Hey ya'll! I know I haven't been doing my usual author's notes at the beginning of each chapter, but I figured I would try and see how everyone is doing so far? I hope this hasn't been too off-the-wall confusing...it's honestly been a while since I've written most of this. This chapter probably could've been split into two seperate chapters, but I'm feeling generous today. I'm also getting kinda close to breaching my reserve of content to share because I haven't felt bitten by the writing bug lately. Please give me some input guys, keep me going! Don't be afraid to inbox me or review with any questions you may have on things that may be a little fuzzy! :)

The rest of Nikki's day at Ray's Occult Bookstore passed by in an excited blur as she and Rachel threw themselves back into the halfhearted inventory after their rare and eager customer had finished his visit. He left with half a dozen volumes of psychical theory that Nikki had recommended to him. Rachel's wary demeanor had greatly transitioned when she realized how serious the man had been about purchasing the books and she even encouraged Nikki to stay in touch with Mark Russell should he ever find himself in need of more information on his shared gifts. Finally, after they had made great progress in reorganizing an immense portion of the bookstore, and without a trace of another customer, Rachel called it quits and closed the shop two hours early.

"There's my girl!" Shawn's voice greeted Nikki as soon as she opened the door to the Ghostbusters' firehouse. Her face broke into an excited grin as she hurried across the garage and into her boyfriend's arms. She tilted her head up to meet his kiss and when she opened her eyes, they were bright with her near-to-bursting enthusiasm. Shawn laughed to himself quietly, clearly feeling her strong emotions. "Are you that happy to see me or did you just get off work early because you knew Egon fixed the Extra-terrarium?"

"We are not calling it that!" Egon's voice echoed up from the basement.

Nikki's eyes widened at Shawn with a brief but condescending look before she playfully rolled her eyes and pressed both hands to his chest.

"Hold that thought for a second, I have something huge to tell you!" She exclaimed. Before Shawn could even move his mouth to form the question she wanted him to ask she continued. "I met someone like me today!"

Shawn's eyebrows raised and then fell again as he screwed his face in contemplative thought.

"You say 'like you' as in…?"

"Someone who can see and talk to ghosts! He came into the store this afternoon. It's like he was taking the words right out of my mouth as he explained his experiences…it's…it's crazy!"

Shawn glanced behind him to Janine who was on the phone with an irritable client. Her perfectly manicured nails were combing haggardly through her bright red bangs and she met his confused gaze with one of indifference. Unfortunately she wasn't paying attention to the conversation between the young couple in front of her.

"Shawn…am I wrong to be getting excited about this? Because I kinda thought you'd be just as amazed as me if not more…" Nikki's voice quieted an octave as she took notice of the Ghostbusters' secretary plowing through her phone call. Nikki's smile wavered as the boy looked back down at her, his eyes torn.

"No! No…Nikki, this is great. Who is he? Is he from around here?" He was quick to ask, trying to build up her excitement once more. Her eyes sparkled but she pulled him away from Janine's desk so they would be less of an interruption.

"His name is Mark Russell. He says he came here looking for my dad…he's been dealing with ghosts for almost as long as I have and he's at his wits end. I told him to come by anytime and see if he could gain an audience with the almighty Ghostbusters. He seemed pretty excited at my even mentioning that." Nikki laughed. Shawn smirked knowingly, the pair of them acknowledging that the Ghostbusters' building fame truly did reach outside of the city.

"Wow…sounds like you've already had a great early birthday so far. Finding out you're not the only ghost whisperer in the world…what are the odds?" Shawn teased her lightly, nudging her with his elbow. Her smile faltered and she straightened herself and let her hands fall to her sides. He seemed to realize that he'd answered a little too hastily and he leaned forward to take her hands in his. "Nikki, really…this is amazing. Truth be told, I'm a little relieved that you may not be the guys' only guinea pig now. Maybe this Mark guy can take up some of their poking and prodding now."

"Hey…who's poking and prodding?"

Nikki and Shawn both smirked identically as Peter's joking tone echoed up from the basement level of the firehouse. They both stepped apart and turned just as the Ghostbuster emerged from the back staircase.

"No one at the moment." Nikki quipped back at him. Peter raised an eyebrow tauntingly and then slapped Shawn on the shoulder.

"Good. Means your following rule #2. No funny business during work hours." Peter winked at the boy who scoffed and sank into an embarrassed slouch against the file cabinets. Nikki crossed her arms and shot an unamused smirk at the man who broke into a teasing grin. "You're here early. Not that I'm complaining, we're always in need of a ghost expert of your stature."

