Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own Fight Club or it's characters. Although, if I give you some sweets, would you be willing to give it all to me...? I can hope.

The rain splattered across the top of my head as I stared across the street, half-wondering what the fuck I was doing and where I was planning to go to. With a small spark of anger, I turned back to look at my apartment building, imagining Tyler's own equal anger towards me. Great. Wasn't this going to be fun? Already, I was referring to him as Tyler again. I narrowed my eyes at my own idiocy. He wasn't back. This all had to be some fucked up dream of mine.

I am Jack's undying confusion.

I tugged a hand through my hair and turned to my left, glancing up and down the street which was crowded with people holding up countless numbers of umbrellas. Why hadn't I brought one?

Ah.

Yes. I hadn't had the time to, considering I had been storming out of my own flat to get away from my own fucking imaginary friend. This was insane. Insane like me.

I let out a small sigh, feeling cold all of a sudden. Reality was hell. And if this wasn't reality, it sucked anyway. It wasn't easy living out a life when there's nothing to live for…

Wait.

Stop. Just stop.

Where the fuck had that thought come from? I do have something to live for! I have…my job. I have my own apartment. Marla…even though the last time I'd spoken with her had been a bit of a heated debate…I still…loved her. I froze, eyes widening.

Rewind.

I loved her? What the fuck! I loved her now? I stared ahead, gaze not fixed on anything in particular, only vaguely glimpsing a few weird glances I was getting from passers-by. Okay, this day was getting weirder and weirder. I blinked and started to walk, thoughts whirling around my head and making me feel dizzy. For a moment, I pondered on whether or not I should return back to the apartment and see if Tyler was gone…

Marla's dark eyes penetrated that thought, and I blinked again. I should go see Marla, I realised. I needed to talk with her. Now.

I froze again, folding my arms and ignoring the cold water running down my face. No. I couldn't go see Marla! I couldn't…tell her this stuff. With a dawning realisation I chuckled, a small sad laugh at myself, as I noticed that I was fucking scared of talking to her. This wasn't good news.

Suddenly, my thoughts were ripped from me as a large fat man waddled into view, rudely elbowing into me and rushing as fast as fat people could away from me. I raised my eyebrows at his retreating back, hands clenching into fists. Talk about one fucked up individual. His face looked like something off the cover of a zombie movie. You know… the kind of movie a person is always tempted to buy when they have nothing better to watch and just want something to laugh at? I resisted glaring at him and walked on, allowing my feet to lead me wherever.

Time to give in to whatever fate had in store for me. Hopefully my feet would lead me to somewhere interesting. Somewhere distracting. Somewhere away from everything else. Somewhere away from Tyler.

Just so long as it wasn't a coffee shop. I was sick of them. Small coffee shops tucked away in hidden corners, everywhere you turned. I'd grown to hate that distinctive smell of coffee lingering along streets. It was beginning to make me gag. Or maybe that was just because of the amount of coffee's I'd probably drowned in the last few months.

I let my thoughts drift to Marla once again. What was I doing? Making my way to her apartment now? How could I talk with her when she'd probably still be angry with me? I bit down on my lip hard, trying to dampen the stubbornness in me. That argument with her last night hadn't been my fault. It wasn't my fucking fault if I got a little angry with her for making decisions on my behalf. I mean, who does that? Especially to me? I've never fucking needed people to make decisions for me.

Apart from Tyler, a little voice in my mind nagged me.

I grimaced, feeling angry at everyone all of a sudden. This wasn't fair. Even my own mind had started to contradict me. I could deal with everything by myself.

Myself.

But still…I wanted to see Marla. Fine. Fair enough. I could bite back any comments, any anger towards her. So long as she'd accept that. The thing is…whenever she vanishes, I'm alone.

I gave a little glance around, looking for the familiar spiked up hair, the sunglasses, or the bright leather suit. None of these were nearby.

Whenever I had been alone without Marla with me the past few months, all I could ever do was think about my life in general. I'd instantly block out thoughts of Tyler. Or Fight Club. I'd attempted to return back to normality, with a great looking apartment. I hadn't bothered with support groups again. I missed Bob. And Bob had died because of me.

