Waiting

Simon waited for Isabelle to call him back until he finally gave up and went to bed. He woke up early in the morning and checked his phone. Still nothing. He got up and took a packet of animal blood from the refrigerator. As he drank it, he put his cell phone on the kitchen table, hoping it would start ringing. When he finished drinking the blood and threw the packet into the garbage, he thought about calling Isabelle himself. Then he shrugged off the idea. She had said she would call him back, so he would wait.

And wait he did. Simon went about his day, going to band practice and playing video games with Jordan, checking his phone every so often to see if Isabelle had called or even just texted. Nothing. Simon checked the clock on the wall of the apartment when he got back from band practice and saw that it had been a full day since he had called Isabelle. He sat on the couch, checked his phone again and then put it back in his pocket in frustration.

What am I doing? He thought as he ran his fingers through his brown hair. Isabelle's a shadowhunter. She's probably busy patrolling. With Sebastian out there with his Dark Shadowhunters, the shadowhunters have their work cut out for them. Maybe she forgot about having to call me back? Should I call her instead?

Simon clutched at the phone in his pocket again and then shook his head. No, I don't want to bother her. Recently, when she wanted to see me, she asked for me to come to her. Simon's heart skipped a beat. Does that mean she doesn't want to see me any more? Is that why she hasn't called me? Then he thought about how she had asked for him to sleep beside her at Magnus's apartment and how she had ran for him after he had come back from visiting the angel Raziel. No, that can't be it. She wouldn't just change her mind about me in the span of a few days. Would she? No, of course she wouldn't. Then, why...? Simon put his head in his hands. Argh, what am I doing?

"You alright over there?"

Simon lifted his head to see Jordan staring at him from his bedroom door. The tall werewolf had his arms crossed over his chest and was dressed in a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans. He was giving Simon a cock eyed look. "You seem like you're having some kind of fit. I've just watched you change facial expressions about five times in about a minute."

"Oh, I was just practicing for the annual, "Most Dramatic Facial Expression" contest in Central Park. I think maybe I have a good chance of winning this year."

"I think you'd totally win it if you showed the judges your fangs." Jordan grinned as he walked over and sat on the other side of Simon on the couch. "I would safely bet a hundred bucks that no one has ever done that before."

"I'll take that bet. I could use the hundred bucks."

Jordan snorted. "Not as much as you just need some advice. Anything I can help with?"

Simon just shrugged, trying to figure out what to say. It wasn't like he and Isabelle were officially dating or anything. It wasn't anything major like a fight. He just wanted to know why she hadn't called him back yet.

"Is it Isabelle?" Jordan's question caused Simon to start a little bit. The werewolf grinned at the response. "I thought so. What happened? Did you two have a fight?"

"No, nothing like that." Simon gave Jordan a look. "You know how tough Isabelle is. I think I'd be in a couple pieces if we ever had a real fight."

Jordan shook his head. "No arguments there. So, what'd you do?"

Simon frowned. "I didn't do anything. What makes you think I did something?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you dated two girls at the same time and didn't tell either one about the other?" Jordan raised an eyebrow and Simon looked sheepish.

"Kinda walked into that one, didn't I?"

"Kinda, yeah." Jordan grinned. "So...?" He waved his hand around in a circular motion to show he wanted Simon to get to the point.

"I asked Isabelle if she wanted to do something yesterday, but then her mom came in and interrupted our call before she could give me an answer. She said she'd call me later, but she still hasn't yet. What do girls mean when they say, "later," anyway?"

"Don't ask me, I'm a dude." Jordan shrugged again and asked Simon, "What did you ask her to do, anyway?"

"I asked her if she wanted me to teach her how to drive a car."

"You're going to teach Isabelle how to drive?" Jordan's eyebrows were both raised in alarm.

"I thought it was a good idea. Why, what the problem?" He asked as Jordan continued to look uneasy.

"Well, it's just that Isabelle isn't known for being the most patient or careful person. Putting her behind the wheel of a car, well..." He paused and stared at Simon with an earnest expression. "You do have life insurance, don't you?"

"I'm already dead." Simon reminded him flatly.

