I wake up to the sun coming through the windows. The curtains pulled back around the balcony doors. I'm alone.

I notice a note on my nightstand. I pick it up and read it.

It says,
'dear Clary,
Good morning Love. I'm sorry I'm not here to wake you up this morning. You looked so peaceful and beautiful when you were asleep. I didn't want to wake you up. I am letting you sleep in this morning.
I want to take you on a little trip for the next few days. I'm just trying to put all the plans together. I want it to be just me and you. Don't worry I have Grace taken care of. She's here still, and she will stay here.
I hope one day you will tell me where in the castle you have been disappearing to. I won't pressure you into anything.
I told you I would make it up to you. I will. I promised, I keep my promises. I love you and I'm going to make the next few days amazing for you.
I hope you can forgive me for being so terrible to you. You didn't deserve it.
If you want to find me come to the drawing room. I have food for you. Take your time love.
-love you forever and always, Jace

Vacation? Where? I want to go.

I get out of the bed and go get changed in the closet. I put on a black floral romper with sandals and finish getting ready for the day.

I look at the clock on the wall in the closet. It says 10:30. I didn't sleep that long. If the sun hadn't woke me up I probably would have slept till 11 or later.

I go downstairs. I go straight to the drawing room. I really want to know if we are really going on this vacation or if he's just messing with me.

When I get there I see jace in here like he said. He dismisses the person he was talking to when I get in the room.

"We are going on a vacation" I ask. "Yes. I'm guessing by that question you read my note. Come eat. I'm sure you're hungry" he says.

I sit on the couch next to jace after he sits down. I curl my feet under me. I eat a waffle that is sitting on the table. There's actually a big pile of them but I take one for right now.

"I honestly thought you would sleep later" he says. "You have the sun to thank for me not sleeping later" I say. "Thank you sun" he says. I giggle.

"Where are we going" I ask. "I set it all up this morning after I ate breakfast. I am taking you, to an all inclusive resort, for just the two of us" he says. "I'm listening. Where is this all inclusive resort" I ask. "In Cancun. It's a resort called secrets the vine" he tells me. "No way" I say.

I can't believe it. I can't believe we are going to Cancun.

"Yes way. I want to do something special for you, so I figured I'd take you on a little trip" he says. I smile up at him.

"Who's gonna take care of Grace while we are gone" I ask. "I've taken care of it. Jonathan, Alice and Charlotte are gonna take care of her" he tells me. "Okay" I say. I eat some more of the food. I trust them.

When I am full I let him know. Someone comes and takes the food and leaves the room.

"You want to go around the country? I've been wanting to go fly for a little while but haven't had time. They are getting a little stiff" jace asks. "I'd like that. We haven't done that in a while" I say. "I know. You want to go now" he asks. I nod.

We go out to the balcony and he picks me up in his arms bridal style. His wings start to come out. He flaps them a couple of times then we take off into the air.

I hold on to him but look down at Idris below us. I look up at him. He is looking down at me with love in his eyes.

He looks back ahead of us. We start to go down. Why are we going down?

We land in a tree. He sets me down on the branch. We sit down on the branch with our legs dangling.

"Why did we stop" I ask. "The wind was starting to pick up. I could have kept going but I didn't want to have to fight through it. I figured we might just sit here for a little while until it calms down" he says. "Oh" I say. "Is that alright" he asks. "Yeah" I say.

"So when are we leaving for our trip" I ask. "After lunch, check in is at 2:00 so we have time to eat lunch then we can portal over there" he answers.

We sit here and talk for a little bit. At one point he holds his hand out and I feel the wind around us slow down. "I got tired of waiting" he says. I giggle.

He stands back up and picks me up. We go off the branch and into the air again.

I watch as Alicante goes past us. All the people on the streets, the houses and buildings. We keep going and we go around the academy. All the kids below us are training and walking around the building.

We circle around to go back. We circle around the castle once before landing in the balcony of our bedroom.

He sets me down on my feet. "We should do that more often" I say. "Yeah we should. Just let me know when you want to" he says. "Okay" I say. "It felt good stretching my wings out and feeling the wind in my feathers" he says. "I bet" I say. He folds them back and we go inside.

"We have some time before lunch. We should probably go pack" he says. "Yeah, you said it was for three days" I ask. "More like 2 and a half but you will understand more when we get there, that includes today but check in isn't till 2. I figured when we check in we can just hang out at the beach or pool or whatever" he says. "Okay" I say.

