Chapter 12: You're in the Band!

Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter! I'm going to try to make most chapters around this length from now on, because we're down to one chapter a week. I can't promise they'll all be quite this long but I'll try! And also a massive thank you to everyone who has been leaving reviews on the story - they really make my day! On to the chapter...

Inspired by Jem, Clary goes to China next, hoping to experience some new culture and find the music that helped inspire Jem. Just her talk with him had helped her, and she'd been able to start writing some music that she was really happy with and she could see appearing on her album.

She knew she wouldn't have a lot of time to spend in China, because she was really starting to miss Jace and wanted to get home soon. So she set out with a plan to find out about as much of the music history and culture of China as she could in two days, and vowed to return again at another time.

She had been visiting different destinations and people all day, and had learnt a lot about different instruments and styles that she was excited to try and experiment with. She decided to call it a night and head back to her hotel room, but on her walk back, she heard a familiar violin tune.

She looked around, trying to find the source, and was amazed to see Jem standing a little way down the street.

"Jem?" she called out as she got closer to him.

He turned towards her and stopped playing once he saw who it was.

"Clary?" He asks, slowly lowering his violin.

"I'm sorry, please don't think I'm stalking you," Clary quickly says, realising what this might look like. "After our talk all I wanted to do was come to China - I had no idea that you were going to be here."

"Yeah, Tessa and I decided to come back once more before the baby is born, because we're not sure when we'll be able to come over again after…" Jem says.

"Makes sense," Clary says, wondering how best to approach the situation. She desperately wanted to ask him to dinner to be able to talk to him more, but she knew that he had his wife waiting at home, and it might appear a little like she was coming onto him.

"Look, I've got to apologise," Jem says, looking a little sheepish.

"What for?" Clary asks, genuinely confused. If anything, she should be apologising.

"Well, I went home and told Tess that I'd met you. I only told her that your name was Clary and that you were married to Jace Herondale and she quite quickly brought it to my attention that you are a very famous musician in your own right…"

"Oh, I don't mind that at all. It was nice to have a normal conversation - if anything it made me like you more. I should also apologise though - it appears that a number of pictures were released of us having tea," Clary says, wringing her hands together. He seemed like the type of guy that liked to live a quiet life.

"Oh, that's okay - I haven't seen anything. And I'm sure Tessa would find it all rather exciting," he says, showing her a kind smile.

"Well thank you. You've been very nice," Clary tells him.

"Everyone deserves a little bit of kindness - I'm only doing my part," he tells her. "Do you have any plans tonight?"

"I was just going to head back to my hotel - probably get some room service or something," Clary says.

"Would you want to come have dinner with us? I'm sure Tessa would love to meet you, and I had a great time getting to know you the other day," Jem offers.

"I wouldn't want to intrude…" Clary says, knowing she's probably already intruded on his life.

"Nonsense, we'd love to have you over," Jem says.

"Okay then, that would be great. Thank you," Clary says, and then follows Jem as he leads her back to a small apartment.

"Tess," Jem calls out as he walks through the door. "I've brought someone home with me."

"Not another stray cat!" A woman, presumably Tessa replies. "There's no way for us to get it back to London."

She appears from around a corner and stops when she sees Clary, resting her hand on her stomach.

"Hi," Clary says, extending her hand. "I'm Clary."

As if someone hits play, Tessa quickly moves forward to meet the younger girl. "Hello Clary, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Tessa."

"Jem's told me a lot about you," Clary answers, quickly flashing a smile at the man looking on at the interaction.

"I've told Clary it'd be okay if she stayed for dinner," Jem tells his wife.

"Oh yeah, of course. It'll be ready shortly," she says, and then returns to where she came from. "Would you like a drink Clary?" she calls out.

"Some water would be great," she replies, and follows Jem around into what turns out to be a small kitchen.

Jem goes to a cupboard and pulls out a few glasses, filling each with water and then passes one over to Clary.

A promised, dinner is soon served, and the three are all seated around the table enjoying the fried rice Tessa made.

"This is delicious, thank you," Clary tells Tessa.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it," Tessa replies.

They continue having a pleasant, but general conversation for the remainder of dinner. After that Jem clears all the plates and says he'll make everyone a cup of tea. Clary offers multiple times to help them clean up, but they're adamant that she's the guest, so she shouldn't have to clean.

