This story has been beta'd by cboo2501 and pre-read by Worm in the Apple, Aliherondale333 and bethgreat97.

All recognizable characters and situations are owned by Cassandra Clare and J.R Ward

Used to - Daughtry

Hold me now – Red

Skin - Madonna

Chapter 5

Welcome to my life

Three classes.

Clary had three classes with Jace.

In a school with more than eight hundred students, where the seniors constituted of over a forth of that, it was improbable - boarding on impossible, to share three classes with someone.

Leave it to her to beat the odds.

Qhuinn had been sweet enough to offer to drop Alec, Izzy and Simon off at their homes after Jace had ditched them and asked them to come over after dinner so they could catch up.

Clary spent the rest of the drive home trying to convince Qhuinn that she didn´t need to learn Spanish. "I already know Caca del toro, Uno cerveza, por favor, Dónde está el baño? and Hablas Ingles? You know, the important stuff."

"Forget it, nalla," he chuckled as he drove into the garage. "You might need to know that shit someday."

Her Benz was still missing, which meant Blay wasn´t home yet.

"What the f…rogs do I need to learn Spanish for?" she grumbled. "I´m never going to Spain."

"Don´t matter," his voice was soft, yet firm. "I make the rules and until yo eighteen ya gotta do as I tell ya."

"If you´re gonna act all superior and sh… We gotta have a serious talk about me being allowed to curse," she grumbled and almost fell when she jumped down from the car.

Qhuinn's loud laugh echoed against the stone walls around them. "I don´t have to act, nalla. I´m superior to ya in every way."

She stomped her foot and glared at him. "Darn it Qhuinn, don´t make me drag Blay into this."

Although Clary knew that she meant the world to him, the only person who could make him seereason was his elegant, soft-spoken fiancé. They were as different as night and day. Blay was a please-and-thank-you kind of guy and Qhuinn was more of a fuck-off-and-die type.

Blay could be seen dressed in a grey Zenga suit with the palest pink pinstripes and a fine cotton button-down from Burberry; the shirts body a fait blush, with French cuffs and collar in bright white. Whereas Qhuinn, seeing that he was color-blind, dressed mostly in all black, from the shit-kickers in the size of a human skull to his favorite leather jacket.

"Pfft," he huffed. "Ya think Blay would side with ya on this? Dropping a class and cursing?" he shook his head. "I Didnae raise ya to be a quitter or an idiot, nalla."

"I´ve known you for less than a year, how exactly have you raised me?"

He cocked his head. "Imma pretty sure I´ve rubbed off on ya in all ways but one," he winked at her.

"Eww, gross," Clary complained and made a face.

His whole body shook with laughter. "Oh, nalla. You could never handle me."

She stuck out her tongue. "Good thing I don´t want to then."

He draped his arm around her shoulders, making him walk half tilted, but even though it looked extremely uncomfortable he didn´tlet go of her. They walked out the garage doors and he pressed the remote in his pocket, closing the doors behind them.

"Yo stickin' to Spanish," his tone was final. "If ya wanna get 'im back ya gotta stay close to 'im, ya feel me?"

"Fine," she pouted. "But what about cursing?"

"Yo not gonna be talkin' like me, that´s fo' sure," he said with his 'no-bullshit' vice. "But come up with some words that do the job, but sounds better and we´ll talk, okay?"

Clary continued to argue her case, she knew it was useless, but she felt she had to at least try. "I´ve always wanted to learn French," she said as they walked to the house. "It´s still a language elective, just not Spanish."

Qhuinn chuckled with exasperation, letting her know that there was no way she would talk him into letting her switch classes and it was best that she just gave up. "The only thing good in French is kissing, toast and fries."

"Ugh, I´m not talking about kissing with you," she shuddered dramatically.

He pulled her closer as she unlocked the door. "Tell me 'bout yo day," he said as they walked the kitchen and he motioned to her to sit down at the table as he went to the fridge to get ingredients to start dinner. "Ya share elective, but what else happened?"

