Chapter 25: A Misunderstanding
Hello everyone! Thank you for all of your lovely reviews, and for coming back for another chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Clary and Jace had been filming Hercules for a couple of weeks now. So far, only one of them had only had to film at a time, so it made it a lot easier to look after the babies. On the odd occasion that they both had to film a scene in a day, they could share a trailer, and one could look after the babies while the other was filming. Usually, only one of them had to film in a day, so the other could stay home instead of taking the kids into work, which was always easier.
They were aware that they were going to start filming together soon. It was only going to be for a couple of weeks; Meg and Hercules don't actually have that many scenes together, but they still realised that they were going to have to hire a nanny.
"And why can't Izzy or Magnus just look after them while we're filming?" Jace asks, after they'd looked through a number of applicants. So far, nobody really had what they were looking for.
"Because that's not their job Jace. It's fine for them to do it every once in a while so we can go on a date - because they offer," Clary says, handing him another file. "And we're going to need a nanny in the future anyway; we can't go the rest of our lives with only one of us working at time."
"Right, but as much as possible, it'll be us looking after them, right?" Jace clarifies.
"Yeah, of course." Clary says. They'd talked at length about being involved in their kids lives as much as possible - not to be overbearing, but not be that Hollywood cliche that dumps their kids on the nanny as much as possible. "That's why we've made our arrangement."
Clary and Jace decided it was worth paying their babysitter way more than usual so that they could be called on whenever they were needed. This meant that they pay them all the time, even if they weren't working, but if something suddenly came up, then they could call their nanny. Essentially, it meant that Clary and Jace could be at home as much as possible without worrying that it was going to affect their work.
"This lady - Diana Wrayburn, looks quite good. It says here that she's got good experience with a large number of kids before - including famous families. And that she owns her own antique shops, but if necessary she'd be able to close it and come look after the kids," Jace says, reading off the file he was holding.
Clary and Jace read over it together, and set up an interview.
Another reason Clary had been going onto the set recently, even though Jace had a lot more scenes that her, was to help with the music. It started out with just helping in the recording room when there was a spare minute, but she'd recently started learning about scoring music and was learning a lot from the musical supervisor.
It had really opened her eyes to all of the ways she could get music back into her life - she didn't just have to write, record and tour an album. She could produce others, mix the music or even work on soundtracks. She knew that was another way she'd be able to work with Jace again in the future, and that was something she definitely wanted to do.
It had also been a few weeks since she'd felt sick, so she thought that her assumption had been wrong, and she was just being paranoid. It could've been stress, a food bug, or even just because her hormones were out of whack. It's also what she told herself when her period didn't come back. But just in case she hadn't been drinking.
But now, her suspicions were beginning to return. She'd been craving the same food as when she was pregnant with the twins. And not everyday, but most days in the week she'd been sick. She'd booked a doctors appointment to make sure she wasn't pregnant, but there was a big part of her that thought she already knew the answer.
She hadn't told Jace yet, because she didn't want to get his hopes up only for it to be a false alarm. Or, she didn't want to stress him out. They'd talked a few times about having more kids, but every time they did, they'd agreed that they would wait a little while.
Clary heard Jace opening the door of their trailer on the movie set, and Clary quickly flushed the toilet, before getting up and trying not to reveal that she'd just been sick. She got a glass of water while Jace said hello to the babies, before softly running her fingers through his hair and heading out to the set.
She'd tried to hide it, but Jace had seen everything, and was deeply concerned. Later that night, after they'd put the kids to bed and eaten dinner, he told Clary that he had to go over to Izzy's for a little while.
"It's pretty late," Clary says, "can't you just call. Or go over tomorrow?"
"Oh, it won't take too long," Jace says, grabbing his car keys. "She's just got to show me a few things."
"Okay…" Clary says, watching him walk into the garage.
The whole drive there, he can't stop the horrible thought from running through his head.
"What did you need to talk about?" Izzy asks, after leading him through to the kitchen and getting him a drink.
"I'll just be in our bedroom," Simon says, leaving but Jace stops him.
"Actually, I'd like to talk to both of you, if that's okay."
"Is it about Clary?" Simon asks. When Jace nods back, Simon goes back to the kitchen and stands beside Izzy.
"Had Clary seemed off to you? I mean, the past couple of weeks?" Jace asks.
"I mean, maybe a little stressed," Izzy says, "but I put that down to the two babies and movie."
"She's seemed okay to me," Simon confirms.
"Well, it happened today - and I've seen or heard her doing it a few other times. And I mean it's probably nothing but then I don't want to not help if it is something," Jace says, clearly lost in his own thoughts.
"Jace, I have no idea what you're talking about," Izzy says, clearly not following.
"Has she said anything to you guys about trying to lose weight? Maybe a diet, or new exercise?" Jace asks.
