Sorry for taking so long to update. I've been trying to help my buddies get a superbowl (that's what it's called right?) party together. First superbowl ever for me! So excited!


{~Stay Puft~}

After the Hall of Records Hope had found her way back to Ghostbusters Headquarters. Ray returned a little while after her, finding out what Zuul was and also finding Dana's apartment blueprints. They all sat at the small table in the bedroom where the fire pole was and were eating dinner which just happened to be Hope's favorite meal...not.

"To our first customer." Peter raised his can of soda to the rest of the Ghostbusters. Hope shook her head and stared down at her Chinese food, pushing the mushy noodles left and right on her paper plate. She looked to her right at Egon and then to her left at Ray, not wanting to eat the Asian cuisine.

"To our only customer." Ray spoke more melancholy as he raised his own soda.

"I need some petty cash. Need to take her out to dinner. We don't want to loose her." Peter set down his fork and let his hands sit on his thighs. Hope scoffed and took a small bite of her noodles, trying not to gag at the taste.

"This is the last of the 'petty' cash, Pete." She looked over at him and scoffed again, shaking her head. Egon took a quick glance at her and sat quietly eating his food. Hope looked at him from the corner of her eyes, wondering why he was acting so strange around her suddenly.

"She's right. This magnificent feast before us is the last of the cash." Ray looked back down at his food and played with it a moment before taking a large amount into his mouth.

"Slow down." Peter placed a hand on Ray's shoulder, "Chew your food Raymond."

Hope pushed her plate away from her and leaned back in the chair, done trying to force herself to eat it. Egon and Ray both looked at each other and then at her, wondering what was wrong with her or more importantly to them the food.

"What's wrong?" Ray asked quietly as he looked from her plate to her, "You barley ate anything. You're not still on the whole 'weight' thing are you?"

"No!" Hope snapped and then ran a hand through her blonde hair, slightly irritated that he would think she would starve herself to loose weight, "I just wasn't really that hungry. Besides, I hate Chinese food. I told you that."

"No you didn't, but I'll remember it." Ray gave a small laugh and ate some more, pulling some food off of Hope's plate. Hope gave a laugh, remembering who she had told, and looked over at Egon with a small smirk.

"I told you I didn't like Chinese food." She smiled, waging a finger at him. Egon gave a small nod and looked back down at his plate. Hope stared at him a moment not liking the way that he was acting, "What is wrong with you?"

Egon as well as the other two looked at her, unsure of what was wrong. Hope stared at Egon, her eyes demanding an answer from him.

"I'm not sure what you mean." Egon replied finally after meeting her blazing stare.

"You've been giving me the cold shoulder all day." Hope explained as Ray and Peter looked at each other, "I'm sick of it! What did I do? Is it because I didn't answer your question this morning? Or is it because I asked about Janine? What!?"

"I thought you didn't want to talk me." Egon retorted softly as it became clear to him that, unlike what he thought, she wasn't mad at him for the question he had bombarded her with earlier.

"What?" Hope asked, feeling kind of like an idiot as her voice and expression softened.

"When I asked about your family and you didn't answer. I thought I had upset you." Egon replied, staring back at her. Peter and Ray both looked at each other again, neither understanding what was going on between the two. Hope shook her head at Egon, a small laugh in her throat.

"I was upset, but not at you." Hope smiled, feeling a little better, "Actually I-"

"WE GOT ONE!" Janine's voice rang throughout the building and suddenly the alarm rang out with her. Hope shot up from her chair and looked over at Ray with excitement glistening in her eyes. The boys looked from her and then at each other, none of them really reacting.

Quickly each one of them ran to the fire pole and slid down. They changed into their uniforms with little name tags and were in the car within moments, driving towards the Sedgewick Hotel where a report of a nasty little green ghost had come from.

They had arrived at the hotel quickly and pulled on their proton packs, planning on using their new gear for their first real field work. Hope and the boys walked through the front doors of the building receiving looks from everyone they passed.

