Shadowsinger

Chapter Thirteen

Sluggishly moving through the institute, Teigen reflected on everything that had happened since Clary's eighteenth birthday. She knew it wasn't a good idea to dwell on it for too long, so she shook her head and put together a mental list of things she would have to, do to keep herself from forgetting about her job in the mundane world. As she pushed open the door to the ops center, she remembered she was in the midst of highly trained, and incredibly skittish (as of the news of Valentine's resurgence) Shadowhunters when she was met with the tip of a razor-sharp arrow. 

Going cross-eyed as she stared at the weapon pointed between her eyes, Teigen froze and raised her hands slowly in a gesture of surrender. "Teigen?" Glancing up, Teigen watched with wide eyes as Alec hurriedly lowered his bow, the arrow returning to his quiver. "Oh my god, Im so sorry." Teigen smiled hesitantly, lowering her hands as Alec rubbed the back of his neck. 

"It's okay." Noticing an unfamiliar blonde woman standing next to Maryse at one of the surveillance stations. Teigen met Alec's eyes and jerked her chin in their direction, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "Who's that?" Alec glanced over his shoulder, meeting her eyes once more and opening his mouth to explain, but the blonde answered for him. 

"Lydia Branwell-" Lydia extended her hand and Teigen took it, grasping firmly in a quick shake that ended rather quickly- "Envoy for the Clave and the new head of the New York Institute. You must be Teigen Fairchild." 

Teigen nodded mutely and stuffed her hands back into her jacket, fumbling around with her keys. Lydia stepped back and widened her stance, crossing her arms as Teigen copied her stance subconsciously. "May I inquire to ascertain your whereabouts?" 

Teigen wrinkled her nose slightly at the over-use of incredibly formal words. "I was dropping my dog and cat off at a friends' house." Lydia continued scanning her face with a piercing look, watching as Teigen seemed to start fidgeting, pushing the urge down and standing straighter as she was scrutinized. 

It seemed like an eternity had passed before she was given a sharp nod of acceptance, letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding as Lydia strode back to where Maryse was still standing. 

"Why are the children at a friend's house?" Teigen glanced at Alec, the corners of her mouth twitching up as she heard him refer to her pets as her 'children'. 

"Robby and Catherine adore them and often offer to take care of them free of charge when I'm busy with work or something else." Teigen shrugged a bit, scuffing her boots against the floor. "With everything that's been happening with my job, Valentine, and the search for the Mortal Cup, I haven't really had time to properly take care of them." 

Alec nodded understandingly, offering her a smile. "I'm sure this will all be over soon." 

They stood in contented silence, simply basking in the other's presence as everyone else in the room ignored the two. Suddenly realizing that they had been staring into each other's eyes for some time, they both snapped out of their trances as they avoided gazes, faces heating as blood bloomed from their embarrassment. They both stuttered out how they had things they needed to do, awkwardly side-stepping each other and blushing further as they kept blocking each other, continuing to stutter out responses before they finally managed to go their separate ways. 

Teigen opened the door to her room, removing her jacket and boots before closing it behind her and flopping onto the bed and passing out from exhaustion.