"Oh my god," Clary breathed out with a smile as she looked around at the bustling markets. "It's exactly the same as when I was last here." Jocelyn, now Jocelyn Greymark, smiled and wrapped an arm around Clary's shoulders, pulling her in tight against her side and and pressing a kiss to her temple.
"I'm glad you're back," Jocelyn told her. "And I'm not—I'm not saying that as in you're back permanently," she gave Clary a small smile before pulling away to adjust the canvas bags on her arm. "You ready?"
"Yeah," Clary smiled back at her mum as they walked from the car park and toward the markets. Clary used to come here a lot when she was younger, almost every week, up until she left for New York. Werewolves weren't big fans of pesticides and food that had been overly processed—although Clary did have a weak spot for fried chicken and cream filled donuts—and so coming to the markets and getting fresh fruit and vegetables that were all natural, or as close to natural as possible, were the best way to go. Jocelyn had her main spots that she went to, and Clary trailed along behind her, happy to just watch everything around her.
It was her second day back at home, and she was steadily feeling better than she had in so long. She was trying not to think about it too much, but it was hard not to, when her body and her wolf had pretty much been rejecting her over the past year and a bit. Simon had called her last night, pissed off that she disappeared without explaining things to him, but also grudgingly happy for her that she had gone back home and was feeling better without needing Simon's magic. Clary still wasn't sure what was happening, how long she was going to be staying, so she was just taking everything one step at a time.
"Clary?" Jocelyn asked, tilting her head to the side and raising an eyebrow expectantly.
"What?" Clary blinked, focusing on her mum.
"Did you want one?" Jocelyn waved a finger at a stall that was selling organic juices and Clary nodded before looking over at another stall that was selling jewelry. She walked over and flashed a smile at the young girl who was sitting behind the set up desk and reached out to touch some of the bracelets. There were lots of multi-coloured ones, and she trailed her fingers over a few groupings, picking up a necklace with a bone carving, trailing her finger over the bone before her head snapped up.
Jace.
She could smell Jace.
"Are you alright?" The girl with pink in her hair behind the desk gave her a funny look, and Clary guessed that she did look a bit odd, gripping the necklace so tightly that the bone was now cutting into the palm of her head as she whipped her head around, trying to find out where the scent was coming from. There were so many smells surrounding them, coming up from the beach and from throughout the market, and she couldn't pinpoint the direction that it was coming from.
Until she could suddenly see him.
And a stunning girl with dark hair and bright red lipstick.
And they were walking straight toward Jocelyn.
Clary blinked and watched as they approached her mother, and she turned around and smiled widely at them, and then she reached out and hugged Jace. Jace was smiling as he gave her a squeeze and then pulled back, and then the dark haired girl leaned in to hug Jocelyn as well. She and Jocelyn started talking animatedly, while Jace's head turned, and then his eyes landed directly on her, and Clary felt a jolt run through her body.
"Are you going to buy that?" The girl behind the desk asked and Clary turned back to the girl, but there was this rushing sound in her ears and she knew that Jace was getting closer even though her back was now to him, and she was staring down at this stupid necklace that had now left indents in her palm.
"Uh," Clary swallowed hard.
"Do you like it?" Jace asked, suddenly behind her, right there, and Clary's body was simultaneous on complete edge, like it had been set on fire and there were a thousand little sparklers embedded underneath her skin, and incredibly relaxed and sated all at this same time.
The whole thing was fucking ridiculous.
"No," Clary stated and dropped the necklace back to the table. The pink haired girl arched an eyebrow at her, and Clary flashed her a quick, apologetic smile before picking up about ten bracelets that were tied together with a little string. They were all in blues and greens with little metal beads and it was the sort of thing that she would actually wear. "But I like these."
"Okay," Jace nodded, and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
"Oh, no—it's fine," Clary took her own wallet out of the front pocket of her jeans, but Jace was already opening his up and pulling out a twenty dollar note. The pink haired girl had big eyes as Jace handed the money to her with a friendly smile, which Clary could understand, because Jace was beautiful.
"D-did you want a bag?" The girl asked, looking back at Clary.
"It's okay," Clary told her with a small smile, slipping the bracelets onto her wrist. They didn't quite sit the way she would like, but that was because they still had a little string keeping them all together. She would sort it out later. Right now she just needed to get some space.
"Thank you," Jace gave the girl another smile and then looked at Clary expectantly. She gave him a small nod and they stepped away from the stall. They didn't head over to where Jocelyn and Jace's friend was standing, they started walking toward where the grass turned to sand, leading onto the beach. "You seem...Better," he noted as they walked through the last of the stalls and were able to have a unhindered view of the beach.
