Chapter Nineteen

"I see you two have made up," said Clary, walking into the kitchen the next morning to the sight of Isabelle and Simon at the table, her head on his shoulder and their hands entwined.

"All thanks to you," said Simon. Clary smiled with satisfaction and went over to the counter to start a pot of coffee.

"Oh, God, can I get a cup of that?" Isabelle said, lifting her head up. "I think last night was the drunkest I've ever been."

"Twenty-first birthday party," said Clary and Simon together. Isabelle grimaced.

"Thanks for the reminder," she said.

Jace entered the kitchen. "Oh, good," he said, catching sight of Isabelle and Simon. "Does this mean you'll finally stop being so grumpy all the time?" Isabelle scowled at him. "So that's a no," Jace said. He came over to Clary and kissed her cheek just as the coffee brewer beeped. She turned away to grab some mugs.

"What, the coffee's more important to you than me?" said Jace, pouting.

Clary laughed. "You knew that when you married me. Nothing gets between me and my coffee." She poured two cups, added cream and sugar to one, and slid it in front of Isabelle, who snatched it up gratefully and began to guzzle it down. Clary turned back to find that Jace was already adding sugar to her own cup. He handed it to her with a grin.

"I figure if coffee has to be the third person in this relationship, I might as well embrace it," he said, handing her the mug. She shook her head at him, smiling as she took a sip.

"Hello?" said Simon. "Don't I get a cup?"

"Get it yourself, I'm not your servant," Jace said. Simon frowned, but Clary poured him a mug and passed it to him.

"I should call Magnus," she said. "Can you get started on breakfast?"

"Will do." Jace leaned down to kiss her, and she pressed herself closer to him; it was getting more and more difficult with her growing belly in the way. She felt the baby squirm inside her and wondered if he was being squished. Jace glanced down. "Does he ever stop moving?" he asked.

Clary laughed. "No. Not a bit. He's as restless as his dad." Jace smiled and ran his hand across her belly before giving her one last kiss and moving away toward the fridge. Clary pulled out her phone and pressed Magnus's contact. It rang a few times before he picked up.

"Hi, biscuit. What's up?"

"Hey," she said. "Is this a good time?"

"Sure. Magnus the Magnificent, at your service." Clary rolled her eyes, but began to explain her theory about the hotel. "Hmm," he said, once she had finished. "It's possible. A powerful enough demon could potentially use a ley line to create a Portal between our dimension and theirs. Though I think the most they would be able to do with it is send a lot of lesser demons through, like they did at the hotel."

"So we should probably keep an eye on any ley line sites, right?" said Clary.

"Especially the junctions," said Magnus. "I know there's one in Central Park, but I don't think there are any other ones in Manhattan. I'll check my files and get back to you." In the distance, Clary thought she could make out Alec's voice. "Oh, hang on, Alec wants to talk to you."

There was a shuffling noise. "Hey, Clary, just wanted to check in. Are you doing okay?"

Clary smiled. He'd been "checking in" with her more often since the fight at the hotel. Though he hadn't said it, she knew he understood exactly how she felt about Jace's situation and impending parenthood. "I'm great," she said. "You?"

"Same," said Alec. "Jace still keeping out of trouble?"

Clary glanced over at him. He was managing three pans of different types of eggs at once, dicing a potato with one hand as he flipped a fried egg with the other. "I think he's channeling all the trouble into breakfast," said Clary. "I should probably go before he burns the house down." Jace had heard, and he shot her an impish grin.

"Hey, is that Alec?" Isabelle called from the table. "Let me talk to him."

Clary passed her the phone, and she stood up. "Okay, don't hate me," she said into the phone as she started to leave the kitchen. Clary distinctly heard Alec say, "You can't start a conversation like that!" Grinning, she turned around to find that Jace had somehow splattered the wall with egg yolk.

"How?" she sighed. He shrugged, offering an apologetic smile. She shook her head and went to wet a towel.

Several minutes later, the walls were clean and breakfast was ready. Isabelle came back in just as Jace set a plate of eggs and roasted potatoes on the table. Isabelle handed Clary back her phone, looking very happy about something. She shot Clary a dazzling smile as she sat down.

