Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed only what I make up.
A/N: This story is based loosely on my series Charmed Lineage and it is set about a year in the future from the recent events in 1x11. This is the first part of a two part series look for all your favorite characters to show up.
Summary: When things get a little out of hand at the North Pole Santa enlists the help of the thirteen to set things right again.
Santa's Helpers
Chris was hauling a Christmas tree into the middle of the living room in his apartment he was panting from the effort he was putting into it. He kept getting poked in the face by the pine needles it wasn't exactly his idea of a good time but he would gladly suffer through being he was a freak when it came to Christmas.
"Thanks a lot for all the help Hank." he called over his shoulder when he had the tree leaning up against the wall where no damage could come to it at least he hoped the demons would spare them and not attack until he had a chance to put it up.
"I would have helped but I was in the hall closet on a fishing expedition for our ornaments and FYI we really need to think about cleaning that thing out. I just got buried under a mountain of junk I think most of it was Prue's." Henry said when he came into the living room carrying two huge boxes full of ornaments. He had a santa clause hat perched on top of his head just like Chris did the two of them got way too into Christmas.
Chris checked the tree again just to make sure it was steady and wasn't going to fall on him until they could get it put up. "I will gladly forgive you if you tell me you found the tree stand and all of the lights." he replied stepping back cautiously afraid that any slight movement he made was going to make his tree fall over.
Henry tilted his neck to the side that tree had to be at least seven feet tall Wyatt was going to freak out on them when he saw it. "No I was just going to look for those but you will be happy to know I already have the lights strung out on the balcony I did that this morning before we went to get the tree. I will go back and dig through that death trap we call a closet again if you want me to."
"Yeah I want you to I don't want my tree getting knocked over before I even get a chance to set it up." Chris replied like he should have known the answer he looked down at his watch "And where the hell are your cousins Ladybug won't be happy if we decorate the tree without her and Wyatt knows he wants to help even though he acts like he doesn't. Coop is supposed to be bringing the eggnog over I don't know about you but I can't decorate this tree without eggnog."
"They are not just my cousins Wyatt is your brother and the other two are your cousins too. Anyway while I was under the mountain of junk Liz and B both called they should be here any minute." Henry informed him.
Chris looked around the apartment it was just too bare this would never do. "Forget about the tree stand and the other stuff for now I know you have the other lights and the snowflakes to put on the ceiling. Now where the hell is the ladder."
"Here is the deal C. Perry you put up the snowflakes and I will put up the lights." Henry offered he didn't want to mess around with climbing up on the ladder.
"Deal we have to get our asses in gear here dude I refuse to let Mel out Christmas us she has been on the warpath with this for days now." Cris agreed walking down the hall in search of the ladder.
Henry picked up one of the remotes on the coffee table and Christmas music began to filter through the apartment. He took the lid off of one of the tubs he had set on the couch earlier something he would kill anyone else for doing to his couch. He took out a strand of lights and wrapped them around the banister that separated the kitchen from the living room.
Twenty minutes later there was an arch of lights over the front door frame and the whole living room ceiling was covered in snowflakes that hung down by red and green ribbons. Chris was on the ladder by the door when someone walked in almost knocking him off.
"Holy shit what did you guys do to my apartment ? It looks like an elf from the north pole threw up in here." Wyatt asked incredulously he had yet to even see the tree.
Liz, Prue, Chuck, Jake, Lilly, and Troy were hot on his heels. "Wow you guys could put elves at the north pole to shame it looks great." Prue said clapping her hands in a giddy manner.
"Coop did you bring my drugs with you ?" Chris asked climbing down from the ladder.
Jake held up his hand that had a shopping bag in it "Yes Peanut I got your eggnog." he informed him rolling his eyes but he put it in the refrigerator for him.
Troy looked at all the lights and various other Christmas decorations "You know that this so reminds me of the time I worked on the cruise ship and we had to decorate it for Christmas. If only we had Hank and Chris with us then we would have done a much better job of it."
Lilly raised her hand shyly she knew what she was about to say was going to get her in trouble with Henry and Chris but it had to be said. "You guys need to put mistletoe over the doorway just a little friendly piece of advice."
Henry searched through one of the boxes and came out with some he was just about to put it up when Bianca walked through the door " You do know that this means you have to kiss me right ?" he asked a grin on his face he was now holding the mistletoe over their heads.
"You are impossible I want you to know that." Bianca told him before she reached up and kissed him on the lips.
"Hi honey I missed you, you should have been with us when we picked out the tree Chris and I could have used a little bit of help." Henry said wrapping his arms around her.
"Hank I have to work sometimes Uncle Leo will fire me if I don't." Bianca informed him slipping out of his arms so she could take her coat off.
"No B they didn't need any help I swear the two of them got a tree bigger than the one that is on the White House lawn." Wyatt exploded he had just spotted the gigantic Christmas tree his brother and cousin had brought home.
"Hey now scrooge I don't want to hear any of that from you if you want to continue to be my boyfriend I love Christmas." Liz said kissing him on the nose he got so worked up over nothing.
Wyatt frowned "I love Christmas too all I'm saying is those two did not have to go out and get the biggest tree they could find." it was a nice recovery he didn't want Liz mad at him it wasn't a very pleasant experience for him when she was.
Prue looked through the boxes that Henry had sat on the couch "Hey guys have you seen my santa hat ?" she asked she too loved Christmas she just wasn't as bad as Henry and Chris no one was with the exception of Mel.
"Prue it should be in the red box that is where I found mine and Chris's I think I saw yours in there too. And then if you get in the shopping bag on the couch there is one for Chuck in there." Henry called to her he had finally gotten the mistletoe up over the door.
"Henry please tell me you don't really expect me to wear one of those ?" Chuck pleaded with him.
Prue looked at him with her hands on her hips "If you expect to stay my boyfriend you will." She informed him.
Chuck gave her his most charming smile "Well in that case babe give it here." he recovered he didn't like Prue being mad at him it was something he tried to avoid if he could help it.
"Remind me again why the we must all be put through Halliwell cousin Christmas hell." Troy asked he had cleared a spot for himself on the couch he had his feet up on the coffee table.
"Because Troy it is tradition you know that we do this every year I can't help it that you got out of the groove from running off on us. We used to do this all the time when we were kids and you know that it was fun. I don't know what is with you and my boyfriend but you both need to get in the Christmas spirit or risk pissing me off." Liz informed him while staring him down.
Wyatt walked up behind her and threw his arms around his waist "Lizzie it's not that me and Troy hate Christmas we're just not as into it as Chris and Hen are those two go overboard the proof being the ten foot tall tree in the living room. "
"It's not a ten foot tall tree it's only seven foot tall thank you very much you twice blessed pain in the ass. "Chris corrected his brother.
"If I may be allowed to ask a question where are Ro, Calleigh, and Parker ?" Chuck asked if he was getting dragged into this it was only fair that they had to go down right along with him.
Henry consulted his watch which surprising no one who knew him well had a picture of Santa in the middle of it with candy canes for the hour and minute hands. "They are twenty minutes late I have no clue where they are. Ro is most likely with Mel but with the other two I have no guesses."
Parker and Calleigh appeared in the living room in a green flash of light, Parker gabbed on to the first solid surface he could find which happened to be the couch and he kissed it. "Oh thank God orbing I can handle but I will never get used to doing that." he groaned relived to be on solid ground again.
Calleigh looked at him with her hands on her hips "Well it was better than being later than we already were I swear P.J you are such a big baby sometimes." she said throwing herself in the first open chair she could find which was not an easy task Chris and Henry had boxes piled all over that apartment.
Roman appeared in a puff of smoke looking disheveled before those two could get into an argument "look I know I am late but before you say anything about it this is all Mel's fault." he defended himself not realizing that half the buttons on his shirt were buttoned up wrong.
