Christmas Eve.
It was very cold that night, even at the Big Apple, itself; the Ghostbusters were getting ready to close up headquarters for the Holiday season as they returned from yet another ghost busting assignment for the week. The Zeddemore twins, Joseph and Jenny, were assisting Egon Spengler in packing up the equipment and taking inventory to see everything's accounted for just before closing time.
"Seriously, did you guys like always bust those Christmas ghosts every time some greedy old man calls?" Jenny asked as she packed up a proton pack. "Because that last customer was seriously pissed at us when we told him we refused to take the offer."
"Well, there were times when we did receive a couple close encounters," Egon replied. "But after the third year of the business we finally decided that the Christmas Carol themed phenomenon has to be stopped permanently. So, what you kids did tonight was definitely the right thing to do."
Upstairs, meanwhile, the Ghostbusters' long time secretary Janine Melnitz was packing up her desk for the season, while the Ghostbusters' legal attorney, Louis Tully, stacked away some finished and unfinished paperwork for the night, and both Oscar and Elwood were placing away their uniforms in their assigned lockers for the evening.
"Ho, I can't wait to go home for the holidays," Oscar said. "My dad and I are going over to the airport to pick up my mom and sister in a few minutes after we shut down for the season. Man, I can't believe it's been three years since I last saw them."
"How is your family Oscar?" Elwood asked as he placed his uniform up on a hanger.
"They're doing fine; my mom's been working for the London Symphony Orchestra, my little sister Skylar is a senior in high school, and dad's… well my dad."
"You know, biologically, Dr. Venkman's not really your father."
"Don't push it."
"Sorry."
"(Sigh) But seriously, he may not be my father in blood, but somehow he's a really serious big part of me. It's like, I don't know, to me he feels more than a stepfather and I feel really close to him, you know?"
"Well, speaking of which, there's your stepfather now."
Peter Venkman came downstairs from the second floor, dressed in his fairly long winter jacket and placed on his hand gloves and scarf, preparing himself to leave; he walked up to Oscar and asked with a grin on his face. "Hey kiddo, are you ready to go?"
"Yeah dad, just let me go get my coat." Oscar replied.
"So Elwood, planning any Blues concerts this evening?" Peter joked.
"Very funny Dr. Venkman," Elwood replied, unamused by Peter's joke. "Actually Egon and I are about to take a little road trip upstate to Nassburg this season as part of the family traditions we'll be celebrating."
"Like summoning a fire-breathing dragon one of those traditions?"
"What?"
"Nothing;" Peter giggled. "I guess Egon's gotten used to the town, especially after that incident back in '85."
Momentarily, Winston Zeddemore and his kids came upstairs from the basement, ready to leave, until they stopped to talk to the Venkmans for a bit.
"Well Pete, we'll be seeing you after New Year's;" Winston explained. "The kids and I are heading down south to New Orleans this year."
"Lucky." Peter said with a jealous tone.
"Mainly because we have an uncle down there, and it's really been a long while since we've seen him." Joseph replied.
"Oh? What does he do for a living?" Oscar asked.
"He's a voodooist." Jenny replied.
Silence broke out by Jenny's remark for a long moment.
"… Whoa…" Oscar whispered.
"So… is he…?" Peter asked, a little confused at first.
"No, no he's not like that villain from one of those James Bond movies." Winston replied. "Trust me, I've seen what he does."
"He's really cool actually," Jenny said. "Like this one time he helped me get rid of this thing that was growing on my lower back for some time-"
"Ahem! Um, Punkin' I don't think now's the right time for them to be hearing this." Winston said.
"Yeah, especially after what I went through during the last time you told us this story." Joseph said, feeling a little queasy from his stomach.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
Then Winston checked over his wristwatch, noticing the time was now 8:42 pm. "Well, we'd better get going then, our plane's just about to leave in another half hour; Merry Christmas Peter."
"Merry Christmas Winston, kids." Peter replied, shaking Winston's hand and gave a friendly hug to the twins.
"Merry Christmas." Joseph and Jenny replied.
"Happy Holidays guys." Oscar said as he gave Joseph a mid-five and a quick man hug.
"You do the same." Joseph replied.
Jenny walked up to Elwood with a somewhat flirtatious grin on her face, seeing as how she's had a slight crush on him for some time; while Elwood noticed her presence and just simply smirked as Jenny began to say good-bye to him.
"Merry Christmas Elwood." She said with an unusual flirty tone.
"Have a Merry Christmas to you as well." Elwood replied.
As Elwood and Jenny began to hug, Jenny suddenly but quickly gave Elwood a small peck right on the lips. Elwood became surprised by Jenny's quick kiss, while Jenny herself blushed as well as she felt a little embarrassed.