"Thanks Uncle Pete," Nikki said breaking her crossed arms as the Ghostbuster reached out for a warm hug. As they pulled apart, Nikki frowned up at him in consideration. "Hey, what's rule #1?"

"No horseplay around the equipment." Egon's voice drifted up from the basement. He removed a ridiculously thick pair of goggles and blinked at the bright lights of the firehouse's ground level. "Which is what I've been trying to remind Venkman about all day. He almost lost the elemental spirit transferring it to the new holding tank…"

"The Extra-terrarium." Shawn cut in.

"We are not calling it that…" Egon repeated once again, his gaze flashing in mild annoyance at the younger Ghostbuster. Shawn smirked mischievously and when Egon refocused his attention on Nikki, Peter slipped Shawn an amused high five.

"You finished it?" Nikki asked in relief, recalling the dangerously acrid smell of electromagnetic discharge emanating from the trap holding the elemental spirit in the basement the day before. Egon nodded and gestured for the group to follow him back to the building's lower level.

"I've been working and modifying it for the past several hours since we moved it. It's really interesting…I haven't been able to leave it alone for long periods of time for fear that it will escape…"

"I can vouch for that," Peter interrupted with an exaggerated clearing of his throat. "I haven't seen him come up to go to the bathroom or anything. I even had to split his half of the pizza with Winston at lunch time…we couldn't let it get cold and go to waste, ya know."

As they descended the last few steps to the basement floor, Nikki ignored Peter's joking and followed on Egon's heels to the corner of the room where he had hastily built the new holding tank. Before she could lean forward and peer through the protective glass into the tank itself, Egon put his arm out to stop her.

"Wait! First…" He rummaged over the cluttered worktable on his right by the new section of wall and shoved a bulky pair of goggles to the girl. She snatched them out of his hand, only hesitating a moment and as Egon slipped his on back over his head, she did the same. He glanced over his shoulder at Shawn and Peter who stopped just behind them. "You may want to back away to the other side of the room. I don't have other goggles made yet, so avert your eyes."

Shawn, ever the cautious one, backed away and turned away from the corner of the room in favor of busying himself through sorting through some tangled ghost traps and cords. Peter on the other hand, raised both hands up almost mockingly and did a little dance before facing the opposite corner of the room like a child in time out.

"Don't want the eyeballs burned out of our skulls, do we?" He muttered under his breath. Egon and Nikki both watched to make sure that they were in the clear before they turned back to the tank. Egon grabbed Nikki firmly by her shoulders and maneuvered her a few inches to the left so that he could better reach the dials and buttons he had set into the wall just below the setup.

"Alright…brace yourself." He warned her. Nikki tensed, unsure of what she was bracing herself against, but she said nothing as Egon slowly twisted a dial to the right. The fish tank-sized viewing glass began to glow Nikki recognized that the interior of the tank must've been lined with a protective layer of lasers similar to that which prevented ghosts from breaking out of the traps and the containment unit itself. Egon flipped a switch and the dark glass immediately cleared, like a two-sided window in an interrogation room. The lasers twitched and flickered with the pulsing energy overload feeding the new setup. Nikki frowned, unable to see anything through the overlapping laser grid.

"I don't hear anything yet…you're teasing her by building up the suspense aren't you?" Shawn quipped from the other side of the room. Nikki shushed her boyfriend abruptly, waving a hand violently in his direction, which resulted in a quiet outburst of chuckles as he continued his halfhearted winding of the trap cords.

"Okay…when I switched the internal layer of lasers to the lowest setting, you should be able to see through the outer lasers into the cell. Now…it may be ready for us and I'll have to alternate the lasers accordingly. Ready?" Egon asked, nudging her to the side in pursuit of another dial directly in front of her. Nikki shifted her stance and tried to stifle her growing adrenaline rush.

"Ready," She repeated in affirmation. Egon set his jaw and quickly lowered the internal lasers, and just as he'd explained, Nikki could see through the web of other lasers.

Inside she could see the upper half of a humanoid figure spinning timidly every which way, arms outstretched toward the walls of lasers around it. Nikki's breath caught in her throat and she felt every muscle in her body tighten as the figure did a full spin and stared in wide-eyed surprise at the two people peering in at it. In a millisecond Nikki took in the figure, noting the distinct outline of a long form-fitting dress and wispy hair billowing around the figure's head. Clearly sensing that the laser grids were temporarily weakened, the figure jerked forward and Nikki could see the woman's terrified expression on her hollowed-out face. Before Nikki could exclaim in surprise, a flash of electricity shocked the figure into jolting backward. Egon's elbow nearly shoved into Nikki's side as he grasped for the dial again and Nikki kept her gaze trained on the retreating figure. The space inside was barely the size of a refrigerator, and when the woman's back collided with the lasers on the other side of the cell, Egon pushed another button, emitting another shockwave of energy.

