Hello again, here's the new chapter! Sorry for the delay, this time it wasn't entirely my fault, there's a friend who proofreads most of my stuff and she was a little busy these past few days and couldn't help me until last night, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This chapter is the last one with insane amounts of fluff, so I hope you enjoy it. From now on, things will only spiral out of control until the end of the story, so I really, really hope you're ready. It's going to be a long, stressful and hopefully interesting ride. I can promise you that all your questions will be answered and the moments you've been waiting for will happen, so fasten your seat-belts and enjoy!

Anyway, happy reading and don't forget to leave reviews and/or follow/favorite the story.

Chapter 23

Alec was in his office at the end of what had been his first day of work after the holidays and as it had been happening to him all day long, his mind was everywhere but where it should be: focused on solving cases and catching the bad guys. It wasn't surprising, though, he'd had such a good time with Magnus in the past days that getting back to reality was turning out to be more difficult than he had anticipated. It had been days, but he still felt like floating on a cloud every time he recalled the events that had taken place in the last few weeks.

As he had promised, on Christmas, he had gone to Magnus's place after being with his family and had ended the night there. The evening had been wonderful in every sense of the word, not only because he had spent an incredible time with his boyfriend, exchanging gifts and sharing stories of their respective families and friends, but because he had also been officially introduced to some of the people in Magnus's life—Ragnor, Tessa, Jem, Raphael, Will, and a few other men and women who worked with and for the criminal. Some of them, Alec had already seen them on more than one occasion, either because they had helped Magnus with some of their very first dates when they still met in random places and used a lot of security protocols to see each other, or because the FBI already had them under their radar. However, they all had been extremely cordial with Alec, no one had treated him badly or made him feel like an intruder; on the contrary, some of them had even tried to include him, sharing with him funny stories from Magnus's past and making him feel as part of group—even if just for one night.

Then, on New Year's Eve, he had decided to skip the Bureau's annual New Year's party and instead, he had gone with Magnus to celebrate the end of the year. It had been the first time he'd missed that party since joining the Academy, and although it had been strange not to be with his people on such an important date, it had been totally worth it. For a criminal, Magnus had very important friends in New York's most selective elite circles, so they had ended up on a very luxurious yacht, sailing the Hudson and celebrating the end of the year and the beginning of a new one together. Alec had never liked parties, but he had to admit that this one, he had loved. Not only because he had had the opportunity to see New York City from a beautiful yacht while sipping expensive champagne, but because he had finally crossed out the 'to be kissed at midnight on New Year's Eve' from his bucket list—and it had been better than he had ever imagined. When the clock had struck midnight, Magnus had smiled and kissed him with such passion that not even the beautiful fireworks lighting up the sky could match those he had felt inside his chest the moment their mouths had touched. It had been magical.

In fact, these last few weeks had been magical, as if they had been taken from a fairytale or the most beautiful romantic movie. However, Alec couldn't afford to keep daydreaming about them for much longer. Now he was at work, and whether he liked it or not, he had to concentrate. Valentine and fake-Magnus had been very quiet in the past couple of weeks, but he knew it wouldn't last forever and he had to stop them before they decided to come back with a new attack.

And also, there was the thing with Asmodeus and his mysterious escape that had only come to complicate everything. The office had already been under supervision due to the lack of progress in Valentine's case, but now, thanks to what had happened with Asmodeus and the Interpol, the situation had become something permanent. Lydia, who was supposed to stay for just a couple of weeks, had now been assigned as part of the investigation team along with four more agents from the CID. And although on the bright side, they had managed to keep the case under their jurisdiction, now they had five new pair of eyes to scrutinize every step they took, and that put Alec in a very difficult position. Now he would have to be more careful than before about everything related to the case because not only his relationship with Magnus was at stake with so many people involved in the investigation, but also his family safety and even his position within the institution. He would have to-

"Alec, can we have a talk?" Hodge asked, poking his head through the door and scaring Alec a little. He had thought he was the only one left in the office, after all, it was a bit late for his boss—or anyone for that matter—to still be around.

