Hi guys! Sorry this is a little later than usual. I've been up to my eyeballs in work all weekend so I didn't get much time to write. Plus, trying to get some work done is that much harder when you have the neighbours from hell blasting (terrible) music at all times of the night.

Yeah, so that's one of the main things I wanted to update you on. I haven't met the guys who just moved in below us, but it's safe to say we aren't on great terms already. They've been here all of two weeks and yet they've had a ton of parties and this weekend they took it a step further and removed their smoke alarm so that all of their friends could smoke inside and stink up the entire house, whilst forgetting that our smoke alarm was very much intact and could easily have been set off and gaah...we've been incredibly pissed off with them. It got to the point where one of my flatmates had to go downstairs and tell them to shut up because it was 6am and their party was still going on. So yes, I'd have the Herondales over them any day. We retaliated by deciding to do all of our laundry really early because our washing machine makes quite the racket and blaring System Of A Down. That should cure their hangover. Blegh. In other news, our neighbours from two floors down (i.e. our equivalent of Alec and Magnus) have just moved out too - which is really sad because they were the first people we met when we moved in-, so new people are living there now as well. I sincerely hope they're better.

But yes anyway, on with the story. For those of you who have read BotB, you might quite like this chapter ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own TMI, TID or any of their characters, but I do have awful neighbours.

A Tale Of Two…

12. Morgensterns

31st January [Part Two]

An hour after the fire alarm had initially gone off, Tessa found herself sitting across the dining table from Will, Jace and Clary, all four of them holding steaming mugs of tea. Once Hodge had left the building and the offending microwave – or whatever remained of it – was removed, Alec and Magnus had returned to their flat, but the Herondales found that part of their kitchen had been cordoned off and the musty smoke had settled over the entire room.

After opening all of the windows to let some of the odour out, she resignedly invited the boys to spend the rest of the evening in their flat on the condition that they'd clear up the water from the sprinklers. Luckily, her uncle had only installed sprinklers in the hallway and kitchen, so the majority of their belongings had been spared a drenching. Both areas had floorboards instead of carpet and the dining table was wooden, so it hadn't taken Will and Jace too long to mop everything up. It was only the new sofa they'd just moved into the kitchen that had suffered, but she'd taken off the cover and was sure that after a good day or two of airing they could use it again.

The central heating did well to take most of the chill out of their bones, but she made them all some tea and handed them blankets anyway, her mothering instincts kicking in despite her attempts to stay angry at them.

Will sat wrapped up in a Winnie The Pooh one now, but if he had any snarky comments to make about it, he hadn't mentioned them to Tessa. He was learning, it seemed.

Thankfully, he also hadn't mentioned what had transpired earlier between them and Hodge. In all honesty, Tessa had no good reason as to why she'd taken the fall for him. She knew that if her uncle had suspected Will, it probably wouldn't have boded well for either of the boys and they might have had their contract cut short, but what did that matter to her? Shouldering the blame had no direct benefits for her whatsoever, unless she considered living next to the Herondales as a benefit.

Tessa shuddered.

No, it must have been just a spur-of-the-moment altruistic streak that had risen out of her. That was all. She'd give it no more thought than that.

"So," Jace set his mug down. "Anyone for a game of cards?"

"No!" Tessa shook her head, thinking back to the way she'd gambled with Nigel. "Not cards."

"Yeah," Will grinned, taking another sip of his tea. "You wouldn't want to go up against Tessa in cards. She'd slay you."

"Really?" Clary frowned at her. "I thought you didn't play cards, Tessa?"

That was another problem she had to deal with. Her own flatmate. Clary was looking far too deep into whatever had gone on between her and Will today – she'd noticed the way she was watching them earlier - so she'd have to do something to convince her she was wrong. Of course, she didn't know the full extent of how well the two of them had gotten to know each other, but thinking they were actually together was definitely one conclusion too many. Tessa could have laughed. Her and Will. As if.

"I don't," she assured her friend, shooting Will a look. "I think our William here has inhaled a little bit too much smoke."

"Yeah," he nodded, smiling lazily. "That must be it."

