Callie, her boyfriend Gary, her kids, and Janine all go to the old Firehouse in New York. There, the family learns many things about their relative, Egon Spengler...and they discover a secret little creature that had been hiding there for decades...
This fanfic goes out to @shota18 on Tumblr. I hope you enjoy! SPOILERS FOR GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE!
Phoebe, Trevor, Callie, Gary, and Janine all made it to the old building that their grandfather once lived in: the firehouse…aka: Ghostbusters’ headquarters.
“Are you sure this is it?” Callie asked.
Phoebe smiled as she touched the firehouse door. “This has to be it. I can feel it.” She said.
“Is this the place?” Callie asked Janine.
“100% guaranteed. Used to work here as their secretary back in the day.” Janine admitted.
Callie looked at Janine. “Really?”
Janine nodded. “Indeed! I still remember the first call I got.” She chuckled. “Up until that first call, I basically sat there and read books. And then that call came in…I remember standing up at the desk and yelling “WE GOT ONE!”.” She explained excitedly.
Gary looked up at it. “Wow…I’m surprised this isn’t a museum yet.” He admitted.
Janine smiled as she saw Trevor touching the fire pole that still stood.
“Was this firepole up when Grandpa lived in it?” Trevor asked.
Janine smiled and walked up to that old fire pole. “It sure was. The moment a call came in, I would press…” She pulled it out of her bag and showed them. “...This button, and it would set off that bell.” She explained, pointing to the rusted bell on the wall. “The boys would put on their gear, slide down that fire pole and head right to that beat up car to collect the ghosts.” She said. “By the end of their career, it was easy to miss them. You could blink and they’d be gone.” She added.
Callie smiled and watched as Phoebe wandered into a room nearby. “Phoebe?” Callie called.
“Be careful in there.” Callie told her.
But Phoebe didn’t hear her…she was too busy walking around, taking in the old sights and keeping an eye on the P.K.E. meter in her hands. She was eagerly scanning the apartment for any signs of paranormal activity. As she focused on the meter, a shadow moved past the door frame. She turned to face the door when she heard the sound, but didn’t see anything. She looked down at the meter and narrowed her eyes. She pushed her glasses up her nose and walked closer to the door.
She looked down at the P.K.E. meter…Nothing.
She looked up at the door…nothing.
She looked back down at the P.K.E. meter…still nothing.
She looked up at-
SLAM!
Phoebe gasped and jumped, widening her eyes as the door in front of her slammed shut. Hearing static, Phoebe looked down at the P.K.E. meter for any signs of supernatural activity. Seeing the small reading on the meter, Phoebe moved to the left of the door, roughly where the shadow had moved to. She stared at the meter the whole time, refusing to look up. But she failed to notice the pair of hands that had been floating right behind her…
“Phoebe! Open the door!” Callie yelled, ramming herself into the door. “Come…ON!” She yelled, failing to get it open again.
Janine ran up and tapped Callie’s shoulder. “Callie, wait!” Janine said. When Callie turned around to look at her, Janine pointed to her own ear. “Listen.”
Callie’s movements stopped and the family listened for any sounds. And when they heard that rare sound…it confused most of them.
Callie widened her eyes. “Oh my-” She placed her ear against the door. “Oh…I missed that sound…” She admitted.
“Is that Phoebe?” Trevor asked.
“Oh…Oh my…” Janine covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.
Callie struggled to hold back her tears of joy. “I haven’t heard her laugh like that in years.” She admitted.
Gary gave Callie a side hug before walking up to the door with a smile. “What’s so funny, Phoebe?” He asked.
“HAhahahaha- Hehehelp mehehehe!” She yelled.
Gary’s smile dropped when she heard that. “Wait…Does she normally cry for help when she’s laughing?” Gary asked.
“What?” Callie reacted, confused.
Janine giggled. “I can’t believe it’s still here after all these years!” She reacted with surprise as she ran into the room.
Callie and Gary looked at each other with confusion. “Still here?” Callie asked.
Janine stopped and smiled slightly when she saw the commotion: Phoebe was being tickled by the one ghost the Ghostbusters couldn’t bear to neutralize…The floating hands.
“Oh…” Callie mumbled, slowly smiling a bit. “...That explains things.” She said with a chuckle.
“Okay…This I didn’t expect.” Gary admitted.
Janine cleared her throat. “Alright buddy, that’s enough. Stop.” She ordered.
The floating hands stopped its attack immediately, and stayed frozen in her armpits. Phoebe’s laughter lessened to only giggles. “Hehehe…hehe…Thahank yohohou.” Phoebe said.
“Move away.” She ordered.
The ghost followed her instructions and flew back.
“Good ghost.” She said with a smile.
Phoebe looked up at the floating hands. “Whoa…” She slowly stood herself up and looked at the hands. The floating hand waved at Phoebe, while the left floating hand offered her a handshake.
“This is our little friend…We never really gave it a proper name. Raymond used to call it ‘tickle ghost’ sometimes, but that’s about the only name they had for it.” Janine explained.
“Where did he come from?” Trevor asked.
Phoebe felt around for something past the hands, but found her hands felt nothing. “There’s no hidden body. It’s just hands.” She reacted. Phoebe poked the palm of the floating hand, and was taken aback when she saw the hand jump back and shiver. “Hmm…The hand that touches others, doesn’t like to be touched himself.” Phoebe said.
