A/N: Welcome to my new story. Don't worry, Walking Through Fire will still be updated regularly. I couldn't get this idea out of my head, so this is the result. Hope you all like!

Chapter One

"Andy, would you stop? We're going to wake my sisters up," Prue complained, pushing her boyfriend away from her.

They were laying on the sofa in the living room of Halliwell manor, a place Prue definitely didn't want to be. Once she had graduated high school she tried to run as far away from this place as possible, wanting to start her own life with Andy and become a professional photographer. And especially to get away from Grams and her younger sisters.

That had all changed three months ago when Gram's heart had finally given way and she'd had a heart attack. Since Victor Halliwell was nowhere to be found and their mother had died a long time ago, Prue was the only one who could step in as guardian for Piper, Phoebe, and Paige until they turned eighteen.

She had been immensely grateful to Andy for coming with her. She honestly didn't know if she would have gotten by if it hadn't been for his support.

"So let them wake up. They need to get up for school soon anyway," Andy murmured, brushing his lips to hers, refusing to back away.

Prue let out a stifled laugh, doing her best to keep it quiet. "Yeah, in about seven hours. C'mon, Andy. We need to get some sleep. Their first day of school is tomorrow."

Andy pulled away, slightly annoyed. "So? It's not like they need us to walk them inside. I think they can handle high school."

"I know that, but...please Andy. What kind of example am I setting to them?" Prue asked, managing to sit up a little bit, though it was difficult since she was pinned down by her boyfriend's weight.

"Who cares? They're asleep. Which means that we're..."

They were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, and Prue's heart skipped a beat. Both Andy and Prue shot up from the sofa and Andy glanced at Prue, worried.

Andy went to the bookshelf to the shotgun that he kept hidden behind the last book on the bottom shelf, but it turned out not to be necessary when Phoebe came into view, doing her best to stay quiet, thinking that Prue and Andy were upstairs asleep.

"Phoebe!" Prue hissed, causing her younger sister to jump about a foot in the air.

Stifling a laugh, she turned her expression serious when a guilty-looking Phoebe turned around to meet Prue face-to-face.

"Hi, Prue! What are you doing up?" fifteen-year-old Phoebe asked pleasantly, her high-pitched tone indicating that she knew she was busted and was doing her best to cover it up.

"Apparently waiting for you. You're supposed to be in bed," Prue pointed out obviously, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart, still thumping madly from thinking someone had tried to break into their house.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "So are you. But I see I just interrupted something very important, so if you'll excuse me..."

"Oh no you don't! Don't change the subject. You have school tomorrow! What are you doing sneaking in at the middle of the night?" Prue demanded, determined not to let Phoebe get away with her tricks like she most likely had with Grams.

"None of your business," Phoebe threw back, heading up the stairs.

"It was Cole, wasn't it?"

"No!" Phoebe answered, a little too quickly.

Busted, Prue thought with a small splurge of pride. "Phoebe, I don't want you seeing him anymore."

"Why?" Phoebe snapped, her voice raising.

Prue winced, hoping Piper and Paige hadn't woken up. It was bad enough she had no control over Phoebe. She wasn't in the mood to get into another fight with her sisters.

"Because he's a bad influence. Can we talk about this later?" Prue whispered, angry.

Phoebe rolled her eyes again and continued up the stairs. "No, this conversation is over. You aren't the boss of me, even if you are my guardian!"

Her footsteps gradually became fainter, and Prue was grateful that Phoebe at least had the sense to stay quiet upstairs. She turned to face Andy, who had stayed quiet during the short fight, not eager to get in the middle again.

"Tell me what I'm doing wrong, Andy. I'm failing miserably at this," she cried and fell into his arms.

Andy stroked her back, and Prue was grateful that he didn't say anything. She took great comfort in his presence alone, and he knew that he didn't need to say anything in order to make her feel better.

"You're doing the best you can. Phoebe's just going through a rebellious faze. If I remember correctly, we went through that ourselves..."

Prue smiled, recalling her teenage years, which weren't all that long ago. "I think I snuck out at least once a week."

"Don't worry about Phoebe, Prue. She may be a little wild now, but she'll come around. It happens when maturity sets in," Andy reassured her, settling them both back on the couch.

