Third One Shot:
Marines
Jace POV:
I had just gotten back from my yearlong deployment and I couldn't wait to reunite with everyone, but especially Clary. Ever since we met, I have been madly in love with her, but we got so close that I never wanted to ruin our friendship, I guess you could say I put myself in the friendzone. It was easier than being rejected. I was walking around New York taking in all the scenery that I have missed in my year away. I was mindlessly walking when I realized that I was in front on my favorite little café. I looked inside and saw a familiar redhead, and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face, that was until I saw her sitting with some guy, and she was holding a baby, who shared her same vibrant and beautiful red hair. Clary was laughing while the baby was sticking random objects in her mouth. I couldn't take the sight of Clary being with someone else, and having a child, I had missed so much.
I always thought that maybe when I came back that I would have the courage to ask her out, to finally make my move, but after seeing her in that café, I'm clearly way too late to make my move. I slowly walk away and continue my mindless walk throughout New York City trying to get the image of Clary with another man out of my head. I couldn't believe I was so naïve into thinking that Clary would still be single when I came back, it was only a matter of time before someone noticed how beautiful, and sweet, and funny, and smart Clary was, and I blew my chance with her. And now I don't know how to get over her.
Time Jump-Three Days Later
Jace POV:
It had taken me three days to go and visit my family. They all knew I was back but I needed to get myself together after I saw Clary, it had really devastated me to see her with someone else. I walked up to the front door of my parents house and took a deep breath before knocking, but what I saw when I opened the door shocked me. Izzy was holding a sleeping baby, but not any sleeping baby, the same baby that I saw Clary with the other day. There was no denying that she was Clary's child. My mouth fell opened and Izzy looked at me than back at the baby before turning around and walking into the living room where she placed the sleeping baby in the playpen and made her way back to Jace before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him.
"I'm so glad you're here Jace. We've missed you." Izzy said and I couldn't help but smile.
"I missed you all to Izzy. How have you been?"
"Great. A couple months ago Simon proposed!" She held up her left hand and there was a ring on it.
"That's wonderful Iz, I'm so happy for you." I gave her one more hug before we made our way kitchen where I caught up with the rest of the family. After about an hour of talking, laughing and catching up the door opens and none other than Clary walks in to the kitchen and stops dead in her tracks.
"Jace…." She says and I couldn't help but hold in my breath.
"Clary."
"When did you get back?"
"A few days ago." She makes her way over to me and throws her arms around my neck, the same way Izzy did. I tensed at first but soon melted into her warm embrace.
"I'm glad you made it home safety." She whispers in my ear. She pulls away and looks at my family and they all nod, at what I'm not sure but someone was definitely strange. "Can we talk for a little Jace? I would really like to catch up." I nodded and she motioned me to follow her, and when I did I realized she led me into the living room right where her daughter was sleeping. "How have you been Jace?"
"I've been well. You?"
"I've been great. Things were a little tough when I was pregnant with Lucy," I gasped involuntarily at the name, I always loved that name, and Clary just smiled "but she's doing great."
"I guess a congratulations are in order. When was she born?"
"March 15th." I simply nodded not knowing what to say. There was an awkward silence before I spoke again.
"So, why was Izzy babysitting?"
"I had to go into work last minute, and she's been a little sick lately."
"Why didn't the father watch her?"
"He doesn't know about her." I was shocked, I didn't peg Clary as the type of person that would keep that from the father of her child.
"Why would you keep something like that from him?"
"We kinda got together when we were both drunk, and I didn't know how he felt about kids, or if he even wanted any especially with me. I didn't want to trap him, or force him into parenthood."
"I think he deserves to know Red." The use of my old nickname for her makes her cheeks flare red, and I couldn't help but smile at the sight of her rosy red cheeks.
"To be honest, I'm really scared of his reaction."
"Why?"
"Like I said, I don't know how he feels about kids. What if he hates me for getting pregnant? What if he doesn't want to be apart of her life? What if he resents her for being born? I can't put Lucy through that." I look at the sleeping girl and can't help but smile.
"I think any man would be lucky to have a child with you. You're amazing. And if that little girl grows up to be anything like you, I know she'll be amazing too. If the father wants nothing to do with her, the hell with him. She's very lucky to have you as her mother." I say and I can see the happiness in Clary's eyes. Just as she was about to speak Lucy started crying. Clary got up and picked her up out of the playpen and calmed her down. Clary had her facing her while she was calming her down. After a couple minutes she looked back at me.
"You really think that Jace?"
