(AN: This chapter contains several quotes from CoA. I do not own CoA, CoB, etc. Don't sue me. They're just in here because my story directly parallels the books.)

When You Say Forever, Chapter 6

"Are you sure you have to go?" Magnus asked, his forehead pressed to Alexander's.

"It's almost four in the morning. A, I'm betting tired and B, my mother is back at the Institute. She also has a habit of checking on me. If she hasn't noticed I'm gone yet, she'll notice soon." He said, staring into Magnus's eyes as he did.

Magnus didn't know which Shadowhunter was Alexander's mother or if he had met her before. The name Lightwood clicked in his head, but so many other Shadowhunter names also clicked in his head. He was thinking that perhaps it was Maryse, mainly because her eyes matched Alexander's, but at the same time, he could have been born to Valentine and still looked like this. Magnus had made sure he would be the same person.

Only weaker, he reminded himself, looking into Alexander's eyes and seeing the faint shimmer of his vulnerability encased within the blue.

"Magnus?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know much about the Inquisitor?"

Surprised by this slightly mood-breaking question, Magnus drew away, noting the dark red patch he had left on Alexander's neck several minutes prior. He smiled inwardly.

"What about her?"

"I know of her and I know what she's capable of... But I think she's been called to deal with Jace," Alec said, averting his eyes. "And I'm worried."

"You have nothing to worry about. If your friend is innocent, he will be fine."

"He is."

"Then he has nothing to worry about," Magnus said shortly. Realizing that he didn't actually want to try to keep Alexander any longer when he knew that the golden-eyed dreamboat was on his mind, Magnus started to walk to the door, Alexander in toe.

When they arrived at the door, Magnus stopped and looked at Alexander, meeting his eyes and smiling at him. Alexander looked down at the floor for a moment and then toward Magnus's hand, which rested on the doorknob.

Alexander took a step forward and leaned in to kiss Magnus lightly. It was a chaste kiss, almost as if to thank him for not reacting to Alexander's speaking of Jace. He placed his hand over Magnus's on the doorknob and turned it, and Magnus wondered if Alexander could feel the warm tingle that spread through each nerve in his hand, up his arm and straight through his entire body.

"I'll see you?" Alexander said.

"You will," Magnus replied as he held the door opened and watched Alexander walk off on the dimly lit sidewalk. After the final over the shoulder glance back, Alexander finally began walking away at a more steady pace. When Magnus could no longer see they boy's shadow in the far distance, he stepped back and closed the door, sighing loudly.

Chairman Meow peeked around the corner and mewed.

"Go to sleep," Magnus said. "There's nothing more to see tonight."

The cat looked about as annoyed as a cat can convey and then pranced off into the living room. Magnus watched him go and thought about how many different habits and traits Alexander was beginning to find.

His instincts had already told him to open his eyes when they kissed, bringing back a natural connection that seemed to grow each time they were together. But aside from that, Magnus noticed that Alexander had been touching him more than he had a mere few weeks ago. He was still tentative and very innocent about everything, but he was learning, and he seemed to have an instinctual feel for every one of Magnus's weak spots.

Then again, Magnus thought with a sly smile, he also knew where all of Alexander's weak spots were and had been taking full advantage of it. Alexander himself probably didn't even know where they were... But Magnus hadn't left that mark by mistake.

He began to head back to his room, wondering if he actually wanted to go to sleep tonight, and waved his hand to latch the door shut. The last thing he needed was an unwelcomed vampire barging in at the first sight of daylight just because the Night Child was too late getting back to his little house.

--

Alec heard the elevator as he was walking back from the kitchen, where he had been trying to get rid of the red blemish he had spotted on his neck. Courtesy of Magnus Bane, Alec had almost been expecting it to start flashing with a glittery signature. Magnus liked to put his signature on things, didn't he?

He had seen a woman who he could only guess was the Inquisitor. The very unhappy Inquisitor.

Well... You'd be unhappy, too, if you got here at five in the morning, Alec noted.

"Alec. What are you doing awake at this hour?" His mother asked.

Alec turned away slightly so that the left side of his neck wasn't visible to her. "I was getting a glass of water."

"Ah. Well, if you wouldn't mind, could you go and wake Jace? I'd like him to meet me in the library."

