Chapter 20: Trip Down Memory Lane
Hello everyone! Hope you are all well. It's a longer chapter today - possibly the longest I've written yet! Just before we get started I'd like to say a massive thank you for over 10,000 views and over 40 follows on this story! That's awesome! Okay, on with the chapter...
"Thanks Ms Lewis," Clary called back to the car as Simon's mom dropped Clary home after dance class. She quickly waved at Simon before hurrying up the stairs and unlocking the door.
"I'm home," she called out to the house, expected to see her mom in the kitchen cooking dinner, or her brother at the kitchen table doing homework. Instead, she was met by her mom sitting on the couch, sobbing.
"Mom! What's wrong?" Clary asked quickly, sitting down next to her and wrapping an arm around her. Her mom just kept crying, almost like she didn't notice her daughter sitting there next to her.
"What's happened? Are you okay?" Clary asked, but her mom said nothing.
"Jon?" Clary called out, hurrying down the hall to her brothers room. She walked in to see him stuffing a duffel bag full of clothes.
"What's going on. Are we going somewhere?" Clary asked, confused.
"I am. You're staying here," Jon replied shortly.
"What's happened? Where are you going?" Clary asked. When he didn't reply she went up to him and grabbed his bag away from him. "Answer me!"
"Dad died," Jon yelled back, and then roughly pulled the bag back from her.
"What?" Clary whispered. That could be true - her dad was meant to be coming home in two weeks. He promised he would come home. He promised.
"You're lying," Clary said, and grabbed the bag away from him again, forcing him to face her. And when he finally did, she could see the tears in his eyes. And how hard he was fighting to stop them from falling.
"Please tell me you're lying," Clary said, feeling her own tears finally spilling over. "Please."
"Why would I lie about something like that?" He responds.
"How?" Clary asks quietly, quickly wiping away the tears.
"Give me my bag back, Clary," is all Jon replies.
"How?" Clary asks again, more strongly this time.
"A transport accident," Jon answers, after a long pause. "Three people died."
"When did you find out?" Clary asks, fighting hard to stay strong.
"About an hour ago," Jon says. "Now, please give me my bag."
"Where are you going," Clary asks, tightening her grip on the bag.
"Away. I can't be here right now," Jon replies.
"Why do you think this is going to be any easier to handle somewhere else. You should be here with mom and me," Clary says. While Jon stands and watches her, their mom lets out a long moan.
"That's why I can't be here. I can't deal with that right now," Jon says.
"And you think I can?" Clary answers. She had only just turned thirteen. People were meant to take care of her.
"Then come with me," Jon says, his eyes widening at the idea. "Let's just get out of here, and we can figure all of this out later."
"We can't leave mom," Clary says, "not when she's like this. She needs us."
Before Jon has a chance to reply, their mom lets out a scream, and Clary rushes out to see what's happened.
Clary stays with her mom for a little bit, hugging her and telling her that it's going to be okay. That they're going to get through this. Maybe she was saying for herself as much as her mom. They still had each other. There was still the three of them.
A creak of a floorboard made Clary look up quickly, and she saw Jon standing at the door, with a new bag, which looked packed full of clothes.
"Please don't leave me," Clary says to him. Her mom was starting to fall asleep on top of her, so she really didn't want to move. "Please don't."
"I'm sorry," Jon says, and then goes out the door.
Clary moves her mom off her as quickly and smoothly as possible, and then runs out after her brother.
"Jonathan!" She yells as she goes down the stairs as quickly as possible. "Come back!"
But by the time she got to the front door of their complex, he was nowhere to be seen.
She roamed the streets for a few minutes, looking for her brother, but eventually she couldn't see anything in the dark, so she had to go home.
Thankfully, her mom was still asleep when she got back, but Clary really had no idea what to do. She thought about calling Simon, or Luke, or even her dance teacher, but she didn't know what any of them would be able to do. This was something they were meant to face as a family, but she had no idea where her brother was, and her mother hadn't said a word to her since she came home.
She decided that the best next thing to do was cook her and her mom dinner - there was no point in starving themselves. She made dinner quickly, practically staring at her mother the whole time trying to figure out what to do next.