"What?" said Clary.

"You'll see," Isabelle said mysteriously, plucking a potato off the plate and popping it into her mouth.

A few weeks later, Clary was sitting at the table in the library returning a letter to the head of the Beijing Institute when her phone buzzed. She glanced over at it to see a text from Simon: Hey! Found a new Malaysian place I want to try out. Lunch today?

Another text followed quickly. Sans spouses?

Smiling, Clary picked up the phone and texted back, Why, what's Izzy doing?

He replied immediately. Nothing! Just wanted some parabatai time.

"Who are you texting?" Jace asked from the desk. "New boyfriend?"

"Yup," Clary said. "He's taller than you, so much sexier..."

"Well, now I know you're lying," said Jace.

Clary laughed. "It's just Simon. He wants me to come out for lunch. If I go, do you promise not to start any fights?"

"I'll do my very best," said Jace gravely. Clary looked back at her phone and typed, Sounds nice. What time?

2. Meet me at the corner of 8th and 67th. Wear something nice.

Clary glanced at the top of the screen. It was just past noon. She sent Simon a smiley face and set the phone down.

"So is this boyfriend blonde?" Jace said. "I'm just wondering if you have a type."

Clary rolled her eyes. "You're my type, doofus. Now get back to work."

A little under an hour later, Clary emerged from the subway station. She was wearing a dark blue sweater dress that hugged her belly nicely, leggings, and boots, in one of which she'd stored a dagger, at Jace's request. Simon was leaning against a wall, but sprang up straight as he spotted Clary.

"You're early!" he said. "You said you'd have to wait for the next train."

"I thought I might, but turns out even New Yorkers have a soft spot for hugely pregnant women," Clary said, grinning.

Simon looked strangely flustered. "Yeah, but you weren't supposed to be here for another ten minutes!"

"What does it matter?" said Clary. "It's not like you made a reservation, right?"

"Uh, right, right," said Simon distractedly, glancing at his phone. "Come on, it's this way." He turned away from her, texting someone rapidly. Clary raised her eyebrows, but followed him down the street. "It's just around the corner," said Simon, pointing vaguely ahead toward an alley. He was still texting. Clary sighed.

"Are you going to text all through lunch?" she asked irritably.

"What? Oh, sorry." He put the phone away. "Let's go."

Clary frowned at him, but turned into the alley. It was a dead end. "Simon, are you sure—"

Something came down around her head, obscuring her vision. Instinctively, she drove her elbow back, sinking it into flesh. Her shoulder gave a twinge of pain as Simon wheezed. Clary fought free of him and ripped the blindfold off her head. "What the hell?" she demanded. Simon staggered forward, reaching out for her, and she pulled the dagger out of her boot, leveling it at him. He froze. "What are you?" she said. "Eidolon?"

"What? Clary, no! It's me!"

It sounded like him; it looked like him, it even smelled like him. And when she'd hit him, she'd felt her parabatai rune react. If it wasn't him, how was that possible?

And suddenly, Clary had a horrible realization—she was dreaming.

Simon advanced on her, holding his hands up. A shadow fell across his face, turning his eyes black. His teeth flashed white, and though she couldn't see it, she knew, she knew he was giving her that smile, the smile that always revealed him as Beelzebub, because Simon didn't smile like that, with that predatory grin. He was saying something, but all she could hear was the rush of blood in her head.

Wake up, she thought desperately. She glanced around—there was nothing in the alley that she could use to snap herself awake. Nothing but the dagger in her own hand.

She was breathing in sharp bursts. She'd never had to use a dagger before, there had always been something blunt she could slam down on her arm, or a window she could throw herself out of. But she had to wake up. Before she could lose her nerve, she flipped the dagger, turning it in on herself.

"Clary? Clary! What are you doing?"

He was there in an instant, knocking the blade out of her hand. She tried to stumble away from him, and her back hit the wall. He had both her wrists in his hands; she was powerless.

"It's not real," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. "It's not real, it's not real..."

The hold on her wrists released. She flung her hands up over her face; this was always the part where he tried to kiss her.

