A/N No copyright infringement is intended. All original works and verbatim transcriptions belong to Cassandra Claire. Please note the MLA citations both in text and at the end for lines taken directly from the book.

I'm just stretching my creative legs.

"It's here!" Clary's voice erupted into the training room. I threw the knife I had been handling haphazardly at the target on the wall. I didn't bother to watch as it bounced and thudded to floor. With those two words, our whole world was going to change. The envelope was crumpled in her shaking hands. "Once we open this, we can't go back." Her voice was soft and rough, filled with all of the fear and concern we had tried to avoid talking about.

"We don't have to open it. We could just agree that how we feel about each other is more important than the truth. The others might not understand, but we would have each other." I'd thought a lot about that option. She wrung the envelope with her fingers.

"Jace, we can't just put our heads in the sand. This letter. It changes everything and nothing." She paused, considering her next words. Her face softened and she reached out to take my hand. "There is no part of me that believes we're related. Valentine is a liar and worse, he'll do anything to get to his endgame. He has the cup; he has the sword, and we were just convenient pawns to help him. I don't want to be manipulated and I don't want to spend my whole life watching other people stare at us because they believe the lie."

"Then what are we waiting for?" She nodded her head, straightening the envelope while flipping it over to reveal the sealed flap. It only took her a second to niggle her finger under a corner and raggedly rip apart the paper. A second more saw the letter free and open in front of us. We read together.

Dear Ms. Fray,

Thank you for choosing us for your Full Sibling DNA Test. After reviewing the relevant samples, our accredited laboratory has determined that the two test subjects, Miss Clarissa Fray and Mr. Jonathan Wayland, do not share any significant DNA markers that would indicate blood kinship. It is our assessment that both parties have separate parentage.

We hope you are pleased with your results. If you feel we have made an error, please use the contact information located at the top of this letter. For your records, we have enclosed the thorough report that our lab constructed, including copies of the photographs of the separated genes.

Sincerely,

The Team at DNA USA

"Told you so." She smirked at me. We weren't related. Not at all. The relief I had been waiting for flooded through me. There was no reason to hide, to wait, to do anything but grab hold of Clary and never let go. So I did. The letter floated to the ground as I trapped her in the circle of my arms. Our lips touched, igniting the same slow building desire that I felt in the greenhouse. Before Valentine and his lies when Clary was the girl I couldn't stop thinking about because she had been brave and beautiful fiercely fighting for her life and the people she loved. There was nothing between us now; the ugly word disintegrated to dust, meaningless.

She moaned into my mouth and clutched at the back of my bulky training gear. I knew the room like the back of my hand, so I guided us toward the thick mats where we practiced grappling. There were too many layers between us.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Alec's shrill voice pierced through the quiet room. We separated, breathing heavily and feeling totally caught in the moment. Clary's eyes were a bit unfocused as she looked up at me. "We are just kissing. At least we were until you so rudely interrupted," I supplied. It was more than a little annoying to be bothered at the moment.

"Just kissing, eh?" Clary snorted, echoing the words that we had spoken in front of her door the night Simon barged out.

"That's…." Alec faltered a second before he found the word he wanted. "Disgusting. By the Angel, Jace, you're brother and sister." And there it was. How long would it take us to convince the others it wasn't true?

"Not anymore," said Clary. She searched the ground with her eyes until they alighted on the discarded letter. Squeezing me gently before stepping away, she retrieved the letter and proffered it to Alec. "We had DNA testing done to find out the truth. Jace and I don't share any blood. Not a drop." He read the letter, turned the paper over to the look at the back, flipped it back to the front side and read again.

"I don't understand."

"Valentine lied to us. It's that simple." Alec didn't seem to be buying it judging by the look of utter confusion on his face. "The mundane tests are extremely accurate. We're not related."

"Are you sure you can trust this? Maybe Magnus could do something…"

"If Magnus had ways of examining our bloodlines, don't you think he would have?" I asked. "This letter is a result of someone in a lab looking at our microscopic selves. They don't know us personally, have nothing invested nor at stake in an outcome one way or the other. Much more reliable than anything we have to go on."
"But what if they're wrong?" My impatience was getting the better of me. Why would he keep going on like that? Couldn't he see that Clary and I wanted to be together? Considering what he walked in on .

"Jace." Her voice was a soft plea. My attention immediately withdrew from him and refocused to her. "Why don't you go change out of your gear? I'll explain the tests to Alec." Her eyes begged me to listen. I didn't want to be away from her, especially after our good news, but I had the feeling this was something important. And she had a point. If I changed into regular clothes, there would be less to take off later.

I hoped.

"Alright," I conceded. I bumped Alec as I passed him and leaned down to his ear. "Be nice." It was probably a little more threatening than it needed to be, but I knew he never really liked Clary. It took me just a second to go through the familiar corridors down to my room. In addition to shedding my practice gear, I also hopped into the shower. I wondered what she was saying to him. She would have a tough time pleading her case. Alec was stubborn to a fault. Then again, weren't we all?

