Magnus woke to the smell of coffee. He rolled over and smiled, he would forever love waking up to the smell of coffee. He knew that getting up and making coffee was the one thing that had first helped Alec become comfortable in their new life together.
He got up and made his way into the kitchen where Alec was seated at the island bar in the middle. He had both hands around his coffee mug and he was staring very intently into the center of it.
Magnus came up behind Alec and slowly brushed his hand across Alec's back. "Good morning, sunshine."
When Alec looked up at Magnus, there were tears in his eyes. "Oh no," Magnus began. "No, no. Don't cry, darling. I'm gonna fix this. We need to talk. Right now. Let me pour myself some coffee first and then we'll have a serious talk about all of this."
They were situated on the couch, facing each other, both holding their mugs of coffee. Magnus cleared his throat before beginning. He was utterly nervous about how this conversation could potentially play out.
"Alexander, I get that you're upset over me being immortal. I know it's not exactly the ideal situation, and I wish I could change it, but you and I both know that I love you far too much to leave you over this one situation."
Alec looked straight into Magnus's eyes, something it seemed like he hadn't done in weeks. "I'm not afraid of losing you, Magnus. That's not it."
"Wh- then what is it, Alexander? I'm not sure I understand." Magnus was searching for an answer in his fiancé's face, an answer that seemed a million miles away.
"It's not that I'm afraid you're going to leave because I'm mortal. I'm afraid of hurting you when I die."
Magnus was stunned. That was not at all what he had expected. But the longer he looked at Alec, the more sense it made. His Alexander was always utterly selfless. Of course this wasn't causing Alec pain and grief because he was afraid of his own pain, of course he was worrying about Magnus and what this would do to him 50 or 60 years down the road.
"Alexander…no," Magnus was at a loss for words, tears were streaming down his face.
"Magnus, I'm just worried about what it will do to you once I'm gone. I'm terrified that something bad will happen to you because of it. You know that more than anything I just want you to be happy, to keep living your life the way you did before me. I feel selfish even asking you to marry me, like I'm doing it for myself."
Magnus gave a sigh of exasperation. "You? Asked me to marry you? If I remember correctly, Alexander, I asked you to marry me. It's not as if you're forcing me. There's nothing selfish about you marrying me. But here's the thing, I cannot live life the way I did before you. There's no going back to that. Not after loving you the way I have."
Alec looked like he was going to start crying, so Magnus began talking again. "I understand that you're scared that I'll try to follow you to the grave. But if that's not what you want, then I won't. I'll respect that wish enough to keep my word about it. But that doesn't mean that I won't mourn you. Look, in my entire life, I've never wanted to marry anyone. As an immortal, the thought of marriage repulsed me. Why would I marry someone just to have them either die or lose interest in me?" He looked Alec directly in the eyes.
"Then I met you." Alec gave a slight gasp, barely audible. "I met you and immediately thought that you were someone I could marry, someone worth the pain. Believe me when I tell you that this marriage means more to me than you will ever know, and I cannot bear the thought of losing you over my immortality."
"We have to show them, Clary!" Jace was practically screaming. He couldn't remember the last time he had yelled at Clary, at least, not unless she was doing something stupid in training.
"Do not yell at me, Jace!" Her voice was very clear, demanding that he listen to her, no matter how little she might be.
"Look, I'm sorry. It's just that Alec is hurting so badly. You might not be able to see it, Clary. But I can feel it. There's been a huge change in the bond, he's constantly hurting. He's not eating or sleeping right, and he's certainly not himself. This rune, this could be their hope, it could change everything."
"That's my point, Jace." Clary turned and walked to the opposite side of the room, arms crossed as though she wasn't about to let him get the better of her. "My point is that, what if Magnus says no to this? That could hurt Alec even more. Or what if something else goes wrong? I don't want to be the reason either Alec or Magnus is in any more pain than they both already are."
Jace sighed, she had a point, but then again, so much had changed since Magnus and Alec had broken up over Camille. So much was different now, there was no way that Magnus would ever say no to Alec being immortal.
He couldn't believe what he was about to do. Clary was going to be angry for days, maybe even weeks. Jace was going to have tons of making up to do. He made up his mind, however, quickly turned to the coffee table and grabbed Clary's journal.
"I'm sorry, Clary," his voice was soft, yet purposeful. "I have to do this. For Alec. Either come with me, or don't. But I'm letting them know about this one way or the other.