Wyatt eyed him up and down "Well since your shirt is all fucked up looking I will not ask what you and Mel were doing it will only piss me off like no other." he said shaking his head. He knew his mother had lost her mind letting his baby and only sister date a man who was four years older than she was.
Chris clapped his hands loudly "Now that everyone is here we can get to work Prue you can decorate at will just don't mess up anything Lizzie you, Lilly, and Calleigh can help Ladybug if you want to. Wy I want you, Troy, and Chuck to get the ornaments in order. Cookie Dough go in the hall closest and get the tree stand I warn you be careful it is a disaster area. Parks you help Cookie Dough there are lights in there you need to get for the tree. Ro you can help me with cookie making. B it is up to you whether you help Hank string his lights or you help me and Ro with the cookies." he ordered he was way too into this Christmas thing but he had to beat his sister at her own game.
Henry chuckled deep in his throat at his cousin he went to the extremes when it came to Christmas but he couldn't say anything he was the same way " We all have our orders we better take care of business before Chris has a heart attack he is not going to be happy if we sit around and let Mel out do him."
"I know that you meant to put your name in there too Hank I do believe you have been stressing about getting a tree for days." Jake corrected his cousin grinning.
"Cooper Jay no part of what Chris told you to do required running that mouth of yours. So give it a rest and go get the tree stand." Henry replied pointing down the hall so his younger cousin would take the hint.
"Yeah I got it I'm going to get the tree stand come on Parks we better do as we were told we're dealing with Hen and Chris the Christmas Nazis." Jake said pulling Parker by the arm as they walked down the hall.
"We are not Christmas Nazis we just really, really like it you two jerks." Chris called after them not really paying attention to anything Jake said he knew how he was.
"Now that they are gone I do believe someone mentioned something about making cookies ?" Liz asked him hopefully next to his mother Chris made some of her favorite cookies in the world.
Chris laughed and shook his head "Yes I did mention something about making cookies I know which ones are your favorites don't worry me and Ro are going to make those while you girls work your magic on the rest of the apartment the idea here is to make this place look like a winter wonderland." he instructed them.
"Chris I know we have this under control you just make your cookies while we get this decorated." Prue assured him she was in the competitive mood too they had to put all the younger Halliwell cousins to shame with the way they decorated or they would never hear the end of it.
Henry put a beanie hat on to replace his santa hat to keep his ears from getting cold he had also put heavy duty overalls on over his clothes. He was about to get on the roof of the apartment building and string lights. He had strands upon strands of lights looped over his right arm. "Well if you all have it under control in here I'm getting up on the roof call me when you're ready to decorate the tree." He informed them as he headed for the door.
Wyatt shook his head at him "It is a damn good thing that grandpa owns this building other wise we would get our asses thrown out for the way you guys go overboard with the Christmas lights every year."
"Correct you are but grandpa would never throw us out he said he likes the way we decorate." Chris corrected his older brother.
There were rows and rows of little houses lined up with smoke rising up from the chimneys. The roof tops were covered in snow and snow was still falling in huge white flakes. Each house was decked out in Christmas lights and the streets were lined with them as well.
The little town looked like America in the early 1900s on the west end of town there was even a little train station. The streets were lined with lamp posts that had to be lit every night. Each lamp post was decorated with garland. In the yards of the houses the mail boxes sat upon candy cane stripped poles.
At the north end of town there was a huge mansion situated behind a very large factory that had smoke rising from it's chimney. Off to the right of the factory there were stables that housed the most important animals to the people of the town. The main mode of transportation for the town other than walking was horse drawn carriages. The horses that pulled them were as white as the snow and it was hard to distinguish between the two unless you knew what you were looking for.
Inside the factory toys of all kinds were rolling down the assembly lines there were bikes, dolls, train sets, and any other kind of toy you can imagine. The people tending to the toys were dressed in green pointy shoes and pants, they were all wearing white and red stripped socks and green hats with bells on them, some of them were wearing red shirts while others opted to wear green.
Up on the landing there was an office with a huge window that looked down upon the factory and the workers below. The man that sat behind the desk wore a white dress shirt with red pants he had red and green suspenders to hold up his red pants. Hanging on the back of his chair was a red coat that had white fur on the collar and down the front.
On top of the man's head was perched was a red hat with white fur around the head band and a white ball on the top. A round pair of glasses were sitting on the man's nose. He stroked his long white beard as he looked over the list in front of him. This list ran on for several thousand pages as it held the name of all the children all over the world.
Seeing this some would guess that this was a businessman of some sort going over something for work. Those people would only be partially right this was a business man but he only worked one night a year. The list in front of him wasn't just any list and the man behind the desk was one of the most important men in the world. You see this wasn't just any man as you might have already guessed this was Santa Claus and the list in front of him was the naughty and nice list.
The town that lay outside of the factory was the North Pole spoke of only in stories no one knew for sure that it existed. The people down in the factory working were the elves spoke of in the same stories as the North Pole. The animals that the stables housed were the reindeers of fame and legend only a select few were ever chosen to pull Santa's sleigh.
At the moment Santa had a little bit of a problem it seemed as if more and more people stopped believing in the magic of Christmas not only that but it seemed like more names were appearing on the naughty list than the nice list something was terribly wrong. What ever was going on was also affecting the every day workings of the North Pole. The production on the toy line had decreased dramatically. It may have seemed like the toys were going out at warp speed to anyone who hadn't seen it at it's peak but it all reality the elves were only working at a snails pace.
The toy shop was not the only thing suffering the reindeer were barely making it up into the air. Not only that but Santa wasn't his usual fat happy self his laugh didn't seem as jolly and he didn't fit into any of his clothes they were all too big for him. He definitely had a problem on his hands the magic of Christmas seemed to be fading out right before his eyes and there was little he could do about it.
That was why at the present time he had called in his head elf Roy to confer on the situation if anyone could help him figure this thing out it was Roy. Santa pulled his glasses off of his nose and wiped them on his shirt sleeve. He needed a moment to collect his thoughts .
"What's the matter boss man ? You look pretty tense." Roy asked he wasn't what usually came to your mind when you thought of an elf he had a pretty scruffy black beard and a abrasive manner but he was a pretty likeable guy.
"That's the problem I don't know what's wrong it's like that magic of Christmas is fading out on us here. I'm starting to look like the poster child for healthy living and you have grown at least two inches in the last few days. And you should see Rudolph his nose is on the blink." Santa sighed.
"This is worse than I thought then because I thought it was pretty bad when the train showed up with a light load of letters earlier." Roy stroked his beard he might just have some clue of what to do to fix this.
"My point exactly and I failed to mention the fact that eggnog production is down three percent since yesterday. I don't know what to do this is a serious problem. That is why I asked you to come in here today Roy if anyone knows what to do to help it's you." Santa was at the end of his rope he couldn't let all the children of the world down but he needed help to fix this.
Roy looked thoughtful for a moment and then he thought of something "Don't worry big man I think I know who can help."
Santa shook his head Roy was a good man but his ideas sometimes left a lot to be desired. "Just tell me this won't be a repeat of the time you attempted to get the train unstuck." he pleaded with him.
"St. Nick this is me we're talking about I learned from that just because the Reindeer can pull a sleigh it does not mean that they can pull a train. But seriously though I know someone who can help. So you just sit tight and I will be back later remember don't stress out too much I'll fix this." Roy gave the normally jolly old man a charming smile and walked out of the room. "Whoo he is not very jolly right about now. I sure hope that the Halliwells are willing to help otherwise he is going to have one more fit." He said to himself as he walked along.
