Jace looked like he was going to be sick seeing the hall leading up to Magnus' apartment. He was the biggest cleaning fanatic. He took a step inside by pure force of will, with eyes darting all around frantically. I imagined in his mind he was planning how he would want to tackle the place. Probably douse it in gasoline and light a match.

"Why are you trying to torture me?" Jace asked on the way up the stairs. His hand hovered above the railing but he thought better of it and shoved it into his pocket. I rolled my eyes.

It was opening night of Isabelle's play. Her 'end-of-year' production had become an early-November production when the school board decided Shakespeare wasn't Christmas-y enough. Jace was tagging along with Magnus and me to see it.

Why wasn't he going with Clary? Well, his girlfriend - the art student - had been very involved in the play's production from the beginning and was already at the school.

"You could have just met us there." I said. When I tried the door handle I found the place was locked, Magnus never bothered to lock it when he was in so that meant he wasn't home yet.

"Gone stag? Unlikely." Jace snorted. "I'd have to fight the girls off with a chair."

"Like a lion tamer?" I questioned him while I dug around for my key. The image had just been too funny to resist mentioning.

"Exactly." Jace smirked, though his posture was uneasy and eager to get away from the mess.

Jace did have other options. I would have told him to go with Maia and Jordan but I knew that was also unlikely. Then there was Simon and his band mates but hell would need to freeze over before Jace joined them anywhere without the rest of us.

It was sort of weird letting Jace into the apartment when Magnus wasn't there. I took out my phone so I could let Magnus know and hoped that he would come home soon so that the awkwardness would be reduced. He wouldn't mind. I wouldn't have just let my friend inside if I thought that Magnus would mind. But still…

Jace let out a low whistle while he looked around. When I put my phone back into my pocket he was already walking around in the living space, putting Magnus' magazines into a neat little pile.

"Nice place." He said, coming over when he was done and giving me a pat on the back. "Your Daddy complex is paying off."

I made an indignant noise and gave my friend a sizable shove into one of the seats.

"I don't have a... One of those." I said, picking up the Chairman. I didn't want to repeat Jace's embarrassing phrasing. "And I don't actually live here, anyway."

"What do you call it when a guy disowns his Dad and starts dating another older, married man?" Jace asked with another smirk. He did that entirely too much.

"Co-incidental timing." I said offhandedly. Jace raised an eyebrow.

The line of conversation ended when the front door opened and two people walked in, chattering away. Magnus and Camille both had shopping bags. He was carrying more, but I was pretty sure a lot of them actually contained her things.

It was always interesting to watch the ex-couple together.

Something about them made it feel as though they were inside a bubble or behind a sheet of glass. They had this way of looking at each other that expelled the rest of us. Although Camille may have said that the two of them were never in love; the bond between them was something undeniable.

"Jace, nice to see you." Magnus made himself smile. It wasn't that he didn't like Jace; he was just slightly weary of being punched again.

Magnus dumped his bags unceremoniously on the floor. The Chairman's ears pricked up but he didn't stir from the nap he was now taking in my arms. I didn't know how to put him down without getting mewled at so I just kept hold.

"Cammie, this is Alec's friend Jace." Magnus introduced. "Jace, my ex-wife."

"A pleasure." Camille purred. She looked at Jace like he was a display put there for her own viewing. I wasn't sure if she had always been like that with people or if it was a bad habit she'd picked up from Woolsey somewhere along the line.

Of course Jace wasn't fazed at all. He quite openly considered himself to be an Angel-like specimen. In fact the Jace of the pre-Clary era would have been confidently flirting away by this point. As it was, he was polite enough to agree that it was 'a pleasure' and strike up a conversation with that typical line:

"I've heard so much about you."

"And none of it was good." Magnus joked, giving me a nudge and waking the cat. Chairman Meow leapt down and went to rub against the Actress' legs for attention.

"Isn't he just the worst?" Camille sighed playfully, giving the kitten a quick pet. "What a thing to say."

