Disclaimer: I do not own The Mortal Instruments or any of its characters.
I felt something soft brush against my jaw then it became harder and something wet and strong pressed against my neck. My eyes shot open as I realized this wasn't a dream and I saw Jace sucking on my neck. I let my fingers flutter into his hair and grab a handful tugging lightly. With a groan, he lifted his face from my neck and smiled up at me.
"Well, that was some wake up call," I said breathing heavily.
"Good morning, gorgeous," he whispered against my skin. "I love you so much."
I lifted his head to meet my eyes. "I love you, too baby." His lips crashed onto mine and I opened my mouth to his wanting to feel him, taste him. My arms found their way around his neck and his around my waist. He pressed me harder into the mattress as I arched my back to press myself into him. His lips moved from my mouth and brushed along my jaw line and down my neck. Just as he moved his way back to my lips, the doorbell rang. His head turned in the direction of the sound. I grasped his face between my hands and turned him to face me again.
"Ignore it." Pulling his face to meet mine, I kissed him deeply. He kissed back until the doorbell rang again and he pulled away.
"Dammit. Every damn time." I giggled as he pulled himself off of me and crawled off the bed pulling me with him. "Come on, let's go see who it is."
He handed me one of his shirts, which looked like a dress on me and pulled his own pajama bottoms on before we exited the room. He reached down to grasp my hand in his and entangled our fingers together. We walked past the kitchen passing Simon and Isabelle, who were giving us weird looks as we walked past. Jace stopped abruptly in the doorway.
"Did you not hear the doorbell," he asked somewhat annoyed. "Could you not have answered it? We were kind of in the middle of something."
"One," Isabelle said, "gross and two: we were instructed not to answer the door, so kindly fuck off."
"Wow, someone's feisty in the mornings. I feel sorry for you Simon."
"I wouldn't," Simon said looking at the ground with a smirk on his face.
"Okay, that is something I really just didn't need to know." Jace shuddered with a grimace. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to answer the door."
Jace reached out to twist the doorknob and on the other side stood Jordan. He tilted his head in a nod and Jace gestured for him to come inside.
"I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced," Jordan said as we walked through the hallway into the living room and sat on the couch. Simon and Isabelle saw us from the kitchen and joined us sitting on the loveseat across from the couch.
"Don't worry about it," I assured him. "What's going on?" There was a pause bfore he explained his visit.
"Well, we found Raphael." I tensed and Jace squeezed my hand tighter. "He got careless and we found him entering a gentlemen's club late last night. He's being held down at the station for questioning, however, he nor Sebastian are giving up any information about Valentine or who else is working for him. We understand that Jonathan Morgenstern, who turns out to be Valentine's son, is close with Sebastian." I nodded in agreement knowing they were best friends, almost brothers. "He was spotted near the barricade this morning and may be trying to enact another one of Valentine's plans. We doubled forces around the house just in case."
"Thank you for keeping us informed, Jordan," Jace said politely. "Is there anything else you need from us?"
"Actually, Raphael is requesting to see Clary." He must have seen the fear in my eyes as he rushed to explain further. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but giving him this one small thing may open him up to giving us more information. You will not be left alone with him, I can assure you."
Jace wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest. "Can we have the day to think about it?"
"Of course, of course. You know how to get ahold of me when you decide. One of my officers will escort you to the station if you choose to see Santiago." With that, Jordan, Jace and Simon stood and shook hands walking toward the front door.
I sat frozen on the couch and Isabelle came over to sit next to me. She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and hugged me to her.
"Clary, don't worry," she said. "You don't have to do this. Jordan can find some other way to get information out of Raphael." I turned towards her, a smile beginning to stretch across my face.
"No, no," I said. "It's not that. I think I just felt the baby move." Her eyes grew wide. "I don't think you would be able to feel it from the outside but it felt like something in my stomach flipped and shifted. It was amazing."
Tears threatened to make an appearance as Isabelle wrapped her arms around my neck. Simon and Jace entered the room again with confused looks given our current situation.
"What's going on," Simon asked as he sat back down on the loveseat and Isabelle returned to his side tucking her legs up under her. Jace cupped my face between his when he saw tears and stared into my eyes.
"Jace, calm down. I just felt the baby move." He automatically dropped to his knees placing his hands on my stomach. "I don't think you'll be able to feel it, baby. You usually can't feel the baby move from the outside until it starts kicking and that won't be for another couple of months."
"I don't care," Jace said as he stared at my stomach, as if he could will the baby to move with his mind.
