Hello there! I apologize for the delay, but some things got a little out of control. I didn't have my laptop with me all last week and I couldn't edit the chapter with my iPad, the google docs app kept crashing and crashing, I don't know why that's happening with this particular file, I guess it's too heavy or something because every time I try to scroll down it shuts down...anyway, I have my laptop with me now so that will no longer be a problem. (◡‿◡✿)

Enjoy this chapter and don't forget to leave kudos and/or comments and to bookmark the story!

See you in a couple of days ;)

Chapter 20

After Alec left, Magnus had some cereal for breakfast and immediately went to bed to get some rest. When he woke up, he looked at his phone and realized that although it seemed that he had slept for a whole day, it was just a little after noon, and since he had nothing better to do, he decided to go and visit his old friend Catarina.

It hadn't been that long since the last time they had seen each other or talked, but he had promised her—a long, long time ago—that when he finally finished paying his debt to his father and was free from the shackles of his past, she would be one of the first people to know. She knew Magnus's story and was well aware of everything he had gone through since he was a child, so he couldn't wait to see her reaction when she found out what he had done and all the things that had changed in such a short time.

Magnus knew that Catarina was probably working, that woman was more addicted to work than Alexander and that was saying something, but fortunately, the hospital where she served as a nurse wasn't that far from Magnus's place. In fact, it was within walking distance, so without wasting any more time, Magnus took a quick shower, grabbed his coat and walked out of his home, arriving at the hospital in almost no time.

Visiting her at work always brought him many memories, since he had been old enough to remember, hospitals had been a very important part of his life. The whiteness, the coldness, the cleanliness, everything was familiar, and although it was still hard for him to visit them, over the years the task had become easier, never easy, but definitely easier.

"Magnus! What are you doing here? I'm so glad to see you so soon!" She exclaimed, the minute she spotted him in the hallway walking toward her.

"Cat!" Magnus said, hugging her with the same love and affection as always. "I came to see you, I have some very good news to share with you, are you free anytime soon?" He asked.

She looked at her watch and smiled. "Give me ten minutes and I'll be," she said, "my lunch break is about to start, so if you don't mind waiting, we can go get something to eat at the cafe across the street, they have very good food."

"Sure, no problem." Magnus said, taking a seat in one of the chairs in the hallway. "I'll wait for you here, don't take too long, okay?"

"I won't." She said.

Twenty minutes later, they were crossing the street and entering the small cafe. The place was packed, many people seemed to be on their lunch break too, but they managed to find an empty booth at the far end of the small establishment and sat down, quickly ordering something to eat. They knew that Catarina didn't have much time before she had to go back to work, so burgers and a salad were the best option.

"So...what are those very good news you had to share with me, huh?" She asked, as they waited for the food to arrive.

"Well, hmmm...I...I finished paying my debt to my father." Magnus informed her.

"What!?" She exclaimed loudly enough to draw some attention to their table. "Sorry," she quickly apologized, lowering her voice, "are you being serious right now? Are you really done with that? Are you...free?"

Magnus nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me before!?"

"Because it happened just yesterday?" Magnus said, trying not to laugh. His friend's enthusiasm was contagious.

"That's not an excuse!" Catarina said, playfully punching him in the arm. "You must have been planning this for months, you could have told me before! How dare you!?"

"Well, of course I planned this months ago, you know me, I plan everything well in advance, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have liked to hear what I had to do to make this happen." Magnus said matter of factly.

Since they had met, that had been something that had defined their friendship. Catarina understood the reason why he had been forced to become the criminal he was today, but she preferred not to know more than was strictly necessary when it came to Magnus's heists—as they said, sometimes ignorance was bliss.

"Was it that bad?" She asked cautiously.

"No, just the usual." Magnus admitted. "You know there are some lines that I never cross no matter what."

"Then tell me." She insisted. "You know that I usually prefer to stay...how is it that Ragnor calls it? Hmmm, 'blissfully ignorant' about these things, but this time I really need to know what you did. As far as I knew, you still owed him a lot of money, so I'm very curious to know how you managed to pay that stupid debt. It seemed impossible, I mean, I've seen how hard this whole thing has been for you, you've done the impossible for years to get that money, so don't worry, you can tell me, I'm a big woman...I can take it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, now tell me...what did you do to pay him?"

