Roommates & Soulmates

Ch202: Clary's Soulmate

"Yeah later," Jace waved back at Alec as he was leaving. He turned to Clary and added, "It was nice to see you."

"You too," Clary smiled back. She could see in his eyes there was something else he wanted to say, but she couldn't figure out what. Then Jace turned and left the apartment. Clary's gaze didn't leave the spot where Jace's bright blonde hair had last been visible to her. Her mind went blank as she stared. When would she see those golden eyes again, she wondered.

"You hungry?" Alec asked.

"Huh? What?" Clary asked, snapping out of her haze and turning to Alec.

"Food," Alec said. "Want some?"

"I ate at work," Clary said.

"Okay, but if you change your mind I'm making breakfast for dinner when Magnus gets home," Alec said. Clary replied politely then turned and headed to her room. Her laptop was in her room and she very much wanted to kill a few hours and a few brain cells by watching hours of mindless youtube videos.

Clary followed some really talented and engaging content creators on youtube, but tonight she wasn't up for any of that. Instead, she made searches like 'adorable kittens' and 'dogs doing tricks'. After that, she followed related video links and generally tried to turn her brain to mush. She didn't even come out of her room when she heard the door open and knew Magnus was home from work.

It was past eight o'clock by the time any noise outside her room could distract from her mindless youtube binge. She could hear a voice in the living room that wasn't just the married couple squabbling. Curious, despite herself, Clary closed her laptop and finally got out of bed. She had to stretch for a moment, having gotten stiff from sitting still for so long.

Then suddenly Clary froze. She recognized the voice. It was Jace.

Why was he back so soon? Was something wrong? Did this mean he'd finally decided? Did this mean she would lose him forever? Clary had almost been enjoying this little world of hope she'd been living in since they'd become friends again. If he'd made a decision that meant everything could come crashing down.

Then again, maybe she was being too pessimistic. Maybe Jace was just here to see Alec for something. Besides, if it was bad news it hardly made sense for him to rush over and tell her, right?

The fact of the matter was that she'd never know what was going on if she didn't open her bedroom door and find out.

Taking a deep breath, Clary moved her hand forward towards her door handle. She could do this. She needed to do this.

Then suddenly the door was wide open and there stood Jace, grinning at her.

"I don't have to choose," he told her.

Clary had to admit she was more confused now than she'd been before. This fact must have shown on her face because Jace explained what he meant without being asked.

"Between my maybe someday being a dad notion and you," Jace continued. "I don't have to choose. I put off my decision like an indecisive chicken and the universe went and decided for me."

"How's that possible?" she asked. She could tell he was happy and it was getting her hopes up, but he was also making absolutely no sense.

"I can have my cake and eat my cake," Jace said joyously as he reached forward and wrapped his arms around her, swinging her up into the air for a moment before placing her back down. His hands now rested on her hips and Clary enjoyed his touch so much that she almost missed his next words.

"Annika is pregnant."

It took Clary a moment to really process what that meant. Jace didn't have to choose between being a father and being with her because he was already a father, but that didn't make any sense. Hadn't they stopped sleeping together months ago?