Sorry about the long wait! I had a bit of writers block. I want to thank AlesiaJ89 immensely for helping me get over it by giving me an awesome idea. You're the best!


The sound of spoons hitting the insides of bowls is the only sound that fills the dining room where Clary and her boyfriend and his parents are. Celine was right. This is the most awkward meal of her life. The heavy silence filling the room is somehow deafening to her ears and she desperately starts to think of a million ways she could excuse herself and leave without garnering more hatred from his father.

Stephen Herondale won't stop watching her while his eyes dart over to his son to glare at him every once and a while. No one seems to know what to say in this moment so Clary sets her spoon down in her bowl and dabs her mouth with her napkin before looking up and smiling at Celine. "The soup is delicious." she says softly with a smile.

"Thank you, Clary." she replies and then the room goes silent again. Another long minute passes with just the sound of their spoons hitting their bowls again before Jace abruptly drops his into his soup.

"This is ridiculous." Jace says exasperatedly as he looks over to his parents.

"I couldn't agree more." his father says as he narrows his eyes at Clary.

"Not my relationship with her." Jace says defensively. "This lunch. The heavy silence over us. We are all adults and should be able to hold a civil conversation between the four of us."

Stephen's eyes focus completely on Jace as he wipes his lips with his napkin and leans back in his chair and then folds his arms across his chest. "What subject do you think will be most suitable for us then?" he asks his son with a superior tone. "How many people each of us has killed or how many times we've been shot at? Oh, I know." Stephen says as he smirks and leans forward, resting his elbows on the table with a smirk on his face. "How about we each trade secrets of how we torture people to get information out of them. My favorite thing to do is to take a pair of pliers and..."

Celine thankfully cuts him off. "That is enough, Stephen. You've proved your point."

"And what point is that, dear wife?"

"That you don't think that they will work out." she quips back at him. "That there is too much bad blood between our families."

"And I could give two flying fucks about all of that." Jace interjects and Clary suddenly feels like she shouldn't be there. Like she is intruding on some private family conversation. "I refuse to let you and Valentine's stupid fucking hatred towards each other ruin my love for her. You don't get to spoil this for me."

"I'm not trying to spoil it." Stephen replies. "I am just trying to get you to see that your relationship will be too hard. It was doomed before it even started."

"Nothing worth having is easy to obtain." Jace tells him. "You taught me that. You have to work for what you want and you should never give up if it is what you truly want and will make you the most happy."

Stephen's face then turns slightly surprised with his mouth popping slightly open. After a few seconds he closes his mouth and leans back in his chair tiredly. "I did say that." he says and his eyes unwillingly move to look at Clary. He studies her for a second before looking back to his son with a more understanding look in his eyes. "Alright." he says in a resigned voice. "I'll give her and your relationship a shot. But just one."

Jace's hand then moves under the table and grabs a hold of Clary's and she watches as his whole body relaxes out of the tense state it was just in. "Thank you, dad." Jace says lowly to him. "That means the world to me."

Clary chances a look over at Celine who is looking at her husband with unbelievable warmth and pride in her eyes. She can see the love radiating from her as she looks at Stephen and she briefly wonders if that is how she looks at Jace and if it's not, if she will eventually one day. That wouldn't be so bad.

Celine seems to feel her gaze and turns her head to look at her. "So Clary," she says brightly, breaking the heavy moment between father and son, "Jace tells me that you are an artist. I know your mother is herself an amazing artist. Do you think that is where you get your talent from?"

Clary smiles over at her, eternally thankful that his mother is so easy to talk to and says proudly, "My mother taught me everything I know."

"That's wonderful that you share something that you both love with each other." she says warmly and then she looks to Jace. "Did you know that Jace plays the piano and has composed a few songs? I taught him how to play starting when he was three."

Clary's brows raise in surprise as she turns and looks at him next to her. "That is something that he managed to leave out of our many endless conversations."

He smiles a little sheepishly at her before saying, "I have a bad boy image to keep up. I can't run around and let people know that I play the piano and make up songs."

