Clace - TMI AU

The arrival

Jace saw a car pull up outside the institute. He'd lived there his entire life. Maryse had taken him in after his parents had killed themselves, she was pregnant with Izzy and already had a 2 year old, Alec. His name wasn't initially Jace, It was Jonathan Christopher Herondale. Now he was Jace Lightwood. Here he was, eleven years later standing in his room staring at a newcomer out of his bedroom window. The weird thing was, No-one new ever came to the institute, but today someone did. It was a tall man in a pickup truck and he had a very small girl with him. She had very vibrant red hair that could be seen for miles. She was very scrawny looking and seemed very distressed. Jace called his brother and sister and the three siblings raced down the stairs together to the library where they knew Maryse would have taken their guests. They opened the door just as the man was hugging the girl. He then turned and left Without another word to anyone.

"Alec, Izzy, Jace, this is Clary. Clary these are my children, Alexander, Isabelle and Jace." Said Maryse, pointing to each child in turn. She then turned to Jace and said
"Jace please grab Clary's bags and Izzy please escort her to a guest room, make her feel welcome. She's had a long and rough week."
Jace obligingly picked up Clary's bag and followed the two girls out the library up to one of the guest rooms.
When they got to the guest room Izzy gave a quick tour and then proceeded to interrogate Clary.
"So, what are you doing here?"
Clary said nothing.
"Can you speak?"
Still No answer from Clary.
"Do you understand Engli-"
"Right Izzy that's enough, you heard mom, she's had a rough week now leave her be!" Interrupted Jace "And of course she speaks English, how else would she have know to come up to the guest room with us?" He exclaimed.
She rolled her eyes and turned to Clary "Dinner's at six, I'll come and get you then, in the mean time you can unpack seeing as you don't want to talk to me." Then she turned on her heels and stormed off.
"Sorry about her," said Jace apologetically, "she's not had much experience with girls, in fact you're probably the first girl our age she's met!" Clary wondered why they had never met any other girls their age but instead of asking she said, "If it's alright I'd like to take a nap before dinner."
"Ah she speaks!" He exclaimed chuckling, "that's perfectly alright, I'll be up to wake you for dinner in a couple of hours."
"Thanks" she replied with a forced smile.
Jace headed back down to the library to hear this mysterious girls story. She had come out of nowhere, with barely any belongings and didn't want to speak to anyone and he was determined to find out why. He opened the door to the library to fine Alec and Izzy waiting for him.
"What took you so long? I left ages ago to ask mom who this Clary girl is."
"I was just talking to he-"
"She spoke to you, and not me!" She said, her voice getting louder with every word.
"Calm down Iz, she just said she wanted to take a nap" He said, trailing off because of the intense glare Isabelle was giving him.
"Hmph. " she said and turned away towards her mother.
"Now that you two are done arguing I can tell you about Clary.
She lived with her mother a few miles away, upstate New York. But her mother, she was killed." She had tears rolling down her cheeks, Jace had never seen her cry. He wanted to comfort her but didn't feel as though it was appropriate.
"It was Luke, the man who brought her here that found Jocelyn, Clary's mom. He took her to a warlock to try to find out what happened but there was no trace of anything magical. They decided it was better off she was sent for an autopsy at the mundane hospital, she was poisoned. Clary doesn't know that yet though so don't tell her. Anyway, Luke thought it'd be best for Clary to live here in case it was revenge. Revenge to avenge Valentine."
The three children gasped but said nothing. In fact no one said anything for a while.
Eventually, Izzy broke the silence
"What about her father? Where is he?"
"Also dead. I missed out one major detail in my story."
The children stared at her expectantly, waiting for the missing detail. She seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Clary's father was Valentine. He was married to Jocelyn but when she realised how crazy he was she ran away and, well, plotted his murder."
"So you think one of his followers has come back and killed Clary's mom for revenge" asked Alec
"I believe so, yes, but that's besides the point. The reason I told you all this is so you all be patient with Clary. So that you all make her feel safe and welcome here. Promise me you will do that?"
"Promise." They all replied in unison.
               * * * * *
Clary awoke suddenly. She had been screaming and someone was shaking her. She looked up to see a very worried looking Jace standing over her, calling her name.
"Clary you were screaming and I've trying to wake you up for ages! Are you alright?" He inquired sounding very alarmed.
