Author's Note: Thank you for reading, and thank you for the reviews. Please enjoy this chapter! Also this chapter can get rough for some readers, so practice discretion.

Chapter 2: Christopher

The two years after Anna's birth were some of the most trying and blissful times of Gabriel's life. Anna was an absolute joy to her parents, from sun up to sun down, every day. She had her mother's eyes and her father's hair, and always had a smile on her face. Every day when Gabriel came home from work, he heard his daughter's excited chatter echoing through the house before she ran to him, her arms wide open, her hands reaching for him. Every day, Gabriel dropped everything in his hands, lifted her up, and spun her in a circle, making her shriek and scream and look at him as if he were the greatest man to ever walk the earth.

After greeting Anna, Gabriel would carry her to the kitchen, where Cecily would prepare tea before they would sit down to dinner. Gabriel would kiss Cecily on the cheek and only half the time would she turn her face to kiss his lips.

Their marriage never had been an easy one, and the courtship leading up to the marriage hadn't been smooth either. Gabriel had spent the first year that they courted keeping a tight lid on his lust for her. Cecily had been so young, not even 16, and he had felt obligated to not sway her opinion of him either way. Gabriel saw how men looked at her, how they were obviously fascinated by a female Herondale. Cecily could have any man she wanted. Much as she insisted that she loved Gabriel, he insisted she keep her options open.

As it was, when Will and Tessa were planning their wedding and kissing in the corridors of the Institute, Gabriel was taking very long rides into the country with Cecily and doing nothing but sharing picnics with her. They never needed a chaperone; Gabriel knew to keep his gloves on and his hands to himself. It was another three months before they kissed again, back in the stable where they had shared their first kiss. This time, Cecily had pressed him to a stall door, one hand on his waist, and kissed him until each were breathless. After that, they could barely keep their hands off one another.

Still Gabriel insisted that Cecily see other men, just in case she found someone she wanted to be with that wasn't him. Gabriel knew this was for the best. A relationship built out of lust or obligation would never last. If they were going to be together forever, they had to start off right.

Gideon's wedding was held that April, and at the ball afterwards, Gabriel had a full dance card, as did Cecily, with only a few dances for them to share with one another. They enjoyed these dances, but when they were apart, each dancing with a different partner, Gabriel was dismayed to find in himself the first ugly thoughts of jealousy. That was Cecily, the girl he wanted to love, twirling around the ballroom with a man who was not him.

"You should declare your intentions," Tessa said, one hand on Gabriel's shoulder, the other holding his hand. They were dancing together, and Tessa was watching Gabriel's eyes following Cecily around the ballroom.

Ordinarily, Gabriel could lose himself in a waltz with Tessa. They were close in height, she just a head shorter than him, and with no feelings to be found between them, they could each enjoy the dance. On this night, however, Gabriel just wanted the dancing over with. Gideon was head over heels with his blushing bride, Will was dancing with Tatiana and watching Gabriel like a hawk, Cecily was making eyes at one of the Penhallow boys, and Gabriel was waltzing with a girl he had not a snowball's chance in hell with.

"I have declared my intentions," Gabriel said tensely. He had made things clear with Cecily very early on. Gabriel and Cecily would court. They would get to know one another. That was the reason for the long rides into the country side, the walks all over town… the occasional kisses in forgotten corners of the Institute….

"Make it official," Tessa insisted. "She's in love with you, Gabriel, and if you let her go, you will never get her back."

"She should keep her options open. See other men," Gabriel said.

"She only wants to see you," Tessa said, a knowing smile on her face.

It had taken Will and Tessa's wedding a few months later for Gabriel to see the truth to Tessa's words. Gabriel had been Will's best man and Cecily had been one of three bridesmaids. They had spent the evening dancing with others as they had before, but this night was different. This night, Cecily wore a dark green ball gown that clung to her curves. Her hair was pulled up into a complicated up do, and her ruby pendent was bright against her pale skin. She had no eyes for Gabriel, but rather, eyes for every other man at the wedding. She was beautiful and on that night, she belonged to no one.

Gabriel scarcely made it through three dances before he was storming outside, his face hot with jealously. Tessa was right. He had lost Cecily. Even if she found someone she loved more, there would always be a part of him that wanted her for himself.

"Gabriel," A voice had said. Gabriel turned around to see Cecily framed in the light coming from the ballroom, "Is everything alright?"

"Nothing is alright," Gabriel replied. "We have been courting for nearly a year now, and I have enjoyed our time together very much. I also asked for you to see others, to see if there is someone you might want to be with… more than I…" He took a breath, knowing this would sound selfish, but it had to be said. "I have tried to do the same. I have tried to see if there is another girl in London who catches my eye… but there is no one else, Cecily. There is only you."

