Just another cute oneshot, I felt like getting some established Clace going on.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.
"What about Imogen?" Jace Herondale suggested, and Clarissa Herondale-Fray tried to stop herself from rolling her eyes. She had most definitely already turned this name down before, given Imogen Herondale had absolutely no problem with voicing her dislike of Clary whenever there was a family gathering. "I mean...It's a pretty name."
"So is Sophie!" Clary protested.
"But I don't like Sophie," Jace stated.
"And I don't like Imogen," Clary set her jaw resolutely as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, organizing her hair as best she could while her head was tipped to one side to keep her cellphone between her shoulder and her ear. She ran her fingers over a couple of different colours of lipstick before settling for a light shade of pink and swiping it over her mouth. The silence drew out for a few minutes before she heard Jace take in a deep breath.
"Andrea?"
"Yick," Clary made a face at her reflection. "There was a girl in one of my classes at University named Andrea. She used to sit at the back of the class because she always came in stoned, and I'm pretty sure she was sleeping with the TA."
"I'm pretty sure naming our daughter Andrea isn't going automatically going to make her a stoner and someone who has a thing for authority figures," Jace teased.
"No," Clary responded firmly.
"Mackenzie?"
"Nope. What do we nickname her, Mac? That's the name of that grumpy looking guy off one of those CSI shows."
"Kierly?"
"Ew. Do you want her to become a stripper?"
"Sarah?"
"You used to date that chick named Sarah—"
"It was for, like, two months before me and you even knew each other!"
"Yeah, and then when you broke up with her and we started going out, she spread a rumor that I had chlamydia!"
"Oh, yeah...Right," Jace fell quiet again. "We suck at this. Our daughter is going to be born, and we're going to be calling her our little bunny for the first few years before we finally decide on a name." It was the pregnancy hormones, Clary was definitely going to blame it on the pregnancy hormones as her eyes teared up at her husband calling their unborn daughter their 'little bunny'. She sniffed and wiggled her nose, quickly clearing her eyes before looking up at the clock on the wall.
"Shit, I better go," she said. "I'm meeting Magnus at his place for lunch in twenty minutes."
"Okay, babe," Jace murmured. "I miss you."
"I miss you too," Clary replied, resting her hand over her rounded stomach and wincing. She had been feeling little twinges all morning, some of them almost painful, but still bearable. They had been coming since last night, feeling like nothing more than monthly cramps. Just another one of the joys of being pregnant. "But I'll see you tonight—well, I guess tomorrow morning."
"Yeah, I won't be back til after midnight," Jace sounded regretful. "I'll try not to wake you up when I come in. My two girls need their rest." The pressure behind her eyes was back again, and she was glad that her husband wasn't there to see her, because he already teased her about how emotional the pregnancy was making her. "I love you."
"Love you more, babe," Clary replied before pulling the phone away from her ear and ending the call. She dropped the phone into her bag and walked out of her bedroom. Jace had been away for the past three days on a business trip for his architecture firm, and he was flying back in around midnight tonight. He hadn't wanted to go on the trip at first, given it was only two weeks off her due date, but Clary had insisted that she would be fine, and he was only a short flight away if anything happened, and so eventually he had gone. Besides, what she wouldn't admit to him, was that it was nice to have some time by herself.
Jace was a completely doting husband, and he had only ever tried to be helpful, but in her last few months of her pregnancy, he had been a little bit too helpful. He barely let her do anything around the house, always trying to get her to rest rather than fold washing or do the dishes or clean their bathroom. It was very sweet of him, and she knew that he was only trying to help, but it was getting more than a little frustrating.
So the past few days had been a nice break.
It was a short walk a couple of blocks to Magnus Bane and Alexander Lightwood's place. The sun was shining, and it wasn't too hot that it was uncomfortable, and Clary let herself in when she got there. Alec was in the kitchen when she walked in, and he gave her a small smile as she climbed onto one of the barstools and rested her elbows on the breakfast bar.
"How you feeling?" He asked her as he finished washing the dishes and picked up a tea-towel.
"I'm fine," Clary knew that her face was already a bit red just from the walk here. Despite the sun not being at it's highest point just yet, she overheated easily, and she was glad that she had opted to wear a little blue dress today. "How's your weekend been?"
