Jace couldn't help but smile as her face appeared on his computer screen.

"Hi!" Jace cried with enthusiasm.

"Hi yourself," Clary chuckled at him.

"It's really good to see you," Jace mumbled, slightly embarrassed. It felt like forever since he'd seen those beautiful green eyes and shimmering red hair, even if they were slightly grainy due to low quality video.

"Merry Christmas," Clary said smiling at him.

"I'll do my best," Jace sighed dramatically. "But it can only be so merry without you here."

"Way to lay on the guilt!" Clary accused. Jace just shrugged, unabashed.

"So, what are your holiday plans?" he asked.

"Some local friends have been showing me and Riley around," Clary explained. "It's strange. For such a beautiful city, so well known for its wonders, Paris doesn't really bother with Christmas. We went to the Champs Élysées, but apart from that December seems to be much like any other month here."

"Yeah that does seem strange," Jace smiled, then added thoughtfully. "I remember you talking about Riley. He was also in a long distance relationship, right?"

"Yeah, but Ben broke up with him," Clary sighed.

"What?" Jace asked shocked. "When?"

"A week ago," Clary said. "It was over the phone. Riley was so upset. We all took him out after to try and distract him."

"Did Ben give a reason?" Jace asked.

"I supposed," Clary said clearly annoyed. "Though not a good enough one if you ask me. Something about 'wanting to see what else was out there' with a hint of 'long distance is hard.' It was rather pathetic."

"How long had they been together?" Jace asked.

"Five years," Clary answered. "They were high school sweethearts."

"Oh wow, that is depressing," Jace sighed.

"Yeah, and honestly I'm sick of talking about it," Clary sighed. "I want to hear about you. How's your holiday been so far, back with your mom?"

Jace shrugged. "Lots of food," he began. "Twinkling lights. The usual really."

"Still, I'm sure your mother's very happy to have you home," Clary smiled.

"I'm not so sure actually," Jace replied. "She's been oddly jumpy. If I didn't know better I'd say she was trying to be sneaky about something, but that women doesn't have a dishonest bone in her body."

"Maybe she's waiting for the right moment to tell you something?" Clary shrugged.

"Maybe," Jace said skeptically. "But somehow I doubt it. I'll let you know if I ever figure it out."

"Fair enough," Clary smiled. Then suddenly her eyes lit up and she said with great enthusiasm. "Oh, I got you a Christmas present!"

"How?" Jace asked confused. "Also don't, cause I didn't get you anything."

"Oh hush," Clary scoffed. "You'll know it when you see it. And I didn't expect you to ship me something don't worry. The shipping would cost more than the present!"

"Hmm," Jace mumbled, narrowing his eyes. "Does this mean whatever you got me isn't something that was shipped?" He paused to think a moment while she merely grinned at him before adding, "What have you plotted?"

"Nothing you won't like," Clary grinned, innocently.

"Do I get any hints?" Jace asked, but Clary only shook her head. "Meany."

"That's me!" Clary giggled.

Jaced wanted to reply 'You're my meany' but he was scared to try. It had been so long since he'd held her, kissed her. Jace wasn't feeling confident enough to make a joke of such a thing.

"Oh, did you know I've been learning French?" Clary asked proudly.

"Yes, you texted that a while back," Jace replied. "But I have yet to hear you speak it."

"Bonjour is pretty standard," Clary began. "It's hello. Then there's Au revoir for goodbye. Merci is thanks.

Excusez-moi you learn pretty quick being the new person who's always in the way."

"Let me guess," Jace smiled. "That one is sorry?"

"Close. It's excuse me," Clary replied. "Here they say pardon for sorry."

"Sounds like English to me," Jace shrugged.

"That's cause we stole it from the French," Clary replied.

"English is such a bully," Jace chuckled.

"It doesn't just steal from other languages," Clary began grinning. "English follows other languages down dark alleys, beats them up, and rifles through their pockets for loose vocabulary."

Jace chuckled. "Where did you get that?" he said.

"I saw it on a t-shirt," Clary replied, still laughing a little at her own joke. "And it really holds up."

