Hey there :D I'm still alive and I haven't abandoned this story :3 Ain't that great news. xD Okay, I am terribly sorry, that it took that long, but I just couldn't get it done earlier and there isn't even happening that much, but I still hope that you'll like it. :)
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This chapter has been beta'd by Mads-hatter-15 and I want to thank you very much for doing so and putting up with me. ;3 any remaining mistakes you find are mine and mine alone. *muhahaha*

Disclaimer: Not mine. *dumdidum*

Chapter 10

Clary noticed that something had changed when she reached his office the next morning, but it took a bit longer than that morning to realize what it was.

She had overslept and was already prepared to get lectured about punctuality. It had happened quite a few time when she had been still in training. Clary tended to forget time when she was working and ended up pulling all-nighters without even realizing it. But when she knocked on the door of Alec's office the already prepared apology already on her tongue and ready to pass her lips, she found him sitting on the floor surrounded by piles of paper. It was actually what Clary noticed first; first the paper then her partner. That word still sounded weird in combination with Alec Lightwood, even in her thoughts. To be honest, it didn't feel like they were really partners and maybe that was true. Their partnership only existed on paper. They got along somehow, but Alec wasn't the kind of person that actually needed a partner while Clary ha always looked forward to the moment when she'd finally get one.

She had imagined how it would be to joke with him about their current case, telling inside jokes, Sure, she and Alec worked together and he had gotten them coffee some times, but judging by the things Isabelle had told her, he only did those things because he knew that it was what partners normally did, not on his own account. His gestures were cold and Clary always felt like she was bothering him when she was around. Now, as she stood there in the doorframe to his office, seeing him sitting on the floor surrounded by a mass of files she knew nothing about, she thought that maybe she should apply for another partner, a normal one.

Isabelle who had had practically begged Clary to give her brother a chance would be disappointed, but Clary had to make her own decisions because in the end she'd be the one who had to work with Alec. Not Isabelle, not Jace, just her. Maybe they could stay friends? Clary sighed quietly. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to go to this dinner tomorrow.

"Hey, what are you doing?", she asked carefully entering the room and closing the door behind her. Alec didn't react, so she walked over till she was standing next to him and tried not to knock over one of the piles. She tapped her 'partner' on the shoulder. "You're still alive?" Sarcasm always seemed to work better between them than serious conversation. Did that count as an inside joke? Bonding between partners?

Alec snapped out of his trance and with that knocked over one of the piles of his left himself over. Slightly disoriented he looked around the room and when his gaze finally landed on the knocked over papers he muttered:

"Damn, now I have to sort through Louisiana again." With a heavy sigh he pinched the bridge of his nose and then ran both of his hands through his already messy hair. His hands remained on his head as he turned around to look at Clary. He glanced at the clock hanging above the door of his office.

"You are late", he mumbled. Clary took a deep breath to finally verbalize her already prepared apology, but Alec only shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the notes he had written down on a memo pad that was lying in front of him on the floor. "Could you get some coffee and maybe a bagel from the cafeteria?" He tilted his head while studying the notes as if he didn't notice Clary standing next to him with her mouth hanging open. Then he suddenly snapped out of his trance and looked back up at Clary. "Ah, you can get something for yourself, too, if you want to." He smiled and his eyes lit up like blue lamps, like soft glowing lanterns in a sea of darkness. Clary gulped. "My treat." He held up the card they used for cashless paying.

Clary stood there for a few more moments like frozen in place trying to process what just happened. Finally she managed to close her mouth, nodded, took the card and left the office without saying another word. She herself had eaten a sandwich on her way to work, but she'd never pass up free coffee and maybe a bagel. On her way to the cafeteria Clary pondered how this 'conversation' was different compared to the ones they'd had before. He hadn't said 'please', of course not, Clary wondered if he even knew how to spell that word. That hadn't been it. He had smiled before, but not like that; it had been an actual, real smile.

She stopped dead in front of the doors that led to the cafeteria. Somebody bumped into her from behind, but she barely noticed who it was or what the person was saying. Strands of brown hair brushed her shoulder and from the corner of her eye she noted the flash of green eyes.

A sudden realization crashed upon her. Heat rushed into her cheeks and she clamped her hands over her mouth.

