Alec blinked once, twice. His vision was blurred, but he was awake.
'Alec!' It was impossible to not recognise the blurry visage that popped up with these words. Even when completely out of focus, Magnus was gorgeous.
'Alexander, are you okay? Do you remember your name?'
'Magnus,' Alec's chest felt constricted, and he was pretty sure that was from the collision. He drew in a deep breath, but his side hurt and he coughed.
'No, your name,' Magnus desperately begged, but he was becoming clearer, which was nice.
'I'm fine, Magnus,' he rasped, moving to get to a sitting position, but Magnus' hands on his chest stopped him. 'You and Madzie?' At this point Madzie popped into view as well and Alec smiled.
'Few scrapes, but you got us out.' One of Magnus' hands moved up to cup the side of Alec's face. 'We need to call an ambulance though.'
'Don't bother, I'm fine.'
'You just got hit by a car!' Alec winced at the loudness of Magnus voice. 'You could have died!'
'So could you,' painfully Alec sat up and pulled Madzie, who looked very concerned against his side.
'Why the hell did you jump in front of it?'
'It's my job.' Magnus was about to protest, but Alec continued: 'Besides, I believe we established that you're much more handsome than I am, so it's better I take the bruising.' The crooked smile on Alec's face was too much for Magnus. Tears welled up in his eyes as pained laughter forced its way up his throat. Alec's expression softened at seeing just how affected Magnus was by what occurred.
He raised his right hand to the side of Magnus face as soft words slipped out of his mouth: 'It's okay. I'm here.' Magnus lost it.
He threw his arms around Alec's neck and buried his face in Alec's shoulder: 'You idiot. How do you think I'd feel if I lost you?'
'Magnus-.'
'No, you need to have more self preservation. You-.'
'Magnus! I think I landed on my shoulder, and you're kind of hurting it.' Magnus immediately withdrew and quickly wiped away the tears from his eyes.
'Sorry. It's just-.'
'I know,' Alec replied. 'But right now we'd better get off the streets. The driver is gone, right?' Magnus looked over at the car. The airbag had deployed, the front windshield was almost completely shattered and the compression zone at the front had been bypassed. But there was no one in the car. Or next to it. People were gathering around them now, concerned and ready to call an ambulance, but with Alec sitting up and getting ready to stand there was hesitation.
'How did you know?' Magnus asked as he turned back to Alec who simply shook his head.
'Later,' with that he got to his feet. To anyone other than them it would look like Alec was practically fine, but the light grimace and tension all over his body told Magnus much more.
'I guess we're going to have to go to dinner another time,' Alec turned to Madzie. 'Do you mind?' She quickly shook her head and hugged his leg. 'Alright. My phone should be a little bit back. Wouldn't want that to fall into the wrong hands. And I'll get you home safely.'
Alec held out the hand on the side of his injured shoulder to Madzie who eagerly took it. Magnus also got to his feet and as he did Alec wrapped a protective arm around him. Again, that was merely what it looked like, Magnus could feel Alec put just a little bit of weight on him and realised that the injuries were definitely worse than he was trying to portray. Right now, they looked like a small family, simply comfortable with each other's presence, instead of a severely injured bodyguard being supported by his employer.
It was not hard to find Alec's phone as it was so old no one had paid any attention to it. Madzie quickly picked it up and discovered a voice coming out of it. She immediately handed it over to Alec who instantly recognised a near panicked Jace on the other side of the line.
'Jace! I'm good. Dropped my phone as Madzie almost got hurt. I'll call you back about Max later. I've got to take Magnus and Madzie home now.' Alec was not a good liar, but he had become quite the expert at telling these half truths to his siblings. Jace fortunately bought it and the beeping of the heart rate monitor quickly quieted as they hung up the call. At this point Alec spotted a police car pulling over and quickly decided that it would be best if they left the scene quickly before they would be detained.
Alec tried to not put too much weight on Magnus, or squeeze Madzie's hand too tight in the few minutes they had to go to get back to the apartment, but he was incredibly relieved when they stepped into the lobby. Elias raised an eyebrow, but it was not his first time seeing Alec come in injured, and the scowl told him to back the fuck off, so he did. Somehow it was always the elderly couple from the sixteenth floor who caught Alec at his worst. They also clearly didn't recognise Magnus and startled at the sight of what seemed to be a gay couple along with a little girl. And this was only a few weeks after they had seen Alec, only slightly less beaten up, with a scantily dressed woman. Yeah, they had to have the worst image of him.
Fortunately they didn't say anything and got out on their floor, leaving Alec, Magnus and Madzie alone to ride the elevator up to the top floor. As soon as the door of the apartment closed behind them Alec let the façade drop and made his way over to the couch before collapsing on it with a groan.