Opening Credits:
Starring:
Wyatt Halliwell- Wes Ramsey
Chris Halliwell- Drew Fuller
Henry Matthews Jr- Channing Tatum
Cooper Halliwell Jr- Paul Walker
Charles Bradford- Jonathan Rhys Meyer
Lila Nicolae- Jordana Brewster
Roman Nicolae- Ben McKenzie
Elizabeth Shane- Bethany Joy Galeotti
Parker Halliwell- Eddie Cibrian
Troy Shane- David Boreanez
Calleigh Cavanaugh- Anne Hathaway
And
Prue Halliwell- Jennifer Love Hewitt
With:
Melinda Halliwell- Amanda Bynes
Valerie Halliwell- Eliza Dushku
Penny Halliwell- Daneel Harris
Carly Matthews- Sophia Bush
Patty Matthews- Rachel Bilson
Ricky Bradford- Taylor Lautner
And
Emily Bradford- Hilary Burton
Piper Halliwell looked at her watch annoyed but that was nothing new for her if she had to guess her oldest two her niece and her two nephews were in the middle of doing who alone knows what. And they had forgotten they had somewhere to be. She sighed in frustration very rarely did she ask them to do anything so they could at least be on time. That was a lie and she knew it but she didn't feel like being fair to them at the moment.
"Piper relax they will be here they just probably lost track of time." Paige told her sister trying to calm her.
"No Paige they knew that we had to go to dad's today I'm surprised that Chris and Henry aren't already here so we can go they love going over there to help dad decorate the tree. Not only that but they promised us they would take the boys over." Piper ranted and raved.
"Honey they will be here soon I promise and besides that Jackie and Al don't seem to mind that their big brothers are running late." Leo assured her pointing to the playpen where the two little boys were sound asleep.
"Leo they're six months old of course they don't mind. The only thing those two care about is being fed when they cry." Henry Sr pointed out to his friend.
"Phoebe and Coop are running behind too so it's just as well that they're not here yet they can't leave without Phil." Prue said rolling her eyes leave it to her younger sister to be running late she expected that out of her. She was bouncing her son up and down in her arms while Andy had their little girl.
"Just out of curiosity isn't it going to take more than Chris and Henry to get all the kids over there ?" Andy asked the last time he checked they could only orb two babies with them each.
Leo shook his head "Andy you don't want to know so don't ask that question they have a system."
"Why don't they just get Wyatt to help ?" Prue asked it made sense to her. Piper and Paige both looked at her incredulously.
"I know that it only takes seconds to orb but you don't want them alone with Wy even that long. I don't trust him with them unless Liz is with him which is almost always the case." Piper replied she loved her first born but he could barely take care of himself.
Phoebe and Coop hearted into the manor a moment later he had a baby about the same as age as the other four in his arms.
"So I take it that Henry and Chris aren't here yet ?" Phoebe guessed when she saw the look that Piper wore on her face.
"No they aren't and they aren't answering my calls either I know they can hear me." Piper was more than a little pissed off.
Coop looked at his watch "Piper it will be ok Victor knows how his oldest five grandchildren are. Though I'm pretty sure he wishes they would hurry up so he doesn't have to be stuck with all those girls for much longer."
"Yeah like adding five infants and their five supposed to be adult siblings to the mix is going to help his sanity." Paige quipped their teenagers were better behaved than their older siblings were.
A shower of orbs appeared a second later and shimmers rippled in the air. Chris, Henry, Prue, and Jake looked at each other nervously. They could tell that Piper was not happy with them just from the look she gave them.
Prue figured she would let the boys explain this one and she took her baby brother from her father. "Hey there handsome boy I missed you I haven't saw you in a whole twelve hours." she was talking baby talk and she kissed him on his little nose.
Piper looked intently at her son and two nephews "Where the hell have you been ?" she asked by way of greeting.
"This is all Chris and Hen's fault I told them that we had to go but they insisted on stringing just one more strand of lights on the tree." Jake pointed a finger at each of his older cousins. Who couldn't deny what he was saying since they had been pretty anal about the tree.
"We lost track of time and we are very sorry I'm sure that grandpa understands but on the upside he has Wy and the girls to keep him company right now." Chris apologized.
"Fine that makes me wonder however if I need to leave you instructions for Jack." Piper quipped at him. He needed no instructions and she knew that he was the one she called to take care of him when she couldn't get anyone else.
"Piper he said he was sorry." Leo warned as he picked his youngest child up out of the playpen.
Henry Jr and Chris grinned at each other " We brought the kids something now I know that you're still going to be mad but you won't be for long." Henry Jr grinned. He picked his little brother up and put a Santa Claus hat on his head.
Jake took two of the hats and put them on Prue and Andy's twins. Prue put one on Phil and Chris put the last one on Jack.
Piper began to smile "Hank don't let this go to your head but you were right they are so cute." she relented.
"I can trust you four not to forget my babies at dad's because you get sidetracked ?" Prue asked jokingly.
"Come on Aunt Prue you know Joe and Ally are safe with us we just watched them the other day." Jake protested.
"Now I hate to ask this but there are four of you and five of them how is this going to work ?" Henry Sr asked.
"Let me ask this first do we have to take car seats ?" Prue asked with her eyebrow arched she was delicate she couldn't be lugging around a car seat she had just done her nails.
"No dad has a playpen or you can lay them on the floor believe it or not. I swear you guys might be worse about them then we are." Paige laughed they were all pretty protective older siblings.
"I'll take Jack, Prue can take Phil, Coop will take Ally and that leaves you the other two Hank." Chris said knowing his cousin would go through the roof on him.
Hank shook his head "No go Chris we went through this the other day when we had Phil, Jackie, and Al. I took two that day it's your turn dude."
"Damn I was hoping you wouldn't remember that ok then I will take Jackie and Joe." Chris snapped his fingers.
As they were getting ready to leave Roy the elf appeared in the room his mode of transportation was kinda like orbing but not quite he had snowflakes surround him instead of lights.
Piper rolled her eyes and groaned "Oh you have got to be kidding me I could deal with anyone but you right now."
"It's nice to see you too. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important long story short Santa needs some help that only you guys can provide." Roy explained.
Jake got an incredulous look on his face "You're serious Santa ? And we are supposed to believe you why ?" he asked not believing what he was hearing.
"You who are half demon don't believe there is a Santa ?" Roy shot back sarcastically. For him to be an elf he didn't have much of a personality but people couldn't help liking him.
"I haven't believed in Santa since I was like twelve you have me confused with my cousins and sister. And as for me being half demon we don't talk about such things in front of my baby brother it will ruin his image of me." Jake replied just as sarcastically he was a Halliwell noone could be more sarcastic than he was.
"Jakie calm down ok no one will ever replace you in Phil's eyes you're the only big brother that he has. Now as for Santa needing help I believe you but we will take care of it later we have something else to do first." Prue said to Jake before she turned to Roy.
"Oh this is just great." Chris and Henry groaned the things that they did sometimes just because they were Halliwells was unreal.
"Alright you need to go a little to the left now and it should look good." Mel told her grandpas who were in the middle of putting the Christmas tree up. She studied their work once they were done and nodded her approval.
Victor and Sam hive fived each other they had to admit they made a pretty good team when they worked together. "Where in the name of all that is right in good our the other four ? Mel you I understand running late you got held up with something at work but there is no excuse for the four of them even Wyatt is here." Victor asked his grandchildren were not known for always being on time.
"Grandpa don't worry so much they will be here you know that they had to stop off and get the babies first." Wyatt assured him.
Patty looked at Mel when Victor had mentioned her being at work she knew that Mel was lying she was with Roman and everyone knew it. "Trust me on this one they probably had to feed Al before they left that kid will cry if he doesn't eat every five minutes."
"Charlie that is my baby brother you are talking about that way and he is a perfect angel just like I am." Carly said solemnly.
Sam scoffed at his granddaughter "Carly if you call what you are being a perfect angel than I feel sorry for your mother having another one just like you."
"Damn Grandpa Sam is a jokester now I like it." Val gave her other grandpa the thumbs up sign.
"Yeah I didn't know he had it in him he must have been spending time around the oldest five again." Penny chimed in.
