Happy Friday the 13th! If you've been keeping up with me over the past little while, thank you! I've been struggling to keep up with a million things and I'm trying not to half-do any of them, but I really feel like this writing is falling through the cracks. It'll get done eventually guys, I don't plan on completely abandoning it - those of you who have read my stuff before, you should know it's one of my biggest pet peeves to leave a story unfinished. As always, please enjoy this chapter and leave a review if you can! Morale boosters may entice me to post more often! ;)
Shawn and Nikki entered their apartment almost two hours later, carting leftovers from their dinner at the Japanese restaurant down the block. As soon as the door shut behind them and Shawn slid the lock in place, doubling up with the dead bolt, the phone rang. Nikki groaned grumpily, and Shawn could detect the miserable exhaustion eating at her every second she kept her eyes open. He patted her gently on the head, taking her bag of leftover cartons half filled with rice, chicken and vegetables and gently pushed her out of the way so he could move toward the phone first.
"Hello?" Shawn answered, uplifting his voice so that whoever the caller was could tell he was irritated. There was a brief pause on the other end of the line and then a sniffle before a female voice responded.
"Yes…um…is Nikki there?"
Nikki turned from where she had paused on her way down the hall toward the bathroom and she shot Shawn a weary look. Shawn set the bags of leftovers on the counter, still holding the phone up to his ear. He thought he recognized the caller's voice, but in an effort to be polite, he cleared his throat quietly and changed his tone before he spoke again.
"Can I ask who's calling?"
"It's…It's Ally. From this afternoon? My…my mother…" Her voice trembled emotionally. Shawn swallowed uncomfortably, but then gave up his resolve and removed the phone from his ear to hold it out towards Nikki. She stared at it questioningly and then he waved it at her, beckoning for her to come back and take it from him. There were traces of alarm in her face as she matched his urgency and grabbed the receiver from his hand.
"This is Nikki," She said, her voice wavering with her anticipation.
Shawn moved away from the niche by the phone to allow Nikki room to take her call, not wanting to be too nosy. He busied himself taking the Styrofoam plates out of the bags and shuffling food and drinks around in the fridge to make room for them.
"Wait…" Nikki's voice butted in what stream of words Ally was feeding her. Shawn closed the fridge and glanced over to his girlfriend curiously and found that she had her hand pressed to the wall by the phone, her jaw working nervously as she tried to cut the other girl off. "No – it doesn't work like that…"
Shawn turned fully to face her, his oddball gift at reading her emotions trying to keep up with her rapidly speeding up heart rate. She noticed him standing there watchfully by the fridge and she quickly waved him away before turning her back to him and facing the wall. Shawn didn't miss the welling up of tears in her eyes as she turned and pressed a hand to her forehead with a quiet but audible whimper.
"Ally, I said I'm sorry…I can't…"
Shawn didn't want to be the prying boyfriend, but he moved closer to her anxiously, ready to intervene if need be.
"I don't know how to do what you're asking me, no…" She said, not even trying to hide her sobs from the other girl. Shawn could hear Ally's cries from the other end of the phone and he crossed his arms in front of his chest wonderingly. He hesitated, wondering if this was just some case of female hysterics. Something warm and soft nudged at his ankle and Shawn jumped slightly in surprise as he glanced down at Hal. The black cat's face rubbed up against his calf, his bright green eyes pleading for attention.
"Geez, buddy…" He grumbled as he stooped down to offer the feline a few scratches along the back of his ears which started up the cat's obnoxiously loud purring. He stood upright after a moment, still trying to respect Nikki's space but still feeling the twinge of distress that flooded through her emotions. He stared at her back, watching her cascade of dark brown hair wave from side to side as she gently shook her head.
"You have more experience than me…you've been with someone who shares your gifts - what does Mitchell say?" Nikki's sobs were mellowing out, but her tone had grown sharp and accusatory. Shawn glanced down at the movement from the bottom of his eye line and saw Hal saunter over towards his owner wonderingly. The cat paused just a few feet away from her and sat down, his ears perked up with concern as he too listened in on Nikki's frazzled conversation. "This is out of my area of expertise too! I'm sorry…"
"Nikki, what's going on?" Shawn finally blurted out demandingly. Nikki shot a hard look over her shoulder at him, her eyes bloodshot and rimmed with tears.
