Chapter Text
Alec grunted as the bullet slammed into his right side.
Cursing his refusal to carry a vest with him at all times because they were bulky and restricting, Alec fell back against the cream-colored, gold-flecked wall and knocked over a crystal vase of pink rose buds on a hall table. He didn’t even try to catch the delicate glass as it fell and shattered.
His side burned with the torn flesh, but he figured the wound wasn’t too bad. Without an hesitation, Alec raised his weapon and fired, hitting Jason Smith in the chest.
Apparently, he also refused to wear a vest.
Smith dropped his gun with a thud on the elaborate runway rug. Falling to his knees, Smith gasped, his thin lips opened and closed like a fish out of water. His eyes wide and on Alec’s, he came to a stop flat on his face.
Alec had ruined Magnus’s rug.
He’d killed another cop.
In his home.
With his sons feet away.
Grasping his gushing side, Alec moved forward and kicked the gun away from Smith’s lifeless hand. When he checked for a pulse, Alec found none and holstered his weapon.
The need to see Rafael and Max was too strong to resist. He couldn’t call for back-up. He couldn’t call for EMTs until he knew that his sons were all right.
Entering the code at the door, Magnus’s mother’s birthday, Alec breathed deeply. When the door opened, he nipped inside.
Rafael stood in front of the closed closet door, Andrew’s gun held out in front of him in quivering hands. Seeing Alec, a sob burst from his tiny chest and he dropped the gun with a clatter on the dark wood floor. Rafael rushed forward and clung to Alec, who fell to his knees and gathered the trembling boy against him.
“Max?” Alec called, his voice hoarse with relief.
The closet door opened tentatively and one blue eye peeked out. When Max saw Alec, he ran from his hiding place and grasped his father. “You came, Papa! We knew you’d come.”
Voices shouted orders, yelled replies from the dinning room, the family room.
“We’re clear,” Alec shouted. “Back here!”
Officers in riot gear arrived at the door. Magnus shoved past them and strode to his boys and Alec.
“We told you to stay in the hall, Magnus,” one of the crisis team said, exasperated.
“I don’t remember agreeing to that,” Magnus replied, wrapping his arms around his family.
“It was an order, Bane,” the crisis team member argued.
“I don’t take orders well,” Magnus answered.
“We noticed,” the officer replied, rolling his eyes and turning away to give the family privacy as Magnus buried his face in Alec’s throat, actively fighting tears.
“We’re buying a house. This happens entirely too often.”
Alec snickered then gasped when Magnus tightened his hold.
“Darling? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, baby. Let’s get the boys outta here.”
Magnus checked over Alec’s body and, seeing the blood soaking through Alec’s blue sweater, pulled it up to see the gunshot wound.
“What the hell, Alexander?! You’ve been shot!”
“Yeah. I was there. I’m fine. It was a through and through.”
“I don’t care! You’re going to the hospital.”
"Baby-"
“Don’t ‘baby’ me, Alexander Gideon Lightwood. You’re going.”
“Don’t argue, Papa. You need to go,” Rafael said, sagely.
Sighing, Alec said, “Fine. But I’m not staying.”
“You’ll stay if the doctor wants you to. Then you’ll go to the owner’s suite at Kastile,”Magnus argued back.
Standing, Alec groaned. He loved Magnus. Adored every inch of him, but Alec would never admit that Magnus was right. He needed to get patched up, but he’d never say Magnus was right. He had a big enough head as it was. If he started admitting that Magnus was right, the man would be impossible to live with.
***
Alec was admitted while he received stitches. They wanted to keep him for a few hours for observation. Magnus took the boys to the cafeteria for their missed dinner. Alec was alone on the bed when Luke Garroway entered.
“How are you feeling?” Luke asked.
“I’ve been better. I’m alive. My boys are alive. That’s what matters.”
“Jace is at your loft with Julian and Emma. They’re conducting the investigation into what happened there. Jace says he’ll meet you at the hotel in the morning to question you. He’ll have more by then. Internal Affairs is also making inquiries.”
“Seriously?” Alec demanded.
“They aren’t investigating you, Alec.”
One inky black eyebrow rose. “C’mon, Luke. You know that’s not true. They’re gonna question me and my motives for shooting Smith.”
“He broke into your home, killed your doorman, shot your sons’ bodyguard, and was threatening your children. He shot you and you retaliated. It’s obvious you were defending yourself and your sons. Internal Affairs doesn’t need to question further than that.”
“They’re a bureaucracy, sir. They’re gonna question everything, tangle everything in red tape. It’s fine, Captain. I can handle it.”
“I know you can, Alec, but I'm not letting them crucify you for something that needed to be done. You're in the right here, and even with all of the red tape in the world, IA is going to find that during their investigation. Meanwhile, I’m making you take a full week off because of your wound and your use of lethal force.”
