Chapter 32: Here We Go Again
First of all I wanted to say a massive thank you for 100 reviews on this story! That's crazy - thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far :) I also wanted to say sorry for only uploading once last week. I think up loading twice might be a little bit much for me, so I'm sorry to disappoint anyone, but I'm going to have to go back to once a week. I've got university starting again next week and I just know I'll only write crappy chapters if I'm trying to squeeze in two a week - but I'll try and throw in a bonus chapter every now and then! And now onto the chapter...
Clary and Jace are sitting on their couch, watching Friends after putting the kids to bed. They'd been slowly making their way through the show, and they were up to Chandler and Monica's wedding.
"Shit," Clary whispers under her breath, quickly looking over to Jace to see if he's noticed, but he's still watching the television. "Jace?"
"Yeah baby?" Jace answers, looking over at her.
"I'm late," Clary says, standing up suddenly, causing Honky to walk off angrily.
"You're late for what?" Jace asks, "it's like nine o'clock."
"No, my period's late," Clary says.
"Are you sure?" Jace says, standing up as well.
"Well I mean, we've been really busy at the moment, what with all the kids birthdays, and just raising three kids in general," Clary explains, "But I'm pretty sure - I just didn't really notice."
"Okay umm… do you have a test or something you could take?" Jace asks, rubbing her shoulder. "It's going to be okay Clary."
"Yeah I think so," she says, heading towards their bathroom. She looks through the draws for a moment before finding a pregnancy test.
"Okay, so now we just wait a few minutes… I mean I'll go to the doctor soon anyway to make sure," Clary says, running her fingers through her hair.
"Clary, there's nothing to worry about," Jace says, "we talked about having another kid. I thought we wanted this."
"And I thought we wanted to wait a little while longer," Clary says, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub, eyeing the pregnancy test that is sitting on the edge of the sink.
"I don't think this is bad timing," Jace says, squatting down in front of Clary, "in fact I think it's actually really good. We've never been better at communicating, and I think there'll be a good age gap between all the kids."
"You think so?" Clary asks, feeling her stress go away with each word he said. How had she not noticed? She was over three weeks late for her period if she was doing her maths correctly.
"Yeah," Jace says softly, "I think so." He grabs hold of her hands, "I think this is a good thing Clary. And if that test comes back negative, then I think maybe we should start trying again anyway."
Clary nods, and looks over at the test again. She wanted to have another baby, she was sure about that. She just thought that maybe this one would be a little more planned.
"I think we can look now," Jace says, and Clary pulls her eyes away from the test to look back at Jace, who is looking at his watch.
Clary nods and slowly walks over to the sink, and then slowly picks up the test.
"I love you," she says to Jace before looking at it.
"I love you too," Jace says, eagerly looking at the test in her hand.
She flips it over. Two clear lines. She smiles up at Jace, who quickly kisses her, before picking her up and spinning her around.
"But this is the last one, okay," Clary says, laughing.
Jace wipes the tears off her cheek bones, "okay," he says, smiling. "We're going to have another baby…"
"Yeah," Clary says, beaming up at him, still crying a little bit.
Jace picks Clary up bridal style and carries her to their bed, and as soon as he places her down, James starts crying.
Jace sighs, but leaves the room anyway to go help his son.
"Hey baby," Clary whispers, gently laying her hands on her stomach. "You don't know me yet - it's going to be a while before we can meet. But I'm your mom. And I love you so much."
When Jace comes back into their room a little while later, Clary still has her hands resting on her stomach, but she's fallen asleep.
"I know this might make me sound like a bitch," Clary tells Jace a few days later. "But I don't want you doing any movies while I'm pregnant this time - in L.A. or anywhere else. I know you haven't signed on for anything yet, and I just want to say it now… I can't look after three kids while I'm pregnant."
They'd gone to the doctor yesterday who'd confirmed that Clary was pregnant. She was just about a month along.
"Of course," Jace says, "I'm not going to do that again. And it doesn't make you sound like a bitch, for the record."
"I'm sorry, I know you love filming," Clary begins.
"Hey," Jace says, cutting her off, "there's no need to apologise. I've started writing my next movie to direct - you know that. And we've got the office all worked out so I can take the twins with me. It means I can come home whenever you need - I'll only be a few minutes away. I can work whenever it suits you. And because I'll be directing and hopefully producing I'll have pretty much the last say in scheduling - it means I won't have to start until we've got everything under control with all the kids."
Clary could tell that he'd really thought it all through, and she was so grateful that this pregnancy wasn't going to lead to some relationship ruining fight.
"And, because I'll have this massive timeline to get everything ready over, I won't become stressed like I did last time. I'll be more prepared - both in actual material, and in experience." Jace says, kissing Clary on the forehead, "this is going to be your easiest pregnancy yet."
"Yeah well, don't go jinxing anything," Clary says, knocking on the dining table.
"I've thought about a lot as well," Clary says.
"Oh yeah?" Jace asks.
"Mmhmm, I'm not going to tour again for a while. At least five or six years," Clary says.
"Really?" Jace asks, looking at her shocked.
