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ninacarstairss · 3 years

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THOMAS HEADCANONS

THOMASTAIR WEEK — day 2, thomas appreciation day @youngreckless

thomas always loved to tape his friends. he captures all the moments he's sure he wants to remember and his phone is filled with videos and photos he snaps when they're all together. he loves to be in the moment and enjoy it as fully as possible, but he also wants to have the memories pinned firmly in his camera roll so that he can get lost in the feeling again in moments of loneliness or sadness.

he always seems very put together and organized on the outside but he can never make a coherent plan to follow and his room, his computer screen, the backpack he uses for uni are always a complete mess and he can never remember where the stuff he's looking for is.

no one has ever beaten him at monopoly. no one has either figured out his strategy, he's just unbeatable.

he’s watched every single cooking show out there. masterchef? binged every series twice. the great british bake off? could probably reenact it. all the gordon ramsay shows? knows them by heart. it's eugenia who got him into these competitions: she’s been dragging him out of bed to watch cooking shows with her at 3am for years and thomas hated it at first, but soon he got used to it and the adrenaline of the competition kept him on the edge of his seat. more than once gideon or sophie walked into the living room, hair a mess and a big frown on their faces, because thomas and genia were shouting at this or that contestant doing something stupid or unfair in the middle of the night.

despite this, thomas can't cook to save his life. both genia and barbara tried to teach him the basics to make sure he didn't starve when he was home alone, but somehow every dish turned out burned, overcooked, entirely raw or, well, on fire — to be fair, it only happened once, but neither his sisters nor his parents will ever let him live that down. the only thing he ever managed to learn how to cook was pisto, a spanish dish gideon had prepared multiple times and taught the girls how to make, and that thomas himself had tasted often during his year in spain.

the first time he tried cooking for alastair on a date they ended up ordering chinese after thomas had somehow managed to break two pans.

because genia made him watch so many cooking shows, he's always wanted one of those lavish, elaborated cakes with frosting and fondant decorations, so, on his twentieth birthday, alastair and thomas’s sisters team up to get him one of those: it's a giant cup of tea on a silver tray with teaspoon and saucer included and a side of fig rolls, thomas's favorite cookies, all in fondant and sponge cake. it's the best birthday thomas has ever had.

barbara adopted a stray cat years ago and named him sir fluffypaws meowton. when he was younger, thomas never gave him much attention but the cat always liked him better than anyone else and he constantly sneaked in his room. barbara was always a little bitter that her cat liked thomas more, but whenever she found thomas asleep on the couch and sir fluffypaws curled up in his laps she just smiled and let them happily sleep.

his starbucks order is always a caramel macchiato tall and a double chocolate cookie on rainy days and a iced matcha tea latte and blueberry muffin on the rare hot summer days.

he was class president in high school and to this day he still has no clue how he ended up there.

he was one of the most popular guys in school, together with the rest of the merry thieves, and he always found himself embarrassed when someone told him they had a crush on him or hoped to ask him out on a date when instead he only had eyes for the cute black haired boy with six rings per hand and the most beautiful dark eyes he'd ever seen.

after years of wondering he chose to study engineering in college but he never gave up on his love for languages and still finds time to teach himself.

he binged all the scandinavian shows on netflix and eventually started teaching himself the languages of his favorite ones so that he could rewatch them and truly understand them instead of just reading the subtitles.

gideon and sophie loved to travel a lot so thomas, genia and barbara were hauled all around the world for years when they were younger. as they grew up these travels became less frequent but the habit always stuck with thomas and he keeps on going around the world whenever he can.

lucie is the first person he comes out to and she is obviously more than supportive; she's enthusiastic and wants to know everything about this mysterious boy he likes.

next in line are genia and barbara that find out by chance when they enter his room without knocking and find him kissing alastair carstairs – thomas turns bright red and starts muttering nonsense until the girls grin and barbara says “i was wondering how long it would take you to stop giving alastair longing glances and ask him out”. alastair grins back at her and that's how thomas finds out alastair had a crush on him all along and his sisters both knew

the person he was less scared to come out to was gideon. he knew his father would love him no matter what and the day he told him and sophie he cried when they pulled him into a hug and spent an hour telling him how much they loved him and how happy they were he told them

Tag list: @cordaisya @im-not-ruined-im-ruination @surrounded-by-exquisite-clutter @stxr-thxif @icycoolslushie (let me know if you want to be added or removed!)

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imherongraystairstrash · 3 years

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Find The Way Home (Part 2)

(Part 1)

~Later that night~

Thomas trudged into his house, letting the door click softly and locking it before hanging his boleadoras on the hook by the door—something he’d gotten so used to doing out of habit, it was practically a reflex—so that his parents knew whether he was home or not. He could feel his drowsiness deep in throat, threatening to become a yawn.

He hadn’t realized how tired he was, how little he’d slept these past weeks, until the adrenaline rush from the battle had suddenly come crashing down. Thomas walked past the drawing room and found his parents, laughing over something.

Both had taken off their gear and changed into something more comfortable. Sophie’s knees were bent over Gideon’s legs, their heads bent towards each other’s. Gideon seemed to have a photo album on his lap.

Shadowhunters didn’t take many pictures, because it wasn’t customary, so the book was rather small. Nevertheless, Thomas’ parents were flipping through slowly, stopping at every picture to point out the events of that year.

It would have seemed like an intimate moment, if Thomas didn’t know any better. His parents, no matter what, always wanted to spend time with their children. He knew his parents loved him and his sister so much that they would do anything to keep them safe. They always reminded him that they loved him, no matter what. He knew he could tell them he loved men, and that his parents would embrace that part of him, and tell him they loved him, but Thomas still had difficulties in telling them. There had been so many times that he had opened his mouth with full intentions of telling them, and then closing it again. His mouth couldn’t form the words, he couldn’t speak; it was as though his throat had become honey, and the words he wanted to say got stuck in it.

But now, he was too exhausted to even think about telling them anything. He was too exhausted to think. He leaned against the doorway and must have made a loud noise, because both Sophie and Gideon looked up.

Sophie smiled at him. “Your sister said she was off to bed, though I suspect she’s gone off to read or knit. I’m afraid she finds our company dull.”

“You’re not dull.” Thomas said, his words slurring together, unintentionally.

Sophie shook her head, shifting so that her feet rested on the floor. “You’re too kind. But, Thomas, darling, you look exhausted; you’re swaying on your feet. Come here before you fall.”

Normally, Thomas would have argued that he was fine, but tonight he was far too tired to do anything but trudge over to his parents and fall back onto the couch beside Sophie.

He rested his head on her shoulder. Sophie put an arm around him and kissed his head.

“He hasn’t slept well in a while, has he?” Gideon said.

“I’m afraid not.” Sophie said. “He might have to be carried off to bed.”

“I’m still awake, you know.” Thomas mumbled.

“Perhaps not for long,” Gideon said.

Thomas could feel Sophie snicker quietly. “We were just looking at the pictures we have of you and your sisters.”

“I remember that one.” Thomas said, pointing to one at the upper left hand corner. It was the three of them with their Lightwood cousins, Anna and Christopher. Barbara and Eugenia had twin toothy grins while Anna’s looked mischievous. Thomas and Kit were sitting on the ground in front of them, playing with the grass. Christopher had been moving, so he was a blur in the photograph. “Kit fell into the pond that day.”

Gideon burst out laughing. “How could I have forgotten about that?”

“And then Gabriel had to jump in after him because, naturally, Christopher couldn’t swim. And when he came back, dripping wet, Aunt took one look at him and said ‘it’s a bit late in summer to be going for a swim, is it not?’”

Sophie wiped her eyes from laughing too hard.

“Never a dull moment with your cousins.” Gideon said.

Thomas smiled and looked down at the photo album again.

“The day before this one, Eugenia was so angry that she threw Bab’s doll out the window and she cried for days.” Thomas felt his throat close a little bit at that one. The memory of his sister still made his throat close up.

“Those crazy girls.” Sophie said, rubbing circles into Thomas’ back. “Their shenanigans made me loose years of my life I will never get back.”

Suddenly, the telephone rang, which would have startled Thomas awake had he not been too tired for his body to react. Gideon got up. “I’ll get that.”

Thomas barely registered what Gideon said, now leaning heavily on Sophie’s shoulder. She slowly guided him to lay his head on her lap as she stroked his hair back.

“Was the mattress in The Sanctuary too small?” Sophie asked.

“It was fine.” Thomas said.

Sophie laughed. “You can tell me the truth. I won’t tell anybody.”

Thomas sighed and smiled sleepily. “It was a little bit too small.”

“A little bit too small by normal human standards or Tom standards?” Sophie said. Though his eyes were closed, he could hear the smile in her voice.

“My calves may have been on the floor.”

Sophie chuckled. “You’re too tall, darling.”

“I know.”

She bent down and kissed his cheek. Thomas liked his mother’s kisses. Her scar went from the tip of her mouth and stretched across her face. When she kept it at a neutral, her mouth was able to fully close, but when she pressed her lips forward to give a kiss, the corner pulled back slightly, which meant that Thomas could only really feel one side of her mouth. It was silly to describe, but it was distinct in a way that he could only associate it with his mother.

When he was younger, the boy his age would ask him what it was like to have a mother with such a hideous scar on her face. They always wanted to know if it ever scared him, which used to confuse Thomas. The scar was a part of his mother’s face; he never really thought much of it because it has always been there. He didn’t think it was hideous because he loved his mama and she won’t be his mother without her scar.

“Did you hit your head?” Sophie asked, feeling the small bump on his head, which was a little bit tender to the touch.

Thomas fought the urge to laugh. He had hit his head, but he didn’t want to tell his mother how. Even if she knew about Thomas and Alastair, he wouldn’t have wanted to tell her about about that, tell about. Things. Head. Alastair…

Thomas’ thoughts were turning into soup. He couldn’t concentrate on anything.

“Tom?”

“Hm,” he said softly.

He found it hard to remember where he was or what he had been doing as his eyes shut closed again, against his will.

“Sleep Thomas, darling.” Sophie said lightly. “I’ll make sure everything is alright.”

It’s like his body was waiting for permission to sleep because immediately after she said that, Thomas fell into a state of deep sleep.

He dreamt of nothing. Even his mind was too tired to conjure up a single thought. He just slept until he woke up again to hear his parent’s voices. His throat felt like honey, and he felt the urge to stretch his limbs, but he resisted it.

“Remind me again how we’ll kill the inquisitor?” Gideon was saying

“Slowly.” Sophie said calmly. Her calloused hands were still stroking Thomas’ hair and occasionally brushed his cheeks. They were so gentle he found it hard to believe that they were the same hands that fought off dozens of automatons at once. “And I’m sure we can get the rest of the family to join in as well.”

“There’s no doubt about that.” Gideon mumbled. “We can even get Henry to use his staff.”

“It’s been such a long time since I’d seen him fight. It brought me back to when I was younger. He and Charlotte would always patrol together.” Sophie said, sighing.

Thomas didn’t need to open his eyes to know she was resting her head on Gideon’s shoulder.

“Yes, I remember. Though I can’t say I heeded them much attention; I only remember scowling at my father. It’s strange how time goes by.”

Thomas never heard much about his Grandfather Benedict. Gideon didn’t like talking about his father, nor did Gabriel. Thomas was very familiar with the story of how they defeated him when he was a worm, but he knew little to nothing about Benedict when he was still human.

“Now that James is married, we have an extra family member.” Sophie said.

“We should get Alastair too, he fought well today. Like a part of the family.”

Thomas’ eyes flew open, which startled Sophie, causing her to jump in her seat.

“Goodness, Thomas. Did you have a nightmare?”

“No! I was just eager to wake up.”

Gideon and Sophie looked down at him with twin expressions of confusion and skepticism.

Thankfully, he was saved by the opening of the parlor. However, that relief was then masked with confusion when he was who came in.

“Aunt Cecily?” Thomas said, sitting up.

Gideon sat up, rigidly. “Is something wrong with Gabriel?”

“Oh, no. Heavens no.” Cecily said quickly.

Thomas swore he saw his father sigh in relief.

“I came here for something else.” Cecily looked a little bit breathless. “Lucie hasn’t stopped by here, by any chance, has she?”

“No,” Gideon said, standing up. “Why? What’s the matter, Cecy?”

“She’s gone.” Cecily said, pale.

Tagging (Sorry for the spam guys!): @tsccreatorsnet @atla-lok143 @rinadragomir @youngreckless @autumnangel20 @julemmaes @cupcakesandkittens @no-scones-allowed @fictionally-fantastic @stxr-thxif @writeforjordelia @itsdaughterofthemoon @jordeliasupremacy @cordelia-cardale @will-effing-herondale @axoloteca @heronstairs2014 @ilovemanicures @ti-bae-rius

If you want to be on my tag list, or if you changed your url recently and your not in the tag list anymore, let me know! Also, if you want to be removed, send me a dm! I won’t be offended in the slightest :) Oh, and if you asked to be on the tag list and you’re not on it, please tell me (I’m very absentminded lol).

#Thomas lightwood #sophie lightwood #gideon lightwood #eugenia lightwood #barbara lightwood #the last hours #tlh fanfic #tsc fanfiction #tsc fanfic #thomas lightwood fanfic

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cordeliacortanaduo · 3 years

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Finished The Infernal Devices. (spoilers ahead!!!)

I have officially finished the infernal devices and I can confidently say that I 100% loved all of it. This story of the boy and girl who got to grow old together and the boy and the girl who kissed by the river a century and a half later was so beautiful and I am not ashamed to say that I was crying constantly throughout this book.

I said to someone on here that the ending of the last book was bittersweet and I would describe the ending of this one the same way were it not for the fact that Tessa got a happy ending, though not without pain. I have decided it completely impossible to decide who I like Tessa Grey with better because she is not the same with either Will or Jem, as both of the loves that she has for them are unique depending on which one she is with. She somehow managed to sum it up perfectly by saying how even though she loved Will, it did not make her love for Jem any less or make the love that she had for him weaker and vise versa. So to anyone who ships Tessa with only one of her great loves, I don’t judge you but only want to know how you can possibly choose, I mean you’ve been shown two handsome, bilingual, shadowhunter pretty boys and you can somehow choose???

Anyway, on my last post about clockwork prince I simply stated how supreme Sophie and Gideon are, which is still true, but nobody even get me started on Gabriel and Cecily. I mean I think I should first start by talking about how I love them both just because of younger sibling supremacy (said by the youngest child of 5). Both of them are also amazing if only for the fact that they are both super cool, Cecily is this super determined, wild and free spirited girl who came all the way to London to save her brother, but what makes her even more incredible is her willingness to learn and accept. She did not stick to her belief that all shadowhunters are monsters, she observed what was clearly the opposite and did not let her pride stop her from being able to accept who her brother had become and what she wanted to be. And the same goes for Gabriel, even if he takes longer to come out of his shell, it is clear that he is also observant and though loyal to his beliefs, he is not incapable of growing and learning from past mistakes and it is clear that Cecily brings out the best in him.

Sophie and Gideon were, as expected amazing, and don’t even get me started on that “veritable mountain of scones” that Sophie found under Gideon’s bed and when he announced that they were getting married without both parties even knowing. Poor Gideon was clearly going through it during this book but in the end, I like how he can be blunt with Sophie like when they talk about if she wants to ascend, despite the risk of it, he wants her to be happy. And Henry and Charlotte were also so adorable throughout the whole story, however I would like to know where on earth Charlotte gets all her energy from, I mean that girl was clearly doing the most throughout the book, and whilst pregnant !!!