Wyatt gave his cousin a dirty look "Hey I am sitting right here there is nothing wrong with us." he protested.
"Unless you count the fact that mentally you guys are the same age as Al, Jackie, Phil, Joe, and Ally." Mel laughed at her oldest brother that poor girl fell right in the middle of three boys.
" I wish they would hurry up I miss Phil I haven't seen him all day." Penny moaned she took her big sister job seriously.
As if on cue the oldest five orbed in with their infant siblings in tow. The five teenage girls oohed and ahhed when they saw how the little ones were dressed.
"It's about time that you got here these five girls have been driving me and the grandpas insane." Wyatt addressed his brother and cousins.
"Hey we tried to get you to come with us but you and Liz were busy doing whatever it is that you and Liz do." Prue reminded him.
Sam looked curiously at the three young men with Prue "What's the matter guys you look worried ?" he asked.
Chris offered him a smile "We're not worried we never worry we leave that up to my mother. Wy be useful and put the playpen up." "Chris something is up I know it let me in." Wyatt's voice filtered through his head. "Not now Wy I'll tell you later." he sent back hoping he would let the matter drop.
"You know I'm really happy that all these girls are so happy to see us I remember we used to make their faces light up like that now we get nothing." Jake ranted at his sisters and younger cousins.
Penny went to her big brother and hugged him "I still love you Jakie."
"You're just about the only one even Ladybug forgot all about me and I see her everyday." Jake pouted.
Henry laid his only brother in the playpen the kid got heavy to hold after a while. He had only walked two or three steps away when the baby orbed into his arms. He smiled down at him. "We've talked about this goose you can't orb to me whenever you feel like it."
Carly laughed at her two brothers "You know that you are the only one he ever does that to. He doesn't even orb after dad and he is a daddy's boy."
"I feel blessed but I still wish he wouldn't do that I can't count the number of times he has made me have to freeze a room." Henry shook his head and tried handing Alan to his sister in hopes that he wouldn't orb after him.
"You guys ready to start ?" Victor asked his grandchildren.
"Yeah we're ready we love doing this stuff." Chris said excitedly.
Liz and Troy were sitting on the couch at their mom's house both of them looked bored out their minds. It wasn't that they didn't love their mother this just wasn't their idea of a good time. But still they had promised her they would help her decorate her tree since she had no one else. Liz's phone buzzed and she looked down she smiled when she saw that it was Wyatt.
"Lizzie you just left him and you will see him again as soon as we are done here I think you can go that long without talking to him." Troy said when he saw the smile on his sister's face only one person was capable of making her smile like that.
"Shut up Troy you're only mad because you haven't got to see Val all day I don't want to hear from you. Besides that this is our one year anniversary he told me that he has a surprise for me and I can't get it out of him so even he must not know you know as well as I do that he can't keep a secret." Liz replied sticking her tongue out at her big brother.
"Hey you two don't start come here and help me decorate this tree." Nicole Shane told her two children.
Troy and Liz both walked over to the tree and started putting ornaments on it. Troy pulled one out and stared at it for a moment. It was one of those ornaments that held a picture the picture was of four people two adults and two children. "Hey Liz you remember this ?" he asked wiping at his eyes.
Liz took from him and got all misty eyed "Yeah I remember this it was our last Christmas with him he left not long after that. Mom why did you keep this all these years ?" she questioned her mother.
Nicole sighed "Honey I don't know I didn't even realize I kept it. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. You know I hate what he did to us but I can't hate him as a man he gave me the two of you. Elizabeth you and Troy are the most important things in my life I know that is hard for you to believe but you are."
"Mom I can't speak for Lizzie but I know that I do love you and I'm sorry if I've turned out to be anything like Tim." Troy said speaking from his heart he was a man of few sentimental words.
Nicole hugged her son to her "You're nothing like him my sweet boy I don't know what I would have done without you to look after Liz."
"You've got that wrong mom I looked after him not the other way around." Liz joked trying to change the subject but it didn't work.
Nicole cupper Liz's face in her hands "You sweetheart bore the brunt of everything worse than your brother did. Not only did you lose your dad you lost me too because I had to work so much and you were so young. I'm sorry that I wasn't there enough for you but you turned into an amazing young woman without much help from me."
"Ah mom you did the best you could and I was never alone I always had Wy. I think Tim did us a favor by leaving sometimes if he wasn't man enough to stick around then that was his problem not ours." Liz said willing herself not to cry over him she had shed one tear too many because of him already.
Troy put his arms around his mother and his sister "It always comes back to Wyatt with you I don't think you can go five minutes without talking about him Lizzie. And mom she is right we were never alone. Uncle Leo was just like a dad to me I could always count on him. I couldn't even count on Tim when he was around he wasn't good a keeping his promises."
Nicole smiled at both of her children "Ok new subject," she announced she knew that they didn't like talking about their father " how are both your love lives going ?"
"Perfect Wy is the best boyfriend in the entire world." Liz answered smiling at the thought of the blond young man.
Troy shrugged "Val is Val you don't want to know much more than that. But I do have a small confession to make I might be falling in love with her."
"That's great you guys I'm glad that you're both so happy." Nicole said that was all she wanted for them.
Liz phone buzzed again and Troy shot her a look she frowned when she read what it said "Troy I'm going to kill your best friend she has once again managed to get us into a mess."
Troy groaned "What did Prue do this time ?" he asked not sure he wanted to know.
"She didn't do anything per se she said we would help some magical creature so now we have to meet them back at the manor. Which reminds me mom Aunt Piper said that she needs you to please come over and she only asks nicely once." Liz answered.
"Did she say what kind of magical creature ?" Troy asked he got so sick of this.
Liz shook her head "Hell no she didn't say she was afraid that we would go through the roof and say no."
Nicole grabbed her coat off of the living room chair "I don't know about you two but I think we should probably get going I don't really want to make your Aunt Piper's temper any worse than it already is."
Chuck was in the process of sitting an angel on top of the Christmas tree that was in his dad's living room. Lilly was standing behind him giving him moral support really she was just bitching about what he was doing wrong.
"Chuck you don't listen that needs to go a little bit to the right it's leaning." Lilly nagged him.
"Roman if you enjoy having an older sister I would suggest that you come get her or I will not be held responsible for what I do to her." Chuck warned her twin brother.
Derek laughed at the exchange from what he thought of as his three older kids. In reality Chuck was the only one out of the three that he had fathered but he had raised the other two so they might as well have been his. "Jellybean you're doing fine just because Lilly is nagging you doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want to her."
"Someone needs to tell that to Em who beats the living hell out of me every time I think about opening my mouth." Ricky pouted he was putting ornaments on the tree while his three older siblings fought about it.
Emily shot him a dirty look "Shut up Derek I'm surprised that you and Charlie managed to pry yourselves away from each other long enough to do this."
"That's telling him Em now if only you could tell my other little sister that I would love you forever." Chuck said finishing with his task.
Eva came walking into the room a minute later with an infant in her arms "Look who you guys woke up with your big mouths."
Chuck went over and took the baby from Eva "Hi pretty girl I know your sisters both have big mouths and they woke my sissy up." he cooed at her.
"Word to the wise Chuck if I were you I wouldn't let Prue see me holding her she might get ideas." Roman pointed out he was thankful he didn't have that problem with Mel.
Chuck shook his head "She already has ideas she is Prue I told her I'm not ready but you know her she listens about as well as a wall."
"Jake said the same thing but that is what I get for dating a younger man." Lilly said taking her baby sister from Chuck.
"Changing the subject you guys the tree looks nice I'm glad you could stop fighting long enough to do that." Eva said she was now sitting on the couch with her husband they had finally broke down and gotten married.
"No this wasn't you guys this was Ricky and Chuck the other three had their heads up their asses." Ricky said putting the finishing touches on the tree.
