Beep... Beep... Beep... Alec groans, wondering why his alarm clock sounds like it's running very low on battery power; it's beeping so slow! He tries to open his eyes, but quickly closes them due to the brightness of the room. With his eyes still closed, he starts to feel a burning pain in his abdomen. He raises his hand to rub his stomach, when he feels a pulling sensation on his right hand.

Huh, that's odd, Alec thinks as he slowly opens his eyes.

It takes him a few minutes, blinking rapidly to make his eyes adjust to the light, when he realizes he's in a hospital bed. Looking around, he notices that he's all alone. Why is he even in a hospital?

Pushing the Call button on the side of the bed, a blond woman with green eyes walks in. He quickly recognises her as the woman Magnus went off with at the bar all those months ago.

"Ah, Mr. Lightwood. It's nice to see you among the living," She says in a southern accent, giving him a friendly smile. "My name is Camille, but you can call me Cam if you like. I'm going to be your nurse for the next five days." Alec nods in response. His throat feels like there's sand stuck in it, so he doesn't even attempt to try to speak.

Camille checks all of his vitals, then reaches over to the table beside his bed and pours some water in a styrofoam cup. "Here you go sweetie. I'm sure you're thirsty." Camille says as she hands him the cup.

He gives her a closed lipped smile, then starts drinking. He hasn't realized just how thirsty he is until the cup is nearly empty. "Thank you," Alec hands the cup back to her, and she fills it again.

"This time drink a bit slower. You've had nothing in your stomach for the last seventy-two hours, so we don't want you throwing up, okay." Camille hands the cup back to Alec, filled of water once again.

He nods his head, and drinks it slower this time. "Why am I here? What happened?" Alec asks now that he's had more water. He looks up at Camille and she has on a look of understanding.

"Well sweetie, three days ago, you were shot. From my understanding, you were one of the medics who responded to that gang shooting, and there was someone hiding." She says.

Alec looks down at his hands and thinks about what she told him, the next thing he knows, his memories are rushing back to him. His fight with Magnus, going to the scene, then the pain and the darkness.

"Honey, I know it's a lot to take in," Camille says as she places a reassuring hand on Alec's shoulder. Knowing who Camille is, he's having a really hard time hating her. She's been nothing but nice to him ever since she walked into his room.

Just then, the door opens revealing Magnus. He looks like hell, Alec observes as he walks into the room, eyes casts down.

"Magnus," Camille says, with venom laced in there. Hm, what is that about? Did he miss something in his unconscious state?

"Hello Camille," Magnus responds sounding completely defeated. Alec can't stand to see his boyfriend sound like that.

"Hey Magnus," Alec says, voice still a bit scratchy. Magnus' head whips up towards Alec, and his facial features go from what looks like heartbreak, to utter happiness.

"Alexander!" Magnus says as he rushes over to the bed, "God, how long have you been awake?"

"I don't know, maybe ten minutes," Alec looks over towards Camille for confirmation. She nods her head.

"I'm going to go let the doctors know that you're awake. Call if you need anything before then, okay sweetie." With that, Camille leaves the two alone.

Once the door closes, Alec looks up at Magnus, "I am so sorry Magnus."

"Alexander, what on earth do you have to be sorry for? You were the one who got shot and almost died!" Magnus exclaims, not without looking a bit surprised by Alec's statement.

"Magnus, I'm talking about our argument - if we could even call it that - I didn't even know I was doing all of that. I thought things between us were great. I had no idea that I was pushing you away, or that you even felt like I was." Alec says, eyes downcast and shame laced in his words.

"Sweetheart, I'm not even worried about that anymore. It doesn't matter." Magnus says, lifting Alec's face so he could look him in the eyes. There is so much adoring affection shining in Magnus' eyes that Alec can't hold it in any longer.

"I love you, Magnus. I am so, hopelessly in love with you," Alec says earnestly. "Can you please forgive my idiocy?"

Magnus surges forward, but not before Alec notices unshed tears in Magnus' eyes, then he pulls Alec in for a searing kiss. Closing his eyes, he savors the taste that can only be described as Magnus. Fireworks are lighting up behind Alec's eyelids, and quickly, he hears his heart monitor speeding up. Unfortunately, this causes the medical staff to rush into his room. Magnus and Alec separate at the intrusion, Alec feeling his face heat up, and by the looks of it, Magnus is blushing as well.

Looking at the medical staff, Alec sees Camille with Valentine, and two other people he doesn't know. Valentine looks at the two with a knowing smirk, and is silently laughing. Camille looks slightly embarrassed, and the other two people look a bit annoyed.