Eventually her mom would have to stop crying, but then what? How could you go back to normal life when a massive part of it was missing. Sure, her dad was rarely home, but she always knew he was out there. She would count down the days until he came home.
She brings the two bowls over to the couch, placing her moms on the coffee table in front of them. She lightly shakes her mom awake, and tells her that her dinner is ready.
Jocelyn looks genuinely surprised to see Clary, and then looks over at the food. She puts her head back down on the pillow without saying anything, so Clary begins to eat. After a few minutes, she hears some sniffles coming from her mom, and Clary realises that she's crying again. Maybe it was best to let her sleep.
By the time Clary finishes her dinner, cleans everything up, and gets changed out of her dance clothes, her mom has fallen asleep again. Clary gently lays a blanket over her, and turns the light off before going back to her room.
What were they going to do? She had to figure out how to help her mom, find her brother, start planning her dad's funeral, and figure out how to live life knowing she'd never get to see her dad again. Never get to hug him again. Or talk to him. Or listen to music with him. Or hear him compare her to her mom. She'd never learn another piano song from him, or hear stories of her grandparents. She would never get to do any of it again.
She felt that now that she was finally alone - that no one was relying on her, she could finally break down. And she did. She cried until there was nothing left, screamed into her pillow until her voice was hoarse, chewed her nails until they were bloody. She looked over at her clock, which told her it was three in the morning, and stared out at the street.
Her head was banging with a headache, and her vision was blurred, but she looked at the houses across the street. She thought of the people asleep, not knowing that her life had just changed forever.
She stared out the window until the sun rose, when she went to have a shower and told herself enough. She'd cried and screamed for her dad for a night, and that was all she was going to do. Her mom needed her now. And her brother did too. And her dad would want her to take care of everyone. So that's what she would do.
She started by calling her brother. When he didn't pick up after her third time calling him, she sent him a bunch of texts begging him to come home, and decided that she would call him again later.
She then made herself and her mom breakfast, turned on music and opened all of the blinds, letting in the sunlight. She then gently woke her mom up and handed her a cup of green tea. Even though she didn't eat breakfast, she did drink the tea, so that was a start.
She then called her school and told them she wouldn't be coming in today - and told them that she and her brother had to take care of their mom, because she assumed her brother wouldn't be going to school either.
After that she started researching funeral homes to start planning everything out. After about an hour of research, she realised they were going to have to pay for this somehow. Sure, her mom could keep painting, and she and Jon would both be able to get jobs, but she didn't think that would be enough to cover everything - they'd relied on their dad sending money home before, and he was making a lot more than Jon and Clary would be able to.
She started research whether she would be able to get payments from the army, and started filling out the necessary paperwork.
She was unsuccessful in trying to get her mom to eat any lunch, but did manage to get her in the shower, and then into bed.
And she wasn't crying as much anymore, so that was surely a good sign.
When school was supposed to end she texted Simon and told him that she wouldn't be able to go to dance that afternoon, and only replied to his questions by telling him that she didn't feel well.
She then called her brother a handful more times, with no response.
After attempting to get her mom to eat again, she quickly showered and then went to bed, promising to start living life more normally tomorrow. But she couldn't help crying as she fell asleep.
Her mom ate a piece of toast the next day, which Clary took as progress. She prepared a bunch of food for her mom to have throughout the day and put all on her bedside table so it would be easily accessible, and then went to school.
She looked for her brother everywhere in the hallway, and called him in between all of her classes, but he still didn't show.
Clary quickly went home in between school and dance, even though it made her late, but she had to check on her mom. She left her asleep, but noticed that she hadn't eaten any of the food Clary had left for her.
When she got home from dance about four hours later, she still hadn't eaten any of the food, and Jon still hadn't replied to her, so she felt like she had no choice but to call for help.
"Luke?" Clary said when he answered the phone. "It's Clary," she had to call him off her moms phone, because she didn't have his number in hers.
"Hey Clary, is everything okay?" he asked, clearly a little surprised to be getting a call from Clary this late at night.
"I need help. Can you come over please?" Clary asked, scared that he would say no.
"Is everything okay," he asked, but she could hear him moving, and what sounded like him getting his keys.
