Izzy's mind was going around in circles. Rationally she knew she shouldn't be thinking about this. She didn't need to relive painful moments from her past. The night after she'd slept with Kris in particular was on repeat in her head. When she'd cried all alone in her room after seeing Kris make out with someone else. Then her mind would swing left and she'd been thinking about how it had felt after he'd died. The pain of her early womanhood did not need to be taking up space in her head right now. Why? Stupid brain needed to get a freaking grip! More than that it needed to get some sleep. Reaching over, she checked her phone again. It was now one o'clock in the morning. She had her exams tomorrow, not to mention her bridal shower. It was time to sleep but the harder she tried to reel in her thoughts the more they seemed to spiral out of control.

It wasn't like the pain of these things were fresh. Even if the memories of the pain told her how bad it had been, time and love had healed over her wounds so why was her brain rehashing them when it should be sleeping?

It was then that her chaotic mind noticed the calmest sound in the room. She recognized it as Simon's soft steady breathing. Rolling back over, Izzy put her arms around her fiance and felt her mind instantly calm at his touch. Her breathing slowed down as she snuggled into him. He smelled good, like home and her mind went instantly and mercifully blank.

"Hmm," Simon mumbled. "Iz?"

"Shh love," Izzy said gently. "Go back to sleep. I'm just gonna snuggle you."

"Kay," Simon mumbled but instead of remaining still he started to roll over and wrap his arms around her. Izzy wasn't even sure if he was actually awake as she turned to be the little spoon.

Sleep came almost effortlessly now as her empty mind allowed her body's need for rest to overpower it.

Izzy woke gently, feeling rested. She just had to get through the next few hours then it was nothing but wedding stuff for a week! She could do this!

Leaving Simon asleep beside her, Izzy got up and headed for a shower. Once clean she threw together a rather average outfit, Izzy collected her phone and made to leave. It was only then that she noticed the time. It was a quarter after five in the morning. How early had she woken up? Her exams weren't till ten.

She could go back to bed but she was feeling all together too awake for that so she decided to do some last minute studying. Getting out her books Izzy got back into bed and laid them in front of her. Using her phone as a flashlight so as not to wake Simon, she began with her first exam and then after thirty minutes switched to reviewing for her next one. She was trying to focus on the stuff she didn't feel so strong on rather than the subjects she felt more confident about.

"Just gotta make it through the exams," Izzy told herself in a whisper.

Her eyes lids were starting to feel heavy. Maybe just a short break. Izzy closed her eyes and laid back on the bed, her books still open in front of her.

When she woke, Izzy felt less than energetic. She was groggy like she wanted a lot more sleep. This was not how the morning was supposed to go.

"Good morning sleepy head." It was Simon's voice. He spoke with affection but Izzy sensed some teasing in his tone as well.

"Morning," Izzy mumbled. She turned and there was Simon standing near the door looking fondly at her.

"I was just about to wake you up," Simon said. "It's after nine."

"WHAT!" Izzy said, sitting bolt upright. "My first exam starts at ten."

"Yeah but I saw you'd already showered so I thought I'd let you sleep," Simon replied with a shrug.

"Oh no," Izzy groaned. "The shower. My hair dried all crumpled. It's a mess!"

Izzy managed to find her phone amoung the books and used the forward camera as a mirror to see how bad it was. She'd just gotten a good look when Simon appeared on her right. She turned. He was standing right beside her looking down at her grinning.

"I love it," he said.

"Oh hush," Izzy snapped. "I don't have time to fix it. You should have woken me up!"

"Isabelle," Simon said more seriously this time. "It's an exam, not a beauty pageant and you would still be the most beautiful woman there even if you showed up bald and wearing a paper bag."

"Yeah right," Izzy scoffed. "You just talk a big game cause you know I'd never do that."

Before she realized what he was doing, Simon had leaned in and kissed her. It was a deep kiss, warm with affection and she couldn't help but melt a little.

"I am completely serious," Simon told her gently. "Call my bluff anytime." Izzy just rolled her eyes. "You know if you weren't so freaking gorgeous we might have gotten engaged sooner."

"How do you figure?" Izzy asked skeptically.