Okay, the guilt had almost flattened me the first few months without Tyler. I knew he'd gone. And then it led me to think about…who would take the blame for everything? For Project Mayhem? I'd been disgusted with myself. With everything. Bob's death had been a result of Tyler's control. Of his fucking brain-washing of all of them. But in fact, just telling myself again and again that it had been Tyler didn't do much good. It had been me. Not him. I was the one imagining him up. I was the one giving those stupid fucking orders. I was the one calling them worthless, not Tyler.

Cringing inwardly as my thoughts deepened, I swiftly took another left turn down into a darker-looking road and began strolling down it as fast as I could.

Fuck, it had been a pretty long time since I last took a trip down here.

I blinked, hearing footsteps behind me, and as a result, I tensed. My fists automatically clenched and my breathing slowed as I listened a little more carefully. Ready for a fight. As always.

The footsteps grew further away. Huh. And there was me instantly assuming every person who walks by me is about to land a punch on the side of my head. I really needed to get rid of all the stuff Tyler had influenced me into doing.

My eyes narrowed.

What the fuck!? Why did I keep on thinking about him? I needed to stop. Need to stop. He doesn't exist. Does not exist. It's all me. Just me dreaming stuff up. A guy who seriously needs to get his act together; that's me.

I stopped in my tracks and stared ahead. Fuck. I was here already. At Marla's already. How had that happened? My eyes skimmed over the tattered looking building, and I felt something inside of me stir, warning me. I sighed softly. I wasn't going to go back. Not yet. I didn't want to be alone just yet. I wanted to see her. Needed to.

Jesus, it hadn't even been twenty-four hours, and here I was standing outside the building she lived in, competing with my inner turmoil like some kind of lunatic. And the thing is, I'd actually seen others do it before. Stand outside people's houses with that pained look on their faces. I vaguely wondered if that was how my expression looked now. But crap, to be doing this, giving in so easily after just one fucking fight…this must mean I'm desperate. My eyes darkened slightly.

I willed my feet to move. Take another step. Just one more, closer towards her. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move from above. Giving a curious glance upwards, I froze in surprise to see Marla watching me above from her window, her curtain drawn across as she held her head in one hand, contemplating me with a raised eyebrow. A stream of steady smoke escaped her lips. She'd been smoking. I inwardly wondered if maybe she had a spare pack for me. I could do with it.

Marla, I mouthed towards her, motioning for her to open the window. She shook her head, strands of her dark hair falling about her face as she watched me blankly. My mind yelled at me to say something interesting. My mouth came up with nothing. I watched her with pleading eyes, feeling desperate. I needed to talk to her. But not out here. She didn't move from the window for a moment, and as I stared at her, helplessly wondering what the fuck I should do now, she finally withdrew, motioning for me to come up.

I am Jack's relief.

My head pounded endlessly with possible comments I could make towards her in an attempt to soothe her before I began my serious discussion with her. How was I going to make up with her this time? It wasn't easy. Who was I kidding? Marla in general wasn't easy. And yet we always collided back together again. It really didn't make sense. I always put it down to us both being stubborn and relatable. But maybe it was something completely different.

Did I depend on her too much?

I frowned a little, pushing open the door to the apartment building. I really didn't want to think about what kind of things that question could lead to. I knew I wasn't dependant on people. I was my own person. Despite the fact that I'd had a hell of a load of mishaps along the way…

As I firmly pushed down the button in the elevator, I calmly concluded that perhaps Marla wasn't my main reason for coming here. Maybe it was entirely a different issue altogether. Tyler. His return was ultimately the price to pay for my few months of sanity. Maybe his return wasn't real. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me again. Or maybe the whole thing had been a part of my imagination. Project Mayhem in general.

I swiftly dragged a hand through my unkempt locks as I willed the elevator to move faster. The sooner I managed to talk to her and tell her everything, the better. The sooner I managed to spill out my steadily arising issues, the better. Maybe if I told her everything, she'd stop bugging me about it. The visits to Sarah could stop. Maybe Tyler would disappear.

My eyes rose a little in silent prayer as I hoped that maybe just seeing him again was a sign that I needed to tell someone about him for him to completely vanish from my life. If that was true, I could live in hope?