"It's been fine," Alec rolled his eyes as he thought a little harder. "Except that last night Magnus went out with a bunch of the girls from his work and came home to give me an incredible rendition of *Nsync's Bye Bye Bye at two in the morning."
"Don't you lie, Alexander!" Magnus came sweeping into the room, not looking at all like he had been out drinking the night before, his olive skin flawless and dressed in a pair of skin tight jeans and a button down short sleeved shirt. "You absolutely love my singing." Alec just snorted and went back to drying the dishes as Magnus came over to Clary and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "You look beautiful, as always."
"I look like a whale," Clary shot back.
"But a very beautiful whale," Magnus responded smoothly as he pulled back. "Now, I just need to go to the shop to get some more watermelon." Clary's eyes went wide just at the mention of the fruit and Magnus laughed. "Yes, I know, I know. You love me, I'm amazing, yadda yadda yadda." Watermelon and strawberries had been her cravings for the past month, and she was lucky that they were in season, because Jace, Magnus and Isabelle Lightwood were spoiling her rotten by making sure she always had them around. "I'm going to that organic market on the other side of town, so I'm going to be about half an hour," he picked up his keys and wallet from the bench and blew a kiss at his partner before giving Clary's shoulder a squeeze. "I assume the pair of you will just talk about how amazing I am in my absence," he waved his fingers over his shoulder before disappearing. Clary let out a laugh and Alec snorted, shaking his head as he put away a glass.
Magnus and Alec were a funny couple, almost complete opposites of each other—although they worked incredibly well. Jace and Clary had actually been introduced by Magnus, since she and Magnus had been good friends at University, and when he had started dating Alec, he had taken her to a party where Jace had been. Alec and Clary hadn't got on particularly well when they had first met. Alec had a tendency to be abrupt to the point of rude and not very welcoming when it came to new people. Clary had no problem with telling him when she thought he was being a jackass, and they had butted heads on multiple occasions. It wasn't until over a year into Jace and Clary's relationship—so almost eighteen months into Alec and Magnus' relationship—before the two of them started getting on.
Now, Clary couldn't imagine her life without him in it.
He and Jace loved each other like brothers, and once it was clear how much Clary loved Jace, Alec accepted her. Isabelle Lightwood, his sister, and Simon Lewis, Clary's best friend, also started dated, and five years later, the six of them were inseparable.
"Do you want some juice?" Alec asked. "We've got that organic fejoa shit you and Izzy love so much." Clary gave him a smile and nodded. He took the juice out of the fridge and poured her a glass, coming over to the breakfast bar and pushing it across the bench. Clary picked it up, and then quickly put it back down when she felt another cramp, this one much lower down in her stomach and the discomfort must have shown on her face. "Are you okay?" Alec asked worriedly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Clary reassured him as she cramping finally passed and she reached for her glass again.
"Nah-uh," Alec shook his head as he came around to where she was sitting. "What was...That?" He waved a finger at her hand, which was still resting on her stomach.
"It's called being pregnant, Alec," Clary teased him. "Your body does weird and painful shit on a regular basis."
"But not this close to your due date. Is it contractions?" Alec pressed, stepping closer to her and putting a hand down on the bench beside her.
"Alec," Clary said gently. "I'm fine. If anything, it'll just be Braxton Hicks."
"So you've been having a lot of these pains?" Alec surmised and frowned. "Have you told Jace?"
"No, because I'm fine," Clary replied with a laugh. "He'll just react like you, and make something out of nothing."
"I don't think I am," Alec raised an eyebrow. "How long have you been feeling these aches?"
"Since last night," she sighed, knowing that he was just going to keep pushing.
"Last night?!" He cried, his eyes going almost comically wide. "And you haven't checked in with you midwife?"
"I'm fine, Alec," she tried to hide her smile as she took another sip of her juice.
"Have they been getting closer together?" Alec narrowed his eyes.
"Maybe a little bit—but they're not contractions. They just feel like cramps."
"Braxton Hicks are sporadic and random, but if they've been getting closer together, then they're contractions," Alec stated, eyebrows still pulled together.
