Chapter Nine
A/N: Thank you to Veridissima for reviewing the last chapter. The excitement continues!
Throughout his youth, Luke had spent many an evening fending off a demon attack, returning home in the morning feeling elated and exhausted, as if every nerve in his body was being lit on fire by tiny matches. It was the best way he could describe his feelings now.
They had been silent for barely ten seconds before Jocelyn began to laugh, shaking her head at what was clearly a very amusing expression on his face. Somehow, through his shock, Luke began to laugh with her, the kind of dizzying laugh of something once impossible coming true.
"I can't believe it." Luke whispered through his laughter. "I can't believe this is happening."
"In a good way?" Jocelyn asked, suddenly seeming vaguely concerned. Luke could hardly blame her for that: this was the third time in her life she was discovering a pregnancy and the first time it was even remotely positive.
Luke reached out to his wife, clasping her hands in his own. "In a fantastic way."
Jocelyn fell into her husband's arms, almost dizzy with relief at this one small victory. Luke's considerate nature seemed to shine through all the more now he knew the truth, his tight embrace locked around her upper body as if he was afraid to put too much pressure on her stomach, and the tiny gesture made her love him all the more.
They stayed that way until a loud knock sounded against the wooden door. The two barely had time to turn their heads towards the sound before the door clicked open, revealing Clary's anxious face.
"Sorry, I know you only asked for Luke and not me, but…" Clary broke off mid-justification, frowning in concern at her mother. "Oh my God, Mom, are you alright? Has something happened?"
It took Jocelyn a little while to realise her cheeks were tear-stained, which combined with her forceful embrace could have given her daughter the wrong impression entirely. The woman inclined her head slightly, patting the bed beside her. It took Clary all of a second to cross the room and take a seat.
"Mom?" Clary questioned again, no less anxious than she had been before. "What's the matter? Are you sick?"
"No, I'm not sick." Jocelyn responded quickly, and saw the young woman's shoulders slump slightly, a great weight lifting off her. "But something has happened. Something big."
"Is it the Clave?" It hurt for a mother to see her child expect the worst so easily, although in this case she could hardly begrudge it. Clary had been through more at sixteen than most mundanes would in a lifetime, thrust into a deadly world she had not even known had existed. Furthermore, the realisation that her mother and her stepfather, although cleared of charges, were targets for hatred from the majority of Idris had not been an easy one to grasp, and the girl seemed to constantly fear the Clave would find some way to take them away from her again.
"No, sweetheart, it's not bad." Jocelyn assured her, unable to bear seeing Clary so fearful. When her only response was a quick succession of blinks, the woman carried on, clutching Luke's hand tightly to give herself strength. "Me and Luke just had some news. Some good news. Or at least we think it's good news and we hope you feel the same because it's really important to us and-"
"Joce." Luke cut across and his wife stopped to take a few calming breaths. Jocelyn turned her husband towards her husband and nodded slightly. Taking the hint, Luke returned his attention to Clary. "Clary, we've just found out that we're going to have a baby."
"You're kidding." Clary breathed, smirking at what she expected to be a joke. The smirk soon fell away when she saw her parent's straight faces. "You're really having a baby? This isn't a joke?"
"No joke." Jocelyn confirmed. "I'm about four months."
For a few moments the room was silent, Clary's head reeling with the life changing news her parents had imparted. Then she began to squeal with excitement, clapping her hands together before throwing her arms around her mother, almost knocking Luke off the bed in the process.
"I'm going to have a little brother or sister! I can't believe this!" Clary all but shrieked. She quickly pulled away from her mother, sitting back on the edge of the bed and clutching the coverlet tightly to try and control her excitement. "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"
Luke turned to his wife expectantly, anticipating a knowing smile or a calm shake of the head. Instead Jocelyn's eyes had fallen to the blankets, studying the patterns and biting her lip, trying to stop the tears from falling. She had cried enough in recent months; she would not allow herself to show that weakness again, even to her own family.
"I didn't ask Magnus." she responded, her voice a distant whisper. "I didn't want to know, I thought it was best not to."
"Well, that's okay." Luke reassured her. "Some people just want to leave it a surprise. I think it's exciting that way."
"No, Luke, that's not what I mean." Her voice was wavering now, blood beginning to swell at the broken skin of her lip. "I was going to tell you straight away, but then you were so happy and I didn't want to spoil it for you; but you need to know anyway, both of you. I didn't want to know what gender the baby is, because Magnus told me I shouldn't get too attached. There hasn't been a half-Nephilim, half-lycanthrope child in centuries, so we don't know if… Do you see? I don't want to talk about boys and girls and baby names, because the baby might not make it that far."
Tears dripped down onto the coverlet, Clary unable to catch them all as they streaked down her cheeks. She could hardly believe it. She had gained a sibling and then lost them again. Just like Jonathan.
As Jocelyn breathed deeply, trying to control the threatening sobs, Luke reached out to wrap an arm around her shoulders, pulling her tightly to his chest, the other hand tightly clutching Clary's. For some reason, he could not find the tears to cry, when he had teetered on the precipice of doing so not long beforehand. One of them had to be strong, to hold them all together or else they would all fall apart. 'I hope Magnus is wrong, I hope to all the angels that he is wrong. But if he isn't, even if it breaks my heart, I'll still have Jocelyn and I'll still have Clary and they will all still have me. That's the most important thing. That is everything to me.'
A/N: Sorry it's a tiny bit depressing, but I think it wouldn't be quite as easy as a Shadowhunter pregnancy, when Luke is technically a different species. Should be sorted out a bit in the next chapter, so please review!
