Clary finished the glamour rune on Alec's shoulder and stepped away with a nervous sigh.

"Anything Magnus?" Isabelle asked.

"It's still going to voicemail," the Warlock said.

Alec asked, "can we do a locator spell?", finishing off another strength rune on his wrist.

"It will take too long and we need to find them now," Magnus told him gravely.

"Where would they go?" Aline said, tying up her silky dark hair in a knot on top of her head.

"Wait," Magnus said suddenly and dialed someone on his phone. Alec could only hold his breath in anticipation.

"No time for pleasantries. Do you have access to the internet? I need to know when the next flight is due to leave from New York to Paris."

Of course, why hadn't Alec thought of that? But then, he married Magnus because the Warlock completed him thoroughly – if Alec hadn't thought about a deranged Mathieu taking a very vulnerable young Shadowhunter back to his home town then Magnus would.

"Ok – JFK? Eight thirty? Thanks Catarina." With that Magnus lowered his phone and ended the call. "I will portal you all there. The next flight isn't for another hour. They may be at the airport already, maybe not. Me and Simon will come too because I think, in this case, the more we are the better. The place is full of people and there is no way Mathieu and Paul aren't going to see us coming a mile away."

"We should split up," Helen told them with authority.

"Ok, Clary with Helen and Peter and Isabelle with me. Magnus – will you and Simon be ok by yourselves?"

"Of course love," Magnus told him with a smirk and then opened a large, glimmering portal with a flourish of his hands.

"And you are ok to stay here Aline? We need someone to stay at the Institute."

"I am well aware of Clave procedure, thank you Mr Lightwood," she told him with a smirk.

Alec gestured for Clary and Isabelle to go through first and then Helen and Peter.

"Simon," he said, stopping the ex-vampire from walking through the portal. "Be careful – you aren't immortal anymore so don't take any stupid risks." He said it pointedly, hoping Magnus would realise the same applied to him. "I wouldn't have you coming at all – you don't even know what Paul looks like, but Clary insisted."

Simon eyed him suspiciously. "It's ok. I am still strong – I can be useful."

"Me and Steve will come through last – go sort out your sweep," Magnus told him.

"Really? We're still doing that?" Simon asked incredulously.

Alec couldn't help himself pecking his husband on the cheek before going through, despite Magnus using a lot of magical force to keep the portal open.

They had waited for him just on the other side. Magnus had portalled them to a deserted vent at the side of the main terminal. No one was around, but the air was filled with the noise of engines and a general hubbub of people.

"OK, Helen, Clary and Peter you take the right hand sweep and me and Izzy will take the left."

"Shall we finish the sweep and meet at Security? In case they are down at the gate?" Clary asked.

"Sounds good. We will meet you at the Security point."

They ran off together, as fast and as agile as Nephilim were. Alec looked back once to see Magnus and Simon appear. It was good to know they had got through safely.

The amount of Mundanes milling around was insane. Mathieu was sneakier than he had given him credit for. This place was perfect for a hostage situation. There were way too many people around for the Shadowhunters to swoop in and take Paul back by force, especially if Mathieu and Paul were not glamoured.

As planned, he and Isabelle started their sweep on the left, her excitement was palpable and her hands twitched at her electrum whip, winding up her pale arm.

"Izzy, about me bringing Peter here. I swear to you it was nothing to do with you or the baby." He felt like it should be an apology, but was careful to not actually say sorry. She had been the one who over-reacted, not him.

"This isn't the time and place," she told him with a sharp look.

He was relieved more than anything that this particular conversation didn't have to take place there and then. There was no sign of Mathieu or Paul anywhere, though, which was very worrying.

"I am so angry with you right now," Isabelle said suddenly, clearly exasperated as they checked a shop to no avail.

"Look, as you said it isn't the time and place…"

"I can't believe you didn't tell anyone about what Mathieu did to you!" She hugged him tightly, almost suffocating him. Her mood swings were baffling to Alec. He wondered if it was the pregnancy.

