A/N:

Hey...Not gonna say too much about my being MIA...but I'd like to thank everyone for all of the lovely reviews and for everyone who followed/faved! You guys seriously make my day so much! I'll reply to the reviews from last chapter after this is posted so...

To address the whole hair-cutting thing: It honestly wasn't meant to make anyone upset, so sorry. I just figured she would cut her hair to changer her appearance some. I, personally, have red, curly hair like Clary and wouldn't ever dream of getting it cut so short. But hey, hair grows back ;)

Anywho, hope you like it!

I do not own any characters...

Clary stood in front of her floor-length mirror in her room in a white nightgown with lace straps that fell just to her knees. She continued to run her fingers through her short hair, as if she could change how it looked if she did it enough times. She turned slowly, looking at herself from different angles, not seeing anything that she liked. She had taken off the bracelets that she usually wore to cover the still dark but healing bruises on her wrists from Sebastian, and in the nightgown she was wearing, the bruises on her thighs were also visible.

Tears were brimming in her eyes at the thought of him. She hated him so much. He put her through hell and it took running away to a life of crime to realize that he truly treat her like shit. She ran her fingers through her shortened curls again and sighed. Clary's eyes flicked to the door as a soft knock resounded through her room. Puzzled as to who would be visiting her at such a late hour, she walked across the polished hard-wood floor and laid her hands on the brass door handle, hesitating only a moment before pulling the door open.

"Jace?"

He stood there in front of Clary, eyes down and hands behind his back, in a thin white t-shirt tucked into black slacks. His hair was a mess and breath was uneven. When he raised his head and met her gaze, she saw shame and hopelessness in his amber eyes.

"I was hoping you were asleep," he mumbled. "Sorry I woke you." His voice didn't sound right. His words were slurred and his tone didn't hold the same diction as it usually did. He lowered his eyes again.

"Well," Clary said, still confused as to why Jace was standing before her. "I'm up. What did you want?"

His gaze slid up her body, making her insides swirl. When his eyes finally landed on her face, he said, "I just needed to see you."

His tone of voice broke Clary's heart. It was almost a whimper. "Why did you need to see me?" she asked, smoothing out her nightgown as she became embarrassingly aware that it was just a thin piece of cloth that didn't cover her as much as she would like.

"I just—" he started, casting his gaze down again and taking a hand from behind his back to run it through his already messy hair. He leaned forward and rested his forearm against the door frame, close enough now for Clary to smell the alcohol on his breath.

So that's why he was acting strange. He was drunk.

A pained expression swept over his features and furrowed his brow. "I just really needed to see you, Clary," he breathed. "I—I couldn't do anything but think of you and when I started walking around the house I kept ending up here."

She swallowed hard, blushing. "Do you want to come in?" she asked, nodding her head over her shoulder. "You seem like you need to sit down."

Jace closed his eyes and leaned forward to press his forehead against his arm that was propped up on the door frame. "That would be nice," he replied, voice floating.

Clary stepped aside, making room for him to walk in. However, he made no move to step forward. After a few moments, she cleared her throat and he lifted his head, eyes catching hers. "You can come in," she said.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and standing up fully, no longer leaning against the door frame. He took an unsteady step forward and stumbled, falling into Clary and almost knocking her over. With a gasp, she caught him and held him by the arms, holding him still. Eyes closed, he took a deep breath, exhaling right in Clary's face, causing her to cough at the overbearing scent of alcohol.

"Did you have something to drink?" she asked, nearly out of breath from holding him up and not breathing too deep due to the stench.

He shook his head 'no' frantically and then look up at her sheepishly from under his lashes. "Maybe a few," he said softly.

She almost smiled at how child-like he looked right then. "Let's sit you down." She walked him over to the set of chairs on the opposite side of the room and sat him down in one, taking the other for herself.

"I'm sorry," Jace mumbled. "Alec and Isabelle usually don't let me drink. They know how I get."

"It's okay," she said, standing up and walking to her bed to quickly grab her robe before sitting down again.

"It's not though. I—I just couldn't get you out of my head."

"Is that so?" she asked, taking a glass from the tray on the small table beside her chair and filling it with water. She handed it to him.

He took it and nodded. "I just—I couldn't go to bed without seeing you." He ran a hand through his hair and pulled at it slightly, leaving it sticking up in odd directions. "It's just—God. We've known each other for what, three weeks now?"

She nodded. "More or less."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "There's got to be something wrong with me."

"Jace," Clary said, leaning forward. "You're not making sense."

