Home For the Holidays

by SETI-fan

When Patty learns Holtzmann has no family to spend Christmas with, she invites her home to celebrate with the Tolans.

Okay, so this is about two weeks late, but what was supposed to be a fairly short little bit of holiday fluff turned into an almost 19,000 word monster of a story. The characters just started talking and I couldn't help but let them run. Hopefully it'll be worth the wait and entertain someone other than just me. :)

The backstory for Patty in this is based off what I wrote about her family in "Bridging the Gap", but this isn't a direct continuation of that fic because I didn't want it to start with her and Holtzmann already together. Holtz's tragic backstory is another twist on the general fanon that she didn't have a stable home life growing up. And there's some background Yatesbert for good fun.

Sorry again this took so long! The rest of the GB fics I'm working on are either shorter or planned to be posted in chapters, so my productivity should get faster now. More Toltzmann on the way, as well as a bit of Abby/Holtz friendship (because I just can't stay away from that), and a fairly evil Holtzbert one that might counter how much fluff I've been writing... ;)

Anyway, I hope all of you had at least as nice a holiday as Patty and Holtz are about to!

---

Snow fell heavily over the Ghostbusters' firehouse, just slightly managing to muffle the noise of New York. It was still several weeks till Christmas, but holiday preparations were well underway inside.

"I'm just saying we need more information about what to expect!"

"It's not that big a deal, Erin," Abby tried to soothe the pacing physicist, who was chewing her thumbnail as she started another circuit across the room.

"Did they say where we're going? Formal, family dining, home-cooked meal?"

"They hadn't decided yet," Abby answered patiently, a bit amused at Erin's stress.

"Then how are we supposed to pack?!" Erin erupted.

Patty arched her eyebrows, looking over at Holtzmann who glanced up from the wiring work she was picking through, but offered no commentary verbally or otherwise.

"Erin, it's just dinner with our parents, not a diplomatic conference," Abby said calmly.

"It's the first time our parents have gotten together since we were in college," Erin insisted, turning to face Abby as she ranted. "It's the first night of our trip home for Christmas. If it doesn't go well, the whole visit will be awkward and tense!"

"It's really going to be okay, Er. Your mom's cooler than you think she is."

"You just feel like that because she always spoiled you when you came over," Erin pouted. "You didn't see what she was like when you weren't there."

Abby sighed. "Patty, back me up here."

"Family dinners always have something awkward or tense happen," Patty said, turning the page in her book. "You stay out of it, eat your food, and everybody has a drink and moves on in time for presents. Hallelujah."

"See?" Abby gestured. She stepped forward, rubbing Erin's tightly-crossed arms. "Erin, I promise, it's going to be fine. And even if they do fight or get critical with us, we have each other, right?"

"Right." Erin nodded, taking a deep shuddering breath. "Yeah. Okay."

"That's the spirit! It's gonna be fun. We're actually spending Christmas together for the first time in, like, twenty years!" She let go of Erin's arms, heading back to her papers at the desk.

"So," she said authoritatively, "Patty, I know you'll be home with your family. Kevin's going to that party with that singer whose music video he was in. What do you say, Holtz? Ready for another Christmas at the Yates'?"

Holtzmann set down the array she was working on, picking up a small set of tweezers to pick at it. "Nah, think I'm gonna sit it out this year."

Abby paused, surprise crinkling her features. "Are you sure? You know my parents are always happy to see you."

"Yeah, I'm good." Holtzmann lined a wire up to a component on the circuit board, flinching slightly from the resulting spark. "You'll have enough excitement getting both families together. You should have this time for just the two of you. Though if you bring me some of your mom's gingersnaps, I wouldn't complain."

Abby looked a bit disappointed and concerned. "Okay, if you're sure."

"Besides," Holtz added, leaning back and flipping up her goggles, "someone's gotta be on call in case we get a Scrooge who doesn't feel like facing the music."

"You're not going home to visit any family?" Patty asked, not catching Abby's warning glance until after she spoke.

"Nah," Holtzmann said casually, spinning a nut idly around a bolt. "Dr. Gorin doesn't really do holidays and I never was that close with any of the families I was placed with."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly shifted as startled comprehension set in, Erin even stopping her anxious fidgeting to look at the engineer. Across the room, Abby sighed, watching Holtzmann carefully.

"Families?" Erin managed, looking just as stunned as Patty felt.

"Baby," Patty asked softly, "were you in foster care?"

"Yeah." Holtz looked up at them with an air of innocent puzzlement that felt a bit put-on. "I hadn't told you that?"

"No. If I'd known I wouldn't have put my foot in my mouth like that," Patty said, kicking herself mentally.

Holtzmann just flashed her a grin, though. "Don't sweat it, Pattycakes. It's no big secret." She shrugged, looking down at a humming solenoid as she spoke. "It wasn't bad, don't really remember anything other than that. Got to meet a lot of people, try different places. Got accepted to MIT a few years before I would've aged out anyway, so…" She shrugged. "No point getting adopted at that point." She trailed an exposed wire down the side of the solenoid, watching the crackle in its wake.

Aged out. That meant in all those years, nobody had adopted her, even before she got out of the infant and toddler age most families seemed to be looking for. Or worse, maybe someone had, and then returned her…

"So when you made that toast," Erin said softly, "saying how you have a family of your own now…"

"Oh yeah, totally genuine." Holtz grinned, shooting fingerguns at each of them as she sing-songed, "Like it or not, you're stuck with me."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Abby said sincerely.

"Same here," Erin agreed, shaking off her shock and giving an awkward laugh. "But don't try to out-compete my Ghost Girl story. I'm supposed to be the tragic mess around here."

Patty almost winced, but the tease seemed to brighten Holtz's mood. "Oh, don't worry. I could never out-pitiful you."

"Ah, thanks." Erin nodded, looking unsure if she should be offended or not.

Watching Holtzmann fuss distractedly with her equipment, Patty made a decision. "You know what, my family's just over in the Bronx and I don't really want you going on busts all by yourself, so how 'bout this? We'll put ourselves on call that night and you can come to dinner at my folks' place. That way we'll already be together if we get called in."

Holtzmann shrugged uncomfortably, focusing back on her work. "It's okay, Pats, I'm cool. Don't need to impose on your family."

"Hey, we cook like twenty people might show up anyway. One more mouth ain't a problem. Besides, I wouldn't mind having somebody on my side if certain relatives get going on something."

When Holtz still hesitated, Patty doubled down. "Come on, you got me paying for your lunches all the time anyway. You're gonna turn down a free meal now?"

Holtz drummed a hand on her table a couple times, then threw it in the air, ducking her head slightly in a jerky agreement. "All right, let's do it!"

"Hell yeah!" Patty clapped. "That's the spirit!"

Across the room, she saw Abby meet her eyes and mouth 'Thank you.' She shrugged to say it was nothing. She knew how much Abby cared and worried about her lab partner, but honestly Patty made the offer for her own sake too. No point any of them should be left out.

"I'll be really interested to hear about that party," Erin commented cheerfully. "I don't think any of us have met your family."

"Except your uncle," Abby added, tone of voice conveying how charming that was.

"Yeah, he probably doesn't need to know Holtzy's there, but I think you'll dig the rest of them." Patty held up her hands. "Now, I ain't gonna lie – you're gonna stick out like a sore thumb."

"Me?" Holtzmann flicked her goggles down, expression serious. "I can blend like a chameleon." She ignited her blowtorch, not breaking eye contact.

"Uh-huh," Patty said dryly.

"Oh, and for Christmas gifts, I will need everybody's hat sizes. And a list of allergies."

Patty just watched as she went back to soldering her circuit, wondering what she had just invited on herself.

OOO

As the holiday finally got closer, the girls held an informal Christmas party at the firehouse before Erin and Abby left for Michigan. The drinks flowed, not that the girls needed it for an excuse to blast their music and dance. Holtzmann's handiwork had the living area of the firehouse glowing with colorful lights. Their tree was decorated with a mix of traditional ornaments, a few handmade pieces Holtz contributed, and every ghost-themed ornament Abby and Patty could find online.

When Kevin showed up with Mike Hat wearing, appropriately to his name, a dog-sized Santa hat, the party dissolved into puppy-time for almost half an hour. Even Erin couldn't resist, especially when Mike climbed onto her on the couch, licking every part of her face he could get to despite her laughing protests.

Patty blamed the liquor for the off-color remark she made about how the roles were reversed and this was Kevin's revenge. Hey, it was almost Christmas; she was either on the naughty list or not long before that point.

Seeing Abby and Erin off at the airport was surprisingly bittersweet. It was the first time the team had been split up for more than a day or so since they had gotten together and Patty realized how much she'd come to love the presence of her little adopted family in that time.

Speaking of, she noted Holtzmann had a hard time hiding tears or her tight voice while saying goodbye, even knowing it was for less than a week, including travel time. All Patty could think about was her new understanding of how lonely Holtzmann's past had been. As they headed back to the firehouse, short half the important people in their lives, she made a promise to keep Holtzmann from feeling too alone during the coming days.

They had a couple of busts to cover in the days leading up to Christmas, but nothing major. One even turned out to be a false call where one neighbor decided to claim the house next door was haunted, hoping in the process of tearing the place apart for ghosts they would damage the homeowner's elaborate light display, giving the caller an edge in their neighborhood competition. Once they figured this out, Patty chewed out the caller for wasting their time when people might actually be in danger while Holtzmann actually stuck around to give the aggrieved homeowner some tips to make his display even more over-the-top.

Otherwise it was pretty quiet around the firehouse. Patty coaxed Holtzmann away from whatever project she was absorbed in to watch the traditional Christmas specials with her while she wrapped gifts for her family. She also enlisted her help throwing together a batch of cookies for her contribution to the family dinner, trying not to shake her head as Holtzmann decorated her share with atomic diagrams, zombie features on the human shapes, and some of the most glaring color clashes she could achieve with their limited range of frosting options. Oh well, Patty was going to be introducing Holtz to the whole family anyway. Why make her hold anything back?

Okay, other than when Holtzmann suggested she could make the colors really stand out with a few carefully-controlled, totally low toxicity elements she had in the lab.

When Christmas Eve day rolled around, they bid Kevin farewell as he headed off in a suit way too formal for the pop-star party he had been invited to and loaded their gear into their replacement Ecto-1. With only two proton packs in it, they had plenty of room for Patty to pile in her gifts for her family.

"Ah, ah! Don't put anything on top of that thing back there," Holtzmann stopped her, pointing to a newspaper-wrapped bundle behind the driver's seat. "Unless you want lots of sparks and probably at least some amount of fire."

"Girl, you're not bringing something explosive to my folks' place besides what we need for the job, right?" Patty said sternly.

"Nah, just something I've been working on. But if it's broken, ehhh…" She scrunched up her face.

Patty held up her hands. "Don't even want to know. Just tell me about anything else in the car that might blow up before I almost set it off, huh?"

"Ah, Patty, then we'd be here all day. Thought you wanted to get on the road," she grinned nonchalantly, sauntering over to the driver's side of the car.

Patty just shook her head, checking one last time that the firehouse was locked. "Everything good in the lab?"

"As stable as it's going to be," Holtzmann called back.

"Not even gonna think about it."

Patty turned back to the car to see Holtzmann leaning over the top from where she stood in the open driver's side door, a Santa hat now pulled over her mess of curls, a second one swinging from her finger. Patty noticed now the magnet reindeer antlers that had been added to each of their logos on the car doors and the fact that the headlights had been replaced with red and green bulbs, a string of colored lights now woven around the rack holding the nuclear whatchamacallit to the top of the car. Bless her, Holtz apparently never did anything halfway.