"Okay, well, I hmmm, I committed a fraud with some war bonds," Magnus admitted, "and in fact, it's really strange that you haven't heard anything about it, it's all over the news." He said, showing her the copy of the newspaper he had bought on his way to see her. "Dangerous criminal is captured after committing millionaire fraud with World War II Spanish War Bonds." He read her the headline.

"Captured?" Catarina asked in confusion. "You mean that…?"

Magnus nodded. "I paid him what I owed him and after I got the contract back, I framed him for what I did, yes." He confessed more proudly than he should probably feel after betraying his own blood.

Catarina gasped in shock, looking back and forth between the newspaper and Magnus as if she couldn't believe what she was reading and what Magnus had just said.

Magnus knew what was going through that mind of hers, if there was a person in this world who had witnessed firsthand what Magnus had gone through with his family and especially with his father that was Catarina. After all, they had met when Magnus's mother's illness had returned. She had been the nurse who had taken care of her until her last day.

"How?" She asked, clearly not knowing what to say. "I mean, I can't believe you actually did this. Don't get me wrong, he deserved it, he deserves all bad things that happen to him, but, oh my God, Magnus, this-" she said, running out of words, "-please tell me how this happened before I lose my mind."

Magnus smiled and as quickly as he could, started to tell her everything he had done, from the planning of the heist and how he and Ragnor had switched the original bond with a forgery, to the redeeming of the bonds with Raphael's help and the framing of Asmodeus just the day before.

"Okay, let me see if I got this right." Catarina said. "You robbed the National Archives and committed a millionaire fraud, then with the money you got from that you paid your father the money you owed him and later incriminated him for what you did?"

"Yes, that would be correct." Magnus said with a smile.

"And you're telling me that that man you're seeing, Alec...he-he helped you? The federal agent really helped you put Asmodeus behind bars? Does he know who he is?" Catarina asked, even more surprised—if that was even possible.

"When he captured him? No, he didn't know who he was, now he does."

"You told him?"

Magnus shook his head. "No, actually he told him, I don't know why he did it or what his intentions were, but he told him everything."

"Everything!?"

"His version of it, but yes."

"And!?"

Magnus made a small pause to continue, the waitress had just arrived with their food. "Well, last night Alexander came to my place and we talked about it." He said, taking a small bite of his burger. "To be honest, I was very surprised when he told me what he knew about that man and me, I have to admit that I hadn't thought about that possible scenario. I never imagined that my father was going to reveal Alexander of all people our history together, but anyway...long story short, I told him everything about my past."

"Your past as a criminal?" Catarina asked in disbelief. "Why did you do that? Are you crazy? You just put that poor man in a very complicated situation because whether you like it or not, he's still a federal agent, Magnus, he has a duty to this country and-"

"He gave me immunity, Cat, he wanted to know, I didn't force him to hear anything he didn't want to hear. You know that I'd have never told him my story out of selfishness, no matter how much I wanted him to know me—the real me."

"Wait, he gave you immunity?"

Magnus nodded firmly.

Catarina looked at him in astonishment. She was scanning him with her intense brown eyes. "You do realize what that could mean, don't you? If he went that far to-"

"I know," Magnus interrupted her, "believe me that I know, he hasn't said anything yet, but I want to believe that what I feel for him is mutual."

"Of course it is," she said, eating some of her food, "and deep down you know it, otherwise you'd have never asked me to do what you asked me to do."

"By the way, is it done yet?"

"Yes, it's done." Catarina reassured him. "Everything is in order."

"Good, good." Magnus said, smiling. "It's better to be prepared."

"Don't you think you're anticipating a bit too much here?"

"No." Magnus said sincerely. He knew that in his line of work he could never be too prepared.

"Well, you know what you're doing." Catarina said, being the supportive and good friend she had always been. "And what's going to happen to you now, huh? I mean, now that you're free and everything."

