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Being called to a bust in mid summer is always at least a little annoying, what with the sticky heat and sweat and the warmth of the proton pack and most of, if not all of the buildings the Ghostbusters are called out to are old and don't have any kind of air conditioning. But, being called to a bust in mid summer and getting stuck in a lift? That's damn bad luck. More than a little annoying, terrible luck.
Patty and Holtzmann had been the only ghostbusters available at HQ when they received the call. An entity had been seen hanging around in grimy hotel near by, and the owner of the hotel had finally decided that enough was enough after losing business due to ongoing ectoplasm issues. Taking the lift had seemed like a smart way to avoid lugging their equipment up the stairs in the heat, and ithe had been, until the lift jammed.
"Holtzy, please tell me that red light doesn't mean what I think it does," Patty said loudly, looking up at the blinking red 'Emergency' light.
"Eh, yup," Holtz mumbled, popping the p sound. "We're stuck," she said quickly, shucking off her proton pack and fanning herself with her hands.
Patty became quiet and her eyes had a slight worried look to them that Holtz rarely saw. She was obviously trying to remain calm, and she carefully shut down and took off her proton pack. Patty looked at Holtzmann and nodded ever so slightly, as though she was confirming the reality of their situation.
"So, we press the help button, and they get us out right Holtzy?" Patty said in a slightly too loud voice that screamed I'm-faking-confidence-here! Holtz nodded, and despite being notoriously bad at comforting people in the past, she reached out to put a hand on Patty's arm.
"Listen, I've been stuck in a lift before, admittedly the first incident was out of curiosity," Holtz rambled, laughing slightly as though she was reminiscing on something pleasant, before continuing in a more disjointed, clunky manor, "and uh, I know that this situation may not be ideal, but uh, I am proof of the survivability, and I won't let anything happen to you," Holtzmann cleared her throat and pressed the help button and crouched down to pretend to be fiddling with the proton packs.
Patty felt less flighty knowing that Holtzy had already been through something like this before, and hadn't died. She'd never heard anyone tell a story about being stuck in a lift which never bodes well for a situation. She was so focused on trying to remain calm and to keep breathing steadily that she almost didn't blush when thinking of Holtzy's declaration to protect her. Patty fanned her face with her hands and said "you know, I've been reading about all of your science stuff, and hot air rises, right?" Patty looked to Holtzy who nodded with a semi confused semi intrigued look on her face. "Right," Patty continued, "so if we sit down the air will be cooler," Patty laughed a little "at least for me anyway,".
"I am tall enough for there to be a marginal difference in some instances!" Holtzmann said in mock offence, her hand clutched to her chest dramatically. Patty raised an eyebrow and moved the proton packs to sit down.
"Man I hope these lifts are clean," Patty sighed, opening the top of her jumpsuit slightly. Holtz knew that it was a sensible idea given the heat in the lift but for a moment that action really wasn't helping her to cool off.
They moved the proton packs to one side of the lift, which left enough space for both of them to sit on the other side. Patty sat with her back to the wall and her knees drawn up to her chest and Holtz sat next to her with her back to the lift doors and her legs crossed.
"How long do these things take?" Patty asked, wiping away some sweat with her jumpsuit sleeve.
"Varies," Holtz said, digging around in her bag for something, "can take hours," she reluctantly admitted, finding a bottle of water and handing it to Patty.
"Hours?" Patty half yelled. Her eyes became panic stricken and her breathing became heavy.
"Patty, patty," Holtz soothed, "it's OK, listen to me, this is temporary, you're going to be OK," Holtz said slowly and calmly. She had never seen Patty like this before. She'd seen her scared, but Patty always had this amazing ability to come back from that and to kick ass. Holtz had never seen fear win before, and the thought of it made her heart ache.
Patty closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. She counted one, two, three out, in, one, two, three, four out. "This is so embarrassing," Patty whispered.