While Jem is in the kitchen making them all tea, Tessa leans forward. "So what got you so interested in my Jem?" she asks. She sounds genuinely curious, and not accusatory like some other women would be.

"Just his music. At first just because it was so beautiful. But then he started playing things I didn't recognise so I stuck around to try and figure what song he was playing before he finished. And then when I went to leave, he didn't have a case to put any money in, and it hit me that he was just playing music because he loved it, and likely that he wanted to share it with other people. And I thought I couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk to someone who loved music that much," Clary explains.

Tessa has a knowing smile, almost as if something similar had happened to her. "So it was just his love of music? Even now?"

Clary looks guiltily up at Tessa. "Well it definitely started that way, but as I got to know him… Look, I really don't want to sound cocky or anything, but Jem told me that you know who I am. And I think you might have some idea that I was in a band, and now I'm not. And I'm looking for people to be in my new band. I'm about to go solo you see, and I really like consistency. I haven't haven't brought it up with him or anything, but I'd love for him to be part of that band."

Tessa smiles back at Clary. "I don't know - you'd have to ask him."

"Ask me what?" Jem says as he comes back to the table, holding a tray that has three cups of tea and a plate of biscuits on it.

"Tell him," Tessa says.

"I thought about it in London, and I was going to leave it because you've clearly got a life there that you love. But then I saw you today and I can't help but feel it's fate. I'm looking for people to make my new band, and I'd love for you to be in it. I know it's a lot to ask - you'd have to move to L.A., at least for a little bit while we write and record. And then there would be touring and you'd have your family."

"That's very nice of you to offer, but I'm sure you don't want some old guy like me in your band," Jem says, blushing a little.

"Trust me, you are exactly the type of person I'm looking for. Will you consider it?" Clary practically pleads. She knows it's a lot to put on them both, but it was worth trying.

"Well, what do you think Tess?" Jem asks, looking over to his wife.

"I think you should do whatever makes you happy. I'd be more than happy to go with you - you know I miss the states. And I can write books from anywhere. But it's up to you," she says, gently resting her hand on his arm.

"And I can do whatever you need to make it easy for you both," Clary tells them. "I can get you a place close to the studio so Jem can walk each day and get back quickly if you need anything. And we can arrange a schedule around your due date."

"It sounds like an amazing opportunity…" Jem says almost longingly. He looks over to Tessa who gives him an encouraging smile.

"Okay," Jem says. "Thank you. Yes."

"Thank you. Thank you both. You can have a while to get everything organised. And I'll get you in touch with my manager, Magnus. He'll help you organise everything. Thank you," Clary says, unable to contain her excitement.

She stays at their apartment for a little while longer, just talking details and her plans for the future.

She hadn't been back at her hotel for five minutes before she gets a call from Jace. Seeing as they'd promised to only call each other if something had gone wrong, she answers quickly.

"Jace? Is everything okay?" Clary asks quickly.

"Yeah Clary, everything is fine," Jace answers, sounding very pissed off.

Neither of them speaks for a little while, so Clary eventually has to fill the silence. "I don't want to be rude or anything, but is there a reason you called? Because I thought we agreed not to call unless…" she says, trailing off realising how bad what she's saying sounds. She did leave him with almost no explanation; he should be able to call her if he wants to.

"I just wanted to see how everything was going. Seen any good things? Met any interesting people?" he asks, straining his voice.

"Yeah I'm having a good time. I can tell you all about it when I get home - which I think will be soon, by the way." Clary says, trying to not annoy Jace anymore, even if the reason for his annoyance was still unknown to Clary. "Are you sure everything's okay, Jace?"

"Oh I don't know," Jace says. "It's just, you said you wanted to go meet new people, but apparently what you really meant is that you didn't want to see me. Did you really think the pictures wouldn't get back to me?"

"What pictures?" Clary asks, completely confused. She hadn't done anything wrong. Or at least she thought she hadn't.

"Well first it was Kit," Jace says shortly. "But I thought I'd let that one slide. And then it was Will. And that one rubbed me a little differently - I know there's history between you two. But again, I knew I could trust you so I didn't say anything. And then there was this random third guy, who you pretty much went on a date with in London. And now it looks like you've followed him to China. So I think you can understand where I'm coming from," Jace says, sounding progressively more and more pissed off as he spoke.

"Are you serious right now?" Clary asks, becoming annoyed herself. "Do you seriously not trust me?"

"I don't know Clary. All I know is that you practically ran away from me, and now you're seeing all these other guys."

