Intro-

Clary is nineteen years old, and completely on her own. Jace is dearly loved, but it never feels like enough. Clary's mother died in a car accident, and her father threw her out. Jace was an orphan who was adopted by a wealthy family. One day Clary's already desperate situation takes an ultimate turn for the worst, when on top of her constant working she discovers she has a deadly disease. Jace on the other hand, thinks he's finally found something worth putting his heart into one day when going to the hospital for a broken arm. Fate brings two people from entirely different walks of life together, the question is weather its for the better or for the worst...

I DO NOT OWN MORTAL INSTRUMENTS

Clary Fray~*

"Clary!" A voice squeaked from behind, nearly making her drop the stack of plates she had been holding. Glancing back she saw her friend Maia trailing behind her as she swerved between tables. "Whoops. Sorry, didn't meant to scare you."

Clary ducked as a waiter lifted a tray over her head, "It's fine. Now hold on a second please?"

She danced around a chair that had been abruptly pushed out in front of her, and skirted around a man talking loudly at his friends by the bar. Maia was still following her when she finally made it to the kitchen. Carefully she made her way to the back, and set the large tray of plates she had been carrying on the counter to be cleaned. Clary released a sigh, and used her smock to wipe the sweat off her forehead. Sometimes she hated how busy the little dinner could be, but she knew better than to be ungrateful.

Taki's was a little diner and bar stuck between two skyscrapers in New York City, it was classy, small, and incredibly busy. After being kicked out of the house for the sole reason of being an extra mouth to feed Luke, the owner of Taki's and a good friend of her mother's, had offered her a job. Clary had never been more grateful in her life, after four months of living out of her car she had saved enough paychecks and tips to bye an extremely tiny apartment eleven blocks away. Ever since then she worked from six AM, to eight PM seven days a week to pay the bills. Of course she was exhausted, she got headaches, and sometimes Clary just wanted all the people in the diner to shut up and go away, but she managed.

Clary rolled her shoulder trying to relieve some of the tension, and glanced back at Maia giving her a smile. "Sorry, I couldn't afford to drop another tray of plates this week. It's like an obstacle course out there! Now what is it that you needed?"

Maia smiled at her and shook her head making her short brown curly dance. She was a very pretty girl with dark skin, brown eyes like melted chocolate, and a good five inches on Clary. Maia had started working at Taki's about two months after Clary, and they had been friends ever since. "I was wondering if you could cover my shift next Friday?" Maia batted her eyelashes and looked hopefully towards Clary.

Friday was the busiest night of the week, but after all the things Maia had done for her she owed her one. "Sure, why?"

"Simon Lewis asked my to go see the new Alien Wars movie with him!" Maia had a big dopy grin on her face, and Clary couldn't help but reciprocate it. Simon had been Clary's best friend since kindergarten, and was a big time nerd, but on the other hand so was Maia. Those two had gotten along swimmingly from the second Clary had introduced them.

Clary, smiled at her. "Go have fun, I've got you covered."

Maia's grin grew bigger, and she gave Clary a quick hug. "Thanks, your the best. If you ever need me to help out with anything at all just ask," Maia pulled back from their embrace. "When does your shift end? I've only got about five minutes left of mine, until Aline steps in."

Clary shrugged, and looked at the clock on the wall. "I still have another hour until Kaelie gets here."

Maia nodded. "Well we better get back to our tables before we get in trouble. I'll see you tomorrow, Clary."

"Bye, Maia." Clary waited for a second, and watched Maia greet Aline before exiting through the glass doors of the diner. She sighed and leaned back against the metallic kitchen counters exhausted, lately she'd been feeling more tired then ever. She looked at her reflection in the sink and saw large shadows under her eyes. Clary touched her face and slouched, all of the extra shifts she'd been taking up were really taking their toll. After rolling her shoulders and feeling her stiff joints pop, she wiped her hands on her smock and went back to work.

She sashayed around tables, took orders, cleaned up spills, and occasionally assisted the receptionist until the clock tolled signaling the end of her work day. Grabbing her things and wishing Kaelie good luck as she went though the door, Clary made her way to her old beat up car. It was red with chipped paint, a cracked windshield, a spring poking out one of the back seats, and an engine that was barely clinging to life. She loved that car. After all the junk she's had to do, that car had always been reliable, never failing her once. She hopped into the front seat, and leaned against the steering wheel trying to ward off an oncoming headache. Sitting back up, Clary made her way back to the small shabby apartment she called home...