"We share three classes," Clary scowled. "Spanish; where he sits behind me, making it almost impossible to not turn around and look at him all the time, instead of concentrating on what the teacher was writing on the board.P.E; I bit my tongue twice just during the warm-ups because he looked soooo good in his gym shorts and tank. Then we played basketball and as he shot a three pointer his tank rode up and exposed that delicious v and his… well his abs, " she all but moaned at the memory. "I tripped on my own feet because I was too busy staring at him and didn´t look where I was going." Blush colored her cheeks. "We also share social studies; where he sits right next to me and we have to work together, at least for the rest of the semester."

Qhuinn snickered as he put the pasta water to boil and started chopping vegetables for the sauce.

"That boy really brings out the worse in ya. I can´t wait to see where this is goin'. It´s better that TV."

"Glad I can be of service," she glared at him, but he just kept laughing and continued preparing their dinner.

"What else?" he asked as he cut the chicken in to smaller pieces.

"I don´t know…We were told to get to know each other in social studies and he wasn´t interested in what I´d been doing when I was away, but made sure to hint that he´d been busy during that time."

"Aww," Qhuinn cooed. "Young love."

"Love? Are you drunk or haven´t you been listening to a word I said?" Clary stared at him incredulously. "Jace hates me."

"Ah, nalla. You´re too pretty to be this stupid. I´ll bet you next month's chores that he´ll make a move before the week is up."

She giggled and rolled her eyes. "You´re soooo on. Need any help with dinner?"

"Nah, I got it. Do they still give ya homework first day of school or has that changed since I graduated ten years ago?"

She smacked her forehead. "F…orks… I left my bag in the car."

Clary had been given small assignments in almost every subject. Since she´d been 'absent' last year the teachers felt they needed to 'test' her on what she´d learned in her other school. Apparently her transcripts weren´t proof enough.

"Go get it. I´ll have dinner ready so ya have time to eat before yo little 'play-date'," Qhuinn chuckled at his own joke. "Blay should be home soon too."

"This is complete…caca del toro," she scoffed and started for the garage to get her assignments.

Clary had just finished her math homework and was about to start on the question sheet for bio when Qhuinn called her to dinner.

"How was your day?" Blay asked as she took her seat at the table.

"Lemme sum it up for ya, babe," Qhuinn grinned.

"I don´t wanna ride with ya to school, he don´t want me no more," he said in a high pitched 'girly' voice.

"Keep yo filthy paws off my woman," with an exaggerated gruffness.

"He don´t love me."

"Imma so fuckin' pissed I gotta storm outta here…"

Blay looked at Clary with raised eyebrows.

Qhuinn continued his recap, completely ignoring her mortified expression.

"My life blah blah."

"Don´t wanna hear it, too painful. But lemme tell ya 'bout all the girls I fucked to get ya outta my head."

Qhuinn was so caught up in his story that he didn´t notice how Clary recoiled as if he slapped her.

"Oh, you´re soooo sexy in yo shorts, Imma throw myself at yo feet."

"You look soooo hot, I wanna eat ya."

"I love ya."

"I love ya, too."

He made exaggerated kissing noises and flashed a brilliant smile, all twelve kinds of proud for being such an ass.

"Um," Blay sounded skeptical. "Is that what really happened?"

"Sure," Clary shrugged. "If you´re playing 'opposite day'."

"'Ey," Qhuinn whined slightly. "I think I got the most of it right."

"Sure you did," Clary nodded and stuffed a forkful of food in her mouth so she didn´t have to discuss that particular subject anymore.

"Don´t worry, Clary," Blay placed his large hand on top of hers. "I´m sure he´ll come around, and if he doesn´t I´ll bet there´s a ton of interested guys out there just waiting for a chance."

"Abso," Qhuinn agreed. "Just not the dark haired hand-kisser," he somehow managed to make hand sound like ass. "I trust 'im 'bout as far as I can throw him." A wide grin spread across his face. "I bet I could throw 'im pretty fuckin' far. Can´t wait to try."

"If you could refrain from throwing my classmates until graduation, that´ll be great," Clary said sternly. "But you don´t have to worry about Seb. He´s a harmless flirt and I only want one guy."

