And here it is! Jace's POV of the shooting!

Enjoy.

"Just let us keep walkin' …" Jonathan said, then. I watched as the prisoner looked him up and down; then did the same for us, but he eventually nodded.

I will never admit I was scared aloud, but I breathed a sigh of relief that would've drowned me had I been under water.

The guy grabbed Jonathan on the shoulder, though, and asked something about if we were going to tell the outside what was going on.

I wanted to call him an idiot, but since he was holding a gun, I decided that probably wasn't the best option in this moment.

Jonathan, though, took the words out of my mouth, "I'll be with them; so that's a hell no."

We walked a little further, until Jonathan stopped abruptly and turned to me.

"Jace, ever used a gun before?"

I smirked and nodded. It was about damn time.

"Good." He then bent down to his ankle, and handed me a Ruger LC9. Sweet. "If anything happens to me, all I ask is that you get her to Simon. Can you do that for me?"

I don't know why, but I expected Clary to burst into tears as the bluntness of his comment. Instead, though, she said, "Jon, nothing's going to happen to you…"

I cut in before they could launch into another one of their arguments, "Agreed, but she's got a point. We're probably safer because you're with us. I don't think you're much of a threat to these guys…hence why they're letting us go." I motioned behind us, talking about that guy who just let us walk past him.

"I'm not just talking about inmates. If we get outside, promise me, if the cops shoot at me, you'll take her and get to Simon. After he drops you off where you want to go, I don't give a rat's ass what you do."

I should have protested that, but instead, I nodded and said, "Deal."

And, it was true, if anything happened to Jonathan, I would go back into protector mode for Clary.

After all, that's only what I had been doing before we found Jonathan, right?

Right.

And, I could just continue until I got her to Simon…where he could take over and I could go back to doing my own damn thing.

"What?! No, Jon…Jon, I'm not going to let anything happen to you…"

"Clary, if it comes down to that, you do not resist the cops, do you understand me?"

Clary shook her head, the panic starting now, "No, Jon, no…I…"

Jonathan put his hand up before I could interrupt this time, and we started walking again. Jonathan and I took the lead since we were armed.

"I think we're almost to the yard…" Jonathan said.

"And where is that to the end?" I asked.

"Half-way. The good news is that most of the inmates are in the cafeteria, because that's where most of the guards are being held. And we've already passed that."

That came off way less encouraging than I imagine he meant.

Before we could continue our conversation, though, we suddenly heard muffled screams coming from behind us and when we turned around, my stomach had hurled to the ground.

We barely caught Clary's shoe rounding a corner.

"Clary!" I know I called out.

I think Jonathan did too, and we took off.

"You go a back way! I'll follow!" I yelled to Jonathan. He knew this place better than I did, and just simply following him wouldn't do us or Clary any good. We needed to surprise him somehow.

Fortunately, Jonathan nodded with my plan and we split up.

I have no idea how, but whoever had Clary had gotten a good jump on us. We thought she had been right behind us.

"Stop!" I yelled, but a hella good that did me.

When I rounded the last corner, I realized the inmate had backed himself up against a wall. There were two hallways on either side of him, though and I wondered why he had stopped. A couple close corners, and Clary was…

Let's not think about that right now.

My thoughts, and anger, quickly re-directed as I suddenly realized that the inmate who was holding her now was the same one that wanted a "piece of ass" earlier.

And, he had his hand on her chest.

I could feel my blood boiling. It's not pleasant.

She was trying to claw him off of her, but it….wasn't working.

"Let her go." I growled…not that I really believed that would work either.

"What are you gonna do, pretty boy? Shoot me? Not while she's standing in front of me."

And then he smiled.

Did he just call me pretty boy?

"And what do you think? That I'm just going to walk away?" I snapped.

"If you were smart, you would. She's a lost cause anyway. A little prude. And she's not going to want anyone but me after I get done with her."

There were so many things wrong with that sentence that my mind wouldn't let me pinpoint just one to be furiously angry at…

…That is, until I saw his grip get rougher than it had been before, and Clary was biting her lip not to scream – still trying desperately to get him off of her.

I didn't want to shoot him. Honest. I wanted to rip him limb by limb and feed him to the other animals we had run into earlier.

