Bet y'all lost your shit when you saw that I already updated (;
A thank you, as always, to my beta Mrs. Jace Wayland-Herondale.
I don't own the characters. If I did I would use the money to go on vacation to Europe. That'd be lit.
Aline was greeted warmly by everyone. Everyone was happy to see her again and catch up. Helen, unlike Simon, had fit right in and everyone immediately took her under their wing.
"Helen Blackthorn?" Magnus had greeted her during the first dinner Aline and Helen had with the gang since arriving.
"Magnus?" she responded.
"How are you?" he had chuckled.
"How do you know Magnus?" Alec politely asked Helen.
"We're old family friends. He was my foster brother for a while."
"Her family was probably the nicest foster family I lived with," Magnus added.
"What a small world," Isabelle commented.
Meanwhile, the boating lessons continued, growing endlessly frustrating as each went by. Clary was partially being such a slow learner because she wanted an excuse to spend time with Jace, but a part of her could not bring herself to learn because she was too anxious to.
"I don't get it. I don't know why I can't learn this," Clary groaned (and lied. She knew exactly why.)
"I don't get it either," Jace frowned. "You seem to know what you're doing, but when it comes to actually doing it, you make small mistakes or freeze up."
Clary shrugged. Jace didn't know, couldn't know the reality of the situation. Jace didn't know the fear that squeezed her heart when she heard the boat's motor running. When Jace had first offered to take her on a boat ride in the summer, she didn't think she'd still be so afraid of boats. But she was. And driving one just made it worse.
Terror. Pure terror. That was what she remembered most.
"Get up!" her father had yelled after bursting into her room. She shook in fear; she knew all too well what her father was capable of.
When she didn't get out of bed fast enough, he grabbed her and lifted her over his shoulder, her arms and chest dangling over his back. She watched as they exited the house, climbed down the porch, and walked toward the dock, where he plopped her into a seat on the motor boat.
"Put these on," her father instructed gruffly, tossing her ankle weights that some people used for exercise. She could barely lift her legs with them on.
"Now turn around," Valentine ordered. She did. "Hold out your arms toward me."
Clary reached behind her. She felt Valentine bring the two arms closer together and then felt pain in wrists as something tightened around them. She tried to move her wrists, but found she couldn't. They were being held in place. She turned back toward her father and found him turning on the boat motor and backing up.
No one was on the lake that early. She noticed the time when her father dragged her out of her room; it was a quarter to 5 o'clock in the morning.
Her father calmly steered the boat out of the dock. Clary noticed he was driving away from the no wake zone, toward a row of houses. She distinctly remembered being told by her mother (back when Valentine and her mother were still married) that the lake was very, very deep over there and to never ever go near that part of the lake unless she was with an adult and she had her life jacket and floaties on.
Now she had neither. She wasn't even in a swim suit—she was still wearing the thin pajamas she had worn to bed.
Valentine stopped the boat, and anchored it. He looked at her with pure disgust. Never how a father should look at his daughter.
"I wish your mother hadn't opened her legs the night you were conceived. It would've saved me so much trouble," he spat. He grabbed Clary's arms and she had to resist the urge to scream. He lifted her easily, and took her to the edge of the boat, where he set her down again. He sat down beside her. He began to work on something behind him, but continued to maintain eye contact with her as his arms reached behind him.
"Do you really hate me?" he had asked. "Like you said you do last night?"
Well you just said you regretted my existence a minute ago, Clary thought. Instead she didn't respond. Valentine glared at her.
"I have been nothing but good to you and your brother and your ungrateful mother. I have always provided for you both, showering you with gifts." He frowned. "I have a gift for you now. Would you like it?"
Clary felt the need to scream again. Something inside her screamed that she did not want this gift.
Without warning, Valentine lunged at her and grabbed her arms. He forcefully plunged her entirely into the water, one hand gripping her shoulder and the other placed on her head.
She screamed for help under the water, her lungs threatening to give out right there. She tried to kick her legs but found them too heavy to kick. She tried to free her arms but to no success. She knew was going to die if her father let go of her.