"It was horrible, but you didn't see him Iz. The guy is not sane and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He didn't really know what he was doing. He needs help."

"Did Magnus know what happened?"

"He knows now." He fixed her with a stare, but she rolled her eyes at him anyway.

"I am not going to give you any lectures, Alec. You'd only call me a hypocrite anyway. But I do hope you and Magnus are ok."

"We're fine. Now let's find Paul, yeah?" His heart felt like it was going to lift off at any second. Mathieu had hurt Alec, and although he didn't believe it was intentional, he had hurt him nevertheless. What would he do to Paul? Although the youngest Hawkswood boy had protection runes and was a promising warrior, he was still only a child in comparison to Mathieu, who had many more years' experience.

But there was no sign of them anywhere in the main concourse.

He felt deflated and so terribly angry. Mostly with himself. Because if he had come clean about what Mathieu had done to him then Paul wouldn't be in this position now.

Isabelle motioned to him that they needed to move on. They had planned to sweep and meet the other group at Security if there was no sign of them in the main concourse. But Alec was starting to doubt whether Mathieu and Paul were here at all.

Clary, Helen and Peter were already waiting for them at Security. He thought Peter had looked overly pale before they even portalled to the airport, but he went a good two shades greyer when he spotted they were empty handed.

"Nothing?" Alec asked them, already knowing the answer. Clary shook her head glumly.

"Single file through the Security point – we don't want anyone to set off any alarms," Helen told them and moved into position. Alec had to shush Clary from explaining that wasn't how the detectors worked.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed in his pocket. His heart leaped that it may be Paul or Mathieu, but he saw it was Magnus calling.

"We've done the sweep and now going down to the Gates," he told his husband hurriedly. But there was no reply, just some muffled sounds. "Magnus?"

Everyone turned and looked at him worriedly. There was still a lot of muffling but also a low hum of voices coming from the other end of the phone. It sounded like Magnus had accidentally pocket dialed him, but something in the pit of his stomach was telling him otherwise.

Alec drew another rune for enhanced hearing on the inside of his elbow and held the phone closely to his ear. By this point, the rest of the Shadowhunters were all staring, all standing absolutely still and breathing softly and steadily, ready to act.

"The first thing I thought is that you would be at the pizza place, Paul."

Magnus' voice resounded in Alec's head. It was still a little muffled but he would recognise his husband's voice anywhere, and now he could just about make out the words with the fresh rune.

"Alec what's going on?" Izzy whispered to him, but he only told her to 'Shh' so that he wouldn't miss anything important.

He was aware that Magnus wasn't having a one-sided conversation. He had found Paul, and likely he had found Mathieu too. Alec's heart raced as he heard more muffled talking, not being able to make out the words but it sounded like it might be Mathieu.

"Let's stay calm Mathieu," he heard Magnus say, confirming his suspicions. "This is a crowded place full of Mundanes. We can talk about this…" there was some more muffled speech, presumably from Mathieu. "… or you could talk with Alec if you prefer? He's here and he is very worried – about both of you. Just say the word and I will call him to get up here now."

Alec fancied he could hear a slight bite in Magnus' tone that suggested the last four words of that sentence were an instruction for him.

"Ok," Alec addressed the group, keeping the phone close to his ear in case he needed to listen in again. "They are here somewhere – in a pizza place?"

"There's one on the mezzanine level," Isabelle told him quietly.

"Magnus has deliberately pocket-dialed me. We need to get up there now. As carefully as possible."

"Ok ok, just calm down. I was just reaching for my phone. I won't call him if you don't want to talk. It's fine. But will you talk to me? Can I maybe have a word with Paul?"

Magnus sounded calm, but Alec could tell he was getting frustrated. And a frustrated Magnus was very dangerous and often very reckless. Alec was terrified the Warlock would try something stupid.

"Ok let's go," he ordered and headed back into the main concourse, the others trailing quickly behind him. Peter looked like he was going to throw up, but then Alec noticed him focussing himself with some deep breaths and his powder blue eyes turned icy. He really didn't want Peter to lead because he feared there would be bloodshed.

