A.N : Hey guys! I know I haven't updated my stories in ages but I have a reason for that. In my country, when we are in our second year of high school we need to take an examination which is the first milestone of our career and we can't afford to mess that up. I have that exam spell in 22 days. So I've been studying hard. But I just had this random idea and had to put it down otherwise I would've lost focus. So here it is.

The setting of this one shot is the time following the one night when Jace was himself in CoLS. In the actual book by the amazing Cassandra Clare, Jace wanted to surrender to the Clave and see what they do but Clary obviously wanting to save his life by any means alerted Sebastian who came and healed the dark rune and things were back to square one.

This one-shot follows the alternative storyline. What if Jace had been successful in leaving and to find out what happens then continue reading.

Warning: Like a pizza with extra cheese this one-shot comes with extra angst so grab a tissue and DO NOT read in public if you are an easy crier. Angst junkies like me, enjoy!

It was the fourth day since she and Jace had escaped from Sebastian's clutches. She would be more happier about her freedom if she had Jace by her side.

The ever sacrificant Jace with a death wish the size of the whole U.S.A had willingly given himself up to the Clave for 'exploration' purposes. At least the Clave had termed it that way but Clary knew the reality. He was being treated like a deranged person with a contagious fatal disease detained for safety of others.

When they had first burst through thin air into the Hall of the Accords, it had been empty other than few people guarding it. She would have liked to be inconspicuous and take Jace back to the Lightwood's and spend a quiet night cuddling with him, just to reassure herself that he was back. Her Jace was back. But it wasn't as if they were not infamous, Valentine's children and main figures of the Mortal War tend to leave a mark on people's minds.

The second the guards saw them, they notified the Inquisitor and somehow within minutes the Clave was in session.

As a special favour Izzy was also allowed in the meeting in spite of being under age.

From the moment they were discovered Jace had been tightly holding onto her as if he knew what the verdict would be and wanted to hold her close for a few last minutes.

The minute Isabelle and Alec entered the hall and located them, they ran to Jace and Izzy tackled Jace in an awkward one armed hug and the poor boy was trying not to wince from the gash on his chest and hold on to Clary at the same time. Alec, after finally managing to pull his excited and emotional sister off of his parabatai, had gotten his own reunion with his brother.

But all these teary eyed reunions were short-lived when the Inquisitor came in and isolated Jace and her from the rest to question them.

Clary had tried to answer his probing questions as truthfully as possible but warping few bits to make Jace seem as innocent as possible while Jace had recounted the moments he remembered from the terrace of the Church if Talto to waking up from under the spell, leaving personal details out.

The Clave decided to detain him because they couldn't be certain about the longevity of this reprieve from Sebastian's bond. So they put him in the Gard notwithstanding Clary's and his siblings' protests. But as a reward for bringing back Jace, as if she had handed a fugitive over to the law, Clary had received the liberty of visiting him in the Gard. But only Clary because she had proven that she would never come under the influence of Sebastian controlled Jace (She had cleverly worked out this deal).

So every day, for a few hours she could go sit with Jace so that he didn't feel like a prisoner.

She got up from Izzy's bed and went to look at her appearance in the mirror. Her eyes were sunk in which produced an uncanny resemblance between her and a Silent Brother, mutilated mouth apart that is.

She shook her auburn curls free from the knot she had tied it in and tried to look a little more attractively tired. Looking at her drawn face won't do Jace any good.

"Tell him we love him and are looking for that bastard so that he can be free as soon as possible." Isabelle said, coming up behind Clary to help her tame her hair into a presentable updo.

"I will, Iz."

Clary dropped her hand, letting Isabelle have her way with her hair. Everyone was on edge nowadays and Izzy took hers off by treating Clary as a human barbie before her regular visits to Jace.

'Gotta get you prepped and pretty for the boy. You're his only source of entertainment.'

Although Izzy said this was the sole reason, Clary understood that she just wanted to feel useful and help her brother, so she let Isabelle do that even if she hated it and the way Jace's tired eyes had lit up the first time she went to him dolled up was worth everything.