"Ally…Ally, don't say that. I know you miss her, but I promise you, she's at peace…it's what you wanted…" Nikki cut off as Ally said something, her voice somewhat less shrill than it had been a few moments ago. Shawn reached for Nikki's hand and at his touch Nikki seemed to visibly relax. Her fingers, wet from furiously wiping away her tears, squeezed at his hand for strength. She made a sympathetic sound in her throat before she addressed the girl on the other end of the line. "…Will you be okay?"
Shawn heard a pause from Ally and a muffled remark, probably from Mitchell. Nikki nodded in somewhat relief and then swallowed, blinking back her surge of nerves.
"We'll talk tomorrow…if I have time in the afternoon, let's meet at the coffeshop down the block from the Ghostbusters' firehouse, okay? I'll call you when I get a chance."
Shawn ran his thumb over the back of Nikki's hand as he listened to her reassurances and bid her new friend goodnight before gently clicking the phone back into its holder on the wall. She stood still with her shoulder jammed against the wall, and her hand still clasped firmly in Shawn's. They stood that way for a long, tense moment, unspoken words going unsaid in the air though Shawn could feel her mix of emotions. She knew that he could and she allowed him to feel the swell of conflicted desperation before she finally melted into his embrace.
"It's going to be alright," Shawn breathed as she clung to him, shaking with her withheld sobs. She buried her face in his chest, turning it to the side so she wouldn't completely soak his t-shirt with her stream of tears. He stroked her back gently, remaining quiet and patient as he always did when she was at her wit's end.
"She wants her mother back…" She finally spoke up, her voice steady though she hiccupped quietly at the end of her statement. Shawn nodded against the top of her head knowingly.
"I'd be surprised if she didn't," He reasoned.
Nikki shook her head against his chest, lifting a hand to wipe across her face. She rested it against her chest and hugged his arm closer to her with her other hand, and Shawn could feel the tremors running through her fingers as she spoke again.
"Shawn…there are times when I enjoy this job…but I have never questioned my abilities as much as I have today."
"Nikki…what you can do is amazing. You're able to humanize the Ghostbusters…you make us more than just pest-controllers. I don't know what this Ally girl said to you, but you did right by that ghost today. She'd been there for her daughter as long as she could and then some, but it was unhealthy. And like I heard you just tell her a minute ago – it was her idea to ask you to help anyway. And hey…" Shawn pulled back to look down at Nikki's upturned face. "We didn't charge her, so she legally can't sue us."
A ghost of a smile crossed Nikki's face and Shawn gently shook her to try and soften her mood. She squeezed his arm fondly and then pulled his arms open so that she could turn in and hug him fully. She sniffled and then Shawn felt her stiffen and lean back to look up at him once more. Leaning down to meet her lips, he was relieved when she allowed him a kiss, though it was shorter than he'd expected. He was about to reach for another one when she raised a hand up and blocked his lips with her fingers.
"Shawn, it's been a long day and you still smell like that seafood restaurant from this morning…"
Shawn slumped forward with embarrassment and raised his eyes to the ceiling as Nikki chuckled quietly, peeling herself out of his arms. With a teasing smirk, she playfully punched his chest and gestured for him to turn around and head towards the hallway she had been headed for upon their return to their apartment.
"First shower's yours," She offered. Shawn nodded in a pretend bow and watched as she bent down and picked up Hal to carry him to the sofa for his snuggling session.
As soon as she heard the shower switch on from down the hall, Nikki let the waterworks run again. She caressed Hal's warm, soft body to her chest, his purring only partially soothing. She stared past his twitching black ears at her knees, scabbed over from her wild encounter with the homeless woman's ghost in the alley the day before. Her eyes grew distant as she ran through the stressful past few days, her nerves exhausting her even more than her physical tolls.
