A/N:
Guess who's back back back, back again 'gain 'gain.
Yup I am here and alive and im crushing it. Lol maybe. I love it when yall read and review. I truly cannot get enough of it and all my love goes out to you, my readers. Internet hugz!
I will defend one thing though. This is NOT twilight. I am a little DISGUSTED by Edward and how he watches Bella in the books. Its DIS-GUS-TIN. Anyways with a concussion there is that necessary wake up and… well… you'll see. I feel the need to say that I tried to distance these occurrences.
Anyways. I love you all and it's time for me to finally get some good sleep. Take care of yourselves and get the meals you need. Live your best life and read some good works of art. I can always start recommending them… if that's what y'all want.
The incident with Clary triggered memories of years ago when Will got shot. It was disastrous, blood pooling everywhere and a hole in Wills chest. Jace, still in his 20s, was screaming at anyone and everyone to "Oh god please someone HELP HIM!" because there was so much blood.
It was an effort to get a foothold in Vietnam, where the Yakuza had a main distribution center. In the end, Jace's men had been slaughtered. Hundreds of men and some women from around the world had gathered as a small army to set up the post. The end goal, a goal that was never reached, was to distribute to the west coast of the United States.
Jace gripped the steering wheel tighter, vision flickering as his teeth made grinding noises that echoed through his bones. He couldn't handle the similarities, both warehouses that they were equipped to enter and a full guard with no medic. So, when reached the hole, getting as close to the outside portion of the building as he dared, Jace remembered how he looked down at her, relief flooding his very being.
He remembered registering the flash of red hair on the balcony as he spoke with Will, forcing himself to pay attention to what his brother was saying. Suddenly though, everything went sideways and he remembered how his heart stopped in his chest.
He watched her now, head lolling and small smile on her face, as he drove her to his home. Clary didn't look good- she always looked good but now she was pale and sallow -and she was more than a little out of it. Her eyes were glassy, unfocussed as he tried to keep up a conversation. Jace could tell she was tired, probably unused to having to deal with long term adrenaline inducing situations like the one they had just gone through. His breathing sped up.
His mind flashed unwillingly to the warehouse, to the explosion. To how there was smoke and flame coming from the hole in the building. Hands gripped the steering wheel ever tighter and his vision blurred.
"Pull over Jace."
He turned the wheel to the side of the road, pulling over and parking the car. The minute the engine was off two small hands gripped his face, thin fingers cupping his cheeks as he found himself staring into apple green eyes.
He noticed her breathing first, over exaggerated. Her words second. "In and out. Stay with me Jace. I'm here mi leon."
Thin fingers brushed his cheekbones, delicate as they swiped liquid softly from his skin. Liquid? He hadn't even known he was crying.
Clary kept murmuring things in Spanish, soft words blended together barely louder than a whisper. The language flowed in and around his small truck, it sang in his veins and caressed his brain. It ruffled his hair, reminding him of long ago summer days when he was taking German lessons.
Since the Circle and Herondale Enterprises did international business, Jace grew up learning key words of different languages to better understand their allies and enemies. He could speak fluent German at one point- though it had mostly fallen apart -and could understand both French and Japanese. By extension, Jace could make out certain words from the melody Clary was singing.
She kept saying something about dreaming, a woman named Sofia, and hushed tones about looks- glances, maybe? -while the sounds from the flicks of her tongue resonated around the cabin of his truck. Jace couldn't understand most of it, he wasn't sure that he should though. He had found throughout his travels that, when faced with lyrical words in musical tones, it wasn't necessary to understand it, just appreciate it.
His focus shifted and he grew more aware of where he was, who he was with. He followed her lips as she spoke about fire and the past. Someone moving on.
Jace was slowly calming his breathing, heart racing. With tempered breaths, he brought himself back. Still staring into her eyes- her hands still cupping his face -Jace reached up to her wrists and squeezed them lightly.
"Th-" He cleared his throat, chasing away the past minutes. "Thank you. I didn't know I needed that."
Clary removed her hands, face still close to his. She studied him, up and down. He told himself that she didn't linger in spots or that it was concussion brain as the cause. He wouldn't- couldn't -allow it to be anything else.
After determining him of sound mind and health- how she checked was beyond him -Clary turned back to the windshield, pulling out her phone. Soft sounds of a plucked guitar drifted through the cab as various male voices joined into the song.
