Scarred for Life

Chapter 32

Happy anniversary to me! It's been an entire year since I first published this story and I never thought that I would have so many great readers like you! If you think I'm getting sappy and emotional now, wait until you get to the author's note at the bottom!

Enjoy the final chapter! :)

Clary P.O.V

The portal dropped us off at Magnus' apartment. Isabelle yelled after him when Magnus started walking up the stairs. "Why aren't we at the Institute?"

Magnus kept walking, but yelled over his shoulder, "I'm tired and ready for bed. You're young, healthy teens. You can walk home." He had just reached the top of the stairs when he stopped and turned around. "Oh, but if you see Alec back at the Institute, send him over. I miss my little Allie-Cat."

I smirked at him. "I thought you were tired?"

He winked a glittery eye at me. "I bet you are as well, but everyone likes a good snuggle with their lover."

I flushed a deep crimson as Jace looked over at me with an almost shy smile. I looked back at him and our eyes locked. I don't know how long we just stood there looking at each other, but it was over too soon when Isabelle exclaimed, "By the Angel you two, can't you wait until we get back to the Institute before you guys have eye sex!"

"I wish," I mumbled under my breath. Jace looked at me out of the corner of his eye and I was sure that he heard. My suspicions were proven to be correct when I saw him smirk. Damnit.

The rest of the walk back to the Institute was relatively silent. It wasn't until we were in the elevator when the events of the past day caught up to me. I was hit with a huge wave of exhaustion and I collapsed against the object closest to me, which happened to be Jace.

His arms immediately wrapped around me as he lowered me to the ground. Jace crouched in front of me and brushed my hair away from my face. If he didn't hate me for lying to him, I would think that he was concerned. "Are you alright?"

I nodded slowly. "I'm good, everything's just finally caught up to me."

Isabelle spoke dispassionately from the other side of the elevator, "Do you regret murdering your brother?"

The harshness of her words made me flinch. "No. I wish I hadn't had to do it, I mean, who wants to be a murderer? But Jonathan was under my father's influence and he would have kept doing bad things. It had to be done; I'm just upset that I was the one that had to do it."

I had been aware of the growing tension between Isabelle and me ever since we'd stepped out of the portal. It was completely understandable considering the fact that I'd left her without a word. It was pretty safe to say that I had burned all ties that had kept me at the Institute.

Now I only hoped that I could repair them.

The elevator doors opened and everyone dispersed. I started walking to my old room when someone grabbed my elbow. I turned and was met with gorgeous tawny eyes. As cliché as it was, I felt like they were staring right into my soul. "Can we talk?"

I nodded, suddenly very aware of my hair falling out of its bun and the huge gash that cleaved my shirt in two all the way down to my bellybutton. I self-consciously crossed my arms over my chest and followed him to his room.

Halfway down the hallway, we saw Alec exit his room. "Hey guys, where have you all been? And why's Clary's shirt completely ripped open?"

Jace looked over at me with a subdued smirk. "Well, I found out my father was still alive, we traveled to Idris, killed Jonathan, banished the Greater Demon who killed Valentine, sent Michael to the London Institute, and came home. What did you do?"

Alec, mouth gaping, stammered, "Uh, I watched an entire season of Breaking Bad… Why didn't you take me with you guys?"

I stepped forward and patted him good naturedly on the shoulder. "It was sort of last minute for them, don't take it personally. Oh, Magnus wanted you to go over to his place. I think he's in need of some 'cuddle' time."

And with that, Jace and I continued down the hall.

.o.O.o.

Stepping into Jace's room was always reminiscent of a well-trained soldier's room. Everything had a place, and it couldn't go anywhere but there. The corners on his bed were so sharp that you could probably cut glass. I walked in and Jace shut the door behind him.

As soon as I heard the lock click, I whirled around and spoke at the same time as Jace.

"I'm sorry!"

"What do mean you're sorry?"

"Stop that!"

We looked at each other, eyes narrowed, waiting to see who would speak next. I gestured, "Go ahead. It will be funny to hear what you think you have to be sorry about."

