PG. This fan fic is only based on the Real Ghostbusters, no copyright infringement intended. The plot is pretty much all Peter orientated.

Saturday afternoon…

“Peter, just get us home in one piece will you!” Winston shouted from the passenger seat of Ecto-1.

They were heading back from a minor bust and Peter was keen to get in the shower and prepare himself for his evening’s appointment at the Manhattan Ladies Club Summer Ball. He had been invited as one of the guests at their annual charity fundraiser. He and five other ‘celebrities’ were going to be auctioned off to the highest lady bidder.

Taking care to ensure that the invite was quite genuine, having been led astray before, he eagerly accepted!! Upon their arrival back at the Firehouse Peter zoomed upstairs and dived in the shower.

“What time is this ‘raffle’?” Janine asked Winston who was left to bolt the barn door. “Not til 7.30, but we all know how much Peter likes to fuss over his appearance!” They both laughed over their brown-haired chum’s fastidiousness before going back to work.

‘Why did I let Lucy talk me into this?’ I thought to myself, as we got ready at her apartment. Seeing my less than enthusiastic expression she patted me on the shoulder, “Come on Sha’ran, cheer up, it’ll be fun!” “I don’t even know where we’re supposed to be going!” I replied.

“Only to the ladies club, you know the one I joined last month.” “Oh, I thought that place was members only?” I queried. “It is, but they have an annual open evening/fundraiser for the local kids hospital and they permit members to bring a lady friend along, provided you say so in advance.”

We finished putting on our makeup and headed over to the rather posh looking, albeit with rather overdone gothic style, building that served as the ladies club meeting hall.

“Hello Lucy and this must be Sha’ran?” welcomed the lady on the door. “Hello Amy, anyone here yet?” Lucy replied. “Only a few, you’re a bit early!” “Yeah, wanted to beat the crush!” Lucy laughed and I smiled, blissfully ignorant of the occasion.

Inside the foyer was nicely decorated with plush burgundy carpets and matching curtains with a gold braided pattern. The door to the main room was closed and some of the older members were setting out coffee and biscuits.

Upstairs in the bathroom Peter put the finishing touches to his hair and bowtie. “There that should knock ‘em dead!” he muttered to himself.

He finally emerged and drifted along to the lounge where Ray and Winston were watching TV. “What is this ‘do’, a Presidential banquet?!” Winston joked.

Peter just pulled a face and huffed, “You know perfectly well where I’m going.” “I just hope a nice lady appreciates all the effort I’ve gone to!” “And can afford you!” Ray chipped in. “Yeah…”

Walking down the stairs Peter stood in front of Janine’s desk and loomed so he was blocking her light. “Peter, I can’t see what I’m doing, can you move slightly please, or better still busy yourself elsewhere!” she politely but forcefully requested without looking up. She didn’t need to; no one else could cast such a unique shadow.

Realising that she wasn’t going to pay any compliments on his appearance he sauntered into his office and picked up a magazine to pass the time.

Just then Slimer’s horrified shriek emitted from Egon’s lab. Startled Janine went upstairs to investigate. “What’s he up to now?” she muttered.

Poking her head around the door she enquired as to the origin of the noise, “Is everything OK up here?” Egon turned and noticed her.

“Err, yes it is, I was just testing this new device…” he started to explain, but it was too technical for Janine so she waved him off. “Basically it liquefies ectoplasmic entities.” “Oh!” Then she saw Slimer, puddled, quite literally, on the table. Only his eyes in the middle gave him away.

“Can you get him back to normal?” she asked, feeling slightly worried. “That’s my next task” came the stoic reply. She decided it was best to leave her blond-haired beau to it and promptly returned to her desk.

Meanwhile Peter had dozed off and Janine had to wake him when his taxi arrived. He sobered up in a trice and darted out the door. Janine shook her head as he slammed the door behind him.

“So what is this fundraising event then?” I asked my auburn haired companion. “Oh, we’ve got some male celebrities coming here, the chief lady is going to auction them off one by one to the highest bidder and the proceeds get donated to the Oakfield Children’s Hospital.”

“It’s a lot of fun and all in a good cause.” I nodded my head and hoped I wouldn’t get called on to make a bid! Lucy beamed at me and I knew that look in her eye, she’d been trying to fix me up with a date ever since my last one went walkabout.

