Two Years later

It all came down to this. Maia had to focus on the task at hand. The stakes were too high for fooling around. There wasn't a sound in the room apart from their breathing and she slowly, cautiously reached forward.

Moving her hand away, Maia held her breath. Once she had leaned all the way back again she let out the air in a deep sigh of relief.

"Beat that!" Maia said.

"I shall," Jordan replied easily.

Maia watched as he inspected the tower, looking for a safe place to remove a block. Oh how she wished he'd topple them down but she knew cheating would cost her the win and she needed the win. It had been a long day at work and Maia just wanted to sit on her butt and watch tv until she collapsed in bed. Whatever Jordan wanted to do couldn't be nearly so important as that.

His hand moved forward and Maia held her breath as she watched the block between Jordan's fingers. It came out clean but now Jordan had to put it on top of the tower.

Maia had watched him closely. She'd noted all the blocks he'd tested that hadn't worked and would make sure not to test them again. That is if Jordan didn't knock the whole thing down here and now.

To her disappointment his block sat gently on top without disturbing the tower.

"Rats," Maia commented. Now it was her turn. Turns were dangerous. You could only lose on your turn.

Maia had her eye on one specific block. She turned a little to the left to get a better view before reaching out to test it. It didn't feel loose so she tried another and another. Finally she found one that didn't seem to have any weight on it. Slowly Maia pushed it through so she could grab it on the other side.

"Yes!" she exclaimed once she had the little block in her hand and the tower remained standing.

"Not so fast," Jordan replied. "You still have to place it."

"It's more likely to fall from the pulling than the placing," Maia informed him as she slowly and gently placed her block on top of the tower.

"Just for that I hope yours falls the next time you place a block," Jordan commented.

Maia stuck her tongue out at him. Jordan just smiled. After over two years of living with this man Maia had learned that it was hard to annoy someone who thought everything she did was cute. Even when she was mad at him he just smiled at her. Some days it really pissed her off. She'd even kicked him once just to prove her point but he'd still only said something sappy which had quite ruined her angry mood.

Maia didn't know how to show affection so openly as her boyfriend did, but that didn't mean she loved him any less. In a strange way she felt like Jordan knew that. He knew that when she called him stupid or kicked him it was her way of showing affection. Maia knew it wasn't the right way, but it was the only way she knew how. Whenever they talked about this Jordan always smiled at her and blamed her parents which made Maia laugh. How could she not love him when he knew her so well?

Maia pulled her thoughts back into the game. Jordan was taking his turn. She watched with bated breath as he got a block free and placed it on top.

"Your turn," he said.

Maia let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She reached forward to touch a block and just barely stopped in time. She tried another. It also seemed to be weight bearing. Feeling like her luck was leaving her, Maia tried one more block.

To her horror the tower started to wobble.

"Oh no!" Maia said, reaching forward to try and steady it without thinking. Even if she hadn't intervened it was doomed. The blocks came crashing to the ground one after another as if to try and make Maia's failure all the more embarrassing with their loudness.

"Oh man," Maia whined. "That sucks."

"Hey this entire thing as your idea," Jordan chuckled.

"I know," Maia groaned.

"We could do them together?" Jordan offered.

"No," Maia sighed. "My stupid idea, my stupid consequence. Go relax or whatever."

"I love you but you are crazy," Jordan sniggered at her. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah yeah," Maia replied dismissively. She stood up, resigned as she turned to look over at her punishment.

Living with Maia had taught Jordan to be quite a lot tidier than he'd been before but that didn't change the fact that neither of them had done dishes for quite a few days now. The dishwasher was full of clean dishes, the sink full of dirty ones that couldn't go in the dishwasher and her favourite kitchen gloves had a hole in them. This was gonna suck.

With a resigned sigh, Maia went over to get started. The faster she started the faster she'd be sitting on the couch. She opened the dishwasher and started emptying out cutlery. She was just turning to pick up another couple spoons when she spotted a rather familiar part of socks standing on the other side of the open dishwasher. Maia looked up.

"I thought you were supposed to be relaxing," Maia told him.

"And leave you alone when you look so cranky?" Jordan replied in mock horror.

"You know that if you'd lost I'd have been sitting on the couch by now totally ignoring you, right?"

