Heya!

Unfortunately, my computer has broken which is making it really hard to write, so sorry this has taken so long :(. Also, my next update may be 2-3 weeks, so I haven't disappeared, my IT just hates me :(.

Enjoy. Mwahahaha. Reviews at the end.

Lu xxx

Alec was in truth not at work the next day – for some bizarre reason they had decided to give him Mondays off – so instead he had decided to spend the whole day at the hospital with Izzy, since Simon couldn't be. James had gone home the previous day, but Alec had picked him up to take him back to his Mom in the hope that the presence of her son would inspire Izzy to stir at least, to open her eyes; it sounded stupid, but even though it had only been two days Alec and Simon had grown desperate, and Clary and Jace were well on their way to being so as well.

He shuddered unconsciously as wandered down the bright white halls. Hospitals had never really been his cup of tea and had freaked him out since he was little; they just seemed too unnatural, too clean, and too white. A sleeping James stirred a bit in his arms but remained out like a light, his small fingers twisted deeply into the orange knitted blanket he was snuggled into. Alec smiled. His nephew was so small and delicate, and it reminded him almost painfully of when Max had been that young – James even had the same mop of black hair, although beneath his lids were deep chocolate eyes that made him look a lot like Simon.

Alec was so lost in thought that he was surprised to realise that he had reached the door to his sisters room – and was then even more surprised to hear two distantly familiar voices saying goodbye to her and to see the door swing roughly open to reveal his parents.

They looked exactly as he remembered them. Maryse looked glum and nonchalant, her jaw set stubbornly and her long hair scraped back into a meticulous bun. Robert was scowling, his features twisted and ugly, and they only got more twisted and ugly as he laid eyes upon his son. Maryse's eyes flew open in shock, which was very uncharacteristic, and she stepped back a little and rested her hand on her husband's shoulder for support.

"Alexander…" She muttered, quietly and under her breath so that he could only just hear it.

He narrowed his eyes at them so that they were almost slits, not caring to disguise the hate on his face. He shook his head, subconsciously pulled James a little closer to his chest as if to protect him and leant past the pair as if to walk in to the room when Maryse caught at his elbow. He turned and looked at her – there was an odd emotion in her eyes, one he hadn't ever really seen in her before.

"Alexander…" She repeated.

He shrugged off her arm violently and continued to glare at her.

"Don't. Don't touch me."

He stormed into Izzy's room and then stood very still and very tense with his back to them.

"Weren't you just leaving?"

There was a very charged moment that seemed to go on for hours, and then Alec relaxed at the sounds of the door closing and footsteps echoing down the hallway. He slumped into one of the chairs next to his sister's bed and gently placed James onto her chest.

"Hey Iz," He murmured, grabbing one of her limp hands in his, "You'll never guess what I'm up to this evening!"

Magnus was rushing around his apartment in a mad panic, because he had absolutely no idea what to wear. He knew it was silly, and he kept reminding himself over and over that he was just meeting with Alec to catch up with him as a friend, and that he wouldn't really care what Magnus looked like anyway, but there was a rather large part of him that felt like he just needed to look… special. Like himself again. And he was having quite a lot of trouble with it.

There were clothes thrown everywhere; on the floor, on the bed, on the sofa – Magnus had even laid out his collection of white jeans on the kitchen table, and the Chairman was sporting a particularly sparkly green sweater that had landed unceremoniously on his head. And yet there still seemed to be nothing suitable, nothing that he felt was right. Magnus groaned in frustration and threw yet another shoe in the general direction of the kitchen. There was a smash, and he flinched, but didn't let it hold him up and continued to scour through the remaining items in his wardrobe.

Ten minutes later and there was still absolutely nothing. Magnus looked down at what he was wearing – plain skinny jeans and a sky blue sweater with a gold sequin lightning bolt. He supposed he could just wear it – no. No, no, no, it just wouldn't do. He growled in frustration and slammed his foot straight into the wardrobe – and then jumped back as something large and potentially heavy tumbled down from on top of it.

Magnus coughed and waved the dust cloud away – whatever it was had been up there a very long time – before stepping forward to take a look at the object. It was a large cardboard box, unmarked with a label and sealed at the top with a lot of green and yellow electrical tape. He had absolutely no idea what it was, or why it had been on top of his wardrobe of all places, so he grabbed the pair of blue nail scissors on his bedside table, slit open the tape and ripped the box open.