Knowing that argument was useless, Alec nodded.
“Just think. Now you can help Magnus prepare for your New Year’s Eve/Engagement party. Jocelyn is looking forward to it.”
Shit. Alec had completely forgotten the party.
With a sigh, he threw his head back against the pill. "Yes, sir."
Laughing, Luke left the hospital room.
***
The next morning, Jace arrived at Kastile, as promised, demanding coffee.
“I’ve been up all night, dude. Clary says she hasn’t seen me all week.”
“Has she?”
“Barely, but she understands. Okay. I need your statement about Smith. I need it on the record, then I’ll give you what I’ve got.”
Jace was a great partner and friend. He wasn’t supposed to give Alec any information, but he was breaking protocol. Alec nodded as Jace pulled out his voice recorder and set the record.
“Okay, Alec. Tell me what happened last night.”
Alec took a deep breath, and recounted the evening’s events in a succinct, precise manner. “Magnus picked me up and we rode home together. Rafael and Max were at home with their bodyguard, Andrew Cadmium. In transit, shortly after crossing into Brooklyn, my phone alerted us that our loft had gone into panic mode. This means that the boys were in a room behind a security door and someone was threatening them.
“Magnus and I arrived at our building and we discovered our night doorman, Daniel. He was dead. I made Magnus stay in the lobby and call 911. I went up to the loft. I found our sons’ bodyguard had been shot in the abdomen. He was alive. His weapon was missing and he held the remote to the boys’ doors, which meant that he'd had time to put the rooms into lockdown.
“I found Jason Smith, a detective from the illegals division out of Central, who had helped during an operation at Pandemonium, which led to the arrest of Josiah Wayland, the leader of a criminal organization. Detective Smith was trying to break into Rafe’s bedroom. I called for him to stop. He refused, then shot me. I fired back.
“When I determined Smith to be dead, I broke protocol by not calling for back-up or EMTs for Andrew. I knew that Magnus had called 911, so I was sure someone was on the way. I had to get to Max and Rafe. While I was in the room with them, the crisis team and Magnus arrived.”
Jace nodded. “Did Smith tell you why he was after your children?”
“He said he had to look out for 'number one.'”
"Was there any other reason for you to kill Jason Smith? Did you have a problem with him?"
"I have a problem with anyone who kills cops, especially other cops."
"Would you have killed him, had he not been in your apartment?" Jace asked.
"No," Alec said. "I used lethal force last night because Detective Smith was threatening my children, because he'd broken into my home and shot my friend."
"If given the same situation, would you do it again?" Jace asked.
"I wouldn't hesitate," Alec replied. "He was looking out for himself, I was protecting my boys."
“Okay. Thanks,” Jace said, stopping the recording. “He’s lucky he’s dead.”
Alec smirked as Magnus entered with a coffee tray. “Why’s that?”
“Because I wanna kick his ass. He threatened your boys. He shot you. You’re like a brother to me, Alec. Anyone who threatens you, threatens my family, and I don’t take threats lightly.”
Magnus set the tray on the coffee table in the sitting room. As he passed to sit beside Alec, he gave Jace a brotherly pat on the shoulder. Jace loved Alec, he’d do that lightly." That made him Magnus’s family.
“What have you learned?” Alec asked.
“Jason Smith wasn’t one of The Followers. He worked in illegals to get access to his product. He sold heroine and meth mostly. He dipped into other drugs, but those were the bulk of his business. He protected some manufactures so that he had enough to sell. He was trying to start up his own organization, but he was struggling because of The Guardian.
“Jordan found out about him that night. Smith killed Jordan to protect himself. He heard about Rafe in Downworld and was asking around, looking for the little boy who saw him kill Jordan. I don’t know how he found out where he was.”
“He heard us, Magnus and me, talking about Rafe and his safety. He came into the privacy room while we were talking after the op. I saw him that night.”
Magnus rubbed Alec’s back when he winced. “Are you all right, darling?”
Alec nodded. He’d put Rafael and Max in danger. He’d gotten Andrew, who was lying in a hospital bed in the ICU, shot, their doorman killed. Alec had been careless, and Smith had gone after his sons.
“Stop it,” Jace ordered. “You aren’t responsible for this.”
“I should have been more careful.”
“Why would you think that?” Magnus asked. “You have protected me, your partner, our sons. You could have died last night. Don’t ever doubt your actions, Alexander. You’ve done everything right.”
“I really hate to agree with Magnus, but. . .” Jace began. “I’m not sayin’ it. This wasn’t your fault.”
Magnus continued to rub Alec’s back, comfortingly. “Come, darling. Why don’t you rest. It’s over.”
Alec looked at Jace. “Have you had any luck locating family for Rafael?”
