Alec and Magnus had been walking for about ten minutes and in those ten minutes, in Magnus' opinion, Alec must have checked over his shoulder at least thirty times.

"You know if you're this paranoid we could always return to the institute," Magnus teased.

Alec gave him a look. "I'm not paranoid there is someone out to kill me and has nearly succeeded at one point. I'm being careful, not paranoid."

Magnus blanched at the reminder and Alec immediately felt guilty. Damn his inability to use words as eloquently as Jace could.

"I didn't mean like that Magnus this isn't your fault. Besides staying at the institute is probably the riskiest thing at the moment I'm pretty sure half the institute is plotting my death just to get rid of Jace."

Magnus visibly brightened, "Or to get rid of the filthy downworlder. Do you think they're going to burn every piece of furniture I've touched? You know demon pox and all?"

Alec chuckled and shook his head, "They don't really have a problem with you Magnus."

Magnus snorted. "Time has done nothing for your ability to lie Alec."

Alec blushed a bit, both for the comment and the way his name slid off Magnus' tongue, realizing he was becoming like one of those cheesy mundanes from those terrible TV shows Magnus used to force him to watch.

"And to think I once believe California was one of the more progressive states."

Alec laughed, "The affairs of the mundanes in the area reflect very little on the one's of Shadowhunter's Magnus."

"Touché," Magnus replied.

Alec bit his lip, knowing this conversation had to be steered in the right direction at some point. They couldn't ignore "the elephant in the room", as Simon would say, forever.

"I once thought no Shadowhunters could get worse than the ones in Venice. . . "

"To be fair, you did set part of the Institute on fire."

"It was an accident and I was quick to put it out!"

Alec smiled. "I used to really want to go there again with you. I thought it was something we would do every summer."

That did it. The mood immediately sobered and Magnus looked stricken. Alec looked up, once again cursing his inability to say anything the right or clever way. He immediately tried to correct himself.

"I'm sorry- I didn't mean it like that!"

Magnus shook his head, but still looked hurt.

"No, that's the point of this walk isn't it? To talk about things, this is things."

Alec nodded, but he still felt guilty. It was strange how three years of anger had dissipated so quickly upon learning the truth. But he needed more than just that now. Three years was a long time, at least for a mortal. Had he changed to the point he and Magnus no longer fit right? If Alec were perfectly honest, that was something he had always feared, even when they were together. A break up had just made him ten times more paranoid.

Alec chewed his lip, wishing he had a better way to start the conversation, wishing he had made a smoother transition. But, he was Alec and what came out of his mouth was anything but that.

"Wasn't there a better way to protect me than to break up with me? I mean you're a High Warlock, wasn't there some spell or something . . ."

Alec trailed off, not quite knowing where he was going with this. His breathing was fast and he didn't realize until now how unnerved the break up made him.

"Alec I've wondered the same thing for years now," Magnus began, and Alec was relieved to know he wasn't the only one who wondered this.

"It was an in the moment decision, I had no idea what Donavan was capable of at the time. In fact, we still don't. I did what I thought would protect you at the time, despite the pain it caused us both."

Alec nodded, catching Magnus' gaze and holding it with his own.

"Did you ever think about coming here and explaining everything? I mean there had to be times when you thought this wasn't the best way."

Magnus nodded. "There certainly were."

Alec stared at him, waiting on the warlock to elaborate.

"The thing is, Donavan didn't know where you were because of this spell and if I came here there was a possibility of you being in danger again."

"I'm a Shadowhunter; I'm always in danger Magnus."

"Yes, but not because of me, if anything happened to you because of me, I don't know what I'd do."

Magnus' voice was tight with emotion and Alec wanted to say something of comfort, but the warlock continued, cutting off his opportunity to do so.

"I know this hurt you Alec and believe me it kills me inside that any of your pain was caused by something I did. But I thought it was better than anything he would do. I knew him in a time when he would flay mundanes alive for fun. There was no telling what he would do to you just to get back at me, and I know him- it would be unbearable even for a rough and tough Shadowhunter such as yourself."

Alec blinked, "You're here now."

"That's because he found out where you were. I'm not sure how but he did, and the second I knew he was headed here I found your family and told them where I was going and gave them the opportunity to come with me."

Alec blinked; he had yet to find out just how much his family knew about this.

