Disclaimer: I still don't own…only am borrowing from Cassandra Clare.

A/N: Wow, you go away from your email for the weekend and when you come back it's ransacked by reviews/alerts. Really didn't know that I was going to get such a positive response for this story. I really only started writing it because it was a random idea that I had (and sometimes I can't get rid of those unless I actually write them out and see them through; they keep bugging me otherwise) and had started to drabble on.

But, since you guys seem to enjoy reading it almost as much as I enjoy writing it, I guess I'll have to keep updating, huh?

I would have had this finished sooner, but unfortunately, actually had to work on homework and schoolwork this week. And then our chapter of SADD at our school, is starting a new couple of fundraisers, and as the Vice President, I had to help plan those out; which of course takes a lot of my time during the day.

Take my hand Let's go

Somewhere we can Rest our souls

We'll sit where it's warm

You say look we're here alone

I was running in circles

I hurt myself

Just to find my purpose

Everything was so worthless

I didn't deserve this

But to me you were perfect

I'm scattered through this life

If this is life I'll say goodbye

She's gone like an angel

With wings let me burn tonight

I was running in circles

I hurt myself

Just to find my purpose

Everything was so worthless

I didn't deserve this

But to me you were perfect

--Excerpts from "Circles" by: Hollywood Undead

Chapter Three: Come With Me

For a moment, Alec tensed in Magnus' grasp. Frowning slightly, the Warlock fervently hoped that they weren't back at that stage, the one where Alec shied away from anything that might hint to the fact that he was actually in a relationship. But then he felt as Alec started to relax against him, even loosely returning the hold, arms coming up around Magnus' slim waist.

It was in complete silence that they held each other, the comforting embrace never broken, not even when Magnus pressed loving kisses against Alec's damp messy hair. He frowned slightly, feeling the soft shudders that wracked the Shadowhunter's lean frame as he continued to lean into Magnus' warmth, trying to imbibe some of that heat and warm his own shivering body.

Pulling away, but not far enough that he would have to relinquish his hold on the Shadowhunter, Magnus ducked his head down so that he was closer to being at eye level with the boy. With a long fingered hand, he brushed a few stray pieces of Alec's messy hair out of his blue eyes, his own strange cat-like eyes catching his.

"You're cold." It was said flatly; a statement, not a question.

Even when miserable and cold, Alec's cheeks flushed with embarrassment under that intense gaze as he had so many times before. Without a word he nodded. There was no point in denying it, Magnus hadn't as of yet let him go. No doubt the Warlock could feel him shivering.

"Then come on." Magnus urged, letting his arms slide down the Shadowhunter's, only to stop at his hands and entwine their fingers together. He gave a slight tug, but Alec remained where he was, stubbornly refusing to budge.

Magnus rolled his eyes. "You can't really insist on staying here, Alec. I know you don't know much when it comes to fashion or decorating, but this is a tunnel. And a very drab and small one at that." He gave another tug on the Shadowhunter's hands, this time slightly more forceful. "Now come on. I don't plan on spending my whole evening out here in the rain."

The Warlock could have sworn that Alec's eyes flashed with some unidentifiable emotion at that, something that he couldn't quite place. Rejection, anger, guilt? Maybe a combination of all three? But it could have just been his own mind playing tricks, using the flash of lightening to make him believe he was seeing other things.

"Then don't." The Shadowhunter said softly, head dropping so that he no longer had to look Magnus in the eyes. Frustrated, he shook it slowly from side to side, only once. "How did you even know I was out here?"

"Ah." Magnus replied simply. "That would be your sister. Isabelle called me it seems, as soon as you had left. Though why you didn't I still don't understand." The Warlock had turned completely serious as he regarded Alec's downcast face, all jokes being set aside from earlier. "Why didn't you call me, Alec? Did you think I wouldn't come, wouldn't want you with me?" That I didn't care? his eyes silently asked the Shadowhunter.

"Cause I didn't want to worry you!" Alec blurted desperately, eyes focused on the side of the cement tunnel. "I'm an adult now. I got myself into this situation, I should be able to take care of myself."