"What am I supposed to do, Hal?" She murmured dejectedly. She looked down at the cat who turned to blink his bright green eyes up at her in acknowledgement. She grimaced at her own insecurities and continued slowly scratching behind Hal's ears. "I did everything I could think to do in the situation yesterday with that alley ghost…but got the crap beat out of me for it. And then today, I thought I was helping Ally, and she calls wanting me to bring her mom back? H-how am I supposed to react to that?"
Hal meowed with irritation as Nikki broke the steady rotation of her fingers on the back of his little head. He headbutted her commandingly and she reluctantly obliged, picking back up where she'd left off.
"She insisted there had to be some way, that she wasn't really gone…but that's nuts! Why would she question me like that?" Nikki argued aloud. She hoisted Hal up and shifted onto her side, leaning back more comfortably against the armrest of the couch before she plopped the cat back down in her lap to resume stroking him. She shook her head, her mouth turning down into a deep frown. "I'm my own expert, right? I should know my limitations and abilities…just because she can see and talk to ghosts too, doesn't mean…ugh…I don't know what it means."
Nikki looked over Hal's head at the blank television screen just across from her, pondering switching it on to look for something to leave on for background noise. She could still hear the shower running, which meant Shawn was definitely taking his time to allow her to decompress. She sighed heavily and ran another few full-body strokes along Hal's arched back.
"I wonder…" She stopped mid-thought, her brows pinching together. She lowered her gaze back down to Hal who nudged against her stopped hand with a chirping meow to encourage her to keep petting. "She sounded almost confused over the phone…I wonder if she really didn't believe I could cross her mom over…"
Nikki thought back to the amazement on Ally's face after her mother had disappeared. She seemed slow to process it, but then Mitchell had been the one to actually speak up after the deed had been done. Grief had a funny way with different people though, so Nikki couldn't hold Ally's hesitation against her. Maybe in the few hours since Nikki's visit, she and Mitchell had been able to more explicitly process the events of the day and Ally had discovered her attachment to her mother. It had to have been extremely hard on her, like Nikki had told her father earlier, a ghost family member was still a family member. She visibly shook herself and pushed the thought away, lingering for only a moment on Janine's presence in the firehouse this afternoon. Clearly the secretary had been making her rounds since her death, though she was still in the odd transition from life to afterlife. Nikki just hoped that nothing bad would happen to the poor confused woman before she was ever finally ready to make peace with her friends and move on. Nikki didn't think she could do it, but if Janine asked, she hoped her heart would allow her use her power to help her friend.
"Thanks for the pep talk, Hal." Nikki mumbled wearily as she shifted deeper into the couch, letting her hand fall away from the cat's back. Hal turned his face up to watch her with a visible huffing exhale and after a moment of realizing that she was finished petting him for the time being, he hopped over her and perched on the back of the sofa like the guard cat he was, his purring motor still filling the room and beginning to block out Nikki's stress-induced thoughts.
"Well…good morning sunshine." Peter's snarky voice greeted Nikki as soon as she'd entered the firehouse and rounded the front desk.
"Morning," She groaned as she plopped down in front of the computer. Her hair was pulled back into a tight, wet braid down her back, and the scent of lavender soap lingered around her from the hurried shower she'd taken shortly after waking up. She'd thrown on the first thing she'd seen which was a pair of khaki capri pants and a short sleeved floral blouse. Since she would be playing secretary for most of the day, she wanted to look at least partially presentable. As she waited for the computer to boot up, she waved a hand in Peter's general direction in response to his mocking tone and took a deep slug from the giant, steaming coffee she had picked up on her way in. Shawn carried a tray of medium sized coffees, setting one beside Nikki's elbow for himself and then handing the rest of them off to Winston's eager hands.
"Wow, morale boosters already this morning. Glad we have you two young bloods around to keep us moving!" Winston remarked gratefully. Nikki set her coffee cup down and opened up the large paper bag of pastries she'd picked up for the group as well. She selected a blueberry muffin from the mix and then held the bag out to Peter as he made his way over to antagonize her. He took the bag from her with a whistle.
