A/N: Helloo. I know I said I was going to update more but that plan went down the drain due to work and just, you know, life. I'm sorry about the wait and the story not being updated as much towards the end. In a couple days, I'll be going on vacation for almost a week (heading to the land of this Jace) and I'm hoping to write for this story, and my other ones, during those flights. Try, being the key word. Please continue to bear with meee.

Anyway, here you go! There's a ton of songs mentioned in this chapter, but only two have lyrics in the story.

You Don't Know Me - Michael Buble

Always On My Mind - Michael Buble

The Nearness of You - Norah Jones

Angels - Mayday Parade

I feel like this is an important one, in terms of imagination, so I hope you can listen along! In italics is Jonathan, in bold in Simon, and underlined is Alec and Clary.

You give your hand to me

Jace's eyes got wide, and he pursed his lips in amusement when Clary did a tiny jump as Michael Buble's "You Don't Know Me" began to play.

Then you say hello

I can hardly speak

My heart is beating so

She shook Simon's shoulder in excitement while trying to remain unseen behind him. Simon adjusted his glasses and simply kept talking to Dylan, who stood in front of him at one of the tall round tables precisely placed around the Lightwoods' living room.

And anyone can tell

You think you know me well

But you don't know me

Jace looked over his shoulder when Jocelyn's familiar voice approached him as she said, "That's her favorite from this album."

He looked forward and grinned at how Clary was still pestering Simon, who blatantly ignored her. Dylan looked uncomfortable to continue in conversation with him.

"I'd tell you to ask her to dance, but"—Jocelyn pointed—"it's tradition."

Jace's gaze followed Jocelyn's finger and saw Clary and Simon slow dancing. He figured he finally gave in, and his refusal was something he did every year. He smiled a little at the way Clary looked so content, and Simon glanced down at her, catching her expression, and smiled himself, resting his chin on top of her head.

"I'd be jealous, but it's too precious," Jace mumbled, leaning on his left elbow on another of the round tables. He looked over to his right at Jocelyn and grinned. "You look quite nice."

Jocelyn tilted her head and smiled slightly at him. "As do you." Jace turned, and Jocelyn narrowed her eyes. "Wait. No comment about knowing that you're pretty? Who are you and what have you done with Jonathan Christopher?"

He glanced at her from the side of his eyes. "I am not pretty. I am ruggedly handsome." He looked forward. "Ruggedly."

Jocelyn looked up at Jace, and then into the direction that he couldn't keep his eyes away from. Isabelle walked to the table to stand beside Dylan with the same silly grin Jace had.

She leaned in and whispered, "I can show you pictures."

He slowly looked back at her and gave a nod as she tried to read his expression.

He turned away, and Jocelyn gulped. She could see that it saddened him to realize that he was just becoming a part of that group of friends. She could see that he realized he had missed so much. She looked down because she could see it in his eyes that he wished he could've been.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "I would have prefered you be there during those years," she told him, and he smiled sadly.

"Me too."

"Jace," Jocelyn said, and he looked down at her, hearing the serious tone in her voice. She smiled a little at the boy she watched grow up with her own children. The golden-haired boy who followed her daughter wherever she went. The boy who had his mother's looks and his father's personality. He was the perfect mix of his mother's charm and his father's seriousness. He was the perfect blend of his mother's wildness and his father's ability to stay grounded. Jocelyn missed Jace in sudden floods, and this was one of them. Jace was the one she was most concerned about when they left. She became even more concerned when Clary no longer talked about him, and felt relieved when she began to see news about him making a name for himself in the UK—because at least she knew he was okay.

As if he knew, Jace reached out and wrapped his arms around her. She laughed, because he used to give these hugs to her often, but he was never this tall. He was never able to rest his chin on her head. And this made her tear up. Because not only was Jace going to go back to what his life was and leave behind her daughter, but he was going to be leaving their family. She knew he was coming back frequently—that was for sure—but his few days with them weren't going to cover the amount of time they lost, and it made her heart sink.

"I'm proud of you, Jacey," she whispered. "I hope you know that."

"Sometimes I'm not sure I've done anything to be proud of."

