That evening, Gabby sat at the counter in the shoe store playing with a pen that had the name of her father's business printed on it (he was pretty proud of those). The store was not having the back-to-school rush like it was a month ago but they would still have some business in the evening. However, the customers in the store weren't interested in paying for their shoes at the moment, so Gabby had little to do. One could only draw so many sigils in a notebook.

Suddenly, she heard what sounded like excited, squeaky nonsense. She perked up in her excitement and turned to where the sound was.

"Slimer?" she asked.

She saw that it wasn't Slimer but a little girl who was rubbing her booted foot in a puddle of water on the linoleum floor. These were boots that were just taken out of their box and lovingly put on the girl's feet by Gabby's mother.

"Look, Mommy!" said the girl, "These boots make funny noises when I rub the floor! Can we get them?"

"Yes, Sammy, but are they comfortable?" asked the mother, "That's what matters."

Gabby sulked in disappointment. She wasn't quite ready to admit that she missed her dumb little temp job. But if Janine were to decide to have another baby and the guys at The Firehouse needed Gabby to fill in for her again… she certainly wouldn't mind.

Meanwhile, all the employees at Ghostbusters were gathered in the conference room for an important talk led by Egon. He was confident in what he was about to say but he had no control over how the other guys would react to it. In fact, Egon was still a little unsure about Janine's idea. But that was why the others were there; to bounce ideas off of each other.

Casey was sitting in his stroller while Slimer made funny faces and noises at him. It seemed that the envy had simmered and Slimer had warmed up to the infant. This was all well and good since there didn't need to be any more conflict at The Firehouse.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I gathered you all here today," said Egon.

"Yes, Egon," said Peter, "Why did you drag us away from the TV that we just fixed?"

"For the past few months, I have been so immersed in my work that I haven't exactly been attentive to my new family. Thankfully, Janine showed up and gave me a stern-enough talking to that I realized how much I was causing distress and worry to those around me."

Janine couldn't help but smile with pride.

"We could always rely on you to give people a good kick in the pants, Janine," said Ray, "We were nowhere near as successful."

"What would you without me?" asked Janine.

"So, Janine and I have been talking and we have decided on a different kind of working arrangement for me," continued Egon, "What I will be doing is I will be living with Janine for three days out of the week. During this time, I will not be doing any ghostbusting but I will be dedicating my time to getting valuable research done as well as other work that can be done remotely. This way, I can spend time with my son."

"And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon," sang Peter, "Little Boy Blue and the-"

"He's trying not to be like the man in that song," said Winston.

"Hmm… working remotely," said Ray, "That's a fine idea if I ever heard one."

"The problem is, we'll be one man down when it comes to busting ghosts," said Winston, "Can we get by as just the three of us?"

"I was getting to that," said Egon. "We figured that it would be a good idea to hire back Gabby to fill the position of ghostbuster as I work from home."

Peter, Ray and Winston looked at each other with lowered brows of suspicion.

"I don't know, Egon," said Ray, "Do you really think she's got what it takes to join the team?"

"I think she did a pretty good job helping us fight that dragon ghost," said Egon, "She was a bit rusty but so were we in the beginning."

"She's a college graduate that did both my job and helped Egon with his lab work," said Janine, "She's destined to do more than just schlep in her family's shoe store."

"There's no reason we can't train her," said Egon, "After all, Winston was much less qualified than she was when we hired him."

"Maybe not academically but I have military experience," said Winston, "I was on the lookout out for living enemies before I started being on the lookout out for dead ones. What kind of physical combat experience does working in a shoe store offer?"

"The boxes of shoes could fall off the shelf and potentially crush her," said Peter. "I can see that as being a potential death trap."

"I mean… that's one scenario, I guess."

"Think of the times when Janine suited up and got us out of a bind," said Ray, "If she can do it, I'm pretty sure Gabby can."

"But the question is, can she cut it as a replacement Egon?" asked Peter. "We need somebody here to be The Brains of the Outfit."

"Don't think of her as a replacement me," said Egon, "Think of her as an original Gabby. Her opinions and experiences would contribute quite a bit to the team. Besides, it's not like I'm going to cut you off completely. You can always call Janine's apartment if you have questions and each evening I'm gone, I will fill you in on what work I've accomplished."

"So, you'll be like The Brains of the Outfit if that brain was removed and put into a jar and it was still controlling the body sometimes," said Ray.

"I think you just wrote a sci-fi short story," said Peter.

"With that said, one or all of you will have to lead her through a training regimen before she can get to work," said Egon.

"Yeah, I feel like she's missing something," said Peter, "It's hard to put my finger on it. I think what I'm thinking of is… moxie? Yes. I believe it's moxie."

"She would certainly have to work on aiming a proton gun," said Winston.

"Well, yes. That goes without saying. All of you have things to teach her. Winston, you can teach her some fighting tactics and how to remain calm in a tense situation. Peter, you can give that extra confidence that she so needs. And Ray…" Egon was a little at a loss as to what to say about Ray. "You can be the fun one."

