Author's Note: I just wanna say guys, thank you so much for the positive reviews I've been getting because nothing boosts a writers enthusiasm to write more than the enthusiasm of their readers. You guys really do deserve an apology for how long it took me to get this out to you. Everything's just got really hectic and this has been lying undone for months. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll try to post more often!
Disclaimer: Characters and names belong to Cassandra Clare, not me.
Chapter 5
Clary POV
The cursed alarm rang loud and clear at 6:00 AM the next day. Grumbling the entire time, Clary began the torturous task of getting out of bed to shut off her alarm. Right before she could whale flop back onto her bed, she remembered that today was her first day as a nanny. That was enough to wake her up enough to get to the bathroom and splash some cold water on her face.
Instead of brushing her hair, Clary opted to put it up in a messy bun, sighing as the usual strands of hair slipped out of the tie and fell around her face. She opened her closet to survey her options for her first day on the job. Deciding to play it safe, she quickly changed into a plain t-shirt and jeans. She exited her room and quietly slipped upstairs into the kitchen to start breakfast. It seemed as if Jace had already left for work. After doing a quick scan of the fridge and enormous pantry for supplies, Clary set to work getting the ingredients together for a batch of chocolate pancakes.
Before she was through half of the batter, Emmy stumbled into the kitchen bleary-eyed. Confusion was written all over her face until her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw Clary standing behind the counter. She then proceeded to plop herself into one of the chairs by the dining table.
" Good morning. I have chocolate and I also have regular. What would you like?" Clary asked.
Instead of answering her, Emmy made her own statement. " It's been a long time since I've woken up to someone making breakfast. It's been a while for all of us. The last person who could successfully make pancakes was our mom." Clary knew these were dangerous waters, and she had to tread carefully if she wanted to stay employed. To her defense, she hadn't initiated this turn of conversation.
Choosing what she was going to say next carefully, Clary replied, " It's the same here. I've been living alone for a long time. Even when I had a roommate in college, she was a terrible cook. So I still have to get used to living with other human beings." she concluded with a little huff of laughter. Emmy didn't seem to find it funny at all. " Well, I heard you know how to cook pretty well. Did you learn from your mom?" Clary continued with forced ease.
" Yeah, she did. She was an amazing cook. By the way, I'll have two chocolate pancakes." said Emmy. Clary put together the plate before depositing it in front of Emmy with a bottle of syrup. Before the silence could become too awkward, at least for Clary, Ezra strolled into the room as happy as ever.
" Morning Ems! Clary!. What's for breakfast, I'm starving." He said as he made a beeline to the growing pile of pancakes. Clary blocked his path, but not before he snagged a pancake and started inhaling it.
" Good morning to you too Ezra. We eat breakfast at the table though, okay? You go sit down and I'll bring you a plate." Clary said with a smile on her face. She much preferred talking to Ezra over Emmy, that was for sure. Ezra himself nodded his head happily, his cheeks stuffed with pancake before plopping himself into a seat beside his sister and starting up a conversation with her no problem.
Soon enough the youngest children woke up and meandered into the dining room. When Clary was halfway through feeding Lu her breakfast, something, more accurately, someone startled her.
" These pancakes are delicious. They're made from scratch?" Clary practically jumped out of her chair and dropped the fork she was holding in her hand. It clattered to the ground with the piece of pancake detaching itself and smearing syrup on the tile. She quickly turned to see Jace standing casually against the counter eating a stack of pancakes as if he were one of the appliances that came with the kitchen. She quickly got up and looked around the kitchen wildly for the paper towels. Meanwhile, Jace had reached up and pulled a few pieces of paper towel from the dispenser and moving to clean up the mess. Clary nimbly took the paper towel from him before he could protest and swiped away the syrup and pancake.
With an amused smile on his face, Jace commented, "You know you didn't have to do that. It's my fault you dropped it." Clary shook her head and disposed of the towels before going back to Lu. Deciding not to say anything back to her boss on her first day, she picked up Lu and carried her to the washroom. Jace padded after her with a glass of orange juice in his hand.
" You never answered my question. How'd you make the pancakes?" He continued as he trailed behind her and stopped in front of the double vanity sink whilst Clary sat Lucky down beside the sink and began to clean the remains of her breakfast off of her face. Gulping down the rest of his juice, he set the empty glass down on the counter and used the other sink to rinse his hands clean.
" Well, since you're being so persistent about it, yes, they're from scratch. My mom taught me almost everything I know about cooking before she passed away," she said, sending a sideways glance his way. They both then proceeded to the living room before Jace stopped her at the stairs.