They were almost done when Alec came in with a more pleased expression than his regular brooding which Clary wrote off to the glitter on his plain black shirt.

"Glad at least one of us is getting some." Izzy said, putting last touches on Clary's hair. Clary could see her smirk in the mirror and the immediate red hue that touched Alec's neck.

"Just tell Jace we are looking for a way and not to give up hope, okay?" Alec said, ignoring his sister's comment.

"Yeah."

Alec and Izzy had been equally worried as Clary had been about Jace. They were the only ones who really cared about him and prioritised him.

Alec nodded in acknowledgement.

"Has he agreed to a healing rune?"

Clary shook her head in negative.

"He thinks healing that bit of skin would heal the rune and throw him back under. He agreed to a bandage only after I threatened to cut myself and bleed with him. If it was up to him he would have been picking at the wound."

"Do you think he is right?" Isabelle asked, "I mean you being the rune expert."

"I don't know, Iz. I'm no expert but I've heard Mom speaking to few experts, they have never faced this but said that usually destroyed runes don't work but this one is foreign."

Isabelle sighed.

"You're all done! Go get your man." she said energetically.

"Thanks, Iz."

She looked in the mirror and saw the black cave under her eyes were covered up and she looked all right, almost. That was all Isabelle could do, the rest was up to her acting skills. She had been getting better with wrapping herself with the seemingly nonchalant air around Jace to lessen his worries because in spite of her continuous confirmations of her wellbeing, he worried about her.

"Okay!" she sighed.

"All ready to go!" she said with fake energy.

Izzy gave her a thumbs up and even Alec nodded.

Clary stood in front of the entrance to the Gard cells and signed her escorts to leave her alone. The guards nodded and left to take their normal positions.

She took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds and then let it all out to release a bit of the pressure in her chest and put on a smile.

She entered the barely lit place. The only light was the afternoon sun streaming in through the bars of the cell windows. At night, it was even creepier with few witchlights and the moon.

She walked down the aisle and reached the fourth cell where the love of her life was being wrongly detained.

Her eyes took a bit adjusting but then she saw him. Lying in the corner on his back with his one hand folded under his head and the other over his eyes, hiding his whole face. Only his pursed lips and few curls of dark hair was visible, but Clary knew the kind of lustre it had when his whole head of golden curls was in sunshine.

His white button down shirt was open on the front with his torso in full view, the only thing scarring the it was the red spotted white bandage around his chest. He was a picture of calm except for the shaking of his jean clad right leg crossed over his left one.

The little light available was flitting over him, making a show of the light and the shadows on him.

Before Clary could say anything, he spoke without removing the hand covering his face.

"Didn't get tired of me, I see." His tone was light and joking.

A weight lifted off Clary's chest. Only one sentence from Jace and his presence could free her from every worry, every pain in the world, at least momentarily. Overwhelmed, Clary closed her eyes and her fake smile on her lips widened and turned real.

Opening her eyes she said, "Technically you can't see. You've got your eyes covered."

Her light and sarcastic comeback seemed to have had the same effect on Jace as his on her.

A small smile played on his perfect lips and the nervous shaking of his foot stopped. Removing his arm from his face, he looked at her as if taking her all in from the angle below where he was lying.

Clary saw that the bruises on his face had turned yellowish and he seemed a bit better, though tire was written all over his body language.

He smiled fully and got up on his feet.

Clary opened the door of the cell with an opening rune and got in and closed it back up.

This was a negotiation with the Inquisitor. In return of coming in close contact with Jace, she had to lock herself in with him and in case he went dark Jace again, she would throw her stele out and stay locked up with him until help came.

She threw herself towards him, careful not to hurt him, but he didn't seem to care as he hugged her tightly to his chest and rested his head on hers. For a moment, they stood like that, clinging onto each other. And then Jace broke the embrace and kissed her on the forehead softly once, twice.

"By the Angel, I've missed you."

"You know, I did too. And I could never get tired of you."

"I know. You established that pretty well when you followed your psychotic brother dearest and... him." Jace never spoke of himself under Sebastian's control in first person.

It was always him. As if it was someone else.

