"Jesus, is there anything you can't do?" Alec asked, walking close to Magnus and squeezing his hand. Magnus looked at him and smiled, letting go of his hand and putting an arm around his shoulders.

"I took French in school, and I'm pretty good with languages. It's nothing," Magnus answered and pulled him closer against his own body.

They were out on the country, about two hours away from Paris, and Magnus still hadn't told them what they were doing there. He had been on the phone with someone the day before, and when they woke up he had hurried Alec to get ready and get some breakfast at the hotel, and then pulled him out into the car.

They were at a small horse farm in the outskirts of a forest, so Alec had guessed they were going to do something involving horses. But he had not been able to guess what exactly. The man they had talked to before were walking in front of them, leading the way into one of the enclosures with a few horses inside. He opened the gate, waited for them to go inside, and closed it after he had followed them inside.

He stopped Magnus, telling him something in French and pointing at three of the horses. Magnus talked to him for a bit, but Alec couldn't make out any of the words – he had never taken French, and didn't understand a bit of it, plus they were speaking very fast. Or maybe they were speaking slowly, and it was just way too complex for Alec to understand anyway.

After they finished talking, the man left them alone and Magnus walked back over to Alec. Alec had walked over to one of the horses, a black one, and he was petting it. He had always loved most kinds of animals, and horses were one of his favorites. Magnus smiled at him.

"Alright, he said we got three horses for the next week. Come on. He said the black one here, the white one and the dark brown over there. And we can let our car stand here until we come back."

Alec's eyes widened and he looked at Magnus. "What? What are we going to do with three horses for a week?"

Magnus smirked and looked him in the eyes. "We're going camping."

As it turned out, the reason Magnus had gotten up so much earlier than Alec was so that he could go and buy everything they would need. He had a big tent, food, water, everything. He had even packed all their things from the hotel room without Alec noticing. After they had gotten the horses ready, they had taken off into the forest, Magnus on the dark brown, Alec on the black and the white one packed with all their stuff, walking a bit behind them, tied to the other horses with a rope.

"How did you get the idea for this?" Alec asked, looking at Magnus. It had barely even begun, and it was already the best trip he had ever been on. Magnus smiled at him.

"I was talking to Isabelle one of the days you weren't getting out of the bed, and she told me how you needed to get away. So I thought of camping, and talking to her about and she thought it sounded like a great idea. The horses were her idea. She knows you love them, even though you never actually had a lot to do with them."

Alec looked ahead, further into the forest, smiling. "They're beautiful animals, aren't they? I've always wanted a horse, but horses were for girls, according to my parents, and since Izzy didn't want a horse, we never got one. I think my parents would have bought her one, and since they were never really home, I could've trained it and ridden it and gone to contests and… They're just so amazing, these animals, you know?"

Magnus looked at him with a sad smile. "I'm sorry your parents were like that, baby. But you've got these horses for a week now, and that's something, isn't it?"

Alec smiled. "It definitely is. I love you."

"Hey, how about you take the horses to get some water, while I set up camp?" Magnus said as he jumped off the horse – that was actually called Chocolát, the black one was Diamond and the white one was Luna – and looked at Alec. Alec stayed in the saddle for now.

"Are you sure? You don't need any help?"

"Nah, I'm good. Just take the horses and I'll get this done."

Alec smiled, jumped off the horse and removed the packings from Luna and the saddles from Diamond and Chocolát, and dragged them along in the ropes to the river only a few hundred meters away from where Magnus was setting up camp. He let them drink and sat on a big rock, watching them and smiling. He loved being around horses.

When he came back with the horses a while later, Magnus had already set up the tent and was starting on a fire. Alec took the extra rope they had brought along, and tied one end to the tree closest to the tent. He then dragged the horses to stand in the middle of an area with few trees. He then used the rope to tie a sort of fence around the horses. It was a fairly big area and they were now in the middle of a square.

He walked over to Magnus, sitting on one of the camping chairs he'd brought with them. "I didn't think you'd be into all this nature stuff, but it looks like you've set up plenty of camps before."

Magnus looked over at him, smiling. "Why didn't you think I'd be into it?"

"I don't know… No mirrors, make-up, proper bathroom facilities… All that stuff."

Magnus looked back on the fire he was trying to start, and used a big stick to poke around in there. He shrugged. "I like the break every now and then. But I actually needed to talk to you about something."

"Okay… What's up?"

"Well, I've been offered to work with a modeling bureau here, in France. If I take it, I stay here. It's good money, there's an apartment I can get that looks absolutely fantastic, there's healthcare and dental and all."

Alec was quiet. Magnus staying here sounded like an absolute disaster to him. "So… You're staying?" He tried keeping his voice steady, but failed miserably. He looked away just as a single tear escaped. He quickly wiped it away with his hand.

"Alec… It wouldn't be fair to myself not taking the job, but… God, I don't want to lose you."

Alec hesitated, but eventually said it anyway. "I don't want a long distance relationship, Magnus, but… Just take it. It's okay."

"Alexander…"

"No, it's okay. I'll go home after this trip, and you can start working, and that'll be it. You'll be out of my life," Alec said quietly, not looking at Magnus. He was trying desperately not to cry, and even though his voice cracked, he managed to hold back his tears.