Patty crossed her arms, grinning and cocking her head. "Well, baby, you ready to experience a Tolan family Christmas?"

"I am vibrating with anticipation," Holtz drawled in that way that made something twitch in Patty's stomach. She ignored it, reaching for the door handle when Holtzmann stopped her again.

"Ah! Nobody is allowed to enter the Xmas-1 without at least one festive garment on." She spun her finger, using the momentum to launch the Santa hat at Patty, who barely caught it before it hit her in the face. "I will forgive your lack of ugly Christmas sweater for now on the understanding you will be wearing one tomorrow."

Patty rolled her eyes, pulling on the hat as she slid into the passenger seat. "I figured you've got that covered for both of us. Seriously, how do you even have that many layers of holiday shirts on?"

Holtzmann grinned, putting the car into drive as Patty marveled again at her cardigan with "Ho ho ho!" embroidered on the back, covering a vest with garish Christmas-themed patches, layered over a Christmas tree shirt with its own flashing lights sewn in. "Can never have too much of a good thing."

Patty had some reasonable disagreements with that idea, but the outfit was so completely Holtzmann she didn't have the heart to argue.

Holtzmann.

A thought struck her much too belatedly. "That outfit's probably the answer, but I realized I never asked. You're not Jewish are you? I just mean, with a name like Holtzmann…"

The lazy grin on Holtz's face flickered a bit, but her eyes never left the road and her voice was casual. "Don't know what I was originally, but I'll celebrate anything that seems like a good time."

The reason Holtzmann was joining her in the first place slammed over her again and Patty kicked herself. "Sorry, baby, I forgot—"

"Patty," Holtzmann said very seriously, turning to stare into her eyes while they were at a red light. "There are no bad feelings during Christmas. There is only…" She hit the button on the radio without taking her eyes off Patty's. "Merriness."

Patty jumped slightly as she realized Holtzmann must have added some killer speakers to the new Ecto-1, because the car vibrated and buzzed with the cranked up bass. The fact that it was booming along with "We Need a Little Christmas" wasn't something Patty ever expected to hear, but Holtzmann whooped as she turned back to the road, hitting the gas just slightly before the light actually turned green.

Patty hung on, taking in the stares of pedestrians and cab drivers as they wove their way through traffic. While the Ghostbusters had become a more familiar part of New York life now, she was sure the decorations and blasting Christmas music drew extra attention to them again.

But looking over at Holtzmann as she lip synced along with "need a little music, need a little laughter," Patty decided she could honor that need for the rest of the holiday.

OOO

When they pulled onto the street Patty's parents lived on, Patty was grateful to see a curbside space only a short walk from the building itself. The Ecto-1 was recognized as a city work vehicle now, but that didn't mean they were immune to tickets if they used that privilege while off-duty. The police hadn't appreciated Abby's attempts to justify some of their parking jobs by asking if the cops could prove there wasn't a ghost in the building they might need to bust, thank you very much.

Still, Patty knew the police weren't their only concern in the city. "Hey, you think it's safe leaving this parked out front?" she asked as they got out and unloaded the bags of gifts and food. "I mean, our cars kind of have a bad history of getting jacked."

"Don't worry, I installed a new security system. Steal my nuclear hot-rod once, shame on you. Steal it twice…"

Holtzmann pushed a button on the key fob and there was a series of metallic clicks as small nozzles popped up over each door.

"Get a face full of ectoplasm," Holtz finished, grinning at Patty.

"Well, gotta admit they won't be expecting that," she said, arching an eyebrow.

"Abby wanted to get rid of the samples we collected since we're not exactly short on evidence anymore, so two birds, one slimy stone."

"Okay, but you know the first time one of us sets that off by mistake you're gonna catch hell," Patty warned as she started heading for the door to the building. "That's just got Erin's name all over it."

She expected a chuckle. When she didn't get much of a response, she glanced over, noticing Holtz was beside her, but fidgeting with the arm of her glasses behind one ear. Patty wanted to nudge her shoulder and assure her everything was going to be cool, but decided to just let her family speak for themselves.

Of course, her mother had clearly been watching because the door opened before she even got to the buzzer. "'Bout time you got here, baby!"

"Hey, Mom!" Patty embraced her back. "Well, you know traffic on Christmas Eve."

"Well, you got out of helping with the ham, but I've still got plenty you can do in the kitchen. Come in out of the cold, come on."

As they shuffled in the door, Patty's mother looked over and down. "So you must be Patty's friend then."

"Yeah, this is Holtzmann. Holtzy, my mom."

Holtzmann threw her a salute, handing her the tin of cookies they had made. "Mrs. Tolan. May I just say you made a beautiful daughter and now I see it runs in the family."

Her mother arched an eyebrow and looked at Patty. "You weren't lying. She's a smooth talker." She turned back to Holtzmann. "Well, we're glad you could join us, Holtzmann. It's been a while since we've had company for the holidays we weren't related to. Hopefully you've got some stories we haven't heard a million times!"

Holtzmann's eyes sharpened slightly with a grin that made Patty nervous. "I'll tell you my Patty stories if you tell me yours."

"Uh, no, you don't have to do that," Patty tried, but her mother was already angling a finger at Holtzmann.

"Deal. Now come on. Your dad and Michael are watching the game. Shawna had to finish a shift at the hospital, but she's bringing the boys in time for dinner tonight."

"She actually got the holiday off this year?" Patty asked, following her mother, Holtzmann trotting along behind seeming slightly more confident.

"I guess it pays being one of the senior nurses in her department. Still, she's probably technically still on call for the hospital." She arched a proud eyebrow as she paused in the kitchen door. "Guess I can't complain that my girls are important enough New York can't survive without them for even a couple days."

Patty felt a warmth filling her chest. She knew their customers were grateful. She knew they had saved the entire city, if not the world. But somehow, after all the thankless, mundane years taking tickets for the MTA, hearing her mother express pride in her made it all real on another level. Not that her parents had ever made her feel less than for working a job even she considered menial, but hey, it felt good to come home feeling excited about what she did for once.

Before she could respond, though, her father's voice called out, "Is that my baby girl?"

She grinned, seeing her father and brother turn and peer over the couch in the living room. "You better hope so, Dad. What other fine women would you have showing up at this house?"

"Just you girls and your mama, that's all the beautiful women I need," he smiled back, pushing up out of his seat with her brother's help. It still shook Patty a bit every time she saw her dad how much he had aged. He was past seventy years old now, she had to keep reminding herself, and the heart surgery he had needed some years back took a lot out of him. Still, his eyes were bright as he came around the couch to give her a hug.

"And this must be your engineer friend you were telling us about," he said, stepping back from her to look at Holtzmann.

"Dad, this is Holtzmann. Holtz, my dad and my brother, Mike." Patty noticed Holtzmann was staring back and forth between them over the rim of her glasses. "You okay, Holtzy?"

"Just marveling at this land of giants I've been invited into."

A wave of amusement went through Patty. She had known intellectually every member of her family was similar to her height, but seeing Holtzmann actually surrounded by people all almost a foot taller than her was more fun than she had expected. "Hey, when I told you you were gonna stand out, you didn't think I meant the race thing, did you?"

"Fantastic." Holtzmann grinned.

"So you're the one who's keeping my little girl safe when you're out fighting ghosts, huh?" Patty's father said, looking down at Holtzmann a bit imperiously.

Holtz just shrugged, unintimidated. "I do my best." She dropped her voice faux-conspiratorially. "You know how this one gets herself in trouble."

"What?" Patty snapped. "Girl, I've saved your ass more times than I can count!"

Holtzmann just grinned and swatted dismissively at her arm.

Her father gave Holtzmann an approving nod. "Hey, I know your specialty's more nuclear and explosive stuff, but you know anything about Christmas lights?"

"Theoretical or applied?" Holtz chuckled to herself, tapping the side of her head. "Why am I asking? I could make you a set from scratch."

"Okay, cool, maybe you can help me then. I've got this string where I've changed every lightbulb on it and it still won't work. Would you mind taking a look at it?"

Holtzmann pushed her glasses up, pulling a soldering kit out of a pocket of her jacket. "Sure thing. You want it to blink in time to music too? I mean, of course you do. Who wouldn't?"

"Dad," Patty protested, "I invited Holtz as a guest. You're gonna put her to work?"

"Hey, how often do I get to have an actual engineer around to fix stuff? Your brother the businessman certainly ain't jumping to fix it."

"You weren't complaining when I helped you figure out those extra deductions on your taxes last year," Michael retorted defensively.

"Oh yeah!" Her father brightened, turning to Holtzmann. "See, this is why you have a bunch of kids. So you've got somebody to help you with whatever you need."

"I know exactly what you mean," Holtzmann said, taking him by the arm and letting him lead them out of the room. "I've got four chinchillas and I've been training each one to help me out with tasks around the apartment. Mopping, cooking, you know."

"Yeah? How's that working out?"

"Oh, massively underwhelming. But doesn't mean I love 'em any less."

Patty shook her head as they left.

Michael looked over at her, eyebrow cocked. "Gotta say, your stories didn't really do her justice."

"Hey, you try describing all that," Patty retorted, gesturing after Holtzmann.

"She's something, yeah. Hey." He nudged his shoulder against hers. "I'm glad you've got a group of friends like that. It's about time you had folks who appreciated you."

"They're a bunch of white girls who love running into haunted houses and playing with stuff that blows up," Patty said dryly. "Smart white girls and I love 'em like mad, but they're still crazy as hell sometimes. Somebody's gotta make sure they don't get themselves killed."

"True." He nodded. "Still, glad you found a job worth your time at last. And don't let it go to your head, but I admit it's pretty cool hearing people talk about how my little sister helped save the world."

Patty felt herself blushing. "Careful. You're gonna make me all emotional, now."

"What can I say? It's Christmas Eve, I've had a couple beers already. Maybe I'm getting sentimental."

Patty's forehead wrinkled. "A couple… Did you actually get the day off?"

"Yeah!" He beamed. "Remember? Christmas and Hannukah fell at the same time this year. One of the few times a soul food delicatessen can actually close up completely for the holidays!"

Patty laughed. Her brother had gotten the weirdest looks from the family, and frankly everybody he talked to, when he first proposed opening that particular restaurant idea. But hey, it was Brooklyn and New Yorkers were all about fusion cuisine lately, and between his business savvy and his chef's talent, they had a hit on their hands before they knew it. "Well, good for you, man. So where's Joe?"

"Having a party for the chefs and waitstaff. He'll come by after. I was there for a bit, then headed home to help Mom cook."

"But instead you're in the living room watching the game because…?"

He raised his eyebrows. "'Cause you can run a critically acclaimed restaurant, but Mom still won't trust you to cook her recipes right."

Patty nodded, sighing. "Yeah, sounds about right."

"Patricia, could you give me a hand in here?" her mother's voice called from the kitchen.

"Speaking of," Patty muttered, exchanging a knowing look with her brother.

"Good luck," he said, heading back to the couch.

Patty headed into the kitchen, breathing in the familiar warmth and bustle of holiday preparations. "Yeah, Mom?"

Her mother looked up from a bowl of potatoes and gestured to a series of plates and bowls on a side counter. "I've got the cooking pretty well under control, but I set aside a serving of everything for your friend so you can season it to what she can handle."

"Good thinking, thanks." Patty walked over to the sink, rolling up her sleeves to wash her hands. "You'd be surprised how much spice she can eat, though. I swear she's probably killed half her taste buds with all the stuff she's messed with over the years."

"Well, that's where I figured you knew her best."

