out of reach//TMI

Chapter Two: Going Home

"Is everyone ready?!" yelled Clary so that everyone in the Institute could hear. She was answered with distant voices that sounded like "almost" and "one minute". Clary sighed. How did she end up going to back to the place she once called home, until just one person ruined it for her? How would she explain to Isabelle, Simon, and Alec how she had left them so suddenly? Sure, they had talked a bit since she'd left, but now she would need to face them in person. And worst of all, how could she avoid Jace the whole time she would be there? She remembered how the night she arrived in Los Angeles, and weeks to come after, Jace called her over and over and left endless voicemails. She had deleted them all but also resolved to changing her number and only giving it to her mother, which resulted in it being handed to Luke, to Simon, to Isabelle, then to Alec. Clary sighed once again and thought about the challenges that would come to her once she got to New York. Her thoughts were interrupted with the sounds of heavy footsteps coming down the steps to the entrance hall of the Institute.

"Hey!" she heard Justin's friendly voice say as he sat down onto the last step beside Clary.

"Hi." said Clary, in the most welcoming voice she can manage despite her recent thoughts.

"Well, I'm all ready to go." he said, gesturing to his suit case. "But I don't know about the others."

"It's fine. I can wait a little longer to make the portal."

"Okay. How are you doing? I know this might be hard for you, everything back over there must remind you of..." Justin trailed off as he saw a look of sadness pass Clary's face until she quickly covered it up.

"I'm sorry-" Justin said with concern in his voice.

"No. No, it's completely okay. It-it doesn't bother me nearly as much as it would without you and all the others here to comfort me whenever I need you. I've just been thinking about what I would do, you know, when I saw Jace again, if I would ignore him or give him a chance to apologize or if I would just give him a piece of my mind. It's just all so...ugh." Clary sighed and started again. "I'm sorry. I'm making it a bigger deal than it should be. I'm babbling to you and I know i sound really stupid right now and-" but she was cut off by Justin.

"Clary," he said with sympathy and compassion. "you know that I'm always here for you, right? If you want to vent, or cry, or even if you want me to beat Jace's ass the first time I see him, which I would gladly do, I'm here. I'm here and I always will be to do whatever it is you want me to do or be whatever you want me to be to you." He gave her the smile that always seemed to comfort Clary.

"Thank you, Justin. That really means a lot to me." Clary returned his smile as he opened his arms and enveloped her in a big hug. She could feel his muscles from the years of training around her as she inhaled his scent of soap, cotton, and a hint of sandalwood. She thought back to the look he just gave her and wondered if he wanted to be more than friends with her.

As they both pulled back from the hug and looked at each other with friendly eyes, she heard more footsteps coming down the long staircase. Tegan and Sam descended while having excited conversation about the journey to come.

"Are you guys all ready?" asked Justin.

"Yeah, we said our goodbyes to my parents and we got our bags here." said Tegan. Both Justin and Sam had parents that died on demon raids and they had come to the Institute when they were twelve. Armstrong and Graywell men always tended to become parabatai, so Sam and Justin had done the ceremony when they were thirteen.

"Alright, then I'll make the portal." said Clary as she worked her rune powers, concentrating deeply until it was just her and her stele.

"There." she said, clearly satisfied at her work. She stepped through and was enveloped in darkness and a slight sensation of suffocation pressed in on her. Then, she appeared right at the front of the New York Institute gates, snow already tangling into her flaming hair.