Faerie Vindicta

A Parabatai's love

Alec approached the doors, which had shut themselves, but saw no Shadowhunters waiting for him in the space below the stairs. "Hello?", Alec called, thinking maybe they had gone in search of him.

Alec went to the Institute doors and the doors opened immediately under his familiar touch. Upon its opening, the warm air hit his face. There was a flash, but nothing grand enough to catch his full attention. Seeing nothing, he turned back around and started for the weapons room.

He heard a noise at his feet, he looked down, seeing the unimaginable.

Shadowhunters hardly ever abandoned their children anymore. The only times Institutes received children, was when they were made orphans. Losing both parents, ranging from the ages to the average of eight-year-olds to ,in some cases, fifteen, maybe seventeen, years of age. Most Institutes would get left with children and teens, never had they gotten babies. Not since the very early Shadowhunting times.

Alec already knew this was not a mundane. No mundane would have left their baby on the steps of what looked like an old, abandoned church to them. The baby at his feet upon opening the grand Institute doors, with eyes of the color of nothing, had been cooing and smiling. It's eyes were the lightest gray he had ever seen on a child , let alone a person. "What the bloody hell's wrong with your eyes?", Alec asked to mostly himself, rather than the child. Is it blind?, he had thought, pitifully.

Yet, the baby had been giggling and reaching for him. Alec laughed. "You are most certainly not blind, I suppose",he said as he reached down to pick the baby up and close the heavy doors firmly shut.

Alec had thought running the Institute, after his mother had passed, would be fairly easy. After all, he had/ helped his mother quite often after his father had left for Idris. He had really only gotten the position because of his father being the Inquisitor. No favor to me, Alec had thought then.

But in that moment, as Alec held the wiggling little thing in his arms, he was glad it was him and not Isabelle ,or Jace,that Maryse and Robert entrusted the safekeeping of the Institute to.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Jace had asked when Alec came back to the weapons room, baby clutched in his arms, still wriggling. "It's not an it", Alec said scolding him. "She is a baby girl, not a baby demon, Jace" He stood,open mouthed, looking his parabatai up and down. Looking at the way he held on to the thi-no, the baby.

"What are you staring at?" Alec looked back to Jace, feeling his eyes burning holes in his back.

"How did you know it was a girl?", Jace asked abruptly. Alec flushed then sputtered,"I- ah- I checked", he finally got out. Jace stared. "You checked?", he asked, not believing the words coming out of his parabatai's mouth. "You checked?", he asked again, "As in you asked her if she were remotely aware of her societal gender recognition?"

"Shut up,Jace", Alec muttered, but smiled. He had stopped rocking the child to scold his parabatai lovingly.

She fussed and Alec paled and had begun cooing at her once more. She in return reached up, determined to rip out a handful of his black hair. Alec squinted, but didn't protest, as he did not want her to get upset again. He was actually quite surprised she had been that well-behaved for so long.

He recalled Max being a baby; mostly tears and odors and screeching. Only sometimes laughing and playing. He felt a pang. Max.

"Alec", Jace started, "give it-give her to me". Alec didn't budge. "Oh, stop that" he had said,"I'm not going eat her". Alec hesitated, but walked over and handed the baby over. "She's far too fatty for my taste", added Jace and took the girl, before Alec could take her back.

"Hello love, got a name?", Jace asked in a soothing voice. The girl laughed hysterically and jumped, as she waved her chubby, pink hands around, desperately searching for a lock of hair to tug on. Jace foresaw this and gently held her small hand in his fist, while she sat on his right arm, still bouncing her.

For the first time since Alec had brought the child into the room, Jace clearly saw the features of the baby sitting on his right arm. Minimal hair, yet he could see fair color of it. It was the color of bronze with bits of gold here and there, and eyebrows the same bronze color, but darker. Her eyes a light gray tint he'd never seen before. Nearly white.

"Hell",Jace whispered to himself. Alec stiffened. "Calm down. It's just that- Who slept with another faerie? After the Blackthorn's, I thought it wouldn't have happened again",Jace continued,"Although, I've never seen any of the Fair Folk with white eyes". The baby cooed and Jace bounced back and forth,on the balls of his feet to soothe her. It had seemed to work, for she began to suck on Jace's finger and she laid her small head against his shoulder. Jace covered her fragile head with his left hand and asked,"Alec. Alec, what is it?"

His parabatai whispered but, Jace still heard the words that came out of his mouth,"We have to tell the Clave",Jace had stopped rocking but, said nothing. "I know it's been rough lately with Clary and Simon and everyone but. . .but. . . I'm not exactly on the greatest of terms with the Clave or the Inquisitor for that ma-", Alec was interrupted by an indecent noise."So you still haven't forgiven Robert, is what you're saying."

Alec turned a bright shade of red high in his cheeks. Jace just always knew what Alec meant before he even thought about it himself. By the Angel, he thought. "Of course not, Jace! Not after what he's done-", he yelled, then quickly closed his mouth as the baby began to scream like no baby Alec or Jace had ever heard. She squeezed her eyes shut and when she opened them again they were blue. The exact shade of blue as Alec's.