Two Years Later

Good Morning

Mackenzie tip toed down the hallway dragging her favorite teddy behind her. She pushed her parents' bedroom door open and snuck around to what she knew was her mother's side of the bed. She pushed on Clary's shoulder.

Clary felt pressure on her arm and opened her eyes slowly to find two small green eyes staring back at her. She sat up quietly so she wouldn't wake Jace who was sleeping beside her in the bed.

"I had a bad dream" the little girl whispered clutching her stuffed bear close

Clary was still half asleep as she pulled her blankets back and helped the four year old climb into her bed. Clary cuddled Mackenzie close and fell into a deep sleep.

Jace woke up to a small boney elbow poking him the ribs. He frowned and open his eyes to find that it was actually a knee by his ribs and Macks was laying sideways across the bed between him and Clary her strawberry blonde hair mixing with Clary's vibrant red. He figured his daughter had had a nightmare and crawled into the safety of her parents' bed sometime in the night as this was a common occurrence. He smiled to himself and kissed them both gently on the forehead before going to make breakfast.

Mackenzie came into the kitchen and slowly walked over to Jace. She held her arms up and jace picked her up and placed her on his hip while he finished making pancakes. She laid her head down on his shoulder taking time to fully wake up.

Once the pancakes were done Jace sat Mackenzie down at the table and went to get fruit from the fridge. When he came back the little girl had her knees tucked to her chest and her teddy bear cuddled close in her arms. Jace got her a sippy cup of milk, cut up her pancake and placed some of the fresh fruit on her plate, then he dug into his own breakfast.

After she ate Mackenzie was finally fully awake, Jace always teases her and says he's never met a toddler that isn't wide awake by six am but he supposed she took after Clary in that sense. Speaking of his lovely wife she still wasn't awake yet and it was already twelve o'clock even Clary didn't sleep that late. He made her a tray of pancakes and fruit and brought it to their room to surprise her with breakfast in bed, but when he got there she was gone. He started to panic before he heard the sounds of vomiting coming from the attached bathroom. He knocked on the door before entering to find Clary sitting on the floor in front of the toilet looking miserable. Jace sat down behind Clary on the floor with his legs on either side of her he rubbed her back soothingly and kissed her head.

"Where's Macks?" Clary asked Jace with a raspy voice and flinched as it hurt her throat.

"She's fine. She's playing in her room right now."

Clary only had time to nod before she was retching into the toilet yet again.