Chapter Nine
Clary POV:
I was on an airplane getting ready to land in New York, I had called Jace earlier to let him know what time I'd be arriving. I was nervous. It's been almost six months since I've seen him and I've changed a lot. Being held captive was the worst experience of my whole life. I was tortured and starved, beaten, and assaulted, and I had no idea how Jace was going to be able to handle me now. I didn't know if he was going to stay, or at the first sign of trouble he would up and leave. In my heart I knew that Jace wasn't the type of guy to bail when things got rough, but my mind just kept playing different scenarios in my head of what he could do.
The plane landed and I grabbed my bag and got off. I started walking towards the exit when I was thanked, and saluted, and cheered for. I smiled, and waved, and saluted back. When I turned my head there he was. I drank in his appearance, and I couldn't help but smile to myself. He looked better than ever, I made my way over to him and before I could say a word his lips were on mine. We stayed like that for a couple minutes before we broke apart. I looked into his eyes and smiled.
"Ti amo così tanto." He said and tears welled up in my eyes.
"Ti amo troppo." I smiled back at him, he grabbed my bags and my hand and lead me out of the airport. We make it back to base and into my house. Jace places my bag on the ground and I stand there for a couple minutes just soaking in my house, and how much I missed it. I looked around and noticed things that weren't there before I left. After looking around I met Jace's gaze.
"Are these your things?"
"Yea. I figured if you wanted me to stay for awhile, I'd bring some of my things over."
"I think I want you to stay a little longer than awhile." I went over to the desk and pulled out an envelope. I handed it to Jace and he looked confused.
"What's this?"
"I did it before I deployed. I was going to ask if you wanted to move in together after I got back. It's your military ID. Giving you access to the base. There is a new license in there with my address, and some other things, like car registration. Everything that says you live on this base. If that's what you want." He was looking through everything and finally his eyes met mine.
"I would love to move in with you Clary." I walked over to me and kissed me. "To be honest, I already moved in. My clothes are all upstairs and I found a place for everything."
"Good. That means we can relax in our house for the rest of the day."
"I would love that." He kissed me again, and I got myself settled on the couch while he made dinner. I let out a relieved sigh, everything was going to be okay, even if it takes awhile.
Time Jump-Two Months
Jace POV:
Living with Clary was surprisingly easy, nothing like living with Alec. Although she was a tad messy, it was nothing that I couldn't handle. Tonight was the night that I planned on asking Clary to marry me. I had talked to her parents, and they were making to trip from Fort Drum and meeting us at the park so they could witness the proposal. I was going to take her to the same place we went to after our first day a little over a year ago. I had taken on an extra case to keep me busy so I wasn't sitting around twittling my thumbs with anxiousness before dinner tonight. Six o'clock rolled around crazy fast and I was heading home to meet Clary. When I walked in the front door I looked up at stopped dead in my tracks. Clary was standing at the bottom of the stairs in a black dress, with red heels, that matched her red lips. Her hair was curled and her make up was out of this world.
"Hey. You going to go like that? Or do you need to change?" She asked and I just shook my head and tried to find my voice.
"No, I'm good. Wow. You look amazing."
"Thank you. Izzy helped pick it out." I walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Remind me to treat that girl to lunch next time I see her." She giggled and I grabbed her hand and led her to my car. We made it to the restaurant and had an amazing time. Being with Clary was as easy as breathing. It came so naturally and despite the hardships we've endured during the past couple months, there is no one else in the world I'd rather have as my wife. After we were done, we walked out of the restaurant and she started to walk to the car. "How about a walk in the park? It's a beautiful night."
"I'd love that." We walked around the park until we made it to the exact bench that we stopped and talked a long time ago.
"Clary, there is something I want to ask you." She looks at me and I can see the confusion in her eyes. "From the moment that I laid eyes on you in that restaurant there was the immediate pull I had towards you. I never acted on it because I didn't want to seem like I creep. So I kept quiet, and it wasn't until I heard you were deploying that I realized that if I lost you, I wouldn't be the same." Tears were welling up in her eyes and I knew they were happy tears. "When we ran into each other at the airport I knew that I had to make my move before I chickened out and it was the greatest decision I've ever made. I love you more than anything Clarissa Morgenstern and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." I pulled out the velvet box in my pocket and opened it. "Ti sposerà me?"
"YES!" She squealed. "Naturalmente ti sposo." I slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her into a kiss. I heard cheers in the background and when I turned around Valentine, Jocelyn, Alec and Izzy were all standing there.
"Benvenuti alla famiglia figlio." Valentine said and pulled is both into a hug.
"La ringrazio." I said and got some strange looks from Alec and Izzy.
"Il mio bambino è così cresciuta fino." Jocelyn said as she whipped the tears from her cheek.
"Mamma e papà non riesco a credere che sei qui." Clary said and hugged them. "Alec, Izzy che sorpresa." She said as she ran and hugged them.
"Hey babe, turn off the Italian, they don't understand you." I said and she just laughed.
"Sorry guys, I got caught up in the moment." She turned to me. "You arranged all of this?"
"Of course I did, I thought your parents should be here to witness it."
"Sei incredibile sapete che?"
"I'm well aware." I kissed her again and looked back at the group. "Now why don't we all head back to our house and celebrate!" Valentine and Jocelyn had snatched Clary to look at the ring while I walked with Alec and Izzy.
"You weren't kidding about the Italian." Alec said and I just shook my head.
"Nope." I laughed. "One time we were having dinner and they spoke in Italian for the majority of it before they realized that I couldn't keep up with the conversation."
"Could you keep up tonight?"
"Yup, I understood everything they were saying." They just nodded their heads and we all got in our cars and made our way back to Fort Hamilton. Valentine and Jocelyn were staying with us while they were visiting and we had a very good time celebrating our engagement. There wasn't anything that I needed at that moment because my life was perfect.
Translation:
Ti sposerà me?- Will you marry me?
Naturalmente ti sposo- Of course I'll marry you
Benvenuti alla famiglia figlio- Welcome to the family son
La ringrazio- Thank you
Il mio bambino è così cresciuta fino- My baby is so grown up
Mamma e papà non riesco a credere che sei qui- Mom, dad I can't believe you're here
Alec, Izzy che sorpresa- Alec, Izzy what a surprise
Sei incredibile sapete che- You're amazing you know that?
