Magnus' POV

It was around 2 am when I woke up. The sheets were tangled around me and the comforter was burning hot on top of it. It didn't help that Alec was sound asleep so close to me either. His body temperature was always above normal so sleeping next to him was like sleeping next to a furnace that was always on.

Let me rephrase: Alec was sleeping fitfully beside me. Every now and then he'd twitch and grip the sheets so hard that his knuckles would turn white. Coupling with the sheet clutching, he'd let out a small moan as if he was in pain or something.

I knew exactly what this was. He was having a nightmare. For over a year now he would have one every now and then, and they were of the usual subjects; he'd relive both Max's and Isabelle's deaths over and over again. I only knew this because he told me once but at the time he didn't go into specifics. I just knew that he had nightmares about his deceased siblings.

I tried to comfort him by brushing a strand of hair from his forehead. His eyebrows furrowed but he didn't wake. Instead, he pulled at the blankets as if he were trying to rip them apart.

"Izzy....Iz," he moaned. His voice cracked and at the same time, so did my heart.

When he began to toss and turn, that's when I tried shaking him awake. "Alec! Alexander! It's just a nightmare!"

He awoke with a start, sitting up so fast that he knocked his head off the top bunk above him. His hands immediately flew up to hold the top of his head while yelling, "Ah! Fuck!"

I let him rub out the pain before speaking. "Sorry. I had to wake you up. You were having another nightmare."

He winced as he checked his head again. "Thanks. Good thing you did because I was just about to-" He stopped, swallowing hard at the memory. "Anyway, thank you for waking me up. I don't think I would've been able to wake myself this time around."

I reached for his hand and held it. His palms were clammy with sweat like the rest of his body but that didn't bother me. "Hey. I'm here if you want to talk about it."

He chuckled. "You know I'm not one to open up about my feelings."

"I know. But if you ever did want to talk, just keep in mind that I'm always here for you."

He leaned forward on the mattress and kissed me. "I love you. I don't say it very often-and I should-but sometimes I get so," he inhaled deeply, "wrapped up in the world around us that I forget to take the time to tell you that."

"Hey," I kissed his smooth, bare shoulder. "Don't worry about it. It's not about what you say sometimes but how you act. And Alexander, your actions speak volumes. I have never loved a man more than you."

Alec chuckled lowly at this. "Let's hope it stays that way."

Warm hands gripped my waist. His palms weren't sweaty now, all his fears moved to the side by my reassurance, and they felt so good against my now sensitized skin. His fingers (bless those long and beautiful fingers) knew exactly where to go and knew exactly what to do and how to do it.

"Um," I croaked when his fingers squeezed my bare hips. "You're not worried about waking up our neighbors?"

"No," his mouth moved painfully slow over my throat, sucking at the skin just below my chin. "What are they going to do, kick us out? I'm sure they have sex in their sheds too."

Since his mouth was making my entire body burn, I tilted my head back more to give him more access. "Alec....I'm....getting really hard under the blankets."

That's when one of his hands slowly slid under the sheets and wrapped around my erection. We were both completely naked under the sheet so he started to slowly stroke it, causing a strangled gasp to escape my mouth.

"You sound like I'm choking you," he snickered. His hand never stopped what it was doing so answering him was difficult.

"Would you-would you be into that sort of thing? Choking?" I had to cover my mouth to keep from letting out a loud moan. Fuck, his hands were killing me in the best way possible.

"The answer to that is a hard no." He kissed me on the lips before getting out of bed to slip on his jeans. "I'm going to go check on the kids. You coming with?"

I groaned. "Alexander. Seriously? You're leaving right when I...."

He laughed when I indicated the raised blankets below my waist. "I'll make it up to you. I promise. Now try to tame the beast before we leave. Can't have you walking around outside like that."

The shed that was assigned to me and Madzie was actually not far away from Alec's. When we got there, Alec opened the door and peered in. Kit was sound asleep on the bottom bunk with Madzie cuddled into him.

"Hey. Take a look," Alec whispered. "They're all snuggled in on the bottom bunk."

Alec shifted so that I could take a look inside. "They're not covered up-here. I'm just going to throw that quilt over them real quick."

I stepped inside. The quilt on the end of their bed was thick and looked warmer than their sheets so I spread it open and laid it across them. Kit stirred a little bit didn't wake up, only holding Madzie closer to him.