"That'll be a long time from now," Prue mumbled.

Andy laughed. "She's fifteen, Prue. That's a hard age."

Prue shrugged. "Well, so is twenty. And it's even harder when you're left to raise your teenaged siblings all by yourself. Let's go to bed. Okay?"

"Okay." Andy wrapped his arms around her and led her up the stairs to the bedroom they shared, the one that used to be Grams's.

The shrill sound of the alarm clock startled Prue out of her dreams, and for a second she forgot where she was. But the harsh reality of being back in the Halliwell Manor snapped Prue back to reality, and she threw her head back against her pillow, wanting to go back to her dreams where she was away from all this.

"Prue? We need to get up," Andy murmured from beside her, already starting to get out of bed.

Prue groaned. "Five more minutes?"

Andy laughed. "I think it'll take twice that long to get your sisters up."

"I'll get Piper. You get Phoebe and Paige," Prue said in response, somehow managing to crawl out of bed.

Andy nodded in response and Prue shuffled to her seventeen-year-old sister's room, shocked to find that Piper was not only out of bed but dressed and fixing her long brown hair in a ponytail. She looked up as Prue entered.

"Hey. Did you just get up?" she asked knowingly, turning her attention back to her reflection.

"Am I that obvious?" Prue asked as she yawned. She seated herself on the edge of Piper's bed.

Piper laughed. "Well, that and I know you and Andy were up late last night."

Prue threw her hands up in the air in agitation. "Do I have no privacy in this house?"

"Oh give yourself a break, Prue. Paige, Phoebe, and I kind of take up a lot of your time. You and Andy don't really have time to yourselves. We know its the only time you two have alone, but its okay. It's not like we spy on you," Piper explained, and Prue saw Piper's wisdom that went way beyond her years.

She's been through so much and she tries to hide how much it gets to her, Prue thought, wishing that Piper could be like other seventeen-year-olds.

"Yeah well, I appreciate that," Prue stated, standing up and starting to make her way to the kitchen. She needed coffee in order to function and deal with Phoebe and Paige.

She considered helping Andy attempt to get the two youngest Halliwells up, but decided against it. Phoebe and Paige liked Andy and usually listened to him. Plus, Prue wasn't really in the mood to talk to Phoebe, especially after last night.

She made the usual pot of coffee and poured herself a cup, not bothering with any cream or sugar. It was stronger black, and she needed all the energy she could muster.

Piper came down a minute later, looking ready for school already. She got a mug out of the cupboard and poured herself a cup then sat down across from Prue.

"So how late did Phoebe get home last night?" Piper asked.

Prue frowned in shock. "You knew she snuck out last night?"

Piper shrugged, her way of saying it was no big secret. "She's been sneaking out to see Cole ever since last year. You know the only way to get her to stop is to allow Cole to come over here."

"I can't do that, Piper. I don't trust him. He's a bad influence," Prue said at once, sounding like a miniature version of Grams and hating herself for it.

"Yeah, but at least you could keep an eye on them. You'd know what they're doing."

Prue gaped at her. "You don't mean they're doing...." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, too disgusted.

"I don't think so, but you know Phoebe. She's unpredictable and doesn't exactly have the greatest reputation at school," Piper pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's just so...disgusting! She's my little sister, you know?"

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about me, would you?" Paige asked as she entered the kitchen wearing a pink spaghetti-strap shirt and a black miniskirt that would most definitely get her dress-coded.

Prue looked at her in amusement. "You don't think you're actually leaving the house in that, do you?" she asked her thirteen-year-old sister.

Paige frowned. "Get with it, Prue. All the cool kids dress like this."

"Then I guess you won't be cool. Why can't you act your age for once, Paige?" Prue asked, already exhausted again.

"That's not fair! Phoebe gets to dress like this!" Paige whined, looking on the verge of tears.

"Well, Phoebe is in high school, and she doesn't dress like that. Black is more her color recently," Prue pointed out. "Now go change before the bus gets here."

Paige wrinkled her nose. "The bus is for losers. Andy said he'd give us a ride."

"Whatever. Go change," Prue ordered, her words coming out harsher than she had intended.

"God, Prue, when did you get to be so lame?" Paige snapped and stomped back upstairs, making her anger known throughout the manor.