"Are you good to drive?" The redheaded woman asked beside him, eyes still focussed on the dash and the deserted road ahead.
Jace nodded- a reflex -before remembering to reply. "Yah. I've driven with worse."
He had. Jace had been the one on the phone- understanding every 10th word in rapid fire Tagalog -as he drove Will to the nearest hospital and out of the trees, leaving the battlefield and the failed attempts at an outpost.
It was only when a singer, his voice louder and higher than the last, sang into a brief silence that Jace came back to himself again. The whole drifting in and out of the past and present was disorienting.
Jace shook his head, cobwebs retreating to the fray but not leaving in its entirety. Coming down from the adrenaline wouldn't allow him to disregard the creeping lethargy that threatened to steal his rational thoughts.
Restarting the car was easy, getting back onto the deserted roadway was easier, but focussing on the road was hard as Clary softly sang along to a song in Spanish.
Her voice followed the womans easily, rising and falling as if on command. The tune was familiar and Jace started humming it thoughtlessly.
At the start of the second body he finally asked her about it.
"What song is this?" Eyes still on the road, Jace had to force himself to delegate a portion of his brain away from the redhead.
Clary held the note as the singer did, hitting every foriegn word and every note. "Así soy." Clary hummed lightly, following the bridge of the tempo. "It's the Spanish version of This is Me from the Greatest Showman. No offense to Keala Settle but Maite Perroni's version hits better."
Jace hummed along as the final notes rang out, a lone car on the other side of the road their only company. "Why Spanish? I assume you learned a decent amount of it."
A light chuckle sounded from her, body shaking slightly from the movement. Clary curled up on the seat, chin resting on top of one of her knees. Jace could feel her gaze on him.
"Once upon a time ago I truly loved it. I ended up learning a lot but, as they love to say: 'if you don't use it you lose it'. I don't remember much of it now. I can understand most overheard conversations and speak it a tad. Mostly though, I've lost the ability to communicate."
"Oh." Jace made a noise of slight surprise. He knew that she avoided the question but he let it slip past. Jace had always enjoyed German and it stuck with him, more so than either of the other languages he'd picked up over the years. The daily lessons were fine, not a hardship while he was younger and had more time on his hands.
A slight shrug. "Any special reason it was Spanish?" He was curious. Jace couldn't be blamed for wanting to know just why she had chosen that language.
Clary let out a huff, laugh discarded half way through. "They spoke Spanish a lot of the time. There was some French too but around me it was mostly Spanish and it was just easier. After taking it in high school it was easy to transition that to college and to go further. I drove myself to understand, to figure out, to succeed. I did. I learned a lot. It was enough for me."
Jace made a hum of approval, neither here nor there on the topic but a general acknowledgement of the statement and her past.
As he drove, his mind wandered. It seemed as though the fireball next to him had built her life around that singular incident, around being taken. Jace wasn't certified but he did enjoy the few Psychology classes he had managed to fit in around the Architecture courses and the Business major. It was because of that passion and those classes that he knew it wasn't healthy to build your life around tragedy. You didn't have to move past it, per say, but you did need to come to terms with it, not allow it to define your entire existence.
So he watched her out of the corner of his eye, how she stared- seemingly unseeing -at the trees and turnoff roads they passed. Her green eyes were tired, bags sagging from obvious lack of sleep over the last couple days. Clary was singing the Spanish songs that danced through the cabin, her voice matching the singers but falling flat, tired, and unfocussed.
"So why NTC?" Jace asked her, hoping to start a conversation and keep her present in time.
"Hmm? Oh. I wanted to find my brother. I knew if he was to go anywhere it would be to find out about our father. Would you believe they look almost exactly the same? Yet, Jon has outlived him. Anyways… what was I saying. Right, right. So I followed Jon who was following the footsteps of a man lost to time.
"And I just kept moving. My entire life. I just… haven't stopped." Clary shrugged her shoulders. "I lead people in the O.R. yet… all I do is follow or run."
She stared out the window as the song ran down, something about it being the singers faults, Jace wasn't really sure. He was more invested in Clary at this point.
She had brought up her brother, willingly. Clary had spoken about him yet, didn't ask how he was doing. He knew from experience that temporary memory loss was a common side effect. Jace resigned himself to watching her, paying attention to her words and when she was going to bring up her brother. Besides, Jace hadn't heard anything other than that Jon was still on the table and stable.
