The three Herondale men stared at the door dumfounded, no one besides Clary have ever yelled at any of them before, until now. Stephen shook his head, a small smile forming on his face. "She's been hanging around our Clary for far too long." Mentioning her name caused the tension in the room to grow as the two younger men turned to stare at each other. Noticing the glares that his son and nephew were sharing, Stephen quickly continued speaking. "Would either of you like to tell me what's going on?" His eyes darted between the two boys waiting and hoping that one of them would speak up but they never did. "Dammit," he hissed throwing his hands up in the air while spinning around to look out the window. "It's times like this that I miss Celine the most. My sister always had the right words; she could always put me in my place without even raising her voice." The doctor leaned his forehead against the cool glass, "I think that's why I care so much for Clary, she's so much like Celine. I never knew how much I truly missed my sister until Clary and now-." Stephen's words fell silent as his thoughts drifted to the small girl that somehow wormed her way into his very soul. The truth was he loved Clary as if she were his very own flesh and blood and the fact there was a small chance that he could lose her was too much. Stephen took a deep breath, he couldn't think about losing her, not now, not ever. "I need you two to work this out; if you can't then I'll have no choice but to send you both away."

"What?" Jace and Will spoke in unison turning to stare at the older man.

Stephen closed his eyes briefly before turning back to the boys. "That's right; I can't have you two upsetting Clary. Her immune system is non-existent right now and the last thing she needs is to worry about you two idiots." Walking back to the table, Stephen pulled out a chair and sat down. His beautiful features looking tired and worn down as he continued speaking in a detached voice. "Clary is weak, her body is not accepting the chemo and without th-." He took a shaky breath, "without the chemo, the cancer will spread." A heavy silence fell around the room as the three Herondale men finally realized that the reality was that they could all lose the one person that they all loved, Clary.

XxXxXxX

"Are you sure?" Clary giggled looking at the expression on her friend's face.

"Yes, I'm sure. Go call him; I'm literally dying to meet him." Alec's face fell at her poor word choice and she knew that she had gone too far. "Alec, I'm sorry. I honestly didn't mean anything by it. I promise."

Alec pinched his eyebrows together, his deep brown eyes searching her face before finally speaking. "Don't say things like that, okay?"

Biting her bottom lip, Clary nodded. "I promise."

The boy pulled her to him in a warm embrace. "I love you Clare."

"Love you too, Alec." She wrapped her arms around her dear friend, breathing in him in for only moment before pushing him away gently. "Now go, call your mystery man so I can meet him."

'Fine, I'm going but you're sure you're going to be okay while I'm gone?" He was now standing by the bed, hesitant to leave her alone.

Clary rolled her eyes but held her tongue. "Yes, I'll be fine." Alec hesitated but finally nodded and left the room.

XxXxXxX

Just as she closed her eyes, Clary heard a knock at the door. "Can I come in?"

Her eyes opened to find Isabelle standing awkwardly at the door. "Iz, when have you ever asked permission for anything?"

The other girl shrugged as she walked into the room looking somewhat defeated. Clary patted the empty space beside her on the bed, "want Alec's old spot? I'll even tell him you're a better cuddle buddy than him, if you want."

A small smile appeared on the brunette's face as she crawled on the bed, happy to take her brother's spot. "Thanks." Isabelle shifted her body until she was lying comfortably beside her friend. "Clary, I love you."

Clary lifted her face, her green eyes searching Isabelle's deep brown. "What's going on Izzy?"

Isabelle's chin began to quiver, "Oh Clary, I'm such a mess."

Clary shook her head as she placed a comforting hand over Isabelle's trembling one. "No Iz, you're not a mess. What's got you so upset?"

Tears slid down the other girl's perfect features as she shook her head slightly. "I'm sorry Clary, here you are in the hospital and here I am crying over something so-so stupid. Just forget it, forget I even said anything." Isabelle pulled her hand away from Clary's to wipe the tears from her face. "How about we talk about your treatment or we could look at some wigs?"

Anger began to flood through the small girl. "No! No, I don't want to talk about my cancer! No, I don't want to talk about my treatment! No, I don't want to look at any wigs! No matter what I say or do, I'll still have cancer when it's over. I'll still not know if I'm ever going to get the chance to get married, have children. No matter what happens in the next several, several months, my future is still unsure. So no Izzy, I don't want to talk about me or my life but I do want to talk about you. You and you're mess of a life, you're normal life so please just let me listen. Let me pretend for whatever amount of time I can that things are normal, that I'm normal. Please, just give me this, please."

Isabelle stared open mouth at her friend for a few minutes before she could finally speak. "Ok-ay, I'll tell you but if you really wanted to know that bad, all you had to do was ask." She shook her head, her brown hair flying around her in the air. "Who knew you could be so dramatic."

