Disclaimer: Alias and Charmed do not belong to me. They belong to some rich bigwig somewhere whom I'll never come close to competing with, and therefore Alias and Charmed will never belong to me.

Paige considered herself to be adept at judging people. She put that skill to use as she listened to Piper explain about Pru and Michael, and Pamela Wright. She'd certainly bet Michael, with his bright green eyes, was more than just a partner to Agent Sydney Bristow. The woman's entire demeanor changed when Piper and Vaughn had begun to explain about his relationship with Pru. And the way Vaughn couldn't meet her eyes spoke volumes about how he felt discussing this in front of her.

Sydney didn't deserve to hear this man had a child by another woman. Let alone that the child had been transferred to another woman's womb and was now seemingly untraceable.

"So what can we do until Leo gets back?" Sydney asked, surprising everyone with her apparent willingness to jump right into the mess. "Vaughn and I can't really utilize CIA resources without alerting Weiss."

"Weiss?" Phoebe asked before Piper got to it.

"Another agent here with us," Vaughn said. "He doesn't suspect anything. Jack Bristow is just suspicious by nature."

"We could try scribing," Paige suggested.

"We don't have anything to scribe with," Piper reminded her. "What about the Calling a Lost Witch spell?"

"We don't know that she is a witch," Phoebe said. "And the power-binding potion may not have worn off yet, so it probably wouldn't work."

"She's a blood relative, maybe I can sense her," Paige said.

"Try."

Paige closed her eyes and concentrated, then wrinkled her nose in frustration.

"Nothing."

"What about the Blood to Blood spell?" Piper said. "It worked for Paige."

"But I'm an adult, with my own means of transportation," Paige said. "This is a little girl. She's what, ten?"

"About twelve," Vaughn and Piper said together.

"A twelve-year-old little girl isn't just going to show up on our doorstep," Phoebe agreed.

"Anyone have a better idea?" Piper said. "We can rewrite the spell so that we're drawn to her. It's worth a shot."

"Is that all it is? Just a spell?" Sydney asked dubiously. She couldn't help it, thought; she was starting to trust these women.

"A complicated ritual and a spell," Piper clarified. "Who should we cast the spell on?" she asked her sisters.

"Him," Phoebe said after a moment, gesturing at Vaughn. "He's not a witch, but he's still blood."

"I don't know," Vaughn said, backing away slightly.

"No…I think it's a good idea," Piper said. "You'll have the least conflicting instincts."

"Agents have very strong instincts," Sydney defended. "And you three are the witches. Use your damn spell on yourselves."

Vaughn nodded hesitantly.

"I think they might be right," he said thoughtfully. "They're all blood related, so technically that could interfere with their instincts. Right?" he asked.

"Possibly," Phoebe said. "If you're willing to try it, you might be our best bet."

"I'll do it."

"I'll get a sleeping potion for him," Paige said, nodding to Jack. "Piper can't maintain a freeze from a distance. It's harmless, though," she assured Sydney.

"Vaughn, you can' be serious," Sydney hissed. "They seem credible, sure, and they definitely have powers, but to let them put some hocus-pocus spell on you!"

"Come on, Syd, they've had plenty of chances to hurt us, and they haven't," he reminded. "And I have a child somewhere. I have to do something to find her, Syd, and we can't exactly tell Weiss about this."

"Okay," she said softly. "Be careful, Vaughn."

He kissed her cheek gently.

"It'll be okay. But you know I have to do this," he whispered.

Sydney watched nervously as Piper threw a pinch of some green leafy stuff into the cauldron, and a puff of smoke billowed up.

"Phoebe, do you have the spell ready?" Piper asked.

Phoebe ripped a page from a legal pad and handed it to Piper.

"Stick close to Sydney," Piper whispered so that only Phoebe could hear her. "She's not going to like this part."

Phoebe nodded and stood next to Sydney.

"Michael, come here," Piper ordered. "Give me your hand."

Vaughn held out his hand palm up. Sydney lunged forward protectively when Piper picked up a large dagger, but Phoebe caught her. Vaughn winced as Piper sliced the palm of his hand with the tip of the dagger, but made no move to pull away. She closed his hand into a fist until a single drop of blood dripped into the cauldron.

Piper read the spell in a low voice, and Sydney didn't catch all the words, but there was something about letting the pull of blood to blood guide you.

"Now what?" Vaughn asked a few moments later as Sydney took it upon herself to wrap his still-bleeding hand in a strip of gauze.

"We wait," Piper said.

"Leo can heal his hand when he gets back," Piper said to Sydney, who paused in wrapping Vaughn's hand.

"Oh…right…I just…" Sydney seemed so completely out of her element.

Vaughn put his arm around her.

"I'm fine," he assured her.

She took a moment to collect herself, and the sisters could swear they saw her spine stiffen.

"What happens when the spell takes effect?" Sydney asked.

The women exchanged glances.

"We're not sure," Phoebe admitted. "It may not even work. Michael may not be able to handle the effects. Or, he could…"

"Could what?" Vaughn asked. "If I'm going to disappear, I deserve a little advanced warning," he joked.

"Well, it is possible," Piper said.

"What?!? Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"Because," Paige muttered. "Innocents generally don't take well to being told they're going to disappear."

"Innocents?" Sydney asked skeptically. Over the years, she'd heard agents of the CIA called a lot of things, but innocent wasn't among them.

"Mortals," Phoebe supplied. "Non-magical people."

"Really, what are the chances of me just…poofing?" Vaughn asked, an anxious tone in his voice now. "Or ending up in Timbuktu?"

"Timbuktu?" Sydney repeated. "Where does that come in at?"

"It rhymed with 'undo'," Piper smirked. "And we really don't know what will happen."

Just then, Leo orbed in. Sydney jumped, then huffed out an irritated sigh.

"What'd the Elders say?" Paige asked.

"Clarissa and Jason Wright died in a car crash five years ago," Leo said quickly. "The Elders said Pamela has been in and out of at least a dozen foster homes since then, but they wouldn't say why."

"Great," Piper said. "My guess would be that type of environment wasn't particularly conductive to an accepting child."

"The Elders also saw you cast the spell on the agent," Leo said. "They're highly upset about it. They wanted me to warn you that the results of casting that spell on a mortal can be very unpredictable, and if he…well, he could be difficult to trace."

Leo obviously didn't want to spook Vaughn by telling him he might disappear. A little late for that, but Vaughn appreciated the thought.

"Great." Vaughn shook his head. "Now I'm going to disappear, and nobody's going to be able to find me."

Sydney looked horrified.

"Leo, can you take the other agent somewhere safe, so we don't have to worry about him? After you erase his memory, I mean. He's on the couch in the living room. Paige's sleeping potion," Piper explained. "You know where the extra potions are kept if you think he'll need it."

"Sure. You might want to come up with some reason for his massive headache when he wakes up," Leo told Sydney and Vaughn. "And for his lack of memory. This isn't an exact science, you know, there's no telling how much I'll erase."

Sydney turned anxious eyes to the heavens as if pleading for someone to tell her this was all a dream.

Hehehe. Now, what's going to happen to poor Agent Vaughn? I know, I know, I'm torturing him again, but I can't help it. And the idea of someone just orbing Jack Bristow out of the way was just too tempting to resist. But Sydney and Vaughn get more involved in the action, soon. Of course, they naturally have to be involved in saving the day. It's just not Alias if they aren't!