He nodded, reaching up and pretending to scratch his neck as he walked by her. Once he turned the corner, he heard the two women walk away in the direction of the library. The Inquisitor had looked like a very strict woman, but she was much older than Alec would have imagined her to be.

Alec wondered what she would want to talk to Jace about at this hour. Why couldn't whatever she had to say wait until morning? Would it be so terrible to wait just four more hours and then catch him after he's had time to wake up and start functioning?

He arrived at Jace's door and knocked on it hesitantly at first, almost wishing that Jace was already awake and would come to the door right away and make a joke about his weak knocking.

When the door didn't open, he knocked again, harder this time, and a moment later the door opened, covering Jace in light.

Alec looked at Jace as he tried to blink the light out of his eyes. He looked like a sleepy angel, his golden hair forming almost a bed-head halo around his head. All Alec wanted to do was smooth it down to the sides, but instead he just shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the floor to push the thoughts away.

"Alec?"

"Sorry it's so early. Mom sent me to get you. She wants to see you in the library," he said, barely looking at Jace. Instead, he was looking past him into the blackness of the room.

"What time is it?"

"Five a.m."

"What the hell are you doing up?"

"I... Never went to bed." Alec said with a shrug. It wasn't like he was lying...

He watched as Jace ran a hand through his hair, making his hair form a crooked halo, something that almost made Alec want to laugh. "All right. Hang on a second while I change my shirt."

Alec swallowed but watched as Jace walked back into the room. The light seemed to follow him, so Alec took a step slightly to the side to let more of the light in. After a moment of digging through one of his drawers, he found a shirt that was suitable and pulled his other shirt over his head. Again, Alec swallowed hard and tried not to stare at the shirtless version of Jace standing but ten feet from him. Then he noticed the cuts and bruises that stood out on Jace's skin.

He looked away.

"What happened to you?"

"Picked a fight with a pack of werewolves." He said it like it was an everyday occurrence as he pulled the clean shirt over his head and walked back over to Alec, ready to head to the library. He wasn't even wearing shoes.

They started walking and Alec tried to push the image of Jace without a shirt out of his head. It wasn't appropriate... Now, anyway.

No, ever, He reminded himself. You shouldn't think about him like that.

"You have something on your neck," Jace said, startling him out of his inner quarrel.

Shit, Alec thought, his hand flying to his neck. "What?"

"Looks like a bite mark. What were you doing out all night, anyway?"

"Nothing," Alec said, knowing that he was blushing as he lied. "I went walking in the park. Tried to clear my head." And ended up at Magnus's... As I do at least twice a week.

"And ran into a vampire?" Jace joked.

"What? No! I... fell."

"On you neck?"

Alec choked slightly on his retort and Jace seemed to get the hint.

"Fine, whatever. What did you need to clear your head about?"

"You. My parents. They came and explained why they were so angry after you left. And they explained about Hodge. Thanks for not telling me that, by the way," Alec said, nudging Jace in the arm.

"Sorry," Jace said, his face flushing slightly. "I couldn't bring myself to do it, somehow."

"Well, it doesn't look good... It looks like you were hiding things." Alec let his hand fall away from his neck and looked at Jace. "Things about Valentine."

Jace stopped short and stared at Alec, looking as though he felt betrayed. "Do you think I was lying? About not knowing Valentine was my father?"

"No!" Alec replied, wondering if his words had been taken for the wrong meaning. "And I don't care who your father is either. It doesn't matter to me. You're still the same person." He reached out to put a hand on Jace's shoulder, but Jace took a step away.

"Whoever that is." Jace's words were colder than Alec expected and he nearly shivered under the stab of them.

"I'm just saying. You can be a little—Harsh sometimes. Just think before you talk, that's all I'm asking. No one's your enemy here, Jace." He took a step forward, wanting to offer Jace some form of comfort, but Jace took a few steps backwards and then turned away.

"Well, thanks for the advice. I can walk myself the rest of the way to the library."

"Jace—" Alec practically said his name as more of a begging plea for understanding, but Jace walked off all the same and Alec knew better than to follow him. Instead of making things worse, he simply turned around and walked back toward his room.

What was he supposed to do? He cared about Jace so much, but it was like Jace wanted to cause trouble for himself. A fight with a pack of werewolves? That dragon demon in the sewers? Did he want to get himself killed?

