Disclaimer: We do not own Mortal Instruments or any of the characters
The group had decided to get Jules and Emma before Magnus told them all what he learned. Alec assured them that Max and Rafe would be fine on their own for a few minutes so long as they had their toys.
"Where are they?" Jules demanded once he was in the room with everyone else. Emma rested a hand on her parabatai's arm and he relaxed slightly.
"They are at Clary's apartment," Magnus said before looking over at the red head. Everyone's eyes shifted over to her and she scrunched her eyebrows together.
"My apartment?" Clary repeated. "I don't have an apartment. I live here at the Institute."
"Your old apartment," Magnus elaborated.
"That burned down," Jace chimed in.
"It makes sense," Izzy said. "No one would ever think to look there. No one has been there in years. Plus Dot worked downstairs and it's easy to portal out of there."
"Plus she knows that Jules would come to us," Alec said. "She wanted to go somewhere that we would be able to find her."
"It's too easy," Simon said. "This is all way too easy."
"He's right," Emma agreed. "Zara never makes anything easy. She is unfortunately too smart and conniving for that. She wants us to walk into this trap."
"So what do we do?" Jules asked. They could all hear the frustration and impatience in his voice. They knew that he was not feeling patient anymore and they wondered if he ever showed any patience.
"We prepare," Magnus said. "We can't do something foolish that would get Tavvy or Max hurt."
"He's right," Jace nodded. Magnus shot him a look of surprise and Jace rolled his eyes. "Oh don't act like I never agree with you."
"You never agree with me," Magnus said.
"Anyway," Jace continued on as if nothing happened. "We need to map the place out and then come up with a plan."
"Since when do you come up with plans first?" Simon asked.
"I have matured Simon," Jace shot him a look but Simon just rolled his eyes in response and scoffed.
"Where are your other siblings?" Clary asked Jules.
"Mark and Christina are watching them," Jules said. "They are safe with them."
"Don't worry," Alec said. "We will find her and when we do, we will end this."
. .
"Iz," Simon rushed up to her and caught her arm.
"Oh hey Simon," Izzy stopped and turned around to face him. "Were you calling me?"
"No," Simon shook his head. "I was just running after you."
"Oh," Izzy shot him a weird look but shrugged nonetheless. "Is everything okay?"
"I wanted to talk to you for a second," Simon said. Izzy nodded and then crossed her arms.
"What's going on?" Izzy asked.
"We can put off the wedding if you want," Simon said.
"What?" Izzy widened her eyes in surprise and took a slight step back. Suddenly her stomach hurt and she felt like the floor was being torn out from underneath her. "Are you calling off the wedding?"
"What?" Simon realized how his statement came off and quickly shook his head. "No, not at all. That's not what I'm doing!"
"Then what are you doing?" Izzy asked. She rested her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at him. She was trying to appear strong and confident, but she was suddenly feeling nervous and sick. Did Simon not want to marry her anymore? Was he having second thoughts?
"With everything going on with Tavvy and Max, I was saying that it would be okay to postpone the wedding. We can wait until this all calms down and then get married when we can all breath," Simon explained.
"If that's what you want," Izzy said. She was proud that she was able to keep her tone from shaking and that she appeared to be coming across strong.
"I just feel like so much is going on right now and I want our wedding to be perfect. I want the two of us to be able to give it all the attention it deserves. I don't want us to be worried on our wedding day that something is going to go wrong," Simon said. Izzy understood his reasoning but it still felt like a punch in the gut to her.
"Then we can postpone it," Izzy agreed.
"Are you sure?" Simon asked. He took a step closer to his fiancée and rested his hands on her hips. "Are you really okay with this?"
"Yes," Izzy nodded.
"Perfect," Simon said. "I'm going to go meet Jace and Alec to go over strategy."
"Okay," Izzy said.
"I love you," Simon said.
"I love you too," Izzy forced a smile. She felt Simon lean in and kiss her cheek before turning to walk away.
Izzy watched him walk down the hall and she crossed her arms over her stomach. Was this Simon's way of backing out of the wedding? Was he using this threat as his get out? The thought made her want to throw up. She loved Simon. She loved him more than anything else in the world. She knew that she came across closed off and standoffish but Simon always made her feel like she was more than just a pretty face. He made her feel like she was worth the world. He loved her for more than her good looks. He loved her for her heart. If he wanted out of their forever, she wasn't sure that she would be able to handle it.
. .
"What are you doing?" Alec asked. He walked up and saw Magnus leaning against the wall, silently watching their kids play with their toys.
"I was so hesitant at first about adopting him," Magnus said. "I was worried about becoming a dad and it almost cost us the chance to watch him grow up."
"Magnus," Alec whispered. He leaned against the wall across from him and looked at him as he talked.
"I can't imagine a life without him," Magnus said. "I can't imagine what I would do if anything ever happened to him or Rafe. They are everything to me."
"Me too," Alec said. He looked over at the kids and could see how happy they were. It warmed his heart to see their innocence and joy.
"We can't lose him," Magnus insisted as he turned to fully face Alec. "I won't lose him."
