The sounds of Janine's clicking keyboard echoed throughout the quiet firehouse. She hummed a tune as her eyes watched words type up onto her computer screen. These were her favorite moments, when the boys were out catching ghosts and the late afternoon appointment rush hadn't started yet. She busily worked in her brief state of calmness not realizing a curious ghost was watching her.

Renee stood next to Janine at her desk, mesmerized by her fast typing skills. The phone suddenly rang, disrupting the relaxing atmosphere. Janine quickly answered it. "Ghostbustahs," she said in her thick New York accent.

As Janine talked with the customer on the phone, Renee stared at the computer's keyboard. Concentrating, she held out her finger, lowering it slowly onto a key. The key clicked down, and she giggled as she watched the letter "H" appear on the computer's screen. It works! With excitement she tried it again, this time typing the letter "E". It worked again! Renee held her concentration and tried again.

"Okay, thank you for calling ma'am." Janine lowered the phone receiver from her ear and glanced over to her computer. Her eyes instantly went wide and she let out a gasp of fright, letting the phone slip from her hand to the floor. Janine sat frozen stiff watching her keyboard type away on its own. Her eyes blinked up to the screen where she read the word "Hello."

Janine's mouth dropped and she quickly moved up out of her chair. Breathing heavily, she looked around the room. No one else was there.

"Who did that?!" she asked out loud, fear making her voice crack. Renee floated away from the computer realizing the trouble she had just caused.

"I'm sorry Janine. I didn't mean to scare you. It's just...I wanted to..."

Renee stopped talking as Janine quickly walked out of the building, reminding Renee she couldn't hear her.

Feeling horrible, Renee lowered her finger onto the backspace button, erasing the word off the computer screen.

Janine stood outside hugging herself, breathing in the cool autumn air. "I've been working way too hard. I told them to hire more help." She gulped, leaning herself against the brick wall of the fire house.

After a few minutes, Janine cautiously entered back inside and walked up to her desk. She slowly sat herself down into her chair, her eyes shifting all around the room before landing to the computer screen. The word "Hello" was gone.

Janine sighed with relief. It must have been all in her head. She gulped and continued on with her work.

Suddenly the front door loudly swung open, Janine jumped in fright and fell out of her chair. Clutching her hand to her chest, she rose back up to her feet, hearing the sounds of the Ghostbusters proudly tromp inside. As usual, their voices boomed, making their presence very clear. The phone on her desk began to ring. Janine knew her moments of calm were officially over.

Fear instantly filled Renee as two of the Ghostbusters walked up toward her direction. Feeling like a little deer caught in a hunter's cabin, she subconsciously hid her orb self behind some filing cabinets. She watched as Egon and Winston gathered around Janine's desk discussing their future schedules. She wondered where Ray was. She hadn't seen him come in yet. Even though being invisible, she still felt uncomfortable around these other ghost-catching men.

Suddenly she heard a man cough in the distance and she glanced toward the front doorway. She instantly fluttered with happiness over the sight of him. Ray entered the room looking disheveled, with dirt smeared on his cheeks and a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

Renee reminded herself to get a grip, to stay calm and ignore her silly feelings. "He's alive and I'm dead," she repeated to herself in her mind.

Ray stepped up next to Winston. She watched him casually give Winston a cigarette and exchange a hearty laugh over the events of their crazy afternoon.

"He's a ghostbuster. I'm a ghost," her mind reminds herself.

Ray's eyes shifted around the room as he puffed away on his cigarette. She could tell by the look on his face he was looking for her, wondering if she was there. Keeping her gaze on him, she felt her silly feelings begin to overflow and soon she found herself quickly floating over to him, swirling around his body like a stripe on a candy cane.

"Whoa!" Ray yelped, making Egon and Winston look at him curiously.

"You okay Ray?" Winston asked.

Ray blinked as the cool refreshing tingles vanished away. He soon recognized the feeling. It was Renee! A smirk appeared on his face as a rosy blush splashed across his cheeks. "Ah, uh, yeah..yeah, I'm fine. I, uh, just think maybe I pulled a muscle. It's no big deal." Ray pretended to rub his back.

