A/N: sorry for the lateness of this update! i was busy over the holidays, but here it is at last.

Chapter 25

Jace's grip was uncomfortably tight on Clary's hand. She squeezed back without complaining, however. Jace's grim expression worried her. She wished he would say something.

They reached her house after a few minutes of tense silence, pausing on the driveway. Clary glanced up at him, but he looked down at his feet.

"Jace?" she whispered.

There was no reply.

"Jace, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done this." Clary pulled her hand away from his and backed away.

Jace took her elbows and pulled her close. "No. Don't be sorry. It's not your fault I'm the poster child for emotional damage."

Clary put her hand against his cheek. "I was stupid. I thought you'd be happy when you saw your dad, ready to make up with him. After hearing your story-I thought you'd want this."

"And I do-I can't believe I've finally seen my dad. It's just-on the other hand, I've been projecting the blame for how crappy my life is onto him, and seeing him in person, I don't know if I can keep doing that."

Clary wanted to tell him that he didn't have to blame anyone, but she knew it wouldn't help. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his waist. "I don't know what's going to happen between you two, but no matter what, you can count on me, all right?"

Jace hugged her back. "I know."

"God, that was cheesy," Clary muttered. She felt Jace's laughter ripple through his chest.

He brushed back a curl of hair from her face. "And that's why I love you."

He said it with such certainty that Clary felt warm, and not from the heat. The flush on her cheeks deepened.

Jace kissed the tip of her nose with a small smile. "Let's go back inside."

In her room, Jace pulled her onto the bed, tucking her under his arm. They snuggled, Clary relishing the comfortable silence.

Jace's breathing settled into a slow rhythm, his breath tickling the top of her head. She glanced at him to find that his eyes were closed. After a few moments, she decided he was asleep.

When her cellphone vibrated in her pocket, she jumped, startled, and glanced quickly at Jace. Luckily, he wasn't disturbed.

She answered the call in a whisper. "Hello?"

"Clary? This is Stephen Herondale."

"Mr. Herondale." Clary wasn't sure what to say.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Stephen continued, saving her from continuing. "Is Jace-is he okay?"

Clary studied Jace, his face in sleep oddly peaceful. "He's fine."

"Good, good." He hesitated, then: "Do you think-he'll want to meet again?"

"I don't know. Really. I'll talk to him. Don't worry, Mr. Herondale. You'll be the first to know if he does agree to see you again."

"Thank you, Clary. I really appreciate this chance." Stephen sounded stiff and formal, but Clary thought he was being sincere.

"I hope this works out, too. For Jace."

"Goodbye, Clary."

"Bye," she said. When she heard the click of Stephen hanging up, Clary placed the phone on her nightstand and looked at Jace.

He was perfectly still, only his chest rising and falling periodically. His mouth turned up at the corners, as if he was in the midst of a pleasant dream. Clary's hand itched to trace the outline of his straight nose, strong jaw, his wide-spaced golden eyes. She grabbed her sketchpad from the desk and flipped through it to find a new page.

Leaning back against Jace's chest, she pushed the papers past with a smile. Each drawing evoked another memory of laughing or serenity with her friends. She was tracing her finger over a caricature of Simon and Isabelle smiling goofily at each other, with a scrawled "IL loves SL" in the corner, a teasing message from Maia, when her laugh was joined by a low chuckle.

Jace's arm wrapped around her stomach. "That's really accurate. Especially Simon's nose." He pointed at the accidental hook that Simon had protested for an hour before leaving her be.

"Thank you," Clary said with a giggle.

"Is this your sketchpad?"

"Yeah." Clary put a hand on his to stop him from flipping the page, realizing what was next.

"What?" Jace looked at her in surprise.

"We should put this away now," she told him.

"Why?" he asked.

"It's really bad-"

"Are you kidding? Clary, you're the best artist I've ever seen. A real Picasso." A grin lit up his face. "Come on, please?"

Clary wavered as she remembered Jace's endearing nickname for her at the beginning of the year. In her indecision, Jace snatched the book from her.

The sketchbook opened to a familiar depiction of Jace, drawn messily but with amazing accuracy. Clary remembered the afternoon in the clearing of the woods by the farmhouse, sketching this out then shoving it away guiltily.

