Chapter 17: A Big Release And a Big Surprise

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another chapter! I would like to start by saying a massive thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter - I know I ask every chapter for you guys to leave a review but actually getting that many made me really happy! This chapter is a little on the shorter side, but I still like it. Let me know if there is anything you'd like to see in this story! I don't mind how big or small the idea is - I'll try my hardest to include it :)

After Jace came home from his premieres, he went on steadily working on his new project, while Clary worked hard to finish off her album. She had been recording for about two months before she was finished, and then there was the whole business about mixing everything, and making sure it sounded like she'd imagined. Once all of that was done, she had to go over all of the marketing, film music videos and set up a press tour for the album… suffice to say it took a few more months of work before she was ready to release her first album.

They had all decided to see what sort of feedback it got before setting up the tour - as much as she hated the numbers game, it wouldn't bode well for her to have a completely non-sold out tour.

They'd also decided not to make a massive deal about her first single. She remembered when she was in the band, about how much press they had to do before a song had even been released. About how much they had to sell their own music until she didn't know if it was popular because it was good, or because it had been shoved down people's throats so much they just gave in and listened to it.

She decided this time the music was going to do well because it was good, and for that reason alone. She was still going to do a press tour, but one that was a lot more radio shows, and more because her fans seemed to love to see her and hear what she had to say. So it was more of a thank you than a promotion tour.

Despite how differently she was approaching it, this wasn't a totally new experience for Clary. She'd recorded, promoted and released an album before - it didn't make it any less nerve racking, but maybe more comfortable. She was now sharing this experience with four people who had never released music before - at least not at this calibre. They had recorded with choirs and orchestras in state of the art recording studios…

And as much as this music was Clary's - it was her solo album after all, it didn't entirely feel that way to her. She'd written most of the music with her band, she'd recorded it all with them and they'd had a pretty big impact on the mixing and post production. They was just as nervous as Clary was.

"So Light's Up is being released today…" Clary told her band who were seated around the dining table at Clary's house. "It's a big day."

"I've never felt like this before…" Emma told her, "like I really want people to hear it, but I kind of want it to stay ours."

"I completely understand," Jem told her, "I've only ever written music for those close to me to hear… and I'm excited it's just…"

"What if people don't like it?" George finishes.

"This has been months and months of hard work… it'd be kind of shitty for it to just get put straight on the sales rack," Jules says.

"Secretly I don't think that's going to happen," Clary says. She'd played the album for a few people, and everyone had loved it so far. "But even if it does… who really cares? We've made an album that we love, and we'll listen to it - so that's time well spent in my books."

"Yeah, let's be positive people!" Emma says, "think of everything we've done!"

"And," Clary adds, "within the next couple of weeks you'll be able to say you've performed on the Graham Norton Show, Jame Cordon, Jimmy Fallon, SNL… it doesn't matter if everyone thinks the album is shit - we're booked for them already."

"I guess when you put it that way…" Julian says, running into the kitchen, "it's time to celebrate!" He grabs a couple of beers out of the fridge and brings them over to everyone, where they all cheer on all the work they've done, and everything to come.

"I hope you're not celebrating without me…" Magnus says, coming into the kitchen.

"It's not a party without you, Magnus," Jem says, laughing while going to get Magnus a beer.

"I didn't even hear you come in… it's like you're magic," George says in awe.

"The party calls me, darling," Magnus says, accepting the drink from Jem and then taking a seat between Emma and Jem.

"And he has the code," Clary adds, blowing a kiss across the table.

"So this is all well and good," Emma says after finishing her second beer, "but aren't we actually meant to be… you know… releasing music today?"

"I was thinking half an hour's notice should be enough?" Clary says, taking out her phone to check the time - about ten more minutes.

"But it's not really half an hour when you think about it - you're not actually giving them any information," George says.

"I think you're crazy for doing it this way," Magnus says, and then takes a slow sip of his beer.

"It's not the best idea to call girls crazy," Jules says, looking at Emma in a way that tells Clary he's been told off several times for doing it himself.

"It might be a little bit crazy," Clary admits, "but what would life be if we didn't take some risks?"

They were of course talking about Clary's plan to release the song. Essentially, they'd filmed a video of Clary walking through a big field of flowers, with her back to the camera as she walked towards the sunset. There was the piano version of the melody of one of the songs from the album playing in the background, and then the screen fades to black with Clary's hand writing saying 'soon' coming across the screen. She was going to post this video along with a 'new music coming soon' message to all of her social media, and then she had to change all her profile pictures and banners to pictures of her in the field.

They assumed that most people would think this meant new music would be released in the coming days or weeks, but she was actually going to be releasing the song and video clip about half an hour later.

She was going to spend that half an hour responding to fans on social media, without actually giving away any important information.

Jace came home five minutes before Clary was releasing the song so that they could all be together when it happened and see the first reactions together. When she was in the band, Clary was barely ever actually present when something went live. There were times that music had been released and she wasn't made aware of it until she noticed everyone talking about it on social media. So this was very different. It was more personal.

