When Clary woke up again, it was night time. The blinds were closed, but she could still see glimpses of darkness through the gaps. Her stomach rumbled loudly the minute she became conscious, and she remembered the last time that she had woken up, she had been hungry then. She took in a deep breath, tilting her head from side to side, wincing a little at the throbbing still at the back of her head, but it wasn't quite as bad as it had been earlier. The pain in her stomach also wasn't as bad, and she wondered if Catarina Loss—the doctor that Jace had on call—had maybe paid a visit. She had a very helpful mutation, of being able to drain pain, and Clary definitely wondered if she had been by and take some of her pain.

She sat up slowly, wincing a little at the pain in her stomach, given it was still present, just not as bad as it was before. Her throat was dry, and she was thankful to see a glass of water on the bedside table, next to a brown bottle of pills with her name printed on a label around it. She picked up the cup and emptied almost the whole thing.

Clary reached out with her mind, and she was slightly surprised to find only Jace in the house. Part of her expected that he would have kept one of his men around, but then as she stretched out further with her mind, she realized that Will was nearby, in the garage out the front of the house.

Come to bed, Clary whispered in Jace's mind, and she felt him responding almost immediately. Jace came into the bedroom, looking drained and exhausted, but he smiled at her, and clearly he didn't want her to worry.

"Hey," Jace murmured as he came over to stand beside the bed. "Did you want something to eat? You were hungry when you woke up last time, and now it's almost eight."

"Fucking starving," Clary said with a nod.

"I'll heat you something up, we went out and got food earlier and then just put it in the fridge," Jace told her.

"Have you eaten?" Clary asked quietly, but pointedly.

"Yeah, I had something for breakfast," Jace responded, but then he hesitated, and Clary stared at him. Yes, he did have something for breakfast, but that was yesterday. He seemed to realize that as well, because he sighed as he walked out of the room. She heard him moving around in what she assumed was the kitchen, although she was still didn't know where they were—she didn't even know what part of the city they were in. When Jace came back, he had reheated Chinese food, which was never as good the second time around, but it would do for now. It was from a Chinese place that was near her home, so if she was with anyone else, then she could assume that they weren't too far away from her part of the city, but with two teleporters on call, it really didn't mean anything.

"You make sure you eat as well," Clary prompted as he put it down in front of her, despite how meticulous he was with no eating in bed. Jace didn't argue with her, first making sure that she was comfortable with pillows plumped up behind her, and then sliding in alongside her, pulling the covers over his lap. They ate without talking, although it definitely wasn't in silence, because Clary was making all kinds of slurping and moaning noises, feeling as though she hadn't eaten in a month.

Once they had finished, Jace's OCD kicked in, and he quickly took their dishes back out the bedroom, picking up any crumbs that they had left behind and pointedly handing a damp cloth over to Clary to wipe her hands. She rolled her eyes but obliged with a small smile on her face, carefully reaching out to him to take the cloth and trying to hide the wince of pain at the movement.

"Here," Jace fussed over her, helping her wiggle back under the duvet and pulling it up around her, careful not to touch her middle. At least her head wasn't throbbing as much as it was before, probably the pills that she had taken before she fell asleep kicking in. "You need to be careful. You have stitches in your stomach and you don't want to tear any of them. The knot on the back of your head has gone down, you got hit pretty badly when you fell onto the concrete after she attacked you." There was tension creeping back through his body and tensing his jaw, and Clary circled her hand around his wrist, trying to soothe him.

"You said Simon came by?" She asked, changing the subject, rubbing her thumb over the inside of his wrist. Jace shrugged a shoulder, and in that moment, she caught a glimpse of something else, something that she hadn't seen when they had had company earlier.

Hurt.

One of the main reasons why Simon had demanded to come and see her had been because he had no idea who Jace was, or why he was calling in on Clary's behalf. Of course, he knew that she was seeing someone, but other than a glimpse of Alec in the cafe the other day, he had no idea what Jace looked like, or even his name. Jace knew that she was private about their relationship—both working and personal—but he also knew that Simon was her best friend, and he was hurt that she hadn't spoken about him.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't keep you a secret because I wanted to hurt you. I did it to keep him safe."

