Jace felt like the whole 'planning an anniversary' concept was a task for men far more impressive than he. Rationally he knew he didn't have anything to be nervous about, but his rational brain seemed to have taken a vacation. Jace has this strange feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong. He wasn't yet sure what, but he felt sure there was something, or someone, out to ruin his night. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

"Coming," Clary's voice replied cheerfully. Well, at least she was starting the night off in a good mood, Jace thought. Now, the trick was keeping her in one until the end of the evening.

When the door opened, all other thoughts were temporarily driven from Jace's mind. He just stared, his eyes wide, and mouth slightly open. Clary had been overwhelmingly sexying in all that lingerie. She was hot in his old t-shirts, and beautiful in her frumpy sweaters, but tonight she was more than sexy, hot, and beautiful. She was elegant. The neckline of her dress plunged in a deep V, with thick straps over the shoulders. The dress itself was hung loosely with light flowing fabric, mostly black with pink around the bottom four inches. There were flower patterns in purples and greens around her waistline, and both above, and mixed into the pink hem. The green in the stems of the flowers brought out her eyes in a subtle, but stunning way. Rather than taking away from her natural beauty, the whole outfit made everything Clary inherently brighter.

"Cleans up nice doesn't she," Magnus's voice entered Jace brain, though he couldn't tell from where. "You're welcome." And Jace knew who had been the mastermind behind her outfit tonight.

"Shall we go?" Clary asked, holding out her hand to him. Jace gulped before taking it. She giggled at him and told him to relax.

"Sorry," Jace mumbled. "I don't want to mess this up."

"Silly," Clary said shaking her head. "What could you possibly do?"

"Oh, I don't know," Jace said. "I'm sure there's a way."

"You really are nervous, aren't you?" Clary giggled as they walked arm in arm away from Magnus's apartment. Jace nodded. "You don't have to be, but if you insist, how about this? You tell me the plan, and I will tell you if it's a good one."

"You picked the plan," Jace reminded her. "Restaurant."

"See perfect plan," Clary told. "Nothing to stress over."

"You are right," Jace sighed. He stopped and turned to face her. "I'm sorry I'm so tense. I'm just in awe that it's been a year. A year since you said yes and kissed me in that hallway."

"Ah yes," Clary laughed. "A year since I got carried away." She was smiling at him, and Jace felt a sudden need to explain himself fully.

"I loved you for a while before that," Jace said. "A long while, though I couldn't tell you exactly when I recognized the feelings for what they were."

"That I understand," Clary said. "I remember when you tried to tell me, not even I believed you."

"If you'd told me back then that I'd one day be walking arm in arm with you down the street on my way to celebrate being your boyfriend for a year, I'd have asked you what you were smoking," he laughed.

"It's true you've changed a lot," Clary replied. "But for the better."

"Thanks," Jace smiled at her. "I couldn't have done it without you." She squeezed his hand affectionately and they started walking again, keeping up a casual conversation as they went. It was a beautiful night. There was no wind to speak of, and the air was fairly warm for January. The snow on the ground crunched under their feet. The sun was low in the sky, with clouds covering most of it.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Jace gave his name, only slightly awkwardly. He'd never made reservations before this, as he'd rarely went to restaurants fancy enough to require such things. Once he managed to communicate who they were, the hostess lead them to their table. She was tall and blonde, in a tight black dress. Jace tried not to notice more about her than that. She seated them by a window, looking out over the patio. The murmured conversations in the restaurant somehow made it feel more private than it was, like a blanket of white noise over them. The table to their left was empty, but all the other nearby tables were occupied. Jace turned to Clary. He didn't mind the people or the noise so long as Clary was happy with the restaurant.

"This place is great," Clary grinned. "Look!" She pointed right above them, and curious Jace tilted his head back to see what she meant. To his surprise, what he saw was his own face. The ceiling was covered in mirrors.

"Why in the world would anyone put mirrors on a ceiling?" Jace asked.

"For decoration," Clary explained.

"Strange decorations if you ask me," Jace commented, but Clary just smiled at him. She'd been smiling a lot tonight, and Jace was more than glad.

The waitress who took their order was another tall thin woman in tight black clothes. Jace would have started to wonder if the restaurant had a cloning machine, if not for the fact that this one had brown hair, but wait, he wasn't supposed to notice this. Having already ordered dinner, Jace turned purposely away from the waitress to look at Clary.

"You're cute," Clary giggled at him once they were alone.

"No, I'm manly," Jace replied grinning.

