The lights of the infirmary were off; late afternoon sunlight flooded in through the windows lining the far wall. The rows of beds, all with identical white sheets, were made up and ready, waiting for the next ailing Shadowhunters to use them. Only one was occupied. A small, pale figure with a shock of bright red hair reclined in the bed, propped up on a number of pillows. Her green eyes met Jace's across the room and followed his progression toward her.

Clary.

She offered him the smallest of smiles as he approached her bedside. He took her hand in his. He had always been tanner than she was, but she was so pale now, he could see her veins beneath the nearly translucent skin on the back of her hand. Had she really only been with the demon for a single day? She looked so sick, so fragile. What had it done to her? Seeing her like this, even with how much better she was now than how she had been when he'd first found her, it filled him with rage. Yanluo was dead-Jem and Simon had made sure of that. He was gone and probably wouldn't be back for a while. That would have to be good enough.

He stared down at her hand in his for a second before looking up and meeting her eyes again. "Do you know," he asked quietly, his voice timid in the way only Clary ever heard it, "how worried I've been?"

She gave his hand a weak squeeze. "I'm okay. You saved me."

"I should never have let that thing take you in the first place."

"There was nothing you could have done. This isn't your fault, Jace. It's not any of ours. You know who's fault it is, and from what I've heard, he's gone."

Jace tightened his grip on her hand, looking down again. His own had begun shaking and he closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. "I just love you, Clary," he said, "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. And I can't lose you. I can't."

"You won't," she answered gently, paused for a moment, and then abruptly said, "Jace." He looked up, waiting. "Kiss me," she whispered, her eyes, like emeralds, boring into his. He stared at her for a few seconds, hesitating, and then slowly leaned toward her. The kiss was gentle, so gentle-she just looked so fragile, but he poured everything into it, all the fear, and worry, and love, and the wall he'd built up since Clary had gone missing fell down, so abruptly it was almost painful. A shiver ran down his spine.

He pulled away, but kept his face mere centimeters from hers, resting his forehead against hers, breathing in her familiar scent. "I love you," he quietly told her again.

"I love you too." Jace pulled reluctantly away then and straightened. Clary spoke, "My mom said everything was okay, that it's over… Is that true? Is… Is he really gone?"

Jace nodded. "He's gone. We won."

She seemed to process his words for a moment. "What happened?"

"The Clave picked up the army's presence when it entered our realm this morning. Gia got word to Maryse and gathered what Shadowhunters she could. They met us in Central Park-I know," he said when Clary raised her eyebrows slightly at the mention of the public location, "It was last minute."

"How did you manage to kill him?" she asked, "Asmodeus, I mean."

"Magnus' plan worked, but I don't know specifics. I wasn't there." At her disbelieving expression, he amended, "I left. Asmodeus was bragging about what he'd done with you, how he'd orchestrated the whole thing. He obviously thought he was going to kill us, so he didn't care what we knew. He ended up giving us all the information we needed to find you. I wasn't about to wait around and waste time while you were being poisoned and tortured."

"So what-"

"Alec."

"Alec?" She looked surprised, if not slightly dubious.

He nodded. "I drew the rune on his arm and left. Magnus knew the plan. I guess they managed to work it out, being as it's over and we're all still here. And before you ask, Jem and Simon took care of Yanluo. I wasn't there for that either, and I didn't wait for details after I found you."

She nodded, as if that information was both satisfying and unsurprising. She eyed the infirmary around her. "We really need to stop ending up like this," she stated with some mirth, changing the subject, and met his eyes again, "With me almost dying and you waiting tirelessly at my bedside, making sure I'm okay. It seems to happen too often lately."

"The déjà vu is noted," Jace answered. Their positions had been similar, on a smaller scale, just weeks earlier, after the Morrow demon had attacked Clary and Simon in the street and almost killed her. He'd stayed by her bedside then, like he would have given his right arm to be allowed to do now. "And, by the Angel, Clary, I will make sure it doesn't happen again."

"You can't control that, Jace. Neither time was your fault."

"Maybe not. But you're still not patrolling without me anymore."

"That's okay with me," she said, "But if we have to patrol like we have been recently, you won't have to worry about it anyway because I'm quitting."

