Clary and Jonathan had just stepped out of the elevator that brought them up into the institute, and were greeted with a small cat that was currently meowing in front of them.

"Aww look Jonathan!" Clary exclaimed before she crouched down, extending her hand out for the cat to allow it to greet her first. She had to stifle the urge to laugh when it went onto its back, making her automatically start to rub its belly before she reached out to pick it up to cradle it against her chest as she rose up to her feet.

"It is rather cute. I suppose." Jonathan reached out to pet it, and had to resist the urge to growl when it had scratched his hand.

Clary choked back a laugh as she went back to petting the cat, which made it start to purr. She glimpsed up to see her brother glaring at her since he knew she found that incident amusing. "I don't think it likes you very much. It probably senses that you're not an animal lover."

Jonathan rolled his eyes in annoyance, but a hint of a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth when he knew that she was just messing with him. He tried not to break his gaze to look in the direction down the corridor when he felt they were being watched, making him whisper that information to his sister in another language.

Clary refrained from looking to where Jonathan had just mentioned there were others with them now. She carefully set the cat down, watching with amusement as it trotted off in the direction where she thought their audience were at. She stood up, keeping close to Jonathan and felt at ease when he had grasped her hand as they waited patiently to get their introduction over with.

"Is that really the girl we've heard such great things about? She's so tiny! But I wonder who is with her. He's such a hot piece of—"

"Isabelle! Keep both your hormones and voice to a minimum. It's not nice to judge people." Alec retorted in a slight annoyed manner, shaking his head in disbelief that his sister was acting how she was at the moment.

"She does kind of look like she might be a little spitfire. As for the guy… You might have to have your vision checked, Iz. Especially if you think that could compete with this." He waved his hand over his form, smirking in a sly manner as he did so.

"If you are all done being rude by spying on our new guest instead of going to introduce yourselves, kindly step aside so I may do the respectful thing. I swear I thought I raised you all better." Maryse said with complete disapproval in her tone as she shook her head and brushed past the three stunned teenagers.

"Sorry Mom." Isabelle and Alec replied to her retreating form as they both followed suit.

Jace held back for a while then sighed as he too followed after them to welcome this new guest to their lives. He wasn't sure if this was even worth his time to be quite honest. That was until he had gotten a closer look at the infamous Clarissa Morgenstern. His golden hues traveled along her entire form before resting along her facial features, noticing the subtle hints of freckles that displayed there on her porcelain skin. Her verdant optics were mesmerizing as well as her auburn hair. He thought about how it would feel to run his fingers through… Wait… 'Pull yourself together' Jace murmured to himself as he shook his head to clear his thoughts and averted his gaze, but didn't fail to notice that the man beside her was looking at him with an expression he just couldn't put his finger on at the moment. Maybe jealousy?

Clary looked up when she saw a woman walking over to meet her along with three teenagers trailing behind her. She straightened her shoulders, releasing her hold on Jonathan's hand as she placed a kind smile upon her lips.

"Hello, you must be Clarissa. I'm Maryse Lightwood. It's a pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand to shake with Clarissa's before she turned her gaze on the gentleman beside her. "And you must be Jonathan. Is that correct?"

"It's nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Lightwood. And yes this is Jonathan." Clary replied in a gentle tone a she kept her smile in place.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I apologize for intruding. I just wanted to make sure Clary made it inside safely." Jonathan shook hands with Maryse, flashing her a charming grin as he did so.

"Oh, no need to apologize. I'm glad you decided to come up with her. You can join us for dinner before you leave. If you would like to?" Maryse smiled at both siblings before she frowned slightly when she heard the phone ringing in the distance. She excused herself and she went to go answer it.

Isabelle waited until her mother left before she smirked and set her gaze upon Clary. "So, are you guys a couple?"

A laugh emitted from Clary's lip when she heard her brother nearly squawked when the dark haired girl asked that particular question. Clary shook her head as she met her gaze. "By the angel, no. This is my brother Jonathan."

Alec jabbed Isabelle's side with his elbow, flashing her a look of irritation before glancing over at Clary and Jonathan with a grim expression. "Please forgive my sister. She doesn't seem to have a filter. My name is Alec. And this is my sister Isabelle, and our brother Jace." Alec motioned to them both, feeling rather embarrassed all of the sudden since he normally didn't like being in the spotlight.

Isabelle crossed her arms over her chest as she glanced between the siblings once again. "I would have never guessed that. You both don't look anything alike. Except maybe a few tiny resemblances."

Jonathan hid a smirk as he shrugged a shoulder in a casual manner. "She takes after our mother whilst I take after our father. It's nice to meet you all. I hope you'd be kind enough to keep an eye out for my little sister. It would help ease my mind whilst she's away from home."

