Alec wakes up the next morning to someone pounding on his door. Trying to reach the door quickly, so Clary and Jace don't wake up, Alec trips over the blankets from his makeshift bed on the couch and whips the door open with an irritable 'what'. Seeing his sister on the other side of the door, a sheepish smile on her face and a suitcase in her hand, Alec continues to stare at her confused.

"Sorry, I got a little ahead of myself," Izzy explains.

"Uh Iz, I thought Jace and I were going to meet you at the restaurant?"

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just wanted to bring some clothes over for Jace. I went to mom and dad's place and packed a suitcase for him. I figured he'd want his own clothes... no offense big brother." Again, with the sheepish look. It now occurs to Alec that Izzy realizes that she woke him up.

"So I take it that you haven't seen my text messages and missed calls?" she asks.

"No, you literally just woke me up. I rushed to open the door before you woke anyone else up. Clary gets pretty mean when she can't sleep in on her days off. Just remember, everyone in this house works shift work. Ours schedules are always screwed up." Izzy nods in understanding. "What time is it anyway?"

Looking at her watch, Izzy says, "It's a quarter to eight."

Groaning, Alec walks into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. "And here I was thinking that I would be able to sleep till ten." Alec grumbles under his breath while he makes his coffee.

"It seems that someone is grumpy in the mornings. What happened to you, you used to be an early riser?" Izzy asks.

Looking thoroughly annoyed, "Again, I work shift work. My schedule changes every ninety days. I didn't go to bed till about three this morning because I'm trying to keep my schedule consistent. I usually wake up between ten and eleven, and I'm at work by four, then work a ten hour shift." Izzy winces slightly at Alec's annoyance, causing Alec to feel bad for snapping at his sister.

"Sorry Alec. I didn't realize."

At that moment, Clary walks in the kitchen muttering under her breath, but Alec could still make out what she's saying. "Stupid people and their stupidly annoying normal work hours, and lack of consideration about the vampires of the world who are forced to work nights." Clary pours herself a mug of coffee, then walks back to her bedroom.

"See, told ya. None of us like getting up early anymore. We sleep whenever we can." Alec motions towards Clary's retreating form. "And that's her being civilized. Usually she would have bitten your head off for waking her up."

"Gotcha. No coming over before ten from now on," Izzy says with a bewildered look.

"That's all we ask little sister." Alec kisses her cheek as he maneuvers to the coffee maker.

"Why in the hell are you here so early?" Jace exclaims, walking into the kitchen with his one crutch, looking just as annoyed as Alec and Clary.

"Oh my god! Does anyone wake up at a reasonable time anymore?" Izzy exclaims, just as they all hear a very annoyed 'shut up' coming from Clary's closed door, causing Alec and Jace to snicker. "Ugh, I'm just going to put these clothes in your closet Alec." Izzy calls as she walks away.

"Isabelle!" Clary exclaims, "Look, I'm so happy to have met you, but would you please be quiet enough for me to go back to sleep?"

Izzy mutters, "Sorryyyyy..." under her breath while Alec and Jace try, and fail to stifle their laughter.

Alec turns back to the coffee maker, pours another cup, and hands it to Jace who's moved to the kitchen table.

"Why is she here?" Jace asks.

"She wanted to bring you some clothes over," Alec responds after taking a sip of his coffee, "and she apparently didn't want to wait to give them to you when we meet up later."

Jace nods and goes back to drinking his own cup of coffee.

Just then, Izzy walks back into the kitchen, "Alec, when did you gain a sense of style?"

Looking towards the kitchen entrance, Alec sees the puzzlement on his sister's face.

"When you would never shut up about what would look good on me," Alec shrugs, "also Clary helps me out when I absolutely need to go shopping. I still like my oversized sweaters though."

"I'm so proud of you! I love most of the clothes you have in your closet. I'm also going to be sending you clothes from now on since now I know your style." Izzy says as she hugs her brother.

"Yeah, that's not creepy at all," Alec deadpans.

