Disclaimer: I own nothing, absolutely positively nothing. It all belongs to Cassandra Clare! One can dream, though.

Sorry for the super long wait. I've been busy with school. This past week I've missed quite a few days, and I have to make that my absolute priority (obviously). So I might have been working on this for a while by the time it gets posted. I'm sorry for taking so long, though. And I think I'm changing it, a bit. I don't really know where to go with Clary x Alec as a couple. I'll probably end up pulling my hair out (figuratively, of course) trying to figure out what direction to stick with. No worries, though, I promise to make it interesting, so really, no worries! And, lastly, before we get started, thank you for all the reviews! And my apologies, once again.

Alec never had been the one to leap into action at a moment's notice. Well, that actually wasn't all that correct. He was known for leaping to protect his family, not a complete stranger. It felt almost as if he had been pushed forward as he took off after the girl. Clary, her name was. Perhaps it was just the odd situation that simply pushed him into action. It was more plausible, though it was hard to ignore the growing comradery that he felt that he shared with the girl.

One could only hope that he was only empathetic. There was obviously a problem that had taken place with her mother. Obviously of some peculiar means (although none of those would ever truly be peculiar to him). He held no want to know any further the worry that the girl held for her mother. At least, in a way that he could relate to it through experience. There was, after all, always a difference between knowing your parents very well could be going to a life or death situation, compared to knowing nothing more than the fact that something terrible had happened. it was bad enough for Alec to have to fret over his sister and adopted brother getting themselves killed. It was common knowledge that they weren't the most cautious of people. Put them together, alone and, well, things would surely never turn out all that positively.

He never wanted to have to think about it as anything more than one of his many worries.

Call it a six sense of sorts, but he knew that the outcome would surely be grim if he lost the girl. It wasn't just a matter of proving himself, anymore. No, he needed to save her, to keep her safe. And it wasn't out of his obligation anymore, either. It was a bit of a twist that he was sure that he didn't know how to deal with in the slightest yet.

The focus at the moment, though, was keeping his eyes on the vibrant red tresses that seemed to be fading into the crowds. Alec picked up the pace. He wasn't going to let her get away. Whatever it was, he was sure that she shouldn't be facing it alone. It seemed almost as if change was lighting the air.

Somehow, despite the large crowds that had begun flooding the streets as the hour grew later and the sun began to fade from the sky, Alec managed to keep Clary within sight. He sped up to grab her arm, pulling her to a stop as she nearly halted to begin up the steps to what appeared to be her apartment. She tried to shake his hand off, but he held on, despite her attempts to strike him, once again.

"Stop. Just for a moment please." Alec said, pulling her back a bit from the stairs. He wasn't going to allow her to run away. Not this time. There was something waiting up there for them. Something a lot less than pleasant. the glare that she shot him was fierce and admittedly a bit chilling.

"Fine. Just let go." Clary commanded, giving another yank of her wrist. This time, however, Alec released her wrist. She at least had to understand his own urgency by now. By the look in her eyes, though, it was more fear over everything else. He felt a strike of pity for the girl before him. She obviously wasn't used to having to be frightened like this. Not a sheltered life, just merely not as exposed to the dangers of the world as he was himself.

It was always a wondrous day when a supposed mundane gained the sight. Always the nagging curiosity, though, the what if? What if there was something more to this? That was something to have Hodge think on later though, once he escorted the supposed fair maiden, who was really quite aggressive, if her hair gave it any indication, bright red, of course.

Alec's eyes focused on Clary's urgently as he tugged her under an overhang and out of sight of anyone who might come upon them.

"You have to listen to me. I'll explain everything perfectly to you later but you have to let me check the perimeter before you go in. You'll be getting your mom and yourself killed if you just go rumbling in there. Let me check for demons first. Please." Alec's eyes pleaded with her. There was no way that he was going to let her go in there unprotected. Always better to go barging into a situation, practically alone when you at least know what you're looking for.

He was definitely starting to sound like Jace.

"Fine." He heard Clary mutter and he smiled in relief. At the very least he wouldn't have to worry about her getting herself in a stupid, dangerous decision. Alec trusted her to keep to her word. Even if it wasn't much more than a single syllable muttered under her breath.

This peculiar sense of trust was something that he had seemed to almost feel in the very core of his bones. He knew that he could trust her in nearly every sense of the world in a heartbeat. If only he could tell easily enough if she returned the sentiment.

Quickly, Alec reached into his pocket and grabbed his Sensor and activated it, barely noticing Clary's curious, though still worried and drastically impatient gaze. Alec waited impatiently for the thing to activate, tapping his foot and glaring at the device fiercely. There was no time for them to spend standing around and waiting for it to get wormed up.

Everything really would have been so much better if the Sensor worked faster. Finally, though, Alec saw the readings pop up on the previously dark screen and his eyes widened noticeably. They were high, or higher than the average readings of an apartment complex in New York City were, anyway, in this area. The only reason that the typically worryingly high readings were common place was due to the large population and size of the city. Not to mention the fact that the majority of shadow hunters, such as himself, were teenagers.

Much to Alec's relief, the high readings weren't all from today, which was a better surprise than he would have suspected to find here, though there was still quite a bit of activity even at this moment.

"We've got to get going. They're closing in." Alec stated, an unsuspected urgency coating his voice as he began to tug Clary out of their hiding place and towards the entrance of the complex.

"The demons? Where?" Clary asked, dreading shining through in her eyes in voice. Almost as if she knew but she didn't want to guess. In fact, Alec was quite sure that she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Here. They're coming here."

A little bit of a cliff hanger for you guys, no? Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm going to set Alec and Clary up as a couple now, by the end of this chapter (which took a few weeks for me to finish it). I promise I'll start trying to add chapters more quickly, but don't hate me if I can't. Thanks for understanding!

Please Read & Review!