Erin blew gently at the steaming Styrofoam cup in her hand. She tried her hardest to keep her coffee from spilling, but the subway was crowded that morning, and shuffling people paid no mind to their surroundings. It was just barely 7 in the morning and the train car was filled with screaming children and loud people on cell phones. Public transportation wasn't exactly Erin's favorite, but it was much faster than walking or taking a cab. She simply sipped at her coffee and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on her mental agenda she had planned out for the day. First thing on the agenda: get ready for work. Check. Second thing: grab coffee at the gas station next to her apartment. Check. Third thing: get to work. She was in the process of that. Fourth thing: finish the research she had started last night.

Before Erin could get to the fifth item on her list, a hyperactive little boy whizzed by, bumping Erin's arm and causing her to spill coffee down the front of her shirt.

"Shit!" Erin stared down at the mess on her shirt, mouth agape. This was definitely not how she wanted to start her morning. By the time the train had reached her stop, the spill on her shirt no longer burned. She got up and hastily exited the train, throwing her cup into the nearest available trashcan. She wasn't even interested in finishing it anymore.

When Erin had reached the outside world, the cool morning air made her shiver. The time of day combined with the long shadows of skyscrapers creating a canopy made this particular September morning the coolest of the summer thus far. Erin held onto her satchel strap with both hands and ducked her way through the foot traffic. She was already done with people for the day, and didn't feel like meeting any of their gazes. By the time she had reached the Ghostbusters headquarters, the coffee on her shirt was freezing. Erin pushed open the door to the firehouse and practically slammed it behind her.

Patty, who was sitting on an old couch reading a book, was the first to notice Erin, "Good morning!" She greeted, looking up from her book to offer a big smile.

"Morning." Erin offered a halfhearted smile, which quickly faded.

Patty noticed the lack of enthusiasm, "You ok Erin?"

"Yeah. I just-" She let out a sigh and gestured to the mess on her shirt, "rough morning."

"Oh honey," Patty whistled, "You'd better hurry and rinse that."

Erin simply nodded and kept walking. She didn't really care much for the shirt anyway. She made her way past Kevin's desk and debated stopping and talking to him. As she got more used to him, Erin's crush on Kevin had faded. Sure, she still found him unbelievably attractive, but she didn't get nervous talking to him anymore. His personality was more of what she sought in a friend rather than a partner, and she had come to terms with the fact that that was all she really wanted. Still, she gave him the same halfhearted smile she had flashed earlier. Kevin looked up from his paperwork as she passed and gave a cheeky smile before returning to his work. Erin noticed that her was just drawing pictures of his dog, but decided not to comment.

Erin looked up and saw the staircase that lead to Holtzmann's lab. Holtzmann. If anyone could cheer her up, it was the eccentric engineer. Holtz always knew how to draw a smile out of Erin, and, sometimes, did it unintentionally. Ever since the Ghostbusters had saved New York, Erin found herself in Holtz's lab more often. She was always eager to see what new, most likely dangerous, contraption the inventor was working on.

Erin made her way up the stairs, but was immediately disappointed when she reached the top. All of the lights were off, and the engineer was nowhere to be found. Erin could feel her heart sink a little. As she made her way back down the stairs, she noticed that Abby had emerged from one of the back rooms and was now seated next to Patty, working out some statistics on a clipboard.

"Hey Abby." Erin greeted.

Abby turned her head, "Oh, hi Erin!"

"Do you know where Holtz is?" The physicist asked.

"She's not in her lab?" Abby was puzzled, "She's usually the first one here."

Erin shook her head.

"That explains why it's so peaceful," Patty commented, "She would've blown something up by now."

"Maybe she's finally catching up on sleep," Abby suggested, "She threw a fit when I told her that she can't sleep in the lab anymore and that she needs to actually go home at night."

"I'll call her and see what's up." Erin offered. She sat down on the arm of the couch and dialed. After a minute of ringing, she finally picked up.

"Hello?" The familiar, warm voice came through.

"Hey Holtzmann, it's Erin. Where are-"

"Hello? I can't hear you, can you speak up?"

Erin obliged and spoke a bit louder, "It's Erin. I was wondering where y-"

"I still can't hear you." She interrupted.

Erin was close to yelling, "It's Erin! We just wanted to know w-"

"Hello? I still can't hear you! Try shouting!"

"WHERE ARE YOU AT?" Erin shouted into her phone, drawing looks from everyone in the room.

There was chuckling at the other end, "You just got Holtzmanned! Ha! It's actually voicemail," There was more laughter, "leave your name and whatever."

There was a beep and then a computerized voice giving instructions on how to leave a voicemail.

Erin hung up and pinched the bridge of her nose, disappointed in herself for being so easily duped.

"Was that her voicemail?" Abby asked.

Erin nodded dejectedly.

"I probably should have warned you about it." She let out a little chortle, "it gets Kevin every time." Abby let out a sigh and leaned back in her seat, "Well, one of us should probably go get her. We have 3 hauntings to get to today, and I'd hate to leave without her."

"Agreed." Erin chimed in.

"Well," Abby started, "I have some phone calls to return. Do you want to go get her, Patty?"

Patty shook her head animatedly, "Oh hell no. I mean, I love Holtzy, but last time I went over there…" She trailed off, "Let's just say that the fire department makes frequent visits for a reason."

"I'll go." Erin piped up, almost a little too eager.

"You sure?" Patty asked, "I left the place without eyebrows last time."

"I'm sure." She chirped, hopping up from her seat.

Patty let out a hearty laugh, "You're brave, Erin, I'll give you that!"