But then I heard a gunshot.

My eyes widened as I watched the man let go of Clary quickly and she was falling to the floor. I ran up and just caught her.

Her hair and back were covered in blood now, but I didn't give a damn.

"Did you shoot him?" Clary looked at me.

Meanwhile, I just was glad that she didn't get hit.

I shook my head as Jonathan walked up to us. "No, I did. Sorry, that you were so close to him, little sis; but, you see, Jace, that's what happens when you talk to, about, or touch my sister like that. Let's go. Clary, stay behind me. Jace, if you wouldn't mind taking up the back…"

I nodded. There was no way in hell I was going to let that happen to her again.

"Jon, how much farther do we have?" she asked.

"Not too much…"

As we walked, we continued to run into armed inmates, and I have to admit, I was getting…slightly nervous.

While I was watching the armed inmates, I ran into the back of Clary.

"Damnit!" I heard Jonathan swore, and quickly focused my attention back on him.

We were stuck at a door.

"What's wrong?" Clary asked.

"It's locked!" Jonathan yelled, clearly frustrated.

I smirked, "Please, allow me…" and I stepped forward, took aim with my gun, and made sure Jonathan and Clary were behind me.

"Jace, what the hell are you think…" and before he could finish, I braced myself and fired into the handle of the door.

It took three times, but finally, I heard significant noises and the handle broke.

I then kicked the door out.

How does that saying go, again? Oh, yeah, This wasn't my first rodeo…

When I turned back around, Clary was staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed in disbelief.

My smirk grew wider.

After a beat, I finally said, "As much as I enjoy women staring at me, we really need to get moving."

Jonathan turned to make sure no one was behind us and Clary followed me outside.

My moment of triumph lasted only seconds before I realized that we were now basically in a corn maze.

"Hey! You three! Stop!" suddenly, from our left, an officer started running towards us and behind him, were more uniforms.

"Run!" I heard myself yell, and I barely refrained myself from grabbing Clary's hand.

"This is stupid!" Clary yelled behind me.

"Don't talk!" Jonathan said, "Not until we lose them."

"But how are we going to…" Clary started asking, before I heard her grunt and turned to see that Jonathan had taken her to the ground. I crouched down next to them. We were at a dead end with two short corners.

We thought they were just going to pass until it was at this exact moment that Clary's phone decided to ring.

How much do you want to be that was Simon?

The freaking moron.

"Cl…" Jonathan started whisper-protesting but she shrugged him off of her and walked out into the part of the maze where she would most definitely be seen.

She was absolutely insane.

Jonathan and I exchanged a look.

"Hey! You there!"

We readied our guns…

"Officer! Please! You gotta help me! They kidnapped me…I…"

"Are you hurt, miss?"

I almost laughed. Clary was playing victim. It was…smart.

Yeah, that's all you're getting.

Even better, this officer was lapping it up.

"No, no, the blood's not mine. But listen, they went that way after they heard my phone go off! Thank god my best friend decided to call me back…"

Ah! So it was that moron…

"Okay, okay, I'm going to need you to calm down and point which direction they went in for me."

"Um, that way." Clary said, and I assume she pointed.

"Thank you." The officer replied to her. "Stay here, okay? I'll come back and get you when I know it's safe, but they have very little chance of running into you again…"

Was he a moron too? We're not dogs. Don't direct humans to stay put. It never works.

Again, I almost laughed.

"Um, officer, I would so much rather be out of here…with all the blood splatter on me and all…"

I smirked again. Oh, she was good.

After a little more persuading, the officer finally gave Clary the directions to get out of here.

Jonathan and I were taking mental notes.

A moment later, she came back for us. "Hey, coast's clear." She whispered to us. Clary helped Jonathan up, and when she was done, I smirked at her and held my hands up.

Jonathan scowled at me and they both helped me up.

She started explaining the directions, and we all were in agreement that something was funny.

Or at least, that's where my head was at. Listening to her try to explain what the officer had told her, I now realized how…difficult he had made it. There was a much easier way he could've said it.

But he didn't, and it was really bothering me why he would give a "poor, defenseless girl" the hard way out.

"Yeah, maybe he was trying to…" Jonathan started, but I quickly cut him off.

