Disclaimer:The people who will read this may have noticed that I update every so often, two chapters at a time... that will not always be the case. Actually, it probably will not happen again for a while. Work, and, well, laziness play a great factor in that. Not that you, the reader, cares. Beware of bad spelling, grammar and tenses! Flame on. Heh. I own... absolutely nothing. This is definitely not for profit and I haven't considered quitting my day job. Oh, and "Glass Jaw" is by Systematic (I'm sure they own the title and what not...) incase anyone is curious.

Glass Jaw

"Giles, w-what happened?" A stammer: Hood. You haven't done that in a while… I can hear, but moving is a bit more … challenging.

"She got out of the car. I had just offered her some Advil, she was in a pain: a headache…" Tylenol G. Okay, the Tylenol I remembered… and something soft against my skin, a pillow? Is that the right word? Yeah… it smelled starchy. 'Faith! You set that down afore you burn yourself! Irons are not for pillows!' Mom? Pillows aren't starchy… sheets are. The smell is from the sheets, I must be in the infirmary. I can't be in my room, in my own bed; I picked up some nice silk sheets. If I have to live in a hole –my own choice- I was damn well going to sleep on something nice.

"She fell to the ground, and when I couldn't rouse her, I carried her here." That's awesome, thanks for not leaving me on the wet ground. Giles sounded anxious… sad perhaps. No fuckin' way is he upset over me. There's no problem with me, I just remembered being gutted, fucked me up a bit, that's all. No biggie. No biggie indeed, I meant it though, being gutted –like a fish- really puts a damper on anything in your life. Not that I had much of a life going but it was something, good or bad. That's not the point; the point is … why the fuck can't I open my eyes and see who's holdin' onto my hand.

"What in fucks name happened…?" I guess all I needed was a little persuasion, lucky me, I know just how I work. I'm slurring a little bit but I can deal with that. Oh fuck me; I better not have had a stroke.

"Faith, oh, it's great that you're talking. What happened?" Not even thirty seconds after I say something, you've already assumed I did something!

"That's not what he meant Faith," Willow, Red, Hood… you can read me. "It's just that you don't normally pass out… I can't remember the last time… well, yes I guess I can. B-Buffy decked you pretty decently but since then I don't think you've passed out, unless you were drunk- ow, hey! Oh…" I squeezed the hand that was on mine fairly hard in hopes that it was hers, guess I was right. I did not need her ratting me out to Giles that I liked to get totally shit-faced more often than he thinks.

"No clue what happened." I open my eyes, slowly, they feel weighted down. My whole body feels weighted down. It feels like something has a hold of me and doesn't want to let go. "There's something not right here guys…"

"Yes Faith, quite right. What do you remember?" He's fiddling with his glasses as he speaks to me; I wish he'd stop that, his poker face sucks enough. Always know when there's bad news with you, G.

I pull myself to a seated position; I had guessed right, score. The infirmary was as nice as they got in old castles: huge and echoic. Word a day. Stainless steel, grey stone and white sheets was the colour scheme; thankfully the blood that was shed hadn't stained the floor.

"You offered me some Tylenol G," Hood smirked a bit. "After I got out of the car, I stretched. My hand wandered a little bit, found some bad memories I guess. They all came rushin' back. Guess I couldn't handle it. Looks like I'm just a big sissy sitting in a hospital bed, get Andy, he can take some pictures. You guys can scrapbook it." 'Sarcasm, works in every situation Faithy, but not always how you want it too…'

"Faith…" Red had been all sensitive 'best-friendy' towards me since B left, since that night I died, really. I know it's just her being nice, trying to get past the whole 'tried-to-kill-me' thing; she's doing a good job. I don't see how B could handle it, friends are nice, but not exactly something I know a lot about.

"Want to talk about it? Talk about the memories that came back to you? Was it a vision?" I sighed, if there ever was a time I wanted to talk about that night, it wasn't then and it wasn't with her.

"I can't really remember specifics Hood," A big glare! Ha! 'Pissin' off people is a damn good way of getting' your ass kicked. Now fuck off Firecracker, mommy is busy.' Mom and her endless amount of advice. Why now ma, why do I have to remember you now! "It felt like I was there again, that's all. Too much to handle I suppose, don't read into it too much. What we should be worried about is the fact that I'm remembering my mother's advice." A joke guys, it just slipped out, it was a joke! Come on!

When you mean something as a joke you always hope that's how it's taken. You never want that awkward silence, the same one that I got after I opened my big mouth. It was long and awkward, like they were contemplating how to secure me in case I go nuts again and try to take 'em all out while they sleep. I can't help but think that, that's all I know. All bad and no good, I should have tee-shirts made up. Things were supposed to get better! You guys promised things would change… that things would be different.

Her arms were a strong surprise around my body, the air around me seemed to grow cold… no, I guess it was just me. Goosebumps shot up my arms and down my back, Hood, Willow was hugging me; a big hug, a small sniff. I had worried her in a different way.

"What'd your mom tell you Faith, what advice did she give you?" She's sincere, she lies worth shit anyways.

"Doesn't matter, it's all bullshit anyways." 'You lying little bitch!' No wince, I don't want to lie to her, it just comes out: lies and filth. That's not true, I know I've changed. "Mom never gave me anything worth keepin', 'cept my good looks." I smile and push her back, my strength was returning and my eyes would focus when I looked around. Only then did I notice Giles in deep thought. I didn't really want to know what he was thinking about, but I just had to ask anyways.

"G. Giles, man, what's up?"

"I believe that Buffy might have… er, come back."

The goose bumps returned.

"What d'you say, G? No way…" The nagging feeling that was suggesting he was right wouldn't go away. I closed my eyes and tried to focus the two other slayer souls mingling with my own, nothing. No trace of Buffy, sure she could have picked up a spell to mask her presence, but I wasn't a normal slayer. She would have had to use a powerful spell. "I can't feel her Giles. Slayer connection, it's pretty damn strong between us, even when we're at each others throats."

"Is it that far of a stretch Faith? You two didn't end things on a very positive note and due to that … and the strange happenings of our universe, these problems you are experiencing could be due to her… I could be mistaken of course, but do remember that she is bound to return eventually."

"Yeah and things'll go back to the way it was right?!" I get off the bed and sway a little as I stand on my feet. Still a little weak, better keep that in mind. I start again. "She comes back, things go to shit. She isn't back. No, no, keep your hands off me. I'm alright, well as alright as I can be with this shit going on. First the girls, now you guys?" My mind was going a mile a minute, and I couldn't stop it, the dizziness returned. They had removed their hands from my arms, taken a couple steps back; I wasn't able to register the looks on their faces.

"Yes Faith, you know all about betrayal." Her voice fills my mind. "There is nothing else in your heart, how dare you say otherwise. You. Mean. Nothing. To. Me. Nothing!" The pain was sharp in my side; I tried to hide the discomfort on my face. "You just can't do anything right! Oh don't give me that look, don't act all confused. This is your fault." Her breath was hot on my face; her vanilla shampoo filled my nose, her small powerful hands firmly wrapped around my throat. Where'd you come from B? Why couldn't I tell you were here… are you even here? Funny, I don't remember getting knocked down. She was straddling my body, and choking the life from me. Come on Giles, Hood, save me? My hands couldn't seem to find hers.