"I'm a fashion designer, it's kinda my job," Izzy reminds him. "Anyway, I'm going to go run a few more errands before we meet for lunch. See you guys at noon."

Izzy hugs both her brothers and walks out of the apartment.

~oOo~

Alec and Jace get to the restaurant before Izzy. They get to their table and order their drinks while they wait for her arrival. They've only been seated for about five minutes when Izzy sits down next to Alec.

"Sorry I'm late. Elaine and I were looking at possible wedding dates," Izzy says in a way of greeting.

"Did you pick one?" Jace asks.

"Not yet. We're just considering a few as of right now. We don't want anything concrete until Simon gets a job."

"What about that interview he just had? Has Saul not heard back from that yet?" Alec asks, Jace sniggers.

"His name is Simon," Alec just waves a hand in dismissal, but Izzy keeps speaking. "and no, he hasn't."

"When will you guys be living here permanently?" Alec is excited at the prospect of seeing his siblings on a regular basis.

"We're moving into our new place on November third. We'll be here on the first, but we'll be staying with Elaine. I'm planning on shipping most of our things over ahead of time. Mom should be handling those things for me as she has already coordinated everything with the movers. She's going to put our things in storage temporarily until we move," Izzy says, "I'm just happy that we were able to find a place this quickly. Our realtor is very good."

"So Alec, do you have any plans for your birthday next week?" Jace asks, probably wanting to change the subject when noticing Alec tense up at the mention of their mother.

"No plans so far. I'm working on my actual birthday, but I'm off the day after," Alec says with a shrug.

"Maybe you and I could go out somewhere," Jace says. "I could even google a good gay bar in the area so you could get laid." Jace wiggles his eyebrows causing Alec to chuckle.

"I highly doubt Magnus would be too thrilled with that, considering I just got back together with him," Alec says with a smile and a blush.

"WHAT!" Izzy and Jace yell out at the same time. "When did this happen?" Jace asks, with just as much surprise and interest as Izzy.

"Yesterday. The other day when you guys kept telling me to give him a chance," Alec sighs when he sees expectant looks cross his siblings features, "I texted him that night asking him to meet me at Java Jones. We met, and decided to give it another go. I still don't completely trust him and he knows that."

Izzy squeals and gives her brother a hug while telling him how happy she is and she can't wait to meet him. Jace looks pensive.

"Okay, I'll give him a chance to redeem himself," Jace says. "But if he fucks up again, I will not hesitate to beat the living hell out of him."

"Wait! I thought you wanted me to give him another chance?" Alec asks confused.

"I do, but I'm going to be sceptical of him until you know you can trust him again because I'm not going to sit around and watch some douchebag break my brothers heart," Jace says and shrugs like what he just said was no big deal, but to Alec, it definitely is.

"So why didn't you tell us at dinner last night?" Izzy questions.

"Honestly, I'm still processing it," Alec says, rubbing the back of his neck. "When he sat down and asked what made me want to meet up with him... he just had this hopeful look about him, and I just knew at that moment that you guys were right. I wanted to give him a second chance."

"Well, again, I'm happy for you Alec. All I want is to see that you're happy. If Magnus is the one to do it, then I support your decision." Izzy says with a beaming smile, Jace nods in agreement.

The siblings continue to talk while they eat their lunch, and Alec is savoring this time with Isabelle. He just got her back in his life, and it pains him to know that she's leaving so soon. He keeps reminding himself that this time it's a temporary separation, and he can also talk to her whenever he wants until she's back in New York.

~oOo~

All day, Magnus has been prancing around his loft doing various things to keep himself busy. So far he's managed to do all of his laundry, clean the entire apartment, plan out his meals for the week, and purchases a weeks worth of groceries. He's so happy that he and Alec are back together, it's as if his energy levels are endless. Even so, Magnus doesn't want to monopolize all of Alec's time since his little sister leaves tomorrow morning to go back to California for a month. Alec deserves to spend as much time with his siblings as he can after missing out on so much of each other's lives for the last five - almost six - years. Magnus can't help but to empathise with their situation.

