If I owned TMI, I would have the Academy ebooks out already. (Really though. I cannot WAIT for those!)
As always, give Mrs. Jace Wayland-Herondale some love because she brilliantly beta-ed this chapter!
For a little while, no one answered. Alec was certain he heard a crying baby inside.
Is that the kid? What was her name? Amanda? Arizona?
The door opened and a tall, slim, blonde haired teenager answered it. She was a mundane.
"Who are you?" Alec automatically asked.
"I'm sorry?" the girl asked incredulously.
"You're not Clary," Alec amended.
"No, I'm not," the girl responded. "She's out."
"Where?"
The girl shifted uncomfortably. "Work. I'm here to take care of Azalea," she finally answered.
That's it. Azalea.
"Do you want me to tell her you stopped by? What's your name?"
"No, no need," Alec responded smoothly. A loud wail was heard from inside. The girl sighed loudly and leaned her head against the door.
"What did you do to her?" Alec wondered out loud.
"I swear all I did was give her a duck stuffed animal!"
Alec couldn't help but laugh. She's definitely Jace's daughter.
"I wouldn't recommend that. If she's anything like her father, she probably is afraid of it."
The girl's eyes widened. "You know the father?"
Shit. "Just a hunch."
The girl frowned. "My name is Bridget. What's yours? Just so I know who to say dropped by?"
"Kevin," Alec lied.
"Okay," Bridget nodded. "Bye then, Kevin."
Before Alec could reply, she shut the door in his face.
Alec turned and made sure that Bridget wasn't looking out the window. He then took out his stele and drew a glamour rune on his arm. He was going to wait Clary out.
There was a nest of rebellious werewolves somewhere in Idris stirring up trouble, and Jace was naturally called up for it. He invited the rest of what he called "his team" as a joke - Isabelle, Simon, Alec and sometimes Magnus.
"Where's Alec?" Jace asked his sister as he drew a stealth rune on her shoulder.
"Don't know. I haven't heard from him all day," Isabelle responded, frowning.
"I'll call him again," Jace murmured. He took out his phone and dialed Alec's number.
After about 5 rings, he finally picked up. "Hello?"
"Where are you? I need your help with a job," Jace said.
"Oh, uh, I'm not going to be able to do that."
Jace frowned. "Why not? Are you too busy doing unspeakable things to Magnus?"
"No!" Alec indignantly responded. "I'm not even in Idris. I'm in America."
"Why?" Jace asked.
"Because I wanted to take a trip there? Does there have to be a reason?"
"Yeah, whatever Alec. Tell Magnus I say hello."
"No Jace you don't understand. I'm here for a reason, it's really important. It's about your -" Jace hung up.
"Where is he?" Izzy asked curiously.
"He claims he's in America. I'm pretty sure he's lying."
"He could be visiting your mom," Simon suggested.
"If he was visiting Mom, he would have mentioned it to me," Izzy pointed out.
"He said that it was important and that he was there for a reason. I think he was about to tell me the reason but I hung up," Jace shrugged.
Izzy rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I guess we'll just have to deal with these dumb werewolves by ourselves."
Clary was in a pretty good mood. She had a great shift at work; not to busy, and for the most part, drama free. When she got home, she decided, she would drink some tea and head straight to bed. She was bone tired.
Which is why when she thought she saw Alec sitting in her front yard, she almost crashed her car into Bridget's.
You're hallucinating, she thought to herself. You're just really tired, and need to go to bed.
Sure enough, when she parked her car into the driveway and looked up again, Alec was gone.
Clary hurried to the door and took out her keys, fumbling on them as she wrestled to unlock the door. She couldn't shake this uneasy feeling.
She unlocked the door and waved to Bridget. She took out a couple $5 bills and handed them to her.
"She was good?" Clary asked anxiously.
"Yeah. She's easy. She's a babysitter's dream come true," Bridget smiled.
"Good night, Bridget," Clary laughed.
Bridget paused. "Clary, there was this man earlier who dropped by. He said he was looking for you."
Clary felt her heart pound in her chest. "Did he say what his name was?" she asked in as calm a voice as she could muster.
"He said his name was Kevin?"
