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A soft knock at her office door had Aline looking up from the stacks of paperwork her mother had left her before disappearing to take care of the ‘wedding situation’ as Jia had none-too-politely coined it. She rubbed at her eyes, cringing when she remembered she had put on makeup that morning, and hollered a clipped, “Come in!”
“Hi.” A sweet voice had Aline standing quickly, almost knocking over the cup of coffee she had made a few minutes earlier. She cursed and winced as she looked up to meet Helen’s eyes, smiling widely when she saw the takeout box in her hands.
“I could kiss you right now,” Aline said just as her stomach growled. Helen laughed and walked the rest of the way inside. She placed the box on the desk and tapped two fingers to her cheek, an invitation meant for Aline’s lips. Aline held Helen’s chin delicately in her fingertips and pressed a gentle kiss to the warm, flushed skin of Helen’s cheek before plopping back down to open the box.
“Maia’s been perfecting her recipes for that diner she wants to open. She’s got a warlock on staff that portals food straight to me when I want it. It’s a great deal,” Helen explained, sitting across from Aline and grabbing a fork.
“You do have a way of getting whatever you want, huh?” Aline teased through an overly full mouth. She chewed on the perfectly honeyed ham and practically moaned at the delicious taste. Maia’s food was the best, that much she was sure of.
“I like to think I do,” Helen said with a wink, stabbing her fork into a piece of pancake before Aline could block her. “Speaking of that…” Helen trailed off as if waiting for Aline to interject, but she was too curious at the segue to say anything. “Do you know what I really want?” Helen asked finally, crossing her legs and leaning back in the chair.
“My love and affection and appreciation for takeout?” Aline guessed, smiling messily. Helen giggled, grabbed a hashbrown, and tossed it at Aline who held up her arms in defense. She loved nights like that; where she and Helen were hidden away from judgmental eyes, free to tease and flirt and admire the other as openly as they wanted.
“ Besides that,” Helen said with a roll of her eyes. Aline shrugged and focused back on her meal. “I want a date. To Magnus and Alec’s wedding, specifically,” Helen said easily, shrugging like it wasn’t a big deal.
Aline gaped at her for a moment, gulped, and said, “You want to go together? To the wedding? The warlock and shadowhunter wedding? That the Clave has not agreed to? As a… couple?” Helen nodded along to every question and Aline just stared.
Aline didn’t want to keep them a secret, even from the beginning. If she could have told the entire Clave about their relationship, she would have, but Helen was insistent that even though she was half shadowhunter, she was still a seelie. Her seelie side would mean the perfect Penhallow bloodline would be tarnished - words that had Aline thinking Helen had already talked to Jia about it - even if her skin held runes better than most. To hear that Helen wanted to attend the wedding at all, let alone with Aline at her side, was more surprising than the meal.
“Listen,” Helen sighed, standing to glide in front of Aline and reaching to lace their fingers together, “this thing we have? It scared me at first - still scares me more often than I’d like - but I hide half of myself every time I wear my hair down to cover my ears or layer my foundation over the vines on my neck. I’m not willing to hide the one thing in life that I’m truly proud of.”
“Me?” Aline asked shyly, peering up at Helen with wide eyes and trying to understand how she was so lucky. Helen laughed and pulled Aline to stand, wiping her thumbs around Aline’s eyes no doubt to clear the makeup she had smudged earlier.
“Yeah, you, Dork,” Helen tacked on like a fond afterthought. “So, will you be my date to the most controversial wedding the Clave has ever seen?” Helen asked nervously. Aline kissed her passionately and hoped the resounding confirmation was obvious.