"And he spoke to you?" Jace's voice rang in Charlotte's ears. Her green eyes were closed as she lounged on Clary's bed. Her arms stretched across the large sized bed as if awaiting something.

"He said my name," Clary replies. "He said your mother for the cup." 

"Who said that?" Alec asks the two as he walks into the room. He glances down at Charlotte who still made no attempt to get up. He rolled his eyes at her before turning back to Clary and Jace.

"Valentine." Both Clary and Jace answer. 

"He's with my mother," Clary adds on. 

"And he can speak to you through that necklace? Here in the institute?" Charlotte groaned and opened her eyes. Valentine just had to speak through the necklace. He couldn't speak through a sword or something that wasn't important, out side of the institute. All she wanted was sleep. "I'm glad that this is now interesting you, Mundane."

"Do you ever sleep or are you just always this cranky?" 

Alec glared at the mundane who seemed to be better than ever with comments that were irrelevant. Perhaps he did not need to worry about how she was acting with the fallen circle member. It was some mundane sickness that was not his problem. He then turned back to Clary who kept explaining.

"It's like when I saw Dot."

"It's a portal shard," Jace realizes while holding up the necklace. "That's why your mother made sure you had it."

"All I know is what I saw. My mother's alive. Unconscious but alive."

Charlotte perks up and looks between the three of them. "Great! So that's a good thing, can we sleep?"

Alec ignores Charlotte as he questions Clary more. "Where are they?"

"I don't know," Clary stammers. 

"But you said you saw them. Were there are identifying characteristics? Equipment, weapons, photographs?"

"I don't know! It was awful." Charlotte stood up from the bed and put a shoulder around the shaking girl. 

"Alec, lighten up." 

"I'm trying to get something we can use out of this." 

"What? By bombarding her with questions? That won't help, it'll only make everything worse," Charlotte says. 

Alec sighs and turns back to Clary with his arms crossed over his chest. He calmed down and asked peacefully, "Clary, what did you see, exactly?" Charlotte smirked a bit, happy over her "taming" of the tall shadowhunter. 

"Valentine has my mother. That's what I saw," Clary replies, her face turning red in her distress. 

"Emotions are nothing but a distraction. You're ruled by them. We're taught to control them."

Clary scoffs at Alec. "And how is that working out for you?" Charlotte backs up at their interaction while Jace moves forward. 'Better him than me.' Charlotte thinks as she goes to sit back down on the bed.

"It is my job to protect the institute. If Valentine can see in, that's a door I have to shut." After a pause he continued, "Now... let me take a look at that thing." Slowly Jace hands over the necklace at which Alec takes it. "Now it's in the proper hands." 

Clary whips her head around to Jace while Jace's eyes widen. Charlotte wished she could say she was surprised by him, but she was not. "Hey!" Clary yells out as she immediately chases him, Jace following her. Charlotte wanted to follow the two but after the nights she has been having she didn't have any energy to run and argue anymore. 

She let go of all her energy, letting her back fall onto the bed. Charlotte closes her eyes and puts her arm over her eyes as a mask to the rest of the institute. 

"Charlotte." No one was there, she knew that. She didn't know what was happening to her. It wasn't normal, but she couldn't tell anyone yet. There were more important things like Clary's mom to worry about, and Clary's memories that disappeared with the demon Clary helped kill. 

What was she meant for? What did the Warlock, Magnus Bane, mean? She could trust Clary with her life, she knew that. But even Clary was not 100% prepared for what was to come with all these enemies and Valentine. The sounds of the institute were barely heard in the room as she let it lull her to sleep. 

---

The next morning Charlotte woke up in Clary's bed to the door closed unlike last night. Clary must have come to the room to her sleeping friend and let her sleep there. Charlotte knew that the events surely had some affect on her, usually she would mess with Clary who fell asleep first. Now things were different, and not just who fell asleep first. 

Stepping out the door, she went to the room she would usually sleep in, her temporary room as Alec made sure to call it. She knew she was a temporary guest, she wasn't exactly enthusiastic to stay, but she referred to herself as Clary's emotional support. So that meant she had to stay, and annoy Alec when she could.

She sighed to herself as she grabbed a pair of clothes. She needed her own, some that wasn't so Izzy. She loved Izzy's clothing, she didn't feel she could fit to be her though. She was not that tough yet gorgeous shadowhunter. She was Charlotte, and Charlotte kept to herself and let her personality do the talking.

She could hear the voice of Izzy and Clary pass her closed door when a knock came to her ears. "Give me a sec." She says as she throws the shirt over her head and runs to the door. 

"There you are. Clary told me she let you sleep in." Izzy tells her with a smile. 

