Sorry that I haven't updated in so long! It's just been wild with holidays. Anyway, hope y'all like this chapter even though it's just kind of a filler! Also, some people were wondering if Clary would get a new power too. To that, I say: just wait.

The days were ticking by now and they were turning into weeks. They were slow and quiet and uneventful. To many people, this would be seen as a good sign. To Clary, this felt like just about one of the worst things ever. What could Black Angel possibly be doing? Why wasn't he attacking? He hadn't made a single appearance since his clones raided the Apple store. Where was he?

Clary tried keeping her head clear of these thoughts as she went about her normal civilian life. Currently, she was at work. Magnus was on his break, and she could see him sitting with Alec and everyone else at a table. She had declined to take her break early with him so the group could all hang out for a bit. She didn't need to be talking to Jace right now. Or ever.

Isabelle approached the counter and took a seat on an empty stool. Clary smiled up at her and rested her elbows on the counter. It was a slow day in Java Jones. This, due to the lack of Black Angel activity, was even less appreciated.

"What's up, Iz?" Clary wondered.

"Nothing." She shook her head. "I was just growing bored over there and figured I'd see how you're doing. Plus, you looked lonely."

Clary smiled and tried to look like she was busy working as she continued the conversation. "I was just spacing out. Everything's been so... off lately."

"Like what?"

"I don't really know." She did, obviously. "Things have been so quiet around here lately."

"I mean, yeah. What with the lack of Black Angel attacks and everything. It's been nice though. No new deaths or injuries. I can't imagine how relaxing it's got to be for Badger and Blindeye."

"Or nerve-wracking," Clary muttered and Isabelle raised an eyebrow. "I'm just thinking that they've got to be wondering what's going to happen next. When was the last time that Black Angel had ever gone quiet for so long?"

"You make a fair point," she agreed. Then, she shook her head. "Let's forget about all of that though. It's not our problem anyway. What do you say that we do something tonight and try to make that 'off' feeling go away? We've never just hung out you and me."

Clary nodded. "You know what, that might be nice."

"Good." Isabelle's smile was infectious. "I'll just cancel my plans with Simon and we-"

"Aww," Clary cut the other girl off suddenly feeling bad. "I don't want you to cancel plans you already have. We can just do it another night."

"Or I could invite Si along." She shrugged.

"Well, what would we be doing?"

Isabelle thought for a few moments. "I don't know. Bar, go to a club maybe."

"We really are different people, huh," Clary sighed. But she decided it actually would be nice to get out for once and agreed anyway. "Sounds good. Invite Simon if you want, but don't expect him to say yes."

"If I invited all the other guys too do you think he would be more inclined to say yes?"

Clary's eyes practically bulged out of her skull and she knew it. Immediately, she was stammering, searching for a solid way to answer no. "I mean, probably not. He's really only close with Magnus so I don't see why the presence of those three would at all change his mind on-"

"Hey, guys!" Isabelle shouted ignoring Clary's protests. Magnus, Alec, Jace, and Simon all turned to Isabelle at once. Clary groaned and let her head hit the counter in front of her in a rather loud bang. "Wanna do something tonight? Go to a bar or club or whatever?"

Not surprisingly, Magnus answered first. "Obviously. Alec and I will definitely be there." Alec attempted to protest, Magnus continued ignoring him. "Jace and Simon will certainly be coming as well."

"Who said that at all?" Jace questioned throwing up his hands in exasperation. "What if I was busy tonight?"

"Are you busy tonight?" Magnus deadpanned.

"Well..." Jace sighed. "I mean no, but-"

"Then you'll be there." Magnus smiled brightly as he turned back to Isabelle and shot her a thumbs up.

The girl turned to Clary and shrugged a little. "What can I say?" She smirked. "Magnus and I are certainly a force to be reckoned with."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." At this point, there was nothing Clary could do but just go along with it. And hope that there would be an attack tonight to get her out of this. "I should be getting back to actually working though." She gestured to the coffee shop around them and Izzy nodded.

"Okay, I'll text you the details for tonight later." As she reached the table, she turned to the boys. "And I'll text you guys too."

Clary stared at her group of friends for a moment longer. The more time that passed by, the more she wanted to tell the rest of them the truth. Actually, she was surprised that Magnus hadn't figured it all out yet. He had certainly seemed to be on her trail for a while there. It didn't matter though because he didn't know and that was okay. That was good.

That evening when Clary was home from work she sat on the couch watching whatever was on tv as Simon finished up something for the Times. It wasn't unusual for him to bring his work home. After a few minutes, Clary clicked the tv off. She pushed herself off the couch and walked over to the table that Simon was working out.

"What's that story about?" she asked genuinely curious since there was no Black Angel story to be written at the moment.

"Rising taxes," Simon answered deadpanned. The bored look on his face when he turned to her told her just how much he didn't like writing it.

"Sorry there's nothing fun for you to write about." Clary chuckled and headed off to her room so she could get changed for tonight. The group was going to a bar, mainly because Alec and Simon protested a club too much.

"Don't be," Simon called back, "I'm rather happy that things have been quiet around here. Your leg is finally healing properly for once."

Clary shook her head as she decided between two tops. She'd rather be staying in tonight. Relaxing and drawing without having anything to worry about. Though that was a huge lie because Sebastian was always on her mind. And anyway, she'd stayed in for the past week every single night. She'd gotten several new sketches done too. Art was coming back to her in her newly found boredom. But it still just didn't feel the same.

