Tessa

The mats were spongy beneath my feet as I stepped onto them for the first time in sixty-three days, ready to finally get back to training. I bounced on the balls of my feet, letting the rush I always got when I stepped on the mat move through my body. Will was watching me carefully, ready to pounce at any sign of pain or discomfort.

"Tessa, are you sure you want to start training now," he asked nervously. We were the only two people in the gym because it was closed for the day so our families could focus on Cecily finally being able to come home, but I had decided that I wanted to have my first day back on the mats with no one else around. I didn't want the guys to see me struggle like I knew I would and I didn't want my father and Jace breathing down my neck the entire time to make sure I wasn't hurting myself. Will wasn't much better, but at least he looked cute when he was worried.

"I told you I didn't want anyone to see me out of shape and everyone is too distracted today to notice we're gone, so we're doing this," I told him sternly as I jogged around the mats to warm up. My hair was pulled back in a French braid and I was wearing my favorite athletic shorts and purple sports bra to commemorate the occasion. Will was only wearing a pair of black shorts and the sight of his shirtless chest as he stood in the corner of the mat with his arms crossed in front of him was moderately distracting.

"Ok, fine, but I'm stopping you as soon as I see any kind of pain cross your face," Will announced as he joined me in my jog.

"Do you really think I'm going to do anything to hurt myself today?" I was started to lose my breath, a sure sign of the fact that I hadn't trained in two months.

"Um, yeah, a little bit. I know you, Tessa. You're going to push yourself and that's what I'm worried about, that you'll push yourself too far."

Turning and stopping abruptly, I made Will run right into me and I wasted no time silencing him with a kiss. Will lost his footing and we both started falling to the mats. Without separating our lips, Will spun us around in mid-air to make sure I didn't take the impact of the fall. We landed with me on top of Will as he grunted into my mouth, but we still didn't end our passionate kiss. Will held me against him and my fingers ran through his hair before we finally separated, both of us panting for air.

"Damn," he breathed, holding the back of my neck so our foreheads rested against each other as I giggled. "Is that why you wanted me alone in the gym?"

"No, I wanted to start training, but you wouldn't stop talking and I know that's the best way to shut you up," I answered, lifting my head so I could look into his eyes that were shining with his smile. Will squeezed my sides and I yelped as he rolled us over, leaving me on my back with my hands pinned down to the mat.

"You're very clever." I nodded, biting my bottom lip as his face moved closer to mine and my chest heaved with the anticipation of his lips touching mine. Before he could close the distance, however, I rolled us again, landing him on his back and pushed up off of him to resume my warm up drills. Will stayed on the ground and chuckled, saying, "On second thought, you're just evil."

"I thought I was your angel," I retorted as he stood and made his way over to where I was standing in the middle of the mat, stretching my sides, wincing when I stretched too far and a shot of pain emanated from my ribs. Will's eyes filled with worry as he stood in front of me and poked my injured ribs to see if they were still tender. I smiled at the concentration etched on his face as he examined me. When he was satisfied that I wasn't actually hurt, just sore, he stood back and clapped his hands together.

"Okay, so what do you want to do," he asked with a fake smile on his face. He was trying to be brave for me, but I knew he was worried that I was going to hurt myself again.

"Um, I want to work on my stamina," I told him and he nodded before heading over to the speakers to turn music on. His classic rock station came on and he started bobbing his head to the beat.

"Okay, let's do intervals on the treadmill." He pointed in the direction here there were treadmills and bikes lined up against one of the walls of the gym and I followed him before hopping on and he pressed start. He stood to the side of the treadmill as I walked briskly, waiting for his instruction. "One minute run, one minute walk. Are you ready?"

I nodded and when the timer hit the one-minute mark, he increased the speed so I had to run. My feet pounded the conveyor belt and as the minute was closing, I felt like my chest was going to explode. There was a fire burning through my body and it was awful. When Will decreased the speed, my breathing was heavy and labored and his eyebrows were scrunched together in worry. I knew he was silently telling me I could stop, but I wasn't going to give up after barely starting.

After another minute of walking, the speed increased again and I focused on my breathing, trying to make it through the minute of running. I did and slowed my breathing, easing the fire burning my lungs. Once again, Will looked at me with worry in his eyes, but I ignored him. This process repeated two more times and each time, Will's face would contort more and more as he tried to keep his mouth shut and let me decide when I had had enough.

"Tessa, you can stop any time you want to," Will finally said after my fifth interval and I could hardly breathe.

"I'm not stopping yet," I panted and nodded my head, telling him to increase the speed. My lungs were burning and I could barely feel my legs, but I was stubborn and didn't want to admit defeat. About halfway through the running minute, I felt my legs buckle and lost control as I let the conveyor belt take me backwards. Just when I thought I was about to fall off of the treadmill and hurt myself all over again, I felt Will's strong arms wrap around me, preventing my fall and further injury.

I panted as Will scooped me up in his arms and carried me over to the mats where he sat down with me in his lap and my arms wrapped around his neck. My face was buried in his shoulder, unwilling to let him see me cry because I was disappointed in myself. Will knew I didn't need to talk. He just held my head against him as I cried to myself and he stroked my hair, letting his presence be all the comfort I needed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into my hair as he pressed his lips against the top of my head. I lifted my head to look into his eyes and I could see all the pain he hid inside and I wanted to take it away.

