Alec wakes up the same way he has every morning since leaving the hospital: Magnus curled up in front of him, with Alec's arms wrapped securely around his waist, their legs intertwined, and his head buried in the crook of Magnus' neck. Alec inhales deeply, savoring the smell that is solely Magnus, sandlewood with a hint of mint. Alec loves that smell; it always made him feel at home.

Three weeks into Alec's recovery, and he's going stir crazy! Alec hasn't been this stagnant since he was a child, though it hasn't been all bad. Magnus has been waiting on Alec hand and foot. Alec plans to reward Magnus thoroughly for how amazing he's been once he's recovered. At the moment one thing Alec can do is make breakfast for his boyfriend. Alec slowly slips out of bed and heads to the kitchen, followed closely behind is Chairman Meow. Alec feeds the Chairman and starts brewing his coffee and starts the kettle for Magnus' tea, then looks to see what he can make for him and Magnus. Deciding on omelets, Alec gathers the ingredients and has everything cooking away when he fancied adding yogurt with granola to the menu.

Magnus walks into the kitchen, just as Alec finishes setting the table. Alec walks up to his boyfriend and gives him a sweet, chaste, kiss on the lips.

"Good morning my love." Alec says as he pulls away. Magnus just looks around at what Alec's done, dumbfounded.

"Alexander, what is all this?" Magnus gestures towards the table. Alec chuckles and gestures for Magnus to sit down.

"This is breakfast." Alec says as he pours hot water over the tea ball and into Magnus' tea cup, "Chairman ate his breakfast as I was cooking."

"Darling, you didn't have to do this!" Magnus exclaims. "I'm the one who's supposed to be taking care of you, not the other way around." Alec leans towards his boyfriend, and kisses his nose.

"I'm fully aware of that," Alec says, giving Magnus a pointed look when he tries to protest. "But, I'm tired of always sitting around doing nothing. My stomach is feeling much better, and you only allow me to walk around for an hour each day. I feel like a caged couch potato! With that being said, I just wanted to feel useful for once, and I wanted to do something for you."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I am just following the doctors orders." Magnus sighs, "When we go for your follow up appointment today, maybe they will cut out some of your restrictions."

"God I hope so! I'm getting cabin fever." Alec says as he picks up his fork.

"Thank you for breakfast, sweetheart." Magnus grabs Alec's hand and gently brushes his lips across Alec's knuckles causing him to blush.

They eat in companionable silence until they eventually begin discussing their plans for after Alec's doctor's appointment. Alec tells Magnus that he wants to see the guys at the station, and pleads with his boyfriend to take him after his appointment. Magnus agrees as long as the doctors say it's okay that Alec increases his activity levels, which Alec gives him an annoyed look.

"Alexander, I don't want you to overexert yourself!" Magnus exclaims, then his expression softens, "You know I worry about you."

Alec gently stands, as he's still not supposed to flex his abdominal muscles - which is a lot harder than it seems - and takes their empty plates. He bends down and kisses Magnus on his head, "I know you do. I'll wait and see what the doctor says." With that, he slowly turns - so he doesn't twist more than he should - walks into the kitchen and starts cleaning up the mess he made while cooking.

~oOo~

"Alec! It's good to see you son." Valentine says when he walks into the patient room and gives Alec a hug. "Let's have a look at that wound, shall we?"

Alec pulls his shirt off and hands it to Magnus. Then Valentine pulls away the dressings and inspects the site.

"It looks like the sutures can come out. Everything seems to be healing beautifully." Valentine opens a drawer and pulls some sort of package out of it. He opens up, what Alec assumes is a suture removal kit. It has a pair of scissors with a hook on the end, as well as a pair of tweezers. Alec watches as Valentine pulls the sutures with the tweezers, then cuts them using the scissors. He repeats this process until all of the sutures are removed. Then he takes some iodine and rubs it on the closed wound and puts some steristrips over the wound. When he finishes, Magnus hands Alec's shirt back to him, and quickly puts it on.

"Now," Valentine begins as he washes his hands, "Don't try pulling those steristrips off for twenty-four hours. After that, they can come off. You can move around more freely since the sutures are out, however, if you stretch or move around and it feels like there's pulling coming from the site, stop what you're doing. We don't need that wound reopening."

"Okay, thanks. So I'm allowed to increase my activity now?" Alec asks hopefully. Valentine chuckles.

