And hi here you are another chapter, I am going to keep this note short and sweet and hopefully I will see you next time for the next chapter which should come sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

Please Read and Review.

And TRIGGER WARNINGS for drowning and the loss of a parent.

Also as seen in my summary below there are significant changes of events and dialogue in this story. But it is an AU story so please keep that in mind as well.

Before And After

Chapter 6-The Dance We Do

As Prue tackles the demon that killed her mother, Andy meets Sam and sees first-hand the consequences that can come with loving a Charmed One. Some TRIGGER WARNINGS for the death of a parent. Some dialogue/events change.

The lake had both terrified her and amazed her all at once. Water in general had been a thing of nightmares since the day where she had padded down to the lake to see her mother and had seen a body surrounded by police officers. It had not taken long for her brain to catch up with the sight and then before the grief had really taken hold a cop had been catching her in his arms taking her away to their grandmother who had arrived her hair in disarray and her mouth open and her eyes fixed on the body of her only child.

Prue had taken her Grams hand and had looked out onto the lake and had hated the smooth surface of the water. But as she seethed with hatred for the one material thing that had taken her mother away from her she thought she saw a ripple disturb the perfect deathlike feature.

Then it was gone and her Grams had pulled her broken self together and had turned her attention on her granddaughter and any thought of that one inconsequential ripple had disappeared as the reality of the situation had hit her.

She didn't even remember why she was at the lake, or how she got there or what her mother was doing there. She did remember the perfect stillness of the day. Not a bird cried, not so much as a breeze rippled the area.

And her mother did not so much as breath lying there in the cold black bag before her face was hidden from view and she was taken away where Prue could not follow.

Both literally and figuratively.

So she hated that damn lake. It had taken the most precious thing in the world from her and even now a grown ass witch in her late twenties she had look back to this moment and acknowledge that this was where it all changed. For her, for her sisters, for her grandmother and for the life they led now which saw them fighting demons on a constant day to day basis. All of it started and ended with this lake. And yet…and yet….and yet she could not stay away.

And that was another thing she could not stand.

She tended over the years to come here when she was in a mood to mourn but there was nothing here to mourn. She and Andy were great, hell tomorrow they even had plans to go out and have dinner like any normal couple, Piper was leaning more towards Dan than Leo but she seemed calm about the decision, Phoebe was happy in school and looking forwards to the future. There were still demons but none that massively impacted their day to day lives and even Jack Sheridan was being less and less of a pain in the ass as time worn on.

So why was she here?

Sighing she made to go when she saw it. That little ripple in the water. She had not thought about that day in months but now she watched as the ripple became a wave. She had been about to go in when she was grabbed and she looked up in to the face of a man that for some reason she was sure that she had seen before. There was something familiar about the way that he looked that reminded her of an old friend that used to come around the house and then had stopped abruptly.

"It's too late" he said and she pulled out of the horror that was unfurling before her eyes to stare at him. His voice spoke of a pain that she had only ever felt once before standing on this very embankment.

"Mommy!"

"Mommy!"

And Piper standing next to her, her little face so confused as if she had no idea why Prue was shouting for someone who clearly wasn't here anymore….

"It's taken him"

And then before she could realise the implications of words like that he was gone.

And she was left standing there looking out at a perfectly smooth and deadly surface.

Alone.

Again.

Andy was at the house waiting for her. She had called him from the car and he had been at the house waiting for her. His leg was still incredibly stiff, there was a very good chance his right ankle was never going to recover quite the same way but his ribs had massively improved so much so that he had passed his physical (his latest one only the day before) with flying colours.

"So" he had told her as she had opened some wine to celebrate. "We can have sex again"

She had laughed utterly carefree and then they had proceeded to have sex again and it had been perfect and (dare she say it) magical.

Now that golden feeling was turning sour rather rapidly.

He listened to the story allowing Piper and Phoebe time to ask the questions and only flinched a little when Leo orbed into the room which was as Prue knew only too well, a huge improvement.

"So you think whatever is in the water has been taking people all this time?" Phoebe asked her mouth half open.

"And it doesn't matter that Mom died the last time there opening camp again"

"Can they even do that?"