Magnus chuckled. "Jace and Isabelle told me to open a portal right that second, they weren't even going to bother packing."

Alec shook his head and chuckled, but couldn't deny that his heart swelled with pride and love at the thought of his siblings being so excited to see him.

"How long did they know?"

Magnus shrugged.

"Well they did come by my apartment in an attempt to maim me. While I may have been drowning in a pool of self-pity I certainly wasn't ready to die, so I did the only thing I could in the moment, and that was tell the truth. When they heard, they of course wanted to go find and kill Donavan. That however is rather impossible at this point as he doesn't even technically exist in this world-"

"Magnus," Alec interrupted.

Magnus blinked and tilted his head, "Yes?"

"You're rambling."

Magnus smiled, missing his Shadowhunter's ever present bluntness.

"I guess I was, I just don't quite know how to explain everything to you."

There was silence again and Alec was thinking things over, Magnus watched him do this, and he knew Alec well enough, even after all this time, to know that it's best not to interrupt whatever deep thoughts he was having.

Whoever was calling, however, didn't know this was probably the worst time to do so.

Alec sighed, clearly unhappy with the interruption, but he answered anyway.

"Hello," Alec answered, his tone sour.

"Alec? Where are? Are you alright? Where the fuck are you?"

Magnus could hear Izzy from where he was, and she sounded hysterical. He knew he was forgetting to do something before he left, but he was so anxious to finally talk to Alec he forgot to let the others know they were leaving. Probably not the best idea considering a murderous lunatic was after Alec.

"I'm fine Iz. I'm here with Magnus we're just," Alec didn't get to finish his sentence before Izzy interrupted him.

"Never mind, you two have fun bye!" Isabelle squeaked cheerfully, giggling and hanging up before Alec could respond.

Alec stared at his phone and shook his head with a laugh.

"What did she want?" Magnus asked, though he already heard the conversation and was containing his own laughter.

He also made a mental note to buy Isabelle a nice pair of shoes for her efforts in getting the two back together.

"That was Iz she wanted to know where I was. When she found out I was with you she squealed and hung up."

Magnus joined Alec in laughter, "I think the girl is two minutes away from writing her own fan fiction."

Alec stopped laughing and his brows knit together in confusion, not understanding what Magnus just said.

"What is that?"

Magnus smiled, loving the adorable look Alec got when he didn't understand something.

"It's a mundane thing, sorry."

Alec nodded his head, that answer was good enough for him.

He gnawed on his lower lip, and seemed to be back in whatever deep thought he was so lost in earlier. After a few moments Alec looked up at Magnus, who had been watching him this whole time and Alec wanted to kiss the warlock so badly it almost hurt.

All his worry about the years changing their relationship have faded, because just walking with Magnus makes him feel ten times better than he has in years and he knows there is no one else but Magnus for him no matter how much time changes things, it doesn't change that Magnus is it for him. It was as simple as that, Magnus Bane was 'the one' as mundanes would say.

Alec leaned in and Magnus seems to follow suit, their lips almost touching when Alec heard his name being called. He turned to the person headed his way and saw Dan, his werewolf friend. Alec raised his brow and realized he hadn't seen the man since he was attacked. He was almost surprised at how excited Dan seemed to be to see him. Dan reached him and pulls Alec into a bone crushing hug, surprising the Nephilim again.

"My boy, I didn't know you were going to make it." Dan said happily as he let Alec go.

Alec blinked, as if unsure of what just happened, and Dan turned to Magnus who had been watching the whole scene suspiciously.

"You're the warlock who saved him right?"

Magnus just nodded, and looked to Alec as if he was sizing up the werewolf.

Dan stared between them, and his eyes lit up in recognition.

"You must be the infamous Magnus Bane then," Dan said offering his hand.

Magnus was slightly taken back but took the man's hand, wincing a bit at his strong grip.

"Many drunken nights spent talking about you," Dan said with a laugh. "Glad to see you're finally back together. Lightwood here is a lot more fun when he's not moping."

Alec blushed and stared at his feet, unhappy Magnus now knew how many of his nights over the past years had been spent.

"Well," Dan said, clapping Alec on the shoulder, "It was good seeing you and glad you're alright. Though a call would have been nice, I spent half my night with my pack tracking to track down the damn demon to no avail and I still didn't know if you were even alive!"

