Jace is basking in the after glow as Clary lay tucked against his chest. Her fingers are trailing lightly up and down his chest while his tangle in her hair. "What time is it?" Clary asks, breaking the comfortable silence.
Jace leans over and looks at his clock and huffs out an unhappy breath. "We should leave soon." he tells her. "It's twelve-twenty. We have to be there at one and it takes about ten minutes to get there."
He feels Clary's chest rise and fall as she takes a deep breath and then she props herself up on her elbow and looks down at him. Her hair falls into her face, partially covering one eye, and he reaches out and tucks it behind her ear. "Let's hope telling your parents goes better than telling mine and Alec." she says dryly and Jace's lips pull up into a tight sort of smile.
"I think my mother won't care as much." Jace says as he tucks one hand behind his head. "She has been dying for me to stop fooling around and settle down. You could have three eyes and a parasitic twin growing from your stomach and she would still love you because you managed to tie me down."
Clary smiles hugely and laughs as she says, "A parasitic twin growing out of my stomach? Where did that come from?"
Jace shrugs and says, "I was watching the discovery channel last night when I couldn't sleep and it's all your fault. I wanted you here with me."
"Well maybe if you're nice, we can work something out for tonight? I am still avoiding my father."
"And what sort of things would you consider to be 'nice'?" Jace asks as he raises one brow in speculation.
"For one thing," Clary says sexily as she presses herself up against him some more, "what you did about twenty minutes ago, that was 'nice'."
"Oh. Was it now?" he says with a smile and leans into her for a kiss. She parts her lips for him and his grip around her tightens as he deepens the kiss. After a few heated seconds, Clary pulls back with a smirk as Jace's hand starts to slide down her side and over her hip. "Mr. Herondale." she says seductively. He responds with a sort of feral growl that sends shivers down her spine and he starts to lean into her again. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asks again as he starts to pull her into him even more. His lips lower until they find her neck and he places a slow and lingering hot kiss to her soft skin there. She lets out a sigh before she continues. "Maybe you are forgetting your parents?"
His hand and lips immediately stop and he stiffly falls back onto the bed from where he had leaned up to try to seduce her again. "I really hate them right about now." he says dryly and Clary laughs once before leaning into him and kissing him quickly on the lips and hopping out of bed.
He opens his eyes and looks over to watch her get dressed and he still can't believe how beautiful she is. He has no idea what he did to deserve her. It's not like he is out spreading cheer and good karma in the world.
When she slips the eggplant colored blouse she was wearing over her head, he gets out of bed and finds his clothes and puts them back on. By the time he is done, Clary is in his bathroom, brushing her 'sex hair' and making sure her makeup isn't smudged. She sees him when he steps into the doorway and looks nervously over at him. "Do I look okay?" she asks him. "Is this the right thing to wear when meeting your boyfriend's parents who happen to hate your family's guts and wishes they would all just die?"
Jace can't help but let out an amused laugh at her summation of their situation and walks into the bathroom. He puts his hands on either side of her hips and slides in between her and the sink and holds her gaze. "You look absolutely beautiful." he reassures her. "You are dressed perfectly. Not too casual and not too dressy. Like usual, you are perfect."
Clary smiles and rolls her eyes gently as her hands come up between the two of them and come to rest on his chest. "I'm just really, really nervous." she admits to him. "There is a lot riding on this. If we can get both of our families to agree to accept our relationship, it could be the beginning of healing the deep wounds that our families caused each other."
Jace lets go of her hips and brings his hands up to cup her face. "Everything will work our fine." he tells her even though he has no clue if it will. "As long as I have you, I will be the happiest man on this Earth. I promise."
His words seem to relax her a little and she snakes her arms around his torso and turns her head to the side and rests it on his chest as she hugs him tightly. "Me too. I just want you." she tells him. "I love you."
"I love you too." he replies and kisses the top of her head and stares at the white wall of the bathroom behind her and thinks to himself 'I can't lose her. I just can't.'
