Call You Home

Chapter 3

Summary (From Original Author)

We finally meet Magnus! Also some people are very rude to Madzie.
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Jace had been right, Madzie’s talk with Iris had done her a lot of good, despite making the girl’s nightmares resurface. Or maybe it had been Alec formalizing the adoption. Either way she seemed freer and less scared. She had stopped clinging to Alec every time he came back after leaving her sight and acted comfortable enough around Jace and Izzy that Alec decided it was time to start slowly introducing her to new people, which was a good thing since Lydia had called him asking whatever he could drop by the office as soon as possible.

“Madz, do you want to go see where I work?” he asked the girl over breakfast. “We can go there this morning and say hi to Lydia.”

“Lydia is your friend?” Madzie lowered her mug on the table.

“Best friend,” Alec corrected with a smile.

“Jace’s your best friend.” Madzie pouted at him. “And Izzy.”

“Well, yeah, but saying that your best friend is your sibling stops being cute after you are ten and then people just think you are lame,” he joked, making Madzie frown. “Look, I met Lydia at college, where I didn’t have Jace or Izzy, she is my favorite person I’m not related to. That better?” Madzie thought about it for a few seconds before nodding, settling the subject.

A couple of hours later they were at the firm, walking towards Lydia’s office with Madzie sitting on his shoulders. He greeted some people from afar but kept his distance, discouraging them to come talk to him.

“So this is Madzie? Izzy can’t stop talking about you.” Lydia extended her hand to Madzie who took it in an adorable handshake. “I’m Lydia, it’s nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Madzie whispered against Alec’s hair.

Alec carefully put her down onto a chair before turning towards his friend. “Hey, Lids.”

“Hi,” Lydia smiled hugging him briefly. “How’s this vacation treating you?”

“Better than I thought,” he admitted, “though I do miss work. Any problems with my clients?”

“Well, the answer was no until yesterday,” she started. “That’s why I called you.” Lydia sat back down on her desk and Alec imitated her. “Ragnor is suing some other author for plagiarism, it should be an easy case but well, you know Ragnor, he is… prickly,” Alec nodded with a wince, in comparison to Ragnor, he was a social butterfly, “and he is refusing to be defended by anyone but you.” She sighed handing Alec a folder. “Look, I’ve already done all the work, all that’s left is going to court, I just need you to convince him to let me do it.”

Alec looked through the files. “Or I could do it,” he offered almost hopefully. “You are right, it’s an easy case. If played right it would only take an afternoon to defend,” he turned towards Madzie. “Will you be okay spending an afternoon with Jace or Izzy?” the girl nodded with an enthusiastic smile so Alec looked at Lydia again. “If you prefer I can talk to Ragnor, but I know him and he is going to be hard to convince.”

“No, no,” Lydia shook her head with a smile, looking relieved, “if you can do it, that’d be great. I’ll swing by yours and help you prepare for it, if you want.”

Alec nodded. “Perfect.” He turned towards Madzie to pick her up but he found her frowning. “It’s okay with you if Lydia comes home sometimes, right?” he checked, feeling guilty he had forgotten about her discomfort, but she just nodded. “Okay, then.”