"I don't know," Magnus admitted, "I think I'll take a break—a long break—and just think what I want to do with my life. I've never had this much freedom to start with, and to be honest? I don't even know what to do with it...it's strange."

"I say that you should go on some vacation away from here, this city holds so many sad memories and-"

"I can't." Magnus interrupted her.

"Of course, how silly of me, you have Alec know." She said.

Magnus smiled in response.

"You're really in love with him, aren't you?"

"I am." He confessed.

Catarina smiled. "I'm happy for you, you deserve to be loved and have something good in your life for once."

"Hmmm, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Do you really think he could love someone like me?" Magnus asked genuinely intrigued. A part of him knew that Alexander had shown him enough times already that he cared about him, but there was still a part of him that refused to believe that someone like Alec could really love him.

"Well, I don't know him, so I can't really answer that question, but I do know that he'd have to be very blind and stupid not to, so you tell me...is he blind and stupid?"

"No, he's not." Magnus said smiling.

"Well...then, there's your answer." She told him with a wink, and Magnus didn't complain because he liked that answer.

o-o-o-o-o

Alec hadn't been able to stop thinking about Magnus since he had arrived to the office in the morning. He had attended some meetings and tried catching up with some old cases while still working on trying to catch Valentine, but the truth was that his mind had been absent all day—lost somewhere in Brooklyn.

He had been thinking about those Indonesian words that Magnus had told him and generally, just trying to wrap his head around the story he had heard about the criminal's life. Knowing why Magnus had become the man he was today had given him a new perspective on many things, it had helped him understand all those layers of Magnus's personality that until yesterday had been a complete mystery to him. He had discovered things that, as a federal agent, should have made him wonder what he was doing with someone like Magnus, but that as Alec, had only made him treasure more what they had. Because despite what Magnus had done in the past and what he still did for a living, he was a good man with such a big heart that could only be compared in size with his unparalleled talent.

"Agent Lightwood, can I come in?" Lydia asked, knocking on his door and snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Of course, but just call me Alec, Agent Lightwood is usually my father, I'm just Alec here." Alec said, trying to be friendly. They had had a rather intense start, and Alec was still upset about the fact that the CID had decided to send an agent to review his work, but that didn't mean he had to be rude to her. Ultimately, she was just doing her job and he certainly could show some good manners and be a good coworker.

"Okay." She said, sitting down on one of the chairs. "I'm here because I wanted to talk to you about the case."

"Sure…you have questions about it?" He asked, trying to be helpful.

"Well, yes...one, actually," She said, "I've been reading your files on Bane and the last five cases that the Bureau has linked to him and Valentine, and...can I ask you something and you promise to be completely honest with me?"

"Of course."

"You don't really think Bane's behind the last five crimes, do you?" Lydia asked directly.

Alec panicked for a second because, well, his relationship with Magnus was now too close and he feared that Lydia might have discovered it by reading his files, but then he calmed down a bit. That was virtually impossible, first, because he was a professional and knew how to do his job, and second, because if his siblings, who knew him better than anyone else in the world hadn't discovered it yet, he doubted that this agent who knew him for a day and a half would have managed to figure it out, so he just took a deep breath and nodded. "I've been studying him for years," he said as a matter of explanation, "he has a code, Lydia, he's a criminal, yes, but he's not a murderer. So no, I don't think he's behind the last five crimes."

"Do you have evidence to back up those words?" She asked.

"Solid? No." Alec admitted. If he had had it, he would have detached Magnus's name from this mess a long time ago. "But I have enough to classify Magnus as alleged suspect and not as our prime suspect."

"Explain yourself."

"Look at the trails of glitter found in the last five crime scenes and compare them with the others we have from Magnus's previous cases." He said, encouraging her to look at the files she had in her hands. "You see? The trails don't match. Magnus's signature is that idiotic glitter, it's part of him, and this killer isn't him. Also, open the report on the Hope diamond."

"You have video footage of the thief, right?"

"Yes, and although the Marshals dismissed it claiming that the source of the material wasn't of high quality and therefore, it didn't help with the investigation, it is very clear, at least for me and my team, that the body complexion of that man doesn't match with that of Magnus."

