Chapter 27
Sarah saw her almost immediately, and her mouth pressed into a thin line. But Clary was already reaching for the boy standing next to her, his hands in his pockets as he frowned.
"Clary?" Jace said in surprise, arms automatically coming around her as she hugged him. "What are you doing here?"
"You're not angry, are you?" Clary lifted her face from where it was pressed against his chest.
"No, of course not. Are you okay?" Jace pulled back and looked at her in concern.
"I'm fine. I saw the police cars, and with that and the phone call-well, I was worried."
Jace rolled his eyes. "Of all the conclusions a girl could jump to about her boyfriend, you thought I was being arrested?"
"Well, it was a logical assumption! I mean, you were trying to get off the phone, and you sounded tense, and I heard a guy yelling." Clary took a deep breath. "Okay, so maybe I overreacted a little. But then, who was yelling?"
Jace shifted his weight. "Well-that's a long story."
Clary spun around in the circle of his arms and scanned her eyes over the line of police cars. The sun had gone down, and in the darkness the flashing colors were blinding.
She saw him then-his chin set defiantly, hands cuffed and elbow in the grasp of a uniformed policeman.
"Oh, Jace," she whispered. "What happened?"
Clary could feel Jace's sigh through her back. "Some drug dealer was killed, and the police found Chris's name in a list of clients. When they came to investigate, Chris wasn't home, but they searched his room and found a whole stash of coke."
"When was this?"
"Earlier today."
"The phone call," Clary realized. "And you stayed? I would have understood if you'd gone home."
"I couldn't. It was your birthday, and I hadn't even given you your present. Besides, the party was too riveting to miss."
Clary's skeptical frown made him add, "Sarah understood. Don't worry, Clary."
Clary sighed, glancing at Sarah, whose face was drawn and pale as she fixed her eyes on Chris, who was still arguing with the policeman and refusing to be put inside the car.
The policeman placed a firm hand on the top of Chris's head and pushed him inside. Sarah's wince was obvious, and Clary felt a stab of pity for the woman. Sarah had put so much trust in her foster children, and Chris had betrayed that trust.
Clary gasped suddenly. "Crap. I need to call my mom."
Jace watched her pat her pockets for a moment before blinking and reaching into his own. "Here, I have it, remember?"
"Right, thanks." Clary lifted the phone to her ear and moved away from Jace and Sarah.
Turning to face away from the lights, she took a deep breath as the line clicked. "Hello?" Jocelyn's voice was strained.
"Hi, Mom."
"Clary." The word was one long exhalation, releasing all of the stress and replacing it with irritation. "Where have you been?"
"I'm sorry. Jace dropped me off a while ago, but I went over to his house to get my phone."
"Couldn't you have waited till tomorrow? It's so dark outside," Jocelyn chided, but she didn't sound angry.
"I'll explain later. But I'm with Jace and his mom right now, so don't worry about me."
"All right, Clary. Be safe."
"I will. Bye, Mom."
Clary made her way back to Jace and Sarah, but halted, grinning unexpectedly.
Jace had his arms around Sarah, his ear pressing into her hair where her head rested on his shoulder. They watched two of the police cars drive away, leaving one still parked on the sidewalk.
The remaining policewoman walked up to Sarah and Jace, who detached himself to stand next to Clary instead.
The policewoman's expression was grim as she informed Sarah that she or her husband would have to come down to the station. Sarah's face would have paled further if possible, but she merely nodded and flicked her eyes toward Jace.
"Will you be okay here?"
Jace nodded, glancing at the house, where Damien and Anna were still inside.
"Take Clary home before it gets too late, all right? Tell Michael what happened," Sarah instructed as she walked with the policewoman to the black patrol car.
Jace gazed after the car as the red and blue lights faded out of their vision. Clary held his hand as they stood outside of the Waylands' home in the cool night air.
They had gone inside to find Damien and Anna peeking out from behind the couch, eyes wide. Jace had immediately picked Anna up and tucked her into bed, leaving Clary to follow with Damien in hand. He jumped into his own bed without protesting, but had scrutinized Clary with a question in his eyes.
"Everything's fine," she'd whispered to him, squeezing his tiny hand gently. He'd nodded, laying his head on the pillow.
Jace and Clary had backed out of the room without looking at each other. Clary wondered how much the children had heard from inside.
"Were they there-when the police searched?" Clary asked quietly once they were in the living room.
"No," Jace had replied. The unspoken words, thank God, hung between them until Clary pushed them away by hugging Jace tightly.
"Good," she'd muttered.
They had collapsed on the couch in silence, but eventually the tension dissipated and they'd started talking.
