And here is another chapter. So here is another one and I hope you all enjoy it. I will keep this short and sweet and I will do my best to give you chapter five sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just this chapter and other OC characters.

Please Read and Review and let me know what you think.

And again this chapter covers multiple episodes which will be a running factor through this story.

Before And After

Chapter 4-We've All Got Baggage.

Dishwalla comes to P3 bringing with them demons. Andy and Daryl have a conversation about the sisters and the job and then, just as Prue is about to give up she learns a lesson about men that might shine some light on her relationship with Andy and finally give them the new beginning that they both so desperately want.

Prue had come to see him just as he had been discharged brimming with excitement and some other unnameable emotion that spoke of good things. He had been discharged and was at home when she announced that her sister's club had booked Dishwalla and would he like to come?

Andy had never heard of them and when Prue had loaded his CD Player to show him found that he had good reason too. He had never been a fan of loud rock music and this was loud rock music in the extreme.

"Err…it might not be to my liking but if you want to go together…"

"Maybe not. We think there working with a de—"

She trailed off looking at him and Andy shrugged. He knew what it was that she was into and he knew he had to get used to it even if sometimes he did want to reach for the vodka when she came out with words such as demon and ghost and ectoplasm as if it was perfectly normal and totally insane.

"You can say it you know. I'm not gonna faint"

"Alright" she said finally. "We think he's hooked up with a demon. Daryl came to see me today at work—"

"He did?"

"He's working the case, several missing woman all young and attractive going missing at Dishwalla concerts. Daryl thinks and then Leo confirmed that the manager Jeff Carlton is hooked up with a demon that devours the souls of the young"

Andy digested that thought for a second. Actually for longer than a second because he had to take a second to swallow down the vomit that had come sharply up his throat.

That being said when he spoke his voice was perfectly steady. Actually he did think he was getting better when it came to stuff like this.

"Lovely. You know it used to be drink spiking, rape and fighting in clubs. When I was a rookie that's what it used to be. Now it's demons and bands and witchcraft and can you please tell me what the hell Leo is? Is he a zombie in disguise?"

Prue shot him a look that told him the comment wasn't something to joke about—and wasn't that a worrisome thought—when she launched into the tale of Leo the Handyman who was in fact Leo the Guardian Angel. He listened feeling a headache come on. His leg was still on the mend and his ribs were killing him and he was sure that the commissioner was going to come round and have the 'talk'. The one that gave him his options, pension or back to work.

And honestly he was not sure what his decision was going to be.

"It's not the demons you know" he said looking Prue in the eye. "But those stairs and my leg and the—"

"And the music" she finished for him smiling softly.

"Well yeah, the music" he said grinning.

Her kiss when it came down on the side of his cheek was soft and light and made him feel like he was thirteen all over again.

Damn.

Daryl came to see him that evening. He had the look of a man perpetually stressed and Andy knew that it looked like a detective struggling with a case that he couldn't understand. He remembered feeling that way occasionally and then all of last year when he knew something was happening and yet the answers were just outside of his reach.

"Hey" he said limping back to his couch. Daryl followed carrying a six pack and what looked like a box of bear claws. Knowing his friend as he did he knew that things were serious. Daryl only shared bear claws when he was at the end of his tether. The beer was by the by. Daryl knew his limit and he knew when he needed a break.

"Ok look" he said once Andy had cracked open a bottle and helped himself to some chocolate sugary goodness.

"I know and you know that the sisters three are hiding something and I know that you know. And like we said at the hospital I don't want to know unless I have to and Prue assures me that I don't. And while this might be connected to that other thing I need you to look over the case file and tell me that I'm right. Because if this is the work of a very human nutjob then I need to know cause I swear Andy if it is then I'm just not seeing it and there's a girl going missing nearly every other night"

Andy nodded taking the file and reading it. Daryl shucked of his tie and his jacket and leaned back against the back of his chair his eyes closed looking like a man exhausted with the world. Andy wondered briefly if that was what he had looked like when he was on the job.

The case was a nasty one even without the demon implications. Girls, none of them fitting a set pattern (unless you counted being young and beautiful) going missing. Some on their way to the bathroom, some outside for a cigarette or to call a cab but the majority of them claimed to their friends that they were going backstage to meet the band.

"I'd say the manager looks as guilty as sin" he said looking at the picture of Jeff Carlton.

"I know" Daryl said as he passed Andy the lab reports. "But there's not a stick of evidence on him. The band don't speak without lawyers or without him present so I don't know if the last three victims even went to meet them and he just denies everything. Says he doesn't know what happened after they met the band and it's not his problem. The earlier ones he denies all together. But there's no bodies, no blood, no evidence and no motive. If he is behind this and this is…well…a normal case then I don't see what or how he's keeping them alive"

"Could he be working with someone?"

"Not a human"

There was a very pregnant pause as Andy stared at him. Daryl took another bear claw tearing into the pastry with the look of someone who knew that their cardiologist was not going to be happy and that he didn't care.

"I don't want to know Andy. Prue says she and the sisters are looking into this. Just tell me if I'm right to trust them."

Andy nodded. It was amazing how these cases that would have had them chasing their tails for months if they were looking for an ordinary person were now that he knew that something else was behind them. It felt like he was part of another world that knew that such things existed and while he might have gone in willingly (at least after his injuries) he also knew why Daryl wanted to remain on the cusp of things.

