The way home chapter 3
Isabelle Lightwood has always been a woman with a plan. And right now, her plan is clearly to march up to Jace and slap him in the face, because that's what she does.
"Ow!" he whines, rubbing at his cheek. "The hell was that for?"
"You, Jace Herondale, are an ass." She lowers her voice to a hiss. "Why did I have to hear from Alec that you were gonna propose to Clary? I'm her parabatai, I deserve to know."
Dammit, Alec. He gossips more than Magnus. "Okay, first of all, I was on my way to tell you right now, and second, you're not parabatai yet."
"Details." She flaps her hand. "So. Have you got a gift yet? Have you asked Luke's permission? How're you gonna do it?"
"Yes, yes, and not a clue."
"By the way, I told Simon."
"Wha- dammit, Iz-"
"What are you guys talking about?" Clary asks, walking up to them.
Terror shoots through him, but thankfully Izzy is much smoother. She turns to Clary and says something about their next mission. The Clave has finally allowed Clary to return to the field after her time away, and Jace can see the anticipation building in her bones. He's watched her train all day every day, practising with her kindjals until they move like extensions to her arms.
She grins. "When do we leave?"
The mission is normal, for once. Jace, Clary and Izzy head out to Bushwick to track down a Ravener demon that has already killed a Mundane. It feels like the good old days, except Alec isn't with them, and when they need to enlist the werewolves' help in tracking it down, it's Maia they talk to, not Luke.
They're running through an alleyway in the pouring rain, having finally found the demon. Clary stands with her stele ready, eyes lit up with the thrill of the hunt, and realises how much she's missed this. They corner the demon, Izzy with her whip and Jace with his seraph blade, while Clary draws a rune on her hand. Sunlight bursts from it, killing the demon instantly. She turns to the other two with a breathless smile on her face.
"Welcome back," Jace says.
When they return to the Institute, Izzy claims she and Clary need girl time. She gives Jace a pointed look as she walks away, dragging Clary along.
Okay, Jace thinks. How the hell am I gonna propose.
An hour later, that's still all he's come up with. He decides he needs help, and since Izzy is currently distracting Clary, he calls the next best person.
Simon.
Simon gets there twenty minutes later. Honestly, he should be living in the Institute by now, what with working there and dating the head, but he's dug in his heels whenever Jace, Clary or Izzy have recommended it. Personally, Jace thinks it's because Simon's carved out a nice little identity as a Downworlder, even with his status as both a Daylighter and a trainee at the Institute. Moving into the Institute would be another reason why he doesn't belong in his own community.
Simon comes into Jace's room with a goofy grin plastered on his face. "So I hear you're gonna propose to Clary," he says, raising an eyebrow in what Jace thinks is supposed to be a suggestive gesture.
"Yep. And I haven't got a damn clue how to do it."
"Okay. Well, you could go classic, take her to a restaurant, ring in the champagne glass."
"Simon," Jace says in an exasperated tone. "I think we learned our lesson the last time I asked you for restaurant recommendations."
"Fair point. Uh, there's this one spot in the park where she likes to sketch, you could do it there?"
"That sounds boring. Come on, Simon, this is the most important thing I'm gonna do in my life, it has to be special." Jace fidgets with a small dagger, flipping it between his fingers. Simon wonders how he manages to do it without cutting himself.
"Okay, what do you guys like to do together? You know, like what's your thing?"
"Fighting."
Simon has to check Jace's expression to see if he's joking. He's not.
"We're Shadowhunters, what did you expect? Sure, we go on dates, but the majority of our time together is spent on the-" He thinks of her sketch the other day. Pandemonium. "The hunt."
An idea begins to take shape.
Three days later, Clary is hanging out with Simon at Taki's when Izzy calls her and says she needs to come to the Institute. So she Portals herself there, landing in the middle of the ops centre with a whoosh. "Gear up," Izzy says. "We've got reports of a Drevak demon taking a victim somewhere in Brooklyn. Last seen around Ash and Melrose."
"Where's Jace?" Clary asks.
"Already out there."
Clary nods. In less than five minutes she's armed herself and Portaled to the intersection. There doesn't seem to be much debris left in the wake of the demon's attack, just some broken glass and a bit of ichor. But she finds, beside the remains of a broken bottle clearly used as a weapon, a scrap of cloth. It's enough to track with.
Because Clary can't Portal while tracking, it takes her a good twenty minutes to reach her destination. She realises she's at Pandemonium, which, without Magnus to run it, has become little more than a light-up sign and a few people milling about the entrance, though no one is milling around the entrance tonight. In fact, the whole place is completely empty. There is no demon, and no victim. Clary quickly realises who the cloth belongs to.
Jace stands near the entrance, a shy smile on his face. He walks up to meet her, taking her hands and walking her a few feet forward and two steps to the left.
"Jace, what's going on?" she asks.
He takes a deep breath. She can almost feel it in her own lungs. "You were standing right about here when I first met you," he says. "You were mad at me because I bumped into you and didn't apologise."
She chuckles. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to see you."
"You were the only person that saw me. You're still the only person that sees me." Tears fill his eyes. "Clary, I love you. I love your strength, your kindness, and the way that you would literally go to Hell and back for your family. Since the day we met, I have not been able to imagine my life without you, and I don't want to. So, Clarissa Adele Fairchild," he pulls out the necklace from his pocket, "will you marry me?"
Clary smiles. The tears that have threatened to spill since he started talking fall down her cheeks. "Yes," she says.
It's never been a word he's had any particular feeling towards.
But right now, those three little letters form the best thing he has ever heard.
Jace isn't sure who kisses who, but he knows that by the time it's over they are both breathless. With trembling hands, he clasps the necklace around Clary's neck. Jace leans down so he can rest his forehead against hers. She closes her eyes for a second, smiling blissfully. "I don't think I have ever been this happy," she murmurs.
"You and me both," he says.