Janine welcomed the returning Ghostbusters back home as Ecto-1 took its usual place in the garage. The successful quartet walked upstairs and into the rec room as a singular group. Revisiting the map of the five boroughs Ray marked off Harlem and set his sights on Queens. The first generator was a total success and it was seemingly the ideal time to take care of the second. Winston, Peter and Paige gathered around the table with Ray and waited for him to explain their next move, no one paying any attention when the phone downstairs began ringing.

"I figured the best place to-"

"Hey fellas!" Janine called out from the ground floor. "We have a problem."

"Of course there is." Peter's cynically commented on the situation. "What's going on Janine?"

"There's a ghost causing problems at the New York Hall of Science."

Winston knew the building and its location very well. "That's in Queens! What are the odds?"

"Pretty outstanding." Ray had a developed a theory since the night when he and Winston had dealt with six aggressive ghosts in Harlem. "In fact, I think the ghosts are going to get rather agitated all through the city with each generator we power up."

"What do you mean?" Paige asked inquisitively.

"Well, shortly after we tested the first generator we had a massive influx of spiritual activity. I believe that the ghosts targeted Harlem because Winston and I were in the area and now that the shield generator is running the ghosts in the area would have to move around to escape the shield."

Paige had followed Ray's reason very well. "The ghosts who don't want to move on are going to be upset because they'll be limited due to the functioning generator, and once all five are running the ghosts will have no choice but to move on to the other side or leave the city entirely."

"That's right."

Winston shook his head. "Well, whatever is going down we still need to help. I'll go check it out. Ray you with me?"

"Yeah's let's go." Ray walked away from the table as Winston made his way to the stairs. "Paige, could you please stick around until I return? There's a theory I'd like to discuss with you."

"Of course."

"Thank you. Be back in a few hours." Ray and Winston jogged down the staircase. "I'll get the packs and a couple traps, you get the car started!"

Alone in the rec room with Peter a strange tension filled the area. Disliking the awkward feeling Paige attempting to exit the rec room and retreat downstairs to Janine's desk when Peter put extended one of his crutches and cut off Paige's exit.

"Not, so fast." Peter's blank face was impossible to read. "I want to talk."

Paige didn't respond to the almost threatening revelation. The sound of Ecto-1's siren all but confirmed that Paige was going to have to deal with Peter without any assistance from anyone else. She sure as hell didn't want to drag Janine into the confrontation and create an unnecessary strain on their working relationship.

"I just want to know one thing, and one thing only: what happened to your parents?" Peter had been desperate to know the answer since Harlem. "You didn't have a chance to tell me before."

Paige kept her silence but the hurt in her eyes betrayed her stoic resolve, and she knew Peter saw it.

"Tell me or I'll just keep bugging you." Peter wasn't going to back down, he needed to know more about Paige. He needed to know why Egon was so drawn to her and was willing to give up his valuable time to teach her. She was indeed a gifted student and promising physicist, but there was something else to the quiet young woman; something important.

"It's not something I like to talk about." Paige all but whispered. "I'm... uncomfortable with this subject manner. I've moved on, I don't want to take a step back."

"That's what I thought." Peter knew the painful sting of feeling abandoned all too well. Her green eyes were heavy with sorrow and unspoken resentment, the same lingering scars that Peter could see in his own eyes every time he looked in the mirror. "Okay, I just wanted to know why you were so emotionally reserved. Losing your parents can do that, trust me, I know."

"My mother died from cancer when I was twelve." She replied curtly, almost with an icy coldness in her voice. "And I never knew my father. Does that placate your curiosity?" Paige's suppressed anger was beginning to well up in her voice. "I'd prefer to focus on more important matters."

Peter felt genuine sympathy for the young woman. "My own mother was ill alot when I was a kid, and my father was never around. I mean, I at least knew who he was but that wasn't necessarily a good thing considering he was a professional conman."

"Any other questions?" Paige didn't want to continue discussing the bleak subject.

"No. You can go." Peter lowered his crutch and tried to balance with both crutches but a shooting pain down his leg made him flinch. "Good talk."

"Are you alright?" Paige could see the pain etched in Peter's face, her icy tone melting away as quickly as it appeared.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Ankle is just sore."

"Perhaps you should let a doctor examine it. You maybe suffering from an underlying condition that had been overlooked."

"No, it's okay." Peter tried to take a step forward but he lost his balance entirely. If Paige hadn't been standing next to him he would've collapsed onto the floor into a heap. She pressed her hand against his chest to help him regain his footing and didn't let go until he was able to support his own weight. "Thanks..."

"Come on." Paige wrapped her arm around his waist and began pulling him over to the couch. "You need to sit down."

Ray and Winston wrangled the reported ghost with ease as they encountered the bothersome menace outside the museum. Capturing the ghost between their two proton streams they lowered the ghost down into a trap and captured it without further incident. The ghost was that of an old science professor who had reportedly died without his work or contributions to the museum being properly acknowledged.

"Got it." Winston picked up the smoking trap and holstered his proton pack thrower. "Ray, level with me here, why did a ghost show up in Queens just seconds before we were going to head out here anyway? That never happens!"

"I know." Ray walked beside Winston as the duo returned to Ecto-1 parked just a yards down the street in front of the museum. "Ghosts typically inhabit a physical structure or attach themselves to a key event in history, to have an angry ghost make itself known and continue to be a nuisance when we arrive is very out of character."

"What was it you were saying to Paige earlier? There's a connection between the ghosts and generators?"

"It's entirely possible." Ray admitted as he watched Winston store the trap in the rear compartment of the car. "The generators might be forcing ghosts to move from one borough to another, which means as more generators are activated the remaining boroughs will have to endure a major increase in paranormal activity for a short time until all of the generators have been activated."

Winston closed the rear compartment after securing the trap and returned to the driver's side of the car. "No good deed goes unpunished."

"I don't think any other metaphor could be more appropriate." Ray joined Winston inside the car. "We need to move fast."

"Why don't we split into teams?" Winston turned the key in the ignition and Ecto-1 roared to life. "Four boroughs left, four generators and if we count Paige or Janine we have four team members."

"No, even if we were all armed with proton packs it'd be too dangerous to split up entirely. Peter's hurt, Paige has never used our equipment before and Janine won't risk getting hurt now that she has a baby at home to worry about."

"Guess you're right. So what do we do?"

"We go back to the firehouse, deposit the ghost and make our way to Queens next week. We have to be very careful with our next move."

"Next week? Why the delay?"

"Because if the ghosts really are being pushed all together into a smaller space we need to thin the heard before powering up another generator. Too many ghosts in too small of a space could spell disaster."

...to be continued...