"Ooh, you spoil us! We're not used to this kind of treatment." He grabbed a huge cinnamon roll from the bag and passed it on to Winston in exchange for the coffee tray. He bit into the pastry hungrily and moaned with contentment. "Man, I could get up this early everyday for this kinda food…"
"You're just saying that because you haven't fully woken up yet," Ray snapped, grabbing his coffee out of the tray and reaching blindly into the bag Winston offered. He pulled out another blueberry muffin and sat down in the seat across from Nikki to enjoy his breakfast, already in his Ghostbusters' uniform. He slurped his coffee, looking his daughter over as she pulled the schedule up on the computer screen once it finally booted up. "Hey sweetheart, how're you feeling this morning?"
"Feeling better than last night," She said optimistically. Her slightly puffy eyes drifted over to Shawn where he sat perched by Peter's desk along with Winston and Egon. Winston savored a cinnamon roll identical to Peter's and Egon was chewing hungrily on a berry danish while they tried to energize for the busy day ahead. Nikki stifled a yawn and then winced as a pain zapped through the side of her neck. "Although if somebody hadn't let me sleep on the couch all night, I wouldn't have this crick in my neck!"
"You looked comfortable enough to me," Shawn said defensively. He crumpled up his already-empty doughnut paper. "Besides, that was the most genuine sleep I think you've had all week. Although, I did make sure you were breathing before I went to bed."
"…Does she sometimes not breathe?" Peter asked, concern filtering through his sleepy cockiness. He flashed a wary look down at Nikki who rolled her eyes and went back to jiggling the computer mouse impatiently before chugging another long drink of coffee.
"She did the night before…though it turned out to be a dream/vision thing. Hopefully just a fluke." Shawn said conversationally, his tone willfully light. Nikki cut an irritated glare in her boyfriend's direction and exhaled with impatient relief as the computer finally finished booting up and she hastily got to work checking emails before their day began.
"Have your visions been happening more sporadically lately, Nikki?" Egon's voice chimed in wonderingly. Nikki shrugged, half-listening to the murmur of voices around her as everyone polished off their small breakfasts. She clicked through the emails, internally crossing her fingers that nothing new had come in to contradict the day's set schedule and she smiled through a bite of muffin at her father.
"Well…they're been a little more frequent over the past few weeks, but nothing overly dramatic." She finally answered as she rerouted back to the schedule where thankfully nothing had changed since her modifications from the day before.
"Could it be Ellie's fault?" Egon asked conversationally. Nikki smirked at his use of her nickname for the Elemental Spirit housed down in the firehouse basement.
"Ellie?" Winston asked bitingly.
"Alright, we've gotta set some boundaries here guys," Peter said, holding up his half finished cinnamon roll and coffee for effect. "You can't name the spooks. They're not pets."
"The Elemental Spirit might've caused a few of my visions, but I don't think she had anything to do with the recurring dreams I've been having." Nikki smiled, following Peter's halfhearted order not the name the ghost. She grabbed for the pad of sticky notes tucked beside the monitor and quickly jotted something down from the computer.
"I told you about the nightmares last night…" Ray cautioned her lightly. He rested a hand on his daughter's shoulder worriedly. When she made no immediate reaction to answer him, he put a hand on her shoulder and rocked her gently. "You're stressing too much…"
"I'm not…" She insisted, laying down her pen and peeling the sticky note from the rest of the pad. Using the sticky side of the note, she stuck it onto the back of the hand that laid on her shoulder. "This is our first stop. We need to decide who all is needed and who's dropping them off to go ten minutes away to the next call."
Ray lifted his hand from Nikki's shoulder to squint down at the address scrawled out on the sticky note. Nikki leaned over and hastily scrawled out the next address from the schedule while he read off the name of the business that had been demanding their Ghostbusting services for the past few weeks.
"Furry Friends…" He murmured thoughtfully as he turned back to face his colleagues.
"I sure hope that's a pet store of some kind…" Peter said, arms crossed over his chest as he chewed on the last of his cinnamon roll.