Alec chuckled when I moved a stray hair from her face. "You know....you're gonna be one hell of a dad."

I snorted.

"What? You don't think so?"

This prompted me to shrug. "Well to be honest, I've never even considered it."

Alec smiled to reveal his dimples. "Seriously? Because I've seen you with Madzie and sometimes even Kit and the way you are with them....it screams Dad of the Year."

"Dad of the Year? Is that how you see me?" We both quietly slipped out of the kid's room and closed the door. "My own dad wasn't exactly the nicest. He left as soon as I was born."

A warm hand reached down and looped their fingers through mine. Alec's big doe eyes looked directly into mine and I knew he was about to spew some poetic shit or another. "My dad wasn't the greatest either but I think we both turned out okay. Besides. When it comes to having a family...." He pressed his forehead against mine, his voice low and soothing. "......you wouldn't be doing it alone."

The warmth that filled my heart spread to the rest of my body. Alec always did have a way with words and he knew that I was a sucker for sappy moments. "That's good to know. But let's save this talk for the future, okay? I don't think I'm ready to have it right now."

He nodded in understanding as we quietly left the kids to sleep. "Of course. I was just saying-why are you limping?"

Shit. I was hoping that he wouldn't notice but being the observant person that he was, it was only a matter of time before he'd notice the limp in my leg. "Oh. Uh....just a little accident at that really nice cabin in the woods. Nothing serious."

"Magnus."

"I'm fine Alexan-"

"Magnus."

I sighed, defeated. "Fine! Madzie and I had a run in with some Forsaken there. My stupid ass thought I could get rid of them before she even knew they were outside but I tripped and fell on a rusted nail. It pierced the skin of my thigh and I shouldn't even be on it, really. Doctor's orders."

"Jesus," Alec's eyes went down to my bandaged leg. "I'm so sorry. I'm also sorry for not noticing it sooner. We were naked in bed and everything and I didn't even think-"

"You didn't know. It's okay, Alec. It doesn't hurt now as much as it did before. Nurse Anne knows what she's doing and thank god for modern medicine. If this were the 18th century then I could've died of typhoid or something."

Alec chuckled at this. "I guess you're right. But tell me next time if you're hurt? That way I can be careful with you."

"I'm not broken, my sexy man. And if I'm ever in any pain or discomfort, you'd know. Trust me."

As we headed back to our shed, we noticed a group of people standing by one of the nearby makeshift homes. Two of them looked to be medical support of some sort while the others were crying and holding each other. They were more than likely family members grieving for a loved one.

"Hey. What's going on?" Alec asked someone standing in the onlooking crowd.

The woman sighed. "It's Mr. Bishop. He's been sick for a while now and the doctors want him in palliative care so he can pass away peacefully."

She spoke like we were supposed to know who Mr. Bishop was but I had to bite my tongue because of the seriousness of the situation. "That's horrible. Is that the family there?"

"Uh huh. Thankfully the doctors here are so kind and they know what they're doing. I'm sure they'll make his final moments as peaceful as possible."

We watched as a man was carried out on a stretcher onto an ambulance (I hadn't seen one in years so it was a bit of a shock to see one in action again). He had an oxygen mask on his face and looked deathly pale even from where we stood amongst the crowd. I hated that we were treating the poor man like a spectacle but I guess curiosity overpowered respect in this case.

"Damn. To be that old during times like these?" Alec whistled. "He's a lucky man. Most people his age don't get to live very long in this type of world anymore."

"Well it depends really. If medicine is readily available. They're getting exercise. Eating healthy-"

"I know, I know. I'm just saying. He's just a lucky guy to be surrounded by the ones he loves and those who love him. Not many people have that these days."

I looped my arm around his to comfort him. "What's on your mind? Remember. You can talk to me about anything."

He sighed. "I don't know. I'm just thinking about Max and Izzy. How they weren't really surrounded by the ones they love when they died. For Christ sakes, Max was surrounded by psychotic men and zombies. Izzy was about to be made into an experiment so she asked me to off her-"

"Whoa. Hey. Slow down and breathe. Isabelle made that decision all on her own. Plus it was you who carried out her last wishes so it wasn't like she was brutally murdered in cold blood."

