Hey, guys :) Next chapter. A question I got asked that I actually meant to address a while earlier, is I was asked who I imagine as the characters when I'm writing. Well, to me, Lily and Jamie will always be Clary and Jace. I think they did a spectacular job. And to be totally honest, the TV actors really frustrate me. Not saying they're not good actors or anything, I'm sure they're just doing what the directors tell them to, but they drive me kind of nuts. I find Clary super whiny and Jace unbearably broody. For pretty much everyone else as well, I imagine the movie actors. The only ones I see from the TV show (other than people who obviously weren't featured in the movie) is Matthew Daddario as Alec and Emeraude Toubia as Isabelle.

A few days went by and Jace was still there. Clary didn't have any problem with him there, apart from the few times that they had run into each other coming out of the bathroom, barely clothed. Clary thought that after a few days of having an extra person in the house, she was going to need a break, and go crash at either Simon or Sebastian's, but Jace wasn't a bother. In fact, Clary had been dodging Sebastian's calls more and more. They hadn't actually been together for almost a fortnight now, which was probably the longest time the two of them had slept together since they first started.

Maia had just seen him, and when she saw Clary at work that night, she said that he had been asking about her. Clary mumbled under her breath that she had a lot going on right now, and she didn't have time for Sebastian and his bullshit. Maia had raised her eyebrows in surprise but hadn't commented on it as Clary had finished fastening on her fake eyelashes and swiped on a coat of dark red lipstick, disappearing through the door that lead to the stage.

It was almost two in the morning before Clary got home, walking quickly with her hands in her pockets. She had ended up taking on a longer shift, and Isabelle had text her and said that Jace was happy to come and pick her up, Clary had told him not too. Apparently he had been pretty insistent about it, but Clary didn't know what time she was getting off, and she said that if he came down and just waited around in the crowd for her to finish and watching her on stage, she would punch him in the nose.

One of the agreements that they had come to when they had realized he would be staying for a few days, was that he was banned from the strip club for the time being. He had grinned and promised that he wouldn't, although he wouldn't be opposed to either of them coming home in their slinky work clothes. Well, he had said he would prefer it be Clary, given Isabelle was like a sister to him, but he was sure he could get over it.

Clary unlocked the front door of their house and stepped inside, wincing when the door squeaked and echoed through the house. It wasn't a completely silent house though, there was noise coming from the lounge and Clary frowned, taking off her jacket as she walked down the hall. Jace was stretched out on the couch, a blanket over his legs as he flicked through the channels of late night TV. He looked up when she came into the room and gave her a tired grin.

"What are you still doing up?" She asked him as she put her bag down on the floor by the doorway and came over to join him on the couch, pushing his legs out of the way to make room.

"It's not really that late," Jace told her. "Although, admittedly, when I'm usually up this late, it's because I'm out with my friends or—"

"Stealing cars?" Clary smirked at him. Jace rolled his eyes at her but then nodded a couple times with a grin.

"Yeah, something like that," Jace replied.

"You didn't answer my question," she pointed out, and he gave her a confused look.

"Making sure you got home safe," he told her, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world before turning back to the TV. Clary blinked, her chin jerking forward a little as her cheeks heated up. They fell quiet, watching late night re-runs of Big Bang Theory. After a few minutes, Clary turned her head to look over at Jace, studying his profile. Despite the fact that she had been trying to ignore it for the first couple of days—or maybe even the past month or so since she had first met him—she had to admit, he was absolutely gorgeous. His golden hair was shaggy, hanging an inch or so below his ears, and he had these amazing lips...God, they had only kissed a couple of times, and they hadn't even been proper kisses—but she could still tell that he would an incredible kisser. He turned his head and his eyes met hers. Instead of making some cocky remark about catching her looking at him, he just gave her a small, soft smile.

"How are you doing?" Clary asked quietly.

"Oh, ya know," Jace half shrugged and let out a sigh through his teeth. "Been better."

"Have you talked to her yet? Or your dad?"

"Nope," he shook his head firmly. "And I'm not planning on it."

"You know you can't avoid them forever, right?" Clary raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know, but I can definitely try," Jace gave her a lopsided, forced looking smile. "I mean, I didn't love her or anything. But her and my dad? Fuck, that shit is just fucked up," he shook his head and Clary cringed sympathetically. "She was always a gold digger though. I mean, if we got hitched, she wouldn't do anything all day except go out and do yoga with her bitchy little friends and shop at the most expensive boutiques in the city and then when she gets older, she'll be doing the same thing, just with regular botox shots."

"Wow, uh," Clary scrunched up her nose. "That sounds pretty...Cynical."