"Clary," he said, and in the back of her head she could hear Beelzebub. Clary... "Clary, I'm really sorry," said Simon. "This was stupid, and I swear this is the last time I listen to Isabelle."

Clary bit back a sob. He still sounded like her Simon.

"She's throwing you a baby shower, okay?" Simon said in a rush. "I was supposed to blindfold you and put you in the Portal, which was supposed to open—" Clary heard a rush of wind. "Now," he finished.

Slowly, Clary lowered her hands. He was looking at her with a very un-Beelzebub-like expression, a mixture of worry and shame. At the end of the alley, a Portal had opened, glowing blue around the edges with what she recognized as Magnus's magic.

"What?" she breathed.

"She wanted to surprise you," Simon said weakly. "I'm so sorry, Clary. I didn't mean to scare you."

The Portal was dwindling; after a moment, it closed. They stood there in silence. As the seconds ticked by, Clary realized that Simon hadn't moved, hadn't tried to come after her again. He was backed up against the opposite wall, giving her space.

"I'm not dreaming?" she whispered.

"No," he said.

Something inside her broke. Her knees buckled, and he was there, wrapping his arms around her, not to restrain her, but just to hold her. She sobbed into his shoulder. "Oh, Clary, I'm really sorry..." He pulled away from her slightly, looking down at her. "You...you're still having nightmares? About Beelzebub?"

She nodded slowly, wiping her tears away. He released her, letting her lean against the wall. Her legs were shaking.

"But he's not...he can't be back...right?"

"No," said Clary. Her voice sounded thin to her own ears. "They're just nightmares. Normal ones."

"I wish you'd told me," Simon said softly.

Clary blinked back more tears. "I just wanted it to be over," she whispered. She drove her palms into her eyes, willing herself to get it together.

"I'm really sorry," Simon said again.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not," he said. "Look, we don't have to go. I'll tell Isabelle to call it off."

She shook her head. "No, we should go. She went to all this trouble."

"Are you sure?" Simon said. "We can wait a little longer if you need to."

"I'm okay," she said, drawing in a deep breath. "Let's go. Do you have a stele?"

He pulled one out and handed it to her. She turned around to make the Portal. As it opened, Simon put a hand to it to hold it open and offered his other hand to Clary. She glanced back; the dagger glinted at her from the ground. She drew in another breath and took Simon's hand, letting him guide her into the Portal.

A dizzying maelstrom later, Clary toppled out into what looked like another maelstrom, so packed and chaotic that she could barely make out what was happening.

"SURPRISE!" a great chorus shouted.

Clary blinked. They seemed to be in Magnus and Alec's apartment, though they had clearly redecorated for the party. The walls were a soft yellow, the furniture pushed up against them to allow for more room, and they had hung up a huge banner that said, CONGRATULATIONS CLARY & JACE! In one corner was a veritable mountain of presents, plus a yellow-iced layered cake that was slightly lopsided; Clary hoped Isabelle hadn't baked it herself.

Speaking of Isabelle, she was staring right at Clary. In fact, many people were staring at her; Magnus and Alec were there of course, with Max and Rafe; Jace was standing next to them; her parents were squashed with Maryse in a corner beside a small gaggle of vampires, including Lily Chen; Maia and Bat were there with some of their pack; even the faerie Kaelie Whitewillow from Taki's Diner had shown up.

Simon stepped out of the Portal beside Clary. Isabelle's gaze immediately shot to him. "You told her, didn't you?" she said accusingly. The crowd dissolved into groans. "You had one job!"

"Isabelle," said Simon warningly.

Jace was still looking at Clary. She could read the question in his eyes. With a huge effort, she forced a smile onto her face. "This is great, Izzy," she said, going over to hug Isabelle. "Thank you for doing all this."

"Aw, it was nothing," Isabelle said, though she looked very pleased.

"Speak for yourself," said Magnus, setting Max down. He immediately tore across the room, making a beeline for the cake, and Alec dashed after him. "I had to send out invitations, reorganize my whole apartment, and gather all these supplies with only two weeks' notice. Magnus Bane does not throw a soiree with only two weeks' notice!"

"Don't you just use magic for everything?" said Clary.

