"FRAY! Get you're ass back here!" U.S. Marshall Jace Wayland was growing impatient with the small red head his boss, Maryse Lightwood, had presented him with.

Clary Fray, who was quite stubborn, continued her vicious march toward the elavator. "I appreciate your concern , but I assure you that I'm perfectly fine. I'm sure this Valentino fellow is nobody I can't handle." she said, not turning around to look at him.

Jace groaned and grabbed Clary's arm, roughly spinning her around. He held her steady and looked into her bright green eyes intensely.

"Clarissa," He began, Clary could tell he was struggling to keep his voice even, "Valentino has killed 13 men in the past 2 months without a soul witness. He will do anything and everything to get his hands on the one person who has the power to bring him in. Guess what? That person is you. You witnessed a murder, Clarissa. If you don't come with me to the safe house in L.A., then you and everyone you have contact with will be in grave danger."

Clary's mind wandered to his best friend, Simon Lewis. He was getting married in 3 months and Clary was his best woman. They'd known eachother practically all of their lives. The thought of any harm coming to him... And especially before he got married to the love of his life...Then there was her mother Jocelyn and her stepfather Luke, the people she loved more than anything. She looked into U.S. Marshall Jace Wayland's stern golden eyes.

"How long will I be gone? Can I tell anyone?" she asked, sighing in defeat.

"You'll be gone for however long it takes to catch Valentino. That'll be about a month and two weeks. You can't tell anyone your leaving, but after we put away Valentino you can explain everything." he said, still holding her shoulders firmly.

"Okay," said Clary, accepting defeat, "I'll do it." Wayland let out a barely audible sigh of what Clary assumed to be relief, and loosened his grip on her arms.

"Great. First matter of business, stop calling me Mr. Wayland. My name is Jace. Now the deal is we'll head to a registered safe house in Los Angeles, California. There, you will be living under an alias with, you guessed it, yours truly." Detective Wayland said with a wry smile. Clary rolled her eyes, but nodded.

"-" she stopped, remembering the Marshall's request to call him by his first name "Jace," She corrected and breathed a heavy sigh, Jace raised his eyebrows, "Can I call someone? I won't tell him anything, I just need to hear his voice before..." She trailed off, blinking her eyes rapidly to cease the expected tear flow.

Jace stared at her for a while, and groaned throwing his head back. He fished a cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. "You're lucky your cute, Fray."

Clary ignored the compliment and punched in Simon's number. After just a couple rings, he picked up.

"Hello?" The sound of his voice soothed her.

"Hey, It's me."

"Clary! Hey, what's up? I haven't heard from you for the past day or so." Clary could hear the chattering in the background.

"Oh, I was just really busy. Listen, Simon, I just... Called to say hi, and see how you were doing..." Clary wanted so badly to tell him everything. Tell him about L.A. Tell him about Detective Wayland. Tell him about the look on her neighboor Dorthea's face right before she was killed.

"Okay, well, hi!" He said, the confusion evident in his voice.

"Hi," she managed a small chuckle, "So, how's Isabelle? Still suffering from bride-zilla syndrome?" Isabelle Lewis was Simon's soon to be wife.

Clary heard Simon chuckle on the other end, "Oh yeah. She didn't eat for 2 days out of fear she wouldn't fit into her wedding dress."

Clary rolled her eyes, Izzy was a twig. "No kidding. Have you guys started on your vows yet?"

"Not yet, we were just heading out to Izzy's family church to talk the minister that baptized her." Simon's tone was a little rushed, and she could tell Isabelle was pressuring him to leave.

"Oh, then you should go. Talk to you later, 'kay?" she said, suddenly painfully aware this was the last time she'd hear her best friends voice in weeks.

"Okay! See ya Clary, Love you!" his cheerful tone made Clary want to cry.

"Love you too, Simon." She said, and pressed the END button on Jace's cell. She looked up to see him standing in the frame of the door.

"I just picked up your new identity, ready to meet our persona's for the next 2 months?" He asked, waving 2 ID's in the air. Clary only nodded.

Jace saw her somber expression, but dismissed it with an attempt to make her laugh,"Okay, I'll be Drake Malfoy and you'll be Rena Weasly."

Oh goodness, Ginger was going to be a very long month and two weeks.

"Just kidding. I'm going to be Xander Singer and you'll be Victoria Rice. We're cousins who came to L.A. in hopes of starting an art business. Our safe house is a studio apartment next to the beach. I'll fill you in on the rest of your background during the flight." In 2 long strides Jace was out of the doorway and pushing Clary firmly a door on the other side of the room that led out the lobby of the NYPD.

"Wait," Clary said, gently wrestling her arm out of Jace's, "I have questions."

Jace sighed, "Of course you do. Make it quick."

"Fine." Clary began to mentally shorten the list of the 20 questions she'd been planning to ask him,"Okay, first question: Why L.A.? Why not somewhere more secluded... like the mountains or something?"

Jace smiled, "You've been watching to many spy films. We'll blend in L.A. There are almost as many wierdos there than there are here, in New York. Nobody's going to pay attention to a couple of kids trying to sell some art."

Clary nodded, "Understandable. Okay, next question: Who is going to believe we're cousins? We look nothing alike."

A grin crept its way onto Jace's face, "You rather we'd be a couple on their honeymoon, Fray?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows. Despite herself, color rose to Clary's cheeks.

"Your insufferable." Clary sputtered.

"I'm charming." he said with a quick wink, "Now. No more questions. Our flight leaves in 2 hours and I want to stop for coffe."

Clary blinked her eyes in disbelief, "Two hours? Thats not nearly enough time for me to go home and pack an put away the paints I left out and turn off the heat and-"

Jace cut her off, "No time for all that. The more time we stay here, the more of a window of oppurtunity we present to Valentine to kill you. You can buy some new clothes in L.A. and I'll tell my boss Maryse to send someone over to your place to clean up." And with that he grabbed Clary's arm and yanked her out the door.