Hey guys... I know you're reading this and I'd really appreciate some reviews. I can't know what you think if you don't tell me... and it's really discouraging to feel ignored after sharing a creation with a community who are willing to consume it but not give any feedback. Discouraging enough that I might just run away and stop updating it pretty soon. I don't want to be that kind of a dick, but I don't want to feel unappreciated and invisible either. I have two other fanfiction ideas for Ghostbusters - one of them is even already fully written minus proofreading right now... I'm not sure I see a point in posting it or any others here at the moment though. I'm not a tyrant about this - I'm not gonna do that thing people do where they hold their stories hostage in exchange for goal-numbers of reviews... I just don't want to only hear crickets either. So if you've been reading, and you like what I've written... please tell me. I'd love to share my passion for this fandom and these characters with people who feel similarly, but I don't know for sure if you're really even there or if some robot is clicking on my new chapters just to trick me. I don't publish new content just for robot consumption.

xxxxxx

CHAPTER 3

xxxxxx

By the time they had arrived at their destination, the car's radio clock read 5:23am. They were almost an hour away from where they'd started, were seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and Holtzmann was sound asleep lying against Patty's side.

Patty wasn't sure how the younger woman managed to fall asleep while so obviously terrified by the situation, but somehow she had. Probably no thanks to her habit of staying up all night working on whatever she was excited about at the moment. Now that she wasn't engrossed in one of her inventions, there was no reason to push through her exhaustion and stay awake.

"Lenny, go get Patricia settled. I'll bring Jillian in a few minutes." M ordered as his friend put the car into park in front of a large, dark building.

Patty felt her shoulders slump. "Can't she stay with me? We're not gonna try anything..."

M shook his head. "I'll take good care of her." He reached out and put his hands lightly on Holtzmann's arms, pulling her carefully up off of Patty.

Patty frowned as she heard a small, distressed noise come from her friend as Holtz clumsily raised her hands up slightly but remained asleep.

Patty looked to her other side as the car door opened. Lenny stood there, silently ordering her to go with him. She had no choice but to comply, but she wondered if she should wake up Holtz first... She certainly didn't want the younger woman waking up all alone with this guy who kept threatening her, wondering what had happened to Patty. She was bound to wake up whenever he decided to bring her inside anyway... If that happened when Patty was gone already, Holtzmann was going to be terrified.

"Holtzy..." Patty whispered as she put her hand lightly on Holtzmann's arm and rubbed gently up and down. "Baby, I'm gonna see you in a minute..."

Holtz groaned as she blinked her eyes open. It took a mere few moments for her to look around herself and become aware enough to remember the situation. Her eyes widened as she shook her head. "Patty? Wh-" She looked and sounded confused.

"I'm gonna go with him inside." Patty nodded toward Lenny. "He's gonna bring you in right behind me, so I'll see you in a couple minutes, okay?"

"Wait! No! I'm going with you!" She all but shouted as she moved to climb out of the car. M reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"We'll be seeing her in a minute, Honey." He promised. "You're staying with me until then."

Patty frowned as she stared down into her friend's eyes. Maybe it would have been better not to wake her up. "Holtzy, I'm pretty sure they're just separating us so we don't try to escape. We'll be together again really soon. Right?" She looked past Holtzmann and at the guy holding her back. "You'll bring her in pretty quick, and you won't hurt her...?"

"Of course not. As long as everybody does what they're supposed to, Jillian will join you in a matter of minutes." M assured her. "Just don't argue or fight, and you'll both be fine."

"See?" Patty forced a smile. She didn't trust these men at all... but she did know being difficult wasn't going to do either her or Holtzmann any favors.

Holtzmann pouted, but didn't say anything more. She seemed to understand the same thing Patty did - that fighting back wasn't going to work... That the fastest way for she and Patty to end up close to each other again was to follow the plan set up by their captors.

It broke Patty's heart to have to walk away, but she figured it was the only way this would go smoothly. Being demanding would only end up getting one or both of them hurt. So she exhaled and followed Lenny away from the car, resisting the urge to look back.

She followed the man into what appeared to be an old, unused warehouse. She frowned as she noticed a single chair with a coil of rope and some hand cuffs on it. These men had planned to only take Holtzmann. This was where they had planned to keep her.

Patty's heart ached thinking about what their original plan had been. Holtzmann was so obviously scared of these men, which was entirely reasonable. Patty was too... But at least they were together, for the most part.

