Chapter 4: Big Questions
Hey guys, thanks for all of your lovely comments, they really help with the writing process. Also daughterofpercabeth417, I'm glad I could make your day, and would love to hear any more suggestions if you have them! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
It's been a busy few weeks for Clary and Jace. Not only had Clary started regularly going to therapy, she'd been hard at work beginning to set up her own production company so it would be able to co-produce her first album. She'd also met with Charlotte and Henry, the co-heads of Institute Records to find out more about their label and what the future had to offer with them.
She'd eventually signed a deal with them, and became the third member of Royals for the Night to sign a solo record deal. Kit had been first, and then Simon. Alec seemed to be taking a longer break, and Simon didn't look like he was actually going to put out any music any time soon.
They'd also started planning their wedding more intensely, making final decisions. Clary had bought her wedding dress, and they'd chosen a date and location. They ended up picking this great hotel in France, which they could completely book out and how a great barn for the after party. It meant that their guests didn't have to find anywhere to stay, and could party for as long as they wanted.
Clary started her morning with a quick workout, followed by a meeting where she was finalising the name of her company, as the lawyers needed to start doing the paperwork to get it set up and copyrighted. But her day was far from over.
Clary and Jace were sitting across from Izzy and Alec at a cafe. They'd decided that they wanted to ask at the same time; it just made sense to them to do it this way.
"Umm, so we have something we need to ask you both," Clary says, gently grabbing Jace's hand under the table. "We probably should have done it a while ago, but time just really seemed to get away from us."
"I think we both know where this is going," Izzy says, reaching across the table to take Clary's other hand. "Clary's pregnant. And you need to figure out how to hide it at the wedding. Well, I can't say I'm surprise-"
"Iz," Alec interprets, "I don't think that's it."
"Yeah it's really not," Jace says, but quickly looks at Clary, who shakes her head at him. "Yeah, Clary's not pregnant. What we wanted to ask is… if, Alec, you'd be my best man."
"And Iz, if you'd be my maid of honour," Clary asks, smiling. Izzy lets out a shriek, and jumps out of her chair to hug Clary.
"Of course, of course, of course!"
"Really?" Alec asks, clearly shocked, "there's no one else?"
"I mean if you don't want to do it it's fine…" Jace says, a little caught off guard. He hadn't expected Alec to react as Izzy had, but he was hoping for a little more than this.
"No it's not that at all. I'd be honoured to do it… I just really wasn't expecting it," Alec says, looking genuinely moved. Clary didn't say so to Jace, but she was also a little surprised at his choice, but as the two stand up to hug each other, she can see that there's clearly more to the relationship than she ever knew.
"Well, we've got to go now, but thanks for everything, both of you," Clary says, standing and hugging both Alec and Izzy.
"Thank you both," Izzy replies. "Now shoo! We've got some parties to plan!" Any enthusiasm Alec had before drains out of him as he realises that he's about to plan a party with his sister.
"Now we've just got some phone calls to make, a few more people to meet with and it's all sorted," Clary says, smiling up at Jace as they walk out of the cafe and towards their car.
"Oh yeah, that's all!" Jace says sarcastically. He didn't understand how Clary go see everything as this small easy task, including planning their wedding.
"I'm going to call Luke in the car, so can you drive?" Clary asks. Jace nods back, so Clary tosses the keys over to him, and then gets her phone, dialling Luke's number.
"Hey kiddo," Luke says, answering the phone. "How's everything going?"
"Everything's good. How are you?" Clary asks, putting her feet up on the dashboard as Jace drives.
"Everything's running like clockwork. What can I do for you?"
"Well, I was hoping I could ask you a question," Clary says, playing with a piece of her hair and looking out the window, suddenly a little bit nervous.
"Go ahead," Luke says, and Clary can imagine the smile that is on his face.
"I'd wanted to do it in person, but with Jace shooting and me setting up production companies and signing with labels… I couldn't really find the time to go to New York," Clary says, stalling. Why couldn't she just ask. He wouldn't say no, surely.
"I'm sure you can ask over the phone just as well as in person," Luke says kindly. Obviously he would have loved to have seen Clary, but he understood that she was busy with everything at the moment.
"Well I kind of just assumed that you would, but then I realised that I should probably ask…" Clary says, quickly looking over at Jace who gives her an encouraging smile. "Would you give me away? At my wedding? You know, walk me down the aisle and everything?"
"It would be a true honour," Luke says, and he even sounds a little choked up. "But are you sure? Haven't you been getting close with your brother again?" As much as Luke wanted to be the one who walked Clary down the aisle and gave her away, he knew that there might be people who were more suited for the job.
"There is no one else I'd wanted doing it," Clary answers. "It would make the day infinitely better if I could share that moment with you."
"Then of course I'll do it kiddo. I'm honoured."
