Jace burst through the heavy wooden doors of the Institute, dripping wet, smudged with dirt and blood that he had picked up checking Clary over in the bushes, and began bellowing for Hodge. He heard a ding and saw Hodge come careening out of the elevator with a speed Jace supposed was left over from his days as a Shadowhunter. Hodge, his harried eyes fixed on Jace, froze when he got to entry hall. "Jace, who is that? And do you have any idea what Mayrse will say when she sees what you have done to her carpet?" Jace narrowed his eyes at his tutor. He was feeling very…..uncharitable to people in general right now. Clary was in pretty bad shape and Hodge was blathering about Mayrse's carpet.
Jace had indeed considered just what his adoptive mother would say and do to make him think twice about ever sullying her expensive, cherished décor again, but weighed against the slowly slipping life of the armload of precious trouble he was carrying, he really didn't give a damn.
Jace didn't pause to explain away the puddles of murky water he was leaving behind him in the foyer, but kept on heading for the elevator. Before Hodge could work himself into a proper fit and lecture him, Jace said, as he strode by his tutor, "Hodge, this is Clary. I'm quite sure she would introduce herself, but, unfortunately, she is unconscious; a Ravener stung her. I would appreciate it if you gave me a rain check on the lecture regarding Mayrse's carpet."
Once in the elevator, Jace turned to press the UP button, only to see that Hodge had not moved from the spot he seemed to be welded to in the entry way. Jace resisted the urge to curse and said slowly, painfully slowly, "Hodge, you have to help Clary. I'll take care of the carpet later. I promise."
Hodge, now presumably aware of the grim situation at hand, scrambled into the elevator after Jace. He even jabbed the UP button so Jace wouldn't have to let go of Clary. In the elevator, Jace filled Hodge in on what had happened, only leaving out that he Marked her. He didn't need Hodge freaking again. He'd save that for later. Plus, Jace was still trying to figure out what it was about the girl that drove him to take such a chance, a chance he had never foreseen himself taking for anyone, let alone someone he had just met. It didn't matter that the Mark worked; he could be thrown out of the Clave for this. Being a Shadowhunter was who he was, was part of the fabric of his very being. He didn't know if he liked the hold Clary had over him, what she could make him do.
No, he would save that tidbit for later because it was definitely better for everyone involved, Jace included. And then there was the reality of the sooner Hodge healed Clary, the sooner Jace could breathe easier and the sooner they could start the search for her mother. He wouldn't wish the loss of family, of a parent on anyone; he knew from experience just how painful it was to lose a parent, to be without family. Suddenly, Jace thought of how worried Clary's father would be when he got home to the trashed apartment to find his wife and daughter missing.
The doors of the elevator opened to show Jace a very pissed looking Isabelle and a petulant Alec.
"What are you yelling about? Your day all alone go wrong for you? That's what you get for going without--" Isabelle began indignantly, but broke off when her eyes fell on Clary. "Is that the mundie from Pandemonium?" she asked Jace. Alec, who hadn't known of Jace's mission to retrieve Clary said, "Surely not. Jace wouldn't bring a mundie here." Jace couldn't help but thinking that technically, he didn't bring a mundie here. Clary hadn't turned into a Forsaken after he had Marked her, and that could only mean she was at least part Shadowhunter.
He ignored Alec and said to Isabelle, "Yeah, it's the girl from Pandemonium," as he got out of the elevator, leaving a stunned Alec behind. Isabelle, however, followed Jace and Hodge as they headed for the infirmary. Jace didn't want to bring up that he had Marked Clary yet, and especially not in front of Alec and Isabelle. He would definitely avoid that at all costs, he thought acerbically. Isabelle would be pissed that she had been left out, and Alec's severe view of the Law would have him spluttering at Jace.
Once inside the infirmary, Jace laid Clary gently down on one of the numerous thin cots, only to be shooed away by Hodge. Isabelle got to stay; something about Hodge needing her to strip Clary. Any other time, Jace would have been interested in the stripping of a pretty girl, but now he couldn't even pretend to care. Jace took one last look at Clary's tiny, inert, and bloody form before he left the infirmary, and the words that so often have been coming to mind when he thought of her sprang up again: Ah, Clary…
Those words had so many contexts, so many possible meanings: annoyance, amusement, appreciation, tenderness….
Jace came to a screeching halt, in both the hallway and his thoughts. Tenderness? When had he last felt tender for something? Could he even remember?
He was momentarily transported back to long ago: he was a little boy and he had his beloved falcon on his arm. Oh, yes, he could remember: the lesson he could never forget; the lesson that was more important than all the others; the lesson that was slowly but surely slipping away, pushed farther and farther with every moment he spent with Clary Fray.
