Hello My Fellow Readers!
I am sorry that I have not updated in forever! There has been so many things that have been going on in such a short amount of time. I started this chapter while I was sitting in the airport in San Antonio, Texas with my boyfriends parents waiting to board the plane back to Wisconsin. Over that weekend I saw my boyfriend graduate from the Air Force basic training and I couldn't be any more proud! Now he is in Mississippi for his technical training and he'll be home in a short three weeks! I miss him dearly but it's nice that I get to Skype him almost every other day when he's not in classes or doing study group. I probably won't update next week either because it is mid-semester assessments... Lame.

I am extremely happy with the reviews that you guys have left with the last chapter! I now have a 104 followers! Thank you all for the support and sticking with this story! It makes me so happy and loved! Thank you all again! I hope that you all enjoy this next chapter as I have enjoyed writing this one!

For this chapter, I listened to the song Life Cycles by The Word Alive

Love,

Lee

Without thinking twice, Jace brought his arm back and brought it back to Jonathon's face with an enormous amount of force. He could feel Jonathon's nose break beneath his knuckles with a sickening crack. Blood started to poor from Jon's nose as he brought he hands to his face. He yelled in pain and started to cuss at Jace.

"What the fuck was that for?" Jon bellowed as he cupped his nose with his hands. Blood soon covered his hands as it continued to flow heavily. A small boost of pride sang in Jace's veins as watched the blood flow as he regretted nothing. Jace never did answer Jonathon's questions as he made his way off of the other boy. He stood up on his feet as he peered down at the red mess of the pale white boy who sat up and gingerly pinched the bridge of his broken nose.

Jace didn't know what exactly came over him when he punched Jonathon but it brought him an immense amount of pleasure. A small smile played across his lips as Jonathon moaned in pain. After the satisfaction of punching Jonathon a small voice in the back of Jace's mind was nagging at him for punching Clary's brother and that he needed to get him away from the house as soon as possible. But before he could act upon his thoughts he spoke his mind before he could stop himself.

"What are you doing here?"

With both hands still covering his bleeding nose, Jonathon glared at the boy who stood in front of him. "Why do you care and what are you doing at my house?" He exclaimed, his voice was muffled by the barriers of his hands.

"The last time that I checked you left this pace leaving Clary to defend herself." Jace spat. He gritted his teeth together, trying hard to not punch Jonathon in the face again. His satisfaction was slowly leaving his body as it was being refueled with anger that was quickly turning into rage. He started to clench and un-clench hands. He narrowed his eyes as he glared at the boy who was sitting across from him on the ground.

Jonathon was glaring back. He could feel the blood from his nose lessen as it started to dry up. He wasn't really expecting to be punched in the face when he reached the house but he really wasn't expecting another boy at the house either. He knew right away who the other boy was but he didn't know how close he was to Clary. Something about that bothered Jonathon as he did a once over at Jace. He took in the messy abundance of golden hair that was accompanied with golden eyes. Then he took in the rest of him. He was tall but not as tall as himself. He was also broad and semi muscular. Jace's stance was stoic as he glared down at the boy.

Jonathon was little hurt with the remark that Jace had made about leaving Clary to defend herself. In retrospect, he did leave her alone with their psychotic father but it really wasn't his fault that he couldn't make contact with Clary. Jocelyn was so hell bent to keep everything a secret from Clary, to keep her in the dark so Valentine wouldn't find anything suspicious. Jonathon thought it was wrong to leave her in the dark but never questioned his mother's tactics until the day before.

Guilt was eating away at Jonathon as he pulled his bloodied hands away from his face. He looked away from the glaring eyes of Jace as he studied the grass below him.

"She's the reason why I cam back.." Jonathon whispered after a few moments of silence. Thoughts of telling Jace what was going on with his fucked up family was wagging war in his brain. He wasn't completely sure that he could trust the other boy...

Jace scoffed at Jonathon. "You can't be serious can you?" He snarled. "You left her here with a monster and you're telling me the reason why you are back is for her? Why didn't you take her in the first place? Away from all the suffering?"

Jonathon was still looking at the ground and started to pull at the grass in agitation. "Well the original reason why I left was for college. If Valentine had his way I wouldn't have left. But he didn't care about me at all... For some sick reason, he only thought about Clary and her resemblance to our mother."