"I do Clary. He deserves to know about his daughter, and Lucy deserves to have a father." I say, but I can't help but feel a little saddened at the thought of Clary telling the father and him opening his arms up to them and them becoming a family. Just as I was thinking all of this Clary turned Lucy around and I gasped. Lucy looked right at me and her eyes were golden, just like mine. I was looking between Clary and Lucy for about 5 minutes before a coherent thought came to my mind.
"Clary…." I started but I couldn't seem to get past that.
"I know what you must be thinking. We were only together once, but we were both drunk and we didn't use protection. And you weren't allowed any contact when you were deployed and I had no way of telling you. After awhile I started contemplating if telling you was the right move. I didn't know if you wanted a child, let alone one with me. I didn't want you to feel responsible while you were half way around the world." She took a deep breath. "Honestly Jace, I don't expect much, but you were right, the father did deserve to know."
"Clary…" I said again because apparently nothing else was coming out of my mouth. I took one look at Lucy and my brain turned to mush. She was smiling and giggling at me, my little girl. "Can I hold her?" I ask and Clary beams at me and nods. When Lucy is in my arms she immediately cuddles in to my chest.
"Normally Lucy hates strangers, but she must know you're her dad. It took her awhile to get used to my cousin."
"It all makes sense now." I mutter, but she catches it.
"What makes sense?"
"I saw you the day I got back in Java Jones. I was walking around taking in the New York scenery and I ended up there and I saw you with some guy. I thought he was your boyfriend, and she was his." Clary let out a little giggle and shook her head.
"Nope, he's my cousin. He's the only one in my family who didn't cut me off after I got pregnant."
"Jocelyn kicked you out?"
"Yea. I told her I was pregnant, and she got so pissed, and I refused to tell her who the father was, I knew she didn't like you, so I knew if I told her it would just add more fuel to the fire." I nod and look back down at Lucy.
"She's beautiful." I say and she lets out a little sneeze and I couldn't help it but I just melted. I couldn't believe that I was looking at the life that Clary and I created.
"Yea, she is pretty cute." Clary says and I laugh.
"Well, she is my daughter, I expect nothing less."
"There is the cocky Jace Herondale I know." I smirk at her and after a few more minutes of admiring Lucy I look back at Clary.
"I want to be involved Clary. I don't want to be a weekend parent, I want to be around 24/7."
"Jace, that can't be arranged. Custody is going to get dicey, and she needs a stable home." Clary says and she looks so conflicted.
"I know, and that's what I want Clary. I want a home. I want a home with my daughter and the woman that I've been in love with since I was 14."
"You what?" She looked stunned.
"I'm in love with you Clarissa Fray, and I have been since the day we meet."
"Why didn't you tell me? Or do something about it?"
"I was scared. I knew we were young, but I knew I was in love with you. But I didn't want to mess up our friendship. So I just kept my feelings to myself. I didn't know how you felt, and I didn't know how you viewed me. I mean, was I just your best friend, or was I more of a brother to you. I was never sure, so I just decided that instead of facing rejection, I would just not do anything about it."
"Well, I can tell you right now I never once viewed you as a brother, other wise all my dreams about you would have been extremely disturbing." She laughed and I looked at her with confusion. "I've been in love with you for so long Jace."
"You what?" I said repeating the same thing she said to me.
"I know, hard to believe that art freak Clary Fray was in love with hot shot Jace Herondale, but I could dream right? And that's what I did. I never though I'd stand a chance, so I just kept it to my dreams. Cause at least there I stood a chance."
"You always stood a chance Clare."
"I didn't know that. You were the biggest flirt, and every girl was in love with you, and I was just your best friend. I'd rather have that title than not have you in my life at all."
"We're a bunch of fools you know that right? At least our drunk selves knew what we wanted a took advantage of the opportunity." Clary laughed and I joined in and although Lucy had no idea what was going on, she was giggling along with us. I look back down at Lucy and smile. "I can't believe we made her."
"I know, for the first month it was weird having her around."
"What's her full name?"
"Lucy Alexandra Herondale." At soon as she said Herondale I almost dropped Lucy.
"Why did you give her my last name?"
"Because you're her father Jace, and I wanted her to have a piece of you with her always."
"I'm so sorry I wasn't here Clary."
"Jace, you were deployed. It's not like you left for some crazy reason, you were serving out country." Her voice cracked a little and she took a moment to collect herself. "I'm so glad you made it home to meet her."
"I never want to leave her." I said and Clary had the biggest smile on her face and I could see the gears turning in her head.
"How long are you here for?"
"Hopefully a year, but at least 8 months."
"Perfect." Clary said from ear to ear.
"Why?"
"Let's get married." She said and my jaw hit the floor.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, making sure I heard her correctly.
"Let's get married." She repeats herself.
