"Bye Clary." Jace said softly. His hands wandered down to Clary's bloated stomach and gently rubbed. "Goodbye Baby Boy." Jace said a little smile playing on his face. Clary had just turned eighteen not that long ago, it was still the summer, Jace was nineteen. They had moved in together only a few months ago, after they had realized Clary was pregnant.
"Tell Isabelle, and Alec, and Maryse, and Robert, and Max, and anyone else that's there I said hi. And that I miss them all." Jace chuckled at her bubblyness that had come with the hormones. "Oh! I have some old comic books that I want to give to Max. Now... where did I put them?" Clary rummaged around for a minute before coming upon a huge pile of comics. She handed them to Jace and kissed him lightly on the lips. Jace deepened the kiss. As much as Clary would have loved to stay in his arms, to tell him to stay, she knew he had to go.
"Jace, baby. You have a plane to catch." Jace sighed and buried his face in her neck. His breath tickled the back of her neck and her hair floated in the air. Last week, Isabelle called. Robert was ill and as much as Clary wanted to come and show her support, Jace said no. Firstly, they didn't have enough money to fly both of them. Secondly, Jace didn't want her to catch what Robert had and as he put it 'damage the baby'. With much reluctance and a lot of arguing, Clary was staying home.
"Clary, I know how badly you want to see everyone and all..." He started but she cut him off with her finger on his lips.
"It's okay." Jace smiled under her lips.
"I just thought of another reason why you can't go."
"Why is that?"
"Well, you're six months pregnant. Who's to say you'll fit in the seat." Jace chuckled at Clary's shocked expression and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll see you in a week, love." He said softly. He started to leave when Clary started talking again.
"I want to name him Seth." She said so quietly he barely heard her. Barely. "Seth Alexander Maxwell Lightwood." Jace turned around, a smile on his face. He ran over the room, picked Clary up, spun her in a circle and kissed her roughly on the lips.
"I love it. I love you. I love him. Seth. Yes." He put his forehead to hers. He kissed her one more time and left the bedroom they shared. And this time, Clary didn't stop him.
(1 week later)
Clary waited anxiously at the airport for Jace to arrive. She had her keys in one hand, purse over her shoulder, and a smile on her face. Even though it had only been a week it had been torture not having Jace's arms around her when she woke up. The smell of bacon in the morning. The soft whistling when he cooked her pancakes, or just about anything she wanted. They had decided not to call each other over the week. Even though they were going to be parents, they felt they needed a week by themselves. Not having the torture of hearing the other's voice over the phone right next to them, even if it was miles apart. Clary checked her phone again. Jace's plane was supposed to land 20 minutes ago, and his flight was on time. She pulled her phone and dialled his number. It went straight to voicemail.
"Jace, pickup. I'm waiting for you at the airport. I miss you. Seth misses you too." Clary sighed and left the message at that. She waited another 20 minutes before she got worried. She pulled out her phone once again and called Isabelle. She picked up first ring.
"Isabelle! Thank goodness. Is Jace there?" What she heard next made her heart almost stop beating.
"No. He never showed up."
"Why? But he... It's... why? He... Oh my gosh Isabelle! Where is he?! He left a week ago! I'm at the airport waiting for him. I'm freaking out Isabelle! Why haven't you told me sooner?"
"Shhh. Calm down Clary. He probably got on the wrong flight. I assumed he stayed home because of you." If Isabelle could've seen Clary's face. Clary should've called sooner.
"Isabelle. We're talking about Jace here." Isabelle sighed.
"I know. Just give it a few more days. He probably just went somewhere different." Clary wanted to believe Isabelle. But she would never get the way Clary was feeling. She would never get the knot forming in her stomach, the feeling of dread.
"Fine." She hung up then. Too tired to keep talking. She stayed there for a few more hours waiting even more anxiously than before. Finally, when midnight rolled around, she went home.
...
When she was home, she curled up on the couch. She rubbed her stomach, trying to calm herself. Trying for a distraction, she turned on the TV. The TV had already been set to the news. Clary started to drift in and out of consciousness when she heard a statement that made her feel like her heart would stop beating. She stared at the anchor man on the TV, hanging on to his every word.
'There was a plane crash last week on an island. Everyone inside was dead. All bodies have been found. There is one body, though, that has not been. From what we have learned, it was a 19 year old boy. He goes by the name of Jonathon Christopher Lightwood. We are doing our best to search for him, or his body. Family members of Jonathon, if you are looking for him the investigators are trying their best to track him down. The number to call if you are related to Jonathon Christopher or may know about his whereabouts...'
