Wow, here's a somber chapter for once, who would have thought... enjoy!

Peanut

The first thing Alec had noticed that morning was that Magnus had fallen asleep wearing a floor length sequin gown (not for the first time).

The second thing he noticed was that they were out of toilet paper in the master bathroom.

The third thing he noticed was that Clary was avoiding Jace.

Clary was in the kitchen, standing by the microwave, waiting for the bottle of baby formula to warm up. Jace had rounded the corner, yawning and scratching his head, and Clary bolted in the other direction, yelling for Alec to take over with feeding the baby.

Later on, when Clary was sitting in the living room beside Alec (who was covered in vomit from having just fed James), eating a bowl of cereal, she had dumped the wet cheerios and milk right into Alec's lap as soon as she saw Jace enter the room. She bolted past him, mumbling something about forgetting to turn off the oven.

Alec sat there then, covered in milk, cheerios and vomit, and wondered what the heck was going on.

He found Clary later, sitting on her couch in the basement, sniffling quietly.

"Is everything ok?" he asked, coming to sit down next to her.

She looked up, startled, like a scared animal before she realized it was just Alec.

"You've been acting weird all day. Especially around Jace. Is this about the one night stand thing?" Alec asked, reaching over to rub Clary's back gently.

She nodded. Ever since she had moved in two months ago, Alec had become more and more open with her. She felt very comfortable with him now, and knew she could trust him.

"About a year ago, my mom passed away. Car crash. After the funeral I was really upset, so I did something I wouldn't normally do and I went out to a bar and got a little drunk. And then I got a lot drunk."

"And then you met Jace," Alec finished, knowing where the story was going.

"Yes," Clary nodded. "But there's a side of the story that you don't know. I never mentioned it because I thought if I did, then Jace would hate me."

"Why would he hate you?"

Clary sighed, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. "I didn't realize until a little while after my encounter with Jace that the sex we had was unprotected."

Alec's eyes widened as he understood where this story was going.

Clary continued. "I found out I was pregnant a few months later. The pregnancy was awful. I spent nine months struggling to pay doctors bills I couldn't afford, working any job I could get to eat for two when I could already barely afford to eat for one. There was a few weeks when I was living on the street after I got evicted. Eventually I ended up living in a small shithole that barely had room for a bed and a toilet. I knew I should have called my brother. I knew he would have helped me, but I was just so ashamed about the situation I was in that I didn't even talk to him for my entire pregnancy. I told him I was helping to build a school in Africa." Clary shook her head, knowing she was getting off track from the story she was trying to tell. "I really wanted to keep the baby." Her vision became blurry, her eyes filling with tears. "But I could barely afford to keep myself alive. I knew that if I kept the child it would have been a death sentence for the both of us."

"So you gave the baby up for adoption," Alec guessed.

Clary nodded. "The couple was really nice," she explained. "I knew they were wealthy enough to take care of the child. They were nice enough to pay my hospital bills and even gave me enough money to get me back on my feet. But… I just can't help but wonder what it would have been like if Jace had stayed that morning. He has enough money to have been able to support the baby. He's so good with James… I know he would have been a good father. But now I just have to live with the knowledge that my daughter is out there somewhere living with another family and she'll probably never even know who I am." A sob escaped her, shoulders shaking as she tried her best to hold back the tears.

Alec rested his hand on Clary's shoulder. "You have to tell Jace."

Clary shook her head. She was crying now. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she sobbed and heaved and hiccupped. "He'll hate me."

Alec sighed. "He might be upset, but you know he would understand. It's not your fault. You need to tell him. Otherwise it might cripple the friendship you already have with him. I'll give you a few days to figure it out."

Alec walked into his bedroom that night to find Magnus hunched over a bristol board surrounded by various coloured strings, glitter and tape.

"What are you doing?"

Magnus looked up, his eyes red and bloodshot. There was glitter in his hair, which isn't too unusual, to be honest.

"I'm working," Magnus muttered before hunching back over the board and continuing to glue things into place.

"Uh-huh," Alec muttered, slowly approaching his husband. "There's something I need to tell you about Jace and Clary."

"Their one night stand a year ago got Clary pregnant and she had to give up the baby," Magnus filled in, not once looking up from the glitter.

"How did you…"

"I was eavesdropping on your conversation earlier. Ran here to glue things to a bristol board."

"Uh-huh." Alec knelt down beside him. "Whatcha gluin' there, buddy?"

Magnus shifted his hunched shoulders over so Alec could see the board. Placed around the board were various pictures, some were obviously taken with a camera, others seemed to be surveillance camera screenshots. At the very top of the board, in blinding glitter, were the words CLACE 5EVR. At the bottom, below all the pictures and post it notes covered in hastily written scribbled, it said Jace and Clary fucked once, they WILL fuck again.

"Magnus," Alec muttered, taking a closer look at how detailed the notes on the post its were. He noticed they seemed to be numbered steps. "How long have you been working on this?"

Magnus wiped his brow, leaving a trail of glitter behind. "Since Clary got here, what do you mean?"

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