Patty settled in to seasoning the food as her mother continued moving from one dish to the next, juggling food between the stovetop, the oven, and the cutting board with the same practiced expertise that Holtzmann and Abby showed when building their inventions. With Christmas music filling the room and the mouth-watering aromas drifting through the air, Patty took a moment to appreciate the experience of cooking alongside her mother with the recipes she had grown up eating every holiday since she was a kid.

And she thought anew about the fact that Holtzmann had never gotten to have that kind of tradition and continuity in her life. What was it like, Patty wondered, having nowhere to call home at the holidays? No one to look forward to your arrival and go out of their way to make the day special while you were together?

Well, she couldn't fix the past, but as Patty fixed Holtzmann's servings for dinner, she at least knew she had at least made sure that for this year Holtz would get a proper Christmas.

"Hey, Mom?" she said, glancing over. "Thanks for letting Holtz spend Christmas with us. I know it was kind of short notice and none of y'all know her."

"Of course she's welcome. No reason anybody should be alone when we've got plenty to go around. Especially somebody who's special to you."

There was something about the way she said that that made Patty pause. Did she think…? "Ma, Holtz and I aren't… I mean, we're not—"

"Patricia Tolan," her mother said, putting a hand on her hip as Patty flinched at the Full Name tone of voice. "You're forty-nine years old. You aren't married, you don't have kids, and while I have no doubt you've been dating and having relations with people—"

"Mom—!" Patty ducked her head, mortified.

"—It's been more than ten years since you actually brought anybody home, much less for the holidays. Then suddenly you call saying you want to invite the girl you been talking about like crazy for the last few months. I mean you see actual ghosts in your job, but I swear half your stories are, 'Wait till you hear what Holtzmann did this time' or 'You should see what genius thing Holtzy just built'. You're happier lately than I've seen you since you were dating that history professor from NYU. I can't remember you humming and dancing while you were cooking like that since you were a little girl."

Patty blinked. She hadn't even realized she was doing it. Dancing to a running soundtrack had just become a regular part of life around the firehouse. She guessed they did have Holtz to thank for bringing that into their lives, but…

"Now, maybe you did just invite her out of the kindness of your heart," her mother continued, "but if your heart did have other reasons for it too, I just want you to know we're all good with that and just glad to finally meet the woman who's brought some spark back into your life. Now, you about done seasoning those?" she asked, abruptly turning back to the subject at hand. "I've got a system to keep so these all get finished cooking at once."

Patty was still a bit stunned as she passed her mother the plates and bowls. Her mother thought she and Holtzmann…

Nah. Sure, she loved Holtz, the way she loved Abby and Erin and even Kevin. And okay, she was probably closer to Holtz than she was to the rest of the team and they spent a lot of their downtime together, but that was because Abby and Erin had their own history and closeness, right?

She shook her head. Mothers just tended to meddle and when somebody was single as long as Patty had been, of course her mom would read into even the slightest hint she was dating. It was what moms did. Didn't mean there was anything more going on.

But god help her, Holtz's tendency to flirt wasn't going to help her case.

"Smells good in here!" Her father's voice broke her train of thought. He strolled into the kitchen, reaching to steal a bite of turkey, only for her mother to smack his hand without even having to look up. He settled for a cookie from the plate Patty had brought instead.

"Your friend got the lights working," he said around a mouthful. "Feel free to bring her around more often. I've got plenty of projects I could use her talents for."

"Yeah, I bet." Patty frowned at the empty doorway behind him as she washed her hands. "Where'd she get to? Tell me you didn't send her out on a ladder to do the outside too."

"Nah, she's taking a look at the Christmas tree. It's been flickering a bit, so she said she can check that we're not overloading the outlet."

"I'd better go keep an eye on that," Patty said, pouring a glass of eggnog to take with her. "She's good, but there's a reason we keep fire extinguishers in every room of the firehouse."

Patty walked out to the living room. "Hey, Holtzy, I brought—" She stopped, not seeing the blonde anywhere in the room. "Holtz?"

"Over here," her voice called from ground level. Michael pointed to the base of the tree without looking away from the television.

Patty made her way around the couch and found Holtzmann stretched out on her side on the floor, her top half hidden under the branches of the tree. "You okay down there?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just one second…"

There was the sharp zap of a small electrical arc and all the lights in the room, including the tree and TV, flickered. Michael looked over, somewhere between annoyance and concern.

"Everything okay?" her dad's voice called.

"Oh yeah, we're good," Holtzmann said, scooting out from under the tree, flexing one hand to work out a mild shock. "I shifted some of the plugs, reordered a few of the circuits of cords. Everything should be more balanced now. I could do a lot more if I opened up the wall and could get into the wiring there—"

"I think that's more than good enough," Patty said, giving her a hand back to her feet. She waited for Holtzmann to reposition her Santa hat before handing her the eggnog. "Hey, your shirt's not lighting up anymore."

Holtz glanced down at the dark light bulbs in her Christmas tree sweater. "I needed some extra wire to fix the string of lights on the window. I'll fix it when I'm home later. It needed some modifications anyway, give it my own personal touch."

"How about you give that mind of yours a break and sit down for a bit. It's Christmas. We're supposed to be relaxing and having fun."

Holtzmann put a hand on her shoulder, holding her eyes seriously. "Patty, you've known me almost a year. This is how I relax and have fun."

Patty considered that and realized, whether he meant to or not, her father possibly had found a way to break the ice and help the introverted woman feel at home quicker than she would have just thrown into a purely social situation.

"All right. Just wanted to make sure you knew I didn't invite you here just to be useful."

Holtzmann grinned, moving her hand to pat Patty on the cheek a bit too firmly. "I know. Thanks, though."

She vaulted awkwardly over the back of the couch, managing not to spill her eggnog, and perched next to Michael, leaning over conspiratorially. "So which team do we have money on?"

A vigorous knock sounded excitedly on the front door.

"Patricia, would you get that?" her mother called.

"All right. Y'all better be family," she joked through the door as she opened it.

"Aunt Patty!" a chorus of voices sounded as she was wrapped in multiple hugs.

The next few minutes were a ruckus of happy shouts and squeals as Patty greeted her sister, brother-in-law, and the passel of nephews they brought with them. The noise level increased as each relative came over and joined the chaos, managing somewhere in the mix to shed coats, get bags of presents passed over to be stashed until the next morning, and shift from the foyer into the living room.

Patty saw Holtzmann standing quietly off to the side of the throng, watching, slightly hunched with her hands in her pockets, one coming out to fidget with the arm of her glasses behind her ear. Patty noted those cues and carefully made her way over, leading just her sister and brother-in-law over while the kids were distracted with their grandparents.

"I've told you guys about my friend, Holtzmann. Holtz, this is my sister, Shawna, the nurse, and her husband, Dan."

Patty knew her instincts were on point as Shawna immediately picked up on Holtz's sensory and social overstimulation and extended a hand, speaking in a softer tone. "Hi, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Patty's raved about you so much it's nice to have a face to put to the stories."

"Really?" Holtzmann smiled as she shook Shawna's hand, flicking a glance at Patty. "She's spoken highly of you too, so guess I'm in good company."

"Dan," her husband introduced himself, his tone and energy already naturally on the quieter side anyway.

"Holtzmann, or Holtz for short," she replied, seeming back to her normal, relaxed personality. "And on that note may I just say it is a bit of a relief to have someone else at my own eye level here. My neck thanks you."

Dan laughed, drawing himself to the full five-foot-five his Chinese ancestry had bestowed upon him. "Same here. And hey, in humans, being short is dominant genetically, so we're going to win out in the long-run anyway."

Shawna rolled her eyes. "I've never seen a man so proud when his kids don't have growth spurts."

He put an arm around his wife, pulling her close. "I'm just saying, I'd be fine with a world where short men and tall women were the norm."

"I like the way he thinks," Holtzmann said, looking up at Patty with a grin.

"In case you couldn't tell, Dan works at the hospital too," Patty explained, trying to pull the conversation back on topic.

"Doctor?" Holtzmann asked.

"Nah. I work in the pathology lab."

Holtz's already fascinated expression froze, her eyes widening. "Patty, I've known you all this time and you never mentioned you had a pathologist in the family?" she asked, voice tight with barely contained excitement.

"See? That. That's exactly why," Patty said, gesturing to Holtzmann's reaction. "You were dancing when I brought the hearse over. If you knew I had family who worked with creepy diseases—"

Holtz waved her off, focusing in on Dan. "I will trade you everything I know about ghosts for every gruesome story about diseased tissue you have."

"Deal," he said, eyes almost equally intense. "I've actually wanted to talk to you all for a while. I mean, you've confirmed the existence of a non-corporeal part of who we are. As a biologist I have so many questions about how that works. I mean, is it pure energy or is there something molecular that carries over from the tissue?"

"Well, speaking just from a physics perspective…"

"Aunt Patty!"

Patty's focus on the conversation derailed as she was suddenly hit with a bundle of ten-year-old energy slamming into her with a hug. She got her balance and tousled her nephew's hair. "Hey, buddy. How you doing?"

"Oh, Holtzmann, these are our sons," Shawna interrupted the biological discussion. "The little one's Marcus, Steven's the middle one, and the teenager in the corner who thinks he's too cool for everything is Reggie."

"Aunt Patty, I told everybody at school how my aunt's a Ghostbuster!" Marcus said, looking up from his grip at her waist.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah! Most of 'em don't believe me, but I told them it's all real."

"Well, a lot of people we deal with don't believe us either, even after the city nearly got destroyed by a ghost volcano, so doesn't really surprise me."

"And you're a Ghostbuster too, right?" Steven asked, approaching Holtzmann a bit shyly.

She beamed at him, leaning against the couch in a cocky stance. "I might be."

"She's the one who makes all their guns and stuff!" Marcus said. "Did you bring anything with you?"

"We've got our gear in the car in case anything happens," Holtz said casually.

"You know how it is," Patty nudged Shawna. "Gotta stay on call, 'case we need to save some lives."

Shawna shook her head, arching her eyebrows. "Have fun with it now. It gets real old after a few years."

"Can we watch you catch a ghost?" Steven asked.

"Honey, they didn't bring a ghost with them," Shawna said. Then she shot a quick look at them. "You didn't, right?"

"We'd better not have, right, Holtzy?" Patty said pointedly.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna pull an Erin. All our ghosts are still contained back at HQ to the best of my knowledge." She examined her fingernails as she added, "But if you kids are really good for the rest of the holiday, I might have brought some of the ghost slime we collected to give you."

"Seriously?!" The boys jumped excitedly as Shawna's face looked slightly horrified.

"But you have to be really good or Santa will tell me and then I can't give it to you," Holtzmann said, widening her eyes to give them an intimidating look over her glasses.

"We will!" Marcus agreed quickly.

"Promise!" Steven added.

"Good!" Holtz's face immediately brightened again. "You guys wanna see our new ghost-fighting car?"

"Yeah!" they cheered, following her out to the street.

"Holtz…" Patty called warningly.

"Relax, Patty, I know not to let them play with any of the weapons." She winked on her way out the door. "Not until they're at least fifteen."

"She didn't really bring them slime, did she?" Shawna asked nervously.

"Honestly, I don't know. It's the kind of thing she would do, though. I'll give you some of the cleaner we use to get it out of stuff. You'll be fine."

"Right. Oh, hey, the car thing reminded me, Uncle Bill is apparently coming over for Christmas Day tomorrow."

"Aw, man," Patty groaned. "He still hasn't forgiven me for what happened to his hearse, has he?"

Shawna held up her hands. "I don't know. I stay out of any family drama I don't have to be part of. Just thought I'd let you know, especially since you brought your friend. And the new car."

