Clary didn't understand why she'd moved closer to him. It had just been like the first time she'd seen him in class. She hadn't been able to explain to her herself why she'd stared at him. Only this was worse. She had almost kissed Jace! Almost cheated on Simon! What was her problem? Okay, he was hot, but every girl on campus knew that and Clary wasn't so shallow to be swayed by a pretty face… was she? She had just been flattered; yes, that must be it. His interest was, after all, extremely flattering. To catch the eye of the hottest guy in school never did bad things for a girl's self-esteem.

Yes that was it. Last night had been nothing, just a fluke of the moment. A small voice in the back of her mind said the black leather jacket that was currently wrapped around her told a rather different story, but she ignored that voice as she entered the cafeteria.

"Clary!" Simon said cheerfully waving to her. She was meeting him for lunch.

"Cool jacket," Simon remarked as she sat down. "I didn't think leather was your style." Clary shrugged not sure how to explain the jacket. She really should have thought this through better.

"Women's fashion confuses me," Simon said shaking his head. "You would think that was a guy's jacket."

"What can I say," Clary said trying to smile causally. After all what could she say?

"True," Simon replied. "I guess we both don't know that much about fashion." Clary breathed a little easier and blessed her boyfriend's total lack of noticing what she wore.

"Did you have fun at Eric's last night?" Clary asked.

"Yeah we got a song recorded," Simon said. "How was your night?"

"Fire alarm," Clary sighed. "Be happy you weren't in the dorms last night."

"Wow, how'd it go off this time?" Simon asked.

"Probably burnt popcorn again," Clary grumbled. "Or someone smoking in the bathroom."

"The intelligence of our generation never ceases to depress me," Simon sighed.

"I hear ya," Clary agreed. They finished eating and Simon headed to his afternoon class. Clary didn't have class until tonight so she decided to go back to the dorms.

The dorm room was already rather messy considering classes had just started back up again. Laundry littered the floor living space and Clary's charcoal, acrylic paints and colored pencils still covered her small desk from her last art project. It was definitely time to tidy everything up, but neither Clary nor Helen were the hugest fans of cleaning. In fact her roommate was currently adding to the mess. She sat on the floor in the center of the room, surrounded on all sides by textbooks and notes with a pencil in her mouth.

"Hey," Helen said not looking up from her work.

"What complicated puzzle has you chewing your pencil?" Clary asked smiling.

"What?" Helen said looking up and pulling the pencil out of her mouth. "Oh, wow." Putting down the ruined pencil Helen stood up and stretched. "Man, I wish the teachers would lay off the complicated homework until later into the year!"

Despite Clary's mantra about Jace she really wanted to talk to someone about it. Magnus wasn't the best idea since she knew all too well what his opinion was and, of course, she couldn't talk to Simon.

"Helen," Clary started as casually as she could. "You remember the fire alarm last night?" Helen was no longer looking at her complicated homework, but focused on Clary for the first time since Clary had entered the room and she quickly noticed the obvious change.

"New jacket?" Helen asked. "I didn't think you owned anything in black leather."

"It's Jace's jacket," Clary said softly. This had Helen's full attention. She crossed her arms and cleared her throat in such a way as to demand more information.

"He came and talked to me when we were all outside," Clary said.

"And this led to you wearing this jacket because..." Helen asked. "Oh does Simon know?"

"Jace gave me his jacket 'cause I was cold," Clary said. "And yes, Simon has seen it, but he thinks it's my jacket."

"Damn girl!" Helen said, impressed. She sat down on the bed and Clary sat beside her.

"Do you remember, last November, when I told you Jace hit on me?" Clary asked. Helen nodded. "Well, last night he said he'd hadn't meant it the way I interpreted it. Before, what he'd said then was that he couldn't stop thinking about me and yesterday he told me he cared about me. Jace said he helped Simon for me."

"Oh wow!" Helen squealed. "Sounds to me like you have him wrapped around your pinky finger." She paused then added. "You have to hit that!"

"I'm with Simon!" Clary argued. "I can't, as you say, hit that."

"Oh please," Helen scoffed. "How good is Simon in bed, I mean really?"

"I-" Clary started but she had no idea what to say. She could feel herself going red in the face.

"Oh my god!" Helen gasped. "You guys haven't had sex!" Clary squirmed, but didn't speak, still unsure how to respond. "Didn't you tell me you guys have been together for over a year?"

"Yeah," Clary mumbled. "Year and a half."

"I am speechless," Helen said shaking her head. Clary didn't reply. She was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Simon had never pressured her for sex and she had never initiated it. Was that so wrong? Either way, at the moment it was far too embarrassing.

"Have you guys at least gotten close?" Helen asked.

"Yeah," Clary replied quickly, jumping on the chance to save face a little before changing the topic. "So enough about me! How's your love life going?"

Helen gave her a look, but thankfully let the topic shift. Clary started to relax as she listened to Helen talk about her Christmas vacation with her huge family. All her little brothers and sisters were still in elementary school mostly since they were from her father's second marriage. They were technically her half siblings but she never spoke of them as such. Her brother, Mark, was her only full sibling and he was at the university, though being in third year he lived off campus.