Jessamine’s death was interesting because for some reason she seems more content in death than she ever was when she was alive, but who knows, it’s her world and we’re all just living in it. That Consul Wayland was one confusing cookie as well, I mean he was the good guy last book and then he for some unknown reason switched up real fast, then got beheaded? Serves him right I suppose, we don’t accept any misogyny here.

At the end of it all, I loved this book series a lot. It was beautiful, funny, tragic and even at times simple but I can’t deny that not a single one of the characters in it do not own a part of my heart. Reading about Yorkshire was cool as well considering I am also from the north although Cassie Clare did not make it seem all that nice but I promise it is not as rainy and grey as she said. Well not always anyway ;)

Now, on to Chain of gold and quite a few people on here have been warning me about it and I’m kind of excited to see just how much miscommunication can be crammed into 550 pages.

Art credit: lariablog

I genuinely love all of the work that they create so if you want to then you can look them up on Instagram >>>

#shadowhunters #the infernal devices #will herondale #jem carstairs #tessa grey #magnus bane #gabriel lightwood #the mortal instruments #the dark artifices #herongraystairs #tlhart #the shadowhunter chronicles #the last hours #chain of gold #chain of iron #gideon lightwood #cecily herondale

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melanielocke · 3 years

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Lost in the Shadows - Chapter 23

AO3

Taglist: @nott-the-best @foxglove-airmid @alastair-esfandiyar-carstairs1 @justanormaldemon @styxdrawings @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised

@alastair-appreciation-month

Previous Chapter: Chapter 22

Next Chapter: Chapter 24

Alastair was exhausted. By the time they made it back, it was seven in the evening even if they’d been in the land in between for much shorter. He was cold, still soaking wet, and he didn’t want to know what had been in the water that had flooded the dungeon. He imagined he and Cordelia both smelt terrible, but completely covered in it, Alastair could not smell it himself. It was frustrating, because Thomas and Lucie did not indicate anything about their scent, but Alastair suspected they did smell whatever had been in that water and were just too polite to mention it. Thomas didn’t touch him and kept a little more distance than he usually did.

All the way back to the Herondale’s manor, Cordelia and Alastair were arguing about who could use the bathroom first, until Lucie pointed out there was a second bathroom connected to the master bedroom.

‘Why do you both want to go second anyway?’ Thomas asked. ‘I’d imagine you’d argue about who gets to go first.’

‘Because I am cold and dirty and want to use the bathroom for at least an hour, and if I go first, Cordelia will start yelling at me to hurry up after about ten minutes,’ Alastair said.

Thomas tilted his head. ‘And if she goes first?’

‘Then I will yell at her to get out after ten minutes,’ Alastair said. ‘And since I am freezing I’d be completely justified.’

‘We both have very excessive bathroom rituals,’ Cordelia added. ‘Especially when we’re this dirty. But staying in there for an hour would be rude if someone else also needs to use the bathroom. So whoever goes second can yell and be completely justified, and then has all the time they need to get warm and clean. It’s a good thing there are two bathrooms and we can both go take a shower.’ .’

Two separate bathrooms sounded good. He remembered his childhood home had had that too, before his father had been forced to sell the family home when Alastair was around five. Jem had bought it back a couple of years ago, but Alastair found it difficult to imagine why one person needed a house that big. Although he guessed Jem had grown up there too and had lost his parents at a young age, so perhaps there were sentimental reasons.

Both the Herondales and the Lightwoods were at the manor. Will and Tessa were reading as usual, Sophie was tidying something up in the kitchen and Gideon was pacing back and forth until he noticed the four of them.

‘Finally, you’re back,’ Gideon said, concern written all over his face. ‘What happened?’

‘We got the skin,’ Cordelia said. ‘Grace is free. But the dungeon the skin was hidden in was completely flooded, so if you don’t mind I want to use the bathroom. Alastair and I both do, and Lucie mentioned there was a second bathroom.’

In the end Cordelia took the bathroom connected to Will and Tessa’s bedroom while Alastair took the one upstairs, glad to finally have some peace. He was exhausted as well as cold and dirty. There was a huge bathtub in there and Alastair turned on the water while getting in the shower to first rinse off the worst of the filth and to get warm again. He got out of the shower when he felt like he was semi clean and the bath tub was nearly full. Even if he’d been in the shower for some time and felt a lot cleaner than before, he was still so cold. He got in the bathtub. There was even a bubble bath function, exactly how rich was Lucie’s grandmother?

Perhaps he should ask Thomas to join him here sometime. He imagined that would be nice. Alastair allowed himself to relax. Although he was exhausted, he did feel a lot better than yesterday. At least with Grace freed, he felt like he’d accomplished something. Like he wasn’t useless and deserved to be liked again. That was something he often struggled with.

He sought out memories, but unlike other days he didn’t seek out the bad ones. Right now he wasn’t seeking to make sense of the past, nor was he interested in hurting himself. Instead, he let himself settle comfortably into a memory of Thomas confessing his feelings to him, of their first kiss. It wasn’t all bad, the memories.

When he was younger, they didn’t have a lot of movies at home, so sometimes they would rewatch movies Cordelia had seen at Lucie’s place instead. His mother had been a little concerned about that, usually children being too quiet was bad news but them sitting on the couch for over an hour in the same position was just weird.

Lucie had a tendency to talk through movies, so Alastair had come to associate certain scenes in the Little Mermaid or Aladdin with her commentary. Alastair had always loved Aladdin as a child. Although now he was far more critical of the strange way in which the movie mixed together Persian, Arabic and Indian culture and architecture, at the time Aladdin had been one of the few movies with a main character who looked like him.

He returned to reality after a while, finally warm again and decided to stay in bath for a little longer. Bubble baths really were nice, Alastair guessed if he had ever had enough money for one he’d buy a bubble bath. In the current economical climate he doubted he’d even be able to buy a home, but he could dream.

***

Thomas was busy in the kitchen with his mother. He liked to cook, and was quite good at it. From a young age he’d wanted to go into the kitchen and look at what his mother was doing there, or help out. Barbara was a decent cook but didn’t love it like he and his mother did, and Eugenia had been banned from using the kitchen, but Thomas had picked up cooking quite easily. Now, they were making a vegan shepherd’s pie, Thomas was cutting the onion, trying to cut the pieces as tiny as possible. Compared to his mother, he was less sensitive to onion and was therefore always giving that task while cooking together.

‘Were you surprised?’ he asked out of a sudden. ‘When you and dad found out I like boys?’

His mother threw away the potato peels. ‘Not really. I remember when you were fourteen and would come home from school. You could only talk about this older boy you’d met, about how beautiful his dark hair and eyes were.’

Thomas realized his mother had a point, that wasn’t exactly subtle. And he couldn’t talk about his feelings for Alastair with his friends, so instead he’d talked about him at home. ‘That boy was Alastair,’ he said.

‘Really?’ his mother asked. ‘Now that you mention it, that was his name, but we never met him.’

‘I think dad suggested I invite him over for dinner, but Alastair barely acknowledged me back then and I didn’t dare. Nor do he think he would have accepted.’

‘And while you were singing his praises, James and Matthew could only complain about him. So we figured there had to be a reason why you thought he was perfect when your friends thought he was awful. We weren’t sure it was a crush, or if there was some other reason, we figured it was best to let you figure that out on your own.’

Thomas hadn’t realized it was so obvious, but looking back it was a miracle anyone had missed it.

‘Thanks for that. I don’t think I was ready to talk about it at that age, even if I wasn’t exactly subtle. We do have a bit of a history. While I was in love with him, he was awful to us. I think I idealized him then, because he was beautiful and smart and appeared so confident, and I downplayed his rudeness. But he isn’t like that anymore, he grew up and changed and he apologized for his behavior at school.’

‘People change,’ his mother said. ‘I believe people deserve a second chance. Especially when someone was so young when they made mistakes.’

‘Exactly. And now I feel like I’m getting to know the real him. You and dad, you do like him right?’

‘Of course we do,’ Sophie said. ‘He’s been nothing but polite, although a bit blunt. Your father sees himself in Alastair, he thinks Alastair struggles with connecting to people because of his past, and wants to help.’

‘Alastair thinks you only like him for his ability and his willingness to save me,’ Thomas said. ‘I’m not sure why he thinks that, it seemed unlikely and he couldn’t really explain his line of thinking either.’

Sophie sat down at the kitchen table, cutting the carrots. ‘When you’ve been treated badly in the past, it can become difficult to accept kindness. At some point, you start to expect people aren’t sincere, they can’t be trusted, because that’s all they’ve known.

It was difficult for me, at first, to trust your father’s kindness because I knew people were not always genuine, because I’d been hurt before and I was scared it would happen again. Because I thought, with this scar, who could believe I’m beautiful?’

Before meeting his father, his mother had been in a relationship with a man who’d cut open her face when she’d broken up with him. He’d claimed that if he couldn’t have her, he’d make sure no one else would want her. The cut had left a scar across her cheek and her ex had eventually gone to prison.

Thomas didn’t know the details, but suspected her ex had been abusive before the break up already. People didn’t always realize how dangerous leaving could be for an abuse victim. His mother’s ex had turned to carving up her face with a knife. Benedict Lightwood had decided to sacrifice his wife when he realized she was leaving. He had to admire Alastair for being brave enough to leave his ex. Even if someone wasn’t physically violent it couldn’t be easy.

‘Do you think he distrusts your and dad’s kindness because of that?’ Thomas asked.

‘I think that’s likely,’ Sophie said. ‘I think he blames himself for what happened to him, and might not believe it’s possible for other people to genuinely care for him. Perhaps he thinks people have treated him badly because he’s a bad person, or perhaps he thinks that he’s too broken to be loved. Perhaps to him it is so unlikely that we care for him that it makes more sense that we are kind because we want something from him.’

Thomas figured it was something like that. But what did to mean for Alastair’s feelings for him? Did Alastair think he too would abandon him if things became too difficult? Or did he think Thomas would only stay with him as long as he could satisfy his needs, with no care for his own? Did he feel guilty about falling into that flashback last night when Thomas had touched him, like he was not good enough? Thomas wanted to make him understand that it wasn’t true, that he loved Alastair and wouldn’t abandon him, but he wasn’t sure how.

‘How do I convince him that’s not true?’ Thomas asked.

‘The only thing we can do is let him know we care,’ his mother said. ‘And be patient with him. Does he communicate his feelings to you?’

‘He tends to be honest and rather blunt with his feelings,’ Thomas said. ‘I like that about him.’

When Alastair wanted to be honest, he wasn’t one to dance around the message or his feelings. He was very straightforward and blunt in what he wanted to say, not much like what was common in Britain, to hide behind politeness. Thomas found it refreshing, to know that when Alastair said something nice he meant every word of it.

‘So make sure you communicate with him as well,’ his mother said. ‘I know you struggle with verbalizing your emotions, but you have to let him know how you feel or he might end up believing you don’t really care for him.’

Thomas nodded. His mother was right, he did struggle with telling people how he felt. Most of the time, it was because he was scared his feelings would inconvenience other people. He was determined not to do that to Alastair though, he knew his feelings for him weren’t inconvenient and they weren’t shameful. Nevertheless sometimes it was hard just to get the words past his lips. Perhaps that was why he’d waited so long to come out when he’d wanted to for some time. Ultimately, kissing Alastair when they would see was easier than telling them, but he knew he could not communicate with Alastair the same way, he’d have to tell him how he felt as well as show it.

‘Was it difficult for you, entering a new relationship after the last one had ended so badly?’ Thomas asked.

‘It took a while until I was ready,’ his mother said. ‘At first, I thought, who would want me now that I have this scar? I think Alastair might feel the same way, even if his scars aren’t literal like mine is. It took some time before I started believing Gideon when he said I was beautiful. That is a process, and all you can do is support him and be gentle with him while he works through that.’

‘Last night, something I did triggered a flashback,’ Thomas admitted. ‘I thought he was okay with it, I think he thought so too. Or maybe he was scared to refuse because of how his ex used to treat him. Something I did reminded him of his ex and he panicked.’

‘Did you communicate what you both wanted?’ his mother asked.

Thomas had to think. He’d asked, of course, and Alastair had said yes. But perhaps what they needed was a more in depth discussion of what they both liked and what Alastair was comfortable with.

‘Yes. He likes it when I ask for consent before kissing or touching him. I think he didn’t see it coming. That it would trigger a flashback, I mean. But I don’t want to hurt him, and I think maybe he feels like he isn’t a good partner if he’s not ready to have sex? I’m not sure exactly, but I think his ex was very demanding when it came to sex.’

‘It’s best to ask him,’ Sophie said. ‘You said he usually honest and blunt with his feelings, so I think if you ask him how he feels about sex, he’ll tell you. Those aren’t always easy conversations, but it’s the best way to make sure you don’t accidently hurt him. And I think when you accidently trigger something, it’s best to apologize and move on when he does. Lingering on it might make him feel worse.’

They finished the shepherd’s pie and put it in the oven. Thomas always struggled with preheating the oven at the right time, he didn’t want to leave it on for a long time while he wasn’t ready to put anything in it, but it was also annoying when everything was finished but he had to wait for the oven to get warm. It was another half an hour until it was done, which would give Alastair and Cordelia plenty of time to finish bathing. Thomas hadn’t wanted to say anything but they did smell awful after coming out of that dungeon soaking wet, and he could tell they were both chilled to the bone. He hoped neither of them would get sick.

Thomas sat down on the couch with his father and Lucie. ‘I’d been waiting for you,’ Lucie said. ‘I thought it would be better with you here.’

Gideon frowned. ‘What’s going on?’

‘This might be difficult to process,’ Lucie said. ‘While I was waiting in the land in between, I saw a ghost. Not like I usually see ghosts, she was only half there, transparent like in the movies. Until I asked her to show herself so Thomas could see her too. When I was back in our world, I could do the same thing. According to Grace, I stole a soul back from the thief of souls.’

‘You stole a soul?’ Gideon asked. ‘I’m not sure I’m following. Is she a ghost now?’

‘She’s right here,’ Lucie said. ‘A ghost, yes, but no longer trapped. She’s your mother.’

‘My… mother?’ His father seemed in shock, his voice a whisper. ‘You mean to say she’s here?’

‘She’s been trapped for a long time until I found here. She didn’t realize how much time had passed until we told her and she found out Thomas was your son. She wants to talk to you if that’s alright with you.’

Thomas found it difficult to imagine what his father must be feeling. Would he be happy for a chance to see his mother, or would it only tear open old wounds? He knew Lucie had done the right thing to set her free, and hoped she could find peace and way to move on from this world, but he wasn’t sure it was kind to his father. Not telling him was infinitely worse though.

‘Yes, of course. How does this work? Do you tell me what she’s saying?’

‘Actually, I can make her visible,’ Lucie said. ‘Barbara, show yourself.’

Barbara Lightwood appeared once more, standing in the middle of the living room. She looked a bit disoriented, glancing around before settling her gaze on his father.

‘Gideon. It has been so long,’ she said. ‘Last I remember you were still so small. I’m so sorry for leaving you.’

