Hello all! I cannot express my excitement for next week when Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire comes out in theaters! I'm going along with a big group of friends, and you know I've gotta dress the part for it! I even splurged and ordered the Spirit Halloween Life-Size Proton Pack Replica and it was delivered yesterday. GUYS IT'S SO COOL I CAN HARDLY STAND IT! I had to go ahead and update my story because I'm afraid my excitement may be too much for me to chill out next week to sit down and write so here we go! Please leave a review to let me know what your thoughts are with the story so far! :D
The next morning found Nikki and Shawn enjoying a warm breakfast at the diner just a few blocks from their home. It was the perfect spot to stop, resting at almost the exact halfway point between their apartment building and the Ghostbusters' firehouse. They frequented the diner at least once, sometimes twice a week whenever their schedules allowed it. Between working at the bookshop part time and sharing her off-hours with Shawn at the Ghostbusters', Nikki enjoyed the little quiet moments with her boyfriend.
"What's on the list for you guys today?" Nikki asked casually over her second cup of steaming coffee. She dumped in two creams and swirled it slowly with her spoon, enjoying the fragrance wafting up with the steam. Shawn finished chewing his bite of bagel and swallowed.
"Checking up on that train conductor ghost again. Janine got a message from last night when she came in this morning that it's returned to its original haunt, so Peter, Winston and I are heading over there later this morning. After that, we've got another call from a place in Chinatown. From the sounds of it, it'll be a quick trip. Haunted grocery store. Probably some free-roaming class two repeater. It's been on the back burner for a few weeks now."
Nikki sighed knowingly. She sipped loudly at her coffee and smirked to herself when she caught Shawn's irritated stare at her lightly provoking at one of his pet peeves.
"Anything I can join in on this afternoon when I get done at Rachel's?" Nikki asked, quickly resuming picking at the last dregs of her hash browns. Shawn took another bite of his bagel and shrugged.
"It's Friday, we're not handling any big calls." He said through his mouthful of food. He eyed her tauntingly. "Celebrating your birthday tonight, you know?"
Nikki caved in on herself in surrender. She hated attention, but since she had come out to her father and the other Ghostbusters at being able to see and cross-over ghosts, she'd been getting an abundance of attention over the past few years since her permanent move to New York. She took another quieter slurp from her coffee and silently hoped against hope that they wouldn't make too much of a spectacle of her birthday.
"Is it going to be a full surprise, or can you clue me in on the plan for tonight?"
"Mmm…" Shawn murmured thoughtfully, licking the cream cheese from his lips. "Well, the 21st birthday is a slightly bigger deal than it used to be back in my day. I hear it's the legal drinking age now…"
Nikki set her mug down sharply on the booth's table, a few lines of hot liquid spilling down the sides of the cup. She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
"You're all taking me out drinking?!"
Shawn's mysterious expression melted into bright enthusiasm and Nikki felt her jaw clench involuntarily. Nonchalantly, Shawn scooped the last bit of scrambled eggs around in a circle on his plate.
"It'll be fun, don't worry. Peter says he's excited to teach you how to socially drink."
"Of course he did." Nikki mumbled, crossing her arms on the tabletop to stifle her amusement. Shawn chuckled to himself and tossed a few bills on the tabletop. He pushed himself up from the booth, glancing hurriedly at his watch as he did so. He leaned over the corner of the table and planted a kiss on Nikki's cheek, causing the girl's tough façade to fade to a loving blush.
"I'll see you this afternoon. Don't let Rachel give you a hard time, okay? If you need to, remind her it's your special day."
"Like that'll work." Nikki rolled her eyes teasingly. She grabbed his hand before he could dart away from her for the door and his urgency showed through his expression until she pulled him down in exchange for a brief kiss on the lips. When he pulled away again, he was flushed as well.
"Love you," He breathed.
