She pulled away from him as he tried to wrap his arm around her. Billy sighed as he watched her take two steps before stumbling. "Will you just let me help you, please?"

"I don't need … help your …" She stopped, forcing her eyes to refocus on the building that seemed to move in front of her. "your help," she huffed. "I don't need your help."

He couldn't help but smile as he looked down at her. "Say that while standing upright and putting one foot in front of the other and I might actually believe you."

She felt his arm wrapping around her again and, although she wanted to jerk away from him, she had to admit she felt more stable with the support. "Just get me inside and you go …"

"Alright. Alright." She was far too stubborn to try and argue with and in truth, he didn't want to waste the limited time he had with her engaging in trivial back and forth. Instead he reveled in the way she fit into his arms so perfectly, how her head seemed to fall so naturally onto his chest, how the warmth of her body seemed to move through him as she breathed in and out slowly. She was silent as they rode in the elevator up to her apartment and the familiar ding of the doors opening finally ended the moment between them.

"Damnit," she sighed as she tried to no avail to situate the key into the door. "It always does this …"

Billy laughed. "Does it? Why don't you give me that?" He took the key from her hand and opened the door easily, letting her walk inside and helping her over to the couch. "You just sit there, okay and I'll get you …"

"No. No. You go. I said you had to go once you … you go once you get …"

"You really think that's a good idea? You can barely sit up straight and …"

"And that's not your problem anymore, remember? I'm not your problem. You have plenty of problems, Billy Abbott, but I'm not one of them, so why don't you just go!"

"Phyllis …" He sighed as he looked at her. She was so clearly in need of some help, but just as clearly unwilling to admit it. "You're not a problem. I'm here because I want to be. I want to help you. I want to be here."

"I don't want you here … not anymore … not after what you did. You lied to me. You used me … all for Victoria … You always put her first and …"

He sat down beside her on the couch. "Can we not do this now? Please? Not tonight. I'm here and there's a reason for that. We've got a chance to fix this and …"

"You're here because you've got this crazy idea that I can't survive without you and I can … and I will. I'll be just fine without you."

"Is that why you were about to let that idiot drive you home? You don't know anything about him, what he's capable of, what he might do?"

"Jordan?" She let the breath leave her lips in a quick huff. "Jordan's all talk. He's not gonna do anything. I was just letting him think that I might be interested to help Hillary out with something and now …"

"And now Hillary thinks that he might be more than a little upset with you for that … She was so worried about it that she called me to try to …" He stopped as he saw the look on her face, realizing suddenly he shouldn't have betrayed Hillary's confidence.

"Hillary called you?" Her lips tightened in annoyance. "I'll make sure to have a chat with her about that. She had no right to …"

"She had every right, Phyllis! She was worried about you. She didn't want anything to happen to you. She cares about you! I care about you! I love you!"

The words hung in the air for a moment and he thought, however briefly, that she might let the chill that existed between them thaw. Instead she looked at him again with the same cold eyes he'd seen all night. "You don't treat people you love the way you treated me." Her eyes shone at him as she stared back at him. "Just go."

"Don't ask me to do that, please. What if Jordan comes back? What if Hillary's right? I made you a promise … I promised you that you'd never be alone again, that I'd always have your back. I just want to make sure you're okay and …"

"I'll be fine." She cut him off. "I don't need your protection. I don't need you here and I certainly don't need your version of love." She moved to stand, but felt her legs tremble beneath her at the start of the motion. Instead she pointed to the door, her face serious as she looked at him. "Get out."

He sighed as she finally moved towards the door and opened it. With a final glance, he looked back at her, hoping she might change her mind, but her look stayed the same. He pulled the door shut behind him as he moved into the hallway.

She let the air leave her lungs slowly as she felt her eyes begin to burn. Sleep couldn't come soon enough tonight.

"Uhhh…" She groaned as she put her hand to her head. Hungover seemed far too weak a word to use for the way she felt. She needed coffee but the idea of making it seemed impossible. The small coffee kiosk in the lobby was far from gourmet, but at least it didn't require as much effort on her part. She pulled her jacket closed and threw her sunglasses on. Feeling this bad made her care very little about how horribly she looked.

She turned the doorknob and almost instantly found herself flying backwards. Her body fell into the couch as Billy fell back against her.

"What the …"

He struggled to his feet, taking a moment to consider his surroundings. "Are you okay?" He reached out to her, as he helped her to her feet.

"I …" She stammered a bit. "What are you doing here? Were you waiting out there? Were you just waiting on me to need you, to let you in? Were you that sure that I was gonna cave or something? Do you honestly think that highly of yourself that you …"

"I was just making a phone call. The service in the parking structure is horrible. You know that and I was waiting for a call back and I guess I just feel asleep. That's all. I wasn't waiting for you. You made it very clear that you didn't need my help and …" He wanted to tell her the truth, that he'd waited there all night because he'd been afraid Jordan might have showed up. But now, as he looked at the anger in her eyes, he wondered if it might pointless. Maybe she'd never forgive him. Maybe she'd never let him back in. "You know what, just forget it. You wanted me to go? I'm gone."

"Wait."

At first he thought he might have misunderstood her or simply dreamed the word into being. He turned back towards her. "What?"

She wanted to be angry with him. She wanted to hold the horrible thing he'd done against him for the rest of his life, but it was him. For every awful, stupid, inconsiderate thing he did, there were other things, beautiful things, amazing things that made her realize just how much he truly did love her. "You didn't fall asleep out there waiting for some phone call did you?" She stared into his eyes intently as she waited for his answer.

"What does it matter?"

"It matters. You weren't out there by accident. You were out there because you were afraid Jordan might show. You stayed to make sure I was okay. You sat out there all night because you promised that you'd never leave me alone again, didn't you?"

He took a step closer to her, feeling as if she might finally be understanding how sincere he was in his efforts. "I meant what I said," he said softly. "I made you a promise and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything ever happened to you. Even if you don't want me here, even if you're angry with me, even if you don't want me in the house … you can't kick me out of a public hallway. You can't make me stop loving you."

In some cases, his stubborn nature made her crazy, but right now, he was fighting for her … for them and though she still wanted to smack him on a regular basis, she couldn't pretend his dedication wasn't romantic as hell. "I never said I wanted to," she whispered, smiling slightly as she looked at him.

"Maybe I misunderstood then." He returned her slight smile, hesitantly stepping even closer to her. She seemed to be softening towards him, but it felt tenuous at best. "I kind of thought when you threw me out of here and told me that you didn't want my version of love that you were …"

She held up her hand. "Know when to stop." She couldn't help but smile as the charming grin she'd missed spread across his face. "I was just about to go down and get some coffee. Maybe you'd like to go with me?"

"Or …" He looked at her for a moment, as he gently removed the sunglasses from her face. Her eyes blinked slowly at him. "Maybe I go down to Crimson Lights and get us some breakfast and coffees and bring them back here? We could eat and talk and see where things go?"

"You probably didn't get much sleep out there in the hallway, huh? You could probably use some coffee too." He stepped closer towards her and this time she didn't move away.

"Among other things," he smiled. "It would be nice to have a bed to sleep in."

She laughed softly as she felt his arms wrap around her. "Just sleep?"

"Among other things," he whispered. The coffee and breakfast could wait, but taking care of each shouldn't have to.