My attention was redirected from the screen of my computer to my office door opening when I was a mess of curly red hair pop through the opening. Clary's green eyes met mine and I suddenly felt lighter, like I wasn't dealing with a million and one things and everything was going to be okay.

I eyed her small baby bump as she walked over to me and stood in front on me, placing a bag on the desk. I smiled and placed my hands on her stomach, kissing the bump before lifting my head to meet her lips for another kiss. We hadn't even said any words to each other and it was already the best moment of my day. Just being in her presence was enough to brighten my day.

"Hey, Red," I said as she slid into her normal spot on my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Did you bring me lunch?"

"I sure did," she beamed as she leaned over to open up the bag that had a turkey sandwich, carrot sticks and a juice box in it. I smiled at the extremely motherly lunch she had put together. Since the boys had started school, ten years ago, Clary had gotten into the habit of making all three of us the same exact lunch and never broke the habit. As I started eating, Clary glanced at the computer screen and noticed I was in the middle of a conversation with Valentine about an upcoming fight, one she didn't know about. She pointed to the screen. "Is this true?"

I nodded and gave her a smile. "I've been wanting to talk to you about that and I thought you might want to be here when I tell him the good news."

"Seriously?" Clary threw her arms around me and I almost fell back in my chair. I chuckled at her excitement. She always liked to be with me when I told a fighter good news because she loved to see the look on their faces. "Can we tell him now?"

Instead of answering her, I pressed the intercom button and called Simon, Will, Tessa and Max into the office. We were between classes, so I knew they weren't really doing anything productive. The four of them came into the office and sat down on the random furniture I had splayed around the room. Simon sat in the big recliner in the corner, Will and Tessa snuggled up on the couch, holding hands and Max leaned against the back wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What's up, Dad," Will asked with a worried expression. He was probably thinking something was wrong because I never called everyone in at once unless something big was happening.

"I called you all in here because I got some good news from Valentine this morning," I said as I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the desk. I could see Clary out of the corner of my eye practically jumping with excitement. "As we all know, Max has been training with us since he was ten years old and has made quite the name for himself in the organization over the past few years. His outstanding record and entertaining fights have allowed him to climb the ranks and become the number two fighter in his weight class." I let that sink in for a moment because no one actually knew the rankings. It was for a select few people to know and I was one of them. "I got a call from Valentine this morning saying that he was giving the title shot to Max. Max, your next fight is in three months and you'll be fighting for the belt."

Everyone in the room was staring at Max, with wide-eyed smiles on their faces, but he was frozen. He had been working for this for ten years and I knew he thought it might never happen. When he didn't get a title shot by his twenty-third birthday, he thought he had failed and I had to explain to him that I was a rare case. Very few fighters were able to get a title shot in their early twenties, much less win the belt.

I watched as Max's mouth slowly tipped up into a smile. He shook his head and looked down as I made my way around my desk to stand in front of him. I put my hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Congratulations, Max," I said and I could hear my voice break. "I have never been prouder of you than I am in this moment. You have worked so hard for this and no one deserves it more. You did it, Max."

I pulled him into my arms and everyone else in the room joined me, voicing their congratulations and patting him on the back. When we pulled apart, Clary was standing next to us with a steady stream of tears running down her face and Max pulled her against him. Max was like a brother to her as well and she loved him so much. I knew how proud she was in that moment, after watching him grow from the little kid who taught her how to flip me over, to the man standing in front of her.

"I'm just so proud of you, Max," she said through her tears. "I'm sorry, I forgot how emotional these pregnancy hormones make me."

"Clary, thank you," Max said and she looked up at him, confused. Max was about my height so he dwarfed Clary. "Thank you for driving me to tournaments when my dad couldn't and for bringing me along with you to the guys' fights and making me meals while I was training and inviting me into your home whenever I wanted to just hang out. You have been the best friend and supporter I could ask for and you are just as important in the training process as Jace and Simon, so thank you."

That did it. Clary started crying harder and Max laughed as she buried her face in his chest. He looked at me, wondering what he should do and I took her from his arms and into mine.

