Clary:
(Two Years Later)
Beep! Beep!
She woke up with a violent flinch. Her mind racing as she tried to comprehend what was going on. Suddenly it hit her. She had graduated two weeks ago, and it was time to go back to Idris. Jace and Jonathan had both went to the country after their graduation, and she was the next to join them. Actually, they were all moving back, there would be no more Frays, Lewises or Lightwoods in the mundane realm.
Needless to say that she was excited about the prospect.
Her phone was set to go off at eight o'clock in the morning. It was an ungodly hour in the summer time, but she knew that it was worth it for what her family had planned. She smiled as she rolled out of bed and rushed to the door. She flung it open, and rushed through the threshold and into the hallway without even bothering to think about the way that she looked. Everyone in the house was used to her looking like a nightmare when she woke up anyway.
The kitchen was already filled with four occupants: her mother, Luke, and Jace and Jonathan. Clary stopped in her tracks on the tile floor, not even able to register the pleasant feeling of the coolness of the tile permeating into her feet.
"Hey, Red," Jace greeted, a smile crossing his handsome face, "Long time, no see."
He wasn't exaggerating. They hadn't seen each other in around four months, and Clary had deeply missed him. It hadn't hit her how much until then. She found herself running and jumping wildly into his arms instead of answering his stupidly casual greeting. It was not a time for understatements.
"Jeez, Clary," Jon laughed from beside Jace, "let the man breathe! Besides, if you stay like that too long, he might get swallowed by your hair!"
Clary backed away from Jace, the spell momentarily broken, as she touched at the top of her head. It was sticking up all over the place. Heat came rushing to her cheeks, and Jace shook his head quickly while Jon cracked up loudly.
"Your brother's an instigator," Jace informed her, "There's nothing wrong with your hair. You look beautiful."
Clary had a feeling that she looked anything but beautiful, but the way that Jace said it made her smile and she flushed slightly and walked back over and hugged him again, though this one was less of a tackle, and consensual from both sides.
She wanted nothing more than to kiss him senseless, considering the fact that she hadn't seen him in so long, but she knew that it was out of the question. Two sets of over protective eyes were on them, owned by her brother and step-father. She did stand on her tippy toes, and yank him down, to kiss him chastely as she said, "That earned you a few boyfriend points."
"Only a few?" Jace joked.
"Are you insinuating that it was a big lie that you had to tell?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow in an attempt to appear stern.
He raised his hands in surrender as he said, "Never mind, I'll stick with my few!"
She smiled at the knowledge that she had trained him well. His apprehension was incredibly satisfying. She turned away from Jace and walked over to Jon, pulling him into a tight hug, as she asked, "How has everything been?"
"Great," he replied as he ruffled her already messy hair, most likely making it look like two rats had been having parties instead of just one. "I've been promoted into the military because of my skill with a sword, and I'm instructing new trainees in times of peace, and I have my own unit to lead when war comes around again."
"Just hope that it doesn't," Luke said from his spot, leaning against the counter top. Clary jumped slightly. He had startled her, with his sudden words. He hadn't been very chatty before then.
"Always do," Jon said solemnly.
The seriousness on his face was gone in an instant as the sound of the door bell rang through the house. "That'll be everyone else, you'd better go and get dressed, Clare."
Clary moved to leave the kitchen, and she heard her mother say, "I think you should stay with me, young man, I don't think she needs help."
Clary smiled at the thought of Jace's face, and hoped that he was embarrassed. Prick.
It only took her a few minutes to find something halfway decent to wear, and to tame her hair back down to its normal curly style. She stepped back outside of her room, and walked back into her kitchen with a smile as she saw the others gathered around the table.
"Are you excited to go back?" Magnus' voice was the first one that she heard. He was leaning against the counter beside Luke, his smile was bright, but it might have been outshined by all of the glitter.
"I am," she said. "It feels right."
She looked over at Jace and Jon, who were both standing in a small group that consisted of them Alec Isabelle and Simon and asked, "How is everyone in Alicante?"
"They're all great," Jon said, a smirk crossing his face. "Will's walking around grinning like an idiot all the time because of Tessa, but aside from that they're all good."
"Speaking of them," Jace said, backing away from the semicircle that they were making and walking toward Clary. "I have a surprise for you when we get there."
"A surprise?" Clary asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why did you tell me now? I'm going to be curious about it all the way there!"
"I love to torment you," Jace replied with a smile as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against his side. She silently agreed with him, but chose not to verbalize her thoughts.
Clary looked at all of her friends around her, and was extremely glad that she was going back.
"Is Xavier doing well?" Clary questioned, looking up at Jace curiously.
"Little monster is running around now," he said. "Jordan's having the time of his life with the kid. I'm surprised, considering the fact that he has about the same maturity level."
She snorted at the mental image of Jordan running after a little munchkin that looked just like him. The thought was heartbreakingly adorable.