"Alright, well what else do you guys normally do in the evenings?"

"Sleep," Clary shrugged.

"You're a fresher," Jace scoffed. "You can't seriously be telling me you go to bed before midnight."

"So what if she does?" Tessa stared him down. "Clary is a dedicated, conscientious student."

"Of course she is."

"Was that sarcasm, Jonathan?" She noticed the way Will was trying to hide his laughter as Jace shifted uncomfortably.

"No. I'm sure Clary is very hard-working."

"I should say so," she nodded, patting Clary on the back.

"Hey," the redhead stood up, her cheeks the same colour as her hair. "How about we watch a film? Yes? Film? Good." She left the room without waiting for the others to answer and after a moment of silence, Tessa and the boys decided to join her. Clary was sitting on the far end of the sofa in the living room, flipping channels.

Tessa saw Jace about to sit beside her, but she made sure she got there first. She wouldn't have him teasing her friend, not while they were under her roof. Will pushed Jace out of the way again, slipping next to Tessa, so the poor blonde was left sitting on the floor in front of them.

Tessa felt he probably deserved it.

It turned out there weren't any decent films on, so the foursome settled on watching one of Clary's recorded episodes of Deal Or No Deal. Tessa thought she might gouge her own eyes out if it weren't for Will and Jace's amusing commentary throughout. She had to give it to them, they were pretty entertaining. You'd have to be to make Deal Or No Deal seem like the height of comedy.

"No!" Will cried as the contestant, Dave, rejected the banker's offer. "You fool, Dave. You fool."

"I can't believe this," Jace nodded, throwing his hands up. "He's going to lose it all now, I bet. One pound in his box."

"Say goodbye to your pleasure cruise."

"Sandra's going to divorce you."

"You'll be lucky to see your kids at the weekends."

"Don't be ridiculous," Tessa rolled her eyes. "I'm sure his wife won't leave him just because he didn't take the four grand home."

"You'd be surprised," Clary grinned. "If I were Sandra, I would."

"You'd leave your husband just because he couldn't afford a pleasure cruise?"

"No," she rolled her eyes at Tessa. "I'd leave him for being stupid enough to have the money for a pleasure cruise and then lose it. If he's poor in the first place, that doesn't matter. If it's within his grasp and he lets it go because of some misplaced act of machismo, that's when we'll have problems."

Neither Will nor Jace had anything to say to that. The two of them sat perfectly still, oddly quiet, until it came down to the last two boxes.

"I can't look," Will said, then to Tessa's utter horror, he buried his face in her neck. She stiffened, not wanting to make a deal out of it in case Clary noticed. She didn't need yet more reasons to doubt them.

But what on earth was he doing?

"One pound!" Jace whooped, giving Tessa the chance to push Will away. "Goodbye wifey, hello split assets."

Even Clary joined in with his morbid predictions for poor Dave's dismal future, but all Tessa could concentrate on was Will and the way he was still looking at her. She was suddenly far too aware of how close the two of them sat, legs and shoulders brushing. He was still wrapped up in his blanket and so was she, but somehow she could still feel the heat of him.

Just then someone knocked on the door and Tessa couldn't have shot up faster.

"I'll get it!" She squeaked, almost tripping over Jace's legs in her scrambled attempt to run out of the room. She thought she could hear Will's quiet laughter behind her.

Tessa threw her blanket over one arm and smoothed her clothes out, trying to assume some air of composure.

She opened the door to find a well-dressed young man with a shock of light blonde hair.

"Hello?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Err…hi…" He shuffled about nervously, trying to look past her. "Is Clary in?"

Tessa looked at him expectantly.

"Oh, sorry," he coughed. "I'm Jonathan."

"Ah!" She sighed, glad that he wasn't here to kill them all. He certainly had that suave serial killer sort of look. "Of course. I'm Tessa, her flatmate."

So this was the infamous Jonathan Morgenstern. She had to admit, she couldn't see any resemblance between the two siblings at all. Apart from the fact that they had the same green eyes, Jonathan was the very opposite of what she'd expected.

"So…" He coughed again, apparently not interested in making small talk.

