Urgh something's wrong with the layout! Hmmm… Ok I think i fixed it, sorry for the trouble!

It was silent again, and the sisters looked on while Paige tried to steady herself and get up. Phoebe stopped her, with a determined look on her face. "Paigey. We love you, sis, but it's killing us that we don't know you anymore. You always seem to be in pain, and I know you haven't been with us long, but you're our sister, and by now you should know that in this family, if you're having trouble, you lay some of the load on your sisters. Why can't you just tell us what's bothering you?" If Paige had been sober, she would've thought of something like, 'Well, that's easy for you to say, the only thing you're not selfish with is sharing your problems.' and as much as Paige would've loved to say that in her pissy mood, she couldn't, because of course, she couldn't even think straight.

She stopped walking, but then got a move on to the bathroom, and got sick in the toilet. She could hear Prue saying, "I'll go in."

And Piper saying, "No I will."

"Better not, Pip, you'll just get sick too. I will, don't sweat it Prue." Phoebe barely even knocked, and went right into the bathroom, where Paige was throwing up. She knew her job, as she held her sister's hair back, and whispered comforting things in her ear.

Paige had slumped on the floor next to the toilet, and was on her knees. Phoebe stroked her cold hands, "Sis, we need to help you. Just let us." Paige gave in and slumped into her sister's arms. Phoebe, with all her might carried, or dragged Paige back to her room.

She laid her on the bed in front of Piper and Prue. "Looks like we have some work to do."

"No kidding," Answered Piper.

When Paige woke up the next morning, she had the feeling of a hangover creeping over her. She didn't want it to be like last time, so she tried to roll out of bed to get some aspirin; instead, she rolled straight into Phoebe. "Ow," Phoebe mumbled.

Paige, with great effort, sat up. Piper was on her other side, and Prue was sleeping on the floor. She didn't quite remember what had happened, but she had a strange feeling that it wasn't good. "She's up!" Prue said, getting up, and waking her sisters. "Paige, you're going to tell us the truth. No excuses will get us away this time."

"Wha? What happened?"

"Lots of stuff. But mainly, I have reason to believe that you love a Mr. Kyle Brody."

"N-no."

Phoebe bounced on the bed, causing a nauseous glare from Piper. "Sissy, a drunken rage never lies." She put an arm around her.

Paige, despite not feeling well, hit herself on the head, "I'm sorry, guys."

"What is there to be sorry about?" Piper asked, looking Paige straight in the eye.

"For me being such a screw up. I'm sorry I'm ruining your lives."

"Don't be silly, Paige," Prue said, gently, "Now you're starting to sound as dramatic as Phoebe."

"Hey!" Phoebe pinched Prue on the arm, "I resent that."

"We're your sisters. There's nothing to be ashamed about."

Paige looked at them, and realized, she had to tell the truth. She had to share a part of her with them that they had never been to. Her heart hammered as she spoke, "I really love you guys. T-the reason I didn't tell you t-this before was… Well, I didn't want you to get buried in my stupid problems." Prue started to speak, but Paige shushed her, "Listen. N-now, I know I was wrong. I know I should've told you before this got out of hand, but somehow it did. The moment I started this case, and realized that Nate was in it, I swore that I would not be emotionally attached. I swore to myself that, that bastard would never hurt me again. I tried to keep it from you, but I did love Nate. He was sweet, he said all the right things, and he seemed to love me too. I'm not very attached to commitment, but I decided that it was worth it. I remember us lying in bed one night, talking, and he was telling me about how his brother was being an asshole. I found a bruise on his arm, and he told me they had been in a fight, and I asked why, and he was really clammy all of a sudden…" Paige stopped and looked at her sisters. She tried not to let the memories of Nate and her together overcome her. Her sister's listened on patiently, "So I was helping him with his problem with his brother, and I-I just, I guess let it slip. I said; I love you, Nate."

Piper looked confused for a second, "Wha-

Paige interrupted her, "I know this probably doesn't mean that much to you, because you say it to Leo all the time, but for me, they were words locked up for Mr. Right. I had never in my life said that to a guy, well, besides my dad, and Glen. But Glen and I were different; we were friends. Anyways I looked at him, and you know, I thought it would be fine, despite my mistake, b-but, it wasn't."

Paige stopped, and silence filled the room. She tried to keep her heart and mind clear, she was afraid of the emotion that would consume her if she didn't think straight.

"Are you okay, Paige?" Phoebe asked timidly.

"Yeah, fine." Paige said. She mustered up a very forced laugh, "Well, I should probably get going with this screwed up-ness of my life." She paused again, and started, looking through her sisters as though they didn't exist. She talked as if she was in a trance, "He said, Paige, you're a cool girl and all, but I c-can't do this anymore. I'm sorry. And he picked up all of his stuff and left."