"Wait -!" Nikki breathed, reaching for Egon's arm, prepared to pull him away should he reach for the button again. The ghost flailed violently about inside the cell, her back to the pair as a guttural scream erupted from the wall. Nikki's blood ran cold as the floating woman steadied herself and slowly twisted around to face the fish tank-sized viewing glass again. Her hollow eyes fixed on Egon then, and her figure phased in and out of sight as what looked like flames licked at the edges of the interior of the tank. The woman's hands lifted and the flames thrashed around her body as if she were trying to enshroud herself in them. In the next instant, Egon twisted another dial all the way to the right and the internal lasers sputtered with a flash of blue. The woman shrieked furiously and the flames she had appeared to be conjuring flickered out of existence.

"She hit you with the fire, right?" Peter's voice called from the corner.

"Keep your back turned, Peter…" Egon grumbled warily as he kept his focus intently on the tank, his fingers dancing around the buttons with anticipation.

"I am! Hard to miss that blue counter-flash…" Peter scoffed. Nikki frowned and leaned closer watchfully as the figure raised both arms and opened her mouth in another high pitched shriek.

The ground underfoot began to tremble and Nikki had to consciously strengthen her planted feet as the very walls threaten to explode outward.

"Earth?!" Nikki shouted over the terrifyingly quaking room. It looked like Egon nodded in rapid confirmation, but it was hard to tell because Nikki's vision was jolting every which way. With another flick of a dial, a counteractive flash of electricity caused the rumbling to slow and then stop altogether. Nikki's head was spinning from the case of vertigo, but her intrigue had her gazing hungrily at the ghost woman standing inside the cell, her glare once again fixed on Egon.

"It's a game…she modifies her molecular structure to fit whichever element she deems effective at her escape, and I have to quickly shock her back with the countering defense." As if to elaborate his point, what looked to be a flood of rain began to blow in from every corner of the cell and Egon pushed a button resulting in a dry rush of air blowing the woman's figure back against the laser grid. A resounding shockwave of energy flashed and the woman screamed sharply.

"Egon, this is torture! Stop for a second, please!" Nikki pleaded. The woman steadied herself into her floating stasis, her furious demeanor faltering and she was visibly weakened by the repeated electric shocks. Tearing her challenging glare away from Egon's gigantic goggles, the woman seemed to finally realize that Nikki was also there. Her fury twitched into a slightly less hostile expression and Nikki moved to raise a hand toward the outside of the glass.

"Nikki, don't do anything stupid…" Shawn called after her cautiously. From the sound of his voice, Nikki knew he had turned to look at her. At the moment, without Egon's rapid-fire retaliations, Nikki moved to remove her goggles.

"I'm not…" She responded with slight annoyance. Her palm still rested against the viewing glass while the figure inside slowly drifted forward.

"Don't take them…" Egon started to warn her, having been distracted watching the ghost through his own goggles. Nikki dropped the goggles to the workbench beside her, keeping her eyes averted to her hand rather than the lasers threading through each other inside the thick glass. Egon sighed at her ignorance and finished his warning with a huff. "…off."

Nikki still stared at the back of her hand, feeling the hum of the powerful energy surrounding the ghost inside the makeshift cell. Seeing movement through her fingers on the other side of the glass, she chanced a peek upward and could see the woman's features more clearly without the dimness of the goggles. Her hollowed out eyes were more human underneath Nikki's perceptive gaze, and though they were still full of fury, they weren't burning like they had been a moment before. Egon's arms were tense as he waited for whatever attack the ghost could be building up.

"It's okay…" Nikki murmured, her usual go-to reassurance for approaching ghosts. In usual circumstances there wasn't always a wall of thick protective glass and lasers separating her from her target, but Nikki surmised she could somehow calm the spirit inside the holding cell anyways. The woman eyed the girl's face carefully and Nikki was surprised to see that she had the ghost's full attention despite the murderous intentions she had previously harbored in Egon's direction.

"Little Stantz…what's going on?" Peter too, sounded closer than he had been at the start of things. Nikki shushed him as well, her face hopeful as she worked to keep the ghost's gaze. The woman floated gently closer, and when Egon moved for the dial to crank up the voltage of the containing lasers, Nikki clasped her other hand on his arm to stop him.

"Wait…" She whispered. She could feel a humming in her mind as the woman resumed her casual approach, having stopped at Egon's sudden movement. Nikki raised her eyebrows hopefully and nodded at the ghost. "I'm not going to hurt you…"

The woman's gaze softened and her form flickered weakly as Egon tried to subtly twitch the dial to a higher protective voltage.

