There were voices speaking over Alec in some not-so-quiet tones when Alec's eyes fluttered open. Two figures were positioned on either side of his bodies. He could feel their weight and warmth against either side of his hips. It was only then that he stopped to register other sensations, like the firm mattress that he was stretched out across. He couldn't remember going back to his room… actually he couldn't remember much of the day at all, except traveling on the subway with Magnus. That drawn out feeling as Magnus pulled from Alec's strength was unforgettable. And Jace… Jace had appeared out of thin air, but Alec thought that might have just been a dream. Everything was hazy at best. Why was that?

It took a moment, but eventually his brain came up with the answer for him.

The infirmary. Don't you remember you idiot? You passed out.

Alec groaned at his own patheticness. He wondered if this is what Simon felt like on a daily basis.

There was a chuckle as the voices above him broke off.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," said a deep voice to Alec's right. Alec knew that voice. He turned his head, eyes blinking owlishly.

"Jace," he croaked. So it hadn't been a dream.

"By the Angel, he sounds horrible. Jace, get him some water."

Alec's gaze jumped the other way in shock, not believing who he was hearing.

"Lydia?" The girl gave him an easy smile, blonde hair loose and framing her face. "You're awake?"

She laughed. "I could say the same for you!"

There was a bandage taped to the side of her forehead and a tired air about her, but besides that she looked fine. Better than Alec felt at any rate.

Jace came back with a glass of water, the mattress springs squeaking under him as he perched on the edge and handed the glass over to Alec. It was only when Alec started to drink that he realized how thirsty he was. As Jace went to refill the glass for him Alec asked, "What happened?"

That elicited a snort from Jace, "You fainted, idiot. Just collapsed right in front of me. You really know how to ruin a happy reunion, do you know that?"

"Sorry," replied Alec, though he didn't really understand how that was his fault.

Alec shoved himself into a sitting position so that he could rest his back against the small, metal headboard of the infirmary bed. A quick glance around the infirmary had more questions than answers popping into his head. The room was empty except for the three of them and the wide frosted glass panel doors at the end of the room were slid shut. An unusual site with the amount of injuries Shadowhunters were predisposed to on the job.

Jace cast him a knowing grin. "Noticed that, did ya?"

"Did something else happen while I was out?" he asked.

Jace and Lydia shared a look that suggested to Alec he'd been unconscious for longer than he would have liked and that it had given Jace and Lydia plenty of time to bond.

"It appears," stated Lydia with an eyeroll that told Alec all he need to know about her thoughts of the matter, "That we're a security risk for the Clave. We were all in contact with Hodge during his escape from the institute and the members of the Clave wish for us to remain here to 'rest and recover from our harrowing circumstances' until Hodge's trial is over. Whatever the hell that means anyway… "

"It means," said Jace, "That the Clave doesn't know where our loyalties lie and want to keep us locked up in here until after the trial so we don't sway the other clave members to take pity on Hodge."

"Take pity?" protested Lydia, "He left me for dead. Why would I want anyone to take pity on him?"

Jace shrugged like the answer was obvious. "Because it was all an act, or at least that's what the Inquisitor probably thinks."

"What?" Lydia looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

Jace cast a look over his shoulder at the closed doors and shifted closer on the mattress. Alec pulled his knees up to his chest so that the three of them could huddle in a tight circle on the bed.

"Think about it," said Jace. "Hodge rebels against the Clave. He steals the cup and kidnaps Jocelyn, but he leaves you alive when he could have just as easily killed you. He takes Alec on Valentine's bidding and keeps him locked in a cage, even tortures him, but when Valentine tries to have Alec killed, Hodge saves his life and lets him go free. And then, not only does he save my life but he goes as far as taking on Valentine in combat to do so. If he wanted to save his own skin, why risk helping us? Unless we were in on it together."

"They can't really believe something like that. It's ludicrous!" said Lydia.