Qhuinn played with the hoop in his lip with the tip of his tongue as he thought about what she said. "Sure… I could probably avoid doin' it. As long as he don´t give me no reason… Than all bets are off…" he grinned with anticipation. "I fuckin' hope he´ll give me a reason…"

"Are you joining us at the gym after dinner?" Blay asked as he carried his plate to the stove for a second serving.

"No, I have some homework I have to get done, and some of my friends are coming over soon."

"So I gather that the reunion went good," he said.

"Mostly," she cringed as she thought about the stormy expression Jace had had most of the day. "Some of them were very happy that I was back, others…not so much."

She was startled by Qhuinn's booming laughter and dropped the fork on her plate with a loud clang. "I love ya like crazy, nalla, but you´re an idiot."

Her indignant gasp was ignored as he turned to Blay and gave him a less animated version of that morning.

"The lil' punk gave me a good once-over, obviously checkin' out the competition and then he went on to eye-fuck our girl so hard I thought he was gonna cream his pants." He considered it for a second. "I´m still not convinced he didn´t and then he glared at me with so much hate I´m surprised that Imma still standin' here."

"It kind of sounds like he still cares about you," Blay smile was encouraging.

"Yup," Qhuinn said, popping the p. He frowned at her dubious expression. "Don´t give up on 'im yet."

Clary didn´t answer as she got up to place her empty plate in the sink. She almost dropped it when the music to Baby got back by Sir mix a lot echoed through the house. "I thought you were going to do something about that…stupid doorbell."

"Nah," Qhuinn just grinned. "That´s Blay's and mine tune. It ain't goin' nowhere."

"You´re impossible," her tone was harsh, but her affectionate smile as she went to open the door told a different story.

Clary was happy to see Alec, Simon, Izzy and Magnus waiting outside on the porch. The only girl had a huge smirk on her face and the three boys looked from the doorbell to Clary with surprise written all over their faces.

"Nice…ringtone," Simon said.

"Iz, how many times do I have to ask you to knock instead of pushing that…darn thing," she asked exasperated and called over her shoulder. "Qhuinn? Can I say blimey? Or crikey? Or even bloody hell? That´s technically not curse words, is it?"

Qhuinn barked out a laugh. "Yeah they are. But sure, use 'em, just don´t abuse 'em."

He and Blay entered the foyer to greet her friends.

Magnus catlike eyes lit up at the sight of them. "Ooooh, look at the size of those two." He turned to Clary with a speculative grin. "How does a midget like you end up with two giants? Looks like slutty Jace got himself some competition."

Clary snorted. "Hardly."

"Don´t tell me that guardian actually means guardian," he scoffed.

"Magnus, let me introduce you to Qhuinn, my guardian," she smiled as the two of them shook.

She turned her body slightly to encompass Simon and Alec. "And guys, this is Blay, his partner."

She didn´t elaborate and explain that she meant life as well as business partners. It wasn´t her secret to tell. Izzy was the only one who knew the whole truth about their relationship, and only because Qhuinn had chosen to share that with her. He might be out and happy with the love of his life, but his sexuality was a sensitive subject thanks to his upbringing. His parents had strived for perfection and he had been a failure in their eyes since birth, all because of his different colored eyes. Clary felt that if he wanted her friends to know, he should be the one to tell them. She wasn´t surprised when he didn´tspeak up, after all, he didn´t know them yet. He would come clean eventually.

"Nice to meet you," Blay smiled. "We were just leaving to go to the gym. Can I get you anything before we go?" That was Blay in all his glory. His inner Emily Post couldn´t handle not being a good host.

"Don´t worry," Clary assured him. "Just promise to kick Qhuinn's ass for me"

"I thought I start off in the weight room, but I´ll see what I can do," he smirked.

Qhuinn placed his hand gently on Blay's forearms, stopping him from walking out through the open door. "I gotta ask Alec somethin' first," he looked at the boy in question. "Who was born first? You or Iz?"

Alec looked a little confused. "Um…I was. Why?"

"I knew it," Qhuinn slapped his thighs and the thunderous guffaw made Simon jump. "I fuckin' knew it." He pointed at Izzy. "You´re the exhile dhoble."