The elevator doors slide open on Jace's parents floor, which is similar to his by being the only home on the floor of a swanky building, and he grabs on tighter to Clary's hand. He can feel the stress coming off of Clary's guard, Trevor, in waves. Every muscle in his body is tense with worry and alertness. We already discussed that he will be waiting right outside of the door because his parents don't like guards coming in their home, and if Clary needed him, she would yell and he would come running in through the door that Jace will leave unlocked for him. To say that Trevor didn't particularly like the plan, was an understatement.
Clary froze for a moment half way to the door and took a deep breath before letting Jace pull her the rest of the short distance to their penthouse. Once there, he paused and looked down at her. After a few seconds, Clary looked up at him and gave him a tentative smile before he bent down and kissed her passionately for a few seconds. When they pulled apart, both of their eyes were wild with passion and determination. That kiss was a reminder of why all of this was worth it. Why they would fight to the death for each other.
Jace then set his shoulders and stood up straight as he reached down and grasped the door knob. He swung the door open and stepped inside, pulling Clary with him. She tucked herself into his arm, wrapping her hand that wasn't in his around his bicep and standing with her side pressed up against him. Jace doesn't know if his father knows what Seraphina Morgenstern looks like or not. Valentine did a very good job of keeping her hidden from prying eyes until she started to work for him a couple of years ago. And she still keeps a low enough profile that Jace didn't know what she looked like. He just hopes that his father doesn't immediately recognize her. Clary isn't exactly too keen on Jace's plan but he assures her it is the best one for his parents. He wants to get them to like her first before telling them her name if they don't immediately recognize her.
As the door clicks shut behind him, he can hear Trevor reach out and turn the knob to make sure it is unlocked and then he hears his mother's humming coming closer. Clary's hand tightens around his and so he lets his thumb rub the back of her hand in soothing circles to try and calm her.
Jace takes a couple of steps further into the open floor plan of the penthouse and looks in the direction of the kitchen that is to the left and around a corner. He knows that is where his mother is while his father is likely in his office to the left. He sees that the door is closed which means he is probably on the phone conducting business. There is a small step down into the living area that he pulls them to and looks to his left to see his mother step out of the kitchen with a small apron tied around her waist. Her blonde hair is tied back nicely and her blue eyes light up when they land on Jace. "Jace." she says brightly as she unties the apron from around her waist. "I made some soup since I know that you probably aren't that hungry because of your brunch with Alec." She then takes her eyes off of Jace and they dart down to Clary who is still partially hidden behind Jace.
Jace looks down to Clary who is looking up at him, and he gives her a small reassuring nod. He watches as she takes a deep breath and then sees as she shoves away the nervous person who had taken up residence in her for a few minutes, and the Clary Morgenstern he knows and loves comes back to the surface.
She steps out from behind him fully and smiles warmly at his mother. Celine's eyes meet hers and her eyebrows raise with slight surprise. "She really is beautiful." Celine says and continues on her path to Clary. "Your description didn't do her justice, Jace." she chastizes him and he rolls his eyes slightly. "I thought I did a good job describing how stunning she is." he retorts and she reaches the two of them then.
Clary sticks her hand out to his mother and she takes it in both of hers. "It is so good to meet you, Mrs. Herondale." Clary says sweetly and Celine's eyes get even brighter.
"Please, call me Celine." she tells her and then she furrows her brows slightly. "You look so familiar, Clary." she says and he can feel Clary tense slightly at her words. "Have we met before?"
"No ma'am." Clary tells her and Jace decides to change the subject.
"Where is Dad?" he asks.
"He's had to take some business call." she replies and gestures towards his closed office. "Are you sure we haven't met?" Celine asks her again and narrows her eyes in study at Clary some more.
"Mom." Jace says a little sternly. "You've never met her."
"Alright." Celine says a little defensively. "No need to get all bent out of shape about me asking." She then gestures towards the couch over by some windows. "Come and sit down while the soup finishes simmering and tell me how you managed to tame my son." Celine says with a friendly smile as she looks at Clary.