Alec rubbed at the stubble on his chin. He really needed to shave… and shower. He smelled like sweat and death, nothing new about that, it was basically the Shadowhunter version of Chan-nel No 5.

"But if they do… and they think Hodge is a traitor, what does that make us?"

"Is it too unrealistic to hope they just think we're danger junkies with no respect for Clave laws… in other words, normal Nephilim teenagers?" asked Lydia.

Jace cracked a smile. "Me? Sure. You two upstanding citizens? Not so much. Besides, Alec, if they do suspect you of conspiring with the enemy, dating one of the most powerful warlocks in the world isn't helping your case. They'll keep you here just out of fear alone."

Alec grimaced. "Yeah, and I have a feeling Magnus and Inquisitor Herondale aren't what you'd call copacetic."

"Oh," Jace smiled a shark-toothed grin. "You bet your ass they're not copacetic. Magnus looked ready to unleash a horde of Iblis demons on her when she refused to let him treat you. Only refrained himself because I'd be staying here with you."

"That's just… fantastic," Alec sighed, rubbing at his face. "That's just the hostile atmosphere we need brewing in the air when we try to convince the Clave of our innocence."

"Why should we?" asked Jace.

Alec frowned. "Why should we what? Convince them we're innocent? Maybe because we are."

Jace shifted until he was staring Alec full in the face. The look in his eyes was the same beseeching one he'd had in front of the entryway to the City of Bones when he'd asked Alec to go against the Clave with him. The moment that had temporarily broken their friendship and drew the line in the sand for how far their loyalties could be tested before they broke.

Alec could tell they were circling back to the same topic now. He didn't want to go through that again. It still hurt and he was even less sure of where he stood since the most recent events.

Jace seemed to read his thoughts, not an unusual occurrence between the two. He softened his tone, taking a different approach compared to how he had shouted the words at Alec only days ago.

"The Clave has wrongly accused Shadowhunters too many times to sit right with me. Your parents, Isabelle, Hodge… now us? How many of the people that you care about do they have to attack before you realize that they're not upholding the law, they're just hiding behind it? If they think we're criminals, why don't we act like it? Take the law into our own hands. Save our own from becoming their scapegoats."

"Hodge went to Valentine willingly," Protested Alec, unwilling to depart with his moral compass so easily. "He betrayed our trust—"

"He also saved our lives." Argued Jace, a trace of heat in his voice. It was the same tone he used when he thought Alec was recklessly endangering his life. His 'I'm saving you from yourself' voice. "How much worse would all of this have turned out if he'd not been there to stop it? You'd probably be dead, Alec. I'd be dead."

It felt like a piece of ice stabbing Alec in the chest… the certainty in his voice. And Alec wondered morbidly if that certainty was because he couldn't live without Alec, or because he wouldn't. The thought alone was enough to make Alec rethink his next words.

He looked towards Lydia, a silent question posed at her. She crossed her arms across her chest and responded with her usual bold gaze. "Hodge might have made mistakes, but he shouldn't die for them."

Well that was that then.

Alec swallowed and said tentatively. "As you might be aware of I'm a little new to this law breaking thing. So… what's the first step?"

Lydia blew out a relieved breath and Jace's expression broke out into a grin.

Jace rubbed his hands together. "So…"

As much as Simon liked to declared that Shadowhunters were nothing more than a bunch of thick-skulled security guards with social issues who needed the obvious stated to them at all times, it seemed that that statement wasn't holding water at the moment. Shadowhunters, it seemed, were surprisingly hard to deceive. Alec would have loved to point that out to Simon if they weren't currently thwarting their escape from the infirmary that they'd been locked in.

"Please, the Iratze isn't having any effect on her. If we could just see Magnus. Let him have a look at her."

The Shadowhunter stationed at the door gave Jace a derisive look that stretched past Jace's shoulder towards where Alec and Lydia were crouched together on the floor, Alec's hands placed protectively over her as she clutched at a feigned pain. Lydia groaned again for added effect and clutched at Alec's shirt with white knuckles.

