Magnus's bad day turned into an abysmal one when he returned home after a customer appointment and found Camille Belcourt lounging on his couch.

"Out," he said. It had been a long and tiring customer appointment and if his manipulative bitch of an ex-lover had returned from the dead and was plotting and scheming once more he wanted no part of it. "How did you even get in?"

Camille waved a lazy hand towards a window Magnus was pretty sure had been shut when he left. "What a warm welcome," she drawled, raising her eyebrows. "I've missed you too, Magnus."

"What do you want?" Magnus asked bluntly, not in the mood for games of subtlety. Camille pouted.

"Don't you want to hear the story?"

"What story?"

Camille leaned back elegantly on the sofa. "How I survived," she said melodiously.

"I expect you bribed and bullied Maureen into sparing you with the promise that you'd disappear from the radar," Magnus said flatly. "So no, I don't want to hear the story. Why are you here?"

Camille sighed and sat back up. "I don't remember you being this rude. Whatever happened?" She scrutinized Magnus silently for a while. When he didn't reply, she prompted, "How did your relationship with that Shadowhunter turn out? That William Herondale double, you know the one. He tried to shorten your life, as I recall."

Magnus glared at her icily. "What do you want?" he growled.

"Ouch," Camille said. "Still hurts, does it? Maybe it's too early to call in the favour."

Magnus gaped at her. "Which favour are we talking about, exactly?" he asked in disbelief. "Ruining my relationship?"

"Prolonging your life," Camille said delicately. "That's quite a big favour, in my opinio–"

She froze. Magnus strained his ears, and a moment later he heard it too – steps on the landing, then a key being turned in the lock of his door. Magnus closed his eyes. Not now, he prayed silently. Dear God, please. Not now.

Unfortunately, the person in the hallway didn't seem to catch Magnus's telepathic plea. The door opened and Alec stumbled in, tired and covered in ichor. Then his eyes fell on Camille.

Magnus would have enjoyed seeing the astonished expression that appeared on the vampire's face before she managed to compose herself if his eyes hadn't been fixed on Alec. But they were, and so all he saw was a mixture of shock, hurt, and fury, followed by a cold and carefully controlled calm.

"Alexander," Magnus said. He knew trying to defend himself would only make things worse, but he couldn't remain silent. Alec ignored him. Magnus noticed that the Shadowhunter had stopped cleaning his seraph blade and was now casually toying with it.

Camille found her voice first. "Alexander," she said with a slow smile. "You seem surprised. Didn't Magnus tell you I'd come over?"

"You don't get to call me Alexander," Alec snarled. Then he straightened, and in a slightly superior tone he added, "Besides, Magnus didn't know you were coming either."

Camille raised her eyebrows. "How are you so sure?" she asked. Magnus felt a strong temptation to kill her.

Alec remained unfazed. "If you two had scheduled a meeting, you would have made him come to you, not the other way around," he said coolly.

"Maybe I wanted to see him someplace comfortable and… private," Camille suggested with a provocative smile.

"Maybe you're just trying to annoy me," Alec said.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you're a bitch."

"Magnus doesn't think so."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "Is that what he told you?" he asked confidently.

Magnus wanted to kiss him. Here he was, a four hundred year old warlock, hardly daring to breathe while watching his ex-girlfriend try to ruin his relationship – again. And there was Alec, loyal and unyielding, calmly refusing to let that happen.

Apparently Camille was as surprised as Magnus. "No, that's–" she started to say, but Alec talked right over her.

"Anyway, I'll leave you two to it," he said, turning towards the kitchen. "Whatever brought you here must be important if you deigned to climb through a window to tell Magnus."

"How did you–"

Alec looked back over his shoulder, an expression of disgust on his face. "As if Magnus would ever let you set a foot through our door after what you did to us." And with those words, he turned and stalked off into the kitchen.

Both Camille and Magnus spent a moment staring after him. Then the vampire raised an eyebrow and said, "He's getting a tad possessive, don't you think?"

"Out," Magnus said, very quietly. "Do not ever show up here again."

Camille had never taken commands from Magnus, not even when they were together. Now, however, even she pulled back a little. Magnus didn't think he had ever been this angry at anyone in his life. He stared at her, coldly, until she got up and marched over to the door, head held high.

"We could be friends again, you know," she said loftily. "Think on it." Magnus just glared at her.

The second the apartment door closed behind her, Magnus whirled around and hurried into the kitchen.

In the doorway, he paused to take in the scene. Alec was standing with his back to him, unmoving. His knuckles where white as he gripped the edge of the kitchen counter, his tense posture showing clearly that he was by no means as calm as he had acted. He looked… hurt. And young.

Magnus walked up to him and hugged him tightly from behind, not knowing how to express the feelings that were surging through him, worry and gratitude and admiration and relief. In the end, he settled for the most important thing.

"I love you."

Alec relaxed his grip on the edge of the counter and leaned back into Magnus's embrace, closing his eyes. He didn't say a word.

"And thank you," Magnus whispered against Alec's neck. "Thank you so much."

At this, Alec turned in Magnus's arms to look at his boyfriend. "For what?" he asked quietly.

Magnus put a hand to his lover's cheek. "For doing what I didn't do, last time," he breathed. "For trusting me."

Alec looked up at him, a hint of surprise in his clear blue eyes. He started to speak, but Magnus cut him off by placing his lips on the boy's.

And as he heard Alec's breath catch, as he felt Alec relax in his arms and lean into the kiss, as he saw the love written all over his boyfriend's face, Magnus closed his eyes, thinking that this was so much more than everything he had ever had with Camille.