Hey guys! Not much to say, just enjoy this chapter :)

Oh and btw. The fun parts of the story will start very soon. Just saying ;)

Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Only the ornate door stood before Clary, and all she could do was stand and stare. The dark wood was engraved with swirling arches and the brass handles gleamed in the sunlight. She could see her hazed reflection in them; an easily visible look of nervousness was clear on her pale face. The regal aura of the Lightwood house made her pause, and her memories of the last time she was here made her shiver.

With a burst of courage, Clary quickly rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer her. Her hands were shaking, and her breath hitched when the sound of a lock clicking open came from inside the house. Her breathing halted as she looked up, expecting to see deep gold pools-

Instead, she found herself looking at the inside of the house. Clary stared blankly for a moment, uncomprehending, and it wasn't until she shifted her gaze lower did she see Max standing there, his face alight with happiness. Clary couldn't help but smile back at the younger boy, and her anxiety quickly vanished.

Reaching forward, she ruffled Max's hair in greeting. He gave a small noise of annoyance, but brightened immediately. "Hi Clary!" he chirped brightly. "Jace told me you were coming today!" Max beamed up at her and stepped aside to let Clary come in.

"Oh yeah?" Clary asked, a note of amusement tinging her voice. "What else did he say about me?" Max's vision of Jace was adorable; it was clear that in his opinion, Jace was a shining idol.

Max began to snicker, and Clary's curiosity rose. "I'm not allowed to say!" he squealed. Before Clary could question him further, he ran off further into the house. Clary shook her head and closed the front door behind her, hanging her coat in the closet beside the entryway. She followed Max's escape route to the living room, where she found him sitting on one of the stuffed couches, still giggling.

"And why exactly are you not allowed to tell me?" Clary pried, placing her hands on her hips and attempting to look stern. Max saw easily through her façade and continued to laugh harder.

"He told me he would feed me to the angry hippos if I ever told anyone because they like to eat small children," Max whispered, suddenly serious. His expression dropped into a look of horror and Clary laughed, dropping onto the couch beside Max. Her arms circled his small body, pulling him closer to her. Max squirmed a little, but soon gave in and remained still in Clary's arms.

Lowering her voice, Clary whispered into Max's ear, "I promise I won't tell Jace you said anything." She paused for a moment, then continued in a cajoling tone, "And I'll give you a little surprise if you tell me."

"What's the surprise?" Max asked, looking a little skeptical, but interested.

"You'll find out if you tell me, won't you? And I promise it'll be worth it," Clary assured him.

Max's eyes widened and he nodded eagerly, all qualms about divulging Jace's secret vanished. Clary smiled to herself, thinking about how easy it was to persuade children.

"Jace says you're the prettiest girl he's ever met. And that you can be really stubborn and he thinks you look like a kitten when you're angry." Max rushed out, a look of mischief taking over his face.

Clary giggled nervously; she hadn't expected Jace to say anything like that about her. "Does he really say that?" she asked.

Max nodded. "He talks about you a lot. I agree with him. I think you're pretty too," he confided. Max looked down, his eyes suddenly shy.

Clary hugged him closer for a moment and smiled. "Why thank you Max," she told him sweetly. Max smiled back, snuggling comfortably into Clary.

"What are you two doing?" A curious voice came from the front of the room. Clary looked up to see Jace coming down the last couple steps. His eyes were suspicious as he took in Max and Clary giggling together on the couch. Clary tried not to notice too eagerly that he was shirtless, and his golden curls were wet and clinging to his forehead. In the light filtering in from the windows, Clary could see the swirling tattoos that she had once noticed more clearly, the sun making them gleam almost threateningly.

Max froze automatically at the sight of his older brother, his eyes turning fearful and alarmed. Clary patted him on the head and stood up, before leaning down and whispering reassuringly, "I won't tell him." Max's expression calmed a little, and he gulped and nodded.

She stepped away from him and looked at Jace, the nervousness that she had fought with before resurfacing. He had an eyebrow raised, and looked between Max and Clary as if he knew exactly what they had been doing. Ignoring his lack of a shirt, Clary smiled at him and put up an innocent act. She turned back to Max and told him, "I'll give you your surprise soon, okay?"

Clary knew that that comment would make Jace even more curious, and she wasn't disappointed when she turned back around. His suspicious gaze had grown more intense, and his eyes followed Clary as she walked out of the living room and headed towards the stairs. When Clary passed by Jace, a sudden rush of fearlessness made her stop in her tracks. She gave him an calm look up and down, then ordered, "Go put a shirt on, Jace," before brushing past him and continuing upstairs. Clary resisted the urge to see how he had reacted to that, instead confidently turning the corner and knocking on Isabelle's door.

Isabelle opened it a moment later, grinning as she saw Clary. She was daringly dressed in a skintight black dress that dropped off at the middle of her thigh and bright red stiletto boots.

Clary gave her a knowing look and smiled. "A date I believe?" she guessed, letting out a snicker.

Isabelle smirked and nodded. "I assume you'll enjoy yours with Jace?" she shot back. Isabelle winked and walked out the door past Clary, who was staring at her, mortified.

"I'm kidding Clary. Calm down," Isabelle laughed, smirking again at her friend. It was obvious she was enjoying Clary's reaction. Clary huffed, but still smiled back.

"Have fun Izzy," Clary sang. She waved at Isabelle and watched as the other girl descended the stairs. Jace was coming up that stairs at the same time Isabelle was going down, and Clary found her eyes locked on him. Upon seeing him Clary realized that he had found himself a shirt.