"Well, it's the truth," Jace shrugged. "It's not like what we had between us was anything more than a passing attraction and then some mind numbing sex and a contract, all but signed in blood by our fathers." He had told Clary and Isabelle about the agreement that came from them being married and while Clary had looked as horrified as Magnus had when he had found out, Isabelle didn't appear too surprised. "I guess they were kind of made for each other, right?"

"Guess that's one way to look at it," Clary muttered.

"I'll get over it, though," Jace shrugged again. "I mean, I'm pissed more that I didn't see it coming."

"You're not more pissed at your dad?" Clary arched an eyebrow.

"He's a fucking asshole who cheated on my mum the whole time they were married and also slept with the wives of pretty much all of his business associates," Jace replied in a low voice. "I'm just his son, doesn't really mean much too him, other than having an heir and all that shit." Clary had a pained look on her face, but she didn't say anything, mainly because she had no idea what to say. Jace took in a deep breath through his nose and changed the subject. "I should probably call Alec and let him know what's going on, though. I kinda smashed up my phone the night it happened and he's probably been trying to get in contact with me." Clary shrugged and then, hesitantly, reached over and covered his hand with her own. He tensed slightly under her touch, but relaxed almost instantly when she squeezed his hand reassuringly. They didn't say anything else, both looking back at the TV and watching as Sheldon drove Leonard to distraction for the umpteenth time. Some time after three, after Jace had fallen asleep, Clary stumbled upstairs to her own room and fell into bed.

It was almost eleven before Clary came back downstairs, and she frowned when she didn't see Isabelle. Max would be at school, but Isabelle didn't have work until that afternoon, so she wasn't too sure where she was. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands as she fumbled a little blindly through her bag, trying to find her pack of cigarettes and lighter that she had stuffed in there from work the night before. When she straightened up, she turned toward the kitchen, planning on going through to the small, connecting balcony, and then stopped in surprise when she saw Jace standing there.

"Uh," she arched an eyebrow. "What's going on here?"

"I'm cooking you breakfast," he told her, looking a little sheepish. Clary smothered her smirk as she walked into the kitchen and studied the room. The benches were a mess with flour and broken egg shells and dirty dishes, and there was a faint smell of something burning in the air.

"Right," Clary pursed her lips. "Have you ever cooked breakfast before?" Jace pursed his lips and tilted his head to the side. "Have you ever cooked anything before?" She continued as she stepped further into the kitchen and peered over his shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening in the frying pan on the stove top.

"We had a maid once who tried to teach me how to make scrambled eggs..." Jace began with a sheepish smile and Clary let out a full blown laugh, making her eyes twinkle and her hair fall around her face. "Well, the instructions seemed pretty simple," Jace whined as he held up the cardboard packet of pancake mix.

"It is simple," Clary grinned at him as she pulled a cigarette out of the packet and walked over to the balcony doors, opening one up and lighting the end. "Max can make those pancakes without any supervision."

"Well, Max is clearly a better rounded human that I am," Jace snorted.

"Kudos to that," Clary smirked back. "I think it's because he was raised by some pretty kick ass chicks."

"I can agree with that," Jace nodded at her. "Although I'm pretty surprised you've still got a smoking habit given you have a kid in the house." Clary shot him a narrow glare and he held up his hands in defense. "I'm not judging! Just...Pointing it out." She continued to keep her eyes in slits as she sucked in a lungful of smoke and held it in, before letting it out of the corner of her mouth and into the air outside.

"Okay, anyway, apart from you getting all judgey and shit, the idea to make me breakfast was very sweet of you," Clary gave him a small smile. "But from what I can of those pancakes, they look absolutely shit."

"Hey!" Jace protested, turning to look back at the frying pan and finally giving Clary a good look at what was going on in there. She cringed when she saw the mess inside, a lumpy, liquidy pile of...Something. Clary shook her head as she took a few more puffs of her cigarette and then flicked it away before coming back into the house. She stepped around him and stared down at it, letting out a snort as she stuck her finger into the mess and swirled it around.

"How is this cooked and completely raw at the same time?" She asked in wonderment, shaking her head, turning to Jace with a slightly mocking expression on his face. "You are truly talented, Golden Boy."

"I've definitely been told that," Jace grinned at her.

"I have a counter proposal," Clary said as she picked up the roll of paper towels and ripped one off so that she could wipe of the gunk on her finger. "How about I head back upstairs and get changed, you clean up this mess, and then I'll take you to a diner down the street? You can buy me breakfast from there—at least I'll know that it's edible." Jace pursed his lips as he looked around the kitchen.