"Sorry," Alec replied, genuinely apologetic.

Dan just laughed. "Well next time you recover from a near death experience let a guy know! I was worried."

Alec nodded. "Will do."

"Well if you or Magnus ever need a place to drink you know where you can go. Lord knows I'd need a couple drinks living with those damn hunters with the sticks up their asses."

Magnus laughed and they both waved as Dan departed.

"Hmm I kind of like him." Magnus said, mostly to himself.

Alec turned to Magnus and stared. "Yeah, he's a good friend."

"You seem to have made some good friends while you were here," Magnus noted.

Alec nodded, not sure what that had to do with anything.

"It's just I remember a time the only people you considered your friends were your family members."

Alec shrugged and smiled, turning to look Magnus in the eyes as he leaned close to him, "That was before I met you."

And maybe a little bit had to do with Clary, after all without the little ginger he wouldn't have met Magnus and thus branched out so much. But that was not nearly as romantic to say.

Magnus smiled and leaned in as well, the two desperate to kiss as they wanted to earlier- when Alec's phone went off again.

Magnus balled his hands in his fists and Alec though he may have seen the familiar blue flames dancing around the edge of his fingers.

"Hello?" Alec answered, not even bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Alec, where are you?" This voice was calmer but the worry is obvious. It's Jenna.

"I went for a walk with Magnus," Alec calmly explained feeling a bit bad for answering her so rudely. He had a soft spot for the kind woman.

"Oh well could you please get back to the institute? There's been some suspicious activity and we're worried."

Alec licked his lip and though he'd much rather stay out with Magnus, he knew it was his duty to do as they ask.

"Alright, we'll be there shortly," Alec replied.

"OK, and Alec?"

"Yes?"

"Please be careful."

"I will be," Alec replied softly and hung up.

He sighed and turned to Magnus, "We're needed at the Institute. There's been-"

"Suspicious activity, I know I heard."

Alec could tell Magnus was annoyed by the interruptions, but it wasn't like they had a choice.

He watched as Magnus turns back to the Institute when he grabbed the warlock and pulled him into a kiss. The warlock stumbled against him, his footing unsteady.

Alec grabbed the warlock by his shoulders to stabilize him, and Magnus settled into the kiss and Alec twined his hands in the warlock's silky hair. He missed this feeling- Jasper's hair and lips felt nothing like this. He felt the warlock's tongue press against his lips and he opened his mouth a bit to allow their tongues to tangle together. Alec moaned when Magnus pulled him even closer, his ringed hands tangling in the necklace he had given Alec earlier. Slowly and reluctantly Alec put his hands on Magnus' chest and Magnus conceded, stopping the kiss and just pressing their foreheads together.

"That was amazing," Magnus whispered, and his breathing was as uncontrolled as Alec's.

Alec, unable to speak still, just nodded.

They were both just silent, happy to just stand on the nearly empty sidewalk, still pressed against each other.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly did I do to deserve that?"

Alec shrugged, slowly pulling away, and grabbing Magnus' hand to pull him in the direction of the Institute.

"I feel like I owe you for having to deal with those 'damn hunters with the sticks up their asses'" Alec joked and Magnus smiled, almost feeling likes he was floating.

"Besides I do believe a wise man once told me when you're dating someone there is an unspoken agreement that allows you to kiss whenever you want."

Magnus smiled, remembering the conversation precisely.

"This wise man seems to know what he's talking about."

Alec shrugged. "Occasionally he gets a thing or two right."

Magnus was beaming now, happy to have his teasing Alec back.

Alec then turned to him, his face serious and worried.

"So you're okay with it then?"

Magnus crinkled his brow, "Okay with that?"

Alec gestured between the two of them, "With us. Dating again I mean."

Magnus stared and it was all he could do to hold in his laughter. He made his intention quite clear and still his little Shadowhunter wasn't sure if he still wanted him. His Alec was still himself, endearingly self-conscious.

"I'm OK with anything that allows me to kiss you anytime I want."

Alec flushed and nodded, "Well alright then, I guess this means Isabelle can start her fan fiction or whatever you called it earlier."

And with that comment, Magnus burst into laughter, tossing his head back as Alec watched with a smile.