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Ever since Clary got her memories back it’s been a slow process to find her way back to some sort of ‘normal’ with the Shadowhunters. Considering the fact that she never had a normal existence with them in the first place it was a little easier said than done - she’s never known this life without some sort of war or tragedy to face, and figuring out where her place is in a time of peace takes some trial and error.
She never has to worry about having a place, though - not so long as the Lightwoods are there. They welcome her back with open arms, Jace immediately making sure they’re both on the same page about dating again, and Alec and Izzy both quick to welcome her back into the Institute.
She has more time to properly train and learn this time around, and where she shined as a natural before just out of pure instinct and necessity, her skills grow to impressive levels with actual training. It’s only been two months but Clary’s improved a lot - enough that she might actually be able to hold her own on missions instead of just being a burden.
All Clary’s wanted since she came back was to be Parabatai with Izzy the way they planned to before, but she let doubt hold her back. Doubt that she isn’t good enough, doubt that Izzy’s moved on from wanting that in the year Clary was gone, doubt that Izzy would even want a Parabatai still now that she’s running the Institute.
Now that Clary can hold her own she knows the only thing holding her back from asking is the fear of Izzy saying no, so she decides to test the waters by talking to Simon.
“Hey… has Izzy ever mentioned anything about getting a Parabatai?” Clary asks Simon over coffee one morning, trying to sound casual.
“You mean, has she said anything about wanting to be your Parabatai?” Simon asks in return, and Clary curses how well he can read her.
“No,” she lies anyway, even though she isn’t fooling him. “Just, you know, in general.”
“She hasn’t,” Simon admits. “But that doesn’t mean she won’t want to. You should be asking her, not me.”
“Yeah... maybe. Just do me a favor and don’t tell her I mentioned it, okay?” Clary doesn’t want to risk being totally off-base about this, not when she’s finally got everything in her life somewhere stable. Things are good, and the last thing she wants to do is upset that careful balance by getting greedy.
“If you insist. But seriously, Clary, just talk to her.”
“I will,” Clary says. She wants to… she just needs to work up to it.
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Isabelle couldn’t have been more thrilled when Clary’s memories came back, and with them so did Clary. Back to Jace, back to the Institute, and back into Izzy’s life. It’s a friendship that Izzy sorely missed the year that Clary was gone, and one she’s never going to take for granted again now that she has it back.
Unfortunately, the thing that Izzy wants the most would potentially put that very friendship at risk if Clary doesn’t want the same thing, and she isn’t sure she could handle that.
Every time they train or go out on a mission together, Izzy’s reminded of how close the two of them were to becoming Parabatai before Clary left. They work so well together, and Clary’s the only person Izzy would trust to always have her best interests in mind outside of her immediate family. It should be the obvious next step for her to ask Clary again, but she just can’t bring herself to do it.
What if Clary doesn’t want to? What if that puts a strain on their friendship, and ruins how well they work as a team in a fight? What if it makes her second-guess all of her instincts when it comes to reading Clary to the point where they can barely function together?
Izzy brings this up to Jace one day, just to see if Clary’s mentioned anything to him about still wanting to complete the ceremony now that she’s back.
“You’re definitely overthinking this, Iz,” Jace tells her. “This is Clary we’re talking about - even if she doesn’t want to anymore, it wouldn’t change anything between you two.”
“You don’t know that!” Izzy insists. “I can’t risk it. We just got her back and I can’t risk ruining how well everything is going, you know?”
“Nope,” Jace replies, shrugging. “I have no idea because if I were you I’d just ask her about it. And before you even say it, I’m guessing I’m not allowed to bring it up?”
“Absolutely not,” Izzy confirms. “Glad we’re on the same page.”
“And you know how we got on the same page?” Jace asks, but Izzy knows where he’s going with this and is already turning and walking away, pretending not to hear when he shouts after her. “Because we talked about it!”
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To their credit, Simon doesn’t mention anything to Isabelle, and Jace doesn’t mention anything to Clary. Who they do mention something to is each other, and then Alec, who tells Magnus, and it isn’t long before the four of them are hatching a plan to get Clary and Isabelle to talk to each other.
It starts with Jace and Alec casually bringing up the benefits of being parabatai when they’re around the two girls, and then Simon dropping a few comments when he just so happens to be around while the two of them are training about how well they work together as a team. But when the subtle tactics aren’t working and Clary and Izzy’s stubbornness continues to win out, their friends decide to take things a step further.
It’s a Saturday night when Alec calls a report in while Clary and Izzy are the only ones left in the Institute not already out on assignment. At least half a dozen demons, which they’d normally send three Shadowhunters out for, but the two of them figure they can handle it.
It’s way more than six, and while the demons seem to come out of nowhere they don’t appear to be aiming to kill, which is strange. What the demons do manage is to trip Clary up to the point where she twists her ankle, spraining it if not outright breaking it.
Izzy drops to Clary’s side, quick to pull out her stele and draw an iratze and cursing when Clary still can’t put weight on it right away.
“Raziel, I wish we were Parabatai so this would be stronger,” Izzy mutters without even thinking, her only concern for Clary and her injury.
“Do you?” Clary asks.
“Do I what?” Izzy says, not realizing what she just said.
“Do you wish we were Parabatai?” Clary repeats.
“Oh,” Izzy says. “I mean… yeah, I guess. But I know a lot’s happened since we talked about it before, and it’s fine if-”
“I do, too,” Clary’s quick to cut her off. “I have since I got back. I just didn’t know if you cared about that, being the big shot Head of the Institute and all now.”
“Of course I do! It isn’t just being Parabatai I care about, you know: it’s you.”
Clary falls silent at that, a smile on her face despite the ache that lingers in her injured ankle as Izzy helps her up.
Neither of them seems to notice that the demons mysteriously stop attacking them and vanish altogether, or the bit of blue magic that heals Clary’s ankle almost immediately as she and Izzy start to head back, already deep in excited conversation over plans for their ceremony.