Everyone except Blay looked at him like he grew a second head.

"Eh…Qhuinn?" Clary looked worried. "Care to tell us what the hell you´re talking about?"

"It means 'the evil or cursed twin, the one born second'," Blay explained when his fiancé had trouble getting the words out, he was laughing so hard.

"That does sound like our Iz, doesn´t it," Alec grinned.

"Hey," she protested. "There´s nothing evil or cursed about me."

"Of course not, sweetheart," Simon quickly agreed and kissed her forehead.

Magnus just snickered, earning an angry glare from his future sister-in-law.

Qhuinn managed to calm down enough to kiss Clary softly on her temple. "Be good, nalla."

"Aren´t I always?" she smiled crookedly.

"Mmm-hm," he nodded. "Maybe a little too good." He turned to the others. "Can ya tell 'er that Captain Crabby wants 'er 'n come up with some ideas for 'er to get 'im back?"

"Don´t worry Big Daddy," Izzy grinned widely. "I'm on it."

They were seated in front of the huge flat screen in the game room and each and every one had a glass of the soda of their choice sitting on a nearby table. Magnus and Alec occupied one of the loveseats and Izzy and Simon the other. Clary was seated in one of the two overly large comfy chairs.

Magnus studied the round wooden coaster in his hand. "This is kinda cool, where did you buy it?"

"Qhuinn made those coasters himself for Blay's birthday last year," Clary answered and took a small sip of her soda.

"Speaking of gigantic, dark and scary," Magnus put the coaster back beneath his glass. "How did you guys meet?"

Clary told them the same story that she had told Izzy and tried to tell Jace that same morning.

The little bell on top of the door chimed as she entered the gym. Clary turned to the reception deskand was completely taken aback when she noticed the pierced giant standing behind the counter flipping through a magazine, looking bored. Fear formed a knot in the pit of her stomach and she was about to turn around and run out of there when he looked up from what he was reading and gave her a lazy once over.

"The kiddy group don´t start 'til 'morrow."

The insult stopped her in her tracks and she gave him an angry glare. "I'm not a kid. I´m sixteen, dammit."

He laughed. "Imma just fuckin' with ya. Made ya forget 'bout bein' scared, didn´t it?"

She was about to snap at him when she realized that he was right, and instead gave him a stuttered apology.

"Don´t worry 'bout it," he smiled, looking a lot less intimidating."So what can I do for ya today lil' lady?"

Clary felt herself blush at the nickname and chewed on her lower lip as she looked into his eyes. She was surprised to see the different colors of his irises. "Um…uh…I was…sorta…thinking about…looking in to self-defense classes," she mumbled nervously.

The smile slipped from his face and he got an almost murderousglint in his mismatched eyes.

"Why would ya need that? The boyfriend kickin' ya 'round? Just leave the fucker, he ain´t gonna change."

"Oh…No…" she took a step back from him. "It´s nothing like that. I…I just thought I should learn to defend myself, that´s all."

He didn´t look like he believed her. "A pretty girl like ya shouldn´t have to know that."

Clary got the feeling that she ought to be offended, or at least accuse him of hitting on her, but it didn´t feel like that. "Yeah? Well, in a perfect world I wouldn´t even be here. Not in this gym or in this town."

The man raised his pierced eyebrow. "What´s yo name, doll face?"

"Clarissa Fray. Clary," she answered and wondered if he was just having a little fun on her behalf before sending her away.

"Well Clary, there´s a class for beginners that starts tonight at 7 pm and it´s two nights a week" he rummaged through the file cabinets behind him until he found the correct form. "Here sign this."

Clary quickly filled in her name, address and date of birth before handing it back to him.

"We usually log this shit in the 'puter, but our receptionist had an appointment and I don´t get her program."

"Oh? I thought…that you were the receptionist."

His body shook with silent laughter. "Do I look like one to you?"

She looked at him closely, really taking in everything from his black hair, set in spikes, to his piercings and large body that were clad in black cargo's and a black wife beater the size of a sleeping bag.

His low chuckle made her blush as she realized she had been staring. "No," she mumbled and looked down on her scruffy sneakers. "You don´t."

