Author's note:

Hello all.

So, how was that? A little insight into Jace's thoughts of Clary and Simon, feeling a little protective over her.

I know you guys are waiting for the lemon...aren't you? But build up is important ;)

Anyone read CoLS yet? I have yet to finish it...

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Review?

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Clary couldn't stop wringing her fingers as they sat on her lap. She kept looking out the window, recognising little things and knowing how close they were.

She was terrified.

She hadn't been back to the orphanage since she was sixteen, when Mrs. Vonness kicked her out. The old hag, Clary hoped she rotted in hell.

"You okay?"

Clary looked over at the driver. His body fit perfectly in the seat, one hand on the wheel, the other resting on her knee, comforting her. Clary wished that hand would move further up to the button of her jeans, she hoped that hand would travel into her panties, feeling her wetness. She wore very sexy lingerie and hoped that he would see it.

"Oh for the love of god." Clary groaned and then her eyes widened when she realised that she had said that out loud.

"Clary?"

Jace was looking at her, worried and confused. She didn't blame him.

"What are you thinking about?"

Your face between my thighs.

"Just, nervous." She smiled but she didn't think it really worked.

Why did he have to be so gold and attractive? Damn him to the fiery pits of hell!

Jace smirked and Clary kept her groan in. Sometimes, it was like he could see through her, like he knew that she was really thinking about him, naked. On his side, on top, on the bottom, against a wall, upside down...

Clary had to shake herself and stop thinking of him that way.

Jace was hot, she knew it and so did millions of other females and males for that matter and although he showed her kindness, his reputation preceded him.

He was a player.

He used women. He slept with them and sent them on their way. According to Isabelle, Kaelie was the only one to stick around, because she worked for him and was easy. Isabelle had told Clary all about Kaelie and Jace how she was his 'go to lay' and apparently he needed a lay every day. That was before Clary anyway.

Now, as Isabelle had told her, Jace didn't seem interested in anyone else. Isabelle was worried he was going to seduce Clary and add her notch to his bed and that he was enjoying the chase too much and would eventually get tired and go in for the kill.

Clary didn't believe it.

There was more than one occasion in which Clary would have gladly let Jace seduce her and take her to bed, if he really wanted that from her; he could have had it ten times over. Then Clary realised something, he wanted nearly every girl he came into contact with, he fucked them mercilessly and yet, she remained untouched.

Clary fidgeted uncomfortably as thought ran through her mind. Was she repulsive? Unattractive? Disgusting? Why didn't Jace want her like he wanted other girls? Not that Clary wanted to be another one of his conquests, but if Jace was so 'addicted' to sex, she had been living under his roof for a while now, why hadn't he come to her?

Oh come in me or on me.

Clary put a hand to her head. Thoughts of Jace rejecting and then coming on her were giving her a headache.

"Clary, do you want to go back home?" Jace asked softly, his hand on her knee, giving her a reassuring pat. Clary decided to get right to the point; she may aswell, who knew if she would ever be alone with Jace again?

"Jace, do you think I'm pretty?"

Jace's hand froze on her knee. She looked over at him; he seemed extremely interested in the road.

"Why do you ask?" He asked in a careful tone.

The question made him uneasy, Clary wondered why.

"I just, I don't know, I don't feel pretty, I feel like, gosh I don't, it's just, you—never mind." Clary looked ahead and after a few moments, Jace began to circle his thumb on her knee. It made Clary shiver and feel warm all over.

"Clary I don't think you're pretty," Clary's eyes widened in surprise and her heart constricted. "I don't think that pretty is any way to describe what you are. You're...different."

"Different how?"

"Well, most of the women I have been with have been alike in one way or another but you, you aren't anything like them."

Clary frowned. Was that a compliment? She had seen Kaelie and she was beautiful.

"I mean, god I sound like an ass, you aren't just something to look at, you aren't the type of girl that would make herself up to only impress men. No. You Clary are to be treasured, not used nor tossed aside and you," He sighed. "You mean a lot to me."

Clary smiled as a feeling of elatedness swelled within her. Jace had just told her she was to be treasured; he had said she was more than pretty.

He said that I mean a lot to him.

Clary moved her hand and placed it on top of Jace's, twining her fingers with his. She looked over and met his eyes; he smiled at her and squeezed her hand once and then keeping his hand locked with hers.

"You mean a lot to me too, Jace."

Jace's smiled grew and he moved his hand so that it was no longer flat on her knee but holding hers, fingers entwined, in a fist, rubbing patterns with his thumb onto her skin.

Clary stared straight ahead, she found that she despised the thought of letting go of his hand and that thought frightened her. Her feelings for Jace frightened her.

Jace was someone she had to be careful of but then again he had done so much to her and he meant so much to her. He had given her a life she could never have dreamed of and he was the first person to really care about her. Clary had never had that before and she would treasure it, forever.

"Oh, Clary?"

"Mmm?"