Bracing himself mentally, Jace began to poke and prod at her carefully erected walls of her emotions and mind. "So, it definitely started with your father?" Jace's voice was hesitant yet even.
"No. Save the psychoanalyzation for when we're friends. I didn't need a therapist then and I don't need one now." Jace could feel her eyes boring into his own, intent to stay on the road. "Back off Herondale."
Jace's hands tightened on the wheel. "Everybody needs a therapist, even you and even me. There's nothing wrong with that."
A broken laugh sounded next to him. Jace tore his eyes away from the road, just for a second, so that he could glance at the woman next to him. The song was dying down, English this time, and the womans trailed off.
Clary was curled up on the seat, looking much younger than the 32 years he remembered reading in the file someone had amassed about her. Copious amounts of hair had fallen from her braid and framing her face, the curls hanging limply.
Clary flipped through songs, finally deciding on a slightly busy one where the singer kept on about world making. "You misunderstand me." Jace heard the cushions shift and he just knew without looking that Clary was now chafing towards him. "Therapy is good but, for me, it's not the best option."
A disbelieving sound slipped from Jace, a cross between a snort and a hum.
"Im serious." She said as the song changed again. It was like she wasn't able to settle with a song. Jace recognized one of Izzys favorites flow from the speakers of Clarys phone. Something about being human. He had known that much about it.
Another shift, the seatbelt made a noise of protest. "I spent my life running from one thing to the next. It's kept me alive. The precautions I take, the little eccentricities I have, all of that has kept me alive to this point."
Interesting. Jace filed that away, right next to the other unhealthy tendencies she had.
"I can feel you judging me you know." Her voice interrupted Jace's thoughts. "Basic survival Herondale."
That… that didn't sit right with him. He flicked the blinker and pulled off onto a road much like all other offshoots, hidden in the shadow of trees and surrounded by nature. "But isn't life about living? What's the point of living if it's not something more than surviving?"
Another broken laugh, each one a knife to his soul. Jace didn't want to focus on why they meant so much to him. "That's the conundrum isn't it? It's the fear of death that keeps me alive, even if I'm just surviving."
Damn. "Well that's awfully morbid."
He had to look at her then. Her eyes on his and suddenly he was looking into her soul. Broken and shattered in places, duct tape and mastery of tetris keeping together others.
Clary sighed, a resigned sound that escaped from her nose. "There are moments when I don't feel so quite alone, so quite different. But I know that, even then, I will be different. Your experiences make you who you are. Mine make me someone that few people can relate to and that hurts. It hurts because…" her pause echoed in the silent cabin. A deficit of noise had never felt so large until now. "Because this is something I need to talk about but who in their right mind would believe me? They'd take my license, the only thing I truly enjoy."
Jace pondered that. He had people to talk to. He had Will, a brother more than a cousin who he had been to hell and back with. He had Alec, another family member he would do anything for.
Jace realized, then, just how surrounded by shoulders and people and experiences he was. He had people he could go to. Clary, with all her badass bravado and sheer survival, didn't.
Jace had to stop the truck for the gates to let him in but he probably would have stepped anyways. It hit him so suddenly.
He leaned out the newly opened window to press the code into the gate. "I guess I can see your point of view. Are you sure there's no one though? What about your mother? Or Jon?"
The minute he let Jons name slip he knew he was fucked. Jace watched emotions flicker and flash across her face, confusion, recognition, worry, and guilt to name a few.
"Jon…" a hand covered her mouth, "Oh god is he ok? I know the surgeon who's probably working on him but…" a swift movement she made out of the corner of his eye had Jace turning to her, "What have you heard?"
Jace saw her breathing speed up, mouth moving in intelligible words. Clary's eyes flitted, face to the gates before them to the empty bed of the truck and back again.
On a whim, Jace grabbed her head in his hands. His palms cupped her cheeks and his thumbs brushed the skin under her cheek bones. "He's fine. Stable but still on the table."
"I can't lose him again, Jace. The first time was bad enough." the words fell unabashed from her lips, dripping down her chin and falling uncaringly to the floor. Her breath was starting to slow and Jace felt relief bubble up within himself.
