Author's Note: Sorry for the very late update. I am one of those people who can juggle three separate tasks, but if I add a fourth task, I am rendered unable to do anything but scroll online and eat copious amounts of food. So here is me promising regular updates, until the end…

Also, much love to Emily, who has been reading for a very long time, and Alanna... I promise to find a better chapter to dedicate to you both... we'll see how the ending of this goes...

Please enjoy!

Chapter 11

When Magnus arrived back at Woolsey's house, he went to sit in the lavender room. Boxes littered the floor, all filled with the things Woolsey couldn't bear to get rid of. As for Magnus, his possessions fit into one small trunk. There was nothing more he wanted to bring, as there was so much he wanted to leave behind.

He couldn't deny that he was unsettled by his argument with Will. He had wanted to part on better terms with the boy, but at the same time couldn't help but feel that at least things were definitively finished between them. Neither owed the other anything. That chapter of Magnus's life was over with, the chapter where he felt things he shouldn't for a Shadowhunter and would have followed that Shadowhunter to the ends of the earth if only to have more time with him. At the same time, his chest hurt when he remembered turning his back on Will, all because Will had said the things Magnus was to afraid to say himself.

Magnus looked down at the ring on his right hand and thought about how long forever really was.

It was another hour before Magnus heard a key in the lock followed by footsteps inside the front door. Woolsey was home from his meeting with the pack. Magnus heard him walk down the hallway and go straight into the bathroom, where he ran a bath, which felt out of place in the middle of the day. Magnus hated himself for thinking that way, and hated himself even more for imagining Woolsey stripping off his clothes, climbing into the bathtub, and scrubbing his body with peppermint soap, taking away the scent of werewolf as well as any other smell that might cling to his skin that he didn't want Magnus to notice. He would have wanted Magnus to join him in the bath, where they could spend all day soaking in the hot water and making love in the claw foot bathtub, but that was something Magnus could not bear to do.

It was true. Ever since the night he first accepted Woolsey's ring, he found reasons to not be intimate with Woolsey. Even now, sitting on the couch, and preparing to move to Rome, Magnus thought of being intimate with Woolsey and felt his heart stop for seconds at a time… out of fear or just plain not wanting him that way, Magnus was not sure.

Was Will right? Had Woolsey been unfaithful on the same night he accused Magnus of infidelity? What had he done today? Had he really spent all of the morning and part of the afternoon resigning as pack leader, or had he been with someone else? And what if he accused Magnus of being intimate with Will, simply because Magnus had gone to see Will? What if he… Magnus squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. No. He would not think that way. What happened at the symphony was a one time, isolated incident, yet it was painful and embarrassing and it could happen again, at any time.

No. It would not. But it could happen.

In time, the bathtub drained and Magnus heard footsteps outside of the sitting room door, followed by a quiet knock.

"May I come in?" Woolsey asked.

"By all means," Magnus replied. The door opened and Woolsey walked in, still warm and damp from his bath. He wore a dressing gown loosely tied around his waist, and was towel drying his hair.

"I had hoped you would join me," Woolsey said, taking a seat beside Magnus on the sofa. "Then again, there will be time for that when we get to Rome. The Romans are famous for their baths." Magnus forced a smile.

"Yes, of course," He said.

Woolsey rested a palm on Magnus's right hand. He left arm went around Magnus's shoulders and a hand caressed his cheek. Woolsey kissed Magnus on the lips as Magnus moved a hand inside of Woolsey's dressing gown to touch his skin. He felt Woolsey's lips against his neck, his warm exhales against his jaw. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Let's go to the bedroom," Woolsey said.

Magnus shook his head. "I like it here," he said.

Woolsey smiled and pulled Magnus's coat off. He followed it with Magnus's shirt and undershirt, then unbuttoned Magnus's pants and pulled them down. Magnus lay back on the sofa and Woolsey moved between his legs, his hand sliding down into Magnus's underpants, touching him as he knelt over him. Magnus felt cool silk against his legs as Woolsey kissed him gently on the lips. He reached down and untied Woolsey's dressing gown, exposing his lean, muscular body. He ran his hands up and down Woolsey's sides, sinking his nails into his skin, wanting to feel something for this man, the one who promised him forever.

"Where have you been?" Magnus mumbled. Woolsey kissed Magnus's ear lobe and sucked on it carefully, then kissed Magnus's throat. His hand was still working between Magnus's legs, stroking him, trying to coax some sort of arousal out of him. Magnus took a breath and let it out, wanting the same thing.

"Meeting with the pack," Woolsey said. "And you?"

"Tying up loose ends with my business associates," Magnus said. Woolsey sighed against his neck, and then kissed across Magnus's chest. He pushed his underpants down, and took Magnus's half stiffened cock into his mouth.

Magnus arched his back, a shocked moan escaping his mouth. Woolsey slapped a hand down over Magnus's diaphragm, holding him down, as he took all of Magnus's cock, top to bottom, and began to tease his tongue up the underside of it. Magnus's heart thudded in his chest as his skin broke out into a cold sweat.

"No," Magnus said. "No, Woolsey, I don't want it." Woolsey opened his eyes and released Magnus's cock from his mouth.