"Alright!" Peter walked into the room holding up three traps by the cord like trophies. "This time I will put these ghosts away." Peter gave Ray the stink eye before walking off to the basement, letting smoke from the traps trail behind him.

Curious, Renee decided to follow him.

As Peter marched along, Renee stared at the traps dangling from Peter's grasp. The site disgusted her, and pity for the ghosts began to grow within her. A strong urge to help them took over her.

Peter stepped up to the unit and unlocked the opening system, making the loading dock emerge. Renee gasped and quickly flies around Peter's head Yelling "Stop! Let them out!"

Peter winced at the sudden coldness blowing by his face.

Renee continued to swirl around his head until she heard a ghouling sound. It made her stop in her tracks.

Many other voices begin to call out. She listened to them all grumble and sneer within Peter's boxes.

"Hello?" she said, cautiously trying to communicate. The voices viciously erupted, sending Renee to float back in fright. Shouts of obscenities shot at her along with booming, demonic laughs, hissing and spitting.

These were no friendly ghosts. The scary sounds grew louder and louder, purposely aiming their nastiness at her.

Renee hovered in fear behind Peter as she watched him, one by one, install the traps, transporting the violent ghosts into the containment unit.

The voices ceased and the room went quiet. The incident left her shaken and she flew with panic out of the room. She zoomed down a hall back into the front room, passing Winston and Egon as they leaned against Janine's desk listening to her wild tale of her computer typing on its own. She flew onward up the stairs and through the dining room to the sleeping quarters. She halted instantly over the site of Ray laying on his bed with his arms folded behind his head. Slowly, she floated to him and up above him.

"Ray?" her soft voice said. Butterflies instantly danced inside of him over the sound of her voice. He quickly sat up in his bed with a grin.

"Renee! There you are. Where'd you go?"

There was a pause.

"What's wrong?" he asked as his grin slowly vanished.

"Ray," her voice sounding small. "It was horrible."

He could hear the emotion in her voice.

"What was?"

"I was watching Peter put away the ghosts..."

Ray's face went long, understanding how traumatic that would be for her to witness.

"I tried to talk to them...the ghosts in the box."

Ray's eyes lit up with curiosity. "And?! What happened?! Did you get a response? Can ghosts talk to one another?"

"Kind of. It's hard to explain. Ray, listen...those ghosts, they were disturbing."

Ray scoffed. "That's why we caught them. They were harassing a school. They put up a fight, too."

Ray swung his body around, setting his feet onto the floor, and began to take off his boots. She watched him as she thought.

"Those ghosts were at a school?"

"Yep," he replied without looking up from untying his boot.

"They were around kids?"

"Yes."

Renee's ghostly figure sat down onto the bed next to him. Ray could feel the slight movement on the mattress. He raised up from his boots to look next to him. Renee sat there gazing forward in thought.

"That's horrible, Ray. I can't imagine those ghosts around kids. I thought you..."

She turned her face to his and paused. He was looking straight at her, as though he could see her there. She couldn't remember the last time somebody looked at her like this. It began to make her emotional.

"Ray, don't move. Can you see me?"

He just shook his head no.

"Ray..."

"Yeah?"

"You're looking right at me."

"I am?" he said, trying not to move his gaze. Of course he saw nothing, but he tried to imagine a girl there anyway.

She stared at his brown eyes, giggling over how one had more of a green color than the other. He then felt a coolness lay upon the side of his face. Renee held her hand up to his cheek wishing she could touch him. Instead, her fingers just grazed through him. She pulled her hand away and turned from him sadly.

Ray blinked as he tried to stay perfectly still. "Can...can I move now?"

Renee looked back at him and began to giggle. "Yes, I'm sorry."

He chuckled along with her. She watched him laugh and her crush on him grew.

"Ray, do you think you're a good guy or a bad guy...for catching ghosts?"

"I like to think of myself as a good guy."

He sighed and laid back down onto his bed. Renee laid alongside him, listing to him talk.