"It might take longer for me to clean this up than for you to get dressed," he began with a sheepish expression.

"Then you better get moving fast," Clary gave him a half smile before she left the room. Jace watched her as she left, letting out a long breath through his nose, sucking his lower into his mouth as she went.

There was something crazy about her.

Something crazy attractive.

The longer he stayed here, the more he liked her, and the more he was jealous of the life style that she, Isabelle and Max had. Sure, they didn't have much money—in fact, he had seen the way they had budgeted for their grocery shopping the other day, and it was so completely meticulous, down to the last cent. He had offered to pay, but they had both look offended at the thought, insisting that they were fine. In the end, they had let him go thirds, because they were needing to buy extra since he was there, but neither had looked particularly happy about it.

But it wasn't about money with them.

And that was a concept that Jace was having difficulty grasping.

They had noodles for dinner last night, and the two girls had been drinking wine from a six dollar bottle while Max had lemonade, and they looked happier than Jace had ever seen any of the people at the events he had gone to where the champagne alone had cost over seven hundred dollars a bottle. They had all then curled up on the couch and put in a DVD, snuggled under a thin blanket, completely relaxed and content with themselves and each other.

He wanted that.

By the time Clary came downstairs, dressed in a pair of leggings and a loose singlet that said Fuck What You Think with a cardigan thrown over the top, Jace had managed to clean up in the kitchen. At least, he thought he had cleaned up. Clary had snorted and shook her head as she picked up the roll of paper towels and a spray bottle of cleaner from under the kitchen sink and started scrubbing at the benches again. Jace felt bad when he saw how much he had missed so much, but she didn't look too bothered as she ran hot water into the sink to soak the dishes and then threw the dirty hand towels in the rubbish.

"You ready?" She asked as she grabbed her keys and wallet from the bench.

"Yeah, let's head out," Jace gave her a smile as he followed after her. She locked up the house and they started walking down the street.

"It's just a few blocks down," she told him as she shoved her hands in the pockets of her cardigan. "So where is Izzy? Did you see her before she left?"

"Yeah, she went out for breakfast with Simon," Jace replied.

"Oh, really?" A grin broke out on Clary's face. "Thank fuck for that."

"So there's been something going on there for a while?" Jace was attempting to walk sideways so that he could still look at her while they were walking forwards. "I mean, I sort of picked up on that when we first met him, back when we had that dinner where Magnus came over? I wasn't sure if they were actually together at that point, or..."

"No, they weren't," Clary shook her head. "Actually, they're still not really together. I think they're just taking things slow and shit—which is awesome, I'm cool with that for them. I just wish they would both accept that they're amazing people and they totally deserve each other and they need to be together." She hadn't realized that she had been ranting until she had finished and Jace was staring at her with raised eyebrows. "What?" She defended herself. "I'm pretty passionate about this."

"Clearly!" Jace let out a laugh.

"They're the two most important people in my life, other than Max, and I want them to be happy and they'll be very happy when they're together," Clary shrugged. Jace nodded and the pair of them fell quiet as they kept walking. When they reached the diner, Jace made sure to take a few quick steps to get in front of her so that he could open the door for her. She flashed him an almost smile and walked inside.

"Hey, babe!" Came a call from behind the counter.

"Hey, Aline," Clary grinned at the pretty girl as she and Jace walked up to where she was standing. Jace vaguely recognized her but wasn't too sure where he would have seen her before, so he just studied the menu on the chalk board behind her. "You been very busy today?"

"No, and thank fuck for that," Aline sighed. "I'm so hungover, I'm pretty sure I've thrown up all of my food for, like, the past week." Jace couldn't help but crinkle his nose at the thought that the girl who was going to be delivering their food was talking about puking her guts out, but thankfully neither of the girls noticed. "Anyway, what can I get you two?" She sent a pointed look at Jace, but Clary just pretended that she didn't see it.

"You want pancakes?" She nudged Jace playfully in the side.

"Yeah, pretty sure it's not going to take the cook here half an hour just to make a fucking mess," he muttered ruefully and Clary nodded with a smirk.

"Can we get two lots of pancakes? Shit tons of cream and berries with mine, and..." she trailed off and looked at Jace.

"Yeah, works for me too. And maple syrup," he added.

"Coming right up," Aline winked at the two of them, scribbling out her order and handing it through a gap between the front counter and what looked like the kitchen. She rang up their order, and Jace paid, following Clary to a seat near the back of the diner. There were quite a few other people in the room, the room loud with talking and the music that was coming from the speakers, playing some trashy top of the pops music. They sat on opposite sides of the table, Clary instantly picking up a packet of sugar and ripping it open, tipping it into her mouth. Jace's eyebrows were arched as he looked at her and she shrugged at him.