He sighed again and set down his glass of water. He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. "I'm sorry. There's just so many thoughts and—and I'm drunk and I can't sort through them. It's like there's over a hundred people in this room just shouting as loud as they can, and they're all talking to me, vying for my attention. But I can only give it to one person at a time." He looked up at her and smiled sadly. "I'm rambling."

She shook her head. "No, you're not. Actually, what you just said is the most amount of sentences you've put together so far that actually pertain to one another."

He blew out a breath and threw himself back in the chair, looking at Clary. His eyes slid over her and she instinctively pulled the robe tighter around her, though it still only fell slightly past the hem of her nightgown. She watched his eyes widen in confusion and concern. Following his gaze, she realized that he was staring at her hand that was clutching her robe. No, she realized, he wasn't staring at her hand, he was staring at her wrist. Quickly, she pulled the sleeve over the bruises, but it was too late: he'd already seen them.

"What happened?" he asked, brows furrowed in confusion. His voice was no longer slurred, but still not back to his normal tone.

"Hmm?" she asked, trying to play it off as nothing.

"Your wrist. What happened?" He leaned toward her.

She averted her eyes, saying, "Nothing happened."

He raised an eyebrow. "So those bruises on your wrist are supposed to tell me that nothing happened? That those just naturally occur and I shouldn't be worried about it?"

She sighed. "I'm fine."

"I didn't ask you if you were fine, Clary. I asked what happened."

"So you don't care if I'm fine or not?" she retorted.

"No," he said plainly. "Not if you don't tell me what happened that gave you those bruises." He sat back and looked at her, challenging.

"Why should I tell you?"

He shrugged. "I suppose if you told me, you could get it off your chest but you won't have to have any worries." She looked at him, confused, so he added, "Because I'm drunk. I won't remember anything."

She nodded slowly. "Um, okay . . ."

"So," he said, leaning forward. "You can tell me, Clary."

She took a deep breath. "It was Sebastian," she mumbled.

Jace's eyes widened. "Sebastian?"

She shook her head and bit her lip, fighting tears at the thought of him.

"I'm so sorry."

Clary's head jerked up. "Why are you sorry?" she asked.

Jace opened his mouth and then closed it. "That dick of a boyfriend of yours did that to you?"

Now it was her turn to be speechless.

"Why would you stay with that guy, Clary?" Jace sat up, leaning forward with concern clear in his expression. He shook his head. "I don't understand girls that do that."

"Do what?" she asked, almost automatic.

He caught her gaze and held it. "Let themselves get put through shit because they think that that person loves them, but they're actually getting used."

Clary let her eyes fall shut, knowing that if she continued to look at Jace she would begin crying. Why was he being like this? It was like someone flipped a switch and he was no longer drunk, but was instead concerned and caring. Maybe the sudden change was because he was drunk, but she wasn't quite sure what to think of the situation.

"Clary," he said softly. "Tell me you didn't stay with him. Tell me that you left when he hurt you, that you didn't put up with him."

The pained tone in his voice made her head raise, her eyes meeting his worried golden ones. She opened her mouth but no words came out. She wanted to tell him that she didn't put up with Sebastian, that she'd left him when he started changing, but she couldn't: she would be lying. She wanted so hard to tell Jace that she was strong enough to walk away, but she couldn't. Because she wasn't.

He closed his eyes and exhaled sharply, pained. He licked his lips and parted them as if to speak, but he made no sound. When he opened his eyes again, the hurt in them was very evident. "Why did you cut your hair?"

His question surprised Clary. She wasn't expecting the sudden change in topic, but she went along with it. "You told me I'd have to eventually, so I did."

He shook his head. "Tell me why you really did it."

She was puzzled, but yet, in the back of her mind, she knew what he meant. When she cut her hair, it was more out of emotion than anything but now that she thought about it, maybe subconsciously, cutting her hair meant cutting the last part away from her old life, starting again in this one. Not only her whole life style, but now her appearance was even different. It was like she was a new person.

"Why are you asking me this?"

He smiled sadly. "I know how it feels to want to bust out of your daily routine and start new, fresh. You had that option. I was asking because I wanted to know why you chose me."

She caught it. He must have caught it too because a blush swept over his cheekbones and his eyes darted.

I wanted to know why you chose me.

He'd said me. That she'd chosen him, not the life style, not the change, but him.

He ran a hand over his face. "Shit," he muttered, his voice mumbled by his hand. "I'm so drunk." He spread his fingers and peeked his eyes out from between them. "Don't let me near the whiskey again."

She looked at him, a sad smile on her lips. She nodded and he looked somewhat relieved.

"So," she said. "You've been asking me questions. Now it's my turn."

He turned to her, lips quirking up. "Shoot."

