"You scared the crap out of me, you nugget!" Alec grabbed onto Max and decided right then and there that he was never letting him go.

"I can't breath-"

"Shhh, you nugget."

"Alec-"

"Stupid, stupid little nugget."

"But-"

"I'm never letting you go."

"Nooo-!"

"Okay, break it up," Jace said. He pulled Max off of Alec and Max jumped into Jace's arm like he was Jesus or something. Alec scoffed. What an absolute brat. "Max, for the sake of our sanity, please never do something that stupid again."

"But I told you, Magnus helped me!"

Alec sighed. For the past half hour that Max had been home, he'd been squeezing in bits and pieces of how he got back home through his family's smothering affection and Clary's broken apologies.

"How, exactly?" Jace growled. He still didn't like Magnus.

"He just kinda drove me home. And gave me this sweatshirt!" Max lifted his arms, showing off sleeves that went way past his hands. He looked cute like that, with his giant sweatshirt and crooked glasses and toothy grin.

"Yeah, yeah, the cop's a hero, we know." Jace rolled his eyes. "Did he ask you any invasive questions? Did he give you anything? Who else was there?"

"Um, invasive? I don't think so. I might've forgotten...but I don't think so. He just asked where Alec was and I said a friend's house. And he gave me a sweatshirt, I told you. I was there with... oh no!"

"What?!"

"My kitten! I brought a kitten to his house and forgot about it." Max sighed. "I guess he can take better care of it than I can."

Alec waved his hands, catching his lil' bro's attention. "Never mind the kitten. What happened after he asked you where I was? You said I was with a friend..." He motioned for Max to continue.

"He said, 'Wait, Alec has friends?!'"

"Wow, what a dick."

"That's not the point!" Jace gripped his hair. "The point is that the cops got a hold of our little brother! The same cop who's been chasing us down!"

"Yeah and he brought Max back," Alec said. "Not a big deal."

Jace turned to Max and pointed at Izzy, who was eating potato chips on the couch. "Izzy's gonna take you home," Jace said. "Alec and I are going to help out Jordan's men. Okay?"

Izzy raised an eyebrow. "'Scuse me?"

Jace rolled his eyes. "Please."

"Fine, fine. C'mon Maxxie."

Max grudgingly followed Izzy out the door. The second they were gone, Jace whirled on Alec. "Alec, this is a problem. Magnus knows where we live and he got to talk to Max. Who knows what kind of info Max gave him? And who knows how soon it'll take Bane to get an arrest warrant, and then what? We're screwed!"

"Magnus doesn't have enough info to get an arrest warrant," Alec argued. "The only evidence he has is his word that something fishy is going on. He has no way to identify you or me and he has no solid evidence of any sort of deals going on. You literally watched me melt his phone in a frying pan. We're safe."

Jace ran a stressful hand through his hair. "Okay, but he has a way to identify Max and Izzy. He'll take them in for questioning."

"They'll lie."

"Polygraphs, Alec! Polygraphs!"

Alec sighed. Jace was right, even if he was being annoying about it. And besides, Jace wasn't trying to be difficult. He was concerned about Max and Izzy. "Well, we just won't let the police find them. They only know the address for this house and we barely come here anyway."

Jace nodded, slightly reassured. "True."

Alec snorted and clapped Jace on the shoulder. "Alright, enough worrying. We've got a crime to commit." They both started out the door.

Jace grinned, thinking of Jordan's newest shipment. That was a shit ton of cocaine to unload. "We should do weed instead. It would probably be easier to unload than blocks of cocaine."

"I'm like seventy percent sure a bale of weed is heavy."

"But cocaine is, like, super heavy."

"Quit whining. I don't wanna deal weed, it's not as classy."

They walked out of their apartment. The sun hung low in the sky, so it was almost dark out.

Jace climbed into the front of one of their four cars. More cars they had, the harder it was to be identified. "Classy? Dude, cocaine ain't classy. Meth is. Meth is all the rage nowadays, with all those cool tv shows and whatnot."

"Ew, gross teeth."

"Hey, it's not like we're doing it."

"True, true. But still. We're not gonna start cooking meth. Are you kidding me? You can smell the meth lab on Andrews from here."

"Then we've gotta do weed! We gotta expand our horizons, man."

"Nope, weed's too mainstream."

"Onna these days I'm gonna punch you."

Alec shrugged.

Jace pulled up to the other shitty apartment they owned. It was big, level to the ground, and had a window the side alley of the apartment, to make storing drugs easy. The truck was parked out back and there were already men tossing bundles of cocaine bricks through the open window of the apartment. Another truck was parked right by the mouth of the alley, blocking the sight from most people. The pedestrians barely glanced, too caught up in their own lives to realize that what was being unloaded from the truck wasn't your everyday sodas and food items.

"This'll be the last time we order from Raphael," Alec mused.

Jace grinned. "I know. I can't wait to start working with big man Guzmán."

Alec thought of the long chat he'd had with the man and their next first order, which Guzmán and a few other men were going to oversee, as well as Alec himself.

Yep, the business was going smooth as usual.

