Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments series.

Chapter 2

We walked through the portal hand in hand so that we could give each other strength. On the other side stood Char with our bags and Isabelle talking with her. When they saw us, Char gave them their bags so that they could go put them away and get settled in.

"Clary, your room is just how you left it. Sophie, your room is going to be right next to your mom's and Charlotte, your room is across from Sophie's. Let me show you," Isabelle told us.

We followed her through the halls and when we passed the library I started walking faster so as not to risk seeing anyone yet. Once Isabelle showed us to our rooms she left us to ourselves. Inside my room, I looked around and realized that Isabelle was right when she said that they left everything the way that it was. I noticed the picture wall that I created a month before I found out about Sophie and when I got closer I saw him. Almost all of the pictures on the wall had his face in them and when I couldn't stand seeing him anymore, I walked out to Sophie's room to help her unpack.

Once we were done I asked Sophie if she wanted to go train with me.

"Sure, Mom."

"Okay, you go change and then go down the hall and around the corner. The big black doors lead to the training room. I'll meet you there."

"Okay."

I left after that and made my way to the training room. Once inside, I decided that while I waited for Sophie, I would practice knife throwing. I put five dummies in a row in front of me and then I picked up all the knives that I could carry without dropping any. The first one I threw soared through the air and was implanted in the head of the dummy. I started to think about why I was here and about my parents' death. The first dummy was implanted so many times that it fell so I moved on to the next one. I thought about all of the people I left behind and how they must've felt and the knives that I had in my hands were soon gone into two of the dummies rendering them useless. I picked up more knives and turned to the fourth dummy. This time I thought about Sophie and how she had to grow up without a father because of how he didn't want her. By the time I turned to the fifth dummy, there were tears streaming down my face. When I started to think about Jace, they stopped. I grabbed whatever I could and threw them at the dummy pretending it was Jace. Each object hit with precision and made its target perfectly.

When I was finally done, I stood from the position that I finished in and stared at the dummies in front of me. As I went to pick them up I heard clapping from behind me. I turned around startled and stood surprised that everyone was there. Alec, Magnus, Isabelle, Simon, Maryse, Robert, Jordan, Maia, Charlotte and Sophie stood there clapping like crazy.

I nearly broke down at the sight of them before I was pulled into a hug by Simon who used his super speed to get to me faster. He hugged me so tight and that is when I broke down. I cried into his chest and hugged him as tight as I could.

"Clary, I've missed you so much. You have no idea how sorry I am about what happened. Izzy just told us and I'm so sorry that you had to go through that by yourself," he said once he pulled back.

"Simon, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you," I choked out between sobs.

"Shush, shush, its okay," he pulled me to him.

I was ripped out of Simon's arms and thrown into Magnus's, I could tell by all the glitter. I hugged him tightly and I soon felt Alec wrap his arms around us.

"Alec, Magus," I whispered.

"Clarissa, I am very upset with you right now, but I'm willing to put that behind me for now because I missed you too much," Magnus said smiling.

"Me too," Alec joined in.

"I missed you guys too. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell all of you," I said smiling at them.

"It's okay, just don't do it again," Alec said sternly.

I pulled away from them and into Maia's waiting arms. Her small frame pulled me as close as possible. I felt Jordan's hands on my back and I pulled away to look at them both before smiling.

"I'm sorry, guys."

"Clary, I'm just happy that you're here," Maia said.

"I'm with you on that," Jordan agreed.

I turned away from them to look at Maryse and Robert who were waiting patiently for their turn to hug me. They walked over and Maryse pulled me into a big hug while Robert just smiled at me.

"Clary, I'm so sorry about Jace," she said.

"It's okay. It's not your fault, it's his," I replied.

I pulled away from Maryse and gestured for Sophie and Charlotte to come over. When they did, I introduced them, "Guys, this is Charlotte Winthrop, my parabetti and this is Sophia Jocelyne Herondale. In other words, my daughter."

They all looked at Sophie with new interest before she opened her mouth and said, "Jesus, I know I'm beautiful, but seriously the staring is getting creepy and I prefer Sophie."

