Okay, now the plot starts to form, i like to get yall to fall in love with characters and get the setting before things get cray cray. Alright... THANK YOU GUYS FOR YOUR REVIEWS I LOVEDDDD THEM! even if i did only get like two. Keep it up, the more reviews, the faster the updates. lets get five reviews for the next chapter to be posted. Thanks guys! 3

We get off the plane five hours later, at 6. Jace gets everything down from the overhead compartment, and insists on carrying all my crap.

We find Izzy and Simon up towards the front of the plane, and we head out. The first thing I notice, flying into La Guardia International Airport was the cold. I was glad I wore that cardigan, though I could have been smart and worn boots. New York, in the winter, was two syllables. Free-zing. Jace laughed at Izzy, whose teeth were chattering in her body clad in shorts and a tank top. She had claimed early in the morning that Texas was too humid for jeans. Now, she was wishing she had some.

We checked into the hotel about three hours later after eating a huge spaghetti dinner with the team. They had to eat all the carbs they could for their game tomorrow, so I encouraged Jace to eat half of mine. Of course, he was hesitant to take my food, so I had shoved half of the spaghetti onto his plate, and he ate it.

Jace and I walked into the postage sized room, with one double bed in the center, with the ugliest blue denim pattern comforter and beige walls. This place looked like a dump. There was water damage over by the old fashioned heating duct, and two floor lamps were posted on either side of the bed. I swallowed thickly.

Jace laughed suddenly. "You're probably regretting coming with the school. This is the worst hotels we've seen so far, but the others aren't any better. They give us small rooms because only one or two guys are in a room." Jace explains.

I nod slowly. "If you want, when the game's over, we can check out and go to my place…" I trail off.

Jace just shakes his head. "Coaches have to keep an eye on us. If we stayed somewhere else, they wouldn't know where to wait for us. Sorry, you don't have to come to many away games. It can be a home game thing…" He says disappointedly.

I shake my head vigorously, setting my duffle bag down and placing Jace's jersey on top of it neatly folded. "No, I want to be there at every single game." I say matter-of-factly.

Jace's smile grows even larger at my words. "I wouldn't have a problem with that. Go change, we gotta meet Izzy and Simon at the pool in thirty minutes." He says.

I nod and head into the bathroom, which is equivalent to the size of a cubical. A very small cubical… I practically bump elbows with the glass shower when I change in the middle of the bathroom. I change into a solid red bikini, tied at the top and the back with a bow, and two small bows on the sides of the bottoms. I put my green cover-up on and it falls to about mid-thigh. I step out and put my hair in a bun and my black flip flops on, and I look up to see Jace wearing brown Hurley board shorts with brown, frayed flip flops. His hair is disheveled from pulling his shirt off, over his head. He runs a hand through his hair, and I don't miss the way his eyes skim over my pale legs and red painted toenails. He smiles a little, and holds out his hand to me. Taking it, we walk out of the room and head down to the pool. When we arrive, Izzy and Simon is there, Simon wearing navy board shorts with red stripes, and Izzy wearing a black chevron pattern bikini top, with pink and green polka dots, and hot pink bottoms.

Izzy motions for us to get in and Jace doesn't hesitate to cannonball in there, shaking out his hair as he surfaces. I carefully take off my cover-up, my face going red as I feel Jace's eyes burning holes in the back of my head. I swallow and turn around, jumping in along with everyone else. When I come up, Jace is in the same spot, looking in awe. "What's wrong?" I ask him.

He shakes his head. "Did Izzy pack that for you?" He asks.

I scowl playfully. "Jace, I can have these types of clothes and buy them on my own." I say.

Jace just shakes his head again and pulls me to him, leaning on the wall. "I've never seen you-" he starts, but I cut him off.

"This is my first bikini, Jace. I got it last year, without Izzy forcing me to. She just agreed with me that I wasn't a stick anymore." I say, and it's true. I had filled out and my hips had gotten a bit wider. I had toned up with volleyball, and some trips to the ice cream store when I was declared, in fact, not lactose and tolerant. Ice cream was good for you. Izzy had held back a scream when I showed her what I had bought as a bathing suit that year.

Jace smirks. "Hell you aren't. Time has been good to you." He mumbles in my ear.

I close my eyes and rest my head against his shoulder. He was making it hard to follow the no shenanigans before games rule. He kissed my earlobe once, twice, and before he could pull away on the third one, Simon groaned and Izzy laughed.

She looked at us and Simon with an innocent look. "I guess we all had the same plans for tonight. Simon and I will be heading up to our room, no the hot tub." She said pulling Simon out of the pool and into the bubbly water.

