Author's Note: So I've decided that I have the best readers ever. I feel so fortunate to have so many people reading this story and enjoying it. I didn't mean to toss out this chapter so soon after the other one but as certain... inspirations... have come to light, I want to get this story finished soon so I can work more... on the next one. Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews. I own one character in this story, the rest belong to the Cassandra Clare. Please enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 17

Sophie woke up later in the day but went back to sleep right after. Charlie remained active for the most part and seemed to have escaped the accident unscathed. Magnus spent the rest of the day with Will and left in the evening despite Will begging him to stay. Early the next morning, Will woke up to Tessa whispering in his ear that the Enclave was meeting downstairs.

It didn't matter to Will that he had mortally wounded two members of the Enclave just five days before. He still got dressed and walked into the Library just as the meeting was being called to order.

"Will…" Henry began, "We thought you were still-"

"I hardly think he's welcome here," Benedict said. He was sitting at the table with Gideon beside him, mindlessly stirring a cup of tea. Gabriel was still serving his punishment for stabbing Will the summer before.

Gideon and Gabriel were considered twins by most everyone, considering there was a little less than a year between them. Gideon arrived in July of one year and Gabriel showed up in June of the next year. They had been raised together and trained together as unofficial parabatai. They were close, to say the least.

Wherever Gideon went, Gabriel followed, and when Gabriel was in solitary confinement in the Silent City, Gideon looked lost in the world, as if he was missing the parts necessary to function as a normal human being. Will rarely pitied anyone but knew that if anything happened to Gideon, he would feel sorry for Gabriel, and vice versa. He understood how much it hurt to lose a brother and would never wish that on Gabriel despite their differences.

"He's a member of this Enclave," Consul Wayland said. "He just as welcome-"

"I object," Benedict said. "He should technically still be in prison. Gabriel harmed William and is being punished. William did the same to Gabriel. He shouldn't even be in this meeting. William is only here to cause problems."

"William?" Will asked. "You're going to call me by my father's name?" Benedict turned to Will with fear in his eyes. "I'm here because a carriage carrying three, no, four people I love was attacked two nights ago. None of you may want me here, but I have a right to be here. As for you, Benedict, I'm not my father. I never will be. I don't care what he did to you or your family. I'm not him!"

The room went silent, save for one person snorting into their tea cup. Consul Wayland glared at his son, Augustine, who sat beside him. Augustine covered his mouth and looked away. Will looked at him questioningly. Augustine, who Will could hardly consider more than an acquaintance, who had unofficially pledged his loyalty to the Lightwood family, was… laughing?

"That's enough," Consul Wayland said. Augustine composed himself. "Let us call this meeting to order."

Will sat between Charlotte and Henry and listened in the meeting. He refrained from giving his opinion, as everyone had come to a consensus that Mortmain was to blame for the carriage attack. He was still threatening Tessa. She would be safest at the Institute. Now that it was clear Mortmain was back and still threatening Tessa, a plan needed to be formed for the hunting down and killing of him. As for the time being, Tessa would remain at the Institute and security measures would be increased.

The Enclave meeting ended and Will went back upstairs to check on Sophie. She remained asleep and reminded Will of the fairy tale of Snow White. Will tried kissing her cheek, foolishly hoping perhaps he was her prince, but she never awoke. Jem would have said that Sophie was just a girl of good sense for not waking to Will's kiss. Will knew he wasn't her prince.

Tessa remained at Sophie's bedside and read to her as Will went back downstairs. He unlocked the door to the weapons room and went in to find it a mess. He spent the rest of the morning cleaning and putting the room to rights.

Magnus arrived in the early afternoon and brought with him a picnic lunch. Some of the Enclave remained at the Institute so they ate in the kitchen, then returned to the weapons room and spent several long minutes kissing behind a closed door. They could have done more. There were an infinite number of places they could have gone to secretly make love the same way Will and Jem had, but something stopped them. It didn't feel right to fool around while Sophie was unconscious upstairs.

"I'll be back later," Magnus said as he held Will in his arms. "Charlotte says I'm welcome to come and go as I please. We'll do something tonight. Anything you want." Will nodded and pulled Magnus closer to himself. They kissed again, lightly.

"I want you to never leave," Will said.

"But you have work to do," Magnus said. "I love you, and I'll see you later." He kissed Will once more and left the room.

After the cleaning was finished, Will moved on to a box of knives beside the door that all needed sharpened. He settled into the easy routine of grinding the blades to sharpened edges, then polishing them to a high shine. Will was so entranced with his work, he almost didn't hear the knock on the door frame. He looked up to see Augustine Wayland standing at the door.

