Authors Note:

Okay, so my writers block is almost gone, and I hope that I can start writing as frequently as I used too, but I am not making any promises. Let me know what you think and leave a review if you want! :)

Chapter Forty

Time Jump – Two Weeks Later

Clary POV:

I was asleep when I heard my phone going off. I blindly started searching for it when I knocked it off the side table. I got out of bed and grabbed it off the floor and saw the hospital was calling.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Clarissa Herondale?" The woman questioned.

"Yes." I said.

"Your mother took a turn for the worse a couple hours ago. I don't know how much time she has left, but I would come and say your goodbyes." The woman said and my heart broke.

"Thanks for calling." I said and I hung up. I put my phone back and started to wake Jace up.

"Are you okay?" He asked when he woke up.

"The hospital just called. They think we should come down and say goodbye." I said as I started to cry.

"Okay. I'll get the kids up." Jace said as he left the room. I got dressed, or well, I put a hoodie on and went downstairs. I didn't feel like looking nice for this trip. I went downstairs and waited for them to come down. Once they were all ready we made our way to the hospital. Jace held my hand the whole time and we got to her room I instantly started crying again.

"Kids, why don't you go in first, give your grandma a kiss, and say goodbye." Jace said and the kids nodded and made their way in the room. "Clary, you can do this. You have all of us here for you. No matter what, you can lean on us to get you through anything."

"I love you." I said and he pressed his lips to my forehead.

"I love you too." Jace said and the kids came back out with tears running down their face. "You go in, I'll be there in a minute." He said and I nodded and walked into her room. I sat down on the side of the bed, took her hand in mine, and cried.

Jace POV:

After Clary walked into her mom's room I picked Karina up and she started crying into my neck. Jack was crying as well and I opened my arms and she ran into me. Patrick was upset, and I could tell, but he was trying to be strong. I put my one hand on his shoulder to let him know it was okay to be upset. I looked inside the room and saw Clary crying. I knew I needed to be in there with her. I put Karina down but she was still hysterical so Patrick picked her up and held her as she continued to cry. Jack pulled away and I smiled at them.

"I don't know how long we'll be in there." I said and they nodded. Patrick put his arm around Jack and she leaned into him.

"Take your time dad. Just take care of mom." Patrick said and I nodded. I walked into the room and over to Clary. I kneeled down and put my hand on her back. She looked over at me and I gave her a smiled. She smiled back and I picked her up and put her on my lap as she continued to hold her mom's hand.

"I love you." I whispered and she nodded as she continued to cry. This wasn't something that I ever wanted to see Clary go through, and I hated that I couldn't take her pain away, but I was going to be there for whatever she needed no matter what.

Jacqueline POV:

After dad went in we stood at the doorway and watched them interact. Dad was so incredibly gentle with my mom, and I couldn't help but smile when he placed her on his lap and rubbed her back for reassurance. I couldn't imagine how hard this was for her, and I never want to go through this. I leaned into Patrick and had my arm around Karina. She had always been he most emotional out of the three of us, and even though she was only 12, she knew how hard this was hitting our mom, and that made it even harder for her to handle.

After about an hour, and mom and dad were still in the room we decided to go get something to eat from the cafeteria. Karina had cried herself to sleep and was currently in Patrick's arms. When we got to the cafeteria he put her down on the chair and she started to whimper.

"Come on K, you need to eat something, and than I promise I'll find a couch where you can sleep on until we get home." Patrick said and Karina nodded and sat up a little. I couldn't help but laugh.

"You are such a dad." I said and he smiled.

"I've had some practice." Patrick said and I smiled. "Anything in particular you want?" He asked and I shook my head. He left and went to get us something and I reached over and took Karina's hand in mine.

"You okay K?" I asked and she shrugged. I pushed my chair out and she came over and sat on my lap. "It's going to be okay."

"Mom looked so sad." She said and I rubbed her back.

"I know, but we're going to do everything we can to get her through this." I said and she nodded. A couple minutes later Patrick came back with food, but Karina didn't leave my lap, and I didn't mind. She was content in my lap and I wasn't going to make her move if she didn't want too. Plus, we might be here for a while, and anything to keep her calm was good enough for me.

Time Jump – A Couple Hours Later

Clary POV:

Jace and I have been in my mom's room for hours. She was lying there unresponsive, but still alive, although I knew she was going to go at any moment. Her breathing was labored and I could just feel that it was happening. I shifted my weight and got off of Jace's lap, which caused him to wake up. I made my way to the head of the bed and leaned down so that I was near my mom's ear.

"You don't have to hold on mom. I know you're in pain, and I know you want to leave." I said as I tried so hard to keep my voice calm. "You've given me the greatest years of my life, and I am so thankful for that, but you don't need to stay for me." I looked back at Jace who was watching me and smiled. "I have Jace, and my beautiful kids to help me through life. I love you mom." I said as the tears started to flow. "You can go now." I said and she took one last deep breath and than the heart monitor went blank. I stood up and looked back towards Jace. He walked over and wrapped his arms around me. "She's gone."