"Love you too." She replied, squeezing his hand before letting him go finally. She watched him flash her his dashingly heart-warming smirk and then rush out the front of the diner and towards the firehouse where she knew Peter and Winston would hassle him for taking his time having breakfast with her. Nikki shook her head in amusement, picking up her mug to finish the last little bit of her coffee before she too, left the diner to start her workday.
"Shawn! Wake up, kid…where's your head at today?!" Winston's voice shouted over the ear-piercing train whistle that had been screaming through the run-down depot where their morning call had led them. Shawn crouched low behind a pillar with his neutrona thrower clutched tightly to his chest and threw himself to the ground as the ghost charged through the pillar where he had just been milliseconds before. He had totally missed the flight pattern of the train conductor ghost, in favor of watching Peter struggling with the trap a few yards away.
"Sorry-!" Shawn called to Winston who fired a half-charged proton stream at the wickedly smoky ghost figure making its way around the pillar to retreat.
"You're not going anywhere, man!" Winston yelled defiantly. He increased the charge and the proton stream brightened and sputtered, causing the ghost to growl in further aggravation. The shrieking train whistle sound pulsed with the ghost's energy and Shawn cursed under his breath the fact that it was just the three of them trying to wrangle the train conductor ghost and not the full Ghostbusters crew. As he clambered to his feet, he switched on his thrower and fired it at the abandoned station where the ghost was trying to vanish into. Finding its path suddenly blocked by a flash of high voltage protonic energy sparks, the ghost roared again and whirled on Peter who was seemingly defenseless with the waiting trap.
"Are you ready for him, Peter?!" Shawn shouted urgently. Peter muttered something that sounded like a 'not yet' and Shawn redirected his aim to the air just over the unarmed Ghostbuster's head. He fired off a short burst just to blow the ghost out of his dive at Peter, and Winston added his own when the ghost tried to flee toward a sewer grate in the sidewalk.
"Come on, Venkman!" Winston shouted breathlessly. Peter's untangling of the trap's cord grew more frenzied, his face red with his aggravation and from the noonday heat.
"I've almost got it set, you two haven't even wrangled him yet! What're you yelling at me for!?"
Shawn whirled around the pillar as Winston's redirecting stream from the sewer grate sent the ghost back in his direction. He pressed his back against the moldy, soot-streaked pillar and then shoved himself back out when the ghost's sounds grew closer. The ghostly train whistle screamed in the same pitch as the ghost's furious bellowing, and Shawn shot out a capturing stream, gambling on the ghost's confusion.
"Shawn, get down!" Winston shouted as the ghost continued to advance on the boy, despite being steadily wrapped in the entwining protonic energy.
"I've got him!" Shawn insisted, sidestepping and crouching low as he maneuvered himself backward towards where he hoped Peter was nearing the completion of setting the ghost trap. "Peter, anytime now please!"
"Hand him off to Winston, kid!" Peter ordered in response. Shawn felt his thrower beginning to waver in his grasp as the ghost began to fight, realizing it had been ensnared. He tried to jerk his elbow around to swivel his body into a ninety-degree turn but the ghost took advantage of his thoughtful pause and jerked upward to counter Shawn's movement.
"Shawn, switch your thrower off!" Winston shouted as Shawn lost his balance and his hold on the train conductor ghost. The smoky apparition screamed out another triumphant roar and Shawn's proton stream tore through what was left of the shelter over the train depot. His back hit the concrete and Shawn saw stars for a second before he followed Winston's advice and switched off his stream to cease the damage he was doing to the metal roofing. When his vision cleared, Shawn saw a sooty black streak of smog fly past him and towards the tracks where Winston stood, wrangling the ghost in his own stream.
"It's ready, get him back over here!" Peter shouted huffily. Shawn quickly glanced over to spot the Ghostbuster with his hands on his hips and puffing out a frustrated sigh at his hastily finished setup. Winston caught Shawn's eye and nodded curtly, and Shawn fired another capture stream at the smoky ghost fighting towards Winston.