"It is," Nikki assured him bluntly. "It's been on the backburner for the past several weeks because of the train conductor ghost. Whenever he makes an appearance, everything else is put on hold. But since he's taken care of now…who wants to go save some traumatized puppies and kittens?"
"Sounds like fun, you tagging along? If so, I'm definitely gonna have to keep an eye on you. Hal's very territorial, you know. I know how you get around animals." Shawn teased her. Nikki rolled her eyes and then pulled up the description of the bust, just to prepare the guys.
"It says here that there have been several counts of mysterious activity causing the pets to freak out at almost nothing. They'll randomly burst into fits of panic or rage and the workers don't know why. One lady says she was met by a raccoon when she was taking three of the smaller dogs out for a walk one morning just before opening the store. Of course, the dogs freaked out trying to go after the animal, but she says it literally quote 'disappeared' and the dogs were a pain to lead back inside after that."
"That sounds just like a typical raccoon though, they're skittish animals," Egon criticized it, though his raised eyebrow betrayed how perturbed he was. Nikki looked back at him for a moment, holding up a finger cautioning him to wait.
"There's more to go on, I hope…" Winston said, swishing his coffee cup around boredly.
"Another lady says when she was closing one night, she was stocking some of the shelves for the next day and was startled when all of a sudden, every single one of the animals in their little shop started howling and screeching. She said, even over the sound of the pets, she could hear what sounded like a horse galloping by outside. Of course when she looked out, there was nothing there. But she said that 'horse' galloped back and forth in front of that store until she finally got up the courage to try and leave."
"Interesting. I'll volunteer to take this one," Egon spoke up as soon as Nikki had finished recounting the information. "If it's anything like the superstitious nothingness that we dealt with in Sleepy Hollow those years ago, I want to be there to debunk it."
Nikki nodded with dubious amusement and then looked to Ray who she knew would tag along with his favorite colleague.
"I'll go with Spengler. Sounds like a poltergeist of some kind maybe…spooking all the animals to give the workers trouble." Ray guessed with an excited light in his eyes.
"What's the other option for the morning?" Shawn asked, eager to get things moving. Nikki took a quick sip from her coffee cup and then scrolled down to read off the information for the other appointment.
"Maple Acres Nursing Home…Residents and nurses all say that Room 116 is haunted. They try to use it as a storage room most of the time so no one has to deal with it, but whenever someone tried to haul boxes and supplies to the room, things just 'go wrong.' I'm guessing it's the works – lights flickering, boxes upended, that sorta thing. Might be a poor older person who died in that room and they're confused. Which is why I'm going to this one," Nikki said, finishing her recitation with her decision.
"Fair enough," Peter said. He high-fived Winston who barely had time to register what his colleague's enthusiasm meant. Before anyone could form any remark about his reaction Peter shrugged and grabbed for the bag of pastries to see if there was anything left. "Means we get a freebie. Little Stantz is great with old people, this'll be a piece of cake."
"You're willing to do a crossing this early in the day? What about the other calls?" Ray asked cautiously. Nikki picked up her partially-eaten muffin and took a slow bite of it, waving the crumbs off of her fingers as she chewed.
"I'll have time to recuperate, it'll be fine. Besides, we don't know that it'll be easy, so Pete, don't bank on it. That's just what we're hoping for." She said chidingly. Peter straightened where he stood, pressing a hand against his lower back with a dramatic wince.
"Ugh…and I was hoping to save my poor achy back some trouble today…"
"I'll go with Nikki –" Shawn started to declare. He was cut off by Ray who fixed him with a stern glance as he folded his empty muffin paper.
"I think Egon and I may need your help a little more. Let's even up the teams, okay?" Ray suggested gently. Shawn shot a worried look to Nikki where she was closing out the emails for the time being. She paused with her coffee cup once more lifted to her lips and her face melted with warm leniency. A guilty look crossed her face and she shrugged.
