LEGGO

Clary had laid back in her cot with the blankets around her tight, a piece of the phone still in her hands as she napped. Her breakdown had worn her out more so than ever and it didn't help that she had a coughing fit right after. She awoke to the sound of the door opening, but this time she didn't turn to see who it was. The phone call to her mother made things all to real for her, her core felt empty and her heartbeat felt dull.

She listened as the footsteps came close to her, and then the sound of the metal pullout chair scraping softly against the cement before the creak of someone's weight on it. She heard a click, the click of the mug being set down close to her before she finally rolled over.

Jace sat in the chair, his elbows on his knees and his face looking at the mug. The curled blonde locks covered his eyes and his mouth was a hard set line as his jaw tightened and loosened. Clary's fingers twitched again to draw the image in front of her, but she pushed the feeling down.

She just looked at him, followed the lines of his wide set shoulders and how the bumped with muscles. She followed the veins and scars of his exposed arms down to his long fingers that were linked together tightly. His skin looked smooth and warmer than the blankets she wrapped herself in, and for a moment she imagined what it would be like to be in them more than just to be thrown into a stolen car.

"You did nothing." She said quietly. Jace didn't look up, instead his head dropped more so.

Clary sat up finally and adjusted the blankets like she always did.

"You don't get to bring me tea and be kind to me but do nothing when that shit happens." Clary's voice was steady and cold. She had gotten all of her crying out and felt nothing at this point but frustration.

Jace said nothing, his hands tightened together and his biceps tensed as if she had just whipped him.

"You did nothing." She repeated.

Finally Jace looked up, desperation on his face.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"What are you doing now?" She countered.

"I'm doing what I can to survive for two more months."

Clary frowned.

"Bull." She leaned against the wall behind her.

He stood just then, his hands in fists at his side and his feet in a wide stance as if he was waiting to attack.

"Don't. You don't know what I'm talking about and you don't know whats going on." Jace spoke harshly towards Clary, but she looked at him in annoyance.

She stood then as well, the blankets falling to the bed. He was at least half a foot taller than her but she lifted her chest to make herself appear bigger.

"Then tell me what's going on so I can survive." She snapped back.

Jace looked down at her, his eyes ignited but the remorse was still evident.

"I don't want to be apart of this, Clary. Can't you see that? You don't see the way I ostracize myself? Or how I'm the only one that brings you the things you need? I don't want to be in this situation anymore than you do. But here I am and I'm screwed for the rest of my life. It's sick, this whole things is sick and wrong but I can't do anything." Jace grabbed at his hair and threw his arms down as he spoke, his voice cracking in some of his words as he broke apart. He spoke quietly but his voice was harsh as he tried to keep his volume down.

"You think that because I'm so against it that I haven't tried leaving? It's hard when someone like Lilith knows everyone and has all kinds of connections. I can't get out because I need her still." He argued. Jace huffed and sat back down on the chair, his elbows on his knees again but this time his face in his hands as he combed his fingers through his hair anxiously.

Clary looked down at him then, watching his hair twist and curl around his long fingers. His nails were clean and the pads looked hard with callouses. It took a lot for Clary not to kneel in front of him and touch his golden strands in comfort, she hadn't realized how little apart he was in the situation. Apart of her didn't trust his words, thinking that it was a ploy to get her to trust him, but the part of her that believed him won over.

Jace didn't look up at her but spoke anyways, "I'm just as much a prisoner as you are, Clary."

Clary's heart broke for him.

Her knees gave out and she kneeled in front of him, but she didn't touch him. It was strange to her how in a matter of days he had opened up to her so much and she had understood why he was kind to her, why he always looked out of place, and why he looked at her the way he did.

"We have to get out of here." Clary said quietly. Jace looked at her through his hands before they fell in front of him. He was still crouched over with his elbows on his thighs, but now his hands were inches from her face.

A curl had fallen in front of her face, and Clary desperately wanted a shower as she noticed it's thickened texture.

She froze as his hand came up, his pointer and thumb looped itself around the lock so that it curled around his finger easily. He felt the thick strand on his fingertips for a moment before he tucked it back in with the rest of her hair gently. Clary's cheeks burned and her heart fluttered at the innocent touch. Jace's eyes were light and gentle as he looked at the strand and then at her.

"I don't know how to stay out of here, is the only problem." Jace answered her back, his tone sad and as cold as the corners of the room.

Clary looked up at him more through his hair, "What does she want with Valentine?"

Jace looked down and then back in Clary's eyes.

He looked defeated, "I honestly don't know."

Clary sighed, "You have to find out."

"Why would it matter?"

Clary grabbed his pant leg, her hands burnining even though there was a layer of jean in between them. He had looked down at her small hand and his hand twitched but he looked back at her in the next second.

"Because there has to be a way to get Valentine to give her what she wants. He knows me best, and this is more than just wanting money from him. We have to get him to understand the reasons behind it so he can just give her what she wants." Clary comforted Jace as best as she could, but she saw the defeat in his eyes.

He put his face back in his hands and mumbled in his palms.

"God, this is sick. This is so God damned sick. This isn't real life."

Clary's internal thoughts screamed for her to touch his face, stroke his hair, comfort him in some way. He looked so fragile to her in this moment and all she wanted was to soothe it away for him. It was clear to her that he had gone through enough in his life for years and that no matter what he did to try to get out, nothing had worked for him. It was evident in the way he held himself around the others, the scars raised from his skin, and the shake of his hands. He wasn't the bad guy, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Footsteps sounded above them and they both looked up. Jace looked at her alarmingly and she looked back with panic.

He reached in his pocket then and handed her something golden. When she tried to decifer it he grabbed her wrist and opened her hand before placing the cold metalic item in her hand and closing her fingers around it.

The moment he touched her her veins shocked and her skin sparked. She nearly jumped from the shock of electricity that zapped her bones. She saw him almost flinch as well.

"Hide it, it's yours." He said quickly before looking at her for a moment and standing, the metal chair rocked slightly as he dashed out of the room and left out the door.

Clary looked at the door, now closed, as she listened for Jace's light footsteps dash up the stairs. The flat hardness of the ground had made her knees hurt, but she didn't move as she rolled the now warm metal in her hands.

She opened her fist and glanced at the object. White and gold tick marks around in a circle with a ticking arm just over the letter C in cursive. The time read one o'clock as she held the watch he had given to her close to her.

Honestly, I didn't really want this chapter to come yet, but meh. It happened. Things are progressing a little faster than I wanted to but I'm kinda ready for this story to be done. I'm gonna get ready for my day and then I'll come back so stay tuned. You're comments and reviews mean the world to me so if you'd like to leave me some, by all means, do so! Hahahaa... Yeah, I'll be back. LOVES