My mouth went dry and I glared back at Isabelle. Announcing that Magnus and I had news to share had been a little payback on her part. If she dared to give me attitude after this, then I was not going to be pleased.

"Before you panic, I didn't get Alec pregnant." Magnus joked. I elbowed him in the side. Look who thought he was hilarious.

"Well that's good to hear." My Mother nodded, hiding her small smile behind her cup of tea. "It would be quite the shock to his system if you had."

I flushed, ever so slightly mortified that this conversation was happening. Yes, it was a physical impossibility, I got the joke. But there was also the subtle implication that it could have happened if I were female. Which was altogether too sexual for discussion with my Mother.

"I actually asked him to move in with me." Magnus explained. He looked really happy when he said it, and he gave my shoulder a reassuring kind of squeeze that made me feel instantly better.

Mother probably regretted choosing that moment to drink anything, but she managed to swallow instead a spurting tea everywhere. Then she smiled directly at me.

"And you said yes?" She asked.

"I moved my things yesterday..." I admitted, slightly ashamed to have not said anything.

It probably would have been better to tell her the plan before actually taking action. The whole event had been a bit of a whirlwind, though. I still sort of felt like I was sleeping over, until I got up in the morning and realised all my things were at Magnus'.

"That's... Wonderful." Said Mother, with a considerable pause while she registered what I had said and tried to find the right word. "A bit of a shock, but wonderful."

Isabelle opened her eyes wide. She was surprised by this positive reaction, which ticked me off. I hadn't been expecting sunshine and rainbows myself, but Izzy had brought it up expecting it would cause trouble. And now she seemed slightly disappointed.

Right about then Max started to bombard us with all kinds of questions. Where did Magnus live? Was it another apartment, or a house? Was it better than my old place? I laughed and started to answer his questions, only just registering that Magnus' presence had disappeared from my side.

At first I didn't think much of it. I assumed he'd gone to the bathroom or something. Until I caught sight of Isabelle's concerned gaze.

"Quit interrogating Alec." Izzy chided Max, who stuck his tongue out at her.

I took them bickering as an opportunity to look up and realise that Mother was missing from the room too. Isabelle nodded towards the kitchen and I caught her drift.

"You can come visit whenever you like." I promised Max, although my head wasn't really in the conversation anymore.

I rose from my seat and headed towards the kitchen door. I heard no voices coming from inside and didn't want to be weird by pressing my ear up to listen. I cautiously turned the handle and realised the kitchen was in fact empty.

Magnus and my Mother were stood out on the back porch. They hadn't noticed me, I had no idea what they were talking about. I wrinkled my nose when I saw Magnus light a cigarette, though. I didn't know he still had those.

"Alec!" Izzy whispered. "The bathroom!"

I caught her drift quickly. There was a minuscule little bathroom on the bottom floor of the house, one with a tiny little window which was almost always open. Perfect for overhearing conversations going on outside.

Eavesdropping is awful, and it never ends well. At least, that's what I told myself as I situated myself beside that very window.

"Trust can backfire." Was the first thing I heard. It was my Mother, in a dark and reserved tone which had me a little worried.

The only trouble with the bathroom was that I couldn't see either of them. I had to stare at the pastel coloured wall in front of me and concentrate on inflection.

"I see..." Magnus replied. His voice was low and absent-sounding, like he was thinking hard.

"I don't dislike you, Magnus." My Mother said as if she was concerned she may have convinced him otherwise. I wished I knew what she'd been saying beforehand.

"That's surprising." Magnus commented. And he did sound quite surprised. "You have a lot of good reasons to."

"Alexander forgives you, I can only assume he has a few good reasons of his own." Mother informed him.

And there was the crux of the matter. Was she worried that I trusted Magnus too much? Sometimes I had similar concerns of my own, I guess. I couldn't really blame her for having a little trouble processing it if I kept letting Magnus get away with things...

Except, he wasn't getting away with anything. At least not anymore. Sure we were still together but I felt more confident calling Magnus on it when his self-gratifying nature got the better of him, now.

I guess that from the outside looking in it was harder to see all the good. The people around you hear all the complaints you have about every little thing; but how often do we really talk about it when things are going well, unless it's a big gesture?

I mean for every argument between the two of us there were at least ten times more cosy nights and coffee dates when things felt just perfect. But those things are common, they're normalities. Almost a given, even. They don't make for good conversation or storytelling because they aren't so distinct and they happen over and over again.

However, by the sounds of it, it would be in my interest to bring those things up more around my family.

"Where does that leave your opinion?" I heard Magnus ask after sucking in a breath.

"Does it matter?" Was my Mother's response.

I had to hand it to her, because she had a point. I couldn't picture Magnus dropping me over what she thought. He certainly wasn't bothered by my Father's opinion.

"It would matter to Alexander." Magnus said tactfully, after a pause. "He loves his family above everything."

"Don't underestimate how much my son cares for you." Mother warned him.

"Not at all." Magnus replied nonchalantly. "If we agree on anything, Maryse, it's that Alexander thinks more of me than I'm probably worth."

"Please don't think I'm saying that." Mother insisted. She sounded shocked to hear how Magnus had taken whatever comments she'd made. "I just don't want to see him walk in my footsteps, Magnus. It's too painful."

"I understand that." Said Magnus. "I don't know how to reassure you."

"You really love him?" Asked my Mother. Her voice became small as if she was concerned somebody might overhear them.

Oops.

"Alexander is my whole world." Magnus' voice became serious and my breath hitched. "I love him more than any lover I have ever had, or could have had after I met him."

I felt my face flushing and knew I was definitely going to regret listening in on this one. That was quite the statement Magnus had made. And quite the statement I wasn't supposed to have heard, either.

Mother said "That's all I can ask." And I knew that the two of them were going to head back inside, where I'd now need to play it cool.

I pushed the flush and ran the taps, which was a total waste of water I didn't need to use. It didn't even work so well as a cover up, when I walked in on the two of them heading back into the kitchen I think it was pretty clear to everybody what had been going on. Mother pressed her lips together and Magnus sent me a half-grin over her shoulder.

So I did what any rational person would do. I ignored everything that had just happened, marched right up to Magnus and pointedly threw away the nicotine fix he'd been smuggling in his back pocket.

"I've told him a million times." I joked, and the tension seemed to dissipate. My Mother even started to smile.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wanted to get it up yesterday but Christmas-wrapping duties called. 'Tis the season of sticky-tape!