Augustine had gone to Shadowhunter Academy with Will and Jem. He might have attended Jem's funeral; Will wasn't sure. Augustine had gotten married in July just a few days before Jem died. There had been rumors that Augustine's young bride was pregnant at the wedding, which proved to be true. She had given birth to a baby boy in December.

"May I come in?" Augustine asked. Will nodded. "I didn't want to just walk in. I wasn't sure how you feel about your weapons room."

"I just work here," Will said. Augustine nodded and smiled sheepishly.

For as long as Will could remember, the Lightwoods and Waylands had been close knit. Augustine was almost always with Gabriel and Gideon, and had no doubt heard all of the awful things the Lightwoods had to say about the Herondale family. He had been at the meeting when Will assaulted Gabriel and Benedict. Will doubted Augustine afraid of him, but wary? There was no doubt.

Augustine walked into the room pushing a baby stroller. He had a bag over one shoulder that he set on the table. Will looked down into the stroller to see a baby sound asleep, wrapped in blue blankets. He quickly looked away.

"This is Ben," Augustine said. "My wife is training, so I've taken the baby for a little while. I need some knives sharpened. Can you sharpen knives?" Will looked to the sharpening block sitting on the table, surrounded by sharp knives, and nodded. "Good."

"Just leave them and stop back," Will instructed. "It won't take me long."

"I can stay," Augustine said. He sat down on a stool and opened up the bag he was carrying. He brought out a bottle and pacifier and set them on the table. "You didn't see that, by the way. Connie would kill me if she knew I was carrying Ben's things with my knives." Will shrugged. He looked down at the baby who remained fast sleep, then picked up a knife and continued to sharpen it. "I'm on your side, you know."

"My side?" Will asked. He stopped sharpening the knife.

"I know you think that since Gabriel was my best man that we are best friends but we aren't- best friends, I mean. We were just one another's only friend," Augustine said. "He was my roommate at the Academy. When everything happened with Constance and I got her pregnant, I had to marry her and I needed a best man. So he was my best man." Will nodded.

"My only friend died in July," Will remarked.

"I know," Augustine said. "I'm sorry about that." Following the funeral, a lot of people said they were sorry about Jem's death. Most hadn't meant it. Most, like the Lightwoods, believed it had been a good thing Jem died. "Jem was a good person. He didn't get the credit he deserved. I can't begin to understand what losing a parabatai is like. Just know that I'm sorry about it."

"Thank you," Will said. "Your kind words are comforting." Will nodded and looked back to the knives. Augustine was silent for a few long moments as Will held up a knife and admired it's edge. He preferred to have the knives he worked on to have a thin, razor sharp edge.

"There comes a moment in life when something awful happens and you have to become an adult in an instant, because you can't face whatever it is as a child," Augustine said. "Gabriel hasn't had his moment yet."

"Neither have I," Will said. Jem's death had been horrible but it hadn't changed Will. He had always expected Jem to die and for him to be left alone. He hadn't woken up the morning after the funeral and looked at the world any differently. The only thing that had changed was that Jem was no longer with him. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I just want you to know I'm on your side if you want me to be," Augustine said. "Gabriel's family is awful to you but I don't see the reason for it. So your father fell in love with the wrong person. Okay. It's not like Shakespeare didn't write plays based on people falling in love with the wrong person."

"You can't be in love with the wrong person. You can be in love with the right person at the wrong time," Will said.

"Right, exactly," Augustine said. "So I'm on your side. I don't care about what your father did to his father. I don't care about what any of our fathers did to one another. You had it right before, in the meeting. We aren't our fathers. We can talk and be civil to one another. I'm not here to fight you."

"Oh thank the Angel!" Will exclaimed. "There's no telling what I'm capable of. I would hate to humiliate you in front of your infant son." Augustine smiled.

Will finished sharpening the knife he had been working on and moved on to one of Augustine's knives. The baby stirred and woke up with a small cry, so Augustine leaned over and picked him up, cradling him in his arms. Ben had light blond hair, Will noted, and clear blue eyes. He took after Augustine. The baby was smaller than Will expected him to be.

"How old is he?" Will asked.

"He'll be three months old at the beginning of March," Augustine replied. Will looked back over at Ben, who had stopped whimpering and was instead sucking on his fist. "Do you want to hold him?"

"I'm working," Will said.

"You're curious. You've never held a baby before, I can tell. Would you like to try?" Augustine asked. Will looked at the baby, then at the knives. He went to wash his hands and came back. Augustine had him sit down before carefully placing the baby in his arms.

Will looked down to see the baby staring up at him. The baby was warm and smelled like fresh soap. His eyes were bright and attentive and his lips were pouted not into a frown, but a thoughtful expression. He had all the important components of being a human- soft skin, bones, even the appearance of a tiny human, but seemed foreign.

"How do I do this?" Will asked.

