"Tess?" A soft voice at the door; she looked up and saw Will there, silhouetted in the light from the corridor."
It had been two Saturdays ago when Charlotte had woken up in a sweat, having dreamt that she'd cut off a demon's head with a sword. She'd woken up, feeling boiling hot and terrified, and unreasonably thought Henry's bare arms were tentacles trying to choke her. She'd screamed.
Henry was usually a fairly heavy sleeper, being known to snore in Charlotte's ear occasionally, but she really didn't mind. Having him next to her made her feel, unreasonably, that she had a wall between her and whatever bad that could happen. Nothing could hurt her if he was there, though again, this was a bit unreasonable. He was a heavy sleeper, but her scream was too much for anyone and he snapped straight up, blankets falling off his bare chest, blinking at her in shock.
"Lottie? Are you alright? What's wrong?" He blinked, rubbing his eyes with a fist.
"I- It's nothing," she whispered, feeling suddenly like the world's biggest idiot for screaming about a dream.
He did not do as usual, falling back asleep with out a simple nod, but surprised her. "Nothing? You wouldn't scream about nothing," he said sleepily, reaching out a hand, and rubbing her cheek gently. "What's wrong?"
She felt herself unwind, and, moved closer to him in the bed, pressing her face to his chest and wrapping her arms around him. "Oh, Henry!"
He made a noise, sounding utterly bewildered and for good reason. Charlotte rarely showed physical displays of emotion at all, even though they'd been married for a year, so her sudden embrace must have been a bit of a shock.
He took it well. He stroked her hair with a hand, tilting her face up with the other to look at him. "What's wrong?" he asked, eyes worried. "Did something hurt you? I've had Charley horses in my sleep before and while they're uncomfortable I wouldn't think-"
"It was just a dream," she whispered, feeling a vague burn of embarrassment.
He looked at her slightly strangely, before surprising her by leaning down and kissing her forehead.
She fought back the twist of emotion in her. "It's okay, Lottie," he whispered more gently than she would've thought possible. "It can't hurt you."
It wasn't condescending as it would've sounded coming from anyone else's mouth. It was the most reassuring thing he could've said.
In that moment, really what she wanted was to kiss him, but she didn't want to push it. So instead of tilting his face down to hers, she turned herself around again, moving to her side of the bed, and curled up to sleep once more.
She hadn't seen the look on his face, but if she had, she would've known her husband wouldn't be scared away by anything, especially not a kiss.
It was silent for what must've been a solid minute. Will didn't breathe. Tessa Gray was sitting there, in a chair beside Jem's bed, wearing a sweater and jeans, looking like he was the one who was abnormal in this situation.
As if he was the strange one.
"What are you doing here?"
She looked taken aback at the accusation, noticeably moving her chair back a few inches from Jem's bed. Will felt something harden in his chest. "You're the boy-" she stared, looking dazed. "The one who got-"
But he never got to find out what he got (though he could guess) because at that moment Jem interrupted with a cough. "Will, come in all the way, please."
Will looked down and noted he was still in the doorway. He moved like a sleepwalker, into the room and stood by the window. Tessa Gray looked back at him. He thought he could blink and see her on that balcony- Blink and see-
He cut himself off. He decided to avoid the most obvious predicament.
"Jem," he asked quietly, voice terse. "Are you alright?"
Jem surprised him by smiling widely (knowingly?) back at him. "I am doing amazing at the moment. So yes, I'd say alright is an adequate word."
Will simply stared. His eyes darted of their own accord to Tessa. She looked incredibly awkward (weren't famous people meant to have poise and social skills?) and was staring at him as if something hurt her. Well. At least they had something in common.
"Okay. . ." he said slowly. "Then why the hell is Tessa Gray in your hospital bedroom?"
Before Jem could answer this question the door flew open once more.
