Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews and your continued support! I consider myself to be very lucky to have readers who are enjoying these stories. None of this would be very enjoyable without you!

Chapter 1

After packing and accepting several gifts from their hosts, Will and Magnus shouldered their knapsacks and stepped over to a shimmering Portal Magnus had drawn.

"London," Magnus said. He looked into Will's eyes and Will looked back.

"London," Will confirmed. Magnus held his hand out and Will took it, intertwining his fingers with Magnus's. Magnus took a deep breath, then stepped into the Portal, pulling Will after him.

Will closed his eyes and thought of the London Institute. He saw the front lawn, green with grass. There was a path of stones leading up to the front and in the spring there were vines curling up and over the steps leading to the door.

Portaling didn't feel awful but it certainly didn't feel good either. Mainly he just felt his stomach in his throat, but Magnus's hand held his tightly. Then there was the jarring sensation of landing, followed by a cold feeling, seeping into the thin leather shoes Will was wearing. When Will had left London in November, the ground outside the Institute had been brown with death. Now, when Will opened his eyes, he only saw blinding white light.

"Will," Magnus said. Will staggered backwards, disoriented, but Magnus held Will's hand and helped Will get his balance. Will looked around, blinking like an animal that had woken up to soon from a long winter nap. He turned back to Magnus to see snow falling between them. Large flakes of snow stuck in Magnus's hair, showing up brilliant white against his black hair. For a second they only looked at one another, each breathing hard.

Will recalled a cool summer day, a rainstorm in the middle of the afternoon, a hard marble bench, and a fever hot body beneath his. He thought about the look Magnus got on his face when he was with a man he loved. Magnus had given so much of himself even as he took everything from Will. Magnus had the power to make Will feel unhinged, and all Will wanted to do now was press his lips to Magnus's and feel unhinged again.

"Will," Magnus whispered. He reached up and traced a finger down Will's cheek. He licked his hips and got the look on his face that said he wanted to say something and wasn't sure how. "Will, I just wanted to say-"

"Fuck!" Will cried. He bolted through knee deep snow across the front lawn of the Institute and dashed up the front steps. Magnus followed, laughing. Once at the door, Will kicked the snow from his feet and looked around to see a heavy layer of snow covering everything. The sun was just coming up and was beginning to cast the snow in shades of pink.

Will looked up at the front door to the Institute and tried to feel something for this place. He never considered the London Institute to be his "home" but rather just a place to stay. He thought he might eventually find a new place to live but then Jem showed up and it was just easier for Will to stay at the Institute.

"Are you alright?" Magnus asked. Will shrugged, grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and pulled. A thick layer of ice covering the door finally broke loose, and Will walked inside of the Institute. He held the door open and Magnus walked inside as well.

There was a tremendous hiss and a dark grey ball of fur skittered across the floor and bolted up the steps.

"Great. Now everyone is going to know I'm home!" Will exclaimed. "I just wanted to come back and go to my room and-"

"You've been gone for two months. You've come back to your family. You can't just hide in your room and not talk to anyone about anything," Magnus said. "Come on. I'm sure they are having breakfast and as I recall you haven't had any." Will rolled his eyes and started up the steps, but Magnus remained in the foyer, causing Will to turn around and look at him.

"You care that I haven't had breakfast," Will said. "You care about me."

"When have I not cared about you?" Magnus asked. "Will, I just wanted to say that-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Will said. His voice cracked. "What did you think, Magnus? That I would wait six months and then want to be with you? I hurt you and you forgave me and you said if I hurt you again, you would never forgive me. I don't deserve your forgiveness."

"Then deserve my love," Magnus said. "I forgive you. I know you've hurt people before, and I know they never forgave you, but I forgive you. What happened in the past can be left in the past. I want to move forward and I want to be with you, as your friend, as your lover, as anything. I love you, Will, and I want to be with you." Magnus looked up at Will, his eyes full of cautious expectation.

Will had seen Magnus's eyes show so many different feelings. He had seen Magnus appear joyously happy, madly in love, and broken to the core, which was how Magnus's eyes had looked when he discovered Jem and Will together beneath the apple tree. Without saying a word, Magnus had been able to convey the fact that everything he thought to be true between he and Will was suddenly a lie Will had told, and he was unable to know what, if anything, had been the truth.

"Say something," Magnus said, "say anything."

"I don't feel the same," Will said. "Now are you coming upstairs with me, or not?"