"I feel better," Clary dipped her head in another nod. "Which you undoubtedly already know." Jace nodded and he took in a deep breath and then looked back at Clary stopped. He watched as she leaned down to take off her sandals and roll up the hem of her jeans. "It's been forever since I've felt sand underneath my feet," Clary couldn't help but smile up at Jace, and Jace blinked at her, looking surprised, and Clary quickly dropped her face, because that might have been the first time she had given him a smile that felt completely genuine and came from deep in her stomach.
Clary straightened back up, her sandals in one hand and she wiggled her feet around a little bit, so that they sunk in the sand, and she took in a deep breath, drawing in the salty breeze from the ocean and the happiness from the people at the market and...And Jace. She started walking to the beach, but she made sure to half turn her body back for the first couple of steps, so that she was angled toward Jace and he didn't feel as though she was walking away from him. He walked slowly, about a step and a half behind her, letting her lead the way.
Clary walked all the way to the water front, into the shallow water, so that it trickled over her feet and lapped at her ankles. She closed her eyes, tipping her head backwards to look up at the clear blue sky, the sun just behind her and squinting through her eyelashes. Jace stayed where the white sand was still dry, just a few feet behind her and he tried to just breathe despite how happy his wolf was, practically throwing itself against Jace's rib cage, trying to escape and reach out for Clary.
After a few moments, she turned back around to look at Jace, letting her chin dip back down and met his eyes.
It wasn't just a short meet of the eyes either, it was drawn out and intense, and Jace couldn't help but let the red in his eyes show. Clary responded in kind, her eyes glowing a gorgeous gold that was striking with her red hair that was curling around her face and blowing gently in the breeze in front of her eyes.
Jace's stomach jumped into his throat and his eyes flashed brighter for a moment before he cleared his throat and dropped his eyes to where the water was licking at the sand, letting his eyes settle back to their normal colour. Clary's toes came into his line of sight as she took a few steps forward, trailing her toes in the sand, kicking up little tufts that quickly got washed away by the water. Jace let his eyes lift upward, over her legs and torso and then settling back on her face.
"We need to talk," Clary stated.
"We do," Jace nodded, surprised and very glad that she was the one who had prompted that discussion. She glanced around, eyes falling on a German Shepherd that was jogging through the water near them, and then over to where it's owner, a dad with his little girl, was standing. "Now probably isn't the time."
"Or...More the place just doesn't really work," Clary pointed out.
"Yeah, the time has come and gone a few times over," Jace pointed out, cracking a small smile that obviously wasn't meant to be cruel. Clary rolled her eyes playfully before planting both of feet solidly in the sand and looking up, taking in a deep breath through her teeth.
"Thank you," she told him. Jace's eyebrows pulled together.
"For bringing you back?" He asked.
"Nah, for what you did," Clary swallowed hard and lifted her hand to scratch the side of her neck, her eyes dropping, and Jace was surprised by the nervousness that was coming off Clary in waves. "What you did the first time we met. That night. In the woods." Clary's fingernails moved and scratch at the side of her nose, and Jace wanted to reach out to her, and pull her in close to them.
That's what he would do with any member of his pack.
And Clary was so much more than that.
But he just flexed his fingers at his side, curled them into fists and didn't move from where he was standing.
"I never said that—said thank you," Clary took another step so that she was directly in front of Jace. He had only ever been this close to her twice before, and one of those times had been just a few days before when he had dropped her off at Luke's house, so he struggled to. "I've never said that. It's not like we've ever talked about it, or anything...But I kinda figured out in therapy a few years ago that I couldn't blame you for...Anything. In fact, I should thank you."
Jace blinked at her.
"You have a therapist that you've talked to about this?" He asked.
"She's a vampire," Clary's lips pulled back in a sheepish smile, obviously glad for the slight change in topic. "I tried seeing a human one but it got way to hard to twist things to be...Understandable to them. Raph—" she blinked before changing quickly what she was saying. "A friend recommended her to me, and it's amazing. Years and years of wisdom in there."
"I guess so," Jace shrugged and he rolled his shoulders backwards, and he was happy for her, happy that she had someone who could help her.
"I kind of guess that we're going to need to talk about a lot and I figure that maybe I'll just...Get that out of the way," Clary said, and she finally let her hand drop to her side, stopping with scratching at her face, a nervous gesture. "Before we really get any further." Jace nodded and then winced a little.