‘That wasn’t your fault,’ his father said, tears in his eyes.

Thomas wondered if he should leave, if this was a private conversation, but Lucie couldn’t leave since she had made Barbara visible. Perhaps he should stick around for emotional support?

His father had a long conversation with Barbara, telling him about his life, about Thomas’ sisters. Barbara started crying too when she realized Thomas’ oldest sister was named after her.

Thomas imagined Barbara had to be devastated to learn what Tatiana was up to and hoped she could find peace with it. He didn’t think Tatiana could be persuaded to stop by a mother she didn’t even remember. Gideon was the only one of her children who remembered his mother at all, although uncle Gabriel claimed to have a few very vague memories even if he could not recall her face and had no concept of who she had been.

Alastair entered the living room, his hair still damp but otherwise dry, wearing a clean dark green button up shirt with black jeans. Thomas went to him, he didn’t think they’d explained to Alastair what had happened or who Barbara was.

‘That’s the soul Lucie took back, isn’t it?’ Alastair asked.

‘Yes. Her name is Barbara, and she is my grandmother.’

‘Benedict’s wife? The one he sacrificed?’

‘Exactly. Somehow Lucie saw her and when she made her visible, she pulled her through to the world she was in, and now she’s here.’

Alastair looked concerned. ‘Do you think the thief of souls will try to take her back?’

‘I’m not sure. But if she moves on, we think she should be safe. How are you?’

‘Tired, but feeling a bit better. The bubble bath was nice, you should try it sometime.’

Thomas wondered if Alastair meant he should try it because it was nice or he wanted them to use the bubble bath together. He didn’t dare ask for clarification. He’d be far too embarrassed if it turned out Alastair had no desire to take a bath together. Just after he’d told himself he’d have a conversation with Alastair about sex and what he wanted.

‘Maybe I will,’ Thomas said, not sure what he meant he’d do. He wasn’t opposed to taking a bubble bath with Alastair, but wasn’t sure Alastair was ready for something so intimate. He’d ask later, he told himself. ‘You smell nice.’

All traces of whatever dirt he’d been in were gone. Instead, he smelt sharp and minty, but also sweet.

‘Just my shampoo. And I guess also the scrub, bath oil and body cream, but they all have the same scent.’

‘I like it,’ Thomas said. ‘Like eucalyptus, maybe?’

‘That’s in the products I use, yes,’ Alastair said. ‘Are you alright?’

Thomas guessed Alastair had read some worry on his face. ‘Well, I never knew my grandmother so it’s mostly confusing. I think it’s hard for my father though. He lost his mother when he was five, it’s been a very long time and seeing her again has to be painful.’

‘I can’t even imagine what that’s like,’ Alastair said. ‘But I’m happy for him that he gets the chance to talk to her even if it’s only once. He deserves that.’

‘They really do care for you, you know,’ Thomas said, returning to the kitchen with Alastair in tow to check on their shepherd pie.

‘Your parents?’ Alastair asked.

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t know,’ Alastair said, head bowed down, avoiding eye contact.

‘I just asked my mother, she likes you and you remind my dad of him when he was younger. They both care. I’m not sure why you have this idea that they don’t, but I thought you should know.’

‘I don’t know how to explain,’ Alastair said, still refusing to look him in the eye.

Thomas guessed eye contact might be difficult for him. Lucie was the opposite, staring into people’s eyes so much it became uncomfortable. She was a writer, after all, and how else was she to know Thomas’ hazel eyes had both hints of green and gold in there?

‘My mother thinks it’s because you were hurt so badly you find it difficult to believe people could love you. If you want, you could talk to her about it. I may not know what it’s like, but she does. Her ex hurt her too.’

‘Not everyone is as easy to love as you are, Tom,’ Alastair said with a sigh. ‘Now that you’ve seen the extent of my scars, how long until you realize that I’m just not worth the pain?’

His mother was right, Alastair did believe he could not be loved. He believed Thomas would grow tired of him? That it was painful and difficult to be with someone like him and it wasn’t worth it? How could Thomas make him see that he was wrong, that he was loved and that he deserved that?

‘You are worth it,’ Thomas said, running a finger through Alastair’s soft dark hair. ‘Having a mental illness doesn’t make you unworthy of love, it doesn’t make you too difficult.’

‘You realize that this might never go away, right?’ Alastair said finally looking up. Thomas realized with a shock there were tears in his eyes. ‘I still have hope for EMDR, but PTSD is a very difficult disorder to treat. Perhaps it will get better over time, but it might not.’

Thomas imagined that was a difficult idea for Alastair to cope with, knowing that he might never get better. He’d read a lot on PTSD in the past week, and it was true that it was difficult to treat, especially when caused by prolonged childhood abuse. But according to his admittedly limited internet research, even then people could learn to cope better, find better support. One metaphor he’d found interesting was how the symptoms were like waves of the ocean, Alastair might not be able to stop them but he could learn to surf.

‘And if it doesn’t go away, I’ll still want to be with you,’ Thomas said. ‘I’d still do the best I could to support you. My feelings for you are not conditional on you getting better, although I certainly hope you do. For your sake.’

‘It’s easy to say that now,’ Alastair said softly, once more refusing to look him in the eye.

‘I’ll prove it to you then,’ Thomas said. ‘I don’t care how long it takes until you believe me, but I’ll keep proving I care about you.’

‘Just how do I intend to do that?’ Alastair asked.

‘Well, I’m still figuring that out but it would involve lots of cuddling. And my mother thinks it’s important that I tell you how I really feel, so I’m going to do that too.’

Alastair’s expression changed, showing a small smile someone else might have missed. ‘I’d like that. When will you be next available for cuddling?’

‘Give me a moment, I need to check on the shepherd’s pie. You need to eat and I couldn’t feed you burnt food.’

Thomas checked the oven, everything looked fine and needed a little more time in the oven. He set the timer and returned his attention to Alastair.

‘I am available right now if you want. Another ten minutes until we can eat.’

#Alastair Carstairs #Thomas Lightwood #Lucie Herondale #Cordelia Carstairs #Thomastair #Lucelia #fanfiction #the last hours #tlh

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antisocial-af · 3 years

Text

Day 21: Sophie/Gideon

Title: A Family Meal

25 Days of Pairings: Day 21 Sophie/Gideon

Rating: G

Wordcount: 2352

No Major Archive Warnings

SFW, Fluff, Winter, Book Timeline, Child Barbara and Eugenia, Pregnant Sophie, Overprotective/Caring Gideon.

Summary:

Gideon attempts to arrange something for his pregnant wife.

Click Here to Read on Ao3

Story:

Gideon paced back and forth, his hair bouncing slightly with each nervous step.

“Gideon,” Sophie sighed, “I’m okay. It’s just a litt...” The pregnant Shadowhunter quickly lurched and grabbed for the nearby wastebasket, thinking of how unpleasant the day’s earlier lunch had become as her body rejected it.

Gideon stood at attention, holding her long dark hair back and out of her way, his free hand rubbing a gentle circle along Sophie's back.

“Are you certain you are okay? I can reach out to the silent brother or Charlotte.” Gideon quickly rambled on, not so much as a breath between thoughts. “No, no, no. It would just cause Will to call out to Jem! He is always looking for a way to pull him from the silent city; he will see it as a favor.”

Sophie loudly cleared her throat, stopping the rambling Lightwood, as she carefully sat up, pulling a handkerchief that was tucked within her dress, delicately dabbing the corner of her mouth before continuing.

“As I was saying, Gideon,” she chided, still putting extra emphasis on his name, “I’m fine, my dear, this is not our first pregnancy, and we have no clue if it is to be our last.”

Sophie extended a hand, silently asking for Gideon’s assistance in standing. Her husband immediately responded, placing a hand on her back to steady her while allowing his other hand to be used by Sophie to push herself up. Confidently Sophie stood one hand resting on her stomach protectively, her abdomen starting to show the first tale sign of her pregnancy.

“Soph, I insist we just need to make sure you’re oka...”

Gideon heard the sound of frustration escape his wife's lips and slightly reeled back. The look in Sophie’s eyes held him silent as he had seen before and expected the storm to be arriving shortly. It happened before with Sophie’s two previous pregnancies.

“That is enough, Gideon! Please go. I can not have you fussing over me like this, this is our 3rd pregnancy, and we have two beautiful angels to show for it .” Sofie took a breath before she continued, “I can not have you here at this moment as I do not wish to yell at you, please go keep Barbara and Eugenia Company, and I will return to you once I’m better.”

“Bu…”

“No buts Gideon go,” she pointed toward the door. “I promise you I'm okay, but I need you to do this for now … please,” she added, her fatigue clearly showing.

Gideon nodded in response, gently placing a kiss on Sophie's head before laying her down. “If you insist, but I will be near with the girls in case you need something. Just call out, and I will be back by your side, Sophie.”

Sophie smiled up at him; a part of her was sad to see him go, but Gideon had been with her since they woke up, continually asking if she needed something; it was sweet and endearing to see her husband this way; Sophie just needed some rest right now.

Gideon closed the door softly behind himself and started to hesitantly wander down the hall, the worry in his mind dissipating as he reached his daughters’ playroom.

“Oh, what are my little angels up to?” he playfully called out to the girl as he opened the room and greeted the little ones playing with their dolls.

To the betterment of his mood, he was greeted with Daddy and papa alike from his youngest as they made their way to him in excitement, Barbara taking care to bring her younger sister with her. Just as they were to collide with his legs, Gideon made an easy effort to scoop them both up in one of his arms, Delivering affectionate pecks on the cheeks to each girl.

Gideon smiled wide, holding onto his daughter as he whispered to them, “Mommy is asleep, so we are going to help her make dinner. Do you want to help daddy make dinner?”

“Yes,” Barbara declared in the best whisper a four-year-old was capable of, raising her tiny fist in the air from excitement; her sister imitating her with a sound Gideon would assume to be an agreement in some way.

“Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go “ He held onto the girls bouncing them in his arms along the way to the kitchen, a quiet stream of laughter breaking through the house.

Determined, Gideon made it to the kitchen, knowing well he was not the best cook. But he was sure he knew enough that one dinner should not pose to be an impossible challenge. Gideon and his daughter would conquer this so that Sophie could rest without worry.

When they reached the kitchen, Gideon gently lowered Barbara to the ground and kept his youngest in his arms.

“Hello, my Eugenia,” he cooed to his youngest, lifting her in the air, her chubby cheek breaking into a smile that warmed his heart. Carefully he seated her in a custom-crafted high chair made by their close family friend, Henry Branwell. After clasping a function lock in the feature made to make sure no harm would come to Eugenia, he placed a small bowl of cut-up fruit for finger foods and a few of her favorite toys to keep her happy.

“Now, you be good. Daddy’s going to be right here,“ Gideon smiled as he stepped away and noticed Barbara gravitating a step behind him and away from the stovetop; Sophie had made sure to teach their oldest how to behave in the kitchen.

Gideon made reasonably quick and clean work of preparing the dinner for the evening. A small side salad and chicken they planned on roasting whole accompanied with baby potatoes; ingredients all that had been purchased early in the day from a local London Market. He took care of the bird and prepared the various salad toppings for Barbara to mix for their salad before putting it away to stay fresh.

Soon it was time for the bird to come out from their wood-burning oven; satisfied with the result, Gideon declared the dinner a success. A confident smile of victory found its way onto Gideon’s face until he turned and saw Barbara pouting.

“What is wrong, my darling? You did great helping daddy,” Gideon praised as he bent down on one knee to see his oldest eye to eye.

“B-but I want to help more,” she stuck her bottom lip out unknowingly taking advantage of Gideon’s quickly melting heart.

“Oh, darling, I'm sure we can find something. Just give me one moment, I promise,” Gideon guaranteed as he kissed her nose. On his search, he stopped to check in on Eugenia, who had since finished her snacks and currently clutching a toy sleepily, her light blue eyes drooping from exhaustion. Gideon lifted her from her confines and placed her in a nearby crib to sleep, and near enough, he could keep watch over her. The cries that came after his step made his error known. Gideon quickly scooped Eugenia back out and swayed on his feet, speaking gently into her ear as he kept searching for something Barbara could assist in making.

Gideon's life was quickly becoming complicated, cooing to a crying infant in one arm, trying to find something to do with Barbara, and desperately searching for a card he swore he tucked in a drawer in the kitchen. Eugenia's mood began to turn for the better, and so seemed Gideon's luck as he pulled a piece of paper trapped underneath a cooking textbook on the carved wooden counter.

“Found it!” he cheered louder than intended, holding the card up and quickly reading over it to confirm the needed ingredients were available in their home.

“Barbara, we are going to learn how to make some sweets together. How does that sound?” he announced to his oldest while still attempting to soothe the now quiet and once again sleepy Eugenia.

“Like the sweet you and mommy get from the shadow market?” Barbara excitedly asked, going over to her dad to reach for the card he had.

“Absolutely my ball of joy,” Gideon carefully started to gather all the ingredients on the card and a big bowl for them to use. “I’ll hand you the ingredients, and you put them on the table for us, okay?”

“I can do that!” his oldest proclaimed proudly and started to take the items from him.

“Okay, now you read me the instructions, and I’ll put them in,” Gideon guided as he followed with the bowl and Eugenia still in his arms, now asleep. Barbara’s efforts at reading the recipe were intense and showed how much his oldest was growing. Gideon started to mix the items in carefully, not o mess up but also not wake the little one in his arms. As he continued following Barbara’s directions, it slowly dawned on him that a third would be joining his children. Gideon didn’t want to think about how he would handle all three at once, but he was determined to find a way.

“Now we roll it!” Barbara read back with a cheer, causing her little sister to shift in their dad’s arms.

Gabriel rolled out the cookie dough, suggesting that they should attempt to cut the dough into tree shapes. In the end, they looked interestingly shaped. Gideon carefully and gently placed Eugenia back in the crib, slowly stepping away as he did so as not to wake her. Once far away and sure his youngest was asleep, Gideon placed the cookies into the oven leaving an eager Barbara and nervous Gideon to wait.

Gideon passed the time by cleaning up the kitchen with Barbara while Eugenia slept. He managed to peek in on Sophie under the guise of bringing her some water. Gideon noticed right away she was still asleep and left the water at the bedside table quietly and made his exit. He went back into the kitchen and checked over his daughters before the cookies in the oven. Gideon carefully removed the cookies from their wood-burning oven, placing them on the countertop to cool. Whether these creations would be considered trees would be another debate, but the look in Barbara’s eye told Gideon she was happy with them.

“Now let go check on Mommy, my little flower,” he called out to his eldest once more, only to turn and find Sophie leaning against the entrance to the kitchen.

“Mommy!” cried Barbara running to cling to her leg.

“Darling,” Gideon called out in endearment, walking over and wrapping an arm around her waist so he could offer her steadying support. “I do hope you’re feeling better.”

“Of course I’m feeling better, dear” Sophie rolled her eyes. “I told you I was okay, but you are so quick to panic sometimes, I do not know if I should be endeared or worried,” she teased her husband, drawing a heated blush from Gideon.

“Your health comes first, Sophie.”

“Yes, it does, and I promise you, I will tell you if anything is ever wrong,” She leaned into her husband, her advances met in kind as they placed a gentle kiss on one another. This was poorly received from their little peanut gallery as Barbra exclaimed eww and began to insist on showing mommy her hard work instead.