We all laughed at Sophie's comment and before anyone could say anything else, the door opened and in stepped Jace. He looked the same as how he did back when I left him except he had more defined muscles and he had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

He turned to us surprised that we were all here before his eyes landed on me, "Clary."

I turned towards him fully and grabbed Sophie's wrist so that she shouldn't attack him before I said, "Hello, Jace."

"You're back."

Sophie had looked at me confused as to why I was holding her wrist until she heard Jace's name, then she tried to get out of it until I had to put my other hand on her other wrist.

Jace, seeing this, finally turned to Sophie who froze and stared back at him. I felt everyone sucked in a breath and in a moment of daze, I loosened my grip on Sophie's wrists. She took advantage of the distraction and pulled herself free before launching herself at Jace.

"Dammit, Sophie," Char and I said at the same time.

Jace reacted slowly, so he thrown to the ground with Sophie sitting on his chest yelling into his face.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU WANT ME? WHY DID YOU MAKE MOM RUN AWAY WITH ME? I DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

BY this time Char and I had grabbed hold of her arms and we pulled her off of him and dragged her to the sparring mat. Char grabbed her arms while I set myself up and got both Sophie and me swords from the weapons wall.

I gave her one when Char let her go and said, "Fight me, not him. I'm the one who took you with me in fear, Soph. Fight me."

Sophie looked at me for a second before getting herself into position to fight. She struck first aiming for my head, I blocked. Again, she aimed at my stomach, I blocked. We on like this until she started to get aggravated.

"Fight back! Why do you never fight back?! I want a challenge!"

At her plea I began to push back against her and soon her face was twisted in anticipation of my next move. I continued to fight her until she was on the ground with the tip on my sword at her neck.

"I win. Don't ask for something unless you're positive that you can handle what you get. I learned my lesson a long time ago," I said backing away from my daughter who was beginning to get up.

"Mom, I'm sorry," she breathed out.

"Just remember the next time you want to fight someone and I didn't even use a fraction of my strength to take you down, Soph."

I turned away from her to put the swords away when I remembered everyone else in the room. I looked at them for a moment before I turned to Jace and said, "It was nice to see you again, Jace."

With that, I walked out of the room and down the hall to the stairs that led to the garden. I could hear people behind me calling my name, but I didn't slow down. I needed to get to the garden so that I could hug myself without being caught.

Once in the garden, I went to spot where Jace and shared our first kiss and sat down hugging my knees to my chest. I breathed out and looked out over New York, New York that I missed so much. It was quiet enough for me to think about everything and decide what I wanted to do.

I soon heard footsteps coming towards me and I knew who it was right away by the way that the person never hesitated, not even one step.

"What do you want, Jace?" I asked him without picking up my head to look at him.

"Clary, I want to talk to you. Why did you run away? Why does our child hate me so much? Will you ever forgive me?" he asked sincerely.

"First, I ran away because it was clear to me that you did not want her and I didn't want to be around you if I knew that. Second, I told her about you and she got her temper from you so when she sees someone she doesn't like she attacks them. The only way to get her to calm down is by training and fighting someone challenging. She grew out of Char so now she has to fight me. Lastly, I don't know, Jace. I can't answer that right now," I answered him getting up.

He looked at me with a clouded expression before he nodded and said, "I understand. Do you think that you could talk to our daughter because I want to be a part of her life?"

"I can talk to her, but you're doing the rest yourself. And, by the way, her name is Sophie, Sophie Jocelyne Herondale."

He looked at me quizzically before asking, "You used my last name?"

I blushed before answering, "I knew that if we ever saw each other again, you would be mad if she didn't have your last name and besides I did not want her to have the last name Morgenstern."

"Well, I guess that makes sense. Anyway, what is she like? Can she do the things that we can do too? Does she have her own powers?" he asked excitedly.

"She's shown any signs of your speed and strength and she picks up on the runes really quick, but so far no new powers and besides, I haven't told-" I was cut off by a new voice.

"What are you talking about? What do you mean powers?" Sophie asked from behind Jace.