"What do you have to be sorry for," I asked, taking deep breaths to calm myself.

"I should have stopped you sooner." He shook his head and lowered his eyes, but I cupped his cheek in the palm of my hand and forced him to look at me.

"I wouldn't have let you stop me and you know that." He nodded in agreement, a small smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. "You can't protect me from everything, Will. I'm going to get hurt, sometimes and so are you. I just need you to be there to hold my hand when I do get hurt."

"Okay." He whispered as I lowered my head and pressed my lips against his. There was nothing in the world that could compare to kissing Will Herondale. I wanted to do it every second of every day and if I could live the rest of my life with my lips fused to his, I would. "I love you, angel."

"I love you, too." I smiled as he kissed the tip of my nose. "What do you say we get out of here and go see that baby sister of yours?"

"She's pretty cute, right?" Will said as he stood, with me still in his arms before setting my feet on the ground and leading me to where our bags were sitting on a bench. I couldn't help the smile the spread across my face as he talked about his little sister.

When we reached our bags, I threw on a shirt over my sports bra and Will did the same before we gathered our things and headed out the back door, locking it behind us. As we settled into Will's truck for our thirty-minute drive home, he handed me his phone so I could control the music. That small little gesture always made my heart sore because I knew how serious he was about his music. There were certain types of music he listened to for certain occasions and I knew them all, so even though he gave me control so I could listen to whatever I wanted, I usually played what I knew he would want to hear. I didn't know if he could tell I was doing this, but he never said anything, so we just continued on with these sweet little gestures.

Will would do this often, small little gesture that I wasn't even sure he noticed he was doing, but made me love him even more. He would hold my hand as we drove together or surprise me with my favorite coffee drink from Java Jones or even keep extra hair elastics in his bag and car because he knew I always lost the one I tried to keep on my wrist. He was perfect.

Even now, all I could think about as we drove, listening to his post-workout music, was the feel of his thumb gliding back and forth across my knuckles. His other hand that was resting on the steering wheel, tapped along to the beat of the music and his lips moved silently with the lyrics.

"Did you know Max and Emma were back together," I asked, breaking the spell I had been under and needing a distraction from my thoughts of leaning over the console and kissing him until I couldn't breathe.

"No," Will replied as he glanced over at me with a mischievous gleam in his eye. "Talk about drama. I've never seen my mom go off like that. Emma must have really pissed her off, when she left Max all those years ago."

"I think your mom just loves you all so much that she doesn't like seeing you get hurt." Will pressed the brakes as we came to a red light and turned to face me. "Think about it. She watches you compete in a sport that basically requires you to get punched in the face and the risk for injury is high. She's had to desensitize herself to seeing you get hurt physically, but when you're hurting emotionally, she can make up for all of the protectiveness she feels she can't show you when you're fighting."

"Whoa." Will said as the light turned green and he pressed down on the accelerator again. "That was deep. When did you get so smart?"

"I actually go to school, remember?" Will chuckled, knowing he was taking his GED test in a couple of weeks and would hopefully never have to go to school again. "And I'm six months older than you, which gives me six more months of life experience, so I'm very wise."

"Oh, here we go with the six months older crap." He teased as he let go of my hand and squeezed my knee, causing me to yelp. "You forget, my angel, that I am taller and stronger, so I think I have the upper hand."

"But, I know how to make you surrender in any fight." He looked over at me with one challenging eyebrow raised. Without another word, I leaned over the console and brought my lips to his temple before lowering them to his ear where I nibbled on his earlobe. Then, I kissed the sensitive spot below his ear and he let out a huff of air as I smiled, loving that I was affecting him so much. I came around and pressed my lips to the corner of his mouth, teasing him just a little bit before plopping back into my seat, leaving Will panting for air. "I win."

"You're evil," Will muttered as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. We pulled up to his house and he turned the truck off, but we didn't get out, just yet.

"You keep saying that, but I don't think you really mean it." Will smiled and in a flash, his hands were around my waist and I was being lifted over the console to sit on his lap with my legs straddling his hips. His lips were on me instantly, moving over my own lips, trailing kisses along my jaw and sucking lightly on my pulse. My fingers gripped his hair as he continued his assault. When I pulled his head back up so I could kiss him again, he held back and gave me his evil smirk.

"I win," he whispered, placing a chaste kiss on my lips before lifting me off of his lap and getting out of the truck. I sat there, dumbfounded before I laughed whole-heartedly.

We were so damn competitive and I loved it. Will looked back at me as I scrambled from the truck and shot me a wink. I walked past him, bumping his shoulder with mine as I glared at him teasingly.

"You're going to pay for that, Herondale." I whispered as we entered the house and were greeted by a frenzy of people gushing over the new edition to the family.

Will pulled me into his side and dipped his head so his lips just barely brushed my ear as he whispered, "Bring it on, Lewis."

Thank you so much for reading! I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've been working on another story that isn't FanFiction and my muse has been solely focused on that story, but all of the sudden, inspiration struck and I couldn't stop writing until this chapter was finished. Since I'm working on this other story, my posts here will be much less often, but as soon as I have the next chapter ready, it will be posted.

Thank you so much for your continued support. It truly means the world to me and if you would like to read the story I have been working on, which is slightly based off of my story, I Left My Heart in the Ocean, you can read it at

story/37939263-wave-after-wave

Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter and leave a review! :)