Beyond Repair

22. Same But Different

Hi guys. I know it's been a crazy amount of time since I last updated, and I am sooooo sorry, but I'm going to be totally honest here. After the last chapter, I had no idea where I should go with the story, so I kind of lost interest in it. After a while (a really long while), I came back to it, reread all that I've written for it so far, and then knew exactly what to write. I hope you guys keep reading and don't hate me!!! Love youuuuu.

By the way, if you don't remember, Jace and Clary are writing a journal type thing that writes a story about how their life could be. I think what I'll do is I'll put the journal entries as the beginning of chapters and then continue with story AFTER the journal. The entries will have no relativity to the actual plot of the story! Anyways, Chapter 22...

Clary-Entry 1:
Honestly I feel kind of stupid doing this. Making up a story about what we could be if we weren't Shadowhunters. I guess I should start from a beginning; make something up? Okay.

We met at that coffee shop on 1st. Oren's is it? I was sitting in the front window with a blueberry muffin and a cup of coffee. I was by myself, just reading that book by John Green. The one about the cancer kids. It was about 11, yeah? I was pretty much alone in there.

That's when you walked in. The sun hit your hair in just the right way, and your hair looked like pure gold. What I would do to have your hair....

Anyways, you walked in, got a coffee, and then sat down two tables away from me. I kind of put my book in front of my face so you didn't see me so you didn't think I was some kind of creepy stalker or something like that.

Then I got the worst feeling ever. You know, that feeling when you really have to sneeze but you just don't want to but you do anyway? Yeah, that's what I had. So I did. And it was really, really loud. And awkward. You heard me, I guess, because you turned and saw me.

|Clary POV|

I knock on my mother's door, praying she doesn't hate me after my abrupt leave four years ago. I mean, I haven't spoken to her once since I left, and she has every reason to hate me. I drum my fingers against my side impatiently, waiting for the door to open.

"Calm down, Clary," Sebastian says, placing his hand over mine to make me stay still. "She's here. I saw her car downstairs."

"That's not really what I'm worried about," I mutter, pushing my hair away from my face.

"What do you-"

His question is cut off by the front door swinging open in front of us. I look out at the place where a face should be, but no one is there. "What..." I begin, and then glance down slightly to see a small girl standing in the door frame.

"Um, hi," I say, trying not to sound overly awkward. "I'm looking for Jocelyn Fairchild. Do you know her?"

The little girl giggles, pulling on a lock of her strawberry-blonde hair that had fallen out of her hair clip. "Yes."

"Uh...great," I say, trying not to sound impatient. "Where is she?"

The girl points into the flat behind her, smiling widely.

Sebastian glances over at me, and then squats down so he is eye level with the young girl. "Do you think we could come in and see her?"

Suddenly an extremely familiar voice shouts out from inside the flat, and the sound of footfalls echoed throughout the hallway. "Sierra, who is it?"

"I don know, mama," the girl-Sierra?- replies, shrugging, she slips back into the flat, disappearing from our sight. The door begins to open up all the way.

"I'm so sorry about that, she's only-" The woman looks up at us, her eyes wide with shock. "Clary?" She looks away from me and over to the boy next to me. "Sebastian?"

"Hey," I whisper.

"Hi, mom," my brother says rather sheepishly. "How's it going?"

"My babies!" she cries, pulling us into her arms.

When we break away from her embrace, I can see the tears in her eyes.

She reaches out and pushes my hair away from my face. "Look at you. All grown up! What happened to my little girl?"

She turns to face Sebastian, her face glowing with pride. "And you. You are as handsome as I knew you would be."

She glances behind us and sees Simon, Izzy and Marcus. "Isabelle and Simon!
How are you? Finally got together, I can see." She motions towards their clasped hands, and they blush.

She then turns to face Marcus. "You are new face," she says, reaching out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Jocelyn Fairchild. I'm the mother of-" Suddenly she stops, pulling her hand away from their handshake. She raises a trembling hand to her mouth, backing away from Marcus.

I reach out for my mom, grabbing her arm so she doesn't topple over. "Let's go inside, mom. You look like you're going to faint," I say, guiding he carefully into our-her-flat as the others trailed behind us.

I sit her down on the couch, taking great notice to the fact that the flat hadn't changed at all since I lived there. Still the same couch, still the lamps. The only difference was the pictures that covered the walls of the small girl who answered the door earlier. There was only one picture of Sebastian and me still on the walls in the living room.

"What's going on, mom?" Sebastian asks, sitting down next to her.

"That boy..." she starts, her voice breaking in the middle. She points in Marcus' direction. "That boy there. What is his name?"

"That's Marcus," Simon says, sitting down across from us.

"Oh my," she says, her eyes widening. "Isabelle, would you get me some water?"

"Uh, sure, Jocelyn," she says, and moves quickly towards the kitchen.

When Isabelle returns with the water and my mother has had a sip, we all look at her apprehensively, waiting to hear how she knows Marcus.

"I haven't seen you since you were a very little boy," she begins, smiling lovingly at Marcus. "You would've been... oh, I don't know, two, maybe three. Your parents brought you here to see us because they thought that you weren't spending enough time with children your age, and Sebastian and Clary were just a little older than you."

"I don't remember the visit too well, but I remember watching you with Clary and Sebastian in the backyard. You were playing "school" with some of the rune books," she laughs.

"That was the last time I saw you or your parents," she says, her eyes suddenly very sad.

"That was the last time?" Marcus asks, seeming disappointed.

"Yes," my mom answers, her eyes showing her sympathy for the boy who just wanted to know more about his parents.

"How...," Marcus begins, clearing his throat. "How did you know my parents?"

"How did I know them?" she repeats. She pauses, and then says, "Your father is my brother."