Alec shook his head as Jace threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

"Come on, she wants to!"

"No Jace. Absolutely not."

"Why not?"

"How about because she's two and it's dangerous!"

Jace snorted and looked down at Izzy in her shadow hunter's outfit. Black pants, little leather jacket and matching boots. Alec had braided her hair for her and Jace had put tiny finger-less gloves on her too. Now he was trying to give her a seraph blade. Alec wasn't having it.

"Izzy wants one and it's not like she hasn't used one before."

Alec's mouth flew open.

"SHE WASN'T A TODDLER WHILE SHE WAS USING IT JACE!"

Jace only laughed at Alec's outburst and Izzy looked unsure at what was happening.

"Calm down Alec, whatever, you win. She can have one of the practice blades."

Alec watched the shadow hunter carefully as he took one of the dusty weapons they hadn't used in years. They looked like Seraph blades but were smaller and made from lighter, less deadly materials. They were used to teach young shadow hunters how to fight. Jace gave the small blade to an excited looking Izzy.

"See? She looks adorable."

Alec watched as his little sister started hitting Jace's legs with her new weapon, and laughed.

"Yeah she's adorable and deadly. You might want to teach her how to use that if you're going to let her play with it. And she's not going on the mission with us."

Jace dodged one of Izzy's blow's that was aimed just a little too high for his liking.

"Hey be careful, I might still want to have kids one day Iz. Why can't she come? It's only recon, we won't be fighting anything."

Alec blinked tiredly and sat on his bed. "How many times has a recon mission turned into a fight?"

"Uhhhh…."

"Too many."

Izzy hit Jace again and squealed when he came towards her with wiggling fingers, ready to tickle her. The little shadow hunter ran to her big brother and jumped into his arms as he caught her easily and sat her on his lap, her legs kicking happily into Alec's shins.

"Okay fine but she can't stay here by herself."

Alec shrugged.

"Magnus could take her. She loves hanging out with him. Don't you Isabelle?"

She nodded and started bouncing on Alec's knee.

"Yay Magnus!"

"See?"

Jace smiled knowingly and twirled his own blade around.

"You and Magnus are getting pretty close. When are you gonna go out with him?"

Alec blushed and looked down, busying himself with fixing Izzy's hair.

"He's nice and… I don't know. When I have time."

"We have time now."

"We have a mission Jace."

"Yeah a recon mission for a couple of low level demons, I'll be fine on my own if you want to go out with Magnus."

Alec shook his head and stood up, letting Izzy slide to the floor and attack Jace again with her sword.

"I'll go out with him later, we need to get going."

Jace blocked Izzy's blow with his blade making her try harder to hit him. She swung with all her might and hit his hand so hard he dropped his sword. The blonde shook his hand.

"Ouch Izzy, that hurt. That was a good swing little lady."

Izzy dropped her own blade and took Jace's hand in hers, kissing it's red marks from her hit.

"Is it better now?"

Jace laughed.

"Yep, you have magic kisses."

Alec smiled at his siblings antics and grabbed his phone to call the Warlock.

Alec and Jace each gave Izzy a kiss on the cheek and left her with Magnus, watching her wave from the window.

Alec didn't want to leave her but knew she would be safe with Magnus. It had been two days already with Izzy as a toddler and while Alec loved having her a giggly, cuddly little girl again he would be glad to have her back as herself.

The mission was to track and report back on two demons that had been spotted nearby. It was uneventful really, they tracked, they watched and they waited. The demons eventually went into an abandoned building and didn't come out. The two made their way back to Magnus', satisfied that they had gotten the demons hideout.

Magnus greeted them at the door with a smile while Izzy rushed at both of them for kisses. Alec scooped her up and gave her a cuddle, smiling at how excited she was to see them.

"Did you kill some monsters?"

Alec shook his head, rubbing his nose against hers as she giggled.

"Nope, not this time. We know where they're hiding now though."

The girl looked at Alec, her big eyes sparkling in excitement.

"I could come! Magnus helped me learn how to be a shadow hunter like you and Jacey."

Alec laughed and looked at his Parabatai.

"Jacey huh?"

Jace shrugged, not minding the nickname if it came from his favorite little demon hunter.

Magnus came over and smiled at the two siblings, eyes lingering on Alec's face as he looked adoringly at his little sister.

"Yes, she is quite skilled with that sword you gave her. She's going to grow up to be one hell of a fighter."

Jace laughed. "When she re-grows up you mean."

Suddenly there was a banging at the door, harder than a knock, making everyone jump. Magnus sauntered to the door but Jace stopped him with a hand to the shoulder.

"Wait. We don't know who it is."

Magnus wasn't worried and went to open the door.

"Probably a client of mine, or a friend. No need to be so paranoid. I am the high warlock of Brooklyn, everyone wants a piece of me."

Jace met eyes with Alec as he stood behind Magnus, ready with his hand on his weapon.

The door opened to reveal an old man, looking confusedly through his glasses.

"Excuse me gentlemen, I'm just a little lost and was wondering if I could use a phone?"

Magnus squinted at the man before turning around to Jace.

"It's a demon wearing a glamour, get Isabelle somewhere safe."

The demon, having heard Magnus, growled and shifted to its own form as it lunged through the door even as Magnus threw magic at it.

Alec snapped to action, sprinting to the furthest room from the door, Magnus' bedroom, and placed a crying Izzy into the wardrobe. Magnus' room had the heaviest protection and was the best place to keep her but she didn't want Alec to leave.