"Yeah, I think I needed it, I'm feeling like I'm getting sick but not really." Charlotte says simply with no care as she the walks with the girls. "So, what are we doing?" She asks them then to keep the subject off of herself..

"Just talking about my mom. Oh, and have you gotten a call from your mom?" 

Charlotte grimaced and nodded. "Yeah, three or ten later I think I decided it'd be best for my health not to reply and let her think the worst. Her worst is me dating an older guy and staying with him, so I'm not sure if me staying with Clary and shadowhunters in an institute is better or even worse." Izzy and Clary laugh with the mundane as they go through the institute's main areas. "I blame Simon, brother's are really a pain, like Alec. No offense." Izzy chuckled.

"None taken. Alec blew right by Clary and did what he wanted. I'd be angry too," Izzy says. The three had gotten to the elevator and stood to wait. Charlotte noticed the absence of Clary's necklace when she left her room but decided to say nothing of it. It was all she had left of her mother at the moment. Charlotte would be hurt too if everything was taken from her that reminded her of her family. 

"He took the only way I had to see my mother. Plus he kept asking what Valentine's room looked like."

"He was interested in Valentine's style. Fascinating." 

"If only." Charlotte buts in. "More like he questioned Clary like a criminal."

"He thought I may have seen something that could help us find something."

"And did you?" Izzy asks.

"I didn't see anything there, but I think I might know another way." The trio of girls stayed silent in thought until doors opened revealing a middle aged woman in professional attire in front of a bright purple atmosphere.

"What the hell?" Charlotte muttered. "God, these things keep getting weirder." She groans out as she faces away from the woman. 

"Isabelle. Dressed to impress, I see. And playing with family heirlooms." 

"Hi, I'm Clary Fray." 

"Clary Fairchild," it sounded like she corrected the girl. "You look just like your mother. We know all about you in Idris." 

"Idris?"

"The shadowhunter homeland," Izzy tells Clary. "If you think the institute is well hidden, wait til you see that place." She turns to her mother and asks, "How's Max? We all miss him." She looks to her friends and explains. "Little brother. Cute but clingy. Kinda Simon-ish." 

"Oh boy." Charlotte mumbles with a snort. 

Izzy's mother inhales sharply and looks at the smaller girl in between the two of them. She looks her up and down with a wondering eye before asking, "Who is this?" 

Charlotte's eyes widen and she turns to the taller woman. "Hi." Clary looks to her friend in shock.

"Why is a mundane here?" She asks her daughter. 

"This is Charlotte. She's with Clary, she needed protection." Izzy tries to defend her mundane friend. 

Her mother said nothing but looked at her with disdain. Charlotte could tell she was definitely related to the older Lightwood, but Izzy she was unsure. 

"Robert's picking up Max at the Mumbai institute. Where's Jace? We have a situation that has to be handled now." She says as she pushes between the three girls to move forward.

Charlotte rubs her chest as she took most of the blow from the barreling woman in heels. "Ow, and unnecessary." Charlotte says with annoyance.

"Well that's my mom." Izzy tells the two. 

The three go through the institute as they follow Izzy's mother towards the training room where Jace was practicing. "Is your mom always like that?" Clary asks. "She didn't even hug you."

"The way she stands scares me. I didn't know a person could be that terrifying by just standing" Charlotte whispers. She stood farther away from the woman next to Izzy. Izzy chuckled at the two nonchalantly.

"Shadowhunters aren't big huggers." 

Jace finishes his training with a grunt and turns to see the older woman. "Maryse," he pants out. "Hey. It's great to see you." He and Maryse embrace and Charlotte could feel the disappointment on Izzy. She put an arm around her new friend and leaned her head on her. She would get a mundane's hug any day.

"How's everyone in Idris? Where's Max?"

"No Max," Izzy answers for her mother as she steps forward towards the two. "Just mom with her hair on fire." The two girls come with Izzy as Charlotte stays silent among the more trained people. She didn't belong there and she knew it. They all knew it, yet she still stayed. 

"I love how Shadowhunters share. A hidden brother, a secret country, and a private portal."

Alec comes to the area directly going to his mother. "Mother. Welcome back. We weren't expecting you." 

"You should be prepared, whether you expect me or not." She says as she gives him a quick embrace. 

"I am. We are."

"We'll talk about the institute later. Right now we have a bigger problem," Maryse informs them as she walks near Clary. "The seelies have stopped communicating with the Clave and won't explain why." Charlotte could feel her glare on her back when she passed her and then around the rest of the group. "My guess is they're still upset we asked them to send scouts to to look for Valentine, but no one in their realm will talk."

