Heya!

Okay, so a change in plan because my weeks plans have changed. If I get 65 reviews by Thursdya I will upload 6000 Words. If I get 70+ I will upload more.

Also, any suggestions? And I have a poll on my profile to find out from whose POV you want the next chapter, as I have writers block, so I want you to help!Please review, and I hope you enjoy!

Hotlight10: wedding next chapter. And I have put more hints on the hmm in this chapter, if they still haven't helped tell me in a review and I shall fix it/explain.

LondonRose 98: hi! I am glad you are enjoying it, here is your quick update.

L'amore 13: maybe next chapter... and thank you so much! That made me smile.

Luvmusic 87: again, more hints. If you are still confused, again, review and tell me.

Greekgoddess: I shall PM you because your response is going to be long. Thank you so much! You are epic!

To my reviewers:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lu xxx

Alec was sat at the coffee table, reading the newspaper and sipping nonchalantly at his coffee. It was just the normal Saturday morning, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing especially interesting to do. He was planning to have a lazy day and doing nothing in general, just slobbing around the apartment, watching whatever dreadful daytime TV was on and perhaps reading a book or two. Nothing too strenuous. He wasn't even planning on getting up properly as he didn't have anything planned to do – Clary had already agreed to drop Max off at the Institute at whatever time he was needing to be dropped off at, which was in… just over half an hour, so they would probably be leaving in around ten minutes or so, just to be safe.

Sure enough, about ten seconds later Clary and Max emerged, Max dressed nicely in a green shirt and black skinny jeans, and Clary balancing Tessa on her hip, the small girl reaching around precariously. They both uttered good mornings to Alec, who responded and carried on reading about some strike somewhere that was delaying a load of flights that he didn't really care about. There were sounds of clunks and crashes from the kitchen, but Alec decided it would probably be for the best that he cut out these noises – Clary would never let anything too disastrous happen, and as for general chaos – well, he was pretty sure he just didn't want to know.

It was because he was so absorbed in ignoring all sounds that he nearly missed his phone going off.

He finally realised that someone was calling him on about the third or fourth ring, and swiped the phone out of his back pocket, hastily pressing the answer button and putting the phone up to his ear. He would recognise the personalised ring tone anywhere. His heart almost stopped when he heard the voice.

"Yeah, yeah of course it's me, who else would it be?"

"What the hell have you been doing?! You are so stupid, you are so fucking stupid! I am going to kill you when I get my hands on you…"

"You think you deserve my help?"

"What?!"

"No, I'm still not convinced; you had better have a pretty good excuse for the past month!"

"What, no, you know that's not true, he's dead…"

"He is dead, you saw the death certificate. I saw the death certificate."

"Okay, okay, I'll be there as soon as I can. See you in a minute."

"Bye."

Alec stood up suddenly, running into his room to pull on a pair of jeans and a tshirt and hopping into the kitchen whilst still lacing up one combat boot. Clary turned around from where she had been quickly feeding Tessa a piece of toast before getting ready to leave, her eyebrow raised in a questioning fashion.

"What was that about?"

"Something urgent has come up, and I have to go like now. Um, I am not sure how long I am gonna be, so I'm gonna take my key so you can lock up when you take Max."

"What is it that is so urgent?"

"Just some business with someone about… about something. Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about – at least not yet, anyway."

"What do you mean not yet? Alec?!"

"Clary, just forget about it, okay, it isn't anything that you need to get yourself worked up about. Honestly."

"Okay, but…"

"Clary, I'm sorry but I really need to go now, can we speak about this later when I know more and hopefully the situation has been resolved."

Clary threw up her hands in exasperation.

"Fine, go ahead. I'll see you later."

Alec shot her an apologetic look before grabbing his keys off of the side, yanking on his jacket mercilessly and stalking out of the apartment and straight into the lift. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration as the lift began its normally quick but today impossibly slow descent down into the depths of the building. He hated lying to Clary, but sometimes it really was the only way to get things done and to sort things out, because where Clary went a wave of destruction inevitably followed, normally immediately and with an immensely destructive force.