"Is Camille coming to Isabelle's play?" Jace asked me in a quiet voice. "You don't think she'll kind of, you know, stand out?"

In spite of my friend's attempt to be subtle, Camille heard this. Naturally. She batted her long eyelashes in an oddly innocent way for somebody who was so...

Well. It was Camille.

"Play?" She repeated. She glanced between the three of for a better explanation.

"My sister is playing Juliet tonight." I told her.

"Your sister is an actress?" Camille gasped. She stood up bolt straight from stroking the cat and appeared to be completely shocked. "She's an actress and you didn't tell me?"

I was getting a strong sense of déjà vu, here. Didn't I have a similar conversation with Magnus about masquerade outfits? By the Angel, I was bad at relaying information to people. It didn't help that half the time I wasn't sure what people needed to know.

"I didn't think you'd care." I said. Cam wasn't even remotely shy about telling people when they were boring her; why would I strike up a conversation about a high school play starring people she didn't even know?

"Of course I care!" Camille groaned dramatically. "Magnus, you really should have said something."

"It slipped my mind…" He murmured; never all that effected by her theatrics.

"Is she signed to an agent?" Camille asked. She fluttered her hands expressively as she spoke. "Alexander, you must remind me to introduce her to mine."

"You haven't even seen her act." Jace commented.

It did seem odd for Cam to make an investment without even meeting my sister. She looked at Jace as if she'd forgotten he was there. She really did seem to think he was part of the decor, being surprised to hear him speak as I would be if one of Magnus' stage lights chipped in on the conversation.

"That is a point." Camille said after some consideration. She clapped her hands together when she found the solution. "I'll be needing you boys to take me to this play!"

Now; don't get me wrong. I knew that having connections could do Isabelle a world of good if she was going to take up acting as a serious career choice. The only thing was that Izzy was a proud sort of person. She probably would accept Camille's help, but on the off chance she wouldn't... I didn't want to put my sister under any sort of pressure by turning up to school with Cam and a golden ticket, so to speak. Besides, Jace had been right when he said Camille would draw attention. People were supposed to be watching the play.

But how was I supposed to explain all that without being offensive? I wracked my brain trying to come up with something. Jace and Camille both looked at me expectantly. That was when Magnus came to my rescue.

"It's sold-out, Cammie, there's no room for you." He said.

"I'm sure I can buy somebody's seat from them." Camille replied. Her voice sounded bored with the excuses already. "I must meet Isabelle."

"I'll invite her over some time." Magnus offered, sounding just as bored with Camille's stubbornness. I guess he'd been dealing with it for years.

The Actress looked as though she were about to concede. Suddenly her eyes lit up with inspiration. She clapped her hands again.

"You can bring her to Woolsey's party!" She announced.

I wasn't aware that there was a party coming up. Jace mouthed 'Woolsey Scott?' at me, and his gold eyes got wider when I nodded.

"We need to get going." Said Jace, glancing as his phone. Camille's unexpected enthusiasm had distracted us. I checked the time too and was relieved to see we weren't too late to make it in time.

"I'll think about it." Magnus told his ex-wife as we all made our way out.

"You'll do it." Camille said confidently. Her tone was ever-so-slightly warning, and I had to wonder what kind of threat she could possibly make. "Or I shall be very cross with you."

Magnus only chuckled. When Cam cracked a smile too it became clear that the dark edge to her statement was some kind of inside joke.

When we got outside Magnus walked Camille towards her car so that he could throw her bags into the back. Somehow he'd ended up carrying them all this time.

"Bring your friend, too!" Camille called over her shoulder just as I was about to take Jace to Magnus' parking space. Her eyes locked with Jace's for only a second. "Woolsey loves a little extra decoration."

Hope the chapter was good, I sort of felt like I was cramming a lot in but we'll see how it goes down with you readers. Thank you for reading and for your reviews, next chapter should be 'Big Opening'.