Chapter 19: More Surprises
Hello everyone! Hope you're all happy and healthy. Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter - I've just been super busy at university lately which doesn't leave a lot of time for writing. I hope you like the chapter anyway!
"So what's your plan?" Jace asks Clary, helping her get into the car.
"We're just not going to tell anyone - they haven't noticed yet, and none of the attention should be on me today, so I'm sure it will be fine." Clary replies to Jace as he gets into the driver's seat.
They were meeting Simon and Izzy at their house before all going to Alec and Magnus' wedding together.
"But don't you think people are going to be suspicious that you're not drinking," Jace asks, while turning out of their driveway.
"We've been over this - I'm just going to accept any drinks I might be offered, and then you're going to drink them. No one's going to be paying enough attention to me to figure out the truth. We agreed to tell them in two weeks - that marks three months," Clary says.
"I'm not sure you've thought this all the way through, but I'll help you however I can," Jace replies, reaching across the car to take his wife's hand.
"Good," Clary replies, squeezing his hand a little, "because today is all about Alec and Magnus - I'm not going to be taking any attention off them!"
"At least you're not showing yet," Jace said, rubbing her belly before taking her hand again.
"Yeah, but I've already started to put on weight - it's so noticeable," Clary said, looking in the mirror in the car, "I feel like I'm double my normal size - I had to buy a new dress and everything."
"You're absolutely beautiful - stunning. You've been amazing so far Clary - you're literally making humans inside of you, so cut yourself some slack. The doctor said you should be gaining weight anyway."
"Whatever," Clary said, unable to stop looking in the mirror until they pulled up to Simon and Izzy's house.
It was later proven, however, that Clary had not thought it the whole way through. While sitting and watching the ceremony, Clary felt a wave of nausea pass over her and she just begged for the feeling to go away. She'd had pretty bad morning sickness for a while, but thought that it was finally starting to go away.
Simon looked over at her, looking concerned, but she quickly waved him away, and paid attention to Alec and Magnus, hoping the feeling would quickly pass. Thankfully it did, and Clary was able to enjoy the rest of the ceremony without the worrying thought that she was going to show her breakfast to everyone.
She was later pulled to the bar by Kit and Izzy, who demanded that they all do shot's to celebrate Magnus and Alec. Alec, surprisingly, even came over and joined them, "what the hell," he said, "I just got married!"
Jace seemed to figure out what was going on, and as everyone closed their eyes, he quickly downed Clary's shot before putting the glass on the table in front of her.
"It's time for speeches darling," Magnus said, "everyone get a glass of champagne, and then back to your tables!"
There were a number of speeches, including one from Jace, who was Alec's best man. Clary would pretend to take a sip after each speech, and every now and then would pour some of her glass into Jace's so people would think she had been drinking it.
She thought she'd managed to get away with it too - specifically ordering soda with lime, hoping people would just assume there was vodka in the glass as well. She sat down for a little while, watching everyone on the dance floor while giving herself an opportunity to rest her feet. Simon came and sat down with her, and they watched Izzy and Jace dancing together, commenting on things every few minutes.
"Hey are you okay?" Simon eventually asks.
"What? Yeah I'm fine," Clary replied, not taking her eyes off the people dancing.
"Are you sure - because you looked like you were about to be sick early today, and I've noticed that you're not drinking," Simon says. He picks up her glass and takes a sip for good measure, "see this is only soda." She could see him still looking at her out of the corner of her eye, so with a roll of her eyes she faces him.
"I'm fine - I think I ate something funny last night, but I didn't want to draw any attention away from Alec and Magnus," Clary said. There was a partial truth in this - she'd eaten tuna for the first time since becoming pregnant last night, and it had made her sick.
"I've been noticing other things too Clary - you picked all the pepperoni off your pizza the other week, and you love pepperoni," Simon said, as if this was some great point.
"I've recently found out it's very fattening," Clary replied quickly, "so I've been trying to avoid it."
"I think something else is going on, Clary. I think we both know what it is." Simon said, and Clary knew that somehow, Simon knew the truth.
Clary quickly jumped up and dragged Simon after her to a more private area of the hall they were in.
"Simon I promise you, I'm fine, I just feel a little sick is all," Clary said.
"Clary, you've always been a bad liar. We both know what's going on here," he quickly looks down at her stomach, "but why haven't you told anyone?"
"We're waiting for three months," Clary says, giving in. "So could you please not tell anyone - just in case something goes wrong."
"Of course. But nothing's going to go wrong, Clary" Simon says before hugging her. "Congratulations by the way."
"You know Izzy's probably going to kill you when she finds out that you knew before her," Clary says as they sit back down at their table.
"Eh, I can endure a little killing for you," Simon says, nudging her with his shoulder softly. "But maybe it would be best if we keep this between us as well - just in case."
"You know I never thought you would be the one to do everything first," Simon says after a little while. "I always thought Alec would get married first and Kit would get some poor girl pregnant."