Clary's verdant optics rolled skywards in response to her brother's last remark, making her nudge his side as she tried not to scowl up at him. "I don't think that's necessary, Jon. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I don't need protection from anyone." Clary smiled faintly in their direction after she had said that. "Not to mean any offense to you guys."

Jace had stayed rather quite the entire time as he watched how Clary and her brother interacted with them. Before he could think of anything to say he turned around when Maryse came back into the room, noticing that something wasn't right. "Is something wrong?"

Maryse let out a sigh as she refrained from grimacing. "Actually yes. There seems to have been a report about a demon attack. I'm going to need the three of you to go and check it out." She turned her gaze upon Clary and Jonathan, offering them an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for this little disturbance. I had wished to give you a proper tour of the place before dinner, but I can at least show you to your room whilst my children leave for a short while."

Clary and Jonathan had been having a private conversation in response to the mention of a demon attack before they gave their attention back to Maryse. Clary smiled ruefully as she thought of something to ask. "Actually… I was thinking if it'd be alright if my brother and I tag along with them. The more backup the better, right?"

Maryse pondered over that proposal before she nodded her head in agreement, feeling a little better that at least if it turned out to be more than one demon that her children would have help, and it would also let her know where Clary stood with her training. "It's settled then. Ready yourselves, and if you need anything, just ask my son Alec and he will gladly help with whatever you need." Maryse bid them goodbye and made sure to tell her children something before she went back to make some phone calls.

Clary heard when the others left to their weapons room before she had begun to mark Jonathan with runes before she allowed him to mark her as well. They had been in the middle of making sure what weapons to bring when the others arrived back in the room.

Sooner than she thought they were at the location of the attack and had split up into pairs whilst Jace went alone to investigate since he voiced that he didn't need backup. Clary had tried her best to not roll her eyes in annoyance when she heard how cocky he had sounded, and instead was patrolling around with Jonathan until she heard Alec call out to them all. She ran towards where he was, knowing Jonathan was running beside her and trying to keep pace with her since obviously her legs were so much shorter than his.

Clary looked over at Alec with mild confusion showing on her features for a brief second when he was signaling for them to not proceed forward.

"It isn't the demon that we were expecting and there are far too many of them. We need to report this back." Alec grimaced when that earned him rather crude remarks from Isabelle and Jace, but he suddenly looked over towards Clary and Jonathan when they had started to walk towards the demons. "Wait! There's too many for the both of you!"

Clary snorted as she spared him a glance as she grasped one of her seraph blades, saying it's name aloud to bring it life before she spoke to him in an amused tone. "If you're too scared you're free to leave. I've handled worse before." Clary turned her gaze back to Jonathan who was smirking down at her as he too was holding his weapon of choice.

"Are you ready little sister?" Jonathan inquired as he looked over her to see that the other three seemed to be arguing with one another, making him shake his head in disbelief that they weren't as brazen like himself and his sister.

"I'm always ready. Care to help give me a lift when we are within reach?" Clary asked him as she twirled the seraph blade in her grasp with a flick of her wrist, feeling the familiar thrum coursing through her as it always happened when she was about to go into battle.

Jonathan beckoned her to follow him as he smirked darkly as a glint of excitement shone in his eyes. "Let's show them what they're going to be dealing with."

Jace's eyes widened in shock when he saw Clary's small form inching towards the incoming threat, making him brush past his siblings to run after her to help, but he wasn't expecting what he was about to witness next.

Clary braced herself before she ran in the direction of her brother as he moved in position to allow herself to propel off of his waiting hands for a boost to fling herself into the air. The edge of the blade sliced one of the heads clean off the demon whilst Clary landed with grace on her feet, barely able to maneuver herself to flip backward and then proceed straight into a cartwheel action to get out of its grasp when it had reached for her with a loud growl. Clary smirked deviously as she beckoned it forward, stifling a laugh when it foolishly sprang towards her as she ran straight for it, waiting until it positioned itself for her so she could stab the blade into its jugular and sliced it straight down its chest, taking advantage of its crumbling form to discard of its last few heads. She watched in mere delight as it vanished back to its realm, feeling rather satisfied, but that passed quickly when she had turned to see Jace frozen a few feet away from her and he hadn't noticed that something was coming towards him. "Move out of the way!" Clary yelled at him before she retrieved her dagger, bringing her arm back before she flung the dagger forward, watching as it hit its mark.

Jace couldn't believe what he had seen Clary do. She was such a fragile thing in his eyes, but boy was he wrong. He felt a sudden feeling of praise for her rise from deep within himself, making him feel odd since he never cared for others that way except his family. He barely heard what she said to him before he ducked out of the way as a dagger was flung within inches of his face. He took out his seraph blade, calling its name aloud before he could finish off the demon and retrieved her dagger that seemed to be intact.

