Set a while after City of Glass. Jace and Clary. Fluff and fighting. Pleeeeeeeease review.

Disclaimer: Though I wish it were otherwise, I do not own Jace or anything else in this fic.

"Come here," he grinned at me. That was all he had to do and my knees went weak.

"Hmmm…" I pretended to think about it. "I don't know… "

"Come on," he whined. "How can you resist this gorgeous body?" I rolled my eyes. That ego shouldn't be attractive, but on him, it worked. He gave me a confident, you-know-you-love-me look.

"Jace," I said exasperatedly, "You are so full of it."

"I know," he told me. "But you love me anyway." Of course I did, as he knew all too well. "So, are you going to come here or do I have to come get you?"

I was standing less than a yard away from him, but for Jace that was too much distance. He wanted me in his arms. Jace had been this way ever since we had found out that we weren't related. He couldn't stand being separated, and I loved seeing him like that because I felt the same way.

I took a step forward, but he had already moved to meet me. Wrapped in his arms, I felt safe. I felt as if we were two normal teens, not two shadowhunters who were on a mission to kill demons. The embrace couldn't last for that very reason.

"Jace," I reminded him gently. "We're here for the demons."

We were at Pandemonium with Isabelle and Alec on a mission. While Izzy and Alec scoped out the field, Jace and I had slipped away for some alone time in a storage room. It just so happened to be the very same storage room where I had first seen Jace two years ago. We were hidden behind a large row of shelves to where anyone who came in wouldn't see us. By anyone, of course I meant Isabelle or Alec.

Ignoring my own words, I snuggled closer into Jace. He smelled of sweat and newly applied marks. On most guys, that smell would be a turn off, but on Jace it just made him hotter and more masculine. "You may be here for the demons, Clary, but I am here because of you," he whispered in my ear. "Someone's got to keep you from getting yourself killed. You're still too inexperienced to protect yourself in a hostile situation without me."

"You're one to talk," I told him. Jace had a talent for almost getting himself killed. If I didn't know better, I would think that he did it on purpose. The way he always managed to pick the demon that was the most dangerous. I sighed inwardly. Who was I trying to kid? I knew he did it on purpose.

"With my godlike looks and reflexes, no one could even come close to killing me," Jace assured me. I knew him well enough to be able to tell that his confidence wasn't fake, but it was exaggerated. A lot of people and demons had come very close to killing Jace.

"Sure." I love sarcasm. It gets the point across so well.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jace asked. "Don't you believe me? Just wait till we get back to the institute. One round in the training room with me, and you'll be begging for mercy." His hand brushed over the knife hidden in my waistband.

"Actually, you'll be the one begging for mercy."

"Why would that be?" His tone conveyed his disbelief.

"Because I'd be doing this." I kissed the spot on his neck where my head had been resting. Taking my time, I covered Jace's neck and face with similar kisses. His face was perfect and his skin was flawless, though I'd never tell him that. He was already over-confident enough; I didn't need it any worse. I moved my mouth to meet his, and he kissed me fiercely and protectively.

I was so lost in our kiss that at first, I didn't hear the door open. Jace broke away from me, but still held me close. "Clary," he whispered sharply.

"What?" I asked, coming back to the real world.

"There's someone here." I became aware of voices in the background, one soft and seductive, the other higher and worried. It wasn't Alec and Isabelle, but it could be anyone. Jace looked worried which probably meant it was a demon. "It could be two kids off for a good time." His voice said that he didn't believe that. "Let's go check it out."

We snuck along behind the shelves until we came to a view point. Looking into the room, I saw a teenage girl dressed for a party and a tall dark-haired boy who was advancing closer to her as she shrunk away from him.

"We don't need to be in here," she said. She was obviously hoping he would agree with her and leave.

"I don't think anyone will notice," he said nonchalantly. He had her backed into a corner now.

"Stay here," Jace whispered. Before I could stop him, Jace sprang forward. See what I mean about his purposeful talent for almost getting killed? "I think someone already has," he told the demon.