Jace examined the drawing for entirely too long, making Clary squirm as she chewed her lip nervously. Finally she reached out and tore out the page, causing Jace to make a noise of protest.

"I was stupid. And it sucks," Clary began to crumple the page, but his hand held her wrists.

"Don't you dare." Jace searched her eyes. "Are you embarrassed?"

"A little."

"Don't be. It's perfect. Like looking into a mirror." Jace pulled the paper from her hands and smoothed it out. "Can I keep it?"

"Sure, if you want," Clary said, waving a hand at him.

Jace grinned. "Now I have evidence of your undying devotion to me."

Heat flooded her cheeks. "Oh, shut up," she told him, but not seriously. "Do I get proof of your undying devotion?"

"I went to the mall with Isabelle for you. That's devotion right there."

Clary rolled her eyes but let it go. She tilted her head against his cheek and he pressed back, holding her silently.

In the middle of Isabelle's pre-party tornado that sucked them all in, Clary nearly forgot about Stephen. Nearly. She was waiting for a sign from Jace that he was okay with the situation, but she realized that maybe it would never be okay.

She was planning on dealing with it as soon as Isabelle let her go from pretending to help when her phone rang. She scrambled to get it, but Isabelle whined, "Clary, come on, just tell me purple or blue," and Clary didn't dare disobey.

Instead she yelled, "Jace, can you get that?" and returned her attention to feigning interest in color schemes.

Jace was sitting in the living room with Alec watching a game, but he caught the phone that Clary threw at him absentmindedly and flipped it open.

"Clary's phone, who is this?" Clary heard him say. The pause that followed was heavy, and Clary sat back on her heels to stare at Jace's ashen face.

"Are you okay?" Isabelle asked, breaking her fixation on planning for a few seconds.

Jace was staring at the phone like it was going to bite him. Clary stood up, ignoring the tingles in her legs as the blood rushed through, and plucked the phone out of his hand gently.

"Hello?"

"Clary." Stephen Herondale sounded flustered. "I'm sorry-I didn't know-Jace-"

Though her heart had plummeted to around her feet, Clary managed, "No, it's not your fault. Did you need something?" She glanced surreptitiously at Isabelle, who was trying hard not to seem like she was eavesdropping.

"I was wondering if I could speak to Jace, actually."

Clary examined Jace, and decided her answer. "I don't think that's a good idea."

But suddenly a firm hand was covering her own and pulling the phone towards him. "Hello, Stephen," Jace said stiffly. Clary tensed at his guarded demeanor.

"I don't want to do this over the phone either." Jace's knuckle's went white around the phone as he listened. "No, we can meet- It's not that-just, let's talk, all right? Fine."

Alec wandered in, his eyes wide. "What was that all about?"

Clary's hand was clutching Jace's wrist, and she let go quickly and stepped away. Before she could try to explain without giving anything away, Jace intervened with a clipped, "Nothing."

Jace's tone and their body language must have been enough for Alec to drop it, since he shrugged skeptically and continued on his original path to the kitchen.

Clary tried to hold Jace's eyes and ask him silently if he was okay, but he pushed her gently back to Isabelle, handed her the phone, and left without another word.

Isabelle didn't ask, thank God, but Clary found it even harder to care about what her birthday was going to be like. She tried, though, since she knew how much this meant to Izzy.

Finally Jace and Alec reappeared, and Isabelle clapped her hands in glee. "This is going to be amazing. You're going to love it."

Clary smiled and nodded, but she really just wanted to hug Jace so tight there was no more room for heartache.

She held her tongue until Jace had walked her to her door, repressing the urge to burst out in a flurry of questions.

However, she was immensely proud of herself when she merely asked calmly, "When and where are we meeting him?"

Jace seemed baffled and stared, then blinked. "Tomorrow, on the bridge again."

"Great." Clary brushed her hands on her jeans as she unlocked the door. "Pick me up tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Jace said automatically.

"Okay." Clary hesitated on the doorstep, then kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry," she whispered, knowing he would hate it but unable to help herself.

This time, Clary knew what to expect. This time, Jace didn't speak a word as they waited. This time, his hand was tense in hers, and light spasms squeezed her fingers every so often as he tried to compose himself.

When Stephen appeared, there was a long silence. But finally, Jace broke it, surprising all of them.

