Hello everyone! Here's the new chapter! Before I start with my usual rambling about the chapter, I want to use the space to express my excitement because SHADOWHUNTERS WAS RENEWED! Yes, folks, we're getting 20 more episodes and I couldn't be happier about it! I was a little nervous because it was taking them forever to renew the show, but fortunately that's already in the past and now we can celebrate that we'll have a THIRD SEASON! YAY!

Anyway, back to the chapter, I know you guys always say that there's no need to apologize when the chapters end up being longer than we had planned, but I still feel the need to do it, so I'm sorry. This is the longest chapter I've written for this story, I kind of got carried away and broke the 10K+ words mark (oops), but in my defense it's a very important chapter plot-wise, so I had no choice but to write, write, and write until my fingers bled (I'm joking).

As usual, I hope you like it. You know I don't like spoiling the story, so I won't tell you what happens, but please enjoy! I know some of you have been waiting for this moment ;)

Please don't forget to leave reviews, favorite and/or follow the story, any kind of feedback is always appreciated :)

I'll see you all next week!

Chapter 24

Magnus opened his eyes, waking up from the long nap he had taken after Alec had left for work in the morning. Every muscle in his body ached as if he had been exercising for a whole day, but it was not a kind of pain that kept him from moving or that made him writhe on the floor, no, it was a kind of pain that felt good and that made him smile because it reminded him of everything they had done the night before—the mind-blowing sex, the countless I love yous, the kisses, the caresses...the promises.

He smiled, stretching his limbs to relieve some of the pain. Never in his life had he felt so damn happy. He had had good times in the past before Alexander was part of his life, not everything had been bad; his time in Spain, meeting his friends, even his fleeting romance with Camille were good examples of that, but he had never reached this level of happiness before. Ever. For the first time since he could remember he felt complete, complete in a way he couldn't describe. It was as if a circle had been closed and everything within himself was in perfect harmony—heart, mind, and soul—and all because Alec, his Alexander, loved him.

Magnus covered his face with his hands to hide the stupid smile that had refused to fade away since he had heard Alec say those three words. It had been such a beautiful and magical confession that he still couldn't believe it hadn't been a product of his sometimes very creative imagination. People didn't fall in love with him, people didn't want to be with him, it was something he had learned to live with and that until Alec, he hadn't thought would be remotely possible. But Alec, as usual, was the exception to all rules.

He sighed contentedly and got out of bed just as his phone buzzed, notifying him of a new incoming text message. He took the device from the nightstand and his smile grew even wider when he saw his boyfriend's name on the screen.

"Speaking of the devil..." He murmured amused by the coincidence, but quickly opening the message and reading it to himself.

"Are you home? Can I come over, I need your help."

"Of course you can come over," Magnus typed, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend's lame excuse to go see him, "you're always welcome here, besides, you don't need to come up with silly excuses to see me. I know you can't live without my beautiful face...but aren't you still at work?" He replied, waiting for an answer, but the answer never came.

Two solid minutes passed and just as he was about to give up and block his phone to go take a shower, the doorbell rang, making him jump. Of all the people who knew where he lived, the only person who bothered to use the doorbell was Alec.

"Well, that was fast." He frowned, walking to the door and opening it.

Alec was standing there, wearing the same clothes he had left with this morning, but not the same smile. Unlike a few hours ago that his handsome face had reflected nothing but happiness, now the agent looked conflicted, worried...disturbed.

"I really need your help." Alec said as if explaining his presence there.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Magnus asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm fine." Alec said, making his way into Magnus's loft and walking straight to the drinks tray. "I just really need your help."

"Did something happen at work?" Magnus asked confused. "It's barely 4 p.m." He pointed out, because as much as he was glad to see Alec, he knew that the agent never left work early.

"Not really," Alec said, pouring himself a glass of who knows what, "and I left early."

"What happened? You never leave your work early and you're voluntarily drinking," Magnus noted, "so this must be serious. Did you get in trouble for being late this morning?" He asked, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Alec shook his head and drank whatever he had poured into his glass in one gulp.

"Do you want to sit down?" Magnus asked hesitantly. He could see how out of character Alec was. "You're kind of scaring me, are you sure you're not in trouble?"

Alec nodded, but then shook his head, to just nod again. "Technically I'm not," he said, "but my brother is, well, he isn't, but this involves him and if it involves him, it involves me and-"

"Alexander, please calm down and just try to be more clear, you're freaking me out." Magnus said, sitting down beside him.

"Okay, here goes…" Alec said, taking a deep breath before continuing speaking. "my brother has a girlfriend...Clary."

"Okay?" Magnus said, not really knowing why the name of Jensen? Jesse? Jason's girlfriend was a valuable piece of information.

"And, well, since they met, she's always been very secretive with him. Like, my brother knew nothing about her or her family for months—where she lived, what they did for a living...nothing. And I know that's kinda normal at first, when you meet someone you don't go and tell them all your secrets during the first date, but the thing with her is that that never changed, you know? She dated Jace for a very long time and she was always secretive, mysterious, and-"

"Alec, my love, please go to the point."

"How did you just call me?" Alec asked, suddenly distracted by Magnus's slip.

Magnus panicked. "My-my love…" he said tentatively, "was it too much?" He asked.

Alec shook his head and in spite of his distress, a smile spread across his face. "No, I liked it."

Magnus smiled, feeling a sudden blush rushing to his cheeks. "But, please, go on," he said before he could embarrass himself any further, "you were saying that-"

"Oh, yeah," Alec continued, "well, it turns out that a couple of days ago, just after Christmas, Jace asked Clary to move in with him. She said yes, but since now they were going to be living together and all that, she told him that he needed to know everything about her before they made it official."

"Okay...and I'm assuming she told him?"

"Yes, they had a very serious conversation where she told him the story of her life. Where she had been born, what her mother did for a living, what had happened to her father, everything down to the last detail. And, well...now, her brother, Clary's brother, is missing."

Magnus frowned, he wasn't understanding anything. "Wait, you're not making much sense, so this Clary girl finally told your brother the story of her life and that's why her brother is now missing?"