"I know," Jordan smiled and then he started helping. It was a small thing, but somehow it felt enormous. It was times like these that Maia was so perfectly reminded that love wasn't always about the grand gestures or the race through the airport. Real secure love was about the small everyday things.

Once the dishwasher was empty, Jordan said he'd wash if she dried. It wasn't a very fair deal but with her glove broken Maia knew she'd have wicked dry hands later if she didn't take him up on his very generous offer.

"Not sure how you do that without gloves," Maia told him a few minutes later while he was elbow deep in soapy water. "Without my gloves, my hands get so dry."

"Oily skin," Jordan chuckled. "Had horrible pimples in high school but I can wash dishes without gloves."

"Not an even trade off if you ask me," Maia replied.

"Agreed," Jordan chuckled.

"I'll try and remember to buy more gloves tomorrow," Maia said. "Thanks." She smiled at him.

"For what?" Jordan asked, genuinely unsure. It was one of the many reasons why Maia loved it. Jordan had no idea how wonderful he really was.

"For putting up with my silly competition to do the dishes and then helping me with them anyway," Maia answered.

Jordan just shrugged. "You're my family," Jordan said. "I'd do anything for you. Dishes seems like a small ask."

"You're so much nicer than me," Maia chuckled. "But I do know what you mean. You're my family too."

"Do you ever think-" Jordan began, then clearly stopped himself. "Nevermind."

"Think what?" Maia asked.

"It's fine," Jordan said smiling but there was a forced nature to his smile.

"This is me, Jordan," Maia said firmly. "You can ask me anything. Family remember?"

"Unofficially," Jordan commented. "Do you ever think about one day… maybe being like officially family?"

Maia just blinked at him. What the hell did that mean?

He seemed to realize he'd been unclear and quickly elaborated. "I mean do you see us getting married someday?" Jordan asked, turning a funny red colour.

"Oh that's what you meant?" Maia giggled. "And here I was picturing something way more messed up." She laughed again and then kissed him. He must have forgotten his hands were covered in soap suds before at her touch he instinctively moved closer wrapping an arm around her. Maia still had her dish towel in hand but it didn't seem to matter.

"I think we are kinda married now," she answered looking into her soulmate's eyes as she pulled out of the kiss. "Or I guess they call it common law. We've been living together for years."

"Yeah but still," Jordan said. He seemed less nervous now.

Maia shrugged. "Married, not married. Amounts to basically the same thing. I love you and you love me and we live together."

He didn't move for a second. Then he did. Drying his hands on her towel, Jordan then placed it on the counter and turned to her.

"If they are so similar," Jordan began softly.

He'd looked at her with love in his eyes so many times over the course of their lives, Maia would have been able to read the words 'I love you' off his face in the dark, but this was new. There was something new here and Maia had the strangest feeling just then. Somehow she knew exactly what he was going to say before he pulled her into his arms and whispered in her ear.

"Will you Maia Roberts please make me the happiest man on earth and agree to be my wife?"

She couldn't help but blush. It had less to do with his words than it did with his hands. He had her pressed firmly against him, his one hand moving around teasing the thin line of skin exposed where her shirt and pants met.

"Sure," Maia gasped as she tried to keep an even head. Jordan was making that rather difficult right now with his wandering hand finding its way under her shirt and over her bra. His other hand was still firmly pressing against her lower back, keeping them pressed against each other.

"Just no big party, yeah?" Maia continued, trying not to moan as her fiance's fingers teased the sensitive skin under her bra. "Low key. Oh, and we don't invite my family."

"No family," Jordan agreed. She could feel his breath against the skin of her neck. "Just friends. And city hall if you want." With his words finished, Jordan returned to kissing her neck and Maia could feel her legs start to melt.

"Sounds good," Maia managed to mumble before all her thoughts fell out of her head.

No more words were exchanged as clothes started to fall discarded to the floor. Jordan made the executive decision to not let Maia fall to pieces on the kitchen floor and controlled his hands long enough to get them down the hall and onto their lovely queen sized bed. After that he let the fingers loose and Maia moaned and gasped under his careful touch.

Spent and sleepy they both agreed dishes could wait and spent the rest of the night cuddling in bed together talking or watching tv.

Jordan fell asleep first. She could hear his even breathing. The sound was lulling her to sleep, but just before she gave into sleep Maia couldn't help but note that you didn't need to go out or spend money to make memories. Sometimes the best nights of your life happen in your kitchen while doing chores.