"Who told you to stop looking at waitresses?" Clary asked.

"Alec," Jace mumbled.

"See adorable, just like I said," Clary grinned. "New rule: look but don't touch."

"Okay wait, so I can look?" Jace asked. He was a little more than confused with all this contradictory information.

"Well, it's a little rude to speak to someone while you are looking the other way," Clary reminded him.

"See that's what I thought," Jace exclaimed. "Then Alec said I should pretend like they aren't there." Jace crossed his arms over his chest in frustration.

"Alec probably didn't mean it quite that literally," Clary giggled. Then she was serious as she reached out and took his hand. "When I didn't know where we stood, I'll admit, all those women looking at you made me a little crazy. You looking back made me so insecure, but Jace, it's better now. She stop worrying, okay?"

"Okay," he smiled at her.

"So how is training Mason going?" Clary asked, changing the topic.

"Fine, I guess," Jace said with a shrug. "Though he's not much better. He keeps flinching. Urg! Stupid coach giving me extra work. I would have said no if you hadn't suddenly been busy Wednesday nights."

"Where is your team spirit?" Clary asked, shaking her head.

"I don't know," Jace whined. "It just so awkward, and I have no clue why. Mason is… he's… well awkward. I don't think he cares much about improving his wrestling skills."

They were interrupted by the arrival of dinner. Conversation was put on pause as they dug in. Jace had a medium rare steak with a baked potato, while Clary had some seafood dish with pasta and cream sauce.

It was just as they were finishing dinner that Jace saw it: the something - or in this case someone - who was going to ruin his evening. His instincts had been right, but he wasn't happy about it. Maybe Clary wasn't upset if he looked at strangers, but this would surely be different. This was going to suck, and Jace wished she'd just go away. Why was she walking in a straight line towards him anyway? It was almost as if she'd spotted him, then came right for him. Jace tried, and failed, to remember her name as his heart pounded in his chest. It had only been a second since he'd turned his head, but now brought it quickly back around to face forward.

"I'm sorry," Jace managed to mumble to his girlfriend before she was within earshot. Clary only had a second to look confused.

"Hey you," the woman said to Jace as she approached them. Jace tried not to make eye contact. He was staring down at his empty plate. "Been a while." Jace grunted a little, in way of reply.

"And you are?" Clary asked her easily.

"Kaelie," she replied. "Though we didn't really get to exchanging names." She laughed before continuing in a flirting tone. "But I'd recognize that gorgeous blonde hair anywhere."

"Um yeah," Jace mumbled. "Can't really say the same."

"Why does that not surprise me," Kaelie chuckled. Then she turned to Clary and added, "You are going to have a really great time tonight, like really great, but take it from me, he won't call you in the morning."

"Is that so?" Clary replied cooly. Jace was trying very hard not to panic, and once again failed. He wished that he could read Clary's mind.

"Yeah," Kaelie replied. "Didn't mean to ruin your night or anything, but thought you should know."

To Jace's surprise, Clary was grinning as she spoke next. "Believe me when I say that you haven't ruined anything."

"Good," Kaelie smiled. "I figure it's all fun and casual, as long as no one is hurt right? Oh, let me know when you're done with him. I wouldn't mind another go." Kaelie winked then started to move away, as if she'd done nothing but casually interact with an old acquaintance, but Kealie stopped and turned as she heard Clary's laughter. The redhead was laughing hard, holding a stick in her side, and Jace had no idea what to make of it.

"What's so funny?" Kaelie asked, confused.

"I know something you don't know," Clary giggled.

"Oh yeah, what?" Kaelie inquired.

"This isn't our first date," Clary explained still grinning. "This is our one year anniversary. He's off the market." And just like that, Jace knew everything was fine. The tension in his chest vanished as he took in the possessive look in his girlfriend's eyes. The look that said 'he's mine.' Clary couldn't have been more obvious if she'd literally spoke the words.

Properly turning to Kaelie for the first time since spotting her, Jace saw the look of total shock on her face. It was quite something to witness, her eyes wide, and her whole body still with shock. She made some awkward farewells, then quickly escaped their company.

"That was fun," Clary chuckled. "I should probably have told her sooner, but it was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Did you see her face?" She laughed again, a large exuberant noise that filled the room.

"Your face was far more interesting to me," Jace replied, easily.

"See, this is what I don't get," Clary said, thoughtfully. "I mean, the version of you I know, and the version of you I know of, are two totally different people."

"Come again?" Jace asked.

