Chapter 29: Welcome To The Family!

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another chapter. Hope you enjoy!

"I'm just so angry with him," Clary tells Simon, "and he doesn't seem to care."

Simon had come over with Phoebe to give Izzy some time off, and he'd asked why Jace seemed to be staying away. "And I don't know what to say to him to make him see my perspective."

"Which is?" Simon asks.

"That he left me pregnant with our two babies so he could go film a movie," Clary says, and she can see the look on Simon's face, so she quickly adds, "and I know that he says he's doing it for us… but I just don't understand how he thinks that it's more important to film a movie than actually be with his family."

"Have you asked him?" Simon asks, calmly.

"Of course - and he says that he doesn't understand how I don't understand. We just keep going 'round in circles and never actually figuring anything out," Clary says, frustrated.

"I can see both of your perspectives," Simon says, and after Clary punches him on the arm adds, "of course, I'm always on your side. But Jace has been working for a long time - way longer than either of us. And from what Izzy and you have told me… his dad was always pretty harsh on him, and pretty much forced him to work. And then when he moved out he had to keep working to support himself."

"Okay," Clary says, reluctantly, "you might have a point."

"But I get that he's left you with a lot, and it's not fair that he did that," Simon adds, "I don't want to get involved in your marriage… but I think you you two just sat down and actually discussed everything, you might be able to see it from each others perspectives and understand. It might help you not be so angry at each other."

"It scares me that you've gotten this wise," Clary says.

"If it helps you," Simon says, smiling, "I fell asleep on the toilet last night reading a Manga. Izzy had to wake me up."

"You know," Clary says, "that does help. Thank you."

"What would you do without me?" Simon says, standing. He holds out his hands to help Clary stand.

"I don't want to think about it," Clary says.

Later that night, after Clary and Jace had put the kids to bed, and Luke had gone out for a walk, Clary sits down with Jace.

"We need to talk," Clary says.

"If we're just going to argue, then I'd rather go to bed. I've got an early flight tomorrow, and stupid long hours all week."

"Can you for once, not prioritise work?" Clary says, annoyed.

Jace throws his arms in the air, as if saying, 'see, all we do is fight.'

"I'm sorry," Clary says, "but we really need to talk."

"Fine," Jace says, "what about."

"About us," Clary says. "This isn't working right now Jace."

He looks alarmed, but stays silent.

"Simon helped me see things from your perspective… and I understand why you're doing the movie. But you need to understand how hard this has been for me. And that I've given up work as well. And I'm trying my hardest, but I need help," Clary says.

"I get that… and I thought I was helping… I thought I was doing the right thing by taking this job. I was supporting my family," Jace says.

"I get that. And I know your dad used to burn through your cash so quickly that you constantly had to work. But we're not in that position anymore. We have investments, and a really big savings account. And we own our house and cars. Nothing's going to happen to all of that."

"I just… I had to support my mom. I didn't want her to have to go without because I didn't want to take a job," Jace says.

"Trust me, I understand what it's like," Clary says. And he nods. Because she did understand - Jace may have been working longer, but they were in exactly the same position at one point in time. "But it's not like that anymore."

"I'm sorry," Jace says, "I know I've missed a lot. And I've left you with a lot. But I still have to go tomorrow… I can't can't pull out now - it's way too late."

"I know," Clary says, and though she didn't want him to leave, she knew there was no way around it. "But in the future, I think we need to make more decisions together. And not just about your job. Both of ours."

"I think that's a good plan," Jace says, leaning forward to kiss Clary. As Clary leans forward to meet him, she feels a sharp pain in her back.

Jace notices her grimace, and quickly asks, "Clary, what's wrong?"

"It's just my back," she says, massaging the spot that hurt, "I've been getting cramps for the past few days - Doctor Jeremiah said it was normal."

"Are you like, going to go into labour?" Jace asks, not really sure how to approach the situation.

"Hopefully one day, yeah. But I don't think it'll be soon," Clary says. "My due date isn't for another two weeks."

"But it could be in the next week?" Jace asks, becoming more stressed.

"I mean… yeah," Clary says, refraining from adding, 'that's why I've been so annoyed.'

"So I could… miss it?" Jace asks.

"I thought you would come home if I went into labour," Clary says, and winces at another cramp in her back.

"Yeah, but you had the twins in like, 2 hours - I'm not going to be able to get home that quickly," Jace says.

Clary is trying to listen to him, but she was having another cramp - this one wasn't in her back, and it was a lot worse than any other the others had been. She couldn't be in labour now… could she? She takes a few deep breaths and the pain ebbs away.

She tells Jace to calm down, and that she's going to go have a shower. She gets the same pain in her stomach while in the shower, and another one a short while after she gets out. After a few quick google searches, she goes up to Jace, who was still sitting on the couch.

"Jace," she says calmly. "I don't want to freak you out. But I think I'm in labour."

Jace jumps up and rushes over to her, "are you sure? Did your water break? We need to go to the hospital!"

"I'm not 100 percent sure," Clary answers, "and no, my water didn't break, but it doesn't have to. And we're not going to the hospital yet - not until my contractions are closer together. I think we should just call Doctor Jeremiah and see what he has to say."