And that meant it meant so much more when all of the positive feedback started coming in. Sure there were some people with slightly negative comments - mainly about how surprised they were and that they were expecting a much more 'pop' sound to come from Clary. But for the most part everything was so positive and encouraging that it made Clary's heart sing.

This positive buzz remained throughout the press tour, in which more singles were released, usually when she performed something new on a talk show. A lot of the reviews talked about how surprised they were that she went in this direction - both Kit and Simon's albums had less of a pop feel than when they were all in the band, but she was the first to really stray away from the genre.

By the time she released her album, Light's Up - which she'd released about a month earlier, was still in the charts. Jace took her out to dinner to celebrate, and really to pull her away from everything. She could tell everyone that numbers didn't matter until she was blue in the face, but at the end of the day she did really want the album to succeed. And Jace taking her out was pretty much the only thing that was going to stop her from sitting at home and staring at her computer screen trying to track all the numbers and read everyone's reviews.

"Cheers to you," Jace says, holding up his glass of champagne to Clary, "for an amazing album."

"And cheers to you," Clary says, "your movie's about to start filming, and you are directing. That's massive!" While Jace had initially planned on only producing the movie, he hadn't been able to book any of the directors he wanted (none were available at the time he needed them), so he thought instead of hiring someone he'd prefer not to, he'd gamble on himself a little more.

"Thank you," Jace says, "but tonight's about you and your amazing success! How does it feel?"

"Like I can finally breathe again," Clary says, laughing a little, "Charlotte and Henry said that even without the album being sold yet this has been their biggest release and most successful release, so it's good to know I won't be the cause of their studio shutting down. And really, there's nothing else I can do to the music now, so I can stop stressing about it and finally properly enjoy it!" For good measures, she took a large sip of champagne.

"It really makes you think…" Jace says, a little later into the night, "how far we've come. I mean we're married and we're both independent now and doing what we love… next thing you know we'll be having kids!"

"I've got to tour this album first," Clary says, making sure to hold Jace's eye contact so he'd know she was serious, "and you've got to film your movie. But after that I'll be ready. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds amazing," Jace says, showing off his perfectly chipped incisor in a toothy smile.

"So it's a plan," Clary says smiling back. "Once we're a little less busy, we'll start trying."

The joy of the dinner, and what came after meant that Clary was completely distracted for the rest of the night, and didn't even think to check up on her album until she woke up the next morning.

Thankfully, all of the reviews were very positive.

It had been about a month since Clary had released her album. Her time had been pretty much consumed with starting to plan for tour, and doing a little bit more press for the album. Jace had also started filming his movies, and absolutely loved being behind the camera. He was working with mainly teenage actors who had worked a lot less than him, so they formed a really good relationship trying to get as much advice from him as possible.

Simon was also about to start his tour, which is what Clary assumed he wanted to talk to her about. She, and everyone else, were all going to his concert in a few days, and she thought he may have been nervous about performing without them. Honestly Clary had thought about it a few times herself.

Simon, however, was on an entirely different wavelength.

"It's time," Simon told her when she arrived at his house.

"For what," Clary said, looking around the room like it might give her a clue.

"I'm going to propose to Izzy," he said.

"Simon!" Clary said, quickly hugging him. "That's amazing. Congratulations!"

"Thanks,"he said, looking almost giddy. "And I've been thinking about how to do it best. I thought about small and intimate, maybe at a restaurant, with you guys… and then I realised that with Izzy the bigger the better."

"I definitely agree…" Clary said, trying to figure out where she fit into this equation.

"And I have a plan, but I'm going to need your help…"

Simon and Clary planned for a little while, got their friends, family and band mates involved, and even hired more people, so that it was all ready for Simon's first show.

They were all standing side stage watching Simon's show - Izzy seemed a little confused as to why they weren't in a box, but seemed to just go with it. About three quarters into Simon's show, he told the crowd that he had a little surprise for them - a first concert exclusive.

As he said this, a row of trumpet and violin players, including Emma, Julian and Jem, lined the back of the stage, and began playing the intro to 'All You Need Is Love.'

Once Simon had begun playing, Jace led Izzy out onto the stage with a chair so Simon could sing to her. Slowly as the song built up, more people came out, including Alec, Kit and Clary to join into the ensemble of instruments and voices.

Once the song ended, Simon got down on one knee, which was met by a staggeringly loud scream from the audience, and he asked Izzy to marry him, which she very quickly jumped up and said yes to.

Simon finished his concert as if on a high, and practically ran for Izzy when he got off the stage. As a sort of celebration after the concert ensued, which Clary was surprised to find Maia, whom Luke had brought, and Jordan, the bassist for Simon's band really hitting it off.

Izzy also seemed to be on cloud nine, as if she'd never expected such a spectacular thing to come from Simon, but honestly, neither had Clary!

Song Mention: All You Need Is Love by The Beatles

So there you go... lot's happening! Like I said before, if you have ANY ideas for the story I would love to hear them! Not matter how big or small, I'll work them in! Hope you all are staying safe and sane. I'll see you next week :)