Alec scoffed. "It may as well have been. Simon still hates me for it and it's been over a year since it happened."

"Fuck Simon. I mean don't literally fuck Simon because I'll be very upset but you get what I mean," I sighed heavily. "You are not a murderer, Alexander Gideon Lightwood. Isabelle's decision was her own and there was nothing you could've done about Max. Hell, I even tried to save him. Valentine was a twisted man and I'm glad you got rid of him. That was just one less evil man the world has to deal with. But guess what? We can't dwell on the past. That's done and over with. You need to keep your head screwed on tight and focus on the present while also keeping an eye on the future. Those kids back there need us. I can't have you losing yourself when they need us to protect them. We're all they have, Alec."

After finishing my speech, I leaned forward and up on my tiptoes to kiss him. He closed his eyes, as he usually did whenever we kissed, and smiled when my lips touched his.

"You're right," he whispered. "I need to stop focusing on the past. If Simon wants to stay angry then so be it. What's done is done like you said."

I stroked his cheek. "Good. Now let's go back to bed. I'm freezing my ass off standing around like this."

We headed back to our shed (much to my delight I got to watch him reach up to the collar of his shirt and pull it off over his head. Moments like these I like to play in slow motion), slipping under our cold sheets that didn't stay cold for long. After a quick makeout session, we dozed off only to be awakened by a loud buzzing sound followed by a voice.

"Magnus Bane. Doctor Iris Rouse would like to see you in her office immediately."

Alec groaned as the voice woke us both up. "Jesus. I got a funny feeling that intercom is going to annoy the shit out of us."

"You think? I'll go see what the good doctor wanted I suppose," I kissed him while pulling on a pair of pants. "I'll be back shortly. Don't wait up."

He hummed. "Give me all the details when you get back."

I chuckled. "Nosey. What if it's the results of my STI test?"

"Well unless you've been sleeping around with other people when I wasn't looking...." He glared at me but quickly smiled to show that he was only joking.

I just laughed as I exited our little hut. Silly Alexander. Thinking I'd cheat on him. Even after a year of being together, he's still scared I'll either leave him or cheat on him. No matter how many times I reassure him that I won't, I think that the fear always lingered in the back of his mind. I am his first boyfriend after all. It's only human to be scared of opening up your heart to someone like this.

A guy dressed in some sort of weird security guard outfit approached me after a few minutes of wandering around. "Excuse me? Can I help you get somewhere?"

"Uh," I cleared my throat, "yes. I got called to see Doctor Rouse? I have no idea where her office is."

The guard rolled his eyes. "Follow me. Her office is up on main."

My escort wasn't much of a talker so the trip to see Doctor Rouse was a quiet one. The building that he eventually led me to was massive; a four story hospital with an impending presence that overlooked the rest of the community compound. If I had to guess where the doctor's office was, I'd say it was on the top floor-

"Top floor. Just press the highest number on the elevator to get there. Her name should be on her door."

Wow. Really? "Oh so that's how getting to the highest floor works. You really answered the biggest question I've ever had."

The guard scowls up at me. "You're welcome. Top floor. Last door on your right."

He left and I made my way inside towards the magical moving door that lift people high into the sky. Once on the top floor, I looked for Doctor Rouse's office. As promised, it was the last door on the right. After knocking once, a voice called from inside "Come in!"

I opened the door to peek in. "Doctor Rouse? I'm Magnus Bane. You called for me inside my....home?"

The doctor looked up from her desk. "Yes. I did. Thank you for getting here so quick."

"I got here as fast as I could. Escorted of course. Otherwise I would've been wandering around like an idiot," I told her as I took a seat. There were several awards on her desk so I read them while she finished writing up whatever she was doing. "What did you need me for?"

She finally set down her pen and looked at me. "I wanted to talk to you about your blood results."

My stomach dropped. "Oh. I don't....have anything do I?"

She laughs. "Oh god no. It's nothing bad. On the contrary, what I wanted to discuss is actually a good thing. Possibly even life changing."

She had my interest so I nodded. "Okay. I guess that's better than the alternative."

"Indeed. Now what I called you in here for is strictly confidential. You can't talk about this with anyone else. Doctor/patient confidentiality and all."

"....not even to my boyfriend?"

"Not even him."

I hated lying to Alec but something in my gut told me that this was very important. "Alright then. What were my results like?"