"I didn't think I'd be first either - I actually thought I'd be last for both… until I met Jace," Clary says.
"I guess you just got to wait for the right person," Simon says.
"The right person for what?" Izzy says, sitting down next to Simon. Jace sits next to Clary a moment later.
"We were just talking about how we didn't think I'd be the first to get married," Clary says smoothly.
"We both thought it would be Alec," Simon adds.
"I thought Alec would get married first too," Magnus pipes up, sitting at one of the spare seats at the table, still holding hands with his new husband. "And it always made me very sad because I didn't think it would be to me," he adds dramatically.
"Well I guess you were wrong on both accounts then," Alec says, smiling at him.
"I've never been more happy to be wrong," Magnus says, kissing him on the cheek.
"Who do you think's going to have the first baby?" Izzy suddenly asks, and Jace squeezes Clary's hand a little bit.
"Simon and I agree it's still going to be Kit - I mean just look at him," Clary said, pointing over at the dance floor where Kit was currently dancing very close to a girl he'd only met today.
Simon flashes Jace and Clary a smile that goes unnoticed by everyone else.
"I suppose you're right," Magnus says, with a tone of disgust. "I was hoping it'd be you two," he says over to Clary and Jace.
"You never know," Jace says. "We could pop off to the bathroom now if you want… get started on everything."
"Never say anything like that again, please," Simon says, looking away.
"I thought I'd have to wait for Jace to turn 50 before he even thought about getting married, and that he'd have an onslaught of kids he couldn't keep up with by that time… so I mean… if you really want to, off you go!" Izzy says.
"We're good, but thanks," Clary says and everyone laughs. Clary didn't know if they'd be laughing in a few weeks when they found out she'd been lying out of her ass to them.
"I'm nervous," Clary whispers to Jace.
They were currently at their three month doctor's appointment, and after this they would tell everyone - assuming everything went well.
"Why?" Jace asks.
"I don't know… something just feels… weird."
"I do have some news," the doctor says to them, "it's all good."
Clary and Jace both sigh a breath of relief before the doctor continues, "I know you said you didn't want to know the gender of the baby,"
"We want it to be a surprise, if that's okay," Jace says, looking down at Clary to make sure she still agreed.
"You're having twins," the doctor tells them, smiling. "You can see hear," she says pointing at the monitor, "one baby, and the other."
"Oh my God," Clary says, looking up at Jace, "twins."
"I love you," Jace says, leaning down and kissing Clary. While they had talked about having babies, Clary being pregnant now was a surprise and now this…
"I love you too," Clary replies.
"Do you think they're going to be identical?" Clary asks Jace as they drive home.
"I don't know - secretly I hope not. I want them to be their own person. But I'll still love them either way," Jace said reaching across and resting his hand on her belly.
"Me too," Clary says, smiling across at him.
As they pull into their driveway, they see that all their friends' cars are already there.
"I guess they're around the back," Jace says, pulling into the garage.
This is confirmed when they walk into their house and see everyone already on their back deck.
"Make yourselves at home, why don't you," Jace says as he opens the doors letting them into the house.
"I don't know why you haven't given us the code Jace," Izzy says, walking in and heading straight for the fridge. "You have a key for our house."
"Maybe it's because we like a little privacy and we know we'll never get any if you could get in whenever you wanted to," Jace replies.
"Privacy's overrated," Izzy responds.
"Well, actually we have something that we have to tell you all," Jace says, walking over to Clary, "and it was a private matter until now."
"You mean you kept a secret from us!" Magnus says, looking as shocked as he sounded.
"We had to," Clary responds, "just for a little while."
"What secret could be so big you had to keep it from us?" Kit asks, "it's not like you're knocked up."
"Actually," Clary says, smiling at them all.
"Wait, actually!" Izzy asks, almost screaming.
"Three months today," Clary says, resting her hand on her stomach.
They all huddle in close so they can hug Clary and Jace, and when they finally separate, Jace says, "that's not all."
"What, are you moving to fucking… I don't know, Paris?" Kit asks, looking like nothing would surprise him now. He'd never thought Clary would get married or pregnant so quickly - he thought they were more alike than that.
"No," Clary says, laughing, "actually," she looks up at Jace, "it's two babies - we're having twins."
"Oh my God!" Izzy wells, quickly hugging Clary again.
"Twins, ah? You didn't tell me that," Simon says.
"I only found out today," Clary replies.
"Wait a minute," Izzy says, slowly turning towards her fiance. "You knew she was pregnant, and you didn't tell me?"
"Shit," is all Simon says, as he hurries away from the onslaught of hits coming from Izzy.
"Hit him harder!" Alec yells, laughing as Simon runs away.
Despite how much was changing in all their lives, they never really seemed to grow up, Clary thought.
So Twins! Do you think they're going to be identical? Let me know! Also thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! It is a massive help with motivation (which I'm lacking all round lately). I hope everyone's staying safe, and I'll see you next week :)