Forty seven…forty eight…forty nine…fifty.
Alec finished his sit-ups and put on a suit for the first time in a week; he couldn't just hide away from everyone any longer. He'd spent day after day just sat around watching the world go by. Well, that and – remarkably – texting Magnus Bane.
They'd exchanged numbers after hanging out at Pandemonium, and all they really did was send stupid photos and jokes back and forth, but it was pleasant. It was an escape from everything and a rare chance to smile. Alec wouldn't mind if he saw him again, even if he did work for the big competition. There was just something about him, like he was brand new and ancient at exactly the same time.
On the cab journey to work, he pondered what he might say or do if he ran into his parents or even Jace. The evidence against him was clear as day; he was planning to leave the firm and betray the family he'd practically grown up with. So was the fact that he was still working there evidence that maybe he really was framed (however unlikely) or evidence of him copping out since he got caught in the act? Was Jace really that stupid to bring him and Isabelle to the very restaurant he planned on meeting Magnus and Ragnor at?
Before he could dwell on things any further, the cab pulled up outside the Lightwood Garroway building. He tipped the driver and sharply made his way up to the office without encountering any familiar faces. That was, however, until he walked into his office and found Robert sat at the desk waiting for him.
"Got nothing better to do than to sit in your son's office?" Alec asked.
"You didn't call in sick today so I assumed you'd finally gotten over your little…phase…so I thought I'd wait to welcome you back." Robert explained.
"Thanks. You can go now." Alec said; seeing his father had just brought back up all the rage he'd spent the past week trying to control.
"Your mother and I have a trail kicking off today, so we won't be around much for the next two weeks." Robert said.
"Pity."
"Alec…we're trying. At least have the decency to try too." Robert lectured.
"Oh, you're both trying? Is mom hiding under the desk to surprise me and welcome me back? Or is she in the file cabinet?" Alec asked, sarcastically looking around the room. "I guess she's as invisible as her parenting skills these days."
"Don't you dare talk about your mother like that." Robert warned.
"I noticed the new layout on computer monitors on my way up here. Did they implement the new software you were on about?" Alec asked, ignoring Robert's previous warning.
Robert decided not to start another fight. "…Yes. They're starting work installing it today and will be testing it over the next few days. It's a much easier and more reliable way of storing and accessing our archives."
"But you and mom aren't here to oversee it?"
"No, we, um…we put someone else in charge of overseeing it." Robert said.
"And who would that be?" Alec asked. Robert's face told him everything he needed to. "Yeah, I don't even need to ask, do I?"
"Alec…we didn't know if you were even going to be here…"
"I'm sure Jace will do a great job, a wonderful choice. Don't you have a trial to get to? Get the hell out of my chair." Alec said venomously.
Robert said nothing, just stood up from the desk chair and headed out. Alec slammed the door shut and sat down at his desk with his head in his hands.
…
"Aw, crap!" Simon groaned, putting his phone back in the drawer as he sat at his desk. Clary watched him from the next cubicle alone with a smirk.
"Did it run away?" Clary asked.
"Of course it did! That was the highest CP wild Charmander I'd ever seen! Do you realise how rare it is to find starter Pokémon in the wild?" Simon questioned.
"No, but I do realise how high pitched your voice gets when you're upset."
"No it doesn't! Simon squeaked. He put a hand on his throat and coughed. "…No, it doesn't."
"I thought everyone had stopped playing that game, anyway." Clary rolled her eyes as she turned back to her computer.
"The true fans play on." Simon nodded.
The whole room seemed to slow down the second Isabelle Lightwood walked in, her hair flowing luxuriously through the air despite the lack of a breeze. Her ruby necklace glistened in the sunlight from outside. She smiled at Simon as she walked past him and stopped at Clary's cubicle. "I need your help with something."
"What can I do you for?" Clary asked.
"I need to get more witnesses to validate a client's story, remember that factory fire a year or so ago downtown?" Isabelle asked.