Maia woke up groggy. She'd stayed up way later than she'd intended to last night but it had been totally worth it. Between Jordan working on his dissertation and her new work schedule, they had been too tired to really spend any quality time together for a while. And to top it all off they were now engaged! Though she knew getting married wouldn't really change the layout of her life, even so, a small part of Maia almost couldn't believe it was true.

Maia blinked a few times then picked up her phone and checked if she had anything in her calendar today. The groggy feeling was making her forget the day of the week. Looks like it was a Saturday and she had plans with Izzy.

Maia wasn't even slightly surprised to find Jordan's side of the bed empty. She had stopped putting out her arm to check if Jordan was still in bed long ago. That early morning riser was almost always awake before her, especially since he has been working on his PHD. Dissertations looked like a lot of work as far as Maia was concerned. She preferred earning money with just her bachelor's rather than be in school until forever, but Jordan loved it and she supported him in every way.

Before getting out of bed and getting dressed, Maia shot Izzy a quick text to make sure she was still game to hang out. Izzy answered at once in the affirmative and they agreed to go to the mall around lunch time. In winter going for a walk in a park or sitting in a cafe didn't have the same appeal so Maia and Izzy usually switched to the indoor heated mall when snow took over the land.

That worked great for Maia since it was almost past ten in the morning and she hadn't barely woken up yet. She wandered out of the bedroom and towards the coffee without really looking around. It wasn't until she had the coffee maker all set up and working its magic that she noticed Jordan sitting at the table.

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning is for after coffee," Maia replied blearily. Jordan just chuckled and then turned back to his work.

Maia had on occasion tried to ask him about his dissertation but so much of it was more than she could understand so she had switched to more generic questions of late.

"How's the homework going?" she asked.

"It's coming along," Jordan replied.

"I have plans to meet up with Izzy today," Maia continued. "But we can do something later if you want."

"Simon wants to hang out later too," Jordan replied. "And good cause we have a wedding to plan."

"Urg plan," Maia whined. "I thought we were gonna book a time at city hall."

"We can do that too," Jordan answered. "But first run the idea by your best friend and see if she kills you."

"Urg," Maia groaned. She'd forgotten about Izzy.

Thankfully the coffee pot chose that moment to 'bing'. Maia sighed. What a lovely sound. Everything seemed more manageable with a mug of coffee in hand. Maia poured herself a cup with just a splash of milk and already the universe was making more sense.

"Well have fun with Simon," Maia added once she'd drunk half of her coffee.

"I will," Jordan replied. "I suspect he will react the normal way with a 'congrats' and 'let's play video games'."

"I suspect you're right," Maia laughed. "Izzy on the other hand is anyone's guess. She might try and plan the whole thing."

"Well don't let her take too much," Jordan said automatically. "It's your wedding and it should be how you want it to be."

Putting down her mug, Maia walked over to give him a hug from behind. Jordan actually turned his eyes away from his work to give her a hug back.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Being awesome," Maia replied. "And I wanted to remind you that it is your wedding too and it should be how you want."

"I just want to marry you," Jordan said, kissing her gently before continuing. "On everything else I can compromise."

"Yes but if you didn't have to compromise, what would you want?"

"Umm," Jordan began but he clearly didn't have a ready answer. Maia waited, knowing he just needed a second to think.

"I think I'd do a destination wedding," Jordan said. "Get married on a beach somewhere with just our closest friends."

"See now that doesn't sound bad at all," Maia beamed at him.

One more kiss then she let him get back to his work before heading into her bedroom to get dressed for her social plans.

About an hour later Maia was driving into the mall parking lot. It wasn't as packed as usual. Maia decided the lack of parked cars either meant there was a big fair in town she hadn't heard about or it was a statutory holiday and she'd forgotten everything would be closed. Once she walked up to the doors and found them unlocked she decided to blame the hypothetical fair. Either way it worked well for her since she'd gotten the best parking spot in the house.

Maia decided a second cup of coffee was in order and started walking towards the food court. She was meeting Izzy there anyway so it seemed like a two birds one stone kinda situation.

She was sitting on one of the couches drinking her coffee and holding another one when she spotted Izzy walking towards her. Maia waved and Izzy turned.

"Hey," Maia said as her friend approached.

