Simon's POV

He had just entered his house with a goofy smile upon his face since he had just gotten to spend some time with Isabelle. They had been secretly meeting with one another ever since they had met during her brother and Clary's little argument.

Of course that was a kind of an awkward first meeting, but she apparently was unfazed by it so he followed suit. She had taken him out to have fun that day after they had left the quarreling couple alone. And her idea of fun had him nearly seizing up with panic, but that was long forgotten when she had boldly kissed him out of nowhere. And let's just say his infatuation with her became even more unbearable after that.

This led to a few more meetings with each other, which he considered as dates. They would each take turns with who would decide what they would do that particular day. It helped them get to know one another, and luck must have been on his side because she had seen the full nerdy side of him and still hasn't bolted.

He thought things were actually going well, but he had been warned by Clary after he confided in her about them hanging out that Isabelle had a tendency to drop guys out of the blue so he tried not to get too attached.

It wasn't until he went to place his keys on the hook by the front door that he heard his phone begin to ring, making him break out of his thoughts as he arched a brow in a quizzical manner, thinking it might be Isabelle, but that would be weird since he had just seen her a short while ago.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, answering it without checking the caller ID as he was heading over towards his room. "Hello?"

"Is Clary with you?" Someone noted in a slightly distressed tone.

"Uh… Who is this?" Simon opened his bedroom door, reaching out blindly with his free hand to feel for the light switch whilst wondering if he should just hang up since he didn't want to be giving out information about his friend to a complete stranger.

The person elicited a noise of exasperation before speaking in an irritated manner. "I don't have time to play games with you, mundane. Now answer my question. Is Clary with you?"

Simon rolled his eyes when it dawned on him that he was currently speaking to Clary's rather overly protective boyfriend. He finally flicked on his bedroom light and froze in the middle of the room when he saw someone lying on his bed before he realized that it was none other than the girl in question. "No, she isn't here, and I haven't seen her all day either… Oh, jeez I think you're breaking up…" And with that last remark he hung up the phone since he felt the need to cover for his friend, placing it down on his desk before he rushed to take a seat beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder to shake her gently. "Clary, wake up." He murmured in a hushed tone as to not frighten her.

Clary sprung upright in bed, tensing up to prepare to defend herself, but immediately calmed down when she saw who had woken her up. "Oh, Simon!" She wailed miserably as she threw herself onto him, burying her face against the crook of his neck.

Simon was beyond bewildered at that moment, managing to recover quickly enough to wrap his arms around her and proceeded to place her onto his lap as he rubbed her back gently. "What's wrong? Did something happen with you and…" He didn't want to say Jace's name aloud since he didn't want to trigger her furthermore.

Clary sniffed as she fought back tears, shaking her head as she clung onto him tightly, needing to feel some sort of comfort. "No. It's not about him. It's about my mom and brother." She whispered aloud as she stayed curled against him.

Simon nodded his head once, continuing to rub her back and trying his best to think about how to go about getting her to tell him more since he didn't want to pry. "Can you tell me a little bit more or you don't want to talk about it? Cause we can drop this right now and do something to get your mind off things. I saw earlier that they're showing one of our favorite scary movies on TV. I think it should have recorded already." He placed a kiss against the top of her head before he rested his cheek on the same spot.

Despite after everything that happened just a while ago she found herself smiling as her friend had offered to distract her from her current worries even if it was just for a brief while. She pulled back to look at him, nodding her head eagerly. "I'd like that very much."

Simon returned her smile with one of his own as he loosened his hold in order for her to climb off of his lap to get situated on the bed. He stood up to walk over towards his closet, pulling out a random band t-shirt before he returned to the bed, tossing it in her direction. "I'll get you some pajama shorts from Rebecca's room. That's if you're wanting to stay the night?"

Clary caught the shirt with ease, keeping her smile in place as she looked over at him. "Yes, I'd like to stay if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind. I could use the company anyway since my mom still isn't back from her girls trip with my sister. I'll be right back." He left the room to make his way to his sister's room, giving her a moment alone whilst he tried to find what he was looking for.

Clary's POV

Clary had gotten up from the bed, reluctantly grabbing her phone from her jacket pocket and immediately had to refrain from rolling her eyes in annoyance when she saw she had multiple missed calls and texts. Most of them were either from Jace or her mother, but some were from Isabelle too.

She decided she would message Isabelle, knowing it was sort of petty of her to not just message her mom or Jace instead since they would have been worrying about her the most, but she knew that Isabelle wouldn't pry too much. The last thing she needed was to see Jace or her mom. She guessed that he must have found out about what happened by now, and she didn't think she could handle to find out if it would make him look at her differently.

Hey, Izzy. I'm just letting you know that I'm okay. I will be back tomorrow morning. I just need a night to myself. -C

She wasn't surprised when her phone buzzed a moment later.

Are you sure you're alright? Or are you being held hostage? If this really is you… What did we discuss a few nights ago? -Iz

Clary shook her head in disbelief and oddly found it comical that Isabelle thought she was being held against her own will.