Valentine pulled Clary out of the water, and Clary immediately thought of how this was impossible. Surely, Clary's weight would have dragged him in as well? But then she saw a rope tied around his waist, keeping him tied to the boat. That must've been what he was doing when he was talking to her.
"This is what happens when you stick your nose into someone else's business," her father hissed at her. Clary started to cry. Valentine shoved her under the water a second time.
Clary again tried to kick and free herself until she felt Valentine's grip on her shoulder loosen and her heart raced even more. She couldn't hold her breath any longer.
Valentine pulled her out again.
"I'm going easy on you, you know. I couldn't have just pointed a gun to your head and pulled the trigger. But instead, I'm letting you live. Call it my fatherly affection toward you."
And he then dunked Clary in the water again.
Clary didn't fight this time. She was tired. She could feel the weights around her ankles pulling her down, down, down. Her lungs began to run out of air. All she could think about is how she wished it would just end. She went from fighting for survival to hoping her father would just let go, and allow her to sink the bottom and go to sleep forever.
Her father pulled her out again and Clary took a huge breath, coughing and sputtering.
"You will not return. You are no longer welcome here," Valentine growled. "You will pack your bags and leave. Today. And you will never, ever tell anyone of what happened today or before today. Or else, I will let go the next time. Agreed?"
Clary started to cry again. She saw her father grin out of the corner of her eye; he knew she had received the message.
"Agreed," she coughed.
By noon, she was all packed. Her mom had picked her up. She had left Jace's ring behind. She didn't even say goodbye. She was too scared Valentine would jump to conclusions if he saw Clary talking to any of her friends and kill her.
These memories haunted her in screaming technicolor every time she saw that damn boat. Memories that she had repressed for many, many years but resurface more consistently every lesson. She didn't know why she was afraid of the boat, and not the actual lake. Surely, it would make more sense to be afraid of where she had nearly died instead what had taken her there? Maybe it was the fear of unknown that haunts her more than the actual act.
"I think I'm done for today," Clary surrendered.
Normally, Jace would simply nod, take control of the boat, and take them home. But not today.
"I don't think we need to call it day just yet. I think you just need a break." He paused. "I think I might have a solution. I need you to dock the boat. You can do that, right?"
"In the middle of the lake?" Clary asked.
"It's late at night, the only people who are on the lake at this time are people at parties, and the only party going on right now has its own section of the lake to themselves."
Clary nodded, and hesitantly parked the boat but was unable to throw in the anchor. All she think about was how all those years ago, she could've been like that anchor, sinking to the bottom, possibly never to be found...
Jace saw her struggle and helped her drop the anchor into the water without any questions. She was grateful.
"What next?" she asked, and turned to find that Jace had taken out a blanket and laid it on the floor of the boat, and then lied down on top of it.
"I've always found that the stars are exceptionally bright here."
Clary smiled at him and lied down next to him, staring up at the sky.
"A little known fact about me is that I am expert astrologist."
Clary felt herself begin to relax as she laughed. "I highly doubt that."
"You don't believe me?" Jace asked. Clary shook her head no. He pointed upward.
"Well I know that the series of stars over there are telling stories about us. Prophecies, even. Many just don't know how to read them."
"And you do?" Clary laughed, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, that one tells of your um, aura. It says that you have a nice rack."
Clary snorted. "Well, they're wrong there."
Jace frowned at her. "Such negativity. That star over there says that you have pretty eyes."
"I had no idea stars were so complimentary," Clary deadpanned.
"That's what I've been telling you," Jace teased. "Few are able to read what these stars say. I am one of the blessed few."
"Blessed has to be the whitest word," Clary commented.
Jace nodded. "Now that constellation over there is in the shape of a shovel, how wicked is that?"
"That's the Big Dipper, Jace," Clary laughed even harder.
"Maybe to some, but to us professional astrologists it is called the Northern Shovel."
Clary looked over at Jace, admiring his features as he continued his antics. He was trying to distract her, she realized.