Talking about anything but Chris, but Jace wasn't closed off from her like he might have been, and they laughed about insignificant things, like Isabelle's single-mindedness all month to plan this party. How Clary had been so worried about an ambush that she'd missed the shower of petals. Silly baseball camp stories-Jace's teammates tripping over each other to listen in on Jace's phone conversation with Clary, the girly scream the first baseman had given when a frog jumped onto him in the middle of the night.
"He launched out of the bed and woke everyone up. It was priceless. Even Sebastian-" Jace closed his mouth suddenly and stared to the patch of air to the side of Clary's face.
Clary swallowed, but pressed, "Even Sebastian what?"
Jace examined her before continuing guardedly, but with the laughter still behind the words, "Sebastian even came over to see what was going on, and he started laughing harder than the rest of us."
Clary surprised herself by laughing naturally. After a pause where Jace examined her carefully out of the corner of his eye, he continued. "Yeah. And the coach came in and started scolding us, but he couldn't stop smiling at Gee's expression."
Clary wondered when she'd become immune to Sebastian's name. It had never really come up between them, but somehow the guilt didn't press as hard as it used to.
A jet flew over the house, a roar engulfing them as it passed. The loud noise jolted Jace, who checked the time and stood slowly.
"I should send you home," Jace said reluctantly.
Clary yawned. "Yeah, I guess."
They left the house quietly, Jace locking the door and biting his lip as he looked back at the wing where, inside, the children were sleeping.
A car had pulled up, and Clary smiled in relief as Michael Wayland got out of the car. He started up the drive, greeting Jace and Clary.
"Hey, you two. It's getting late, you know."
"I know, I was just about to send her home." Jace glanced out at the street as he said, "Michael, there's something I need to to talk to you about."
"Yeah? What's up, Jace?"
Jace explained quickly what had happened as Michael's face grew somber.
"And she'll be back soon," he finished. Michael nodded once, a short jerk of the head.
"I understand. And Damien and Anna-"
"Are asleep."
"Okay. I'll go in now and check on them. Bye, Clary."
"Bye."
Full darkness had descended on them, but it was still warm and humid outside. Clary hurried into the car gratefully.
Clary didn't hear from Jace for more than a week after her birthday. When he finally called, he gave a cursory description of what had happened at court: Chris had been convicted of drug possession, but his connection with the murder case had been dropped. Because of his prior record, he was receiving a short jail sentence, which was uncommon for this offense. By the time of his release, Chris would turn eighteen and be ineligible for foster care.
"So-he's not coming back?"
"No. I don't think so."
Clary didn't comment on the relief evident in that simple phrase, just relaxed slightly herself and told Jace she loved him.
Letters came from the school, telling her to come to the back-to-school information night and the date of the sophomore meeting where they retrieved all the necessary supplies for a new school year. Jace went back a day before her, as a junior.
She waited in the snaking line with Isabelle until they were in sight of the registration table, when Maia and Simon cut the line to stand with them. They chatted like normal, but their conversation was subtly different from the one they'd had last year in the same position. There were new memories to reminisce over, more mature ways of putting things. Simon and Isabelle were always in contact with each other somehow.
Clary even saw Aline as they lined up to take their pictures. She noticed Aline leaving the gym with a girl she'd never seen before-likely a transfer student.
Finally she picked up her schedule at the end of the line, Isabelle rushing over to compare theirs and reacting dramatically with if-only's and how-can-we-not-have-this-class-together's.
"You don't have a science, Clary!"
"I don't?" Clary stared at the schedule-sure enough, she had an empty period but no Chemistry, like she'd requested. "Oh, well."
"No, you have to have a science. Or else it'll screw up your credits. Do you want to graduate or not?"
"It's not that important-" Clary tried, but Isabelle pushed her into the guidance office.
After a bit of fiddling with the computer, the guidance officer finally said, "I can give you Physics Honors that period."
"Physics Honors?" Clary gaped at her. "That sounds a bit too difficult."
"There's no easier class open at that time. Truthfully, that class is mostly juniors, but you should be fine if you study enough."
Clary frowned. "Well-" She suddenly remembered Jace saying he would take physics his junior year. "All right, I guess. I know someone who can help me."
The counselor ripped the schedule out of the printer professionally and handed it to her, waving in the next student.
Isabelle waited outside, bouncing up and down on the soles of her feet. "So?"
"Izzy, if I fail this class this year, it's your fault."
"I have faith in you."
Finding Simon and Maia waiting on the other side of the barrier, they jumped over and left the school. Clary texted Jace as they walked.
hey, did u get physics h?
Two minutes later, he texted back. yup, 4th per.
Clary checked her schedule with a grin. hey, me too :)
really? overachieving sophomore.
shut up. you'd better help me, i don't know anything...
that's what i'm here for.
