Hey, my beautiful, wonderful readers! It's early February, so as promised, here's an update! I hope you guys have had an amazing past few months, and I hope you're still interested in these stories! Just a quick heads up that I've uploaded some oneshots, and I do still have a couple to post, but I had so many requests to update my multi-chapters, so I thought I would update these before continuing with my editing, so there are some more to come!
Anyway, here we go...
Clary had a lot of things going through her mind as she went to her bedroom and opened her wardrobe. She had a couple of overnight bags hooked by their long straps next to her dresses, shirts and skirts and she unhooked one, dumping it on her bed and then looking around. She could hear the three werewolves in her lounge, in her space, and their scent filled her nose. She tried to push it all out of her mind—at least for now—and she began pulling things out of her drawers. She couldn't take much, but she could always get Simon to bring her some more things or, hopefully, she would be back soon, and she could get more herself.
She didn't bother with any of her nice, work clothes or pretty, lacy dresses from the wardrobe, just taking out her leather jacket with the soft, suede material on the inside and a thick, fuzzy jumper that she had brought when her and Simon were in Paris last Christmas. She only just managed to pull the zipper closed after shoving a few pairs of jeans and shorts, a couple of sets of underwear and bras and then as many shirts as possible, and then she picked up her bag, slinging the long strap over her shoulder. She had properly gotten dressed, in a dark pair of jeans and an actual bra and then an off the shoulder shirt.
She'd had to change her shirt twice, because the first one she had pulled out had been Simon's, saturated with their mingled scents since it had been in her drawers for the past few weeks, and while that was comforting to her, she knew that it wouldn't be for Jace.
So she took it off, and found another shirt.
Clary didn't look in the mirror, because she knew that the expression on her face would be one of fear and nervousness, and she really didn't need to psyche herself out anymore than she already was. She shoved her fingers through her hair in a harried attempt to tame it from it's sleep-tousled state and then jerked it back in a ponytail, not pausing before leaving the bedroom, because if she tried to take a minute to centre herself, she would probably break the window in her room and leap out of it.
Clary knew the man who was standing in the lounge, next to Jace. It was one of his cousins, Alexander Lightwood, who was also one of his best friends. The Lightwoods were a good, solid family in the werewolf world, although not quite as strong the Herondales. He was better known as Alec, although Clary wasn't sure she was allowed to call him that. His piercing blue eyes followed her as she came into the lounge, gripping the strap tightly in her hand. She didn't know the girl with the brunette, curly hair, but judging from the scars on her neck, she was a warrior. Clary respected that.
Jace walked over to her as she came into the room, his golden eyes flickering over her but his expression carefully blank. He reached out and Clary's eyes widened, worried that he was going to try and touch her. But he just hooked two fingers underneath the strap of her bag, taking it off her shoulder and resting it over his own. Clary's breathing hitched and she tried to keep steady eye contact as he stared at her.
He would look pretty if he smiled.
He was bloody gorgeous anyway, but if he smiled...
Clary blinked and dropped her eyes first, dipping downward, landing on her feet, which were bare. She curled her toes downward, pressing into the carpet below.
"It smells like something dead in here," the curly haired girl said with a sniff, looking around with a frown. Clary didn't bother answering that statement, because she knew what the girl was talking about.
Raphael Santiago.
A vampire.
"We should go," Alec stated stiffly. His fingers twitched at his side, looking at the bag over Jace's shoulder, as though he wanted to take the weight and carry it. But Jace's hand rested almost protectively over the bag that was at his side and he didn't make any comment. Although, Clary did see his eyes narrow a little and flick up to her, but then he looked away again, pursing his lips together. Jace looked at Clary, an eyebrow arched, question in his eyes.
"I've got everything," Clary said quietly and he nodded. The girl and Alec headed toward the door, opening it and walking out first. Clary slipped into a pair of shoes at the door and picked up her keys from where they were on a hook by the door, and her handbag from the hallway table. Jace waited for Clary to follow after them before walking close behind her. She could feel his presence at her back, and she wanted to shiver and to curl up against him, but at the same time, she wanted to force her body to stay completely unchanged by him and run as far as she could get. She compromised with herself by stiffly locking her apartment door and putting one foot in front of the other, keeping her face pointedly facing forward. They took the elevator down to the ground floor, not seeing anyone else as they walked through the front lobby and out the front door, and there was a sleek, black car parked at the curb.
Clary barely held back her snort.
