Disclaimer: I always have fun saying that I don't own the Mortal Instruments or the Infernal Devices. No, actually I don't. I hate saying it (not really), but it's true. Yes, I love you.

A/N: I really liked the last chapter, to be completely honest. I hope that doesn't make me egotistical. o.o This one is about the same size as the first chapter, though, so it's another short one.

Chapter 3: Parchment

"Mmm..." Alec rolled over in Magnus's bed, pulling the fluffy rainbow comforter over his shoulders. He hadn't slept well the night before.

Magnus chuckled under his breath, reading the text for a spell that graced the pages of a thick white tome. He was leaning back against the headboard, contemplating whether he'd ever been as happy as he was right now. He'd been searching for this particular spell for months now, and he had wondered if he would ever find it. This book had no table of contents, no index, and was not alphabetically organized. There were also no page numbers. It was almost impossible to find anything in it, and yet he had finally found it. He could have laughed out loud with joy.

Suddenly Alec threw the covers back off of himself and rolled over to face Magnus, who hurriedly shut the spell book, not caring any longer and dog-earing the page to keep his place. He shoved it under the bed and then turned to his lover, smiling. "Good morning, darling. How did you sleep?"

Alec scowled. "Terribly, thanks to you. You kept groping me in the middle of the night."

"Sorry, dear. You know I have fantasies while I sleep. It's just been so long since we've canoodled..." he whispered, glancing down at Alec with a smirk.

Blushing, Alec said while stuttering, "U-um... What - what was the book you were reading just now?" Magnus was now tracing a finger down Alec's throat gleefully, rolling over his small Adam's apple and down to his chest. "It looked fa-familiar."

"It was nothing. Just a novel I've been reading." And then they were kissing, and Alec's face had turned beet red.

"This has been a truly magnificent morning," Magnus purred into Alec's hair. Just a moment ago, he had shooed Alec out of the bed and, with a snap of his fingers, clean sheets and covers had been spread atop it. Now they were lying there again, Alec pressed up against his hot chest, trailing a hand along the bronzed skin. "I love South Carolina."

"Mmm hmm," Alec hummed evenly, smirking slightly.

"Alec, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

Magnus fiddled with Alec's hair momentarily, then asked, "Darling, what do you think about ... children?"

Alec immediately paused in the stroking of his lover's chest, dumbfounded. He felt frozen in his grasp, unsure of what to say.

"Alec?"

Suddenly he unpaused. "Sorry, I- Um... Children? You mean, like... Like what, exactly?"

"Love, you don't have to panic. I was just wondering what you envision our future like... That's all."

"Oh," he said, relaxing a fraction. He gulped. "Well... I haven't thought about it. Not really. I mean, Magnus, I'm technically still a teenager, and you- Well, you're an eight-hundred year old warlock. We're both guys, so it's not like we could have our own kids. And even if I was female, warlocks are still sterile..."

"You're right," Magnus said sadly. He paused, hesitating, then continued, "You know, I would love to have a kid with you one day. Of course, as you said, it couldn't be one of ours, but... We could adopt." Suddenly a flash went through his head of a warlock couple from London who had actually married and had had a child. The child - the child was evil. Even thinking on him, decades later, bothered Magnus.

"I-I suppose so. I don't know. It could change later, but right now I don't think I'd want a kid for a while. I mean, no time soon," Alec added uncertainly, resuming the stroking of his boyfriend's chest.

Magnus hummed unhappily, but Alec interpreted it as pleasure from his touch. This was not the case.

Breakfast was quiet. Magnus was still ecstatic about his discovery of the spell and the canoodling, but the conversation with Alec afterward had put him in a slight mental stupor. Ever since he had met Alec, he had envisioned them being together, and then when they started to get to know each other, Magnus had had to admit that he wanted him for as long as he could have him. He had always thought that they would stay together and possibly adopt a few kids. Although it's not like they were born every day, he was sure that the Clave had a few orphaned warlock children, or maybe a fey. That is, of course, assuming that the Seelie Queen didn't hoard the latter.

Alec, on the other hand, was beginning to wonder if he should head home. His mother knew that he had went over to Magnus's, but he had also promised to be home early the next day. Of course, Alec had to remind himself, he was legally an adult now, and frankly he could do as he pleased. But a phone call wouldn't hurt, right?

He was searching for his cell among the pillows of the couch when he saw it. It sat innocently upon the table, for all the world looking like an old piece of paper. Alec, being naturally curious, had his interest piqued. As he picked up the note, it dripped a viscous liquid onto his hand. It gave off a strange odor, almost as if it were molding. He looked around to see if Magnus or Chairman Meow were in the vicinity but did not see either. His attention snapped back to the paper, and he found it to have an elegant, scrawling script written on it. Instantly, he recognized it as Magnus's writing, and began to read it aloud, in a murmur:

" 'Let the biological clock unwind,
And change what was incorrectly
Done; let the nether kind
Be fixed to key
The perfect one of you and I.' "

Then, noting an extra sentence in the bottom right-hand corner, Alec continued, " 'Ten slash twelve...' "

After the words were said, the paper almost instantaneously burst into flames. It didn't burn him, but the ashes rained down to the carpet and embedded themselves into the fluff there. "Oh, shit. Magnus is going to kill me."

Hurriedly, Alec dug the black particles out of the carpet just in time for Magnus to run in and ask, "Alec, darling, are you all right? I smelled something burning." He took in a breath through his nose and furrowed his brows. "Now it smells like magic and sugar. Or drugs."

"Um... I'm fine. I just..." Alec paused, unable to come up with a good excuse. "I smelled it, too. I'm not sure what it is." He guiltily held the burnt paper and ashes behind his back, looking for a way to escape the situation. "I'll be back; I need to use the bathroom."

He rushed past Magnus, shut himself into the small room, and leaned against the door, breathing quickly. The words that he'd read... What did they mean? Was it a spell? But a spell like that... It was confusing, like a poem, and yet Alec could not figure out what it meant. What was it a spell for, if that's what it was?

Hesitantly deciding that it was probably nothing, Alec threw the burnt remnants into the toilet and flushed them down. When he exited the bathroom, Magnus loomed in the doorway. "Are you okay?"

Alec had a flash of annoyance. "Yes, I'm fine, Magnus. For God's sake, I'm a Shadowhunter." As he said the last word, his voice cracked, surprising him. His voice hadn't cracked for nearly five years.

Magnus raised an eyebrow at the cracking. "That doesn't mean that you can't get ill... Alec, I was just worried about you."

Alec looked away. "I'm fine," he repeated.

A/N: Okay, I need some help here. Was there ever a mention of there specifically NOT being an orphanage for Shadowhunters and/or Downworlders? I think there might have been for the former, during Jace's back story. Maybe my memory deceives me. (By the way, I do remember how the orphans went to the Institute back in Clockwork Angel, but I figured that could have changed in a hundred and fifty years...) Anyway, I don't think there was a mention for Downworlders, so I'm going to assume that there is or I've created one in theory. ;]