Jem.

"School's out" I stare at the clock on the wall, quickly growing annoyed at staring at the floor. "Now's your chance to run away if you want to"

"I'm not going anywhere, Jem" Tessa leans backwards, clearly unhappy. The sour thought that maybe she should be enters my head; I get up and start pacing. "You're mad with me" I can't disagree with her. I can't exactly just agree either. "I don't know what else to do, Jem" She says quietly. "What can I do?" I'm gnawing my lip, mind racing. I don't want to be mad at her. "Jem-" I hold out my hand and she stops talking, looking down at her jeans.

She hadn't been in school all day. She'd been here, at the station.

I spy Maryse coming in from the outside chill, her face pale and worried - another person who had been here all day, like Tessa. I head over and she brushes her hands on her skirt, thoughts working at her eyes.

"Robert is picking Max up – they're going home. I phoned Alec; he's bringing Magnus and Izzy here. You and your…lot" She looks at me properly. "Why are you still here? There's too many people" I feel sorry for her. She looks calm and collected and every bit of the business person she is. She's only trying to make things easier, things process quicker. She's right. We are probably getting in the way. "Oh, wait, your friends. Trying to- yes, of course" She nods and rubs the side of her head with her fingers. "Any luck?"

"I haven't heard anything yet"

"Something else on your mind?" She asks suddenly, her face softening. Perhaps she wants a distraction.

"Only how all of this is going to get very messy as soon as Magnus walks through that door" I sigh and look at the doorway like he'd parade in any second. No, he'll be walking. Best give him at least fifteen minutes.

"Jem" I turn to the voice beside me and instantly regret it. "No – don't ignore me – I'm trying to fix this"

Will.

"It isn't your problem. Never should have been your damn problem"

Will freakin' Herondale.

The best person you could want at your side for anything – but probably the person to put you there in the first place.

"Hey" He counters me and glances at Maryse. She's an unwavering force – unmoving. I think she finds the resemblance of this New Person to Alec a little too uncanny, though. She can't quite work him out and she keeps double-checking him. "They've interviewed Tessa" He explains to me.

"I know that, Will"

"Stop it – calm down" He tells me, another hand on my other arm like he never went away to begin with. "They're interviewing Camille now. Just do me a favor and tell them everything exactly as you told me"

"For all the good that did you"

"Just do it, ok? Jace hasn't done anything – hasn't been a reoccurring problem in the school corridors – just explain how-" He lowers his voice as Camille and an officer walk out of a room.

"I've been without you for two years, Will" I snap my arm from his grip. "You don't need to treat me like I'm twelve"

"James Carstairs?" I turn around and the nice officer we've been liasing with is waiting for me. Tessa clearly just pointed me out, she's smiling encouragingly but I can't look at her for long. "Would it be alright if we interviewed you, next?" I check my watch. Magnus could arrive at any time.

"Don't you have anyone else?"

"We've done everybody except yourself and Mr. Bane. We've sent a couple of officers to collect him" I laugh at that and he looks at me funny.

"It's just that—he doesn't …"

"Jem" Will's eyes are boring into me- I can feel them. At the officer, I nod, completely ignoring both Will and Tessa as I follow the officer to the interview room. I can only hope this is quick and that Magnus takes longer to get here than fifteen minutes. He isn't going to cope well with this.

Magnus.

Izzy walks with me. Alec takes the car but Izzy offers to walk with me to the station – I think she's trying to delay the inevitable. We talk about nonsense for most of the way before a police car rolls up and she panics. I calm her down and hold her hand – but the officers ask for me. Cue the spectacle of trying to get me into the police car.

After five minutes of serious reasoning, one officer drives back to the station and the other accompanies mine and Izzy's walk. He's called Luke – and he'll only tell me that I'm to be interviewed at the station because I'm a witness to an assault at a school.

He doesn't understand why I laugh when he's finished. Izzy is pale and nervous. I keep having to remind myself that she doesn't know any of this.