Will was waiting in the Institute, tapping his foot on the floor and repeatedly pacing back and forth in the entryway, waiting for Max.

Today was the day all shit broke loose. Or everything came together. Or his life became messed up. Or everyone hated him. Really, there were so many possible outcomes of the day that it hurt Will's brain to think about them all, but he really couldn't stop analyzing each one over and over in painstaking detail, sending his mind spinning into a ridiculous overdrive. He couldn't wait for the wedding to be over, but at the same time, he was dreading it. This day would change his life. He was sure of it. It was a fact set in stone. And not a weak stone like chalk, something practically indestructible like granite. It sucked.

Magnus had been pretty pissed – again, again, Magnus – that Will had decided to go to the Institute and only turn up just before the ceremony was about to begin, but he had accepted defeat and acknowledged that there was nothing he was going to be able to do to stop him, so he guessed he would just have to let his son be a precocious child and do his own things because he wanted to and didn't care about anyone other than himself, resulting in ruining his wedding day. That had stung a little bit, okay, a lot when Magnus – Magnus – had said it, but Will knew that what he was doing was in the best interests of Magnus, and thinking that, even if he himself wasn't sure he believed it anymore, helped take away a little bit of the guilt away. Because Will was doing something special for Magnus, but Magnus could not know and potentially would never know at least part of it. But it had to be done.

He squinted down at his watch again, still pacing around in a restless manner. Twenty five past twelve. Max should be here in five minutes now. He couldn't be late. He couldn't be. He wasn't allowed to be, it wasn't possible, if he was it would ruin everything and the plan would go to pot and everyone would end up hating him and then he would be sent to boarding school on the other side of the world where everyone would still hate him but he wouldn't know them and his whole life would be ruined and….

He needed to stop. Panicking and catastrophizing about the whole situation was not going to help.

He needed to keep a level head and focus. He needed to actually breathe, that would be helpful, and stop worrying about Camille being evil… no, he couldn't do that when she was still in his brain. He needed to stop thinking about Camille and Magnus and think about his dad, about Clary, about all of the other people who still loved him even if Camille was turning Magnus away from him, corrupting their relationship with each other. Of all the people who wouldn't let him just be turned away, who stood by him, who made him laugh and made time to see him, who he could chat to easily and talk about the silliest things and they still wouldn't mind at all.

Twelve twenty seven. Three minutes.

Max. Max would always there for him and would always be there for him. He wouldn't let the mere issue of a few thousand miles of sea get in the way. He wouldn't let a bitch of an evil step mother get in the way. Max knew what it meant to love someone unconditionally, to care for someone no matter what they did because they meant enough to you to be worth keeping through all the bad times in search of the good ones. He would stand by Will, and even if they were only eight years old they could be a bloody stubborn and determined pair of eight year olds if that was what they so desired.

Twelve twenty eight. Two minutes.

Alec. Alec was a great dad, laughing and smiling all the time, not caring if Will had a different opinion to him or a different perspective, and always taking the contrasts into consideration when he made decisions. His dad, who never got cross or disappointed with him if he did something wrong, and sat and talked about it with him instead because that made Will listen and shouting and insults and being scared really didn't. His dad who just understood everything, no matter how crazy or mad it sounded. Who didn't ask questions when Will didn't want questions, who did when he didn't mind to try and fix things, and who answered everything Will asked him to providing he was able to do so to help them both know each other well, like a father and son should.

Twelve twenty nine. One minute.

Will had better get here on time, or none of this was going to work. And then it would be back to square one.

Alec walked up along the path towards the familiar figure standing in front of him. In this light, he looked very much like the angel to whom he was always compared, his golden locks glowing softly, his defined figure standing in a pose that looked like he was ready to so some avenging even when it wasn't the clichéd, overused vision of the hands on hips. As Alec drew closer, he turned, and the gold of his eyes shone bright in the patch of sunlight he was standing in, burning bright in the centre of the path that was covered in a spider's web of shadows.

"Okay, cut the crap Jace, what the hell is going on?"

