12
Jace's POV

I wake up next to a pile of red curls, and I smirk at the mess of tangled blankets and teenage girl that is lying next to me. I can't help but smile at the recollection of last night's events. I figured after all of the build up between Clary and I, I could finally make a move without getting castrated. I have been attracted to her since I met her, but truthfully her good looks just add to the rest of her. I consider the fact that she didn't punch me after I kissed her the first time a major win; but I am extremely concerned about how our relationship will go from here. Best case scenario- she doesn't regret last night and things go on as usual. Worst case- she wakes up this morning and decides she hates me and kicks me out of her house. Both of those are very viable options; it just depends on what side of the bed Clary wakes up on.

I like her quite a bit, but I'm concerned that my actions last night may have caught her by surprise, and that they'll chase her off. She said it herself, she isn't sure how she feels about the whole thing, and I can't make her feel a certain way about me, even though I wish I could. I just have to hope she sees that I am being genuine, and that I'm not planning on using her. I usually don't feel this type of way about girls; they usually don't mean much to me beyond a hookup, and I think that's why I'm lacking the confidence I usually have.

There's something about her that just draws me in, and I can't help the way I feel about her. It's scary truthfully.

My eyes snap down to the redhead in question as she lets out a miserable sounding groan. I can't imagine that it is comfortable sleeping on bruised/broken ribs, and a dislocated shoulder. She puts on a tough act, but I know it has to be hurting, and I know she is scared, even if she won't admit it.

She groans again, twisting and turning a bit until she is free from the blanket, and she seems to involuntarily go to stretch upwards, and I wince at the pain she's inevitably going to be in. I stand correct as she lets out a yelp of pain, her green eyes flying open, and she shoots up into a sitting position, letting out a string of curse words in the process.

"Ouch," she mumbles, putting her good hand to her forehead, and glancing over to me, "sorry, did I wake you up?" She asks, "No, I've been up. Are you alright?" I ask her, putting my hand out on her good shoulder, giving it a light squeeze; she leans into the pressure.

"I keep forgetting that I'm hurt," she admits, I work my hand against her shoulder, massaging it slightly. She hums in contentment, sliding closer to me, obviously enjoying whatever I'm doing, "is this weird?" She asks me quietly as I move my hand down her back.

"This?" I ask her, moving a bit so I am positioned behind her, her head against my chest, using both my hands to massage her back and shoulder. She seems to be content for once with the physical contact we are sharing.

"Yeah, you know, the whole we kissed last night, slept in the same bed, and now you're giving me a massage. It all feels a little like a coming of age movie if you ask me." She responds and I chuckle, feeling a moment of bravery, bending down and planting a kiss behind her ear, "No, I don't feel weird, do you feel weird?" I ask her back and she sighs audibly, "Surprisingly, no. I actually am enjoying this." She tells me, leaning further into my chest.

"I'm holding that against you." I whisper into her ear, planting another kiss, and another, leaving a small trail down the back of her neck. Dare I say she lets out a small noise of contentment, before she obviously catches herself, and she pulls away from me.

"Sorry." She mumbles, looking over her shoulder at me, her face turning a light pink color. She's cute when she blushes, "You don't have to be embarrassed around me." I tell her and she sighs, letting out a nervous chuckle, "I know, but like I said, this is new to me. I'm not used to actually kissing someone and having feelings behind it." I know the feeling; it's slightly comforting to know that we are both in new territory. Sure, I've been with plenty of girls before, but not like this, ever. I can't help but grin at her words, "So, feelings?" I ask her, looking down at her, and she groans in response, putting her head in her hands, "Ask me another time." She tells me and I laugh, lying my head back against the headboard.

I can almost feel Clary's mood drop when she shifts her weight so she is leaning away from my chest, "What's wrong?" I ask, putting my hand lightly on her shoulder.

