Clary and Jace were both silent as Clary washed away the blood from Jace's lip and eyebrow, dabbing carefully to avoid any pain.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to hurt you." She whispered. Her own face was starting to throb and talking seeming to aggravate the wounds on her cheek.
"It's fine, Clary, really. Honestly, I'm more worried about your cheek, it's a pretty nasty gash you have there from Sebastian's ring. Let me get a look." Clary's head spun as she finally felt the blood dripping down her face. Jace whistled.
"Clary, you need stitches I think. This cut on your cheek is pretty deep, how do you feel?" Jace pressed his fingers gently along the back side of her head. She winced.
"Did I fall?" she questions, suddenly trying to remember the whole fight.
"Yea, you fell backwards and hit your head pretty hard when Sebastian hit you." Jace's eyes held worry. Clary felt nauseous suddenly and bent over the toilet, throwing up the contents of her stomach.
"I swear I barely had anything to drink." She said, begging him to listen to her. Jace frowned.
"Clary I think you might have a concussion. We need to take you in to get checked out."
"No, really it's fine I just need some sleep-"Clary tried to plead with Jace.
"No dice love, you're going." That shut her up. He had just called her love. "Let's find Jon and see what state he's in. Here, hold this cloth to your cheek. Clary did as Jace said and as she stood up, the room spun around her.
"Ugh." She groaned.
"What? What's wrong?" Jace panicked.
"Nothing, the room is just moving very fast." Clary's face was pale.
"Alright, I'm calling an Uber. I'll call Jon on the way, but we don't have time to try and find him right now." Jace was leading Clary down the steps, holding onto her with both hands as she wobbled. "How much did you drink Clary?"
"I had a shot when we first got here and then like half of a drink. I really didn't have that much." He nodded.
"Uber is here, let's go." Jace helped Clary out the door, the cool night air nipping her skin, causing goosebumps to trail her arms.
"Thanks for helping me. I'm sorry I'm such a mess." Clary blurted out. Jace's face held an angry frown suddenly.
"You aren't a mess, you just got involved with a bad guy. Honestly Jon and I should have looked out for you better. It's not your fault, Clary, not at all." A tear rolled down Clary's face, but Jace knew better than to comment on it. He knew Clary well enough to know she cries when she's angry.
"I just feel so stupid. I just went off with him without even thinking." They were crawling into the car now, the leather seats warm against Clary's cool skin. Jace positioned himself close to her, drawing his arm around her small body.
"Going to Saint Gabriels?" the driver asked.
"Yea, as fast as possible." Jace slipped the driver a fifty dollar bill.
"No problem." The driver sped off as Clary shimmied up to Jace, trying to collect his body heat for herself.
"Hey, you're freezing. Here, take my coat." Jace slipped off his worn leather jacket and tucked Clary into it. She breathed in and felt his scent all around her. Sun and warmth and rain.
"Don't forget to call Jon. Put him on speaker." Clary mentioned. Jace realized she was right and he pulled out his cell phone.
"Jace? Where are you?" Jon answered. The noise in the background told Clary he was still at the party.
"Hey Jon, I'm with Clary. I'm taking her to get checked out, I think she has a concussion from Sebastian's nice little arm earlier tonight." As predicted, Jon started to freak out.
"What?! Is she okay? Put her on! Put Clary on now!" Jace rolled his eyes. As protective of Jon was when something happened, he wasn't great at protecting her to keep things like this happening in the future.
"Jon, it's Clary. I'm fine, I swear, Jace is just being overprotective." Clary wouldn't look at Jace though, hoping it was more than just being her brother's friend that made him want to take care of her.
"Well he should be! I still can't believe he laid hands on you." Jon was growling through the phone.
"Jon, I'm fine, seriously. Go enjoy the party, make sure Izzy gets home safe, and I'll see you later."
"Alright, fine, but Jace, you text me every update you hear me?" Jon was yelling then, the music in the background getting louder.
"Yes sir." With that, Jace hung up the phone.
Pulling up to the hospital, Clary's head began to ache more, her pulse pounding against her skull. Wincing as Jace helped her out of the car, she bent over and vomited on the sidewalk.
"I'm so sorry." Clary said, shocked.
"It's fine Clary, I've seen you throw up before." He laughed slightly. They walked into the empty hospital emergency room and were greeted with bright lights and the quiet voices of nurses.
"Name?" one asked.
"Clarissa Fray."
"Reason for visit?" Jace looked at Clary.
