The Most Important Promise
A Charmed fanfic by Aisling Yinyr Ngaio

"Whatever you do, you have to promise me that you'll stay away from the manor."

Andy Trudeau felt like the skulking criminal he was doing a sterling impression of. He knew he shouldn't be here. He didn't want to die. Yet, more than ever, he didn't want Prue to die.

His first love. His soul mate.

"I love you."

It was the first time she admitted her love for him. And it was pure joy, pure music to his ears and his heart. He knew that he had loved her forever, ever since high school, when seeing her as his sister and childhood playmate, just as he saw Piper and Phoebe, became harder and harder, until they finally broke through the barrier and got together. Even his marriage didn't diminish his feelings for her, which was what ultimately brought about his divorce. He couldn't love Susan as much as he loved Prue. He even followed her life, feeling an absurd connection to her in doing so, although the news of her engagement to Roger nearly ripped his heart out.

And then the San Francisco transfer came in. He was barely settling back down in his childhood home when he bumped into her again. Call it fate or what you will, but the irrational happiness when he recognised her in the hospital bubbled up onto the surface, and he was glad that she seemed happy to see him too.

Though many months have passed since that day, with she and her sisters seemingly tangled in many of his "unsolved" cases, leading to his breaking up with Prue and being absolutely miserable that he knew even Darryl was worried about him, he couldn't seem to pass up an opportunity to be with her. When he finally understood the importance of the secret they hide, he felt relieved after the initial stunned surprise. He knew that he would protect her, and her secret, at almost any cost, even if he couldn't commit to her completely.

But the truth was, he already was committed to her in everything that mattered.

Just then, Rodriguez's car pulled up, dragging Andy out of memory lane. Lying back on his seat so that he won't be seen, he observed as Rodriguez made his way to the Manor, stomping up the stairs, looking as angry as he was this morning when he threatened him and demanded a meeting with Prue in the I.A. office. Everything was as it seemed… until Kit the cat growled at Rodriguez…

…and Rodriguez turned to stare at Kit with glowing red eyes.

Andy gasped, his mind going numb for a millisecond as his worst suspicion was confirmed.

"Oh my God, Prue!"

At once, his body turned on automatic full action mode, grabbing his gun secreted in the glove compartment and hurrying up to the manor after Rodriguez. If Prue died… He refused to even entertain that notion. She won't die. He won't allow it. Not ever, but especially not now that they had confessed their love for each other.

In the Manor hall, the Charmed Ones, forewarned by Phoebe's memories, were consulting the Book of Shadows on time loops. Finally, beside the page with a drawing of a giant hour glass, they found the most appropriate explanation.

Tempus the Devil Sorcerer

Manipulator of time.

Serving only his will always, always for evil's gain.

Remove him, remove him from the time he's in.

"The Devil Sorcerer: Tempus," Phoebe Halliwell, youngest of the three, read from the page. "He can manipulate time any way he chooses."

Piper voiced their next, and most important, concern: "Does it say how to vanquish him?"

"Uh…" Focusing on the bottom of the right page, Phoebe answered, " 'Take him out of the time that he's in'? Whatever that means."

The three sisters were clearly baffled by this statement, but just as they were about to check further in the Book of Shadows, the door was banged open by a man… only his eyes were red and hostile. Before so much as a how-do-you-do, he powered up an energy ball and hurled it purposefully in the eldest sister's direction.

Instinctively, Piper Halliwell raised her hands and froze both the demon and the energy ball, a mere metre before it could hit Prue square on the chest. A stunned silence followed, broken by Prue, saying, "Oh, my God… Thanks, Piper."

More stunned than she was letting on, her sister replied, "Yeah… Um, OK, I think we better do something before he unfreezes."

All three sisters quickly move out of range of the energy ball, just as Andy rushed into the manor, gun out.

Terrified that Phoebe's premonition would come true, Prue shouted at him, "Get out of here, Andy!"

"Prue, I'm not leaving the three of you to do it alone," he shouted back.

Tired of fighting yet scared of the randomness of Piper's time freeze, Prue telekinetically threw Andy sideways onto the living room couch just as Rodriguez and his energy ball resume moving. Piper hurriedly froze time again, with the energy ball a bare inch away from the wall. Not wasting any more time, Prue sent the energy ball back at Rodriguez with a wave of her hand, causing him to electrify and explode.