Magnus could only frown. "Alec--"

"No, Magnus." The Shadowhunter interrupted him, tone firm even if he wouldn't make eye contact with the Warlock. "I shouldn't have to run to my boyfriend every time something happens. I already did that to you plenty of times during the war against Valentine; having you heal someone every time we faced an injury and keeping you a secret the whole entire time. I won't do that again. I'm not going to use our relationship like that."

"What is with you, you--you--stupid foolish Nephilim!" The Warlock stuttered ineloquently, trying not to lash out at the Shadowhunter verbally even if the boy really did deserve it. Honestly, sometimes he felt as if Alec could really benefit from getting some common sense smacked into is head. "How many times do I have to tell you, it's not taking advantage if I've offered. Do you think that I want you to have to stay out here? That I like the thought that you've been disowned because of me?"

Alec was shaking his head furiously, little droplets of water running from the ends of his hair. "It's not your fault, Magnus. They--"

But Magnus placed a hand over the Shadowhunter's mouth, stopping any other foolish things that the boy might try to say with his palm. "Then it's not your fault, either, Alec. It's the work of some stuffy old men with nothing better to do with their time than figure out ways to make others as miserable as they are."

He slowly removed his hand from over Alec's mouth when he was sure that the Shadowhunter wasn't going to interrupt him. "They're probably just jealous, because you managed to bag Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, a feat that no one else has ever managed, even in 800 years."

Alec just sat there, gaping at him for a moment. When he found his voice he finally asked, "Did you just hold your hand over my mouth to shut me up?"

Magnus snickered quietly, trying to refrain, but not able to when Alec frowned reprovingly at him. "Well, it's the only way I could think to get you to stop talking without kissing you."

Ah, there was that ever present blush. Somehow, the Warlock always managed to keep it in full effect whenever he spent any amount of time with the Shadowhunter. It was something that was so adorably Alec that he had to resist kissing the boy again; he didn't know how that would be received right now, didn't want to push him away.

The gentle joking that he was employing now was meant to keep the mood as light as he could. To distract Alec from his troubles, but not make him forget totally or push them to the forefront of his mind; both could prove more painful for him in the end. But the light joking might make him relax more at the familiarity, realize that he wasn't alone, that not everything had changed.

Magnus was still here and he didn't plan on going anywhere. Who cared what the Clave said. Screw them. They could shove their opinions so far up the place where the sun didn't shine they could choke on them for all he cared. And Magnus wouldn't even offer to give them the Heimlich maneuver.

"I think I would have preferred the other way." Alec admitted softly, looking down so as to hide his blush from his perceptive boyfriend.

Magnus grinned. "I thought you might, but I wanted to try something different. Change things up, you know. But now that I know you think my kissing is so superb, we can avoid this in the future."

"You're so conceited." The Shadowhunter said, making a noise of frustration in his throat as he pushed at the Warlock's chest, trying to put more space in between the two of them in vain; Magnus didn't plan on budging.

"No," The Warlock laughed, gold-green eyes sparkling in the dim light of the night, "I'm confident." He tugged on Alec's shirtsleeves, trying to bring the boy closer and stop his weak attempts at putting distance between them; he didn't mean them.

"And I'm not." Alec said, nervously peeking up at the Warlock from beneath his lowered lashed, his bangs falling over his forehead to spill in front of his eyes, blocking a good portion of them from view. Unintentionally, the mood had sobered between the two, the temporary lightheartedness disappearing with the next gust of wind.

Magnus placed a long finger beneath his chin, urging the boy to look up at him, meet his eyes. "No." He disagreed, hi voice that soft drawl that he only reserved for Alec. "You're young, darling. I've had centuries to gain this confidence. And I have no doubt that your's will be greater than mine soon enough."

Alec knew what was coming, he knew damn well what was coming. And while he would've shied away from it perhaps no less than a week ago, he didn't now. He craved the Warlock's kiss, wanted it more than anything else, except for maybe a place that he belonged to in this world.

