Edited as of 1/16/16.

A/N: Sorry for my long absence! I wanted to make this chapter as good as possible to make it up to all of you for waiting, so I hope you enjoy it!

It parallels more of Chapter 5, Clave and Covenant, from City of Bones.

I also got a review wondering why Jace's eyes aren't gold. I invite anyone asking themselves that question to look back at my Author's Note on Chapter 1. ;) (Basically, I just pictured him with blue eyes if he was in the mundane world.)

Enjoy~

5
BED AND BREAKFAST

As she slept, only one dream occupied Clary's mind…

She found herself outside on a hot, sunny day. Raising her hand to her eyes to block out the sun, she realized that she was watching Jace play tennis again. But, unlike when he had easily defeated the boy in the ski cap, Jace was actually putting in some effort. Clary looked at the other side of the court at his opponent and realized that it was none other than her mother.

Jocelyn seemed to be quite the experienced tennis player, wearing a short white dress and giving Jace a run for his money, despite her age. Clary watched as the ball rocketed back and forth in an endless volley, until, mid-swing, her mother simply vanished. Jocelyn's racket fell onto the court with a loud clatter while the ball bounced erratically away. Where had Jocelyn gone?

Jace, meanwhile, was grinning victoriously as he jogged over to where Clary was standing. She caught a flash of his white teeth, as bright as the sun, and then he had pulled her against him into a passionate kiss—

Hazily, she became aware of a resonant knocking sound. "Clary…" Was that Jace's voice? "Clary, are you awake?"

"Huh?" she mumbled, rolling over in an impossibly soft bed. Where was she…?

"I hate to wake you up like this, but it's already eleven. Can I come in?" Eleven o'clock? She had been sleeping for a long time…

Clary's eyes fluttered open to reveal a bright white room, all billowy curtains and plush armchairs holding decorative pillows. She realized that she was currently in a large, fluffy bed and had a brief moment of panic, before remembering that she was staying with the Lightwood family in one of their guest rooms. And Jace was knocking at the door…

Jace… Clary thought, cheeks darkening. Of course he would be the one to wake her up from a dream like that. "C-come in," she said, yawning and trying to dispel her embarrassment.

The door opened to reveal Jace, looking extremely handsome and refreshing against the white backdrop of the room. "Good morning, Clary. How are you doing?"

"I'm, um, alright, I guess." Clary yawned again and stretched her limbs, too sleepy for modesty. Jace had been looking at her, but she saw him smile vaguely and glance at the ceiling.

"Well, great," he said good-naturedly, his sky blue eyes flickering back to her. "As I said, I apologize for waking you up, but it's getting pretty late. We were all starting to worry about you."

Clary returned his easy smile, absentmindedly adjusting her tank top. "You must all be morning people."

"You could say that. Here." He suddenly held out his arms, and Clary realized that he was carrying a stack of neatly-folded white towels. Is everything white in this house? she thought with a touch of amusement. "I brought some towels for you, in case you want to take a shower. The guest bathroom is right there," he indicated, pointing at a half-open door on the right wall. "It should be stocked with the necessary toiletries."

"Thanks." With another stretch, Clary lifted herself into a sitting position.

"And I'll give these to you," Jace said, handing her the towels. She watched his eyes glance down at her bare legs, exposed by her pajama shorts, and felt herself blush. She wasn't wearing much, and now he had assumedly seen all the freckles on her legs, which Clary usually tried to hide… "So, what do you want for breakfast?" he asked brightly, seemingly unperturbed.

"Breakfast?"

"Well, I assume you're going to be hungry soon. We could make pancakes, waffles, eggs, crepes… Whatever you want, really. I know that Isabelle is probably dying to cook." He rolled his eyes affectionately.

"Um… Pancakes would be great."

"Excellent. Do you remember how to get to the kitchen?"

Clary tried to remember the layout of the Lightwoods' house, and realized that she had been too tired the night before to commit it to memory. "I bet I could figure it out eventually."

"Alright. I'll send Izzy to find you if you get lost," Jace said with his now-familiar dimpled smile. "But feel free to take your time getting ready. Do you have everything you need?"