"Alec, I didn't me-"

"It doesn't matter, Magnus. Just leave it."

Alec got up and walked over to the tent. Opening the zipper, he got inside and closed it again after him. He didn't want to lose Magnus for the world. Finally, he let the tears run as they would, and he buried his head in one of the pillows Magnus had already put in the tent. He had finally admitted to Magnus he loved him, and now this. He knew he shouldn't have. He heard the zipper open again, but Magnus didn't step inside.

"Can I come in?"

Alec wiped his tears away, but knew his eyes were still puffy and red. "What do you want?" he asked and looked at Magnus over his shoulder. Magnus bit his lip and got inside the tent and closed the zipper after he was inside. He sat next to Alec and looked at him.

"Alec, I love you. You know that. I don't want to lose you for the world, but I can't just turn this down. You know that too. I'd ask you to stay here with me, or try a long distance relationship, I don't know, anything not to lose you. But that's not what you want. Max died here, you wouldn't be close to your sister and your brother, you would have to leave everyone."

"If staying here is what I'd have to do to stay with you, I would. Don't you know that? I love you so much, Magnus, and I feel like you're choosing this job over me. And you have no idea how much that hurts."

Magnus moved to sit in front of Alec and pulled him closer to him. "I never, ever, wanted you to feel like that, Alec. I was just so sure you would rather stay out of France from now on. Would you really move here, for me? What about your book?"

"If it hadn't been for you, it wouldn't be published at all. I'll just have to figure something out, maybe go back every once in a while for a meeting with the publisher, and to see Izzy and Jace if he's there. All I know is that I need to be with you, and I don't care if that's back home or here. Just please don't break up with me for a job, Magnus."

Magnus smiled and leaned in to kiss Alec. He could taste the salt from his tears that had been running down his face and over his lips. He pried his lips open and deepened the kiss and pulled him closer. Soon enough, Alec pulled back and looked into Magnus eyes.

"I love you, Alexander."

Alec smiled too, though he still looked sad. "I love you too, Maggie."

Alec woke up as his phone rang. He sat up; looking for his phone, but it stopped ringing as he picked it up. He sighed and looked over at Magnus and saw he was awake. "Izzy called. I'm gonna try calling her, okay?"

Magnus nodded and turned away. "Yeah, sure. I think there's better reception on the top of the hill."

Alec put on some clothes and shoes so he wouldn't be cold, and got out of the tent, closing the zipper afterwards. He walked up on the hill and got out his phone again. He dialed Isabelle's number and called her up. She picked up almost right away.

"Izzy, what time is it?"

"Uh... About 2:30 am."

Alec sighed. "Why are you calling me at 2:30?"

"I just wanted to know if he broke it to you yet."

Alec ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes shortly. "If he broke what to me yet?"

"The job thing."

Alec sighed. "Yeah, we talked about it earlier."

"And…?"

"And… I'm moving with him."

There was a silence for a few moments. "So you guys are moving in together? In Paris?"

"Yeah, I guess you can call it that. We're coming home sometime next week, to get our things, and then we're moving here. Magnus says he got this great apartment and it's already furnished, so we don't need a lot of furniture either."

"Alec, that's great, uh… I guess I'll see you next week, then?"

Alec nodded even though she couldn't see it. "Yeah, see you next week, Iz," he said and hung up. He walked down the hill again and back into the tent. He just got his clothes off and got back down next to Magnus. Magnus reached over and put his arm around Alec, pulling him closer. Alec smiled and closed his eyes, resting his head on Magnus arm that had been lying across Alec's pillow. Magnus wasn't ready to sleep quite yet, though.

"What did she want, love?"

Alec opened his eyes and looked at Magnus over the shoulder. "She just wanted to know if you told me about the thing with you moving here yet. I don't know why she had to call so late, though."

"What time is it?" Magnus asked, softly trailing patterns over Alec's stomach with his fingers. Alec shuddered and took his hand instead of letting him do it. He was too ticklish.

"Izzy said around 2:30."

Magnus hummed quietly, playing with Alec's fingers. He wasn't tired at all anymore. He kissed Alec's neck softly. Alec smiled and turned around towards him. It was too dark to make out the expression in his eyes, but Alec thought he could make it out pretty well anyway. He leaned closer, kissing him and let go of his hand. He buried his hand in Magnus' hair.

Magnus grabbed him by the sides and rolled them over so that he was lying on top of Alec. Alec reached up to bury his other hand in Magnus' hair as well, massaging his scalp gently. Magnus groaned and grinded his hips down into Alecs, making Alec whimper. Magnus broke off the kiss shortly to look down at Alec's face, a mask of pleasure, and smiled fondly.

"I love you, darling," he panted, the kiss having left him breathless.

And then he leaned down to kiss Alec once again.

AN: Hey guys. We got home a day early, so.. Update! Yay!

It was pretty long, huh? The first one in a long time that was above 2k words. Woohoo.

So, this is the second to last chapter. There'll be an epilogue, of course. There always is, isn't there? The epilogue will probably be pretty long. So you can look forward to that.

Other than that, I don't have much to say. I hope you liked it, and you can review if you like.

Lea