After City of Heavenly Fire

Extra: The End

A month or two later...
Jem wiped a tear from Tessa's cheek with his sleeve. "What's up?"
She remained silent, chewing at her bottom lip. Jem followed the line of her gaze.
It fell upon the eldest Lightwood-Bane boy, tracking him as he ran through the thinning snow towards the Herondale girl. Jem looked back to Tessa, his Tessa, and saw that, beneath the tears, she was smiling.
"He's just as I imagined he would have been." Jem muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
He felt Tessa nod, her chocolate curls bobbing against the side of his face.
Will faltered and turned to face them noticing them for what seemed to be the first time. He said something to Tessa and they both came over.
Little Tessa, picking up instantly on her namesake's upset, crawled into her lap. Will watched from a few paces away, head cocked like an intrigued dog.
"I'm alright." Older Tessa said, stroking little Tessa's explosion of red curls.
Little Tessa looked up, emerald eyes wide. The sky above was cloudy and the weather was reflected in her irises, making them appear more jade than emerald.
Original Tessa pulled a pendant from under her T-shirt and showed it to little Tessa, "It's just like your eyes, don't you think?"
"You look sad." Little Tessa observed.
"I'm happy. I'm very, very happy."
"Then why are you crying?" Little Tessa stared intensely at the pendant, eyes almost crossing.
Older Tessa looked wistfully at the boy a few paces away, "Your parabatai is just like someone I used to know."
"Well," Little Tessa sat upright in Tessa's lap, eyes round and sincere, "He's not my parabatai yet."
Original Tessa smiled and little Tessa turned her head to call, "Come here, Will, stop being so silly!"
Jem laughed, "Now doesn't that remind you of someone else?"
Will came forwards, watchful and tentative as a cat approaching a stranger, and took his place by little Tessa, wrapping his tiny hand in the back of her T-shirt.
"My parents said you knew the man I was named after." Will said.
Jem nodded.
"Was he brave?"
Jem did not hesitate, "The bravest."
"Was he a good fighter?" Will pressed.
"One of the best."
"Did he kill lots of demons?"
"Without a doubt." Jem looked deep into Will's gentle blue eyes, "He was the best man I've ever known."
Will puffed his chest up, "Then Will is a good name."
Jem chuckled, "It certainly is!"
Inside
Clary's complexion was pallid as a corpse and stale sweat beaded on her brow yet her grin stretched from ear to ear. Jace kneeled at her bedside, watching the bundle she cradled in her arms with wonder.
No adjective could describe the clear, shining brightness of the baby's eyes, emerald just did not cut it. His irises were adorned with flecks of gold, eyes so deep and beautiful despite the fact that they were still too young to focus on anything yet. His hair, abundant even mere minutes after birth, was a fiery red that shimmered gold when the sunlight caught it.
"He's gold and red and green." Clary said.
"Like a Christmas tree." Jace deadpanned.
Clary shot him a withering look that he avoided skilfully, reaching out to his son. He tickled his palm with his index finger and the baby latched on, fingers so tiny they seemed more fit for a doll rather than a human.
There was a knock on the door and Jace heard excited voices being hushed. Tessa, older Tessa, poked her head around the door, "Jocelyn and Luke are nearly here. Can Tessa and Max come in yet?"
Clary nodded, stroking the cheek of the baby in her arms. The door opened fully and little Tessa and Max tore in, throwing themselves at the edge of the bed. Jace helped them up, "If you sit quietly you can hold him."
"Him? I have another brother?" Tessa pouted.
"Yeah."
Max beamed and Tessa crossed her arms across her chest in a sulk that wore off as soon as her brother was laid across her's and Max's laps.
Jace slid Tessa's hand under the baby's head.
"He's got hair just like me!"
"Sometimes, in the light," Jace explained, "it looks more like Max's."
"His eyes are the same as mine!" Max beamed.
"But if you look closely you can see bits of Tessa's eyes in there too."
Clary gestured for older Tessa, Jem and Will to come in. She turned back to her son and then did a sudden double take, having to take a look again. Was that really Will on Jem's hip?
It was. Will had his hands on Jem's shoulder and sat, perfectly contentedly, in Jem's arms. Clary noticed that Tessa's eyes were rimmed red and decided not to ask any questions.
"Does he have a name yet?" Older Tessa asked.
"I guess Amatis is out of the picture now." Clary tilted her head up to look to Jace.
"It's between two." Jace said.
Realising no ones attention was on him anymore, Will announced, "I have the same name as Jem's parabatai."
Jem ruffled his hair and Will scowled, ruffling Jem's hair back.
"Room for any more visitors?" Simon and Izzy were at the door, a very fat, grey cat creeping between their legs.
"I was wondering where you got to!" Jem said. Church purred and rubbed his head against Jem's legs. Will looked down at the creature with a look of utter contempt, he was not a cat person. It didn't make things any easier between them that Church was not a person cat. Church bristled at the sight of Will in Jem's arms, hair along his back standing rigid. That was his place.
Simon and Izzy went to the bedside but at a polite distance away so as not to overcrowd the newborn and the obviously exhausted mother. Simon leaned forwards and kissed Clary's forehead, "Hey, yours isn't part vampire!"
"Alec and Magnus will be along in a minute." Izzy warned, "They're just dealing with Raphael and an eyeliner incident."
Jace crouched to Clary's height and murmured in her ear, "What do you think?"
Clary tilted her face into him, speaking against his neck, "About what?"
"His name." He kissed her quickly on the cheek.
"Out of the two?" Clary nuzzled into him, where his jaw ended and his neck began.
"Jordan or Jem?"
Thank you so so much for reading and all your comments have been amazing! You guys are so perfect, I can't thank you enough!