Paradise Regained

-6-

Their time was interrupted by Clary's baby girl. She woke up and started crying for her mother. Clary quickly put her oversized flannel shirt on, buttoned it, and walked to the nursery. She came back less than a minute later with the wailing baby. She sat down on the couch next to Jace and attempted to calm the child down.

"Is everything okay with her?" Jace asked and almost instantly mentally face-palmed himself. It was a ridiculous question. Babies cry all the time for no reason. Probably nothing was wrong with her.

"Yeah, she's alright. Just a bit fussy." Said Clary, never turning her eyes from the baby. "I think she is hungry." She stated simply. "Do you mind if I feed her here?"

"No, of course not. Go ahead."

Clary smiled at him and nodded. She looked down at the baby and started unbuttoning her shirt. She positioned the baby, and let her latch onto her breast. Clary winced a little and tried to get comfortable on the couch. Jace was astonished in a way. He had never seen a woman do that before. He realized that he was staring at her. What's worse, she noticed that he was staring. Feeling embarrassed, Jace decided to break the awkwardness.

"So, tell me something about this little lady here." He said, smiling.

"Well..." She chuckled. "this little lady's name is Isabella, but I call her Bella most of the time." Said Clary with a big grin. "She is one and a half months old, and she's a little sweetheart, although I can already see she has my temper." She said, and laughed. Jace laughed loudly with her.

"Oh boy, she's going to be a pain then." He said jokingly.

Clary just rolled her eyes and gave him a playful look.

"So, I'm guessing you named her after Izzy?" He asked and smiled at her.

"Yes, I guess I wanted to have at least some 'home' with me while I was here." 

"I think this name suits her perfectly."

"I think so too. It was the first name I thought of when I saw her. I had so many picked, and I loved them all, but right when she was in my arms, I knew she was an Isabella."

Jace was smiling while Clary was talking. He could notice with how much love she spoke of the baby, and how it made her eyes glimmer. It was easy to say that she surely loved her daughter, it was written all over her face. There was one thing Jace wasn't quite able to comprehend.

How was it so easy for her? To love the child, when it was her brother's.

He didn't want to, but was wondering how did this happen. He could only imagine the worst. Jonathan was a terrible person. He did not care who he hurt. Jace knew that Clary was his sister, but that didn't mean that Jonathan would spare her. He had kissed her back in New York in Sebastian's body, he probably wanted more. Jace felt like he needed to know what exactly happened because his assumptions were killing him. He didn't want to push her into anything, though. When she's ready, she would tell him herself.

Jace was slowly drifting into his thoughts. He was snapped back to reality by Clary. She touched his shoulder and kissed him lightly on his lips.

"Are you okay, Jace? You seem distracted." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking." He said in a dismissive manner. "So, is Isabella done?" He tried to change the subject. He didn't realize it didn't come out as subtle as he anticipated.

"Jace... what's wrong? You can tell me."

"I don't want to make you sad, Clary."

"I'm sure I can handle it, Jace." She said confidently. Fixed the baby girl in her arms and started to rock her gently.

"I can't stop thinking about what Jonathan had to do to you." He said and looked at the baby.

"Jace... I don't really remember WHAT he did. I wasn't awake then. He did it when I was unconscious, apparently, I was asleep for a few days."  She looked down, sad.

Jace was furious. Jonathan was going to pay for everything he had done. He clenched his fists and let out a shaky breath.

"I'm taking you from here, Clary. Both of you. When is he going to be back?"

Clary's eyes widened, and she tried to recall when her brother was going to come.

"He won't be back until tomorrow. Late morning or noon."

"Good, get some things you need for Isabella, and let's go. We'll find a safe place."

Clary swallowed and looked at Jace with a worried expression on her face.

"No matter where we go, he'll find us. He will never leave me alone, Jace. He won't ever leave us alone. He will do anything to find me." She said almost hysterically.
She believed every word she just said. Clary wanted to be away from her brother, but she also knew he wouldn't just let her go.

Jace moved closer to Clary and looked her deep in the eyes.

"I will protect you, Clary. Both of you..." He looked at the baby girl, at Clary, and kissed her sweetly. "We will make this work. I swear on The Angel." He gave her a reassuring look. "I swear on us."