Cecily stared at him for a moment, her mouth falling open. "I feel the same," She said. She walked over to him, the raw silk of her gown slipping soundlessly over the cobblestones, and came to stand before him not as the girl he met nearly a year ago, but as a woman. When had she grown up? How long had she been standing beside him, wanting to be with him, and how long had he been looking the other way?

Far too long.

Gabriel was unsure who moved first, but then he was kissing her passionately, running his hands over the back of her gown, pulling her close, not wanting to ever let go.

"So we agree," Cecily said, her voice just above a whisper. Gabriel nodded and kissed her again.

Two months later, just as summer turned to fall, with Will's blessing, Gabriel got down on one knee in the middle of the training room and asked Cecily to be his wife. They married in an elegant spring time affair the year after. The wedding night was the first time for either of them. Gabriel recalled the fear and excitement coursing through his veins the first the first time he unlaced her corset and ran his lips over her collar bones, then down the smooth skin of her stomach, tasting all that had been forbidden before they became husband and wife.

Anna had been born more than two years into their marriage, and for as wonderful as she was, Gabriel could have been happy with only one child. Following her birth, Gabriel and Cecily embarked on two difficult and sometimes painful years together. For as much as they had in common, they also wanted different things. Gabriel had envisioned marriage as always having someone to come home to. If Cecily didn't fight demons, he wouldn't have to worry about her, but Cecily wanted to fight demons and be at Gabriel's side. Gabriel loved that about her, but sometimes, he still saw her as the willful fifteen year old that first caught his eye. She was so young still, three years younger than him. He didn't want to think of her that way. There were times when he couldn't help it.

Cecily knew this, that Gabriel still saw her as a young girl, as if their age difference was greater than three years. Gabriel was a Lightwood, who believed he was always right, who wouldn't always listen to a woman's opinion. Anna was six months old when Gabriel brought up moving to Idris for a job serving the Clave in Shadowhunter home country. It was an opportunity for them to make something of themselves, and perhaps have more than just a seat on the Council in London. Gabriel wanted a career within the Clave, not just weekly meetings and answering to Will, who by then was running the Institute. When Gabriel mentioned moving to Cecily, the resulting screaming match found him sleeping on the floor of Anna's room for a week afterward.

Their marriage continued like that, each having expectations that the other one refused to fulfill. It wasn't a difficult marriage, but it was a trying one. Gabriel thought about giving up a hundred times, but he never did, not once. He stayed, and they endured.

Needless to say, the topic of another child never came up. It would be too much to think about. Gabriel knew they were young. They had time.

On a hot summer night in 1886, Gabriel and Cecily returned from a visit to the Institute. It was not long after their fifth anniversary. Tessa had given birth to she and Will's first child, a baby with dark hair and light eyes who they named James. The last time Gabriel had seen Will, he had been sitting in bed with Tessa, holding a tiny blue bundle in his arms, looking more at peace than Gabriel had seen him in a while. Gabriel could recall the happiness that he had felt regarding Anna's birth. Like Gabriel, Will had been worried that he and Tessa would be unable to have children, and had been ecstatic when he found out that they were expecting.

"Would you like to have a son?" Cecily had asked. Gabriel replied that he hadn't given it much thought. Anna would have always been more than enough. Gideon had yearned for a son after two daughters, but that was Gideon, heir to the Lightwood estate, who needed a son to pass property onto. That wasn't the case with Gabriel and Cecily, who lived simply. Another child would come in time, Gabriel knew, but after actively trying to have their first born and being disappointed each month to find that they had failed to conceive, Gabriel wasn't interested in subjecting his marriage to more stress than necessary.

Cecily had looked over at Gabriel, giving him a smile. That night, she had been wearing a cornflower blue dress that made her eyes look bright. When she leaned close, her skin smelled of rosewater perfume. The last two years had been tiring and difficult, and Gabriel had almost forgotten that Cecily was more than just the mother of his daughter… she was his wife. That night, when Gabriel made love to his Cecily, it felt better than it ever had.

It happened that night, unexpectedly, without even trying. Just like that, Gabriel and Cecily were expecting their second child. When Cecily told Gabriel the news, a peace came over their marriage, and there was nothing left to fight about.

This pregnancy had been the exact opposite of the first one. Cecily had become sick almost immediately, and with not the easy morning sickness of before, but something much worse. She could barely eat or leave the bed. She lost weight and while she had always been pale, her skin took on an unearthly shade of white. Gabriel was worried terribly for Cecily, and he hated blaming the baby for his wife's condition, though Cecily had been fine before she got pregnant. Anna was the only bright spot in an otherwise dark time.