"I'll probably join you," Jace said after a moment. He hadn't enjoyed the perpetual long nights and early mornings any more than anyone else. He loved killing demons, but too much of a good thing was neither good nor healthy. Things would slow down, now that the Greater demon was off their backs. Things could potentially go truly back to normal for the first time since before Valentine-that is, if things could even be normal anymore.

"No, you won't. You live to Shadowhunt."

He shook his head. "I live for you now. I go where you do."

Clary smiled. "That sounds good to me." And then, the smile vanished as something apparently dawned on her. "Magnus," she said urgently, "My God, is he okay?"

"He's fine," Jace answered, "He's, well, he's apparently mortal now." Alec had found Jace briefly after the Shadowhunters had arrived back from the battle and had told him that Magnus had survived Asmodeus. Jace hadn't asked for details and Alec had clearly known that he didn't want them, as he hadn't offered anything further.

Clary looked shocked and confused. "He's mortal?"

"I guess so. That's what Alec told me. His powers are gone, and, likely, so is his immortality. You'll have to ask one of them if you want more information."

Clary, though, wore a small smile now, which, even with her obvious ailments, was beautiful. "So he's not immortal anymore. That means he and Alec can be together now; they can grow old together." She trailed off for a second before concluding, "That's sweet."

"Yes, adorable," Jace replied briskly, but frankly, he didn't disagree. Alec was his parabatai. He wanted him to be happy. Clary made a face at him. He took her hand again. "Hey, listen," he said then, "I have to leave soon. Brother Enoch only gave me ten minutes, but I want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, Jace," she answered, though he wasn't very inclined to believe her.

"Are you sure? Cause I can stay. Enoch can go-"

"I'm fine," she repeated, more forcefully than before, though her voice was so pathetically weak, it made his heart hurt. "Besides, the Silent Brothers would never allow it. Brother Enoch already threatened to sedate me once." Jace, for whatever reason, found this fact funny and not at all surprising.

Growing serious again, he looked down at her hand, still in in his, tracing small circles with his thumb on the back of it. "You don't know how scared I was, Clary. When I found you in that room, I thought you were already dead…"

"Hey," Clary responded, her weak voice gentle but firm, "I'm o-kay." She annunciated each syllable, as if to make her point, "I'm alive. Because of you."

Despite himself, Jace found himself smirking. "No. You're alive because you're Clary Fray, or Fairchild-whatever it is, and you, despite being small and delicate and beautiful, are the toughest, most stubborn person I have ever met in my entire life."

Clary smiled then too and after a minute, amended, "That too."

Brother Enoch appeared then, seemingly out of nowhere. Your time is up, he said in Jace's mind, Clarissa needs to rest.

Jace sighed, but didn't argue. He'd pushed his luck with him enough for now. "Okay." He met Clary's eyes again and cupped her face gently in his hands. "I love you," he told her one more time, "I'll come see you later." She nodded between his hands and he leaned forward and pressed his lips softly to hers again, unconcerned with the Silent Brother's presence. He pulled away, gave her a small smile, and turned to leave.

Clary watched Jace's retreating figure as he approached the door and disappeared through it. She had time only to rest her eyes for a second-she was already so tired, before she heard the door open again and Simon stepped into view.

He, like Jace and her mother, still wore fighting gear, which was dirty, torn, and stained with blood and ichor. The moment he saw her, he broke into a huge, familiar grin and hurried to her side. "Hey, how're you feeling?"

"Like my insides were removed, frozen, boiled, and then put back again."

His gaze turned sympathetic. He winced. "That bad?"

"Everything hurts."

He immediately looked down at her hand, which he had taken in his, and quickly released it, looking guilty. "Oh."

She forced a laugh through her aching chest. "You can touch me, Simon. It's okay."

He eyed her, but held her hand again, though he kept his grip lighter than before. "Um, alright."

"So, I heard you and Jem took care of Yanluo. How'd that go?"

Simon perked up. "Yeah. I mean, Jem was the one who actually killed it, but it was all thanks to my brilliant plan." He seemed very self-satisfied, for Simon anyway. He still had nothing on Jace. "I broke the windows in the factory and flooded the place with sunlight so Yanluo had nowhere to go but this little dark corner, which gave Jem the shot." He paused, looking thoughtful, "Wow, I guess it really sounds much lamer that way. It was truly very awesome."

