"Clary wake up" I hear. I open my eyes to see my brother smiling at me. "Hey" I say. I sit up. "You want to go to breakfast" he asks. "Yeah just give me a minute" I say.
I slide off the bed and go into my closet. I decide to wear a pink top and black jeans.
Jonathan and I go down and wake Grace up and go get breakfast. I give Grace her bottle.
"So what are you doing today" Jonathan asks. "Logan is coming to spend the night tonight. Today's his birthday and I promised him he could spend the night. Until then I will probably be in my art room. What are you going to do" I tell him. "I don't know. I don't really have anything. What are you going to do in your art room" he asks. "It is really plain right now. I want to paint the walls" I tell him. "What color" he asks. "I don't know yet" I admit. "Hm well if you need any help I will be around here somewhere. I've got no where to go except the castle" Jonathan says.
Grace finishes her bottle and I start eating my own breakfast.
"Okay well how's things with you and Alice" I ask. Time for me to get into my brothers love life since I don't have much of one at the moment. "Stay out of my love life would ya" he says. "No messing with you is fun. Now tell me" I say all interested. "We are Fine. She's doing better at training. I'm hoping we can go do something later" he says. "I'm sure you can. If you get board you can see if she has something for you to do. I'm sure she does since she's always busy" I suggest. "Yeah I guess I could" he agree.
"Bear desperately needs a bath. He is starting to smell. Do we have anything to wash him down" Jonathan asks. I shrug. "You could probably just use regular soap. Where are you planning on giving him a bath" I ask. "I don't know. I will probably try to get him in my bathtub" he says. "I remember when I tried to give Chrissie a bath in the bathroom of the guest bathroom at my house, the one that's now moms house, and she fought me. She would not want to get in the bath, so have fun trying to get bear in the bath" I say. "Thanks I will try. Where was jace during all of that" he asks. "At the institute. This was before we got married, we were engaged but not married yet" I say. "Oh, that makes sense" he says.
We both finish our breakfast.
After breakfast I head up to my bedroom and get the key to my art room. I go down to the nursery and change Grace into some clothes since I didn't this morning. She is wearing yellow today. I pick up her blue baby pillow. I grab one of her toy rings. I take Grace and her blue baby pillow and toy to the art room.
As soon as I get in he room I lock the door behind me. I set down Graces baby pillow in the middle of the floor and set her down in the pillow. She looks up at me with her big blue eyes.
"Grace do you want to watch mommy paint the art rooms walls" I ask. She starts making baby noises. She waves her toy around.
I open a cabinet full of buckets of paint. I've got an idea. What if I painted the background of one of the walls black and when it dries I paint a lion on it.
I like this idea.
I look through the cabinet. I find a bucket of black paint in the back. I grab it and set it on the floor. I look through the drawers in my art room for a paint roller. I find one and start painting the wall.
I get the wall done and I hear a knock on my door. I look at Grace. She waves her toy around like she's proud of it. I smile at how cute she is. I'd rather her hold her toy than my stele.
There's another knock on the door. I go and open it. Jonathan is on the other side.
"Charlotte can't find Grace and she's worried. Is she with you" Jonathan asks. "She's in here with me" I tell him. "Good. Charlotte is getting all upset thinking she lost the princess and you are going to fire her" Jonathan says. "No of course I won't fire Charlotte. She helps watch over and take care of Grace when I need her to" I say.
I hear rattling from behind me. "You can come in. I haven't done much" I tell him. I move aside and he walks in.
"There's our little girl" Jonathan says. He picks her up from her pillow and holds her on his hip. She shakes her toy around. She makes baby noises. "I see" he says and smiles at her.
"Why did you paint the wall black" Jonathan asks. "It's just the background color. I will paint something overtop of it. That will probably be tomorrow because I have to let this dry" I answer. "Oh, what are you doings with the other walls" he asks. "I'm not sure yet" I answer honestly. "Oh" he says.
"We should probably let Charlotte know Grace was with me" I say. "Yeah probably" Jonathan says. We both leave my art room closing the door behind us. I lock it.
Jonathan and I go to the tower. We hear voices from inside the nursery. We stop before the doorway.
