Alec was looking down at his phone. It wasn't quite as good as his computer. The pictures were rather small but at least he could see them. Scrolling through a few listings without finding anything that caught his attention, Alec changed the parameters of his search. That helped. Now the question was which one would Magnus like best…

"Hello," her voice broke through his laser focus. "Hello, earth to Alec, come in Alec."

"Huh, what?" Alec said looking up from his phone. Maia was standing a few feet from him with a very annoyed look on her face. Without saying another word she gestured to her right. Turning to his left, Alec saw what she was trying to communicate: customers.

"I said I wanted two hundred grams of the honey ham," the annoyed-looking man said.

"Oh right sorry," Alec said, putting his phone in his pocket and quickly getting back to what he was supposed to be doing.

Once the man left with his honey man, Alec made to take out his phone again but as soon as it was in his hand Maia snatched it from his grasp.

"Oh no you don't!" Maia said. "You've been distracted all day and I am sick of doing your job for you. If you keep this up I am telling our supervisor."

"Alright, alright," Alec replied in defeat. "Sorry. I'm just so excited."

"Yeah yeah I get it," Maia sighed. "You're gonna buy a house. Doesn't mean you get to slack off at work. In fact, work is super important when it comes to buying houses or at least it's supposed to be." Alec just grinned at her. She responded by pocketing his cell phone.

Alec did his best to focus for the rest of his shift. He tried to pass the time by getting Maia to talk to him about houses, but she wasn't taking the bait.

"I don't think I'm meant to be a homeowner," Maia said when Alec tried to get her opinion if split levels or full basements were better. "I like being able to call a landlord to fix stuff that's broken."

"Just cause you call them doesn't mean they show up," Alec replied.

"Yeah but at least it isn't my problem when they slack off," Maia counted. "I can just work around the issue and their falling equity is their fault."

"But wouldn't it be nice to be able to have more control over where you live?" Alec asked. "To be able to do things without anyone telling you you can't?"

"What things?" Maia scoffed.

"Renovation things," Alec said. "Backsplash tile, new floors, showers, big bathtubs and new countertops, big backyards with built-in catios!"

"Whatever makes you happy buddy," Maia chuckled.

Alec appreciated that she was happy for him, even so, he couldn't help but be disappointed that she didn't share his enthusiasm. When his shift ended, Magnus had agreed to sit down with him and really look at the listings. Another five hours from now and Alec would be sitting at home freaking out over houses with his favourite person in the whole entire world, and the cats. Who needed friends when you had a husband?

Being bored while knowing something more fun was just around the corner has a nasty habit of slowing down time. Without his phone to distract him, for the rest of his shift every time Alec checked the clock it felt like even less time had passed than the previous time he'd checked it. Despite the molasses uphill in January status of the clock, his shift did eventually end. Waving cheerfully to Maia, Alec bolted from the building and back to his car.

Having a car of his own was very convenient, but Alec's favourite thing about this car was that Magnus had gotten it for him, even if it had been for all the wrong reasons. Whenever Alec got in the car it always reminded him of when Magnus had used work to avoid him, but in a good way. Alec remembered when Magnus had confessed his inability to give Alec up and it always made him feel needed.

While Alec parked in his usual spot and into his apartment he thought about the listings he'd managed to get a peek at before Maia had stolen his phone.

The one he'd really liked had a garage but its location wasn't that great. Some of the other places were way better located but without the garage. One place had this wrap-around deck off the primary bedroom that Alec thought was wicked cool. One house he'd found had mature fruit trees in the backyard. Alec wondered what it would be like to pick fruit from your own yard and make a pie with it. He'd have to learn to make a pie first but he felt sure Paige could teach him that. Then there was the one that had an outdoor pool.

Turning his key in the lock, Alec walked into his current place of residence to two very needy cats. After petting them both until they were satisfied, Alec set down his things and went to sit at his computer. Dinner could wait.

By the time Magnus got home from work about a half hour later, Alec had about thirty tabs of different house listings open to show Magnus.

"Over here," Alec said. "Look!"

"Let me take my shoes off at least," Magnus laughed. Alec stopped and stared, watching his husband's feet to see when the shoes were off before continuing.

He was about to usher Magnus over to the table where both their laptops sat when his husband decided a proper hello was necessary. Alec welcomed the kiss.

"Hmmm," Alec mumbled. "Hello."

"That's better," Magnus chuckled. "I thought a kiss might calm you down a bit."

"I'm plenty calm," Alec replied, huffy.

"Darling," Magnus said in a kind but firm tone. "You were vibrating."

"You will be too," Alec said. "Just you wait." Moving over to his laptop, Alec gestured to his laptop.

Magnus sat down and had a look but he didn't say anything. It didn't take long for Alec to break the silence.

"There's the fruit tree one," Alec said. "The deck off the primary bedroom on the other one looks awesome but I don't like the location and it doesn't have a garage to park the car. Ooh and then there is the one with the pool."