"I can't believe you're being this jealous right now. I didn't run away from you Jace - you agreed to let me go, and I didn't leave until you had," Clary says, trying to make him see clearly again.

"Yeah, well how would you feel if you suddenly started seeing all these pictures of me and Camille?" Jace asks, referencing the model he was dating around the same time Clary was dating Will.

"I wouldn't care!" Clary almost screams, "because I trust you and I know you wouldn't do anything."

"Whatever, Clary. I just thought I should remind you that you have a husband at home, waiting for you." Jace says, sounding truly petty.

"Not that I should have to explain myself to you or anyone else…" Clary says, knowing this might be the only way to get through to him, "but Kit showed up, out of the blue, because all the guys are concerned for me. And I told him there was nothing to worry about, and he left that night. I accidentally ran into Will in a pub. We only talked for a few hours about music, art, fashion and the pressure that comes with the industry we're in. He did not once try to 'make a move' on me, or whatever you are so worried about. The 'random guy' is named Jem Carstairs. When we met in London, I wanted to talk to him about his music, but he ended up talking more about his pregnant wife and asking me questions about my husband. I didn't know he was going to be in Shanghai, but when I saw him playing on the street again, I took it as a sign and asked him to join my band. Is that enough explanation for you?" Clary asks, sounding defeated. She never thought Jace would question her fidelity to him.

"Clary…" Jace says, starting to see that he might be in the wrong.

"And I was really excited to tell you all about it," Clary tells him.

"Look, I'm sorry. But you've got to understand that this is hard for me. People keep asking me if we're separating. They ask me what you're doing and I can only give them some vague answer about your music."

"I know. And I'm sorry too. But I promise you, it's worth it. I love you so much. And being away from you… it's only helped me realise how much," Clary says gently.

"I know. I love you too Clary. And I miss you. So much," Jace almost whispers into the phone.

"I promise I'll be home soon," she tells him.

As soon as Jace hangs up the phone, Clary starts making plans to make her way back to the U.S.

However, instead of flying straight back to L.A., she to goes to New York first. She goes to her family home in Brooklyn, which almost nobody knew she still owned. She doesn't spend long there though - pretty much just drops off her bags before heading out again in pursuit of one person.

It's just a short walk from her house to Simon's mom's house, so Clary gets there before the sun sets. Elaine opens the door, and is clearly shocked to see Clary there, but she quickly invites her inside for a cup of coffee.

They chat for a little while, and she tells Clary that Simon is coming over for dinner that night, and that she's more than welcome to stay. Clary takes her up on the offer - the main reason she'd come to New York was to talk to Simon.

Simon looks shocked as he comes into the dinning room to see Clary sitting with his mother, but quickly hugs her.

"Is everything okay?" he whispers into her ear while they're hugging.

"Not now. Later," she whispers back, and smiles at them as they pull apart. While she did miss him, there was a specific reason for her visit - but it wasn't a conversation she wanted to have in front of his mom.

He nods at her, and helps his mom bring the food in from the kitchen, not mentioning it again.

They all have pleasant conversation over dinner, talking about what they've all been doing for the past couple of months.

After Clary and Simon help Elaine clean up, Simon offers to walk Clary home. Once they've walked a little way from the house, Simon soft bumps his shoulder into her.

"So, did you fly all the way here because you missed me?" he asks.

"I do miss you," Clary admits, "but that wasn't the whole purpose of me coming here."

"So spill the beans," Simon says.

"I know that you know I've been travelling for the past few months," Clary says, looking up at him. Simon just nods back, not knowing where this is going. "And I'm glad that you still think about me and everything, but it was not cool for you to send Kit after me."

"About that," Simon says. "Look, I know it probably wasn't the best thing to do, but we were worried, Clary. We just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"And that conversation could have taken place over the phone," Clary tells him.

"So could this one," he retorts. "So why are you really here?"

"That was the only reason," Clary says, looking straight ahead.

"No it wasn't," Simon says, running forward a little bit and walking backwards, so he can look her in the face. "You're afraid to go home, aren't you?"

"Why would I be afraid?" Clary asks, but she doesn't even believe herself. She rolls her eyes at his raised eyebrows, but gives in. "He's pretty mad at me. And I get it - I didn't handle the whole situation very well."

"So? Jace has been mad at you before. Staying away isn't going to help the situation," Simon replies.

