I Remember You, do You Remember Me?

Road trip, Part 2

Isabelle and Simon set up their tent briskly and efficiently, and were soon finished.

Once done, they exited the tent to find takeaway Chinese, still hot.

She rushed to the table to claim her Charcaol Bao before Jace got it- they both loved it- and bit into the soft, delicious pork bun.

"Where did you get this?" She asked between mouthfuls.

Magnus waved a hand. "That restaurant didn't need it anyway."

After dinner, they all agreed to go to sleep early, having had hardly any sleep the night before. Isabelle and Simon got ready in their tent, setting up sleeping bags and getting changed while the other stood facing the other way.

She watched the way he constantly pushed his glasses up, and how his hair stuck up everywhere. It was adorable.

"Why are you staring at me?" Wrong question.

Isabelle turned scarlet and threw a pillow at him.

He caught it, and handed her his own.

"What-" She was interrupted by a pillow. It hit her squarely in the face. Isabelle smiled and narrowed her eyes. Oh, he had just made a big mistake.

Soon Isabelle had Simon pinned down and begging for mercy. He was laughing so hard, and Isabelle couldn't help but join in.

"I- won-" She said in between breaths. Simon shook his head smiling.

She cocked an eyebrow. "You want a rematch?"

Before he could answer, Alec walked in. "Could you two keep it down? We're-" He stopped mid-sentence, surveying the scene around him. "Oh."
He left, looking somewhat disturbed.

Simon grinned. "We should probably go to sleep."

Isabelle agreed, and they lay down together, less tension between them than last night.

Simon listened to the wind whistle, and the occasional shuffle of Isabelle turning around in her blankets. Eventually he slept.

~~~~

The night enveloped her like a swirling mass of cloth, and she stepped carefully, so as not to disturb the sleeping shadowhunters around her.

She found the spot easily, a small patch of grass illuminated by the moon. It felt special, and if she concentrated hard enough, blocking out the wind and the moon, she could almost hear him.

Max.

Isabelle cried softly into the folds of the blanket that she had taken from the tent. It hadn't even been a year, and everyday in the institute felt like a gaping hole, empty. Especially with Alec living with Magnus now.

"Isabelle,"

She yelped at the sound of Simon's voice. She thought she had been careful stepping out of the tent, but apparently not.

He came down and sat next to her.

When another wave of hysterical sobbing took over, he put his arms around her, brushing away the tears gently with his thumb.

And she saw that he was crying too, crying for her, her loss, her sorrow. Just her.

For once, Isabelle let the small blossom of hope bloom in her chest. She was too tired to remember to push it down today.

"Shh. It's okay."

And then he kissed her. Really kissed her, not just an accidental slip in the pool.

She let him.

When they pulled away, they were silent, with astonishment or breathlessness, Isabelle could not say.

And wrapped inside thick blankets, protected from the cold, Simon and Isabelle fell asleep in each-other's arms.