AN: I'm completely awful at updating, I'm sorry I have no excuse really. I mean it's not like I'm busy or anything, I'm just too lazy for my own good haha. Anyway here's chapter 3, I know it's not very long but I couldn't write any more and I figured it was best to get it out now instead of waiting a couple of weeks for me to squeeze out 500 more words. Hopefully I will get started on chapter 4 soon but who knows? Don't forget to tell me what you think!

Kursive is flashbacks.

Phoebe

As the time turned 06.30 the small clock on the table next to her bed began beeping, but before it had exclaimed more than one tone it was abruptly shut off. Slowly Phoebe rolled onto her back again and resumed her staring contest with the ceiling.

She hadn't needed the clock to wake her up because she hadn't been sleeping at all. Through most of the night she had been wide awake thinking about the afternoon she had spent with Billie the previous day.

Her thoughts were about everything; from what they had talked about, how they had already planned their next meeting, and most of all she had been thinking about whether or not she should call it a 'meeting'. Of course it was a meeting of two people, but calling it a 'meeting' seemed so professional and cold.

But then what else should she call it?

For just about a tenth of a second the word 'date' had come to mind, but she had quickly extinguished that crazy thought. For all she knew Billie thought of it as nothing more than a meeting of two people who might become friends so why should she think it was anything else but that?

Sighing loudly she rolled out of bed and strolled into the shower; it was always so much easier to think things over in there.

When she arrived at the café at 3 pm, Billie was already there sitting at a table close to one of the windows. She put her hand on the blonde's shoulder, and Billie turned around in her seat and smiled "Hi"

"Hi, I haven't kept you waiting long have I?"

Billie shook her head, "No, I've only just sat down"

"Good, that's good"

They smiled, both of them still not familiar with the other, but definitely more than strangers. A waiter came over to their table shortly after her arrival, "Good afternoon ladies what can I get you?"

She stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her body and continued into her bedroom to find something she could wear to work.

After the initial careful greeting, their conversation began flowing much easier and they soon started talking about their everyday lives, which ended up being mostly about their work.

"How did you end up as an advice columnist?" Billie asked and took a sip of her hot beverage, and Phoebe couldn't help noticing how her pink lips wrapped around the cup before answering "Oh well, I have always liked to write and then when I found out that I could actually use it as a way of helping people… it was just perfect for me really." - Of course she couldn't tell her how she had really gotten the job.

The younger woman in front of her smiled at her explanation and Phoebe could feel a blush forming on her face. She acted like it was nothing though and cleared her throat "How about you? You like your work at the library?"

The blonde made a face and the witch grinned, "Is it really that bad?"

"No of course not!" Billie replied and laughed as well, "I mean sure I like reading books and stuff like that, that's really great and all. It's just that ... I really like to talk okay?" Phoebe laughed out loud at this; she could barely imagine the talkative young blonde being in an old and quiet place such as a library – she just seemed too perky for a place like that.

"Yeah I can imagine" The witch said and smiled, her encouraging expression egged Billie on.

"I mean for god's sake the only kind of contact I have with people is when they come asking for a book, or when I have to throw out a bunch of rowdy children. And I can't count the number of times at work that I say 'Shh!'".

Phoebe smiled at the memory and started to fix herself some breakfast. After she had eaten she noticed what time it was and knew she had to wrap it up and leave at that moment if she didn't want to be late. On her way out she grabbed a small bag and took it with her to the car; it was a bunch of Piper and Paige's things she had accidentally taken when she had packed down her room at the manor. She would return it tonight when she went there for dinner.

Work had become a bit dull in the last couple of days. Usually her reader's problems were interesting and important to her, but now as she was reading them she felt a bit … bored to say the least. Was it possible she thought that her own romantic life for once felt more exciting than theirs?

It had been a long time since she had dated, and it had been even longer since she had been dating someone of her own gender. Her wild teenage years of experimenting were long behind her, and her last romantic encounter with the fair sex had taken place several years ago and it had ended before it had even begun.

Yet this thing with Billie felt different. Of course they had only met a couple of times and they barely knew each other… Well, that wasn't completely true. The two of them had been having some pretty deep conversations, and though she had no idea what Billie's favourite colour was or how her political view was like, she did know some things and she cringed when a part of their previous conversation came to mind:

"Anyway Piper came and picked me up so everything turned out great in the end." The waiter came with their bills just as she had finished telling Billie a funny story about one of her earlier misfortunes.

