Author's note:
I recognise that this chapter has a lot of mother-daughter moments. This was partially intentional. I did want to set the scene for Clary to have an ordinary day, and keep her away from the Institute. I also wanted Jace to go on a bit of a grand gesture and ask Clary out on her home phone (as small-scale grand as possible, at least). Jocelyn brushing her hair was also a nice idea, because I feel like the plot in the actual series neglects Jonelyn's relationship with Clary. The Maryse-Isabelle paragraph, I confess, was a plot convenience. In the first chapter, it turns out Alec got a phone call in the middle of the night concerning a dead warlock's body in a warehouse near Central Park. The idea of it is that the Clave found the body and equipment relatively preserved. The stench of dark magic, of course, is the explanation for the Clave's interest, and what better way to explain their timely arrival than to implement the use of a Sensor? I also wanted to make sure that the investigation goes to "Team Good's" hands without the assistance of the Clave. To explain away the fact that Isabelle makes it through the encounter unscathed, I excuse it to the fact that she was demon hunting, meaning a greater quantity of weaponry than usual.
Jocelyn knocked on the door. "Clary? Are you awake?"
"Yeah," Clary answered, opening the door for her mother whilst still brushing her hair.
Jocelyn regarded her daughter. "What have I told you about drawing in your pyjamas?"
"Are you here just to tell me off?" Clary retorted, struggling with a knot.
"No," Jocelyn replied, smiling a little. "It's Jace," she explained, handing Clary the phone, "and let me do that," she added, nodding towards Clary's tangled tresses.
Mother and daughter sat on the bed as Clary took the phone. "Hey you," she greeted her boyfriend.
"Hey," Jace greeted back, in a voice that made Clary fall in love with him all over again. "Do you want to go on a date with me?"
"Do I-what?" Clary asked, caught off guard. Usually Jace would call her own phone, or text, if he would ask such questions.
"It's Saturday," Jace explained. "I need to get away from the Institute right now. I was thinking the swimming centre," he continued, "I'd love to see you in a bikini."
"Come on, Jace," she replied playfully, half-way focused on his beautiful voice sending shivers up her spine, half-way focused on her mother's nimble fingers softly smoothing her copper curls. "You know you'd look way better in one."
"Is that a yes, then?"
"Absolutely," she answered, "if you're paying the entry fee." She hung up.
Clary felt her mother's frown on her. "You weren't serious about the bikini," Jocelyn asked with strict motherly affection, "were you?"
Clary shook her head, smiling a little at her mother's concern. "I only have a one-piece," she explained.
Maryse Lightwood's ice-blue eyes darkened. "Could you please repeat that for me?"
"I told you," Isabelle said in exasperation. "I found the body in the warehouse, in that pool of blood over there," she jerked her head to her left, "no pentagram but someone running away, and a couple of dozens of stupid pixies getting in the way of me and them."
Maryse shook her head, stopping Isabelle's continued speech. "Not that. How exactly did you find the body?"
Isabelle sighed. "I was demon hunting-"
"Exactly," Maryse interrupted. "Isabelle, what were you thinking?"
"I was doing my duty," Isabelle answered, sarcasm entering her voice. "The duty of all Nephilim to the Angel and the mundane world."
"Alone? Without Alec? Or Jace?"
"Yes, alone!" Isabelle shouted in frustration. "I'm almost seventeen. I was carrying enough weaponry on my persona, and I can use my whip the way you can use your phone. Honestly Mother, what's the problem?"
"The problem, Isabelle Sophia Lightwood, is that you are still an adolescent, and therefor my responsibility. I had no idea where you were until I got a call in the middle of the night telling me that you'd found a body and a suspicious amount of dark magic surrounding it, so everyone had better come quick. Isabelle, you could have gotten killed!" she shrieked.
"And that's nothing new!" Isabelle retorted, her voice matching her mother's in pitch and volume. "We're Shadowhunters, Mum! We die early all the time! At least I've proven I can take care of myself in a demon realm! Who else my age-or older, even-can say the same for themselves? Can you?"
A cough interrupted the argument. "Apologies," Kadir said smoothly, "Maryse, you son and his-companion, the High Warlock, have arrived."
Maryse turned to face her son, and then turned back to her daughter. "Wait by the car," she snapped with a tone lethal enough to murder, "we'll finish this conversation later."
"Fine!" Isabelle yelled and turned her back on her mother and briskly walked away. She knew she wasn't allowed to leave, she was a witness, after all, but coming from her mother, it might as well have been an outright dismissal. Only Isabelle was really looking forward to a fight. She'd happily start it.
Her hand felt for the brooch in her pocket. Technically, she was taking away evidence, but she liked to think of it as withholding it until a later date.
Yep, she thought to herself, this is definitely going to Clary first.
"I asked for a bikini," Jace complained mockingly.
"Well, I don't have one," Clary answered curtly. "You could buy one, I suppose," she added as an afterthought, "only I won't be wearing it."
Jace grinned, trying to look away from her. She'd forgotten a hair tie, so her vibrant locks spilled freely down her shoulders. The dark blue bathers didn't hide her slim shape, and those emeralds that were her eyes stared piercingly out of her pale freckled doll's face and held his own. "We should lock our stuff away," he said, "but I don't really trust that mundie steel."
Clary grinned back. "I could also use a Locking rune," she compromised.
"Sure," Jace said immediately. "Go ahead. I'll just take my stele with me."
"Was that just an excuse to keep a weapon with you?" his girlfriend teased.
"Sort of," Jace admitted, and extended his arm towards her. "Shall we?"