"I believe you." Lydia said, taking Alec completely by surprise. So far the only people who had believed him without question had been his siblings and they were genetically programmed for that—well, Jace wasn't since he was adopted, but still.

"Are you serious? Because that would make you the first person besides Jace and Izzy to say that." Alec admitted.

Lydia nodded. "Bane has ethics," she said, "or as you call it a code. He's not a common criminal, his scores are always clean and never against innocent people. His targets are very, very specific. This may sound strange because we're talking about a criminal, but I like to believe that in spite of everything he's a good person."

"You-you really believe that?"

She nodded again.

"Why?"

"Well, you're not the only who's studied him." She said.

That piqued Alec's interest.

"I've always admired his work," Lydia continued, "he was actually part of my thesis at Quantico."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I tried to crack the robbery of the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, I didn't have much luck, but it got me a 93."

"Not bad." Alec smiled. He would have loved to ask Lydia more about her theory of that heist and see how close she had come to what had really happened, but he knew how dangerous that could be and he didn't want to put Magnus or himself in danger, so he bit his tongue and didn't inquire any further. They were already exposing themselves enough by being together to add more confessions to-

He stopped his train of thought abruptly, realizing for the first time what he had just done—the confession he had just given.

"Why did you come to ask my opinion about Magnus's involvement in the case?" Alec asked, trying not to lose his temper...yet. "You're going to take the case from us, aren't you? I just admitted that I don't think Magnus is involved in this, and you know that if he's not tied to the case, then there's no way that we can keep this in the white-collar division. That's why you came here, isn't it? You wanted me to admit that Magnus wasn't involved so you could take the case from us!" Alec exclaimed, not quite believing how stupid he had been. Hodge had told him that while Magnus was still part of the case they had a real chance to keep this under their jurisdiction, but Alec had just given Lydia a full confession stating that Magnus's involvement in all this case was practically non-existent.

"What? No, listen, Alec," Lydia said, "I just came here to talk to you as two fellow agents, that's all. I read your reports on the case and I was intrigued by your conclusions. I'm not here to set you up, this is not an official evaluation. Your evaluation is next week, so everything we've talked about today will stay out of the records."

"Really?" Alec asked, somehow relieved, but still a bit worried.

"Yes, really. You don't need to worry about me, Alec, I'm not the enemy." She said. "I know you want this case and believe me that I want you to have it. I think you're really good at what you do and I'm sure that if there's an agent in the Bureau who's going to solve it that's going to be you."

"But?"

"My hands are tied," she said, "I have to report back to the CID next week and inform them of my conclusions on the case."

"So we're screwed." Alec said resignedly.

"Not necessarily. Listen, what you have on Bane isn't enough to detach him from the investigation, the MO of the last five cases matches with what he's been doing for years, and although I agree with you that the glitter trails don't look like his and that the footage obtained could point to a different suspect, they aren't enough evidence to completely rule him out of the case."

"So?" Alec asked, not really understanding what she was trying to say.

"Prove me that Bane is still part of this case," Lydia said, "hand me a full report explaining why your division has reason to believe he's colluded with Valentine. He's a white-collar criminal and the CID knows that you're the only agent who's been close enough to catch him, so help me show them that, and this case will remain under your jurisdiction."

"Even though we just agreed that he's clearly not involved?" Alec asked confused.

"Did we?" Lydia questioned, with a smirk. "Look, I believe in justice as much as you do, and I'm sure that Bane will have to pay for what he's done at some-" Lydia was saying when there was a knock on the door and Izzy came in, interrupting them.

"Sorry for entering this way, but hmmm...there's been a development in Asmodeus's case and I'm not sure if you two have been informed of it yet." She said.

"What happened?" Both, Alec and Lydia, asked in unison.

"His transfer to Lyon was rushed."

"Why!?" Alec asked confused. The Interpol had notified him just yesterday that Asmodeus would be transferred to their headquarters in Lyon, France, until next Monday—and it was only Thursday.

