"I freaked him out, Catarina."

"Why would you say that? I don't think you did."

"Haven't you heard what I said? I pulled the car, with a turn that could have killed both of us, jumped out of it and kissed him like the world was ending then and there…"

"Magnus…"She was standing on the other side of the counter top, mixing some cranberry sauce. "I can only…"

"God, have I mentioned how good of a kisser he is? I literally…God, I shoved my hand down his pocket and took his phone. I took his phone and put my number in it, Catarina." As he spoke, Magnus' head fell on the counter top, hair and palms covering his face. "Who the heck does that?"

"Frankly, you. You do that all the time."

"That's not true. You know me. I am a jaded sophisticated."

"So that's what they call it now."

"Stop making fun of me. I'm telling you. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Look. You want my opinion? You wanted him to have your number. So now he does."

"He's not gonna use it. I know he's not. He's probably going to cancel our date too. I should just move across the country. Again. And avoid the embarrassment."

"I don't know why you are making such a big deal out of this. You're jumping the horse here. I think you should have patience. Wait and see what he does. But, okay. Let's say he doesn't want to see you anymore-"

Magnus groaned and it sounded muffled and full of desperation.

"Okay, then. Different approach. How did he react? When you kissed him, I mean."

There was a silence filed with that specific patience only a friend can offer. Catarina knew that Magnus must be thinking about Alec's reaction for the first time, analyzing it, trying to understand it and then give her a truthful answer.

It took two more seconds for Magnus to slowly remove dark hair from his eyes, revealing the shade of a smile in the process.

"He kissed me back." And Catarina could tell that it was more than just a simple kiss. But she decided not to push Magnus. She knew there was a line between friendship and intimacy so she stayed on the safe side. And also she knew there were some things you do not share, simply out of fear. Giving something a shape of sound and not only one of memory burdens it with too much hope.

She smiled and reached for the salt and pepper. She could tell Magnus was watching her.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

She raised her eyebrows, but did not make a sound.

"I saw that, Catarina."

"Of course you did." She gave him a warm smile and then said, "What does this mean for you Magnus? He kissed you. So what does this mean?"

Magnus did not respond but proceed in playing with his phone. He suddenly jumped off his chair. "I don't like it when you play psychiatrist with me."

"Hey, you asked"

"Just play the cook. It's funnier. And more useful." He turned around and headed for his room. "I'm really hungry."

"Wow, the sky is blue."

"Ha ha. Funny."

"You're lucky I enjoy cooking. You'll be starving otherwise."

"I'll be eating mac and cheese." Magnus was already facing his room.

"For eternity!" Catarina shouted back. "And close the door, or all your clothes will smell like steak."

"Like really, really good steak, though."

She smiled and turned towards the oven, hearing the door to Magnus' room closing behind him.

So Alec kissed him and it made Magnus really happy. And not just any kind of happy, but floating-around-when-you-think-about-it happy.

She decided that the steak was going to be extra good that night.

It was one hour later, while she was enjoying a well-deserved glass of wine and the steak was resting in the oven, waiting to be served, when she heard the knocking on the door.

She thought about asking Magnus to answer, but he was probably studying and she had tomorrow free, so she left her comfortable place on the couch and headed for the door. There was another knock, more insistent this time.

"Yes, I'm coming."

A few seconds later, she regretted getting up.

"What?" It was rude, but he deserved nothing more.

"Hello to you too, sweetie. Isn't this Magnus' apartment?"

"What do you want?"

"Magnus." His smirk made her want to punch him.

"I am strongly suggesting you to leave unless you behave. I am going to ask one more time. What do you want?"

"Okay, okay. That was a little inappropriate. I actually forgot my tie here last Saturday. I came here to take it back."

"And you needed Magnus for…?"

"I was thinking he might know where it – well – ended up in the process." The smirk was back.

"You had no tie." This time was Magnus who spoke. He stood behind Catarina. His posture was rigid, his hands shoved so deep in his pockets they could have come out on the other side. He was frowning, and his eyes were full with anger mixed with something Catarina couldn't well distinguish.

"Magnus."

And Catarina noticed the way the word made Magnus' body even more tensed. His jaw was tightened and the words he said next came out through clenched teeth.

"Why are you here?" Magnus was fighting hard to look indifferent. After all, it wasn't the man's fault for what happened Saturday night. But he shouldn't have come here.

"Look. Actually, I wanted to see you." The words made Magnus sick to the stomach and Catarina could very well tell. "After that night at the party –"

"There is nothing after Saturday night. Actually forget about Saturday night. It never happened," Magnus' voice was steady, but Catarina could see his bottom lip was furiously trembling.