He chuckled again and eyed through her information before placing the form in the in-box next to the computer.

"Yo birthday is August 18th?" his smile shone brighter than the florescent light in the ceiling.

"Um, yeah?"

Without a word he pulled the wife beater over his head and Clary was suddenly face to face with a wall of muscles.

Holy crap! Why did he take his clothes of? This is the time when you should start running in the other direction. His nipples are pierced. Oh god! Don´t look at them. Close your eyes Clary! She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Chill, little one," the half naked man laughed. "I just wanna show ya somethin'."

She refused to open her eyes and started slowly backing away towards what she hoped was the exit. "I´m good thanks. You´re right, I don´t need to learn self-defense. Sorry for wasting your time. Have a nice…" she stopped talking as she backed in to the wall. Her cheeks burnt with embarrassment and she covered her face with her small hands.

She heard his heavy footsteps against the carpet as he walked up to her.

"Hey, Imma not hittin' on ya. Just look at my back."

Clary peered through her fingers and saw that he indeed had his back to her. The date August 18th was tattooed across his shoulders in elegant script.

"Huh?" she said eloquently.

"I knew it was somethin' special 'bout ya the moment ya stepped through those doors. It´s fate."

"Let me get this straight," Magnus interrupted her. "The first time you met the guy he took his clothes off in front of you before introducing himself and he has your birthday tattooed on his back?"

"Um… yes."

"That´s…impressive," he cocked his head and looked at her intently, his cat eyes gleaming. "Why is it that you need help with getting Jace again? Seems like you´re good at this all on your own."

Clary let out a loud harrumph.

"What´s up with him having that date on his back?" Simon asked, leaning slightly forward as he waited for her answer.

She had expected that question, but that didn´t make the answer any easier. It was the date that Qhuinn had finally mustered up enough courage to ask Blay to marry him and he said yes.

"You´ll have to ask him that yourself."

"Uh…" Simon fidgeted in his seat. "I think I´ll pass on that one."

"Uh-hu," Clary smiled. "Now where was I…? Ah, yes. I started my self-defense training that same night. Qhuinn was a great teacher, I soon started staying after class and he would continue to show me some techniques in private. Every time I entered the training area where the class was held he would stare at me for a long time before nodding to himself and relaxing. It drove me crazy at first, until I realized that he hadn´t believed me when I said I didn´t have an abusive boyfriend and that he was checking for bruises…"

Clary was sitting on of the blue training mats; she was barefoot and only dressed in a pair of sweats and a sports bra. Qhuinn went through the instructions for the movehe was trying to teach her.

The class had ended about a half hour ago, but she was in no hurry to get back to the Institute and gladly stayed behind when he asked her to.

She listened carefully as he spoke, surprised as always at the difference in his speech when he was inteacher mode.

"Let's say that someone comes up from behind and grabs you. Al lot depends on how tight a grip the attacker has on you. If the attacker is behind you, one move would be to slightly bend your arms, bring both arms back and letting your elbows slam into the attacker's rib cage as hard as you can. Don´t hesitate and don´t hold back."

They went through the moves several times before Qhuinn hummed, signaling that he was satisfied with her progress.

He handed her a water bottle from the cooler by the mirrored wall and continued. "Stomping down on an attacker's toes can also be very effective. Simply use your heel to stomp on your attacker's foot as hard as you can."

Qhuinn grabbed Clary from behind, this time pinning her arms to her sides. She was sweaty, tired and hungry. Her attempts were half-hearted at best.

"What the fuck are ya doin'?" Qhuinn's angry voice was loud in the room. "What if I was really attackin' ya? You´re not even tryin'," he chided her.

Exhaustion combined with his critique made her (finally) snap. "I´m fucking tired, okay, and I´m hungry! Stop pushing me around and telling me what to do all the fucking time!"

Qhuinn looked at her calmly with his mismatched eyes and waited for her to be done with her little outburst. "A lady shouldn´t curse."

"Maybe I´m not a lady." Clary panted, out of breath from screaming.

"Sure ya are."

"Is that why you don´t curse anymore?" Alec asked, amused.

