"I hate this." Jace said for the tenth time.

They hadn't even gotten to the dentist yet. In fact, they had just left the hospital. Clary had to fight from laughing at him; apparently he really hated the dentist. This was unexpected.

"Wrong way." Clary said, catching him out when he indicated the wrong direction. She suspected he was trying to get 'lost' on the way and miss his appointment. "Jace, you do realize I've been to this oral surgeon before. I know where it is.

Clary could see his expression that clearly said 'dammit' run across his face. She put a hand to her mouth to cover her smile, masking the beginnings of a laugh with a cough

Jace quickly looked to her, then moved his gaze back to the road, "Ha, ha. Very funny"

She suddenly felt bad; she wasn't scared of the dentist herself, but she had had to help Simon through his fear of clowns at numerous birthday parties when they were younger. Not to mention she was absolutely terrified of heights

"It'll be fine Jace," She tried to comfort him, even if she felt odd doing so, "I know of loads of people who have got their wisdom teeth out. They came out fine, they said they actually kind of enjoyed it." That was a lie. She knew of one person who had gotten their wisdom teeth out and they said they had never been in so much pain afterward. And it was their friends that had been there that found it funny and enjoyed it. But a little white lie wasn't going to hurt anybody. And he seemed to take in some sort of comfort in her words. "So tell me where you live." She asked, changing the subject.

"Jace looked at her and smirked, an eyebrow raised, "But we haven't even gone on our first date yet." He joked. Clary rolled her eyes and scoffed at his predictable response, she should have expected it. She sometimes didn't believe there was a serious bone in his body.

"You don't have to tell me." She said tactically, "I could leave you at the dentist, wait for Izzy to come. Or -"

"Okay, okay." Jace said, holding a hand up to silence her. "No way am I staying in that hell hole any longer than I have to." Clary grinned triumphantly, "You go back to the hospital, get on the main road, turn right at the McDonalds. It's the second lane on the left, the first house."

"She nodded; she knew where it was. "And on the left, we have the dentist." She pointed when she noticed Jace was about to drive straight past it. Jace sent her a look of betrayal as he pulled in, Clary rolled her eyes at him.

The waiting room was literally Purgatory; the space between heaven and hell. Hell being the little sterile white room hidden behind the teasingly innocent looking door. Heaven being anywhere else.

"Jace's legs bobbed up and down impatiently as he sat in one of the little squeaky seats. Clary was at the desk, signing forms that said she would take him home instead of his legal guardians. Maryse had faxed the rest of the consent forms needed for his operation; he was all ready to go. He just had to wait for the actual surgeon to be ready, the inconsiderate asshole. Making him wait in the stupid waiting room, letting his thoughts carry him away. He just wanted to get it over and done with.

"He spotted a group of dentists in their scrubs standing in the corridor a little way off. They all started to laugh. He bet one of them was telling a story of how they accidently stabbed some guys gums with a shard of metal, telling him the bleeding was because he didn't floss enough.

"They're plotting something."

He hadn't realized he'd said that out loud, or that Clary had just sat down next to him until she started laughing.

"Lightwood?" Someone called. The pair looked up to see another dentist clad in a white coat open the door and peer out.

Clary had to elbow Jace in the arm to get him to stand up. He turned to her, "You coming?" He hoped it was asked casually, but he knew she could see he wanted her to come.

She nodded, "I'm not sure if I'm aloud to but we can ask."

Jace walked to the blue-masked man with Clary right behind him. Did they even have mouths?

"Can she come in?" He asked, nodding to Clary.

"Sorry, she can't-" The dentist paused when he saw the look Jace bet Clary was giving him. But when he turned to look at her, she changed her expression to a neutral one. "Well, she can stay until we actually have to start the operation."

Jace nodded curtly and walked into the room.

He shuddered, the smell of latex and disinfectant instantly igniting unease in his stomach.

He ignored it and sat down tentatively on the blue, plastic chair, feeling extremely out of his comfort zone. His eyes wondered over the display of pointy metal demon tools and he instantly received a wave of pain through his jaw.

A small TV was attached to the wall in the corner of the room, playing some kid show. Ha ha, as if the Teletubbies could ever make hell enjoyable.

"Not a fan of the dentist, huh son?"

When Jace didn't answer, Clary stepped in, "Not exactly."

Well that was an understatement. Of the largest magnitude.

The Doctor chuckled, "Not to worry, not many people do. I don't know how we make friends." He joked and Clary laughed politely. Jace, however, didn't find this funny. He knew why: they were sadists. "There's nothing to worry about, I assure. I've done this operation plenty of times, and it rarely goes wrong."

