Chapter 36: The New Addition
Hello everyone and welcome back! Thank you for all the lovely reviews I've received on the last few chapter. A few of you review on most chapters, and it makes me very happy every time I see your name. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!
"Meet Lucie Eloise Herondale," Clary says to Kit and Emma, "your Goddaughter."
"She is just precious," Emma says, sitting in the chair next to her crib.
"Am I allowed to say she's your cutest kid?" Kit asks, "because I'm going to say it anyway."
"Her eyes," Emma says, "they're just like yours… so green."
"And she's inherited the red hair… I guess one of them had to get it," Kit says, laughing a little bit.
"It's lighter than mines ever been," Clary says, smiling at her daughter.
Jace was at home with the kids - he'd stayed last night for as long as he could, but he eventually had to go home. They'd decided that Emma and Kit, being Lucie's Godparents, should get to meet her first. Everyone else was going to meet her when she came home, which was looking like it'd be tomorrow.
This meant that Clary and Lucie had had a fair amount of alone time, and Clary had to agree that Lucie was the most similar looking to Clary.
"She's so little!" Kit says, after Clary had helped him pick her up.
"She's definitely smaller than James was," Clary agrees, "but she's way bigger than the twins were - which good."
Clary, Kit and Emma spend the morning in the hospital, talking about Lucie and other things. Emma and Kit take turns holding her until she starts to get a bit fussy, which is when Emma and Kit leave.
Clary spends most of the rest of the day sleeping, knowing she's not going to do a lot of it when she gets home the next day.
When Clary does bring her home the next day, she is met by an onslaught of everyone in the house. Jace rushes over to take her bag and help her to the couch. Ella, Teddy and Jamie all rush over to greet Clary, and then take great interest in the new addition in the carrier.
"This is your new little sister," Jace explains to the three kids. "Lucie."
"Hi Lucie?" Teddy says, waving at the sleeping baby.
"Hi," Ella says, also waving.
"She's asleep right now, and a bit too young to talk," Clary explains, "but I know she's excited to meet you."
James doesn't say anything, but climbs onto the couch and sits next to his mom, not taking his eyes off Lucie. After a moment or two, Ella and Teddy rush off to what they had been doing before Clary came home, but James stays on the couch next to Clary, watching his new sister with great curiosity.
Alfie comes over, sniffing around the carrier. He lets out an excited bark which wakes Lucie and she begins crying.
"S'okay," Jamie says, speaking to her for the first time.
"You're such a good big brother," Clary tells him, whilst picking up Lucie to try and calm her.
James follows Clary and Lucie around for the rest of the afternoon, sometimes joined by Teddy. Teddy likes to watch her, but gets easily distracted by whatever Ella is doing. Jamie, on the other hand, tries to help in all the ways a two year old can. Once, Lucie spits her pacifier out, and James rushes over on his little legs to pick it up and give it back to her, not quite understanding that she can't take it from him.
They move Lucie into the star ceiling nursery that night, as it's the closest room to Clary and Jace. Clary and Jace both stand in the room, watching her sleep for a moment before slowly moving back into their own bedroom.
"It's official," Clary says, falling into their bed, "that's our last kid. I'm too old to have another one!"
"You're twenty-six!" Jace says, lying down next to her.
"Almost twenty-seven!" Clary says, "and I don't see your point."
"Most people haven't even started yet!" he says, amused.
"Are you telling me you want more?" Clary asks, looking over at him.
"God no - we've got our hands full. I'm just pointing out that you're not old," Jace says.
"I feel like you're only saying that because if I'm old, you're old," Clary says.
"Age is all mental," Jace says, shutting his eyes, "I'll be young forever."
At that moment, Lucie begins crying.
"Well, it's your turn, young man," Clary says, rolling onto her side. She hears Jace chuckle, and then get out of bed to go soothe their youngest daughter.
In the following few days, Clary focuses on nothing but her children. Obviously making sure that Lucie is comfortable in the new environment was important, but she also wanted to make sure that none of her other kids felt forgotten or overlooked. She didn't think about music once; not writing for other people, not the upcoming TV show and certainly not her own album.
It's only a few days later, when she goes into her music room for the first time since having Lucie, that she realises this. She knew she wouldn't quit cold turkey - she didn't want to do that, and having nothing to do would drive her and everyone else in the house crazy. But she knew with certainty that the next few years of her life were going to be about other people, and that was okay.
She was comfortable writing for other people, producing other peoples albums, looking after the kids and supporting Jace in his career. She knew there was a possibility that the next album she would actually play any music on could be with the guys, and that thought didn't scare her. She wanted a few years to be in the background, doing the hard and dirty but so rewarding work.
