Chapter 2.3 – One Less Fear

"Uh," Darryl waved his hands and tried to get their attention. "Guys?"

Andy inclined his head for Darryl to go on.

"I do have to get back to the station," Darryl told them. "I just came to see if there was anything else you could tell me about Mary Jones, anything I can put in a report."

Prue looked at Phoebe.

Phoebe looked at Cole.

Cole just shrugged.

Leo shook his head. "No, I don't think there is, Darryl. Phoebe got a premonition. Cole tried to find the location. They got there too late. Kernus blew her off the roof, and I couldn't save her. There's really nothing you can use there. Sorry."

Darryl nodded. "Well, at least from what Prue told me, from now on I'll be able to share the solution of any crime I solve with the rest of the police force."

Andy looked at him for a second before breaking out in a chuckle. "Yes, I guess you will at that." A slow grin began to grow on Andy's face. "No more unnaturally weird cases. No more completely unexplainable mishaps and deaths. Still plenty of horrible things caused by humans, but not by magic." He considered this silently for a moment. "Definitely an improvement."

Darryl nodded in agreement. "You're right. It certainly is an improvement." He turned back to the others in the room. "I guess I'd better get back to the station before someone wonders why it took me so long to find nothing."

"Just tell anyone who asks that your witnesses have already been through enough and you were being careful with your questions," Prue suggested, only to be interrupted by another chuckle from Andy. She turned to give him a look that was a mixture of annoyance and affection before looking back at Darryl. "Since you have to go, we'll try to figure out what to do about this."

"It was good to see you, again, Darryl," Piper told him. "And thank you for doing my eulogy. I know that had to be hard."

Darryl silently agreed. It had been hard. He smiled at her. "It was, but I'm glad it was such a short loss. It's nice to see you among the living again, Piper. And you, too, Andy. I am so glad to have you back alive. I missed you so much. Let me know when you figure out what you're going to do."

Andy nodded. "I definitely will. See you later, Darryl. It's wonderful to get to have my friends back as my friends."

"Good-bye, Darryl," Phoebe grinned cheerily.

"Thank you for stopping by," Leo added. "I'm sorry you have to deal with this. Hopefully it will be a long while before you investigate another death and at least then you'll have something to investigate."

Darryl nodded as he also said, "Good-bye," before turning around and heading out of the attic. Prue extracted herself from Andy's arms again, so that she could follow Darryl and shut and lock the front door behind him. It was such a good feeling as she left that attic, knowing that when she returned Andy and Piper would be there, alive, waiting, and she no longer had to fear the moment that the Elders took Andy away from her again. She grinned. She no longer had to fear the Elders doing anything!

That's the end of chapter two. I have some people who really want an update on another story, so I'll update that and get on to chapter three. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.