I don't own. *sob*

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"I knew you still loved me. I knew you still wanted me." A voice that dripped with honey and silk caressed Clary's ears just like the soft, sweet lips caressed her lips. Soft moans and the sound of skin on skin punctuated the silence. She knew she should stop, but it felt so good. She had waited five years for those lips, and now she never wanted to let them go. A small voice in the back of her head suddenly wasn't so quiet anymore.

Beck!

Clary's mouth ripped away from Jace's, and he looked startled to say the least. His eyes were a delicious darkened tawny color, his lips swollen from the passionate encounter only moments ago.

"Stop." Clary put one hand on his chest and pushed away from him. "This is wrong."

Jace leaned in and crushed him to her again and whispered between the kisses, "No, Clary. For once, this is all right."

This time, she was angry. She roughly shoved him away. In her weakened state, however, she very nearly pushed herself off of the bed. Only Jace grabbing her forearms and dragging her in again prevented her from a very ungraceful tumble from the bed.

This time, she was pissed. Clary opened her mouth as though she was allowing him to deepen the kiss, and he took the bait. His tongue slid into her mouth and with one quick motion, her teeth snapped shut. He yelped and jerked back, putting his hand to his mouth with a hurt expression. Clary raised an eyebrow and said, "I told you to stop."

She rose from the bed and precariously tottered to the door. She was weak and in pain, but she needed Beck. Before she could reach the door, however, Jace leapt in front of her and blocked her path. She glared up at him, telling him to get out of her way.

"No. You are definitely not in any condition to be moving. You've been unconscious for over a week! I'm going to get Magnus. Stay here." He pushed her back on the bed and walked to the door, muttering something that sounded like, "And you don't want me to kiss you? You're definitely not in your right mind." As soon as the door closed, Clary was up from the bed again and moving towards the door.

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Jace closed the door behind him, still reeling from the fact that Clary didn't want to kiss him. What was this? Every woman in the world wanted to kiss him! He'd proved that many times over in the last five years. Anywhere he went, women swooned over him.

Although, telling Clary that he'd had multiple romantic encounters while she was pining for him probably wouldn't make her very fond of him.

In his defense, he'd never gone very far. Only once had he gone past first base, and that was when he was very drunk on some very strong Russian vodka that could knock out a whale.

And even then, he only went to third base. He didn't get all the way home.

He arrived at Magnus's door, still musing over the hilarity of the depth of Clary's messed up mental capabilities. He pounded on the door, but after a few minutes, he wondered if he should just leave. Magnus flung the door open wide, and he looked pissed.

Like, beyond pissed.

Uber-pissed.

Jace was scared for his life.

"This had better be very good, Nephilim," Magnus made the last word sound like an expletive, "You woke me from a dead sleep. I know that I am stunningly attractive, but I still need beauty rest." Magnus wiggled his fingers while he talked, and threatening blue sparks jumped from tips.

So Jace quickly made his point.

"Clary's awake."

Magnus's cat eyes shot way, way, way open. "When?"

"Just now."

Magnus turned to go back to his room but then froze. "How do you know?" He turned on his heel in a very creepy fashion.

"I was walking by her room. I needed a drink." Jace answered drily, eternally grateful for his amazing skill at lying. "I heard a noise behind the door, so I checked on her." Jace leaned against the doorway and pretended to examine his nails. "That is still allowed, right? I am allowed to check on the invalid?"

"Keep making smart remarks," Magnus said coolly, "And you'll face a punishment that is a lot worse than being turned into a cat."

Jace rolled his eyes as Magnus retreated back into his room. "I saw that, Jace."

Jace peeked around the door. "Where's Alec?"

Magnus just smirked at him. "He was a bad boy. I made him sleep elsewhere."

Jace shuddered, not even wanting to try to think about what Magnus meant.