The demon turned; alarmed that it had been discovered. Seeing only Jace, it relaxed. "Shadowhuter," it laughed. "What are you doing here all alone? I thought your people traveled in packs."

"It only takes one shadowhunter to take care of a piece of trash like you." Jace was expecting me to stay safe and hidden like a good little girl. Too bad for him.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you," the demon countered. In the blink of an eye, the demon had drawn a knife and sprung forward. He and Jace became locked together in a deadly brawl. Leaving Jace to handle the bad guy, I rushed over to help the girl. She was cowering in the corner. I pulled her to her feet and sent her hurrying across the room to the door.

When she was gone, I went back to where Jace and the demon were fighting. Jace had pulled out a seraph blade. They were pretty evenly matched, which was bad for Jace because the demon healed from his blows with inhuman speed. But Jace was holding his own. He gouged the demon in the ribs with his knife, but it was only a flesh wound. The demon kept fighting. I couldn't join the fight for fear of hurting Jace.

I drew my own blade. As quickly as he had drawn the knife, the demon sprung away from Jace. Before I could stab him, he grabbed me and held his knife to my throat.

"Back away or the girl dies," the demon said. Jace immediately backed away. "Still think you're going to win, Shadowhunter? Or shall I kill your pretty plaything to prove otherwise."

When he grabbed me, the thing had forced me to drop my knife. It was now lying uselessly some yards away. Jace was looking at me determinedly. His eyes bore into mine as if he was trying to tell me something. But what?

"Are you going to answer, Shadowhunter, or do I have to decide for you?" the demon asked. He pushed the blade until it touched my neck. I could feel the cold metal against my skin as it drew a small line of blood.

"If you hurt her, I swear I will kill you," Jace said vehemently. "You'll die begging for mercy."

"Tsk, tsk, Shadowhunter. You are not in a position to be making threats." Begging for mercy? Was he serious or was that a hint? That jogged my memory. Jace had made me hide another knife in a sheath in the waist of my skirt. If I could reach it, I could stab the demon in the stomach. The demon pulled the knife away to where I could breathe again. I slid my hand up, being careful not to alert the demon to my movements.

Yes! I had it. "He might not be," I told the demon. "But I am." I pushed the blade into its stomach. Before it so much as left a gash, he was already backing up.

Jace flew forward, tackling the demon and throwing the knife from its hand. He punched the demon hard in its face, effectively breaking its nose. "I. Told. You. Not. To. Touch. Her." Between each word, he punched the demon. It now had a gash in its stomach, a bloody nose, and probably a few broken ribs. Jace looked as if he wanted to murder the thing.

"Jace!" I called. "Just kill it already."

"But it needs to suffer," he said, hitting it again. The demon looked as if it were unconscious. Sometimes Jace took protecting me a little too far. "She's mine," he continued like I hadn't interrupted. "And that means when I say don't touch her, you… Don't. Touch Her." Finally, he picked up the demon's discarded knife and ran it through the demon's heart. Or the place its heart would be if it had one.

We watched its body disintegrate. When it was gone, Jace rushed over to me. "Are you okay?" he asked. He took my face gently in hands and inspected my throat.

"It's just a scratch," I told him. He didn't look as if he believed me. Jace continued to inspect my face and arms. When he was satisfied that I wasn't harmed, he wrapped me in his arms and held me. We didn't say anything. We didn't have to. He was content to hold me, and I was content to be held.

We stayed that way until the door opened, bringing us back to reality. "Hey," came Isabelle's voice. "All clear on the demons." She didn't look surprised to find us here, but when she upon closer inspection, her expression changed. "What happened to you guys?"

"Are they in there?" Alec's voice came from behind her. He pushed into the room and his eyes widened too. "What happened?"

"You two missed all the fun," Jace grinned. He bent to pick up my knife from the floor. Handing it to me, he headed for the door. "Maybe you'll get lucky and we'll tell you about it."

He turned back to me and took my hand. His grin changed into a genuine smile as he said, "Let's go home."