"Quick! We have to find a way to vanquish Tempus before he sets the time loop again!" Gathering around the Book of Shadows, they flip through the pages, frantically searching for an answer before it was too late.

"How about this one: 'to accelerate time'?" Prue pointed out the spell on one page of the book. " 'Let tomorrow be today'. Sounds pretty promising. It does say that we have to remove Tempus 'from the time that he's in'."

"Hey, I think that was the spell I found the last time. You know, last time?"

Piper smiles. "You're probably right, Phoebe. And thank God you remember all this, or we would have been dead by now."

Suddenly a frantic voice interrupted their thoughts. "What's going on? What happened? Prue! Where are you?"

They raised their heads to see Andy hurrying out of the living room into the hall. Upon seeing the Halliwell sisters, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God." Then: "Where's Rodriguez?"

"Not now, Andy." Prue's tense voice gave him pause. But even her sisters didn't know how truly frightened she was. Not only did she and her sisters come within a hair's breath of being killed again, but her love almost had as well. By coming here, he thought that he was protecting her, but she'd spoken the truth that afternoon: she would die if anything happened to Andy.

With a last angry glance at him, she motioned Piper and Phoebe to stand beside her and join her as she started reciting the spell:

Winds of time, gather round;

Give me wings to speed my way;

Rush me on my journey forward;

Let tomorrow be today.

The effect was instantaneous. The hands on the grandfather's clock in the hall began to move rapidly clockwise, and the sky outside got darker and darker as the sun set and the moon rose.

Miles away, Tempus got suspicious of the rapid time change, and he consulted his watch, only to see it spin… spin… spin… until it stopped at 12.01a.m. on Thursday morning.

With a roar, he burst into flames. His remains flew over to the fireplace, collecting his robe before disappearing completely into the fire back to the demon hell.

In the Halliwell manor, all was still except for the chimes of the grandfather's clock. The four occupants looked around warily until Phoebe broke the silence with a voice of wonder and awe, "We did it! We did it! No one died! Yay!"

"Yeah, and no thanks to you, Andy Trudeau. What are you doing here?"

That deadly cold voice was all it took for Piper and Phoebe to grab the Book and inch up towards the attic with a few mumbled farewells. Prue, however, seemed to have forgotten all about her sisters as she advanced towards Andy.

Remembering how he felt when he saw Rodriquez's red eyes, he gave not an inch. "Look, I'm sorry I broke my promise, but…"

"Andy, I do remember specifically telling you NOT to set foot in the Manor today, and I told you that I would die if anything happened to you, so why couldn't you for once in your entire life trust in my judgement?" Her fear became more and more apparent under the surface layer of anger and hurt in her voice. "How could you? After all those times that you accused me of not trusting you enough, you turn around and do the exact same thing?"

"I couldn't let anything happen to you!" he replied forcefully, grabbing her shoulders. "I do trust you! I do. I just don't trust that I will be able to forgive myself if I didn't at least make sure that you would be all right."

"You won't be able to do anything. This is a matter of life and death, not a magic trick played during someone's birthday bash! How could you so recklessly…"

But they were no longer speaking as Andy pressed his lips forcefully on hers. Anger immediately turned into passion as Prue desperately kissed him back, needing the reassurance of life. They had almost died tonight, and while she was almost accustomed to her sisters and herself being targets, she could not allow Andy to be threatened in her supernatural world. Her family would always be able to find ways to vanquish the evil, no matter how hopeless the case seemed to be, but Andy was different. He was too precious, too mortal, too vulnerable, to even think of fighting on their – her – behalf. Hadn't he learnt that guns don't mean a thing to demons and warlocks?

But surely it was all right so long as he was alive now? Prue thought as they continued kissing as if their lives depended on it. All those weeks of conflict, emotional separation and tension was finally taking a toll on them, and, releasing all the pent-up sexual frustration and love, Andy caught Prue up in his arms and carried her upstairs, the way he used to back in high school. Arms around his neck, she took the opportunity to catch her breath and recover sufficiently to mumble a hoarse, "I'm still angry with you."

Andy smirked suggestively and replied, "I can tell." Then, expression going serious again, he continued, "Don't shut me out, Prue. Please. No matter what I said about wanting a normal life, I… I can't live without you. I love you."

Hugging him closer, she murmured, "I love you too. Always." And there, at the top of the stairs of Halliwell Manor, the lovers exchanged a promise to stand by each other, through thick and thin, until death do they part.

– Finis –