"I don't know," Izzy shrugged, "I was in the files making some copies of the cases for the monthly reports when I heard that the Interpol had decided to rush Asmodeus's transfer, so I went to ask, and yes, it's true. In fact, he's already on his way to the airport."

"Who authorized that?" Alec asked, looking at Lydia for an explanation.

"I haven't signed anything." She said.

"It was Hodge." Izzy informed them.

"But why? I mean, he wasn't part of the case." Alec complained. "He has no authority."

"Well, he wasn't part of the case, but he has authority, he's our boss, remember?" Izzy said.

"Yours, but not mine." Lydia said, standing up and heading for the door. "I need to talk to Agent Starkweather immediately. He's forgetting that this entire office is under supervision and nothing can be done without consulting me first. The CID will hear about this insubordination. We'll resume our conversation later, Alec." She added, walking away and closing the door of Alec's office behind her.

"Why didn't Hodge consult this with me?" Alec asked his sister once they were left alone.

"I don't know, but who cares, the good news is that that criminal won't be our responsibility any longer." Izzy said, getting more comfortable in one of the chairs. "By the way, you didn't tell me what he said to you yesterday when he asked to see you. I knocked on your door last night to talk, but you didn't open...weren't you home or were you sleeping?" She asked.

"I was asleep." Alec lied. It was clear that his sister was in the mood to chat and if he told her that he had spent the night with the man he was seeing, he knew she wouldn't stop asking questions until he told her everything. "And he just wanted to meet me, that's all."

"Did he explain why he was in one of Bane's secret lairs?"

"To me? No, but I read his statement this morning." Alec said because it was true, he had found a copy of Asmodeus's statement on his desk when he had arrived to his office, and as the man had promised, he hadn't said anything that could put Magnus at imminent risk. "He said it was just a coincidence that he was hiding there when we arrived."

"Did he really go with the old tale of being at the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"You don't believe him?"

"Do you?"

Alec took a deep breath to keep from responding. He couldn't really say what he thought of any of this without giving himself away.

"But anyway," Izzy added, "that's no longer our business, is it? We have other things to worry about, such as preventing the CID from taking the case. And speaking of that, what was Lydia doing here? She's calling you Alec, are you friends now or what?"

"We are not friends, we are coworkers." Alec said, trying not to roll his eyes at his sister. "And you're right, we have to make sure that the CID doesn't take the case from us, and that's exactly what I was discussing with Lydia just minutes ago." He added. "She told me that she doesn't think Magnus is involved in the last five cases."

"That's bad." Izzy said.

"Not really," Alec said, "because she also thinks we can solve this case."

"So is she going to let us keep it?"

"I still don't know, but I think so? She told me that the evidence we have to prove that Magnus is not behind the latest attacks isn't enough to get him out of the case and that's a good thing, I mean, he's a white-collar criminal, that means he's ours by default, so we just have to give her a report explaining why our division has reason to believe Magnus is behind this and she can help us keep the case."

"For real?"

"Yes," Alec assured her, "so let's call the team so we can work on that. I need all hands on deck, but we'll need to make some sacrifices and assign a special team to solve some old cases. The year is about to end and I don't want the review board to sanction us for lowering our performance when they see our annual report, last year, we had the best numbers in our division, and I want that trend to continue. It won't be easy, the fact that the CID is evaluating us isn't good, but I'm confident we can do it." He said, giving his sister the cases he had chosen in the morning.

"Okay." Izzy said, taking the files but not getting up from her chair. She was acting strange...pensive.

"Are you okay?" Alec asked.

"Yes." She said.

Alec looked at her intently—his sister wasn't a very good liar. "Are you sure? Because you seem like you want to ask me something." He said. He knew his people too well to know when they needed something.

"Hmmm...well, yes, I do kind of want to ask you something," she admitted, "but it's not work-related."

"What is it?" He asked, putting the files aside.

"What do you think of Simon?" Izzy asked.

"What do you mean, what do I think of him?"

"Well, that...do you like him?"

"Like him as if I think he's handsome?" Alec inquired in confusion. "Because if this is where this conversation is heading, then don't worry, he's not my type."

