Thank you all for the kind reviews. They're really what make me want to continue to write. This chapter is shorter too, so I'm sorry about that. But I hope you enjoy! I might update again later today.

Clary woke up around noon. She first checked her phone to see what time it was, and then she cursed herself for sleeping in so late. This was highly unlike her. Clary shook her head at herself. She tried remembering how late she'd gone to bed the night before but found that she was having difficulty doing so. It took a few moments later but she eventually managed to remember the day prior. There had been a Black Angel fight, but it wasn't bad. So, why did she wake up so late?

Pushing herself out of bed, Clary quickly got dressed and exited her room. She found Simon sitting on the couch reading something, and in the kitchen were Magnus and Alec having a conversation. Strange... very strange. Sure, Magnus and Alec had the most obvious of crushes on one another but they'd never both been at her apartment before. Especially not while she slept.

"Mags?" Clary said and all eyes were turned on her. "Alec? What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh." Magnus cleared his throat. He glanced from Simon to Alec and back to Clary. "We're just... hanging out."

Clary raised her eyebrows. "Here? But why?"

Alec shrugged. "We're all friends, I don't know why you're acting so surprised."

Clary opened her mouth to question this further, but she didn't know what to say. "Strange." She headed into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water.

"So, Clare," Simon started, "we were thinking of going to Taki's for lunch. Alec was going out with his sister and his roommate anyway and he invited us along."

"Oh." Clary took a sip while considering this. "Yeah, I guess that'd be fun." When the three boys exchanged a look, Clary began to feel left out. "Is there something that you guys would like to tell me?"

And just like that, they all answered "no" and continued on with what they had been doing before.

In an hour, the four were entering Taki's for lunch. As a habit, Clary kept a lookout for any suspicious activity. She couldn't help it. The past year or so had been a stressful one full of near-death experiences. Inside Taki's, Alec led them to a large booth where two people were already seated. One was a girl with long black hair and the other was a boy with golden hair. And he looked familiar. Like she'd met him in passing once. That was when it hit her: she had met him the day before at Java Jones.

"Jace, Isabelle," Alec said as they all sat down, "this is Clary." When Magnus cleared his throat, Alec also quickly added: "and Magnus and Simon."

"Alec, we met yesterday," Clary said gesturing to the golden-boy, Jace. For some reason, everyone froze after Clary said this.

"Really?" Simon asked putting his elbow on the table and his chin on his fist. "When?"

Clary narrowed her eyes at him. "At Java Jones when he and Alec came in, and I invited Alec to Magnus' party." At this, Magnus put both his hands over his mouth. Clary was becoming increasingly more confused. She turned to Jace. "You remember that conversation, right?"

Jace nodded very slowly. He was practically expressionless right now, but his eyes still seemed to bore deep into Clary's.

Clary chuckled trying to clear the awkward tension in the air. "Good. So..." She looked around at the others again, still so confused. "You guys ready to order or..."


"At least now we know exactly how much time she lost," Alec was saying to Jace.

Jace nodded. "Yeah, that is a good thing. I was just a little surprised when she said we'd already met. Got my hopes up." He scoffed a little and shook his head. "It feels like everything is back at square one now."

"I get it. I mean, I don't get it because I've never been in a situation like this, but I can kind of imagine how you've got to be feeling right now."

Jace smiled and looked over at his friend. Since lunch, they hadn't really discussed Clary. Jace hadn't wanted to. Now, it was six am the next day. The two boys were walking through the halls of a hospital. When they arrived at their predestined door, Jace took a deep breath.

"So, you're about to see some grade-A acting, my dear Alec."

Alec rolled his eyes. "You basically acted every single moment of this entire past year, what are you talking about?"

"This is different." Jace shook his head. "You'll see."

He pushed opened the door and stepped through with Alec entering behind him. The patient they had come to see looked up at their presence and raised an eyebrow at the.

"Hi," Jace greeted. He stopped a few feet from the bed. "My name is Jace, you don't know me."

"Clearly," Sebastian said.

"I'm a friend of your sister's," Jace continued. "I'm sure that the doctors have already talked to you a bit, but I figured you would want to know some of the details about everything that happened."

Sebastian looked past Jace and Alec a moment. "A friend of my sister's? I haven't seen her in years. Why-" He shook his head. "Why didn't she just come herself?"

Jace took a few more steps forward doing his best to look sullen. "Clary didn't know if you would want to see her after everything that's happened. So, she's keeping her distance until things calm down a bit. Now, can I ask what all the doctors have told you?"

Sebastian thought for a minute before answering. "I've been in a coma for a little over a year because of a car crash. The damage is thankfully minimal and I should experience few side effects in the distant future."

Jace nodded. "Right. You were in a car crash because you were so distraught over your father's state of wellbeing that you lost focus and swerved into the oncoming traffic. About two weeks later, your dad passed away. And... he wanted to tell you some things." Sebastian's eyes were wide, but he said nothing as Jace took a few more steps forward. "Before he ultimately died, Valentine wanted to tell you that it was okay. He wasn't upset or in pain or anything. He felt that it was his time and his only regret was having not spent more time with you and Clary. He wished that he could've been a better dad, but he didn't want you to have any doubts about how much he loved you."

Sebastian was staring forward at the wall. "He said that?"

Jace shrugged. "I may have paraphrased a bit, it was over a year ago, but basically."

Closing his eyes, Sebastian took a deep breath. "Would you mind if I spent a bit of time alone?"

Jace nodded and smiled. "Of course. If you want to talk or ask me anything, your nurse has my number."

"Thanks."

Jace and Alec left. Immediately after the door closed, Alec's jaw dropped.

"How did you manage that?" Alec asked sounding starstruck.

Jace smirked. "Well, I brought him here in costume. The staff was pretty willing to go along with anything I said. Then, I told him a couple of his old buddies and family friends would be informed-me and you- and the rest is in my hands. Jace's hands, to clarify."

Alec took his head. "You really do amaze me sometimes."

"I amaze myself too."

"So, what about Clary? Are you going to tell her about Sebastian?"

Jace shrugged. He started to walk through the halls and Alec followed. "I know I should, but I don't know how I'm supposed to. It's just like her amnesia thing. How are we supposed to bring it up?"

"I don't know. It's certainly a delicate situation."

"Simon hid her current costume and put her old costume in its spot, right?" Jace asked remembering that Clary had designed them new costumes.

Alec nodded. "Simon took care of all of that sort of stuff. I think that Clary is going to start picking up on stuff, though, when Black Angel doesn't attack for the next few days."

"That's it!" Jace exclaimed. He stopped walking and turned to Alec. "I'll tell her about everything as Badger. That'll make way more sense."

"Are you going to tell her everything?"

Jace opened his mouth but then closed it. Could he tell her that he knew her identity and she knew his? This was becoming far more complicated than he felt it needed to be.

"I don't know," Jace said. "I'll take another day and I'll figure it out. For now, let's just make sure Clary's doing alright."