Jace continued to stare at her, his thoughts swirling. He never quite settled on one but he knew that it was better that way. Constantly flipping between admiration and nonsensical words about how her brother would be fine, Jace continued to roam her face. Thin eyebrows and pale skin, a dark smattering of freckles decorated the bridge of her nose. Soft lines on a weathered face, eyes that flickered and flashed with emotion, and smooth pink lips.
He continued to brush her skin with his fingers, tell her it was all going to be alright, and ponder on her words until she was collected and Jace drove on.
()()()()()()
Having Clary stay in his house was a unique experiment. Jace usually never brought girls home- Tessa had commented on that with a light laugh -and he waited on her hand and foot.
There wasn't much to do since she had been steadily sleeping, except for a brief wake-up period every 2 hours, ever since Jace had arrived at his home with her almost 7 hours ago. He would sit next to Clary, reading over documents from both the Circle and Herondale Enterprises as she slept, watching carefully for any signs of adverse trauma to her head and or brain.
It wasn't hard to get her into the house and into a spare room doors down from his. Jace felt the need to watch over her. An alarm would be painful on her ears and, if she was really injured, she wouldn't hear it.
Jace felt like someone needed to make sure she was alright, needed to make sure she would live. Since there wasn't anyone there for her right now, that person would be Jace.
So he grabbed her canvas sea bag full of clothes- where she got that he didn't know -and marched her into the room next to his. She was complacent in all of this, moving as he wanted her to and eventually falling into bed.
Jace left her to sleep in the tight pants and oversize scrub shirt while he washed the sweat and dirt off of his body. He checked his injuries as best he could in the mirror. The cut on his hip was doing fine and, even though it needed a bandage, it didn't really hurt. At least, the cut on his back and the fleshwound of his bullet wound hurt much more. He was very thankful that the Circle had Mags, especially now that Clary was unable to fix him up.
Afterwards he made his way to his own study to retrieve paperwork and other necessities. Jace didn't like his office, bare white walls and a boring light colored wooden desk. It was a place of solitude and silence, a place to absolutely be alone.
Usually Jace would work in the gardens, papers spread around him while he sat on a picnic blanket surrounded by the flowers his mother used to love. It was peaceful, soft. It was something that Jace cherished, a piece of her that he was only told yet felt close to.
Instead though, Jace sat in a small chair. The back of the chair poked into the slash in his back uncomfortably.
Jace rearranged the paperwork on the small table in front of him. It was originally supposed to be used as a nightstand, but he had repurposed it to hold the papers and documents and proposals that he needed to look over and sign.
The top document was actually one that his father needed to look over, Sebasitans medical records and payments. Since he had gotten hurt doing things for the Circle they would pay for it all, but it still needed to be looked over anyways.
Jace scanned the document anyways, reading over the surgeries performed and the expenses covering it. At the very bottom though, Jace saw the cost distribution. The only thing that he could really read though was her name, the redheads name. The name listed was hers; Dr. Clary Fray.
The curly haired blond stared at it, at the word on the paper and at the person in the bed. She was so small, innocent, and peaceful looking. Clary was a force of nature to be reckoned with when awake. She moved like fire and spoke like ice, hair and body constantly in motion and a cool and calculating demeanor.
Yet, lying in the bed, there was no vibrant energy, no purposeful movement. She was curled in on herself, wrapped around a pillow, lips slightly furrowed even in sleep. She was soft like this, soft and delicate and totally unattainable. This was something that he knew few people ever got to see, a privilege even.
While he should have been checking over reports in Peru, signing off on scouting missions from California and Louisiana, and looking at the numbers from the latest runs, Jace was watching Clary. A rouge strand falling in front of her face, lifting up as she occasionally puffed out a breath in her sleep. He was mesmerized by that piece of hair, so much so that he hadn't even heard Tessa come in.
Jace didn't know how long the brown haired woman stood watching him at the door, he only knew that she startled him with her words. "Have you eaten?"
His head whipped around, dried and unbrushed curls whipping with him. Jace's eyes found Tessa leaning against the door, a soft smile resting on her face and mug cradled in her hands. "Where'd Will run off to?"
A small chuckle escaped the blond's lips, smile growing softer if possible. "He's decided to shadow your father again today. He wants to be the best older whatever to you that he can and take some of the stress and pressure off of you."