"Just thinking about my mom," she starts, "how could she just not care at all?" She slides away from me, turning stiffly to face me, "Like, I'm sure I was making a scene, trying to kill Seelie, and then lying on the floor seething in pain. And she just up and left to chase my brother, who is probably perfectly fine!" She raises her voice, tossing her arms up in exasperation, "Ouch." She winces quickly, "I'm just mad." She huffs.
"No, you're upset." I correct her, and she narrows her eyes at me, "No, I'm not, shut up Jace." She adverts her eyes from me, but it's obvious that what her mom is doing to her is clearly upsetting her, "It's not a weakness to admit that your feelings are hurt." I tell her, crossing my arms, letting my eyes fall on her as she gnaws a hole in the inside of her cheek, "Stop that." I bump her lightly with my foot, "I just want my brother to get the hell out of our lives, and for my mom to go back to being the lazy, absentee person she was. I liked her better when she didn't care about anything, even if that meant she didn't care about me, but now that she only cares about my brother; it makes me want to throw up."

"I'm not exactly an expert on parent problems, mine are both dead." I tell her, and Clary's jaw goes slack, "Oh my, I'm so sorry." She says, moving back towards me.
"It's ok, I was young when they passed. All that I'm saying is, I may not know much, and I may not offer the best advice, but," I reach out, resting my hand lightly on hers, "I can always listen." She smiles softly at me, swiping my hand in hers and giving it a tight squeeze.

"I hear voices!" Magnus sings from the outside of Clary's door, swinging it open. Clary retracts her hand slowly from mine, her eyes glued to Magnus as he enters the room, "Well, well, well, look at you two crazy kids holding hands and stuff. What's next, marriage?" He teases us and I smile a bit at him. I've always found his sense of humor and taunting enjoyable for the most part, but I don't think I can say the same for Clary. She seems to have trouble distinguishing when we are joking and when we are being serious. That's why it's so damn fun to mess with her.

"Don't worry Magnus, we are using protection." I wink at him, which brings an unholy noise from Clary's mouth, "Oh my God." She buries her head in her good hand, cheeks flushing pink. I can't help but smile at her, "Anyways," Magnus says, a taunting grin still on his lips, "we are making breakfast, do you want us to have some made for you whenever your tired of holding hands, or having sex, or whatever it is you're doing?." Magnus waves at us, leaving the room, and closing the door behind him quietly. I look at Clary, who is still blushing, but no longer burying her head.

"So," I start with her, her eyes coming to meet mine, "hypothetically-," she cuts me off, "if you keep asking for permission to kiss me, I might actually start telling you no." she tells me and I smile, feeling my heart jump just slightly in my chest. I take her cheek lightly in my hand, kissing her softly on the lips, "good morning." I mumble against her, making her laugh and turn her head slightly away from me. I press a light kiss on her cheek, "morning." She responds.

"Do you want to go down for breakfast?" I ask her, leaning back on my hands, and she shrugs, "I need to eat or else my medication will make me throw up." She responds, "Are you in pain?" I ask her, my eyes scanning over her body, "Yeah." She admits quietly, "my head won't stop pounding, it hurts to breathe, and my stupid arm hurts." She complains, rubbing her thumb hard against her temple.

"Well," I stand to my feet, offering her my hand, "let's go grab food so we can put some pills in you, yeah?" She accepts my hand, and allows me to pull her up to her feet, but she doesn't keep a hold on me as we go down the stairs to meet our friends in the kitchen.

"Morning, sleepy heads." Isabelle greets the two of us, "Hi." Clary says to her with a small smile, sitting down at her counter. I walk to Alec, who hands me a toast, "You guys made yourselves right at home." Clary says with a chuckle as I hand her the toast, "Eat." I demand of her. She rolls her eyes in response.

"Ok, I have a conspiracy." Clary says as she takes a chunk out of her breakfast. Alec hands me some as well, which I gratefully accept, "I think someone is coming after me." She says, and my eyes snap from the food in my hand to her, the room's chatter suddenly falling silent, "What?" I finally ask her.

