Here's the next chapter in this little story. (Little...tee, hee...)

Anyway, enjoy...

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Janine asked Ray. She stood in the firehouse's lab with the auburn haired engineer. "You're taking a giant leap here."

"Well, I've thought about it a lot," Ray replied. He scratched his head and looked back at the secretary. "Do you think I should?"

"I can't tell you whether you should or not," Janine responded. "It's not my decision to make, Ray. I can give you advice and maybe some suggestions, but I can't tell you exactly what you should. You're a big boy and I think you can make the right decision."

"That doesn't help me," Dr. Stantz said. "You're the one person here who could help me, Janine. You won't make fun of me or interrogate me."

"I know this isn't easy for you," the woman said. "I know some people who went through everything you're experiencing right now, but there is one thing that might be able to help you." Ray looked at her with his face full of eagerness and anticipation. "What do you see in your future?"

"I don't know," Ray answered. "I mean I know what I want everything, but sometimes it's just a big jumble of things. I'm still here and the guys are too. There are kids running around, but I don't see who I'm with." He stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. The engineer stared at it a moment. "Maybe I'm not supposed to know."

"Well, you aren't psychic, Ray," Janine replied. "Though sometimes you all get dangerously close at times. The only who has ever really seen the future is Dani and she doesn't exactly let us in on everything."

"She told me one time that she did see us together." Dr. Stantz sighed. "I can't keep help, but think about the 'What if?' Do you ever get that feeling, Janine? You make a decision and there's this nagging thought in the back of your mind that wonders what might have happened if you chose differently."

"Of course," Melnitz answered. "Who doesn't? I'm still asking myself what would have happened if I never answered the ad to come work here."

"I thought you liked working here."

"I do, Ray. I really do, but I could have easily passed over the ad. You weren't exactly very popular when you started and the ad in the paper didn't exactly make this all out to seem like a great place to work."

"Well, that was probably Peter's fault. He was the one that did it. We should have realized the hole we were digging after that decision." Dr. Stantz stuck the jewelry box back in his pocket and sat down on a nearby stool. Ray crossed his arms and grave look overtook his usually cheery face.

"What about regrets, Janine? Something that the decision cost you."

"Everyone has regrets, Ray," the woman replied. "It's hard not to have any. Especially as you get older and realize all the things you never got to do that you wanted to when you were a kid because you had to become an adult. You had to give up all those childish things." She gave Dr. Stantz a sly look and he returned with a forced grin. The redhead sighed. "I'll be honest and tell you there's nothing easy about life, Ray. There never will be."

"I know that. I just hate looking at the rotten side of life, but it doesn't mean I don't think about it."

"Everyone does," Janine replied. "Some of us just hide it better than others. Like you for one." He gave her a lopsided grin.

"Thanks, Janine," Ray said.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The two turned toward the door to see Dr. Spengler standing in the lab doorway. He looked a bit embarrassed as if he had walked in on them in the middle of something, but always had a look of confusion about him. "I didn't intrude, did I? I apologize if I did."

"It's okay," Dr. Stantz told him. "We were just talking about life."

"I see," Egon responded as he adjusted his glasses. He raised an eyebrow in a Spock-like manner and glanced around the lab before focusing back on the two. "I suppose it was rather enlightening."

"Depends on who you're asking," Janine replied with a sly grin. "I guess I'll head back downstairs. I should probably relieve Dani from desk duty. She gets a bit antsy after a while." The woman started heading out of the lab.

"Hey, Janine..." The secretary turned around and looked back at the auburn haired Ghostbuster. "Just between the two of us, right?"

"I wouldn't tell a soul, Ray." She gave Egon a quick peck on the cheek than walked out of the laboratory. The blonde haired man focused back on his friend as he got off the stool and stuck his hands in his pockets as if he was trying to keep himself from touching something.

"Raymond, is there something amiss?" Egon inquired. He glanced at the phone in the lab as it rang before turning back to his friend. "Something we should know?" Ray looked up at him than shook his head.

"No," Dr. Stantz answered. "You know I'd tell you if there was something wrong."

"I do believe that," the physicist admitted. "I also feel that it never hurts to ask."

"Can I ask you a question, Egon?"

"As long as we aren't going to get into another discussion concerning time travel and turning the dimensional portal into some kind of time machine," Egon replied with a hint of humor in his voice.

"No. Not that. I learned my lesson. This has nothing to do with that or anything else we've been working on recently." Dr. Stantz took in a deep breath. "Do you have any regrets, Egon?"

"What do you mean, Raymond?" Before Ray could explain the alarm signaling another job for the guys went off.

"Never mind," Ray told him as he headed out of the lab with his friend. "It's nothing." He patted his pocket than went downstairs to head out on the new job.

"I can't do it," Elaine said. She backed away from the double doors. "Tomorrow. I'll come by tomorrow." Her dark haired friend grabbed her by the arm and pulled the woman back in front of the firehouse. New Yorkers walking on the sidewalk were forced to go around the two women. Some just cast them annoying glances while others shared different forms of obscenities.