"I still don't know what to say to you." His voice was flat, no trace of the brokenness from last time remaining.

"Then let me speak, please." Stephen stepped forward, hands out. "Jace, I abandoned you."

"And my mother," Jace interrupted.

Stephen took a breath before agreeing, "Yes, and your mother. And I can never apologize enough for doing this."

Jace's eyes were hard. "I don't want apologies. I just want to know why." His voice cracked on the last word.

"There's a lot of answers to that, but if you want to know why I left your mother, then honestly? I was weak and lazy." Stephen gathered himself in a deep inhalation. "I don't want to contaminate your image of Celine, but the truth is that she was hard to handle."

Anger fueled Jace's torrent of words. "I know exactly how hard it was to handle her, since I was the only one dealing with her for two whole years! I had to clean her up when she was drunk, hungover, make her presentable for the social worker. I was the one who kept the pretense of normality going, and I wouldn't have had to if you had just been around."

Now Stephen was defensive, drawing back with a stony gaze. "I know you're hurt and young, but I hoped you were mature enough to listen to the explanation you wanted." When Jace made no reply but subsided, almost pouting, Stephen sighed and resumed. "I wasn't as strong as you, even though you were only two years old. I couldn't deal with Celine's jealous, drunk rages that happened every day. When I couldn't take it anymore, I left.

"There's really no excuse for me leaving you. I was young, selfish, and frankly didn't relish the responsibilities of parenthood. Plus, I left the house to Celine and had to find somewhere to stay. When I finally met Amatis, I'd settled down, found a good job. Then I tried to contact you, but-well, Marilyn said you wanted nothing to do with me."

"But you knew. You knew that I was in foster care, and you didn't try to save me. You just kept living your life like you'd done nothing wrong." Jace trembled so violently Clary was afraid he would bolt at any moment.

"There was nothing to save you from."

"Actually, there damn well was. It's not exactly a place where dreams come true, the system."

"Jace. Look at me." The commanding note tugged Jace's eyes towards Stephen. "I cannot defend myself from what you're accusing me of. I'm not here for you to tell me everything I've done was good. I'm here because I wanted to see my son and Clary gave me the opportunity. Now I've seen you. You're my son. And the hurt I've caused you will keep me up at night."

"Like it should," Jace muttered, but the tension had gone out of his shoulders and he was gazing intently at Stephen's feet.

"It wasn't your fault," Jace said abruptly.

Clary and Stephen stared at him in disbelief. Jace shifted his weight and continued, "You didn't know Mom would get worse. And you couldn't help the foster homes being-not that great. You did leave, but you didn't have direct control of the other stuff that screwed me up. I guess I'm just saying that you shouldn't blame yourself. Well, a little. But not that much."

"Thank you," Stephen murmured. Jace jerked his head once in a nod and looked away.

No one spoke for what felt like an eternity, but when Stephen finally broke the silence, Jace looked up at him with hope and anticipation in his eyes.

"Jace- I haven't seen you for fourteen years, but I missed you since we last met. Would you consider visiting me and Amatis?" When Jace just stared at him, stunned, Stephen cleared his throat. "Of course Clary could come too."

"Would she-do you think your wife would mind?" Jace asked nervously.

"Actually, she's wanted to meet you. I'd like it very much." Stephen fidgeted anxiously. "What do you think?"

Jace glanced down, then off into the distance. Finally he said, "I think I'd like it, too."

They walked back to the car in silence again, but this time Clary was bursting with excitement and happiness. As soon as they were inside, she took Jace's face in her hands and kissed him.

His hands came around her reflexively, and when she pulled back his expression was quizzical. "What was that for?"

"I'm just really proud of you, I guess." Clary suddenly felt awkward. "Sorry-that was unexpected."

"It was-but that's okay. Why are you proud of me?"

"You stopped blaming your dad. That must have been difficult. And it just went a completely different way than I expected." Clary smiled at him as his mouth quirked up to the side.

"I'm glad I exceeded expectations, then."

She giggled, shocking herself with the bubbly sound. "I'm happy for you."

Jace's mouth turned up. "I feel happy."

He kissed her goodbye on her doorstep and left her with a smile.

A/N: This is late, but Happy New Year and Merry Christmas, readers! again, I'm sorry about the late update...forgive me?

Thank you for reading and please review!

~Sami