Hey, everyone! Sorry it's taken so long! I'm currently searching for a new Beta-reader so if any one's interested, shoot me a message!
I would also like to tell you that I wrote this chapter outside. In the dark. At 10 o'clock at night. With mosquitoes. And a whole host of creepy things breaking branches in the woods. Give me some leeway here people! I'm truly trying my darndest.
Our Favorite Mortal Instruments Quote of the Chapter:
"'That's a mango.' Simon stared at Jace. Sometimes, it really was like Shadowhunters were from an alien planet.
'I don't think I've ever seen one of those that wasn't already cut up,' Jace mused. 'I like mangos.'"
-Jace and Simon (City of Fallen Angels)
"When did Dr. Gretsky say I'd get the results back again?" twelve-year-old Claire Camille asks through the thermometer stuck in her mouth. Two days ago she was brought into the ER after having collapsed at a dinner party. When she was eight, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and two years later was told she was cancer-free. The doctors are now afraid that it's returned.
"She said the tests should be back by next week." Claire makes a face and crosses her arms over her chest. The thermometer beeps and I pull it out of her mouth. "Your temperature is a little high, but nothing too concerning."
"So I'm okay?" she asks.
"We won't know for sure until the test results come in." I don't have the heart to tell her the truth; the doctors noted yesterday that her lymph nodes are enlarged and she's lost weight; two signs that the cancer has returned. I toss out the tip to the thermometer and put it back on my cart.
"When do you think they'll let me go home?" she asks me in a small voice. From the second I entered my first class to get my nursing degree, my teacher's told me not to give a patient false hope. Before now, that was never a problem. I worked in the ER; my job was to stitch up the patients, and then send them to someone whose job it was to care. Thanks to Dr. Bane, I'm now stuck with a dying girl, her sad eyes and the truth.
"I'm not sure. But you should know that—" My words are cut off as a pair of muscular arms envelope me from behind. My captor plants a soft kiss on my cheek and the smell of Jace overwhelms me.
"Hey, Red," he whispers into my ear. I let out an irritated sigh and he lets go of me with a laugh.
"Claire, I'd like to introduce you to my—Jace." For some reason I can't make my lips form the word "boyfriend". Even after two weeks, it's hard to connect that word with Jace. "He's harmless—mostly." Claire grins.
"By 'my Jace' she means her boyfriend." I feel my cheeks heat up.
"And this is Claire," I say. "She was just admitted a few days ago."
"Nice to meet you," Jace says with the grin that can make even the most stony-hearted girl fall in love with him. Claire's cheeks flush. "What are you in for?" he asks her. I feel my muscles tense, but I let Claire answer.
"Cancer," she answers calmly. "Hodgkin's Lymphoma to be exact. Dr. Gretsky's afraid it's coming back."
"You look fairly strong. I'm sure you'll be fine, no matter what happens." Claire's eyes drift back to the TV screen where the baseball game is playing; Yankees versus the Sox. I pull the blood pressure cuff from the cart and strap it onto her outstretched arm.
"Is this live?" he asks Claire.
"No, it's from last night but I'd never miss a Yankees game so…" Jace sits in the chair by her bedside and watches the game with her. They start talking baseball: the players, the coaches, best games, worst games etc. I drone them out after awhile and focus on Claire. Her blood pressure is elevated, but that tends to be the effect of Jace's presence on most girls. Other than that, her vitals are fairly normal. I return everything to my cart and scribble notes on Claire's chart. Jace's eyes flash to mine.
"Do you mind if I steal Clary from you?" Jace asks Claire.
"Uh—no," she answers, her cheeks heating up as she stammers through the words.
"I'll try to drop by sometime and see how you're doing," Jace tells her. She smiles bigger than I've ever seen her smile before. Jace stands and takes hold of my hand, steering the cart with his other hand, and shouts a goodbye over his shoulder.
"I think she likes you," I say, grinning up at him.
"Sorry to disappoint, but I already have a girlfriend. She's a legal midget and a know-it all—but," he says as I try to interject, "she's the best thing that's ever happened to me." I roll my eyes and bite my lip to hide the grin.
"Way to be cheesy," I say, grabbing onto his other hand. He leans forward and kisses my forehead.