The tall, dark-haired stranger took a step toward the entrance of the apartment. Catarina didn't know if what she did next was wrong, but she grabbed the door by its knob and gave the man a disapproving nod.

She felt Magnus' hand resting on her shoulder. "It's okay. I can handle this. You go," he whispered reassuringly in her ear. So she went.

On her way the kitchen she heard Magnus' next words and felt a sudden wave of fury taking over her. Not furry towards the man standing outside their apartment, but towards Magnus for letting himself be treated like that.

"Look, I don't know what that night meant to you and I don't know and neither do I want to know why you are here. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea. Forget about that night, forget about me and don't come here again, okay?" said Magnus. He stepped towards the door and closed it with a simple push.

When Magnus came in the kitchen, she was fighting back tears.

"Is the stake ready? It smells really –'' Magnus stopped in mid-sentence when he noticed the look on Catarina's face.

He wanted to say something but she stopped him with a wave of a hand.

"Magnus, I am going to say this once and you're going to let me talk." The tone of her voice left no room for any other comments. It trembled with emotion but it was steady anyway. "You are right. I am not your shrink. I am your friend. I am more than your friend, or at least that's what you are to me. I know you for more than ten years and I've seen you when you were so broken I thought there was no way back, and then I watched you pulling it all back together. And I know it's not over and probably will never be. But we swore we would only move forward and what you're doing, God, this is not, Magnus…" Her voice broke and Magnus wanted to come closer, but she stopped him. "No. I said you're going to let me finish. You are not moving forward. You are now digging a hole and you're going deeper and deeper. And at first I didn't say anything because it was summer, we were having fun before college, but this has to stop. You should never, but never again, let those men hurt you like that… Treat you like, God, like you're…" She was crying now, not even trying to hold it in anymore. She wiped her eyes and cheeks with the kitchen towel and went on talking. "I think – no – I know you need to go back. You need to go back and finish what you started. I know you are afraid, and it will hurt like hell, bringing back those memories, but you need to. Sign those damned papers and get those money, because they are no use in that bank account. And the lawyer is going to keep on calling and on sending e-mails if you don't go."

"Let him call, I don't care. Let him call."

"You need to talk to him so it'll all be over. Ignoring something, refusing to aknowledge it, it doesn't make it go away. When it'll come back to you, it's going to hurt ten times worse. And I think it's already beginning. Listen to me, Magnus. Four years is enough. It's enough. Go get the damned money."

Magnus was furiously shaking his head. "No, I can't. You know I can't."

"Don't use it. Burn it. Throw it away. But it's yours, so take it."

"It's hers, Catarina. Not mine."

"She's dead, Magnus. So it's yours." Her words were gentle but that doesn't mean they hurt any less.

His head shot up. There was so much anger in his eyes.

Her lips were trembling and so were her cold as ice hands. She went too far. She had to.

"Don't you dare!" Magnus' voice was shaking as he whispered the words. He then pointed an accusatory finger toward her."Never again do you mention her. You have no right to use her against me! Don't you dare MENTION HER AGAIN!" He turned around and stepped inside his room. When the door closed, the walls trembled.

"So…what's with the face?" Isabelle was leaning over her side of the table, shoving her face in front of Alec's computer. They were sitting in their favorite pub, which was Taki's, though it took some conviction from Izzy to make Alec not study in the library.

"There's no face," said Alec, his eyes glued to the screen.

"There is definitely a face, and I think it involves Magnus."

"Hmm?" He looked at Izzy for a moment, than back at the screen. Then back at Izzy.

"You know, it's kind of pointless to pretend, so you can stop it now. One, because I saw you leaving with him the other day from school, and two, because you've been starring at the same page for," she threw a quick glance over her watch, "thirty four minutes now."

"It's really hard to concentrate when you keep talking."

"If you have something to say on who's leaving their tie on my desk, then I have something to say about who makes you smile and then frown every five seconds."

"I just… There's nothing to - "

"Oh, Alec, spare me. You know what? If you want to act like that, then fine. I don't even know why I bother. You've always been like that. Maybe you'll get drunk, and then you'll tell me."

Alec's laptop suddenly closed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you never talk to me and it really hurts. To see you can't trust me, it really hurts."

They stood like that, both of them watching each other, both f them too stubborn to talk. But Isabelle was right and Alec knew it.

"What do you want to know? Hmm? You want to know that he put his number in my phone and then he offered to take me to my dorm and I said yes, because I'm weak like that? When he looks at me and smiles and then kisses me, I'm weak. And it's really, really hard to think when I'm near him. And I hate it. I hate that I can't control myself and I kiss him back and then I go all poetic on him and leave him in the middle of the street without an explanation. Because if you want me to tell you all of that, I will, but I'm pretty sure you're gonna look at me like you're looking at me right now and realize how childish all of this is. Because it is. It's like high school all over again."

