"There you two are! I was starting to get a little worried." Janine Melnitz called out as she pushed herself up from behind her desk, upending a mountain of paperwork as she moved. She rounded the corner of her desk and her red heels clacked noisily in the empty garage as she welcomed the young couple home.
"Worried? About us?" Shawn scoffed good-naturedly as he set Nikki's duffel bag on the floor just in the corner by the garage door. Nikki smiled warmly as the short red-haired receptionist attacked her in a motherly hug. Janine held her tightly for a moment and Nikki could only picture the teasing pout that the woman shot at Shawn over Nikki's shoulder.
"Maybe I don't worry so much about you, but I certainly do about her." Janine admitted pulling away and putting a hand under Nikki's chin accusingly. "You're tired, aren't you? My instincts can sense it…"
"You don't have that power, I do." Shawn intoned with a roll of his eyes. Nikki smirked at him and then followed Janine slowly toward the fresh coffee that the woman had ready on the small table along the wall by her desk. As she poured the girl a large cup, Janine gave Nikki a knowing glance.
"He likes to flaunt that, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, a little bit." Nikki admitted lightheartedly. She poured a healthy dose of cream into her steaming cup of coffee and carried it back toward the chair seated in front of Janine's desk. "But I guess we've been stuck with that for the past three years and it hasn't gone away yet, so I can't hate it too much."
"You don't hate it," Shawn said teasingly as he followed Nikki with a few packets of sugar. She took them with a question in her eyes and he quickly nodded seriously down at her. "If you want to have any hope of making it through dinner when your dad and the rest of the guys get back in a little while, you'll need an extra sugar boost."
"Okay…" Nikki relented, tearing open a packet with her teeth and dumping its contents into her steaming cup of coffee. "I'm not a big fan of sugar in my coffee but whatever…"
"That tired huh?" Janine scoffed, staring at the girl over the rims of her glasses. "Rough flight?"
"No, uh…" Nikki winced at her first sip of the coffee, blanching at both the taste and the scalding temperature of the drink. She licked her lips and blew over the brim of her cup while Shawn worked to open another sugar packet to dump into her drink. "I may have fallen for the on-flight ghost's heart-wrenching story and helped to cross her over."
"The stewardess." Shawn added for emphasis. Janine blinked at him and then pressed a hand to her chest as she reached over the desktop for Nikki's hand.
"Oh honey…" She cooed with genuine concern, patting her hand reassuringly. "You shouldn't have done that, you know how tired you get traveling as it is! Besides…I thought we had a negotiation that you wouldn't do that on your days off…"
"Shawn's already given me that speech, thanks." Nikki said bluntly, taking another sip of sugar-filled coffee. Her eyes snapped open wide and she smacked her lips at the violent sugary taste that filled her mouth. She shot a sharp look at Shawn where he absently fed the tiny sugar packets through the shredder by Janine's desk. The air was filled with the brief grating sound of the paper being shredded along with the gritty sound of the few remaining sugar particles that had been stuck to the interior of the packets.
"Hey! Shawn, you know better than that!" Janine scolded the boy, tossing a rolled up magazine at his head in her frustration. She immediately reached for the machine and watched as the final bits of the packets trickled down into the waste basket underneath it. When her face reemerged over the desktop once more, a steely glare had overtaken her normally warm expression. "If that gums up my shredder, you owe me a new one!"
"Lighten up, Janine. I solemnly swear I'll buy you a new one if you really deem it necessary." Shawn said with a reassuring smirk. Janine kept her red lips pursed as she shook her head, settling back in her chair to rummage through the cluttered but organized mess on her desk.
"Is there anything I can do to help around here until the guys get back?" Nikki asked sweetly, trying to steer the eccentric receptionist away from the small fiasco with the shredder. Janine turned her gaze to the girl perched casually in the chair across from her.
"Sweetheart, you just got back! Take it easy for a little while." Janine scolded her lightly. She tapped a pencil absently on a stack of papers and shot Nikki a forced smile. "Everything's been handled smoothly this past week in your absence. What little we have for you to do can wait till you've rested some."
