Soo first off I want to apologize for taking this long to update, turns out my schedule is a lot busier than I had anticipated. ANYWAYS. I hope you liked the first chapter, and to clarify:

1) Clary woke up with Sebastian in her bed, I made a mistake when I was writing it-I just finished rereading the series and as I was writing this I kept picturing Sebastian as Jonathan. (Thanks 1Soccerlover11 for catching that!)

1a)if I've just confused you more here's what you have to know: Sebastian has black hair and is engaged to Clary. Jonathan has white blonde hair and is Clary's sister.

2) unlike most stories, Sebastian isn't some creep or a jerk or abusive or a cheater or anything. He won't be the most perfect fiance ever but that's because I'm trying to make this as realistic as possible.

3) the song Jace is humming later on is Waiting by Darling Buds (Jamie Campbell Bower's band for those who don't know)

Alright, on with the story!

And if it wasn't obvious, I don't own any of these characters, just the plot.

Jace arrived at his office at around eleven thirty, he begrudgingly pushed the button and waited for the elevator. The entire ride up he grumbled to himself about how unnecessary it was for him to come in on a Saturday. He impatiently looked at his watch, he had still had a couple hours to quickly print out the final product for his client and make it to Clary's apartment, but that didn't mean he wasn't anxious to see her. The elevator opened and he saw Aline, the secretary look up from her computer.

"Jace! Welcome back! How was your trip?" She asked cheerily. Jace couldn't think of a time where he had seen Aline anything short of overly peppy. He smiled as he remembered when he had once been attracted to the women, with her almond shaped eyes and glossy hair. It wasn't until his third attempt to taking her on a date that she finally told him she was lesbian.

"It was good, I would say it was a nice break, but I still worked while I was out there."

"ANd here you are, in on a saturday only a day after being home." Jace chuckled.

"Speaking of working on a Saturday, how come you're here." Aline rolled her eyes and gestured to a closed door with her shoulder.

"Sebastian asked me to come in, he's been here two years and still can't figure out the damn printers." Jace laughed before saying good bye to Aline and heading to Sebastian's office. He knocked twice before opening the door, entering with his arms spread as if expecting a hug and a smirk on his face.

"Oh look, Goldie's back!" Sebastian said, not looking up from his computer.

"Miss me?"

"Hardly." Jace rolled his eyes. It wasn't a secret that Jace and Sebastian weren't the best of friends; they didn't necessarily hate each other, but each of them was only tolerant of the other for Clary's sake.

"You're coming to Clary's for dinner tonight, right?"

"Mhmm." Sebastian said, only half listening to what Jace was saying.

"Well, dinners at six." Finally Sebastian pulled his almost black irises from his computer screen. He frowned.

"Tell her I'll be there by quarter after." Jace rolled his eyes, turning to leave.

"See you there," Jace called over his shoulder as he headed to his own office.

As Jace waited for his computer to load everything he looked around his office. When he was in eleventh grade Jace was able to get a job working for Clary's dad who owned a company that designed book covers, had an editing division and would soon be opening a publishing division as well. He started off at the bottom, making copies for people, handing out mail, coffee runs; basically he was the Office Bitch. He had never minded though, the people he worked with were great, his boss loved him-which may or may not have had something to do with the fact that he was best friends with his daughter- and the pay was definitely nothing to complain about. After running errands for everyone without fail or any mistakes for nine months Jace was promoted to Illustration's Assistant which was the job he now had.

Hodge Starkweather was Jace's supervisor and someone he looked up to greatly. Hodge had worked for Valentine Morgenstern since the day the company opened only instead of being a co-owner or manager he kept his modest job. He was there for the art and beauty that books and their covers held- not his job title. When the final draft of the book cover was loaded on Jace's screen he grimaced. He didn't remember it being that bad when he'd left. He opened a new file, dragging his hands along his face as he started over.

When Jace was finally finished with the book cover he saved the file, printed it out, took it to the copy room to have it blown up and laminated, then locked it away in his filing cabinet before heading to the main foyer. He called out to Sebastian as he left, saying he would see him later, only to receive a grunt from the door. He approached Aline's desk as she was closing her computer and getting up to leave. Jace lifted his arm to check the time and sighed in relief when he realized he had plenty of time to make it to Clary's place. He smiled at Aline as she jokingly looped her arm around the one he had raised to look at his watch.

"Such a gentlemen," Aline said, pretending to swoon. Jace chuckled as he opened the door for her.

"So," Aline started, glancing back at the office doors quickly, "have you told her yet?"

"Told who what yet?" Jace frowned in confusion. Aline only scoffed and rolled her eyes. The elevator opened and they stepped in.

"You know,' she dragged on, waiting until the doors closed fully, "have you told Clary that you're in love with her and have been since you were twelve."