"Here he comes!" Shawn warned as he and Winston both tried to move in unison to maneuver the ensnared ghost towards the waiting trap. Peter squinted up through the sunlight shooting down through the newly opened roof and when the proton streams were directly over the trap, he slammed his foot down on the pedal, opening the device. A blinding flash of purple light erupted from the trap and the supernatural train whistle grew to a sharp crescendo as the train conductor ghost was pulled into the depths of the trap. Peter clicked the trap shut and the depot fell into a silence that made all three of them question whether their hearing had gone out altogether. A thick plume of black smoke sputtered from around the trap, more so than was usual for any other captured ghost.
"Good work men," Peter coughed, waving a hand through the putrid, sooty smoke. Shawn breathed a sigh of relief and switched his thrower off, reaching back to put it back in its holster over his shoulder. Winston heaved an exaggeratedly heavy scoff of air and Shawn noticed his accusing stare as the black man made his way over to the other two Ghostbusters.
"Hey, what was up with you back there a minute ago?" He demanded, putting his hands on his hips after holstering his own thrower. Shawn's mouth opened and closed rapidly a few times and he felt his face grow warm. Winston's hard stare softened at how the direct question got the younger man so flustered. "I mean, it seemed to take you a bit to get into the game, that's all."
Shawn shot a glance at Peter who, though he was pretending not to, was very clearly listening to hear Shawn's reply. He winced apologetically, wondering if his distracted thoughts had really been that obvious. Shawn's shoulders slumped and he scratched at the back of his head in a brief show of nervousness.
"I've had a thought running through my mind for the past few months…and I really wasn't ready to bring this out in the open to you guys yet but…" Shawn snapped his mouth shut, unsure whether to continue or not. Peter had ceased coiling the trap's cord and now stood with his full attention on Shawn.
"You'd better not be thinking of leaving us, kid. You got a second chance at life, and you're indebted to spend it with us until the second end of it, so if that's what you're gonna tell us…" Peter's tone was light, but threatening. Shawn coughed out a relieved chuckle and shook his head, opting to reach for the small breast pocket of his beige Ghostbusters' uniform. He hesitated, before producing a small velvet box.
"Wait..." Winston muttered, realization hitting him. Shawn felt his throat grow tight and he forced an awkward smile.
"No way…for Little Stantz?!" Peter abandoned the cord and trap to hold his hand out for the tiny box in Shawn's palm. He opened the box and made an appreciative scoff as he examined its contents.
"Have you talked to Ray about this yet?" Winston asked cautiously, moving to stare over Peter's shoulder. Shawn watched them as they both critiqued the engagement ring he had chosen for Nikki. He'd been careful and studious in the nearby jewelry stores in the past few weeks, trying to decide which one would best fit her style. And though he'd very seldom mentioned the idea of marriage to her, it hung over both of their heads. They had been living together for almost six months, after a hard battle and strategically pled case with her father. Ray had thankfully grown to trust Shawn infinitely more than the first time he'd officially met him – after Shawn's murderous ghost father had nearly killed Nikki for possession of her psychic abilities. Shawn had made it his duty to prove himself worthy of Ray's forgiveness, and he'd more than earned it time and time again on numerous busts, willingly given extra work hours and he and Nikki even went over to his apartment once or sometimes twice a week to have dinner with him.
"I've…mentioned it." Shawn said slowly. It was only a half-truth…he couldn't lie that he still felt greatly inferior under Ray's scrutiny. Whenever he did try to bring up the topic, Ray would suddenly remember some important experiment or technical modifications needed at the firehouse, and Shawn had eventually gotten the message. Though Ray did have an overall friendly personality and had become a father figure to Shawn already in the few years he'd worked under him, his quirks still caused the boy many stressful headaches. "He's…got a lot on his mind these days."
"Ray's always got a lot on his mind." Winston grumbled sarcastically. "Don't feel bad if you have to put your foot down and make him listen to you. He can be pretty open when he's given the opportunity."