"We so don't need a pool," Magnus countered.

"How about the others?" Alec asked. "The big deck or the garage? Did you like any of those?"

"Like or don't like hardly matters," Magnus replied. "They are all out of our price range."

"I haven't been looking at the prices," Alec explained. "Just don't look at the prices. What do you think of the houses?"

"I think it's a lovely fantasy," Magnus said, turning away from the screen to face Alec.

"What houses do you like then?" Alec asked.

Magnus turned back to the computer and for a moment it was quite while he looked over some listings.

"Here, how about this one?" Magnus said turning the computer screen a bit to show Alec.

"That's not a house," Alec scoffed. "That's just a condo."

"Yes, but it's under 400 thousand," Magnus argued.

"What is the point of going from an apartment to a condo?" Alec disagreed.

"The point is equity instead of rent," Magnus reminded him.

"I want a lawn," Alec remarked.

"Does that mean you intend to mow it?" Magnus replied.

"I'm gonna pay someone else to mow it," Alec replied, dismissively.

"It's a wonder your parents didn't cut you off sooner," Magnus sighed. "You spend money like most people drink water." Magnus paused to do a couple searches before speaking again. "There aren't any lawns for less than 600 thousand." Magnus did another search. "Scratch that. The condos are still showing up in the 700 to 800 range. Damn!"

"You should change the search parameters to make the minimum price one million," Alec said. "Then some really nice ones show up."

"Yeah don't say," Magnus replied with what Alec thought was unnecessary sarcasm.

"Oh and I changed it to have a minimum of two bathrooms as well," Alec added.

"Of course you did," Magnus said with a great sigh.

"What's wrong?" Alec asked, turning to look at Magnus.

"We can't afford this," Magnus told him firmly.

"You went to the same bank appointment I did," Alec smiled.

"Which is how I know that even with your parents helping us a lot with the downpayment than I'm totally okay with, we still only got approved for a 450 thousand mortgage and that was cutting it close," Magnus reminded him. "Keeping it to 400 or under would be ideal."

"But that took into account your school debt," Alec said. "And a fairly small down payment. We just need to pay off your debt and put down a bigger payment then we can get a nicer house."

"Oh is that all," Magnus said again with sarcasm. Alec just didn't understand what he was being so sarcastic for. It was really quite simple.

"There's no point if we just go from renting an apartment to buying a condo," Alec whined. "They are basically the same thing. Free-standing houses have a deck, a lawn, a carport, and best of all a private entrance you don't have to share with an entire building full of people!"

"If you really want a house that bad we should move out of Toronto," Magnus replied. "Unless you have a time machine and can go back thirty years to buy a house then."

"I don't wanna move away from all our friends," Alec said.

"We won't have to do that far," Magnus continued. "If we move even just to the edge of town that helps lower the price by quite a bit. The commute to work is gonna suck but it would be workable."

"I'm gonna call mom," Alec said. He didn't like either of those options. As he got out his phone Alec could hear his husband's deep sigh. He really wished Magnus would just relax a bit and have some fun. Buying their first house together should be enjoyable, not stressful. Magnus was doing it all wrong.

"And what do I owe this pleasure," Maryse's voice spoke as the phone line connected.

"Well… you know how Magnus and I wanted to buy a house," Alec began. "And you and dad said you'd help?"

"Yes," Maryse replied. "I believe we agreed to contribute a two hundred thousand downpayment."

"Yeah about that," Alec continued. "We have been looking online at some houses and it looks like we can't get anything but condos for less than a million."

"Welcome to the Toronto housing market," Maryse replied in the affirmative. "The only place in all of Canada with higher prices housing prices is Vancouver." She chuckled lightly and Alec assumed there was something funny about what she said but he couldn't figure it out so he ignored her.

"I don't want a condo," Alec continued. "I was wondering if you and dad would be willing to help us out enough so we could get a free standing house."

"It's possible," Maryse replied coolly, but Alec knew from her tone there was more to her answer. "What exactly are you prepared to do to earn this extra help?"

"I could come work for you," Alec said. "Just like you always wanted."

"But is that what you want?" Maryse asked.

"I want a house," Alec said grinning. "To share with Magnus. I don't really care what I do for work."

"In that case, report to my office Monday morning," Maryse said. Alec could tell from her voice that she was smiling.

"And if I find a house I like?" Alec asked.

"We can look at it together," Maryse smiled. "You have proved to us that you can take care of yourself when you need to, which was what your father and I wanted to teach you. I see no reason why you cannot have some reward for your effort."

"Thanks mom!" Alec said, grinning from ear to ear. "Love ya."

"Love you too," Maryse said before she hung up the phone.

"We are getting a house!" Alec said, jumping up and down. "A real house, not some condo."

Magnus just stared at him for a while. Alec couldn't quite understand what was going on behind those eyes so he just kept up his grinning and jumping for joy. Eventually his laughter became contagious and even Magnus's serious facade cracked.