Clary doesn't know what exactly about his answers she finds so funny but she releases out a loud and abrupt roll of laughter after he says that. While she is trying to regain her composure and stop laughing, Stephen watches her with studious eyes and watches as her eyes shine up at his son and Jace's eyes light up when he looks down at her. Jace's eyes start to narrow down at his girlfriend after his mother joins in on Clary's laughter and his lips purse at her. "You see." he says knowingly. "This reaction is what I was afraid of."

Clary stills her laughs for a moment but the smile remains on her face as she says, "I am not laughing at you playing the piano and composing. I am laughing because you were worried about your 'bad boy' image when you are the son of a notorious crime boss. I think your 'bad boy' image could survive the news that you play the piano."

Jace watches her laughing lightly and smiling at him and then he is cracking a small smile back at her and then sighs. "I guess you are right." he admits and then leans over and gives her a quick peck on the lips.

"Does this mean that I will be serenaded anytime in the near future?" Clary asks him as she tries to raise one brow questioningly and fails miserably.

"Maybe." he says with a shrug of his shoulders and a sly smile and a husky tone that promises of something more. Celine then clears her throat lightly and Clary looks back over to her and a very slight blush creeps onto her cheeks when she realizes that she could hear what Jace said to her. She suspects that Celine knows exactly what Jace was getting at with his suggestive tone towards her.

Stephen doesn't say much throughout the next fifteen minutes of finishing lunch. He only speaks in short answers when his wife asks him a question. Clary is content with not speaking directly to him with the way his face switches between slight glaring and a look of suspicious interest at her. She guesses that he is studying everything about her. The way she talks and holds herself to the way she eats. Like she is a subject worthy of being studied. She has to remind herself that he is just doing the same thing her dad would do if he had to sit down with Jace. He is weary of her and that is okay. Only time will prove that she isn't the spawn of the devil like he probably thinks she is.

They talk about her art and Celine tells her a very entertaining story about when Jace was five and went through a 'I hate clothes' phase and ran around naked for a month. Anytime she would manage to get clothes on him, he would just run into a room and lock the door and take them off again. The most entertaining part of the whole story was Jace's red and embarrassed face. Especially when she told of the time he stripped naked in a bakery and got into the giant bag of flour in the back of the store an attempt to escape his mother who was chasing after him with his clothes. Celine informed Clary that she had a picture of the whole thing, him naked and covered head to toe in flour, and when she offered to go and get it to show Clary, Jace gave her a look that would make lesser humans cower. His mother just smiled fondly at him and told her that she would just have to show her another time and Jace quickly changed the subject.

When they all had finished their lunch, Stephen excused himself fairly abruptly and retreated to his office while Jace stood and helped Clary out of her chair. "I think that this has been enough of pushing Dad's patience for today." Jace says as he looks over the table to his mother.

"I would have to agree with that." she replies and then looks over to Clary. "Well, Clary," she says almost tiredly to her, ",it truly was nice to meet you since Jace hasn't stopped talking about you for the past week."

Clary turns her head and smiles up at her boyfriend and tells herself to reward him for all of the apparently wonderful things he said about her to his mother. "Well, I'm just glad that no one shot at me when I told you my name." she says and then lets out a nervous chuckle as his mother lets out a small and slightly forced one of her own. Something about her laugh makes Clary think that that might have actually been an option at one point she suspects (hopefully) from his father and not his mother.

"We'll get going then." Jace says and his mother walks around the table and gives him a hug and then turns to Clary. She is surprised when she pulls her in for a hug and Clary looks questioningly up at Jace over her shoulder. He gives her a nod and her arms hesitantly move up and hug her lightly back. Celine pulls back after a moment and then steps away as Jace grabs Clary's hand and starts to pull her over towards the front door.

"Call me later." Celine tells Jace. "And come over and see your father at some point tomorrow also. You should talk to him."

"Yes, mom." Jace mumbles and Clary smirks at the big bad crime boss's son still being told what to do by his mommy. For some reason, she absolutely loves that fact.

When the door swings open, Clary can see the relieved look on her body guard Trevor's face. She pats him on the arm as she passes as if to reassure him and then walks over to the elevator with Jace coming to stand right beside her. "That went a hell of a lot better than I thought it would." Clary remarks as he reaches out and presses the elevator button.