"I just really need your help," Clary replied. This wasn't something she wanted to tell someone over the phone.
"I'll be over shortly, but call if you need anything, okay?" Luke said, and she could hear his car starting.
"Thank you," Clary said, and after hanging up tried calling her brother from her moms phone. He still didn't pick up.
Luke arrived not five minutes later.
"Is everything okay? Where's your mom?" He asked when he came inside.
"Ummm, I don't know how to tell you this…" Clary said, sitting down on the couch.
"Is she okay?" Luke said, looking very concerned.
Clary nodded her head, and then shook it, breathing hard as she tried not to cry.
"Clary, I need you to tell me what's going on, okay?" Luke said kindly, sitting next to her one the couch.
Clary picked at the skin of her nails, which started bleeding quickly. The tears started falling, and she took more deep breaths trying to stop them, but more just started falling. "Dad died," she said quietly.
She wasn't sure if Luke could hear her, but he started hugging her, so she assumed he had. This was the first time Clary had been comforted, the first time someone was hugging her, and it felt so good to not have to be the strong one that she broke down, and Luke kept hold of her the whole time.
Once she calmed down, Luke stopped hugging her, and said "Clary, is everything else okay?"
Clary shook her head again. "I've been trying. But I don't know what to do anymore. Mom isn't talking to me, and she won't eat or leave her bed. And I don't know where Jon went. He left after he told me and I haven't heard from him since. I'm sorry."
"Clary, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. You tried your hardest, and now you've called me, and we're going to get through this together, okay. I'm going to go talk to your mom, and I need you to call all of your brothers friends and ask them if they've seen Jon, okay?"
Clary nods her head and takes out her phone, to see whose number she had. She called two people, who hadn't heard from Jon, when she heard her mom yelling something. She couldn't quite make out what she was saying, but decided to ignore it for now - she was with Luke, so everything would be okay.
After making a few more phone calls, she figured out where Jon was, so she waited for Luke to come back out so she could tell him.
After a little while, Luke came out with Jocelyn, and he sat her down at the kitchen table.
"Clary, would you be able to make your mom some toast and tea please?" Luke asked, and Clary sprang into action.
Luke sat with Jocelyn until she had finished all of the toast, and then led her back to her bedroom.
"Did you hear anything about your brother?" Luke asks.
"Yeah. I know where he is," Clary answers.
"Okay, well go pick him up," Luke answers, and together to his friend Ash's house. He's reluctant to home at first, but after Clary begs him to, he finally gives in.
Luke leaves them around midnight, "Clary, if you have any trouble, if you need any help, any time of the day or night, call me and I will come. I promise."
"Thank you," Clary answers, and hugs him one last time before he leaves.
And Luke was there to help. Over the next two years, Clary took care of the house. She would clean the house, do all the cooking, all of the washing, she paid the bills. She ended up having to get a job at a cafe to help cover anything, but if they were ever short on money, Luke would help her out.
He would also come over for dinner every few nights to make sure Jocelyn was still eating, and that Jon was still at home.
She would work at Taki's everyday before school, and then either go to dance or band rehearsals after school. She worked all of Saturday until Five O'clock, until her band did a gig there. She would try to catch up on all of her school work on Sunday, and do all of the house work. If she knew the was going to be some extra cost one week, she would also try and busk to earn some extra money.
Her mom still wasn't painting, her brother was only good at spending money, not making it, and she was exhausted almost all of the time. She knew that if it weren't for Luke, their family would have fallen apart.
He was also the only one to remember her fifteenth birthday.
The day after her fifteenth birthday was one she would always remember - it was the day their band got signed by Hodge Starkweather at Circle records.
She was going to be moving to L.A. for it - and Clary saw it as a chance to reset. To move to a life that wasn't plagued by the death of her father.
It was going to be a totally new environment, and she was going to be able to make more money than ever. Her mom and brother both seemed excited about the move. Life finally looked like it was turning around. Luke even suggested that he might move out to L.A. with them.
Unfortunately, everything moved a little too quickly Clary had to move to L.A. a few days after getting signed, which didn't leave them enough time to deal with anything.
