Ten

Clary pushed the door to the Infirmary opened tentatively, trying not to spill any of the Holy water from the gigantic jug Alec had given her. Jace was standing on the other side of the room and didn't turn around when she came in.

"So," he said, "who's drawn the short straw this time?"

Clary took a deep breath, "Me."

Jace spun around and the expression on his face was almost comical, he looked so nonplussed. "Why you?" Clary tried not to get upset, 'why you?' sounded pretty close to 'I don't want you' as far as she was concerned. Jace was still waiting for an answer, Clary scowled at him, "I was nominated, no one else wanted to do it, apparently you're a gigantic pain in the arse, of course I already knew that."

He glared to her for a moment then flopped down on a bed, "Come here then, let's get this over with."

Clary stalled in shock as his words registered, Isabelle and Alec had made it sound like this was nearly impossible, she'd expected him to throw a tantrum at the very least, what she hadn't expected was for him to give in the second she walked through the door.

"O-okay." She stammered, she set the jug down on the bedside table then poured some of it into a glass. Jace glared at it for a moment as though it had personally offended him and then he grabbed it and drank it. They continued like that for a while, until Clary couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"I have to ask, you bit a vampire?"

The ghost of a smile touched Jace's lips, "He never saw it coming."

"Probably because it's a really terrible idea."

He shot a half-hearted glare in her direction, "No-way Clary, I still maintain that this is your fault, you have to be nice to me."

She tried to glare back but a smile broke through, "Oh do I now? If it weren't for me you wouldn't be a darkling right now you'd be dinner."

"Would not."

"Oh? Were you going to bite her back?" Clary laughed and Jace glared, which only made her laugh harder.

He didn't answer, Clary looked at him worriedly, his eyes were glassy and his skin flushed with fever, which meant the holy water had begun to do its job. He'd drank all of it by now which meant it was racing through his system, finding the vampire blood and purging it. Jace's eyes closed and Clary reached out to rest the back of her hand on his forehead, checking his temperature. She jerked it away immediately with a small yelp, "Poor baby, you're burning up." She crooned, only realising who she was talking to a second after the words left her lips. She waited for a derisive comment but it never came, his lips just curled slightly. He had nice lips, they looked very soft, stop being such a perv! She thought to herself sternly. She got up grabbed the jug and began to move away.

"Don't leave!" Clary looked around, Jace's eyes were open now and he was staring at her pleadingly. She smiled slightly, "I'm not, I'm just getting a cloth and some water, I need to get your temperature down."

Once she found the necessary items she traipsed her way back to Jace's bed. She set the jug down on the bedside table once again and after wetting the cloth applied it to Jace's forehead. He gave a slight moan and she grinned, "Better?" he nodded.

"Tell me something about yourself Clary." It came out as little more than a murmur but Clary had heard him. She studied the runes on his skin wondering what to say, after a moment she landed on something.

"My first ever rune was an Iratze."

Even with his eyes closed he managed to look confused, "Why?"

Clary smiled slightly at the memory, "I was eight and Jonathan and I were in Idris, remember that I said we were allowed to come and go? Well we went a few times to visit our Grandparents and later Aunt Amatis, mom never came though, too many memories. Anyway one day Jonathan and I were exploring Lake Lyn-"

"Always a bad idea." Jace interrupted.

"Exactly, I fell in, you know how poisonous that water is to shadowhunters, it was get the rune or die. It hurt like hell, I cried for hours, but overall it didn't do anything terrible to me, which is a miracle in itself since I was so young. After that our Grandparents and Amatis just portalled to Luke's farm to meet us, we haven't stepped foot in Idris since."

Jace's eye remained closed, and she wondered if he'd fallen asleep, she re-wet the cloth and applied it, once again, to his forehead, he spoke quietly, "Shouldn't you be wearing a nurses' uniform for this?"

Clary rolled her eyes and exclaimed in mock horror, "Oh by the Angel! I knew I forgot something! I can't believe I left my nurses' outfit at home!"

"I can't believe it either, still, there's always next time right?"

Clary laughed, "At least try to pretend this won't happen again!"

They continued like that for a while, light banter and stories. Clary stayed with Jace until his fever broke and he fell asleep.

She got up stiffly and tiptoed to the door. Once outside Clary realised she had no idea where her room was, luckily for her she'd only gone a few steps down the hall when she ran into Isabelle.

"I'm glad I found you! Do you know where I'm sleeping?"

"Oh! Umm… of course, this way." Isabelle turned and Clary fell into step beside the taller girl.

After a few moments of companionable silence Isabelle spoke, "So, how's Jace?"

"He's sleeping."

The other girl raised an eyebrow, "So you didn't have to strangle him then?"

"No, he was fine."

She grinned, "Clary, I'm his sister, you can complain about him to me."

Clary shook her head, "No really, he was fine."

Isabelle stared at her for a moment, "You're actually telling the truth aren't you? Last time I had to do it he threw the jug at me!"

The walked the rest of the way in silence but Clary could see Isabelle shooting her funny looks out of the corner of her eye.

After a while they stopped, "This is your room." Isabelle was still staring at her and it was making Clary really self-conscious. "Thanks, good night." She pushed the door open and stepped inside, too preoccupied by Isabelle's strange reaction to worry about conventional politeness. She looked around, it was a small bedroom furnished with dark wood and sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed was one of the duffle bags she'd bought from home, the other was presumably with Jonathan. She fell on it gratefully, pulling out a pair of pyjamas and changing quickly. It had been an exhaustingly long day and all she wanted to do was sleep. But then she caught sight of a small rectangular object in the pocket of her jeans, her phone. She pulled it out, it was off.

"Dammit." She cursed, pressing the power button, it came to life and she groaned, six missed calls from her mother, six! Well, she'd have to face Jocelyn eventually, so cringing slightly at the lecture that she was sure was incoming she called her mother back.

Jocelyn picked up on the second ring, "Clary! What's going on? I've been trying to call you, I told you I'd be calling every night!"

Clary sighed, "I'm sorry mom, my phone was off and I forgot! (which was true)"

"Alright honey, what did you do today?"

Clary was surprised by how easily her mother had backed down, Jonathan must have placated her when she called him, Clary owed him big time. "Nothing much. (less true)"

She cast around for something to say, "I had a tour of the Institute, (before you left this morning); I talked to Hodge, (for about ten minutes); and I helped out in the Infirmary, (After fighting a bunch of downworlders)."

"That's nice honey, I hope you're having fun! Your Aunt Amatis and you Grandparents wish you a happy birthday, do you want to talk to them?"

Clary groaned, "Can I talk to them tomorrow night? I'm really tired."

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you too, can you give my love to everyone else?"

"Of course, talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye mom."

"Bye Clary."

Clary hung up and dropped the phone onto her bedside table, then she climbed into the bed, it was warm and soft and incredibly comfortable, she was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

I've been writing gigantic Author's Notes that last couple times so I figured I'd give you a reprieve. Thank you all so much for your support! I love you guys!

XD

Disclaimer: I do not own this series. The Mortal Instruments series and all characters and events relating to it belong to Cassandra Clare.