Alright, so I didn't get quite as many reviews as I'd hoped to, but I'm still blissfully happy with the ones that I got.
I'm apologizing right up front about what I'm sure will be slow updates. I'm writing these on my laptop, which doesn't have Word, instead it has 'wordperfect', which FF refuses to upload. So I have to email it to myself, get on my desktop, copy & paste it into a Word document, go through and fix all the annoying little changes, and then publish it. Keep in mind that my wireless internet is heinously slow.
AND now for my reviewers:
DisturbingEmily: Yeah, Magnus is going to be all depressed-y. And yeah, I'm trying my best to make her not a Mary-Sue.
ScaRlett1122: Thanks for reviewing :) I hope you like it!
Gigi25: Yeah, I tried writing this with about a billion different names, I couldn't do it without naming her Isadora. I am obsessed with that name. And I'm going to try and make Magnus more... glittery and Magnus-y in the next few chapters.
Clary1234: Yeah, Alec's kind of freaked. But it'll get better soon.
LookAPenName: Yay, more! :D
rednblack-cat: Yeah, I feel totally bad for Alec and Magnus...
DISCLAIMER: There is nothing I wish I owned more than Mortal Instruments. Except maybe Magnus, or at least a lot of his glitter ;)
Alec and Magnus spent several more hours reading and researching. After a few hours, Alec couldn't deny the pull.
"Magnus, I..." he said, setting the book down and taking a deep breath.
"You feel a pull to her? Yes, that's to be expected... I hope she comes back soon, it's getting dangerously close to being ten hours." Magnus said, setting his own book down and leaning back into his armchair.
The two men sat in silence for a while, watching the clock tick slowly.
"It's a good thing I know you don't like women, or I'd be jealous." said Magnus conversationally.
"Jealous? Of her? She's an insufferable, argumentative, little girl." Alec sneered.
"But she's very pretty."
Alec snorted and rolled his eyes, "She could be Heidi Klum for all I care."
Magnus' head snapped up, "How do you know who Heidi Klum is?"
Alec smirked at him, "Marathon of Project Runway, remember?"
For a moment it was like none of that had ever happened, and they were just Alec and Magnus, hanging out is his apartment. Flirting.
Magnus grinned at him and set his feet on his coffee table, "Well, why don't you just-" and he crooked his finger at Alec, gesturing him over, "And I'll distract you."
The two of them raced for the bedroom, giggling and shrieking like hormone-fueled teenagers. Which they were, even if one had been a teenager for a lot longer.
Meanwhile, Dora was wandering the streets.
She bit her lip against the encroaching cold-she'd left her jacket in Magnus' apartment. And her purse. Which meant that eventually she would go back. But not just yet.
She hated him, she really did.
Dora sat down on a bench outside of a subway entrance, pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around them.
For the past few hours she'd let herself be moved with the crowds around the block. Over and over again...
Despite the fact that her eyes were stinging with tears, none slid down her cheeks. She'd cried enough in the past six hours.
Six hours...
Considering the fact that she now had no home, no place to go back to, she was holding up rather well.
People swarmed out of the subway terminal. Dora pressed her lips together as her eyes glanced over the people, before landing on a beautiful girl that looked a lot like...
A lot like Alec.
Dora jumped to her feet, pushing through the throng of people after the long-haired girl.
At last she was close enough, so she reached out and grabbed the girls arm.
The long-haired girl whirled around, looking angry and surprised.
"WHAT?" she asked, scowling at Dora. Yep. Definitely looked like Alec.
"Um, are you, um... do you know Alec-"
"Alec? You know-come here!" the girl pulled Dora into an alleyway, out of the swarming crowd.
"Now, what do you-and how do you-know Alec?" asked the girl.
"Well first of all, who the hell are you!" asked Dora, getting her second wind of angry.
"I'm his sister, Isabelle."
That shut Dora up. She shook her head, biting her lip, "Just-just go to Magnus' apartment, do you know where that is?"
"Duh, of course I do." said Isabelle, still glaring at her.
Dora turned and ran, breathing heavily. How could she tell Alec's sister that she was bonded to her brother? That they'd most likely end up seeing a lot of each other simply because she was going to combust if she didn't get to have contact with Alec every few hours. It had been a mistake stopping that girl, trying to talk to her... but their eyes were the same boundless blue color, like the deepest ocean.
Dora made her way to a coffee shop, and entered. It was some sort of Starbucks-style place, with a hobo-looking guy playing guitar and droning on and on about a dying sheep.