But no, that wasn't right either. He already had a place, didn't he? The Shadowhunter had just needed to be reminded. Right here, right now, with the Warlock, he knew he belonged, was wanted. It didn't matter that right here was a child's play place or that right now was right after he had been disowned. Magnus wanted him, that much was still perfectly clear. The Warlock had gone through all of the trouble of searching for him after finding out, offered him a place to stay.

And if Magnus felt like kissing him here, then why should Alec, his boyfriend, deny him?

He shouldn't. There was no reason to and Alec really didn't want to. If this was the only thing that he had left in his life, then he was damn well going to enjoy it.

So he did. Magnus' hand was still under his chin, tilting his head up so that their lips could meet, the Warlock's softly brushing across his. It was intended to be nothing more than that faint touch, so chaste that it could hardly be counted as a kiss, just a form of reassurance to the Shadowhunter, another way of telling him that Magnus loved him without any actual words being said.

But Alec didn't want that now. With a soft sound of surrender, he lifted his arms, winding them around the Warlock's neck, tugging his head down so that their lips could meet again, this time more easily. He didn't let go after they did, instead he twined the loose pieces of Magnus' hair into his fists, giving a soft encouraging tug to the pieces of black silk.

Magnus approved with a low moan, letting his arms slip down to rest on Alec's wait loosely a moment before slipping around his back, trying to pull the boy closer even if there was no room. He let his tongue slip out between his parted lips to tease at the Shadowhunter's asking for admittance into the boys hot cavern.

There was hardly a moment of hesitation before Alec allowed him, indulging the Warlock happily. If there was one thing that Magnus was good at (besides his parlor tricks) it was kissing. Alec could happily lose himself in the Warlock's kiss. Magnus knew just how to kiss him, where the most sensitive places in his mouth were, places that Alec hadn't even known existed before the Warlock, and knew just how to exploit them. He knew that Alec's tongue was happy to fight for dominance against his own, and that the roof of the Shadowhunter's mouth was especially sensitive.

And Alec was learning how to kiss just as well. It had seemed as if it would be weird, the first time that Magnus had pressed him to deepen the kiss. Who the hell would want someone else's tongue inside their mouth. But it really didn't seem that strange at all, at least not as bad as he thought it would be. And the fact that he could make the Warlock make such noises when they kissed wasn't lost on him; the gasps and moans that made Alec blush just from hearing them. But they emboldened the Shadowhunter at the same time, made him feel confident, at least in his ability to kiss. If he could Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn gasp against his mouth like that, just because he had tugged a little on his hair while twining their tongues together, then he could take on any demon in the world.

And when the need for air became too much for the both of them, he knew that Alec delighted to the feel of Magnus tugging briefly on his bottom lip with his teeth before completely breaking it off. Together, the two both gasped for their next breath, and Alec ducked his head into the tan column of Magnus' neck, nuzzling there as he hid his telltale blush from the Warlock's sight. He had dropped his hands from around where they had been curled in Magnus' hair to slip down to his neck and then slide lower to let them rest in a similar position to the Warlock's own at Magnus' slim waist.

Magnus was content to sit there for the moment and press soft kisses to the top of Alec's head, breathing in the scent of the rain in his wet hair. Maybe it was entirely selfish of him, but Magnus couldn't help but feel just slightly happy at that moment in time. As long as he had Alec in his arms, everything just seemed to feel right with the world.

It was with regret that he spoke next, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen between the two. "Alec?"

"Hmm?" The Shadowhunter questioned, not breaking from the warm little kisses that he was pressing against Magnus' throat, enjoy the little shivers that they elicited.

"Let's go home." He said, bringing up that one dark void in the whole entire evening, in Alec's life for that matter.

The Shadowhunter's mouth stopped, still pressed against the smooth caramel skin of his throat but, for the moment, no longer pressing those soft kisses to the skin. He was quiet as he thought of what Magnus was suggesting; the appeal, excitement, hurt, fear, anger, all rising to the forefront again. Slowly, he leaned back, glancing up into the Warlock's soft strange eyes.

"Won't that be bad for business?" He spoke quietly, keeping his tone as light as he was able; none of his anger was directed at the Warlock. "Having a Shadowhunter at your apartment and one that is an outcast, as well."