Clary's eyes went wide. "Isabelle!"

"Hush," Isabelle joked pushing her shoulder into Clary's. "I'm trying to tell you about my mess of a life." A small frown appeared on her face as she continued. "So, I met this guy. He's a total nerd with shaggy brown hair that looks like it's never been brushed, big brown eyes that are hidden behind these chic-geek black rimmed glasses." Clary couldn't help but smile as her friend continued to talk about this guy she was obviously crushing on. "He wears these ridiculous gamer type shirts. Oh God, Clary! He's such a mess-but he's so sweet and funny. He makes me smile, like all the time, even if we're just on the phone." Isabelle sighed covering her face with her hands. "I'm acting stupid, just go ahead and tell me, I can take it."

Clary giggled as she nudged her friend's side. "You sound like a girl that has a crush, that's not what I call stupid, Izzy."

Slowly dropping her hands from her face, Isabelle leaned her head back on the bed mumbling, "Well you haven't heard how I screwed it all up before it even began."

"Tell me then," Clary replied, eager to hear how any boy in his right mind would not give Isabelle Lightwood a chance.

Isabelle's worried eyes met Clary's green as she continued in a quiet voice. "I called him a little while ago, that's when it all went to hell. We were supposed to go out tonight, our first official date you could say but then Jace called and all this happened. I almost forgot to call him but then I remembered so I called to cancel and that-."

"It's my fault, isn't it?" Clary shot out of the bed, her hands balled into tiny fist at her sides. "He's mad because you ditched him for me." Angry tears began to fall down her pale face. "Why did you have to come back? Why couldn't you have stayed at school where you all belong? This is mine-"She shoved her fist into her chest over and over again. "Mine- It's my burden to bear. Not yours, not Alec's or Will's and definitely not Jace's. None of you should be here! This right here is exactly why I lied to you. You're hurting and it's my fault, all of it."

"What the hell?" Isabelle stood from the bed and moved to stand in front of her angry friend. "Clary, he's not mad because I ditched him. He's mad because well, because. You know what? I don't even know why he's mad, isn't that some shit?"

"What do you mean; you don't know why he's mad? How can you not know why he's mad?" Clary wiped her tears away just as more tears began to fall.

Isabelle lifted her hands to wipe away more tears from Clary's face. "I don't know. He seemed so sympathetic at first. He kept asking me if there was anything he could do, that he wanted me to know that he was here for me. It was nice, knowing that he cared." Dropping her hands from the other girl's face, Isabelle took a step back and shrugged. "But then something happened and he snapped."

Clary ran her hands down her face trying to wipe the rest of her tears away. "Isabelle, you're not making any sense. Start over, tell me word for word what was said."

Placing her hands on her hips, she nodded her head toward the bed. "Only if you get your tiny butt back in that bed, before you get me in trouble."

"Fine." Clary crawled back into the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. "There. I'm in the bed, happy?"

Rolling her eyes at her friend, Isabelle began to pace back and forth in front of Clary's bed as she recalled the phone conversation she had earlier. "He was so sweet and understanding until I got to the part about you and Jace." She snapped her fingers together in the air. "That's it Clary, that's when his attitude changed."

Clary shook her head in confusion. "What about me and Jace? Why would he get mad about us?"

The tall girl continued pacing in front of the bed. "Not about the two of you per say, he was trying to understand why you'd keep something like this from your friends and boyfriend so I told him about Celine and then I told him that you were probably trying to keep us safe because of how your parent's die-." Isabelle froze as if something had just clicked in her head; her brown eyes wide as she turned to stare at her friend. "It was then, that's when he got mad and hung up on me."

Clary held her hands up in the air. "Can you please spit it out; my heart rate is going up here!"

Isabelle's eyes flashed to Clary's monitor before speaking again. "Sorry. Sorry but I figured it out. He got mad when I told him how your parent's died. That was it, that's what it was."

Dropping her hands back down to the bed, Clary huffed. "That makes no sense Izzy! Why would a guy ditch you over how my parent's died?"

Shrugging Isabelle answered, "I have no clue. All I know is that when I told him that you probably did it to keep us safe, he asked why so I told him that you and your brother had moved here from New York because your mother died of breast cancer and your dad shot and killed himself. That's when Simon got all grumpy saying he had to go and hung up on me."

Clary felt her throat closing up on her. "Wh-what di-d you s-say his na-me w-as?"

The tall girl gave her a worried look. "Simon, Simon Lewis. Why? What does it matter what his name is?"

XxXxXxX

A new chapter for Dying Young – make sure to review after reading!

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