Chapter 4

"Alive?" Fin asked, his voice almost rude. "Mom, you know this girl?'

"Know her! She practically saved your grandmother! If it weren't for her, she may never have woken up!" The woman stumbled forward and came to Ayne, smiling with joy. "Jace and I thought you were dead! But when Fin said you had silver hair, I thought, it must be you! What were you, turned into a vampire? You haven't aged a bit! In fact, you look…. younger…" the woman, stopped midstep and her eyebrows furrowed. "Madeleine?"

Ayne looked at the woman, shocked at her excitement, and now dread in her eyes. She was like a firecracker, alive and jumping around, her eyes bouncing between her son and Ayne. Ayne cleared her throat and spoke in whisper, "No, I'm not Madeleine, my names Ayne, Ayne Roselyn."

"But, you look—you look just like her. She had silver hair and your face is identical." The woman frowned, and crossed her arms in front of her. Fin knew instantly his mother was getting mad at the situation, because she hated when she was wrong. Fin looked back and forth between Ayne, who looked a little worried, and his mother who looked beyond words.

"Mom, maybe you should get Dad, he will know what to do. Ayne and I will sit and stay here." Fin suggested and started walking towards the set of velvet antique couches.

"No, you get your father, he is up in weaponry. I need to sit a minute." She said quietly, and lightly touched her stomach.

"Um, sure. Be back in a second," he said awkwardly, looking at his mother almost in concern. Ayne was nearly shocked by the way he looked at his mother, with so much love and care.

Ayne went and sat at the couch, thinking about the situation. There is no way this pretty family is crazy…. She thought. Fin's mother came and sat across from her, still her hand was on her stomach lightly, her eyes on Ayne in confusion. She bit on her lip and bounced her foot slightly.

"I'm sorry, you must be so confused, probably scared too. I can imagine it must be strange being brought into—" the woman examined her and frowned in sympathy. The mention of the woman understand Ayne's situation angered her, and she couldn't stop the words before they lashed out of her mouth angrily.

"No, I don't think you can really understand how it feels, to one day be almost murdered in an alley, and then the next day be dragged into Brooklyn against your own stupid will. This is like a—"

"Nightmare?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, worse." She snapped.

"I do know how you feel actually. When I was 15 I met my husband, at a club and watched as he murdered—what I thought was a boy—right in front of my eyes. Then he showed up again at a coffee house the next day, and I was then almost killed by a demon and brought here. I was even seated, right where you are now, being interrogated about who I was. You should be glad you didn't have my bad luck, and was almost poisoned to death." The woman said, her motherly tone coming up in her voice.

"Oh," Ayne blushed, and her anger receded. "Sorry, I didn't know."

"I know." She said. "I'm Clary by the way. Clary Lightwood," Clary said and held out her hand. Ayne leaned forward and shook it firmly. "You look exactly like someone I used to know. I can't get over it."

"Who was she?' Ayne asked, and turned, as Fin reentered the room with a tall lean man by his side. She almost gasped at the resemblance between the man and Fin. Clearly, this was Jace, Fin's father.

"Clary, is everything alright?" Jace asked, his voice deep and his eyes fierce as they took in the calm scene around them. When the man's bright golden eyes—the only thing that was different between Fin and him—looked at Clary, they melted with affection.

"Yes, I was just getting acquainted with our new friend. Jace, this is Ayne Roselyn, Ayne this is my husband Jace." Clary gestured to Jace and then Ayne. Something flashed across Fin's face as he looked at Aye. She was about to get up to shake his hand, but Jace gestured for her to stay seated, and simply nodded her head.

"I don't quite know who or what you are, dear. I don't want to take the risk in shaking your hand." Jace spoke coldly, his stance was clearly dominant. Even for an outsider like Ayne, she could tell he ran things around here.

Fin flushed at her father's cool welcome to the poor girl, thought he couldn't entirely blame him. Fin looked at his mother, who was still glowing, and staring at Ayne as if she were here daughter, and Ayne was looking at Jace as if she knew him. It was all a strange thing to witness, the look on people's faces in a strange situation.

A tense silence passed before Clary gasped and looked at Ayne. "How old are you?"

"17, I will be 18 in a month." Ayne said, worried by the look Jace was giving her now.

