Title: The Ties That Bind
Rating: PG
Pairing: Piper/Leo; other characters: Chris, Wyatt, Sam & Dean
Warnings: None, really
Spoilers: vague mentions of "A Very Supernatural Christmas" in that this story takes place immediately after that episode.
Word Count: 2,748
Written For: Amy dragonsinger
Prompt: Supernatural (Sam & Dean) - stuck in a Christmas town and Charmed (Chris, Wyatt (adults), Piper & Leo) - a Halliwell family Christmas
Author's Notes/Summary: This doesn't exactly hit either prompt exactly on the head, but when I read them, I decided I had to combine them because I know you love crossovers. Hope you enjoy! Thanks to storydivagirl and timjr for the beta work :)

---

"I think I found something."

Dean walked across the dingy motel room and peered over his brother's shoulder. "The hell?"

Sam turned sideways so he could look at Dean. "Christmas Lake, Minnesota, takes their town name very seriously," he explained. "It's a huge tourist trap of a town and they basically sell the Christmas experience all year round."

"Haven't we had enough of evil Christmas beings?" Dean asked. Off Sam's look, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure, exactly," Sam admitted. "But since Christmas Day, three families have disappeared from the town, one each day. They've all been comprised of two kids, a father and a pregnant mother."

Dean nodded. "Okay, that's weird. What makes you think it's something we'd be interested in though and not just some random serial killer/kidnapper?"

"Because I did some research into the town's history and apparently this same pattern has played out before. I managed to find some scanned newspaper articles from 1907 and there's an indication that it happened in 1807 as well."

"A repeating pattern every hundred years. How many families disappeared the last time?" Dean asked.

"Twelve," Sam replied. "It stopped on January 6th. The epiphany."

Dean shook his head. "The freakin' twelve days of Christmas man?"

Sam shrugged. "I dunno, dude, but it's only about a ten hour drive according to Google Maps."

"I'll start packing the car."

***

"Are you still feeling bad about not spending Christmas with your sisters?" Leo asked as he and Piper strolled down the main street of Christmas Lake, Minnesota. The temperature was only in the high 20s, but the winds were calm and the sun was shining. Wyatt and Chris were running ahead to look at the theme decorated trees that lined the streets.

"Not really," Piper said, rubbing her back. She was only four months pregnant and she didn't understand why she was already having so much back pain. It hadn't been this bad with either of the boys. Of course, she'd been a lot younger then. "They both have their own families now. And we'll all be together for New Years."

Leo nodded. "Boys, slow down," he called. "It was nice getting away. It gave you a break from cooking and cleaning. And the boys are having a really good time."

Piper smiled. "Yes, coming here was definitely a good plan."

They continued their stroll, stopping to enjoy the decorations when something appealed to them. At the end of the street, a pagan-themed tree caught Piper's attention. "Huh, well, I guess it's nice that they're including other religions in their celebrations," she remarked to Leo.

"Mommy, look, it's a triquetra!" Wyatt said, pronouncing the word carefully. Chris reached out to touch it.

"Chris, don't!" Leo admonished.

But it was too late. The almost three year old's hand connected with the triquetra and, in a flash of light, the Halliwell family disappeared from the street.

***

"Looks like there's trouble," Sam said as Dean pulled the Impala into the parking lot of the only hotel they had seen so far that had the 'Vacancy' sign lit.

The parking lot was full of police cars and one of the rooms was cordoned off with police tape.

"You don't say," Dean said dryly, heading to the opposite side of the parking lot. "Grab those new badges from the glove box, will ya?"

Sam did so. "Hope that guy is as good as Bobby said."

"Guess we'll find out," Dean replied, getting out of the car and checking all of his weapons before taking the badge from his brother. "Let's see what we can find out."

***

"Mommy? Daddy? I'm scawed," Chris said, sniffling pitifully.

"Don't be a baby, Chris," Wyatt said, with the kind of confidence only a four year old could possess. "Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige will rescue us."

Piper wasn't so sure about that. Whoever or whatever was keeping them captive had the place heavily warded. The boys hadn't been able to orb and Piper's powers weren't working. By the time Phoebe and Paige found out they were missing, it might be too late.

"Everything's going to be fine," Leo said to the boys, squeezing Piper's hand.

They were in some kind of cell. Best they could figure was an old jail, since there were two metal cots attached to the walls and a metal toilet in one corner. It was clear they weren't the only people being held there, since they could hear the sounds of other families. That's probably what upset Piper the most - the fact that whoever was behind this was taking children. She wished she had some way to communicate with someone outside.

She paced the cell, hating the claustrophobia that was washing over her. "OW!" she exclaimed, when her hand bumped into the bars and she managed to cut one of her fingers open.

"You okay?" Leo asked, looking through the diaper bag for some tissues.

