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Jack wants to learn how to swim.

At first, when he'd brought it up, Luke had made a few jokes about taking him down to the beach and teaching him to doggy paddle while in wolf form, but the teasing had quickly morphed into a more serious conversation. That Jack loves to learn is something so special that Luke wants nothing more than to encourage it and he's always been a relatively strong swimmer. Shadowhunters had the lakes surrounding Alicante, so many opportunities to swim, and they had been expected to be good at everything. Luke might not have always been the best fighter, but swimming was something he had excelled at.

Add to that his wolf instincts and love of water and he thinks he'll make a fairly good teacher.

They settle on the beach instead of a pool, mostly because Luke thinks the atmosphere will be more relaxed, which will be much more conducive to actually learning to swim. He's made sure to get Jack a properly fitting life jacket, just in case he gets tired of the lesson, but still wants to play in the water, and he packs for the whole afternoon. Towels and a big blanket to spread out on the sand, four of their reusable water bottles, three with water, one with juice, sandwiches and fruit and snacks for their lunch as well as clean, dry clothes.

It's a beautiful day for it, too, and when Luke pulls the truck into a parking space near the beach, he's pleased with how well things are working out for them. Jack deserves nothing less and Luke is happy to be part of giving that to him.

"Ready for this?" he asks, grinning over at Jack as he turns off the truck and begins to collect their things.

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"That's exactly right," Luke says with a smile, proud of Jack for knowing how to define the word. With Clary, he remembers adults always talking down to her, trying to use smaller words because they were afraid she wouldn't understand and Luke knows it's necessary in some situations, to break complex ideas down into simpler ones, but he doesn't believe in ignoring bigger words for the sake of understanding. Jack is smart, a lot smarter than adults without any experience with kids would ever really expect, and when he doesn't know something, he asks. It's a way to help him learn and Luke is so proud of what Jack knows already and how open he is to learning something every single day.

With his shirt off, he turns around and sits on the towel so he's down at Jack's level, letting him rub the sunscreen onto his shoulders and his back.

"Your farts are definitely not in moderation," Luke agrees with a laugh. "But that's okay, that just means your bowels are moving stuff around in there and you always want it to keep moving." This isn't the conversation he expected to be having with Jack today, but somehow he's not surprised at the same time. He's such a curious kid that everything seems to be open for discussion and Luke is happy to talk about whatever he wants. Including his farts, if that's what it comes to. "Alright. Ready for your life jacket?"

Sometimes I hope that I'm suddenly so much bigger so that I can be as tall as Papa, but I'm not yet, so I have to get up a little bit on my feet to reach his shoulders. He's definitely getting down to try and help me, and maybe I can get most of his shoulders like this even if I'm sitting, but I want to make sure to get the sunscreen everywhere so that it can protect him the most, and that means I need to stand up and spend a lot of time rubbing the sunscreen around.

It's oily and sometimes it feels a little icky, but I know it's good for you so I keep going. But I try to rub it enough so that there's no white parts left.

"Bowels are like the big intestine and small intestine, right? There was um, there was this really cool book I found in the School Library and it showed you what all the parts inside your body look like," I say, and I wrinkle my nose. "Some of them look really weird, like... like beans, except pink. It's really interesting that they're all really different like, sizes and shapes and stuff, I guess they have to be if they all do different things. But I know the intestines are like the last parts that your food goes through before you poop it out. Or fart it out."

I laugh because the word fart is always funny.

I pat Papa's shoulders when I'm done sunscreening them and I jump up all the way to my feet. "Yeah, I'm ready for my life jacket! It'll be nice to wear it because then I know I'll float even if I'm tired. Sometimes if I don't know I'm gonna float, my brain gets scared and stuff."

"You're right again," Luke says, clearly pleased by the extent of Jack's knowledge. He has the mind of a lifelong learner, someone Luke is sure will be constantly picking up books and reading whatever he can for the rest of his life, someone who will have knowledge about any number of topics and will be able to carry on conversations with nearly anyone. He can see these things for Jack already and he feels a swell of pride, knowing he's contributing to that, knowing he's lucky enough to be one of the people who watches him grow.

