Baby It's Cold Outside

Jace was halfway up the trellis to Clary's window when he heard Jocelyn shout.

'Jonathan Christopher Herondale Lightwood! What do you think you're doing?!'

Jace paused momentarily before dropping to the ground and landing gracefully in front of Clary's mother.

'Explain yourself, young man.' Jocelyn says in the deadly calm voice she reserved for when she was especially mad.

'I'm going to be completely honest with you, Mrs Fray, because I can't see how lying to you would make you like me any better.' Jace sounded resigned. 'I'm here because I intended to spend the night with your daughter.'

Jocelyn froze, and her expression quite clearly displayed her shock that he was being so blunt, even if she did know the answer to her own question. After glancing at her expression, Jace seemed to realize how his last comment had sounded.

'Oh, Mrs Fray, not like that, no, nothing of the sort. I can promise you that that is going to wait until both Clary and I are ready. And I really don't know how long that will be…' he trailed off, and Jocelyn raised an eyebrow in his direction.

'You say that like it's possible that you don't want to have sex with my daughter.' She was getting more and more angry the more he spoke.

'See now, we both know that I do, I'm a teenage boy. There are no words to describe how much I love Clary, she literally means everything to me, and although I want her so much – more than I care to admit to her mother, I might add – she comes first in this relationship. She calls all the shots, and it is completely up to her as to when the aforementioned act will happen. Not that this will happen any time soon.'

Jocelyn's face contorted into a whole new level of anger at the cheek of Jace practically telling her that her daughter was a frigid prude.

For the second time this evening, Jace wanted to kick himself for how he had sounded.

'Oh, God, no, that's so not what I meant! No! I meant me! I'm the problem! I trust that you're aware of my 'Heavenly Fire' situation?'

Jocelyn nodded, completely and utterly confused by what Jace was trying to say, and by how flustered he seemed to be getting by trying to say it.

'Well, it really is a fire inside me. The second anything gets – for want of a better word and please excuse the pun – heated between us, I end up burning her.' Jace practically shouted the last two words. He couldn't stand hurting Clary, it was the worst thing he could ever do. 'It happens with any heightened emotion it would seem. If you'd like some proof, there's a scorched punch bag in the training room of the Institute from where I set it on fire while taking out my frustration on it. Yes, I hate the fact that I can't so much as kiss Clary without hurting her, but you must know that it's not because I want to sleep with her. It's because I hate myself for hurting her. I care for her so much, and just the idea that something so loving as a kiss could burn her is killing me.'

Jocelyn stood silently for a while, taking in all that Jace had said, while he just stood there awkwardly, waiting for his girlfriend's mother's reaction to him admitting his sex life issues to her.

'So, if you're not here for that, then why are you here?' Jocelyn finally said.

'Clary phoned me up earlier to tell me she wasn't coming to training because she was so ill with the flu, and she mentioned that your electricity isn't working, and although she's wearing all her clothes she still couldn't get warm. I came over to cheer her up and be her hot water bottle.' Jace replied, with all the sincerity he could muster. He gestured to the bag on his back and said 'I even brought flowers and chocolate.'

Although Jocelyn's heart melted a little at the fact that Jace was being so considerate, and may actually be growing on her, she didn't let it show on her face. She was still angry that he thought he could just sneak into their house.

'So why didn't you just knock?'

'Seriously?!' Jace cried, incredulous. 'Knock?! You really think you'd let me in if I'd knocked and said 'Hi there Mrs Fray, I've just come over to spend the night in your daughter's bed warming her up,'? We both know you don't like me, Jocelyn, and we both know that you wouldn't have let me explain.'

Jocelyn didn't say anything, and felt a pang of guilt wash through her, as she knew Jace was right, she definitely wouldn't have let him in.

'I'm sorry for disturbing your evening, could you pass these on to Clary, and tell her I tried.' Jace said sadly, offering up the bag of goodies to Jocelyn whilst turning to leave.

'Tell her yourself.'

Jace stopped in his tracks. He didn't understand.

'Excuse me?'

'Look, Jace, I like you, I really do, but you were right, I don't trust you. Please don't take that completely personally. You see, I trusted and loved Valentine more than anything in this world, and he turned our first born into a monster. And I know that you are not the same as the man who brought you up, but that's the point, he brought you up. I just can't let myself trust you just yet. But seeing as you've been so honest with me this evening, and I can tell just how much you love Clary, and the fact that due to the heavenly fire your relationship has to remain platonic for a little while longer, you can stay the night.'

'Really?!' Jace was astounded. Practically speechless. Jocelyn took pleasure in the fact that she made Jace Lightwood speechless.

'Yes, now get inside before I change my mind' Jocelyn smiled at her daughter's boyfriend. She felt as if she knew him a little better now.

Before he knew what he was doing, Jace pulled Jocelyn in for a hug.

'Thank you,' he whispered as he pulled away, giving Clary's mother the biggest, most genuine smile.

Jace knocked on Clary's bedroom door, knowing she didn't know it was him.

