"Are you kidding me right now?"

There was a laugh in the other end. "No, I'm not. Bring him here tomorrow and we'll take a look."

Magnus smiled wickedly and jumped up from his couch. He was home for once, but it had just been to bring a few things to Alec's place. His own flat was bigger, but he liked staying with Alec better. "Yeah, definitely. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll talk to him."

He hung up the phone and walked into his bedroom. He found a sports bag and started putting things in it – some of his clothes, some make-up, everything he needed.

He wasn't sure Alec would be happy about this, but no matter what, this was happening. He needed this.

"Alec? Where are you?" Magnus called out in the apartment. He'd just stepped in through the door, and dropping his bags on the floor, he went into the kitchen. Alec sometimes sat out there when he wasn't in the living room. Instead he found Ragnor sitting on the table top, looking out the window. "Where is he?"

"He left a while ago, almost right after you left. He got a phone call, and left immediately. Didn't even bother telling me."

Magnus sighed and walked back into the living room, sitting down on the couch, and pulled out his phone. He dialed Alec's number and waited a few moments for him to pick up.

"Magnus? Great, I'm on my way back, meet me by the car; we need to go right away."

Alec hung up without even waiting for an answer. Magnus got up, and almost walked out of the apartment without telling Ragnor. "I'm leaving again, Ragnor. I'll talk to you later." And then he walked out of the flat and down to the car, which was parked in front of the building. He leaned on the car and looked down the street, waiting for Alec to arrive.

It didn't take long for Alec to come walking down the street. "Come on, we need to go."

Magnus got in the car. "Where are we going?"

Alec got in on the passenger side and put on his seatbelt. "France. Paris, to be more precise."

"What? We can just go to Paris, Alec!"

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, it's one of the biggest fashion cities in the world, and I'm wearing sweats."

"I don't care, Magnus, we need to go."

"Alec, we've got a meeting tomorrow. We can't go."

Alec sighed and finally looked at him. "What are you talking about? We don't have a meeting."

"It was supposed to be a surprise, but I sent your book to Jem, and he read it. He liked it just as much as I did, and we sent it to a publisher. They liked it, Alec, and they want to publish it. Your book! Tomorrow, at noon, he wanted to meet with us."

There was a long silence as they just looked at each other. Alec didn't know what to say. They hadn't talked about his book for a long time, and now… "What do you mean they want to publish it?"

Magnus smiled and took his hand, intertwining their fingers. "Alec, Jem sent it to one of the guys he knows, and he took a look on it, and they really like it. You can be a published author, but that means we have to go to this meeting, okay? What do you need to go to Paris for anyway?"

Alec looked out the window and bit his lip. Magnus could see he was just about to cry, and he gave his hand a little squeeze. "The doctors say Max probably won't make it through the week, and I need to be there."

Magnus' brows furrowed. He hadn't heard about anyone named Max before. "Who's Max?"

"He's my little brother. He has cancer, and he… My dad has been with him in Paris for about a year now. They've got a really good healthcare there, so…"

"And now they're saying he won't make it?"

Alec nodded, but he didn't say anything. He just sat and looked out the window, and it was starting to rain outside the car. Alec looked at the raindrops running down the car window, catching other drops on the way. He was clearly torn.

"Okay, Alec, this is about your brother, and it's about your future. I understand that you need to be there for him, and I know you need to go to this meeting. So what about we go to this meeting tomorrow, spend today packing, getting airplane tickets, somewhere to stay, a car to use. And then right after the meeting tomorrow, we go to Paris. How does that sound?"

Alec nodded slowly. "Okay. But we leave as soon as we're finished with the meeting, okay? I need to be with Max."

"Of course. But promise me we can have a bit of time to just be a couple? It's Paris!"

Alec let himself smile a bit and he nodded. "A bit. But I want to spend most of the time by Max' side, okay?"

Alec's phone rang through the apartment. He'd left it on the coffee table in the living room, and gone to take a shower. Now he'd dried himself off and put on some clothes – an almost white t-shirt with a pink tint and a pair of black jeans. He walked into the living room and almost got to the phone before it stopped ringing. He took it and checked who'd called. Isabelle. He dialed the number and waited for her to answer the phone.

"Alec! When are you coming? We're about to board the plane!"

"Didn't Jace tell you? I'm coming tomorrow instead."

There was a moment of quiet before she said, "No, Jace didn't tell me." At the last half of the sentence, her voice became a little distant and he could hear a smacking sound, presumably Isabelle slapping Jace's shoulder or leg. "What's up, why aren't you coming now?"

"I, uh... I have this meeting tomorrow at noon."

"What meeting?"

"It's with a publisher. They want to publish my book, Izzy."

"What?! And you didn't tell me! Alec, this is huge!"

He smiled a bit. "I didn't know! Magnus and Jem sent it to the publisher and set up the meeting and everything. So it's tomorrow at noon. But hey, call me when you're there? And say hi to Max from me if he's awake."

"Yeah definitely. I'll call you in a couple hours when we're at the hospital."

"Great. I'll catch a plane as soon as the meeting is over. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye!"

Isabelle hung up. Alec sighed and put the phone back down on the table, sitting down in the couch. Magnus had dragged Ragnor out to get things for the Paris trip, so for now Alec was alone. He could do whatever he wanted to, but all he wanted to do was cry over Max and cuddle with Magnus. But he was alone for now.

AN:

Hey guys. So, finally got around to updating. I'm still really depressed though, and with holiday coming up, I'm actually leaving for this weekend, I still have work, two 1-week long vacations, where I won't be able to update, and I don't know if I can even will myself to update, considering I'm so depressed. I'm sorry about that.

But well, we got a bit of Max here. A result of my mood, sorry. Next chapter will probably be really sad and all, but I promise a complete fluff chapter in the Paris chapters.

But, I hope you like the chapter. Review and tell me.

Lea