'I need an adult to help me fix some adult problems. Can we meet tomorrow? And please don't tell Alec.'

Max had sent the text to everyone in the group. Cat, Ralph and even Magnus had replied, but Max hadn't revealed any additional information with his answers and Magnus had no idea what to think of it. In fact, the entire thing had started to worry him. The only explanation Magnus could think of was that something happened at Max's family dinner, though the details of it remained a mystery. Alexander was still refusing to attend the meals, but maybe he'd ended up going at the last minute, and Jonathan caused more turmoil for him? Magnus would personally ruin Jonathan's career if that were the case. With a sigh, Magnus walked downstairs, feeling sluggish from the lack of sleep. He'd never been very skilled at getting a good night's sleep while he was busy worrying. Thanks to Max's vague text Magnus had expected to find Alexander in a state of stress. He was therefore surprised to find Alec in his usual chipper mood as he entered the kitchen.

"Morning, Alexander," Magnus said, clearing his throat to make himself known and attempting a smile, hoping to appear more cheerful than he felt.

"Morning," Alec replied, turning around smiling.

Without thinking about doing it, Magnus found himself genuinely smiling in return. He loved Alexander's smile, and his lips. Magnus leaned in giving Alexander a sweet, chaste kiss which quickly become long and lingering. When they pulled apart Alec just stared at him for a moment, still holding the plate he had likely intended to give to Magnus.

"Is that for me?" Magnus chuckled reaching for the plate.

"How did you sleep last night?" Alec asked as he moved the plate away from him, eyebrows furrowed and eyes studying Magnus.

"Fine," Magnus replied automatically.

"Your eyes tell a different story," Alec replied with concern in his tone. "Couldn't sleep?"

"It's nothing," Magnus smiled weakly. "Just me worrying without knowing all the facts."

"Ah, so the pointless kind of worrying," Alec smiled softly.

"Yep," Magnus smiled back. "That's the one."

"Well maybe a good breakfast can take your mind off it," Alec smiled and finally handed Magnus his food.

"I think," Magnus grinned, setting the plate back on the counter. "I'd like to have you on a platter."

Alec blushed a deep pink, but welcomed the passionate kiss when it came. Magnus took that moment to get lost in the kiss. Simply feeling Alec becoming so pliant to his touch sent Magnus into a tailspin. He never failed to enjoy how receptive Alexander is to his ministrations.

Alec pulled away causing Magnus to whimper. "Now, eat up. I need to get going, and you need get to work."

"You're such a tease," Magnus whined, picking up his forgotten plate and got started on his breakfast.

"Just keeping you on your toes, Magnus," Alexander said with a cheeky smile and a wink causing Magnus to gape. He pulled Magnus in for one more kiss, cupping Magnus' cheek, his thumb caressing his cheekbone.

"Remember, don't pointlessly worry," Alec added kindly before turning and walking away.

Magnus smiled as he ate. He hadn't seen Alec's flirty side before, and found it to be quite the turn on.

~oOo~

As soon as Magnus walked into his office that morning he received a text from Max apologising profusely for leaving the group hanging the night before. His sister had bombarded him, and Max had to spend hours calming her down. Max also briefly explained the drama that ensued the night before, but ensured Magnus that he shouldn't worry. Magnus wanted to get to the bottom of Max's confusing messages so he invited Max come to the office after hours.

Magnus was standing in the lobby waiting for Max to arrive when he all but ran into the building.

"Max," Magnus pulled him into the conference room where everyone else was waiting. "What's going on?"

"Guys, I am so sorry," Max rushed the words out, looking around at the concerned faces throughout the room. "Alec is broke. He doesn't have the money to pay all of you back. When we talked about the plan, I didn't know. I swear!"

"Max," Magnus was thoroughly confused at that point. "What plan?"

"You know," Max's voice became slightly higher pitched as he waved his hands around. "What we talked about that day you all helped Alec move into his apartment! The Plan!"

Ah, Magnus thought, listening to the snickers of his friends.

"You mean that five minute conversation we had before Alec came back outside?" Ragnor spoke up, unable to keep the amused tone out of his voice.