And it's because of this more child focused role that she's able to notice the little things about her kids that she otherwise would have missed. She's able to notice that whenever Ella makes a mess, she quickly tries to clean it, looking around to see if anyone is going to get mad at her for it. She's able to notice how Teddy unconsciously moves along to music - when he's eating, in the bath or even watching TV. She's able to notice how Jamie keeps an eye on Lucie, and is quick to go to her if she calls out. And she's able to notice Lucie laughing for the first time - at Jamie running after Alfie.
Clary and Jace's wish that Jamie, Phoebe and Lucie could all be friends is quickly fulfilled. B takes up a similar fascination with Lucie, and she can hear Jamie trying to explain things about her to B when they play together. Assuming the relationship continued when they were older, Clary knew she didn't have to worry about Jamie feeling left out in his own house.
The twins, however, seemed more determined to stick to each other than ever. While Teddy would sometimes get caught up looking at Lucie, he would quickly get pulled back to whatever he was doing with Ella. They would play with their parents, but seemed to have almost no interest in playing with other kids.
Their dance teacher had made a comment that they seemed much more interested in dancing than making friends, which was unusual for kids of that age. It wasn't that they couldn't talk to other people - it was simply that they wouldn't.
It was because they were determined to get Teddy and Jamie playing together again, and Clary was desperate to leave the house that they slowly began going to the park near their house again. They still hadn't gone out with all four children yet - that seemed like the next step they weren't quite ready to take yet, but they had each left with three kids before, and it seemed manageable. They knew it would get easier when everyone started getting a bit older and less reliant on their parents for everything.
A few weeks later, Clary and Jace agree that everything is under control enough to Jace begin working on the TV show. He would go into the office for a couple of hours each day where script writers, directors and cinematographers would meet him to start planning and scheduling everything. If he has a casual day, he'll take the twins with him but there had been a couple of days when Clary had been at home with the four kids. It was a lot, but she'd figured out how to handle everything. The hardest times were when they all had to have something at the same time, like at lunch or nap times. She now knew it was best to do everything from youngest to oldest - Lucie got the fussiest the quickest, and the twins were comfortable occupying themselves while Clary fed someone else.
Clary couldn't start writing any music until the scripts had been written, but Jace would come home each day and fill her in on what he had done. Clary thought it was good to see him excited and passionate again.
She had also slowly started to teach him how to play guitar - his character in the show needed to know how to play one, and he wanted to look as comfortable as possible. It definitely helped that he already knew how to play piano, but Clary liked that they would have a moment together every night, when all the kids had gone to bed that was just for them.
He kept requesting that she teach him all of her songs, because they "obviously the best, and probably the only thing I should really know how to play," as Jace put it. She started him out on some of her earlier stuff because it was usually less complicated, and he was picking it up pretty quickly.
Emma and Kit were also now frequent visitors to the Herondale house. At least one of them came over most days to see Lucie, and play with all the kids - Emma loved to have running races with Jamie, and Kit liked it when the twins would dance when he played the guitar, so Clary was never really alone.
When Clary reveals to Kit that she's only going to write and produce for the next few years, he's at first angry that she's giving up performing, but then becomes excited when he realises that means she can produce his albums.
"You need a label a lot bigger than what I've got," Clary tells him, and it was true. Clary planned on producing either small or new artists.
"You produced your last album," Kit says, "and I know for a fact it sold more copies than mine - not that I'm bitter about it."
"Of course I'll help you write your next album if you want, but I really think you should stick with your current label," Clary says.
"They're a bunch of twats trying to cut everything down and making it more generic. I know you've got more talent in your left middle toe than everyone combined in that building, and I'm not taking no for an answer!" Kit says, all while bouncing Lucie softly on his hip - he's really become quite a natural around children.
"You know I'd love to work with you again, but-"
"Then it's decided! I won't be renewing my contract and I'll be coming over to you. You can do your little TV show and then we'll start writing my album," Kit says, holding Lucie's arms up so she celebrates with him.
"Are you sure?" Clary asks, "I don't want to hold you back."
"I'm dead certain," Kit replies, "you've never held me back - you're too good. You simply couldn't even if you wanted to."
I hope you all liked that! A little bit of setting up for the future. Like I asked in the last chapter, I was thinking about doing a few more chapters of all the kids this young, and then doing a bit of a time jump, so let me know what you think about that idea. And also about another story that really focuses on the kids! I hope you all have a great week, and are happy and healthy :)