"Heh, um… There was a mistletoe." She said, pointing upward over Elwood's head.
Elwood turned to find a sprig of an evergreen bush, known as mistletoe, hanging right onto the top edge of Elwood's locker. He looked back over at Jenny, not saying a word, but rather gave a small smirk. Then Janine came by, all prepared to leave, until she noticed the mistletoe hanging atop Elwood's locker as well as Elwood and Jenny present together.
"That's odd, I don't remember putting that mistletoe up there." She said as she began to take the decoration down. Momentarily though, she noticed unusual expressions on both Jenny and Elwood's face, somehow figuring out what the two had just done in relation to the mistletoe decoration.
"Um…" She asked with a half grin. "Did you two just-?"
"It was a perk!" Both Elwood and Jenny replied. "It didn't mean anything!"
The Venkmans, Winston and Joseph, and Janine all giggled by Elwood and Jenny's comment.
"I swear Joseph, your sister and Elwood make such a cute couple." Oscar joked.
Joseph however, just stared at Oscar.
Momentarily, Egon came upstairs from the basement, ready to leave the firehouse; he casually walked up to Janine as she placed her arm around Egon's left arm in an escort style.
"You two ready to go?" Egon asked, referring to Elwood and Janine.
"Yeah, I'm ready." Janine replied.
"So am I." Elwood said as he buttoned his dark gray winter coat.
Louis Tully came over to the front doors toward the Ghostbusters, also ready to leave for the holidays. He wished them all a Merry Christmas before he left.
"Well, I guess I'll see you guys after the holidays." He said.
"You take care of yourself Louis," Winston said. "Have a Merry Christmas."
"And uh try not to bump into any Hell dogs on the way out little buddy." Peter joked, patting Louis on the shoulders.
"Oh don't worry, I'll be fine;" Louis chuckled. "My daughter's actually gonna stop by here and pick me up in a few minutes."
Later on, Ray Stantz came sliding down the fire pole, his entrance sort of made his colleagues jump by surprise, but not as bad, as Ray always seemed to like sliding down the fire pole almost every single time.
"You always love to make that entrance, don't you Ray?" Peter chuckled.
"So Ray, what're you gonna do for the holidays?" Elwood asked.
"Well, I'm actually just gonna stay here at headquarters with Rita, just me and her this holiday season." Ray replied. "Y'know this is the first Christmas she and I had in a very long time; what with the separation and… everything. I just want to be with her again, like the good old days, and make this season last."
Jenny replied with a soft tone. "Aw that's so sweet."
"Speaking of which," Peter asked. "Where is that little hardcore punker of yours?"
"Last time I saw her, she just jumped out of Ecto-1, packed away her proton pack in a quick flash, and then just ran upstairs like she was late for something." Oscar explained. "And that was just over twenty-three minutes ago."
"Well, I'm sure she's still around here somewhere." Janine replied.
"I hope so." Ray said. "I mean the last time she ran off like that was when she was about eight years old; I forgot why she ran away, but momentarily I finally found her at the St. Patrick's Cathedral. She was hiding between one of the benches, feeling scared."
"Aw, I'm sorry about that Ray;" Winston finished. "But if you do see her, make sure to give her our best wishes, okay?"
"I'll do that, Merry Christmas guys."
The Venkmans, The Spenglers, the Zeddemores, Louis Tully, and Janine Melnitz all said their goodbyes and Merry Christmases to Ray, and then everyone finally exit the firehouse.
Ray momentarily locked up the main doors tightly for the evening and now stood in the empty ground floor, seeing nothing but a few furniture and Ecto-1 in place. Ray set the keys onto Louis's desk for the moment and began to walk upstairs.
"Rita?" He called as he entered the second floor.
There was no answer at first, so Ray called out again. "Rita? Are you up here?"
Again, there was no reply. Ray then walked up into the bunk room to check, but there was no one present. He then began to worry a little.
"Rita? Rita, where are you?!" He cried as he descended into the third floor.
Through the offices, the examination room, the laboratory, the recreational center, the ground floor, the basement, and he even gone through the subbasement; Ray looked everywhere all around the firehouse. But Rita was nowhere to be seen.
"Rita?! Oh God no, not again!" Ray panicked.
But before he'd rush over to unlock the main doors of the building to go out and find her, a new thought finally occurred in his head. Wait a minute, the rooftops! Of course; she and Jenny would go up sometimes to sun bathe. So Ray grabbed his winter jacket nearby the lockers and rushed up to the third floor once more. He sees a door on the far end of the hall, he opens it and starts climbing up a new set of stairs, up to the roof of the firehouse; and then Ray opened the second door, leading right outside to the rooftop.
