No Showering on Tuesdays

Clary knocked on the tall oak door, maybe a little too aggressively, and tried her best not to feel awkward as she stood with all of her belongings stuffed into one small duffle bag.

The door swung open widely, the tall blond guy whom she had met before stood in the doorway. "Hey beautiful," he winked. "Where's the rest of your stuff?"

"What?"

"Your stuff," Jace repeated, taking the small bag from Clary. "You know you're moving in today right?"

Clary laughed nervously. "Yeah, I know. I, uh, I guess you could say I'm a bit of a minimalist. You know… lighter load, lighter spirit. Or whatever."

Jace nodded, obviously attempting to be nice about whatever hippie shit she just spewed. "So why don't you come inside?"

Clary stepped inside, trying not to gawk at the enormous house she had just stepped into. She tried her best to keep her mouth from falling open when she looked up to see the huge crystal chandelier hanging in the entryway. "So," she said nonchalantly. "About my pay…"

Jace nodded leading her out of the entrance hall and through the house. "Yes, we will be discussing all of that today. Just follow me to the kitchen."

Clary could have sworn the walk to the kitchen was almost 5 minutes. "How do you afford all of this?" she mumbled, not really expecting anyone to hear or respond.

"We're rich as fuck," Jace responded without hesitation, escorting her into the kitchen where Alec was sitting at the kitchen island, reading glasses perched on his nose as he read over some very important looking documents.

He looked at her over the rim of his spectacles. "Oh, you're here. Wonderful." He stacked all the pages he was going over and spun the neat stack to face her, handing her a pen. "Please sign."

Clary squinted at the pages. "What is this?"

Alec shrugged. "Just a simple contract stating the hours you'll work and your duties as a nanny. Looking after the baby, cleaning up after him, feeding him, bathing him, etcetera etcetera. Standard house ru—"

"No showering on Tuesdays?"

Alec's professionalness suddenly melted away. "Showers are significantly more slippery on Tuesdays," he said, a hint of rage in his eyes. "You can't shower. Or you will slip. And you will die."

Clary, feeling only slightly threatened, reached for the pen to sign the contract, not bothering to read any of the other clauses until later.

"Wonderful," Alec exclaimed, his cheerful disposition returning. He took back the signed pages, giving Clary her copy of the contract and slipping the other into a filing cabinet next to the fridge. "Let's give you the tour."

Alec led Clary out of the enormous kitchen, into the equally enormous hallway, up an enormous staircase. Jace shouldered past Alec, taking the lead. "That door we just passed down there goes to the basement. That will be your living space. Up here is the baby's room on the left, and if you follow me right here on the right," he said, ushering them deeper into the hallway to a door that led to a very nice, large room that looked more like a condo. "This is my room," he said with a flirtatious smile. "Feel free to visit any time."

"Wait," Clary said, confused. "Don't you mean your and Alec's room?"

Alec chuckled. "No, Jace and I aren't together."

"But… Wait, who's the other father?"

"It is I, Magnus Bane!" came a voice from inside Jace's room. A tall man in a classy white suit and bedazzled bow tie stepped out of the door, throwing a handful of glitter into the air. He stepped through the glitter, taking Clary's hand and bending down to kiss it.

Alec screamed, startled. "What were you doing in there?"

"Alexander, please, we planned this entrance."

Jace shook his head at Alec. "Yeah Alexander."

"Wait," Clary said, turning to Jace. "But, if you're not part of the couple, why do you live here?"

"It's a sad story really," Magnus said, leaning back against the wall. "His father died when he was young, and I suppose his mother couldn't handle the pressure of raising a nine year old child alone so she shipped him off to an orphanage until he was eventually adopted by Alec's family a couple years later. Once his mother died of a drug overdose, he inherited all of his parents riches. Ever since, he's had awful abandonment issues and the only way he would move out of Maryse's house is if he moved in with Alec. So here he is, a millionaire with the personality of an actual baby, living here and refusing to pay rent."

There was a loud sobbing noise, more like a scream really, echoing from down the hall.

"Jace, stop crying," Alec hissed.

"It's not me," he said, wiping a tear from his cheek.

"Yeah Alec. Jace is crying quietly this time. It's the baby."

"Oh yeah," Alec mumbled. "Forgot we had one of those."

Clary shuffled down the hallway towards the baby's room.

The others followed her quietly, hoping she would forget they were there as she stepped inside the huge nursery, scooping the baby up from his small crip.