"Oh, that's right. Still, it would be a problem for me if you died." Jordan reminded him as he cracked his knuckles. "I can't imagine the Praetor would react well to you dying—or dying again—in a car crash on my watch."

"Jordan." Simon sighed, wanting to get back to the point.

"Right, right, sorry. So, you told Isabelle you wanted to teach her how to drive. How did she react?"

"She seemed surprised, but she didn't sound like she didn't want to." Simon threw his hands into the air. "I don't know! It would be so much easier if she would just call me back."

"Why don't you try calling her then?"

"I don't want to bother her if she's busy." Simon knew it sounded like an excuse, but he truly didn't want to bother Isabelle. When he was with her, he wanted to feel like she wanted him there.

Jordan snorted. "I doubt it'll bother her. Isabelle's the straightforward type. If she's busy, she'll just tell you. If there's one thing Isabelle isn't, it's shy."

Simon thought about the night when Isabelle had let him bite her. How she'd told him that she'd enjoyed it afterwords and how she didn't do anything that was fake. Jordan was right. If he was bothering Isabelle, she would just tell him so. No point in beating around the bush about it.

"You're right. I should call her." Simon took his phone out of his pocket and got up from the couch. "Thanks Jordan." He called back to the werewolf as he headed into his bedroom.

"Good luck." Jordan called back as Simon shut the door to his room.

Simon opened his cell phone and found Isabelle's phone number in his contact list. He pushed the call button, stuck the phone to his ear and waited. It rang several times before it went to Isabelle's voice mail. Sighing, Simon shut the phone and ended the call. He tried again several times that night, alternating between calling Isabelle and reading the latest Dungeons and Dragons guide book. The result was the same every time. Still no answer.

Simon started to feel a little worried as he made his last phone call close to midnight. Usually, Isabelle would have at least texted him to say she was busy by now. Had something happened at the Institute? Had Sebastian come back already? Simon went out into the living room and found Jordan sitting on the couch, reading The Lord of the Rings. He looked up as Simon explained his situation. Jordan sat up as he listened to Simon's story, but he didn't look overly concerned.

"Look, I'm sure everything's fine. If there had been some kind of attack, Luke would have called the pack and Maia would have called me. I'm sure Clary would have contacted you too. It's like you said, they're probably just busy."

Simon stared forlornly at his phone again until Jordan spread his hands and sighed. "Tell you what. If you still haven't heard from Isabelle by tomorrow morning, I'll drive you to the Institute and you can ring the door bell yourself. Though, I still think you're overreacting." Jordan commented as he lay back down on the couch with his book.

"Thanks Jordan." Simon's response was sincere as he went back into his room and shut the door.

Simon placed his cell phone by his head and turned off the lights. He lay down on the pillow and stared up at the plain white ceiling of his room. He listened to the noise of the New York City life outside his window. He checked his phone one more time to see if he had missed anything. Then, he put it back down and closed his eyes, trying to sleep.

Still more waiting. He thought, knowing sleep wouldn't come easy to him tonight.

Simon woke up early the next morning, just after seven 'o clock. He blinked his eyes a few times to try and get the sleep out of them, wondering why he had woken up so early. A split second later he remembered how he had stayed up last night waiting for Isabelle to call him and quickly reached to check his phone. He opened it and checked the glowing screen to see if he'd missed any calls. He frowned in disappointment as he saw nothing other than his new "Game of Thrones" background on the screen. Sighing, he got up and decided to go to the living room to distract himself for a while.

Simon sat down on the couch in front of their Xbox 360. He grabbed one of the Halo games from the shelf and popped it into the console. Simon looked at Jordan's door from time to time as he continued playing the solo campaign. He thought about waking Jordan up so they could go to the Institute, but he knew that Jordan liked to sleep in and would be pretty angry with him if he woke him up early. Besides, Isabelle could still call him this morning and save them both the trip.

It was ten in the morning by the time Simon had turned off the Xbox and got up from the couch with a stretch. Just as he was wondering what he should do now, Jordan's door opened and the werewolf emerged with a big yawn. His hazel eyes met Simon's as he walked into the kitchen.