"Yes, sure...I didn't know you were still here." He confessed. "What's up?"

"Nothing important, I just wanted to chat with you a bit about work and stuff, we missed you at the New Year's party." Hodge said, taking a seat in one of the chairs. "But I heard you went to celebrate with someone special?"

Alec got a little nervous but tried not to show it. "Yeah…"

"Boyfriend?"

"Hmmm, yes."

"Well, that's good, I mean, I'm happy for you." Hodge said. "It was about time you met someone, but you should have brought him with you to the party instead of ditching us for him. It would have been great if we'd had the chance to meet him, don't you think?" He added.

Alec tried not to laugh. Little did Hodge know that he could never, ever, bring his boyfriend to a party full of federal agents. "We already had other plans." He said instead.

"But you had fun, right?"

"Yeah, it was great." Alec answered truthfully. Just a few minutes ago he had been smiling like a fool, replaying every minute of that night in his mind.

"Good, that's good." Hodge smiled at him. "Have your parents met this new boyfriend already?"

Alec frowned at the strangeness of the question, but answered anyway. "No, well, not yet. I'm no longer a kid, Hodge, I don't have to introduce them to every person I date. They will meet him when I consider it's the right time." He lied.

"Of course, of course...my apologies." Hodge immediately said. "I was just curious about it because, well, this is the first time I hear you're dating someone and I didn't want your parents to give you a hard time about it. I've been friends with your family for many years and I know how they are—especially Maryse."

Alec chuckled. "Well, she's not going to take it well anyway, ever since I came out to her, she's been dreading the moment I introduce her to a guy, but I really don't care—it's not like her opinion is going to make me change my mind about the person I'm with."

"Well said," Hodge said, "though your mother's approval is always important, so if you're serious about this guy, then you should introduce him to her and your father as soon as you can. It's the right thing to do."

"Of course." Alec said, playing along. He knew he could never do that, no matter how serious he was about Magnus.

"Anyway, I hope everything works out with this guy, you deserve it." Hodge said. "But now, let's get back to real reason I'm here...work."

Alec smiled.

"I'm sure you've already been informed about the CID's decision to send some agents to join the investigation team, haven't you?"

Alec nodded with a sigh.

"Well, Agent Brandwell informed me this afternoon that the new agents who will be part of the team will be here tomorrow morning." Hodge continued.

"Really? So soon?" Alec asked in surprise. He hadn't had time to talk to Lydia about anything today, but he was hoping they still had some weeks of freedom before the new agents joined the team.

"Yes, you know that was the condition to keep this case under our jurisdiction—we have to let them work with us as part of the team."

"I know, but so soon?"

"They are in a hurry to close the case."

Alec rolled his eyes. "As if their presence here would magically solve everything and not complicate it even more." He said with sarcasm. "Do we know who these new agents are? Because with Lydia I can work, we understand each other, but I'm not sure about the others."

"No, but as far as I understood, agent Brandwell will be in charge of supervising them, so there's no need to worry about them—you can coordinate directly with her to make things easier."

"Nothing is going to be easy from now on." Alec muttered.

"Don't think like that, everything's going to be fine, Alec, really." Hodge said. "I know that the idea of having more people here doesn't sound so good, especially after the review we just went through, but it's not the end of the world. We've worked with other divisions of the Bureau in the past, this should be no different."

"I know, I know…" Alec sighed, "but this time isn't just us, Hodge, the Interpol is involved too. If something goes wrong, we could be talking about the beginning of an international incident. We have no control over any of them, having the Marshals here has been hard enough because of that, now add another set of by-the-book agents."

"I get what you're saying, but I'm confident we'll get through this...I promise."

Alec sighed. He wasn't so sure about that, but he wasn't going to argue with his boss about it, there really was no point. Alec no longer shared the same blind faith Hodge had over some of these institutions and he knew that no matter what he said, his boss wouldn't change his mind about them.

"Anyway, tomorrow we will have a meeting first thing in the morning to clear any doubts that this new collaboration may bring and also so that we all can meet the new agents. We will need all hands on deck if we want to find and recapture Asmodeus and at the same time stop and imprison Valentine and Magnus."

