Jace paced quite restlessly through the living room of the mansion, waiting for Clary to return. When he heard the front door he walked towards her.
"Hey, how was it?"
"Before we talk, can you just hold me for a moment?"
Jace wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"I'm glad you came home."
"Me too. And I could really use a drink. Is it appropriate to drink now?"
"I can check in which part of the world it is late enough for a happy hour."
"I'm sure, there is one at least."
"Should I cancel the dinner invitation?"
Clary looked up from having her head buried on his chest and shook her head.
"No, please don't. I'm looking much forward to a distraction. Where's the Chairman?"
"Sprawled out on the bed upstairs."
"That sounds familiar."
Jace led her to the living room to make her sit down on the couch before he poured both of them a whiskey. Clary downed the whiskey and asked Jace for a refill.
"Do you want to talk about it now?"
"You were right. She didn't really want to listen and she tried to get under my skin. Despite all the information she had access to, she still believes in what her mom told her. I tried to reason with her, explained to her what we all experienced but it was futile."
"How do you feel?"
"A part of me is sad because she's a part of my family nonetheless but I've learned, I can't save everyone. Amberlyn has chosen what she wants to believe and no matter how hard I try I most likely won't change it. It's hard to acknowledge it but if she ever gets out, she would try to follow Valentine's footsteps."
"How did she try to get under your skin?"
"She tried to question my moral compass, trying to play me off as a hypocrite because I killed people myself and how I treated Jonathan."
"I'm sorry. But you know that she's wrong about you."
Clary nodded and leaned onto his shoulder.
"That was when I knew I had to let it go."
"You know, I was afraid to let you talk to her because I thought, you might go out of your way to save her, especially now that you and Jonathan aren't on the best terms"
"I was aware of it that she's completely different to Jonathan. Contrary to Jonathan she had a choice to make, she could decide what she wanted to believe and act on it. She had the truth at hand but she dismissed it. Do I wish she would have listened? Of course I do but it's not up to me to change her mind."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"No, except for one thing. I'm sure this topic will come back up but tonight I just want an evening to make my off of things."
"I'm sure, we'll manage that."
"Good, I'm going to take a shower. Every time I was at the City of Bones I feel like I smell like death and despair."
Clary squealed when Jace sniffled on her neck.
"No death and despair."
"I only said I feel like it."
"Mind if I join you?"
"What?"
"You said you wanted me to take your mind off of things and..."
"And you're sure we'll make it in time?"
"We still have a few hours left."
Clary was kinda surprised they had made it in time. Though she had been scolding Jace for leaving another hickey on her neck. But she couldn't be angry with him for long. Even when Jace tested her patience, he was still adorable and she loved him for it.
Clary sighed when she pulled off her scarf but she was relieved that neither Alec nor Magnus wanted to make a joke about it. But the evening held the opportunity for embarrassment when she had to admit that she had completely forgotten about some wedding preparation tasks Izzy and Magnus had given her.
"Biscuit, how can you not know by now who your bridesmaids should be?"
"I know, I know but the last week I didn't have the time for it."
"That's true but all the time before. When you have that appointment in less than 2 weeks, you need to know because their measurements will have to be taken."
"Can I please have another glass of wine?"
"Sure. It's not about pressuring you but you don't want to make that decision in a hurry."
"No, I really don't."
"We better leave you to your discussion before you spill details Jace is not supposed to hear."
"No, please don't. We can discuss also over lunch during the next days."
"It's okay."
Alec and Jace retreated into his office, leaving Clary and Magnus in the living room.
"I'm an awful forgetful bride, am I?" Clary sighed while Magnus refilled her glass of wine.
"Don't say that, biscuit. You had a lot on your plate the last time."
"I know but shouldn't these things matter more to me?"
"Everyone handles this differently. But don't you dare to think that your forgetfulness is a sign of doubt. And be lucky that I'm your wedding warlock fairy godmother because I looked through the notes you've copied for me and I contacted the potential bridesmaids to get their measurements. You only have to decide if you still want them. I thought, you could have needed a little help."