With that, she slapped his side, and he retreated, laughing. "Now, what kind of nonsense is that? Of course you—"

He held her two hands in his. "I'm just kidding." He shrugged. "But maybe I've never felt just how crazy it has become until I toured the states." He looked over at Clary, who was now holding a hand out to Dylan as the song changed to "Always On My Mind", and Simon made his way to Isabelle. "They've made things a bit—a lot—clearer."

Jocelyn smirked. "Yes, I'm sure she has. She tends to do that."

Jace gave a laugh at how she knew he meant Clary when he said they. "Did you always know, too? Just like Jonathan. That we loved each other."

"I know you loved each other. That much was obvious when you two were infants," Jocelyn spoke, looking at Dylan and Clary purposely waltzing like middle schoolers—all stiff and far apart. "But I could never decide whether you two were going to be in love." She paused. "Only one person was sure of that."

Jace looked at her. "Luke?"

She glanced at him, amusement in her eyes. "Valentine, actually." Jace couldn't hide his shock, and she chuckled. "Yes. He was very adamant that the love between you two was true meant-to-be, love. He believed it with every fiber of his being." She faced forward. "I'm sure he's off somewhere enthralled to know you two are together."

Not knowing what to say, Jace reached over to put an arm around Jocelyn and his left hand in his pocket as he looked around at the Thanksgiving dinner that felt surreal and exactly like home.

"Enough. My turn," Isabelle told Dylan, pulling Clary's hands out of his as "The Nearness of You" played. The two girls wrapped their arms around each other and swayed as Dylan made a face, walking away without an argument.

Simon tried his best not to laugh as he made his way to the desserts table. He stood beside Jon and stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking at the copious amount of desserts.

"Having difficulty choosing a few?" he asked.

Jonathan scoffed. "Please. This is my third round. I'm trying every damn thing on this ridiculous table."

Simon laughed and glanced at Jon's face before gulping. He tried for days to just ignore the question that lingered in the back of his mind. He consistently tried to push it away, but it wouldn't budge. He cleared his throat. "Jonny," he started, and, in return, Jonathan grunted in response, so Simon knew he was listening. "I wanted to ask you something."

Jon stopped mid-air from reaching for a mini-pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. He looked over at Simon. "What happened?"

Simon tried not to smile over the fact that Jon knew something was wrong by the tone of his voice. "I wanted to forget this. I wanted to never bring this up again, but it's been eating at me, and this question literally lives with me and—"

"Just say it, Si."

"Why did you attack us that night?" Simon blurted, and Jon flinched. He inclined his head. "I'm sorry, I just—"

"No. Please don't be sorry." Jon shook his head. "You demanded an answer from me, and I never gave you one. Honestly, I've been thinking about it. You know, the answer to your question. And, if you want my honest answer, I will give that to you."

Simon prepared himself for a moment and gave a curt nod. "Yes, I want that."

Jon turned his head and had a faraway look in his eyes when he whispered, "I was...addicted, Simon. And it was like the part of me that was talking didn't care what I was saying, how I was hurting you all, while the part of me that wasn't drugged up was screaming inside of me, trying to get him to stop." He sighed slightly and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I have no reason. I was just being awful. And not caring to stop."

Simon didn't answer at first. He wasn't sure what he was even looking for. Maybe he was trying to find a way to understand why Jonathan did it. That maybe there was an explanation that made him understand. But there wasn't, and maybe Jonathan's honesty in telling him that was what made him really see that Jon was okay. And that he was really trying to be.

"Jordan! Mai!"

The couple turned around when they heard Jace calling out for them. They were standing in the front of the elevator to leave after saying their goodbyes.

"Jace." Maia smiled. "Coming back to the hotel tonight?" She grinned, because she already knew the answer.

Jace pursed his lips. "Maybe." He paused. "But to grab the rest of my stuff?" He shifted. "Is that alright?"

"I'm surprised you didn't decide this sooner. Could've saved us a bit of money," Jordan mumbled.

Jace rolled his eyes. "Right. Like The Clave is going to actually notice a couple hundred has been used."

Jordan and Maia shared a look, and then nodded. "This is true," she whispered. "Your father is coming in on Sunday. Remember that. Try to be at the hotel when he arrives."

Jace scrunched his nose. "Too far. Text me, please."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll just tell Clarissa."

He pointed. "Yes. She's a walking planner. Tell her."

The two laughed and shook their heads slightly. Jace made a face at how he just noticed how in-tune and similar they were.

