Jace was almost awake, but he was having such a pleasant dream he didn't really want to be awake. In his dream he felt warm and loved; it would be such a shame to wake up to his cold lonely bed. He wanted to keep dreaming, but despite his best efforts to hold onto it, the dream was fading quickly.
Jace woke a bit confused. Was he still dreaming? This wasn't his ceiling. He could feel the warmth of body heat beside him and suddenly it all came flooding back. He wasn't at home in his cold lonely bed. He was in Clary's bed and suddenly awake seemed even better than his dream.
Turning over slowly so as not to wake her, Jace gazed at his Clary fast asleep next to him. The thought made him smile. His. She was his and he was hers again. It still felt a bit like a dream.
He couldn't help but admire her bright red hair lying against the white pillowcase. The contrast was quite bold. Jace had almost forgotten how peaceful it was to wake up beside her like this, but it was all coming back to him now. It felt almost like everything since she'd got on that plane to Paris hadn't happened. There was no scar where the pain had been. His heart was mended as if it had never been broken.
Her eyes were closed but he knew once they opened she'd look up at him with those beautiful green eyes of hers. It had been a while since Jace had had the freedom to stare at her for so long. Her freckles were the same, just a sprinkling across her nose and upper cheeks. He so wanted to reach out and stroke her face, but he restrained himself rather than wake her up. There would be plenty of time for everything now. No need to rush.
Jace leaned back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He couldn't remember when he'd last been this happy. It wasn't a 'laugh out loud' or 'sing and shout' kinda happy. The emotion was more a deep contented joy and unlike simple happiness, this felt permanent.
"Morning," came a sleepy voice from his left. Jace turned, a huge smile on his face.
"Good morning!" Jace chimed gleefully.
"Not so loud," Clary whined. "Sleepy."
Jace couldn't help but chuckle a little at the adorable look on her face. Then a second later a thought occurred to him that deflated his smile.
"Did you sleep badly because I was here?" Jace asked. Clary was shaking her head before Jace had a change to really worry about the answer.
"I'm sleepy because those ridiculous cats who for some reason I can't say no to tried to sleep on every inch of me last night," Clary whined. Then she added with a sigh. "I think they are used to having your side of the bed to themselves."
"Aww," Jace said. "Does that mean it's my side of the bed even when I wasn't in it?"
"Of course, you would take that from what I said," Clary grumbled before turning over and getting comfortable again.
Once again failing to keep a smile off his face, Jace leaned over to kiss her cheek and stroke her face before gently getting out of bed and looking around for his clothes.
"Go back to sleep then love," Jace told her. "I'll keep the mean cats at bay."
"Thanks," Clary mumbled, clearly to groggy to get the joke.
Jace was starting to notice a theme when he once again couldn't help but grin. When had he last smiled this much he almost couldn't remember, but of course, he knew. It had been the last time he and Clary were together. Jace had managed a certain level of contentment without her, but with her it felt like joy was coming off him in waves. Spotting his missing sock in the corner Jace put it on and was now back in the clothes, he'd arrived in last night. Slowly so as not to wake the sleeping angel, Jace moved out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Within moments he spotted the ruiners of his soulmate's slumber. Two adorable all too innocent looking felines were staring up at him from the ground.
"Don't give me those eyes," Jace told the cats. "I know what you did."
"Meow," Chairmen said unrepentantly.
"Meeeoooow," Castby seconded.
"Just so long as you don't do it again," Jace informed the cat as if they understood him. In answer Chairmen moved closer and rubbed up against Jace's leg. He decided that was kitty for 'I'm sorry' and moved on.
Jace was almost certain that Alec was still sleeping but he was surprised to see that Magnus wasn't around. Walking into the kitchen, Jace made himself a cup of coffee and went to sit on the sofa to drink it.
It felt like the wheels in his head had been turning since he'd woken up and suddenly Jace knew exactly what he had to do about… well about everything. He couldn't pin down the exact time when he'd worked all this out but somehow he had. All the pieces of his life suddenly fit together like a perfect puzzle whereas before they'd been mishapen and unlinked.
On his list of problems, he had: an expensive apartment with an empty bedroom, an unexpected baby that was gonna need stuff, and a manual labour job that was going nowhere.
