Disclaimer: I own nothing but my plot and character I made up. Everything else belongs to the creators of GB.

A/N: Chapter one is done. I know it kind of lagged on, but it was an introductory. Anyways, here we go. BTW STRONG T!

Act Two:

Slapping & Blushing

Dana stood in line holding her son, Oscar. She waited for Pete to approach them to take a seat in the cafe. Dana's new boyfriend had gone to park their car. Without any real conversation, Pete, Dana, and Oscar took their seats. Pete took it upon himself to begin the conversation with a few normal questions. The common 'How are you?' 'How is life?' 'How is work?' were asked and answered optmistically. Dana had been given a raise in her musical career. By the time she was done talking about her work, her new boyfriend was seated at the table.

The man was tall like a basketball player, pale like a vampire, and strong like a soccer player. He was neither lanky nor muscular, and his short, blonde wavy hair made him look a bit foolish.

"Hi there," The man shook Pete's hand, "I'm Ernest Marshall, but my friends call my Ernie. You must be Peter Venkman, one of the famous Ghostbusters. It's nice to finally meet one of Dana's friends."

"It's nice to finally meet another Sesame Street character," Pete blurted, chuckling to himself. "Do you realize that with Oscar, you two could both audition for roles on PBS?"

Dana hid a laugh under her breath. She hadn't realized until then just how silly it seemed with two characters by her side. "Don't mind Peter," She told Ernie, who was flustered, "He's a bit humorous now and again. Sometimes he tries too hard."

"Yes," Pete went on, "I try too hard.. You know, Dana, all you need to do is change your name to Snuffleupagus or Cookie Monster and you'd be all set. But on a better note...How is life with Bert, Ernie?"

"Ok..." Ernie pounded his fist lightly on the table, "That's enough. I think We get the picture. Let's just order our food and get on with this luncheon, shall we?"

"Yes we shall," Pete stated with a smirk. He knew he was going to have a fun time with this guy. Oscar was giggling, so he must've been having fun too.

The waitress practically ran to the table, almost knocking over an old man. She asked them what they wanted to eat and they all answered differently. Dana fed Oscar a bottle of milk before the drinks were served. A conversation about music struck up, which everyone talked about willingly. Pete said what kind of genres he listened to, as did Ernie and Dana. Then, they digressed to chatting about how the media was getting even more superficial as years passed. Oscar quietly drank his milk, absorbing all of the surroundings. Dana seemed to be really happy with her new boyfriend, and this made Pete very jealous.

"So you guys gettin' hitched?" Pete couldn't help but ask.

Dana stared into her lover's eyes and grinned, "We're going to live with each other first. When the time is right, it'll happen."

"How about you, Peter? You have a girlfriend?" Nosiness was Ernie's weakness.

Lying, Peter responded, "Yes, in fact, I do. I just met her today. Samara.. I asked her out and she accepted."

"That's great!" Dana seemed overly surprised.

Ernie raised his eyebrows, "Samara.. What's her last name?"

"I'm not sure. I only met her today and she uhh..." Pete lied again, "She is going to meet me at the firehouse tomorrow night. She has brown hair, beautiful hazel eyes, and looks to kill."

"That's my cousin," blurbed Ernie, ready to yell at Pete for talking about family in such lustful ways.

"Oh.." Biting his lip, Pete knew not to say anymore. He would be caught in a lie no doubt. There was no way to get out of the trap he formed himself. Dana would hear about his fibbing and never want to see him again.

Finishing lunch, Pete hugged Dana and Oscar while saying his goodbyes. He shook hands with Ernie and said he had a nice time metting him. Calling a cab, Pete wanted to go back to the firehouse as soon as possible. He decided to tell Ray about his little problem involving the very hot female and her cousin.

Egon was putting away groceries with Ray while Winston repaired the antenna on the car. Somehow it had bent a week ago, and only now was there spare time to fix it. Janine sat at her desk filing her nails while reading the latest edition of a women's magazine. The entire place was busy, but very quiet. As Pete came back to the firehouse, he tried to calm down and explain what had happened to Ray. Ray was a bit astonished, but also admitted he predicted something bad would've happened.

"The best thing you can do," Said Ray, patting Pete on the back, "is call Dana and tell her the truth before she finds out from Ernie. That way, she'll know you were man enough to confess. I can't believe that girl was his cousin though. Sounds to me like they are complete oppostes."

"Yeah...I guess I'll call.." Pete walked over to the phone and dialed Dana's number. When no one answered, he chose to call at a later time.

------

As night crept up on New York City once more, a certain Samara was about to experience some strange happenings.

