Prue's Secret
Chapter Three "Denial"
A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed!
About an hour later, Prue decided she should go down stairs and face her sisters, and the myriad of questions that was sure to come. Prue got up, wiped her eyes and walked slowly down the stairs, deciding to tell them as little as possible. She wondered if Piper had told Phoebe about it already, but her unspoken question was answered when she walked down the stairs and saw Piper and Phoebe sitting on the couch together, tears brimming in both of their eyes.
Prue stood awkwardly at the base of the stairs wondered what she should say. But Piper looked up and noticed her before she got the chance to say anything. "Prue" Piper said, wiping her eyes and standing up. Phoebe stood up too and rushed over to Prue, about to wrap her up in a hug, but Prue ducked and stepped out if the way of Phoebe's arms. She just…didn't feel like being touched right now. Phoebe put her arms back down at her side, visibly hurt by Prue's actions. "I'm so sorry, Prue" Phoebe told her sincerely "Piper just told me and…I'm so, so sorry"
Prue shrugged, forcing herself to be indifferent to the whole thing, "Oh, yeah, that…well, its okay Phoebe. It was a long time ago and I'm fine now." Prue said, disgusted with herself for lying to the two people she cared about most. But lying is still easier, Prue reminded herself, it's still easier than reliving it. Piper looked at her in surprise, "But Prue, an hour ago you-" "Piper I said I'm fine" Prue snapped, interrupting her. Piper stopped speaking, taken aback by Prue's sudden change in attitude, "Prue" she said again, more decidedly, "You need to talk about this, how are you ever going to get over this if you act like nothing happened" "Nothing did happen, Piper. Andy and I were on a date one night and he got a little rough with me. End of story" Prue said and swallowed a gasp before it reached her lips; she never said anything about where they were when it happened to before, she was telling them too much.
Piper shook her head and looked sadly at Prue, "That's not what you told me before" she answered quietly. Prue shook her head not knowing what else to do, the memories of that night were rushing back to her, and it was getting harder and harder to repress them, "I'm not going to talk about this now" Prue told her sister briskly, turning and walking toward the door, "I'm going to go to work" she told her sisters, anything to get away from here, she silently added. "Prue, it's 10 at night" Phoebe told her, "and it's a Saturday" Piper added. Prue paused, with her hand on the door knob, damnit, she was so close. "Well, then I'm going…"Prue trailed off realized she really had no where else to go. " Never mind where I'm going I'll be back whenever" Prue snapped, yanking the door open and practically running to her car, she didn't really care where she went, she just had to get away.
"Does this remind you of when Prue was a teenager or what?" Phoebe commented to Piper as they watched their oldest sister drive away. Piper nodded and then froze, "Yeah Phoebe, when she was 17" the realization lit her chocolate brown eyes, "That's when Prue started to go though her rebellious phase, maybe it was after…" Again Piper trailed off, unable to say the word, Phoebe nodded, "I hope she doesn't fall into that again, she was so reckless it almost got her killed the last time"
~~*~~
Prue drove out of the manor driveway, still wondering where she should go. She and Andy's swing in the park where they always went to talk flashed into her mind, but she pushed the thought away quickly. I'm trying to forget what happened to me, Prue reminder herself, not dredge more of it up. Finally she decided she'd just go to work, that was where she usually went when she couldn't deal with being at home. That's why I work 12 hour days, Prue mused with a hint of bitterness.
When Prue walked of inside Bucklands she was surprised to see that she wasn't the only one who was working late, Jack Sheridan was there too. Jack looked up at her and smiled as she walked by his office on the way to her own. "Prue" he called and Prue paused, trying to decide if she should walk in and talk to him or just ignore him and walk away. They had been flirting for months now, but Prue just didn't know if she could deal with him right now. "Hey, Prue" Jack said again snapping Prue out of her thoughts and she realized she had been standing in the doorway of his office for a few minutes without saying anything. "Oh, um, yeah Jack?" Prue asked, embarrassed and flustered that she was already acting weird around him. "Are you okay?" Jack asked, getting up from his desk and walking towards her.
Prue shrugged, "Not really" she answered. "Want to talk about what's bothering you?" Jack asked. Prue smiled and again replied, "Not really" "Well do you at least want to grab some dinner with me?" Jack asked, "I've been here since noon and I'm starving" "Sure" Prue answered, deciding Jack would be a good distraction from her problems.
They decided to get fast food since all the restaurants had already closed because by now it was almost midnight. Prue and Jack laughed and talked all throughout dinner, but Prue still couldn't get her mind off of Andy, or her sisters. All night she felt memories of the night with Andy tugging at her conciseness, trying to break to the surface and it took all of Prue's will power to push them back down; because that's what she'd always done, before she told Piper what happened, she really couldn't remember anything at all about that night, she knew Andy raped her, but everything else was incredibly fuzzy, but now, the more she talked about it, the more bits and pieces she was remembering. Prue was afraid what would happen if she ever remembered the entire thing, she almost went to pieces just telling Piper what happened to her and that was with no real memory of it, she had no idea how she could handle it if she remembered everything thing in vivid detail.
Prue yawned and curled up in the seat of Jack's car realizing how tired she was and the reassuring sound of Jack's voiced lulled her to sleep.
~~*~~
When Prue was asleep, more of that night with Andy came back to her in her dreams. They were in Andy's car, drinking some vodka that Andy had taken from his parent's liquor cabinet. Prue was getting very drunk. She leaned over and kissed Andy. Prue's dream faded to black and the next thing she saw was Andy on top of her.
Jack looked over at Prue and smiled, realizing she'd fallen asleep. It was almost two in the morning and Jack decided that he'd better wake her up and take her home so her sisters wouldn't worry. "Prue" Jack said softly, she didn't even stir. "Prue wake up" Jack said, gently shaking her.
Prue felt someone touch her and in her dream Andy was still on top of her. Prue shuddered, "No Andy" she mumbled still asleep as she squirmed in her seat. Prue felt someone shake her again, "Andy, NO" she screamed, her eyes snapping open as she sat bolt upright, but she didn't see the inside of Jack's car with him looking at her in surprise and concern, she still saw the image from her dream, the image she'd tried so hard to block out for 10 years, Andy on top of her, raping her. Prue shuddered again and pulled her knees up to her chin, rolling into a ball once again. "No Andy" she whispered, not even aware that she'd started to cry "No Andy…Andy no, stop…Andy" she repeated over and over again, starting to shake as she cried harder.
"Prue, its okay you're safe" Jack said, surprised at her reaction and the fact that she didn't even seem to notice him, even when he spoke. "Shh Prue, it's okay" Jack said again, as he started to wrap his arms around her but stopped and thought better of it when she shuddered again, her whole body shaking with the force of it. "I'm going to take you home" Jack told her as he started the car.
Prue finally stopped crying and was too exhausted to even speak. As Jack drove Prue woke up more and realized where she was, and what she was saying. Prue and Jack rode the rest of the way to the manor in silence, Prue didn't have to worlds to explain to him what happened to her with anything but the truth and she was barely holding on the her last thread of sanity as it was, she didn't know what she would do if he started to ask questions, but thankfully he didn't and when they reached the manor, Prue thanked him for the ride and slipped out of the car quickly, before he had a chance to say anything.
She walked shakily up to the manor and opened the door, seeing that Piper was still awake and waiting up for her. Tears came to Prue eyes; she had never been so happy to see one of her sisters before. Prue took one look at Piper sitting on the couch and collapsed into her arms, crying until she dosed off to sleep.
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