Magnus leaned back on his couch and groaned. It was way too late for him to still be awake. Hours had passed since he'd dropped Max off and it was now a little after one in the morning.

His phone lit up with Ragnor's number and Magnus rolled his eyes. His friend must've been up stressing about Alec too. Figures, even on his day off he was thinking about work.

Magnus answered.

"Okay, so we know his name is Alexander and we know his last name is probably anything except Light. It's possibly Wayland, but there are no records of any Alexander Waylands. In fact, there are no records of him at all. He's a ghost, just like you said Isabelle and Maxwell Wayland were before their files suddenly and randomly popped up. Right?"

"Right."

"I fucking hate this kid."

Magnus laughed and thought of Alec's mischievous smile. He didn't hate Alec.

"Oh shut up, you're just as pissed as I am."

"Less. Nobody's as pissed as you are ever."

"Ugh. We'll have the search warrant by tomorrow, then we can scour that apartment for any illegal goodies. If we bump into a Wayland or three while we're there, we'll question them."

"What about Jace and Simon?"

Magnus hadn't withheld any information about the "Waylands," except his alone time with Max, the Wayland's connection to the seemingly clueless red-head girl, and the fact that Simon literally walked into the room with cocaine.

He probably should've said something about that last bit.

"We'll question them too. They aren't in the records either."

"Ew."

"But let's be real. Until we see any of them with possession of any illegal substances, we've got nothing. Sure, we know who we suspect. But innocent until proven guilty, you know. We need cocaine."

"Yeah, I really could use some cocaine right now. Call up Alexander."

"Oh, shut up! We need to chill out until the deal. That's what really matters."

"But that's not for a few days."

"Quit whining and go to bed."

Ragnor, the rude bastard, hung up.

Magnus tossed his phone to the side and slumped into the couch. The second he was actually kind of relaxed, his doorknob twisted open.

Magnus distinctly remembered locking the door. He was on his feet in seconds. "Hello?"

It should've been less surprising than it was when Alec walked through the door, gloves on and that stupid paperclip in his hand. "It's a little late for you to be awake, Bane. Ain't is past your bedtime?"

Magnus decided not to stoop so low to give him an answer to that question. "I hate that paperclip."

Alec pouted. "It's my trusty paperclip, Bessie."

"You named it Bessie?"

"Do you have a problem with the name Bessie? I rather figured you'd have more of a problem with the fact that I gave my paperclip a name, not that I named it Bessie."

Magnus' head hurt. "Why are you here-again?"

Alec walked in and plopped down on the couch, making himself at home. "I am upset with you."

"Why?"

"You seem to believe that I have no friends."

Magnus facepalmed. "Really? That's what you have a problem with? That's why you came here, putting yourself in danger?"

Alec nodded. "I do have friends. Simon is my friend, though he's a dweeb. Jace is my friend, though he's like a brother. I guess Clary's a friend, but she's...meh."

"That it? Three?"

Alec frowned. "I never claimed to have a lot of friends."

"Oh, good. Are we done here?"

Alec patted the spot on the couch next to him. Magnus sat.

"No. You helped my brother." Alec suddenly looked serious and it made Magnus a smidge uneasy. Alec became someone different when he let his facade drop. That caught Magnus' attention.

"Have you always worn a facade?" he found himself asking.

Alec smiled, less surprised than Magnus expected. He shrugged. "No, not always. It's kind of necessary for my business."

A perfectly honest answer.

Magnus felt that mood return, the one that made him kiss Alec. He wondered what it would be like, to give up the police and his ideals and just fall in love with Alec and become a part of his business. It was a fun thought, but he would never give up his own values for a pretty face.

"Thank you."

Magnus looked up in surprise and Alec looked shy, even blushing a little. "What?"

"Thank you, for helping Max out. He's kind of my whole world, and Jace and Izzy's whole world. If he were hurt I don't know what I would do with myself."

Magnus thought of the hospital and Max's bald head. "He has cancer, doesn't he?"

Alec nodded. "Acute lymphocytic leukemia. He'll be fine."

"Are you using money from the drugs to fund his treatment?" Magnus asked.

Something flashed in Alec's eyes. Uncertainty? He hesitated, but then said, "Yeah, it helps."

Was it justice to put someone behind bars, if he's trying to save his own little brother's life?

But then, the amount of overdoses that Alec indirectly caused? Yeah, it was justice.

"I hope he feels better soon." It was a lame thing to say. What did Max have, a cold? But Magnus never had anyone close to him become diagnosed with cancer, so he didn't know the feeling.

"He will. A few more treatments."

Alec suddenly looked worn and tired. He ran a hand through his hair and he just looked so sad right then, and so young, Magnus wanted to take him into his arms and hug him. Alec looked like the kind of guy who needed a hug.

"Need a hug?" Magnus asked.

Alec snorted. "No thanks."

The room was quiet for a bit, filled with awkward tension. Then Alec leaned forward and Magnus was pulled into his arms, which were solid and welcoming and comfortable. Magnus wrapped his own arms around Alec's narrow waist and let his head fall onto the criminal's shoulder.

It felt oddly right, being in Alec's arms.

Yup, this took a long time to write, I know, I'm sorry. Midterms have been taking over my life...