Jace was washing the dishes from dinner at his beach house. Simon and Isabelle had disappeared twenty minutes ago and left us to clean up. I stood back and watched as Jace moved fluidly through the kitchen. When the last dish was washed and loaded into the dishwasher, he turned to face me. Jace walked toward me as the song playing on the stereo changed and held his arms out to me. As he took my hands, Jace pulled me to him and started to dance with me while singing softly along with the music.
"Where did Simon and Izzy disappear to," I asked into his chest.
"Oh, I'm sure they'll be out for a while," he said with a smirk. "Come on, let's go watch a movie or something."
Jace wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me to the couch in the living room.
"Why do I get the feeling you're not telling me something," I said as I took my place on the couch next to Jace and he pulled me closer to his side.
"You'll find out soon enough, Red."
"You're being really cryptic."
"Yeah, yeah, just watch the boy meet the girl and fall in love."
I giggled as I snuggled into Jace's side and watched the movie. The time in the sun was starting to take its toll as I felt myself nodding off after a few minutes. I felt Jace shake me awake as Simon and Isabelle came in the back door. Jace greeted them and yelled out that we were on the couch. They came over and sat on the loveseat to the right of the couch. I smiled at them and focused back on the movie, even though I had no idea what was actually going on. Simon laid down to face the TV and Isabelle laid down beside him. As she did so, something flashed in the corner of my eye and my head snapped to see what it was. I sat up and stared at her left hand for a minute before it registered in my mind what it was. I let out a little scream and everyone jumped as I got up and walked over to Simon and Isabelle taking her hand and raising it in the air.
"What the hell is this," I asked pulling her up to stand next to me.
"What the hell does it look like," she said as she smiled brightly. "We're getting married!"
Jace and Simon met in the middle of the room as Jace congratulated him and pulled him in for a hug. Isabelle and I proceeded to jump up and down like little girls with our arms wrapped around each other. I overheard Jace and Simon talking.
"I knew she would say yes," Jace said as he patted Simon on the back.
"Wait," I said pulling away from Isabelle and turning my attention toward Jace. "You knew about this?"
"Of course, I knew. I'm his best friend. I went with him to pick out the ring."
"And you didn't tell me?" I walked over to him and smacked him on his chest. He caught my hand and pulled me to him.
"Why would I tell you? She's your best friend and you are the worst at keeping secrets."
"That's not fair." I said as I tried to pull free of his grasp, but he was too strong for me. I finally relented and stopped struggling. "Fine, whatever. We need to celebrate. Do you have any champagne, babe?"
"Um, yeah. I think there might be some in the refrigerator."
We went into the kitchen to get champagne and flutes as Simon and Isabelle followed and sat down at the chairs surrounding the island. I poured the bubbly liquid into the glasses and Jace handed them out.
"A toast," I said raising my glass and everyone followed suit. "To my best friend and her fiancé, I am so happy you two found each other and are going to spend the rest of your lives together. I can't imagine two people who were meant to be together more than you two. Congratulations."
"Were you just practicing for your maid of honor speech," Isabelle asked around a giggle.
"Maybe, but I really am happy for you."
"And I am happy that you met," Jace said as he placed his arm around my waist and rested his hand on my hip. "Because I might have never met Clary if Iz hadn't dragged her to our fight. So thank you and congratulations."
I turned my head to face Jace and he caught my lips for a kiss. I caught Simon and Isabelle out of the corner of my eye doing the same and for a moment, it felt like everything was right in our lives. There wasn't someone trying to ruin our lives. There weren't fights that needed to be trained for. There weren't photos that needed to be edited. There was just the four of us, celebrating one of the most important moments in our best friends' lives.
o.O.0.O.o
A month later, my business was picking up and Jace was in full training mode. Isabelle and Simon were planning their wedding, which would take place in December and my apartment had become wedding planning central. We had agreed that I shouldn't shoot the wedding because I wanted to be able to enjoy it and my role as maid of honor, but I had just hired on an assistant to help me with photo editing and day-to-day business, named Sophie, so she would shoot the wedding for us. She was wonderful and was learning a lot working in the studio. I had even let her take a few jobs on her own and her work was amazing.
Jonathan had stood trial a few weeks ago and, like I expected, he was released with probation and a restraining order. Jace had ben worried that Valentine would let him fight again, but we were reassured that Jonathan would not be allowed anywhere near the organization for a very long time, if ever.
