Title: Heron

Rated for: Still not sure yet, so far its been easy going here.

Genre: Family, Adventure and more later.

Fandom/Universe: The Mortal Instruments and all related characters are copyright of author Cassandra Clare. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and all related characters are copyright Joss Whedon. No infringement intended.

Characters: Ok, in this one I have Maryse Lightwood. Still not sure who else is showing up from both fandoms.

Pairings: Still not sure

Spoilers/Warning: Still not sure

Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing make-believe in the sand box.

Summary: Will and Tessa had a family. A second son, decided to leave the Shadow Hunter world when he fell in love with a Mundane.

Status: In-Progress

Author's Note: Forgot about this chapter...

Chapter: Cards On The Table

Cards On The Table

They kept it quiet. No mentions of the cloaked Institute to the NWC brass and what they took. The book Liåm grabbed from the floor and stuffed in his pack while he was struggling to breathe face down on the ground with Åudrys threatening the Shadow Hunters. It certainly explained a lot about their family and the cool crystal-like 'pen' Åudrys stole from their library. They'd both been studying the book, learning the runes but hadn't dared try marking themselves. For one, there was the whole thing with Åudrys having been imbued with the power of the Slayer, a demon power and the fact the runes were angelic in nature. It just didn't seem a smart idea to test them out. And they couldn't be sure it would work, though Liåm was all for playing guinea pig. Åudrys wouldn't agree to it, not if it meant she could lose him. Her argument was sound, he was past the age, at least from what the book said, they both were because the first marks should have been done years ago.

Liåm sat staring at his computer screen, the buzz of the coffee shop muted, he didn't hear it or see it, lost in thought. So the dark clothed figure that sat across from him was a surprise.

He stared.

She studied him, a soft smile paying about her mouth. He was more like the painting hanging at the London Institute than she had first thought. It was remarkable, and not a little eerie but Maryse pushed that aside and focused on what she had come to do.

Liåm frowned just a bit when she placed her hands on the table and leaned towards him. Her blue eyes razor sharp as she looked at him. He had the disconcerting feeling of being hunted, which was ridiculous but he still cast a quick glance around the coffee shop. No one was paying him any attention. Or at the woman in black.

"I'm cloaked." Maryse revealed, her gaze studying him but he didn't seem surprised. His only reaction was a soft huff of breath and then he sat back, arms crossed and stared at her. Her lips twitched in response. "I didn't have the chance to introduce myself-."

"You mean," Liåm cut in, his tone deceptively nonchalant. "When your boy was rudely introducing himself?"

"Oh," Maryse finally allowed her smile to show. "You are related."

"My sister was pretty clear." Liåm reminded her. "So what are you doing here? Are you following her?" alarm rushed through him at the thought Shadow Hunters were tailing Åudrys. She hadn't told them about the NWC or her place with them.

"Of course not." Maryse shook her head in denial. "She was clear. She refused. But…"

"Refused?" Liåm had that feeling again, the one he didn't like that said his sister had once again kept something important from him.

"Yes," Maryse narrowed her gaze on him, her mind jumping to the one conclusion that would make sense. The girl had been infuriated by the treatment of her brother, she defended him with the same intensity Maryse had seen in Jace, and in Alec and Isabel. "I don't know what Åudrys told you of our conversation. I did make her an offer. The same one I would make to you."

"Drys mentioned something." Liåm shrugged though he was sure the important part she had kept to herself. "I'd still like to hear your side."

"Of course." Maryse agreed. She glanced up and took note of their surroundings, glad that Balen remained hidden and out of sight. With the … change… since the war of the Endarkened, Shadow Hunters rarely, if at all, were alone. Missions normally handled by one were now delegated to a pair or a team. It made sense and with their ranks so decimated … well, it was the prudent thing to do. She focused her attention on Liåm once more and sat back, hands clasped on the wood top of the table. Maryse gave him a brief accounting of the war, of Sebastián and his Endarkened. She told him about the Herondale's and their belief none of that line had survived until they discovered Jace was the son of Stephen Herondale. And then, of Soren and Balen telling her a tale; a girl unafraid of the demon that rushed her and the Shadow Hunters she disarmed to demand answers.

"Yeah, well, Drys can be…difficult." Liåm scowled. He was hearing a lot that Åudrys hadn't told him and he knew why. It didn't make him like it any better.

"I asked her to take her place among us, with the Clave." Maryse sighed. "She has refused, but there will be a second opportunity for her to change her mind."

"Right, you guys ask twice." Liåm nodded. He was just waiting for her to get to the point. He just didn't know what he would say.

"We do. And I would ask you, would you take your place with us?" Maryse waited a moment, watching him and though he made a great effort in concealing his feelings, she could see he was conflicted.

"Why did she refuse you?" Liåm asked instead. "She had a good reason, so there was something she didn't like. Åudrys doesn't - she's not like a typical teenager." He finished with an annoyed wave of his hand. He couldn't tell them how different but even without being Activated, his sister had always been different from most teenage girls.

"I'll take your word, since I don't know her as well." Maryse smiled before telling him what he would be giving up. "It's the way it has always been."

Liåm sat, dumbfounded. Åudrys had only said they were a bunch of a-holes full of themselves and she didn't like that they were racist because she wasn't going to pretend like their view of Mundanes and Downworlders was any different than how the color of a person's skin affected another's view of them. There was already enough hate in the world… too many people unwilling to let go of it, to embrace the new and different, or at the very least, to accept there were others who were different and just let them be.

"Leave her…" Liåm breathed. "Just pretend my sister never existed. Like she's dead or something." His tone vibrated with anger and his eyes blazed at Maryse. "She was right. If you think for one second-!" he paused and drew a breath to calm himself. He could see people starting to look at him funny and glared at Maryse, cloaked from them, from Mundanes. "I'm all she has. I'm it, her only family." He slammed his lap top closed and stuffed it in his messenger bag, a gift from Åudrys when she told him they were heading to New York. "No thanks."

Maryse stood up and watched as he stalked towards the door. She had been afraid he would have that reaction, the same as his sister, but Maryse hadn't known why the girl had been so upset. Still, she would find a way to get the Herondale's back to the Clave.

Its where they belonged.

*᠅*