"It took a long time for me to understand why someone as beautiful as you would settle for someone like me," Simon explained with the air of someone explaining that one plus one equals two. "What can I say? I'm insecure."

"I know the feeling," Izzy replied honestly. She leaned in and kissed him again before jumping out of bed and throwing her hair into a ponytail.

"Perfection!" Simon declared. Izzy rolled her eyes at him before going over the plan for the day again.

She'd decided long before today started that it wasn't going to be a messing-around with the bus kinda day. Between picking up guests at the airport and her getting from home to school to home to the hotel in a timely matter the bus just wasn't an option. Rather than take a bunch of cabs today, Izzy had asked to borrow her brother's car to which Alec had agreed to under a few conditions.

"No sex in my car," Alec had said first.

"Don't worry Simon prefers the bedroom," Izzy had told him easily.

"Urg so didn't need to know that," Alec had whined. "Second, you have to fill up the gas tank. And third, no eating in my car."

"Yeah yeah sure," Izzy had sighed at her brother. "Now hand over the keys!"

Despite the annoyed look on her brother's face, she had managed to get the keys from him yesterday and those very same keys were now in her fiance's pocket.

"Okay let's go!" Izzy said. She had her school bag over her shoulder and her light spring jacket on her back. She was good to go.

"Not before you eat breakfast," Simon said.

"I don't have time for breakfast!" she exclaimed.

"Make time," Simon replied. "Or your ride is staying put." He grinned at her and she just looked annoyed but went into the kitchen anyway. It turned out Simon had already made her two toasts with jam and a cup of coffee in a thermos. Just seeing it made her smile.

"Are you still gonna do nice things like this for me when we are married?" she asked him.

"Eat your toast," Simon chuckled at her. "Then we gotta go."

Izzy finished the first one quickly and then took the second toast and the thermos to go and they left the apartment and headed down to the car. She ate the second toast in the car while Simon drove. This meant she really couldn't reply when Simon wished her luck on her exams while also telling her she wouldn't need it.

"Thanks," she mumbled with her mouth full as he stopped the car in front of the school.

"Text me when you are done and I'll come get you," Simon told her.

Izzy nodded her agreement, waved goodbye and then turned to head into the university. Izzy made her way quickly to her classroom. She got there just in time, a few moments later and it would have been a problem. Letting out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Izzy took her seat.

The next two hours went as all exams do. Both too slow and too long at the same time. When it finally ended, Izzy was feeling pretty okay about how she'd done but there wasn't a lot of time to dwell on that. She had just enough time to eat lunch before her next exam. Whoever decided students wanted all their exams on one day should be fired in her opinion. Stuipd system.

She got herself a coffee and a sandwich at the cafeteria and watched a couple funny videos on her cell phone while she ate. She needed the break if she was going to get through the next exam.

Checking the time, Izzy chugged the last of her coffee and headed off. She had to go up one flight of stairs and into another room full of chairs to get to her next exam.

It felt like an eternity until she got out of this one and indeed she had used all the time allowed. She was very glad she'd made time for lunch and a break earlier because now she only had five minutes to get to her last exam.

"Just one more," she thought, triumphantly. "One more exam and I'm done with school!"

She could see the light at the end of the tunnel now. She knew that past that tunnel was her wedding and her life with Simon. It was so close now.

Izzy sat in her final classroom and looked over the last exam of her university education. Putting her name at the top she began on the teacher's signal.

The feeling of freedom was almost overwhelming when she finished answering that last question. It was over. She was done! Looking up she saw that she'd done better on this one. Only about a quarter of the class had finished before her. Getting up she handed in her exam, collected her bag and all but skipped out of the room.

Checking her phone again, Izzy saw she had some messages from Simon. He'd successfully picked his sister and mother up from the airport and dropped them off at the hotel. He said a few other guests had arrived early as well so the hotel had served drinks. All that was needed now was the guest of honour: her.

Izzy smiled at her phone. Today hadn't started the way she'd wanted, but Izzy was determined that the rest of the day was gonna be awesome. The guest list for her bridal shower was quite long and she couldn't wait to see everyone!