They all agreed that Clary would go over now and live with Simon, his mom and sister for a little while, until the rest of her family could meet her over there.
Luke would help them tie up all the loose ends in New York, and then help them all move over.
"Hey Jon," Clary answered the phone on her fifth day in L.A., "how's it all going?" she asked in a sing-songy voice."
"Clary, you need to come home. Now," Jon said seriously.
"What happened?" Clary asked, praying that nothing had happened to her mom or Luke.
"Mom was in a car accident," he says. "She's in a coma. You need to come home now."
Clary didn't notice the phone slip out of her hand, or the stinging in her knees as they hit the ground. She didn't hear the animal-like cry that she was making, or the questions of Simon, Alec, Kit and Magnus. She didn't remember telling them what happened, or getting back to New York. The first thing she did remember after hearing the news was seeing her mom in hospital. With wires and needles everywhere. The bandage on her head, and the cast on her arm.
She remembered being told that her mom was in a coma, and they weren't sure if she would ever wake up. That she was paralysed, and in pain. And that she would likely be in pain for the rest of her life, even if she did wake up.
She remembered writing and singing her mom one last song, hoping somehow, magically it would make everything better.
She remembered making the decision with Jon to take her off like support - that she was never going to enjoy her half life if she did wake up. She remembered thinking that it could still be okay. There was still the two of them.
She remembered seeing Luke cry for the first time.
She remembered breaking down at her mom's funeral. She remembered later that night, drinking for the first time. Taking drugs for the first time. Having sex for the first time. Anything to try and fill that whole in her chest.
She had to go back to L.A. the next day - they'd already been away too long.
Jon promised her that he would be see her in a couple of days - he just had more things he had to handle now.
"It's just us two now," he told her. "It's my turn to take care of you now, Clary."
"I love you Jon," Clary said.
"I love you too Clary," Jon said.
"I'll see you soon," Clary said. But Jon didn't reply.
"Their flight must have gotten delayed," Clary told Magnus a few days later. They were at LAX waiting to pick up Jon.
"Clary…" Magnus said, not wanting to say the truth.
"Or maybe he just got lost," Clary said. "I'll try calling him again." After trying to call him a few times, she said, "maybe they're still flying. He wouldn't be able to get calls."
"Clary I don't think he's coming," Magnus says gently.
"He is. I know he is. He wouldn't leave me," Clary said, staring at the gate door, which everyone had come out of.
"Clary…" Magnus said. He felt so sorry for the young girl sitting next to him who had lost everything, "I think we should go."
"Just a little while longer. Please," Clary begged, not taking her eyes off the gate door.
"Okay," Magnus said, knowing he couldn't say no to her. Not now, when she was holding onto this last thread of hope.
Eventually she gave in, and called Luke. He told her that Jon had left for his flight, that he should be in L.A. now. She tried calling her brother one last time before giving in, and going home.
When she called him and texted him hundreds of times with no response. When Luke hadn't heard anything from him in days. That's when she realised that it was just her. There was no one left in her family. And she felt completely alone. Hollow.
Even though Jace Herondale was only ten years old, he knew that he was different. Sure, he had a mom that loved him, and he thought his dad did too. But he was also aware of the fact that his parents relied on him.
He knew it wasn't normal for ten year olds to work more than their parents. And he didn't actually know how much he had earned, but he knew it was more than most people did by the time they died.
But he'd talked to other kids - kids he's worked with, and none of them seemed to support their family. Most said it went into a college fund, or something they couldn't access until they were eighteen. But their parents didn't buy a house or car or anything else with it.
But maybe those other kids were just lying - it's not like he actually told people what his life was like at home. And he didn't mind that his parents relied on him - sometimes it made him feel special. But sometimes he wished he could just be like other kids.
"Mom?" Jace asked one day, "could I go to school?"
"What do you mean, Lion? You go to school," his mom answered.
"Like an actual school - like the one my character goes to," Jace explained. He was currently playing a character in a movie that was in grade 5, and he wasn't sure if that was what real school was like. But he was eager to find out.
"You wouldn't have time to do all of your movies," his mom told him, "and you love doing your movies, don't you?"
