Alright, I'm going to warn the people now. There may be a lemon in this chapter... I'll indicate where if you want to skip over it... and if it's not in this chapter then it'll be in the next one. Oh, and there's going to be some sex talk in this chapter... along with lingerie shopping so... you have been warned :P Also, it's my first lemon so be harsh :P
Clary strolled down the hallway feeling, despite the situation at hand, quite cheerful. She had wanted to move out for a while now... she had just never really considered it until now.
Isabelle and Simon were still out, Luke had taken Jocelyn to lunch, Alec was off with Magnus doing God knows what, and Jace was in the kitchen, of course, eating. Clary decided that she would tell everyone of their news later tonight when supper had been eaten and Luke wasn't so crabby... he usually had a bit more tolerance when his stomach was full.
She had already prepared herself for everyone's reaction. Alec would be in a mixture of disbelief and slight disappointment, Isabelle would be sad because they were leaving, but ecstatic that they were moving in together, Simon would be kind of angry, Jocelyn would be crying; definitely; Magnus would crack a sex joke, and she didn't quite know about Luke... it all depended on the mood he was in.
Her head was already bursting with ideas about locations for their new home... she couldn't wait to discuss them with Jace. But she planned on waiting a bit longer... just to keep him hanging. She had no intentions of going somewhere tropical like Fiji or the Dominican Republic; places like that were too isolated for her. She had plans... plans that involved nothing to do with temperature extremities.
"Hey," Jace greeted around a mouthful of less-sodium potato chips. Jocelyn went on a health-kick when they returned from Alicante; much to the dismay of Luke, Jace, and Alec.
"Hey," Clary returned, settling herself in next to him. "Any plans for today besides eating?" She chuckled as gave her a playful glare. She loved his child-like sense of humour... unfortunately, it also came with his arrogance... but she could live with that.
"Hmm," Jace pretended to think intensely for a minute or so. "Well, my only plans as of now involve our room, a locked door, a closed window, an extremely messy bed and you-" He was abruptly cut off by an amused voice in the kitchen doorway.
"Sorry Johnothan Christopher," Magnus drawled. "You're gonna have to grab a Victoria's Secret magazine and an episode of Girls Gone Wild because I'm stealing your precious Clarissa for the day."
"Umm," Clary was extremely confused. Typically Magnus ignored her, focusing mostly on his relationship with Alec instead. And they had made no plans at all before just now... it was really... random.
"When was this decided?" Jace asked. It was hard to read the note of emotion in his voice. It could have been annoyance... or disappointment... Clary couldn't tell. She'd have to hear it again.
"Right now," Magnus clarified, grabbing Clary by the arm and dragging her to the door. "We'll be back in a few hours, tell my love dove that I'll be back later with his favourite; he'll know what that means."
"Ew," Jace muttered, shovelling a handful of chips into his mouth and dropping his elbow onto the counter.
Magnus led Clary out the door and into the bright afternoon sunlight. When he was sure she was willingly following him, he dropped her arm and took up a quick stride. Clary's curiosity was blazing now... she had no idea what Magnus was up to.
"So Clarissa," Magnus began. "I know I haven't been the best of friends to you in the short time that we've known each other, so I've decided to make up for that." Clary raised her eyebrows in astonishment. Magnus never did anything like this.
"I know what you're thinking kitten, and no, Alec didn't ask me to do this. But I feel like, since you saved my man-candy, I owe you this much at least." Clary nodded in understanding; she knew this had something to do with Alec. "Now, I have decided that the best gift I can give is my knowledge, I have a very experienced mind you know," he tapped his head, sending pink sparkles flying everywhere.
"O...k..." She agreed slowly. Where was he going with this?
"So let's get to the point shall we?" He clapped his hands together as they rounded the street corner. "I'm sure your relationship with the blond bad-boy is going peachy-keen, am I right jellybean?"
Clary nodded, smiling and still confused. Magnus was being nice and he was asking her about her relationship with Jace. What does one have to do with the other?
"Well, I'm going to act as your... 'advisor' so to speak." Seeing the sceptical look on Clary's face, Magnus laughed. "Not a relationship advisor, you're on your own there muffin. I'm thinking more along the lines of... bringing some flare into your life behind the bedroom door, if you understand me lemon-pop." He winked a cat-like eye in her direction.
"Oh no..." Clary smiled in spite of herself, shaking her head back and forth slowly. "I should've known..."
"Yes, you should've. But that's beside the point. Here we are puddin cup!" He gestured to a small boutique that they were now standing in front of. Clary recognized it immediately as a sex shop. She groaned inwardly. Only Magnus...
"Well what're you waiting for? Let's go, hurry scurry." He ushered her into the shop excitedly. The woman at the counter was tall and blonde with a casual outfit on and her hair flowing freely down her back. She smiled warmly at them when they entered and she immediately left the cash, approaching them with a bounce in her step.