"Alright, tell us when you're at the hotel," Jordan told him.

"Yes, of course. I'll probably walk. The herds of humans on the street won't even notice who I am," Jace reassured.

Jordan glared. "I hate that you make me worry like this."

"It's good practice for being an actual father." Jace winked. Jordan and Maia stared at him. They turned around, and he reached out to gently tug on both of their elbows. "I've got something on my mind."

They looked at each other. He groaned at how much they really were his parents. Jordan narrowed his eyes. "What?"

Jace clapped his hands together. "I'd like to move to New York."

After the party ended—the main families stayed until one in the morning—the band, Jace, and Dylan said bye to their parents, telling them that they would walk to Columbus Square to get Jace's stuff at his hotel.

They'd made it completely unnoticed, stumbling along the sidewalks just like everyone else who was out that night. The streets were crowded with Black Friday shoppers, people going home just like them, and families just enjoying the last remaining hours of the holiday that had passed. It was when they arrived to the front of Trump Tower that they'd reached trouble. With all the social media being posted that night from the Thanksgiving dinner, fans knew that Jace was out in New York, which meant they were waiting on those steps, being held back by only the golden hand rails. And, of course, with those fans were the paparazzi.

Dylan stepped aside as Jace and the band talked to some of the fans, talking pictures and signing autographs while they tried to take one step at a time. Clary frowned at all of them, saying that she loved them but wished they were home with their families. Simon told them to ignore her because she was just a holiday freak—and he was rewarded with a quick hit to the stomach. He doubled over and told fans he was okay while they giggled.

When Raphael and Bat came down, not in uniform but in basketball shorts and sweaters, the band, Jace, and Dylan were dragged away. They'd went through the lobby while Jace asked them what they had been up to, hugging them all the way to his room. The group waited outside while Jace told them to give me a second and came out rolling his suitcase. He shrugged and they went down to the two cars already waiting to bring them back to Clary's.

During the trip from the Upper West Side to Brooklyn, each of them fell asleep, groggily getting out of the car when they got there. When they got into their apartment, Clary went through the motions of setting up blankets and pillows on the loveseat for Dylan, the pull-out sofa bed for Alec and Magnus, and finally, the futon in her room for Simon and Isabelle. After she changed, the whole apartment was filled with snoring, and she crawled into bed beside Jace, throwing an arm around him, her head on his chest, while he lightly snored in her ear. Immediately, she fell right into sleep in a house filled with the ones she loved the most—including Miss Dorothea.

Jonathan shifted while he waited around one of the many busy exits of JFK. He tried sitting on a chair, but his restless leg syndrome was freaking out the elderly couple beside him, so he decided to stand. It only resulted in him pacing back and forth, which made him look absolutely mad, but he had other things to be thinking about. Like the fact that he was about to meet a girl that he'd met once while on tour because he bought her and her brother a ticket—even though they had only known each other for a couple weeks.

Jonathan took a deep breath while he ran his hands through his hair. Maybe he was mad. Maybe he was creepy. Maybe she was creepy. Maybe he just got too attached to the conversations they had and made too big of a deal out of it. Maybe he was being too much by talking to her every single day. Maybe he had fucked it up before it even began. Maybe she wasn't even going to show up.

He looked up at that thought and rested his hands on the top of his head, his elbows up in the air.

"You're fucking mad, Jonny," he muttered to himself.

"Um, hi."

Jonathan spun around, and before him was Mari, along with who he guessed was Mari's brother.

She smiled a little, but it was apparent to him that she was trying not to laugh. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Jonathan crossed his arms, grinning, standing at tall as he could to give off the vibe that he was not just freaking out. "Why?

"Well." She pointed behind him. "You are facing the 'departures' area. 'Arrivals' was this way." She looked to her right, and Jonathan outwardly sighed. "And you just called yourself mad."

Jonathan tilted his head to the right. "Well, I am mad." He held his arms open. "But let's ignore that, because hello!"

Mari laughed now and stepped forward right into his hug. Jonathan squeezed her when he felt relieved at the lack of awkwardness between them. Mari stepped back and held a hand out to display her brother, who was standing to the left of her. "This is Dallas."

Jonathan shook Dallas's outstretched hand and then said, "Wait. Dallas. I thought you were from Austin, Texas."