"Right," she nodded, smiling awkwardly. "I'll just go get her." Tessa paused mid-stride. "Or would you like to come in?"

What was the protocol in this situation? Her upbringing urged her to invite him in, offer him tea, serve some biscuits. You know, all the good, proper things you should do for a guest. But Clary had said that she didn't want anyone knowing he was her brother and that he felt the same way. How could she uphold the necessary decorum without arousing suspicion?

"Who is it, Tess?" Will called from the other room and she could hear them start to move around.

"Is that..." Jonathan furrowed his brows, leaning forward to peer over her shoulder. "Will?"

Will threw the living room door opened, revealing all three of them. Clary hadn't moved but Jace was now sat beside her.

"Jon!" Will grinned, waving him forward. "Come on in."

"What are you guys doing here?" Jonathan walked straight past Tessa without so much as an 'excuse me.'

Well then.

Even worse, he still had his shoes on and was now tracking mud through the hallway.

Tessa let out a shriek, just before his feet touched the plush, clean carpet of the lounge.

Jonathan froze.

"Your shoes," Will explained and Jonathan hastily apologised, kicking them off to the side. Tessa followed, cringing at all of the mess.

"It's okay," Will whispered to her, hovering by the doorway. "I'll clean it up."

"Thank you."

"So?" Jonathan stood in the centre of the room, hands on his hips. Clary jumped up. "What are you doing here?"

"There was a bit of an accident," Jace mumbled, looking sheepish. "Our kitchen is half gone."

"What!?"

"That's a bit of an exaggeration…" Will rolled his eyes.

"Not really," Jace insisted. "I mean, all we ever use is the kettle and the microwave. So with our good old Panasonic out of the picture, our kitchen really is half gone."

"But why are you here?" Jonathan looked pointedly at Clary this time, but no one but Tessa had noticed it. What would he think of his little sister being around his unruly flatmates? She hadn't thought it would be a problem until now.

"It smelt a bit," Jace shrugged. "So Tessa and Clary generously offered to have us for the evening."

Jonathan narrowed his eyes at that.

"Speaking of, how was your date?"

"You were on a date?" This was Clary, her mouth wide open.

"It wasn't a date! It was a business meeting."

"Right, with De Quincey…" Will waggled his eyebrows. Tessa gasped. Not because of the implication but because of her own absentmindedness. In all the drama that had followed after the fire alarm, she hadn't even realised that their reclusive basement-dweller wasn't at the assembly point. What if he'd been in danger?

How could they all have forgotten about poor Alexei?

Will looked over at her in concern but she shook her head at him.

"With De Quincey and his friend," Jonathan huffed. "But forget all about that. The important thing is, we got it."

"We what?" Jace rose.

"We've got ourselves a venue."

"No way!" He reached forward to slap Jonathan on the back in that strange way males chose to show affection. "That's brilliant news, mate. How'd you manage that?"

"It wasn't that hard, really. She liked me so she gave it to me."

"I bet she did," Will winked suggestively again. This time Jonathan grinned slyly back.

"Wait." Clary moved forward. "Who's she?"

-o-O-o-

Clary couldn't believe her luck when her brother walked into the flat. And by that, she obviously meant how bad it was.

It had been a very close affair back at Magnus's party, but she didn't think she'd have to face the prospect of Jonathan being in the same room as her future-boyfriend again any time soon. Especially since she still hadn't had a chance to explain the situation properly.

Said future-boyfriend was now looking at her very closely as she tried to tone down her outburst. She couldn't help that she'd been surprised at the idea of Jonathan with someone. It was Jonathan, for goodness' sake. Who'd want to willingly spend intimate time with him?

"I mean," Clary coughed, stepping backward. "Not that it really matters. Just. Erm…yeah, well done, Jon."

She looked to Jace, hoping her sudden show of indifference had pacified him somewhat.

He was still staring between the two of them

Apparently not, then.

"Can I have a word?" Jonathan asked her, cocking his head infinitesimally to the right.

"Yeah," she nodded, side-stepping Jace and his questioning glance. "Of course. We have lots of err…academic things to discuss. I have that book we were talking about the other day."

