The Love of a Mother

Jocelyn should have known he was a jerk from the moment she met him. His easy going smile and arrogant aura should have set off warning bells but instead his addicting, enamoring personality ensnared her in his web of charm and she didn't even notice.

It wasn't until that dreaded little; pink plus sign shattered all illusions. It was her worst nightmare, she didn't even have a stable job yet and she was pregnant. She didn't even have a chance to tell him, finding him in Sherry Tanner's bed sealed all doubt. She moved to the city and things got a little better. The peculiarity in New York masked her unfortunate circumstances.

Jocelyn had to admit though there was times when she just wanted to…give up. To go home to her parents, to the security of school, to her once loving boyfriend but she knew she couldn't. Everything had changed and if it was one thing she learned- you can never fix the past. So nine months, three days and 14 hours of labor later, Clarissa Fray was born into this world.

Do something many fail to- appreciate your parents.

It was safe to say Clary and her mother were close. Jocelyn had been Clary's sole support, her mother, father, sister, and friend and just about the only constant in Clary's life before Simon. But as close as they were Clary had outgrown her mother's affection. She frowned at the line, biting her lip. Clary knew how much she loved her but still…

Jocelyn was the one who accompanied her on her first day of school, who kissed all of her bruises and cuts, who went to all of her art competitions. Clary could never belittle how much her mother had done for her. Now she just had to show it.

"Hey mom…if you could have anything, what would it be?" Jocelyn paused, her hand on the can of creamed corn. She sighed.

"That depends…what do you want?" Clary rolled her eyes.

"Can't a gal just wonder?" Jocelyn smiled.

"That's my job Clare Bear, not yours." Clary stood next to her mother and put the flour away.

"But isn't there anything you want?" Jocelyn laughed.

"Yea a wine tour in Tuscany would be nice but we can't always get what we want can we?" Jocelyn tussled Clary's hair and left the room, leaving Clary very disgruntled.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Why can't she just be straight forward?" Clary groaned. Her coffee was cold by now as she sat with Simon, the two of them bracing the cold air outside the café. "Why can't she just tell me what she wants?" Simon shrugged.

"She's a mom, wanting something isn't exactly her biggest priority." Clary sighed.

"So it's up to me to find out?"

"Well think about it this way, she spent about 16 years changing your diapers Fray, you taking care of her isn't something she's used to."

"But how the heck am I supposed to show my appreciation then? I don't even know what counts as 'appreciative'." Simon sat back.

"You're her daughter, you'll figure it out."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As much Clary loves her mother, a $2000 dollar ticket to Italy was too much even for her. She sighed as she walked into Luke's bookstore. Stacks upon stacks were laid out in front of her, waiting to be sorted. Today Clary loved it. The methodical system of alphabetized books, everything has a place, everything is easy to figure out…if only it was like that for people.

Clary stopped to flip through a novel. She stared absentmindedly at the pages. You taking care of her isn't something she's used to. Is that true? What if Clary had taken away all of her opportunities, barricaded all of her wishes, her wants, her ambitions in this world.

"I really like that fairytale." Her head snapped up to meet Jace's eyes. Her cheeks warmed involuntarily. She still kept the handle from the balloon, reminding her of that fateful night. Clary looked down to see a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale- "A Mother's Love."

"I've never read it." Jace shifted the thick textbook in his hands.

"It's a real eye opener. It really makes you wonder how much moms give up for you."

"But not what they want." Clary muttered under her breath. Jace smirked.

"What's your next act?" Clary showed him, his lips twitched in amusement as he read. "Any ideas?" He finally asked.

"No…she won't even tell me what she wants." Jace shook his head.

"I thought you would have learned this by now. It's not about what they tell you. You have to think about them, about what they want. What is your mom interested in?" Clary bit her lip.

"Uhh…the color red, books, art-"

"What kind of art?" Clary looked down. She didn't really know. She hadn't paid much attention to her mother's work before.

"Clary?" Clary froze as she heard a new voice. Jocelyn appeared from the stacks with a few books in her hands, "Luke said you'd be back here…" Her voice faltered as she saw Jace. Clary's stomach twisted as Jocelyn forced a smile. "Who's this?" She asked, her voice was deadly calm.

"Uhm..mom this is…"

'Jace." Jace cut in, he shook her hand and flashed a smile. "Jace Herondale, I was just leaving Ms. Fray." He nodded towards her and Clary, his eyes straying from the book to Clary's face as he left.

"Well he's…blonde." Jocelyn finally said. Clary ducked down.

"Don't wanna talk about it mom!" She called. They may have been close but not that close.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Clary closed the book. The fairytale was short and sweet. Clary leaned her head against the window. You have to think about them, about what they want. Clary pulled out her cell phone, her fingers playing with the digits. She sighed and hit the call button, bringing the phone to her ear.

Hiding it from her had been harder than Clary thought. Jocelyn was better at reading her than she had anticipated making Clary resort to homework as a way to duck out but now, it was finished.

"Will you please just trust me?" Clary snapped as she led her mother up the steps. Jocelyn snorted.

"This is coming from the person who broke my china because they tripped over their own feet."

"I was 7." Clary said simply. She pushed to door open and took off her blindfold. Jocelyn gasped.

It had taken a while to collect but with Luke's help, every painting Jocelyn has ever done was hanging up on a wall. Swirls of color decorated the plain white and it included face, Clary's, hers, Luke's even Simon was in there somewhere. There were trees, lakes, ponds, mountains every landscape you could think of was up there and at the register sat two cups of tea.

"This is…" Jocelyn was at a loss for words.

"Luke thought it might be nice for people to be in the book while they're reading it." Clary smiled as she looked around. "Frames are nice huh?" Jocelyn grinned.

"No, this is nice, this is amazing!" She laughed breathlessly. She crushed Clary in a hug. Clary smiled in her mother's embrace. "Thank you." She whispered as she kissed the top of her head. "Thank you."