"I don't like walking around this old and empty house / So hold my hand, I'll walk with you my dear"

"Little Talks" Of Monsters And Men

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The Institute was quiet. It was a church, after all, and an abandoned one at that. But there used to be a time when it was almost-loud and full of life. At least six different lives, usually. But it's been quite some time since anyone other than Tessa and the two ancient women, Marjorie Blackthorn and Evelyn Highsmith, had inhabited London's Shadowhunter base.

It was depressing, sometimes, to walk the corridors of the hallowed building, seeing the ghosts walking with her. Her daughter, her son. Her friends and their children. The now-Silent Brother, Jem. Her husband, who has been at rest for decades, Will.

"Miss Gray?" Marjorie Blackthorn inquired. "Are you quite all right?"

Tessa blinked at the other woman and smiled for her. "Quite," she answered.

Marjorie looked inquisitively at her before allowing her lie to bypass. "Eve and I will be in the kitchen for tea. Will you be joining us, you think?"

Tessa hesitated. The question left room for no answer but "Of course, Marjorie" but Tessa wasn't feeling up to beans on buttered toast at a quarter past five in the afternoon. She may be well over a hundred years old but she certainly wasn't going to start acting so.

The Blackthorn woman fixed her with a steely gaze, forcing her tongue.

"Of course, Marjorie."

The woman pursed her lips in satisfaction. "Wonderful, dear. We shall see you then." She toddled off, her gait slightly hunched and to the left as she limped down the stairs.

"She's nice, I swear," she murmured aloud. "On Friday nights, Eve likes to play bridge and drink cherry wine."

Will rolled his eyes next to her, leaning against the wall. "Cherry wine and bridge, you say?" he drawled. "Sounds thrilling."

Tessa grinned and smacked his arm. "Hush, she's only a couple steps down. She'll hear you."

Will's features turned mischievous and he stepped forward. "Wonder how far she'll go if I give her a shove?"

Tessa gasped and grabbed his sleeve. "Don't you dare, William Herondale."

He grinned and stepped back, his hands raised. "I was only thinking it!" he argued. "Of course I wouldn't actually do it. Who d'you think I am, Tessa Gray?" he asked, mocking her tone.

It was Tessa's turn to roll her eyes. She tucked her hand into the crook of his arm, leading them towards another flight of stairs. "I never know with you. You can do some questionable things sometimes."

He looked wounded. "But to push a nearly hundred old woman down some stairs? That would kill her."

Tessa raised her eyebrows. "You pushed me down some stairs once."

He stepped back. "That was an accident. And I didn't push you, you were walking too slow and you tripped."

"So you pulled a nearly hundred year old woman down some stairs," Tessa corrected herself.

Will frowned. "I did no such thing. You were walking too slow."

"I fell."

"And I caught you." He smirked. "If I remember correctly, you seemed to enjoy it."

She flushed, remembering the feel of his arms around her. He looked dashing in his suit, a charming little bow tied round his neck. He has given her the same devilish smirk he was giving her now, his eyes sparkling in the same way.

Tessa lifted her nose. "If I remember correctly, I didn't particularly enjoy falling to my death."

Will gave an exasperated sigh. "It was two steps." Then he muttered, thinking she couldn't hear, "Women."

Tessa reached over and smacked the side of his head. "Oi!" she cried. "That woman, married your dramatically stupid arse."

Will grinned and ran a hand through his hair. "Dramatic? If you say so. But stupid? Absolutely not. I am quite brilliant, you know."

Tessa smiled, squeezing his bicep. "Yeah, I know."

Like most things done around the Institute, tea was a quiet one. The three women didn't speak to each other, chewing barely audibly—except for Marjorie, her jaw kept popping. If Tessa didn't know any better, she would've thought that it would unhinge entirely from the woman's mouth.

"Would you like to join us in the parlour, dear?" Eve offered. "We figured we would catch up on a bit of embroidery or sewing. You could read one of your novels." She smiled kindly at the older woman.

Tessa returned the smile and rose, placing her hand gently on the other woman's. "I would love to, Eve. Thank you."

Tessa perched on the window, her knees pulled up to her chest in the most unladylike manner. She propped Little Women up on her knees and resumed her spot where Meg had bought some fabric, much to John's embarrassment.

