Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

Captivated By You

Alec walked a slight distance away from the rest of his search group, keeping his eyes peeled as he did his best to ignore them and their whispers. They didn't want him with them and he felt pretty much the same way about them. The only reason he'd volunteered to help search for Sebastian's remains was that they'd originally approached his father to be a part of the group instead. He'd seen that his father hadn't been up to it emotionally, and had volunteered himself in his father's place before he'd thought it through. But they were short healthy, able Shadowhunters for this chore at the moment and they hadn't had the luxury of turning down his offer. Unfortunately.

He was used to getting strange looks from other Shadowhunters, both because of his personality and family history. Trips here had been few and far between, he wasn't used to being around his own kind. Not that they had ever really thought of him as one of them. Or if they ever had, that had ended the moment he'd kissed Magnus in front of them.

Alec knew that he'd obliterated most of the plans his parents had had for him with that action. There would be no shining career among the Clave ranks for him now. They might kick him out of the Clave all together. He'd be a Shadowhunter no more.

That part didn't bother Alec; he had no taste for bloodshed. He hated killing anything, even demons. It was just not in his nature. He didn't even particular care about being kicked out of the Clave since he wasn't terribly fond of them at the moment anyway. After what they'd done to Simon and Jace, Alec figured Valentine hadn't been entirely wrong in thinking the Clave needed to make some serious changes. Valentine had just been wrong about the kind of changes the Clave needed to make.

As they got closer to the place where Sebastian's body should have been Alec hoped they did find it today. And that he was the one who found it. Because if he did…he planned to hide it and insure that the body was food for the scavengers. It deserved to rot away beyond all recognition without any respect or care. The bastard deserved that and more, for killing Max.

And because thinking of Max was too painful, Alec forced thoughts of his little brother aside.

Concentrating solely on his task Alec fanned out with the others, going in the direction he'd been assigned. People had been through and left their marks, though it was impossible to tell who had made them. They were probably all been made by hunters searching for Sebastian earlier, but there was no way to tell. One of these sets could be from someone who'd gotten there ahead of them to retrieve the body, Alec supposed, but that was just speculation.

Rubbing the back of his neck as he scanned the area, Alec's thoughts turned to another neck. A pale, slender neck that he'd delighted in tasting before he'd set off to meet the other Shadowhunters at the gate. Was Magnus up by now? He tended to sleep in a lot, even when he wasn't tired. Was he angry? Alec knew it wasn't exactly good manners to sneak out of someone's bed without waking them. But he hadn't wanted to deny Magnus the sleep he'd so obviously needed, and that had to count for something. Especially since he wanted the man well rest for the evening.

Cheeks going red Alec could only pray his recent obsession with sex would abate a little once he was actually having it. Otherwise people were going to start assume that he was naturally red in the face.

"Find anything?"

Tensing automatically Alec slowly turned around to see the other young Shadowhunters watching him with dark anticipation on their faces. They were up to something, and Alec would be lying if he said he didn't have a pretty good idea what was in store for him.

He just hoped he could last until the gates.

)

Magnus strolled down the cobble street, thinking to himself how weird it felt to be walking through the city without a Shadowhunter escort. He was getting some strange looks, but no one had tried to kill or question him, which was a definite improvement.

There was a definite skip to the warlock's step, and he was already counting down the minutes until Alec got back. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this…alive. He wished he could have worn his most colorful and flamboyant clothes to match his mood, but had instead gone as sober as he ever got in case he ran into Alec's parents. He really, really wanted to make a better impression on them now that he was counting on shortly banging their boy. And that was the message Alec had meant to leave when he'd left the hickey Magnus was now hiding under his cravat.

His man was finally ready.

Placing his hand against his covered neck Magnus smiled smugly, eyes glowing slightly as he thought about the night ahead. Because he had plans, oh he had plans. And this time neither of them would be dreaming.

Hearing his name being called Magnus turned around and lifted a hand in greeting as Jocelyn Fray and her werewolf walked towards him. They reminded him of himself and Alec in some ways, though he and Alec were apparently galaxies ahead of them in the romance department. Jocelyn had hesitated to even choose Luke as her partner in the battle after all. Alec had come looking for him like a heat seeking missile. Magnus gave Luke a sympathetic look, realizing the guy was even worse off than he'd been. At least Alec hadn't taken years. He had not been cutting Alec enough slack, Magnus realized, then grinned wickedly as he thought about how he could make it up to Alec later.

"You're in a good mood." Jocelyn commented as she came to a stop in front of the warlock. He was almost dressed normally. Or he would if he were a nobleman in Marie Antoinette's court, Jocelyn silently amended, even though he was missing the white wig. But he was glowing more now than she'd ever seen him in the past. Love could do that to a person, she thought with nostalgic smile.