"Thanks. I get to look forward to that."

The sound of the Ecto-1's siren blared through the walls of the apartment. Patty's conditioned response had her adrenaline starting, ready for a bust. But then it rushed even more as she suddenly had flashes of the security system Holtzmann had installed on the car.

"What the hell is that?" their father asked, coming out of the living room with Michael in tow and their mother shortly behind.

"That better not be Holtzy giving the kids their slime early," Patty said, rushing for the door. Please, god, don't let this be Holtz's idea of a joke. It was her kind of set-up, but if she actually was letting the kids get sprayed with ectoplasm, there might be a literal punchline in someone's future.

But when Patty flung open the door, there was thankfully no slime to be seen in the snowy street. Holtzmann stood in the open driver's-side door of the Ecto-1, beaming proudly as the siren lights on the roof flashed beside her. Marcus sat behind the steering wheel, Steven leaning out the window of the passenger side, both bouncing like it was already Christmas morning.

Holtz grinned even bigger as she saw them at the door, throwing her arms wide. "What's the point of having a car like this if we don't let kids play with the siren sometimes?" she shouted.

"Well, that's honestly the least troubling thing I thought she could do with the car," Patty said optimistically.

"I don't know if the neighbors agree," her dad said, nodding toward the doors and windows opening on all the neighboring houses.

"Hey, if y'all's daughter was a Ghostbuster, you'd let her do the same thing! Mind your business!" her mother called toward the people starting to come outside.

"Hang on," Shawna said, "I think it's okay."

Kids were running outside, staring and cheering like Santa's sleigh had just landed in their neighborhood. And honestly, given Holtz's outfit and bright smile, she kind of did look the part. She waved to the families, inviting them over. Soon, kids were dragging their parents toward the car, wanting selfies with it, and asking if they could push the siren too.

"I think you just bought yourself some pretty good will with your neighbors for a while," Michael commented. "Hey, if they're taking pics with the car, I want some too. Reg, come on!" he said, grabbing his eldest nephew. "Next time somebody at school's trying to show off their rims, you bust out a picture sitting in that and it should shut 'em up for a while."

Dan started following them down, smiling back at his wife. "I'm going to see if I can try the siren too."

Shawna shook her head fondly, leaning in the doorframe. "Men and cars. They never grow up, the toys just get more expensive."

"Mm-hm." Patty sighed. "I'd better go down there and make sure the back doors really are locked. All we need's somebody getting hold of a proton pack and running wild. It's bad enough I'm gonna have to Lysol everything in there after twenty kids have touched all of it. Hey! No climbing on the roof! That's a nuclear reactor, not a jungle gym!"

Still, seeing Holtzmann at the center of a swarm of happy kids, taking funny pictures, explaining her tech, telling stories of their ghost hunts, and looking like she was having as much or more fun as the people around her, Patty's heart warmed and she knew this whole visit was already worthwhile.

OOO

Figuring out how to fit their entire family around a table was a production, but Patty's mother was never one to let a little thing like that stop her and managed to push enough tables together and round up anything that could be safely sat on until they had a dining area that could seat a sports team. And if the dishes and silverware were mismatched, you pointed it out at your own peril of having your space given to someone who appreciated her hard work.

Just as they were getting settled in, the door buzzer rang.

"That'll be Joe," Michael said, getting up.

"About time!" their dad called. "Tell him we were about to eat his share without him, let him cook his own."

"That's Mike's partner he runs the restaurant with," Patty explained to Holtzmann.

A round of greetings went up as Michael walked back in, his arm around the shoulders of the new man, who had his arm around Michael's waist in return.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! You know how horrible the subway is on the holidays. But I brought some of our latkes and a bottle of champagne to try to make up for it," Joe said, passing a bag to Patty's mother.

"Well, I suppose we can forgive you then," she said, her tone only mock serious as she accepted the bag and his kiss on her cheek. "Now sit down. Food's starting to get cold."

Michael held out Joe's chair as he sat, then took the seat next to him, whispering a question in Joe's ear, which he nodded to in response.

Patty grinned as she watched Holtzmann's hawkish gaze flick between Michael and Joe, then to Patty for confirmation. "Yeah, when I said partner, I wasn't just talking about business. May want to check the calibration on that gaydar of yours."

New excitement glittered in Holtzmann's eyes. "Well, well, still full of surprises, Pats." She leaned across the table, extending her hand to the new face. "Holtzmann. May I say it's a genuine pleasure to meet you."

"Joseph Levin, Joe to friends and family." He smiled back, shaking her hand. "Michael's partner in all aspects of life."

"Lucky man," Holtz said, eyes and grin unwavering.

"So you're the friend Patty was bringing home, huh? Nice to finally meet one of the other Ghostbusters. We've certainly heard about you long enough!"

"Talks about us a lot, does she?" Holtzmann gave Patty an amused look.

"I work with ghosts and nuclear weapons! I kind of have more stories than when I worked at the MTA!" Patty protested.

"Mm-hmm," Joe murmured in a somewhat knowing way as he took a sip of his drink. Michael elbowed him, and he refocused on Holtz. "So, Holtzmann. Are you celebrating Hannukah this week too?"

"Not part of the original plan, but I'd be psyched to join a Hannukah party," she replied, leaning her chin on her steepled hands.

"Ah, sorry." He looked a bit embarrassed. "I just assumed you were Jewish too."

"Might have been, hard to say. Either way, there's something else we have in common," she said, throwing Joe a little salute.

He arched an eyebrow, smirking back, but any further conversation was interrupted as Patty's mother called out, "All right! Hey! Everybody hush up, your father's going to lead us in saying grace."

Everyone quieted down, if somewhat reluctantly. Patty held out her hand, nodding for Holtzmann to take it. Holtz bobbed her head affirmatively, joining hands with her and Shawna, and lowering her head with exaggerated seriousness. As much as Patty was used to physical contact with all of the other Ghostbusters, this calm, sustained hand-holding raised funny little butterflies in her stomach.

"Dear Lord, in whatever form you look after each member of our family," her father said, "we thank you for allowing us all to be together at this special time. We thank you for the blessings of family and friendship in our lives, whether it be with loved ones old" –he nodded toward his wife, who gave him a slight side-eye in return—"or new," he continued, smiling toward Holtzmann, who, Patty noticed, blushed slightly.

"Please continue to watch over everyone at this table, and their extended loved ones, and bring them health, happiness, and peace in the year to come. Keep them safe, wherever they may travel, and no matter what crazy adventures they throw themselves into—talking about our Patty and her friends here."

Through the chuckles around her, Patty started to protest, but her mother pulled her hand back down.

"Thank you for the food, gifts, and company we enjoy this holiday season and all throughout the year. Praise unto your grace. Amen."

"Amen," everyone chorused, even Holtzmann.

As they released hands to start eating, Patty leaned over to Holtzmann, speaking softly. "Sorry if that was awkward. I know religion's probably not your thing."

Holtzmann gave her a look. "We deal routinely with ghosts and the afterlife. I have no problem with people believing in something beyond the world we can currently quantify." She scooped a forkful of potatoes into her mouth. "Personally, I favor a pantheon of my own design. The goddess of dairy is a bit fickle, though."

Dinner was a lot of fun. The stories and jokes flew rapidly and enthusiastically, anecdotes from as recent as that morning to old stories from her parents' childhoods. Holtzmann listened with rapt attention to every new tale of some embarrassing event from Patty's past. Patty had a bad feeling she was absorbing each one to tell the other girls at some point, or at least use to tease her sometime in the future.

"…To this day, if you drive by, you can still see a stain on the side of the school!" Michael barely finished through his laughter.

Patty shook her head, pushing her ham around on her plate. "Y'all are getting so much coal for calling a girl out like that, I swear to god."

"Holtzmann, what did your family do for Christmas when you were little?" Marcus asked, cheerfully.

A bolt of tension cut through the levity around the table. Of course the kids didn't know why Holtzmann was joining them other than that she was Patty's friend. Patty swallowed, glancing subtly at Holtzmann to see how she reacted.

She appeared unaffected, leaning forward on her folded hands, eyes exaggeratedly wide. "Well, where I grew up on the moon, we celebrated a lunar holiday called Zykar. But there's too much gravity here to show you what we did."

Marcus rolled his eyes, still smiling. "No, for real! Did you have big family dinners like this too?"

Holtzmann was still now, her route of evasion cut off, expression fading flat and blank. The rest of the adults tried to focus on their food or redirect the conversation.

"Dude, shut up," Reggie hissed, elbowing Marcus.

"Ow! You shut up!" Marcus snapped back, looking hurt.

"Boys," Dan said, his voice stern.

"I didn't do anything!" Marcus whined.

"He's right," Holtzmann spoke up. Her eyes were closed, breathing slightly accelerated, and Patty knew the fighting was only exacerbating her stress. Patty tried to think how she could shift the mood before Holtzmann shut down, but Holtz opened her eyes again on her own. She focused down on a random spot in the middle of the table, fingers threaded together tight enough her knuckles were turning white.

Taking a deep breath, Holtz licked her lips and directed her voice toward Marcus, stilted as it was. "They're just trying to be nice because, um…when I was a kid, I didn't have any parents. Or family, really, until I met your aunt and the other Ghostbusters."

The hush over the table could have been cut with a knife. Patty wanted to reach out to take Holtz's hand or squeeze her shoulder, some kind of support, but she had pulled in on herself as much as the crowded table allowed, avoiding the sympathy or discomfort on the faces around her.

"You were an orphan?" Marcus asked, stunned.

Holtzmann grunted an affirmative noise. Patty could feel her leg bouncing under the table in contrast to the stillness of her top half.

But then Marcus's eyes lit up with understanding.

"So you're like Harry Potter!"

Holtz's head jerked up now, focusing on him with a surprised look Patty was sure matched most of the rest of the family's faces.

"He lost his parents too, but got his own family of friends once he started going to Hogwarts. Except you have ghosts instead of wizards."

Holtzmann stared at him, a slow grin spreading across her face like ice thawing. "Huh. You're right."

"A lot of heroes start out like that," Steven added, with all the seriousness of a twelve-year-old. "It's an archetype."

"Ooh!" Marcus bounced excitedly. "That means we're the Weasleys!"

"We could be Fred and George!" Steven joined in.

As they argued which was which, Holtzmann laughed, reanimating again, and the pall was broken. Patty sagged in relief, thanking the world for the bluntness, but innocence of children.

Joe nudged Michael's shoulder. "I say you should be Bill so I can be Fleur 'cause you know I want that fashion sense."

"I don't even know what that means," Michael said.

"Ugh, blasphemy," Joe snorted.

"Did you live with a mean aunt and uncle?" Marcus asked, apparently not having learned to quit while he was ahead yet.

But this time Holtz seemed much more relaxed as she answered. "Nah, no idea if I even had family out there, much less who they were. I was in and out of foster homes and group homes because, well…" She gestured to herself, head to feet. "They couldn't always handle this much awesomeness."

"Admittedly I've wondered how holidays work in foster situations like that," Dan joined in with the same curious tone as when they had been discussing ghosts earlier.

Holtz followed his mood, leaning back as if just talking about one of her inventions. "Well, when you're with a family, you usually join what they're doing, unless they're the jerk kind who are just in it for the money. Then it can get a little more 'cupboard under the stairs'. In the group homes, they try; decorations, tree, food, you know. But it's not really personalized. And not usually well-funded."

"So when we do those Angel Tree gifts, where you pick a kid and get what they request on the card…?" Dan asked.

