A/N: Thank you all the amazing comments! I appreciate every single one! I want to reply all the reviews and I will do that as soon as possible but I wanted to get this out as soon as possible as it's already late. Please let me know what you think of this chapter.

Disclaimer: The characters and universe belongs to Cassandra Clare.

Warnings: This story deals with very sensitive subject matters, including sexual abuse of a minor (not explicitly described), internalized homophobia, self-destructive behavior, language and adult sexual content.

Learning to Be

Chapter 20: Parents

Magnus had shifted his body once again so that he was seated beside Alec, with his back against the headboard. The warlock had his arms wrapped around the teenager and Alec rested his head against Magnus's shoulder. It seemed like the most natural position for the two boys but it hurt Magnus to think about the kind of pain that led to it. His shirt was slightly wet from Alec's tears and Magnus's face was stained with his own tears.

Watching and listening to Alec retell the horrific trauma from his childhood was excruciating. Not only was his childhood destroyed, it had so badly distorted his perception of his own self-worth to the point that he thought that he was worthless and being punished for being attracted to the same sex.

Magnus pressed his lips into Alec's hair. He felt a small sense of hope that Alec wasn't flinching at the contact at the moment. "Alec, darling, do you want to come back to my place?"

"I'm so tired, Magnus," he murmured, his head not moving from Magnus's shoulder. "Too tired to run." Magnus squeezed him gently, knowing that he wasn't talking about the physical action of running.

"Will you stay here with me?" he asked softly before quickly adding, "You don't have to..."

"I'm not going anywhere, Alec. Let's get some sleep." Magnus snapped his fingers and Alec jumped in surprise. He looked down at himself, bewildered. He was now dressed in a pair of soft blue and white flannel pajamas. "Izzy got these from your room for you to wear when you were healing from the demon attack. She said she bought it for you one Christmas."

Alec chuckled. "I told her I wouldn't accept any clothes she bought me that Christmas. She was in one of her particular makeover Alec moods that season. This was her compromise. It is very soft."

Magnus smiled, enjoying their lighthearted conversation. It was almost like Alec hadn't just unloaded years of pain. Like they were just two boys that liked each other, talking about a whacky sister.

"What about you? You can't sleep in jeans."

Magnus held back his surprise. He was ready to sit in a chair beside Alec for the night. Alec looked at him shyly. "I have some clean sweats and t-shirts in that drawer," he said, pointing at the bottom drawer of his dresser. The pants might be a tad short on you but no one is going to see you."

"Except you, my dear Alec."

Alec untangled himself from the warlock and walked over to the dresser. He pulled out a pair of gray sweats and a black t-shirt. Surprise, surprise, Magnus thought fondly.

"I wore those ridiculously ill-fitted sweats at your place," Alec replied.

He placed them on Magnus's lap as Magnus chuckled. "Oh no, Alec, dear, those were perfectly fitted night ware." Alec gave him an adorably confused look but Magnus decided that this wasn't the time to explain to Alec why he liked those particular sweats on him so much. Instead, he snapped his fingers and he was now wearing the borrowed clothes, his own folded neatly on his lap.

"I don't want to leave this room right now, even to brush my teeth," Alec muttered as he placed Magnus's clothes on top of the dresser.

"Your teeth will survive one night. Let's go to bed."

Alec bit his bottom lip but nodded.

"I can just sit by your bed," Magnus suggested.

Alec shook his head. "No, I'm not letting you sit up all night." Alec quickly got under the covers and Magnus soon joined him. He could hear Alec's heart beating loudly. Magnus turned onto his side and faced Alec, who was lying on his back, looking up at the pristine white ceiling.

"You're safe with me, Alec."

Alec nodded, a pensive look on his face. "I know." He turned onto his side and looked at Magnus. "Thank you." He shuffled closer to Magnus and allowed the older man to wrap his arms around him while he settled his head against Magnus's chest.

Magnus snapped his fingers one more time, extinguishing the light. "Good night my dear Nephilim."

xxxxxx

"Wait Izzy. Stop." Izzy could hear her brother rushing to her and grabbing her arm. She went to shake it off but he pulled her near him and then let go of her arm. "What exactly are you planning on saying to Robert and Maryse?"

"That they are horrible parents and they need to get their shit together and get on board with getting rid of this bastard before I murder him, Jace. And they should know what this has done to their son."