Clary shrugged. "Yeah, he doesn´t like when I do it."

"He seems to have a good influence on you," Simon admitted.

"So, what happened next?" Magnus asked. "How did you get from there to here?"

"After that night Qhuinn started taking me out to dinner after class, before dropping me off at the Institute. On new year's he took me with him to some big fancy party, because his usual date couldn´t make it. A couple of days in to the new year Raphael pushed me down the stairs and I ended up in the hospital with two cracked ribs and a broken arm. I dreaded the day I was being released and hardly slept at all the night before…"

Clary sat fully dressed on the bed as the door to her hospital suite opened and Qhuinn stepped inside.

"What´s doin'? Ready to go home?"

She cradled her cast covered arm in her unharmed one and stared at the floor. "Yeah. Home. Great."

He placed and arm underneath her knees and the other behind her back and lifted her carefully until her head rested against his chest. "This beats a wheelchair, right?" he smiled down at her.

She didn´t answer him, just stared off in the distance.

"What´s the matter?" he asked, concern making his accent thicker.

"I…I don´t wanna go back there," she said in a small voice.

He secured her more firmly against his chest and put his now free right hand under her chin, tilting her head so that she had to look at him. "You´re coming home with me, precious. You´re not going back to that place. Ever."

"Really?" she looked hopeful. "You can do that?"

"Like that could stop me," he snorted.

Clary beamed at him.

"C'mon let's get ya in the car so we can go home."

"Qhuinn?" she said as he buckled her seatbelt.

"Yeah?"

"You know… Precious stopped being cute after Lord of the rings," she smirked.

He laughed as he walked around the car. "You´re right. So what should I call ya…? How 'bout nalla?"

"nalla?" she tasted the word. "I like it. What does it mean?"

His eyes were warm as he looked over at her. "Beloved."

"Aww," Magnus cooed. "That´s adorable. So how was it living with him?"

"Scary at first. His apartment was bigger than anything I had ever seen before, except in movies or magazines. I had nightmares almost every night at first, and I missed you guys so much…"

Clary was lying in the middle of her new bed only dressed in a cami and a pair of shorts. The only light came from the lamp on her nightstand. She wiped away the tears that kept falling down her cheeks as she heard a soft knock on her door.

"Come in," she said, her voice hoarse from crying.

Qhuinn walked in, leaving the door open behind him. He eyed her closely. "Just wanna say g'night, nalla."

She buried her face in her pillows, trying to hide her red and puffy eyes. "G'night."

"What's doin'"? he sat down on the bed next to her; the mattress dipped from his weight and stroked her back. "I can see that ya been cryin'."

She sighed deeply. "I miss them…I miss him."

Without another word he got up and walked over and closed the door.

Clary raised her head curiouslywhen she heard the rustle of fabric and saw him taking his clothes off.

"Um…Qhuinn?" she asked incredulously. "What the…heck are you doing?"

"Scoot over, nalla." He gave her a small push until she moved over to the side of the bed andcrawled down to her beneath the covers. He put one arm under her head, making his bicep his pillow, wrapped the other over her petite waist and pulled her back against his chest. "Turn off the lights and go to sleep," he murmured close to her ear. "I´ll still be here when you wake up."

"You slept in the same bed as him and you´re claiming that nothing happened between the two of you?" Alec blurted out.

Four pair of eyes glared at him, annoyed by the interruption.

"Oh, come on," he defended himself. "It´s not like you weren´t all thinking it."

"I wasn´t," Izzy objected.

"No, but you had already heard this before," Alec persisted.

"Ignore my brother, I always do," she waved him off. "Tell them how he asked to become your guardian."

Clary smiled. "Well, I had been living with him for a little over two months when he called from the gym one day and told me to get dressed up, because he wanted to take me out to dinner that night…"

They were seated at a table for two in the fanciest restaurant in town.

Clary wore a long-sleeved black dress with a fitted bodice that flowed out at her waist and ended at her ankles with a pair of matching flats.

Even Qhuinn had dressed up for once. He looked very elegant in his black slacks, white button down and suit jacket.

