There was a loud snoring next to Clary when she woke up. Someones bare back was facing her. She eyed the familiar birthmarks as if they were a constellation in the New York sky. His muscles contracted as he breathed deeply, softly as he slept on the bed that she had purchased from a closing store. Black hair stood out against his ivory skin. Around his neck was a silver chain she had given him, their promise ring from their teenage years dangling loosely at his odd angle.

She thought his snore was annoying, but didn't care because she loved him madly, beyond any words of her time, or even distant future. Clary smiled against his chest, pressing a soft, wet kiss against his warm back as he slumbered. It seemed as if it had been so long since they'd done this, but that didn't seem wrong, as they had done this every night. And still, she felt as if she were swimming throughout miracles.

Clary breathed in the familiar smell of peppermint and after shave as she lay next to him. The small weight of a ring danced across her mind, and she brought her left hand up, smiling at the silver band with emeralds encrusted in it, passed down from his family line, the emeralds stood for each wife that had barred the ring. He told her that when he looked into her eyes the first time he met her, that the ring was, and always would be hers. There was displaced sadness as she gazed at the ancient ring, but she didn't know why she felt such an emotion when she was tranquil.

The white sheets squeaked under her as she moved her legs, switching her position to where she was even closer to him, wrapping her arms around the much larger being. He groaned in his sleep, but did not awaken, his head burying even deeper into the egg shell colored pillow.

She was slightly startled by the noise that came from the monitor. It sounded like gurgling, and Clary bounded out of her comfort at speeds only a worried mother might have. She didn't care about how cold the wooden floor felt against her feet she sprinted to the room she knew the noise was coming from.

Clary dashed to the bassinet when it came into view, her head leering over it, and letting out a relaxed breath when she saw that her daughter was only in a playful mood, not choking. Her dimpled legs were bent as she pulled her feet up with her chubby pink hands. There was a small pool of drool on Beth's chin, and Clary didn't grimace as she would have before when she wiped it with the sleeve of her teal button up that she had worn to sleep. Ringlets of red hair gathered together at the sweaty base of her neck, though she didn't complain in the usual wine that she let out when she was uncomfortable.

Beth's butterfly blanket was wrinkled around her, kicked off when she woke up. Five months ago, Clary would have been screaming, blaming her husband as she pushed out their daughter. Now, she would have gone through the pain all over again if it meant having her little playfully babbling before her. The nightgown with the ice queen, though Clary forgot her name, looked cute on her daughter. Even better when she didn't have remains of last nights dinner in her curls.

Clary marveled at how much her daughter looked like her, and even her father in the shape of her eyes and full pink lips. Beth cooed up at her mother, spit making the familiar gurgling sound as it bubbled in her small throat. Seeing as she was in a playful mood, Clary made a silly face at her daughter, eliciting a long string of giggles from Beth.

"How's my sweetheart?" Clary cooed down at Beth while she recovered from her laughing streak. Her dark brown eyes were wide as she listened to her mother, her little foot dropping in concentration on the shapes Clary's mouth made.

"I see," Clary chuckled. "Well, if you can keep a secret, I think you'll become a big sister soon." She revealed to the quiet five month old. Clary brought her finger down to Beth, playing with her soft, small hands as she wondered what her baby was thinking.

"Not much to go on." She sighed. Behind her, Clary heard the padding of feet, and did not worry, for there was no way her husband could have heard her from their room.

"How long have you been up?" Sebastian asked with a smirk. He held his hand behind his back, and Clary assumed he was scratching at the firm muscles.

"Twenty minutes, maybe?" She pondered to him. He nodded, and then her suspicion started to grow as her daughter put Clary's index finger between her sopping gums.

Teething, another joy of parenting.

"What are you smiling about?" Clary asked with a smile, though her coppery lashes were lowered in a squint. Behind him, Sebastian pulled out a white, blue outlined monitor that matched the one next to Beth's crib.

"Is it true?" He could not hide his prideful grin as he asked. Sebastian dark eyes were glittering with hope, and when Clary nodded, he sprinted across the soft carpet and hugged her closely. She let out a laugh as he praised her for choosing him over the endless line of men that would have been a better suitor for her.

In her ears, she heard a soft beep. Clary dismissed it, but when it grew louder as the moments passed, she pulled back from Sebastian with a raised brow.

"Are you making something in the oven?" She asked her confused husband. He shook his head slowly, and she looked around her, seeing if one of Beth's toys had gone off. When she didn't find anything, Clary walked back to her husband with suspicion growing where it had receded.

"Why do you ask?" Sebastian wondered.

"I keep hearing this beeping…" She expressed. He shrugged at her, and then the noise got even weirder as she heard heavy sighs around her ears. It sounded as if someone was breathing down her back.

"Wake up, Clary. Please wake up." She heard a soft voice plead. Some part of her recognized the voice, but Clary hand't known where she'd heard it before. The beeping was becoming loud enough to shatter glass, and when Clary looked to ask Sebastian what the noise was for a second time, he was gone.

Her eyes opened heavily, as if they had been taped shut. The fluorescent light above her was bearing down on her headache. Pain thrummed in her thigh as the seconds ticked by loudly on the wall clock. Her arms felt thick, as if her blood was laced with lead. There was so much white in the room, it seemed as if her ivory skin was a stain on it's perfect pigment. The stench of sanitizer filled her nostrils, and when she inhaled, she could feel plastic pressing into her nose.

Crouched next to the bed, on a white chair was an angel, who she thought belonged in this pearl, painful heaven. When she tried to speak, she found that nails were clawing at the inside of her throat. Clary gagged, applying moisture to the dry interior. The angel lifted his head, dark shadows under his eyes. She wanted to ask him where her daughter was, where she could finally reunite with her after what seemed like an eternity.

"Thank the angel." He groaned, holding her ice hand in his fiery palm. With her throat badly marred by dehydration, she croaked out the only thing she could.

"Beth?" She coughed out. The angel sent a confused expression her way and then Clary knew that this wasn't heaven.

This was hell.

Hopefully this could give you a snippet of Clary's past. I don't know why, but I envisioned the song Cigarette Daydream by Cage the Elephant playing in the first part. The last part I thought that Afraid by The Neighbourhood would be a good fit.

Thoughts?