"I think so." Clary glanced at the floor beside the bed, where she had exhaustedly placed her suitcase the night before. Unsurprisingly, it was still unzipped and spewing clothes everywhere, completely at odds with the rest of the pristine room. Then she looked back at Jace, who was casually standing by the bed and regarding her with those stunning eyes. She was once again overwhelmed with gratitude towards him and his family, especially since they were practically strangers. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome," he said genuinely. "Now, if you excuse me, I have some pancakes to make."

Clary laughed softly. "See you soon."

With one last grin and a fleeting wave, Jace exited the room and carefully closed the door behind him.

For a few seconds after he left, Clary just sat on the bed and hugged herself, unable to contain a blissful smile. Despite everything that had happened the day before, she found that something about Jace excited her immensely. He was so thoughtful, so talented, so good-looking… The perfect guy, really. The astounding part was his apparent interest in her.

Clary glanced down at her pale legs, wondering what they would have looked like to Jace. Did he notice her freckled knees? She supposed that, overall, her legs weren't bad, as legs went. They weren't terribly long, but her habit of jogging a couple times a week had given them some muscle definition. And she supposed that she had nice ankles.

Ugh, what am I doing? Clary thought exasperatedly. Determined not to scrutinize her appearance any further, she grabbed the stack of white towels and marched into the bathroom.

The guest bathroom, much like the bedroom attached to it, looked like it had come from a hotel or the pages of an interior decorating magazine. But, instead of flowing fabric, the bathroom was full of hard surfaces—tiles, porcelain, glass, polished wood—all of it a pure, snowy white. Of course. The complete lack of color was almost alarming. Couldn't they have included a potted plant or something, just to break up the monochromaticity?

Shaking her head, Clary slid back a frosted glass panel to reveal the bathtub. Jace hadn't been lying when he said it was stocked with the necessary toiletries. Her eyebrows raised slowly as she took in the little shelves molded into the corners, which held countless expensive-looking products. Experimentally, Clary picked up one French-labeled bottle of 'shampooing'. It smelled pleasantly of mint and lavender, and she instantly liked it more than her own generic shampoo at home…

She stopped herself from thinking about that, instead diverting her attention to testing out the fancy shower. The water pressure turned out to be unsurprisingly excellent, working at her tense shoulders and back like an experienced masseuse, and the calming scents of the assorted soaps offered a kind of aromatherapy. Clary really let herself relax under the stream of water, until her weary body felt pliant and utterly clean. Then she stepped out, wrapping one fluffy towel around her and another around her bright red hair. When Clary caught her reflection in the mirror above the sink, green eyes standing out like gemstones in her pale face and against the stark white backdrop, she attempted an encouraging smile and felt mildly better.

After that, she padded back into the bedroom and started agonizing over what to wear. Jace was a reasonably stylish dresser, from what she'd seen, and they would assumedly be spending time together, so she decided that she wanted to look nice. Unfortunately, her bland wardrobe of T-shirts, flannels, sweaters, and old jeans didn't easily lend itself to that, but maybe with a little creativity…

Inspired by the simplicity of her room, she eventually settled on a white T-shirt and faded jeans with an olive green scarf and brown oxfords, determining that the outfit made her look equally casual and put-together. For a final touch, she wound her damp curls into a loose braid. Clary felt an unusual swell of pride in her appearance as she gave herself a once-over in the mirror, glad that she took the time to actually pick out an outfit instead of throwing on the first things she saw.

Feeling pleased and confident, Clary strode out into the hallway and set off to find the kitchen.

Navigating the Lightwoods' house turned out to be more difficult than she had anticipated. The lengthy network of elegant hallways and staircase landings would make it seem like easy work, but the layout nonetheless confused Clary. She had assumed that her guest room was on the second floor, but going down one flight of stairs only led her to another aisle of closed doors. Perplexed, she started walking back in the direction she came from. Had she somehow missed another staircase that went further downstairs?

