Chapter rated…M. So yeah, just a warning. ;)

Clary peered at the stranger in front of her. The stranger stared anxiously back at her, the round, green eyes seemingly taunting her. Part of the stranger's red, flaming hair was combed smoothly into a bun in the back, while the other half cascaded down her back in perfect ringlets. A few strands of wild curls hung by the sides of her face, completing the look. Clary eyed the dress the stranger had on, especially the long slit on one side, dangerously showing off her leg. It was a turquoise shade of color, with a V in the back, exposing a long strip of her skin, exactly identical to her own dress.

"See?" Isabelle gloated gleefully, circling Clary approvingly. "You look gorgeous."

Clary dubiously examined her reflection in the mirror. "It doesn't look like me, though."

Isabelle rolled her eyes, turning to the mirror and tilting her head back to apply mascara. "Yes, it does. It looks like a hotter, sexier version of you. People will freak. Seriously," she paused and looked at Clary "I know at least one guy, never mind the rest of the Y-chromosome population, will."

Luckily, the doorbell rang at that moment, saving Clary from responding. Isabelle ran in her six inch heels to the door, pulling it open with a shrieking, "Alec!"

After a small scuffle, Alec sheepishly pulled back. He was wearing a dark blue tuxedo, and Clary had to admit, he looked quite good. The blue was the exact color of his eyes. He caught sight of her and started. "Oh, wow," he grinned. "You look good, Clary."

Isabelle mouthed I told you.

She blushed, taking Alec's outstretched arm. "Thanks," she muttered. "Let's go."

"Have fun!" Isabelle yelled after her. "I'll catch up with you as soon as Simon comes to pick me up."

Alec looked sideways at Clary. "Simon and Izzy?"

"Yeah."

He sighed. "I'm not sure about how I feel with the rat boy around my sister."

Clary stared disbelievingly at Alec. "Did you just call Simon…?"

He laughed, holding up his hands. "Jace made me."

"Oh, Jace," she laughed along with him. "That explains it."

…

"Wow," Alec said, standing outside SAI, openly admiring the decorated lobby with blasting music. "This looks good."

The walls of the lobby were covered in blue wallpaper, glued with thousands of glittering plastic snowflakes. Crepe paper spiraled up the pillars and mistletoes were scattered at random intervals, although the space under them were empty. At one of them, some people were trying to push Maia and Jordan together. Clary giggled.

"Great party, isn't it," a new voice said. Magnus stood beside them, some blue drink in one hand, surveying the scene. Clary glanced at Alec, who was staring at Magnus like he was under some spell. Then again, she thought, it wasn't often that one saw a man with sparkling hair gelled into spikes, multiple piercings on his ears, and bright, cat-like eyes, and still looked good.

"Alec," she said, smiling. "This is my co-worker, Magnus Bane. Magnus, this is my friend, Alec Lightwood."

"Pleased to meet you, Alec," Magnus said, sticking out his hand.

Alec shook it, still mute.

"Can I have your number?" Magnus tried again. Clary dug her elbow into Alec's side, jerking him from his trance.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, stuttering eagerly while reaching into his back pocket to fumble for his phone.

Clary giggled, leaving them alone to get a drink.

She'd barely set her drink down before someone tapped her on the shoulder. Sebastian.

"Hey," she said casually. "What's up?"

He swept him black hair out of his eyes and gestured to the dance floor, where they were playing some Christmas song. "Wanna dance?"

It would be rude to decline…

"Sure," Clary said. They joined the other couples on the floor.

Immediately, Sebastian placed his arms around her, one of his large hands enveloping hers, the other planted itself on her butt.

"Um," Clary said.

"Hmm?" Sebastian smiled, looking admiringly down at her. She couldn't say no to that smile.

"Nothing."

She felt his chest rumble as he silently laughed. "SAI cleaned up quite well," he said after a few seconds of silence. "Better than I imagined."

"What's that supposed to mean," Clary said, rather indignantly. "We've always been like this."

Sebastian gave her a smile that said the complete opposite. "Whatever, sweetheart. You're cute, and cuties are always right."

Clary chuckled, even though it wasn't that funny. "So, what's MC like?"

"It's alright. Just work, work, work. Nothing new, or interesting. Basically, all the fun left when Jace moved to your building. I bet it's chaos there now, isn't it?"

