A/N: OMFG. Guess who's back? I haven't updated this story in so long. I hope you guys can forgive me. I'm back in action, ready to take over the world. Or at least the world of Fanfiction :) I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! This story is far from over. There will be more to come. Also, if you've read my other stories, have any of you noticed that I end up writing a LOT of hospital scenes? Morbid stories? Quite possibly.

Clare's eyes fluttered open as she looked around the white hospital room. How did she get here? What happened? She couldn't seem to remember anything except fighting with Fitz. Everything else was too blurry to remember. Her head pounded. Everything hurt.

She looked over at the chair next to her, coming face to face with Eli. He looked at her, part anger, part guilt, with those green eyes boring into her soul, almost making her flinch.

"What happened? Eli, what did you do?" She demanded. She had never had to go to the hospital because of Fitz before. Eli's eyes darkened, angrier now.

"What did I do? Why don't you ask what your boyfriend did?" He snapped at her, making her shrink back. His eyes softened for a moment, staring at the broken angel in front of him. It almost killed him to see her in this state, a cast on her arm, bruises covering her entire body, some from the fight, others from...before. It amazed him how she could keep them hidden for so long. They were everywhere.

"What happened?" Clare demanded again. Eli sighed, the scene replaying in his head over and over again. Clare lying there, bloody and bruised, Julia whispering in his ear. He still hadn't confronted his emotions on that issue. He wasn't sure he wanted to.

"Your fucking boyfriend was beating the shit out of you. That's what happened." His eyes were dark, furious at Fitz, furious at Clare, furious at everyfuckingperson in the world for all of this.

"Why did you call the police? What is wrong with you? I thought I told you I could handle myself. I could've dealt with whatever it is. I have before. I don't need you around, trying to protect me, causing a scene." She muttered angrily. She was so angry at Eli for what he did. He overreacted.

"Oh, really? You can handle yourself? Is that why you had a broken arm, three severely bruised ribs, and a concussion from hitting your head against the pavement?" He said angrily. Her eyes widened. Things had never been this bad.

"Excuse me?" She looked at the cast on her arm, the gauze wrapped around her rib cage. She couldn't believe a stupid fight with Fitz had gone that far. She didn't want to believe that her knight in shining armor had turned into a monster.

"It was bad, Clare. I don't know why you put yourself through these things." He said. Clare ignored him, searching for something else to say.

"This is all your fault. If you hadn't have started things with Fitz, if you would've just left things alone, none of this would've happened!" She said, turning on him now, blaming him for everything, even if he was the one to save her.

"Clare, how long has this asshole been hitting you? And were those times my fault? What can you say to justify his behavior for every single other time? Something really bad was going to happen to you sooner or later."

"Get out. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Just leave." She said. He looked at her for a moment, an odd expression crossing his face, something Clare couldn't pinpoint exactly, and then he turned and left. He was gone. Clare sighed in relief.

A few minutes later her parents walked in, not fighting for once, instead leaning against each other, staring at their mess of a daughter in sadness and guilt. They were so caught up in their own lives, in all the fighting, that they hadn't even noticed something serious that was happening to their daughter.

"Clare." Her mother whispered, looking down at her. Clare looked at the window, refusing to meet her mother's eyes.

"Mom, please don't. I really don't want to talk about this." She muttered. Her mother looked at her incredulously.

"Honey, this boy hurt you. And we're going to press charges and make sure this never happens again." Her mother said, sitting down next to her. Clare's eyes widened. Press charges? No way. Fitz would murder her.

"Mom, no. I don't...I don't want to press charges." Her mother looked at her in shock.

"That's crazy, Clare. We are going to press charges. He hit you and he's not going to get away with it." Her mother said, determined. Clare drew in a ragged breath. She wasn't going to press charges. That would be like digging her own grave.

"No. I am not going to press charges. That's final." She said firmly, stubbornly. Her mother sighed and looked at her father for support, but here merely stood there, staring at his daughter.

"I just don't understand you sometimes, Clare. There's someone here who wants to see you. Maybe she can talk some sense into you." Her mother said in an angry voice, getting up to leave and dragging her ex-husband along with her. He looked over his shoulder for one more glance at Clare before he was pulled out of the room.

Several minutes passed by before there was a soft knock at the door. Clare looked up. Her eyes widened slightly.

"Darcy? W-what are you doing here?" She stuttered in shock. She hadn't seen Darcy in God knows how long because she had run off to Kenya, leaving Clare to deal with their parents constant fighting.

"Mom called me and told me what happened. I knew I had to come see you." She said softly, looking at her little sister, who didn't seem so little anymore, instead appearing beyond her years, scarred by things she couldn't speak of.

"So you somehow couldn't come back when I was dealing with their divorce alone, but you can come back now? Tell me how that works." Clare snapped at her older sister. Darcy looked taken aback. Clare was the quiet, kind one, and never snapped at anybody. What had happened to her sister?

