Authors Note:
I am so sorry this took me so long, but I had ideas about where I wanted to take it, but I never got a great concept of how to write it out, but since I had a snow day today, I thought it was perfect, and my creative juices flowing. I think it's because I'm watching Face Off, anyone else a fan, because I seriously think it's my favorite reality TV show ever! If you've never seen it, I advise you to check it out, it's great! Alright, enough with advertising! Let me know what to think and leave a review! :)
Chapter Twenty Three
Simon and Izzy were coming down in a couple days and Clary felt absolutely miserable. She had no idea why because she didn't have a fever, or anything but she could barely keep anything down. Clary checked her phone and she realized that her period was nearly 8 days late. Panic flooded through her, and she grabbed her keys, and made her way to the drugstore. When she got there she grabbed 6 different pregnancy tests, all different brands. When she got home she locked herself in the bathroom and began peeing on each stick. She had no idea if they were all going to be negative and basically tell her she's paranoid, or they were all going to say positive, and she was having a baby, both were frightening, and slightly exhilarating.
Jace got home after a long day in the studio. He had been working closely with a producer who wanted him to collaborate on a piece he wanted in a movie. Jace was thrilled when he got the call, but the days were grueling, and sometimes he didn't get home until after midnight. Thankfully, or not so thankfully, the producers daughter was sick, so he cut the meeting short, and Jace was happy to be getting home before dinner. When he walked into the house and into the living room it was weird that she wasn't in the kitchen or in the living room.
"Clary!" Jace called out. "Where are you?" He asked.
"Bathroom." He heard Clary shout. He made his way into their bedroom and opened the bathroom door and found Clary sitting on the floor, surrounded by pregnancy tests, and tears running down her face.
"What's this?" Jace asked nervously.
"Our future." Clary said and Jace leaned down and looked at the tests. All six of them were positive.
"You're serious?" Jace asked and Clary simply nodded. "Holy shit."
"I know." Clary said, and than it was silent. Jace didn't know what to say, this was incredible. "Are you upset?" Clary said after a moment.
"Upset? Why would I be upset?" Jace asked confused.
"You haven't said anything else, so I just assumed." Clary said hesitantly. Jace kneeled down in front of her, and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
"I'm processing." Jace said. "You're pregnant. With my child. I don't think you understand how incredible that is to me."
"Really?" Clary asked and Jace laughed.
"Really Clary. I can't tell you how crazy it is that you're going to have a baby. My baby. Our baby." Jace said with a smiled and Clary laughed. "I love you."
"I love you too." Clary said. Jace helped her off the ground and than pulled her into a kiss.
"When do you want to tell everyone?" Jace asked.
"Everyone will be together for Max's birthday party. Seems like the perfect time." Clary said and Jace smiled.
"Sounds perfect." Jace said and he pulled Clary into a hug. Starting a family had been something Jace knew he always wanted. He never expected he'd ever find someone who he truly wanted to create life with, but with Clary is was just so natural for him to want her to have his children, and now that it was happening, he couldn't be more excited.
~/~/~/~/~/~/~
Izzy looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. She was nervous about tonight, and she couldn't get the knots out of her stomach. Seeing all these people again, wasn't going to bring back great memories, but she needed to face this. To show them all she is thriving, and that's all that was getting her through tonight, well that and Simon.
There was a knock on the door and when Izzy turned around Simon was standing there looking as good as he always did. He made his way into the room and Izzy couldn't help but smile. He made his way over to Izzy and gave her a sweet kiss.
"You ready?" He asked when they broke apart and Izzy laughed.
"I don't know. I'm kinda a mix of a lot of emotions right now." Izzy admitted.
"No matter what they say tonight, in a week, we will be back in Connecticut, living our life, happy, and in love, and they'll still be petty." Simon said and Izzy laughed.
"You're right." Izzy said and Simon smiled.
"I am a engineer for NASA, being right is kinda my job." He said and Izzy laughed. He took her hand and they made their way downstairs where they saw Clary and Jace embracing. Both of them had huge smiles on their faces, and Izzy could just tell that they were without a doubt still in their honeymoon phase of marriage.
"We get that you two are married, but the honeymoon ended like months ago." Izzy said and Jace and Clary turned their attention to them.