"That's the same year Magnus is in," Clary chimed in after probably a quarter hour of silent listening. She was happy to quietly observe Helen's story, especially if that kept the subject of the conversation away from things she would rather not discuss. Clary was glad to move the focus off of herself and her complicated love life, but she also genuinely liked talking to Helen. She hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Helen like this much since classes started and it was nice.

Clary tried to get back to her life as usual as January moved along, but found herself often searching for the blonde in the room. She wore Jace's jacket every day, convincing herself it was just because the jacket fit so very well. She had been wearing his jacket for only a week when she finally spotted the right blonde head in the halls.

Moving without thought, Clary soon found herself standing behind him.

"Jace," she said. He stopped dead then turned slowly to face her, his golden eyes wide.

"Clary," Jace whispered.

"Hi," Clary said, but she had no idea why she'd come over, let alone what she intended to say.

"You're wearing my jacket," Jace observed.

"Yeah," Clary said. "It's super comfy." Super comfy! What a stupid thing to say! "I mean, it's warmer than my jacket, but if you need it back…"

"No, you keep it," Jace said beaming at her. Clary's heart fluttered as he smiled at her. She stared up into his eyes and suddenly knew why she'd almost kissed him. This was different than anything she'd ever felt before. Her body wanted him. She wanted to run her hands over his arms and down his abs, over his hip bones… and… Clary shook her head, forcing her thoughts to change direction.

"Sorry," Clary said. "I gotta go." She quickly turned, half running from the strange feelings he invoked in her.

"Bye," Jace called gently after her.

Clary got through the rest of the day by keeping herself too busy to think. She got more homework done than usual and analyzed the plot of a plotless tv show. She closed her eyes that night to sleep and hoped when she awoke that things would be back to normal.

Jace's naked chest glistened in the midday sun. He was standing in the tall grass holding a scythe used for harvesting crops before modern farming had made them obsolete. The muscles of his arms rippled as he moved the heavy blade back and forth cutting the wheat cleanly. The sun beating down on his skin gave it a gentle glow. Clary moved forward, pushing him gently so he fell back softly onto the grass. With Jace lying on his back she straddled him, licking the skin of his chest, tasting salt. His strong arms held her waist as her fingers traced lines on his chest. The firm muscles of his abdomen proved to be not enough for Clary's insistent hands and soon her fingers were tracing his well-defined hip bones. She felt his hands move under the cloth of her shirt and over her bare skin and let out a slow breath. She felt Jace's arousal become defined and hard under her. With her legs spread over his hips, she could feel every change in him. As she wished the clothes separating them to be gone, they vanished. Clary gasped as skin touched skin. She moved slowly, encouraging him inside. She cried out as she was filled.

Clary sat bolt upright in bed. Panting, she reached for her phone. It was five o'clock in the morning. Collapsing back into bed Clary waited for her pulse to slow. She felt strangely deprived. The dream had left her with a rather unsatisfied feeling. Clary turned to look across the room. Helen was still fast asleep. The dorm was dark. Feeling sheltered by the darkness, Clary moved her hand down to the wetness between her legs, exploring what felt good and what didn't. She gasped when a pleasant feeling shot up her legs.

Clary had often kissed Simon, often snuggled up with Simon on the couch. She loved him and these were both good memories and yet she didn't want him like this. He had never made her feel anything close to how Jace made her feel, even in a dream.

Clary lay in bed trying to answer her own questions. She may have dozed a little, but by seven o'clock she gave up on more sleep and got ready for classes.

In class, a few hours later, Clary was half way through painting a wheat field, just adding the scythe, when she froze, staring transfixed by the painting.

"Very good," Clary's teacher came up behind her. Clary jumped.

"I don't like it," Clary said quickly. "Can I start over?"

"This is a timed assignment," the teacher reminded her. "Just one class to see what you can do. I wouldn't recommend starting over especially since you have captured such a unique scene with such raw emotion."

Clary mumbled something under her breath but finished the painting. She didn't paint Jace, however, but added a generic figure with dark brown hair and brown eyes to hold the scythe. Her teacher remarked she had not remained faithful to the original emotion of the piece but Clary didn't care. The last thing she needed was a steamy painting of Jace to explain to Simon.

Later in the cafeteria, Clary saw Jace, but he was sitting with Sebastian, which was just enough to keep her from talking to Jace. She didn't like Jace's friend in the least. Though they looked so alike, Clary couldn't mistake one for the other. From the way they held themselves to the smell of stale cigarette smoke that always clung to Sebastian, the two men were in every way different to her. Despite the fact they shared so many physical similarities.

The following day when she saw Jace alone she couldn't help but go over and talk to him. He seemed again surprised to see her, but he smiled in such a way as to make her believe he was happy to see her.

"Hi," Clary said to him. "I saw you yesterday but you were with Sebastian." She wasn't sure why she was telling him this. Why was she explaining why she hadn't talked to him yesterday?

"Sorry about Sebastian during the fire drill," Jace said quickly. "He's an idiot when he's drunk."