"Nikki don't…" Shawn warned her, his voice sounding far away as the humming in her head grew steadily louder. She had to blink the sensation away and when she focused between her fingers through the glass again, the ghost woman had raised her hand to mimic hers on the other side of the lasers. Nikki felt her heart jerk emotionally…she was getting through to her. Nikki opened her mouth to speak some other reassurances to the ghost woman in the cell, but in the next second a violent flash caused Nikki to be thrown back from the wall and into Shawn who was moving to grab her from behind.

"Woah!" Peter exclaimed at the same instant that the younger boy screamed her name. Nikki's head buzzed numbly as her vision swam, and she could barely feel Shawn as he tried to shake her into staying conscious. She tried to push herself forward mentally, but the already dim lights of the basement were rapidly smoking into blackness.

"Oh…" She breathed as a cold wave overtook her and pulled her under.


Nikki felt herself drifting as if in a light slumber. She could hear voices all around her, some in casual tones as if in conversation, others mingled with children's laughter. The jovial, lighthearted sounds of dancing footsteps on a hardwood deck greeted her and she slowly gained feeling of her body. The steady churning sensation of some large motor rumbled under her feet and the heavy footfalls of someone approaching her caused the buzzing in her head to worsen.

"Wake up dear…"

Nikki felt a twist in her stomach and before she could even open her eyes, a sharp pain bit through her temples. She raised one hand to her head and wrapped the other around her torso.

"Drink this sweetie, it'll help."

Nikki felt a smooth, cool cup forced into her hand and she slowly opened her eyes to see a kindly old woman peering down at her with gentle concern. Nikki hesitated with the cup half raised to her trembling lips. The woman noticed her pause and reached to brush a few wisps of hair from her clammy forehead.

"You're not the only one who's ever gotten seasick dear, trust me. This'll take the edge off." The woman smiled and gently took the cup back and tipped it the rest of the way to Nikki's mouth. A rich burning liquid poured through her lips and Nikki almost choked in surprise before spitting up a majority of what she'd been fed.

"Seasick on the river?!" Nikki coughed in a weak retort.

"Water is water, dear." The woman laughed heartily as Nikki sputtered and caught her breath. The small bit of liquid that she'd swallowed burned down her throat and lit a fire within her chest. She stared up at the woman confusedly and then realized that the sick feeling had ebbed away after all.

"It's gone…" She muttered wondrously, climbing steadily to her feet. The woman laughed again and handed her the cup once more. Nikki peered down at the amber liquid and felt the desire to down another mouthful of it, realizing it was brandy. The woman caught her friend waving to her from a few feet away and she gave Nikki a fond pat on her shoulder before putting a finger to her lips and then trailing away and out of sight.

Nikki took another sip of the brandy and blanched at the fresh burning sensation, her head growing sharper. She glanced around in wonder at her surroundings – a hardwood deck, as her ears had already alerted her to, and a surrounding crowd of people in every direction she could see. A huge, monstrous wheel chugged steadily on one side of the craft, hauling the large boat through quietly splashing waters.

"A steamboat…" Nikki murmured, intrigued. She'd never been on one, they only had ferries in New York and she'd very rarely ventured onto one, aside from a few trips over to the Statue of Liberty for yearly checkups. The year after the first New Year's when the guys had brought the monument to life by way of psychomagnetheric mood slime, numerous concerned citizens had called in skeptical that there would be a repeat of the fiasco of the year before, so the Ghostbusters just made it a yearly tradition to check it out on New Year's Eve.

The weather on this boat ride however was warm and crisp and the sun hung low in the sky, signaling that it was late morning. The singing and dancing continued towards the front of the boat, and Nikki caught sight of several small children running circles around the adults, caught up in a large game of tag. One small blonde haired boy ducked under one of the older kid's gangly arms and laughing, caught sight of Nikki with a wide-eyed grin. He tore himself away from the game and jogged over to her where she stood, still holding the half-empty cup of brandy.

"Are you feeling better mama?" He panted, his bright blue eyes staring up at her eagerly. Nikki froze at the boy's comment, staring confusedly down at the cup in her hand. She didn't answer right away and the boy flopped down on the bench next to her to wipe sweat from his face.

Suddenly, the great churning wheel over to their left made a grinding thud. The singing and laughing was quickly exchanged for surprised screams and shouts of confusion as the thud repeated, this time shaking throughout the entire boat.

"…Mama?!" The little boy cried, throwing himself into Nikki's side. His little arms squeezed around her middle tightly and with the next grinding thud, her cup was thrown from her hand and she instinctively grabbed the boy and pulled him to her protectively. The screams and fearful cries grew in volume and everyone within the near radius of the stammering wheel ran as far away from it as they could manage.