Of course they had managed to get a park right outside the apartment building.
There were never parks on the New York street, and yet they were parked right outside.
Alec went to move to the drivers seat and there was a clicking from the curly haired girl and she shot him a glare. Alec rolled his eyes and tossed the keys at her and she got in the drivers seat while Alec got in the passenger side. Jace opened up the back door and Clary felt her stomach twist at the fact they were going to be sitting right next to each other, but she got inside, sliding over the to the other side and clasping her hands together on her lap. Jace took a moment, putting her bag into the boot of the car, and then he was getting in next to her and they pulled away from the curb.
She didn't know how long she was going to be, but she was going to need to tell Simon that she was leaving. He always showed up at her place the morning after one their sessions together, just to check on her, and if she wasn't there, then he would freak out.
However, if she text him and told him that she was going to be out of town for a bit, he would blow up her phone with texts or, worse, start calling her. So she opened up her messages and tapped on the name of the second one down.
Raph.
Clary paused for a moment, wondering what she was meant to say. But it wasn't as though she needed to explain herself to Raphael, and that was one of the good things about their—their friendship—was that he didn't ask all that many questions, respecting her privacy. So she just tapped out a short message.
Can you please tell Si that I'm going out of town for a bit? I'll talk to him more later.
Jace glanced over at her as her phone vibrated, only a minute after she had sent her message, and she purposefully tipped her phone just a little to the side, toward the window, so that there was no chance of him seeing the message. Not that she thought that he was trying to spy, she knew that wasn't what he was doing, but she felt a creeping feeling of guilt on her side.
Of course. You okay?
Clary was grateful for the short reply.
Yup. I'm fine. I'll call later, okay?
Okay, came his reply and Clary didn't answer that one, turning her phone face down on her lap and staring out the window.
The whole car was tense, although the girl driving was admittedly the calmest.
Or maybe Jace was, she was just projecting how tense she was onto him.
Jace certainly seemed calm, slouched a little in the seat, one hand stretched out along the windowsill and staring out the window, taking in the city around him. His other hand was resting on his knee, and he wasn't fidgeting or tapping his fingers, like Clary was tempted to do. She took in a deep breath, trying to squash that nervousness in her stomach and focus on the good.
The fact that the ache in her heart was gone.
The fact her wolf was no longer in distress.
The fact that she actually felt good for the first time in a long time.
They got to the airport and Jace got out first, and then Alec, although the girl was still in the drivers seat. Clary was taking in a few breaths, trying to centre herself, and the girl twisted to look back at her with a questioning look. But then her door was opening, Jace giving her an expectant look with her bag slung over her shoulder and she got out. Jace looked as though he wanted to reach out for her, like he had in the apartment, but he didn't, just giving her a quick nod before they started walking into the airport.
"Maia will meet us at security," Alec stated, and that must have been the name of the girl who was driving the car. Jace nodded again, letting Alec lead the way, keeping his strides shorter than normal to match Clary's. Clary shoved one hand into the back pocket of her jeans while the other gripped her phone, and she glanced up at the flashing boards announcing the flights as they walked through the terminal.
Clary was sort of...In a daze as Alec handed over their tickets and then they moved on to security. Not in a bad way, not in the way that she had been feeling for the past year, but because her wolf and her body were still catching up with the fact that he was there. It was a soothing feeling that, just him being close, and it was spreading through her limbs, relaxing her completely.
She wanted to sleep.
For a really, really long time now, she just hadn't been calm enough to have a deep, proper sleep. When she slept, her dreams were haunted and her body just twisted and turned. She hadn't felt rested in so long, and with him being there...Her body and mind trusted him and they were finally telling her that she could switch off and rest.
Jace kept glancing down at her as they made their way to security, Maia Roberts running to catch up with them, obviously having dropped off the car, and Clary knew that Jace could sense her drowsiness.
Part of her wanted him to reach out and steady her, put his hand on her back of her neck, or wrap his fingers around her wrist, but she was grateful that he didn't. That he respected the need for distance. That he knew the difference between what she wanted and what she needed. That he moved close enough to her that she could feel his soothing comfort, yet far enough away that she didn't feel overwhelmed.
After they went through security, they headed toward the loading bay. It turned out the flight that they were getting on was leaving damn soon, it seemed as though they had come and gotten her with just a few minutes to spare. Maia was happy, and her and Alec obviously had a good relationship, because even though he was trying to keep his face stoic, Maia teased him and jabbed him in the side with her finger, and Clary could smell the familiar, happy, comforting smells coming off both of them. They were pack and they were better when they were together.