She tried to focus on what to order, but kept sneaking peaks at her 'date' over the leather bound menu.

She had never been in a restaurant like this before and would´ve never pictured Qhuinn in a place like this. He was a more laid back, pizza or burgers kind of guy.

She watched him fidgeting in his seat; he tugged at the collar of his shirt, unbuttoned the top three buttons, then thought better of it and did them up again. He was clearly nervous about something, but what?

After a few minutes of the same behavior Clary decided to ask him. "What's wrong? You´re all…twitchy."

He reached out over the table and took her hands in his, after a deep breath he started speaking; "I told ya the first day we met that it was fate, and I still believe that. These past months have been some of the best in my life, nalla, and I hope ya feel the same."

Clary gave him a strange look, wondering where he was going with this. "You know I do, Qhuinn," her smile was soft as she squeezed his hands.

"Good, that´s good," he released on of her hands and wiped his sweaty forehead with the linen napkin.

"What is wrong?" she asked worriedly. "You´re freaking me out here."

"Sorry," he ran his free hand through his short hair and tugged at his collar once more. "I…I like takin' care of ya and was kinda hopin' we could make this a permanent kinda thing."

Her eyes widened and all she could do was stare at him.

"Permanent? Are you…proposing?"

"What!?" he almost shouted. "Fuck no!" He lowered his voice slightly when he noticed that they were attracting attention from the other dinner guests. "I wanna be yo whard."

"Whard?" Clary got confused, as she always did when he would say something in his mother-tongue.

She had asked him about it a lot in the beginning. What language it was and where he came from. But all he ever did was calling it 'the old country' and refused to give her any more information, so after a while she just gave up. His past was a sore subject to Qhuinn and she didn´t want to bring up any painful memories.

"It´s like a guardian, but more…"

"You want to be my guardian?" tears started pooling in her eyes and she blinked furiously toforce them back. "You mean that you want to keep me?"

"I can´t think of anythin' I could want more."

"Wow," Simon's smile was happy. "To think that all this started out with some wannabe thug pushing you around. He must be kicking himself right now."

"And if he´s not, I could do it for him," Alec promised.

"Aww," Clary beamed at him. "That´s so sweet."

"I always got your back, short stuff."

She checked the time on her phone and noticed that almost two hours had passed while she was talking. "The guys will be home soon, they would never miss 'our' show."

"Oh, I didn´t realize that it was this late," Izzy said after checking her own phone. "Do you want us to leave before it starts?"

She had been there enough nights to know how important that particular show was to Qhuinn and Blay. Clary liked it too, just not as much.

"No," she grinned at the confused looking boys. "Just keep quiet until the commercials and it´ll be fine."

She turned on the TV and flipped through the channels until she found the right one.

"Cartoon Network?" Simon looked stumped. "What´s so interesting about a kids show?"

"Oh, Si," Izzy stroked her fingers over his knee and planted a peck on his nose. "I wouldn´t say that to Qhuinn if I were you."

Before he had the chance to respond the front door opened and the two men walked inside. "It hasn´t started yet, has it?"

"Nope," Clary grinned. "You´re just in time."

Seeing as the show hadn´t started yet Simon took the opportunity to ask; "What´s it that we´re watching?"

"Only the best fucking reality show of all time," Qhuinn replied gruffly taking it as a personal offence that not everybody followed the show with the same passion as he did.

"It´s called Total Drama Island," Clary decided to take pity on her friends and explain some things. "It´s sorta like 'survivor'. These kids are all stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere. There are two teams that have to compete against each other and the losing team has to vote which one of them has to go home."

Qhuinn lifted her up in his arms like she weight nothing more than a feather, took her seat in the armchair and placed her on his lap. "Shut up. It´s about to start."

The only sound in the room came from the end credits of the show. Alec, Simon and Magnus had been as caught up in the episode as Qhuinn and Blay.

"Man, I can´t believe that bitch Heather managed to trick 'em into letting her stay again," Clary´s guardian grumbled.

It was the same after every episode. In the third season the object of his hatred had actually won and he had been sulking for over a week. It was safe to say that he took the show very seriously. She had lost count of how many times they´d seen every episode and it still pissed him off when 'his' team lost or one of his favorite characters was sent packing.