"I'm pretty sure that my job. You can't propose Clary, we're doing this all wrong!" I say with fake hurt in my voice, and she laughs.
"Jace, we already have a kid, we're already doing this wrong." I couldn't help but laugh at her comment.
"On a more serious note, I'd love to get married….but Izzy isn't going to be too pleased with a short notice wedding." I say and I can see her contemplating. After a minute she smiles.
"IZZY!" Clary yells and Lucy begins to cry so I readjust her and stand up and start to walk around to sooth her back to sleep. Izzy runs in to the room and takes a quick scan to see what's going on.
"What? What's wrong? Is Jace being a dick because of Luce?"
"Hey!" I whisper yelled. "Don't say those thing in front of my daughter." I never thought I'd have an over protective side but man nothing will ever happen to my little girl.
"Iz, I need to do something for me." Clary says as she makes her way over to me.
"Sure Clare, what's up?" Izzy asks and Clary just looks at me and smiles.
"You just can't get mad." She says and Izzy nods. "I need you to plan our wedding in one month." Izzy's jaw dropped the floor and her eyes popped out of her head.
"What?!" She yells.
"Jesus Iz, you are going to wake Lucy up." I say as Lucy is resting on my chest.
"You're getting married? Since when?" She asks trying to figure out everything that happened.
"Since Clary proposed 10 minutes ago." I say and Clary just laughs.
"What the hell happened?" Izzy asks.
"We've both realized that we've been completely idiotic. We've been in love with each other for so long, and I don't want to wait anymore. I don't want Jace to miss out on anymore of Lucy's life, and I don't want to have to live without him anymore. You know how miserable I was when he deployed." Clary said and I couldn't believe it.
"You were miserable?" I asked, my voice full of concern and sincerity.
"Oh you have no idea." Izzy said before I could speak. "It was so much worse when she was six months pregnant. She came over one day, saw a picture of you and cried for a good hour."
"What did you expect? I was pregnant with Jace's child and he was risking his life. He could have died and I wasn't coping well with that. Even though he didn't know about Lucy, I wanted him to be able to meet her one day. If he didn't come back, I would have been devastated."
"I know Clare, trust me. How many times did I visit you in the middle of the night because you woke up from one of your nightmares?" Izzy said and I couldn't believe that Clary went through all of that. After another minutes of silence Izzy spoke again. "So a wedding?"
"Yes. In one month." Clary says and Iz nods excitedly. Just in that moment Lucy starts to cry and Clary clearly knows the reason as she plucks Lucy out on my arms, plops down on the couch and wipes out her boob and starts feeding Lucy.
"Holy shi…" I start but I don't finish my sentence, and Clary just looks up at me and smiles.
"Sorry, I guess I just got used to everyone around here being okay with this." I smile at her and laugh.
"Oh, I'm okay with this, I just wasn't expecting it, that's all." I smirk and Clary starts laughing. I took a seat next to Clary and put my arm around her shoulder. Izzy was still talking wedding details but I don't think Clary was paying attention, and neither was I. I was basking in the presence of my soon to be wife and my beautiful daughter.
Time Jump- Lucy's First Birthday
Clary POV:
It was Lucy's first birthday and thankfully Jace's unit wasn't due for another mission for longer than he originally thought and I was over the moon happy. I didn't want my husband to leave and possibly not come home. I wanted him to stay forever, and raise Lucy with me and whoever else we bring into this world. We were having a family party today for Lucy, and Izzy planned the whole thing. Some people there I didn't know who they were but the were family and I was excited for everyone to meet Lucy and celebrate her life. The doorbell rang and Izzy wasn't anywhere so I walked to the front door with Lucy and opened it not expecting who was on the other side.
"Mom? Luke? What are you doing here?" I said as I adjusted Lucy on my hip.
"Isabelle invited us. Is this my granddaughter?"
"This is my daughter, Lucy." I said, not even trying to hide the annoyance in my voice.
"Lucy Fray, it's cute." Luke said and I let out a dry laugh.
"Lucy Herondale." I corrected and my mom started to say something but Jace came up behind me and Lucy got super excited.
"Dada!" She said and Jace and I looked at each other and could help but smile, she just said her first word.
"That's my girl!" Jace said as he picked her up and kissed her chubby cheek. When he was done, he looked at who was at the door.
"Mrs. Fray, Luke. It's nice to see you again." He said being his polite self.
"Jonathan." My mother spat at him with as much venom in her voice, just like in high school. She hated Jace because of his reputation. "So you're the one who got my daughter pregnant."
"Yes, and I promise you I would have been here for her if I knew. I deployed two weeks after we…had sex." He says and I felt awkward but he wanted her to know that he didn't intentionally leave me and my daughter behind.
