Jace P.O.V.

The helicopter ride was much shorter than I would have liked. I wouldn't have been happy with three trips to the moon and back. I felt like nothing could have brought us down from that high. Now that Clary was mine, I wanted to make full use of the access I was now permitted. I wanted to run my fingers through her hair over and over again, and capture her lips in mine so heavily she'd be panting, and I wanted to do everything I could, if she would just make those damn noises she kept making, even though they drove me crazy.

And I did do most of it, but I wanted to keep doing it and never stop because it felt so good just being there with her and being able to look into her eyes without them being filled with hatred—or worse, indifference.

But we were in a helicopter and there were other people here, so I had to keep it quite a bit more PG than I wanted.

It wasn't even that I wanted to have sex with her. I just wanted Clary to know that she was mine and I was hers. That she had me wrapped around her finger and I couldn't be happier about it. That I would do whatever she said. That I loved her.

And to imagine that Clary loved me too…the idea was so unreasonable that I had to pause every few seconds, pretending it was to breathe but really just to tell myself this was real. I wouldn't have been able to convince myself, except for the fact that every time I pulled away to show her some beautiful view from the helicopter, I didn't have time to utter a word before she was kissing me again.

I know what you're thinking. That she only wanted me for physical reasons, as most girls did, even if they pretended otherwise. It's what I would have believed. But I was an expert at this touching, kissing, wanting stuff. This didn't feel like just that—the wanting. This felt like loving. There was a difference, and I knew it.

But soon we started flying endlessly back to the ground and I wished we could just keep going, straight into the earth and farther so I'd never ever have to let Clary go. But we still had problems, and lots of them.

Valentine was still on the loose, and Clary was in danger until we caught and killed him. Not to mention the fact that the agency would get very mad once they figured out what I'd become to Clary—what we'd become to each other—so I was going to half to put in my resignation.

So when the helicopter touched down, a hard, sure landing, I took Clary by the hand and pulled her back to the earth. She seemed to have realized the current situation as well, because she was much sullener than she'd been up in the air.

"Hey," I whispered softly, taking both her hands to pull her to a stop and face me. "We're gonna find him and kill him, and when we do, I promise we'll take Isabelle and Alec and even Ratface if you really want and we'll find somewhere beautiful and peaceful to live where we'll never be bothered again."

Clary made a face. She was right. That was very unlikely. Even if I did manage to defeat Valentine and get the C-VPA to leave me alone, the two of us always seemed to be looking for trouble.

"It's not even that," she said. It had gotten dark since we'd left, meaning we'd been in the air much longer than I'd thought. (I mean, time flies when you're having fun.) "You're leaving again."

At first I was confused. I'll admit I had no idea what she was referring to. Once I finally understood, I tipped back my head and laughed. "You're kidding, right?" I cackled. When her face didn't change, I cupped her cheeks in my hands and grew serious. I brought my head so close our foreheads were touching, and kissed her once lightly on the nose. "I'm definitely not going anywhere. The only reason I was going to in the first place was because I thought you hated me."

I saw the look in her eye and continued. "And there would not have been a girl. That was one hell of a cover up, for a mission. Do you really think I could feel this strongly about you and go around pretending I didn't?" I kissed her nose again. "I think I would've died."

Finally, Clary smiled, seemingly believing me. I released all my breath, although I'd been unaware I'd been holding it. I realized I wanted so badly for Clary to be happy that it was stealing my very energy. And I didn't mind one bit.

"Jace," my manager hadn't even finished speaking before I was rolling my eyes. I turned reluctantly to face him, still clutching Clary's hand. Gordon came rushing over, his camera strapped across his chest and a frantic look on his face. "I have a proposition for-,"

"I'm not interested," I said sternly, cutting him off.

Gordon nodded, "I have a proposition for the both of you."

I immediately looked to Clary, not to ask her opinion but to gage her reaction. She looked very much not appealed to the idea.

I smirked as I turned back to Gordon. "We're not interested, then."