"No," she said with a laugh, "although now that you mention it I'm curious, what's your type, huh, big brother?"

"Unusual." Alec confessed without elaborating.

"Okay, I can live with that...for now." She said. "Anyway, back to Simon, what do you think of him as a person?"

"Hmmm, I'm not sure if I'm the right person to answer that question, I mean, I barely know him, but if you want my opinion, I guess he's alright...why?" He asked, now intrigued. His sister was usually very direct when she wanted to ask something, so seeing her hesitating so much about something was definitely new.

"He asked me again if I wanted to have a formal relationship with him." She confessed.

"And...do you want that?"

"I don't know, I mean, yes, but-"

"You're afraid." Alec guessed. He was a bit familiar with that feeling.

Izzy nodded.

"Well, if he makes you happy, I say you should give him a chance."

"You think?"

"Yes, but only if it's really what you want and makes you happy."

"You don't like him much, do you?"

"I don't like any of your boyfriends, you know that, but that's just because I'm biased and I think there's no one in this world good enough for you. I know, it's childish and stupid, but it's part of my job as your big brother to always want what's best for you."

Izzy smiled. "If I say yes, are you going to intimidate him with your gun and badge like you did with Clary?"

"I didn't intimidate her!" Alec exclaimed in self-defense.

"No, of course not, you just made sure she knew you were the best agent in town and that you had gotten a perfect score on your shooting test."

Alec laughed. There was a huge chance that what his sister had just said were true and he had said something along those lines when the little girl had been introduced as Jace's official girlfriend, but in his defense that night he had had one too many glasses of wine and that always made him speak his mind more freely.

"I still remember her face," Izzy said, "she didn't know if you were joking or-"

"We have a problem." Jace interrupted their conversation, opening the door without even knocking.

"What happened?" Alec asked concerned. Jace looked worried, he was paler than usual and his breathing was ragged, so that only meant that he had run all the way from wherever he had been to get to Alec's office and to talk to them about this problem.

"There was an accident when they were transferring Asmodeus to the airport."

"What!?" Alec asked, not sure if he had heard correctly.

"Someone ambushed the convoy," Jace continued, "and...and-"

"And what!?" Both Alec and Izzy asked exasperated—anything could have happened.

"Asmodeus escaped…" Jace said, "he's gone."

o-o-o-o-o

Magnus entered his loft and put all the bags he was carrying on the couch and coffee table. He had gone shopping and judging by the number of bags currently cluttering his living room, it seemed as if he had bought the entire city.

In his defense, it was very hard for him to have some control when it came to buying clothes and accessories in the Big Apple. He had always loved shopping, it was fun and entertaining, but shopping in this city was definitely a unique experience. He had visited the best fashion capitals of the world, Milan, Paris, London, but no place had ever managed to beat the experience of shopping in New York. Maybe he was biased by his love for this city and its people, but it was true that New York was unique, there were exclusive boutiques and flea markets everywhere...there was no corner in all five boroughs that did not offer something new and innovative—and Magnus loved everything new and innovative.

"Look what I got for you, Chairman." Magnus told his cat when the latter came to the living room to see what his human-father had bought. There was no doubt that that old proverb saying that 'curiosity killed the cat' was nothing but the truth.

"Do you like it?" He asked the little animal, showing him the new sweater he had bought for him. It was red with a white turtleneck, very Christmassy, and although there were still a few weeks left before the holidays, he was sure the Chairman would look fabulous in it.

The cat ignored him and just began to sniff around the other bags, trying to see if there was something more interesting in them. Magnus took the opportunity to pick him up and try to put on his new sweater. He did not succeed, of course, the Chairman hated playing dress up, so Magnus only got a couple of scratches and a snarl as a punishment for his audacity to attempt such a thing before the cat leapt out of his arms and hid under the couch.

"Why do you always have to be so dramatic?" Magnus complained, looking at his now annoyed son before he left and went to hide somewhere else in the loft.