Right?

The elevator doors opened after a small click, and I stepped out, not surprised that I almost ran into Marla who was standing opposite me. Okay, she'd been waiting for me…was that a good sign or a bad sign?

I decided that I was hopeless at this kind of stuff.

"So…?" she asked quietly, eyes not on me but diverted to the floor as she lazily exhaled a cloud of smoke in my face.

My eyes watered as I breathed in too much of it and almost choked.. Must. Not. Cough. My fingers clenched and unclenched, as I tried to figure out what to say.

But what to say to the woman who seemed crazier than myself?

I ended up scratching the back of my head in irritation. Trust me, this happened a lot. In fact, it generally happened whenever I was around people who I was uncomfortable with. And there were a certainly a lot of those type of people.

"Marla…" I started, willing her to move her eyes and give me a glance, a withering look, anything like that…

She didn't look up. I sighed in response before talking again.

"Look…I-I didn't mean any of it earlier. And I'm sorry. Seriously, I am." Again I willed her to look at me. She didn't.

She inhaled her cigarette, and made a sort of disapproving noise in the back of her throat, almost as if she was amused at my apology. I couldn't help it. I tensed.

"That it?" she asked, looking up, and I froze as her dark eyes, the ones which were constantly in my head, shone with unshed tears.

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I really wouldn't be able to deal with her crying. Not now. Not when I was so close to either crying myself or punching the closest wall in frustration.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out, so I did the easiest and most natural thing. I stepped forward, and then suddenly I was kissing her, one hand tangled in her hair while the other rested on the small of her back, pressing her closer to me.

I wasn't sure if the next noise she made was a squeal of surprise or anger, but either way, after a few more moments of desperately clinging onto her and kissing her like nothing else in the world mattered, she responded. Suddenly, her tongue was pushing itself into my mouth, and I couldn't help but grin childishly against her mouth.

This was good. This had to be good. Maybe there wasn't any need for more apologies or talking…

Okay, the idea definitely was attractive for me. But shit, I'd come here to talk to her, hadn't I? As well as apologise. If I didn't get Tyler out of my system—

Marla moaned, and suddenly she was tugging us both down the hallway and into her apartment, her arms firmly wrapped around my chest as she smiled seductively at me, eyes glinting dangerously.

I suddenly remembered why I liked her so much as the heat pooled into my stomach.

She closed the door behind us, waiting for a second to turn around and wrestle my shirt off of me. I grinned again. I couldn't help it. This was so…Marla.

Unpredictable, in other words.

"We're going to talk about this in the morning, you know…" I vaguely heard her murmur as she placed a trail of kisses along my neck, her fingers skittering across my shoulders. I nodded before twisting us around, hands ridding her of her clothes as I backed her towards her bed.

I flashed a grin, just before she fell back against it, smirking innocently at me from on top of the covers. Soon, I was falling above her, hands running appreciatively down her sides as I once again realised how much I couldn't afford to let her go.

She kissed me again, and I clung to her, kissing her back with a feverish kind of excitement and frustration.

She made me feel alive.

It was dark when I woke up. Or maybe that was just because Marla's apartment was always dark, the cluttered rooms filled with a kind of murky feeling. The windows were dirty anyway. Not that I cared. I'd given up caring about things around me in her apartment, so long as Marla herself was there.

I blearily glanced around, and noticed that; firstly, I was lying on my back; secondly, Marla's head was on my chest with all her body wrapped around mine in a kind of warm bundle; and thirdly, my head seriously fucking hurt.

I blinked a few times, willing away the pain, just wanting to fall asleep again and shift closer to Marla, but my head only throbbed in response.

I am Jack's irritation.

Sighing softly, I carefully removed her head from my chest, freezing as she muttered something that sounded like a protest in her sleep before quieting down again. Great. So long as she didn't wake up, then I wouldn't have to deal with her talking about what we were meant to discuss last night, or…she'd get all stressy and I'd end up feeling totally guilty or ashamed I'd woken her. Either way, it'd suck.

I positioned her gently, watching her head roll backwards onto her thin pillow as her dark hair splayed about behind her. She really was beautiful.