Thinking of what could have been made Patty want to vomit. If these men's plan had gone down as they wanted, Holtzmann would be by herself, outnumbered and outmatched, with no one at all to plead her case or make any attempt to defend her. She wondered if they were holding anything back since Patty was here. It was Patty who had asked M to stop groping Holtz back in the car, and he'd listened. What would have happened if Patty hadn't been there to make the comment that she did?

Patty felt a small shiver run through her. Would M have taken that further if Holtz was the only one with him in the back of the car? When the man had patted the smaller woman down so thoroughly, was he trying to be funny? Was he teasing her? Or was he really interested in Holtzmann in that way? She was in the car with him right now... With no one there to keep the guy in check. Patty felt nauseated as she thought about this.

"You know, she won't go anywhere as long as I'm the one tied up." Patty told Lenny, hoping to spare Holtzman a bit of pain and fear. Of course, if this worked, the second Patty and Holtz were left alone, Patty was going to advise the smaller woman to run like hell out of here. Both men seemed to be picking on the petite blonde more than her taller companion, probably because she was more vulnerable, and threatening her was both easy and effective. Obviously, in their line of work, bumps and bruises were a regular occurrence... but everyone always seemed more affected when it was Holtz who got injured. She just brought out a protective side in people.

"You'll both be tied up, Patricia." Lenny told her, dragging a second chair away from the wall and placing it several yards away from the first. "Sit."

Patty closed her eyes for a moment and exhaled. She silently obeyed, knowing Holtz was still out in the car with the other man. Patty had to cooperate, at least until she knew Holtz was okay. If they hurt the smaller woman because Patty was difficult, she'd never forgive herself.

So she held still as Lenny tied her ankles to the legs of the chair, wrapped rope around her chest and bound her hands behind her.

Patty looked up and held her breath as she noticed M leading Holtzmann into the large room. The younger woman appeared stiff and nervous as she let the man drag her toward the other chair.

"Wait..." She spoke in a low voice that almost trembled. She shook her head and grabbed at M's arms, choosing to cling to him rather than sit down willingly. "I don't like being tied up..." She breathed.

"Really?" M laughed sarcastically.

"Yeah, really..." Holtz answered, seemingly entirely missing M's sarcastic tone. "I'll just stand... or lie down on the floor or something..."

"You sweet, naive, weird little lunatic..." M looked at her with what could almost be described as affection. It made Patty's skin crawl.

Holtzmann laughed nervously, glancing toward Patty with furrowed brows.

"Sit down." M ordered, nudging Holtzmann toward the other chair.

"Hmm mm." Holtz shook her head no.

M exhaled tiredly. "Lenny, hold her down."

Holtzmann's mouth dropped open as she took a step back from the other man, shaking her head slightly as she stared at Lenny with wide eyes.

Patty glanced toward Lenny, who smiled sinisterly and cracked his knuckles as he moved to make his way over toward Holtzmann.

"No... no... I'll sit down..." She gave in.

"Good girl." M forced a smile, but still looked annoyed.

Holtz sat down in the chair and raised her eyes up to meet Patty's.

"It's okay." Patty tried to offer a smile and nodded in a way she hoped was reassuring. Holtzmann's expression indicated that she most certainly did not agree with that sentiment.

It clearly took everything in her for Holtzmann to refrain from shoving M away and bolting as he slid her over-sized boots off of her feet and wrapped ropes around her ankles, fastening them securely around the chair legs. Patty saw in her body language, in the fact that she was shrinking down and breathing hard, in the fact that she looked like she wanted to throw up, that the thought of being tied to a chair was terrifying to her. And of course it was. She would be at the mercy of these men, who had each already proven they were willing to be less than kind and gentle.

Patty grimaced as she heard Holtzmann's shaking voice. "No!" The woman screamed. It took Patty a moment to understand what was going on. M was trying to wrestle her jacket off of her.

"It's too bulky, Hon. I gotta know you're tied down good." M explained. "Same reason I took off the boots."

"No!" Holtz screamed again, holding onto the jacket as he yanked it off of her arms. "Give it back!"

"Stop fighting me!" M growled, slapping Holtzmann across her face.

Holtz whimpered and brought her hands up to her face for just a moment before M had grabbed her arms and forced them behind her, snapping handcuffs around her wrists and tightening them in a way that must have been painful judging by Holtzmann's uncomfortable groan and grimace. He then wrapped a coil of rope rather violently around Holtzmann's chest, further securing her to the chair.

Patty held her breath as she watched M leaned down close to Holtzmann. He put his hand on her neck and whispered something as the young woman closed her eyes and turned her head away. M stood up straight, ran his hand down to Holtzmann's collar and rubbed her shoulder for a moment before walking away with Lenny in tow.

