Different Paths, 5 of 5

by PrueTrudeau

last chapter up! 5th in my series. prue and andy are married and await the birth of their first child... will there be more charmed kids? and who will they be? read and review! it's not neccesary to have read the

45. 1999

Different Paths Part 45:
1999

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Prue sighted as the fogs disappeared again and this time she saw her not much younger self with Andy on the swing. It all seemed very much familiar and scary for Prue. She had a feeling, but wasn't sure. But she'd receive a reassurance very soon

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"A time loop?"

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"Time loop"
Prue whispered, but realized only a few seconds later what it meant.
"No! Don't! No... Please... don't make me watch this... please"
she begged, but knew it had no use.

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"You mean demons can actually do that sort of thing?"
Andy asked. He knew about Prue and her sisters being witches, but he still didn't fully comprehend what that really meant
"None that I've ever seen before but if it is a demon, it's the most powerful one we've ever come up against..."
Prue threw in. she had her arms crossed over her chest and watched Andy closely

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Prue watched her younger self's crossed arms and smiled. She had done anything at that time to prevent Andy from coming too close to her.

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"He's going through all this just to kill me?"
Prue swallowed. She had no answer for this or better she didn't want to answer him. She couldn't.
"No way, Prue. If he's as powerful as you say, then he's gotta be after you..."
Andy said pointing at her. He tried to stay on distance though he was very scared about her. He tried to stay professional; after all he was a cop. But knew he failed terribly. Prue didn't wait a second more
"Andy, please just let us handle this..."
Prue told him and then looked away she couldn't look at him and say what she was about to say. She didn't want him to see, she still had very deep feelings for him
"Whatever you do you have to promise me that you'll stay away from the manor."
"I can't promise you that, Prue."
Andy said and stepped closer to her.
"If you're right and Rodriguez is the demon then it's a trap."
"Yeah and then I'll have Piper and Phoebe there to back me up. Alright? And together we have the power of three."
Andy wouldn't let her off the hook so easy, he couldn't. He was worried. So he started to argue with her
"What if that's what he wants? All three of you together. What if that's the reason he set the time loop?"
"We'll just have to take our chances."
"You could get killed, Prue."
Andy told her. Prue starred for a second into his eyes
'what about you?'
Prue asked herself in a painful manner
"I mean it, Andy"
she told him with a voice she had heard so often from her grandmother

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Prue smiled hearing herself say that. She smiled through her tears. This seriously must have sound completely ridiculous to him.

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"This is not your fight..."

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Prue again smiled, even laughed. When Andy returned, this was the first they had talked about. Almost like they had later in that talk. Demons were her business; the 'normal' bad guys his.

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"Don't make me use my magic on you."
She said and they went both silent, for several seconds just looking into each other's eyes. They both felt the tension between them. Andy wanted to hold her, tell her he'd forever protected her, but there still was this witch thing, he simply couldn't handle. And he didn't know whether to find it cute, get mad or just simply laugh about her threat. Cute, cause she was worried about him; mad, about her thinking of him he was a weak little human, who couldn't handle demons anyway; laugh, cause Prue's voice just sounded so much like his mom's when she lectured him. Prue wanted to kiss him barely. He looked so hot, but she knew he didn't want it. They both were worried about the other. Prue swallowed hard and the small smile which played on Andy's lips disappeared right away
"I would die if anything happened to you."

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Prue watched Andy closely. She saw how his heart melt and at the same time got another squeeze of her heart. Today this could repeat. And she really would die, if anything happened to Andy, again, or their daughters for that matter. It again would be all her fault. Just because of this stupid curse.

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Prue starred into his eyes and paused
'Can I? Shall I?'
she thought to herself and inhaled once more deeply
"I love you."
Andy smiled warmly at her. And suddenly this witch thing didn't seem to matter anymore. All that matter was, that he loved her and she loved him
"I love you too, Prue."
he said gently and again moved a step closer to her. He had kissed her, but before he even could, Prue had wrapped her arms tightly around him. She held him tightly. Andy held her for a few seconds tight as well. He was scared something would happen to her. Especially now, that they finally allowed their feelings to come to the surface again. He tenderly kissed her hair, what caused Prue to pull slightly away. Andy smiled again at her and then finally leaned down to kiss her

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Prue couldn't help but think about her own Andy. She wanted him there right now. She wanted him to hold her. Wrap his arms around her. She should have talked to him about this stuff. But she now knew why. She couldn't have pulled him into a new danger. Couldn't risk his life again.

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About an hour later Andy entered his apartment. He sat down on his couch and thought about what had happened the last hour. Prue and him where just sitting on the swing. She laid in his arms and he just simply held her. Prue had crawled his hands. They didn't do much more than just hold each other, caress each other and mainly kiss each other. They were back together. He was in heaven. He had promised Prue to stay away. He knew she couldn't do her job right, when she was worried about him. He couldn't concentrate on his job neither, whenever he was worried about Prue. Like it was, when this... mr. berman was killing people during sleep and he knew, Prue was somehow involved. He remembered how aggressive he was. It was so hard to just go away from the swing. To part. They were newly in love. Parting was always the worst of the day. He had loved to never leave the swing again. But Prue had to go, and he knew it. And he had to get home. Where it was safe, like Prue had asked him to. Now he sat on his couch and regretted this all so much. He couldn't just sit there and wait. Wait for a message of Prue or Piper or Phoebe to call and say Prue wasn't okay. He wanted to protect her, and he would. He grabbed his phone and dialled in Darryl's ceil number
"Darryl? I need to talk to you. Can we meet?"