"Izzy, I'm sorry but you have to stay here. We'll keep you safe just stay in here."

"No Alec I'm scared, don't leave me!"

It broke his heart but Alec knew he had no choice. He turned away from her terrified cries and closed the closet, running out and closing the bedroom door as well.

When he made it back to the fight Jace was taking down the first demon while Magnus was trying to control the second. Alec lifted his bow and nocked an arrow in time to fire it, killing the demon before it could slash the warlock's throat. It exploded into dust and sparks, creating a momentary cloud that hid the third demon as it came through the door, straight for Alec.

Alec was knocked flat on his back by the demon, as another came through the door, taking Jace and Magnus' attention. Alec kicked the demon off him, making it fly back and smack in to the wall, before getting up again and looking murderously at Alec. But it paused when it heard Izzy's crying and raced for her instead.

Alec yelled and sprinted after the demon as it burst through Magnus' door and found Isabelle in the closet. Izzy was screaming and hitting the demon in the face with her training sword. Alec was just fast enough to dive in-between the two before the demon slashed with its bone talons.

Alec felt its claws rake through his skin, blood immediately wetting the floor and his clothes. Alec's vision flickered in pain, almost causing him to black out. But Izzy was behind him and he had to protect her.

With a blood slick hand Alec pulled a seraph dagger from his belt and thrust it upwards, straight through the demons chest. It exploded and Alec heard Izzy sob out his name from behind him. He could feel the demons venom spreading already and crumpled to the floor, landing hard on his knees before toppling over, his shoulder blooming in pain as it hit the ground.

He groaned but felt Izzy's little hands on his shoulder as she crawled over to him. She was still sobbing and Alec wanted to comfort her but he was finding it hard to breathe and no words came out.

Alec blinked and suddenly Jace and Magnus were there. They were yelling but Alec couldn't hear anything over the pounding of his own heart. There was red all over the floor, spreading out and tainting the air with its coppery smell. Magnus was kneeling beside him, blue flames of magic flickering in his palms, his glitter covered eyes betraying his concern as he looked at Alec.

The lightwood could see Jace in the doorway, his face was awash with emotion, grief and fear evident in his slightly open mouth and tear filled eyes. Struggling in his arms was Izzy, sobbing and trying to reach for Alec. She had blood smeared on the knees of her pants and on her hands. Alec desperately wanted to hold her and stop her crying, to hug her and tell it was all going to be okay.

He tried to stay awake, to get in enough air to call out to her but his world went dark and he was gone.

….

Alec could hear voices, low murmurs and whispers. He tried to concentrate on them but found his mind to be fuzzy and tried. The voices grew slowly closer, no longer coming at him through water, and he was sure one of them was Jace.

"You just have to be gentle, he's still healing."

A smaller voice, but one he knew just as well, made its way to him.

"I can make him better."

Whatever he was lying on dipped a little and Alec felt pressure on his shoulder before little lips kissed his face all over. Isabelle was peppering him in kisses. If Alec could move he probably would have smiled.

"Alec?" She patted his cheeks. "Wake up."

There was a pause before a little sniff could be heard.

"My magic kisses aren't working."

The weight disappeared and Izzy's crying was muffled, as Jace held her to him.

"Shh it's okay Izzy. He just needs some sleep. He'll be better soon."

Alec wanted to open his eyes, he wanted to reassure them both he was fine but the pain in his chest was bringing the warm darkness closer and soon it swallowed him whole.

….

The next time Alec woke he was able to open his eyes, his body stronger than the last time he was awake.

The room was dark and he soon recognized it to be Magnus'. His chest hurt, more than it had before but he could feel he was healing and wondered how long it had been since the attack. There was something heavy on his chest, small and warm and tickling his neck. Looking down he realized it was Izzy. She was lying on his chest, her face tucked close to his neck, her arms curled around him. She was asleep, her little puffs of breath warming his skin.

Alec lifted a heavy hand to her back, holding her and giving her the hug he wanted to give her when she cried. His movement alerted Jace to his being awake and the shadow hunter quickly lent forward to see Alec's face where it was partially hidden behind Izzy.

"Alec! You're awake! How do you feel man."

Alec cleared his dry throat before speaking, his eyelids feeling heavy but wanting to stay awake.

"Sore and tired. How long has it been?"

"Almost two days. I'm sorry about Izzy on your chest, that can't be comfortable. I tried to get her to sleep beside you instead of on top of you like that but she just cried every time I tried to get her to let go."

"It's okay, I don't mind. What happened to the demons? How did they find us?"

Jace was looking at Alec with so much guilt and it was evident in the tremors of his voice.

"They're all dead. I suspect they followed us home, I should have been more careful but I wasn't as focused as I should have been. It was supposed to just be recon, and now you're hurt and Izzy almost was. I'm so sorry Alec."

Alec held Izzy tighter as he remembered just how close she had come to being demon prey. She sighed in her sleep, nuzzling her nose against his neck and tightening her arms around him.

"It's not your fault Jace, I should have been careful too. But Izzy's okay and that's all that matters. Where's Magnus?"

"Resting. Healing you took a lot out of him and he wanted to put up some extra wards in case any other demons decided to come back and finish the job."

Alex nodded a little, feeling his eyelids get heavier with each passing second.

"Tell him I said thank you? And sorry for ruining his place."

Jace let out a low laugh and Alec felt him take his hand, fingers squeezing his.

"I will. Just get some rest."

Alec held his parabatais hand and felt his little sisters breath on his neck and fell asleep.