"Yeah," he said, sitting down next to him mom on the couch, "but I don't know… do I have to do it forever?"
"Not if you don't want to," his mom replies.
"So I could go to real school? Maybe when this movie ends?" Jace asks eagerly.
"What are you talking about?" his dad asks, coming into the room. "You want to go to school?"
"I don't don't know," Jace said, looking down at his hands, "maybe."
"No," Stephen said, and then grabbed his car keys. "And hurry up, we're going to run late."
"Why not?" Jace asked, finally looking up at his dad.
"Because you already have your next project planned. And we've worked hard to get you where you are and I'm not going to let you throw it all away because you're being selfish," his dad says harshly. "Now get in the car, Jonathan."
"Stephen," Jace's mom starts.
"It's fine, mom," Jace quickly says, and then follows his dad out the door.
One the way to set he thought everything over. He didn't think he was being selfish - he tried not to complain about anything, and he didn't say anything about how he felt. But sometimes you couldn't know if you were being selfish, so he decided to stay quiet about it.
That was, until he was thirteen.
"Dad, I was thinking," Jace said, "this movie… it finishes filming tomorrow."
"So?" his dad asks, not looking up from his phone.
"Well, it's my 20th movie, so I was thinking… maybe I could buy or do something to celebrate."
"Like what?" His dad asks, finally looking up.
"Well, you know how I've been talking to mom about a trip back to France… maybe now's the right time. I know she misses it and-"
"No," Stephen says, cutting his son off. "I don't have time to go to France right now."
"Well them maybe just mom and I could go… it'd give me a chance to work on my French, and she could go back home for a while…" Jace says. Honestly, he'd wanted to go back to France for a long time now - and it would be all the better if his dad wasn't going.
"And what money would you two be going to France with? How do you think you're going to buy plane tickets? Or pay for accommodation, or food or anything else?" Stephen asks, looking down at his son.
"I was thinking the money I've made… you know - acting," Jace says as if it's obvious, which it is.
"Don't be smart with me boy," Stephen says, "and you don't have access to any of that money, so you simply cannot go."
"But it's my money. I should be able to do what I want with it," Jace says.
"It's not your money," Stephen says, "it's in my bank account. I'm the one that spends it on the bills and our house. You're just a kid."
"Fuck off," Jace says before he can stop himself.
He feels a stinging in his cheek and looks back at his dad, who is slowly sitting back down in his chair.
"Don't you ever speak to me like that again Jonathan. I was being kind then - saying anything like that to me again, and there will be much worse consequences. Do you understand?" Stephen says.
"Yes," Jace says, still holding his cheek.
"Yes what?" Stephen asks.
Jace narrows his eyes at his father before replying, "yes sir."
Jace spent the next three years of his life getting ready for his sixteenth birthday. In the meantime, he tried to avoid his father as much as possible, and made sure that his mom was okay.
Waking up on his sixteenth birthday was one of the best feelings Jace could remember.
The first thing he did was go to him mom.
"Happy birthday lion!" his mom said as he walked into the kitchen. "I'm making you crepes now, and then I thought we might go to the movies later today? There's this great French film that's just come out."
"That sounds great mom, but first I need to talk to you, about something important," Jace says.
"Look at my little man," his mom says.
"Mom, I'm moving out. And I think you should come with me," Jace says.
"What do you mean you're moving out?" his mom asks shocked.
"I mean that I can't live with dad anymore. And I've looked it out and you can legally move out of home at 16. But I want you to come with me," Jace says, somewhat urgently. He wanted his mom to agree before his dad could have an opinion on the matter.
"Jace…" his mom says.
"No think about it - we could go anywhere you want to go. We could move to France. Or back to New York. Or some completely new country, I don't care. I just know that I need to get out, and I need to know that you're okay."
"Jace, I'm fine now," his mom says. "And I don't understand why you need to move out."
"You know that Stephen takes advantage of us!" Jace yells, and then looks towards the kitchen door, hoping his dad didn't hear. "I can support us completely, we could leave today and never look back."
"He's your manager," his mom says.
"And I've already hired a new one," Jace says, "she's young and she doesn't have a lot of experience, but she's already gotten me a new job. One that'll pay enough money that I can buy us a house big enough for both of us."