Oh, you don't know half of it.

"Nah," Clary lied. "It's not bad."

Sebastian whistled. "You must have whipped him up well."

The song ended, and Clary immediately stepped out of his arms. Sebastian bowed low to her, and she laughed, placing a hand dramatically on her heart. "Thank you for the honor of this amazing dance," he said chivalrously.

"You're very welcome, kind sir," Clary said, curtsying.

He melted into the crowd and another person took his place. Another person she knew very well. Luke smiled at her. "Care to honor your 'dad' with a dance?"

Clary smiled warmly, stepping eagerly into his arms. "Always."

They swayed to some slow Christmas-y song, with Clary stepping on Luke's shoes as if she was a child learning how to dance. They chatted about SAI, and MC, and about work, and about Demon Spray. When the song ended, Luke glanced beyond her shoulder, and whispered in her ear, "Don't think about going anytime soon. There's at least one more guy wanting to claim a dance."

He moved away, and Clary's heart sped up, though she desperately tried to calm it down. It's not him. Not him.

And it wasn't. Instead, she turned around to find herself face to face with Valentine. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. "Hi, Mr. Morgenstern."

The CEO smiled, not warmly. "Hi, Ms. Fray. How are you?"

"Good," she replied, placing her hand in his and stepping lightly into his arms, although they kept their distance. His hands were really, really cold. Freezingly cold.

The hair on the back of her neck prickled.

"So," she said to make conversation.

"How's Demon Spray coming along?" he asked, cutting her off.

"We've sold a lot," Clary said. "It's an honor having the opportunity to work with Jace."

"Oh, really?" Valentine's eyes were sharp, bright. "Not many people would call that an honor. Most describe it as hell."

"Oh, well." Clary bit her lip. "I like to look on the bright side." Valentine chuckled.

"SAI's stocks are doing fairly well," he commented after a brief silence elapsed.

"Yes," Clary agreed. "So are MC's."

"Yes. Mostly due to Demon Spray."

"Who came up with the idea of this joint product anyway?" Clary wondered. "It's ingenious." His hands were still very, very cold.

Valentine thought for a minute. "Actually, it's quite funny. Jocelyn and I were arguing about our products over a meeting one day, and the other workers became so irritated that they all collaborated on deciding for once, to make some peace between our two companies after decades of fierce competition. And so that's how Demon Spray was born."

"Well, I'm sure glad it worked out," Clary said, just as the song ended. She stepped quickly out of Valentine's arms and withdrew her hand, rubbing it furiously, trying to reinstall some warmth. She smiled tight-lipped at Valentine, and walked off, to collect a plate of fruit at a nearby table.

Her eyes darted from couples to couples, searching for one person in particular. From time to time, she saw Simon, with Izzy wrapped around his arm, but he never saw her, or walked her way. He wasn't the person she was searching for, anyway. She switched her gaze to singular people, while popping a grape into her mouth. She saw blond-haired Kaelie, standing by herself, craning her neck to look for someone, but still no him.

"Looking for someone?" A low voice asked, breath tickling her ear. She jumped, and choked on her grape.

She was still coughing as she turned around to face Jace, and felt her heart face.

"Don't scare me like that."

Jace gave her body the once-over, not even bother trying to hide the fact that he was checking her out. When he looked up, admiration and…other thoughts were written plainly in his golden eyes, which looked like they glowed more than usual. "You're popular today," he stated, smirking.

"What?"

He used his head to gesture at the dance floor. "Three guys in a row. How many more can you get?"

Not knowing what to say, she ate another grape.

"Kiss me," Jace said.

She choked. Again.

"What?" she spluttered, certain she didn't hear him correctly.

"That's the tradition, isn't it?" He looked up, and Clary's vision followed his. She flushed, bright red. They were standing directly under a mistletoe.

"Since when was that there?" Clary's palms turned sweaty.

"You know you have to," Jace taunted, his voice growing louder. Several people turned around to stare. "Come on Clary. Don't be a pussy."

She glared at him. "Shhh! You're drawing attention!"

"You go, girl!" A random voice called out.

Jace's smile was all fox.

Holy shit. Here? In front of everyone? With Jace?

He took a step closer. Damn man. Why did he have to knock her heart rate up ten notches every time he was close?

His face was coming closer, and closer.

And closer.

