Yes, so I am alive and back from my really long hiatus. So, I'll make it up by writing this chapter. But first, shout outs go to the following fantabulous people: Mrs. Will Herondale, Whispers in a Thundercloud, booklover1798, poisoned-.-rationality, Princess of Idris, IridescentLight, StarLights145, MoonDust198, SnowQueen135, PhoenixFeathers246, 138, 159, Readingallthetime, Clace4ever-NeverInsultMyFandom, itsHerondale, GeorgiaRowan, LilyGold23, firequeen8569, buffalofangirl4life and all the guest reviewers. This is for you guys!

"Clary, you can't just do nothing. This is serious," Jonathan said, pinning me with a frustrated look. In his left hand was my phone with the mysterious text message I had received last night.

"Let it go, Jonathan, just let it go," I said, making a grab for the phone. Jonathan handed it to me and crossed his arms.

"I'm serious Clary," he said, in a no-nonsense, I'm-not-taking-that-frozen-reference voice. I sighed.

"It's probably nothing, Jonathan. It's most likely just some dumb prank," I said, in a rather unconvincing voice. I wasn't stupid, I knew that the shooting and this message were somewhat connected, if not completely. But still, I had far too much on my plate balancing the engagement with Jace, the kids, social security and my job. I know that not taking the message seriously was dangerously unwise but nothing's happened so far, and reporting the matter would result in nothing really. They would dismiss it and say the exact thing that I was telling Jonathan right now; It was a prank and albeit it being cruel, it ws harmless.

"Clary, you shouldn't dismiss things like this. When you got shot… And when you asked about Emil Pangborn… That wasn't just some random coincidence, was it?" Jonathan said. I looked at him, a lie right at the tip of my tongue. But somehow the words wouldn't form. Maybe it's because of the frantic panic I was seeing reflected in Jonathan's eyes... and fear... the fear that the seeds of yesterday's past were starting to grow. Instead of answering, I looked away.

After making a full recovery from my bullet wound, it was once again time to return to work. Seeing as all my friends seem to be on the same page and my parents not too far off, Jace and I decided it was time to hire an official babysitter for the kids while we go to work. After much careful deliberation, Jace and I decided to hire an amicable 40 year old woman named Linda Adams, who used to live in California before moving to Brooklyn. She used to be a house-wife and since all of her kids had grown up and are now living happy, successful lives, she decided to dedicate her life to helping working parents in raising their children. She's never been in prison and we happen to know how much cars she owns. How do I know this? Apparently, in Jace and Jonathan's book, 'Careful Deliberation' meant running background checks on potential babysitters like they were reformed wanted mafia syndicate leaders and we were leaving them in charge of the CIA bomb department instead of three normal children.

Nevertheless, Mrs. Adams proved to be an excellent babysitter, and the children adored her. At least, that was one less problem to worry about.

On the first day of my first week back to work, I dressed in white silk shirt and a black pencil skirt. I made sure to prepare the baby formulas and baby food in the fridge, as well as, sticking the schedule for the children on the fridge for Mrs. Adams to see. Jace seemed to be having a frantic and busy morning ust like me, as he got in his car in a pair of blue house slippers, a bath robe with a messy tie and dress pants. He returned 10 minutes later with a bag of bagels with cream cheese spread and a medium cup of vanilla flavored espresso from Taki's. After we both got ready, me having to tie Jace's tie, Mrs. Adams came in right on schedule.

"Good morning, Clarissa, Jason," Mrs. Adams said. She liked calling us by our full first names and she seemed to be a bit unfamiliar with Jace's name and as such had resorted to calling him Jason instead.

"Good morning, Mrs. Adams. We'll be leaving them in your hands now," I said, in a very courteous voice. She beamed happily and wished us a safe journey. We thanked her and took our leave.

"Bye Bye!" Ariya said, holding the paw of her brown stuffed bear with a red and white striped dress with a matching hat (who she affectionately called Ms. Muffet) to wave at me. She was the only one among all of the children who got up very early. I smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Can you send this to the copier, Clary?" my co-worker, Liz asked, handing me a fat stack of paper. I nodded.

"Sure," I said and took the short trip to the copying machine, drinking espresso while balancing the paper. After feeding it to the machine, I leaned against it and let it do its work, as I sipped casually at my coffee. My phone rang and so I picked it up. It was Jonathan.

"Happy Birthday, Sis!" he said in a cheerful voice, nearly deafening me.

"Um, I think you got the date wrong, Jonathan. My birthday's on..." Jonathan cut me off.

"No, silly, I mean today is your real birthday. The day Jocelyn Fairchild gave birth to you," Jonathan said. I smacked my head with my palm.

"I totally forgot that," I said. I heard Jonathan's laugh over the line.

"Well, I'll come by your house later and give you your gift... Shit, my boss is coming. TTYLXOX" he said, before hanging up abruptly.

"TTYLXOX? He listens to Bella Thorne?" I muttered to myself. The copier finished its cycle so I grabbed the wads of paper stacks and gave it to Liz.

"Thank you. You're a lifesaver," Liz said, clearly relieved as she saw me with the paper, "Someone sent this for you by the way. Happy Birthday," she said, and placed a brightly colored box in my hand. I accepted it. The gift wrapper was a neon green with red polka dots, complete with an enormous red bow on top. A small card attached to it read 'To Clarissa Morgenstern on her birthday'. Funny. Maybe, Jonathan thought to send the gift early? I unwrapped the present carefully. Inside was a brown stuffed bear wearing a red and white striped dress with a matching hat. The very same bear that I saw Ariya cuddling this morning. I drop the stuffed animal in shock. Something gleamed at me out of the corner of my eye. I turned to its direction. It was a golden marriage ring with a leaf pattern around the band. Carrie and Joshua's wedding ring. My hands go up to my mouth as dread and horror coursed through me. I ran out of the office, dialing Jace's number as I went. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello? Clary?" he said.

"Jace, get to the house right now!" I said. There was a moment of silence. Perhaps it was the desperation in my voice or just an instinct, but Jace said,

"I'm on my way" I hung up, and dashed into my car.

I got to my house in ten minutes, breaking numerous speeding laws on my way, as I had driven on the highway and switched lanes as if I were in a Fast and Furious movie. I threw open the door... and gasped in shock. On the floor was Mrs. Adams on her stomach, with a coconut sized bump on the back of her head. Blood pooled around her. I knew instinctively without checking her pulse that she was dead. No one could bleed that much and survive. I immediately ran inside, leaving the door wide open as I did so. In the living room was Ariya, Josh and Cedric lying on the couch. I ran to them and put my fingers by their neck.

Please, I thought, Just Please, Anything but them. I'll do anything. I felt the familiar throbbing of a pulse. They were asleep. Thank God. A sizeable part of me sighed in relief, that they had most likely not see the horrible death of their beloved babysitter. I turned around.

On the wall of the living room were letters of a foot long in Mrs. Adams' red blood.

They spelt in a grotesque fashion

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLARISSA!

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