"No, well, I don't know if my brother knowing all this stuff had something to do with Clary's brother disappearance, but no. What I'm trying to say is that-oh God, this is a mess!" Alec said, exhaling loudly. "Jace is going to kill me, but I can't explain this with just half the story, you need to know everything. It's not easy to explain, so bear with me, okay?"

Magnus nodded.

"When I got to the office this morning my brother was missing, my sister had tried to call him, but he wasn't answering his phone. Then, when I was on my way to the meeting I told you about last night, he called me. He told me that he needed to talk to me about something that had happened. I couldn't leave the office right away, but eventually I met him at his place." Alec said. "He was very nervous and worried when I arrived, so I asked him if he was okay. It took him forever, but in the end he told me what was going on."

Magnus looked at Alec, it was taking him forever to get to the point as well.

"He told me he needed my help in finding Clary's brother." Alec continued. "Apparently, the guy disappeared a couple of weeks ago, but they just discovered it last night. The picture doesn't look good, but on the bright side, they already have a suspect."

"Okay…" Magnus said, not knowing where he entered in all this nonsense, "and why didn't your brother use the Bureau's resources to find him?"

"That's the problem...no one can know that this happened, they can't report his disappearance to the police."

"Why not?"

"Because...because…"

"Because what?"

"Because Clary and this guy are Valentine's children."

"Valentine's children, as in Valentine Morgenstern?" Magnus asked confused at what his boyfriend had just said.

Alec nodded.

"What!?" Magnus exclaimed. Of all the things that Alec could have told him, this was definitely not what he had been expecting.

"What you heard," Alec continued, "that's why she was so secretive with my brother, she grew up in witness protection. When Valentine faked his own death, the Marshals took a pregnant Jocelyn and her six-year-old son to witness protection—Clary was born a couple of months later."

"Valentine has two children..." Magnus said, not quite believing what he was hearing.

Alec nodded.

"And don't you think this is very suspicious?" Magnus asked. "Like, you're telling me that Valentine Morgenstern's daughter has been dating a federal agent all this time and nobody knew about it? That's extremely convenient for everyone, don't you think? Keep your friends close, your enemies closer. She could be working with him, even helping him get away with all these crimes—it's her father, after all."

"I know, I know," Alec said, "I had my suspicions too, but my brother trusts her when she tells him that she knows nothing of her father, and I trust Jace, so..."

"Okay, fine, let's take your brother's word for it and believe that this Clary girl is telling the truth and really knows nothing about her father...where do I fit into all this?"

"I need your help to find her brother," Alec said, "we believe that Valentine is behind his disappearance. According to Jace, they have enough reason to believe that Clary's father kidnapped him, and I agree with them, but I can't use the Bureau's resources without putting a direct target on my back. We know that Valentine has people infiltrated in our ranks, so I need a way to get information and find out what happened to her brother without alerting Valentine. If we're right and Valentine did take his son, then he's closer than we had anticipated and that puts not only Clary's family in danger, but mine too."

"Okay, yeah…" Magnus exhaled—this was quite a mess, like some cheap soap opera, "I'll help you, you know that, just let me see if I got this right, okay? Your story was all over the place, so I'm a bit confused. Clary's been dating your brother for some time now, but for months she hadn't been honest with him about who she really was; then when your brother asked her to move in with him, she told him that she was her father's daughter and that she had grown up in witness protection. Then, last night, these two discovered that Clary's brother was missing and your brother asked you for help to find him because they fear that Valentine has kidnapped him, right? But none of you can use the Bureau's resources to find him because Valentine's men could hear about it and that would be a catastrophe since Clary and the missing guy are Valentine's children. Did I get it right?" Magnus asked, trying to make sense of all the information Alec had thrown at him in the last fifteen minutes.

Alec nodded. "And since I have no way of knowing about Valentine and his plans, I came to you for help. I know that you know a lot of people, I know you could ask around and see if Valentine had anything to do with his son's disappearance. I know it's a lot to ask, especially since you don't even know my family, but I'm desperate and I have no one else to turn to and-"

"You have me." Magnus interrupted him, taking Alec's hand to offer him support. It meant the world to him that the first person Alec had come to for help had been him. "And I'm going to help you in any way I can, but I'm going to need more information about all of this to really be of some help. This kid, how old is he exactly?"

"A year older than me." Alec said.

"Was he still living with his family?"

"No, as far as I know, he moved from Jocelyn's house when he was eighteen, he visits them constantly, though."

"Then, how are we so sure he disappeared hmmm, was kidnapped?"

"Because Clary and Jace went to his place last night and found it completely upside down. They hadn't heard from him in weeks, he didn't show up for Christmas or even New Year, and although it wasn't the first time that happened, they were scared because he hadn't even called, so my brother took Clary to his house to check on him and that's when they knew. I saw the pictures they took, Magnus, the place was completely destroyed, as if they had taken him by force and he had put up resistance."

"Okay, okay…" Magnus said, standing up and taking his phone out of his pocket, "that's convincing enough, and don't worry, I can ask around and see what we can find out." He said, already dialing Raphael's number.

"Thank you." Alec said, visibly relieved.

Magnus just smiled at him and waited for his friend to answer the call. "Santiago!" He exclaimed. "I need your help to find someone who went missing some days or weeks ago, I'm not entirely sure when."

"What are you up to now, Bane?" Raphael asked.

"Nothing, I promise, I'm just helping Alexander."

"Your fed is making you play cop again? ¡Increíble!"

"He's not."

"Yeah, right…"

Magnus rolled his eyes, he wasn't going to argue with his friend. "Can you help or not?"

"Okay...yes, but tell your fed that he's going to owe me big time. Who's this missing person? Do you have a name?"

"What's his name?" Magnus asked, partially covering the speaker to ask his boyfriend.

"Sebastian...Sebastian Fray." Alec said. "That's the new name that the Marshals gave him, although he was born as Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern."

"His name is Sebastian Fray." Magnus said, deciding that it was better to use only Sebastian's fake name, using his father's surname was dangerous and could raise some red flags. "He's 28 years old."