"Hey, Clary. I found you," Magnus suddenly said, appearing next to her. He placed a hand on her back, his cat-eyes trained on Jace. "You owe me a dance, remember?"

"Uh, yeah," Clary breathed, following Magnus out of the crowd, her head craning back to watch Jace, whose eyes were pinned like daggers on her, his scowl clearly etched on his face. The crowd sighed, disappointed, and scattered.

"I really owe you one," Clary said later on the dance floor.

Magnus waved it off. "I only wanted to get on Jace's nerves. To watch him get jealous. It's funny."

Clary rolled her eyes. "Wow, Magnus. And I thought you were nice."

He winked, shaking his head. Some glitter fell on her eyelashes, making her eyes sparkle as she looked up at him. "You've been deceived, my darling," he murmured as he stepped away.

He brushed by Alec, placing his fingertips lightly on his shoulder. Clary watched with interest. Alec blushed, looked after Magnus's retreating form, and smiled to himself, before walking up and taking Clary into his arms.

"Dance?"

"Sure, after you already start dancing, ask me," Clary scoffed. "You and Magnus are like, a thing?"

Alec narrowed his eyes. "No," he denied. "He's just nice, that's all."

"Mmhmm," Clary said. "Go dance with him, and give me a break. I've been dancing all night, and my feet are sore."

"But I'm your date," Alec argued. "I deserve a dance."

She let him, but as soon as the dance ended, she collapsed into a sofa in the corner of the dance floor. Her feet hurt like hell. Stilettos were not the thing to dance in.

"Is your card still full?"

She tilted her head back to look at Jace, whose head was upsidedown in her vision. "Yep."

He looked at her skeptically. "Dance with me."

"Look, Jace," she began. "I've been dancing ever since I've gotten here and I haven't had a moment of rest. Spare me, okay?"

He glared at her. "Oh, so when it's my turn, it's not okay, but when it's other people, you'll dance your heart out."

"Yeah."

"Are you trying to avoid me?"

"No," she denied. Cause deep inside, she definitely did not want to dance with him. At all.

Yeah, right. Her heart screamed to dance with him. And it scared her.

Jace shook his head darkly, and muttered something under his breath.

"What?" Clary asked.

Rudely, and suddenly, he grabbed her hand, dragging her to her feet and into the mass of swaying people. Into his arms. "Well, you're dancing with me whether you want to or not!"

She couldn't reply. She was in his arms. Warm, happy, safe. He held her closer than anyone had ever before. Her chest was pressed against his, their feet moving in sync. His hand was warm and gentle, and sparks of electricity zapped through her body from where his hand was on her bare back. He placed his chin on the top of her head, sighing contently.

And for once, they weren't fighting or bickering. Clary liked this peace and silence between them. She closed her eyes, laying her cheek on his shoulder and inhaled and exhaled slowly.

Sadly, the song ended, and Clary reluctantly drew away. Jace held her hand. "Thanks for dancing with me," he said, oddly serious and polite. Gentlemanly.

She managed a smile (she was feeling way, way too excited) and turned to go find Alec, to take her home, because if she stayed any longer, she was afraid she'd burst with happiness.

Quick as lightning, Jace's fingers locked around her wrist. "Where're you going?"

She stared at him, wide-eyed. "Alec. I wanna go home."

"I'll take you," Jace offered, taking a step to the door.

Yes please!

"No thanks," Clary said. "Alec's my date, so it's best if he took me home."

"Alec already left. With Magnus," Jace gave her a pointed look, and before she could protest, he was dragging her out the door, to his car. Seeing it, Clary choked back a laugh. It was still Alec's old, rusty car.

"Stop laughing," Jace scowled, climbing in the passenger's seat.

Clary reached over and flicked his nose. "What happened to the good behavior?" she teased.

"Jace Wayland? Good?" Jace feigned mock horror. "Did dancing with me screw up your brain that much?"

"One more word, and I'm outta this car."

To her surprise, Jace shut up pretty quickly after that.

…

"Thanks for the ride," Clary said, hopping out of the car. Jace turned off the engine. "What are you doing?"

He smiled unexpectedly, and Clary's stomach leaped to her mouth. "Thought I'd complete my good behavior by walking you to your apartment."

Not knowing what else to day, she turned into her apartment complex. It seemed like she'd been lost for words quite often tonight.

After a few minutes, they reached her door. She inserted her key, opened the door, and stepped into the darkness.