"Yep," Dallas replied simply, with a smile.

"Ah." Jonathan grinned. "Yeah, be prepared for my family."

"Oh, are we?" Mari blurted. Jon turned to her with the same look of shock. "Are we going to meet your family first?"

"Um," Jonathan started. "Yeah. We can meet up later if you'd like, after you guys go to your hotel or something…"

Mari turned to Dallas, and her brother shrugged. "I mean, I have no problem going to the residence of a famous person to hang out with more famous individuals. I'm not the nervous one here."

She stared at her brother a moment, and Jonathan pursed his lips. She turned to Jonathan. "Yeah, sure. That would be great."

He held his hands out. "It's just the band, and Jace, and, well, a childhood friend. My parents aren't home yet, though, so no pressure."

Mari looked around, not sure if Jonathan understood the phrase no pressure. "Yup. No pressure."

"A note," Clary mumbled. "He leaves a note to say this."

Jace looked over her shoulder and read: Picking up Mari from Texas and her brother. Cook breakfast, please, and I'd rather not have half naked men sleeping in the living room.

"They sound like reasonable requests," Jace whispered. He began to make his way to the kitchen, because he didn't want to be the one to wake up the boys in the living room.

"Yes." Clary crumpled up the note. "But he didn't tell me when he left, or what time he was coming back. Are we supposed to be so in tune that I just know where he is? Am I supposed to sense when he's almost home?"

Jace washed his hands. "Stop being cranky and wake up the boys."

Her jaw dropped dramatically. "Goes to show whose side you will always choose." She scoffed, and he rolled his eyes, because he always chose her side against Jonathan. "Boys."

He began preparing to cook while keeping his eyes on Clary. She carefully observed their faces and then took a couch pillow. Jace's eyes got wide, wondering what she would do with it.

"This is like watching a horror movie unfold," he whispered, and she threw him a glare.

His eyes bulged when she began hitting Dylan with the pillow first. It started off lightly, but then she began to hit him with force, and he sat up, looking understandably scared and confused. When he realized what she did, he slammed his fists down and yelled Clarissa so loudly that Magnus and Alec stirred and sat up quickly as well.

"What happened?" Alec asked, looking around. "What happened to Clary?"

"Nothing," Dylan mumbled. "She just turned into a demon child!"

Clary hopped off the loveseat with a grin. "Now that is done, I've got Simon and Isabelle to wake up." She waved her hand at them. "Get dressed. The Texas siblings are coming, and Jonny doesn't want any half naked men to seduce his girl."

"I don't really think that's why he…" Jace watched her disappear into the hallway, and he turned to see the guys looking at him. "Sup."

Jonathan turned the key to get into the building. He opened the door as Mari and Dallas stepped in and looked up towards the ceiling and at the stairs that climbed along the walls. Jonathan smiled a little. He enjoyed watching how they took in the city—whether they were walking in the streets or on the train, they looked absolutely enthralled by what the city offered. Their Brooklyn apartment building of a home invoked no other emotion.

Jonathan began walking up the steps. "Welcome to the Morgenstern family home. Along with Luke Garroway, and, well, Miss Dorothea." He looked at the door on the bottom floor, and the siblings followed his gaze. Once they got to the second floor, where his parent's empty apartment was, he could hear the music from upstairs. "It sounds like they're awake." He winced when they reached the third floor; the music was too loud. He turned to them and said, "I'm sorry about this."

Mari and Dallas looked at each other and were hit with too many things going on when the door opened.

Immediately, they could see Simon and Clary folding blankets in a hallway, shoving each other for some reason while doing so.

They stepped in, and, to the their right, Dylan and the internationally famous Jace Herondale screeched while jumping back from a pan they were cooking in.

To their left, Isabelle and Alec were air-drumming to the music, which was so loud that they couldn't even hear them come in, while Magnus was simply browsing through his phone. With a closer look, Mari could see that he was looking at pictures of cats.

She giggled a little at that, and, finally, the group all started to look up. Even Dylan and Jace, who were last to notice because they were too busy cursing at the bacon that they were cooking.

Isabelle ran to turn off the music completely, and they all started to wave.

"Hi!" Isabelle started, and the rest of them chorused in.

Jonathan was looking at them sternly, probably because they didn't create the best first impression. Clary shrugged at him, thinking that Mari was bound to find out—probably a few minutes into meeting them, if it wasn't instantly.