He reaches for the life jacket, holding it open so Jack can slide his arms into it and then he begins to do up the buckles on the front, making sure they're snug and comfortable.

"I'll never let you sink," he says seriously, then gives Jack a smile as he rises to his feet and holds out his hand. "And I'll keep you warm, just like I promised. Ready for this?"

I stick my arms into the holes of the life jacket. It's not as comfortable as just going into the water but it's definitely safer, and I think safe is more important than comfortable. Someday I'll be able to swim with lots of Strong like Papa does, and then I won't need the life jacket. And maybe it won't take that long. It's like when I try to ride my Bicycle. Right now I still have my training wheels on most of the time, but sometimes I try for a little bit without the training wheels, and I think soon I'll be able to go all the time without training wheels.

Everything gets easier when you practice.

"Yeah, I'm so ready," I say, and I wrap my arms around Papa first just to test that he'll keep me warm. He's definitely warmer than I am, and it feels really nice right now because I'm not wearing lots so the wind can get a little cold. After I hug him, I grab his hand and I pull us to the water. "Last one in's a rotten egg!" I yell, and then I let Papa's hand go because I totally want to get to the water first!

It's hard not to be delighted by such happiness and Luke laughs before he jogs after Jack, making sure to keep pace with him without ever taking over the winning position of their race and as Jack splashes into the water first, Luke gives a groan from behind, as if he's disappointed he's just lost. He'll happily lose every single race for the rest of his life if it makes Jack happy.

"I guess that makes me a rotten egg," he says with a sigh as he comes up behind Jack, kicking the water around his legs. It's cool, certainly, but he thinks given the temperature of the day Jack shouldn't get too cold. Luke barely notices it at all, always running warmer than the average person and for someone like him, it's pleasantly comfortable being in the ocean like he this.

"So what does that make you?" he asks with a grin, reaching down and scooping his hands under Jack's arms, lifting him out of the water before he plunks him back down gently. "The rotten egg's son? I don't know if that's any better than being a rotten egg yourself."

I shout a little when I run into the water. I knew I had to get into the water if I wanted to win the race, but it's so cold and it surprises me a lot, and I'm shivering first before I quickly stomp my feet because maybe if I keep moving and maybe if I let the water splash on me, then it'll be less cold. I remember from when Alec took me to the water, if you just go down in it, it feels warmer faster than if you just do one step at a time.

So I sit down in the water, then I stand right back up because it's so cold!

"You're a rotten egg," I agree with Papa, and I lift my arms just in time for him to pick me up and put me back down. He asks a really good question, and I have to think about it because I want to come up with a funny answer, or at least a smart one, but it's kind of hard. "Um... well chicks come from eggs, right? So maybe I'm just one bad chick. But I think chicks are usually girls, and I guess I'm not a girl, but being a girl isn't a bad thing so I don't mind if people call me a chick."

"You're one bad chick," Luke agrees with a laugh, figuring there's no arguing with Jack's logic. It's nice to hear him say something like that, too, that he doesn't think being a girl is a bad thing, because far too many boys hold such ideas. The Clave may have had some backward ideas that Luke will never agree with, but at least in that regard they had been relatively forward thinking. Men and women were always considered equal. Boys and girls both grew up learning how to fight, how to handle weapons, how to decipher languages and identify different poisons. Girls were never told they were weaker or that they weren't allowed to be Shadowhunters. It's something Jocelyn had taught Clary, even if mundane society tried to teach her otherwise.

It's the same sort of ideals Luke wants to instill in Jack.

"Alright, ready to swim?" Luke asks, wading out into the water that's a little deeper. Enough that he's up to his thighs, willing to go deeper if they need to. Jack is small, though, and they won't need to go too far out to make sure it's deep enough that he can practice paddling around.

"I think so," I say, and now I'm feeling a little bit scared. Not too scared, but the kind of scared where your stomach feels a little funny because you're trying something new and you don't know how it's going to feel yet. But I walk out because I want to be brave, and I want to have all the Strong, and I want to show my Papa that I'm learning how to get more Strong than him.