'Come in,' a sleepy Clary called. Her face broke into a smile the moment she laid eyes on her perfect, golden boy.

'I think I actually just managed to sweet talk your mother into letting me stay the night. Now try and tell me there are some things even I can't do.' His mouth twitched into a smirk at Clary's incredulous expression.

'How?' was all she managed to say after recovering from her speechless state. After all, it must be true because Jace came in through her bedroom door, not her window.

'Now, I might be wrong, but I think it was because I told her that I wanted to sleep with you.' Jace replied, with his best poker face.

Clary spluttered, her face paling at the thought of her boyfriend and her mother discussing their sex life, which resulted in a violent coughing fit. Jace rushed over and knelt beside her bed, rubbing her back whilst holding her as if his arms could protect her from the flu.

'I'm pretty sure I don't want to know,' Clary said eventually, regaining her composure after her coughing fit. Jace chuckled lightly as Clary shuffled over in the bed to make room for him.

He sat next to Clary with his arm around her shoulders and her legs tangled in his. She rested her head on his chest listening to his regular heartbeat, a sound far more comforting than any lullaby.

'If you stay you'll get ill' Clary warned, but she knew that Jace wasn't going anywhere, especially considering what he went through to be in this situation in the first place.

'I don't care, you need me.' She could hear the smirk in his voice. 'And besides, I brought goodies.'

She sat up at this, looking at her boyfriend curiously as he pulled a bag onto the bed.

'I hope it's still warm' he muttered as he pulled out two pots of chicken soup from Taki's.

The couple sat talking over their picnic for hours, and it felt good just to talk again. They had settled back down under the duvet and Jace had noticed Clary was still shivering despite the warm food, the many layers of clothes she was wearing, the duvet she was under and her own personal snuggle buddy that she was tangled in.

'You're still cold?' Jace asked, his voice full of concern. Clary nodded, burying her freezing nose into Jace's neck, relishing the heat his skin brought to her face.

Jace was confused. He didn't understand why he wasn't heating Clary up. His body temperature was double what it should be even when he was perfectly calm. But then an idea struck him.

'Hey, I'm going to try something ok? I'm not making any untoward advances or anything, I just wonder…' he trailed off as Clary let him push his hands beneath her tops. The relief was instant. His hands seemed to thaw her freezing sides.

'Is that better?' he asked, completely serious and devoid of any trace of a smirk that she thought would have planted itself on his lips at the mere thought of touching her like this.

She closed her eyes and nodded as she exhaled shakily. He seemed oblivious to how his touch affected her. As well as feeling instantaneously warmer, she couldn't help but feel a little turned on. She lifted his t-shirt and placed her small, pale hands on his toned, golden stomach. He jumped a little, laughing at how cold she really was. It would seem that everywhere that their bare skin touched was warm, and everywhere else was still as cold as it had been. The realization of this seemed to occur to them at the same time, however it only dawned on Jace that this could be a really bad idea.

Ignoring this thought and letting his need for Clary to be physically closer to him take over, he pulled his top over his head and pulled Clary closer. She seemed a little hesitant, but before he could ask what was wrong she said something he didn't expect.

'Hey, is it ok if I take my tops off? I mean, it seems you warm me up better when you're against my bare skin…' she trailed off, looking pointedly at her hands and blushing like mad.

'You're asking me, a horny teenage boy, if you, the most beautiful girl in the world can undress in front of me?!' She smiled weakly at his exclamation, and he sensed her genuine worry at what his answer might be, so instead of making some crude witty remark, he just said 'Only if you want to.'

Jace tried his hardest not to watch as Clary removed her total of 7 layers from her upper half. When she was done, she curled up against him in an attempt to press as much of her bare surface area against his warmth. Jace was struck with how right this felt. Sure, they had been together in their underwear before, but that was under completely different circumstances. For so long, he had needed Clary, and she had saved him countless times in the past few months, but it had been such a long time since Clary had seemed to need him. There were no words for how happy he felt to be able to fix something for Clary. It was about time that he was the one to come to the rescue.

After about 10 minutes just lying in each other's embrace, Clary piped up again.

'Jace?' she started, but he seemed to know where she was going.

'Are your legs still cold?' She blushed but nodded. 'Honestly woman, I think this is just you trying to get me out of my pants' he said with a wink, and she giggled, much to her own disappointment.

He honestly had just said that to lighten the mood, and to make Clary more at ease. She seemed uncharacteristically shy around him this evening, and Clary was rarely shy when it came to Jace.

'Hey, what's wrong? You know you don't have to be shy around me, you're perfect, Clary.'

'I – its just-' she tried, before starting again with a more coherent sentence. 'I don't know if touching my bare skin does to you what it does to me, but I guess I'm just worried we'll get carried away and…'

Realization swept over Jace. She's scared that I'll burn her. She's scared of me. It hit him like a wrecking ball. He physically recoiled from her, as if he'd burned her already. All the warmth she'd felt was lost when he moved away, and she started shivering almost instantly. He returned to her in a split second, warming her up once again.

