What's this? Are your eyes deceiving you? No they are not. This is really a new chapter no joke! And before you dive into all the Charmed goodness I would like to apologize for my two month absence. You see, as a second semester senior I had a lot of loose ends to tie up before becoming free from high school forever. These include but are not limited to: final year of soccer, senior prom, four AP exams, senior finals, baccalaureate mass, graduating, graduation parties, writing thank yous, and saying goodbye to one of your best friends who is heading off to basic training for the next four months and who you won't be able to see until September and by that time you'll be at college in a different city an hour away. But i digress. I should be writing more frequently from now on so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed of its characters.

Two weeks, three days, twenty hours, thirty-three minutes and fifty-two seconds. That's how long Prue had been gone. Melinda stared down at her cereal which was becoming soggier with each passing tick of the clock. She wasn't hungry. She hadn't seen or heard from her guardian since the night the Collectors had attacked. After the demonic encounter Prue had revealed that she was their target but before Melinda received any further explanation Prue had gone and after two weeks, three days, twenty hours, thirty-three minutes and fifty-two seconds she had yet to return. Melinda wasn't worried about Prue, 'She's already dead. What's the worst that could happen?' She was more worried about the finer details surrounding her absence. If the Elders had kept her away this long than Pure knew something important and she hadn't shared that something with Melinda. This had the teen thoroughly frustrated. Even though the entire dilemma at hand somehow centered on her she was still being left in the dark.

What was worse was that in her absence no progress had been made regarding their current situation. They still had no idea who they were supposed to be fighting and as a result morale was low. Piper's relationship with her sister's wasn't any better. She had spoken to Paige only a few times by phone and she hadn't talked to Phoebe at all. Billie had made her reluctant return only out of her ties to Piper. She sent hints of malice at Melinda whenever possible.

"Melinda." The half-demon snapped out of her daydream as Piper walked in carrying Chris. "Oh there you are. Not hungry?" Melinda shook her head in a silent reply.

"Well Billie's on her way over but I have to run into P3. Jerry said he can't find the new batch of drinks." Piper said all this in one breath as she cleaned up the kitchen while Chris sat in his high chair. "Will you be okay watching the boys until Billie gets here?" At any other time Melinda would have protested being left alone with Billie but she just didn't have the energy this morning. It's not that she didn't like Billie......okay it was because she didn't like Billie but Billie hated her first.

"Yeah." Piper glanced over her shoulder at the weary teen who was obviously discouraged. She abandoned her scrubbing and sat down beside Melinda. "Are you okay?" Melinda looked away in an effort to hide her distress.

"I'm fine."

"Melinda."

"Okay I'm not fine." She whipped her head around and let the emotions flow. "How can I be? Prue hasn't come back. We know nothing. We can't do anything and for all we know the demons are about to unleash hell upon the earth and it's all my fault. It's my fault your sisters hate you and..."

"That has nothing to do with you. I'm the one who's been keeping secrets from them."

"You've been keeping secrets about me from them." Piper shook her head in reassurance but didn't say anything. "Where is she Piper?"

"I don't know but she'll be back. She wouldn't just abandon us." Melinda wasn't so sure. Somewhere deep down inside a feeling of dread was growing. Piper gave her one last smile before gathering up her things and heading out the door. Melinda walked out and placed Chris in the conservatory where Wyatt was playing. She watched the two boys and wondered what it would be like to have a sibling. No, she wondered what it would be like to have any family at all. As far back as she could remember she had been alone. In fact until the day she met Prue she just wandered around aimlessly looking for a purpose. Part of her longed for that nomadic life where she didn't have the fate of the world in her hands but at least now she had a place to call home, sort of.

Billie hopped off the the bus and started down the remaining blocks between her and the Manor. She wasn't in a rush. She wasn't even sure why she bothered. It's not like they had accomplished anything since Piper had convinced her to come back. It was pointless, worthless, futile. Even if they managed to figure out what they were supposed to be doing its not like a teenage witch, a half-demon, and one-third of the Charmed triangle could do anything about it. The only thing that brought her here was her loyalty to Piper. The Halliwells were the closet thing to a family she had and she wasn't about to lose them too. She jogged up the stairs leading to the Manor and entered without knocking.

"Piper! I'm here."

"She's gone" Billie cringed. She turned and saw Melinda sitting on a chair in the living room. The two stared at each other. While Billie's eyes were filled with hatred, Melinda's held no emotion. "She went to P3 but she should be back soon."

"Oh." Billie didn't try to hide her disapproval of Melinda and Melinda didn't try to hide her indifference.

"Billie!" Wyatt smiled as the familiar face bent down to greet him.

"Hi Wyatt. Are we going to have fun today?"

"Yes!"

"But no magic okay? Your mommy told me what happened last time." She shot a scornful look in Melinda's direction. She was referencing an incident that had occurred that last time Melinda had babysat the boys.