Isabelle poked her in the shoulder. "Stop texting your boyfriend and talk to your friends."
"Okay, okay."
Clary tucked the phone in her pocket and shoved the schedule back into her bag. Isabelle reached for the paper and smoothed it before placing it neatly inside. Clary rolled her eyes and slapped her hand away.
A week later, Jace picked her up early in the morning, Clary still yawning as she plopped herself into the front seat.
"Good morning, sunshine," he said teasingly as she rubbed her face.
"No, go away," she complained.
"You don't mean that. You love me."
"Yes, I guess I do," she sighed woefully.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Jace parked smoothly and grabbed his backpack from the backseat.
"No, of course not." Clary hugged him. "I'll see you later."
The first day of school was the same every year, Clary decided. The lectures on the plan for the rest of the year hadn't gotten any more interesting, and the classes were as mundane as usual. This year, though, she had something to look forward to.
Jace looked up with a smile as she entered the physics classroom.
"Do you realize, we have fourth period together again?"
"We do, don't we."
"Except this time, I'll be helping you."
"Maybe I'll suddenly have a talent for physics and outsmart all of you."
"You wish." Jace pulled her seat out and turned his attention to the teacher.
Clary concluded that fourth period was just lucky for her. As the teacher droned on, Jace played with her hair absentmindedly, distracting her from falling asleep. Best of all, there wasn't a seating chart.
She thought maybe sophomore year wouldn't be that bad at all.
The phone call came that Friday. She was trying to understand what Jace was explaining, with velocity and vectors, but it wasn't clicking. And her concentration was completely ruined when her cellphone went off loudly.
Jace scowled. "That's supposed to be on silent."
"Only during school." Clary picked it up. "Hello?"
"Clary. Is Jace there?" a familiar male voice asked.
"Oh, hello, Mr. Herondale. Yes, he's right here."
Jace's eyes widened and he reached for the phone before she had even taken it from her ear.
Jace nodded along as Stephen presumably explained why he had called. A small smile appeared on his face as he finally responded, "Yes, we'd love to."
"What did he want?" Clary asked curiously.
"He wants us-you and me-to come up to his house on Labor Day weekend."
"And you said yes."
Jace smiled.
"That's great!" Clary grinned widely and hugged Jace. "It'll be so much fun."
"I thought so, too. But we're not going anywhere unless you figure this out." Jace pushed the textbook back at her, eliciting a groan.
Jocelyn had been resistant at first, but finally agreed when Stephen Herondale explained the situation to Jocelyn over the phone. Clary assumed the conversation had included something along the lines of "separate rooms" and "we'll be careful."
Michael Wayland offered to drive them, further appeasing Jocelyn, who didn't trust Jace to drive long distances with Clary in the car.
They sped along the highway a week later, Jace and Clary leaning against each other in the backseat.
The sun slanted into the car through the window, illuminating Jace's hair like a halo. Clary must have been staring at it too obviously, because Jace raised an eyebrow at her.
"Your hair is shining," she informed him.
"Well, so is yours. It looks like fire."
"Funny, I just thought yours looked like a halo."
Jace grinned. "That makes me an angel."
"What does it make me?"
Jace considered this seriously for a moment. "I'd say the fires of hell, but you'd probably hit me."
Clary narrowed her eyes. "I would, actually."
"The fiery passion in my heart?" Jace asked, eyes laughing.
"That is so cliche."
"I found it rather poetic." Jace smirked. "It's true, though."
Clary laughed and ruffled his hair, earning herself an injured look.
"Do you realize how absurd this situation is?" Jace said after a moment.
"What?" Clary said, caught off guard.
"My foster father is driving me to see my real father, who I've only seen twice since I was four, and his new wife, with my girlfriend in the car beside me."
"Well, if you put it that way..."
But Clary mulled over it privately. She'd come a long way from the naive freshman she'd been one whole year ago. Not just that she was older, but she was more mature now. Not in all ways-she still laughed at stupid jokes-but in some ways that counted.
Truthfully, though, she thought the biggest difference between then and now was the presence of Jace. He was someone she could rely on, even more than Isabelle. And she was happy that she could give him the same thing-someone who he could tell anything, do anything with-even meet his previously estranged father and his wife who wasn't Jace's mother.
It could be put any way and Clary would consider it an amazing life.
A/N: The end.
Thank you everyone, for sticking with this story. It's been fun, and I'll miss writing about young Clary and Jace. I love all of you, reviewers or non-reviewers. I'm so pleased that people have actually read this story and enjoyed it to any degree.
And now I'm feeling almost nostalgic!
For the last time in this story:
Thank you for reading!
~Sami