Magnus took out the rest of the clothes and things he had bought from the bags, and after taking them to his bedroom, he went to the kitchen to make some dinner. He had bought an Italian cookbook that looked quite interesting and he was curious to try some of the recipes. He had always wanted to learn how to make gourmet meals, and Italian food was one of his favorites, so now that he had enough free time to do it, he figured it was the right time to start.

He skimmed through the pages, trying to find something that looked easy to cook and delicious but at the same time that it didn't require him to go out again to get ingredients. When he found something he liked, he took out what he needed from the fridge and the cupboards, and started to prepare it.

Originally, he was just going to cook for the sake of cooking, but when the smell of a well-prepared meal started to hit his nostrils, an idea came to mind: he could turn this impromptu dinner into a romantic date with Alec. He knew that maybe the agent was busy working his ass off at the Bureau or dead asleep at home—Magnus had gone to bed after their conversation while Alec had gone straight to work—but he could try, right? After all, any excuse to be with Alec was good, especially now that there were no more secrets or lies standing between them.

Magnus quickly added some salt and pepper to what he was cooking and went to the living room to grab his phone, immediately sending Alec a text message.

"Hey, hot stuff, are you coming over tonight? I know you're probably tired, but I went a little crazy and cooked some fancy Italian dish I found in this book I bought today, what do you say, you wanna come and have dinner with me? I promise it's good, you know I'm not such a bad cook."

The answer arrived within seconds. "I'm sorry, I can't tonight."

"Busy night?" Magnus asked.

"Something like that."

Magnus sighed. He wasn't disappointed, he knew Alec had a lot of work, he had told him so himself before leaving this morning. He knew, even before asking, that this was a long shot, but he had to at least try. "Well, I guess we can reheat it tomorrow. I hope you don't have to stay too long in the office and you can get some sleep. Good night, Alexander." He texted.

He thought of adding a 'dream about me,' or something just as cheesy as that at the end of the message, but then decided not to, he didn't want to scare Alec with unnecessary cheesy lines.

"Night." Alec replied simply.

Magnus wasn't expecting more, Alec was a man of few words—at least in text, because they could spend hours and hours talking over the phone—so he just took a deep breath and instead called Ragnor. There was plenty of food and he didn't want it to be wasted.

"My friend, long time no see," he joked, as soon as Ragnor answered the phone, "are you free tonight? Would you like to come over to my place for dinner? I made Italian, I know you love Italian."

"Sounds good, and what about your fed? Is he going to be there too?" Ragnor asked.

"No, he's busy tonight."

"Okay, then we'll see you there in a minute."

"We? Are you with Santiago?" Magnus asked, but didn't wait for his friend to reply. "Of course you are with him, you two spend a lot of time together to be just friends." He added.

"You and I spent the same amount of time together, and tell me, are we dating?"

"Good Lord, no!" Magnus exclaimed horrified by the idea. Ragnor was like his brother, not like, he was his brother. Period. "We are like brothers, Ragnor, that would be incest! How dare you even think about that! Besides, I have better taste—good taste." He teased.

"Ha ha, very funny." Ragnor said in his usual sarcastic tone. "And let me tell you that your 'good taste' is not that good, I mean, a federal agent? Really? That was low even for you, my friend."

"He's hot." Magnus said in self-defense.

"Arguable."

"Excuse me? Alexander's hotness can't be questioned! He's hot and that's a fact, learn to live with it, my friend." Magnus said because it was true. He wasn't just biased, Alec was the most handsome man on Earth, right? Right? Well, okay...maybe he was a bit biased after all.

"You are the most ridiculous person when you're in love, but whatever...we'll see you there in a bit." Ragnor said.

"Who said I was in love?" Magnus asked, although it wasn't strange that Ragnor already knew, they had talked about it, Magnus had even confessed that he was already on his way to fall in love with the agent, he just hadn't made it official yet.

"I did because you are, we all know it...anyway, see you soon. Bye." Ragnor said, hanging up the phone.

Magnus just looked at his phone and laughed, apparently his feelings had never been a secret, Catarina, Ragnor, Raphael...they all knew. Perhaps that old quote from Torquato Tasso that said, 'true love cannot be found where it does not exist, nor can it be denied where it does,' was more certain than he had thought.