Jace~*

Jace raised his arms above his head and popped his back. He had spent the whole day volunteering at the local soup kitchen, and his back was sore from leaning over pots and pans all day. He looked over at the somewhat weathered down building and sighed. Jace had enjoyed spending his day helping these people out, but it still didn't feel right to him. He spent every weekend volunteering for something new. One week he helped clean rooms at a children's shelter, another it was building houses for the poor, last week he helped raise money for a run-down nursing home. But no matter what he did, he still felt like he was doing the wrong thing.

Ever since he was sixteen he had been going through the same cycle of volunteering and moving on. Jace's parents were killed when he was only six, and most of his memories were of them participating at charity events. After they died he was put in several foster homes, some of them were good, some were not so good. Finally when he was ten, Jace was put with the Lightwoods whom ended up adopting him. Ironically though, they new nothing of his charitableness. In fact, for all they knew he was a huge jerk. They loved him of course, Robert and Maryse treated him like a son, and him, Isabelle and Alec were closer than normal siblings, but his reputation with most people wasn't great... He rode a bike, his temper got out of hand easily, for the most part he was very withdrawn and when he did speak it was usually to say something rude or snarky.

Strutting towards his bike, he pulled on his favored black leather jacket and silver helmet. An eerie sense of calm filling him as sped down the more quiet back streets of New York. It was dark out, and their wasn't as many people walking the streets as their was during the day. Jace drove up to the parking garage that his loft was attached to and parked his precious bike with careful precision. Hopping off his off his bike with an almost unnatural grace, he straightened his jacket and started making the long journey to the elevators. While walking Jace laid a hand against his hip and double checked that he had his knife on him. He didn't trust New Yorkers and he never left the house without his knife, especially since he lived right next to Central Park. That place attracted all kinds of weirdos.

Jace stepped into the elevator and tapped his foot impatiently as it made its slow progress upwards, blaring crappy music the whole way. He had never been a patient a person, so impatient that the Mayrse had him tested for ADHD multiple times, by the time he got to the top floor he could barely restrain from kicking a whole in the wall of the elevator. It was a relief when he saw the door to his home.

A silver plaque with "Jace Herondale loft 127" written in fancy script hung from the thick custom wood door. Jace swung the door open and relished at the feeling of being home. His loft gave off the aura of luxury, superiority, and cleanliness, a large kitchen, plasma TV, black leather furniture, a designer white rug, king sized bed, and his favorite, a panorama view of the New York sky line. This whole place was a gift from his foster family, who were by all means very wealthy. Robert was a lawyer, Mayrse was a doctor, and all of the Lightwood children were going to college pursuing other top dollar careers. All the Lightwood children except for Max, who was still young, and himself. Jace had know idea what he wanted to do with his life.

As Jace mulled over that depressing thought, he got a text from Isabelle.

You, me, Alec, tomorrow at Taki's 6:00 AM. Meet us there. No exceptions. Addresss, 2420 Brighten Street. Queens. Love,

Isabelle.

He groaned. Dropping his phone on his night stand, he changed into his sleep pants, a plane white shirt and flopped onto the bed pulling the silk sheets up to his chin. Jace didn't want to drive all the way to Queens, but he knew that ignoring a direct order from Izzy was dangerous. Besides he usually woke up early anyways. Slowly his eyes drifted shut and he fell into his dreams with a peculiar sense of anticipation growing in his heart.

Hello! I am FanOfTheWrittenArt, and this is my first fanfic on fanfiction and my first Mortal Instrument fiction as well. This chapter was slightly boring and descriptive. I just like to get all the introductions out of the way at once. Next chapter will be MUCH more exciting! I've been wanting to write this story for a while and I'm really excited to finally start! Updates should come somewhat randomly but for the most part fairly quickly, and if not an extra long chapter will be promised. Also if you see any spelling or grammatical error, please tell me! I take any advise that could better my story or writing in general! I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Thank you all so much for reading!

Sincerely,

FanOfTheWrittenArt~*