"For any fugitives who could hear him…you know, like us." I did a half-smirk. Clary didn't need to add this to a worry right now.

"Come on, I do really, really want to get out of here." Clary said, and she started walking until Jonathan grabbed her arm.

"You're in the middle, remember?"

Jonathan and I cocked our guns for effect.

"What did Simon want?" Jonathan asked.

Come on, did you really think I would ask that question?

"Oh!" Clary shouted, just now remembering, "I never did get to ask him what he wanted."

She pulled out her phone and re-dialed.

"We're in a maze behind a prison…" she started when he picked up.

"Simon! Calm down, please. You're stressing me out. Are you around back or not?"

Clary's eyes suddenly went wide and she asked Simon to repeat what he had said and put him on a quiet speakerphone as we crowded around the phone.

"Yeah, but that's what I was going to ask you, how do you propose to get over the gate? It's a live wire…"

Jonathan and I exchanged a look; fortunately, before I got angry.

Shouldn't the officer have known this? And, wouldn't it have been…I dunno…nice to warn a girl about this?!

"I think we'll be okay. I can climb, and I'm sure the two fugitives I'm with can too…" Clary trailed off, looking at us.

Was she serious?

"Why didn't the damn officer tell you about the gate?" Jonathan muttered.

"Jon, we can climb gates – we've been climbing since we were little…"

Meanwhile, I was still sitting on the first question Jonathan had asked.

Jonathan himself didn't know about it and that was bad enough, but again, for the officer not to warn her…

Something's off…

"Alright, Simon, look, we'll figure it out…just please, wait there. We'll be there shortly."

"Okay, and Clary?"

"Yeah, Simon?"

"Be safe."

"I don't think I have to worry about that, Simon," Clary replied, looking between Jonathan and I…and our guns, "but thank you. I will."

"You should've told him to stop calling you." I sneered. I couldn't help it. He had almost gotten us into major trouble.

"Hmm, someone sounds jealous…" she sing-songed at me – catching me off guard.

Did she just call me jealous?

"Hardly."I retorted, probably a little too quickly, "If he calls you again, who knows who will be around to hear your ringtone that time…"

"Well, for your information, I already put it on vibrate."

Her snappy comebacks made me want to kiss the triumphant smirk off her face.

What? I lamely replied, "Mm, good." And, fortunately, we started moving.

"I'm not sure why the officer didn't tell me about the gate, but I'm not too worried about it."

"Clary, it's got a live wire on the top…" I don't remember who started to protest with her, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't me.

And, anyway, she shrugged and said, "Yeah, and?"

"If we touch it, we'll be electrocuted…"

"So, we don't touch it." She replied nonchalantly.

"She's a little naïve." I retorted to Jonathan despite the little voice that was screaming in the back of my mind.

"Yeah, I know, I suppose it's my fault…"

"Hey! Dumb and Dumber, I'm not naïve. I know what a live-wire is. What? You two have never climbed over a fence with a live wire before?"

My eyes went wide and Jonathan's mouth dropped, "Clary…when have you…"

She shrugged again, "I've been through a lot since you've been gone."

"Yeah, and don't think we've dropped the topic for the explanation of where you got that money either."

"Oh, I think I can help with that one." I smirked.

Clary looked at me horrified, "Jace! Whatever theory is going on inside your head is probably the opposite of what happened…"

"Hey!" Jonathan yelled again, before I could retort, "You two! Enough of that!"

"Oh, and by the way, where is your girlfriend, Isabelle, hmm? Tired of bailing your ass out of jail?"

What'd she just say?

Did she just call Isabelle my girlfriend?

I shook my head, realizing what else was hinted in her voice, "Isabelle isn't my girlfriend. Why? Are you jealous?"

"Definitely not. I just figured the way she was talking to you…"

Ah, yes, unsure of herself all of a sudden.

I realized a part of me…the little devil on my shoulder…would take advantage of this, but instead I replied, "Isabelle's my sister, if you must know."

"Oh, well where is she?"

I snorted, "Now, that part, you were right about."

"Ha! I knew it!" She exclaimed.

She actually looked proud of herself. And again, I wanted to kiss the triumph from her face.

Again, what?

It took a moment to regain myself and not smirk.