We reach the station and I halt – Izzy rushing straight into her mothers arms in a very un-Lightwood-like way. For one, I've never seen Izzy move so quickly. Maryse has never displayed so many emotions at once.

"Magnus?" Luke prompts me inside and I take all of one step before I'm pounced on by Camille.

"I should explain things, right?" She looks bright and tired all at the same time. She glances at Luke. "I'll make sure he gets inside, don't worry. Just give us a minute, k?" Luke nods and disappears. All my emotions seem to bubble in my stomach. "Do you want the bad n-"

"Stop pussy-footing around, dear" I tell her. "Is Alec here?"

"He's talking to Jace – he got in about ten minutes ago"

"Good"

"Magnus-" She tries.

"Where's Jem?"

"Being interviewed" She takes my hand and I suck in a breath. "Okay. Basically, what happened was-"

"Will" I gape, eyes locked over Camille's shoulder.

"Yeah….he's sort of…back" Her hand falls from mine and she starts to play with her hair nervously. "He's been helping and stuff and-" Will walks closer, nudging Camille's shoulder with the perfect smile that instantly calms her. It's probably good that Camille's here. They'd be the perfect power couple on another planet.

"I got this, babe" She nods at him, thankful, and leaves with a small squeeze to my arm.

"Hi there, Maggie-bear" Will grins.

"You're here and trouble starts. Why am I not surprised?"

"Because you're too stunned, seeing this handsome face?" He juts his chin and I can't help but smile. We'd had nothing but skype contact and emails for about two years.

"Just explain to me what you did and we'll fix it" I sigh. He puts an arm around my shoulder and steers me to the waiting room. "Just tell me!" I flip, whacking his hands away.

"I got in last night. Went to see Jem. Told me about The Pool Incident. I got – rightly – pissed off"

"Went to beat up a few people?" I guess.

"Wasn't too hard to find one Sebastian and Haig. What kinds of names are those, anyway? Idiots"

"You actually beat them up?" I breathe, disbelieving.

"Yeah – only instead of going to the police with an assault charge for me – they told them about the pool incident and named Tessa as a key witness to everything Jace had done. Needless to say, they turned up on her doorstep at first light this morning and she told them everything" He pauses to see my reaction – which, at the moment – is nonexistent. Will takes it as his cue to continue. "They then went to arrest Jace at his house – brought him in for questioning. By which point, Tessa had cried to Jem – Jem had yelled at me and I went to Camille-"

"But I saw Jem and Camille this morning" I recall seeing them in the cafeteria at lunch.

"Jem has been ignoring Tessa since she told him" He says, an edge in his voice which clearly tells me he's torn between agreeing with his best friend, or soothing his best friends girlfriend. "When I called Camille for a part-way break, she and Jem left school half way through lunchtime and came here"

"Didn't think to call me and let me in on this?" Will doesn't answer straight away. "Or did you think you could fix it all before I can shout at you for putting my boyfriend's brother in jail for something you know nothing about?"

"There are far too many additional details in all of this to talk about now. So why don't we just get this out of the way. I've been trying to fix this all day with Maryse-"

"You and Maryse?" I quirk an eyebrow. "How did that go?"

"I'm still alive – Robert was nice. Listen, they're going to need to interview you. So just tell them everything as it happened at the pool. Your stories will all match up if you stick to the truth"

"Don't people usually tell other people to lie, in interviews?"

"If they have shit to hide, yes. Jace didn't do anything at the pool – nothing physical. We can play with that. Just stick to your story and-"

"You do realize the last time I went into one of those interview rooms – it didn't go very well"

"I remember" Will reaches a hand to my head and I fight to duck it away. He's being far too cool and calm and clear about his. Maybe it's easier for him, being from an outside perspective. "Just do this – get through this, and I'll explain everything over Double Chocolate Fudge Sundae's afterwards, ok?"

"Magnus Bane?" An officer comes over and nods in recognition of Will. "We're ready to interview you now"

"Hey" Jem pops up on my other side. "It's actually sort of ok" He says, rubbing the back of his neck looking relieved. "I'm sorry about all of this – if I'd have known I'd have stopped him from-"

"Stop it" I tell him, quickly hugging him close. His hands reach around my back and he squeezes lightly. "Blaming is going to help nobody right now" We separate and I follow the officer into the interview room, sitting down on a cold metal chair. He smiles encouragingly at me but I can't copy it.