"Uh huh," Clary said, amused. She was glad though. She hoped he'd died a painful death, even if only temporarily. "I'm sure it was."

"What? Don't believe me, Fray? Ask Jem. He'll tell you."

"That's okay, I believe you. Good thinking."

"Yup." He said and looked at her, or rather through her, his expression becoming faraway.

"Earth to Simon," Clary said, "Come back to me."

He focused on her again. "Sorry."

She eyed him. Something was on his mind, hidden behind those steady brown eyes. She could tell. "You okay?"

He blinked. "Am I okay? Have you seen yourself lately?" She didn't respond, but continued to watch him, waiting. He sighed. "I'm fine, Clary. I'm just… really glad you're okay. I didn't know if you were going to make it."

"I'm okay," she reassured him. She was saying those words a lot today.

He gave a small smile, looking oddly nervous. "I know. Thank God. I…" He squeezed her hand lightly, serious again. "Listen, I wanted to ask you something. I wasn't sure before, but all of this kind of put things in perspective."

"Okay," Clary said curiously, looking at him intently. Simon was rarely able to catch her off guard, but this was one of those times. The last time he'd been this nervous about telling her something, he'd been trying to ask her out. But that had been over a year ago, and he had Isabelle now. So it wasn't that. And no other idea her scattered, still-partially-poisoned mind could come up with held any water.

"I know I'm new to this whole Shadowhunter thing and everything, and that you're in pretty rough shape right now, but… I was wondering if you'd want to be my parabatai?" His rushed words rose at the end, forming a question. Clary was stunned. She definitely hadn't expected that. Mistaking her surprise, Simon started backtracking. "I mean, I just thought, because we've been best friends forever now and after everything we've been through that you'd want to. I hoped so anyway, but if you don't want to, it's fine. I mean, I-"

"Simon," Clary interrupted, smiling, "Shut up."

He opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again and looked away, resigning himself to, "Okay."

"Are you sure?" she asked him. She'd thought about becoming Simon's parabatai since the day he'd Ascended, though she never would have dared ask herself. She knew how overwhelming it was to be thrust into this world, even if Simon hadn't been as completely new to it as she had. She never would have burdened him with another thing to prepare for. And yet, here he was, asking her himself.

He looked back at her again. "Of course I'm sure," he answered quickly, "I'm positive."

Clary smiled wider. It hurt her face, but she didn't care. "Then you don't even have to ask."

He hesitated, looking at her carefully. "Was that a yes?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes," she laughed, "Of course, Simon." He smiled then, his expression as familiar to Clary as breathing.

He sighed, looking relieved, "Good."

"Did you really think I'd say no?"

"Well, no. I don't know. I hoped not." He took a deep breath. "I'm just glad you survived. I honestly don't know what any of us would have done if you didn't. I honestly haven't been able to think straight since I found out you were gone."

"I know," she replied.

"We'll have to do it before we turn eighteen. Apparently the ceremony needs to be performed before then."

She smirked. "You have been studying up."

He shrugged. "I don't go into everything blindly. Just most things." He grinned.

"Oh yeah? Well that's good to know." She squeezed his hand. "We'll figure it out. I've learned it's better not to worry about things you don't have to worry about. You'll live longer."

"In our line of work, not necessarily. But fair point."

She eyed him. "You didn't have to become a Shadowhunter, Simon."

"Yes, I did. And it doesn't matter, because I wanted to be. I'm just saying."

She gave a small smile again. "Well I'm glad you did too. It was never quite right for me without you."

It was only about two minutes later when Brother Enoch reappeared, this time to tell Simon he had to leave. He'd seemed pretty unhappy about it, but had complied. Clary knew he was more intimidated by the Silent Brothers than he would have ever admitted.

Rest now, Clarissa, Enoch's stern voice sounded in her head, but the command was rather unnecessary. By the time Simon was out the door, her eyes were already drooping, exhaustion pulling her down again into the darkness of unconsciousness, into the first truly dreamless sleep she'd had in ages.

Thanks for reading! Reviews are always appreciated!