"What?" She asked, not at all ashamed. "It's good." He let out a laugh of disbelief.

"Sorry," he shook his head. "Just not used to...This."

"What? Sugar?" She teased him. "Shit, you've been even more sheltered than I thought."

"You know that's not what I meant," Jace rolled his eyes with a grin. "Just, I don't know," he shrugged and looked around. The diner was cheap, and not particularly clean, and the food probably wasn't five star, but Clary looked completely at ease. It was yet another thing that was opposite from the restaurants with waiters in stiff black suits and starched white shirts. "Everything," he finished lamely.

"Yeah, well, maybe it's not as fancy as what you're used to, but it's good enough for the rest of us," Clary shrugged. Jace didn't know how to reply, so he changed the subject.

"So how do you know the waitress?" He asked, nodding over to Aline, who was now talking to another customer.

"She dances at the club with me," Clary replied. Jace realized that was probably where he had seen her before. They went quiet for a few minutes before Aline brought their breakfast over, putting it down on the table and winking at Clary. "Thanks, Aline," she gave her quick smile before picking up her knife and fork.

"So," Aline turned her gaze toward Jace, blatantly appraising him before rolling her eyes back to Clary. "Is this the new Sebastian?"

"No," Clary said sharply. Aline was still grinning and wiggling her eyebrows. "You can fuck off now," she grunted out with a roll of her eyes. Aline smirked and spun around, swinging her hips as she walked off. Clary went back to cutting into her pancakes and covering them with maple syrup, but Jace was watching her. "Dude, you really come here not to eat? Because it's not exactly a vacation spot?"

"Sebastian is that guy...The one you're sleeping with, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess," she gave a one shouldered shrug. "Although not for a while, actually," she narrowed her eyes as she chewed her food, thinking back to when the last time she saw Sebastian. She shrugged again an looked back down at her plate.

"Why's that?" He pressed.

"Why's it any of your business?" She raised an eyebrow at him. Jace thought about it for a second and then gave her a rueful smile.

"Just making conversation," he replied. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Jace started talking again. "So...Do you have any family?" Her whole body stilled and he could have kicked himself, because now that he was thinking about it, with the life that she was leading, it was clear that if she had a family, they weren't a very good one. "Uh, dumb question. Sorry." Clary took in a breath through her nose and then looked over at him, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Yeah. I had parents, and a brother," she told him quietly, and Jace almost jerked in surprise at her admission. Clary was definitely not the kind of person who revealed personal things about herself, he knew even less about her since he had been staying with them. "But I really don't have anything to do with them—at least with my dad or my brother. My mum died a long time ago." Jace pursed his lips and sighed.

"Sorry," he mumbled, not too sure how to respond.

"Yeah, well, I told you I don't do relationships, right?" She had this look on her face, her lips in a flat line and her eyes turned downward. "That applies to everyone."

"Except Simon, Izzy and Max," Jace interjected.

"Except Simon, Izzy and Max," there was a little flush that stained her cheeks and her voice was quiet, almost inaudible as she looked down at her plate. "Yeah," her face softened in a way that Jace had only seen when she was completely relaxed, usually when she was with Max, or drinking coffee in the kitchen in the morning with Isabelle. "I kinda love them." Jace's chest tightened, and there was almost a suffocating feeling in his throat and a weird thought that flitted through Jace's head.

He wished that she got that soft look when she was talking about him.

Now! My music obsessions since my last update! Actually, heaps of old songs have resurfaced on my iTunes. There's Thinking It Over by Dana Glover, seriously this song makes my heart ache like every time I hear it. I think I obsessively listened to it when I was a teenager when I went through a break up, melodramatic child that I was. Then there's Pony by Ginuwine. LOL. Don't know what's got me so into that one all of a sudden. And the third one is Bring Me Back To Life by Extreme Music. Seriously, the Shadowhunters show has a pretty great soundtrack, I think I've fallen in love with every song I've discovered through there!

Oh gosh, aaaaaaaand there's this cover of a Jesse McCartney song, Beautiful Soul, by SoMo. I watched a Stydia fan video to the song, and I'm now just completely in love.

Oooooh, and in the post the other day, I got my Stilinski 24 hoodie. Can you tell I'm obsessed with Teen Wolf just a little bit? Yes? No? Maybe? LOL.

As usual, please feed my obsession with songs and reviews :) It'd make me very happy, and I'll send you a preview xxx