Disclaimer: I do not own charmed, or Face Down. They are owned by Brad and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

Billie stumbled down the carpetted hall, shedding clothes as she went. Her shoulders screamed as she slipped her blouse off over her head. Her calve muscles twitching as she kicked off her shoes. It was a miracle that she managed to get fully undressed without collapsing. Slowly, she slid into the bathroom, spinning the knob in the tub and sending a stream of crystal clear water out of the spout. The water was hot, too hot, but she didn't do anything about it. She deserved hot. She needed to be cleansed. Whether from the beating, or her own actions she wasn't sure.

She pushed the button on the cd player she kept in the bathroom, the radio coming on, voices filling the room like a church chorus.

Cover up with make up in the mirror
tell yourself it's never gonna happen again
you cry alone and then he swears he loves you.

Gingerly she slid into the tub, hissing loudly as the water burned the sensitive bruises on her legs and ribs. She was so engulfed in the stinging, in the pain, in the release, that she didn't stop. She lowered her self fully into the tub, letting the heat work away the tension. She took a deep breath, and soon, she was crying, sobbing, breaking into a million pieces. Soon she would drown, engulfed in the steam, lost in the water and the pain.

Do you feel like a man
when you push her round?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?

In a flash she jerked up, stopping herself. She couldn't cry anymore. She couldn't be that girl who let everything get to her, who let everyone else break her down, tear her up, rip her to shreds. She did enough of that to herself as it was. So she splashed her face with water, shook her head a bit, and went about washing herself off. Eventually, when the water was like ice and the tips of her fingers were disfigured and wrinkled, she stood up.

A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect
every action in this world will bear a consequence
If you wait around forever you will surely drown
I see what's going down.

Billie picked up a cloud of a towel, wrapping it around herself. The droplets of water condensed on her skin, making it dewey and cool against the sudden coldness of leaving the bathroom. It seemed an hour before she walked the the short distance from the bathroom to her bed, but as she collapsed onto the fluffly comforter, she felt that snake slithering up her spine again. The memories. The pain.

Ring. Ring. Click.

"I know you're there, Billie." Jude's voice cooed over the answering machine. "Now c'mon, and pick up the phone before you make Daddy angry. I love you baby, c'mon, pick it up." As quickly as she could, Billie scrambled up from the floor, falling down next to the reciever and clicking it on. She swallowed the rock in her throat, praying that her voice wasn't as shaky as she was.

"J-Jude?" She asked, her voice a harsh whisper.

"Hey, baby. I knew you were there. Why didn't you pick up?"

"I was a-asleep."

"For a second there I thought there was another guy over there, and I'd have to come kill him." His harsh laugh filled her ears, drowning out her thoughts, paralyzing her. "But I know you'd never do that to me. Right?" The last word was a challenge. A threat. Another crack of the whip he'd used against her so many times.

"Of course."

"I was just calling to check on you. I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright, s-see you." She reached to click off the speaker phone, aching for the second his voice would be gone from her ears. She loved him, she loved him more than anything. But sometimes he was like poison, and she was lapping him up, drop for drop. She knew it too. But he was the only one who cared, the only one who loved her. How could she not love that?

"Bye, Baby." Click. Click. Click.

- Halliwell Manor -

Phoebe wasn't talking to Paige. The minute they'd appeared back in the solarium, Wyatt now trotting across the floor with a Tonka truck, Phobe had strutted off, shooting a scathing glare at her sister. Paige knew she was in trouble. Worse. She knew Billie was in trouble, and it was probably her fault. Her eyes followed her older sister as she stalked up the wooden stairs of the Manor, her face set in the determined way it seemed to be so often set these days.

"What was that all about?" Piper asked innocently, walking up next to Paige and watching Phoebe go. She was holding Chris, the tiny boy now soundly asleep in his mothers arms, his pudgy thumb stuck in between his lips. He looked like an angel, which was appropriet considering who his father was. Baby boy, we sure could use an angel to help Billie. Paige thought as she stroked his velvet hair.