"Paige, I'm so, so sorry."

"Yeah me too…sorry that I ever let myself love that guy." Paige sighed, she lent down and rested her head on her hands as she pulled her knees up tight to the chest, the emotions she felt that night seemed to find there way back. It was when she felt Phoebe's hand on her back that she realized how weak she looked fight now, weak and stupid. "His loss" Prue spoke, and even though Paige didn't look, up she felt Prue's sympathetic gaze on her. She hated it. "He doesn't deserve you, honey."

"I never let anyone do that to me, never let them have so much control or power over me. After we'd…I'd lie next to him, watch him sleep and... God I feel so stupid, so fucking used." Paige sighed, as she laid back and rested her head on the headboard.

"You should have talked to us." Piper said as she reached out and took hold of Paige's hand, Paige wanted to pull away, and tried to pull away but couldn't, she couldn't help but keep it there and take some of the support that Piper offered her.

"I…couldn't…" She took a breath, "You're all sitting here wondering why after all this time I'm sitting here now, and crying about it, and why I drank myself stupid last night…" Paige looked down to her hands, "I can't take this shit, I just can't take it…"

"Take what?" Phoebe asked as she took Paige's hand.

"Kyle, this job, Nate, I can't stand this crap" Paige growled more aggressively.

"What's Kyle done to you honey?"

"He… told me, how he felt…"

"And it wasn't what you wanted?" Piper asked

"I…I don't know," Frustration was setting in, "I don't want this."

"What? What don't you want?" Paige didn't answer "Sis he told us that there was an incident yesterday! What incident?" Phoebe tried again with Paige.

"We were on our way over to Nate's, we needed to talk to Danny, things were going better between us… I mean we hadn't argued yet…I kind of let my guard down. We were talking on the drive over there and when he pulled up…he told me he had these feelings and stuff for me…"

"And you don't have them back?" Prue asked

"I do, I can't stop thinking about him, and he drives me insane…but I can't put myself up for pain – up to be hurt. Not again…ever."

Piper put her arm around Paige's shoulders and the youngest leaned into her, "Nate hurt you real bad…we get that but…you can't give up on love because of that – Kyle cares for you, a lot… I mean, hell, I can see that." Paige shook her head, which was now pounding due to the alcohol and added emotional stress.

"I don't want him to care for me…I don't want to care for him."

"But?" Phoebe asked

"But I…I do! He drives me crazy" Paige confessed.

"I'd say from my experience you have it bad for him, honey" Prue spoke "What Nate did to you was shit; I get that but…don't do this to yourself."

There was silence for a few moments, then Phoebe came up with something she felt was a perfect time to throw out there, "Paige, maybe you should drop this case, hand it over to someone who isn't as connected emotionally with the suspect?"

"Not that simple" Paige shot, "this is something I HAVE to do…for me…"

"Paige you're working yourself to death, we barely see you, we hardly ever know what's going on with you. Hell this is the first time we've talked in months… I'm worried about you."

"Well you shouldn't be"

"Well we are" Piper added.

"If it makes you feel any better… I'm…considering, maybe taking some time off after the case. But right now that's all that I can focus on."

As if on cue the mobile on the side began to ring, Prue lifted it up and threw it to Paige, Who looked at the flashing screen, "Damn, It's the boss" She sighed, then she answered, "Matthews" She spoke, she listened intently, her eyes were glazed as if she had been pulled somewhere else and then after a few moments she spoke, rushed and panicked, anger however taking her over – "I'm on my way" she cut the phone off got out of the bed searching for her cloths.

"Paige?" Prue asked worried, Paige was cursing in frustration, "Honey what's happened?"

Her heals clicked on the surface of the hospital floor- as she ran down the corridors and pushed open the double doors and moved swiftly over to the reception, "Mathews, Paige Matthews" She announced,

"Who are you here to…" Before the woman could answer fully she was interrupted.

"Paige" It was Kyle, who called to her,

Paige walked towards him, "What the hells going on?" Paige demanded

"It's Johnny, he was brought in not long ago – Paige he's in pretty bad shape."

Paige looked into Kyle's eyes it's all she needed to do to know that this wasn't good, "How bad?" She asked.

"I haven't spoken to the doctor yet but…it's not looking good."

"When, I mean, if we'd gone in last night when we were supposed to maybe…" Paige started rambling on.

"No"

"How do you know!"

"Paige…"

"Kyle" She growled back

"Look, Paige…we need to talk about yesterday…" Kyle pulled her to the side of the corridor out of the way, "I'm sorry if I upset you…or…hurt you but, I just said what I was feeling"

Paige looked at the floor, "We can't keep doing this, we work together – you're my colleague…anything more just complicates things and that mean I can't do my job properly." Paige was harsh, her words so cold. She looked up at him, and he looked hurt.