“Oh, hard work, you say, Barbara?” Sophie smiled, her scar looking softer in the light cast from the kitchen window. “And what did you do?”

“I helped daddy cook food for you, so you don't have to, Mommy!”

“Oh, is that so sweet, baby?” Sophie picked her daughter up, hugging her to her chest as she turned and gave Gideon a look of worry, knowing his competency for cooking.

Gideon shook his head before responding, “I’m proud to say that I have managed to not only cook dinner this time without burning anything, but our angel here helped make some sweets; I obtained the recipe from Charlotte.”

Sophie gave the food a skeptical gaze. She handed a cookie to Barbara and Gideon before picking up a cookie with hesitation for herself. She bit into the slightly soft-baked good and gave her approval quickly. Sophie found herself just as fast going for another.

“Not too bad this time, Mr. Lightwood,” Sophie smiled and turned her oldest. “It’s probably because you helped him, isn’t it, my sweet girl?”

“Of course, only the best for my wife, and Barbara was the best helper I could ask for. She kept me on task.”

Sophie rolled her eyes again as she snuck under Gideon’s arm, leaning into his side before speaking, “Let’s get everyone together to eat, then bed and a story for our daughters.”

Barbara whined when she heard about their plans but gave little protest afterward. The food was soon finished, the cookies were mostly gone, and the girls had been put back to bed as the night carried peacefully on with Gideon and Sophie in the kitchen.

Gideon worked on cleaning up what was still left from them, eating dinner as his wife approached him from behind.

“Thank you for dinner. It was very thoughtful,” Sophie said as Gideon turned to face her, the two wrapping their arms around one another.

“I know I can worry and go a little overboard. I just worry,” Gideon confessed, lovingly caressing her scarred cheek. “You have given me everything; it only serves that I seek to return the same for you, my love.”

“Gideon, you have shown me more kindness and love than I have ever expected. We have each other, our family, and our friends; you have always made sure I was appreciated and more. Never forget that” she confided to Gideon.

Gideon’s cheeks once more tinted at his wife’s earnest statement. Gideon felt his words failing to measure to what was currently burning through him, so he went with the only five words that could come close to gracing that feeling.

“I love you, Sophie Lightwood.”

“And I love you, Gideon Arthur Lightwood,” Sophie returned as she leaned forward and kissed him.

#antisocialaf #mywork #hmdiscord #gideon lightwood #sophie collins #sophie/gideon #fanfic #the infernal devices

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luciehercndale · 4 years

Note

I have a theory on TLH, and is that I think Cassandra said that there could be unexpected pregnancies so what if either Sophie or Cecily get pregnant but Tatiana attacks them via Belial, they survive but the baby doesn’t so that way another Lightwood dies adding to the killing list to perform neceomancy somehow?

Uh, I haven’t heard about this, is it recent?

I don’t think Cecily will get pregnant again because Alexander is the youngest child, thus she’s just had a baby and imo is out of the options - but you never know, after all it can happen and she’s probably the one whose pregnancy could come to term since she’s still 40 in 1903 and she’s still “young” to have a child. I do wonder if her youngest child may be in danger. He would be the perfect target because he’s really young, and he still needs his parents at this age...

As for Sophie, she’s much older than the rest. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but I don’t believe they’re going to have her another child right after she lost her daughter Barbara. I mean, seeing it from Sophie and Gideon’s perspective, I guess they wouldn’t try to have a child again and it would be hard for Sophie to get pregnant at her age.

This only leaves (from the moms’ group): Charlotte and Tessa, because Sona is already pregnant. I’ve seen someone speculate Charlotte may get pregnant again. In her case, after all, she got pregnant in 1901 although she lost her baby... but wait, now that I think about this, couldn’t this link to what I wrote yesterday about Tatiana/Belial trying to target/kill the Herondales, Lightwoods, Carstairs and the Fairchilds? I didn’t include the Fairchilds because I thought about them later, but Tatiana indeed says that she wants these families to suffer. What if the poison Matthew bought to give to Charlotte in the CLS short story was another of Tatiana’s doings? It would be another indirect death.

Then we have Tessa. As much as I’d love another little Herondale, I don’t think she will get pregnant. Although, if we think about it, from the ladies mentioned above she’s the only one who could get easily pregnant. She is still young because of her immortality, which means that compared to the other female characters who are in their 40′s, she may not face the problems a woman after 35 may encounter when she is pregnant (and that could lead to the loss of the child because after that age it is considered a high risk pregnancy). Now this idea is making me want to write a one shot about it - which I may lol. If she does get pregnant, this would give another target to Tatiana/Belial and if the child doesn’t make it, it would also be emotionally powerful for her and her family and it would also create even more tension between Belial and Tessa. After all, he’s still her biological father.

This leaves us the ladies in their teens years, which I guess are all virgins... I think the only ones who aren’t are Anna and Eugenia Lightwood. As much as I also like the stories with women getting pregnant by accident and dealing with the consequences of their actions, it’s unlikely to happen. This is still YA, and I believe that if CC has the intention of making one of the younger girls pregnant, she wouldn’t do it if the couple isn’t married or isn’t endgame. James and Cordelia, I’m looking at you. I mean, among the options we have, they are the only ones who are officially engaged even if it’s a sham, and Cordelia publicly said that James was alone with her in her bedroom - which everyone interpreted as = OMG THEY TOTALLY HAD SEX!!! Because that’s what people of the XIX-XX century (and still today to some extent) think when a girl is found/admits to be alone with a guy in her room or in any other room for that matter. Which is unfair because the only one getting blamed is the woman (but this is a discussion for another post, perhaps), but it was/is reality in some cultures. Cordelia and James also are the only ones in CoG who made out. Ok, this is not enough proof of a foreshadowing baby/sex in the future, but what if it is? Their make out session at the Hell Ruelle was raw and passionate, at some point it seemed that James wanted to get Cordelia out of her dress and do it right there, on that oak table of the whispering room. I can’t imagine the moment when and if they really make out again and it turns into real sex. We don’t know now, but I promised to write a Jordelia one shot about this. Now I should probably stop because my imagination is running wild.

Thanks for the question! 😊

#the last hours #cecily lightwood #tessa gray #sophie lightwood #gideon lightwood #charlotte branwell #belial #jordelia #james herondale #cordelia carstairs #matthew fairchild #anna lightwood #my edits #james and cordelia #Anonymous #chain of iron #chain of gold #the infernal devices

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thanatosangels · 4 years

Note

Congrats!! Can I get please a 😭 for Anna Lightwood? Maybe related to what was happening in Chog, like there were people injured that especially were close to her