"Yeah, nasty business." Clary reminisced.
"Exactly. Apparently there's a news piece online where some of what the witnesses that were interviewed were saying backs up my client's claims. I need to find out who the witnesses are and track them down so they can testify to what they saw. They're installing the new software on my computer upstairs so I thought I'd come to the best paralegal in town." Isabelle explained with a smile.
"Then you came to the right place." Clary giggled. "I'll have a look now. Love the dress, by the way!"
"Thank you! It's from that store that just opened on 34th." Isabelle said as she looked down at the emerald dress she wore with silver patterning down one side.
"…I like it too." Simon said quickly. Clary and Isabelle stared at him, Clary holding back laughter, before Simon returned to looking at his computer without saying a word and holding up a folder to shield his face from their vision.
"For a smart guy he's incredibly dumb." Clary whispered and Isabelle chuckled as Clary continued scrolling through sites on her computer. "Here's something. Woah, take a look at that guy."
Isabelle leaned over and looked at Clary's screen. "Dear lord. Divorced. Loves McDonalds. Has two cats."
"At least two cats." Clary added.
"He'll testify in a heartbeat if two beautiful women pay him a visit." Isabelle smiled.
"Two?"
"Yeah, fancy a road trip?" Isabelle suggested.
"Really? You want me to help on your case?" Clary asked.
"You know it. Grab your coat and I'll see you downstairs." Isabelle said. Clary nodded and excitedly started gathering up her things as Simon gave her an encouraging thumbs up. Isabelle walked past Simon's desk as she headed out.
"Bye Simon," she leaned in close to him, "miss you already."
She held back laughter as she walked away while Simon stared at her with his jaw on the floor. He turned back to see Clary laughing at him. "Stop it! Toying with emotions is cruel."
"She's only playing, Simon. There could be worse women flirting with you." Clary smiled.
"Do…do you, wait…you think she was flirting just now?!" Simon squealed.
"That's what Isabelle does. Though if she ever heard your voice go as high as it just did then, I think it would stop before you could say 'puberty'. See ya later!" Clary sang as she rushed off.
Simon watched her go and smiled as he shook his head with exasperation. "Women'll kill me…"
…
Jace hated – HATED – the IT department.
Recently the whole department had been downgraded, meaning more people working on fewer floors. Every floor was packed with Jace's biggest fear (aside from ducks – never trust a duck); tech nerds.
Jace had offered to take over the trial from Robert and Maryse, but they had insisted on doing it themselves and that he had to oversee the installation of the new software. He just had to hope it would run smoothly so he could go back to doing something actually worthwhile.
Obviously, the IT department were the first floors to have the new system installed so they could test it; all seemed to be going well so work had begun throughout the building. Jace supposed it would be better for the firm to have a better archive system, but did he really need to do any overseeing? Wasn't the whole point of machines the fact that they can save humans from doing work?
The worst part was that Jace had to talk to the head of the IT department about the system and take on board any comments she had; Dot Robbins was…interesting. She seemed nice enough, but Jace was still reluctant to stay in her company for too long. One time she'd offered to read some tarot cards for him and he'd kept a considerable amount of distance between them ever since. This time, however, he had to brave his demons.
Dot had her own office at the end of the room, so Jace tentatively made his way inside and was relieved to see there weren't any tarot cards nearby. "Hey Dot."
"Ah, Jace. Maryse told me you were overseeing things today." Dot said happily. She was dressed in a million different colours and wouldn't have looked out of place on the set of Teletubbies.
"Correct. So, uh…how's it all going? Smoothly I hope?" Jace enquired.
"All seems to be running nicely here. I haven't tried the employee database yet, though." Dot explained.
"I didn't know that was getting an update." Jace said.
"It was just an extra part of the package; it just organises the information into sections instead of having to scroll through a huge chunk of text. Shall I test it out now?" Dot asked.