Her voice sounded foreign to her own ears and her throat felt raw.
"Just a nightmare" she whispered. But it didn't feel like a nightmare, it felt so real. She practically relived her mother's death every time she closed her eyes, except in reality she hadn't actually seen anything so her nightmares were completely hypothetical and each one different to the last. Jace was still looking at her like she was about to do something crazy so she decided to try and change the subject.
"What's the time?"
"It's 10 o clock, sorry I didn't wake you up for dinner, you just looked so peaceful but now I guess that was a mistake. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm sure, right now all I want is some food, could you take me to the kitchen?"
"Sure." He said and gave her a crooked smile. It was the type of smile that you just couldn't help but to smile back at.
"Alright I just need to go to the bathroom then we can go" she said. Jace pointed her towards a door in her room. All the bedrooms had bathrooms in them.
As Jace watched her leave the room he felt something he'd never felt before, it was a feeling he couldn't quite explain. He was worried about Clary, but there was something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on. The way she screamed pierced through his ears, he knew he would never forget that scream. It was the scream of loss and hopelessness. It was a scream of fear and despair. It was the scream of death.
The bathroom door opened and Clary slipped out, she had her hands in the back pockets of her pants.
"Ready to go?" Asked Jace.
Clary nodded and the two headed off towards the kitchen. He took the opportunity to give her a mini tour, pointing at various things and rooms and explaining what they were.
Eventually they got to the kitchen,
"And this is the kitchen, what would you like leftovers or something fresh? Not to brag but I make a mean cheese omelette."
"Well I guess I'll have to test that theory another time" she chuckled. "What did you have for dinner?"
"Well Izzy tried to cook something and erm, well burnt it to a crisp. " Clary laughed.
"You know I was wondering what that smell was but didn't want to be rude." Jace watched her, she had the most radiant laugh.
"Yeah well she isn't the best cook, I mean she tries but she definitely shouldn't! Anyway we had to get some food from Taki's."
"Taki's?" Inquired Clary.
"Taki's is a downworlder restaurant. We can go get something now if you want. I'm sure Maryse won't mind."
"Oh no, it's way too late. Plus I don't want to disturb the others."
"Well my mean cheese omelette is still on the table?" He joked, smirking.
She looked at her wrist as if she was checking a the time on a watch and replied "I guess it's later, time to judge how great this cheese omelette is."
"Alright!" He said walking across the room to the cooker whilst Clary sat down at the breakfast bar.
He made her breakfast and joked some more about Izzy's cooking, then all of a sudden his eyes got dark and serious "Clary, I'm really worried about you, what happened in that nightmare?"
Clary shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She took a deep and shaky breath "It was about my mom, you probably know she's dead, but you probably don't know how she died. Well neither do I. It's only been about three days but every time I fall asleep I see her dying. It's a different one each night and it always seems so real." Jace took the pan off the stove and placed it on a cool hob before walking around the breakfast bar and grabbing Clary's hands.
"I'm so sorry about your mom, I can't even imagine, I mean my mom is dead too but I never knew her. The point is I'm always here for you if you need me, always." He gave her hand a quick squeeze before he walked off to finish the omelette.
A few minutes later he walked back over with a plate.
"Voilá! Your cheesy omelette is served."
"That my friend is not an omelette!" She replied.
"It's not?" He said incredulously.
"No!" Exclaimed Clary. "It's scrambled egg."
"My whole life has been a lie." Whispered Jace, very fast.
He went over to a cupboard and got out two forks one for Clary and one for himself. And together they ate the eggs before going back to Clary's room.
"Well I have to say, you make and adequate cheesy "omelette"." She said making quotation signs with her fingers.
"Adequate?! I thought it was exceptional." He chuckled. "Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." He began to walk away from her room when she caught his hand. It sent Little electric shocks up his arm.
"Wait, will you stay with me?" Her eyes were full of fear, fear of being left alone.
"Of course." He said softly and held her hand properly before the two headed to her room together.
He pulled the armchair over to her bed as Clary slipped into bed and sat in the chair.
Slowly the two dozed off, he was happy sat here, watching over her, guarding her. That was the first night she slept without having a nightmare.