thank youuuu so much <3333

~~~~~

Anna was small, four or maybe five, and she was at Aunty Sophie and Uncle Gideon’s house to play with cousin Eugenia. They sat on the floor of the nursery, stacking up colourful blocks and knocking them over again. After a while, Eugenia let out a great sigh. “I am bored.” She announced.

“What would you rather do?” Anna placed down the block she had been holding.

Eugenia thought for a second, her small hand on her chin, until suddenly her whole face lit up and her green eyes flashed with excitement. “I want to go on an adventure.” She rose, holding her hand out to help the younger girl up. Anna, however, was perfectly able to stand on her own, so she did, angling her chin towards Eugenia to convey the fact that it did not matter if she was two years younger, she could keep up just fine.

She crossed her arms across her chest, imitating her mother when she was challenging her father on matters that Anna did not care for. “What kind of adventure do you propose?”

A mischievous smile formed on Eugenia’s lips. “Follow me.”

So that was how the two girls ended up climbing to the top of the rows of bookshelves in the library. They worked together to shove the stiff ladder along to the end of its runner, scrambling over one another to climb to top shelf where the ladder ended. Then, when they were both precariously perched on the ledge, Eugenia turned and swung herself up and over, so she was sitting directly onto of the bookcase, and turned to haul Anna up beside her.

The two girls were giddy with delight, and they fell about giggling. Anna got up and stuck her arms out beside her, running up and down the length of the bookcase and shouting things like “Look at me! I’m the best Shadowhunter the world has ever seen!” which was cause for more hilarity from Eugenia. Abruptly, she sat up very straight and had a twinkle in her eye that made Anna come to a stand still.

“Bet you can’t jump from this bookshelf to the next, ‘World’s Best Shadowhunter’.” The challenge in her voice was clear, as was the mockery at the end of the sentence.

Anna squared her shoulders. “Well, I’m willing to bet I can.”

“Do it then.”

“Fine.”

Anna took a step towards the edge of the bookshelf. There wasn’t much space between this one and the next - maybe three or four feet? - but as Anna looked down, the room seemed to spin. The highest she’d ever been off the ground was on her father’s shoulders, and the nine foot drop below made her stomach do somersaults. She gulped and shut her eyes, trying to compose herself. Distantly, she heard Eugenia laughing at her, asking her if she was too scared or simply too young, and the door of the library open and then shut again. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She could do this. She had to do this one day, so why not start now?

One, two, three steps backwards. She propelled herself forwards at a run, and flung herself towards the surface opposite.

Just at the last second, her foot caught on something - a tiny, gold decorative railing that boarded the top of the bookshelf - and she heard Eugenia gasp and yell her name just as she fell over the side, tiny arms flailing.

She was free falling. It seemed to be in slow motion. The rush of the air, the screech that emerged from her lungs, the tears that wetted her eyes. She saw the ground coming towards her, closer and closer and closer, and she could already sense the pain that she would be in when she hit the hardwood floor. She shut her eyes tight, bracing for the impact....

That never came.

She felt herself cradled in a pair of arms. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up to see her cousin Barbara. Her green-blue eyes were wide with concern, brown hair escaping her chignon, and she was saying something, but all Anna could hear were her own wails of panic and terror. Barbara hugged her closely, patting soothing circles into her back and cooing in her ear.

Eugenia raced down the ladder and dashed over to Anna and her sister. “Oh Anna! I’m so sorry!” Her face was tear stained and flushed, her hands at her mouth. “I never meant to hurt her, Barbara. Is she okay?”

“No, she’s not okay! She’s frightened half to death!” Barbara bore her eyes into her sister, still holding Anna tightly. “Imagine what could’ve happened if I weren’t here to catch her? Wait until I tell Mother and Father about this, you inconsiderate halfwit!”

The memory faded away into wisps of hazy recollection from there. It was one of her earliest - perhaps the earliest - and Anna had treasured it greatly anyway but now, as she watched the funeral pyre burn and the smoke of Barbara Lightwood chase away into the clouds, she was determined to hold on to it even more tightly - as tightly as Barbara had held onto her.

She could not keep herself from smiling at the thought of her oldest cousin, even as she tasted her salty tears in her mouth. Anna’s heart ached at the thought of being so young, so naive, so innocent. She longed to go back to those simpler times, when the only destruction had been building block towers rather than homes, and the worst thing to be told was that you were not allowed to your cousin’s for tea.

Now it was that your cousin was dead.

She looked ahead at her life of scars and killing, without Barbara’s steady light to comfort her. She thought of the radiant smile she had inherited from Aunt Sophie, her kind eyes that danced just like Uncle Gideon’s, the laugh that sounded exactly like Thomas’. She had never known a world without her yet now she was living in one.

She felt as though she were free falling all over again, rapidly down towards demons and battle and more death, but this time there was no Barbara there to break her fall.

Ave Atque Vale, Barbara Lightwood. Thought Anna as she watched the smoke continue to rise, a smear of grey watercolour through her tears.

I will see you again one day.

#anna lightwood #mae 100 #mae writes #the last hours #chain of gold #sophie collins #thomas lightwood #gideon lightwood #eugenia lightwood #barbara lightwood #chain of iron #the shadowhunters chronicles #tsc fanfiction #shadowhunters #the last hours fanfiction

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livia-dovehallow · 4 years

Text

of great use (part 4 - end)

part one | part two | part three

for @lucieblckthorn <3

“You truly think you, a bunch of children, can stop me?” Belial laughed as he materialized in front of the Institute.

“They are not alone,” a loud voice called from the roof. James did not have to look to know who it was. Uncle Gabriel and Uncle Gideon were on the roof, holding bows and arrows, aimed directly at the Prince of Hell. Behind him, inside the Institute doors, he could hear Aunt Cecily’s running footsteps.

James pointed his longsword at Belial, glaring steadily. He could feel Matthew beside him. Out the corners of his eyes, he could see Thomas and Christopher crouched beside the bushes. “Family defends family. And you—no matter what you think—are not family.”

“So idealistic the young ones are,” Belial sighed, flicking his wrist. A wave of smoke behind him formed into demons. They hissed and growled, waiting for their signal to attack. “I did hope it would not have to come to this but seeing as your mother intends to sever my connection to my dear grandchild, I’m afraid I have no choice.”

The demons attacked.

...

Tessa remembered what giving birth should have felt like. It may have been nearly seventeen years since the last time, but she knew that this time felt different. Though, she had to admit, the other two times she gave birth, she had not just gone through modified exorcism.

Cecily’s voice was stern but encouraging. “Tessa, you have to push. This baby is coming now.”

Tessa opened her eyes. She was sweating profusely. Charlotte and Sophie gripped her arms, helping her remain as still as possible. Though she couldn’t see him, she knew Jem was in the room somewhere, ready to assist if the delivery started going horribly wrong. But Tessa had faith in her sister-in-law. Cecily had been the most recent of them to give birth.

“Push, Tessa!”

Tessa screamed.

...

Anna knew the moment Belial had fought his way to the doors of the Institute. She could hear her brother’s voice through the iron, swearing. While she knew the chances of Belial being able to step foot into the Institute were slim, she still worried. She remembered the story her mother had told her, of the demon who managed to enter the Institute when she was child, and had put her, her brother, and her cousins into the walls.

Aunt Sophie approached the doors. “We must go out,” she told Anna. “Are you ready?”

Anna nodded, and before she could do it herself, the doors to the Institute burst open in a sudden gust. The demons nearest to the door howled and scattered. Christopher and Thomas struggled with a demon further down the steps, but James whirled at the sound. His face revealed the slightest bit of relief. “Jessamine.”

Though Anna could not see her, she knew that Jessamine must have been there. There was no way she wouldn’t be; she was the Institute’s guardian, and no one else could have opened the doors. “Sophie!” A voice called from above. Suddenly, two figured swung down the front of the Institute. Uncle Gideon approached Aunt Sophie first and pulled her down the steps. He stood at her back as the two launched into the fight on the ground. Anna turned and faced her father.

“Your brother needs help,” Gabriel said, gripping Anna’s shoulder. “Are you ready?”

“Let’s go.”

...

Will sat inside the infirmary, wrapping James’s leg with shaking hands. “Papa,” Lucie whimpered from James’s side. Will raised his head and looked at his daughter, who had a glistening iratze on her neck. The cut on her forehead had almost healed, but her blood was still stained on her skin. Will swallowed painfully. “Is Mam going to be okay?”

“You mother is strong,” Will answered, though his voice shook. Lucie nodded, but her hands were twiddling nervously. James groaned as Will finished wrapping his leg. “You both fought bravely to help this family get here. Because of you, and your cousins, and your aunts and uncles, we’re close to meeting your new brother or sister.”

Another scream erupted from the corridor. Tessa was giving birth in the nearest bedroom they could get to; a spare room long forgotten until that day. “How can you stand it?” James asked, his voice obviously pained. “Sitting out here while Mam is in there.”

Will smiled sadly at his son. “I cannot stand it, but I cannot go in either. I busy myself, now, caring for you both, until I can see your mother. I did the same when Lucie was born; I watched over you, James. And when you were born, your uncle Gabriel had to nearly incapacitate me to keep me from bursting in there.”

“It would be very Herondale of you to do so,” James answered, a small smile growing on his face. Will stood and kissed both their heads.

...

Lucie heard the commotion long before anyone stumbled into the Sanctuary halls. She gripped her axe tightly, resisting the urge to race outside. Her mother needed her, here, defending the last barrier between Belial and her unborn sibling. Lucie would not let her mother down.

“Lucie,” Cordelia said, Cortana gripped in her hand. “Do you want me to go—”

Matthew stumbled into the corridor, effectively cutting Cordelia off. His gear was torn, exposing much of his shoulder, which was bleeding. His eyes were wild. “There’s so many of them,” he rushed. “Lucie, I—we need you. Jessamine said you could call for help.”

Lucie stared back at Matthew, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. “Go,” Cordelia told her, reassuringly. “I will stay here and guard the Sanctuary.” Lucie took a look at the locked door behind her. She could hear the incantation of her mother’s modified exorcism, and her father’s worried voice.

“Lead the way,” she told Matthew.

...

Tessa wasn’t sure whose cry was louder: hers, or her newborn daughter’s.

She could hardly notice the scrubbing on her skin as Sophie and Charlotte helped her clean up after delivery. Her eyes had been glued to the small bundle in Cecily’s care.

Cecily stood only a short distance away, at the desk covered in towels, cooing in soothing Welsh as she cleaned the baby. The baby’s lungs must have been strong, for her wails were hearty. Tessa’s fears disappeared: her baby was alive.

The moment Tessa had finally dressed in new clothes, and Sophie stripped the bed, Cecily came and placed the bundle in Tessa’s arms, then quietly ventured into the dressing room with Charlotte and Sophie to change out of their soiled gear. Tessa peeled back the blanket and stared into the wailing face of the newest Herondale.

...

James stared in utter amazement as Belial’s form withered away suddenly, drifting off like dust into the wind. They did it, James thought, they freed the baby.

His relief faded almost as quickly as it came. He launched his body onto the ground beside him, where Lucie had sat up, blood dripping down her face. “Lucie!” he cried, fumbling for his stele. “By the Angel, are you all right?”

Lucie stared, dazed, at the empty space where Belial had stood. He quickly drew an iratze on her and began to breathe again when the cut slowly started to close. “Mam—” Lucie whispered. James helped her stand from the ground as Matthew appeared beside him, breathing heavily.

“Oh, Lucie, thank the Angel you’re okay,” he said. He turned to James. “Cordelia went back inside. She’s calling for you both. Your mother is in labor.”

James quickly lifted his sister up into his arms, ignoring the sharp pain that shot up his leg, and dashed inside the Institute.

...

“Oh, she’s beautiful!” Lucie cried. Tessa smiled, looking between her older daughter and the younger. “What is her name?”

Will shifted beside Tessa. He had his arms around her, brushing their newborn daughter’s face with his finger with a pure smile. Tessa giggled at how large his single finger was compared to the baby’s face. “Elizabeth,” Will answered, his voice gentle. “But we will call her Ella.”

A sharp gasp sounded from the foot of the bed. Cecily stood there, her hand over her mouth, her blue eyes shining over with tears. Gabriel wrapped an arm around her. “Really?” she whispered. Tessa smiled and nodded.

“Really,” Will answered. He smiled at Cecily affectionately. Tessa squeezed his hand. They had talked at great lengths about what to name their miracle baby. It only made sense to give her the name Elizabeth—for Tessa’s mother, the Shadowhunter who never knew she was a Shadowhunter. The name also allowed for the nickname of Ella, who Will wanted to include in his family again. It was special to him, so it was special to Tessa—and obviously, it was very special to Cecily, too. “And Cecy,” Will continued, “we’d like you to be her godmother.”

Will’s sister dropped the blanket she was holding. “Me?” Cecily asked in disbelief.

“If you are willing,” Tessa said gently. Cecily had been her absolute saint through the months that there was never any question in her mind who she wanted to be her child’s godmother. Will had been in full support of it immediately; proud, even.

Will smiled at his sister as he rocked the baby in his and Tessa’s arms. “We know you must have enough to deal with, having three children yourself, but we would be forever grateful to have you be Ella’s godmother.”

“Yes!” Cecily exclaimed automatically, clapping her hands together. Her face was stained with the few tears she had shed when she learned the baby’s name, but her eyes were bright; her smile was contagious. “Yes, absolutely I will be Ella’s godmother!” Gabriel smiled at her lovingly. It made Tessa all the more excited for what she had to say next.

“Gabriel,” she said. He turned. “We’d like you to be Ella’s godfather.” Cecily laughed through her tears, but the smile on her face remained. Gabriel stared at them shocked. Will chuckled.

“Yes, we’re being serious,” he said. “As much as it pains me—“ Tessa elbowed him—“you’ve been of great help throughout the years, not only as my sister’s husband but as my children’s uncle. I don’t think I could ever repay you for what you’ve done for James.”

“Oh, please, Uncle Gabriel!” Lucie exclaimed excitedly. “How sweet it would be for you and Aunt Cecily to be Ella’s godparents!”

Gabriel recovered from his shock. “Well, of course I’ll be Ella’s godfather,” he said with a great smile. “I’m honored.”

Ella reached her hand up in that moment. James, who had been silent until then, reached out his finger. Ella grabbed a hold of it and gripped it tight; her big brother smiled. “She is much cuter than I remember Lucie being.” He let out a soft grunt. Lucie had dug her elbow into his side with a scowl, but he smiled anyway. Ella opened her eyes.

“Hello Ella,” Tessa cooed, lowering her swaddle to see more of her face. Ella looked around the room. “That is your brother, James,” she whispered as Ella pulled James’s finger closer. “And your sister, Lucie.” Lucie moved closer to see Ella’s face. She made a sound of awe. Tessa continued on, introducing her Aunt Cecily and Uncle Gabriel. Anna and Christopher quietly stepped into the room with Alexander, so Tessa introduced them as well. For now, only blood family had been allowed in the room, but Tessa looked forward to showing Ella all the rambunctious members of their extended family.

“Welcome to the world, Ella Herondale,” Will said. Tessa saw a tear drip down his cheek, and Cecily made a quiet noise. “We have been waiting for you.”

#wessa #will herondale #tessa gray #cecily herondale #james herondale #lucie herondale #will herondale x tessa gray #tsc #tid #tlh #the last hours

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ninacarstairss · 3 years

Note

Alastair and Thomas sat on the opposite familiar sofa to the one Thomas's parents, Sophie and Gideon Lightwood, did.

His mother smiled pleasantly at Alastair. "Mr. Carstairs, lovely to see you."

Alastair nodded stiffly at her. It wasn't out of indifference but out of nervousness. "Mr. and Mrs. Lightwood."

"It's always a pleasure to invite the younglings to a cup of tea," Gideon said and fixed his gaze on Thomas and Alastair. He chuckled. "It's not as common, though, to get invited by them. Who could imagine they still remember us old pals."

Sophie laughed with him, and Thomas allowed himself to smirk at his father. It was starting well. "As if you wouldn't make us feed on bread and water if we didn't have manners toward the elderly."

"Elders, eh?"

They battered like this for some time. Alastair slowly put himself in the conversation as well, and Thomas felt him relax slightly next to him. It's a good sign.

After half an hour of chit-chat and scones (much to his father's dismay) Thomas cleared his throat. "In fact, Mama, Papa, I called you for a reason."

"There's always a reason," Gideon murmured with a fond roll of his eyes. Alastair trained again, even more than before. He seemed like he wanted to say something but didn't.

"Yes?" Sophie asked, and put her restored cup of tea on the table.

"I didn't invite Alastair for no reason. The thing is," he lingered there a moment to catch Alastair's eyes, and something almost made him stop by the look on his face. Worry, almost shame. Was he afraid Thomas wouldn't say it?

"I like Alastair." He didn't see why to keep it in. "In a way that is more than friends, you see."

A long moment ensued. None of the young wanted to break it, almost afraid of the result.

"Damn it!" Gideon called out, startling them all. "I owe Will 10 Stirling."

"What?" Thomas stuttered and moved his big hand in front of him like it wasn't real.

"We bet when you would announce your intentions with Alastair here," he smiled in encouragement at the brown boy. In return, Alastair looked like a deer caught in an automobile's lights.

"You did what?" Thoams demanded, horrified.

"We are glad to accept you to our family, young Alastair," Sophie said gently, ignoring her son's indignant huff. Alastair turned his face away from then."I hope you would take good care of our Tom."

"Mama," Thomas objected, blushing. He looked at him as he returned to look at them and panicked. Alastair's eyes shined, and not of happiness.

"I cannot," Alastair stood up and took a bit of distance. "I cannot stand in front of you and act as if I deserve your kindness. I do not. I should- I shouldn't be here."

"Don't leave." Thomas hurried to say. He couldn't do it, now, without explaining a tad bit.