“I hope you’re not up to your usual tricks!” I laughed. She just winked at me and smiled. I shook my head in exasperation.

Behind us more and more of the members and their guests were arriving and taking coffee and biscuits. Most of them were older women in their forties and fifties, but I spotted a few younger faces.

We could overhear a few of them asking who the ‘celebrities’ were. “Two of them are Chippendales!” one lady said. “There’s a couple of Radio DJ’s too and a famous novelist I think,” said another.

Lucy and I stood listening to these conversations, “So who’s the sixth then, you said there were six?” She just beamed at me again and pulled an, ‘I know but you don’t!’ expression.

Presently the doors to the main hall were swung wide and someone announced, “Come on in everyone, we’re all set to go!”

Lucy had positioned us deliberately close to the door so we were one of the first in. We walked down and stood at the front near the stage. There were six seats and a lectern on the stage, which somehow didn’t quite go with the splendidly decorated room, courtesy of Streamers and Balloons Ltd.

The hall filled rapidly and the chief lady walked onto the stage and calmed everyone down. “Now then ladies and guests, we all know why we’re here.” “The aim is to raise as much for the Oakfield Hospital as possible.” “The highest bidder will get to dance with their chosen ‘date’ for the rest of the evening, so lets not waste any more time!”

There was a sudden outburst of laughter and excitement as the ‘celebrities’ were invited onto the stage. I didn’t recognise any of them - having never seen the Chippendales, or been a fan of the local radio stations or read many fictional books - that was until the last one emerged from behind the curtains. I blushed to my hairline! “Oh no!” I muttered.

Lucy heard me. “Is that why you brought me along?!” I giggled. She nodded and smiled at me, “Well you told me you liked him!” she replied. “Yeah, but…” “No buts here’s you’re chance, make the most of it!” Her encouragement did nothing to abate my blush.

“You’ve gone bright red” she laughed. “Well wouldn’t you?!” I replied, awkwardly and looking down at the floor. “Perhaps, but I want one of those Chippendales!!”

The last ‘victim’ was none other than Dr. Peter Venkman of the Ghostbusters. Lucy was quite right when she said I liked him, though it was slightly an understatement! I’d never told her quite how much I fancied him!

“Oh boy they’re all old enough to be my mother!” Peter moaned to himself. “And I’ve got some tough competition!” “I can see a few younger ladies, but I daresay they’ll want the Chippendales and not me.” He sat down with the rest of the guys and prepared himself to be disappointed.

The bidding got underway, starting with the author. He went for a modest sum to one of the older ladies who happened to be a fan. Next up was the first DJ. The bidding started to get a little ‘heated’ as he was quite good looking.

I found myself getting caught up in the atmosphere and just laughed with the rest. I tried not to look at Peter too much as every time I did it made my blush return! Lucy made a modest bid for the DJ, but was beaten by a wide margin.

“Oh he’s even cuter in person!” I muttered without thinking. Lucy looked at me and laughed. “I’ll loan you whatever I have left if you start getting out-bid” she whispered. I smiled and couldn’t help agreeing that I shouldn’t pass up on the chance.

Peter sat there with his most appealing smile and hoped he would get picked by one of the younger ladies in the room. Much as he had respect for older women, he preferred to date ladies more his own age.

“That girl’s been looking at you all evening!” the remaining DJ whispered to him. “Wha…which one?” “On your right, dark brown hair, wearing that dark blue dress.”

He looked over and saw a tall slim lady with dark-ish skin and dark eyes. I got caught looking at him and promptly blushed and looked down at the floor. “He’s looking at you!” Lucy whispered. “I know… I’m trying get myself together here!” I managed to choke out.

‘Wow! She’s hot! It’d be just my luck she gets beaten by someone else!’ he thought to himself.

I looked up and he was still looking my way. I could feel his eyes burning into me, and they were such lovely eyes too! We were locked in a gaze for some moments until he smiled at me. I was unable to stop myself from smiling back, but it made my blush return in full force and I had to look down again to regain my composure.

Lucy giggled and checked her purse in readiness for the first Chippendale who was up next. She had some really serious competition and had to spend a little more than she’d hoped, but it paid off!!!