When Cecily was six months pregnant, she and Gabriel were at the Institute when she first doubled up in pain. She was taken to bed and the Silent Brothers were called. They were able to stop the labor, but Cecily had to go on bed rest. Gabriel moved back into the Institute with Anna and began the long, worried wait for the baby's birth. Cecily went into labor at seven months and again at eight months, and that time there was no stopping it.

It had been an otherwise unremarkable day. Gabriel and Will were in the drawing room, reviewing the Institute's yearly budget, when Cecily first screamed in agony. They were out of the room and down the hall in an instant. Will had gotten to the room first and stopped outside the door, unable to go further. Gabriel pushed him aside, knowing neither heaven nor hell would keep him from Cecily's side, but as he entered the room, he stopped short, recoiling in horror. There was Cecily, his beautiful wife, her eyes wild with pain as she clutched her stomach, the sheets around her soaked with red.

Gabriel had tried to be at Cecily's side, holding her hand, begging her to breathe, but as labor continued with the Silent Brothers unable to help, fear overtook his conviction. Cecily's temperature began to climb, until her hand was like fire in his. Her skin was as white and gray as the snow that still fell outside, and she screamed until she was hoarse, and then she no longer had the energy to scream.

The Silent Brothers reported that there was little they could do. The runes they applied could only help so much. The baby was coming, hard and fast, tearing Cecily apart from the inside. There were options, of course. The Silent Brothers could perform an operation to deliver the baby, but in doing so, Cecily could die. She could die regardless, along with the baby.

"Please, save my wife," Gabriel had begged, tears running down his face. "You have to save my wife." The baby was an afterthought.

After that, Gabriel had left the room and all of the blood behind. Will stayed behind with Cecily. Surely he could handle this better than Gabriel, who couldn't bear to say goodbye. Instead, Gabriel took Anna from Sophie and went to the sanctuary, wanting silence. He knew was a chance that he would have to raise Anna on his own. Gabriel held Anna close to his chest, letting the sweet baby girl play with the buttons on his shirt, and closed his eyes. He thought of the good times in their marriage, and held on tightly to those memories.

There had been the time they went to Idris, before Anna was even thought of. Cecily never rode a horse sidesaddle, but rather as a man would ride. They had raced to a small lake in the middle of nowhere, and there, they took off all their clothes and swam together in the crystal clear water before climbing out to lie together, completely naked, beneath the sun.

There had been the trip to Greece the summer after their wedding. Gabriel and Cecily had drunk wine and got tipsy watching the fishing boats bring in the day's catch. Afterwards, they had walked back to the Institute they were staying at, with Gabriel holding up the back of Cecily's dress as she carried her shoes. Cecily had been positively glowing.

There had been their honeymoon to Ireland, walking hand in hand along the edge of the cliffs, not even man and wife for a whole week. They could have any sort of life they wanted. The whole world was spread out before them, theirs for the taking.

There had been the time that they sat in bed together, hands on Cecily's stomach, giggling like fools whenever Anna kicked. There had been the look Cecily gave Gabriel the first time they met baby James. She had been so positively enchanted by the baby boy, Gabriel would have willingly given her anything she wanted, just to see her smile like that again.

And now, this. After almost six years of marriage, and one child between them, there was a chance that Gabriel could lose Cecily forever. How could he live without her? After the good times and bad, how could Gabriel face a future where Cecily was not at his side?

In his arms, Anna relaxed and fell asleep. Gabriel kept his eyes shut, willing the hot tears to not roll down his face, because he could cry no more. He listened to the splash of water coming from the fountain, and willed this nightmare to be over.

Hours later, Gabriel felt Anna being pulled from his arms. He turned his head, feeling stone beneath him, and found that he was stretched out on a bench. He must have fallen asleep there with Anna on his chest. Will was now holding Anna as he stood beside Gabriel. As Gabriel watched, Will smoothed the child's hair and kissed her cheek, mumbling to her in Welsh the same thing Gabriel often heard Cecily say. Fy angel bach. My little angel.

Gabriel sat up slowly, taking breathes. He looked up at Will, seeing is brother-in-law's bloodshot red eyes. Will shook like a leaf. If not for Anna, he might have fallen over.

"Cecily," Gabriel breathed, not wanting the answer.

"Exhausted but alive," Will said. He closed his eyes as Anna tugged on his hair. There would be time for explanations, later.

"And the baby?" Gabriel asked. He averted his eyes, not wanting to face Will's grief head on.

"A baby boy," Will said softly, his voice catching, "healthy as can be."

Christopher.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated!