Chapter 18: Even Jon

JACE POV

The drive to my house is dead silent and… well… a little awkward.

I've missed my Clary so long and it breaks my heart to see her like this. She just looks so defeated and sad. Especially with the way Jon treated her at school I'm pretty pissed right now.

I know for sure I'm not letting Clary go back to that house of hell tonight even if I have to lock her in a room.

As I drive into the garage of our house and park, Clary doesn't seem to notice that we're here, she looks deep in thought looking out of the window.

"Clary." I say, gently going to touch her shoulder, which makes her flinch at my hand.

She looks at me for a second and seems to relax. I'm starting to notice the dark circles under her eyes and her paler than normal skin.

"We're here." Is all I can say before I can get out, then run over to her side to open the door for her.

She smiles thankfully at me and gets out with her backpack. I take her hand and we walk through my empty house to my room. I don't want to push her for anymore answers right now so I sit down on my bed and pat the space next to me for Clary to sit.

We both sit there silently, Clary leaning on me, until she breaks the silence.

"You know I can't stay." She says sadly.

" So you're going back to Jon and your house?" I say hopefully.

" You know what I mean."

"Well that's unfortunate." I say non-chalantly

"Why?" She asks me, looking me in the eyes.

"Because I'm not letting that happen." I say

She seems to think over this for a second looking hopeful before changing back to looking empty.

" He probably already knows I with you. It's a matter of time until he calls around. I don't want you to get hurt." She says the last part into my shoulder

"Trust me. I wont be the one getting hurt." I say through gritting teeth "Besides, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I let you go back there."

She doesn't answer me and I know she knows I'm right. I drop the subject after that though and start running my hand through her hair.

God I've missed this girl.

As we sit there I gently lay us both down on my bed so we face each other.

I soak in every inch of her while we're laying there. From her emerald green eyes to every freckle on her to the fiery red hair that I love so much.

I feel my heart skip a beat when I see her eyes meet mine. I give her a half smile that she returns to me before going in to kiss me.

Whoa.

I was not expecting that.

That doesn't mean I don't go along with it though. I wrap my arms as gently as I can around Clary before flipping us so she's on top of me to deepen the kiss. I feel myself melting into her touch when she starts running her hands through my hair. Her hands wander onto my chest and back as mine slowly make their way to her hips.

I have know Idea how long we're there for, and I don't want it to either, but our kiss suddenly ends when I feel her flinch on top of me. I stop immediately still half on a high of kissing her but I quickly come down from that when I see the pained look on her face.

Her shirt is half up as she's laying on my bed, giving me a view of her bruises, with her eyes closed tightly. I know better than to ask her if she's okay because… well… she's obviously not. But I hate not knowing what's wrong. I want to help her somehow; but right about now I just feel useless.

Her pain starts to subside and as she opens her eyes I see fresh unshed tears glossy over her beautiful emerald eyes. She looks at me helplessly before a single tear falls down her cheek.

"Hey." I say, going to wipe the tear off her face. "What's wrong?"

She looks away for a second trying to gather herself before answering.

"Everything." She says, her voice wavering. "Everything is just so screwed up and I hate how there's nothing I can do about it."

I don't say anything, I just let her lay down on my chest as I feel her cry. I twinge of guilt comes over me as I've never dealt with a girl like this before. Not just because of the cancer and all that jazz.

I've never dealt with a girl I loved so much.

All I want to do is beat the person up who gave her those bruises or find the antidote to cancer or switch places with her. I hate seeing her sad.

As her breathing starts to slow down I think she's sleeping until she looks up at me and speaks up.

"You know," She starts sadly. "I always thought, well, pretty much knew the cancer would eventually kill me. But it that doesn't happen soon I know Valentine will."

I tense up at this, feeling slightly scared of how she's thinking.

"Don't say that." I say " Please Clary If there's one thing for certain it's that I'll never let Valentine lay another hand on you on my watch. And you won't die from this. I mean, you've already been discharged from the hospital for a little while which is a great start. And now that your mine Clary, there's no way in hell I'm letting you go."

After saying this I feel as if the mood has changed in the room. Clary still looks sad but there seems to be a small glint in her eyes that's almost happy.

But that's all I could ever wish for.

"Come on." I say to her, grabbing her hand. We walk over to the bathroom connected to my bedroom and I sit her down on the edge of the bathtub ( AN: Divergent inspired! 3)

"Take your shirt off." I say as gently as I can, but lets face it no matter how you say it it's going to be weird.

She gives me a slightly shocked, slightly confused look.

"Here. To make it less awkward. I guess." I say as I take off my own shirt

Clary sits there looking a little more scared but still staring at my chest.

"Like what you see?" I ask, smirking.

She looks down for a second sadly. I go over to her thinking I probably went a little too far.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, I just want to take a closer look at those bruises." I say.

She nods and lifts up her shirt slightly.

I take out a small wash towel and our first aid kit.

I go back to Clary whose watching me intently from where she's sitting. I turn on the water in the bathtub and wait until it get's warm to put the towel under it.

When I'm about to put the towel on her side she flinches away a little. I go over to her to plant a light kiss on the forehead before I try again. This time she lets me wash her injuries with only a light hiss that escapes her lips every now and then. Halfway through though, Clary takes off her shirt entirely. I try not to let a small gasp/moan escape my lips but hell, I'm a teenage boy.

As I finish I take another washcloth to dry the damp areas and then apply some medicine onto the bruises and then lightly dress some of the worse areas.

When I'm done we both sit there for a second in silence.

"Thank you." She say quietly.

I look over at Clary who's looking at me with a small smile. She scoots closer to me until I place her on my lap.

"I love you." She whispers to me

"What was that?" I ask teasingly, I see another small smile form on her lips.

"I love you." She repeats a little louder

"One more time? I can't hear you." I say with a half smile.

"Jace Lightwood I love you." She almost yells making both of us let off a small laugh.

I slide off of the edge of the bathtub startling Clary a little but ultimately makes her giggle.

" I love you too Clarissa Morgenstern."

Neither of us want to get off of the floor after that so we just sit there and talk and laugh for hours like we'd seen each other only yesterday.

After who knows how long I notice starting to doze off and eventually fall asleep. I scoop her up in my arms and go lay her down under the covers in my bed. I go over to my dresser to see if I've missed anything.

As usual, a bunch of notifications and texts.

There's also almost 50 texts and calls from Jon, which I don't even bother to read, I don't want to have to deal with him just yet.

"Jace?" I hear Clary whisper from my bed, she must be dreaming since her eyes are still closed.

I walk over to the other side of my bed to get in with her, she seems to be reaching for me and when she finally finds me she seems to relax a little.

"I love you." She says drowsily

I give her a light kiss "I love you too Clary." I say back.

Before she totally falls asleep I barely make out what she mumbles.

"You keep me safe from all the terrible things. Even Jon."

I feel myself frown at the last thing she says, I don't want to wake her up though to ask her.

Even Jon?

AN: I'M BAAAAAAAAACK! Sorry that was such a short chapter, I was going to write more but I felt that would be a good place to end it so… yeah. Tell me what you think about this chapter! I love hearing all of you feedback and comment because like always yall are amazing!

Also! When does school start for you guys? Is it just me or does my school start incredibly early(August 6)?

ANYHOO! I love you all and the next chapter will be out pretty soon, I may or may have not already written it(:

R & R

XOXO

Erin