Nikki's gaze flicked to the stack that Janine was trying to inconspicuously slide beneath a magazine. She leaned forward quickly and snatched the papers from under the receptionist's hand, laughing at her protests.
"Now Nikki, I told you it could wait…"
"Wow…all this while I was gone?!" Nikki said as she leaned back in her chair to scan through the completed work orders from the past few days. "Two class threes and a…woah…"
Shawn peeked over Nikki's shoulder and reached for the paper she currently gawked at. As she paused to read the paper fully, he reached over her lap to take it from her.
"Nikki…you need rest."
"An elemental spirit? From the harbor?" She tugged the paper away from Shawn and turned her back to him as she continued to read over the bust's details. "Class five…caused hurricane-like winds over the water and boats to capsize…how on earth did you catch it?!"
"Nikki, honey…it's still technically your day off. You know what your dad would say if he caught you…" Janine tried blandly to coax the girl into giving up the paperwork. She rolled her eyes and slid back in her own chair and propped her elbow on the desk with a partially amused smirk. Shawn however, still had a little more fight left in him.
"We caught her alright. At least, we think it was a her. Hard to see through all that wind and debris." Shawn said, feeding Nikki's interest. She swiveled in her chair, eyebrows raised as she fixed her wide brown eyes on the boy edging up from his seat. "Egon didn't want to put her in the containment unit yet, I think he's planned a series of tests with her. You wanna go down and take a look? The meters flip out just being in the same room as the trap!"
Nikki narrowed her gaze at Shawn, knowing he was reading her mood like a book. He just knew she wouldn't be able to pass up the opportunity of interacting with that powerful of a ghost. While she was busy at war with herself on whether to fall for her boyfriend's persuasive enticements or keep reading through the amount of work they had for her to review, Shawn dove forward and snatched the paperwork from her anyway. She made no reaction as she watched him return the papers to Janine who quickly stashed them in the locked drawer behind her desk.
"We'll let you look at these later Nikki, I promise." Janine said, her voice dripping with motherly scolding. Shawn patted Nikki on the head with joking reassurance. When she looked up at him with wary betrayal, he stuck out his hand for her to take. She eyed him distrustfully for a long moment, watching from the corner of her eye as Janine went back to sorting through the clutter on her desk.
"Come on," Shawn said, poking her on the tip of her nose to grasp her full attention once more. She blinked and pushed his hand away, taking another swig of the disgustingly sweet coffee blend before she set the cup on the corner of Janine's desk.
"Where are we going?" She asked reluctantly as she stood with exaggerated laziness from the chair to follow his eager leading around the reception area. Shawn paused to turn and glance back at her, his head tilted to the side with a look of genuine concern on his face.
"What do you mean? I thought you wanted to see the class five?" Shawn said obviously, his gaze shooting from Nikki to the direction of the basement and then to rest on Janine who was staring with her mouth agape in surprise. She pointed her pencil at the pair of them warningly.
"No, no, no, you are not letting that thing out, not in here! Not while the guys are gone!" She began to protest sharply. Nikki ignored her, having stopped to stare at Shawn in hesitant confusion.
"I thought you were using that offer as a ruse." She said drily. She crossed her arms and then glanced back at Janine's warning glare from her desk. Shawn held Nikki's stare for a moment and then smiled at Janine reassuringly.
"I'm not letting it out, you think I wanna almost drown again? I was there, I saw that thing in person. I'm not stupid." Shawn promised. Janine seemed to relax a little bit back into her chair, but she watched the couple carefully as they resumed their march for the basement.
"You'd better not be long, the guys are due back anytime now ya know."
"We're just gonna take a quick look," Shawn called over his shoulder as he led Nikki down the basement steps. Once they were out of the secretary's sight, Shawn turned over his shoulder in his descent and rolled his eyes, flashing Nikki a knowing grin. She smirked and shook her head, playfully shoving him forward as they reached the bottom level of the firehouse.