"The honeymoon phase doesn't really have to go away." Jace explained. "It's not like getting married made us less attracted to each other. In fact, I've never been more attracted to Clary in my life."
"Gross." Izzy said with a humorous gag, and Jace and Clary laughed.
"Come on, we're going to be late if we don't leave now." Clary said as she grabbed the keys. "I'll be DD tonight, so if you need tons of alcohol to get you through tonight, open a tab at the bar." Clary said to Izzy and she laughed. As much as Izzy didn't want to admit it, Clary was right, if tonight went south, alcohol might be her only method of survival.
Clary pulled up to the hotel where the high school reunion was taking place and parked. Everyone got out, and Jace took ahold of Clary's hand and started walking. Simon did the same with Izzy but gave her a reassuring squeeze. They made their way inside, and the moment they walked in, Izzy spotted the girls who made her senior year hell. It was almost like she had some type of radar that made it impossible to miss them.
Izzy took a deep breath, and they continued to make their way into the dinning hall. This reunion was pretty top notch, they were getting dinner, and the bar was an open bar for the first two hours of the night, which Izzy thought was strange but enjoyed that she could get as much free booze as she could handle in that amount of time. Dinner wasn't until 6, and it was only 5:30, so they had some time ti kill before they needed to be seated. Jace and Clary were off talking to a bunch of buddies that Jace played sports with in high school, and Simon had found some of his nerd friends from high school, and Izzy decided to tag along and get to know them since she didn't really get the chance too in high school.
"How is life Eric?" Simon asked his friend.
"Pretty good." Eric said with a smile. "Got married last year. Her name is Cathy."
"Is she here?" Simon asked.
"No, she has the flu." Eric explained. Simon saw Izzy making her way over to him and he couldn't help but smile. "You two still together?" Eric asked. Simon simply nodded. "Good for you."
"Hey." Izzy said when she finally got to Simon. He smiled and gave her a sweet kiss.
"I don't think you two have ever actually met." Simon said as he looked between Izzy and Eric.
"Not officially." Eric said. "I'm Eric."
"Izzy." She said as she stuck her hand out and Eric gladly took it. "How do you two know each other?"
"We were in a band together." Eric said much to Simon's embarrassment.
"That's cool." Izzy said and Simon laughed.
"We thought so at the time." Simon explained. "We thought it would get us a lot of girls."
"And did it?" Izzy asked.
"We found at early on that we actually had to be good in order for girls to pay attention to us." Simon said and Izzy laughed. "Mostly it was just an excuse for us to spend hours together after school and avoid our homework."
"Ah. Makes sense." Izzy said.
"It was fun though. We got a few gigs." Eric said. "Although we were never invited back."
"Because we lost them business." Simon said and Eric laughed.
"That we did." Eric said. His phone started buzzing and Eric took it out of his pocket and looked at Simon. "It's Cathy, I should probably take this."
"Of course. It was great catching up man." Simon said and than Eric was gone. "I didn't realize how much I missed that kid."
"You two seemed close." Izzy observed.
"Besides Clary, those guys in the bad were my only other friends. After we graduated we all just got so busy, keeping in touch was hard." Simon explained. They started making their way to their table where Clary and Jace were standing and talking. Izzy was about to speak when they were interrupted by a voice they never wanted to hear again.
"I'm surprised you came tonight." Aline said and Izzy turned and faced her. "Still with the nerd? Figures you'd settle for the one guy who still wanted you after everything you did." Aline said and Izzy was about to say something when she kept going. "Still with the freak Jace? I thought you would have dumped her ages ago."
"It's Mrs. Freak to you." Clary said as she held up her left hand and Aline seemed shocked. "And what are you doing here. You got expelled."
"Turns out if you harass the right people for long enough, they give into you just to shut you up." Aline said. "I deserve to be here. You're the one who should have been expelled for breaking my nose."
"You wanna go for a second round? I'll break that pretty little nose job you got in a heartbeat." Clary said as Jace held her back. Izzy knew Clary would do it again, but Aline wasn't worth it, she never has been.
"Why did you come over here Aline?" Izzy asked.
"To catch up with an old friend." She said in fake voice.