Roman walked over to his twin sister "Here let me see Ana before you turn her into you and Prue I couldn't deal with that." he joked and Lilly handed her over.
"I will have you know that Prue and I are both wonderful women you better watch your ass her boyfriend is standing right over there. And don't make me call my fiancé to kick your ass." Lilly warned him.
"Fine you play dirty sic both the guys with major offensive powers on me I can't win here I don't know why the hell I even try." Roman threw up his free hand and his baby sister giggled.
"Oh Ro you could always get your girlfriend to come help you they are scared shitless of Mel." Emily teased her favorite brother.
"Children watch the language in front of Ana I don't want her being as bad as you five are." Derek yelled at them.
"She is going to talk like that regardless all of her little boyfriends are Halliwells they make you cuss." Emily professed solemnly.
Chuck raised an eyebrow "If I have anything to say about it that girl will never date a Halliwell you all know as well as I do the things they get you to do because you love them."
"Yeah ok Chuck that makes a lot of sense coming from you does Prue know you talk like that ?" Ricky questioned him.
"Yes she does and she agreed with me surprisingly she never agrees with me when I say things like that she normally tells my if I don't like it I can sleep alone from now on." Chuck replied.
"Dude you both just need to get over it and get married already none of us can take it anymore." Emily said sarcastically.
Chuck pulled a ring box out his pocket and opened it revealing the biggest diamond any of them had ever seen "I planned on it but when we do the things we do it makes it kinda hard to find a moment."
"I must say that I'm impressed you did that all by yourself." Eva smiled at the man she considered to be another son to her.
"No I got help from the only Halliwell woman who can ever be trusted to keep her mouth shut. I summoned Grams." Chuck laughed he had to go through all kind of stuff with Grams to get her help but it was worth it.
Lilly's phone rang and she held it to her ear for a minute. "Great that was Jake, Prue has managed to get us all in another mess again. We have to help out some magical creature. And mom Aunt Piper says she needs you to come over I don't think we want to know what that is all about but we better go. I really don't want to hear Wy rant and rave for hours because we were being slow."
Chuck put the ring back in his pocket "Right this right here was the kind of thing I was talking about." he groaned he loved his girlfriend she just did not know when to quit sometimes.
The ususal gang of thirteen Wyatt, Chris, Henry, Prue, Jake, Chuck, Liz, Troy, Roman, Lilly, Bianca, Parker, and Calleigh orbed into the middle of the north pole. They marveled at all the tiny houses and how busy the streets were.
"I can't believe we are actually at the north pole." Prue clapped her hands giddy with excitement.
Parker rolled his brown eyes " I can believe it what I can't believe is how cold it is. And I'm wearing like ten layers of clothes." he bitched wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to get warm.
"You know you wouldn't have this problem if you would have taken the coveralls I tried to give you but no you had to be stubborn." Henry pointed out throwing him a mock salute.
Liz was shivering against the cold Wyatt pulled the scarf off his neck and wrapped it around her. "Thank you Wy." she managed to get out her chattering teeth made it hard to speak.
Chris looked around trying to get his bearings "Alright we are supposed to meet Roy at the train station and that would be to the west so we need to go left." he said walking off into the direction they needed to be headed in.
"So what exactly are we supposed to be helping Santa with ?" Troy asked he still wasn't sold on the idea he just about refused to believe that this could all be real. For all he knew this was some demon trying to trap them.
Chuck shook his head and smiled at Troy "I think I'm going to have to have a talk with my girl Val about you. She needs to do something about you always being so crabby she doesn't mind telling me about Prue."
"Could we please stay on task here people some of us would really like to get back home before we die of frost bite." Calleigh pleaded with them in the year she had known them they had been off topic most of the time.
Bianca was walking with her arm looped through Henry's "You know as well as I do that they can't stay on topic Cal it's not within their capabilities." she reminded her.
As they walked along they saw an elf up on stilts lighting the lamps throughout the town. They all watched him with fascination. "Now there is something you don't see everyday and we see a lot of strange things." Roman chuckled deep in his throat.
"We just had to end up at the north pole because everyone knows I don't deal well with the cold." Wyatt groaned rubbing his sore knee the cold always made it ache.
"Wy we know you have a bad knee but if you would quit running your mouth so damn much and walk we could get out of the cold sooner." Jake reasoned with his older cousin.
Wyatt huffed but he didn't reply it would only spark an argument between him and Jake and then that would get Prue started so he just remained silent for once. As they walked on they passed numerous little shops. They could detect the hint of bake goods wafting in the air.
Chuck heard his stomach rumble but he ignored it the best he could "I think that if this takes us too long I'm going to have to follow my nose in the direction of that food." the dark headed young man said. He loved food almost as much as he loved Prue and that was saying something he loved her a lot.
Jake's blue eyes lit up with mirth "Oh this was all Ladybug's idea I say you and I go follow our noses and let the rest of them take care of this." he suggested a smile coming to his face.
Chris turned around so that he was walking backwards "No one is separating right now we don't know what we're up against so that isn't going to happen. You two can last an hour or two without food it will not kill you I know that you think it will but I assure you, you both will be fine." he ranted at them. As he had been preaching at his cousin and friend he hadn't been paying attention to where he was walking. The next thing he knew he ran smack dab into a snowman and fell on his ass.
His so called group of friends and family started shaking in laughter at him. Henry walked over to his fallen cousin and offered him a hand up "C. Perry I've told you countless times if you're going to walk backwards you need to look over your shoulder every now and then."
Chris pulled himself up using his cousin's hand "Yeah well I don't listen to you sometimes you talk entirely too much when you want to and it drives me nuts."
"Girls stop fighting and come on we are almost there is can see the smoke from the train from here." Liz said she wasn't in the mood for them and their antics at the moment she just wanted to get out of the cold.
Chris grumbled something under his breath that no one could make out but he kept trudging along just for the sake of keeping the peace. They walked on for a while further until they came to the train station.
That was an experience in and of itself none of them had ever seen anything like it before. Elves were running around the platform like crazy off loading more mail sacks than any of them had time to count. They were also off loading a bunch of materials they needed to make toys.
Prue watch the process with a childlike excitement she was very easily amused it wasn't her fault "This is so cool I can't believe that we are actually getting to see all this I always wondered what it would be like here she gushed."
Parker rolled his eyes at his niece "Ladybug tone it down some it's not all that great." he said downplaying her excitement he just didn't get how she was so amused by it all.
"We just had to end up here because the elders know I don't work well with elves and other small people I haven't since I had the gnome or whatever he was for a teacher at magic school." Bianca moaned and groaned this wasn't her idea of a good time but she still believed in it and that is was real the elves just drove her nuts.
Roy came rushing down the platform towards them once he had spotted them "It's about time you all got here. Things are getting out of hand I need you to come talk to the big man for me reassure him that you are here to help." he said in his gruff manor he didn't have time to play nice with these people.
"What exactly is the problem here everything looks fine to me." Wyatt asked he didn't really see a problem it looked normal to him. Not that a bunch of elves was normal but he knew what he meant.
Roy gestured around wildly "Everything is not fine wait till you see Santa, these elves are not supposed to be as tall as they are even I have grown a little bit."
"Ok calm down man just take us to Santa and we will find a way to take care of this it is what we do." Jake assured him he didn't want the small man having a stroke on him he wouldn't ever be able to live with himself if that happened.
"Follow me." Roy called behind him as he started walking he led them to a mail truck one of the only motorized vehicles at the north pole there were others but the elves didn't typically use them.
"Um you want us all to squeeze in back there ?" Lilly asked him incredulously the elf had to be out of his mind.
"Sorry sweetheart we didn't have time to roll out the red carpet for you. We are kinda busy we have toys to make for this little thing called Christmas it only happens once every year." Roy said sarcastically he had a problem and they wanted to complain about the way he did things.