"Just support his head," Augustine said. He sat down on another stool and carefully adjusted the baby so that Will was holding him better. "You're doing just fine."

"No. How do I do this?" Will asked, nodding to Ben. "I don't know how to be a father. I've never done this before. I don't know how." Will felt his heart start to pound and he swallowed nervously. Surely, at any second, he would move and drop the baby and Augustine would blame him and….

"Relax," Augustine said. He rested a hand on Will's bicep, giving him a bit more support. "Babies are like little demons. They can smell fear." Will didn't believe him. He clenched his teeth tightly and forced himself to take several breathes through his nose. Ben took a few shuddering breathes and began to look close to tears. Will was certain he must have frightened the baby. "You aren't messing around. You're scared to death, aren't you?"

"Take him please," Will said. Augustine lifted the baby from Will's arms. Will stood up, grabbed a knife, and continued to sharpen it.

"So you're never going to hold your son, because you're afraid of him?" Augustine asked. He held Ben closer to his chest and the baby became calm once again.

"He's not my son. He belongs to Jem. I'm just the man who once was his father's parabatai," Will said.

"So you aren't going to give Jem's son his first Marks? You aren't going to tirelessly tutor him in his lessons and teach him his first battle moves?" Augustine asked. "When he comes to you asking about girls, you aren't going to give him advice?"

"My father never did any of that," Will said. "I don't know how. Henry drew my first marks. Henry taught me how to fight. Henry…." Henry hadn't advised Will about girls or even explained how anything worked. Will had fumbled his way through that on his own.

"It's all instinct, and what's not instinct, you figure out," Augustine said. Will shook his head, and stared down at the knife in his hand. "Look. I'd love to keep talking about how your father was less than perfect, Henry was never the father you needed him to be, and you're certain to be an inadequate father as a result, but I need to use the bathroom and I need to warm up a bottle for Ben, or he's going to scream and cry. Can you watch him for five minutes? I promise he won't do anything but lie in his stroller and suck on his fingers. I promise."

"You can't leave him with me!" Will exclaimed. "I could…"

"What?" Augustine asked. "I'm going to leave now. What are you going to do about it?" Will imagined he would push the stroller down to the kitchen, where there were surely women there who would be far more capable of taking care of an infant. Then everyone would see that Will Herondale was afraid of a baby. He couldn't allow that.

"What if he starts to cry?" Will asked.

"You'll figure it out. It's all instinct," Augustine said. He grabbed the bottle from the table and walked out of the room.

Will cast a nervous look at the baby and continued to sharpen the knives. Six minutes after Augustine left, Ben began to whimper, and after another minute, he dissolved into a screaming fit. Will finally set the knife down and looked at the baby, whose face was turning red as he clenched his fingers into fists.

"I can't help you, I'm sorry," Will said. "I have nothing to offer you. I can't… I don't have milk." Ben screamed louder. He got his whole body involved, pulling his knees to his chest and kicking in a tantrum. Will knew what it was like to cry inconsolably. The few times he had cried that way, there had always been someone there to hold him and rub his back, and… "Fine!" Will picked up Ben, held him against his chest, and rubbed his back. "It's going to be okay. I promise, this awful time won't last forever."

The baby lay his head down on Will's shoulder, let out a few hiccupping sobs, and stopped crying just as Augustine walked in holding a bottle.

"You said five minutes," Will snapped. "There's something wrong with him. I think he's hungry. I don't know. He just started screaming."

"Do you want to feed him?" Augustine asked.

"I might as well," Will said. He sat down and accepted the bottle from Augustine. Ben began to suck on the bottle the second it was in his mouth. "Not too fast, you're going to get sick!" Will moved the bottle so that they baby couldn't drink it as quickly. Augustine sat beside him.

"You're a natural," he remarked. "So you have no experience with children?"

"I was nine when my sister was born, but… I don't remember taking care of her," Will said. "Sophie doesn't want to raise Charlie as a Shadowhunter. I don't know how to deal with that. You can't tell anyone. The Enclave…" The Enclave already hated Sophie.

"I won't tell," Augustine said. "You don't have to worry about training until he's closer to twelve. My advice is to have the Brothers put the enchantments on him and go from there. Maybe when he's older, Sophie will feel differently. It's not worth fighting over now."

"You're right," Will said.

"I'll make a deal with you," Augustine said. "I know when Jem died, you lost your training partner. And it can be stated that I never really had one. So why don't you and I start training together? It will be good for us both. We can be friends."

"Friends?" Will asked. He tried to think of someone he considered and friend and found no one. They were either lovers or like family, never friends.

"Friends," Augustine said. "In exchange for you training with me, I'll tell you everything I know about how to raise a baby. Anything you want to know, from how to change diapers to how to get rid of colic… anything. I know what it's like to feel clueless about being a father. I can help you. You can help me."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Will asked.