"Why . . ." she started but trailed off. "Where's your family?"

His eyes snapped to hers, expression tight and reserved. "They live here. Isabelle, Alec, Jordan, Maia, Jonathan. They're who I've got."

She nodded, getting the sense that she shouldn't push the topic. "Do you . . . do you like my haircut?" she asked, voice small.

He opened his mouth but closed it, nodding, a small but genuine smile tugging at his lips. She felt herself blush and she turned away, hoping that if she looked away from him the butterflies in her stomach would go away.

She decided to ask him the question that had been in the back of her mind since he'd shown up at her door. "Why did you come to see me?"

Jace swallowed hard and looked away momentarily. When he turned back to her, he shrugged. "I'm drunk," he said simply. "We all do crazy, unexplainable things when we've had just a little too much to drink."

She shook her head. "Tell me the real reason."

His eyes darkened. "What do you mean?"

She blew out a breath. "I don't know."

Suddenly, Jace sat up and set his glass of water down. He stood up, swaying. "I should leave."

Clary stood up hastily and advanced toward him. As she neared him though, he flinched away from her. Stunned, and somewhat hurt, she stopped.

He looked up at her, his face full of regret and guilt, and a sad sort of realization. "Clary," he said, strained. "If you come any closer or I don't leave right now, I will do something I'll regret when I'm sober."

"Jace—"

"I'm just going to leave." He turned, unsteadily, and made his way to the door, staggering slightly. When he made it there, he stopped, turning back to look at Clary. He sighed deeply and drug a hand through his messy hair. "Clary—"

She put up her hand to cut him off. "It's fine. I get it. Go ahead and leave."

"Clary—I'm sorry. I'm drunk." Jace swayed and reached out, pressing his hand against the wall to steady himself.

Clary stepped forward. "Jace—"

"I'm sorry—" He collapsed against the wall, leaning hard against it.

"Are you okay?" she asked, lunging forward and grabbing Jace before he fell. He flinched when she touched him but she continued to hold him.

"Clary—Don't touch me."

"I'm just helping you—"

"No!" He pushed her, but it wasn't forceful enough to actually push her away. "Please don't touch me, Clary. Please."

"Jace, I—I'm just trying to help you." Clary held him at arms distance, steadying him without being to close. His face was turned down, his hair obscuring his face entirely from her view. "Jace?"

A few moments passed before he picked up his head, eyes full of shame. "I'm sorry," he whispered, almost whimpering. "I just need to leave." He slipped out of Clary's hold and stumbled backward to the door, grabbing onto the door handle. He pulled open the door and stepped out into the hallway. He paused, not turning back to her, saying, "Please don't tell Alec or Isabelle."

And then he was gone, leaving a confused Clary standing in her room looking after him and wondering what the hell just happened.

"I want you to look just perfect for this."

Clary sighed. "It's just dinner."

"Just dinner?" Isabelle stopped what she was doing and turned to Clary. "Oh, honey. It's more than just dinner. Believe me. I know Jace."

"Isabelle," Clary said, exasperated. "I know Jace too, and it's not 'more than just dinner.'"

"Hold still." Isabelle reached forward and took hold of Clary's chin to stop her from moving her head while she was putting on makeup. "Listen, Clary. You may think that Jace just wants this as a dinner, but I know him. He's my brother and even though he may act nonchalant about this whole dinner date with you, it actually means a lot to him. He has too deep of feelings and despite what ass-hole facade he puts up, he really is an overly emotional little boy."

"Little boy?"

Isabelle smirked, picking up a dark red lipstick. "He acts like a boy. Now pout your lips like this—" She demonstrated how she wanted Clary to shape her lips. She began applying the lipstick.

After she was done, she held up a mirror for Clary. She was stunned at what she saw. "Oh my, Isabelle," Clary said, voice almost a whisper. "I—I look," she paused and looked up at the other girl. "Pretty," she finished.

Isabelle smiled. "Honey, you look gorgeous." She stood up and went to the shelf on the other side of the room. "Thanks to me, of course," she added.

Clary laughed. "Oh, of course."

"So when does Jace want you to meet him?"

"He said to meet him for dinner around six-thirty in the dining room."

Isabelle raised her eyebrows. "So I see he'll be kicking the rest of us out so that you two can have your date."

"It's not a date!" Clary protested.

"Deny it all you want," Isabelle said, shaking her head with a smirk. "But both you and he know that it's a date."

Clary sighed and stood up, walking over to the floor-length mirror across the room. She adjusted the dress she was wearing. "It's not a date," she muttered, glancing at a smiling Isabelle.