"I have Seelie friends," Izzy tells her mother.

"Yes, I know about your friends." She gets closer to her daughter and looks down at her. "Isabelle, we stay separate from the Downworld for good reasons. The wrong move, the wrong word. Do you think there is such a thing as harmless rebellion? Who knows what offends these creatures? Maybe you told him... them something they shouldn't know. Maybe you trod on one of their ridiculous customs without knowing it." Charlotte did not know much about this world, but she sat with pursed lips knowing that was she said was probably messed up. 

Jace jumps in saying, "Wait, wait. You're laying all this on Izzy for having a friend in the Downworld?" Maryse turns to the blonde and gets closer to him.

"When someone upsets the natural order, everything falls apart." Maryse reminded Charlotte of Alec a lot. Her mannerisms, her words, they were all very similar to Alec. Izzy on the other hand did not remind Charlotte of them. She wasn't afraid or ready to piss her off, only Alec and his mother now.

"I can help. I know how to talk to Seelies." Izzy says to her mother.

"She's right. She can visit with Meliorn and see what he knows. I could go with her if you want." Alec goes to the defense for his sister. 

"I'd rather Jace goes along this time." Maryse walks away and continues, "Alec, you stay with the Fairchild girl and her mundane. I want them under control. She's caused enough trouble already." Charlotte looked away from the older Shadowhunter while Clary stepped forward. Charlotte would usually bring claws to a fight, yet she felt defenseless. Everything was different for her and she did not even belong there. She wasn't a shadowhunter or a warlock, or even some seelie she didn't know what that was.

"Maybe that's because I wasn't even a Shadowhunter until a few days ago!"

"And what an exciting few days that has been." She tells Clary with a mocking tone. "The Clave counts on us Lightwoods to maintain order here."

"You don't need to tell me that. If the mission is important to the Clave, I would prefer to be the one who goes with Isabelle."

Maryse chuckles and closes her eyes. "You are all so eager to do what you would prefer. It's time to face the truth. Life is not about what you want to do, it's about what must be done. I have given you assignments, now carry them out. You and you, with me now." She leaves without another word, with Jace and Izzy on her trail. 

"Well that was a window into weird."

"And terrifying. I now get why you're you, Alec." Charlotte says with a pat on his shoulder. Alec frowns but doesn't push the mundane away as Clary looks up at him.

"What did you do to piss off your mom?" 

"I'd guess, for a start, all the unsanctioned missions on your behalf didn't go over that big with the Clave." 

---

 The encounter with Izzy and Alec's mother left her shaken. Maryse's lecture over the shadowhunters she raised along with Clary and Charlotte was real and struck inside with her. There was this whole other world that had people who are fighting for their lives. Was she fooling herself by staying there for too long? 

Charlotte sat in the small room, holding onto her book. It was the few mundane things she had left at the moment. She had left Clary to herself and severely regretted it as she couldn't help but be terrified alone in her room. Voices and figures, it was all too real. Yet no one else saw it. 

She jumped from her sheets and went out throughout the institute in search of Clary. She came upon a hallway and saw a sheet of crumbled paper there. She turned to see her red headed friend crumbled up herself against the wall on the stairs. Charlotte leaned down and picked up the paper, flattening it out to see a man with a devious look on his face. 

"Is this him? Valentine?" She asks Clary. Clary turns to see Charlotte examining the paper. She just nods and leans her face on her knees. "Yeesh, he needs a makeover," she jokes crumbling up the page again. There was a reason Clary crumbled it whether his face terrified her, or it reminded her of her mom, or the memory of what she saw was a memory she wanted to forget.

 She tossed it back down to the floor and sat down next to Clary. She didn't know how to fix this, or cheer her up. She knew there was no way of doing that without risking her life and finding her mom. The best Charlotte could do was hug her and listen. 

---

In his burgundy hoodie, Simon stood watching the DuMort construction building. The night was dark, yet a light stood in the area as if awaiting him. A rush of wind came along with Raphael behind him. "Excuse me. Are you insane or just an idiot?"

"Huh?" 

"What are you after, anyway?" He strayed forward more towards Simon in a threatening manner.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know." Raphael scoffs as he keeps walking. This mundane irritated him to no end even when he was trying to save his life. 

"You can't think I'm interested in saving your worthless life again?" 

"Honestly, no. No, I don't think that," Simon stutters out. Raphael pauses and looks around, his glare still etched on his face.

"Where is your sister?" Simon looks around as well as if expecting his sister to possibly come out and surprise the two of them with a comment or two. But only silence took over between the two men.

"Charlie? How should I know? I came alone," Simon replies in confusion. Raphael sighs, knowing that he would only have to scare the one mundane away.