But I did chuckle, and shrug, "Women like a bad boy…"

Her eyes lit up, "Oh, really?"

"Hey! Shut the hell up already! We need to move!" Jonathan said, stepping in between us.

It was then that I realized we had moved slightly closer to each other.

Not that I minded at all.

Jonathan started walking in the direction we were supposed to be going, and I motioned for Clary to go in front of me.

"Hey, Jon…" Clary started asking.

"Yes, Clary." He sharply replied. He didn't even turn around.

"Why do you think the prisoners aren't really trying to escape the prison?"

You know, she had a point. I hadn't seen very many prisoners trying to get out…

"They might know of a better way to go, or may feel safer in there. After all, they took out almost all, if not all, of the guards. The police have to go through a maze to get to them, and with all the entrances covered, it seems like a pretty good plan."

"Oh." Was all Clary said and I could tell that…that wasn't what she expected to hear.

Though, I'm not sure what she expected to hear.

Just then, we came upon some voices and crouched behind some of the maze to hear them.

"They shot Marcus, man! They shot Marcus!"

"Yeah, well, what was Marcus doing? We both know he's not exactly innocent."

"Neither are the two men she's with! She's probably a whore to one of them…if not both! I mean, what was she here for? Either to see them…or to get them out…"

I tensed.

They were talking about Clary.

I was also…ever so slightly pissed.

Okay, so there's nothing slight about it.

"…But, D…they still shot Marcus!"

"I wish they would've shot you! Shut the hell up before a cop hears you!"

"Aight, just tell me this; if we see them, can we shoot them?"

If I had been by myself, he wouldn't have gotten the chance to finish that sentence.

"I'm not. I don't need another murder hanging over my head, but if you want to, by all means, go for it."

Before me, Jonathan grabbed Clary's hand and started pulling her away. I followed.

Not too long after that, we started running through tight corners…and then…

We hit a wall and had to go either right or left.

Damnit. Nothing's ever easy, is it?

After a moment of what I knew was panic, Jonathan turned around, "The cop lied to you." He roared to Clary.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I whispered.

"The cop might have followed her." Jonathan replied to me.

I nodded, swallowing some spit and narrowing my eyes as we drew our guns.

As though on a cue, the officer came out from behind one of the corners.

"Well, well, well." He said, holding his gun up to us.

And I briefly wondered what was stopping us from shooting him right then and there.

"It's two on one; you're not going to win." Jonathan said.

He shrugged, "Oh, but I already have."

"What?" I asked, not being able to stop myself. What the hell was this idiot talking about?

He smiled, and it almost sent chills up my spine, "Put your guns down. My aim isn't on you two…"

I looked at Jonathan and he looked back at me before we realized that his aim was on Clary.

We lowered our weapons.

But I couldn't wait to tear this bastard apart with my bare hands for just pointing the gun at her.

"Good boys. Now, stay on the ground and put your hands on your head. Do it! Now!"

My eyebrows rose, but I did as I was told.

I had already come up with about twenty ways to take this guy down …hopefully without getting myself shot when we heard…

"Not so fast, officer. How about you do the same?"

It was an inmate.

Shit.

The idiot officer started shooting before he had even turned around; so obviously, the inmate just shot him.

I wondered if he had gotten his badge from a commercial or a toy store.

The cop fell to the ground, and the inmate started advancing to us.

After that, everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

Soon, the inmate stopped – as though frozen in time – and eyes wide, he too fell to the ground.

It was then that I realized another shot had been fired, and when he fell to the ground, behind him stood a female officer.

But, her expression was unreadable, and before I could even contemplate breathing a sigh of relief…

She fired into our direction too.

Jonathan and I reacted quickly, picking up our guns and firing back.

But we were too late.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Clary go down.

I turned to stare, mouth agape as I heard Jonathan yelling, "No! Clary!"

And he ran over and caught her before she fully hit the ground.

I regained my composure – as much as possible – and walked over to her, quickly looking her up and down to assess the damage.

The bullet had hit her in the stomach…which meant our odds weren't too bad.

But inside, I was terrified.

Then, I realized she was still conscious…and looking right at me.

"Oh my god!" Jonathan yelled, frantically and effectively breaking me from my trance, "You're just staring at her! I guarantee that's not going to help her!"