She passed the spiral stairway that she had descended, not seeing anything that would lead down another flight. So, instead of turning around again and walking in circles, Clary decided to walk down the hallway on the other side. Eventually, it opened up to a large, open space, with a balcony overlooking an elegant foyer. Thank God, she thought, seeing the curved marble staircase ahead of her. She spent a moment admiring the room's magnificent chandelier and then descended the stairs.

"Now what?" Clary said under her breath. She deduced that she was at the front of the house, given the room's enormous double doors. But where was the kitchen…?

One archway in the foyer led to a tasteful living room. Refusing to be disheartened, Clary went back and walked through another archway into a dining room. It was then that Clary heard indistinct voices, having what sounded like a lighthearted argument. As she drew forward, they became clearer…

"We are not putting bananas in the pancakes. That's disgusting," said a muffled female voice.

"It is not disgusting! Bananas are healthy." Jace, Clary recognized with a start. Even though she had only known him for a few days, his naturally alluring voice was unmistakable.

"Pancakes aren't supposed to be healthy. Why else would we drown them in syrup?"

"Speak for yourself. I actually care about nutrition. Besides, bananas pair excellently with pancakes."

"If anything, you should put in something good, like chocolate chips."

"And you call yourself an athlete," Jace scoffed nonchalantly. "My vote is still for banana slices. Do we even have chocolate chips?"

By that point, Clary had reached the entryway to the kitchen. Inside the glossy room, she found Jace leaning against the counter island, while Isabelle stood opposite him with her arms crossed.

Clary felt a brief twinge of guilt for interrupting their conversation, but decided to speak up. "Good morning," she said, striding further into the kitchen with as much confidence as she could muster.

"Clary!" Jace said, bestowing upon her a brilliant smile that made her feel strangely breathless. Out of the corner of her eye, Clary could see Isabelle's brief smirk as her dark eyes took him in with obvious amusement. "I see that you made it here in one piece."

"Barely," Clary said with an extremely embarrassing giggle. Abruptly conscious of Jace and Isabelle staring at her, she cleared her throat. "But I'm here now, so I guess that's what matters."

"Right," agreed Jace. "So, do you like banana pancakes?"

"Or chocolate chip?" interjected Isabelle, giving Jace a playfully stern look. Clary realized with a start that she was remarkably pretty, her sleek black hair framing an angular, surprisingly delicate-looking face. Even her outfit—a white and blue button-down shirt tucked into a pair of denim shorts—seemed both effortless and perfectly suited to her. She was exactly the kind of girl Clary would have envied in middle school and maybe even high school. But now that she was older and less prone to meaningless jealousy, she made a mental note to ask Isabelle for fashion tips.

"Either or, really. I usually make myself blueberry pancakes, but anything you guys want is fine," Clary said tactfully, thinking about the quarrel she'd overheard. "Or we could just have them plain."

Isabelle made an expression of disgust. "Absolutely not. No plain pancakes allowed in this house." Then, quick as a whip, her lips curved into a fluid grin. "But the blueberries are a stroke of genius. We can totally do those."

"They're full of antioxidants, too," added Jace, digging in the white refrigerator for a moment and unearthing a box of vibrant blueberries. "I usually blend them into my protein shakes." He smiled and winked at Clary briefly, and then started to stir some berries into a bowl of pancake batter.

Protein shakes? pondered Clary, nonetheless pleased that he had winked at her.

"Feel free to ignore Jace's pointless obsession with nutrition," Isabelle said as if guessing the pattern of Clary's thoughts, leaning in towards her conspiratorially. "He takes our sport way too seriously."

One of Jace's eyebrows quirked up, which made Clary faintly jealous. She'd always wished she could do that. "I heard that. And I am not obsessed. I just think that it's my duty as an athlete to keep my body in the best shape possible."

At the moment he mentioned his body, tantalizing images of an unclothed Jace entered Clary's mind. If he was that gorgeous with clothes on, and actively strived to be as healthy as possible… Clary could feel her cheeks growing warm, and she felt a stab of guilt about her constant fantasizing. It was bad enough that she had dreamed about him…

She snapped out of her thoughts before they could get too out of hand, just in time to see Isabelle mouthing the word "obsessed" to her. Clary attempted to return her easy smile, beginning to sense that the word could apply to her own fixation on Jace.