"Well at least I didn't have to strip his powers in order to control him." Melinda smiled in satisfaction as she watched Billie react. Billie had to use every ounce of self-control to restrain her retaliation. She had promised Piper that she would be nice to Melinda. She was going to do her best to keep that promise but she wasn't going to just lay down and take it either.

Piper buried her head in her hands. "This is ridiculous!" Her days off were supposed to be relaxing. She hadn't planned on spending more than a few minutes at the club but she soon found herself trying to fix multiple problems that had thrown the establishment into complete and utter chaos. She had located the missing drinks but realized that she was missing others. To make matters worse three employees had called in sick and another had just not shown up.

"Hey Piper."

"Jerry?"

"Where are the new glasses?"

"Try the storage room Jerry." Piper sighed. Jerry was a great guy but some days he acted completely clueless. This was one of those days.

"Piper."

"What is it now!?!" She threw her hands up in frustration but froze when she realized who was standing in front of her. "Prue?"

"Hey."

"Where the hell have you been!?!" Piper spoke in a hushed tone not wanting Jerry to hear."

"Not now.....we have a problem."

Billie and Melinda sat in silence waiting for Piper's delayed return. Billie had taken up reading a magazine she found on the coffee table. Melinda just sat there and stared at nothing. After a half-hour of agony Billie's curiosity got the best of her.

"How old are you?"

"Huh?" Melinda looked up in confusion.

"How old are you, really?"

"56" Billie whistled pretending to be impressed. "Why did you even bother asking?"

"Well you told me you were seventeen but that was before I knew that you were a demon."

"Half-demon" Melinda's face showed signs of anger as her cheeks turned red.

"Whatever. That's before I knew you were half-demon so I figured it was a lit too."

"I didn't have a choice." Melinda shouted as she jumped to her feet. Her fists were clenched at her sides.

"You chose to lie."

"If I hadn't kept it a secret I wouldn't have gotten through the front door."

"Exactly, so you intentionally deceived Piper into thinking you were a witch."

"With good intention"

"Two wrongs don't make a right."

"Shut up. You don't know the first thing about me. Stop comparing me to what I'm not."

"A demon?"

"A monster."

"Well we've known plenty of those."

"I'm different."

"Why? Because you're half – demon? That's not a very good argument. Phoebe married one and he turned out to be the Source of All Evil.

"Wha…?" Melinda paused when Piper burst through the front door followed by....

"Prue!!" Melinda's elation was cut short by Piper.

"Attic now." Melinda shot a look at Prue and her heart sank. They knew something and it wasn't good. Once all four of them had gathered upstairs Prue began.

"First I'm sorry that I was gone so long but the Elders didn't want to risk the collector's getting inside my head and they had a new lead that they wanted to follow up on. Now for the bad news." She crossed her arms in the typical Prue fashion and sat down on the arm of the couch that Piper was sitting in.

"We have a time line."

"What do you mean?" Prue met Melinda's confused stare.

"Well thanks to a very reliable source we were able to determine the day by which the heir must assume their position as the Source."

"How much time do we have?" Melinda was almost too afraid to hear the answer. Piper remained silent beside her older sister.

"A week"

"What?!?!" Melinda's eyes bulged in astonishment. She figured they didn't have much time left but she hadn't expected to have only seven days.

"Are you serious?" Billie spoke for the first time. They had felt the pressure of crunch time but nothing like this.

"It gets worse. Tell them Prue." Piper stammered in a small voice. Prue paused for a moment.

"I....I'm.." she struggled to find her voice.

"You're leaving aren't you?" Prue froze. Melinda's eyes had pierced through to her very soul and found the darkness that had been wearing her down for almost two weeks. "You're leaving." When Prue didn't deny it Billie voiced her disapproval.

"You've got to be joking!" Prue remained silent. "No you can't. You can't leave. We have no fucking clue what we're doing." Her pleas became more frantic as the reality of their situation set in. "You CAN'T. If we try to fight....whatever the hell we're supposed to be fighting we're going to........it was a long shot with you and without you we're dead."

"Billie there's nothing I can do."

"You could stay."

"I can't." Prue was on the verge of tears. "You think I want to leave you here to die."

"Oh did "they" tell you that too Prue? That we're screwed?"

"That's not what I meant I...."

"Go." Prue turned towards the girl whom she had been ordered to protect. "Just go Prue."

"Melinda..."

"You're not helping us by staying here." Melinda's word hurt but Prue knew she was right. Her lips quivered as she shot once last look at all of them and then turned to her sister. "Piper just promise me you won't give up."

"I can't promising anything Prue." Piper gave her a sympathetic look. Prue gave a small nod an with that she was gone.

Gone for good.

Well there you are! I'll admit I was a little rusty after my two month hiatus but I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter. Next one will be up soon!