"Holy Hell!" She shouted at the ringing phone, "When will this end? The damn phone rings and rings and rings. Neverending!"

Picking up the phone, Samara heard her cousin's voice on the other end. She talked to him, asking how he was and such, and he had nothing more to ask than why she was going out with a Ghostbuster.

"What?" She shot at Ernie, "Why in God's name would I go out with that man I met at the market? Peter, you said?...Yeah, right. I wouldn't go out with him if someone payed me! He wasn't horrible, but way too cocky for my taste. No...No don't cause any trouble. I'll take care of it in the morning. Yeah...okay Ernie...Don't tell Dana. I'll make Peter Venkman wish he'd never lied to either of you." She hung up the phone, thus ending her conversation with her concerned cousin.

Practically falling on her rose-colored couch, Samara exhaled deeply and thought to herself. The day had been very interesting. She thought Peter looked familiar, but couldn't remember him from the Ghostbuster commercials she saw on t.v. over a month ago. Television wasn't really Samara's thing. She always loved painting and sketching. Her favorite hobbie was dancing. But when she had a long day full of interesting or mysterious events, her favorite place to go was on her fluffy couch.

As Samara was drifting off into sleep, even though it was only seven p.m, a mist of water sprayed about the room. At first, she didn't notice this. The mist turned into a light drizzle of red water. Samara jumped off of the couch, stood up, and gasped at what she saw. Before she could think about moving, the doors of her apartment shut and locked as a heavier rain of red liquid fell from the ceiling. Her furniture dripped with the red substance. The electricity shut, and Samara stood in the darkness. She screamed a few times as she ran to find her flashlight, which she always kept on the kitchen counter in case of emergency. As far as she knew, this was an emergency.

Listening closely, the rain haulted. A pause of silence swept over the room as a bad plague. Too frightened to make a noise, Samara stayed quite still, feeling the damp rug beneath her bare feet. The liquid felt thicker than water.. Suddenly, a haunting noise was audible. It was the sound of a child singing, humming a familiar lullabye. Now shaking, she put her flashlight on only to see her apartment dripping with the same substance... It was clear now that the liquid was indeed blood. The child's voice began to laugh deviously. When it stopped, an instant rush of blood streamed into the room, and onto Samara. She screamed in panic and ran towards her door.

"Let me out!" She turned her doorknob, which was hard to move because of the wetness.

The blood stopped pouring into the room. Samara fainted.

-----

Slimer slept in mid-air, but soon awoke from a disturbance in his dreams. He chuckled while he flew towards the sleeping Peter. It was nearly two a.m, and the guys had been asleep for awhile now. Licking Peter's face, Slimer laughed at his annoyances. Glancing around the room, he noticed that Ray was yet again tossing and turning in his slumber. What was he dreaming about? Slimer really didn't want to deal with finding out, so he flew down into the kitchen and ate every last doughnut Pete had bought. No, he did not feel guilty.

Three a.m passed, followed by four and five. Ray woke up to the sound of Slimer snoring as loudly as he could. He wondered why the others weren't awaking to this terrible noise as he rubbed his eyes. Forcing himself out of bed, Ray sluggishly dragged himself to the bathroom. He turned the water of the shower on and let it run for a few minutes before getting in. The hot water felt good on a cold morning like this. Closing his tired eyes, Ray began to think. And then he chuckled as he realized Pete never called Dana the night before as he said he would.

"Guess all promises can't be kept. Even to yourself."

After taking his shower, Ray changed into his black shirt and khaki pants. This was his favorite outfit, for it showed that he did lose weight over the years. Sometimes, Pete would tease him about not looking healthy, but in fact, Ray was very healthy...Even if he did pig out on junk food here and there. But who didn't pig out once in awhile?

Once downstairs in the kitchen, Ray made a pot of coffee. It was almost six, and the guys would be waking up soon. The doughnuts were gone. Obviously it was Slimer's fault. Ray knew Peter would become very irritated if he knew Slimer took the doughnuts they just bought. But hey, they all needed a good laugh.

Winston was the first one to come downstairs and join Ray for the morning coffee. After him, Egon came down with Pete, both of them looking hilarious with bed-head syndrome. They all sat at the coffee table and chatted about the quiet days they were having. No one had really seen any supernatural entities in the past couple of weeks, but it was nice to hve a break. And at the moment, it was nice to have Slimer falling back asleep.

"Pete," Ray put his coffee mug down, "You never called Dana back last night. I just realized that in the shower."

Taken aback, Pete remarked, "I don't want to know what you think about in the shower. You're right though. I didn't call her back because I came down with a three hour flu."

"Yeah," Winston said as-a-matter-of-factly, "The chicken shit flu."