They were half way up the main escalators, which took longer than expected due to Mundanes standing aloofly on them, when they heard the screams. They pushed their way through the remaining people, disregarding that they could not be seen and there may be some suspicions raised. It was more important to get there. The scene that presented itself when they got to the pizza restaurant made Alec's stomach do flips.

There was Mathieu, holding what looked like some kind of fruit knife to Paul's throat. Neither of them were glamoured and the crowd were running around, panicked and desperate to get away. Magnus was stood there, also visible to the crowd though his cat eyes were hidden beneath their usual mask. His hands crackled with blue sparks and he looked ready to blast Mathieu into oblivion. Except, of course, there would be no way for him to do that without hurting Paul in the process.

"Paul!" Peter called out despairingly. It was the cry of someone who wanted so desperately to help but could do nothing about it. Paul was struggling under Mathieu's strong grip. His assailant looked wild. There was fear in his eyes and Alec couldn't help feeling a small pang in his heart. Now was not the time to feel pity, but he couldn't help it.

Alec raised his bow, more a reflex than an actual threat. "Mathieu, put down the knife," he said firmly. To his surprise, he saw a flicker of doubt pass over Mathieu's face briefly, before he tightened his grip. Everyone gasped and took an involuntary step forward. Paul cried out against the tightness and struggled some more.

"Do not approach one step more!" Mathieu yelled out. Everyone backed off silently. It was clear how unstable he was and it didn't seem out of the question that he would actually slit Paul's throat at any given moment.

"Listen to me Mathieu," Alec reasoned, exchanging a quick glance with Magnus to assure each other they were ok. "We haven't called the Clave in on this one yet, there is still a chance to negotiate. But you have to let Paul go now and surrender the knife. We have to put glamour runes on you both because by now the Mundanes will have Security and Police on their way. They take security at airports very seriously."

He saw Mathieu lower the knife very slightly.

"But it has to be now. They will be here any second and they will not react well. This will cause a lot of trouble and will not end well."

"Let go of Paul," Magnus told him, his voice soft and incongruously soothing and calm.

It all happened very quickly. Mathieu had briefly loosened his grip on the boy and Paul, no stranger to this type of fighting, elbowed Mathieu in the chest and pushed away his arms simultaneously to escape. He dived at Magnus, his arms out-stretched, looking for protection. It was a good bet – Magnus was certainly the most powerful one amongst them and particularly good at defensive magic.

But Mathieu was quick. Magnus had barely raised his arms to cast whatever spell he had planned on using when Mathieu also fell on top of him, in pursuit of Paul. There was no time for anyone to react, even the Shadowhunters with their impossibly quick reflexes. Let alone the Warlock. But Magnus instinctively shielded Paul, crouching around him and pushing him aside as Mathieu tackled him to the floor. Peter screamed, but everything had slowed down into a battle haze. The only problem was that Alec didn't know where to aim.

And then it was suddenly too late.

There was the sound of calculated footsteps coming up the escalators; Police or Marshalls most likely, responding understandably to the panic.

Mathieu bounced to his feet, his face waxen and in shock and he stumbled away. Alec aimed his arrow at him then, though something in his heart pulled him back and stropped him from loosing.

He ran away with Alec looking on despairingly, unable to do anything.

"Oh my God Magnus!" he heard Clary scream. And then his world went white.

Magnus.

His whole existence was consumed by the thought that something had happened to him.

He turned and saw blood and the universe slowed again. Noises roared around him, but only distantly. Magnus was hurt, clutching at his chest. Everyone had crowded around him, save Peter and Paul. Peter held Paul in a tight embrace and they looked on, utterly horrified.

He ran to him, in what felt like slow motion and fell at his husband's side. He was surprised to find himself collected – not exactly calm – but his heart was a steady, strong beat against his rib cage, his breathing deep and even. Alec knew he was still in battle mode, and thanked the Angel silently for all of his training and experience that he was as focussed and as efficient as he could be in these moments.