"Hi there, my name is Lillian and welcome to La Boutique Rose. Is there anything I can help you with today?" She glanced expectantly from Magnus to Clary, waiting for an answer.
Magnus took up the opportunity before Clary could graciously decline the offer. "Yes actually, my little bashful bunny here needs to be transformed into a sex kitten for her man." Magnus winked at the woman who nodded in understanding and gestured for Clary to follow her. She was about to when Magnus grabbed her arm again. "I'll just be taking care of some personal interests. Come find me when you've finished. And if you don't have at least one decent set of lingerie by the time we leave here then I'll be forced to buy one for you; and you know my taste, little one, the more flare, the more fu-"
"Are you coming?" The saleswoman interjected, turning to Clary.
"Yes," She nodded, smirking at Magnus and following the saleswoman. She'd never stepped foot into one of these stores before... she didn't know what to expect.
Lillian led her to a large display of silk, lace, and a variety of colors. All of which looked like they wouldn't even cover her pinkie finger, let alone anything else. Although... she guessed that was the idea.
"So... what exactly do I...?" She trailed, hoping Lillian understood her meaning.
"Well, first you need to tell me a little about the man you're seeing. What are his tastes? His personality type?"
Clary thought for a second. "Well... he's very... 'confident'." She didn't want to make Jace sound like a jerk to this woman... she didn't even know him.
"Ok, you're going to have to get a little more into it than that sweetie," Lillian laughed. "Like, is he the dominant one? Does he like it when you take control or does he prefer you being subservient?"
Clary blushed reflexively. "Umm... well he's very dominant in everything he does... not just sex. But... I think it turns him on a bit when I take control..." She shuffled her feet a bit, not at all comfortable divulging information about her sex life with this woman.
"Ok, interesting..." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well, in that case, you would need something like this..." She took a corset-like outfit off the shelf and handed it to Clary "And with your red hair it would be better to go with a color like black or green... and taking into account your boyfriend's personality type then I would go with the black." She rooted through a few more racks, handing Clary more hangers with less and less clothes on them. "Ok, go to the dressing room. Show me when you have them on and I'll give you my opinion."
"Oh, and I don't know if this'll help or not, but he likes my hair down," She informed Lillian as she took a step towards the dressing rooms.
"Actually it does, I'll be back in a minute. Go try on the first one I gave you. Oh, and before I forget, what shoe size are you?"
"Seven," Clary replied, locked the stall door, and looked warily at the array of black silk and lace. She took the corset-like outfit off of the hanger and began to strip down. A thought struck her then; did she need to take her bra and underwear off? For safe measure she kept both on, just in case.
"How we doing in there?" Lillian called from the other side of the door.
Clary was sizing herself up in the mirror. The corset was strapless and only covered half of her breasts. The back was laced widely, exposing her back to a high percentage. It closed at the base of her spine, dipping a bit lower than she was comfortable with. As much as she hated to admit it, the ensemble gave her curves that she wasn't aware she had.
She was going to kill Magnus.
"Great," Clary answered Lillian.
"Do you have it on?" Lillian called back. Clary thought that the answer to this was pretty obvious.
"Yeah,"
"Let me see!" Clary pushed the stall door open, peeking outside to be sure no one was around before stepping out. She was secretly glad that the dressing areas were closed off to girls only.
"Hmm," Lillian clicked her tongue as she sized Clary up, pulling at random places to check for fit. "Nice," She finally decided. "But try on the other ones first. Oh, and put these on too." She handed Clary a pair of jet black heels that ran up to mid thigh. The fabric was a smooth suede type of material, just stretchy enough to hug her legs firmly without digging into her thigh.
"They're very sensual products; especially for your boyfriend to remove. He gets to see the accents of your legs and he gets to glide his hands over every inch of them to get the boots off. Also, they are quite easy to remove due to the material. Well go on, try them on."
Clary closed the door again, stripping the corset and pulling the boots on apprehensively. Once they were on and she had the next outfit on (a simple black bra with a bow on each peak and low cut underwear) she decided with a pang of annoyance that the boots felt amazing. She wasn't too fond of the outfit but... the boots she could live with.
"No," Lillian shook her head as soon as Clary opened the door. "Not for you; but the boots look simply booty-licious, so keep those. Go try on the last one."
Clary nodded and returned to the dressing room for the last outfit. It was a corset too but this one only covered half of her breasts and a bit of her upper stomach. The underwear was bordering on boy-cut and had a lace trim that looked like a little skirt covering the top half of the garment but not covering any of her legs. As she examined herself in the mirror, she came, grudgingly, to the conclusion that she looked fantastic and she felt sexy and confident.
