This is the final chapter.

OMG!

It feels like I've been writing this for a really long time, and it's so sad that it's over! But I've got so many other stories I'm working on, so make sure you look into those.

A big thank you to you guys for your love and support, and I hope you enjoy the last chapter. This was heavily inspired by the ending of A Spectacular Now, which was one of the big inspirations for this whole story in general. I definitely recommend watching that movie :)

"Got any plans this weekend, Jace?!" Came a shout from Bat Velasquez from on top of the roof of the house that they were working on. Jace looked up from where he was lifting up a long piece of wood that was going to be part of the wall structure.

"Nah, man," Jace replied, swiping his hand over his hand over his eyes. "Probably just a quiet one in."

"You know, from everything I heard about you from Kaelie and Seelie, you never used to spend your weekends like that," Bat smirked down at him through the skeleton of the roof. Jace shrugged.

"Times change, I guess," Jace didn't look too bothered as he looked up at the sky. There was another clap of thunder, despite how hot it was, and it was only a matter of time before the rain started pouring down. It was just after two, and it had been threatening to rain since the morning. Their site manager, Alaric Rodriguez, had told them to keep working until the point where it started raining, and then they were free to go home. They all only lasted until half past two, and then the sky split in two when a particularly loud crack of thunder sounded, and all of the men were dashing from the house and toward their trucks and cars that were parked in the muddy driveway. Alaric shouted a goodbye to all of them before they were driving their separate ways.

Jace turned up his radio, not bothering to turn on his heater because the weather was still warm despite the rain, and he was going to be home soon enough. Given the time of day, he would be the only one at home, which he was thankful for. He was going to shower, and then probably sit down in front of the TV and binge watch Vikings.

The three months were up.

Jace had tried to not be counting down the days obsessively, but there were little marks in the corners of the calender that he had brought and propped up on his bedside table. Her semester finished on Wednesday of next week, and then Simon had said that she would be back in the few days following that. Jace would be lying if he said his stomach hadn't been twisting and in knots ever since Simon had passed on that she was coming back. The day that Simon had told him when Clary's semester finished, Jace had locked himself in his room and just stared up at the ceiling, smoking a joint until he fell asleep.

He had been doing better. The new job kept him busy, and he was making sure that he wasn't locked away in his room all the time. He had even gone out for dinner with the Lightwoods a couple of times, despite how difficult that had been without Isabelle. He knew that the time apart had been a good thing, even if it had hurt.

But since finding out when she was coming back, all he could think about was what he was going to say to her.

What they were going to talk about.

Whether or not there had been someone else while she had been away.

If she still felt the same way about him.

The idea that she didn't filled him with a ridiculous amount of dread, even though he knew that he couldn't blame her. If her feelings had changed, if she had decided that she was better off with someone else or maybe that she was just better off by herself, then he would respect that, he wouldn't push her.

He would be devastated, but he would try to hide it. The distance would make that easier.

Only seeing her every few months would make things more manageable.

Jace leaned his head against the tiles in the shower, the warm water trickling across the muscular planes of his back and down the back of his thighs. He had always had some definition to his body, but after the past month or so working with the boys in the building yard, he had bulked up a little, and he had more of a tan on his face and arms. He let out little huffs of breath through his nose, swallowing hard as he thought about Clary.

Clary.

He needed to see Clary.

Not through a computer screen, not next week when she got back—now.

The idea started as just that, an idea that he dismissed quickly. But the more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed. It was almost three o'clock. It was a three hour drive to the University—maybe he had Google mapped it a hundred times or so in the middle of the night when he had this crazy idea after a couple of drinks—which means he would get there around six. He had no idea where she lived, but he knew that it was close to the campus.

He could see Clary by about six-thirty or seven o'clock that night.

Rational thinking, such as perhaps ringing Simon and asking for her address, went out the window, and his thoughts were quickly set on a one way track. He got out of the shower quickly, rubbing the towel over his body and scrubbing quickly at his hair. He brushed his teeth and raked his fingers through his hair, not caring that it was still a little tangled. Jace changed into a pair of jeans and a light grey v-neck singlet with a short sleeved flannel shirt over the top, pulling on a pair of socks and some shoes.

He was behind the wheel of his car ten minutes after he had got out of the shower, and was speeding out of the town, Highly Suspect blasting through the speakers.