"There is Jace I know, my boyfriend who is a little clueless at times but sweet and loving," Clary explained. "Then there is the Jace I once know of, the player who every girl wanted to gossip over. Helen and I even talked about a naked Jace calendar once."

Jace just stared at her, in shock over the phrase 'naked Jace calendar.'

"I knew your rep when you told me you cared about me," Clary continued. "So I didn't believe you at first, but now it's so hard for me to picture you as the player guy."

"Please don't picture it," Jace whined. He was ashamed of his past, though he didn't like to admit it. The happiness he had found over the last year had taught him just how empty his life had been before.

"It's a part of who you are isn't it?" Clary asked.

"Who I was," Jace corrected her.

"So you're saying if we broke up tomorrow, you wouldn't go back to your old ways?"

"Do you have plans for us to break up tomorrow?" Jace replied, smirking.

"Way to avoid the question," Clary said, but she was smiling too.

"Honestly, I have no idea what I'd do if we broke up," Jace answered. "But either way, I think that part of me is dead." He didn't want to tell her why this was the case. Of course, it hadn't just been Sebastian who had pulled him into the player lifestyle - Jace knew he had daddy issues - but bonding with Sebastian had been such a huge part of it. Cutting his ultimate wingman out of his life forever had been a defining moment for him. From that point on, he'd knew he wouldn't be able to go back, even if he'd never ended up with Clary, his life changed forever that day.

"So you'd just sulk around on Alec's couch and never have sex again?" Clary asked.

"Huh?"

"If we broke up, I mean."

"Oh um, maybe," Jace replied. "Why are we talking about this on our anniversary?"

"No idea," Clary smiled. "I was just curious."

"Well, would you go back to Simon if we broke up?"

"No," Clary replied easily. "But Simon isn't my previous lifestyle. He is an old friend who fell in love with me."

"I guess," Jace shrugged. "But you miss him."

"I miss my friend, yes," Clary smiled. "However, you are right. This isn't a good anniversary topic."

"Well then would you like dessert?" Jace asked.

"Depends," Clary grinned at him. "Are we talking chocolate cake in the restaurant, or chocolate icing at home."

"Why would you only eat the icing?" Jace asked, nonplussed.

"Icing is better for licking," Clary replied, grinning at him and something clicked in Jace's head.

"Check please!" he called out, turning quickly to flag down a waitress.


Who says one can't update like a spaz and be employed? lol. Though I have technically only had two shifts but whatever. I wrote most of this an evening after work. The next two chapters I wrote yesterday and today which were my days off.


To guest reviewer Court who wrote:

I just binge read 75 chapters in 2 days! This is so good. I'm not as much of a Malec fan as I am a Clace fan, but I think your story has made me fall in love with them too! Can't wait to see how you continue the story, and props to you for 75 chapters!

My Reply:
WOW! Two days… you read 100,000 words a day. That's crazy fast. I'm impressed. And not a Malec fan! What nonsense is this! Lol. I am a Malec fan first (though you might know that if you skimmed any of my author's notes while you were binge reading) so though I have 5 other TMI stories they all have Malec while none have Clace, at least not as a main plotline. A few have Clace in the background. It's so cool that I've made you like Malec! I have heard from Malec only fans that I made them like Clace which means I convert all the people! *insert evil laugh here* I can't wait to hear what you think about future chapters! I hope you keep reviewing. Thanks. 75 chapters is craziness. My longest story ever.


Sneak Peek Chapter 77

"Now who wants to get drunk?" Tessa asked.

"Aren't you a new mom?" Izzy inquired.

"All the more reason why I need alcohol," Tessa counted.

"You won't get any argument from me," Izzy laughed. Someone spotted the bus and moments later they were all sitting on it.

Tessa sat numbly on her seat with the other girls around her. She could tell they were talking, but she didn't really pay attention until she heard them mention Valentine's day being this weekend.

"But it's January," Tessa reminded them.

"Umm," Clary said awkwardly. "No Tessa. It's February."

"Oh," Tessa said softly. She hadn't realize so much time had passed.

"Are you sure you want to go out tonight?" Clary asked.

"Yes," Tessa said firmly. "If I don't get drunk tonight I might drive off a cliff."

"Been there," Izzy laughed and suddenly they were all talking again.


Oh and you can thank nadiacriscioni for the reference to that Naked Jace Calender conversation between Helen and Clary way back in chapter 13. Sorry the reference is so small. I might through in a more detailed reference later if I can get it to flow well.