"Semantics," Magnus sniffed. Clary would have continued the conversation, but people were already coming up to her, congratulating her and bombarding her with questions about the baby. At one point, Kaelie asked to rub her belly and offered to give her a draught that would ensure the baby had an excellent head of hair. Clary made some excuse and turned away, only to collide with Jace.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she replied. "Did you know about all this?"

He smiled. "Sorry," he said. "Isabelle made me swear to keep it a secret." He gazed down at her. "You okay?" he said in an undertone. "You looked really shaken when you came out of the Portal."

"Anybody want cake?" Isabelle called across the room before Clary could respond. "I baked it myself!"

The other side of the room suddenly became a lot more packed, leaving Isabelle standing by the cake by herself. She shrugged. "Maybe later," she said to Clary.

Clary caught Simon's eye as he made his way over to Isabelle; he gave her a tentative smile, and she tried to return it, but it felt as if someone had seized her stomach in their fist.

"Clary, do you want to cut it?" Isabelle asked, wrapping herself around Simon.

"I...um..." She swallowed against her dry throat. "In a minute. I just need to go to the bathroom." She shot Jace a significant look as she turned around and made her way down the hallway.

She had only been in the bathroom for a minute when there was a soft knock on the door. She opened it immediately, letting Jace squeeze past her and closing the door behind him.

"What's going on?" he said without preamble.

She sat down on the toilet, and he perched on the edge of the bathtub, waiting. Chewing on her lip, she hesitantly explained what had happened. Jace kept his gaze on her as she talked, his golden eyes unreadable. She told most of the story to his shoes.

"And I—I don't know what's happening to me, Jace," she finished, her voice shaking. She chanced a look at him; his face was a mask. "Say something," she whispered.

He gave her a searching look. "If Simon hadn't been there, do you think you would have done it?"

She glanced away again, rubbing her left arm compulsively. "No. I don't know. I don't think so. But if Simon hadn't been there, I wouldn't have thought I was dreaming in the first place. It's not like I'm hallucinating. Any—anymore..."

Her anxiety must have shown on her face, because Jace laid a comforting hand on her arm. "He's gone," he said gently. "You know he is. He can't hurt you anymore."

"No, but that makes it worse!" Clary burst out. "Because if it's not him, then it's me. There's something wrong with me. And I thought it was getting better, once the nightmares stopped happening as much, but now this..." She dug the heels of her hands into her eyes. "What if it never ends?" she whispered.

"It will," Jace said, now rubbing her shoulder in soothing circles. The sensation made her want to jump out of her own skin, and she shrugged him off, standing up. "You have been getting better," he said, gazing up at her. "I think this is just a one-time thing. It doesn't mean you're not making progress." He came over to her, touching her cheek lightly. "Talk to me," he said softly.

"I feel..." She drew in a shuddering breath. "Broken."

"Clary," Jace said. "You're not broken. You're not crazy. You went through something awful, that doesn't just all go away. But you're fighting it. And every day, you get a little better. One day at a time, remember?"

"But today..." She closed her eyes. "Is it just a setback or something more?"

"I don't know if I can answer that," Jace said. "But does worrying about it help?"

"No," she admitted.

"So then don't," Jace said simply. "Choose to believe you'll get past this."

She gazed at him, a tear escaping her eye. He wiped it away, waiting for her to break the silence.

"You're right," she said eventually.

"Aren't I always?"

She rolled her eyes at him, managing a smile. "We should get back out there, they'll think we're having sex in here or something."

"Well..." said Jace, raising an eyebrow suggestively. She rolled her eyes again and opened the door to the bathroom.

"Finally!" Isabelle said as Clary reentered the living room, Jace following a moment after. "Can you please come over here and cut the cake so I don't feel bad about eating it?"

"We're all going to feel bad about eating it," Jace muttered into Clary's ear. She struggled to not laugh as she went over to Isabelle and took the proffered knife, Jace following reluctantly.

"I wasn't sure if you were having a boy or girl, so I decided to go with yellow," Isabelle said, gesturing vaguely at the decorations as Clary cut a slice of cake. "So? What is it?"