Magnus was clutching at a space between his abdomen and his lower chest, but blood was welling through his fingers, dark and foreboding, as he gasped for breath. The Warlock's eyes were wide with shock and his golden skin too pale. There was so much blood. Alec's hands went automatically to that darkening spot, pushing Magnus' away. His husband's skin was cold, despite the hot and sticky blood that covered 's hands were warmer, stronger, more suited to stem the flow.

"Clary, call Catarina from Magnus' phone," he heard himself say loudly and firmly through the haze of panic, though it sounded like his voice was coming from somewhere else. He knew exactly where Magnus' phone was and used his right hand to fish it from his husband's jacket pocket and hand it to the red head. She took it without hesitation and Alec returned his hand to his husband's body, all of his will and his might trying to hold back the tide of blood.

"The passcode will 0-1-0-8" he told her, anticipating her question before she asked it. He didn't actually know the passcode, Magnus had not told him, but he knew in his heart it was right. It stood for the first day of October - their anniversary - Magnus would use 0-8 instead of 1-0, October actually being the tenth month. But Magnus often spoke in terms of the Romulus calendar because a lot of spells came from that period in history.

"Tell her what has happened and that she needs to get us out of here as quickly as possible."

For one thing, Magnus and Simon were not glamoured, so when the Mundane police showed up, which was likely to be any second, they would have a lot of explaining to do. Also, Magnus needed help. He was losing a lot of blood already and it was clear to see that though the stab wound was small, the knife had certainly done a good deal of damage.

"Alec," his husband sighed. The Warlock had placed his sticky, stained hands on top of Alec's reflexively, though his hold was light and he wasn't adding much in attempt to control the bleeding.

"I'm here baby, it's ok," Alec told him, his whole body surprisingly as still and as calm as he had ever been.

"I'm hurt," Magnus said, sounding surprised as he found Alec's gaze. His eyes still shone through the glamour the same beautiful golden green colours, minus the long cat-like pupil.

"I know Magnus. Can you try to heal yourself?" he asked, sounding distant even to himself.

Magnus shut his eyes tightly in an agonising grimace and Alec felt the cold hardness of his emotional battle armour start to crack. "Clary, hurry!" he yelled out, sounding way more panicked now.

Blue wisps of light played around Magnus's hands, tingling through Alec's skin in a warming, comforting way.

But it was clear from Magnus' face that he was struggling and fighting a losing battle. The Warlock desisted and gazed up to Alec with a hopeless expression. "No," he told Alec simply and sadly, his lips losing all their colour as he did so. Alec tried to smile at him and re-assure him that it was fine, that they were getting Catarina and that they would all be back at the Institute soon and Magnus would be healed. But then he saw the glamour flicker from Magnus' eyes.

"Clary!" he screamed again, just as Magnus slipped into unconsciousness.

"She wasn't picking up – I am just calling Aline!" he heard his friend say and then frantically repeat the process.

Helen appeared at his side with a bundle of white tablecloths. She manoeuvred his hands out of the way and held the fabric to Magnus' wound. The cotton would do a much better job at helping to stem the flow of blood he felt.

With his hands free now, Alec scooped Magnus off the floor a little and enfolded him lightly in his arms. He made sure his husband's head rested in the crook of his arm, wanting to shield him from the coldness of the floor and his left arm encircled the Warlock about his shoulders. As he found his right hand free he returned it to help press the white fabric, quickly staining a deep red, as firmly as he could.

"Magnus!" he yelled and Magnus' eyelids fluttered in response. "You stay with me, you hear?"

"Alec," his husband whispered his name, as if it were a prayer.

"Aline! Is Catarina with you?... Please put her on, it's an emergency. We need to get back to the Institute… Catarina!" Clary yelled and he looked up to find her with a huge amount of relief on her face. "No time to explain – we need a portal back to the institute now. Magnus has been hurt… JFK, on the mezzanine level in terminal one…"

She looked pointedly at Alec and he nodded at her, urging her to pass on whatever information Catarina had given her

"Catarina said we need to get to the entrance, she's only ever dropped off outside."