"As long as you don't overexert yourself. I still don't want you lifting any more than fifteen pounds starting off and I'm not talking weights. Maybe lifting groceries, or even a laundry basket; the gym is still off the table for now. Once we clear you to go back to work, that's when you can talk about getting back to the gym, You can do situps if you'd like, but again, decrease the repetitions because you are still healing. Listen to your body Alec, that's very important. If your body is telling you to stop, then stop. I mean it son. I don't want you to tear your abdominal muscles. That would set you back even further in your recovery." Alec nods in understanding. Valentine gives Alec an expectant look, "Do you have any questions, comments, or concerns?"

Alec blushes and gives Valentine a pleading look. He doesn't want to out right ask what he wants to ask, but it seems that Valentine can read his expression and whispers 'yes you can resume sexual activity' which causes Alec to blush even more, but he nods all the same. Valentine pats him on the back, silently chuckling.

"I have a question," Magnus states causing Valentine to face Alec's boyfriend, "Alexander wanted to go visit everyone at the station today. Is that going to be too much for him, or should he be fine going?"

"As long as Alec wants to go, we shouldn't stop him. The more active he is, the more stamina he'll gain. I wouldn't run any marathons, but he should go out more." Valentine smiles at Magnus. "Well kido, you're good to go. Will we see you two for dinner on Sunday?" Valentine asks expectantly.

Since the accident, Alec hasn't been to family dinner and he misses seeing them weekly. They let him know that they'll be there, and Valentine's smile brightens as he bids them goodbye.

~oOo~

They arrive at the station just before noon. Even though Alec is getting hungry, his excitement about seeing his friends outweighs his hunger. Alec figures that he and Magnus will just fix something once they get back home. The word home stops Alec in his tracks. Since when did he start thinking of Magnus' loft as home? He's not opposed to the idea at all, and the more he thinks about it, the more he likes the idea. Luckily Magnus didn't notice the falter in his steps, and he quickly catches up to his boyfriend. At least I didn't say that out loud. Magnus probably would've freaked! Alec thinks as they walk into the station.

As they make their way into the common room, everyone rushes over to them in greeting. Jordan pulls Alec and Magnus into a hug. It's a bit awkward, but Jordan is so huge that he can engolf both of them without missing a beat. Next is Bat, then Shane, Tanner, and Jamal. Aline, of course, is missing because she's on leave as well, just like the rest of Alec's ambulance unit. The PRN unit, according to Jordan, is out on a call.

"Dude! You wouldn't believe it! Dispatch called it in, and I think they broke Ray! He just sat there looking dumbfounded for a minute before he could respond!" Jamal excitedly exclaims, causing everyone to laugh.

"What was the call?" Alec, can't help but wonder what type of call they had coming in first thing in the morning.

"Dispatch called saying there was a twenty-two year old male with a forty ounce beer bottle stuck on his penis." Jamal lost all composure that this point... along with everyone else.

"No!" Is Magnus' shocked response.

"No lie, dude. We couldn't make this shit up if we tried!" Jordan says through his laughter.

"Oh my god! Why did I have to miss that?" Alec exclaims, "That's such a good bar story!" Everyone laughs even harder with that.

"I see the guys told you about the beer bottle incident." Chief says walking out of his office. Magnus and Alec nod, holding in their laughter. Chief laughs as well, "How's my bullet sponge holding up?"

Alec chuckles, "Is that going to be my new nickname, Chief?"

"It is now." He says cheekily. "Come into my office boys."

Alec and Magnus follow, Chief closes the door so they can have privacy.

"So how are you holding up Alec?" Chief asks with concern.

"I'm doing better. The doctor has lifted a few restrictions, so I'm happy about that." Alec answers, confused by the concerned look Chief is giving him. They already spoke in the hospital about the possible effects of PTSD occurring, but Alec said that he was fine, and didn't think he would need any counselling. He knows that this isn't a normal occurrence, their jobs aren't all that dangerous on a regular basis. Alec hasn't even had any nightmares about the shooting, and the doctors said that nightmares could be one of the signs for PTSD. In fact so far, Alec hasn't shown any of the warning signs that were mentioned.

"Look," Chief hands Alec a newspaper article, "I wasn't sure if you were aware of this, but I want to give you a heads up, just in case the press tries to harass you for a statement."