"Magnus isn't helping Valentine." Alec said in a tired voice. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"Well, even if he's not helping Valentine, we have to stop him." Hodge said, looking Alec straight in the eye. "He's still a dangerous criminal who deserves to be punished for what he's done. You of all people know that, you've spent years of your life trying to catch him, so regardless of his alleged involvement with Valentine, he has to pay for the crimes he's committed, don't you agree?"

Alec took a deep breath before opening his mouth. "Of course." He said, even when admitting that broke his heart. His opinion about Magnus had changed a lot in the last few months, but unfortunately, that didn't change the fact that his boyfriend was who he was and that if things somehow went wrong, he would have to hand him over to the authorities.

"I'm glad we're on the same page," Hodge said, "and speaking of that...what's going on with Jace, huh?"

"With Jace?" Alec asked confused.

"Yes, I've noticed that he's a bit under the weather these days. He was very quiet during the New Year's party and then, today, when I bumped into him on my way to evidence, he was all jumpy and distracted—very unusual of him."

Alec frowned. He had been with Jace most part of the day and he hadn't noticed anything unusual, his brother was tired like the rest of them, going back to work after the holidays was always difficult, but he wasn't acting strange—at least not with him.

"Maybe it's nothing," Hodge added, disregarding what he had just said, "but just in case, talk to him, okay? He's your partner and brother, I'm sure that if he's going through something, you'll be the first one to know."

"I will, I don't think he's-" Alec was saying when his phone rang. He didn't need to look at the screen to know who that was, only one person had access to that number and it was the same person who had given him the phone in the first place.

"I…" Alec panicked a bit. He couldn't answer that call in front of Hodge, it was too risky, but at the same time he couldn't just ignore it—he had plans with Magnus for tonight. They were going to have dinner at one of Tessa's fancy restaurants, so he knew that his boyfriend was probably calling him to see if he was ready, Alec was supposed to be off from work more than two hours ago.

"I…I have to take this call." He hesitated, pulling the phone out of his pocket.

"Yes, of course, I should get going anyway." Hodge said, taking the cue to leave without Alec having to ask more directly. "I have some stuff to do and I see you have a busy night, have fun and I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Alec blushed, but nodded. "Yeah, have a great night, Hodge."

"You too." The agent added, winking at him and walking out the office.

Alec took a very deep breath before answering the call.

"Hello, handsome!" Magnus exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"Hi." Alec said with a smile, forgetting all about the conversation with his boss almost immediately—Magnus had that effect on him.

"There's been a change of plans." Magnus said.

"Really? What happened?"

"Well, Tessa just called. Apparently the restaurant is quite busy tonight and going there would be extremely risky for us, so alas, no dinner at a fancy restaurant for us tonight. You understand, right?"

"Of course." Alec said, a little relieved. He didn't like going out much, but they had accepted Tessa's invitation to go to one of her restaurants on Christmas, so there was no way to turn down that invitation without being rude. "So your place instead?"

"Yes," Magnus said, "they're still going to send us the food, so I'll make sure the place looks nice and everything. We could go to the rooftop to have dinner, but since it's freezing cold outside, I suppose it's better if we stay inside and eat by the fireplace with some good wine and without having to worry about getting caught."

"I like that plan."

"I'm glad you approve, so now get your pretty ass out of that office and bring it here as soon as you can."

"How do you know I'm still in the office?" Alec asked, becoming a bit paranoid for a second. He had no idea how his boyfriend had known he was still in the office.

"Relax, okay? I'm not there, I just happen to know you, dear, and I know how addicted you are to your work, so I figured you'd want to start the year by working some extra hours to make up for all that time you've been neglecting your duty."

"I haven't been neglecting anything, it just turns out that you're very distracting."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should."

"Well, thank you about that. Now, grab your stuff and come here, so I can show you how distracting I can be."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe...why don't you come here and find out?"

Alec smiled. "Okay, I'll see you there in a bit."

"Don't take too long, okay?"

"I won't," Alec smiled, "bye."