Clary lets out a slightly nervous and breathy chuckle as she nods and follows her with Jace close behind. When they sit down on the couch, Jace sits right next to Clary with his leg touching the whole length of hers and tucks one of his arms around her back and lets his hand come to rest on her hip. He pulls her tightly into him and one of her hands comes to rest on his leg. The closeness seems to relax her a little as she leans into him some more.
"So, Jace tells me that you met at a restaurant. He said that you had come there with someone else." Celine says as her eyes are on Clary with a small smile on her lips as she talks. "That doesn't surprise me because when my son sees something he wants, he doesn't let anything stop him from getting it."
"I did go there with someone else." Clary tells her. "It was my boyfriend at the time and I had planned to break up with him there that night."
"Planned to?" she asks questioningly.
Clary lets out a small humorless chuckle before she answers. "Yes. Planned to. My ex-boyfriend had different plans though. He actually proposed to me."
"And I am assuming that didn't go over well." she offers and Clary shakes her head no.
"Jace apparently saw the whole thing and knew that I probably needed a drink after crushing his heart and followed me out of the restaurant. He was pretty persuasive and before I knew it, I was climbing in his car and he was lip syncing Careless Whisper to me in a bar."
Jace laughs and Clary looks up at him and they share a moment of looking into each other's eyes. "You liked it even though you said you were embarrassed and called me cheesy." Jace says and Clary chuckles a little. "You were very cheesy but very smooth. I think that is when you had me. When you pulled me up to dance with you."
"I am smooth and lithe on my feet. Just call me Lord of the Dance." Jace tells her playfully and she laughs as her eyes sparkle at him.
"Doesn't that mean that you have to wear tights now and wear tap shoes?" Clary teases him and his eyes go wide. "Never say such a thing again." he tells her and she laughs some more. In that moment, as he looks down at her smiling face, he knows that everything that they will go through will be worth it. It may not be easy but it will definitely be worth it.
He brings one of his hands up to cup her face as he looks down at her and smiles and he pulls her into a soft and sweet kiss. When he pulls back, they are both smiling those goofy smiles that people have when they are desperately in love and Clary's cheeks heat up just a little.
"Look at this." Celine says quietly and mostly to herself. Jace looks back over to her to see that she was watching the whole exchange and her eyes are swimming with happiness at the sight of the two of them. "I thought I wouldn't live to see the day when my son would look at a woman like he looks at you, Clary. It warms my heart to no end to see that."
Clary's blush deepens and she glances back up at Jace once more before looking back at Celine. "I'm lucky to be the one to be on the receiving end of that look. I didn't know someone could make me so happy until Jace. Thanks for making him who he is so that I could have someone to fall desperately in love with." She looks down at her hands then with a small huff and a small disbelieving smile says, "I never expected to be saying anything like that a week and a half ago...or ever." She looks back up to Celine then and continues. "I knew that you could fall in love with someone really fast because of my parent's love story, but experiencing it was something totally different." Clary then turns her face back up to Jace. "It is exciting and intense and feels absolutely amazing. I now can't imagine my life without him in it."
Jace's hand comes up and caresses her face again as he looks down at her lovingly and she turns to face his mother again. "Just listen to me." she says with a dry chuckle. "We just met and I am sitting here making sappy declarations of love instead of trying to make small talk about the weather."
Celine looks over at her with the warmest smile Jace has ever seen and then she is coming to sit on the other side of Clary. She reaches out and takes one of her hands and pulls it into her lap. "I could care less about the weather." Celine tells Clary with a soft smile. "I am just beyond relieved to be able to see that you are as much in love with my son as he is with you. It's written all over both of your sappy and lovesick faces." Both of the women then share a small laugh as they look at each other. "You have been the only thing he has been able to talk about for the past week and that is saying a lot because I am sure you know that he loves to talk about himself."
