Hello again!

Here is another chapter! I've decided that I'll update as soon as I'm happy about each of the chapters (I currently have plans for about fifteen stories with some already written but unedited). Thank you all for the reviews and the favourites and subscriptions. I hope to hear from you all again soon. Just to clarify again, this series will be a series of one shots (unless I specify otherwise) from different points in the Lightwood-Bane's lives.

This chapter is set somewhere after the ending of Lady Midnight and A Long Conversation so spoilers for them. This chapter also features characters from the Mortal Instruments.

Let me know what you all think.

Enjoy!

28/04/2016 - After receiving some feedback from a very helpful reviewer, I decided to rewrite the ending of this chapter. After re-reading what I had written I realised that Magnus and Alec seemed too out of character which is not something I like to do. I prefer to keep these two characters and realistic as possible. I hope you will enjoy the new ending but please feel free to let me know what you think.

The Lightwood-Bane Chronicles

Priorities

"Get out of the way! Move!" Jace yelled, pushing his way through the crowd of students as he helped Alec, who was near unconscious with pain and covered in blood and demon ichor, on to a cot in the infirmary. Isabelle bustled about her brother with blood streaming down her cheek from a cut just above her left eyebrow and Simon grabbed every medical supply he could manage to hold.

"Alec, stay awake!" Isabelle said tapping Alec's cheek until his drooping eyes became slightly more alert. He tried to speak but the wound on his side made it difficult for him to even think. He turned his head to the side and watched Simon limping around as he unwrapped bandages and sterilised implements. Jace knelt down on the other side of Alec, sweat pouring from his forehead and tore the remainder of Alec's shirt apart so that he could look at the wound.

"How bad is it?" Alec groaned, amazed that he was still conscious enough to ask a question without slurring. Jace glanced at Alec's face and gave him a tight smile.

"Nothing we can't handle. Just needs a couple of iratzes and you'll be back to normal." Jace clapped his hand on Alec's shoulder to which he let out a yelp.

"I know when you're lying Jace." Alec gasped lifting his head from the pillow. A throbbing pain flashed across his head and was almost blind with dizziness before his head fell back against the pillow, falling into unconsciousness as he went.

Jace felt the blood drain from his face as he turned to Isabelle. "Call Magnus."

"Is Daddy going to be alright?" Max asked, holding tightly onto his brother Rafael as they followed their Papa through the shimmering blue portal he had created. Clary was on the other side waiting for them beckoning them through the doors of the Institute. Her skin was covered in a sheen of sweat and her shirt was torn across her abdomen, showing off an array of iratzes and fading lacerations.

"He will be Blueberry, don't worry." Magnus replied tightly as he closed the portal behind them.

"He's upstairs in the Infirmary." Clary said, taking hold of the boys' hands. "I'll take the boys to the training room out of the way."

"What about Daddy?" Max asked worriedly, looking up at Clary with wide tearful eyes. Magnus knelt down in front of the young warlock, who had not long turned five years old, and gave him a brave smile.

"Daddy will be okay. I'm going to go help him." he turned to the older boy who straightened up and stared determinedly at Magnus. "Rafael, you look after your little brother okay?" Rafael nodded and calmly took Max's hand in his as Clary led them away. As soon as they were out of sight, Magnus ran to the elevator as fast as his legs could carry him and punched the button for the Infirmary.

When he reached the infirmary doors and swung them open, Magnus's sight was met with the image of Alec's writhing body contorting on the cot as Simon, Jace and Isabelle tried to hold him down. Magnus flitted to his lover's side and held his tensing hands in his, watching as Alec's eyes rolled back as his body spasmed.

"What happened?" Magnus snapped at the others before his eyes caught sight of Alec's wound. Sticking out of Alec's waist and completely surrounded by Alec's blood was a demon stinger the length of Magnus's hand. "Why didn't you take that out of him as soon as you got back?"

"We tried. We think there's a barb on the end preventing it from coming out." Isabelle replied, her eyes red and puffy with tears. "And every time we touch it, it pushes itself deeper into the wound."

"Magnus, what do we do?" Jace pleaded, restraining Alec's arms to the mattress as Simon tried to do the same with Alec's legs.