"They're staring at us." Hope sang as she smiled to the people she walked by. Egon looked down at her and leaned closer to her.

"They're staring at you wondering why you're with us science geeks." He whispered in her ear with a smile as the owner of the hotel stopped them in the middle of the entrance hall before Hope could respond back to Egon's words.

"Hello, you're the Ghostbusters?" He asked, looking them all over from head to foot. Hope didn't like the man. He was short with graying hair and wearing a tuxedo. He reeked of high class snob.

"We are." Peter replied, standing straighter top put on a face. The owner gave a small nervous laugh and clapped his hands together.

"Good. The guests have already started asking questions and I'm running out of excuses." The owner breathed out, most of it Hope didn't catch. She looked up at Egon her face scrunched up and mouth agape.

"What did he say? I don't speak snob." She asked whiled Ray asked question to the owner. Egon gave a shrug and soon Hope's attention was back on the small, fast speaking man.

"Well most of the staff knows about the twelfth floor." The owner explained, fidgeting wildly with his hands.

"What about the twelfth floor?" Hope piped up and stopped walking, staring at the man in question.

"There's always been...disturbances of sorts. But it's been quiet up until two weeks ago."

"Uh huh." Peter commented and began leading them all towards the elevators.

"Did you ever report it to anyone?" Egon asked, looking behind Hope and Ray to look at the owner.

"Oh heavens no! We're not even supposed to talk about it." The man explained as they all stopped walking once more, "I hope we can take care of this quietly."

"Of course." Hope put on her best fake smile and then looked away, rolling her eyes at Egon. The owner nodded and went on his way, Hope pretending to gage as he left, "I hate people like that. Think they're better then everyone else because they got money and dress sharp."

"Contain that thing Egon." Peter spoke up and walked passed them all and pressed the up arrow on the elevator.

"What thing are you referring to Peter?" Hope called after him as she stood with her hands on her hips.

"Why the wicked witch of the west of course! Don't think I didn't see the broomstick and the worts when you flew in from Oz the other night! Maybe you should try some wort cream because the one on your nose is getting pretty bad!" Peter called back with a smirk, making Hope fume though she knew that he was being stupid. Ray patted her on the back and walked up beside Peter while Egon stood beside her, not knowing whether or not to follow or stay.

"I think you're the furthest thing from a witch and you don't have worts." Egon spoke up, unsure if that was a good thing to say or not. Hope looked up at him, her face content with his genuine attempt.

"Thanks. Let's go before my evil twin arrives because of Peter's stupidity." Hope laced her right arm with Egon's left and walked them both to the other two, standing before the elevators and trying to keep distance from Peter.

"What are you? Some kind of cosmonaut?" Hope laughed at the question the older man asked from beside them. She looked up at Egon and rolled her eyes again with a smile finding their suits to be a little strange as well. She let go of his arm and watched the dial on the wall before them go from 20 to 19 to 18 as the elevator began to descend.

"We're exterminators." Peter answered as he placed his hands on his hips, "Someone saw a cockroach up on twelve."

"That's got to be some cockroach." The man said back as he took the cigar from his mouth. Hope shook her head and looked over at Ray from where she stood beside Egon, giving him a smile.

"It'll bite your head off man." The elevator doors opened and Peter quickly walked inside followed by Egon and Hope. Ray stuck his head out of the elevator and looked at the man.

"Going up?" He asked politely to the man smiling. The man shook his head as he placed the cigar back between his lips.

"I'll take the next one." The elevator doors closed and slowly it began to rise to floor twelve. Hope leaned against the wall of the elevator behind Peter, humming to herself quietly.

"This thing is a little heavy." She complained as she adjusted the proton pack she wore on her back, finding it to be a little more then just heavy and continued to hum 'Dead Man's Party' by Oingo Boingo.

"Sorry you're not able to keep up with the big boys, Princess." Peter called from in front of her, causing her to fume again. She scoffed, raising her right hand to smack him in the back of the head.