The prices listed were ridiculous, but when she scrounged in her pocket she found enough to get a 'tall' 'ebony' coffee. Basically, from what she gleaned from the perky, over-caffeinated Barista, this was a small black coffee. With like twenty five packets of sugar, but basically.
Dora sat in a window-seat, watching as people swarmed by.
She rested her head against the window. When had her life become so confusing? Just one day ago, she was another teenage girl, belting out Taylor Swift on her way to NYC. She and her BFF were talking about how of course they were going to meet male models and become rich and famous... the only part had been that Dora hadn't really cared about the models.
This had been her only chance... to see if she was special. Because if you were going to be special anywhere, it was New York, right? No wonder she'd been so average-anyone would be average in boring old Pennsylvania, home to the Amish and chocolate. Actually, the chocolate was pretty freaking awesome.
But she hadn't wanted to be this special. She just wanted SOMEONE to see something in her, something that said that she wasn't just a normal girl. Something that said that maybe, someday, she could be more.
That's why this had happened. Because she'd left the group, left her friends to seek solace in a bookstore, because when she was there, surrounded by all those books, she felt special. Because she was the only one who could read a 500-page book in one day, and the only one who knew where to find anything in all of the bookstores surrounding her house...
Her tears splashed into her coffee, salting it. Dora took a shaky sip, closing her eyes and relishing the familiar taste.
She could imagine she was in her living room, sipping coffee and typing on her laptop while her mom worked across the room. She could imagine she was on the bus, trying to ignore the freaky people who leered at her. She could imagine she was in the lunch room, smiling as her summer-school kindergarten class swarmed around her.
Anywhere but here.
Alec laid beside Magnus, tracing the contours of his chest, smiling faintly at the glitter. Magnus laid on his back, with Alec on his side, curved into him.
Their eyes met and Alec felt another surge of happiness. Laying here, with the love of his life, he could imagine that nothing had changed. He could imagine that all he had to worry about was where his cell phone was, and what time he had to be back at The Institute.
He leaned up, and their lips met. It still hit him with the same force it had the first time.
Magnus tasted like coffee and sugar, with a smoky taste that reminded Alec of campfires. His lips were soft and pliant, yet insistent as they moved against his. Alec tangled his hands in Magnus' hair, letting out a moan as Magnus sucked his lip into his mouth.
Alec flipped over so that he was straddling Magnus, letting out a small sound of anger when he realized that Magnus had thrown a sheet over them, so they were still separated.
Magnus tugged the sheet out of the way, and they both gasped as their skin made contact. Alec leaned down again and was deepening the kiss with Magnus when a sharp knock on the door made them stop.
"ALEC!" Isabelle's voice was muffled, but still recognizable.
"Damn it..." groaned Alec, rolling off Magnus and reaching for his boxers.
"I hate your sister, you know?" sighed Magnus, pulling on his pants and going to answer the door.
Alec had pulled on his boxers and was just tugging up his pants when Magnus yelled for him to get out there NOW.
Alec ran out, holding his shirt in one hand.
"Alec, do you know-" Isabelle cut off, raising her eyebrows as she looked him up and down.
Alec looked down and blushed. Magnus had gotten a little... uh, overzealous, in his kissing of Alec's body, and he was covered in purple hickeys.
"Damn it, Magnus!" he groaned, turning and storming back to the bedroom. He pulled on a shirt and his sweatshirt and walked back out.
"Okay, now what did you need, Isabelle?"
"Well, first of all, what happened to your phone?"
Alec looked at Magnus, who was pointedly looking in the other direction.
"Um, well..." Alec reached into his pocket and held it out to Isabelle. Magnus' foot had done quite a job on it-it resembled roadkill more than it resembled a phone.
"I'm not going to even ask. Anyway, there was a pack of Ravener demons we needed help with, but I think Jace and Clary took them out. Do you know a girl with red hair who looks kind of strung out? 'Cause she pulled me off of the street, asked me if I knew you, and when I said I was your sister, she ran off."
Alec and Magnus exchanged a look. That sounded like Dora all right. But what was she doing with his sister?
"I... um... Izzy, I need to tell you something..."
Isabelle listened silently to what had happened-Magnus filling in what Alec had been asleep for. At last when they finished, she spoke.
"So basically, you're now father to a whiny little girl? Who you let wander the streets?" she said to Magnus.
"She's not whiny, Alec just doesn't like her. And she's not a little girl, I'm not her father, and... yes, I let her wander the streets." Magnus said, looking guilty.
"She is whiny..." muttered Alec.
"Well, wouldn't you be?" asked Magnus, looking at Alec out of the corner of his eye, "If you were innocently walking down your street when you were basically kidnapped by a warlock and a Shadowhunter?"