"You certainly don't beat around the bush, do you?" Jace laughed uneasily. He still wasn't sure how Aline had figured out his feelings, and years before even Isabelle-his own family- had caught on.

"Nope! So? Have you?"

"No, Aline, I haven't confessed my undying love for my best friend." He raised his arms as he spoke. Aline smirked.

"Why not?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because she's dating Sebastian?"

"Yeah, but they broke up like two weeks ago, you said so yourself right before you left for vacation."

"Yeah but they break up every other month, I never trust her when she says they're over, even if it's 'for good this time'" Jace said, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers.

"Jace, stop making excuses, one day she's gonna be at the alter and you're gonna be in the pews watching her marry some other guy, all because you didn't have the balls to tell her how you feel."

"Yeah well what about you? Don't think I haven't seen you and Helen ogling each other at work all day." Jace crossed his arms, thinking he'd won. Aline only grinned.

"Actually," Jace's shoulders sunk, the elevator doors opened and Aline stepped out, "we're going for dinner tonight."

Jace groaned when he realized that once again Aline had beat him, she giggled like a teenager before winking and flouncing away. He turned towards the subway station that would take him to Clary's and pulled out his phone to call one of his best friends.

"Hello?"

"Alec! It's Jace,"

"Hey how was your trip?"

"That's not important right now. Are you and Magnus coming to Clary's tonight?"

"Nope. We're out of town and won't be back till late tomorrow night. Why?" Jace ran a hand through his hair.

"There's no way in hell I'm watching Clary marry some other dude."

"What? Clary's engaged? To who? I'm sorry ma-"

"What? No! That's not what I meant. I was talking to Aline, and long story short, she said if I don't tell Clary how I feel now then I'll regret it later."

"Dude. Me, Izzy, Max, mom and dad, Jonathan, Simon, and Clary's parents have all been saying that for years now."

"And me!" Jace heard Magnus say in the background.

"Are you telling me that everyone except for Clary knows how I feel about her?" Jace paled.

"Well, not everyone, we don't think Sebastian , Maia and Jordan know too." Jace bit his lip, thinking.

"Well, I guess none of that really matters. I'm telling her tonight. Before everyone comes over tonight. Or after when everyones left. Or maybe during dinner, I'll just announce it."

"Woah, slow down buddy! Look, maybe just wait till after, when everyone's gone. You know how bad she can be at handling news, she might totally freeze up." Jace sucked in a breath.

"Or, you know, she could tell you that she loves you too!" Alec quickly back pedaled. Jace cleared his throat.

"Look, my stops coming up and to be completely honest you were absolutely no help. I'll talk to you later."

Before Jace ended the call he heard Alec and Magnus on the other end shout "good luck" simultaneously.

After ringing Clary's doorbell three times Jace came to the conclusion that she wasn't home, he pulled out her spare key that he had stolen from her one night- when she was too hammered to form a coherent sentence- and kept "forgetting" to give back.

He let himself in and was welcomed by the scent of strawberries and cinnamon. Clary. He unceremoniously kicked off his shoes and walked into the living room before dropping onto the couch and flicking through the channels.

Twenty minutes later he heard a key scratching at the door for a moment before he heard the door swing open into the wall beside it and the sound of grocery bags being dropped onto the counter a moment later. Jace grinned as he heard Clay sigh, out of the corner of his eye Jace saw red.

"Thank god, you're here." Jace grinned slightly, hoping he was able to cover up how excited he really was to finally see her after two weeks.

"You'd be surprised at just how often I get that." A pillow hit his head. H stood up and, forcing himself not to run, walked over to Clary where he hugged her tightly.

"I missed you," she said into his chest. Although Clary meant it in the most platonic of ways, Jace couldn't help but feel his stomach tighten, he bit his cheeks to stop himself from smiling. Now would be the perfect time to tell her, just the tw of them at her house where she was most comfortable, and she still had a few hours to recover before anyone came in. He swallowed.

"I missed you too, Red." Lie. He more than missed her. He looked down to see that her eyes were closed and she was grinning- she was remembering something, he could tell that much just from how deep her dimple was in her left cheek. Clary had different smiled for different things. Finally she looked up.

He teased her for a moment about her smile before passing along Sebastian's message .

They started cooking Clary's favorite meal, fettucine alfredo with chicken and Jace tried to think of how he was going to confess his feelings. The thought of it made his hands shake, he had been keeping this a secret for ten years. At least he thought he had been keeping it a secret. He had only ever willingly told three people, his mom, Celine and his two cousins, Alec and Izzy. He hadn't actually told Izzy willingly, she forced it out of him the night he asked Clary to be his date to his high school graduation, clarifying that it was "strictly as friends."

"What song is that?" Clary's voice interrupted his thoughts. He froze, realizing he had been humming a song he had written while on vacation.