"What book?"

"You know!" Clary widened her eyes at Jonathan, urging him to play along as they left the living room. "The one about crocheting you really wanted to borrow from me."

"Clary, what the hell are y-"

"Shhh!" She hissed, shutting the kitchen door behind them. "I don't want them getting the wrong idea, you idiot!"

"Why would they get the wrong idea? I literally just confirmed I was out with another girl."

"Jon, are you blind or did you just happen to ignore the daggers Jace was shooting at us?"

"Jace wasn't shooting anything…" Jonathan scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, leaning back against the door.

"With his eyes, Jonathan!" She huffed, throwing her hands up. "It's an expression."

"Okay, well here's an expression for you: Dad's coming."

Clary stiffened.

"I haven't heard that one before."

"He's coming," Jonathan continued, beginning to pace around the kitchen. "Tomorrow. Mum called me just now to warn me."

"Nope," Clary shook her head, refusing to believe him. "Still not getting it."

"Clary, I'm serious! He is literally going to come up to London tomorrow."

"But why? Why would he do that?" She tried to keep the panic out of her voice as various nightmare scenarios flitted through her brain. Valentine Morgenstern within ten miles of Jace was just about the worst idea she'd ever heard.

"He found out I left Bristol."

"How!?"

Jonathan bit his lip. "I may have put down the deposit for the parlour venue with his debit card."

"You did what!?" How could he have been so stupid?

"I didn't have enough money in my account, okay? I'm living off of whatever I saved from last year's student loan and Jace's trust fund still hasn't come through, so I had no choice. They wanted the deposit straight away to seal the deal. I figured I'd use Dad's details for now and then sort something else out in the morning. How was I to know he was signed up to some special bank alert system that let him know the second the money was being wired out?"

"This is Valentine Morgenstern, we're talking about! How could you not have known that?"

Their father was possibly the most paranoid human being in existence. He had CCTV cameras installed all around the house just to find out which neighbour's cat was leaving rodents on their driveway and last year, he'd gone so far as to hire a private investigator to discover why the postman kept delivering the wrong mail. He'd insisted it was some sort of greater political conspiracy.

"Fair point," Jonathan laughed, but the frantic way he kept running his hands through his hair showed just how panicked he was. "So what are we going to do?"

"We?" Clary loosed a breath. "Oh no, there's no we in this. I'm staying out of it. You're the problem child here, not me."

"But I thought things were different now?" He frowned at her, his green eyes intense. "I thought we were in this together?"

"No!" She turned away from him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't you even dare try that on me. I have no sympathy for you at all. None whatsoever."

"Clary, I'm your one and only brother."

"I. Don't. Care."

"You'll never get another brother like me."

"Well, thank goodness for that."

She still refused to look at him.

"Please, Clary. He'll make me go home."

That stalled her somewhat. Before, the idea of Jonathan leaving would have been a miracle. She'd have her independence back and he'd take Jace with him. But now that things had changed between her and his best friend, she wasn't so sure that was what she wanted anymore.

Luckily, Jonathan spared her from swallowing her pride with his next proposition: "Fine, help me and you get a ten percent share in our first quarter's profits."

Clary spun round.

"I'm listening."

-o-O-o-

1st February

Jonathan barely slept that night. Partly it was because the flat still smelled of smoke, but even if his room were as fragrant as a bunch of newly bought PS4s, his father's ashen face would still have kept him up.

Thank goodness he'd managed to get his sister on board, because if they'd left things the way they were, Valentine would have taken one look at their half-burnt bachelor pad and dragged his sorry arse all the way back to Canterbury, Kent.

Goodbye freedom. Goodbye nightlife. Goodbye Subways on every corner.

It was about the most horrific situation he could imagine.

Luckily, he'd come up with a plan. It took a bit more convincing in the form of having to raise Clary's share of the profits to ten point two-seven percent – it was a good thing she wasn't all that maths-savvy – but she'd agreed to let him swap over the items in their rooms so that they could pass off Clary's more sanitary flat as his own. Her flatmate Jessica or Timothy or whatever her name was, had been surprisingly cooperative. It was unlikely that Valentine would go so far as to snoop on the other bedrooms, so as long as Clary and Jonathan's possessions had been switched over, it was a solid plan.