Magnus turned back to see Alec's mouth start to froth. Magnus snapped his fingers as his magic flew over Alec's body. The others let go with a gasp as Alec's body slowly started to calm down. "Alright, here's what I need you to do." Magnus instructed, not once taking his focus away from the task at hand. "Isabelle, Simon, I need a bucket of holy water and as many towels as you can get. We're going to need them. Jace, clean the blood around the wound away and get ready with your stele. He's going to need blood replacement runes and iratzes as soon as we get the venom out of his system. Hurry now." Jace, Simon and Isabelle went about as they were told and Magnus placed a kiss to Alec's sweat dampened hair. "I've got you, my love. You'll be okay." He whispered in his ear just as he heard the Infirmary doors groan open. Magnus looked up in horror as he spotted Max and Rafael staring at Alec on the bed.

"DADDY!" Max screamed as he came rushing forward, Rafael chasing after his brother just as Clary appeared in the doorway. Glittering sparks flew from Max's hands as he ran.

"Clary, get them out of here!" Magnus shouted just as Simon scooped up a flailing, crying Max in his arms. Clary grabbed Rafael trying to shield his attention from Alec's wound and sent an apologetic look over her shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I turned my back for one second." Clary replied picking up Rafael who continued to stare over her shoulder at Alec and ran after Simon.

Magnus turned his attention back to Alec, feeling rattled as Isabelle dumped the towels and holy water on the floor beside him. Choking noises started coming from Alec's mouth as the seizures started up again. Isabelle bit back a whimper as she stroked Alec's hair. "Hang in there, big brother. Come on. Don't leave me too…" she sobbed.

"We're not going to lose him Izzy. Pull yourself together." Jace snapped throwing the bloodied rag in his hand over his shoulder. "Magnus, I'm ready. What do I do now?"

Magnus was starting to tremble as his magic began to wane. Shaking his head out of the dizzying fog surrounding his mind, Magnus looked at Jace with a grimace. "You're going to have to cut away the damaged tissue around the wound. Any poison left in that skin will go straight into Alexander's bloodstream as soon as you take the stinger out." Jace nodded and pulled a knife from the side of his boot, swallowing the bile in his throat before cutting into Alec's skin.

Alec's eyes flew open with a scream as Izzy tried to keep him still. Magnus pushed as much of his strength into his magic as he could stand, fighting off the dizzying wave of unconsciousness threatening to overwhelm him. A moment later Jace removed the stinger throwing it to the side and threw the bucket of holy water on the remains of the wound, watching as the last of the demon ichor fizzled away. Jace then pressed the towels against the wound to stop the bleeding as he hastily applied runes on to Alec's slick torso.

Alec went still as Magnus removed his magic, slumping against the side of the cot and gingerly touching Alec's fingers. Isabelle pressed a tearful kiss to Magnus's cheek. "Thank you." She whispered, stroking her brother's head in her lap.

"Hey, what are family for?" Magnus mumbled as he closed his eyes, resting his forehead against Alec's shoulder.

Alec groggily woke up to a blinding headache, hours later to find Max and Rafael hugging him close as they slept. The pain that was in his side earlier had now been reduced to a tender ache underneath the coarse bandages wrapped around his stomach.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, Alexander." Alec turned his head to the side to see Magnus sat in an armchair watching him and their sons. There was a look on Magnus's face that felt like a stab to Alec's chest.

"Magnus…"

Magnus shuffled closer and gripped Alec's hand tightly. Only now could Alec see the unshed tears of worry in Magnus's yellow cat's eyes. "When your sister called me, I was terrified that she was going to tell me that you were dead." Alec felt a small tremor in Magnus's hands as he desperately clasped hold of him. "I started thinking about what to tell the boys before she even spoke and then when she told me you were hurt, I was so relieved that you were still alive."

Alec tried to think of something to say that would help to comfort him but the words wouldn't come to him. He continued to watch Magnus as he stared pointedly at their hands. Finally after what felt like decades, Magnus looked up at Alec tightly, his eyes filled with hurt as if he was the one injured and not Alec. "What happened?"

"We were ambushed by a pack of demons just outside Harlem. We didn't know there would be that many. Simon fell and hurt his leg whilst trying to protect Clary and I got stabbed whilst going to help him. It was an accident." Alec said quietly, keeping his voice low so that he didn't wake his sons. Although he had come home many times covered in blood, he didn't like them to know the details of what he did until he was sure they were old enough to understand.

