"What are you thinking about?" It was a rainy day, and Magnus was currently curled up on the couch with Alec's head in his lap. He'd been absentmindedly playing with Alec's hair, thinking about essentially everything under the sun. Alec was currently looking up at him, his curiosity clearly written on his face.

"Why do you ask, Alexander?" Magnus knew his voice was just barely even, but he had just so recently come out of his own thoughts that he didn't have the time to properly cover it up. Or maybe it was that he just didn't really care as far as Alec was concerned. He seemed to be able to relax much more, become himself easier, and he was slowly falling deeply in love with that fact.

Or maybe it was Alec he was slowly falling in love with. He couldn't quite tell any more.

He smiled when Alec chuckled. "You've been staring off into space for hours now, and your expression has changed so many times that I'm having trouble keeping track of which emotions you're going through."

Magnus looked back down at the open, innocent boy in his lap, this time, the curiosity was on his face. "You've been watching me?" His voice was much more open, much more raw than he thought it had ever been.

Alec sat up and scooted backward until his back was against Magnus's legs, then he leaned sideways into Magnus's arms. Without thinking, Magnus wrapped his arms around Alec. "You were too preoccupied to notice that I wasn't actually asleep, Magnus." Unexpectedly, Magnus's heart skipped a beat at the way Alec said his name. It wasn't like the way Jonathan had ever said it. It was full of joy and awe, and it gave Magnus the oddest of feelings.

"Well, Alexander, do you want me to answer your question honestly or answer with what you most likely want to hear?" Alec stared back at him, a slightly anxious expression slowly creeping over his face.

After a few seconds of silence, Alec surprised Magnus even more by reaching up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "You tell me whatever you want, but if there's something going on, and I think there is, then you should know that I'm always here to help."

Magnus was momentarily speechless. There was such innocence and gentleness within Alec that Magnus was sometimes unsure that he was a Shadowhunter. Magnus had met many Shadowhunters throughout his life, far too many it seemed, but he had never met one who could be the fierce killer they were trained to be one second and overly loving and kind the next.

Leaning down further into Alec, Magnus couldn't help but place his lips gently on Alec's. He marveled in the way Alec always seemed to softly gasp when Magnus's lips found his. The kiss was long and soft, and Magnus couldn't help but think about how perfectly Alec fit into his arms, how perfect it felt to have Alec's lips against his own.

When they broke apart, Magnus brushed the hair out of Alec's eyes. "Honestly, Alexander, I was thinking about you." At that, Alec's entire face lit up with a smile.

"Good things, I hope," was his response, his voice full of amusement.

Magnus bent down once more, kissing Alec's forehead. "What else would I be thinking, Alexander?"

"Magnus, what are you doing?" Alec's voice was eerie, full of a fear Magnus had never heard. He wrapped his arms around Alec from behind and leaned in to whisper in Alec's ear.

"Don't worry, Alexander, it will all be over soon, I promise." He snapped his fingers and then proceeded to catch Alec before he hit the ground.

Jace looked down at his phone, utterly confused as to who would be calling him at this time of night. His heart rate immediately picked up at that thought, if someone was calling him in the middle of the night, then there was something terribly wrong. He thought of Clary, and as he looked down to see an unknown number pop up on his phone, he became even more terrified.

Finally, he picked it up to answer it, his voice shaking slightly. "Hello?"

His heart skipped a beat when he heard the voice on the other end of the line. "Jonathan, son. I think we need to have a talk."

Jace tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but he couldn't seem to find the ability to do so. "What do you want, Valentine?" He felt sick when he heard Valentine chuckle, it was a cold, hard laugh, and Jace could tell that it was borderline evil.

"Valentine? You wound me, son." Jace could tell by the tone of his voice that Valentine was smiling. He was unsure he had ever been so scared of what his father might be up to. "Anyways, I just sort of thought that you might appreciate knowing that I have someone who means a lot to you," he paused, supposedly for dramatic emphasis. "And I'm going to hurt them if you don't get here soon."

At first, Jace began to panic, but then he remembered the best way to try to deal with his father. "You're bluffing," he said, hoping that his voice sounded as confident as possible, despite what he was feeling. "You don't have anyone; you just want me to come to you."

"Do you really want to risk that? Tell me you honestly think I'm bluffing, son, and we'll see what happens after that."

Taking a deep breath, Jace began speaking again. "I honestly think you're bluffing." The last words were barely out of his mouth when Jace heard an awful scream full of pain come from the phone. At first, he thought it was no one he knew, just another one of Valentine's ploys to lure him in, but he began to feel the pain in his parabatai rune, and he was running out of his room before he even had time to ask his father where he was.

As Jace ran to find his father, the worst of feelings began forming in his chest. The further he ran, the worse the pain in his parabatai rune became. He couldn't believe he had said that to his father, he couldn't believe that it was Alec who was being hurt. And because of him no less.

The worst part of having to get to Alec was the fact that all he could do was think. Think about what would happen if he got there too late. Think about how badly they were having to hurt Alec if he was feeling it through their runes. Think about how he had only thought of Clary from the moment his phone had begun to ring, how Alec had never once crossed his mind until he had begun screaming in pain. Pain that Jace had put him in.

He rushed up the steps of the warehouse his father was using without pausing for a breath. When he reached the top landing, he saw Jonathan standing over Alec, and all he could think about was hurting Jonathan as badly as he had been hurting Alec.

Before he could take another step forward, however, his father was in front of him, a sword in hand. "Make the wrong move, Jace, and he'll die very swiftly." As Jace stood there trying to figure out what to do or what to say, Alec finally stopped screaming, and Jace realized that Jonathan had finally stepped away from him and toward Valentine.

All Jace could think to say was, "How did you get Alec here in the first place? He should have been safe where he was."

Valentine smiled, a terribly malicious smile that sent chills down Jace's spine. "You see, Jace, we had a bit of help with that."

When Valentine stopped talking, Jace felt his stomach drop and he immediately felt as though he was going to be sick. He watched in silence as Magnus waltzed in the room, going directly to Jonathan's side and wrapping an arm around him.