Then there was a moment when neither of them spoke; they just simply gazed at each other's imagine on the screen.

"Tu me manques. Je t'aime," Clary said in what was to Jace a good French accent, though he probably wasn't the best judge.

"What did you say?" Jace asked.

"I miss you," Clary smiled. "And I love you."

"What's French for I'd really like to kiss you?" Jace replied, beaming at her.

"Ummm…" Clary said. "Je veux t'embrasser… I think. But don't quote me. I'm guessing on that one."

"I love you too," Jace told her with all the emotion he could muster. "And I miss you everyday."

Clary's head turned, and she called to someone off screen before turning back to him. "Sorry I gotta go," Clary said. "I'll text ya tomorrow. Good night." And she blew him a kiss.

"Good morning," Jace chuckled as he said goodbye. Then the screen went blank and Jace closed his laptop. Time zones were really quite a fascinating thing when you stopped to think about it. Communicating in real time meant that he woke up to a call, and Clary went to bed after the call.

With a deep sigh Jace packed up his computer. It had been quite a relaxing holiday so far, just him and mom. It reminded him of the Christmas's before he'd met Clary, but with one major difference. Those holidays had included Sebastian. Jace found he'd thought more about his ex-friend in these last few days being back home than he had in months.

Though he'd made light of it with Clary, Jace was very confused by his mother's behavior. The problem was that whenever he asked what was wrong she always replied that it was nothing. He made a note to ask her everyday until she fessed up, but this didn't get him very far either.

"I said I'm fine," Celine smiled. "Must you keep asking?"

"What's up with you then?" Jace replied.

"I'm just very busy," she said.

"Yeah right!" Jace scoffed. "You're jumpy. Like you expect someone to appear from around a corner. What's going on?"

"Everything is fine," Celine smiled. "Now tell me more about how Clary's doing? I miss that girl."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Jace sighed, giving up for the moment at trying to get a straight answer out of his mother. Alas, his mother's secrets were her own for far longer than Clary's surprise present remained a mystery.

The day before Christmas Eve Jace was outside fixing one of his mother's ridiculous decorations, an old blow up reindeer. The wind had knocked it over and no matter what Jace did, it seemed determined to remain on it's side. Jace was about ready to kick it until it popped, and broke his mother's heart in the process when he thought he heard something almost like muffled laughter. Jace turned to see the second last person in the world he'd expected to see.

"I had intended on running up and shouting boo, but the sight of you with that inflatable red-nosed reindeer was just too much for me to handle." Jace blinked a few times, unsure if his eyes were lying to him. The barely contained laughter soon burst forth uninhibited. "And would you look at your face. You'd think you'd seen a ghost!"

"Jon?" Jace said, slowly walking forward to meet his girlfriend's older brother.

"The one and only," Jonathan smiled. "I take it Clary didn't tell you to expect me then?"

"She said I was getting a mystery Christmas present," Jace explained. "And that I'd know it when I saw it."

"Ah," Jon chuckled. "That would be me." Jon moved forward as well to clasp Jace on the back in a brotherly soort of a way. "Merry Christmas, buddy. I was promised pie." Jace didn't reply, but rather stood perfectly still, stunned into silence for the moment.

"Why? I mean how?" Jace began, when he'd figured out words again. "Don't you want to spend your holiday with your family?"

"Well, as you know, the sister up and ditched us for those Parisians," Jon began. "And then Luke and mom decided to go on a cruise rather than cook a turkey. Clary suggested I might have more fun bothering you than tagging alone on my parents romantic getaway."

"That sounds fair," Jace smiled. He couldn't believe how happy Jon's presence made him. Someone he knew only through Clary, someone who had a stronger connection to her than him, but would still be a friend to him. It was the next best thing to having Clary home for the holidays, and Jace revelled it in.

"So when's dinner?" Jon asked, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "May I emphasis the pie." Jace couldn't help but laugh as they walked into the house, abandoning the toppled reindeer.