Janine raised an eyebrow. “That’s not true.” She told her. “It likes to be held sometimes.” She admitted.
Phoebe turned to look at the floating hands again, and poked it once again. It recoiled back, freezing in surprise. Suddenly, the hand poked Phoebe on the upper ribs, almost in a mischievous way. Phoebe squeaked and smiled, before poking the hand again. The hand jumped back again and poked her back in roughly the same spot. Phoebe laughed and poked the hand again, before giggling as the hand poked the right side of her neck. A little poke war started out between the ghost and Phoebe, which only made Trevor and the adults laugh.
“It’s certainly a mischievous little guy. It was the closest thing we ever had to a child back then.” Janine admitted.
Callie smiled a bit and sighed softly. She began to feel a little sad knowing how much her father had to sacrifice in order to save the world. It…was a bittersweet feeling. The experience of missing out on a father figure was really difficult, and no amount of explanation was going to excuse what he did…Knowing what she knows now, she felt somewhat proud of her father for fighting against something no one else could possibly understand.
Trevor turned to look at the ghost, before looking at Janine. “Why did they decide to keep this ghost?” He asked.
“Well…” Janine chuckled. “No one had a real answer for me. Peter only kept saying ‘Egon wanted to keep him’, while Ray kept telling me ‘Egon felt it wasn’t threatening enough to neutralize’.” Janine explained.
“Wait…Why would Mr. Spengler want to keep a tickling ghost around?” Gary asked.
“No one really knew why. Though we all had our suspicions.” Janine admitted.
Callie slowly walked into the room, and towards Phoebe and the ghost. “Can I meet it?” Callie asked.
Phoebe nodded. “Sure.” She replied, moving back so her mom could talk to the ghost.
Callie walked closer and offered it a hand. “Hi there. I’m Callie.” She told it. The hand gave her a handshake, but there was no reaction.
“Hmm…You might need to tell it who exactly you are.” Gary mentioned to her.
Callie smiled a bit and sighed. “I am Egon Spengler’s daughter.” She admitted.
The hand jumped back and stretched out, almost in shock. Then, it started clapping its hands together super quickly, showing off its sudden excitement. Then, it quickly began signing something in American Sign Language.
“Oh boy…My sign language is a little rusty.” Janine admitted. “You-Are you…ticklish…back knee?” She asked.
The hand nodded its fist, to say ‘Yes’.
Janine giggled. “Haha! I forgot about that! There’s a scene I haven’t seen in ages!” Janine laughed.
Callie turned to look at Janine. “What scene?” She asked.
Janine smiled and crossed her arms. “Egon was always ticklish in a few different spots.” She told them. “But most notably…the back of his knees.” Janine admitted.
Callie widened her eyes and blushed a slight bit. Endless memories between her and her mom began to fill her brain.
“The back of the knees? That’s an odd spot.” Gary reacted calmly.
“Yeah…This ghost took advantage of that spot plenty of times.” She said. “I guess the ghost is asking if you have the same spot.” Janine explained.
“Uhhh…” She scratched the back of her head. “Y-Yeah…I do.” She eventually admitted.
Phoebe widened her eyes. “Wait, really?!” She reacted.
Trevor laughed. “Yup.” He turned to Gary. “By far, the funniest fact about mom.” he admitted to him.
Gary smirked and winked. “Good to know.” He replied.
It didn’t take long for Callie to burst into giggles from pokes and skitters behind her knees. Phoebe readied her arms to catch her mother if she falls, but watched as the hands stopped tickling her and let Callie lie down herself. When she did, the tickle ghost resumed its tickle attack on her. By the end, the family could somewhat understand why Egon liked this ghost. Even Janine could better understand the enjoyment of having a little tickle ghost around the place.
And really, Egon was right! The ghost was harmless and just wanted to have some fun. And some fun, it certainly had.
my little tk brain is active rn SO squid sisters tickle headcanons YIPPEE
of course warning for lots of tickly things under the cut <3
tickle fights. LOTS of tickle fights.
it's usually callie starting them, and marie ending them.
sometimes something like this will happen instead, though:
callie feels playful and giggly and wants to be tickled but REFUSES to admit it so she tries to provoke marie into getting her
she mostly wears a tanktop when she wants it
usually marie can pick up on this really quickly because of how well she knows her cousin, but she usually wont let callie have tickles without mentally torturing her first
what marie does is she'll get pretty close to callie, and say something like "nice tanktop, cal~ wonder why youre wearing it..." or "hm, isn't it a bit cold for a tanktop, callie?"
another thing marie does to tease callie is blow in her ear, making her contract and giggle
callie usually hugs marie and wraps marie's arms around herself as a way of asking but... not asking, yknow?
finally, marie will sigh and be like "alright, alright. fine." and absolutely WRECK callie with tickles
she gets EVERYWHERE. tummy, sides, underarms, back, even her hands.
this goes on for about ten minutes until callie will turn things around and give her cousin tickles, except shes much gentler as she knows marie isnt the fondest of it
usually from callie its just gentle side scritches and neck/chin tks
then marie ends it with saying to callie "so? are you finally gonna admit you love it?"
"HECK NO!!!!!!!"
okay wooshdfjgsdf i had to get this out of my brain take it aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