"Ray?!" Peter exclaimed with a laugh. "Are we thinking of the same guy? The one who put a ban on marshmallows in the firehouse even though he was the one who summoned up the giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man ten years ago? Ray Stantz, the one who gives a lecture almost yearly on not touching his computer unless he or Egon is present? The guy who almost sent his daughter back to Virginia with her mother for just wanting to be a part of his life? Yeah…okay…"
"Peter, that's enough." Winston said, rolling his eyes. "You do half of those things just to annoy him anyway."
"Exactly! It's like he's asking me to!"
Shawn had fallen into thoughtful silence as he listened to the two Ghostbusters' bickering. Though Peter had mentioned the accident that had resulted in Ray's defensive threat to send Nikki permanently back to live with her mom even though she'd wanted to stay, Shawn didn't take it lightly. He himself had been the cause of that accident and had ultimately almost killed her. Suddenly, the thought of having the audacity to ask Ray or even Nikki for that matter for Nikki's hand in marriage seemed like the worst idea he could've had. He lurched forward and hastily reached to take the tiny ring box back from Peter. The sudden movement caused the Ghostbuster to retract his arm and hold it tightly in his grasp to avoid the boy snatching it back.
"Woah! What're you getting defensive for?"
Shawn felt his irritation well up into desperation, though he tried to hide it from Peter who he knew would use it to his advantage to tease him some more.
"It's a stupid idea, you're right…I'll take it back after the weekend's over…"
"Why would you wanna do that?" Peter asked. Shawn couldn't tell clearly if he was putting on a show or if the man was genuinely confused.
"I'm not right for her…the things I've done…"
"Shawn, hold on a minute…" Winston said, punching Peter in the shoulder and prying the box from his hand to return it to Shawn. "He was joking! Ray can sometimes be a stickler a lot of the time, but he's open for really important things like this. I'm sure you can find the time to talk to him thoroughly about this. You and Nikki are great – it'd be nice to see you finally get together officially."
Shawn took the box from him with a halfhearted smirk of relieved thanks. As he clumsily stuffed it back into his uniform pocket, he noticed from the corner of his eye that Peter's gaze lingered on him for a few seconds longer before he reached down to pick the trap back up. Wanting to avoid any other embarrassment, Shawn zipped up his pocket and put a hand on the trap's handle.
"I'll get it," He said a little too quickly. Peter lifted an eyebrow at the boy and Shawn shrugged. "Don't want it tangled again, right?"
Peter shrugged his shoulders indifferently and then clapped a hand on the younger Ghostbuster's shoulder and Shawn felt himself stiffen involuntarily. He winced apologetically.
"You'll get the girl, kid. Even if we've gotta tie Ray to the containment unit." Peter patted him fondly before ruffling his hair and moving past him towards where the Ecto-1 was parked just outside the depot. Shawn smiled hopefully and began coiling the ghost trap's cord while he watched Winston surveying the area for any more ghostly residue before their departure.
Nikki glanced at the odd grandfather clock in the corner of the bookshop waiting through the last hour of her workday. The excitement of meeting the other psychically enhanced young man the day before had slowly ebbed down after a lengthy chat with Rachel about her theories on when he might return. They had spent most of their day looking through catalogs and online for books to restock their store after finishing up the last bit of inventory. Most of the material they had was beginning to be a bit dated in Rachel's opinion, a good half of the stock had been the odds and ends Ray himself had collected in the while he had owned the shop.
"Are we sure we need to keep these weird jars of spooky stuff?" Rachel asked warily, brandishing a dusty jar from the corner of the room. Nikki turned from the desk where she had been scrolling through another outdated occult website, closing out the window with a sigh. She squinted at the large jar in Rachel's hands.
"Are those…eyeballs?" Nikki asked hesitantly. Rachel grimaced and nodded in disgust. Nikki caught herself breaking into a good humored grin and then held her hands out for the oddity. Rachel seemed more than happy to hand off the jar, putting her hands accusingly on her hips as Nikki examined the watery contents of it.