It's really me. I believe that conversation ended with me throwing a pillow at your head when you kept trying to make me confess if me and Jace had stepped it up a notch in our relationship. -C

It is you! I'm so relieved! Where are you staying? Do you want me to come to you? -Iz

Clary could almost hear the worry in Isabelle's messages, making her sputter a laugh before she bit down on her lip when she pondered over telling her where she was. In the end she decided it would help ease her mind and with a shrug she messaged her that she was staying with Simon and pleaded with her to not tell Jace. Just as she hit send she heard Simon's footsteps closing in on her, making her place the phone back in her jacket's pocket.

Simon slipped past the door, holding the pajama shorts up in the air in a victorious manner. "I finally found them! Sorry I took so long. Her room was such a disaster."

Clary skipped over to his side after grabbing the band t-shirt off the bed before taking the item from him with a grin. "Thank you. I'm going to take a quick shower. I'll meet you in the living room." She pecked his cheek on her way out of the door, hearing him laugh in the distance as she had just gotten into the bathroom.

~~

In no time they were both huddled up on the couch watching a movie together whilst eating pizza that Simon had managed to order before their favorite pizza place had closed for the night. She was on her second slice when all of the sudden they both jumped so badly at the sound of someone banging on the front door.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to watch a scary movie this late at night. She inwardly mused to herself before attempting to shake off her paranoia in order to set her plate down onto the coffee table as she rose up from the couch, reaching out for her seraph blade that she was now thankful to have brought out of the room after she had showered. She held it tightly as she peered over her shoulder to look at Simon. "Were you expecting someone this late?"

Simon shook his head as his gaze narrowed in on the weird object that Clary was now holding. "Not that I know of. Should I go grab my baseball bat from my room?"

Clary snorted in response to his request as she pictured him trying to defend himself with a useless bat before she signaled for him to hush when they heard the banging on the door again but with much more force. She tip-toed towards the door, murmuring the name of her blade aloud as she had now reached the door. She leaned in to look through the peephole and ended up sighing with annoyance when she saw who it was. "Go away." She said loud enough that she hoped the person on the other side would hear.

"You know I could unlock the door easily. I can only be polite for so long. Please open the door, Clary." He retorted in an exasperation.

Clary disengaged her seraph blade with a subtle sigh, placing it down before she reluctantly went on to open the door, but made sure to block Jace from entering the house. "I see that I can't trust Isabelle." She noted in an irritable tone.

Jace's golden hues skimmed along her features from head to toe, noting that she was hardly wearing anything. This didn't settle right with him since it occurred to him that the shirt she was currently wearing was most likely the mundane's, causing him to grit his teeth before he held her gaze. "May I come in? We need to discuss what happened at your mother's house."

Clary snuck a peek behind her, seeing that Simon was trying his hardest not to eavesdrop, but ended up looking hilarious as he was fidgeting around which on any other day she would have laughed. "You might as well shut off the TV. It sadly looks like we will have to reschedule our movie night." She noted dryly before she stepped aside to let Jace inside the house.

Jace stepped into the house, trying his best not to make eye contact with the mundane. He took a seat in the living room that was a little ways from the couch, waiting until Clary got settled beside the mundane much to his dismay. That was when he finally turned his attention to him. "Do you mind giving us some privacy?"

Clary placed her hand over Simon's, shaking her head as she heard what Jace had asked him. "No dice. He stays here."

Jace tried to seem unfazed by both her actions and words, crossing his arms over his chest as he shrugged his shoulder. "Fine. Now explain exactly what happened. Starting with when you left Taki's."

Clary refrained from sighing as she let go of Simon's hand in order to place her hands in her lap. "I went straight to my mom's house, and as soon as I got there I sensed something was wrong. The front door looked like someone had tried to break it down so I made sure to stay alert as I went inside. That's when two ravener demons tried to attack me. I killed the first in no time, but as I was going to get rid of the second, I noticed my mom was unconscious on the floor. I quickly killed the second demon and went to wake her up." She looked away as she bit down on her lip when she knew she had to say what her mom had disclosed to her, but it pained her to do so.

"Clary? Are you alright?" Simon reached out to give her hand a gentle squeeze.

Jace got up from his seat, ignoring the fact that the mundane was holding Clary's hand. He crouched down in front of her, using his finger to tilt her face in his direction, and whilst doing that his gaze flicked along her entire form to make sure that she wasn't wounded. Anger flared within him with the thought of himself not being there to protect her. He knew he should have escorted her to Jocelyn's home, but his siblings had teased him that if he crowded over her so much that she'd get annoyed and leave him. The thought of that happening scared him so he had reluctantly allowed her to leave alone. He silently vowed that he wouldn't ever let her out of his sight again. His attention was solely on her when he shook aside his inner turmoil to focus at the matter at hand. "What happened after, Clary? I can see that it's going to be hard for you to say it, but I need to know everything. I'm going to do everything I can to protect you."

"Wait… Why does she need protection? What aren't you telling us?" Simon inquired with a worry tone, grasping her hand tighter.

