I Can't Stay

Chapter 2: Sickness

Weeks later

Clary woke up and immediately ran to the bathroom to be sick. She clutched the toilet seat glad she had decided to sleep in her own bedroom at the institute last night, she didn't want Jace to see her like this.

When she was finished getting sick she cleaned up, brushed her teeth, and went downstairs to see if anyone else was up at six a.m. She tip toed past the library and peeked in what she saw made her smile.

Jace was sitting in one of the elegant chairs in front of the fireplace. He had a rather large book in his lap and was so wrapped up in the words on the pages he didn't hear her walk over to him and he slightly jumped when she leaned down to kiss him. He quickly realized it was Clary and a soft smile spread on his face as he kissed her.

"What are you doing awake so early my love?" He asked while motioning for her to sit in his lap.

She did as he asked and explained what had happened. Jace's expression turned to one of worry as he rubbed small circles with his thumb on her back. "Are you okay? Are you getting sick?" He reached up with the hand that wasn't on her back and placed it on her forehead. She did feel a little warm. "Come on, let's go back to bed" he scooped Clary up in his arms as she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and leaned her head on his shoulder.

They got upstairs and Jace layed Clary in bed then scooted in beside her and kissed her head.

When clary woke again it was about nine o'clock in the morning. She sat up and yawned then she waited just a moment for her stomach to churn again but nothing happened. She thought maybe it was a 24 hour thing. Either way she felt fine and was a little hungry so she went downstairs to find some breakfast.

When she got to the kitchen jace was waiting with some chocolate chip pancakes. He kissed her head which already felt less feverish. "How are you feeling?" He asked with only a tiny hint of worry in his voice.

Clary laughed at this. "I'm fine Jace. Much better" she gave a small smile to prove what she had said. He leaned down and kissed her then placed the plate of pancakes on the table and pulled out a chair gesturing for her to sit. She did and he politely pushed her chair in for her.

Clary was starving, well she thought she was anyway, until she looked down at the pancakes. There was nothing wrong with them they actually looked delicious but something made her lose her appetite and suddenly she was running as fast as she could to the nearest bathroom, Jace hard on her heals. He kneeled down beside her and held her hair as she was sick into the toilet. He rubbed her back gently and tried to soothe her as best he could.

She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and sat down on the tiled bathroom floor. Jace moved over and held her close. Clary closed her eyes and leaned into his chest. "I guess it wasn't just 24 hours" Clary laughed weekly but Jace didn't seem amused he was clearly worried. "I'm sorry" Clary said over and over.

"Clarissa Fray stop apologizing this is not your fault. You can't help getting sick" he kissed her forehead again and carried her to her room where he layed her down and covered her up then went down to make soup. She needed to eat something.