I rolled over to find the other side of the bed cold and jumped up to find Jace. It had been a month since he came home from the hospital. He ended up staying in the hospital for a week after he woke up because the doctor told him he had to be able to walk on his own before he could leave.
The past month had been filled with struggle and triumph. The first time Jace stood up from his wheelchair and walked across the hall in the hospital was like watching my own child learning to walk. We knew it was going to be difficult, but Jace was determined to get back to where he was before he was shot. Today would be the first day that Jace would go to the gym and actually be on the floor. He wasn't allowed to train or anything, but he could oversee the classes and the guys training in the morning and do some lift cardio. I knew he was excited because he looked like a kid on Christmas Eve the night before. I'm not even sure if he slept.
Jace was in the kitchen where he was cooking breakfast and listening to music with his headphones. I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his back subconsciously placing a hand on the spot where his bullet wound was. I found myself doing that a lot lately, almost like I needed a reminder of what we had gone through and that we did, in fact, make it through.
He turned to face me and took his headphones off smiling down at me.
"Good morning, Red," he said leaning down to kiss me.
"What are you doing," I asked when he lifted his head. "You should be resting and I should be the one cooking for you."
"Babe, it's been a month. I love you for being worried, but it's time that I start doing things for myself again and you need to stop worrying about me. Go to the studio. Take some pictures." He raised his eyebrow at me. "I know you haven't even picked up your camera in the last month."
"I haven't needed to. Sophie has stepped up and taken care of everything at the studio so I could take care of you."
"Yeah, and now I'm all better." I raised a questioning eyebrow back at him. "Okay, so I'm not all better, but I am getting there. Look, I can walk around and everything." He walked away from me to prove his point stopping by the island and looking from the counter to me, and back again. "How much do you want to bet that I can jump up on this counter right now?"
The counter was about four feet high and, before Jace was injured, I knew he could jump at least that high, but now I was like a worried mother.
"Jace Herondale," I said in my most motherly voice. "If you so much as think about jumping up on that counter, you can forget about going to the beach house this weekend."
"What? Am I four years old now?" He asked with a smirk. I knew I was being unreasonable and he could probably do it, but that wasn't the point. The point was that a month ago, he had a bullet lodged in his body after he tried to wrestle a lunatic with a gun. "Just turn away if you don't want to watch because I'm doing it."
Before I could even protest, Jace swung his arms back, bent his knees and leapt off of the ground firmly landing on top of the counter. He raised his hands above his head and let out a triumphant yell before Isabelle and Simon came in the kitchen.
"What's going on," Simon asked looking around the kitchen trying to figure out what just happened.
"And why are you standing on the counter," Isabelle added.
"Oh, asshat over here decided to box jump the counter this morning," I said as I stormed out of the kitchen and back into my bedroom.
I realized that Jace would go back to normal faster than a normal person because of the shape he was in, but that didn't mean I wasn't worried about him hurting himself by pushing himself too far, too soon. As I turned on the shower, I sat on the edge of the bathtub and let reality sink in. The truth was, I didn't want to leave Jace because I was still worried about loosing him. I watched the light go out of his eyes when he got shot and that was something I never thought I would see. He was supposed to be there every day of my life and live the life I had imagined for us and in that moment, it felt like it might not happen.
After a few minutes, I heard a knock on the door, but I didn't answer. Jace slowly opened the door and saw me sitting on the bathtub. He walked up to me and nudged my shoulder so I would scoot over as he sat down next to me. Taking my hand in his, he brought it up to his lips and kissed it.
"I'm sorry, baby," he whispered against my fingers as I took a deep breath.
"Jace," I said still looking straight ahead. "I know that you need to start getting back in shape and getting back to your normal life, but it's hard for me watch you knowing that, a month ago, you were lying in a hospital bed."
"I know you're worried, Clary, but I need to keep my strength up to stay healthy. I got cleared by the doctor and I can't lay around all day anymore. Don't get me wrong, I have loved hanging out with you every day, but we need to get back to normal."
"I know, I'm just scared." I dropped my head to my hands and Jace rubbed circles into my back trying to comfort me.
"You don't anything to be scared of anymore. Jonathan is in jail. We don't have to worry about him anymore."
