Clary's POV
I picked up my crying son as his wails woke me from sleep. I settled into the rocking chair next to his crib and pulled down my shirt. His hungry mouth sought out it's food source as I leaned him up against my four month pregnant stomach and started rocking.
Jace's and my son, Max, is now five months old and me being the aforementioned four months pregnant should give you a clue as to how well Jace listens. We have been "by the Angel" married for a year and a half and our marriage is already strained beyond belief.
My stomach started to grumble as I grew more awake. Because Jace has been gone almost constantly and me trying to prove to everyone that Jace and I are not too young to be married and have a child, I have been so concentrated on taking care of Max that I haven't been feeding myself regularly causing Mom, Luke, all of my in-laws, and Magnus, who is serving as my doctor, all to not be happy with me.
I sighed and threw a blanket over my shoulder thinking I might as well get something to eat while I'm thinking about it. This baby does need nutrition after all.
Robert's POV
I was finishing reading today's paper as my daughter-in-law shuffled into the kitchen. The blanket thrown over her shoulder told me that Max was feeding right now.
"Clary are you okay?" I asked her. As I spoke to her, she turned to me. Her dark eyes spoke testament to how long she had gone without proper sleep, around twenty weeks to be exact.
"Yeah I'm just a little hungry. I thought I should probably get something to eat." she whispered. I was surprised because over the last few weeks nobody had seen her eat much of anything.
"Do you know when Jace is supposed to be back?" I asked her.
She looked back at me from the cabinet with tears in her eyes. "No I thought he would have told you and Maryse something." she then proceeded to make a bowl of cereal and brought it next to me. Since three or four weeks after Max was born, Jace and Alec would leave early in the morning, probably to Magnus' house and then would stumble in late at night exhausted, from hunting.
We sat in silence for a few minutes before two things happened. One, Max finished eating and after Clary situated herself she pulled the blanket off her shoulder and settled Max in one arm while she finished her cereal. Second, the door of the Institute flew open and Alec stumbled in with a blood covered, half-dead looking Jace. Clary and I raced over to the pair and Clary slid Max into Alec's awaiting arms. As she fell to her knees, and her stele appeared out of nowhere, and she began drawing on Jace.
When she was finished she stayed on her knees stroking Jace's face with her fingers gently. "What happened?" Clary asked Alec, not accusingly but fearfully curious.
"He jumped in front of a group of demons completely unprepared and this is what he got." Alec told her.
Clary stroked his face a few more seconds before, as if the tension in the room finally caught up to him, Max screamed out. Clary jumped at it's unexpectedness and sighed before standing up and taking Max from Alec.
Clary requested that Alec and I put Jace in their room. As we were walking away, she mumbled something about having to walk every square inch of the Institute to get Max to sleep.
Alec and I laid Jace on the bed in his and Clary's room. We separated and went to our own rooms for the night. I relayed the nights events to Maryse who relayed them to Jocelyn over the phone.
Jace's POV
As I woke up, the burning pain in all of my muscles became very apparent. I could hear mumbling and my eyes flickered open. Clary was standing at Max's crib a few feet away from the bed and rocking back and forth.
"Oh Maxie I love you so much. Just let me get a few more hours of sleep and then we can go for a walk. Just a few more hours Maxie, my sweet boy. I love you baby." she then kissed his forehead a few times before setting him down. My eyes drifted closed again as Clary pulled back the sheets and climbed back into bed.
When I woke up a few hours later, Clary was snuggled into my side, her head resting on my chest and her warm breath below my pecs. Isabelle was standing over Max's crib when I glanced over at the sound of her voice.
"Hey Maxamillion. Let's give Mommy and Daddy some more sleep. Not that Daddy deserves it but I heard he had an eventful night." Isabelle's voice carried out the door with her and along with it consciousness.
The last time I woke up, I whispered Clary's name to attempt to wake her but she yawned and turned over, her back was mostly bare from her tank top that she now wore to make feeding Max in the middle of the night easier. I leaned over her and kissed her between her shoulder blades, where I joked her wings should be. Clary moaned and shifted on the bed. She whispered my name and burrowed further into her pillow.
"Clary" I sing-songed in her ear. She smiled and whispered my name again.
"Clary wake up." I whispered again. She jolted and twisted in the sheets.
"What?" she asked sleepily. "Does Max need to be fed." she asked as she started to pull the sheets back.
"No. No Clary." I said as I wrapped my arms around her waist and dragged her back to me. She flopped against me and sighed.
"Is it you Jace?" she asked me as she ran a hand down my chest. "Yes it's you." she whispered to herself before snuggling closer to me. "It's been so long since I woke up next to you. What time is it?" she asked as she looked around.