Magnus nodded sombrely. He glanced over at Max and Rafael as they continued to sleep, watching as Max's nose wrinkled in distress. "You're going to get a lot of questions from them in the morning. They managed to sneak in whilst we were trying to heal you."

Alec gulped in horror, tightening his hold around Max's waist. "Oh no, how much did they see? Please tell me you sent them out."

"Of course I did. I didn't want them seeing you like…" Magnus paused and let out a shaky breath. "I'm not sure exactly how much they saw but it took Biscuit and Sheldon hours to calm them down."

Max wriggled in his sleep and Alec felt his son's little blue hand tighten on the blanket covering Alec's waist. Alec felt his chest tighten in worry wondering whether Max was having a nightmare. He looked over at Rafael who seemed to be sleeping calmly. Alec frowned. "How was Rafe? Has he spoken at all?"

Magnus shook his head. "It seems he's bottling it up. He's not spoken a word." Magnus frowned at Rafael as well. "He doesn't seem that affected at all. Whatever happened to him before you found him in Buenos Aires…it must have been horrible. It's going to take us ages to get him to open up again."

"He was doing so well." Alec shook his head remembering how hard it was to get Rafael to feel safe around them all and to actually speak. Max suddenly jerked in his sleep sending a stab of pain through Alec's wound. Alec hissed in pain, squeezing Magnus's hand tightly to stop himself from crying out.

Magnus looked away, closing his eyes so that he didn't have to see Alec in pain. He hated seeing that. No matter how many times Alec came home to him with fading injuries, he would probably never get used to that fact. The sight of pain in Alec's face always reminded him of his mortality, which was a constant worry that nagged at him in the back of his mind and had caused them so much grief in the past, that Magnus tried his utmost best to ignore all signs of it.

Once the pain in Alec's wound started to fade again, Alec turned to look at Magnus. Upon seeing Magnus's averted gaze he squeezed his hand. "Magnus, I'm okay now."

"I'm sorry." Magnus sighed as he reluctantly turned his attention back to Alec. "I hate seeing you hurt like this."

"I know but what do you expect me to do Magnus? I'm not going to abandon my sister and my parabatai the next time they need me on a patrol." Alec thought they had been through this.

"I don't want you to abandon them. That's one of the reasons why I love you Alec," Magnus said lifting up Alec's hand and kissing his bruised knuckles. "I just don't like seeing you hurt that's all."

Alec shook his head sadly. "It's a risk of the job unfortunately. But it doesn't happen that often, thank the Angel."

"I know." Magnus's voice wavered unsteadily and he paused to compose himself, staring pointedly at their joined hands. "I'm not ready to let you go, Alexander. Not yet…"

"Magnus, I'm not going anywhere." Alec squeezed Magnus's hand. "Trust me."

"I do." Magnus leaned forward and kissed Alec's mouth. "Aku cinta kamu."

Alec smiled tiredly. "I love you too."

Max suddenly jerked awake sending a glittering blue spark smashing into a bedside lamp across the infirmary. The sound of the shatter startled Rafael awake. Max sat up beside Alec, his mouth fixed in a tearful pout before he looked down at Alec with wide eyes. "Daddy, you're awake! Are you okay, Daddy?"

"Yeah Max, I'm fine." Alec smiled back as Max relaxed, slowly shifting up the bed and wrapped his arms carefully around Alec's neck. Rafael laid his head back down against Alec's chest and hugged him tightly, remaining quiet all the while.

Max pouted into the side of Alec's neck. "I hate those nasty demons Daddy."

"I do too, Max." Alec replied kissing Max's forehead, carefully avoiding his horns which were still a little sensitive despite having been growing steadily for the past couple of years. Alec hugged both boys gently as they went back to sleep. He waited until both of the boys were lightly snoring again before looked up to find Magnus watching them quietly. "I'll try to be more careful Magnus. I promise."

Magnus nodded and squeezed Alec's hand. "I suppose I could try to live with that. Get some rest. You've got a lot of making up to me to do tomorrow, starting with bed rest at home for at least three days."

"Done."

Magnus smiled and stood, pressing a kiss to Alec's forehead and stroking Rafael's curly brown hair before leaving the room for him to let him sleep. Alec looked down at his sons and with a smile, fell into a restful sleep.