"You look beautiful tonight."

She froze in disbelief. Did Jace Wayland just say that? Slowly, she turned around, taking in Jace's completely serious face.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" he asked earnestly, his eyes wandering over her head to peer into her dark apartment.

"Not the safest thing to do."

"Too late." In one step, he'd deftly edged around her and nudged the door closed with his foot. They were enveloped in darkness, the only source of light from the open window where the moon casted streaks of blue-white light on the carpet. Jace's face was a profile of black and blue, one side of his face darkened and mysterious, the other clearly defined, with odd shadows under his eyes, cheek and nose. Even in the darkness, his eyes glowed golden. His lips were perfectly defined, and she took in, not for the first time, but the first time of truly, overtly studying them, the slight indent of the top lip.

They looked soft, and perfect, and hers. Clary bit her own lip, trying hard to suppress the overpowering need to fling her arms around his neck and crash her lips to his.

He was close. She hadn't noticed that he'd stepped closer, and she was now pressed against the wall.

"Not a good idea," she whispered.

His hands slammed into the wall by either side of her head, and hot lips descended down on hers, rough and possessive and demanding. Immediately, she felt herself melting into him, responding with the same urgency he had, framing her hands on the sides of his face to better gain control in their war of dominance. One of his hands slid down the V of her dress, and his fingertips slid under her dress, traveling further than where the V stopped.

"Tell me this isn't a good idea," he growled, voice low and husky.

Oh, yeah. He knew what he was doing.

Her body's response was a rush of warmth and need pulsing between her legs, and she felt herself automatically pressing harder against him while her fingers raked off his tux, leaving his white, buttoned shirt. With deft fingers, she quickly undid his tie, and with one move, ripped his shirt open, the buttons scattering and rolling away on the ground.

Jace sucked in a deep breath, panting heavily. "Shit, Clary. My shirt."

"So what?" she whispered, her own voice matching the huskiness underlying his. "It's hot in here." Jace tilted his head back, eyes squeezed shut and groaning, as her fingers explored his chest and ran over his muscles. "So hot."

She saw his Adam's apple bob before he looked down at her with heavy-lidded eyes. With the glitter still littering her eyelashes, the effect of her glance was as alluring and provocative as hell. Jace slid a finger under the strap of her dress, pushing it down her shoulder. Her lips parted.

He planted open-mouthed kisses from her bared shoulder, up to her neck, and she tilted her head back, exposing more of her neck for him. He bit down in the sensitive spot between her neck and her shoulder, and she cried out, her legs threatening to buckle. The pulsing heat was now a pounding need, driving her to near insanity.

Jace chuckled softly and lowly. "I love it when you cry like that," he said, kissing along her jaw. Her hands curled into fists in his shirt. "I want to make you cry my name. Such a huge turn on." He pressed himself closer against her, and something hard was edged between her thighs. A rush of heat dampened her panties and she knew Jace felt it to, for a second later, his head was thrown back and he was moaning. She rubbed her heat down his length, relishing in how good it felt, and Jace was moving mindlessly against her too. His arousal was thick in the air around them.

He looked at Clary, his intent clearly written in his eyes.

"No way." With great effort, she pushed off him, leaning against the wall for support because her legs felt way too shaky.

He smoothed his hand over the curve of her butt, and she gasped. "Jace!"

His eyes glowed, and the bulge threatening to rip his pants open moved. "Fuck, Clary. C'mon. Not when you've driven me this far."

She sucked in several deep breaths, trying to clear her mind. With shaky but resolute hands, she opened the door and pointed a long finger outside. "Out. You can take care of your…little problem yourself." She eyed his erection and teasingly danced her fingers a mere inch from it.

He hissed, trapping her to the wall in another raw, demanding kiss. Then he grabbed his jacket and stepped out the door, his hair tousled and his eyes still heavy-lidded with desire. "This isn't over," he warned, huskiness still evident.

She closed the door in his face, and sank down against it, burying her head in her knees, not quite believing what had just happened.

And there we go! :DDDD dude, you guys have NO IDEA how much it killed me to have to wait, writing those other chapters, before I could write this. I've been dreaming about writing it since forever…

And please, please review. If you add this to your favorites list, or alert or whatever, please take a moment to review. Even if it's a word, I'd really appreciate it. Please? :)