"I love you, Luke, " Clary responds.
"I love you too. And I'll see you soon," Luke answers, and then hangs up the phone.
Jace smiles across at Clary and rests his hand on her thigh.
"I take it he said yes?" Jace asks.
Clary nods back, but then realises he's probably not looking at her, so says, "yeah. He did."
"Would you mind calling Maxxie for me?" Jace asks, smiling across at Clary.
Clary calls the Lightwoods home phone, and put her phone on speaker so Jace can speak.
"Hi, Max Lightwood speaking," Max says as he answers the phone.
"Hey Maxxie, it's Jace and Clary ," Jace says, already smiling at the younger boys enthusiasm.
"Hi Jace! Hi Clary! Did you want to talk to mom?" Max asks.
"I wanted to talk to you, actually," Jace answers. "You know how Clary and I are getting married in a few weeks?"
"Yeah, mom keeps talking about how nice France is going to be. And Izzy wouldn't stop talking about it when she was here."
"Well I was thinking that you could be one of my groomsmen," Jace says, and then laughs as Max quickly responds with high levels of enthusiasm.
"Does that mean I get to stand up the front with you and Clary?" he asks.
"It sure does," Jace answers.
"I have to go tell mom!" Max says and then hangs up the phone.
"I think he's excited," Clary says, laughing while putting her phone back into her bag.
Before going home, they have one more stop where Jace asks Simon and Kit to be groomsmen, and Clary asks Magnus to be an honorary bridesmaid. She'd hung out with boys most of her life, so there wasn't really anyone to choose from outside of Izzy. And it really just made more sense for him to be in Clary's party than Jace's.
"So I was thinking," Clary says, sitting on the couch next to Jace, tucking her legs up "about my name."
"Oh yeah? Clarissa Adele…" Jace says in his French accent, "très beau... I think it's a beautiful name."
"That bit I'm happy with," Clary says, shyly smiling at Jace. She'd been trying to figure out how to bring this topic up for a while now, but she was quickly running out of time.
"So it's the Fray bit you're questioning," Jace says with a knowing smile. He didn't want to push the topic or make any assumptions about what she was going to do - it's up to her what her name is.
"I was born a Morgenstern," she tells him. "But then after my parents passed and I signed with the label, I decided to change it. I thought that Morgenstern was such an unusual last name that it would surely be linked back to my dad, which I didn't want." Jace softly runs his fingers through Clary's hair as she talks. She'd gotten a lot better at opening up to him, but he could tell that talking about her parents was still painful.
"So I was going to change it Fairchild; my mom's maiden name. But then I thought that maybe that was still too close to my parents; I mean it' still a pretty unusual last name and everyone told me how much I looked like my mom, so if people found pictures of her, or any information about the car crash, I thought it would all be linked back to me."
She looks out the big sliding doors towards the sea for a little bit, and Jace gives her a moment.
Soon she begins talking again, looking back at Jace, "so I chose Fray. The 'f' from Fairchild, and then I kind of just made up the rest. Subconsciously I think it had something to do with the band 'the Fray'. I was really into them back then." She laughs a little at the thought, and Jace smiles back, knowing that she's in a much better place than when he first met her.
"But I have no real attachment to the name. It was just something I used to cover up my past. It was a fresh start," she says, finally getting to the point she wanted to make.
"So what does that mean?" Jace asks. It was pretty common for household names to keep their last name when they got married, so Jace had never assumed she was going to take his name. He'd really just assumed that nothing was going to change for either of them. And after hearing her explanation,he thought there was a chance she wanted to go back to Morgenstern, to have that connection to her parents again, especially now that things were starting to get a bit better with her brother.
"Clarissa Adele Herondale. Clary Herondale…" she grimaces a little bit, "doesn't exactly roll off the tongue." Clary could see how excited he'd become at the prospect of her taking his last name, and now he was trying to keep smiling, but she could see the disappointment in his eyes.
"I guess that's just the sacrifice I'll have to make," Clary says, smiling at him. His eyes light up, and his smile stretches larger, showing off his chipped tooth that Clary had always secretly loved.
"Really, you want to be 'Mrs Clary Herondale'?" Jace asks, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.
"It's kind of sexy when you say it," Clary says, laughing a little. "But Magnus said that in public that I should really stay as Clary Fray - just because that's what everyone knows me as, and it would be really detrimental to change it. But legally, and where it matters to me, I'd love to be Clary Herondale. If you'll let me?"
"If I'll let you..." Jace says in disbelief, shaking his head. He leans forward and kisses his fiancee. Soon they were going to be Mr and Mrs Herondale, and that's all that seemed to matter to either of them.
I hope you all liked that. If you have any comments about the chapter, or any suggestions for the story please let me know, and I 'd be more than happy to work them in! Hope you all have a great week :)