Chapter 18: Family Is Everything

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another chapter! I know it may feel like the last few chapters have been a bit filler and I'm sorry about that! I can promise for the next little while that something big is going to happen in every chapter - starting with this chapter right now...

A few weeks after Simon's first concert Clary released all of her tour dates. They had purposely spread out the shows so it wouldn't be so action packed, but had to end up adding a few more after all the concerts sold out so quickly. The new shows sold out quickly as well, but Clary decided she'd not going too far this tour so she didn't add anymore after that.

The layout of the tour still gave her enough time to go home for a while in between each continent, and gave them all time to explore some places in between concerts. It was also timed really so Jace would be able to travel around Europe with her. It was the last leg of her tour, and Jace would be all finished with his movie by then, so it would give them time to just relax and be together.

Tour prep was also a lot less intense than it had ever been with the guys. She was the only one that had to learn any sort of choreography, but it wasn't really heavily sketched out, so it was more just about figuring out if she had to be somewhere specific and getting comfortable not being behind a guitar or drum set.

She was still going to play guitar for some songs, but they'd decided for a few others that she'd go without so she'd have more opportunity to move around the stage and interact with fans. There was also the fact that her album was only twelve songs long, which meant she'd have to choose a few others to add to the line up. She chose a couple of songs from the old band - it was something that Kit and Simon had both done, so she chose songs that they hadn't performed. She also decided to re-write the music to better suit the style of her album so it wouldn't be too jarring.

She also decides that she'll cover 'She's Electric' by Oasis on the tour - but that song only! She vowed never to learn a new song for each show again. It was too stressful, and something she didn't need to do.

So she spent about a month just prepping for tour, doing the occasional radio show and visiting Jace at work.

She remembered going in one day and hanging around for a little bit - she never really got to hang out with Jace, because he was usually busy, but there were plenty of other people to talk to, or she would just sit and watch Jace working. She loved how absorbed he could get in it. How he could notice one small thing that she wouldn't think of checking in a thousand years.

And she loved how his face lit up when he saw her - even if she'd been there for hours and he'd only just noticed. He never ignored her - and she never brought it to his attention that she'd arrived. They'd set some boundaries, work wise. They both gave each other the space to do what they needed to, but promised to never shut each other out. To always tell the other if there was a problem, or if something was going really well. They'd worked hard to get past their stupid quarrelling, and it helped. It really helped.

Jace wasn't moody when Clary left for tour, because they'd left with a plan. They both set aside 5 minutes a day to call each other, and decided they'd reassess every few weeks if the time needed to change because Jace had a weird schedule or Clary was changing time zones. Clary would come home after each leg for three weeks, and Jace would fly out to wherever she was on the weekends he had free.

"You know, I don't think I'll ever quite get used to this," Jem said, watching a TV screen that showed thousands of people already in the arena, despite them not going on stage for another three hours.

"You won't," Clary said, who was still amazed that people decided to support her this much.

"I don't want to," Jules said, hitting his drum sticks gently on the arm of the couch he and Emma were on.

"Give me those," Emma said, leaning across him to snatch the sticks out of his hands. He fought back for a second, but eventually let her win, laughing as he feel back so his head was in her lap.

She looked over at Magnus, who was watching them with an expression she'd seen before, but couldn't quite place.

Well, I for one," George said, slowly raising his hands and resting them behind his head, "am quite comfortable."

"Is that so?" Magnus asked, with a smirk. "I guess you're lucky you're touring with Clary and not some… hideous monster."

"Sorry to interrupt," someone said, standing at the door of the room they were all in, "but someone's trying to come back stage. They say their Mr Blackthorn's sister."

"All of my sister's are in L.A," Jules tells the man, who nods back.

"Hold on," Emma yells out, "I wanna see this." She quickly shoves Julian off her, and then grabs his hand as she head's for the door in pursuit of the fake sister.

"Okay, I'm just going to say it," Clary says once they're out of ear shot, "when are they going to get together?"

"I don't know, but I wish they'd just get on with it," George says, laying down on the couch they had just occupied. "I haven't witnessed that much sexual tension since being on the farm during mating season…"

"I don't know," Magnus says, looking slightly disturbed.

"About what?" Jem asks, trying not to laugh at his expression.

"Well about that example to start with…" Magnus says, "but also about Emma and Jules. I've seen two people that close before - in a very similar situation, and nothing ever came of it. If anything, I feel stupid for everything it would happen, now I know how it all turned out."

"Who?" Clary asks, not being able to think of anyone who fit the description.

Magnus looks at her for a moment before smiling. "You and Simon."