Erin had only ever been to Holtzmann's apartment once. They had shared a cab ride after a night of bar hopping about a month ago, and Erin, despite her intoxication, had managed to commit the location to memory. She never saw the inside, just a buzzed Holtzmann walking up the exterior staircase to the second story of the two-story building. Erin had spent nearly two hours talking about her life that drunken night. The gin and tonics made it much easier for her to open up to the inventor whom was so keen to listen. Holtzmann just sipped on her beer and listened, nodding at the right social cues and adding slurred commentary. Erin apologized several times the next morning, but Holtz said that she didn't mind. She liked listening to her. Whenever Holtzmann would say things like that, Erin couldn't help but smile. She was so glad to have finally found good friends who truly liked and understood her.

Erin slowed the Ecto-1 to a stop across the street from the apartment complex. She could see Holtz's rusty pre-owned car parked alongside the street. The whole building held about 10 different units and was mostly brick, with a few missing here and there. It was in one of the poorer neighborhoods, and seemed like the kind of place you wouldn't want to be walking around at night. Erin turned off the engine and got out of the car, making sure that she locked the doors. She crossed the street and walked through the patchy grass. As she walked up the rusting metal stairs, she could overhear one of the residents having a heated argument about someone's baby mama. This definitely wasn't the kind of place Erin was used to. She came from a rather prim and proper upbringing where you were careful not to make your arguments or mistakes public. The last thing her parents wanted to do was ruin the Gilbert name, and they raised their only daughter the same way. That was part of the reason why they had sent Erin to therapy when she started seeing "ghosts". Still, though, Erin kept an open mind. The place suited Holtzmann's carefree attitude, and, Erin assumed, was a very affordable place to live. Holtz never needed anything fancy, just a place to let her creative side flourish.

As Erin reached the correct door, she noticed a paper taped to it. The note was a little faded, but she could still make out the bolded letters—

-EVICTION NOTICE-

DUE TO EXCESSIVE DISTURBANCES AND PROPERTY DAMAGE, YOU, JILLIAN HOLTZMANN ARE BEING EVICTED FROM THIS BUILDING. YOU HAVE UNTIL 8/21/16 TO REMOVE ALL OF YOUR BELONGINGS AND RETURN YOUR KEY OTHERWISE LAW ENFORCEMENT WILL BE INVOLVED. THIS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE.

Erin felt her heart sink. This type of thing wasn't necessarily a surprise, as Holtzmann was a human firecracker, but she still felt awful that she was getting kicked out of her home. Erin looked back at the date. That was nearly 3 weeks ago. Erin knocked on the door just to be sure, and of course, received no answer. Where was Holtzmann? Erin looked back at the street at Holtz's car. She hurried down the rickety staircase to investigate. As she approached the car, she could make out a human-like figure in the front seat. Erin walked up to the driver's side, and cupped her hands between her face and the glass to get a better look. Sure enough, Holtzmann was sleeping in the reclined seat with her arms sprawled out and goggles over her eyes. Her chest rose and fell at a steady rhythm, and her mouth was wide open, suggesting that she was snoring. Her mess of golden curls was still pinned, but several strands had been freed and stuck out in different directions. Erin couldn't help but smile at her adorable colleague and the peacefulness of it all. She stood there, appreciating the moment. After a minute or so, Erin snapped herself out of it, and realized that she had been watching her friend sleep, which was a little strange. Erin knocked gently on the glass, but the dozing engineer didn't move.

"Holtzmann," She called out, knocking a little firmer this time, "Rise and shine!"

Holtz suddenly jolted awake and sat up with frightened look in her eyes. A wave of relief washed over her when she realized it was just Erin, whom was waving timidly. Holtz quickly rolled down her window so they could talk.

"Good morning." Erin greeted, an involuntary smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

The engineer stretched and yawned. She pushed her goggles up onto her forehead and rubbed her sleepy eyes, "What time is it?" She asked, her voice a little croaky from just waking up.

Erin didn't notice that she was staring until Holtz asked the question, "Oh it's umm," she checked her watch, "It's almost 8:40."

"I must've slept through my alarm…" She leaned out the window and squinted up at Erin, "Thanks Dr. Gilbert." She smiled.

"No problem. I have to ask, though, why are you sleeping in your car?" Erin asked, not wanting to be the one to bring up the eviction.

"Because I uh," Holtz bit her bottom lip while she thought it over, "I locked my keys in my apartment." she fibbed, "I didn't want to bother the landlord last night, so I decided to just go car camping."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Erin said. She knew Holtzmann was lying. How long had she been living out of her car?

"What happened to your shirt?" The groggy blonde asked.

Erin glanced down. She had completely forgot about the coffee spill. She had a tendency of forgetting things like that whenever she talked to Holtz, "I spilled coffee on myself this morning."

Holtz examined her for another moment before her face lit up, "Oh! I've got just the thing!"

Holtz turned around and started rooting around in the back seat. Erin hadn't noticed until now, but the car was stuffed. In the passenger seat there were several boxes filled with little pieces of scrap metal, wires, and circuit boards. In the cup holder on the center console was a toothbrush and a nearly empty bottle of green mouthwash. In the back was a pile of clothes and knickknacks, along with various tools. It looked like the collection of things could have very well been the contents of Holtz's apartment. Perhaps she really was living in her car.

"Here you go," Holtz turned back around and handed a t-shirt out the window, "this one's perfect!"

Erin took the gray shirt and held it out to see what was on it. In black letters it said, "Always wear protection" and had a little drawing of safety goggles. Erin chuckled; of course Holtz would own a shirt like that, "It's perfect, thank you."

The engineer winked and gave finger guns before continuing, "Well, we better get to HQ! I've got a new gun I'm working on, and it'll really knock your socks off!" Holtzmann beamed. She readjusted her seat and started her car, "Literally. You should take your socks of in advance."

Erin chuckled and shook her head, "Whatever you say Holtz. I'll meet you there."