A/N: The title of this chapter is from the movie, Silence of the Lambs but bears no relation to the plot.

Angelically Charmed: Silence of the Witch

From across the street in her own manor, the Seer sat in the rocking chair with a needlepoint circle and thread in hand. At first the thought of settling in to do something so droll had sickened her stomach but over the last several months the See'r was beginning to find pleasure in the task that was usually reserved for older mortal women.

Alyeia stood at the window front window pressing to her tiptoes. Her little head was buried by the long white curtain leaving only her shoulders and backside exposed to the seer's view.

"Is there something going on across the street my little Liege?"

Ayleia plopped back down to the balls of her feet letting the curtain swing back to it's normal position. Ever since she and the see'r had attended her Aunt's funeral the little demon had been fascinated by the thought of another telepath and other witchlike children. She didn't know how to tell the see'r that she was drawn to the children of the manor.

Scampering towards the front door, Alyeia began to push it with all of her little might sparking curiosity in the See'r.

"Perhaps we should go see what the Charmed Ones are up too" setting her needlepoint aside the see'r padded over the door and scooped the little demonic princess into her arms.

The two then headed upstairs to the attic where the See'r stored all of her magical paraphernalia. The all-seeing crystal was glowing with a bright electrical light. With a wave of her hand, the See'r was able to conjure a viewing portal into the Halliwell manor.

Piper was standing in the living room looking absolutely livid. "Leo I want you to take me to the Elder's now!" A close up of Piper's face revealed that the middle sister was almost snarling. "They cannot just waltz in here and take Paige! I need to talk with them damn it!"

The vision shifted to her white lighter husband. "Not when you're like this. " Leo feared that in Piper's present state that her anger would take over and that she would physically retaliate, bringing more anguish to the family.

"So the Elder's have taken your Aunt Paige, now that's interesting" the See'r smiled whimsically at her adoptive daughter. Without Paige and Phoebe there would be no sisterly bond of magic, no power of three, leaving the Charmed One's vulnerable to just about any demon that should waltz in and want to take over.

Back inside the manor, Glenn knelt to his daughter's side. "Do you know who I am?"

"Daddy!" Glenda blurted happily jumping into his awaiting arms.

"That's right" the angelic mortal rose to his feet, holding his daughter tightly.

"Paige speaks very fondly of you" Drake interjected enjoying the father/daughter moment.

"I can't say I've heard of her speak of you" Glenn replied balancing his daughter on one hip as she twisted in his arms.

"I'm Drake" the demon offered cordially. "but do you mind if I ask how you got here?"

Glenn let Glenda slide from his arms and set her back down on the floor. "I..really don't know…I just sensed that Paige needed me"

"She was about to destroy her family and I suppose you were the only with the power to stop her"

Glenn rubbed the back of his neck, "Doesn't look like it did much good though". The sound of jingling bells rang from overhead and Glenn looked heavenward. "What's is that?"

"It's destiny tell you that it's time to leave" Leo answered, "You're purpose here is finished"

Glenn nodded slowly as his body once again turned ghostly transparent, "I guess so" he returned gazing at his hands, "but what about Paige?"

"Leave it to Piper and her sisters. I assure you, they will not any harm befall her" Drake replied assuredly as the angelic mortal was consumed by a set of bright swirling lights. Drake and Leo stood silent for several seconds until Glenn had completely ascended back into the afterlife.

"So where do we go from here?"

"I don't know for sure," Leo looked grim adverting his eyes into the solar where Declan was playing a quite game of Connect Four with Amanda. "But one thing I do know is that we are going to need Cole if we wantto have any type of a chance in protecting Declan from the Source."

"I do suppose that the Source of All Evil would find him to be a great commodity against the Charmed Ones" Drake replied stroking his chin.

"Especially if he were able to turn Declan into an evil version of his adult self again"

"Well now, we just can't let that happen now can we?" Drake smiled, starting to shimmer. "Take care of your family and leave our friend, Colesnova to me"

Several Hours Later...

Piper Halliwell sat in the chair next to Prue's bed with her knees drawn up to her chest just watching her sister sleep. The medication that Ava had been feeding into Prue's system had yet to take hold against the clot that had been thrown into Prue's brain from her battle with Francis.

A large lump formed in the throat of the middle charmed one. How could Prue of all people possibly have had a stroke and especially when the family needed her the most? The mere thought was still beyond her comprehension. Prue was the guardian and protector of the family. The sister who had the chosen destiny to beat death and rule over the Wicca world was now lying in a hospital bed unable to move or even open her eyes.

What their world coming too? Piper closed her eyes resting her chin on her knee as a tear slid down the right side of her face. "They took Paige from us" she choked referring to the Elders. First Phoebe and now Paige.

"She's gone. They just came and sucked her up into a bottle" Piper sniffled, "They didn't even give us a ch-chance to explain before handing down their punishment"

"Piper?" the sound of anguish in Piper's voice began to toy with Prue's brain. The drugs that Ava had given her had really thrown the witch for a loop making it impossible for to concentrate on anything expect the visions that had been flowing out from her memory. Piper's words were nothing but a blur but the pain of her sisters voice was evident..