"I oughtta..." She whispered, but let her hand fall to her side and continued to hum.

"You know it's just occurred to me..." Ray began as he fidgeted slightly, "We haven't had a chance to test this equipment."

Hope's humming quieted as she stared at her brother in shock at the news. She looked over at Egon and then back at Ray's back.

"I blame myself." Egon commented as he watched the number of floors they had passed go up. Hope looked over at him again, about to say something.

"I do too." Peter's comment peeved Hope and suddenly her hand collided with the back of his head in a sharp smack. She huffed and shook her own head at him, crossing her arms.

"For once can you not act like a jackass Peter?" She scowled as she let her arms drop to her sides, "It's no one's fault."

"For once can you not act like you're so high and mighty? Princess?" Peter asked sarcastically as he shook off the smack to his head.

"Maybe I could if you weren't such a..." She trailed off, pissed with Peter.

"Ignore him." Egon gave her a slight nudge making her smile, though she really didn't want to.

"So about these packs we're wearing." Hope brought up the subject again, wanting to know why the packs weren't tested.

"There's no sense in worrying about it now. It should be fine." Ray commented as he stared straight at the doors to the elevator.

"No, why worry? Each one of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on their back." Peter's voice was skeptic, earning a fearful look from Hope. She looked over at Egon, her face dropping into a cynical stare. Egon looked at her from the corner of his eyes, not wanting to fully face her for fear of what she would say to him or more of the fire he would see in her eyes.

"Yup. Let's get ready." Ray kept his eyes glued to the doors, "Switch me on."

Egon moved to Ray's pack and switched several buttons on. A vibrating noise of sorts filled the elevator, causing each of them to become nervous. Hope swallowed hard as she squished herself against the wall as much as she could.

Egon took several steps back, pushing Peter towards the front of the elevator, and covered Hope with himself. He placed his hands above her head and closed his eyes. Hope gave a laugh and leaned her head back against the elevator wall.

"You can be so dramatic." She spoke softly so Ray and Peter wouldn't hear. Egon opened his eyes and stared at her through his glasses, his brown eyes catching her own.

Hope felt the smile on her face fall and felt butterflies flap around in her belly for the first time since she had met him. Her breathing became deep and concentrated as she struggled with removing her eyes from Egon's. She felt tingles in her hands as she became nervous with the situation she was in.

The elevator became silent as they all waited for the 'ding' signaling they were at their floor...or for the proton pack on Ray's back to spontaneously explode, killing them all in a horrible and terrible death. Whichever came first.

DING

The elevator doors opened and Hope quickly rushed out of the elevator, swallowing hard and trying to calm the blood that had come to her cheeks. Ray stepped out behind her followed by Peter and lastly Egon.

They moved down the hallway slowly, Ray and Egon on high alert while Hope and Peter walked casually. Hope looked everywhere but at Egon, trying to figure out why she had suddenly gotten butterflies like a schoolgirl

A noise came from behind them and as they turned around Ray and Egon shot off their proton packs. A shrill scream surfaced from down the hall they were shooting in and Hope spotted a person hit the floor.

"Stop! Turn them off!" Hope called out when she spotted the maids cart in the hall that they were shooting at. She flipped the switch on Ray's wand off and stared down the hall at the damage.

"Successful test." Peter commented while the maid stood up from the floor, collecting her fried items from the cart.

"Sorry!" Hope called down at her as she quickly hurried from the hall.

"Alright, Hope you're with Egon. Peter and I will split up down that way." Ray directed as Peter nodded his head.

"Yeah we can do more damage that way." Peter breathed out sarcastically as Hope looked at Egon quickly, catching his glance. She then looked at Ray, not wanting to be alone with Egon at the moment.

"Uh, h-how about I go with you?" She suggested, as she moved closer to her brother, "It'll be a little sibling bonding time. Alright? Let's go. Now."

She began walking down the hall Ray was heading towards as the boys stared at each other. Ray gave a shrug and walked after her, catching up easily.