Jace was going to flip.
She pulled the door open again and Lillian agreed whole-heartedly, instructing her to dress and meet her in the fragrance section.
About an hour later Clary and Magnus stepped out of the store, both with at least one bag. Besides the lingerie, Clary had gotten some sweet-smelling perfume that tasted good too and hickey/love bite cover up for later use. She'd also grabbed a few other things for herself; such as shampoos and body-washes.
"So cupcake, did you have a blast or what?" Magnus inquired. He had refused with a wink to tell her what he had gotten.
"To be honest Magnus, no matter how much it pains me to admit it, yeah I did." She agreed. She didn't regret Magnus's offer as she thought she would.
"And now for Magnus's 3 part guide to an unforgettable shag," He stated matter-of-factly. Great, Clary thought. This is what she had been waiting for... "Rule numero uno: Never let him have what he wants. If you hold out, he's going to suffer and it'll drive him mad. Rule number two: Teasing is a MUST. Let him think he's winning and then assert your power by abruptly changing tactics. It's always a crowd-pleaser. And finally, rule number three: When he's on his knees and beggin please, you give him what he pleads for and much more my newly found fire cracker." Magnus winked and entered the Institute as Clary crept in shyly behind him, trying to hide her blush.
To her utter horror everyone, with the exception of Isabelle and Simon, were back already and here she was walking in with a bag from a sex shop. She hide the bag behind her and crept up the stairs unnoticed, storing it in her closet for safe-keeping. As she closed the closet door another thought struck her; she was going to tell everyone about her and Jace soon... and she was going to tell Jace what she had in mind. Soon.
She felt sick.
Too soon for Clary's liking, dinner rolled around and everyone was sitting comfortably at the table with a heaping helping of Sheppard's pie on their plates. Clary ate hers slowly, chewing longer than necessary on abnormally small bites. This action didn't go unnoticed by Jace and as he deciphered why she was acting so strange, he burst into a highly amused laugh. Everyone stared at him in confusion before he blew it off as something he remembered from a while ago. With looks of suspicion, the group returned to eating.
When all was said and done and people had started to decline seconds, Jace cleared his throat.
"Yo, listen up guys. Clary and I have an important announcement to make." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Clary regretted it for him. Looks of astonishment lit the faces of everyone.
"You are NOT pregnant!" Isabelle exclaimed. Slightly off from what they had originally planned, Simon and Isabelle had decided to come back for supper and leave again afterwards, much to Clary's torture and Jace's amusement.
"You're right, I'm not!" Clary quickly slaughtered that idea. She was sure Luke's eyes had started to shift into something more wolf-like than human in that instant.
"No, she's definitely not pregnant. But you might find this just as shocking..." Jace trailed, letting everyone come to their own assumptions.
"You see... we're um... Jace and I... we're considering... I mean we are... umm..." Clary stuttered. This had been the part she was dreading. So much for the 'new Clary' she thought bitterly.
"We're taking a little permanent vacation from Shadow hunting... and New York." Jace clarified.
"What?!" Simon smacked his hand down on the table. Clary had been expecting a few angry reactions from Simon and Luke but she wasn't expecting what happened next...
"Do you know where you're going? If you need money I'd be happy to lend you some!" Jocelyn offered quickly, a smile on her face.
"Ouch Mom, if you wanted me out of the house you could've just said so," Clary mumbled.
Jocelyn let out a tinkling laugh. "It's not that I want you gone Hunny, but this is no life for you. In fact, if you remember, I wanted to keep this from you as long as I could. I'm glad you decided to move on. And you're going to visit of course, so it's not like I'll never see you again." Jocelyn explained, a small tear finding its way down her cheek.
"Thanks Mom," Clary smiled. She then turned to look at Simon who was staring at her in shock and Isabelle who had her hand on his shoulder and was grinning at her knowingly. Then she turned to Magnus who was mouthing his 'Three part Guide' to her again and Alec who was staring at Jace in disbelief. Finally, she turned her gaze to Luke. He was abnormally calm, avoiding everyone's gaze including Jace's and especially Clary's. She sighed. She was going to have to talk to him.
"Luke...?" She began shyly.
He stood without responding, marching out of the dining room without a single glance back. Clary sighed; following him with a look of reassurance to everyone.
Out in the hall Clary caught a glimpse of Luke exiting the Institute. She had only a matter of seconds before he transformed and took off running. She increased her pace until she was almost sprinting when she burst through the front door only to find Luke leaning patiently against a stone column.
"Oh... Luke..." Clary trailed. She hadn't expected him to wait for her. He didn't look at her; he just inclined his head slightly in her direction for the benefit of acknowledgement. Clary groaned inwardly; this was going to be an awkward conversation. "Luke," She tried again. "I'm sorry..."