"Let me just say" he said framing his words carefully. "That this is something that without Prue's help we might have never solved"

Daryl nodded. "All I needed to know partner. Now…has the brass reached out?"

"Commissioner wants to talk about coming back next week. And offer me a commendation for the whole Rodriguez incident. He calls it a smoothing over of all our difficulties"

Daryl snorted into his beer.

"Jeez" he said shaking his head. "That's a nice way of saying we know we had a murderer in IAB and we did nothing about it, please don't go to ABC News and tell your story for six figures"

Andy nodded and then words he had been debating since he'd come home spilled out of him. This was his partner. This was why he trusted him. And he did trust Daryl, with his life.

"To be honest with you Daryl I'm not sure if I want to go back"

Daryl didn't even look surprised. "I did wonder" he said finally. "If that was what you'd say. The injuries you suffered are gonna set you to a desk for months and even then if your knee has a twinge in a foot chase…"

"I know it can be a liability, but it's other things as well…it's the whole hierarchy of the place, the whole get results or else scenario. I know we did some good work but when you've got the IAB breathing down your neck once you never really lose them. And I don't know what it feels like to take a vacation anymore. Truth is I just really think I'm burned out"

"Union take care of you?"

"Yeah. And If I want to go then they'll make sure that I've got a pension and my name, and it's not the end of the world. There are places where I can do consultancy and private investigation. The DA might need some help and it's a loss less wear and tear. To be honest with you I just…I think I'm just done"

Daryl looked at him with eyes that were filled with sympathy and Andy felt a great wave of love and respect come over him when he looked at his partner and his friend because Daryl knew what this decision would mean for him and he knew the reasons why he had never talked it through with Prue, why he had waited until his partner had come round to mention it and never once had he tried to convince him to stay.

"Sounds like you've made your mind up then"

Yeah…yeah he had hadn't he.

"Yeah"

Daryl was silent for a second staring down at the beer bottle label.

"You've been a great partner Andy. And an even better friend. And it's been a privilege going through doors with you"

Andy swallowed down the lump in his throat and staring out the window. The sun was going down and he thought how apt that was right now as he acknowledged that he was done being a cop. The sun was setting down on that too.

"You've been a great partner too Daryl. And thanks…for everything"

There was much more to be said, stuff that had developed over years of marriage, kids, divorce, Prue, cases, the terrible things that they had seen and their friendship which Andy knew would ring true regardless of what happened next but sitting there in his apartment in a t-shirt and sweats with his crutches to one side and the woman he loved out their fighting something that shouldn't exist in any normal world he found that there was peace to this and a terrific sense of normality. He would survive.

They stayed there in silence for quiet a while until Daryl's phone rang.

"Go get em" Andy said finally.

"Don't worry" Daryl said as if he understood what was in his mind. "You can tell Prue. And you call me…morning, noon and night if you want to talk. I mean it…"

Andy nodded. He couldn't say anything else and Daryl, God Bless him understood and left him alone to his own thoughts with the setting of the sun.

He turned in his badge the next week. He didn't call Prue but he knew that it was a conversation that he needed to have. The Cranberries (a group that he actually knew and liked) were holding an animal rights benefit and Andy was determined to go. It was the start of a new life for him and for Prue and even though the stairs were murder on his bad leg he managed to get down them. He was still using the stick and his ribs still sometimes felt like they were on fire but Piper kissing him on the cheek directed him to a chair that was in prime view of the of stage and got him a beer. Phoebe was already dancing on the floor with a man who had been helpless no doubt against her many charms and there was another guy there who was Piper's date who introduced himself as Dan Gordan and who had once played baseball which made the conversation flow between them easily. He did not ask about this Leo person and Piper never mentioned him. Despite not having sisters himself Andy had been friends with the three in front of him for long enough to know what that usually meant.

Piper took Dan onto the dance floor as the second set began and Prue dressed in black with her creamy skin on show came and sat next to him.

"You look wonderfully well" she said smiling.

"As do you…you had a busy week"

Prue flashed a mischievous smile at him.

"Something like that. I'd tell you about it but you'd honestly not believe it"

Andy doubted that. He was not sure if there was anything in this world that he would not believe anymore and his face must have shown that because Prue laughed.

"Let's just say I saw both the future and another perspective and in both I learnt a lot"

"Okay" he said drawing out the word. He was not sure just what he was going to say about that but he knew that Daryl had a point. There was a limit to what the human brain could accept.

"I have to talk to you about something" he said over the noise.

"Sounds ominous"

"No it's not, it's a good thing, a very good thing, and the right thing. But first—"

And then before she could say anything he kissed her.

It was easy in a way, like slipping back to how it had been when she had been a teenager, when she had been the girl he'd taken to prom and lost his virginity too, when he had been the cop waiting for results and had seen the girl he still pined for coming in with shorter hair looking for her sister.

She was Prue and he was Andy and it was just easy.

And he loved it.

She kissed back and for a time they stayed there and then another song came on and he stood up.

"Come on" he said tugging her hand. "Might not be able to spin you around but I can at least do a slow one if you don't mind propping me up?"

Her smile when she looked at him was so impossibly soft.

"Never"

He smiled and led her to the dancefloor where her sisters were.

Everything else could wait.

And there you go, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Next Chapter-As Andy and Prue begin their relationship for real, Prue is plagued by the ghosts of the past, the wonders of the future and the irritating presence of Jack Sheridan. Meanwhile Andy begins to make plans for the future. Again multiple episodes will be covered in this chapter.