She bolted up off the couch, her heart racing. Jace was in a plane crash. His body wasn't found, and they haven't found him yet. With jittery hands, Clary called Isabelle.
"I know why he never made it."
(4 years later)
She printed through yet another missing person copy with his picture on it. Name, family names, home number, amount of the cash reward if they saw him. 4 years and she hasn't stopped looking.
"Mommy! Look what I coloured!" Seth came up with crayons in his hand and a picture of Lightning McQueen in the other. The colors were out of lines and you couldn't make out the shape of the drawing anymore, but she envied it. It had been 4 years since she drew anything. She couldn't think of anything to draw other than him, and that was too afflictive.
"It's beautiful Sethy." 3 months later after the crash Clary gave birth to Seth. He had her eyes with flecks of gold in them and Jace's blonde hair. His hair was curly and Clary loved the run her fingers through it, like she did with Jace. "C'mon. I'll hang it on the fridge." After the crash, Clary had to pull through and be a mother even if she was depressed. His pudgy 4 year old hands grabbed Clary's and dragged her to the fridge in the kitchen. Clary tried to look genuine when she smiled, even if she didn't feel it. She had to look happy for Seth. It was all for Seth.
It was hard, being without Jace, Clary was relieved when Seth was born, healthy. She knew though, that Jace would have wanted to be there for Seth's birth. She knew without a doubt though, that Jace was out there, looking her just as much as she was looking for him.
"Sethy, it's time for you to get to bed now." Seth huffed but obeyed and climbed up the carpet stairs to his room. She followed after him and tucked him into bed. She kissed him on the forehead, and ruffled his golden curls.
"Mommy?" She turned.
"Yeah Sethy?" She asked.
"Is Daddy ever coming home?" She had told Seth 2 months ago he had a dad. That he was gone right now, but he was going to be back. She wholeheartedly believed it.
"He'll be home Sethy. Don't you worry about that."
"Is he coming home soon? I want to show him my pictures on the fridge, and my books." The look on Seth's face broke her heart. She kept her brave face on and answered the same was she did every night.
"He'll be back soon, Sethy. But Mommy doesn't know when."
"Did he tell you that?" Sethy asked. Why did 4 year olds have so many questions?
"No, but I know he will be."
"Will he be back before I go to big kid school?" Sethy asked. Clary wanted to burst into tears. When she was pregnant that was all Jace could talk about. Seth's future. He had wanted the best for Seth, and he would have done anything for him. He would do anything for him. Clary had to stop referring to him in the past tense.
"I hope so, buddy." Clary smiled and ran her fingers through his hair again. Seth yawned and burrowed himself in the covers.
"Does he know my name?" Seth asked. Clary nodded.
"He knows your name. And your Daddy loves you very much." Clary almost cried out as she thought about their last conversation.
"I'll see you in a week, love." He said softly. He started to leave when Clary started talking again.
"I want to name him Seth." She said so quietly he barely heard her. Barely. "Seth Alexander Maxwell Lightwood." Jace turned around, a smile on his face. He across the room, picked Clary up, spun her in a circle and kissed her roughly on the lips.
"I love it. I love you. I love him. Seth. Yes." He put his forehead to hers. He kissed her one more time and left the bedroom they shared. And this time, Clary didn't stop him.
Clary wished she had stopped him that morning. Or maybe that she had said more. The pain of not having him there was almost unbearable. The only thing that made it better was Seth. But sometimes even looking at him made her want scream. He was too much like him. Even in the way he smiled made Clary's heart clench.
"Is Auntie Izzy coming over tomorrow?" Seth asked, finally changing the subject.
"Yeah, she's really excited to take you big boy shopping." She told him. Clary was dreading the trip. Shopping with Isabelle was not a fun experience. But it would help her be distracted, which is exactly what she needed these past four years. Seth yawned again. She leaned down and kissed him on the lips.
People never came and visited Clary anymore except for Isabelle. She had moved down when she found out about Jace. "Goodnight Sethy."
"Night Mommy." She turned on his night light and turned off his big light and left the room. Clary walked slowly to her bedroom. She got under the covers and leaned over to Jace's old side of the bed. Even though his scent was long gone, she still pretended it was there. She rolled around until she got comfortable and shut her tired eyelids. There were always tired nowadays.
As she lay in bed her thoughts wandered. Tomorrow while Isabelle was with Seth, Clary was going to hang up more MISSING posters. Then she would call the Lightwoods, see if they heard anything. Like always, they wouldn't. She would go hang more posters. She had nothing else to do anyway. She would meet Seth and Isabelle at the mall at some point, pretend to be interested. Clary used to have an art studio, but after the crash, she couldn't draw, or paint, or do anything creative. She gave the studio to her mother and spent her days hanging up posters and taking care of Seth.
