Okay guys sorry it took so long to post this but finals are over so

you once again have my full and undivided attention. Yay!

Thanks a million guys for being awesome fans and btw I own nothing!

CPOV

The next morning Maryse informed us that we were grounded until further notice and Robert informed us that we were grounded for the rest of our natural lives. So I'm assuming that they'll notify us when our natural lives end.

It's been about a week since then and what a horrible week it has been. We couldn't use ours phones or computers and we were not allowed to leave the house unless it was to go to school. We had to come home right after and on top of all of that me and Jace are no longer allowed in the same room alone.

Needless to say that, that has caused some frustration. The only time we were ever really together was at school and even then we only got in a couple chaste kisses. It's absolutely horrible, I mean we've barely been together a couple of week and already we barely get to see each other. And we live in the same house!

Luckily, though, I had a project in History and Simon was my partner. That means that I got to go to Simon's house today and work on it. I'd rather be with Jace, but it's nice to get out of the house. Plus me and Simon haven't spent a lot of time together lately and I was begging to miss him.

I walked down the stairs with my bag hanging off my shoulder and almost ran into Mayrse. "And where do you think you are going missy?" She asked in a very clipped tone.

"T-to Simon's remember? W-we have a project for H-history," I stuttered out. Mayrse was still very scary when she was pissed and she has been pissed all week.

"Ah, I remember. Well I expect you back in exactly two hours and if you aren't I'm calling the police. Are we clear?" she asked her cold eyes piercing into me making me want to whimper out of fear.

"Yes Ma'am," I choked out.

"Very well, you may go," and she stepped out of my way. I quickly walked away from her and towards the door, but not before running into Jace.

I was about to tell him to get out of there before Mayrse caught us in the same room, when he put a single finger up to his lips. Gesturing for me to keep quiet. With a smile he slipped a piece of folded up paper in my jacket pocket and left the room. I contemplated reading it now, but thought better of it because Robert or Maryse could catch me.

I left the house and walked a block in the direction of Simon's house––yes I know I'm paranoid––before I took the note out of my pocket. I slowly unfolded it and smoothed out the creases. Meet me in Bennett park at midnight – J I smiled down at the note and folded it back up and slipped it into my pocket. I don't know how Jace expected either of us to get out of the house, but when there's a will, there's a way and I guess Jace had a way. I wondered why he chose Bennett park, it was further away and almost nobody used it anymore.

In a matter of minutes I was bounding up the steps to Simon's front door. I rang the doorbell and waited for Mrs. Lewis to open the front door.

"Why hello Clary," she said when she saw me. "We haven't seen you here in awhile, where have you been?" she asked with a bright smile.

"Oh you know, busy, busy, busy," with being grounded, I added internally.

"Well come on in, Simon is upstairs in his room," she opened the door wider so I could get through and thanked her. I leaped up the stairs and found Simon in his room with headphones on and playing some game on his computer.

"Simon," he didn't even flinch. "Simon," I said a bit louder this time. Still nothing. I walked over to where he was sitting and pulled one of the ear buds out and yelled, "Simon!" he all but fell out of his chair.

"Jesus Clary! Was yelling really necessary?" he asked incredulously while he exited out of Starcraft.

"Well yeah, I called your name and you didn't even flinch so I felt yelling was the only solution," I said simply.

"Well some of us would beg to differ," he said moving from his computer desk to his bed. He patted the spot next to him and I made my way over to him.

"So hows it been going on this neck of the woods?" I asked.

"Oh you know, nothing much. School, homework, flying monkeys."

"So the usual?"

"Yup, yup," I couldn't help but laugh at our conservation, Simon had a quirky sense of humor and that's why I loved him.

"What about you? Haven't seen you in awhile."

"I got grounded," I mumbled.

"What is this I hear. Sweet and innocent Clary was grounded? Whatever for, pray tell?" he said in the worst, and I mean worst, British accent I have ever heard.

"Um, well, yeah, about that..." I trailed off unsure how to finish the sentence.

"Would it be because you and Jace were caught getting hot and heavy by Mayrse?" he asked.

"What? How did you know?"

"Dude, I'm dating your step-sister, you didn't think that she might have told me?" he asked.

"Dammit. You know I love Izzy but that girl has got one big mouth," I said scowling at the air.

"Hey now, that's my girlfriend your talking about," he said with mock hurt.

"She was my step-sister before she was your girlfriend so I can say whatever I want about her," I said defiantly.

"Touche."

"So I guess we should get started on that history project huh?" I asked reluctantly. I had forgotten how much fun it was to just hang with Simon and I didn't want to have to get down to business already. But if we didn't do it now, it would never get done.

