𝕊ℍ𝔸𝔻𝕆𝕎ℍ𝕌ℕ𝕋𝔼ℝ𝕊 𝟚

ӇƠƜ ƛƦЄ ƬӇƠƲ ƑƛԼԼЄƝ

Alyssa's Apartment

It's been a few weeks since Jace moved out of the Institute and Alyssa with him into her apartment. With Jace's help, Alyssa had moved some of her stuff from Magnus' place and had asked Izzy and Alec to bring some of her things which had been at the Institute.

They'd barely been in contact with anyone, minus the occasional call from Luke to find out how Alyssa was doing.

Jace was sat up, leaning against the headboard and Alyssa was lying next to him with her head on his chest and her arm across his stomach while Jace had his arm wrapped around her waist, occasionally rubbing his thumb on her skin with his other arm behind his head.

"Hey, do you ever wonder what would have happened with us, if we didn't have our soul bond? Do you think that without it, we'd even be together?" Alyssa asked, trailing a pattern on Jace's chest. Jace looked down at her but she wasn't looking up at him. Her eyes were trained onto the imaginary patterns she was making.

"What brought this on?"

"Just wondering. I mean if it weren't for the soul bond I don't think we'd have ever met or come together."

"I don't think so." Jace said, turning onto his side and causing Alyssa to lie on her back, looking up at him. Even without the soul bond, I still think we would have met with Clary being your sister and all, and I think even then I would have fallen for you, and we would still be together."

"Really? Are you sure..."

"Babe, why are you asking this?" Alyssa sighed, contemplating whether to throw him off or tell him exactly what she was thinking.

"Because I still feel like this whole relationship was forced on you. I mean you went out on night on a mission, and suddenly you find out you're soul bound to someone you didn't even remember meeting when we were kids. You..."

"Alyssa, I thought I clarified this the night Magnus removed the block on our memories. I never felt forced into this relationship with you. Even before we knew about the soul bond, before Magnus removed the block, I was still drawn to you. And I know it wasn't the soul bond making me feel that because at the time, it was still blocked so there's no way it could have influenced my decision. I love you, Alyssa, bond or not and nothing's gonna change that." Jace said, then leaned down to kiss her.
Alyssa wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her and deepening the kiss. Just as they were about to go further, they heard a knock on the front door. "You've got to be kidding me." Jace growled. Set on ignoring whoever it was, he leaned down to continue what they were doing but the knocking became louder.

Jace groaned and rolled off Alyssa, grabbing a pair of sweatpants from the floor and putting them on. Alyssa also got up and put on one of Jace's shirts. Alyssa followed Jace out of the bedroom as he went to see who was at the door. He barely opened the door when Alec barged in without invitation.

"Of course, please do come in." Alyssa said sarcastically, crossing her arms and leaning against the entry way of the arch leading to the living room. "Can we help you or did you just feel like barging into our home as if you own the place?"

"We have orders. Let's go, both of you." Alec barked without preamble. Alyssa lifted an eyebrow at the tone he was using.

"We're a little busy at the moment." Jace said with a sigh, leaning against the closed door. Alec turned to Alyssa, expecting a different answer, but all he got was a sarcastic smile.

"This is your solution? Hiding out?" Alec asked Jace, gesturing towards the apartment.

"If we were hiding, you wouldn't have known to find us here, Alec." Alyssa said.