"I knew my mom could be made to see reason. It certainly helped that we got the first ten minutes alone with her and her not knowing who you were." Jace replies. "She actually got to see you as you and not immediately as Valentine Morgenstern's daughter."

"I just wish my dad would have done the same thing." she tells him with a twinge of sadness to her voice. Jace's hand rises up to her chin and he brings her face up to look at him. "Don't worry. Everything will work out with time." he tells her reassuringly. "We just have to give them time to get used to the idea and then they will see that we really do love each other. So much so that it will probably disgust them with how much we look longingly into each other's eyes."

Clary's mouth pulls up in a reluctant smile and she huffs out a small laugh as she lightly pushes on his chest. "You are so stupid." she tells him playfully.

"Maybe." he tells her with a light shrug of his shoulders. "But you like it and think I'm charming and incredibly sexy and want to tear my clothes off right about now."

"Ha!" she says loudly with a smile. "You wish." The elevator doors open and she steps in first followed by Jace and their two body guards. She looks to her left and then to her right at the two men and pouts a little. "Even if I did want to tear your clothes off, we would have an audience." she says exasperatedly.

"Not if I tell them to turn around." Jace says in a husky voice as he wraps his arms around her waist and turns her body to face his. His eyes meet hers and she can see the look of want in them. "How about some privacy, boys." Jace says and the two men turn around to face the walls. Trevor does so reluctantly and slower than Jace's guy but when he does, Jace pulls her mouth to his.

She can't help but let out a small contented sigh as his soft lips press against hers. Her arms move of their own accord and she brings them up and wraps them around his neck as his arms tighten around her. One of his hands slides down and he grabs one of her ass cheeks and gives is slow squeeze as the other slides up her back, coming to rest between her shoulder blades, and pushes her top half tightly against his chest.

Her mouth opens and he slips his tongue into her and the kiss suddenly becomes a lot more serious. Her hands fist in his golden hair, tugging at the roots as she presses her hips against his. She can feel him through his pants and just as she is about to slip a hand down his chest and make her way there, the elevator doors open. There is a surprised noise from someone followed by, "Jace." in a tense voice.

She quickly untangles herself from him and turns to see who is there. Her eyes narrow and she scowls when she sees that it is Alec Lightwood, remembering his reaction to their relationship this morning. Clary's hand goes to her lips and wipes away a little bit of wetness in the corner of her mouth from their kiss as Jace looks sternly at him. "Did you come here to tell me in more ways you think this is a bad idea?" Jace quips angrily at him. His voice is clipped and tight as he continues. "Or did you come here to try and tell my father before I had a chance?"

Alec has the decency to look guilty as he brings his hand up and runs it through his midnight black hair. His eyes drop to the marble floor and Jace pulls them out of the elevator to stand in front of his best friend. After a few seconds, Alec looks back up to Jace and locks his eyes on him. "I came here to apologize to you." he tells Jace and his face remains completely impassive as he looks at Alec. "I was way out of line and I shouldn't have said those things to you."

"I'm not the only one you said them to." Jace says in a tight voice. Alec seems extremely reluctant to look down at Clary but he tears his eyes off of Jace and they land on her. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

Clary returns his gaze with a stern one of hers. If he is expecting to say that she forgives him, then he is sorely mistaken. She has her father's temper and will need some time and space before she will even consider forgiving him.

When neither of them say anything, Alec turns his eyes back up to Jace and she can see them soften considerably as he looks at him. "I mean it. I shouldn't have said those things. I understand if you are still mad at me but you have to know that wasn't me earlier." Alec's eyes dart down to Clary for a second, clearly wishing she wasn't there, and then back up to Jace as he continues. "I just worry about you. You're my best friend and I don't want someone taking advantage of you or putting you in danger."

"I am a big boy, Alec." Jace replies. His voice is a little softer this time when he speaks. "I can take care of myself. I don't need you to tell me what you think I should be doing with my life and with whom."

"I know, I know." Alec says to him. His voice has also gotten softer as he steps a little bit closer to Jace. His eyes once again dart over to Clary and he looks back to Jace and says, "Can we just talk in private for a moment."