"It'll be fine, like you said before, if I went to the pet shop with you guys, it would just be a bad temptation. I'll do the most good here." She lifted the cup the rest of the way to her lips and took a deep drink of her now lukewarm coffee. "Although, if you want to pick up some cat treats for Hal while you're there…"
"Deal." Shawn sighed in reply. He turned to Ray and Egon who both nodded at him simultaneously with approval. Nikki smiled, knowing Shawn's disappointment was just a put-on and that he'd told her time and time again, he enjoyed hanging out and working with the two 'brainiacs' of the group.
"Who knows, maybe we'll stay long enough to play a round of Bingo with the uh, living residents." Winston suggested lightly. He tossed his empty coffee cup and his napkin covered in sticky remnants from his cinnamon bun into the small trash can by the desk and then moved toward his locker to finish suiting up.
"You know, I don't usually bestow my presence at trivial nursing home games, but I think the Bingo King may have to come out of retirement for this one." Peter said, puffing out his chest. Nikki rolled her eyes lightly and watched him glance at his wrist for the time. "We goin' or what?"
"Yep, let's go so we can get back. Dad, are the walkies fully charged? I think they may come in handy since we're splitting up for a little while this morning." Nikki asked hurriedly. Ray nodded thoughtfully and then started up the stairs to retrieve them along with Egon who was also a master at knowing what equipment was needed.
"Extra traps are in the basement…Peter, would you go down and grab a few please?" Ray called down, his excitement whipping into a frenzy as they prepared to leave. Nikki was about to offer to go down herself to check up on the elemental spirit but a light tap on her shoulder startled her and she stayed where she was, sitting speculatively at the computer.
"I'll get 'em!" Shawn shouted, jogging past Nikki to do as Ray had asked. Peter was already getting into the Ecto-1, insisting on claiming his shotgun seat before anyone else could. Nikki waited until the car door shut with a lazy slam and Nikki peered over to Winston. He had just zipped up his jumpsuit and hurried over to check the packs on the slider in the back of the Ecto-1.
"Janine, was that you?" Nikki spoke from the corner of her mouth in the direction she had felt the poke. A half beat later there was another hesitant brush against her shoulder and a soft reply.
"Yeah…it's me."
Nikki watched Winston securing the proton packs in the back of the car for a few seconds and then scooted over a few inches in the rolling desk chair to allow the ghost secretary room to peer over her shoulder at the layout for the day. Nikki lifted her gaze once more to Winston as the back of the Ecto-1 swung shut solidly. The man glanced at his watch and then met Nikki's gaze over the computer.
"You good?" He asked genuinely. Nikki nodded and looked back hurriedly at the computer.
"Yep! Just finalizing the schedule. If all goes well, we should all be able to stop and take an early lunch somewhere on the way back here before we start on the next call." She explained chipperly. She heard a quiet scoff from beside her where she knew Janine was standing invisibly. Winston nodded impatiently and then darted for the stairs to help with whatever Ray and Egon were scrounging for upstairs. As soon as he'd reached the halfway mark in the long stairs leading up to the second floor, Nikki addressed the space beside her. "I know it's a full day…but I think we need this. We've been…slow…for the past week. We need to start catching up."
As soon as Winston disappeared through the doorway upstairs, Janine melted into existence leaning over Nikki's shoulder. Her face was panged with nervous energy, but Nikki was reassured by her familiar presence. Her eyes gleamed from behind her bright colored glasses as she scanned the computer screen in front of her.
"Yeah…you might not make it to the last appointment before the guys burn out…these are some pretty tough calls you've got lined up for today." She said with light criticism. Nikki chewed the inside of her cheek sheepishly.
"I know…but they're priority. I figure we'll try to do as much as we can and I've already talked it over with the grocery store, the art museum and the lady on Broadway…we may need to push them to tomorrow or even the day after. They weren't happy but they understand." Nikki explained softly. Her eyes detected movement from the Ecto-1 in front of her and she saw Peter's head move to lean against the passenger window as he nodded off lazily. Her mouth tilted up fondly as she felt a little ashamed at having ordered the group to start at such an early hour.
"Sounds like something I would do. But I probably would've pushed the Broadway deal to top priority. They get desperate…they'll pay big bucks to get the Ghostbusters to come out as soon as possible. 'The show must go on,' and all that."