We go inside. We got straight to the closet. I grab my suitcase and he grabs his. The only difference is he goes upstairs and I stay on my floor.

I pack swimsuits, clothes, the necessities. I walk over to leave the closet to go to the bathroom to pack some things.

A certain picture catches my eye. I turn to look at it. It's our wedding picture, or one of them at least. I still had my wedding dress on. His arms are wrapped around my waist and we are looking at each other with love in both of our eyes.

I smile at the memory.

"You looked beautiful. You always do" I hear jace say. I look at him. I didn't hear him come down the stairs and come behind me.

I smile at him before looking back at the picture. "It was one of the best days of my life. I hated having to get up super early, but it was all worth it, the moment I saw your face the moment I left the farmhouse door" I say.

"And what did it look like to you" he asks me. I look back at him, turning my whole body to him this time. "Wonder, Love, adoration. Just swing your reaction made me feel like I was the most beautiful girl in the world, and the only one that matters too" I describe as if it was yesterday. "Well you were beautiful. Although if I could have changed one thing, your hair would have been down instead of up" he says. "I bet. I tried but everyone insisted that I have it up at least once for you" I say. "At least you tried" he says.

"I hoped you would like the dress. It wasn't pure gold like most shadowhunters dresses are" I say. "Anything on you looks good. I'd love you no matter what" he says. "That can't be true. There's some things I wear that I know looks bad" I say. "I don't care" he says.

I smile up at him and kiss him. He beams looking down at me.

"I've just got a few more things to pack and we can go down to lunch" I say. "Okay, take your time" he says.

I give him a quick smile then go into the bathroom. I pack a small pouch of my necessities, like shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, razor and body wash. I take it to my suitcase in the closet. I set it in there and I go back to the bedroom.

Jace is sitting on the bed waiting for me. "Ready" he asks. I nod. He slides off the bed and takes my hand in his. We walk down to lunch.

When we get in there, Jonathan is in here already but he hasn't sat down. As soon as he sees me he comes and hugs me. He is holding Grace in his arms.

"Where were you, this morning" he asks. "I slept in" I say. "That sounds nice" he says.

Grace reaches for me and I take her from him. The three of us go and it down.

"You can sleep in if you want when we are gone" jace says. "I guess so but I don't know if Grace will sleep in" he says. "Probably not but if Grace doesn't I'm sure Charlotte or Alice will probably feed her" I say. "Maybe, although, I'm so used to waking up early I doubt I'd be able to sleep in" Jonathan says. "Yeah" I say.

We talk and eat lunch.

I say bye to Grace before we leave. I open a portal. Jace takes my hand and we step through.

It's a really tall building. I can hear the ocean from behind it.

Jace pulls me behind him. I am carrying my suitcase with me.

We go check in then go check out our room. There's a big king sized bed. If you step onto the balcony you can see the pool and the ocean.

I look over to him and smile. "You like it" he asks. I nod. "I'm glad. I hoped you would" he says.

"You want to go to the pool or the beach or just stay in here for now" he asks me. "Umm, I don't care. What do you want to do" I ask. He shrugs.

I look at the alarm clock on the night stand. It says 7:30 am.

"It's 7:30 here" I ask. "Yeah, this counts as one of our few days here" jace says. "I change my mind, I want to go to the beach before people get down there" I say. "Okay, go change and we can head on down" he says.

I look through my suitcase for a swimsuit. Once I find one I go change into it in the bathroom. I put on my blue and purple swimsuit. I put my white cover up over top.

When I step out Jace looks ready to head down to the beach. I slip on some flip flops and we walk down to the beach.

We are the first ones down here. There is already chairs and umbrellas set up. We get our chairs and sit down.

"You are amazing" I say looking to jace. "I try" he says.

I take my coverup off and set it beside me. "When did you get that" jace asks eyeing my swimsuit. "I've had it, I just haven't worn it" I say. "You should have" he says. "I don't have a reason to" I say.

I look ahead of me at the ocean. This is so amazing. I love the beach but we rarely get the chance to go. It's just something about the beach that's relaxing.

We sit down here by the beach until it's about noon here. It would be dinner time back at home.

"You want me to go get lunch and bring it down" I ask. "Yeah sure" jace says.

I go up to the bar and get two drinks, and get two chicken wraps. I take them all down to our seats by the beach.

We talk and enjoy our time alone together for a few hours.

I yawn. "You tired" he asks. I nod. "You want to go take a nap before dinner" he asks me. "Okay" I say. I put my cover up back on and we go up to the room.