"Any physical description you can give me? Birthmarks, tattoos, hair color?" Raphael asked.

"How does he look like?" Magnus redirected the question to Alec. "Does he have any birthmarks, tattoos?"

"I don't know, but here," Alec said, taking a picture from his pocket and handing it to Magnus, "maybe this could help, Jace gave it to me...it's from Thanksgiving, the last time they saw him."

Magnus took the photo Alec was offering him. There were two people in it, a man and a woman. When his eyes landed on the man, a chill ran down his body and he gasped in surprise—he had seen that face before. "You know what?" He managed to tell Raphael. "I'll call you later, okay? Don't look for this person just yet."

"Huh?" Raphael murmured in confusion.

"Something came up, I'll explain later, thanks anyway, Santiago." He said, hanging up the phone.

"What happened?" Alec asked, looking confused.

"I...I…" Magnus hesitated. He had no idea how he was going to tell Alec what he had just discovered. No matter how he said it, he knew it was going to be shocking for his boyfriend. "I don't think he's been kidnapped." He said, pointing to the picture.

"What?"

"I know him." He confessed.

"You, what!?"

"He's the guy who's been using my name, Alexander, this is the guy who attacked me in the park—the killer you've been looking for."

"No." Alec whispered more to himself.

"Yes," Magnus said, turning around and heading for the room he used as a studio to look for the sketch he had made of his impostor after his encounter with him the night of the attack to the boutique in the Upper East Side. He had thousands of papers scattered on the floor, so it took him a few minutes to find what he was looking for. All that time, Alec was there, watching his every move and asking him thousands of questions, but Magnus wasn't paying him any attention—he was focused on finding that stupid piece of paper, but...where the hell had he put it?

"Aha!" Magnus exclaimed when he found the folded piece of paper inside a book. He had had every intention of giving it to Alec some time ago, but he had completely forgotten about it.

"Magnus, what the-"

"Here," he said, giving Alec the sketch; he knew it would answer all his questions, "see? It's the same face. I did this after the encounter in the park. I intended to give it to you, but then, well, we started to fool around and I completely forgot about it; but it's the same man, his hair was black then, but it's him, I'm sure of it."

"I can't believe it." Alec said terrified. He was comparing the sketch and the picture, but there was no doubt that it was the same person. It wasn't that Magnus liked to brag about his artistic skills or anything like that, but the sketch he had made of the man was pretty good.

"I suppose young Morgenstern has been working with daddy for a very long time." Magnus said. He could see how shocked Alec was with all this, they both knew that this changed everything.

"If he's working with him that means…"

"...that he knew his father was alive." Magnus completed Alec's sentence.

"And he's been helping him ever since."

"Probably. I know from experience that fathers can have a lot of control over their children. And I don't know since when this guy's been working with his, but this sketch was the reason I knew it was Valentine who was using my name. Some contacts told Raphael that the boy was one of Valentine's men, they forgot to mention that it was his own son, though."

"I met him…once." Alec confessed, still looking at the sketch and the picture together. "It was at Clary's mom's engagement party. The moment I saw him, I knew something was off about him. He was too charming and sweet to be real, but everyone said he was a nice kid and so, I thought I was just being judgmental...but no, I was right, something was off about him."

"This changes everything, you know that, don't you?" Magnus said because he didn't know if his boyfriend was aware of the implications that this discovery would have on the case they had been trying to solve for months. "We finally have a way to get to Valentine, we know about his family, we know about his son. If we handle this information in the right way, we could finally find him, Alexander, we could end this once and for all."

Alec nodded. "I know." He said almost in a whisper. Magnus noticed that he was more thoughtful than usual, completely lost in his own thoughts. "But we can't do it on our own." He added.

"What do you mean by that?" Magnus asked confused.

"This is huge, Magnus, this man and therefore Valentine are closer to all of us than we had thought and they won't hesitate to kill us if they discover that we're getting closer to stop them. We are a great team, you and I, but they are murderers, cold-blooded murderers, we are no match for them. We can't allow them to continue killing innocent people, we have to stop them as soon as possible and the only way we can do that is if there are more people working with us."

"More people working with us? Alexander, I have hundreds of men working with us." Magnus said. He really didn't understand how many more people Alec wanted to get involved in all this mess, all the people who worked for him were helping them in some way or another.

"I know, and you don't know how much I appreciate everything they've done for the case, we wouldn't know half of what we know if it weren't for them, but we need people closer to the case, Magnus, people we can trust." Alec said, and Magnus saw something in the agent's eyes that made him tremble with fear. He wouldn't dare, would he?

"I'm not liking the direction this conversation is taking." Magnus said just to set the record straight, but Alec didn't seem to be paying him much attention.

"I think it's time we move this investigation to my apartment." The agent said.

"Why?" Magnus asked, already afraid of the answer.

"Because we need a neutral place to work," Alec said, but before Magnus could ask why, the agent continued, "...it's time for Jace and Izzy to know about you."

Magnus shuddered. He had feared that Alec was going to say something along those lines. He had seen the resolution in his boyfriend's eyes the moment he had told him that they needed people they could trust. "Alec, I really don't think that's a good idea. They are not like you, they won't understand what we have."

"How do you know that? You haven't met them yet."

"I don't need to meet them to know that." Magnus said. "You are their brother, Alec, I'm pretty sure they won't like the idea of knowing you've been dating a criminal. This could end badly, believe me. What if they-"

"I understand your hesitation, believe me that I do, but everything will turn out well. They are not as you think they are, they will understand, I promise." Alec said, taking Magnus's hands and interlacing their fingers together. "If we want to solve this and protect those we love, we have to surround ourselves with people we can trust."

"And can they be trusted?" Magnus asked hesitantly. He didn't mean to be rude or anything, but he didn't know what to say. He had never, ever, felt this nervous about anything before—and he had stolen a painting from the Palace of Versailles in the midst of the greatest police display he had ever seen and lived to tell the story.

Alec gave him a look. "They are my family, Magnus, of course they can be trusted."