"It's all my fault Alice. I lost princess Grace. They are going to be so mad" I hear Charlotte say. She sounds like she's about to cry. "No, no Charlotte, it's not your fault. You didn't lose Grace. It's going to be okay" Alice says trying to reassure her. "But it is Alice. If I had just finished breakfast sooner and come straight here then I might know where Grace is" Charlotte says. "Jonathan is looking around the castle for her right now. We just have to wait and see if he finds her" Alice says.
I look at Jonathan holding Grace. She is staring up at him. "Go on" I tell him quietly.
Jonathan walks in the room. "I found her. She is just fine Charlotte" Jonathan says. "Oh princess" Charlotte says.
I walk in the room. Charlotte is holding Grace. "Where was she" Alice asks. "She was with me. I'm sorry to have scared you Charlotte" I apologize. "I'm glad she's alright. I don't know if I could have handled it if I actually lost the princess" Charlotte says. She sets her down in her play pen.
"Actually Alice. If you have some time I have something for you to do. You can get someone else to do it if you want. Do you remember Logan" I ask. "Jem and Tessa's son? Yeah of course" she says. "He's coming today. I'm guessing around lunch time. Today is his birthday" I say. "Oh yeah, you promised him he could come spend the night for his birthday" she remembers. "Yeah, I'm sure he hasn't forgotten. Can you or someone get him a room ready" I ask. "Yeah of course" she says. "Thanks. Take care of her for me Charlotte" I say. She nods.
Jonathan goes off with Alice and I go over to the library. I pull out a book and start reading.
•••
"Hey you want to go to lunch" Jonathan asks. "Yeah" I answer.
We both go get Grace and go to lunch. Grace makes sure she brings her toy with her. She has a tight hold on her toy so we had to have it at the lunch table and you can't really tell a baby no because they don't know what that means.
"Did you give bear a bath" I ask. "It took a while. I had to pick him up and set him in the bath and even then he tried to get out. He eventually got a bath" Jonathan says. "I told you he would. I'm surprised you can pick him up, he looks like he would be heavy" I say. "He is But he also desperately needed a bath so I had no choice but to pick him up to get him in the bath. He got me all wet to" he says. "Yeah that will happen. Chrissie probably needs a bath too if you are still in the dog bathing mood" I say. "No I am not. I am not changing again" he says.
I like getting to spend time with my brother. Times like this when we talk about small things like this.
I eat the rest of my lunch then I go set Grace down in her crib for her nap. I kiss her little head then I leave the room.
"There is a James Carstairs here to see you. And he has a little boy with him" one of the servants says when I leave Graces nursery. "Okay, where are they now" I ask. "They are waiting for you in the throne room" he says. "Okay thank you" I say. He bows and leaves.
I go to the throne room and see Jem and Logan. Logan has a small backpack on that has animals on it. "Hi Clary" Logan says. He runs up and hugs me. I hug him back. "Hey buddy happy birthday" I say. "Thank you" he says.
"Where's Grace" Jem asks. "I just put her down for her nap" I tell him. "See Logan, even Grace has to take naps" Jem says to Logan. "He wouldn't take a nap earlier. So that means you have to go to bed earlier, right Logan" Jem says. "Yes daddy" Logan says.
"Good, I will see you both tomorrow. How about after lunch tomorrow to pick him up" Jem asks. "That's fine with me" I say. Logan nods.
"Can you open a portal up for me Clary" Jem asks. "Sure" I say. I take Logan's hand and we both go out to the front lawn of the castle. I take my stele and open a portal up. He steps through and I close it behind him.
"Logan do you remember Alice" I ask. He nods. "She's setting your bedroom for tonight up. Do you want to go see if it's ready" I ask. He nods excited. "Okay let's go. You can put your backpack in there too" I tell him. "Okay" he says.
We both walk around the castle. "Hey Logan" Alice says. "Hi Alice" he says. "Is his bedroom Ready" I ask her. "Yeah. I got him in this one" she answers.
I walk with Logan in his new room. "This is your room okay buddy" I say. "Okay. I like this room. Where is yours" he asks. "I will show you" I say. He puts his book bag on the floor.
