Much to my surprise I do not break down in tears as soon as I shut the door. Actually, I don't do anything. I don't walk, I don't blink, I don't even really stare at anything around me. I just look at the wall across the room without really seeing it and try and figure out what's going on in my head…or if anything is at all. At the moment I'm not sure of the difference between up and down, left and right, hot and cold, and my own name isn't exactly knowledgeable information. I'm not even sure if I'm breathing or if my heart is too broken to keep beating.

Jace doesn't try and knock on the door to talk to me again and I am grateful. The last thing that I need is for him to attempt to comfort me after what the jackass just did. I manage a slight inhalation as I realize that my first full thought has been made. Progress. I think back to our conversation, not really wanting to relive it again so soon, but I need to when it is fresh in my mind. I want to remember the exact reasons why I should hate him when he tries to make amends with me in the future.

Jonathan, I find myself concluding slowly in my mind. I specifically remember Jace saying something about my brother. But what had it been? What would Jon say to make Jace so adamant? Why at this time in the morning? I'm not one to beg people to stay with me, but I'm also not going to let something good, like Jace, go without at least trying. I remember that look on his face when he'd told me that he was breaking up with me; it was just pain.

Had Jon blackmailed Jace into breaking up with me? That didn't sound much like my oafish brother, who may look like Neanderthal but has the disposition of a puppy, sweet when you're happy with him and sad when you're angry.

There is only one way to find out!

After I carefully walk back up the stairs and to the second door on the left of the hallway, I barge in, slamming it open much louder than was probably necessary. I don't care, however, because Jonathan is the reason why I'm not sleeping soundly at the moment anyway. If I'm unhappy then he can be up and be unhappy with me! I walk over to his bed, and promptly slap him across the face as hard as I can. The loud snores that had been cutting through the silent air are abruptly cut off as the loud sound of skin against skin takes its place for just a moment. Then Jon is fully awake, looking up at me with wide and fearful green eyes as he clutches his blankets close to his chest. Moron.

I scowl at him, and he frowns back, his fearfulness diminishing every second. I'm considering slapping him again to reinstall the terror in his eyes, but before I can he speaks. "What do you want?"

"Answers!" I snap. "And damn good ones, you stupid excuse for a brother!"

I don't feel the tears start flowing, until Jon has already sat up, and his evaporating fear seems to race back at full speed. "Don't cry," he pleads as he takes my hand. "I'll answer whatever questions you need. I'll even do that math homework that you were having problems with yesterday if you stop crying right now!"

"I'm not in here about math, you jackass!" I say, trying to make it sound biting and maybe snarky, but it comes out as a whimper and my voice is too shaky to even sound insulting.

"Alright," Jon says, standing up and pulling me against his chest. He begins to pet my hair as though I am a dog, and as awkward as the gesture is, it is still comforting. "No math then," he assures me quietly. I force my sobs down to sniffles as I try and listen to him. "What do you need?"

"What did you tell him?" I ask, my voice coming out as a pathetic mumble.

"What did I tell who?" Jon asks. "Is this about Sebastian?"

"No," I say, not knowing or caring what Sebastian could possibly have to do with Jon, of all people. "Jace. He said he talked to you yesterday."

Jon is silent for a moment. I tense up slightly, and push away from him, fully prepared to take a swing at him if it is too bad. The look on his face isn't guilt or anger; it is confusion. He is trying to remember it. I imagine if you are trying to convince your best friend to break up with your sister, you would most likely remember the conversation. "Camille," he said after a few seconds of contemplation. "The new girl that I'm dating. We just talked about her, why?"

"What about her?" I demand. "Did you mention that she had a hot sister, or that she was into dating two Jonathans at once, or something?"

Jon blinks at me in confusion and shakes his head slowly. "I think you need to sit down," he says, pushing me toward his bed. I let him and allow myself to be forced off my feet without any resistance at all. "Okay, first off…he's dating you, so no; I didn't tell him about any sisters of any kind at all, and no, Camille isn't into dating more than one dude at a time. She's lady," Jon informs me almost smugly. His smug smile falters slightly after a second and he sighs, "That was one of the things we were talking about, actually…I told him that I'm pretty sure that I'm going to screw this up…I mean, I've never been in a successful relationship, and I've taken to her more than I've ever taken to anyone else. Can you imagine how much it's going to hurt when I do inevitably make that mistake when she realizes that I'm not good enough for her? I already know that I'm nowhere near what she deserves, but I'm too selfish to let her go. The thing is, though, I'm not worried about the pain that I'm going to go through. I'm worried about her."

I look at Jon closely and see that he does look terrified. I want to comfort him, but before I can I need to get something out of the way. "Are you sure that's all you guys talked about?"