"What's happening?!"

"Where's my husband?!"

"Fire!"

The last cry caused everyone to panic. Indeed, a fire had broken out from somewhere and it was spreading quickly through the polished wood of the steamboat's deck. The little boy's screaming was the only thing Nikki could hear as the crowd pushed and pulled them both toward the railing of the boat. Flames licked after them and the deafening cracking of the deck underfoot rang out as the boat began to rock violently on the water. The next thing she knew, her arms were empty and she was teetering on the edge of the boat, raging flames on one side and frothing waters on the other.

"Michael!" She screamed before a fireball exploded from the other side of the boat. She hit the surface of the river with breakneck speed and was quickly pulled down into the depths of the murky water. Her arms flailed uselessly and the bright flames on the river were the last thing she saw before the water rushed into her lungs.


"Nikki!"

Shawn was at her side the instant she hit the floor. A rush of emotions and pain flooded through him and he had to squeeze his eyes shut for a second to ground himself as her confusion took place of his own. Since his resurrection from death just a few years prior, it had become easier to differentiate what feelings belonged to her and which were solely his, but sudden shifts like what was happening now always unsettled him.

"Nikki, you're okay…" Shawn found himself murmuring, sensing Nikki's growing fear even though she appeared to have lost consciousness. He lifted her head gently and felt for any abrasions or bumps along her scalp from her fall, though he hadn't seen her hit very hard. Her face was unmoving, though the mixture of emotions and pain flooding through her had Shawn questioning what was going on in her head.

"What the hell just happened?!" Peter exclaimed, from his vantage point standing over the two of them. Egon still stood a few steps in front of Nikki and Shawn, trying to hastily reconfigure the settings of the holding cell for the elemental spirit screaming deafeningly after her encounter with the psychic girl. Shawn had to applaud the bespectacled scientist for his devotion to his work; any other rational person would be distracted by the well-being of the attacked and unconscious girl.

"I don't know – you saw the same thing I did! She just fell back…" Shawn stammered, still staring down into Nikki's unemotional face. He cupped her cheek in his hand and felt his own heart rate rise at the unnatural burning sensation he felt touching her skin. Peter must have noticed the boy's shift in expression because he knelt down alongside him and grabbed the girl's arm.

"Geez…what's going on?" Peter demanded, turning an accusatory stare at Shawn. The boy shook his head rapidly, and briefly met the older Ghostbuster's gaze.

"I don't know," He repeated. Peter nudged him violently, as if trying to get his full attention.

"Shawn, you can feel her. What's going on in there?!" Peter pointed to his own temple and then put a hand over Nikki's feverish forehead. Shawn felt a lump well up in his throat and then fixed his confused stare on Nikki's slackened face. He bent closer and stared with as much focus as he could muster at her closed eyelids, trying to feel through the jumbled mess of emotions and stings of pain floating from her to him.

"She's…she's confused…" He murmured thoughtfully, trying to keep Peter and Egon in the loop. In the few sessions they'd had where the Ghostbusters had tried to get a better understanding of the psychically induced emotional bond between the young couple, Shawn had constantly been reminded by the guys that they wanted as much of a visual as possible so he was forced to try and voice what he was seeing and feeling while trying to navigate the sensations as they happened.

"Is she hurt?" Peter pressed him, trying to keep his voice level as he watched Shawn worriedly. Shawn stared intently at the girl's unwavering stillness and then took a deep breath, closing his eyes to the distracting flashes of light emanating from the still-screeching ghost's chamber. In the brief darkness behind his eyelids, Shawn focused deeply on Nikki's familiar presence. Within seconds, he could hear multiple voices greeting him as he grew closer to her mental voice. He could hear casual conversations at first and, as if someone flipped a switch, the lighthearted voices turned to shocked, agonized screams. Shawn inwardly pushed himself forward, trying to proceed through the cacophony of voices surrounding Nikki. He could feel her array of confusion mixed with curiosity and he sighed in relief, pulling back only slightly to respond to Peter's concerned question.

"No I don't think so…" Shawn murmured, though his voice sounded a million miles away. He prepared to dive headfirst back into the chaos that was wrapping itself around Nikki, but held back to add, "She's having a vision."

"A vision? Is it normal for her to be struck with one out of the blue like this?! Did the ghost do it?!" Peter asked hurriedly. Shawn was about to shrug in response, but he caught an echo of Nikki's voice through the other warbling screams.

"Michael!"

Shawn didn't question the odd name she screamed, he just mentally pushed himself toward her.