"Ooh coffee," Izzy said, as Maia held up the second coffee. "You're a lifesaver."

Maia laughed as she handed it over. Maia then asked Izzy how her morning had been and at once Izzy launched into a story. Maia relaxed. It was always great hanging out with Izzy because she had to do so little talking. Maia was rather good at listening but when asked to talk for long periods of time she was lost.

"My mother called me," Izzy groaned. "It's all 'you've been married two years where are my grandbabies?'"

"Ah yes I've heard parents do that after you get married," Maia commented.

"To which I reminded her that she lives a plane ride away so even if there was a grandchild it's not like she'd get to see them much," Izzy continued. "Then she just said that as soon as I tell them I'm pregnant her father and I are moving here. They've been looking at houses."

"Damn."

"Right like no pressure," Izzy grumbled. "And it seemed despite my brother getting married way before me mom has officially given up on Alec and Magnus adopting or using surrogacy."

"How come?" Maia asked. She stood up then and Izzy followed her lead. When they hung out at the mall they usually walked and talked. Sitting on the couch they could do at home, but walking meant window shopping.

"Not sure," Izzy answered. "She just found out about Alec's helping Aline and Helen have a baby a couple weeks ago and still hasn't finished freaking out. Just as Magnus predicted she wants to be grandma and the baby isn't even here yet. Helen isn't due for another few months. Aline and Helen told her she can be involved but not like around everyday type thing. Which means mom still wants what she calls a 'proper' grandkid."

"That's intense," Maia chuckled.

"Right," Izzy scoffed. "Biologically speaking the baby is her grandchild but legally it's not. This seems to be way more than my mother can handle." Izzy was kinda laughing now, but more to relieve tension than because it was actually humorous.

It was then that a specific question occurred to Maia. "Do you even want kids? I mean is she super off base or just being annoying?"

"Simon and I want kids eventually… we think," Izzy said. "We just aren't really that worried about it, and unlike my mother we don't need it to be now."

"Maybe you should tell her you'll have a kid if she agrees to all the night time feedings until the kid is two years old," Maia replied grinning.

"No, see the problem with that is that she'd just agree and I'd have to have a baby," Izzy explained.

"That's wild," Maia chuckled. "No wonder Aline and Helen want a little bit of space."

"Honestly, I think mom and dad are gonna move out here no matter what just because of the improper grandchild situation," Izzy observed. "She's just hounding me cause she's frustrated about her limited access to the improper grandchild."

"Parents are just people who had sex," Maia commented. "Doesn't always mean they got a handle on their emotions and it doesn't always mean they are right."

"Amen to that," Izzy chuckled. "Before I give up my body and my sleep to create another human being I want to enjoy my life just being about me and Simon for a while more. We aren't that old. Mom just needs to chill."

"Fair," Maia chuckled.

"Mom is at least super happy that Alec is working with her and dad at the family business," Izzy commented. "And he seemed to be rather good at it. Not sure if he loves it as much as mom and dad love having him there but he certainly doesn't hate it."

"That's good," Maia commented, unsure what else she could really say on the matter.

Izzy laughed lightly and drank the last of her coffee. "Thanks for letting me vent," she smiled. "Sorry, I know I can take over a conversation."

"It's all good."

"Anyway, so how are you?" Izzy asked.

"The new job is going great," Maia said. "When I applied the first time I didn't have enough experience and it was a bit of a let down, but I am so glad now that Jordan convinced me to re-apply. I'm really enjoying being a manager despite the workload."

"That's awesome," Izzy smiled at her.

"And well," Maia began knowing the next few minutes would have a drastic effect on her future wedding plans. "Jordan and I kinda got engaged last night."

Izzy stopped walking. She turned dramatically and stared at Maia before exclaiming "And. You. Let. Me. Talk. About. My. Mother!"

"You needed to vent," Maia mumbled.

"Not more than I needed to hear my best friend's huge announcement!" Izzy countered.

"It isn't huge," Maia tried to downplay it. "We are common-law already. We are just thinking of going down to city hall and-"

But before she could even finish the sentence Izzy was shaking her head.

"No friend of mine is getting married at city hall!" Izzy said as if she were a monarch who had just invented a new law.

"We don't want a big party," Maia said with a plea in her voice.

"I can live with that," Izzy agreed. "But no city hall."

