Hi, so here is another chapter, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I will bring you the next one sooner rather than later. There are only four more chapters left of this story so stay tuned. Obviously this story will miss out on the last few episodes but I hope that you will enjoy my own happier spin on the end of Season 3.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine, just playing around with the characters.

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

Also this chapter does deal with the triggers that deal with death and the Angel of Death. I thought that this episode was a stand out for the whole eight series actually. Shannon kills it in this episode and Simon Templeton who played Death also killed it. That last exchange on the beach has some of the most memorable dialogue of any episode. Getting inside Death's head (so to speak) was one of the wonderful joys that come with writing fanfiction and I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

And TRIGGER WARNINGS-For Death, the death of a parent and other such potential warnings.

Also please be aware like many other people within fanfiction I am having issues with receiving notifications of PMs/Reviews therefore if I don't reply to something immediately then that is it.

Before And After

Chapter 20-Anywhere I Lay My Head

As Prue deals with the emotional ramifications of her mother's visit and her advancing pregnancy, she comes face to face with what she thinks is the greatest enemy that she will ever face and learns a valuable lesson about what death is and how to move on from the loss. Also a rather…unique point of view in this chapter.

Her boy was kicking.

Like…her boy was really kicking.

The kind of kicking that was fun for the first week or so and by the time that she got to the end of the second week she was sick of the random fluttering feeling that hit her at all times of the day.

"I mean seriously" she said as she worked her way through one of Piper's amazing ham and cheese sandwiches (with the chewy, smoky kind of ham and the blue cheese that made her doctor raise his eyebrows at her and ask just what on earth she was doing with her body.

"What are you doing in there? Practicing for a Bon Jovi concert?"

"Aw he's kicking cause he knows Auntie Phoebe is here"

"More likely cause he can pick up on me" Cole said following Phoebe into the house and giving Prue the customary nod. They were civil…yes that was the word. Civil. It might be all that they were but they were civil and considering she was a witch and Cole was a demon and they were natural and hereditary enemies she thought she was doing better than most in her situation.

The urge not to kill him was getting stronger by the day so that had to be a step in the right direction. Hopefully he was feeling the same way.

The baby gave another kick inside of her and Prue stretched.

"Phoebe are you still okay to the beach?"

"I said I'd take you while your car is in the shop. I mean it's an informal photoshoot right? You don't need equipment or anything?"

"No" thank God she thought to herself. The beach was a painful place for her. She was taking a few informal shots for the magazine—she was not going to do a full photoshoot near water unless she was ordered to and though she hated the fact that soon she would be on maternity leave the fact that she was soon to go made it easier for someone else to do assignments like that.

Andy had been busy too. He had taken Leo, Daryl and a rather alarmed Cole to several shops to get baby furniture. To see Cole the demon hold up a baby mallet and casually remark that this was a shitty weapon to kill someone with had been one of the highlights of the day. They had taken to setting furniture up and it was actually rewarding to see Daryl enjoy himself. This was one of those rare area's of expertise that he could really get into. Cole had never been around children, Leo knew nothing about them and Daryl had four.

It was bizarre to see the four of them together, the demon, the cop, the ex-cop and the war medic turned angel trying to assemble a child's crib but Cole had broken the conversation by pointing out that he too had been in the war (Hitler had been wonderful for the demons—a nice chance for them to stretch their legs and gain new victims—according to Cole the paperwork had taken them all the way to the Cuban Missile Crisis) and he had just been giving them a story about that time he had accidently met the man in question (naturally) when Phoebe had come back clutching her jacket and Prue had been mid eye roll and her baby had been mid-kick.

And that had led her to here.

The beach.

And a dark shadowy thing following a woman who was in turn following them.

Fantastic.

As it turned out it was kinda (really it was) because of Cole.

Prue began to wonder listening to his explanation about why the police where after him, why Davidson was being hunted down by demons for his brain, began to wonder if this was the start of a new trend whereas every demon they faced was really related to Cole or because of Cole and they were going to spend eternity cleaning up his mess.

It wasn't just Cole that was making her on edge. There was something about the shadow that made her want to wrap her hands around her baby and protect him inside of her forever. She knew his powers were coming along and she knew that he was thriving and able to protect himself but there was something about this shadow that made her want to hold him tighter inside her where she knew it was safe and she could take the hits and she could take the fireballs and she could take the bullets.

It didn't help matters that she was still thrown about her mother's impromptu visit to the land of the living. It seemed that everything she had buried down deep within her had come back out. She was struggling to contain her emotions about it. Her mother should be here, she should be here with her daughter as Prue was nearing giving birth. She was six months now there was only three more left to go and she wanted to get on with it.

And she wanted her Mom.

Seeing her at Piper and Leo's wedding had brought it all back. The touch, the smell of her perfume, her smile. All the little things that Prue had thought she would never forget and yet had somehow over the passing of time. It was rawer too. She did know that loosing her Grams had been hard but her mother's dead had been so sharp and so sudden and so painful that now as she was on the cusp of motherhood herself it was keeping her up at night hating the demon that had taken her, hating the world that had taken her and wishing pointlessly that she could have her back as she was about to do the same dance—motherhood and magic.

She could not tell Andy of these fears. He had lost his mother to an illness that could be prevented now (at least somewhat) and he still had a father—and a relatively good relationship with him (better at least than the one phone call Prue got that was always one sided because it was still so awkward to call). Andy did not have the same worries about magic and motherhood that she did. And she knew what Andy would say, her partner was nothing but practical and he would point out that there was never a chance this baby would be alone forgetting about her and that to think of such things was surely to stress her out and in turn stress the baby out.