Alec felt an unfamiliar pulse on his neck and reached up to touch the mark Magnus had left. It was funny how the most unstable aspect of his life, his unchartered fling with Magnus, was currently relaying his pulse to him... His stable pulse.

--

Magnus sat in his armchair watching another rerun of America's Next Top Model. He really enjoyed the makeover episodes, so he frequently sat down and conjured them up one by one. His favorites were when the girls with really long hair cried as their hair was chopped off in large clumps, especially in braids or pony tails.

He hadn't seen Alexander in several days, which generally wasn't good. It meant that there was some kind of drama going on at the Institute. He had heard from a few fellow Downworlders that the Inquisitor was at the Institute, which tended to put people on edge.

Imogen wasn't an easy person to deal with by any means, but Magnus knew that she wasn't unjust unless there were extremely extenuating circumstances. After the Circle had been broken, she had done everything in her power to get those who had fought for Valentine to see justice. Most of them had renounced their leader upon learning of his true nature. That tended to be how it went with everyone...

His fire flared up across the room in a flash of green.

With a brief mental flashback to what had happened last time he received a letter, he hastily summoned the letter and almost tore it in his rush to unfold it.

"Magnus," it read. "Jace has been taken to be held in the Silent City."

"Too bad for him," Magnus said aloud. Why was Alexander writing him about Jace?

"We are going tonight to see if we can just speak to him. We may need your help. I can't use my phone right now, but I'll message you later. Please, I really need your help with this."

Magnus placed the paper on the side of his chair and wondered if there was anything Alexander wouldn't ask of him. Did he not realize that Magnus knew how he felt about Jace? How easy it would be for him to simply say "No, let him rot in there," and take Alexander for himself?

But at the same time, maybe Alexander did know what he was doing. He was toying with Magnus's emotions in such a way that he could manipulate him into doing almost anything he asked. With a deep sigh, Magnus realized that he was going to be taking a trip back to his old home.

--

"Hi, Clary," Alec said, slightly surprised that the girl was being pulled into the room by Isabelle. "What are you doing here?"

She sat down on the stool in front of Isabelle's vanity table. Without thinking, Alec focused on the table for a moment and thought of Magnus and how infuriated he would be by the lack of organization on the vanity.

"Isabelle texted me. She told me what happened to Jace."

Alec looked at Isabelle, hoping she sensed his anger from his gaze.

"Oh, come on, Alec. I thought she should know. I didn't know she'd come racing up here!"

"Of course I came! Is he all right? Why on earth did the Inquisitor throw him in Prison?"

"It's not prison exactly. He's in the Silent City." Alec began to play with one of Isabelle's many plush pillows in order to get out some of his anxiety. It was either that or start breaking his own fingers in his nervousness for Jace.

"In the Silent City? Why?"

Alec looked down at the pillow for a moment, toying with a strand of beads that hung over a corner. "There are cells under the Silent City..."

--

Magnus arrived at the arch to the Marble Cemetery and saw no signs of Alexander or his sister. However, he did have a strange feeling that something was amiss. He took a few steps toward the door to the City, which looked as though it had been opened recently, but not by normal means. It almost reeked of a demonic presence. Magnus had simply planned to ask the Silent Brothers to let the two of them speak to Jace and then leave, considering his work done ahead of time, needing no actual interaction with Alexander in which he'd have to talk about Jace.

But something was wrong here.

He turned away and walked out of the gates, but planned to stay close by in case anything happened to Alexander.

--

Alec looked into his sister's eyes and saw the same fear reflected there.

"Something's wrong with him," she said to the Inquisitor. "Something serious."

"He probably needs a healing rune." The Inquisitor said. She seemed as though she was almost offended by Jace's affliction. "An iratze or—"

"We tried that. It isn't working," Alec pleaded. "I think there's something of demonic origin going on here."

"Like demon poisoning?" His mother took a few steps forward, as though intending to come to the teens' aid, but the Inquisitor held her back, like she wasn't yet convinced.

"He's shamming," she said. "He ought to be in the Silent City's cells right now."

Alec jumped to his feet, nearly falling backwards with the sheer force of his own weight landing on his feet. "You can't say that—look at him!" With his words, Alec himself looked at Jace, angellic Jace, who had fallen back in the grass and closed his eyes. "He can't even stand up. He needs doctors, he needs—"

"The Silent Brothers are dead," the Inquisitor stated bluntly. "Are you suggesting a mundane hospital?" Her tone was mocking him.