He gasped, and remembered what it was.

It was a box full of clothes, old clothes, clothes he hadn't seen for eight years. They had been all of Alec's favourites back when they were still together, and to be honest they had been his too – though he would never have had admitted that to anyone – and when the whole break up had happened they had been too painful to wear but too precious to throw out or get rid of,, so he had sealed them up in the box and shoved them on top of his wardrobe where he had expected never to find them again – until now.

He pulled several of them out. There was the top he had been wearing that time that they had nearly been mugged and Alec had knocked the mugger out, the gold sparkling jeans that had been soaked when he had fallen backwards into a duck pond after trying to show off his 'superior balance', and the coat that he had used to constantly wear in the winter after Alec had said that trench coats made him look completely badass. He smiled and pulled out his once favourite and still favourite top and jeans, the coat and a pair of amazing faded leather combats that he was never going out with without again and smiled. Suddenly, he didn't have a problem.

The evenings were getting increasingly darker, and as Alec sat waiting for Magnus in the small clearing the dying light of the sun cast a deep orange glow through the bare branches of the trees, creating a striking mosaic on the floor. The place hadn't changed one bit – there was still the tiny stream that ran nearby that you would occasionally see the odd fish in, and the small pile of rocks which Magnus had once slipped down and nearly broken his arm on. It was peaceful and quiet, and although Alec was looking forward to seeing his ex it was also very nice to just have a little alone time, which he hadn't had much of lately due to the boys – they were both staying over at Clary and Jace's for the night.

He closed his eyes for a second and just let the calm wash over him, before there were the cracking sound of twigs breaking and leaves being crushed on the overgrown narrow pathway to the spot. Alec opened them to see Magnus emerging from the other side of the clearing in the ripped black jeans and riveted top that he had worn so often towards the end of their relationship and his hands stuffed in the pockets of his old trench coat. He smiled as the other man waved at him and slumped down next to him, leaning his back against a tree.

"Hey." Magnus said, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly upwards.

"Hi."

"So where did you go then?"

"What do you mean?"

"For the last eight years or so. I heard rumours that you left New York." Alec must have pulled some sort of a face, because Magnus held up his hands. "I'm not being harsh, I'm just curious, that's all."

Alec smiled.

"California. I don't know why, it was just the first place that sprung to mind that I could fly to. We lived in this small little town where I worked at the local architects firm and occasionally wrote for the papers."

Magnus nodded along, looking thoughtful.

"Sound great."

"It was."

"So why did you move back?"

"Well, I got offered a job at The Idris Times, and they said they would pay for my apartment and everything, so I couldn't really refuse… but there was this small part of me that longed to be back here and for Max to be here - its home."

Magnus carried on nodding.

"So, what have you been up to?"

"Well, I moved to this big penthouse apartment, which you know, and set up my own magazine, and yeah… life's been pretty good."

"So you got your dream."

"Yeah. And the magazine became really successful…"

"Of course it would – with your flair I doubt it could fail!"

Magnus laughed.

"Well I suppose. You do know Jace is one of my new models?"

"I knew he'd got a job, but not for you! Trust Jace."

"Well, he's actually pretty good."

"Soo… what was the whole business with Camille then?"

Magnus groaned.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to!" He said quickly, "I just…wondered…"

"No, no, it's fine. I got together with her after… after, and then…I don't know. She was just meant to be a fleeting thing, and then she wasn't, and she just brainwashed me into thinking I actually loved her." He laughed bitterly. "I can't believe I actually early married her!"

"But you didn't." Alec pointed out.

"No." He admitted. "Will managed to make me see sense right at the last minute, thank God. That boy may be cunning but he sure is helpful."

"He's a good kid, you know. You brought him up really well. He's fantastic."

Magnus looked a bit confused for a second, and then nodded.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you've been seeing him for months."

Alec pulled his hands up in to his sleeves and looked sheepishly at Magnus.

"Yeah…sorry about that…"

"I don't have a problem with it, honestly. Actually, to tell you the truth I'm kind of glad that you two have gotten to know each other. I just hope that I can get to know Max?"

