Chapter Seventeen

"It was kind of funny," Clary insisted,

"That's easy for you to say, you didn't stumble around like an idiot with your laces all tangled together," Jace complained,

"Rafe is hilarious."

Jace stopped them from walking down the corridor, stood in front of Clary and took her hands in his. Clary's heart fluttered as she looked into the sea of pure golden which were his eyes and smiled as his hands ran through her hair. One hand glided down her cheek while the other pulled her into him, leaving their lips only millimetres away from each other and making Clary's heart pound. It surprised her that he could still render her breathless, make her heart pound and even make her feel lightheaded. She slid her hands up his neck to feel goosebumps emerge and then through his cloud soft hair. As their noses touched, she closed her eyes and saw fireworks in her mind when they kissed passionately. Her stomach began to do somersaults as their lips interlocked and Jace's hands roamed from her hair down to her waist.

"What was that for?" Clary whimpered once their lips parted,

"I missed your lips," Jace grinned before kissing her again,

"There are many rooms here, you know," Magnus chuckled from behind them.

The couple laughed as they turned around to see Magnus leaning against the wall with a face of amusement.

"I'm going to do some training," Jace said, before kissing Clary's cheek and walking to the training room.

Clary opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly she felt her stomach flip and churn and she sprinted to the nearest bathroom she could find. This had started happening regularly most mornings for a while and it had meant nothing to her until the moment that Magnus said, "Someone's got a sweet bun in the oven."

She looked up at him hopelessly while he held her hair back and tutted when he realized that he was the first one to know. The truth was that she was hoping she had been eating bad food or had caught some sort of bug as she and Jace always used protection, but she wasn't that naïve. Magnus helped her up and after she had washed her mouth out, he followed her to her room.

"So, I'm guessing Jace doesn't know," Magnus said as he sat on the bed.

Clary could only shake her head in reply and then lower it when Magnus sighed. Panic quickly spread through her as she realized what they were discussing. She was pregnant. Clarissa Adele Fairchild was going to have a baby. She had no idea how Jace was going to react. He seemed fine when looking after Rafael and Max, but they hadn't talked about their future and having a family and now really didn't seem like the right time. What if he didn't want a baby? He could've wanted it to just be the two of them for a while so that they could travel around the world like Magnus and Alec and they could get married all before having a family. This was all just bad timing. Horrible timing.

"Please don't tell Jace or anyone in fact, he can't know, no one can know, not yet just not yet," Clary begged,

"Calm down, biscuit. It's not my place to divulge such news," Magnus spoke with a tender voice, "have you even taken a pregnancy test?"

"No, but only because we always use protection or if we don't use it, he doesn't… you know,"

Magnus cringed, "Sometimes just no is appropriate. Oh and honey, condoms only work like 97% of the time, have you never watched Friends?"

"What do I do, Magnus?"

Bursting into tears became highly likely for her and she rested her head on Magnus's shoulder. It wasn't that she was sad about having a baby; she was over the moon, but she feared that she wouldn't be good enough and would let her child down. As she thought about how she'd look after her son or daughter, she realized that after she was thrown against a wall, she had Magnus only help her with her soar side and she didn't know if the baby was okay after all of that.

"Could you sense it?" she asked,

"What do you mean 'sense it'?" Magnus replied,

"Like, could you use your magic to see it inside my stomach?"

Magnus sighed and rubbed his hands together, "Lie down."

There was a sudden heavy feeling in her stomach as she lay on her back and prayed to every angel in the sky that her unborn child was okay. As Magnus hovered his hands above her stomach, she thought about how she'd juggle being a Shadowhunter and a mother at the same time like Jocelyn and Maryse did. She wasn't as strong as them and she knew she'd happily choose having a family over killing demons any day. But maybe that was the solution. Jace wouldn't have to stop being the great Shadowhunter he was if Clary was always there looking after the children. As thoughts raced through her mind, Magnus tapped her shoulder.

"Listen very carefully," he whispered.

Blue magic swirled up from her stomach into the air and formed two balls. The balls soon began to pulse like beating hearts and she could hear a small fragile heartbeat faintly bless her ears. Tears fell down her cheek as she watched the balls carry on beating and it felt like the sound of her baby's heart was the only one that existed.

"Is it blue because it's a boy?" Clary smiled through her tears full of joy,

"I may be a warlock, but I can't tell quite yet. Just be glad the babies are okay," Magnus smiled as he sat next to her feet,

"What do you mean 'babies'?"

"Aren't the fact that there are two spheres a clue?"

Clary sat up in shock and wiped her tears away to make room on her cheeks for more beads of happiness as Magnus made the two spheres disappear. She pulled Magnus by the arm and wrapped her arms around him, most likely squeezing air out of him (luckily he was immortal). As she squealed with excitement, the door abruptly opened. As Jace entered with his earphones in, she pushed Magnus away and quickly wiped away any evidence of her tears. Clary and Magnus sat on the bed awkwardly while looking at Jace and wondering if he was ever going to notice them as he took his t-shirt off. It was when he turned around to leave the room that he jumped in shock.

"Oh now he notices," Magnus sighed,

"Is there something wrong?" Jace asked as he took out one of his earphones,

"Everything's fine. Magnus is just going to help me get some sleep," Clary sniffed.

Jace looked at her with concern before kissing her head and stroking her cheek. The feeling of his surprisingly soft hands on her cheek was enough to make a tear slip from her eye as she thought about how she was going to tell him that he was going to be a father.

"What's wrong, gorgeous?" he asked as he wiped the tear off of her cheek,

"I just… I can't help but think about Max," she lied,

"Don't worry, we'll get him back safely," he kissed her before making his way to the door.

She knew that she had to tell him, but she couldn't do it now; they had to focus on the mission.

"I love you," she smiled,

Jace turned around and blew her a kiss, "I love you three times more."

Once he had left and closed the door, Clary collapsed onto the bed and felt all energy evacuate her body.

Magnus chuckled slightly, "The irony."