Done dressing, Clary walked back out to the main room. Simon didn't need to change and it was almost the time that Isabelle had set for them all to meet up.

"You ready?" Clary asked.

Simon glanced up at her and nodded. Then, he finished writing something and stuck his stack of papers into a folder. "Yeah, I'm driving." Holding up one hand, he waited until Clary tossed the keys to him.

At the bar, Clary found that Isabelle certainly had a way of bringing any event to life. The place was already packed when they got there but Isabelle's presence somehow made it seem even fuller than it already was. Clary decided that she would try to have a good time tonight. If not for the sake of Isabelle then for herself. She deserved it, right?

With that thought in mind, Clary followed Izzy to the bar. The girl ordered some shots and other drinks for the group and, when they came, offered one to Clary. She took it with every intention of drinking it. That is until Jace stopped her.

"Are you sure you should be drinking that?" He leaned back against the bar beside her. Clary looked to her other side to find that Isabelle had walked off with Simon.

"Why not?" Clary asked. She knew why not. She wasn't dumb. In fact, this would be the first night that she'd be getting drunk since she got her superpowers. Yeah, she had about a year's worth of sorrows to drown and the past few weeks events did not help.

"Well, I'm just imagining a drunk Blindeye having to fight Black Angel and the outcome doesn't look particularly good." Jace raised an eyebrow at her. In response, Clary downed a shot. It burned.

"The outcome is never good." She shrugged turning back to the bar and sitting on one of the stools. "And besides, he hasn't appeared for nearly two weeks. So, drink." She gestured to the glass that was in front of him. Jace looked down at it, his lips pursed.

"I... can't get drunk. My regenerative abilities don't allow it."

"Then why did you even come out?"

Jace opened and closed his mouth. "Designated driver." At Clary's disbelieving look, he sighed. "Like I said, imagining a drunk Blindeye."

"I can take care of myself, Jace," Clary said and she downed another shot. Apparently, her tolerance had turned to crap in the past year because she was already feeling pretty woozy.

"Clearly." Jace didn't say anything else, just stared at Clary. Then, he turned and walked away.

Clary let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Regaining the composure she still had, she grabbed her drink from the bar and walked off to find one of her other friends.

A few hours passed by and the night was turning out to be pretty fun. Of course, Jace had to have sober fun while he watched the rest of his friends get shitfaced. But he was enjoying himself nonetheless. As it turned out, playing pool with a bunch of drunks made it so easy to win. Now, Jace was sitting at a table that their group had claimed solely to keep their food and drinks on. Everyone else was doing something else. Isabelle was singing terrible karaoke. Simon was cringing watching her. Magnus and Alec were making out in a corner though Jace tried to avoid looking at that. And Clary was... somewhere. Actually, where was she?

As if on cue, the girl in question plopped down on the seat beside Jace. She was drunk, that much was clear.

"Where have you been?" Jace wondered slightly amused by her current disheveled state.

"I have been looking for you." She tapped him on the nose when she said that and Jace's curiosity peeked. He hadn't spoken much with her throughout the night since their interaction when they first got to the bar.

"And why were you looking for me?" The nice thing about drunks is that Jace doesn't have to read their minds to know what they're thinking, they'll just tell him.

"Because I wanted to do this." She leaned towards him and she would've kissed him had Jace not stuck his hand up stopping her. Clary furrowed her eyebrows at the hand that was now pressed against her lips. She leaned back, her face crinkled up in disappointment and confusion. "You don't like me," she said simply and it sounded like a toddler pouting. It nearly broke Jace's heart.

"You know that's not true." Jace reached out to grab her hand but she pulled it back from him.

"Then why won't you kiss me?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

Jace thought for a moment. "How much of this do you think you'll remember in the morning?"

She glared at him. "I'm not that drunk." The slur in her voice certainly begged to differ.

"Cool. So, in the morning you're definitely going to be beyond embarrassed and will try avoiding me for about a week. That's good to know." He smiled, shaking his head. "Listen, Clary, I think we both know how we feel about each other. But I can't kiss you because we can't be getting distracted. If Black Angel knocks you down I can't be losing my mind worried about whether or not you're okay because I still have to stop him. Lord knows that if we started dating I wouldn't want you to come along on a single battle." He set his hand against her cheek cupping it. "You know, I've had a crush on you since the beginning. Or rather, I've had a crush on Blindeye. Then, I met you and I started falling for you and finding out that you two are the same people... that was something."

Clary was staring intently back into his eyes. There was a part of him that was happy she probably wouldn't remember most of this in the morning. Another part of him wished she would.

"But you want to know what's really holding me back from kissing you right now?" Jace asked. His thumb was gently skimming over Clary's lower lip. She nodded her head. "When I kiss you, not if, it's not going to be while you're drunk. And when I kiss you, it's going to be perfect."

Jace dropped his hand from Clary's face and leaned away from her. Her eyes were wide and her lips were still a little parted. At that moment, Isabelle approached the table and seemed to break both of them from their trance.

"You guys about ready to head home?" She looked back and forth between them, hopefully not picking up on anything.

"Yeah." Jace cleared his throat and stood up. "I'll drive."