"Yeah that one," Max replied, clearly a little confused.

"Yeah, no investor with half a brain would invest in something based on that," Raganor sated.

"Oh," Max said a little deflated.

Magnus shook his head, looking around at everyone else's amused grins. Poor Ragnor was covering his mouth trying not to outright laugh at the poor boy.

"Of course not, Max," Catarina spoke up, her eyes softened at the boy they've all grown quite fond of over the last couple of months. "We invested in Alec because we all believe in him, not because you talked to us. I kind of had an idea that he didn't have a trust fund, but I wasn't 100% sure. Mostly it was the way he spoke about his fears in starting the bistro. No one who has money would be that afraid of failure-"

"I don't necessarily agree with what Cat is saying," Ragnor interrupted. Cat sending him an angry glare which Ragnor dutifully ignored. "Even people with an infinite amount of money would be afraid of a business venture failing, but his concerns about his failure were what tipped us off."

"My only concern is that if Alec has used up his inheritance already, should we trust that he won't squander our investments?" Raphael asked. Raphael was probably remembering his older brothers failure in their family restaurant.

"No!" Max said defensively. "Alec didn't lose his inheritance, he never had one to begin with."

"What?" Magnus said, thoroughly confused. He had a feeling that the Lightwood kids didn't have the same amount of trust funds that he and his friends had, but no trust fund was a bit of a shock.

"See," Max started, rubbing the back of his neck. Magnus realized that Max looked just like his brother with that motion. "What had happened was..." And Max went into painstaking detail of the night before; starting with the fight he got into with Jace and Isabelle, then Clary and Simon telling all of them that Alec gave up his inheritance so none of them would have to worry about money. Finally Max explained about Clary breaking up with Jace and Jace hurting Clary. Magnus was properly mad by the time the revelation was made. Max then explained exactly what was going on with Jace and his publicist.

"So, you're telling me that Jace hired a publicist that deals mostly with sports figures? Victor Aldertree likes to cause drama in his clients lives. That man is the most deviant son-of-a-bitch out there," Cat said. Magnus could see the fire burning in her eyes. "We've had to clean up his mess with every artist that has ever dealt with him."

"That is true," Ragnor agreed, rubbing his forehead. "And trying to gain those artists trust after cleaning up the aftermath caused by Aldertree was exhausting."

"Do you have any recommendations for publicists that my parents can contact?" Max asked, expression hopeful.

"I do have someone in mind," Magnus said, rubbing his knuckles across his bottom lip. "James Carstairs just signed over his client to a different publicist because of a conflict of interest. I can give him a call to see if he's picked up a new client."

"Hold up," Max said, raising his hand like he was in a classroom. "What do you mean, 'conflict of interest'? We don't want another Aldertree on our hands."

Magnus couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped him, "I mean, he fell in love, and entered a romantic relationship with his client. He's a very noble man and didn't want there to be anything interfering with their relationship."

"Oh," Max said, a blush rising on his cheeks. "That's... that's a good reason to drop a client, I guess? If he can help Jace with his career, and get his attitude in check then I'm all for it."

Everyone joined in on the laughter at that point. Magnus couldn't help shaking his head at how similar Max's actions and mannerisms were compared to Alexander's.

"Max," Ragnor said, smile still firmly in place. Magnus could see the affection Ragnor held for the youngest Lightwood just from looking at his friend. "Magnus wouldn't steer you, or anyone he cares about wrong. Please trust us."

"I do," Max intoned. "I do trust you guys. That's why I came to you all in the first place. The only person I trust more than you guys is Alec. I just couldn't go to him with this problem."

"And that's why I'm going to help Jonathan," Magnus said with conviction. It's true that he isn't too crazy about the actor at the moment, but considering how much he cared for Alexander and Max he would do anything to fix their relationship with their brother.

"What are we going to do to help repair Alec's relationship with..." Cat started, moving her hand the way she usually does when trying to find her train of thought. "Isabelle? That's your sisters name, correct?"

"Ugh!" Max groaned out. "I have no idea how to fix that issue. I think Alec was more upset with her than Jace. The fact that she just remained silent is what I think got to him the most. Izzy has never held her tongue, and by doing so, Alec was hurt by her silence."