"Technically yes" Andy pointed out sitting on the chair in the attic as she leafed through the book frantically. "It's way past the statue of limitations on any kind of open investigation not to mention the fact that it's private property. Some might say even two years was enough time never mind over a decade and a half. Legally there's nothing anyone can do to stop the owner from opening it to children. Besides if she's implanted enough safety control…"

"Safety controls won't work" she said not looking at him.

"Yeah I know that but from a…mortal…perspective she's done all she's had to do. If you want her to close the camp you've got to convince her that something's in the water but considering this is the third well publicised drowning in that lake she probably does"

"You think there's more?" Leo asked.

Andy shrugged.

"Could be. I can call the office and see if I can find any missing people who disappeared at the lake but there's no definitive way to know but…but it sounds like this demon is…well…hungry"

He shuddered as he said this and even though the words struck a terrible chord in all of them Prue felt her heart swell in love for him and for how far he had come and how far he was trying to go to understand this world that she (and now he) was a part of.

"Can you?" she asked. "And then meet us here?"

Andy blinked. "You don't want me to meet you at the lake?"

"No" she said shaking her head. She was not going to tell Andy how utterly afraid she was thinking that he would be at the lake. That…thing inside the water hidden away from sight had already taken one of the most precious people in her life away from her she would be damned if she would lose another.

It was that decision that led them to meet Sam and that was a good thing really because even as Sam played them (and he played them beautifully sending them staggering back to bed as if they were children—and forgetting everything else in the process) she had to admit that if there was one man in the world she didn't want Andy to meet it was Sam. The man who had loved their mother despite all the odds and who had let her down.

Andy had come round the house in the morning concerned and dare he say it more than a little hurt that she had not called him as soon as she had gotten back. He knew the strain that the death of Prue's mother had had on her, indeed on all the sisters. His Dad had been called to the scene and it had been his Dad that had lifted Prue away from the body of her mother. He had come home that night and had pulled Andy onto his lap and had explained (his hands shaking the whole time) what had happened and that he had to be extra nice to Prue for a while because she was going to be very sad but it had not been until the next day when he had seen the family in mourning that he had understood that something terrible had happened.

Then it had been Grams raising the three of them alone and Prue and he had grown up together. Even when they had been together she never mentioned either one of her parents but he knew enough to know that she never went to any pool parties or swimming meets and even last year she had not gotten soap in her eyes when the demon of fear (and yes that was an actual thing!) had turned up.

And though he knew Prue enough to know that you didn't talk about Patty Halliwell dying unless she invited you too (and she never really did) he had expected her to call him at least and let him know on a practical level that she was safe.

What he had not been expecting was to see Prue stalk out of the house looking as if she was going to kill someone followed by a concerned and downright terrified looking Phoebe (neither one of them sparing him so much as a hello) and then being grabbed by the upper arm into the house by Piper who was…

"Is that poisoned ivy?"

"If you make a joke, I'm telling Prue that I helped you buy all of your valentine's gifts those two years of High School you were together"

"Harsh Piper—hey Leo"

"Hey Andy."

"So someone wanna tell me what's going on?"

Piper shot Leo a look and then launched into the story of Sam, their mother, whitelighters, letters found in back pockets and love stories that shouldn't exist and yet did.

By the time she was done Andy was already reaching for his car keys (he had never had time to take his coat off)

"You want me to drive Piper"

"Andy she—"

But Andy had, had enough.

"Piper this is so personal for Prue it's not even remotely funny. She's been desperate to put an explanation to her mother's death since it happened and now she's got one and she's gonna run headfirst towards it regardless of what the cost will be. This is the one chance she's got and she's not gonna care if the price of ending that demon is her own life"

Piper stared at him and then something seemed to change in her face.

"See" she said to Leo. "See…some mortals can keep up in this world. Take us now Leo"

Leo opened his mouth and then shut it again pulling Piper close. He held out his hand to Andy and Andy stared at it and then took it.

It was honestly the strangest feeling that he had ever experienced. It was like he was a teenager again and he had done six shots of his Dad's vodka had gone to bed and the whole room had been spinning until he felt like he was going to be sick. When he opened his eyes it was to see Prue looking at him and he realised he had gone to the manner and then to the lake in a matter of seconds.