I get in the bed and he lays next to me. I rest my head on his chest and fall asleep. 

•••

I wake up. I wrap my arms around my pillow enjoying the warmth. I keep my eyes closed. I feel two strong arms wrap around me.

"Come on beautiful, you should probably get up. We have dinner reservations in an hour" I hear jace say. I open my eyes and get off of him. I lean on my arms and look at him. "Where are we going" I ask. "There's a restaurant not far from here" he says. I nod.

I slide out of the bed and go grab something to wear to dinner. I find a grey and white striped jumpsuit. I go in the bathroom and put it on. You tie it on the top and it has a slit down the side that you zip.

I button the back and zip up the side and walk out into the bedroom. I slip some white sandals on and look at jace. He looks at me.

"You think this looks okay for tonight, or should I change" I ask. "You look fine" he says. He comes over to me and kisses the top of my head.

"You ready to go" he asks me. "Mhm" I hum. He takes my hand and we go to the elevator.

When we are going down he tells me he got Uber to take us there and back.

We get in the car and go to the restaurant.

We eat and talk and when we finish we pay for our meal and go back.

We are now cuddling on the bed. I am currently curled up against him and he has his arm around me.

"Today has been amazing" I say. "Yes it has" he says.

He sits up and takes his shirt off and lets his wings out for the night. I get an idea for tomorrow.

He turns to me about to move back in his place but I go behind him. I touch his wings and he freezes.

I pet and stroke his wings. I see his body relax. I keep doing it until he falls face forward and lays on his stomach.

"Jace, can I go swim with dolphins tomorrow" I ask. "Whatever you want. Just keep doing what you're doing" he says and his eyes close. I figure while I'm down here I might as well take advantage of it and do something I've always wanted to do.

I keep petting his wings until I notice he falls asleep. I cover his body with the blankets as much as I can and I get in too but I take the tv remote.

I turn on the tv and watch it a little before I get tired and go to sleep.

•••

I wake up and look beside me. "Good morning beautiful" jace says. "Good morning" I say. He smiles a little and gives me a small kiss.

"You want to go down to breakfast or order room service" he asks. "Room service" I say. "Okay, what do you want" he asks. "It doesn't matter as long as I get my coffee" I say. "Okay" he says.

He orders room service and it comes in about 5 minutes. Jace brings over our food and my coffee. He gets back in the bed with me.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but I've been thinking about the seelie queen wanting Grace" jace says. "You aren't thinking of giving Grace over to her are you" I ask. "No of course not" he says. "So what about it then" I ask.

"I have an idea of how we can make sure she never gets Grace" he says. I take a sip of my coffee. "I'm listening" I say. "We send Grace away to live with someone we trust. Not family. They could be at risk if we send her with them. We need to hold interviews with different shadowhunters and downworlders to see who we can trust" he says. "I don't want to send my baby away" I say my voice cracking. "I don't either Clary. It will keep her safe though. Isn't that what you want for her? We send her somewhere she will be safe and somewhere the seelie queen wouldn't look" jace says. "But I don't want to give her away. I want to keep my baby" I say. "I do too Clary. We will bring her home the moment we know this is all over and she won't be wanted by the seelie queen anymore" jace says.

I start crying. Jace pulls me into him an wraps his arms around me letting me cry on his shoulder. "I don't want to, I don't" I cry. "Shh, Clary Shh, it's just to keep her safe, not forever" he says petting the back of my head letting me cry.

I stop crying and look at him. "But what if it lasts forever? I don't think I can last that long without her" I say. "I know. I really don't think it will be forever" he says. I sigh and say, "I guess you're right. We can hold interviews, but unless there is someone we find who we believe we can really trust we are not going through with this plan of yours" I say. "Okay" he says. He tightens his grip around me and holds me to him.

He eventually lets me go and I drink my coffee and eat my pancakes. We talk some more about anything other than Grace and the seelie Queen problem.

We are now watching tv. I had pushed the breakfast cart outside the room for them to get.

I look up at him and say, "this is what I really needed, some alone time with you." "Mm, me too" he says looking down at me.

I redirect my attention back at the tv for a few more minutes.

I look up at him and ask, "So when am I swimming with the dolphins" I ask. "About that, I called different places this morning. They were all booked for today and tomorrow" he says. "It's fine. I don't have to go" I say. "Wait I've got an idea, I will take you over to the pier down the beach about half a mile" he says. "Then what" I ask. "You will see" is all he says.