"No." He took a deep breath. "I thought he could go to Magnus." There, he'd said it.

Isabelle seemed to choke on air and looked at him in shock. The Inquisitor looked at him with the same questioning expression, though hers held no emotion.

"Magnus?" The Inquisitor asked.

"He's a warlock. Actually, he's the High Warlock of Brooklyn."

"You mean Magnus Bane," his mother said. His name sounded harsher when it came from her lips. "He has a reputation—"

"He healed me after I fought a Greater Demon," Alec explained. "The Silent Brothers couldn't do anything, but Magnus..." Alec trailed off, not knowing what he could say. Magnus cuddled me until I was all better again. No, that wouldn't cut it.

"It's ridiculous," the Inquisitor snapped. "What you want is to help Jonathan escape."

"He's not well enough to escape!" Isabelle argued. "Can't you see that?"

"Magnus would never let that happen," Alec said, looking over at Isabelle. "He's not interested in crossing the Clave."

"And how would he propose preventing it?" She was doubting Alec's plan, mocking him with each word she spoke. "Jonathan is a Sahdowhunter; we're not so easy to keep under lock and key."

"Maybe you should ask him," Alec suggested, hoping that Magnus would come through for him on that favor.

The Inquisitor flashed her teeth at him, as though baiting him. "By all means. Where is he?"

Alec swallowed hard and looked down at his phone, hoping Magnus really was close by. Otherwise, he was about to make himself look extremely foolish.

"He's here," Alec stated. The Inquisitor looked as though she were ready to laugh... At the same time, Alec felt as though he was ready to vomit.

--

Magnus stood outside of the arch, waiting to make his dramatic entrance.

"Magnus! Magnus, come on out!"

Magnus walked through the gate, trying to take in the Inquisitor's shocked stare without showing that he was enjoying it too much. He looked at Alexander, who was looking at him with a returned flash of amusement in his eyes, but then looked down at Jace, who was lying in the grass looking, well... Dead.

"Is he dead?" Magnus asked, knowing very well that he wasn't actually dead. Alec wouldn't be so calm. "He looks dead."

"No," said a woman, stepping forward. "He's not dead."

Magnus studied her with a quick glance and was convinced that she was Alexander's mother. If he wasn't mistaking, it was Maryse, whom he had originally pegged as being the Lightwood from his memory.

"Have you checked? I could kick him if you want." Magnus took a few steps in that direction, half expecting Alec to throw himself over the weak form lying on the grass. Instead, he was scolded by the Inquisitor herself.

"Stop that! He's not dead, but he's injured." She sounded upset that he was injured only because it foiled her plans to cause him pain herself. "Your medical skills are required. Jonathan needs to be well enough for the interrogation."

"Fine, but it'll cost you," Magnus replied, wondering how much the Clave would be willing to pay for the mending of the boy just so they could break him again later.

"I'll pay it," said Maryse.

After some further bickering back and forth about Jace being a flight risk and then being defended by his little girlfriend Isabelle, Magnus was tired of the arguments.

"Look, it's not a problem. I can keep Jace at my place easily enough."

After his suggestion, the Inquisitor did not turn to him, but instead to Alexander.

"Your warlock does realize that Jonathan is a witness of utmost importance to the Clave?"

Magnus grinned.

"He's not my warlock," Alexander said as his cheeks flushed scarlet.

Magnus turned to her, serious now. "I've held prisoners for the Clave before. I think you'll find that I have an excellent record in that department. My contract is one of the best." Magnus let his eyes drift over the crowd of Shadowhunters, lingering briefly on each of the former members of the Circle who had been in his "captivity" while awaiting trial. They stopped at Maryse, who looked down at the ground.

"It's settled, then," said the Inquisitor. "Let me know when he is well enough to talk, warlock. I've still got plenty of questions for him."

"Of course," Magnus said, moving over toward Jace, whose sister was knelt down next to him. "Can he talk?" He asked her.

Jace's eyes opened then and looked around in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, roommate." Magnus said, looking down at Jace and then back up at Alexander. This was going to be an interesting experience for all three of them.