"And just what the hell do I look like? A doctor?" I retorted. I couldn't help myself.

"Clary, please…stay with us…"

I reacted then, placing my hands on Clary's stomach and attempting to ignore the bolts of electricity shooting through my hands as I did so.

It was painfully hard, though, but now wasn't the time. At all.

"Lucky for you, my brother is. Put pressure on the wound here." I said, nudging my head toward my hands. Jonathan quickly took the hint and placed his hands over mine. When he had, I removed mine and took my shirt off – ripping it and tied it around her chest.

"What the hell are you doing? There's no time for that…" Jonathan started on me.

And if this little prick was going to comment on everything I did…

"I'm saving her life, again, and for your information, I have to be half-naked to do that. It would help if we had stronger material, though."

As I tied it around her, I felt her eyes boring into me…but more specifically, my chest.

I smirked, "Now, you had to go and make me take my shirt off, didn't you Clary?"

She smiled, and I saw her visibly relax.

That, in turn, caused me to somewhat relax.

"Hey, Jace, this is no time for jokes like that! She's dying!"

I almost rolled my eyes.

Almost.

"She should be fine, as long as we stop the bleeding. It looks like the bullet missed any vital organs, and didn't hit any important arteries. You need to relax. The more you stress her out, the faster her heart pumps her blood and the faster she bleeds out."

He was pissing me off. I mean, I risked my life for this girl on more than one occasion and I was calm.

I guess it didn't help that he was her brother, and I'm well…not.

Thank the angels for that!

I wasn't sure why that made me happier than it should.

I chalked it up to having risked my life for her several times.

I mean, after you risk your life for someone over and over again, you get…attached to them, right?

Right.

I turned to her now, "Clary, do you think you're strong enough to stand?"

"No, she can't stand! She's losing blood by the millisecond and you want her walking?!"

I snapped my narrowed eyes to him now, my voice threatening, "I will not tell you again. You need to calm down and stay that way. The more you stress her out, the better chance she has of dying."

"Well, what are we going to do if we get her out of here, huh? We can't just waltz her into a hospital…"

Okay, so he did have a point with that one. "And even if Simon takes her, they'll want to question her as to what happened. No, you're right, it would be best if we steered clear of hospitals. My brother's a doctor. We could take her back to my house…"

"Your house? Definitely not…" Jonathan started his protest.

I barely refrained from rolling my eyes again. Really? He thought that's where I was heading with that invitation? "Do you have any better ideas? My brother's a doctor." I instructed Clary to hold her wound and wrapped her left arm around my shoulders, my right underneath of her arms and hoisted her up.

When I gave her a questioning look, she nodded to me.

And I wondered if she was feeling the jolts of electricity I was suddenly getting from the whole right side of my body.

I ignored them, pointedly.

"No." Jonathan muttered, shaking his head at me, "Why do you have to be the one helping her walk?"

"Jon…please." Clary said, clutching her side.

Did I mention he was pissing me off with this?

I don't have the greatest track record when it comes to women…I'm the first to admit it, too.

But right now? Come on.

Even I have better standards than that.

Plus, doesn't he know that blood is a turn off…

At least, for me it is…

I had to shake my head to stop myself from going there.

"I have to agree, now's really not the time for this argument." I said threateningly to him. I had moved the arm that was previously under her arms to helping her cover her wound.

And the jolts of electricity were just getting stronger.

Okay, so maybe I was feeling something, but it wasn't anything a cold shower couldn't fix.

For now…anyway.

"Fine." Jonathan huffed, sounding like a child, "I'll lead. Clary, give me your phone. If Simon calls again, I'll answer."

After he picked up his backup from the ground, and took the phone from Clary, Jonathan faced one of the walls of the maze.

After an overly dramatic and drawn out sigh, he threw his hands up and started shoving his way through it. "Stay close." He ordered to me.

I was stunned for a short moment that he still had the wits to order me around while I was basically carrying his bleeding sister, but I suppose that's just who exactly I was dealing with.

I refrained from rolling my eyes, but barely.

"Why didn't we do this…before?" Clary strained to ask, and I wanted to turn to her and tell her to not try to talk…that it would only make this worse.