"Why is everyone wearing my clothes?" Jon stepped aside to let Mari and Dallas walk past him, and he closed the door. The group looked at themselves and at each other when he asked.

"Well, the three living-room-boys and Simon were wearing them because they didn't have anything else to wear..." Clary started, and then looked at Isabelle.

"So, we all just kind of did," she finished.

Jonathan stared at them for a second. "Right." He began to point out who was who from left to right. "That is Magnus, Alec, Isabelle, Simon, Clarissa, Dylan, and Jacey-poo."

"Meh," Jace broke the silence as they all smiled at the siblings.

"This is Mari and her brother, Dallas."

They all greeted another hello and Simon tilted his head, looking at Dallas.

Jonathan rolled his eyes, knowing what he was going to ask.

"Jonny said you guys were from Austin, Texas," Simon pointed out, and Clary gave him a side-eye, knowing he was about to say something rude. Mari and Dallas nodded. "Why is your name Dallas?"

"Simon," Isabelle hissed at him.

Dallas shook his head. "No, it's alright."

"It's a common question," Mari added. "I mean, Austin would have made sense." She looked at Dallas.

"It would've." He shrugged. "But a four-year-old named me, so."

Mari grinned beside him, and the group laughed.

Clary threw the blankets she was holding at Simon's face and walked towards them. "Breakfast?"

She looked at Jace, who reached to turn the stove off. "Yes, let's all eat and enjoy it, because cooking this bacon burned all my bloody skin off." Dylan cleared his throat. "Our bloody skin off."

"Yes, of course," Mari said, stepping forward. "Who can deny bacon that burned skin off, you know?"

Jonathan looked down at Mari, and she looked up at him. He pursed his lips, silently thanking her for not leaving the moment the moment they walked in. Mari grinned in response, and the music turned on, making them all reach to cover their ears.

Isabelle lowered it and smiled nervously. "Oops."

"I miss turkey," Simon said, looking down at his plate of eggs, bacon, and toast. "We should've just taken leftovers so we could have that for breakfast."

The rest of the table jumped a little as Jace's hand hit the table. "Do you not enjoy my cooking?" he whispered in a way that made Clary looked at Simon with wide eyes.

She mouthed fix it and Simon spat out, "I do! I do. I just miss turkey." Jace stared at him. "But what is turkey compared to this crispy ass bacon?"

Clary looked down at her food, shaking her head while she mumbled, "Crispy ass bacon."

Isabelle turned to her right as the table looked away from the ridiculousness of Jace, Clary, and Simon. "So," Isabelle started in a tone that made Mari chuckle. Like things like this happened all the time, every second of the day that they were together, which Mari had no trouble believing was true. "What are your plans today?"

Mari and Dallas looked at each other. Isabelle smiled a little; she liked that they did that. It reminded her very much of how she and Alec, Jon, and Clary were.

"I think we were just going to be around," Mari told her, with a shrug. "No concrete plan, really."

"I mean, we can all bring you around," Isabelle volunteered. Alec, across the table, nodded. "That would be fun. It would just have to be after practice."

Jonathan looked at Mari. He had completely forgotten about practice and didn't tell her that he wouldn't be able to join her for the whole day.

Mari looked around the table. "Well, if you guys don't mind, we wouldn't mind staying."

Alec looked over at them. "Really?" Mari and Dallas nodded. "It'll be for tomorrow, but it won't be too long. We just need to go over our setlist and maybe practice songs we haven't performed yet."

Mari sat forward, unable to hide her excitement. "Yeah, that would be amazing."

"Alright, fam," Alec started, and settled into the couch beside Clary.

Isabelle and Clary shot each other a look from across the room.

"Fam," Jace whispered to himself, a notebook in front of him, preparing for his own show the next day. He was sitting at the table with Magnus, Dylan, Dallas, and Mari while the band took the living room space with the couches. He looked at Magnus. "You teach him that?"

"Alexander is able to use slang words. I just don't know why he doesn't," Magnus responded nonchalantly.

"Are you going to the show tomorrow?" Mari asked Dylan, who sat to the left of her.

Dylan opened his mouth, but Jace spoke before he did. "Yes. He will be there."

Dylan closed his mouth and stared at Mari blankly.