"No." Jace replies quickly and firmly. "Whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of the both of us." Jace reaches down and grabs hold of Clary's hand and she couldn't feel better by his actions. He is clearly letting Alec know that she isn't going anywhere and he had better get used to it if he wants to stay in his life.

Clary watches as Alec's face falls for a moment before he schools it into a blank look as he steps back a little and says, "Just...watch your back." Alec says with a little worry and Clary can't help but scowl at him a little more. He doesn't acknowledge her as Jace's looks at his friend with a little bit of exasperation mixed with understanding. "I always do." Jace replies and then Alec just nods his head once in satisfaction at his words.

"I am busy tomorrow but can we have lunch or dinner, just the two of us, the day after tomorrow?" Alec asks. There is a hopeful edge to his voice and Jace seems to think about it for a few seconds before nodding his head in agreement. Alec's lips turn up into a relieved yet small smile at his agreement and then takes a small step back. Jace takes this as a sign that they are done and then is pulling Clary along by their conjoined hands toward the door to outside.

Clary doesn't say a word as they wait for Jace's car to be pulled around because so far, she doesn't have anything nice to say about Alec whom she can clearly tell is occupying Jace's thoughts. If he wants her to like Alec, it will take time. Clary Morgenstern is too much like her father to so easily forgive and forget. She just hopes that Alec will lay off of their relationship. It is never good when the best friend doesn't like you and doesn't approve of your relationship. That could create tension between them and cause fights and that is the last thing they need in their already complicated and hard relationship.

When his car is pulled around and they slip into it, Jace looks over at Clary after he starts the car and waits until she is looking back at him. "He is just worried about me." Jace says softly to Clary. Apparently, she wasn't fooling anybody about her thinking about not liking Alec. "He's my best friend and just wants me to be safe."

"Yes, but you don't have anything to worry about from me." Clary says back to him. "I love you. I could never even imagine hurting you." Her voice has softened as she talked and now she is reaching across the car to grab his hand. "If he had just given me a chance, he would have seen that. Instead he instantly hated me without even knowing anything about me other than my name."

"I know." Jace says as he squeezes her hand. "That is why I was so mad at him. He knows he messed up and is trying to make up for it. I know his day today was fully booked. I am sure he had to cancel something important to come here to apologize. Just don't write him off just yet. Okay?"

Clary takes a deep breath as she looks into his eyes and sees the pleading look he is giving her. She blows the air out of her nose roughly and then is saying, "Alright. But if he goes crazy and starts insulting me again..."

Jace cuts her off, "Then I will punch him in his face."

Clary smiles at him and then he is leaning across the console and pulling her lips to his.


"So," Clary says as she plops down on the couch next to Jace. "what do you want to do tonight?" she asks. She is wearing one of his t-shirts and her underwear after they came back to his place and he took her straight to bed.

"Do you want to try and go to Taki's again since we didn't get to eat brunch there?" Jace asks as he slings his arm over her shoulders. She sinks down into his side as he searches for something to watch on the T.V.

"That sounds good." she tells him and turns her head to look up at him. "The only problem is I don't have the right clothes for it."

"Do you want to drive back to your place and pick something up?" he asks as he looks down at her.

"No." she says exasperatedly. "It takes twenty five minutes to just get there. I don't want to spend an hour in the car just to get a change of clothes." She lets go of his gaze and looks ahead to the television. A few minutes pass when she gets an idea. "What time is it babe?" she asks Jace.

He reaches down beside him and picks up his phone to look at the screen. "It's almost five."

"Perfect." she says as she sits up from the couch and stands and walks over to where her purse is on a table in his entryway. She digs in it for a minute before pulling out her phone and dialing a number. Jace is watching her with a questioning look on her face and she just smiles back at him.

"Hey Maia!" Clary says with a smile into the phone. "I need you to do me a huge favor."

"And what is that?" Maia asks sounding a little weary on the other end of the phone.

"Can you go over to my place and grab my green knee length cocktail dress with the low V neck line?" she asks her. "I am at Jace's and we want to go out to dinner but I don't have anything to wear. I also know that Jordan is relieving Trevor at six and I figured you could just give the dress to Jordan and he can bring it to me."