"Well," Valentine continues to stare at the pair, "It seems that we just barged in on my son's little reunion with his boyfriend." He still smirking at Alec and Magnus. "But since we're all here, this will have to continue later boys."

Magnus gets off the bed, and Alec immediately feels the loss.

"Alec, these are my colleagues, Doctor Hanson, your pulmonologist, and Doctor Barber, your hepatologist." Valentine introduces the doctors to Alec.

Why in the hell do I have a liver specialist now? he thinks.

Alec realizes he must have said that out loud due to the chuckles from everyone except for Magnus.

"Son, that bullet did some pretty extensive damage. It nicked your lung, causing it to partially collapse. The bullet also damaged, and caused us to remove part of your liver and pancreas. There are some things we need to go over with you, would you like to be alone, or is it okay for Magnus to stay in the room while we discuss things?" Valentine asks, he looks like he's in pain over the things he is about to say. Alec definitely doesn't want to be alone right now, even if his surrogate father is in the room with him.

"He can stay," Alec says quickly.

Valentine nods his head and clears his throat. "Okay. As I said, it nicked your right lung. There was significant damage to a small portion of your liver, causing us to remove that part of the liver. We also had to remove your gallbladder, the head of your pancreas, and part of your small intestine." Valentine sighs, and runs his hand over his face. "Honestly son, we're lucky you're alive. Due to the blood loss, and the fact that we couldn't get you to breath on your own, you flatlined on the table." Alec hears Magnus sucking in a breath at that statement, "You scared the shit out of me kid." Valentine finishes. He walks over to Alec and pulls him into a hug. When they pull apart, Alec can see the emotions running across his face. There is fear, sadness, grief, and last there's hope. Alec knows that Valentine and Jocelyn love him, and consider him as a son, but seeing it there in black and white was something else entirely. Alec knows that he unintentionally put them through hell when he got shot. This causes Alec to harbor an immense amount of guilt. Granted he obviously didn't do this on purpose, but he knows what it's like to lose someone you love, and he's saddened by the thought of causing such pain to his family.

Next, doctor Barber starts, "Now, due to the amount of damage sustained to your organs, we have to put you on some dietary restrictions. You no longer have a gallbladder, and part of the pancreas and liver that we removed will cause you to not process certain foods the way you used to. I am going to be monitoring your liver function closely for the next year. I need you to come to my office, starting off, once a week for the next month, then once every other week for the next two months after that. Once I deem you risk free of liver failure, I'm going to monitor you once a month for one year. For the rest of your stay here in the hospital, I will be checking in on you daily. Do you understand so far?" Alec nods his head. It's a lot to take in, but this is how it's going to have to be from now on. "We're also going to test you regularly for diabetes. You're at a much greater risk due to the fact that we removed part of the pancreas. Now, you seem like a very healthy person, so I'm hoping that you will stick to your dietary restrictions without complaint. And once you're cleared to do so, I want you to exercise on a regular basis." Again, Alec nods. Little does doctor Barber know, Alec has... had a daily workout routine. Before Alec can voice this, Valentine speaks up.

"Alec won't have a problem with the exercise. He is very compliant with his workout routine," Valentine says. He looks to Alec knowingly, and says "Which of course is going to have to change for a while." Alec chuckles at his dad, then immediately clutches his stomach.

Once the pain recedes Alec looks at the doctors in front of him, "Yeah, I workout daily. And usually once a week I kickbox with Jon and Clary." Alec sucks in a stained breath because his stomach is still killing him from laughing, and continues, "What are my restrictions and how long until I'm healed?"

"At least six to eight weeks is going to be your recovery time. If it were a simple laparoscopic procedure then it wouldn't be as long, but because we had to cut you open, the recovery time will be longer. Camille will give you that information, along with your dietary restrictions when you check out of the hospital, unless you wish to have them sooner." Doctor Barber says, and Alec nods in understanding.

"Now, if you don't have anymore questions for Doctor Barber or your father, I would like to run through some breathing exercises with you. I need to gauge how your lung is healing." Doctor Hanson says.

Doctor Hanson makes Alec do breathing exercises that hurt like a bitch! It feels like he's breathing fire or something. Doctor Hanson instructs Alec on how to do them, then Alec continues to do them without complaint. Once they complete the exercises, and Alec knows what he's supposed to be doing on his own, as well as the timeframes to do them, Doctor Hanson proceeds to give Camille instructions on what signs and symptoms he wants her to check for. Because of the surgery, Alec is at a higher risk for catching pneumonia, and he needs to do a few breathing treatments in order to prevent that from happening.

"You did great Alec, I'm pleased to see just how strong your lungs are. Keep doing the exercises. Camille will give you a timetable on when to do them." Doctor Hanson shakes Alec's hand, the left one that doesn't have an IV in it, and leaves his room. Doctor Barber does the same with Camille on his heels leaving Valentine and Magnus with Alec.