Relief flooded Clary. Probably an annoying salesperson.
"I don't know any Kevin's," Clary shrugged.
"That's odd," Bridget frowned. "Good night."
Clary listened to the door close and fixed herself a ham sandwich. She sat down watching some television and trying desperately not to think about the words Jace, anniversary, second, Kevin, or Alec.
When she was done with the sandwich, she wiped the crumbs off her, and put her plate into the sink. She walked into Azalea's room and planted a kiss on her forehead, hoping that the action wouldn't wake her. Thankfully, it did not. Clary slipped into her room and got out of her dress and frilly apron, the uniform for the diner she worked at. She took off her heels and massaged her sore feet. She slipped off her tights and all other garments that she didn't need for sleeping. She put on a tank top and shorts - some old habits die hard.
Clary slipped on some fuzzy socks, which she wore whenever she was upset. She glanced over at the wedding picture of her and Jace on her nightstand. She was holding a bouquet of white roses and grinning up at her new husband. Jace had his arms wrapped around her waist and had the widest grin on his face. Their wedding had to have been the happiest Clary had ever seen him.
Clary glanced down at her shoulder and stared at her marriage rune. She had gotten so many questions about it; everyone loved the "tattoo" on her shoulder. She would always lie that she got it when she was 16 to piss off her mom.
She wondered what Jace was doing right at that moment.
When she was finally starting to doze off, an abrupt knocking echoed through the house. Clary sat straight up, wide awake now. She checked her alarm clock for the time. It was almost 1 in the morning.
What on earth?
Cautiously, Clary took out her blade that she hid under bed. She had never used it since she had put it under there when she first moved. She was momentarily distracted at what it felt to have her beloved sword in her hands again. Another round of knocking snapped her out of the memories.
Clary listened for crying. She hoped the rude person at the door hadn't woken up Azalea. She was just starting to get on a somewhat normal sleep schedule. No sound came from the baby's room. Clary silently thanked the angel.
Clary creeped into the living room and slowly turned the locks. She thrust open the door, her sword aiming towards the knocker's chest.
"Jace, it's late. Can't you just continue this tomorrow?" Isabelle begged her brother. She never let Jace out of her sight on special occasions regarding Clary. Her birthday, their multiple anniversaries, you name it. She always worries he will do something rash.
When they returned from taking care of the werewolf pack, Jace raided her and Simon's liquor storage. He was currently drinking straight from a bottle of brandy.
"I want to get drunk, so I'm not going to stop," Jace stated.
"Unfortunately for you, you're not a light weight. You can take a lot of liquor. Why don't you just give up and go home? If you must, you can crash here. But you don't live far; just ta friendly reminder."
Jace responded by taking another big gulp of brandy.
Izzy sighed. "Alright. Be that way. I'm going to make passionate love to Simon upstairs," she attempted a final time.
"Do what you want. This is your house after all," Jace smiled smugly.
"You're gross," Isabelle rolled her eyes.
Alec was about to knock a third time when the door was thrust open, he was greeted with a sword pointed directly at his chest. He looked down at Clary, who was in her pajamas. She had always been so small, Alec thought to himself. He was nearly a foot taller than her with him at 6'3 and her at 5'4.
They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. What would Jace do in this situation?Alec thought. Make out with her probably. That wouldn't be appropriate.
So he went for sarcasm. "I see you haven't changed much."
Clary seemed to relax and slowly lowered her sword. Heosphoros,Alec reminded himself.
Clary finally spoke up. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked loudly.
"I would ask you the same question."
"Why are you here?" Clary asked again, weakly.
"To bring you home," Alec frowned. "Everyone misses you so much."
"Stop," Clary replied as if she was in pain. "I don't want to hear it."
"Well you have to," Alec persisted.
"How did you even know where I was? Did Magnus tell you? Of course he did. I'm going to kill him."
"No, I found out for myself. I found one of your letters."
"I told him to burn them!" Clary exclaimed.
"Well, he didn't burn that one. I don't know why," Alec attempted to calm Clary, who had been raising her voice.
Suddenly, a loud cry erupted.
"Oh shit," Clary cursed, running inside the house. Alec followed in.
