"MOMMA!", wow it always amazes me how loud and awake my little girl can be at six in the morning. I love that little girl, but after a sixteen hour shift at the crime lab, this is not the wakeup call I wanted.

"Yes, baby?" I holler from under my very comfortable blankets. "We need to get up, it is time for school." She says this while bouncing on my bed.

How on earth did I end up with a seven years old child that loves school and the mornings so much? Well, I know that answer, her love of getting up and seeing the world comes from her dad.

Ouch, should not have thought him. Thinking about him still brings pain right to the center of my chest. I mean it has been so many years since he left, you would think by now that it would hurt less. I just want the pain to go away, but on the other hand, feeling something reminds me why loving someone other than my daughter is not a good thing for me.

Looking at my daughter I smile and say, "Ana, I really wish you were normal." Sadly my smile does not reach my eyes, I know it doesn't, I am just too tired. Working 16 hours at a time and then being a single mom takes a toll on my 25 years old body.

However, she only laughs and bounces some more on my bed while saying, "Momma, I am normal."

"Uh, no you are not, you are abnormal because you never, not even once, let me sleep past six a.m.". I love that no matter what I say, she never takes it personally. She takes it as mommy being tired and saying funny things.

I then proceed to stick my tongue out at her. Yes, I am that childish, but what can I say she loves it when I act silly as well. She laughs, sticks her tongue out at me and runs from the room yelling, "I want coconut pancakes!"

Ugh, I don't want to make pancakes this early in the morning, can't I just go back to sleep? That is when I hear my little one pulling out all of the ingredients and the only thing I can do is smile and get moving. If she is left up to her own devices she will totally make them herself or at least try.

Try as she might, she is only seven and in that situation, it would leave me with hours of cleaning. Unfortunately, I learned that fact the hard way a year ago when she did try to make them on her own. However, it was funny to see her with coconut flakes and flour sticking to her hair and face by the time she was done 'mixing' the ingredients together.

After the pancakes were made and eaten, I tell Ana to brush her teeth and get ready for school. As I am about to sit on my couch and relax for a few minutes before I get dressed the phone rings. Who is calling me at 7 am? Still, I run over to the phone and pick it up. "Hello?"

"Clary how you doing?" Simon of course, no else on this planet would call me this early in the morning. I am usually too tired and irritated to talk to before I get my coffee from Java Jones. I would make it myself, but I really suck at making good coffee.

"Simon, what do you want? Do you have any idea what time it is here?" I say with a slight annoyance in my voice. Simon has been in Europe working for the last few months. "Sorry Clary, but to be fair Ana never lets you sleep late anyway." I hear him laugh and then say "I mean that child must have a damn internal clock that wakes up at 6 am no matter what."

"Ugh, you don't have to remind me." I say before giving a tired laugh myself. "So, what's up? You never call when you're working. Plus I still have no coffee in me so be careful about what you say." This is when I notice that Simon is talking, but not to me. "Hey, Simon, earth to Simon, you there?" He stops talking to the other person before answering me.

"Yeah, sorry about that someone just walked into my hotel room and I was letting them know that I was talking to my sister." Wow, it is weird when he calls me that, even though he has been doing it since Ana was born. It was the only way the nurse would let him come in and see me after she was born because they were only letting family in.

"Um, okay, so what do you need?" I ask yet again. I only have an hour or so before Ana needs to leave for school and I need coffee. Not to mention that I have to get a bunch of stuff done before I can rest again. Man, I really miss sleeping.

"Oh, yeah the reason I called was that I ran into some people we know from high school." Well, that is weird since he is still in Europe. "Who did you run into?"

"Isabelle, Alec and Jace." he says. Right then my heart stops, the pain is back tenfold and I think I may even pass out. I have not heard those names in a long time. "Um, okay, um I have to go." I hang up the phone as fast as I can and make a run for my room. I cannot let Ana see me like this; she will freak and want to know what is going on.

I hear the phone ring again and again, but I do not move from where I am standing. No way am I answering it. It keeps ringing. I can't hear about them right now, especially him. I look over at the clock and notice that I have 20 minutes before Ana needs to be at school. Wow I have been standing here for that long. I wonder why Ana is not bugging me about the phone that keeps rings.

I shake my head, okay, time to move. I walk out of my room and back over to the phone. I then proceed to pull the plug for the phone out of the wall. Finally the phone is silent. Time for me to get back to being a mom.

"Ana, you got 20 minutes and then we are out of here!" I yell to her. "Got it mom!" she hollers back.