"Ah, but mom, do we have to?" he asked in his most whiny voice. I only laughed at him, though.

"Yes, otherwise we'll fail and your real mom would ground you. Then we'd both be grounded and that wouldn't do me any good because then I wouldn't be able to live my life vigorously through yours," I said getting up from the bed to retrieve my bag.

"Wow, I think living my life is more punishment then being grounded."

"You have no idea," I said bringing the bag back to the bed. I grabbed my History binder and pulled out the instructions. "It says we can either do it on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire," I pause and look at Simon whose face is scrunched up like a French Bulldog's. "Okay I'll take that as a no. We could do it on the Mayan civilization," I said but he still looked skeptical so I moved on. "Or, last but not least, we could do it on the Medieval period," at this his face did light up. "Before you ask though, that does not mean we can do our report on Dungeons and Dragons."

"Must you assume that I am the biggest nerd in the world?" He asked feigning hurt.

"Yes, but never forget, your my nerd," I say.

"And for that I am eternally grateful. But seriously I think it would be cool to do it on the Dark Ages. You know with nights and kings and battles. Oh and there's even princess' for you so you can't complain," he said already staring off into space with a look in his eyes that looked like a kid's who was dreaming of being an astronaut.

"Must you assume that I am the biggest girl in the world?" I asked directing his previous question back to him.

"Yes, yes I must," he said coming back to the reality.

"So it's decided then," I said.

"I would say so."

We worked on our project for the next hour. It was a big one so we were only able to get some research done. Plus me and Simon kept getting sidetracked. Finally though it was time to go and I said my goodbyes to Simon and his mother. I made the long walk back to my house listening to Linkin Park on my Mp3. Jace had recently turned my on to the band when I noticed that was the icon on his shirt that I was wearing not to long ago. The thought made me blush and reminded me of the note Jace had given me. I was suppose to meet him at the park at midnight only I didn't know how I was going to do it. How either of us was going to do it.

He probably expected me to sneak out of the house, only trouble is I've never done that before. Never had to up until now, but I guess there's a first for everything.

~X~X~X~

The clock said 11:45pm and I knew that I needed to sneak out soon, otherwise I'd never make it. My veins were pumping with adrenalin and yes I know it's stupid that I'm this worked up about sneaking out, but what can I say? I slipped my converse on and slowly tiptoed down the stairs, cringing every time they creaked. I made it into the hallway and very carefully made my way towards the door.

I reached it and put my hand on the handle and stopped. I don't know if I can do this, maybe I shouldn't, maybe I should––

"Going out for a midnight stroll?" I heard a familiar voice coo out behind me.

JPOV

I made it to the park around 11:45pm and I hoped that Clary didn't follow habit and show up early. I started setting up what I had planned and smiled at the thought of what Clary's face would look like when she saw what I had planned. God I am so whipped, I thought to myself and couldn't help but cringe before shaking the feeling off. It took some getting used to, knowing that I was in a serious relationship with someone. Especially since that someone was Clary.

It was weird knowing that someone else depended on me, needed me, wanted me. All my life I was told I was useless, that I wasn't worth it. Even when Mayrse and Robert adopted me I still felt like I was a burden to them somehow. Clary made that feeling go away, she made me feel wanted.

I finished setting up and sat down on the blanket I had just put down. My plan was to have a sort of midnight picnic. I had packed a couple of sandwiches, lemonade, and of course apples and peanut-butter. I had become keen on this particular snack since Clary had introduced it to me. I had also set up a boombox with a CD with commonly romantic songs including ––these were recommended by Izzy just for the record–– I'm Yours by Jason Mraz and You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. More evidence that I am totally whiped.

"Jace?" a voice that I knew all to well called out behind me. I slowly turned and saw Clary standing before me in very tight fitting jeans and a deep emerald shirt that matched her eyes and dipped just enough to get a peak. I groaned internally at the sight and swore. I swear this woman is trying to kill me. Though I do think it should go as a testament to my self-control that I didn't just rip her clothes off then and there. But I suppose that wouldn't be the gentlemanly thing to do, now would it?

"Hello Clary," I said.

"Jace what's going on, why did you ask me to come out here?" she asked.

"I thought it was obvious. I can't take you out on a proper date during the day, so I had to settle for night," I slowly stepped out of her line of view so she could see the picnic that I had sat up. I heard her take in a breath as I turned to play the music. When I turned around Clary was looking at me with tears in her eyes. I rushed over to her and put my hands on her shoulders.

"Hey, why are you crying?" I asked soothingly, this is not how it played out in my head.