Clary didn't know what to say to that and found herself wanting to get closer to him, to be held by him. Her dream came back to her and the only way to stop herself from falling into his arms was to leave. Clary dashed off, without a goodbye.

Within a few weeks, Clary noticed a pattern. Whenever she saw him alone she went to talk to him. She never had anything of substance to say and always left quickly. She wore his jacket, every day. Though she could see the pattern, she couldn't break it and it in no way helped that her first dream of him hadn't been her last.

It was finally the weekend and Clary had plans to go over to Magnus's. Since Alec and Magnus had become a couple they'd started a game night tradition that included Alec's cousin Aline. The two of them had taught Magnus a game called Settlers of Catan and though Magnus's texts had been hard to understand, Clary could tell Magnus was enjoying the game.

Clary thought this would be a perfect opportunity to make sure Alec didn't intend to break Magnus's heart.

"Do you want to come?" Clary asked Helen as she was about to leave. "I'm sure it's the more the merrier."

"I really have to get this essay done," Helen sighed. "But if you guys are still playing in an hour let me know."

"Is you essay due in an hour?" Clary asked smiling.

"It was due yesterday," Helen admitted sheepishly. "I wrote the due date down wrong."

"Oh, alright then," Clary sighed. "You are off the hook but come join us if you want okay?"

"Alright."

Clary smiled at her friend then turned and left the dorms. Clary hadn't seen much of Magnus since he'd starting dating Alec and she wished she'd been able to talk to Alec before now. It was almost February after all, which meant Alec and Magnus had been going out for a month.

Clary spun around. Jace was standing nearby, leaning against the wall of the building. Clary was always moving toward him when she realized what the blonde man was doing. Jace didn't smoke. Quickly turning around Clary moved away from Sebastian as fast as she could. She felt better once she was across the street. By the time she rang Magnus's doorbell she had quite forgotten about it. The door was answered by Tessa.

"Hey Clary," Tessa said smiling. "Long time no see."

"Yeah sorry," Clary said. "Life's been busy."

"Don't I know it," Tessa laughed. She turned and Clary noticed Jem sitting in the living room watching her with loving eyes. When Tessa sat beside him Jem kissed her sweetly on the check. Clary turned and saw Magnus and Alec kissing as well, though lightly. They were both standing over the table setting up the board.

"Look at all the couplings." Clary turned and saw a lovely dark haired woman with a slight asian aspect to her features standing smiling at her. "Doesn't it just make you feel SO very single?"

"I'm not single," Clary said automatically.

"Lucky you," the girl replied, though not unkindly.

"You must be the cousin I've heard so much about," Clary said smiling. "Aline right?"

"And with that red hair you must be Clary," Aline answered.

"The board is ready!" Magnus called and Clary turned to see her best friend standing proudly over the Catan board he had just set up. "Not a single resource of the same type is touching."

"You know that isn't a requirement right?" Alec told his boyfriend sweetly. "It's just Aline's silly system. Lots of the board layouts in the rules don't care about that."

"Oh but it's fun, sweet pea!" Magnus giggled. Alec blushed and gave Magnus an annoyed look.

"Don't call me sweet pea," Alec grumbled.

"Pumpkin?" Magnus tried. Alec shook his head. "My darling, Alexander, why do you hate my adorable nicknames so?" Magnus made a dramatic fainting gesture that made Alec roll his eyes.

"If you guys were any cuter I might throw up," Aline groaned.

Despite her elation at Magnus's happiness Clary couldn't help but see again the difference between Alec and Magnus and her and Simon. Alec's hair was standing up at a funny angle in the back and if Clary wasn't mistaken the edge of an impressive hickey was just visible near the collar of Alec's shirt. They had clearly been making out before she arrived. There was even a physical difference to the way Jem and Tessa sat together than the way she sat on a couch with Simon. It wasn't as obvious as with Alec and Magnus but it was there.

Are my Clace readers at least a little happier now? I told you the Clace was gonna happen eventually and I know its been a LONG wait. And my Malec readers see there is a little Malec at the end there for you and the sneak peek was selected just for you! I know its been alot of Clace lately. Sigh can't keep everyone happy it seems! ^_^ Just wait till I add Sizzy into this story! Lol! ALL THE SHIPS! o_O

Sneak Peek Chapter 26

Alec, as usual, forgot all else as his mouth moved with Magnus's. They stood just a foot in front of Magnus's closed front door wrapped in each other until they heard laughter. Magnus released him and turned to his giggling roommate.

"I can't hear Sherlock over your lip smacking," Tessa giggled.

"We are so not that loud," Magnus shot back at her. Tessa turned to Jem and took his face in her hands before kissing him. Jem's hands went up to hold her but their touching kiss in no way drowned out the voices coming from the tv. They separated and Tessa gave Magnus a smug look.

"Whatever," Magnus grumbled. He turned back to Alec, wrapping an arm around Alec's waist he pulled Alec with him away from his smug roommate. "Where were we?" Magnus purred as he now had Alec all to himself in the kitchen. Alec grinned and threw his arms around Magnus before their lips met again.