Chapter 1: Jace and Clary.

Clary's P.O.V

I look down at the dress that Izzy had helped me pick out. (I picked out more of it this time then last time, but I still needed her fashion expertise) Is it too slutty? I ask myself, looking at the low V-neck, spaghetti straps, and the hem of the dress that went down to just above my legs. I had talked her out of the strapless one whose length made it look like a shirt. The dress we'd agreed on in the end had zigzag line in glittery hot pink over the white background. I did feel more comfortable in this then I had in the outfit she had put me in for Magnus's party. I forced myself to stop focusing on how I looked to scan the room for Jace. After about a minute, my eyes landed on him dancing with the girl he had been dancing with for the past few songs.

"Who is this?" I had asked when I first saw them together, trying not to sound jealous or bitter.

"This is Alaina Redrose," he had said. "A family friend of the Lightwood's. Alaina, this is Clary Fray, my girlfriend." Hearing him say girlfriend almost made me jump; we had been dating for quite some time now, but I don't think either of us have ever actually used the G word or the B word.

After having awkwardly walked away, hoping nether of them noticed I was suspicious about the two of them, I just stood against a wall, wandering if maybe Simon would show up at any point, but inevitably knowing he was to busy with whatever the name of his band was.

I kept watching them dance –Jace's sharp and rehearsed, yet still smooth and gentle, moves and Alaina as she stared at their feet, obviously not use to the way Jace leads with such confidence and talent– hoping that they would soon get bored of each other and I would finally get to dance with Jace.

The current song finally ended and I saw Alaina getting ready to leave, so I gathered up whatever dignity I had left from standing against a wall, watching my boyfriend dance with another girl, and headed over to him.

"Hey," I said as soon as I was close enough for him to hear me.

"Clary!" Jace sort of jumped when I called him, as if I had startled him. But he's Jace: it's almost impossible to sneak up in him. "I hope you didn't feel uncomfortable with me dancing with her." He nodded in the direction that Alaina had gone, seeming to have recovered the little scare.

"Oh, no. I'm fine. Shall we dance?" I asked, extending my arm for Jace to take. He did, a little hesitant at first, but straightened up as soon as the next song started. It was sort of a climactic song: the kind of song you would play in a movie when all is good, but you know it really isn't. It was just soft enough to slow dance to, but, knowing Jace, we ended up in more of a waltz then anything else.

"Are you okay?" I asked, noticing how Jace was looking down at his feet and moving very sheepishly, as if afraid of stepping on a bug.

"What?" He said quickly after I had asked. "Nothing, I was just… admiring your shoes." Jace looked back down, but not as far down this time; closer to my shoulders then my shoes.

I quickly glanced down at my shoes. They weren't very special; just plan black flats.

We danced together awkwardly for the rest of the song. Jace was awfully tense throughout the whole thing.

After the song had ended, we instantly stopped. I went to let go of his hand, but Jace didn't let go; he pulled me closer to him, getting ready to start a tango for the next song, but accidentally stomping hard on my foot. I let out a yelp, and Jace briskly let me go and stepped back from me, muttering a collection of "sorry"s under his breath.

I grabbed my foot in my hand and resisted the urge to jump around the room yelling "owe" like a child. Jace just stood there, holding his hands over his mouth with a look of sheer horror on his face, before hurrying over to my rescue, but not before I lost my balance and fell into his arms as the next song started.

"Good catch," I said.

He stared into my eyes, trying to read them, and me trying to read his. After a moment, he said, "Thanks. Nice fall.

I debated what to say before blurting out, "Why do you seem so jittery dancing with me? You were perfectly fine with Alaina."

Jace lifted me up straight and wiped the horror from his face and replaced it with embarrassment. "Well… I have fire burning through my vanes, Clary. I don't want to hurt you."

He said it all to fast and I almost didn't hear it. I took a minute to comprehend it, and then said, "We've already established that you can't hurt anyone unless you try. Plus, even if you did burn people when you touched them, you wouldn't be able to hurt me because of all the experiments Valentine did on me, remember?"

"Yeah," he said with a grin. "But I just don't want to take any chances. If I hurt in any way, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Even stepping in your foot makes me want to throw myself off a bridge." After lifting me up right, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and moved his head so that he was looking down at the ground.

I touch my hand to the spot on his chest where I had stabbed him with the sword the angel had given to us. "You're a good person: You wouldn't hurt a fly unless it hurt you first."

"On purpose. What if the fly just flew on my nose and burst into flames?"

I didn't know what to say, or even what to think: on one hand, he was just scared of what could happen to him or anyone that would be on his conscience, which is understandable. But on the other hand, he was doing what he always does. Blaming himself and being hard on himself for something that was out of his hands. "You can't do anything about it. Whatever happens happens and it will never be your fault."

Jace seemed to relax after that. "I guess, but-"

"But nothing," I said, cutting him off. "Can we just dance and not think about this right now?"

He grinned, instantly going from vulnerable to charming. "Certainly." Jace took my hand in his and we stood pressed together for a few seconds while we waited for the next song. This one was almost medieval.

Together we danced and spun and dipped and eventually we had a crowd of people around us, watching our every move, and clapping and wowing at every complicated. I really didn't know how I was keeping up; I had never been a particularly good dancer, but I think it was mostly doing the hard work and me following his lead.

When the song ended, everybody clapped and cheered and left to dance on their own. "Nice job," I told Jace.

"Thank you," He said. Obviously equally as aware of how much better he was then me.

He had said more, but I couldn't listen; I thought I saw something in the corner of my eye. Was that Simon? But it can't be, I thought, he's at a band meeting. But then I blinked and he was gone. Probably just tired from all that dancing.

"Are you okay?" Jace said as my brain came back into focus.

"What? Yeah, sorry." Now I was the embarrassed one.

"Where were we?" Jace asked, and we danced.