Distantly Clary heard shuffling but thought nothing of it. They had a cat named Church. He had originally belonged to Jace but Clary didn't have the heart to get rid of him. She heard the door creak open and slid deeper under the covers, hoping Church wouldn't know she was there. Sometimes she couldn't even stand to look at Jace's belongings, it hurt too much.
The weight on Jace's side of the bed shifted, but it was too heavy to be Church. Sethy? No, still too heavy. She turned to face the intruder and was met with a golden pair of eyes.
"Ja-Jac-Ja-Jace?" He smiled at her.
"Hi love. Long time no see." Clary was staring into his eyes, hardly believing her eyes.
"How did, how did you. Why didn't, am I dreaming?" To Clary it seemed like the most likely explanation. She had had dreams of Jace's return many times before.
"No, love. You're not dreaming. I'm right here." Jace held up his hand. Clary held hers up and intertwined their fingers. Jace kissed each of her knuckles, just as he used too. But Clary wasn't about to get her hopes up.
"Prove to me I'm not dreaming. Tell me something, anything, to make me believe you're really here." Jace smiled and kissed her cheek.
"Well, we met at a club it was call Pandemonium Club. You had your geeky little rat faced friend, Simon—" At that moment Clary knew it was him. As silly as it was, no one else called Simon rat faced. Clary cried. She buried her face in his neck and cried. He was really here, alive, right in front of her.
"How did you..? How?" she stammered out, still not able to form a coherent sentence.
"After the crash, I left. I was confused, didn't have a memory, or money for that matter. I found my way to a place called Idris. I lived there for 3 years. I didn't even know my name. I had a roommate, a job. Nobody knew my name, not even I did. Some people said they recognized me from somewhere but couldn't place me. So, they just call me Gold. One day though, I found my old wallet. I thought it belonged to someone in Idris. Inside, I found three pictures. One was of a girl and she had red hair and green eyes. Another was a family of six. Five people had black hair and blue eyes, some with brown, and 1 with gold hair and eyes to match. The last was a picture of an ultrasound. It was a little baby with your nose. It all came back to me and I had to find you, Clary. I made the money and bought a one way ticket back here. To be with you and Seth." By the end of his story the waterworks had resurfaced. Clary wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shirt. She leaned up and kissed him as she had imagined she would do for so many years now.
"Mommy? Why are you crying? Are you sad?" She heard a tiny 4 year old voice.
"Come over here Sethy." He climbed up on the bed and sat crossed legged at the end, scrutinizing Jace.
Seth turned his head to the side in a 'well, what did you want?' kind of gesture.
"Maybe you should tell him, Jace." Clary whispered, her heart expanding, overflowing with happiness. Jace looked at her, his eyes full of panic.
"Seth, my name is Jace. Um, your mom might have told you about me before, or maybe not..." Jace stammered on for a little while. He sat up, rubbing the back of his neck, and hunching his shoulders as though Seth intimidated him. He probably did.
"Seth, this is your daddy." she told him, interrupting Jace. After all the years of being apart, Clary could tell when Jace needed her. He needed her to tell Seth, he couldn't do it on his own. Seth looked at her, eyes sparkling. He started to crawl towards them. He lay down facing Jace, where Clary couldn't see his face.
"Hi." He said to Jace.
"Hi Seth." She could see Jace's face, his eyes were sparkling.
"You can call me Sethy. That's what Mommy calls me."
"Okay. Hi Sethy." Clary had never seen Jace nervous before, he seemed to really want Seth to like him. But, wouldn't all dads' want their sons to like them?
"Hi Daddy." With that, one single tear slipped from Jace's eyes. Seth's pudgy thumb wiped it away. Jace laughed lightly and looked at Clary, his eyes filled with happiness. Clary remembered when Jace told her that he never cried. Only once when his pet died. But her mind wandered back to when she found out she was pregnant with Seth, the tears that had formed in his eyes. Now, Seth was here, making Jace cry all over again. It seemed that the only thing that could make him cry was a part of both of them.
Jace wrapped his arms around the two of them, squeezing them so tight Clary felt like she would burst, but this is what she had been waiting for for so long. It was better than she had imagined. Seth liked Jace. Jace was here with Clary. They could all be a family. Just like they had always wanted. And this would be their home.
(3 weeks later)
Jace and Clary walked hand in hand through the park. Isabelle was watching Seth so Jace and Clary had time to be alone. Seth had warmed up to Jace and only called him 'Daddy.' Jace was so happy to be in his life. The whole family was overjoyed when they heard the news about Jace. The Lightwoods were packing up to visit their long lost son. Clary never told anyone, but she secretly didn't want anyone to visit. Jace was hers and she didn't want to share him with anybody else. She was only being selfish though.
