Jace

The hours in which Clary was rushed to the hospital and into surgery were a blur. All I remembered was riding in the ambulance with her and trying to get her to wake up before I spent the next few hours pacing the waiting room.

I kept running the scenarios through my head. She was almost seven months pregnant, so the baby could survive, but it would have to stay in the NICU for a while. But, what if something was wrong with Clary? My mind ran back and forth between worrying about Clary and worrying about the baby.

It had been three hours since I watched Clary disappear through the doors to the operating rooms. As I looked around the waiting room, I saw everyone who mattered in my life trying to hold on to hope that everything was going to be okay. Will was sitting, staring straight ahead as Tessa leaned her head on his shoulder and held his hand tightly. Simon and Isabelle were in a similar position, but I could see the trail of tears that had fallen and dried on Izzy's cheeks. I knew it was killing her not knowing what was going on with her best friend. James sat with his elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands. I could see his shoulders moving unsteadily and knew he was trying to calm himself before he let his emotions get the best of him.

Finally, Max sat on the floor, against a wall with his gloves and sponsor gear from the fight still on. His face was swollen and he looked like he had seen better days, but I wasn't worried about him physically. I could see the range of emotions running across his face with each passing moment. On that night, the night that was supposed to be the greatest of his life, the night we all should be celebrating his championship belt after all these years of blood, sweat and tears, was spent in a hospital waiting room, not knowing what is happening on the other side of the doors.

Words couldn't describe how proud I was of Max. I had watched him grow his entire life into the man he was in the ring that night and I knew by the look on his face when Valentine Morgenstern placed the belt around his waist that he was truly happy with his journey. It didn't matter that it took him longer to get to the championship bout that he thought it would. He never gave up and that was why he emerged the victor in his fight.

For the first time since we arrived at the hospital, I took a seat next across from Simon. Isabelle was half-asleep, resting her head on his shoulder as Simon gave me a half smile, trying to make me feel better. This had to have been killing both of them, considering what they had gone through trying to have another child after Tessa.

They didn't like to talk about it, and I don't think Tessa even knew, but after Simon and Izzy had Tessa, they tried to have more children. After two miscarriages, the doctor said it was unlikely that they would have another successful pregnancy. Isabelle had always wanted a big family, but they decided in the end to be thankful for the blessing Tessa was because the doctor said she was a miracle. Isabelle was never supposed to have been able to have a child, not that she had known that before she got pregnant with Tessa.

Clary and I watched our best friends go through losing two different children, two chances at life, and it gutted us. I knew Clary felt guilty having this baby because she could get pregnant at her age when Isabelle couldn't even get pregnant when she was twenty-six. In the end, though, she knew that Isabelle and Simon would love this new baby as if it were their own.

A doctor calling Clary's name finally pulled me out of my thoughts and I jumped out of the rickety, plastic chair and raced to the man standing in the waiting room holding a clipboard.

"Are you Clary Herondale's husband," the doctor asked, giving me a skeptical look, which pissed me off. Who the hell does he think he is questioning me? Damn straight I'm her husband.

"Yes," I replied curtly. "Can you please tell me what's going on with my wife?"

"When your wife came in, she was unconscious." I nodded, fighting the urge to roll my eyes because I already knew that part. "After running some tests, she seemed to be fine, but her blood pressure was dropping and it was putting the baby in danger so we had to deliver the baby through Caesarean section."

"Is the baby okay?" I tried to reign in my emotions until he was done telling me what was going on.

"The baby is eight weeks premature, so she was taken to the NICU to run some tests. We should know more when those are finished."

"She?"

"Yes, you have a beautiful, baby daughter." The doctor, who I kind of wanted to punch through a wall, gave me a tiny smile that made him redeem himself just a tad.

"When can I see my wife and daughter?" Now that I knew what was going on, I was getting anxious. I needed to see Clary's red hair and I needed to see what my baby girl looked like.

"Your wife is in recovery and is still under sedation. She should be waking up pretty soon, so I'll have a nurse take you back when we're done here." I nodded, urging him to finish quickly so I could see my girls. "When you can see your daughter will depend on when they finish the tests and determine what her treatments are going to be. A nurse from the NICU will come talk to you when the tests are done. Your wife and daughter should make a full recovery. Congratulations, Dad."

With a small smile and nod, the doctor turned and walked back through the doors they had taken Clary through earlier. The amount of emotions that I was burying until then finally broke through and I almost collapsed. It was then that I realized that Will and James had been standing behind me the entire time I was talking to the doctor. They both caught me before I could drop to my knees and we stood with our arms wrapped around each other, thanking God that our girls were okay.

"We have a sister," Will said and we all started laughing as we pulled apart and slapped each other's backs.

A nurse came by to tell us that she could take one of us back to see Clary. I gave my boys one last look before I left them in the waiting room with promises that I would tell their mother how much they loved her and followed the nurse through the halls until we stopped outside of Clary's room.

"She's still asleep, but she should be waking up soon," the nurse said before opening the door and letting me inside. I gave her a nod of thanks before she left me in the room and closed the door.

