So, is it just normal for guys to show up at a girl's window in the middle of the night nowadays?

Clary sent the text as Jace continued to pace at the foot of her bed. He had come for some reason, that reason had yet to be explained.

From Izzy:
Umm, not really.
It's like a cliche in movies, but it's not a real thing.
Why?

Clary sighed.

From Clary:
No reason.

"Who are you texting?"

So, Jace had finally stopped pacing then.

"Nobody." Clary set her phone down. "What do you want to talk about already?"

Jace looked deep in thought for a moment. He glanced at the door, then at Clary, then spoke. "She looked really familiar." At the confused look on Clary's face, Jace continued. "That girl, Tessa or whatever. What was that whole reunion about anyway?"

Clary had thought that Jace was going to question her about the umpteenth freakout she'd had. She wasn't sure which she preferred him questioning: Tessa or the freakout. "She's... my sister." Clary blurted it out before she could stop herself. Now she would have to tell Magnus about this ploy. "My step-sister, that is. I haven't seen her in a really long time."

Clearly acknowledging the look on Clary's face saying that she didn't want to discuss this, Jace changed the subject. "Okay, that makes sense, I guess? The real reason I came over here though, is because I wanted to ask you about what happened before Tessa and Magnus showed up." Crap, Clary thought. Jace continued. "You've said a lot of really weird stuff since you've arrived, but that honestly topped it all. I mean, you seem fine around me right now. What happened before?"

Well, thought Clary, Tessa is here now and that has somehow settled my nerves tenfold. Maybe perhaps instead of searching for both her and Will in you, I'm only seeing Will. Which, honestly, hardly makes it better. For the time being though, it feels bearable.

Instead, Clary said: "I just had a lot on my mind earlier."

"That hardly answers anything." Jace stepped forward and squatted down in front of where Clary sat on her bed. He locked eyes with her and suddenly the room grew hot. "Would you please just tell me why I am a 'hindrance on your entire existence?' It's killing me, Bane."

Clary blinked. "I-it's complicated."

Jace stood with a sigh of exasperation. He ran a hand through his hair and turned away from the redhead. "Everything is complicated. Can I just ask you one thing?" Jace looked back at Clary with tired in his eyes. She could tell something was bothering him, not this current situation but something else too. She nodded. "Would you prefer to never see me again?"

That took Clary by surprise. Her eyebrows shot up and she didn't know what to say. Deep down she knew that it might be best for her mental health if she said yes, but of course she couldn't say yes. That would be a lie.

"No..." she finally whispered.

And Jace seemed content with that. He nodded and Clary noticed that he was fiddling with his own hands. "Good, I'm glad."

"Listen, Jace." Clary bit her lip to stop herself from spilling all of her secrets to him. He raised an eyebrow at her with expectancy and curiosity on his face. "I'm sorry for how I've acted around you. It's not your fault. I've just had a really complicated past."

"It's fine, I understand."

She studied his face and his expression for a little while, then she scooted backward on her bed and tapped the spot that was in front of her. When Jace sat, she spoke. "Are you okay? You seem kind of out of it."

He stayed quiet for just a moment. "My mom is pregnant." Information she knew but raised her eyebrows as though she didn't. "And she told my dad and me the other day. Only, I guess what my mom didn't know is that my dad got a vasectomy like a really long time ago. So, yeah..."

Clary had absolutely no idea what a vasectomy was, but from context clues, she assumed it meant something negative regarding the pregnancy. So, she just rubbed Jace's arm in comfort and made a mental note to ask Isabelle later.

"But the thing is," Jace continued, "I don't think they're going to get a divorce. They're just sort of going to silently hate each other forever which makes my life so much more fun."

"Oh, wow..." Clary thought about how big of a deal divorce was in her time. Most people who fell out of love wouldn't divorce because of the scrutinization and the stigma. Maybe that was one thing that hadn't changed? Or maybe they weren't divorcing for some other reason that Clary didn't understand.

All this complication was beginning to hurt her head. The differences and similarities between her world and this one, they were beginning to kill her. Clary squeezed her eyes shut as the headache got worse. Seemingly it came out of nowhere and a moment ago it hadn't felt like anything but now it was tearing at her nerves and pounding on her skull. Clary bent over and pressed the palms of her hands to her forehead. It kept on getting worse.

"Clary?" Jace set a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?" She could feel that he crouched down in front of her, but when she opened her eyes her vision doubled and spots appeared everywhere. "Clary?"

She shook her head unable to speak words. A loud yelp escaped from her throat as the throbbing continuously grew worse. Clary shouted from the pain. She felt like she was going to throw up.

The door to her room opened and someone entered. "Clary?" Magnus. "Jace!"

"I-" Jace started, but was cut off.

"We'll discuss this later." Magnus stepped closer and put his hands over Clary's. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

"I don't- Ah!" Clary pulled at her hair and brought her knees up to her chest. It was unbearable.

"Here, let me." Ragnor's voice. Magnus stepped back and the other warlock took his place. He set his fingers over Clary's wrist then paused. "Get the boy out of here." After a few moments, he continued. Something, a needle, pricked Clary's wrist where Ragnor's fingers had previously been. The headache began to fade and in place of it, she felt drowsy. As the world was going blank, Ragnor whispered something in Clary's ear. It sounded like only a mumble though as she passed out.