Jace gagged. "I'm not going into those bubbles any time soon." He says and continues to kiss me.

Things start to get heavier and Jace slowly moves my bottoms aside. He puts a finger in my folds, and I'm glad for the ability to float in water, or else I would have sunk by now. His finger enters me and I moan, maybe a bit too loudly, because I hear Simon gag and Izzy giggle. She doesn't even seem fazed that her brother and best friend are-

I scream, but Jace catches it with his mouth, his tongue entering my mouth. His non occupied hand moves toward the ties of his swim trunks, and I have to stop him. "J-Jace. The rule." I say.

Jace moves away from me a bit and we just stare at each other. He runs a hand through his very disheveled and damp hair, his breathing labored. I swallow and his eyes flit around my face. We hear the door to the pool close, and Izzy and Simon are gone. He looks back to me. "Fuck it." He says. He picks me up by the backs of my thighs. Suddenly, my bottoms are around my knees, and my fingers are tugging none too softly at his swim trunk ties. It seems to encourage him though, because I can feel it on my thigh. I moan, and he catches it with his soft lips. He's moving slow, as if proving to me how much he cares about me. I'd only heard of people going hard at it, and I'd been repulsed by the idea. It made me puke, how someone could treat your most sensitive areas like that. Jace had never done this before, and I was overly happy about that. He was out of his trunks and into me without a second's hesitation. He slid in slow, and then back out just as slow, then he inched in, slowly tearing my barrier, and stopping. I looked up at him confused. He just shook his head. "You tell me what to do. I can't…I… I can't hurt you. It probably does though. I've heard the rumors around school, how they say the first time is the hardest, and is painful." He explains his eyes full of concern.

I smile. "It's only for a second. I-it kinda feels nice now." I say, finally adjusting to his massive size. I move against him slowly.

He picks up the hint and moves with me, the both of us finding a quick rhythm in seconds, panting, our wet skin smacking together, making waves in the pool. I lean my head on his shoulder, and he kisses my neck. We keep it up until I start to feel the effects swallow me whole. It crashes into me, the realization of what we are doing, the feeling of much more than physical ecstasy, but also the feeling of unconditional love. I'd heard of girls whose first time was a man taking advantage of them, not caring about what they felt. But here was Jace, letting me lead and tell him what to do. Jace gasps, and moans loudly. "Tris, please," he begs.

That voice is what finishes me off, Jace right there with me, warmth filling my… areas. My eyes fly open, as the door knob jiggles. Jace fixes his pants, and I do the same. We are out the door as a middle aged couple comes in with their children. Jace's eyes get wide, and our cheeks burn red. In the elevator, the only thing Jace says is, "I hope they don't plan on using the hot tub."

I laugh, but grow serious. "What was I thinking, Jace?" I whisper sliding to the ground.

Jace slides down next to me patting my back. "You weren't on the pill were you." It sounds more like a statement.

I can only shake my head and cry into his shoulder.

Jace shifts. "Well, remember how I said I was waiting for the right person?" He asks.

I nod. "Yeah…?" I trail off.

Jace just smiles. "I figured it'd be you. I thought about that before I even started messing with you, before we even got on the bus today. I guess what I'm trying to say, is I'll be here for you whatever happens. And I'm dead serious." He says.

I smile up at him. "I'm really proud of you, Jace. Even during everything you went through, with the crappy friends, you still respected yourself." I say.

He laughs. "I can't believe I was like that. So retarded… God, I was a man whore." He says.

I smile at him. "Well…" I joke. When he pushes my shoulder playfully, I laugh. "Okay, but only metaphorically. You acted like one, but really, you weren't doing anything.

Jace shrugs. "Did you know that's why those girls broke up with me, or me them? I wouldn't put out. Kaeliee, she dumped that shake on me because she was on my lap trying to get me aroused. I didn't want to, and apparently neither did little man." He says.

My eyes widen. "Little?" I ask, incredulous. "That wasn't that little. If it was, I'm three sizes smaller." I say. "Crap. This sucks." I say, wrapping my arms around myself tighter.

Jace laughs. "That was just proportional to the rest of me. You're perfect. And thanks." He says, blushing. "Anyway, I was never interested in them that way. They all told me they liked me for me, and I guess they didn't like me that much." He says.

I shake my head. "I'd kill all of them in an instant. That's horrible. It's like it was a competition to see who could get you first." I say, my fists clenching.

As the elevator doors opened, Jace and I stepped out. He leaned in close and whispered to me. "You won that competition. And now, you're the only one I'll ever do that with. If you don't want to be with me forever, I'll have to force my wife, if I got one, to adopt. I'm not going to swap germs." He says. He smiles at me then, the skin by his eyes wrinkling.

