"Mr. Abbott?"

Billy sighed in a mix of frustration and relief as the counselor finally entered the room. The concept of urgency seemed wasted on these people. "It's about time," he scoffed. "I've been waiting in here for almost an hour."

"I'm sorry." The middle aged man took a seat at his desk and opened the file in front of him. His face didn't seem to reflect any true remorse as he glanced up at Billy. "I see that you've been here for about six days now. You've been participating in group therapy and you've been reporting to your one on ones." He looked up again. "Is there some sort of problem?"

"Yeah, there's a problem." Billy jammed his hands into his pockets. It had taken every ounce of restraint in him to even stay here long enough to discuss this. He'd wanted to grab his things and head straight for the door. This had been a voluntary decision. He didn't need this man's approval. He didn't need anyone's approval, but he didn't want to deal with all the self righteous comments when he got home. He'd have more than enough to deal with. "I need to get out of here … now."

"Billy. You know that rehab isn't …"

"I'm not some kind of skid row bottom of the barrel …" He stopped talking as he look on the man's face.

"That's not what you said on your entrance interview. You admitted that you had hit bottom. You said you'd done some horrible things, that you'd stolen money from your family, that you'd lied to people you cared about. You seemed genuinely worried about the choices you made. Six days isn't nearly enough to be ready to come back from that."

He shook his head. "I'm not saying everything is all better," he sighed, "but I can't worry about myself right now. There's too much going on back home. I have to go take care of things."

"You have to take care of yourself right now, Billy. You can't help other people if you're not healthy yourself."

"I know the drill," he sighed, "but it's not applicable to this. My whole family is blowing up. I have to go home. I can come back. I can finish this later. I'm still gonna be an addict in a month. It's not like it's gonna matter when I finish rehab."

"It can get a lot worse, you know. You said that yourself. That was why you came in on your own. You said the last time you spiraled out of control, you almost died. You've almost killed someone you loved before. Who's to say that if you put this off, it won't come to that again."

"It won't. I won't let it, but I can't just sit in here and sing Kumbaya in a circle while I know everything going on with my family. I have to go home. I'll be back. I swear it."

"It sounds like you've already made up your mind here." He closed the file in front of him and folded his arms across his chest in obvious disapproval. The leather chair slid away from the desk just as bit as he leaned back. "You checked yourself in, you don't need my signature to get out. So why are you here?"

"I was hoping you'd sign off," Billy admitted. "I don't want to go home and have to hear my entire family bitching about me ditching rehab."

"That's exactly what you need to hear. If you want to leave, Billy, I can't stop you, but I'm not going to recommend it and I'm certainly not gonna give you license to do it." He stared at him for a moment. It was obvious that there was something pulling him back, something real calling him back to Genoa City, but it was equally obvious that it wasn't something he wanted to discuss. "I have another patient that really wants some help," he said finally. "You can stay here as long as you need, but I really do hope you'll think about what we talked about. Just remember … your family needs you healthy and strong. Stay here and make sure that's the Billy Abbott they get."

He sat still until he heard the door close behind him. He couldn't stay here any longer. The story hadn't been very detailed, but it had been enough to let him know that the chaos he'd created had certainly not ended in his absence. It was no surprise to him to see the news story that Ashley was at the helm of Jabot. The blood Abbott clause had obviously been removed and she had wanted the position for years, but now this … the board battle, Jabot's name on the front page of the paper, their father's name splashed about like some daytime talk show paternity scandal. It all made him sick.

Nothing about him was a paragon of virtue. He'd made plenty of mistakes in his past, even the very recent one, but he still had a board vote and he wouldn't let this place cost him the right to weigh in. Going home wouldn't be easy, but there were things to do, people to see, and a hell of a mess to clean up.

"I'm still not sure this is the best idea, Jack." Phyllis let out a shaky breath as she reluctantly let him take the bag from her hand. "Billy was pretty clear before he left."

"Billy isn't the only one who lives here." Jack paused as he stopped on the landing and turned to look at her. The concern on her face was obvious. "Listen, I know you and Billy are pretty broken right now, but we have no way of knowing how long he's gonna be gone and right now, I kind of take issue with that quote. I don't think it's my enemies that I need to keep closer. I think it's my friends. If I have any chance of winning this war with Ashley, I'm gonna need to surround myself with as much support as possible and you're one of the best people to have in my corner. She's already shown she's capable of anything and if you're here, you can help me keep an eye on things. Between her and Kyle and …"

"Alright." She nodded her head finally. "As long as we're clear that I'm not here to make some sort of statement. I don't want to make things worse with Billy. I don't want him to think that I'm here to spite him or something."

"I'll take the hit on this one." He let his hand rest on her shoulder as she stepped up to meet him on the step. "If Billy has anything to say about this, I'll make sure he knows that this was my idea and that you had nothing to do with it."

She smiled. "Thanks, Jack. I know that you really want that job and I think you deserve it way more than Ashley does, but Billy is …"

"I know," he sighed. "You'll always choose Billy over me."

"That's not what I meant." She closed her eyes as she heard the slight catch in his voice as he said the words. "At least … not like that. I just want you to know that I'm on your side in this battle, but I can't promise you that when Billy comes back … if he wants to take the job again and he feels like he can handle, I'll support that. I have to support him in everything. It's what I promised. You understand that, right?"

He forced a smile as he looked at her. "It's how you've always been," he said quietly. "When you're in, you're all in."

She nodded as she reached for the bag and headed up the stairs.

For a moment he said nothing, simply watching as he heard the soft footsteps fade down the hallway. "And when you're out," he whispered, "you're out."