"Please start talking about something else before he starts throwing things," Blay pleaded with them.

"Let's discuss how to get our favorite couple back together," Izzy suggested.

"What? Did Jamie and Lily break up?" Clary said, acting stupid on purpose.

"Very funny," Izzy huffed. "So how are we going to do this?" she directed the question towards the boys, completely ignoring her friend.

"We should get them together outside of school," Simon, getting a proud smile from his girlfriend.

"Yeah, but where?" Alec asked. "Our parent's aren´t as easy to get out of the house anymore.

"It would be better with somewhere more neutral," Izzy said. "Where none of them have a home-court advantage."

"I think I could help with that," Qhuinn interjected. "The pre-opening of Pandemonium is this Friday. We can just give yo names to the guys at the door, anyone else ya wanna bring is cool too. Just gimme a heads up."

"You´re the owners of the new club?" Magnus gaped.

"You haven´t told them about that?" Blay asked Clary.

"No…" Clary shrugged. "It´s been a busy day."

"This is going to be awesome," Izzy clapped her hands and giggled with delight.

"I don´t know why you think I could even have a chance with him anymore," Clary's voice quivered slightly. "He has moved on." The way he acted, the way he talked to her, everything told her that she was right, and it would hurt too much to hope for anything else and then find out that she had been right all along.

"He hasn´t smiled since you left. He´s grinning and smirking, but not one smile," Alec said it like it explained everything, and maybe it did.

"Okay… So let's say I believe you…" she hesitated, "…what do I have to do?"

"Not much during the week. You don´t wanna come on to strong," Izzy pointed out.

"Exactly, you want him to come to you. Start off with dressing sexy…but not slutty," Alec suggested.

"And take it a step further every day," Simon added. "Show a bit more cleavage or an inch shorter skirt. Just don´t make it too obvious."

"Look busy whenever he´s around outside of class," Magnus winked. "Talk, laugh, have a good time."

"Show 'im all the ways yo body can bend during P.E," Qhuinn grinned, everybody rolled their eyes at him. "What? He´s a guy. I know a lil' somethin' about how they think."

"Eh… I should´ve told you earlier…Jace kinda sorta think that guardian actually means something else for you two," Izzy looked apologetic.

"Ha," Magnus half shouted. "See, I wasn´t the only one with his mind in the gutter."

"How are you going to convince him of the opposite?" Blay asked and quickly glanced at his fiancé.

"I´m not sure that anything you say will make a difference," Izzy admitted sadly. "He refuses to listen. It´s like he doesn´t want to believe anything else."

"Nah, this is good," Qhuinn combed his fingers through Clary's hair absentmindedly. "Jealousy is a powerful motivator," he gave Blay a sideways glance and smiled softly.

"Okay," Alec looked thoughtful. "Now we just have to come up with a plan to get him there."

"Leave it to me," Izzy's smile was a little frightening. "He might be angry at me right now, but I can always talk him in to anything."

"That sounds like a plan," Qhuinn stood up and put down Clary on the chair. "Not to sound like a dad or anything…" his glare silenced her before she could open her mouth. "But it´s getting' late and tomorrow is a school night."

"We just have to find her some classy-slutty clothes for the first day of Operation Make-Jace-Forget-His-Own-Name."

"That´s what you´re calling it?" Alec asked his twin.

"It´s the best I could come up with on such short notice. I´ll think of something better after the weekend."

Izzy dragged Clary towards her room and closed the door behind them.

What have I gotten myself into?

A/N: Yeah, I know. Four chapter and I´m still on the same day. It´s a bit much, I´ll give you that. But I just wanted to get Clary´s year out of the way, so I could move forward and didn´t have to come up with how to write it into the story later. I hope you got the answer to any questions you might have. Next chapter will be better. What happens at Pandemonium… Well, you´ll just have to wait and see, won´t you… =)

Oh, and I would love some help with couples in TV-shows you wish were together, but aren´t. Thanks.

The Spanish sentence are: Bullshit, One beer, please, Where is the toilet? and Do you speak English?