"I know," Jace responded, giving her a small smile, and she could read in his mind that he did know that, but it didn't mean it hadn't made his heart twinge. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead before moving away from her. He undressed quickly, laying his shirt, and then his pants over a chair in the corner of the room, and pulling off his socks and folding them together carefully, putting them on the chair as well, before coming over to the bed. It was just a simple flick of his finger and the light switch turned off, given all the metal that rimmed the appliances. He was careful as he got into bed beside her, and slid an arm underneath her head. Clary wanted to shuffle closer and curl against his side, but it was best to lay on her back right now and not move, so she stayed where she was.

"How long did you tell them before I would be back at work?" Clary asked quietly. "A week or so?" Jace actually laughed at that, and then immediately apologized because his body jolting meant that Clary also shifted unexpectedly and she let out a hiss.

"No, babe," Jace told her with a shake of his head that she could feel in the dark. "It's going to be weeks, maybe a couple of months before you're back to normal totally."

"What?!" Clary snapped, twisting her head to the side, ignoring the sharp pain in her abdomen.

"You were out for a while, Clary," Jace told her softly, and he twisted the arm that was underneath her, so that he could brush his thumb against her bicep softly. "The wound is deep—the drugs that Catarina gave you, and the sedative that she used with her powers—are covering up a lot of the pain. It's going to take you a long time to heal. And you're going to need physio as well to make sure everything gets back to normal for you, that your body heals right."

"I can't be off work for months, I've got students who rely on me!" Clary exclaimed.

"Well, I don't care about your students," Jace stated, maybe a little too bluntly. "I care about you, and you getting better," he paused and took in a deep breath. "And it's not just about you getting better, it's about keeping you safe as well. The person, or people, who did this, are still out there. And I'm not letting you out of my sight until I know that you will be okay."

"So I'm supposed to stay in this—in this house?" Clary frowned at him. "I don't even know where we are—I can't just stay here, I'll get so bored I'll go out of my mind."

"This is a safe house, and that's exactly what it's going to keep you," Jace told her. "And at least until you're able to walk around properly, I don't want you leaving here—and even after you're walking, I'm not letting you just roam around without someone there to protect you." Clary pursed her lips together, preparing herself to argue, but then she saw a flash from Jace of him literally bending all of the metal handles and window frames to keep her safe inside if she threatened to leave. She rolled her eyes and let out a heavy breath through her nose.

"You're not going to need to do anything that drastic," she muttered, and Jace let out a short laugh under his breath. They fell into silence for a few minutes, both of them breathing steadily, filling the room. Clary wasn't too sure where they were, because there wasn't the usual buzz of the city around them, and although she hadn't looked out the windows to see what was in around them, from what she could gather from the images she had glimpsed in the others minds, she could guess that they were in a single storey home, and that they were on the edge of the city.

When people got tired, the emotions and the feelings that they had been bottling up throughout the day began to release. Even though it was easy for her to card through people's memories and thoughts through the day, night time was easier, and sometimes that made it harder for Clary. It definitely made it harder for her before she was with Jace, and she was bouncing from one relationship to another. It was very difficult to stay aroused when she was sleeping with a guy she had met at a bar was thinking about his ex-girlfriend who had broken up with him just a few days before.

But with Jace, it was nice.

While he was usually guarded, despite the fact that he would let her in, at night, he let those shields down. Slowly, one at a time.

And Clary enjoyed the warm, loving feelings that would wash over her body. He was open about the way he felt about her, although he wasn't too good with putting all those emotions and feelings into words. At night, those feelings were more honest.

Unfortunately, they weren't all good feelings today.

There was guilt in there as well, and that made her upset, because Jace already carried so much of the world on his shoulders, she didn't want to be just another worry that he carried. Clary rested her hand on his stomach, the pads of her fingers gently smoothing over his toned abdominals, trying to smother those feelings with the love and appreciation that she felt.

"It wasn't your fault," Clary whispered softly into the dark room. Jace didn't reply, but his arm tightened around hers. She knew he didn't believe her, and she twisted her head to kiss him softly, hoping that one day he would.

I've written this about four times now, and I'm just going to keep it simple.

On the 15th of March 2019, there was a terrorist attack in my beautiful country, New Zealand. This is the first ever mass shooting on this level during peace time in the beautiful islands that I have spent my whole life in.

This doesn't happen here. We don't have mass shootings. We don't have a fear of one another to the point where it drums up anger that turns to hate. In the words of our absolutely incredible Prime Minister, "They are us."

We are all one people, and we can't let hate win.

I hope you all spend time with people that you love and cherish, and I hope you never hold back to show this.

Arohanui and Kia Kaha x