When Clary woke, she was in her bed. The sun had risen. No one else was around. Stepping out of bed, Clary heard voices from the living room. Her door was cracked and so she peered through it to where the four warlocks sat and spoke.

"I wouldn't say that it magic-induced," Ragnor was saying, "we can't just automatically say the migraine is related to her disappearances with no proof."

"We shouldn't be ruling out that they're related either," said Tessa.

"Maybe it was stress induced," suggested the other girl, Caterina, "she's been dealing with a lot lately."

"Magnus, what did Jace say him and Clary were discussing before the episode?" Tessa wondered.

Magnus shook his head. "I didn't ask him, I just kicked him out." When Tessa only stared at him, he shrugged. "Your grandson. You wanna know, then you ask him."

"We can discuss my complicated relationship with Jace later." Tessa scowled. "For now, we need to know what was happening just before Clary had to migraine. If it really was only stress induced then there are certain steps we should be taking to keeping her calm. If it wasn't just about emotions though, well we need to be taking different steps."

"I agree with Tessa, we need to know as much as possible," said Caterina.

"Then why don't you just ask me?" Clary pushed open her door and exposed herself to the group.

"Clarissa!" Magnus rushed over to her and looked her over from head to toe. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Clary shrugged. "I feel fine."

Magnus seemed to breathe out in relief. He nodded and stepped back. "Yes, well, you've missed another day of school now. I'm not happy about it, but I'm glad you're okay."

Clary grinned but her focus was turned to Caterina when she began to speak. "So, Clary what was happening just before you got the migraine? Do you remember? I know that sometimes when warlocks use magic on humans such as what Ragnor did to you it can leave their mind feeling boggled for a period of time."

Clary furrowed her eyebrows. He didn't use magic on me, she thought, he injected me with something. Instead, she said, "I was just sitting there talking to Jace when all of a sudden my head started pounding. I don't know if it had to do with stress. I mean, it could've. We were talking about-" Clary cut herself off, she wasn't sure if that had been news Jace wanted everyone to know, "complicated things and I was thinking about how so much has changed and yet a lot is the same."

"Sounds stressed induced to me," Ragnor spoke up. Magnus looked at him for a moment, then sighed.

"I agree. Unfortunately, a lot has been happening and it might be best if you slow down a bit, Clary. I will admit that I did throw you into the world rather quickly and after all your time spent with your friend's relatives... well, you need to slow down." Magnus ran a hand through his hair. "You can take the rest of this week off. We'll run some tests on you, you'll spend time with Tessa, you'll relax."

"Magnus, I'm fine-"

"No, Clary, you're clearly not fine and it's my fault. I shouldn't have been so hard on you, and yet I also should've done a better job at keeping you away from the Lightwoods. I shouldn't have let you dive right into school. I shouldn't have let the stress build up. I should've been a better father."

Clary wanted to say something, anything, just that he was wrong. She wanted to validate that he was the best father figure she'd ever had. Words seemed miles away now and all she could do was stand there with sorrow and regret in her heart. The other warlocks also remained silent, unsure of what could be said to fix the situation. They all watched as Magnus' head hung low and he exited to his bedroom.

"That's not true," Clary managed to whisper a full minute after his door had closed. Tessa wrapped an arm around Clary's shoulders but continued to be silent.

"Give him some space," said Caterina, "just for the rest of the day. He'll be back to himself tomorrow."

"For now why don't you go find your friends and explain why you missed another day of school." Tessa smiled weakly and at Clary's confused look she broke out into a full grin. "You were sick, of course."

Clary nodded and checked the time. "They actually will be getting out soon and it would be nice to see Simon."

"And Jace, I'm sure," Tessa continued to which she received a glare. "Well, the boy was in your room in the middle of the night, I can only assume what was taking place."

"It wasn't like that!" Clary smacked Tessa on the arm but was laughing. "I swear, we were just talking."

"Even still." Her tone rose with mocking. "Talking at midnight can be done over the phone."

"Just shut up." Clary rolled her eyes and started towards her room to change.

"You can't deny it forever!" Tessa called. "The sooner you admit, the easier it'll be for all of us!"

Later, Clary was waiting outside the school as everyone left for home. Upon seeing Simon, her spirits lifted and she waved to him. His eyebrows shot up when he spotted her and he immediately headed in her direction.

"Clary," said he, "where were you today?"

"Sick." She shrugged. "Sorry to leave you alone again."

"It's fine, wanna head to Java Jones?"

Clary nodded. As she turned to leave with Simon, she caught Jace's eye. Immediately, she turned her head. He probably had a lot of questions. Questions involving who were Caterina and Ragnor, what that headache was all about, and more. She didn't want to deal with that now... or ever really.

They arrived at Java Jones and took a couple of seats after ordering some coffee. Thankfully, there was no poetry slam happening at the moment. Instead, music quietly played from some overhead speakers and the place was filled with the chatter of people and the smell of coffee.

"I should probably tell you something," Clary announces as a waitress comes over with their orders. "I won't be in school for the rest of this week. Some family came into town so I'll be spending time with them for a bit."

Simon only nods in understanding. "Alright, well hopefully we can meet up sometimes."

"Definitely." Clary smiles into her cup glad to be in a calm environment for once.

So, I was going to make this chapter longer, but then I was like nah. Sorry, it's kinda short. Still, I hope y'all liked it. Please comment and go check out the other story I've now posted: The Florist and The Bartender. A Clace fic, duh. Love you guys!