"I love your father, Jace. I know you may not understand it," she said. That was the one thing he didn't have an answer for - the one thing he knew he wouldn't be able to convince her out of. "But, I understand if you want to go."
"Do you want to move back to France?" he asks his mom. He had a plan B.
"You're father would never move back to France," his mom says.
"But do you want to?" Jace asks.
"Yes, I do," his mom says.
Jace smiles at his mom, and hugs her, before going to his father's study.
He'd been hit before for not knocking, but with the adrenaline rushing through his body, and the thought that he was about to start fresh, he pushed the door open and saw his father leaned over his desk.
When he sits up straight to look at who had just come into his office, Jace sees two lines of white powder on his desk.
"Classy," Jace says, "but there's a little bit on your jumper."
"Jonathan, how dare you-" his father begins, but Jace quickly interrupts him.
"No, today I talk and you listen," Jace says confidently, shutting the office door and sitting in the seat across from his father.
"There are going to be some changes around here," Jace says, and quickly continues before his dad has a chance to cut in. "I'm moving out. I'm firing you as my manager. And you're moving to France."
"You can't do that," his father says, shooting daggers at him.
"I can actually," Jace says. "You see, you are completely dependent on me. For everything - your house, your car… your drugs," he looks down at the mirror on his father's desk. "So if you want to see any money at all in the future, you will listen to me, and do what I say."
"Fine, what do you want," his father says.
"Since I was a baby, a baby, you have gotten your entire income from me. Do you understand the kind of pressure that comes with that? Knowing at 10 years old that if you don't do well your entire family suffers?" Jace asks, and when Stephen just stares back at him, he says "of course you don't. So I'm not going to live with it any more. Here's what's going to happen: you and mom are going to sell this house and move to France, because for some godforsaken reason, she still loves you. You will have nothing to do with me anymore. You will not be my manager, you will not talk to any press about me, and you will only come to my movie sets if you are invited by me. Do you understand so far?"
"Yeah, I understand," Stephen says with pure hatred.
"In return, you can keep all of the money I've made so far, and I will send you a monthly allowance, which you are allowed to spend on whatever you want - but once the money's gone, that is it," Jace says.
"You think I'm going to give all of this up because my idiot kid says he'll give me a little money? What's stopping me from doing anything?" Stephen asks. He clearly didn't realise how long Jace had been planning this.
"If I hear a word about you stepping out of line, the money stops straight away. Then, I will get emancipated. You will have no right to anything. I will sue you and get back everything that's rightfully mine. My mother will realise what a loser you are and come live with me, and you will have nothing. Am I understood, or do you need me to say it again?"
"Fuck you," Stephen says, standing.
"No, fuck you," Jace says, standing up and knocking the mirror of Stephens desk so the powder falls on the ground. "Your flight leaves at 9.00 tomorrow morning. If I find out you're not on it… well you already know what's going to happen. Goodbye Stephen."
Jace then quickly says goodbye to his mother, before going to his car. It had already been packed with all of his things, so he was ready to leave. Finally free from his father, from the pressures of supporting his family, finally allowed to be a kid."
"Hey baby," Jace says, sitting down beside Clary. She was sitting on their deck facing the ocean. Clary smiles over at Jace, and takes a deep breath. She'd been deep in thought and was glad to be brought out of it. "I've been thinking," he says.
"Yeah, so have I," Clary says, resting her hands on her stomach. It had 'popped' a couple of days ago - she'd only left the house once since then and nobody seemed to notice anything. Then again, she was wearing one of Jace's jackets, so it completely covered her stomach. They were both aware that they were going to have to tell everyone soon, and that seemed to make everything a little more real.
"I was thinking about when I was growing up," Jace tells her, "and how much pressure was on me to provide for my family. I don't want any of my kids to feel that pressure."
"And they won't," Clary says, slowly running her fingers through Jace's hair. "We've made a good living - I think if anything we need to be careful that they're not spoiled."
"Yeah, I get that. But… I figure we're both probably going to want a little while off after they arrive, so I was thinking I might fit in one more movie before then. Just to make sure…" Jace says, leaving towards his wife a little more.