There was silence after that, and Alec looked around the diner to see if anyone heard his words. But no one did, as usual. The other students were too busy with their own work to pay attention to anything else.

"OK." Isabelle's voice made him focus on her. She was looking at him over the rim of her glass filled with Frappe. She was frowning a little as though she was thinking about something. "Anything else?"

"That was Monday. And I haven't called him. And I've been kind of avoiding everyone on the hallways." Alec sighed. "I just…I don't know what to do."

"You said Monday?" And after Alec approved with a nod she continued. "Then you call him. You never call on the same day, or the day before. You call on the third day. That's a rule. You call and ask for – you ask about a project. And then you have it from there. Just call. That's the hard part."

Alec just looked at her in awe and something that looked a lot like confusion. "There's a rule? A rule of calling back?"

Izzy nodded and sipped noisily from her drink.

"Oh, and Alec?"

"Yes?" He seemed terrified of more rules.

"This is nothing like high school. It's never going to be like high school ever again."

"Yeah, I hope so."

"No. It's not. I promise." And her eyes, glued on his, made him trust her promise.

"And one more thing. I'm gonna need every detail of everything that followed that kiss."

"Ha. I figured. Gotta go." He stood up, put some money on the table, kissed Isabelle on her forehead and stepped outside of Taki's, with his phone already in his hand.

You reached Magnus' voice mail. You know what you have to do.

"Hey, Magnus? It's Alec. Alexander. Just Alec. It's Alec Lightwood. I mean you should know who I am by now. You put your number in my phone and vice versa so you should already have it saved in your phone…So you put it there, and I thought I should call. Crap – how do you delete these thin – beep.

"Hey, Magnus. It's me again, Alec. Don't bother listening to the other message. It's me rambling It's me rambling here too, so, there you go. Crap, it's gonna end again. I'm just going to be really quick. How are you?"

It was pass midnight and Catarina was back at her own apartment. She knew she went too far with Magnus, but this wasn't their only fight. There had been some more back at Santa Monica. At least she kept telling herself that, because she couldn't wipe one image from her mind: Magnus' eyes getting bigger and bigger as realization hit him. The way he took a sharp breath when she had mentioned her, how his body shook with a sudden tremble and the disappointment and fear written all over his face. She knew that, for a moment, even insignificant as it may seem, he had been afraid of her; afraid that the one person he trusted the most was now betraying him. It broke her heart to see him like that and to know that she had caused it all, but it hurt her even more to see Magnus come out of her room, that Saturday night, with his body itching every step of the way, and then see the regret and sorrow in his eyes tonight, when he had to face that man.

She could only hope Magnus would forgive her for mentioning the money, and his mother, and his past. She hoped he would forgive and understand, but most of all she hoped he would listen to her advice.

And just in case he doubted her even for a second, before she left, besides leaving him the stake in the oven, ad taking the wine with her to prevent any incidents, she slid a piece of paper under his door. It wrote:

"When in the morning light I wake

Show me the path of love to take

Remember?"

It was around two a.m. when she received a message from Magnus.

I'm going.

I'm taking a flight. Will text you with other details.

And then:

Thank you.

And then another one, saying:

Always.

Your angels watch me through the night,

And keep me safe till morning's light.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned off the Fasten Seat Belt sign, and you may now move around the cabin. However, we always recommend to keep your seat belt fastened while you're seated. In a few moments the flight attendants will be passing around…" and Magnus heard no more. He made sure he texted Catarina the flight number and the arrival hour, then put on his headphones.

When he heard the voice on the other side of the line, he couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, Magnus? It's Alec. Alexander. Just Alec…

A/N: I know you must hate me. It's been more than - what? – three months? Are you still reading this? If you are, then I hope you'll enjoy it. I'm sorry it took me so long to update.

Also, the Malec kiss in Shadowhunters? So good! So proud of the actors and writers!

And not so good news: final exams are coming, so probably I'll update again sometime around the end of June? I don't know. I hope so. Please review and let me know what you think about this chapter. I love it when you do. It made me really happy to read your thoughts o the previous chapter. You seemed to like it 3

Alsooo, I know it's not fair to all of you who read this right after I update, but: 1. I divided the chapters. So sorry for making you think I updated like four chapters all at once.

2. I changed some things to the previous chapters: the one with Magnus' party and the man who appears in this one. It's nothing too big or important; and also the kiss in ch.11(the previous one). I thought our boys deserve every kiss to be special. I don't know. At first I thought I made it better. Then I wasn't so sure. I'm still not.

Also, sorry for all the POVs in this chapter.