"Oh, uh it's called Waiting." Half lie, he had unofficially decided to name it after the girl it was dedicated to.

"Can't say I've ever heard of it, who's it by?"

"Oh god." Jace whispered to himself.

"What?" He could feel her shuffle closer to him, her scent was stronger and he had to clear his throat, praying against all odds that his voice would come out smoothly.

"I wrote it. Well, I'm writing it."

"Can I hear it?" Jace could hear the excitement in her voice.

"When it's done." Another lie. It was already finished. He could see the disappointment in her face, "I promise, as soon as it's done I will serenade the shit out of you."

After they had come to an agreement on it, Jace turned up the volume on the radio, the cooked the rest of the meal, with Jace taking extra care to burn some pieces of the chicken for Clary. Near the end they were doing more dancing than anything, as the song came to and end Jace grabbed her small hips and dipped her. They were both panting from all the dancing and laughing and singing and Jace couldn't find a way to make himself let go of her, he stared at the grin that was spread across her face. If this wasn't the time to tell her than Jace didn't know ever there ever would be. The knot in his stomach tightened. The doorbell rang.

Jace internally screamed every curse word he had ever heard a probably a few that didn't actually exist as he stood Clary back up and headed to the door. Within the next half hour or so almost all the guests we're in the apartment, it was cramped, but they had all grown accustomed to this; Clary loved having everyone over, she offered almost every weekend, even if it was just for a couple drinks or to watch a movie. He took a sip of his wine before walking over to Clary how had left the room and was adjusting the music. She turned quickly and bumped into his chest, turning his grey shirt crimson and making it cling to his skin. Clary apologized quickly and pulled him into her room where she began rifling through the drawer that had a few changes of clothes for him. It had always been that way, every since they were six years old, they always had a change of clothes at each others houses.

Jace was just finished unbuttoning his stained shirt as Clary pulled out a new one for him, he tossed his shirt into the hamper behind him and she turned to give him the new one. He arm brushed against Jace's chest and it felt as if every muscle in his body tensed and relaxed at once, heat resonated from where she had touched him. All too quickly she pulled her hand away and turned a crimson red. He shrugged the shirt on and frowned when he noticed her expression, she had turned away from him but he could still tell that she looked upset. He cleared his throat, avoiding her eyes.

"Thanks," she replied, practically sprinting out of the room.

Dinner went by smoothly, Jace kept noticing Clary's knee was bouncing at fifty beats a minute but he decided against pointing it out. She hated when people did that. She was fully aware of what she was doing. Jace spent most of the meal talking with his best friend, Jonathan, mostly to keep himself from blurting out that he loved the host of the dinner. Jace heard Clary clear her throat and turned immediately. She looked at him quickly and he smiled at her, nodding to encourage her to announce what ever it was that she wanted to share. Slowly, so, so, slowly, Clary raised her left hand revealing a giant diamond ring.

No. Jace thought to himself.

"Sebastian and I are engaged."

Jace stared at her hand. The room was silent. Jace looked down at his hands which were int tight fists under the table, shaking violently. He bit on hit tongue until he tasted his coppery blood. Jace began counting in his head to stop himself from exploding. One. Two. Three. Four. Isabelle looked at him from across the table sympathetically. Five. Six. Seven. Quickly, and without Clary noticing, everyone took their turn sending a pitiful look to Jace. Eight. Nine. Ten. He felt Jonathan squeeze his shoulder, he glared at his white knuckled hands.

FInally, Jace looked up to realize that the room was no longer silent. In fact it was the opposite, Izzy was now standing next to him, hugging Clary tightly. She looked at Jace over her best friends shoulder and mouthed "I'm sorry." Jace bit down harder, feeling his jaw tense. He stuffed his hands into his pocket, watching everyone congratulate the couple. HE stepped back and walked quietly to the sliding door that led to the tiny balcony.

With shaking hands Jace pulled out a half empty pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his back pocket. He fumbled for a minute with the cigarettes before finally pulling one out. To his dismay his shaking hands dropped the rest of the cardboard box. Breathing out slowly, he flicked the lever of the lighter half a dozen times as he raised the cigarette to his numb lips, finally it lit and he held it to the cigarette, sucking in a deep breath. Jace could feel tears threatening the backs of his eyes, they were the only warm part of his body, even the tarry smoke that filled his longs with each labored breath was cold to him. He kept the cigarette between his lips and he grabbed on to the banister. His nails dug into the old wood, cutting him slightly, but he didn't feel it. He blinked vigorously until he was sure that not a single tear was going to come out.

"Everything's gone. Nothing can happen. She's engaged. She's gone. She's not mine anymore." She never really was yours, dumbass. Jace shook his head. "She's never going to be mine.