"Yeah, yeah, those are great," Holtzmann nodded eagerly. "Gives each kid more personal attention. They didn't do those as much when I was there, so you got whatever was donated. And not many people were donating tool sets or electronics anyway, so I tended to find my own toys. Which is part of why I wasn't at any one house too long."

Patty had to marvel at how much the tone had changed. Suddenly, painful personal history was flowing out faster than Patty had ever heard Holtzmann reveal anything real about herself, and yet she seemed as if she was just discussing what they had had for lunch the other day.

But maybe that was it. The power of being treated normally. Marcus and Steven didn't pity her or assign any kind of judgment on her past. It just was what it was. Didn't change how they saw her. And so everybody else treated it that way too. In the same way that Erin could now talk about her ghost experience as a kid, knowing everyone on the team accepted it as just another interesting part of their work, not making a big deal out of Holtz's past let her address it as just part of who she was, not something that defined her. Patty made a mental note to remember that for the future.

Her musing was interrupted by the ringtones of both hers and Holtzmann's phones. A groan went up around the table.

"Almost made it through dinner," their father sighed.

"Hey, mine usually goes off right as I sit down, so at least they got to eat something," Shawna said.

As Patty answered the call, Holtzmann silenced her own phone and watched Patty intently.

"Ghostbusters, what's the nature of your haunting?" Patty asked in her old customer service voice.

"We need your help!" the usual terrified tone of voice called through the phone. "They're everywhere! Chasing guests, scaring the tenants, getting some kind of slime on everything!"

"All right, we'll be there to help you. So you're actually seeing ghosts, not just stuff moving around?"

"Yes, they're horrible! If you don't get them out soon someone's going to have a heart attack!"

"Okay, let me get something to write down the address."

Holtzmann held out a notepad and pencil pulled from a pocket in her vest.

"Okay, go ahead." Patty listened, nodding as she scribbled it down. "All right, well just hang on. We'll be there soon."

"Bad one?" Michael asked as she hung up.

"Yeah, guy said there's ghosts everywhere," Patty sighed, turning to Holtzmann. "A bunch of Class Threes, probably some Ones and Twos in there. And unfortunately he doesn't know how many, so you know what that means."

"Gotta search room-by-room," Holtzmann nodded, all-business. Or at least as all-business as she got.

"Yep." Patty turned to her parents apologetically. "This is probably gonna take a while."

"It's all right, somebody's gotta keep people safe," her mother allowed, nodding.

"You're gonna go catch some ghosts?" Marcus asked excitedly.

Patty gave him a grin. "You know it."

"Can we go too?" Steven piped up.

"I think we'd better leave it to the professionals," Shawna said, giving Patty a warning look.

"Yeah, maybe someday, little man, but this one calls for the experts."

She looked over to see Holtzmann shoveling her remaining food in her mouth as fast as she could. "Seriously?"

Holtz looked up. "You don't let food this good go to waste," she said, mouth full.

"We'll save you each a plate," Patty's mother assured her, trying to politely gesture her to stop.

Holtzmann swallowed what she had in her mouth, standing up with Patty. "If you have a to-go container I could just finish it on the way."

"Baby, the way you drive, you don't need anything else distracting you," Patty protested.

"All riiiight." Holtz rolled her eyes. "So who are we evicting unwanted holiday guests for?"

"A nursing home in Staten Island."

"How will we know which ones are the ghosts?"

Holtz ducked as Patty's mother swatted at her. "Careful. You're not going to be that young forever, Missy."

"All right, we'll try to get this done fast as we can," Patty said, heading to get her coat. "Y'all enjoy the rest of the evening."

"Be safe out there," her mother said, getting up to give her a hug. "That goes for both of you."

"Don't worry," Holtz grinned from the front door. "Our nuclear weapons will protect us from the spirits of the angry dead."

"I'd say ignore her, but that is basically how it is," Patty shrugged. "But we won't do anything stupider than we already are by being in this job."

Her family called wishes of good luck as Patty waved goodbye and closed the door behind her.

Then came right back in a second later.

"Okay, whoever blocked us in needs to come move their car before Holtz comes up with her own way to get it out of the way. Come on now."

OOO

Patty had to admit she wasn't looking forward to the bust. Taking on a haunting that big was challenging enough with four people. Having only the two of them promised it was going to be an exhausting, punishing night.

When they arrived at the nursing home after the brutally long drive all the way to Staten Island through more holiday traffic than Patty thought made any kind of sense, they found the staff and inhabitants relocated to the lobby of the neighboring building. The manager spoke with them outside, pleading for urgency as seniors being terrorized by ghosts apparently were even angrier about the prospect of being inconvenienced and thrown off their routine.

"All right," Holtzmann said as they geared up and powered up their proton packs. "You take ghosts of Christmas past, I'll take Christmas future, and we'll split the ones for Christmas present."

"You just want that plan because there aren't any ghosts from the future yet."

"We don't know that. What if a time traveler died here?" Holtzmann said earnestly.

"Let's just do this so we can get back to celebrating, huh?" Patty stepped through the front doors.

The inside looked like a wild holiday party was taking place, just with a slightly less living crowd than those who would usually be there. Furniture was scattered and damaged, food and medications thrown about. Slime dripped from just about everything. Green and blue spirits flitted through the building like someone had brought Disneyworld's Haunted Mansion into reality.

Their arrival had about the same effect as the cops showing up at a college kegger. There was a chaotic mix of ghosts scattering, screeching, or deciding to make mischief and fight back. The Ghostbusters had a much higher rate of success capturing the troublemakers though, probably in part since most police didn't travel equipped with proton restraints.

Patty and Holtzmann worked their way through the nursing home, their progress made a bit faster by the successful implementation of Holtz's new proton vacuum, a modified trap with a hollow laser wand that could suck in weaker classes of ghosts en masse. This let them focus their efforts and proton streams on the Class Three and Four spirits.

Even with the technological advances to their armory, cleaning out the infestation of ghosts from every room of the building took hours. Since the ghosts could duck through walls, there was no way to funnel them all one direction, so a lot of backtracking was needed to catch fleeing phantoms. Several of the larger ghosts were strong enough to fight back, thrashing the women against walls in tight hallways or flinging medical equipment their way.

By the time they reached the last room of the top floor, both Ghostbusters were bruised, tired, and ready to be done with this batch of ghosts.

"I have a feeling this is the source of the problem," Patty said, looking over the slime covered door and hallway leading to a final patient apartment. The lights flickered as they approached.

Holtz tugged on Patty's proton pack briefly, checking something. "Power levels are still good. We should be able to handle a boss-level villain without a problem."

"Don't know about my own energy levels at this point, but let's get this done and go home, huh?"

Ahead of them, the door to the room swung open, crashing against the inner wall. Nothing came through, though, just a gaping maw daring them to enter.

Patty looked down at Holtzmann, whose smile had widened to an excited grin, and sighed. "All right, let's do this."

They stalked carefully to the room, Holtz leading them through the doorway. The small suite was silent, remarkably undamaged compared to the rest of the building. Patty hated it more when it was quiet. Some damn thing was just waiting to jump at them. She wished they had the decency to come right out and just be there to fight them like a reasonable person.

Sure enough, as soon as they were through the door, trying to fit side-by-side in the small entryway, a monstrous blue figure manifested in front of them, roaring with its claw-like hands raised. Holtzmann and Patty both had their weapons aimed, thumbs on the trigger—

"No! Jeffrey, leave those girls alone!"

The ghost actually stopped, lowering its arms, but not backing off.

Patty and Holtzmann watched as an elderly woman slowly wheeled her way into view from the bathroom of the apartment. "That's enough, Jeffrey. I don't want you hurting nobody."

"Ma'am, are you all right?" Patty called, keeping a wary eye on the ghost. Now that she could see it without the fear and adrenaline, she could make out that he looked like a middle-aged man beneath all the ectoplasm and ether.

"I'm fine. Please, I don't want any trouble. We didn't mean any harm," the woman pleaded, coming up to park her chair just behind the ghost.

"I take it you know this…apparition of spectral horror?" Holtzmann said, cocking her head at the ghost, who stared at them coldly.

"That's Jeffrey. He's been with me pretty much since I was put in here."

A suspicion grew in Patty's mind. "Ma'am, was he your husband?"

The woman laughed now. "Oh no, my husband's been dead nearly a decade. Jeffrey don't talk much, but I got that he used to be a patient here, back in the bad old days."

Patty lowered her proton wand, looking around with new clarity. "That's why I recognized this place. This used to be an asylum back in the '30s, didn't it?"

The ghost rumbled slightly. Patty had her wand back up. "Whoa, which means he's a crazy person ghost."

The elderly woman made a scolding noise. "Now you know they locked people away for all kinds of stupid reasons back in the day. Jeffrey's never once been violent or aggressive."

"Oh yeah?" Patty retorted, nodding toward the looming specter.

"To be fair, we do have guns pointed at him. That makes me a bit cranky too," Holtzmann offered.

"Jeffrey, please, they aren't going to hurt me." The woman extended her hand.

The ghost glared at them a moment longer before drifting back to float closer to the wheelchair, still watchful, but less intimidating.

"Okay, but even assuming he's okay, the rest of the ghosts tearing it up downstairs weren't. I'm guessing that's not how things are every day, so you have any idea why there's suddenly a ghost party going down?" Patty asked.

The woman shifted sheepishly, looking up at the ghost, who looked back with an almost guilty expression. "Well, Jeffrey's made my time here so much more pleasant and, well, the holidays can be a bit dreary around here, so we thought…Maybe if we invited a few visitors for the rest of the folks here it would be nice…"

"So you summoned the rest of the asylum to come out and play?" Holtzmann concluded.

"It was just supposed to be a couple of ghosts Jeffrey knew in life who wouldn't be any trouble," the woman said defensively. "But I guess word got out and a bunch of these riffraff showed up from everywhere…"

So the kegger analogy wasn't that far off. "Okay, well, fortunately we were able to get rid of the rest of the ghosts out there and nobody got hurt as far as we can tell."

The old woman reached up, taking the spirit's hand, and looked at them imploringly. "You don't have to take Jeffrey away, do you? We didn't mean any harm. It's just so lonely around here. Most of my family and friends are gone. My ungrateful kids don't even come around to visit these days. Jeffrey's such a help, getting things for me when the nurses are too busy…" She looked up at him fondly. "We just didn't want anyone else to be alone for the holidays."

Damn. Patty looked down at Holtzmann, who flopped her head back to look up at her.

"Our containment units are going to be pretty crowded already," she said.

Patty sighed, turning back to the odd couple. "Okay, look, if y'all are gonna keep this little afterlife affair going, you've gotta seriously keep it on the down-low, you understand me? 'Cause if we got to get called out here again, we're gonna be a lot less understanding."

The woman's face lit up. "Of course! I promise, no more trouble from us."

"All right." She straightened, letting her proton wand hang from her relaxed arm. "But I'd start working on an alibi too. It's a huge mess down there and I'm betting Medicare doesn't cover ghost-related expenses."

"Also, if you get married we want an invite to the wedding," Holtzmann added, grinning. "I'm willing to provide bachelorette party planning as well."

The manager of the nursing home was grateful when they told him they had gotten all the ghosts out of the building, but far less happy when he saw the state of the inside. They gave him the mayor's office's number to talk about help funding repairs and housing any patients whose rooms were not immediately habitable, then loaded up the Ecto-1 for the drive home.

As they drove, Holtzmann was quieter than usual. Maybe it was the weariness and aches of the long bust, but Patty saw the slightly distant look in her eyes.

"Well, guess it's nice to know there's somebody for everyone out there," Patty commented into the tired silence.

"Yeah." Holtz gave her a smirk. "Hey, think they'll haunt the place together when she—?"