"Since when are you so knowledgeable about pregnancies?" Clary snorted, scrunching up her nose.
"Since I had a sister who's already had a kid, and then the girl who's like a second sister to me got knocked up as well," Alec retorted as he walked away to pick up his set of keys from the hook by the fridge. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Clary pouted as he took the juice away from her and put it into the sink.
"To see your midwife," Alec replied as he pointedly held out a hand to her. "Let's go." Clary sighed and took his hand, letting him tug her off the barstool and down the hallway to their garage. Magnus' car was usually parked in the driveway, blocking Alec's car, so they were lucky he had already left. They had nearly made it to Alec's car when Clary froze, her eyes wide. "What?" Alec looked back at her.
"Uh," Clary swallowed hard and looked down, Alec following her gaze. There was a puddle of water between her feet, and Alec could see more liquid sticking to the inside of her thighs. "Oh..." Clary's voice was faint and when he looked back up at her face, it was a whole lot more pale than before. "Well, fuck."
"Right," Alec felt panic beginning to rise in his chest but he quickly tried to tamper it down. "Okay, so we're going straight to the birthing centre."
"My go bag..." Clary mumbled.
"I'll text Magnus and ask him to get it and meet us at the birthing centre," Alec responded as he unlocked the car and opened the passenger door. "Get in." Clary just nodded mutely and slid into the car.
Everything moved into fast forward very quickly from that point. Once Alec got Clary to the birthing centre, he rang Magnus, who had just gotten home and was wondering where they were. The midwife and one of the doctors at the centre took Clary into a room to be examined, and Alec also called Jace, who started panicking on the other end of the phone. His flight wasn't for another ten hours, and he immediately started rambling about trying to get an earlier one. Alec promised that he wasn't going to leave Clary's side until Jace got there, and then he had to call Isabelle and Simon, who told their three year old son that his new cousin was on her way and they needed to go to the birthing centre.
"She's dilated to almost seven centimeters," the midwife stated. "She's almost in the transition phase, and it might not be too much longer with how close her contractions are together." Alec blinked. "Do you know when her husband is going to be here?"
"He's out of town on a business trip, but he's trying to organize a flight," Alec replied.
"Okay, then I think you should be in there with her so she's not alone," the midwife smile. "There's a seat next to the bed, you just need to keep her company." Alec wasn't going to admit it to anyone, but the closer they had gotten to Clary's due date, the more researching he had done on pregnancies, and he had to admit that he was frankly terrified to go into the room with a woman in labour. He had watched so many videos where the woman were screaming and almost going blue in the face and their partners looked absolutely petrified as the woman clenched their hands to almost breaking point.
Clary didn't look anything like that. She was calm, and just looked a bit uncomfortable.
Or at least, she didn't look like that until about two hours later when her contractions were coming a lot more painfully and she was told that she needed to prepare to start pushing. By this time, Magnus, Simon, Isabelle and Max Lewis-Lightwood were in the waiting room, and Jace had managed to get a flight which was landing in thirty minutes. Simon had also gotten in contact with Jocelyn Fray, who had managed to book a flight, but not for a couple more hours. Alec was at Clary's side, letting her hold his hand and awkwardly telling her that everything was going to be okay. He was also settled into the bed right next to her head, which made him even more nervous, because that seemed to feel as though he was in this for the long haul, and he really wasn't sure if he was ready for that.
But he wasn't leaving Clary until Jace got there.
Even if it meant he was going to be emotionally scarred for the rest of his life.
"You doing okay there?" Clary panted as she looked over at him, a slight smile on his face.
"Better than you," Alec joked and Clary rolled her eyes, giving his hand another hard squeeze as she experienced another contraction. Her breathing was rapid and Alec bit his lip nervously as he looked over at the midwife, who was speaking with one of the nurses, looking at Clary's chart. "Hey, you got a name yet?" He asked, trying to distract her.
"Hell no," Clary shook her head. "We just can't agree."
"I know Isabelle has been vying for her name to be in the mix," Alec smirked and she let out a laugh.
"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure one Izzy in the family is more than enough," Clary cringed at another contraction. "How far away is Jace?" She asked quietly.