"I don't see a reason to be any other way," Augustine replied. "We can be friends, Will. Just say the word."

"Okay," Will said, and he even smiled a little.

There was another knock on the door and Will looked up to see Tessa standing there, a surprised smile on her face as she took in the scene.

"Sophie is awake and asking for you," Tessa said. "Who's this?"

"This is Ben, and his father Augustine," Will said. "Please tell Sophie I'll be up in a few minutes. I want Ben to finish this bottle first. I have... questions about feeding a baby." He blushed and looked down at the floor.

"Of course," Tessa said. She looked at Will from the baby, and back again. "Take all the time you need."

After Ben finished the bottle, burped loudly, and fell asleep on Will's shoulder, he gave him back to Augustine and left the weapons room. Augustine had offered to sharpen his own knives and Will promised he would be back shortly to help. He went upstairs and got to Sophie's door just as Tessa walked out.

"Charlotte was concerned with memory loss but she's fine," Tessa said. "Listen to Sophie. Let her talk. Be gentle. She's been through a lot."

"We all have," Will said. He reached for the doorknob but Tessa put a hand on his.

"You should know… you're going to be an excellent father," Tessa said. "You get to have a family, Will. Remember what I said before. There's more than enough love for Charlie. Magnus isn't the only one who can pledge forever for you." Will smiled. He knew Tessa once had feelings for him. Even now, he could admit that Magnus was someone he loved and Tessa was a girl he could love. He could have closed his eyes, kissed her, and made himself all sorts of complications, but he didn't.

"Tessa," Will whispered. "You know there can be nothing between us. I don't feel that way for you. You're like my sister."

"There doesn't have to be anything between us," Tessa said. "I want you to be happy, and I want to be in your life. Surely, we can figure something out."

"I want to," Will said. "I want to, Tessa." Without another word, Will turned the doorknob and walked into Sophie's room.

Sophie looked as though she had fought a war. Her head was still wrapped in gauze and her face had become bruised over night. She was sitting up in bed, hands folded onto her stomach. Will closed the bedroom door, walked over, and sat down on the side of the bed. Sophie stared at her hands and didn't speak.

"I'm sorry about before. I just want you to be happy, and I thought I could make you happy if I was happy. I thought we could have everything we ever wanted. You could have someone like a husband. I would be a father to Charlie. We could have a place to live together. I wasn't thinking only of myself. I was thinking about the three of us," Will said. Sophie's eyes filled with tears. "This baby means everything to me, Sophie. I can't lose him. If I had to pick between Charlie and Magnus, I would never think of Magnus ever again, but I can't pick between them. If you loved me the way Jem would have wanted you to, you wouldn't make me pick between them."

"You shouldn't have to," Sophie whispered. "I can't make you."

"So we'll work things out," Will said. "I'll be who you need." He touched her arm, willing himself to feel something for her. Still, there was nothing.

"I can't live in this world," Sophie said. "I can't protect Charlie, not the way you can. I can't live in a world where death is right around the corner. I got into a carriage and I nearly died and so did my baby. I can't go through that again."

"I can protect you both," Will said. "I'm not going anywhere, Sophie." Will rested his hand on top of Sophie's hands.

"I can't do this, Will," Sophie said. "I can't live in this Institute. I can't be around people who accept death as a part of life. Everyone I have ever loved, I have lost." She wasn't just talking about Jem. She had loved Thomas as well and had considered Agatha a second mother. "I want to live, and not be afraid of dying."

"I swear, I'll protect you," Will said. He climbed into bed beside Sophie and took her in his arms. "You and Charlie, you're my family, Sophie." Sophie shook her head.

"I need to leave here, Will. I need you to stay. This is your life," Sophie said. "This was never supposed to be my life."

"You want to… take Charlie from me?" Will asked.

"I don't know what I want," Sophie said. "I can't live this way anymore. I just can't."

Sophie cried herself to sleep with Will at her side. When she had finally closed her eyes for good, he left the room and went to the alcove where he had spent many days with Jem. He was there when Magnus walked in. Magnus sat beside him on a bench and Will let words spill from his mouth. Magnus listened to everything, then took Will's face in his hands and kissed him once on the lips. He told Will what to do, and Will left the alcove.

Will returned to Sophie's bedroom to find her still curled into bed. He kicked off his shoes and crawled beneath the covers, taking her in his arms as if she was his wife, and the child she carried was his by blood.

"I'll be your husband for the next two months," Will whispered. "I'll be everything you need me to be. I'll get you through this pregnancy, and Tessa will help us."

"And when I have Charlie? What happens then?" Sophie asked.

"You have a choice to make," Will said.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Please Review! Please? There is no teaser because pretty much any sentence I put up would be a spoiler. Someone dies.