The sound and smell of sizzling pancake batter distracted Clary again, drawing her eyes back to the subject of her newfound obsession. He was in profile, but she could still tell from his furrowed brow and the wrinkling of his nose that he was intently concentrating. A curly wisp of blond hair was falling in his downturned face as he prodded the pancakes with a spatula, which made him look extremely cute. Clary's eyes drank in every detail of his profile: his full lips, the strong angle of his jaw, the subtle protrusion of his Adam's apple, his sharp cheekbones. She wished regretfully that she had brought her sketchbook and a pencil downstairs so that she could have drawn him again. Jace had the unique power to make something even as ordinary as cooking breakfast beautiful.

Suddenly, his expression soured. "Damn it. I think I burned a couple of these."

Isabelle jumped up from her perch on a yellow and black stool, striding over to the stove and elbowing Jace out of the way. "Let me handle this. You usually undercook them, anyway. They're probably fine."

"Like you're going to do any better."

"I am," Isabelle claimed, seizing the spatula from Jace's hand. "You won't be needing this anymore. Now shoo. Entertain your lady love."

Clary's mouth fell open. Had Isabelle seriously referred to her as Jace's 'lady love'? Was her interest in him that obvious? How embarrassing, she thought, her heart beginning to race.

Jace, for his part, merely raised his eyebrows and walked over to where Clary was standing, the ghost of a smile playing at his lips. He was so composed… Why wasn't he reacting more? Had he already realized that she had a thing for him, and was just humoring her? "So, Clary," he said, "what do you like to put on your pancakes?"

Before she could answer, Isabelle did so for her. "Obviously, she's going to eat them with maple syrup like a normal person, unlike Mr. I-Eat-My-Pancakes-Dry-Because-I'm-So-Neurotic-About-Calories."

"I resent that statement," said Jace pointedly.

"What? Clary seems significantly more normal than you, and normal people typically enjoy their pancakes with maple syrup."

Clary found her voice. "Um, I actually don't like maple syrup. Do you have any honey?"

"Honey?" mused Isabelle. "I think Alec keeps some in his tea cabinet. But I would have never considered putting it on pancakes. You know, Clary, you may be onto something."

Clary smiled timidly. "I know it's kind of weird."

Isabelle waved a flippant hand, saying, "Hey, I'll try anything at least once. Jace, get the honey! Come on, were you raised in a barn? Be a good host!"

Jace snorted and rolled his eyes, retrieving a bottle of honey from one of the many white cabinets. "Alright, fine. But I'm blaming you if Alec finds out we took some." Then he looked at Clary and grinned, and she immediately felt more comfortable and relaxed—enough so that she returned his smile without her usual tentativeness.

Isabelle lowered a plate of pancakes onto the counter in front of Clary and gestured for her to sit down on one of the stools. "Well, eat up. I didn't slave over a hot stove for nothing."

"Yeah," said Jace as Clary drizzled honey over her pancakes. "You'll need all the energy you can get for the grand tour of the Lightwood Estate, courtesy of yours truly."

Alone time with Jace? Clary smiled at the prospect, staring deeply into Jace's lovely blue eyes. "I'm looking forward to it. Everything I've seen so far is beautiful."

"If you think this is beautiful, just wait until you see the gardens," he said, sitting in the stool next to hers and digging in to his own plate of blueberry pancakes. Their close proximity coupled with Jace's warm, genuine smile made Clary feel light-headed and excited at the same time, and she found that she couldn't finish her pancakes fast enough.

Breakfast turned out to be delicious, with both Jace and Isabelle agreeing that the blueberry pancakes with honey were an excellent choice. Clary, for her part, felt considerably at ease with the pair, listening to their natural banter and laughing along with their jokes. And she didn't have a chance to feel excluded, since they both seemed invested in asking her questions and listening to her responses.

Even talking with Isabelle was more fun than Clary could have imagined. She had never had many female friends to speak of, so it was nice to hear Isabelle's unique take on things. Often times, with Simon and his friends, Clary felt like she had to tone down her girliness to be accepted, but it wasn't the case with these two. Clary could feel herself coming out of her shell, which was equally exciting and terrifying.