"Wait a second... you didn't tell her that you're a warlock?" asked Isabelle.
"Yes. I didn't tell her about you being a Nephilim, though. I just said you were like magic police. I know, I know, you don't do magic, but it seemed to be an easier way to explain it then to say that you hunt demons because you have Angel blood in your veins." Magnus said.
Alec sighed and sat heavily on the couch.
"So, how long has she been gone exactly?" asked Isabelle.
Magnus looked at the clock and winced, "Eleven hours."
Alec glanced at the clock to double-check and sighed, "Well, maybe you're wrong, Magnus. I don't feel anything."
However, unbeknownst to him, Dora was on her way to the apartment. It had hit her all at once, the overwhelming NEED, the need to touch him, to be near him. It took all of her strength to not just fling her coffee aside and run as fast as she could to the warlock's apartment.
Instead, she chugged the rest of her coffee, crumpled the cup and tried to walk down the street calmly. It didn't work so well. She kept on bumping into people, and finally she just ran, straight out.
Alec sat on the couch as Magnus and Isabelle tried to work out a schedule between the two of them. He was thinking about what he was going to do when he got to The Institute, if maybe there would be time to order take out, or if-
He doubled over, letting out a gasp as the shock went through him. He could see Dora as close as if she was right in front of him. Her face was burned into his eyelids.
"Alec!" Isabelle yelled, rushing over to grab her brother's arm.
There was a sudden pounding on the door, and then a strangled cry. Magnus rushed over and threw the door open.
Dora was there, sitting on the ground, quivering and shivering, wet and pathetic looking. Apparently it had been raining.
Alec's head snapped up and he pulled away from Isabelle, running forward and nearly tackling Dora. They clung to each other, even as Alec arched away from her.
"You smell horrible." he said, wrinkling his nose.
"Alec!" Isabelle said, embarrassed at her brother's rudeness.
"I do." said Dora, sniffing, "I fell in a puddle."
At last, Alec was on his way to The Institute. Dora and him had continued shivering on the floor for a minute or two, until at last he was able to stand and walk away from her.
Magnus took it upon himself to play host, showing her where the bathroom was and making clean clothes appear for her. Isabelle had waited outside while he said goodbye to Magnus.
Alec nuzzled Magnus' neck as they embraced, quickly kissing up his jaw and then onto his waiting mouth. It was a quick kiss, barely enough to sate his hunger for everything that was Magnus, but it would have to hold him for a while. Well this and the memories of what they'd done earlier that day.
Alec still didn't know what this meant to him. It wasn't right, it had happened too... too quickly. Much too quickly. He didn't want this, he didn't want... her. But, for now at least, it looked like he was stuck with her.
It was unanimously agreed that Alec couldn't take Dora back to The Institute with him. It would bring up way too many questions, and he wasn't comfortable with anyone else knowing. Magnus offered to let Dora stay with him, although both her and Alec protested. But the fact that she had no money and no where to go was brought up.
So she was going to stay.
Dora let her head hit the bathroom door, squeezing her eyes shut. It had been almost 36 hours since they'd been... whatever the hell it was. Bonded? And in those hours she had cried more than ever before.
So she wouldn't now.
She straightened up, pushing her hair over her shoulder and frowning at her reflection. It wasn't the clothes-Magnus was the quintessential fashionista, and he had gotten her the nicest silk pajamas-ones that somehow were cute, comfortable, and just her style. The tank top fit her like a glove, the pistachio color going with her eyes, and the silk shorts matched it just-so.
But that only made it worse. At home, her pajamas consisted of ratty T-shirts and sweatpants. The fact that everything around her was so perfect, the exact way she would've wanted it, made it worse.
She brushed her hair out-at home, she only brushed it when she was leaving the house, but here, somehow, it comforted her. The familiar scrape of the bristles against her head, the feeling of her hair falling down on her shoulders...
At last, however, she couldn't put it off anymore. She opened up the door and shut it gently behind her. Magnus had a spare bedroom that he'd made up for her, somehow knowing everything she wanted the instant she wanted it.
Of course, the bedroom was done perfectly to her tastes, the walls a cool gray, the bedding mossy green. Everything about it was so wonderful that she just had to stand there and stare. There was a desk and even a sleek white laptop on it.
"Do you like it?" Magnus' voice frightened her, and she gasped while turning aorund.
"Oh-oh," she said, her heartbeat speeding and then slowing, "It's wonderful, it really is."
"Are you sure. Would you prefer-" Magnus broke off and waved his hand in the air, and the walls changed to a peaceful blue, then hot pink, and then lime green. At last they returned to their original grey, and Dora smiled at him.