" Well, they really were the best pancakes I've ever tasted. Also, I'll be working from home today so if you need anything I'll be in my study." Jace said before continuing on to the kitchen. Clary put Lucky down in the play area outside of the bedrooms for her to play while she checked on the other kids. Ezra was in his room playing on his laptop with his headphones on. He occasionally yelled at the screen our burst out laughing in between the frantic click of the keyboard. Laurel was playing with some dolls on the carpet in her room, whispering incoherently to herself. The nanny smiled before venturing upstairs to the top floor. The eldest child got the privilege of having the only room on the highest floor. Clary hesitantly waited outside of the closed door before knocking softly.
" Emmy are you in there? It's me, Clary," she said through the door. Clary heard footsteps near the door before it opened slightly. Clary got a glimpse of lavender walls and some bottles of paint before the young lady herself blocked the view.
" Do you need something?" she said rather bluntly. Clary steeled herself and forced herself not to flinch at the harsh tone.
" Well, sorry to impose on your very busy schedule. I was wanted to know if you needed anything," she replied. Emmy arched an eyebrow at her but Clary knew that if she let that thirteen-year-old do it once, she would walk all over her as long as she had the job. So Clary kept her gaze sharp and focused on Emmy's eyes. In the end, Emmy just muttered something about not needing anything before shutting the door firmly in Clary's face.
Clary decided to get a head start on the chores. Jace had mentioned earlier that there were still leftovers from last night. She'd probably just throw something together with those. She decided to start with the basket of clean clothes that needed to be folded. As she was sorting out the clothes, Lucky played with toys by her legs, holding little figurines and cars in her chubby little hands. It wasn't that hard to tell who's clothing was whose. She only had to check the size to make sure she didn't mix up Lucky's and Laurel's clothing. Even after finishing the basket of clothes and handing them to the respective person, she still had a ton of time on her hands and not a lot to do. While she was tidying up the coffee table in the living room, Laurel walked up to her holding a box of crayons and a book.
" Can you please colour with me? I'm booored," she asked. Clary nodded and they both sat down at the dining table. Laurel opened up the colouring book and flipped past various pages coloured feverently with vibrant colours. Each page was themed with a different Disney princess, Clary noticed. Finally, the little girl stopped at a page that had Rapunzel holding a frying pan with Flynn Ryder standing behind her.
" We can colour this one. Here, you can colour Flynn and I'll colour Rapunzel," she said as she opened the box of crayons and pulled out the purple crayon. Clary nodded in agreement and set on using the colours Laurel picked out for her and carefully colouring inside the lines.
TIME SKIP
After a while, Clary had to leave Laurel to go and get lunch ready. When she checked the fridge to see what she had to work with, she realized it wasn't much. There were some pasta and meatballs from last night in containers. She did one more scan of the shelves before setting to work, dicing up onions and other vegetables while keeping the stove burning to make a red sauce. Soon the delicious aroma was enough to make everyone come out and try and swipe a little of the sauce. Ezra tried to distract Clary while Jace had a go at the sauce. Just in time, Clary swatted his hand away and waved her laddle at them in warning.
" If you guys don't let me finish this in peace then you might not get any at all! Understood?" she said with a menacing tone. That was enough to make both of the boys spin on the spot and hustle out of the kitchen. It was only a matter of time before she finished the sauce, added the meatballs to it and called out, " Okay lunch is ready!" At that everyone, even Emmy stampeded into the dining room and sat at the table eagerly. After plating everything, they all dug in. Silence filled the air because nobody lifted their head for the next five minutes. After that though, the conversation was light and soon everyone was content with a full stomach.
" I don't know how you do it Clarissa, but it seems that you make everything better," Jace said as he leaned back in his chair.
" Yeah, you should have seen our meals earlier! I mean no offense dear uncle," Ezra added quickly while shooting an alarmed glance at Jace. " But practically everything you made was prepped in the microwave!"
Clary smiled while Jace huffed and ruffled the young boy's hair. Jace then got up, but before he could even twitch a muscle, Clary had whisked all of the empty plates away and into the dishwasher. With a sigh, Jace shook his head before leaving, saying that he had a conference call coming up. Emmy had already slipped out and scurried off to her room, Laurel giggling behind her.
So Ezra and Clary spent the rest of the day caring for Lucky. He seemed a lot more welcoming compared to Emmeline, by far. He turned out to be very welcoming, and he and Clary got on really well.
Before Clary knew it she was tucking the kids for bed and shutting off her own lamp light after an hour of sketching. She could only hope that the rest of her time her would be as smooth as today.