"Hey mom!" Jace called out. "Guess who's joining us for Christmas?" To his great surprise, Jace heard a huge crash as if kitchen pots had cascaded across the floor. "Mom?" Jace called out worried now. "You alright?" He started half jogging to get to her faster.

"Yes yes, quite alright," Celine said with a forced smile on her face as she looked up at them both. "Ah and Jon's here just in time."

"Wait did you know he was coming?"

"You don't think that wonderful girlfriend of yours would have invited an extra guest to someone else's dinner without clearing it with the cook first?"

"So, all three of you have been conspiring against me!" Jace exclaimed.

"She's quite the evil mastermind, that Clary of ours," Jon chuckled. "Buying people bus tickets, and inviting them to other people's holidays. Whatever shall we do with such evil intentions?"

And Jace couldn't take it anymore. He burst out laughing. He laughed so hard he had to hold himself up with the kitchen counter. It was a glorious feeling to laugh like this again. Jon couldn't replace Clary, but with him here, Jace felt closer to the woman he loved than he had in months.

"I think we broke him," Jon said, waving his hand up and down in front of Jace's face. "Earth to Jace. Come in Jace. This just in, oxygen is required to live. Please breath."

This in no way stopped Jace's laughter.

When he could once again breathe, and was in control of his laughing attack, Jace got out his phone and texted his girlfriend.

'Hey Clary. I know you are probably asleep right now, but thank you so much for my present. We are gonna have a great time. I still wish you were here, but this the best gift you've ever given me. I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas in Paris. I love you and miss you always. Jace.'

As Jon settled in, Jace felt sure it was keeping this secret that had made his mother act so strangely. He pushed it from his mind, and focused on enjoying his time away from school with his family, for Jon felt like family to him. Despite the snow, the two boys tried to play basketball with very little success. It was rather hard to dribble a ball over a foot of snow. They considered trying to shovel the whole court, but then got lazy and decided to try out some of Jace's old childhood video games.

The hours passed easily, and Jace didn't notice that his mother's strange behaviour hadn't changed with Jon's arrival. He was too focused on enjoying spending time with his friend. With Alec married and Clary gone, Jace had been feeling lonely as of late. He and Jordan had bonded quite a bit living together in the last few months, but somehow it wasn't the same. Jace found himself thinking about how much easier the rest of the school year would be if Jon was with him. Maybe he and Jordan's place could be turned into a real bachelor pad, with Jon joining to make it a trio. Sure, there were only two bedrooms, but maybe they could take turns sleeping on the couch, or put a divider in one of them.

And while his mind thought of happy possibilities his mother's nervous jumps continued.

All this slow writing has made me realize something… its alot easier to keep track of complicated plots when you are writing really fast. This slow ass writing is totally confusing me. Lol. Going almost a month without updating. I mean it's like reader abuse! lol

And for those of you who miss Clary, I am sorry but I had always planned to cut her pov for the year she's in Paris. I know nothing about Paris and couldn't write a story set there to save my life. All the details about Paris in this story I either googled or I asked MyaZab about. She's a friend of mine who used to live there.

Speaking of, Special Thanks to MyaZab on fanfic for doing the French Translations for me. :)

Guest Review
Sorry to be rude but I'm still waiting for a Clace chapter this July. And I think this story needs to wrap up already.,

My Reply:
I'm not sure what you mean by this July… and I am curious why you are still reading it if you are sick of the story? If you want it to end maybe just stop reading it? *shrugs* I know I've seen FAR longer fanfics on this site than R&S and most have less characters, couples and povs.

Sneak Peek Chapter 142

Maia jumped. Then turned to see the only other employee who was working today.

"Hey Jamie," Maia sighed.

"Oh geez cheer up!" Jamie ordered. "You look like someone killed your puppy."

"I've never had a puppy," Maia replied.

"You should get one then," Jamie stated. "They are good company and you look like you could use some."

"I live in a no pets apartment," Maia explained.

"Ah yes the benefits of basement suits with backyards," Jamie sighed. "You never answered my question."

With a sigh Maia said, "I volunteered for the Christmas Day shift." She turned and added, "And don't give me that look. You're working the Christmas shift too!"