Maybe it had been the fact that she was appreciative that Jace was trying (and succeeding!) to calm her anxieties. Maybe it had been the lingering feeling she felt ever since she was 12. Maybe it was how Jace looked in the moonlight looking up at the sky. Maybe it was because she decided that it was time to have good memories to think of while in this cursed boat, and not the bad, traumatic ones.
Whatever the reason was, it led to Clary leaning forward and pressing her lips against Jace's. His arms immediately went around hers and he kissed her back with more enthusiasm, which she viewed as a challenge. Back and forth, they tried to outperform the other with their kisses. When they finally came back for air, Jace grinned at her.
"I've been wanting to do that since you got here."
"You're a much better kisser that you used to be. I can tell you've been practicing," Clary smirked.
"Are you trying to say I wasn't a good kisser back then?"
Clary shrugged. "I don't kiss and tell."
"But I'm the one you were kissing!" Jace laughed.
"Shut up and kiss me," Clary said.
And he did. They kissed for a long, long time.
Until finally, Jace pulled back. "Break time over," he said with a grin.
"That's just unfair," Clary groaned.
"Once you successfully drive the boat, I'll give you a reward," he whispered in her ear.
"Fine," Clary sighed. Jace held out his hand and helped her up. Clary sat in the drivers seat and still felt scared but this time, very much less so. When her mind went to struggling for air and the weights on her legs trying to pull her down, she instead thought of kissing Jace under the stars. Jace took out the anchor, turned the key, and started the boat, and started to drive it with more confidence than ever before...
"Holy shit, I did it!" Clary exclaimed after she successfully boated around the perimeter and created a wake.
"I told you that you'd get it," Jace said, sitting beside her in the passenger seat.
"So where is my reward?" Clary asked with a challenging tone.
Jace grinned. "In due time. How about we dock the boat first."
Clary huffed but did as she was told. Once the boat was back in the Morgenstern dock, her and Jace leaned toward one another at the same time. Taking Jace's face her hands, Jace started kissing her with more fervor and intensity than before, his tongue colliding with hers in a duel neither quite wanted to win. Clary climbed into Jace's lap and began to straddle him, never breaking away.
"I would like to take you on a date," he said plainly as the two tried to catch their breaths.
"Would you now?" Clary grinned at him, and began to kiss down his neck.
"Yes. I would." He breathed out. He played with her hair, and forced her head and her lips back to his.
"I'll have to check my calendar," Clary said between kisses.
"I promise that the date will likely involve lots of kissing."
"Then I'm in!" Clary grinned and leaned over to kiss Jace again, scratching her hands down Jace's back. Jace groaned, and slowly smoothed his hands up her legs and under her shirt.
Clary sighed and drew away from Jace, much to his dislike. She leaned against his forehead.
"Are we going to tell the others? Or keep it a secret, like last time?" Jace wondered.
"Keep it a secret. Please, I beg of you."
"Why?" Jace wondered. "Are you embarrassed they won't take us seriously because of my reputation?"
"No!" Clary argued. "That's not it at all. It's just that I need to check on something before we tell people. It's super dumb, don't worry about it."
"Okay..." Jace said.
"So about this date?" Clary asked, her eyebrows raised.
"My lips are sealed," he said.
Clary pouted, and then glanced back at the houses.
"We probably should go back."
"We probably should."
And with that, the newly reunited couple walked back to their homes, hand in hand.
And let's just say that they each needed to assist themselves to cool themselves down that evening.
"How long have Jace and Clary been screwing?" Aline asked Izzy the next day as the two observed the pair among the rest of the gang while tanning. Helen was napping beside them.
Izzy nearly spit out her drink. "You think they're screwing?" she asked.
"Wait, you didn't know? I wouldn't have thought Jace could keep a sexual experience quiet."
"They haven't told us of anything but I have been speculating about it for a while. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed something was up," Izzy groaned.
"I may be a lesbian but I know sexual tension when I see it, even if it's between straight people," Aline commented.
They watched as Jace splashed Clary and she retaliated with a splash even larger, sparking something of a splashing war.