Gordon's face instantly went beet red with fury and embarrassment. "Jace this is your career on the line. Take me seriously. And look at this; the two of you work great together."

I agreed that Clary and I looked great together, but I still accepted the camera when he handed it out to me. The picture is already there on the screen. It's incredibly photogenic. The clash of the wind plus the raging colors of her hair against the sky and the pose we're caught in…the photo just radiates romanticism. I've never been that guy, the romantic. But everything changes when I'm with Clary.

I handed the camera over my shoulder so Clary could see. I heard her gasp when she saw it, and turned around to see her reaction. She didn't look at me but I can see it in her eyes: she's finally seeing what I see. She's finally realizing that she is so beautiful.

Unable to resist, I found myself tucking her hair behind her ear and running my fingers through the loose strands in the back, tangled from the constant stirring of the wind.

"Yeah," I say. "We are a great team." I was still looking at Clary, even though I spoke to Gordon. "But only when we are left alone. Untouched. So I quit."

With that, I took Clary and we walked straight past Gordon, towards the parking lot. Gordon stuttered uncontrollably, waving his hands about and panicking.

"Wait—but! But Jace-," he sighed. "At least give me back my camera."

I turned around and held the camera, pretending to look contemplative. "You never gave me my last paycheck," I snickered. "This'll do it, I think."

Gordon looked so horrified that for a moment I feared he might faint. Clary laughed from behind me and I turn around to greet her teasing smile.

Once we're in my car, Clary let out another laugh. I gave her an inquisitive look and she laughed again. I haven't ever seen her this happy. It's worth anything.

"You just threw away your only opportunity to complete missions," she pointed out. "The agency is going to roast you on a spit."

My eyes widened in exaggeration. "Yeah, there are other things I think they'll want to kill me for first."

Clary was silent for a long time. And then, just when I'd started the car, she muttered, "Good thing we're untouchable then."

. . .

Indeed, when the two of us showed up at HQ, Magnus was waiting there, looking very angry.

"That was stupid," he growled. To further irritate him, I slung my arm over Clary's shoulder, still relishing in the feeling of her leaning farther into me.

"I don't care. If you have to fire me, fire me. I'm done pretending, Magnus. Valentine is out there and it's time we start taking steps toward actually getting him put away," I felt Clary's gaze on me, shocked, like I was a whole new person. And I was, different from the Jace she knew. In a better way.

I hoped.

Magnus sighed, nodding. Giving up. "We won't fire you. You're right, anyway. Too good for this place," I smirked, but Magnus had turned his attention to Clary. He looked around, his eye catching on every camera in the large room. "You shouldn't be here. In the open. I told you, your father is always watching us."

She lifted her chin. "Valentine is not my father," she started, and pride exploded in my chest at the confidence, the happiness, in her tone. "He is barely a man at all. And let him come for me. He'll have a hell of a fight waiting for him."

I agreed. It was certainly time we got to work on hunting him. We were ready.

Magnus seemed to agree as well, nodding thoughtfully. "Maybe we should continue without the agency, though," he suggested. "I don't trust the technology to be clean here, but I trust the people here even less." He shrugged. "To be honest, Jace, you were the only one I ever trusted."

"You mean quit?" I asked. Quit another job?

Magnus nodded.

It only took me a moment to contemplate. Every bad thing in my life had come about because of the agency. My parents were dead because they'd been too slow to save them. They had ruined his relationship with Clary, time and again, by sending him on countless missions that would only betray her trust. They had caused him so much more pain than was necessary.

"Okay."

Hey, hey, hey! I'm not dead! Though it kind of feels like it. Sorry I haven't been around, but I've been spending a lot of time reading a different series and it's hard for me to write fanfics on one series while I'm reading another, but lemme just say: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas is soooooooo so so so so so good! If you haven't read it, you definitely should. Speaking of, if you have read ToG-ToD, you should definitely go check out my new fanfic for that series. It's brand new and still in the works, but I think it has some real potential. Please review, you have no idea how happy it makes me.