Jace shook his head urgently. "You can't do that, Izzy."

"Why the fuck are you protecting them?" Izzy hissed.

"I'm not protecting them! I can barely look at them. But you can't say anything about the cutting, Izzy. Alec trusts you. Do you understand that? He kept this a secret for so long. I asked if I could tell you before telling you. Look, you know I am the master of the act before thinking mantra but never with Alec. For as long as I've known about Manson, I've been so careful. You think I never wanted to tell you? God, Izzy, there were times that I felt so fucking helpless and all I wanted to do was tell you because I thought you would know what to do. But I never did. Do you know why?"

Izzy tried to calm down. "Because he told you not to."

Jace nodded. "Because his ability to trust others and control what happens to him was taken away from him Izzy. Because I refuse to be a part of that. I'm not going to break his trust. I'm not going to take away his control and make him feel powerless. And I'm not going to let you do that either. He trusts us, Izzy. Don't take that away from him."

Izzy let out a strangled sob, tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. "This isn't fair," Izzy sobbed, sinking to the floor. Jace sat down by her side. "I miss my brother. Do you remember Alec from before that sick bastard ever came here? Shit, I'm so selfish. For so long, I had no idea what happened to my happy, sweet big brother. I mean, I had my ideas, but this...by the angel, never this."

"I know, Izzy."

"I wasn't with a boy tonight."

Jace looked at her surprised. "You weren't?"

Izzy shook her head. "I would't be able to deal with male idiocy right now."

"Lovely, Izzy," Jace said sarcastically. "Should I leave?"

Izzy grabbed his hand. "I went to a mundane bookstore. Spent hours there."

"Doing what?"

Izzy pulled her large handbag into her lap. "Read books...on...on child sexual abuse." She sobbed. "I bought two of them. I just feel helpless, you know? I needed an outside perspective."

Jace squeezed her hand. "I get that. I would like to read them."

"I don't know if I'll give it to him right now, but one is for Alec. The other one is for us."

"Okay."

"Alec telling me and from the sounds of it, telling Magnus, is going in the right direction. He's acknowledging the abuse instead of pretending nothing happened while falling apart alone. But what our parents did...what they are doing right now...it's inexcusable. Alec needs to feel safe in his home. It might be too late for him to ever feel safe here and that's...unfair isn't a strong enough word. How is he supposed to heal with that monster here?"

Jace clenched his jaw angrily.

"So, we have to talk to our parents, Jace. Because I wasn't exaggerating. If they don't do anything, I will end up doings something that's not legal." She paused. "We won't mention the cutting. Okay?"

Jace stood up and nodded as Izzy got up. "Okay. Let's go talk to them. But I warn you, Izzy, once the dam is broken I might not be able to remain calm."

Izzy started walking towards their parents' room, Jace in step with her. "I never said this was going to be a nice little chat."

xxxxxx

Maryse had just turned off her bedside lamp when she heard urgent banging at their bedroom door. Robert, who had already fallen asleep at the other far end of the bed groaned and sat up just as Maryse turned the light back on.

"It's Izzy and Jace. Let us in."

Robert looked at Maryse angrily before climbing out of bed and grabbing the doorknob. When he opened the door, he glared at the two teenagers. "What do you think you two are doing?" he snapped.

Maryse sat up and swung her legs over the side. "Izzy, Jace, is everything all right?"

"No, mom, things are not all right," Izzy hissed. Both kids walked passed Robert until they were in the middle of the room.

"What's going on then?" Robert said, impatiently.

"Stop acting so fucking bothered by our interruption of your damn beauty sleep," Izzy yelled.

"Isabelle! How dare you use such language in front of us!"

"How dare I?" Izzy said, laughing in disbelief. "How dare you let that man sleep here!"

Silence fell over the room. The occasional creaks of the old Institute seemed to echo through the silence and Maryse's rapidly speeding up heartbeat blared in her ears.

"Izzy?"

"Oh what, mom? Thought I'd stay in the dark forever?" Izzy snapped. "After you brought Max back." She turned her attention to her dad. "He could barely hold it together."

Robert closed the door and absently ran his hand through his hair, much like Alec did when he was anxious or upset. Maryse closed her eyes for a moment, trying to steady her breathing.