"Fine," Was all he managed, "I'll see if I can talk to the doctor" He turned and walked away, she knew she'd hurt him…but knowing that the kid was back in hospital, knowing that it was possibly from her unprofessional relationship and practice with Kyle and at work she felt like she had failed Johnny. She watched as Kyle headed off down the corridor then she turned her back walking over to the window she stared out of it, for a few minutes she stayed unmoved as she re evaluated her self…then she decided, things had to change.

The doctor's office never held good memories for her, nor did the hospital. That was the last place she saw her parents, lying on the white beds, nothing could be done, and her crying, and crying. The place where her best friend Glen found out he had a rare disease that couldn't be fixed, the place where she had abandoned Glen when he needed her most, but those memories, unspoken, where for a different time.

"So how is he?" She heard her voice come out stony and cold, and wondered when she had turned into this. A stony and cold person. She thought that the moment she admitted to her sisters what happened, she would be better. But had she just risked all that information to close herself off again? To Kyle? To her sisters? To Johnny?

The new doctor, who she had just learned was called Dr. Nelson, answered with a frown across his face, "One of his lungs had been punctured. If he wasn't brought in fast enough, he could've died." He sighed again, "The problem is, that this wasn't just something that came out of the blue as things often can. He was found with a series of bruises and broken ribs, one of which led to the puncture."

"Oh my god." Paige said, trying so hard not to let the information wander deeper than her skin, her shield. "Who brought him in?"

"His mother. According to Mrs. Parks, Mr. Parks is not in town."

"Oh bullshit. Why would she be covering for that creep?" She breathed in and out slowly. "Oh fuck." She whispered, as tears blurred her vision.

"Ahem." The doctor said.

"Oh." Paige answered, trying to make it look as if she had never cried. She wished she had someone to lean on right now, someone to sooth her. Someone like… Like… She stopped herself from thinking it all. She was supposed to be professional. "So what's happening now? I-I mean, could he die?"

"Now, we're pretty sure he's stable, but it is going to take him a long time to heal from this both emotionally and physically. The police have opted to keep him at the hospital until someone figures this out. It's turned into a full blown abuse case." The doctor shifted uncomfortably.

"Is he conscious?"

"No, and it's a good thing he isn't or he'd be in a lot of pain. We're not supposed to give him painkillers until his parents, fill out some more forms. We can't be sure if he's allergic to anything or not."

"Oh,"

Kyle came back, keeping a good distance from Paige. He wanted to hug her right then and there. Oh, he always had a thing for women in pain, woman with a long hard past, because he loved comforting them. Maybe because he himself had, had a large amount of hurt in his life. "Paige," He breathed, his breath so far away, but goosebumps still formed at the back of her neck.

"Hi," She said, a bit timidly, which was not her style.

"Hey. We can go in and see him. His mother is there. She's obviously not too happy."

The two went in, Paige making sure that Kyle kept at least two feet between them. Johnny's mother, Alice Parks was sitting next to her son's bed sobbing. "Oh god, not you two again!" She said, dramatically.

"Yes, Mrs. Parks. You do realize this is a full blown abuse case, we have to question you, it's our policy." Paige said in a hard voice.

Alice got up, looking to give the two troubles. She held out a fifty-dollar bill. "Will this be enough?"

"Is she trying to bribe us?" Kyle asked, incredulously.

"Oh I think so," Paige turned back to Alice, "Do you realize that if you keep doing this your son will get killed?"

Alice looked hard for a second, but then burst into tears, "Your job really is to keep my life tough isn't it?"

"No, we need to know. In this business, when a kid is hurt, there ARE no pleasantries." Paige hissed.

Kyle turned to her, "Paige, calm down, she's in pain."

Paige glared back at Kyle. "Less pain than Johnny for sure." She turned to Alice, "Tell us who hurt your son. If you're protecting anyone we WILL find out. If you tell us now, we can help you and make sure this never happens to your son… OR your daughter ever again."

"Maria…" Alice's voice trailed off. "I-I think its Nate."

"I knew it! That son of a bitch!"

Kyle patted Paige on the shoulder, and Paige flinched, "Let the woman talk," He said, wincing.

The woman looked like she was in a trance, looking right through Kyle and Paige as she talked, "I was never there whenever it happened. But I always thought something was wrong. I would ask him what happened to Johnny, and Nate would stutter saying, oh he just fell off his bike. I tried so hard to believe it, but my poor Johnny. I can't believe Nate would hurt our babies like this. I loved him so much; he loves our babies. And now what? Is he molesting Maria? Who knows? I don't know how he does it without me knowing, but he does." She sobbed and looked at the boy in the bed who had a tube stuck down his throat. "I-I just d-don't understand. Nate loves Johnny."

TBC