"If you walk in there looking like that, it won't matter if it's a date or not, he's going to have a hard time controlling himself." Isabelle smirked and turned to begin putting away the materials she'd used on Clary.

Clary blushed at the other girl's implication.

"Frankly," Isabelle continued, back to Clary, "I hope he does let his self-control slip up a little. Maybe he won't be so damn grouchy all the time. Maybe he just needs a release." She turned her head to where Clary was standing and winked, yet again leaving Clary to connect the dots. "Plus, that would make for some good girl talk for us."

"Ew, Isabelle," Clary said, walking over to the vanity and helping to put things away. "How can you even say that? He's your brother for Christ's sake."

"Half-brother," she corrected. "That's how I can say that. It's not like I'm talking about Alec's sexual life. Though," she said, contemplatively, "The idea of two men kissing is sort of—oh, how to I put it . . . thrilling?"

Clary furrowed her brow. "What? Two men kissing?"

Isabelle had a deer in headlights look. "Oh my," she said, turning away. "I've said to much."

Clary put the pieces together. "You mean Alec is—?"

"Look," Isabelle said, whipping around to face Clary. "We don't talk about it. Alec chooses who he wants to tell and when. And it certainly wasn't my place to tell you. So you mustn't say a word about it—to anyone. Especially Jace."

"Jace? You mean he doesn't know?"

Isabelle shook her head. "Alec doesn't want to tell him yet. I respect him enough to let him tell his best friend on his own time."

"But shouldn't he know—"

"Clary. It's up to him." Isabelle raised her eyebrows and gave her a look as if to silently tell her to drop the subject.

She did, reluctantly.

"Well," she said. "I better be heading down to the dinning room. Jace will be expecting me."

Isabelle nodded. "Have fun," she said. "I'll be going out tonight, and I'll make sure everyone else is out of the house as well." She added a wink.

Clary rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Isabelle." She went to the door and stepped into the hallway.

She heard Isabelle call to her just as she closed the door. "Have fun on your date!"

"Thanks for meeting me."

Clary blushed.

Clary blushed. "Well I had to make room in my busy schedule so you'd better be quick," she joked.

Jace smiled. "I—Want to sit?" He motioned toward the chairs on the other side of the room. There was tea set up beside them. She nodded and followed him, sitting in one chair and he taking the other.

"You look stunning, Clary," Jace said, the words sounding like he almost couldn't stop himself.

She blushed again. "Thank you," she said. "You look quite handsome yourself." It was true. She'd never seen any other man look that good in a suit. And then there was the way that his hair was always perfectly messy, and his eyes were pools of liquid gold, and his lips would quirk into a smile, and . . .

"Thank you," he said, smiling, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Would you like some tea?" he offered.

She nodded her head. "Yes, thank you."

Jace turned and began preparing two cups of tea. When he was finished, he handed one to her and kept the other for himself. He raised his cup to his lips and took a sip. He set it on a coaster on the side table and sat forward in his chair. "Clary," he said, not meeting her gaze. "I'd like to apologize for how I acted." He looked up.

"What do you mean?" Clary asked.

He cleared his throat. "Last night," he said quietly.

"Oh," she said, realizing what he was talking about. "Jace—"

"There's no excuse for showing up to your room in the middle of the night drunk. I'm sorry." His eyes were full of a shameful guilt.

"It's okay, Jace. Really."

He shook his head. "No, it shouldn't have happened. And—I didn't . . . hurt you or anything did I?" The last part he whispered, catching her gaze as if scared to know her answer.

"Oh, Jace," she said, shaking her head. "No, of course you didn't hurt me."

Relief was visible in his features. He blew out a breath and mumbled something.

"Hmm?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

"So Alec told me that this was the secret Herondale manor," Clary said, changing the subject.

Jace perked up. "Yes—" he cleared his throat "—it is. Actually, I didn't even know this one existed until my father told me about it before he died."

"It's well built," she said lamely, not wanting to dwell on the topic of Jace's dead father.

He nodded. "My father always got the finest. Especially when it came to things involving his family. People say he was a bad man, but I don't think that's true. He was a very good man, he just—well, how can you call a criminal good?"

"Well you're a good man," Clary blurted out before she could stop the words.

He caught her gaze with his amber eyes and smirked, causing her to blush. "Thanks, but I know I'm no good. Well, let me rephrase that: I'm no good in the eyes of the law."

"And now you've added murder to the list of wrongs you've done." He looked at her, confused, so she motioned to herself to elaborate.

"Well, what's a good criminal if he doesn't have a few murders on his record, eh?" He smirked and picked up his tea, taking a sip.

Clary smiled. "So why did you invite me to dinner?" she asked, changing the subject yet again.