"Good idea." Jace smiled. (Anything to get him out of the IT department as soon as possible.)
"Okay, shall we look at my profile or yours?" Dot wondered.
Jace smirked. "Neither. Try Simon Lewis. I bet he has such a dorky picture."
"Simon…Lewis…" Dot said aloud as she typed. Quick as flash, a list of numbers and references appeared on screen, the left hand side of the display showing a picture of Simon flashing an awkward looking smile.
"Oh, that's even better than I'd hoped. Hang on." Jace chuckled, getting out his phone and taking a picture of the screen. "I might frame that. So how is everything updated?"
"There's an edit button in the top right corner of each profile and then you just follow the on-screen instructions. Simple stuff, really." Dot revealed.
"Can you get his academic details up? I wanna see how well he did at Harvard." Jace ordered.
"Sure. Here you go." Dot said, clicking on one section of Simon's profile and opening it out onto the whole screen. On it were a list of grades and score results.
Jace looked over the screen. "Damn, Lewis; he really is a smartass. Practically aced every single test; top of his class in one, two, three, four, fi-"
Jace stopped suddenly at one particular score. Dot looked at him, concerned. "Everything alright, Jace?"
"…Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Dot. Thanks for your help; I'm glad it's all working out. I just…I'm gonna check it's running okay in my office. See ya." Jace said and rushed out. The colour had left his face.
…
"Hook, line and sinker." Clary said happily as she returned to her desk a few hours later. Simon grinned at her as she took a seat back in her cubicle.
"Road trip went well, I take it?" He asked.
"It did. We managed to get four witnesses to agree to testify in court." Clary announced proudly.
"Well done you! You and your BFF make quite the team, then." Simon said.
"Stop saying 'BFF', Simon. And yeah, I suppose we do. It's nice to get a taste of what I'll hopefully be doing one day." Clary admitted.
"Hey, there's no 'hopefully' about it; you'll get there." Simon smiled.
"Uh oh. Look who's back…" Clary whispered as she looked over Simon's shoulder. He turned to see Alec approach Clary's cubicle.
"I just saw Isabelle; she wanted you to have this – said I'd bring it since I'm heading home while they install some software in my office. Something about some cases she'd appreciate you looking over if you get the time." Alec explained, giving Clary a USB stick.
"Oh, wow! Amazing! Uh, thanks." Clary said.
Alec looked at Simon. "Still working here against all the odds, I see?"
"Indeed I am. Enjoy your holiday? Where'd you go? I hear the Bahamas are lovely." Simon retaliated.
"I'm not the holiday kind of person. Sometimes you just need a break from certain people." Alec said spitefully before walking off.
"What is that guy's problem? He's got some issues." Simon shook his head.
"Just don't let him get to you; I can't believe that's Isabelle's brother. How is one sibling so lovely and then…I don't even have the words to describe Alec most of the time." Clary said.
The phone on Simon's desk rang and he was quick to answer it. "Hello? Okay, now? On my way. Thanks. Bye!" He hung up and got up from his desk. "Jace wants to see me."
"Aw, Jace misses his wife." Clary teased.
"Shut up." Simon laughed as he headed for the elevator.
…
Simon walked into Jace's office and carefully closed the door behind him. "What's up?"
Jace was faced away from Simon, looking out the window into the beautiful view of New York. "Sit down."
"Is this gonna take long? I still need to finish-"
"-Sit on a fucking chair." Jace spat, turning around and glaring at Simon with anger over his face like Simon had never seen on a human being before.
"Okay, okay…" Simon obeyed and sat down. "Did something happen with Alec again? He was a right jerk just now."
Jace let out a huge sigh, his body completely tensed up. "…No, nothing to do with Alec."
"Then what? You look kinda tense." Simon asked.
Jace said nothing, just slid a thin folder across the desk. Simon picked it up and looked inside to find a printed copy of his employee file. He winced. "Wow, that is the definition of an unflattering picture."