"Billie." Paige sighed, looking into her sisters eyes. "She called for us. After all these months."

"What?" Piper gasped, her chocolate eyes concerned and confused. "But...she hasn't done that in months. What was up?"

"Something, or someone, beat her pretty badly. I'd say black eyes, a few broken ribs. I healed her, but after that she wouldn't talk to us." Paige sighed, and took a seat on the wicker chair she'd been sitting in before. She rested her elbows on her legs, pressing her palms into her eyes. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Wasn't she supposed to be the super-whitelighter now? And she couldn't even help one girl.

One girl she knew. One girl who was like a sister.

Piper stared at the stairs, as if seeing someone standing there. She had the look on her face that she got whenever something bad was about to happen. Like she was trying to solve a puzzle without all of the pieces. That was Piper. Always trying to solve the problem, rarely paying any attention to the consequences as long as they got it done. Leo. Leo. Leo.

flashback

Phoebe sighed, her eyes cast down to the floor, finding herself unable to look at her sister any longer. Over the weeks since Leo'd been taken, Piper had become someone completely different. Focused solely on getting him back, not caring who she hurt, who she pushed away. It was all about Leo. It would always be all about Leo.

Phoebe turned to Paige, her younger sister looking so much like those tiny china dolls. Her pale cheeks had a faint blush to them, whether from make up or awkwardness at the conversation, Phoebe would never know. Paige's lips, splashed with violent red, so metaphorical for the situation. Bright red, anger, urgency, confusion.

"Well, I'm sorry." She said, dragging her eyes up to Piper, wincing at the 'holyer than thou' smirk her normally loving sister was wearing. "But I still don't like it." Phoebe couldn't take it anymore, she turned on her heal, breezing out of the room like the breath from her lips; ragged and quick. Emotions were running too high for her; the empath in her going crazy with Piper's anguish and Paige's...secrecy?

"What about you?" Piper asked, turning her accusing glare to Paige.

"What about me?" Paige scoffed. She'd seen the worst in Piper. She'd seen her give up everything, sacrificing her family and herself for what she needed. The first time she'd met Piper had been just after they'd lost Prue. At her darkest time. Or so they'd thought. None of them had guessed what would happen the next time Leo was taken. The first time had been bad. She knew that much. But this time, was the gathering storm. The building up of all the things that irked her over the years. Leo being taken was just an outlet for all of her anger, and helplessness. "What about you? Or better yet, what about Phoebe?"

"Phoebe is just going to have to be a big girl and--" Paige cut her off. She'd had enough excuses.

"Piper, c'mon. If you don't see what this is doing to her, than you're not as great a big sister as I thought."

Piper was silent, struck dumb by the harsh bluntness of Paige's comment.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you seperating Phoebe from the person she loves! You know, just like you are from Leo? Except, you got to spend eight years with Leo, he's been gone for a month. Phoebe just met Billie, and you pushing and pulling and running everybody ragged is going to kill her before you even notice she'd dying."

Piper didn't know how to respond to that. So she didn't. She simply turned and left, and the two of them had never spoken of it again.

end

"This is bad." Piper said quietly, not looking up at Paige, but down at the slumbering babe in her arms. If there as one thing on this earth that she understood better than anything, one thing that she would fight for until she died, and even after that; it was love and the happiness of her sister. Phoebe was her world. Her baby sister. The one thing that had been there her whole life.

"You have no idea." Paige sighed.

A/n: Sorry this is so short, I just wanted to make sure to get it out before I went to sleep. I'm not really getting much feedback on this story, and to tell you the truth it pretty much sucks. This is my favorite thing I've written, something I really love. And all I'm getting is "Good story. Update soon." I want to know what's good. What sucks. What you love. What you want.

Talk to me people! And for Charmed's sakes: review!