"What's that smell?" Nikki asked, pausing at the foot of the stairs and wrinkling her nose at the sharp, coppery scent that had wafted her way upon entering the basement. She scanned the room, looking for anything out of place as Shawn glanced back at her quizzically. He sniffed a few times himself and then frowned.
"Electromagnetic discharge? You know the containment unit is constantly shifting between the variants of lasers to keep the ghosts controlled." Shawn suggested. Nikki kept her pondering gaze moving across the room, and she paused as she caught a glimpse of the lone ghost trap resting on the metal shelf right by the unit. She darted past him quickly, noticing a thin trail of smoke snaking up from the cautionary-colored doors on the top of the gadget. She carefully reached for it and withdrew her hands with a surprised gasp as she felt the scorching heat of the trap's sides. Taking a small whiff at the air around the trap, Nikki's heart beat a little faster.
"Let me guess…this is where the elemental ghost is being kept." She surmised with a grimace. Shawn had moved to her side to peer down at the trap and he followed her example and sniffed lightly, blanching at the highly acidic smell that permeated the whole shelf.
"Yeah…uh, well like I said, Egon didn't want to put it in the unit without first running some tests. We were trying to –"
"You just left it in the trap?" Nikki shot icily, whirling on him in disbelief. She reached out for the trap once more and tapped at it with her finger, cringing as the heat seemed to pulsate from the device itself. The trap didn't move at her touch, so whatever was inside wasn't currently trying to break out. "Surely Egon knows better than to leave something as strong as a class five, let alone an 'elemental spirit', contained in a trap this long? How long has it been? This thing looks like it's been overheating for days…it's corroding like crazy…"
"If you'd let me finish, I was about to explain." Shawn said defensively, maneuvering them both back a step from the shelf. Nikki stared at the trap for a moment and then raised her eyebrows expectantly at the boy. "We caught this two days ago at the East River. It's a good thing your dad and Egon found a way to make the proton packs semi-waterproof because every single one of us got drenched or thrown into the river. Winston had to pull me out before I got too far from the docks; thank God I didn't get swept out with the boats. It was a literal hurricane out there, Nikki."
"Geez…" Nikki murmured with a wince, taking in Shawn's sincerity. He nodded, keeping his eyes drilled on the trap.
"Egon had to hang on to the trap the whole ride back, she was fighting for hours to get free. It was freaky…the car stopped and started all along the drive. They said the ghost was somehow still controlling the elements while trapped in the box…"
"Elemental spirts…" Nikki closed her eyes thoughtfully and pressed a knuckle to her mouth. After pausing for a few seconds, her eyes popped open again and she frowned at Shawn. "Elemental spirits control the elements, we know, but don't they usually only tend to control one in particular? Like that specific spirit's strong suit?"
"Typically, yeah that's what your dad tried to argue. But the car was on fritz the whole time we had that ghost on the way home. Egon said it was the electricity, it was trying to sway it in its favor so that it could free itself."
"Wait," Nikki said haltingly, her eyebrows furrowing together in forced thought. "You said it was almost like a hurricane out on the river. So that was the ghost controlling…water..."
"Yeah, and then it was the electricity powering the motor in the car." Shawn said, still frowning questioningly as he followed along with Nikki's train of thought. Her face was screwed in concentration as she turned her attention back to the trap smoldering on the shelf in front of them.
"They can change their elemental control?" Nikki murmured more to herself than as a question for Shawn. After a moment he shook his head and gestured to the wall by the stairs.
"We'd been trying to build something a little more stable to house it in until Egon's done with it, but we just haven't had the time. Yes, we know it's dangerous to leave a loaded trap for long periods at a time, we've been keeping an eye on it." Shawn said, back to his defensive mode. Nikki followed his indication and could see the framework of a fish tank-sized box-like structure that the Ghostbusters had apparently cut into the wall. She looked back to the trap for a comparison of size and then crossed her arms over her chest with a sigh.
