A/N: ARGH SORRY THIS IS SO LATE - had major writer's block and somebody dropped their tablet in the bath so I couldn't really do anything for a couple days... :(

Thanks again for the support! Whether it's a follow or a review, it's awesome to see people enjoying this and I'm happy of how well you seem to be receiving it. :)

As ever, thank you so much to the guests who left reviews on the last chapter as I can't message you!

If you ever have any questions feel free to ask and I'll happily answer them :) remember that reviewers receive previews of the next chapter!

With the late summer sun beating down on his back, Jace always had a spring in his step when venturing through Central Park. It was one of his favourite places to walk Harley, even if it was a forty five minute walk from his apartment. The usual routine was simple; walk to the park, hang around there, get the subway home.

It was about lunchtime, meaning it was peak time to head to the famous park. There were a few other dog walkers, but ultimately it was the baby realm. Mothers took advantage of the glorious weather and paraded their little darlings around in plain sight, regardless of how much they screamed. Every so often, random women would approach the new mothers to ogle the precious babes and almost always nudge their partners with all the intention of dropping hints. In those moments, Jace mentally thanked himself for not having an official girlfriend. Parenting wasn't his forté; he liked Eliza, but he certainly didn't like the idea of having his own kids.

Once he found a vacant bench, Jace sat down with a heavy sigh and tied Harley's lead to one of the legs, allowing him to take shelter under the bench if needed. He shrugged off his backpack and zipped it open, pulling out a plastic collapsible grey bowl and a plastic bottle of water. After pouring water into the bowl, Jace gently slid it towards his four legged friend, giving him a scratch behind the ears as he lapped up the liquid. "Good boy."

After a while of just sitting there, Jace pulled his phone out of his bag on hearing a buzz. He quickly unlocked it and noticed a plethora of various notifications. Firstly was a text from Isabelle.

We've gotta plan wedding parties ASAP. When are you free?

As the closest friends to Alec and Magnus, Jace and Isabelle had ended up in charge of planning individual stag dos. It wasn't something Jace had done before, but how hard could it be?

Tonight?

With that dealt with, he moved onto the next text. His stomach twisted when he saw Kaelie's name.

Miss you babe xx

Was she completely deranged? He knew she was bad, but really? What gave her the audacity to call him 'babe' after she accused him of sleeping with his roommate? Jace was seething, but he knew that telling her to fuck off wasn't going to solve any of his problems; if anything, he'd have to hire a bodyguard to protect himself.

We need to talk.

His third message came from Alec.

Magnus and I have dinner reservations tomorrow night, could you babysit Eliza? We can drop her at yours

I'll check with Clary but it shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure Eliza will be more than happy torturing my poor baby for the evening.

"Speak of the devil." Jace mumbled to himself as Clary's contact popped up as the fourth and final message.

Hi roomie! Hope you're feeling better! :) My final class has been cancelled because my professor's sick so I'll be heading home in the next hour. Gonna get on with some work so I won't disturb you much, don't worry.

Jace's heart sunk a bit when he read the last part of her text. What made her think she disturbed him? If anything, he quite enjoyed her company; he'd almost forgotten what living with someone has been like and he was thankful she'd taken up his offer.

I'll call off my orgy then ;)

As the text delivered with a smirk crossing his face, Jace was startled by Alec texting him back.

I thought Eliza and Clary got on fine, I'd be more worried about your other 'poor baby'. :)

Did Magnus orchestrate that? You're not quick enough to come up with something like that.

"Your dog is adorable! Can I pet him?"

The fair haired man was snapped out of his flustered reverie by a stranger obviously attracted by Harley, who was now leaning against the bench leg with his breath tickling the hairs on Jace's leg. A young Asian woman his age stood before him with wide round dark chocolate eyes fixated on the Jack Russell. She was of a short stature - a few inches taller than Clary - with short black hair reaching halfway down her pale neck. Due to the midday heat, she was standing before him in a baby pink vest and black denim shorts hitting her mid-thigh. After deciding she probably didn't pose any threat to his dog, Jace obliged with a nod. "Sure. He's called Harley."

"Like the bike?" she asked, crouching down to pet his head. Harley growled as soon as she touched him, prompting Jace to step in. "Sorry, he's not too good with strangers," he explained. "And he's actually named after Harley Quinn."

The young woman furrowed her brows in confusion. "Who?"

"Never mind."

She stood up and offered him a dazzling smile. "I'm Aline Penhallow, by the way. Who are you?" she asked sweetly with a purr ripping out of her throat.

"Jace," His mind drifted back to Clary's text. "I'd love to stop and chat, but I've actually got somewhere to be."

"Maybe another time, then?" Aline suggested, batting her dark eyelashes at him. "I'm free whenever you want."

"I'll keep it in mind," Jace replied casually, dropping a playful wink. "See you round."

Once she sauntered off, the young man bent down to untie Harley's leash and collapse the water bowl when he noticed a small slip of white paper tucked under his dog's collar. Jace knew that it hadn't been there earlier, so where had he picked it up from?

Retrieving the paper, he unfolded it and realised there was a note on it.

(518)-555-0176 - Aline x

Jace smirked once he finished reading, pocketing the note in his rucksack. This could be interesting.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you cook?" Isabelle asked for what was probably the seventh time. "I'm getting quite good now."

Jace rolled his tawny eyes with a scoff, knowing that he was protected by the fact his back was turned to the hob. "I'm quite alright, thank you. Spaghetti bolognese isn't particularly challenging."

She leaned her back against the marble countertop, taking a swig of orange juice from the glass in her hand. "Suit yourself," she replied, her dark eyes exploring the apartment. "Are those flowers outside?"

