A/N: Well, here it is. Finally. Chapter two. I was actually going to post this last Saturday morning, but I was writing and writing and writing... and then I got stuck on the end :( I just absolutely could not think of how to end this chapter. But then I got it (with some unintentional help from my best friend). ) So here is the longest chapter I have ever written in my life. :)

The front door opened with a sharp click. Alec heard the patter of quick footsteps, and the sound of someone throwing up in the hall bathroom. Isabelle? But who had driven her home?

A second set of footsteps entered the house, slower and softer than the first. Jace.

"Jace?" Alec called from the kitchen, "Is that Isabelle in the bathroom?" He left the kitchen with a ham and Swiss sandwich in his hand. "Mom's not going to be happy if she comes home and the bathroom smells like – " He turned the corner into the front hallway, and almost dropped his sandwich. Jace was there, like Alec had expected, but in his arms was the one person Alec had never thought he would see in their home again. Clary Fray lay unconscious in Jace's arms.

Alec hadn't seen his brother with the redhead in months. Usually just the mention of her name was enough to make Jace wince and end a conversation, or even leave the room. But now here he was with Clary, cradling her in his arms like she was made of glass.

"Is your old bed still in the guest room?" Jace asked, completely ignoring Alec's questioning stare.

"N-no," Alec stuttered, still digesting the sight of Jace's on and off girlfriend in their house again. "Why...?" Alec wanted to know why Jace would bring her home, why he would let her back into his life again. And why Jace would need to know where Alec's old bed was. Every other time Jace had brought Clary home drunk, she had slept on the couch in the office.

But Jace didn't answer Alec's question, or even look at him. Jace only brushed past Alec on his way to the stairs.

Alec sighed, watching his brother carry Clary into his room and kick the door shut behind him.

Alec could hear Isabelle throwing up again, and he walked back into the kitchen to get her a glass of water.

Jace laid Clary on his bed, gently pulling off her shoes and setting them beside his bed. Then he pulled the plain black quilt up to her thin hips, just watching her sleep. Jace hadn't seen Clary's face look so peaceful in a long time. He sat next to her on the bed and traced his fingers over her cheekbone, memorizing every line of her features. He wanted to remember this moment, the serenity of her face.

He wanted to kiss her.

Jace took a deep breath and stood up. He couldn't think about her like that. Not now. He didn't want to be thinking about her at all. Jace paced across his room to the coat rack that stood in the back corner and pulled his black leather jacket off. The flood of cold air from the air conditioning vent in the ceiling above him helped to clear his mind. Jace realized how hot he still was, and yanked his navy blue t-shirt off over his head as well, and threw it into the barely-full laundry basket he left sitting under the coat rack. Jace wondered momentarily if it was the temperature of the room that was making him sweat, or the onslaught of emotion coursing through him. He fingered the edge of the grey tank-top he had worn under his t-shirt, but he didn't feel like being completely shirtless in front of Clary, even if she was unconscious.

Jace made his way back to the bed. Clary was still sleeping; still so peaceful.

Jace's hand found Clary's under the thick quilt, and his long fingers laced with hers. He wished she would wake up. He wished she would talk to him, the way they had used to. He wanted her to sit in his lap and talk. Just talk. About anything; everything that happened to her. She had before. Before Jonathan. When Jonathan had hurt Clary, it had hurt Jace too.

Jace closed his eyes, wincing at the memories washing over his mind. He tried not to mention Jonathan in front of Clary. It was so much more painful for her than she let on in front of other people. But Jace knew. He always knew exactly what she was feeling. And he couldn't bear the knowledge that she was suffering from so much anxiety and she wouldn't let him help her. For almost two years now she had been avoiding him. Jace understood why Clary pushed him away, she was afraid of trusting someone again. But it still hurt Jace that she didn't want him there.

"Jace," Clary mumbled, gripping his hand. Her eyelids fluttered open, her eyes immediately focusing on him. Jace helped her sit up, pulling her into his lap as she used his arm for leverage. She leaned into his chest, still holding his hand. Jace felt her need to let go, the push him away like she always did, but he couldn't let her go. Not this time.

Clary's grip on his hand suddenly tightened. "You have pictures up," she was staring at a particular place on the wall behind Jace, her eyebrows furrowing in surprise.

"What?" Jace turned, not knowing what she meant. He found what she was staring at, three framed photographs that stood on top of his dresser. "Oh," Jace stood with more force than he had intended, pushing Clary off of his lap. He took three long strides away from his bed, to go shove the photos into the top drawer of his dresser where Clary wouldn't see them. Jace didn't understand why it bothered him so much that Clary cared whether he had pictures up or not, but he didn't want her to see the photographs.