On his list of solutions Jace had Clary and boy did she just make everything so much brighter. It was like the answers had always been right in front of him but without her light, he couldn't quite make them out.
The solution was really very simple because all three problems really just boiled down to one: money or rather his lack thereof. In the short time, Jace needed to spend less money and in the long term, he needed to make more money. The first step was to lower his cost of living which he had a great idea for; just as soon as Alec or Magnus woke up.
Jace had finished his coffee by now and was starting to get hungry when he heard the sound of a door opening. Turning to look, Jace saw Magnus walking down the hall.
"Clary still sleeping?" Magnus asked. Jace nodded.
"She's so cute when she's sleeping," Jace smiled. He got lost in his thought then, picturing her smile. With a slight shake of his head, he pulled his attention back to the conversation. "Anyway on another matter, I was wondering if I could ask a favour?"
"You wanna move in," Magnus stated easily.
"Wait- what-," Jace mumbled. "How'd you know?"
"You've been whining about your big lonely overpriced apartment for basically ever," Magnus began. "And now that you and Clary are back together…" He trailed off with a very one plus one equal two kinda tone.
"Okay so I'm predictable," Jace replied. So much for his big revelation. "Does that mean you wouldn't mind another roommate?"
"For how long?" Magnus asked.
"Not longer than four months," Jace answered. "I want to have a kid friendly place by that point."
"What's one more," Magnus said with a wave of his hand.
"Thanks!" Jace grinning. "Oh wait don't you want to ask Alec?"
"Oh please," Magnus scoffed. "As if he'd say no to collecting another lost sheep."
"Great," Jace smiled. "I promise I won't bring over alot of stuff. I think I'm gonna rent a storage locker to keep my furniture and stuff for a bit. It's the cheapest option. Even throwing stuff away would just mean rebuying it later and would probably cost more in the long run."
"You have really thought about this," Magnus said, clearly impressed. "As the self proclaimed king of penny pinching I can confirm your theory, but make sure you shop around for storage lockers. They are not all made equal."
"Noted," Jace replied. Next Jace got out his phone to message his landlord and tell him he'd need another tenant for next month's rent.
"Really glad I was renting that month by month rather than a yearly contract," Jace said as he finished up his texting. "So what's for breakfast?"
Magnus scoffed. "You live here now remember?" Magnus reminded him. "I only serve guests."
"Touche," Jace chuckled. He decided as the newest member of his household it was his job to make everyone breakfast this morning.
Without skipping a beat, Jace got up and started working in the kitchen. He found bacon in the freezer and flour in the cupboard though he did have to ask Magnus about a million questions to figure out where everything else was.
"Don't ask me why the fry pans are there," Magnus said with his hands up in a message of surrender. "Alec organized it."
Jace just laughed and continued working. Before long Jace had a tray of bacon in the oven keeping warm and a plate of pancakes on the stove.
"Smells good," Magnus remarked as he walked over.
"If they don't wake up soon I'll have to put it all in the oven and hope it isn't dried out by the time those sleepy heads get out of bed," Jace chuckled.
"Oh don't worry Alec will be up soon," Magnus said. "He has to work today." There was a certain almost smugness to Magnus's voice that made Jace feel like he was missing the joke.
And sure enough, Magnus was right. Not ten minutes later a very tired-looking Alec made his appearance.
"Jace what you doing here man," Alec mumbled. He stopped and blinked for a minute. "Nevermind. I remember."
"No a morning person my dear Alexander," Magnus said with humor.
"Stupid morning shift," Alec grumbled. "I like it better when I start work at one in the afternoon. Who in their right mind wants to work at nine am? Like really?"
"That would just be the vast majority of the workforce darling," Magnus cooed.
"Well they all dumb then," Alec grumbled. Magnus was smiling so hard, Jace felt sure the man was about to burst out laughing.
Alec made a b-line for the coffee and after chugging half a mug full seemed to get his barring. "Hey food," he said noticing that Jace was cooking. He turned to his husband and added, "Are you making the guests cook now?"
"Of course not," Magnus replied. "Jace wants to live here, just for a couple months."
"Awesome!" Alec exclaimed.