"Jace wouldn't be able to perform without his new boy toy there," Magnus told Mari, making her giggle, and making Jace and Dylan both glare at him.

"So, what are we keeping?" Clary asked, pen in hand, waiting for song titles to be said.

"'Catastrophe', That For Me'," Jon spoke first.

"'Wrecked 'Em' for last," Isabelle suggested.

"Wait, what about 'Stay Out' for last? The crowd lose their damn minds over that song," Simon said, and Isabelle nodded.

"True," she mouthed, and then looked at Clary. "Clarissa?"

She thought, pressing her lips together, tapping the pen against the notebook. "Alright, what about 'Stay Out' last for tomorrow night, but 'Wrecked 'Em' for the last song as MSG, because that was the last song when Jordan offered us this deal that night?"

The band looked at each other, and Jonathan smirked. "Yeah."

Alec shook his head. "MSG," he breathed. The band knew they were around to play one of the most famous arenas in the world, but it wasn't quite sinking in.

"'Three Cheers' or the 'Stay/Hopeless' combo?" Clary asked, pulling them out of daydreams and back to business.

"'Stay/Hopeless,'" the other four said in unison.

"I was thinking of another slower song we could bring back, though." They all turned to Alec. "Do you guys remember when we used to play 'Angels'?"

Isabelle's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, I can't remember my part."

"Damn. 'Angels,'" Dylan spoke absentmindedly, to himself.

Isabelle frowned. "I can't remember."

"Let's play it," Jon suggested, reaching for his guitar and Alec's bass, handing it over to him. "I'm sure you'll remember it that way, Izzy."

Simon stood up and plugged in all the instruments. He took his guitar, sitting beside Jon and leaning back.

"Ohhh," Isabelle said, sitting behind her drum set. "This is Simon's badass song." He winked at her with a click of his tongue and she rolled her eyes, but Clary smiled to herself at how smooth Simon had become.

"Ready?" Jon asked, and Simon gave a nod, closing his eyes, and began playing the intro with his electric guitar. "Clarissa, sing the chorus with Alec?" She nodded, and Jon closed his eyes, his fingers hovering over the guitar strings.

Three years of something I call love

When the phone calls and photographs were never enough

To save a heart that's been broken so close to screaming

This can't be happening, I must be dreaming

What's the worst that could happen? I never knew

When all I ever wanted was to get away from you

But now the possible's impossible and I can't refuse

Grab all your dreams and raise all your glasses

Mari leaned on her elbow as she watched what was transpiring before her. It was something to watch the band perform on the stage and how well they were in tune with one another. But to watch them practice a song, one that they hadn't performed in a long time, was another story. It was magical to her to see the way they all closed their eyes, letting the music control everything that was going on in their circle.

Let's toast to the lucky ones

To the girl that just broke my heart

I can't breathe after all that you've told me

You took my heart and made me melt again

Dylan smiled to himself a little, hearing Clary sing with Alec. He distinctly remembered a time when she wouldn't sing at all, and now here she was, doing it in front of thousands, and he felt immensely proud of her.

I could never imagine we'd end up this way

After all that we went through now I'm fighting through the pain

It's like this heart that's been broken is so close to screaming

Was ripped from my chest and I can't stop the bleeding

Now we all fall for the bad ones

They'll just break us cause we're so young, dumb and vulnerable

Young and vulnerable

Jace smiled when Jon joined in with another verse as Alec and Clary repeated their chorus for another time.

You ripped apart these pages

I can't breathe

Our book was overrated

After all that you've told me

This brings up all these questions, tell me what just happened

You took my heart and made me melt again

I'll say

He grinned when he caught Isabelle grip her sticks harder. He knew that this was what she did when she was about to play something amazing. He almost ran over as Simon sat up to really play the electric guitar.

I put your picture in a frame that stands at the side of my bed

So whenever I get sad I can stare at your face

And hope and pray that I won't forget

When all I remember is talking is cheap and your lies were expensive

And god only knows when I'll come to my senses

Now I can't breathe at all (now I can't breathe)

Magnus shook his head while watching as they all began to sing, play, and move in unison. The people sitting at the table surrounding him couldn't take their eyes off the group.

