Distractions

Reliving the Happy Past

The second drabble in my double posting is set many years after Distractions and features some characters you met a few drabbles back in The Class Meets Malecrest. Enjoy!

"Mom?"

Everest looked up from her editing notes to see Rose, Rafael, and Max standing in front of her with what Magnus called their 'I want' faces.

"Yeah? What's up?" She set her notebook and computer to the side so she could give them her full attention.

"Can you tell us about how you and Dad and Papa met?" Rafael requested.

Everest smiled softly and nodded. "Go get Dad and Papa first and then we'll tell you."

Rose and Rafael ran off to get Alec and Magnus and Max climbed up onto the couch to curl up in Everest's lap. She played with the six year old's dark blue hair while waiting for the others to arrive.

When Everest's partners and other children settled on the couch as well, she grinned at the sight they made. Alec, who was sitting in the corner of the sectional, was in Shadowhunter gear since he had just gotten back from the Institute. Rafe was in his lap dressed in mauve pants and a pink and yellow gingham patterned shirt. He'd definitely inherited Magnus's intense fashion sense. Magnus was sprawled on the couch, his legs propped up on the back of the couch and Rose's head on his stomach. The ten year old was dressed in one of Everest's old shirts and a pair of leggings. Her pink and orange hair stood out against his royal purple button up that somehow never wrinkled.

"So, you want to know how we met?" Alec asked in the same voice as Steve Rogers used in his PSAs from the Captain America movie. Everest snorted lightly at the comparison.

"Yeah," Max said eagerly, sitting up hastily and knocking his head against Everest's jaw. She rubbed it gently and adjusted him so that he couldn't knock her jaw again when he inevitably moved suddenly.

"Why don't Mom and Dad tell you how they met first since they met each other before they met me," Magnus suggested.

All three children turned to Everest and Alec expectantly.

Everest sighed dramatically and cleared her throat. Max, always ready to react dramatically to things, cheered. "It all started on me and Aunt Clary's eighteenth birthday. Uncle Simon decided that we would celebrate by going out...dancing...and then Clary stumbled upon Dad, Uncle Jace, and Aunt Izzy doing their jobs."

"Winning?" Rafe asked.

"Fighting demons," Alec corrected with a smile. "Even though your aunt and uncle would probably agree that our job is to win."

"Anyways, she did something reckless and then went home while I went to Aunt Roslyn's house for the weekend. The next thing I know, Uncle Simon's calling me and telling me he can't find my sister. So, we go look for her and apparently she's been in what we thought was an abandoned church but turned out to be the Institute." Everest grinned as she remembered throwing rocks at the Circle member hiding in the bushes and later at Jace. "I threw rocks at Uncle Jace."

The kids started laughing at Everest's proud grin.

Alec started talking once the laughter had quieted. "Here I am, trying to deal with Aunt Clary asking too many questions and Aunt Izzy and Uncle Jace not following the rules, when your mom walks in. She was all purple hair, confused expressions, and casual clothes. I'm not going to lie, as infuriating as it was that Uncle Jace wasn't listening, I wasn't as mad about her being there as I pretended to be. She didn't even seem to care enough to look up from her phone and pay attention to the conversation until Izzy announced herself."

"Duh," Everest said. "Izzy was the highlight of that conversation."

Alec rolled his eyes. "We went to go find someone, but because of the lack of seats in the van, your mom sat in Aunt Izzy's lap. Jace thought they were dating."

Magnus snorted ungracefully.

"Uncle Simon can't drive safely and well," Everest told the three earnestly. "And because of this you three aren't allowed to let him drive you unless one of us is with you. Since he's not a great driver, every time he took a turn I was thrown around the back of the van until I ended up in your dad's lap and he just held me there so that I didn't get hurt. And then time went on and we got closer and now here we are."

"There was only one seat," Rose, forever Everest's daughter and a reader, stage-whispered.

"How'd you meet Papa?" Rafe asked.

"They wanted my help," Magnus said, rolling his eyes fondly. "They asked me to meet at a club—"

"What's a club?" Max asked.

Alec coughed awkwardly. "It's a place where adults like to party."

Great save, Everest mouthed. Alec smiled mockingly at her inaudible sarcasm.

Magnus continued on easily. "Later, when my lair—yes I had a lair—was under attack, they came to help me and Alec saved my life." Rose and Max applauded lightly, Rafe hugged Alec's arm. "I helped them do a ritual that failed, stopped them from doing stupid things, and then convinced them to stay for drinks."

"He wooed your dad by telling him about my failed hair coloring adventures," Everest deadpanned, recalling their conversation all those years ago.

"And by playing coy," Magnus added with a wink.

"Because Magnus isn't cryptic," Alec said as he too recalled their conversation all those years ago.

"What happened to your hair?" Rose demanded, looking rather put out by the image of Everest having a failed hair color.

Magnus grinned, Alec smirked, and Everest groaned. "You see, when Everest was 8, she decided that she wanted her hair to be her favorite color, which at the time was an ashy blue..."