"Mornin'," Jordan greeted as he walked over to the fridge to pull out the milk. "Did you hear anything from Isabelle?"

"No," Simon admitted, feeling worried again. "I was hoping she would call this morning, but she still hasn't. You'll still drive me to the Institute, right?" Simon asked as Jordan settled down at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal.

"Mmhmm." Jordan nodded as he chewed his cereal. "Just let me finish this and get dressed. We can go there after that."

"Thank you." Simon's voice was sincere. Jordan just waved a hand at the remark and Simon went to his room to get dressed. He had just come out of his room, straightening out his T-shirt, when the phone in his pocket started ringing. His fingers fumbled so hastily for his phone that he nearly dropped it as he pulled it out of his pocket. If his heart was still beating, it would have sped up as he saw that it was Isabelle calling him.

"Isabelle! Are you all right?" Simon's voice was laced with concern.

"Of course I'm all right, Simon." Isabelle's voice was a mixture of confusion and exasperation. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, well, it's just," Simon swallowed, feeling a bit embarrassed, "you said you'd call me back yesterday and you never did. You told me your mom wanted to talk about something important and I was wondering if something bad might have happened."

There was a short pause before Isabelle quietly replied, "If something really bad was happening, I'd let you know."

"You would?"

"Of course I would!" Isabelle snapped at the question. "If something terrible happened, I'd want you to—"

Simon frowned as Isabelle abruptly cut herself off. He thought he knew what she was going to say, but he didn't want to assume things. "You'd want me to what?"

"N-Never mind that." Isabelle's voice was a nervous stammer. "Look, I said I'd call you if something bad happened and, well, I have."

"What's wrong?" Simon raised his eyebrows in concern even though she couldn't see them.

"Nothing traumatic or terrible, at least not for me anyway." She sighed heavily.

"Does this have something to do with what your mom wanted to talk to you about?"

"That's one of the things." She admitted to him and she started explaining to him about the bloody angel wings on the floor of the Institute. When she told him about the note saying that Sebastian was coming, Simon was truly alarmed.

"So, Sebastian has just left a cliché, "I'll be back," note on top of a pair of bloody angel wings on the floor of the New York Institute. Do you have any idea when or what he plans to do when he comes back?"

"No, although I doubt it's going to be good. Mom spent a good deal of time with the Silent Brothers looking at the angel wings on the floor, but they didn't couldn't trace where Sebastian went."

Simon was truly worried now. "Isabelle, are you sure you're going to be safe there?"

He could feel her shrug through the phone. "This is my home. I'm not going to abandon it just because some jerk left a threatening message. Besides, where else could I go?"

"You could stay with me." The words came out of Simon's mouth without his permission and if he could have blushed, he would have. Quickly, he continued speaking before she could respond, "Or I'm sure Luke and Jocelyn would let you stay with them. And there's always Magnus."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line and Simon wondered if he'd said something wrong. Then, Isabelle's voice, sounding a little strained, said, "Actually, we can't count on Magnus anymore."

"What? What do you mean?"

"That's actually why I called you. Alec and Magnus broke up."

Simon sat in silence for a moment, simply absorbing that statement. He thought he would feel surprised at being told this, but he quickly found that he wasn't. The vampire had noticed that the two of them had been drifting apart recently, though he wasn't entirely sure why. He thought of the way the pair had fought at Luke and Jocelyn's party, how hurt Alec had looked when he had found out that Magnus knew who his father was and hadn't told him anything about it. Still, he felt like it was clear the pair had cared for each other and was sad to hear the news.

"Do you know why?" Simon wasn't sure if he should ask this question or not. He just wanted something to break the silence with.

"I do, but I'm not sure I can tell you." Isabelle sounded sad and disappointed at the same time. "It took me all of last night and this morning to get the story out of him. And I'm his sister. He's always talked to me before."

"That bad?"

"Worse." Isabelle sounded truly worried now. "He said he never wanted to see Alec ever again. Or any of us, for that matter."