"That pretty much summed things up, didn't it?"

"Hm."

He nodded along with the monosyllabic answer while burrowing his face in her neck and taking deep breaths of her, as if to memorise her smell and planting soft feather like kisses on the side of her neck. His left hand roaming on her back, caressing her lightly as if she was made of porcelain and the other tightly wound around her waist as if he had no doubt that she was iron. His touches made her weak at the knees but she was holding on as tightly onto him softly kissing his shoulder and moaning deep within her throat from the sparks that lit up her tired soul.

Jace finally looked up, never loosening his hold on her as if she would disappear and he never wanted to lose her.

"Have you been eating?"

"For the last time Jace, I'm not the one locked up and yes, I've been throwing parties and having feasts with Izzy and Alec."

He laughed a bit and said, "You know, I worry about you."

"But why?" she asked him, pulling him even closer if possible by his waist, her force measured up to the frustration in her question but the hand caressing his face was gentle.

"I just do. Speaking of parties and Alec and Iz, how are they?"

"They're okay. Worried, tired but okay. They said that they love you and Alec said not to lose hope and that he will figure a way out if this mess."

"Tell them I love them too and tell Alec specially that I am a ray of sunshine and hope lighting up the Gard." Jace said sitting down and pulling her down on his lap going back to kissing and nuzzling her neck and running his hand down her side in a comforting gesture.

" Okay, your Royal Sarcasmness!" she retorted or tried to, her voice shaking from Jace's attention on her neck.

She pulled back and looked him straight in the eyes.

"He's right, you know. I'll do anything, we'll do anything."

His eyes darkened and his pupils dilated.

He brought his mouth down on hers, hard. All of the frustration, lost hope, anger and sadness and passion and love flowing like charges between their lips.

Clary reciprocated with as much pressure as he was kissing her with and gave permission for him to explore her whole mouth and in turn fondling his tongue with hers. Trying to convey all her love and hope to him, to make him feel better and not give up on himself. Their feverish and passionate kisses turned comfortable and languorous and then turned to soft, loving pecks.

Feeling rejuvenated, Clary pulled back and took in the beautiful broken boy she was lucky enough to love and trust and earn his trust and love in return.

His eyes were so dilated that the golden had been almost completely swallowed by his pupil. He was looking at her but she could tell that she had lost him to his thoughts.

"What are you thinking about?" she whispered, stroking the side of his face.

He seemed to come back from wherever he was lost and focus on her.

Jace stared at the beautiful, strong, hopeful and oblivious face of the girl he loved more than anything on the surface of the earth and sighed.

He had contemplated telling Clary about the deal he had made that day but when he had laid his eyes upon her, her presence filling up that dingy and dark Gard cell with light, and had heard her joking tone, he hadn't wanted to spoil the lightness around her that he noticed for the first time since a very long time. So he decided to hold her and take her in for as long as possible.

He tangled his fingers in the open red curls hanging down her shoulders and noticed that half of it was twisted up on her head in an intricate braid and the rest was down.

Isabelle, he thought, fondly.

Honestly, he missed his enthusiastic and determined sister and her antics and training with his parabatai but he was glad that he could at least have Clary with him sometimes.

"What are you thinking about?"

Her whispered question broke his reverie and he said the first thing that came to his head.

"Normalcy."

He was a Shadowhunter and never thought about being anything else but one could do only so much staying locked up. The thought about another life had crossed his mind more than once. A life where he could have Clary and his family and live happily with mundane problems and not sit awaiting his imminent death.

He had never cared about life or death before and people would say that he had a death wish but with Clary, he had never wanted to live so desperately.

"I just miss the way things used to be, you know. Before Valentine and Sebastian came and messed things up."

Seeing sadness cloud her eyes, he quickly changed his tone.

"I mean, I've always been irresistible and had girls throwing themselves my way, sometimes boys too, but never had such an ardent lover who turned the world upside down for others and bought a house that portals between dimensions just to enjoy my company." he said with a smirk.

Clary shoved him lightly on the shoulder, chuckling.

"What?! Now I'm regretting not thinking about my magnetic field being too strong."