"What do you mean?" Raph asked. He'd had a contemplative expression throughout the entire time Max had been there.

"Well, it's hard to describe really," Max stated, looking up at the ceiling. Magnus had seen Alexander do that exact same thing about a million times when he was thinking. "Alec and Izzy have always been close. If you didn't know them, you'd think they were twins or something. As kids, Izzy was pretty self absorbed, and Alec was the only person who could pull her out of that. As adults Izzy matured quite a bit and she learned to read Alec's moods..Alec also knew her moods even before anyone else could figure it out, and even when he was thousands of miles away. It was like they were tuned into each other. Just one look and they'd know what was going on with each other instantly. So when Izzy held her resentment back and let him think everything was fine it was a betrayal to Alec."

"And he never picked up that she was jealous?" Cat asked, genuinely concerned for Alexander.

"There were a few mood swings that he noticed. Most of her bitchiness consisted of him finding his own place. It started close to the end of her semester at school so Alec honestly thought her mood swings were just stress related. In fact, after the fight with Jace Alec was so convinced that he had been so disconnected with us that he lost his touch in being able to read her," Max mused. "That fight really changed Alec."

"How so?" Magnus couldn't help but ask. He couldn't think of Alexander being any different than before his fight with Jace, but Magnus also doesn't know him as well as Max did.

"He just seems lost," Max sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "There's this light that I used to see in him that's not there anymore. He's always cared so deeply that now it seems like he doesn't care about anything. In all honesty, the only thing he seems to care about is getting his bistro up and running."

"I haven't noticed anything different about him," Magnus said with what was probably too much conviction if the looks of his friends were anything to go by. "He still seems like that same Alexander to me."

"It could just be that you don't know him as well as I do," Max shrugged. "Take a closer look at him next weekend when we're hanging out. Look at the small things, like the way he smiles, or his laugh. Alec's smile used to light up his entire face. Now it doesn't even reach his eyes. And his laugh is more like a huff. Almost like he's forcing himself to appear that nothing's wrong with him. Have any of you really heard him laugh?"

No one knew how to respond to that, mostly because none of them really knew Alec that well before the fall out. They all shook their heads to Max's question.

"I don't know how to describe it," Max sounded so miserable that Magnus wanted to pull the kid into his arms and comfort him. "It was this deep belly laugh and was so contagious that everyone around him couldn't help but to join in. Now it's not there and I hate it!"

"We'll fix this, Max," Catarina spoke in her mother hen tone and stood up pulling Max into a much needed hug. "I promise, we will do whatever we can to help. From what you've told us, it sounds like Isabelle is truly remorseful about her behavior. Maybe we can get the two of them together so they can talk things out. I can't promise that things will go back to normal after only one conversation, but we can start somewhere, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Max said, wiping at his eyes. Magnus hadn't even realize that Max had started crying.

"And what about Alec and Jace? How was their relationship before Aldertree dug his claws into Jace?" Magnus asked next.

"Ah yes, them," Max began. "It's not like Alec didn't do all those things for Jace as well, understanding his moods and helping where he could, but with Jace it was a little different. More unspoken. Alec is my brother and I love him, but sometimes when he and Jace were together I wondered if Alec and Jace were more than just brothers by blood. It was like they didn't even need to speak to understand each other. Like soul-brothers." He paused looking slightly embarrassed. "I know it sounds cheesy but I really don't know how else to describe it."

"I don't get it," Raph spoke up angrily. "If Jace and Alec were so close, how could Jace be so cruel to your brother?"

"Because that Aldertree guy got into Jace's head," Max countered, glaring at Raphael.

"We need to get Jem talking to your parents asap," Magnus said as he pulled out his phone and started typing away. "I guarantee Jem will want Jace to make some sort of statement about his decision to fire Aldertree. Do you think he would do that?"

"Possibly," Max shrugged. "Not only is Jace going to have to make up with Alec, but he's going to have to do something to win back Clary as well."

"One step at a time, Max," Catarina said, as she pulled Max in for a hug. "One step at a time."

Indeed, Magnus thought, trying to work out a solution in his mind.