Disclaimer: no copyright infringement intended, all recognisable material belongs to Cassandra Clare

Clary frowned slightly as she examined the mass of swirling gold lines stretched out in front of her. She raised her pen once more and added another few interlocking patterns, leaning back in her chair with a sigh of satisfaction and set her pen down on the oak table with a resounding thud that jerked the other Shadowhunters gathered out of their stupor. Jia Penhallow's eyes met emerald ones and Clary nodded, a small smile spreading across her face.

For a week now, Clary had been helping to design the new opening hall for the Shadowhunters Academy, it was a complex task, and with over a thousand years of history collected within its walls everyone seemed to have different opinions on what was best. The floor had been the hardest, the Headmistress wanted it to be obsidian marble with millions of tiny silver flecks, covered in strands of gold that twisted into the occasional rune entwined into a matrix of light spanning the whole sixty foot space.

Clary had been drawn in immediately, the design brief reminded her of dates in weapon shops, of a boy with heavenly fire running through his veins, it reminded her of hurried kisses in alleyways and sneaking around behind her mother's back, it reminded her of a night of terror when scarlet blood ran in streams across blindingly white snow.

"Look," he said, and pointed up. Clary looked, but not at the sky. She looked at him, at the sun on his light hair, the curve of his mouth when he smiled. "Long before anyone knew about planets, they knew there were bright rips in the fabric of the night. The stars."

Where others saw a marble floor, Clary saw stars, she saw galaxies, she saw universes.

Serena Heathermoor leant forward and pulled the metre long blueprint towards her, eyes scanning over the pale parchment like material with anticipation. From her seat on the other side of the table, Clary could see the headmistress taking in every millimetre of ink she had so carefully released from her pen, her eyebrows arching in an attempt to catch even the smallest of tremors in the lines.
Clary internally scoffed, like the woman would find any, angel blood didn't allow mistakes. Finally, Serena looked up at Clary, her expression unreadable.
"Well," she said, standing and motioning for her assistant to roll up the design, "you're as good as the stories say, I'll give you that."
Clary rolled her eyes and started to pack her things into her bag. As Serena began to walk towards the door, Clary spoke up. "What about my payment, Ms. Heathermoor?"
The older woman stopped and spun on her heel.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Morgenstern?"
"It's Ms Herondale."
"I apologise, I beg your pardon Ms Herondale?"
Clary smiled sweetly. "My payment, we discussed this when I first agreed to take up the project." Serena Heathermoor faltered for a moment and her eyes flickered to Jia Penhallow's, as if asking what to do but Jia was laughing quietly to herself.
"The money will be transferred to your account later today." She turned once more and walked towards the door, the clicking of her heels against the stone floor echoing around the chamber. The other members of the group slowly dispersed until it was only Clary and Jia left.

"Will I be seeing your husband soon?" Jia asked, as the pair slowly made their way to the Accords Hall. Clary laughed "We both know the only thing that can keep Jace away from tactics meetings are his kids."
"How are they, the kids?"
Clary faltered slightly, she always missed her children when she went away on business but it was getting harder to leave them as they got older and understood that she was gone. Taking a deep breath she replied "Oh their fine, Ashton turned thirteen last month so he thinks he can take on the world and Kiera is eight now, she wants to train like her brother, Jace doesn't want her in any danger, arguments ensue."
"If I remember, Jace himself was a lot like Ashton at his age." Jia said, her eyes wandering as if she was recalling twenty years ago when her own daughter was young. "Well, I'll leave you in the capable hands of Eliza Flutterby, it's been nice to see you again, Clary."
Clary waved and turned to face the woman who was waiting for her, a pair of furry black cat ears sat on the top of her head; her warlocks mark. Eliza Flutterby rubbed her palms together nervously.
"Shall we start?" When Clary nodded, she continued, "It's to the New York Institute, right?" Clary nodded again and moved her bag from one shoulder across to the other. A blue patch of shimmering light appeared and Clary could see the stone walls of the Institute glaring back at her. She quickly thanked Eliza and stepped through, feeling the familiar drop in her stomach.

Before Clary could orientate herself, Isabelle Lightwood ran towards her with a wide grin stretched across her wrinkled free face. "Clary! Thank the Angel you're here, Simon has been talking non-stop about Doctor What or something!" Simon Lewis waved awkwardly, trying not to drop his 10 year old son, Max, who was clinging to his back. "Hey Clary, you will never guess who the new doctor is, they announced it while you were away and I nearly came to Idris to tell you but Izzy wouldn't let me and then Jace said you were in important meetings and then-"

"We'll have to catch up later, Simon, I can't leave Ashton alone with Jace too long, he'll start to develop an ego to rival his fathers." Clary said. She began to make her way home, the subway was relatively empty but without the usual distraction of avoiding leering men, she found herself counting the stops like a child.

It was almost at a run, Clary arrived outside her house. It had been hard to find a house they both liked, Jace insisted on knocking one floor out any house they bought so the training room ceiling could be high enough. Clary had stumbled across this one, a large Victorian detached hose with five floors including a basement meaning she could still have the three floored family home she had always dreamed of and after many reinforcing runes, the top two floors were converted into a training room which would have been close the quality of the Institutes if it weren't for lack of space.

Her hand glided over the gate and lifted the latch. As she stepped through the front door, she breathed in the familiar scent and relaxed. A quick check through the lower floors offered her no sign of her family so she ascended the stairs and silently opened the door to the training room.
Jace was crouched at his daughters height and was showing he how to clench her fist into the proper fighting position. Ashton James Herondale was perched in the rafters, watching with a crossbow slung over his back. He was the first to notice his mother's presence and sprung easily down, landing softly next to her.

"You need to watch you landing, a demon would have heard that was a block away." Clary teased before hugging Ashton, one hand stroking his hair gently like she did when he was a baby. Jace had tensed when she spoke when he looked up, seraph blade already raised he sighed and walked over. Before he reached her, however, Kiera jumped into Clary's arms and nestled her head into Clary's neck.
"I missed you, mommy," she whispered, making a tear well up in Clary's eye.
"I missed you too, so much you can't even imagine." Clary replied, carefully putting Kiera down.
"Is it like when daddy misses you?" Kiera asked. "Because he's all happy and then at night he gets moody and Ash said he misses you and that's why he's so sad."
Jace blushed and looked away while Clary smirked. "Like that, Kiera, that's what its like."
Ashton grabbed Kiera's hand and pulled her away slowly. "Come on, mom and dad want to be alone for a bit."

As the door shut with a slam, Jace crushed his lips to Clary's and she wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers curling into his hair.
"You get all moody, huh?" Clary asked, mischief twinkling in her eyes. Jace slipped a hand under her shirt and pressed their lips together again, his fingers splaying out across her side, sending trails of fire through her body. "How was your meeting?" he murmured against her lips, leaving small kisses down her jar.
"Fine," she said quietly, her finger tracing one of his many runes. "I missed you though."
"Of course you did, I mean have you seen me?"

A/N So yeah this was a quick little idea which accidentally turned into 4 pages on microsoft word ad a whole afternoon of my half-term used up. Anyway, leave a review