Chapter 59: Everyone!
Happy Christmas or holidays everyone! Thank you for all the lovely reviews you've been leaving on these chapters! I hope you like this one too. I didn't do it in anyone's POV so that I could jump around to different people easily.
Everyone is sitting in the living room, surrounded by a massive pile of presents. We decided that we should do presents all together, rather than as separate families, and as a result everyone showed up bright and early on Christmas morning. Once everyone had their mug of hot chocolate, tea or coffee, Max insisted that we start making our way through the pile.
"Did you know that in Norway, and a lot of places across Europe they open their presents on Christmas Eve?" Max tells everyone.
"Well we've missed that boat," Alec tells him. "But maybe next year we can open a few presents on Christmas Eve."
Somehow, Luke got voted into being Santa, so he was sitting on this big chair next to the tree with a Santa hat on, and was dishing out the presents.
"To Jace, from Isabelle," he reads out. Clary moves over a little so Jace is able to go collect his present, and Izzy comes over to watch him open it.
"It's a planner…" Jace says, looking up at her confused.
"I think it's about time you start looking after yourself a little bit," she tells him. At Jace's look of… confusion maybe, she adds, "don't worry. I got you more than just that; that was more of a joke really."
"Right, well thanks Iz," Jace says, putting the planner on the ground along with the piano books Clary had bought him.
"To Max, from Clary," Luke reads out.
Max runs up to get his present and rips the paper open as soon as he gets back to his seat.
"What'd you get Maxxie?" Alec asks him.
"It's a bunch of Manga. Thanks Clary," he yells across the room.
"Tell me when you finish those ones and we can go and buy you some more," she replies.
He nods excitedly, and opens the book to begin reading, but Simon quickly grabs it and flips it over.
"You start at the back," he tells him. "And then read right to left."
"Okay, thanks Simon," Max says, and begins reading.
"Max, you got another one," Luke says, shaking another present in the air.
Max gently places his book down and runs over to collect his next present.
"To Celine and Stephen, from Clary and Jace," Luke reads out.
Celine gets up to collect her present, and nods at Clary and Jace in thanks on the way back to her seat.
"Look Stephen, it's a voucher for horses…" Celine says, reading over the piece of paper. "It says when we get back home, we can go to and choose two horses from Louis' stable."
"And there's a stable being built on your property at the moment; it should be close to finished by the time you get back," Jace tells them.
"Thank you, lion," Celine says, hugging Jace. "And you two Clary," she adds, hugging Clary as well. "This is really too generous."
"Thank you, both of you," Stephen says, still slightly shocked by the present. He never expected Jace to get him a gift this big.
Jace nods back at him, and then turns back to Luke, who is handing a gift to Kit.
"I hope you like it," his mother tells him. Kit slowly opens the present, which turns out to be an Xbox. Despite already owning on, Kit thanks his mother.
"I heard in an interview that you liked playing video games… do you like it?" she asks, rather shyly.
"Yeah it's great, thanks… Rosemary." Kit could see the disappointment on his mother's face about him calling her her real name, but he really didn't feel comfortable calling her mom yet.
"This next one," Luke says, "is from Kit to… everyone?" He looks over to Kit for conformation, who nods to tell him he's correct. "Well, everyone not in the band," he clarifies.
Luke takes out an envelope with is own name on it, and then passes the box to Mayrese so it can be passed around the group. Once everyone has their envelope, Kit says, "you can open them!"
"A backstage pass to your New York show!" Max says excitedly.
"To our last ever show" Kit adds.
"That's so cheating!" Simon says. "Obviously we were already going to invite everyone to that show."
"Well now you don't have to," Kit says, leaning back into the couch, his hands behind his head with a smug smile. "You're welcome."
Luke just laughs at him and grabs another present. "From Clary, to Luke… I'll just open this later," he says, and then put the present down and goes to grab another.
"This is your Christmas too Luke," Clary says to him, "open it!" This is followed by shouts of support, so Luke shakes his head, but picks up the present. He slowly opens it.
"Are these…" Luke asks, looking at the books in disbelief.
"They're first edition Mary Shelley…" Clary says, eager to see his reaction.
"How did you even?..." Luke asks, still completely shocked at the book he's holding.
"Well I won't lie to you… I had some help. Maia - from your bookshop, she tracked it down and got it from the buyer. She's also looked into the proper storage for it, so there's some sort of case being built back at your bookshop for it."
"Clary, this is… it's too much," he says, trying to hand the book back to her.
"Nothing's too much for you Luke," Clary says, refusing the book.
"Okay, well now my present feels so small, but… Merry Christmas kiddo," he says, handing me a present that looks suspiciously like a book.
Clary unwraps the present to find a printed photo book filled with pictures. From everything to the first time she came home, to her first major concert and even stuff from their last tour.
"Thank you Luke," Clary says sincerely. "This is amazing."
"I'm glad you like it," he says. They keep giving out presents until the once massive pile disappears.
"I can't believe you got me a mirror," Kit says to Clary.
"I see it's already getting some good use," she replies playfully. "Come on, you know you love it; and your real present is that I'm going to help you get your license, and then you get my car. It's about time you finally owned it."
Kit sighs and rolls his eyes, but Clary can see that he's excited by the idea of finally owning his dream car, instead of being driven around in it.
"Okay, well lunch should be ready in about an hour," Clary tells everyone. "But there are snacks and drinks… so just have a good time everyone!"
"Alec would I be able to talk to you," Robert asks Alec, pulling him to the side. Alec looked over at Izzy talking to Simon's family and just wished it could be that easy for him.
"What do you want dad?" he asks, not bothering with any niceties.
"First, I want to apologise for my behaviour at dinner in New York. I've had time to think about how everything happened, and I'm willing to accept full blame," Robert says sombrely.