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Clary was exhausted. Walking five hundred yards had never been so exhausting. Her legs were trembling, sweat was pouring down her back. She clutched the wall as though she were drowning and the wall was a lifeboat that was leading her out of the water and back to land. Back to where the coffee was. Finally, she reached the door of the room that she and Beck shared. She fell forward and grabbed the handle, wrenching it open and stumbling inside and knocking over a table. Beck shot up from the bed, swearing and grabbing the dagger he kept by the bedside. He looked down at the small body and replaced the dagger, slowly getting out of bed and walking over.

"Kale? What are you doing?"

Clary snorted. It was so dark that he had mistaken her for her brother.

"Come on," she said in an exasperated voice, "I know that I'm short, and I know that my brother and I look a little bit alike, but are you seriously confusing me with a five year old boy?" She looked at up him; her voice was weak and it wavered pathetically, but Beck understood. His head shot up and he dove forward on to the floor. He grabbed at her with frantic hands, not daring to believe that it was really her, that she was really alive.

He groaned into her hair, "If this is a dream, don't wake me up!"

She giggled and pulled him away for a chaste kiss. "You are awake. I'm really here." She snuggled into his warm embrace and smiled against his chest as he kissed his way across her neck. Then a troubling thought overcame her.

"Beck," she started to say, but got distracted when she had to push Beck's mouth away from hers. He growled. "Don't you growl at me!" She reprimanded him, and shook her head at him. He sighed and nuzzled his face against hers for a moment.

"What?" He grumbled.

"Beck, what happened? I don't remember anything. All I know is that I fell down at the graveyard."

He looked deep in her eyes and pressed his nose against hers. "I want to strangle you."

Clary was alarmed for a moment. "Wh- What? Why?"

"You lied to me, Clary. You lied! You told me you fell and scratched your arm. A demon attacked you, Clary. A demon!" He stood up roughly, depositing her on the floor in an unceremonious heap. His voice as raised now, a sure sign that he was terribly upset. "Clary, what would have happened if you hadn't gotten to Magnus's?" Clary was shocked at this outburst. Beck was usually so calm and collected. "You would have died. You. Would. Have. Died!" He punctuated each word with a flip of his hands. Then he sank down beside her again, burying his head in his hands. Clary reached out and placed one hand on the soft, blue plaid pajama pants he wore to bed and the other on his bare chest.

"I'm sorry, Beck. I didn't think it was serious. I didn't want you to be upset."

"Yeah, well, tough luck." Beck's voice was uncharacteristically bitter. Clary managed to pull herself into his lap, though she gasped at the pain. Beck's head instantly cocked toward the small noise of pain.

"What's wrong?" All anger was instantly forgotten.

"Nothing," Clary smiled, "Just a little sore."

Beck's smile took a sinister tone to it. "Oh, really?" He stood up again, lifting her with him and gently depositing her on the bed. He lay down next to her and placed a kiss on her lips. "Just how sore are you?"

Clary giggled again and pulled him closer, "Not that sore." She started kissing him with a passion and myriad of emotions ran through her. She knew that she loved Beck, but what almost happened with Jace scared her. She was relieved she was no longer in pain, but she was worried about a relapse. So Clary did what she could do. She channeled all that fear and anger and relief and elation and love into a beautiful kiss.

Regrettably, Beck pulled back. "Clary, I don't think we should do this. I don't think you're well enough-"

He was cut off by Clary' lips

"Please? I want this." She cuddled closer to him, her hands tracing patterns on his chest. He shuddered and flipped their intertwined bodies so that he straddled her waist. He lifted her shoulders just enough to slid her shirt off, leaning down and creating soft patterns on her shoulders with his lips. Her hands reached up for his pajama pants and-

She fainted.

Beck panicked.

He waved his hands in front of her face.

He shook her shoulders.

He slapped her.

He dumped water on her.

Finally, he called for Magnus.

Magnus, of course, was able to wake her up instantly.

Stupid warlock.

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Magnus was exasperated. "Okay, one more time. What happened?" He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed theatrically. Clary rolled her eyes as she answered.

