A/N: Well I imagine that this story has been done tons of times at Christmas time. But you know what, I'm still stretching my wings as a writer and I wanted to do this. So basically this is like A Christmas Carol only with RENTified. I'll give you all three guesses who Scrooge is… hehehe.

Disclaimer: I don't own A Christmas Carol or RENT.

The Village Voice

Mr. Grey, owner of various apartment buildings, died of a heart attack this morning

Yes, the morning of Christmas Eve was a sad one for the Grey family. Mr. Grey suffered a heart attack and died of complications in the hospital. His daughter, Allison Grey, and her husband, Benjamin Coffin III, have been forced to put mourning aside and sort out what exactly will happen to Mr. Grey's business.

Seeing as how Benjamin was the next in line to inheriting the company, being Mr. Grey's only son if only through marriage, he will be fully taking on the responsibility…

Roger Davis snorted and tossed the paper aside and sipped at his coffee. He decided that reading the rest of the article was bad for his health and therefore needed disposing of. The blonde rocker continued to gaze at the headline though as the words continued to play in his mind. It would seem that Roger was trying to figure out in the wee hours of the morning if this new shift in power was a positive or a negative thing.

Just then, a blonde man toting a camera fiddled with the front door handle and eventually made his way inside. He shook snow out of his hair and straightened his glasses carefully before noticing that his roommate was actually up and aware at nine o' clock in the morning.

"Well this must be a first in the history of Roger," Mark cried and in a flash whipped his camera out to film. "Roger Davis, the moody rocker who loathes being woken at any time before noon, is up drinking the crappy coffee I made at nine in the morning!" Roger glared at the camera as if wishing it would burst into flames then and there.

"Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too Mark," he grumbled and tossed the Village Voice to the other man. "Check this out smart ass." Mark's brow furrowed as his eyes quickly scanned the page.

"Mr. Grey is dead?" he asked finally and lamely. Roger bit back a smart retort and nodded slowly.

"So guess who is next in line to the throne," he said while returning to the bitter coffee. Mark sighed and flung the paper over towards the door as if just by getting rid of it the headline would change.

An awkward silence prevailed after that until Roger decided to bring up some casual conversation.

"So where were you this fine Christmas Eve… morning?" he asked and looked over at Mark curiously. Mark started to fiddle with his camera case nervously after that and cleared his throat distractedly.

"Oh well… you know… just out for a walk…" he lied carefully but unconvincingly. Roger cocked an eyebrow but didn't say anything else on the matter. Instead he just pulled his thin sweater closer to his chilled body and took a long sip of the equally cold coffee.

"Was it warmer out there than in here?" Roger asked bitterly while glaring over at a random spot on the wall. Probably was supposed to represent Benny Mark realized later.

"Yeah, most definitely," Mark responded nonchalantly and finally brought himself to sit across from his friend at the window. "How's Mimi?" Mark asked, deciding it was his turn to inquire after his friend. Roger smiled wanly at his friend before responding.

"She's just as perky as ever, of course. It's like a damn musical over there. I can almost forget what almost happened last Christmas she's so energetic…" he chortled and shifted his legs more comfortably underneath him. Mark grinned as he imagined Mimi dancing around in her leopard print coat in her apartment to cheer herself and her lover up.

"I admit I was a bit on edge this morning… wondering what kind of life changing experience we'll have this Christmas," Mark joked. Roger allowed himself a thin smile before remembering Angel.

"Let's hope for a quiet Christmas," Roger murmured seriously. Mark nodded before getting up again and heading towards the kitchen area.

"Do we have anything to eat for tonight?" Mark asked suddenly as he raided the cupboards.

"Not unless you want a stale Captain Crunch Christmas feast," Roger called back. Mark swore under his breath and continued to search the nearly empty kitchen for some other kind of food source. There was none.

"And we promised Mimi and Collins a good dinner here at the Loft too!" Mark whined as he finally flopped back into his vacated seat. Roger shrugged sadly in response.

You might think that Mark and Roger would have enough money to pay for SOMETHING to eat for Christmas Eve since Collins rewired that ATM machine. Sadly, the ATM people found this out nearly four months ago so the bohemians were now dirt poor again. Not that they were living the high life with the ATM either but you get the idea.

………………………..

Meanwhile, later in the evening, Benny sat in his large office and watched the people working with a superior look on his face.

"My father-in-law is dead… which means that I now own all of the company," Benny murmured to himself. Then a broad smile grew on his face and he stood up from his desk. "Now I call the shots! I make the orders! And it's my job to make sure that everyone pays the rent so I can continue to feed my family!" Benny exclaimed a little bit louder and raced out his door to see the other people on their phones and working faithfully.

"This is all more important than my friends… money is more important than those slobs that I used to call my friends," Benny thought to himself as he gazed out at the people working.