A light scoff fell from Jace's lips as Tessa moved into the room to sit across from him on Clarys bed. "Stress? Tessa," Jace scrunched up his lips. How to say what he was thinking was the problem here, "I don't know what you and Will are going through- he's only hinted at it not being a great time for you guys and obviously I've seen it at times -but I'm here for both of you regardless."
Tessa studiously watched the woman sleeping on the bed. It was obvious that she didn't want to look at Jace. "You know that Will wants to be a father. He wants to give children the childhood he never had and the parental figures that he didn't really have growing up. And I really want to do that too. But…"
She slowly looked back to Jace, face a tight mask. "I'm guessing that the shots haven't been working."
"Shots…?" A thin hand moved to cover her mouth. If the room wasn't silent Jace wouldn't have heard her breathless whisper. "How did you know about the shots? Will and I agreed that we didn't want to tell anyone in case they didn't work."
The curly haired man looked at the paper on his desk, hands itching to rearrange it. "You left them out one day. It was when Will was super sick and you had to go in because Herondale Enterprises had a huge case. He needed some meds and the empty syringe was sitting on the counter." Jace shrugged lightly and noted the time on his watch. "That was years ago though."
"Yah." A breathless sigh fell from her lips and dropped into her cup. "It didn't work and I began to have super bad side effects. I uh…" The brunette took a quick sip of her tea, the steam having long disappeared, "I collapsed that day- in the courtroom -and they told me that I had to stop the hormone treatments."
Her eyes began to get glassy, focussing and unfocusing on the wall in front of her. "I thought that we wouldn't be able to have a family."
Despite her low tone, Jace could tell by her posture and the increasing thickness that she was on the edge of crying. He rose and, moving swiftly from where he was next to the nightstand, sat next to the grey eyed woman. Gently reaching around her he tucked her head into the crook of his neck.
"You know that Will cares about you and your health." he told her softly, stroking her hair. "I doubt that he would do anything to endanger you. I was surprised that he took you on as a consultant with him to Peru. I would have sworn that he would've begged for you to stay here. Even if he had to get on his hands and knees."
His playful but reassuring tone elicited the response Jace was hoping for. "He's only been on his hands and knees for me twice. Once when he was proposing and the other just a few days ago." Tessa chuckled and burrowed deeper into his embrace.
The woman in his arms was an honorary sister. They shared no blood yet he would go to war for her just as he would all of his chosen siblings. His arms tightened and he kept stroking her back in a calming motion.
Gently, Tessa pulled back. She handed her mug to Jace who set it on the nightstand turned desk. "Im so sorry." Tessa started to say as she wiped at her eyes. "Ugh. It feels just like when I was taking those stupid replacements."
Jace's mind whirled at her offhand comment. "Wait so…"
Her brilliant smile told him everything he needed to know. "Yes. Congrats Jace you're going to be an uncle." Saying this quietly did nothing to diminish her delight.
The blond man laughed quietly and pulled the woman into a tight hug. "Congratulating me? No. Congrats to you and Will. This is amazing! Is this why you guys left Peru so quickly?"
He could feel a nod against his shoulder. "I thought it was bad food from the night earlier but then I just kept puking while Will was fine. I got a test and we left right after."
"I understand. It's not a place you would want to be at all, let alone as you are."
The brunette woman pulled back as Jace noted the time- 15 minutes until he would have to wake Clary again -with a frown on her face. "I'm pregnant, not an invalid! Besides I get enough of this from Will. I don't need my little brother doing the same."
Deciding to mess with her a little bit Jace puffed up his chest, held a hand over his heart and took on a blustering tone. "Us Herondale men are of the finest breed." His chin rose at the words he said. "We would never think to endanger the fair maiden."
She laughed again and hit him lightly over the shoulder. "Do you think hell be happy for us? Your father, Will's uncle. I want him to be happy." her tone was worried as she looked at the sleeping woman.
Jace rolled that around a little bit. "He might be so happy he'll give you both Herondale Enterprises and the Circle."
Tessa turned worried eyes on him. "He wouldn't. He'd never take that from you."
His smile thinned. The blond man knew that his father was above nothing; it was how the Circle had risen to such a powerhouse in only one generation when most organizations like the Circle were centuries in the making.
"You never know with that man Tessa. He switched Will and I's position at the last meeting- one I apparently wasn't invited to since I was asleep at the time -and Will had to be the one to inform me. Not like me being asleep had ever bothered him before."
