Hiya, sorry I took ages AGAIN, I'm such a busy man! (I know, I'm not a man, but in one's mind one can be whom they choose, and in my mind I am often David Bowie.)

Thank you so much for the reviews, they really are appreciated; I have to say that my favourite suggestion for lesbian cockblocking was 'pussy shielding', which made me laugh so hard I nearly imploded.

ONE MORE THING- This was going to be a lemon, I swear it was, but it just wouldn't come, no pun intended. (Who am I kidding, my puns are always intended and I bet you know it.) So this starts literally just after said lemon.

"Mags, can you free my hands now?" Alec gestured with his cuffed wrists.

"Hmm," Magnus looked thoughtfully at him, as though it was a serious question that required consideration. "I suppose. Where's the key?"

Alec paled.

"There isn't one." He zipped up his jeans, awkwardly, and sighed. "They're for display, not for use. I knew that, but you- you distracted me! Now I'm stuck like this!" Magnus chuckled as Alec tried to pull on his shirt but failed, realising he couldn't make use of the arm holes.

"Alec, darling, I'm a warlock- I can unlock them whenever I desire."

"Brilliant," he said sarcastically, "They'll never come off," Magnus smirked. He, of course, was now fully dressed, with hair and makeup magicked to perfection; whereas Alec was a rumpled shirtless heap, stamina rune fading on his chest. Not his most dignified look. "But I can't put my shirt on!"

"Exactly."

"I can't take yours off, either." He added, widening his blue eyes to the point that normally made Magnus melt. It didn't work.

"Don't worry, I can just magic it off and pretend you did."

"Then I'll tell Jace, and he'll kick your ass."

"Like that Hollister wannabe has anything on me."

"My mother will turn you into a rug." The handcuffs clicked open. Magnus replaced them in their cabinet -a little glittery but otherwise no worse for wear- as Alec pulled on his shirt. He just hoped Alec wouldn't notice what was in the one next to it: a few days ago, he had stolen Jace's favourite pair of shoes and put them in the glass cabinet to see how long it took him to notice- so far, no-one had.

"I've never fancied being a rug. Rugs bore me. I never have any in my apartment unless there's a special reason- the Chairman always covers them in fur. Talking of which, fur coats are back in, and the bigger the shoulders the better, the Autumn/Winter collections are going to be spectacular-"

"Magnus, although I love that fashion gets you so excited, I've got something important I need to talk to you about-"

"Uh, the fur coat news is important. And the big shoulder news. What if you wanted to get me a surprise present, and you couldn't choose between something shoulder padded and something-"

Alec glared. He could hear Izzy's voice somewhere outside, a distant muffled muttering that made him snap out of postcoital mode and into big brother mode- he wanted to check that his siblings were okay.

"Come on, the others will be wondering where we are. Anyway, it's about Jace." As he told his boyfriend the basics of what had happened that morning, when he had discovered Jace watching him sleep, Magnus' face morphed from happy-sleepy to scary-calm.

"This has gone way too far. We all know Jace cares about you, but I will not have anyone watching you sleep except me!"

He flounced from the room in a whirl of shimmering poncho, leaving Alec to wipe down the table before hurrying after him.

Jace's song for this section- No Control by David Bowie

Alec, as worried about Jace as he was –which was a lot, all he wanted for his parabatai was happiness- couldn't help but feel anger towards him. He hadn't told Magnus what Jace had said about immortality, but the remark had unsettled him more than he wanted to acknowledge. Though Jace had seemed to be in a daze lately, the honesty in his eyes when he'd said 'I want you to become immortal' was brutal. How dare he say something like that when he knew it was a sensitive topic? And what gave him the right to sneak around Alec as though he was made of some fragile, delicate china? They both knew that wasn't the case.

The door to the Sanctuary was ajar, and raised voices spilled through it like orange juice through a sieve.

"What the hell do you think you're doing sneaking into Alec's room and watching him sleep? Are you some sort of pervert?"

Magnus' voice. Alec knew he still harboured some lingering seeds of jealousy, left over from when he had thought he loved Jace. No matter how much he tried to convince Magnus otherwise, he'd always be more touchy of him than other people when it came to the question of Alec's affections.

"You probably are," Magnus continued, no longer yelling but in a teasing voice- though not his usual playful tone. "Tell me Jace, have you ever had sex with an inanimate object? Was it 'The Shadowhunter's Codex'?"

Alec heard an astonished laugh, most likely Simon, and decided enough was enough. He stepped into the room, and placed a soothing hand on Magnus' elbow. Jace wasn't retaliating, not even looking at Magnus, his blank golden eyes were fixed on Alec as if looking away would cause him to disappear.

"Alec, I'm sorry-"

"You will be if it happens again," the warlock muttered darkly, his long fingers sparking as they ran through his hair, little slivers of magic burrowing into the silky blackness like turquoise fireflies disappearing into the night.