Jace shook his head. “His birth parents, Devan Ainsley and Shari Michaels were murdered on December 18 of last year. They didn’t have a child on record. I pushed DNA tests through the lab, to make sure that Rafe wasn’t kidnapped. He wasn’t. He was born to Michaels, but they never registered him for a birth certificate, and he wasn’t born in a hospital, probably in the apartment or somewhere else, but not in a hospital, and not with a midwife or duma. Emma says that this actually happens sometimes. People have children in order to. . . use them for underage prostitution.”
Magnus closed his eyes and took Alec’s hand. “Do you think that’s why they kept Rafe?”
“I do. Jocelyn says that there is no problem with you two taking him because we can’t find any family for either parent. Both were only children with dead parents who were only children. Looks like you’re stuck with him for a while.”
Forever. Rafe was theirs.
***
Alec glared down at the jacket Magnus had set out for him. It was gold. Why did Magnus always put him in gold? People noticed gold. People didn’t notice Alec.
Once he had the tie on, Alec shrugged into the jacket. Magnus entered and his gold-green eyes followed the line of Alec’s body in the suit.
“You look beautiful, darling.”
Alec turned to him. “I feel like an idiot. You put me in gold again.”
“You look lovely in gold.”
Alec sighed and slipped his shoes on. “Sure.”
Magnus raised one eyebrow. “I’ll be the judge of how lovely you are.”
Magnus moved to the dresser and put on his wrap around earring. He wore a blue velvet, knee length jacket over a cream-colored high collared, silk shirt with his sapphire pennant pinned at his throat and black pants. The only ring he wore tonight was the engagement ring that Alec had given him. His saddleback shoes were custom made for the outfit, in blue and cream leather. His eyes were lined in blue and smoky.
“You look amazing, as always,” Alec said, fascinated.
Magnus cupped Alec’s cheek. “I know, darling.”
Alec sighed. He was going to marry this man. This man was going to marry him. He didn’t know what god, what angel, what anything to bow down to, but he was eternally grateful that Magnus loved him, had accepted him for who and what he was.
Leaning forward, Alec took Magnus’s lips in a soft, poignant kiss. “I love you, Mags. You, our boys. . . You’re my entire life.”
Magnus carded his fingers through Alec’s dark hair. “I love you, too, Alexander. You’ll never have to know what it’s like to live without me. I will always be with you. You’re. . . I need you to live, my Alec.”
Alec held Magnus against him. Just stood there, in their bedroom at Kastile, holding the love of his life, the man he’d never thought he’d have. Somehow, he’d gotten lucky. Somehow, he’d gotten everything.
A knock came at the closed door. “Mr. Bane,” someone called through he door. “I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but your guests are beginning to arrive.”
Alec sighed, already mourning the loss of his sanctuary in Magnus’s arms. Now he had to mingle.
“Thank you, we’ll be out in a moment. Are the boys ready?”
“Yes, sir. We’re trying to keep them out of the chocolate fountain.”
Magnus laughed. “Then we’d better hurry.”
Alec buttoned his jacket and preceded Magnus out of the room. As the young server had indicated, Max and Rafael were beside the dessert table, watching the chocolate cascade over the fountain.
“Boys,” Alec said. “You can have as much as you want after you eat something substantial.”
“Like what?” Max asked.
“A sandwich and some vegetables.”
“Vegetables?” Max whined.
“Yup. That’s the rule. You can have dessert after you have real food.”
Max huffed. “There’s always a catch.”
Turning away, Alec pretended he didn’t see Rafael take a rice treat off of the table and give it to Max.
By the time the party was in full swing, Alec had relaxed a bit. The boys had eaten and were, even now, running around, laughing with other children who were present. Magnus stayed close to Alec, his hand at the small of his back so that Alec felt the comfort of Magnus’s presence, but he also knew that Magnus was there to make sure he didn’t over tax himself.
Clary and Jace were together, in the corner, feeding each other chocolate covered strawberries. Isabelle and Simon laughed with a couple of electronic detectives. Emma and Julian danced to the slow, bluesy tune that the quartet Magnus had hired played.
Jem sat in an oversized armchair, talking to an interested Tessa, whom Magnus had introduced to the doctor because he “just thought they’d get along.” Alec couldn’t disagree as Tessa reached out and touched Jem’s hand, laughing at something the psychologist said.
He and Magnus had made connections. They had these friends, this family around them. They had love.
Alec watched Max and Rafael run past, chased by a girl in a red and black plaid dress, her blond hair pulled back in a red bow. They had so much love.
“It’s almost midnight, darling,” Magnus whispered in his ear. “I can’t wait to start a new year with you.”
Alec smiled and reached back, running one hand down the back of Magnus’s neck. “You’re such a sap.”
“For you, darling. I am. I’m anything you want me to be.”
Looking out at their family, friends, co-workers, Alec said, “You’re already everything I want you to be, baby. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”
And more.