Love's War

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Katherine was only gone for a day and Clary felt as if Stephen was already bordering on insanity. It was the first time Clary had seen him like this. Usually he'd start worrying if he didn't know where she was or who she was with, but she was with Blake and they were in Paris. He knew that full well. This only led Clary to think that there was something wrong.

Last night, Clary saw a car leaving the estate, but it wasn't one that she'd recognized. When she entered the house, her father was locked up in his study with her mother. She could hear his voice rising in anger contrasting her mother's soft and comforting words as she made a midnight sandwich.

Just that morning, he barely touched his breakfast before storming away and leaving Kathleen to explain his sudden outburst with a mere "He only misses Katherine."

Clary and Chris had always known that Stephen favoured Katherine among the three of them. He had always believed her stories and random tales no matter how impossibly inaccurate and ridiculous they were.

"Clary, are you okay?" Chris asked, waving his hand across his sister's face, catching her attention. "You're zoning out on me again."

"Don't you think dad was acting really weird this morning? I mean, I know he's always grumpy... but he seemed grumpier today than usual." As she said this, Clary leaned across the kitchen counter to grab a sliced strawberry off the chopping board Chris was using.

They were supposed to be making a berry smoothie for Chris's wife, Alice; but Chris forgot most of the instructions and ingredients which led to the chaos in their kitchen.

"Maybe he's only frustrated because Katherine might get married before you." Chris teased, pouring his latest smoothie creation into a tall glass.

Clary threw a piece of discarded fruit at him, effectively hitting him on the side of the face. "You and I both know I don't want to rush into any of this anymore."

Chris held his hands up as if in surrender, "Hey, I know that. And I also happen to know Thomas. As soon as he feels that both of you are ready, he won't hesistate."

Clary turned away at that statement. Katherine had known Blake since they were children. It seemed logical for them to get married first because they already knew each other so well. Clary was sure Blake was the only guy her baby sister had ever known in a romantic sense.

"Hey," Alice said, breaking Clary's train of thought when she walked into the kitchen holding their five month old daughter, Callie. "You were taking too long." She told Chris matter-of-factly.

Chris took Callie into his arms and started making funny faces at her, causing her to gurgle happily. Alice, on the other hand, fixed her gaze on Clary.

"You look pale," she commented, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just... the heat." Clary finished lamely.

"I prescribe kisspirin from a certain Thomas Scott. About a whole bottle of it for today, I think." Chris joked, "I can even write out a prescription if you want. Make it all official and all that."

Alice shook her head at her husband's antics. "You have to be at the hospital in ten minutes Dr. Castillo." She reminded him, taking Callie out of his arms. "I suggest you take a shower for sanitary purposes. You wouldn't want your patients to get infected with your lazy bacteria."

Chris chuckled, shook his head and gave Alice and Callie a kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you two ladies later."

Callie peered longingly over her mother's shoulder at her father's retreating back when she started to cry out.

"Oh no you don't missy. Daddy needs to go help people, we talked about this already, right?" Alice started to coo at her daughter.

Clary stared at the exchange between mother and daughter, feeling a pang of emptiness in her chest. She decided to break the silence, "Are you staying over this weekend?"

Alice glanced up at her and gave her a small smile, "Yes. Chris said your father was feeling the empty nest syndrome. He proposed we stay here until Katherine comes back next week. It gets pretty lonely at home anyways."

"That sounds wonderful. Tell you what, it's my day off today. Maybe you would like to take Callie out for a walk?"

"I'd like that. I'll go grab a few things and we can head out and have brunch." Alice placed Callie in Clary's arms as she said this.

Unsure of what to do, Clary stared long and hard at her niece. "Hello there Callie."

Callie stared up at her aunt curiously in response. She reached up to pat Clary's cheek then cocked her head to the side.

"Hey, I'm your aunt Clary."

All of a sudden, Callie's face scrunched up and she started to cry. Immediately, Clary panicked. "No, no, hey, don't cry Callie. It's alright. Mommy will come down soon and you'll see her again."

At the mention of her mother, she began to scream out loudly. Clary was lost, so she simply held her and tried to bounce her up and down as she had seen her brother do many times before.

Then, she saw a familiar face through the glass sliding door. Thomas Scott's bright smiling face was instantly turned into a serious one when he saw the crying baby. He immediately unlocked the door and strode over to where his girlfriend was.

"Give her to me." He said in a soft, yet commanding voice, whilst holding his arms out. Clary obliged and watched in awe as he calmed her down by gently rocking her and murmuring soft nothings in her ear.

Once she had calmed down, Clary asked, "Where the heck did you learn to do that?"

Thomas casually shrugged his shoulders. "I've watched a few people do it. I... I didn't think it would actually work."

"Well it doesn't most of the time." Alice's voice chirped from behind them. "I'm surprised it did just now. When we do it during the night time, she screams her lungs out."

"I doubt Chris has anything to do with her during the night time." Thomas commented, "That guy can sleep through a stampede. I can attest to that personally."

Alice laughed, "That's close to the truth. He wakes up sometimes when he feels like it. I had to kick him to the floor once just to tell him my water broke."

Thomas shook his head and placed Callie into her carrier and gave her cheek a light touch, causing the infant to kick her legs in happiness. "I'd be too scared of Clary not to wake up."

"You're whipped. I'm sure you two will be great parents. You already have the magic touch as demonstrated on this little monster." She motioned her head towards her daughter.

"Well, he'd have to start thinking of marriage first before he can plan for how he'll raise his children." Clary interrupted, the words flowing out more harshly than she had initially intended. After a long pause, she said, "We should take Callie out now before it gets too hot out and we lock ourselves into the mall."

"I'll drive you to the boardwalk." Thomas offered, fishing his keys out of his pocket.

After helping Alice and Clary load Callie's things into the trunk of his SUV, Thomas went ahead to open the door for Alice while placing Callie's car seat beside her, securely locking it into place. When he went over to help Clary in, he found that she had already let herself in the passenger seat and was buckled in, staring straight ahead.

Not knowing what he had done to receive such cold treatment from her, he went around to the driver's side and started the car.

A/N: HELLO GUYS! It has legitimately been so friggin long since I have updated and I deeply apologize for that. Over the three year hiatus, I started uni and have just been so busy and I haven't been writing as much as I would. Hopefully, re-updating this story would bring me back into the groove.

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter!

xx Ally