"Okay, we've got to focus here" Prue told herself. She needed to find a way to break free.

"Prue, I need you to wake up. I don't know how to get Paige back without you" Piper sighed letting the lids of her eyes fall shut for a moment until she could see the firey astral glow form from Prue's projection.

"Prue?" Piper stared incredulously at the sight of her sister standing in front of her wearing nothing but a hospital gown, which was split down the back.

"Ask and you shall receive" The older Halliwell wobbled proudly trying to catch her balance. Astral projecting while on medication was definitely a new experience, a little trickier than she'd thought?

"I'm sorry" Piper glared at her sister strangely watching Prue's lips as they tried to move transmitting a sentence filled with melody of undecodable words "Did you say something?"

Prue tried to speak again but nothing came out of her mouth except jargon. She couldn't form words. Piper, I'm here is what she had wanted to say only it hadn't come out that way. "What's wrong with my voice?" Her eyes went wild.

Ava had been right when she told Andy that Prue would be unable to speak

"Take it easy Prue, just take it easy" Piper soothed before the red astral glow began to return. "No Prue don't go. I need-" you, she sighed as the projection disappeared back into Prue's lifeless body.

Piper's face was crestfallen until she heard a slight mew coming from the depth's of Prue's throat. Eager she watched with great anticipation as her sisters' brow started to crease which lead to Prue's head flopping back and forth. Slowly her green eyes started to flutter open prompting Piper to take a hold of her hand as she returned to the conscience world.

Piper smiled as her sister's lips began to move mouthing the words. "I need you too"

"I know you do. Now let's get you home we have work to do" Piper giggled kissing her older sister's forehead. "You think you can stand?"

Prue could only shake her head. Her entire body still felt like a bowl of Jell-O.

"Fine, we'll have Andy orb us. He just went home for a moment to check on the girls." Piper returned gazing over her shoulder." LEO! Send Andy back"

Instantly a cloud of orbs formed reconfiguring into a shape of a man…Bane

"Oh Dear God" Piper cursed under her breath as the convict turned white lighter moved towards them. "How is it, that you can even orb on command?" She wasn't calling for him.

"Let's just say, I've learned my new job well," Bane shrugged, smiling fondly at Pure as he eased himself towards the bed just as Piper threw up a hand, forming a blockade between the ex-con and her sister.

Arrogant bastard, Piper snorted silently knowing what sort of tension it would bring if Bane were to orb them back to the manor. "You know, on second thought orbing with a new white lighter can be a little bit dangerous so we'll just take the Jeep".

"Prue likes danger, don't you Prue?"

Unable to answer, Prue could only glare at Bane uneasily as Piper helped her slip on a hospital robe and called for Ava. His feelings for her were intense just as they'd been that night on the dance floor and afterwards when they'd make love at Mariner's Point.

"Prue has enough danger in her life, right now and quite frankly we just can't handle anymore so why don't you just orb on back where you came from and help Drake find Cole or better yet protect your own charge. Prue already has a white lighter and a husband who can vanquish demons. So we don't need you, right now"

"I want to hear Prue say that," Bane challenged looking over Piper to the raven haired beauty in the bed.

"She can't"

"I didn't think so," Bane said smugly letting the orbs engulf him as Piper continued to rant.

"No she literally can't" Piper continued looking at her sister who was now staring distantly out the window. Crawling into the bed, Piper wrapped her arms around Prue kissing her hair.

"I promise, just as soon as we get Paige back, we'll find a way to fix your speech"

It was nearly nightfall when Drake found Cole. He was on the patio of a local coffee shop, down one on one knee trying to seduce a blonde woman drinking a latte.

Cole had a hold on her hand and was trying to kiss his way up her arm.

"The real Casanova should have such Charm" Drake rolled his eyes as he trotted across the street and tapped Cole on the shoulder.

"You'll have to forgive my friend, he just lost his wife"

"I think he's lost his mind" the woman jerked her hand back, leaving the table as Drake's presence caused Cole to become distracted.

"You dare try to a steal a woman from me? The Great Casanova?" Colesenova rose to his feet and slowly removed a glove from his left hand, smacking Drake across the face with it. "You sir, are a man of little honor but great regret"

"Actually I'm not really a man at all," Drake said lowly rubbing his cheek while Cole replace his glove wriggling his fingers. "But then neither are you, at least not a whole man anyways"

"Do you know what they do to men who try to disgrace man by making a move onto his woman?" Cole grinned evilly just before grabbing his friend, roughly by the lapels of his leather jacket, shimmering them both "They castrate them"

"I guess that's why the real Casanova was never caught"

"Tis, a real a pity you aren't as lucky"

At the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge a female avatar stood beside Natalie, "You know what you must do"
On Natalie's command, the younger woman glamoured herself into an exact clone of Piper. She then projected up top of the large red girter, where the Elder's had been known to meet with witches and whitelighters to confer.

Predictable, three Elder's stood eagerly awaiting. They were the same three that the Avatars had cloned to kidnap Paige. "Piper,this is certainly unexpected, what may we help you with? Has something happened?"

Avatars...the mock Piper replied darkly raising her hands to create a firey blast. "They want to take over"