"Bye, Alexander."

Alec hung up the phone and smiled, picking up his things as fast as he could and heading for the door. He had a dinner date with his boyfriend and he had no time to waste.

o-o-o-o-o

Magnus finished setting the table and getting everything ready for when Alec arrived. He had been looking forward to that dinner at Tessa's restaurant for days, it was a really nice place and he really wanted to take Alec there, but now that their plans had changed and that that so-promised fancy dinner had been canceled, he had no choice but to try to make the most of the night and still make it special. He knew that Alec preferred when things were more intimate, with just the two of them, so a nice dinner in the comfort of his loft wasn't a bad idea—in fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it wasn't a bad idea at all.

"Wine? Chilling. Food? Still warm. Blankets? By the fireplace." Magnus said, making sure everything was ready.

When the doorbell rang, he quickly checked himself in the mirror to make sure his makeup and clothes were still intact, looked back at the beautiful setting he had prepared for them and rushed to the door to greet his boyfriend.

"Welcome, Alexander." Magnus said, quickly kissing the agent on the lips and letting him in. "You look great." He said, appreciating the outfit that his boyfriend had selected for tonight.

"You do too." Alec smiled, making himself at home, hanging his coat by the door and putting his other belongings on one of the couches. "This looks nice." He added, smiling at the romantic spot Magnus had created in front of the fireplace.

Winter was at its highest and although Magnus's loft had a very good heating system, he had purposely lowered it down a bit to have the excuse to be near the fire and use the blankets to warm each other up.

"Well, I wanted tonight to still be special." Magnus said. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

"Then let's eat," Magnus prompted him, "the food just arrived, so we just have to take it out—it's still warm."

"What did your friend send us?"

"Some fancy dish I can't even pronounce, but she promised it was good—the house specialty or something." Magnus said, taking the bags Tessa had sent him along with a bottle of Alec's favorite white wine to the coffee table—where they would be having dinner tonight—and quickly sitting on the floor.

"To us." Magnus said, after pouring two glasses of wine and offering one to Alec, who had just sat down beside him.

"To us." Alec smiled, clinking his glass against Magnus's and taking a sip of the wine.

"So how was everything back in the office today, huh?" Magnus asked as he placed their food in front of them so they could eat. He knew that Alec loved it when they caught up on their respective days after spending the day apart.

"Boring." Alec confessed, taking a bite of his meal. "It's always...oh, my God, this is delicious." He interrupted himself.

Magnus took a bite of the food too and had to agree—whatever this was, Alec was right, it was absolutely delicious. "It is, but you were saying it was boring?"

"Oh, yeah," Alec continued, "it's always hard to get back to work after the holidays, like, your body is there, but your mind is still absent, lost in all the fun you had, but this year it was even harder. We have a lot of work to do, cases to solve, but nobody wanted to start. It was a nightmare."

"Nobody but you, of course."

"Well, I didn't do a lot of work today to be honest."

"Is that so? Why?"

"I couldn't concentrate…" Alec confessed.

"For any particular reason?" Magnus asked playfully.

Alec looked at him. "As if you didn't know already...I told you, you're very distracting."

"So I'm the reason you can't concentrate at work? Well, I can't say I'm not happy to hear that, because I am—very." Magnus said, sipping some wine. "And if it helps, if I were in an office working for hours, I wouldn't be able to concentrate either—you're very distracting too. I haven't been able to stop thinking about these last few days with you."

Alec didn't answer, but smiled—there was a small blush coloring his cheeks.

"Anyway, is there any news about my father?" Magnus asked.

"No," Alec said, shaking his head, "but do you remember what I told you about the CID?"

"That they had decided to let you keep the case, but that they would be sending some agents to join your team?"

Alec nodded. "They arrive tomorrow."

"So soon?"

"Yes."

"Well, they really must be in a hurry to close this case."

"They are."

"That's good, but at the same time not so much because that means that now you're going to be even more busy than before." Magnus said because he was sure that with the CID agents joining the team, Alec was going to spend more time in the office and less time with him.