"I know that," Clary says, and she can hear the childish tone in her own voice, and Simon realises what is really going on.

"Clary, he's not going to leave. Sure, he might be a little angry, but that doesn't mean he's going anywhere. Look, I promised him I would never tell you this… but you're my best friend, not him."

They stop walking as Clary looks up at Simon. "He may be a little bit angry, but he was way more worried about you, and in love with you, and missing you. You've got nothing to be worried about."

"How do you know?" Clary asks.

"Because he called me once a week to see if you'd called me. Just wanting an update and to make sure you were okay. That's the real reason we sent Kit - to make sure you were okay. We thought if Jace was that worried, then maybe he had a reason to be."

"I'm such a bitch!" Clary says, and keeps walking.

Simon laughs, and jogs a little bit to catch up to her. "You're not a bitch, but I do think you should stop procrastinating going back to Jace and just face him. Rip off the band aid."

Clary stops walking when they reach her house.

"Do you want to come in?" Clary asks.

"No, I've got to get back home to Izzy - and you should get home to Jace!"

"Yeah, whatever," Clary says, knowing he's right. "Thank you Simon," she calls out to him as he walks away. He spins around and blows her a kiss, and Clary rolls her eyes before going inside.

Clary books a flight back to L.A. for tomorrow afternoon to give herself a little more time to get ready to go home. If, as Simon has said, Jace wasn't as angry as Clary thought, then she knew she didn't have a lot to be worried about, but there was every chance that he was wrong. Or he was completely making it up to make her go home.

Nevertheless, she goes to Luke's the next morning, wanting to see him before she goes home. When she gets into the bookshop, there's a girl around the same age as Clary standing behind the counter.

"Maia?" Clary asks. She'd talked to the girl a number of times while trying to organise Luke's Christmas present one year, but she'd never actually met her in person.

"Oh my god, Clary Fray?" Maia asks, clearly shocked to see her in the bookshop.

"It's good to finally meet you in person," Clary says, walking up to the counter.

"Umm, yeah. You too," Maia replies, clearly still a little bit shocked.

"And thank you for all your help, by the way. With getting the book and everything," Clary says.

"Oh yeah of course. Luke loves it," Maia says, motioning towards the book in a glass case.

"I'm glad," Clary says, smiling at the other girl.

"Luke's just out the back - let me go get him for you," Maia says, hurrying into the back storage area.

"Thank you," Clary calls out, slightly amused.

Clary wanders over to the glass case to look at the book for a moment, but is quickly distracted by Luke coming into the store, making a beeline for her.

"Clary!" Luke calls out, clearly excited by her presence.

"Hey Luke," Clary says, hurrying towards him. He quickly scopes her up into a big bear hug.

When he finally lets her go, he asks, "what are you doing here kiddo?"

"I wanted to see my favourite Godfather of course," Clary answers.

"Well I'm honoured," Luke replies. "Hey Maia, are you all good to run the shop for a little bit?" Maia nods in reply, so he leads Clary up to his apartment and begins making them some coffee.

"If I knew you were coming I would've gotten some better food," Luke says, bringing two cups of coffee over with a pack of Oreo's.

"You know I love Oreo's," Clary says, quickly taking a cookie out of the packet.

"When are you going back to L.A?" Luke asks.

"I've got a three o'clock flight," she tells him.

"So just a stop over then - apparently New York isn't good enough for jet setter Clary Fray anymore," Luke says, and pretends to flick hair over his shoulder.

"Oh shut up," Clary says, laughing as she softly punches him on the arm. "I've got to get back to Jace… and life, really."

"I get it," Luke says. "But I do appreciate you making time for an old man like me…"

Clary rolls his eyes, but smiles at him anyway. "Anyway, what's been going on with you?"

"Not a lot - just 'life' and you so eloquently put it," Luke answers.

They keep talking and joking around for the next hour, and it reminds Clary so strongly of when they lived together in L.A. He gave everything up to be with her while the band was starting out, and she didn't realise it at the time, but he also put in a lot of effort to keep her life as normal as possible. He taught her how to drive, made sure she didn't feed into any of the negative or positive comments about herself, and tried to keep her schedule as normal and achievable as possible. He also made her finish all of her school work, which she didn't love at the time, but was now very appreciative of. It kind of felt like everything turned to shit once he moved back to New York, but she would never tell him that - he didn't want to leave as it was.