Magnus chuckled softly, pressing a brief kiss to his forehead. "Do you honestly think I care? It'll be nice if there is a lull in business, like a vacation. God knows I've only earned one."

But still, Alec worried his lower lip between his teeth. Magnus wanted to kiss it, make him stop abusing it, but he refrained. Alec needed to come to this decision on his own. As he had said earlier, Alec would gain confidence, especially if he was out of that blonde nuisance's shadow, but if Magnus made decisions for the boy every time, then he never would. So he sat there in bated silence, not saying anything but running his hand gently through the ends of Alec's dark hair.

"The Clave probably wouldn't approve." Alec finally said, glancing up at the Warlock uncertainly. "I don't want to make you an enemy to them."

Magnus could have laughed at this if it wasn't for the sincerity with which it was said. "Darling," he drawled instead, "if I really cared what the Clave wanted I never would have switched you and Jace when I was supposed to be detaining him for them. I didn't care then and I sure as hell don't care now."

He continued his soft caresses through the Shadowhunter's messy hair, allowing a small smile when he felt the boy lean into his touch, just slightly. But still it was progress from how their relationship used to be. "They can't tell me who I can be with." He added, voice just as soft as his touch.

Alec's eyes fluttered shut at the feelings Magnus' hand was evoking as well as his words. The breath he hadn't realized he had been holding released in a rush and his tense body relaxed. "Alright," he breathed, "let's go home."

"My thoughts, exactly." The Warlock agreed, smiling his satisfaction at the Shadowhunter's words. For the first time since he had entered the cement tunnel, Magnus let go of Alec and turned. As he started to crawl back outside and into the rain, he snaked his hand into the pocket of his coat and flipped open his cell phone, keeping it inside the pocket so that it was out of sight of the boy following closely at his heels.

Texting was almost second nature to him, by now, maybe that was partly his relationship with Alec's fault and maybe it was just because he liked to text. Either way, he did not need to pull the phone free of his pocket in order to send the message that he was now. His adapt fingers flew across the keypad as he crawled free of the tunnel, the message short and simple.

Turning around, he offered his free hand down to the Shadowhunter to pull him to his feet as he too cleared the tunnel. Neither heard the phone snap shut in his pocket, the storm providing plenty of noise to cover that. And both Shadowhunter and Warlock allowed small smiles to flash across their faces when Alec accepted his help.

But Magnus didn't release him even after having pulled the boy up to his feet. Instead he moved his hand from Alec's to the boy's waist, pulling the Shadowhunter flush against his side, trying to impart some of his warmth to the boy.

Alec had told him once that he was always cold, even during the summer. Magnus figured that was probably the reason for all of the ratty sweaters that he wore. Well, there was definitely no need for that now. Magnus was warm and Alec was right there and no one else was anywhere insight; not that that would've stopped the Warlock. But Alec was still self conscious about PDA even if he had kissed Magnus in front of the entire Clave and he figured that it probably would've taken some persuading on his part to get the Shadowhunter agree to walk side by side, close enough that they were touching with his boyfriend's arm wrapped around his waist in a park full of people.

Again though, Alec surprised him, not even hesitating before leaning into the Warlock's side, feeling the heat of his body even through the layers of their jackets. Together, feeling as if it had just literally turned into two against the world, they started to head in the direction of Magnus' apartment.

Back at the Institute, Isabelle was laying sprawled across her bed, legs dangling off the edge and onto the floor. She held her cell phone tightly in her hand, hoping that maybe Magnus would call, tell her that he had found her brother and that everything was going to be okay, that he had found a way to go against the Clave's ruling. But the darned piece of plastic remained silent.

That would be the happy ending that everyone wanted, right? That everyone thought they had deserved. Jace and Clary certainly had theirs, now. That's why he wasn't home at the moment and was instead out playing the perfect doting boyfriend with the vertically challenged redhead. Why was it that her brother was destined to never truly be happy?

Didn't he deserve it as much as Jace, as much as Isabelle? Sure, she was in a new relationship nearly every other week, but that was what she wanted, a great way to piss off her parents; date as many Downworlders as possible. But still, it had never made it so that the Clave had made their parents disown her.

