XXX ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO CASSANDRA CLARE XXX

"She's not listening to you," Clary whispered to Isabelle as she glanced at Tessa.

They were curled in armchairs in Luke's bookstore, sipping on coffee and entertaining themselves with whatever they could find.

"I'm sorry, Isabelle," Tessa said as she smiled breezily. "You were saying?"

Izzy looked at her. Tessa looked pale, with dark circles under her bright eyes. She'd been quiet the entire drive and hadn't contributed much to the conversation since they'd arrived and her gaze was empty and sad. "That you are a miracle worker."

"How do you figure?"

"Jace came home several days ago and he just held my mom in a hug for about thirty minutes. My mother isn't the maternal type and Jace isn't really a hugger. He just started babbling about being an ass and an ingrate and that he'd be better from now on. I think she thinks he's possessed."

Clary's face fell. She bit her lip and Tessa wondered if the tears were going to start flowing soon.

"Has he apologized to you?" Tessa asked the tiny red head.

Clary just shook her head.

Tessa reached over, took Clary's clenched fist in her hands and brushed her lips across Clary's knuckles. "Give him time. He's working his way up to you. The hardest apologies are the ones that mean the most to you."

"It's not that he hasn't apologized to me," Clary squeaked out. "It's that he's the one that deserves an apology. I said horrible things to him."

Izzy sat back. "I'd still just let him sweat it. Just in case."

When Clary looked to Tessa, all she got was a sigh. "Consider it even."

"That's all you have to—" She stopped mid-sentence and dug into her pocket for her phone. "It's Jace."

"Answer it," Tessa chuckled as Clary jumped to her feet and disappeared outside.

"I knew he couldn't hold out my longer," Izzy humphed.

"And she couldn't hold a grudge against him if she tried," Tessa pointed out.

"Have you ever tried? It's hard." Izzy spoke from experience, although there was some bitterness in her tone. "Of course, when I do something wrong, he can't let it go til he's gloated about it for at least a month."

The bell at door rang and Clary came back in looking flushed. It was hard to tell if it was due to the cold wind or whatever Jace had said. "He asked to see me."

"And you are going, correct?" Tessa asked.

"I…yes."

"Oh, go on, then. Leave us single gals here by ourselves. We don't mind," Izzy mumbled as she threw Clary her coat and waved her away. "I'm going to start reading romance novels. The ones with Fabio on the cover. He's never disappointed a woman before."

"See ya," Clary gasped as she ran back out the door.

"I suppose I could treat you to lunch and you can tell me how your week has been?" Tessa asked turning towards Isabelle. "Who is Fabio?"

"Today, he's a pirate," Izzy giggled. "Let me pay Luke."

Tessa pulled on her coat as Izzy dropped ten dollars by the cash register. Luke, who could be heard but not seen in the back room, shouted out, "Bye girls!".

Out in the cold, Tessa tightened her scarf and watched as with a flourish, Izzy tied her coat. "Where are we going?"

"What's that place with the lower class jinn who bartends?"

Izzy frowned. "I think they closed it two months ago."

"Oh. Did some one kill someone?"

"You could say that. They started selling human meat."

"The Clave does frown at that," Tessa muttered. "The diner by Magnus'?"

Izzy nodded. They walked in step with each other, watching the people who passed them by. They were stared at, Izzy couldn't tell if it was because of how she looked or the way Tessa carried herself.

"Is something bothering you?" Izzy asked quietly after a few minutes.

"I should be asking you that question. I'm not the one buying romance novels."

Izzy just shrugged. "They can't leave you."

"Has Simon left then?" It was with great surprise that Tessa watched Izzy link arms with her and leaned her head against her shoulder.

"Not yet."

Tessa's heart ached for Isabelle. "I'm sorry."

"He has a foot out the door at all times, Tess," Izzy whispered and Tessa tensed. "It's like he's waiting for that opportune moment when my heart is the most breakable for him to leave."

Tessa tightened her grip on Isabelle's arm. "Your Simon doesn't strike me as the kind of man who would intentionally hurt you."

"He's not a man, he's a boy. A vampire boy. An immortal."

There was nothing she could say to that. Nothing that would make Izzy feel better. "I was in love with a boy with a death wish and one with a deadly sickness."

Isabelle froze and Tessa nearly fell forward. "By the Angel."

"I can imagine what Simon is thinking, Isabelle. The dread that every immortal feels when they realize that the person they love unconditionally won't age and pass and we can't follow them like nature intended. I watched the love of my age gracefully, mature, and develop new interests. I watched him stare at his image for hours when he realized he had lines on his face. The first time he had back aches from sleeping wrong, he whined for days."

Tessa let the words spill from her lips, her heart already weeping. "I am blessed in a way Simon isn't. I can change my appearance and I did. I matched every gray hair and laugh line and liver spot I could, just so we could look at each other and tell ourselves we were together to the end. But in the end, Izzy, I was still young and he was dead."

They stood in the middle of the sidewalk, in the blistering cold. Their breaths made clouds in front of their faces. "Camille handles it by surrounding herself with other immortals. Her human pets will live only as long as she lets them. Magnus loves them and leaves them, your brother being an exception for being the love of his life. I can't help myself, I have their things in my apartment. Things that they loved or that still smell like them. I can't let go of them. Sometimes I want to and some times I don't."

"So what do you do?" Izzy croaked.

"You pray. That if you ever do die, you actually go to Heaven and you will see them again the after life. It's the only thing you can do. Life is not fair, Isabelle."

X

"I—I—I…" Jace took a deep breath.

Clary watched as he paced.

It astounded her how different he already looked after his conversation with Tessa. He looked…healthier. Like he was actually eating and sleeping. Like he knew all the evils in the world weren't his fault.

"I love you." The words were carefully pronounced, enunciated down to each letter. He left no room for mistake or doubt.

Clary looked at those leonine eyes. At the brightest and the youth that she had never seen in Jace before. She'd thought he was beautiful before, but now…

"Clary? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please—"

She threw her arms around him. Held him as close as she could. As tight as she could. She pressed her face to his chest, listening to his heart beat and made a silent vow never to let go of him.

Never again.

"Don't stop saving me," he begged. "I've already lost it all."

He kept tightening his grip on her, like she was going to slip through his fingers. She couldn't think of enough words, or the right words, to him that she'd been more wrong than he'd been. That she was willing and ready to spend the rest of his life with her.

"I'm going to make it better, Clary. Tessa's going to help me. She's going to tell me about my family. I'm going to know my family, Clary. I'll forget all about Valentine. I promise you."

She didn't want to cry in front of him, at the desperation in his voice. His childhood, under Valentine, still held memories that Jace cherished. Memories than in ways defined the man she loved.

"I love you," she whispered, when she couldn't think of any other words that would sooth his hurt.

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I'm so sorry it took this long. My computer died. Completely. I lost all my files, including this story and a brand new I was writing for Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy I had to copy and paste all the previous chapter from website. It's horrible. I waited this long hoping the Geek squad people would be able to bring my stories back but they didn't. Please review. I'd really appreciate it.