It was drizzling snow at first, not very hard though, and it wasn't the kind that sticks to the ground; so Ray looked around the area, but he found nothing once more. Until, he spots a dark silhouetted figure somehow sitting atop a large box just twelve feet ahead, almost toward the edge of the building. Ray quietly walks up to the figure and finally recognizes the back side of it, realizing who it is.
"Hey, what'cha doing up here, hm?" Ray asked, getting the figure's attention.
Sure enough the figure's head turned up, startled at first, revealing to be Ray's niece, Rita Stantz, herself.
"Oh! Ray, I didn't hear you come up." She said, surprised.
"Honey, what're you doing up here, it's freezing out." Ray asked with a confused tone.
"I just… wanted to get some fresh air, that's all."
"Well come on and get back inside, I don't want to see a frozen niece as a Christmas present."
"Ray, I'm fine, really, I'll go back in a few minutes and tell the guys good-bye."
"Sweetie, they already left."
"Already? Aw damn, now I really regret leaving them to do this."
Ray shook his head.
"Rita, don't be so hard; besides, the guys said they send their wishes, and hope for the best of you." He said with a smile.
Rita then smirked a little.
"Now come on back inside," Ray spoke once more. "I'll make you some hot cocoa, and we'll watch that claymation Christmas special you like so much."
"Aw can I just stay out here for just a few more minutes, please?" Rita begged, being a little childish.
"Honey, why would you want to sit out here in the cold?"
"Because I - … want to see my… first star."
Silence broke out for a moment.
"What?" Ray asked, confused.
"… I want to see my first star…" Rita mumbled, now feeling a little embarrassed.
"What're you talking about? You mean like a Christmas Star?"
"No, a Hollywood Star," Rita replied in a half sarcastic manner. "But yeah, something like that; I want to see a real star, for the first time in my miserable life I want to see a big star in the city sky."
"Oh sweetie, you've got every night to see a star."
"That's just it; I never got a chance to see a star of any kind in my life. When I lived with my foster parent during my childhood, I never got to do any fun things… I never even went to one of those observatories to see anything cool. That's why every Christmas Eve I'd sneak out of her apartment and sit on the rooftop, hoping that if I'd see even the Christmas Star for the first time… it would help make my dreams come true."
"… Oh Rita… aw sweetie, I - I'm so sorry." Ray apologized. "If… this is what you want I guess… I'll just leave you alone then."
"Thanks Uncle Ray." Rita replied.
"But honey, please try not to stay out too long; I don't want you to get sick or anything."
"I'll try Ray."
So, Ray turned around to leave Rita alone on the firehouse rooftops where she wanted to continue looking for this mysterious, yet special star within the deep, foggy, cloudy, dark, and empty sky. Especially when living in the city, there was nothing to be found but aircraft lights constantly moving in every direction in the sky. But as Ray turned his back, he started to feel sick deep inside, not because of the weather, but it was more of an emotional matter. He didn't want to leave; for once in a very long time Ray wants to spend Christmas with the only child he ever cared so long for, and he's not going to let it go this time.
"Rita, can I join you sweetie?" He asked with a soft voice.
Rita looked up at her uncle, staring at his childlike expression of plead. She smiled a little, and replied softly.
"Sure. I don't mind."
So Ray sat on the cold, hard box behind Rita; setting himself comfortably so he can wrap his arms very tightly around Rita's body, giving her warmth using his own body heat. He held her tightly in his arms, while Rita laid herself up against her uncle's body, sitting in between his legs as she begins to snuggle softly and warm, feeling safe with him. As Rita continued to look up at the sky, Ray started to break the ice with a soft tone in his voice.
"So, how long have you been doing this; sneaking out on Christmas Eve to look for a star I mean?"
"For as long as I can remember." Rita replied. "I guess it kinda started out when I was first separated from you."
"But why did you choose Christmas Eve?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's because out of the other three hundred and sixty-four days, this night is actually quieter, and it helps me out to find it more. I thought that if I would ever see a star, not just for the first time, it would… possibly help lead me to where I truly belong."
"… And where's that?"
Rita then looked up toward Ray, looking upon him eye to eye. There was deep silence at that moment, Rita held onto Ray very tightly as she continued to stare upon him with heavy, sweet, and soulful eyes. Ray didn't know why she was looking like that, until he heard her reply.
"… You Ray, I wanted the star to lead me back to you."
Ray felt surprised at first; he never thought Rita would believe something like this, but with a star's involvement? Of course, she was only a child at the time, but somehow she possibly still feels a single star really would do such a thing to lead her back to her Uncle Ray; like the time when the child of God was born over two thousand years ago, with the star of David. Well, if that's what Rita feels, then Ray will definitely stay out on the rooftops with Rita until she gets the chance to see a star for the first time, even if it takes all night.
Ray smiled joyously, and then hugged Rita tightly and stroke her hair back in admiration.