Patty waited until she was confident they couldn't hear her before speaking up. "You okay, Baby?" She frowned.

Holtzmann looked down and pouted, but nodded. She was shivering, as under her overalls, she wore a rather thin tank top. That's why she'd originally worn the jacket. "I'm cold..." Holtz noted.

"I know..." Patty frowned.

"Are you okay, Patty? Did he hurt you?" Holtzmann looked up with a frown.

"Baby, I'm fine." Patty promised. She sort of wanted to remind Holtzmann to cooperate a bit more, but also recognized that these guys were picking on her more than they were with Patty. It felt almost cruel to ask her to be more obedient as she was abused.

Holtzmann also had very particular quirks that made cooperating in situations like this all the more difficult for her. She couldn't see that it was worth it to let them tie her up to avoid being hurt. She wasn't thinking through the whole situation - just that moment. In that moment, the thought of being tied down was the worst thing she could imagine. Allowing it just didn't make sense.

"Did he do anything out in the car?" Patty frowned.

Holtz shrugged. "Not really..."

Patty felt her heart sink. What the hell did that mean? "Not really?" She repeated.

"Well, he threatened my life, as you know he has a tendency to do..." Holtzmann forced a breathless laugh. "Said if I didn't cooperate, they'd kill you." Her voice immediately shook and tears sprung to her eyes as she choked out a shaking sob and looked down.

"They ain't gonna kill me, Baby." Patty assured her. She was fairly sure she believed herself too. If these men were paying attention, they knew the fact that Patty was in danger was a large motivation for Holtz to listen to them. Sure, the smaller woman would be more vulnerable if she were here alone, but she'd also have very little reason to not fight them through her captivity. The Ghostbusters were also moderately famous. Anyone who killed any of them would have a hard time getting away with it. These guys had to realize that.

"I'm sorry, Patty..." Holtzmann spoke, her voice small as she averted her eyes.

Patty frowned. "Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. It's not your fault these creeps decided to kidnap us."

"It kind of is... It's my fault you're here at least." Holtzmann disagreed. "You said back at the office that going out for Pringles at 4am instead of waiting 'til the next day didn't make sense... When that guy started talking to us in the alley, you should we should just keep going. I screwed up..."

With an exhale, Patty stared across the room at her friend, who looked quite small and defenseless tied up to the chair without her shoes or jacket on. "Walking around the city at 4am isn't always safe. Talking to random guys in an alley isn't always safe... But that's not your fault. The city is yours too, Holtzy, and if you want to go out at 4am, you should be able to. I blame these creeps for making the street unsafe, not you for wanting to exist in the same world as them."

Holtzmann was still looking down at her lap, but Patty could see that she was smiling slightly. "I guess you could be right..."

"Could be? No. I'm right." Patty persisted. "Don't blame yourself for any of this."

Holtzmann nodded slightly, but continued looking down."I guess I see what you're saying." She started. "There are things that are potentially dangerous, precautions that could be taken... but shouldn't have to be. In hindsight, we should have kept walking... But at the time..." She shrugged.

Patty nodded. "Exactly. Obviously, looking back, the guy was suspicious... But it's New York. Everybody's weird here. If everybody avoided every weirdo as a precaution, no one could communicate with each other at all."

"Yeah." Holtzmann breathed. "I mean, we wouldn't be friends if no one ever talked to weirdos."

Patty raised her eyebrows and stared at Holtzman. That was true... Holtzmann was one of the weirdest people she'd ever met, but she was harmless, and sweet, intelligent, funny... Avoiding weird people wasn't always necessary.

"I mean... When I met you last year..." Holtzmann laughed, shaking her head. "You were all worked up, acting like a madwoman."

Patty opened her mouth to contradict that statement, but then closed it again. Maybe that wasn't necessary... Obviously Holtzmann was bizarre, but it wasn't a bad thing.

"Patty..." Holtz whispered in a more serious tone as she looked up at the woman with wide eyes. "I've got a plan for us to get out of here."

"Yeah?" Patty whispered back with raised eyebrows. They were both rather securely tied down to chairs... What plan could she have possibly come up with?

Holtzmann nodded. "We've got to get ourselves untied."

Patty fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"But discreetly... They can't know... As long as they aren't watching, we can work on loosening the ropes... My hands are cuffed, so that'll be harder... But maybe I can break my thumb-"

"No... Don't do that." Patty frowned.

Holtzmann shrugged. "We'll see..."

"No. They didn't use cuffs on my hands, so I can get free and then help you. We'll get everything else untied and then you'll just stand up, or I'll pick you up... Your hands can stay cuffed until we get out of here." Patty told her.