Fucking hell.

He sat down on the deck chair feeling his head spin.

"You did quite alright you know" Leo said cheerfully. "Most mortals vomit the first time"

Andy cracked open one eye and then shut it again glaring at the vague direction of where Leo was.

"He loved her" Piper said and Andy opened his eyes to see the man who had to be Sam staring at the sisters as if his worst nightmare was coming true.

And so he launched into the tale of his relationship with Patty. The witch and the whitelighter who had been forbidden to be together but had snatched moments together whenever they could because their love was too great. How when he had realised she was in danger she had froze him and in that moment had sacrificed her only chance at ending the demon to keep him safe. And how he had never recovered. It was complex and tragic and terrible and yet as he talked Andy could feel Prue shooting him odd looks as if she was wating for the moment that he would say something or do something.

But Andy didn't. He was not sure weather or not he could speak.

"We have to see past our emotions to deal with this Sam so do you"

"Doesn't change anything. I still didn't see what happened."

And Andy spoke before Prue could because he knew what was happening and he knew that she would hate herself for asking and that he wouldn't. He got to his feet and linked his fingers with Prue's. Her grip was brittle and it hurt but he found he didn't care.

"But we know someone who can see anything"

Phoebe looked at him standing next to her sister went two shades lighter knocking backwards as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Wait a minute, you deny looking like Mom, you flinch everytime a comparison is made, you won't even walk to the end of that dock because your afraid you'll walk in her footsteps and now you want me to go and relieve her last moment? How is that fair?"

The plea for understanding in her voice was too much and he missed Prue's reply.

And then Phoebe was seeing and screaming and between helping her into the deck chair something had passed between the woman standing next to him and the old man who was clinging to life for this moment and Andy knew that it was Prue who was going to walk in her mother's footsteps and attempt to do the one thing that she had never done.

"I'd forgotten how good this feels" Sam said simply. The three of them were waiting as Piper and Phoebe stood apart.

"Yeah well…I was wondering what it was like to give it all up and be mortal"

"It sucks" Andy said shortly to Leo's comment. "Especially on a day like today when you wish desperately that you can do something and it turns out that you can't."

"Yes" you can Sam said suddenly. He patted both of them on the back as if they were his sons.

"You can love them. You can love them and never let them go because it can all end in the seconds it takes for someone to freeze"

And with that strange smile on his face he went to join Prue and somehow Andy just knew (deep, deep, deep down) that Sam had already decided that he was not going to come back from his walk down the dock.

In truth he didn't get to see much of it. One moment it was going well, then it was going terribly, then he was running and not running all at the same time. It was only when he felt his legs move again and saw Sam on the ground dying and the obvious sign that time had passed did he realise what had been done.

What Piper had done.

She had frozen him and Leo to protect them both.

And there was nothing that could be done to save Sam.

"Love them" he whispered his eyes flicking from his face to Leo's. "And enjoy every damn minute of it. Because it really is the best time of your lives. And never…never let them go"

And then he closed his eyes and just as Andy knew that the man's time in this world had ended he knew that he had gone and joined the love of his life in the next and that their story was just beginning.

They stayed on the docks for a very long time.

That night after it was all over they traipsed back to the manner. There was no discussion that Andy would be staying the night. He simply slipped into bed with Prue who gripped onto him as if she was trying to keep warm. He gripped back. Sam's death and the decisions that came from it were raw, dangerously raw and he was not going to risk spilling all of those emotions out any time soon.

Certainly not tonight.

"Move in with me" Prue said into the silence. "Sam's right we shouldn't waste a single second"

There were so many things he could say to that and indeed so many more cautious approaches to it as well but he found he didn't care. This was the second time he had seen and nearly escaped death and Sam was right. He was…there wasn't. Nothing was sure in this life even without what they were facing on a day to day basis. But he knew what he wanted.

He wanted her.

Always.

"Alright then" he said hugging her closer.

And they kept clinging to each other throughout the night.

And there you go, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and I will endeavour to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-Someone shoots up the house, Daryl finds out the truth. Prue goes undercover and takes on her greatest enemy and her greatest fear. Andy does the same to.