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Half an hour later Andy entered buddy's
"do you have it?"
Andy asked
"for what do you need it?"
"I can't tell you..."
"then I'm afraid I can't give you the weapon, Andy..."
"Darryl... please... I need your help in this... seriously..."
Darryl sighted and handed him the bag with the weapon inside
"thank you..."
a waitress came up to the two men and asked them what they wanted. Andy ordered a water and Darryl a coffee
"okay... umm... you need to listen now to me, Darryl. I'm gonna do... something... maybe stupid..."
"wha..."
the waitress returned with their orders. And when she was gone again, Andy again looked at Darryl
"please... first listen to me... then we might be able to discuss..."
Andy said and Darryl nodded
"so like I said... I may do something stupid today... and I need you to do me two favours... if anything happens to me today... and I... for some reason... can't do it myself... I need you to make sure, Prue knows, it wasn't her fault"
"so this is really about Prue? Was that phone call as well?"
Andy ignored what Darryl said
"I need you to make her know that and I need you to make sure... that... if there should be any investigations... that Prue's name... never appears in any files... connected to me..."
"Andy... are you... insane... I can't do this"
"Darryl... please... I'll explain everything to you one day... but right about now, I just simply don't have the time. Promise me you'll do that."
Darryl hesitated...
"Trudeau..."
"promise me..."
"Andy... I..."
"promise me!"
Andy asked again and finally the inspector nodded
"alright... I promise... but only if you promise me... you'll do nothing too dangerous, alright?"
"I'll try"
Andy said, grabbed the bag and disappeared without a goodbye.

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Prue couldn't help but smile. Andy was so cute. She knew how this vision would end and it made her not happy at all. But he was so cute. She still remembered the amazing feeling of his lips on hers. His touches. Every single second of this morning was in her mind. Now he also made sure, she wouldn't feel guilty and that she wouldn't get suspected in his murder.
"I love you"
Prue whispered as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

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Andy had driven to the manor and stayed sitting in his car, watching the house. He'd make sure nothing would happen to Prue. Prue went through so much already without him. He'd not let her handle this alone. Not this time. This time he'd protect her, not the other way around. Andy then noticed Rodriguez and ducked. He watched him closely as he started to go up the stairs. He then saw Kit who growls at the stranger. Rodriguez turns and looks at kit with blood red eyes. Kit growled another once at him and then ran away.
"Oh my God, Prue."
he whispered and grabbed his gun. He saw how Rodriguez crashed the door open and so he hurried up the stairs. He heard crashes and screams
"Prue..."
he said under his breath as he stormed into the manor as well

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"Stay away... please... Andy... you have to stay away..."
Prue said lowly. Already sobbing. She had to watch herself falling to the floor. Her eyes were still open. She remembered how she heard Andy's voice and saw him

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"Nooo!"
Andy yelled and started to shoot at Rodriguez.
"Andy..."
Prue mumbled before falling unconscious. Rodriguez didn't wait long and threw an energy ball at Andy who, by the force of it, was thrown back into glass cabinet.

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Prue closed her eyes tightly. She never actually had seen how everything happened, but once more, closing her eyes didn't have any use. Even with her eyes closed, she still saw every detail
"no... Please... it's enough... I want to end this..."
she sobbed, hoping it'd be this easy to escape the quest. She was shocked and confused from everything. Phoebe's accident. Andy's death. Everything was her fault. She was cursed. It was her fault. Everything was. Everything seemed to be. This was throwing her even more back into the state; she was in, after she had seen her accident with Phoebe. Sobbing she had to watch Andy's crashed body and his wide open eyes. She knew he was dead. This was getting more and more horrible.