Clary was the golden child anyway so even if their father was shocked at the state of the boys' kitchen, Jonathan doubted he'd do anything drastic about it. This was her first year away from home, after all. He'd cut her a bit of slack.

But if he was upset with Jonathan?

Well, then he'd cut off a lot more than that.

"Jonathan!" A frenzied knocking sounded at his door. Jace. "Jon, he's here!"

Jonathan jumped out of bed and threw his clothes on before Jace could even open the door. He smoothed down his hair and flew past the Herondale brothers.

"Get in position!" He yelled at them, hopping around as he tried to pull his shoes on. "I'll stall him as much as possible, but I won't be able to keep him forever. Make sure the girls are out of their flat." No one moved. "Now!"

His crazed expression finally spurred them into action, with Will running up to Flat Four while Jace made to hide anything incriminating that had been left out in the open. The only thing Valentine would have found worse than the state of their kitchen was the sight of boxers strewn about the floor. Especially if they were trying to convince him this was Clary's flat. Their old man would have a fit.

He'd explained the plan to the two of them once he was sure Tessa and Clary would take care of things on their end, though he'd been careful to leave out why he'd picked Clary's room in particular. Sometimes he felt it would probably be easier if he just came clean to his flatmates and told them that she was his sister, but he could never find the right time. It wouldn't have been as big of a deal if he'd disclosed their relationship right at the beginning, but now that they all seemed to be acquainted with each other, that complicated things. He had noticed the way Jace had been looking at Clary yesterday and honestly? He wasn't sure how he felt about it.

Normally, it wouldn't have bothered him. Clary had her own life and he hadn't felt the need to meddle in it before. Okay, so the whole thing he'd pulled with Sebastian probably hadn't helped her all that much, but he'd never started those rumours. Not the original ones, at any rate. But this time, he was in the know. He knew what Jace was doing. He knew about his grandmother's terms and how desperate he was to get his trust fund. If Clary was the one he'd chosen to help fulfil those terms, then Jace was outright using his sister.

The problem was, Jonathan was even more desperate for Jace to have access to his money again. The deposit and his charm had been enough for Camille Belcourt last night, but if they wanted to start up the business anytime soon, he knew he'd have to cough up the rest of the amount within the next few weeks. They had few options. His student loan had dried up and the money the two of them had managed to make from part-time jobs was all going towards their living costs. There was no way they could afford to keep renting out the London flat and save enough on the side for Camille's next down payment.

Jace's money was all they had left.

That left him in a bit of a pickle.

Did it really matter if Jace was using Clary, when all three of them would benefit in the end? Jace and Jon from their tattoo parlour, and Clary from her share of the profits.

Of course, he wasn't sure whether that would outweigh the heartbreak for her. Perhaps he should have raised it to twenty percent in good faith.

But there must have been more he could do…

Perhaps he should warn her not to get too attached or would that jeopardise everything?

He could pull the whole overprotective brother act and tell her to keep her distance. She wouldn't listen to him – he knew Clary well enough not to expect anything else - but at least he could tell himself he hadn't stayed silent. At least his own conscience would be clear.

Ugh.

Was he the worst brother in the world?

That one he probably did know the answer to. Yes.

Jonathan turned all of this over in his head as he trudged his way down the stairs, trying to take as long as he could before his father's silhouette became visible through the main front door.

"Dad!" Jonathan mustered the brightest smile he could manage, trying not to collapse under the pressure of his father's icy black gaze.

"Jonathan." Valentine's tone was clipped, formal. That could only mean that he was very, very angry. "Let me first tell you how surprising it is to find you on this side of the M25. And the M4. And every other motorway, river, A-road, B-road and dirt path that exists outside of Bristol."

"Yes," Jonathan said, though it sounded like he was choking. "This is different."

"I hope I did not wake you," his father continued, pushing past him. Well, so much for stalling. "The time difference must be confusing for you, since you're not normally living slap bang on the Prime Meridian."