"Nikki…where are you?" Shawn called out. His voice broke off as the darkness behind his eyelids began to shift in a vast anomaly of colors and flashes. He couldn't make sense of it, but he knew this was his consciousness following the psychic bond to Nikki's consciousness. He had grown almost fondly accustomed to the whiplash effect it caused him in his navigation to Nikki. They had tested out their emotional connection numerous times, mostly at the beginning of their relationship when the Ghostbusters were trying to make sense of his living presence after the events of the winter Nikki had moved to New York.

"Can't…breathe…" Nikki's voice choked out from somewhere to Shawn's left. He mentally felt himself turn and the wildly flashing snippets of color slowed as he grew closer. He exhaled in relief and found that he could hear quiet splashing from the general space in front of him. He deepened his focus and felt his vision almost solidify, directing the majority of his attention to his hands. Before his mental eyes, his palm appeared in front of his face and he clenched and unclenched his fist a few times to make sure he had proper motor control. He could almost feel the churning water that he found himself in, red and orange swirls of light winking down at him from somewhere up above him. When he glanced back down he could see Nikki appear just in front of him, her eyes wide and her limbs fumbling around wildly as if she were struggling to tread water.

"Nikki." Shawn whispered, his voice echoing through the now silent void. Nikki's panicking face gradually eased into relief and she reached up to him with a trembling hand. His hand met hers and a spark of warmth enveloped them both, followed by the gut wrenching sensation of being pulled back into their physical bodies.

"…S-Shawn." Nikki's voice gasped out. Shawn's eyes snapped open and he peered down into his lap where he still held Nikki on the basement floor of the Ghostbusters' firehouse. She raised a hand and brushed it fondly across the light stubble of his jaw. Shawn smirked down at her, the release of the vision's hold on her seemingly broken.

"You okay?" He asked her lightly. She let her hand fall away from his cheek and nodded sheepishly. She looked away from Shawn and finally noticed Peter kneeling on her other side. Shawn noticed the Ghostbuster held his gaze for half a minute longer before he relented to oversee Nikki's wellbeing.

"That mean ghost in there hurt you, Little Stantz?"

"Not intentionally, I don't think." She said, moving to sit up on her own. Shawn kept his arms wrapped around her shoulders until he was sure she felt stable enough to hold herself up. Her face screwed in thought. "She was trying to communicate…"

"Through the laser grid and steel-enforced glass shield?" Egon asked. He still appeared to be criticizing his hasty few days' work, looking for any loopholes he may have missed in his eagerness to move the elemental ghost to a safer containment.

"Well yeah…and that's why I took the goggles off." Nikki said. "Through all that energy, it was hard to hear her. I was trying to maybe read her lips…? I don't know, I was just trying to do my thing…"

"Uh huh, and it was able to shock you through that forcefield thing. Really good communicator, that one." Peter said, nodding sarcastically.

"She didn't shock me…" Nikki insisted. Her mouth twitched downward in a grimace. "I think she lashed out, causing me to lapse into that vision. It was the only way she could get her point across I guess."

"That means I've still got more work to do. If it's able to trigger you like that through all this, there's no telling what else it will be capable of if its willpower is so strong." Egon muttered to himself thoughtfully. Shawn nodded and then followed Nikki's wary gaze to the viewing glass of the containment cell. The ghost had quieted down immensely in the last few minutes, though the brilliant glow obscured Shawn's vision of the spirit inside.

"Can I help?" Nikki asked as she climbed to her feet. Shawn quickly moved to help her, stabilizing her overprotectively by grabbing her elbow. Instantly his vision cleared and he blinked several times, able to see the ghost through the array of lasers in the cell. Her face was drawn into an unhappy scowl, though she didn't appear as murderous as she had seemed to be upon first encountering Nikki. The ghost woman shivered and tilted her head to him ponderingly, somehow sensing the change in his attention and he narrowed his eyes at her in what he hoped was a warning stare.

"You've helped plenty this evening, Nikki." Egon assured the girl. Peter groaned as he stood up behind the young couple, his knees popping with his always-aching joints.

"Egon's right. No need to get electrocuted more than once in one day."

"Who's getting electrocuted?!"

The four people in the basement jumped at the newcomer's emergence. Shawn turned to see Winston climbing down the last few steps of the basement, carrying two loaded and smoking traps by his side. His gaze whipped around to each person's face accusingly and then he noticed the hyper-charged containment cell in the wall. His shoulders went slack and he proceeded to carry his traps to the far wall, around the group of congregated Ghostbusters.

"Don't tell me you've been playing with the elemental ghost without us! Ray's gonna be furious!"