"Triple the size of a regular trap…they really think that'll hold it?"
"Oh absolutely not," Shawn said with an ironic grin. "Not for very long, anyway. But you know Egon and his experiments."
Nikki scoffed with an amused smirk and she stepped toward the trap once more, peering down at it skeptically. She felt a buzzing charge emanating from the device the closer she got to it and she had to stop herself from reaching out for it a third time, not wanting to get burnt from the melting trap. Her arms were suddenly riddled with goosebumps and she clenched her hands into fists as she kept her arms crossed in a show of nonchalance.
"Do you feel that?" She finally asked Shawn wonderingly. He stood by her side staring down at the trap warily and when she spoke he turned his head to her hesitantly.
"Just…just the regular charge from the containment unit," He said slowly, his voice edged with growing concern. "Why, do you feel something more?"
Nikki edged back from the trap, bumping her shoulder into his chest in her abrupt movement. She half-turned away from the shelf and smiled weakly up at him.
"Yeah…" She breathed with surprise. "I think we need to hurry up and finish the bigger trap. If that thing gets loose…I don't have the energy to try and face it tonight."
Despite her coffee intake, Nikki could feel the weariness threatening to overwhelm her once more. Her spontaneous session with the stewardess ghost had taken its toll on her, and she hadn't yet allowed herself the rest and recuperation she needed to be running at full capacity. She gave the loaded trap one more wary glance before turning fully into Shawn's chest and wrapping her arms around him with a weary sigh. He seemed to feel her tired emotions, like he was sometimes annoyingly able to do, because he laid an arm around her shoulders and twirled her around to the basement stairs.
"Come on, we tried to tell you to take it easy. Your excitement covered it up for a while, I know. But will you listen to me now?" Shawn lightly teased her. Nikki jabbed him in the side with her fist and allowed him to walk her back up the basement stairs to the first floor of the firehouse.
"…best you can do. At least it's gone from the train station, right?"
Janine's voice carried to them as they reached the landing. Nikki was instantly all ears, eager to hear what was going on. As she rounded the filing cabinets and settled into her chair across from the secretary, Nikki felt her stomach drop at the stressed look upon Janine's face as she listened to the caller. The woman glanced up unhappily as she noticed the couple's return.
"Dad?" Nikki mouthed in question. Janine nodded absently and then pressed a manicured hand to massage her forehead.
"Well, I guess if he turns up near the park, somebody'll call. It's not like you can put up lost ghost posters." Janine said drily. Nikki slumped in her chair and looked up to Shawn who was watching Janine with a glum frown. He turned and leaned on her desk dejectedly and shrugged at Nikki.
"Sounds like they lost it." He said quietly. He shook his head with a weary sigh. "I can only imagine what the rest of the week is gonna look like. That's gonna be on the agenda among all the other things piling up."
Nikki winced at the thought and remembered the healthy stack of paperwork Janine had slipped out of sight. The girl clasped her hands in her lap, rubbing them together thoughtfully as she addressed Shawn.
"What if I took next week off from the bookshop? I'm sure Rachel can spare me at least for a few days…she knows how things are around here."
"Nikki, no. She's been without you for the past week and a half already, you can't ask that of her…" Shawn tried to protest. Nikki bit her lip and glanced back to Janine who was still immersed in listening to the Ghostbusters' recount of their failed attempt at catching the train conductor ghost.
"…no, don't try and go after him this late…it'll be dark in a few hours. Come back, Nikki's been here for almost an hour now. Let's just call it a day." Janine said wearily. She paused for a moment and then met Nikki's worried gaze over the desk. She smiled. "Yeah, she's right here."
"Dad?" Nikki said once the phone had been passed to her. She clutched it close to her ear with anticipation.
"Hey Nikki," Ray Stantz' voice said cheerfully through the receiver. "Get in okay?"
"Hi, yeah. Everything went fine. Crowds weren't too awful or unmanageable this time. It was pretty nice." She said nonchalantly.
