A/N No copyright infringement is intended. All original works and verbatim transcriptions belong to Cassandra Claire. I'm just stretching my creative legs.

It took us more than a few days to get to the hospital. Once we got outside of the Court, Simon, clearly stewing like a tomato in feelings of hurt and betrayal, took off. When we made it back to the Institute, I tried to calm Clary by reassuring her that he was just licking his wounds. Hoping to recreate some of the comfort of our temporary isolation from earlier, I gave her a t-shirt and coaxed her toward the bed. It was not to be. Even then, alone in my room, Simon came between us. The moronic mundy had to go and get himself turned into a bloodsucker. There was nothing he wouldn't do to get Clary's attention.

After the mess of his rising and the debacle at Luke's with the Drevak demons, we finally got a chance to go to Beth Israel. I had only been inside a mundane hospital twice before. It always struck me as strange that healthy people would go to a place full of sickness and death. The corridor had once been painted white, but yellowed with age. Dotted every few feet were brightly colored posters about things like the importance of hand washing and coughing into your sleeve instead of your bare hand. So depressing.

As we approached Jocelyn's room, my palms began to sweat. I had only been there that one time when Clary begged me to come along. She hoped my presence would somehow wake Jocelyn from her coma, but of course it did nothing and I felt beyond awkward sitting there looking at the woman who was supposedly my mother who had abandoned me to a lunatic. Now, approaching the room, my discomfort returned. I already felt my skin crawling from being in the hospital and that feeling increased with each step.

She passed the threshold of the door first. I hesitated but followed her inside. There lay Jocelyn, Snow White laid out in her perpetual death. Save all the machines whirring and beeping, there was nothing to indicate that she had any life in her at all. Clary took the empty plastic seat near the bed and stretched a hand to grasp Jocelyn's. "Hey, mom. Jace and I are here to see the doctors about what Valentine told us. It would be nice if you could just tell us, but at least now we should be able to get some answers." I couldn't believe I was resting all my faith on some crazy mundane test. If anything, it was proof that Clary had changed everything.

A woman in putrid green scrubs bustled into the room. "Oh, well hello there. I didn't realize Miss Fray had visitors." She didn't stop to make small talk as she went about looking at the machines and making brief notations to the chart at the end of the bed.

"I try to get in every day to see my mom," Clary replied. "I know there hasn't been any change to her condition, but I have some questions. Would you be able to ask the doctor on duty to meet me?" The other woman bristled at the question.

"The doctors are extremely busy, and there really isn't anything new they can tell you." This woman was testing my patience. How dare she be rude to Clary? Especially when it supposedly was a doctor's job to reassure patients and relatives of the treatment that was being given. Quickly, I stepped in before Clary could start to politely grovel.

"That might be true, but as next of kin I'm sure she is entitled to speak briefly with someone who is in charge of her mother's care. Surely you wouldn't want her to feel as though her mother was being neglected." If she bristled before, the woman in the ugly clothes had her hackles raised now. She narrowed her eyes at me; I returned her hard stare, and felt deeply satisfied when she turned away and grunted.

"I'll see what I can do," and she summarily swept from the room, grumbling all the way.

I grinned. "Should I be worried that you seem to take immense pleasure in making other people mad?"

"I wouldn't say immense pleasure. Just some."

"Oh and that makes it all better." She smiled widely and chuckled. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. Our expressions relaxed again after a moment and I made steps closer to the bed from my perch in the corner. I glanced toward Jocelyn, and it struck me that I didn't look anything like her. She and Clary, there was no mistaking it. But me? There was none of her in my face that I could see. Before I could think any further, someone behind me cleared their throat. I turned, and standing in the doorway was a middle aged man wearing a white lab coat.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Crawford. Nurse Roberts said that you had some questions for me, Miss Fray." Clary rose from her seat, passed me, and went to shake the doctor's hand.

"Thank you for coming so quickly."

"It's not a problem. Now what can I reassure you about?"

"Actually, it's not about my mom." She looked a little sheepish as she backed away. Her eyes darted to me and I tilted my head a little to encourage her to go on. "Dr. Crawford, this is Jace Wayland." She motioned to me as I stepped forward to shake the doctor's hand as well. "About two weeks ago, a man from my mom's past suddenly made himself known. He told us that he is our father, making us brother and sister. We've talked to a few people who have known mom for much of her life, and they seem to believe that it's possible he's telling the truth. We can't obviously ask mom about it, so we'd like to have DNA tests done to determine if there's truth in his claim."

"Well this is not quite what I was expecting," said the doctor. I bit back a sarcastic response. It would not do to offend the man I needed to help us. He looked from Clary to me and then back again. "Perhaps you can give me a few other details that I might make the picture a little clearer." I spoke up.

"Clary and I only became aware of each other a little over a month ago. I had been raised with an adoptive family after my father disappeared when I was ten. I never knew my mother. Clary stayed with Jocelyn."

"Who has never been forthcoming with explanations about her past. When I would ask questions about my dad, she would brush them off." It was a half truth, but it seemed to be effective.

"I see." The doctor rubbed his chin and then looked us both over with a glance toward Jocelyn thrown in. "So you've both grown up in families with secrets, missing at least one parent from the picture. This mystery man claims to be your father. Does he also allege that you are both the biological children of Ms. Fray?"

"He does," Clary said succinctly.