"Oh gosh, this is fantastic. Magnus, this is amazing. But I don't know if Zoé will be able to come."
"Don't worry. I talked to her and she'll definitely attend your wedding."
"Did she say something about Jonathan?"
"No, except for that it's too early to predict something."
"I don't want to lose the last of my family. I know that all of you are my family but ..."
"You don't have to explain yourself. But I'm sure it will be okay again."
"I can't say I would have reacted differently if I would have been in his shoes. But I know I can't do much about it right now."
"Do you have any idea what you want to do for your bachelorette party?"
"No, except that I tell Izzy every time we won't go to Vegas. But I don't want that much of a big party. Every time I see those women in ridiculous costumes in the city, I know, that is not what I want."
"To be perfectly honest biscuit, I don't see you doing any of that stuff either. I doubt, you'd want to go to Vegas either."
"That's true. I'd like to stay here in New York. I just want to have a nice night out without embarrassing myself."
"If you like I'm going to take care of it and I'll sell that plan to Izzy."
"But shouldn't you be organizing the one for Jace."
"Alec's already on it, so I'll be glad to do that for you. No strippers then?"
"Absolutely not."
"I really liked the sketches of the dresses for the bridesmaids you already had."
"Thank you. Do you think that the dark bordeaux red is a good color?"
"Absolutely. I wouldn't have expected you to put them into awful pastel colored dresses."
"No, I still want them to be my friends afterwards."
"And I thought, it was a mundane tradition to dress bridesmaids in gowns with awful cuts in pastel colors which make them look sick."
"That's an urban myth and if brides do this, they're mostly Bridezillas."
"And you don't want to be one."
"Jace and I are casually joking about it but no, I'd like to still have some friends after the wedding."
"Any ideas about the guest list yet?"
"No, we haven't talked about that but I'd like to keep it a bit smaller. I think, the bigger it would get the higher the chances, something goes wrong. And I don't need any more of that after the last time."
"And you're okay?"
"Regarding what?"
"The last week, finding out you have a half sister who idolizes your father despite all he has done."
"I'm trying to find my way back to normal."
"You know if you need to talk or just need a distraction."
"Thank you. It's good that Jace and I are spending some time at the mansion. To be honest I'm not looking much forward to go back to the institute."
"Why?"
"During the past week whenever I went to our room, I couldn't shake off the picture how we found Jace there and..."
"I understand but what do you mostly connect with being in that room?"
"Positive emotions and happy memories."
"That's what I meant, biscuit. That room is your and Jace's place and one incident shouldn't take that away from you. You don't want to know how much heartbreak and despair these walls have seen. But the happy memories prevail."
"I've always felt safe there, it was our retreat."
"And it still is, don't give that up."
"Alec, I'm sorry. We didn't have much chance to talk over the past few days."
"You don't have to apologize. Clary clearly needed you"
"Yeah, she was quite attached to me but I don't mind."
"You both needed each other. I'm just glad, you're okay again. I was scared to lose you."
Jace was a bit surprised when Alec hugged him tightly.
"It takes more than just a Morgenstern with a fit of rage to get rid of me."
"But both nearly succeeded. So please don't take that lightly."
"I don't but I'm still here. And this didn't happen because I've been careless. I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't treat me as if I would have died."
"I was worried not only about losing you but also about what losing you would do to Clary."
"I know. She looked absolutely miserable when I woke up."
"She didn't want to leave your side. It was tough to convince her to eat regularly or to sleep at least a half decent amount of hours. We even made sure she had a bed of her own next to yours but she refused."
"You know how stubborn she is."
"As if I would have needed a reminder for it. But tell me, how you're holding up?"
"We're doing good so far."
"Did Clary tell you anything about her talk with Amberlyn?"
"She did and it seems that for the first time, she doesn't put on her tough cookie face to hide how she feels."
"The Clave will track the records of Amberlyn's mom. The last thing we need is another group of fanatics trying to rebuild the circle."
"That's true. I hope, Clary can distract herself with wedding preparations even though we still have months to go."
"You could still go on that vacation you had to cut short."
"I know but Clary hates obvious attempts of distractions."