"I tried to talk to him," Maryse started, not knowing where she wanted to go with her train of thought.

"You think fucking talking to him is going to do anything," Jace interjected, his voice dripping with anger. "Your message was loud and clear for the last four years. Why would he talk to you if his safety was obviously not your top priority."

Robert turned to Jace. "Now you listen, Jace, it's not that simple."

"IT IS THAT SIMPLE!" Jace screamed. "There is nothing more simple than doing everything in your power to make sure the man that raped your child repeatedly can never see the light of day, let alone step within miles of your son. IT'S THAT FUCKING SIMPLE!"

Treacherous tears slipped down the older woman's face. "You're right Jace."

"Of course I'm right! You were more interested in your fucking reputation than your kid. I mean did you see something different that night? Because what I saw..." He was shaking and Izzy grabbed his forearm, trying to steady him. "Izzy," he hissed, looking at her. "If you had seen what we saw...I just think about how that was his life for almost a year and I...you're his parents...don't you care about him? I just don't understand how you let Manson go...how you let him back in."

Maryse watched as Izzy squeezed his arm before starting to speak. "His silence...it was like he was screaming for help and none of us figured it out. And now...he's continued to live in silence, trying to deal with this past all by himself because you've created an environment that reinforces his feeling of shame...like what happened is his dirty secret when in reality, the real dirty secret here is that you cared more about keeping up appearances than your son."

Maryse couldn't hold back the sob. "You're both right. I've failed as a mother."

"This is not about you," Izzy snapped. "I don't think Alec will ever feel safe here."

"You're right," she repeated, sadly. Maryse stood and glared at her husband. "You," she hissed. "I'm weak. I'm so fucking weak that I let your wishes overrule the wellbeing of my child and I will never forgive myself for that."

Robert's face was stark white and the blues of his irises seemed to pop as he stared back at his wife. "What do you want me to do, Maryse?" Maryse could hear the regret in his voice but it meant nothing now.

"The first thing you will do is get that man out of this Institute," Izzy started. "Not tomorrow, but now. Because if you don't, I will and it won't end well for either of us."

"And if he contacts the Clave?" Robert said.

"Let him contact the damn Clave," Jace snapped. "And when they come to you, one of two things is going to happen."

"Because tomorrow morning, I'm going to see if Alec is willing to do what you should have done four years ago and report him to the Clave," Izzy said.

"If he agrees, the Clave will know their answer and if Alec isn't willing to report him, then you will just have to deal with the ramifications of not housing a shadowhunter, whatever that might be," Jace concluded.

"And if that means losing the Institute?"

"Then you'll have to deal with that because as we're not in charge of the Institute, I know we'll be able to remain here," Izzy replied curtly.

"If I lose power over the Institute and Maryse remains in charge, Manson might just return and the cycle of kicking him out and losing power of the Institute continues."

"Then I'll fucking kill him," Izzy said without missing a beat. She addressed Robert directly. "To Manson, being here is some sort of sick power play over Alec and I'm guessing, to some extent, you. And it ends tonight."

Silence fell over the room. Finally, Robert broke the silence. "I love my son," he said simply.

Izzy looked at him, void of any sympathy.

"You have an interesting way of showing it."

"You're right. I prioritized our reputation over my son's safety."

Maryse shook her head. "It was never about us. It was about you. You prioritized your reputation over our son's wellbeing. And I let you."

Robert ran his hand through his hair again and turned to Jace. "I didn't see something different that night, Jace. I think I tried to block it out of my mind to make it easier to live with what I did. I've avoided my son as much as I can over the last four years; being in Alicante as much as possible, keeping my distance when I'm here; because I am so ashamed of myself and because looking at him makes the things I blocked come flooding back, forcing me to face how I failed my child."

"Do you except me to feel sympathy?" Jace spat out.

Robert shook his head. "No. No, I don't. But I'm done being a coward." He looked at their daughter carefully. "Izzy, he's out of here tonight."

Maryse just looked past the occupants in the room, thinking about her son, knowing that this was all too little, too late.

A/N: A little Malec fluff to start, Jace being very perceptive, Izzy turning to research and finally confronting the parents. Please let me know what you think about this chapter. Your feedback is so greatly appreciated. And I will get on replying to reviews as soon as possible!