Isabelle and Alec watched in horror when a demon almost managed to catch Jace off guard. He was the best shadowhunter in their eyes, and never faltered a bit during battle. Their horror turned into relief when out of all people it was Clary who saved him. They both sprung into action afterwards and helped each other take down another demon whilst Jace was battling another on his own.

Jonathan watched with pure pride as his sister was almost relentless with taking down demons with such ease, looking like an avenging angel in the process. He moved to fight alongside her, loving how they worked together in perfect unison, blocking out the world as they were overtaken with the high of the fight.

Clary was panting faintly as she had slayed the last demon, trying not to wince when ichor had sprayed onto parts of her skin that weren't covered by her clothing and now were starting to bug her. She went over to Jonathan, her gaze flickering along his entire form to make sure he was okay before she placed her hand against his cheek.

Jonathan patted her hand when it rested against his cheek, offering her a smile. "I'm alright. Stop fretting already and let me give you a healing rune for those burns." He raised his hand to take her hand in his hold, turning her arm over as he let out a whistle when he saw how much ichor managed to get on certain parts of her.

Clary's cheeks burned slightly when he called her out for fretting over his well being. She knew he was more than alright, but she loved her brother too much to not make sure. She held her arm out fully for him, trying not to grimace at the familiar but still uncomfortable sting from the iratze. "Thank you. Now your turn, and don't try to deny that you didn't sustain anything. Even you aren't that invincible."

Jonathan chuckled as he reached out to ruffle her hair before he allowed her to mark him as well. "There are you satisfied now? Because we have an audience now." He inclined his head towards where the others were waiting.

A soft sight emitted from Clary's lips as she nodded her head once in answer to his question before they made it over to the other three. She inwardly prayed that they would just keep quiet and head back to the institute, and almost as if they knew her exact thoughts that's what ended up happening.

Jonathan pulled Clary to a stop when they reached the institute, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear as the corner of his mouth tugged into a slight smile. "It's time for me to leave. I'll be back before you could even think about missing your favorite brother."

Clary knew this moment was coming, but she didn't think it would hurt her as much it did when it finally came. She smiled up at her brother before he embraced her, making her hid her face against his chest before she titled her face up to speak in a hushed tone. "Are you sure you don't want me to make you a portal to get back home?"

Jonathan shook his head in answer to her question as he rubbed her back to further calm her since he felt her tense up ever since he mentioned leaving her. "No, that's not necessary. I don't want you to use up your strength. You need to save your strength for the rest of your training."

Clary stepped back from his embrace when she felt his arms loosen their hold on her, fighting the urge to frown and instead held her ground and made sure to keep a blank expression since she felt someone watching them. "Goodbye Jonathan."

"It isn't goodbye sister. I'll be seeing you soon, and we will be keeping in touch." He leaned down to place a kiss against her cheek before he walked away from her, and set off to make his way home.

Clary didn't look back at his retreating form, but instead took a deep breath and walked through the gate. She wasn't surprised when she saw a figure in the distance that was leaning against the elevator. She was a little caught off guard when she neared the figure only to discover that it was Jace. "You didn't have to wait for me."

Jace pushed the button to call down the elevator as he shrugged his shoulder in a casual manner, trying to hide a smirk since he knew that he had caught her off guard. "It was no problem at all. I just wanted to make sure a pretty lady like yourself made it safely upstairs and of course escort you to your room."

Clary got into the elevator with Jace, stifling a laugh in response to his chivalrous act. "Oh, I'm sure that was your innocent intention. I don't suppose you are expecting some kind of reward for your kind gesture?" She arched a brow as she peered over in his direction, trying not to allow her gaze to linger too long on him. She wasn't blind. She knew that under ordinary circumstances that he was the type of guy she'd bring home to fool around with, but for some reason she didn't plan on acting on that instinct.

Jace faked he was hurt and placed a hand over his heart, gasping aloud for show as well. "Ouch. You seriously wound me. Here I was just trying to be a kind gentleman." The corner of his mouth tugged into a sly smirk as a hint of a challenge shown in his golden hues. "But just for curiosity sake. Would I have gotten a reward?"

Clary stepped out of the elevator, feeling rather amused in response to his words, and bristled slightly when she saw him smirking at her, hating that his looks and how he carried himself was actually getting a reaction out of her. She recovered quickly to shrug her shoulder in an nonchalant manner, hiding a grin as she peeked over her shoulder at him. "Maybe, but I guess you'll never know." She continued to walk down the corridor, looking down at her feet as the cat was now following her as she walked in the direction of where she heard familiar voices.