But Clary was next to him faster than he had anticipated she could move, particularly when she was most likely hungover. "Jace," her tone was soft and uncertain, and her tiny hands grasped at his arm, her fingers digging into his skin, as if that could stop him. And it did. "You never have pictures," her voice faded into a whisper as she glanced up at him, her eyes a mixture of confusion and… fear?

Jace didn't care. At least, he didn't think he cared. He didn't want to care. "Well, I do now." He forced to tone to be final, even though the stunned look of hurt on her face made him want to break. Jace shook his head to clear his mind of her and shoved the three photographs under the mass of mismatched socks in the top drawer of his dresser, and slammed the ivory wood drawer closed.

When Jace turned back around, Clary was staring off into space. She did that, Jace remembered, when she was thinking. Or when she was upset. Clary always got quieter the more upset she was.

"Clary – " Jace started, reaching for her, wanting to apologize for snapping at her.

"I should go," Clary cut him off. She stared at the graying carpet below her feet. "You don't really want me here, do you? I can go – "

"No." Now it was Jace's turn to interrupt her. He took a careful step towards her, closing the space between them, and laid a hesitant hand on her cheek. "Clary, look at me," he ordered gently. "I don't want you to leave," I've never wanted for you to leave. I want you to stay here, with me, forever. Please don't leave me again. I need you. "I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't want you to be here. Clary, why do you think you woke up in my bed instead of the couch in the office? I – " I love you. Jace choked on the words. He wanted to tell her. He needed to tell her. But he couldn't. He couldn't handle it if Clary told him she didn't love him too; didn't want him; didn't need him as much as he needed her.

Clary sighed and fell forwards, into Jace's outstretched arms. "I'm sorry," her voice shook in her effort not to cry. "Jace, I'm so sorry. Please, I don't want you to have to deal with everything that's wrong in my life. I'm sorry – "

"It's alright, Clary," Jace stroked her hair with one hand and laid his other hand on the small of her back, holding her as close to him as he could manage. I love you, Clary. "We'll get through this. Together."

Clary threw her arms around him, unable to contain her tears any longer. Uncontrollable sobs wracked through her body as she gripped handfuls of Jace's cotton shirt in an attempt to steady herself. Jace laced his fingers through the soft red curls at the nape of her neck. He spoke to her, his voice a soft, comforting murmur, but he didn't know what it was he was saying. Jace only knew that he couldn't stand the sound of her sobbing. He couldn't, knowing that it was partially because of him that Clary felt the way she did.

"Clary, Clary," Jace realized that it was her name, only her name, that he was saying. Over and over, "Clary, Clary," I love you, "Clary…" Please tell me you love me too. Please tell me you need me too. Please, because I love you. I need you. Clary. Clary.

She fell limp in his arms, holding onto him like he was the one thing keeping her afloat in an ocean of nothingness. Jace lifted Clary's shaking body into his arms, cradling her like a porcelain doll, and carried her back to his bed. He held her in his lap, rocking the two of them back and forth, whispering soothing words to her. After a few minutes, Clary could breathe evenly again. Her grip on Jace's tank-top loosened, and she leaned lightly against his chest. "Jace," Clary whispered, "I… I love you." She took in a shaky breath, "I've always loved you. I'm just… afraid of… of…" she couldn't keep going. More tears ran down her pale cheeks as her body convulsed in sobs.

"I love you too, Clary," Jace whispered back, stroking her hair. He wanted to say something, anything, that would stop her tears, but he couldn't think. "What are you afraid of?" Jace had to know. He needed to know what she could possibly be afraid would happen.

"After Jonathan – " Clary tried to calm her breathing enough to talk. "After Jonathan… was arrested, and then Simon told me... he hated me…" Clary gripped Jace's hand so tightly he thought his bones might crack. "I'm afraid you'll leave me too." She bit her lip, refusing to look up at him.

"I would never leave you. You know that." Jace winced at his own words. She didn't know that. Not when he had walked away from her before, when he had been afraid of being hurt.

"I… I know. But after… Jonathan – and my father – and then Simon," Clary took in another shaky breath, "I just… I can't…" She couldn't stop the tears that flowed down her cheeks. She presses her face into Jace's cotton tank-top.

Jace closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the headboard of his bed. He ran his hand over Clary's smooth bare shoulders, wishing he could do something – anything – that would stop her unrelenting sobbing. This was just as painful for him as it was for her. That was why he had run from her so many times in the past; he was just as afraid of dealing with the emotions that haunted both of them as Clary was. "I love you," Jace told her, even though there was so much more he wanted for her to know. "We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to."