"I know, I'm sorry...it's just that-"

"I understand, you're scared, I am too...but you have nothing to worry about, they won't try anything against you, or us."

"How are you so sure?" Magnus asked, trying to sound hopeful, but the truth was that he was scared to death by Alec's idea to include his siblings in this.

"Because I'm going to make sure of it." The agent said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing one of his siblings' numbers. "Trust me, okay?"

Magnus nodded, but didn't say anything else. He just hoped Alec was right and that these weren't his last minutes of freedom.

o-o-o-o-o

Alec had never been more nervous in his life, his hands were shaking and his stomach was in knots. He was pacing around his living room to try to calm down a bit before his siblings arrived, but the truth was that no matter what he did, he couldn't calm his racing heart. When he had first suggested the idea of introducing Magnus to his siblings so that they could join forces to solve Sebastian/Valentine's case, he had thought it was a great idea. Who better than Jace and Izzy to help them, right? But now? Well, now he wasn't so sure about it. His mind was playing tricks with him and making him think of scenarios in which his siblings told him how disappointed they were of him for being in love with a criminal and where they ended up hating him for not putting Magnus behind bars when he had had the chance to do it.

"Everything's ready." Magnus informed him. His boyfriend had been setting up a series of escape routes in case things went wrong and he had to make a run for it.

"Okay, but I'm sure you won't need them." He told him, trying to reassure him—and himself.

"You know what they say, better safe than sorry." Magnus said.

Alec nodded. He knew that his boyfriend had every reason to feel nervous about this encounter, this was a big deal for both of them, but the more he observed him, the more he realized that the poor man was literally a bundle of nerves—he was breathing fast, constantly fidgeting with his hands, twisting the rings that always decorated his fingers, and darting his eyes in every direction.

"Hey," Alec said, taking the criminal's hands and stroking them gently, "everything will be fine, I promise."

Magnus took a deep breath and nodded, leaning in for a quick kiss, but just as their lips were about to touch, the doorbell rang, making them jump apart.

The time had come, whatever happened after that moment was going to change everything, for better or for worse.

"I love you." Magnus said.

"I love you too." Alec replied.

After one last deep breath and a quick but emotional hug, they both went their separate ways, Magnus to hide in Alec's room until it was time to come out and reveal his presence, and Alec to open the door.

"Hi." Alec said, greeting Jace and Izzy with a fake smile. He had called them almost two hours ago to ask them to meet him at his place to discuss Jace's problem. To his fortune, the two had been in Clary's house when he had called, so everything had worked out for everyone. For him and Magnus to get to the apartment without being noticed, and for his siblings to do what he had asked them to.

"What's going on?" Jace asked as he made himself at home. "You sounded all weird on the phone, did you find out something?"

"I take you already shared everything with Izzy?" Alec asked instead of replying. In order for his plan to work, it was important for the three of them to know what was happening.

Jace nodded.

"Okay, good, then, sit down, please. Did you follow my instructions?" He asked, standing where Magnus had asked him—between the couch and the dining table, creating a physical barrier to give him time to run to the window and disappear down the fire escape in case he needed it.

"You mean that odd request to leave our badges, guns, and phones at Clary's?" Izzy asked.

Alec nodded. He knew it had been a really weird request and his siblings had questioned him about it for five minutes on the phone, but it was the only way Alec had found to protect Magnus. If both his siblings were at his home as civilians there was less chance that any of them would try to do something against him.

"Yes, we're clean." Izzy said, showing her empty pockets and taking off her jacket so Alec could see she wasn't carrying her gun.

"Good, good." Alec said, taking deep breaths to ease his nerves.

"Alec, what's going on?" Izzy asked. "I understand that all the stuff about Clary and Valentine is really shocking, when Jace was telling me about it I couldn't believe it, but you're acting really weird, much more so than usual."

"It's not about Clary or Valentine," he said, "well, it involves them to some extent, but...just listen, okay? You know we can't use the Bureau's resources to keep investigating Valentine, as you now know, he was one of us before becoming a criminal, and given the ease with which he's stayed out of our radar for decades, it's safe to assume that there are people protecting him from within our ranks."

"Yes, we know...by the way," Jace said, "you didn't tell me how you knew Valentine was a former federal agent. You weren't surprised at all when I told you he had been in the Academy, so that means you already knew."

"You knew!?" Izzy asked surprised. "How? When? And why didn't you share that with us? That's vital information, Alec!"

"I know, and I'm sorry, I'll explain everything later, I promise, but first, I need to tell you both something important and relevant to all this mess." He said.

"Okay, what is it?" Izzy asked.

"Hmmm, it's about me, actually, but I need you to be really calm and open about it."

Jace and Izzy looked at each other and frowned.

"Jace, you asked for my help to find Clary's brother and I promised you that I would find a way to do it without putting anyone in danger, but something happened and-"

"Is he alright? Please, Alec, tell me Sebastian's okay. Clary would die if-"

"I'm sure he's perfectly fine." Alec said to try to calm his brother and not show his disgust to the man in question. "What happened involves him, but not quite, as I said, it's about me and my-my personal life. It's about...God, why is this so hard to explain? Okay, listen, so I can explain things in more detail, first I need you to meet someone."

"Is this the CI you mentioned earlier? The one you said could probably help us track down Sebastian?" Jace asked.

Alec nodded. "Although, he's not exactly a CI." He admitted. When he had told Jace that he had a contact that could probably help them get some information about Clary's brother, he had never imagined that he would be introducing said contact to his siblings, so giving Magnus the title of confidential informant had sounded reasonable at the moment. "He's more like a very well-positioned and experienced contact."

Jace and Izzy looked at each other again.

"Who is he?" Jace asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmmm…well, you two already know about him." Alec admitted. His hands were sweating and he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears. "You've been wanting to meet him since you figured out I was seeing someone. I've been hesitant about this idea for reasons you'll understand in just a second, but thanks to what happened when I was trying to find information about Clary's brother, I had to make a decision and I guess it's time you finally know who he is. But before that happens, I really need you to promise me that you'll try to take this calmly and listen to what I have to say before reacting."