"I mean I know she's exercising - you both have been to get into shape for your roles," Simon says, "but Clary has always exercised. It's nothing you should really be concerned about."
"I mean, she's mentioned that she wants to lose her baby weight. She said she had some scene where she falls into a lake and her dress was going to cling to her. She said she didn't want to be carrying any extra weight when you guys filmed that scene," Izzy says.
"We're filming that at the end of the week," Jace says slowly.
"So what, you're worried about her trying to lose weight?" Simon asks.
"Why do you sound concerned?" Jace asks.
"Well, I mean I don't know if she's talked to you about this… it's probably not my place to say," Simon says.
"I'm her husband. If something is wrong with her, and I can help at all, then I need to know," Jace says.
Simon looks over at Izzy, who nods, urging him on, before sighing. "I'd say we were sixteen or seventeen. Clary had just started to take more of a lead in the band, and a lot more people were interested in her. There were a lot of people commenting on how she seemed really muscular - a couple of magazines said she had a body more similar to us than a normal girl - said we really were a boy band."
"Pigs," Izzy says, disgusted.
"I mean Clary was strong - she played the drums and did a fair amount of dance and everything. But when she found out what they were saying, she pretty much stopped dancing. She cut back on her diet and kept everything lean. And she would only 'sculpt' her body - as she said. It became out how she looked, not how she felt," Simon explains.
"Did she ever… throw up?" Jace asks, bracing for the answer.
"Not that I knew of. Magnus would probably know the most. After a while, he started taking her to doctors and dietitians and everything. But he would never tell us what they talked about… and we never asked," Simon says. "After a couple of months everything seems to go back to normal, but she never did get as strong again."
"Why, do you think it's happening again?" Izzy asks.
"I don't know," Jace says, running his hands through his hair. I just know that she's been sick, and she hasn't said anything about it, so I assume it's not a bug or something."
"Jace, I think you just need to talk to her," Izzy says.
"And if she brushes everything off," Simon says, "and you know it's still happening, talk to Magnus. He was the only one who was able to convince her to get help last time."
"Okay," Jace says, thinking about the tough conversation he was going to have to have, "thanks, guys."
"Let us know if she's okay, yeah?" Simon asks.
"Uh yeah, sure," Jace says. But he was already thinking about different things. He didn't want to have to go to Magnus. He was her husband, he should be able to fix this.
"How's Izzy?" Clary asks as Jace walks in from the garage.
"Clary I have to talk to you," Jace says, ignoring her question.
"Did something happen? Is everything okay?" Clary asks, standing up to meet him.
"I know you've been sick," Jace says, resting his hands on her shoulders. "And it's okay."
Clary's heart drops. "I was going to tell you. I just wasn't sure how."
"I know it's hard to talk about - but I know that we'll get through this together," Jace says, squeezing her shoulders a little.
"I've got a doctors appointment tomorrow - you can come if you want to. I was going to wait until after to tell you… but it's probably better this way."
"Of course I'll be there," Jace says. "I'm sure Izzy would be happy to take care of Ella and Teddy if we need her to."
"Oh no, it's okay. They can come," Clary says.
"Look, whatever they say tomorrow, I'm going to be there to help you through everything," Jace says.
"Well I mean…" Clary says, looking at him oddly, "it might not be anything. A false alarm."
"Clary, it's okay to admit you've got a problem. I'm going to love you no matter what," Jace says.
"I don't have a problem - do you think this is a problem?" Clary asks, sounding alarmed. "I mean I know it may be less than ideal, but it's not a problem. I mean, you're just as much to blame as I am!"
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Jace asks. If he said something to trigger this, he wasn't sure if he;d ever forgive himself.
"That I might be pregnant. What are you talking about?" Clary asks.
Jace sighs a breath of relief, "so your eating disorder hasn't come back. Oh, Clary. That's so good."
"An eating disorder? Why would you think I have an eating disorder - I'm absolutely fine," Clary asks, shocked.
"Because I heard you throwing up and - wait," Jace says, as if only just realising, "did you say that you're pregnant?"
"That I might be," Clary says, "I think I might be."
"Oh my God," Jace breathes out, before quickly closing the space between them, picking up Clary and spinning her around. After kissing her, he puts her back down and Clary laughs.
"I said I think. That's why I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow," Clary says. "And I was waiting until I knew for sure to tell you."
"Why would you wait?" Jace asks.
"Well, I wasn't sure if you even wanted to have another kid yet," Clary says.
"Of course I do," Jace says. "Obviously I love Ella and Teddy so much but…"
"Well that's a relief. But I also didn't want to get your hopes up if it was something else," Clary says.
"We do it all together, okay?" Jace says, "the highs, the lows - all of it."
"Yeah," Clary says, hugging Jace again, "together."
Sorry to leave you on a cliff hanger! Let me know what you think is going to happen... I hope you're all happy and healthy, and I'll see you next week :)