"Yes, I do need to talk about this," Clary mumbled, her voice muffled by his shirt. She sat up and looked directly into his eyes, her emerald eyes still wet with tears and her thin hands still clenched into his tank-top. "I've been hiding from everything that happened," she swallowed, "and from you, and I don't want to anymore. It hurts to think about everything that happened, but it hurts more not to be able to talk about it."

Jace couldn't believe how strong she was. Emotionally, holding onto everything that had hurt her was killing her from the inside out, and she was willing to talk to him. Jace lifted his hand and laid his palm against her cheek. He couldn't say any of the things he wanted to say, but it didn't matter. Clary understood through just that gesture.

She sighed and leaned back against his chest, but adjusted her body so that she sat sideways in his lap. Jace leaned back into the pile of black-cased pillows on the bed and let her lay in the crook of his arm, with her cheek on his chest. Clary smiled at the familiar position and snuggled closer to him, one arm tucked between their bodies and the other draped over his ribs. "I miss my brother," she said softly.

"I know."

"I wish he hadn't let our dad get to him. Now he's in jail, and he's a – " she couldn't say the word, the one frightening word that described what both her father and her brother had done. Jace knew it was because she was afraid of them both now; afraid of what they had become. "He's the same. Just exactly the same." Jonathan had turned out exactly like his father, Jace realized. They had everything from the same bad haircut to the same bad grades in high school, to the same judgment skills, to the same horrible sense of self-preservation. Jonathan hadn't used to be that way. He had used to be the quiet calculating kid no one paid attention to. But Jace suspected the change in his personality, and his permanent record, had something to with the inability to 'just say no.' "And now he's on parole, and I'm afraid to go home. I'm afraid of what he'll do to me if he loses it. Mom's afraid too. She stays locked up in her room, painting. You know she put three extra locks on the door? I did on my door too, but I'm still scared at night." Clary shivered, and Jace rubbed her shoulder. He didn't know how to reply to her, but he realized she didn't really need an answer.

"Jace?" Clary was staring thoughtfully at his wall, her brows furrowed in concentration.

"Yeah?" He stared up at the ceiling, having absolutely no idea what she was going to ask him.

"Can I stay here for the rest of – " She paused, " – for the rest of… forever? I don't want to go home."

"Of course you can." Jace looked down at her and gave her a crooked half-smile, just for old time's sake. "For the rest of forever."

"Thank you," Jace could see the relief in Clary's green eyes, and he felt the way her body relaxed against his. She hooked her leg around his and tightened her arm around his chest. "Goodnight, Jace. I love you." Clary's eyes closed, and her body further relaxed.

"I love you, Clary," Jace said, even though she was already sleeping. "Goodnight." He laid there and just watched her sleep for a few minutes, stroking her red hair and thinking about everything she had gone through, and how she could still allow herself to be comforted even though she was fighting an internal war with her emotions. She let him in; let him see everything she was; let him know more than he deserved. She loved him. Clary loved him, and Jace loved her more than she would ever know.

Jace smiled to himself, and his eyes closed as he fell into a dark sea of pleasant, dreamless sleep.

A/N: Well, what did you think?

I didn't really explain this well, but basically Clary's dad (who's still an evil douchebag) is a very bad man, who is currently in jail. He has a lot of influence over her brother Jonathan, who is sort of a druggie/bad boy (according to Jace), and Jonathan ended up getting arrested too (for the same really bad thing – I haven't really decided what it is yet), but now he's on parole. However, Clary and her mom (Jocelyn) are sort of afraid of him now. And in the midst of all this, Simon confessed to Clary that he loved her, but she was still having trouble dealing with her brother so she blew him off, and he got really mad at her and they've been having a sort of silent war since then. Jace, (who has known Clary since Junior year of high school and has also been in love with her since then) had been Clary's boyfriend up until the issues with Jonathan and Simon, and after that Clary had pushed him away because she didn't want him to have to deal with everything that was going wrong, and she didn't want to live with the risk of losing him too.

Confusing enough for you? Yeah, I confuse myself with my own complicated storylines sometimes too. ;P

You know, when I typed this up the first three times, the part where Clary talks to Jace about her brother was way longer. I think it took up like two-and-a-half pages on Microsoft Word. I decided to shorten it up just to lessen the boringness factor, but do you think I shouldn't have? I have absolutely no idea what would happen if I posted a third chapter, and I could use some ideas for both the plot and what other information I should include. :)

Remember: reviews are love, and the more I get, the fluffier I feel inside. And the fluffier I feel inside, the better I can write. And the better I can write, the happier you guys are, right? ;D

xoxo,

Jace's Angel

(p.s. Has anyone seen or bought the new Apple iPad? I tried one out at the Apple store, and totally fell in love. ;D You get access to Gmail, Facebook, and you can log into FanFiction! And it's so easy to type on! I need one!) :D