More bonding goodness! Also, the promised prodigal character and… shopping?

Billie spent the next few days in a haze of fear. She tried to call Prue a few times, but was never answered or visited by the woman. She and Paige had grown somewhat closer, and she felt much more comfortable around the sisters, who seemed less cautious of her in return. However, after a few days stuck in the house, she started to feel suffocated.

"I'm going out for a while," she announced to Paige one day while Phoebe and Piper were at work.

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea, Bill," Paige said to her as she looked through the mail, leaving all the bills in Piper's pile and an ad for Viagra in Phoebe's. Billie shifted from foot to foot, starting to become anxious.

"Just for a walk. You can come, if you want," she tried desperately.

Paige looked up, surprised. She hadn't expected an invitation, no matter how much time they were spending together lately.

"Uh, okay, I guess that'd be fine."

"Thank God," Billie said as she rushed downstairs to get changed. When she came back up, she saw Paige grabbing her car keys.

"You want to go shopping instead?" she grinned.

Billie smiled and nodded.

9x9x9x

The two women had been walking for an hour and Paige's arms were holding more and more bags by the minute.

"You do realize that being a Charmed One doesn't come with a pay check, right? Or am I getting the short end of the stick with this witchy deal?"

"We only get paid in death threats," Paige agreed, "But I'm the kind of person who goes forever without buying something new and then spends all of her saved money in a day. Today's that day."

At that moment, an angry looking business man on a cell phone rushed by them and knocked into Paige, causing her to drop all of her things.

"Jerk!" she called after him as she and Billie bent down to pick up the bags.

"Here you go," a voice said, handing a bag to Billie as she started to stand up.

"Thanks," she replied, taking it without looking at the man.

"Billie?" he asked hesitantly.

Looking up at the speaker, her eyes widened.

"Dave?"

"Paige," Paige threw in, waving at the newcomer.

"Oh, right. Dave, this is my friend, Paige. Paige, this is Dave. I met him in L.A. when I was… planning to move there," Billie inclined her head and widened her eyes, hoping that Paige would get the message.

"Of course," Paige said, extending her hand for Dave to shake. He took her hand and smiled, but turned back to Billie almost immediately.

"So, you never stopped by," he said, only half-joking.

"Yeah, I had some things that I had to take care of back here, and the moving back was kind of abrupt," Billie said. "So what are you doing here?"

"I actually got a job offer, so I'm moving here for now. I was going to a meeting," he said.

Billie noticed that he didn't say what the job was, but figured she was just being paranoid.

"Oh, well don't let me keep you," Billie said, taking a step back to show him that he was welcome to leave.

"Yeah, okay. It was good seeing you again, Billie," he said as he continued to walk down the street. Paige noticed the look on Billie's face as he left, and she felt sorry for the young girl until they heard him call back.

"Billie!" he called as he walked back towards them quickly. "I just realized that I didn't have your number, you know, because you were still between homes the last time we met. Could I get it?" he asked shyly.

Billie smiled and Paige could tell it was genuine. "Sure," she said as she programmed it into his cell phone. Dave grinned.

"So, maybe we could catch up some time?"

"I'd like that," Billie said.

Paige couldn't help but notice that the smile didn't leave Billie's face all day.

9x9x9x

Billie was in her room, listening to her new CD, the only thing she'd bought during her outing with Paige. Phoebe and Piper still weren't home, and Paige was in her room, painting. Billie closed her eyes and bobbed her head to the music, twirling a pencil in between her fingers as she mouthed the words to the music, occasionally singing out loud. She jerked in surprise when someone touched her on the shoulder and her eyes shot open.

"Prue!" She must have yelled because Prue grabbed her headphones and took them off of her ears, looking annoyed.

"Turn that down, you'll go deaf if you keep listening to it at that volume."

Billie raised an eyebrow and stopped the CD, getting up to hug the older woman.

"I tried calling you like a hundred times, where were you?"

"I was busy."

"You're dead, how busy can you be?"

Prue looked uncomfortable and Billie immediately steeled herself for the bad news that she knew was coming.

"I was… pleading a case on your behalf."

"My 'case'?"

"The elders want Cal dead by tomorrow. I tried to get them to give you more time, but apparently the demon he's working for is getting a larger following and Cal is one of the strongest. He needs to be vanquished."

Billie immediately sat back down on her bed, trying to figure out how she would proceed.

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I'll flip the Book of Shadows to the right vanquishing potion."

"I have to kill him myself?"

"It's the only way, honey," Prue said sadly as she sat next to Billie.

"Well- but Piper, Phoebe and Paige can be there, right?"

"I tried to let them be there, but the Elders wouldn't have it. I think they're scared of them getting angry and killing him themselves. Piper doesn't know it yet, but when she's really pissed off, she could blow through the Great Wall of China, literally."

"Well, can you be there?"

"I doubt the Elders could stop me if they wanted to," Prue smiled.

"Billie?" A voice drifted downstairs and the blonde witch started.

"You'd better-" Billie started to say as Prue disappeared in a swirl of golden lights.

"Go."

"Who are you talking to?" Paige asked.

"Nobody. I was just listening to music,' Billie said, holding up her Discman.

Page frowned and Billie froze, afraid that she'd been caught, but Paige just shrugged and let it go.

"Jeeze, get an MP3 player. It's not the 90's any more."

"Hey, I get along fine with this. Why spend more money?"

"Because it's fun?" Paige guessed.

"It's more fun to have money."

"Whatever."

"Well, there's a lot to say for your debate skills."

Paige stuck out her tongue at Billie and sat next to her.

"I have to go out for a while and Phoebe and Piper won't be home from work until late. Will you be okay here alone?"

"Yeah, no. I'll be fine, go ahead."

"If anything happens, and I mean anything- even if you just watched a scary movie and you're the tiniest bit freaked out- I want you to promise to call me, okay?"

"Promise," Billie said, not looking Paige in the eyes. She knew that she wouldn't be calling Paige for anything that night.

"Okay, bye sweetie."

When she heard the door close, Billie rushed up the stairs to the attic and to the Book of Shadows. Just as Prue had promised, the Book was open to a specific vanquishing potion; Billie copied down the instructions and ran back downstairs to the kitchen.

She waited around anxiously until the stove timer beeped and she opened the freezer, grabbing a small piece of Belthazor's flesh that the sisters kept in there for emergencies. Cringing at what she was holding, she dropped it into the potion and flinched as a bout of flame appeared. She filled four vials with the potion, putting two in her pants pockets and one each in her jacket pockets.

"Prue, I need to get this over with," she called out to the ceiling. Prue appeared almost instantly in front of her.

"Already?" she asked.

"It's now or never," she replied, holding up the vial in her hand and shaking it.

"Alright," Prue said, taking her hand. Billie noticed that traveling with Prue was entirely different from orbing or shimmering. While orbing wasn't unpleasant, this was far better. It felt like being hugged from every direction, and warmth radiated around her. The warmth disappeared, however, when they arrived at their destination. They were in a cave- Billie assumed in the Underworld- and Cal had his back to them, bending over a crude stone table and reading something.

Billie clutched the potion tighter and looked to Prue shaking her head.

"You can do this, Billie. Just throw the potion. He can't see or hear me, but if he sees you, you're in trouble."

Billie nodded and tried to steady her hand. She launched the potion at Cal, aiming at his back. It flew towards him and would have hit him had he not held up a hand and stopped it without turning around. Billie took a step back and looked to glance at Prue again, who was gone.

"Your thoughts were much louder than your breathing, babe," Cal said, finally turning around as Billie was left alone.

Space for rent.

Next week: The Final Showdown!