Jace did a double take to the doctor. Rarely? So it did go wrong. That's it. He was done. He started to stand, ready to bolt, but he felt a hand push him back down.

Clary gave him a stern, yet stern, look. A no-nonsense kind of attitude. It reminded him of Isabelle, or Maryse.

"Why don't you lie down, son?"

He glared heatedly at the doctor but moved to lie down in the cold chair, watching the man warily. Once he was in position, he looked down at himself, his feet pointing up at the end of the chair. He was sure this image was how most of his nightmares started. He closed his eyes and gripped the arm rests tightly.

He felt the petite nurse/assistant dentist person wrap a napkin around his neck and Jace thought of what he was going to leave in his will.

He looked up to see Clary trying to hold in laughter. He could imagine he looked ridiculous. It actually made him feel better. He gave her a threatening look, but smiled in amusement too. This finally broke through her thin barrier and she started to laugh. He was glad she had come with him – it made him feel more at ease.

He was so distracted by Clary that he hardly noticed the nurse - she said her name was Kate - give him a shot in the arm and slip an IV needle into his hand.

"You might feel sleepy in a moment, but you don't have to go to sleep if you don't want." The dentist said from across the room, slapping a pair of latex gloves on his hands.

As he said it, Jace began to feel the affects of the drugs kick in. He felt lightheaded. When did he get so tired?

"Sorry Miss but you're going to have to leave. We'll call you back in when we're finished."

Jace felt like he should be panicking, but he couldn't bring himself to feel stressed. In fact, he felt the complete opposite of stressed. He was sad as he saw the flash of red vanish behind the door though. He was going to say so when his eyes started drooping.

Clary hated waiting rooms. She had experiences in them she never wished to revisit.

There was the time Simon had broken his arm when he fell out of a tree. They had spent hours in one, waiting for someone to see him. She remembered hating seeing him in pain for so long. They were only young at the time, maybe five years old. But Clary had insisted on waiting with him, even if she couldn't go in to see the doctor with him.

The worst was definitely the night her mother died. Most of it was a blur, but she did remember the hours of waiting more than anything.

She had been admitted to the hospital herself, smoke inhalation and a deep gash on her arm. But there wasn't anyway she was staying in her hospital bed when a nurse had woken her up in the middle of the night to tell her that her mother had coded and was being moved to the CICU. They wouldn't let her leave her bed. But the minute she was alone, she had taken off all the electrodes, pulled the IV needle out of her little hand, slipping out of the hospital gown and into her own clothes and left the room covertly. She followed the signs to the CICU, weaving down corridors and going up elevators – hiding from doctors and nurses as she went.

When she finally got to the CICU, she asked the lady at the desk if she knew where her mother was. She had told her she couldn't see her at that moment.

So Clary had climbed onto a seat in one of the large chairs in the empty waiting room, her legs dangling over the edge.

She waited an eternity. It was only when she could see the sun beginning to rise did she curl up into the chair and start to cry silently, falling asleep in a tight ball.

Looking back now, she figured her own nurses must've found her. It wouldn't have been very hard, as soon as they realized she was gone, to guess where she was. They must've seen her asleep in the chair and just let her be.

It had been lunch time when she was finally shaken awake, a friendly looking doctor looming above her, she had tears in her eyes. She remembered that that had surprised Clary, all the doctors she had met had been stony faced and not emotionally attached. But this one must've taken to Clary – taking her own time out to comfort her through the first few hours of being told her mother had died, while her father was nowhere to be seen.

"Morgernstern?" The dentist from earlier called, poking his head through the door. About time, Clary thought. Jace had been in there for three quarters of an hour. She had never had her own wisdom teeth out so she didn't know how long it took. Was that normal? She had worried about him being in there on his own, but considering how zoned out the drugs looked like they were making him, she felt a little better.

She quickly got out of her seat and walked to the door, opening it slowly.

"Clarrryyy!"

Isabelle opened the door to her house, holding it for Simon. He hadn't said anything, but she knew his head was hurting. But, despite everything, she was still nervous.

What would Simon think of her house? She knew it was big, but would he think of her as some snobby rich girl? What would he think of her family? He had met her mom, Jace, Max. But what if her parents had a fight? Would he want to leave?

She had never been so nervous bringing someone into her house. Was it because he would be staying here for a while? Well she hoped he was a while at least.

She watched him carefully as he stepped through the door, taking her house in.

"Whoa." He gasped, spinning round.