Clary lets out a louder laugh at that and he can feel her relax almost completely under his arm that is tucked around her. "That he does." Clary responds and Celine then surprises them both by pulling her into a hug. Clary lets one arm wrap tentatively around Celine's shoulders before they release each other and Jace thinks he sees his mother quickly wipe away a small tear under her eye as she lets go of his girlfriend.
He watches as his mother's eyes grow serious and she looks at Clary in the eyes. "Now, when can I expect grand-babies? It has been way too long since we have had a baby in this house."
"Mom!" Jace yells at his mother inhis most chastising tone. "That is not anywhere near our radar right now. Not even close."
"What?" his mother asks curiously. "Am I not allowed to want something I was sure I wasn't going to live long enough to see with the man-whore you were?"
He feels Clary's laughter before he can hear it. "I love your mom." Clary says through her laughs as she turns and looks back at him. "She doesn't hold back and puts you in your place. It's beyond entertaining to watch."
"Just face it now, darling." his mother says as she leans across Clary and pats Jace's cheek lightly. "You are never going to win another argument once I pull Clary over to my side. You don't stand a chance."
"I am starting to see that." he replies flatly and both women chuckle at the look of utter defeat Jace's face. Just as he is about to voice a retort, he hears his father's office door open. He looks over his shoulder and behind him to see his father smoothing down his shirt and running a hand through his golden hair. Stephen looks up and his golden eyes meet with Jace's (the only thing he inherited from him) and his heart jumps into his throat. His mother obviously doesn't know who Clary is, even though she looks just like her mother, which is why she said Clary looked so familiar. His mother and Clary are still unaware of his father approaching because they have started a small conversation between them and Jace just watches as his father gets closer and closer.
When he is about to come around the couch and see Clary, Jace stands up quickly and places himself in front of Stephen while the women talk behind him. "Sorry I'm late." he tells Jace. "There was a problem with a shipment and I had to take care of it."
"That's fine, Dad." Jace tells him. He glances back at Clary and his mother and sees that Celine has just turned her head to her husband with a smile in acknowledgment of his presence. "I love her already." Celine says to Stephen with a warm smile and Clary's head snaps over to the two men. Her face pales slightly and then she looks back down at her hands in her lap and swallows before she stands up.
Jace's face turns back to his father to gauge his reaction as Clary turns towards them and moves to hold Jace's hand. Stephen's eyes narrow intensely at Clary when he sees her face and her eyes come up to meet his. She bravely holds out her hand to him and he slowly raises it to gently shake her hand. "Dad, this is Clary." Jace says in way of introduction as he sees his father's brain working overtime in an effort to place her familiar looking face. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Herondale." Clary says to him and he pulls his hand back.
Suddenly, Stephen's face changes. It's like a light was switched on in his head and his eyes fly up to his son. "Who is she?" his father demands as his eyes dart back to Clary. "She looks exactly like Jocelyn Morgenstern."
Jace then steps slightly in front of her and tries to cage her in behind his back. "That's because that is her mother."
He instantly hears his mother's startled intake of breath behind him and he feels Clary's body tense where it is touching him, but he doesn't take his eyes off of his father. He watches as his eyes instantly grow hard and angry and his face turns red and his jaw tightens. "Is this some sort of joke to you?" Stephen spits out at Jace.
"Not at all, Dad." he replies sternly. "I told you I didn't know what her last name was. I saw her bodyguard, who I thought was just her friend at the meeting the other day, and things just kind of went from there."
"Then she is the one that knew all along." Stephen accuses as he tries to step around his son to get to Clary. "Why else would she tell you her name was Clary when we know it's Seraphina? You've let yourself be played as a damn fool, son."
"Her name is Seraphina Clarissa Morgenstern. Clary is short for Clarissa just like you call me Jace for my initials. No one was trying to fool anyone here."
