Okay guys. I'm posting Clary's story in twelve parts. Kinda like the 12 days of Christmas give or take a day, since I'm starting early. I planned to start Saturday, but here I sit on Thursday, unable to contain this stuff I've had around for close to six months.

On Christmas, Clary's story will conclude and you, my beloved reader, will know what happened...I'll be back January 1, 2014 to continue the story in the present. Sound good, beloved reader? =)

"The life we lead and the choices we make and the ripples that extend outward, ever outward from where we stand. All we do will float away from us, and we will never know the lives that rise and fall and rise again on the waves we've created." Tyler Knott Gregson

[Clary's POV]

Spring 2009

"Simon, it's on backward." I chuckle as he looks at himself in the antique full-length mirror in my bedroom.
"But all the other gowns I've come into contact with are zipped in the back!" Simon exclaims, gesturing wildly to the gold graduation gown he'd picked up, along with mine, at school.
"This isn't a dress, Si." I say, unzipping his gown. The tassel on my hat, which I'm test driving, falls in my eyes as I look down to unhook his zipper. Of course the thing goes in my eyes.
"By the Angel..." I say, swatting at the frilly tassel as it dances.
Simon laughs at my fit and removes the cap from my head.
"Okay, I promise to wear my gown correctly," he chuckles down at me, "if you and your tassel can keep your hands to yourselves."
I stick my tongue out at him as I snatch my cap back.
"Speaking of keeping your hands to yourself, where's Izzy?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "She was supposed to train with me after school."

Suddenly Simon finds his own cap very interesting.
"Spit it out, Si." I approach, hands ready to tickle the answer out of him if need be. Vampire or not, Simon is incredibly ticklish. I use this fact to my advantage as often as I can.
"She's out shopping for graduation attire...with Magnus." Simon shyly looks up, knowing I'm pissed.
"Why would she ditch training to- wait, did you mean attire as in plural?" Simon silently nods.
"The Angel only knows what she'll bring back for you to wear in a month." Simon admits, giving me an amused sypathetic look.
Thank the Angel for graduation gowns.

Suddenly two arms are wrapped around me from behind. My first instinct is to break said arms off. Then I realize whose arms they are. Turning around, I find myself getting lost in twin pools of gold. I faintly hear Simon leave, making mock gagging noises the whole way. Like the scene won't be the same when Isabelle gets to his apartment. What a hypocrite.

"Hi." I mutter, a smile breaking across my face as I wrap my arms around Jace's neck.
"Hi." He sarcastically snaps back before kissing my cheek. "Hi?" He asks, kissing my other cheek. "All I get is 'Hi'? How quickly you dismiss our love, Clary..." He sputters, finally crashing his lips to mine.
"Okay," I say, breaking away, "Hi, Jace." I grin meniachally as I crash my lips to his once again.
"Mmmm...much better." He mumbles against my lips.
"Good. Picky pants." I jokingly prod him with an index finger.
Pulling back, he takes my face between his hands.
"I love when you say my name." He whipsers. "It's how you say it. The way my name flutters as it leaves your lips." He kisses me gently this time. "I'll never tire of it." He smiles. I can't help the smile that breaks across my own face as I lean in and brush my lips against his.

"Ready to get the hell out of high school?" He asks, taking in the discarded packaging thrown around my room.
"That's a hell yes." I reply, reluctantly leaving the warmth of his arms to clean up said trash.
Jace watches me, a smug grin plastered to his face. Finally I have to stop, gown in hand, and ask what's so amusing.
"You." He replies. "You look so...mundane."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean with all this graduation madness. Shadowhunters don't even attend mundane schools, much less graduate. It's all very...new to me."
"Yeah, well just wait." I sarcastically say. "The ceremony takes like two hours." At this, Jace's eyes buldge.
"But," I say, sauntering over to him, "you love me and stuff. Besides, afterward we get to party." I try to sound hopeful as I start kissing his jawline, eliciting a carely audible moan from him. "And then..." I break off, ending my assault and turning to return to cleaning.
Before I can even take a step, Jace grabs me and lifts me into his arms bridal-style. He carries me, giggling, over to my newly decluttered bed, and tosses me onto it. A squeal breaks through my lips as I fall and am immediately joined by Jace, hovering above me.

For a moment he simply stares into my eyes, looking as though he's found the answer to life itself in them. Absentmindedly I reach up and trail my fingers along his jawline, my thumb caressing his bottom lip with a feather-lightness.
"How long 'til Jocelyn and Luke get back and I'm forcibly removed from this room?" He growls, never looking away from my eyes.
"An hour. Maybe more." I sigh breathlessly, entirely in awe of the gentle way his hand is caressing my arm.
"Good." He whispers as he slowly lowers himself and softly kisses me. My hands slip into his hair as I deepen the kiss, again eliciting a groan from him. Jace's lips leave mine only to travel across my jaw line, sending shivers down my spine and leaving the skin where his lips touch electrified. My fingers trail softly along the peaks and valleys of his arms, then the hard plane of his stomach. I hesitate at the hem of his shirt, my nerves going into overdrive.

Although Jace and I have been together over a year, we've never "gone all the way."
His chivalry and my terror at being terrible have always gotten in the way.

Jace's lips continue peppering my neck with comforting kisses. Suddenly, Jace starts nibbling on my ear lobe, causing a gasp to escape. He stop his torture long enough to whisper in my ear so softly it's like a sigh, "Our forevers go together." Pulling himself up onto his elbows in order to see my face, he watches as a tear falls from my eye at the utter honesty in his statement.
"I love you so, Clary. I'd wait forever to be with you."
"I love you too, Jace. And I want this, I do. I'm just terrified of disappointing you..." I say, unable to look him in the eye as a blush colors my face. He simply takes my face between his hands again. I close my eyes, afraid of what is coming.
"Clary, look at me." He says softly and I open my eyes slowly. "You will never, ever disappoint me. I love you."
"I love you too." I sniff, tears threatening to fall at any moment.
"Do you trust me?" Jace asks.
"Of course." I immediately respond. Jace is the person I trust most.
"Good." He says before crashing his lips to mine with a need, a desire, as though my lips were air to him.
I'm surprised when I return his kiss with one of my own, filled with just as much desire. I feel it, an instinctual need that I've fought against so many times before. My hands return to the hem of Jace's shirt, but this time there's no hesitation as I lift it up and run my hands along the newly exposed skin on either side of his body.

To Be Continued...Tomorrow.