The house was all on one floor and separated into three sections; in the right section there was a big room that led off to Izzy's, Jace's, Alec's, Max's rooms and one spare one. Then in the centre of the house was the kitchen – a lot more modern looking than the rest of the house. Then there was a snug at the end of the room, with two massive sofa's that went round two corners, facing a large TV and a fireplace. The wall was one large window that looked over the back garden. Then on the left – the third section - was Maryse and Roberts rooms, another spare room and a library.

The library was Isabelle's favorite part. It was the oldest part of the house, built in the late 1700's. The walls were covered head to tail in hundreds of books. The room itself was huge, made almost entirely in wood. There was an old looking desk at the end of the room and then a few sofa's scattered round – one of which had a permanent indentation of Jace's butt; he had worn it down so much. He was always in here, especially when his parents had first died. He would be in here for days, sitting in the same place on the same sofa. She wouldn't have been surprised if Jace had read every book in the whole damn library.

Simon seemed to like the room best too – his expression saying as much when Isabelle toured him round the house.

"And this is your room." She pointed to the guest room in-between her and Jace's rooms. He smiled his thanks to her and walked in, his bag already in there from when his mom had come to drop it off earlier.

"Are you feeling okay?" Isabelle asked, when he came out of the room. He looked like he was in pain.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He said. Isabelle cocked a hip disbelievingly and he hurried to rephrase, "I'm just a bit sore from moving around after being in bed so long I guess." He said.

Isabelle thought for a moment, he looked tired too. She didn't want to wear him out. Hell, she was tired herself, "We could watch a film?"

Simon nodded and followed her to the snug. He went to the sofa and made himself comfortable while Isabelle went round dimming the lights. Looking out the window, you could see the dim light of dusk.

Isabelle sat down next to him, putting a packet of Dorrito's between them.

"So, what do you want to watch?" Simon asked.

Isabelle smiled at him, "We have a game in our family. We turn on the TV and type in a random number, then we have to watch whatever channel we've typed in has to offer."

"It's a dangerous game." Simon raised a brow challengingly. He grinned and Isabelle used the remote to turn on the television.

"Pick a number." She said, reaching behind them to grab a blanket, throwing it over both of them.

She never thought Simon Lewis would be in her house. How long had she known him for? Years. Yet, they never had held a proper conversation with each other before – even if their school was really small. They were just on complete opposite ends of the schools social layout. Different friends, participating in different activities.

She had always thought he was cute, in a sort of nerdy way. Plus, she had been out with enough jerks in her life to know that Simon was emdefinitely/em not one of them.

Talking with him in the hospital had been the best conversations she'd had in a while. None of the people she spoke to actually cared for what she had to say about herself.

She had started to notice that the crowd she hung out with at school were all pretty shallow for a while now, maybe a couple months. They only cared about how much money their parents had, or what clothes they wore, how their hair looked. Sure Isabelle liked to look good, but she wouldn't describe herself as 'judging' – and that was the definition of her clique.

Since she'd noticed, she had often found herself seeing people like Simon and Clary together around school and feeling jealous. They would be friends for ever. What did she have? Not anyone she would keep in touch with when she left high school that's for sure.

She had mentioned to Kaelie the day before at school that Simon was staying at her house. She looked like she had never been so disgusted in her life, and then she had started laughing, saying how she felt for Izzy, telling her good luck. Isabelle had suddenly got all defensive, her anger skyrocketing in two seconds flat.

She moved towards him on the couch slightly, kicking off her shoes and sweeping her legs up to tuck her knees to her body.

"Hmm…" Simon thought, "Forty seven."

"Forty seven it is." She grinned, dialing in the number on the remote.

They both held a breath as the screen went blank briefly, changing channels.

Scooby Doo. They both laughed.

"I loved this one!" Simon exclaimed enthusiastically. Isabelle laughed harder, loving his enthusiasm.

It was Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. She remembered how this one used to terrify her when she was younger. She felt a strong wave of nostalgia surge through her. And she couldn't think of a movie she wanted to watch more.

She grinned to herself and, without thinking, shuffled so she was leaning against Simon. She winced.

She felt Simon take in a breath in surprise. Then he hesitantly lowered his arm that was resting on the back of the sofa delicately on to her shoulders, not actually putting weight on them but hovering awkwardly over. She smiled at how hesitant he was, he was so awkward – it was adorable. And so much different to any other guys she had been with before.

She reached to pull his arm down onto her shoulders properly, reassuring him it was okay.

She could feel his heart race where her body was touching him and he was tense. She smiled to herself once more when his muscles started to relax, then she snuggled in to watch the movie.