Jace sifted through his emotions. Exhaustion was there, that was normal. Anxiety and worry were there too, those also vey understandable, but something else was there: empathy because he knew what it was like to lose a parent; tenderness; a feeling that all would be lost if Clary left the world; and an aching, otherworldly pull that called to him, urged him to sit by Clary's bed and hold her hand until she woke up, to be the first thing those Idris green eyes saw when she opened them. He turned and put his hand on the knob on the infirmary door, but caught himself before he could open it.
Jace shook his head, as if to dislodge the thoughts and strange feelings that were taking root there. He turned away from the infirmary and pointed his tired body in the direction of his room.
On the way there, Jace decided that emotions, specifically tenderness, were tiring. He made a mental note to try to avoid that particular one in the future, even though he knew it was a lost hope; with Clary around, he had a feeling he would be getting very used to it.
When he entered the hallway where his room was located, his steps faltered, the hesitation imperceptible to all but himself. Alec was waiting outside his door. Alec sure did have a crap sense of timing. All Jace wanted to do was sleep and get to the bottom of the mystery that was Clary, but it looked like both would have to wait.
Upon seeing Jace, Alec stepped out of the shadows and into a pool of light given off by one of the lamps lining the corridor and fixed shrouded eyes on the approaching Jace.
"Hey, Alec. What do you want?" Jace was feeling more and more unsympathetic to other people's problems with every second.
"I want to know what possessed you to bring that girl, that mundie GIRL, here, into the Institute. You could expose our whole world. You don't know this girl. She could be anything, she could be--"
"I'm not going to talk with you about this, Alec. At least not right now."
"Why not, Jace? You talk to me about everything else! What makes this so different? What makes her different? What makes her so special that you bring her here?"
Well, there it goes. Jace had gone and said the wrong thing and cracked Alec's almost impenetrable temper. Yea me, thought Jace.
Then Jace realized why Alec was so outraged. Jace felt a bitter grimace form on his face. Alec was jealous. The suspicions that had building for the past year and a half were finally solidifying into something more. Like the truth. Looks like he would have a pretty huge 'elephant in the room' to ignore from now on: Alec's dirty little not-so-secret secret. Well, at least Jace could relate: he had a secret of his own that was turning out to be not-secret.
Jace guessed he should have been more restrained in the soliloquies dedicated to Clary he had been spouting earlier that day at the Institute, because that, and the fact that Clary was now here in the Institute, were surely to blame for this confrontation. Suddenly, he felt the adrenaline that had been his constant that day seep from his body.
Jace let go of harsh feelings he had for people at the moment and looked at his best-friend. Alec was his brother, for all intents and purposes. This could hurt them.
"I'm not going to explain myself to you Alec. I'm tired and I am going to bed. Right now." Jace reached out for the doorknob only to have Alec step in front of him, blocking the door.
"The Hell you are! Why did you do it, Jace?"
The tone of Alec's voice, combined with the fact that Jace was bone tired and Alec was blocking the way to Jace's bed, something that Jace really wanted at the moment, all served to rekindle that burning feeling of mild peevishness, only this time it wasn't so general.
"Did you forget that Hodge asked me to bring her here? And just yesterday you were all for bringing her here. What's your problem now, Alec? Why are you so upset that she's here? She would have died if I would have left here there! That's what makes her different! Do you think I should have just left her there for the mundie doctors to scratch their heads over? She was attacked in her own home--"
Jace stopped himself and looked away from Alec. They could be here all night, and the advice he had given himself minutes before about emotions being tiring was all too true. That outburst was the last bit of emotion he had for the day and it had taken all the energy he had left.
"Just move Alec. We can talk about this later." With that, Jace moved forward, fully prepared to move Alec if he didn't move himself.
Alec, however, sensing the finality of Jace's statement and the dark but blank expression on his best-friend's face, moved out of the way.
Jace opened the door and turned around to meet Alec's eyes. "You'll get your answers when Clary wakes up; then we can all have a pow-wow with Hodge."
Alec didn't reply but instead set his jaw and stalked to his room.
Jace didn't bother flicking the light switch; he could find anything in is room with his eyes closed. He sank down on the bed and began struggling to pull off his wet clothes.
After he had changed into his pajamas, he lay and stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking of Clary and how she made him feel.
He didn't know what to do about it; didn't know whether to push her away or….not. What would happen if he didn't push her away? He didn't think he could bear to push her away. She was just a girl anyways; how could she ruin Jace Wayland in any way?
Jace pushed those thoughts aside. He resolved to take as long as he needed to decide just what he was going to do about Clary. He promised himself that he would ignore that pull to her not go near the infirmary, or wherever Clary was, until she woke up. Looking down at her helpless body would just make him want to stay with her to make sure she didn't get herself into trouble again and that would not help him make an objective decision. He would need a clear head to think and his head was anything but clear whenever he was near Clary.
Feeling that he had at least some control over the crazy spiral that had become his life in the past two days, Jace let himself relax. The last thing he thought about before he drifted off to sleep was Clary and when he dreamed, he dreamed of fiery hair and Idris green eyes.