"I'm not I just– Thank you Jace, I can't believe you set this up," she said and put her arms around my neck. I put mine around her waist and buried my face in her hair. It smelled just like strawberries.

"Come on," I finally said. "we have a picnic to eat and I'd like to get to it before the ants do."

She laughed and followed me to the blanket where we sat down and I handed her, her sandwich. I got my own out and we ate in a comfortable silence, both of us sneaking glances at each other. When we finished the sandwiches I got out the apples and peanut-butter and lemonade. I saw her eyes light up at her favored snack.

"Thanks Jace, this is perfect," she said.

"It's no problem," I tried to say around the peanut-butter, but it just came out in a jumbled mess. Clary laughed and leaned over to wipe some peanut-butter off the corner of my mouth. And then, oh God, she did this most evil, delectable thing. She brought the finger with the creamy brown substance on it to her lips and licked it off. I couldn't help the groan that escaped my lips. She cocked her head and looked at me with a curious look. She figured out what had just happened and her face lit up with embarrassment.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's no problem," I said still staring at her lips. I shook my head, tonight was about her and her needs. I needed to stay strong but hell if she wasn't trying to completely crumble my self-control. We finished the rest of our snack and lemonade.

"That was delicious Jace. Thanks."

I chuckled a little. "You keep thanking me and you haven't even seen the best part yet." she gave me a questioning look and I just laid back with a smirk.

She followed suit and I could tell when she looked up at the sky because I heard her breath catch. I looked up at the beautiful sky displayed before us. The stars shone bright and seemed to light up the whole sky. This is why I chose Bennett park, because it was the furthest from the city that was in a reasonable distance. The smog was less heavy the further away you got from the city and out here the sky was more clear. More beautiful.

"Jace, it's amazing," she said like I had personally cleaned up the sky. I looked over to her and she looked up at the sky with a childlike innocence in her eyes, like she was seeing it for the first time. I saw her hand twitch and it brought a small smile to my face.

"You want to draw it," I guessed.

"Sometimes I think you know me too well."

"If you think I know you too much now then your going to be knocked out the park by this, no pun intended," I said and turned to the opposite side and grabbed the last items out of the picnic basket and handed them to her.

"My sketch book!" she exclaimed and my smile broadened. Oh yeah, I'm good. She turned to me. "Thank you, but Jace I don't want to draw if your just going to sit there, you'll get bored," she said looking concerned. Of course I do something for her and she's worried about how its affecting me. Typical.

"Trust me, watching you draw is enough to keep me preoccupied," I said and she blushed. I will never be over how beautiful she looked when she blushed.

She sat up and balanced the book on her knees and got to work with her number two pencil. I watched her face change from lightness to concentration. I watched as her deft hand brushed strokes across the page, slowly taking in the scene before her and transferring it to the crisp page. She looked absolutely radiant while she drew, like she was at total peace. I liked seeing that look on her face, completely dearth of her usual sadness.

I smiled while I watched her and didn't once look away. We sat like that for at least fifteen minutes before she looked up from her sketch book and scrutinized me, drinking in every detail. Then her head dipped back to her sketch. This went on for a little while longer, I wasn't sure what she was doing but I had a hunch that she was drawing me so I stayed completely still. Finally she put the pencil down and looked at the picture before her, she made a couple change here and there until she felt it was perfect.

"Okay, I think I'm done," she said in a soft voice.

"Can I see it?" I inquired.

She looked skeptical for a moment, but she passed it over to me and I looked down at the artwork. It was amazing, she truly was a great artist. The picture showed a beautiful night washed across the page in dips and swirls. The sketch was more radiant then the actual sky. And in the bottom right-hand corner was a picture of me. I'd say it looked exactly like me except the eyes, which were warm and soft. I don't think my eyes would ever be capable of looking that way.

I looked up and saw Clary was fidgeting with her thumbs, like she was scared I might not think it was good. "I had no idea I was sharing a house the most talented artist of her time," I said. Of course she blushed but a smile still broke out on her face.

"It's not that good, really it's just a sketch," she said modestly.

"If this is only a sketch I bet your real work would put Van Gogh to shame," at this she blushed again and really I would keep saying things like this just to get her to blush.

"Did you get out of the house okay?" I asked just out of curiosity, but she blushed.

"Oh, um, yeah. I mean I guess so," she said still blushing furiously.

"Is there something you want to tell me Clary," a hint of amusement in my voice.

"Oh well nothing really just," she paused and looked at me like she was deciding whether or not she could get away with lying. Apparently she decided she wasn't because next she blurted out, "I ran into Izzy."

"Well that's not too bad," I said, but she snorted.

