Jace

The music permeated through the closed doors that would open in mere seconds to reveal me to the crowd. I had Simon on one side of me and Hodge on the other. We were all wearing our shirts from the gym, which always gave me an incredible sense of pride when one of our guys walked out wearing one, letting the world know they train in my gym. I was in my fighting shorts, hands wrapped tight with gloves and my mouth guard in, ready to go.

Clary was right the night before. There are some things in life that I couldn't control and I had to be okay with that. One thing I did know I could control was this fight. I'm not saying that I had to win the fight, but it would definitely solidify the rest of my career. If I went into this fight after the year I had and lost, I think I might walk away from my professional career. I hadn't told Clary that and I didn't know how she would react if I lost and I did end my career to run the gym and train the guys. She would probably be as supportive as ever because she's awesome like that.

A crewmember standing in front of the door signaled that we had thirty seconds to show time. I nodded as I heard the song switch to "Bleed it Out" by Linkin Park. Clary had played it one night at the gym when we had one of our own training sessions and I couldn't stop listening to it. I started making my way through the doors while I sang along with the lyrics and started hopping from one foot to the other, shaking out my arms.

When we got to where Clary would be sitting, I glanced up and her eyes met mine. I shot her a wink and her eyes lit up as she waved to me. Isabelle, who was visibly five months pregnant, stood beside her and shot a "call me" motion at Simon. I pointed to myself and mouthed, "me?" She laughed and shook her head along with Clary. Once we were past them, my game face was on. I was a mess of testosterone and adrenaline, ready to rip someone's face off.

I stopped in front of the referee, outside the octagon for groom check. He checked my mouth guard and checked me for weapons. Then, he rubbed Vaseline all over my face to help prevent cuts. Most of the time, cuts still happened, but if we weren't vassed up, they would be so much worse. When he slapped my shoulders and nodded, I gave him a thumbs up and a sinister smile. I turned to go down the line of my supporters. I shook a couple of the guys from the gym's hands and made my way to Hodge. He shook my hand and pulled me in for a man hug.

"Remember," he shouted into my ear so I could hear him over the music. "This is your fight. Don't let him have it. You control it."

I nodded and he slapped me on the back. Last in my line was Simon, my best friend. We always said the same thing to each other before a fight and it always made me laugh.

"Don't lose, jackass," he said as he shook my hand and we hugged. I nodded and turned before he took both hands and slapped me hard on the back. I really don't understand why we always do that, but the adrenaline is pumping so much that I couldn't feel it.

The door to the cage opened and I jogged up the steps before hopping around the ring and stopping in my corner. Hodge and Simon were behind me, hanging over the edge of the ring and shouting at me, but I couldn't hear them. The second I stepped in the ring, the only thing I was focused on was beating the shit out of the guy standing across from me. The announcer went through the typical introductions and the referee called us to the center. He explained the rules and asked if we understood. We touched gloves and backed back into our corners. All I could hear was white noise, but when the referee slapped his hands together in the center of the ring, I knew what he was saying.

I advanced to the center of the ring meeting my opponent half way. My hands were raised and I was bouncing on the balls of my feet. I never threw the first punch and I wasn't going to tonight. When he threw his first punch, I leaned away from his fist and my right fist connected with his ribs. I snapped back to prepare for his counter attack. He dropped his torso to try to take me down. I sprawled my legs to defend myself and ended up taking him down. I glanced at the clock and noticed that there were only thirty seconds left in the round. I wasn't going to win this fight in thirty seconds, so I maintained control and defended myself against his punches until the referee pulled us apart.

When I made it back to my corner, Simon was standing behind a stool where I sat down and Hodge was kneeling in front of me, shouting encouragements and suggestions. I wasn't tired at all and could make it the next four rounds with no problem, but I was definitely going to be ending this fight before that happened. After the minute was up, Simon and Hodge took the stool and left me in the ring.

Once again, I met my opponent in the middle of the ring. This time, I made the first move, wrapping my arms around his torso, picking him up and throwing him to the ground where I hovered over him raining punches until I flipped us so he was on top.

I tried to get him in a triangle chokehold where I lock my legs around one of his arms and head to try and get him to submit, but he never gave me enough room to do it. I switched my tactics when I started throwing punches into his temple. Just as I was going to execute a new plan, the referee pulled us apart as the second round ended.

Simon and Hodge were back in the ring and I sat down again. Instead of listening to Hodge, I searched the stands for Clary. Her red hair wasn't hard to find and she was sunk deep into her seat with one hand covering her face. Isabelle had her arm around Clary's shoulder and I was glad they had each other for when Simon and I were fighting. I knew it was extremely difficult for them to watch us fight, but we loved having them there.

"Simon, you know what you have to do, right," I asked Simon as he made his way out of the ring.

"Yeah, just end this," he said before the door closed on him.

