Hey there! Its been a while I know, sorry for the delay. I'd given up a little on this story but then I received a lovely review in my in box and I decided to keep writing!

A special thanks to Thalia for my first review :)

Even though this is mostly a CecilyxGabriel story I will try to put in some WESSA when I get to it, and hopefully that could be up in the next chapter! I am open to suggestions!

I've always been stuck firmly in between WillxTessa and JemxTessa, but seen as Jem isnt in this story (probably) it will be WESSA all the way.

Hope you enjoy ^_^ A big thank you to everyone who reads this!

The next morning came all too quickly for Cecily's liking and she found herself quite certain of the fact that, in each others company, both Gabriel and her brother were absolute children. Whatever had transpired between them the night before clearly had not gone smoothly, as both boys were now adamantly ignoring one another whilst trying, and failing miserably, to be subtle about it. She found there was nothing to be done but role her eyes and continue on as if nothing were amiss. However despite the quick glares and gripes between the two boys, Cecily couldn't help but notice that something about their efforts at remaining hostile to one another today, seemed a little half hearted.

It was as if they were attempting to distract themselves with some kind of normality; hating each other had always been familiar ground to them after all. Cecily realised that beyond the casual soldier like planning of tactics and strategy, none of them had actually discussed the full gravity of their predicament. The unspoken truth that Cecily was all too aware of; there was every chance that they wouldn't all make it back to the institute alive, and there was also every chance that they would fail completely in rescuing Tessa. The entire mission could end up being for nothing in a matter of second. Cecily could tell the weight of all this had not gone unmissed by her friends either. Despite the light conversation she was now holding with Gideon Lightwood - discussing whether or not the London opera house could really be classed as one of the worlds lesser evils - the sense of dread looming behind every word spoken between them was beginning to become unbearably suffocating.
They had packed up camp quickly at first light that morning, and had been on their way before the sun had even had a chance to part completely from the horizon. No one had been in a mood to sit around long enough to start dwelling on what might face them later that day. However, as they had travelled on at a steady pace, Cecily had quickly found her previous eager energy to be moving again, waning steadily at the constant wearing of the rough saddle on her thighs and the harsh rocking of the horses stride sending uncomfortable jolts through her spine.

It wasn't until they found themselves having swapped the dense woodlands of England for the wide open grasslands of Wales, that Cecily began to find herself recognising more and more of the murky landscape. One quick glance at the dark expression that crossed Will's face made it clear to her that he too knew where they were; they had come here before, a long time ago as children; Cadair Idris. The realisation that they were close to reaching their goal didn't ease the anxiety twisting in Cecily's stomach, and it was to be made all the worse by the discovery that they would not have to look too far to find where Mortmain had been hiding.

There at the base of a small sheltered valley, nestled between two towering hills of rocky greenery, was a small country estate, simple but quaint polished white marble staircases and pillars adorned its front.

The four shadowhunters immediately backed off from the house, tying the horses a good few feet back so as not to give themselves away. It would do them no good to be seen before even attempting to break inside. However upon ducking to cover at the grassy top of the slope leading down into the shallow valley, it was instantly made all too depressingly clear that getting inside the house unseen was going to be a damn near impossible feat. Lining the length of the rooftops from left to right, and surrounding the entire exterior of the hedge row sectioning off the house from the surrounding countryside, there stood near enough two dozen of Mortmain's grotesque army; the horrible metal figures standing so disturbingly still that they might have been overlooked as statues, had it not been for the occasional stirring amongst their ranks - an unmistakably inhuman jerking motion as they whirred and clicked between one another. Cecily felt as though she may
be sick.

"What now?" Gabriel whispered to Gideon from where he lay flat out in the grass on Cecily's right, a nervous hand hovering just over the hilt of his blade.

Gideon was frowning intensely at the courtyard; something he seemed to be good at, or so Cecily thought.

"Well it's obvious, isn't it?" Will interrupted not taking his eyes off the courtyard in front of them,

"The two useless Lightwood's here shall act as bate to draw those metal bastards away from the house, while the two wonderful - oh and don't forget handsome - Herondale's here shall take their chance to sneak inside and rescue the fair maiden from the belly of the beast! You two will probably die" he added, gesturing to the two brothers, "but Tessa, Cecily and I, shall get away scotch free and live out the rest of our days happily ever after." He beamed at them then, flashing a perfect row of white teeth, "Your sacrifice shall be much appreciated boys!"