The room was quiet except for the beeping coming from the machines that were keeping track of her heart rate. Clary's red hair looked even brighter than usual against the stark white sheets and walls of the hospital room. She looked so helpless and small in that bed and all I wanted was to scoop her up and take her out of there.

I sat down in the chair that was next to the bed and took Clary's hand in both of mine. My hands swallowed hers up as I held it tight, staring at her face and willing her to wake up. My eyes ran over every inch of her body, making sure everything was intact. Her swollen stomach looked slightly deflated, a sign that our baby had been born.

Our baby. Our baby who was hours old and hadn't been in my arms yet. Our baby that I hadn't even met, but already loved with all my heart.

A daughter. I didn't even know what to do with a daughter. I had already raised two boys and that was all I knew, but I knew that Clary would handle al the girly stuff and I would be there to catch her when she fell, protect her from monsters and scare away all the boys who thought they were good enough for her. Boys were going to have a rough time between me, her brothers, Simon and Max. They just shouldn't even try.

I was lost in my thoughts when Clary's tiny little hand twitched and her palm turned up so her fingers could tangle with mine. My head snapped up until my eyes were met with bright green eyes that shone in the drab hospital room.

Her eyes were sleepy as she came out of her deep sleep and she looked around the room, seemingly confused as to where she was and how she got there.

"Where am I," she rasped, sleep still thick in her voice.

"You're in the hospital, Red," I whispered as I brought her hand up to press my lips against the back of it. My free hand reached to cup her cheek just to make sure she was real and she leaned in to my touch. Clary's eyes went wide as realization crossed through her mind and I gave her hand a squeeze to calm her. "Calm down. Everything is fine. You passed out at the fight and when you got here, your blood pressure was too low, so they delivered the baby. She's in the NICU now."

"She?" The smile that spread across her face was contagious.

"Yeah, Red. We got our baby girl." Tears started falling from her green eyes and I swiped them away with my thumb before leaning forward to press my lips against hers. She smiled against my lips and I pressed my forehead to hers as I held the back of her neck.

"Have you seen her?" She asked as I sat back down in my seat, never letting go of her hand.

"No, they were running tests. They told me I could come see you first and then a nurse from the NICU would come talk to us when the tests were finished." I took a deep breath. "I can't wait to see her."

Clary nodded, her red curls bouncing with the movement, and closed her eyes, sighing with relief. This all could have gone so wrong. I could have lost one of my girls or, God forbid, both. I just couldn't be more thankful in that moment that both of my girls were going to be alright, no matter how long the road to recovery was.

"How do you feel," I asked Clary, brushing a red curl from her face and behind her ear.

"Tired," she replied with her eyes still closed and I let out a chuckle.

"I bet." I rose up to kiss her forehead. "Get some rest, Red. I'll wake you when the nurse comes to talk to us about our girl."

She nodded and within a few minutes, her hand went slack in mine. Suddenly, the exhaustion hit me full force and I found myself nodding off and resting my head on our joined hands.

I don't know how long it was until a nurse came into the room and tapped me on the shoulder, but I shot up and effectively jarred Clary from her sleep. The nurse tried to hide her smile, but was doing a poor job of it.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Herondale," she said in greeting and I smiled at her. "I've been assisting the NICU doctors with your daughter. Congratulations, you have a healthy baby girl. She weighed in at four pounds and three ounces and was twelve inches long. Her lungs are slightly underdeveloped so we have her on breathing treatments until she can breathe on her own. Other than that, she's doing great." I breathe a sigh of relief before the nurse continues speaking. "You two can go see her now. There's a wheelchair outside for you and I'll take you up there as soon as you're ready."

I nearly jumped through the roof as I shot out of my chair and walked to the door the get the wheelchair before taking it to Clary's side. Helping her out of the bed and into the wheelchair, the nurse waited for us by the door until we were situated and ready to go meet our daughter. We followed her out of the room and through another series of halls and up an elevator until we were in the NICU.

The nurse took us through a door and led us through the rows of incubators until she stopped in front of one that had a card that read, "Baby Girl Herondale."

There she was. My baby girl hooked up to all kinds of monitors and tubes, but I had never seen anything more beautiful. There were two little holes in the tube and Clary and I each stuck one hand through a hole to touch our girl for the first time. She felt and looked so tiny against my large hand. When I looked over at Clary, who was still sitting in her wheelchair, she had a steady stream of tears falling down her face and I ran my free hand through her hair.

The nurse asked if we would like to hold her and both Clary and I nodded enthusiastically. I wheeled Clary out of the way and sat down in the rocking chair next to the incubator as the nurse opened the tube and carefully took our daughter from it, carrying her to Clary.

Clary reached for our daughter and held her gingerly in her arms, meeting her for the first time. It was a beautiful sight, my beautiful wife and daughter together for the first time. When she opened her eyes and I saw a golden color looking up at Clary, my heart filled with pride.

My wife was crying steadily as she examined every inch of our daughter's body and said, "Welcome to the world, Cecily Herondale."

Finally! I finally broke out of my writer's block for this story and I'm so happy with the result!

Anyway thank you so much for reading and let me know what you think. Let me know who you would like to hear from next because I have no idea who I'm going to write next!

Again, thank you for reading and leave a review if you are so inclined! :)