I hold my hand out and he takes it. I go and open my tower. "Wow" he says. I smile. "Isn't that cool" I ask. "Yeah" he says.
We both step in and I close it behind us. "What's in there" he asks looking at Graces nursery door. "That's Graces room" I tell him. "Is she still sleeping" he asks "Yeah, she is. You will get to see her later though okay" I say. "Okay Clary" he says.
I walk up the stairs to my bedroom. "This is where my room is" I tell him. "Can I see it" he asks.
I open the one of the doors and we go inside. "Wow, this room is huge. It's so pretty. Can I stay here with you tonight" he asks. "No buddy I'm sorry" I say. He looks sad.
I pick him up and set him on my bed. "You know how your daddy told you since you didn't take your nap you have to go to bed early" I ask him. He nods still looking sad. "What if you don't have to? It can be our little secret. When you do take your naps what time do you get to stay up till" I ask. "9:00" he says. "Okay, how about since you are staying with me you get to stay up till 9:30" I ask. "Yay! I love you Clary" he says. "I love you too Logan. What is your favorite flavor" I ask. "I like vanilla and chocolate. Momma doesn't like chocolate" he says. "Okay. How can you not like chocolate" I ask. "I don't know? I love chocolate" he says. "Me too" I say.
"Hey Logan you want to go play outside? I don't have a swing set or anything but there's tons of grass and room to run around and play on" I say. "Okay" he says.
I set him off the bed and on the floor. I take his hand and we walk around the castle.
We both go outside. Chrissie runs up to us. "Puppy" Logan says when he sees her. He pets her head.
"Tag you're it" Logan says. He pokes me and runs away. I kick my shoes off and run after him.
He's a fast little three year old. We play tag for a while then he plays something else in the grass. Chrissie plays with him.
I sit down in the grass and watch them play.
"What are you doing" I hear someone ask. I look up and see Jonathan. He sits beside me. "I'm letting Logan play in the grass for a little while. Hey can you do me a favor and watch Logan for a few minutes. I have to go tell the people down in the kitchens something" I ask. "Yeah sure" he says.
"Logan, come here for just a minute buddy" I call. He wanders over to me. "Yes Clary" he asks. "Logan I need to go tell the cooks something in the kitchen for just a few minutes. Jonathan is going to sit here and watch you while I'm gone. What do you want for dinner" I ask. "Spaghetti! Momma doesn't let me have spaghetti much" he says excited. "Okay. I will be right back okay. You can keep playing with Chrissie" I say. "Okay Clary" he says and runs after Chrissie and Chrissie runs around.
"Okay I will be right back" I say to Jonathan and go inside the castle.
I go down to the kitchen. "The little boy I was telling you about whose coming for his birthday is here" I tell the cooks.
"What kind of cake do you want us to make" one of them asks. "Can you make one that's vanilla and chocolate" I ask. "Yes ma'am. I think we can figure something out" he says. "Good and I need you to make spaghetti for dinner tonight since we wants that too. Spaghetti is easy and doesn't take long to make so I thought that would be easy for you guys" I say. "Okay. We will make the spaghetti last since it takes longer for the cake then" he says. "That's fine. Bye guys" I say and leave the kitchen so I can get out of their way.
I go over to the nursery. "Hi Charlotte" I say. "Hi" she says. "I was going to go outside with Jonathan, I was thinking about talking Grace outside with me" I say. "She would like that. Here you go" she says. She reaches down in Graces crib and picks her up. "Thank you" I say and take Grace out of the nursery and outside.
I go back outside and relieve Jonathan of his babysitting duty. "You brought little Grace" Jonathan says. "Yeah, I figured she would like to get some fresh air instead of being cooped up in her nursery" I say. "Yeah probably" he says. I sit Grace in my lap and hold her up because she can't sit up on her own.