Will, on the other end, was reading his own novel, Great Expectations.

Tessa smiled over the edge of her book at him, reaching out with her foot to nudge his knee. He smiled down at the inked paper below him but didn't acknowledge her.

She did it again. He kept smiling.

She repeated the action several more times before he reached out with his hand, kneading his fingers into the bottom of her foot.

At Tessa's gasp, Will's grin widened.

"Do you like that, darling?" he asked. Tessa bit her lip and nodded, wiggling her toes at him.

He laughed softly, tickling them gently. Tessa squeaked, retracting her foot. Will laughed a little louder at that.

Tessa glanced over at the other two women in the Institute, seeing that they hadn't been bothered.

She glared at him. He only kept his nose buried in his book. She huffed and copied him.

She had finished the chapter when Will reached out and laced warm fingers around her ankles. He tugged slightly, indicating that he wanted them. She let him lead them over to his lap and allowed him to place his book on them. Absently, as he read, he rubbed the pads of her feet, smiling softly.

As the clock rang ten times, Tessa closed her book, uncurling herself from Will's side.

"Tired?" he asked, closing his book as well.

She nodded and said through a yawn, "I think Eve and Marjorie went to bed."

Will looked around the empty room and said drily, "Yes, it appears so." He got to his feet, holding a hand out and helping his wife to her feet. "Shall we retire as well?"

She tucked Little Women back into its place on the parlour's bookcase, her hand still in Will's. "I suppose so. Unless you want to go on a walk?"

Will looked outside where the moon was slowly rising up over the Thames. Stars were basically nonexistent these days, if you were far away from the city centre, you were lucky enough to see a few sparkles of nameless ones.

He squinted and turned back to Tessa. "Lovely idea but I think going to bed would be best."

They climbed the steps, turning off lights as they went. Will speculated quietly about the wonder of the electricity, how quick it was to turn off and how bright the light was.

"Really," he told Tessa. "If we had this when we were younger, we'd never go to sleep. All the time it would seem like day."

Tessa smiled at her husband and kissed his cheek. He blinked and looked at her, looking like a lightbulb himself. "What was that for?" he asked, his cheeks reddening. "Not to say that I don't deserve it or enjoy it. By all means, kiss away."

Tessa laughed and did it again. "I just love you is all," she said, squeezing his hand. "Very, very much."

He stopped on the stairwell, stepping down so she was at his height. "And I love you as well." He cupped her neck, leaning in. "Very, very much." His smile curved against her lips as he returned the gesture.

Tessa sighed as they broke away, her arms wrapped loosely around his shoulders. "Do it again?"

Will breathed a chuckle and pecked her cheek. "Perhaps when we're not in the corridor where either of those old maids could come and reprimand us."

Tessa swatted at him. "They're just as old as us." Will pressed her hand to chest. "Ah ah ah, but you see, dear Tess, that while they have succumbed to the mortal wiles of time, we have stayed young and beautiful." He batted his eyelashes at her. "Tell me I'm beautiful, darling wife."

Tessa rolled her eyes. "You're beautiful, darling wife."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh no, Miss Gray. I'm afraid cheek is very much discouraged. I suppose now I ought to punish you."

Tessa's eyes widened at him. "Will!" she chided. "You talk so terrible and scandalously to me."

Will kissed her fingertips. "Not at all like a gentleman?"

Tessa watched his lips trail a path from the tip of the index finger down the ticklish centre of her palm, against the warm veins pulsing in her wrists. She spoke before he could kiss the sensitive flesh of her forearm, "No, not at all like a gentleman. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Will nodded solemnly, looking up at her as he continued his journey, "Very ashamed, Miss Gray. Very so."

As he pulled her closer, pressing his lips against the inside of her elbow, her eyes fluttered close and she had to brace herself against his chest. He stayed solid underneath her, saying against her skin, "Oughtn't we to move, you reckon?" Tessa only managed a syllabic "uh huh" in response and when he laughed, she felt weak in her knees.

Will noticed and scooped her up into his arms like when they had first gotten married. "Don't you worry, my valiant queen. I shall protect you from the monsters lurking in the dark corridors."

Tessa wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his neck. "Thank you, my benevolent knight. Your actions shall be rewarded."

She knew, rather than saw or felt, him smirk. "Of course."