"We aren't friends Aline." Izzy said. "You just came over here to force yourself into our lives. We don't care about you. Leave us alone." Izzy said and Aline looked genuinely offended, which made Izzy happy.
"You never really were worth much anyway." Aline said in her normal judgey tone.
"You're still living in high school Aline." Izzy stated. "You think we care about everything that happened all those years ago?" Izzy asked and Aline was quiet. "We moved on. You can clearly see that. Jace and Clary are married, Simon is doing extraordinary things in his career, and I got invited to attend New York Fashion Week with my boss and meet with huge designers. We grew up, and we moved on." Izzy said. "Maybe it's time you did the same."
"Whatever freak." Aline said as she turned away but Izzy wasn't quite done with her yet.
"Oh, and as for all the shit you said to me in high school." Izzy said and Aline turned around. "I may have been a little slutty, but that in no way defines my character, and I'm not a murderer either. I was hit by that drunk driver, and my little brother paid the ultimate price. Jace wasn't a charity case. We accepted him into our home because we love him, and wanted him." Izzy said. "And Alec, well what you said about him his inexcusable. It doesn't matter who he loves, because he's happy. He is in a relationship with an amazing guy, and they have the cutest little baby I've ever seen. The fact that you can't help but poke at their sexuality simply because you're too afraid to accept yours is a really rotten thing for you to do." Izzy said and Simon couldn't have been more proud of her. He knew she needed to say all those things. She needed to stick up for herself and Simon was incredibly proud that she did it.
"I am so proud of you." Simon whispered in her ear.
"That was awesome." Clary said with a big smile on her face. "If I wasn't pregnant I would totally take a victory shot with you." Clary said and Izzy's eyes widened.
"You're pregnant?" Izzy nearly shouted and Clary just smiled and nodded. "When did you find out?"
"A couple days before you came down for the reunion. I wanted to keep it a secret and tell everyone together when we were at Max's birthday party, but I guess I'm just too excited." Clary said and Izzy pulled her into a huge hug.
"I can't believe you're pregnant." Izzy said and Clary laughed.
"I don't think anyone can really believe it yet." Clary said. "Jace still has a hard time believe I'm growing his child." Clary said as her hands rested on her belly.
"This is so exciting, and Max now has a little cousin." Izzy said and Clary smiled.
"It's probably the greatest thing that's ever happened to me." Clary said.
"Hey, you married me." Jace said and Izzy laughed.
"Babe, I'm growing a human, that's pretty damn awesome." Clary said and Jace leaned down and kissed her.
"That it is." Jace said as his hand rested on her belly. Izzy smiled at the two and couldn't help but be happy. Simon came and wrapped his arm around her and she leaned into him. She didn't want to come to this thing at first, confronting those girls was something she never wanted to do, but in this moment, she was happy she finally got to tell Aline exactly how she feels about what happened all those years ago. Izzy loved her life, and nothing Aline said was ever going to change that.
~/~/~/~/~/~/~
Today was the day that Max turned 1, and Magnus and Alec couldn't believe that he was already a year old. It seemed like just yesterday that they brought him home, but they loved every minute of it.
Magnus thought that Max was growing up way too fast. He learned how to walk last week, and Magnus nearly cried. Parents didn't lie when they said that they grow up so fast, and Magnus wasn't sure he liked just how fast Max was growing up. Everyone was coming over today to celebrate, and Alec and Magnus couldn't wait to see everyone. Especially since Izzy, Simon, Jace, and Clary had their high school reunion and Alec and Magnus couldn't wait to hear all about it.
"Where is my favorite grandbaby?" Maryse asked the minute Alec opened the door and Alec smiled.
"He's your only grandchild mom. He has to be your favorite." Alec said and Maryse laughed as she picked Max up.
"Not true, but he is the cutest little baby ever, and he's just so happy. I can't not love him." Maryse said and Max laughed.
"Trust me, I know." Alec said as he looked at his son and mother.
"Where is Magnus?" Maryse asked after a moment.
"He had to grab a few more things. Clary called and said she invited Jocelyn, and Magnus wanted to make sure he had wine that she enjoyed." Alec said with a laugh.
"He's a fabulous host." Maryse said and Alec smiled.
