I don't own Ghostbusters; White Christmas by Bing Crosby, Rockin' Around the Christmas tree by Brenda Lee, Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley; or even a bottle of dom perignon.
I own Kitty and Angie Reed.
The police station was busy on this particular Friday night, the outlaws of New York working overtime just to fill the crowded waiting room. Every criminal had shown up, purse snatchers to jewel thieves, con men to pick pocket-ers; even some high-security terrorist decided to join the fun, causing quiet a ruckus with the usually quiet waiting room – they got processed first.
In the middle of all the commotion, the jewelry thieves and the terrorists, Winston and Angie waited in silence for their names to be called. They had linked arms together, for one to protect Angie from the others in the waiting room, her scantily clad pajamas causing quite the stir in the room. The other reason was to stop Angie from lunging at the boys once she saw them, as she promised she would. After the years of knowing Angie, Winston knew that she just might kill the boys like she promised, aiming right for the jugular.
Angie felt self-conscious for the first time in years, subconsciously pulling on her sleepwear to make sure it covered. It didn't cross her mind that she'd be waiting in a room full of complete strangers when she left the house this evening, dressing in only a white tank top and her long pajama bottoms. Luckily she'd brought her jacket, covering up the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra in the 42 degree weather.
She crossed her arms over her body, keeping the coat close by as a new man sat down at the only available chair, right next to her. This would have been fine with her, had the man not been at least a hundred pounds over obese. As he squeezed his way in between the two chairs, his belly spilled out over the armrests, pushing Angie closer to Winston then she wanted to be. The man didn't seem to notice as he flipped through his issue of Highlights magazine.
Finally, Winston thought as the receptionist called his formal name out in the waiting room. With a grunt from Angie, to two of them walked to the receptionist, still arm in arm. As they'd gotten closer to the desk, they could hear a small radio in the corner, set to the only radio station playing Christmas music at this time in the year. However, they only played three songs: White Christmas by Bing Crosby, Rockin' Around the Christmas tree by Brenda Lee and Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley. Right now the melodic howls of Elvis rang out from the radio, bringing the mood in the station all down a peg.
"You'll be doin' alright, with your Christmas of white.
But I'll have a blue, blue Christmas. "
The receptionist looked on, unenthused as she rested a blond eyebrow to the pair, popping her bubble gum between her teeth as she did. "Hi. My name is Winston Zeddemore." He introduced himself, only to met with the blank stare of someone who'd been over worked and under paid. "My friend and I are here to bail out a few friends of ours."
"Names?" She barked, licking the end of her pen before she began to jot down the names as Winston called them out. "Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Raymond Stantz—"
"Awful lot of 'doctors' in jail, huh?" she remarked as she spelt Ray's last name wrong.
"Yes, ma'am. And uh Dr. Peter Venkman."
"And Katherine Reed. No doctor."
"Yes, and Katherine Reed." Winston repeated after Angie as she interjected with her two cents. She wasn't coming down all this way for her ex boyfriend and his friends. She was going to get Kitty, go home and never see the Ghostbusters again.
"One moment." The receptionist said as she spun in her office chair, taking the yellow stick note with her as she went to find another officer. Now playing on the ancient radio was the musical styling's of Bing Crosby as he sang about the Christmases he used to know, bringing the 'cheerful' demeanor of the waiting room to a screeching halt as everyone 's minds went to where they'd rather be.
It was certain: no one, not even the cops getting paid over time, wanted to be in the police station.
The receptionist returned, the yellow sticky note in hand as she sat back down in the office chair, turning back to the desk and to Angie and Winston. "I'm sorry, but no bail has been set for the Ghostbusters."
Winston's browed creased as he shook his head, doing a bit of a double take. "What?"
"No bail. Means you can't bail them out. You'll have to wait until the judge sees them."
"When will that be?" Winston asked causing the young woman behind the desk to sigh heavily. Flipping through her paper's she found the date she was looking for.
"Tomorrow at nine A.M."
"That seems kind of quick, doesn't it?" Angie asked, bringing herself into the conversation as the receptionist glared.
"The judge wants to get this over with before the holidays."
"Can we see them?" Winston asked. He could tell that she was getting tired of people, especially people who kept bugging her about every little question. If anything, this woman just wanted them out of her hair. Sighing deeply she rolled her eyes, "Fine, you can go in and see them." She turned around to the office behind and nodded. The young man in the blue uniform nodded back before opening the door to the holding cells. "Follow Officer Rodriguez. He'll get you to the Ghostbusters."
"And the girl that they were with?" Angie asked, annoying her once more. With a severe glare the receptionist looked up at her and said, with most certainty: "Ask Rodriguez."
"Do you think you can have dom perignon for your final meal?" Peter's voice echoed off the barren walls of the jail cell as he looked at the grey concrete ceiling. The others in the jail cell rolled their eyes at Peter as this was the third question he'd asked about a 'last meal'. Lying on a bench, Venkman stared up at the concrete, blinding himself by staring too long at the florescent light hanging from the ceiling, his arms comfortably behind his head as he contemplated the serious questions.
Egon sighed loudly, resting the back of his head on the cold concrete wall as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to ease the pressure of the headache they called Peter. "Peter, we're not going on death row, so we don't' get a final meal."