I rushed the shower and was just pulling the long sleeved t-shirt over my head when the soft knock came at the door. I practically leapt across the floor, wrenching it open to reveal a riot of red hair and flushed cheeks. "What happened to you?"

"I had to knock some sense into him." Laughter exploded from my lips.

"I'm sorry I missed it. Did you win?"

"Of course!" Stepping aside, she strode into the room, flopping on the edge of my bed. She looked completely natural there, even as she crooked her finger to wordlessly call me to her. I shut the door and then locked it for good measure. Before I reached her, her gesture turned into the stop sign hand. "We need to talk."

Those are four words that every man dreads. I smoothed my face and tried to prepare for the worst. If she told me she wasn't sure or that she'd changed her mind about me, I might do something drastic. She patted the space next to the duvet. Dutifully, I sat leaving some space between us which she immediately closed by sidling closer and closer.

"When did you suspect about Alec and Magnus?" Her question threw me and I silently breathed relief that this "talk" didn't seem to be about us.

"After the party when Simon became a rodent." She grimaced, but continued.

"Did you suspect that Alec might be more attracted to men than women before that?"

"I don't know, I guess I never really thought about it. It's not like he's had a lot of opportunities to meet and mingle, if you know what I mean."

"I'm not sure I do. I mean, you and Izzy seem to have mingled a fair bit." She smirked at me. It was true I had a little, miniscule really, reputation, but I'd never wanted a girl like I wanted Clary.

"Are you going to hold it against me?"

"I'd like to, but I'm not sure that I can. Anyway, your indiscretions are not what I'm getting at."

"Then what are you getting at?" She huffed, closing her eyes. Her brow knitted together as though she was solving long division in her head. Finally she looked me, her decision made.

"Jace. Alec is in love with you. And has been for a long time." I opened my mouth for the smart comeback that was waiting on my tongue, but it seemed my mind had other ideas. I wanted to tell her it was ridiculous. Alec was closer to me than a brother; he was my parabatai. Our connection meant that I felt him as part of myself and he the same of me. Of course I loved him, but I didn't love him, not the way I felt… the unfinished sentence startled me but it wasn't unwelcomed. I had known for a long time what was growing inside me since that night at Pandemonium, but I resisted giving it a name.

"How did I not know?"

"I have no idea. It's not like he's hidden it particularly well. Everyone else knows. I knew the first time I came here, and it's why we've never gotten along. It didn't take him but a minute to see how I was beginning to feel for you." She looked down to the duvet, her cheeks tinging pink with her admission. It was incredibly cute. "The other day at Luke's, after the demons, you goaded Alec a little to admit that he and Magnus are dating. You said, 'help me convince him that I really don't care' and Magnus responded, 'Oh, I think he believes you about that'" (Clare 242). You really had no idea how close to home you hit, do you?"

I thought back to the moment and then went further back in my memories. Alec had always watched me, covered me while I charged into the thick of battle with demons. There had been many nights when I slipped out of the Institute late for a rendez vous and Alec had rolled his eyes while I passed. On closer inspection, there was something more in his eyes. Hurt. How could I have been so unobservant?

"What do I do?"

"The same thing I did. Talk to him. Besides, Alec knows so we're going to have to talk to all of them, explain the test results and everything."

"Did he believe you?"

"I'm not sure that he did, but not because he didn't have enough proof. Because he didn't want to. It's so sad. You took one look at Simon and me in that coffee shop and you knew exactly how we felt about each other." She was right, and even then I wanted to be with her. Watching her with the ridiculous mundy boy falling all over himself just hoping she would see him with new eyes, I wanted to make him disappear so that I could just be close to her. Clary squeaked as I gathered her into my lap and pushed my face into her hair. Two calming breaths and I pulled back to look into her eyes.

"I'm sorry about Alec. I really am. But Clary, you're everything I didn't know I wanted." Her body went rigid, her hands flying to either side of my face.

"Who are you and what have you done with Jace?"

"Not sure. Would you like to help me find him?" She straightened in my lap and nuzzled her nose back and forth to mine.

"Always."

Once again, our kisses were short-lived. An unwelcomed pounding came at the door, accompanied by a high pitched, sing songy voice. "Jaaaaaacccce! You and Clary are supposed to come down to the library. Mom wants to talk to you." They knew better than to interrupt because I wouldn't hesitate to tell them where to go. And throw a dagger at the door for good measure. No, they sent Max to do the dirty work instead. And how could we say no to Max?

"Time to face the firing squad," I said, my voice rough and a little breathless.

"You know, no matter what they say, it doesn't matter anymore." I whole heartedly agreed, and kissed her soundly despite Max's continued banging on the door.

Clare, Cassandra. The Mortal Instruments City of Ashes, Book 2. 2008. New York:

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009.