"When I say that I don't think you're pretty, I mean it. I don't. I think you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever met."

That surprised her and what he did next surprised her even more. He raised their joined hands and kissed hers, it was soft but it was enough to make her feel like jelly.

For the rest of the trip, they barely spoke, but Clary could feel nothing but the feel of his hand in hers, the burn of his kiss and the butterflies that were flying around in her stomach, increasing whenever he looked her way.

#####

"Clarissa, welcome back."

Clary looked in disgust at the woman that had controlled her life for so long. Her hair was completely grey and not managed, she was missing teeth and her wrinkles were that of a lot of stern concentration—'looking' after children—and her appearance was so un-kept that Clary wondered why anyone came to this orphanage.

Clary looked over at Jace. He was studying the room and the owner of the orphanage as if he was waiting for something.

"I want my file."

Mrs. Vonness grinned and let out a cackle.

"Sorry, those are confidential."

Jace straightened and came to stand right next to Clary, his arm touching her's, his fingertips ghosting her skin.

"What's this? Clarissa, finally got herself a gentlemen? Or is he just yours for the night?" Mrs Vonness asked in a tone full of mockery.

Clary was about to protest, to deny that she felt anything more than friendship for Jace, no matter what they shared in the car, when he gripped her hand tightly and smiled, looking straight at Clary's old guardian. If you could call her that.

"Actually, we are engaged."

Clary went rigid, to shocked at Jace's words to deny what he said. Mrs Vonness seemed unconvinced, looking between the two of them a sinister grin on her lips.

"I don't believe it boy, someone like you with someone like her? You must think me senile." She grinned at Jace appreciatively and Clary instinctively stepped closer to him, leaning towards him, not for the sake of the charade, but because of the way the vile old woman was looking at him. It repulsed Clary but made her blood boil.

How dare she look at him like that?

"Well, you better believe it." Jace said, giving Clary a sidelong look. He was pleased with her proximity, though it was only part of an act; he could enjoy it for a little longer.

"That file is mine; I have a right to read it." Clary seethed.

"Excuse me Miss Fray, but you have no such right. The files are strictly confidential and—"

"Dear me, I hope this does not put you in an awkward position Madam, but is this orphanage not for those children whose parents were utterly unfit to take care of them? Drug dealers? Homeless? That kind of thing?" Jace asked in a tone that implied that Mrs Vonness was obviously hiding something.

"It is." Mrs Vonness said looking at Jace like one would a bug. "Your point?"

Clary looked at Jace curiously, where was he going with this?

Jace caught Clary's look and addressed her.

"Idris Orphanage was developed in the fifties and open to parents who had no means to take care of their Children. Literally. It was court ordered that this orphanage only be for those cases, considering that the other orphanages were bombarded with children. So, in any case, you would have had to have parents who could not take care of you. Whether they were drug users, homeless, bankrupt, anything like that. That would be the only way you could be here."

Clary nodded. She understood what Jace was getting at and how she could get her file. She made a motion for him to continue.

"The strange this is that Clary's mother and father had all the means necessary to take care of her. They are wealthy people and also, if they could not take care of Clary then why are they allowed to keep their son? If they cannot take care of one child, surely they cannot take care of another."

Mrs Vonness had gone stark white. She looked from Clary to Jace and realised that there was no way out.

"Look, I just take in the kids alright? If the parents give me some extra money to take in their child, even though they can take care of them, who am I to judge?"

"It's funny that you should mention the word Judge."

Mrs Vonness's expression hardened at Jace's threat.

"What do you want?"

"Her file and you to clean up your act and stop treating these kids like slaves."

"The file I can give you."

"You better give me the file and clean up your act if you don't want the authorities involved. I am a powerful man; I could shut this place down."

Clary looked over at Jace, his expressions steely.

Mrs Vonness considered this, although Clary already knew what they decision would be. She got a look in her eye for a mere splinter of a second, Clary couldn't decipher what the look meant but she didn't like it.

"Very well, I'll get the file."

"Oh and Mrs Vonness," Clary called as she stepped into the records room of her office. She turned around to look at Clary, who smiled sweetly. "We will conduct random inspections to make sure you are keeping up your end of the deal."

Mrs Vonness's lips thinned and her eyes were full of anger, she huffed and proceeded to step into the room.

"Nice work Clary." Jace said and she realised distantly that he still held her hand.

She didn't want to let it go until it was absolutely necessary and she hoped that it wouldn't be necessary for a long time.

#####

"According to this, your father, Valentine, dropped you off when you were two. Your mother had just died and he didn't want a daughter. He paid Mrs Vonness a hefty amount in order to keep you here and in order to not let anyone adopt you because he was a well known man and his wife's picture was all over the newspapers, he didn't want to risk someone discovering who you are."

Clary listened to Alec as he read the file. They sat in Jace's study. Clary, Luke, Jace, Izzy, Simon, Alec and Magnus. They were trying to decide what they should do.

