Imprinted Memories

A Place To Call Home

After kissing for a while they leaned with their foreheads together and Clary felt Jace smiling against her lips. Clary allowed herself to sink in this beautiful pair of eyes before a thought undeniably nagged on her mind.

„Jace, can I ask you something?"

„As if a no would have ever stopped you..."

„Before I fell asleep again when you were talking to Izzy, you sounded quite angry. I don't want to cause any trouble between you."

„It's not like that. It is nothing you should worry about. I just don't want to share you so soon."

„Jace, I know there's more. Izzy has been like a sister for me and ..."

„For the first few months after you were gone, no one said a thing when I went out to look after you. They probably thought , it was my way to cope and that I would stop someday. But for the past three months they were telling me, I should let you be, that I should try to find someone new... I felt like they had given up on you, wanting me to do the same while knowing it was the one thing, I was incapable of. And now that you remember again, Izzy is the first one to want you back at the institute, probably because she thinks, it's her duty as head of the institute. She didn't spend her nights on that fire exit, it wasn't Simon or Alec making sure you got home safe when you were working late on your paintings. Magnus checked up on you occasionally when he was here in Brooklyn but... After all you've done for them, they kinda abandoned you to move on with their lives and you didn't deserve this."

Clary heard clearly how upset Jace was and she softly kissed him to calm him down.

„You know, everyone has a different way to cope. They're your family. I'm sure they didn't want to see you suffer because I was gone. Jace, when I left, I had hoped, you would find a way to be happy again without me, maybe find someone else..."

„How can you not be angry?"

„It was my punishment, I never wanted it to affect any of you but it did. Jace, if you'd be in my shoes, would you want your loved ones to give up their lives and suffer over your absence?"

„No..."

„You would want them to find their happiness again. And I had wanted that for all of you as long as I still remembered."

"So, do you want to go back?"

"Of course I want to. The institute is my home, you all are my family. But what did you mean with that Izzy's the head of the institute now? What is with Alec? What did I miss?"

"Alec is now the Inquisitor of the Clave and Magnus became the High Warlock of Alicante. They moved there. Izzy's now the head of the New York Institute. She's still in a relationship with Simon who lives now in the institute. Luke is in a joint forces division between Shadowhunters and Downworlders and he's married to Maryse. They're traveling a lot. They were the only ones never asking me to let you go which I appreciated. Maia has opened up a restaurant called "Taki's" and she has named a dish after you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the Fairchild burrata salad."

"At least not a shrimp cocktail. That's really cute, also a lot of change. But what about you?"

"They offered me several promotions, even some in Alicante but my place is where you are. Just the thought of leaving you behind with no one to watch over you, it was unbearable."

"Would you have ever let me be?"

"No, I would have always watched over you to protect you, even if you would have been married with kids someday."