"I'd love that. And I think Max would too – he's always been desperate to meet you, and Will. It's kind of ironic that we separated the two of them and then they found each other anyway. I mean, trust them to become best friends before they even knew they were twins."

"Yep. It's exactly the sort of crazy thing that was bound to happen."

Magnus sighed, and his hair – which he appeared to have left down for a change – was blowing slightly in the cold evening breeze.

"Well, life is mad."

They just sat there for a moment, not speaking. It was a pleasant silence, not awkward at all, and Alec couldn't help but just enjoy being in Magnus's company after all these years, even if they were simply trying to be friends again.

He was pulled out of his reverie by Magnus.

"So what happened with Izzy?"

"What…?"

"Will said she was in hospital…is she okay?"

His eyebrows were furrowed in concern. Alec sighed and looked at the floor, running a hand through his surprisingly tamed hair.

"No, she's not. She contracted eclampsia when she gave birth to my nephew James a couple of days ago and she's been in a coma since. The doctors don't know when or if she's going to wake up, and whether she'll be…her when she does."

"Oh…oh, God Alec…how…how are you then?"

"I'm struggling to come to terms with it but…she's a fighter. She'll get through it."

"Have you seen her…like, I know sometimes they don't let you…"

"Yeah." He breathed. "Yeah, I saw her this morning. I brought James along to see if having him there would wake her but no success. It looks like my parents have been visiting too."

"Oh…had they left flowers or something or…"

"I ran into them as they were leaving and I was arriving."

"And how did that go then? Was your dad…"

"Oh Robert just scowled. And Maryse wanted to talk."

"Did you?"

"No. I have no interest in knowing them anymore. They've done too much, and I am much better off without them."

"Fair enough." He studied Alec for a moment. "You know, you look different Alec."

"Oh? How so?"

"You seem more confident in yourself, somehow. And you have finally developed some sort of sense of style."

He smiled.

"You look no different. It's like you haven't changed a bit."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I like it. I always liked the way you seemed. Like, confident but not cocky. And your clothes are still verging on outrageous most of the time. And you haven't ditched the eyeliner."

"The world will end before I ditch the eyeliner!"

Alec laughed at that, and Magnus smiled, a strange twinkle appearing in his eye that Alec couldn't quite put his finger on. It was nice.

"Nope, you definitely haven't changed!"

They sat there like that, just talking, for hours and hours, until the light had completely left the sky and the only illumination available came from the moon. They lay there looking up at the stars, trying to work out what all of the constellations were called and putting names to the particularly distinctive stars.

"And that one must be Orion's Belt…"

"Magnus, that's the fourth time that you've said that – are you sure you aren't just making this up?"

"That is possible, yes."

Alec laughed, and turned to lie on his side so that he was facing the other man.

"I've missed you Magnus. A lot."

Magnus turned onto his side too and smiled back at Alec.

"I've missed you a lot too."

And then he leant in and kissed Alec on the mouth.

Alec froze in shock and Magnus pulled back hurriedly, a panicked look splashed across his face.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I…"

"Magnus, it's fine. You just took me by surprise, that's all."

"Really?"

"Really."

And this time Alec leant in and kissed Magnus with everything he had, everything that had lain dormant for so long, and Magnus was kissing him back with the exact same force, and for once, everything was forgotten, Izzy, his parents – and just for a while, as they lay there together, everything was perfect.

Did you enjoy? Please review!

Lu xxx

Hotlight: I am alive! And as for Camille...maybe. Just maybe.

Asrastar: And now you know! Hope you enjoyed.

Gofarnotfast: I have a plan for Izzy now, and don't worry. I hope you enjoyed.

L'amore: Did this ending make you happier? :)

Permalec: Glad you liked it.

Sarahps: No, noone has done any standing up. I couldn't write that. It would be too horrible. :)

Victoria: :) But you were appreciated just the same.

Nisandfeline: We'll have to wait and see about Camille...

Kaylovesbane: Thank you, and I will!

Greekgoddess: I dread it too, and I am glad that you are still enjoying it. :)

Guest: I know, the feels I get...

Guest 2: Never fear, I never abandon a story!

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