"You want to head down to the beach" he asks. "Okay" I say.

I go in the bathroom and change into my blue leopard swimsuit and slip my coverup over top.

I walk out of the bathroom, slide my flip flops on and go down to the beach with jace.

We sit in our beach chairs for a few hours. I sit here looking at the ocean. "You needed a break from everything, didn't you" I say. "Yeah I did" he says.

Jace POV

Clary and I sit down here at the beach for a little while longer. I look over at her. She has a faint smile on her face and she's looking out at the ocean.

"Hey cutie" I hear. I look over to my left and see a tall blonde girl come over. "What are you doing with this...child" she asks. "What child" I ask. "The one right beside you. I mean a hot guy like you needs to be with a beautiful woman like me. I mean really, she's ugly. She can't even hold her own. I mean look at those awful scars. They should be covered and never shown to anyone. You need to be with someone clean of scars and someone whose beautiful like you" she says she comes over and sits in my lap.

I look at Clary. She's looking down. I see her put on her cover up and walks up to the building.

I shove her off me and she lands in the sand. "That girl is perfect. She is more of a woman than you will ever be. She couldn't help those scars. They just make her even stronger than she already is. You have no right coming over here and making her feel like you just did. I don't know who you are but you need to leave her and us alone" I say. "Hm" she hums stobbily and walks off.

I get off the chair and go up and look for Clary. She's not by the pool or bar so I go up to our room. I find her sitting on the bed. Her head is down. She is looking at her scars and she has tears coming down her face.

I sit on the bed next to her. "Why aren't you with your hot beautiful blonde who is clean of scars and anything bad" she asks not looking at me. "Because I don't want her. I want my beautiful redhead who is the best thing in the world to me scars and all" I say. "But you deserve someone who isn't broken and scarred" she says still avoiding any eye contact. "But Clary, those scars make you amazing. They show just how strong you are. I have scars too, you know that. We are both broken and scarred. You are the most beautiful girl in the world to me. I love you more than anything. I don't want anyone else Clary" I say. She sniffs and looks up at me. "Are you sure? Because everything she said was true. I look like I'm 15 when I'm 24. You need someone better" she says. "There's no one I want more than I want you. You are my life Clary. I don't know what I'd do without you" I say. "You sure" she asks. She's looking at me like she's scared I'm going to say something bad. "I promise. Whoever that was had no right to say the things she said. You are perfect. I love you more than anything Clarissa Adele" I say. "I love you too Jonathan Christopher lightwood" she says.

"Now, I believe I promised you something at the pier" I say. She nods. "Come on" I say. I stand up and offer my hand to her. She takes it and we walk back down to the beach.

Clary POV

We walk down to the pier.

He ends up jumping in the water. "What are you doing" I ask. "Just wait" he says. He goes down under the water and comes back up. "What was the point of that" I ask. "Just wait a minute, geez" he says.

A few minutes later two dolphins appear at the top of the water.

"Told you you would get to swim with a dolphin one way or another. This way it's free too" he says. I sit on the pier and jump in the water. I swim up to one. "So does this mean you're coming too" I ask. "Yeah" he says. "Yay" I say.

I grab onto one and he grabs the other. I see jace put a little air bubble around us so we can see under water. The dolphins go under.

We swim around the ocean. It's so pretty. We see. Fish, a whale shark, sea turtles and manta rays. After a while we go back to the pier. When we let go of the dolphins they swim away.

"What did you think" jace asks. "It was amazing! It was so much better than what we would have gotten if we went somewhere to do it. It was better than I ever thought it would be" I say. "I'm glad you think so" he says. "You want to go back to our chairs" I ask. "Yeah" he says.

We get out of the ocean and go back to the beach chairs. We relax down here for a little while.

"You know who Isabelle kinda reminds me of" I ask. "Who" he asks. "She kinda reminds me of Wonder Woman" I say. "I have no idea who that is but okay" he says. I sigh and say "of course you don't." He never gets my superhero references.

We sit down here at the beach for a little while. Then we go up to eat lunch. It's a late lunch but we still need food. After lunch we go and sit in the hot tub for a little bit. We go back down to the beach again.

"What time is check out tomorrow" I ask. "11:00 so that will be like 6:00 pm back home" he answers. "Good. We leave at lunch time and go back and it's dinner time" I say. "Yeah. We still get to eat either way" he says. "We would have an hour wait but I can wait" I say.