"You are crazy, you know that," Magnus laughed, his face finally relaxing.

"And you're stuck with me!" Alec exclaimed loudly.

They continued to look at houses for the rest of the afternoon. Alec was so excited he almost couldn't sit still enough to look at his computer screen which proved problematic. Magnus was excited too or at least less sarcastic. What Alec really wanted was to share his excitement with someone equally as jazzed as him. The trouble was finding such a person.

His sister was in deep exam mode with a wedding just around the corner and had zero time for him. Alec thought Jace might be a good bet but when he invited Jace over all he wanted to talk about was how Annika hadn't been returning his texts for a couple days. Alec turned to Clary in the hopes of a freak out buddy but once Jace was upset Clary was a write off. The woman seemed to absorb Jace's emotional state like some kind of sponge. Alec was quickly running out of friends.

"You look like a sulky puppy," Magnus told him the next day when Alec had exhausted all his energy looking for someone to freak out with.

"My friends are so serious right now," Alec whined. "And all you can think about is the money."

"Well as I can't deny you anything while your face looks like that, consider me no longer thinking about money," Magnus said, smiling at him.

Instantly Alec's mood improved. He jumped up off the couch and ran over to wrap his arms around his husband. "So you're ready to theorize with me about houses!?"

"Whatever your little heart desires," Magnus replied, lifting his hand up to stroke Alec's face. Alec closed his eyes at the touch. It felt so nice, but no time for that! There were houses to hunt for!

"Two more houses came on the market today," Alec said very quickly. "One on Thirteenth street. Weird street name if you ask me but whatever. It has three bedrooms, two baths, and the pictures look nice. Black and white checkered pattern on the kitchen floor. It's not super big but I think it would work. There's this online tour thing where you can walk around the house virtually like with google maps but for houses. I'd still want to see it in person though if you like it. Oh and there is another house on Erskine ave. Another weird street name but a nice house. Three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with a finished basement. Both of them have a porch for a barbeque and I was thinking about getting a hammock." Alec stopped to take a quick breath before continuing. "The living room of the house on Thirteenth street is a bit smaller but it's still nice with all the outdoor space and the biggest bedroom has its own floor so we could use the two lower bedrooms for guests and cats. There's another bathroom and laundry in the basement along with a rec room which I think would fit a blowup mattress so we could sleep down there when it's really hot because the downside of so many floors is heat rising. The other house doesn't have the same walk-through option so I can't tell as much from just the still pictures. We would definitely have to see that house in person! The kitchen layout at thirteenth is kinda weird. I think I like the house on Erskine ave better but what do you think?" Alec took a deep breath, then another. All that talking without breathing was starting to make him feel light-headed.

"I think you are very excited about this," Magnus said beaming at him. "And we should ask to see both houses."

Alec couldn't stop the excited 'yay' that escaped his lips and he flung himself forward and wrapped his arms around his husband.

Only took 200 chapters but I have finally mentioned by name where this story is located. I've been really obvious it's set in Canada from the beginning since all my stories are set there, but to know it's specifically Toronto before now you would have had to be paying very careful attention.

In other news I downloaded Grammarly. I'm hoping it will save you all from my worst typos since for the sake of speed I have stopped sending these to my editor. I'm hoping without the 2-3 weeks of waiting for editing my update speed with improve because it is SO time to bring this story to a close. It's already the length of five full novels! To really put this into perspective, all of the Harry Potter books are about 1 million words... R&S is half a million words and it's just one of my stories. If you combine all my published fanfic works together they are longer than harry potter aka 1.4 million words! I honestly think I've written more fanfic than I've read.

Anyone noticed the tiny Jace plot hint I have in this chapter? Got any guesses what that's about?

Sneak Peek Chapter 201

"You just want to change the topic to the house you looked at yesterday," Jace laughed.

"Guilty," Alec admitted. "But I do think Annika is fine and you don't need to worry so much."

"Okay fine," Jace sighed. "Tell me about the house."

It only took about five minutes for Jace to regret this statement. Once given free rein Alec started talking about houses like they were his firstborn son. Jace tuned just enough to reply in a way that made it seem like he was listening.

Jace was saved from Alec's monologue by the arrival of Clary who was home from work. Before Alec could start his house enthusiasm up again, Jace changed the topic by asking Clary about her day at work.

"Oh the usual," Clary responded. "People tried on clothes, I got the clothes for them and then folded them and put them all back once they decided not to buy them."

"Sounds dull," Alec replied.

"It wasn't all bad," Clary said. "Watching Izzy work was pretty hilarious. I swear that woman is running on adrenaline right now. She's like an energizer bunny." Clary giggled and Jace couldn't help but stare at her. It was amazing to him how she could get more beautiful each time he saw her even if she hadn't technically changed at all. Maybe it was just that his memory couldn't do her justice. Jace loved how Clary never wore any makeup. He loved the way the sun coming in through the window made her hair sparkle. He loved the way her nose crinkled when she laughed.