"She fell at a party, I think she needs stitches and might have a concussion." He told the nurse. Clary didn't pay attention to what they asked her after that, her only focus was the wispy blond hairs that framed Jace's face, and the way his cheekbones seemed to balance out his large eyes and long lashes.
"Clary, we're going to go get your stitches now." Jace told her. There was panic building up inside Clary, as she didn't like needles, but Jace took her hand in his and the electric touch dulled everything else.
"Alright doll, let's take a look at that cut." The doctor told her. Clary moved her hand that had been holding the cloth to her face and the doctor whistled.
"That must have been some fall." He said. His badge said his name was Dr. Raphael and he had a strange scar on his chest that Clary found herself staring at.
"Alright, first I am going to inject some numbing medicine, it might burn a little, and then I am going to stitch this up. You were right, young man, it does in fact need stitches." Dr. Raphael smiled at Jace.
"Don't let go." Clary begged Jace as the doctor prepared the numbing shot. Jace's hand tightened on her own and she heard him whisper in her ear. He was closer than she thought.
"Never."
"Alright, Miss Fray, here we go." The shot stung briefly before giving Clary a completely numb feeling in her cheek. She focused her eyes on Jace's hand as Dr. Raphael stitched her cheek.
"All done! Eight stitches. We are just going to have you get a scan quick to make sure you don't have any brain bleeds and then you can go home." Dr. Raphael smiled at Clary, who tried to smile back but stopped when she felt the strain it had on her cheek.
The scan went by fast, about 10 minutes in the machine and she was done. The results were good and she was clear to go home. Jace had called an Uber, and despite it being almost three in the morning, got one fairly easily.
"You're a rockstar Clary, I don't know how you stayed so calm." Jace told her.
"You helped." She said, looking him straight in his eyes. She thought she saw him leaning towards her when their car pulled up. Once inside, Clary rested her head on Jace's shoulder. Despite having a concussion, she was wide awake, her body running on adrenaline and Jace's touch.
When they finally got back to Clary's house, Jace helped Clary inside and up the stairs. Once inside her room, Jace looked at her for a moment.
"Like what you see?" she asked, mostly joking.
"You have blood on your face still. Why don't you get changed and I'll get some stuff to clean your stitches with." He was gone before she could say anything so Clary just settled herself on her bed and took her shoes off. She would need help with the zipper in the back of the dress, but thankfully Jace was back pretty quickly.
"What happened to getting changed?" Jace asked. He sat on the bed next to her and used a damp wash cloth to wipe away the blood from the other shallow cuts that Sebastian's rings had caused. Using a clean finger, he rubbed ointment onto the stitches and covered it with a bandaid.
"I need help unzipping my dress." Clary told him meekly. She stood and turned around, waiting patiently. Finally, she felt Jace's hands unzip her dress, even noticing a slight tremor though his fingers.
"I can step out…" Jace told her.
"It's fine, I'll change in my closet." Clary stood and went into her walk in closet, stripping off the dress and uncomfortable undergarments before pulling on her softest pajamas, a ratty t-shirt and a pair of boxers.
"Is Jon home yet?" Clary asked.
"No, he texted me that he's going to be home later." Clary panicked.
"The doctors said I have to be watched in case of emergency with my concussion."
"Yea, am I not good enough for that?" Jace asked, an eyebrow raised. Clary blushed.
"No, I mean of course you are, I just didn't think you'd want to stay." Clary said.
"Get in bed, Fray. I'll sleep on the floor. Just don't forget me in the middle of the night and step on me." Jace laughed. He was standing up, about to go to the closet that had extra blankets and pillows with Clary opened her mouth.
"I mean, we can share the bed, can't we? It's pretty big, and if you don't want to touch me, we can put pillows between us." Clary said. Jace swallowed hard before moving over to the edge of the bed. Clary had sat down and moved over to the inside, toward the wall, and pulled back her covers.
"We don't need a pillow wall, Clary. " Jace said. Clary smiled slightly. Jace laid down and Clary reached over to turn off the light, but when she turned back around, Jace's own face was right in front of hers. She froze, starting into his perfect golden iris', and felt her breath hitch. Jace moved very slowly, his eyes suddenly hooded as he brought his lips down to meet hers. Clary's own eyes fell shut as he pressed his lips against hers. He pulled away and laid down. Clary did the same and turned to face Jace. He raised on hand, caressed her cheek with it, and whispered.
"Good night, Clary."