Hello

Hello It's Me

                       

Jace woke up to a phone call from his parabatai. Once upon a time, this was not uncommon. Once upon a time, hearing a teary Alec saying he made a huge mistake was his morning alarm. It's been ten years since the last call at 6 AM.

     "Alec? What's wrong?" His voice was still groggy, and so quiet as Clary was asleep next to him.

     "He came to my house yesterday. It's been twelve years since...but he came... By the Angel, Jace, what am I supposed to do about this?" With a roll of his eyes, Jace got up out of bed. This was likely to take some time.

     "He, as in..." He hated to ask, but he needed to, needed to make Alec say his name. Alec needed to face this.

     "Magnus fucking Bane," Alec spit out. Jace thought there was the faint chance that Alec was drunk.

     "Does Chris know that your ex boyfriend has decided that he wants you back in his life?" Jace asked Alec. It was never good to get Alec to dwell on emotions, not while he was in such a vulnerable state.

     "Probably. Ashleigh answered the door, and Rory came home while he was there. Angel knows that those kids can't keep a thing from their mother, and she hates me with a passion, so it's likely that she told Chris. Jace, what if I lose Chris? What if I lose my kids?" Alec was certainly drunk. He never rambled like this otherwise.

     "Alec, forget about losing Chris. The man adores you. He married you, after all." Jace didn't even mention Ashleigh and Rory. That would be too cruel.

     "I know he married me. I married him. And it was beautiful. He was beautiful. And little Ashleigh, walking hand in hand with Rory, they were so happy. But I couldn't help but think what Magnus would be able to do for a wedding." The Angel knew that Jace hated boy talk. He hated being this sappy with anyone other than Clary. He hated it, but he got used to it, because for two years, Alec needed him to be okay with it. Alec needed him, and that was enough for Jace to say what needed to come next.

The day before....

     Alec was tired. It was a rare day that Chris had left to go hunting on his own-something about needing to talk to Chrisalai about the kids and save for his 13-year-old daughter Ashleigh, he was alone. Rory was with Jace, training his and Clary's kids. He chose to spend this day without obligations reading. And so he had, until Ashleigh came running into his and Chris's room.

     "Daddy, there' someone knocking at the door," she said. Alec refrained from rolling his eyes-damn Magnus for instilling that habit in him-and took her hand. He really hoped that she would grow out of her fear of strangers soon.

     "Come on, Ash. Let's go see who it is," he said calmly to the girl. Ashleigh smiled and dragged him to the front door.

     "Now, Ash, why don't I go over here, and you open the door?" All the silly games that he and Chris had invented for Ashleigh to embrace people were just like this one, one of her dads would always be in her eyesight, but out of others.

     Her hand curled around the metal knob and she opened the door towards her. Standing outside of it was an Asian man wearing tight clothes and lots of glitter. It was the glitter that convinced her to talk.

     "I'm Ashleigh. Why are you covered in glitter?" The question made Alec nervous. He could only think of two people wore glitter, and Izzy would have called ahead.

     "Pretty name, Ashleigh. I like glitter. It makes everything sparkle." Alec knew that voice, of course he did. Just because he'd spent years trying to forget it doesn't mean he was actually capable of doing so. He was about to come out from behind the door, but then Ashleigh laughed.

     "Everything is better when it sparkles," she told him. Then he laughed and Alec's world stopped as it always did when that man laughed.

     "That's almost true. Most things are better when they sparkle. I'm looking for one that is fine as it is, Alexander Lightwood. Would he happen to be home?" Ashleigh poked her head around the door and said,

     "He's here for you, daddy." Alec nodded as the man mouthed the word, "daddy".

     "Yeah, Ash, I know. Why don't you go to the park and play with your cousins?" Alec suggested as he came out from behind the door.

     "But I-"

     "Please, Ash." She brushed light brown curls from her eyes and walked out the door, waving goodbye to the glittery man as she did.

     "Will she be safe in the park on her own?" The other man asked, watching her skip down the street.

     "She's part fairy, part Shadowhunter. She's as safe as she can be, Magnus." Saying his name had more of an affect than he would have liked. "Why are you here?"

     Magnus, as per usual, ignore the question.

     "She called you daddy." Alec was not having the evasiveness that day.

     "Of course she did. She always does. Why are you here?" Magnus ran a hand through his hair. The action caught Alec off guard. This was Magnus who looked gorgeous dying in a demon realm. He never messed up his hair. A devious and unwanted thought crossed Alec's mind, saying that messing up Magnus's hair was Alec's job.

     "I had wanted to talk...you had just left without saying anything that night and Isabelle said to give you space...and I lost track of time...and it seems that it wouldn't matter, so I should be going. Whoever he is, I hope he makes you happy," Magnus said in a rush. His every move was so wrong, so not the confident warlock that Alec knew. Everything was the opposite of Magnus, and Alec couldn't stand it.

     "His name is Chris. Ash is his daughter from his last relationship. Ash and Rory. He was an ascendant. We combined names. Shadowwood. Chris insisted on it. Rory trains Will and Amanda, Jace and Clary's kids, with them. Ash's mother didn't want her training with others, so I train her. She's terrified of strangers. Rory looks like Chris, and Ash like Chrisalai. Chris is with her right now, I'm not sure why. We've been married for ten years now. By the Angel, I love him, but-" Magnus put a finger to Alec's lips as he had done so many times in the past. 

     "You love him. You're happy. That's all that matters, Alexander. I'll go now," Magnus said in a whisper. It was at that moment that Rory Shadowwood walked up to the house. 

     "Um, sorry if I'm interrupting, Dad, but I'm kind of tired and would like to go take a nap. So, could you two please move away from the door," he said, heavy on the sarcasm. Alec blinked at the boy-teenager really-that he called his son. Then he shook his head, getting rid of the shock. 

     "By the Angel, Rory, don't sneak up on me like that," Alec said, pulling Magnus inside and to the left in order to make room for Rory to go through. 

     "Sorry, Dad. Nice to see you, Magnus. Was wondering was you weren't at training," he said running up the stairs, taking two at a time. At that Alec was dumbfounded. 

     "You...you know Rory?" he asked Magnus, who only nodded, and walked away. 

     Alec stood by himself in the doorway of his home, watching the man who defined his adolescence walk away from him again. And even though he was married, even though he could hear his son start his music, and his daughter laughing down the street, and felt the ring on his finger burn in  the sunlight, watching Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn walk away from him now hurt just as much as it did the first time.