The way she was flinching, though, I assumed she figured that out on her own, and I held her tighter.

Plus, before I could even open my mouth, Jonathan was replying to her, "Because it was easier to try to follow the path, and now, it's not."

Next thing I knew, there was another path in front of us…

And it went straight.

Jonathan jogged ahead, gun aimed, making sure we didn't run into any more surprises since there were now three of us and only one was armed.

Hey, I can't do everything, alright.

Though, again, I would never admit that aloud.

And, right now, Clary's safety mattered more than two of us being armed.

We were up at a fence before we all knew it; and Jonathan braced himself, took aim, and fired.

It took him three shots – I'm not going to brag how many it could've taken me – but we were through.

I handed Clary to him for a second and once I was through, he gave her back to me.

I was kind of surprised, until I felt her weight being pulled down harshly and when I looked at her, her eyes were closed, and she was going down.

Fast.

"Jon!" I yelled, swallowing the panic that was starting to creep up on me. I shifted our positions so that I held her bridal style and using my shoulder, I held her head.

Jonathan, who was up a little ways, heard me yell and turned,

"What the hell happened?!"

He wasn't angry with me, right?

I must've heard him wrong.

"I don't know, but she's losing consciousness. We need to get her to my house, now."

"Okay, okay." Jonathan ran a hand through his hair and I could see the panic starting to rise up in him too.

I hoped he could handle this. There was no time for one of us to be unconscious and the other to be a panicked wreck.

Like I said, I couldn't handle everything.

"We need to keep moving." Jonathan said, then.

Wasn't that what I just said?

We started at a light jog and Jonathan turned around to me when we got far enough away from the place.

"You know, you're a lot stronger than you look."

What the hell was that supposed to mean? My eyebrows narrowed, "Actually, she's not that heavy."

"I know. She probably hasn't been eating right, again."

I slammed my mouth shut, hard. What had he just admitted to me? There was no need for this girl to be anorexic, but I suppose that could affect anyone. Anyway, was he really that heartless to just flat out admit something like that to a stranger, no less?

I mean, I would hope I'm a little more than a stranger now, but still.

I could feel myself getting angry again.

"You're stronger than you look too, pulling that gate apart and all." I smirked.

He smirked back at me, "Yeah, well, my sister's life is at stake. I'm done playing games with this place."

Good, at least we're finally on the same page about something!

Jonathan finally pulled out Clary's phone and dialed. I assume he was dialing Simon.

He put it on speaker.

"Clary?! Clary, where the hell are you guys?! Did you make it out of that maze yet?"

I rolled my eyes. Great, another person panicking. Just what I needed.

"Simon, it's Jon, we made it out of the maze, we're on some grass. We don't see the road yet, what do you see in regards to our direction?"

"Jon? Oh, hi, um, where's Clary?"

"She's uh…she doesn't want to talk and run at the same time. Now, focus, Simon, where are you?"

I could've laughed at how dumb that lie was, but since the guy believed it…I wasn't really sure which I was considering dumb anymore.

The guy finally gave us some landmarks and we changed our direction.

We arrived at his car moments later and he saw us coming and got out of the car.

I saw his facial expression change from happiness to complete horror as he spotted Clary in the position she was in.

It probably didn't help that she was in my arms either.

I almost smirked. Almost.

I'm not entirely heartless.

"Clary!" he yelled and started running toward us.

Fortunately, Jonathan stopped him. "Get back in the car, Simon, we need to go. Jace's brother is a doctor, he might be able to help her without a hospital, but we need to leave, now!"

He then turned to me, holding out his hands, "Come on, giver her up, you need to direct Simon where to go."

I relented, but not easily. Every fiber of my being was fighting the decision to let Clary go.

"Get in, and I'll lower her to you." I said, nudging towards the back seat.

Did this fool really think he could maneuver getting into a car while carrying someone?

I lowered Clary in to him and was immediately cold. There was also this strange sensation of loneliness as soon as I let go of her but I shoved it away.

I closed the door and ran around to the front passenger side.

Simon had already gotten in and when I dropped down into the seat, he eyed me up suspiciously, "So, you're Jace, huh?" and then he pushed his glasses up his nose.