After calling their doctor, and waiting a few more hours, Clary decides that the contractions are close enough together that she can go to the hospital. Luke stays home with Ella and Teddy while Jace drives.

Clary was much calmer than Jace. She'd done this before - and this time everything seemed to be much more normal. Jace, however, did not seem to agree.

He rushed her into the hospital at around ten o'clock, and by three o'clock the next morning, Clary had given birth to a little boy. He had the same golden skin, eyes and hair as Jace. As far as Clary could see, he was going to grow up to be a perfect carbon copy of his father.

Jace delayed his flight indefinitely, so the next morning he didn't have to rush around. He was sitting on the end of Clary's bed after she had woken up, and asks, "I know we didn't get a chance to talk about names. Honestly I haven't really been thinking about it."

"Well, you know how we chose Ella and Teddy's names from our family trees?" Clary asks, "I was thinking we could do the same thing again. So I've been looking and I really liked James and Thomas."

Jace smiles as she says the names, and then repeats, "James Thomas Herondale."

"I think it's nice - but only if you like it too," Clary says.

"I love it. Ella, Theodore and James," Jace lists of, smiling.

"Ella, Teddy and Jamie," Clary repeats. I think it's nice."

Jace kisses Clary on the forehead.

"And I was also thinking," Clary says as Jace sits back down, "that we could make Luke the Godfather? He's just been so helpful, and I couldn't imagine him not being a part of our children's lives."

"I think that's a great idea. Any ideas for Godmother?" Jace asks.

They talk about it for a little while, but end up leaving the position blank. If Luke ever decided to get married, then that person could fill the role.

Clary stays in hospital for a few more nights with Jamie, while Jace goes home to help Luke take care of Ella and Teddy.

When Clary came home, however, he really had to leave. The movie had been put on hold while he stayed home, and it was beginning to cost a lot. He was going to be gone for a week, and in that time Luke was going to stay at L.A. to help Clary take care of the three babies.

To say it was harder was an understatement. While the twins didn't like receiving less attention than the other, it seemed to especially annoy them Clary would spend time with Jamie. It didn't matter what Luke did, they would scream for Clary. This made it a lot harder for Clary to take care of everyone at meal times, because the twins refused to eat unless it was Clary feeding them, and it only Clary could feed Jamie.

Despite being a really easy baby, Jamie still woke up during the night, and seemed to calm down much faster when it was Clary who went to sooth him. She had decided that his lullaby would be Sweet Baby James, by James Taylor, and he fell asleep very quickly when she began singing it, especially, she found out, when she played the guitar as well.

It was a relief when Jace finally came home. Thankfully, he was only gone for a week. The twins didn't mind when Jace fed them, which made breakfast a lot easier. And they seemed to fuss the least when Jace bathed them and got them dressed. In the end, Jace did most things for the twins, and Clary for James.

Clary had been writing one night when she decided she wanted to have a bath. After a little while, she comes back to the music room to see Jace sitting on the piano chair, holding her song book.

"When did you write this?" he asks as she walks into the room.

"Why are you going through my book?" Clary asks instead of answering. She didn't know what song he was looking at, and she didn't really want to.

"I was curious. When did you write this?" he asks again.

She slowly looks down at the book and sees the title 'My Love, My Life' written out. Unable to say anything she just looks up at him.

"Is this… were you going to… are you going to leave?" he asks, clearly in some state of shock.

Clary quickly shakes her head and sits next to him on the seat. He slowly stands up, and paces the room. "Did you want me to leave?" he asks.

Clary can't answer.

"I guess that says everything," Jace says, putting the book down on the piano.

"I don't know Jace," Clary says sadly. "It felt like you didn't want to be here. And that you didn't care about our kids. And I wasn't going to make them have a dad that didn't care about them. I never stopped loving you."

"I love all of our children Clary… and I care about them, and you, so much," Jace says desperately.

"I know that now," Clary says kindly, "but Jace you have to understand how it felt. You always missed my calls, and never really asked about the twins or how the pregnancy was going... "

"I missed them so much that I thought it would be easier to just put them out of mind. And I was so scared that something would go wrong that it was just easier to not ask any questions. And I only missed your calls when I was working."

"Okay," Clary says, "we didn't handle it very well. But you're here now, and I completely forgot that I wrote that song. And I'm so sorry."

Despite accepting her apology and saying that he was okay, Clary noticed a distinct shift in his behaviour in the following days. It wasn't towards her at all - he continued to be as loving and caring as he usually was. It was towards the kids - and the twins specifically. He was so much more caring and involved than he'd been before. He was singing them lullaby's. He would prepare their food, feed them and clean up without asking Clary any questions.

Clary found a bunch of tabs on his computer about all the best things for babies, and how to care for them. He would take them for walks and talk to them so softly.

She knew that he said he was okay, but he was clearly trying to show her that he did care about his kids. That he was more than capable of looking after them. He was trying to show her that all of her doubts had been miss guided. It was nice to finally have her husband back.

Song mentions:

Sweet Baby James by James Taylor
My Love, My Life by ABBA

I hope you all enjoyed that chapter! If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please feel free to let me know! Hope you're all happy and safe :)