"I don't know." She spoke slowly, as though speaking to a small child. "All I know is I woke up, it was dark, and I wanted to find Beck, so I got up and went to our room. Jace was doing something and saw me get up, I guess." Clary was just as annoyed as Magnus, "Ask Jace what happened. I'm sure he knows better than I do."

All eyes turned to Jace, who raised his arm and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's pretty much what she said. Can I go back to bed now?" He looked bored, and his voice dragged as though he were very tired.

"What were you doing near her room?" Beck asked, slightly standoffish.

Jace looked at him, assessing Beck with a look of annoyance, as one would assess a fly. Clary's eye widened and she held her breath. Jace looked as though he might actually be considering telling Beck what had happened.

After what seemed like forever, Jace answered. "I was getting a drink of water, Beckett. Or is that not allowed now? Are guests simply supposed to dehydrate during the night?"

Beck narrowed his eyes like a cat but did not reply. Instead, he wrapped his arm around Clary shoulders and swept her into his arms. She giggled and clutched at his neck as he whisked her from the room, proclaiming that she needed her rest and that there would be plenty of time to talk in the morning. Clary placed her soft lips against Beck's temple and left them there for a moment. When she pulled back, they looked at each other with a gaze of intense love.

It made Jace sick.

He turned and left the room, trying to force the look on Clary's face from his mind.

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"I'm fine, really!" Clary repeated in exasperation for the tenth time in twenty minutes.

"No, you're not!" Beck countered calmly, "You've been unconscious for over a week. You are not fine."

"Yes, I am! Look!" Clary cried, "I have full range of motion," she demonstrated by moving her arms and legs in circles, "I walk and run," she took a few laps around the room, "and I can lift!" She grabbed Kale from his spot on Magnus's lap and swung him into her arms. Kale's bell-like laughter filled the air and he wrapped his arms around Clary's neck, pulling her tightly.

Beck smiled, but he reached over and plucked Kale away from Clary. When he started to pout, Beck warned him with, "I don't want to risk hurting Sissy. Do you?" He looked at Kale somberly and Kale returned the gaze with a nod.

"I agree," he said with a sigh, "We need to be careful around Clary."

Clary threw her hands up and announced for the eleventh time, "I'm fine!"

"Beck is right, Clarissa. You need to err on the side of caution." Clary glared at Magnus, and he returned the fierce gaze. "Don't look at me like that, Little Shadowhunter."

"Look, as much as I like discussing Clary's personal well-being, we have other things to discuss," Jace interrupted in a dry tone, "Such as this demon and what we're going to do about it."

"We're going to kill it, stupid." Beck's voice rang out with a clarity that turned heads.

"And just how," Jace lazily drawled his words out, "Do you propose we do that?"

"You and I are going to go visit that contact in the Czech Republic you were telling me about. We'll gather as much information as possible and when we return," Beck's threatening smile was scaring Clary a little, "We'll find and eradicate the demon."

Jace's eyebrow quirked up. "What's this 'we' business?"

Beck's eyebrows narrowed and he shifted Kale around on his lap. "You hear me. You and I are going to go visit this person and get info on whatever it is that's attacking and killing."

"No, we're not."

"Yes, we are."

"No, we're not."

"Yes, we are!"

With some amusement, Clary noted that Kale's and Magnus's heads were whipping back and forth like they were watching a tennis match. A wave of fatigue washed over her as she interrupted. Suddenly, she felt like a mother that was trying to break up two bickering brothers.

"Alright, that's enough. Before you two start a shut-up-no-you-shut-up fight, Jace, tell me why you aren't going with Beck." Clary rubbed her eyes and looked towards the blond angel who suddenly looked very sheepish.

"I…" The rest of Jace's statement was lost in a mumble.

"What was that?" taunted Beck.

"I said," Jace answered, glaring at the dark-haired boy, "That I can't go visit that contact anymore."