"Actually, Dad, Bristol also follows Greenwich Mean Time. The whole country does."

"Of course, if you've been here long enough, I suppose you must have adjusted." Valentine seemed to have completely ignored him.

Jonathan didn't see any point in pressing the argument. He was sure his father had already prepared plenty of Bristol-related quips to taunt him with. He'd had all night and a two-hour drive to plan his mind games.

They carried on walking up the stairs and Jonathan prayed his friends had made the switch.

"This one?" Valentine asked, pausing at Flat Three.

"Nope," Jonathan shook his head, wiping at his forehead. "Top floor."

"I thought your sister lived on the top floor."

"No, she lives here."

"That's not what your mother told me."

"Mum probably meant me."

Valentine fixed him with a dark stare. "Are you contradicting my wife? The mother of my children? The one who carried you in her own womb for nine painful months and squeezed out your un-shapely head at the end of it? Tell me, Jonathan, are you daring to say she's wrong?"

Jonathan touched his head alarmingly. "Of course not! Mum's always right. The truth is, I swapped with Clary on the day we moved in. I thought it would be safer for her to be…err, closer to the ground. You know…to…lessen the effect of gravity on her. She's very small."

Kill me now. Of all the things he could have said…

"Jonathan," Valentine rolled his eyes. "You are an idiot."

"I am?" Shit, Jonathan cursed himself. He's got me. I'm dead. I'm going to go back to Canterbury and I'm going to be bored and then I'm going to be dead.

"The force of gravity is more potent upon larger objects. For someone of her stature, the effect would be minimal."

Jonathan's mouth dropped open. Did his father really think so lowly of him? Did he think he was stupid enough that he would switch flats with Clary because of gravity?

Apparently, yes.

Valentine carried on up the stairs, not waiting for his response. He stopped outside the door to Flat Four and looked at his son expectantly.

"We'll see your sister afterwards. The keys, Jonathan?"

"Right," he stuttered. "The keys. Well, you see, I left them inside…"

"Foolish!" Valentine thundered. "A man never leaves the house without his keys. Though of course, you could hardly be called a man. A man also doesn't take from his father that which he has not asked permission for."

Jonathan flushed, his eyes on the ground. "I'm sorry Dad, I didn't-"

"Silence," Valentine held up his hand. "Jocelyn instructed me not to, in her words, 'get into this,' so we will not discuss your criminal activity. Not today, at least. Today, you show me what you left the shores of the West for and then I will decide whether you are to stay here. That is all."

"Sorry," he mumbled again. "My flatmates are inside, so if you want to knock then..."

Valentine didn't wait before pounding once on the door.

It clicked open before Jonathan had even had time to blink. The boys must have heard the commotion and been waiting.

Jace stood on the other end, Will close behind him.

"Hello," he said, extending a hand to Valentine. "I'm Jace, Jonathan's friend from Bristol. This is my brother, Will."

"I see." Valentine shook their hands reluctantly and walked into the corridor as the two of them parted for him. "So you are my son's living partners?"

"Err…yes."

"Tell me, were you aware that you were living with a criminal? Or are the two of you just as embroiled in his villainous plans?"

"Dad," Jonathan groaned.

"Just a joke!" Valentine laughed, but his eyes were cold. "We're not discussing that, remember? I am a man of my word."

He walked into the kitchen, wiping his finger across the counters as he went. It came away clean and he nodded.

"Well done, Tessa!" Jace whispered. Ah, so that was her name.

Valentine then inspected the rest of their appliances, going so far as to tip the toaster upside down to make sure no crumbs fell out. Once again, it was squeaky clean.

Clary's flatmate was good. Very good.

"Show me your bedroom," his father asked him, walking out of the kitchen without another word. It was better than he could have expected. Valentine rarely gave out praise, so his silence was enough to tell them he was impressed. The alternative was too scary to consider.

Jonathan kept his head down as they made their way down the corridor, stopping at Clary's bedroom door. She'd put up a piece of paper with Jonathan's name on it to cover up her own painted sign. He held his breath and opened the door, mindful of Valentine hovering just behind him.