Alastair held his face regal and flat. The only sign of his inner storm was the fact a tear started to roll down his cheek. Another soon followed. "Mr. Lightwood, I cannot be here and face you and act as if I didn't wrong you, as if I didn't say an unbearable thing. Rumors. Words about you and your son. I- What I said brought you great pain and tears. Your son told me. How can I face you and accept your kindness?"

"Alastair-" Thomas rose to his feet as well.

"Don't you see? I don't deserve to be with your son, Mr. Lightwood. Someone as good as him shouldn't be with someone as - as stained as I."

Alastair didn't look at any of them. "I must go now." His voice was thick and somewhat small. "I cannot see a way you don't hate me, or at least want to hate me as Thomas did. I will go. My accomplishments for the tea."

He started toward the door, but he wasn't the only one. "Gideon flew as fast as the wind and seized onto Alastair's forearm. Alastair gave him a shocked look.

"When I was young, I had done horrid things. Things I'm not proud of. Things I wish I could take back. But I can't." Gideon leveled Alastair with a gentle gaze. "What I could do is change. To move past my mistakes and try and make better decisions, be a better man. I was not much younger than you when I learned the wrong of my ways. I changed. I see you did too."

"Do not let the past define the future, Alastair Carstairs." Sophie intervened "Those - rumors, you say. They hurt us. We cannot pretend they didn't. But the person you were there when you spread them, is not the one I see in front of me now. Your heart is kind, Dear. Allow it to receive kindness as well."

Alastair was shaking, and drops of tears stained his cheeks. "I-"

"Does he make you happy?" Asked Sophie. It was directed at Thomas.

Not a bit of hesitation. "Very."

"And you?" Sophie turned to Alastair. "Does my son makes you happy?"

"More than everything else."

Thomas didn't care his parents were there. He enveloped Alastair in a firm hug, leading them to the sofa again. He backed away just slightly, to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"And it wasn't only you, right?"

"It was still wrong."

"It was," agreed Gideon. "But you weren't the only one who was unkind. We handled more serious things than a child trying to emulate adults."

"We will not prevent our son's happiness because of the past. We want to see what the future behold."

A faint thank you left Alastair's lips. The grip Thomas held on Alastair tightened.

"Thank you," Thomas said as well. He shared a glance with Alastair. His eyes were red but still beautiful and enchanting. And love blossomed inside them.

"Nothing to be thankful for. We just choose love, is all."

Anoni I’m slightly sobbing right now. This fic is amazing.

That’s exactly how I want this conversation to go, exactly how I imagined it all along. First of all gideon betting on this with will cracked me up and it’s definitely something they would do 😂 after the scene with the mortal sword in coi I’m fairly sure they constantly bet over stuff just for fun (and gideon apparently loses all the time lol)

And alastair feeling unworthy of their kindness and love is definitely what I imagine whenever I think of this scenario. Alastair always feels he is to be blamed for eternity but if someone can understand that feeling is exactly gideon. I can’t wait for alastair to have someone like him in his life, gideon would love him just as much as his friends did when he was trying to be a better man.

Thank you for sharing this fic nonnie, I really loved it so much and I’m starved for this kind of content 🥺

#thanks for sharing this fic nonnie #i truly loved it so very much #and i was so happy to find it in my ask box #thomastair #thomastair fic #thomas lighwood #alastair carstiars #gideon lightwood #sophie collins #asks #asks answered #thanks for the ask anoni💙#tsc fic #tlh fic #tlh #the last hours

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cristinablackthornkingson · 4 years

Text

Shadowhunters Short Story #62.

It is a warm July day in Idris in 1903, just hours after the funeral of Barbara Lightwood.

Today is an extremely painful and difficult day for The Lightwoods and all those close to them. Sophie, Gideon, Eugenia and Thomas had asked for some privacy after Barbara’s funeral. Of course everyone respected their wishes and let the 4 of them grieve together, with promises from their closest friends and family to be there for them if they need anything at all.

For Charlotte Fairchild, the day was a complete blur and haze, and now she finds herself sitting in the basement of her Idris home, next to Henry who is trying to distract himself by continuing to try and find a cure for the demon poison that killed Barbara. Charles is with The Carstairs’ and Matthew went out with Anna after the funeral, no doubt to drink. It seems that all Matthew does these days is drink, and it drives Charlotte sick with worry, she doesn’t want to be the next to loose a child, loosing the baby she was carrying 3 years ago was bad enough, she couldn’t imagine loosing her sweet angel-faced boy, her Matthew.

As she thinks about her two boys and the baby she lost, Charlotte can’t help but remember the conversation she had with Brother Enoch the day Barbara died, just hours before her death.

“Henry.” Charlotte quietly says, slipping her arm through his, her heart fluttering when he turns to look at her.

“Are you alright Lottie? You look so pale, maybe you should go lie down and rest for a while.” Henry softly suggests, cupping her cheek, his hazel eyes full of concern.

“No, Henry I need to tell you something. A few days ago, just hours before Barbara died, I spoke to Brother Enoch and he told me something. Henry, I’m pregnant.” Charlotte says in a quiet tone, her voice breaking at the end.

“Oh, oh Lottie this is wonderful, bittersweet of course, but most wonderful.” Henry softly says, brushing his wife’s tears away.

“That’s not all, Henry it’s twins, twin girls.” It had taken Charlotte by great surprise when Brother Enoch told her she was pregnant with twins, she had never thought she would have twins.

“Oh Lottie why are you crying?” Henry softly asks, torn between being thrilled at the news that he is going to be a father again, and being heartbroken for Sophie and Gideon, and grieving for his niece.

“Well because it’s all so unfair Henry ,and such awful timing! How am I suppose to tell Sophie and Gideon that you and I are going to have twin girls, when they have just lost their own daughter? It would seem as though I have forgotten about Barbara and do not care about their pain. I have never seen Sophie so utterly distraught, how can I be there to comfort her and support her while I’m about to have everything she just lost?” Henry pulls Charlotte close and smooths a hand over her hair.

“Oh Lottie darling, Sophie and Gideon will be happy for us, they would never want us to suffer because they too are suffering, the babies will bring a new joy to everyone, nobody will ever forget Barbara, but our little ones will ease the pain a bit. Sophie and Gideon know how much we have wanted another child, especially since your miscarriage, they would never be upset at us having good news.” Henry says in a soothing tone.

“I really hope so Henry, I really hope so.”

Over the next few weeks, Charlotte avoids telling anyone of her pregnancy, so far only she, Brother Enoch and Henry know. At first it was easy to hide the pregnancy, but then Charlotte started to show and it became increasingly difficult to hide her bump, soon she is left with no option but to tell Sophie and Gideon, and the rest of their friends.

Presently she is sitting in the drawing room of Sophie and Gideon’s home, along with Sophie and Gideon themselves, while Henry is at home, Charles is at the London Institute with Ariadne, and Matthew is outside with Thomas and Eugenia.

“It is so awfully strange to see Eugenia without Barbara, those two have been inseparable since Eugenia was born.” Sophie softly says in a wistful tone, looking out the window at Thomas, Eugenia and Matthew.

“Do you remember when we told Barbara you were pregnant with Gina? She hugged you tighter than we thought any two year old possibly could, she was so happy she cried.” Gideon says in a light tone, a small playing at his lips as he remembers telling little Barbara that she was going to be a big sister, for the first time.

“Yes, quiet different to when we told Gina I was pregnant with Thomas, Barbara was a little upset that he was a boy but mostly happy, but Gina was furious and demanded we exchange him for a girl.” Sophie laughs. Poor little Eugenia had then felt so awfully guilty when Thomas was born 2 months early, she thought it was her fault because she hadn’t wanted a brother at first, and when she finally got to meet Thomas she was extremely protective of him and never wanted to leave his side, still to this day she is extremely protective of her little brother, much to Thomas’ dismay.

“How did Charles react when you told him you were expecting Matthew, Charlotte? I don’t think you ever told us.” Gideon asks, slipping his hand into Sophie’s and looking at his friend.

“He was quiet indifferent at first, then as I got further along in my pregnancy he got more excited, he was indifferent again when Matthew was born and didn’t do much, and I think he has been annoyed with him ever since Matthew was about 2 months old and learned how to pull his brother’s hair.” Charlotte says with a laugh, wondering how her boys will react this time.

“Are you and Henry still planning on having another? How do you think Matthew will like being a big brother?” Sophie asks, wanting to focus on something positive. Her heart still aches for her daughter, but she simply cannot wallow in the despair all day, she simply cannot stand it and needs some good news.

“Oh, well you see, we were planning baby number 3 but now, well....” Charlotte trails off, unsure of how to tell Sophie and Gideon that she is in fact expecting baby #3 and baby #4 in just 5 months time.

“Well what? Have you decided not to have another?” Sophie asks.

“No, I... oh by the angel I know this is horrible timing and I have kept it a secret for as long as I can, but I simply can’t anymore. Henry and I are expecting twin girls in February.” Charlotte quietly says, her hands resting protectively on her stomach. “Please know I do not mean to rub my joy in your faces in this time of grief for you, and I have not forgotten Barbara at all, non of us have. I understand if you are upset and I will understand if you do not wish to see the babies when they are born.”

“Oh Charlotte, no.” Sophie softly says, reaching across the table to take Charlotte’s hand in hers. “We are thrilled for you, and not for one second did I think you were trying to rub your joy in our faces or forget Barbara. This is absolutely wonderful Charlotte, you tried so long for one baby and now you are going to have two, I am so happy for you.” Gideon nods his agreement.

“We are not one bit upset and of course we will want to see the babies when they are born, Charlotte we have been desperate for some good news ever since we lost Barbara, those babies are going to bring so much joy into everyone’s lives, Thomas and Eugenia will be thrilled for you too, they will be delighted to have two new cousins.” Gideon softly says.

Charlotte wipes at her tears, relieved that Sophie and Gideon are not upset with her.

“I am so glad. Henry and I were talking the other night, and we would be honored if you would be the twins’ godparents.” Charlotte hopefully says.

“Are you sure? Would you not rather ask one of your boys to be godfather? And I know Lucie would be thrilled to be godmother.” Sophie asks.

“No, we want you to be their godparents, it feels right to us, if you will accept.” Sophie gets up from her seat and comes around to hug Charlotte tightly.

“Of course we will, it would be our honor.”

Shortly after Charlotte tells Sophie and Gideon about the babies, she and Henry tell Matthew and Charles over dinner one night. Charles is immediately thrilled, while Matthew seems shocked for the first while, but he does eventually come around and start acting as his usual self, talking 100 miles an honor about all the things he is going to teach his sisters and how he can one up James, Thomas and Christopher by having one more younger sibling than the 3 of them. Shortly after that, Charlotte and Henry tell the rest of their friends and family, who are utterly thrilled for them.

Charlotte is thankful to have a smooth and easy pregnancy, with regular check ups with Brother Enoch to ensure the babies are doing well, which they always are. Throughout the pregnancy, Matthew is forever suggesting baby names, ridiculous ones that Charlotte and Henry always reject, but it never stops him.

Right now Charlotte is just 2 weeks from her due-date, and is taking a well-earned few weeks off of work, with Gideon happy to fill in for her, as well as Gabriel.

Charlotte is sitting on the sofa near the fireplace in the living room, with Matthew sprawled out beside her, his head in her lap, barely fitting against the bump. Matthew is suggesting baby names while Charlotte plays with his hair, like she use to do when he was a toddler with a mop of blonde hair that could never be tamed.

“Oh! What about Haven Lee and Neveah, mama?” Matthew eagerly asks, his green eyes sparkling in the light.

“Absolutely not!”

“Oh oh! What about Ahmircale for one of them, because you were not sure if you could have more babies!” Matthew exclaims. Charlotte laughs and shakes her head.

“Matthew Fairchild may The Angel help any child you have and end up naming.” Matthew grins and says

“At least my children will have interesting names! If Charlie and Ariadne have children they will probably give them extremely boring names, like John and Mary.”

“You were almost Mary, had you been a girl. Well, until your papa told me he would like to name any daughter we have after his aunt Matilda, and then that is how we came up with Matthew, her nickname was Mattie, but of course your papa has told you all this already, hasn’t he?” Charlotte asks.

“Yes, but I like hearing the story. Are you going to name one of the babies Matilda, then?” Matthew curiously asks.

“Yes, baby A is Matilda, though we have yet to come up with a name for her sister.”

“I shall ask Lucie when I see her and Jamie this evening, she is always writing and making new characters, she is bound to have plenty of names you could use!” Matthew exclaims. Charlotte smiles and kisses her son’s forehead.

“Thank you sweetheart.”

A few hours later, while Matthew is out with his friends and Henry has come up from his lab to be with Charlotte, Charlotte begins to feel the familiar twinges of pain that indicate labor is beginning.

A few hours later after a very brief labor, Charlotte and Henry are introducing their twin girls to Sophie and Gideon, the first to meet them.

“Oh they are so beautiful! Have you decided on names for them yet?” Sophie asks, as she and Gideon each cradle a twin.

“Yes actually we have. Gideon, you are holding baby B, Jane Delilah Fairchild.” Charlotte begins. Gideon smiles softly down at the baby in his arms and strokes her cheek.

“Well hello there Jane, the name suit you.” He softly says.

“Sophie.” Charlotte continues. “You are holding Baby A. Matilda Barbara Fairchild.” The Ligthwoods are both totally still and quiet for a moment, with tears welling up in Sophie’s eyes. Then, Sophie bends to hug Charlotte tightly and quietly says “Thank you.” Sophie then straightens up and smiles down at the baby in her arms.

“Hello there little Matilda, little Tilly, Barbara would be honored to share a name with you, she was so special to us because she was our first baby, and you are so special to your parents because you little madame,and your sister, are all your mama and papa have wanted for the past few years, you two are going to make so many people so very happy.”

That night, in the nursery, Matilda and Jane wake up to see the transparent figure of a slim young woman with green eyes and brown hair, dressed in a simple white gown, standing by their cribs and smiling at them.

“Hello little ones.” The spirit of Barbara Lightwood softly says. “I hear you, little Tilly, share a name with me. I am very honored to share a name with you, your parents have excellent taste in names, just as mine did.” The babies stare up at her, wide eyed. “Now girls, you need to let your parents rest after the day they’ve had, so try not to fuss too much alright? Though I suspect Matthew or Charles will be in here before your mama or papa, and by all means wake them as often as you like. Boys are very annoying I’m sure you’ll learn that soon, but don’t worry, I put up with Tommy for 18 years, I will help you cope with Charles and Matthew.”

Soon Jane and Matilda drift back off to sleep, guarded and watched over by Barbara, who has chosen to return to the earth as a ghost to protect the twins, for as long as they live.

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rosereview · 4 years

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Chain of Gold Review

Okay so I just finished Cassandra Clare’s newest book, Chain of Gold, the first book in her new series The Last Hours which is set in the Shawdowhunter world and is a sequel to the Infernal Devices series and a prequel to the Mortal Instruments. I have loved Cassandra Clare and the Shadowhunter world since I really got into reading when I was in grade seven. Since then I have read all of Cassandra Clare’s books and every year when one or two new books come out, I run to the bookstore, buy it, and then go back home and read it as soon as possible. I am literally in love with this world and these characters and every time you think it can’t get any better, a new one comes out and it exceeds all expectations.

In this review I will definitely spoil everything that happens so if you haven’t read the book, I wouldn’t recommend reading this review. This review will be split into different parts where I focus on different aspects of the book starting with my favourite part of any book, the characters.

Characters

So first I’ll talk about the characters individually and my thoughts on them and we will focus more on their relationships with other characters in another part.

To start off I want to share my thoughts on the main female character, who is also on the cover, Cordelia Carsairs. At first I wasn’t sure what to think about her because so far in all of the series, the main female character was never my favourite at the start, like Clary, Tessa, and Emma. At first all three of them were a little annoying, but now I love Tessa and Clary. (I’m still trying with Emma.) But each of them I learned to love over multiple books which is where their character really developed. In Chain of Gold, Cordelia started off kind of annoying and dumb, but throughout the book she really develops and grows and learns and now I love her after only the first book in the series! While moving to London she really learns how to behave in society while also saying true to herself which is very admirable. She such a strong girl and person and when she finally gets friends she is less dumb to the world around her and how life works. I now really care about her happiness especially with a certain someone, which we will get to.

Next I want to talk about James Herondale. Well I went into this knowing I was going to love James, I mean he is a Herondale. And while I do love him, I am also continuously angry with him and the situation he finds himself in. By that I mean with Grace Blackthorn who I despise with a passion, but we’re talking about James right now. I loved James during the middle of the book when he was not under the control of Grace and freely falling for Cordelia while loving his friends fiercely and not really hiding anything from them, like any of his feelings. I was also so proud of him for how he handled all the news about his grandfather, Belial, and how he didn’t give in to all the demon talk and trying to put all the weight on his shoulders to protect everyone he loved by sacrificing himself. I did not and still do not want to see James possessed by a demon or Prince of Hell. Overall I loved James, but not as much as I had originally thought.