Jace rolled his eyes. "It's whatever. All I can do is prove that I deserve to be his son." He shook out his curls, the hand Tessa had at one point placed on his shoulder slipped off at the motion.
"Who's making dinner?" Jace tried to switch her attention. "Unless we want to order take out or send someone to the city for takeout it won't be Will."
Tessa shrugged her shoulders, seemingly content to drop the touchy subject for the time being. "You cooked last night but I did lunch. Wanna split it? Or should I tell Will to grab something on his way back?"
Jace could tell by her words that she was tired. As a result of being raised by her Grandfather, Tessa was against takeout and would usually go for a home cooked meal- even if she had to cook it herself. Offering takeout as an acceptable dinner replacement was testament to how tired she truly was.
He shook his head at her a tad. "Ill cook. Hows street tacos sound? Not too much for your sensitive stomach?"
He stood and offered a hand to her, pulling her up with him. "I don't know if food is too much until I smell it or eat it."
Jace nodded again, content with her answer and that he was making the street tacos. "I need to wake Clary and then I'll get started. Eat in an hour... thereabouts."
"Sounds good." Tessa told him as she was leaving. "I'll see about getting everyone back here for a family dinner. Will's been dying to tell everybody."
Jace smiled at that. Watching Tessa talk about Will was something he could never tire of. He just hoped that someone would talk about him in that manner one day.
Jace gathered his papers knowing that, after the rest of the gang got to the house, he wouldn't be able to focus on work. He deposited them on his bed at the end of the hall, not sparing a glance at the pile of laundry he would have to do or the blank walls.
Clary was sleeping peacefully as Jace walked back in her room. Her room. She had only been lodging here for a few hours and yet Jace was already internally calling this her room. The most worrisome thing to him though: he didn't know when it started, when he started thinking of this place as a home for her.
The curly haired man lightly touched her shoulder, shaking it as he called her name softly. Her face slowly hardened as her eyes blinked open. "Jace." She acknowledged softly, voice sleepy and unused. Adorable could be the only word to truly describe her like this, right now.
"Yeah." he replied, tone soft. Clary didn't raise her face from where half was buried in the pillow. "I've got to test coherency again." He told her, brushing the piece of hair behind her ear.
"Ugh. Jace we've got over this-" Jace truly didnt care about her answers, her attitude was enough to tell him exactly how coherent she was. "-I know the president and if it's changed since you've last asked then I wouldn't be in this bedroom still." He loved it when her eyes held the fire they were exuding now. Green eyes shone like emeralds, it was now that she looked truly alive. "I'm still Clary Fray and I'm still a doctor and I'm hungry. Is there food?"
Jace nodded lightly. "It'll be ready in about an hour. I'm making street tacos."
"Sounds good. I uhh…" She glanced around before returning her eyes to Jace, "I need my ribs rewrapped and I already know that it would be better for someone else to do it."
The blond's hand immediately rubbed at the back of his neck. "I can do that- or Tessa if you feel more comfortable with a woman doing it."
The face she leveled at Jace was wholly unamused. "Bodies are bodies, we all have them. I'm not self conscious about mine, had to get over that a long time ago." Her tone trailed off, almost as though that was an afterthought.
Jace turned and grabbed a roll of bandages from the redheads medical bag they had grabbed with her clothes. When he turned back to her, Clary had already sat up and was struggling to get her shirt over her shoulders.
Dropping the bandages beside her on the bed, Jace lightly took her shirt and pulled it gently off of her shoulders and over her arms. When her face was freed from the light blue fabric Clarys eyebrows looked strung together and tight, a grimace written across her lips.
The curly haired man lightly grabbed the end of the wrapping that was tucked under her armpit. Clary lifted her arms as best possible with her level of pain while Jace quickly went about passing it from one hand to the other.
Her ribs were a mess of colors other than her natural. Long streaks of blacks and blues mixed with darkening reds and pinks were painted across the delicate skin of her chest. Jace couldn't remember a time when he had been this close to a female non family member and wasn't focussed on her body, in a sexual manner that was. Clary, however, was the first he could remember.
He was wholly focussed on her and on her getting better- not too fast of course, he'd love just to have her near if he couldn't have anything else.
As he went about rewrapping her ribs, mindful of Magnus' advice on how tight to wrap them, Clary began to reach up and undo her braid, grimacing at every movement of her shoulders.
