Simon was startled out of his reading by the shrill ring of his cell phone. Had it been a few months earlier, he would have expected the call to be from Clary. But now he realized that it was nearing four thirty in the morning and that Clary knew he was rarely able to easily leave the Dumort. His next thought was that it was Isabelle or even potentially Magnus or Alec. They could have been on a patrol; they could have had some sort of emergency. But Simon knew he was likely the last person they would ask for help. After all, he wasn't exactly accustomed to his vampire senses and strengths enough to do anything other than watch other, more experience people do the work.

Looking down at his phone, Simon was still surprised to see Raphael's name on the screen, even though he had ruled out every other viable option. At first, Simon considered declining the call. Then he thought much better of that idea. Better to be yelled at over the phone than to be yelled at overtime in person. Simon hit the answer button and brought the phone to his ear. "Hello? Raphael?" he said, and anxiously waited, entirely sure that he had done something terribly wrong.

"Simon? I, um, I'm afraid I need to ask you for a favor." Simon took the phone away from his ear and looked at it in confusion. Was Raphael prank calling him? That seemed the only logical explanation to Simon because he knew there was absolutely no way that Raphael had just asked him for help in any capacity. "Simon? I don't have time for this. Say 'yes' if you are still there."

Simon shook his head and finally answered. "Yes, Raphael, I'm here. Where are you?" Simon could hear fairly strange noises coming from the other end of the phone, but he had no idea what was going on. He hoped that Raphael didn't want him to do anything particularly awful. Simon was the "newbie," so he couldn't possibly want Simon to do anything out of the ordinary.

"I need you to swear to me that you will not utter a word of this to anyone at the Dumort. If you agree to this, do not say anything. I do not have time for an excess of words." When Simon remained silent, Raphael continued, his tone hinted with something that Simon couldn't pin down. "I, well, I'm currently in jail, and I need you to get some of my money and come bail me out." Simon looked at the phone once more, so confused as to what was going on.

"You're in….mundane jail? Correct?" Simon attempted to clarify. What could Raphael possibly have done to land himself in mundane jail? Simon doubted that Raphael had been put into jail based on the fact that he was extremely annoying. It was then that Simon realized Raphael was embarrassed, and he forced himself to keep from bringing that up.

The phone was silent for a few moments, then Raphael's strained voice spoke up again. "That is correct, Simon. Now I need you to go get the money and come get me. Please prove to me that you are not as useless as I think you are." Simon resisted the urge to look at the phone once more; he was pretty sure it was painful for Raphael to say the word 'please.'

That thought combined with the thought of what Raphael could have possibly done to end up in jail caused Simon to start to laugh. "You're in jail, and you used your one phone call to call me?" Simon couldn't keep himself from laughing any longer. "I think hell is currently freezing over," he said through his laughter.

It was as though Simon could hear Raphael wanting to strangle him. "What exactly did you do, Raphael? How on earth did such an important vampire land himself in mundane jail?" Even as he said it, Simon was going to find the money Raphael was talking about. Part of his "training" had been teaching him about the whereabouts of everything he could possibly need in the hotel.

"Dios, Lewis, I swear if you do not just get down here I will personally murder you." Simon could tell that Raphael was restraining himself as much as possible, only serving to further amuse him. For a few moments, Simon wondered why Raphael hadn't called Magnus or someone he was actually semi close to.

"Alright, alright, Raphael. But if I do this for you, you're going to owe me something." Walking out of the Dumort, Simon tried to keep himself from laughing once more, knowing that Raphael was fairly close to strangling him once he got there.

As Simon found himself beginning to smile, he heard Raphael's decisive and somewhat anxious voice coming back at him once more. "For the love of God, I will do whatever you ask of me. Just get here quickly because you will have a lot of explaining to do if the sun comes up while I am here." With that, Raphael ended the call, and Simon found himself laughing harder than he had in weeks.

The ordeal at the police station was cleared up a lot faster than Simon had thought it would have been, and as Simon risked a sideways glance at Raphael as they were walking down the street toward the Dumort, he couldn't help but smiling. "What on earth do you want now?" Raphael asked, only causing Simon's smile to widen.

"I was just thinking about that favor you owe me," Simon responded, loving the look of surprise that immediately sprang across Raphael's face. When Simon had told Raphael that he would owe him, he hadn't really had any idea of what he really wanted. Now, walking back to the Dumort, Simon knew the one thing he wanted that would annoy Raphael the most. "You've got yourself a date for tomorrow night. Be ready by one."

This time, the look on Raphael's face was even more amusing. Raphael stopped dead in his tracks, looking at Simon as though he had just said he was no longer a vampire. "Don't give me that look," Simon said, his amusement only growing. "You said you would do anything for me if I just came and bailed you out. That's what I want." Raphael angrily brushed past him, but that didn't discourage Simon at all. "Look, Raphael, it's just one date. I know you don't have that much patience, but even you can put up with me for one night."

Raphael stopped once more and turned back to Simon, holding up a hand as he did so. "Stop talking. Now," he said, but Simon could tell that his heart wasn't really into the anger any longer. "You are so annoying," Raphael continued, almost as though he was talking to himself. "And the most annoying thing is that I actually want to spend every irritating minute of tomorrow with you."

Now it was Simon's turn to look at Raphael with an utterly surprised expression. This surprise, however, quickly turned into one far too enormous smile as Simon realized that Raphael had been serious in saying this. Raphael started to walk away, but he quickly turned back once more. "Do not ever repeat what I just said to anyone. Ever. Or I will murder you."

Simon followed as Raphael finally began walking once more, breathlessly laughing despite himself. "If you murder me, they'll put you back in jail, Santiago." Simon could practically feel Raphael rolling his eyes without so much as a sideways glance over at him.

"Do not underestimate me, Lewis," Raphael said, his own amusement finally showing in his voice. "I know many different ways to cover up a murder, especially so that the mundanes never know of it." Simon wanted to risk another glance over, but he didn't need to do so to know that Raphael was smiling.

"Tell me this, though," Simon said, pushing his luck for the night. "What on earth did you do to get thrown into jail?" He felt Raphael stiffen up beside of him, and he had the feeling that he would likely never know exactly what had happened.

"I'll tell you what, Simon," Raphael responded, his voice becoming tight and controlled once more. "Don't entirely screw up our date, and I'll tell you what caused this unfortunate event." With that, Raphael fell silent, making Simon want to swear. He was entirely more likely to screw up their date than he was likely to keep from screwing it up.

Instead of responding to what Raphael had said, Simon decided to take a different route. "I don't think it was that unfortunate really. I mean, who knows, we may be together forever because of it." Simon knew there was no way of hiding his smile from Raphael, so he didn't even attempt to do so.

Raphael chuckled softly, allowing Simon to relax ever so slightly. "Do not scare me like that, Lewis. Say too many terrifying things like that and I may stand you up." Before Simon could say anything else, they walked up to the front door of the Dumort, and Simon knew it was time for Raphael to put up his leader persona again.

Instead of attempting to say respond to Raphael, Simon simply reached over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Dress to impress," he whispered before going through the door to the hotel and leaving Raphael outside. Had Simon turned around, he would have had the joy of watching Raphael try to compose himself once more as his expression unwillingly turned to that of someone who might have just discovered that they'd won the lottery.

I hope you all (it took everything I had to keep from typing "y'all" just then) enjoyed this because I wanted to try to write something funnier for this chapter! Let me know your thoughts! (I seem to have left my list of letters that I had planned in my dorm room so I may or may not switch to writing on a different story because I have no idea what I had planned for K!)