Jace pulled in another deep drag from the cigarette, waiting for the tobacco to calm his shaking hands and sooth his nerves. It didn't come. He was half way through the cigarette when he heard the door slide open and then closed again.

"I thought you were quitting." Clary said so quietly that he almost didn't hear her over the wind. Jace laughed dryly.

"Monday."

"You say that every weekend." Yeah, then you blow me off to hang out with Sebastian. Clary silently picked up the pack that had fallen onto the ground and balanced it on the railing. He looked at it for a long moment before placing it in the back pocket that was already housing his lighter.

"And I quit, every Monday." Was all he said. Jace closed his eyes as he heard her shiver. He pictured her pulling her cardigan tighter around her body, it was April, but that didn't mean it was warm after six pm.

"Aren't you gonna congratulate you're best friend?" Jace squeezed the banster once more before turning to face her. She stared at him intently. He half heartedly raised his arms.

"Of course, little Red, why wouldn't I?" She stepped forward without hesitation and hugged him. All Jace could think about was three things. How the smell of his cigarette was destroying the perfect smell of the girl in his arms, how suddenly the only parts of him that were warm were the parts that were toughing her and that her fiance was coming out through the door to join them.

"Am I interrupting something?" Clary pulled away from Jace as if he had burnt her.

"Nah," Jace said smoothly, "I was just congratulating Little Red here, never thought I'd see the day that I'd watch ano- a man marry her." He bit his lip, hoping that neither of them had caught his almost- slip- up. Clary pouted jokingly.

"Jonathan said the exact same thing inside." she said crossing her arms. Jace ruffled her hair playfully, fighting the urge to not run his hand along her smooth hair.

"Hey Bean, why don't you go inside. I wanna talk to Jace for a minute." Jace gritted his teeth. He hated that nickname. Clary was not a bean. Beans were not cute or sweet or amazing. She had nothing to do with a bean.

"Clary can stay out here if she wants."

"No, it's okay, I'm sure my mom and Izzy have a thousand and one questions to ask me about the wedding. After all, it's only five months away." Clary said smiling. Jace choked on the smoke he had breathed in.

"Five months?"

"Yeah, five months. We've always pictured a fall wedding." Sebastian said, watching Jace carefully. Bullshit. Clary's always wanted a winter wedding. Jace wanted to snap, but he bit his tongue. Clary disappeared back into the house and Sebastian straightened, Jace leaned against the banister taking one more drage from the cigarette before putting it out.

"Smokings a nasty habit." Sebastian chastised. Jace only rolled his eyes. "You know what else is a nasty habit? Panting over another guy's girl. A girl you've know almost your entire life. You know, Clary sees you as a brother. She says that all the time."

Jace crossed his arms, forcing himself to remaining stoic.

"She talks about me? That's good to hear. She hardly ever mentions you."

If it were possible, Jace could have sworn Sebastian's eyes darkened even more.

"Watch your mouth, Herondale."

"Watch your temper, Verlac. We all know you have issues controlling your emotions. Come to think of it, that's one thing Clary has said about you. You let your emotions control you. They take over and you lose any control you ever had."

Sebastian walked towards Jace until they were only inches apart.

"Stay away from my girlfriend." Jace raised his hands in mock surrender and smirked. It took all the self control in his body to not punch the black haired boy in the face. Sure, Clary would be mad for a few hours, maybe a day. But it would be worth it. Satisfied with Jace's silence, Sebastian turned and stalked towards the door.

"Wait a second. I thought she's your fiance?" Sebastian turned back. "Or are you doubting that's going to work out in the end just like everyone else?"

Jace only had a moment to tense his jaw when he felt Sebastian's fist connect with it. His head whipped to the right and he stepped back, thrown off balance. He grabbed his jaw tenderly with his hand.

"That was a good hit Sebby, almost hurt." Before he could reply, Jace was already in the apartment. He stuffed his feet into his shoes as he pulled out another cigarette and held it between his index and middle fingers. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his sister watch him with concern. Not trusting himself to turn back and look at the girl he'd just lost, he raised his hand over his shoulder in an attempt of a wave.

"Hope you all had a great night." Jace pushed the cigarette into his mouth, lighting it as soon as the door shut with a definitive click. He sucked in the smoke before adding to himself, "cause I sure as hell didn't."

He didn't think about what they were saying about him. He didn't think about what Clary might be wondering. He forced himself not to picture her planning her wedding that was only five short months away. And he refused to even attempt to imagine her going to bed in tears because her fiance had accused her of cheating on him with her best friend. Again.

Thanks for reading darlings, please review and tell your friends about this! I was slightly disappointed with the lack of reviews for the first chapter so...no more updates till I get at least 20 reviews!

Please don't hate me. I need encouragement.

(I'll probably cave when I hit like 10 reviews anyways but still.)

-tash.