Alec and Magnus arrived at the hospital early the next morning at about 7:30am. They just walked directly past the reception and to the elevators, taking it up to the first floor and quickly walking to room 23. They had brought coffee for Isabelle, Jace, Clary and Simon as well as themselves, and Alec had bought a hot chocolate for Max in case he was awake. He wasn't though. Alec glanced around the room, a few more chairs dragged in since the day before, and almost all of them were occupied.

Alec started handing around the coffee and sat Max's hot chocolate on the bedside table where a vase with white lilies was already occupying most of the small space. Alec and Magnus then sat down in two of the unoccupied chairs, Alec taking a sip of his own black coffee and Magnus just holding it in his hand and leaning back in his chair.

"Where were you guys last night?" Isabelle asked as she took the macchiato Jace handed her. She looked up at Alec, waiting for an answer.

"We just went to get something to eat and went back to the hotel," Magnus answered before Alec had the chance. Isabelle glanced at Magnus. She looked over at their parents, making sure they hadn't woken up from their sleep in the other bed, and once again turned her attention back to Alec.

"Did anything … interesting happen?" she asked, rising her eyebrow in a suggestive manner. Alec blushed deep red and looked down at his coffee. She smirked victoriously, obviously reading him like an open book.

Jace frowned at he looked at Isabelle. "I didn't need to know that." Next to him, Clary giggled and looked over at Alec. "Is he any good?" she gently jerked her head in Magnus' general direction. That only caused Alec to blush even deeper and leaning back in his chair, still stubbornly keeping his eyes on his coffee. Magnus looked at Alec and laughed it off.

Alec caught movement in the corner of his eye and jerked his head to look at Max. Max had opened his eyes; however he had just woken up, so he hadn't opened them completely. He propped his upper body up on his elbows until he could push off and sit up properly. Alec bit his lip and took in a sharp breath; Max was oh so pale, his hair even had a grey tinge to it. There were several wires and such things connected to Max's body. He winced at the pain as he sat up, but didn't stop. He had always been as stubborn as the rest of the family.

"Hey Maxie," Alec said quietly, keeping his eyes locked on Max's face. Max smiled weakly and looked at Alec. He then looked at the others, his eyes eventually stopping at Magnus.

"Is that your boyfriend?"

Alec smiled and looked over at Magnus, who gave him an encouraging nod, and then looked back to Max. "Yeah, it is. See, I told you he was beautiful."

Max looked at Magnus' face. "Why are you so sparkly?"

Alec looked back at Magnus to see a friendly smile directed at his younger brother. He couldn't help but smile at them.

"Don't you like it?" Magnus asked. Max nodded and looked at him.

"It makes you …" Max paused shortly, looking for the right word, "pop."

At that they all laughed quietly, trying not to wake up the Lightwood parents. They were quiet for a short while after that, until Alec picked up the hot chocolate from the bedside table and handed it to Max. "I got you hot chocolate. We always used to go get some and then take a walk in the park at home, remember?"

Max nodded and took a sip, but winced immediately. He'd burned his tongue. "Are we going for a walk now? I'd like to go outside."

Alec bit his lip and shook his hate. "No, I'm sorry. I don't think they will let me take you out of here. I'm sorry." At that Max simply nodded and took another sip of his hot chocolate.

Alec heard one of the chairs behind him squeak and looked back to see Magnus getting up. Magnus noticed him looking, and gently jerked his head towards the door, motioning for Alec to follow him. Alec looked at Max again. "I'll be right back, okay, Maxie?" he said, got up and walked out the door.

Magnus had walked over to a row of chairs by one of the walls and sat down. Alec followed him, sitting next to him. "What's wrong?"

Magnus sighed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and playing with his fingers. "Nothing," he said, twisting a finger so it cracked and immediately letting go. "I just… Alexander, will you promise me you won't freak out over this?" Alec nodded slowly, brows furrowing in confusion.

"Okay, well … I know a doctor. A really good doctor. I don't know how she does it, but she can… She heals just about everything. And I thought, maybe … Maybe we should give it a shot with Max. She's healed things people have been told couldn't be healed before, but I don't know if she can this far in the process. Her name's Catarina Loss and she's in France now, just an hour's travel from here. If I call her, maybe she would come and give it a shot."

Alec stayed quiet for a moment, merely looking at Magnus. He wasn't showing any emotion, and Magnus was beginning to doubt if it had been a good idea telling him when he finally said, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I didn't know she was in France. I just got a text from her because I asked where she was. She travels around the world and helps people, so it's really lucky she's even in France. And I didn't want to give you false hope and make you think think this was it, now he'd make it, he'd be okay, because I don't know when it's this far in."

Alec nodded. "Call her." Magnus hesitated, looking at him with a look saying 'are you sure about this?'. "Come on, call her. We need to try." Magnus then nodded and took his phone from his pocket, dialing a number and pressing call. Alec got up and walked into the room again, sitting back down in his chair and starting small talking with Max.

It took a few hours to convince Catarina to come to Paris and for her to get there, and another while to convince the staff to let her give it a shot with Max. Truth be told, Alec had been sure she wouldn't even be allowed to attempt anything.

Once she was finally in, she rushed them all out of the room and they took a seat out in the hall. Alec didn't sit down though; he wouldn't stop pacing back and forth despite numerous requests to stop.

If this didn't work, if it made it worse, it was his fault. No one else to blame anymore. Only himself.

"Alec, come on. We need to talk."

Magnus had stopped Alec from pacing and dragged him a bit away from the others and the room where Max was. Alec was now leaning against the white wall and Magnus was just standing and looking at him with crossed arms.

"Does it have to be right now? Everything with Max, I just can't-"

"I know that, and I know it's not fair, but I need to talk to you. If I chicken out now, it won't happen, and I can't have that. Please, Alec."

Alec sighed and ran his hand against his black hair. "Fine, let's talk. What's it about?"

Magnus walked over to the wall, now leaning on it like Alec was. He looked at Alec, seriousness evident on his face. He wasn't joking. This was important. "You haven't said it back."

Alec's eyebrows shut up in surprise and then furrowed in confusion. "Said what back?"

Magnus looked away, biting his bottom lip absently. He hesitated before speaking. "I've told you I love you so many times, but you haven't said it back yet."

Alec was quiet. He hadn't expected it to be about this, but he knew it had been way too long since Magnus had said it and that he hadn't said it back. He looked down on his feet. "Magnus, I-"

Before he got any further, Magnus named was called from the room. They both glanced over there and saw Catarina stand in the doorway, looking at Magnus and waving him closer with a hand. She looked neither happy nor upset. Magnus sighed and pushed off the wall. "We'll talk later, Alec." And then he walked over to Catarina and followed her into the room.

Alec couldn't help feel like it was bad news, but he couldn't know that. He didn't even know Catarina, so he couldn't read her face like Magnus probably could, but he just couldn't shake the feeling off. Something was wrong.

AN: Hey guys. Sorry about the long update, I had a weeks vacation in Sweden with no internet or anything, so I couldn't update. I just got home today.

But yeah, it's a long update, so I hope that makes up for it a bit. As I said, I'm finishing off the story, and there might be ... two or three chapters left, maybe up to five, depending on wether or not I decide to cut two of them into two parts, or just leave them in one.

But well, not a lot to say for this chapter other than that. I hope you liked it.

Review if you want.

Lea