"Seemed like a morbid enough topic," Jon defends. "Jace seemed really saddened by it too. He wasn't very talkative afterward, almost as though he was in his own little world." He shrugs, "We know how Jace is, though, he's not on earth half of the time anyway." I sit in silence, not really wanting to talk, though I know that I need to try and make Jon feel better about Camille, since it is the sisterly thing to do. He is staring at me the entire time with his head cocked to the side as if trying to figure out the reason for our conversation. I know that he is going to ask, but I am not sure what to tell him. I don't know if I want to talk about it, but I know that he isn't exactly who I want to talk about it with considering the fact that he has somehow caused this whole dammed problem.

"I've already deduced that you're here because of my conversation with Jace yesterday," Jonathan says, sounding as though he's reading the facts from a notebook.

"No shit, Sherlock," I grumble, feeling too miserable to try and be civil with my brother, especially when he was trying to be nosy…understandably nosy, but nosy all the same.

"Is there an actual reason why you're upset about us talking?" he asks me. "You're not turning into one of those controlling psychos, are you? If you're about to start beating me up because I'm taking time away from your man, then we need to talk—"

"Jon," I say, "shut up." His attempt to lighten the mood is appreciated but not tolerated.

"Then tell me why you came and slapped me out of a rather nice dream that I was having about—"

"Stop!" I yelp. "Please don't go any further in case you start going into the too much information category."

"Spill," he says simply. His stance over me is tall and rigid. I know that either I fess up, or he was going to torment me with something that I would never be able to get over…I'm not sure what it could be, but I am not willing to risk my day getting any worse.

"Jace said that he talked to you yesterday," I say quietly, looking down at my hands. "He…he said that what you said made him think and that…that he was breaking up with me." I bite my lip and look up at him, my eyes wide and I can feel them burning with the need to cry.

"Oh god," Jon says. His voice is only a groan, but he walks over to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder as he sits down. I am almost pulled into his lap as he holds me tightly, rubbing my back. I am crying like an idiot by now and do not care, my heart is completely broken, and not because of the fact that I lost Jace, though that definitely was a part of it. My heart was broken because every time I close my eyes I see the look of agony on his face when he tells me that it's over.

Why is he doing this? Why is he hurting me so much when it's obviously causing him so much pain?

"Please!" I groan to Isabelle, who had come all the way from her house to mine to pick me up for school Monday morning. "I already told you I don't want to go today!"

"I already told you that I don't care," she sniffs. "Simon and I both agree that we are not letting this douche move from Jace get the better of you! So you might as well get with the program."

"My mom already told me that I could stay home, and Jon already left!" I protest, trying to wrench my arm out of her grip. She has my wrist in one hand, and a hastily grabbed outfit in another. "I'm not going!"

"Are you afraid?" Isabelle demands, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. She let me go and I stumble back a few feet before regaining my footing. She puts her hands on her hips and purses her lips as she looks me up and down, clearly waiting for an answer.

"Yes," I reply, not feeling an ounce of shame.

"Then get over it and get in the shower," she says. "The Clary Morgenstern that I know isn't afraid of Jace Herondale."

"I'm not afraid of Jace," I tell her quietly, knowing for some reason that the statement is true.

"Then what could you be afraid of?" Isabelle exclaims, pushing her long black hair behind her shoulder with a huff.

"I can't explain it," I groan. "I guess…I'm afraid of…" seeing that look on his face again. "Hurting."

"Yeah," Izzy says, giving me the first expression close to sympathy that I've seen on her face since she barged into my room ten minutes before, "I can understand that. You're going to feel it anyway though, so do it now and get it over with as soon as you can. Simon and I will be there with you as much as we can, I promise."

I look at her with a weak half-smile, feeling myself giving in as much as I don't want to. "Fine," I say. "We're going to be late though."

Isabelle shrugs, "I figured that we'd miss first anyway."

Okay, peeps! No Clary and Jace altercation yet, but guess what! It's coming! I've been up to my ears in work, so I wasn't able to work on this chapter immediately, which it why I posted it so late and why it isn't as long as some of you were requesting. Sorry. How is all of this sounding so far? I tried to keep this chapter as light and humorous as possible, but I'm afraid that it's kind of hard when everyone's miserable. Go figure. By the way OMFG! I cannot believe the feedback I got from last chapter! All of it was either supportive, or made me laugh. You're all the best! I got 53 reviews for that one chapter…I almost had a heart attack. I love you all! :)

So, if I can manage to not get too behind on my homework for school again (you're welcome guys), the next chapter will be up soon! Lemme know what you think on your way out! How bad do you think things are going for Jace right now? Jon? How do you think the talks between Jace and Clary are going to be when they occur? Lemme know, cause you know that they make my day!