They walked upstairs together in silence and arrived at the second floor of the Institute, where the dining room, was located. As Will got closer to the door to the dining room, his stomach started to hurt and his steps became difficult, because walking into the dining room meant coming home to the place where Jem no longer lived. Will thought about the hundreds of meals he and Jem had shared in the dining room, and then he thought of a hundred different places he could go that were worlds away from here. He could go to any of those places and pretend that Jem was still alive.

"No. I can't do this," Will said. He stopped short and turned around, prepared to run, but Magnus grabbed him by the arms and held him back. "Let me go."

"No."

"Let- me- GO!" Will felt hot tears collect in his eyes and he fought back against Magnus, but where there should have been the strength to get away, there was none. Will struggled for a moment and then went slack, forcing Magnus to shove him against the wall to keep him from collapsing onto the floor.

"Breathe," Magnus whispered. Will sunk his fingers into the back of Magnus's jacket and allowed Magnus to press him against the wall. They had done this once before, when Will was sure Jem had totally lost his mind. Magnus had held Will this way in the kitchen and had told Will that love was being held by someone who wanted nothing in return.

Will took a painful breath and clung tighter to Magnus. He never thought he could need someone he didn't even want.

"Breathe," Magnus whispered. Will looked deep into Magnus's cat-like eyes and took several deep breathes.

"I can't do this. I can't live without him," Will said. "Not here. Not anywhere."

"You can, and you will," Magnus said. Will closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Magnus's shoulder.

The moment was shattered by the sound of laughter coming from the dining room. Will shivered in surprise and recovered the use of his muscles. Magnus let him go and stepped back, and Will looked down at the floor, avoiding the eyes that had been his only saving grace a second before.

"I'm right here," Magnus said. "If you need me, I'm right behind you. I promise." He rested a hand on Will's back and shoved him toward the door, and this time, Will went willingly. He got to the door to the dining room and pushed it open as someone else laughed.

At the head of the table, Henry's cheeks were bright red. Charlotte had just thrown her head back in laughter. To Charlotte's left sat Tessa, who had a napkin to her mouth, her eyes shining with tears, and across from her, Jessamine had a hand to her chest. Sophie sat beside Jessamine, a huge grin on her face, but the laughter ceased when Henry looked up and saw Will. One by one, everyone's heads turned, until there were four pairs of eyes staring at Will.

"Will," Tessa said. Will looked over at her, and then stepped backwards, but he felt Magnus's hand on his lower back, right behind him, as promised.

Charlotte jumped up and hurried over to Will. She looked him over the way a mother might, assessing him for all sorts of reasons. Then she attempted to embrace Will, but he avoided her arms.

"What's so funny?" Will asked. He looked at the sidebar in the dining room, which was filled with food, and thought about how nice it was that Charlotte suddenly had three daughters and no sons.

"Nothing at all," Charlotte said. Will turned his eyes back to Charlotte and looked her over. Not shockingly, she avoided his eyes.

"If Jessamine laughed, it had to have been funny," Will said. "C'mon, Charlotte. I could use a good laugh."

"Well, then…" Charlotte began, "I'm pregnant." Will looked her up and down again, settling his eyes on his stomach, which had grown bigger. He just stared at it and thought that people had such strange ways of dealing with the immeasurable grief.

"Well, then," Will said.

"I was feeling quite terrible… just after you left for Paris. I had headaches, stomach troubles… I fell asleep at my desk often, so I went to see the Silent Brothers, who revealed to me that I am about three months pregnant. I said to them, I can't be pregnant! I'm a Shadowhunter!" Charlotte exclaimed. Henry laughed as Jessamine, Sophie, and Tessa all grinned.

"That's not funny," Will said. "That just means you had sex and now you'll reap the consequences of that foolish endeavor. Look at your husband. You're going to have a child with that man? He sets himself on fire and doesn't even notice."

"I understand you might be upset…" Charlotte began.

"I would never care enough to be upset about something," Will said. "So are there any other announcements? Anything else… funny… going on here?" Will walked the length of the table and noticed that Tessa and Sophie had begun wearing their hair in French braids. "Well? We know Tessa can't get pregnant, but Jessamine can, so I'll be certain to never sneeze in her presence…" Will noticed an emerald ring on Jessamine's left hand. She pushed her hand beneath the table, but it was too late. "Jessamine? Have you something funny to tell me?"

"It's not funny. I'm engaged," Jessamine said. Will laughed, loudly and obnoxiously.

"My, that is funny," Will said. "Who is the lucky man?" Henry looked at Charlotte, and then to Jessamine. "Well? Please let it be some loser mundane…"

"It's Gabriel Lightwood," Jessamine said.

