Jace's POV
I shook my head and looked around. I had gone for a long run, really long; I didn't even know where I was or what time it was. It was getting later in the day, that much I could tell. I had to get back, my skin was sweaty and salty, it was starting to feel uncomfortable like a light burn, and I wanted a shower. Maybe a nap too before we went out. I couldn't let Izzy take Clary out to Pandemonium without me. Izzy always says she'll be responsible and then gets shit faced and Alec and I have to take care of her, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble, and get her home before she ends up going home with somebody else. I knew I was away at college a whole year that Izzy was left alone with Clary, but I had a good feeling Clary's parents were keeping a close eye on the two of them.
Another hour or so and I was back at the cottage. I was dying. I was definitely going to be hurting in the morning. I glanced towards the lake thinking I could use a dip, but Aline and Sebastian were taking a swim. I headed for the house. The kitchen clock said 4:30. I had plenty of time for a nap. I stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a couple Advil and downed them with a tall glass of water. Good, bathroom's empty and nobody seems to be out and about. I took a quick shower, left my swim shorts hanging in the bathroom, and wrapped a clean towel around my waist. I felt so much better. One more quick glance down the empty hall and I was heading to my room.
Taped right to my door was a stupid sparkly sign. "Alec & Magnus".
"What the hell?" I muttered to myself. I ripped the sign off the door, careful not to ruin it. It looked like Izzy's work, and she'd kill me if I tore it. I opened and closed my door and started towards my dresser. I stopped in my tracks, my heart stopped, I took a deep gulp. There in my bed, in a very sexy silky looking green camisole, was a red haired Sleeping Beauty. I thought of the sign in my hand and put my hands on my head. My heartbeat started to bolt like a racehorse. Oh shit. She thinks she's in Alec's room. Wait. Is this how she sleeps when she sleeps in Alec's bed? All of that sexy silk wasted. I shook my head; that was so not the point. She was sleeping in my bed in lingerie. This will be all I can think about every time I lay down in that bed. My eyes fixed on her sleeping face. She looked so beautiful, so peaceful. I felt my body relax. I took a step closer to the bed. She looked like an angel.
Knock knock knock. "Jace you up?" The knock was light. The voice was too, but immediately recognizable.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. My heart started to race again. This looked bad. I looked down. I was still just in a towel. This looked really bad. This was going to be hard to explain, but if anybody was going to knock on my door this was the lesser of two evils. I took a deep breath and opened the door a crack looking down the hall in both directions. Phew. I put my finger to my lips and opened the door grabbing Alec's arm and yanking him into the room. Alec understood I was telling him to be quiet, but he gave me a very quizzical look. He glanced at my towel and followed my gaze to the bed. His eyes grew round and his face changed to one of anger. He rounded his hands into fists. I don't even know if I have ever seen him do that before. He looked back at me like an angry father and I'd know. Not really what I was expecting though.
I was shaking my head vigorously mouthing 'Nothing happened.' He took in Clary and then me and back again and mouthed 'Really?' very sarcastically. I held up the sign in my hand pointing to it.
"I just got back from a three hour run. This was on my door when I got out of the shower." I spoke very softly. I really didn't want to wake Clary up; she looked like a peaceful sleeping angel. Alec gave me a calculating look.
"Get some clothes and go to my room. Tell Magnus what happened. I'll stay with Clary." Alec spoke in an annoyed whisper. I ruffled my burrow.
"Did you see what she's wearing?" I looked back at Clary. It was hard not to gawk at her. She looked so beautiful. Alec yanked my arm; he looked pissed.
"Go, now." He started to push me towards the door, but I wiggled around his arm and tip toed quickly to the dresser. I grabbed some clothes and patted Alec on the shoulder with an apologetic look as I left.
Alec's POV
I walked over and sat down on the bed next to Clary, gently sweeping her hair away from her face. Her face looked frailer, she'd lost weight and she looked like she'd had quite a few sleepless nights. She looked older. She had been sending me pictures, but I hadn't seen her in two months, she wasn't a little girl anymore.
Jace had looked semi apologetic as he left, but the smile on his face was way too happy for me. I couldn't see Jace lying to me though. Not about this. Clary would tell me if he so much as touched her. He looked really happy though. He actually hadn't looked sincerely happy in a long time and it kind of hurt to see him that way and know it was Clary that brightened his whole face like that. Clary talked about Jace insensately. She cared for him a great deal. Izzy tried to explain what Jace was really like, and Clary saw it with her own eyes, but she must have been a glutton for punishment, because I always found her bringing him up in conversation over and over again. She looked at his faults through rose-colored glasses, never able to concentrate on anything but the goodness in him. I wished it was that she saw a side of Jace that he wouldn't show to the rest of us, but I feared she was just giving him more credit than he deserved.
I use to think Clary only saw goodness and happiness in the world because she never knew what heartache was, never had a friend or family member die, and never had a boyfriend break her heart. Her parent's divorced before she was born, and she never knew her father, so she always said she couldn't miss somebody she never knew. She looked at all of the good in the world, and to her the world was a peaceful happy place. She drew beautiful sketches, and always chose the happiest thoughts to put on paper. When her mother and step father were in the car accident two months ago, she looked so broken. Her step father was killed in the crash. Her mother was in a comma by the time Clary got to the hospital, but never woke up; she was removed from life support a couple days later.