'What do you want me to do? I don't have to stay if you don't want me to, if you're scared I'll burn you.' He said, trying not to let it show how much it hurt that his girlfriend was scared of him.

'Scared of you? Of course I'm not scared of you! I'm a shadowhunter, Jace, I can deal with a few burns. I'm worried about what you'll do to yourself if you burn me!' She stated all this as if it was common knowledge, and then smiled as he visibly relaxed. 'I know what you're like, Jace, you'll torture yourself for burning me while making me feel good.'

His trademark smirk returned to his lips at this. 'Oh, so I make you feel good, huh?'

'Maybe,' she said, running her hands down his body, apparently oblivious to the effect it was having on Jace. She reached the waistband of his jeans, and her fingers played around it lightly. He took the hint and took his jeans off as Clary started to take of hers. In moments they were down to their underwear, and Clary hadn't felt this warm in a while.

Once she was satisfactorily tangled up in Jace, she looked up to face him, and hovered her lips over his in an unasked question. She knew Jace was worried about hurting her, so she'd let him decide just how far they could go. His hand moved slowly to the back of her neck and he pulled her the last few millimetres so their lips were touching. Clary welcomed the now all too familiar sting of a spark against her lips as they kissed.

Everything was slow and gentle. Every kiss planned, every touch calculated, but that didn't stop the need for each other grow in the both of the young shadowhunters. Jace moved them so he was lying above Clary his weight resting on his elbows which were beside Clary's shoulders. Jace had dreamt about being with Clary like this, dreamt about what it would be like to be each other's fully, but now was not the time. With them in this position, things could get out of hand pretty quickly.

In fact, Clary was blissfully unaware of the shudder that crept up Jace's spine as she drew circles against his hips, or the stifled growl at the back of his throat when she tugged lightly at his hair. Jace was stunned he hadn't set anything on fire yet. But when Clary moved down to trail kisses down his neck, he felt his palms tingle with energy and he jolted away before he could set the pillows ablaze.

Clary stared at him with wide eyes, watching him move intently as he crawled back into bed beside her. She found him fascinating. As much as Jace might have thought she was unaware, Clary caught every swallowed gasp and every tense of his fists against her sides. She knew exactly what she was doing to him, and although it was dangerous for both of them, she hadn't been able to bring herself to stop. Jace had been through so much, he deserved every loving kiss and every touch that told him she'd be with him forever.

'Sorry,' she said softly as he snaked his arms around her and pulled her close.

'Don't be, I'm just sorry that we had to stop.' Jace tried to add his usual nonchalance to his tone, but Clary didn't miss the heavier-than-normal breathing or his faster-than-usual heart beat.

'Me too, I was enjoying that immensely,' Clary said, smiling into Jace's chest.

He smiled into her hair and snuggled her close. 'Yeah?'

'Uh huh, you were too.' She said it as a fact. 'As much as you tried to hide it.'

Jace looked at her guiltily for a second, but then changed his expression to one that implied a challenge. 'Oh, and how could you tell?'

She moved her head up so she could whisper in his ear.

'You shiver when I tug your hair, like this,' she fisted one hand in the hair at the base of his neck and pulled gently, enough to make Jace exhale heavily. 'You get gooseflesh when I trace patterns in your skin, like this,' she doodled an invisible pattern over his heart, and the whole of his side erupted with gooseflesh, just as she'd predicted. 'Your hands clench and your hips respond if I move mine, like this.' She began to move but Jace interrupted.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you, Clary.' Jace's voice was rough and his eyes were dark and swirling like molten gold. He was holding her very close and his fingers were digging into her side and her thigh where he held her against him. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to calm down there was no way he was calming down now. She'd riled him up deliberately and he was both amazed and slightly annoyed at how easily she'd done it.

'Read to me,' she said gently, in an effort to change the subject. 'It worked when we were in Venice, why shouldn't it work now?'

He kissed her once on the mouth, a brush of lips on lips, and rested his forehead on hers.

'Okay. What shall I read to you?'

'I think I have a copy of A Tale of Two Cities on my shelf. You can carry on where you left off.'

He nodded and got up quickly, so as to spend as little time away from her as possible. When he returned, she moved so he could sit up and she could snuggle into his waist. Just before he started to read, Clary spoke, her voice already muffled with the beginnings of sleep.

'Jace?'

'Yeah?'

'Thank you for being you. I love you, so much.'

His hand sought out her hair and began stroking it lightly, his chest swelling with the knowledge that this amazing girl in front of him loved him unconditionally.

'I love you too, Clary Fray, so much.'

She fell asleep quickly to the sound of Jace's musical voice. He put the book on the floor and shifted lower in the bed so he could hold her like he'd wanted to that night in Amatis's house all those months ago.

Before he too fell asleep, he couldn't help but think that this is how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. There was a war coming, undoubtedly, but if they lived - God, how he hoped they'd live - this is how he wanted to be. Loving and to be loved by this wonderful, beautiful, stubborn girl he held in his arms.