"Anything stand out to you?" Jace asked.
Simon looked over the document. "I'm guessing you're referring to the bit you've circled. Are you just super impressed with my grades?"
"You got an A+ in Benjamin Langstrom's class." Jace said, echoing the date from the file.
"…Well, yeah." Simon chuckled.
"…I went to a conference with Robert, I don't know, maybe 18 months ago. Langstrom was there; pretty sharp talking guy." Jace began.
"…He, uh…he certainly was."
"Robert told me all about him. He's got a hell of a reputation at Harvard, right? His class is known for its difficulty." Jace said.
"Hard work pays off, right?" Simon shrugged.
"Absolutely." Jace nodded with a smile. The smile faded quickly as he walked around the desk and leant against it, towering above Simon's head and looking down on him. "Langstrom is famous for having never given higher than a B- in his class. Tough critic, everyone says."
Simon's heart stopped.
"And yet, here it is clear as day; Simon Lewis, the great, almighty Simon Lewis, got an A+. Remarkable. Except that can't be possible, as I've made clear."
"…Jace…"
"Well, obviously someone made a mistake when they entered the grades into the system, right? I thought I'd better double check and everything so I called Harvard's admission office." Jace explained.
Simon was almost certain he was about to pass out; he'd gone numb all over. "You…you did?"
"I did. What do you think they told me, Simon?"
"Jace, look, I-"
"WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY TOLD ME? I want to hear you say it. SAY. IT. What did they tell me?"
Simon could hardly form a single word and was silent for a long time as Jace stared at him. "…That I didn't go to Harvard."
"Wow, you really are a genius. 'I'm sorry Mr Wayland, we don't have a record of a Simon Lewis – did you mean Simone Lewis'? 'Oh, you know what? That is who I meant. I'm glad everything checks out, thanks for your time!'." Jace relayed, his icy stare unmoving from Simon's eyes.
"You…you didn't tell them?" Simon almost whispered.
"No. But dear god, you have no idea just how much I wanted to tell them what an unbelievable, lying son of a bitch you are. I wondered why the hell you'd lie about what law school you went to. So what one did he go to? So I called all the local law schools since you've lived in New York all your life and made my excuses when every single one of them told me Simon Lewis had never so much as stepped foot in their buildings."
"I can explain…"
"Oh, you can? Really? So you do have a law degree and all of this was just a mistake?" Jace asked argumentatively.
"If you just let me-"
"-Cut the bullshit. Go on, tell me this was all a mistake. Please tell me there's been a huge mistake." Jace said, kneeling down to match Simon's eye level. "Go right ahead."
Simon held back the tears stinging the back of his eyes and took a moment. "…I'm sorry."
"Say it. Tell me to my face like a man, not that you're even close to being one."
"…I…I don't have a law degree."
Simon didn't even see Jace's fist move, but before he knew he was on the floor and could taste the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. Outside, Jocelyn got up from her desk but Jace gestured for her to sit back down.
"You piece of shit!" Jace screamed.
"I'm sorry! I'm SORRY!" Simon shouted, blood dripping down his chin and onto his shirt.
"You don't even get it…you have no idea what situation you've put me in. That's why you were only interviewing to be a paralegal, wasn't it?" Jace demanded.
"…This has been my dream for years, how could I just turn down an opportunity like this? If you'd done the background checks like any other employee…"
Jace punched Simon again. Simon had barely hit the floor when Jocelyn burst into the room. "WHAT IS GOING ON? THAT'S ENOUGH, JACE!"
"Jocelyn, please. Get out." Jace seethed.
"No way in hell!" Jocelyn shouted.
"Jocelyn, it's…okay." Simon mumbled as he got back up to his feet, more and more blood dripping onto the floor. "Just give us…a minute. It's…fine."
Jocelyn very, very reluctantly stepped back out.