"Alec, cut the crap, who is he!?" Jace said.

"Promise me!"

"We promise." Jace and Izzy said in unison.

Alec took a deep breath—this was it. "Okay, you can come in." He said. He knew that Magnus had been listening to the whole exchange, Alec had asked him to only come out until both Jace and Izzy had promised to take it all in stride.

"Alec, what the hell!" Jace exclaimed.

He and Izzy were staring at Magnus with astonishment on their faces, as if they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing, or better said, who they were looking at. Because there was no denying that the man standing in front of them was none other than the renowned thief and conman extraordinaire Magnus Bane.

"I know what you're thinking," Alec immediately said, the look of total confusion on his siblings' faces was hard to miss, "but I can explain."

"How!?" Jace demanded. "There's no way to explain how is it that a criminal like him is in your home walking freely!"

"I-I...it's not like that." Alec said.

"Not like that?" Jace retorted. "Alec, that man is a criminal! And even better, he's the criminal you've been waiting to catch for years!"

"I know!" Alec exclaimed.

"Then why is he not in handcuffs?"

"Because he's not a bad guy."

"He's not a bad guy? Alec, did you completely lose your mind?"

"No, Jace, but-"

"Is he the man you've been dating?" Izzy interrupted, smirking at him.

"No, well, yes...but it didn't start like that." He said. "Can I just explain what happened?"

"Please!" Jace said.

Alec took another deep breath. Things weren't going smoothly, but at least his siblings hadn't moved from where they were standing and that was a good sign—he called that progress. "It all started months ago when I was obsessed with finding the message on the postcards that Magnus had left in his multiple robberies, remember?"

"And you did, and you caught Asmodeus." Jace said.

"That's what you all thought, but I didn't find that message back then, I found it months before that." Alec confessed. "It was actually the same week that I started obsessing about it. It was late, I was alone in the office and I kinda figured it out. I thought about calling you both to share the discovery and make a plan to proceed with the investigation, but you were at Simon's concert or whatever and I didn't want to ruin your plans. I knew it was probably just some sort of prank Magnus had decided to play on me, so I went alone. The building was empty that time, there was just a disposable phone on the desk and a note addressed to me. I called and-"

"You said yes to the date." Izzy said, understanding everything right off the bat.

Alec didn't respond, but saw Magnus nodding and trying to suppress a smile.

"Not helping." He warned his boyfriend, pointing a menacing finger at him and then returning his attention back to his siblings. "And not exactly, he actually forced me to say yes and I did go, but I went with the sole purpose of catching him."

"Then why you didn't?" Jace asked.

"Because he was expecting me. You seriously think he went through all the trouble of leaving me a message on thirteen postcards in the span of two years just so that I could catch him when I finally figured it out? He's smart, give him some credit, you know him as much as I do."

"Debatable." Izzy said with a mocking smile, which caused Magnus to chuckle.

Alec wasn't liking this natural connection that his boyfriend and sister seemed to have, it was already dangerous and they had been in the same room for less than ten minutes.

"Anyway," Alec continued, "so as you can imagine, when I got to the place he asked me to go, he wasn't there. A random New Yorker he had bribed helped him get me in a car, and, well, once there, one of his men took my gun, my phone, and practically blindfolded me to take me to the real meeting place. Long story short, the meeting was strangely pleasant, I couldn't do anything against him because for one, I was unarmed and practically powerless against him, and two, he was ready to run if I dared to even move a finger, so we just talked and had dinner together. I used that time to study him more and learn to know him, I was hoping to find something that could help me catch him, but he knew what he was doing. Anyway, the night went on and when our time together came to an end, I went home."

"With him?" Jace asked.

"No, alone. Then, like two weeks later, give or take, I got a message from him asking me for a second date and I went. This time I was determined to catch him, I was prepared, I knew what to expect from him, so I equipped myself with everything I could to take him by surprise—I was even recording the conversation to have something against him."

"But?" Izzy inquired still smiling, she was having too much fun with all this and Alec wasn't sure he was particularly enjoying that.

"He offered me a deal." He said, remembering that night as if it had happened just yesterday.

"A deal?" Both Izzy and Jace asked at the same time.

Alec nodded. "He had discovered that Valentine was behind the recent attacks connected to his name and he wanted to help me catch him."

"In exchange for what? A good fuck?" Jace asked. Of the two, he was the one who hadn't taken the news very well.

"No, Jace, in exchange for me not imprisoning him for the time we worked together and clearing his name when Valentine was behind bars." Alec explained. "At first, I wasn't sure about the plan, I knew things could go wrong, but ultimately I agreed and since then we've been working together trying to catch him. He's been helping me connect everything, and in fact, it was thanks to him that I discovered that Valentine had been one of our own. And, well...the-the other thing happened later, months later." He said, sharing a quick look with Magnus. "He has his charms and I'm only human, besides, you can't really blame me for falling for him, I mean-"

"Alexander Gideon Lightwood!" Izzy exclaimed, bursting into laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"You, Mr. I-never-break-the-rules, are breaking all the rules and dating a criminal!" She said, smiling sincerely. There was not a trace of anger or displeasure on her face, no, on the contrary, she looked really happy for him despite the more than unusual situation.

Alec knew that his sister would understand, before Simon came into the picture, she had had one or two slips during undercover assignments and had ended up dating more criminals than not.

"Alec, this could ruin you." Jace told him.

"I know, Jace, I know." Alec said. He understood Jace's hesitation over his relationship with Magnus, if the roles had been inverted, he would probably be lecturing him about it and telling him how stupid this whole thing was.

"And you don't care?"

"Of course I care, but we've been careful, okay?"

"You've been careful?" Jace repeated what Alec had said with sarcasm and laughed. "And what's going to happen when you finally catch Valentine and this deal you're talking about is over? Are you going to put him where he belongs or just let him run away, huh?"