The guys laughed, but Egon only warned Peter, "She's going to be very upset with you. This is probably why she didn't trust you anymore when you guys were planning on a wedding. I'm sorry, but you are irresposible sometimes, Peter."

Sighing, Pete asked, "Is this Burn Pete Day? Look, I know I'm a little troubled sometimes, but I'd rather not just tell Dana. Maybe she'll think Mr. Ernest is lying. Maybe she'll send him back to Sesame Street where he belongs."

"I have to admit," Egon joked, "He does sound more puppet than human."

Seven o'clock rolled by, bringing the making of breakfast and the entrance of Janine, who was extra flirtacious with Egon this morning. She couldn't help but compliment on his cute, messy hair. Egon had always known Janine liked him, but they never actually tried dating. Egon was kind of afraid to, for he didn't want any interference with his work. However, he never shoved Janine away or made her stop flirting. That was always allowed in the firehouse.

After breakfast, the guys started a card game. Pete hadn't noticed the doughnuts were missing until he went searching for an early morning snack. Slimer was still sleeping, which gave Pete the perfect chance to get even. With all his might, Pete threw a bucket of ice water onto the sleeping blob, which sent him screaming with shock and chills. Slimer was definitely awake now, and freezing cold.

"Gahhhheaaaah" Slimer shouted gibberishly while chasing Pete with his slime. Eventually, Slimer caught up with his enemy and poured some clear slime on his shirt and pants. Pete went to change.

The time was nine a.m. The Ghostbusters were still playing cards, taking a drink from time to time. Over by the entrance to the firehouse, a tired woman stepped through the double doors. It was Samara. She held a look of frustration and mystery on her face, painted on like a porcelain doll. The experience she had last night was too unreal, so she convinced herself it was a dream. After all, she was falling asleep before it happened.

"Hello?" Samara's entrancing voice called into the firehouse, echoing around the building.

Janine was straight ahead, sitting at her desk. She watched as the random female inched closer.

FInally seeing the girl approach her, Janine asked emotionlessly, "May I help you?"

"Is Peter Venkman here? I need to speak with him. My name is Samara Greene." Flipping her hair out of her way, she waited as Janine got up from her seat to find Peter.

Ray poked his head around the corner to see what the commotion was, and smiled when his eyes fell upon Samara. Seeing Pete come out from his office, Ray backed up so that neither of them saw his eavesdropping. Pete walked over calmly to her and hid away his panic stage.

Suddenly, Samara slapped Pete's face, leaving him in awe at such an instant attack.

"Ouch...You have quite a slap, Samara," Pete faced her eye-to-eye, "I'm guessing you heard how I used you."

Nodding, Samara finally spoke, "Hey, I heard that you told my cousin and his girlfriend how I was going out with you? I suppose my let down yesterday wasn't good enough for you. Which part of no didn't you understand?"

"The 'N' part..." Pete smartly replied.

Samara raised an eyebrow, "I am willing to make a bargain. I won't say anything to your friend Dana if you can answer me a question."

Ray was listening from the corner still, peeking his head ever so slightly to hear better. Samara knew he was there, but said nothing.

"What?" Pete was clearly ready to answer anything, even if he didn't know it.

Thinking for a moment, Samara asked quietly, "Why did you use me as the culprit?"

"Uhh.." Pete choked up, "...I just ...You were the first person to pop into my head. That's the honest truth since you were the last female I saw before the luncheon started."

"Alright," She grinned shyly, "You are free. I'll tell Dana I went out on one date with you and tell her I had to leave early for personal reasons. Don't worry about my cousin. I'll bribe him not to tell her the truth. I swear though, if I hear that you lie to my cousin's girlfriend again, I will not only tell her, but I will crush you."

At this time, Ray came out from hiding and walked up to Pete and Samara. Janine was still at her desk, watching the crowd. Samara's attention moved from the grateful Pete to the mysterious Ray. She pondered to herself about how cute he seemed.. She loved the shy guys, but Ray just had something about him not usually found. Her intuition told her this sexy man was definitely one of a kind.

"Hi...Ray, I believe?"

"Yeah, that's me. You're Samara, the woman from the grocery store that Peter wouldn't leave alone. Correct?" A blushing pink color covered Ray's cheeks.

She spoke again with subtle pride, "Correct. I settled things with him, so don't worry. I wasn't aware at the time that you were a Ghostbuster. I should have asked for your signature to prove I met such a wonderful person."

Ray's cheeks burned from blushing, "Hahaha..Thanks, but I'm not that great. Erm..Would you like to meet the rest of the crew?"

She nodded with a pleased smile on her face and followed her new friend deeper into the firehouse.