See Part 1 for disclaimers and story details

Author's Notes: My continued appreciate to everyone who has sent any kind of feedback for this story. You guys keep me going on bad writing days. And no, this part isn't as chunky as the last one. Sorry, guys! Again, I can't thank Lynette enough for being beta extraordinaire. You rock, lady! As always, any and all feedback is appreciated.

Part 5
Tucking her hand more solidly into his, Faith matched Jack's stride with ease. The moon was high overhead, lighting the quiet street. It was late enough on Monday night that it could almost be called Tuesday and only a couple of cars kept their truck company on the small side street where they'd parked. Jack had insisted it would be better to get to the restaurant later in the evening, saying it wouldn't be so busy. Faith hadn't believed him but had gone along with his theory since she wasn't the one who had to get up for work the next day. For once she was glad to be wrong.

"This weekend was the most fun I've had in years," she said, only realizing as she spoke how true the words were. Her life had been nothing but Slaying and mayhem and mistakes compounded by Hellmouths and hard-headed stupidity. Jack had shown her a side of life she'd seen others have but had never thought she'd experience. With a hand on his arm, she stopped him, turning him to face her. "Thank you."

A smile that didn't quite reach his eyes curved his lips up. "Any time. What else are not-remembered husbands good for?"

"Don't do that." He was hurt she didn't remember him, she knew without a doubt even though he'd said nothing about it. After Saturday night's successful gathering, they'd spent the next two days in a mellow, absolutely normal, doing nothing special kind of way. A walk in the nearby park holding hands and chatting, grocery shopping where she'd discovered he disliked trolling up the aisles in search of food as much as she did, cleaning up around the house after bargaining for the tasks she hated the least. Hours spent on the roof in the dark cushion of night learning about the sky above and her husband at the same time. And finally dinner at The Blue Star, a trendy, almost bohemian restaurant she hadn't believed Jack would ever step foot in let alone rave about. But once she'd tasted the appetizer, she'd forgotten about the eye-popping décor and her doubts about Jack's choice for dinner.

The only negative so far had been the lack of information from Willow. The witch had called Sunday afternoon with the depressing news. No spell or demon was reputed to deal in sending people or things into the future. Between Willow, Giles and the new Council, over a hundred references had been found for sending someone into the past. The running theory was time was flexible, but the future was always changing depending on a person's decisions throughout each day so there would be no specific moment in time to build a spell around. Faith had understood roughly one in five words of the explanation yet the full meaning hadn't escaped her – no one had a clue what had happened to her. Willow had promised to keep looking and would call back in a couple of days whether she found anything or not. Then she'd told Faith to enjoy the rest of her weekend with her "hunk of a husband" and hung up.

Now, with the taste of their shared dessert still lingering on her tongue, she couldn't let him beat himself up. "This isn't your fault." Keeping one hand on his arm, she forced his eyes to meet hers with the other. She'd always thought that line about the eyes being a window into a person's soul was just so much crap, but over the past three days she'd come to know the truth. Jack's soul was a good one, even though he would have argued himself blue if she said it aloud. Shaking her head slightly, she repeated softly, deliberately, "This isn't your fault."

"Kind of hard not to feel that way." The smile turned self-deprecating, one hand coming up to tug hers away from his face. "I'm not the one with the missing memory."

It was frightening how much she'd come to care for this man in so short a time. He hadn't pushed, hadn't questioned, simply accepted that whatever had happened to her had created a breach between them and had begun working on a bridge to get over it. He really was a good man. "It'll come back," she insisted, forcing a confidence she didn't feel into her voice. A Slayer's life was too mired in upheaval to guarantee anything, but she had to try and erase that look from Jack's eyes. It was tearing a hole straight through her.

Leaning in closer, she pushed up onto her toes, hands freeing themselves to rest against his chest. After a second's hesitation, he bent slightly, eyes intent on hers. When he didn't move any closer, she ran her hands up over his shoulders to grasp his neck and pull him the rest of the way. Their lips met and fire streaked through her blood instantly. Jack inhaled sharply, all hesitancy disappearing at the first contact. His arms wrapped tight around her back, one hand sliding up to dive deep into her hair. Tingling shivers danced across her skin as she opened her mouth, inviting him to intensify the kiss. He took it, tongue sweeping in to tangle with hers.

Far too soon he pulled back, arms still snug around her, the heat of his body burning through her clothes. This time the smile reached his eyes. "Well, at least we haven't lost that."

