A/N: FINALLY! I finished a chapter for this fic! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. -runs around happily-

Okay, so thanks for being so patient with me. I appreciate it. (:

Nothing more to say, so I'm just going to let you get to reading what you came here to read.

And remember, kiddies. I don't own the characters.

Enjoy!


"You're still struggling to find a way to get rid of him?" Isabelle asked as she watched Jace pace back and forth in the library.

He growled. "Does it look like I'm not?"

"Smooth move, Izzy," Alec said under his breath.

Clary watched in silence, not wanting Jace to be angry with her for asking him stupid things and because he truly looked frightening at that moment. His jaw was set tight, his back muscles tight, hands clenched into fists, and gold eyes that pierced your soul with just one glare. All of that mixed together with Jace's attitude wasn't a very pleasant experience for anyone, especially Clary since she's always the one to calm him down.

"Sorry," Isabelle mumbled while looking down at the floor.

Jace growled again before turning to face the doorway. He threw Clary an apologetic glance before marching out of the doors and out into the hall. Clary knew not to go after him, but also knew exactly where he was going. The garden.

Jace would always escape there whenever he was frustrated ever since the group has come back from the Glass City. He felt like it was his one place of truth and honesty - besides being right next to Clary's side - and it calmed him down more than any of his friends and family could. What he liked most about the garden was being reminded of Clary's birthday and his present to her. It was one of his fondest memories even if it was ruined in the end.

He walked all the way over to the edge of the garden and took a seat on the floor. When he looked up he could see the moon straight above him, shining brightly down on the dirty city of New York. Jace instinctively plucked a flower from it's stem and started to twirl it in his fingers, wishing that Clary was sitting beside him so he could place it in her hair. But because of his actions Clary stayed away for at least an hour to give him his peace.

During that hour of being alone Jace thought about his life. He normally would think of it here, but instead of the bad things he thought of the good things this time. If it wasn't for that one night in Pandemonium he would have never met Clary and fallen in love with her, he would have never become the man he is today, and he would still think the lie of which was actually the truth. He couldn't complain that his life was terrible because of how things turned out for him, but that nagging voice was still there in his mind, stating how much he was lied to.

Jace heard soft footsteps approaching him so he stopped thinking of all of that and just thought of Clary. He felt her standing behind him a few feet away and his heart tugged towards her, needing her to be right with him. He lifted up his arm and waved her forward. Once she was close enough he pulled her in front of him and pulled her down so she was sitting on his legs, resting her back against his chest while he wrapped his arms around her small frame.

"Talk to me," she whispered.

He shook his head. "I can't yet. I haven't thought of anything... I've never felt this useless before." He whispered the last part, but knew that Clary had heard him.

"You're not useless, Jace. Maybe there's nothing we can do about Sebastian yet. Maybe we're just moving ahead of ourselves and now we've gotten ourselves stuck in this one situation that will take a while to get back out of." Clary sounded so sure of herself, but Jace knew better than all of that. He could fix this, he would fix this. He would keep his love safe.

"Clary, maybe we should just get up and leave," Jace said with a smirk. It wasn't his worst idea, but it was close to it.

She laughed. "And that would fix all of our problems how?"

"Well, we won't tell anyone where we are going. We find some secret, remote location that's hard to find to live for the rest of our lives there." He sighed. "No one would ever come close to hurting you, Clary. You and I could just have a normal life."

Jace knew better than that. They're lives could never again be normal now that they've lived through all of the thing they have endured. They've all changed because of it, and there's no going back to normal.

"Jace..." Clary sighed. "You know we couldn't do that."

"Because of Izzy and Alec, right? Because of every single person we care about would be hurting. Because it's just not right," he growled. "Don't thi-"

"Now, stop it." She turned around in his lap and straddle his waist, grabbing the sides of his face to make him look her straight in the eye. "Yes, I will think like that because it's true, Jace. We can't just get up a leave everyone without saying something. That isn't fair to them or ourselves. We would end up missing them and going back to the place we were trying to get away from. Don't you see that? Don't you get that?"

Jace was silent as he watched Clary's green eyes gaze into his. She was right. No, more than right. She had the whole thing thought about before him. She was proving him wrong. Never before... She's always have.

"Clary, I'm sorry," he whispered.

She sighed and removed her hands from his face. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone on like that."

He shook his head and replied, "Of course you should have. You were proving how stupid I was being, and I needed that, Clary. Don't be afraid next time to just slap me across the face." He chuckled and pushed a strand of her hair behind her hair. "Just don't slap me too hard."