Doctor Rouse perked up and immediately dove into her drawer for something. Turns out that something was several papers bound together with a paper clip; more than likely my test results. "Never in all my years have I seen blood like this. Even my colleagues were stunned by what they saw!"

I couldn't see what the papers read so a shrug was all I could manage. "What did they see?"

"Mr. Bane," she smiled broadly. "You have immunity to the virus. Have you ever been bitten?"

Lie, Alec's voice echoes in my head. "No. Never. I wouldn't want to be either. I heard it's very painful."

"It is. The process is even worse. First you start to sweat. Then your skin starts to turn green. Your fever reaches a point where it's too dangerously high for a human to handle but that's not what kills you. What kills you is that the virus attacks all your healthy red blood cells. Eats them for breakfast. This shuts down all your vital organs and death follows after that. So yes. It is a painful process."

She handed me my results. I'm no doctor so none of the charts and terminology made any sense but the only thing I did understand was "IMMUNE?!" written up in the corner of the front page.

"I know none of it makes sense to you but I hope you realize how important this discovery is," Doctor Rouse said in a low voice. "This could quite possibly change the world and cure people with the virus. Maybe even make others immune as well."

That did sound like a good thing. It was about time someone found a cure for all this. If my blood was the answer, then what was I going to do? Say no?

"So basically what you're asking is permission to take another sample of my blood to make a prototype vaccine," I said after a moment of consideration.

"I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important, Mr. Bane. I'm sure you understand both our fascination and excitement when we saw your test results. There was no way we were letting you slip by."

I sighed heavily. "Fine. You can take another sample. But I want updates on how the vaccine is going."

Doctor Rouse nodded. "Absolutely. Do you want to be called down when we know your boyfriend is out or away? That way it's a little more discreet?"

Again, the whole withholding information from Alec wasn't sitting well with me. We both had a policy of being honest with one another. I didn't like not being honest. He most certainly won't like it either once he finds out I've been sneaking around doing secret blood tests with a doctor we don't even know all that well.

"You take a day or two to think about it. I know it's a lot-the fact that you could be the saviour of mankind and all. But just think about it and get back to me when you have a definite answer. I look forward to hearing what you decided."

I took this as a dismissal so I nodded and made my way to the door.

"Oh and Mr. Bane?"

I paused, hand hovering just above the doorknob. "Yes?"

"Do remember that this entire conversation is confidential. I don't want to have to find out you've broken that confidentiality and have to show you the consequences of breaking your word."

That sounded like a threat but I didn't say anything. "My lips are sealed, Doctor. You won't hear a word from me. This talk never even happened as far as I'm concerned."

I could hear the pleased smile in her voice. "Excellent. Then please enjoy your stay at Idris. I'll see you in a couple of days."

The same guard who escorted me to the medical building brought me back to my little shed/home. He didn't even say goodbye, which was alright by me, and soon left after I went inside. I watched him just to make sure he wasn't planning on lurking around, so when he finally did leave, I shut the curtains with a heavy sigh.

"Hey," Alec rasped, his voice deep with sleep. "How did it go? What did she want?"

I admired the way he was sleeping for a moment; on his stomach with the sheets down over his waist. His smooth back and strong looking shoulders was truly something to behold. "Oh. You know. Just welcoming us to the neighbourhood and saying if we ever need anything, we could always count on the people here."

The look on his face said he didn't quite believe me. "That's it? She got us out of bed for that?"

"That's it. Just a warm welcome."

Alec was smart. Sometimes too smart. He knew something was up yet he didn't say anything about it. "Alright then. Come back to bed. It was lonely here without you."

I rolled my eyes as I took off my shirt. "I was only gone for twenty minutes, Alexander."

I swore I heard him say "plenty of time to conspire" but it could've just been my ears playing tricks. When I crawled into bed, his long arm wrapped around my waist and I felt his warm body press against my back.

"Promise you won't keep anything from me?" He whispered.

I almost hesitated. "Promise. No secrets."

And that was the biggest lie I've ever told.

A/N: Magnus' secret will be the set up for a huge argument in the future. Hooray for angst!

The zombies are coming back! Next chapter will actually have zombies in it again so I'm excited to write up some gross scenes again.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to like, comment, follow and share (I sound like an obnoxious youtuber) if you liked this chapter!