Damn, Alec was cute!

Alec's mind was a reeling mess and he was actually surprised that he and managed to get to work without getting hit by a car. Even the conversation with Clary - Conversation? She hand't said that much. - had only brushed the surface of his perception. He had forgotten to add the word 'please', but he barely used it anyway and his chances were pretty that she'd think of him as nothing but an insensitive klutz. It wouldn't surprise him if she'd apply for another partner as soon as this case was ... what? Over? Closed? How would this whole mess end? Had he smiled at her? Maybe that would make up for the left out 'please'.

Another thought entered his mind and the reeling mess that were his thoughts slowly stilled. He was missing a goal in this case. Normally it'd be to find out who the culprit was and then to catch him or her. But now?

Magnus couldn't be caught by the human police, so this couldn't be it. He also already knew who the thief was, tho one who had broken into all of these places, but would - should Alec tell on him? Mr. Garroway wouldn't want a report on his progress until next week. What could happen till then? What was he doing here anyway? He wasn't dealing with humans. He was dealing with a demon and someone who was powerful enough to scare that demon into submission, influential enough to track Magnus and his companions down, to find out about Tessa even if she was never mentioned in another report than the one about the explosion of her house.

With an exhausted sigh Alec let his gaze wander across the piles of paper. It had been one hell of a task to collect the reports on every theft in the states during the past ten years. Not to mention, that he had come close to threatening the officers of the other police departments while trying to make them understand why he needed the copies of their files. After that he had sorted through the collected files by state and with the next step by the value of the stolen goods. In the end he had two piles for every state: 'thefts with stolen goods of high value and no arrested suspect' and 'thefts with stolen goods of high value and an arrested suspect who swears on his or her innocence'.

The arrested suspects never were the 'innocent girl next door'-type of person, but even though there had been clear traces of them (hair, fingerprints, fabric of their clothes, etc) found on the crime scenes, they had stated their innocence for that one theft with fiery passion. Alec guessed that they had been framed by Magnus and his companions. He swallowed as suddenly the face of the theft with streaming tears and pure desperation in his inhuman eyes appeared in front of his inner eye. Maybe it had been the voice on the phone. To make sure that the amount of cases of theft without suspect didn't rise too high? That nobody would see the fact of no possible suspect as a possible connection?

The thieves were only that impossible to catch as long as the cases of theft stayed scattered across the states like that, without a connection. Alec was sure that if he hadn't met Magnus the way he had, and if he had had found those other cases for another reason he would have been able to track the group of thieves through the states till they had reached New York. But without that background information it was only the paw prints and without them it there was a high possibility that there would have been several detectives assigned to every case.

Alec looked up at the ceiling of his office. Now he had a goal. If he could find the voice on the phone, he could end it. He closed his eyes and bit his lower lip. One task that had to be done. Only one to focus on. Why wasn't he glad about it?

The second time Clary stood in front of Alec's office she didn't bother knocking. Inside she found her partner lying on his back on the floor staring up at the ceiling. Or he would have stared at the ceiling if his eyes had been open.

"You're still alive?", she asked as she closed the door behind her, but Alec didn't react. So she walked over to him and nudged his shoulder with the tip of her boots. Alec's eyes snapped open.

"Were you worried?", he asked and turned his head a bit into her direction. Clary rolled her eyes at him.

She had spent a lot of time thinking about her partner while getting the coffee and a bagel ... for herself. (He had only said 'maybe a bagel'.) And she had come to the conclusion that yes, maybe he was cute, but it was the kind of cute like little kittens were cute, and growing up with three cats Clary had learned how to say 'No' to pleading eyes. She offered the same 'No' to the guilty consciousness at the thought of applying for a new partner and leaving Alec lying on the floor of his office where he might be smashed by a pile of paper one day - or today.

"Don't get attached", she chided Alec with a crooked smile and handed him one of the waxed paper cups. She herself took the other cup and the bagel and sat down in the chair at Alec's desk. He sat up and his gaze followed her motions as she sat down. When he noticed the bagel he raised one eyebrow and Clary simply stuck out her tongue. He snorted and took a sip of his coffee.

