For the women of Ghostbusters checking out haunted locales and mysterious circumstances had become part of their daily routine. Dr. Erin Gilbert, the leader of the group, had decided to explore an abandoned lab in the wing of an old hospital and had taken the resident engineer, Dr. Jillian Holtzmann with her.

"Anything showing up?" Erin asked as she and Holtzmann checked every inch of the lab.

"Nope." Holtzmann confirmed as she crawled along the floor peering under tables, chairs and shelves. "I think this was another prank call Erin."

"Damn it!" Erin shouted angrily. "That's the fourth one this month!"

"New record."

"Okay, hold on." Erin pulled out her phone and dialed the firehouse. "I'm going to call Abby to confirm the address and ask Patty for details. You stay here and keep looking."

"Okie-dokie." Holtzmann didn't mind looking around the lab at all. Erin stepped outside and she stayed inside the room. "I'll scream real loud if I see something."

The young blonde was full of energy and fearless even in the face of the unknown. As she walked through the lab, slipping between old mixing vats and walking past large glass vials of various liquids she kept her eyes peeled for any sign of ghosts or ghostly activity.

Unbeknownst to the courageous young woman a sentient green mass of slime oozed out of a vial and slipped onto the floor of the lab. The slime was a collection of psychokinetic energy that had been watching her and Erin from the moment they walked into the lab. The blob of slime was seeking a host to feed off of to gain strength so it could regain a physical form.

Slithering along the floor behind Holtzmann, the blob; its size was like that of a softball when sitting idle, caught up to Holtzmann when she stopped to check through a collection of miscellaneous jars of chemicals. While she was standing still the blob managed to slither quickly up her leg on the inside of her jumpsuit pant leg.

"What the?!" Holtzmann took a step back and watched as a mass crawled up her leg under the fabric of her jumpsuit. "Get off!"

Falling backward onto the floor the blob oozed the rest of the way up her leg and found its way to her most delicate of areas.

"Holtzmann?!" Erin burst back into the room and saw her friend sitting on the floor of the lab. "Are you okay?"

"I..." Holtzmann pressed her hands all over her leg, her hips and her belly. "I don't know! It looked like there was something moving inside my jumpsuit."

"What was it?" Erin knelt down beside her.

"Not sure." Holtzmann unzipped her jumpsuit all the way down from her chest to her torso. Nothing was there. "Weird."

"Maybe we should get back to the firehouse." Erin suggested. "If it was a prank it wasn't a very funny one."

"Yeah, you're right." Holtzmann agreed.

During the drive back to the firehouse, Holtzmann riding passenger, the slime made itself at home inside Holtzmann body and eagerly dispelled its own energy to ensure successful implantation. Using Holtzmann as its host the slime deity would regenerate itself with a new human body and live once again.

"I'm going to go take a shower." Holtzmann announced after they returned to the firehouse. "No calls while I'm naked."

Dr. Abilgail "Abby" Yates was sitting at her computer when Erin walked by. "How was the lab?"

"Another prank."

"Another? We need to teach Kevin how to read sarcasm."

"Good idea."

"So did you find anything at the lab at all?"

"Not really. Holtzmann thought something crawled up her jumpsuit, but that was it."

"Gross."

"Right?"

Holtzmann showered off the lingering stench of the lab and the odd sensation of something crawling on her leg. A churning in her stomach made her feel a little nauseous but she didn't feel like she was getting sick. As she washed off the grime from her body she noticed that her lower belly seemed a little distended.

"Huh..." Holtzmann didn't worry too much about it. "Better slow down on those salty parabolas..."

Two days later.

Holtzmann awoke feeling nauseous but still not sick. As she tried to sit up in her bed an unexpected weight made her movements limited and caught her attention.

"What the hell?" Tossing away her blanket and lifting her nightshirt she saw that her belly had distended further and was now sitting on her lap. "Where did this come from?"

Holtzmann met with her team mates at the firehouse and showed them her suddenly big belly. The three other women were shocked to see such a drastic change in Holtzmann figure that seemingly took place over night.

"This is very extraordinary!" Abby beamed as she ran the PKE meter over Holtzmann abdomen. "You said that you had the sensation of something crawling up your leg but you couldn't see anything or feel anything after that, right?"

"Right." Holtzmann put her hand to her belly and pressed in on it. "And now I'm sporting a beer belly without the fun of beer."

Patty Tolan shook her head lightly. "Man, you keep finding new ways to freak me out Holtzy."

"Not my intention." Holtzmann defended. "Is that meter doing anything besides flashing?"

"Uh, yeah." Abby looked at the meter's small display monitor. "There appears to be a concentration of PKE energy inside your body and it has been steadily increasing in strength."

"Whoa, what?" Patty didn't like the sound of that. "Is she in any danger?"

"No." Abby put the meter aside. "Her vitals are normal and the energy is stable."

"So now what?" Holtzmann asked as she pulled her shirt down.

"I'm not sure. I guess we keep monitoring you and we go from there."

"Great." Holtzmann wasn't thrilled with the idea. "Can you tell me why I'm getting bigger only in the belly region?"

"Oh, sure." Abby turned the meter back on motioned for Holtzmann to lift her shirt back up. "I can theorize that-"

"...What?" Holtzmann didn't like Abby's hesitation.

"Uh, Holtzy, the mass has already double in size from the last scan. It's still stable but it's growing at an alarming rate."

"What does that mean for me?" Holtzmann tried to pull her shirt back down but suddenly the hem wasn't quite long enough to cover her belly. She looked down and saw that she had bloated outward another inch in just a matter of seconds. "Oh boy... Guys?"