'Alec!' Magnus rushed over. 'You should have let me call an ambulance.'
'If I'm correct, it's just a couple of cracked ribs, some minor issue with my rotator cuff, and a lot of bruising. I don't think it's actually a concussion. That means there's no rush to go to the hospital, although that's probably not a bad idea at some point.' Alec got back to a sitting position and kicked off his shoes. 'Besides, I think we've got some things to discuss.'
'Is there anything I can do for you?' Magnus asked.
'I need the medical kit, some lukewarm water, the bag of peas from the freezer and a couple of towels. I also wouldn't say no to a painkiller or two.' Magnus nodded and quickly went off to fetch the items. When he came back Madzie was sitting on Alec's lap and helping him cut off his shirt. It was only now that Magnus noticed the blood on Alec's side from several cuts caused by shards of glass.
'Oh, Alexander…' Madzie cut the last bit of his shirt away and Alec removed the grey fabric while instructing Madzie to toss it in the trash. Magnus put down the basin of warm water and wrapped the peas in one of the towels before turning to Alec.
'Alexander, please, be honest with me, do you need to go to the hospital right now?' Alec looked up and met Magnus very concerned expression.
Alec sighed. 'I will need medical attention at some point, but I promise I'm currently in no danger. Right now I'm more concerned about what happens if we go outside again, because you do realise that that just now was an attempt on your life, right?'
Magnus nodded in response: 'I don't think I've really processed it yet because I'm so concerned about you right now, but rationally I know. That's why you wanted to get back here, right?'
'Only place I know for sure that you're safe,' Alec admitted. Madzie returned to the room and immediately went over to Alec again, eyes big with concern.
'Hey, Madzie.' Alec's expression gained that softness that was reserved only for Madzie and Max as he talked to her. 'I know what just happened scared you and that you're worried. And that's okay. Magnus and I are a little bit too. I got hurt and I need a bit of help from Magnus to feel better. You can stay if you want to, but I'm going to be in pain for a little bit longer. You can also go to my room if you remember where it is and Magnus will come and get you when we're done. Whatever you choose, it's okay, but I need you to say it, okay?'
Madzie nodded in understanding and clearly thought about it for a moment: 'I'll stay.' Then after a few seconds she asked: 'Do you wanna hold my hand?' Alec's heart melted at the innocent question.
'No, Madzie. I'd be afraid of hurting you. But I do want a very long cuddle after we're done. Is that okay?' Madzie nodded eagerly and took a little bit of distance from them by sitting on the chair, looking expectantly at Magnus.
'Are you sure you want to do this yourself? It looks pretty bad. I could try calling Catarina,' Magnus said.
'Catarina is on call. I've had and tended to most of these injuries before, Magnus. Just not all at the same time. You're going to have to help reach some of the glass on my back, though.'
Magnus nodded: 'Alright, but you're taking these painkillers first.' He handed Alec the glass of water and painkillers he had prepared.
'You're even more fussy than Jace,' Alec grinned, but quickly took the painkillers, though he pulled a grimace as swallowing kind of hurt. Then they went to work. Alec could get most of the glass on his chest himself, but when Magnus noticed the pained expression Alec got at the awkward angle he had to bend himself in to see, he took over.
It took Magnus a good twenty minutes to get all the shards of glass out, clean and disinfect the cuts and cover up a few of the larger ones with bandages. By this time the painkillers had kicked in and Alec was breathing a little easier. Fortunately there appeared to be no outward injury where Alec had hit his head on the concrete and the frozen peas would minimise the bruising on his hip hopefully. They'd need to get his shoulder and ribs checked out, but as long as he was careful now Alec was pretty sure that it wasn't a very serious injury.
By the time they had cleaned the bruises Alec had sustained, exhaustion started to set in and the need for dinner became a thing. Alec absolutely refused to let Magnus go out to pick up take out or have someone come up, but the pain was too much for him to go himself. Instead they settled on having pizza delivered to Elias at the front desk and Alec and Madzie would go down together to pick it up, so that Madzie could get help if something happened to Alec.
The contingency plan was fortunately not necessary and Alec and Madzie made it back up ready to sit on the couch and finally recover. Magnus had gotten rid of the evidence of having had to patch up Alec. The only sign now was that Alec had put on a zip up hoodie to go downstairs, which he had shed as soon as he entered the apartment again. The fabric against the open cuts was not a good idea and Alec was not exactly shy about his body, surprisingly.
Even more surprising than that was the change in behaviour of Alec. Aside from being even more quiet and brooding, which was to be expected, Alec was sitting closer than usually and kept on pulling Madzie into his arms. She had no qualms about it and at some point even sent Magnus a look that almost had him thinking she knew what was going on with Alec, but it was strange.
