The Return: An Alec Lightwood fanfiction

Chapter 7

Avery was running down the hallway, still holding on to Jace's hand when she realized she was holding it. Avery stopped, and looked down at their intertwined fingers. Jace was jerked back when Avery stopped, and he followed her gaze to their hands. Jace smirked, and looked up at the same time Avery did. They both blushed. Simultaneously, they let go of each others' hands, and used the opposite hand to brush back their bangs. They both looked up at each other, and laughed.
"It's like we are almost the same person." Avery laughed, brushing her hair to the side of her face. Jace chuckled.
"Yeah, except I'm a hell of a lot sexier than you, so we aren't the same person." Jace grinned, and began walking to the kitchen. Avery gasped, and yanked him back towards her.
"Excuse you? IM the one who is sexier. If I was a guy, I'd totally bang me!" Avery objected, gesturing to herself. Jace rolled his eyes.
"Well, as someone who has banged you, I gotta tell you it wasn't as great as you thought it was." Jace replied, and continued walking. Avery's jaw dropped, and she was about to tackle Jace to the ground when she felt an arm drape across her shoulders. Avery looked up, and saw Alec looking down at her, smiling.
"You looked like you were about to kill my parabatai, so I had to step in. What was that about anyway?" Alec asked as the two started walking. Avery breathed a sigh of relief, thankful Alec hadn't heard what Jace had said.
"Just poking fun at me, ya know, like he usually does." Avery replied as they rounded the corner to the kitchen. Alec dropped his arm right before they entered the kitchen. Avery saw Izzy and Lucy sitting next to each other, laughing about something that Jace had said, who was standing behind them, leaning against the back of Izzy's chair. Jace looked up, and grinned.
"Took you long enough! Thought I was gonna die of starvation." Jace exclaimed dramatically, pretending to faint. Avery rolled her eyes.
"Well you still might; no one's cooked food for us." Izzy turned around and looked at Jace. They both turned around and looked Avery. She was the cook of the institute. She sighed.
"Alright. C'mon Jace. There's a hot griddle with your name on it." Avery walked past Jace, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him into the cooking portion of the kitchen. Before the door shut behind them, Avery peeked out her head, "Be nice to Lucy!" Avery yelled. She heard laughter as she let the door close behind her. Avery saw Jace bending down to get the pancake griddle out from the drawer. She walked over to him, and swiftly kicked him in the ribs. Jace let out an "oof" and fell to the ground, holding his side.
"What the hell was that for?" Jace groaned, holding his side in pain.
"For bringing us up when Alec was behind us." Avery replied, a hint of distain audible in her voice. Jace struggled to stand up, bringing the griddle up with him. He leaned against the counter, exhaling sharply. Avery looked over at him.
"Sorry. I just..." Avery muttered, pulling the pancake mix out of the cabinet above her head.
"I get it. You're fine." Jace interrupted her as he plugged the griddle in so it would warm up. Jace walked over to the fridge and pulled out the milk and butter needed for the pancakes. Avery grabbed the milk from Jace's hand and set it on the counter. She grabbed a large mixing bowl and a whisk, and started to make the batter.
"It's a sensitive subject for Alec and I." Avery absentmindedly mixed the pancake batter as she talked to Jace.
"Do you regret us?" Jace asked, stepping beside Avery and looking at her. Avery stopped mixing, and set the whisk on the side of the bowl. She sighed, and then looked at Jace.
"Of course not Jace, and I don't want you to think that," she turned to Jace, "You helped me through things Alec doesn't even know about, so please don't think that I regret loving you." Avery set her hand on Jace's shoulder. She looked down at her hand and then back at her.
"I don't love you the way that I did, but you'll always hold a special place in my heart." Jace confessed, running a hand through his hair. Avery nodded.
"You read my mind. Now, we've got hungry people to feed! Get to flippin'!" Avery exclaimed, smacking Jace with the spatula she had secretly grabbed. Jace yelped, jumping away from her. Avery laughed and handed Jace the spatula as he started to pour out the batter on the skillet, and started to flip pancakes. While Jace made those, Avery got to work on making sausages.

