Disclaimer: I own nothing. Absolutely nothing, that accomplishment goes to the lovely Cassandra Clare.

Sorry for the wait. Some days I got halfway through it and my computer erased the update because it had an update. I had a bit of an issue nailing the beginning. Once again, I apologize. This was originally quite a bit longer, but I got logged out and it got erased :( Anyway, here it is.

The dawn had seemed to come much too quickly for Alec. Granted, all he had been truly doing was sleeping in the mean time. The morning had been filled with goodbyes though, even if he wouldn't bee gone for so long, or even all that far away. His siblings had shed tears, and everyone had managed to snag one good goodbye hug out of him. Despite everything that went on within the Institute, all of it's residents' faults he would miss them dearly. He loved them, warts and all.

An hour later Alec found himself cradled in Magnus's arms, albeit a bit uncomfortably. The warlock had said that he shouldn't be walking yet, since he could easily injure himself with a fall. After all, apparently his legs weren't strong enough to support him yet; a side effect of the demon's poison.

Therefore, since Magnus was going to be the only other person going to his apartment with Alec it had only made since that he would be the one to carry him through the portal. The portal that was currently waiting for the rather odd pair to pass through it before it could close.

His family was gathered around him, or, at least the younger generation of his family. Izzy was comforting Max, both of them crying, while beside them Jace was embracing Clary as they watched his parabatai.

"Don't forget me, Alec," Max murmured, his face showing a child like glimmer of concern and fear at the idea of his elder brother forgetting him.

"I won't, Max, I promise. I'll even fire message you every single day." Alec replied comfortingly to his brother, giving him a slight, warm smile. There was no way that he would forget his little brother, nor his younger sister.

"As much as I love the goodbyes," Magnus stated, a bit dryly, "We must be on our way before the portal decides to close and I have to summon it back."

Alec glared up, slightly in response to Magnus's statements, repeating his goodbyes as the others chorused the same, filled with 'I love you's' and 'Don't forgets,' mostly from Max. The oddball pair's legs carried Alec through the portal and to the apartment in but a mere second.

-ALEC-MAGNUS-ALEC-MAGNUS-ALEC-MAGNUS-

"Here we are!" Magnus announced, depositing Alec on a cot in the middle of his reorganized living room. He must have been getting this ready when he left last night. Alec thought idly, smiling gratefully at the older warlock. He was touched by it, by even the simple gesture he had made to take Alec in and make sure he stayed healthy and on the road to recovery.

"Thank you." Alec stated, causing the warlock to grin back at him.

"It's the least I can do. After all, black hair and blue eyes are my favorite combination!" Magnus replied cheerfully, reaching over to almost playfully ruffle Alec's hair.

In the meantime, though, Alec's face began to resemble a bit of a tomato in response to the remark. What was that supposed to mean? Had the warlock figured something out? Had Izzy talked to Magnus in hopes of getting him to crawl just a bit out of his shell? Alec thought, his thoughts flying about as he tried to interpret the meaning of the warlock's words.

"Don't hurt yourself little Shadowhunter. It won't do you much good." Magnus commented in a bemused tone, taking in Alec's ruffled and wholly surprised appearance.

"How did you know?" Alec murmured, his voice almost desperate to connect the dots.

"You're in the High Warlock of Brooklyn's humble abode. There isn't anything that I don't know." Magnus retorted lightly, almost trying to comfort the young Shadowhunter boy.

"Izzy didn't say anything, did she?" Alec queried, trying to verify the warlock's sources behind all of this, his eyes still flickering nervously.

"No, she didn't, but we'll just have to see about all of this."

And then Alec watched as Magnus, the esteemed High Warlock of Brooklyn, pressed a kiss to Alec's cheek before turning and leaving the room, chuckling with almost devious amusement all the way.

Alec's hand tentatively touched his cheek as his mind once again whirled, this time with a different question.

What just happened?