"She's a fucking Morgenstern, Jonathan, and you brought her into my home." Stephen says her name like a curse word as his face gets impossibly redder. Jace sees his mother then as she comes around the couch and moves to stand beside her husband. She places a hand on his arm and tries to get him to look at her with no luck.
"Yes, she is a Morgenstern. But she also happens to be who I am in love with." Jace tells his father with his most authoritative voice. "There is nothing you can say or do to change that."
"I forbid it!" his father shouts at him. "She is a fucking slimy piece of shit like her whole family has always been. There is nothing you can say or do to change that."
"Stephen!" Celine shouts at him. "That's enough!"
"Say it again, father." Jace says angrily in a snarl as he steps closer to him. "Call her that again. I dare you."
Celine's face grows deathly serious as she looks between the two men and then she is placing herself in between the two of them. "Both of you are acting like children!" she shouts as her eyes move between her son and husband. "The last time I checked, I was part of this family too and I get to have a say as well." Her voice is strong and sure and they both look down to her small body in between the two of them.
"Go ahead. Tell him what a fool he is." Stephen says with a small smirk tugging on one side of his mouth.
"I will do no such thing." she tells him and his smirk falters as he looks at his wife. "I have been sitting here with them for the past fifteen minutes and I have been able to see them interact and I will not agree with you, Stephen. If you would only look at them for just a moment, you would see how in love they are with each other."
"That's insane!" he shouts at Celine. "You're insane! She's a Morgenstern!"
"And I was a Montclaire and you killed my father." she tells him and he flinches away from the reminder of how the two of them met. Celine was a music teacher and her father was a business owner that was being run by the Herondales because her father owed them money. When her father grew tired of being pushed around, he refused to cooperate with Stephen, who had just taken over the business when the eldest Herondale was diagnosed with Alzheimers, he had her father killed. Celine's father never told Celine about the Herondale's and when she took over after his out of the blue heart attack, Stephen came in and asked her on a date instead of trying to 'lay down the law' with the new owner. It was only after they had been together a year and a half that she found out what really happened to her father.
"If I can forgive you for that, the least you can do is not hold her family's past sins against her. She is like Jace in all of this. Completely innocent in this senseless feud that has been drawn out for way too long now." Celine's eyes are angry and hard on her husband while his are slightly regretful for what he did to his wife's father. "I give my blessing to them. You would be wise to do the same if you want to keep you son in your life and eventually see the grandchildren Clary just promised me."
"Sorry babe." Jace hears Clary's soft and quiet voice from behind him. "She cornered me when you turned away and she is very persuasive."
Even though this is the most stressful moment of his life, Jace can't help but bring one of his hands up to slide down his face as he lets out a dry laugh. "Tell me about it." Jace mutters back to her and then looks back at his mother to reproach her but she just squares her shoulders and looks challengingly at her son; daring him to say anything.
"You have all gone mad!" Stephen practically shouts but Jace can tell by his posture and tone that most of his anger has passed. He throws his hands up in exasperation as he looks at his wife and son. "What makes you so sure of her?" he asks as he looks at Jace. "What makes you think that all of this wasn't some sort of set up for her to sneak her way into this family and then go back to her father and tell him everything? All of our operations?"
"That's exactly what her father said." Jace says dryly to his father, catching him completely off guard. Stephen's eyes go wide with surprise as his mouth pops open slightly. "He knows about this?" he asks with an incredulous tone.
"We told him yesterday after we found out who each other were two days ago. We wanted to have everything out in the open because of who our families are and the less than friendly history between them."
"And what did he say about this?" Stephen asks as his eyes look to Clary and she steps out from behind Jace, where he pushed her.
Jace is surprised when Clary speaks before he can. "He said he would think about it. I told him that we love each other and there is nothing he can do about it. That we were going to be together one way or the other. When he saw how serious I was, he told me he would think about it. I suspect he will come around because he wants me to be happy and Jace makes me happy. He's not a monster like you probably think he is. He has to show you nothing but strength for fear of you exploiting his 'soft spots' just like I am sure you do the same with him. We are all much more alike than either of our families are willing to admit. That is probably why Jace and I are so perfect together and why we can work out in the long run. I understand him and he understands me."