"Like you should," Alec replies shortly. He'd already forgiven his dad too many times for the same behaviour.
"I also wanted to let you know that I'm taking some time away from the family. I was offered a job in London, and I'm going to take it. It start in the New Year, and I'll be moving there without your mother or younger brother."
"So you thought the best time to tell me that you and mom are splitting up was on Christmas morning?" Alec whisper yells.
"Alexander, will you calm down?" Robert says, looking around to make sure no one was looking.
"No, I won't. I thought you pulled me over here to apologise for your behaviour at dinner the other night, and ask me to re-introduce you to Magnus. But instead you come seeking justification for breaking up our family," Alec says, slowly getting angrier.
"Magnus is just a phase," Robert says strongly.
"No dad, Magnus is the love of my life. And maybe I think it would be best for you to leave the family, but I will not speak for mom, or Iz or Max. You need to man up and talk to your wife instead of seeking comfort in the son you've turned away his whole life,"Alec says, and then leaves in pursuit of Magnus.
Clary, who had seen the whole interaction but not listened to what they were saying leaned into Jace.
"I know it's none of our business," she says to Jace, "but something's going on in the Lightwood family."
"Yeah I noticed something funky in the car yesterday," Jace replied. "Max was the only one talking. I mean sure, the kid loves to talk. But the most Mayrese and Robert said to me was 'hello' and 'thank you'. We should see if Izzy or Alec need anything."
"We'll wait till after Christmas - we don't need any family drama's today.
And then, as if God was mocking her, the doorbell rung.
"You expecting anyone," Jace asks, confused. Clary's heart felt like it had stopped beating.
"Keep an eye on the food," she says, as she slowly makes her way towards the front door. After taking a deep breath, she slowly opens the door, to reveal her brother standing with a women she had never seen before and a baby.
"Merry Christmas Clary," he says.
"What are you doing here?" Clary asks, unable to stop herself.
"You… invited us. Remember?" he says, unsure now.
"I remember sending the invitation, along with plane tickets. I don't remember you telling me you were coming, or even that you'd gotten any of it."
"I didn't want to disappoint you," he says, "and we weren't one hundred percent sure if we were coming."
"So you just show up on my doorstep, 30 minutes before lunch is being served. Maybe there isn't room for you anymore." Clary says coldly. She would not let her brother break her heart again.
"Okay. I understand. I hope you enjoy your lunch Clary," he says, and then looks over he shoulder when a massive eruption of laughter could be heard in the living room.
"Fucks sake," Clary whispers. "Fine Jon, wait. Of course you can come in." They all start bustling in the door, when Clary asks, "is this your wife?"
"Oh… crap. Clary this is my wife Lilith - Lily. Lils this is my baby sister Clary. And this…" he says, tickling the baby, "is Adele."
"It's nice to meet you," Clary says to Lily, "lunch should be ready shortly.
"Actually Clary, would I be able to talk to really quickly?" Lily asks sweetly. Clary looks over her shoulder at Jace, who is look at her alarmed.
"I don't see why not," Clary says, grabbing her coat off the hook and heading back outside.
"I really wanted to let this go - but then you nearly turned us away and… I don't know. I just wanted to ask you how you could give your brother such a tough time. I mean first your parents die, and then you move to L.A. without him. And then you turn him away every time he tries to get close to you, until you can finally profit off the story of your parents. How could anybody be so horrible to their family?" she asks, her sweet persona gone.
"Is that what he told you?" Clary asks, wishing she was shocked, but sadly isn't.
"He just told me the truth," she replies nastily.
"Look, I don't want to get between you and Jon. But you should really ask you husband to tell you the truth; the real truth. And if you can't get it out of him, as Luke." Clary says, ready turn back into the house and just fall into Jace's arms; on of the only places she felt truly safe.
"Whose Luke?" she asks, her confidence starting to waver a little.
"That would be my godfather," Clary says, turning back to face her. "The man who moved to L.A. to be with me when my brother wouldn't."
Maybe it was too much for Clary to ask for a normal Christmas.
Once they are back inside, Clary is met by everyone looking at Jon shocked, and then to Clary, even more shocked that Clary would invite him.
"Hey guys, I think we should do our video before we forget," Clary tells them all. They all head over to the Christmas tree.
"Clary!" Simon whisper yells, "how could you invite him?"
"Look if Kit can forgive his parents then I can begin to forgive my brother. Let's not talk about this right now," Clary says, knowing that they would all just start to argue with her.
"Hey Maxxie," Clary says as Max walks past. "Would you be able to do us a really quick favour?"
"Yeah. What do you need me to do?" he asks.
"Well you know how we've been doing those videos?" he nods back, "we have to do one all together now, and I would really appreciate it if you could film for us.
"Oh yeah, sure!" Max says, taking Clary's phone. She quickly logs him into the bands Instagram account.
"Merry Christmas," everyone yells when he starts filming.
"And happy Hanuka!" Simon adds.
"Or happy holidays," Alec says.
"Or we hope your having a nice break," Clary finishes.
"From our family, to yours," Kit says, and then waves everyone over. First only Magnus, Izzy and Jace come over, but after a little more insisting, everyone else slowly comes over.
"Get over here Maxxie," Alec yells, and then takes the phone and sets it on the table so it's facing the now massive group.
"We hope you're having a great day whatever your doing," Clary yells over everyone.
"And I hope your getting to spend it with people you love; whether that be friends, family or anyone else!" Simon adds.
"Merry Christmas!" everyone yells.
Well that's all the Christmas chapters done now! I'm not going to post until next Tuesday (for me), and then after that it'll be back to twice a week posting! Have a great day and week :)