"Clare, I'm so sorry I didn't come back sooner. I know I should've. But you have to believe me, I was always worried about you. Even in our video chats, you didn't seem like yourself. You were so happy when you told me about Fitz and then every time after that, your shine had just dulled down and it scared me." Darcy pleaded, now sitting next to her. Clare scoffed.

"Well thanks for your concern," She said sarcastically. "But it's unnecessary." Darcy's eyes widened.

"You're lying in a hospital bed and my concern is unnecessary? Really, Clare?" She said, gesturing at the bed. Clare looked over at the window, at the pretty pink cast covering her arm, at anything but her sister.

"Who else is out in the waiting room?" Clare asked, changing the subject. Darcy sighed, noticing what Clare was trying to do, but she didn't say anything about it.

"Alli, Peter, Spinner, KC, and some guy named Adam." Clare's brows furrowed in confusion. Peter and Spinner?

"Wait, what are Peter and Spinner doing here?" She asked in confusion. Darcy smiled slightly.

"Believe it or not, they care about you. Everyone out there does. And no one wants to see you hurting like this. Just think about that, okay?" These were her parting words, as she turned and walked out of the room.

A few minutes later, KC came in, staring at his ex-girlfriend in shock. What had happened to the sweet, innocent Clare he once knew? Because this surely wasn't her.

"Clare. What the hell." He said, sitting down next to her. Clare let out a short bitter laugh, stopping from the pain in her ribs.

"That's new. You know, you're the first one to say that to me today. Congratulations." She said, looking over at him with a sarcastic smirk spread across her face.

"This isn't funny. This could've been worse." He said, staring at her, so different from when they were dating, not just in appearance, though that had changed as well. She wasn't the little girl she was in the 9th grade.

"Exactly. This could've been worse. But it wasn't. So I don't see why everyone's freaking out." She said, looking at her ex-boyfriend, who still had the same brown puppy-dog eyes she remembered so well.

"Maybe because your boyfriend's been beating you for God knows how long. You deserve so much better than that." He said, staring down at her. She hadn't noticed before but he had gotten taller, and had more muscle from playing football.

"Like what? You?" She scoffed. KC hadn't treated her so great during their relationship either. He was her first love and he cheated on her with Jenna. He looked down at his hands sadly before looking back up at her.

"No. I know I didn't treat you as good as you deserved, and I'm sorry. But there's a guy out there who really cares about you. You know as well as I do that I'm not too fond of Emo Boy. But he really does care. You should've seen him. He was a wreck. He's been here since yesterday, even rode in the ambulance with you, and from what I've heard, he hasn't slept since. He's just been here waiting for you to wake up." KC finished, leaving Clare shocked.

She thought back to when she woke up, when she saw Eli. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair was disheveled, and he had been wearing the same clothes he had on during the fight.

She looked down at her hands. And that's when she noticed it. The black ring Eli always had on his thumb was there on her index finger, shining from the glare of the hospital lights.

From the scrapes and bruises

To the familiar abuses

I'll kick and scream

But it never changes anything

And I could spill my guts out

Wearing my best little girl pout

And I almost missed it

But nobody said that this was gonna be easy

This is not the man I hoped to be

And I'm just trying to stop the bleeding

I don't know how to word it

I just started to deserve it

And all my, all my faces are alibis

And me, I'm half the man I wanted to be

Most times it all comes out wrong

I don't know the words

But I'll hum along

There's nothing familiar here anymore

To anyone or anything

Enough to feel alive

And I still taste that sickness

And it makes me crazy without it at best

But I'm in the same place I used to be

And I'm trying harder not to be

This is not the man I hoped to be

And I'm just trying to stop the bleeding

I don't know how to word it

I just started to deserve it

And all my, all my faces are alibis

And me, I'm half the man I wanted to be

So what am I?

What am I?

What am I?

And all my, all my faces are alibis

This is not the man I hoped to be

And I'm just trying to stop the bleeding

I don't know how the words go

I just started not to say no

Don't want it, don't get it

I know you won't regret it

Don't surface, don't surface

And I feel so damn worthless

Another day is gone

And all my faces are alibis

And me, I'm half the man I wanted to be...

A/N: So, quite possibly the best hospital scene I've ever written. I actually feel proud of myself for getting this accomplished. I'm choosing a certain day of the week and on that day every single week the story will be updated. So... Every Tuesday I will be updating Face Down without a fail.

I ultimately have too many stories going on at once that I can't give each and every one of them my undivided attention, and I think that's why I'm not updating as much as I would like to. But I'm trying. There will be 4 more chapters of this story (not including this one) and then, sadly, it will be over. But I hope you enjoy what's left. I've got some great ideas brewing.