She texted Simon to come pick her up so she could go home and change. He replied at once that he was on his way. While she waited Izzy took in the university walls one last time. With luck she'd never come back here again. All exams results went online so she wouldn't need to return for that. She might come back for the graduation ceremony but probably not. It just sounded like a lot of sitting under hot lights in oversized and unflattering robes to her. Just having her diploma arrive in the mail seemed like the way to go as far as she was concerned.

Her phone vibrated and she looked down. Simon was outside. Walking out to meet him she saw Alec's car at once just where it had dropped her off this morning.

"How'd you do?" Simon asked.

"Good I think," Izzy replied. "And most importantly finished! Now it's time to party!"

Simon chuckled as he drove out of the parking lot.

Once Izzy was back home she went straight for her closet. She'd have to straighten her hair too but first things first: what to wear?

She'd bought a couple dresses for the occasion but had yet to decide which to wear. One was a warm sweater dress in case the weather had gone south. She could rule that one out now as the sun was shining. It was May, so not super hot but definitely not so cold she had to wear sweater materials. Her other two options were both made of lighter fabrics but in different colours and lengths. The first was short and very tight, strapless and with short sleeves. Izzy had liked it because of the way it hugged her curves. It was a deep blue colour but slowly changed to a lighter teal at the bottom. Her second option was a much lighter off white colour. It was ankle length with long sleeves but it had a slit that went all the way up one leg and though the neckline was higher overall it also had a bit of a slit down the center. The first one was more obviously sexy while the second was more flirty.

Izzy tried to ask Simon's opinion but he turned out to be utterly useless in this department by just repeatedly telling her that she looked amazing in all of them.

"Okay but which do I look the most amazing in?" she asked.

"I like them all," Simon said again.

"Useless," Izzy sighed as she turned around to look in the mirror again.

Ignoring Simon, Izzy chose the second one. Then she picked up a simple pair of white heels and some pearl earrings before straightening the morning's kinks out of her hair and looking in the mirror.

"Now that is perfection," she said.

"Yes you are," Simon agreed. "Even in a paper bag."

"Oh whatever," Izzy huffed. Simon just sniggered. She suspected he knew exactly how unhelpful he'd been and was rather enjoying it.

"Your turn," Izzy told him, before going into his closet and picking out the shirt she'd bought for him and a clean unwrinkled pair of pants.

"What's wrong with this?" Simon asked.

"Wrinkles," Izzy pointed very sharply to his pants then turned to his shirt. "Wrong colour."

She knew Simon didn't care what he wore but she also knew he'd humor her in this which he did.

"Come on, we have guests to greet!" Izzy exclaimed once they were both ready.

Simon parked the car at the hotel and they both headed inside. Izzy had rented a multipurpose room for the occasion and had the entire event catered and professionally decorated. There were streams on the walls, a balloon arch over the buffet table and real flower centerpieces. She'd chosen white tulips with coloured glass beads at the bottom of the vases.

"It looks amazing," Simon told her in a whisper.

"Of course it does," Izzy whispered back. "Because I planned it."

Izzy had not seen Rebecca or Elaine since the last time she'd been to Simon's place for Christmas. She made sure to hug them both before greeting her other guests. Maia and Clary had been invited and indeed both came. They were however being wallflowers at the moment. Aline and her wife were there along with Alec and Magnus. Clary had asked if Paige could come and in the interests of having a huge guest list, Izzy had agreed. She was at the moment also against the wall with the others near the food.

"We need to get this party started," Izzy told Simon. She had forced him to learn her itinerary over a week ago which meant he knew exactly what she was talking about.

Simon helped her set up the first game and then headed over to hover near the buffet table.

First they played how well do you know the bride. Izzy was not surprised when Maia won that game. After all, they had lived together until recently. Alec had been quite miffed he'd lost even if he hadn't lost by much. Clary had come in a close second. Then they stopped to eat and mingle. Izzy congratulated herself on starting with a game once she noticed the wall flowers loosening up a little.

Next she opened gifts. Izzy got to sit in the spot of honour and open a bunch of presents. It was like christmas had come early but only for her. She had Simon stand in the back and take notes on who gave her what so she'd know how to address all the thank you cards later.