"I don't know, okay?" Alec admitted. He didn't want to think about any of that at the moment. In fact, he had been trying not to think about the impending outcome for months. At first because he didn't care, they were just having fun, right? But then, well, then because there were already feelings involved and when he had accepted and embraced those feelings everything had just gotten more complicated.

"Alec…"

"I understand what you're thinking, Jace, believe me that I do, if the roles were inverted I'd probably be lecturing you about this, but it happened, okay? And believe me or not, I don't regret it—not even a little bit. Yes, it was a surprise for me too when I realized that I had stopped looking at him as a criminal and I had fallen for the man. All my life I was taught to look at them, at him, as nothing more than scum of human beings, but guess what? He's not like that. He is a good person with a great heart who had to do what he had to do because the circumstances in his life led him to do so. And I'm not justifying what he's done in the past, he better than anyone knows that he made some pretty bad decisions, but the fact that he's a criminal doesn't make him a bad person. I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth."

"Wow!" Izzy exclaimed, she was just chilling on the couch, smiling and enjoying this confession time way too much for anyone's liking. "It hit you hard, big bro."

Alec blushed because that statement couldn't be truer—it had hit him hard and now everyone in the room knew it.

"Are you okay with this, Iz?" Jace asked her.

Izzy shrugged. "I'm certainly not opposed, I mean, of the three of us, Alec has always been the most responsible one, right? I'm sure he's thought this through way more than we're doing right now. He knows the risks, he knows things could go wrong for both of them, and if he can live with that, then so can we."

Alec smiled at his sister—he was going to give her diamonds for her next birthday.

"I guess you have a point…" Jace said, calmer now, "so he's the one who's been giving you information?"

Alec nodded. "And he has information about Sebastian that you better listen."

"What?" Jace asked.

Alec exchanged a quick glance with Magnus, silently asking him if he wanted to say it or if Alec had to deliver the bad news. Magnus only blinked once and Alec knew that it all depended on him.

"Okay, for starters, your brother in-law is working for Valentine." Alec said, dropping the bomb without any warning. It was better like that, like ripping off a band-aid.

"No, impossible." Jace said, shaking his head frantically. "He's not a criminal like him, he's not his father. You better than anyone know that people aren't their parents, or are you going to tell me that you think I'm a fucking drunk just because my fath-"

"He's the one in the video, Jace, do you remember the Hope Diamond case?" He interrupted his brother before he could continue defending Sebastian. Alec knew he had a lot on his plate at the moment, but it was important that he realized who the real villain in this story was. "Remember we came to the conclusion that there had been two men that night? Well, those two men were Magnus and Sebastian."

"You were there?" Izzy asked directly to Magnus.

Magnus nodded, speaking for the first time. "I wanted to meet the person who was using my name. I caught word that I, or better said he, was going to steal the diamond, so I went to confront him."

"Sebastian attacked him," Alec continued to explain what had happened that night, "Magnus cornered him against a tree and made him speak, but Sebastian threw glitter at him and escaped. Magnus did this after that night..." he said, handing Jace and Izzy the sketch Magnus had made of the man.

"It can't be…" Jace said, looking at the piece of paper with shock

"But it is, Jace." Alec said, looking at him sympathetically. He knew how hard all this was for his brother. "Now, as you can see this puts us all in danger, this is no longer about Clary and you, this is about all of us. That man is a murderer, he's been killing in cold blood for months, so we have to take care of one another. You have to protect Clary and her family, and we all have to protect each other. With Magnus's help and all this new information we have on Valentine, I truly believe we're closer to catching him, but we can't do this just the two of us," Alec said, pointing to Magnus and him, "we need your help, so...can we count on you two for this?"

Izzy nodded immediately. "Count on me, big bro."

"Jace?" Alec inquired. His brother had his eyes fixed on Sebastian's sketch.

"Do you trust him?" Jace asked, looking up at Magnus.

"Implicitly."

"Then I'm in." Jace said, and Alec just smiled relieved.

o-o-o-o-o

Magnus walked to Alec's bedroom, grabbed the evidence boards they had brought from his loft and took them to the living room to share them with Alec's siblings. At first, Magnus hadn't been very happy with this whole plan, the idea of including two more federal agents to their private investigation hadn't seemed like the smartest thing to do given their already complicated situation, but now that the worst part was over and that everything had gone relatively well, he was glad to have had the chance to meet Alec's two other siblings.

It had been clear in the way that both agents had reacted to the news of their relationship that they had Alec's best interests at heart and that no matter who he was with, they just wanted the best for him. It did not matter either if they disagreed with Alec's decisions, or if they thought he had completely lost his mind, they supported him unconditionally, and for Magnus that was more than enough to consider them trustworthy people.

"Where do I put these, dear?" Magnus asked Alec. The agent was placing the easels they had also brought from Magnus's loft around the dining table.

"Here." Alec said, rushing to get everything ready so that Magnus could lean the heavy boards there.

"Look at you two!" Isabelle exclaimed, admiring the boards and smiling pleased with all the information they had managed to gather over the past few months. "You actually worked on the case, I thought you had just wasted your time working each other out."

"You're not far from the truth, darling." Magnus said, winking at Isabelle.

"Don't." Alec warned him from where he was standing, placing the last board.

"What, Alexander? It's the truth." He said, smiling innocently at his boyfriend.

Alec just rolled his eyes and walked away completely flushed.

"He's always been shy." Isabelle said.

"Tell me about it…"

"I don't think he's very shy around you." The female agent pointed out.

"He has his moments." Magnus admitted.

Isabelle just smiled and walked away, patting him on the arm. Magnus felt weird after that interaction, he had never imagined that he would be bonding with the agent over Alec's personality.

"Okay." Alec said, clapping his hands to draw everyone's attention to him. "This is all we have on the cases we've been working together." He added, pointing to the four boards they had—the first three on Valentine and the last one on Asmodeus.

"Asmodeus Brown is your father?" Jace asked, reading the information on the last board.

"Hmmm...surprise!?" Magnus said, not knowing what else to say. He wasn't used to people knowing about his bloodline, but in this case being completely honest with Alec's siblings had been part of the plan.