Once again, the girls had done a good job. The items in the room were definitely Jonathan's, but they'd been arranged far neatly than anything he could ever have managed.

All except one thing.

Jonathan balked, his gaze falling on the pink, flowery duvet set that was draped across the bed. Since they'd slept in their own rooms for the night, they'd agreed to swap over the bedding in the morning. Jonathan had left in such a rush when Valentine pulled up in his car that he'd completely forgotten to take his duvet with him. Clary's set stood out in stark contrast to all of his band posters and action figurines. Collectible action figurines.

Obviously he didn't actually play with them.

Obviously.

Valentine nudged him out of the way, apparently annoyed with the delay and his eyebrows raised as he looked upon the pink abomination.

"Well," he coughed. "This is certainly unexpected."

It was Jace who came to the rescue.

"Sorry!" His friend laughed, sidling up next to Jonathan. "That was actually my fault. I thought it would be funny to buy him a pink set for Christmas. He leaves it on to humour me."

"Exactly," Jonathan chuckled, trying not to pass out. "Just a bit of fun."

"I see." Valentine performed the same dust test on Jonathan's room, then moved onto the bathroom – luckily the girls had remembered to hide all of their sanitary products – and when he was satisfied it was clean, he nodded at the three of them. "Right, well. I've seen all I need to see. Your living conditions are quite satisfactory." Jonathan sighed with relief. "I must say, they're almost too satisfactory, but I suppose that must be down to these chaps here. Your room at home isn't nearly this clean."

"No, it's not," Jonathan smiled tentatively. Could it really have been this easy?

"I will make sure I report all of this back to your mother and then we'll make a careful, considered decision as to what to do with you next. For now though, I will allow you to stay here."

"Dad, thank you so much…"

"No need to thank me," Valentine shook his head. "You can thank your mother for having placed so many restrictions upon what I was allowed to do and say today. Now, let's go and see Clary."

Jace stiffened beside him.

"C-Clary?" Jonathan arched an eyebrow. "I think she's out." He was about to ask him why it was necessary, but then he realised his father's answer would have something to do with the fact they shared blood. Probably.

"At this time of the morning?" His father frowned. "I made sure to come before lectures began."

"Yes, but she's probably in the library. She likes to get there extra early so she can revise her notes."

"Of course," he nodded, smiling for the first time. "Clarissa has always been a good student. But there's no harm in checking." Valentine headed for the door.

"Dad, I really don't think that's a good idea. We wouldn't want to disturb her." Jonathan's voice was edging on panic and he was only too aware of Jace beside him. He'd only just decided he wasn't going to say anything to him or Clary. They needed that trust fund.

If he found out…

"Nonsense!" Valentine swatted him in the shoulder. Then he said the words that would condemn everything: "How could I come all this way and not see your sister?"

Jonathan swore.

Valentine smacked him across the arm for using such foul language.

Then Jace gasped.

Valentine, I love you! Valentine, I do! When we're apart my heart beats only for youuuuuu...

LET'S HEAR A COLLECTIVE 'SWITZERLAND' FOR VALENTINE YAY, OH HOW I HAVE MISSED HIM.

Also, yes, the sibling cat is out of the bag. A lot of you were saying how you hoped I had a good way planned for it, and really, how can you beat Valentine? And don't say Raziel because I will cry.

For those of you who haven't read BotB and are therefore unaware of my obsession with Valentine, well...it's a long story. It wasn't always this way, but I can barely remember the time when the elder Morgenstern did not have such a hold on my heart.

Anyway, let me know what you thought as always :) I should also let you know that I recently did an author interview with the lovely Kelpie from Kelpie's Korner so if you'd like to know more about my writing methods, inspiration and just general stuff from the recesses of my mind, the link is up on my profile. (thanks to the anon who read it yesterday and left the sweetest review, I love you)

Right, so I should get some sleep. Lots of work to do tomorrow and then I'm seeing my babies THE WORD ALIVE in the evening, so I'm ridiculously excited for that! Something interesting always happen every time I hang out with them (usually to do with Zack), so I have high hopes for tomorrow.

Till the next time...

smim xx