"Come on, your so close...ye-yee-"

Mina's wide, curious eyes looked up into Kits, her giggle's ringing warmly through the house as she babbled, her thin eyebrows together in concentration as she tried copying the noises Kit made. Leaning down to her delicate, rosy face, Kit beamed at her, offering his arm. 

"Yem, yem!" She exclaimed, her small body twisting around as she struggled to sit up. Her small, chubby fingers took hold of Kit's arm as he positioned it close to her, the tiny, slight weight of her grasp increasing as she pulled against it.  

"Close," Kit cooed, playing with her outstretched arms, "It's yee-t. There's a 'T' at the end. It almost sounded like you were saying-" 

"I think she was almost saying my name, Kit." A familiar, calm voice said from behind the two, "What does 'yeet' mean?" 

Kit froze, clearing his throat as he turned to meet Jem's kind face, glancing down at him with curiosity. "It's an expression people use when in serious situations." Kit explained, the corners of his mouth twisting up as he realized his opportunity, "You only use the word when something really, really serious is happening." 

"Fascinating, it astounds me how much language has evolved." Jem muttered, smiling a warm, fatherly smile as Mina reached out to him, cooing "Yem, yem!" excitedly. 

 "Why are you dressed like that? Are you going somewhere?" Kit asked, frowning in suspicion as Jem scooped up his daughter, pressing her fragile head against his shoulder gently. 

Instead of his normal, casual attire, Jem wore his Shadowhunter gear, and although he'd clearly tried to hide them from Kit's view, a stele, as well as several plain daggers were carefully positioned in his weapons belt. His eyes wore a curious look, a strange mix of happiness and regret as he knelt down, Mina in arms as he looked into Kit's eyes carefully, "Unfortunately, yes. Tessa had a call from Magnus, apparently something strange happened close to the New York institute. Tessa's already heading there now. I need you to stay with Mina. Do you think you can do that?" 

New York? Kit thought, surprised at the sudden dump of information. As in, the New York Cheesecake New York? 

"Huh," He managed to say out loud, "they're known for big...apples. What happened?" 

"We should only be gone for a few days." Said Jem, not acknowledging Kit's question, "You know what Mina can and can't eat. Make sure she's to bed early."  

"What's going on?" Kit questioned, suspicion lacing his tone as he noticed Jem's nervous fidgeting, "Why can't I come? I can take care of myself-" 

"I know you can," Said Jem firmly, his eyes lacking in any bribery or pity. It was one thing he'd grown to like about Jem, he never said something he didn't mean, "Mina doesn't, though. I know how hard it is to stay behind, but I need you to. So you can protect her. Do you think you can do that?" 

"Sure, I guess, but I don't see why you can't stay with Mina so I can go." He said, smirking when Jem raised his eyebrows and tilted his head in a rather sassy sort of way. "But you have to tell me what's going on," Kit added, hoping that he'd kept his tone level enough so he didn't sound too desperate for information. 

Jem's eyes flashed in a quick burst of gratitude before he slowly handed Mina over, kissing her forehead gently. "According to Magnus, Alec and Jace were attacked this morning. As of right now, were not sure what they've been attacked by, but Jace's arm was injured and they need me to come look at it." 

A stab of fear went through Kit's stomach as he bit his lip, "Jace? Is he okay?" He asked, swallowing nervously. Through the several meetings he'd had with the older Shadowhunter, Kit had grown fond of him, almost recognizing Jace as a "cool older brother slash crazy uncle," kind of guy. It set of a strange feeling in his stomach as he struggled to calm the infant in his arms, who had set off a round of crying fit's after being taken from her fathers arms. 

"As of right now," Jem said, a gentleness ebbing into his voice as he seemed to notice Kit's expression, "he's fine. We're just making sure the injury wasn't infected or if it has any some dark magic in it. Don't worry, we'll be back soon."

Wanting to argue more information out of Jem, but realizing if he did, Mina would likely attack Kit from preventing her from going to her dad, he gave a simple nod.

Kit reciprocated Jem's warm smile, but it vanished as he watched Jem stand up and quickly made his way out of the house, calling out to Kit to lock all the doors and windows while he and Tessa were gone.  

"Okay, okay, don't go all karate on me," Kit mumbled, gently laying a not-so-happy Mina on the floor. He watched with a dim amusement, mixed with sadness as she crawled her way to the door that Jem had exited through just moments before. 

"Yem! Yem!" The young girl cried, pressing her tiny hands against the door, waiting patiently. Well, as patient as a baby could. It ended with her pounding her fists and clawing at the door, using her bracelet she wore as a knife to stab at the wood. 

Tempted to hand her a knife to see how close she'd get to stabbing a hole in their front door, Kit slowly walked over to her, sitting next to her as he leaned his head against the door. In any other situation, Kit would be thrilled to have the house to himself and, of course, Mina. He could watch movies Tessa despised just because she thought the book was better,  he could buy a gallon of ice cream and see how long it took for him to eat it. 

But something felt slightly off as he sat on the floor besides Mina, and he found it hard to feel excited when somewhere else in the world, something bad was happening.