This was the best thing ever. Clary didn't think she had laughed so hard since the time she had taken all the books out of Simon's rucksack and filled it with woman's lingerie, leaving the zip open and accidently tripping him up so they all fell out in their English class.

When Jace had finally got into the passenger side of the car, Clary looked at the car's dials.

"This car is so confusing. Why'd you get such a stupid car?" Clary huffed, trying to work out where everything was.

Jace took a sharp inhale of breath, leaning forward to hug the dashboard he stroked it. "She didn't mean it baby, she just doesn't understand you."

"Okay, I think I can work out enough to not get us run over." She said, finally getting the car going and driving out the hospital.

Jace was pressed up against the window. "Can we go back and see them?

"Who? The dentists?" Clary asked, indicating left and turning the car sharply.

Jace nodded, "I'm gunna miss them."

"But you hate the dentist."

Jace looked at her, "No." He looked back to the window and muttered, "I hate ducks though… so much. God I hate ducks."

It took a moment to realize Jace was crying. Clary kept glancing between him and the road. This was priceless.

"Are you… are you crying Jace?"

"No. My eyes are leaking… I need… need a plumber." He said wiping at his eyes and sniffing, "I really am going to miss them though. I mean, I only met like one person but I bet they're all really nice."

Now he was properly crying. Clary tried her absolute hardest not to try and laugh. What came out as a result was an odd strangled noise. Jace turned his head to her, "You're going to miss them too?"

Clary clamped her eyes shut, trying again not to laugh. She managed to nod her head.

"Aw, Clary, you don't have to cry. I don't like it when you're upset." He said, rubbing her arm in what she thought was meant to be a comforting gesture, "When the car stops, I'll give you a big mama bear hug."

That was it. Clary burst. Tears were rolling down her eyes and her stomach hurt from how much she was laughing.

Jace obviously mistook this as a clear emotional breakdown and that Clary was sobbing her eyes out. His sloppy stroking of her arm intensified into huge movements that only made Clary laugh harder. God it hurt. She couldn't breathe. She had to pull over.

As soon as the car stopped Jace had a firm grip on her shoulders, "Clary. Look at me."

Clary turned to face him, her head still hung low while her body wracked it silent laughs. "Look at me." He said, holding her chin to lift her head up.

She managed to pry her eyes open and held her breath.

"Clary, you aren't alone in this. Whatever it is – we'll… we'll work it out together. I promise. You're my queen remember?"

Then he pulled her into a hug and Clary's body continued to convulse in silent laughter. He squeezed harder and she had to wipe her eye's while her chin rested on her shoulder. Water was completely blurring her vision and she could feel Jace's shirt growing wet.

A few minutes later she was beginning to calm down, Jace's hand rubbing her back, when suddenly he lurched forward to look out Clary's window. He was still holding her when he moved, so she ended up pinned underneath him.

"Oh my gosh. Look at the – look at the… Look at the things floating on the water."

"They're… boat's… Jace." Clary tried to get out from being crushed beneath him.

"But how… How do they... what..? Wait. They're boats?" He asked. "So what… you're telling me all that blue stuff around it is -"

"Water."

"That's the water?" He asked, sounding absolutely amazed. "What does it do?"

"You can… drink it?" Clary said, unsure how to reply.

"I want some."

"How about I drive you home and I'll get you a glass of water?" Clary tried to reason.

Jace sat up abruptly, much to Clary's relief. "Really?" Jace asked, "You'd do that for me?"

Clary nodded, "How about we go home huh?"

Jace nodded in agreement and Clary got the car started again, driving down a few streets and then turning right at the McDonalds.

Jace pointed at it through the glass, his head following it as it went. "McFlurf." He muttered sadly and sank back into his chair, a couple of tears falling down his cheeks.

Clary giggled and turned into the driveway of his house.

"Whoa. This is your house?" She asked.

Jace looked through the windscreen. "Yup." He said, popping the 'p'.

Clary turned off the ignition and pulled out the keys, opening the door. She quickly hurried round to Jace's side when he opened the door and fell out. She found him lying on his back and laughing up at the sky.

"Come on Jace, let's get you inside."

She huffed as she wrapped her arms around Jace and tried to lift him to his feet. She looped one of his arms round her shoulders and held tightly to his waist.

He towered over her and it was the most awkward hobble Clary had to do, supporting all of his weight, to get to the front door.

Isabelle opened it the moment the got to the doorstep and collapsed to the floor, howling with laughter.

Jace bent down to whisper loudly into Clary's ear, "Someone's lost it."