"What was it like before you moved to Idris when you got married to jace" Jonathan asks. We both keep watching Logan. "It was nice. It seems like after I got married they needed me in the office more and I couldn't work from home as often. It was nice when I got to come home and Jace had made dinner or ordered take out or something. The house was always clean for the most part. He has a little OCD. He would go out at night with Alec and Isabelle hunting for demons" I tell him. "You wouldn't go with them" he asks. "Sometimes I would. Some nights though I just couldn't do it I would be so tired. I worked just about every day. Or I wouldn't go out at night if I had to go in really early in the morning. It wasn't always just designing dresses. There was other things I had to do" I tell him. "Oh I get it" he says.
After an hour Logan walks up to us. "Clary I'm hungry...and tired" he says. "Okay we still got about another hour and a half 'till dinner do you want to go take your nap then we can head down to dinner" I ask. "Can I still stay up like you promised" he asks. "Of course you can" I say. "Okay, can you show me where my bedroom is again? I forgot" he says. He looks down embarrassed. "Yeah it's okay it's a big castle it's easy to forget" I say sweetly. I hand Grace to Jonathan.
I stand up and he holds my hand. I lead him around the castle to his room. "Here you go. I will come get you when it's time for dinner okay buddy" I say. "Okay Clary" he says. I help him up onto the bed and pull back the covers. He crawls in the bed. "Take your nap and I will wake you up when it's time for dinner" I tell him. "Okay" he says. He turns on his side and closes his eyes. I smile and leave his room closing the door behind me.
"You are really good with him" Jonathan says scaring me. I didn't know he was there. "Oh, thanks. I love being with him. He's so cute. I hope Logan and Grace are friends when Grace gets older" I say. "That would be good" he says.
Jonathan and I go hang out together in the drawing room.
"I'm glad Logan is here to distract me from my jace relationship problems" I admit. "Me too. It's a shame he's only here for tonight. You sure I can't talk to Jace and try to get through to him for you" he asks. "Yes Jonathan. Please don't I don't want him to get mad at me again" I say. "Okay fine Clary" he says.
An hour and a half pass by quickly. "I need to go get Logan up and then we can head down to dinner" I tell Jonathan. "Okay I'm gonna head on down there and I will take Grace with me. We will wait for you down there" he says. "Okay" I say.
I go on down to Logan's room. I open the door and he is still asleep. I walk over to the side of the bed. He is holding gadget in his arms.
"Logan. Come on buddy wake up. It's time for dinner. I have a surprise for you too" I say. He wakes up. "What is it" he asks. "I can't tell you because it won't be a surprise now would it? It's right after dinner okay" I say. The surprise is the birthday cake that I'm having the cooks make for him. I hope he likes it. I know he isn't expecting any type of cake or anything, at least I don't think he does.
He slides off the bed and holds my hand and we walk down to dinner. He sits beside me and Jonathan hands me Grace and he sits across from us.
The cooks bring us our spaghetti. I haven't had spaghetti in forever. Spaghetti is one of my favorites.
Logan gets excited about having spaghetti for dinner. "Logan, why doesn't your mom let you have spaghetti for dinner" I ask. "I don't know she says she doesn't want me to get messy" he says. If that's why I may have made a mistake.
By the end of dinner Logan has spaghetti sauce all over his face. I notice the maids are trying to hold in a laugh as they see his face. I take a napkin and wipe him down.
The bring out the cake and his eyes light up. He looks at me and smiles. The cake looks good too.
"Happy birthday Logan" I tell him. "Thank you Clary. This is the best birthday ever" he says. "I'm glad. Here" I say and I cut him a piece of the cake. The inside is vanilla. He loves every bite of it as he eats the cake.
Logan and I wander around the castle. He looks out the window. "Clary what's in your barn" he asks. "My horses" I tell him. "Can I see? I've never seen a horse before. Daddy said he used to have one" Logan says. I didn't know that. "Yeah come on" I say. He reaches up for me to pick him up. I pick him up.
When I get outside I notice the sun is starting to go down. I walk on down to the barn.
"Where are all the horsies" he asks. "In their stables" I say. I walk him over to see Chance whose head comes up when we get to the stable door. He comes over and sticks his head out.
Logan reaches out and pets his nose. "What's hims name" Logan asks. "This is Chance. He's Jonathan's horse" I tell him. Chance is a tan palomino.
I like him he's pretty" he says. "He is isn't he" I agree.
