Sweet Little Serena (Original)

Chapter 33

"Serena?!" called Alec's voice as he ran into the back room of the Jade Wolfe where they had moved Jace.

Relief coursed through Serena in tidal waves as salt tears flowed and she pressed two chaste kisses to Alec's lips as they moved over to where Jace lay on the table, still asleep, Michael standing with him as he glared at Alec.

"His runes are failing, he needs your strength or he's not going to last two minutes," Serena said urgently as she lifted Jace's shirt and Alec removed his, pulling out his stele and handing it to his wife.

Taking Jace's hands, Alec closed his eyes as Serena ran a stele over his parabatai rune and Jace's simultaneously, the strength flowing from one to the other until it became equal. It would hold for a time until the venom spread, and Jace grew weaker and then would take more strength from Alec.

The many minutes Alec spent like that seemed like hours as she waited, feet aching in her heels as she paced but she didn't dare stop.

"Serena! We got the blood!" Simon yelled as he and Clary burst into the room, Serena letting out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding as she rushed to them. She'd already prepared the IV pipes as she took the blood bags from them, Alec breaking off his connection with Jace.

"Ok, I need Alec's help but other than that, everyone else needs to leave," she ordered, and Michael brushed the hair from Jace's face affectionately before walking out, along with Simon, Clary and a few wolves.

"What do you need me to do?" Alec asked as Serena injected the IV into Jace's arms, attaching it to an empty blood bag as she filtered out the blood.

"I can actually do this myself, I just needed you here with me," she admitted as she injected another IV into his opposite arm, pumping in the fresh blood as the blackened veins on his neck and face began to recede.

"And here I'll stay," Alec said as Serena's shaky hands switched out the already full blood bag for an empty one and she incinerated the bag full of Jace's poisoned blood with a heat rune.

"The other dimension, what was it like?" he asked trying to distract Serena from her worry and it worked as she pulled him into a long kiss, hands sliding across his bare chest.

"You know all that stuff I said about you being too pessimistic and needing to lighten up?" she asked, and Alec looked at her, confused.

"Yeah?"

"Forget it," she ordered as she pulled him into another kiss that was cut short as Alec pulled away.

"Why?"

"Because the Alec I was married to in that other world, was always peppy and bubbly and bright and happy and I hated it."

"Why?" Alec asked again, confused beyond all reason.

"Because it wasn't you. I mean he looked like you, but he didn't act like you, he wasn't you. My Alec can be cold and abrasive when you first meet him, but he has a heart of gold that only the people he loves get to see. And I am very lucky to own that heart. And you're driven and loyal to a fault, and you would go to hell and back to protect your family. That is my Alec. And that is the Alec I love. I love you for you. I married you, for you, and you shouldn't have to change. And I'm sorry I asked you to."

Alec kissed her, hard, a kiss full of love and passion.

"It's nice to know that even in an alternate timeline, you can't get enough of me."

Serena couldn't help but laugh.

"Please, it's you who can't get enough of me."

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Jace's wound had healed, and all the poisoned blood disposed of as they waited for him to wake up.

"Baby, I have some bad news," Alec said, not being able to take it anymore, despite his heartbreaking at the look of fear on her face as she turned to him.

"What is it?"

"Lydia arrested Izzy for helping Meliorn escape. They're charging her with high treason and her trial is tomorrow night."

"Oh, my god!" Serena gasped as she began to pace, twisting the diamond ring on her finger nervously as Alec remained silent, allowing her to process the information, but she only buried her emotions. She buried them deep as she began plotting.

"Is Inquisitor Herondale here yet?"

"Arrived this morning."

"Damn it! Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. Uh, go to Magnus, ask him to defend Izzy. Tell him that we'll pay any price. If anyone can win her case it's him," she said breathlessly, worry radiating off her.

"What about you? What about Jace? I can't just leave you here! And with your father..."

"I will be fine. Look, I need to take care of my sibling and you need to take care of yours. With a little luck, we'll be back before Izzy's trial is over, there's still something we have to do first. But you need to go. You've been here too long. What do they think happened to me anyway?"

"They think you're in the Seelie Glade trying to convince the Queen to not retaliate for arresting Meliorn."

She let out a breath of relief. "I'll see you soon."

He kissed her, a long one.

"If Magnus can't win, we'll need the Cup to negotiate with the Clave, or Izzy will be stripped of her runes and banished. And Clary will never give it up before she finds her mother," Alec pointed out their worst-case scenario.

"Reconsidering that no optimism thing right about now," she muttered, and Alec rolled his eyes as he said, "This is serious."

"Precisely why I plan on finding Jocelyn before Izzy's trial is over and then handing over the Cup. If Clary still refuses, I'll take it from her. I'm not letting them banish my sister and my parabatai."

Alec kissed her again.

"I love you. Be safe. "

"Aren't I always?"

Alec rolled his eyes at her before kissing her one last time, and then he was gone.