"Listen, I know I sound like a crazy, paranoid freak, but think about it. I swear people have been following me, even if you guys don't believe me, and after all the things Sebastian said about Seelie being in the Idris mob- and then she just happens to beat the shit out of me, illegally, I might add." She sounds very nonchalant about all of this; I feel like if she really thinks this is happening, she would be a lot more ruffled.
"Why would the mob be coming after you?" She purses her lips tightly, something she seems to do whenever she is planning on avoiding the truth, "I don't know. I didn't know the Idris mob was a thing until Sebastian said something about them." She shrugs and Magnus laughs, "Come on Clary, the Idris Mob isn't real and you can't really believe that someone is coming after you right now." Magnus sounds exasperated, and I can't help but agree with him. Clary seems genuinely scared, but I'm not sure if it is because the imaginary mob is coming after her.

"Than why did Seelie break my arm? And why were the two men that were following me at the diner her coaches, and why do my mother and brother keep disappearing? All of this can't be coincidental, if someone isn't coming after me, something else must be going on." She scrunches her nose, before sighing, "I sound crazy." She admits with a huff.

"No, some stressful things have been going on," Isabelle offers, "but yeah, I definitely don't think the mob is coming after you." Isabelle smiles at her, and Clary nods slowly, "Yeah, you're right." She shoves the piece of toast in her mouth as the room falls silent.

"So," I break the awkward silence after a few moments of us staring blankly at each other, "what is the protocol in case Clary's mom returns? Are we fleeing the scene?" I ask, and Clary narrows her eyes at me, "If you run, I will never speak to you again. I am not staying here alone, immobile, with my asinine family." She looks away from me, and around the room at everyone else, "This goes for all of you."

"As long as our parents don't hunt us down," Alec points at himself and his sister, and Clary nods with a smile, "sure." She takes a pause, "So, do your parents not care? Like I know Jace's are out of town and all but you guys haven't mentioned much about them." She addresses the Lightwoods and Magnus.

"Well, they do care, but they travel a lot for work and are pretty wrapped up in our younger brother Max, he's eleven. They love us, they just aren't around much." Isabelle answers for her and her brother, and Alec nods in agreement. Max is the sweetest- he's like my younger brother just as much as Alec is my older one. He's ridiculously smart, and tends to get in trouble quite a bit because of it; I think that's why he's so bored in school. Maryse and Robert, Izzy and Alec's parents, have their hands full with him, rightfully so.

"I live on my own." Magnus answers shortly, seeming to not be interested in sharing any more detail. I've known him since the start of high school, and to this day he doesn't like talking about his life at home. From what I've gathered, his mom has been out of the picture for a while, and his dad isn't a good guy. We all have a fair share of familial problems it seems.

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I struggle to keep my hands to myself, as I lie in bed next to Clary. She has seemed to be uncharacteristically quiet since breakfast, "I feel like we are lacking snarky comments tonight," I bump her leg with my foot, "you wanna tell me what's bothering you?" I ask her and she sighs, rolling so she is on her side facing me.

"I feel crazy." She answers, and I nod knowing that she is talking about our conversation from this morning, "I just am having a hard time making sense of things. And I'm on very high dosage pain killers." I hum quietly in response, bringing my hand to her hair and lightly running my hands over it, "Nothing is going to happen to you," I tell her after a moment, "I know everything is stressful and confusing, and I truly don't think anyone is coming after you- but even if there was- nothing is going to happen to you. I swear by it." I glance down at her shoulder, then to her ribs, flinching slightly at the thought that something already has.

"I believe you. I just can't stop thinking about my mom and brother." She admits, pulling her body closer to mine and laying her head softly on my chest, seeming unsure, "They aren't your responsibility. I know you care about them," she makes a noise of disagreement, "whether you want to admit that or not," I shoot her a pointed look, "you wouldn't be this upset about them if you didn't. We will figure it all out." I lean to kiss the top of her head firmly.

"Yeah, I guess we will."