It was getting late and I was still working on editing photos for a deadline I needed to meet as I waited for Jace to finish training for the night and pick me up. Sophie popped her head in my office door and I looked up from my computer blinking to ease the strain from looking at the computer screen for so long.
"Hey, Sophie," I said waving my hand for her to come in.
"Hi, Clary," she said as she entered the office with a stack of papers in her hands. "Here are those prints you wanted to take a look at. There are a few that I think are worth framing."
I started thumbing through the photos holding them up to the light and inspecting for quality and content. I came to a photo that I had taken the week before when I was bored and shooting over at the gym. Jace was helping Max climb the rope on the back wall and the determination on Max's face and Jace's proud expression suddenly made me think of Jace as a father. I studied the photo and thought of a little boy with golden hair running around the gym with Jace chasing after him and laughing. I put my hand to my heart and took a deep breath.
"Clary," Sophie interrupted my thoughts and I snapped my head up to look at her. "Where did you go?"
"Oh, I was just thinking." I handed her the photo before going through the rest. "Can you enlarge this shot and have it framed, please?"
"Of course, I'll get right on it." She started to leave, but I stopped her.
"It's getting late, Sophie. Go home and I'll see you tomorrow." She hesitated and avoided eye contact like she was in trouble. "Did Jace tell you to not leave me here alone?"
"What? I have no idea what you're talking about." This girl was a terrible liar.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm about to lock up anyway and head over to the gym. I will be fine for the thirty seconds that I'm alone. Now, go home. I'm sure you have better things to do than hang out with your boss all night."
"Fine, but if Jace gets mad, I'm blaming you."
"Oh, don't worry. I have ways of cheering him up." I wiggled my eyebrows up and down as she giggled and turned to leave my office.
I went back to my computer to save my work and catch up on my email. The bell on the front door rang, so I assumed Sophie was leaving. When I heard yelling coming from the front, I grabbed my phone and ran out to see what was going on. I froze when I saw what was going on. Jonathan was yelling at Sophie and walking toward her. He hadn't noticed that I had come out yet, so I quickly dialed Jace's number hoping he had his phone near him. I held the phone down at my side so Jace would hear what was going on. Finally, when Jonathan lunged at Sophie and grabbed her, I snapped.
"Hey," I yelled. "Leave her alone. She has nothing to do with this. I'm the one you want."
Jonathan's head turned, but his grip on Sophie's arm didn't let up. His sinister smile chilled me to the bone.
"That's where you're wrong, Red," he said emphasizing the nickname that only Jace used. "I don't want you. I just want everything and everyone Jace has to suffer like I have. Now, not only has he ruined the past five years of my life, but he took my fighting career away from me."
"None of this is Jace's fault, Jonathan." I said looking at Sophie and giving her a slight nod of reassurance. "You're violating the restraining order right now and the cops are on their way, so I suggest you leave before Jace and Simon find out you're here."
"Oh, you think I'm scared of them?" He laughed and threw his head back as he pulled a gun out from behind his back. "Those little wannabes don't scare me. I've fought Jace plenty of times and know exactly how he fights. I made him the fighter he is now."
"You're wrong." I was eyeing the gun he was waving around like a flag and making sure Sophie stayed calm. It almost seemed as if he had forgotten she was there and I wanted to keep it that way. I knew I had to stall until Jace found us and I was loosing hope that he even would. The call had been going on for a few minutes and he still hadn't shown up. It should have only taken him thirty seconds to burst through the door and end this.
Then I saw him and Simon through the front window. Our eyes met and he raised a finger to his mouth telling me to be quiet. I then realized that the bell on the door would ring if they just burst in here and they didn't want to spook Jonathan. I moved my eyes down to the gun so they would follow my gaze and see it. I didn't want them to do something stupid. I saw them move around to the back of the building and then it all happened so fast, I didn't know which way to look.
Jace and Simon rushed through the back door and Simon grabbed Sophie before Jonathan registered what was happening. He came to my side and led us back to my office as Jace tackled Jonathan to the ground. I turned my head over my shoulder and tried to break free from Simon's grasp so I could be with Jace. They were rolling on the ground and wrestling for control. Jace landed a few punches to Jonathan's temple while holding the hand with the gun down. They started rolling again and I lost sight of the gun.
Then, everything went silent as I heard the gun go off with a thunderous bang.
A/N: So if you didn't like the cliff hanger last chapter, I'm sure you don't like this one even more. Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you thought and I'll try my best to update as soon as possible! :)