December 25th. Simon Riley laid on his back, staring at the white ceiling above him. December 25th…had it really come again? He groaned and rolled onto his side. Riley didn't want to get up. Not one bit. But he knew he had to. Christmas wasn't a 'holly jolly' time for Simon. It hadn't been for a very long time. A very long time. It brought back too many memories. Reopened too many wounds. He'd been able to avoid the pain for a year or two. Then he joined the Task Force…

The barracks of the Task Force 141 were surprisingly cheery during the holiday season. It'd been quiet and the boys hadn't been deployed for missions, but were kept on hand for training. Didn't want any enemy groups getting the 'holiday jitters' and pulling any tricks.

So the men were enjoying some much deserved Christmas rest and relaxation.

"RUN! RUN! RUN!"

Well, sort of.

Roach bolted down the hallway, covered in snow, howling at the top of his lungs. Meat was close behind him, laughing hysterically. He screamed, "RUN BUG! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" They darted through the barracks as fast as they could. Ghost could hear their frantic shouts and thudding footsteps through his closed door. He groaned again and pulled his pillow over his head. Of course those two would be up and making all sorts of noise. Of course.

It just so happed that Roach had decided to go out and 'play in the snow' that morning. It'd been an innocent idea, just a little something to pass the time. He hadn't meant for it to go so wrong. Maybe he should've thought twice about inviting Meat, Worm, and Toad to join him. They'd been building a fort out of snow, chatting excitedly about gifts and Christmases past. Roach had started a snowball fight (who wouldn't?) that ended with Meat nailing Mactavish with a slush ball.

Just like any sane person, he blamed Roach.

A very pissed Mactavish was now chasing the two all over kingdom come. Very relaxing.

Back outside, Worm and Toad were stomping their snow-covered boots clean on the cement. Worm laughed, "What do you think the odds are of the captain leaving any remains?"

"Mactavish? Zero." Toad grinned, shouldering the door open and brushing the snow off his sleeves. They walked together through the corridor, heading towards the rec room. The whole team had agreed to do a 'secret Santa' sort of thing, each receiving a name of another teammate on a little slip of paper. They also decided to meet at 0800 hours. "What time is it now?"

"0700…and fifteen minutes." Worm pushed the rec room door open. The duo was greeted with the heartwarming sight of Mactavish holding Roach upside down by his ankles. The latter proceeded to scream and struggle, trying his best to get free. His superior merely laughed and held him up a bit higher.

"Merry Christmas, lads." Mactavish smiled from between the sergeant's ankles.

Toad and Worm returned the tidings, eyes wide and jaws slack. They'd never had the pleasure of sharing Christmas with the team. So far it was shaping up to be the best of all! They burst into laughter, doubling over. "Is Roach getting his present early, sir?"

"You could say that."

"Please put me down…please?" Roach was beginning to look quite green in the face, eyelids drooping a bit. "Please."

"All right, all right, just quit whining." Mactavish unceremoniously tossed Gary onto the couch.

Roach groaned and clamped a hand to his forehead. "Seriously, sir, I can't even see straight."

The others merely laughed. "The tree looks nice."

And it did. It looked as nice as a little, sparsely needled tree could. It was draped with garlands of Froot Loops cereal. Since there were no ornaments, beer cans adorned the branches. Unsnapped glow-sticks replace the need for Christmas lights. All in all, it was…well…it was quite a sight.

"It'll look even better with the lights…er…glow sticks on." Gary hefted himself off the sofa. "Speaking of which, where're the others? It's just about time to open up presents!"

Ghost rolled over again, pulling the covers over his head. He had never been one to sleep past 0500, so trying to fall asleep in at that hour with all the noise was turning into quite a chore. He just wanted to fall into darkness and remain in sweet oblivion until that bloody holiday was over and done with. Riley was beginning to realize that all hopes of that happening were incredibly slim. Especially since the rest of the team was so excited. Not to mention that he could hear Joseph's pleased laughter as he opened up the fighter jet 'Uncle Simon' had bought him for Christmas.

That was the last Christmas Ghost's nephew had ever celebrated.

The darkness began to feel less and less comfortable as the seconds crawled by. Joseph's voice was clearer. It rang in Ghost's head, making the rest of the world melt away. Suddenly, there was colored light, sparkling ornaments, laughter, and Joseph's grinning face. He was sitting in his brother, Tommy's, living room. Their mother inhabited the armchair across from him, while Tommy and his wife sat close together. They were all grinning as Joseph sat on the floor and shredded the wrapping paper off of his gift. "Oh, wow! Uncle Simon, it's great!"

It'd taken Ghost quite a while to find the specific style of fighter plane that his nephew had desired so desperately. To see the grin on that kid's face as he eagerly tore the packaging open made it worth the hassle. Simon's mother beamed as she watched her son and grandson chatter excitedly as they fit the pieces together. Once the aircraft was complete, Joseph began to run around the room, making whooshing sounds and 'shooting down enemy planes'.

The rest of the Riley family looked on proudly. Especially Simon. Joseph suddenly stopped short, eyes overshadowed with disappointment.

"What is it, son?" Tom asked, his voice strained with worry.

The boy looked strangely ashamed of himself. He gazed at the plane as his eyes began to well with tears. "But…Uncle Simon, I didn't get you anything…I don't deserve this."

Riley's heart melted as he looked at the compassion on his nephew's face. He pulled Joseph into his lap, smiling kindly and giving him a tight hug. "Don't worry about me, kid. I'm just glad I could be here with you all. Sharing this time together as a family." As his mother's eyes welled with tears, Simon lifted Joseph into the air, making the airplane whooshing sound as the boy had just minutes before. Joseph erupted into uproarious laughter and held his arms straight out to the sides, flying like an airplane.