Jace sighed as Alec drew up in front of him, one hand hanging limply by his side and the other clutching the elbow in a gesture extremely uncharacteristic of Jace. He had shadows under his eyes, his face pale, and he looked skinnier than he had the last time Alec had seen him, almost ill, his eyes dull and lifeless in an equally miserable face. It looked almost… almost as if he had been crying, but Alec decided not to ask about it. It would probably just piss him off, and make him put up his walls again, which appeared to have at least temporarily have fallen.

"Um… well, you know about me and Clary…"

"Yeah, she's been staying at my house. She is completely broken, especially since you just disappeared."

His tone was unusually cold to his own ears, and surprisingly steady. Jace gulped, and shifted around uneasily.

"I needed separation, complete temporary separation, to sort myself out. I went out, travelled about New York crashing with mates and going to as many decent job interviews as I could. But, I've got offered one. I am working at some magazine somewhere as a model."

Alec couldn't help but laugh at that, because it was a job that Jace was so obviously suited to.

"I've been back home for a week now. And so I've sorted that out. And I was… I was actually about to visit yours to see if you knew where Clary was so that I could fix things with her when…"

Alec's eyes narrowed.

"When what, Jace? What happened?"

"That was when I saw my dad. I knew it was him. He is identical to the photos, and I sort of remembered him anyway."

"So, he didn't die then."

"No…n-no, he didn't."

Jace's voice, in fact the entirety of his body, had begun to softly shake, his eyes glassing over. Alec tried desperately not to let his jaw drop open and gulped down a gasp. It would not be helpful. Instead, he moved forward and clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Come on. Shall we walk?"

Jace nodded, his eyes looking down at the ground.

"So, what did he say to you?"

"He told me who he was, although I obviously already knew that. He said he was sorry that I had thought he was dead, although he didn't really sound sorry, and that he was happy to see me again. He wanted me to work for him and to get to know him, and something else but I can't remember what…"

The way that Jace had said the last section made it painfully clear that he remembered the extra detail with crystal clarity but was extremely reluctant to share the information with Alec. So Alec didn't press or pry. He just carried on walking down the shady path with Jace, walking ever closer to the area where is opened out into the glorious, golden autumn light.

"So, what did you say to all that then?"

"I declined it all. I want nothing to do with my dad, and I made that perfectly clear. Robert is more of a father to me, and he is a prick."

Alec chuckled.

"Okay, I have to agree with you. So that was that then?"

"Yep. He stalked off and gave me a look, but I'm pretty sure that he is gone."

"Well, that's good. Are you gonna talk to Clary about all of this?"

"Urm, yeah, I think so."

"Do you want to talk to her now?"

"What?"

"I can text her now to meet us here if you want me here for moral support if you would like?"

"Yeah, yeah, that would be good."

Alec flipped out his phone and sent a quick message to Clary before looking up again. They were in the slightly soft but still very bright golden autumn sun, lighting up this area of the park. The grass was cut short, the occasional daisy dotted here and there and adding a splash of contrast to the bright green of the blades.

On top of the grass were rows and rows of white chairs, and in theses rows hundreds of people were milling around and taking their seats. Alec grabbed Jace by the collar and pulled him behind a tree.

Will released a breath that he didn't realise that he has been holding as Max burst through the sdouble doors. Through the gap Will could see Clary walking away with on hand gripping Tessa's and the other flicking on her phone. Good. She was gone. That would make things a lot less complicated and difficult. Max walked up to his brother as gave him a wave.

"Hi. How are you?"

"I'm okay. What about you?"

"I am good. Look, I am sorry that we were nearly late, dad had to go out and Tessa was messing about on the subway and…"

"It is fine, just as long as you are here now. We have somewhere we need to be going."

Max looked confused.

"I thought we were reading."

"No. We are not. We are going to go on a visit to the park."

Max's eyes narrowed.

"Why?"

"We need to attend a wedding."

What did you think? Review and tell me! And don't forget to take the poll to help me, else I don't know how long it will be to the next chapter x :(

Lu xxx