And the reason I didn’t love James as much was because I loved one boy a bit more… Matthew Fairchild! Omg I am like Magnus Bane in the way I have a soft spot for broken boys. First Jace Herondale and his daddy issues, then Will Herondale and his inability to let anyone love him, and finally Julian Blackthorn and him having to be a father to his siblings while being hopelessly in love with his parabatai. Matthew fits right up there with the greats! In the short story in the Ghosts From the Shadow Market where you find out what Matthew did that makes him broken, and I did not like him after that, but then I read this book and changed my mind. I really saw how much he changed from being a self entitled Consul’s son, to being a kind and caring and selfless boy that made a big mistake. Now Matthew feels like he has to keep his secret and pain all to himself while taking up drinking to numb himself. It hurts me to watch but it makes me love him so much more. The way he loves James is beautiful while he still knows James has his own faults. Seeing Matthew with Cordelia and how he loves her almost makes me want him to win her heart, but I know James and her are who are meant to be together. I just want Matthew to find happiness and to forgive himself and love himself, and that needs to happen before he finds someone to love and who loves him back.

Next we have Lucie Herondale who is amazing. She is just the perfect depiction of the annoying younger sister who also just has so much depth and story to her at the same time. I definitely relate to Lucie the most with her loving to write and tell story, while also fully in love with her family and friends and having such a strong relationship with her brother. She doesn’t want to be left out of the fun, but at the same time understands when some of her friends have to go on an adventure without her. All the while she is trying to understand her own gift and to help out people in need, like Jesse Blackthorn. Lucie has her own little secrets and even though she knows it will be against the law, she still wants to help out people who need her, like Jesse and even Grace, who continues to play her brother, but Lucie sees the way she lives and feels bad. That shows great character and kindness.

Someone that really surprised me in this book, more than Matthew, was his complete opposite, his nemesis, Alastair Carstairs. At first I hated him from what he did to the boys at the Shadowhunter Academy, and that might have been a part of why I wasn’t fond of Cordelia at the beginning. But now you kind of understand why he did the things he did and said and he truly didn’t know the damage he was doing by saying all the stuff he did. During the book we see how much Alastair does to protect his family, especially his sister even when she doesn’t see it fully, and we also see how he is dealing with his own demons like his sexuality and needing to accept himself. I can’t wait to see more of Alastair in the next books.

From Alastair, I would like to touch on Thomas Lightwood who I have to say I love. Honestly I love all of the Merry Thieves and Thomas is no exception. He is definitely the kindest in the group, trying to see the good in everybody which is no easy feat. He is also sort of Christopher’s protector to a point, making sure he doesn’t hurt himself and such, which sometimes puts Thomas in the background. He also has feelings which he doesn’t understand and I can’t wait to explore that more.

That brings me to Christopher Lightwood, Thomas’s cousin and a mini Henry. I LOVE Christopher! That boi needs protection! He is just so precious and the way he still always tries to protect his friends and his big sister, oh it is just beautiful. Literally he is the most wholesome character and I love him so much. That one scene when someone was saying something bad about Anna and Christopher got so mad and protective. It was the best.

Now I’ll talk about Anna Lightwood. I’ve loved Anna since the first time we saw her in the short stories and my love has just grown. She is such a complex character while still being loved by all, as she should be. She observes her Merry Thieves and knows what’s going on before they even do. She reminds me of Magnus Bane in that way. She also has a history with Ariadne that I can’t wait to see more of how that history comes back to make Anna fully happy again.

I would also like to touch on Barbara and Eugenia Lightwood. It was honestly the saddest when Barbara died because Thomas doesn’t deserve that, but also Gideon and Sophie. To lose a child is the hardest thing to go through, and after everything that Gideon and Sophie have been through, they don’t deserve that. But besides that, I really liked Barbara in the short time that we knew her. Cassie never really talked about Thomas’s sisters before the books came out so I didn’t think they would really make an appearance, which made me sad because they were Gideon and Sophie’s daughters. But now that Barbara showed that she was actually fairly important for the plot of the book, I’m excited to see more Eugenia in the future. I want to know what happened to her that makes her not accepted in society, which is hinted at during the book saying she was ruined because of stuff to do with a boy. But now I want to know more and see her more.

Next is Grace Blackthorn who I hate. I hate her and her manipulative ways with James. A small part of me kind of feels bad since she has a terrible adoptive mother and her brother died, but still she is a batch. That’s all I have to say.

Jesse Blackthorn is someone I actually want to see more of and who I’m very intrigued by. He’s very nice and thoughtful despite having a disaster of a mother. I really don’t have much else to say about him besides the fact that I want him to be alive but not if it hurts Lucie or gets her into trouble. I hope Grace does all the dirty work.

Lastly we have Charles Buford Fairchild… I don’t even know what to say. How did Charlotte and Henry raise such an asshole? They are literally the best and practically raised Will, Jem and Jessamine, how is their first born a dick? Matthew is even an amazing guy who cared about everyone but himself while Charles is the opposite. He cares only for himself! God, and the way he talks about his mother not being a strong Consul and how he took credit for everything that the younger kids did makes me want to barf. He literally doesn’t deserve anything, including a loving family and amazing parents and brother. He makes me mad.

Relationships

Now I want to talk about the relationship between two or more characters in the book.

To start off, all of the sibling relationships are life, excluding Matthew and Charles. Like James and Lucie, Cordelia and Alastair, Anna and Christopher, Thomas and Barbara and Eugenia, even Jesse and Grace. They are all really beautiful and make me happy.

Matthew, James and Cordelia- this little love triangle actually really interests me and I love all the scenes that have all three of them running around and going on adventures. I’m really excited to see more of them in the next books.

Lucie and Cordelia- this friendship is really nice to read about, but I was kind of disappointed not to have more scenes where it’s just the two of them. I feel like there wasn’t a whole lot of time to do that in this book,mbit hopefully in the next one we can see that and their parabatai ceremony.

Thomas and Christopher- I love that these cousins have such a strong relationship and I really want them to be parabatai. I just think that would make their relationship that much stronger and I want that for them.

Jesse and Lucie- I really like these two together and I know from the family tree that came with the Clockwork Princess, that they end up together and that is how the Blackthorn line continues, which makes me happy. But there were also some false dates and such on the family tree, like Lucie’s birthdate, so I also don’t know if we can trust the family tree but I do really hope that these two end up together and somehow Jesse is resurrected without it hurting Lucie in any way.

Anna and Ariadne- At first when we met these two in the Ghosts of the Shadow Market short story, I did not like Ariadne. I mean, she broke Anna’s heart and made her think love was only pain and heartbreak so now she only does one night stands, which is kind of sad because she deserves someone special. But then at the end of the book when Ariadne goes up to Anna and says that she will do anything to get her back, I was so excited and happy because even with their history, they are perfect together and are meant to be, so I hope to see more of their relationship blossom in the next book.

Thomas and Alastair- So like I said before when talking about Alastair, I didn’t like him because of the things he said and did when he was at the Shadowhunter Academy, and I was a little bit annoyed that Thomas was the only one being nice to him because he really didn’t deserve it. But then we saw them in Paris and honestly, that made me so happy. I love Alastair now and I think that they both deserve happiness and someone special, and I really hope that is with each other, but if not, then I hope they both find other people to make them happy.

Charlotte and Henry and Matthew- What I really want to see more of in the next book, is Matthew with his parents. We know that Matthew has a strained relationship with them because of what he did in the past, poisoning his mom and killing his unborn sister, all because of what Alastair had said to him at school, but I really hope that they can fix their relationship in the next book. I want to see more Charlotte and Henry caring for their kids like the other parents do, and maybe some more one-on-one with Matthew and Charlotte where they try to see what the problem is and Charlotte trying to help her son. Also I want to see Charlotte give Charles a whooping for being an asshole.

Plot

Now that we are done with all the characters, I would like to touch on the stuff that actually happened in the story. What I really loved though, about Chain of Gold, was the amount of scenes where it was just character interaction and development because like I said before, I love the characters in a story the most. This is usually what Cassandra Clare does in her books, which makes them longer and bigger, because she focuses on her characters and their journey’s, all the while getting some action in there. That was what we had with this book, a little less action and a little more learning about who these characters are as people and I really enjoyed that. But aside from the characters, the plot was very intriguing in itself. We learn that for these kids’ whole lives, London has been pretty demon-free, which causes everyone to have a false sense of security and none of the Shadowhunters are very experienced in the field. When demons do start to come back, it is a shock to their London community especially when the demons walk in the daylight and are only there to injure Shadowhunters and make them sick. I thought that whole plotline was very interesting, especially since the whole city had to go into quarantine because of this sickness, and that is literally what is happening in the world right now with COVID-19. I laughed out loud when that happened.

I really enjoyed the whole connection to the demon realm and James and his grandfather, because we never touched that in the Infernal Devices series with Tessa, and it's cool to see how it’s only coming out now and how it affects her kids. Even with all that, and the Herondale’s usually need to sacrifice themselves for their loved ones, I love how James didn’t when he was in the demon realm. He had a chance to give himself up to Belial to possess James and save everyone in London, but he didn’t and instead found another way. That was refreshing to see, because I don’t think I could have gone through another book with my boys cursed or possessed. (Literally Jace, Will and Julian.) I mean, James still has some power over him from Grace and that damn bracelet, but at least for the time being James isn't also possessed by his demon grandpa. Speaking about the bracelet, I really liked how the bracelet wasn’t on for the whole book, so we could see how James usually acted around his friends and family when he wasn’t being controlled by anyone. I was mad when the bracelet went back on, but we can’t get everything we wish for, especially when it’s a Cassandra Clare book.

I also definitely knew that Tatiana was behind everything, since the beginning and knew that she tied in to everything including Belial and his plans and controlling Grace and everything. She is just the worst and I have always hated her and I will always hate her. She’s like the Zara Dearborn of this series, you just hate her so much and there's no sympathy for anything she does. At least with Jonathon Morgenstern, you felt a little bit bad for him because his father made him the devil he is and he just wants to be loved by someone. And for Axel Mortmain, he just wants to get revenge for his warlock parents who were brutally killed by Shadowhunters, and same with Malcolm Fade who just wants his dear Annabel to be alive with him. Literally you can find the good in antagonists sometimes, which is literally my favourite thing to see in a story, but with Tatiana Blackthorn, she’s a bitch and she should die.

Lastly I just wanted to say that every scene with all the Merry Thieves was beautiful and I can’t wait for more of them!

Thank you for staying till the end if you made it this far. If not I understand, it’s all kind of jumbled and long, so no hard feelings if you couldn’t read this whole thing. And sorry for everyone who did read this and got lost because all my ideas are just one big mess on the page, but oh well. I write this for me, so who really cares.

Until next time!

~Rose Reviews

#chain of gold #cassandraclare #shadowhunters #the last hours

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imherongraystairstrash · 3 years

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Defender of Men

Alex Lightwood birth storyyy!! I’m finally publishing it because someone sent me an ask on it, but it became too long, so here’s part one:

“Cecily, are sure you’ll be alright?” Gabriel asked.

“Jiw jiw, for the millionth time, I’ll be fine.” she said, pushing Gabriel out the door. “Now go do something useful.”

Anna was already outside, leaning against a tree, frowning down at her dress.

“Anna, gwnewch yn siŵr bod eich tad yn stopio poeni.” Cecily said.

Gabriel looked at her, annoyed. “I speak Welsh, Cecy.”

Cecily kissed his cheek, “Then make sure you do well on what I said.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and hugged her with one of his arms.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“No, Gabriel.” She said, putting a hand on his chest. “Just have fun sledding with Anna, your nieces and Gideon. Sophie is right next door, if I need anything—which, I won’t—I’ll just call her.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m not made of glass, love. I’ll be fine. Now go before our poor Anna gets stuck frozen to that tree.”

Gabriel dropped a kiss on the top of her head before letting her go.

Cecily watched as he walked to Anna, who made a show of pretending to be asleep. He ruffled her hair, stealing her hat in the process and running down the street. Anna laughed and chased after him.

…

“Kit, bach, are you sure you don’t want to go sledding with Anna and your father? I’m sure it will be loads of fun,” Cecily said, once she was back inside.

Kit furrowed his eyebrows and cast a hesitant look outside. “I think I’d rather stay with you, Mam.”

Cecily smiled, knowing perfectly well Kit didn’t like the cold. “Alright then, fy ngalon bapur i.” (A/N: my paper heart)

Cecily walked to the kitchen and pulled out two mugs from the cupboard and filled them with tea. Before she picked them up, she grabbed a pocket watch that was on the counter and hung it on her neck so she could time her contractions.

When she got back to the drawing room, she tried to set the mugs on the table, but she couldn’t bend down that far. Christopher shot to his feet and helped her put them down, and lowered her to the couch.

“Thank you, darling.” Cecily said, bracing a hand of her belly. She felt like she was at the verge of giving birth, which is never a good thing, as a mother’s instinct is rarely wrong. The first stage of labour takes around fourteen hours, hence Gabriel’s hesitation to leave her at home. Cecily had thought he was being dramatic, but that was before she realized that she was maybe closer to birth than she had thought. Had fourteen hours already gone by?

“What book are you reading?” Cecily said, looking over her son’s shoulder, distracting herself.

“The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

Cecily scrunched up her nose. She had never read the book herself, but from what she’d heard of, it didn’t seem like a book Christopher would be interested in.

“What a peculiar choice of literature, cyw.”

“Matthew recently read it and said it was at utmost importance I read it as well. I don’t understand much of it, though. I’m also not very fond of the characters. I’d prefer your company over that of this book.”

Cecily smiled. “As do I, bach.”

Having children was a strange experience for Cecily. She was apprehensive at first, afraid she wouldn’t be a good mother and her children would end up resenting her. When she got pregnant with her first child, she was so happy.

And when she lost it, she had been so incredibly grief-stricken.

She had felt like she’d already failed as a mother, even though the Silent Brothers confirmed there was nothing that there was nothing that could have been done differently to have saved it, that it wasn’t uncommon to lose a child in the early stages of pregnancy.

That was the cruel irony, wasn’t it? To feel so much regret, to have your child die inside of you, and not know what went wrong.

They’d tried again, and then she was pregnant with Anna. The whole time she had been so horribly sick, she was terrified of losing another child. This time, however, she’d been pregnant long enough that she’d have to give birth to the child, whether it was alive or dead.

Those months had been the worst in Cecily’s entire life. Not even when her father had gambled away their home in Wales, the one she had memories of running with Will and Ella down valleys, had she felt such despair.

“Mam?”

Cecily shook her head, bringing herself back to the drawing room sofa, beside Kit.

“What is it, bach?”

“Does the baby have a name yet?”

Cecily rubbed her belly. “Not yet. Why do you ask?”

Kit shrugged.

Cecily suddenly felt a contraction. She started the pocket watch timer and sat forward and breathed deeply to try to relieve the pain. This one felt longer than the rest had been.

Kit looked at her from over his book, his eyebrows together.

Once it had passed, Cecily stopped the timer. After a couple of seconds of recovering from the contraction, she looked at the time, and swallowed.

“Kit,” she said as calmly as she could. “Bach, I need you to ring for the Silent Brothers.”

…

Brother Enoch, Zachariah and another brother Cecily couldn’t remember were preparing for the birth. Christopher had helped her up the stairs, before the brothers had come, and was now standing in a far corner of the room, at loss for what he should do.

“Christopher.” She said, motioning for him to come.

“You needn’t be here. I’ll be fine and your father will soon be here. I already asked Sophie to send him here once he stops by after sledding. You can wait outside until then.”

“But Mam, I don’t want you to be alone.”

“I won’t be alone. I’m with the Silent Brothers.”

Christopher looked over his shoulder at the Brothers.

Cecily put a hand under his chin and turned his face to face her own. She smiled at him.

“Go, Kit. It’s alright. I’ve done this before.” She said with a smile.

“I want to stay here. With you.”

Cecily tried to rub away a smudge on Christopher’s face, perhaps something to do with his most recent experiment.

“I don’t think you do, bach. When people say birth is a natural process, it’s because they’re trying to glorify a process that’s ghastly.”

Cecily looked deep into his lavender eyes and smiled. “Now go, before I start crowning. Trust me when I say you’ll wish you’d have gone.”

Christopher made to move, but didn’t get up.

“I want to help you. I want to stay with you the way you stayed when I got my first rune.”

Cecily wanted to argue that this was different but she suddenly got a contraction that was long enough she knew she’d have to push at any moment.