"I'm scared of loosing you," I said lifting my head to look into his golden eyes. "You almost died, Jace and I was sitting on the floor with you. While you were in the hospital, I was constantly overcome with the worry that you wouldn't come back to me. I didn't want our story to end like that and now, all I can think about is loosing you one way or another."
"Clary, look at me," he took my face in his hands forcing me to retain eye contact. "You are no going to loose me, okay? I'm here. We're here. I didn't die that night and neither did you, so we are going to live our lives the best way possible. I am going to love you for the rest of my life. We are going to get married one day and have a bunch of little redheaded kids running around the gym and studio. We are going to live."
I closed my eyes and nodded as Jace kissed my forehead and pulled me to him. We sat there on the bathtub with the shower still running while Jace held me and all of my fears melted away.
"Blonde," I whispered into Jace's chest. "Our kids are going to have your golden hair and eyes. That was all I could think of when you were in the hospital. I imagined a little boy with golden hair running around the gym."
"That sounds amazing." Jace said as he took a deep breath.
I finally pushed him out of the bathroom so I could shower and get ready. We had agreed that I would come to the gym and shoot for a little while after I checked in with Sophie.
When I finally arrived at the studio, Sophie was sitting at her desk examining a stack of photos. She looked up from her work and smiled before coming around he desk and hugging me close.
"Oh my God, Clary," she said as she finally pulled away from me. "I'm so glad to see you. How's Jace?"
"It's his first day back at the gym," I explained. "He's good even if I am a little worried about him still. I'm going to head over there later if you want to come with me."
"I actually have a date tonight." She averted her eyes before I started drilling her.
"What? Who with?" I stood with my hands on my hips and a huge smile on my face. Sophie was kind of shy and reserved and this was the first time she had ever mentioned anything about a guy.
"Umm, Isabelle introduced me to her cousin, Gideon a couple weeks ago and he asked me out."
Isabelle had been helping Sophie with the studio while I was gone and she was really close with her cousins so it didn't surprise me that Sophie and Gideon had met.
"That's awesome, Sophie!" The conversation ended there when I saw her getting nervous.
I made my way to my office to catch up on some work and before I knew it, four hours had passed and it was time to head over to the gym. I grabbed my camera and a spare lens before leaving Sophie to lock up the studio.
When I walked in the gym, the kids' class was in full swing. Jace was standing off to the side of the mats with Simon as they watched over the kids grappling on the mats. Our eyes met and he gave me that gorgeous smile of his before turning back to his conversation with Simon as I set up my cameras. Max ran up to me when he saw me and started firing off questions.
"Are you and Jace going to get married," he asked and I froze. I looked back to Jace and he gave me a questioning look.
"Uhh, I think you should ask Jace that, bud," I stuttered and sat down raising the viewfinder in my camera to my eye.
"Can I take a picture with your camera?" I met his eyes and I knew I couldn't deny him.
"Sure, Max. Just a couple and then you have to get back to your class so Jace doesn't get mad."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Jace never gets mad at me because I'm his best friend."
I blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall before I told Max how to use the camera. When I was finished, he raised the camera and pressed his finger on the button to take the picture. After I heard the shutter click a few times, I told him to head back to his class. I took the camera from him and looked at the screen to see what he was taking pictures of. All of them were of Jace. My favorite one was of Jace laughing at something Simon had just said and they were both bent over laughing with their hands on their stomachs.
As I went through the photos, I realized how much Max loved and looked up to Jace and I could only hope Jace would have the same relationship with our kids one day. I spent the next hour taking photos of the kids and the guys who were helping teach the class. I focused my lens on Jace a few more times than I would like to admit and by the time the class was over, I had enough photos to fill four books.
When the last child left for the night and the guys were cleaning the mats, Jace ran up to me kissing me quickly before wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
"So," I began, "how was it?"
"God, I can't tell you how much I've missed this," he stated. "I really needed this today."
"I'm glad you're back to having fun and doing what you love."
"Ditto."
He led me towards his truck as we made our way back to normal.
A/N: Thanks for reading! And seriously, thank you so much for all the reviews and such. I really appreciate all the support. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying the story and enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think and leave a review! :)