"You two didn't help him ou-"

"Don't even dare to finish that." Alec warned his brother. "Yes, Asmodeus is his father, but Magnus has nothing to do with him. In fact, he's the reason I caught him in the first place, so cut it out, okay? We've been trying to find him since he escaped, Magnus even has people investigating Agent Dieudonne's past to see if we can find something to help us find them."

"I'm sorry…" Jace said, "...have you found anything?"

"Not yet," Magnus admitted, "but we're working on it. The man knows how to cover his tracks, but I'm sure he'll make a mistake sooner or later, as the say, we all have our weaknesses."

"Even you?" Jace asked.

"Especially me." Magnus said without explaining any further. "But anyway, let's not worry about my father just yet. Finding Valentine and stopping Sebastian slash Jonathan is more important than knowing where that man is hiding. Innocent people are dying thanks to these two members of the Morgenstern family, my father's escape only managed to tarnish the perfect image that the Interpol and FBI have crafted of themselves for years, but he's harmless...at least for the moment."

"Yes, you're right, Magnus. Valentine and his son are our top priority, we also have to find Asmodeus, but we must focus on Valentine first." Alec agreed. "Now, Jace...what do you know about your girlfriend's father?"

"What little she knows." The agent confessed. They all had sat around the table to talk. "He was a federal agent before becoming a criminal, nobody knows how it happened or what led him to do it, but after graduating from Quantico he started to change until he became who he is now. I don't know much about his life as a federal agent, I just know he was in the CD and-"

"Counterintelligence Division?" Magnus and Alec asked in unison.

Jace nodded. "I don't know what his position was there, but I do know he had a partner. He's no longer active, though, thanks to what happened with Valentine and all that, the Marshals had to take him to witness protection, but I know him, his name is-"

"-Luke." Alec said.

Magnus looked at his boyfriend with shock for a second. Apparently, he knew more about all this than he had shared with them.

"How did you know?" Jace asked, making the question that everyone was wondering.

"He told me…" Alec confessed, "well, not exactly. Do you remember the day you asked me to go with you to Luke and Jocelyn's engagement party? Well, that day I had a talk with Luke. He told me that he had been part of the system too and even shared why he was no longer active, he just didn't tell me that Valentine had been his partner."

"What did he tell you?" They all asked.

"That he had been shot during a crossfire between a group of terrorists and them, some case they had been working on for months. He didn't say much, just that during the attack his partner had made all the wrong decisions, so when he had recovered from the wound, the Marshals had taken him to witness protection."

"Do we know this Luke's guy real name?" Magnus asked. "If he's in witness protection, it's safe to assume that his real name is not Luke." He said.

Jace shook his head.

"We'll have to try to find more information about him." Alec said. "Is that all you know about Valentine?" He asked his brother who just nodded. "Well, we have a little more information on this, do you want to start, Magnus?" He asked him with a soft smile.

Magnus nodded, touched with the way Alec had been giving him his place not only as his boyfriend, but as the person who had been helping him solve the case, and started to share everything they knew about Valentine; what they had discovered thanks to the old cases the FBI had of him, the rumors they had heard in the criminal world of his whereabouts, and all that until now, they had managed to find out about Magnus's impostor—a.k.a Sebastian.

Alec helped him explain in more detail certain parts, enhancing what Magnus was saying with a more analytical and professional point of view. It was easy for them to complement each other, they had been doing it for months now, but judging by the expression of the other two agents, it seemed that this kind of teamwork wasn't very common—both were staring at them with widely opened eyes.

"Well, now I understand everything." Jace said, still looking at them both.

Magnus had only known him for a couple of hours, but he didn't need more time to know that the agent wasn't talking about the case or the very useful information they had provided, but about them…as a couple.

"You guys are, well, you are a very good team." He admitted.

Magnus and Alec looked at each other and smiled a bit flushed—they knew they were, but it was nice that other people could see that too.

"Awww you made them blush!" Isabelle exclaimed.

Jace just rolled his eyes and stood up. "Anyway, back to the case." He said, grabbing the notes he'd taken during the time they had been discussing the case. "We know that Valentine was a federal agent, part of the Counterintelligence Division, he had a partner...Luke Garroway, real name still unknown." He said, pinning a picture of the man on one of the boards.

"We need to find out what was his class in Quantico." Alec pointed out. "He has people helping him from within our ranks, so it's very likely that these people are his friends from the Academy."

"I already tried to find his class..." Jace confessed, "after Clary told me about her life, I kind of got curious about Valentine's past as a federal agent and-"

"You didn't use the Bureau's data base, did you?" Alec asked.

Jace nodded, and Magnus really wanted to murder him—that had been a terrible mistake and they all knew it

"What were you thinking, Jace!?" Alec exclaimed. "If whoever's helping Valentine knows we're trying to find information about them, they are going to kill us!"

"I know, I'm sorry, I wasn't really thinking when I did it, but don't worry, I didn't screw up completely." Jace said. "I didn't use his name to look for him, I just scrolled down the files of the different classes in Quantico, but there's an entire decade missing, so it wasn't of much help." He shared.

"A decade?" Isabelle asked intrigued.

"Yes, from 1980 to 1990 there's no information of any agent."

"Not even of our father?" Alec asked.

"No, nothing." Jace confirmed. "As if the Academy hadn't had agents all those years."

"That's weird..." Isabelle said.

"No, it's not," Magnus chimed in, "they did it to protect themselves. If they had eliminated just the year that Valentine graduated, it would have been quite easy to find all the agents who graduated that year and, therefore, know who his accomplices are, by wiping ten years of information they are protecting themselves. We live in the digital age, but even with all the technological advances we've had in the last few years, we still haven't managed to create the perfect system, they all have flaws; so if for some reason an agent asked what happened to those missing files, they could easily say that there was some flaw in the system—a malware, some hacking, you name it."

"Why would they want to do that?"

"Isn't it obvious? To force anyone who wants access to that information to put a request directly to the Washington file to see the physical copy of the file—the classified one." Magnus explained. "Think about it, that gives them more control over everything, they know when, who, and why someone requested access to those files. It's a very brilliant move, I have to give you guys merit for it."

