Chapter One
It'd been fifteen years since the Mortal War. Isabelle had been the only one to leave New York. After Jace and Clary's wedding on the second commemoration of the war, Izzy packed up her tallest heels and headed for the Institute in Chicago. The demon population had been higher than in other parts of the country because of the lakes and an interdementional portal underneath them. Chicago had needed her. After all she was the best there was, excluding Jace and his angel blood. That had been thirteen years ago though. In between then and now she had found herself a nice Midwestern Shadowhunter, settled down had a kid, just about everything she hadn't expected to do. The war and its events had changed her.
Jace, Clary, Alec and Magnus had visited her every year on her birthday. Clary and Jace brought their blond haired blue eyed boy his red haired and golden eyed twin sister and a bright green eyed baby girl that rarely left her daddy's arms.
Clary had mentioned her surprise at Isabelle's lifestyle choice, but Izzy had merely shrugged it off and blamed it on herself finally growing up.
Clary and Jace both held powerful positions in the Clave along with Luke and Jocelyn, whose wedding had been quaint and beautiful. When Jace had proposed to Clary he had decided he wanted her to take the Herondale name, in sake of a clean slate, and so she could get rid of that dreadful last name of Morgenstern. They now parted their time between the New York Institute and Idris. Their children were more powerful than they were. Their ten year old boy Roshan had climbed out of a window in the Institute and landed in a precarious perch on the branch of a tree to bring Church inside. Jace was beside himself with pride and Clary had nearly thrown Jace out the window after him.
Roshan and Isabelle's boy Gabriel were the same age, and couldn't get along for their lives which Izzy, Jace and Clary had all threatened them with. So as usual Gabe's green eyes filled with contempt as the Herondales and Bane-Lightwoods, with their newly adopted little girl, walked into the Institute for her thirty-first birthday.
"If you boys break one window, make one dent on the floor or yell one obscenity I will burn all of your manga and replace them with books written in Romanian." Isabelle whispered menacingly to her son.
"Don't worry Gabe. I'm rather skilled in the language of the Romanians. I can teach you." Jace drawled with a smirk.
"You can't even let me discipline my son without a witty comment can you?" Isabelle said, not without affection.
"Of course not." Jace responded with a reminiscent rub to her head.
Isabelle exchanged greetings with all of them and led them to the dining hall where the chef had prepared tomato soup, fruit salad, beef, and baked bread.
"Ah bovine. The staple of any ol' Midwestern meal." Jace remarked picking all the mangos out of the salad and onto his plate.
"I see you still haven't mastered the art of cooking yet my dear Mrs. Youngblood." Magnus casually noticed.
"Who is to say I didn't spend all day slaving over a hot stove to prepare this meal for you all?" Isabelle answered with mock hurt.
"Iz I watched you burn water. We had to throw away the pot. You fed Church spoiled milk and to this day he won't drink milk. Sufficient to say, I think we all know that sweet Ms. Annie prepared this meal for us." Alec explained swiftly. A boisterous round of laughter erupted at the table.
As they did every year, stories went around about the children, old friends, new demons and how much they all missed her.
It came to the point in the night where the children would go off to play and they rest of them would drink and talk until the wee hours of the night.
Magnus and Alec described their experience of adopting Shaylin from the warlock orphanage in Montréal run by a friend of Magnus'. Tessa May or something.
After their heartwarming story Jace asked the question that had been on everyone's mind all evening. The question she knew was coming, which only Jace would have the courage to ask.
"So, where is your stick in the mud husband? Out playing a riveting round of golf?"
Isabelle heard the thud as Clary stepped on Jace's foot with admonishment.
She felt the color drain from her face. They knew of the portal underneath the lakes, but not the recent news about it.
"We found a way to close the interdementional portal underneath the lakes. Don't get any ideas though, even if we knew where every demon was entering Earth, and you know there are thousands, the only way to close it is for the Greater Demon that opened it to close it. Willingly.
"It so happened that there was a lot the Silent Brothers knew about the Greater Demon that opened this portal. He had a lover he would do anything for. Her spirit was trapped in a Pyxis in the Shanghai Institute. We figured we could get him to comply if we threatened to destroy her spirit with Clary's Destruction rune.
"Ryson was the one holding the Pyxis. We had fought about it all night, maybe if he had gotten more sleep before we summoned the demon he would still be here, but before we even could talk to the demon he struck Ryson down where he stood, nothing but dust was left. Turns out our warlock double crossed us and didn't make the pentagram secure. The fire that consumed two blocks next to the lake? Yup, that was us. It was bloody. Lost a lot of good fighters. We were in Idris up until last week for funerals.
Clary was the first to say something. "This must all be so fresh for you. How has Gabe been handling it?"
"Honestly he has helped me through it. He keeps me going. Everything is for him. He reminds me of Max so much it hurts sometimes. With his messy brown hair, from the back sometimes I really think it is him." Isabelle confessed with glistening eyes.
Alec stood up, knocking his chair over and stalked over to Isabelle's chair where he took her into his arms and held her. The silence in the room was not awkward, but strong, strong in their love for her. Tears slid down her cheeks as she gave in to how much she missed her friends. Her family.
Yes, everyone at the Chicago Institute had been very hospitable to her over the years but she could never really make any true connections with any of them.
After a bout of condolences the boys went to the living room to watch the children play. Isabelle saw a flickering blue glow come from the room and assumed it was Magnus and Shaylin.
Clary remained still, looking at her hands on the table. Isabelle began to ask the same question she did every year when she and Clary were alone.
"How is-"
"Simon? Oh he looks the exact same as the last time you saw him. Works at the music production office, lives in Manhattan, still single and still asks about you every damn year just like you ask about him."
"He asks about me?" Isabelle said truly dumbfounded.
"Yes, and it's quite annoying how you two go on about each other to me and won't even pick up the phone to call one another. What the hell even happened between you two? You just picked up and left after my wedding. You've completely secluded yourself allowing us once a year visits. Isabelle, I can make a portal anytime I want! But you only allow us these annual visits and we miss you." Clary's eyes softened. "Come home. You have nothing to hold you here anymore. Gabe can be trained just as well in New York as he can here. Maybe even better, surrounded by family and people who love him."
"I love him." Isabelle stated weakly.
"Of course you do Izzy, and you're doing a beautiful job with him. But this isn't your home Izzy. Come back with us. At least think about it?" Clary had tears in her eyes as well.
"Okay." Isabelle let the tears roll down her face. For a woman who hadn't cried in years she'd been doing a lot of crying tonight.
Clary got up to go join her husband and turned around and commented, "Your lack of stubbornness almost scares me Iz."
Isabelle cleaned herself up in the bathroom and enjoyed the rest of the evening watching the children fall asleep together.
Isabelle made a comment about Jace always being a ladies' man as he carried his two daughters in either arm. Isabelle was not as sad to see them go as she usually was. She kissed Gabe's eyelids and looked around his room wondering what he would want to take with him to New York.