Isabelle left the kitchen as soon as she was done eating, telling Jace that she was going to be in the gym if anyone was in desperate need of her assistance. Clary found herself becoming nervous again, now that she was alone with Jace, but she shoved those feelings to the back of her mind. Taking the initiative, she said to Jace, "So, what about that tour you promised me?"

Jace smiled blindingly again. "Very well. We can begin the tour any time you want, Miss Fray. I was thinking that we should start outside and work our way in."

"I thought you said that the garden was the best part. Why would you skip to the grand finale?"

"I have my reasons," he said, his eyes twinkling with an emotion that Clary couldn't quite place. "Besides, it's a beautiful day outside, and I could use some more fresh air."

"More?" Clary asked, unable to hedge her natural curiosity.

"Alec and I went for our daily run this morning."

She was impressed at his dedication, thinking of her own occasional jogs. "What time did you go?"

"5:30," Jace said unabashedly. "We usually go at 6, but we both happened to be up extra early this morning." Clary must have made a face, because he laughed unexpectedly. "What? There's nothing wrong with waking up at 5:30."

"If you say so," Clary said, grinning. "But to exercise that early? I think that's a little unnatural."

As they talked, Jace led her outside to the rear of the house, taking care to hold open the door for her. "How else could I watch the sunrise?"

"I've never watched a sunrise before." It was a pastime that Clary had always viewed as too obviously romantic and unrealistic, something that only happened in novels or rom coms. Who in their right mind would wake up that early, after all? But now, she pictured Jace out for a run in the morning with the sun just beginning to shine, illuminating him and the world with hazy golden light. For the first time in her life, she had the urge to watch a sunrise, as long as Jace was with her. "I typically jog in the afternoon, myself."

"You run?" Jace asked, sounding dually surprised and delighted.

"Only a couple times a week. Nothing major." Clary looked straight ahead, then, and saw an enormous, manicured expanse of hedges and rose bushes offset with stone pathways. "Wow," she exhaled, unable to say anything else that could express how she was feeling.

"I'm glad you like it," he said, the two of them approaching a small white gazebo surrounded by flowers. Clary was so struck by the beauty of it all—the roses, the robin's egg colored sky dotted with fluffy clouds, the gorgeous young man at her side—that she was at a complete loss for words. "It's one of my favorite places to be. I thought you'd appreciate it, since you're an artist."

"It's amazing," Clary said, lowering herself onto a bench in the gazebo and gazing at the incredible scenery before her. "I've never seen a more beautiful view."

Jace sat next to her, his expression intent and oddly pensive. There was something else, too, the same strange emotion that Clary couldn't put her finger on earlier. She began to suspect what it was, and felt her heartbeat flutter. "You know, Clary," he said, staring into her eyes with a thrilling intensity. "We never did get to finish our coffee yesterday, so I was wondering… Would you possibly be interested in trying it again sometime?"

Clary felt as if she was floating, but struggled to keep herself in check. This wasn't a time for miscommunication. She needed to get Jace to be more specific. "How so? As friends, or—"

"As a date," he said, and Clary felt her eyes widen. Was someone really asking her out? More than that, Jace was asking her out? It was impossible, but unimaginably exhilarating at the same time. And he had been the one to say the words, too… Jace wanted to go out with her! Dazedly, Clary observed that a touch of nervousness had come over his expression. "Unless you don't want to, of course. We could also just go as friends. It's just that we've been spending a lot of time together lately, and I—"

Euphoric words began tumbling out of Clary's mouth. "Of course I'll go out with you, Jace. I've been so nervous these past couple days with my mom and everything, but you're the best silver lining to the situation that I could have ever hoped for. I would love to get coffee with you sometime."

"Really?" he asked, his smile brighter and more divinely beautiful than ever before.

Clary felt slightly dizzy from the flood of emotions, but not in a bad way. "Yes."

Jace reached out and took Clary's hand experimentally, their eyes shyly meeting as if for the first time. A slight breeze blew through the gazebo, rustling their hair and all of the surrounding flowers, but they were too absorbed in each other to notice. "It's a date, then."