"Get out of here and don't come back." He tells the teen, his fangs bared. Simon looks around, dazed and confused still, his attention not on Raphael. "Go. Now." He snarls at Simon causing the boy to run away from the building. 

Raphael frowns looking away from his running figure and towards the building. She hasn't come unlike her brother to which he was glad. Unless there will be the one time she slips through.

---

Charlotte watched Clary as she trained with a spear. "Man, I wanna fight. That'd be cool," she tells her friend as she goes to touch the weapons on the wall.

"Don't touch those," she hears Alec say as his footsteps come up the stairs. Charlotte sighs and turns around with her hands up. 

"Wasn't even thinking about it." Alec sighs and heads in Charlotte's direction. He takes a stick from the wall as well and turns to Clary.

"Well it looks like we're stuck with each other." 

"I'd say this is a great duo. We get to hang out. Chill." Charlotte smiled at Alec's deadpan expression. 

"For what it's worth I think your mom was too tough on you out there," Clary mentions to him. Charlotte shuddered thinking about the woman. She felt like she'd get yelled at any minute by her if she wasn't paying attention. 

"Mothers are like that." 

"Mine's not. Go ahead. Knock me on my ass. You'll feel better." 

"Clary I wouldn't entice him with that," Charlotte jokes.

"Don't make me say you're both right about something." Alec says as he looks at Clary's fighting stance. "Plant your feet wider." 

Charlotte observed the two as they prepared to train. Would she ever be able to fight? Maybe when she got out of Clary's hair and didn't have to think about demons and vampires she could take a self defense class. Then she could kick Camille's ass and the others who hurt her and her brother. Except for Raphael. He helped the two get out when he told Camille he would kill them, she knew he didn't have to and he didn't have to help the shadowhunters. 

From her experiences she'd rate the vampires a 3. They'd get lower but Raphael was nice to her so she let it pass. The demons she'd give a 1 for trying to kill them all, and the warlocks a 10 purely because she did not have a bad experience with them. Her and Magnus Bane may have had a bad first meeting but seeing him a second time changed it. He still had his charm but he kindly helped her friend and gave her her book back. He even listened to her problems when he didn't have to.

Charlotte's attention was taken away from her rating to Clary who was prepared to spar. "Why did you let your mom say all those awful things about Izzy?" Clary asks as she then grunts when Alec strikes. 

"Don't step through the strike. Step through it. Izzy was out of bounds. The law is hard but it's the law. Even I forget that sometimes." 

"Yeah but she's also your mom. Izzy's not just some subordinate to her, she's her daughter." Charlotte says. Alec looks back at the mundane and sighs. 

"So you're just gonna let her send Jace out instead of you?" She grunts again as Alec strikes twice. 

"If I screw up, I expect to get punished. I'm supposed to be a leader." They switch positions, circling each other.

"You know what a leader does. Make decisions. You need to find Valentine and stop him. I need to find Valentine and stop him." Charlotte knew it would be more complicated than that. Valentine seemed to be a threat that was bigger than any of them. Charlotte could barely handle vampires, she couldn't think about being near that battle. She knew that would be when she'd have to step back from the adventure of the shadow world. 

The two spar more as Alec eventually is able to flip Clary over and thrown to the ground. "Oh shit. Clary you good?" Charlotte asks the girl. Clary groans in response.

"You need to work on your defense."

"You think? You definitely kicked her ass like she said you could," she says as she points to her friend on the floor. Alec holds out a hand to her and helps her up.

"What do you think? Do you think we haven't been trying to find your mother?"

"Of course you have. But I know you can color outside of the lines. You're just not letting yourself think that way."

"Yeah I mean you did that when you came to save Simon and I. Or when we went to Magnus to get Clary's memories." 

"And we can still find Valentine. I think I might know a way." 

"Well Clary I think it can be harder than a walk around the corner." Charlotte brings up.

"Well this is a start. My mother hid a lot from me, but I did see one thing, there's a box. She didn't think I knew about it. But she opened it once a year and cried." 

"'Cause?"

"It belonged to my father. Had his initials, J.C. on top."

"But your father's Valentine. Why JC?" Alec asks.

"Maybe he wanted the one name, like Beyonce or Cher," Charlotte offers but Alec glares once more. 

"Not helping." 

"For 18 years she told me his name was Jonathon Clark. That was a lie but," Clary says as she sighs, "whatever was in that box meant a lot to her. Maybe there's something inside that could help us track him."

"Where can we find the box?"

"I think it's still back at the loft. Let's go get it." Clary tells him. 