"That's great, honey. Well, look. We're just finishing up here at the station and it's still a good drive back. If you and Shawn wanna go grab some dinner, you're welcome to. Me and the guys have gotta set up a schedule when we get back for tomorrow so that we can have Friday evening off."
"Off? For what?" Nikki asked with a confused frown. She was met by her father's tired chuckle on the other end of the line.
"We're celebrating your birthday, of course. Why wouldn't we?"
"Dad, please…" Nikki groaned quietly. Shawn grinned down at her knowingly. "That's not why I decided to come back so early. If I'd wanted to celebrate my birthday, I would've endured what Mom wanted to put together."
"And what was that?" Ray asked her teasingly. She could hear the amused smile in his voice.
"She wanted to call up my old school friends and have a reunion of sorts. I was not in the mood to see any of them again. Not after she's told the whole town I work with the Ghostbusters." Nikki mumbled sourly.
"Aww, are you embarrassed of us?" She heard Peter's voice chime in from where he apparently had been listening over Ray's shoulder. Nikki felt herself smile.
"No, I just know how Mom twists things when she gossips." She said lightly, shaking her head. "Besides. I've grown more comfortable to city life over the past few years. This is home now."
"Wow Nikki, you're not just saying that to keep your old dad happy?" Ray asked her with a chuckle.
"No," Nikki said with another loving smirk. "Of course not."
"Hmm. Well we're still going out Friday night, no matter what you say." Ray said cheerfully. Nikki rolled her eyes and let out her breath in an exaggerated sigh so that her father could hear her begrudging reluctance.
"Just hang up the phone so you can hurry back, Dad." She scolded him lightly. She heard his laugh and then a murmur of voices probably from the other Ghostbusters as they prepared to leave.
"Okay sweetheart, we'll be home in a little while."
"See ya then." Nikki said before she heard the click of the line going dead in her ear. She handed the receiver back to Janine who replaced it in its holder.
"He was pretty upset at losing the ghost today, Nikki. Cut him a little slack." Janine said tenderly. Nikki glanced at the woman who was offering her a small prodding smile. Nikki nodded and stared at her cup of cooling sugary coffee on the corner of the secretary's desk. She reached for it and took a hesitant sip, blanching once more at the taste that had only worsened with its growing coldness. She stood up from her chair and looked to Shawn expectantly.
"Well, he said it'll be a while. Cross town traffic, you know." She said quietly. Shawn followed her as she tossed the half-drunk cup of coffee into the trash can.
"Dinner?" He offered lightly. When she looked up at him he quickly added, "I mean, if you're not too tired or anything."
"I think I can manage to make it through dinner without passing out." Nikki said with a smirk as she looped her arm through his. She turned back to Janine who had immersed herself in one of her magazines to wind down the evening. "Janine, can we bring you anything back?"
"Oh no, thank you though! You're very sweet." The red haired secretary beamed after her. Nikki gave her a little wave and then let Shawn steer her back towards the door where they would walk a few blocks down to their favorite restaurant.
"Oh…oh geez."
"What?"
"They're still here."
"Shit, Ray. You can't scare me like that…I thought there was something seriously wrong up here."
Nikki stirred awake as a hand gently shook at her shoulder. She blinked several times at the brightly-lit makeshift laboratory around her, remembering that she and Shawn had left only a few of the lamps and work lights on after sending Janine home for the night. They had scrounged around for a little while, Nikki straightening up some things that had grabbed her attention and Shawn pleading with her to rest instead of wasting her dwindling energy. As Nikki's sleep-filled gaze focused, she found her father standing over her with a weary smile on his face as he regarded her presence.
"Nikki, what're you still doing here? Don't you have work tomorrow?" He asked quietly as he collapsed into the armchair beside the couch where she was curled up with her head on the armrest. Nikki nodded sleepily and stretched, disturbing Shawn beside her. He had managed to remain sitting upright with his arms crossed across his chest, but his head had fallen all the way back against the wall in his doze. His light breathing caught with a soft snore and he leaned forward immediately, blinking back into consciousness.