"Because I wanted to."

"But why did you want to?" She set down her cup on the side table.

"Why did you want to?"

"I asked a question first."

"But mine is more important," he pointed out.

"That's not fair," she said, sitting back in her chair. "You can't just declare your question higher in importance than mine."

"I can," he said, smirking. "And I did." He stood up and offered her his hand. He nodded his head toward the table on the other side of the room. "Come on. Dinner is ready."

She glanced at his hand and stood up by herself, pushing past him and walking to the table. As she put her hand on the back of one of the chairs to pull it out for her to sit at, Jace came up behind her and placed his hand over hers. He tsked at her and entwined his fingers with hers, his palm against the back of her hand.

"Now, now, miss. Let the gentleman do his job," he murmured into her ear, sending a shiver through her body. He laughed softly, his breath ticking her cheek and neck. "You cold?" he asked, taking his other hand and running it down her other arm, raising a trail of goosebumps in its wake.

She bit her lip to stop herself from gasping. She hastily cleared her throat. "I'm fine," she said, her voice barely a controlled whisper. She could sense the smirk on his lips.

"Just checking," he said as he took her hand off the back of the chair. Her hand dropped to her side as he moved around her and pulled out the chair. "Miss," he said, motioning for her to sit.

She held his gaze as she moved to sit down. That damn bastard was smirking—he knew exactly what he was doing just a moment ago. Clary blushed as Jace went around to the other side of the relatively small table and took his own seat.

Few words were exchanged as they ate, though Clary, more than once, could feel Jace's gaze on her, but when she looked up he would have his eyes on his plate. When they were finished, they talked awhile longer, laughing and just learning more about the other. Before they knew it, it was almost nine-thirty.

"It's that late already?" Clary asked, appalled.

"Time flies when you're speaking with a stunningly attractive man," Jace said, smirking.

"Really? Where is he at?" Clary joked, looking around the room to find the 'stunningly attractive man.'

Jace scoffed. "Careful there, Red. I still have feelings."

"There's no way," she said, keeping her straight face and shaking her head slightly. "You have feelings? You mean you aren't some heartless criminal?"

"I know," Jace said, playing along. "It's too good to be true, but I am a real person."

Clary laughed, and Jace joined in. When their laughter settled, Jace looked up at her. "I should probably get going. I have a few things I still need to do tonight."

She nodded. "Of course." She turned for the door when Jace grabbed her arm.

"I'll walk you to your room," he offered.

Glancing down at his hand, she nodded. "Okay."

Jace led her out of the dinning room, through the hallway, up the stairs, and through another hallway before they were standing in front of Clary's bedroom door.

"Well, here we are," Jace said, leaning against the door frame and crossing his arms over his chest.

Clary stood across from him, next to the door. "Thank you for tonight, Jace. I enjoyed spending time with you." She smiled.

"I enjoyed spending the evening with you as well." Jace returned the smile.

Clary put her hand on the door handle. "Well, good night." She opened the door and was about to step forward when Jace spoke.

"Ah, ah, ah, not so fast. Where's my good-night kiss?" She turned back to see Jace raising his eyebrows at her.

She scoffed. "What makes you think you need a good-night kiss?"

He shrugged. "I earned it."

"Earned it? How, enlighten me?"

He shrugged again. "I did walk you to your room," he pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. "So that's why you offered. You just wanted something out of it," she teased.

"Well . . . If you're offering. . ." He smiled down at her and met her eyes.

She pressed her lips in a line to attempt to stop a smile from erupting on her lips, but failed. "Oh, alright," she said, rolling her eyes and lifting her hands to his shoulders.

He smirked at her and stood up fully.

She glanced at his lips as she leaned in, pushing herself up on her tip-toes, and hesitantly pressed her lips to his cheek. She felt his eyes flutter closed. As she pulled away, she watched the smile spread over his lips. His eyes flicked open and met hers.

"You could do better than that," he challenged.

She shrugged. "Later."

"Later as in I should come back to your room tonight, or later as in some time in the very, very near future?"

She laughed. "Most definitely not tonight," she said, patting his shoulder. "Maybe sometime in the future."

"Maybe sometime?" He blew out a breath. "Geez. My chances are slimming by the second."

She laughed again and shrugged. "Good night, Jace." She pushed open the bedroom door the whole way. She turned and started to close the door, Jace still standing in the doorway.

His hand caught the door before she closed it fully. He was smiling. "Good night, Clary."

She smiled, and then he disappeared down the hallway.

A/N:

So how'd you like it? You got to see a little of a different side of Jace. What was that all about? Hmm...

Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading!:)