Maia makes a show of huffing loudly into the phone like she is annoyed but replies with, "Sure. I can do that. What shoes do you want to go with it?"

"The black strappy stilettos. Oh, and grab my flat iron too. I'd love to put some light curls in my hair. Thank you SO much. You are truly the best!"

"You had better know I am." Maia says flatly before hanging up and Clary walks back over to where Jace is on the couch. He is watching her with a thoughtful look on his face as she sits back down next to him and snuggles up to his side. After a few minutes, she can still feel his eyes on her so she looks up to him. "What?" she asks.

"Why don't you bring some of your stuff to keep over here." he says catching her by complete surprise. "Like some changes of clothes and shoes for instances like this one."

Clary is completely surprised by what he just said. That is strictly a 'few months into the relationship' kind of step. Her and Sebastian only started doing that after a year of dating. Even though it makes perfect sense to do it because they live so far apart, it is still a big step in their relationship. Especially for Jace who was such a man-whore before meeting her.

"Are you sure?" Clary asks him. "You wouldn't mind?"

"I think I would actually kind of like it." he admits to her as his fingers tuck a piece of her hair behind one of her ears while his eyes follow the motion. "I like having you here and when you aren't here, at least I will have some of your stuff here. It is a nice reminder that you will come back and...I don't know. I just like the idea of it."

"Aww. Babe." Clary says as she cranes her neck up and kisses him on the lips. "I can bring some stuff over this weekend." she says when she pulls back and Jace just smiles widely down at her.


They pull up to the curb outside of Taki's for their eight o'clock reservation and Jace hops out and tosses his keys to a valet. He hurries over to Clary's side and offers his hand to help her get out of the car which she gladly takes. Her form fitting emerald green cocktail dress rides up a little to her mid thigh as she steps out and she has to push it back down to the knee length like it is supposed to be when she stands. But not before seeing that Jace and one of the other valet's eyes had found her legs and gotten a long good look at them.

As they enter the restaurant, the host sees Jace immediately and flashes him his most charming and friendly smile as he hurries over to them. "Welcome back Mr. Herondale." he says cheerily. "We have your table ready for you."

Jace leans into Clary and she sees that he has his phone in his hand and is reading some text. "I have to call someone. Why don't you go ahead and sit down. Sorry, love." he says to her.

"It's okay." she says with a smile back to him and he kisses her on her cheek before stepping back outside while dialing a number. The host looks to her and then motions that she follow him. They start to make their way through the restaurant, passing table after table while acquiring many looks from men as she walks by. Clary looks up and is suddenly met with a familiar set of eyes that she has seen many times before. His grey eyes light up with surprise and she places a fond smile on her lips as the host continues to walk towards their table in the back. She can see the unoccupied table that is surely meant for them up ahead, but unfortunately, it takes her right by the man and she readies herself for an uncomfortable conversation.

"Clary, dear!" Sebastian's boss of his legitimate job (not his off hours job with her father), Jack Williston, coos at her as she comes to stop in front of him. He is already standing out of his seat while the two other men at the table that she vaguely recognizes from Sebastian's work give her appreciative looks. Thankfully, Sebastian isn't one of them. "It's so wonderful to see you again." His smile is bright and welcoming and her face softens at him. He has always been so nice to her. "It's great to see you too, Mr. Williston." she tells him.

"How many times have I told you to call me Jack?" he says in his most playfully chastising tone.

"Too many." she says with a small chuckle as he lifts her hand to his lips and kisses it.

"Sebastian didn't tell me that you would be joining us." he says with happiness and she furrows her brows lightly in confusion. Just as she is about to say something back, she hears an all too familiar voice come from very close behind her.

"That's because she didn't know we were here." She spins on her heels swiftly and sees the very controlled face of Sebastian as he looks down at her. To others who don't know him as well as she does, they would see nothing in his face but when she looks into his eyes, she can see the hurt in them before he quickly pulls his eyes back to his boss. "Sorry I'm a little late." he tells Jack as he steps to stand beside her.