Roman looked hard at his sister "Just get in Lilly you can sit on Coop's lap or something. Don't be difficult I really want to get this over with." he sighed he had better ways to spend his time than by doing some of things Prue got them roped into doing.
Twelve of them crowded into the back of the mail van while Henry was the only one brave enough to ride up front with the elf. It wasn't that he was the only one brave enough it was more like they all hurried up and got in back so they didn't have to do it.
"So lets rock and roll." Roy said as he started up the van and went speeding toward the toy factory where Santa was waiting for them.
Henry wasn't scared of many people's driving he had taught both his younger sisters how to drive and he rode with Wyatt who was the worst driver in the world. But now he was hanging on for dear life. Thankfully it was a short ride otherwise he would have been sorely tempted to just orb out and then sense where his cousins were later so he could go there.
Soon they pulled up to the loading docks at the factory Henry wanted to kiss the ground but he didn't want the elf to know that he had scared him.
"Wow Wyatt I think we've just found someone who drives worse than you do." Chris said putting his hand on the side of the van to steady himself.
"I didn't have time to go slow time is wasting here you need to come on and follow me now." Roy lead them up a stairwell that led to Santa's office on the landing. The big man was sitting behind his desk his fingers interlocked in front of him. Roy didn't even bother knocking he just opened the door and led the thirteen of them in the room.
"Roy I thought you said you were going to fix this ? What are all these people doing here ?" Santa questioned him hotly his jolly disposition was gone entirely now.
"St. Nick relax I brought them here so they could help I promise you they know how to fix this." Roy assured his boss.
Wyatt decided he would take the lead on this one and none of his friends objected "Can you tell us what exactly has been happening ?" he asked they still didn't know what was going on.
"Nothing is working the way it should look at me I look like I have been using Jenny Craig. My factories have seriously slowed down with their production. There are more kids on the naughty list than the nice list. Not to mention the reindeer and their sudden inability to fly. The list goes on and on it's like the magic of Christmas is slipping away and there is nothing I can do to hang on to it." Santa raved before slamming his fist down on his desk.
Prue stepped up and started her rambling speech that reminded everyone of Phoebe "Uh Santa let me say what an honor it is to meet you, you have no idea what a dream come true this is for me. We can help we help all kinds of people all of the time. I just need to touch you to see if I can get a premonition." Jake could only shake his head at his sister and then they told him he was the most like Phoebe. Prue walked over to Santa and put her hands on him but then she shook her head no. "I've got nothing." she was disappointed.
Liz closed her eyes and tried looking into the future with her powers but she came up with nothing just like Prue did. " I can't see anything in the future right now it could mean nothing is wrong or it could mean something big is about to happen you never know with this stupid power." she was frustrated she always saw the things she didn't want to see but could never get her powers to work when she needed them to.
Lilly's face lit up like she had an idea "Roy do have leaves of any sort around here ?" she asked and they all knew what she was going to do.
"We have holly leaves I don't know how that is going to help but that is what we have." Roy answered looking at her like she was crazy.
"I need those and a mug of water you'll understand in a moment." Lilly explained to him.
"Gypsy girl what are you doing ?" Parker asked her with an arched eyebrow that kid got more and more like Piper and Paige everyday that it was scary. But it could have been worse he could have been like Phoebe and Prue. At least he was like his somewhat manageable sisters.
"I will show you in a minute this might actually be the only thing that will help for a change I don't know about you but I'm in no hurry to use a spell that with our luck will backfire." Lilly was talking to him slowly like he was dense. Roy spoke into a microphone that he had on his collar and a second later another elf came in carrying the water and leaves that Lilly had asked for.
"Here you go I don't know what you're going to do with this but I don't question what works." Roy said handing the stuff to her.
Lilly took some the leaves crushed them out and threw them down in the water. She swirled the water in the cup around and then she looked down at the pattern that the leaves had formed. "Oh you have got to be kidding me but then again with our luck it's right. Ro come here I need a second opinion."
Roman went over to his sister and looked down into the cup "Lilly you know that you are better with the gypsy thing than I am but I'll try." he studied the leaves and then he sighed out loud there was no way that this was happening to them. "I see what you were going on about now this is so messed up."
"What did you guys see ?" Chuck asked after a reaction like that he wasn't sure that he wanted to know but he had to know.
Santa was sitting by as patiently as he could but now he was curious. "What is going on here ?" he demanded of them.
"You guys are never going to believe this one and remember I'm not kidding around this time. But I swear to you that we are dealing with a Grinch demon that is able to affect the way the kids of the world behave and he plants the seeds that Santa isn't real. That would explain everything." Roman said not even he believed the words that were coming out of his mouth but that was what the leaves had said.
Henry couldn't help himself his loud booming laugh soon filled the room "I'm sorry but you have got to be kidding me there is no way that there is such a thing as a Grinch demon." he protested grabbing his sides from laughing so hard.
Santa looked at him with envy in his eyes "I remember when my laugh used to sound like that," he observed dejectedly. "Can you fix this or not ?" he asked
The others looked at Lilly and she slowly nodded her head in the affirmative "Santa we can fix this without a doubt the demon is here as a matter of fact all we have to do is go find him and you should have no more problems."
"Alright what do you guys need ?" Roy asked he knew that this had been a good idea.
"Do you have any caves around here ?" Troy asked he was doing his best to remember the story of the Grinch just in case anything was the same.
"Yeah we have a whole bunch of them on the north side of town in the mountain." Roy answered.
"Is there anyway for us to get there without walking ?" Chris asked hopefully he didn't want to hear them all complain about having to walk a long way.
Roy smiled at him "Oh I think I have just the thing to help you out here."
The sound of motors broke the quiet calm of the frozen tundra that stretched on for miles once you left the hustle and bustle of the town behind. A group of polar bears was walking across an ice covered lake not bothered at all by the intrusion on their solitude.
The sound was coming from the snow mobiles that Roy had dug up for the thirteen they were a sleek glistening black with Property of the North Pole stamped on the side of them. The whole gang was dressed in white parkas that had fur around the hood. They had on goggles to keep from getting snow in their eyes. The gang was riding across the frozen desert one right next to the other to be on the safe side until they could better scope things out.
"Hey Chris I'll race you there." Henry said over the microphone that Roy had given them to communicate. He figured that it would be safe he didn't see any hint of a demon yet.
Chris took his hand off of one of the handle bars and gave him the thumbs up sign "You never get tired of me beating you, you're on Hank." he replied revving his motor so it would go faster.
"Guys I'm not so sure that, that is a good idea." Wyatt's voice came over the intercom that they shared. He was a worrier just like his mother he was the oldest he had to make sure they stayed safe.
"Don't worry so much Wy Hank and I can drive anything with a motor we are trained professionals we know what we are doing." Chris assured his older brother.
Henry opened up his throttle and slid sideways so that he sprayed Chris with a bunch of snow. "You need to stay on your game here dude this is one race I plan on winning." He laughed.
"Ugh Grams is right men are childish." Prue huffed leave it to her cousins to make a game out of this.
"Prue I will personally kill you if you ever tell Grams that she was right about something." Jake informed his sister the last thing he needed with his great-grandmother gloating the next time she came to see them.
"Hey guys wait up I'm pretty sure that I can beat the two of you." Troy said and he opened his motor up to catch up with his two friends.
"And then we wonder why one of those three always ends up hurt after they have been together." Liz said she was all for having fun but the way her brother, Chris, and Hank acted together was not healthy.
"No we pretty much know why those three always get hurt it's just a wonder they don't get hurt more." Lilly pointed out.
Chuck was looking around taking in the scenery he looked over at the frozen lake and then down at the snowmobile he was on a mischievous grin lit up his face. He set off in the direction of the lake he just had to try something out.
"Chuck where are you going ?" Roman asked when he headed off on his own and he started off behind him.
