CrimzieLightwood: I've tried to have Thomas feature a bit in this chapter :) I love the idea of Charles and Barbara having a similar start to a relationship as Sophie and Gideon. It would make a good fanfiction.
I apologies for the short Chapter. Let me know if there is anything people want to see in future Chapters. I hope people enjoy!
I own nothing but the plot
A few years after the birth of Thomas
***Gideon P.O.V***
Watching my three children grow up had been an absolute privilege. A year after Thomas had been born, the Institute family had grown even bigger. Tessa and Will had been blessed a baby boy, whom they named James, a fitting tribute to Jem, and Charlotte and Henry had welcomed their second child Matthew. The year after that, Will and Tessa welcomed a daughter they called Lucie, and Gabriel and Cecily graced me with a nephew whom they had called Christopher. Watching how our children interacted with their blood cousins and honorary cousins was a delight for us as parents to watch. Charles had been 8, and Barbara had been 7 when Christopher had been born. Even at such young ages, they took it upon themselves to become honorary parents to the other 7 children. Even at such young ages, it was obvious that Charles had taken a shining to Barbara, but she was either uninterested or didn't pick up it, not that Charles let this get the better of him.
I was teaching my three Spanish, and both Will and Cecily were teaching their children Welsh, so out a group of nine children, 7 of them were in the process of being bilingual. It was certainly an interesting experience when they were all together, and you could hear a combination of English, Welsh and Spanish being spoken in various degrees of success. From a very young age, it soon became obvious that Thomas was a sickly child. Sophie would often cry when she thought it was her fault, but I'd found her crying, and assured her that this was not the case. She had done nothing wrong, and was a fantastic mother to Barbara, Eugenia and Thomas. Yes Thomas was sickly, but we could, as a family, support and look after him. Barbara and Eugenia were very protective of their baby brother, which he wasn't too impressed with. I just wanted them to have the sibling bonds that I had with Gabriel and Tatiana when we were children, just the breakdown that had happened. Although that had been repaired with Gabriel, our split with Tatiana had not been repaired, and she seemed to have rejected us. "Her lose, not ours" Gabriel had said one day.
***Sophie P.O.V***
My children gave me new reasons to be proud of them every day. Whether it was Barbara being an honorary mother to the rest of the children, Eugenia making everyone laugh or Thomas's loyalty to the select few he decided to attach himself to: mainly his sisters, his cousin Christopher and Matthew. Gideon and Gabriel had worked incredibly hard to redeem the name of Lightwood, and eventually that hard work had paid off. Gideon told me one night, that neither he nor Gabriel had put the work in for themselves, but for our wives and children. Benedict had been there father, so they could live with his embarrassment, but the hated the idea of the rest of us being tarred with the same terrible brush. I often found myself questioning what I had done to deserve such a wonderful family.
I had voice this to Tessa one day, and I will never forget. "Sophie, you have one flaw, and that is that you don't think highly enough of yourself. Gideon was an angry man when he was forced to return to London, and he wanted to find any reason to return to Madrid. You and you alone gave him a reason to stay. He fell in love with a very deserving woman who was prepared to put others before herself. You brought the best out the best in him, and when you became a Lightwood, you made the name a better one. You gave birth tom and are raising three beautiful children who love you dearly. They are turning into the fine Shadowhunters they were destined to be because of you. You may think that, because you can't teach them Spanish or how to fight like Gideon you have nothing to teach them but that's just not true. They know how to love the right people, the worth of loyalty and not to judge a person by appearance which are just as important" she said. I found myself doubting myself less after that.