"You traitorous bitch," Will spit out.

"I owe you nothing, Herondale." Jessamine gave Will a frosty glare he ignored.

"Anything else I should know?" Will asked. "Is Church going to have kittens? Is Benedict having an affair with Mortmain?" Will settled his eyes on Sophie, who looked back at him, her hands folded on the table before her.

"I'm going to have a boy," Sophie said. "Today I was considering Henry for a middle name. What do you think of James Henry, Will?"

Will gripped the back of a chair and stared into Sophie's warm brown eyes. Sophie used to be afraid of him, but that was before they had lost the man they had both loved. Now, she looked at him like an equal, and perhaps, they were equals.

"That's a terrible name. Just awful," Will said.

"Well, if you had come home before now, you would have had a chance to give me your opinion," Sophie said. "As for now, I'm caught between James Henry and James Thomas…"

"If you hadn't spread your legs for Jem on the one night I rejected him you wouldn't have to debate baby names!" Will exclaimed.

"If he hadn't loved you the way he did maybe you would have been the one to die, and not him!" Sophie cried.

"Do you think I wanted him to martyr himself for me?" Will asked. "Honestly, Sophie. I would have killed myself if doing so would have given him just one more day on this earth." Sophie shoved a butter knife across the table and Will gaped at her. He struggled to form a proper insult but for himself at a loss for words.

"That's enough out of both of you," Charlotte said.

"This has been a most productive breakfast," Will said. "On second thought, I'm not hungry. I'm going up to my room now. It's in the same place, right? Or did you change it the way you did everything else?"

"It's in the same place," Charlotte said reassuringly. "I know traveling by Portal can be tiring. Why don't you go settle in? I'll send Beatrice up to collect your laundry." Will vaguely recalled the Institute hiring a new maid after Sophie had vacated her post, but Will had never been formally introduced and hadn't cared to meet her anyway.

"Wonderful," Will said. "I'll get everything together." Charlotte smiled.

"Also, Henry and I need to speak to you and Sophie," Charlotte said. "Can you meet in the drawing room in about a half an hour?"

"I don't see why not," Will said. He beamed to all of the Institute's residents. "It's nice to be home." Sophie and Jessamine looked indifferent, but Tessa smiled back.

"We're happy to have you back, Will," she said.

Will gave them all a nod, and then walked out of the dining room, with Magnus just behind him. Will wanted to tell Magnus to just leave him alone, and he wanted Magnus to come with him to his room and help him forget about everything, the way he had last night.

"That could have gone worse," Magnus said. Will just shook his head and got to the steps leading upstairs. He began up the steps but found that Magnus was no longer beside him. He turned to see Magnus still at the bottom of the steps.

"Do you need me here?" Magnus asked. Will shook his head. "I'm going to go home. I want to get settled in myself. Perhaps I'll stop by this afternoon? We could have tea."

"Tea, right, of course," Will said. "Don't feel obligated to come back. I know you're busy. I'll see you around."

"Don't be that way," Magnus said. He climbed the steps and stood face to face with Will. He touched Will's arm and Will pulled away, putting some distance between them. "I had a wonderful time traveling the world with you. I just want to go home for a little while and get unpacked. I'll be back in a little while, and we can do whatever you want. Would you like to sit in the alcove? I'll bring over a good book and we can read."

"What I want is for you to just leave me alone," Will said. "I told you. I don't deserve your forgiveness, or the love you offer. I don't want to be with you. Just please leave me alone."

"I told you I would be here," Magnus said. "I know, it would be easier if I just let you go, wouldn't it? But being easy and being worth the fight are two separate things. I told you before. I want to be with you. Anyway. Anyhow. Anywhere."

"I can't," Will said. "Now please, leave me alone. Never come back here, Magnus. I don't want you here."

"I love you," Magnus said, once more. "I love you, and I'll be back later." He kissed Will on the cheek but Will pushed him away and ran up the stairs. He didn't stop until he got to the door to his room. Jem used to live in the room right beside his, and Will used to go to sleep every night to the steady sound of Jem's breathing.

Now, Will ignored the door to Jem's room and went into his room instead, forcing himself not to cry.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Feel free to review. I really do appreciate your thoughts! Also, I know I put up a teaser at the end of Leave the Lights Off and said it would be in Chapter 1, but Chapter 1 became massive and I had to cut it in half. I promise it shows up in Chapter 2. But here is another teaser because I do feel bad:

"It can be our little secret," Will said. "I won't tell anyone. I'll keep this secret all to myself. I'm very good at keeping secrets."