With Alec's stiff posture and general reserve, Magnus had figured that Alec didn't like physical contact. But as he thought about it, maybe there was less truth to that statement than appeared. When Izzy had been over, she had been practically glued against Alec the whole time. At the time he had assumed it had been her doing, but looking back he had seen Alec regularly pull his sister into his arms, put her head in his lap or simply reach out to her.
Now seeing Alec sitting on the couch, Madzie wrapped tightly in his arms, both of them quietly munching on pizza, he was not trying to comfort Madzie. He was being comforted by her. For a moment Magnus thought it strange. Most people wanted to be held when they were upset. But this was Alec. Alec, who had stood on his own for so long, who had been a caretaker for most of his life. Of course he'd feel most safe when he had the people he loved in his arms.
Feeling Alec's naked shoulder brush against his shirt Magnus leaned slightly into the sensation, causing Alec to turn to him. Deep concern made way to something much softer and for a moment Magnus considered putting his head on Alec's shoulder, but decided that that would be taking this too far. Instead Magnus spoke.
'We should probably tell Catarina.'
'I was going to suggest Madzie staying overnight as well,' Alec replied. 'Police are going to want to ask questions and I'd prefer to keep her close until we have a few more answers.' Madzie looked up, cheeks still puffed from a mouth full of pizza.
Alec smiled down at her: 'Did you want to sleep over?' Madzie eagerly nodded.
Magnus patted her head: 'Then we'll ask Catarina about that.'
'I also still have to call Jace to give them a heads up. We need to cancel that trip to the warehouse tomorrow. You need to inform your division heads that an attempt on your life was made so they can do damage control. And I need to call Luke to see if either he can do something, or put us in touch with the right people.'
'Who is Luke?' Magnus questioned.
'Luke Garroway, he's a detective with the NYPD. He's also the stepfather of Clary, Jace's girlfriend. I only met him twice, but he's a good guy and we did just walk away from a crime scene.'
Magnus nodded at this: 'You are being surprisingly calm about this.'
'I'm not though,' Alec replied. 'I just… I deal better when just continuing. It also helps that it was a pretty shoddy attempt.'
'A shoddy attempt?!'
'I could hear it coming from a while away and had I not been so far away from you, we'd easily have been able to come out completely unscathed,' he let out a sigh. 'But we'll talk about that later. For now, we're fine.' Alec's crooked smile, however, did very little to reassure Magnus after that revelation.
'But if that was a shoddy attempt. What if-.'
'Magnus.' Alec's voice was firm, but not harsh. 'We're good. I'm not going to let anything happen to you or Madzie. You hear that?'
'What did I ever do to deserve you, Alexander?' Magnus sighed.
'I'm pretty sure that's not how it works,' Alec laughed and reached around Madzie to pick his phone up from the coffee table, indicating that he was going to get started on the calls.
The first number dialed was Jace and Alec put him on speaker so Madzie and Magnus could join in as well: 'Alec?'
'Hey Jace, are Izzy and Max with you?' Only Magnus could hear the effort Alec was putting in to sound as calm and casual as he did.
'Yeah, hold on. I'll put you on speaker.'
There was some noise from the other side before Izzy's clear voice came through: 'Hey Alec. Is Madzie okay? Jace told us what happened.'
'Madzie is okay. You're on speaker here with Madzie and Magnus as well. You want to say hello to my siblings, Madzie?' Madzie shook her head. 'That's okay. Listen, I need to tell you something important.'
'You and Magnus are getting married?' Max suddenly piped.
Magnus burst out in laughter as Alec instantly shot to a bright red colour: 'What?! No! Max, where did you get that idea from?'
'I'm twelve not blind.' He could no also hear laughter from the other side of the connection and had to bury his head in Madzie's hair for a moment to regain his composure.
'No, much less fun news. I'm afraid.' His serious tone instantly killed the mood.
'What is it, Alec?' Jace asked.
'While I was on the phone with you, Jace, it wasn't just Madzie about to get hurt. Someone made an attempt to kill Magnus, and Madzie walking next to him, by running into them with a car.'
'Oh my god,' immediately came from Izzy. 'Are they okay?'
'We're fine, my dear,' Magnus now spoke up. 'But only because your brother pushed us out of the way just in time, getting hit himself in the process.' The near panicked reactions from the other side of the line became unintelligible as all three of Alec's siblings expressed their concerns.
'Guys. Guys!' Alec managed to quiet them. 'I'm good. A little banged up, but no permanent damage. We've been recovering at the apartment for a bit and are going to ask Catarina to have Madzie stay with us tonight.'
'And I'm making him see a doctor after we've talked to the police,' Magnus added.
'Jace, your heart rate?'