I give him a crooked smile. "You're amazing." I whisper as he opens the door.

That night we fall asleep, my right shoulder in the middle of his chest, my head tucked into his neck. His arm is wrapped around me, his hand grasping mine resting on his stomach. His head is turned, tucked into the side of my head, buried in my hair. It's the best sleep I've ever gotten. Period.

The next morning I wake to the sound of grunts. I turn, to find Jace kicking the heating. "Jace?" I ask, my voice thick from sleep.

He turns to me and runs a hand through his hair. He smiles. "Heating broke last night. I woke up and it was fifty degrees. Sorry if it's a bit chilly." He says. He wears a white shirt with his white, padded football pants, his cleats on and his grip gloves. He bends over again and pulls out his white jersey, a burnt orange 11 on the front. On the back is his number, and in big block letters, WAYLAND. His number is also on the sides of his sleeves. He grabs the padding he has to put in manually, and goes to the bathroom. I decide to change. I throw on a pair of white skinny jeans, and brown cowboy boots. I slip on Jace's jersey over my white tank, and adjust the length, holding it with a ponytail holder. I put my hair into a side braid, and sprits on a bit of perfume. I hear the bathroom door open, and Jace pokes his head out. "Uh, Clare, I forgot a piece of padding." He says. "It's in my bag, at the very bottom." He says.

I blindly dig in his bag until my hand brushes across cold rubber. I pull it out and almost drop it. It would be this pad. I blush as I bring the groin pad to Jace, holding it in the door. He chuckles. "Thanks, sorry about that." He says awkwardly.

I sit on the bed and wait for him. He finally comes out of the restroom, all of his padding on, and his jersey thrown on over it. He carried his helmet by the strap. He walks up to me and wraps an arm around my waist, kissing my temple.

I slap his shoulder pad a few times for good measure. "I'll be in the front row, down in the end zone on the visitor's side. Good luck." I say.

His mouth twists to the side. "Maybe you should take a test in a few days." He says.

I shake my head. "Don't think about that right now; think about winning and creaming Alec and Sebastian and Jon." I say with a smile.

Jace smiles at me. "I only ever think about you Clare-Bear." He says sheepishly.

I laugh. "Well, if you win, we'll celebrate tonight, just the four of us, in Manhattan." I say.

He nods. "Deal…" he trails off and sighs. "I love you."

I smile, and hit his stomach lightly. "I love you more. Now go show them how UT rolls. I'm counting on you." I say.

It's the fourth quarter, with seven minutes and thirty three seconds left. Jace is at the ten yard line, about to catch the spiked ball. Everything goes slowly. Jace catches the snap, and runs through the fighting and pushing of the other team colliding with our team, a blur of orange and blue. Jace comes out the other side, running. He steps into the end zone, earning a touchdown, but just a few seconds before the other team comes plowing into Jace. Jace falls, the guy falling on top of his knee. I hear the impact of the two men to the ground, and I feel the thump in my heart. The guy gets up, and turns around. I see the name Verlac on the back. Jace doesn't move though. He's rocking side to side on his back, his whole body shuddering. My eyes widen and the silence in the whole field is not a peaceful silence. Medics rush to Jace. My vision blurs with tears, and Izzy's hand flies to her mouth, a strangled cry escaping. Jace now lies super still as the medics hoist him onto the stretcher. Coach Herondale drives the cart with Jace in the back. It comes over by the entrance to the right of Izzy and me. I hear Jace yelling something ending in "Y". Coach Herondale spots me, and gets out of the cart. He lifts his hand up the four foot wall, and I grasp it. He and a few medics help get me down the wall and onto the field. They lead me towards the cart, and tears fall freely. I sit in the back with Jace, holding his hand. "I'm so, so sorry, Jace." I say.

He looks pained, but he looks up at me through teary eyes, but forces a weak smile. "It's my knee. It hurts Clary." He whispers.

More tears flow and my lip trembles. But this was part of the game, injuries are bound to happen. "I know, baby, I know," I say back, brushing the hair out of his eyes. "You're okay, they just need to fix you up in the medical room, get you a cast, and we can go back to the hotel." I say.

Jace nods, a tear slipping down his cheek. His hand sits in mine, squeezing through the pain.

We arrive in the medical room, and I sit towards Jace's sleeping face, not wanting to watch them fix his knee. I hear some pops as the mend the bone together and it rubs, and the pop his leg back in socket. Jace wakes up kind of loopy. "Hey, you're pretty," He says to me dreamily.
I roll my eyes. "Thanks baby," I laugh.