"If you've got a suitcase packed," Jace prompted, "there's no real need for us to stay any longer."
The mansion was just like Clary remembered it. Huge, brick, and old with a lot of windows. The entrance was grand and the floor was shiny. The archways were tall and grand, and the doors were made out of the sturdy and expensive wood that wasn't hollowed out. Of course, they were only passing through, but it was still a nice place to look at.
She took one last look around before they walked through the bottom floor hallway and to the middle door, beside the table with the picture of the guy with the black hair and blue eyes that Clary now knew was Will.
Simon opened the door and gestured for them all to file through. Clary and Jace were at the back of the line, and she was about to walk inside, when Jace grabbed her hand, and pulled her back. Magnus, who had been in front of them, looked back with a knowing smirk and just shut the door, but not before winking at her in a way that didn't really reassure her.
"What is it?" she questioned, turning to look into the golden eyes of her boyfriend. "I really want to go and see the others!"
Jace smirked at her before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her flush against him, and crushing his lips against hers. She squeaked in surprise and he pulled back quickly, as he murmured, "Didn't really have a chance to do any of this, you sure you want to go in quite yet?"
Clary smiled slightly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and began pulling him closer and closer, so that they were nose to nose. "I guess they can wait for a few more minutes," she murmured. "If they come looking, though, I'm saying I'm here against my will."
"Obviously," Jace muttered, brushing his lips against hers as he pushed her back against the opposite wall, before kissing her a bit more firmly, gripping her face in his hands as he moved his lips against hers in a familiar manner that she'd missed so much. He'd been having the same thought process. His mouth moved from her lips, trailing slowly across her cheek to her ear, where he whispered, "Four months is too long."
"I agree," she managed to say; the feeling of his breath against her neck was making it really hard to think clearly enough to form a coherent sentence.
"I don't want to be away from you for that long ever again," he told her, dropping one hand from her face, but holding it firmly with the other as he leaned in again. She wasn't able to answer him, since her head was too busy spinning as his lips moved against her softly, never stopping their gentle pace.
Then he pulled away. She inhaled deeply and blinked slightly as she opened her eyes. He was standing a few inches away, too far to kiss, but still close enough to feel his warmth. "The surprise was that Will has taken over the title as king, and we don't have to worry about reclaiming it, ever. There's no pressure on us getting married any time soon, or ever, if you don't want to."
Clary smiled at him. As selfish as it felt pushing all of her responsibilities of ruling on to Will, she didn't want anything to do with the throne. "That's good, I guess," she said. "The no pressure thing, anyway."
Jace smiled at her and said, "Now that there isn't any pressure, however…." he reached down into his front pocket and pulled out a fist.
She looked down at it, confused.
"I don't want to be separated from you, Clary," Jace said, his voice no longer playful. "Four months was ridiculous, and Jon heard about it every day. I love you, and nothing is ever going to change that." He knelt down in front of her and opened his palm to show a silver band with a small diamond on top of it. "Clarissa Fray, will you marry me?"
She didn't know what to say. She didn't know when her hands came over her mouth, or when her eyes started stinging with unshed tears. All she knew was that Jace was in front of her, saying the sweetest things she had ever heard him say, and that she loved him too. Was that enough?
She was only eighteen, and Jace was only nineteen. Would they even work out? She knew that the only way that she was going to find out was going to be to give it a try, something that she was only too happy to do with Jace. She found herself shaking and nodding as she tried to get the word yes out of her mouth, but it only sounded like a garbled noise.
Jace seemed to understand, because she didn't even see him move but he was there, shoving her into the wall, yet again. This kiss was rough and passionate as he fumbled with her left hand, trying to get the ring on it. He pulled away just long enough to look her in the eyes and say, "I love you."
"I love you too," Clary informed him, knotting her fingers in his hair and pulling mouth back to hers.
It was around ten minutes later when they were ready to go back into Alicante. Jace grabbed Clary around the waist and pulled her against his side as they walked across the hall. "Clarissa Herondale," he muttered in her ear, "how does it sound?"
Clary wrinkled her nose, "It sounds terrible."
Jace chuckled as he opened the door for them, "Well, we must all make sacrifices for the ones that we love."
Clary smiled up at him, and silently wondered if they would even be in the situation if they wouldn't have taken that vacation two years before.
THE END!
YAY! I'm finished! I'm so excited; you guys are just so freaking amazing that you don't even know! Thank you all so much for making this fic such a success. This is my most viewed and reviewed. I'm so proud.
You're all so awesome, and amazing, and if I could find you all to hug you, I would…though that might be a tad bit creepy….
Anyways….I'm marking this down as complete and then I think I'm going to go to sleep…
If you wanted to, and haven't yet, my new fic that I advertised for a few chapters back is up. It's called What are Friends For? Shameless advertisement, right there, lol. Anyway, thank you all so much for reading this! You're the best!