Sometimes Cecily wondered whether her brother was actually capable of taking any situation seriously.

He already had Gabriel fuming. It took all of Gideon's efforts just to keep his short fused little brother from bursting out into a fit of rage right then and there, clamping a rough calloused hand over the noisier Lightwood's open mouth and glaring angrily at Will.

"Now is no time for your nonsense, Herondale!" he spat in a hushed tone, releasing Gabriel, "We need to come up with a serious plan before-"

"No, Will is right."

The three boys all turned in unison to stare at Cecily, each of them adorning the same matching wide eyed and open mouthed expression.

"I am?" Will asked her surprised, "I mean of course I am!" he corrected in a triumphant tone.

"Shut up William." Cecily snapped in a way that made it clear that there would be no room for arguments, "Your plan Will, although flawed, seems to be our best course of action." she continued on confidently.

"You have got to be joking-" Gabriel tried to intercept but Cecily cut him off.

"Gabriel. Gideon." she instructed, turning to the Lightwoods, "You two know each others battle strengths better than anyone else here. You're parabatti; you fight at your best when your fighting together."

For once Gabriel was silent, his eyes fixed on the dark haired girl beside him.

Cecily continued, breaking eye contact with Gabriel and turning her attention back to the metal company ahead of them, "Its as Will said, you two will act as a distraction and lead the automatons away from the house. Myself and Will shall sneak around to the estates West entrance when its cleared. It's less guarded already than the East entrance is, see." she gestured to the small paved pathway that led off of the front courtyard to a smaller door on the right side of the house.

She was right. Compared to the front entrance and the West wall of the house, the door on the right hand side had decidedly less automatons standing guard by it.

Cecily paused only briefly to take a breath before concluding, "That suggests Tessa will most likely be being kept on the west side of the house, but our first priority is to get inside. Our best chance of doing that is to focus on the weakness in their defences. Ok?"

It wasn't really a question of whether they agreed with her or not, Cecily was set on the idea. No one was arguing with her anyway, it was a sound plan; well that was, if all went to plan. And it rarely ever did. She didn't notice Gabriel's eyes on her, a mixture of awe and admiration settled on his sharp features which had formed as she had spoken so boldly. Will, however, did.

"Ok, well what are we waiting for then?" Will said, suddenly seeming to be in a hurry.

He'd already begun backing off out of view from the house, gesturing for his sister to do the same. Cecily spared one last glance toward the Lightwood brothers, affirming that they were all on the same page before making to follow Will's lead. She had barley taken a step in the direction Will had gone before she was halted suddenly by a light pressure around her wrist. Turning quickly she found Gabriel had her gently by the wrist and was looking at her with a strange mixture of determination and another emotion she couldn't quite place set on his sharp features. Cecily felt a faint blush begin across her cheeks at the intensity of his gaze.

"Cecily..." he said softly only loud enough for her to hear.

"Wh-what..?" she asked holding her breath, for once in her life beginning to feel a little nervous.

The next thing she knew, Gabriel had closed the short gap between them, barely ghosting his lips over hers, before pulling back and returning to his position with his back to her, watching the courtyard as if his life depended on it. Only Gideon saw the vibrant blush that now flooded his brothers normally pale cheeks. Cecily could do nothing but stare at Gabriel's back, frozen where she stood. What on earth was that? She probably would have stood there indefinitely, mouth hanging half open, staring like an idiot, had it not been for Gideon awkwardly clearing his throat beside them and throwing her back into the present.

Turning quickly on her heel, Cecily stalked off hurriedly after Will, the heat rising madly in her face. She was just glad to see that Will had not turned back to check if she were following him. Gideon couldn't help but smile inwardly to himself; how foolish his little brother was. If it hadn't been for how awkward he felt in his own skin at that very moment, Gideon might have actually chuckled fondly at his younger brothers predicament, or even teased him for it. Gideon could see Gabriel was not the only one who had fallen head over heels.

So that's it, Chapter 3 is up! Thank you for sticking with me this long! :)

There will probably be two or so more chapters after this one.

Good? Bad? Ok?

It would really be nice to here some more opinions from you guys! So please Review!

Next time: Operation rescue Tessa is under way! At last!