch up on your life," Robert said. "Would you tell us more about Magnus? Like how did you meet?"

"At work," Alec said. "I'm not sure if Izzy told you, but I'm working for Charlotte Branwell's reno company. I've learned all kinds of things like drywall and landscaping."

"That sounds like very interesting work," Robert replied. "Are you enjoying it?"

"Yeah definitely," Alec said. "It's satisfying to see the finishing results and the mess you start with for sure."

"So Magnus also works for this Charlotte?"

"Ah no, not really," Alec replied. "I mean he helps out sometimes on weekends, but most of the time he's a parametic."

"Oh that's quite an important job, though I believe it requires some years of school, correct?" Maryse asked.

"Yeah," Alec replied. "Magnus is a bit older than me."

"That's often the case," Robert replied. "I am older than your mother."

"And he's good to you?" Maryse asked, as if checking.

Alec nodded. "He's so sweet. Like today for example. He knew I was anxious about meeting you so he's waiting in the car in case I need him. He wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Oh, I like this man already," Robert chucked.

"Would he like to come inside?" Maryse asked. "I'll put on a pot of tea."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Alec said. "I'll go get him."

And with that Alec got up and almost ran for the door. It was like he could still feel the effects of the lightness of his heart in his step.

"Magnus!" Alec called as he got close to the car.

"Alec," Magnus said momentarily worried as he opened the car door. "Is everything alright?"

"Yep," Alec smiled, moving into the car to sit in the passenger seat and talk with him.

"I can tell by your smile," Magnus beamed at him. "So what's up?"

"They wanna meet you," Alec told him.

Magnus suddenly looked worried. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I'm not the type of guy parents like."

"Nonsense," Alec smiled. "They are gonna love you, just like I do!"

Though he still looked worried, Magnus agreed to get out of the car, and followed where Alec led. Holding his boyfriend's hand, Alec walked back into his parent's place.

"Mom, Dad," Alec said, standing a few feet from where they sat. "This is Magnus, my boyfriend. Magnus, my mother and father."

"It's so nice to meet you," Maryse said, reaching out her hand to shake his.

"You as well," Magnus replied while taking the offered hand shake. "Though I had not quite expected this when I left the house this morning."

"It's so wonderful of you to support Alec the way you are," Maryse continued.

"Yes I quite agree," Robert said. "Somehow I doubt he'd come here today if not for you."

"Hey I helped too," Izzy piped up, though when Alec turned to look at her she was more happy than put out.

"That you did," Magnus assured her with a slight chuckle.

Just then a whistle sounded, and Maryse jumped up to get the kettle.

"What kind of tea do you like, Magnus?" Robert asked.

"Oh, any black tea is fine," Magnus smiled.

"Izzy would you mind helping your mother bring everything in from the kitchen?" Robert asked, and Izzy got up to help though she was looking down at her phone the whole time she walked. Alec suspected she was texting Simon.

When she returned Izzy must have stowed her phone in her pocket as she reappeared moments later with tea trays in hand. Alec recognized the tea set. It was made of silver with engraved flowers and vines all over it. Alec knew it as the wedding gift his parents had gotten from his grandparents. It made him smile. Not everything had been lost.

"Now where were we?" Maryse asked.

"I believe Alec was telling us about his job?" Robert said. "And how he met Magnus there."

"We met there, but it took me ages to get Alec to notice me," Magnus laughed.

"That is so not how it went," Alec disagreed.

"Oh but it is," Magnus smiled. "Though not as long as it took you to clue in during driving lessons."

Alec couldn't help but blush thinking about that first kiss in Magnus's car. He was just grateful no one teased him about it.

"Driving lessons?" Robert asked.

"Oh yeah I forgot, Magnus helped me get my license," Alec beamed. "Though I haven't gotten around to the car buying part yet."

"Congratulations!" Maryse exclaimed. "That's a big milestone Alec!"

"Thanks," Alec grinned. "Oh, and I'm hoping to move out of Tessa and Jem's soon."

Both Robert and Maryse instantly looked at Magnus as if assuming Alec was moving in with him.

"Not quite yet," Magnus laughed. "Not that I don't love him to bits or anything, but his co-worker Abby has other plans for him."

"Abby is Charlotte's daughter," Alec said. "She has been saving to buy a house and when she does I'm gonna rent from her."

"Living with friends is a good learning experience before moving in with a partner," Maryse agreed. "If your father hadn't lived on his own before we got married I'm not sure we would have survived this long."

"Hey now," Robert scoffed. "I'm not that bad."

"Dishes go by the sink dear," Maryse told him innocently.

"Yeah well two can play at that game," Robert counted. "The coats go in the closet not on the couch."

"Dishes are way grosser than coats."

And Alec was laughing. His parents had always been like this, easy and carefree around him and his sister. This was the life he'd lost and yet somehow hadn't lost at all, for here it was right in front of him. And not only his old life, but all the things he'd gained from his new one as well. He knew he'd be friends with Tessa and Jem for years to come, even grow to see them as godparents, as they'd been there for him when he needed them most. And more than anything now he had Magnus, his own personal knight in shining armour, here to protect and support him through all the trials of life, just as Alec would do for him.

He'd come full circle. Alec could remember perfectly the events of hitting rock bottom. Even though every moment was crystal clear, the emotion he'd experienced during those events was lost. He'd held onto the words he'd formed in those moments, but not the emotion that created them. Now too the words had escaped him and he was free.

Rock bottom can often be the start of a story, but should never be the end. For no matter how far you fall, what matters most - and the only thing that can truly define you - is that you get back up again. Rise up from the ashes of your life, and sing the phoenix song. The gift of life means there is always hope, so long as there is a tomorrow.

What do you guys think? This story holds a special place in my heart as so much of it was fueled by my own emotions in a way my other stories aren't. All my writing is from my emotions but this one a little more directly I guess. It's hard to explain. Either way I hope you enjoyed reading it and got out of it at least some of what I intended.

Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought of it. ^_^ I always LOVE to hear what you guys think.

Sneak Peek of the Epilogue: 5 Years Later

Alec walked up to the place he called home and fumbled for his key. It wasn't a huge house by any means, but it was more than enough for them. Abby's house had siding only on the front side, with stucco on the other three. The front door was actually a side door located under the covered parking. The front garden was nothing too fancy, though it was well maintained with both Abby and Alec being well versed in landscaping. The week Abby had bought the house her mother, Charlotte, had come over to plant, what had seemed at the time, to be everything under the sun as a housewarming gift.

The door opened and Alec was instantly greeted by Abby's cat. She was a large, slightly cranky cat with black and grey colouring who favoured Abby and Abby only.

"And how was your day?" Alec asked the cat.

"Meow," she replied.

"I see," Alec chuckled as he moved into the house.