I know, I know, it's been forever since I last posted. I'll try and make this short so that you can read the chapter ASAP. I want to give a shout out to EVERYONE since you are all amazing and have stuck with me even though I can be such a pain and not update for ages.

The song for second part of chapter is To Build a home by The Cinematic Orchestra.

Last, but not least, I want to thank my beta ICanExplain for correcting most of this chapter for me. -M

After lunch I decided to walk around the house a bit and explore. Jordan had to go and pick something up from a friend of his, it took the boys a while but after much begging and grovelling Isabelle finally let them leave for an hour or two. In the end Jon, Jace and Alec went with him just to get out of the house for a bit.

I couldn't help but notice the beauty in the architecture of the house. It was the perfect balance between modern and old. There were columns on either side of the massive staircase with intricate designs carved into them. The paintings on the walls face the house a homely feeling without overpowering the beauty of the actual house.

On top of some of the shelves there were pictures depicting different scenes from the Lightwoods' lives. There was a picture of of Izzy with Alec and Jace giving her a big kiss on either of her cheeks. Next to it there was a picture of Jace giving Max a piggy back ride through a park. The picture that was next to that one was the funniest of all, it showed Jace running away from a small duck that was climbing out of a pond in the park. Jace's face was priceless, it was a mix between horror and anger at the person who was taking the photograph of Jace.

I continued walking down the endless halls, admiring the beauty and history of the house. When I turned a corner I came across a set of french doors that led to the large garden around the back of the house. Slowly I walked across the threshold and into nature. The luscious grass crunched beneath my feet, the smell of fresh flowers overpowered my nostrils. The sound of birds chirping filled the air, accompanied by the strong rays of the sun shining onto my skin.

I took a moment to enjoy everything around me, the memory of my mother resurfacing. I could just picture her now, enjoying all the beauty here, capturing in a painting. Freezing time in this one moment with the stroke of her brush. She always used to tell me to look deeper than the surface, to notice the little things that made everything that more special. Of course that was before she started to change, no longer able to actually see the world as she used to. A small tear rushed down my cheek, I brushed it away, shoving down the memories that could only cause me pain.

I carried on walking for a while before I came across a small figure sitting in the grass underneath an angel oak tree. As I approached I saw that the figure was none other than the young Max Lightwood, he appeared to be reading a comic.

"Hey Max." I announced. The young boy looked up to me through his glasses.

"Oh, hi."

"What are you reading?"

"Angel Sanctuary"

"Really? I used to love reading that when I was your age." His eyes grew wide and his mouth formed a smile, his shines slowly slipped away. I sat next to Max as we talked for a while. At first we talked about comics before the topic changed to his siblings and what it was like to group with them.

"Why is Jace afraid of ducks anyway?" I asked Max.

"No one really knows. He just thinks that all ducks are bloodthirsty little beasts for some reason."

"I think they're kind of cute."

"Don't say that to Jace, he'll give you a half hour lecture about how you can't trust them because they are evil and will eat you the first chance they get."

"What will eat you the first chance it gets?" asked Simon as he approached the two of us.

"Ducks." I told him, his face contorted to a look of confusion.

"I'm not even gonna ask." he replied.

"That's probably best. I thought you were hanging out with Isabelle."

"I was until Magnus came and they both started talking about Leonardo DiCaprio for an hour. I couldn't take it anymore." he told us, "is that Angel Sanctuary?" Simon was looking at Max's comic that he'd placed next to him on the grass when we had started talking.

"Yh, why?" Max asked.

"I didn't know you read comics Max. You know I have a whole pile at home that I've been meaning to get rid of, do you want them?" Max was speechless, he acted so mature most of the time I almost forgot how young he actually was. His eyes had lit up with pure joy, just looking at his face made me want to smile. He nodded his head with so much force that I was worried he'd give himself a headache.

"Max, Breathe!" I told him. We all laughed at his reaction. One Max finally calmed down we resumed our conversation. Most of the time we talked about comics and our shared love of them but every once in awhile they'd start telling me some embarrassing stories about Izzy and Jace. I even heard an embarrassing story about Alec even though he seemed to be put together the rest of the time. In return I told them a story or two about Jon but the conversation was never very serious.

I heard about how Isabelle and Simon had first met at school because they were forced to do a project together. At first Simon was so nervous he couldn't form a complete sentence, but Isabelle just thought it was amusing. By the time the project was over they had become close friends so they carried on hanging out until Simon finally worked up the nerve to tell Isabelle how he felt about her. It turned out that she had liked him all along but she didn't want to get hurt so she had waited for him to make the first move.

I also heard about the time Alec had come out to his parents. Despite it being a shock they supported him entirely, even when he came home one day with Magnus and introduced him to them. Of course Isabelle being Isabelle had suspected all along that Alec was gay, but she thought it would be better if he came to terms with it by himself. Jace also had his suspicions, whereas Max had been completely oblivious, wrapped up in his own world of manga and comic books.