"Don't. That's not cool."

"All right." Holtzmann focused back on the road.

Patty watched her for a moment, taking in her profile passively as she stared into space, backlit intermittently by streetlamps. "Hey, Holtzy? You really never even knew your parents?"

"Nope," Holtzmann said, hand only slightly tightening on the steering wheel. "I mean, I guess for the few days after I was born, but no memory of them."

"Days?" Patty heard herself ask. She hadn't really meant to press, Holtz had already given out so much of her past in the last few days. But she couldn't decide if being that young made her loss easier or harder. No memories to haunt you, but also none to cling to either.

"A cab driver brought me into a hospital when I was still fresh out of the package," Holtz answered. Whether it was the exhaustion or the fact that the door had already been opened, she apparently was actually okay talking about things. "She wasn't my mom," she added quickly, "but said someone had left me in the back of her cab. Intentionally. Like, bundled up and hidden on the floor. She didn't know which passenger or how long I'd been there before I started crying."

Patty tried not to react, despite the complicated tangle of emotions that filled her. "And they never figured out who…left you?"

"Nah." Holtzmann shrugged. "Everybody'd paid cash that night, no cards to track. It was the Eighties. DNA tech wasn't near ready for something like that, even if they had suspects to compare mine to." Holtz gave her a slight smile. "Mystery baby."

Patty huffed, barely able to take all that in. "So where did 'Holtzmann' come from?"

"They said it was the maiden name of one of the social workers' mothers. The cab driver called me Jill because she liked the name. Guess the doctors decided to keep it once I couldn't stay a Jane Doe anymore and went into the system."

They lapsed into heavy silence again for the rest of the trip to the firehouse. Patty knew she had made it a goal to make Holtz feel normal about her childhood stories, but this was too much for her weary mind to come up with a response for.

When the quiet got too smothering, Holtzmann turned on the Christmas music radio station. She didn't hum along with it. Patty didn't say anything else. There wasn't much she could say. There didn't seem to be words enough to encompass the scope of what she had just learned. The thought of cheerful, easy-going Holtzmann being abandoned, then rejected over and over by the families that were supposed to take her in, and still coming out of it smiling and ready to love everyone she claimed as a friend? What could Patty say to even begin to touch that?

The hushed feeling stayed with her even when they got to the firehouse and Holtzmann went over to the containment unit to drop off the ghosts they had captured. Patty stood in the lobby, trying to imagine what it was like to have to build your sense of identity, having nothing to start with; no family, no background, not even a family name or idea where you came from. How did you begin to piece together those scattered fragments into something meaningful on your own? Was that part of why Holtzmann seemed to live happily in the moment, not dwelling on what came before the present, just delighted by every new experience? Or did she just hide the feelings by drowning them out with music, jokes, and explosions?

As Patty ran a hand over the books on her desk, a sudden idea struck her. She moved to her computer, fingers clicking rapidly over the keys.

When Holtzmann walked back over, she was whistling and had a bit of swagger back in her step again. "Whatcha working on?"

"Just a last minute thing I remembered. Thought I'd take care of it while I'm here." Patty pulled the paper out of the printer before Holtzmann could see it.

"Doing paperwork on Christmas Eve?" Holtz said, cocking her head. "If you want to work, just let me know. I have some projects I can play with upstairs."

"No, I am more than ready to call it a night." Patty rolled up the paper and tucked it into an inner pocket of her jacket. "Let's go home."

OOO

This time, the quiet in the car was more the result of exhaustion than tension. Patty had almost dozed off by the time Holtzmann parked them in front of her parents' place again long after midnight.

They snuck in as silently as they could using Patty's key. Sure enough, the household was quiet and dark, the family gone to bed in their respective rooms. However, a lamp was on in the living room and Patty's parents looked up from their chairs as the pair walked in.

"You made it!" her dad said quietly, so as not to wake the rest of the family, putting his book aside as he got up. "Took care of all the ghosts?"

"The nursing home is clear to use again, other than all the mess the ghosts made," Patty nodded, shrugging off her jacket.

"And you're all right, both of you?" her mother asked, giving them a quick look up and down.

"Few bruises, no new battle scars to show off," Holtzmann assured her with a rakish grin.

"You guys didn't have to wait up for us," Patty said. "We might not have gotten home until morning."

"It's no bother. Kind of felt nice, like when you were a girl getting home from dates," her dad smiled. "Of course, back then, the bruises you'd have been coming home with were hickeys."

"If that's what you want, the night's still young," Holtzmann offered, earning a glare from Patty. And a blush, but she hoped that wasn't as obvious.

"I saved you each a plate from dinner if you're hungry enough," her mother said, letting the comment slide, although Patty thought she got a bit of a pointed look. "There's also hot cocoa you can microwave and cookies if you just want a snack. We're going to try to get some sleep. Don't stay up too late. You know the little ones are going to be up at the crack of dawn."

"Good night, kids. Glad you're home safe." Patty's dad kissed her on the cheek as he passed, then surprised Holtzmann by repeating the gesture with her. "Let me know if you hear Santa."

As her parents headed up to bed, Patty sent up another prayer of thanks for them. "Fix whatever you want, I'm more tired than hungry," she said to Holtzmann as she moved to heat up her mug of cocoa.

"Yeah, me too. May have to have a couple of our cookies, though," she agreed, picking out a frosted star she had turned into an atom with five orbiting electrons. "Boron shouldn't be too filling. And it'll absorb my extra neutrons so I don't go supercritical."

"Whatever you say, baby," Patty said, taking her drink and a cookie (just of a normal, regular Christmas tree, thank you very much) over to the couch. She flipped around the TV channels until she found the standard A Christmas Story marathon and stretched out, grateful they had chosen to leave their slime-spattered jumpsuits in the car, even if they were going to be a frozen mess by morning. Patty groaned in relief as her sore muscles relaxed into the cushions of the sofa, melting along the length of it.

Until she grunted as Holtzmann crawled on top of her, lying across her with her head on Patty's chest. "Girl, there are two other chairs in here!"

"I know, but they're not as comfy as you. Plus I can keep you warm. You don't need a blanket."

"You're gonna spill that hot chocolate on me."

"I've got a straw." She smiled down at Patty, opting for charm over a pout. "I'd never hurt you Patty. Intentionally or otherwise."

Patty sighed. "Fine, then keep your elbows out of my kidneys. And if you spill even a drop on my shirt there'll be hell to pay."

"Deal." Holtz snuggled into Patty, finding a position that was comfortable enough for both of them and sipping her hot cocoa, proving she could do it harmlessly.

As she felt the tension ease out of Holtzmann's muscles, Patty remembered how much touch and human contact meant to the girl. Plus, she mused, after all the reminders of her childhood today, it probably wasn't just physical comfort she was seeking tonight, so Patty set her mug on the coffee table beside Holtzmann's and wrapped her arm around Holtz's back with easy familiarity.

It was barely ten minutes before she heard Holtzmann's breathing smooth into a quiet snore. The even rhythm lulled Patty's mind, Holtz's warm weight surprisingly soothing along her body, and with the colorful glow of the Christmas tree lights and the familiar narration of Jean Shepherd playing softly in the background, a gentle peace drifted over her.

OOO

Patty wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but she woke the next morning to her mother picking up their cold, mostly full mugs off the coffee table.

She put a finger to her lips, gesturing Patty to stay resting.

At Patty's movement, Holtzmann inhaled deeply, nuzzling deeper into her chest and tightening her arm around her waist, but did not wake up. Patty noticed at some point a blanket had been draped over both of them.

"It's all right," Patty's mother whispered. "Santa's just putting out the presents."

"Need help?" Patty whispered back.

"Please. Santa's got it."

So Patty laid back, watching her mother set out the wrapped boxes and bags for everyone. It was weird being on the grown up side of things, imagining how many decades her parents had woken before the rest of the house to set out presents in the pre-dawn quiet. All so the kids would still have a sense of magic when they woke up Christmas morning. As an adult, Patty began to appreciate that it was magic all right, just a more poignant kind than the children's stories.

When her mother finished arranging everything just right, she turned toward the kitchen. "Coffee?" she mouthed to Patty.

Patty nodded. Well, if she was going to be up anyway, she wanted a shot at using a bathroom before the whole family was awake and competing for it. Which meant getting the sleeping engineer off her so she could move.

Gently, she untangled her arm from under the covers against Holtzmann's back and shook her shoulder. "Holtzy? Rise and shine, baby."

"Hold the apples," Holtzmann snorted as she jerked awake. She blinked, disoriented, until she focused on Patty's face. "Oh. Hey, Patty."

"Hey," Patty said, amused at the bleary expression and red lines imprinted on her cheek from the wrinkles of her shirt. "Merry Christmas."

Holtzmann's eyes cleared as she straightened her glasses. "It's Christmas morning." She turned to look at the tree. "Santa came!"

Patty chuckled. "Yeah, he did." She grimaced. "Hey, could you get off my bladder? Otherwise it's gonna get real unpleasant here in a minute."

"Yeah, no problem. I've gotta get something out of the car anyway."

Patty grunted a couple times as Holtzmann clambered off of her. She envied the younger woman's ability to spring up and bound off after a night in an awkward position. Instead, she stretched the aches out of her joints, which were protesting the night on a lumpy couch, and limped stiffly down the hall to the bathroom.

Feeling much more human and jolly by the time she emerged, Patty went to the kitchen, where her father had joined her mother by the coffee pot. She had just enough time for a sip of coffee before she heard the thundering of little feet on the second floor.

Marcus and Steven appeared on the stairs, exclaiming at the pile of presents under the tree. Their parents followed close behind, still yawning and rubbing their eyes. Reggie trailed after them, eyes still closed as he found his way down the stairs by the banister alone.

As Michael and Joe came out of the guest room, they managed to round the family into the living room, reminding the kids to check the tags on the gifts in their frenzy to open everything.

The front door opened and the kids looked up, seeing the red-and-white hat on the figure entering.

"It's Santa!"

"Oop, sorry, not the big guy," Holtz said, pulling off the Santa hat. "Just Ho-Ho-Holtzmann."

The kids turned their attention back to their gifts. Patty watched Holtzmann lean the wrapped package from the backseat of the Ecto-1 against the wall. "What's that?" she asked softly.

"You'll see in a bit," Holtz said, enigmatically enough to make Patty worry, as she came to sit on the arm of the couch beside her and watch the kids.

"How was the bust last night?" Joe asked, similarly perched on the arm of the chair Michael sat in.

"Ah, not too bad," Patty said. "Ended well, so that's what matters."

"I think we met an old lady who's boning a ghost," Holtzmann added in a low voice.

"Holtz!" Patty hissed.

"What? We should all be so lucky at that age."

While Marcus and Steven were busy on their gifts, Patty's father started passing out presents for the grown-ups to open. Holtzmann looked surprised as he handed her a package as well.

"We didn't forget you, girl," he grinned. "Patty gave us enough warning you were coming we were able to at least get a couple things."

She unwrapped it with almost as much eagerness as the kids and pulled out a biography of Marie Curie.

"You may already have that, but we thought you might appreciate it," Patty's mother said. "That's the woman who studied radiation, right?"

"She is, I don't have it, and even if I did, you can never have too many books celebrating Lady Curie." Holtzmann beamed at them. "Thank you."

They smiled back. "You're welcome."

Holtzmann turned to Patty. "You may borrow this to read, but it's going to live at my place."

"Fine by me." Patty shook her head, tearing open her own gift. "Your stuff tends to end up radioactive anyway. Which is darkly ironic for a book about her."