Peter sat up a little too quickly at the statement, causing him to wobble a little bit before regaining his balance. "What do you mean we don't get a final meal?"
Ray ran his hands through his thick brown hair, sighing deeply. "We're not going to get the death penalty for vandalizing a street. We might get a fine or two, but nothing too severe."
"What about the restraining order?" Peter reminded them, a sick smile creeping across his face as he remembered something neither of the 'brainiacs' did. "See? Now who's the smart one, huh?"
"Even with the restraining order, we would only get a couple months." Egon stated, sighing as he tried to remember the exact number of months the judge said they'd get if they were caught with Ghostbusting equipment. "Eighteen at the max."
"So, and follow me on this one." Peter started as he swung his legs over the edge of the bench, resting his work boots on the concrete flooring. "If we got the full eighteen months, it would be 1991 by the time we got out. Think about that." Peter said, his own words blowing his mind as he thought about it. How much different would the world be in one and half years.
His apartment would surely be gone, emptied out and used as a massage parlor or something. The firehouse wouldn't exist anymore, the fact that is still around after five years and hadn't fallen over on its own nothing short of a miracle. Oscar would of course grow, being almost two. He'd be able to walk by then, say a few key words, and maybe be in a preschool at this point. Dana would have moved on, finding Oscar a good role model for a stepdad, barely edging out Peter as she wouldn't return any of his letters he'd send from prison.
'Oh god, don't make me go.'
"Ghostbusters!" A young officer walked in, holding the large steel door behind him open, earning the attention of everyone in the cell. Even Kitty perked her ears up, lifting her tired head from her hands as she watched from the opposing cell. Officer Rodriguez held the door open as Winston walked through first, earning the cheers of the guys.
Winston strolled up to the steel bars, wrapping his fingers around the cold metal as the trio ran to up, excited to see their good friend coming to see them. Winston gave a fake smile as he said "Hey guys."
"Man, are we glad to see you." Ray said, smiling wider than he had all day.
"Yeah, you're able to get us out right?" Peter asked, slipping his hand through her bars to pat Winston on the shoulder. With a grimace, Winston shrugged his shoulders.
"We can't get you out." Angie said from the doorway, her hands planted firmly on her hips. Kitty ran to the cell door, slipping her hands through the bars. Angie was here to save her, thank god!
"Good to see you, Koala." Peter said, using his lovely nickname for Miss Angie as she smirked at him. "How's the family in the land down-unda?" He sang, adding a bit of a badly imitated Australian accent.
"At the moment? Locked up." Angie resorted, moving closer to the cell and to Winston's side. If anyone was going to stop Angie from murdering the Ghostbusters where they stood it was gonna be the big, ex-Air Force Captain.
Egon ignored the banter between the two as her words registered with him. "What do you mean you can't get us out?"
"You guys violated a federal and judicial restraining order!" Angie scalded, acting more like their mother than their friend. "You guys are lucky you don't get the chair."
"See, I told you we'd get a last meal." Peter said, elbowing Egon's in the ribs.
Winston shook his head. "Look, tomorrow you guys have a court appearance. Don't mess it up?" Winston asked, looking mostly at the big mouth in the group. Peter stood there, arms crossed over his chest as he paused, contemplating the proposal. "No promises."
Angie stayed quiet, hiding her head as she stared at the ground. Kitty was angry; she could tell from her lack of speak in all this. Angie had been protecting Kitty since she could walk, taking the fall for something Kitty had done. Even as children, when ever Kitty would get upset, she'd be quiet. It was up to Angie to translate her angry silence, often telling their parents why Kitty was angry. As soon as they would follow Angie's suggestion, Kitty would go back to being a happy, healthy little girl.
But now Angie couldn't help her. She couldn't take the blame anymore, and she sure as hell couldn't cover for her. Kitty had screwed up big time and she'd have to deal with the consequences.
"Okay, times up." Officer Rodriguez shouted, holding the large steel door open. Winston nodded as he sighed loudly, fighting against his better judgment to join his friends, instead opting for the life of freedom out-from-behind bars. Angie looked up at Kitty, meeting her dangerous stare as Kitty stared dangers at her. Kitty wasn't simply upset or angry – she was flat out pissed!
Angie quickly disappeared from view, hiding herself behind the steel door as Winston followed behind as Officer Rodriguez closed the door behind them with a sickening thud.
"Well, that was pleasant!" Peter sarcastically remarked before turning back to his makeshift cot. He laying himself back down on the bench and covered his eyes with his arms, hoping to forget the unpleasant and disturbing news.
Ray ran his hands through his hair. It wasn't only troubling that they wouldn't be seen until tomorrow, but that Angie wouldn't even look at him, opting to stare at the concrete floor below than look him in the eyes. She acted like he wasn't even there, making him feel small and insignificant; like he wasn't worth the effort to look at. He knew it wasn't true, Angie would never hold a grudge like that. But what if she'd been hurt worse than he had? What if the reason she didn't want to see him was because it would kill her to see him?
He'd almost hoped that was the case - otherwise Peter was right in calling her a bitch all those years ago.
I'd like to tell you guys, a little bit of a warning if you will.
When November comes around, I will disappear.
I'm gonna be working exclusively on NaNoWriMo.
Hopefully I can update a whole bunch before then.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Pure.