Dylan watched as the hairs on his arm began to stand up. He always knew that something would become of The Elite Four, but watching them in their living room, practicing one of their first songs, for a famous venue, surpassed any of his wildest dreams for them. The smile that never left was plastered goofily on his face as he folded his hands, bringing his head down to rest his chin on them.

Simon was the last to open his eyes, and he looked around at the band. They all looked like they gave it their all, and he grinned. "Yeah?"

Jonathan nodded, leaning back. "Yeah."

"Yup," Isabelle said with a pop as she swooped her hair in her hand and formed a top bun with ease.

Clary looked over her shoulder at Dylan. "Now you definitely have to go the show tomorrow."

"Oh, Jace has made sure," Magnus reassured her, and Clary faced forward.

"Did you write that?" Jace asked.

Dylan nodded. "With Simon."

Mari turned around and saw Magnus staring at Jace with a raised eyebrow, as Jace looked smitten with Dylan beside him. Magnus rolled his eyes and looked right at her when he said, "And the bizarre love affair continues."

A/N: The past two chapters have been very friendship/family based, and I hope you guys don't mind because I really enjoy writing them all together as a group. It's just filled with bromances that I adore. Their dysfunctional family is my favorite, and there's definitely going to be a ton of that until the end.

Speaking of friends that are like family, I wanted to shout out one of my own because she has this pretty & chic jewelry line that you can find on Etsy. If you enjoy beautiful jewelry, you can find her on there under the store name Grit and Garnet. I have no idea if this is the story she is reading but if she ever sees this, hii!

I've been asked a couple times how many chapters are left because I mention always that the story is ending soon (mostly so I can come to terms with it myself) and honestly, I don't have a specific amount, I kind of just go with it. But I want to say 3 or 4 more chapters? And there will definitely be an epilogue.

The updates are scarce these days but I hope you guys are still reading along! Let me know what your thoughts. Reviews & feedback, please :)

Thank you to anyone that has reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story!

Shout out to rippingbutterflywings, OhSnapItzCat, ScorpioGirl20, Cfire27, LOVERGIRL, Guest, Ads S, cheery Tropay Venturi, Emily1515, Acctantnerd, brightdarknessx, Page1of365, Guest, Luckybrat452-494, firequeen8569, bookaddict223, TMIlover-5202, Katelyn, Feeling Tension, Dramione-Fan 17, kaychucks, and infamousfanfic! Thank you for your reviews. My sincerest apologizes for these late updates. Your reviews keep me going, sincerely. You guys are all the real DLF MVPs. I'll be replying to you guys tomorrow throughout the day :)

Shout out to rippingbutterflywings for being a beta who KILLS the game of beta'ing. Thank you so very much for helping me make sense because I'm always rush writing, and for your updates of gigilness, CH Clary/little sister. Your WS Clary/big sister/asshole aunt is always sending you love.

Shout out to DeathCabForMari because finally DLF Mari is here to stay for these last couple chapters. Thank you for letting me use your aura for DLF Jari, my friend.

cfire27: Thank you for your review! I hope you liked this chapter :)

LOVERGIRL: Sorry this update took a while, but thank you for your review!

Guest: Thank you for your review! So glad you liked the chapter, and Camille definitely didn't think Jace and Dylan were friends, haha. Hope you like the chapter!

Guest (KB): That is amazing that you were able to read this story in a day. Seriously, shout out to you because this is just huge, and I'm just very glad you liked it enough to do that :) That is actual the last we will see Camille. Her appearance was very brief, and it was really just to tie up lose ends because there wasn't much closure when she and Jon broke up. I hope you liked the chapter, can't wait to see what you think!

Katelyn: Thank you for your review! No apologizes needed at all, thank you for leaving a review in the first place :) sorry about the late update. I definitely know the busy feeling and I hope it's been better/more manageable! Keep on keepin' on. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

Feeling Tension: Thank you for your review! It is absolutely okay, no need at all to apologize. I hope you had an amazing vacation! I love how much you love the characters :) and I just love your kind, supportive words. Jace really is the child of Jaia. No doubt about that, haha. :) thank you for mentioning how Clary is realistic and a dreamer all at the same time. I feel like there so many people that are and I'm glad it shows in her. And yess, I love Jocelyn right along with you. Thank you for your reviews, and for just being very kind and supportive, always. It means so much to me, and keeps me going. Instill rebellion!