Ticking All The Boxes

Tenth and Washington

Erin and Patty arrived an hour later and when the two women eventually made their way upstairs expecting to see a loved-up Erin and Holtz together, they were shocked that it was just Erin, alone at her desk, her eyes and nose swollen from her tears.  Abby ran to her friend's side, Patty close behind.
"Erin?! What?"
Erin shook her head as her two friends surrounded her desk, Erin's sobbing starting again.
"I fucked up really bad," Erin wailed.
"What happened? Where's Holtzmann?"
"She's gone, she ran out."
"What happened?"
Erin shook her head, "I fucked up."
Patty and Abby comforted Erin, the red haired woman trying to shake away her tears.
"I love her. I'm in love with her. But I don't think I can be with her, I'm scared about being judged." Erin sniffed Patty handing her tissue, "I know I will be judged and I just can't with the bullying, I've had to deal with that most of my life and I can't do it again." Erin took a deep breath, sobbing.
"Why would you get judged baby," Patty said softly.
"Because I always get judged, I'm Erin Gilbert , particle physicist, look what happened when Columbia found out about the ghost hunting, I lost my job."
"And look at where you are now," Abby said softly, "you're a quarter of the Ghostbusters, we're a team and people love us. People come to us for help. Little girls look up to us Er." Abby sighed, "We got all the hate from the men remember and from people that didn't think we could do it but we have each other and we have fans and supporters." Erin wiped her eyes, Patty taking her hands in her own and crouching down to look up at the woman, stroking her arms.
"You two love each other, and Holtz would never let anyone hurt you," Abby said, leaning against the desk, "She'd protect you Erin, I know that for a fact." Erin nodded, sniffing and bringing her hands to her eyes, wiping them and looking down at Patty. "I've fucked up haven't I," Erin stated and picked up her phone, dialling Holtzmann and bringing the phone to her ear. It rang and rang, eventually going to voicemail and Erin hung up. Erin tried again and it went straight to voicemail, so she stood up and grabbed her jacket from her chair and rushed out the door, leaving Patty and Abby to do nothing but stare after her.

The streets of New York were busy as usual and Erin jogged through the streets, running towards Holtzmann's apartment. Her hair was still damp from her shower and it sent a chill through her body as she ran and she exhaled hard. As she reached the engineer's apartment block she pushed the entry door open and ran up the stairs to the blonde's apartment, knocking hard on the door and calling out. "Jill?" There was no reply, "Jill please, please open up." But there was no reply, just silence and Erin put her ear up to the door hoping to at least hear movement inside but there was nothing. She tried desperately a few more times but her knocking went unanswered and she could feel the tears beginning to fall again and she walked slowly down the stairs, unable to see two steps in front of her and she sobbed uncontrollably. Erin leaned against the stairwell trying to catch her breath but she couldn't and so she ran slowly out of the building embracing her tears as she shuffled through the streets and back to the firehouse.

Patty and Abby welcomed her back with open arms, taking her to the couch as she sobbed, Abby just holding her best friend and letting her cry. There were no words to make her feel better and Erin was angry and disappointed with herself but most of all she was feeling sick to her stomach about how hurt Holztmann must be feeling, and she hated herself for it.

The three girls all looked up as the reception phone rang and Kevin answered, pointing to the girls and then to their lockers before he'd even finished speaking into the receiver.
"You gotta bust!" The beautiful man called out, standing up from his chair, "corner Washington and Tenth Street, class three!" Patty raised her eyebrows, impressed with the man and she nodded in acknowledgement, the man beamed at her,"I've been practising!" Patty laughed softly and jumped up front he couch, Erin and Abby following with Abby squeezing her friend's arm, "It's going to be okay."                                         Erin shook her head, "Then where is she?"
The three girls were at their lockers putting on their jumpsuits and Patty replied, "She needs some time girl, she's probably in her apartment and just needs some time." Erin nodded as Abby picked up her phone, dialling Holtzmann, but it went to voicemail, "Holtzmann, it's Abby, class three corner Tenth and Washington, please meet us there?"

The three women ran out the the door, jumping into the Ecto with Patty in the drivers seat. Luckily the address wasn't too far from the firehouse and they arrived within minutes. There was a man waiting outside a run down building, Abby looked up at the faded brick, it's equally faded sign stating it used to be a clothing factory. "It's inside," the man said in barely a whisper, "a woman, she's just wailing." Erin nodded, as she opened the tailgate of the car, pulling out the tray of proton packs, noting there was four of them, but only three Ghostbusters and it stung in her heart. She shook her head, handing out packs to the others and hauling on her own, the weight heavier than usual and she clipped it securely on, watching as Abby took the lead and walked through the factory doors.

Holtzmann had listened to Abby's voicemail and exited her apartment, her eyes were red and her hair a mess, and all she could think about was Erin but she knew she still had responsibilities of her job. She flew down the stairs, the address Abby had quoted was not far from her residence so she sprinted towards it, happy to see the Ecto parked in the distance but no sign of the others. "Shit," mumbled Holtzmann under her breath as she greeted a flustered man standing outside and she grabbed her proton back from the car, strapping it on and nodding to the clearly panicked man. It was dark inside and Holtzmann looked around, hoping to see the red glow of the other proton packs, but at the same time she didn't want to see Erin. Her eyes began to adjust to the light and she stood looking around wondering how far ahead of her the girls were but she could see nothing. Suddenly there was a high pitched screech and she started running, pulling her proton gun from its holder. She rounded a corner, sliding to a stop as she saw the other three ahead of her, an apparition was above them. The three women had their guns out, no one noticing Holtzmann, and she tried to find a better vantage point. They were on the second level of the factory and the floor acted like a mezzanine, with a dirt floor below, strewn with rusted and unused fittings. The engineer looked around, trying to get closer without attracting attention, but before she could progress in her movement she heard a scream, watching as the ghost flew straight towards Erin, with Patty and Abby calling out and attempting to light her up with their proton streams. Holtzmann froze briefly, seeing the ghost pick Erin up, the doctor screaming and then she screamed again again when she was dropped, landing on her back on the mezzanine and Holtzmann launched herself toward the woman, running straight towards the ghost. Erin noticed and called out to her, the apparition manoeuvring towards Erin again, this time the blonde dove in, screaming and grabbing the ghost as best as she could, the class three lifting her up and she lost grip on her gun, and  she fought with the ghost the three girls watching on, Erin screaming at Holtzmann and for the ghost to let her go. The ghost paused, looking at the three women below her, and then she stared at Holtzmann, the blonde petrified as she felt herself being thrown, it felt like it was happening in slow motion. The three other Ghostbusters watching as Holtzmann landed hard on the dirt floor below, her body limp and she wasn't moving.