A/N: I had something cool happening in this chapter (an epic Nerf war between Faith and Thom) but I decided to take it in another direction and do something with that later. Once again, I live for reviews. Every day I see my inbox empty, lacking e-mails saying 'new review for 'Keeping Faith'', I think a little more hastily about sending Faith to attack you with a bottle of glue. Comprende?

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*Faith*

*Present*

I blinked at the bathroom sink. "Keep going," Mom said.

I frowned, "Well, nothing much actually happened that was horrible after that. At about one A.M. you snapped out of your freaky, semi-conscious state, Ardelia left two days later with a metric ton of baked goods, and everything's been good since then."

"What was the other day then?"

"That time when I accidentally locked myself in that filing cabinet. Remember that one?"

She laughed a little, "They had to get the fire department in there to get you out because no one had the key to the cabinet."

I sent her a death stare, "Hey, that was not funny – I mean, I was freaking six! It's scary, and now I have serious claustrophobia issues because of that stupid filing cabinet."

There was an awkward silence between us. I considered telling her about my findings – but she may have already guessed I knew. I'll let it wait for a while.

"I'm drawn between going for a run and going to bed." I blurted out.

"Same here. I vote that we just go and crash." She looked over to me, "You wanna soak the bloodied stuff and sleep in the living room with me?"

It was our solution to stress – fall asleep in the living room watching movies. It normally works, and I was willing to try anything to calm my nerves. I looked over at her out of the corner of my eye, "It's club soda that gets blood out of shit, right?"

"Yeah, I think so. It's just baking soda and water. Better yet, use baking soda and vinegar."

"You learn that at Quantico?"

"Yeah right! I learnt how to preserve blood, not get rid of it."

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I'm falling. I'm falling through . . . nothing, I guess. The wind is whipping against my face. I'm tumbling through the air, unable to stop myself in any way.

And then I hit the ground – what feels like a million pounds of pressure hitting me straight on. I can't breathe. It's almost as if I'm paralyzed – crumpled on the ground, unable to move, I'm scared to death.

That's when I realize, 'This must be how Thom felt when he got hit, and he probably kept feeling like this until he was put under . . .'

The next thing I know, I'm standing in the middle of a grassy field, surrounded by low, rolling hills. The wind is lightly rustling the grass around me. The grass is tickly on my bare feet – 'man, I'm as pale as a freakin' vampire, aren't I?' I noted, looking down at my feet. In the moment it took for me to blink, the scenery had changed. There seemed to be a million people surrounding me – which made me completely uncomfortable. The sky seemed to be filled with noxious air, and everyone was bustling around me, not even noting the presence of a strange person in their environment. I could barely breathe this air – it was that toxic. I went into a coughing fit, and when I opened my eyes again, the scene had changed yet again. The entire room was white. I was sitting in the middle of it, alone, but . . . with company, it seemed.

It's like, I was by myself, but with someone else, too. Someone else and I were alone . . . together – if that makes any sense. There were two people looking in at me through a window in the door. The door was locked – well, it doesn't look locked, but I just know that it actually is. They're just kinda . . . staring at me. I stare back at them. The door is suddenly blown down – and Hannibal Lecter's there. He helps me up and then suddenly there are ninjas everywhere.

I bolt up, awake, and something black flies at me. Thinking it's a ninja, I bat it away – only to find out that it's just Nathan.

" . . . Nathan, where did you just fly down from?" I asked him, aloud. I then realized that I was talking to a stuffed sheep. "OK, I doubt that life can get any more confusing than it is right now." I muttered. I looked up at the clock in the living room – where Mom and I had crashed earlier – and it was 4:38 A.M. I sighed.

"Faith?" I heard mom mumble, "You OK?" She turned to face me, "You were having another night terror, weren't you?" She asked, stroking my hair.

"Kinda," I said, resting my head in my hands, I sighed again, "I think I'll go out for a run. I doubt that I'll be able to get back to sleep."

"Sure," Mom said, laying back down on the couch, "Just remember to stash some mace in a pocket or something – don't want anything happening."

"Fine, fine." I said, getting up. I washed my face, threw on some sweats, pulled my hair into a ponytail and set off.

There's this nice woodsy area near our house. There's a trail, but it's been long grown over. I go running back here sometimes, and it's quite pleasant. The moonlight leaks through the branches, still re-sprouting their leaves, and bathes the ground in its robust glow. I come to a spot with a view of the lake behind our house and it appears to sparkle in the lunar light. I take a few deep breaths and keep running along what's left of the path.

And that's when I – quite literally – run into Hannibal Lecter.

*Hannibal*

Don't jump to any conclusions – I was observing. Nothing more, nothing less. Seeing her romp through the woods gave me a feel of her personality – similar to her mother's, similar to mine. I had heard something behind me, and had turned my head to observe, when Faith ran into me.

And, inertia being the way it is, the weight of something makes it harder to move and to stop moving, and, while Faith wasn't very heavy – in fact, she looked quite underweight – with her speed, she took us both to the ground.

She rolled off of me and lifted herself up onto her feet, "Man, you just keep turning up, don't you? You're like a bad penny." She said, brushing leaves off of her pants.

She stuck out a hand. It took me a moment to register that she was offering to help me up. I took her hand – quite small in comparison to mine – and was pulled to my feet by a strength, wiry and hidden within small arms.

"Hey, I never – somehow, with our continuous running into each other, I never got your name." she said.

"Oh, sorry. I am Doctor Olekas."

"Ooh, Lithuanian. Well, nice to formally meet you, Doc, even in a . . . weird setting." She enunciates.

"Well, thank you." I paused for a moment, "What are you doing out here this early?"

"I could ask you the same question, but I'll answer yours first – to be polite. I have night terrors, so when I wake up in the middle of the night on the verge of a breakdown, I go for a run. And you?"

"Couldn't sleep myself. I'm thinking too much, so it's hard to get everything wound down so I can actually get some REM."

She nodded, and then her phone beeped. She quickly checked – it was a message from her mother. Her expression didn't change in the slightest as she read. She slipped her phone back into the pockets of her sweatpants. "Mom's awake, if you want to stop by."

"It might look a little conspicuous, if we come in a small timeframe."

"Then we'll have to by inconspicuous. You take the direct route, I'll take the long route. I'll get there about fifteen-twenty minutes after you -- nothing to inquire about on mom's part." She smiled.

I smiled back. If I were to inquire about the note, I'd do it in front of Clarice, too. "Well, I'll see you in a bit, then." I turned on my heel and set towards their home.

*Faith*

That was kinda weird. As I walked the long way, I got a text from Julie – Thom's mom (well, one of them). Apparently, the just took Thom off of his respirator. Good sign, very good sign.

As I head towards the house, a quote from a Motion City Soundtrack song came into my head,

"With all my dreams hooked to hospital machines/ I think, let's try redefining beautiful!"**

(**Song is 'Point of Extinction' by the band Motion City Soundtrack, on the album 'Even If It kills me')