"Magnus, do you mind if I speak to my son alone please?" Valentine asks. Alec is a little weary of leaving Magnus alone right now after hearing his reaction to Alec's near death. Alec knows that Magnus needs the same amount of comfort that Alec himself needs.

"Of course, sir." Magnus walks over, kisses Alec on the top of his head, and leaves the room, leaving Alec feeling a little awkward. He knows Valentine wants to have a serious conversation, but he has no idea what it's about. The last time they had this type of conversation was when he broke things off with Adam.

"Alec, you need to tell that boy how you feel about him." Valentine starts, Alec is truly confused by what he's saying. It must have shown on his features because Valentine chuckles and continues to speak, "He has been in this room since you were brought in. I'm not sure what's going on with you two, but from the looks of it, it seems like it's very serious. You need to let him in completely. I know that life has been throwing curveball after curveball, but I really don't think he's going anywhere. This is just my perspective as an outsider, but I believe Magnus is irrevocably in love with you." Valentine pauses, looking like he's thinking of what he wants to say next, "I know you two haven't been dating long at all, but please just let yourself be happy and be in love. You only get one life Alec, don't be afraid to live in the present just because your past has royally fucked you." Alec can't help the small laugh that escapes him. Valentine rarely cusses, but when he does, it's pretty amusing.

"Thanks dad." Alec sees the pleasantly surprised look that crosses Valentine's face. As many times that Valentine has told Alec to call him dad, he just didn't feel right by doing so... until now, "But I did tell Magnus how I feel. That's kind of why you caught us in our 'reunion' as I think you put it." Alec slightly doubles over in pain from laughing, Valentine is laughing right along with him though.

Once Valentine sobers up, he looks at Alec fondly, "Just open your heart kid. I have a feeling that Magnus is worth it. Now, I need to get back to work, and you need to spend time with your boyfriend." Valentine stands up, gives Alec another hug, "I love you, kid." Then heads towards the door.

Before he can get too far, Alec calls out for him, Valentine turns around, "I love you too, dad." Valentine smiles and nods, then heads out the door.

A few seconds go by and Magnus is back in the room. He walks straight over to Alec, lays beside him on the bed, and gently pulls him in for a kiss. The kiss is filled with so much love and emotion, that it brings them both to tears. When they end the kiss, Alec and Magnus wipe each others tears away, then they laugh at the simultaneous action. Of course, Alec has to ruin the moment by groaning in pain from laughing.

"I see that we need to keep you from laughing," Magnus sobers quickly at Alec's pain. "I can't believe I almost lost you, darling." Another tear runs down Magnus' cheek, and Alec is quick to wipe it away.

"I'm so sorry I worried you so much, baby." Magnus' face softens as he leans forward and kisses Alec's forehead.

"As I've said before, it wasn't your fault, sweetheart. None of us knew that the area wasn't safe for us to be in. It easily could have been myself or Aline that got shot that night." Magnus is right of course, Alec didn't really think about the fact that if the shooter chose to attack just a minute or two earlier, it very well could have been any of them.

"I didn't really think about that until just now, I don't know what I would have done if it had been you." Alec admits. "All I know is that I would be a basketcase."

"I know the feeling," Magnus smiles back. Then he snuggles closer to Alec, keeping in mind of his injury. Alec glances at the clock, realizing that Magnus should be at work by now, "Hey babe, why are you here?"

Magnus sits up with a hurt expression, Alec quickly starts to explain, "It's just that your shift is starting in about five minutes! It's not that I don't want you here, I'm just worried that you're missing work." This seems to calm Magnus down a bit.

"Aline and I are on leave until you're cleared for work. In fact, I called Chief while Doctor Morgenstern was in with you to let him know that you're awake." Magnus lays back down beside Alec and takes Alec's hand in his, "He's planning on visiting when he gets off shift."

"Hm, m-kay." Alec says, suddenly feeling exhausted. He doesn't want to sleep though, he knows that he still wants to talk to Magnus about the fight. He doesn't want this to sit on the backburner. He was able to get a second chance at life, and he wants to fix his issues, no matter what they are.

"Sleep darling. You can take a nap, then once you're more rested we can do whatever you want to do... within reason since... well, yeah." Magnus motions around the room. Alec can't help but to notice just how exhausted Magnus looks as well.

"I want you to nap with me, you look like you're barely awake too," Alec says sleepily, brushing the pad of his thumb over the dark circles under Magnus' eye. Magnus gives Alec a chaste kiss and agrees.

"I love you so much." Alec mumbles before sleep can consume him.