"Yeah, but from what I've heard, the last time they were called to take care of a ghost, they actually had to close down for a weekend. One of the set pieces from Cats turned out to be a literal voodoo conjuring magnet for alley cats and there was an infestation. Great publicity but they lost a lot of money." Nikki said. Janine laughed shortly in remembrance.
"Yeah, not only did they lose with ticket sales and the bill to us, they lost a lot of their actors because their triggered allergies set them back so badly. I'm sorry…but if you've got a cat allergy, don't you think it's a little ironic to be in a CATS musical? That was always controversial to me."
"Well this time it's the rose from Beauty and the Beast," Nikki muttered with a snort. "Apparently, it glows with an enchanting glow even when they switch the thing off for the night. But I hardly think it's a ghost thing, though I tried explaining that to them. They won't rest until they have us at least take a look at it. Egon thinks it's just faulty wiring…" Nikki trailed off as she heard footsteps jogging up from the basement stairs behind her. Janine's smile faded abruptly and she faded to invisible as Shawn's heavy breathing and emergence interrupted the girls' lighthearted bantering.
"I've got three extra traps. In addition to the ones we keep in the car, I think that'll be plenty, don't you?" He panted. He stopped by the desk just beside where Janine had stood a fraction of a second before. Nikki moved her hands to the keyboard like she'd been in the middle of typing and she paused a moment before allowing herself to look up at her boyfriend absently.
"Oh! Yeah, I think that'll be more than enough. But at least that'll sate Dad and Egon. You know how they like to be overprepared." Nikki said chidingly. Shawn nodded, eyebrows raised knowingly. He lifted the fistful of coiled cords and the traps dangled beneath them clunking together loudly.
"Surely with Egon and your Dad together, they can come up with something a little less…bulky?" He quipped. Nikki was about to say something snarky back about how Shawn had spent time as a ghost and should therefore know everything about working with ghostly weapons and containment so he could handle it, but at that moment a shout from above cut her off.
"Look out below!" Ray's excited voice thundered. Nikki and Shawn both glanced up toward the firepole by the desk and seconds later Ray's boots hit the ground firmly. He hoisted a proton pack on his back and stepped confidently over to the Ecto-1 to store it along with the other 4 packs. Nikki stood up from the secretary desk and fixed her dad's back a scrutinizing stare. Egon and Winston descended the stairs like normal people, Winston donning a duffel bag containing the smaller gadgets and Egon adjusting a pair of Ecto-Goggles over his face while simultaneously jogging down the stairs after Winston. Nikki shook her head at her father's obliviousness to his reckless choices in his eagerness.
"Dad, you've gotta slow down," She scolded him as she reached her locker to hastily don her Ghostbusters' uniform over her street clothes. Ray turned from the back of the Ecto-1 and took the traps from Shawn's offered grasp. As Nikki stepped into the legs of the suit and pulled the top part over her shoulders, she lightened her tone. "That's some heavy equipment, and besides, we already have five packs in here. Does everyone really need one?"
"It doesn't hurt…" He shrugged, sliding into the backseat beside Shawn. "Besides, I know you haven't been on many calls pertaining to animal spirits, but it can usually get pretty ugly. Best to have as many loaded as possible. And old people…even as ghosts they can get pretty violent. I'm just looking out, honey."
Nikki zipped up her jumpsuit hurriedly and kicked her shoes back in front of her locker, grabbing her boots in the same motion. Winston ducked into the driver's seat and as Nikki reached the car, she saw that the only seat left open was the one in the front middle between Peter and Winston. She paused by the passenger window, staring at Peter's unfazed face pressed against the glass. Nikki shook her head and moved toward the garage door, sliding the lock open and pulling the doors inward as Winston put the car into drive and inched it out. When Nikki had firmly locked the doors back in place and stepped out onto the street outside, Winston was waiting patiently for her to slide into the front seat on his side. Nikki laughed knowingly as she quickly took her spot between them. Best not to wake the sleeping bear until it was time to work.