Holtzmann held the book close to her, pouting. "Shhh," she whispered to it. "Don't listen to the mean lady, even if she's right."

Soon, Patty had a stack of new books beside her—including an atlas of New York City through the ages, which was going to be immensely helpful in their job—and Holtzmann had two cans of Pringles and a shirt with the periodic table on it.

Shawna and Dan passed her a box. "This is probably a little weird, but we didn't know a lot about you yet, so…"

"Weird is a safe bet for me." Holtzmann undid the ribbon and lifted the lid off. Her eyes lit up immediately and she let out a worryingly evil laugh.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good," Patty said.

Holtzmann lifted out a stack of stickers. Medical warning stickers to be precise, bearing every kind of warning from the standard biohazard symbol to more specific and graphic bodily fluid risks. "Yes!"

"Oh god," Patty groaned.

"We couldn't think of much and raiding the nuclear medicine wing would probably have cost us our jobs at the least, so it's not much, but we thought you might get a kick out of those," Dan explained.

"Do you have any idea how much fun I'm going to have with these?" Holtzmann exalted, her face still split in an evil grin.

Patty sighed, shaking her head as she leaned her elbows on her knees, staring at nothing as her imagination ran. "I'm not gonna be able to eat anything out of the work fridge for a while."

Shawna leaned over. "Consider this pre-revenge for the slime she's planning to give the boys."

"Ours isn't nearly as funny, but Joe and I got you something too," Michael said, passing Holtzmann an envelope.

She reluctantly put down the stickers and curiously opened the envelope, pulling out a plastic card.

"That's a gift card for dinner at our restaurant," Joe explained. "It's lame, I know, but—"

"Free food is never lame," Holtzmann assured him seriously. "I look forward to tasting your cooking."

"You should, it's about to get even better," Patty's mother said, handing Joe a brown manila folder with a bow on it.

His eyes widened. "The tradition's continuing?"

She nodded. "Every year they're together, he gets to have one of my secret family recipes to add to the restaurant," she explained to Holtzmann.

"To a chef, this is better than gold," Joe explained, excitedly opening the folder, then inhaling reverently as he read the paper within. "Your fried okra? With all the seasonings listed!"

She beamed, kissing his forehead, then Michael's. "Well, it's a little selfish too. I do want to know my Michael can still have all his favorites when I'm gone."

Michael shook his head. "We almost made it through one holiday without someone bringing up their mortality. I swear, family gets weirder after fifty."

By that point, most people were on their last gift, the kids having finished opening theirs and already gotten consumed in playing with everything. Even Reggie was focused on reading the packaging of the new video games he had gotten. Patty decided now was the right time.

"Hey, I almost forgot something," she said, getting up to go to the coat closet. She pulled out the paper she had printed the night before, rolling it and quickly tying it with a ribbon she had pulled from the pile of wrapping paper.

She walked back to her seat and held it out to Holtzmann. Holtz stared at it, startled. "I know we already exchanged gifts with the rest of the team, but I thought of this late and, well, open it and I'll explain."

Holtzmann looked at her warily, but took the curled paper and pulled the ribbon. Unrolling it, she cocked her head, puzzled.

Patty realized she had the whole room's attention now, but focused just on Holtzmann and her reaction, seeing the beginning of wheels turning in her mind. "It's a shipping order for one of those genealogy tests, where you do the cheek swab, send it in, and they tell you what different ethnicities you are. I had ordered it for me, just 'cause I was curious about our family, but I think it'd mean more to you to do it.

"It can't say who your mom and dad were," she clarified, "but I figure between what the DNA shows about your ancestors' countries and my knowledge of history, maybe you can at least get some context on where you came from."

The room was absolutely silent now. Out of the corner of her eye, Patty saw proud looks on her parents' faces, her mother resting a hand over her heart. But the face she was most focused on was Holtzmann's, trying to tell if she had overstepped her boundaries with this gesture.

But she saw the shock on Holtz's face giving way to what she recognized as strong emotion the engineer was struggling to control. Holtzmann nodded jerkily, swallowing hard as she tapped the paper, then turned to Patty and threw her arms around her neck, clinging to her tightly.

The rest of the adults let out "Awww"s and a few dabbed at their eyes.

Patty just hugged Holtzmann with equal strength, letting her express herself without words. "Merry Christmas, Holtzy."

Holtzmann finally let go, sniffing and clearing her throat as she pulled back. She looked into Patty's eyes intensely. "Whatever you want, anything, I'll build you the best version that's ever existed."

Patty laughed. "Girl, you already make us a ton of cool stuff every day."

But Holtzmann was shaking her head, determined. "I'm gonna make you something special. Just let me know."

"All right, fine." Patty held up her hands. "That's not why I decided to give you that but—"

"Just let the girl thank you," Michael interrupted. "But hey, if you decide to ask her to make you a badass car, maybe think about letting your family take a spin in it…"

"Get your own engineer," Patty teased back.

Holtzmann snapped her fingers suddenly, jumping to her feet. "Silly me, so distracted I almost forgot to give you all my gift."

"You didn't have to get us anything," Patty's father protested.

Holtzmann just waved a hand at him, picking up the wrapped package from the wall it leaned against. "Least I can do. Now, I didn't have time to whip up something for each of you, and I didn't know you all yet, so I just made one big family gift."

She passed the heavy bundle over to Patty's mother and father, who set it on the coffee table carefully to open. They pulled the newspaper wrapping away to reveal a black rectangle that looked like a screen of some kind.

"The controls are on the side," Holtzmann said, bouncing on her heels a bit anxiously. "The power button's the top one."

Patty's father pushed the button and the screen blinked on, the slight illumination indicating it was on despite being a black screen.

Then, letters started appearing across the screen as if being written. In an elegant script that resembled the writing on Patty's necklace, the words "The Tolan Family" formed. In the corners, holly and poinsettia bloomed. Garland dropped across the top of the image, and a soft, remarkably realistic animated snow began falling across the image and accumulating at the bottom of the screen.

"Patty said how much the holidays and decorating were a big deal for you guys," Holtzmann explained as the family marveled at the display. "It's a programmable LCD screen, flat enough to fit in a window or hang on a wall. I programmed in a fireworks display for New Year's too. And there's additional memory available to add stuff for other holidays if you like it—turkeys, rainbow and pot of gold with leprechauns, what have you. And if you don't like it," she added quickly, getting closer to rambling, "I can reprogram it completely to whatever parameters you'd prefer. Nothing's set in stone here, just a demonstration, you can be honest with me—"

"Baby," Patty's father interrupted her, looking up with a touched expression. "It's beautiful. Absolutely perfect."

"Yeah?" Holtzmann let herself grin a bit then, her pride in her work showing through now that it was approved.

And it was justified. Patty shook her head in amazement. How a nuclear engineer also learned coding for graphic design and animation, she had no idea—maybe the same reason she could do paint and bodywork on a car practically overnight—but there seemed to be no end to the range of hidden talents Holtzmann would draw from to show people she cared. She built with her heart and soul, wrote her love in metal and electricity when words failed her.

Patty looked over, subtly watching Holtz as she explained some aspect of the sign's function to her family and took a moment to marvel again that this weird little genius had become such an integral part of her life, had embraced her as part of her chosen family. Seeing her smile and chat easily with her own family like she had known them for years? Well, that warmed Patty's heart even more than she had expected.

"Does it have any games on it?" Marcus asked.

"Not currently, but it's not impossible," she said.

"Think we could convince you to make a sign for our restaurant?" Joe asked hopefully.

"I'm sure I could come up with something," Holtzmann nodded. "Maybe we can talk when I come over to use that free dinner offer of yours."

"Sounds like a plan" he said, extending his hand to shake on it.

"Hey, I know she's amazing, but quit swarming her," Patty reminded him, feeling oddly defensive. "I didn't bring her here for y'all to put her to work."

Joe murmured something to Michael that had him snorting a suppressed laugh. Before Patty could ask what exactly they were gossiping about, her mother stood up, waving her arm in a gesture to gather together.

"All right, everyone. Let's get a family picture with Holtzmann's beautiful present. Group up around the tree."

As they moved to figure out how to fit everyone together where each person could be seen, Holtzmann stepped up to Patty's mother. "I can take it for you."

"Uh-uh-uh." She waved Holtzmann off. "It's got a timer. I want the whole family in the picture. Now go stand by Patty."

Holtz looked a little taken aback, but obeyed the shooing hand and walked over to Patty.

"Come on, shorties in front," Patty grinned, pulling Holtzmann to stand in front of her with her arm around Holtz's shoulders.

They made it through the first picture, managing to fit everyone in with Marcus and Steven holding up the 'Tolan Family' sign in the middle, and then through the two inevitable follow-up attempts since somebody blinked or wasn't quite smiling right. The elder Tolans were debating if they needed yet another try when the Ghostbusters' phones went off.

The family groaned.

Holtzmann picked her phone up. "Ghostbusters. How can we lower your holiday spirits today?" She listened for a while. "Yeah. Yeah. Eesh." She made an exaggerated grimace at Patty. "Yeah, sounds like something we've got the cure for. Where can we find you?"

Holtzmann picked up a piece of wrapping paper and gestured for someone to bring her something to write with. When Shawna gave her a pen, she put the paper against Patty's back to have a surface to write on, despite Patty's wordless protest and resigned eye roll. "Okay, can you say it one more time? Couldn't hear you over the screaming."

She jotted down the address and hung up. "It's not a big one. Pretty run-of-the-mill household haunting. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two, with commute."

"All right," Patty sighed. "Well, if we're lucky, we can be home in time for lunch."

"You're not going out there without eating something first," her mother insisted, heading for the kitchen. "Let me get you some coffee and a bit of breakfast to go."

"Mom, you don't have to feed us constantly," Patty protested.

"Honey, my babies are all grown up," she said, getting out a pair of thermoses. "Let me be a mother now and then."

"Yeah, Pattycakes, don't stop her from mothering," Holtzmann said, pouting.

Patty sputtered, slightly embarrassed as her brother snickered at the nickname, but after everything she'd learned that week, she couldn't deny Holtzmann that request.

Patty and Holtzmann bundled up in their coats and scarves as Patty's mother brought them each a thermos and a homemade cinnamon roll.

"Go keep people safe," her dad said, putting his arm around his wife's shoulders. "We'll be here when you get back."

"Will do. Love you guys." Patty raised her voice to the rest of the family, Holtzmann saluting beside her. "See y'all when we're done!"

As they headed out to the car, Patty slowed, seeing a familiar figure walking up from the street. "Aw, man… Hey, Unc! Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas," her Uncle Bill said back. He jerked a thumb at the Ecto-1 sitting by the curb. "I see you got your replacement car. Any word on the reimbursement for my hearse?"

"Come on, Unc, you know you've gotta ask the mayor's people about that stuff."

"Yeah, they listen more to you, though." He gave her a hug. "Not trying to spoil the holiday. Just saying, if you still need any gift ideas for me…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Patty rolled her eyes. "Look, Holtzy and me have got a bust to get to. Family'll be glad to see you though."

"Let me know when you get the new hearse," Holtzmann added. "I've got some ideas for upgrades for you."

"Will you come on!" Patty hissed, pulling Holtz along after her before they started new trouble.

OOO

It really was a routine bust, as weird as it was that the act of ghost hunting could become mundane and everyday. Patty and Holtzmann rousted the phantom from a family home and into their portable trap, ready to take back to the firehouse.

"I'm just saying, cold weather jumpsuits," Patty said as they picked up their gear, squirming as her skin found a still-thawing slimy spot in her uniform from the previous bust. "Fleece-lined, some kind of hat, none of this fingerless glove business."