"It's almost nine." Clary shot up and jumped to the side of Max's crib.
"Where is he? Oh my gosh what happened to him? Oh this is all my fault. What happened to him? We need to find him. My poor little boy." Clary started tearing up at the end. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around my wife.
"Clary relax. Isabelle came in and got Max earlier this morning." I told her. She relaxed against me.
"Thank goodness. I can only imagine the talking down to I would get from my mother if I lost my son." Clary sighed.
"Oh Clary don't say that. Your mother loves Max." I said. Clary just nodded, but she turned out of my embrace and walked over to the closet. She pulled out some black tight jeans and a purple tank top and a black, white, and green plaid top of Luke's. She walked into the bathroom and started getting ready. I watched her dress and pull her fiery red curls into a ponytail.
"How are you feeling this morning? You had a couple of broken bones last night." Clary asked me as she pulled on the necklace I had gotten her for her birthday earlier this year and her wedding ring.
"Just some muscle pain." I answered her as I pulled out a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt.
"That's good to hear." she replied. I watched her from the corner of my eye walk up to me and kiss my cheek after she pulled me down to her level. "You should relax today. I'm going to be out most of the day. Grocery shopping and then I need to get a gift for Mom's and Si's birthdays and Mom and Luke's anniversary present. Max is coming with me so you won't need to worry about him." Clary told me as she sat on the bed and pulled on her shoes while I dressed.
"Good. I'm sure Alec will want to get some practice in with me. Is Isabelle going with you?" I asked her.
"Yes she is." Clary said as I walked into the bathroom.
Isabelle's POV
I watched Clary walk down the stairs. Little Max was getting impatient waiting for her.
"Do I need to feed him quickly before we leave?" she asked. I nodded and handed my nephew over.
"Clarissa Lightwood why was Isabelle taking care of your son this morning?" Jocelyn asked rudely as she walked down the hallway and into the living room where Clary was preparing to feed Max.
Clary took a deep breath and focused on getting Max eating before she answered her mother. "Izzy was helping Jace and I this morning by letting us sleep after our eventful night last night." Clary explained.
"It is not her job to take care of your son Clarissa." Clary flinched at the use of her full name a second time. "You should be more responsible. Just think. I'm sure Isabelle would have liked to sleep in this morning."
"Yes Mom" Clary sighed as she settled into the couch with Max at her breast. Jocelyn continued to rant to Clary about how she told her that a baby was a lot of work. Once Max finished eating, Clary fixed herself up and got ready to go grabbing her purse and settling Max into his baby carrier. "Let's go" Clary said as she walked over to the door.
I followed her and left Jocelyn sitting in the living room. "Hey Clary we can take my car." I told her.
"Thanks." she smiled at me. We climbed into my car and drove off.
"So how was Jace this morning?" I asked.
"Okay. Probably relieved I brought Max with me. He had a few broken bones I healed last night, but those are all set and just some muscle pain that will go away if he relaxes today, which we both know he won't." Clary told me.
"True and that's good. Did Jace not want Max with him today? He hasn't seen his son in a while." I asked my sister-in-law.
"I doubt he ever wants Max with him without me there." Clary laughed without humor as she glanced back at Max.
"Why do you say that?" I asked, confused, Jace loved his son.
"I'm pretty sure Jace hates kids. Even his own so he has never even taken care of Max without me there. This one is going to add fuel to the fire and our marriage may just be the first by the Angel promise to be broken in Shadowhunter history." Clary said as she leaned her head on her hand against the window.
"Jace doesn't hate kids." I told her, completely shocked.
Clary once against laughed humorlessly, cutting me off. "So it was strangely convenient that there happened to be some demon outbreak that none of the rest of us have even heard of just a few weeks after Max was born." Clary sighed. "No Jace started to pull away from me just after I started showing with Max. Jace hates kids. I just wish he would have told me this before we got pregnant the first time."
"Wait" I said as something dawned on me while I parked in the lot in front of the mall. "What do you mean the first time? Are you pregnant again?" I asked her, turning to look at her. Clary's plaid shirt was open so her small/medium bump was apparent through her tank top. "Oh you are. I'm going to be an aunt again." I squealed as I pulled her to me, mindful of her stomach. "Do you know what it is?"
"Magnus and I think it's twins." Clary said as she began to get out.
I squealed again and ran over to her side as she brought Max's carrier out. "Do you know what they are?"
"We think it's a boy and a girl." Clary answered as we started to walk in.
"Oh this is so exciting we'll have to get another room for Max all set up. Then we can pick out more things for the babies." I started to list off.
"Isabelle relax. We just found out. I'm only four monthsish we have a while to go. Just calm down. I have to tell Jace before we announcing it to the world." Clary said.