'94. Alec, you're a fucking idiot.'
'Language. I got Madzie here.'
'I don't give a shit, Alec. You could have died. You… We can't lose you too, Alec.'
It was quiet for a little bit before Alec replied softly: 'I know. Look, I… I… I can't apologise for what I did, because I don't regret jumping in the way. If I hadn't done that, there's not a doubt in my mind that we wouldn't just be sitting here. But I am sorry for making you worry.'
'I guess,' Izzy spoke up, 'we should have known this was a possibility when you took a bodyguard position.'
'To be honest,' Magnus replied. 'I didn't expect this either. I never thought I'd have made enemies that would actually try to kill me.'
'I want to talk to Luke about anything that would help us prevent this from happening again,' Alec added. 'Do you think you could text me his number, Jace?'
'I could also tell him to head over to your place,' Jace replied, but Alec disagreed.
'No, I'd rather not have anyone come to the apartment right now, especially not people who haven't been here before. We have no idea who set this up and I'm not taking any risks.'
'Alright, I'll text you the number. We should probably head over to Jocelyn and Luke's for tonight.'
'I agree. Look, we've got to make a couple more calls tonight, but I'll contact you again tomorrow. Okay?'
'Fine. Stay safe you three and if anything comes up, let us know.'
'I will.' And with Alec's answer the conversation was ended. It took mere moments for Jace's text containing Luke's number to appear.
'Only seven more of those.'
'Catarina next?' suggested Magnus. 'Her shift should have just ended.'
'Yeah, I'm not looking forward to this,' Alec replied, but he dialed Catarina's number anyway. It rang a couple of times before Catarina picked up.
'Hey Alec, are you guys back from the restaurant?'
'Hey Cat, you're on speaker with all three of us. Could you say hi to Catarina, Sweet Pea?' Alec gave Magnus an encouraging nod at his suggestion to let Madzie say something, that way Catarina could be sure that Madzie was okay.
Madzie seemed to pick up on the idea: 'Hi Catarina.'
'Hello Madzie. Did you have a good time at the restaurant?'
'That's kind of what we're calling about,' Alec spoke up. 'Where are you right now?'
'On the way to my car. Why? Did something happen?'
'Unfortunately so. On our way to the restaurant Madzie and I got slightly separated from Alec and as we did, a car turned and tried to actively run us over.' A gasp came from the other side of the line, but Magnus didn't let it interrupt him: 'Alec pushed us out of the way just in time. We got off with the shock and a few minor bruises. Alec has a couple more serious injuries, but we've tended to the worst and we're seeing a doctor tomorrow.'
'Right now, we're back at the apartment,' Alec continued. 'It is currently the safest place to be. We have no clue as of yet who would be trying to kill Magnus, which is why we're being extra careful. Elias has instructions to not let anyone up to the apartment tonight and we're getting in touch with the police.'
Silence fell for a moment before Catarina finally replied: 'What are the injuries?' Magnus turned to Alec who could definitely communicate this better. Catarina was used to trauma, but this had happened to people close to her. As Alec rattled of the list of injuries he himself had sustained he could hear Catarina's responses become more grounded. The information Alec gave her clearly affirmed his assessment of the situation.
'Okay,' she eventually said. 'So, do you want me to come and pick up Madzie?'
'Quite the opposite, actually,' Magnus answered. 'We were hoping you'd allow Madzie to spend the night. That way we'd be sure she is safe tonight and she would be here when we try to speak to the police tomorrow.'
'I basically want to lock down the apartment for the night, so we at least don't have to worry about anything tonight,' Alec added.
'I understand. Madzie, are you okay with staying with Alec and Magnus for the night?'
'Yes!' Madzie spoke with just the slightest hint of excitement in her voice.
'Alright. I'll talk to Will and we'll see about taking tomorrow off. Can we come tomorrow morning?'
Alec and Magnus shared a look: 'That should be okay. We'll let you know if there are any new developments.'
'Get some rest, all of you. Good night.' With a few wishes good night they hung up.
'That went less terrible than I anticipated,' Magnus said. Madzie snuggled closer to Alec's chest and Alec softly patted her head.
'I think we should set her up for bed. I'll put her in my bed, then I can take the couch.'
'Nonsense,' Magnus exclaimed. 'There's no way I'm letting you sleep on the couch with those ribs. Set her up in your bed and you'll take mine.'
'Magnus, I can't let you take the couch.'
'Well, then we'll share. The bed is big enough for it if you are comfortable with the idea. And that way we can both get some proper rest.' Alec considered objecting, but couldn't find any realistic grounds to do so upon. And honestly, having Magnus that close by throughout the night would set him a little at ease.
'Alright,' he nodded. 'I'll see what I can do about that while you call your office.'
