Hey guys! So I'm back with the second place winner! This is absolutely amazing and adorable and I squealed reading it.

THIS ONE, THE FIRST PLACE, AND THEN THE EPILOGUE IS HERE!

Memories

By: Blue-Glass-Boat

I stretched my arms lazily, expecting to hit a hard chest as I did every morning. But my hands hit the soft down of our cover with a thump.
I pushed herself up and looked around the room. It was tragically mismatched. When Jace and I had moved in together, we argued so much about what to do with it that we'd ended up dividing it in half and left each to our own.
Jace's side looked like it was still waiting for a tenant to live there and all the objects were there for show. The walls were a crisp white, and not a book was out of place on the shelf. Even his side of the bed was tidily made, only a dent showing where my hand had hit the covers. The polished wooden floors gleamed in the muted morning light.
On my side, you couldn't see the floor. A dark shaggy rug covered the surface, and a few clothes were scattered here and there where I hadn't put them away last night. The walls were orange, and my desk was filled with paintbrushes and pots of water.
I got out of bed, flipping the covers down on Jace's side too and smirking. Pulling on some clothes, I wondered where he'd gone. It was unusual for him to leave without waking me to say where he was going, at least. Covering a yawn with one hand, I stumbled out the door. God, why did mornings even exist? Something drifted to my nose; the smell of cooking.
I smiled. I'd almost forgotten it was my birthday today. Twenty-five, a quarter of a century old. And also the age my mother said it was acceptable to marry.
She was not happy when she found out that Jace had proposed. "But, Clary," she kept saying. "You're twenty-two years old! And you've been doing him for less than a week!"
A huge argument had ensued, ending in a compromise; Jace and I would have a long engagement, only getting married when I turned twenty-five. So we scheduled the wedding for the day after my birthday. Tomorrow.
A slight flutter stirred in my stomach. In a day, Jace would be my husband.
I ambled into the kitchen, the smell growing stronger. I screwed my nose up in disgust. "Jace, either your cooking has gotten a lot worse, or you're not Jace." Just as I had suspected, my soon-to-be sister in law turned around, a scowl on her pretty face. "What are you doing here, Izzy? And I'm sorry," I laughed, as I tried to look for a way out of the inevitable annoyance. "It's just… uh, no one's cooking could be as good as Jace's."
"Oh, really?" A voice murmured in my ear, arms twisting around my waist. I spun around in the circle of Jace's arms. "I knew you would have to admit it someday. You've held out for an unnatural length of time."
"That's not what I meant to say. You distracted me before I finished." I stuck my chin out stubbornly. Jace's smirk appeared in full force.
"And the end of your sentence was?"
I wriggled a little bit, knowing that he knew I had no answer. "I was going to say, before I was interrupted, that no one's cooking could be as good as Jace's adoptive mum's."
He raised an eyebrow. "Of course you were."
"Mhm." I hummed, trying to distract him. "It's my birthday, so you have to do what I say. And agree with me."
He didn't say anything, just glanced at Isabelle over my shoulder and nodded. Well, maybe over my head. Whatever. "Secrets, secrets are no fun, unless you share them with everyone." I chanted, repeating the old rhyme we used to tell the other whenever we kept secrets and mock glaring at him. He slid his hand into mine and pulled me into the lounge room.
Everyone was lounging on our couches, and for every couple, there was a gift. Various calls of. "Happy birthday, Clary," were yelled discordantly and I laughed. "Thank you." I whispered to Jace, knowing whose idea it would have been.
"You're welcome. I'm sure you can find some way to thank me later." He replied, eyes full of amusement and suggestiveness. I flopped on the carpet next Magnus and Alec's sofa and Jace sank down beside me. "Presents!" I ordered.

My cheeks hurt from smiling, and my stomach hurt from laughing. I was also fairly sure that my lungs needed a break from talking and shouting. The others looked similarly exhausted. Surrounded by my friends and family- and yes, my presents and cake- I felt like I was floating. Jace's shoulder cushioned my head. He nudged me and whispered. "I have a present for you."
I smiled lazily. It hadn't escaped my notice that Jace hadn't given me a gift, but I figured he just wanted to give it to me when everyone else wasn't breathing down our necks. From under a cushion, he produced a rectangular package, obscured by gold wrapping paper. My eyes widened. How had I not noticed it there?
I reached out and took it from him carefully. It didn't rattle, and it felt smooth beneath the paper. A low chuckle sounded from her side. "I know you like to try to guess what it is, but you're not going to get this one."
My curiosity piqued, I slid a finger beneath tape, even though I really just wanted to rip the paper off. The last slid off, and a pale gold photo album lay in my hands. I opened it to the first page.
The picture showed Jace and I standing close together, me redoing his tie. His expression was one of friendly fondness, his head tilted up and a smile on his face. Next to it was a printout of the text chat we'd had while I was in the car. My eyes skimmed over the words. 'It's not like I'm going to 'vie for the heart' of my best friend.' I grinned and ran a finger over the line, drawing Jace's attention to the line. He snorted, his grip tightening slightly on my shoulder. "I figured we should pay tribute to the show that got us here. All the while looking at photos of you dolled up."
"It's like this is your present, not mine." I smiled up at him, letting him know how much I loved it.
He replied to my silent thank you, choosing to ignore what I'd actually said. "Anything for you."
Laughing at the dance scene, I remembered the feeling of the lines of his body against mine, swirling around the floor. Jace grinned. "We should go dancing more often."
I flicked through the photos slowly, pausing at our first kiss. Our foreheads rested lightly against each other, and although you couldn't see anything but our profiles, I could read the tension in him. "Why so tense?" I asked, pointing at the photo.
"I was just starting to figure out my feelings for you. And like Iz said," he mimicked her, "the kiss was hot."
We looked at a few others, reminiscing. It was so curious to hear what Jace had been thinking at the time. A familiar scene caught my eye. One that I had played over and over again in my head since that day. The proposal. "Chris had a camera?" I practically yelled. It was clearly taken from his angle, Jace on one knee and my hand half-extended towards him. It managed to perfectly capture the nervous yet affectionate look on his face.
"He only took one picture." Jace promised. "I couldn't let the moment go unrecorded."
I placed the book on the table and kissed him, my lips melting into his with familiarity. His fingers were in my hair, and my hands were running up down his chest when someone complained from behind us. "We weren't going to interrupt before, but my poor eyes."
I pulled away from my fiancée and glared at Simon, who missed the death stare because his hand was over his eyes. Isabelle poked him. "It's safe to look."
I settled back beside Jace, and picked up the album again, mumbling a curse at Simon. I turned to a few empty pages. He caught my questioning glance. "For the wedding and the rest of our future."
I grinned stupidly, not caring that there were tears in my eyes. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Happy birthday, Clary."

ONE MORE CHAPTER BEFORE THE EPILOGUE! And wasn't this AMAZING? Thank you to Blue-Glass-Boat for this awesome oneshot! See y'all next time... Probably this weekend again for the first place winner, then THE EPILOGUE soon after! Love you guys!

-Shadowhunter5801