I wanted to laugh until I couldn't feel my stomach anymore.

But I contained myself.

It took a lot of effort, though…

Probably more effort than it had taken me to carry Clary.

When I didn't answer – for fear of the laughter beginning, he continued, "Okay, not one for conversation, I see…"

"Simon, Jace, Jace, Simon. Jace is going to give you directions to his house 'cause his brother's a doctor." Jonathan said from the back seat.

"Okay." Simon replied to him.

"And, Simon?"

"Yeah, Jon?"

"If I remember riding with you before, I don't give a damn whose car this is, or about speeding tickets, etc. We need to get there, as soon as possible. Got it?"

Torture.

Pure and absolute torture.

I had to remind myself over and over and over again that now was not the time to make fun of this guy.

Plus, I didn't think Clary would be too happy with me either.

Wait, why did I care, exactly?

"You don't have to tell me twice." And, to my ultimate shock, Simon put the pedal to the floor.

Good.

"Hang on, Clary…just, hang on…" I heard Jonathan mutter from the back seat.

I distracted myself by talking to Simon about directions, and then looked out the window.

I barely knew this girl and she was erupting emotions in me that no other girl had ever done before.

I had to stop thinking about her.

I tried to convince myself that I couldn't wait for Alec to fix her and her to leave.

I hoped she would take the ache that my heart gave me with the thought of that with her, too.

Against my better judgment, I kept turning around.

Jonathan looked like he would explode with tears at any second and Clary just looked absolutely lifeless.

And, I swear to you, that hole in my heart started throbbing.

Fortunately, we arrived at my house pretty quickly.

"Whoa…" Simon said, looking through the windshield.

"Try to keep the drool in your mouth." I sneered, getting out and opening the back door.

Jonathan reluctantly helped Clary out of the car and right back into my arms.

For a second, I thought he would argue the point again, but he seemed to think better of it.

Just then, the door opened and Isabelle came running out.

"Jace! What the hell happened?"

"Not now, Izzy, she's been shot. Where's Alec?" I growled. My sister had horrible timing.

"He's inside. Who are these people?"

Seriously? Did I not just say she has horrible timing?

"I'll explain everything later, but we've got to get her inside." I said, exasperatedly through gritted teeth.

"Alec!" I yelled, as I jogged through the doors.

Fortunately, he came running out of a room upstairs and came down the stairs.

"Jace? Jace, what the hell happened?"

"I'll explain everything later. You still have some stuff here, right?"

That was a stupid question.

Now that we were finally close to getting help for her, the panic was creeping back up on me.

Fortunately for my sake, Alec just nodded. "Yeah, follow me."

"Put her on the bed." Alec ordered me after we got upstairs.

Was I wearing a sign that read, "Boss me around," today or something?

I gently laid her down and looked at Alec.

He had tools in his hands and I could hear Jonathan advancing on him from behind me.

"What the hell is that for?"

I spun so that he couldn't get to my brother.

"Hey, calm down, she's in good hands now. You need to let him do his job. Come on…that goes for all of us."

Fortunately, they listened to me and we walked out of the room.

"No! She's my sister! I need to be in there!" Jonathan yelled, fighting me.

"You need to give him room to work!" I shouted back at him.

"Jace…is any of that…your blood?" Isabelle asked me, pointing to the shirt that had been underneath of the one I ripped off for Clary.

I looked down at myself. I hadn't even realized my shirt had almost turned completely red.

I shook my head, "No, it's all … Clary's." I hesitated and looked at Jonathan afterwards.

I heard a sharp intake of breath.

"You should probably go get a shower, especially since you're not sitting on any of the furniture like that. And you…sporting a jumpsuit…should probably get some different clothes."

Jonathan and I exchanged a look, and I contemplated saying, "Yes mom." But though better of it and jerked my head up the stairs for Jonathan to follow me.

When we made it up to my room, I shut my door and started rifling through one of my drawers for some clothes.

"Wow. I didn't think I would be the first Morgenstern to see your bedroom."

I stopped and my whole body stiffened.

What the flying hell did he just say?

Hopefully I kept Jace as in character as possible. It wasn't for lack of trying, anyway.

Keep the reviews/favorites/follows coming! Next chapter should be up soon. :)