Clary spotted a bench, scratch that, the bench, in the back of the park she had never visited during Jace's absence. It was the spot where Jace first kissed her. It was the spot where Clary told him about her parents divorcing, it was the place she told Jace she was pregnant. She had declared it their spot and couldn't bear to look at without feeling sadness. Now all she wanted was to sit on it again. She steered Jace towards the bench. He smiled at the memories hidden in the bench. She sat down and laid her head on his shoulder, enjoying the peace and quiet and the pressure of Jace's hand in hers again.
"Clary, there's something I have to ask you."
"Ask away." She said lifting her head from his shoulder. He got up from the bench and kneeled in front of her.
"Clary, since the first time I met you in that club 6 years ago, I knew I was a goner. You were always so much better than me and you still are. Now, we have a little son, I want us to be a proper family. But, that's not the only reason I'm doing this. I love you and I want you to be mine forever and ever and ever and whatever comes after that. So, Clarissa Adele Fray, will you do the honour of marrying me?" Tears formed in her eyes. She had been waiting so long for this. She knew exactly what to say. She loved him and they were going to be an actual proper family. Just with one word. She watched the hope and nervousness dance in his eyes and knew there was only one right thing to say.
"Yes."
(10 years later)
Clary woke up from the nightmare. Jace being gone. She wiped her hand across her sweaty forehead and convinced herself it was over with. She turned and looked at her clock on the nightstand. 5:30 AM. After Jace had proposed, obviously they got married. Isabelle was the bridesmaid, Alec the best man. Seth was so adorable in his little ring bearer outfit. She could still hear the laughter and the clinking of glasses as everyone made toasts and speeches.
Soon after the wedding, Clary found she was pregnant again. She had a little girl. She named her Natalia Maryse Lightwood. Natalia was almost a replica of Clary and also developed the passion of drawing. Seth started school and Natalia wasn't far behind. 2 years after Natalia, Robert passed away, just before the birth of his third and fourth grandchildren, her daughter, Clara Isabelle Lightwood, and the sweet little daughter of Isabelle and Simon (who had gotten married shortly after Clary and Jace) Emily Alexis Lewis. Clara and Emily became best friends. Clara was Daddy's little girl. She looked almost exactly like Jace except she had Clary's red hair. The year Seth turned 9, Natalie 4 and Clara 2, Clary found herself bearing another child. 2 months earlier than expected, Robert Simon Alexander Lightwood was born. A golden boy like his father. Now, Seth was 14, Natalia was 9, Clara was 7 and Robert was 5.
Clary turned over in her bed smiling as she thought of her children. She opened her eyes again and was met with a pair of golden eyes that were very similar to some of her children's.
"Good morning, love." Jace whispered. Clary kissed Jace on the lips. Nothing could ever erase the feeling of him being gone. But, the pain was over and he was back. They were married with 4 beautiful children. Clary thought about the date. It's been 10 years.
"Happy anniversary." Clary whispered. Jace chuckled. He grabbed Clary around the hips and rolled her on top of him. She put her hands on either side of his face, letting her curls surround them in their own private little space.
"Our anniversary isn't for another 6 months, love." He replied chuckling softly. He reached his hand up and brushed her hair back slightly, then let it fall back into place.
"No, since you've been back. It's been ten years." Ten years of happiness and love. Not of pain and suffering as the years had been without him.
"Well then, I guess it's welcome home for me then." Jace chuckled. Clary leaned down further, placing her lips hard against his, memorizing again and again what it felt like to be close to him again. She would never lose him again.
"Yes it is, welcome home."
I'm sorry...
So I decided to read this story the other day, and I have no clue what is wrong with the last names and some of the wonky mistakes going on in their... I've never been so embarrassed ;). So I went through for you guys and hopefully fixed some VERY CONFUSING errors and added some little things here and there. Please let me know if there's anything I missed because I am very twitchy when it comes to grammatical and spelling mistakes, especially when they're my mistakes. I'm taking down Switched, because I honestly hate the writing in it. I'll hopefully eventually, maybe, might start it up again, but with everything going on in my life right now it probably won't happen, at least not for a little while. I was thinking about maybe writing a short story about Jace's life in Idris? I don't know if you guys would like to hear that or not. I'm thinking maybe ten chapters to it. Review and let me know what you think about the idea and I'll try my hardest to get up the first chapter before September begins. Once again, I apologize for my embarrassing mistakes in this story and I hope you'll all forgive me. Thanks for reading
~teamwayherosternwood