"I had mentioned my theories to Alec but he said I was just letting my imagination run wild."
"Alec is...Alec. Half the time he doesn't know when someone is hitting on him," Aline stated.
"I'm going to ask Clary about it," Izzy decided.
"I'll come with you," Aline said.
The two girls waited for Clary to get out of the lake to grab something from the cooler, and then cornered her.
"What's going on between you and Jace?" Isabelle asked, always straight forward.
"Nothing," Clary shrugged. "We get along really well. He's always been one of my closest friends here, surely you remember that."
"I remember wondering just how close you two were," Isabelle pushed.
Clary didn't even blink. Damn, she's good, Izzy thought.
"There's no shame here, Clary. I almost slept with Jace once." Aline shrugged.
"You did?" Clary asked, wide eyed. "When?"
"When we were 15. I was attending an girls school and found I really liked looking at the other girls in the skirts we wore for our uniform. So I wanted to see if it was a fluke or not. I also didn't really want to believe I was gay because I knew my dad wouldn't like it. We were a little tipsy. It was pretty awkward. Seeing him naked didn't really get me that excited, and after like two minutes of foreplay I decided it wasn't worth it. By the next year, I was already hooking up with Helen and I came out to my parents. We all know what happens after." She shrugged.
"Wow," Clary simply said. Isabelle detected a flash of something in Clary's face, but in a second, it was gone.
"So out with it. Are you and Jace together?" Aline pushed.
"No," Clary said again. "I don't know why you two are so invested in this. Jace and I do not like each other in that way. I'm gonna go enjoy my beer now." Clary saluted and walked toward the tide, tipping her bottle back.
"She's lying," Aline said immediately.
"I don't know, she was pretty insistent," Isabelle started.
"If they aren't hooking up now, they will be. Mark my words. Remember, I'm an outsider here. I'm not blinded to whatever has happened earlier this summer. I'm just commenting on what I see now, and what I see is a boy and girl looking at each other like they were fighting for air and the other is their oxygen tank."
"I suppose we'll see," Isabelle frowned, watching Clary whisper to Jace and Jace venture out of the lake towards the two.
"Can you leave Clary alone? We aren't dating," Jace demanded.
"People hook up when they aren't dating all the time," Izzy commented. Aline snorted.
Jace rolled his eyes. "Look at us, Izzy. We aren't jumping each other's bones, and we are a heterosexual male and female."
"But you don't look at Isabelle the way you look at Clary," Aline countered. "I know my shit, Jace, I'm majoring in psychology."
"Just because you're going to be a majoring in psychology this fall as a freshman at a fancy college you got a full ride to doesn't mean you know anything about it."
"I got a 5 on my AP Psych exam," Aline said proudly.
"That's cute, but I know that scores for AP exams aren't out until July."
"Yeah, but I know I got a 5 on it because I had a 98.9 in that class," Aline grinned.
"Oh Aline, I've missed you. Now leave us alone. And why did you tell Clary we almost but then didn't have sex? She doesn't wanna know that. Plus, it was 3 years ago."
"Why doesn't she want to know? Clary loves gossip. Unless it makes her uncomfortable knowing that someone else in our friend group has seen you naked besides her."
Jace huffed. "I'm done with this. You two can think what you want, but it's not true."
Jace turned his back to Aline and Izzy and jogged back into the lake. Izzy watched as Clary's eyes lit up.
Sure it isn't, Isabelle thought.
Maybe this answered some questions? Or just sparked new ones?
I don't really have much to say here (for once). It's about time for me to go bed anyway so I guess I'll just leave you all with this.
Follow me on social media! I need new friends. The links and stuff are on my profile but the biggie of course is tumblr which is jacespunkdad, and there are links to all my social media on there too.
Self promotion aside, please review! Reviews are almost as great as the fact that I am /this/ close to my roadtrip with my dad, where I will actually be at the lake this fic is based off of for a few days! Where, you ask? That's one secret I'll never tell. Xoxo, gossip girl.
Till next time,
-hufflepuffamity