"What?" Clary asks, shifting a little uncomfortably in her chair. She'd only ever really thought of Simon as her best friend. Closer to a brother than anything else. "Simon and I would never…"

"I know that now," Magnus says, "but I remember when I first met you all… and you two were so close, and I just couldn't help but think that maybe something would come of it."

"So what, you think Emma and Jules are destined to be like Simon and Clary?" George asks.

"I don't know…" Magnus says. "They just remind me of each other is all."

"Simon and I were never like that though," Clary says.

"Like what?" Emma asks, coming back into the room.

"Oh… like… these dancers Jem was telling us about," Clary says, quickly trying to think of something.

"How's your sister?" Jem asks, trying not to smile.

"Unfortunately, she had red hair and blue eyes… she'd never pass for a Blackthorn," Jules says, kicking George's feet away to make more room on the couch for him and Emma.

"She'd be better off trying to pass as Clary's sister than Jules'," Emma says, quickly sitting down beside him.

"But everyone knows that Clary only has a brother, and after a quick google search you'd figure out that Jules has more siblings than he can count," Magnus explains. "She probably thought it was her best ticket in her."

"Jules took a photo with her anyway… she was actually kind of cute," Emma says, "don't you think, Jules?"

"Yeah, sure…"

They'd been on tour for a few months, and it had all been going well. Clary hadn't gotten any closer to figuring out Emma and Jules' relationship, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. Clary would try and set Emma up with people she knew, but she'd ever really go on one date, and Jules would act cool about it, but she suspected that he was really just trying to hide the truth.

She'd gone home to see Jace a few times, and they'd managed to call each other everyday, even if it was only for a few minutes sometimes. He was flying out in a week or so to finish the tour with her now that his movie had finished shooting.

It was in the early stages of editing now, and he'd be back in time to start making the more serious decisions. He'd said that everything had gone well - they'd managed to stay on schedule and on budget so far, and now it was just about putting it all together.

Clary found out some big news with about a month of tour left, but decided to keep it to herself for now. She knew that Jace probably wouldn't like it, but she had her reasons, and she'd tell him as soon as the tour finished, which wasn't really that far away any way.

It did mean that she had to hide a few things from him, and he never said anything, but she caught him looking at her weirdly a few times, and she was worried he was close to figuring it out.

They'd been home for about three hours, when Jace proposed they celebrate Clary's successful tour and their homecoming with a bottle of champagne on the beach.

"Actually Jace," Clary said, "I've got something to tell you."

"Is this about how you've been acting lately - if I've done something wrong, you can just tell me. I promise to react exactly how you want." Jace says, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"It's nothing you've done," Clary quickly tells him, "and how could you know how I want you to react?"

"You can just tell me beforehand," he says, "I'm a great actor you know."

"Okay, well… I'm going to tell you… but I want your genuine reaction okay - I don't care what it is," Clary says.

"Okay…" Jace says, sounding a little sceptical.

"Are you sure you're ready…" Clary asks, stepping back from him.

"Just tell me already!" Jace says impatiently.

Clary takes a deep breath before saying, "I'm pregnant."

"What?" Jace asks in disbelief.

"I'm pregnant," Clary says again, trying to catch his reaction.

"Really," Jace asks, starting to smile.

Clary nods, and smiles back at him.

"But how…" Jace asks, almost in disbelief. But it seemed more like excitement, with his massive smile and tears welling up in his eyes, than anything else.

"I really thought you'd already know all this… it does take two to tango," Clary says, laughing as he rolls his eyes.

"That's not what I meant… when?" Jace asks.

"I think it might have been in New York," Clary says, "I stopped my birth control after we seriously talked about having kids… and we didn't use any protection…"

"That's amazing. You're amazing," Jace says, coming to his senses and quickly picking Clary up, hugging her tightly.

"We're going to be parents. We're going to have a baby," he whispers in her ear.

They go down the beach anyway - without the champagne, to celebrate.

"I don't think we should tell anyone just yet," Clary says later that night while they're laying in bed.

Jace looks over at her a little confused, but nods anyway.

"At least until three months - just in case anything happens. But the thought of anything happening to the tiny child growing inside Clary broke their heart already.

"Alright," Jace says. He knew he'd do practically anything for Clary - he'd know that always, but it rang especially true for him tonight. Because now it was about more than just Clary. It was about his family - the thing he would do absolutely anything for.

So there you have it! Clary is pregnant and they are finally going to have some kids! It isn't going to come right away - I've got some other stuff planned before that happens, but I hope you're excited anyway! I've pretty much already come up with all the main stuff for their kids - names, genders and personality's, but I'd love to hear what you think or want to see - I'm always open to change what I've got! Stay safe and happy, and I'll see you next week :)