"It's one of his many talents." Alec said. Maryse set Max down, and he ran into the living room and started playing with his toys. Maryse, Alec, and Robert all took a seat and started talking about what was going on in their life when the door opened and in walked Magnus.
"Papa!" Max yelled and Magnus smiled.
"Hi blueberry." Magnus said as he set down the wine and made his way over to Max. It was no secret that Max had Magnus wrapped around his little finger. Magnus couldn't seem to ever deny that boy anything he ever wanted, and Alec couldn't really blame him. "Maryse, Robert, wonderful to see you both."
"You as well Magnus." Robert said.
They all sat around and talked until the whole crew showed up. Clary and Izzy immediately made their way over to Max, which didn't surprise either Alec or Magnus. Max loved his aunts, and he loved the female attention. Jace and Simon made their way into the living room and greeted everyone. Alec couldn't help but notice the way Jace was looking at Clary while playing with Max. He seemed exceptionally giddy, and that didn't surprise Alec, since that's always how Clary made Jace, but something was up, he knew that much.
Once Jocelyn arrived, the party really started. And by party, it was the adults drinking while giving Max a million presents. As many times as Alec and Magnus told everyone that he didn't need any presents, they all couldn't resist. He was the first baby in this family in years, and they were all incredibly anxious to buy baby things.
"I know you said no presents." Maryse started. "And I also knew that Izzy would go overboard, so I thought I'd respect your wishes and not buy him anything." Maryse said but stopped suddenly. "I was searching for something in the basement when I came across this." Maryse said as she handed the bag over to Alec and Magnus. Alec reached in and pulled out a blanket that had Maxwell Lightwood embroidered on it.
"Max's baby blanket." Alec said as he recognized the piece of cloth.
"When Max turned 5 he claimed he was 'too cool for school' to have it anymore, and that he was a big boy now." Maryse said with a laugh. "I thought it was appropriate to pass down to the next generation of Lightwood's." Maryse said.
"It's perfect mom." Alec said.
"I would have embroidered Bane on it, but I couldn't bring myself to do it." Maryse said and Magnus smiled.
"It doesn't need Bane on it." Magnus said with a smile. "It's already perfect as it is."
"I thought it was the perfect gift. No money involved, but just as meaningful." Maryse said.
"I couldn't agree more." Alec said. He couldn't believe what he was holding Max's blanket in his hands. It was perfect, and brought back a lot of good memories. Max waddled over to them and Magnus picked him up and sat him on his lap. Max eyed up the blanket and than reached for it when Alec pulled it away. "What do you say Max?" Alec asked.
"Pwease." He said and Alec smiled and handed the blanket over to him. Max only knew a few words. Papa, Dada, please, and thank you. So Alec was instilling the manners into him early so that he would be a polite little boy, and so far it was working. He grabbed the blanket and than squirmed out of Magnus hold and walked back over to Clary and Izzy, holding the blanket securely in his hands. It pleased Alec immensely to see his son take to his younger brothers blanket.
"This seems like a good time." Alec heard Jace say and everyone's attention focused on them.
"For what?" Alec asked.
"I'm pregnant!" Clary shouted before Jace could say anything.
"Oh my god!" Jocelyn was the first to break out of the spell. She ran over to Clary and engulfed her in a hug. "My first grandbaby."
"I get more grandbabies." Maryse said and everyone laughed.
"How far along are you?" Jocelyn asked when she released Clary.
"I'm not sure yet. I have an appointment next week." Clary said. "I only found out about 5 days ago. I think I'm still processing."
"I can imagine. I was in a daze for about 2 months after finding out I was pregnant with you." Jocelyn said. "I got that first sonogram, and suddenly it was all real."
"I think the morning sickness makes it real for me." Clary said and everyone laughed. Everyone started asking Clary questions and Alec made his way over to Jace.
"A father huh?" Alec asked and Jace laughed.
"It's crazy." Jace said with a laugh. "But I'm so excited."
"There really is nothing like it in the world." Alec said. "I still can't get over the fact that Max is my son."
"I'm nervous. Clary and I both don't have great childhoods. We went through a lot of things, but I know that I'm going to do everything I can for my child. No doubt about it."
