It had been a few weeks since Alec and Magnus had made up after their fight. They hadn't spent much time apart – when Alec went to write, Magnus would usually sit in the sofa behind him, occupying himself with whatever he wanted. It was now the day before Christmas, and Alec had just finished the final draft of his novel, and he had sent it to the editor, who would read it and give him the notes and such, and then Alec would do a final editing, and the book would be nearly ready.

They were sitting in the living room now, Magnus, Alec, and Lewis, and Lewis and Magnus was discussing what movie they would watch. Magnus wanted to watch one of the original Disney movies, but Lewis said that Disney movies were boring and uninteresting. He had grown up quite a bit in the past while.

Alec was watching them without hearing what they said. He had gotten distracted, thinking about the day after. It would be his first Christmas since he got out of the coma, and the first time seeing everybody. He was nervous, although he didn't know why; they all knew he was back, he assumed. It wasn't like it was a surprise to anyone. But it still felt weird.

Isabelle was the first to arrive the next day, at just about 4pm. They were all supposed to arrive at 5:30pm, but Isabelle always arrived earlier than the others.

She knocked on their door, like she did every year, and when Magnus opened the door, Alec right behind him, she stepped in with a huge smile on her face. She pushed past Magnus and hugged Alec first, wrapping her arms around his chest and holding on tight. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, stroking her hair gently.

"Hey Izzy," he said. She didn't answer, just hugged him tighter for a moment before she pulled back, and when she did, he could see tears forming in her eyes. "You okay?" he asked, then.

She nodded, and wiped away a tear that had escaped with the back of her hand, and said with a soft voice, "I'm just so glad you're back." She took a deep breath, calming herself down enough to speak with her normal, confident voice with a smile. "Alright, what do you need me to do?" she asked then, looking from Alec to Magnus and back again.

"Well, the tree needs be decorated. Lewis is taking out the ornaments, you can go help him," Magnus said. "I'm going to go start dinner." He left them there and went into the kitchen.

Isabelle shook her head and looked at Alec. "I will never understand why you don't actually decorate the tree before Christmas."

"Are you complaining?" he asked with a smile as they went together into the living room, where Lewis had taken out the two boxes they kept the ornaments in and put them on the coffee table.

"Not at all," she said. "I love doing it." She walked over to the boxes, opening one, and looking for a moment before picking out the one ornament she always started with. It was a snowman cut out of thick white paper that Alec had made when he was 7 and had given her as her Christmas present from him. It wasn't artistic or pretty, but Isabelle loved it, and she always insisted they started with that one. When she had first gotten it, she had smiled brightly, and immediately getting up and over to the tree, putting it on as high up as she could reach, which hadn't been very high, since she had only been 5 then.

Alec had grown tired of arguing with her over whether or not it should be on the tree, so he didn't say anything, but he rolled his eyes anyway. He didn't particularly like it, and the white paper had started to yellow, but arguing with her was pointless, so he just let her.

Lewis came back into the living room a few minutes after they had started, and he started helping without saying anything. It was mostly Alec and Isabelle talking while they decorated the tree, and it was mostly about what Isabelle had done through the last three years. It wasn't long before Lewis got bored with decorated, and he went into the kitchen where Magnus was.

When they had finished decorating the tree, Alec made them coffee and they sat in the sofa and turned on the television, where Disney's Christmas special was on. They decided to leave it on, and Alec got up and went into the kitchen. "Disney's on now, if you want to watch it," he said, looking at Lewis and Magnus. Lewis was sitting at the kitchen table eating a piece of chocolate, and Magnus was bent over in front of the slightly open oven, checking on the duck in there. It had been in the oven just about two hours, so it wasn't nearly done yet.

He stood up and looked at Alec with a huge smile. "Do you even have to ask?"

Lewis got up as well, and they all went into the living room, where Isabelle was still sitting, and they watched the Christmas special they watched every year. It had been a holiday tradition every since Magnus and Alec moved in together here. Although Alec had never been a big fan of Disney, it was one of his favorites of their traditions.