Clary bit her lip harder until all she could taste was the copper that suddenly filled her mouth. She fought back traitorous tears that wanted to escape her eyes as she forced herself to take a deep calming breath before she spoke in a hushed tone. "She said that Jonathan took the Mortal Cup, and that I had to warn everyone to prepare themselves for the worst." She couldn't tell him that she also said that he would come for her because then Jace wouldn't let her out of his sight for a second.

Jace sucked in a breath as he heard about the whereabouts of the Mortal Cup. When Maryse had told them that they were going to be on high alert for something that Jonathan had done she had left out that particular piece of information. He knew there was something suspicious of her brother from the moment he met him, but of course he couldn't tell this to Clary. He knew that would make her shut him out completely, and that couldn't happen since he had to make sure she was cleared from any accusations that would be circling around that the Clave would most likely want to charge her with.

Simon was baffled by what Clary said, but the mention of a particular cup had him confused. "What's the Mortal Cup?"

"Shut up, mundie. I don't have time to explain things to you. Not that you even have the right to hear any of this anyway." Jace snapped.

Clary narrowed her eyes into slits as she broke out of Jace's hold. "Don't talk to him like that."

"No, it's fine, Clary. You should be worried about what Jonathan is going to do then explain things to me." Simon retorted in neutral manner, but still felt a little hurt that this was part of Clary's life that he would never understand, and had taken so much of their time together.

Jace sighed as he rose up from the floor, running his fingers through his hair as he forced himself to do the unthinkable which was to apologize. Something he wasn't familiar with. "You're right… I'm sorry, Simon."

Simon waved a dismissive hand at him, not wanting any sympathy from him. "It's fine."

Clary dared to look up to meet Jace's gaze as she knew she had to ask something important. "They're going to be taking me to Idris immediately aren't they? To question me with the Mortal Sword?"

At that mere mention Jace went all rigid. "I won't let that happen." He said in a venomous tone.

The corner of Clary's mouth tugged up into an emotionless smile. "I know you'll want to protect me, and you don't know how much it means to me that you still think the best of me, but you know that they'll take me by force, so I might as well go willingly."

A pained expression flashed across Jace's features since he knew deep down that what she said was true. "Do you really think that Jonathan is going to use the Mortal Cup for the wrong reasons?"

Clary couldn't fight back the tears that ended up filling her eyes as she pictured her brother in her mind. Was what they had together as siblings even true? Did he really love her or did he trick her throughout all these years? She didn't know the answers to those questions, but she knew for damn sure that she was going to find out. When she would get the chance she would find a way to ask him in person. And she had a pretty good guess at how she was going to pull it off. The answer literally rested upon one particular finger of hers, and that object happened to currently be gleaming brightly even in the dimly lit room as if taunting her that it had taken her so long to notice that Jonathan had given her a way to reach him.

And with that thought in mind she mustered up the courage to get up from the couch with a look of determination upon her features. "Cover for me just for tonight. I need one last moment to myself before everything goes to shit, and then first thing in the morning I will give myself up." She held up a hand when she saw Jace was going to protest. "Please just trust me. You can even pick me up tomorrow morning to make sure I go straight to the institute."

Jace pinched the bridge of his nose, releasing a sigh. "I don't agree with this, but I will do my best to cover for you. Just please don't do anything reckless while I'm gone. I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to you." He reached out in a tentative manner to brush his fingers against her cheek.

Simon had been watching Clary as she interacted with Jace, and by her actions he sort of assumed that she was up to something, but he was going to wait until their visitor left before discussing anything.

Clary leaned into his touch with a smile before she reached up on her tip-toes to place a kiss against the corner of his mouth. "I promise."

~~

After she escorted Jace outside and shared one last moment with him she returned into the house, making sure to lock the door before she turned around and was met with the curious stare of her best friend, making her arch a brow.

"What are you up to, Clary?" Simon inquired as he tried to busy himself with cleaning up their mess in order to help him try not to freak out over the wellbeing of his best friend.

She tsked at him as she started to help him clean up. "I'm not up to anything. I'm keeping my word to both you and Jace. Now less talking and more cleaning. I am in desperate need of some beauty sleep." This time she did smile in a genuine manner and she was rewarded with a laugh. It was moments like this between them that she would make herself cling onto because she didn't know what was going to be waiting for her the next day.

~~

An hour had passed since they had gone to bed. She was lying on her side, facing Simon, and trying her hardest not to laugh when she took in his sleeping form. She knew that she needed to go through with seeing Jonathan, but she also knew that it could be a risk, and maybe this would be the last time she'd see Simon.

That thought nearly broke her heart. She reached out to caress his cheek gently before she leaned in to place a kiss against his forehead. "I love you, Simon. I'm so sorry, but I have to do this. I need to know if he's going to put the people I care about in danger. I hope you can forgive me one day."

Within no time she had both dressed and marked herself before she left Simon's house. She made sure not to look back as she walked out to a deserted area, making sure no one was in sight as she held out her hand and placed her fingers around her ring, hoping that her earlier hunch was correct.

"Here goes nothing." She murmured to herself as she went on to make a subtle motion, and without warning a wave of dizziness overwhelmed her before she was surrounded by darkness.