And now Alec had found someone that he wanted to be with, someone that he was in love with, (and Isabelle had no doubt in mind that they were in love, not when Alec had been willing to kiss the Warlock in front of everyone) and they wanted to ruin that for him.

She almost wished that Jace would come home soon so that she would have someone to rant to, someone to work out a plan with on getting Alec back. Because Isabelle wasn't just going to lay around at home and worry when Alec needed people to actually be doing things that could help make the Clave see that they were wrong. She was a woman of action, not some stupid little housewife that stayed at home when problems arose and let the men handle things. And she wouldn't let Jace handle everything, but it would be nice to have some support and that obviously wasn't going to come in the form of their parents.

Isabelle knew that her parents had never wanted to disown Alec and that they had hated losing another son so soon. As a matter of fact, she could hear them now in their bedroom, arguing heatedly about what had just happened. But arguing wasn't going to do anyone any good, least of all Alec and they wouldn't go against the Clave's orders, that much was certain.

So that just left her, Jace, Magnus, and possibly Clary and Simon. The small redhead would insist on being involved in anything that her boyfriend was and Jace was not going to react well to his Parabatai being disowned, wouldn't let it go without a fight. Then Simon would probably tagalong so as to help Clary…and maybe for Isabelle.

She wasn't quite sure what they were right now, where they had been heading while in Idris and now certainly wasn't the time to figure that out, but maybe, after they had solved this horrible problem, they could figure out what they wanted.

But now wasn't the time to be worrying about Simon and what he might see in that Werewolf, Maia. If he wanted her over Isabelle then that just showed his poor taste in girlfriends. It wasn't as if Isabelle needed him. She was Isabelle Lightwood, he should've just been happy that she had turned her attention on him. Now was time for Isabelle to help her brother, just as he had helped her and Jace all of those times.

He was the big brother, the oldest of the three and was always there for the other two time and again. Now it was time for Isabelle to step it up, for her to be there to help him. And she would, in any way that was possible and within her power.

She stretched out slightly against the bed, arching her back and feeling the resulting satisfying crack of her back before rolling over onto her side. Facing the window, she could now watch the interesting display of lightning as it flashed across the sky and the heavy rain clouds. Allowing her mind to become so immersed in the storm, she almost jumped at the feeling of her phone vibrating in her hand, the tinkling tone that meant that she had just received a new text message.

Not even bothering to read who it was from, Isabelle flipped the phone open and was happy to see, immediately that it was Magnus.

The message itself was very short and straight to the point, which the youngest Lightwood appreciated. Good, she hated when people pussyfooted around things, why not just say what you were going to say. It didn't make anything any easier or better if you sugar coated it.

She smiled slightly as her eyes scanned over it again, knowing that she had been right to entrust the Warlock with this task.

I've got him.

TBC…

A/N: So there you go, latest chapter up and posted. Heheh, I stayed up late on a school night to finish it even if it meant that I would be tired for school. But oh well, don't think I'm going to have a really hard day tomorrow and I'd much rather write than sleep anyway. Of course, I'd much rather sleep than get up unbelievably early and go to school, but you can't always get what you want, right? Though, maybe I'll take a day off this week…it's been a while since I've pretended to be sick.

As always, reviews are welcome. I have no clue when I'll get the next chapter up. Could be days, could be weeks; I'm thinking more along the lines of the latter since this is more like my little pet project that I do in my free time. I'm still thinking of where to go with the next few chapters, but I don't have those planned out like the first few, unfortunately. I have a place that I want to get to, I just need to figure out a way to go. So as soon as I get an idea, I'll start writing and if it's good enough I should be able to keep going. I try not to post anything less than 3,000 words, so that's another reason why it generally takes a longer period of time, but you never know. Of course, with our two SADD fundraisers going on at school this week, and since I'm spending a lot of free time on homework/projects and transferring my stories from my notebooks to my laptop, I doubt I'll have chapter four up before next Monday.

Still, leave a review, just something quick to let me know how I'm doing. I'm not picky, it could be two words even for all I care. I just really enjoy getting them.

Later,

Light.