"I'll be fine," Piper said, obviously cranky about the whole thing. She took the tissues and pressed them against her finger. As she did, the glint of the mother's ring that Leo had bought her the previous Christmas caught her eye. On a whim, she took the ring off and set it in her palm, letting a few drops of her blood fall on it. "Blood to blood, I summon thee, blood to blood, return to me," she muttered. It was a long shot that the magic would work and somehow draw the adult versions of her sons back, but she figured it couldn't hurt to try.

***

"A tree decorated with occult symbols. That's subtle," Sam remarked.

"When have we ever known demons to be subtle, Sammy?"

Sam nodded, allowing the point, and pulled a notepad and pen from his pocket so he could sketch the symbols and look them up. "Anything jumping out at you?"

Dean shook his head. "No, nothing that looks familiar."

Suddenly, there was a whirl of light and two very confused looking young men were standing in front of the tree. Dean immediately grabbed his gun. "Where the hell did you come from?" he demanded.

The two young men appeared to be getting their bearings and ignored Dean for the moment.

"This place looks familiar," the light-haired one said.

"The symbols on that tree are certainly familiar," the dark-haired one pointed out.

"Oh, dude, this is that whacked out Christmas town Mom and Dad took us to when she was pregnant with Mellie."

"Hey!" Dean demanded. "You wanna start answering my questions before I start shooting?"

They finally seemed to notice him. The light-haired one lifted his hand, but the dark-haired one grabbed his wrist. "Sorry, man. Didn't mean to startle you. I'm Chris Halliwell. This is my brother, Wyatt. We're not exactly sure where we are or how we got here."

Wyatt grumbled and yanked his arm away from his brother. "I'm telling you, dude, it's that crazy Christmas Lake or whatever."

Sam had been watching all of this unfold with great interest. "Did you say that your mother brought you to this town when she was pregnant?" he asked.

Wyatt nodded. "Yeah. Crazy place. I was only four and dorkface here wasn't even three yet, but I remember something weird happening."

Well, they were definitely brothers, Sam realized, smiling to himself. "A family was kidnapped from here yesterday," he explained. "A mother, father and two sons. They were the fourth family to be taken in the last four days. But according to the hotel records, the family name was Wyatt."

"Mom kept her maiden name," Chris said. "And passed it on to us. Family tradition. But Dad's last name is Wyatt."

Dean cocked his head. "So your name coulda been Wyatt Wyatt?"

Sam shook his head. "Dude, so not the point right now." He studied the other set of brothers. "Did you somehow travel here through time?"

They both looked sheepish. "Look, is there somewhere a little more, private, we can go to talk about this?" Wyatt asked, glancing around the street that was still busy with tourists. "And who the hell are you anyway?"

"I'm Sam and this is Dean," Sam said. "We got a room at the hotel. We can go back there."

Dean glared at him a little, but Sam was pretty sure these two would be the key to solving this case and possibly saving a number of lives.

***

"I don't know about this," Wyatt said, his voice low as he and Chris followed Sam and Dean back to the hotel. "What if they're demons?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "I don't think they are," he said. "Why would a demon summon us back in time if our more helpless, younger selves were kidnapped?"

"I guess that makes sense," Wyatt admitted grudgingly. "But just... be on guard. And don't spill your guts."

"Fine, fine."

***

"Dude, what if you just invited demons back to our hotel room?" Dean demanded, keeping his voice low so only Sam would hear him. The other set of brothers seemed to be deep in conversation of their own, so he wasn't too concerned about them overhearing.

"Well, we have a salt line at the door," Sam reminded him. "So if they can cross it, they're probably not demons."

"Oh, right," Dean said. "Stop being logical."

Sam simply smirked.

***

The four young men were very obviously wary of each other when they entered the hotel room and took seats. Sam gave Dean a pointed glance when they crossed the salt line with no problem.

"So what's the deal here?" Wyatt asked impatiently.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Dean replied. "Sammy, show them those sketches."

Sam pulled out his notebook and passed it to the other set of brothers. Chris's eyes lit up in recognition. "That's a triquetra."

"What's a triquetra?" Sam asked, leaning over Chris's shoulder.

Chris pointed. "It's... a family symbol."

Wyatt pointed at a few of the others. "I'm pretty sure I've seen those in the Book," he said. Chris nodded his agreement. "I wish we had it with us."

"What book?" Dean asked.

The Halliwells traded an uncomfortable look. "It's a... family heirloom," Wyatt said.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You have a family heirloom book that contains demonic symbols."

Chris and Wyatt looked surprised. "You know about demons?"

"'Course we do," Dean said. "We're hunters."

"What's a hunter?" Wyatt asked.

"Wait, you're not hunters?" Sam wondered.

"No, we're..." Chris looked at his brother, who nodded slightly, before finishing his sentence, "witches."

"I thought witches were women," Dean said.