"I want to be here while my kids grow up. I can't do that if I'm leaving for months every few years."
"They could come with you?" Jace says. "It worked for us last time."
"That was with three kids," Clary says, "and they were young - we weren't really taking them away from anything yet. As they get older they'll have school and friends and probably sport and a million other things that I want to be there for, and that they won't want to leave. It's different for your work - you could film a year long movie in L.A. and you wouldn't really miss anything."
"You sound sure about this," Jace says.
"I am," Clary agrees. "I didn't really get the full family experience growing up, and I want it now."
"I just don't want you to feel like you're missing out," Jace says, looking all over her face to see if there were any signs of disappointment or sadness, but there didn't seem to be.
"I'm going to write for other people. And I've decided I'll start producing once I've had this baby," Clary says, gently rubbing her stomach. "I'll still be involved and my job will still be music, just a new part."
"It sounds like you've really thought this through," Jace says, mimicking Clary's earlier thought.
"I have," Clary says, smiling at him. "This change has been coming for a while. I think now's the time."
"Look at us," Jace says, smiling at his wife, "growing up!"
"It's about time," Clary says, laughing.
And so they did what they told each other they were going to do. Jace would go into their office for a few hours each day, usually bringing the twins to write or plan his movie. Clary would usually write from home, but she was still selling a song every few weeks. She'd also been talking to Magnus how to go about this new change - how to find artists to produce for, and how to make sure she was ready when the time came.
Clary was sitting on the back deck one day while Jace was at work, watching all of the kids play. Ella and Teddy were off to one side of the yard playing with each other, and Jamie was sitting closer to Clary occupying himself with a ball.
She'd tried to talk to the twins once more about why they didn't want to play with Jamie, but she had come no closer to an answer. Before she has time to say or do anything, Ella walks up to Jamie and takes his ball, and then turns to begin playing with Teddy once again.
Even after Jamie starts crying, she doesn't give it back, so Clary walks quickly down into the garden and picks up Jamie, and softly starts shushing him, gently running her fingers through his hair.
"Ella," Clary says, walking over to the twins, "it's not kind to take things. Give the ball back to your brother and say sorry."
"I play ball!" Ella says angrily, looking up at her mother and brother.
"Jamie had it first," Clary says. "Give it back and say sorry please."
Instead, Ella sits on the ground and begins crying. Teddy is looking between Ella and his mom, clearly deciding if he should begin crying as well.
When Clary turns away from Ella without another word, she hears Teddy also begin to cry, leaving Clary in the backyard to deal with the three crying children.
She hated calling Jace away from his work, but the twins always responded better to him, so Clary takes James inside, and calls Jace, asking him to come home and help. Clary puts James down once he's stopped crying, where he begins to play with Honky.
Clary goes back outside to see that Teddy had stopped crying, but Ella was still sitting on the ground, red in the face. Clary was suspicious that no tears were falling, and as such didn't want to reward the behaviour. Instead, she decides to wait for Jace to get home.
After explaining the situation to him, Jace goes out to talk to the twins while Clary stays inside with Jamie. After a while, Ella and Teddy come inside, closely followed by Jace.
"Sorry," Ella says, dropping the ball in front of Jamie. He smiles at the ball, and then at Ella, and begins playing once again. Hopefully, Jamie and this new kid would get on better.
"How do you do it?" Clary asks Jace later that night as they're both laying in bed.
"How do I do what?" Jace asks.
"How do you get Ella to listen to you - sometimes Teddy listens to me, and I get he's two so I'm not going to win every battle. But Ella almost never does what I ask her to."
"You've just got to be patient I guess," Jace says, "and explain to her why she's supposed to do something - or not do something. And it doesn't work all the time."
"I just don't understand her," Clary says, frustrated. "I thought I'd be better at raising girls."
"You've spent your whole life practically surrounded by guys," Jace says. "So take it easy on yourself, alright."
"It seems so easy for you," Clary says.
"Well I'm glad it looks that way, because it doesn't feel like it," Jace says kindly. "And you get along with B really well - just give Ella some time."
"I shouldn't get on better with Simon's kid that may own," Clary says, rolling over to look at Jace.
"You're so good with James - and you're a great mother. Just give it some time Clary. She'll come around," Jace says.
"I've been meaning to talk to you about James actually," Clary says, sitting up a little more.
"What about?" Jace asks.
"I mean this in the nicest way possible - I think you're an amazing dad. You know that, right?" Clary asks, and Jace smiles at her, which she takes as a yes. "Just make sure you don't leave Jamie behind. He's a lot quieter than the twins. And he won't make a fuss if you don't pay attention to him, but I don't want you to spend so much of your time with the twins that you miss out on getting to be with Jamie too."
Jace looks at the ceiling for a moment, before looking back over at Clary. "Okay. Of course. I won't leave James behind."
I hope you liked that. I know a few of you are a little confused why the twins don't like playing with James, and I'm going to get into that soon, and especially when all the kids start getting a bit older. Please feel free to leave a review with any comments or questions! I hope you're all happy and healthy and have a good week :)