Oh I like this chapter. :D And by the way, for some reason FF won't let me send review replies, so I'm not ignoring you or anything, I just actually can't reply to you. But I'm still beyond thankful for you faithful readers. :)

"I-it was… It was in the Book," Billie stuttered.

"Obviously, but where are the candles?" Prue snapped.

Tears attacked Billie's vision once again; this wasn't the woman who was in her dream, it couldn't be. She wanted to hit herself- what the hell was wrong with her? Six words from this woman and she already started to cry! It seemed like she'd never get back to normal.

"I shouldn't have done this, I'm sorry," she apologized. "You can go back if you want."

"No, look. I'm sorry; it's just pretty hard traveling across time and space for the first time. I'll get used to it, come here," Prue said, sitting down on the couch. Billie hesitated, but moved over to the oldest Halliwell sister figuring that things probably couldn't get any worse. Once she sat down, she fell apart, letting loose all of the emotions that she didn't acknowledge in the underworld with Paige and Phoebe. Prue stayed sitting with her arm around Billie, not saying a word but just letting her let everything out.

"They couldn't vanquish him!" she said when she was finally able to speak clearly.

Prue sighed and Billie tensed, expecting that the next thing to come out of the former witch's mouth wouldn't be in her favor. She was all too right.

"That's because you have to."

Billie shot up and pulled away from Prue. "What? They're- they're the Charmed Ones! Why can't they do it? I can't do that."

"You have to, Billie. Otherwise he'll have won, you know that?"

"N-no. I'll be fine as long as he's dead; it doesn't matter who kills him, as long as I'm still here and he's not. I don't care; I don't need to be the one to kill him."

"That's not true. If you don't do it yourself, it will mean that he still has power over you, be it physically or mentally. Vanquishing him is the only way to conquer the hold he has on you."

"That's majorly fu-"

"Billie," Prue interrupted sternly. Billie sighed and leaned against Prue's shoulder, looking up at the ceiling in a silent prayer, and hoping that maybe for once, the Elders would help her out.

"Please don't make me, Prue," she whispered, moving back into her and relaxing. She was suddenly tired from everything- coming home, living in the mansion, being kidnapped, being rescued and being suffocated by the sisters. She closed her eyes and brought her legs up to her chest, breathing in the smell of Prue's perfume. She wondered if you were stuck with whatever you happened to be wearing when you died for all eternity. If so, Prue had been lucky enough to be wearing something that smelled good.

She woke up some time later to pounding on the attic door and yells from the other side. She found herself alone, without the comfort of Prue to face the world again. She was about to get up from the couch when blue lights appeared in front of her and Paige materialized with Phoebe holding her arm.

"What the hell were you thinking, locking the door? You could have been killed!"

Billie was genuinely confused, "But you can orb in here."

"Then why'd you lock it in the first place?" Paige asked, still annoyed.

"Because I thought that maybe for a few minutes, I could actually get some privacy around here!"

"Not with what's going on right now," Paige shot back, her voice just barely under control.

"No, especially with what's going on right now!"

"Billie, how the hell are we supposed to protect you if we can't trust you to let us?" Phoebe asked softly.

"And I should let you why? Because you've done such an amazing job so far," she spat, glaring at Paige. She noted how the fight went right out of the older witch when she aimed the words at her, and felt a tug at her heart. She didn't want to hurt her friends, but she felt like she couldn't talk to them about what was going on. Ever since she'd gotten home, they'd acted like she was made of glass but they hadn't confronted her about it.

Instead of storming out again, she sat back down on the couch and put her head in her hands, trying to control the overload of emotions running through her. Truth be told, she was still terrified of Cal and what had happened, but she felt like all the sisters cared about was getting rid of the demon, just like any other enemy they'd faced before.

"I can't do this." She was speaking to Prue, but the other two women in the room had no way of knowing that.

"Oh, sweetie," Phoebe gushed, rushing over to Billie and putting her arm around her. "We'll get through this, I promise."

Billie couldn't see, but Paige was still standing in front of her, a look of guilt and hurt on her face.

8x8x8x

Piper hummed along to the radio as she added another ingredient to the meal she was making. Suddenly she stopped, a chill making its way up her spine. She spun around, ready to freeze or blow up an intruder, but only found Paige standing behind her.

"Oh, hey honey. Want to help me with this?"

"You hate it when people try to help you cook," her younger sister replied in a somewhat monotonous tone.

"Good point. Pull up a chair, my cooking therapy sessions are free of charge today."

Paige rolled her eyes at Piper's theatrical wave of her hand around the kitchen, but sat down at the island as her sister measured a cup of flour carefully.

"So, what's on your mind?" she asked as she leveled the powder off of the top of the cup.

"Billie blames me for not being there," Paige said.

"I'm sure she doesn't," Piper replied, somewhat unhelpfully.