"No problem. It's only a few minutes." his boss replies and Clary nervously tucks her hair behind one of her ears. Jack looks back to Clary and smiles as he says, "Well since you are here, why don't you join us? I am sure whichever friend of yours you came with wouldn't mind too terribly."

"That's not the best idea." Sebastian says as his eyes stay locked on his boss. "Clary and I broke up recently."

Jack's face becomes slightly shocked as he says, "But I thought the two of you were getting engag..."

He doesn't finish the sentence because Sebastian cuts him off saying, "No. We parted ways." Clary can hear the tenseness to his words and she steals a look at him to see that pained look in his eyes has come to the surface for a moment.

Jack, seeming to realize what is going on, looks between the two of them before his face grows more serious. "Sorry to hear that." he says as the air between them turns very uncomfortable, very quickly. They all look down at their feet for a moment before Sebastian clears his throat lightly and says. "Well Clary, we won't keep you any longer."

She looks up to him and gives him a fond and appreciative look and is about to say, 'It was nice seeing you' when she feels a hand on the small of her back. "Sorry to keep you waiting, darling." she hears Jace say from behind her and her heart drops into her stomach. She stands there frozen for two seconds before she looks up to Sebastian to gauge his reaction.

His eyes are hard over her head where they rest on Jace and she can see the muscles in his jaw flexing ever so slightly. Jace, sensing the tense atmosphere, steps to beside Clary while his left hand is still on the small of her back and extends his right hand to Sebastian's boss. "I see you know my girlfriend. I'm Jonathan Herondale." he says in introduction and her eyes fly back to Sebastian and lock there.

She watches as his eyes get incredibly wide and then turn angry as they look at him. She can hear his boss introduce himself to Jace from her other side, but she doesn't take her eyes off of Sebastian. His fists clench at his side and his jaw clenches even more as the two incredibly long seconds pass since hearing his name. 'Shit. This is absolutely horrible.' she thinks to herself. Sebastian knew that she had started to see someone else but he very obviously didn't know who.

She reaches over to him and places her hand on his arm to try and communicate for him to calm down but he doesn't seem to respond to it. She can see from her peripheral vision, Jace turn to face Sebastian, them looking at each other for the first time, and she can feel Jace stiffen as he surely realizes who Sebastian is from the night they met. If he didn't recognize him, she is sure the look of pure death and protectiveness for her Sebastian is giving him would give it away.

Sebastian makes a tiny movement closer to Clary and his hand twitches towards her. Her hand is still on his arm so she gives it a hard squeeze and that does the trick. His eyes break away from Jace and move down to meet hers. She gives him an apologetic look and then he reaches out and places his hand on the top of her back as he looks hard down at her.

Jace makes a small movement towards Sebastian and she can feel his hand reach around her side like he is going to pull her back towards him, but her eyes stay on Sebastian. "Can we talk for a minute?" Sebastian asks, his voice tense and hard indicating that he didn't want to give her the choice to say no.

Clary is slightly surprised by his words and she starts to feel Jace pull on her lightly while Sebastian's hand on her back starts to pull her in his direction. Both of them making her feel like they are ready to either pull her out of the way to fight or to make her choose between them, and to the victor go the spoils. She has never felt more torn and uncomfortable in her whole life than she does as she looks back to Jace and then back to Sebastian. There doesn't seem to be a right answer here. With one last look at Sebastian, she looks over at Jace and says, "Just give me a moment." and indicates to Sebastian.

He obviously doesn't like her answer but leans in and kisses her on the cheek and pulls back and says, "I'll be right over there." and nods his head to the vacant table a few tables down and in the corner of the dining area.

He reluctantly steps away and she feels his hand slide off of the small of her back only to be replaced by Sebastian's hand as he starts to guide her over to a corner of the restaurant near the small bar along the far wall. She can practically feel his feeling of victory coming off of him in waves as she looks up and sees a small smirk on his face. He hurries her over to an alcove and once he feels they are secluded enough, his eyes look down and meet hers with a very determined and serious look on his face and he says...


Alright, I am taking suggestions on what Sebastian should say because I can't decide between three options myself. Help me by telling me what you think his reaction would be!