"Jace, didn't Mayrse say at one point that Madeleine had taken a leave of absence from the Clave for a few years or something, before she came back and worked in New York?" Clary asked, and looked at Ayne as if she had realized something.

"Clary, please, don't mention the Clave in front of her unless we are sure she isn't something sinister." Jace warned his wife.

Clary just laughed, and looked at Ayne, "You have to be kidding, Jace, this girl is far from sinister! She looks scared stiff! And if she were a faerie, her eyes would be dead as a doorknob. But they aren't, they are alive and they look worried! Faeries don't get worried. Therefore, she isn't a faerie."

"Clary, you may be right, but we don't know if she is a demon. Fin, do you have a sensor?" Jace asked, and Fin smiled up at his father. Their similarities were almost unreal.

"Actually, I had a sensor with me when Ayne and I ran into each other yesterday, if she were a demon, the sensor would have gone off." Fin said, and looked over to Ayne and winked.

Ayne tensed and looked back at Clary who had her eyebrows raised to her husband as if she were saying I told you so. "Jace, come on, look at her. She looks exactly like Madeleine. Not our Madeleine, but the one we named her after. The one who knew my mother. Now was it true that she took a leave of absence before Valentine's return?" Clary asked.

"Yes, she had went up north, to a Seelie Court and was doing business with the Fair folk for about three years. Then she just disappeared before she came back. It was strange, I guess, but the Clave never looked into it. The Greendust family was very well known, and well trusted." Jace muttered, his golden eyes looking to his wife. Thought he was very serious, Ayne and Fin could see that Jace was beginning to see what his wife was thinking, and he suddenly smiled with affection. Ayne almost gasped and how gorgeous he was.

"Now you see? Look at her eyes. What colour do they resemble?" Clary told Jace, and pointed and Ayne's face smiling.

Jace leaned forward, and his face went blank. "They are lavender… Ayne which of your parents has lavender eyes?"

Ayne started at her name, and was shocked the handsome man had addressed her. "I don't know who my parents are, I was adopted with I was only a few weeks old."

Ayne had thought the comment was irrelevant but Clary, Jace, and even Fin looked at each other in shock.

"Rosselin, doesn't that seem to sound a lot like Roseleaf? I know the Roseleaf family left the Clave just before the Mortal Wars, because they didn't want their new marriage to be corrupted by the violence within Idris." Jace said almost to himself. And then he was walking toward a table around the corner. He picked up the phone and snatched a phone book out from under a drawer Ayne couldn't see.

Clary looked at her husband, and then Fin, and got up to go see what Jace was doing.

Fin looked at Ayne, who was sitting on the couch, still slightly sweaty from dancing, and gestured for her to follow. "Ayne, come on!" he urged.

Ayne jumped up and followed Fin deeper into the room. Ayne had a sinking feeling that she didn't want to hear what Jace was about to say, and she resisted the urge to cover her ears.

"Clary, look, this is the book of all the Shadowhunters, ex or not that live in the state. Look at the name." Jace pointed to the book, and Ayne saw as he traced his finger over a name.

Ayne read the two corresponding names and gasped. "Does that say Rosselin and Roseleaf?" she whispered and covered her mouth. They room seemed to swim slightly as she stepped back from the three people around her. When she nearly tripped, she watch Fin reach out toward her.

"Ayne? Are you okay?" he asked, as he watched the girl's eyes shoot around the room, and then rest on his face. Just as he got a hold on her shaking arm, she collapsed and fell to the ground.

"And, she fainted." Clary whispered.

"Ayne? Ayne sweety, your parents are here." Clary said softly, and laid her hand on Ayne's fair cheek.

Fin watched from a distance, in the doorway of one of the guest rooms in the house, and sighed. Ayne had passed out a moment after his father had realized that Ayne was the adopted daughter of an old Shadowhunting family, that had exiled themselves after getting married young, just before Valentine had returned. Fin had caught her just as she was about to hit the ground, and only moments later, Jace was calling her parents to call them over. Fin remembered the uneasy voice on the other line as Jace had explained.

"Hello," Jace had spoke calmly, trying to break the news lightly, "This Jace Lightwood, I run the Institute here, this is the Roseleaf family?"