"That I am. You two kids out for an evening on the town?" Magnus asked, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly.

While Jocelyn flushed at his words Luke gave the warlock a warning look before answering the question. "We're just taking a walk down memory lane together. What about you? Looking for Alec?"

"Nope. He's out with one of the search parties looking for Sebastian's remains. He probably won't be back for at least another hour, but I figured I'd hang out around the gates in case they come back early." And seeing the look in Jocelyn's eye Magnus wisely opted to change the subject from her dead firstborn. Who would want to be reminded of their evil ex husband, much less their even eviler offspring? The second time had definitely been the charm, Magnus thought to himself. And on that note... "Do you guys know where I could find Clary? If she's nearby I mean." There would be Shadowhunters patrolling the gates and Magnus wasn't exactly in a hurry to have to deal with them.

"She's at my sister's place, I believe. Did you need to talk to her about something?" Luke asked.

Magnus shrugged, then gave the two a considering look. "Actually, you might be able to answer my question for me. It's about that rune that Clary did for the Clave to prove to them that she could make runes of her own. I was wondering what the rune was, that it would make everyone see her as someone different. Was it a rune to make the person wearing it become someone the person viewing them would never harm?"

"Close." Jocelyn's smile was a soft, loving one now as she thought of the rune her daughter had made. "It made you see the person you loved most in the world."

Which would be why he'd seen Alec that day. Who had Alec seen?

As if he knew what Magnus was thinking Luke smiled at the warlock in total understanding, knowing well the feeling of loving someone whose own feelings you were far from sure of. He knew that Jocelyn had seen Clary as herself, and that was the way it should be. But he couldn't help but wonder who his love would have seen, had it not been Clary. He'd lost sleep wondering.

"You know, when Clary was describing the reactions of others to me, she mentioned that when her gaze landed on Alec he kept looking from her to you with a great deal of confusion. Maybe he was wondering why there was two of you." Luke hoped that was the case anyway. He wouldn't wish his painful situation on anyone. Well anyone but Valentine, he amended darkly. This pain and worse he wished on the man the angel had sent to hell.

"Thanks." Magnus smiled at the werewolf, grateful for the words and comfort behind them. And he would ask Alec who he had seen, the warlock decided. Hopefully Alec didn't know what the rune had been for and would answer honestly. And regardless of the answer, he wouldn't give up on capturing the Shadowhunter's heart just yet. He had hope and he was not giving it up without a fight.

"Oh no."

The men automatically turning to see what had put a troubled look on Jocelyn's face, they looked at the group of seven or so Shadowhunters walking towards them. There was a sullen, dark aura about them, and one of them was being supported by one of his comrades.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, his eyes weary as he kept them trained on the leader on the group. The man was his own age and Luke recognized him as a former friend of the Lightwoods. Robert and the Shadowhunter, Lorcan Eragon, had been good friends until Robert had been accepted into Valentine's circle and Lorcan had not.

Jocelyn wrapped her arms around her waist protectively as she watched the men draw closer. "I just have a very bad feeling."

Spotting them as well Lorcan motioned for the rest of the group to go on without him. He walked over to them and pointedly ignoring Magnus and Luke gave all his attention to Jocelyn. "Are the Lightwoods still in the infirmary with their adopted boy?"

Jocelyn nodded reluctantly. "Yes. As far as I know. Why? What's happened?"

The Shadowhunter hesitated, clearly unsure how much to tell her. He also glanced at the other two men, lingering over Magnus as recognition appeared in his brown eyes before disappearing once more. "If you aren't busy I would appreciate you coming with me, Jocelyn. I have to tell them something they aren't going to like and I could use your help with Maryse. I'll have my hands full with Robert."

"What are you going to be telling them?" Luke asked, his eyes daring Lorcan not to answer him as he put a protective arm around Jocelyn's shoulder.

Again the Shadowhunter paused before slowly continuing his explanation. "Their oldest son has been sentenced to twenty four hours in lockdown. It was the lightest punishment I could get for him. They wanted to keep him there for a while but I called in some favors."

"Alec?" Magnus's eyes literally fired up as flames appeared in their golden depths. "You've imprisoned Alec? Why?"

Reaching out with his other hand Luke put a restraining hand on Magnus's shoulder. "What is he accused of doing?"