"There's one with some old herbs and stuff back there too, but I'm honestly afraid to move it. No telling what kind of witch that assortment was bought from." Rachel shuddered.
"These don't look right…" Nikki murmured thoughtfully as she carefully rested the large jar on the desktop.
"Is there a right way for jumbled body parts to look?" Rachel quipped, her voice still laced with revulsion.
Nikki unscrewed the lid of the jar and Rachel moved to grab the thing away from the girl with a shriek. Before she could, Nikki's hand dove into the murky liquid with a squelching splash. She bit her lip in concentration as she dug around in the jar, her arm submerged in the eyeballs all the way past her elbow.
"What is wrong with you?!" Rachel gagged, having to turn away from the gruesome sight in front of her. She made a show of leaning heavily on a nearby shelf in her disgust. Nikki finally looked up at the other woman and grinned.
"Quite a bit, actually." She retorted with a devilish laugh. Her arm stopped moving and when the sloshing quieted, Rachel's curiosity overcame her horror and she slowly turned back over her shoulder to glower at the younger girl. Nikki held her gaze with a lighthearted comically long stare and then a dim yellow light blinked on through the murky liquid in the jar. Rachel visibly jumped at the odd thing and trailed her hesitant gaze back at Nikki's easy expression. As Nikki slowly took her arm out of the jar, she revealed that her arm in fact wasn't wet and she held an illuminated eyeball up for the storeowner to see.
"They're…fake?" Rachel finally choked out in surprise. Nikki nodded and looked back down at the jar and gesturing for Rachel to take the offered glowing eyeball from her hand.
"It's a Halloween decoration I think. Most of these are painted golf balls, but there are a few that can light up if you twist them." She gestured down at the jar and turned it on its side. Rachel jumped back, expecting the contents of the jar to spill and Nikki laughed. "Relax…it's just full of clear rubber."
"Your dad collected some weird stuff…I think we're definitely due for an upgrade in interior decorations." Rachel grumbled as she tossed the glowing eyeball back into the jar with a roll of her own eyes and turned back to retrieve the other jars of oddities from around the bookshop.
Some of the weird knickknacks around the shop turned out to be genuine, but others they found were replica pieces, most of which Nikki was able to discover their tricks in their displays. And, in spite of Rachel's wariness to throw anything out for fear of offending Nikki since most of it was her father's junk, they decided to keep some of the jars and more intriguing pieces. By the end of the day, the main counter was now crowded with an assortment of jars, bronze knives and discolored pottery that looked so old it could belong in a museum. It was decided not to sell or throw out any of the considered items, at least, not until Nikki talked to her father about what objects were supposedly haunted or imbued with magical properties. Rachel had agreed willingly, but demanded that the eyeball jar had to go.
"I didn't even know it was back there until I finally got up the courage to wipe the dust off of it…had I known those eyes were staring at me the whole time, I would've gotten rid of it a long time ago."
"But they're not real…" Nikki tried to reason through her laughter. Rachel shook her head and shoved the large jar into the girl's hands persistently as she shooed her to the door.
"I don't care. Happy Birthday Nikki, here's your present." Rachel said firmly.
"Thanks Rachel – it's all I've ever wanted!" Nikki accepted the jar good-humoredly. Rachel's face broke into a jovial smile and she shared in Nikki's peal of giggling. She opened the door for the younger girl who was pretending to ooh and ahh over the jar and its contents.
"You're very welcome, don't say I never gave you anything!" Rachel said jokingly. "Please be careful tonight, and have fun! You only turn 21 once!"
"Why does this not surprise me?" Janine's lightly sarcastic voice greeted Nikki as she stepped into the firehouse from her lengthy day of work. Nikki grinned as she placed the large jar of eyeballs on a stack of file folders right in front of the secretary and seated herself with a weary sigh in one of the chairs across from her.
"Rachel's trying to clean out some of Dad's old stuff at the bookshop." Nikki explained. "We're afraid to do away with much anything else until Dad can take a look at everything else we set aside."