"So what you're saying is that no matter what we do, there's no way to have access to that information." Jace said.

"When did I say that?" Magnus asked, looking at the blond agent with questioning eyes.

"Well, right now, I mean, if what you're saying is true and the only way to get that information is by requesting access to the classified file then we're screwed, we can't do that, Valentine's men will know right away that we're investigating them and-"

"Didn't I just say that there's no such thing as a perfect system? There's always a way, young agent, sometimes it takes time to find it, but if there's something I've learned in all my years of experience is that there's always a way." Magnus said, smiling—the gears in his head were already spinning.

"You have a plan?" Alec asked.

Magnus looked at his boyfriend and nodded. The three agents were looking at him expectantly, waiting to hear what he had in mind.

"First, we need a complete list of all active agents of the Bureau." Magnus said. "This happened over two decades ago, so the agents who are working for him could be of any age range. You three followed your father's footsteps, right? Well, we need to assume that the sons or daughters of others agents decided to do the same and their connection with Valentine could be through their parents, so we need names, lots of names—old and new."

"And then?" Alec asked. Magnus saw that his boyfriend was already starting to follow his plan, there was a spark of excitement and understanding in his eyes.

"Then we cross information, of course. First, we have to figure out which agents graduated during those 10 years that we're missing. For that we need to subtract the time they've served and see in which year they graduated, if it's in any year between 1980 and 1990 then we add them to the list. Once we have the names of those agents, we look for more detailed information about them, what they do, who they are, if they have children and most importantly: their positions. Valentine's been taking advantage of the system for decades so the people helping him must be in very important positions."

"Okay, but how do we know if they're helping him? We can't accuse someone of complicity just because they graduated in those 10 missing years." Isabelle said.

"Of course not, we're not going to point fingers until we are one hundred percent sure they're involved in all this mess, but I can take care of that." Magnus said. "I have contacts, people who can help us rule out names, but I can't give them three thousand names, can I? We have to shorten the list."

"And then?" Jace asked.

"Once we have a list of suspects, you can do your job and use the evidence we've compiled against Valentine to bring them to the Bureau and question them about it, offer them immunity or a deal in exchange for Valentine's location. I don't know, all those things you do to solve cases, you know? Another day in the New York City White-Collar Division."

"It's a good plan." Isabelle said.

"It is." Jace also agreed.

"Then we'll find a way to get that list of active agents Magnus mentioned." Alec said with determination.

"You have to be very careful, though," Magnus added, "remember that Valentine has eyes everywhere, you can't let people know what you're up to, or this could end badly…really badly."

"Yes, don't worry, we'll be careful, I promise. It's probably going to take us a while, but I'm sure we can get it. With the CID and the Interpol working with us, I could easily put a request to have access to New York's active agents." Alec said, "Make it look like I'm just trying to keep a close eye on my team."

"That's a great idea, Alec!" Isabelle exclaimed.

"And once I get it, I could ask Lydia to get me the list of the Washington D.C. agents."

"Do you think she wants to help?" Jace asked.

"Yes, I don't need to tell her what I need it for, just that Hodge wants it—pin it on the next head in charge. It's kind of a technicality, so I don't see why anyone would raise an eyebrow."

"You're so smart." Magnus said, unable to contain his pride towards his boyfriend and grabbing his hand. He had been trying to resist showing excessive amounts of affection for the sake of the other two agents, but it had been really hard.

Alec smiled at him and for those two seconds there was no one else in the room but them. They were telling each other with looks what they couldn't with words, until, of course, Isabelle cleared her throat.

"Sorry," Alec immediately said, letting go of Magnus's hand and snapping back into his professional self in the blink of an eye, "so...hmmm, that's the plan."

"And what should I tell Clary?" Jace asked. "I can't tell her who her brother is, she's not going to believe me."

"And even if she believed you, you can't tell her." Alec said. "This is our first real advantage against Valentine and we can't blow it, so just tell her that you have CIs trying to figure out if Valentine kidnapped Sebastian. Try to reassure her about him by telling her that he must be fine or else you would know about it already and yada, yada, yada. She has to stop sticking her nose where it doesn't belong or she'll put us all in danger. By the way, Jocelyn and Luke...do they know about this?"

Jace shook his head. "Clary didn't want me to tell them until we knew more, but they both are Seb-I mean, Jonathan's parents, this is going to kill them. They love him...they think he's a good kid."

"He's not, Jace, but anyway, it's best if they don't know. We can't trust them completely, at least not until we know more...especially about Luke."

"I don't think he's involved."

"I don't think so either," Alec agreed, "but we never know, so until we have more information about him, he's under our list of suspects too. If you could casually ask Clary more about him that would be great, maybe if we knew his real name that would make things easier for us."

"Okay."

Magnus looked around. The day and most part of the night had slipped away, they had spent hours and hours discussing the same thing that without realizing it, a new day had begun. The sun hadn't come out yet, but it wasn't going to take long and that only meant one thing—it was time to go.

"Well, now that we have a plan and we all have agreed to it, I think it's time to go." Magnus said, standing from the table. "It was a real pleasure to meet you both, but the sun is about to come out and, well, Alec here knows the deal, our time together is always limited."

"How are we going to get in touch with you?" Jace asked.

"Through Alec, of course, he knows how to do it. You'll have to trust him."

Jace just nodded in response.

"Goodbye, then." Magnus said, stretching his hand toward Jace and Isabelle.

"Take care, Magnus." Isabelle said with a smile.

"You too, darling."

He walked over to Alec's chair and hesitated whether or not he should kiss him goodbye. Everything had gone well and he certainly didn't want to spoil it, but an innocent kiss wouldn't hurt anyone, would it? So he quickly made up his mind and bent down, giving him a sweet, chaste kiss. "They already know, so…" He said, winking at his boyfriend who was as red as a tomato and gently caressing his cheek. "See you later, okay? And...have fun catching the bad guys!" He added, winking at the other two Lightwoods and disappearing through the window.