Another set of footsteps echoed down the basement stairs, signaling the final Ghostbuster's approach. Ray nearly leapt down the last few steps as he joined Egon by the newly built containment cell. He accepted Nikki's abandoned welding goggles and hastily snapped them on his face.

"How is she?!" He exclaimed, barely even registering the crowd standing in the room behind him.

"Great. Nikki just helped us by finding some possible loopholes in the protective layers. I'm going to need your help in trying to come up with some quick modifications…" Egon said quickly. Ray didn't miss the first part of the scientist's explanation and he threw a wary glance over his shoulder to Shawn and Nikki standing behind him.

"How exactly did she help?" The protective fatherly tone broke through Ray's childlike enthusiasm. Shawn grinned knowingly and catching Nikki's nervous habit of biting her lip, he answered for her.

"Everything's fine. Just scared her into a memory vision, that's all."

"Nobody got hurt?" Ray asked for elaboration, his dark goggles tinting left and right as he surveyed the young couple. Shawn shook his head in response while Nikki stepped forward and wrapped her father in a reassuring hug. From Shawn's vantage point, he could see the worried creases in Ray's forehead dissipate at his daughter's touch.

"Not hurt at all." She said truthfully. She pulled back and Shawn saw Ray's lips twitch into a small smile of relief. Nikki patted her father's shoulders and made a show of brushing off whatever dust or grime had taken refuge on his Ghostbusters uniform. "We need to cross her over as soon as possible though, Dad. She's in a lot of pain."

"Nikki, you're kidding, right?" Shawn's demeanor immediately switched along with everyone else's in the room.

"No." Egon discouraged bluntly. He didn't even turn away from the controls of the containment unit. Ray tilted his head and his eyebrows shot up from behind his goggles.

"Absolutely not, Nikki!"

"Are you crazy?!" Peter echoed, putting his hands on his hips just like any annoyingly concerned parent would. Ray shot him a look briefly and shook his head in his daughter's direction.

"You realize how long it took us to catch that thing, right?" Winston concluded, finishing up his job of emptying the traps in the larger containment unit.

"Nikki…honey…" Ray said, relenting to take his goggles off so he could meet her pleading gaze more clearly. She waited impatiently for him to speak his peace, but Shawn could feel her clear irritation bubbling up just below her forcibly calm exterior. Ray glanced over his daughter's shoulder to included Shawn in his cautionary warning. "Nikki, I know you like to help people…ghosts included most of all, but…give us a little more time with this one. She's pretty feisty and her motives are still relatively unclear. We're not hurting her, just keeping her separated from the other ghosts in the containment unit for now."

"Don't do any testing without me being here." Nikki ordered sternly. Shawn caught the hesitant glance she threw to the ghost through the lasers and felt the protective shift in the psychic girl as she turned her attention back to the other Ghostbusters. "Egon, I mean it. Please…no more shocking…"

"No more provoking shocks." Egon corrected her. Nikki narrowed her gaze at him challengingly and Shawn cleared his throat, finally stepping in.

"There's gotta be some control in this, Nikki. Otherwise she can easily escape and who knows what kind of havoc an elemental ghost can create in a high-tech place like this?"

Nikki set her jaw and though she was clearly unhappy, she relaxed her shoulders a bit and nodded. She fixed Egon with a crude stare once again.

"No one wants to level the city, which always seems to be the liability here." She said quietly. Egon tore his gaze away from the controls to nod at her in agreement.

"She'll be safe and so should we. For the time being." He reached for the worktable beside him and found an old notebook where he proceeded to draw up a list of items he would need to make his modifications.

While an exhausted silence fell over the remaining Ghostbusters as they watched Egon's hasty scribbling, Nikki seemed to jump to life by Shawn's side. She startled him by playfully elbowing him in the gut.

"I almost forgot to share the awesome news from today!" She exclaimed excitedly. Shawn wrapped an arm over his torso, over-exaggerating from her reflexive jab. He looked up to watch as she darted to her father's side to peer over his shoulder at Egon's seemingly nonsensical plans.

"You have something more exciting than having your weekly near-death experience with a ghost?" Ray quipped wearily. He smiled lightheartedly at his daughter, dodging as she took a bantering swing at his arm.

"Seriously, you all won't believe this…even I didn't know if I should've believed it at first…" Nikki blurted out in one breath. Ray fully turned to face her, humoring her enthusiasm. "I was at Rachel's today, you know…and we had a customer come in–"

"You mean Ray's old bookstore still gets business? Wow, that's surprising." Peter muttered. Shawn scoffed and flashed him an amused smirk which quickly disappeared when Nikki shot the two of them an annoyed scowl.

