Call You Home

Chapter 5

Summary(From Original Author):

Alec has an unfortunate encounter.

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What followed were a couple of months without problems. Magnus picking Madzie up started getting more and more usual until he joined Jace and Izzy in claiming one afternoon with her. That allowed Alec to go back to work full time and if he ended up having to bring more work home, well, it still was better than the endless extra hours he used to spend in the office.

Before Madzie knew about them, they had silently agreed that Magnus' loft was for alone time and Alec's apartment for family time, now everything was blurred. Most days of Magnus' afternoons ended in his loft and soon one of his guestrooms was declared as Madzie's. The other days depended a lot on what they did but, be it in one place or the other, Alec found himself spending at least five nights a week with Magnus. He really thought that they had found a formula that worked for them all.

"Hi," Alec opened the door with a smile in one of those rare Thursdays they had decided to sleep in his place. "Did you two have fun today?"

Magnus opened his mouth to answer but Madzie beat him to it. "No, it was awful, I don't wanna go with Magnus again," she said and then ran to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Magnus stood there, frozen, trying to pinpoint what he had done wrong and feeling completely heartbroken. Madzie had seemed happy when he had gone to pick her up after school. Maybe she had been bored during his meeting with Elliot? He had tried to reschedule but the bookkeeper didn't have that much free time. He was so lost in thought that he almost didn't notice Alec caressing his shoulder. "I don't know what I did wrong," he admitted and his voice came out far more broken and vulnerable than he wanted, "but I didn't mean to upset her."

"I know," Alec reassured him. "It's probably just some misunderstanding, she adores you."

Magnus shook his head slightly. "You should go check on her. She was very silent on the walk back, only talking in monosyllables. I assumed she was tired but well..." He gestured at the situation. "I'll just go."

"Don't," Alec said sharply, grabbing his arm to stop him. "I mean, if you want to stay please do, I'll go talk to her and she'll be apologizing to you, I promise." He raised his hand to stop Magnus' protests. "Even if you did do something wrong, which I doubt, she shouldn't have been so rude to you. I'll be back in a sec," he said pecking Magnus' lips.

He made his way towards Madzie's room, deciding to scold the girl for her behavior, but his anger became worry the moment he stood outside her door and heard what he hoped wasn't muffled sobs. Alec paused extremely confused, he trusted Magnus and he knew he loved her, there was no way he'd done something to distress her like that on purpose. He breathed deeply and knocked on the door.

"I don't wanna speak with Magnus." Madzie's voice was rougher than usual confirming Alec's fear that she was crying.

"It's just me, can I come in?" he asked as softly as possible, not really knowing what he would do if the answer was no.

"Okay."

Alec entered the room and softly closed the door behind himself, the lights weren't on and Madzie was on her bed, clutching the orca plushie against her chest and drowning her cries in it. "Want to tell me why you're crying?" Alec asked, sitting beside her and hugging her against his side.

It took a moment for Madzie to answer and when he did Alec's heart broke. "Magnus doesn't love me."

"Now why would you say that?" Alec asked softly, feeling completely dumbfounded. The girl's eyes were red and puffy and she looked even more miserable than when she had said goodbye to Iris. Alec hated seeing her like that, especially for something he knew wasn't true.