Yay another update! That actually has plot related stuff!
I still don't own TMI. If I did, we'd have canon Clace babies. Just sayin'.
As always, shout out to my beta Mrs. Jace Wayland-Herondale aka my newest friend on Facebook! XD
8 months later
As much as Clary missed the Shadow World, she really didn't mind her job. All the other waitresses were nice, and she had a kind and understanding boss. She could've landed something a lot worse.
Waitressing was harder now that she was 9 months pregnant, with the due date in a couple of days. Getting around narrow corners just wasn't possible anymore. And the baby was a kicker, which sometimes forced Clary to sit down. The baby would be strong like its daddy, that was for sure.
"Should I get the table over there?" Clary asked Debra, a 40-year-old woman who treated Clary like her own daughter.
"Clary, sweetie. You're making me nervous with your gigantic stomach. You should go home. The baby should be coming any day, now."
Clary huffed. Every waitress in the restaurant has given her the same exact talk this past week.
"The only reason I'm working is to take my mind off the fact that I'm going to be a mother soon," Clary sighed.
"You'll be an amazing mother. You're loving and kind and gentle," Debra softly said, taking both of Clary's hands in her own work-weathered ones.
"I don't think I can do it on my own," Clary muttered.
"Where did the father go?"
"I left him," Clary defiantly stated. She had been telling everyone that her and Jace had a big falling-out and that he wasn't responsible enough, even though it was all lies. But in the mundane world, that's what usually happens.
"Why?" Debra asked.
"There were people- bad people- that he was involved with." Kind of a lie. She was taking about Lilith and Asmodeus. It's not like he was actually involved with them, but they were the reason she had to leave.
"Drug dealers?!" Debra exclaimed. Clary slowly nodded.
"Oh honey, I'm so sorry. That must be tough. He was good to you though, right? He didn't hit ya?" Debra glanced down at all the scars on Clary's exposed skin that she got from previous injuries.
Clary blinked back tears. "Yes, he was very good to me. He wouldn't have dared to lay a hand on me."
"Do you miss him?" she asked quietly.
"Very much." Clary nodded and then went to blow her nose.
"Well, maybe he'll get his life together and find you."
Clary smiled a sad smile. "Maybe."
Magnus was restless. He kept pacing back and forth, back and forth, mumbling to himself. It was driving Alec insane, and worrying him as well.
"What's wrong, dear?" he eventually asked.
"Nothing's wrong," Magnus said much too quickly.
"Don't lie to me," Alec scolded. "Tell me."
Magnus hesitated. He slowly walked over to Alec and sat down.
"Before Clary left, she told me something," he said slowly.
"What was it?" Alec asked with an urgent tone.
"She told me that she was, ah..." Magnus stuttered.
"Was what? Dying?"
"No!" Magnus exclaimed, horrified. "She told me that she thought she was pregnant."
Alec stilled. Why would Clary leave when she was pregnant?
"Was it not his? Is that why she left?" Alec wondered out loud. He couldn't believe that she'd cheat on Jace!
"No, no! It was his. Honestly, Alec, Clary would never do such a thing," Magnus declared.
"Was she scared that Jace wouldn't want a kid? Because he would've been so happy. He really did want a kid. He loves kids, surprisingly," Alec rambled.
"I don't know," Magnus sadly said. "I don't know why she left."
"Why are you telling me this, anyway? Why are you so worried about this?"
"How long has Clary been gone?" Magnus asked, looked at Alec expectantly.
"It'll be 8 months on Tuesday, why does that matter?" Alec asked stupidly.
"Yes, and Clary had been a month pregnant when she told me," Magnus hinted. Alec blankly stared at him.
"Honestly Alec, did your mom ever have the talk with you?"
Alec turned scarlet and stuttered, "Yes, of course she did! When I was 13!"
"Did she explain how long a baby is in the mom's stomach?" Magnus asked, exasperated, and rolled his eyes at him.
"Yes," Alec huffed. "It's supposed to be in the stomach for 9- oh."
"'Oh' is right Alexander. I'm worried about her!"
"She'll be fine. She's Clary; she's tough."
"I hope so," Magnus sighed.
Debra eventually convinced Clary to leave work early and wait out the baby's arrival at home. She made sure Clary had her number handy so that when the baby came, she could be there for support.
Clary slowly walked to her porch, opening the screen door. She stopped, finding that she had mail in the white vertical mailbox mounted on the wall.
Probably a bill.
She opened her mailbox and saw with a surprise that it wasn't a bill, but what looked like a hand-written letter.
She slowly shuffled inside and ripped open the letter. She found very neat, exquisite handwriting that she recognized immediately.
May 23, 2012
Clary,
Magnus wanted to write to you but we figured it wouldn't be safe since Asmodeus checks on him sometimes. You never told Magnus your address, by the way. We eventually tracked you and figured it out, but not before Magnus almost had a heart attack.
He has done well keeping your secret. They've asked him to track you multiple times, and he would always pretend to, and then tell them he couldn't find you.
How are you? I am fine. Very pregnant. My baby is due in about a week. I would guess it's about the same for you? I am so nervous, but very excited. I love children, and cannot wait to see James as a father.