She giggled. "I wouldn't."

Jace's hand remained by her cheek before cupping it. Clary leaned into and kissed the palm of his hand with closed eyes. He couldn't help but smile at this small girl in front of him. She was loving him back, even after all he has done to her she's still loving him. That's all he could ever ask for from her.

Jace and Clary ended up spending the night just gazing up into the stars that were barely visible. It was peaceful and something that Jace forget could make him forget everything that was happening around him for a night.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Do you think Jace will be back in time?" Isabelle asked while brushing through Clary's hair.

Clary thought about if for a minute. Jace had left early that morning, only saying that he had something to take care of. Clary was a little weary just letting him go by himself, but she trusted his judgment. He kissed her goodbye and begged her to go back to sleep since he woke her up when he removed himself from the bed before leaving. Of course she couldn't sleep knowing that he was somewhere without her. What if Jace had gotten hurt and no one knew about it? What if he was held captive? It would all be her fault in her eyes seeing as how she just let him walk out without saying where he was going.

Clary had a good idea of where he was, and that wasn't something she wanted to share. She thought Jace had went out to seek Sebastian out and try to kill him himself. Clary thought it was a stupid move, but Jace was somehow slipping with this moves. She was sort of expecting this from seeing how much stress Jace was under knowing that Clary wasn't safe. And it hurt her to see him so frustrated just because of her; it wasn't fair to him.

"Hopefully," Clary replied while staring at Isabelle in the mirror. "If he's not it's no big deal. It's just a party. One that we're not even supposed to be going to, might I add."

Isabelle smiled darkly and giggled. "Who cares? Alec, Simon, and I all have our own weapons. Jace has nothing to worry about when it comes to keeping you safe. And, besides, if he thinks you're going to get hurt he'll show up. Which, might I add," she smiled from the small joke, "happens."

Clary just rolled her eyes and focused back on what Isabelle was doing to her hair. She wanted to make sure it was easy enough for Jace to just pull right out seeing has how he loved her hair down. He once told her it was an easier for Isabelle to just leave it down because he can't stand it up since he always wants to twirl a strand between his fingers when him and Clary were close.

Once the girls were ready they headed out with Alec and Simon. Clary stayed back behind them, getting lost in her own thoughts of Jace and all the horrors that could happen to him while he was gone. She didn't notice Simon slow down and catch up with her once she grew close to him, but when he touched her shoulder and gave it a light shake she jumped.

"Jeeze, Simon," she breathed. "Don't do that to me!"

He laughed. "So sorry. But what's up? You look like you're about to fall apart."

She sighed and shrugged, making her eyes go straight to the sidewalk underneath them.

"This is about Jace." Simon's voice was flat, making Clary wince when she heard the venom come from her best friend.

"Yeah..." was the only thing Clary could whisper out. She was afraid Simon would snap at her for being so weak without him. It was one of those things he never noticed he would do until after he did it, and after seeing Clary stare up at him with teary eyes.

Simon remained silent, not even bothering to go any further with the questions that were popping up in his head. He knew that Clary could - would - take care of Jace by herself, but he couldn't help but feel hatred towards Jace for just leaving her. From the look on Clary's face Simon knew that Jace didn't even bother to tell her where he was going. Typical, Simon thought.

Clary looked up to her friend through her lashes, but when she looked up and didn't see his body beside her she grew worried. She looked forward and sighed in relief after seeing all three of her friends walking a little too far ahead of her. She stared to walk faster but stopped in front of an alley entryway when something growled at her.

"Hello?" Her voice echoed down the empty alley, replying back with her own statement.

A dark laugh sounded from behind a trash bin, making Clary's eyes pinpoint right on the spot. A figure rose up slowly from behind it. Panic ran down Clary's spine as she stared right at the body of some guy. She knew she should run, but her body was frozen in place.

"Out alone?" the man asked. Clary felt the blood leave her face after recognizing the voice.

In the blink of her eyes, the man was standing over her. The familiar voice of evil became clearer, revealing the one person she really didn't want to see.

Sebastian shook his head in disapproval. "I thought you would have known better than to be out this late. Especially dressed up like that."

"Leave me alone," Clary said, but her voice wavered with fear.

Sebastian raised up an eyebrow and smirked. "I don't think so."


Where's Jace? Oh, I don't know. |:

Give me some thoughts!?! And reviews? Haha, please? :D