Clary disappeared into what Alec suspected was the baby's room, and reappeared with a baby with tears stained on her cheeks. She was a precious thing; still very small and fragile.
Alec could already tell what a good mother Clary was. She was bouncing her daughter up and down, showering her with kisses, and occasionally tickling. The baby had already stopped crying and was now smiling and gurgling happily, like babies do.
"I hope you know about Princess Azalea," Clary said.
"Yes, I do. She's beautiful."
"Thank Jace for that," Clary smirked a little. She then stiffened. "You didn't tell him did you? About any of this?"
"No," Alec shook his head. "He knows I'm in America but that's all."
"Thank you," Clary sighed. "I'm not ready for him to know yet."
"He has to know," Alec pointed out.
"I know. I'm surprised Tessa hasn't told him, since she's always discussing the Herondale family with him. It probably killed her not to tell him that the family line would survive another generation," Clary laughed.
"They got much closer after you left," Alec nodded.
"I know. She told me."
At this point, Azalea was falling asleep against Clary's shoulder. Clary turned into the baby's room and Alec followed her in. He didn't want to say goodbye to his niece yet.
Clary laid her down and pulled a small baby blanket over her, and kissed her forehead.
Alec slowly walked over to the crib and looked closely at his niece. He couldn't help but think how much Jace will love her.
"Well, it looks like I won't be sleeping any after all this. Do you want some coffee?"
"Yes, please," Alec sighed in relief.
"Come on," Clary gestured to the kitchen. Alec sat at the table while Clary got some coffee filters.
Alec's phone vibrated and he glanced down.
New text from Izzy
"Oh no," Alec muttered out loud.
"What?" Clary asked.
"Oh nothing. Just Izzy."
Clary slowly nodded. "How is she?"
"All right. Her and Simon have gotten a lot closer."
"Is that even possible?" Clary laughed.
Alec shrugged and checked what the text said.
WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?! Jace said you claimed you were in America!
Alec rolled his eyes at his overbearing sister and started typing.
I am in America.
She responded immediately.
..why?
Secret.
Bullshit.
I'm not telling you.
Why the hell not?
I'll tell you when I get back.
Anyway I have something to tell you.
Go ahead.
No you have to call me.
Why?
Cause. It's important.
Alec sighed loudly. "Damn little sisters."
"Watch it," Clary called.
"You're my favorite now," Alec told her.
Clary grinned and walked over to the table with two steaming cups of coffee.
Clary sat down and sighed. "Raziel. I miss you all so much."
"We do too," Alec answered honestly.
"How did he..take it?" Clary asked, frowning at the table.
"Honestly? Not well."
Clary closed her eyes. "I didn't want to leave."
"I understand that you had to. But you're safe now, I'm sure of it. We haven't very much demon activity lately at all. The Fey are in control now - did you hear about that?" Clary shook her head. "They tried to revolt. Emma Carstairs killed the Seelie Queen." Clary's eyes widened. "We thought that the Fey would be even angrier after that but as it turned out, the Queen had been treating the Court unfairly for a long time. There was even an assassination plot. They have a new queen now, and alliances with the Fey have never been stronger."
This seemed to surprise Clary. "Wow, I never would have guessed."
"Same with us." Alec's phone vibrated again.
Hellloooooo? Call me!
"Izzy wants me to call her. Do you mind?" Alec asked apologetically. Clary shook her head.
"Could you maybe put it on speaker? I just want to hear her voice."
Alec considered saying no to this, but proceeded to lie his phone down on the table. "Don't make a sound," he warned.
And that's chapter 9! Hurrah!
And may I just say this: For those of you who read City of High School: I went to homecoming last weekend and I am so so so sorry about how inaccurate that chapter was. I had written the way homecoming is in the movies and it's actually very, very different. :p
Had to get that off my chest.
Wish me luck guys, I have my first speech tournament this Saturday! And I have about 85% of my speech memorized! Kill me!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know I enjoyed writing it.
Reviews are pumpkin farms because I love pumpkin farms and have not been able to go yet this year because I've been so busy! :(
Till next time,
-hufflepuffamity