Then there was another break to mingle where Izzy made sure to talk to everyone. She spent some extra time with her future mother and sister in law. They were in town now until the wedding and she and Simon had plans to meet them for lunch tomorrow but that was no reason to neglect them now. They had after all come the farthest to attend her shower.

By now the meal had been served and the desserts were out along with self serve tea and coffee. Izzy only had two more games planned and decided now was a good time for the Celebrity Date game.

Everyone had to write the name of a celebrity they'd like to date on a piece of paper. Then they all went into a hat and Izzy had to try and guess which name had been which person. Simon read them out so she couldn't recognize anyone's handwriting.

Everyone was served champagne before they started the next game: paper bride. Everyone had to style dresses out of toilet paper and Izzy got to pick the best one. Everyone getting a bit tipsy definitely made this one more fun.

Once the last of the champagne was drunk and people started yawning, Izzy knew her night was over. She thanked everyone for coming as they slowly, one by one, went home to bed. Elaine and Rebecca headed up to their hotel room and then finally it was just her and Simon left.

"Did you have a good day?" Simon asked her.

"The best," Izzy told him as she leaned closer to rest her head against his shoulder.

"Come on then sleepy head," Simon continued, gently encouraging her towards the door. "It's time to go home."

As her designated driver Simon hadn't had any champagne tonight while Izzy as the guest of honor had had quite a lot. Even so she was feeling very happy and floaty as she let herself be led by her soulmate to her brother's car.

Izzy closed her eyes as Simon started the car and before she knew it they were home. Simon held her arm as they walked to the elevator and then down the hall to their apartment. Once they were home with the door closed behind them, Simon began to help her undress.

"Don't forget to hang up the dress," Izzy told him groggily. "Or it will wrinkle.

"As you wish," Simon replied gently. "Now that you are free of the dress, what do you want to sleep in?"

Izzy didn't reply but instead picked out a clean pair of panties and an old t-shirt from her drawer and crawled into bed.

She heard a few gentle noises that made her think Simon was getting himself ready for bed and then she felt him lay down beside her.

"Goodnight love," Simon told her gently and Izzy felt a kiss on her forehead before she fell asleep.

Okay so as you probably noticed by now that my resolution to write a little every day didn't go so well or at least it didn't last for than about four days. lol. In my defense I spent most of January completely trashed by the flu. It's kinda ridiculous if you ask me. We are what like four years into COVID now which means I have managed to avoid the actual global pandemic virus for four years just to get completely obliterated by the common seasonal flu... Last time I am too lazy to get my flu shot let me tell ya! Damn that super sucked. Anyway...

My current plan for this story is to have 7 more chapters then an epilogue or at least I have seven more chapters plotted that I'm hoping will be enough to feel all lose end tied up like. Thanks to a wonderful new readers on ao3 I have decided to add a Tessa chapter since I have been neglecting her of late. The idea of ending this story is a bit of an unreal concept for me. It's been writing it for longer than I attended high school! (7+yrs writing R&S - 5yrs in high school just in case wherever you are does it different than here.)

Sneak Peek Chapter 205

Right now he had to deal with Jace. Since getting back together with Clary, Jace had been deliriously happy. In fact, he'd been down right bubbly. Simon had to admit it was a bit disconcerting. The guy just kept smiling all the time. Jace was in fact too happy to listen to anything Simon was saying.

"I don't want a bachelor party," Simon repeated himself.

"Of course you do," Jace grinned back. "And its starting now so come on!" Once again Jace tried to pull Simon by the arm out the front door.

"I just got back from the rehearsal," Simon whined. "It's been a long day. I just want to sleep."

"It's 6pm!" Jace exclaimed.

"Okay so I want to sit on the couch for a couple hours watching nothing in particular then sleep," Simon corrected.

In all honesty, Simon missed Izzy. It was silly since he'd seen her that morning, but he'd gotten so used to having her around in the evenings he felt her absences keenly. Just one more reason to marry her. The thought made him smile.

"I promise you'd like this," Jace said.

"Unless it involves falling asleep with my arms around Isabelle I highly doubt it," Simon replied scathingly.