Okay, so I'm going to take this second to say that I DID update last week, and I know this because the document was on here when I logged in. But for some reason, it must not have registered on the site. Which means that if the site wasn't working properly, you might not have received my review replied for the last chapter. But from now on, I'll double and triple check to make sure that when I update, it gets on here.
It took Phoebe a full minute to decipher what her younger sister had said, another three minutes to process it, and two more to react. She felt like the world was moving in slow motion, and the entire situation was incredibly surreal. Piper took her hand and motioned for Phoebe to go down to Billie while she sought out Paige.
Nothing in Phoebe's life had prepared her for something like this, and as much as she wanted to hold Billie and tell her that everything was going to be okay, she knew that she couldn't. Then again, another part of her brain told her to run back to New York so she'd never have to see the pain in Billie's eyes again. She mentally berated herself for even thinking of abandoning the young witch at a time like this- or at any time.
Okay, Phoebe. Nothing you're feeling is even close to what Billie must be feeling. Just keep that in mind, she instructed herself as she slowly made her way downstairs, unsure of what awaited her.
5x5x5
There were countless places that Paige could have orbed off to, so Piper was extremely relieved when she found her sister sitting on her bed in the dark. She walked over and sat on the bed, waiting for the younger woman to speak.
"This is all my fault," she whispered, just as Piper knew she would.
"Oh honey, there's nothing you could have done to prevent this. The person who did this to her wasn't a demon, he wasn't in the Book of Shadows- we couldn't have known," Piper said.
"That's the whole point; I should have known, Piper! Not only is she my charge, but she's my friend! Leo can probably sense us when we jump during a scary movie, and I had no idea that Billie was being raped-" as soon as the last word left her mouth, Paige's hand shot upwards in shock, as if it wasn't true until she'd said it aloud. "I should have felt something," she continued.
"I should have been there to stop it, and if I wasn't, how could I not have known something was wrong after that? It took us weeks to find out that she was addicted to drugs, and then I just accepted the excuse of "pressure" for the reason she started using them! I was too selfish and wrapped up in myself to notice something so horrible had happened to her!" Paige finished her speech of self-hate and collapsed against her older sister, giving in to the tears that she'd been trying to hold back.
"Shh, it's okay honey. It's not your fault, I'm here," Piper whispered as she held Paige, feeling pretty helpless herself.
"It's not okay, it'll never be okay," Paige mumbled into Piper's arm from where she was leaning.
Piper realized her slip and amended her words. "Don't blame yourself, sweetie."
Paige said something else but Piper didn't hear her, so she resumed rocking Paige back and forth in a vain effort to comfort her.
When the two women made their way downstairs later on, they found Phoebe asleep on the couch in a half-reclining position. When Piper gently shook her, Phoebe awoke with a start and told them that Billie had been sleeping- or pretending to be- when she got downstairs, so she stayed on the couch in case she came up. All three women decided that it would be best for them to get some sleep and discuss the situation fully in the morning. Phoebe volunteered to stay on the couch so that Billie wouldn't try to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night. She settled back down as her sisters made their way back upstairs, unaware of how much they were going to miss by being only two floors above Billie.
5x5x5x
Billie hadn't been asleep when Phoebe had come downstairs, but after the older woman had gone back upstairs, she'd fallen into the world of dreams- or rather, nightmares. Admitting the truth out loud had shattered the fragile wall of denial that she'd built up after everything had happened, and Billie had no idea how to deal with it on her own. When Phoebe had come into her room, she'd tried to will her friend to sit down and stay with her, but it didn't work and Phoebe left quietly.
Billie slept fitfully, unable to keep her eyes open but powerless in front of the images that assaulted her when she closed them. She even went so far as to smother her head with her pillow, something she'd only seen happen in overdramatic made-for-TV movies. After she'd had a particularly brutal nightmare, she bolted up from her bed in a cold sweat. She looked around erratically, trying to figure out where she was when she realized that she'd never left the manor. Just as her heart started to slow down, a figure loomed over her, knife in hand.
"Hey there, babe."