He was such a sweet kid, the more I got to know him, the more I liked him. It was obvious that he adored Jace. He loved all of his siblings, but he held Jace in a special sort of light. Despite Max's young age he was very wise, sometime I had to remind myself not to talk to him like a little kid because he was very capable of understanding a lot of things that even adults can't seem to grasp.

"There you are. Everyone's been looking for you guys. Do you know how hard it is to find someone in this massive house?" asked Maia. She was ducking under a long hanging tree branch. Ever since I was a little kid I always dreamed of having a massive tree in my backyard. I loved the idea of being able to sit under it all day and draw, or relax and just enjoy nature.

"Why is everyone looking for us?" Simon asked Maia.

"We've all decided to go in the pool and we were trying to find you to ask if you wanted to join us."

"Sounds good to me." I stated as I started getting up and brushing the grass off my but. I held out a hand each to Simon and Max so that I could help pull them up, being the nice person that I am. "Come on, It'll be fun." They both looked at each other and seemed to exchange a silent conversation before reaching towards my hands. I brushed it off as my imagination just being paranoid, but then they both smiled devilishly before yanking hard on my hands causing me to loose my balance and topple over in the grass. "That's the last time I ever try to be nice." I exclaim.

I picked myself off the floor once again and saw Maya, Simon and Max all laughing hysterically at me. The laughter was contagious and before I knew it we were all laughing as we made our way back to the house.

"It's about time shortie!" Magnus shouted from inside the pool. I saw both Jon and Jace flinch at his words, obviously they knew what was coming.

"Don't go there Magnus!" Jon tried to warn him, but it was already too late.

"What did you just call me?" I asked Magnus, trying to raise one eyebrow, but failing miserably.

"Come on midget, don't give me that look. You wouldn't hurt a fly." A few people laughed at his words, the only one not laughing were me, Jace and Jon.

"Magnus, she may be…" Jace hesitated because he knew that I hated when people called me short, "vertically challenged, but you don't want to get on the wrong side of her."

"I don't believe you." There was a sparkle in Magnus' eye that told me that he was about to do something that I would probably regret hearing, but I was annoyed at Magnus so I wasn't as scared as I usually would be. "Clary couldn't hurt a fly, I propose a chicken fight!"

"Seriously Magnus?" Simon asked exasperatedly.

"Deadly." He replied, "And just for that, I will beat you first." With a dramatic sigh Simon, Isabelle, Alec and Magnus made their way into the pool.

"Wait a second! Who's gonna judge?" Asked Aline.

By the time we all decided that Max would be the best judge Isabelle had gotten on Simon's shoulders and Alec had gotten on Magnus'.

"Ready?" Max asked. There was a reply of 'Yeah', 'Good to go' and 'Bring it on'. I think the last one came from Isabelle surprisingly. "Go!" With that Isabelle and Alec grabbed ahold of each other's arms as they fought to knock the other off balance. Simon and Magnus were struggling to stay balanced while they fought as well. Alec was obviously strong but Isabelle was golding her own against her brother.

Meanwhile the rest of us were cheering on the side of the pool. I myself was cheering for Simon and Isabelle to win considering the fact that I REALLY wanted Magnus to loose, but I could help but feel guilty for cheering against Alec ho had done nothing wrong to me. Maia and Aline were cheering for Izzy as thy chanted 'Girl Power!' again and again. Jon and Jordan obviously noted the girls' cheering and felt offended for their male friends so they started cheering for Alec and Magnus as loud as they possibly could. Jace seemed to find everything very amusing because I could see him chuckling to himself from the corner of my eye.

I could see it was all over when Alec summoned all his strength in order to push Isabelle as hard as he could, successfully knocking her off balance so much that she plummeted into the water dragging Simon with her. They resurfaced just in time to see Alec and Magnus cheer smugly. "One down!"

Next up was Jon and Aline vs. Jordan and Maia. It was a pretty fair fight between all of them who were very evenly matched, however Jon possessed more strength than Jordan die to his larger stature and was able to shove Jordan enough to cause him to drop Maia. Jordan and Maia were eliminated causing Jon and Aline to start a congratulatory make out session right in front of us all. Much protest was needed to pry the two apart from each other, but eventually they did separate and allow the rest of us to get back to what we were doing before.

Magnus smiled devilishly at my glaring, I was still mad at him for insulting my height and underestimating me. I was determined to show him that I was stronger than I looked, I wanted to prove him wrong and prove to myself that I wasn't completely useless. "Magnus and Alec vs. Jace and Clary." Max announced to us.

I took off my top that I had been wearing on top of my bikini, I was never really one for walking around in my bikini for everyone to see, an made y way towards the pool. I looked around to see where Jace went in the split second that I had turned my back to him, but he was nowhere to be seen. Before I could carry on walking towards the pool I was lifted off the floor and slung over someone's back. I could tell that Jace had been the one to pick me up from the colour of his swimming trunks. Before I knew it we were both in mid air for a split second, I let our a shriek before we broke the surface of the water and were plunged under. When I resurfaced I tackled Jace, but all my efforts to drown him were futile because he was so much stronger than me, why did I think that I could beat Magnus and Alec again? Alec would throw me off in two seconds flat if I was lucky.