"Not long," Alec promised. "We've got a town car picking him up as soon as his flight lands." Clary nodded a couple of times, biting down on her lower lip. Her eyes were a little glassy, and he knew that she must be in more pain than she was letting on because she was biting down so hard on her lower lip that the skin actually broke and a drop of blood appeared. "Hey," Alec reached up and gently tugged her lip out of her mouth. "You need to hurt someone, you can hurt me." Clary gave him a watery but grateful smile as she took in a deep breath through her nose and pressed her head back into her pillow.
They made small talk, before the midwife and a nurse came over and examined her again. Alec kept his eyes glued above Clary's head, another wave of awkwardness coming over at the fact that his cousin and best friends wife was laying in front of him with two people staring between her legs and having a casual conversation.
He had never been happier to see Jace in his life when the golden haired man flew through the door, looking harried in a rumpled suit and still carrying his briefcase in one hand. Clary finally let her tears loose as her husband rushed to her side, Alec quickly shifting out of the way so that Jace could take his seat. When he got out into the waiting room, Isabelle jumped up from her seat and Magnus stopped pacing.
"Do we know how much longer?" Magnus asked. "How is she doing? Is she okay? She's not screaming anywhere near as much as Izzy was!"
"Hey!" Isabelle slapped him on the arm.
"Well, he's right, sweetheart," Simon chimed in with a smile at his wife, their own son, Max, balanced on his hip. Isabelle gave him a narrow eyed looks and then turned back to her brother.
"So?" She pressed.
"I don't know," Alec shrugged helplessly. "I mean, they made it sound like she was really far along, but then it's already been a few hours, and you were in there for like half a day when it was your turn so..." he shrugged again.
"Then we'll wait," Isabelle said decidedly as she walked back over to the couch, picking up the magazine she had been flicking through. Several hours went by and Simon and Magnus went for a walk to get Max out of the building for some fresh air, taking him to a nearby park and then picking up dinner on the way back. It was almost eight thirty before a tired but happy looking Jace came down the hallway, no longer wearing his suit jacket or tie, his shirt no longer tucked in and a couple of buttons undone. His eyes were red as though he had been crying, and he had a grin on his face that stretched so wide it nearly took up his entire face.
"Uh..." he took in a deep breath. "Did you guys want to come in?" Isabelle let out a squeal as she got up and ran over to her cousin, throwing both arms around in his shoulders and giving him a tight hug. Magnus was shortly after, not waiting for Isabelle to move before putting his arms around both of them. Simon, carrying a very sleepy looking Max who had determinedly refused to let his eyes close before he got to meet his new cousin, came over with Alec at his side, both a bit more patient than the first two although just as eager.
"Let's go, let's go, let's go," Isabelle clapped her hands together. Magnus reached out and linked his fingers with Alec, who knew he had a sappy smile on his face. Most people thought that he was surly and introverted, and in all honesty, that was probably true. But these were the most important people in his life, and they all knew just how much he loved them, so it didn't matter what everyone else thought. They followed Jace down the short hall to Clary's room, which was now empty of nurses and the midwife, a dim light coming from a lamp as they all crowded in after the new father.
"We want to introduce you to Alexandra Jocelyn Herondale-Fray," Jace murmured, one hand resting on Clary's shoulder, the other one on the yellow blanket that the bundle in Clary's arms was swaddled in. There was a breathy gasp from Isabelle as she heard the name, looking at her older brother, and Magnus said something quietly by Alec's side. But Alec's eyes were only on the little girl in the red heads arms. Clary looked exhausted, her hair tangled around her face, but their was pride shining through her eyes—an expression matched by Jace's.
"After her Uncle Alexander," Clary whispered as she shifted her arms so that she was gently holding the girl out to Alec. Alexandra was fast asleep, her sandy coloured eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks, and she had the tiniest mouth Alec had ever seen. Clary watched as a single tear fell down Alec's face, and she leaned against her husband as the rest of their friends flooded into the room to coo over the newest addition to their family.
"You did good, baby," Jace murmured as he leaned in and pressed his mouth to Clary's temple. "You did amazing." Clary let her eyes close as she leaned against her husbands side.
"We did," she agreed quietly.
Alec and Clary are brotp! Yes!
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