Sure enough, Brother Enoch said, you must begin pushing soon, Cecily Lightwood.

“You have to be sure, Christopher.” She said through her teeth. “One-hundred percent sure. And you must stay on this side of the bed, because I don’t want you to see the birthing process. I’ll only let you stay because if not I’m afraid you’ll ‘stress experiment’ and blow up the house.”

Kit nodded quickly.

“Alright then.” She said.

Are you ready to push?

“Yes. Let’s finish what we started, Enoch.” Cecily said, taking Christopher’s hand in her own and bracing herself for the birth.

…

Congratulations, Cecily Lightwood, it’s a boy. Enoch said in her head, less than half an hour later.

Cecily fell back on the pillows, exhausted. Birth never really got easier over the years.

Jem came around with the baby in his arms and gave him to Cecily. She swore she saw him stroke the baby’s hair as he walked to her. She smiled up at him.

“Thank you, Jem.” She said, quietly.

He inclined his head at her and walked away.

Cecily looked down at her youngest son for the first time. She’d helped other women give birth when she was younger, and had always thought newborn babies ugly, but whenever she looked down at her own, they were the most beautiful and perfect little things in the entire world. She smiled and offered the little baby her finger to hold.

Like with all of her other children, she felt her eyes sting. There was something about holding her child for the first time that always brought chills to Cecily’s body. It’s not like when she held Anna for the first time, the feeling she felt that her life would forever be changed, but it was more like when Christopher was born; she didn’t feel any fear, just happiness. She kissed the baby’s forehead.

“I wish you could have met your grandparents.” She whispered.

Edmund and Linette had passed away four months ago, and it had been difficult for Cecily not having been able to visit them when they were still alive. Since she was pregnant, she and the baby would be at high risk of death, if she caught the influenza disease.

She tried to shake off the memory. Right now, she only wanted to focus on the good things in life, not the bad.

She looked up and saw Christopher a distance away from where she was. He must have moved away from her once the baby was out and the Silent Brothers began moving about, preparing the child to be held and checking to make sure everything was alright. Christopher looked at the baby in wonder, one of the first babies he’d ever seen.

“Come meet your brother, Kit.” She said, holding a hand out.

She motioned for Christopher to sit next to her on the bed and, resting the baby on her chest momentarily, demonstrated how to position his arms.

“That’s right, bach.” She said, lifting the baby to put in Kit's arms.

“Mam,” he said nervously. “What if I drop him?”

Cecily smiled. “You won’t. I have faith in you.”

She gently placed the baby in his brother’s arms, Christopher looking like he was holding his breath.

“Breathe, darling. It’s just your brother. Look at how much he likes you. He’s already reaching out to you.” The baby’s hands were indeed opening and closing slowly. Cecily helped Christopher adjust his arms, so that he was supporting the baby’s head better, and when she sat back, she felt a pang in her chest at seeing her two sons together. Christopher had a soft smile on his lips, the smile that many people had told her is the same as her own.

Sometime after she’d put the baby in Kit’s arms, a Silent Brother told her she needed to push out the placenta, so that they could begin healing the tears induced by the birth. She nodded and when she began pushing again, Kit looked up, confused.

“Is there another one?” He asked, surprised, his eyes wide with curiosity.

“Heavens, no. Thank the Angel. It’s just the placenta.”

Christopher still looked confused.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about, bach.” She reassured him.

…

The Silent Brothers were gone by the time Gabriel and Anna got home.

Cecily had been feeding the baby, and Christopher was reading a book on his back, keeping her company. He’d given up on reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, had switched it for a book on science. Cecily had tried to read a couple of sentences, but was deeply confused by them, not being able to understand a thing.

“I don’t know how you can read that, Christopher. I can’t follow a single sentence, much less the entire book.”

Kit looked up at her. “It’s not that hard, it’s just that Biology is interconnected, so you have to understand the previous concepts to understand this one.”

Cecily laughed. “You put a lot of faith in me, Kit.”

Christopher tilted his head to the side.

“What are you reading about now?”

“Genetics. Why children come out looking like their parents.”

“There’s an explanation behind that?” She asked.

“Yes! We all inherit half of our genes from our mother and half from our father.”

“Are you sure? I can’t imagine your father inheriting anything from Benedict.”

“It’s more so to do with physical traits.” Kit explained. “Like blue eyes or green eyes.”

“That’s quite interesting, bach.” she said.

And that’s how Cecily got a lesson on genetics. She was happy to listen to her son talk happily about science and to have her new baby in her arms and be able to kiss his tiny, soft nose and occasionally ruffle Christopher’s hair.

…

“By the Angel, Cecy.” Gabriel said, coming inside, worried. Both Anna and Gabriel had a lot of snow on their coats. They must have come home running after hearing the news. “Are you alright? Is the baby?”

“Yes, yes. Stop worrying.” Cecily said, holding up the bundle of blankets they’d hidden the baby inside of.

Anna’s eyes widened as her eyes landed on the bundle in Cecily’s arms. “Is that the baby? It’s so small.”

Cecily nodded and Anna walked quickly to kneel beside the bed and smiled at the baby.

“Hello.” She whispered, touching his cheek lightly.

“This is your new brother,” Cecily said, smiling at Anna.

Gabriel leaned in over Cecily’s shoulder, close enough that she could see his face as he smiled down at his youngest child. He put a hand on her shoulder, and kissed her temple lightly while Anna cooed at the baby.

…

A few moments later, Anna was sitting on the armchair across the room, holding the baby for the first time, Christopher standing to the side, letting the baby hold his finger.

Gabriel leaned close to her and whispered, “what do you think about Alexander?”

Cecily turned to look at him and smiled. “Alexander?”

Gabriel shrugged, brushing her hair away from her face. “I was thinking about names while I took Anna sledding. I tried to come up with names for each letter of the alphabet and I got to ‘Maxwell’ before I thought of Alexander.”

Cecily looked back at her children, interlacing her hand with Gabriel’s. “What made you think of Alexander?”

Gabriel shrugged. “Maybe the letter ‘X’ that they have in common.”

Cecily felt her smile grow wider. “I love it. Alexander.”

She felt Gabriel put his arms around her and she rested her head on his warm chest.

“The birth wasn’t that bad, was it?” Gabriel said, his voice lightly amused.

“Go to hell.” Cecily mumbled against his shirt.

Tagging: @tsccreatorsnet @atla-lok143 @rinadragomir @youngreckless @autumnangel20 @julemmaes @cupcakesandkittens @no-scones-allowed @fictionally-fantastic @stxr-thxif @writeforjordelia @itsdaughterofthemoon @jordeliasupremacy @cordelia-cardale @will-effing-herondale @axoloteca @heronstairs2014 @ilovemanicures

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#cecily lightwood #gabriel lightwood #cecily x gabriel #alexander lightwood #christopher lightwood #anna lightwood #tsc #tsc fanfictions #tlh fanfiction #tid fanfiction

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decennia · 3 years

Note

already interested in your not introduced ocs 👀

TO BE INTRODUCED:

VAMPIRE VERSE

Trinity Santos

FC: Adria Arjona. Love Interest: Dean Winchester, Seth Gecko, Dracula (sort of, not really; mutual obsession). Fic: The Sainted Sisters.

She is the one who holds strongest to the beliefs with which she had been made. She has no love for vampires, while her sisters, Faith and Edith, are often drawn to them by the relatability of immortality.

Edith Michaelis

FC: Kathryn Newton. Love Interest: Edward Cullen, Kol Mikaelson. Fic: The Sainted Sisters.

Believed to have been stolen as vengeance for the witches he'd burned, Sebastian Michaelis was ruthless in finding his sister, Edith. She'd been Goried before the seventh witch was hanged.

Faith Castellan

FC: Lesley-Ann Brandt. Love Interest: Damon Salvatore, Lestat de Lioncourt, Santanico Pandemonium. Fic: The Sainted Sisters.

The only survivor of the attack on her master's house, Faith Castellan was spared by the vampire Lestat for her resemblance to his love, Queen Akasha.

HARRY POTTER (Golden Trio Era)

Wilbur Prewett

FC: Sean Berdy. House: Gryffindor. Love Interest: Caden McLaggen. Fic: Visions of Gideon.

Son of Constance Flint and Gideon Prewett, Wilbur was deafened by the attack that killed his father and uncle. He would still prove capable of magic, and attends Hogwarts in the same year as Althea Abbott and Harry Potter, and his cousin, Ron Weasley.

Caden McLaggen

FC: Dacre Montgomery. House: Gryffindor. Love Interest: Wilbur Prewett. Fic: Visions of Gideon

"How do you say I love you in sign language?"

"If you have to tell him you love him, you don't."

"I don't have to tell him, but I want to. Every single day for the rest of our lives."

Ives McLaggen

FC: Hunter Schafer. House: Ravenclaw. Love Interest: Dean Thomas. Fic: Ablaze.

Younger sister to Caden McLaggen, Ives had big shoes to fill when coming to Hogwarts. Which didn't exactly mean Caden was impressive, or anything. If anything, it just meant he had abnormally large feet.

LORD OF THE RINGS

Maethrien of Rivendell

FC: Bridget Regan. Love Interest: Aragorn (unrequited love). Fic: ((TBA))

Of Elrond's children, Maethrien was the name that seldom arose to the forefront of discussion. No, instead they had come to call her Lady Woe, for there was none a more mournful cry in all of Middle Earth than hers when Aragorn fell.

LUCIFER

Remiel (Remi Greenfields)

FC: Ciara Renée. Love Interest: None. Fic: Chaos & Conquer.

"The Silver City is mine, every bit as it is yours. More so ever since you were cast down, Lightbringer. How is Hell nowadays, little brother?"

MARVEL

Theresa Demir

FC: Melisa Pamuk. Love Interest: Bucky Barnes. Fic: Krvna Osveta.

"They introduced me to pain. Real pain, the kind that makes you believe in hell. And then they weaponized my suffering. Made it so that it was no longer just my own. And then, when I had finally found peace, they stole that from me, too. That is what Hydra did to me."

Delilah Dresden

FC: Carly Chaikin. Love Interest: Eddie Brock, Matt Murdock. Fic: The Policy of Truth.

Older sister to Drew Dresden, Delilah returned to New York upon the untimely death of their parents in order to serve as Drew's legal guardian. She left behind, in San Francisco, her best friend, Eddie Brock, who graduated and went on to become a reporter. Delilah would become a reporter, too. Freelance, for The Daily Bugle, and hellbent on uncovering the identities to the masked heroes that roam New York.

Drew Dresden

FC: Odessa A'zion. Love Interest: Harry Osborn. Fic: We Will Always Have Tomorrow.

Drew is just trying to survive high school, while also helping her sister dismantle the conspiracy of the century. But of course, life couldn't be simple, ever, because not only is her best friend, Peter, blatantly blowing her off to do God knows what, but Harry Osborn, her old nemesis, has returned to town.

Lana Leeds

FC: Liza Soberano. Love Interest: Peter Parker. Fic: Serpentine.

"There's something dangerous about the boredom of teenage girls."

Paz Martin

FC: Ana de Armas. Love Interest: Loki. Fic: Wanderer.

Known to SWORD as The Dreamwalker, Paz Martin was called in to observe the Hex. Sent in to retrieve Monica Rambeau, Paz enters a fractured world, Wanda's fractured mind. Not only that, but she's started having dreams of a man cloaked in green and gold.

Eileen Stallard

FC: Vanessa Kirby. Love Interest: Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson. Fic: The Apotheosis of War.

The Green Goblin had been unstable to begin with. Based vaguely off the remnants of Erskine's serum, a freak accident at the Osborn Estate resulted in nurse Eileen Stallard receiving abilities that would make her more than human. Eileen Stallard died on that estate that day. And the Shieldmaiden walked out.

Edmund Barnes

FC: David Corenswet. Love Interest: Eileen. Fic: The Apotheosis of War.

Younger brother to Bucky, childhood friend of Steve and Eileen, Edmund Barnes would fall in the war, but be hailed as one of Captain America's bravest companions, alongside his brother.

SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT

Ailia Blythe

FC: Emma Dumont. Love Interest: Dexter Vex. Fic: And The Darkness Rained Upon Them.

"I thought you were dead! Well, more dead than you are now, I wouldn't exactly call your current condition very... How exactly did you become a reanimated skeleton again?"

STRANGER THINGS

Zara Mathers

FC: Sophie Turner. Love Interest: Billy Hargrove. Fic: The Strangest Thing.

"I really hate this town."

Yolanda Lane

FC: Sonoya Mizuno. Love Interest: Steve Harrington. Fic: The Strangest Thing.

"There's something about Hawkins that just makes you dread. Like we're constantly hovering on the edge of catastrophe, and our lifeline is nothing but a single red thread. You know?"

THE WITCHER (whole story is under construction, really; has potential to be an original story)

Rheya of Verden

FC: Amita Suman. Love Interest: Wenrys. Fic: ((TBA)).

Prince Wenrys of Agaron

FC: Timothee Chalamet. Love Interest: Rheya. Fic: ((TBA)).

Seiko of Kaesong

FC: Dianne Doan. Love Interest: None, little bit of Geralt. Fic: ((TBA)).

Ramsamy of Gravenor

FC: Luke Pasqualino. Love Interest: Yennefer. Fic: ((TBA)).

#if anyone poaches my idea i will sue #:}#this took me so long to get written down because i had like fifty thoughts a minute #decennia ocs

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kierarktina3ever · 6 years

Text

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful followers or happy December 25th for those who don’t celebrate! My Christmas present to you is twelve shitty holiday headcannons from twelve of my favorite ships in no particular order so enjoy!

1. Sizzy- Their house is just an explosion of different holiday decorations for Hanukkah and Christmas and everyone likes to try to hide small bits from other holidays among the mess that is their house and see how long it takes for them to notice. The record is a tiny pumpkin that they hung from the tree that’s been there for two years now.

2. Malec- Every year Magnus dresses up like Santa for the boys (but with much more glitter) and they adore it. One year, however, Max asks why Magnus is never around to see Santa and Alec and Magnus decide they have to switch roles to keep the magic alive. Magnus has a great time helping Alec get his Santa costume together.

3. Wessa- Will would always get the kids different weapons for Christmas, despite Tessa’s protests that they’re too young. Tessa, on the other hand, buys the kids all her favorite books that she had read at their age and it becomes tradition that the family spends Christmas Day reading one of said books together.

4. Jessa- Christmas Day Tessa and Jem are in their apartment opening gifts from each other when Tessa hands Jem a small box. Inside is a small pacifier. Jem looks up questioningly and Tessa answers, hand over her stomach “It’s for your son, William.” Jem gasps, runs to Tessa and hugs her, tears in his eyes. “I’m going to be a father.”

5. Kitty- Every year Kit gets Ty an ugly Christmas sweater and Ty wears them religiously through the Christmas season. One year Ty decides to return the favor and gets Kit a cat sweater that says “Meowy Christmas”

6. Gwynburn- Diana introduces Gwyn to all of her favorite Christmas traditions, but there is one the Gwyn seems to latch onto more than the others. Soon enough every doorframe in their house was decked with mistletoe and Diana couldn’t even leave the room without being swept off her feet by her handsome faerie hunter.

7. Jemma- Having grown up with such a big family of mostly younger kids, Julian has always taken Santa very seriously. So it’s no surprise that, with their own kids, Julian continues to do so. He eats every cookie the kids set out (even the carrots for the reindeer), he helps them “mail” their letters and then takes them out of the mailbox when they aren’t looking, he even wears a santa costume on the off chance one of them comes downstairs while they’re putting out presents. Emma, of course, finds this all very sweet and she falls in love with him a little more every Christmas.

8. Kierarktina- Mark obviously remembers all the Blackthorn family Christmasses, but Kieran, having lived his life in the Unseelie Court, has never experienced it, so when their first Christmas together comes around, Cristina and Mark promise each other that they will make this Christmas the most amazing Christmas Kieran could ever want. The three of them spend the whole week before baking cookies together, teaching Kieran Christmas carols (they find out he actually has an amazing voice), drinking hot cocoa, and shopping. By the end of it all, on Christmas Eve, Kieran is exhausted. “I fail to see why everyone loves this holiday so much. It seems much more work than play.” At this point Mark and Cristina exchange a look and a subtle nod. “You’re right I’m exhausted why don’t we head to bed?” says Cristina. She leads Kieran to bed as Mark calls after them, “I’ll be in in a minute I still have some cleaning up to do from dinner.” The next morning Kieran comes out to a room full of presents and twinkling lights. The three of them spend the morning and afternoon opening gifts, an activity that rapidly becomes a wrapping paper fight. Kieran decides Christmas might not be so bad after all.

9. Clace- Because their posse has gotten so big, Clary and Jace decided to start a secret Santa within the group. It wasn’t anything huge, but every year they would draw names and give their person all manor of gag gifts throughout the season. One year Jace walked into his room to find it covered in rubber ducks. Furious, he stormed to the training room where everyone was snickering at his firetruck red face.”SIMON” he screamed. “It wasn’t me!!” Simon replied. “Then who—“ he stopped and turned to look at his wife’s smug grin. After that Secret Santa became more of a prank war.

10. Sophideon- One year Gideon decides to take Sophie to the Nutcracker ballet. Having been a servant her entire life, she had never seen anything like it, so when she did she was amazed. It quickly becomes a yearly tradition for them and it is Sophie’s favorite part of the season.

11. CharlottexHenry (not sure if there’s an official ship name for this one?)- Every year Henry makes Charlotte’s gift in his workshop. Sometimes it works out fine and she gets a wonderful new trinket. Sometimes, however, like in the time he tried to make her something of a curling iron, it’s a disaster. Henry of course gets her a beautiful hat to help fix his mistake, but there’s only so much he could do. One year Henry decides that he will not mess this up again. He slaves away in his workshop for days and days until finally her gift is finished. Christmas Day they sit around the tree and Henry gives her his gift. She opens the box and gasps. “It’s a locket,” he says. “If you press this button, it opens to show a picture of our family, but if you press this button,” he took it from her and pressed the other button on the locket. It made a light popping noise and unfolded before Charlotte’s eyes. “It turns into a knife.” Charlotte, of course, adored it and Henry was able to call this Christmas a success.

12. Haline- It was always a white Christmas on Wrangel Island, but Helen never really had that growing up in California, so it hardly put her in a Christmas mood. That’s why every year Aline would contact her mother and get a framed picture of her family sent to the island. The first year she did this Helen cried, and Aline knew that being able to see her siblings grow every year even in this small way meant a lot to her.

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