"Attention everyone!" Benny called out of the hustle and bustle. All people in motion paused in their various tasks and turned to see their new boss. "I know you all are grieved about Mr. Grey's passing." There were several murmurs of mechanical agreement before Benny continued. "And I also know that all of you are eager to get home to your families on this blessed evening. But we have to really knuckle down and work all night. Mr. Grey died and left all of us a huge mess to clean up." A few groans were heard but none dared object. "Let's get to it then!" he exclaimed and with that Benny retreated to his office.

………………………….

Nearly three hours later Benny was leaving his building happily. He had left another trusted employee in charge of collecting the rent (much like Mr. Grey would do to him) and he was left to go home to Muffy… I mean Allison.

Life was good.

Feeling a little bit giddy with the situation, Benny pulled out a cigarette and quickly lit it. Anyone who happened to seem him pass by as he walked to his car in the large parking lot they would have seen a slightly manic man puffing insanely at a cigarette and holding his head higher than the Queen of England.

While driving Benny happened to pass by one of his apartment buildings and instantly recognized it as the humble abode of his old friends, Mark and Roger. He instantly pulled over, stepped out of the car with his over polished shoes hitting the slushy ground with a squelch, and looked up to where he knew the troublesome were probably waiting for Collins to appear. He snorted and took another drag from his cigarette, delighting in the smoke that soon emitted from his mouth as he breathed out.

The tall dark skinned man stood there for several moments and simply watched the flickering light from the Loft.

"Must be a candle," Benny thought to himself suddenly, "Since I remember turning their power off last week." He let out a little laugh then as he thought of the cruel irony of the situation.

"Hey friend," a grungy and disheveled man hoarsely called out from the corner to Benny's right. Benny turned to look on impulse and found himself slightly repulsed at the disheveled appearance of the bum and the smell of whiskey in his breath. "Could you spar' me a little puff from your cigarette?" the homeless man asked in a rough voice.

Benny paused as if thinking over the situation and the homeless man thought for a moment he might actually get a Christmas smoke. Then Benny lifted the cigarette to his own lips and took a long, deep drag from the cigarette. As he inhaled the last bit of tobacco Benny smirked happily.

"Here," Benny replied as he allowed the river of smoke to flow from his teeth and lips and into the bum's face. "You can have whatever is left." With a slight flick of Benny's fingers the cigarette was flung into the poor bum's fallen face.

With a slight laugh Benny began to walk the short distance to his car. Allison would be wondering where he was if he wasn't home soon.

"Was that really necessary?" a low voice asked just before Benny stepped back into his car. With a heavy sigh, Benny turned to face the familiar voice of his former roommate, Roger Davis.

"What are you? The new advocate for the filthy money bumming homeless abominations?" Benny asked snippily. "You could call it H.T.F.M.B.H.A… 'Help the filthy, money bumming homeless abominations'!" Roger scowled deeply and seemed to consider spitting all over the smug face of Benjamin Coffin III but thought better of it.

"Real cute Benny," Roger fired back while still lingering towards a phone booth a distance away from Benny. "What happened to your Christmas spirit?" he asked sarcastically, since Benny hadn't had Christmas spirit for years now. Seeing as how his Christmas present to himself and Mark was always to turn off the power it would be safe to say that Benny was a modern day Scrooge.

"Bah humbug! That's what I think of Christmas spirit!" Benny shouted and got halfway into his car but paused before he was completely in. "Say, what are you doing outside right now Roger? You aren't waiting for The Man are you?" Roger's fists clenched dangerously but he narrowly managed to keep himself in control.

"Figured I would wait here for Collins… that way I can just let him in myself instead of Mark throwing the keys down to him or risking Collins getting mugged again," Roger explained forcefully. Benny laughed heartily as he finally closed his car door and started the ignition.

"Tell Mimi hello for me!" Benny hollered out the window as he drove away and chuckled loudly.

Roger promptly swung his body around and slammed his fist against the telephone booth. He barely noticed as the knuckle split open from the contact and splattered his HIV infected blood on the snowy sidewalk beneath him.

…………………..

Benny hummed a nameless tune as he searched for his keys to the extravagant home before him. As he lazily reached for the lock just above the fancy gold door handle in the shape of a lion's head Benny noticed something very odd. It was so insane that he had to lean in even closer to get a better look.

For the door handle was… snarling at him. Benny could have sworn that he saw the door handle mold itself from a calm looking lion face into a twisted, snarling creature that glared at him through it's glassy eyes.

Then in an instant the lion morphed back into it's previous shape and was still once more.

For several minutes Benny stood there in his doorstep and simply stared at the handle in the brisk New York chill. Just as suddenly the spell was broken and Benny shook off the feeling of foreboding and jammed the key into the lock and breathed a sigh of relief when there came a gentle click from the other side of the door. He was so relived that Benny managed to ignore the fact that the door handle was disturbingly warm to the touch. Almost as if it were alive.

"Allison! I'm home!"

A/N: This was actually kind of hard to write. Benny really isn't exactly like Scrooge is so I'm trying my best to keep Benny in character, though please inform me if I'm not. Thanks! Please read and review with suggestions!