"Told ya," Magnus said in Jace's direction with a very smug tone.
"Great so everyone's on board," Jace said. "That is if Clary doesn't think it's a horrible idea."
"You've lived together before," Alec waved a hand dismissively. "Even if you just got back together it's not like you are starting from scratch, like a new relationship."
"I sure hope not," Jace said, suddenly worried. He felt like he and Clary had lost enough time already and he didn't want to lose anymore 'starting from scratch.'
"I'm just hoping this means I get to cuddle my own cats again," Magnus commented. "Those little traitors have been ditching us every night to sleep on the empty side of Clary's bed lately."
"Can't promise you that," Jace chuckled. "It sounds like those cats were still trying to cuddle Clary even with me there. She said she didn't sleep much because of them."
"Adorable traitorous furballs," Magnus sighed.
"You know you still love them," Alec reminded his husband who just grumbled in an affirmative kinda way.
"And on that note," Jace said. "Breakfast is served." He placed the stack of pancakes on the table and told everyone to dig in while he pulled the bacon out of the oven.
Jace was just finishing his second pancake when he heard a door open. Smiling without even meaning to, Jace got up and skipped over to his groggy girlfriend.
"Morning," Jace said. "Again."
"Are those pancakes?" Clary asked. Jace confirmed this before kissing her sweetly on the cheek and turning to gesture toward the food. Clary didn't need telling twice. She sat down in Jace's vacated chair and filled her plate.
Jace was patient. He waited until she was finished eating before broaching the topic.
"I've had an idea," Jace told her. "Alec and Magnus are on board but if you don't like it I won't do it."
"What's your idea?" Clary asked kindly.
"I need to save some money fast and with us back together and your bed being a double I thought I could crash here for a bit," Jace said awkwardly. He hadn't intended to be awkward. In fact, it hadn't even occurred to him that Clary might not like his idea until after he'd already set it in motion.
"You mean live together again?" Clary confirmed.
"Yeah," Jace replied slowly, but then quickly added, "And I know it's fast cause we just got back together last night, but it also isn't because we were living together before you know and don't we just pick up where we left off? I mean- I- it's not like we are gonna go on a first date again right? Unless you want-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," Clary said giggling at him.
"Thank you," Jace said.
"I think it's a great idea," Clary told him. She had a huge smile on her face, a smile so dazzling it seemed somehow to reach her eyes.
"I love you so damn much!" Jace said before moving forward and wrapping his arms around her.
"I love you more," Clary whispered into his ear.
The wait time on these chapters is getting bad guys and honestly, I don't have a good excuse. It's not like I don't have the time. It's really more about the creative energy which is lacking lately. In order to finish off this chapter I had to get my brain into the zone by painting and then writing the first chapter of a new story which is just crazy cause I already have too many stories I need to work on. Sigh. Sometimes I miss the days when I could write so very fast even if my life around writing back then kinda sucked.
Anyway to that end I've made a new resolution to at least try writing every day even if I only get a hundred words or less done. I know it's possible; I've done it before and heck yesterday I wrote at least 4000 words but before that I hadn't written in AGES. Really working on getting this story completed because oh boy is it time! 2016-2023 is long enough to be working on a story. Quite literally ALL (but two) of my others stories were written along side this one. That's just nuts if you ask me. If I can't get this done next year I am gonna be so annoyed with myself.
Sneak Peek Chapter 204
Izzy woke gently, feeling rested. She just had to get through the next few hours then it was nothing but wedding stuff for the next week! She could do this!
Leaving Simon asleep beside her, Izzy got up and headed for a shower. Once clean she threw together an rather average outfit, Izzy collected her phone and made to leave. It was only then that she noticed the time. It was a quarter after six in the morning. How early had she woken up? Her exams weren't till ten.
Trying to keep her energy high, Izzy decided to do some last minute studying. Getting out her books Izzy got back into bed and laid them in front of her. She began with her first exam and then after thirty minutes switched to reviewing for her next one. She was trying to focus on the stuff she didn't feel so strong on.
"Just gotta make it through the exams," Izzy told herself in a whisper.
Her eyes were starting to feel heavy. Maybe just a short break. Izzy laid back on the bed, her books still laying open in front of her.