He smiles as if satisfied. The doctor comes in and gives him a hard cast that's white. It goes up to his thigh and ends around his foot. It's mended so there's a tiny bend in his knee, but not much. The doctor then turns to the both of us and starts talking. "Jace, don't shower unless your cast is covered. It can't get moldy. Let Clary help you to bed, up the stairs to your dorm. You can't play until three weeks after you get your cast off. You might need a bit of help changing, nothing that a roommate couldn't help you do. Just stay off of it and don't get the cast dirty." He orders.

Jace and I nod, followed by Jace's loopy, "This sucks." With that the doctor leaves. Coach Herondale comes in with crutches.

He looks at Jace, bites his lip, and turns to me. "You both don't be strangers while he's out of the game. Watch practices, come visit me, just… don't quit. You can do this, Jace." Coach says, putting an arm around my shoulder, and a hand on Jace's.

Jace nods, looking serious. "I wouldn't quit for anything Coach. Thank you… You should start training Lewis now. He's a loyal person, hard worker. I request, no, I demand, that you and Coach Brown make him the QB while I'm out for nine weeks. I'll come back as soon as physically possible." Jace says, shaking Coach Herondale's hand.

Coach nods once, gives me a hug, and leaves Jace and I alone. I hold out my hand to him. "Come on buddy, we have a bed with your name on it, back at the hotel." I say.

Jace frowns. "We won. I guess my predicament rules out celebrating in Times Square." He says. He looks so helpless in his full leg cast. I hand him his crutches and take his hand. He stands and grabs the crutches, his eyes watering. "I don't like this. No, I hate it… How can I…" His voice catches and he swallows.

A tear falls down my cheek. "I don't know Jace. But I do know I'll help you as much as possible." I say as we walk out of the medical room and into the locker room. No one is in there, the game ended fifteen minutes ago. I open his locker and hoist his bags out of it. I turn to him, and pull out a shirt and athletic shorts for him. They had to remove all of his gear for surgery. I help him put his pants on, and I tug the shirt over his head. He leans heavily on his crutches. I give him a reassuring smile, and he frowns. "I can't hold your hand. I can't hug you." He says.

I smile and lay my hand on top of his that rests on the crutch. I wrap my other arm through the crutches and put my hand in the back of his waistband, resting my palm on his lower back, where it curves to form his butt. I lay my head on his chest and look up at him. "But I can hug you, and hold your hand sort of. You don't have to worry about making a move, just tell me what you want." I say softly. He rests his head on mine.

"I want you." He says.

I frown. "Not for a while, until you're back on your own feet…" I trail off then, not wanting to tread on touchy subjects.

Jace sighs. "You're thinking about what might happen. Clary, I'm not going anywhere. Your mom will just be grateful that you at least have known me. This is a fifty-fifty chance, Red. And if you are having a mini Jace, I'm going to accept both of you, and I'll love you both more than anything." He says.

I just nod. "I'm terrified. I'll be in school. I'll have to take off." I say.

Jace shakes his head. "In nine months it'll be June. You'll have three months. We'd get an apartment. It'll be perfect." He says.

I smile. "How can you be so excited about a chance of a thing you don't know?" I ask.

Jace shrugs. "Who knows, could be the longhorn's good luck charm and future quarterback, or their new little lebaro. If it is true, if you are pregnant, we made it together. We'll just be one step ahead for when we get married…if you want to." He says.

I smile. "I would want to, but when we're out of college." I say.

Jace gives me a 'duh' look. He sighs. "I'm so in love." He says.

*Three weeks later*

I don't feel good. My head hurts, my stomach is cramping but I haven't gotten a period to blame the cramps on, and I've been studying like crazy for finals. I groan, and text Jace.

It's time. C

What baby? Time for what? J

Time for you to pick me up. We have to run an errand. C

Sure baby, no problem. J

I feel numb as we ride in the car on the way to the drug store. I'm glad volleyball season had ended last week, if what I think is true.

I park Jace's car, and we get out and go buy the tiniest object, that could give me the biggest surprise.

Jace rubs my back as we wait. I lay on my stomach on Izzy and I's bathroom rug, and Jace massages my lower back and neck. "You're too stressed. You're smart. You'll pass finals with flying colors." Jace says.

I groan. "Keep going." I say.

Jace sighs. "Fine, what's the square root of five hundred sixty seven?" he quizzes me.

I groan, but before I can answer, my timer goes off. I pick up the stick and Jace grins from ear to ear, my heart racing in my own chest. "I knew it!" Jace exclaims. "He'll be the best football player ever!" he smiles and leans on his crutches, taking one hand away to brush across the spot where our baby is growing. That tiny stick controlled my life now.