"Why not?" Clary asked through a sigh.

"I… Kind of… I- accidentally blew up his girlfriend's house."

"You… what?" Clary asked in shock.

"I blew up his girlfriend's house. It was an accident!" Jace said defensively. "The guy is pretty weak, you know, really hen-pecked. There was something inside her house, so I just blew it up, rather than get messy." Jace shrugged. "It seemed like the best option at the time. Anyway, she didn't like that so much, so when Jereni threw a hissy fit, Vanya threw me out. I'm not going back there. Besides, there was no running water." Jace finished, but as an afterthought added, "Or cell service."

"Not that you needed cell service anyway…" Alec muttered. Jace pointedly ignored him.

"I will visit my contacts in South America, and you can go to Eastern Europe, Beck." Jace said sweetly. Beck glared, but Clary was in no mood to deal with their arguing anymore.

"That is enough!" She shouted. "I'm sick of this constant fighting over who gets to be alpha male. I'll give you a hint; it's neither one of you! Beck," she whirled and pointed at her fiancée, "You are going to the Czech Republic. Glean as much information as you can. Jace," she spun on her heel and put a hand out to steady herself, "you are going to South America to do whatever you can there. Now," she started to wrap up her rant, "I don't want to hear anymore bickering or complaining or taunting from either of you. I'm done with it. Either you stop, or you leave. Your choice." She faced Beck again, but it was only to get her brother. "Come on, Kale. Let's leave them to think about what they'll choose."

Kale hopped off of Beck's lap and followed Clary from the room. The other four men were left in a stunned silence, until Magnus clapped his hands and smiled. "I rather like the way she handles you two!"

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As Jace left his room, a voice coming from the window made him freeze. Beck was lounging in the window seat, lazily playing with a bit of loose strong on his shirt.

"Clary's right, you know." Beck sat up and looked Jace square in the eye, for once as an equal, not an enemy. "We need to stop being so petty. I think that you do have an agenda, but for the time being, we need to stop acting like this. Walking around and beating our chests will get us nowhere. We should start working together. We'd get a lot more done." He stood and added, "We'd accomplish more if we would stop antagonizing each other."

Jace looked blankly at Beck for a long time. A million emotions flitted through his mind. Relief that Beck was the first to cave. Anger that Beck would dare to tell him what to do. Joy that Beck was willing to stop fighting and be friends again. Pain at the thought of losing Clary to Beck.

Finally, he nodded. "Fine," was all he said. Beck nodded and turned away.

Jace's eyes followed him down the hall. All that mattered right now was Clary. After Clary's life was out of danger and her parents murders were avenged, Jace could focus on getting her back.

And, he thought to himself, if he was the one who delivered the demon to her, wouldn't she be forever grateful? It was only natural that those feelings of gratitude would lead her to realize that her undying love for Jace would overcome anything she felt for Beck.

Jace reached for an apple from the bowl and took a self-satisfied bite of the juicy flesh beneath the skin.

His plan was foolproof.

There is chapter eleven. Personally, I think it sucked, but leave your thoughts in the review box.

I've been on a oneshot rampage lately, and it's because I've run into a little problem with this story. I honestly can't decide which ending I want the most. I have three different feasible endings that I love, and I can't start the next chapter until I decide. So, please don't expect chapter 12 for at least a week, probably definitely more.

I know, I suck. I'm sorry.

Please answer these questions anyway, and I will give you a spoiler. That much, I at least have planned. Please try not to hate me too much. That'd be really great, thanks.

How's the angst level in this story?

What kind of ending would you like to see? (Angsty focus on Clary, Angsty focus on Beck, Angsty focus on Jace?)

Who do you picture Beck to look like?

Do you want Beck and Clary to get married?

Do you want to see some more of Kale?

What kind of one-shots would you like to see me write?

What is your favorite book (or book series)?

Please feel free to ask me questions or leave (helpful!) criticism. Thanks!

Peace and Love,

SpeakNow1118