Everyone had been eating for about 10 minutes. They were all laughing and chatting. Lucy looked over at Avery.
"So Ari, how has the States treated you?" Lucy asked, stuffing a piece of a pancake into her mouth.
"Well, it got me here. I feel like that's answer enough. I've got these amazing people with me." Avery grinned, looking at her friends smiling back at her. Lucy nodded.
"You know, this girl never wanted to come to America? Said she despised the culture." Lucy laughed. Alec raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really? What about Americans did you despise?" He questioned, his voice laced with sarcasm. Avery shook her head, a smile forming on her face.
"Okay, we didn't learn about American culture in school, so I didn't know anything apart from your MTV shows and movies. From my perspective, America looked like a bunch of hicks and rednecks. I didn't want to be apart of that." Avery replied, finishing off her breakfast.
"So how did you end up in New York?" Izzy inquired, wiping her face of syrup. Avery's facial expression dropped slightly as she thought of her home back in London.
"Well, I had been at the London institute for 2 years, and I didn't get along with the people there very well. When I found out there was a vacancy here, I hopped on the first plane to New York." Avery concluded, smiling even though it was forced. Everyone seemed to believe her except for Alec. He made a mental note to ask her about it later.
"I was wondering why you left because the day after you left London, I came back from the Milan institute. I heard you had left and I was devastated." Lucy sighed, looking down at her plate.
"So, you knew you were a shadowhunter all your life?" Alec asked, tapping his stele on the table absentmindedly.
"I did. I was born in Idris and I knew how to fight when I was old enough to hold a seraph blade. I moved to London when I was 7 and met Ariana. Sorry, Avery." Lucy corrected herself. Avery shook her head.
"No it's fine. You're the only one who can call me Ariana, so none of you try it." Everyone started to laugh.
"Alright, time to clean up." Avery stood up, her plate in her hand. Avery looked down to pick up her fork, and when she looked up, the only person still at the table was Alec.
"Well, guess I'm the lucky one who gets to help." Alec grinned, standing up and picking up the empty plates on the table. The two cleared the table of the silverware and walked into the kitchen. Alec and Avery stood side by side at the sink, and while Avery walked the dishes, Alec dried them and put them away. They stood there in content silence for a few minutes before Alec spoke up.
"So, what was the real reason you left the London institute?" Alec asked, looking over at Avery. She froze, the cleaning sponge still on the plate. Avery bit her bottom lip, and gently rinsed off the last plate and handed it to Alec, who just put it to the side.
"Exactly what I told you and the others." She muttered through gritted teeth.
"Avery, I know you. You were lying. Please tell me; you know you can tell me anything." Alec pleaded, stepping in front of Avery. She stared at Alec's feet, still biting her lip.
"I, alright." Avery said under her breath as she grabbed Alec's hand and pulled him behind her as she hastily walked through the halls. Avery took a sharp turn into a small study that no one ever used. Avery closed the door behind her and locked it. Avery leaned against the door sighed.
"Avery are you okay?" Alec asked, stepping up to Avery with concern in his voice.
"Sit down please." She told him, staring at his feet. Alec nodded, and sat on one end of the couch while Avery sat on the table in front of him. She ran a hand through her hair nervously.
"Alright. I had almost been at the London institute for 2 years, and there we had a trainer named Nate. He was really nice and we were good friends. One day we were training, and he tried to 'make a move' on me, and I told him no, and that was that." Avery looked up to read a reaction from Alec's face, but he was stone cold. She sighed, and continued.
"About a week later there was a party. It was the institute's birthday, or some dumb shit like that. Nate and I were hanging out at the party and he kept bringing me drinks. I had never had alcohol before in my life at that time so I didn't know that I was a lightweight. So after like 3 cocktails I was drunk off my ass. Nate decided that it would be a good idea to go up to his room, so we went upstairs." Avery took a shuttered breath in, remembering the night.
"He closed the door and started to unzip my dress, and I told him no. I wasn't looking for a relationship, but he didn't listen this time. He tried to..," Avery trailed off, tears forming in her eyes," but I pushed him off before he could have his way. He tried to kiss me as I was putting my clothes back on but I punched him out cold. That night, I packed up all my things and took the first flight to New York. " Avery concluded, wiping away a few stray tears from her face. Avery looked up at Alec, who wordlessly pulled her off of her spot on the table and into his arms. He gently stroked the top of her head as the two sat in silence.
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Sorry this took so incredibly long to upload! I had writers block for a few days, and I really have just been so busy with school and golf and all that jazz. I've got finals in like 3 week so my teachers are deciding that now is the perfect time to give us insane amounts of work to do. I'll try to upload at least once a week until school lets out. Again, sorry this took so long to get out!
Published 4/24/16