"And how are we doing over here?" Charlotte Branwell pushed her glasses further up her nose, narrowing her eyes as she took in Clary's painting. There was a portfolio and a show case that made up a majority of their grade that would happen at the end of the year. They would need to have fifteen pieces to put forward. Given there were three quarters in the year, when she had first started it seemed as though she had a lot of time. But now she was at the end of the first semester and only had three peices actually completed and about four others started. She was going to need to work through her holidays, which unfortunately meant that she was going to need to cut her visit home short. Instead of two weeks back in her hometown, she was only going to be there for a week. She hadn't quite broken the news her mum or Simon or Alec yet, and she wasn't looking forward to it.

"Think that I'm going to be spending the rest of my year locked in here," Clary snorted, rubbing the back of her hand across her face. She felt a wet smudge against her forehead and cringed as she realized that she must've gotten some paint on her face.

"There are worse places to spend your year," Mrs Branwell gave her a smile as she looked at Clary's new piece. There was a definite theme going, and Charlotte hadn't pressed for too much information, but it was very clear that the girl that Clary kept painting in different, haunting ways that it was someone important to her. The one that she had been working on for the past few weeks was a girls face that faded into the dark purple and pink colours that were on either side. There were butterflies around the girls face, a couple clouding her forehead and another by her lips.

It was Isabelle.

The whole portion of the show case that was sectioned for her art was for Isabelle.

Mrs Branwell had told her that it had to be something personal, something from their heart, something that they were passionate about.

It had to be Isabelle.

"She's very beautiful," Mrs Branwell told her, resting her hand on Clary's shoulder as she looked at few of the other pieces that were resting on easels around her. "You capture her eyes well," the teacher noted, and Clary sucked her lower lip into her mouth as she looked back at her painting. "You going to be in here for much longer? I'm going to be heading out soon."

"Maybe another hour?" Clary looked up at the clock on the wall that said it was almost six.

"Okay, well, you girls take your time, and just remember to pull the door shut behind you," Mrs Branwell reminded her and the three other girls who were working on their own pieces throughout the studio. Clary got on with all them, one of them was close friends with Aline, Lydia Branwell, who was also the niece of Mrs Branwell. Lydia often came over to their place for drinks in the weekends, or for movie nights. And because she was the niece of their teacher, then they got a couple of bonuses; such as being able to use the studio later than Mrs Branwell was willing to stay, and being able to play the radio loud enough that the professors next door would make complaints.

"Helen's had a late lecture," Lydia piped up about half an hour later after checking her phone. "It's just finished. If we leave now, we can meet her and Aline in the main court and then head out for dinner." Clary pursed her lips and looked back at the painting that she had been working on. She had been mainly cleaning her paintbrushes since Mrs Branwell had left, letting her painting dry, and she wasn't going to do anymore tonight.

"Sounds good," Clary pulled the long apron over her head and tossed it toward her high backed chair. Lydia snorted as she looked at Clary and the red head raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"You've got black paint on your face and then pink paint in your hair," Lydia laughed, although she couldn't say much, given she had green and blue paint on her hands and up her arms, and red drops on her cheek.

"Yeah, yeah," Clary grinned and linked her arm through Lydia's. "Let's go. What you feel like tonight? I think I want Donburi-Ya." She thought for a moment as they walked toward the doors. "Yeah, definitely after Donburi." Lydia nodded thoughtfully as they started down the concrete steps outside the studio.

"Shit yeah, I'm down for that," she agreed. They walked across the campus, toward the main courtyard where they were meeting Aline and Helen. It was still well-lit, the sun still in the sky, although it smelt as though there was rain on it's way. It was a Friday night, and so the University was nowhere near as full as it usually was, but there were still quite a few students on the campus, leaving late lectures or heading toward the library or just straggling and talking to their friends, couples making out. Aline saw them first, jumping up in the air and waving at them, Helen waggling her fingers in their direction. "We've already decided," Lydia greeted them. "We want Donburi."

"Ooh, yes," Helen raised her eyebrows.

"I'm cool with that," Aline grinned, throwing an arm around her girlfriends shoulder and smushing her lips in a kiss against her cheek. "Hey, do you two think that you'll ever leave the studio without being covered in paint?"

"It's a painting studio," Clary snorted, rolling her eyes as the four girls started toward the main exit of the University. "I'm pretty sure being covered in paint is actually just part of what's expected."