There was a short silence before a woman sounding identical to Ayne, "we don't go by that name anymore. We chose to leave the Clave."

"Yes, I realized when I looked you up. I know this may come of a shock, but your daughter is here with us. We thought it might be good for you to come over to Brooklyn and get her. And maybe explain to us how she doesn't know about her heritage." Jace explained slowly, letting the woman process what was being said.

"Ayne? Ayne is there? How, I don't understand…" she had said, worry clear in her tone and voice.

"Maybe you should come down, and possibly bring your husband?" He had suggested.

"Yes, yes I will be write down, its still the church on Carol Street?" She had sounded out of breath almost like she was running around.

"Yes, just let yourself in, and our cat will bring you in." Jace had smiled, probably thinking about how strange that must sound, even for a Shadowhunter.

"I will be there as soon as I can. I need someone to baby sit my daughter." She seemed flustered, Fin had thought.

"Very well." Jace agreed, and hung up the phone, turning to his wife and laughed. "She sure took that well."

"Yes but Ayne clearly didn't," Clary frowned at her husband, "you just had to do that in front of her didn't you?"

"I was on a roll!" Jace laughed, and smiled at his wife affectionately.

"I'm going to go check on her." Clary said, and ushered for Fin to follow. Fin had looked at his father in confusion and he shrugged as if he didn't know why Clary was bringing him upstairs to check on the girl.

Now after 30 minutes, Ayne's parents had arrived, clearly uncomfortable to be surrounded by Shadowhunters again. Clary hadn't went to greet them, and instead made Fin tell Jace she would stay with her until she awoke.

Fin had returned and saw his mother tenderly urging her to wake up.

"Mom, maybe she is too shocked to wake up. I mean didn't you faint when you found out?" Fin asked, and looked at Ayne with pity. It must be hard to find out a world you thought was imaginary was real, and that you were a vital part of it.

"No, I never really got the time to think about that actually. Luke only explained to me after my mother had been kidnapped, and even then, nothing was completely explained to me until after she woke up." Clary shrugged, and looked back at the girl. "This girl's parents didn't run away, they just left, and chose not to tell her the truth, rather then to lie for her protection. It is hard to find out an ugly truth like that."

Fin sighed, and entered the room further. Ayne seemed distressed even in sleep, almost as if this horrible reality followed her in her dreams. When he approached her eye lids fluttered suddenly, and she took a deep breath. "Ayne?" he whispered, and nearly touched her face just like Clary had done.

Ayne opened her eyes slowly, revealing her lavender eyes. She immediately looked at Fin and tears came into her eyes. "I thought all of that was a dream….but I'm guessing I was wrong." Ayne said, and slowly sat up, wiping the almost-falling tears away.

"Your parents are here." Fin surprised himself by how softly he was speaking around this girl. He felt bad for her, since she seemed so sweet, and innocent.

Clary looked at Fin and raised her eyebrows. "Yes, they are downstairs. Do you want to go see them? You don't have to, I know when I saw my mother after she woke up, I almost through a plate at her."

"I wont through a plate…but I might get angry. Is it wrong of my to want to see them?" Ayne asked, looking quickly to Clary and then to Fin, as if for support.

"Not at all!" Clarry said, and smiled.

"I don't blame you," Fin said and held out his hand. Ayne looked confused, while his mother's mouth dropped open. "Here,"

Ayne hesitated and then put her small hand in his. Fin felt a jolt of electricity run up his arm and the innocent touch. He didn't understand what it meant, but he went red and pulled Ayne off the bed. He misjudged her weight and pulled her right into him, their body's wacking together, and their faces almost too close. Fin smiled slightly at her as he realized that he didn't mind being so close to her, and he almost laughed as Ayne's eyes widened and her light skin went tomato red. "Sorry about that." Fin smiled, and released her, stepping back slightly. When he looked to his mother, to invite her to come to the library with them, Clary was shocked, and looking back and forth between them.

"Shall we?" Fin asked, and started towards the exit. Ayne and Clary both stared after him, not sure what to do.

Alrighty, so here is the next chapter, I know this is super late, but I had a crazy week so I didn't have time to post a chapter! I usually post 2 chapters, so I will put up 4 this week to make up for this week!

Enjoy and review :)

-MW