"Most ghosts are trouble makers, whether they mean to be or not. I feel that I'm protecting people from things they don't know how to handle."

"And you know how to handle ghosts?"

"Yeah. So far things are working out okay. Our business is booming."

Ray noticed her go quiet.

"Do you think I'm a bad guy?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know," she replied in a low, unsure tone. Her reply made his stomach drop. The last thing he wanted was for her to think little of him.

"I understand you capturing violent ghosts that harass schools, but you captured me."

"You're different, Renee. You're making me rethink things. Maybe there are nice ghosts out there."

She studied the side of his face as he explained.

"I've been thinking of designing a tool that could read...calculate ghost auras, so that way we don't end up kidnapping other friendly ghosts like yourself."

She felt herself flutter. "You...you can do that?"

He sucked in his lip and pinched his eyebrows together. "Hmm...possibly, maybe with your help. I need to do more research. If I gather some information together, make a design...it could work."

He noticed her go silent again.

"Do...do you not like that idea?"

"Oh! I love it! I'd love to help you. I was just...just admiring how smart you are."

She watched him blush.

"Thanks. Most women don't appreciate that trait."

She laughed. "What do you mean? Women love smart guys!"

"Oh, no they don't. They want a rock and roll type. This is the age of MTV. Girls want Bon Jovi, not a chubby parapsychologist."

Renee burst with laughter. "Ray, don't be so hard on yourself."

"I'm not. It's just the truth."

She watched him pout.

"Well, if I was alive, I'd go out with you."

Those dancing butterflies suddenly appeared inside of him again. It caught him off guard. Was he developing feelings for this spirit girl? He wondered, but pushed the thought aside.

"Even though I would feel inferior to you, I would have loved to have gone on a date with you."

"Inferior? Why?" His eyebrows pinched together.

"Um, because you're well educated. You have drive and focus. In my life, I didn't get a lot of education. I had to worry about surviving. I didn't have much going for me. I lived paycheck to paycheck. Before I died, I was just a cashier. You probably wouldn't have given me the time or day."

"Yes I would."

"Oh, right."

"Renee, don't be so hard on yourself."

He used her own words against her. She sighed in defeat and watched him move into a comfortable position, resting his head on his pillow.

"Renee, can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"How did you...you know...pass?"

"Oh, um.." She snuggled closer against him. He could feel her coolness but didn't seem to mind it. He kind of liked knowing that she was near.

"It was a accident."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want."

"No, I can tell you." She paused as she gathered her thoughts. "It was a rainy September day. I was at work at the corner store. It was a typical day until a man came in with a gun."

"A robbery?"

"Not really. The man was just insane. He kept calling himself a warrior demon and was threatening to shoot us all.

There was this boy there. He was maybe 12, and he was crying. I think he was there by himself. I felt the need to protect him. Through the chaos, the mad man kept focusing his attention on me and the kid. I remember every time he did, I would hide the kid behind my back to shelter him from whatever this mad man was going to do. There was an off-duty cop in the store at the time. He also had a gun. The next moment, the mad man threatened me and the kid, the cop took a shot. The bullet struck the mad man in the shoulder which made his arm and hand flinch, causing him to pull the trigger on his own gun. The gun went off and I instinctively pushed the kid away to the ground before I felt it hit me."

"Renee, I'm...I'm really sorry that happened to you."

"The mad man got to live. Everyone left unharmed. The boy got to go home safe and sound. I was the only one that didn't make it."

"But It sounds like you saved that boy's life."

She went silent again.

"You're a hero, Renee. You died a hero."

"Thanks Ray" she said in a tearful voice. "And now here I am, lying in bed with a chubby parapsychologist."

He laughed, which made her giggle through her tears.

"Well, I'm glad you're here Renee."

She laid there relaxing next to him in comfortable silence. If her feelings for him were a flower, it would be in full bloom right now.

"Ray?"

"Hmm?"

"If we did go on a date, where would you take me?"

"Wherever you want to go."

"Could we get some pizza? I really miss it."

He chuckled. "Sure!"

Thanks for all the encouraging comments everyone! Glad everyone's enjoying my story : )