"I'm okay, Izzy," I insist. "Believe me, okay?" Over the phone, I'm sure that my voice only sounds half-convincing. I can just imagine my best friend's dubious face over the phone.

"Huh, okay," she speaks in a flat tone, pursing her lips. "Because I'm obviously going to believe that. Clary, how dense do you think I am? Both Simon and I worry about you beyond belief and I don't want to worry about you anymore. Just because my dumb brother left you alone with 3 kids for God knows how long, doesn't mean you can't confide in us."

Sighing, my fingers idly play with one of Charlie's golden ringlets. My daughter looks up at me, smiling, sending a silent message of, You'll be okay.

"I have to go, Iz," I admit, breathing deeply. "You know, motherly duties call."

"Oh, sweetie, I know that all too well," Isabelle says truthfully. "Emma, baby, get off the table! Okay, you know what, I've actually got to go to. What a coincidence. See you later, girl."

"Bye," I sign off, ending the call and dropping my phone on the table.

A loud chime in the middle of the night wakes me up. I hit the light that turns on my alarm and notice that it's only four in the morning. Alaska and California are only an hour apart so I doubt that it's Jace. Checking the caller I.D, it's an unknown number. Should I even pick this up?

Going against my better judgement, I answer the call with my formal greeting. "This is the Herondale household, who is this?" Even I can tell that my voice is croaky and unattractive.

A wave of shock passes through me as the voice on the other end replies to my gross introduction.

"Clarissa," Valentine chuckles. "You don't sound too well. Are you okay?" He questions me, acting like he cares.

"Valentine," I breathe out. "What are you doing? Why are you calling me?"

"Oh," he sounds surprised at my question. "Why, I heard that your little boyfriend went out of town. I knew that he'd never allow me to talk to my daughter so my only other choice was to call you when he's gone. Am I right or am I right?"

An exasperated sigh escapes my lips.

"You'll never be my father after what you did," I snarl, eyes narrowed, attempting to convey any type of angry emotion I possess into these few words. Though, annoyingly enough, he doesn't get the message.

"Oh, Clarissa," he croons. "You just don't understand."

A scoff escapes my lips as I stretch my legs in bed.

"Understand what? That you're a lying, violent bastard? Because I understand that perfectly well, thank you very much. I mean, I'm half-sure that you made me learn that from a very young age, Father."

He only lets out a dark chuckle and I can envision him shaking his head. "Clarissa, dear, you don't understand. I have the capacity to squash your whole family with a couple of words and, potentially, a snap of my fingers. I don't think you'd want to say that."

"I'll say whatever the hell I want because you can't control me," I spit out this line and hang up, throwing my phone back onto my bedside table. I honestly don't need this right now. Changing my mind, I pick it up again, dialing in Jace's number.

The phone rings about five times before Jace's groan comes through the phone.

"Clary?" He speaks groggily, sighing. "What's up, baby?"

"Valentine just called," I say simply, waiting for him to react to the news. He audibly wakes up and he clears his throat through the phone.

"Are you okay?" Jace panics a little, slightly amusing me. "Did he hurt the girls? Have you tracked his phone yet? Did he hurt you? Are all of you okay because I'm freaking the fuck out right now."

"Chill, baby," I laugh. "It's fine. I'm disregarding it until the morning. I'm a little too tired to deal with this shit right now. I'm so sorry for interrupting your precious hours of sleep time. I'll call you in the morning okay?

"He what?"

Isabelle's face is red and her eyes watering. She's nervously wiping one of her hands on her jeans while Simon holds the other one. His warm brown eyes glance up at me, worried.

"Don't worry about it, Iz," I breathe out. "Just calm down. He's most likely just joking and Jace is tracking his phone from Anchorage as we speak. Calm yourself."

"Yeah, Izzy," Simon runs his fingers through his wife's hair, often glancing up at Emma so that he can keep tabs on the 9 year old. "Clary can take care of herself; she's been doing it for ages so I think she can handle her father perfectly fine.

As I'm about to agree with Simon, my phone rings.

"Hello?"

AN: Hello, peoples. Sorry about this crappy chapter ending but hey, I wanted you guys to have something. I've been MIA for so many days so I greatly apologize for that. I've been on so many flipping road trips that Ive got this massive headache and I'm supposed to be going out today and ugh. For all of you that read it, expect Serendipity later on this week.

Love y'all,

-fucj