Simon whistled, but he said nothing else. Truth to be told, he had expected Magnus to get fed up with all of them a long time ago. He had always felt guilty about how they had to come to the warlock for every little thing they needed. He knew that the only reason the warlock had put up with it was because of Alec, but even then, Simon had felt like they had taken advantage of the warlock at times.

"Is Alec...is he okay?" The vampire knew it was a stupid question, but he really didn't know what to say.

"Of course he's not okay!" Isabelle snapped, though Simon knew it was because she was feeling worried for her brother and not because she was really mad at him. "I didn't even know he was back at the Institute until late last night when I saw him skulking back into his room. I hadn't seen him for almost two days and I just figured he was at Magnus's. He looked so terrible that I thought he might have been sick. I tried to talk to him, but he slammed the door in my face. Eventually, Jace used the open rune on his lock and we got into his room. Even then, he still wouldn't talk to us. He just laid on his bed, turned his back to us and stared at the wall. We stayed with him all night and in the morning he finally told us what happened, but..."

Isabelle stopped to catch her breath as her voice started to shake. Simon could almost see the tears she was trying to hold back.

"Izzy," Simon tried to say something comforting, but Isabelle started talking again.

"I don't think he's eaten anything since it's happened. He barely says anything at all and he just stares off into space when you talk to him. I've never seen him like this."

"I'm sorry." Simon paused, then asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Actually, there is. I want you to come to lunch with us at Taki's."

"Well, that's easy enough, but I don't get how that's going to help Alec."

"It'll help because you'll be there. I think you should talk to him."

Now Simon felt dubious. "Isabelle, look, Alec and I know each other, but we're not very close. To be honest, he's not the easiest guy to talk to. Wouldn't it be better to get Jace to talk to him?"

"Jace has tried talking to him, Simon." Isabelle's informed him, sounding impatient. "It didn't help. I didn't have any luck either, but I think he might listen to you."

"But—"

"You always know the right thing to say, Simon." Isabelle went on and there was passion in her voice. "You speak your mind and you tell the truth even if people don't want to hear it. You're straightforward and I think Alec might listen to you."

Simon shrugged uncomfortably even though she couldn't see it. "What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing. Just come to lunch and be yourself."

"Okay, I'll come. When are you guys going to Taki's?"

"One 'o clock." She replied quickly, sounding relieved. "Thank you so much, Simon. You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

"Sure, no problem." Simon said, thinking it was really no big deal. He then remembered that he had wanted to talk to her about teaching her how to drive. "Wait, Izzy, have you thought about—"

Click. Simon spoke as quickly as he could, but Isabelle had already hung up. Cursing colorfully, he slipped the cell phone back into his pocket when Jordan opened the door to his room. Jordan gave him a curious look before he said, "I take it you talked to Isabelle. Do I still need to drive you to the Institute?"

"No, but I need a ride to Taki's if it's alright."

"Anything wrong? You were swearing like a sailor a minute ago."

"It's not me. It's Alec. Him and Magnus broke up. I don't know why." Simon said before Jordan could ask the question. "I guess Alec's pretty beat up over it and Isabelle wants me to try talking to him. See if I can pull him out of his funk."

Jordan whistled. "That's a tall order, especially since he doesn't seem like he's easy to talk to even when he's in a good mood. I don't envy you." Jordan was smiling at Simon in a way that said he was amused by something.

"What is it?" Simon asked.

"I was just thinking Isabelle is lucky to have a guy who's willing to look after her mopey brother for her sake."

"Alec's not that bad and anyone would be feeling mopey after something like this." He replied, thinking back to his break up with Clary.

"What about your driving lesson thing?" Jordan continued. "Did she say anything about that?"

Simon made a frustrated noise. "No, I didn't get a chance to talk to her about it, what with all the other stuff going on." Simon briefly filled Jordan in on the angel wings in the New York Institute and Sebastian's note.

The werewolf's eyebrows were almost lost in his bushy hair as Simon finished explaining. "Are you sure Isabelle and the others are going to be alright there? Shouldn't they be thinking of moving?"

"That's what I said, but Isabelle told me she wasn't going to move just because some jerk left a threatening note on the floor."