Once she settled him into her arms, the baby quieted down immediately.

"See Alec," Magnus whispered. "I told you, babies need a strong maternal presence. They can sense the uterus."

"He's beautiful," Clary mumbled, a slight sadness in her voice that she was obviously trying to choke down. "What's his name?"

"James."

"That's a good name," she sniffed, cradling the quiet baby and pulling him closer.

"Are you ok?"

Clary placed the baby back into his cradle gently. She wiped her tears from her cheeks and turned back to the boys all huddled at the doorway. "I'm fine," she lied.

"Alright, enough with the baby," Magnus said, ushering her out of the nursery. "Clarissa, darling, you must be dying to see your room."

"How did you know my full name?"

"Unimportant. Follow me downstairs." Magnus scooped Clary into his arms and slid down the railing on his butt like Mary Poppins, which only made Clary shit herself a little (ok a lot.) Magnus set her down at the bottom of the stairs and led her towards the door they had passed on their way up. "Welcome to your new home," he said swinging the door open in one big sweeping motion.

Clary stepped inside the small room, her jaw dropping. "This is all mine?" she asked, tearing up a little. "It's perfect," she said, sitting on the ground and curling up into a ball. "I can sleep right here," she said, stretching out her legs. "I can stretch my legs out all the way. This is amazing!"

"Clary, this is a closet. You're making us all sad please get up. I opened the wrong door."

"How did you not notice all the coats hanging up?" Jace mumbled, helping her off the floor.

"I was ok with sharing."

Jace led her out of the closet and towards the other door across the archway.

"This is your room," Magnus corrected, opening the door with the same dramatic sweep.

"Wow," Clary said, her voice echoing down the curving staircase. "This whole staircase is mine?"

"Yes."

"Is this railing mine?"

"Yes."

"Is this wall mine?"

"Yes."

"Is this—"

Jace grabbed Clary around the waist, clapping his other hand over her mouth. He lifted her off the step and began walking down the stairs as though she weighed nothing. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Jace plopped Clary back down, removing his hand from her mouth only for her mouth to fall open right before she collapsed, her small body clunking against the hardwood floor.

"Dear god," Magnus mumbled, poking her with the toe of his shoe. "Did we kill her?"

Clary gasped, sitting up abruptly and pushing herself to her feet. "I'm okay," she said, wiping the drool from her mouth.

She stared out at the large apartment-like room. There was a full kitchen, a bedroom with an actual bed, and to Clary's amazement, a bathroom that you could fit your whole body in.

Clary gawked at all the amazing things that they kept hidden under their mansion. A flat screen TV, a jacuzzi tub, a chair where all four legs were the same length, a sink with real water coming out of it.

Clary opened a door set in the middle of one of the many hallways. The small broom closet seemed just the right size for Clary to curl up in. "Ooooooh," she said, finally understanding. "This is my room." She smiled, going to curl up on the floor again, but Jace pulled her back before she could.

"No, Clary, this whole place is yours."

"What do you mean?" she asked, obviously not understanding.

"Well," Alec said delicately. "You know how you were saying that the stairs are yours?"

Clary nodded.

"And the railing?"

She paused, thinking for a moment. Then she nodded her head.

"And the wall?"

Another nod.

"Well," Alec continued, trying his best not to talk too quickly. "All of this," he paused. "Is yours too."

Clary, finally realizing what they were saying, fainted.

Jace caught her in his arms before her head could strike the tile. "Maybe we should have started with baby steps."

Alec scoffed. "How were we supposed to know how poor she was?"

Magnus clapped his hands in front of Clary's face. She snapped awake, standing up as Jace let go of her. "Where am I?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"Clary, dear, we still haven't even showed you the best part. The closet."

Clary pointed to the small broom closet.

"No biscuit, I mean the closet for your clothes."

"I have clothes," she said, taking the small duffle from Jace and clutching it to her chest.

"No." He pulled the bag from Clary's hand and tossed it in the trash. "Now you have new clothes," he said, leading her to the end of the hall to a closed door.

Behind the door was a closet larger than the entire basement. Racks and racks and racks of clothes covering every wall. Dressers arranged all around the floor space tastefully.

"What…." Clary stepped into the room slowly. "What am I supposed to do with all of these clothes?"

"Wear them, obviously," Magnus laughed.

"On my body?"

"Yes, Clary, on your body."

Clary fainted again.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Remember to review

xoxo

-R&A