Jace liked what he saw when he watched them as well, it was obvious that he was proud of his pack mates.
Clary liked that he was happy.
A lot of the time he wasn't, and she knew that she was a huge part of that.
They loaded onto the plane, which wasn't too full, which was good. They were seated near the back, two seats in one row and then two the row behind it, obviously the tickets brought at the last minute so unable to all be together. Maia and Alec moved to take the seats in the front, a little squabble breaking out over who got the window seat. Clary couldn't hold back her smile, and she bit down on her lower lip to try and suppress it. Jace just had a long-suffering expression on his face as he stored Clary's bag in the overhead and indicated that she take the window seat in their row. She gave him a small smile and shuffled in, making herself comfortable.
Jace moved in to sit next to her.
Clary took in a deep breath, her chest rising and falling, and she wondered if she should say something.
Anything.
But then the flight attendants were all big smiles even though Clary could blatantly smell the annoyance and tiredness flowing off as they walked down the aisles to check their seatbelts and begin to go through the safety instructions. So she stayed quiet, wiggling a little in her seat to make herself comfortable, pulling down the cover of the window beside her.
The engine began whirring and then the plane began moving.
Clary's eyes were drooping as Jace moved his arm, resting it against her on the arm rest between them. She felt that pressure of his arm against hers like a wave flowing over her body, a warm, calming wave. Their arms were touching from the elbow right down to her pinky finger, and the heaviness in her mind just became more and more.
She fell asleep quickly, the fastest and deepest she had slept in a long time.
Right! So, here's the super, super long A/N—sorry! I had a great Christmas and New Years time, not really doing much, just spending time at the beach and with my husband and with some of best friends. This year has started well, there's been a few bad days, but hey, happens to everyone. I hope your year has started just as good, and you spent it with family and friends if that's what you prefer, and that you spent it alone and quiet if that's what you prefer.
I wanted to say that I managed to get around to most of peoples oneshots, at least the ones that struck a chord with me because some of prompts just aren't the type that I can write, and I had fun with the ones I wrote! You can still send me prompts or requests through the year, and I try and get to them near the end of the year when I focus on oneshots. Can be in a huge variety of fandoms, just ask me :)
On with the recommendations!
TV Shows: Roswell: New Mexico. Well. I loooved the original series, even if I can see a lot of flaws in it when watching it now back to when I was a teenager. I'm enjoying the reboot so far, I really like the change up in Liz, and Michael's relationship with Alex. I love that Tyler Blackburn from Pretty Little Liars is in it, and Michael Trevino from Vampire Diaries, because he was one of my favourite characters from VD. Anyway. Fingers crossed it goes well. And I intensely ship Max/Liz already, and not because I know they're supposed to get together, but because I love their chemistry, which is more than the original series, at least for my side. Oh and The Runaways Season 2! I liked Gert a lot more in this one. Ooh, and Sex Education. That show is absolutely brilliant. Like, insanely brilliant. I'm so glad it's been renewed for another season. I also started watching The Following for the hundredth time because this show is amazing.
Music: 6 Figures by Kings, Run Away With Me by Carly Rae Jepsen, Old News by Mitch James, Wasted by Jesse McCartney and Bad! by XXXTENTACION. Ooh, and Saturday Nights by Khalid, Bury A Friend by Billie Eilish and Wild Enough by Elina.
Movies: Tomb Raider, which I watched for the second time the other week and I quite enjoyed it, a lot more than the first time I watched it. Alicia Vikander is a babe. Also How To Train Your Dragon 3. Holy shit. I knew this one was going to get me in the feels, but I didn't expect to cry twice. It was beautiful. Also the new Robin Hood. Maybe I'm biased because I love Taron Egerton, but I didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as what the reviews said. I know it wasn't great, but I still enjoyed it, and Marian was a badass.
Now, I've got some questions! Thought I'd change things up a little this year.
So; what is your favourite song right now? Mine would be a tie between Run Away With Me by Carley Rae Jepsen and Back To Life by Hailee Steinfield.
What is...Your favourite movie that you've seen recently? Mine would be Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse.
Aaaand what is your favourite fandom to read in? For me it would be a tie between the DC fandom and Harry Potter right now, although it changes frequently.
Talk to me, let me know what you thought and answer the questions if you feel inclined to!