"We don't know for sure," Clary said. "But I think it's a boy."

"Aww," Isabelle said, pouting. "I was hoping it'd be a girl. We have way too many boys in this family."

Clary slid the slice of cake onto a plate, noticing that it was swirled with a sludgy substance that was a very odd shade of green. "Um, Izzy, what is that?" she asked, pointing.

"Grape jelly," Isabelle said, as if this were a perfectly normal thing to put in cake batter.

"Why is it green?" Clary asked, not certain she wanted an answer.

Isabelle inspected the cake. "I'm not sure. Maybe it wasn't supposed to be baked." She shrugged and went to get herself a fork.

"I begged her to buy a cake," Simon said, grimacing.

Isabelle returned and stabbed the fork into the slice of cake, taking a bite. "It's pretty good," she said around her mouthful. "You want some?"

"Uh, I just ate," said Clary hastily. "Maybe in a bit."

"Simon? Jace?"

"Upset stomach," said Jace immediately.

"Lactose intolerant," Simon followed up.

Isabelle gave them both a probing look before taking another defiant bite. "Did you guys pick out a name yet?" she asked Clary.

"Yeah..." She looked at Jace. They hadn't shared the name with anyone yet, except Clary's parents and Tessa and Jem.

"We should make an announcement," Jace said. "Otherwise people will keep asking us." Clary nodded, and Jace waved his hand in the air, gathering everyone's attention.

"We wanted to thank everyone for coming," Clary said, smiling around at the crowd, "and to tell you all the baby's name."

Jace took her hand. "We've decided to name the baby William, after one of my ancestors, and his middle name will be Jonathan."

"What if it's a girl?" Maia asked.

Clary and Jace glanced at each other. "We haven't decided yet," Clary said. "So if anyone has any suggestions—"

"Personally," Isabelle interjected, "I think Isabelle is a perfect name. It's classic, elegant—"

"But Maia is much more modern," Maia put in.

"You can't go wrong with Lily," said Lily.

They started to squabble, Isabelle abandoning the cake to join the conversation. Everyone else seemed to take this as a cue to continue partying, and turned away. Only Simon was still looking at Clary and Jace.

"Jonathan," he said. "As in..."

Before he could finish, Alec appeared, having finally succeeded in recapturing Max. He sat in his father's arms, looking very grumpy. Magnus showed up a moment later, holding Rafe's hand. "That's a lovely name," he said. "Tessa and Jem must be happy."

Alec bit his lip. "I don't mean to sound judgmental, but Jonathan...I mean, do you think..."

Clary sighed. "I know how it must look. But he wasn't Sebastian. Not really. And it's more for my mom than anything. For the son she lost."

"Hmm," said Alec, still looking a little troubled, but before he could say anything else, Max's little blue arm shot out faster than any of them could see and knocked into the cake. It fell to the floor with a loud splat.

"Max," said Jace very seriously, "I do believe you've just saved us all." Max looked very pleased with himself.

"No!" Isabelle moaned, rushing over. "I spent all morning on that!" She whirled on Alec, who was still holding his son. Max licked frosting off the side of his hand.

"Sorry, Izzy," said Alec quickly. "I should go get Max cleaned up." He was gone before Isabelle could get a word in. She huffed and started to clean up the cake. Simon grabbed a pile of napkins and went to help, but not before catching Clary's eye; she saw something oddly accusatory in his gaze.

"Clary!" Maia called from across the room. "Come over here, let's get a picture of you and Jace under the banner."

The next several minutes were filled with a steady flow of people swarming Clary and Jace, mostly to talk about the baby's name—really, mostly about the middle name. After answering the same question somewhere around fifteen times, Clary snapped.

"Yes!" she shouted at Lily. "I'm naming my son after my brother, and yes, I know he was evil, but you'll notice we're not naming him Sebastian, we're naming him Jonathan! Does that about answer your question?"

The room had gone very quiet. Jace cleared his throat. "This might be a good time to start opening presents," he said, a little too loudly. "What do you think, Clary?"

She took a deep breath and pressed her lips into a smile. "Sure. Sounds great."