I sighed knowing she was right before we walked all over the mall and the grocery store before heading home.
Jace's POV
Something was up with Clary. She was so distant this morning and then my family called an intervention while Isabelle and Clary were gone.
"Jace you have to be there for her." Robert told me.
"I am there for her. I am keeping her safe." I replied, annoyed.
"No Jace we mean be there during the day or at night. Alec's told us all about the schedule you have kept since Max was less than a month old." Luke said angrily. "Do you know how hard it is to take care of a baby? Especially with a bunch of people telling you that you are too young not only to be married but to have a child as well? Because I doubt you do. That's Clary."
"I am here at night. Don't think I don't take care of my child." I said defensively.
"When was the last time you held Max?" Maryse asked.
I thought about it for a minute. "I held him two days ago." I said. They went on to tell me how bad of a husband I was being and pissing me off. "Leave me alone. Clary and I are just fine." I finished just as Simon, Maia, Isabelle, Clary, and Max entered the house. They were all carrying some groceries.
"Hey guys" Isabelle cheered. She threw her bags down on the ground and ran over to Maryse. Clary bent over to the side and scooped up her bag while balancing herself with Max's carrier.
Maia and Simon followed her into the kitchen before emerging a second later. Simon was carrying Max's carrier while Clary ran out to get the rest of the groceries and put them away.
"Jace go help your wife. She shouldn't be carrying all the weight." Isabelle told me as she pulled me up off the couch and shoved me in the direction of the front door. Clary was struggling to pick up as many bags as she could in one trip.
"Clare just hang on. I got the rest." I told her as I took some bags. "You go on inside."
She smiled brilliantly at me. "Thank you Jace." I turned with all the bags in my hands but Clary stopped me. "Wait Jace I just want to tell you one thing."
"Can it wait until we're in the house?" I asked as I glanced a look at the bags in my arms.
"Oh yeah." she sighed. I walked into the house and started pulling things out of the bags. Clary walked in a moment later with a few more small little bags. She started to take things out of the bags and put them in their proper places. I leaned against the counter and waited for Clary to talk to me.
"So what was it you needed to tell me?" I asked her.
She stopped and looked at me. Then she turned and leaned against the counter and started crying. I jumped up and ran over to her. "Clary what's wrong?" I physically turned her into my chest and lifted her head. "Honey what's wrong?" I asked her, scared.
"Please don't leave me." she sobbed into me chest. "Please don't leave me alone with Max."
"What? Why would I leave you alone with Max?" I asked her, stunned.
"You're going to leave me because you hate kids. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get pregnant. I'm so sorry. Not for Max, but because you're so unhappy. I'm so sorry." Clary sobbed.
"I love Max." I told her.
"You do?" she asked me, sincerely questioning me.
"Of course I do." I told her. "Why do you think I don't?"
"You're never here. You never spend time with him. You never do anything with either of us. And it all happened once I started showing with Max." Clary was whispering by the end as she lowered her head to my chest.
"Clary look at me baby." I waited a few seconds as she slowly raised her wet eyes. I wiped her eyes with my thumbs before continuing. "Clary I love you and I love Max. Because I have you two you've made me the happiest man in the world. I'm sorry I've been gone so much, but there has been some news for me and that's why I'm gone all the time. Now you need to tell me what's wrong before we go see Magnus to get you sedated."
Clary took one of my hands from her neck and placed it on her stomach. "We're pregnant again." she said with hopeful eyes.
"Really?" I asked her. She nodded. "Do you know what it is?"
"Magnus and I think it's twins. I think it's a boy and a girl." she whispered. I picked her up and squeezed her gently.
"That's great Clary." she wrapped her legs around my hips for support. I pulled her up to me and kissed her.
Jocelyn's POV
I could hear Clary's sobbing all the way from the living room, but by the time I got to the kitchen Clary was hanging off Jace as they made out with him leaning against the counter. With her plaid shirt pulled back her baby bump was quite noticeable. I smiled. The two of them seemed to have worked out their differences.
A second later, Clary pulled back and stroked Jace's face. "Would you like to come to my appointment with Magnus?" she asked him.
"Of course baby. Let's go see our babies." Jace rubbed her stomach once more before setting her on the ground. The two ran right passed me and smiled back at me before turning into the living room.
"We'll be back. Thank you Isabelle for watching Max."
Five Months Later
Third Person POV
Clary lay back on the bed with Brielle in her arms and Jace next to her with Stephen in his arms.
The family looked down at the young couple. Eighteen and nineteen years old and they already have three children.
"We have a beautiful family." Jace whispered to his wife.
"Yeah but you get me pregnant anytime within the next year and a half and I will kill you." Clary smiled at her husband.
"Duly noted lovely wife." Jace kissed her forehead.