For a moment all Will could see was a complete stranger, a very. . . short, complete stranger, fly into the room with a worried expression. She was short with light brown hair, all tied up in a rather messy knot on her head, wearing all black and holding an iPhone in a fist. She rushed over to Jem's bed ignoring everyone in the room.
It clicked in Will's mind. The young married landlady. He blinked. This day was getting weirder by the moment.
"Jem! I got the call. Are you alright?" she asked, brow creased as she reached out a hand to touch his forehead. "You don't feel feverish, but that doesn't really signify. Do you think the doctor's would let me see your records? I could-"
"What is going on here?" Will demanded of Jem, moving closer to the bed next to the landlady.
"Oh, I'm sorry, you must be-"
Tessa stood up suddenly. "You were the one that met me," she blurted out, interrupting the surprised woman. "The one who got arrested. Weren't you?"
He stared at her, startled. "I mean- Yes, but you-" She was staring at him intensely, her expression conflicted.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Every head turned towards the doorway. There stood the weirdest nurse Will had ever seen.
He wore the normal aqua scrubs but with sequins dotting the seams, as if it was a self done job. His hair was black, sticking straight up and coated in what looked like- glitter? But the real shocker was his eyes- just for a second- looked like the narrow slits of a cat.
Then he smiled.
"Just need to check the monitors," he said in a sing song voice, walking into the room without further adu.
They all went silent for a moment then the landlady turned to Will and held out a hand. "Since I have no clue what's going on between you two," she gestured between Tessa and Will with a quirked brow. "I'll introduce myself. I'm Charlotte Branwell, Jem's landlady. And you're Will, I'm assuming."
Will took her hand with a bewildered look. "I'm Will. And that," he turned to Tessa giving her a questioning look. "Is Theresa Gray, the international popstar."
Charlotte's mouth became an O as she stared at Tessa. "You- I know you! I own one of your albums!" She flushed to the roots. "It was a present. I'm too old to buy that sort of thing on my own of course-" She cut off. "How do you know Jem?" she asked Tessa pressingly.
Tessa held up her hands in obvious defense. "No, you don't understand, I only just met him. In- In a diner. We ran into each other, we hadn't met before today."
"But that's where you would be wrong," Jem cut in suddenly in a mild tone, every head turning to him.
Will opened his mouth but it was Tessa who spoke. "What do you mean?" she demanded, her voice surprisingly gentle.
"None of us are who we think we are," Jem said his eyes moving from person to person. "I think we all know that something has felt off."
Charlotte and Tessa's faces simultaneously went white. Will just stared.
"Dreams, to not knowing how to work a phone," he gestured to an iPhone laying on the bedstand. "All things that would say we're crazy, but we're not." His eyes latched on Tessa. "We don't belong here."
"Then. . . Where do we belong?" Charlotte whispered, shocking Will.
She felt it too. His eyes moved to Tessa Gray's face, pale with shock. He couldn't believe his eyes.
"We need to find the Shadowhunters," Jem said plainly. "The nearest ones we can find."
Before anyone could question, an unfamiliar voice broke in again. "Couldn't have said it better myself."
The strange nurse was smirking at them from where he leaned against a wall in the corner, no longer wearing scrubs but. . . parachute pants? And a sequined top. Will didn't know how to process this.
"You lot don't belong in this century let alone this life," he said, moving towards them, looking amused. "And I'm surprised it took James Carstairs to figure it out. I've been assuming this on and off dream romance," he gestured between Will and Tessa. "Would take off just like it oh so dramatically did way back in the day." He rolled his eyes. "As if I need to give advice about that all over again."
"Who are you?" Tessa whispered, hands unconsciously having found one of Jem's. Will didn't register.
The strange man grinned. "My name is Magnus Bane. And I'd like to suggest a revision. We're going to find shadowhunters to deal with this yes, the sick boy's," he gestured lazily to Jem. "- right. But not the nearest." His eyes flashed. "How would you all like to take a trip to New York?"