When it gets closer to dinner we go up to the room. I put on a short red dress for dinner. I have no idea where we are going but I figured something like this won't be too bad.

I walk out of the bathroom and ask "where are we going for dinner?" He is watching the tv from the bed, so he hasn't seen me yet. "There's a place down stairs, I figured we would go there" he says. "Okay" I say and sit on the bed.

He looks at me. "You look nice" he says. "Thanks" I say. He is dressed casual formal. "You ready to go down" he asks. "Sure" I say. I strap on some shoes and we go down to the restaurant.

"You ready to go back home tomorrow" Jace asks me. "Not really but I guess we have to. Are you" I ask. "Not really" he says.

"At least we have Grace to go home to" I say. "That's true. As much as I wish he could, I don't think Jonathan can take care of everything" jace says. "There's a lot more to our job than people think" I say. "Yeah, it's more than just writing and signing papers" jace says. "Yeah. We do that but we do more too" I say.

"Yeah, hey, when we get home we need to spend as much time with Grace as we can. We might find someone who we can trust to take care of her, but until then we need to spend time with her" Jace says. "I know. She is starting to sit up some on her own so we can bring her in the office and around the castle more with us" I say. "That's good. Who taught her" he asks. "Cookie" I say. "How does a dog teach a baby to sit up" he asks. "I don't know exactly. What I saw was she would nudge her and help her sit up" I explain. "Those two have a special relationship" he says. "They do. It's good that cookie is always with her" I say. "Yeah" he says.

We talk some more over dinner and head back up to the room. We get ready for bed and get in the bed. I grab the remote and turn the tv on.

Halfway through a show jace says, "Let me just say, the person who thought of going on this trip, is a genius" he gloats. "I agree" I say.

We watch tv for a few more minutes before we go to bed.

•••

"Good morning love" jace says. "Hi" I say. "We have a few hours before check out. Do you want to go get breakfast then go down to the beach" he asks. "Okay" I say.

We go eat breakfast and head down to the beach.

"I don't want to go home" I whine looking out at the ocean. "I don't either" he says.

We sit down here until we have to go up to get our bags and leave. I change into some clothes and zip up my suitcase. We go down to the lobby and check out. When we get outside I open a portal and we go back home.

We land in front of the castle. Guards open the door for us and we walk in. "It is good to be home but I hate to leave the beach" I say. "Yeah" he says.

We go up to our room and put our stuff away. When it's dinner time we head down to dinner. Jonathan comes holding Grace.

"Thank the angel your back" Jonathan says when he sits down with us. "Why? What happened" jace asks and chuckles. "People kept coming to me and asking me things. Some I didn't know the answer to and others they asked what to do about something and I didn't know that either" he says. "You just got the easy questions" I tell him. "What did they ask you" jace asks. "I don't remember them all. I do remember some was about a territory dispute, there were some downworlder killings, and other stuff I don't remember" Jonathan says. "We will take care of it tomorrow" jace says.

"We just got up a few hours ago actually" I say to Jonathan. "Lucky" he says, "So you guys will probably go to bed late then." "Probably" I say. "What was the time difference" Jonathan asks. "Here we are 7 hours ahead" I say. "Man, must have gotten a lot of sleep then" Jonathan says. "Yeah, Clary slept till about 10 every morning except this morning and I slept till about 9. Its still later than we would have here" jace says. "Yeah really" Jonathan says.

"How was your trip" Jonathan asks. "It was good. We needed some time together. It was perfect" I say. "That's good. I know you both needed it" he says.

"What did you do while we were gone" jace asks. "Not much. Trained, nothing, ate, slept" Jonathan answers. "Sounds like a normal day for you anyway" I say. "Yeah but I had a dinner date with Alice every night anyway" he says looking down at his now empty plate smiling. "That's good. I'm glad you got some more time with her" I say. "She was a bit hesitant about coming and eating in here with me. She said sitting in here is for royals and important people" he says. "So what did you do" I ask. "I told her to come sit and eat with me. I told her I wasn't going to eat unless she would eat in here with me" Jonathan says. "I'm proud" jace says.

After dinner we separate and Jace and I go to the library. "So do you forgive me? You know for being so awful to you" he asks me. "Yes, I do" I say. "Good, because I am so sorry for being like that to you. You mean the world to me and I can't imagine being without you or what I would do if you didn't forgive me. I would probably spend my whole life trying to make it up to you" he says. I smile up at him. "I love you" I say. "I love you too" he says and kisses me.