Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments series or its characters. Only the plot line of this story is mine.

Maryse lay back on the soft pillows her husband had piled behind her and listened to the sweet cry of her newborn baby. She looked across the room where her husband Robert stood with the midwife getting ready to clean the babe in a tub of warm water. They slowly unwrapped the baby and lowered him into the tub. The midwife cleaned up the infant a little then both she and Robert went still.

"Boy or a girl darling?" Maryse called to her husband. She knew a warlock could have told her months ago but she wanted it to be a surprise. Besides, Valentine would have never allowed the two to visit a half-demon particularly while Maryse was pregnant.

"Dear, the child! Is it a boy or is it a girl?" She asked again laughing at how transfixed her husband seemed by the tiny creature. Then Robert turned and she saw her husband's face. It was clouded and dark, Maryse grew scared for her child.

"What's wrong is the baby alright?" She asked urgently, sitting up in the bed and craning her neck to see in the tub. Robert walked stiffly to the bed and sat down hard on the edge.

"The baby is different dear," He began, "the little one is…" Robert trailed off with a shrug, not knowing what to say. "Valentine can't know, he certainly won't approve of the child." He said as the midwife returned with their baby.

"They call ones like this hermaphrodites." The midwife said as she finally placed the little bundle into it's mothers arms. "It means that they have the sex organs of a male and a female." She clarified. Maryse looked up in shock, then reached down and removed the blankets covering her child. At first she saw a baby that was wholly male and breathed a sigh of relief, until her husband reached over and lifted the baby by it's ankles to present it's rear to her. From that view it was easy to see the female genitalia situated right behind the male ones.

"Oh, oh. How do we know what gender to treat the child?" She asked looking back to the midwife, who put her hands up in a surrender gesture.

"All guess work for now. Just pick one and be aware that the child might pick another as it grows." She said frankly. "A healthy young thing, lungs like a banshee." She added as she began to gather her things into a bag. "I won't be telling anyone about this, it isn't my business. After all you payed me to deliver a baby not gab about one." Both parent visibly relaxed at this statement. "However, people will be asking about the gender so I suggest you tell me what you choose before I go. It wouldn't do for us to be telling two different stories, now would it?" She finished as she snapped shut her black bag and stared expectantly at the new parents.

Maryse and Robert both stared down at the precious bundle. They still loved their child that much was doubtless. But how to decide what sex to raise the child as? Clearly, that wasn't a decision they were expecting to have to make. Maryse thought of how when she had first seen the baby she had thought it to be entirely male, she made the decision then.

"A boy, if anyone asks tell them we had a precious little boy." She said snuggling the baby close to her chest to nurse. She looked up at her husband questioningly.

"Yes, a boy. Tell them we named him Alexander." Robert said walking towards the midwife. He fished out the agreed upon amount, and a little extra to thank her for her silence, from his pocket. "If my wife and son are alright I think you can be getting on your way then." He said and led the midwife out of the room. After a short lecture about post-delivery complications and what to watch for he showed her out with a thanks and returned to his wife.

"He is beautiful Robert." Maryse said staring adoringly down at the baby nursing at her breast. Robert climbed into the bed next to her and gently stroked the layer of dark, soft down on his son's head.

"Valentine can never know dear. That means no one can know, inside of the Circle or out." He said and his wife nodded with understanding. Alexander would be raised as a boy, everyone around them would think he was a boy, no one outside of that room would ever know their child's secret.