"A full sibling DNA test would be a simple way to determine whether or not you have genetic markers in common. We can do the test here at the hospital, but between insurance and other red tape, it might take some time to get results. There are a number of private businesses that specialize in DNA testing. You may want to use one of those if you want your results quicker."

"Are the private companies as reliable in their results?" I wanted these tests to be as air tight as possible.

"Usually. There are risks with every test that the results are skewed, but if you get clean samples it shouldn't be a problem."

"Would you be able to take the samples now and get the ball rolling?" Clary asked. She was just as eager as I was. The doctor gave her a warm smile.

"If you use an outside company, I wouldn't take the samples now. They'll send you a kit with sterile swabs and sterile casings to cover them after you've taken your samples. You'll need to come in and take the sample from Jocelyn when you're ready to send the kit back." The doctor smiled at Clary and then at me, satisfied that he'd answered our questions. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, Dr. Crawford. Thank you so much for listening and giving us some options. We'd just like to know the truth."

"Completely understandable." He fished in his trouser pocket and came up with a slip of paper which he handed to Clary. "Here's my business card. If you have other questions or want to go ahead with hospital testing, call my answering service. If you'll excuse me, I have some other patients that need attending. I'm sure I'll see you around." And out he went.

"What do you think?"

"If we can get good results quickly from a private company, let's do that."

"I also like the idea of getting answers fast, but I'm afraid doing it this way will cost an arm and a leg, and we didn't have a lot of money to start with. I'm sure Luke would help, but he's not exactly King Solomon either."

"Clary, I have money. The Wayland estate was given to me when I moved in with the Lightwoods. Most of it's in trust until my birthday, but there's still a fair amount at my disposal. It's not a problem." We'd never talked about our financial situations before. I didn't feel out of place telling her I had some money. I hadn't really thought about it; it just was.

"Jace, we could be talking about thousands of dollars here. I can't ask you to shoulder that burden on your own." I had to stop her before she worked herself into some kind of fit. I needed this answer a lot more than I needed the money. I would drain every cent of my accounts to know the truth.

"Then it's a good thing it's not up for discussion. We need to know, and I'm not willing to wait until you think you've saved enough to go through with it. Besides, you could be completely wrong about the cost. It's as much for me as it is for you, maybe even more so." She had that stubborn look on her face, but let it drop.

"Since there aren't any computers at the Institute, we can go to Luke's to use the internet. His PC is ancient, but it does the job."

"That sounds reasonable."

After a murmured goodbye to Jocelyn, we left the hospital and took a cab to Luke's. Extracting the key from her battered bag, Clary let us in and relocked the door as soon as it was closed again. The last time I had been there was the Drevak incident. All evidence of that night was gone and things were in the usually semi-clean state. I suspected Luke wasn't one for vacuuming or dusting.

Following Clary to a small desk, she pushed a button on a large plastic box and the machine sprang to life like Frankenstein's monster, whirring and clicking all the way. "It'll just be a second. You want something to drink? Water, soda?"

"I'm good." She scurried to the kitchen anyhow and I heard cabinets, as well as the fridge, being opened and closed. Maybe she was looking for a snack, too. That I wouldn't say no to. It had been a long afternoon.

When she returned, glass of water in one hand and several crinkly bags of junk food in the other, the screen was lit up and a little box was asking for a username and password. She slipped into the chair at the desk and filled those in. We had some mundane technology at the Institute and always had mobile phones on us, but many times stuff from the mundy world just didn't mix with runes or other Nephilim objects. Like oil and water and sometimes more like gunpowder and a spark.

"Okay, look at these." The screen contained a list of perspective companies we could use. Which one did we choose?

It was hours later when we finally had an answer. For a full sibling test, it was near $400, significantly less then either Clary or I thought it would cost. Between us, she was the one with a working debit card and active account. I hadn't expected us to order the kits that night, and therefore hadn't had time to have the money sent from Idris. I vowed to repay my share, but she brushed me off, throwing my own arguments back at me. Silently, I promised I would give her my half in piecemeal over time.

Satisfied that we were a step closer to an answer, she shut down the computer. In five days we would have the means to discover what our future would be like. I should have felt some relief, but now that there was a plan, the fear of hearing that what Valentine had told us was true was real in all new ways. "Are you headed back to the Magnus's or do you wanna stay here tonight?" There was no way to know how many more nights I could stay with Clary. Last I checked, Alec and Izzy weren't bunking together at night, not at their ages.

"I'll crash here, if that's ok. Just let me check in with Magnus first. I'm sure he's happier to have Alec there than me." Pulling my phone from my pocket, I found the number.

The conversation was brief. I would never ask permission from Magnus to do anything. He was my keeper but only in name. When he started to glowingly describe Alec's feet, I'd had enough and ended the call mid-sentence. "I'm good," I yelled as Clary had disappeared into her bedroom to change for bed. I didn't have anything but the clothes on my back, but that was fine with me.

Clary padded back into the room in her night clothes. Baggy flannel pants, an oversized t-shirt, her hair pulled into a bird's nest on the top of her head. "Bathroom's all yours. I put a new toothbrush on the sink for you."

"Thanks." On my way past her, I looped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. Her laughter bubbled around us as she hugged me back.

"Get going!" She swatted me with the back of her right hand. "Order a pizza for dinner?"

"May as well. The pack hates it when we call for Chinese."

"True."