As her plans were dashed, Maia decided to try someone else's. "I have one compromise for you," Maia added. "Destination wedding. Small destination wedding. Just friends."

"Oooh this is so exciting!" Izzy squealed. "I know just where, oh and mom and dad will have to let us borrow the family jet. We can all go together and oh it's going to be great!"

Maia's head was swimming as Izzy said 'family jet' but she tried not to think about it. There were just some things you had to accept when you let a Lightwood into your life.

"Does this mean you'll be my maid of honour?" Maia asked.

Izzy just jumped up and down squealing as she tried to hug Maia without calming down. Maia needed to sit down. She spotted a bench and detached herself from Izzy to make towards it. Once she was sitting down everything seemed just a bit more manageable. Maia valued Izzy's friendship and loved her dearly in a sisterly way but she was a bit much sometimes. Maia wasn't quite sure how Simon managed though she suspected the sex helped a lot.

"Oh and you aren't allowed to be engaged as long as Clary and Jace," Izzy said firmly. "Those two crazy idiots are gonna still be engaged when the sun grows cold and dies."

Maia laughed. "A normal engagement length works for me," Maia said. "Honestly if not for you, Jordan and I were planning to book a city hall wedding for sometime next month."

"Well thank goodness I was able to crush that horrible concept in time!" Izzy stated. "Oh and you can't have as short an engagement as Paige and Jon either. They only got engaged a year ago and they have been married for almost ten months."

"They had a tiny wedding though, right?" Maia asked.

"Yeah," Izzy agreed. "It was at Alec's house. Basic decorations. Really good food and a friend of a friend did the music. Paige's dress was just something off the rack but she did look nice. The weather held out which was miraculous."

"Sounds like a lovely wedding," Maia replied with a smile. As the bride's exes new girlfriend Maia hadn't been invited to Paige's wedding which she felt was more than fair. Jordan had also not been invited which was definitely fair. She was glad Paige had found her own happiness. The guilt of what she had Jordan had faded over time. disappeared. Everything had worked out in the end.

"Small," Izzy countered.

"Just because your wedding was absolutely huge doesn't mean everyone else wants one like that," Maia reminded her. She was feeling better now and decided she could get up and walk again.

Izzy sighed. "That's what my husband says."

"Wise man, that husband of yours," Maia agreed.

"Don't tell him that," Izzy reminded her friend. "Or he might figure it out and then I'd have to listen more."

Maia couldn't help it. She laughed right out loud. "That poor man," she said.

"Pfft," Izzy scoffed. "He's fine. I'll wear his favourite teddy tonight."

"And we've reached too much information," Maia chuckled. Maia asked for a change of topic knowing full well that Izzy would ask about the wedding before she even opened her mouth.

"What's your guest list look like?" Izzy asked without fail.

"Just friends so you, Simon, Alec, Magnus, Jace and Clary," Maia started listing off people.

"What about parents?" Izzy asked.

"Jordan might want to invite his," Maia explained. "But I am so done with mine."

"Who will walk you down the aisle then?" Izzy asked.

Maia just shrugged. "No clue. I could just walk myself down the aisle or I could run, you know get it over with."

"You're crazy," Izzy giggled at her.

They spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, eating and talking about Maia's wedding. By the time they headed home Maia felt like she had the entire thing planned. She was hoping Jordan would be on board.

"Where is your car?" Maia asked once they'd walked out of the mall and were standing by Maia's old kia.

"Simon dropped me off," Izzy explained. "I'm supposed to go home with you. He's been hanging out with Jordan most of the day."

"Oh right," Maia had completely forgotten that Simon was very likely at her place right now.

"We just have to pick up dinner on our way," Izzy said. "And then it's movie night."

Ever since Maia and Jordan had moved out of Izzy and Simon's place they had begun the tradition of a monthly movie night. Izzy bought dinner and everyone sat on the same couch and watched a movie. Maia and Jordan had tried to chip in for the dinner or at least take turns buying it but Izzy had flat out refused, always saying it was her treat. Eventually Maia had just given up. Even so Maia always looked forward to their monthly double date.

Maia valued her friends more than she knew how to put into words. When friends were family they were all the more precious.

Two down, four to go. The next two are basically finished with minimal editing left while the last two I haven't really started yet. Still making better progress than I had expected when I decided to give himself a deadline for this story's completion. It feels like the end of an era, but in a good way.