"Well, just so you're aware, we need to start separating our clothes, because today was the third time I've ended up with your acrylics on my shit," Helen complained. Clary pouted at her playfully, glancing up as a couple of guys walked in their path, and her and Lydia needed to fall behind Clary's roommates so that they have room to pass on the footpath. Lydia started talking about a party that was happening tomorrow, to celebrate the end of the first semester even though there were still a couple of days left next week, when suddenly Aline and Helen stopped in front of them.

"Shit!" Lydia squeaked as she bumped into Helen.

"Geez, guys, a little warning would be good," Clary stopped just in time to stop herself from tripping over Aline. Neither girl kept walking, and so Clary and Lydia moved around so that they were standing next to them, Clary frowning as she followed Aline and Helen's gaze.

Jace.

Looking gorgeous, and nervous, and beautiful, and staring directly at her.

His hands were buried in his pockets and he was gnawing down on his bottom lip and walking toward her hesitantly. The breeze was catching in his hair, blowing it around his face, and Clary's stomach was in her throat as she watched him approach her. She wasn't even sure what had happened to the three girls she was with, because everything else had completely faded out around her, the only thing in her sight was Jace.

Who was now right in front of her.

Clary's eyes were instantly damp, and she wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Jace," she managed to choke out.

"Clary," Jace stated, swallowing hard as he stopped a few inches away from her. He curled his fingers into fists in his jean pockets, letting out a shaky breath. "So, uh...It's been three months." Clary's eyebrows lifted in response, not too sure what she was meant to say. "I know you're coming home next week, but I—I just really needed to see you. Now." Clary licked her tongue along her lower lip, nervousness curdling her blood as she shifted from foot to foot. The silence stretched out between them and Jace scratched the side of his head before huffing out a laugh and looking down at his feet. "I've been thinking about what to say the whole drive over here, and it was a lot smoother than this," he snorted, sounding a little self-deprecating, and Clary couldn't stop her little smile, although she still didn't say anything. Jace took in a deep breath and blinked. "I love you," he stated. "I love you, and if you still feel the same way about me, then I want to make this work. I don't care about the distance, I don't care that it's going to be hard. I want...I want us." Clary still hadn't said anything, her green eyes wide, and Jace felt his stomach sink.

Silence couldn't be a good thing.

"I love you," he repeated, his voice sounding a little frail, because there wasn't much else that he could say. Clary pursed her lips together, and then the slight upward turn of her lips moved a little more.

"I love you, too," she breathed, throwing her arms around his shoulders and bringing their lips together.

Sooooooo, in exciting news, I'm off to Ed Sheeran in just a few days! Whoop whoop! Don't even care if it rains like the forecast says it's going to, it's going to be amazing.

I've got quite a few song recommendations this time; All The Stars by Kendrick Lamar and SZA, Pray For Me by Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd and Love Lies by Khalid and Normani. Older ones that I've been listening to a bit lately that I used to be completely in love with are The Devils Tears by Angus and Julia Stone, Dare You To Move by Switchfoot (those Walk To Remember feels! Haha) and Breath by Breaking Benjamin.

In TV show recommendations by big one is Everything Sucks! on Netflix. It's amazing. Me and my hubby binged the whole thing in an afternoon. Haha. I just love all of the characters so much! The parents, the kids—I definitely have a thing for Scott Pocket, I thought he was fucking amazing. Hahahaha. I know there's a lot of controversy around Kate and Emaline because of the actual actresses, but I thought they were gorgeous.

Now, here's where I need some help from you guys! So, in two areas...

First is with Pressing Play (Rewind and Repeat). I'm doing another round of songfics based on letters of the alphabet and I still have some letters left. K, O, P, Q, U, W, X and Z. So please send me some songs starting with those letters and I'll see if I can make a fic work around them!

The second thing is something that I'll be asking for more help with later. There's a story I'm working on at the moment, called Changing Faces, the summary for it is on my profile, and it's spanning ten years. The year that I'm planning at the moment is 2009. So, what I'm asking from all you beautiful people, is send me things you were into in 2009. Music, movies, TV shows, fashion trends. Things you were dealing with in 2009, things that you were going through. Also big things that happened; celebrity news, political news, national and international events. Anything! I will, of course, credit it you.

Leave me one last review, you amazing people, and thank you so much for your support in this story xxx