The first thing Alec notices is the title. "Paramedic shot on the Job." Beneath that is a few starting sentences, Alec skims. When he sees his own name written in black and white, he balks. There it is, his full name for anyone to see. At least there isn't a photo.

"How did my name get leaked to the media?" Alec asks angrily.

"I'm not sure, son." the Chief says, tiredly sitting back down. "None of us spoke to the press, and I know for a fact that no one at the hospital released any of your information either. I can only assume it was NYPD."

"Adam." Just one word, but Alec is fuming. Chief looks to Magnus asking him to clarify.

"Alexander's ex, he's one of the cops on site. In fact, he was the arresting officer of the gang member in our ambulance. I think he's the person who leaked Alec's name." Magnus explains.

"I can report him to his superiors, if you'd like? If indeed it was him, he had no authorization to leak your name out to the press the way he did." Chief says with conviction. He seems just as upset about this as Alec.

"I think that would be best." Alec sighs and runs his hand over his face in irritation.

Chief nods, "I'll get right on it. Go home and get well. I'll check in on you later."

With that, Chief ushers Alec and Magnus out of his office. They say their goodbyes to the rest of the guys and head back home where they made their lunch, decided what to cook for their game night - in which all of Alec's siblings and Ragnor are joining them - and take a nap.

~oOo~

Alec and Magnus are in the kitchen making dinner together. They've decided on making a taco bar at the kitchen island. It would be easier to just lay all of the items and have everyone assemble them as they go. Alec is in the process of putting the browned hamburger in a serving bowl when Magnus walks up behind Alec, wraps his arms around his waist, and places opened mouth kisses on the back of his neck, causing Alec to moan.

"I love you, darling." Magnus whispers in Alec's ear.

Alec puts the frying pan on the counter and turns in Magnus' arms. He drapes his arms around Magnus' neck and pulls him flush against him, "I love you too, Magnus."

The look on Magnus' face is one that Alec has grown to adore. He's looking at Alec like he was the only star in the sky. Alec will do anything and everything for Magnus. Unable to resist, he pulls Magnus into a searing kiss. It starts off fast and desperate, nothing but teeth, lips and tongue. Once the overwhelming desire dies down, the kiss turns into something so soft, that it almost brings Alec to tears. Magnus pulls away first, "Darling, if we continue, our friends will end up spending staring at our locked door." He gives Alec another chaste kiss and pulls away, "I for one, do not want to feel Isabelle's wrath for standing them up to have sex."

"That's not fair! You started it." Alec petulantly pouts, causing Magnus to laugh.

"And I'm also ending it... for now." Magnus winks and starts setting out the rest of the food.

The first to arrive is Clary and Jace. They each give Alec and Magnus hugs then Magnus ushers them into the living room. Before Alec can close the door, Jon and Holly show up along with Isabelle and Simon. He directs them to the living room, and starts pouring wine for everyone but himself and Holly. Since the shooting, Alec and Holly have dubbed themselves 'sober buddies', but Holly is very vocal about leaving Alec to his own devices once she's done breastfeeding. Once he finishes dispersing the drinks, the doorbell rings again. Magnus leaves to answer it, and returns with Ragnor and...

"Cat!" Alec exclaims.

Cat gives Alec a hug and asks, "How is my favorite paramedic?"

Before Alec can answer, Ragnor speaks up, "Oh I see how it is. She's great, but you're not happy to see me, pretty boy?" Alec laughs and gives Ragnor a hug.

"I'm always happy to see you, grumpy old man," Alec smiles. It was the truth. Over the course of the last few weeks, Ragnor has become a more prominent figure in Alec's life. It had started with a single evening of laughter and fun. The aftermath of which given risen to their nicknames. Ragnor always calling Alec 'pretty boy' while Alec reciprocates with 'grumpy old man.'

"You, pretty boy, I'm less fond of," Ragnor chuckles, teasing as Alec offered him a glass. "Oh wine! Alright you're not so bad."

"Thanks," Alec laughs sarcastically with everyone else, adding to the comfortable atmosphere. Once the tacos are assembled and consumed, the evening's activities shift to the living room where Cards Against Humanity is brought out to only slightly drunken cheers. By the time the wine had found its way onto at least three of the cards and Ragnor's shirt they decide to call it a night. Alec and Magnus bid their guests goodbye, then head to bed themselves.