Gideon glanced at his pocket watch, looking startled to see what the time was. "That is all the training we'll have time for today," he announced. "The carriage should be here any minute. Come on, Gabriel."

Gabriel looked rather disappointed. He'd found himself actually enjoying these training sessions since Cecily Herondale had become one of his trainees. "All right," he said, moving to help put away the weapons they'd been using.

"We'll walk you out," Cecily offered. Sophie and Tessa nodded in agreement.

"Thank you," Gideon said with a smile.

The five of them walked towards the entrance to the Institute. Gideon and Sophie were slightly ahead of the rest, talking quietly together. Cecily was regaling Gabriel with a story of how a certain duck living near their home in Wales had terrorized Will as a child. Her laughter was infectious, and Gabriel couldn't help but laugh along with her. Talking to Cecily was one of the few things in life that he genuinely enjoyed. She didn't seem to care that he was a Lightwood, or that everyone else at the Institute hated him, and for that he was truly grateful.

Tessa was walking on Cecily's other side, although she wasn't taking part in the conversation. Gabriel could've sworn she'd given him and Cecily a knowing look, but a moment later she was looking straight ahead once again, and he dismissed it as a figment of his imagination.

They walked through the gates of the Institute and had almost reached the Lightwood's carriage when they heard an odd clicking noise. They turned around slowly and found half a dozen clockwork creatures approaching them.

Gabriel drew his seraph blade and saw Gideon doing the same. Gabriel turned to the girls. "Go back inside and fetch Charlotte, and tell her what's happening. Gideon and I can hold them off for now." He wasn't sure if that was true, but he couldn't allow Cecily, Sophie, and Tessa to stay there because none of them were fully trained and none of them had brought weapons out with them.

"But—" Tessa began to protest.

"Go!" Gideon urged.

With one last anxious look at the scene before them, Tessa and Sophie hurried back into the Institute. Cecily, however, stayed put. She held a stele in her hand. Gabriel hadn't realized she'd had one with her.

"Cecily, get out of here! You can't fight them with just a stele."

A familiar stubborn look appeared on her face. "But I can't let you and Gideon fight them by yourselves. There's too many of them."

Before Gabriel could say another word, the clockwork creatures were upon them. Gabriel and Gideon slashed and struck at them with their seraph blades. Cecily poked them with her stele, which wasn't very effective, but it distracted them long enough for one of the Lightwoods to come and finish them off.

Gabriel was battling one with particularly quick reflexes. He'd finally managed to slice its head off when he heard Gideon yell, "Gabriel, look out!"

He whirled around to see another clockwork creature raising its sword right behind him. Before he could do anything, someone ran in between them just as it brought the sword down. The person gasped in pain, and without stopping to think, Gabriel attacked the clockwork creature until he had fully incapacitated it.

After quickly looking around and seeing that all the clockwork creatures were defeated, Gabriel dropped to his knees beside the fallen person. It was Cecily. Her eyes were closed, her face was pale, and there was a long, heavily bleeding gash in her side. She was breathing very shallowly.

Gabriel looked up to see Gideon staring at her, horrified. "Go get Charlotte, or Brother Enoch if you can find him," Gabriel said, his voice shaking. Gideon dashed off back into the Institute. Gabriel carefully scooped Cecily up into his arms and carried her inside.

Gabriel paced up and down the corridor outside Cecily's room. Brother Enoch was in there with her. He'd told everyone to wait downstairs, as there was nothing they could do to help, but Gabriel had refused. All he could think was that it was his fault. She'd jumped in front of the clockwork creature to protect him. If only he'd seen it sooner, if only he'd forced her to go back inside with Tessa and Sophie…

Guilt ate away at him. He didn't think he could stand it if anything were to happen to her, knowing that it was completely his fault. He began pacing faster.

After a while, the door opened and Brother Enoch came out. Gabriel stopped in front of him. "Is she going to be all right?"

I believe she will be fine, but I cannot say for certain, Brother Enoch spoke in his mind. She is resting for now. You may go in if you wish, but do not disturb her.

Relief washed over Gabriel, although he wished Brother Enoch was sure she would be all right. "Thank you," he said, hurrying inside the room.

Cecily lay on the bed. Her eyes were still closed, but she seemed to have regained some color and her breathing was more regular. All the blood had been cleaned off her wound, although there was a bandage wrapped around her side. Gabriel sunk into a chair next to the bed, determined to stay there until she woke up.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there—a minute, an hour—when the door flew open and Will burst into the room. Gabriel supposed he'd been out on one of his walks and had only just heard about Cecily.

"Where's Cecily?" Will demanded. "Is—?"

His eyes fell on Gabriel and he broke off in the middle of his sentence. "What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting to make sure she'd be all right," Gabriel said, rising warily from his chair.

In a sudden motion, Will crossed the room and slammed Gabriel into the wall. "I know it was your fault," he hissed. Gabriel struggled to push Will away, but his grip was like iron. "They told me what happened, how she threw herself in front of that thing to save your pathetic little life. And I'm telling you now, if anything happens to my sister, I will make you wish you had never been born."

Gabriel finally managed to shove Will off him. He opened his mouth to retort when a voice said softly, "Really, William, if I did die, then killing him would make my sacrifice rather pointless, wouldn't it?"

The two boys turned to see Cecily awake and staring at them, a mixture of irritation and amusement on her face.

"How are you feeling?" Gabriel asked anxiously.

"Definitely not good, but better."

Gabriel smiled in relief. Will, on the other hand, looked furious. "Cecily, what were you thinking? Of all the idiotic things—"

"I only did what I had to," Cecily replied evenly. "You would have done the same if Tessa was in danger."

"Yes, but that's a completely different situation."

"Is it?" Cecily asked quietly.

A sudden realization seemed to dawn on Will. He opened and closed his mouth several times, looking between Cecily and Gabriel in horror. "You—do you mean to say—how—?" he sputtered incoherently. Giving up on articulating his thoughts, Will spun on his heel and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Gabriel looked curiously at Cecily, who was determinedly avoiding his eyes. He knew how Will and Tessa felt about each other—even a blind man could see it—but if Cecily was comparing her and Gabriel's relationship to Will and Tessa's…

"Cecily," Gabriel began hesitantly, his heart beating rapidly. "When you said you only did what Will would have done for Tessa—"

"Oh, I was just trying to make Will go away," Cecily said with a laugh that didn't quite sound genuine.

Gabriel looked at her skeptically, and Cecily glared right back at him in her stubborn way until she finally gave in.

"All right, fine. Maybe I do…care for you…just a bit." If she'd been anyone other than Cecily Herondale, Gabriel would have said she was blushing. "And, well, I know you'd never feel the same way, and it's okay. I mean, I'm nothing special."

"That might be the first time I've ever heard a Herondale think they were less important than they really are," Gabriel said in amusement.

Cecily rolled her eyes. "Don't get used to it. We're a very egotistical bunch, if you hadn't noticed."

"Oh, I have, believe me."

And before he had time to second-guess himself, Gabriel reached over and took one of Cecily's hands in his own. He knew it was improper, but he didn't care. Cecily looked at him in surprise, but then a small smile spread across her face, and Gabriel returned it with one of his own.

Maybe the day's events hadn't been completely awful, after all.

I'm just wasting time until Clockwork Princess comes out and this ship actually becomes canon :) Please review!