"It's probably not something you ever thought you'd be thanking anyone for," Jace murmured, he licked his lower lip nervously as he thought back to the night that he had first met Clary, one that replayed itself every time he closed his eyes. Given he had met his mate that day, it was one of the best of his life. But for Clary, it had to be one of the worst, if not the worst, although Jace had heard stories from Luke and Jocelyn about when she was younger, and maybe of those were the worst. But he knew that it had to rank low on that list.
"It's more...The you saving my ass sort of thank you, not what followed," Clary dropped her eyes back to the water. "The stuff that came after...I don't want to talk about that with you. At least, not right now." Jace nodded quickly, because he could absolutely understand that.
Although they would have to talk about it.
And honestly, Jace had been waiting six years, and he was ready for answers.
But he also understood he couldn't force Clary.
He didn't want to force Clary.
"Maybe we should...Meet up. Some time. Soon," Jace said and Clary looked hesitant, but she nodded a couple of times. "Did you want me to come over to Luke's?" Clary's eyes widened and she shook her head sharply once.
"No, uh—maybe yours?" She suggested, but she looked like she regretted it as soon as she said it. Jace could imagine how overwhelming stepping into his pack home for the first time, especially given their bond wasn't that strong, and she wouldn't be able to use him to anchor her.
"There's a place I've been working on," Jace began. "It's not our pack house, it's somewhere that I'm...Doing myself," he wasn't about to tell her that while renovating the old barn house, he was thinking about somewhere that Clary might be comfortable one day. "It's still on the same property, but it's not quite—"
"The same as your place," Clary nodded quickly. "Okay."
"Yeah?" Jace tried not to let his face break out in a huge smile and scare her off, so he took in a deep breath and probably had a really awkward wobbly expression on his face. "Did you want to come tonight?" Clary blinked.
"Uh," her eyes widened and glowed a golden colour that she was clearly trying to suppress, and then her hand lifted and went to her neck again, reaching back and scratching, fingers pressing just underneath the curve of her jaw. Jace's eyes dropped to her hand, and he couldn't help but think that the spot that she had touched twice in the past couple of minutes was the same spot where he had touched her just a couple of days ago. "Can we make it tomorrow? Tomorrow morning?"
"You got plans already?" Jace asked, already knowing as the words came out that he sounded a little...Too curious.
"I've got a friend coming in tonight. He's just a friend," Clary quickly said. "Flying in tonight. He was pretty insistent that he come...Usually I can't get through a couple of nights away from him, so he really wants to check on me."
"Right," Jace jerked his head in a nod, because he knew that Clary had a completely separate life in New York that he had no idea about it, and that he was going to need to learn about it and the people in it.
"He's totally harmless," Clary continued, as though to reassure him. "And I know generally people speak directly to you when someone supernatural is coming into the district, but...Luke said that he was going to see you today and so I asked that he talk to you about it." Jace nodded, and couldn't help but be a little disappointed that Luke hadn't prompted Clary further to ask herself, but he knew that Luke was just doing what was best for Clary. "He's a warlock, but...He's just here to see me, not to cause any trouble."
Jace had heard Clary speak several times before now. A lot of times, actually, even if most of those times were just talking to other people and not directly to him. But none of those times had she sounded as nervous as she did right now.
He really didn't like it, but there wasn't much he could do about it now.
"I think your friend is trying to get your attention," Clary pointed over Jace's shoulder and he turned around to see Isabelle no longer with Jocelyn, but on the sand and waving pointedly at him. Jace nodded and he turned back around, to say something to Clary before they parted ways although he wasn't too sure what, but she was already walking past him, toes splashing out of the water, and walking up onto the beach. Jace watched her go, chewing down on his lower lip, and then caught Isabelle pulling faces at him, undoubtedly mocking him.
"Always a charmer," Jace muttered as he started walking toward his beta.
Alright! Another mass update! I'm just...In a super shitty place right now, completely mental, my life is actually in a really good space—isn't it great when that happens? But writing is generally therapeutic so...Here we go.
Movies I would recommend would be Where The Heart Is, which is an old time favourite for me, and How To Be Single, which I actually quite like, even though I don't like Dakota Johnson. It's like my love for Leslie Mann cancels that out though. Haha. I don't know...Both of these movies make me really sad and happy at the same time, so it's good.
Songs that I've recently fallen in love with are Perfectly Wrong by Shawn Mendes, Chateau by Angus & Julia Stone, You Make It Easy by Jason Aldean and Marry Me by Thomas Rhett. Recommend any songs that you guys have had on repeat recently :)
Hope you're all doing well, and please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter because I love your comments x