"Oh, great. You're going to obsess over this now, aren't you? You're not going to let go of my stomach until you feel it move, aren't you?"
"Why would you say that?" He glanced up at my face momentarily before focusing back on my bump. "I do not obsess over things."
"Oh, really? What about the time you saw August Rush? How many hours did you spend practicing the drumming while plucking the strings thing? I woke up one time at three in the morning and you still hadn't come to bed and you were in the living room banging and plucking until you got it right."
"Yeah, but you have to admit that knowing how to do that kind of makes me a badass. Plus, you know what the whole musician thing does to you. You can't blame me for trying to keep that feeling alive." He winked.
"Jace, can you please stop talking about your sex life in front of me," Isabelle asked from the loveseat.
"Hey, Iz, don't you have a newborn child you should be taking care of?"
"He's sleeping, asshole."
"Would you two knock it off," Simon said.
I grasped Jace's face in my hands. "Let go of my stomach before I punch you in the face," I said as sweetly as possible.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me." His eyes widened and he lept up from his crouched position.
"I think I felt it!" He danced around the living room. "I told you I would feel it. You were wrong. I was right!"
"Hey, jack ass, you didn't feel it. The baby didn't move." His shoulders fell.
"Why couldn't you just let me believe I felt it?" He knelt before me again and rested his head on my knees. I put my hands in his hair.
"Oh, baby, I'm sorry. I got a little carried away. Maybe you did feel it, I wasn't really paying attention." He lifted his head.
"Really?"
"Really." He rose up and placed a kiss on my lips and smiled.
"As entertaining as this little spat is," Izzy said, "I think I hear Max, so I'm just going to check on him." She rose from the couch and turned to Simon. "Come on, honey."
"Why do I have to go," he whined.
"Simon, if you don't get off your ass right now, you will never see me naked again." She reached her hand down for him. "Ugh, fine." They exited the room and Jace sat next to me on the couch. His fingers rubbed small circles into my knee.
"So, what are you thinking," he asked.
"I'm thinking that if you don't stop rubbing my knee, I may just have to throw down with you right here, right now." I moved my leg to rest on top of his and drew my bottom lip between my teeth.
"Wow, this whole pregnancy thing is making your hormones crazy." My lips found his neck and I felt him shudder under my touch. I peppered kisses along his jaw until I finally met his mouth crashing my lips to his. He fell back onto the couch with me on top of him. I slung my leg over his hips straddling him and pushing him further down on the couch. I pulled away briefly.
"Yes, and being in a house with you 24/7 is not helping at all." I ran my hands along his chest and rested them on his shoulders. He put his hands on my chest and pushed me away gently.
"Baby, we need to talk about this. You can't just jump me every time you need a distraction." I opened my mouth to respond, but he pressed a finger to my lips to stop me. "I know you're pregnant and your hormones are out of whack, but I think this whole situation is getting to you. You don't have to go see him, but we at least need to talk about it."
I lifted myself off of his chest and sat on my knees with my legs still straddling his hips as he rose to meet me. "If I talk about it, I have to accept that it's real. If I talk about it, I have to accept the fact that you brother died because of me and I just can't do that right now." He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his chest as I lowered my head into his shoulder.
"Honey, Alec dying wasn't your fault. Don't ever think that thought passed through my mind, but, unfortunately, we are going to have to deal with this. You have done so great up until this point and I don't want you to give up. We can't live in this house with Simon and Isabelle, never leaving, with a security detail constantly surrounding us and the fear that Valentine will somehow get to us. I'm not saying you need to go see Raphael, but we do need to at least talk about it."
I lifted my head from his shoulder to look into his golden eyes. "When I received the first envelope, I thought my life was so perfect. I was in love and about to embark on the greatest adventure of my life, but then I got the note and everything fell to shit. I experienced something in that moment that I had never felt before, a sort of motherly protectiveness that I wouldn't let anything happen to this child. I don't want to give up, I just want all of this to be over."
He lowered my head into his shoulder again. "I know, baby. Everything will be over soon. We're getting close, so close." I lifted my head once more and stared deeply into the golden spheres staring back at me. There was no pain or fear or malice in them, only love and adoration. I couldn't disappoint him and our child. Everything I did, from that day on, would be for them. I was going to be a mother and a wife soon. I had to stop being scared and start being the badass I knew I could be.
"I'll do it." He smiled and pulled me into him whispering against my lips before kissing me.
"That's my girl."
A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you're all enjoying the story. Feel free to tell me what you think! :)