"I just got you back," He choked. Clary felt her stomach almost fall through her body. She hated herself for doing this to Luke and Jocelyn...Luke more so than Jocelyn. She knew that her mom understood her need for independence but Luke... she would always be his little girl.
"I know, and you're not going to lose me now. I'm not disappearing off the face of the Earth; not like before. You just won't see me every single day." Clary explained. She hoped that he would understand as well.
Luke sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "I know kiddo; it's just hard for an old wolf like me to give up his practical pup." He shot her a lopsided grin and Clary almost strangled him in a choke-hold of a hug. When both were satisfied that they each were in good enough moods to re-enter the Institute, they did just that. Jocelyn was talking with Jace about locations and arguing places that were too far, Simon was slumped in his chair, still in disbelief; Isabelle was chatting lightly with Magnus and Alec about when they thought Jace would pop the question. Clary laughed inwardly at this; Jace wasn't the kind of guy to settle down. She had accepted that the day in the green room where they shared their first kiss.
"Hey," Jocelyn greeted as they entered. She placed a sympathetic hand on Luke's shoulder before turning to look at Clary. "Did you two work everything out?"
"Of course," Clary informed her with a grin. "So, what have you two been talking about?" She asked Jace and her mother.
"Mostly places," Jocelyn answered. "I talked Jace out of Miami for...obvious reasons." She raised an eyebrow in Jace's general direction and Clary could almost see the images of her in a bikini flashing through Jace's mind. Sure enough, when she glanced at him he was eying her leg slyly. She glared playfully at him while diverting his attention back to the matter at hand by clearing her throat and pointing discreetly at Luke.
"So Clary, did you have any suggestions?" Jocelyn asked politely.
Clary flashed everyone a grin, receiving some curious stares in response. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a folded map of the one state that no one had been expecting, not even Jace.
"Salem?" Jace asked, confused and sceptical. "Salem, Massachusetts? You've got to be kidding Clary; we can move anywhere in the world and you choose to move next door?"
"Yeah I do. I don't want to move too far away and you honestly didn't think I was going to give up shadow hunting without a fight did you?" Clary smirked at his dumfounded expression. "There's an excellent Institute in Salem and they agreed to my conditions. I called them while I was out with Magnus today." Magnus winked at her.
"And what are your conditions? Jace asked through clenched teeth. Clary could tell that he wasn't happy about her little trick but he'd get over it.
"That we can stay there until we find a place to live and that we can decline any or all missions that they assign us as we see fit." Clary informed him. Jace seemed to visibly relax as she said the second part. "I've checked around and there are a few job openings around, that plus my savings should be enough to get a down-payment on a place; or enough for a few months rent if we get an apartment." Everyone stared at her, impressed by her thoroughness. Jace relaxed his shoulders and let out a sigh.
"Alright Clary, but we're not getting an apartment. No way. And we're not using your savings. We'll use mine." The table took up a happy atmosphere after all was said and done. Luke and Jocelyn congratulated them both and offered to pay a fraction of the mortgage for the first little while or half of the down payment if they preferred. Simon vowed that he would come and visit all the time, no matter what his mother said. Isabelle was currently discussing paint colors with Clary and Magnus was giving subtle reminders about their venture earlier in the day, all of which Clary understood but left everyone else puzzled.
"You know you two," Magnus would begin, "I hear that cinnamon vanilla is a lovely combination for a candle. Brings spice and flavour to a room, don't you think?" Clary's mind shot back to the body wash she'd bought with that exact scent. She sot a glare at Magnus and Alec furrowed his brow at him; looking as though he might understand as well...
"Well, we're heading off to bed now." Jace announced, hinting to Clary that he wanted to talk to her alone. "We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight." Jace led her upstairs and into the bedroom where he locked the door and pulled off his shirt, ruffling his silky hair slightly. Clary quickly changed into her pyjamas; deciding to save her 'purchases' for the first night they spent in their new home.
"What's wrong?" Clary asked, curious. "You're not mad at me are you?"
He sighed. "No Clary, I'm not mad. I was just hoping that maybe we'd be isolated a bit more than Massachusetts... that's all. But it's better than here I guess."
Clary smiled encouragingly at him, gliding her index finger from the nape of his neck all the way down to the base of his spine. "Just think of it this way: Either way we live completely...alone..." She began whispering for added effect.
"Alright," Jace growled, seizing her hand and pinning it to her waist while bringing his lips to her ear. "But I get to approve the missions."
Clary smirked; turning to take his earlobe between her teeth. "I wouldn't have it any other way,"
Ooooooh Clary's turning into a feisty little bee-otch. Like I said, I'll indicate where the lemon starts in the next chapter so you can skip it of you want. Obviously, rating changed .. Again :P Review please!!!