A low, throaty chuckle slipped out of her and Faith watched his eyes darken even more at the sound. "Maybe we should have done that three days ago."

He dropped another kiss on her lips, this time a quick peck that promised more, and eased away from her. "You would have called me a letch and slapped me."

"Not if you'd kissed me like that," she assured him, telling the absolute truth. Damn, but that man could kiss. He wrapped one hand around hers and tugged her down the street toward the truck another hundred feet away. Her heart pounded and every inch of her skin vibrated with excess awareness. Maybe if she'd been paying more attention to their surroundings instead of the way Jack made her feel she'd have noticed them sooner. But when Jack's body tensed beside hers, all her Slayer alarms finally went off.

Three figures detached themselves from the deep entranceway of a clothes shop, stepping out onto the sidewalk directly in front of them. Even though they looked like they were in their mid-twenties, Faith knew all three were vampires. A moment of confusion had her taking a second look at them with all of her senses. Hadn't Buffy told her there was something about the area that kept demons out? Had the giant bug zapper run out of juice? Because her second look confirmed what her gut was telling her – they were definitely vampires. And there wasn't a lick of wood in sight. But even more problematic was the fact that Jack had no idea what stood in front of them.

"You really don't want to start anything," Jack said, voice hard enough even Faith spared him a glance. What she saw was the man he'd shown her a glimpse of that first day. His face was a cool mask, eyes assessing every inch of the area and the three vampires, body suddenly strung tight and centered, ready for a fight.

Just what the hell did he do in that mountain of his? She cut off the distracting thought when one of the vampires stepped closer. Letting her senses flare open wide, she tracked the movements of the other two without taking her eyes off the leader.

"Oh, I think we do." He smiled, normal human teeth glittering in the streetlight for a brief moment. "Take them."

About to grab Jack's arm and push him behind her, consequences of revealing her secret be damned, she actually stumbled when he pulled away from her to sweep one leg out, tripping the vampire on their left. He went down hard, taking the feet of the other down with him.

"Faith, run!"

She felt him shove her back toward the restaurant before he turned to put himself between her and the three vamps. What was Jack thinking? It was her job to protect him from vampires. Swiveling on her heels quickly, she dropped her purse to free both hands. Why the hell had she not brought a stake with her? She knew better than to get complacent even in a town where no one seemed to know the definition of night life. Without a shred of wood it was about to get interesting.

Adrenaline flooded her veins, tightening her focus. There was no way a vampire was going to lay a single tooth on her husband.

Face shifting into the familiar visage of the demon hidden beneath the human mask, the leader rushed in, one giant leap that planted him in front of Jack in a split second. Before Faith could blink, an arm slashed out and Jack was stumbling back from the inhumanly fast blow. A red haze filled her vision and then she was moving. The leader's body flew against the brick wall of the clothing shop, small cracks appearing where he'd struck. The other two scrambled to their feet only to be knocked down again as the Slayer was unleashed. With a growl, the leader came back for more, this time landing a couple of shots that sent her reeling into a car parked along the sidewalk. She hit the ground with a thump, anger and a growing fear for Jack pushing all pain aside.

"Faith!"

Jack's cry, filled with utter terror, brought an ache to her chest. She had to end this now. There had to be something, anything around she could use as a weapon. A quick glance into the gutter beneath the car she'd been hurled against revealed scattered clusters of pine needles, a cigarette box that had once been white, and a few small tree branches, each thinner than her pinky. Without thinking, she grabbed up the bunch, forming a makeshift stake. This had to work.

Jumping to her feet, she turned to see Jack strike out with a fury of kicks and punches that was worthy of a Slayer. The precision of each blow was backed with a simmering rage that would have enabled him to defeat one of the vampires if he'd had a stake and known what to do with it, but not three at the same time. Stepping up behind one of them, she grabbed his shoulder and shoved the tree branches through his back. The branches cracked but punched through, sending a cloud of dust floating in the air. The second one went just as quickly as the leader finally got through Jack's guard and connected with a right hook that snapped his head back with an audible crack. He crumpled to the ground and didn't move.

For a split second Faith was frozen. No. No, he was fine, her brain screamed in denial. But he still didn't get up. The scrape of a footstep drew her back to the leader. The smile left his face when she turned furious eyes his way.

"Who are you?" The vampire's voice actually shook.