"No, embarrassing is spending a Friday night teaching your cat to dance," Holtz smiled. Patty half laughed, and looked at Holtzmann.
"That's really what you're doing on Friday nights?" Patty asked, a tint of humour in her voice. Holtz always missed Friday dinners at HQ because she was doing something 'huge' at home.
Holtz nodded. "Patty have I ever told you about my son's moonwalk?".
Holtzmann managed to keep her distraction tactics going for an hour and half, which is impressive for someone who doesn't talk all that much. By which point the air in the lift was heavy and unbearable. Holtz took off the top half of her jumpsuit and tied it around her waist so that she just had her tank top and jumpsuit legs on. "Oh thank Meitner," Holtz sighed, flapping her arms.
"Can we run out of air?" Patty asked, genuine concern on her face. She looked the least powerful Holtz had ever seen her, and she wanted desperately to protect her and reassure her.
"No, I promise we won't run out of air, look," Holtz took Patty's hand and brought it up to the lift doors, "you feel that?" Holtz asked, not looking back at Patty for confirmation, "that's air. That's all the air we need. It's OK," Holtz let go of Patty's hand and turned to look at her.
"Why are you so scared?" Holtz asked sheepishly.
"I just, I um, I'm really claustrophobic," Patty offered weakly, and she knew immediately that Holtz could tell she was lying. Patty shook her head, broke eye contact and looked down at her knees.
"So, I've always loved history, and buildings, you know," Patty stated shakily. Holtz gently moved closer. "When I was little, I lived down the street from a big old church. I used to play in there all the time, I even used to sneak in when it was shut sometimes to look at the old glass," Patty continued, looking back up at Holtz, who was listening quietly.
"Anyway, one day, I found a crypt, super interesting, lots of dates and names and good stuff like that," Patty swallowed. "The door into this thing was real heavy, and I was ten maybe eleven, and that things shut straight behind me one day, just slammed," Patty stared off at the proton packs. Holtz made small noises but she picked up Patty's hand in support.
"I was stuck in there for two days, it was a room full of nightmares and I swear I never should have gone in there," Patty finished, small tears forming in her eyes.
Holtz moved to sit next to Patty and rest her head on Patty's shoulder. "Hey, it's OK, you have me now, Holtzy's here," she said softly. Patty smiled and wiped her eyes. After hours, they finally heard something from the hotel staff and firemen. They had managed to pry open one set of doors but they had the inner doors to go. Patty and Holtzmann could hear them now, clanging and scraping.
Holtz jumped at little and the noise and sat up. Patty, feeling less sick and a little less nervous for the first time in hours, slowly realised that Holtz had her arms out. Patty loved Holtzy's arms, they were strong and covered in light blonde soft hair and random bruises from work and a few old, worn line art tattoos.
Holtzy cleared her throat, playfully smiling up at Patty, "like what you see?" She smirked, waggling her eyebrows. Patty laughed and called her an idiot but a slight blush had started to crawl up her cheeks.
"Holtzy?" Patty asked quietly, but loud enough to be heard over all of the clanging.
"Yes," Holtz answered, drawing out the e so that it sounded more like a u.
"Is there something going on? Like, between us?" Patty asked, her eyes searching Holtzmann for answers. Holtz paused for a moment, and observed Patty.
Patty and all of her vulnerability and her beautiful, colourful hair and her lovely, sweet smile. She leaned forward, cupping Patty's chin in one hand and inches away from her lips she asked, "is this OK?". Patty silenced her by leaning forward to meet her lips in a tender, soft kiss.
At that moment, they could hear the lift doors being wrenched open, and a few wolf whistles were let out by the firemen. Patty pulled away and quietly giggled and the sound lit Holtzmann’s blood on fire. She was just too sweet.
"I told you I'd keep you safe," Holtz whispered, before standing up and offering Patty a hand. "Now, let's hunt some ghosts!" She whooped excitedly. Patty felt like she'd never smiled so much in her entire life.