Conditional Love

Chapter 1

Five Years Later:

Alec wakes up early in the morning, even though his shift didn't end until after midnight the night before. He has a reason for getting up at six o'clock on a Saturday morning, though; Clary is graduating today. She and Alec had graduated together three years ago with their Associate's degrees, him finishing up all of his classes to become a paramedic, and Clary becoming a Registered Nurse. Of course, Clary continued on with her Bachelor's, Master's, and now her Doctorate. Alec was so proud of the girl who had become his best friend, and wouldn't miss her graduation for the world. It took a lot of effort from everyone to convince Clary to actually attend her graduation. She stated that she went to her last three ceremonies, why would this one be any different?

"Babygirl, this is your finest work. You've worked your ass off to get to this point. We don't care how boring, and monotonous it's going to be, you need to go," Jon commented one night. Ultimately, her brother Jon, as well as Alec, were the ones to finally convince her. So here he is, waking up after four hours of sleep to support his best friend while she graduates for the last time.

The smell of coffee immediately overwhelms his senses as he stumbles into the kitchen. Nothing has ever smelled nicer to him at that moment. Groaning, he walks over to the coffee pot only to realize that there's already a mug of the steaming hot nectar of the gods ready for him. I really do love that little redhead, Alec thinks to himself as he sips the bitter beverage. Alec's leaning against the counter, contemplating all of the events that have occurred over the last five years. His life has changed dramatically, and he has very little regrets.

Shortly after he'd started working at JJ's, Alec was able to purchase a new cell phone. The only phone number he had memorized was his parents' landline. He desperately wanted to contact Jace and Izzy, so he decided to dial his parents number and hope that one of his siblings answered the phone. Alec, however, wasn't that lucky. His mother answered instead. He had carefully asked if he was allowed to speak to his siblings, but her response was something he had never expected to hear coming from his once loving mother. She informed him that she and Robert had told Jace and Isabelle that because of "certain lifestyle choices" that Alec had made, they were no longer allowed to have any contact with him. His parents had gone ahead and changed Jace and Izzy's cell phone numbers just so Alec could not contact them on his own. Alec had questioned what exactly Maryse said, fearful of how his siblings would react to the news of their older brother being gay, and she said that she and Robert told them that Alec was currently in a relationship that they didn't approve of and, therefore, until Alec "got his act together", he was no longer welcome in their family.

That was the day that he had given up on his family.

Soon after, Alec had met Jocelyn and Valentine Morgenstern, the parents of Jon and Clary. With the Morgensterns paying the rent on Clary's apartment, Clary had told them the situation that Alec was in, and they insisted on meeting him as soon as possible. Alec assumed it was so they knew that their daughter wasn't living with a psychopathic serial killer. He was wrong yet again: Jocelyn and Valentine had wanted to meet him to basically 'unofficially' adopt him. Alec had no idea that Clay's brother, Jonathan, also was not biologically Jocelyn's child.

When they were in medical school, Jocelyn and Valentine were best friends. Jocelyn had set Valentine up with her college roommate Lilith, the two fell in love, and after they graduated, Valentine and Lilith had gotten married. During Valentine's first year of residency, she became pregnant. Complications happened during delivery, Jonathan was sent into the NICU were Jocelyn was working, but Lilith unfortunately didn't survive the birthing process. Once Jonathan was able to leave the NICU, Jocelyn offered to move in with Valentine to help him take care of the baby. Two years later, Valentine and Jocelyn had fallen in love, and were married. Two years after that, Clary was born. Jocelyn and Valentine told Alec that blood doesn't make people family, it's how much they love and respect the other person. They said that they wanted Alec to know that if he ever needed anything at all, to not be afraid to come to them. Even if he just needed someone to talk to, or needed advice, they were more than willing to be there for him. Alec could honestly say that he cried that day. He didn't realize when he left his parents' home, that he would be immediately brought in to another family who actually wanted to be there for him.