Jace decides to speak up then. "We already agreed on not talking about business. I will tell her nothing and she will tell me nothing. Clary and I can handle the accounts that are in both of our territories so no one will be able to get over on either of us. It's really not a bad deal if you ask me."
"Well I didn't ask you." his father retorts at him, not knowing what else to say. Jace can see that his father is slowly wearing down under the pressure from him and his mother. The only thing his father has ever been scared of is his mother and the way she is looking at him right now, he wouldn't want to be him for all of the money in the world.
"Stephen." Celine says sternly yet softly to him. His attention moves to her as she starts to speak. "I am sure Valentine saw what I saw between them before you came out here and started shouting. I can honestly say with one hundred percent certainty that they are in love. Most importantly, Jace loves her. How many times have we worried that we went wrong with him somewhere because of his aversion to settling down. He would laugh and call us crazy when we would bring it up." Stephen opens his mouth to say something but Celine narrows her eyes at him and he quickly closes it. "You came to me yesterday and told me that our son was glowing and smiling from ear to ear. You said that he looked like he was crazy in love with this girl Clary and that he even gave you the shock of your life when he told you that he was in love. You were so excited to meet her. If I remember correctly, your exact words were, 'Whoever this girl is to finally get my boy to fall in love so hard and fast, she must be something incredibly special. I've never seen him look so at peace. I can't wait to meet this woman.' You see the change in him. That only comes from loving someone and them loving you back. Don't you remember what it was like to be young and out of your mind in love?"
"Yes, I do, but that is not the point." Stephen argues.
"Then what is the point?" Celine asks him. "That she is a Morgenstern? If she wanted to kill you or me or Jace, she has had plenty of opportunities by now to do it. That would be the easiest way to take over if that is what you are worried about. It doesn't make any sense that Valentine would send her in here to spend years gaining our trust and then slowly pick us off, one by one. Getting rid of the problem is the best and most efficient way to take over and as far as I can see, she is standing in our living room, unarmed and without a guard to protect her. Valentine would never send her in here unprotected if she was meant to try and kill us."
"Dad," Jace says softly as his father's shoulders slump and he turns his back to him and brings a hand up to his face in a sign of stress. "I love her. We want to make this work. We want to bring a more solid peace between our families and work together and not against one another. I'm not saying that we are all going to spend all of the holidays together and exchange presents, but Clary and I being together is a good thing for our families. I wouldn't be fighting this hard for her and I certainly wouldn't have exposed myself to her family with no protection like I did if I weren't dead serious about us. You know how selfish I can be and that I would never push so hard for something so difficult if I wan't one-hundred percent sure about it. But with Clary, there is no doubt in my mind that we were meant to be together. She is my other half that I didn't know I was missing and now that I have it, I am never going to let it go."
"Jace..." his father says and then sighs heavily as he turns around.
"Just give her a chance, Dad." Jace pleads with him. "I know you'll love her."
Stephen takes his eyes off of his son and looks over at Clary who is holding on tightly to Jace's arm. "You really do look just like your mother." he tells her and a small smile pulls on the edges of her lips. "I'll take that as a compliment." Clary responds and then there is an audible sigh from Celine.
"Now, how about we go sit down and have the most awkward meal of our lives?" Celine says in a very cheery voice and Clary laughs a little while the two men remain silent.
"I like your mom." Clary leans in and whispers to Jace.
"I told you you would." he tells her and then throws his arm over her shoulders and places a kiss on her forehead as they start to follow his parents into the kitchen.
I am going to try and get another chapter up before next week, but no promises. I am going on vacation next week and I won't get anything up then. I am going to also try and write another chapter and have it up soon for Remember Me, but once again, no promises, but I will try my absolute best.
Thanks again for reading and don't forget to review and tell me what you think!