Holtzmann shrugged again and exhaled. She shifted her ankles what tiny amount she could and groaned. "He tied me down real good, Patty..." She noted, pulling at her legs and arms in a way that seemed to be becoming more frantic.

"I know..." Patty frowned. "Me too... But we'll get 'em loose. Just stay calm. All we got to do is get out of here... and they're not watching us, so it shouldn't be too hard."

Holtz shook her head and whimpered as she tugged uselessly at her ankles. "I told him I don't like being tied down... I told him..." Her breaths were becoming more frantic. She leaned her head back and exhaled a shaking breath. "Oh my god... I'm gonna freak out, Patty..."

Patty stared across the space at her friend. Obviously no one wanted to be tied down to a chair... But Holtzmann was clearly zeroing in on it to the point of panic. Patty needed to get her mind off of it.

"Holtzy... How long have you known that guy Ricky?" Patty asked her the first topic of conversation she could think of.

Holtzmann stopped struggling with the ropes and looked over at her. "Like six... se- uh... seven weeks." She answered. "Why?" Her eyes looked a little crazed, like she expected Patty to reveal some damning piece of information against the guy.

Patty shook her head. "Just wondering. You two seemed to be pretty familiar with each other." Patty shifted her wrists behind her as she talked, trying to loosen the ropes. It was clearly going to take a while. The bounds were tight.

"He always has Pringles..." Holtzmann spoke with a far away look in her eyes. "Do you think these jerks bought out the Pringles?" She gasped.

Patty laughed, but that theory was possible. One of the men had mentioned knowing that Holtzmann walked outside alone early in the morning. Maybe he had watched her to go that same stand over and over, bought out the item he knew she was after to ensure that she'd venture further down the street into a more secluded area.

"Holy conspiracy, Batman!" Holtz stared at Patty. "These bastards bought all my Pringles on purpose!" She looked around herself wildly, as though answers to this theory may be hanging in the air.

Patty frowned. Holtzmann seemed to be shaking slightly. "Holtz, do you ever sleep, like on a normal day? You're up until four, barely seem tired... but then you're still at the office, wide awake at eight or nine."

Holtzmann shrugged and shook her head. "I dunno."

"You don't know if you sleep?" Patty raised an eyebrow.

"Wasn't I sleeping a minute ago? You woke me up and said you were leaving me with that creepy guy?" Holtzmann wondered. She didn't sound like she was trying to make Patty feel guilty, but she'd succeeded in doing just that.

"I'm sorry, Baby... I didn't want to leave you there with him..." Patty frowned. "The last thing I wanted was to leave you alone with one of them... but I thought they'd hurt you if I argued."

"Well, you're probably right." Holtzmann agreed, shaking that bit of conversation out of her head. "Anyway, I sleep when I sleep. Sometimes on purpose..."

Patty stared at her. She somehow doubted the woman slept on purpose very often. It had happened on more than one occasion that the group would be in the office talking, with Holtzmann working on something or another, either half-engaged in the conversation, or fully absorbed in her own mind... When someone would notice that the blonde had dozed off. She seemed reluctant to ever stop whatever she was immersed in. She kept going until her body demanded otherwise.

"I think I remember sleeping a couple days ago." Holtzmann went on. "I vividly remember having a dream..." She paused, staring past Patty's shoulder with narrowed eyes. "About... caramel."

Patty frowned. "Do you take drugs at all, Holtzy?"

Holtzmann laughed and shrugged. "What about you? You haven't slept either... and you love sleeping. I seem to remember you regularly do it every night."

"Yeah. I normally do." Patty laughed, shifting her wrists more behind her as she stared across the room at Holtzmann. She was glad the younger woman wasn't preoccupied by the ropes around her anymore. Her panic probably wasn't worth it since her wrists were firmly handcuffed... And Patty certainly didn't want Holtz to resort to breaking her thumb in order to free herself.

"Well, aren't you tired then? I think I am." Holtzmann noted.

"Maybe you should close your eyes for a minute." Patty suggested.

Holtzmann sighed. "I don't know... It's a lot easier to sleep when I'm not tied to a chair... But I think I might have pulled it off one other time."

Patty stared back, waiting for elaboration on that alarming bit of information. When she noticed Holtzmann's stare become sort of unfocused and glassy as though the younger woman was content to zone out without explanation, Patty exhaled. "When was that?" She finally asked.

"When was what?" Holtzmann blinked as though completely lost.

"When was it that you managed to sleep while tied to a chair?" Patty frowned.

"Oh." Holtz laughed. "Just..." She shook her head and looked down as a loose curl of her hair fell over her eyes.

