BANG BANG BANG

"ALEC! WILL YOU GET UP ALREADY?"

Alec's eyes flew open and he set up in bed, searching around him in a moment of panic. He took a second to remember where he was… in his bed, trying to get some sleep. He looked over at his clock, ignoring the consistent knocking at his door.

7 AM.

He hadn't even been asleep a full hour and Isabelle was already screeching at him to get up.

Alec was too tired to respond, she would go away eventually. He grabbed his pillow and held it tight over his head to block out the noise.

"ALEC!"

BANG BANG BANG

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS, OKAY? I KNOW YOU'RE AWAKE!... AND WHY THE HELL IS YOUR DOOR LOCKED IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

BANG

To keep you out, Alec thought angrily. The pillow was useless... and it sounded like the wood of his door wasn't going to last long against Isabelle's assault.

"Isabelle," He finally managed to croak out, his throat still sore from all the talking he had done last night, "I'm not going to training today, so can you just leave me alone and let me sleep?"

He peaked out from under his pillow to look at the door for a second. She had fallen silent and he was hoping she had finally backed off.

But then he heard the door shake as she jangled the knob from the other side.

"ALEC!"

Should of known better, he thought bitterly.

"AARGH! Fine Isabelle! Fine!" He threw his pillow on the ground and kicked his covers off of himself, trying to ignore the dizziness he felt as he jumped up too quickly. Angel, he needed to sleep…

He walked over to the door and swung it wide open, immediately launching into a sleep-deprived rant, "Happy now? For ONCE I wanted to sleep in, to relax, to have one freaking morning to myself, but you-" He glared at her and stopped mid sentence, words stuck in his throat.

"You look terrible, Iz." He finished. She rolled her eyes as he took in her appearance. She wasn't dressed for training, that much was obvious. She was in a rumpled set of baggy pajamas he hadn't seen her wear in ages and her hair, normally obnoxiously perfect, was the epitome of bed-head.

She narrowed her eyes at him and responded, "You weren't the only one who was planning to skip training this morning."

"Then why are you banging on my door at daybreak?"

"It's not training."

"What is it then?"

"Jace." Isabelle looked as irritated as Alec felt, but he was too tired to play nice.

"Of course its Jace. But you're going to have to be more specific than that if you expect me to reconsider slamming the door in your face, placing a silencing rune on the door frame and slipping back into my bed."

The response must have taken Isabelle by surprise because her eyes suddenly focused in on Alec as she scrutinized him.

"Well aren't we testy this morning?" She said, raising her eyebrows as she continued to size Alec up.

"I told you, I want to sleep in." So go away already, he added mentally.

"Huh. That's unusual. I don't think I remember you ever missing training… and now that you mention it… you do look a bit rough." She paused, a playful smile spreading across her face, "You look like you didn't get much sleep."

She was enjoying this too much for Alec's tastes. And she was giving him that look. He knew that look. He decided it would be safer to play defense.

"You're one to talk Isabelle. You look like you're about to fall asleep standing."

"True." Isabelle replied, completely unfazed. "That's because I had an amazing night." She smiled mischievously.

"Who is it this time?" Alec rolled his eyes. He was no stranger to Isabelle's exploits. She was almost as bad as Jace. Almost. "One of the fey, again? You seem to like them... or are you going for the dark side... a bloodsucker maybe?" Or, if you're especially stupid, maybe a warlock, he berated himself silently.

"Something like that. You know me so well Alec." She was grinning like a fool now. No shame, no hesitation, no embarrassment. Just then he envied her something dreadful.

"How was your long night?" She asked with a look of faux-innocence.

He took a second to contemplate answering honestly, but shut the idea down as soon as it entered his head.

"My night was short and boring. I probably fell asleep before Max's bedtime."

"Alec. You look like death."

"Yeah, well I kept waking up... it wasn't a very restful sleep. Which is why I wanted to sleep in." He hated lying to Isabelle. Mostly because he was bad at it. Very, very bad at it.

Isabelle gave him a sad smile. "I heard footsteps heading to your room way after I got home last night. I got a bit nervous at first but when I opened my door to look, it was you. Fully dressed. Walking to your room like a zombie. You looked like you'd just come in."

Alec's eyes widened in shock. He hadn't heard or seen anything when he was coming in. How did he not hear her? She saw him. Did any one else see him? Hodge? Jace?

Isabelle seemed to read the fear in his eyes, "Don't worry. I wouldn't of even noticed if I wasn't already awake and on my phone. I'm sure no one else heard you come in."

Alec tried to hide his relief as he improvised another weak lie. "I was just coming back from the bathroom. I didn't mean to disturb you." Shit. That made no sense. She already said that he was fully dressed.

"I mean-"

"Alec." Isabelle starred him into silence. She was trying to cox him into telling her what he was hiding. He knew how this went. It was how she had first gotten him to confess his attachment to Jace. But he wasn't falling for it this time.

"Isabelle." He responded firmly. A very clear warning in his tone. Back off.

They stared at each other for another beat before Isabelle gave up. "Right. I get it." She said icily, "You were going to the bathroom. Whatever, Alec. Do what you want, then. Don't tell me. Keep it bottled up like everything else." She turned away and began walking down the hall.

"That's not-" Alec tried to cut in, feeling guilty for not letting her in on every detail of one of the most unbelievable nights of his life. "Isabelle wait-"

"Jace and Clary are waiting." She said over her shoulder, "Let's go."

Great, she was pissed now. Alec knew better than to try reasoning with Isabelle when she was angry. He decided it would be better to give her some time to cool off. They could talk about this later. When she was ready. When he was ready.

He followed Isabelle towards the stairs, hoping whatever Jace wanted wouldn't take too long.