Jordan shook his head, smirking. "That sounds like Isabelle alright." Abruptly, he took his car keys out of his pocket. "Well, we should probably get going if we want to go to Taki's." Jordan gave him a sneaky grin. "Wouldn't want you to miss out on playing psychiatrist to the brokenhearted."

Simon rolled his eyes and followed Jordan out of their apartment. They piled into the truck and headed for Taki's.

The trip to Taki's took longer than expected due to the joys of New York traffic. Simon groaned as they crawled along in a long line of cars, watching as the time grow later and later. When they were close enough, Simon decided to walk the rest of the way. Jordan wished him good luck as he exited the car and then he took off like a shot. Vampire speed did have it's advantages sometimes.

Still, even with his increased speed, he was still fifteen minutes late. He cringed as he saw Isabelle standing outside the window of Taki's and he hoped that she wasn't too angry with him. To his complete surprise, her face brightened when she saw him and she ran forward to hug him. She didn't say anything, but her grip on him was tight as she buried her head in his shoulder. The gesture surprised him, as normally Isabelle was like a bright, burning star full of light and boundless energy. Now, it seemed to him that her flame was burning quite low. He'd never seen her look so tired.

"Izzy?" He whispered in her ear after a long moment of silence. "I'm sorry I'm late."

Isabelle roughly pushed away from him and gave him a friendly push on the shoulder. "It's fine. Just don't make a habit of it." Abruptly, she gripped his right arm tightly and gave it a tug. "Now, come on, everyone's waiting for us."

Simon and Isabelle walked into the cafe together. It was rather busy inside, being around lunch time and Isabelle quickly escorted him to a square table near the back of the room with two people sitting down at it. Immediately, he recognized Clary's bright red hair and she smiled brightly at him, looking relieved as he approached. At her side, staring down at the table as if it were the most interesting thing in the world, was Alec.

Simon actually started as he took a look at the blue eyed shadowhunter. To say Alec looked terrible was an understatement. True, Alec always had kind of an unkempt look about him with his old, worn clothing and unstyled black hair, but now he just looked ragged. His pale white skin seemed paler, his face looked drawn and there were dark circles under his eyes. Even his bright blue eyes seemed dim and distant. His cheek bones seemed to jut out a little more and his hands were trembling a bit. He could see why Isabelle suspected he hadn't eaten anything since his break up with Magnus.

Alec didn't even look up or say anything as Simon approached the table. Simon had never received any warm welcomes from Alec, but the shadowhunter didn't seem to notice that Simon even existed. The vampire boy couldn't find it in him to feel offended because of how pitiful Alec looked and also because he didn't seem to acknowledge anyone's presence at the table. He was just staring off into space, lost in his dark thoughts.

Simon exchanged greetings with Clary and said, "Hello," to Alec, but he might as well have been talking to a wall since Alec didn't seem to hear him. Once the four of them were seated, they exchanged a bit of small talk about food before they all became incredibly interested in their menus. Isabelle practically shoved a menu under Alec's nose to get his attention, asking him in a really loud voice what he wanted to eat. When all he did was give a small shrug, she sighed, saying she'd order something for him and he'd better not complain about it. Alec, for his part, didn't even seem to notice the threat.

The faerie waitress who worked at Taki's came over and took their orders, with a small knowing grin directed at Alec that he thankfully didn't notice. Simon felt a bit angry at the expression, remembering that faeries found pleasure in feeding off of human emotions. The Queen must have already known that his relationship with Magnus had ended. He remembered how she had cruelly turned Alec into an old man, wondering aloud how Magnus would feel about him when he had aged. Simon despised the Queen for that, among other things, and he was beginning to dislike the other fair folk as well.

When the faerie waitress had left and they could no longer have the excuse of being engrossed in their menus, there was a very awkward silence. Clary and Isabelle both shot worried glances at Alec, which he either didn't notice or ignored. It was clear that Alec wasn't going to be doing any talking and the girls at the table weren't really sure what to say. Simon felt sure that Alec didn't want them both staring at him with pity, so he decided to ask the first question that came to mind.

"Where's Jace?" Simon asked, not because he cared all that much but because he would hope it would start a conversation.

