Title: "Howling From A Distance"
Author: Pirate Turner
Dedicated To: My dearest, darling beloved Captain of my heart, Jack
Rating: G
Summary: He watches her from afar, wrapped in a world of shadows, longing, and guilt.
Warnings: Het, OMC
Timeline: This fic follows "The Day After" which, in turn, follows "A Blessing or A Curse?"
Disclaimer: Prue Halliwell and Charmed are © & TM their respecitve owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Dr. Brendan Richards is © & TM the author, Pirate Turner, and may not be used without permission. Everything else is © & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

He watched her from afar, misery filling his every inch, from his angst-wrecked mind shining through his shimmering deep, brown eyes through to his agonized heart and all the way through his bare feet that were buried in the sand. She stood in light while he was cloaked by the familiar fingers of darkness. Her skin was like bronzed gold. The rays of the setting sun sparkling over her tender flesh called to him bewitchingly, while the raven stresses of her fluttering hair made his fingers curl in their ache to hold her or even to just touch her once again. He heard her call his name, but he stood frozen, as unable to tear his eyes away from her beautiful vision as he was to go to her or to stop his blood from boiling in longing want every time he set eyes upon her, every time he smelled her wondrously beguiling scent, every time he even just thought of her.

She turned away, but he caught the shimmering of tears in her lovely eyes and the salty scent that accompanied them. He knew she was crying, and he reached out but could go no further for he could not stop the monster within him. He watched her leave, his heart aching with a burning fire that only her love could soothe, his soul crying like a whimpering pup, and his guilt-ridden mind roaring at him to leave her alone and reminding him that she deserved far better than he could ever be. His howl echoed over the lonely shore.

Prue stopped and whirled around. "Brendan?" But no, it couldn't be the man of her dreams, she thought. It was a silly reaction, even though she was beginning to hear that howl more and more often, like the day she'd called him after the first time he'd stood her up and the previous night when she'd gone with a packed lunch to surprise him at the hospital only to be told that no one knew where he had gone.

She shivered in the night air. It was growing cold, and whatever she had heard was only a monster protesting the increasing chill that Winter was bringing. She continued on to her car, ignoring the tugging of her heart to go and investigate. Brendan wasn't here. She didn't know where he was, but it was beginning to look like the one place that she wanted him to be -- with her -- was the last place that he wanted to be. Never would she have dreamed that it was the only place he really did want to be, and as the howls rose in pitch and agony, she hurried to her car.

The End