Jace just laughed at my poor attempts so I eventually gave up and got on his shoulders. Alec had already gotten on Magnus' shoulders and they were ready to start. "Go!" shouted Max. Alex and I lunged at each other, or what would be a lunge had we not been on top of other peoples' shoulders. I was managing to hold him off, much to my own surprise. Jace and Magnus had also grabbed onto each others arms an were trying to push each other over without loosing their own balance.

I could feel Ale getting the better of me, he was so much stronger than me my only chance to win would be a miracle. Just as he yanked me hard enough to cause me to fall an idea came to me. Quickly I grabbed onto his arm and held on as tightly as I could as I fell. As I dove into the water I could heard a loud splash from right behind me. It had worked!

"-not fair! She fell first!" I heard Magnus complain when I broke the surface of the water.

"It doesn't matter, Alec fell off as well. The only way to break the tie is with round two." Max ruled. Another idea came to me then, I whispered it to Jace who quickly agreed, before mounting his shoulders once again. "Go!" I pretended to reach for Alec, but in the last second Jace moved us both out of the way. Alec and Magnus lunged towards empty air, lost their balance and toppled over into the water.

"Jace & Clary win, next up is Aline & Jon vs. Jace & Clary." Said Max.

"What?!" Magnus screeched as he tried to fix his hair that now looked like a drowned rat was sitting on top of his head.

"You fell in, so they won." Max told him casually.

"We did try to warn you Magnus," said Jon, "never mess with Clary's height." Magnus grumbled an inaudible response while he made his way out of the pool. His grouchiness quickly wore off when Aline and Jon got in the pool and the last fight begun.

Jon and Jace were very evenly matched so there was practically no way to tell which one would win if they were fighting by themselves. Instead, they had Aline and I to help them. Though Aline was storng, my small frame allowed me to push her in a way that both her and Jon to loose balance. At first Jon stumbled and I thought we had won, but he regained his footing quickly. This time though I knew their weak spot, I used this to my advantage and repeated my previous actions, this time though Jace caught on to what I was doing to he pushed Jon at the same time that I shoved Aline. Our combined strength was enough to push Aline from Jon's shoulders and send them both toppling down.

"Jace & Clary are the winners!" Announced Max cheerily. Despite beating Alec and Magnus, they still cheered for us when we eventually won, even Aline and Jon congratulated us when they popped their heads out from under the water. It was decided earlier that Magnus, Alec, Jon and Aline would cook dinner because they cam in second place, while the losers, Simon, Isabelle, Jordan and Maia, would to clean up afterwards. Jace and I didn't have to do anything since we won the game, except pick what we wanted for dinner. For some reason we decided that we wanted curry since we were both craving Indian food, it wasn't the easiest thing to make but we didn't care since we weren't the ones who had to make it.

A small while later everyone was out of the pool and heading in different directions, either to start making dinner or to have showers and try and get the smell of chlorine off of them. I was doing the latter, luckily it didn't take too long and my shower turned out to be quite short. When I was done I felt like spending some time alone after the hectic day that I had, I decided to revisit the garden that I had been to earlier, sure that no one else would be there at this time in the day.

Instead of going to the same tree that I had been at earlier, I managed to find a small bench in front of a pond. There were lights illuminating the pond and the fish inside. Seeing the colours of the fish and the flowers at the brink of twilight brought back all of the memories I had been suppressing earlier of my mother. Everything came rushing back all at once, every memory, every reminder, every moment I ever spent with her that I could remember. I let the tears fall, allowing myself this one moment of weakness before I pulled myself back together.

"You need to find the beauty in everything, it's not always obvious, but it's always there. All you need to do is look a little harder." I didn't need to turn around to see who was there, if I didn't recognise his voice it would have been obvious by what he was saying. Before she died, my mother used to tell us that every day. Jon never really believed it, but I was always so fascinated by the way she saw the world and I wanted to see it through her eyes. By the way she described even the simplest of things, it seemed as though shows seeing a complete different thing to me.

The memories kept appearing, bringing sadness and tears with them, even the happiest of the memories made me feel like someone was reaching inside my chest, clutching my heart with their fist and was slowly squeezing tighter and tighter until my heart would break. Jon had walked over to the bench and sat down next to me. I tried to wipe away my tears, I didn't need him to worry about me any more than he probably already was. He wrapped his arm around me like he always did when I was upset and I lent my head on his shoulder, almost like a reflex.

With his other hand, Jon reached over and grabbed the hand that I was using to wipe away the tears, "It's okay to cry Clare" he whispered, "You don't have to be strong all the time."

"I just…" I started, but the words caught in my throat, replaced my a wracked sob.

"Shhh, I know. It's okay to miss her."

"Do you?" I asked through sniffles.

"Sometimes." He didn't say anymore so we sat there for a while in silence, thinking, just his presence seemed to comfort me. I sat there in Jon's arms reminiscing about the times he'd been there to help me whenever I needed him, until eventually I fell asleep.