"Alright," I said over the top of Clary's hair, which was bouncing in my face and her body shook with sobs. I had to physically stop myself from laughing at the hilarity of the situation as I tried to be serious with the four people standing in front of me. "Let's get back to work and we'll have a meeting to discuss the plan of action a little later. Let me just calm my wife down and I'll be out there in a minute."

They all laughed when Clary punched me in the side and I winced, as they walked out the door. I placed my hands on either side of Clary's face and tilted her head up so I could see her face. She smiled as I swiped under her eyes with my thumbs to wipe away her tears.

"I'm a mess," Clary sighed as she got her breathing back under control. I chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose.

"Yeah, but you're my mess and I love you." She stood on her toes and leaned in to kiss me. I kissed her back and soon we were lost in each other until a knock on the door startled us. Will walked back into the office and smiled at us. I wanted to kick him out, but he must have needed to talk about something, so I motioned for him to sit back down on the couch as I kissed Clary goodbye and made my way to the desk.

"Hey, Mom," Will said stepping in front of Clary before she could leave the office. "I actually wanted to talk to you and Dad together."

"Okay," Clary said before turning and sitting in the chair in front of my desk.

"So, what's this about, Will," I asked after a few moments of silence and three worried looks from Clary. I had a feeling her mind was running wild with all of the things Will would need to talk to us about.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about school," Will said nervously. "We're all supposed to go back in six weeks, but I've been thinking lately that I don't want to go back."

"You're not dropping out!" Clary shouted before Will could continue and I moved quickly to stand behind her and place my hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Let him finish, Clary," I said, giving Will a nod to continue.

"I'm not talking about dropping out, Mom," he continued. "I want to get my GED and start taking classes at the community college. I know what I want to do with my life and going to school five days a week isn't going to get me there. Dad dropped out when he was my age."

"He has a point." Clary glared at me and I hurried to defend myself. "Think about it, Clary. We both know he's not going to go to college and we've talked about that and we're okay with that because we know he will be happy. Here he is taking an active interest in his future by wanting to get a GED and take some classes at a community college and I'm proud of him for doing that. I didn't even graduate high school. I was lucky to get where I am today, but he has it all figured out. He wants to be a fighter and if that doesn't work out, he'll take over the gym. We should be proud of him for thinking this through."

Clary sat in silence as Will and I awaited her response. I couldn't say I was happy that my son wanted to stop going to school, but I was damn proud that he was going to do it the right way and to pursue his dream. Will was nervously wringing his hands in his lap as we watched Clary process all of the information we had just thrown at her.

"It's not fair," she finally said. "You Herondale boys are hard to say no to." Will's face lit up as he realized that she was approving his request. "But there are going to be rules, William. You are still sixteen and you are still my son."

"Yes, ma'am," Will said before jumping up to hug his mother.

"We'll talk about this more when we get home," I said, patting Will on the back and nodding for him to go back out onto the main floor.

"Thanks guys," he said as he exited the office. Clary looked up at me and shook her head before kissing me goodbye, for real this time, and heading back to the studio, where James was waiting with a client.

Letting out a long sigh, I plopped back down into my chair and looked at the family picture that was framed on my desk with the sonogram of the baby stuck in the corner. I smiled at the thought of my family growing. I couldn't wait to meet our new edition and I was secretly hoping for a girl. I had always wanted a daughter, to have a Daddy's girl and I knew the boys wanted a little sister to protect.

Clary and I would find out the sex in just a couple of days and I was getting anxious, but I had other things to focus on at the moment. With a few clicks of the mouse at my computer, I had Max's opponent pulled up and was taking notes furiously, trying to map out a plan for this fight.

In the back of my mind, I was thinking this fight was going to change all of our lives.

Don't hate me...I know it has been way too long since I've updated this story, but I was having such a hard time with it and just had to completely start this chapter over and go in a different direction. So anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, at least, a little bit and will forgive my severe writer's block.

I wanted to know if any of you had heard of 20lines? I just discovered it a couple of weeks ago and have been writing little stories on there. I really like the website, but need to build up a following, so if any of you use the website, let me know!

If you don't know already, I've been writing for my best friend's blog, just a little bit. If you're interested, I write short stories and I'm doing a different take on I Left My Heart in the Ocean. Just go to Ky's Korner on .com

Anyway, I'm going to stop talking now...please let me know what you think and leave a review! :)