"I wanted to see you," Nikki yawned, draping an arm over the armrest and reaching for her father's hand. He grasped hers with a lazy smirk and glanced at his wristwatch, taking note of the late hour.
"It's almost midnight, what time do you have to be there in the morning?"
"Just before we open at nine o'clock." Nikki answered him quietly. She nudged Shawn teasingly. "But don't worry, this one has been after me all afternoon about resting up. I've had a very healthy nap this evening, I should be fit as a fiddle for work tomorrow."
"Who says 'fit as a fiddle' anymore?" Peter Venkman snorted from the kitchenette across the room. Nikki straightened and craned her neck to peer past Ray's armchair where Peter was flashing a humored grin in her direction. "Oh! It's Little Stantz, the old soul. That makes a little more sense now."
"Thanks Peter." She grumbled good-naturedly. She rubbed at her eyes before uncurling from the armrest and straightening up beside Shawn who was sharing a knowing look with Ray. She whipped her head back around to her father who suddenly had an icy look of concern on his face. He'd inferred the gist of her ghostly encounter from that look alone.
"Nikki…" Ray began.
"Dad, I've already been fussed over about the stewardess. This makes the third time…"
"Woah, a ghost stewardess?" Winston Zeddemore reached the top of the stairs, looking equally as exhausted as the other two Ghostbusters she'd seen. The man made for the kitchen to join Peter in his search for leftovers.
"We always said you were a ghost magnet…" Peter said through a mouthful of potato chips. "They're following you on planes now, too?"
"We have rules for a reason…" Ray cut in once more, attempting to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand. Nikki slumped next to Shawn who gave her a weary but supportive smile.
"It was just one, Dad. You know my world record was twelve cross-overs at once. This was nothing." She said, only half-heartedly. Ray was taken by surprise at the reminder and his critical expression faded instantly away. Nikki felt her stomach twist with guilt, hating that she had brought up the cemetery incident from a few years back. It felt fresh in her memory, however and she diverted her attention from the cult ghosts back to the sweet, kind-faced stewardess she had managed to help this afternoon. She finally looked up and met Ray's worried stare and she shrugged, leaning over to take his hand once more. "She needed me, Dad. Really, it's okay. I'm okay."
"I'm sure you are," Ray said, squeezing her hand as he smiled his warm but tired smile at her. "You just…you just know how I feel about you doing it without supervision…"
"Yeah, I know." Nikki replied shortly, hoping that would put an end to the discussion. Despite her hopes, Ray's mouth opened to add something else but he was quickly interrupted by Peter's obnoxiously loud voice coming from the kitchenette.
"Yeah, you know the drill. We gotta hand 'em the check when you're done. That plane could already be on its return trip by now. We'll never find out who to bill."
"Sorry 'bout that." Nikki said with a dry smirk. She took her hand out of Ray's and then glanced over to Shawn expectantly. "Well, they're back now. Ready to head home? I do have work in the morning."
"As do I," Shawn said cheerfully, glancing around the second floor of the firehouse where he would presumably have to return in the morning. "Do you guys need anything from me before we go?"
"Just your promise to be on your A game tomorrow," Ray said, suddenly all business as he addressed the boy. "We'll set up a schedule for the few direly important places we need to check out and we'll be ready to go when you get here."
"What about you? You're not staying here overnight again are you?" Nikki asked worriedly, noticing the tired lines that creased her father's face.
"Can't hurt. Besides, since you two moved out there's no one waiting for me at home these days." Ray chuckled quietly and then winced as he caught his daughter's concerned frown. "I promise I didn't stay here every night this past week…"
"Yeah, just five out of the seven days you were gone." Winston cut in with a knowing smirk directed at Nikki. The girl turned and shot an accusatory stare at Ray and he narrowed his gaze at his tattle-tale colleague.
"We were busy." He tried to protest. Peter crumpled up his newly-empty bag of chips and tossed it into the trash can.