"Where did you get all of this stuff on such short notice?"
"I, um... 'borrowed' most of it." Magnus made air quotes.
"Borrowed?" Dora laughed at Magnus' sheepish expression.
"Don't tell Alec, he has 'morals'." Magnus made a face at the word morals.
Dora sat down on the bed, grinning up at Magnus.
"Are you sure everything is alright?" asked Magnus, suddenly serious.
"The room is great." she swallowed hard, squeezing her eyes shut and forcing a smile on her face, "It's just a little... overwhelming."
Magnus slipped an arm around her shoulders, awkwardly giving her a half-hug. Some of his glitter got on her, and he awkwardly tried to brush it off.
"It's going to be... okay..." Magnus said in a depressingly cheerful voice.
Dora snorted and turned around on the bed to face him, "Let's be honest with ourselves, this sucks. And anyway, I should be asking you if you're okay."
Magnus smiled thinly, "I'm fine. Worried, but fine."
The silence that followed wasn't exactly awkward, but it definitely wasn't comfortable.
"So I guess I'll, uh, let you, uh, get to sleep..." Magnus said, standing up and slowly backing out of the room.
When she was alone, Dora closed her eyes and smiled. Ahh, the familiar feeling of being the awkward one. She always had been the awkward friend-the one just a little too slow, a little too loud. She'd even been voted that in middle school.
She reached over and shut off the bedside lamp, slipping under the covers of the gigantic bed and shutting her eyes. But despite her exhaustion, sleep didn't come.
She wanted to be home. She longed for the too-warm feeling of her blankets, and the too-cold feeling of the air around her. Here it was the perfect temperature, cool enough for her to pull the blankets up, but warm enough for her to not worry about wearing shorts.
Dora pressed her lips together, but finally gave in and let go. As she cried, her tears lulled her to sleep. Her sleep was nearly dreamless, the only picture returning to her head over and over again was Alec.
Staring drunkenly at her from the sidewalk, yelling at her, hugging her even as his eyes showed that he didn't want to be near her. His face, his eyes, staring out at her from a bottomless black abyss.
Down the hallway, Magnus laid on his bed and stared up at his canopy. On any other day, the glow-in-the-dark constellations comforted him, but today they gave him no answers. He needed to snap to it, get back on his game.
He loved Alec more than he had anything in his many lifetimes. But there was a desperate sort of feeling in him that told him to run, get out before he got in any deeper.
Magnus could almost hear the soft sobs of the girl a few doors down. He felt bad for Dora, but he was completely unprepared to deal with a teenage girl. He could barely handle Isabelle and Clary-WAIT A SECOND. Isabelle was almost the same age as Dora. And Clary was too. Maybe...
But Alec would never go for it. For someone who did a job that relied so heavily on working as a team, he was surprisingly resistant to letting anyone else know what had happened.
Which, Magnus supposed, was because it was so ridiculous. I mean, he'd fought demons... but he couldn't handle a single drink.
This small thought of levity caused him to be able to snap himself out of his clothes, into a pair of purple silk pajama bottoms, and under the covers. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to slip into dreamland.
His last thoughts were, as always, about Alec.
Alec had barely nodded to Jace and Clary before racing off to his bedroom. He couldn't lie-physically could not. Especially not considering he hadn't recieved their call about the pocket of Ravener demons. From what Isabelle had told him on the subway ride over, it had been pretty gruesome-almost ten of them, all spitting and rearing back... Jace had, of course, gotten the most, then Isabelle, and Clary had managed to take two down by herself (well, with minimal help at least).
Despite Alec's original dislike of the redhead, she had certainly come into her own as a Shadowhunter.
He slid off his shoes, and changed quickly into a T-shirt and jeans. He laid back on his bed, frowning up at the ceiling. He was suddenly exhausted, struggling not to yawn. But he had to stay awake, in case anything else were to happen.
He couldn't afford to fall... asleep... especially... (yawn)... now...
He rolled over and dropped into a deep sleep, his mind flashing through images: Magnus, Dora, Magnus, Dora, Magnus, Dora, Magnus, Magnus, Magnus...
Yay, second chapter DOWN AND DONE! WOOOT!
Yep :). Anyway, I'm pretty much basing Dora on me. So she really shouldn't be anything near Mary Sue-ish. :) If anything she'll be the anti-Mary Sue.
P.S. The very last part, where Alec is dreaming, I was trying to show that his mind was kind of flipping between Magnus and Dora... but it stuck on Magnus, because Alec 3's him.
Reviews are my cookies. And I LOVE cookies.