"Aw Rita… aw sweetheart; oh… but we're together now right?" Ray said. "You didn't see any stars that time."
"Well, yeah but… I'm just a little scared that after this night's over… I may never be with you anymore." Rita replied as her eyes began to fill with tears. "Because every time I wake up the next morning I'm always sent back to that foster witch that's always hated my guts. That's why I want my first star to shine so bright, (whimper) it'll make us stay together forever. (Sniff) I don't wanna leave you!"
"Oh Rita, honey, it's okay. It's alright, don't cry, you won't ever have to leave; we'll be together, I promise. You and I will never be apart ever again; we're together now, and we'll always will be… I promise you, I'll never ever let you go."
Rita then calmed down and stopped her crying. Ray held her tight and started to cradle her in comfort; he kissed her softly on her head, and then explained once more.
"Rita, you don't need a star to keep us together; you and I were meant to stay with each other, not just by your parents' request, but because you are a very special gift to me. Having you as my own child is everything I ever wanted. And that is the only Christmas gift I want more than ever; to have you by my side… forever."
Rita smiled graciously. She laid her head up against Ray's chest in comfort and closed her eyes for a long moment, feeling very happy to be with Ray, even after all those years of separation. Rita felt very deep inside herself that despite of not seeing a star in the sky all these years made her finally realize her own Uncle Raymond Stantz was really her true star in the city sky.
Ray held his niece tighter in his arms, cradling her and snuggled her, keeping her safe and warm throughout the crisp, chilly, but comfortable winter's night. The snow continued to fall very softly onto the firehouse, until about ten minutes later on, it finally stopped. Ray looked up at the dark wintry sky to see that the snow had stopped falling; but then, momentarily some of the Tribeca area began to darken itself, as well as most other parts of the city.
The night was nearly over, but so far nothing was seen in the sky but a couple of airplanes and a helicopter; then afterwards the sky became empty once again, all black and void. It seems like Rita's hope of seeing a bright star has been shattered once more into nothing.
… Or has it?
Moments later, the dark clouds began to deteriorate in the atmosphere, moving out of the way to reveal something white in the sky. It was emerging very small at first, too tiny to be seen, until it slowly grew bigger, whiter, and brighter than ever; Ray couldn't believe what he's seeing, but then knew for sure what this new light really is.
"Rita, look!" He said with an excited tone.
Rita opened her eyes and finally looked up to see the new light in the sky. She studied the object, at first thought it to be another aircraft; but as she looked closely, the light did not move at all, nor did it blink for that matter. Her eyes widened with surprise, the strange light continued to stay in one spot, not doing anything at all. Could this light truly be what Rita has searched for so long?
Rita's mouth widened slightly, her eyes widened with shock; she held tighter onto Ray's arms, and then she asked nervously. "R-Ray is that… I mean - i-is it really -?!"
"Your very first star to see sweetheart," Ray replied happily. "And it's shining brighter than ever… just for you."
Rita smiled wider with joy; for the first time in her life Rita is seeing one of the most beautiful stars hidden deep beneath the city skies, and it shone brighter than Rita had ever imagined. She felt so happy that evening, and the best part about it was that her Uncle Ray was with her to witness such a wonderful phenomenon.
"Oh Ray, it's beautiful!" She said with excitement.
"Yes it is… just like you sweetheart." Ray whispered, admiring his niece.
"I never thought it would shine so bright like this; it's wonderful!"
Then Rita gazed upon her uncle once more, and then she hugged him very tightly.
"Oh Ray, this has been the best Christmas ever!" She explained like an excited little child. "But you know what my most favorite part about it is?"
Ray chuckled. "No, but you can tell me what it is."
Rita looked up at Ray eye to eye, and then replied once more with a big smile.
"Having you for an uncle."
Ray smiled very happily by Rita's comment.
"… Merry Christmas Uncle Ray." Rita said softly.
"Merry Christmas sweetheart." Ray replied as well. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Then Ray began to kiss Rita softly on her upper cheek very tenderly; Rita then returned the gesture and then snuggled warmly up against him in comfort, looking up back at the Christmas Star. Ray however, didn't necessarily bother to look at the star, for he was now too transfixed on Rita, admiring her presence and was so happy to be with her. He deeply knew for certain that Rita will always stay with him forever, even if a single star would really be able to possess the ability to keep them together. Ray then shed a single tear with joy, until he finally looked up at the star once more.
"Merry Christmas…" He whispered very softly without Rita listening.
Then, the star twinkled brighter, like a diamond sparkle, almost as if it was saying Merry Christmas as well. Ray smiled once more, somehow knowing what that twinkle meant. Then Ray kissed Rita once more, admiring her and felt wondrous to be with her, and then he started to cradle her in his arms once again in comfort.
The End.