"Oh I beg to differ."

"Is that so, what happened?" I asked, my curiosity spiking. If I thought I had seen her blush before she was the color of a firetruck now.

"Well, we, um, talked and, um, yeah," she said trying to leave it at that.

"What about?"

"Oh you know just girl stuff."

"Well seeing as I'm not a girl, no, no I don't know. Please, do tell."

"Let's see, she asked where I was going and I told her–– I didn't see any reason to lie–– and she just...gave me some sisterly advice." she said picking her words carefully.

"And that sisterly advice would be along the lines of..."

"You are nosy, you know that?" she said, but I was not going to let her put this off.

"Uh, uh no stalling. Come on Clary you can tell me anything. I mean really how bad can it––"

"She gave me a condom!" she yelled out abruptly. I stared at her for about half a second before bursting out into laughter. And I'm talking bust a gut, laugh my ass off, tears in my eyes laughing. "Why are you laughing? This is so not funny Jace," she said pushing me lightly on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I said between heaves of laughter. "It's just so Izzy. And with you being so, so...innocent. I mean you have got to see the comedy in all of this," I said but my smile left my face as soon as I saw hers. Obviously not. "Or maybe not."

"Of course not, I mean does that mean she thinks were doing it and does she really think we would do it without protection. I mean when we do, do it you'd think she's assume that we were responsible..." she trailed off after seeing the look in my eyes. "What?"

"You said 'when we do it'" I said.

"What? No I didn't, I said if."

"No you said when."

"Oh."

I took in a shaky breath before asking my next question. "Do you want to?"

"I-I don't know. I mean we've only been going out for a couple weeks Jace, but..."

"But what?"

"I just- I just feel like it's been longer, you know? I mean I know for the longest time we hated each other but now...now I can't imagine life not being with you." she finished.

"I know what you mean," and boy did I. I wanted so badly to tell her that I loved her just then. I mean I know I already did, but she was asleep. What if she doesn't love me back. Oh don't be stupid look at her, of course she loves you. I looked into her eyes and I saw a mixture of emotions, confusion, vulnerability, and yes, I think I saw love. But what if I'm wrong. Do you think Romeo ever stopped to wonder if he was wrong about Juliet? Yeah, but he was in love with Rosalie at the beginning and he was wrong about that. That's not the point!

Suddenly I was brought out of my inner monologue by Clary saying something, "Jace?"

"What?" I asked.

"I asked you what you wanted to do," she said in a small voice.

"It's not about what I want to do, if your not ready then I'm not ready. End of story," I said in a voice that made it clear she would not change my mind on the matter.

"Thank you, Jace. That really means a lot to me."

"It really is no problem Clary. I will wait for you as long as you need, for the rest of my life even," then I sucked in a breath and jumped over the deep end, the point of no return. "I love you Clary."

Her eyes widened in shock and she just sat there, still as a statue, just staring at me. Then she caught me off guard by throwing herself on me and crashing her lips on mine. The kiss was fierce and passionate, my arms tightly wound around her waist, her hands tangled in my hair. We explored each other and the feeling of her warm muscle moving against my own sent chill down my spine, right down to my toes.

When we finally came up for air we stared at each other a long time. Finally we caught our breath and Clary spoke up. "Jace I can say, with absolute certainty, that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You make me feel so alive and just...happy, like the world isn't as bad as it seems. You make me fill strong and confident and beautiful. No one has ever made me feel that way. So if you couldn't already tell by the way I just kissed you, I want you to know that I love you too. With all my heart and soul Jace, I love you."

I was stunned by her words and it took me a second to process it all. When if finally hit me a big goofy grin spread across my face and I almost laughed with how happy I was. She loves me, just me, not my looks and not because she thinks I'm some lost soul that she can save, she just loves me.

I leaned up and gave her the most soft and gentle kiss that I could manage, trying to convey all of my emotions into this one kiss. She responded gratefully and with just as much emotion. I wanted to live in this moment forever, it was so perfect...

Beep, beep, beep, beep. We broke apart abruptly and I looked down at my wrist. It was my watch going off saying it was two pm and time to go. I told Clary this and we quickly cleaned up the picnic and made our way back to the Institute. All the while we had big smiles on our faces and we occasionally stopped to share a sweet or heated kiss.

We made it to the door and were just about to go in when a voice called out from behind us. "Clary?"

Whuh oh someone did a cliffy! Sorry guys but I just had to do it, there was no avoiding it.

Also in case any of you actually live in New York all I know is that Bennett park is a real park there.

I don't know it's actual location so bare with me aight. You guys are awesome and don't forget to REVIEW!