A/N: contains CoLS spoilers, so please don't read if you haven't read the 5th book of the TMI series. just a thought that kind of became drabblish/one shot-ish. i love jace and clary, always have but i liked some of the scenes for clary & sebastian in this one, i think it showed us even more about jonathan and who he is, good and bad. well, until the end of the book anyway. but that one scene where Clary finds that paper addressed to My Beautiful One, i really wanted that scene to end differently.

disclaimer: i don't own anything. everything belongs to Cassandra Clare, the creator of the Mortal Instruments series.

Sebastian watched Clary as she followed Jace out of the room, the puzzled expression on his face deepening.

She was a confusing girl, that one, Valentine's daughter. And it would take Valentine's son, his real son, to be the only one to truly understand her.

He waited a decent amount of time, pacing around the secret weapons room, before making his way back to his own room. He felt his own heart rate speeding up along with the state of arousal making its way throughout his body. He gritted his teeth and shut his door, trying to will away the rage surging within him, urging him to storm Jace's room and put a stop to what was surely about to happen. His echoing pain from the injuries and wounds he would cause his...brother would be more than worth it.

Instead, Jonathan walked over to his desk and gingerly lifted his scarf to his nose. He breathed in her scent, the scent of the one he knew he belonged to without a doubt. If only she would see...

He scoffed, tossing the scarf onto the surface littered with books and papers of all sorts, disgusted with himself for acting so pathetic, so weak, so...human.

Humans were insects, mere ants to be squashed when they got in your way. He was not one, he had known that since he were a small child, and he'd be damned if he was going to act sentimental and foolish as they did. Humans were beneath him; that tiny bit of him that came from Jace's influence in the bond that shackled them together needed to be eradicated.

Jonathan sat down in his chair, staring down at the mess in front of him before pushing and shoving objects out of his way until a clean piece of paper was staring him in the face.

A terrifying thought occurred to Jonathan then. What if this...weakness wasn't due to Jace's influence? His feelings, yes, feelings, were a more magnified version of what they had been back in Idris with Clary. That had been before Lillith had saved him and he was reborn. He had no illusions about it; Clary belonged to him as he belonged to her. Incest and sibling relationships didn't apply to them. He had demon blood within him, she had Angel blood running through her veins, not to mention they were Shadowhunters; the rules of humans didn't even touch them or what they would have.

He could feel Jace's anger rising and his ardor cooling. Jonathan smirked and steepled his fingers, pleased. Either Jace wasn't as perfect in all things as he boasted on a regular basis or Clary had turned him down. Guessing from the range of emotions Jonathan was currently experiencing on his brother's behalf, he'd say it was the latter. His smirk then faded when he realized he wasn't exactly sure if Clary had turned Jace down before...ever.

His jealousy raged and again, he wanted nothing more than to storm Jace's room and retrieve what was rightfully his. But, he knew, it wasn't time yet. Telling her and binding her to him in any way before the selected time was not part of the plan. And the plan was what was most important. Jonathan never lost sight of that. Nothing and no one else came first.

He thought about the night they had just spent together in Paris. How interesting it had been. He had seen a side of Clary he had never really seen before. That is, when she thought he wasn't watching.

Clary impressed him, intrigued him and he certainly took an interest in her. She was certainly starting to master the fighting skills she had been taught. Though, that little hiccup with the Dahak demons, had angered Jonathan more than he thought possible when it came to someone other than herself. Because she was part of his master plan, of course. It had absolutely nothing to do with being worried about her possibly being killed. Nothing whatsoever.

Clary was starting to come around, he could sense it. Bringing her along to Magdelena was a good choice. Spending time with Clary and walking around with her on the city streets had been an even better one. Because it enabled her to let her guard down enough when it came to him that when the timing was just right, it would work to his advantage. It wasn't that he had enjoyed spending time with her, trying to talk with her freely, as much as he could anyway, and that he appreciated having her to himself for a while without Jace's intervention. That certainly wasn't the case.

Jonathan reached into his pocket and pulled out the faerie ring he had taken off of Clary the other night in Prague. He shook his head as he studied it closely. The Faerie Queen had warned him of Clary's intent to betray him and of her own little plan she had concocted with those friends of hers. He knew it to be true, not only because faeries don't lie but also because he knew Clary; deep down inside he knew her. This was something he himself would do, put on an act, deceive, lie, infiltrate, whatever it took. Whether she liked it or not, they were a lot more alike than she wanted to believe.

He snorted and put the ring down next to the paper. Yes, he knew Clary's plans to betray him; he was no fool. But...he had to try...

It didn't really matter, she would be his by the end of this anyway. She did belong to him whether she was thrilled with that knowlede or not. She was his.

He picked up a pen and without even thinking about it, started to write:

My beautiful one

His hand froze after forming the 'e' on the end. There were so many things he wanted to tell her, explain to her, show her...but how could he put it all into words? He laid the pen down and once again, his dark eyes slid over to the ring on the side. He snarled and snatched it up in his hand, getting up to place it in the drawer of his nightside table before shoving it closed.

What would she care what he would write? She was planning to betray him! Him! The older brother who had saved her life hours earlier, who nearly admitted to her that he belonged to her? Who wanted nothing more, except for his master plan of course, than for her to be at his side when he brought the tide to the Shadowhunter world and then the world itself?

He paced his room, his thoughts concise and clear. He would not be Valentine. He was already proving to be different than his infamous father and that difference would also concern the woman he loved as well. The very floor he walked, the walls that surrounded him, was tribute to a man loving a woman with what was left of his heart and staying faithful, waiting for her to return that love, but she never did nor did she ever return period. No, this pairing would go very differently. Jonathan would make sure of it.

His head snapped up at the sound of Jace calling for him. How long had he been up here thinking on his beloved sister? His eyes snapped over to the tossed scarf and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He remembered Clary making him grin more times than he could count in the last few hours and his fists were so tight, his knuckles were whiter than normal as he strode out of his room to meet Jace. Yes, he would make sure everything would go smoothly and according to plan. Jonathan Morgenstern would succeed where his father had not and this time, he would get the girl, for good.