At 5:25pm there was a knock on the door, and Alec went to answer it. Magnus had gone back into the kitchen and Isabelle and Lewis were putting the star on the tree – a last touch they always waited until people were showing up to do. When he opened the door, Jace and Clary was standing outside, both tan and Jace's hair brighter than usual. They looked like they had just gotten back from somewhere warm.

"Hey guys," Alec said, smiling. "Where've you been this time?" Jace and Clary both just stood there for a while, staring at him and not saying anything. Alec blushed a little, looking down at himself and then back up at them. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

Jace said something first. "Is this a dream or am I going crazy again?" he asked, watching Alec with suspicious eyes.

Then Clary spoke up. "No, no, you're not going crazy, I see him too. Might be a dream though."

"What are you guys talking about?" Alec asked in a confused voice. Hadn't they known he was back? He was sure Isabelle had told them.

"We're talking about the fact that my dead brother is standing in front of us and talking to us. He usually doesn't do that," Jace said, only slightly sarcastic.

"I'm not dead," Alec said. "I was in a coma for three years, I'm not dead. But what did you mean with 'am I going crazy again'?"

Right then, Isabelle appeared beside him, greeting Jace and Clary with a smile. Then she turned to Alec. "Right after your 'death', Jace had a pretty bad break down. Sometimes he would hear or see you, or other things, and for a long time he refused to acknowledge that you had actually died even though we all went to your funeral," she explained, looking at Alec.

Alec nodded slowly, then, and then they were quiet for a moment. "Izzy, didn't you tell them I wasn't dead?" he asked, then.

"It's kind of impossible, when those two morons," she gestured towards Clary and Jace, "change their number every month. I don't know how to get a hold on them when they're not home."

"Maybe you should have mentioned that," Alec said, glaring at her, and then looking at them again. "Well I'm back," he said with a weak smile and shrugged his shoulders.

Jace took a breath, and then he stepped forward, and hugged Alec tightly. Alec stood still for a moment, shocked because Jace usually isn't a hugger, but he hugged him back. They stood like that for a moment before Jace let go and pulled back, still watching Alec, and smiling. His eyes were red, now, and Alec suddenly wondered if he was going to cry, but Jace sniffled shortly, and then he walked into the kitchen to greet Magnus. Clary hugged Alec as well before following Jace, and just when Alec was about to close the door, Jem steps into the door opening, snaking his thin arms around Alec and hugging him, taking Alec by surprise. He hadn't even known Jem was coming. He wasn't about to complain though.

When Jem pulled back, he already had tears down his cheeks. "For the record, I didn't know you were back, either. You're crap at telling people important stuff, Alec. Really. Crap."

Alec couldn't help but laugh at that. "Sorry, Jem. Come on in," he said, shutting the door behind Jem. They all went into the kitchen, which wasn't small but not near big enough to hold this many people.

They spent the night laughing, drinking, eating, talking and exchanging gifts. Alec wanted to ask Isabelle where Simon was, but he figured if anything had happened between the two, she could tell him the day after. He didn't want to ruin Christmas with something like that, so he decided not to ask.

He was just glad they were having such a good Christmas.

AN:

Alright, I've got a lot to apologize for, but I won't. I've been busy, and I've had a block. I've had NaNoWriMo, my novel, Christmas, several people's birthdays, my great aunt's death and funeral, my brother leaving for Madrid, and a million other things. So it's been long, and I understand if you hate me, but it really couldn't be any other way.

That said, I hope you enjoy this chapter, although it's not so long. It's not incredibly short either, so.

Review, follow, favourite - whatever you feel like.

You can also message me on my tumblr (sparklesbeforeducks) if you should feel like doing that or talking or anything.

Also, I've decided that I'm gonna end it in a few chapters (I am not sure exactly how many a few are, but a few), and since a lot of you got upset the last time, this is a warning. It's not going to be happy. It's not going to be joyful. It's going to be painful. I'll try to put a sort of "end" on the chapter before it, so you can stop there if you don't want the unhappy ending.

Lea