I am woken abruptly by a knock early Sunday morning. Much too early. There is no sunlight peaking through the window and I am sure that I have imagined it. I turn around in my bed, and burrow my face back into my pillows, willing myself to go back to sleep. Maybe thirty seconds later, I hear another knock, except this time, I realize that the sound is much too sharp to be a knock.

I sit up groggily and look over at the window as I realize that it is actually where the stupid noise is coming from. Muttering obscenities under my breath, I drag myself off the mattress and stumble toward the window. In the back of my sleep deprived mind I can't help but wonder if a bird has managed to consecutively crash into the glass. If so, I am catching it and breaking its neck so it won't have a chance to procreate and fill with world with more mentally challenged birds that seem to have an issue with direction.

I look out the window for a moment, weary of opening it in case it actually is a bird. I see no movement in the air, so I am guessing that I am safe. Praying that I am not wrong, I pull the window open and stick my head outside slightly, shivering as the wind hits me. I see a movement in my peripheral vision and immediately look down. Jace is standing there, waving his hands arms above his head at me.

Let me guess, you're all thinking "Aww! How romantic!" Well, guess what…whoever thought that is a moron. It's three o'clock in the morning at the most here toward the end of November. So, not only am I tired, but I am also freezing. There is nothing romantic in the slightest about this encounter. I am silently envisioning my room, wondering what I could drop out of my window that would hit him hard enough to potentially almost mortally wound him, but not make enough noise to wake my dad up. Before I can think too much on the subject, he is beckoning me outside.

Is he stupid? I shake my head, and roll my eyes at him. He continues waving his hands toward him as though that is going to convince me to come outside. I just shake my head at him again and cross my arms over my chest as the wind gets to me. I contemplate closing the window and letting him take that as some form of rejection but before I can he says the one sentence to stop me as though he can read my mind, "I'll stay out here all night if I have to!"

I want to inform him that night time ended at twelve o'clock, but I don't want to talk any louder because I don't want to wake my parents up. I can just imagine my father's reaction to Jace being outside at this time in the morning, and I'm afraid that my mother might have other bets going on with Maryse. Both thoughts are terrifying. I gesture for him to wait for a moment before I close the window again and rub my bare arms, willing them to get warm. As soon as I make it over to my closet and open the door, I grab the first warm thing that I can get my hands on, a red and black hoodie that I have no idea of the origins.

I take one last longing look at my bed before I walk to my door and step outside of my room. I don't even normally do this to go to the bathroom…Jace is one lucky man. I carefully pad down the stairs, my ears straining as I ghost past Jon's room, but thankfully I can hear his obnoxious snores from the hallway and I know that not even an earthquake could wake him. I am overly precautious anyway, all too aware of my luck. I tiptoe down the stairs, listening for any quite talking from my parents, but I can hear none. Their bedroom is connected to the kitchen, however, so it is impossible to tell if they are sleeping or not so I just pray that they are and walk through the living room and to the front door. Jace is waiting for me on the front steps.

There is no trace of a smile on his face. Actually, there is no expression present on him at all. I walk out cautiously and quietly close the door behind me. His hands are stuffed into his pockets as he looks me over, an eyebrow raised as he takes in my attire.

"I'm sorry I don't look like a beauty queen," I snap. "I was on short notice."

"I was just wondering when you got my hoodie," he says with a shrug. "I didn't know I gave it to you."

I look down at it just now realizing how much it dwarfs my frame. Even in my sleep deprived state, this is really a strange detail for me to miss. I don't point out that I've missed this, I simply shrug. "I didn't know it was yours. Does it matter?"

Jace shakes his head and I notice that he has bags under his eyes that are about the same color as the clear sky above us minus the beautiful stars that are twinkling. He is still in his pajamas with just a thin black jacket covering his arms and I am not so much curious as to why he is here as much as I am curious about why he is here like this. I want to reach out to him, but there is something radiating off him that makes me slightly afraid to touch him, as though he might run away if I do. To make sure that I don't, I simply stuff my hands in the front pocket of Jace's stolen hoodie and bite my lower lip softly as I wait for him to break the awkward silence.

He doesn't.

Of course this means that he has left this harrowing task up to me. I am not much of a conversationalist, especially at three o'clock in the morning. I give it a try, though. "Is there something wrong?" Seems like a good enough place to start.

The expressionless expression on his face vanishes, and is replaced by something much darker and less pleasant. His eyebrows crease together slightly as the already dull gold in his eyes seems to dim even more. I am suddenly sure that something is coming up and I am unsure of what. I see his full lips curve downward as he completes the frowning face of a pouting child, pulling it off in an extent that actually breaks my heart to see.

"I was talking with Jon," Jace sighs finally, his voice is muted. He sounds different, and I instinctively know why. All of his normal arrogance that seems to make him about three or four times louder than normal is gone. My throat closes up as I realize that he actually sounds broken. "A few of the things that he said made a lot of sense, and it got me thinking." Jace looks away from me and walks away from the door. He wrings his hands in front of him agitatedly as though he is unsure of how to get what he has to say off his chest. I am unsure of whether or not I want to hear it, but I know that the sooner that it's all out in the open the better.

