Titel: The Decisions of a Loving Mother IV

Series: The Lightwoods and Their Children

Fandom: Shadowhunters/The Mortal Instruments

Pairing: Malec

Rating: G

The knock on the door interrupted his reading. He looked up, asking himself who would be knocking on his door in the middle of the day. He stood up and made his way over to the door, opening it. The quard – whose name was David as Alec got to know on his second day staying in Alicante – was talking to a blonde haired woman he knew very well.

"Lydia? How… nice to see you up and about." The woman in question smiled up at the younger male and went in for a hug. Alec stiffened under the contact. They didn't part on bad ground when she went back to Idris, but he wouldn't call her a close friend.

"I came to visit you, obviously. May I come in?" she smiled sweetly, sending a glance to David who was eyeing them from the corner of his eyes.

"Sure. I.. Yes come in", Alec answered and opened the door wider to let Lydia through. They walked over to the couch sitting on different ends.

"What brings you here, Lydia? Not that I don't appreciate you visiting but it is a bit sudden for you to be here." Blunt as always and to the point, the blonde woman thought.

"I came here because I would like to hear from you why your mother would send you to Alicante despite having a warlock – a high warlock at that – at your disposal in New York who could have healed you within days."

"Magnus is not at "my disposal". He's.. he's my friend. Maybe more. He healed me as good as he could after Izzy and Clary brought me to the Institute. But before he had his full power back, I was dragged here "to heal" as my mother told me", he told her and swallowed before he went on, "and to be as far away from Magnus as possible. She also considered to send me to a different Institute somewhere. There, she can't keep me from seeing Magnus. But to be able to enter Alicante, he has to be invited and who would invite Magnus Bane to Alicante so he could visit me? There is no official Clave business as justification."

She hummed, tilting her head. "When was the last time you were outside?"

He grunted and crossed his arms over his chest with difficulty. "Appearently I'm not only here to heal, but my mother actually grounded me. I'm not allowed to leave the house."

"I think she will make an exception for me. I am an envoy from the Clave, so I can make sure that you won't run away in the middle of the street to get to New York."

He snorted but nodded. He has been feeling claustrophopic fot the last days and he couldn't wait to get outside – whether it was raining or sunny, he didn't care.

Alec breathed in the fresh air. The wind ruffled his untamed hair. They had been walking around for some time before they made there way to one of the hills over-looking the city. They sat down in the fresh grass. Alec closed his eyes, forgetting for one moment that he was in Alicante due to his mother's homophobic scheme. As he opened his eyes and looked over to Lydia, he found her looking at him.

"What are you looking at?"

"You", she answered. "You look different."

"With a bearly healed arm still in a sling?"

She laughed at his the confused look on his face. "No. You look as if something has been lifted from your shoulders."

He looked up at the sky. "I kind of feel free now that my parents know that I'm gay. I can actually say "I'm gay" without hating myself. But at the same time I still feel conflicted, "What if"s playing through my head. "What if I had goten married like my mother asked me to?", "What if I had told them sooner that I'm gay?", "What if I never have met Magnus?". All those thoughts are accompanying me through my days here. At night I think about the consequences of my actions. That I will never be able to apply for a high-ranking position in the Clave. But on the other hand I ask myself "do I really want that?"."

He looked over, seeing her smile at him.

"I'm glad we didn't get married. There is so much going wrong inside the Clave at the moment and I don't think we would be able to change anything if we still play by their rules. It's time they see the world as it is – with the way people are – and that we are not above Downworlders just because some guy had been blessed by Raziel a thousands years ago." She stood up, brushing the grass from her clothing. "On this note. How do you feel about the position of a high investigator?"

AN: Thank you for reading.