"VROOOOM. Faster! Faster!" Joseph squealed, kicking his legs in excitement.

Tommy started laughing. "Go easy on your Uncle, Joseph."

The room seemed to darken as Simon put his nephew back on solid ground, ruffling the kid's light blonde hair. "It's all right." Joseph plopped down on the floor and started setting up an airport for his jet. His uncle and father watched intently, both smiling a bit. "You're a lucky man, Tom. I'm proud of you."

And he was. Simon Riley was so proud that his little brother Tommy had been able to overcome his drug addiction and find a good wife…he made a great home for himself, a beautiful life.

"When are you going to stop saving the world and settle down?" Tom asked, smirking.

Riley scratched the back of his neck, sheepishly. "Ahh…I couldn't do better than you and Beth."

The room faded more, becoming an inky, black and white shadow of itself. "Simon, there's someone at the door for you." Beth called, smiling knowingly. "A yank."

The world went black.

He could only hear his own voice, surprised and elated. "Sparks?"

"Hey, English!"

Then it was all gone. Ghost was alone. He wasn't back in that happy memory from a Christmas past. He was alone. Soaked in cold sweat and laying in his bunk, tired and sore. Someone was pounding on the door, but he didn't bother responding to their calls. Too tired. Too sick of dealing with the nightmares. Especially on Christmas…

Joseph, Beth, Tommy…his own mother…they were all killed. Thanks to Sparks.

The door to Ghost's room banged open and two very excited soldiers marched in. "Oi, lazy bones. Get up!" Roach's voice was the last thing Ghost wanted to hear at the moment.

The blanket that'd been pulled up over Ghost's head was tugged away and thrown to the floor, "C'mon, man, it's Christmas! Today is not the day to be sleeping in! Up, up! C'mon!" Scratch that. Meat's voice was the last thing he wanted to hear. The very annoyed lieutenant merely grumbled and put his pillow over his balaclava-covered face. He'd put it on knowing that someone would come knocking. Ghost didn't want to risk seeing himself…especially on Christmas.

After about ten minutes of poking and prodding, Ghost was corralled into the rec room and situated in his usual armchair. Everyone was there; Mactavish, Meat, the bug, Scarecrow, Worm, Toad, Ozone, Archer, and even their lovely medic Lucy (whom Meat was trying his best to lure her under the parsley sprig in the doorway that was supposed to be mistletoe). Once they were all settled in, Mactavish stood up and cleared his throat.

"Now, I know we've all been under a lot of strain these past few months. It's been hard. We've lost some good men. I'm relieved we get to spend this time together as a team." He grinned, "As a family."

Ghost tensed slightly, recognizing his exact words as they flowed out of his captain's mouth. Nobody noticed, naturally, as Mactavish picked up the first present and examined the tag. "Archer, this is yours."

It was all rather amusing. Since their time off base was extremely limited, most of the gifts had been acquired by filching them from the rations cellar or just rummaging around in personal items. What was even harder to get was wrapping paper for the gifts. Who kept wrapping paper on an army base? So, they improvised.

"What is this?" Archer asked, turning the 'wrapped' present over in his hands.

"I think it's cling wrap." Roach wrinkled his nose.

The sniper scoffed. "I can see what the present is!"

"Just open it already!" Meat urged.

Archer peeled off the clear cling wrap and examined the compass, his eyebrow raised in interest. He held it up, reading the inscription on the back. "L…R…T…Who the heck is LRT?"

"LRT…hey, Luce, those are your initials!" Toad cackled.

Both Lucy and Archer turned an impressive shade of red. "I-I-I didn't know it had my initials on it! I just thought…it'd be useful?"

The rest of the group laughed along, Mactavish fishing out the next gift. It was wrapped in tin foil and scotch tape…and something that looked suspiciously like chewing gum.

And so it went. They all received strange odds and ends, from shampoo and soap from the showers (addressed; To: Soap, with love, though he had no idea how someone knew his call sign), to a six-pack of beer (Roach neglected to point out they were just full of water, much to Meat's dismay as he cracked one open). Ghost had even smiled a bit as the bug opened up his gift of a journal and several pens. The FNG had been surprisingly grateful for the gesture.

The last gift was, ironically, addressed to Ghost. It had been carefully wrapped in newspaper, and was adorned with a duct tape bow.

How long had it been since Ghost had received a present? The last one he could recall getting was from his mom…a coffee mug, actually. She'd painted it just for him…

Ghost tore away the paper and gazed down at the present, eyebrows raised in slight confusion.

It was a pair of sunglasses and a carton of Ghost's absolute favorite cigarettes. The ones that were nearly impossible to find on or off base. He'd never specified to anyone that they were his favorite…but…there they were.

"What'd ya get, man?" Meat asked curiously, peeking over Ghost's shoulder. "Glasses and cigs huh? Ni-ice. That's a quality brand too."

Ghost remained silent as the others became more and more excited over their gifts and began chattering gleefully. He watched them, shocked and a bit terrified to find that the pain of his memories was fading. It wasn't gone…Joseph's broad smile and his brother's words never would never really leave him…

But at least his new 'family' was making it bearable.

Later that night, in his room, Ghost caught sight of himself in the mirror. He'd slipped on the sunglasses (at Lucy's insistence) and this was his first time seeing them on.

"Not half bad, Ghost." He chuckled, examining the grinning skull balaclava and blank stare from behind the tinted glasses.

"Not bad at all, actually…"

Merry Christmas everyone, and God bless :)

I got the Ghost comic book this year and it made my day! So, obviously, I ended up reading the whole thing twice and writing about it ^-^ Loved it. Violent, yes. Awesome, of course!

Anyways, Gadget wasn't in it. I know. She's not in this because…well, just because. I didn't feel she fit it quite right.

Love, always,

EGR 3