She shook her head, her shoulders trembling with silent laughter.

It felt good to see her laugh but he knew that this was fleeting and he would have to break the news to her and knew that she would never forgive him.

In a way that would be good, save her from the hurt.

He was going to tell her that he loved her but just then the door opened and in came the Inquisitor.

"Sorry to cut this lovely time short but I'm afraid you have to leave Clary."

Clary jumped up, freeing herself from Jace's hold and nervously brushed invisible dust from her jeans.

Jace slowly stood up and his stony eyes met the animated ones of the Inquisitor. He knew why the Inquisitor was so excited. It was clear that he could tell that Clary knew nothing about their deal and the thought that they would suffer in the near future have his sadistic heart some sort of pleasure.

"Yes, okay. Um, can you give us a minute.." Clary said ".. alone. "

The Inquisitor tilted his head once and turned around but didn't leave.

Clary sighed, obviously understanding that they weren't about to be left alone, and turned to face him.

"I love you" she said taking his hands and giving them a comforting squeeze.

"I love you." Jace said and leaned down and pecked her on the lips, softly.

She turned around, opened the cell with her stele and went out and shut the door and looked at him through the bars wistfully before locking the door. She raised her hand in a little parting wave and turned around and left, Jace's eyes following her departing silhouette growing smaller by the second until it completely disappeared.

He turned his eyes back to the Inquisitor.

"I hope you haven't backed out of our deal seeing that you didn't tell your girlfriend. Knowing Ms. Morgenstern, she would be at my throat if she knew."

"You don't know her and no, I haven't. You can still have your way, if you carry out your part of the deal."

"Yeah, I know. Tomorrow is the fifth day. You can leave for one night and spend it with your girl." the Inquisitor said, smirking.

Jace wanted to throw a sharp comeback about how he didn't have to plan Jace's night out but he knew that the only thing he wanted to do was spent as much time as possible with Clary. So he just nodded and went to the back to the cell and sat down. The Inquisitor seemed to take the hint and leave.

Clary walked back to Isabelle's room where, she knew, both the Lightwoods would be waiting for news of their brother. She didn't bother knocking, just pushed the door open and immediately regretted her abrasive behaviour.

Clary cleared her throat while covering her eyes.

"I hope it's safe to open my eyes."

Opening her eyes she saw Simon and Isabelle sitting on each end of the bed, far apart.

"Much better." she said with a smirk, seeing both of them turn different shades of red. You would think that being walked in on would just annoy Isabelle but with Simon, she always was blushing.

Huh! True love!

"How's he?" Isabelle tried to change the subject.

"Okay, I guess."

"I'm sure he is. Judging by the sudden allergy that you have that made your lips swell and your chin turn the exact shade of my favourite red lipstick that I remember lending you."

Now it was Clary's turn to blush.

"Good to see you, Fray." Simon said going up to hug her. Good ole' Lewis always to her rescue.

"I missed you, Simon." Clary hugged her friend tightly. The only constant in her life.

"I'm tired. I'll just crash here.." Clary said ".. in Jace's room" she completed noticing Isabelle's crestfallen face "so that you can do whatever you want with my best friend."

Isabelle lit up. "Okay. You know your way around so now shoo.. You've had your fun, let me have mine." she shoved a laughing Clary out of the door.

Entering the room, Clary at once felt that it wasn't Jace's alone. Well, aside from two beds, the room just didn't have the monk like vacancy that Jace's room at the Institute has. Alec was staying with Magnus at Ragnor Fell's so the room was hers for the night.

She stripped to her underwear and pulled one of Jace's T-shirts on. As usual it completely swallowed her and reached her knees. She went to Jace's bed and laid down, pulling the covers up to her waist.

After tossing and turning for quite some time, she pulled her hands inside the T-shirt she was wearing, anyone looking at her would think for a moment that she didn't have hands, and then pulled her knees up to her chest and the T-shirt's neck up to her nose. Finally feeling comfortable after curling into herself like that and having Jace's faint smell lingering all around her, she gave in to the exhaustion.

A.N: So, what do you think? Tell me in the reviews.