"He could see and talk to ghosts like I can, Dad. He was actually looking for you. He wanted to ask you some questions about his experiences I guess, but everything he told me matched up to a tee exactly what I can do!"

Nikki's face was completely aglow with her intrigue, and Shawn found himself surprised she had been able to contain her glee all afternoon. He had been a little skeptical when she had started to tell him about it upon her return to the firehouse just a little while before, but now he really wondered if it could be possible another person gifted with abilities as strong as hers had crossed paths with her. His thoughts strayed toward thoughts he didn't like to remember, as he recounted the numerous dinner guests and companions Shawn's parents had accumulated in his youth. Psychics weren't uncommon, even decades ago and all throughout history people had claimed to be susceptible to seeing phenomena invisible and unknown to most. Shawn tried to push aside the resurfacing memory of his parents and their hunger for supernatural influence…which had ultimately led to not only their deaths, but also his. Shawn inwardly shook himself and put a hand to his chest, his soft heartbeat through his beige jumpsuit a thankful reminder that he was no longer a part of his parents' demonic ploy.

"…I told him he should come in sometime and chat with us. Maybe he'll know something I don't, or maybe I can teach him some pointers on how to deal with reckless ghosts…" Nikki was still chattering excitedly, much to her father's amusement. Even Egon had paused in his checklist to listen and question the girl.

"Is he from around here? His information must be kind of delayed to think that Ray still owned the bookshop."

"I guess not," Nikki agreed with a shrug. "It didn't really come up because we weren't able to talk for long. I suggested a few books for him to make Rachel happy and then she all but shoved him out the door. I should've asked him for his contact information or something…but truth be told, I was just so excited at finding out there was someone else in the world like me!"

"That's pretty awesome news, Nikki." Winston said supportively, slapping a hand on the girl's shoulder fondly. She smirked up at him and then looked back to her father as he interjected.

"Well, if you mentioned the Ghostbusters, I'm sure anybody in New York can point him in our direction. I'm happy for ya, honey. I know how hard it was for you growing up, feeling like you had to hide your Sight from your mom." Ray said, hugging her to him tightly. Shawn cleared his throat uncomfortably, the fond father-daughter relationship a foreign thing in his mind. He busied himself by moving over to Egon's side to look over the notes he was taking.

"Need me to go out for any supplies or anything?" Shawn asked the bespectacled scientist distractedly. Egon nodded thankfully and began pointing out a few things he had jotted down on the notepad.

"To help stabilize the large power frequency, I'll need a backup generator. Now, I have one on standby for the containment unit should it draw too much from that, but I'd like a few things to ensure that if the Class Five gets too hostile, I can divert the majority of the generator's…"

Egon's monotonous explanation fell on Shawn's deaf ears as he watched Nikki continue to rattle off her excitement to the other three Ghostbusters. Peter would teasingly poke fun at her eagerness and he must've made some barb about already having a boyfriend and to stop crushing on the new guy because they all flashed a knowing look Shawn's way.

"He knows he's got no competition." Nikki said good humoredly, looking at Shawn with her bright gaze. He felt her fond welling up of love wash over him and he relaxed instantly. She seemed to be able to tell her effect on him and her smile deepened.

"Here's a shopping list, if you wouldn't mind running by the hardware store. Be sure and get the wiring extra long, there's no telling how I'll have to rig it up." Egon said, snapping Shawn back to his senses as he forced a folded up half-sheet of paper into his grasp. Shawn looked over the list and realized he'd be on the run for the rest of the afternoon hunting down Egon's requested items. He stifled a weary sigh and then looked back up to Nikki.

"You up to go shopping with me? I promise I'll have you home for dinner." Shawn teased lightly.

"Funny. What, you two kids eating takeout for dinner again? You know that's no way to live." Peter said. Nikki rolled her eyes and made a show of crossing her arms, huffing in offense.

"I'll have you know that I cook a whole lot more often than you probably have in your entire life." She shot back at him. Peter's eyes widened in mock surprise.

"How often do you cook for Dana, Pete?" Winston added. Peter snapped his mouth shut and cocked his head to the side, perplexed.

"I'll make grilled cheese sandwiches for her and Oscar tonight, just because you think I can't cook." Peter contradicted smartly, sticking out his tongue for good measure.

"That's not cooking!" Ray snorted.

"Actually, grilled cheese doesn't sound half bad. What do you think, Nikki?" Shawn offered, only half-joking. Nikki grinned and met his gaze fondly before kissing her father on the cheek and crossing the room, back to Shawn's side.

"Fine by me. After all the errands we're about to run for Egon, I'm sure we'll be too exhausted to do much else." She said.