"She didn't tell you?"
"I wasn't allowed any contact while I was deployed. When I came home I met her, and than Clary explained everything, and I honestly couldn't be happier." He said as he readjusted Lucy and his wedding band was in full view and Jocelyn didn't miss a beat and her eyes narrowed in on his hand.
"You're married?!" She practically yelled.
"Yes, we got married eight months ago." I say with a proud voice and I smile up at Jace and he smiles back.
"Wow." Jocelyn says. "I guess you weren't a deadbeat dad after all. I just assumed when Clary wouldn't tell me that he flaked on her."
"I didn't tell you mom because you hate Jace. You always have. Why would I tell you I'm pregnant with his kid when I knew it was just going to cause more problems." I say and I knew I was getting angry. Jocelyn nodded but didn't say anything back.
"Maryse and Robert are in the kitchen, I know they'd love to catch up with you guys." Jace says and Jocelyn and Luke nod as they make their way inside. When the disappear around the corner he turns back to me. "Clare-baby, just forget about them right now and enjoy today. It's Lucy's first birthday and we have another one on the way." My hand went straight to my stomach. I was only a month along and we were waiting until today to tell everyone. "We have so much to celebrate today, and I refuse to let your mother ruin it." He says and I smile at me.
"I love you Jace Herondale." I lean up and kiss him quickly on the lips.
"I love you too Clary Herondale." He kisses my temple and than looks over at Lucy. "And I love you Lucy Herondale." He kisses her chubby little cheek and she just giggles.
"Dada!" She screams causing both Jace and I to laugh. He grabs my hand and I make our way back into the living room where everyone was gathered. Lucy had just learned how to walk the other day, and now she loved it. Jace set her down on the ground and she ran over to Alec. He picked her up and she squeezed his cheeks causing everyone to laugh.
"Alright everyone." Jace say and everyone look at him. "I have something to say." He grabs my hand and I lean into his side. "First, I want to thank you all for coming to celebrate my daughters life. It means a lot that you all came today, but also we wanted to make an announcement. We're pregnant." Jace says and everyone starts congratulating us and hugging me. I was super happy that everyone was excited for us. It was completely different than the first time I told them I was pregnant, and I was glad that this went so well, I could feel the stress leave my body as I talked to everyone in the room. By the time everyone was gone Lucy was asleep in her playpen and the only people still there were Jocelyn and Luke. I think they wanted to talk since I was avoiding them like the plague all night. I walk into the kitchen and there they were. They both looked up at me, and I make my way over to the table.
"Clary." Jocelyn starts but she just hangs her head.
"What mom?" I say but you could hear the little amount of frustration that I still held towards her.
"I I'm so sorry." She said and it kind of took me aback. "I acted so irrationally when you told me you were pregnant, and I was so pissed at the world. You were only 18, and you were alone and you wouldn't tell me anything and I got so fed up with you keeping secrets."
"If you were so mad that I was alone, kicking me to the curb wasn't the best idea. Cause than I was really alone. At lease Maryse was there for me. I told her, and she gave me a hug and told me everything was going to be okay. That was your job mom, and you completely failed."
"I know I did Clary, but you were so closed off. You wouldn't let me in."
"Mom, you hate Jace, you have hated him since the day we met. Of course I wasn't going to tell you we had sex, I got pregnant, and I was going to have his child. I think you would have tried to hunt him down and kill him yourself."
"I didn't want you to get your heartbroken by him Clary."
"I didn't. We weren't together when I got pregnant. We were both drunk and we were stupid and forgot to use protection. It was one night, and we made a mistake but I was in love with him anyway, and even if he didn't take the news as well as he did, I was happy that he was the father of my child." I look at my mother and I could see she was shocked. "I love Jace mom. More than I love anyone else in the world, except Lucy. He makes me happy, and he protects me, he takes care or me, and he's good to me. Isn't that all a mother ever wants for their daughter?"
"Yes, it is. And I'm sorry I was too blind to see that." I reach over the table and grab her hand.
"I would love for Lucy to know her grandparent. I really would, but I'm gonna need some time to be able to forgive you."
"I really appreciate the second chance Clary." I gave her hand a light squeeze, and just than Jace walked into the kitchen with a sleeping Lucy.
"I think it's time for us to go Clare." Jace says and I nod.
"Goodbye mom. Luke." I say as I make my way over to Jace and Lucy. When we get in the car we make our way home and I couldn't help but be happy with my life. I had Jace and Lucy and now I was expecting a new child with the most amazing husband in the world. Despite everything that happened in the past, I knew that everything was going to be okay because I had my family, and we were happy. Things could only get better from here.
