AN: Hi. I'm busy. I don't know if you want reasons. If you do here, if not, skip this;

I have dance all year round

I had a musical in March

I had a dance competition in March

I had a research paper in April/May

I had a recital in May

I had a dance competition in May

I have school

And most importantly, I am an extremely lazy human being. Who procrastinates like it's her job. Apologies.

So those are excuses, but also reasons. Take them as you wish.

Chapter 29: Excuse me?

O.o.O.o.O.

"Dr. Anderson, please report to room 211. Dr. Anderson, to 211." The intercom rang through the hospital. Clary was absolutely beside herself. Raphael's parents agreed to the surgery, and it was scheduled for April 17th. Today was April 15th. She didn't have much to do lately. All of her friends were getting busier with school, and they all had their sport practices, as well as going to the gym. She didn't want them to give up their lives for her though, so she didn't complain. But she got lonely. A lot. Her parents were always there, but they didn't really do anything. Her mother sat in the chair by Clary's bed, while her father sat on the couch watching sports. They hardly even spoke. But today, they had meetings with their health insurance company all day.

Clary was dreading the surgery. She knew that Raphael would just hold this over her head, threatening her with the 'I saved your life' card... But she wasn't left with any other options. It was either this, or death. And after her talk with Jace, she caught her second wind of hope. She now believed that she actually had a chance. She just might make it through this after all. Before she could continue her train of thought, there was a short rap on the door, before it opened.

"Hey, babe." Clary couldn't help the grin that spread across her face whenever she saw him lately.

"Hi." She replied, as he walked over to her bedside table.

He put his bag down next to it- it was Friday night, and he always spent the night as much as he could- and pulled a box out from his bag. It was the charm bracelet he had given her in the beginning of the year. Then, it had only a single 'J' on it. But now, it had much more. Along with the J, it also had a 'C', right next to it. Then there was a set of pom-poms, a music note, a paintbrush, and also, an arm with obvious muscle.

"I know it took a while, but I finally got it back. If you don't like any of them, you can send it back. Or just not wear it. It's okay if yo-" Jace began to mumble, twisting his hands nervously.

"Jace. I love it. I would love to put it on now, but I can't because of the surgery. So just put it next to the ring." Clary gestured towards the promise ring that was sitting on her bedside table.

"Okay. I'm glad you like it."

"I do have one question. What's with the arm?"

"Oh, that. I thought you might ask that. Well that is obviously the universal tough guy symbol for strength. But I wanted to get it, because you're by far the strongest person I've ever met. I'd never be able to go through all this, and make it out alive." Jace rubbed the back of Clary's hand with his thumb.

"Jace I haven't actually made it out yet. I could still d-"

"Stop. I don't even want to hear it. No negative words. Only positivity from here on out, deal?" Jace asked.

"Deal." Clary grinned, locking her pinky finger with his.

O.o.O.o.O.

"This woman is a complete bitch." Jace commented, chowing down on chicken lo-mein.

They were currently watching Dance Moms, which was Clary's favorite show. But as they watched, Jace seemed to be getting more fired up about it than Clary was.

"If someone did that to our kid, I'd kill her." He continued, taking a sip of water. But Clary could only focus on one thing; Our kid. He had said that. Every time that he said something like that, it gave her a renewed sense of hope. It made her think that she would make it out of here, and live to marry and have kids. With Jace, hopefully. Jace was obviously trying to talk to her, but she had zoned out thinking about the future. So she absentmindedly said "Yeah, why not?", not actually realizing what she was answering.

"Are you kidding me?! You would voluntarily do that to children and have no problem with it?" Jace looked at Clary like she had three heads.

"Um."

"You weren't paying attention were you?"

Clary smiled sheepishly, giving away her answer.

"Well that's better than you actually meaning what you just said." Jace turned back to the TV, becoming entranced once again.

"Sup, home skillet?" Jonathan, Izzy, Sebastian, and Simon walked through the door, sitting themselves on different seats throughout the room. Izzy sat down on the bed next to Clary, grabbing a fork and sharing her takeout.

"Shush!" Jace yelled, gesturing to the TV.

"So you've made him a Dance Moms fan?" Izzy laughed, throwing her head back.

"Ah great. We've lost you to them." Sebastian mumbled, lounging across the couch. Simon and Jon were across the room, heavily conversed in some nerd thing.

O.o.O.o.O.

About 2 hours later, Jocelyn and Valentine arrived, but Valentine was obviously irritated. Jace, Izzy, Simon, and Sebastian had gone down to the cafeteria, but Jon decided to stay with Clary. She had tried to tell him it was fine, but he insisted.

"What's up, Pops?" Jon hopped up from the couch, grabbing a water.

"Don't ever become an adult." Valentine mumbled, collapsing into a chair.

"Your father is just irritated because of how long that took." Jocelyn explained, referring to the meetings with the insurance company.

"Oh I'm more than irritated." He grumbled, rubbing his face.

O.o.O.o.O.

Jocelyn and Valentine had agreed to go home last night, because Jace was staying the night and Clary wouldn't be alone. After Valentine and Jocelyn had arrived at the hospital last night, Robert came in with some news. In summary, if the surgery is successful, there is a chance that they could remove the cancer; most of it was gone, there was just one spot left. On the other hand, if the surgery is unsuccessful, well, there's a chance she will die because there aren't many available kidney donors that match her. So on that note, Clary decided that her parents should go home and get a good night sleep, since she had Jace with her.

Clary woke up to a nice surprise; there was a tray of food in front of her. Now granted, it was hospital food. But it was still breakfast in bed.

"Thank you." She reached up to kiss Jace.

"Enjoy it. It's the last meal you get until after surgery." Hearing this, Clary groaned, rolling her eyes.

There was a quick knock on the door, before it opened fully.

"Hello, Clary."

Clary would have thrown up, had she eaten her breakfast already.

"Why the fuck are you always up our ass?" Jace asked.

"Excuse me, but that is no way to speak to the person who is saving your girlfriend's life." Raphael said, acting appalled. "Just checking in on my little Clare. I'm checking into the hospital today. Tomorrow's the big day. Exciting." Raphael feigned sarcastic excitement.

"She is not your 'little Clare'." Jace growled, his hands fisting at his sides. "Just get out." Jace slammed the door before Raphael could even say anything else, breathing deeply. "Scum like that shouldn't be allowed to walk the earth." Jace mumbled, grabbing Clary's hand to help calm him down. Clary hummed in agreement, sipping her orange juice.

"Lets eat." Jace gestured towards the plates of food awaiting them.

'Food is always on his mind.' Clary thought to herself, laughing.

O.o.O.o.O.

AN: So none of my content will be medically correct, I'm sure. And I'm fine with that. It doesn't really matter, does it? So I wish I could say, update coming soon! But I can't. School get's out Thursday (one week from today). But I have two musicals I'm doing this summer, plus dance, plus a possible job, plus a social life (yes, I do have one of those too). So I will be trying my best to update as much as I can. But I would like to say that the reason I did update, is because of ClaceFourever. They PM'd me a very nice message, which gave me the motivation to write. So when I say that they help, I really mean it! Anyway, thank you for reading, and hope to see you soon : ) xoxo,

~FandomFreak1