5x5x5x
Phoebe woke up slowly, savoring the feeling of the early morning sun on her face. Of course, when she looked at the clock, she realized that eleven o'clock could hardly be considered "early morning." Jumping off of the couch, she walked quickly upstairs and into the bathroom to take a shower. Still cursing herself when she stepped out ready for the day, she decided to check on Piper and Paige before she went back downstairs.
Finding Piper's bedroom empty, she made her way to Paige's door and knocked softly. When no answer came from the room, she slowly opened the door and smiled when she found Paige asleep, clutching Piper's arm unconsciously. Piper was holding onto her youngest sister lightly while watching her, looking concerned.
"Hey," Phoebe whispered as she walked further into the room.
"Hey yourself, sleepy head," Piper replied, turning to the middle sister and smiling.
"At least I'm out of bed."
"And I would have been out a long time ago, but there were circumstances beyond my control."
"Which were what, exactly?"
The smile on Piper's face faded. "Paige wasn't doing so well after we went to bed." She didn't have to explain any more than that.
"Poor thing, do you think we should wake her up?" Phoebe asked, moving over to sit on the bed and pushing some of Paige's hair away form her face.
"No, let her sleep. It's the only time right now when she isn't beating herself up."
Paige smiled in her sleep and sighed contentedly, hugging Piper's arm as if it were a teddy bear. This caused Phoebe to grin, and she offered to bring breakfast up to them.
'That'd be great. Just cereal though. The house is wrecked enough with demon attacks, we don't need you trying to cook," she winked.
Phoebe took the dignified route and stuck out her tongue, leaving the room. Walking into the kitchen, she yawned and decided to check on Billie before making breakfast. She was careful to step slowly, knowing the basement stairs creaked. A cold feeling washed over her, but she dismissed it as latent memories of the Woogyman, which had stayed with her over the years. She soon learned that the chill was something not to be ignored as the full room came into view. Billie was gone.
5x5x5x
Billie was on the floor looking up at Cal, the last few minutes of her life replaying over and over in her head as he stood before her, completely calm.
The only person in the world who ever called her "babe" was Cal. This wasn't possible. How the hell did he get in her room? This had to be another nightmare.
That theory was immediately discarded when the knife slid through the skin on her right arm, causing her to fall back on the bed as her left hand went to clutch at the wound. She kicked herself away from Cal and took a deep breath, ready to scream when Cal put a strong hand over her mouth, pushing her head into the mattress.
"Uh, uh, uh. Not yet."
He kissed her lips and she felt an unfamiliar sensation on her skin; it seemed to her that it was like what TV static would feel like. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but she could do without it. Within seconds, she was in an entirely different room.
This room had a bed that looked significantly less comfortable than her own- though must have been more comfortable than the floor she was now on- and was bare of any blankets. The floor of the room was concrete, as were the walls and, she assumed, the ceiling. There were no doors or windows, and Billie wondered for a split second how they had gotten there when it hit her: they had shimmered.
Which meant that Cal was a demon.
"Ho-how did you do that?" she asked carefully, afraid that she was right.
"Well, babe, I've got some… abilities that other people don't have."
Wait, is that him glossing it over? He doesn't know that I'm a witch?
"I do now," he replied grinning.
Billie's eyes widened and she attempted to rid her mind of any unwanted thoughts, which of course made all the things she didn't want him to know float to the top of her mind.
"So, you're a witch, huh Bill? Why didn't you try to use your powers on me at the party?"
Billie backed up against the wall, trying to put as much distance between her and Cal as possible. She had been asking herself the same question since that night, and she couldn't come up with an answer other than the fact that Leo had always said that her powers were tied to her emotions. Maybe she had been too scared.
Or too weak.
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"Do you want the long answer or the short answer?"
"The long one," she replied, hoping that the more he spoke, the less time he'd have to do… other things.
Cal laughed, though she hadn't said anything funny. "Hey, we've got all the time in the world here. The long answer won't put anything off for more than a few minutes. You're lucky I'm in a good mood."
Billie shuddered at both the implications of his statement and the fact that he'd read her mind again.
"Now," he said, "I guess you want to hear the long answer anyway?"
Cue tense instrumental music. Cue... reviews? XD