He cursed internally before looking at Helen.

"Ok, ready?" he asked her. She nodded silently, letting him know she understood.

He rose to his feet effortlessly; his husband's body limp in his arms. Although Magnus was tall, he was skinny, and Alec could lift him easily. Helen kept her hands firmly pressed into the mass of tablecloth, possibly the only thing preventing the Warlock from bleeding out entirely.

"Alec, he's not glamoured!" Isabelle cried out to him. But Alec didn't really care at that point. His priority was getting Magnus away and to safety. He just carried on walking.

Alec made his way to a fire escape and was vaguely aware of a general buzz of movement from his friends around and behind him. He didn't look – his eyes were filled only with the horror of his husband's blood and the shining fire escape door. He would not heed consequences. He could not. He had to get Magnus out of here and back to the Institute. If he lost the Institute, was exiled and stripped of his marks over all this, he didn't care. He had to help Magnus.

As he stepped through the door the cool night air crashed over him, and he held Magnus, still unconscious, closer to him to try and keep him warm. They were on the top of an external fire escape, metal stairs leading down to the tarmac.

"Alec look!" It was Helen, still at his side, still applying pressure to Magnus' wound to try and stop the bleeding.

Alec looked where she indicated with her head. There was a big crowd of mundanes, gathered around, looking distraught. But strangely, they were all frozen, like very life-like statues, their faces masks of worry and fear, but unmoving.

"There you are!"

Alec looked down through the metal grates to see Catarina Loss, her blue skin almost iridescent in the low light. She looked relieved.

It must have been Catarina who had frozen the Mundanes. Alec knew that would take up a lot of magical energy and he could only hope she would have enough to portal them back to the Institute.

He and Helen made their way gingerly downwards. Alec cradled the Warlock's body in his strong arms, every fibre of his being willing for Magnus to be alright, for him to make it.

"I really hope you have enough energy to open a portal," Alec said as soon as they reached the ground.

Catarina eyed him with a good deal of disdain. "I can definitely get the four of us back," she told him firmly. Her eyes came to rest upon the bloody cloth covering her friend and she gasped slightly. "Let's go."

Catarina opened the portal and Alec stepped through with Magnus, Helen trailing behind with no room for her to continue holding the makeshift bandages.
They stepped through into the main entrance of the Institute and Catarina followed just behind them, the portal closing with a 'pop'.

Then the panic finally set in. They ran to the infirmary, Alec leaving both Catarina and Helen behind him in a blur. He laid out his husband on one of the beds, carefully placing him down and his soul felt like it was being ripped from him.

Magnus looked dead. His face was too pale and he was far too still.

Alec fell to his knees beside the bed, sobbing and wailing as his heart gave in. He clutched at Magnus' hand – too cold – and brought it to his cheek. It was comforting, despite the mess of blood.

Helen picked him up from the floor with little effort or resistance from him. He was weak now, after remaining strong enough to get Magnus here. She was trying to comfort him, holding him tightly, her hand smoothing down his back to try and calm his cries.

And then Catarina appeared in front of him and slapped him – hard – across the face. It hadn't hurt, but it did shock him into silence, bringing him a clarity he felt he had lost.

"Hold yourself together for like ten more minutes ok?" she said to him intently, not a trace of anger in her tone. "He needs you with him, because the healing process is not going to be particularly comfortable."

Something inside Alec abated. Magnus was alive at least, otherwise Catarina wouldn't have said anything about healing him. Though it was clear to the Shadowhunter that his husband was on a knife's edge; he looked so weak and helpless.

Alec hastily wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "Just tell me what I need to do," he whispered.

"Go and hold his hand and tell him you love him and that he needs to fight."

When he emerged from the infirmary it was just becoming light. Winter sun filtered through the high glass windows, turning the wooden floors into gold. They were all there, looking dishevelled, bloody and very worried. They turned and stood upright in anticipation when they saw him.

"He's going to be ok," he informed them, a small but relieved smile spreading over his face. They all exhaled in unison.

