I don't own anything! Everything belongsto Cassandra Clare!

Clary instantly blushed at the stupidity of the word she just uttered. Really, the best she could come up with was hi? Why, oh why, couldn't she have said something smarter like, well, anything other than hi?

"Izzy's right, just ignore him," Maryse said, "he's always like that. Ever since he got here a couple years ago, he's been almost insufferable. But we all love him anyway!" The Lightwoods all laughed, except for Jace, who just stood there, smirking at Clary.

Clary heard a loud thump coming from behind her, and noticed that Hodge was done unloading her bags from the trunk, and was now standing awkwardly next to them. Clary ran forward and put her arms around him, making him take a few steps backward in surprise.

"Bye Hodge, I'm gonna miss you! Even though you're a real pain in my ass sometimes, you feel more like a dad to me than anyone else in the world right now." Hodge looked slightly embarrassed, and met Robert's eyes briefly.

"Well, I'll miss you too, Clary, but I've got to go. Your bags are all here, and the Lightwoods will show you around the neighborhood and enroll you at the local high school, OK? You're going to have a great time living here, I promise." Hodge let go of Clary and nodded at the Maryse and Robert.

"If you ever come back to NYC, give me a call. Goodbye, Ms Fray," he said with a small smile before going back into his car and driving away.

Well, that's that, Clary thought sadly before turning back to the Lightwoods, who were now staring quietly at her. Clary took a moment to look at her surroundings for the first time.

She was standing in front of a big, white house, surrounded by a huge lawn. There was a grayish-white garage connected to the house, and Clary estimated it to hold about four to five cars, none of which were visible at the moment. Several similar buildings lined the street, except that the others were different colors. Behind those there was a small forest, with a bunch of trees that Clary didn't recognize, other than the few maples and pines. Their leaves were starting to turn red, and it was, in a word, beautiful.

I could paint this, Clary realized with a start. The trees, green with small specks of red, the blue sky, the gardens with large assortment of bushes that Clary was willing to bet bloomed in the spring or summer. The suburban dream. She smiled to herself. It was almost the exact opposite of her previous home, but she wasn't all sure whether she disliked it or not. She decided that change wasn't always a bad thing.

Alec, the boy with piercing blue eyes, cleared his throat.

"Well, if you're done doing, er, whatever it is you're doing, I could show you your room," Alec said

.o.O.o.

"So here's the living room," Alec said, then pointed toward the marble staircase. "Just go up the stairs and to the left, and there's your room."

Clary looked to where he was pointing, then back again.

"Thank you, Alec, I think I've got it. I'll just go get my bags, then." Clary was eager to be alone, without the stares of her new foster family burning into her back.

"No, that's okay, Robert already brought them," Alec explained with a polite smile. He walked up the stairs, took a right, and disappeared without a word.

"Okay, then…" Clary said under her breath, and went to check out her new room.

"Whoa." Clary explained after stepping into the bedroom she was now going to live in.

It was big, like bigger-than-her-whole-apartment-in-Brooklyn big. The walls were a soft yellow, and the majority of the floor was covered in a fluffy white carpet. Maybe not the most practical, but Clary couldn't help the squeal of excitement that escaped her lips when her feet sank into the soft, soft "floor".

She took in the queen-sized bed, covered in a dozen baby pink pillows, not her favorite color, but she really didn't care, the wooden bookshelf, a matching desk with one of those chairs that spin around. Clary sat down and started spinning round, and round until she was dizzy. She laughed and threw herself down onto the bed, sighing with contentment.

She hadn't seen something like this since… no, she didn't want to think about it. Suddenly her carefree demeanor was gone, replaced with a consuming emptiness. Slowly, she stood up and got her sketchbook and pencils out of her smallest bag (they had all been in a corner of the room, just like Alec promised), and headed back to the desk.

The desk, and the bookshelf, were for safety reasons – they would probably fall over or something – placed on the wooden floor, so Clary could roll the chair (It had wheels!) back and forth between one side of the (huge) desk to the other. She did that for awhile, as she held her sketchbook gingerly, waiting for inspiration to strike. Involuntarily, her mind slipped toward the golden haired boy walking around somewhere in the house. She put down her sketchbook on the desk, and her hands started to move on the paper as if they had a life of their own.

Clary was so into her sketching that she didn't even notice the boy standing in her doorstep, watching her with golden eyes.

Jace slipped out of the room as quietly as he'd come.

.o.O.o.

A soft knock brought Clary out of her zen-like state. Maryse was standing in the doorway, looking at Clary with knowing eyes.

"Are you settling in okay?" Maryse asked, taking a few steps into the room. "I didn't know what style you liked, so I just chose some basic things, I guess. Do you like it?" She gestured around her as she talked, sitting down on Clary's bed as she did so.

Clary blinked. She wasn't used to people being so . . . nice. Alec had been okay, but that had seemed strained and awkward, Maryse just seemed like a mom. A real mom, not the kind Jocelyn had been. Stop it, Clary! Nothing good comes from thinking about that.

"I love it. It's perfect, really," said Clary and smiled tentatively. "Sorry for being such a bother," she added, not sure whether it was the right thing to say, but she just felt like she was invading their home.

"Oh, no, you're not a bother at all. I'm just glad you like it." Maryse seemed genuinely caring, and Clary couldn't help but love her a little for it.

"Anyway, I just came to tell you dinner is ready. You don't have to come down, but I think you could really use some food. It must have been a long day." Maryse stood up, and looked back at Clary. "I know it's hard for you. A new family, a new neighborhood, a new life. But it'll get better. I promise."

With those words, Maryse walked out of the room and shut the door.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who read this! I love you all... :P I'm going to try updating as often as I can, because when I get home I won't be able to write a lot anymore... Thank you again, you made my day :)

Oh, and I'm from Sweden, but right now I'm in Aruba with my family (including my very annoying older sister who keeps hogging the WiFi network) :)