"Fair enough." Janine said in agreement, poking at the jar with her pencil. Nikki smiled and then nodded back to the Ecto-1 where it was parked in the front section of the garage.
"How long have they been back?"
"Just an hour or so, took longer than they thought it would at the old train depot but they finally got him. Chinatown has been pushed to Monday morning." Janine replied shortly as she scooted the stack of file folders with the jar on top to the furthest corner of her desk with a disgusted wince.
"Aww, I hate I missed it. He must've been so scared being taken from his haunt for him to fight for it so long." Nikki said, halfheartedly sympathetic.
"Is that the Birthday Stantz?!" Peter Venkman's voice rang out loudly from the second level of the firehouse. He emerged from the doorway at the top of the stairs dressed in a light blue Hawaiian button-up with a spattering of white flowers. "You feeling sorry for ghosts again?"
Before she could retort with some comment about his super-casual attire, there was a loud squeak and Shawn landed on the ground floor of the firehouse, having abandoned the stairs in favor of the fire pole. He too wore a bright Hawaiian shirt, his adorned with a mixture of purple and cobalt blue flowers which looked immeasurably brighter with his black cargo shorts. Nikki frowned in surprise at her boyfriend's newfound color scheme and a humored grin spread across her face as he approached her with his dark mop of curls ruffled and sticking up every which way, giving him a wild look. His gaze was drawn to the large jar of eyeballs on Janine's desk and he stopped beside where Nikki sat and crouched low with a hand on the desk's edge to peer at the odd thing.
"Gosh Nikki…I'll have to take your birthday present back. This is so much better…" He murmured jokingly. She rolled her eyes.
"You can make it up to me by taking me putt-putting with them if you want." Nikki suggested with a smirk. Shawn froze for a moment and he and Janine both looked at the girl warily.
"That's…a little morbid for you isn't it?" Shawn said slowly, glancing at what he thought was a jar housing real eyeballs and then flashing a worried look at Nikki. She uncrossed her legs and reached for the jar past him. "Wait…what're you…?"
"Oh God Nikki, not in here!" Janine squealed, jumping up from her desk chair to retreat to Peter's office space behind her filing cabinets. Nikki paused in her unscrewing of the jar's lid and burst into laughter at the small woman's disgusted cries.
"Janine what…oh hey!" Ray Stantz called as he was drawn up to the first floor of the firehouse from the basement where he'd presumably been working. His pace quickened as he noticed the eyeball jar in Nikki's lap. "I'd recognize these eyes anywhere!"
"Of course." Shawn and Janine muttered in unison as Nikki stood up and offered the now-open jar to her father. He eagerly reached his hand inside and lifted out a handful of the slimy, painted golf balls.
"I always knew half of that stuff in your shop was cheap knock-offs." Peter deadpanned as he joined the group crowded around Janine's desk. Nikki took one of the golf balls from Ray's hand and bounced it on the concrete floor to Peter who caught it with a flinch.
"Hey now…" Ray contradicted him, offended. "I had quite a few genuine things in there. Conversation pieces like this one here just helped to boost the atmosphere."
"Since you mentioned it, Rachel wants you to come by sometime soon if you can to look over some of the other…eh…junk we were weeding through today. She's wanting to redecorate. Says it's been long enough." Nikki explained slowly. Ray's eager smile faltered slightly but after a few seconds of consideration he shrugged and replaced his handful of eyeballs back in the jar that Nikki still held.
"Sure thing. But don't tell me she wants to throw out that authentic vial of vampire blood." Ray said, his voice suddenly serious with warning.
"I didn't see any vial of blood…think I'd remember that…" Nikki said, chewing her lip in thought. Ray's eyes widened in disbelief and he took a step closer to her, forcing her to look up at him.
"It was in a silver box…" His voice rising with genuine worry. Nikki's face lit up in recognition.
"We did find a silver jewelry box…it had an old sand timer in it. Pretty cool but we thought it was weird to keep it in such a fancy box." She blinked. "Are you telling me that wasn't sand…it was…?"