Helen came out of the room and touched Alec lightly on the shoulder. "I tried to move Catarina so she could rest in one of the more comfortable rooms, but she's completely dead to the world right now – it's probably best to leave her where she is."

He nodded in agreement. He owed Catarina so much, he felt, though he had no idea how he would ever repay her for what she did. She had saved him.

Alec caught site of Paul. He was slumped on the floor, his head resting against the wall. He looked so much like that frightened small child that had come to them all those years ago that it made Alec flinch. He walked over to Paul, catching his eye. The action immediately made Paul scramble to his feet, clearly frightened. It seemed the others were holding their breaths, waiting to see what Alec was about to do.

Of course he was thinking about how foolish the boy had been, how Paul's actions had directly led Magnus to being seriously hurt. There was a part of him that was angry: at Paul, at Mathieu, even at himself for letting the situation get so out of hand. He could easily have yelled, chastised him as his parents would have done to him (did do to him, and often under less serious circumstances). But Alec did the only thing he could think of in that moment. He hugged Paul ferociously; relieved and happy that he was alright.

"Don't you ever do that to me again, Paul Hawkswood," he told him, holding him tightly, unable to let go. "Do you hear me?"

It was obvious then that Paul was crying, sobbing into the comfort of Alec's chest. He hugged him tighter still and whispered, "it's ok, it's all ok now," to reassure him.

It was Isabelle who finally broke that moment between them.

"Alec," she said softly, "we need to do the de-brief quite urgently. We need to do it now."

He nodded confirmation to her and she backed away again, a little sheepishly, and Alec noticed Simon fold his arms about her.

He held Paul by his shoulders and stared into his big, round, blue eyes. They were teary and slightly reddened. "I am here for you. Please remember that. We are all here for you. You can talk to us about anything and everything, at any time. Right now we need to go and do the de-brief. You don't have to be there, but you are welcome to join us. If you like, both you and Peter can just go to your room for a few hours and catch up. I know you've missed each other." He looked over at Peter, who had a sad smile on his face. "It's up to you," Alec encouraged.

Paul gave a large sniff and looked over to his brother longingly. "I'm a Shadowhunter. I should be at the de-brief," he said confidently, despite his visible sadness.

They went to the library – it was mainly for the large windows that allowed light to spill in and drench the room. It usually made everything seem slightly more pleasant.

Peter and Paul sat on the other side of a large table from the rest of them, setting themselves apart a little, which wasn't surprising.

"OK, we need to figure out next steps…" Alec began.

He was cut off by Clary. "Alec, before you go on," she said softly, a sad smile on her pretty lips.

"Mathieu is dead," Isabelle continued directly, when Clary faltered slightly.

It was not the way he would have chosen to break the news, especially to Paul, who rose to his feet and left the room hurriedly, closely followed by his brother. Aline made a move to follow them but then thought better of it. Alec watched them go, the whole room in silence and then he slumped down into a chair, resting his head on his hand. He felt utterly drained.

"Tell me what happened," he said after a few moments, once it was clear they were all waiting for a response from him. He really wished Jace had been there. He felt a dull ache through his parabatai rune, a sign of his longing for his brother.

"Me and Clary went off in the direction he had headed, but we were too late. He'd thrown himself off the balcony around the corner. He wasn't glamoured. It was a mess."

Isabelle sounded troubled, which anyone would be considering.

Alec cursed under his breath. "I take it NYPD are involved now?"

"There will be no investigation. It was quite clearly a suicide – there were plenty of witnesses," Clary told him, trying to speak objectionably.

He was still going to have to do a lot of explaining to the Clave. He started to dread the prospect of the paperwork. A Shadowhunter had died and all Alec could think about was the amount of administration he had to do. It made him feel wretched.

"And we have Simon to thank for keeping the cops off our back whilst we were trying to get Magnus out," Isabelle informed them. She was beaming and looking incredibly proud, and Alec thought it was not entirely appropriate considering the circumstances.

"What do you mean?" he asked his sister.

Simon had a faint blush across his cheeks. He raked his hand through his messy hair and said, "I guess I can still do encanto?"