"I already signed you out," he says as he drops one of my hands to lead me down the hallway.
"What?" I ask. "Jace, I have to finish my rounds!" I say, pulling my hand out of his. I flash a glance back at my cart, abandoned in the middle of the hallway.
"No you don't," he rebuts, turning to face me. I stand in front of him and cross my arms over my chest. "Has anyone ever told you that you're adorable when you're angry."
"Don't you dare try to be cute. That won't get you anywhere with me today." His worried eyes scan over the planes of my face.
"Is everything alright?"
"I'm tired. It's been a long week," I say with a weak grin.
"That's because you've been working all week. I haven't seen you at all except for the fleeting moments when I'm wheeling in someone with blood pouring out of his chest and I tell you the fascinating story of how he got that way. I don't think that's very romantic." He steps forward and wraps his arms around me. I allow myself to relax. "Come with me. I already signed you out."
"I can't just leave," I mutter against the fabric of his shirt.
"You're not 'just leaving'," he says, pulling away from me. "I'm kidnapping you." His grin is a mixture between the cutest and scariest look I've ever seen on his face.
"Kidnapping me? Did nobody ever tell you that you don't inform a girl your kidnapping her?"
He grins. "It never came up." He lunges forward, picking me up off the ground then swinging me over his shoulder.
"Jace!" I shriek, ineffectually pounding at his back with my fists. He laughs and walks calmly past the front desk and waves to a smiling Maia. "Let me down!"
"Not a chance." He carries me towards the front door and I realize he's not going to let me go.
"I'll pull out my rape whistle," I warn.
"You don't carry a rape whistle," he says. The cold air hits me like a slap across the face and I feel myself shudder.
"I'm freezing," I say.
"Maybe if you cooperated you'd be wearing a jacket."
"You're not a very nice boyfriend," I say, relaxing so I lie limply over his shoulder. He lets me down in front of Betty, his car, and opens the passenger door for me.
"I never said I was nice," he says. He slides in the car then snatches a jacket from the back seat and hands it to me. I quickly pull it on. Jace glances at the clock and shakes his head with a grin. "All of your childish antics are going to make us late." He turns the key and puts the car into drive.
"Where are we going?"
"The movies."
"You're kidding," I say humorously. He glances at me out of the corner of his eye.
"Not weird enough for you?" he asks.
"Compared to the rest of our non-dates, it comes up a little short."
"Non-dates? Just because I didn't say 'Clary, this is a date' doesn't mean it wasn't a date." I roll my eyes and rub my hands together. Jace notices and turns the heat up. "I feel insulted by your lack of appreciation. I put a lot of thought into my kidnap-Clary-and-take-her-on-a-normal-date plan."
"To be quite honest I'm a little disappointed in you," I say with a grin as I pull my frozen fingers into the much to long sleeves of Jace's sweatshirt.
"It's never a good idea to insult your kidnapper." Jace just barely manages to hide his grin.
"Yes. Because you're terrifying." His eyes flash quickly to me.
"You haven't seen the half of it, Red." He holds out his hand, palm side up. I slip my hand into, interlacing my frozen fingers with his and marveling at the warmth of the calloused surface. He pulls over to a theater not even three blocks from the hospital.
"This really required a car?" I ask.
"I was trying to be classy. Next time, you're welcome to walk." He puts Betty in park and turns to look at me. He grins, then leans forward to kiss me. It was much too short for my liking. "I've been looking forward to that all day." He moves to get out of the car but I grab onto his collar and pull him back towards me. I kiss him again, longer this time and feel his smile against my lips.
"That's not a good idea, Ms. Fray." His fingertips rest on my cheeks, gently holding my head in place.
"And why is that, Mr. Herondale?" He plants one foot and pivots so that he's half-straddling me. My hands, torn from his collar as he moved, drop into my lap. He braces himself against the chair behind me, one hand on either side of my face. The warmth radiating off of him is incredible. He kisses me again, more fiercely and lasting then before, giving me the perfect taste of what he's capable of. I fling my hands around his neck. He breaks away, allowing me the opportunity to breathe.