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Prue sat for several minutes on the swing. Not understanding where she was, why she was there or what happened. She then suddenly heard a voice. Andy's voice
"Prue. Prue. Come to me, Prue."
Andy said as he walked around the swing to come to her.
"Andy? What's going on? Where are we? "
"I'm not quite sure... really."
He said looking up. Searching the place, smiling slightly.
"I always hoped... I'd end up here, but... not so soon."
He said and paused, to stare ahead of him.
"One thing I DO know is... that I'm staying."
He told her and then finally looked down to Prue.
"You're not."
Prue shook her head, but kept her eyes fixed on his.
"I don't understand."
Andy sighted. He didn't understand how he was so calm. How he knew he was dead and all, but it seemed like, something was inside of him, giving him this knowledge and strength. He sat down next to Prue and swallowed. This was so hard. He didn't look at her as he started
"I broke my promise, Prue. I came to your house tonight..."
he told her and then turned to look at Prue.
"Turns out Phoebe's premonition was one... you couldn't stop after all."
Andy told her and swallowed
"Weren't supposed to stop."
'How can I say this?'
Andy thought, it seemed like someone was putting these words into his mouth and they just came out of it, as if they were his won.
"Wait a minute..."
Prue said. This couldn't be true...
"Andy... no."
Andy bit his lip and then laid his arm around Prue.
"It's okay, Prue. Really. Trust me..."
'What? This is not okay! We just... came back together... again... this is absolutely not okay.'
It yelled inside of Andy, but again something inside of him, seemed to just force him to say this and keep the truth inside. He started to stroke her hair gently, while looking at her and continued to explain things to Prue, he still didn't understand – comprehend – this all himself.
"This is my destiny. I know that now. Yours is to continue on."
He said. He again looked away. He couldn't look her into the eyes and say that. He wasn't sure if this seriously would be his destiny. He was scared, his face showed different things to what he said. But this babbling seemed better... more normal... more reasonable.
"Everything happens for a reason. Remember? You taught me that."
He said and found himself smiling. He could look at her. He wouldn't scare her even more. He knew that now.
"This isn't fair..."
Andy didn't let her much time to talk.
"You need to go back. You need to keep the time loop from being reset again or you and your sisters will be killed. And I will have died in vein..."
"I'll kill Rodriguez for this."
She told him, looking away.

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Prue continued to watch the torture. She was calm. He seemed calm. Why were they calm? He was dead... gone. They'd be apart for years... they had to think... it'd be forever. Why were they so damn calm? Prue then remembered why she had been calm. Andy. Andy was the one calming her down. He resembled the rock in the sea. Andy crawled her head. She always had loved and still loved when he did this. Everything seemed so much better every time he did that. She closed her eyes and thought she'd feel it again as well. She calmed slightly as well again.
'Why... did Andy know all of this? How could he know it? What is he babbling?'
she asked herself, for the first time she noticed how absurd this all was. What he said. how he acted.

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"No you won't. You're not a murderer, Prue, you're a good person who does good things."
"I don't wanna lose you..."

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Prue heard her voice and thought, that these were the first real, natural words she had heard the last few minutes.

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"Don't worry. You won't..."
Andy stroke her cheek gently and Prue looked at him. Was forced to. She looked into his eyes and saw, he wasn't calm. Not at all. Maybe on the surface, but his eyes showed fear and sorrow. She wanted to ask him, what was wrong, but she didn't have time. He leaned down to kiss her. Prue automatically closed her eyes. A tear left her eye. She enjoyed the kiss. Felt his hand on her cheek and his tender kiss. How his tongue started to gently massage hers. And just as she was about to think, this never would end. He broke the kiss. Andy didn't want to stop neither. He didn't want to let her go. But again this invisible force made him pull away.
"I'll always be there for you..."
he whispered. Prue looked at him and noticed he was about to lean forwards again. She closed her eyes again. Awaiting another kiss. Nothing. Prue then noticed his warm hand was gone. His gentle warm touch on her cheek wasn't there anymore. She opened her eyes and found him gone. Prue would have broken down, but heard Piper and Phoebe's voices. She didn't have the time to break down at the moment. Though she'd break down more than ever as soon as she would be alone with Andy's leftovers and the months after this horrible loss.

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Prue closed her eyes tightly. It was over. Finally.
"Prue!"
Again it was Andy's voice. She opened her eyes and thought she'd be awake or something but she was wrong. She again saw Andy. He was still in heaven. Standing there. Alone.

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"Prue!" he yelled desperately.

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Prue now felt how upset Andy was. This weird calmness, which had taken over them just a few minutes ago, had vanished. He was upset. Alone. He had lost Prue. The love of his life.

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"What is this? Let me go!"
he yelled. Andy hadn't understood this all. This was washing over him like it was Prue. It was surprising him as well. He didn't understand anything anymore. Was he really dead? But what scared him even more, were those words which came out of his own mouth, without him actually wanting or understanding these words himself.
"Don't worry"
a man assured him appearing next to him in a blue light.
"Who..."
Andy then recognized the man
"l... Leo... right?"
"Yes."
"What... are you doing here... what am I doing here? Why... why did I say all those things? Why..."
"Prue needed this to be able to go on... and fulfil her destiny... and with that also fulfilling yours..."
"I... don't understand..."
"You don't have to."
Leo said and took his hands. His hands were glowing in a yellow light and Andy seemed to calm again
"I'll explain everything to you later... come on..."

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Prue saw everything. She had never cried as heavy as she was right now. Leo was taking him. He was taking him away from her. Prue remembered what Andy told her, that Leo was his teachers. He'd explain him everything now, but instead of seeing how he explained, the vision again clouded. It was weird, that her tears didn't fool her vision. But not even closing her eyes, kept her form seeing everything more than clear. Understanding everything. So why should tears? Prue expected to wake now any second, but the vision cleared again and the pool again showed a scene. It was of today...