"Do you not realise how lucky you are that I'm the one who found this out? What if Alec or Robert or Maryse typed your name into the system and saw what I saw? You'd be in jail faster than you could say 'fraud'. Do you not have the faintest idea what you've done? I put my trust and faith in you, and I never do that lightly! How dare you try and pin it all on me! This is YOUR fault, not mine! If this gets out you're finished and so am I!" Jace screamed furiously.
Simon sat back down onto a chair, taking off his jacket and using it to wipe the blood off his face. "I…I wouldn't let you take the fall. I'd, ow…I'd tell you them didn't know."
"Oh, how sweet of you. All is forgiven." Jace spat. "I swore to Robert and Maryse that you were squeaky clean, and they said if I was wrong about you I'd lose my job. So I can't even tell them because I'd be out the door right alongside you. Fucking fraud! How could you do this?"
"I couldn't afford law school, okay?! This was the next best thing, even if it was only a paralegal position! This was my dream!" Simon exclaimed.
"I don't give a shit about your dream! You're not qualified to be doing this fucking job! And even you quitting, me firing you or demoting you would raise eyebrows; people would wonder, research and it all comes out anyway! I know for sure Alec would! And Clary wouldn't let you go without a fight. How did you do this?" Jace demanded angrily.
"I…there was this guy from college. Crazy good with tech stuff…I paid him to hack into Harvard's database and add me in." Simon explained, shame pumping through his body.
"You fucking moron! You're in their database but not on file! What a fucking mess! I can't believe it…why did I have to overhear you and Jocelyn? Working in a top law firm and breaking the law while doing it…I need to wake up because this is a fucking nightmare!" Jace shouted.
"I…I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry I've done this."
"Shut up, Potter. You're not in the least bit sorry, you're sorry you got caught. It's just lucky you were caught by me. Now we're both in this mess." Jace sighed and sat down at his desk, slamming his fist on it so hard that a pot of pens toppled over.
Silence.
"…So…what happens now?" Simon asked eventually, barely able to breathe.
"…We keep covering our tracks, since that's the only choice we have if we want to have a career. We pray to god that no one finds out that you're a worthless piece of crap. I keep clean shirts in the cupboard over there in case I stay overnight; you're gonna get changed and cleaned up, you're gonna go home and you're gonna stay the fuck out of my way until I tell you otherwise. You have a problem only I can solve? Tough shit. Just…just get out of my sight." Jace said venomously, looking down and unable to look at Simon for more than a second.
"…What about Jocelyn?"
"You can't hide a thing from her. I'll have to tell her too but I swear she won't tell anyone; she's the person I trust the most. But it stops with her. Silence means security. No one else ever finds out. Ever."
"…I'm sorry, Jace."
"Oh, I don't care. Just fuck off."
It wasn't even the more than obvious anger in Jace's voice and body language that Simon hated himself for the most, it was the disappointment. He headed into the cupboard to find a clean shirt and wished the ground would swallow him up. By the time he'd gotten changed and cleaned up using the ensuite in Jace's office, Jace was gone.
He walked out and knew from the way Jocelyn looked at him, like a stranger, that she'd been told the truth. Words failed him, so he hurried to the elevator and out of the building, not even going back to get his coat and bags from his cubicle. He'd text Clary to tell her he'd gone home sick or something. He certainly felt sick; sick to his stomach with hatred for himself.
The whole cycle ride home was a blur; he'd even been tempted to take a sharp turn into the traffic and was still trying to work out why he hadn't gone through with it.
He was shaking all over by the time he got to his apartment door and unlocked it. The second he closed the door behind him, his legs gave way and he slid down the wall, staring into space. His vision, his mind…nothing was focused.
"Simon? Simon? What the-? Why's your face swollen? What's happened? SIMON?! Si?!" Jordan exclaimed, trying to shake Simon back to reality. Simon, however, just kept staring ahead; barely even part of the world around him anymore.
He just stared ahead, even though he was utterly terrified of the future in front of him.