"It's okay babe. She needed to know that you were going to be alright, and you gave her that reassurance." Jace said and I nodded knowing that he was right. "She's in a better place, and she will never be gone. You will always carry her with you." He said and I began to cry. I knew that I would be able to over come this, but it just seemed so hard right now.

Jacqueline POV:

We had asked the nurses to bring chairs for us to sit in outside of our grandma's room because we knew we weren't leaving anytime soon. Karina had fallen asleep in the biggest chair they brought us, but Patrick and I were still awake. It was pretty quiet since it was still pretty early. I was dozing off when I heard a couple of footsteps run past us. I got up and realized that a couple nurses ran into my grandma's room. Patrick and I looked at each other and stood up and went in. my dad was holding my mom while she cried as the nurses began detaching my grandma from the machines. She wasn't moving, and looking at how my mom looked, I knew that she mostly likely died. Patrick and I made our way over to our parents and wrapped our arms around them. I had never lost anyone in my life, and even though we only saw our grandma every couple years, this was the closest thing I've ever come to true loss, and it wasn't fun.

"Come on kids, we should leave." My dad said and we nodded and left the room. My dad sat my mom down and she just put her head in her hands and continued to cry. "Can you call Uncle Simon, and ask him to come pick you guys up. We have to stay for the funeral people to come."

"Of course." Patrick said and he walked away as he pulled out his phone. I kneeled down in front of my mom and hugged her. She rested her head on my shoulder and continued to cry. "Uncle Simon will be here in a couple minutes."

"Thanks. Make sure Karina gets some sleep. And you both as well. We'll be home as soon as we can." Dad said and Patrick nodded.

When Uncle Simon showed up mom got up and gave him a hug. He looked just as upset as my mom, but he did know her longer than any of us, so I can only imagine how much this hurt him as well. After some time Patrick picked Karina up and we all made our way out to Uncle Simon's car. We got in and it was silent for a minute before I decided to speak.

"How well did you know grandma Uncle Simon?" I asked and he laughed.

"She was kinda like a second mom to me. Sure, her and your mom spent the majority of their time at the ice rink, but I was always over their house when they had off days and your grandma always agreed to watch me when my mom had to go out of town." He said as he smiled. "She had a tough outer shell, but she was a sweet woman when she wanted to be, and I can't even tell you how much your mom reminds me of her when she wasn't being a strict couch." He said and I laughed.

"Do you think mom will be alright?" I asked.

"Your mom is the strongest woman I've ever known. She might be hurting, but she'll bounce back. She always does." He said and I nodded. "I would start calling your significant others and let them know. The funeral will probably be soon."

"You going to call Aunt Izzy?" Patrick said as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Wha….I don't…..I mean." Uncle Simon stuttered and Patrick and I laughed.

"Oh please, we saw you two a couple weeks ago. You can't lie your way out of this one." Patrick said and Uncle Simon turned tomato red.

"I wasn't going to lie about it." Uncle Simon said.

"Sure." I said and he sighed.

"I'm not going to talk about my relationship status with my niece and nephew. That's just weird." He said and I smiled.

"So you admit there is a relationship there?" I asked.

"I don't know what's there okay? For all I know is she was just causally flirting with me, and that's it." He said and I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Aunt Izzy doesn't casually flirt. She hasn't had a boyfriend in years." I explained and Uncle Simon looked in the rearview mirror.

"Really?" He asked.

"Really. I think she wants to find someone who actually likes her, and no just her body. After her last boyfriend, she kinda just stopped dating." I said and he nodded. "I say go for it. Than we'd see you more!"

"I will take your advice into consideration." He said and I smiled. When we got home Patrick took Karina upstairs and Uncle Simon said he would see us later and left. I decided that it would be good to call Tucker now. I dialed his number and waited for him to answer.

"Hey babe." He answered and I smiled.

"Hey, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" I asked.

"Nope. It's lunch time. But it's only 7 am there, is everything okay?" He asked.

"Grandma died this morning." I said and I heard him sigh.

"I'm sorry babe." He said.

"I just wanted to call and let you know. The funeral will probably be this week." I said.

"Okay. I'll tell Sammi, and we'll make the other calls and we'll be there." He said.

"That sounds great. Listen, I've been up since three, and I'm exhausted. I'm going to get some sleep." I said and he laughed.

"Of course. I love you Jack, and I'm sorry for your loss." He said.

"I love you too." I said and than we hung up. I made it up to my room when I noticed that Karina's door was still opened. When I walked in Patrick and Karina were asleep in bed. I laughed to myself and made my way over to them. I didn't really want to be along. I got into bed and scooted closer to Karina. The next week was probably going to be emotionally draining, but I knew that no matter what mom needed us there for her, and that's exactly what we were all going to do.