"When are we ever not busy?" He grumbled indifferently. "Dana's been hassling me lately about that, actually. I've been missing a lot of Oscar's elementary school 'things.' I swear, they have awards days every other week…"
"Are you trying to say you want some time off, Pete?" Winston asked, raising an eyebrow at the man sitting adjacent to him at the small kitchen table. "Because I don't think we can spare you."
"We can if Little Stantz comes back on full time." Peter said, flashing a dashing smile in the girl's direction. Guilt once more threatened to overshadow her.
"Well I was thinking this afternoon that since…"
"She's still trying to figure things out," Shawn came to her rescue with a reassuring pat on her knee. "She's only been helping out at that old bookstore for a few months, and it's only a few days a week. It's not like we don't see her over here…"
"She's been there almost a year now, hasn't she?" Winston asked with a frown at the calendar hanging on the fridge beside him.
"Six months," Nikki corrected him politely. Before Shawn could try and cut her off again, she quickly tried to rephrase her thought on quitting the bookstore. "But really, I saw how busy things had been while…"
"How is my old bookshop, by the way?" Ray asked, leaning back tiredly in the armchair, his arms still crossed perceptively over his chest.
"It's…it's fine. Still no busier than it was when you ran it, from what Rachel tells me. We're going to do a little inventory tomorrow and maybe some spring cleaning." Nikki said, overwhelmed by how quickly she was being sidetracked. Upon glancing at Shawn and seeing the dismissive look in his eyes, she decided to drop the subject for the night. She pushed herself up from the couch slowly and stretched, Shawn rising alongside her.
"Nikki remember…leave your schedule open Friday night." Ray reminded her as he stood up to see them out of the quiet firehouse. Nikki turned a pleading frown to her father as Shawn led them toward the staircase that would lead down into the garage.
"Dad…we're so busy here…please don't feel like you all have to make a fuss over this stupid birthday."
"It's not stupid, Nikki." Ray said, pausing on the stair landing to stare at her. "It's your twenty-first birthday. We're going out, end of discussion."
Nikki closed her eyes, shaking her head before she enveloped the Ghostbuster in a grateful hug. Ray laughed again quietly and gently pushed her toward the stairs.
"Go on, I'll see you tomorrow." He said as she followed Shawn down to the first floor. As they reached the concrete, they were all at once startled by a high pitched drilling sound that echoed across the large space. Nikki's head whipped around in the direction of the basement where the lights flickered ominously.
"What…?" She began to question. Ray waved them off, turning away from the railing.
"It's just Spengler. He's back to working on the containment tank for the class five –"
"The elemental spirit." Nikki finished, letting him know she'd already been told about that bit of exciting news. Ray smiled down at her with a nod and raised his eyes to the ceiling as he turned to retreat back to the living quarters/laboratory.
"Always something fun happening here!" His voice echoed down to them as she and Shawn continued on their way out. Nikki paused by the door and glanced over her shoulder where the drilling sound was suddenly exchanged for one that resembled a saw. She bit her lip and looked to Shawn who was eyeing her warily, clearly having felt her twisting emotions over the past several minutes.
"Are you sure I can't…?"
"Nikki, let's just go home and rest for a bit. If we need more help here this week, I promise you, we'll let you know."
Nikki's gaze wavered over to the flickering lights from the basement stairs for a moment longer. Shawn reached down and wrapped his hand around hers, causing her attention to drift back to him.
"You haven't even seen Hal since you've been home." He tried to entice her, reminding her of the intuitive feline that Nikki had brought to the city with her upon her move to New York in the winter of 1993. Nikki's eyes widened with realization and she hated the smug smirk that spread across Shawn's face when he knew he had her roped into going home, finally. She leaned over to the corner and retrieved her large duffel bag, slinging it over her shoulder before she eyed him scornfully.
"Alright…but if anything happens with that ghost tonight, they'd better call…" Nikki mumbled sleepily, and she pushed open the door taking extra care to lock it behind her on their way out.
"I'm sure they will."