"We won't," Alec promised. "I won't let anything bad happen to him."
"You can't promise that, Magnus said.
"Have I ever let you down before?" Alec asked.
"I love you Alexander," Magnus said. Alec smiled at him and pulled him in for a hug.
"I love you too," Alec promised. He pulled back to kiss him before leaning into his side and watching the kids play together.
. .
"Finally!" Jace threw his hands up in relief and dropped down at the kitchen table. He narrowed his eyes at all of the containers and then looked up at Magnus. "Did you order me my Moo Shu Pork?"
"Was that what you wanted?" Magnus asked and placed a hand on his chest. "It must have slipped my mind."
"What?" Jace shrieked and looked into all the containers. He found the one containing his favorite food and glared at Magnus. "Not funny."
"Oops," Magnus shrugged and pretended to be apologetic.
"Alright," Clary walked over to the table and rested a hand on Jace's arm. "Let's just eat."
Everyone got themselves situated around the table and then divided up the food. The kids had eaten earlier so they would be able to have a conversation without worrying about what they were going to say in front of them. Izzy hesitantly took a seat next to Simon and he could notice her hesitation. He raised an eyebrow at her but she just ignored him. He was really confused and wanted to ask her but knew that she didn't like to talk about personal stuff in front of other people.
"I swear when I find her," Jules gritted his teeth and gripped his fork tightly.
"Don't finish that," Emma shook her head. "Don't say something you'll regret saying later."
"Oh I won't regret it later," Jules insisted. "When I find her, I'm going to kill her."
"We all need to relax," Magnus said.
"Yeah," Clary agreed. "No one is killing anyone. We are going to handle this the right way."
"I don't even know what is right and what is wrong anymore," Jules mumbled.
The room fell silent at his statement. They knew that Jules had to take on a lot of responsibility at a really young age. They knew that he had to step in and raise all of his siblings at only twelve years old. That was a lot to put on such a young kid. They knew he had to grow up fast. The anger he radiated was alarming though. He held so much anger and they all knew that he was going to blow one day. They hoped that for his sake he was able to find an outlet. They didn't want to see him put himself in a situation where he put himself at risk.
"Well that surely puts a damper on my dinner," Jace said as he stirred his food around his plate.
"Jace," Clary gritted her teeth and kicked him under the table. Or that's what she thought she was doing until she heard.
"Ow!" Alec groaned. "Who the hell just kicked me?"
"Were you trying to kick me?" Jace turned to face his girlfriend and narrowed his eyes at her.
"Maybe," Clary shrugged.
"Well you kicked me instead," Alec mumbled. He reached down to rub his leg and then shot Clary a look. She winced and apologized.
"So, are you two excited about your wedding?" Emma asked Simon and Izzy.
"Sure," Izzy shrugged. Everyone shot her a confused look and then looked over at Simon, who looked just as confused.
"Well that is a change from the girl who has spent the last few weeks talking about nothing else," Alec said. "Are you okay, Iz?"
"I'm fine," Izzy said. "I just don't think we should be talking about the wedding right now when we have so much else going on."
"Uh, okay?" Magnus raised an eyebrow at the couple.
Clary looked between Simon and Izzy curiously. She noticed almost instantly there was something off about them. Usually they couldn't keep their hands off each other but not tonight. Tonight it looked like Izzy wanted to be as far away from Simon as she possibly could. It was almost like she was closing herself off from him. She shot Simon a look and he only shrugged in response. He looked almost as confused as everyone else. He kept looking at Izzy but she kept her eyes trained on her plate.
"Anyway," Jace drawled. He shot Simon a glare that read "if you hurt my sister, I will kill you" and Simon returned his glare. "I think we should scope the apartment out tomorrow. Get a feel for it."
"I think that's a good plan," Simon agreed.
"Do you think she will be there?" Clary asked.
"I'm not sure," Magnus shook her head. "When I tracked Tavvy's shirt, he was there. I'm not sure if she is there with him or has someone watching him."
"We should just go on and snatch him," Jace said. "I can handle a few jerks like her."
"I want to go too," Jules said.
"Absolutely not," Alec shook his head.
"Why not? This is my brother that we are talking about," Jules gritted his teeth. He pushed his plate away, suddenly losing his appetite. He looked over at Emma and she gave him a sympathetic look. He could see it in her eyes what she was trying to say to him. She was reminding him that she was always there with him and would always support him.
"Because you are too angry right now," Izzy said. "You are going to charge in there and just cause a scene. You have to think about Tavvy."
"I-" Jules was about to retort.
"Jules," Emma shot him a look. He saw her expression and immediately held in his retort. He knew that he shouldn't be arguing with them. They were trying to help and making them angry wouldn't solve anything.
"Tavvy is our main priority right now," Magnus said. "We are going to get Tavvy back. She won't have him for much longer."
"Who has Tavvy?" The adults all jumped, startled by the young voice. They all turned around and saw Max standing in the doorway holding Rafe's hand.
"Max," Alec whispered.
"Is Tavvy hurt?" Max asked. His face looked pained and he looked over at Alec and Magnus. "Daddy, Papa, where is Tavvy?"