Alec immediately shuts down. "Absolutely not. Not without permission." As Alec goes to the side away from the girls, Clary rushes forward to Charlotte grabbing her by the arm, leading her down the steps. 

"Where are we going Clary? I don't want to run into bad guys again." Charlotte whines as she rushes her through the institute.

"We're getting the box. Alec would never let us get it without the Clave. So we gotta go now." Charlotte sighs. 

Before she knew it, the two were standing in front of the Brooklyn Academy of Art, a calligraphy drawn sign pasted said, 'Orientation today'.

"Oh I'm sorry Clary." Charlotte says as she holds a phone to her ear. Clary looks at her friend with a small smile though she couldn't see her. "You're the one who wants to be like that, I'm not trying to look crazy," she continues, knowing Clary would be giving her a look. Clary's phone starts to ring as others begin to check their phones. Charlotte rolled her eyes as no one answered their phones. "Really? Not turning off your phone, I'd feel like that'd be in Shadowhunter 101." The girl continues to sit there with her phone to her ear without a word, not knowing that Alec had arrived and was speaking with Clary. "Yeah, now I feel crazy." Her phone then starts to ring to her surprise as she then fumbles with it earning concerned looks from strangers on the sidewalk. 

Charlotte answers instantly without looking. "Simon, is that you? I figure you'd be calling Clary."

"It's not Simon, Charlotte." A charming voice announces. 

Charlotte looks at her screen with furrowed brows and then brings it up to her ear again. "Who is this? I don't get random calls unless someone's trying to scam me. So you're about to be hung up on, sir. None of your scams will work on me."

"It's Magnus Bane." Charlotte paused. She felt a her chest get heavy as she became silent, like she couldn't breathe. "From my apartment, getting Clary's memories. You were very courageous." She took a deep breath as she clutched the phone against her ear harder.

"Oh, yeah, uh, I remember. I don't think I'd forget a night with that guy," she tells the Warlock as she remembers the night of seeing a higher demon, yet casually speaking of it. Magnus admired her ability to face the worst and still come out unscathed, smiling and joking. 

"I was thinking, if you'd want to get a drink, get away from the shadowhunters for a while. I'd like to talk with you more." Charlotte's eyes widen as she looks around the area. Her red headed friend was no where to be seen, she had no clue where she could be or what she would be doing with her invisibility rune. 

"Yeah, I mean, uh, yeah, that sounds cool? Um I gotta talk to Clary. When?"

"Tonight?" Charlotte almost chokes on air, holding onto her shirt. She felt the fabric wrinkle underneath her touch as she paces. Her phone started to ring again in her ears as she looks at it and sees Clary's picture, one that was devastatingly embarrassing for Clary, but perfect for Charlotte to use as a contact picture. 

"Uh, thanks, I don't think I can make it, I'll call you back though, bye!" Charlotte says quickly as she then hangs up to get Clary's call. "Clary, you better have an amazing explanation for leaving me defenseless and calling me."

"Alec found me. Meet me in the alley around the corner. We're gonna go to the loft and Simon's meeting us there."

"Wonderful," Charlotte mutters and then continues, "K, I'll see you right?"

"Yes, now hurry, before Alec loses it on me." 

"I can practically feel his annoyance radiating through the phone."

"Charlotte."

Charlotte sighs and starts walking past the other mundanes who were going to have a much more normal day than she was. "I'm coming." She hangs up on her friend without saying goodbye and passing the corner to meet the shadowhunters. 

The sun was bright reflecting off of buildings. She was tired, all she wanted to do was lay down for a while more. Maybe she should take up Magnus' offer and take a night for herself. But if Clary still needed her she'd need to be there for her friend. Clary came first, after everything that has happened.

"Alec, what's up buddy? Took you a while to catch up with us." Charlotte says upon seeing the tall boy. 

Alec stops pinching the bridge of his nose and turns to Clary. "Enough, you have your mundane, let's go." The three of them start to walk through the alley as Charlotte chuckles. 

"Admit it, you like having me around."

"Trust me, I don't." 

Charlotte knew that being among the shadowhunters was wild and unnerving, yet she felt comfortable with them and she was grateful her brother was meeting them at the loft.

___

A/N: Hey guys! New chapters here! Hope you like the chapter and vote and comment. A lot is happening for Charlotte, and these boys are starting to see what a catch she is LOL! I'm enjoying writing this episode so I'll get the next chapters up soon!

Questions:

What is a possible ship name for Charlotte and Magnus? Any ideas? 

What are you looking forward to?

Who are you wanting to see Charlotte interact with more?

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT GUYS! This has gotten to 7k views it may not seem like a lot but I'm shocked, so thanks guys for reading and enjoying. I look forward to updating more.