"Just what?" Patty asked, staring at her friend.

"Some kids in middle school... They were just kids." She forced a smile, but her eyes looked a little wet. "We were all just kids... Kids can be mean."

"I doubt you were." Patty noted, thinking about what pre-teen Holtzmann was probably like. She didn't doubt that the strange girl would have probably been a magnet to bullies.

"I guess I was pretty nice." Holtzmann agreed with a sort of shrug. "I kept to myself... More interested in the actual school than the other humans in it. I mean, I could have used a friend." She laughed nervously. "But that's easier said than done."

"Yeah. It is..." Patty agreed, feeling sad for the other woman. All humans seemed to have that same need - to be accepted and loved... People like Holtzmann, though entirely lovable, often had trouble connecting. Other kids probably thought she wanted nothing to do with them because she appeared so aloof, but of course little Holtzmann had wanted friends.

"Anyway, these older kids - well, I mean everyone was older. I skipped a couple grades... As if I wasn't having enough trouble fitting in..." She laughed again. "They didn't like me... I didn't like them either though, so maybe it's fair."

"I doubt it." Patty frowned. "They tied you to a chair?"

"Duct tape." Holtzmann corrected. "After school. I hid in the science lab so I could stay late and do some experiments. I guess they found out and they stayed late too. They taped me to a chair and left me there all night. I guess I fell asleep, because I didn't remember the whole night. Unless it was from a couple bottles of chemicals I had opened. I was gonna mix 'em and see if they would combust." Holtzmann smiled and nodded. "But I didn't get a chance... And they didn't close 'em before leaving me there... I bet they would have combusted. Whatever they were..." Holtzmann looked off toward the wall. "Can't remember what chemicals they were... I bet they would have combusted."

"How'd you get away?" Patty frowned.

"Oh..." Holtzmann shook her head. "No... I didn't. I stayed there all night." She nodded and laughed nervously. "Got in trouble too. The science teacher said I could have burnt the school down and blah blah blah..." She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I was there until the next day. Science teacher found me, was less than forgiving. The whole thing sucked."

"You were there all night? And you parents didn't wonder where you were?" Patty stared back at her. "Weren't they looking for you?"

Holtzmann shook her head and shrugged again.

Patty nodded. She supposed there was a reason Holtz had made that little speech before, about being so grateful to have them as her friends, as her family. She hadn't often had anyone looking after her. Not even as a child.

"Baby, I'm sorry that happened. That's more mean than normal kids ever should be. You know that, right?" Patty asked.

"Yeah." Holtzmann yawned and laid her head back against the back of the chair. "I guess that's probably why I panicked when I realized he was going to tie me to this chair though... Yeah... That's probably it."

Patty nodded. "Yeah." She agreed. Of course that was why. That mixed with the fact that any normal human being wouldn't like the idea of being forcefully tied up.

"Well... anyway, hopefully this one won't last as long." Holtz laughed. "And there's no toxic chemicals wafting through the air, so that's an improvement."

"Did the older kids get in trouble at least?" Patty wondered.

Holtzmann shook her head and offered a rather forced, tight smile.

"Why not?" Patty frowned, shifting her wrists further behind her. She could almost swear the ropes were getting more loose, but she wasn't sure.

"I didn't tell anyone who did it. I said I didn't remember, and the teachers believed me... You might not believe this, but people seem to think I'm a little nuts. It was always very easy for me to tell teachers I just forgot who pushed me down the stairs or who locked me in my locker. They seemed to legitimately think I was unaware of the world enough to not know who did it."

"Baby, that's bullshit. I wish you would'a told them the truth." Patty couldn't help but to continue frowning. Thinking about little Holtzmann being bullied and keeping secrets to protect her abusers made Patty's heart hurt.

"It would have just made things worse if I told on them." Holtzmann shrugged. She sounded so tired.

"Well, you don't got to ever keep secrets like that again, okay?" Patty told her. "Anyone ever bothers you, you let me know. I'll kick their asses."

Holtzmann let out a small laugh. "Thanks, Patty."

"No problem, Holtzy." Patty noted as she continued her efforts to loosen her bonds.

She kept twising her wrists behind her as she watched her friend lying rather limply against the chair she was tethered to several yards away. She wondered if Holtzmann had fallen asleep. The tiny blonde's breaths were slow. Patty could see her chest rising and falling calmly under the ropes wrapped securely around her body.

If Holtz had fallen asleep, Patty figured it was probably for the best. She wasn't going to free herself from the cuffs any time soon and being awake would only cause useless stress and panic.

xxxxxx

Remember to review, and I'll remember to update. :)