"Mags, calm down. Jace… how are you feeling?"

Jace looked disorientated, slightly separate from the rest of the world.

"Alec, I feel… God, I don't…what's happening to me? One day I'm fine, the next you're all I can think about and I don't even know why." To everyone's surprise, Magnus cut in before Alec could say anything, snaking a lean arm around Jace's shoulders.

"Sounds like we have things to discuss," he said. "When in that situation, I found shagging him helpful, but I doubt that's what you want to go for. And if you try I'll zap you into the next millennium. Come on, Wayland." He lead Jace away from the group, out of the room.

Isabelle shook her head sadly, dark hair jangling around her waist like upset windchimes. She hated to see Jace so…unlike himself. It had happened so quickly- just two days ago he'd been training and joking around with the rest of them- and no-one had been prepared for the sudden change.

"That was quite sweet," she said, eyes dark and unreadable "In a sad, strange way." She turned to her brother, clasping his elbow affectionately. "Don't you ever take for granted how much those two care about you," she gestured to the door Magnus and Jace had left out of. "They'd do anything for you, Alec. Anything. That kind of love isn't something you can toss aside." As she turned to Simon and Clary, leaving Alec looking thoughtful and distant, her fleeting seriousness was gone as quickly as it had come. The steely glint of determination blazed back into her eyes.

She was Isabelle Lightwood. She wouldn't crack or cower away from her problems- she wanted Jace back and wouldn't stop until it happened.

"Izzy, what's the plan?" Clary asked, echoing Simon's thoughts.

"We find Camille, we use the mind reading rune to find out her plans, and then we stop her. After that we can hand her over to the Clave, I'm sure they'll have something appropriately nasty in mind."

Clary nodded fiercely, and Simon's hand reached out to cover Izzy's. She jumped a little, out of shock more than anything else, glancing up to meet his eyes. They were the colour of black coffee, just as warm and full of concern. Like the way only Jace and Alec ever looked at her, yet somehow different- they were always concerned with each other, being parabatai, but Simon looked as though he only cared about her.

Magnus had led Jace to the main living room, the one in which he had shouted at him and Alec for besmirching his precious bedroom only days before. As much as he thought of Jace as an annoyance, Magnus had a secret respect for him- not that he'd ever admit it- for several reasons, the most important one being Alec.

They both cared for him in a way that went beyond usual human care: Jace as a parabatai as well as a brother, and Magnus with the binding, dangerous love of an immortal. Both would be prepared and glad to risk, even lose their lives for him. But neither could seem to bring themselves to reveal the extent of their feelings.

So, as he guided Jace to sink down onto the sofa, Magnus was determined to help the boy to the best of his ability.

"Jace," he said, gently, taking a seat next to him. "I know you care about Alec. You want to protect him, and that's fine- that's okay. But you're really overdoing it, to the point where it's more harm than good."

"I'd never hurt him, Magnus, I couldn't let anyone else-"

"I know. You feel like you can't lose him, like if you did the world would lose all meaning to you- like you would lose yours to the world, Jace I understand. I really do. But he isn't so breakable as you think."

Jace shook his head, pale and sickly, all his usual confidence utterly gone. He knew Magnus was talking sense, but it was like something in his mind disregarded it: he knew the truth. He was the one legally charged with Alec's protection. He… had no control anymore.

"He is. More than he understands. Camille wants to hurt him, and I can't let that happen!" Jace's voice sounded far away to his own ears. "You care about him too. We can't let that happen."

"We will stop Camille, the Clave-"

"The Clave! What do they know? They'll punish her when she turns him into her subjugate, not to prevent it. Before then she hasn't broken any laws, but we can do something, we can make Alec safe and happy. That's what I want for him."

Magnus' eyes narrowed, his whole demeanor changing from that of a listener to someone trying to over their helplessness with self-confidence.

"You mean make him immortal."

"Of course I do! Alec wants it for Raziel's sake, he thinks that you don't because you don't love him enough-" Jace's thoughts clouded. He tried to stand, but dropped like a felled tree, eyes unfocused and blank. A spark- a fluid, blood red one- curled around his ear, it slithered, unlike warlock sparks: The Seelie Queen's magic. Magnus rolled up his striped sleeves and grasped Jace's shoulders firmly, the boy whimpering beneath his hands. "Alec…has to go to her…he has to…or she won't stop. They won't stop they won't ever stop until they get what they want…" Jace's face contorted, his body convulsed. "Magnus I can't- "

The warlock set loose a stream of blue sparks, silently willing them to heal, to free Jace's mind, to flush out the unwelcome magic and replace it with his own.

So what do you think will happen to Jace?

And Zoe, there was something in there for you- if you didn't spot it then 'damn you, curse you'!

Love China. xxx