Secretly, she wouldn't really have minded him staying shirtless a little longer.

"Don't get knocked up Izzy!" Jace shouted obnoxiously down the stairs at his sister as she passed. Clary tried in vain to hide her giggles and Isabelle smacked him as hard as she could.

Jace spotted Clary standing at the top of the stairs and motioned for her to follow him. He led her to the last room at the far end of the hallway. When Jace opened the door for her, his expression blank, Clary shyly entered, avoiding his eyes.

Jace's room came as a surprise to Clary. The walls were a solid white, and there were minimal amounts of furniture. Aside from the bronze duvet on the large bed, the room was void of color and kept very, very neat. The only thing that seemed out of place in the empty space was the towel that lay on the bed, which Clary assumed was from his shower. Clary thought about how this bleak place contrasted to her bright room, and couldn't imagine what made Jace keep it the way he did.

She turned around to face him and asked, "Why is it so…white?"

Jace's blank expression broke and he smiled at Clary. "It's just how I've always kept it," he replied, shrugging slightly. "Ever since I can remember, I always had a white room when I lived with my father." Jace walked towards the bed and picked up the towel, which he proceeded to throw into a laundry basket in the corner. The room returned to a state of perfection.

"Oh…" was all Clary could manage to respond. Even in the orphanage, she couldn't imagine living without color. It was a part of her that had always stayed, even in the bleak despair of her life in past years. She plopped down onto the bed and studied Jace, who stood rigidly in the doorway. After a moment, Jace looked over at her and noticed Clary's perplexed expression.

Jace sighed, giving her a knowing look. "I know what you're thinking Clary, and believe me, there are reasons why I act the way I do," he told her. "I'm not a sarcastic asshole just for fun believe it or not." Jace thought for a moment, and then added, "Actually, partially it is for fun. But not completely." Jace flashed his smirk at Clary and he sat down next to her. Within moments though, his face hardened again and he reached up to absentmindedly brush his fingers through his hair. His gaze fell, and Jace looked down at the floor between his feet.

Clary studied him, and with the sudden closeness between them, she spotted for the first time dull red scars along the wrists of the hand that was still in his hair. The starkness of the marks against his skin startled her, and she gently took his wrist in her hands and pulled it down closer to her face.

"What happened?" she asked quietly. The scars frightened her, even if she tried not to show it, and Clary looked up at Jace worriedly.

Jace just smiled sadly back at her and tugged his hand out of her grasp. "I'll make you a deal," Jace offered instead. "I'll tell you the story if you tell me more about yourself. I want to know why you are so reluctant with me." His eyes looked vulnerable as he looked into Clary's and Clary felt herself nodding slowly, agreeing to his terms.

Jace looked back down at the floor. "I think I was 5 or 6, and my father had gotten me a falcon for my birthday," Jace started, sounding slightly far off. "I got the marks from the falcon when he perched on my arm. My father told me to make the falcon obedient, and that was what I tried to do. I used to go out with that falcon for hours, talk to him, and let him eat out of my hand."

Jace paused for a moment, gazing at the scars at his wrist. "I showed him to my father when he began to trust me. He saw that I had made a pet out of the falcon and took him from me, snapping his neck right in front of me." His eyes shut, and he sat silently rubbing his wrist for a moment before continuing once more. "He told me I broke the falcon myself by making him love me, that falcons weren't meant to love anyone. He had it drilled into my head that to love was to destroy. And after living with him for the first years of my life, that's what I began to believe."

Silence settled between them, and not for the life of her could Clary think of anything to say. Looking at Jace when he was like this was so strange for her; seeing his usual bulletproof ego shattered and his seemingly invincible strength broken. It hurt to think that Jace had to go through all that pain as a small boy. Clary hadn't thought that Jace had a difficult past, seeing his strong composure now, and it saddened her. Clary had no choice but to look at him differently now.

He wasn't the arrogant boy that she had been so sure he was.

"I would tell you that what your father did was unfair, and what he said was wrong, but I've felt the same way," Clary admitted finally, her quiet voice breaking the silence. "After my mom died, I didn't trust anyone anymore." Clary breathed in carefully, looking down at the floor the way Jace was. "I couldn't get close to anyone because I was worried I would get hurt even more, or that they would leave me like my mom did. I guess that's why I was reluctant with you. I think that's changing now though, with Luke." After a moment, Clary turned her gaze back up at the boy sitting beside her. She hesitated for a split second then added, "I'm glad I'm changing."

"You know, I'm changing too, Clary," Jace replied, his voice both sad and strong at the same time. "You didn't know me before you moved here, but I used to be a lot different; different in a bad way." Jace shifted his gaze from the floor to Clary, and she couldn't suppress a quiet gasp at the emotions swirling in those golden eyes. "And a lot of the change in me now is because of you. Thank you Clary, for helping me change." Jace's eyes softened, and his lips held a small smile as he gazed at Clary.

Clary nodded, and as she did, she felt another piece of her protective shell chip away. In the back of her mind, she mused that she should probably feel some alarm that Jace was breaking through to her so easily, that she should probably try to stay stronger against letting him have this access to her heart.

But looking into Jace's quiet, open face, Clary couldn't bring herself to do anything but smile back and let those thoughts wash away.

:o

They're getting even closer! :D

Thanks again TMI, and THANK YOU GUYS. Almost at 150 reviews :D Think we can make it this chapter?

Review for a tattooed shirtless Jace and how adorable Max is when he's spilling Jace's secrets ;D

Yours,

~A.W.W