No on this one she was alone and she found that losing innocents did not put her in a good mood.

Finding out that the Angel of Death was both real and also after another of her innocents was just the icing on top of the rotten cake.

"Death?" Andy had said when they had, had one of their impromptu meetings in the living room (this time it included an unconscious cop and a nightlight that wouldn't turn off).

"As in the Angel of Death?"

"Yeah he's real" Leo said nodding.

"Course he is" Andy muttered.

"He's not working with the demon" Cole said in a voice of absolute certainly—nothing was more certain to a demon than death no doubt.

"No he couldn't be" Leo mused. "The Angel of Death isn't evil"

"Oh the hell he isn't"

Everyone looked at her.

"No he's not" Cole said simply. "Death isn't evil Prue. It's death, it's just there. He's been around since before the dawn of time. It is what it is"

Christ how could even he think it was that simple?

"Death is evil" she said shaking her head. "And I am going to vanquish him"

"Your going to vanquish death?" Cole repeated in that rather insulting tone that spoke of his disbelief.

"Do you think I cannot do it?"

"I think you'll just irritate him" Cole muttered.

"Prue perhaps irritating death is not the best way to go about this" Andy began but before Prue could point out that death was the reason why their son was going to grow up with no grandmothers Davidson groaned and began to wake up which effectively ended their conversation and caused enough distraction for her plan to go unnoticed by everyone and anyone (though Cole continued to shoot a look at her that told Prue he thought that she had completely lost the plot)

Of course at this moment Leo orbed out and that just made the whole situation incredibly more complicated.

Naturally.

The problem with losing someone so young was that you tended to hate things.

People.

Him.

The idea of him.

It wasn't that he wasn't used to that. He was Death. He was the thing that snuck in in the night and took away people's loved ones. He was the thing that kept people awake and he was the thing that was begged at, screamed at, hated and in some (truly disturbing) cases worship.

God he hated those idiots. He didn't need a load of screaming young people trying to speak to him through an alter and a dead cat. He just needed to do his job.

That was what led him to this problem.

Witches.

Witches were specific kind of meddling breed. Unless probably guided they could cause utter chaos. They tended to have no idea that there was a natural plan and more to the point the ones that did always thought that they could change it.

Irritating.

Demons were never like that—humans were never like that—Death liked both demons and humans. Humans tended to be calm, demons tended to be easy. Death could deal with them all day.

But without a war—the overtime with those two world wars had been hell. He was still processing his list of those who took the trip beyond and those who went…below even now. Wars were messy and complicated and gave him a headache that lasted eons.

Humans.

Witches.

Charmed Ones.

It wasn't that he didn't understand why she hated him.

It was just that he had a job to do and she was getting in the way. But a part of him had known that showing her what he did. Showing the peaceful transition between life and death for the soul was a bit too much.

But Prudence Halliwell had to understand.

She had to understand that there was a delicate balance at play here. That there was something going on behind the scenes, that there was nothing good or evil about him that he just…was…

And also on a personal level he was rather curious.

Prudence Halliwell and Andrew Trudeau had been a bit of a curious one for him. Both times they had appeared on his list. Her after Davidson, him around the time that time demon (no pun intended) had been running around. Both times their names had been set in stone.

And for both of them their names had been taken off the list.

He had thought for one moment that things might be malfunctioning. Then he remembered that he was Death and therefore the system he had been employing for many eons had worked before and would work again.

No…there was something interesting about those two. He had never seen anyone go on his list with such certainty and then come off it again just as quick. It was almost like divine providence. Like something out there was telling him—Death—what he could and could not do.

Right now though he was at a beach with sand covering…everything.

Death tried not to be irritated too much by the little things otherwise he would have given up a long time ago (when he had to deal with politicians—there was a special place in hell for those idiots) but sand…he doubted there was a person alive or dead that really got the point of sand.

Prue Halliwell took the news that she was on his list and then she wasn't calmly enough.

"And my baby?"

"Never went near it. It's odd…you both managed to cheat me."

She managed a small smile at that and her hand came down on her stomach to where the new life inside of her was growing. Death watched it with a strange curiosity. Life was something he did not have to deal with—at least not the creating of it anyway.

"I just…I've been mad at you for so long"

Ah so that was it. Forgiving him. It was a hard thing to do he knew. And not everyone could forgive him. Forgive death. It was the natural way he knew. But sometimes some people tried, and it was those people that made all the difference.

He thought about it looking over the waves and the scent coming off the sea and he thought randomly that this was the place where Prue Halliwell would take her son one day. The same place where life ended, life began. The full circle.

Odd…he was never…sentimental about anything and yet here he was.

This was why he never liked dealing with witches.

"You grieve" he said simply. "And then you move on"

And with that he disappeared leaving Prue Halliwell to stare out to the shoreline and finally allow herself the simple dignity of a good cry and the chance to move forwards into something better.

I hope this answers questions for you about this story and how Andy managed to survive. I took a bit of artistic licence and this was what I came up with.

And I will bring you the next chapter sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-Prue and Andy, Piper and Leo contemplate what their futures look like both in and out of the Halliwell manor. Meanwhile a flashback shows Prue and Andy's lives still orbiting around each other even as the Halliwell sisters begin to break apart.