"I'm trying something out hang back a minute I'm not sure if this is going to work or not." Chuck replied driving out onto the ice tentatively.
"Charles Derek Bradford get back here before you get hurt." Prue ordered her boyfriend when she saw what he was doing.
Parker shook his head "I'll go get him and Ro before they get themselves hurt." he offered striking out after them.
"Victor Halliwell Jr you better be careful." Calleigh warned him worried for his safety.
"Cal relax they are all just a bunch of overgrown kids they will be fine." Bianca said she had given up on getting them to stay on task sometimes she felt like she was their mother.
Out in front Chris, Henry, and Troy had ran into something interesting. The terrain had changed instead of the brightly lit jolly looking direction that they had just come from they were now faced with a darker more ominous looking option. There was a huge mountain right in front of them with old rickety signs that told everyone that it would be a good idea to turn back.
"Guys stop playing around and get up here." Chris spoke ironically it had been him and Henry that started playing around first.
"We're on our way." Wyatt answered him back. They could hear the sound of their engines revving to pick up speed. Chris, Henry, and Troy were five minutes ahead of everyone else going at the speed they were going so they had to go faster. Finally though the other ten caught up to them.
They immediately noticed the difference in what was behind them and what laid ahead of them. Lilly groaned out loud things like this always happened to them whether they liked it or not.
"Is it just me or does this remind anyone else of the time we got sent to Oz ?" Roman asked sizing up the dark pathway before them. He pushed his goggles up on his forehead so that he could better see.
"Roman you were told to never mention that again some of us still haven't gotten over that traumatic experience." Prue huffed those two had another flare up in their life long feud over something stupid but whatever it had been had ended their latest cease fire.
Henry jumped off of his snowmobile while he and Chris walked a little further up the mountain side to see what they needed to do next. The came back down after a few moments.
"Alright none of you are going to like this but I think that we need to walk from here so the demon doesn't know that we are coming." Henry said facing his group of friends.
"But Hank you know how walking makes my feet hurt." Prue whined to her older cousin.
"Then get Chuck to carry you I don't know what else to tell you Ladybug but this is the only way to go. There is a cave a little ways up I think that may be the one we are looking for and with any luck we can vanquish the demon and then get out of here fast." Chris explained he didn't want to be here anymore than any of the others did.
"Then that is what we will do come on guys lets just get this over with." Bianca said going over to join her friend and her boyfriend.
The others dismounted and went over to join their friends. There were grumbles but no one else voiced any objections.
In a seedy cave that wasn't that different than one of the caverns in the underworld a fuzzy green demon with a dog like face was pacing back and forth. If all went according to his plans than he would put Santa out of business in no time. He had already succeeded in slowing down toy production and the reindeer were almost out of commission there was not much left for him to do.
It wasn't easy being a green fuzzy demon at the north pole were everyone was so jolly and merry all the time. As a matter of fact as far as he knew he was the only demon at the north pole. He smiled a little with pride he almost never smiled. It was a sick twisted smile that showed off his crooked yellow teeth. All demons were in the need of a good dentist but they didn't seem to care.
Piles of trash littered the cave floor and the only light was cast about by torch light. What is was with demons and torches no one would ever know it was like they were stuck in the dark ages. It was no wonder they always wanted to take over the top side it had way better lighting.
The demon whirled around when he heard someone else entered his cave he came face to face with the thirteen friends who had been sent to vanquish him. "What are you doing here ?" the grinch sneered.
"Dude try a tic tac I can smell your breath all the way over here." Jake suggested waving his hand in front of his nose in hopes of making the smell dissipate. Lilly shot her fiancé a look that told the half demon to shut up and be quiet.
"We'll be the ones asking the questions around here," Wyatt informed him his hands on his hips his stance was similar to the one Piper took with him when he made her mad. " like what do you get out of ruining Christmas ?"
"The fun, the honor, the glory it was about time that someone knocked Santa down off of his high horse. Besides misery loves company I was getting kinda lonely being the only demon around here I had to do something to make life more interesting." the grinch went on his little tirade.
"I'll give you one shot to help us and then I vanquish your sorry ass. Undo what you did and we let you live." Chris offered it was a fair deal in his eyes.
The grinch shook his head at Chris "That would be no fun. Didn't your mother teach you any manners ? It isn't polite to interrupt someone when they in the middle of their evil plans."
Chris and Wyatt both arched an eyebrow Piper would not be happy with anyone questioning her parenting least of all a demon. "Yeah my mother taught me a lot of things including the fact that I can't let demons get away with their evil plans." Chris shot back.
" I don't see where you have much of a choice and besides that I'm not the only one who would like to see Christmas come to an end." The grinch had powered up an energy ball and threw it.
Henry shot out his hands and blew the energy ball up in midair "Chris I think that he isn't going to take the easy way out of this one." He said in a sing song voice.
Jake had hit the deck from the blast Henry blowing up the energy ball had caused he stood up and wiped the dirt off of himself. "Gee I would have never guessed that they never do take the easy way out." he commented rolling his steel blue eyes.
"So that is your demon half and not the fact you're a Halliwell that makes you act like that." Prue smirked at her little brother a moment before an energy ball came flying her way and she had to duck.
"Guys stop playing around and knock it off." Calleigh urged them as she sent out a green energy blast at the demon but he dodged it.
A whole slew of energy balls came their way and they all had to hit the ground for fear of being hit. "That is it get serious you guys I'm begging you one of you with an offensive power do something to stop him." Liz pleaded she hated having passive powers at times like these.
Chris popped up off of the ground and set his sights on the demon in front of him he gritted his teeth. Electricity danced white around his knuckles and his normally green eyes glazed over white. He unleashed his elder bolts on the demon and watched him writhe and squirm in pain until he turned into a pile of ash. "I gotta say I'm glad that dad was an elder when I was born I love that power." he smiled he never got tired of kicking demon ass.
"I would hate to damage your fragile ego but I would really like to get out of here before frostbite sets in." Roman shivered now he was cold and if he was saying it was cold it was cold he very rarely got cold.
"Lets go this reminds me of the underworld and we spend too much time there as it is I want to go home." Chuck said walking off in hopes that the others would follow him. He wanted to go home he had a very important question to ask Prue.
Santa was on hand to greet the thirteen when they got back the change he had undergone was dramatic. He no longer had the problem of not fitting into his close he had gained his belly back and then some his pants were almost too tight now. The old familiar twinkle had appeared back in his eye he let out a laugh that made his belly shake like jello. "I just wanted to thank you all for helping out everything seems to be back in order."
"Santa it's what we do help those who can't help themselves at the moment." Parker said shrugging off his thanks this demon had been no big deal they had faced worse.
"Nonsense young man not only have you helped me you have helped all the children of the world everything is as it should be." Santa replied.
"It's no big deal like Parker said we do things like this all the time and we have faced a lot worse than what we just went up against." Chuck chimed in he and Parker were rarely in complete agreement. The worse he was talking about had been the source but that was over now and they were trying like hell to move on.
Santa patted Chuck on the back "Well thank you all just the same you have been a great deal of help. I don't know what I would have done if it hadn't been for you."
"We couldn't just let you down Santa we had to help there are kids all over the world depending on you. Seriously I don't know how you do it going to millions of houses in one night it is very impressive." Prue rambled on until Jake clamped his hand over his sister's mouth.
"You'll have to excuse her she still believes in the tooth fairy too she is very childlike." Jake said shaking his head. The big man in red gave him a hearty belly laugh.
Bianca shook her head at the two siblings out of the four sibling groups in the thirteen those two fought the most not even Wyatt and Chris fought as much as they did. "You will have to excuse both of them they are under the impression that they are still five years old and people think the things they do are cute."
"It's not a bad thing to hold onto that childlike innocense for as long as you can I think that you could do with a little of that yourself." Santa pointed his finger at her he was right she tried to be too grown up all the time it didn't matter that she was twenty-four years old it was alright for her to let loose sometimes.