"I have no doubt. You were always incredibly caring, I mean, you bonded with Max the first month you came to us." Alec said and Jace nodded. "You're great with kids, I can only imagine you'll be ever better with your own."
"Thanks. I needed that pep talk." Jace said and Alec laughed.
Everything settled down and Max started getting hungry which meant that it was time for dinner. Magnus kept it simple, they stuck with pasta that way everyone was happy, and it was easier to make it in bulk. The table was quiet before Magnus realized that nobody brought up the high school reunion.
"I almost forgot, how was the reunion?" Magnus asked.
"It was good after Izzy told off Aline." Simon said.
"She was there?" Jocelyn asked. "Did she get expelled?"
"Yes, but that didn't stop her from harassing her way to the reunion." Clary said. "Honestly, its like everyone is scared of her, and doesn't want to tell her no."
"Accept you." Izzy pointed out. "You were ready to deck her again."
"Tell me you didn't Clarissa." Jocelyn said.
"I would have blamed it on my hormones." Clary said and everyone laughed but Jocelyn looked less than pleased. "Relax mom, I didn't hit her. Jace pulled me back and kept a firm grip on me."
"Good boy." Jocelyn said to Jace and he smiled and nodded. "Was she just as bad?"
"She's so petty." Jace said. "It's like she's stuck in high school."
"High school was her kingdom." Izzy said. "It was the end all be all for her. She wasn't making it very far after that, so she had to invest it all in high school. I'm not surprised she's still just as bit…mean." Izzy censored herself and Magnus and Alec were thankful for that.
"So ,what happened?" Alec asked.
"I just told her that we didn't care about her, and that she needed to move on." Izzy said. "I told her that what she said about me, and my family in high school was completely uncalled for and that just because she was so insecure in her own sexuality and overall character, doesn't mean she can attack us." Izzy said.
"I'm so proud of you." Alec said.
"She knows nothing about our family. I'll admit, I was a little risky in high school. I never thought about the consequences of my actions." Izzy said. "But that doesn't define me, and the car accident wasn't my fault, and Jace isn't a charity case, and just because you're gay doesn't mean you are any less of a human being." Izzy said and Alec smiled at her. "I love my life, I'm proud of how far I've come, and what she thinks about us doesn't really matter."
"You really have grown up Isabelle." Maryse said and Izzy smiled.
"I'm just glad I pull my head out of my as…the clouds, and focused on myself, and that opened up a lot of doors for me." Izzy said as she looked at Simon and smiled. "It was long overdue, but I'm glad I got the chance to tell her off."
"Good for you." Jocelyn said and Alec smiled.
"This seems like a good time." Simon said and everyone looked at him. He reached his hand under the table and than when he pulled it back up he had a small ring box in his hand. Izzy gasped and her hands flew over her mouth. "There isn't much I can say." Simon started. "You know exactly how I feel about you, and after everything you've overcome in your life, and everything you've achieved, I couldn't be prouder of the woman you've become, and how much I've seen you grow as a person." Simon said and Izzy began to cry. "You're everything to me, and this might be long overdue, but I wanted to get you something that Isabelle Lightwood would be proud to wear, and that took me some time." Simon said as he opened the box. "So, Isabelle Lightwood, would you do the honor of marrying me?"
"Yes." Izzy said through the tears and Alec couldn't help but smile. Simon slid the ring onto her finger and gave her a sweet kiss. "It's beautiful."
"I worked with the jeweler for months customizing this ring." Simon admitted. "I wanted it to be perfect because you deserve that."
"It's absolutely gorgeous." Izzy said and Simon smiled.
"Let me see." Maryse said and Izzy held her hand over the table and all the women gushed over the piece of jewelry. "Today is such an amazing day. My grandson is 1, my daughter is getting married, and my son is having a baby." Maryse said as tears pooled in her eyes. "Today couldn't get any better." She said. Alec looked around at his family. Izzy was staring at her ring and smiling to Simon, Jace had Clary tucked closely to her side as his hand rested on her nonexistent stomach with the biggest smile on his face, and Magnus was currently wiping the sauce of their sons face. His mom was right, today was a great day, and Alec was glad he got to spend it with the people that meant everything to him.