"Yeah, but I can always make time to see you," Alec smiled, stealing some food from Magnus's plate, "nothing's going to change between us, I promise. Besides, the whole point of this multidisciplinary collaboration is to solve the case, right? And when we're together we try solve the case too, so it's not like I'm not working when I'm with you."

"Well, we used to try the solve the case," Magnus said, correcting his boyfriend, "but lately we haven't done much work." He stated, because it was true. These past few weeks they had focused on their relationship and what they had, putting work, Valentine, and even Asmodeus in the background—their relationship had become their top priority.

"True, but we needed that." Alec said sincerely. "At least I needed that."

Magnus smiled. "I needed it, too."

They smiled at each other and kept eating until they plates were clean. Their relationship had changed so much in the past few weeks that sometimes Magnus still marveled at how easy being with Alec had turned out to be. They were completely different, physically and mentally, but somehow they managed to complement one another, like two pieces of a puzzle that, although different in shape, when joined, fit perfectly and became one.

Magnus had never had that kind of connection with anyone before, so every second he spent with Alec was always new and refreshing, fascinating and unexpected. No matter what they were doing—talking, working, kissing, or just looking at each other—somehow all those moments ended up being magical; and Magnus had each and every one of them tattooed on his heart. The first time they had met on the rooftop of that jewelry store, their first date, the night he had stayed in Alec's apartment to help him solve that case about the wills and they had danced, their first kiss, that day at-

"Dance with me?" Magnus asked abruptly. He had just realized that since they had started dating, they hadn't danced as they had done that night in Alec's place.

"What?"

"Dance with me?"

"There's no music." Alec said, blushing.

Magnus stood up and quickly put a song on his phone, it wasn't the same song they had danced that night, but it was just as slow and romantic, perfect for this moment.

"Now there's music...may I have this dance?" Magnus asked, offering his hand to Alec.

Alec just smiled and took Magnus's hand, standing up with a jump and immediately bringing their bodies together. Unlike that time when they had first danced and Alec had put up some resistance, now their bodies were as close as they could be; arms, foreheads, chests...there was no space between them and yet, it wasn't enough for Magnus to fill that need he had to be close to this man—with Alec never was enough.

"Do you remember that time in your place?" Magnus asked as they moved together around the living room, slow-dancing to the beat of the song.

"Yeah, it was nice."

"Yeah, it was...but it was also hot." Magnus added, remembering all those passionate kisses that had happened after they had danced.

"Very."

"If your sister hadn't arrived, do you think we would have...?"

"Probably," Alec said, "I tend to stop thinking when you kiss me and after all the kissing that day, I can assure you that I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Did you want it to happen?"

"Badly."

Magnus smiled. "You just had to ask."

"I would have never asked that." Alec said, making Magnus spin just to land with his back on his own chest. "You know that."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not like that."

"So you wouldn't have made a move if I hadn't kissed you."

"I didn't say that, I said I would have never asked you to have sex with me just like that—no matter how much I wanted it."

"So you would have made a move?"

"Probably, though not as you're imagining. You were driving me crazy...so yeah, I would have kissed you eventually." Alec admitted. "Although I'm glad you did it first because it would have probably taken me much longer to make up my mind and muster the courage."

Magnus chuckled. "I'm glad I did it too," he said, turning around to be once again facing Alec, and leaving a soft kiss on his lips, "you've been the best thing that's ever happened to me." He admitted, looking at Alec straight in the eye so he could see that he was being completely honest. "There's a Magnus before and after you, Alexander. From the moment we met, you changed my life, and despite how unusual our situation is, I have to confess that I can't picture my life without you in it, little by little you've-"

"Magnus I…" Alec interrupted him.

The song was still going, but for some reason they had stopped moving. They were just standing there, their eyes fixed on one another, and somehow Magnus knew this was it—this was the moment he had been waiting for. The moment to finally confess his feelings.

He had been planning the perfect romantic date with flowers, music and an emotional speech that led to the most perfect love confession, but now that he had Alec in his arms and that they were there, just enjoying each other's company, he realized that there would never be a more perfect moment than this one. No planning in the world could ever top this, so without thinking it twice, he ripped his heart out and offered it to Alec to do with it whatever he wanted.