She'd told him a million times, and tried to show him how appreciative she was of everything he'd done, but she knew that he would never know quite how much it meant to her.

When she leaves, she makes a mental note to make a bigger effort to see Luke more often.

As she walks back to her house, Clary passes a guitar shop that she always used to go into and admire the nice guitars. Before the band got signed, she had to buy all of her instruments second hand at garage sales or flea markets.

Wanting to tick off another thing on her childhood bucket list, she goes into the shop and heads straight for the acoustic guitars. Before she has a chance to test out any of the guitars herself, she's distracted by a blonde girl, probably a few years younger than Clary, strumming a guitar.

Clary recognises the song as 'Helplessly Hoping,' and this is confirmed to her when the girl starts to softly sing. When she had to learn a bunch of covers with the band for their last tour, she had a particular difficulty learning this song. It wasn't that it was overly complicated, it just took a high level of precision and gentleness that was hard to achieve. Clary doesn't move, and continues to listen to the girl play. When she finished the song, she looks up and looks shocked to see Clary standing there.

"Oh my god. Sorry, I didn't know anyone was here," the girl says, quickly taking off the guitar strap and standing up.

"You're really good," Clary tells her.

"I was just messing around. I usually play electric, but I just wanted to try something new," the girl says.

"Well, whatever you're doing you should keep on doing it," Clary tells her.

"Yeah, maybe," the girl says, placing the guitar back on its holder on the wall.

"You're not going to get it?" Clary asks. "Do you already have an acoustic at home?"

"Oh no, but you know… I invested in my electric and the amps and everything. I just walked past the shop and thought I'd give it a go," she says, looking a little embarrassed.

"Could I get it for you, please? That guitar deserves to be owned by someone who's going to play it like that," Clary says.

"Oh, I couldn't," the girl says.

"Please - I want to. You're never going to get better if you don't have the instruments to do it. And I can really see you going far." Clary says, taking the guitar off the wall and handing it to the girl.

"I…" the girl says.

"And you'll need a case too," Clary says, smiling at the girl and heading to the front of the shop to find someone to help them.

"I'm Emma by the way," the girl says, coming up the front of the shop, still looking a little shocked.

"Clary," Clary responds, holding out her hand to shake.

Emma's eyes light up with some sort of recognition at hearing Clary's name, but she tries to play it cool.

Right after Clary buys the guitar and case for Emma, a boy comes bounding into the shop.

"Hey Em, there is the best looking bakery down the street!" the boy says, hurrying up to Emma.

"This is Julian - Jules," Emma tells Clary. Julian looks at Clary, and it's clear he hadn't noticed anyone else was in the shop until how.

"Hey," Julian says, waving at Clary quickly. He does a double take when he realises who she is.

"Is this your boyfriend?" Clary asks Emma, thinking they make a cute couple.

There's an awkward moment of stuttering from both as they quickly try to explain that they're 'just friends'.

Clary nods at the pair, trying to hide her smile, remembering a time when Jace and her were 'just friends'.

"I think I know the bakery you're talking about," Clary tells Jules. "Wanna go get something to eat?"

They both nod at her, and in the short walk to the bakery, Emma explains to Julian that Clary heard her playing and bought her the guitar.

While eating and having some coffee, Clary learns that the pair have been friends for as long as they've been alive, and that they're just on holidays for a little while - they actually live in L.A.

She also learns that Julian plays the drums and that they can both play the piano, and that they've both written a bit of music.

Knowing that Emma's already good enough, and that she probably wouldn't let Julian fall very far behind her, she offers them both a place in her band. She's decided she wanted to find more people like Jem - people who loved music, and weren't actively seeking stardom. She got along with them both really well and they were both talented (as proven when Julian begins playing Emma's new guitar to 'test it out'), so it seemed like a good fit. It also helped that they already lived in L.A. and were young and didn't have too many commitments.

They both accept straight away knowing what a great opportunity it is.

"Well, I've actually got to go now - I have a flight home soon. But I'll give you my phone number and we can meet up in L.A. when you get back from your holiday!"

They exchange contact information, and Clary leaves them both, buzzing with excitement.

"Have fun!" Clary says as she leaves. Hopefully everything with Jace can fall into place just as easily.

I hope you like the people I've selected for the band so far! I think I want one more, so if you have any ideas for who the last member should be, please let me know! Anyway, I hope you all have a great week, and I'll see you at the next chapter :)