Hey, faithful readers! We're back with the sequel to "Slipping into Oblivion." If you haven't read that, well, it might be a good idea unless you enjoy total confusion. But hey, to each his own. I apologize for the delay in posting after the first story, but fanfiction isn't letting me use it on my laptop, so I'm posting from the desktop that I despise. Anyway, enough of that- happy reading!

Billie stepped out of the cab, wondering where the Halliwell sisters were. Phoebe had called a week before, informing her that she would pick her up when Billie was released from rehab. Since the sisters hadn't been allowed to see her during the last month in the clinic, Billie just assumed that Piper and Paige would be there too.

But when she was done packing- not that she had that much to begin with- she waited outside for an hour before calling a taxi to get a ride home. She had tried all three sisters' cell phones, but each went straight to voicemail. By the time she realized that she should have probably left a message, she was out of change for the payphone she was using.

Billie took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold into the manor. She had anticipated that someone would have been there with her, and she didn't realize how hard one step could be.

"Hello?" her first attempt at the five letter word came out as a whisper, and she cleared her throat and tried again.

"Hello?" Her voice echoed throughout the empty house.

Looking around, she realized that the manor was completely dark. Her heart leaped as the notion of a surprise party came to mind, but she pushed the thought out of her mind. Things like that had a way of not happening to her. Her thoughts were affirmed as she found every room downstairs empty. She glanced in each room upstairs as she headed for the attic. She figured that if nobody was up there, she could at least keep busy while waiting for them.

She walked to the Book of Shadows and flipped through to the back. Copying down a random potion, she attempted to quell the feeling of disappointment that was rising in her chest. Why hadn't anyone picked her up, or even answered their phones?

There has to be a reason they didn't come. Maybe they don't really want me back.

Billie snapped herself out of her thoughts and focused on the potion at hand. Some of Dzyak's manipulation had left a mark on her, and her counselor had taught her to concentrate elsewhere when unsolvable negativity seeped into her train of thought.

As she was moving around making the potion, Billie thought she heard a noise coming from downstairs. Jogging down the staircase, she looked downward from the landing. When she didn't see or hear anything else, she called out for her friends.

"Hello? Paige? Piper, Phoebe? You guys home?"

No answer came, so Billie shrugged and went back up to the attic, playing it off as the house being ancient.

She was adding the last ingredient to the potion when a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She tensed, recognizing that it was too heavy to be one of the sisters'. She spun around and came face to dace with an enormous demon.

His skin was a deep green and the numerous white designs on his head gave away his high rank in the underworld. He offered no greeting, no sarcastic remark before he backhanded her into Piper's old dollhouse. Pain shot up her spine as the antique toy shattered against her back.

Months without training made Billie rusty, but she grabbed a sharp piece of wood from the wreckage and threw it at the demon, amplifying its speed with her powers. It struck him in the left bicep, and the demon roared in pain as Billie scrambled to get up. Moving towards the corner of the room, she edged toward the door, hoping to escape and knowing that she couldn't take him on herself.

Unfortunately, the demon recovered more quickly than Billie had hoped, and advanced on her menacingly. She made the mistake of glancing at the doorway to gauge the distance, and her enemy realized what she was doing.

She dashed for the exit, but he cut her off. As she tried to move by him, the demon stuck out his arm and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up easily. Billie's hands shot upwards automatically, grasping at her attacker's and trying to regain a flow of oxygen while her legs kicked, trying to find a base to stand on.

Ignoring her vain struggle, he slammed her against the wall, causing a sickening crack to resonate through the room as Billie's head struck the wood. Her vision was clouded by that point and her throat burned, unaccustomed to the searing sensation she was now feeling. The demon was saying something, but Billie could only hear pieces of it, on the verge of unconsciousness.

"This…says…for…don't…good…"

He pushed up on her throat, apparently having finished his speech, and Billie could feel her body move up a few more inches against the wall. Loose splinters pierced her skin through her shirt, and she felt warm blood running down her skin. As the black spots in her eyes grew and overlapped against each other, Billie wondered why she was meant to finish rehab if she was just going to die her first day home.

Almost imperceptibly, the pressure on her throat stopped increasing, and the demon seemed to have frozen. Before Billie could register it, the grip was released and she fell to the floor. Her eyes were closed while she tried to stop coughing, but she could see a bright light through her eyelids, and knew that the demon was dead when she felt a burst of heat wash over her.

She felt a presence next to her, and suddenly someone was rubbing her back and holding her, trying to stop the coughing fit. After a few more painful seconds, Billie calmed down and was able to get her breathing back to normal. She realized that it was Phoebe who was with her, and struggled to turn around.

Phoebe felt that Billie was trying to move, and let her go so they could speak more easily. She also knew that Billie was still too independent to let herself be held for too long, the only two exceptions of that being the day the sisters found her unconscious in the streets of Los Angeles and the day she was admitted into rehab.

Billie looked as if she were trying to keep herself from saying something, so Phoebe spoke first, pushing down her curiosity.

"What are you doing here, Billie?"

Billie tensed immediately.

I'm not supposed to be here.

"Well I thought- They said you were- It's today," Billie wasn't stuttering, exactly, but Phoebe could tell immediately that she was nervous, confused and even a little scared.

"What's today, sweetie?" she asked.

"You. I mean, you were supposed to be there. To get me."

"To pick you up? Not until next week, I'm not," Phoebe was starting to get a little confused herself.

"No. Today was the day, Pheebs. It was early because they said I was doing better than they thought," Billie fidgeted when she said this, and Phoebe knew she was embarrassed for having to go into rehab in the first place.

"Why don't I call the clinic and see what the mix up was, alright? Who checked you out today?"

"Some woman named Maureen."

"Alright, come on downstairs. Are you hungry?"

1x1x1x

"Thank you for your help. No, it's alright, she's fine here. Okay goodbye."

Phoebe hung up the phone and turned back to Billie.

"Well first off, there's no Maureen working at the clinic, but your record confirmed that today was your check-out day."

Billie frowned. She specifically remembered the woman's name because after she saw the name tag, she got a song from the show Rent stuck in her head. She waited as Phoebe called her sisters and tried to remember if she'd ever seen the woman before at the clinic. She couldn't.

1x1x1x

Piper walked in through the door in a way that Billie's mother would call "walking with a purpose." She moved quickly towards Billie and embraced her. Piper was always nice to Billie, but she rarely hugged her; Billie relaxed more fully when she found the hug to be sincere and not tense at all.

As Piper straightened up, bright lights appeared next to her and Paige appeared, looking slightly disheveled.

"What's going on?" she glanced around.

Her eyes found Billie, and she stared for a moment before quickly swooping in and hugging her. Billie hugged her back, slightly embarrassed, and stepped back. She wasn't sure what to expect at this point. She needn't have worried though- Paige turned to Phoebe and wanted to know exactly what was going on.

As Phoebe filled her sisters in, Billie edged out of the way and went to sit on the couch. She realized how tired she was the moment she sat down, and leaned back, closing her eyes. She hadn't slept the night before, anxious about how it would be when she arrived home. Apparently, her fears had been justified- just not in the ways she thought.

Let me know what you think!