"I have to talk to you", he muttered not even batting an eye while drinking the coffee which - as Clary's own one - still had to be quite hot. Either he was tougher that she had paid him credit for or he was less prone to anything outside the current case than she had ever fought possible. Only seconds later Alec hissed and Clary hid her grin by taking a bite of the bagel.

"About what?", she finally asked trying hard not to laugh. Alec glared at the waxed paper cup, but then his expression turned surprisingly calm and serious. He took a deep breath before voicing his reply.

"Do you believe in demons?" He looked up at Clary and she could perfectly see that he was aware of how weird this question could sound or how drastically it could be misunderstood. But he still posed it.

One of the first things Isabelle had made Clary promise to her had been not to write off her brother as some kind of crazy weirdo. Isabelle had told her that some of the things Alec said would sound like he'd lost his mind, but that he always had a reason for saying them and that most of the time he simply meant the things just like he had said it because 'the concept of subtle implications would always stay one big secret to Alexander Lightwood'. He wasn't good at talking and didn't particularly like to interact with other people by talking to them making small talk (which he was according to Isabelle also incapable of), so he wouldn'T throw around weird comments or questions just for the sake of confusing people. He always had a reason for his actions.

Right now, Clary seriously doubted that and if it had been her first day she'd turn around walk away, but after spending some time with Alec she decided to give him a second chance.

"Well, if you're asking 'Do I believe that some people could act like demons in a way of scary behavior?', then yes. If you are asking 'Do I believe in demons as creatures of hell?', then no."

Alec tilted his head and looked at her for a while, his blue eyes studying her face like there was a code he could decipher for reading her thoughts right from her eyes.

"Okay, next question ... if I'd tell you that I have acclaimed new information about the case, but right now I can't tell you how I've gotten it, would you still believe and work with me?"

He didn't ask for her trust. Kudos for that. But there was also this feeling again, cold and heavy in her stomach. Disappointment. He shut her out again. They weren't partners, she was his assistant. Clary tried her best to fight down the wave of frustration and took another bite of the bagel. Okay, maybe she was his assistant, but right now she was the one who had the bagel and not Mr. I-don't-know-how-small-talk-works.

Stubborn like a little child, she took another bigger bite.

"I would", she muttered between chewing on salmon and salad, her eyes focused on her 'Alec' in pure determination. She would go through with this case and that damn dinner on Saturday even if it'd be the last damn thing she did.

Getting people to believe in something whose existence they generally think of as possible was one thing, but getting people to believe in the mere existence of something supernatural as possible was a completely different story. Alec decided that he didn't have the energy right now.

He took another sip of coffee. It was still hot as hell, but his tongue started getting numb, so it didn't hurt that much anymore. Then he rubbed his closed eyelids with the thumb and index finger of his free hand. His stomach complained as he watched Clary eating the bagel, but she only squinted at him and sent him a mischievous smile. Alec glared at her, but didn't say anything. They had more important things to discuss.

"Okay, I ... have found out ... that ..." Alec gulped. He sucked at lying and it was the same with withholding information. It was the reason why he hadn't made it to a higher position in the hierarchy of the NYPD. He was good at his job and maybe some people didn't like his way of working, but what really blocked his possible promotion was his inability of social interaction that always interfered when he questioned witnesses or suspects. He got his cases closed in his one way, but from an objective point of view he would never be acknowledged as a 'good cop'. Alec was fine with that. He had learned to accept this fact a long time ago and maybe it was the reason why he was rather relaxed when it came to official etiquette.

All those other officers tried to impress their boss. They had higher goals, goals that Alec would never reach, goals he didn't care about. But just like he would never get promoted he also wouldn't get fired because if they really wanted him gone they would have kicked him out years ago. Not to mention that without him they'd have to take care of the cases nobody wanted themselves. But that weakness in social interaction was also the reason why he didn't work with partners. Clary had promised him not to question his techniques, but he still had to think about what to tell her and what not, how to do it. He still had to face the weird looks she gave him, the raised eyebrows ... frankly speaking, it was annoying and with the current progression of the case he started to think if not he himself should apply for another partner for her.

Right now, things would be so much easier without her. And he would be the one with the bagel, not just the one with the burnt tongue.

"The thieves that are responsible for the break-ins we are investigating, they are being controlled by a third person who forces them to do the thefts and break-ins. That person also controls the where and when of the incident."