I know I'll be okay because Papa's here. He always makes everything better, even if it starts scary or sad. I think my Papa's like... he makes people happy just when he's around. He's nice and good to everyone. That's the kind of person I want to be.

That's also why everyone likes coming to our bookstore so much, because Papa's in charge of it.

"Whoa," I say when I walk far enough that my life jacket starts pulling me up. "I'm totally floating already," I tell Papa, and I laugh and try to keep my toes on the ground. "But it's like rubber ducky floating. How do I swim?"

"Okay, the most important thing you're going to learn today is how to tread water," Luke says, ducking down so he's level with Jack. "If you know how to tread water properly then it doesn't take much energy at all and you could theoretically do it for hours, which is good to know how to do in an emergency situation. I'm going to reach under the water for your legs, okay? And I'll show you how to move them."

Luke ducks a little further, dropping his hands under the water, his fingers curling gently over Jack's ankles.

"Feel that?" he asks, then slowly and carefully begins to move Jack's legs for him. "That's easy, right? All you have to do is that gentle kick and then move your arms back and forth under the water like you're gently scooping it away from you."

I laugh when Papa reaches down because it tickles a little, but I try to stop laughing because I want to pay attention and the learning part is lots more important. He's showing me that I can move my legs under the water and that's called treading water. I guess when you tread water it just helps keep you up, because Papa's moving my feet for me but I'm not really moving a lot, I'm just staying still and staying up on top where I can breathe.

Most of my moving is like back and forth, like… like I'm a bowling pin. I hope I don't fall over or turn upside down.

"Yeah, I think I can do that myself," I tell Papa after I feel how he's moving my feet. I start to move my feet the same way. It's kind of like walking but like… but like the ground is squishy because there's not actually ground right under my feet. I move my arms too. Sometimes I move too much and then I move all my arms and legs really fast because I'm a little scared. "Whoa."

"Good job," Luke says, still sunk low in the water so he can be close to Jack. He reaches out to find one of Jack's hands, then gently shapes it so it's a little more cupped.

"Feel that?" he asks, gliding Jack's hand through the water slowly. "See how it feels like you're pushing the water away and then pulling it back toward you? All of this doesn't take much energy or effort once you're really good at it and that's very important in an emergency."

He lets go of Jack again to let him try on his own, watching the way his arms and legs move under the water. It's only the first step, but Jack is always so eager to learn, always filled with such desire to do more and Luke has no doubt he's going to take as well to swimming as he has everything else.

"If you're feeling brave, we can always try it without your jacket," he says. "I'll be right here for you to hold onto if you need."

I don't talk for a while because I want to make sure that I get this right. I think it's going to be even harder when I don't have the vest so I have to get it super right when I have the vest on so that I don't mess up when Papa takes that off. I do want to take it off some time soon because I want to know what it's like to try to swim even without a vest.

It's really weird though. I think I kick and move my arms a little too much, because Papa said you're not supposed to take that much energy doing it but I'm definitely getting tired. It's weird because you don't stand on the ground and nothing's... nothing's just there, you have to keep moving and balancing. And the vest actually kinda pulls you up so that's really weird to balance, too.

"I'm totally going to feel brave. But maybe I need a little break," I tell Papa, and I squeeze my eyes shut when some of the water goes into my mouth, ew. "Salty."

"Well, you're not supposed to drink it," Luke teases with a grin as he gets to his feet again, hooking his hands under Jack's arms and pulling him clear out of the water. He'd promised hugs to keep him warm, after all, and he holds Jack close to him, then sinks back down a little lower to keep the both of them in the water as much as possible. Now that they've gotten in, he knows getting back out is what's going to make them truly cold.

"You're doing a really good job, Jack," he says a moment later, his voice fond. "You always try so hard and you have such a wonderful attitude toward learning and that makes me so proud. I know it would make your mother proud, too. Learning is the sort of thing you ought to do for the rest of your life and I think you probably already know this, but you never need to be afraid to ask me any questions. About anything at all."

Swimming is easy, it's not the sort of thing that takes a lot of effort on Luke's part, but he doesn't want Jack to be afraid of asking for harder favours, too, if they come up.

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