Will.

"You're damn lucky he didn't punch you" Jem mutters as we watch Magnus be led into the room.

"Yeah. I know" I sigh. "Once they interview him then they'll have all the info they need. They'll see Sebastian and Haig's story is a load of crap and then it'll backfire on them. If they're feeling nice, they'll ask us what your collective punishment should be for Jace"

"Why did you even come here?" Jem's mad with me. It's wrong – Jem being mad. He's a light ball of hope and positivity. But he'll barely talk to Tessa and he's being cold with me.

"I told you. I read Facebook. I know when something's off"

"You didn't have to rush out and attack them" He folds his arms around himself. "So I blame you" I start at this. "I blame Sebastian and Haig for having the smarts to turn this to their advantage. I blame Tessa for having no will against the police and I blame myself for telling you anything" He flits his icy eyes to me. "Call me ungrateful – but I was happy before you screwed all of this up. So I don't want to have a calm conversation where you make me smile and we're all pal-like" He turns to walk away and I almost let him.

"I've spent all day trying to make this ok" I say, for a countless time. "So don't hate me for too long, hey?" He walks off regardless and I lose him. He goes outside and Camille watches me carefully before sidling up beside me.

"Is the bromance over?" I don't need to say anything for her to loop her arm through mine comfortingly. "Give it a few days; he's terrible at holding a grudge"

"Maybe I did fly off the handle"

"You felt useless" She reasons. "You've been in France for two years with nothing but a computer between us all. Suddenly finding out something like this must've wracked you – you've always been protective of them"

"All of you" I amend, smiling at her. "But you've always been especially capable"

"Mostly so" She grins at me. "Now let's go cheer Tessa up and go and get some coffee"

"You aren't going to introduce me to Mr. Tall-dark-and-handsome, over there?" I indicate to the figure coming out of the corridor, looking a bit overwhelmed.

"That's Alec" She explains, watching my expression before laughing. "Don't get jealous"

"He's hot" I comment. "Magnus chose well. Now that I say that – I agree"

"With?" My eyes wander over to Maryse and the girl stood over by the waiting room.

"The Lightwoods. They definitely hit the jackpot-gene-pool" Camille laughs as we head over to the cafeteria; I hold my hand out for Tessa as we reach her and she takes it, but she's cold and close to tears. Suddenly, Alec is standing beside us.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Alec" He blurts, perhaps a bit nervous. "Magnus…mentionedyou"

"That's encouraging" I don't want to make him awkward my telling him that Magnus hadn't told me anything of him. Jem had, last night. And the fact that Alec was Jace's brother, and Jace had done nothing to stop the terrorization of my friends. So I'm feeling conflicted as he holds out his hand for me to shake. Out of habitual politeness, I do "Nice to finally meet you, Alec" We release hands.

"I just wanted to say thank you" His yes flit across all of us. "I know you've been here all day and I'm sorry it's been difficult – sorry that it's even come to this" He smiles a bit more confidently. "But it's turning around so…whatever you're doing, it's working"

"Hopefully" Camille adds with a smile.

"Is Magnus here yet?" Alec then asks.

"He's being interviewed" I tell him. "He'll be a while"

"Right…" His head ducks and his hair falls over his eyes a bit.

"We're going for a drink while we wait – do you err…want to come?" Camille asks. Alec looks considerate, but he shakes his head and looks outside to the door.

"I'm okay, thanks. I'll …Jem's out there on his own, so…" He shrugs.

"Fine" I start walking away. "See you in a bit, then"

"Yeah" I hear him say, already making a beeline for Jem.

"So he stole my gay best friend, now he's stealing my bromance with Jem?"

"I don't know" Camille shrugs unhelpfully with a grin. "Best watch out then. Might steal me, too!"

"What an abominable thought!"