I tore my gaze from her, afraid she'd wake up and find me staring at her. That'd be embarrassing. Seriously cringe-worthy. Not my thing. Plus, how she'd react would be a bit of an issue…

As I stood up, my head flared up again, and I refused to groan for fear of making Marla aware I wasn't lying close to her anymore.

My feet made small padding sounds as I pulled on some boxers and tip-toed over to the bathroom, turning on the light and shutting the door so it wouldn't seep into the other room and alert Marla enough to wake her.

As I shut the door with a gentle click, I tilted my head forward to rest against the door and let out a shaky breath, not sure why I felt so fucking nervous.

"…Ouch, she's got you real good, hasn't she?"

Aaaaand that would be the reason.

My eyes narrowed, and I blamed my headache for one sixth of a second before I whipped around to face Tyler, who was standing near the sink, analysing me with his dark gaze while a hint of a smirk played on his lips. His blonde hair gleamed irritatingly as it stuck out in all directions.

"Get the fuck out of here." I snapped quietly, eyes blazing as I reached for the lock on the door, deciding that me being stuck in here with him was better than Marla strolling in and seeing me like this.

"You know, I'm starting to get the impression that you've substituted fighting for frustrated sex with that slut." He spoke sharply, tilting his head as he stared at me accusingly.

Was it me, or was there a hint of irritation in his voice?

"Fuck you." I spat back. "Just get out of here."

I tried not to shift around too uncomfortably as I watched his eyes suddenly take a dart downwards my body, and almost froze as another slow smile spread across his face. A secretive smile. I felt all too aware I was only in my boxers.

"Tyler." I warned, not preparing myself to plead with him, but only preparing myself to punch him again.

He noticed my expression, and looked up, almost radiating with some kind of pleased attitude, until Marla was suddenly shifting around in the other room.

"Jack…?" her small, worried voice echoed through the door. I watched as Tyler's face dropped, his smirk vanishing into something that resembled a sneer while he crossed his arms, gazing at me expectantly as I formed a response.

"I'm in here." I finally called, not breaking my staring match with the other contestant.

There was a small "Oh." from her and she didn't ask or say anything else, so I visibly relaxed. Tyler saw this, obviously.

"Have a nice time with her, then?" he continued, eyes prying into mine as they glinted dangerously.

I ignored his idiotic question, jaw tensing as I willed him away.

Fucking disappear. Vanish. I am alone in this room. Alone. He isn't here.

"Christ, she must have been good. You're picturing it now, right? Flashbacks maybe?" he cut through my thoughts loudly and effectively.

I glared at him, hating him for everything he'd ever done and how he was now officially ruining everything in the present.

"Fuck off, Tyler. I mean it."

My comment made him chuckle a little, and I certainly didn't like that. Or think it was good. What the fuck was he playing at? I stared at him, watching as he unfolded his arms, a predatory smile still on his face as he took a step towards me.

I would have stepped back, but I'd already pressed myself as close as I possibly could to the door.

I am Jack's cornered idiot.

Maybe I shouldn't repeatedly to tell Tyler to fuck off in future. It might piss the guy off. Which ultimately wouldn't result in pleasantries on my side of things, right?

I continued to glare at him, daring him to throw the first punch, or the first kick, anything, but he remained motionless, standing in front of me as though he was almost deciding on what to say.

Before he could say another word though, I unlocked the door and wrenched it open, causing it to slam against the wall and bounce back as I stepped out quickly and walked away, Marla looking at me with a surprised expression before smiling smugly and wrapping her arms around my waist, pulling me in as she crashed her mouth against mine.

I groaned slightly, forgetting Tyler for a moment, catching his gaze pinned brightly in my direction before I turned away, forcing him out of my mind.

Hopefully he was gone. I half prayed that he better be.

AN: Okay, this was a sucky chapter. So I'm sorry. I have lots of action coming up (hopefully) so those chapters should be a little more eventful. But yeh, also, I'm sorry I couldn't update sooner. I've been on holiday, I've been obsessing over movies such as The Lost Boys, and I've just generally had writers block. But all is well now, lol. Hope someone finds this chapter slightly okay-ish. Please review, they encourage me to write, lol. Even if it is a flame. Criticism can help sometimes...