Safe Place | j.h

4: Dinner

Dinner had gone good. Emery like Simon. She initially wasn't sure because he wasn't like anyone Isabelle had ever dated. But she figured that was the point. Izzy dates terrible guys because she was afraid of them breaking her heart. So know with Simon she trusted him. Izzy loved him and she wasn't afraid to say so. Emery loved that.

Emery was in the kitchen cleaning, having sent off Simon, Izzy, Jace and Clary. Alex had going to Magnus's tonight. She didn't want to think about what the three couples were up too. She shuddered at the thought of Clary kissing Jace, of Clary on top of-

"Hey need any help?" Jace said from the doorway, he figured he better pick his battles with her. Emery had always been standoffish. And now being gone for so long, he figured she would be more closed off than ever. Despite being broken when she left, he wanted her to be happy.

Emery was shocked to see Jace standing at the doorway. She figured if anyone was going to come and help it would have been Izzy or Simon.

"Um sure." Emery said, she turned back to the dishes at hand. She could hear Jace clattering more dishes and cleaning the table. She wasn't even aware that he knew how to do those things. But there was still a tension in the air that make them hair on the back of Emery's neck stand up.

"Thanks for cooking." Jace said, "You couldn't have done a lot of cooking over the past few years." He was making small talk. Usually Jace was smooth with his words but he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to her. Emery had been gone for 3 years, he wasn't even sure he knew her anymore.

"No I didn't. We mostly ate cooked meals in Idris and killed dear over a campfire the rest of the time." Emery told him. Dear was the best, that was when things were good and the team wasn't struggling to find food. When they weren't eating berries or bird or squirrels.

"Well it tasted good." Good. Why had he said good? Jace mentally slapped himself, he was trying to talk to her and told her that her food was good? He knew not use the word good when referring to anything that a women did was not a good idea.

Emery laughed. She threw her head back with her mouth open wide and laughed, her chest shook and her voice filled the kitchen. Jace was shocked when he heard her laugh.

"Good?" She asked, her eyes half closed as she continued to laugh. Emery wasn't mad, she was amused that Good was the word that he used. "Jace I thought you were better with words than that." He smiled at her. She was joking. She was joking so she wasn't mad at him. "I'm kidding, Jace." Emery joked, poking his arm.

Their laughing died off, both of them looked to their feet. This was the awkward part, when the laughing stopped and there was an elephant in the room. No one had talked about how Emery left. How she left without saying a word to anyone in the middle of the night. It was cruel but not one had brought it up so Emery didn't.

"Why didn't you say goodbye?" Jace suddenly asked, it was something that just came out. And itch that he needed to scratch. No one had said anything, why hadn't anyone asked her yet?

Emery knew that eventually someone was going to ask her that. She knew that sooner or later she would have to explain herself. Maybe she could tell him that she had no choice. But she didn't have a choice, she had three days to go to Idris when the Clave had called upon her. She left as soon as she found out, found out she had to leave the only family she had ever known.

"I had to go right then and there." Emery said, she lied. She ducked her head down, looking at the dishes in her hands. Maybe if she lied and didn't look at him she wouldn't have to tell him why she had really left. Maybe she wouldn't have to tell him that she left in the middle of the night because she knew that if she went to say goodbye, that she wouldn't leave. That she would stay with them. With him.

"There was really no time for a goodbye?" Jace asked. He knew that the Clave was terrible, and it didn't sound too far fetched that they gave her no time for goodbyes. They had to understand that she had friends right? Family? That she was leaving them behind?

"No." Lies. Emery couldn't help herself. She was lying to him over and over. "I wish there was but it was then it never." That made it sound like a chance to become someone or a chance to leave was more important to her than her family.

Jace was quiet. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to her, that he missed her? That he wished she had stayed? That he was mad that she didn't say anything, despite the fact that it was the Claves fault?

"For what it's worth," Jace managed to choke out, maybe this sentence was a bad idea," I would have been more okay with you not going at all." Jace then left the room, not sure what to say and not sure what he said was alright.

Emery looked at the door with disbelief. She knew he was mad that she left but was he really mad enough to tell her that she shouldn't have left at all?

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A/N
Word Count: 963