I looked across the ring at my opponent. He was hurt, that much I could tell. His eye was swelling and turning purple while the other eye had a nasty gash above it. I knew I could end this with a perfectly placed punch. As much as I loved to win fights by tap out, I needed this fight to end now. I had things I needed to do that involved a feisty redhead.

When we met in the middle of the ring once again, he threw a punch that connected with my jaw. It definitely rocked me, but I brushed it off and threw my fist into the body across from me. I landed a combination to his body. He bent over and I thought I might have broken a rib. In his moment of weakness, I threw my left hand into his temple, a perfectly placed punch. He fell immediately down to the ground. He was out, but the instinct is to fall on top of him and rain down punches. Since I knew he was out, I hit him a little lighter than normal until the referee pulled me off of him.

I raised my hands over my head in victory and climbed to the top of the cage where I found Clary and pointed to her. She smiled brightly and waved as she screamed and clapped. I could see her mouth, "I love you." I gave her a nod and got down from the cage. I couldn't wait to have her in my arms. This after fight process couldn't be over with sooner.

Making my way over to where my opponent was laying on the ground, now awake, I leaned down to shake his hand. When the doctor gave the all clear, I helped him up and over to the center of the ring where the referee and announcer were waiting for us. I made sure the guy was steady on one side of the referee before I took my spot on the other side. The referee held our wrists waiting for the official decision.

"This fight was stopped with four minutes left in the third round," the announcer explained. "Making the winner and champion by knockout, Jace 'The Angel' Herondale!"

The referee raised my hand and I felt the belt go around my waist. I looked down and felt pride rush through me. When I glanced up into the stands, I saw Simon pulling Clary and Isabelle down to the ring like he was supposed to. I smiled and looked at the ringside commentator who was waiting to interview me. I gave him a nod and he nodded back knowing what I was asking.

"The Angel is back," he shouted into his microphone and I chuckled. "Seriously, Jace, it's good to see you back in the octagon and looking better than ever."

"Thanks, man," I said with a smile. "I've had a tough year, but it just made me work that much harder to put this belt back where it belongs."

"What was your plan going into this fight?"

"I just went with the flow. I let him take the lead. If he wanted to be on the ground, I would work with it, but he stayed on his feet and I matched him blow for blow."

"You certainly did. Take a look at this hit and walk us through it." He pointed at the screen, which was playing a slow motion shot of the fight ending hit. I smiled as I watched the fight end the way I wanted it to.

"I just saw an opening and took it. I knew he was hurt so I took advantage of that and ended it. He fought a good fight and I respect him so much."

I saw Clary out of the corner of my eye and could see that she was confused. Girlfriends don't usually go into ring, even after fights, so I turned to her and shot her a reassuring smile. I glanced at Simon who gave me a nod, signaling that everything was ready.

"Before we go any further, I need to do something," I said to the interviewer. He nodded and followed me as I made my way to Clary. She looked nervous and her cheeks were red. I took her hands and looked her in the eyes, gold and green meeting. The interviewer held the microphone up to my mouth so what I was about to say would be heard around the world.

"Red," I began and she smiled. I could see the tears already forming in her eyes as I continued. "Fifteen months ago, I sat down next to you after defending my title for the fourth time and nothing in my life has ever been the same. I fell in love with a fiery redhead who loves to take pictures and loves me back. You've changed my life for the better and I don't know where I would be today, if it weren't for you. I probably wouldn't be standing here, that's for sure." Simon handed me the ring and I got down on one knee. Clary's hand flew up to her mouth as she gasped. "I have wanted to do this for a year, but the timing was never right. You are my best friend, my partner, my love. Clarissa Fray, will you marry me?"

She nodded excitedly and lowered her hand. The interviewer put the microphone in her face and she glanced at it before screaming, "Yes!"

I jumped up as she threw herself into my arms and I lifted her off of her feet. Her legs wrapped around my waist and I could feel her shaking with tears. She pulled her face out of my shoulder and looked into my eyes before crashing her mouth against mine. Somewhere in the distance, there was cheering and congratulations, but I couldn't hear anything when my girl was kissing me like that. She pulled away and quickly whispered, "I love you." I pulled back before I quickly slid the ring on her finger, making it official and slammed my lips against hers again.

If anyone was expecting me to put her down or talk to them, they were going to be very disappointed because I was planning on never letting her go.

A/N: :) Thanks for reading! This is probably my favorite chapter and I loved writing it. It was surprisingly easy to write and I hope you enjoyed it. This is how I planned the proposal to happen a long time ago, but when I write, I write in stream of consciousness so things happened that I didn't plan and this had to be pushed back. I hope it was worth the wait! This was also supposed the be the last chapter, but I have more that I need to happen in this story because I want to write a sequel to this story that is set sixteen years later! So, yay for more chapters! There will probably be three or four more chapters before the epilogue!

So, leave a review and keep reading! :)