"Aku cinta kamu…" He said before Alec could say anything else. This was the second time he uttered those words, but unlike that other time when Alec had no idea what they meant, this time Magnus saw understanding flashing in the agent's beautiful eyes. Magnus knew that he didn't have to say what they meant, Alec already knew. "I love you." He translated, just in case.

Alec gasped, but there wasn't repulsion or rejection on his face, no, there was only surprise, disbelief and...happiness? Magnus wasn't sure, but the agent's reaction was giving him hope and courage to keep talking.

"I know this only complicates things between us," he continued, "and that it would have been better if I-" he was saying, but didn't finish because Alec lunged at him, kissing him so hard that if Magnus hadn't been holding on tightly to Alec, he would have ended up knocked on the ground.

"I love you too!" Alec said, kissing him repeatedly on the lips. It was as if Magnus saying those words had given Alec the freedom to say them too. "I don't even know when it happened, but God, I love you, I love you so much."

Magnus smiled and felt how his heart filled with a happiness he had never felt before. Sure, people in the past had told him they loved him, some way too early in the relationship, but this was the first time he heard them and really believed them. There was no doubt, Alec, his Alexander, loved him, and that—that meant everything.

"I've been wanting to tell you for so long," Magnus admitted, grabbing Alec's face with his hands and tenderly stroking one of his cheeks with his thumb. It seemed that words weren't enough at the moment, he had to show what he felt somehow.

"You told me before," Alec said with a smile, "you just didn't tell me what those words meant."

Magnus smiled. "I was afraid of losing you."

Alec rolled his eyes. "You have nothing to be afraid of, you're never going to lose me."

Magnus exhaled relieved, hugging Alec tightly and letting what the agent had just said sink in. Never was a word that Magnus didn't use very often, in his line of work promises of permanent things or never-endings weren't possible, but with Alec everything had been so different that maybe, just maybe, he could allow himself the chance to hope—to hope that what Alec had said was true and that he would never lose him.

"When did you know?" Alec asked, breaking the hug and looking at Magnus. He was smiling so widely that the light coming from the candles, the chimney, and the few lights Magnus had let on seemed dimmed compared to the glow emanating from his boyfriend's beautiful eyes and smile. "When you told me your story?"

"No, long before that." Magnus confessed. "I don't really know exactly when it happened, there was never a day when I woke up and was able to put a name to what I felt. I just know that it feels as if it has always been there, just growing and growing with each passing day."

Alec blushed. "I've known it for a while too," he admitted, "it kinda started to dawn on me a few weeks ago, but I knew it was you from the first time we kissed."

"Is that so?" Magnus asked playfully.

Alec nodded. "But I was afraid to admit it, as you said, this just complicates things between us, but I don't care. I don't want to keep hiding what I feel, and what I feel is that I love you."

"Risks and all?" Magnus asked, remembering that conversation they had had on the Brooklyn Bridge when they had decided to give it a try to what they felt.

"Risks and all." Alec assured him.

"That's what I wanted to hear," Magnus said with a smile, "now, should we take this dance to my room?"

"We are not dancing anymore." Alec pointed out with a smile.

"I know, but we are about to do it again and this time it will be with less clothes on the way." Magnus said, smiling mischievously and practically pushing his boyfriend into the bedroom. The night was short with Alec having to go to the office the next day and there was no time to waste, he wanted to show his boyfriend exactly how much he loved him.

o-o-o-o-o

Alec arrived a bit late to the office the next day, something that hadn't happened in all the years he had been working there. He knew that his boss was going to kill him, he had informed him of the meeting scheduled for this morning to welcome the new agents from the CID, but he had overslept and when he had woken up, he had realized that no matter what he did he would be late for work anyway, so he had done the unthinkable and instead of worrying about it, he had happily accepted his boyfriend's invitation to stay for breakfast.