"It's okay, Jace," I say as soothingly as I can. "Just calm down and say it."

"It isn't that simple," Jace all but whispers.

I slowly walk toward where he has stopped in the middle of the lawn so I can hear him. His back is to me so when I finally draw the courage to touch him he does not see me. I rest my hand on his shoulder and he flinches violently for a moment, but relaxes almost immediately exhaling slowly as he turns around to face me. My hand slides off him, and it's like my body drops ten degrees as soon as I lose contact with him. I can almost feel the look of pain on his face as my own, and desperately wish that I can so that we can carry the burden together. "Try and make it simple," I urge. "I want to help you."

"I don't think that you can," he says shaking his head as he bites his lower lip. He inhales sharply, sounding as though someone has actually hit him in the stomach. "You can't help me, C-Clary, because you're going to hate me."

"Hate you?" I question. I feel worry starting to bubble in the pit of my stomach, and all of my instincts are telling me to either run back into my house and dash to my room where I can hide under the blankets of my bed or to move forward and force myself into the embrace of Jace's arms, something that I am sure that he will not deny me. Instead, I sit still and allow Jace to look at me with that agonized expression like a useless idiot.

"Yes," Jace says after a moment, nodding his head. He looks as though he would rather look anywhere else than at me, but cannot seem to look away. I know that is how I feel anyway. I want to look away but, despite the fact that I have no idea what is coming and that the fear of what might potentially be coming is about to kill me, I find myself entranced in a staring contest with his dulled golden eyes. My heart is beating more quickly than it should be, but it is panging with dread with every pound. I feel my breath quicken in pace, but I barely pay any of it any attention as I look at Jace.

"Why would I hate you?" I finally ask the poisonous question that I know that I am going to regret.

"Because," Jace says, as truthful as ever, "I'm about to break up with you."

I feel myself slowly inhaling as deeply as I can as I close my eyes. I don't feel any pain yet, though that might be because I don't feel anything at all. A certain level of numbness has overcome me and for all I know I could be about two seconds from bawling like an idiot in front of him. At the moment though, I'm pretty okay. I simply nod.

"Do I get an explanation?" I ask, my voice coming out cold, calm, and just a little bit scary as I open my eyes. I look up at him and see him wince slightly. The action makes me feel no warmth, no feeling of accomplishment, nothing but the same numbness that I have already been feeling.

"Do you really need one?" he inquires his voice still empty. "You knew who you were going out with, Clary."

The numbness begins fading slightly and I feel something hot in my stomach behind it burn me…anger. "Yeah," I say sharply, "I know exactly who you are, Jace. That's why I want an explanation!"

"You're just another girl to me," Jace sneers. "I figured that you of all people would know that."

"In that case, Herondale, explain how I broke your strange cycle," I say, so close to hyperventilation that I can feel the tears behind my eyes. "You were with me for a hell of a lot more than a couple of days, and you haven't slept with me! I'd say your conquest is slightly incomplete!"

"I didn't come here to fight about it," Jace snaps at me. I notice the bags under his eyes for a second and I am suddenly reminded of the time again.

"Why did you come here at three o'clock in the morning?" I demand. "It isn't as though it couldn't have waited."

"Why does it matter?" he challenges me.

"I'm tired," I snap. "I get woken up so my boyfriend can break up with me." Saying it myself makes it so much more real. I can't stop the lone tear that trails its way down my cheek. I furiously wipe at my eyes before more can escape, but it's too late…Jace knows I'm upset.

"Don't be like that, Clare," Jace sighs. "I'm not worth your tears."

I blink and look at him confusedly. He'd just told me that I was just some girl to him; that I'd had no importance at all. Now he was trying to comfort me and make me feel better even though I had just insulted him and was yelling at him. "You can't do this," I say, my voice unsteady.

"What?" Jace asks me confusedly; his dull eyes are widened with worry.

"You can't be nice to me right now," I snap, turning away as I feel myself about to fall apart. I want to run back into the house and fall on the floor crying, but I don't want him to know that I am hurting that badly. "Go away, Herondale. You've gotten whatever it is that you wanted."

Well…I know that most of you were saying "Don't you dare break them up!" I may or may not have chosen to blatantly ignore those for the sake of an excellent storyline that you'll all thank me later for…maybe. So no torches or daggers, because if you kill me I can't write the next chapter, and they'll never work it out! You see, wonderful piece of blackmail right there! :) So, yeah, I suck majorly, but you all still love me, right? Does anyone have any idea of why Jace would have done this? What could Jon have been speaking with Jace about for him to have suddenly come to the conclusion that he and Clary weren't meant to be? Lemme know what you think, because it makes me laugh and makes my day.

Oh, and appearances from our biggest mystery, a.k.a. Sebastian, soon!