Luke sat next to Clary on the leather lounge, fiddling with his wallet. It wasn't until he handed her a small picture that she realised why.

It was of Luke, a much younger Luke, a small baby and a woman who looked so much like Clary she was stunned that it wasn't her.

"That's me, your mother and you." Luke said. Clary clutched the photograph to her heart and pulled it back to study the face of the mother she had never known. The mother who never would have given her up, not for anything.

"Your mother and I had been friends since elementary school. She met your father in High School and, like many, she was enamoured by him and astounded that he wanted to be with her. They married shortly after graduation and soon after that; your mother gave birth to your brother, Jonathan. She was nineteen, married and with a child. Then, when she was twenty one she discovered that she was pregnant again, your brother and she had you. At that point she was in the middle of her divorce with your father and when she told him he didn't care, said he only wanted a son. Your mother and I began seeing each other, I had loved her for many years and when she went to Valentine's to drop off you and Jonathan they got into a massive fight and on her way back she...she lost control of her car and hit a tree. She died at the hospital; I was there when it happened. After that there was the battle of who the Children would go to. Their father or the person stated in your mother's will. The court ruled in favour of your father."

Clary's eyes were swimming with unshed tears; she blinked and felt them trickle down her face. She was distantly aware that everyone was watching them, but found herself not caring.

"Who was," she cleared her throat, her voice had come out small and rough. "Who was the person in the will that my mother wanted Jonathan and I to go to?"

"Me."

Clary looked over at Luke and saw the grief in his eyes. He really had loved her mother, she could see it. Just talking about her had caused emotion to stir in his blue eyes and his face creased with sadness. Clary put her arm around his shoulder and pulled herself closer.

"I'm sorry Clarissa." Luke said, looking at her, guilt clear in his face.

"For what?"

"For not fighting harder. For not being able to find you after your father gave you away."

Clary moved her arm and took his hand instead.

"It wasn't your fault, you didn't know—"

"I did know. I had gone to his—to Valentine's—home to collect your mother's things, things he didn't want and I saw Jonathan but not you. I demanded to see you and he told me you weren't coming back, he had sent you away and I had demanded to know why and he said—" Luke cut himself off with a wary look at everyone in the room, they were all listening, sitting closer, wanting to know about Clary's past as much as she did.

"What did he say?" Clary asked. Jace had come to sit on the arm of the lounge behind her and, invisible to everyone else in the room, had his hand on her lower back, rubbing soft circles. Clary revelled in the feeling.

"He said 'I didn't want another reminder of that bitch in my home'."

Clary's eyes widened, Jace's hand froze on her back and every seemed to be looking at her.

Clary looked around the room, everyone seemed to be waiting for her to say something but she had nothing to say. Clary didn't know this man—her father—and she didn't want to know him, but she couldn't let the memory of her mother wanting her and her father getting rid of her go. She couldn't let the thoughts of the life she could have had go.

"I don't know what to do." She finally settled on saying.

"I do," Luke said softly.

"What?"

Luke opened the bag he had brought with him and pulled out a manila folder—taped shut, handing it to her. On the front in black marker it read 'Do not open until you have decided'.

"Decided what?" Jace asked, reading the title over her shoulder, his hand still on the small of her back.

"To do the only thing she can do and the contents of this folder will help her with that."

"What is it?" Clary asked.

"To sue Valentine Morgenstern."

Clary flinched. She couldn't do that. Valentine was powerful and rich; he could crush her like a bug.

Luke but the folder down and held her hands, looking into her eyes.

"I know it's scary Clarissa, but you need to do this."

"Why?"

"To show the world who you are. To let them know that you are not afraid. To show them that you deserve the life that was stolen from you."

Clary was shocked when she looked at everyone else's face. They seemed to agree with Luke. Even Jace, who was watching her carefully, didn't object. She had no doubt that they would help her, no doubt that Jace would get her the best legal team he could, but she was terrified. To face her father, to have everyone know who she was and how she had lived, she didn't know if she could do that.

Clary looked back and Jace, trying to converse with him silently.

Her eyes said; I can't decide this right now.

His eyes replied; do you want to go somewhere and be alone?

Her eyes agreed and then added; I want to talk to you.

His eyes agreed and he stood.

"Clary doesn't need to decide what she wants to do right now. It is a big decision, why don't we let her sleep on it. Come on Clary," he gestured for her to stand and walk towards the door. "I'll walk you to your room."

Everyone seemed stunned, but not because of Jace's words.

His actions spoke volumes. The way he had his arm around Clary, not touching, the look in his eyes and the tone in which he had used.

Jace was protecting her, taking care of her. He was putting her needs first.

He was showing them that he cared about Clary and they had never seen him do anything like that before.

So how was it? Enjoyable?

I put in a little Clary and Jace romance for you and I know you will love the next chapter if you are waiting for Jace and Clary to share feelings.

Trust me, I have already written it.

Don't forget, links for outfits are on my profile, my tumblr and my poll.

Review?

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