I came as soon as I heard and stayed with her for the funerals and several days after. Simon, Izzy, and Maia came by daily and Clary would put on a strong face and tell everybody that she was ok, that she knew her parents wouldn't want her to be sad, that at least they were together and in a better place. It was late at night when she'd wake-up sobbing that I knew she was far from alright, and I'd just hold her. There aren't words to fix that kind of pain. I hated to have to go back to school. I offered to take a semester off, but she wouldn't hear of it. Izzy, Maia, and Simon reassured me they wouldn't leave her alone, they'd take turns staying with her and watching her. When she got her parent's house in order she moved to an apartment. I was going to come and help her move, but I had finals to study for and she was adamant I stay at school and she would have plenty of help. I knew I couldn't be there for her all the time, but I wanted to try.
I left my gym shorts and t-shirt on and carefully crawled into bed next to Clary. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me, she stirred slightly.
"Alec? I missed you." her voice came out as a sleepy whisper and a couple stray tears slid down her checks. I wiped her checks gently with my fingertips and kissed her forehead.
"Shhh. Babydoll. Sleep." She smiled sweetly.
It was so good to be here with her. I knew Magnus was missing me, but I couldn't leave her like this. I felt my eyes get heavy and the darkness found me.
Jace's POV
After I changed in the bathroom I knocked on Alec's door. Magnus greeted me with a crazy manic smile.
"Hey sunshine come on in." Magnus gestured with his hand. He was great, he really did pair well with Alec. He had already graduated from college, so he was a few years older than Alec and I, but he came by the campus enough that I saw him fairly regularly. He always looked a bit outrageous. He was wearing florescent yellow gym shorts and a black tight tank top. He had spiky black hair filled with blue glitter tips. He was super tall, noticeably taller than me and I'm over six feet and in pretty good shape. By the contour of his brown eyes I'd say he had some Asian heritage, but he never really mentioned much about his past or where he was from, at least not to me.
I guess I wasn't getting a nap in. While Alec would probably kick Magnus out to let Clary sleep in his bedroom, I doubt anybody was going to be doing that for me. I filled Magnus in and he just 'awed' during my story, he was so understanding about everything. It pissed me off. He seemed to totally get my feelings for Clary, though I didn't even tell him how I felt for Clary, I don't even know how I feel about her. He got Clary's feelings for me, though I'm not even sure if she has feelings for me. He seemed to get Alec and Clary's feelings for each other. The guy was always good with who likes who. He was completely cool with Alec staying in my room with Clary, never seemed jealous or concerned at all. I felt sick at the thought of anybody else in there but me. I didn't understand what was going on with me. It's not like she was even mine to be possessive of. I mean not at all. Especially not like Alec was with Magnus. Not like a couple or anything. That's the way I wanted her though. I wanted to have a relationship with her like Alec had with Magnus. At least I think I do. I just didn't know how to have relationships like that with people. Magnus thought it was sweet and sensitive of Alec to be there for Clary all the time. I know Alec doesn't like girls like that, but Clary was wearing just a little lingerie thing and was sound asleep. I hated leaving her that vulnerable. I tried to clear my thoughts; this was Alec, not some creep. Not Sebastian. As soon as the name crossed my mind I regretted it, I got angry. Crazy, jealous, angry. I saw red. I remembered him talking to her by the lake in the morning and I just wanted to punch him in the face so bad. I had to remind myself this wasn't about Sebastian; Clary didn't even seem interested in him, at all. It all comes back to the fact everybody thought that I was the bad guy. I'm apparently the one that Clary has to be protected from. I kind of get that. I notoriously have loose morals. I wanted to just watch her sleep though. I wouldn't have touched her. I'm not a pervert. She just looked so peaceful, just seeing her like that made me feel happier than I've felt in a long time.
I was going crazy. I just wanted to peek in. I just wanted to see what was going on. I gave Magnus a lame excuse that I wanted a glass of water. He looked at me suspiciously and told me to hurry back. I got the distinct feeling he was supposed to be watching me. I closed the door to Alec's bedroom even though I could hear Magnus commenting that it wasn't necessary. I needed unsupervised access to the hallway. My door was only one over from Magnus and Alec's. I turned the knob to my room slowly, I wasn't sure if Alec locked the door. I'm sure he meant to, but I didn't know if he would have remembered. The door knob turned without resistance. I held my breath and peered in. I knew if Alec caught me he'd be pissed.
There on the bed was Alec sound asleep with a sleeping Clary wrapped up in his arms and tucked under his chin. It was such a protective embrace. He was guarding her from anything and everything that might hurt her, and right now that thing he was afraid of hurting her was clearly me. I've never had a serious relationship before. Even my relationship with Alec and Izzy wasn't as close as it could be, I knew that. I wanted to be close to Clary, I wanted her to really see me, unguarded, without the mask. I think I do anyway. Anyway, I wanted to be the one embracing her and protecting her from the world. I couldn't bear the thought of anything hurting her, but especially not the thought of me hurting her. I would feel horrible if I caused Clary pain. I also wanted to run and hide so she could never see how weak she made me, how much she was affecting me. I was so conflicted.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. Shit. I turned to see an annoyed Magnus. He peeked over my shoulder into the room and shook his head. Wait, was he shaking his head at Alec and Clary or at me. He pushed me aside and locked the door to the bedroom from the inside before pulling the door closed.
"Sunshine, you look like a thunderstorm's rolling in. Why don't you take a nap in Alec and my room? I'll play outside for a while." With that Magnus turned and walked away.
I went back in Alec's room and crashed on the bed fully clothed. I was really tired now, physically and emotionally. In a matter of minutes I fell asleep.
The Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears By Robert Southey
"Someone's been sleeping in my bed and she's still there!"