Ray looked a little cross at this description.

"I'm also knowledgeable in the paranormal," he insisted, "If anything, I can replace you in most cases."

"That, too. Although we'll have to see just how your knowledge of the paranormal stacks up with Gabby's. If we were to hire her back for this new position, we would have to be patient with her, but we would also have to teach her a lot in such a short time since I get the feeling that the demons that we've been tracking are about to plan something big. That's precisely what I'm going to figure out."

"It's not just your problem, Egon," said Ray, "We can all help."

"It takes a village to figure out why demons are eating our dreams," said Janine.

Egon thought about all the training that Gabby would need in order to be a proficient ghostbuster. He then thought about the training that he would be getting from Janine during this time. His training wasn't even a fraction as dangerous or physically demanding but it was every bit as important. The difference was that Gabby would be training to protect life while Egon would be training to nurture it. He probably needed a break from The Firehouse anyway. A change of scenery was always welcome and it wasn't like he got that much privacy when living with three roommates who were also coworkers.

"Janine and I have decided that Sunday night through Wednesday morning will be the days that I live with her and Wednesday morning through Sunday night will be the days when I will be at the firehouse," said Egon, "Will that be all right with all of you?"

"That sounds good to me," said Winston.

"At least that gives you slightly more time at The Firehouse," said Ray.

"However, this weekend will be different," said Janine, "He'll be staying with me on Saturday and Sunday as well so that I can teach him a few things about being a parent. You can use this time for some extra training with Gabby."

"Right after this meeting, I'll call Gabby and ask if she would like to take this opportunity," said Egon, "If not, we can always interview someone new."

"Sounds like a plan," said Peter. "And Egon?"

"Yes, Peter?"

"You're gonna be a great dad." He smiled as he said that.

"Oh, don't worry," said Janine, "I'll make sure of it. I didn't go through fourteen hours of labor just for him to be a deadbeat."

"And hey, if Gabby says no, then we can always hire my Cousin Mark," said Peter.

"Isn't your Cousin Mark in a cult?" asked Winston.

"Please, Winston," said Peter, "It's a small alternative religious movement… one that has a charismatic and controlling leader."

Egon felt a bit more confident about this decision. Gabby was interested enough in the occult that he doubted that she would say no.

Later that night, Gabby was in her room reading a teen magazine. She had long since lost interest in teen magazines but her parents never bothered to stop the subscription. Besides, she wanted to see what was "in" and "out," since that was always useful to know. This magazine invoked the truly important questions in life, questions such as "Cory Haim or Cory Feldman?" Surely, she would be up all night with that one.

The phones in the house rang simultaneously. Gabby's father decided to answer the wall-mounted one in the kitchen. The walls were thin enough that Gabby could catch the conversation.

"Hello, Bermudez Residence," said Raul. "Uh-huh… uh-huh…" Raul then walked to the stairs and shouted toward Gabby.

"Gabriella!" he said.

Gabby put down her magazine and made her way to the edge of the bed where she could shout through her bedroom door.

"Yeah?" she said.

"The phone's for you!" said Raul.

"Who is it?"

"It's that glorified pest control service you used to work for!"

Pest control service? Oh my god! It was The Ghostbusters! She ran to the phone in her room and picked it up.

"Hello?" asked Gabby.

"Good evening, Gabby," said Egon's voice. The man always sounded so formal, but then again, this was an appropriate time to sound that way since this call was (potentially) business-related.

Gabby couldn't help but jump to conclusions about what the phone call could possibly be about.

"Is this about the paperclips I accidentally took home?" she asked, "Because I did not mean to take those home. I put them in my pocket and forgot about them and I will gladly return them to-"

"No, it's not about that."

Phew.

"What I have called you about is an offer we would like to make you."

Gabby pricked up her ears. "What kind of offer?"

"We've enjoyed having you around The Firehouse these past few months and, after much discussion, we have decided that it would be a good idea to hire you back, but this time, as a part-time ghostbuster."

Gabby's heart jumped. She could feel her eyes brighten. She never thought that such a combination of words could bring such happiness, not since the combination of words that told her that she was a recipient of that scholarship.

"EEEEEEEEEEE!" she squealed. She dropped the phone to jump for joy, making sure that her feet hit the part of the floorboard that made a distinctive squeaking noise, the noise that would cause her parents to knock on the ceiling one floor below her with the end of a broom whenever she jumped in that spot. She didn't expect them to ask for her back anytime soon. She expected another year of working at the shoe store and a score of job interviews that ultimately wouldn't lead anywhere. It was so satisfying knowing that she wouldn't have to go through all that. She got to be a part of The Ghostbusters… at least partially.

"I'm guessing that was a yes," said Egon, even though nobody at the other end was listening to him, "I didn't even have to ask the question that would lead to that yes. This girl just made my job a tad easier."