Smiling bitterly, she brandished the broken clump of branches. "I'm the Slayer. And you picked the wrong couple to munch on tonight." His face went white beneath the heavy brow ridges just before he launched himself at her in a futile attack. Fending off the panicked blows, she returned each swing, connecting but unable to get a clear shot at his chest. A moan from behind her sent strength ripping through her body. She grabbed one of the vampire's arms and twisted it behind him, spinning him around. Reaching around with the other hand, she thrust the bundled sticks into his chest, rage and dread adding force to the blow. The vampire disappeared with a sharp cry, dust swirling toward the ground.

Two shaking steps had her kneeling at Jack's side, one hand reaching for his face. "Jack?" A quiet groan answered her. Running her fingers gently along his jaw and up into his hair, she felt for cracks, blood, anything that wasn't supposed to be there. "It's okay. They're gone."

Glazed brown eyes met hers, pain radiating from him in waves. "What was. . . Who are you?"

The doubt in his voice yanked her hand away. It was as if the past three days had never happened. Their kiss had never happened. "I'm Faith."

He struggled to sit up, smothering a gasp of pain. "You can't be my wife. Now who the hell are you?" Kneeling, he faced her dead on, that mask of emptiness hiding his face.

"I am Faith," she repeated, reaching one hand out to him. If she could touch him, he'd know it was her. And then she could try to explain what had just happened, to keep the truth from destroying the feelings three years had built between them. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

Before her fingers got anywhere close, he moved. With the speed she'd marveled at both at the house and just a few minutes ago, he grasped her outstretched arm and yanked her off balance. Before she could grab her next breath he had her locked against his body, her back to his chest. She froze, barely breathing, recognizing the deadly hold he had her in. His words merely confirmed what she already knew.

"You have ten seconds to tell me where my wife is or so help me God I will snap your neck."

It's what she imagined hell to sound like: fury filled and uncompromising. And somehow she had to get through to the man underneath. "Jack, it's me. I'm your wife."

The rock steady arms tightened ever so slightly, contrasting sharply with the shaking of his body. "Strike one. My wife doesn't know dick about fighting. How did you switch her? Five seconds."

"I am Faith O'Neill," she said deliberately, careful to make no movement whatsoever. Jack wasn't kidding around. "But I'm the Faith from three years ago, before our paths crossed again."

Every muscle stilled briefly at her back, the arms held firmly in place around her neck and head. "Tell me something only we would know."

"Six years ago I tried to pick you up at a bar. You turned me down and we had dinner." She could feel him thinking it through, running all the angles in his head. "Six years ago my time. I was seventeen."

The arms released from her head with a suddenness that dropped her onto her butt on the sidewalk. Jack scrambled away from her until his back hit the brick wall of the shop, self-loathing and confusion engraved on his face. His eyes closed as he winced, either from the quick motions or the blow to his head finally kicking in.

Inching forward, her heart seized briefly at the tormented look on his face. "It's not your fault." She'd said it earlier, before the vampires had attacked, but this time it had a double meaning. "I don't know why my future self never told you about me, us, whatever, but there was no way you could know." And the other? Jack loved his wife. It was evident in every look, every word, every touch. He'd reacted like a man who was determined to protect what was his, no holds barred and no apologies to be made. Hell, hadn't she just done the same for him? Between the probable concussion and his wife suddenly becoming a martial arts expert in front of his eyes, she figured Jack was due a couple moments of confused lashing out. "I don't blame you for your reaction." She hadn't thought the words would hurt to say.

"I nearly killed you. You have no idea. . ." He trailed off, one hand rising to stop her slow progress toward him. "I could have killed you."

"But you didn't," she whispered, ignoring his intent and grasping the outstretched hand in hers. She squeezed tightly, reassuring herself he was still there, his presence seeping into her flesh. "I'm still with you." Offering a small smile, she nodded toward the truck parked not far down the street. "Can we go home? It's a really long story and I'd rather tell it sitting on our couch."

He didn't reply, just brought his free hand up to gently brush over her cheek. His eyes scanned every millimeter of her face while she held still for his perusal. She was asking him to take a lot on faith. A smile lifted the corners of her mouth at the thought. She was asking him to take Faith.

The smile seemed to galvanize him into action. He nodded and struggled to his feet, letting her support him until he found his balance. They made their way slowly to the truck, grabbing her purse as an afterthought. Jack's unsteady gait worried her more and more with each step, but she knew he wouldn't agree to see a doctor until he'd heard every last word she had to say. Besides, she had more than enough experience treating battle injuries. She could help him just as well as any doctor could. Making sure he was belted in, she shut the door and swiftly crossed to the other side.

How the hell was she going to explain her life?

TBC