"That's really strange," Alec responded, stating the obvious. "I mean, Camille doesn't seem to have retained that part. Because she definitely tried it at first – to get us to give her blood to drink."

"That's the other thing that's urgent," Aline piped up. "Camille is missing."

Alec groaned loudly and sunk his head back into his hands. "What a mess," he whispered to himself.

"That's why we took so long to pick up. We were searching for her. Catarina thought she was probably hiding somewhere in the Institute – she was sure Camille wouldn't have been strong enough or capable enough to leave by herself."

"Unless she didn't leave by herself," Helen suggested. "I mean, could someone have taken her?"

The thought was chilling. Alec supposed someone could have taken her. Of course, only Shadowhunters could come into an Institute without an invitation. But that didn't mean anything right now. Simon had been captured by the Clave and held in the cells in Alicante. Perhaps he did need to speak to the Consul about all this. Perhaps the Clave were investigating the Asmodeus cult too and were worried. Perhaps they had information that could help them. Perhaps Alec had the information that would finally help the Clave to get to the bottom of it. Perhaps…

And yet the only person Alec could think of was Eris. Something inside him told him that Eris had taken Camille. It was true only those with Angel's blood could enter an Institute unannounced, but she had previously visited. And it wasn't entirely unheard of for Warlocks to break through the wards using their magic anyway. Eris was certainly powerful enough.

Whatever the case, Magnus was not going to be thrilled about that at all when he woke up. Plus, his husband needed to rest, and Alec deeply suspected that this would mean Magnus would ignore everyone's advice and go searching for Camille.

"OK, that's a lot to think about. I will make my initial report confidentially to the Consul right now. Then I am going to check on my husband. And then I am going to have a long sleep. And I will make my official report to the Clave tomorrow," Alec said his entire thought process out loud. "We all need rest."

"We're going to check on Peter and Paul. I'm sure they will be fine, but we can make sure in case they need anything," Aline told them, gripping Helen's hand.

"Thank you," Alec told them, glad that they were willing to help out. "Clary, do you mind trying to get in touch with Jace? I know you guys have ways to communicate even when he is in Idris."

She smiled at him and nodded before she left the room pulling Simon along with her by the hand, closely followed by Helen and Aline. Isabelle remained, still looking troubled.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked her, rising from his chair and going to her to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. At least the physical exertion had seemed to do her some good. She was looking more like the Izzy he knew, her cheeks slightly flushed and a healthy glow in her pretty dark eyes.

"All I could think about, when Mathieu had that knife, was how much danger I was putting my baby in." She looked up at him, straight into his eyes. "It took me by surprise that I would think like that. I think I am ready to deal with this now. I need to see the Silent Brothers. Can you?"

"Of course I will arrange it," he told her and folded her into a hug. "I'm not going to pretend that I am not relived and so glad you have made this decision Iz. But I do want you to know that whatever your decision had been, I would still love you. You'll always be my baby sister. I would have supported you. I would fight and die for you Isabelle."

She smiled at him, a real genuine smile that touched her eyes, making her look more like the Isabelle he loved. "I know," she said softly.

A/N well I am doing a LOT better at this updating malarkey aren't I? GO ME! Yay! This chapter has been on my mind as one of the big climaxes to this gigantic piece for a while now, so I hope you enjoyed it :-)
But whether you loved it, hated it, have any suggestions, desperate for me to go into more detail, write about other pairings I WANT TO KNOW! PLEASE LEAVE ME A REVIEW!
Particular thanks this time go to tbrouphy (I know some of the chapters have some grammar and tense things going on, particularly chapters I have rushed to get up! But thank you so much for your compliments, they are very much appreciated and I am glad you are enjoying it!), and also to vicjaneholland (please don't die! Here is another chapter! 3).
Don't forget to follow/ favourite this story if you would like to receive an update of when I post a new chapter. If you follow/ favourite me as an author you will also get a notification when I upload new stories, or update my other fics (there is a lot more Malec...).
Love and peace, Laubz xxx