When she noticed the blonde's confused expression she explained "Oh, Piper, she's my sister. One of them I mean. I have two; Piper and Paige." She didn't mention Prue, it wasn't like she could tell her what really happened, and she didn't have the time or imagination to make up a story.

"Wow that's great" The younger woman said, "You have a big family then, huh? Are they older or younger than you?"

Happy to talk about something easy like her family, Phoebe gave Billie a complete guide on her closest family; "Piper is the oldest and Paige is the youngest. Piper's married to Leo and they have two sons together, Chris and Wyatt. They all live at our family manor, actually I just moved away from there."

Billie smiled "You did? How are you handling that then? I can only imagine how odd it must be to suddenly be alone all the time."

"It was great at first," Phoebe said and took a drink of her coffee "but now I miss them all so much, and the silence is driving me mad!"

They both laughed and a comfortable silence followed until Phoebe broke it "How about you, do you have any siblings or is it just you?"

Instantly she knew that she had asked the wrong question; Billie's smile faded and her fingers turned white from where she was grasping her cup tightly, the air around them had become very tense all of a sudden and Phoebe could practically feel the change.

When she didn't answer her question and kept staring at the table, Phoebe tried her best to save the moment "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, I didn't mean to pry."

The younger woman took a deep breath and her eyes finally met Phoebe's.

"No. Don't apologize, you haven't done anything wrong. I mean, we're on a … We're having a conversation and you asked me a question. It's just … I'm not quite sure how to answer it."

"Billie you don't have to tell me anything" Phoebe said, not liking how the mood had been turned around.

The blonde smiled tentatively, "If we're going to continue meeting each other, then I want you to know." When the brunette didn't object to that, she continued.

"I used to have a sister, her name was Christy. She was two years older than me but our difference in age meant nothing to us, we were really close."

Phoebe listened carefully and didn't say anything when she saw the blonde's eyes tear up. The urge to put a reassuring hand on top of the blonde's was almost irresistible but she was afraid that it would do more harm than good.

"When I was eight and she was ten, weird things started happening. Sometimes when we came home from school things in our room had been moved, or had disappeared entirely. Christy often said that she didn't feel safe in the house and she didn't like being alone. It got so bad that my parents put the house up for sale."

She took a shaky breath, wiped a tear from her eye before it could fall and continued.

"A couple of days after the house had been put up for sale; I woke up in the middle of the night. It was cold, the window was open and there was a man standing over Christy's bed."

Goosebumps formed on Phoebe's arms and she held her breath in anticipation.

"He grabbed her and tried to lift her up, but she fought back and screamed. I jumped out of bed and hit him with something… I can't remember what. That's when he tried to take me as well. The commotion had awoken my parents and I could hear them running and shouting as they hurried to our room. He heard it as well, and I guess he decided that he didn't have the time to take the both of us, so he let me go, tightened his hold on her and jumped out the window just as my father barged into the room. And that's the last time I saw her.

Phoebe was stunned, a long silence followed where Billie tried to compose herself.

"I don't know what to say."

Billie looked up, there were no longer tears in her eyes.

"You don't have to say anything, it happened a long time ago."

She shuddered at the memory that sounded like it had come right out of a horror movie. Besides from that awful moment their day had gone well and they had talked about more comfortable subjects afterwards.

When the clock struck five, she had accumulated a bunch of answered questions for her weekly advice column. Ever since the Bay Mirror had gotten their own website, Elise had been talking about expanding Phoebe's advice service to the online world.

That meant more questions, more work and hopefully a larger payment as well. A couple of the inquiries that was sent to her would still be featured in the newspaper every monday, but Elise's idea was to publish some of the answers to their website every wednesday and friday.

This new change however would first go into business from the first of April, so she had one month and two weeks left to enjoy her current 'freedom'.

After she had organized which questions and answers would be featured in the next week's paper, she packed her things, got in her car and drove towards the manor and what would hopefully be a good friday evening with her family.

AN: Thank you for your wonderful reviews, and I'm glad that you are so patient with me. I know I'm not very reliable when it comes to updates, but I will really try to get a new chapter out as soon as possible for you.

I have a question for you; do you want me to name the chapters or do you prefer them as they are now?

Until next time!