"Vampire blood. Crystalized. Potent stuff." Ray said, nodding quickly. His brows furrowed seriously. "Please tell me she didn't throw it out."
"Dad, we didn't throw anything away." Nikki reassured him, letting her playful riling cease. She patted the side of the big jar of eyeballs fondly with a smile. "Hence, why she sent me home with the one thing we were able to identify as plain junk."
"Good," Ray said, visibly relaxing and straightening up. "I'll try and head over there early next week."
"Ray…where'd you find vampire blood?" Peter asked suspiciously. He had situated himself leaning against Janine's filing cabinets where Janine still stood, watching them with a similar skeptical curiosity. "I thought it was illegal."
"Not that kind of vampire blood…this is not a drug. I bought it off a seller in Romania…" Ray said defensively.
"We'll see." Peter scoffed as he waggled his eyebrows at Shawn and Nikki who then smirked at each other. Ray looked about to shoot back another self-justifying remark, but Nikki quickly switched subjects.
"How is she doing down there?" The girl nodded toward the basement where her father had just come from. She could hear the faint murmur of voices down there, presumably from Winston and Egon where they were still working and monitoring the powerful entity. Ray rocked forward on his feet and threw a hesitant look at Peter who knowingly chewed at his fingernails. Nikki straightened where she stood and fixed her father with a warning stare. "Dad…"
"They only had to shock her back a few times…and I was here monitoring its – I mean her – containment unit while Pete, Winston and Shawn were out catching that train conductor ghost." Ray explained. Nikki winced a little at hearing that the intelligent spirit had been subjugated to the preventative shocks of the containment grid. She understood the reasons for caution until further information could be uncovered about the ghost's purpose and intentions, but Nikki's gifts unfortunately caused her to think of most spirits in a more humanoid demeanor than her fellow Ghostbusters. She swallowed and then decided to jump on the last thing her father mentioned as she turned to her boyfriend where he stood beside her.
"You caught him?" She asked eagerly. "That's great! How did that go?"
Shawn's face lit up and he was about to answer her, when Peter cut in.
"It's your birthday Little Stantz, are we going out or what?!"
Nikki held Shawn's gaze as he snapped his mouth shut with a knowing smirk and he slipped an arm around her shoulders.
"He's right, I brought your change of clothes here this morning. Go ahead and get cleaned up – you're covered in dust." Shawn teased lightly, making a show of holding her at arm's length and brushing the very present dust from her shoulders. "We'll talk about the bust later…we've gotta get going soon."
"I'm gonna run down and help Winston and Egon finish up a few more things to make sure we can leave on time." Ray said cheerfully after glancing down at his watch, winking at his daughter before he rushed back toward the basement stairs. Nikki watched him go, part of her wishing to jog after him to examine what measures they were going through to keep the poor ghost woman entrapped safely. Peter pushed himself off of the filing cabinets he'd been leaning against and noticed the obvious busy-ness of his coworkers downstairs and he cleared his throat obnoxiously.
"I've got some paperwork to fill out…I'll catch you guys in an hour or so." Peter said smugly, whirling around to head behind the cabinets where his desk hid behind an arrangement of clutter. He yawned with heavy exaggeration, signaling that he would rather take a nap than actually do the work that he said he would. Nikki grinned and turned back to Shawn who held a hand out chivalrously toward the stairs leading up to the second floor of the firehouse.
"After you, birthday girl." He said with a comically trilling voice. Nikki felt her face grow hot and playfully punched him in the arm. They passed by Janine where she had returned to her place at her desk, having deemed it safe enough to get close to the open jar of eyeballs that once more sat on the corner of it.
"You take your time, Nikki." She called after the couple sharply. When Nikki turned back to her from the bottom of the stairs, Janine winked at her. "I'll keep the guys at bay. I know how much a girl's image means to her."
Nikki smiled at the secretary fondly and continued on up the stairs with Shawn to get ready for her birthday night out.