"What do you mean, you don't want it?" Woolsey asked. "You don't want it like you didn't want it last night? I would prefer if you told me you were taking a vow of celibacy. As your lover, I have a right to know." He smiled easily at Magnus and ran his hands over Magnus's stomach. "There's not… something wrong, is there?" Magnus shook his head. "Well, then…" He ran his tongue up the underside of Magnus's cock, a smile still on his face. "I've got you, and you got me, and since this sofa isn't coming with us to Rome, we should do our best to break it." He lowered his head and took Magnus's cock back into his mouth.

Magnus wanted to close his eyes. He wanted to be pleasured by someone who clearly wanted to pleasure him. He wanted to break the sofa and go to bed and wake up the next morning and move to Rome. And yet…

"What do you mean, the sofa isn't coming with us?" Magnus asked. "I thought we agreed that we would take most of the new furniture. This is new."

"Yes, but it is ugly as sin and uncomfortable to boot," Woolsey said. "I've never liked this couch and I never liked this room. It's lavender, Magnus. Lavender." He laughed. "What kind of man do you take me for?"

Magnus felt stunned. He looked around the room, at the lavender walls and the white furniture and the window he made twice as big as it was originally, because after living with Camille, he had wanted a nice window to look out of.

"You said you liked this room," Magnus said, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. He hated himself for being so sensitive. It was just a room, after all, and he could change the color of the walls with a snap of his fingers.

"We were having a big fight that day," Woolsey said. "I would have told you anything you wanted to hear to make you happy." He smirked and licked Magnus's lower stomach, still running his fingers over Magnus's ribs. Magnus looked down at the ring on his right hand. The white moonstone looked cloudy and muddled against his skin.

"The day you gave me this," Magnus said, lifting his hand, "were you just telling me what I wanted to hear then as well?"

"Of course not. I said forever and I meant forever," Woolsey said. "I'll love you. Forever." Magnus nodded. He felt his eyes getting hot as tears gathered in the corners of them. "Magnus. It's just a sofa. We'll get another sofa in Rome. I've already come up with a color scheme for our house. I want browns and reds and sumptuous fabrics and..."

"It's not just a fucking sofa!" Magnus exclaimed. "You lied to me! You said you liked this room. You lied!"

"I told you what you wanted to hear," Woolsey said. He sat up quickly, as did Magnus, who grabbed the ring and tried to pull it off his finger, only, it was stuck. This last bit of frustration was more than he could take and he burst into tears, just like at the symphony, only worse, because this time, he was sober.

"You lied!" Magnus cried again. "You said you liked the room and the sofa and… when you said forever, did you mean that? Or did you just mean forever, or until someone better comes along? Does it mean you'll be faithful to me, but only to a certain point?"

"What are you talking about?" Woolsey asked.

"I know about Webster, behind the restaurant, the night of the symphony. I know, Woolsey. I know what you did," Magnus replied. Woolsey shook his head and sat back on the sofa. He pulled his dressing gown closed and covered his mouth with his head.

"So you went to see him," Woolsey said. "The Shadowhunter. And what did I say to you? That he would say anything to turn you against me. And he has. You'll believe anything he says, because you're in love with him. You are pathetic, did you know that? Pathetic." Magnus took a shuddering breath and looked Woolsey in the eye.

"Were you, or were you not with Webster that night?" Magnus asked.

"I'm not answering that," Woolsey said. "You will believe what you want and you will believe him because you love him and…"

"That threatens you. Will threatens you," Magnus said. "Now on the night in question, Woolsey, did you, or did you not have sex with Webster…"

"I did not!" Woolsey exclaimed.

"You're lying," Magnus said. "Will saw you. He would not lie." Woolsey stared straight ahead, his mouth set into a hard line of tension, and it was then that Magnus's heart started to break a little bit, because Woolsey didn't even love him enough to look him in the eyes and lie convincingly. "Did you, or didn't you?"

"I did," Woolsey said, "I did! Are you happy? I was unfaithful and so were you and now we can forget about it and…"

"I will never forget!" Magnus exclaimed. "You hurt me that night, Woolsey! You hurt me despite the fact that you cheated on me! I can't just forget! You hurt me because you were afraid of losing me to him! Pathetic, Woolsey. You called me pathetic, but you are the one who is pathetic." Woolsey's eyes went dark and for a second, Magnus was scared.

"I hate him!" Woolsey snarled. "I hate Will Herondale! He gets the very best parts of you, do you know that? The part of you that cares for the broken boy, the part that would do anything for someone… I could have loved you but he gets your love! Not me!"

"You never loved me!" Magnus cried. "How am I to love you if you never loved me? You never loved me. Not all the times you said you did, you never did. You don't want forever. You just want someone who will never leave."

"And what is so wrong with that?" Woolsey asked quietly. His eyes were filling with tears. He looked scared. "What is so wrong to want to be with someone forever?" He reached over and touched Magnus on the cheek, but Magnus flinched and pulled away. "Come with me to Rome. We'll fix this in Rome."

"We didn't fix it in Paris. We didn't fix it in London. We will not fix it in Rome," Magnus said. "We don't work, Woolsey, and we never will!"

A dead silence filled the room then, broken up only by Magnus's gasps and Woolsey's quiet breathes. Neither looked at the other. Magnus knew if he saw Woolsey's tears he would take everything he said back, but he couldn't. Not this time. He lifted his right hand and pulled the ring off, then dropped it into Woolsey's lap.

"I think you should go," Magnus said, fighting back sobs.

"I think I should," Woolsey said. He stood up and walked out of the room.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Please review!