He had always put his work and duties first, as a son, brother, and federal agent, but lately he was giving himself the chance to be a little more selfish and be just...a man; putting his personal desires and happiness above everything else. His work was important to him, that was never going to change, but so was Magnus, and after the night they had spent together, he was once hundred percent sure that putting his boyfriend and what they had first was the right thing to do. They deserved it, their love deserved it.

Love...

Alec smiled, remembering all the things they had said to each other the night before, all the promises and plans that had been made in the name of that love. It had been so beautiful and sweet and-

"You're late!" His sister scolded him the moment he stepped out of the elevator. She looked angry and worried, but Alec was still so up on cloud nine that he didn't pay much attention to her and just kept walking, making his way to his office.

"I've been calling your phone all morning," she continued, trailing behind him, "the meeting should have started over an hour ago, but Hodge had to postpone it because you weren't here...he's not happy about it."

"I know, I know...I'm sorry, okay? I overslept and forgot to turn on my phone." Alec admitted.

"You don't say…" Izzy said sarcastically, "where's Jace?"

"What do you mean, where's Jace? He's not here?" Alec asked confused.

"No," Izzy said, "I haven't seen him since yesterday when he left for home. I tried to call him, but he's not answering his phone either, we all thought he was with you."

"I haven't seen him since yesterday either, I kind of didn't go home last night." Alec confessed. He knew there was no way for his sister to know that he hadn't been home because he wasn't wearing yesterday's clothes—since he and Magnus had started sleeping together, Alec had been careful enough to have a spare of clothes in his trunk for occasions like this one—but even so, he felt he owed her some of the truth at least.

"You didn't go home last night? You were with that mysterious boyfriend again, weren't you?" Izzy asked, sounding not so surprised. "When are you going to introduce us to him, huh? I understand that you needed some time alone with him for the first few weeks to get to know each other and all that stuff, but it's been months and we still have no clue who he is. Your relationship with him is the century's greatest mystery! I wonder why is that? And don't you dare say it's because 'it's not a serious relationship,' we know you're totally serious about this man, otherwise you wouldn't have spent Christmas and New Year with him."

"I didn't spend Christmas with him." Alec immediately said.

"Alec, please!" Izzy exclaimed. "Who do you think we are? Did you really believe that any of us had bought that lame excuse you gave of having a terrible headache after having dinner with mom and dad? Please! We are your family, we know you more than you think. Give us some credit. You were perfectly fine, just in a hurry to get done with the family obligations and go see your man."

"I-I…" Alec stuttered. He really didn't know what to say.

"It's okay, none of us took it personal or anything. Mom and dad asked us about it, but Jace told them that you had had a very intense week and that you probably just needed some alone time. They believed him, so don't worry." Izzy said. "But anyway, you can't keep hiding your relationship with him, big brother, it's not fair for either of you."

"I know, but..."

"What's wrong with him that you can't be open about what you two have? If you're worried because he's your first boyfriend and all that, then stop worrying, no one's going to judge you. We've known you're into guys since forever, mom may raise an eyebrow when she meets him, but that shouldn't surprise you, she's always done that with all the people we've brought home—friends, boyfriends, girlfriends—you know how she is."

"It's not that, okay?" Alec exhaled.

"Then, what is it?"

"Things are still complicated with him, that's all."

"Well, then uncomplicate them and then introduce us to him. I really want to meet the man who's making you so damn happy."

"Is it that obvious?" Alec asked completely flushed.

"For us who love you, yes it is, Alec. It is very obvious." Izzy said. "You're acting different, more open and carefree, you look...complete. It's been really heartwarming to witness that transformation."

Alec smiled. He knew he had changed since Magnus had come into his life, but he had no idea it was something that people around him could notice. "Well, he does make me happy." He admitted.

"I know...I can see it in your eyes—they glow."

Alec blushed again, but didn't say another word for fear of giving himself away. Fortunately, before the silence became uncomfortable and Izzy started asking questions again, Hodge decided to interrupt, entering his office.

"Where were you!? I've been calling you for hours! I told you we had a meeting first thing in the morning! What happened with you? Why are you late? You're never late! What's going on, Alec!?" He said.