Wyatt shrugged. "The powers pass through the maternal line, but that didn't stop us from inheriting them." And then, because he couldn't resist showing off, he lifted his hand and made a waving motion, knocking a stack of books from the bedside table.

Sam and Dean were duly impressed. "So you guys are from the future?" Sam asked.

"That depends on what year it is," Chris said.

"It'll be 2008 in a few days," Dean said.

The Halliwells nodded. "Yeah, then we're from the future."

"That was the year Mom was pregnant with Mellie," Chris said. "You think she somehow summoned us back here to rescue, well, us?"

"Seems that way," Wyatt agreed. "Wonder why it just grabbed us though and not Mellie?"

Sam grabbed his notes and handed them to Chris. "Here's what we've learned so far. If your mother is pregnant, then your family definitely fits the pattern. We just haven't managed to figure out what or who is behind this. But I think it's clear that it's supernatural in some way."

Everyone nodded. "So what do we do?" Wyatt asked.

***

The four boys had spent hours going over notes, looking up information online and finally Chris had broken down and placed a phone call to someone he called Aunt Phoebe, who wasn't all that surprised to hear from him.

In the wee hours of the morning, they finally figured out what was holding the Halliwell family and had a game plan for thwarting it.

***

The boys were sleeping and Piper was cradling Chris to her chest, singing softly. The more hours that passed without rescue, the more despair she felt over their situation. And hearing another family brought in the night before hadn't helped much.

"Piper," Leo said softly, laying his hand on her shoulder. "We're going to get out of this."

"How Leo? Our magic doesn't work, there are more families than just us here, and my sisters have no way of knowing that we're in any kind of trouble."

"It's not like you to think so negatively," Leo said. "We've been in worse positions than this before."

"I know, I know. I'm just worried about the boys," Piper said. "And the baby."

Their conversation was interrupted by far off sounds of a scuffle. Leo shot Piper a concerned look and shifted so he was shielding Wyatt's sleeping form. A few minutes later, a familiar face showed up at the bars.

"Chris?" Leo and Piper chorused in shock.

He quirked a smile at them and pulled the cell door open. "Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad."

"But... how?" Leo asked.

Piper looked down at her hand, where her ring was still crusted with the blood from her spell. "I think I summoned them."

"Grab Wyatt and let's get you out of here," Chris said. "The others are going after the source."

"Others?" Piper asked.

"Wyatt and I ran into a couple of demon hunters who are giving us a hand."

Leo raised an eyebrow, but lifted his older son and made sure they had all of their belongings before allowing Chris to usher them out of the cell.

***

Dean watched the family reunion with what could only be described as a wistful expression on his face. The younger boys were sleeping on Sam's bed while the older Halliwells caught up with their parents.

"They've got a strong family bond," Sam remarked.

"Guess it's a demon fighting thing," Dean replied.

"Sam, Dean, come over here," Chris called.

"We never would have figured out what was going on if it hadn't been for them," Wyatt was saying when the Winchesters joined the Halliwells. "They already had a bunch of information about what was happening, they just couldn't put their finger on what was causing it."

"And you found it in the Book?" Piper asked.

Chris nodded. "Well, Aunt Phoebe did."

Leo turned to the other boys. "Thank you," he said. "I don't know how we can repay you."

Sam and Dean shrugged. "No need to repay us," Dean said. "It's what we do."

"How did you two get into the demon hunting business if your family isn't magical?" Piper asked.

The Winchesters both looked uncomfortable. "It's a long story," Sam said. "But our mother was killed by a demon when I was six months old. Our father learned everything he could about hunting and passed it on to us."

The Halliwells exchanged a glance that the Winchesters couldn't begin to try to understand. "I'm very sorry to hear that," Piper said. "Is there anything we can do to help you find or kill the demon?"

"It's dead," Dean said, his voice flat.

Leo nodded. "Well, please call us if you ever need assistance or information on your hunts."

Sam gave them a half smile. "Thank you," he said, pocketing their number.

"We better get back to our own time," Wyatt said. "Mellie is probably going nuts wondering what happened to us."

"Mellie?" Piper questioned as Chris smacked his brother's arm.

Leo smiled. "I think we know the sex of the baby," he said, pointing to Piper's stomach.

"Oh," Piper grinned. "Well, tell her we look forward to meeting her."

One of the little boys stirred on the bed. "Okay, we really need to get out of here," Chris replied. "Take care of yourselves." His glance encompassed the Winchesters. "All of you."

Dean waved and a few moments later, the older Halliwell boys disappeared in a swirl of white lights. Piper and Leo gathered up their small sons and left in a similar swirl a few minutes later.

"That was something," Sam said, looking incredibly thoughtful.

"Yeah, yeah it was," Dean replied, wondering why his brother looked that way, but deciding not to question it for now. "I'm gonna catch some z's," he said, flopping down on his bed. "It's been a long couple of days."

Sam nodded. "Night, Dean."

"Night, Sammy."


~fin~