"Well you should have heard her upstairs. She admitted it. I don't know why I suck as a whitelighter."

"You don't suck, honey. I mean, it doesn't matter how long you've been a whitelighter for, how are you supposed to know how to deal with a situation like this? It isn't exactly something we come across a lot, thank God."

"I just feel like no matter what happens, I'm never going to be as close to Billie as we are to Leo," Paige sighed.

"Well, maybe not. But Leo has tons of other charges all over the world, and he's not as close to them as he is to us, but they're all still fine."

"I guess you're right, but still…"

"I know, sweetie, but just give it time. I'm sure Billie doesn't blame you; she's only looking for an outlet for her pain, and you were the first person in front of her."

8x8x8x

After Billie had showered and changed, she headed downstairs for dinner. For the first time in months, everyone sat down to eat. Billie was sitting next to Wyatt, with Piper and Phoebe at the ends of the table and Paige and Chris across from her. The food was fabulous as usual, but Billie wasn't eating. She'd taken a few bites at the start of the meal when she noticed the sisters watching her, but now Piper was preoccupied with her sons and Paige and Phoebe were arguing over whether Cher was better off without Sonny or not.

"Come on, Paige, hello? 'Believe' is a classic, not to mention 'If I Could Turn Back Time.'"

"Um, excuse me, but I think you're neglecting to mention 'I Got You, Babe.' It's only like, the greatest karaoke duet song ever."

Phoebe scoffed, "Yeah, maybe if you're fifty."

Billie tuned out of the conversation and pushed her potatoes around with her fork. Wyatt was painting a picture with his apple sauce and Piper was trying to get Chris to eat using the train technique. She resisted the urge to sigh and put her head in her hands, not wanting the attention she was sure to get if she did.

"Honey, you're not eating," Paige noticed.

Billie shrugged noncommittally and poured herself more milk, the only thing she could keep down.

Paige turned to her sisters for support and Piper jumped in.

"Do you want something else? I could make you some soup or anything else, if you want."

"No thanks."

"You have to eat something, Billie, it's not healthy not to," Phoebe put in.

"Do you guys agree on everything?" Billie asked, not unkindly.

"Everything but Cher," Paige quipped.

"Look, I understand that you want to make sure I'm okay, and I- well, alright, I'm not, but I'm not starving myself, I'm just not hungry right now. And I promise that I'll eat, just… don't make me now, okay?"

Piper nodded at Paige and she raised her hands in defeat. "Okay, Bill. But just let us know when you're hungry."

"I will," Billie said as she pushed her chair out from the table. She walked into the kitchen and emptied her plate into the trash, ignoring the three pairs of eyes that she knew were following her. When she heard Piper chastising Wyatt, she finally relaxed against the island.

"Prue, I don't think I can do this. I can't deal with them after all of this," she said, looking to the ceiling. There was no response and Billie walked down to her room. She turned on the lights on and took out her laptop, checking her college courses and making sure she was signed up for the right classes. Getting caught up web surfing, she was surprised to see how late it was when she checked the clock. She turned off her computer and got into bed, keeping the lights on.

She was afraid to close her eyes, knowing what happened the last time she slept in this bed. She looked up, hearing someone come down the stairs.

"Billie, you're still awake," Paige said, surprised. She turned off the main light and walked over to the younger witch, who was now trying to see in the dark without getting too worked up.

"Yeah, I uh, couldn't sleep," she explained, starting to move.

"How are you going to sleep with the lights on and sitting up?" Paige asked sarcastically, moving over to sit on the bed.

"How am I going to sleep with the lights off?" Billie spoke softly, not loud enough for Paige to hear. She was extremely uncomfortable with lying down while Paige was sitting near her, and the fact that she wasn't at ease with it made her feel even worse. She was supposed to trust Paige completely, and she couldn't.

After a few long moments of silence, Paige stood up, never comfortable with the quiet.

"Well, I just came down to see if you were doing alright, I'll go," she said, beginning to turn.

Billie found her hand shooting out to grab Paige's arm.

"No!" she said louder than she had intended. Grimacing, she adjusted her words. "I mean, you- you don't have to." Paige looked as stunned as Billie felt, but caught herself and smiled, sitting down on a chair and turning out the light. Billie tried to go to sleep, but found herself tossing and turning.

"Um, Paige?" she whispered.

"Yeah Bill?"

"Could you maybe… um," she didn't finish her sentence, for once completely grateful for the darkness as she could feel her face turning beet red.

She couldn't see, but Paige was smiling from where she sat. "Do you want me to?"

"Yeah," she replied, glad that Paige understood what she was asking. She tensed for a moment as Paige got into the bed, but then relaxed, realizing that she felt much safer. A few moments later, she was fast asleep.

Aww, finally some Billie Paige bonding. Jeeze, it's about time. The next update involves someone we haven't seen in a while! (It's not Andy, by the way.)