Now the Shadowhunter's gaze stayed squarely on Magnus as he spoke. "He was part of my search party; we were out looking for the remains of Valentine's spawn. You saw my group, they couldn't spare any of our seasoned hunters for such a simple task. They ignored him most of the way to the site, and after hours of searching they got restless. That's when they started trying to…provoke a reaction out of the boy. They threw his family's past history in his face and strongly gave their opinions about his…relationship with a Downlander." And now the Shadowhunter grinned just a little. "The boy's tough, I'll give him that. He just took it and took it, didn't say a word to any of them the whole time. You'd have thought they weren't saying anything at all. But as soon as we got back and were through the gates he rounded on them and took them all by surprise. Even me. He did some serious damage to a couple of them before I managed to pull him off and get him properly restrained. When I brought up the fact that he'd been foolish, considering he'd almost been free of them, he said that they'd sealed their fates as soon as they'd spoken badly of his loved ones. He'd just been waiting the whole time until they were in a safe zone so that lives wouldn't be at risk if he decimated the team."

Magnus stared at the Shadowhunter as he absorbed the words and then turned his attention to Luke. "You know where they'd have taken him. Take me there while they go and tell the Lightwoods. Now."

)

Alec sat on the cot, resigned to the fact that he'd brought this all on himself. But he couldn't have just looked the other way, no matter what that Shadowhunter had said. He couldn't let them talk about his family and Magnus that way. Picking on him was one thing, that he could tolerate and was used to. But the people he loved most in the world? No way in hell.

Looking around his holding cell Alec had to admit it was several hundred steps up from the cell they'd held Simon in. His was sparse, but very clean and sanitary. There were worse places to spend a day in your life. But it sure as hell was not Magnus's bed with Magnus in it, he thought glumly to himself.

Hearing approaching footsteps Alec got to his feet, assuming that it would be his parents come to give him heck for losing his cool. Alec had no doubt his mother was already raising hell and he was impressed she'd gotten here so fast. He'd assumed she'd still be holding vigil over Jace and….

Mind blanking as Magnus stepped into view beside one of his guards Alec stared at the warlock in surprise as the guard moved to unlock the door. "Magnus…what are you doing here?" Watching the guard open the door to let his man in Alec's eyes flashed as a possibility occurred to him. "They haven't arrest you too, have they?"

Stepping into the cell Magnus was barely aware of the door being locked behind him as he moved with quick strides to stand in front of his Shadowhunter, his cat eyes making a quick survey of Alec's injuries. Other than a split lip and some swollen knuckles, Alec looked fine to him. Closing his eyes for a moment in relief, Magnus's eyes opened again when Alec reached out place his calloused hands on either side of his face as he showed his concern.

Setting his hands over top of Alec's Magnus worked up a smile as he focused his healing magic, sending it through his hands and into Alec's, the magic traveling through the Shadowhunter's body so that they both glowed slightly as the marks of violence were dealt with. "I'm okay now that I know you're okay." Magnus said softly, leaning in to briefly brush his lips against Alec's swollen lip. "Are you hurt badly somewhere I can't see?"

"No. I would say you should see the other guys, but they've probably already been healed by now." A thought occurring to him, Alec gave Magnus a rueful look. "Looks like we won't be having dinner together tonight. Or…anything else. Sorry." He added with his usual blush. Magnus could not be pleased with him, especially after the way they'd left things earlier.

"So I gathered. Luke said there's no way you'll be getting out of here before this time tomorrow." He'd suggested using his own influence, but Luke had said that could possibly do more damage than good. The Clave was still struggling to accept the idea that they'd willingly teamed up with Downlanders the day before. Now was not the time to remind them that one of their own was romantically involved with a Downlander of Magnus's status. The truce between the two natural enemies was too delicate for Magnus to start throwing his weight around for something this small and petty. Not that he minded being small and petty, but even he had to acknowledge that Luke had a point.

"Yeah. And I really am sorry, believe me. But they had to know they can't talk about you like that." And now Alec's eyes were fierce with a rage that he hadn't had enough chance to express earlier. He hadn't been close to finished when Eragon had pulled him off that's damn mouthy redhead.

"My knight in holey sweaters." Magnus chuckled before leaning in for a real kiss, his hands moving up to dive into Alec's hair as he deepened the kiss.

On a sound of pleasure Alec eagerly returned the kiss, his mouth just as frantic and passionate as he forgot time and place, only his need for the man before him. One arm wrapping around Magnus's neck the other hand moved to the small of the warlock's back, bringing them closer so that only their clothes separated them.

Then Luke came to the cell and after much coughing to get their attention reminded Magnus that Alec's parents were on the way and that he'd only been able to get permission for Magnus to enter in the first place by pointing out Alec's wounds needed to be tended too.

Such was their luck.