"Clary and I both thought that our mother didn't want anything to do with us after the divorce was finalized. Little did we know that Valentine put a restraining order on her until we both turned eighteen. So I was surprised when she approached me when I was moving into my dorm. I saw her from the corner of my eye and at first I thought it was Clary. I was about to scold her for following me but when I realized it wasn't Clary and it was our mother I froze." Jonathon whispered. He wasn't exactly sure as to why he was explaining everything to Jace but he felt hopeless after the rage had ceased. He knew that he probably deserved the punch in the face for just leaving Clary just like that. So he continued his story.

"After the shock, I was angry with our mother and I said a few things that would put a sailor to shame. She didn't say much as I told her what I thought. I didn't realize how angry I was at Valentine for everything that he put Clary and I until I saw our mother. After I was done, she walked up to me and hugged me. She whispered how sorry that she was and that she didn't mean for anything to happen to use like that."

Jace was quiet the whole time as he listened to Jonathon tell his sob story. All that he knew was that he left Clary and hadn't contacted her at all and now he just comes back for her. It didn't make sense in his head.

"That's also the same day that our mother told us everything about what went down between her and Valentine. Needless to say, Valentine started to change when he got a new job offering and he started to become less involved in our lives. Our mother got fed up, she was tired of being the only one being at home with us, having the no support. She was lonely and with Valenitne's mood swings she couldn't take it anymore. She would go to Luke Garroway, her best friend to lean on and one thing led to another and she cheated on Valentine with Luke."

Jace blanched at this totally caught off guard by the statement. Mr. Garroway? Slept with Clary's mom? Jesus. Jace thought to himself.

Jonathon took Jace's silence as for him to continue. "So when Valentine found out, he filed a divorce. He got custody of my sister and I and moved away. In that time when our mother wasn't allowed to see us, she was keeping track of us. As soon as I hit my eighteenth birthday she was waiting for the right time to approach me. To tell me the plan of when we were taking Clary away from Val-."

"What do you mean 'take her away'?" Jace interrupted. As much as the idea of getting Clary away from Valentine, he didn't want her away from him.

Jonathon looked away from the grass to look at Jace. Jonathon could see determination written all over his face he could also see how much that Jace cared for Clary.

Jonathon sighed and carried on with his thought process. "My mother's plan is to take her as soon as she graduates. She knows that legally she wouldn't be eighteen but she needs to get out of the house."

To an extent, Jace knew that this was the best idea for Clary but he didn't want to be away from Clary. Although that they knew each other for a short period amount of time, Jace felt like he couldn't go a day with out her. He was quiet for a few seconds as he pondered over the new information that he absorbed.

Without thinking about what he was doing, Jace reached out his hand with palm facing up, offering his assistance to Jonathon. Jonathon flinched away from his hand while glaring at it, expecting Jace to hit him again. Jace smiled a little but silently waited for Jonathon to accept his offering.

"If I accept your help how do I know you won't punch me in the face again?" Jonathon questioned. Jace merely shrugged with a smirk on his face.

"Guess you'll have to find out." He responded. Jonathon continued to stare at his palm for a few more second before he placed his hand in Jace's. Jace hoisted Jonathon to his feet and then swiftly let go. He stood across from the boy who he had punch only mere twenty minutes before hand. But to him it seemed like a lifetime ago. It was quiet between the two boys as they looked at each other. He was was surprised that Clary didn't come out to see what was causing so much noise.

"I suppose you're not going to let me see Clary are you?" Jonathon asked. He knew the answer to it without even having to ask but he only hoped that her was wrong.

"No, I'm not but I have a feeling that you and I need to figure things out." Jace said smoothly. He wanted to help Clary as much as possible even if that meant teaming up with her brother. Jonathon looked confused at her first but then realizing what he meant only nodded his head. If Clary trusts him, then I'll trust him. He thought to himself.

"Well then, where do we start?" Jonathon asked.

"For starters, let's get out of here before your sister figures out that there are people standing in the front yard. We can go get something to eat. C'mon." Jace motioned for Jonathon to follow him as he made his way off of Clary's front yard and toward town. Jonathon looked at the back of Jace's head and then back to the house that he lived in.. The place where Clary was imprisoned. He closed his eyes and sighed, silently praying that everything will some how work itself out. Jonathon opened his eyes and then started to follow the boy who would help him rescue his sister from the monster that they claimed as their father.