Jace's eyes widened. "What do mean 'what I think I have to be sorry about'? I completely over-reacted when you told me about what you did to Michael! In fact, I should have just been glad that you told me anyway. If it wasn't for me being a total dick to you, you wouldn't have left and almost gotten raped, you wouldn't have to bear the guilt of killing Jonathan, and L-" Jace stopped and cleared his throat, "Luke would still be alive. Face it Clary, it's all my fault that this happened. I completely understand if you never want anything to do with me ever again." Jace hung his head and sat down on the corner of his bed.

I hated seeing him this broken. The Jace I knew, my Jace, would never apologize over something that was clearly my fault. I walked over and knelt down in front of him. Tentatively, I reached out and placed one hand on his knee. With my other hand, I cupped his chin and gave him a little nudge, silently telling him to look at me. He opened his eyes and I saw guilt plainly written in them. He brought one of his hands up and covered the one I had on his chin.

"Jace, please listen to me. You had every reason to get angry with me. I was the one that stabbed him; I'm the one that led you to believe that he was dead. For all you knew, I had killed him. After that night, I ran. I thought that as long as I kept running the memory of your heartbroken face wouldn't catch up to me."

"It worked for a little bit. Then I was told to report to this Institute and I was so scared. I knew that you would take one look at me and murder me one the spot, so I changed my appearance as much as I could. I was just going to stay here as long as I had to and then run as soon as I could. I never planned on falling in love with you. I knew that it was wrong of me, to want you as much as I did. I knew that it would blow up in my face, but I was being selfish and I wanted you. You reacted normally Jace, and I got everything that I deserved."

Jace took my hand off his cheek and placed a fierce kiss to my palm. "You don't deserve anything bad to happen to you. Clary, you are one of the most selfless, beautiful human beings I have ever met and you deserve to be happy."

I looked up and smiled, "Does this mean that you forgive me?"

Jace chuckled and entwined our fingers. "Only if you forgive me."

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever Jace, if it will make you happy, then I forgive you for whatever it is you think you did."

Jace smiled, a huge, gorgeous smile that showed off his chipped incisor. "I forgive you too. Now, about us…"

I decided to play dumb and asked, "Us?"

"You know… us. Our relationship, you know, the smoochy-smooch stuff." He made kissy faces to emphasize his point.

I threw my head back and laughed, missing these carefree conversations. "Are you not so subtly hinting that you want a kiss?"

Jace smirked, his shit-eating smirk that made you want to either smack him or kiss him. "The sooner we kiss, the sooner I can get to ravishing you."

"Ravishing me? When did you decide that?"

"Let's see, I decided this after my 'Girlfriend Identity Crisis' but before the whole 'Let's Kill Girlfriend's Family'. Oh, but make sure Magnus doesn't get within 200 feet within of our bedroom."

I snorted, very unladylike, but I just couldn't help myself. "And why is that?"

"Oh, no reason. It's purely precautionary."

"Jace."

"Yes, Clary?"

"Will you just shut up and kiss me now?"

"I don't know. Do you mean 'now' as in this moment in time, or 'now' as in 'OMG Jace, now are you going to kiss me sometime this century or not' because a century seems like a bit of a stretch and I am a man with needs so I don't think I can- Ugh!"

I cut him off from his increasingly annoying monologue by pressing my lips to his. Jace pulled me up onto his lap and as our lips broke contact he smiled and gave a creepy little giggle.

"Hehe, it's ravishing time."

Fin

And with that, Scarred for Life is officially done. I wanted to tell all of you that have stuck with me until the end that I love you guys! In the year I've been doing this story, I've faced multiple obstacles and your reviews kept me going. You all have really helped me feel good about who I am as a person, and I am always grateful.

As far as future stories go, I have officially adopted Once Upon a Time by Bibee and will re-post her original chapters starting some time in January.

A sequel to Scarred for Life is optional, if enough people want it. I do have idea in mind for that.

I will probably turn my one-shot, If Only, into a multi-chapter story. Although if I do, it won't be for a couple months.

I'm really sorry if you all had some issues with the huge gaps in between my chapter updates and I know that I lost a lot of readers because of it, but I hope that things will get a bit better with future stories.

Thank you again for sticking with me through this story, and I hope that you guys didn't completely hate it!

Thank you guys so much!

ByTheAngel99