True to his word, Magnus hasn't called or texted Alec, even though it's killing him. Last night after leaving the coffee shop, Magnus called Ragnor first to tell him the good news, as well as his parents. He also spoke to his dad about Jace needing a job. As it turns out, Magnus' dad is planning on opening yet another restaurant in Manhattan, just on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Everything is still in the negotiation at the moment, but his dad does need someone to run it, as well as a head chef. Magnus couldn't wait to tell Alec that his father is willing to speak to Jace and offer him a paid internship, then possibly a position in the new restaurant. Of course, Magnus' dad isn't going to hire just anyone for the position. Jace will definitely have to prove himself, as well as prove that he can in fact cook in a restaurant style setting, and live up to 'The Chef Asmodeus Bane Standards' as Magnus likes to call it. Asmodeus can rival Gordon Ramsay when it comes to how he runs his kitchens, and Jace needs to be able to deal with the pressure.

As Magnus sits down to try to find something else to occupy his time with, his phone chimes with a text notification. He does not run over to his phone in hopes of Alexander being the sender. Nope, he does not. Much to his disappointment and confusion, it's a text from Clary.

To Magnus:

So a little birdie told me that you're back together with Alec.

Slightly confused as to why she's texting him, he just responds. It's better than sitting here pining away, wishing Alec would call or text him.

From Magnus:

I'm assuming Alexander is that little birdie?

To Magnus:

That he is. Listen, I'm happy that he's decided to give you another chance. It's not something that he does lightly, so please, don't screw it up.

Slightly perplexed, Magnus thinks carefully about how to respond. Clary is Alec's best friend, and he knows that he still needs to tread lightly with her.

From Magnus:

I'm not planning on screwing things up with him again, biscuit. He's too important to me.

To Magnus:

Good. There are also a few things that I wanted to discuss with you.

From Magnus:

Okay. What's up?

To Magnus:

Well, as I'm sure you already know, Alec's birthday is on Sunday.

Magnus actually didn't know that piece of information. Alec has never broached the subject of his birthday.

From Magnus:

Okay... what do you need me to do?

Just because he didn't know this beforehand, doesn't mean that he won't try to do something for Alexander on Sunday.

To Magnus:

I want to put together a small surprise party for him. Just invite my parents, Jon and Holly, and a few of his coworkers. I want to do this on Monday, because you guys will be working on his actual birthday, but as far as he's concerned, it's just going to be me, him, and Jace. I wanted to recruit your help on keeping your coworkers quiet about it. Plus I'm not sure who from the station to invite. I know he'd want Aline, Sebastian, Jordan, and you there, but I don't know who else.

From Magnus:

I can handle that. I'll also invite Shane, Bat, Tanner, and Jamal. They're all great guys. I will have to tell them all to keep their mouths shut. Alec doesn't really care for the new kid working with Jordan, but I'm also sure Alec wouldn't want the kid to get offended if he found out that he isn't invited. So this is going to be planned for Monday, what time and where?

Magnus definitely wants to have all of the details worked out before he starts talking to people about this tomorrow.

To Magnus:

That's the problem. I sorta just thought about this today. Do you have any suggestions on a restaurant that we can book a private room somewhere? I had a couple of places in mind, but I need to know how many people for the party before I can book anything.

From Magnus:

Give me a head count and I'll see what I can do.

To Magnus:

Well on my end it'll be my parents, Jon and Holly, and Jace. Then who ever you end up inviting.

From Magnus:

Okay, I'll talk to my dad. I'm sure he can fit us in at one of his restaurants. I'll get back to you as soon as I get in touch with him.

To Magnus:

Thanks!

Smiling, Magnus immediately calls his dad, explains the situation to him, and then the two of them work out all of the details. After everything is planned, he sends Clary a quick text to let her know. After a long debate with Clary, Magnus finally convinced her to let him pay for all of the arrangements, then heads out to find Alec the perfect birthday gift.