It wasn't until Jace got to her chest, already having wrapped her torso, that the redhead's hair fell around her face in thick controlled waves. Jace tucked the end of the wrapping back under the previous wraps around her torso, mindful to keep all of his touches clinical and quick.
He watched as she struggled to pick her hair up to braid it again, face taught with determination and pain.
"You know," Jace began hesitantly, unsure of her reaction, "your hair looks fine down." He knew that Izzy usually put her hair up if she was dissatisfied with how it turned out some mornings- or at least that was her answer when he had asked one time.
Though Clary didn't turn to him, Jace could feel her glare. "I want it up, less of a hassle."
Jace nodded, useless as it was since she wasn't even looking at him. "I can braid hair." At the turn of her head and the high arch of a single eyebrow he suddenly felt the need to elaborate. "I learned for Izzy and Tessa- everyone else in the house is hopeless." he told her quickly.
"Sure. Want me to sit on the floor?" Resignation was threaded in her words.
"Yup." He couldn't believe she had actually taken him up on the offer. "French or Dutch?"
A light sound of disbelief from Clary filtered through the room "Pardon?"
Jace laughed slightly. He knew that many people didn't know the difference when asked. "Braid. French or Dutch?"
Clary turned slightly to look at him over her shoulder. "Whichever one doesnt make me look like a dinosaur."
She repositioned herself on the floor while Jace sat on the edge of the bed, Clary between his legs. The blond reached over and grabbed the pencil from where it rested on the desk. He used it to part her hair down the center, proportioning it for two equal braids on either side of her head.
He lightly took her head and tilted it back, her features serene and relaxed. Jace went to begin one of the braids at the top of her head, parting and holding the curls lightly.
"So…" the girl below him began, passing the time he was taking, "I never pegged you as gay."
Jace choked on air. "What?"
"I said I never p-"
"I know what you said." He told her. "Im not gay. I just… I wanted to learn for my sisters, my family." He divided the hair and started crossing pieces under one another. "My father told me once that my mother used to dream of having a girl that she could spoil and bond with. Instead well…" Jace trailed off as he gathered hair from her ear and pulled it to the braid running down her skull, "I think you can imagine sort of what happened. Learning how to do this brought me closer to her memory."
The girl sitting between his legs tensed lightly. "I don't know much about my father- my mother never told me or Jon anything about him. I did figure out that he was in the Navy." She straightened up and pulled her knees lightly to her chest. "I guess that learning how to fight and being badass is my own way of remembering someone I never got the chance to know."
Jace nodded to no one and made a hum of approval. "Hair tie?" he asked her, lightly tapping her shoulder with his pointer finger. It was a drastic change of topic but necessary. There was only so much he could deal with having been up over 36 hours already.
A tie tapped against his finger and he tied off the braid. "Do you have a second tie?" he asked her.
A light shake of Clarys head, her unbraided hair swishing against his leg and tickling his senses, told him his answer.
He immediately picked up his phone and called Tessa, her voice ringing out from the speaker seconds later.
"Yes?" Her polite tone told him that he probably woke her up.
A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he tucked the phone between his shoulder and ear, picking up Clary's hair and starting on the second and final braid. "I need a tie. Also how many people am I cooking for?"
"I'm having Will pick up more supplies, full house tonight." Her voice reflected exactly how he felt. Unfortunately a full house meant everybody that had knowledge of the house and could be invited to a 'family' gathering. He knew it basically meant that he would be stuck in the kitchen without help, everybody being terrible at cooking but him and Tessa. After all, who the hell burnt a pizza beyond edible? The directions were on the box. Will and Alec, that was who. To this day, Jace and Tessa hadn't given them back control of the kitchen.
He could hear Tessa bumbling around her and Wills room in the house- everybody had one -before walking to Clarys.
Her voice surprised him as he crossed the pieces of hair over and under one another. "So she means a lot to you."
He knew that even if she wasn't here to see him roll his eyes, Tessa would be able to tess from the tone of his voice. "Of course. I feel partially responsible."
A light huff puffed over the line. "You and Will are much too alike to just be cousins, I swear."
"Tessa," He jokingly whined, drawing out the vowels in a way he knew she hated, "come on now."
"It's ok to care, Jace. You need to remember that not everybody you let in leaves. Your parents weren't the best role model but I'm still here, so's Will and Alec and Izzy and Mags. We're not leaving and neither will Clary if I have to say anything about it."
