Colliding Hearts #Wattys2017

Chapter 18- Stealing Away

The atmosphere was tense, for lack of better words. Jocelyn and Clary sat next to one another at the table with Emerson sitting across from them. Bowls of soup sat in front of each of them and unlike Jocelyn and Clary, Emerson had no problem with eating, not caring if she was supposed to be talking instead of eating. Jocelyn had brought the girls to the small soup diner, one of her personal favorites in Brooklyn.

The entire way here Emerson had spoke of all types of food, she had reminded Jocelyn of Luke from how much she went back and forth between food and books. Clary had mentioned how she hadn't ever heard of the majority of the foods or books Emerson spoke about, this had resulted in Emerson saying it was pointless to keep talking and since then she had remained silent, only talking to order her food.

"Have you picked a room at the Institute yet?" Jocelyn questioned as she watched Emerson with a sad look. She wanted to cry and hold the girl tightly to her, never letting go. Her heart hurt at the reminder of seeing Emerson all grown up and hearing her say that she wasn't her mother.

"You can room next to me, the room is empty and everything." Clary offered, smiling as Emerson finally stopped eating and looked at them. She wanted to spend time with Emerson, normal time, and if forcing herself to do girly things like decorating, she would as long as she got to spend time Emerson, with her twin.

"I slept with Alec and then Jace." Emerson said frowning as Jocelyn's eyes widened and Clary choked on her water.

"Did they force you?" Jocelyn questioned with anger rising in her chest.

"I'll kill him." Clary hissed.

"Why? Is sleeping not allowed? That's pretty petty, not allowing people to sleep because you don't." Emerson said, snorting as she went back to eating her soup.

She wondered why she had agreed to come with them, they were rather boring in her opinion. She would rather be with Alec or Magnus. Thinking of Magnus made her miss him and she wondered if she should ditch her birth mother and twin to go to her new apartment to see if he was there.

She had decided that despite her staying at the Institute, her home was with Magnus, wherever he was. She had always been a firm believer of finding your home in people more so than a place. Places, as she had grown up, seemed to always be ever changing but people, like her mom and Magnus was always constant. Even with her mom being dead didn't mean she had less of a home, it just meant that one part of her home was where she couldn't go for now.

"You don't really think before you talk, do you?" Clary questioned only to receive a glare from her mom and smirk from Emerson.

"It's nice to see you're not completely slow." Emerson muttered as she finished her soup.

Clary rolled her eyes at her response before picking up her straw wrapper and threw it at her. Emerson retaliated by throwing her own as well. Jocelyn smiled seeing the girls small sisterly moment, she wanted them to have more moments like this, she wanted them to have years together. It was why, she decided, she was going to give Emerson something that she should have gotten the same day as Clay.

Jocelyn bent over and pulled a wooden box from her pocketbook and stared at it, keeping it from Emerson's view. She knew that by her giving this to Emerson she was signing Emerson's fate as a Shadowhunter. And while she wasn't certain if it was the safest thing to do, she knew it was what was right. Emerson had been kept from her true family and her true self for too long and Jocelyn didn't want to keep her from anything else. And perhaps, with Emerson learning to be a Shadowhunter, she just might be able to not be what that mark implied her to be.

"I have something for you. You and Clary was supposed to have gotten it at the same time." Jocelyn spoke drawing both of the girls attentions to her.