"St. Nick we have production to oversee and other things to check out anytime you are ready." Roy said popping his head into the office.
"Right well thank you all again and I guess I will be seeing you." Santa said nodding at the group.
"Under better circumstances I hope don't let something like this go on so long next time before you call us. We would be more than happy to help." Calleigh replied giving him a smile.
Roy stood outside the door tapping his foot impatiently "You've got it I'd better go or I will have a very unhappy elf to deal with."
"Sure thing Roy knows how to get a hold of us if you ever need anything else." Wyatt said as Santa walked away giving them a wave which they all returned.
"So lets go home I have to see if I've even come close to beating Mel with my decorations." Chris said back in his Christmas freak mode.
"I agree with Chris I need to thaw out lets go home." Liz said she was sure that when she checked her toes would not be there.
Henry shook his head and laughed "Ok we get it you guys are cold lets go home." he agreed.
Piper was pacing through the living room at the manor "I don't know what could be taking them so long I mean they only had to go to the north pole they should have been back by now." she ranted mid pace before she turned around and walked in the other direction.
"Piper I'm sure that they are fine they have faced a lot worse than whatever it was they went up against there." Nicole assured her friend.
"No kidding Piper they went up against the source and came out of it fine I seriously doubt there was anything that bad waiting for them there." Eva agreed Piper had called her and Nicole over to help her worry not that she needed any help she did just fine in that arena all by herself.
Leo was bouncing Jack up and down like he used to do with Wyatt "Jackie your mommy worries to much tell her both your bad brothers will be fine they don't want to deal with your Grams if something happens to them."
"Leo we are friends but I'm warning you if you don't stop talking about my sweet innocent Grams that way me and you are gonna fight." Derek warned him jokingly.
"Derek try being stuck with the woman for two years I was so glad when they gave me my wings it wasn't funny." Andy chimed in he loved Penny Halliwell like she was his own grandmother but that woman got on his last nerve.
"You and Derek better make nice together Andy that is going to be your son's father-in-law one day." Phoebe told him she would have said he was going to Phil's but one of her kids married to a Bradford was enough for her.
"Why does it have to be my son why can't it be Piper's ?" Prue asked incredulously.
"Because everyone knows that Mel is going to marry Roman and Jake and Lilly are engaged not to mention Prue and Chuck, and then Patty and Ricky so that leaves Joe and Ana Prue." Coop put his two cents worth in.
"Well you missed the part where Chuck said he was never letting his sister date a Halliwell man." Eva informed them.
"I see where he is coming from the Halliwell and the Bradford tempers do not mix well together that is why they get into so much trouble." Henry Sr said he knew from first hand experience his youngest daughter was dating Derek's youngest son.
"Yeah I'm not buying that theory I've met Chuck and Ricky my daughter and my niece lead them around like a couple of lost puppy dogs. The only one with the horrible temper is Derek and that is why Mel is not with either Ricky or Chuck no body wants a mixture of Piper and Derek's tempers." Paige replied logically.
"Well you're going to think something about someone's temper if those kids don't get back within the next five minutes." Nicole said she had a pretty horrible temper too.
"Good job Pheebs once again your mouth has gotten them started I hope you can live with yourself." Paige said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.
"You know what it is not my fault it is my job to make sure the children in this family have decent love lives." Phoebe defended herself.
"Pheebs it's not your job you took upon yourself to make it your job. And you still aren't forgiven for dating tips with Aunt Phoebe you had Wyatt climbing out Mel's window since she has your old room." Piper shot back at her sister.
"Again some things just come out of my mouth before I can stop them and if you will remember correctly only one of your children ever borrowed your car without asking both of my oldest two did." Phoebe replied lamely.
"Mother am I never to be forgiven for something I did six years ago ?" Prue asked dramatically as the thirteen orbed into the room.
"Prue don't be so dramatic all the time it gets on my nerves." Jake rolled his blue eyes at his sister who seemed to get more and more annoying everyday.
"And don't you both start I am begging you the only thing I want to do is get warm and here the two of you are bitching and moaning at each other like always." Wyatt grumbled.
"Wyatt Matthew watch your mouth there are small children in the room." Liz said smacking her boyfriend on the back of his head beating Piper to the punch.
"Ow Elizabeth Ashley that really hurt you know I'm in enough pain as it is." Wyatt said rubbing the back of his head with one hand and his knee with the other. Liz pointed her finger at him and he knew better than to argue with her anymore.
"What took you guys so long ?" Piper asked her hands on her hips.
"Mom you wouldn't believe us if we told you so we will let B explain that since you believe everything that comes out of her mouth." Chris said a cheeky grin on his face.
"That is because she isn't a wise ass like the rest of you are." Nicole said staring Chris down she was the only one who came as close as Piper did to instilling fear in him.
"It was a grinch demon and that is no lie we had to go into a cave and vanquish him it took awhile since he was all the way in east Jesus. But we got him without any problems and only minimal fighting from Prue and Jake." Bianca explained.
"What are you talking about we didn't fight at all fighting is when I beat the snot out of the little creep which I should have done for him telling me to shut up but I didn't feel like it." Prue snorted and gave her younger brother a look of contempt.
Jake held up his hands "You were rambling again someone had to shut you up." he defended he didn't like fighting with her it just happened.
"So everything is back the way it should be ?" Coop asked ignoring his oldest two children. He was used to them bickering like two little old women all the time.
"Everything is fine and dandy Uncle Coop there should be no more problems we took care of the situation and everything is order." Henry Jr said proudly they had once again saved the world from crisis.
'Tone down the cop talk man you make me feel like I forgot to pay my parking tickets." Troy joked although with him no one could be sure if it was a joke or not.
"I told you if it is about those tickets from like four years ago that you still haven't paid you should be in jail right now." Andy told Troy they had been over that subject numerous times.
Lilly was still shivering from the cold "I don't think I have ever been some place so cold in my entire life and we once hung out in the freezer at Charmed." Jake wrapped his arms around her to keep her warm.
"Do I even want to know ?" Parker asked arching his eyebrow in a way that made him look exactly like Victor.
"It was like the day before we met you don't ask because Lilly knows we don't talk about that." Chuck reminded her.
"So if everything is good I do seem to remember that certain people promised me free babysitting tonight ?" Leo asked them expectantly.
Roman scratched his eyebrow "I don't see them anywhere in this room right now." he said looking around at all of his friends.
"Yeah I don't know where the girls are they make promises like that and then they disappear." Calleigh agreed knowing full well that it was the thirteen of them who had promised to babysit.
"Nice try it was you guys the girls have the night off they have to live with them you guys know where everything is in the house we will be back late don't wait up." Piper said a grin on her face.
"Oh this is just so fair not only do we battle demons but then we have to babysit I love the justice in the world. I would rather go after more demons they are certainly better behaved." Wyatt groaned babysitting was not his thing.
"Relax Wy it will be fine I will be right here with you to hold your hand." Liz assured him pecking him on the lips.
Santa was setting about his business but everything was not fine in his world little did he know but there was still a threat looming and it still had three weeks to stop him.
-End-
Guest Starring:
Piper Halliwell- Holly Marie Combs
Phoebe Halliwell- Alyssa Milano
Paige Matthews- Rose McGowan
Prue Halliwell- Shannon Doherty
Leo Wyatt- Brain Krause
Henry Mitchell- Ivan Sergei
Coop Valintine- Victor Webster
Andy Trudeau- T.W. King
Victor Bennett- James Read
Sam Wilder- Scott Jaeck
Nicole Shane- Maria Bello
Derek Bradford- Dominic Purcell
Eva Nicolae- Eva La Rue
Roy- Danny Woodburn
And
Santa- Joe Pecsi
A/N: This is the first half of the story I hope you like it look for the other half to be up soon. Until next time please review.