Thank you to all the readers who left reviews. I think I'll do another one of those chapter preview for review things if you're interested (:

Kind of a short chapter, but because of Clary's unplanned park event the story timeline is a little messed up. The next chapter should be longer.


"No," he said, with a single shake of his head. "I'm not 'getting to know' that weasel and his weasel kid. No."

"Be nice," Clary snapped. "That's our child's godfather you're talking about."

"He is not my son's godfather."

Folding her arms across her chest, Clary arched a red brow.

"I beg to differ."

"No," Jace said again. "Choose someplace else to go, Clary, or I will walk home. I'll take the baby with me, too."

"What is wrong with you?" his partner questioned, staring at him through wide, incredulous eyes. "What's wrong with Simon and Maia, huh? Why do you insist on being such a loser?"

"Your friends are losers, Clary. All they do all day is talk about mindless crap and scribble stupid anime characters in their angsty little gothic sketchpads."

In the backseat of the car, the baby started to grizzle.

"And I'd rather cut myself than listen to those nerds prattle on about the latest comic book release or what they're wearing to Armageddon. God knows their Kid's first word is going to be Spock!"

A wave of relief hit Jace, a pressure lifting from his chest. Despite having insulted her friends, Clary would understand now- understand why Jace wouldn't waste time with the idiots she was associated with. Hopefully she'd just drive him home. He was fed up with the day already. Otherwise, he supposed he could handle a stop at a different park-

"You're such a fucking judgemental asshole," Clary said, interrupting his train of thought. He watched her incredulously as her words sunk in; judgemental asshole.

What?

"God, why would I even make an effort with you? Clearly no one likes you for a reason. And for the record, our baby's first word will be Spock. I like Star Trek, Simon's the one who hates it!"

Jace, eyebrows furrowed, glanced back at their now-crying baby quickly before voicing his confusion.

"Huh?"

"I like Star Trek," Clary said, tears brimming in her eyes much to his horror. "And I'm the one who owns a sketch pad, not Simon or Maia. I'm the artist, and I'm the one who likes Anime!"

"Clary-"

"Everything you just said was aimed at me, Jace, not my friends."

Crap.

Muttering a curse word to himself, he turned to her glove compartment and clicked it open, hurriedly searching for a tissue or napkin to hand the snivelling girl. Guilt swirled in his stomach as he came up empty handed, and met Clary's watery gaze.

"I'm sorry," he said, internally stumbling back over his words from earlier. "I didn't- not you, I didn't mean you. You're OK to be around."

However, his good intentionally thought out words only seemed to upset her more. She pouted, and wiped at her nose with the sleeve of her top.

He watched on uselessly, stone still in the passenger seat of the car while his kid cried in the back and his hypothetical wife cried in the front. The relationship, which had been going so well, had now been completely blundered, and admittedly, it made him mildly uncomfortable. He didn't know how to fix it, because hell, he'd meant every word he'd said about her earlier, and she knew it.

"I'm sorry," he said again, grasping for some kind of control over the situation. "I really am, I- Jesus. I know I'm a dick sometimes, and I don't think before I open my mouth, but- those things I said, they didn't apply to you because I've seen a little of who you are and you're not that bad-"

"Shut up, Jace," Clary sniffed, as a tiny tear trickled over her cheek. "Just stop talking."

He pressed his lips together, all too willing to comply if it meant she'd stop looking like a kicked little puppy.

Their child's cry cut through the air, louder in the silence than it had been before. Jace turned back to glare at the baby, willing it to shut up as it's mother had requested, but it did no use. Eventually he leaned between the seats and unbuckled the kid, heaving it's baby bag onto his shoulder as he did so.

He changed it's 'dirty' nappy on his knee, and then carelessly slung him back into his carrier again. Truthfully, he couldn't care less if the kid wasn't strapped in- Jace had a more monumental task to focus on. Clary. She was still upset, staring out the windscreen with wet eyelashes and a runny nose. He grappled for something to say that would ease the tension in the air and take things back to the partnership they'd had before he'd opened his goddamned mouth, but came up with nothing.

"What can I do?" he asked, deeming it more effective than stuttering out apology after apology for the rest of their three week period. "So I can make up for being such an asshole, what can I do?"

Clary didn't hesitate to answer.

"Simon," she said with a snivel. "And Maia. You can meet them, and make an effort."

And though he hated the idea of doing so, he nodded an agreement, and squeezed out of the car.