"I'm sorry, nothing's going on, I just couldn't sleep last night and I overslept." He lied—well, partially. He hadn't overslept because he had stayed up late counting sheep, but because he had spent most of the night making love to his boyfriend and he hadn't noticed when he had fallen asleep. "I turned off my phone and didn't get all your calls until I got here. I'm sorry, okay? But I'm here now, are we all set for the meeting?"

"Since 9 in the morning," Hodge said, pointing to the clock on the wall, "and it's almost 11 a.m.—in case you weren't aware of that."

Alec exhaled. "I know, I'm sorry, I promise this won't happen again. We can start whenever you want." He said in the hope that his boss would no longer be angry with him if he saw how interested he was in the meeting—it didn't work.

"Meet me in the conference room in five minutes." Hodge said, shaking his head and walking out of the office.

"Well, he's mad…" Alec concluded once they were alone.

"I told you."

Alec exhaled, he would deal with his boss later.

"And what do we do with Jace?" Izzy asked.

"Keep trying to locate him," Alec said, "I'm sure he's okay, maybe something happened with Clary, have you tried calling her?"

"Yes, but her phone is off." Izzy said. "Apparently today everyone decided not to answer their damn phones."

Alec sighed. "And what about Simon? Do you think he can know something about them?"

"I already called him and he said he hadn't seen Clary in days, but since we're stuck here thanks to the silly meeting, I could ask him to go check on them for us...maybe they're at Clary's or something."

"Is he free?"

"No, he has rehearsals, but his band isn't going to die if he leaves for 20 minutes, right? I'll go call him." She said, leaving Alec's office.

Alec took a deep breath and started to get ready for the meeting, grabbing all the files he had on Valentine, Magnus, fake-Magnus and Asmodeus, just in case he needed them to make a point during the meeting. He had no idea what was going to happen from now on, the case had snowballed so quickly these past few months that it was practically impossible to guess how this was going to end. A few months ago he would have said that with Valentine and Magnus's impostor in jail, but now? Well, now he wasn't sure.

"Here we go." He said to himself, but stopped halfway to the door when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and was surprised when Jace's name flashed on the screen.

"Jace, where the hell are you!?" Alec said, without giving his brother a chance to say anything. "Izzy's been looking for you all morning. What happened? Why aren't you answering your phone? Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, Alec, but I need to see you, where are you?"

"Where am I? I'm in the office, where, by the way, you should be too." Alec said. His brother was acting really strange.

"I know, I know, I'll talk to Hodge later, but do you think we can meet back at my place? Like, right now? I need to talk to you."

"Jace, is everything okay?" Alec asked, now worried.

"No, Alec is not, but could you meet me here? I really don't want to talk about this on the phone—it's hard to explain."

"Oh my God, is Clary pregnant?"

"What!? No! Of course not!"

"Then what is it?"

"I already told you, I can't discuss this on the phone, come to my place and we can talk, okay?"

"I can't right now, Jace, Hodge is waiting for me to start the meeting he had scheduled for this morning."

"Shit! I totally forgot about that, could you meet me when the meeting is over then?"

"Yeah, but are you sure you're okay...you're scaring me. If you need me right now, I could talk to Hodge and ask him to give me the day off, he's already mad at me because I was late too, so-"

"No, it's okay." Jace interrupted him. "I'm fine, well, not really, but I'm not dying...I can wait. Just don't tell anyone you talked to me, okay? At least not until we've talked, I don't want people to know what's going on until I've shared it with you."

"Jace you're acting really strange, let me talk to Hodge and-"

"No, you have to be at that meeting, Alec. We have to be in control of this investigation now more than ever, did you hear me? Go and make sure the CID and the Interpol know who's the boss here. I'll see you after, okay?"

"Okay, fine, but at least let me tell Izzy that you're okay, she's worried about you."

"Yeah, yeah, tell her, it's fine, just ask her not to tell anyone."

"Okay, then I'll see you at your apartment as soon as I can. Keep your phone with you all the time, okay? And if you need anything, and I mean it Jace, just call me and I'll get there as fast as I can."

"Yes, I know...thanks, Alec."