"That's why," he whispers, turning his head to kiss my cheek. Before I have a chance to tell him that whatever caused that kiss was potentially the best idea of my life, Jace pushes open the passenger door, letting in a wave of freezing air. He slips gracefully out of the car and holds the door open for me, extending a hand. I, stubbornly, refuse to show him how much his kiss has affected me.
"Thank you, kind sir. I don't know how I would have fared without you!" I press my hand dramatically to my forehead.
"Watch it, Red. This may be the only chivalrous moment you'll ever get out of me." I rock onto my toes and kiss his cheek, silently urging my hands to stop shaking.
"Then make that 'thank you' genuine." He leads me forward by the hand and into the lobby of the empty theater.
"There's something we need to contemplate before we go further," he says, all humor erased from his face. I look up at him skeptically. "We have to choose the movie." I grin and roll my eyes at his theatrics. He opens the door for me and I walk into the empty lobby. "We could go with a romance movie, which most people assume is a good choice for a date, but the way I see it, it just makes the couple have unrealistic expectations as to what a relationship should be. Hollywood truly has a knack for ruining fledgling relationships. Then there's the—"
"Jace?" I say, touching his arm lightly.
"Yeah?" His brow is furrowed, making him look adorably confused.
"You're rambling."
He grins. "Something about you tends to bring out the worst in me."
"I like it when you ramble."
"Well that's strange. And here I was thinking you liked me because of my dashing good looks and charm. That puts quite the damper on our relationship."
"You didn't have a movie planned before we got here?"
"Nah. I rented out the theater so I thought—"
"You rented out the theater!"
"Did I forget to mention that? My bad," he's grinning at me; that grin that makes my stomach flip and my knees weak. He leads me over to the counter; bare except for a thick, white, three-ring binder lying in the center of it. "These are the movies you can choose from," he says.
"I can't believe you did this," I say, turning in my spot and staring incredulously at the empty theater. He throws an arm over my shoulder and kisses the crown of my head.
"Anything for you," he says. I can hear the grin in his voice. I open the giant binder and flick through the pages, each showing the movie poster accompanied with a short synopsis of the movie.
"How about this one?" I ask, pointing to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
"You're kidding," he says. "I never thought you'd be much of a horror buff."
"You see, the thing with horror is that if I get scared," I grin and pull him down for a kiss, "you'll be there to comfort me." He grins and kisses me again.
"I like the way you think."Jace unclips the page from the binder.
"I'll be right back." He disappears behind the "employees only" door. He's back minutes later.
"Theater one," he says.
"Did I ever mention what a wonderful, amazing, handsome boyfriend you are?" He laces his fingers with mine and stops us momentarily for an opportunity to kiss me.
"It wouldn't hurt you to mention it more often." He throws an arm around my shoulder and I wrap my arm around his waist. For the first time in weeks, I feel relaxed.
0.0.0
As the camera backs away from the final scene and the screen fades to black, I turn to look at Jace only to find that he's already looking at me. The dark background music does nothing to dim the light in his golden eyes.
"Dance with me," he says.
"What?" He stands and walks into the empty aisle, offering me his outstretched hand.
"Dance with me."
"Your insane," I say, laughing. "We're in a dark movie theater, the music is depressing and there's always the little detail that I can't dance." I stand up and try to push through him but he blocks the way.
"Nonsense. You're Clary Fray. You can do anything." He flashes me his million watt smile and I feel my resolve weaken.
"You're faith in me is astounding, but truly, I can't." Jace leans towards me, placing his hands on my hips. He kisses me like he did that last time in the car and I forget everything—where we are, what he's asking…my name.
"Dance with me, Clary." His warm breath washes over my face and I find myself nodding. Jace leads me to the front of the theater, under the giant screen displaying the names of the actors. He takes one of my hands and places it on his shoulder and holds my other in his own. His arm snakes around my waist and pulls me closer to him. He sways with me, gently turning us in a circle.
"You're insane," I say, resting my upturned chin against his chest. He kisses my forehead.
"So I've been told."
I dance with him for what feels both like hours and minutes; until the music fades and the screen goes black. The only reason we stop is because the owner comes in telling us it's time to leave. If not for that, I think we may have danced forever.