A while later Clary found herself in her designated room along with the cat whom she was told was named Church. She thought it was rather adorable. After she took in the surroundings of her room she proceeded to unpack all of her things and organize everything like how she had when she was at home.

She had just finished taking a shower and changed into her pajamas when she noticed Church wanted to be let out of her room, making her stalk over to the door and open it. She was also unexpectedly met with Jace standing in front of her room with his hand frozen mid-air as if he was just about to knock on her door. She arched her perfectly shaped brow as crossed her arms over her chest. "May I help you?"

Jace had found himself almost dumbfounded when the door to Clary's room opened before he even had a chance to knock. He watched as Church exited the room before he set his gaze on Clary, trying to keep a blank expression as he realized that she was merely wearing a fitted tank top and cotton pajama shorts. This outfit let nothing to the imagination, and he found himself averting his gaze almost immediately as he cleared his throat. "I was stopping by to see if you were interested in having some food. I ordered pizza, and I noticed that you hadn't eaten since you've been here. Would you like a slice?" Jace flicked his gaze to her verdant optics, making sure that was where he was only looking.

Clary wasn't expecting that to be the reason that he was knocking on her door at this time of night, but before she could even decline, her traitorous body let out a low rumble at the mere mention of food. A hint of a smirk played at her lips when she studied his face better and noticed he was trying to only look her in the eye. She pretended to ponder over his offer before she shrugged her shoulder in a casual manner. "That actually sounds good. Thank you for the offer Jace."

Jace was a little too excited when she agreed, making him step out of her way momentarily before he led her towards the kitchen. He motioned for her to take a seat at the table while he got plates and drinks for them.

Clary happily took the water bottle he handed her and the plate. She placed two slices of pizza on her plate, nearly drooling when she smelled the food. She took a smile bite, trying to ignore that he was watching her every move. After she wiped her mouth clean after she polished off the first slice of pizza she looked over at him, attempting to not balk over the fact that he had eaten way more than her within the few minutes that they had been sitting down at the table. Instead she took a sip of water to take a moment before she spoke in a casual way. "So, where is everyone else?"

Jace took a drink of juice he had gotten himself before he held her gaze, noticing that she had hardly eaten. "They had dinner earlier, but I wasn't in the mood for what they had so I waited until they retired for the day and ordered my favorite pizza. Are you not too fond of it?" Jace had looked at her in a questioning manner when he had said his last comment.

Clary nearly blushed when he assumed she didn't like the food he had went out of his way to share with her. She smiled apologetically at him as she played with the cap of the water bottle. "It's actually really good, but I got full already. Do you want the last slice?" She pushed her plate towards him, hoping he didn't mind that she nibbled on that slice a bit. She wasn't lying though. She did feel full already. It was most likely due to her nerves that seemed to appear as soon as they were left alone together. It was making her feel weird that he would make her feel a certain type of way that she never had felt with any other guy. She would blame it with the lack of sleep since the current events in her life recently had brought upon endless nights of restless sleep.

"Sure." Jace took the pizza from her plate, inwardly telling himself to make sure she ate better the following morning. She was too thin for his liking, and he could tell now that she appeared to be exhausted. He couldn't blame her though. Especially since he was told about her father's recent passing, and now she was starting a new chapter in her life by coming here.

After Clary convinced him to let her help clean up the small mess they made in the kitchen, he had escorted her back to her room, which she oddly fond comforting. As she was just about to close the door she sneaked a peek up at him, smiling faintly as she spoke in a hushed tone. "Thank you for the late night snack. Goodnight."

Jace shifted his weight on his other foot as he was feeling a little vulnerable under her stare when she had thanked him. "Goodnight, Clarissa." He gave her a slight wave and turned on his heel to leave to his room, which coincidentally was next door to her room, but he stopped mid-step when she called out to him. He turned his head to look at her. "Yes?"

Clary was in the hallway now facing Jace, waiting until he turned to look at her, making her give a subtle grin. "I'd prefer it if you called me, Clary."

Jace smirked and nodded his head. "Alright. Goodnight Clary."

She watched as he continued to walk away, and to her shock she saw that his room ended up being next door to hers. She shook her head as she quickly went into her room, closing and locking it behind her before she thought too much over the fact that he was going to be so close to her at night.

"Get it together girl. Stick to the plan. No time for getting attached to people." She murmured aloud to herself before she shut off the bedside lamp and got settled into bed, letting out a yawn as tried to find her spot.

That night she didn't have any nightmares, but instead she had a very interesting dream that involved a certain someone.

Please don't forget to leave comments. It let's me know to continue further with the story and as well as encourage me with my writing.