"Clary wanted to get some hanging baskets for the roof. I was totally against it, so we compromised and we got hanging baskets," he explained glumly, not taking his eyes off his bolognese. "I drew the line at scented candles."

Isabelle let out a loud snort of amusement. "They're very you, Jace. Now I think about it, a crochet quilt would really finish the look you're -"

"That smells good."

Jace's eyes snapped up and over to the other side of the apartment when a new voice cut Isabelle off. Clary had emerged from her bedroom for the first time all evening, tightening the messy bun on top of her head. She was clad in a slightly oversized baby blue button up shirt with light grey yoga shorts peeking out underneath and dark grey socks adorned with colourful dinosaurs climbing up a few inches past her ankles. Had it been anyone else, Jace would've assumed she had a hangover, but this was Clary; this was her in her purest and most natural form. As her roommate, he had to embrace it, so he offered her a token smirk. "Nice socks, Shortcake."

The redhead sensibly chose not to rise above his remark. "Do you need help plating up? I can drain the pasta for you or something." she offered politely.

"Be my guest," he replied, gesturing to the large pot of spaghetti. "Careful though, you're probably not much taller than this pot."

"Fuck you." she said sweetly, blowing him a kiss as she plodded over to the hob. Naturally, she picked up the pot with no difficulty - sticking her tongue out at Jace as she went - and seamlessly drifted over to the sink to drain the pasta. As her back was turned, Isabelle made a crude gesture at Jace that insinuated something beyond his relationship with Clary as roommates, which earned her a swift kick in the shin and golden daggers shot in her direction. "Behave." he hissed furiously under his breath.

Clary whirled her head round towards them, blinking in sheer bewilderment. "Everything okay?" she queried.

"Oh yeah, everything's banging." Isabelle insisted with a wicked smile, her innocent voice masking her very non-innocent ideas. Jace, on the other hand, wasn't too easily fooled and elbowed her sharply in the side when Clary turned back round.

"How's your party planning going?" Jace's roommate asked after a few seconds, putting the drained pasta on the side as Jace started plating it with the bolognese.

"I think we're getting there, but they're not exactly easy people to plan things for," the raven haired girl confessed. "Alec would rather stay at home and sleep than go out partying, while Magnus thrives off flamboyancy and glitter; there's no happy medium."

Clary bit her lip thoughtfully, taking her dinner plate once Jace had finished. "What have you got so far?" she pressed on.

"We're making a list of tame activities for Alec and trying not to blow the budget on Magnus," Jace answered, sitting down at the dinner table to eat. "We're talking confetti, food, balloons, strippers-"

"No strippers." Isabelle interjected sharply, a serious expression clouding her pale face.

"You're no fun," Jace whined with a huff before turning to Clary. "I don't suppose you know of any vanilla things we can do for Alec? You're pretty lame sometimes."

"Says the monster who doesn't like karaoke," Clary grumbled, though she did actually consider the question. "Pottery class?"

Her roommate scoffed loudly and folded his arms over his chest. "He's celebrating his wedding, not his 70th birthday."

She glared at him fiercely while he was thankful looks couldn't kill. "Theme park?"

"Now you're branching into a 7th birthday party."

Her emerald eyes darkened dangerously. "Surely this should come from you? You're his best friend; you should know what he's in to rather than insulting my suggestions and distracting me from my work." she remarked dryly.

Jace shrugged nonchalantly. "Alec's difficult when it comes to parties, plus your suggestions were stupid."

"Laser tag?"

Jace paused to actually take in the notion. The idea of him running around in a dark room shooting his friends actually sounded fun, especially when he knew that he'd easily win. Being gifted with incredible accuracy was a true blessing in this situation; what stag party would be complete without humiliating the groom beyond repair?

Isabelle also seemed to approve of the idea as the corners of her lips upturned. "That's actually a really good idea." she said.

Clary heaved an almighty sigh, leaning back in her chair. "Finally."

They continued to eat their dinner in peace (which Jace had to admit tasted pretty good) until they finished, where Isabelle rose from her seat. "Well, I'll have to love and leave you both, I'm afraid. I've got some work to get on with," she explained, glancing over at Clary. "Pleasure as always, Clary. We definitely need to go out one night without this moron."

"I'd like that, actually." the redhead replied warmly.

"See you round," Isabelle called as she opened the door. "You too, Jace!"

Once the door slammed behind her, Clary fist pumped the air victoriously. "Oh man, wait until I tell my mom that Isabelle Lightwood wants to be friends with me!" she exclaimed brightly.

Jace turned to put the plates in the dishwasher, smiling to himself. Her idolising of one of his best friends was equal parts funny and cute. "Well, you can also tell your mom that you're babysitting her niece tomorrow night. Alec and Magnus have dinner reservations somewhere so we've been asked to look after Eliza." he added.

His roommate's freckled face lit up in delight. "Awesome!" she cheered, though she suddenly stood up from her chair. "I'm going to continue working. If you need anything, just knock."

He offered her a rare genuine smile. "Thank you."

With a small nod, she wandered back across the flat to her bedroom. Unbeknownst to her, Jace watched her leave, his golden gaze tracing every delicate step she made on the wooden floor. Peculiarly, he wasn't physically able to tear away from her and return to the dishwasher, which in turn set his stomach in motion. She'll be the death of me, he reflected privately. I am so screwed.

Our roommates are on babysitting duty next chapter! Anything could happen... ;)

What do you think of Aline? Naturally she'll crop up again; what affect will she have?

If you take the time to write a review I'll get an extract from the next chapter to you ASAP :)