"And," Jace cleared his throat, fighting down the emotion that seemed to try to claw its way up, "what can you truly do to stop her- stop any of them?"
He was oblivious to the woman in the room, oblivious to the hair he held in his hands.
"Jace," Her tone bordered on disapproving, "you know about my situation and-and my brother." Under her breath Jace could hear the normally prim and proper New England girl curse out her hormones. "You are family and you know how I fight for my family."
Her breath huffed out, slightly exasperated but loving all the same.
"We've got you Jace. We're willing to catch you so please, if not for us then for yourself, be willing to fall."
A/N:
Was this as boring to read as it was to write? I feel like things needed to be said and addressed but… my only thought while writing this was "I really hope you guys dont hate this as much as I hate writing this."
Now to reviews (this is my favorite part. Who do I need to sell my soul to to get more of these):
Jling: I'll be honest, I'm not sure how to respond to this. Maybe because I'm coming off finals week and am capital D Dead or bc I've been writing this for over 4 hrs now and it's midnight thirty my time. I will say that it is VERY important to me that character relationships are REALISTIC. They need to have hot hot chemistry and also do things that make sense. There was one fic I read where two ATLA characters who were dating and very in love with one another broke up in the last minutes of the last chapter and I was HEATED. It was so out of character that it made me commit to real shit only. I'm truly glad that it was worth the wait. I never try to focus on the numbers or reviews but as I'm sure all writers know, I hang onto those for the first couple days after a post. It lights a fire to write more. Clary and Jace are figuring out their lives and where one another fits into them. It's never going to be perfect because love isn't enough but work and love is. That will be a KEY theme throughout this fic.
Beautiful Evil: To me Jace and Clary staying together was the thing they needed to bring them together. With the bond they have, she would be fine leaving. My Clary would be fine packing her bags and running away. I haven't defined her past so you don't know how many times she's picked up and ran before, what connections she's made or the people she's impacted. I think it's important to realize that with Clarys background something HUGE needed to happen. I think it's ok for one person to kind of have that initial spark but for both people it's unrealistic and/or unsustainable. Jace had a spark but he also evaluated it. He still is. He's got problems- we all do -and it's something that he needs to work on if a relationship is going to work so… more on that in the coming chapters.
SkyBell1272: Ugh. I kind of addressed the feelings thing in the comment above huh? Ohh well, more on that. No two people are the same and their feelings about things will not be the same. That difference is something that is human, it happens all the time. It's beautiful. I'm a firm believer that our differences are part of being so painfully and beautifully human. My story is not real but I want to be able to portray it in such a way that it could be. Part of the reason I loved reading was the escape. The ability to float and flee to a faraway place for a few hours. Though this does not reflect any true occurrence I know of, the fact that it could be is important to me.
Eatsleepmovies14: I'm glad you liked it! Every comment means a lot to me so thank you for commenting.
Guest: Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad you enjoy this and thank you for taking the time to say that!
A/N (again):
I love every comment I get. I simply adore them. Keep them coming please, they are a light and motivation for when I have to push through boring parts.
Anyways… ugh. I'm so sorry. Seriously though. If this was boring TELL ME! Please oh please tell me because this is how I learn. Seriously. Someone read one of my starter chapters for an ATLA story and PM'd me about there being SEVERAL inconsistencies. You know what I wrote back? Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. Seriously guys. THIS IS HOW I LEARN.
Speaking of those ATLA stories… read them. Read them. Im serious. It's just one chapter. This will end and when it does I would love to know which story that my readers would want to get next. I've got a poll and please I pray just vote. I cant see who votes (I don't think) and no one else can see who votes (I'm pretty sure of that). So DO IT. God if you do nothing else. It's so sad for me to look at it and see 0 votes.
If you want to see something TELL ME. I have direction but it's not specific so do me a favor and help me get there. I will not be upset if you suggest something and it isn't perfect. I'm learning, you're learning, we're learning. This is a journey, let's do it together.
I dunno what I want for next ch so I can't hype yall up for anything. I want to write the full house scene and for Clary to FINALLY remember that her bro is in the hospital- she just needs that prod to her memory. Or maybe imma skip it with a small flashback and talk ab Jace and his upcoming mission. Yup. I'm sending him away from Clary bc that will move the plot and create tension. Tension oh beautiful tension.