The tension broke, and people went to retrieve their presents from the corner, avoiding the splatters of icing on the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, Clary saw her parents approaching with Maryse tagging along behind them.

"Oh, look at you, you're glowing!" said Maryse, hugging Clary tightly. "I got you something you'll really like, let me go get it..." She joined the crowd of people clamoring to grab their presents.

Clary looked at her parents. Jocelyn gave her a sympathetic smile. "I should have known the name would be such a point of contention," said Clary wearily.

"You can always change it," Jocelyn said. "If you want to."

Clary shook her head. "I don't. It feels right to me. Screw what anyone else thinks." Luke reached out and squeezed her hand. She squeezed back before releasing him and heading over to one of the couches against the wall, where the others had gathered.

"Open mine first," said Maryse excitedly, handing her a large box wrapped neatly in green paper. Clary sat down, Jace beside her, and began to tear the paper off the box. It turned out to be a delicate mobile with tiny metal birds hanging down on golden ribbons. "Herons," said Maryse, beaming proudly. "I had it specially made."

Clary smiled. "It's beautiful. Thank you, Maryse."

They continued to open gifts over the next half-hour; Magnus and Alec had given them a large box of clothes that Magnus had enchanted to grow with the baby, and Lily had gotten them a set of extra-sturdy pacifiers. "In case it has fangs," she said, grinning and showing the points of her own fangs. Jace got particularly excited by Maia's gift of what he thought was a stuffed hellhound demon, before Maia pointed out that it was a wolf.

"Do you really want your kid cuddling with a hellhound anyway?" Clary asked him, amused, as she took the next present from Simon.

"Fair point," Jace said as Clary opened the gift. Simon and Isabelle had gotten them a set of books with colorful covers and titles like "My Darling Little Nuisance" and "Just Go to Sleep Already, You Whiny Brat." Clary raised her eyebrows at Simon.

"Izzy's idea," he said.

Isabelle shrugged. "If the kid's anything like Jace, he'll need the books. Trust me."

At last, all the presents had been opened, except for Jocelyn and Luke's; they had gotten them a crib, Jocelyn explained, and were having it shipped directly to the Institute. The floor seemed to have been replaced with a sea of wrapping paper and gift bags. Magnus snapped his fingers and the mess vanished. The party appeared to be winding down. People came up to Clary and Jace to hug them one last time before gathering their things. Sometime in the chaos, Max crawled up onto the couch beside Clary.

"Aunt Clary," he said, looking up at her with wide eyes, "why is your tummy so big?"

"Because that's where the baby is," said Clary, smiling as she rubbed her belly.

Max looked horrified. "You ate a baby?!"

"No!" said Clary, laughing. "That's just where babies grow until they're ready to come out."

"In their mommies' tummies?" said Max, looking dubious.

"That's right."

Max scrutinized her for a moment. "Aunt Clary," he said again, "how did the baby get in your tummy?"

"Um." Clary glanced at Jace; he gave her a look that clearly said, you're on your own. She scowled at him and turned back to Max, who was patiently awaiting her answer. "Well," she began awkwardly. "You see—um—you know," she said, with a sudden stroke of inspiration, "this is a really great question to ask your daddies. Why don't you talk about it with them?"

"Okay," said Max, hopping off the couch. Clary let out a breath of relief. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jace shaking with silent laughter.

Max had made his way over to Alec and was tugging insistently on his shirt. "Daddy," he said, his voice carrying through the room, "where do babies come from?"

Everyone went suddenly silent. Alec froze, his eyes bugging out of his head. Clary gave him an apologetic smile.

"Nope," he said abruptly. "I'm not answering that."

"But—"

"You'll know when you're older!" said Alec, his voice pitching up an octave. "Okay, everyone, time to go home! Bye! Thanks for coming!" He handed Max off to Magnus and began to shoo people out of the apartment.

Jace burst into laughter, clutching the arm of the sofa for support. "Alec's going to kill you," he informed Clary between wheezes.

She smacked his shoulder. "Thanks for all the help, asshole!"

Howling with laughter, Jace slid off the couch and onto the floor.

A/N: If you liked this chapter, please leave a review! Thanks for reading.

~4L