I am sure this is all very overwhelming for you, though. I'm sorry about that. But it's an amazing feeling and experience, and I know you are more than capable. I may just pay you a visit sometime!
Chaos is starting to stir here in the Shadow World yet again. Emma and Julian have been acting strange lately. Emma is always sneaking out of his room in the middle of the night. I have a feeling I know what they're doing, but I really hope hat I'm wrong. But, that's beside the point. Tensions with the Fey are very high. We may have yet another war, and it's only been 5 years! It seems like it may just be World War III.
I hope you are well. Please reply, I need to know how you are. I need to make sure you're okay. Call it my motherly protection of you, I don't know.
And please take the check. We'll be sending them every month or so. We feel like you could probably use the money.
Love,
Tessa
Clary was so glad she had Tessa and that she didn't have to do this all alone. She was especially grateful when she looked at the check. It was for a $1000.
Where does Tessa get this kind of money?
It didn't really matter at the moment, because Clary suddenly felt a rush of water down her legs, like she had wet her pants. She had read enough parenting books to know what this means. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed.
"Debra? It's time."
Jab. Poke. Kick. Jab. Poke. Kick.
Ever since Clary had left, Jace started training harder and harder until he went far past his breaking point. The physical exhaustion left him with little time to think, and made the pain more bearable.
Everyday, he woke up and was reminded that she was gone by turning over and seeing no one there. And then he would go make breakfast, and be reminded again by her absence whenever he passed the coffee maker. Clary would always lean against the counter counting the seconds till her coffee was ready.
He would visit the Institute and be reminded, for it just wasn't alive without her.
Whenever he visited the Institute, he avoided the Greenhouse like it was the plague. It had used to be his favorite place to go to think, but now if he went in there all he'd think of is Clary and her 16th birthday and their first kiss.
Everyone had stopped looking for her. Isabelle and Alec and Simon and Magnus missed her too, he knew. Jocelyn and Luke and even Lavvy hadn't been the same since she left; but I suppose that's understandable since they're her family. But still, no one had mourned her absence more than he had.
Jace was determined that she would be found, someday. She just didn't want to be found right now, and that's okay. Anything she does, she does with a clear objective in mind, even if it means leaving her family behind.
But she will come out from her hiding spot someday, she has to.
And when she does, he will be there, waiting.
Tessa Gray tensely sat in the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room. When Clary had gone into labor, she sent Tessa a fire message asking for her to come.
Everyone was giving her worried looks, and glancing at her enormous stomach. They probably all thought that the baby would pop out while she was waiting.
"Ms. Carstairs?" Tessa looked up and saw nice looking nurse. "Would you like to see your niece?"
So that's what Clary told them when they asked what my relation was to her, Tessa thought, bemused. She could tell the nurse was trying to figure out how the two of them looked similar, considering how they were supposed to be sisters.
Tessa carefully stood up, and walked to Clary's room agonizingly slowly.
When she opened the door, she saw Clary slumped in her hospital bed, looking sweaty and exhausted. But it didn't seem to matter much, for Clary had an enormous grin on her face as she gazed into her daughter's eyes.
"She's so beautiful," Tessa commented. It was terribly cliché, but it was true. It was the most beautiful baby Tessa had ever seen, beside James and Lucie, of course.
"I know," Clary whispered, goofy grin in place and tears in her eyes.
"She has my Will's lovely blue eyes," Tessa muttered, staring at the little angel's face.
"She'll be a heart breaker. I can already tell," chuckled Debra.
"Just like her daddy used to be," Clary sadly stated.
Birth had been agonizing. It had felt like her body was going to split in half. But holding her warm, tiny little baby had made it all worth it.
She was a little onetoo, only 5 pounds and 2 ounces. She had a tuft of strawberry blonde hair on top of her tiny head. When she opened her eyes, Clary was shocked to find that they were a dark, cornflower blue; not gold or green like she'd been expecting. She'd have to ask Tessa if that ran in the family.
She had the cutest little button nose and a light dusting of freckles just like Clary, but she had more of Jace's bone structure.
She was beautiful, perfect, healthy, and that was all Clary could ask for.
Clary decided to name the baby Azalea. She loved flower names, and azaleas were so lovely. And it was such a nice name, she thought. Her full name was Azalea Isabelle Herondale.
"Her name is Azalea. Azalea Isabelle," Clary grinned at Tessa.
"What a pretty name for a pretty girl," Tessa smiled.
When Clary was forced to leave Jace and everyone she loved behind, it left an enormous hole in her heart. Holding Azalea, Clary could feel the hole slowly begin to heal.
I've been sick all weekend with an on and off fever and sore throat and all that. It's the worst.
And now I'm uploading this instead of doing my bullshit Biology homework (my teacher can't teach to save her life)
This has been fun. I can't exactly remember what's all in the next chapter since I wrote it a long time ago. Feels? Cute baby?
And for those of you who wanted Clary and Jace to reunite before the baby was born, sorry babes. Never part of the plan, I'm afraid.
Reviews are a million times better than Biology homework. Please send me some so I can procrastinate more *laughs nervously*
Till next time,
-hufflepuffamity