She almost had Alec convinced. Almost, it seemed, being the operative word.

"Nice try, Wayland. You know the rules though. Imogen said nobody leaves this room and nobody enters without her say so."

The door slammed shut.

Jace growled and punched it with his fist. "If she dies it'll be on your conscience, you spineless ass-kisser!"

When that got no response, Alec helped Lydia up from the floor.

"Why did we think it was a good idea to have you speak on our behalf again?" he asked. "You're the most distrustful one out of all of us."

Lydia sighed and dropped back onto the infirmary bed, "Because we're shit out of ideas, that's why."

Jace walked towards them. "The only thing we have going for us now is if the vampire literally gets transformed into a bat and flies us out of here. Which would be horribly ironic and very unlikely."

Alec huffed with laughter. "Actually, with Simon's pension for bad luck and Magnus' foul mood…"

Jace squinted at him like he was quietly assessing Alec's mental condition.

Alec cleared his throat and shrugged. "I'm just saying it's plausible."

Lydia scowled at the parabatai like she wanted to knock both of their heads together but couldn't be bothered to at the moment.

"I think the fact that we're even debating this idea means we really need to get out of here."

Jace ran his fingers through his hair. "Agreed."

The window squeaked open. "Someone care to help me over here? This is not easy to do in a dress."

Alec ran to the window and yanked it open all the way.

He grinned in quiet amazement. "Izzy?"

She gripped the stone that framed the window, crouched down on her knees along the narrow ledge her feet bare. The heels she'd been wearing were dangling on one wrist next to her whip.

Alec wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into the room.

Isabelle blew the hair out of her eyes. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to break a locking rune while kneeling on a ledge two floors up in the air with Magnus shouting instructions up at your from the street?"

Jace smirked. "I'm going to guess hard?"

"Magnus is with you?" Alec stuck his head out the window, eyes searching the street until he found him leaning against a light post, shielding his eyes with his hand. His hand dropped away from his face partially when he caught sight of Alec.

"I'm fine by the way. Thanks for asking Alec." Isabelle called from behind him,

Alec turned away from the window and pulled her into a hug. "Sorry. Thank you for coming to break us out."

"Yeah," said Jace. "You're taking a big risk breaking the Clave's laws again so soon for us."

Jace looked towards the open window, eyeing the drop to the street. "So I'm guessing we're going down?"

Isabelle grinned. "Wrong."

There was a crackle of energy and light. In the time it took for Alec to blink the spots out of his eyes Jace was flat out on his back, his limbs tangled with that of another.

"You lose two points for not sticking the landing, Magnus." stated Isabelle.

Magnus shifted stiffly, "Sweetheart, now is not the time. I think I broke something."

Jace shoved Magnus off of him. "You think you broke something? I'm the one that just got flattened by a projectile warlock."

"You're fine. Both of you."

Alec helped them to their feet one at a time, Jace first and then Magnus. He allowed his hands to linger on Magnus after the other man had steadied himself. He didn't fail to notice how Magnus' hands laid heavy on his shoulder and chest before one hand slid up to cup his face.

"You had me scared for a minute there." His thumb swiped across Alec's cheek, catching the edge of Alec's ear. "Next time I ask for some of your strength don't be afraid to say no."

Alec pulled Magnus' hand off of his cheek and squeezed it in his own. "You needed it."

"Not if it risks your health. Besides, it's not like I couldn't have asked someone else."

"Like who?"

"Like Simon, perhaps." Magnus smiled. "You know that 'powerful virgin Shadowhunter energy' thing was a joke right? I can do the same thing with downworlders."

"Oh."

Magnus squeezed Alec's hand. "C'mon. We need to get going."

He looked at the other Shadowhunters in the room. "Form a chain and keep quiet."

Lydia linked hands with Alec and Isabelle. "What are we doing?"

Magnus turned to look at her. "We're walking through walls."