"Throw in a flannel layer and waterproof surface and I'm in." Holtz finished scooping some ectoplasm into small plastic containers for the boys 'because it's better fresh'. "Hey, think Erin and Abby are having as much fun in Michigan?"

"Bad as frozen ectoplasm is, I'm still glad I'm nowhere near the conversations they're probably putting up with right now getting their families together. Of course, with their luck, Erin's childhood ghost friend probably showed up again now that she's back."

"Well, if it doesn't, the ones I accidentally sent there are probably keeping them busy." Before Patty could ask if she was serious about that, Holtz continued on, fussing with her proton wand. "Hey, thanks for letting me tag along with your family. This is honestly the best Christmas I've ever had."

Patty stopped, warmth filling her chest. "Hey, thank you for coming! It's nice having someone on my side in all the craziness."

They started weaving their way out of the room. "So this was even better than Christmas with Abby's family?"

"Yeah." Holtz wrinkled her nose. "Don't get me wrong, Abby has some lovely parents. But when it's just them, Abby, and me, the third wheel vibe gets a little strong. Way easier to blend in with your family."

Patty smiled, noticing now that she was closer that Holtzmann's glasses had a "CONTENTS: HUMAN EYES" sticker on the side. "Yeah, they're a lot for some people, but they're welcoming and loving where it counts."

"You come by it honestly," Holtz said.

Patty almost took offense at that, but the affection in Holtzmann's tone and expression made her recognize the sentiment for what it was. She put an arm around Holtz's shoulders, pulling her for a brief side hug. "Might as well get used to it. My mom's declared you family now, so she's gonna be expecting you back every year."

Holtz leaned closer into her hug before gently separating as they approached the front door and expectant homeowners. "Just try to keep me away."

OOO

After loading the ghost into the containment unit back at their headquarters, Holtzmann said she needed to get something from upstairs.

Patty leaned on her desk, pulling out her phone. She had a new message on their group feed. Opening it, she saw a frankly damn adorable picture of Abby and Erin in matching sweaters that just screamed 'mom gift' sitting in front of a tree straight out of a Martha Stewart special. The caption made her bust out laughing in the middle of the lobby.

"Having a white Christmas here in Michigan! Miss you guys, but hope you're having fun!"

"That is pretty damn white," Patty chuckled, pulling up a picture her dad had taken of Patty and Holtzmann with the decorated Ecto-1 during the neighborhood photo session.

"Y'all may be cute, but Holtz and I are bringing a whole lotta style to the Tolan Family Christmas," she wrote back, attaching the photo. "Have fun but come back soon! Ghosts have no respect for holiday time off."

A new picture popped up on the message thread, this time showing what might have been a reindeer sniffing the camera lens.

The caption, from Kevin, read, "GUYS! I'M ABOUT 90% SURE I MET SANTA LAST NIGHT."

Patty stared at the phone, brows arched. "Either that party's off the chain or Christmas magic really is real."

"Looking for Christmas magic?"

Patty turned and gaped.

Holtzmann stood—well, posed—leaning at the base of the stairs from the lab. She had changed out of the layers of holiday gaudiness from the day before and into forest green slacks and a matching vest over a cranberry red top. A snowflake-patterned scarf was tied at her neck, her mouth was set in a wide, mischievous grin, and above her head…oh god.

She had a headband with a wire coming out of the top, suspending a sprig of mistletoe above her.

Well. Merry Christmas, Patty.

She shook off that sudden thought.

"You just can't help making a damn entrance, can you?" Patty asked, finding her voice again.

"It is one of my few shortcomings, I admit it." She nodded upwards, sending the mistletoe bouncing awkwardly. "Figured there was one Christmas tradition we hadn't gotten to yet and, as cool as your family are, it seemed better to try it here than in your parents' house."

Patty found herself frozen, mind whirling with interpretations. Was this just Holtz being Holtz? God knew she didn't have the clearest sense of boundaries at the best of times. She flirted with everyone, innuendo and intense eye contact just part of her personality. It wasn't that she wasn't sincere; Patty knew Holtzmann loved every member of their team. So was this just a seasonal expression of that love for her teammates?

Patty decided she wanted to know for sure what was being proposed. She pushed off the desk, sauntering around it to face Holtzmann. "Been planning this for a while?" she asked, gesturing to the mistletoe.

"Well, when I thought we were splitting up for Christmas, I'd planned to ask you on New Year's, but turns out I'm a sucker for the classics and not good at waiting. So I rigged this up."

Patty's heart was pounding. Holtz had planned to ask her for a New Year's kiss. Not 'everyone', not a spur of the moment joke, and apparently it was something she was excited enough about she didn't want to put it off any longer.

And she hadn't done it at the house with her family. There was no audience, just her and Patty. No one to be putting on a show for.

Holtzmann wanted to kiss her.

Patty realized the silence was starting to draw out between them, Holtzmann still posed and grinning, but likely starting to get nervous at the lack of reaction. What reaction was Patty going to do? Nerves raised butterflies in her own stomach, making her breathe a bit more quickly. There were so many thoughts clashing in her head they merged into inarticulate noise. But through it all, one overall truth rang clear:

Holtzmann loved her, and Patty loved Holtzmann too.

However that love was defined, it had always been there. And it had only gotten stronger, not weaker, over time.

An infinite moment stretched out before her, several paths to the future waiting to be taken. There was nothing but her and Holtzmann, standing in the firehouse that had become home for their little family. All Patty had to do was decide what she wanted.

She started strolling forward, nodding slightly. "Way I see it, there's a little problem with your plan."

"Whazzat?" Holtz asked, her grin flickering slightly.

Patty came to stand directly in front of Holtzmann and watched the expression fade from her face as her mistletoe hit Patty right at nose-level.

"Ah. I apparently underestimated the scope of your Amazonian glory."

"Mm-hmm." Holtzmann's self-perception of being taller than she really was seemed to be an ongoing aspect of her personality as well.

But the more salient fact at that moment was that, height-difference or no, Patty was standing very close to Holtzmann. She looked down, searching Holtzmann's face one last time. Standing in her personal space, there was no sense of this being a prank, no vibe that Holtz would back out at the last second, just doing this to mess with Patty. In fact, her expression had gone remarkably soft, eyes filled with anticipation and desire.

And then an undercurrent of fear, because although Patty had walked over, she still was just looking at her. She hadn't truly reacted yet.

Patty drew a deep breath, making her decision, and carefully took the headband off Holtzmann's head. The look in Holtz's eyes turned to something that started to break her heart, so Patty made sure not to tease her and draw it out.

She raised the headband and put it on her own head, the mistletoe now dangling several inches over both of them. "It works a lot better this way."

Relief and joy spread across Holtzmann's face with a broad grin. "Wise as always, Pats."

"You know it." She started to lean down, but saw Holtzmann backing up the first two steps.

Now closer to Patty's height, Holtz shrugged. "Admittedly, I should have done this when I had the mistletoe, but—"

Patty cut her off by capturing Holtz's lips with her own. The soft warmth flowed through her as her hand came up to cup the back of Holtzmann's head, bringing her even closer. Something unspooled deep inside her that she hadn't realized she had been denying, but was so happy she had finally found it.

As they gently drew apart, she opened her eyes first, getting a momentary glimpse of Holtzmann before her own eyes opened again. She had never seen Holtz looking quite so gentle and just…soft. A tear had tracked its way down her cheek during the kiss and Patty brought her thumb up to brush it away, hoping any lingering pain or loneliness went with it.

A grin was back as Holtzmann looked up at her, their eyes roaming each other's faces as if they were seeing each other for the first time. Where their bodies rested against each other, Patty felt like there was a tendril of energy stretching from her chest into Holtzmann's.

"Best Christmas gift ever," Holtz breathed finally. The huskiness of her voice sent a shiver through Patty.

"Glad you didn't wait till New Year's," she answered with a throaty chuckle.

Holtzmann pulled back slightly, looking at her seriously. "In case I wasn't clear, it wasn't just a kiss I was offering."

"Good." Patty leaned her forehead on Holtz's, any remaining doubts about her decision fading away. Holtzmann loved her. The brilliant, charming, weird as hell woman, who built wonders and came out of a difficult past smiling and immediately got along with her family—

"Aw, hell," Patty groaned.

"What?" Holtzmann asked, pulling back worriedly.

"No, it's nothing bad. Just…" Patty rolled her eyes. "Since we got to my folks' place, everybody's been teasing me about us being a couple and I kept telling them we're just friends…

"

Holtzmann stayed still. "Do you want to be just friends?"

"No." The answer came out quickly and more vehemently than she expected. "No, no, no. It's just…you haven't seen what a pain Michael is when he's gloating."

"Oh." Holtz nodded, relaxing a bit. "Well, if you want, they don't need to know yet." She swayed her shoulders playfully with a little smirk. "Holtzy can be good."

"Yeah, I know how good you can be," Patty snorted.

"Not yet you don't," Holtz rumbled near her ear.

Patty pushed apart from her. "Okay, you keep talking like that we're really not gonna be able to keep it a secret."

Holtz just chuckled, following after her. "You think your family's going to be bad, wait till Abby and Erin get back and find out."

Patty laughed. "Please, you know those two have gotten freaky in at least one of their childhood bedrooms up there."

"Probably Erin's. Abby's bed isn't big enough," Holtzmann said.

Patty cocked an eye at her for knowing that, but decided there were just some things in life she didn't want to know anything further about.

"So," Holtz leaned on the desk next to Patty, as if she hadn't just planted troubling thoughts in Patty's mind, "what does your family usually do for the rest of Christmas Day?"

Patty pulled her thoughts back to the normal world despite the fact that Holtzmann's role in it had suddenly so profoundly changed. "Well," she said, leaning back beside Holtzmann on the desk, letting their shoulders rest against each other's. "They'll plop the kids down in front of the TV or their computers with Rudolph, Frosty, all the classics. Meanwhile, the adults'll break out the alcohol, start telling the stories they can't tell with the kids listening. Just kind of snack and hang out most of the evening, play with what new gifts we got."

"Sounds good." Holtz threaded a hand in Patty's, using it to pull her back to her feet. "You bring a change of clothes too?"

"Yeah, it's in the car."

"How about you get changed, we drive back to the house, and give your family something to talk about for the rest of the day?" Holtz suggested, eyes flicking up and down Patty's body in a way that lit a fire she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Sounds like the best Christmas I've ever had."

They snuck in another kiss or two before Patty finally got her bag out of the Ecto-1 and changed out of the clothes she had slept in from the day before. Holtz was delighted to see Patty had indeed packed an ugly Christmas sweater to wear, even if it meant their wardrobes had wound up out of sync for the past two days.

Checking to make sure no one else had called them about a haunting, they loaded back into the car, ready for another afternoon with the family. Holtz gave Patty a bright grin as she revved the Ecto-1 to life, turning on the radio before holding her hand out to link with Patty's between their seats. As they wove their way through the subdued hustle of the city, the chill of the air outside not reaching them in their bubble of warmth, Holtz sang along with the Christmas carols on the radio and Patty joined in. She didn't have the vocal range for "All I Want For Christmas is You", but neither did Holtz and they were having too much fun to care about any tortured high notes.

Patty looked over at Holtzmann—at her girlfriend—and really felt like it was the most wonderful time of the year. She wasn't sure what exactly would happen as this became their new normal or how fast this was going to move, but she was more than happy just to live in the moment, enjoying the feel of Holtz's hand in hers, riding through the city she loved so much, trying not to laugh as they belted out the songs booming through the bass of their stereo.

"There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long agooo-ooo-OOO! Ha ha!

It's the most wonderful time of the year…"