"Jace is still glowing too much to be in public at the moment." Clary informed him in a voice that made this sound like he had something as normal as a cold. "I promised we'd bring him back something afterwords."

"Jace is glowing?" Simon repeated with an undertone in his voice, his eye brows going into his hair. The vampire boy couldn't help the innuendo that came to his mind at the words, much as he didn't want to think about that. Isabelle snickered and Clary flushed as she kicked Simon under the table.

"Not like that." She said in annoyance. "When I stabbed Jace with Glorious he ended up with Heavenly Fire in his body."

Simon felt a bit confused by this. "So, what does that mean? Is Jace permanently on fire or something?"

"Just on the inside." Isabelle said as the waitress returned with their food. Simon sipped at the glass of warm blood he was given, while Isabelle enjoyed a peach smoothie. "The Silent Brothers have been looking at Jace, but they can't find anyway to remove the fire. They say it's not hurting him, so I wouldn't be too concerned over it."

"Wow, so Jace basically his own personal twenty-four hour heater beneath his skin. It'll probably come in handy in this weather." Simon said as he took another drink of blood. "It's probably suck come summer though."

Simon couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw Alec roll his eyes and give a small shake of his head. Though it was a negative reaction, Simon was feeling strangely pleased to have pulled any kind of reaction out of the sullen blue-eyed boy at all. As of now, he was playing with his fork, stirring a plate of fried rice around his plate without eating any of it. Isabelle, seeing him do this, put her hand harshly down on the roving fork, halting its movements.

"Eat." Isabelle hissed in exasperation, though it was clear to Simon that she was genuinely distressed for her brother. Simon watched as Alec slowly scooped some rise on the fork and brought it to his mouth. He chewed slowly and made a face as he swallowed, as if eating the stuff was somehow painful for him.

"So, Simon," Clary said, clearly trying to distract attention from Alec, "I hear you offered to teach Isabelle how to drive."

"Oh, yeah, I did." He admitted, sneaking a glance at Izzy to see her reaction, but she was too busy watching Alec eat to notice.

"That's right, he did." Isabelle's voice sounded distant. "I completely forgot about that."

Simon's felt a little sting at that, though he knew it was unfair given everything that was going on. Isabelle had a lot of other important things going on in her life besides learning how to drive a car.

Clary must have noticed his disappointment because she quickly added, "I think it's a great idea."

"Me too." A rather hoarse voice said in agreement.

All three pairs of eyes turned to Alec as he finally looked up from his plate and glanced at Simon. He blushed a little at all the attention on him. Finally, he cleared his throat and looked at his sister.

"If he's willing to teach you how to drive, then you should learn. It's a useful skill." He added before turning back to his plate and taking another small bite of rice.

"Y-Yeah," Isabelle was startled for a moment at Alec sounding so normal. Then, she turned to Simon and her face was bright. Her smile was beaming. "Yes, of course I'll learn."

Simon smiled a little sheepishly at Isabelle's grateful expression. He really hadn't done all that much, had he? Still, Alec had spoken and he seemed to be eating his food with a little more vigor. There was a small spark of energy in Alec that hadn't been there when they had sat down and Simon was happy to see it whatever the cause.

The conversation from then on was less awkward, even if Alec wasn't contributing at all. He finished his entire plate by the time they were done talking and Isabelle eye's continued to show gratitude towards him all the way through lunch. He honestly didn't think he'd done anything special, but he was happy to see her happy.

When it was time to go, Isabelle asked Simon if they could start driver's training tomorrow. Simon told her he would see if he could borrow Eric's van and that he would meet her in the afternoon. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and told him she would see him tomorrow.

Author's Note: So, first off, I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to get up. Unfortunately, I found something out a few weeks ago that has now turned my life upside down and has kept me extremely busy. Until the situation is resolved, I don't see myself updating this story in a timely fashion. It's not abandoned, but it will probably go on hiatus for a while. That and with what's going on, I don't really feel like writing anything cheery. Maybe I'll write something angsty instead for a while. No promises though.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. We'll get to driving next time, along with a surprise for Simon that he won't appreciate. It was supposed to be done this chapter, but I just wanted to get this posted. Until next time!