Clary tilted her head and swallowed the bite of bagel. Damn, he was hungry.

"So, they aren't really thieves? I mean originally if they are forced to do it?" Alec let out a snorted laugh and thought of oil that smelled like oranges.

"No, they are thieves. You remember the cases in Florida? Those things they did on their own account. This way the their person got knowledge of them and found a way to threaten them and force them to do the thefts in new York and I'm suspecting them to also being responsible for at least a few of these as well."

At the last word he pointed at the piles of paper surrounding him. Clary nodded slowly and pursed her lips.

"How did he threaten them?", she asked calmly which surprised Alec because she really seemed to keep her word to simply believe him. He hesitated for a short moment before answering the question, but that was not the only reason. He inwardly refused to give an answer because even if he knew that Clary had to know it to get an idea of what they were up against it felt like betraying Magnus and his trust, to disregard his tears and pain by simply telling a part of his past, presenting it like just another reported accident. A part of Alec's mind knew that he should see it that way, that it was healthier not to get involved like he already was, but the other part, the one that involved his heart, knew that he didn't want to answer. He wanted to keep this story to himself, treasuring it as the one thin thread that connected him to the thief. It was their secret.

'You're an idiot', the first part screamed and the second one answered 'I don't care'.

"Once those thieves had been a group of four people. one of them quit because she fell in love." Clary could see that it cost him quite and effort to for those words and suddenly she felt lucky that he only wanted to tell her that much. Whatever else there was to know, however he and acquired these informations it weighed heavy on his shoulders. In a way Clary felt bad for him because he had to carry the weight all on his own, but she shoved that feeling away. 'You can't force him to share something he doesn't want to share'. "When the thieves refused to follow the orders of said third person, she and her family died in an explosion."

A wave of sickness washed over Clary. The bagel suddenly tasted like cardboard and she wasn't really hungry anymore.

"An accident, I presume?"

Alec nodded and pressed his lips into a thin line.

"Damaged gas pipe."

"Of course", Clary whispered and put the rest of the bagel away. "What else."

Silence grew between them. Clary tried to get the smell of burned flesh out of her nose.

"What are we going to do now?"

With this turn of events catching the thieves couldn't be their priority anymore, right? They had to catch that asshole that thought he could play god. The break-ins in Florida where harmless compared to the ones in New York and presumably to those Alec had sorted out as well. Maybe they wouldn't even have happened without the third person and the family of the fourth thief would still be alive.

It didn't make Clary forgive the thieves for breaking the law, but she despised people who got what they wanted by using brute force. After the end of her training Clary had applied for a job at the homicide department, but the psychologist had advised against it. Clary had been furious because the reason she wanted to become a detective was her spite against murderers. She had no tragic backstory with her parents getting killed when she was still a little girl or something like that. She simply believed that people who thought they'd have the right to decide when and how another life should end, were wrong.

But Clary had to accept that it was also the reason why she should never work with the homicide squad. Jace had helped her to get to that conclusion. The day they first met had been the day she had threatened to burn dawn the psychologist's office. She always wondered if their heated argument about her sanity at the cafeteria could be seen as a first date. He had promised her to try getting her a job at another department by the time the psychologist would be willing to see her again for clearing her for the field work. He had intervened when she should become the the partner of a guy named Morgenstern and now she had ... Alec Lightwood.

"That third person has to be caught", Alec said with a calm, but stern voice and he locked eyes with her as he continued. "But that is not the same opinion our superiors will have in this matter."

His hands were calm. He had been kneading them in his lap before. The cup of coffee resting in front of him on top of his notes. His gaze was steady. It was the moment Clary understood something about her partner. He would do it anyway. The only question left now was if she'd do the same. She had no idea if his information was true or if his source was trustworthy and there was a high chance that she'd have to lie about to her superiors. It could cost her job.

"Count me in."

If the psychologist had refused to clear her for field work she would have set his office on fire. Or at least sent him a few very angry mails, but she wouldn't have allowed a piece of paper to keep herself from trying.

"Oh, Jace called. He wants us to go shopping together on Saturday."

"I know, Isabelle called me to complain about it."

Maybe this partnership could work after all.

Dear reader, you have reached the end of the chapter. :) Please leave a review and let the author know what you liked and what not.

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