"No," Penny told her. "We're doing this now. I didn't sacrifice a week of my life to watch you chicken out every single day. You're going in there even if I have to drag you in." She looked at her friend. "Do I have to remind you that you were the one who had second thoughts about marrying John? Or that you're the one keeps having dreams about this guy and saying it's some kind of sign?"

"I don't know what to say," Elaine replied. "I'd rather not sound stupid."

"To late for that," her friend muttered.

"Fine," Elaine said. "I'm going in and I'm going to figure out where my life is going."

"Thank you," Penny replied in a sarcastic tone. The curly haired woman didn't bother to look back at her friend as she opened one of the doors than walked inside. There was a large empty space between the door and a desk where a red headed woman sat reading a magazine. Elaine knew what belonged in the space and the fact it wasn't there meant that the man she was looking for probably wasn't there either. "Well?"

"They aren't here," Elaine told her.

"Who's that lady?"

"The name's Melnitz." The redhead looked up from her magazine. "Janine Melnitz."

"Hi, Janine," Elaine greeted. She started across the concrete towards the desk. Penny followed as she quickly looked around.

The dark haired woman noticed a set of lockers off to her right that each had the last name of a Ghostbuster. There was also a small table filled with spare parts and something that looked like a weird mechanical backpack that had its insides spilling out. The woman decided she wasn't exactly feeling any better being inside the firehouse than she was standing outside it. There seemed to be a danger that lingered with inside the firehouse. Maybe her friend really was crazy.

"What are you doing here, Elaine?" Janine inquired as she stood up. "I don't remember Ray saying anything about you stopping by."

"Well, it's kinda a surprise." The secretary nodded with a sly look in her eye. "It doesn't look like he's here though."

"No. The guys went out on a bust about an hour ago," Janine told her. "Just me."

"Slimer!" A scream echoed throughout the firehouse and Melnitz winced at the sound. The three women all looked up at the ceiling above them as they heard pounding than there was a crash. "Don't worry! I can fix that!"

"And the kids."

"Kids?" Furman repeated with a startled look on her face. "You and Egon didn't....? Or was it Winston?"

"Oh, no," Janine responded with a shake of her head. "I don't mean kids as in small children running rampant. I was just talking about Slimer and Dani. Sometimes they do resemble my nieces and nephews though. The guys do too sometimes."

"Is Slimer that green ghost thing?" Penny asked. Janine looked at her as if noticing the second woman for the first time. Elaine noticed it and shook her head.

"Oh, Janine. This is Penny Moore. Penny, this is Janine Melnitz." The women nodded at each other.

"In answer to your question Slimer is that green ghost thing," Janine said as she walked around her desk and leaned against the front of it. "According to Dr. V., he's the annoying pest, but deep down we all know that he likes the spud."

"It's a potato?" Penny said.

"No. That's a nickname," Janine told her. "There are quite a few nicknames floating around here. Spud is just something Dr. V. calls him, but his real name is Slimer. Something Ray gave him to annoy Dr. Venkman."

"I'm really interested in meeting these people now," Moore said. "I don't think anything I've read will do them justice."

"Most of the articles journalists do on the guys try to make them out to seem like nutballs," Janine informed the woman. "But they're all quite brilliant and they have done everything you might have read about. Except for the whole Enquirer thing about space aliens. Of course, anybody who believes that needs some major help."

"Janine, I think I'm going to go Peter's route and try to start trapping Slimer just to see if anyone would really notice him missing." The secretary looked at the stairs and the other two women followed her gaze. A blonde haired woman walked down the stairs attempting to wipe green ectoplasm off the black t-shirt she wore. "Ray may say he's well trained and stuff, but Slimer still doesn't understand the fact that it's my food." She walked over to the desk without looking up keeping her damp shirt away from her skin. "And he just ruined my new shirt."

"Dani, we all have to make sacrifices," Janine told her. "Deal with it." The young woman stuck her tongue out at her than realized that there were other people in the room and quickly put her tongue back in her mouth.

"Oh," Dani said in surprise. "Uh, hello. I'm sorry. I was upstairs and I kinda got into a scuffle with Slimer." She gave them a goofy grin. "That sounds so silly. Anyway, I'm Dani."

"Elaine."

"Penny."

"Nice meeting you. Now, I gotta take a shower and get this gunk off me." Dani gave them a little wave than went under the stairs and disappeared through a door, closing it behind her.

"Who is she?" Elaine asked Janine.

"Just another resident here at the firehouse," Janine answered. "Actually, she's Egon's cousin. Been here for about a year or so."

"Does she work here?"

"At times, not willingly," Janine replied. "I've been told I'm not a very good role model." The woman shrugged than went back to sit down behind the desk. "Do you two really want to wait for the guys to come back? Sometimes this can take a while. You can always leave a number and I'll have Ray call you."

"I remember the waiting," Furman said with a sigh. "Not always fun. Part of that month was the longest of my life."

"Like this past week was the longest of mine," the dark haired woman standing next to her muttered. The other woman gave her friend a look. "So, are we waiting, Elly? I'd kinda hate to leave. This place looks kinda interesting."

"We've only scratched the surface," Janine told her with a sly smile sliding up her face.

To Be Continued...

(It's gonna get a bit more interesting.)