"I don't think we need to do that, but if you want to that's your choice. Can you just make sure that it's done before they arrive? That still gives you another five months or so," Clary says.
"Yeah, of course," Jace says, kissing her on the temple. "What were you thinking about?"
"Kind of the opposite, actually. I just remember growing that my dad was never around. And then for a while my mom just felt absent. I was thinking about how I didn't want to be absent for my kids," Clary says.
"You know nothing is going to happen to either of us, right?" Jace says. He knew Clary had trouble believing people would stick around, but she was starting to realise that he was there for the long haul.
"Yeah I know," she says, resting her head on his shoulder, "but I mean, you can be physically home but mentally at work. Or even just physically at work. I think I'm going to take a break for a while; not tour anything. I just want my time to be with them," she says, resting her hand on her stomach, "and nothing else."
"Are you sure?" Jace asks, "you love touring."
"I'll do it again some day, but for now I just want to be with my family," Clary says, looking at Jace. "And I think I need to tell my band soon."
"If you're sure…" Jace says. He couldn't imagine giving up acting; not for a long time, anyway.
"I am. I've got to go meet Magnus at his house," Clary says.
"I'll drive you if you want?" Jace says, standing up and then extending his arms to help Clary up.
"That would be great, thank you," she says.
"What's going on biscuit, is everything okay?" Magnus asks.
"Yeah, everything's going really well," Clary says, "but I've got to tell you something."
"Off you go then," Magnus says.
"I've decided I'm going take a break for a while. From touring and everything. The babies are due in five months and we need to get ready for them. And it's not like I could really tour now anyway," Clary says.
"I thought this might be coming," Magnus says, "and I think you should take some time off. Get used to being a mother. Especially with twins - it's not going to be easy."
"Yeah," Clary says, rubbing her forehead, "so I've heard."
"But you two are going to be pros," he adds, pulling her hand from her forehead, "you may be a mother at 24, but you don't want wrinkles."
"What are you going to do?" Clary asks, "with your time off?"
"Alec and I have been thinking about a move. And he's considering starting to write an album, so who knows, maybe I'll get to tour with him!" Magnus says.
"A move to where, downtown?" Clary asks. She liked that they were all living in Malibu and so close at the moment.
"Paris, actually," Magnus says, and at Clary's shocked face adds, "it's just talk at the moment. And it won't be forever. And you know I can't miss meeting my biscuits little crumbs!"
"My crumbs?" Clary asks, amused.
"Alec didn't like it either," Magnus says, "funny that?"
"Odd," Clary says. "Well know I just gotta tell everyone else,'' Clary says, leaning back into the couch.
"Do they even know you're pregnant yet?" Magnus asks.
"I think Emma suspects it, and maybe Jem. But definitely not George," Clary says.
"Well it will be a nice surprise for them," Magnus says.
"Yeah, hopefully…"
"Oh my God!" Emma says, jumping up and hugging Clary. "I knew it! Didn't I tell you Jules that I thought she was pregnant."
"Yeah, you did," Jules says, looking disappointed.
"Hand it over then," Emma says, sitting back down next to Julian.
Julian hands a fifty dollar note over to Emma, and then says, "congratulations, by the way," to Clary.
"Tessa's going to be happy - she was saying just the other day that Mina needed some friends," Jem says, standing to hug Clary as well.
"Well, me being pregnant actually means I won't be able to tour for a while - it'll probably be another year or so before I even begin thinking about writing the next album," Clary says. She didn't want any of them to leave L.A., but understood that they would probably want to go home.
"Well Jules and I will be sticking around," Emma says, "L.A.'s home!"
"I'll talk to Tessa tonight - there's a chance we might go back to England for a little while," Jem says. "Don't tell Tessa but I don't really want Mina growing up with an American accent."
"What about you, Lovelace?" Julian asks.
"I'll probably head back to the farm for a while," George says, "but I'll be back soon. Weather's piss poor in Scotland compared to here!"
I hope you all liked that chapter! I've wanted to write about the past for both Clary and Jace for a while now and I thought this might be a good way to do it. Let me know! I hope you're all staying happy and healthy, and I'll see you at the next one!