"Yeah?"

"I think whatever crawled up my leg crawled into somewhere else."

"Eww..." Abby and Patty cringed in unison.

"I think it's inside me and it's just going to keep getting bigger..."

"So... What should we do?" Abby asked as she put the meter away for the second time.

"First of all, don't tell Erin." Holtzmann stated. "She'll feel responsible because she was with me when this happen. Second I'm going to go to the clinic for an exam. My former college roommate owes me a freebie because I cleaned up her puke after she partied too hard with the frat next door. Six times..."

Within the hour.

Holtzmann had met up with her friend at the clinic and tried to play off her appointment as just a usual routine type of physical. Being known for her eccentric personality paid off in this moment. Not too many questions were asked about why she'd suddenly want an exam.

"Okay Jillian, tell me what's going on." Dr. Sarah Ramirez was young but experienced.

"Well, I think it's time for a physical and why not today? Check this out." She lifted up her shirt as she laid back on the exam table. "Pretty good, huh?"

"Sure." Sarah took Holtzmann's vitals and wrote them down in her chart. "So have you had any symptoms you want to tell me about?"

"Random nausea and some bloating."

"That's normal for someone in your condition."

"Yeah, right..."

Sarah prepped the ultrasound machine and pressed the wand over Holtzmann's distended abdomen. "Let's take a look."

Holtzmann stared at the display on the machine as a humanoid figure appeared on the screen.

"Everything looks healthy."

"Uh huh..."

"Strong heartbeat, all proportions are correct."

"Uh huh..."

"I just have one question."

"I don't know who the father is."

"No, not that." Sarah turned off the machine. "I was just wondering why you waited until the eighteenth week for an exam."

"Eight... eighteen..."

"Yeah, four and half months along. Half way there! You okay?" Sarah watched Holtzmann go pale. "Are you going to throw up?"

"Maybe later." Holtzmann pulled her shirt back down. "I uh, guess I wasn't entirely convinced about being... you know... until I started showing."

"Some women do have a little trouble accepting the truth. Don't worry though, it looks like everything will be just fine."

"Thanks. I guess."

"Need a minute to yourself?"

"More like a lifetime..."

The next day.

Holtzmann had told Abby and Patty about her appointment after leaving the clinic and how she had somehow become eighteen weeks pregnant in less than forty-eight hours and how everything appeared normal despite the abnormal circumstances.

While getting dressed for the day Holtzmann noticed that her shirts were no longer large enough to cover her belly that seemed to be getting bigger by the hour. Now looking a full five months pregnant she sighed and pulled a long jack over her arms to try and hide her changing figure.

As soon as as she arrived at the firehouse she was greeted my her three teammates, all concerned and all anxious to see her.

"Holtzmann!" Erin hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry!"

"For what?

"If I had stayed with you then-"

"Nope. If anything this thing could've chosen you over me. Not your fault."

Erin let Holtzmann go. "I didn't even think about that thing choosing me..."

"Jealous?"

"No... not at all."

Holtzmann lifted her shirt to full expose her belly. "Well, since this is growing pretty quickly I think it'd be best for me to stay here until it's over. We're closer to the hospital too."

"Good idea." Patty grabbed Holtzmann's arm. "Get upstairs and relax. I don't want you waddling up and down stairs in your condition."

"Thanks Patty..."

Three days pass by.

With each day Holtzmann was noticeably getting bigger. Estimating her size and rate of gestation Abby calculated that she'd go into labor by eight that night.

Huge with a full term belly and active humanoid form within it, Holtzmann was very uncomfortable and eager for it to all be over. Rubbing at her belly she felt a sharp pain in her back that wrapped around to the front of her belly.

"Uh, guys?" She called out from the couch inside their mini lab. "I think it's time."

While Erin began to panic Abby and Patty tried to help Holtzmann get up from the couch. Unfortunately they couldn't help their friend to her feet but Kevin was able to easily scoop her up and carry her to the car.

As soon as Holtzmann was wheeled into the hospital via wheelchair her water broke and true labor began.

"So, uh..." Erin whispered to Abby. "What do we do?"

"We wait and see what happens, and if we have to we'll tell the doctors what really happened to her."

Patty didn't like the idea. "Oh, sure. Our friend getting impregnated by and with a ghost is just routine for the doctors. Bad idea Abby. Bad."

"Then..." Abby changed her mind. "we let Holtzmann tell the story."

"Better idea."

Holtzmann's labor was progressing quickly but it didn't seem to be going quick enough. The growth of the ghost inside her womb hadn't slowed after reaching full term and was getting too big to be born by 'normal' means. Worried that Holtzmann wouldn't be able to handle the birth the doctors prepped her for an emergency c-section.

The three Ghostbusters had been told of the procedure and that Holtzmann was recovering well. As for the baby they were invited to see it in the nursery.

What looked like a healthy, although larger than average, newborn baby was in fact brimming with ethereal energy. Abby scanned the newborn with the PKE meter and saw that the levels of energy were beginning to fade.

"I think it's going to stop growing now." Abby whispered discreetly. "By all accounts it's completely normal."

Erin shook her head. "Holtzmann told me she wanted to give it up for adoption since she couldn't afford to take care of it. She we tell her what we've found out?"

Patty put her hand on Erin's shoulder. "Later. For now let's go see Holtzmann and make sure we can detect these kinds of ghosts BEFORE they detect us!"

"Yeah," Erin put a hand to her belly as they left the nursery together. "good idea..."

-End(?)

*feel free to continue this story, just don't kill anyone off