Prue sighed in agitation and put her head in her hands. "How did Grams ever do this?" she asked no one in particular.

Even though she couldn't see her, she knew Piper was looking at her sympathetically. "Well, even she had her moments. But we're teenagers, Prue. And you're only twenty. We don't exactly see you as a parent. You used to actually be our sister."

"But what choice do I have, Piper? I have to at least appear to have some control, otherwise the state will deem me as an unfit guardian and they'll take you guys away. And Phoebe and Paige aren't exactly making this any easier," Prue stated.

"Just give it time." That was the brilliant piece of advice Piper could give her.

"Thanks," Prue mumbled, just as Phoebe shuffled into the kitchen. She got down a mug and began to pour herself some coffee. Prue would have argued, but she no longer had the strength. Let them do what they wanted. See if she cared anymore.

"Wow, Prue, you look awful. Did you get any sleep last night?" Phoebe wiggled her eyebrows, their argument last night apparently forgotten.

Prue glared at her. "As a matter of fact I did. But that doesn't mean this isn't an unethical time to be awake."

"Ugh, tell me about it. I don't think I've been awake this early since I was at that party..." she trailed off, eyeing Prue. "Never mind. I don't think you want to hear the end of that particular story."

"I think you're right." Prue finished off her coffee then stood up. She left Piper and Phoebe sitting alone at the table and went upstairs to get dressed.

She passed Paige and Phoebe's room, noticing that Paige wasn't making a move to change. She was applying make-up, but Prue didn't bother to stop her since she'd probably just find a shorter skirt to wear.

Instead she walked into her room, where Andy had just put on a dark blue shirt that showed off his muscles quite nicely. He smiled when she entered. "How are you this morning?"

"Tired. I was want to crawl back in bed and never wake up."

Andy laughed. "Somehow, I don't doubt it. But once your sisters are at school, we'll finally be alone..."

"I wish. But I have a class this afternoon. Besides, don't you have to be at the Academy this morning?" she asked, reluctantly pulling away from him and heading toward the closet.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we can't have a few minutes. We should take advantage of this house being teenager-free."

"Don't tempt me," Prue muttered, finally picking out a green summer dress and matching flip flops.

Prue and Andy finished dressing and a minute later Andy went downstairs. Prue went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Then she went back into the bedroom and started applying her own makeup. When that was done she took a deep breath, willing to collect herself to stay patient with her sisters, reminding herself that this situation was new to all of them and they just had to get settled into a normal routine before things calmed down a bit.

When she went back downstairs, she nearly ran into Paige, who was scrambling to get out of Prue's sight so she wouldn't notice that she hadn't changed.

"We'll talk about that later!" Prue called, but by that time the door was already closed behind her.

Andy came up behind her, planting a quick kiss on her cheek. "She'll be fine," he said before he, too, was out the door.

Prue took a moment to appreciate Andy and how much he helped her before turning to face Piper and Phoebe, who were watching her expectantly.

"Are you giving us a ride, or do we get to take your car?" Phoebe asked hopefully, her backpack hanging from one shoulder.

"Fat chance. I'll drive," Prue said as she grabbed her purse and car keys. She opened the door and motioned for Piper and Phoebe to leave before her. Once they were outside she followed them, locking the door behind her.

"You know, we should get another car. Piper and I could share it and take it to school, that way you don't have to get up and take us," Phoebe pointed out as she got into the backseat of Prue's black Mazda.

Piper scoffed. "If we could afford it."

"We could if we sold Grams's car," Phoebe countered.

"No, we're not selling her car!" Prue exclaimed, causing her younger sisters to stare at her. "I mean, all the grief counselors advise against big changes right away. Maybe next year," she finished, wanting to make up for her little outburst.

Phoebe shrugged and Piper turned away, this particular conversation over. The rest of the ride to Baker High School was filled with awkward silence, and Prue was glad when she pulled into the parking lot.

Phoebe jumped out at once, grabbing her backpack and slamming the door shut behind her. She hurried away without waiting for Piper, who was taking her time getting out.

"See you at three," she said, shooting her older sister a pointed glance before following Phoebe to the main building.

Prue sighed, grateful that Piper and Phoebe were gone and sped away back to the manor where, hopefully, she could figure out a way to get through this alive and in one piece.