I take him over to see autumn. Autumn sticks her head out.
"What's hers name" Logan asks. "This is autumn" I tell him. He pets her.
"We have a pony. Do you want to go see him" I ask. "Yeah" he says.
I walk over to the pony's stall.
What's hims name" he asks. "We haven't named him yet. What do you think we should name him" I ask. We just got this little guy a couple of days ago. He's not going to get any bigger. "I like the name Bobby for him" Logan says and pets Bobby.
"Bobby it is then. This is your horse now. Happy birthday" I say. This is the other surprise I had in mind for him. "Really? He's mine" Logan asks excited. "Yeah but you should probably keep him here. I don't know if your momma and daddy would have anywhere to put him" I say. "He could go in my backyard" Logan says. "He's a little big for that. But you can keep him here and come see him whenever you want" I say.
"Okay. Can I ride him tomorrow" Logan asks. "Yeah I'd like that" I say.
"I want down" he says. I set him down. He walks over and pets on Bobby.
After a little while I notice it's almost his bed time. "Come on Logan, lets go to bed. You can come see him tomorrow" I say. "Okay. Bye bye Bobby" he says.
I take his hand and we walk back to his bedroom.
I tuck him into the bed. "Okay go to sleep and in the morning after breakfast we can go see Bobby okay" I say. "Okay Clary night night" he says. "Goodnight Logan" I say and kiss is little forehead. "Jonathan is in the bedroom right across from yours if you need anything okay" I say. "Okay" he says. I turn out the lights and close the door to his room.
I wander around the castle in search for Jonathan. I eventually find him in one of the hallways.
"I don't understand what to do Clary" he says. "What happened" I ask. "Alice has been snappy at me for the past two days. I don't even do anything and she is just snappy" he says. "That's weird. You said it started yesterday" I ask and he nods. I think I know what's going on "Just give her a few days and she will be back to normal" I say. "You sure" he asks. "Yeah" I say. "Okay. Wait did I do something" he asks. "I doubt it. Just give her a few days, okay" I say. "Okay" he says.
"It's getting late, you ready to head on to bed" he suggests. "Yeah lets do it. I want to go see Grace before I go to bed first" I say. "Okay" he says.
We both go over to Graces nursery.
"I can't get her to go to sleep" Charlotte says walking around with her. Grace is staring wide eyed around the room. "I can take her. I was going to say good night to her anyway. You can go for the night" I tell Charlotte. "Okay" she says. She hands me Grace.
"Can I ask you a question. It may sound crazy but when I was changing her into some pajamas earlier I saw what looked like little time brown wings on her back" Charlotte says. "You are not crazy Charlotte. Jace May kill me if he found it I told you but she really does have small brown wings. You might as well know since you are now the one taking care of her" I say. "Okay well how do you take care of them" she asks. "I don't know. I mean you can't really do much right now since she's so little. Im sure they will grow over time. Just keep taking care of her like you have been doing" I say. "But what if she hurts me" she asks. "Grace has wings not a knife. She can't hurt you" I reassure. "Okay. Goodnight mrs. Clary" she says. "Goodnight Charlotte" I say.
I walk over and sit in the rocking chair with Grace. "Isn't she already supposed to be asleep" Jonathan asks. "Yeah but it doesn't look like she's tired. She's wide awake and looking around. You can go ahead and go to bed if you want" I say. "Okay I'm going to bed then. I'm tired, see you in the morning little red" he says. "Goodnight" I say. He leaves me and Grace in the nursery.
Grace watches him leave and just stares at the door or around the room. "Grace you need to go to bed, sweet girl" I say. She looks at me. She scrunches up her face and makes sounds like she's mad or something. "No Grace" I say. She makes more noise and waves her arms around. "Grace you have to go to bed baby. I need sleep little girl" I say. She grunts at me and looks mad.
I just rock her and try to get her to go to sleep. After about an hour and a half she goes to sleep. I kiss her head and put her in her crib and leave the nursery.
I go upstairs to my bedroom. I change into my captain America pajamas and get in the bed.
I sketch in my sketchbook for a little while then decide to go to bed.