A/N: Surprise! I'm not turning this into a full-fledged story or anything, but I have been writing pretty consistently all week,working on this massive Clace apartment-AU that floated around in my head all Summer and tonight I started to type this up before I realized that my brain had somehow jumped back into this universe!

No lemon for you this time, but just a little continuation that I hope you enjoy. :)

Disclaimer: Blah blah, nothing is mine. :)

The whole dinner, Jace felt like a guitar that was strung too tightly and one wrong note might just make him snap. Maryse had decided to eat in the kitchen rather than the formal dining room and to his delight and dismay, he somehow ended up seated right next to Clary at the small, round table.

He felt her arm brush against his as she reached for the salt and he leaned toward Alec on his left, trying to get away from the tingling sensation now shooting up his right arm. His leg was bouncing up and down nervously and Alec shot him a questioning look. Jace shook his head slightly, trying to clear the fog in his mind and straightened up in his seat. He listened back in on what Isabelle was saying. He hadn't seen his sister in months, he really should be focused on what she's talking about instead of acting like a teenager with his first crush.

"So the magazine isn't exactly VOGUE, but the last 3 interns in my position went on to work for Elle, Marie Claire, and Allure. Plus, I might get to keep some of the samples from the photoshoots when the models don't opt to take them!" Isabelle continued on excitedly for another 15 minutes.

When she began to describe Anthopologie's Fall headbands and accessories, Robert seemed to have had about all he could take on the subject and interrupted with a less than subtle, "That's nice, Dear. So Clary, what will you be doing now that you've come to NY?"

Jace turned to look at the redhead for the first time since he had awkwardly shook her hand in the foyer, pretending that he hadn't been itching to touch her again for the last 2 weeks. Clary smiled kindly at Isabelle, who had been pouting at Robert's interruption and when Isabelle flashed her a smile and a wink, she looked back over at Robert. "I'll be interning at The Drawing Center," she replied quietly.

"You're an artist," Jace asked, grappling with the sudden urge to know everything about this girl.

She nodded in response, tucking a curl behind her ear. "I paint, but I mostly draw which is why this internship was such a great opportunity."

"Clary is an amazing artist," Isabelle proclaimed enthusiastically. "Her drawings look like photographs!"

Jace watched Clary's cheeks flush before she ducked her head, hiding behind a curtain of her hair. "I'm alright," she murmured. He wondered how the same girl who loved him and left him so easily at that music festival could be so shy over a compliment.

Maryse seemed to sense Clary's discomfort and quickly changed the topic to when Max, the youngest Lightwood, would be returning from Summer camp. Jace had just started to relax into the conversation when he felt a small, socked foot trail up and down his right shin and he dropped his fork so suddenly that it clattered loudly onto his plate, causing everyone to look his way.

"Sorry, muscle spasm," he said as he hastily picked his fork back up and flashed a smile at Maryse who simply raised an eyebrow at his antics and continued detailing Max's space camp project he e-mailed her about. Jace took another bite of his meal, but paused when he again felt that socked foot trail from his ankle to the top of his knee and back down again.

He surreptitiously glanced over at Clary, but for all he or anyone else at the table could tell, she was engrossed in Maryse's story, leaning forward, smiling, and responding at the appropriate places. He tried to pretend to be similarly involved as he carefully slipped his right hand under the table and onto her knee where he slowly rubbed circles with his thumb. He was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath that she tried to mask by biting her lip. This reminded him of what it felt like to suck that same lip into his mouth which resulted in the tightening of his pants and he wasn't sure what he was getting into here, but he refused to be outdone.

He squeezed her knee and then slowly trailed his hand inward and upward until he was halted by her abruptly crossing her legs, effectively keeping him from his intended destination. Jace glanced over at Clary and noticed that her cheeks were flushed and he couldn't help the satisfied smirk that settled onto his face.

After a couple minutes, when her thighs still hadn't relinquished their grip on his hand, he wiggled his fingers, as much as he could in their current predicament. She looked over at him then and he felt his heart rate pick up when her eyes met his.

"Could someone please direct me to the bathroom," Clary inquired quietly.

Jace seized the opportunity, "It's a little confusing, I'll show you. I have to respond to a work e-mail anyway and I know how much Mom hates phones at the table." Maryse nodded her approval and Clary released his hand, standing and then following him from the table.

Jace wasn't entirely lying about the layout to the bathroom being a bit confusing as they had to travel down 2 different hallways and a multitude of doors before he opened the correct door and gestured her inside.

Before she could close the door, he slipped in behind her, closing and locking the door before turning to face her. He was surprised to find her with her arms crossed over her chest, green eyes narrowed and glaring up at him.

"What the hell was that?"

Jace put his hands up in supplication, "I was just following your lead. You're the one that decided to play footsie at family dinner!"

"Footsie," she sputtered. "You have to be kidding me! I wasn't playing footsie with you, Jace! You seemed so tense, I thought you were going to snap. I was just trying to calm you down."

"That's how you calm people down," he asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically at her.

Clary huffed, "I wasn't sure how else to convey, 'Relax, I won't tell your family we fucked in a dirty bathroom at a festival' non-verbally!"

Jace laughed at that, "Fair point." He saw her shoulders release some of their tension at his laugh and the side of her mouth quirked up like she was fighting a smile. He stepped closer to her so that they were chest to chest and placed a hand gently on her hip. "Though if you want to practice our non-verbal communication while we're in here…"

Clary leaned into him and he found himself bending his head toward her as she raised herself onto her toes, stopping just before their lips met. "What kind of practice were you thinking?"

Jace felt her breath against his lips, saw her eyes flutter shut, and that was all he could take before he closed the distance between their lips. He pulled her body flush against his with the hand that was on her hip, his other hand reaching up to tangle in the curls he had been dreaming of with great satisfaction.

She wound her arms around his neck and he licked into her mouth, deepening the kiss. She responded in kind, but then pulled away after a minute, dropping to her heels and resting her forehead on his chest.

She took a step away from him and Jace dropped his hand from her hair, but didn't release the hold on her hip, not quite ready to have too much space between them just yet. Clary looked up at him and smiled. "Good talk."

Jace grinned back widely. "They say practice makes perfect," he retorted, reaching with his free hand to bring her closer again.

"Nuh uh," Clary stopped him with a hand in the middle of his chest. "You need to get back to the table. I'll follow when I sort out whatever it is that you've done to my hair." She held up a strand, eyeing it with distaste.

Jace chuckled and tucked the strand behind her ear, feeling a sense of deja vu. "You look beautiful," he said sincerely before slipping out of the bathroom.

When Clary returned to the table a few minutes later, her hair now pulled into a messy bun, he couldn't help the small smile that took over his face. When she twined her foot around his ankle and left it there the rest of dinner, he realized he wasn't going to be able to stop smiling anytime soon, but he was okay with that.

A/N 2: That's really supposed to be it for this one-shot! Or I guess it's a two-shot now.

So...who has a Twitter account and wants to be friends? I just decided that I should use mine after it sat dormant all these years and I need people to talk to! TMI accounts are obviously the best, but since mine isn't dedicated purely to that, it's certainly not a requirement!

My handle is dancingcatlady1 - follow me and I'll follow you back! Or leave your handle in a review or a DM and I'll find you! :)