“Yay!” she called out slightly over enthusiastically. “I got him!” Everyone laughed, even her poor hapless ‘victim’ had to smile as he walked down the steps towards her.

The next two gentlemen went quite quickly and I wasn’t quite ready when Peter’s turn arrived.

“Now then, to our final guest…” I allowed the bidding to slow right down and jumped in just as the chief lady was about to start the final offering. “$250!” I called out. There was a hushed exclamation. Mine was the highest bid of the entire evening. “Any more bids?” “Going once, twice…” Crack! “Sold to the lady in blue!”

Lucy patted my shoulder, “Well done, nice going!” I handed my monies to the treasurer who popped me a knowing smile, “Enjoy your evening!” she giggled.

I turned round and Peter was waiting for me at the bottom of the steps. We stood there just looking at each other for a moment, before he took my hand and we started dancing to the disco that was blaring out ‘Chain Reaction’ by Diana Ross.

“Looks like my luck’s changing!” Peter thought to himself when he realised who he’d been ‘sold’ to. “She’s even lovelier close up!”

“What’s your name?” he asked. “Sha’ran” I replied. “That’s an unusual name, never heard it before.” “My Grandmother is Moroccan,” I continued.

He seemed quite curious about me, asked lots of questions about what I did for a living and with my spare time etc. etc. He didn’t need to ask if I were single, I wouldn’t have bid for him otherwise.

A slow romantic tune came over the disco and Peter held me close to him. I nearly fainted right there and then, but managed to remain standing. All the other ‘guests’ were making a decent effort to be entertaining, but Peter and I looked like a real couple!

Suddenly I noticed that we were the centre of attention and that everyone was staring at us! ‘Ulp!’ I thought to myself. As the song finished we let each other go and the whole room burst out laughing!!

A sumptuous buffet had been laid on for us, so I asked Peter if he would like something to eat, I was starving by this time. “Sure.” We wandered over and helped ourselves.

I found us a relatively quiet corner to sit in while we ate. “Mmm, this is lovely” Peter commented. “Yeah, the ladies here always lay on a good spread.” We continued to sit for a while after we’d finished eating and chatted some more.

Lucy came over and accused me of hiding! “Where’ve you been?” she asked with a cheeky smile. “We’ve been here since the buffet opened,” I laughed back. “I believe you, thousands wouldn’t!” she giggled and went back to her ‘date’.

“She’s got a dodgy sense of humour!” I chuckled to Peter. “I’ve heard and probably said worse myself!” he laughed back. Thanks to the newspaper celebrity columns this was common knowledge, as was, rather unfortunately, his so-called ‘reputation’ with women.

However I had never really taken any of it to heart, given that the newspapers like to make ‘mountains out of molehills’.

After some more chitchat we decided to get up for another dance. Lucy dragged her poor fellow over alongside us and we made a foursome out of it. We all felt a little more comfortable now, having broken the ice, so to speak, with talking and a few jokes.

However as the evening progressed I got the feeling that somehow Peter didn’t want anyone’s company but mine. He kept his eyes fixated on me as we danced and every time a slow tune came on he would hold me a bit closer each time.

A little later Lucy and I were chatting in the ladies room, “He’s really sweet on you Sha’ran!” she laughed. “Oh come on?!” I replied. “No, I’m serious I can see it in his eyes, he’s got the hots for you, I’m tellin’ ya!”

Just then Amy came in, whom we’d spoken to earlier. “Hi Lucy, looks like your friend has scored a hit with Peter Venkman!” she beamed. “Not you as well!” I said, exasperated. Both Lucy and Amy laughed their heads off at that!

“Well I must admit I do like him…” “A lot more than you’re lettin’ on girl by the looks of it!” Lucy interrupted. She could read faces like the pages of a book. “It’s written all over your face Sha’ran!” My blush returned, fiercer than before.

Back on the dance floor Peter was very enthusiastic at my return. He took both my hands and squeezed them tightly. I smiled at him and he planted a small kiss on my cheek. “Whoooo!” Lucy called out, embarrassing me to my toes! Everyone looked round at us and I felt my face burning again.

I glared at Lucy and she finally got the hint. We were alone, well, as alone as we were going to be in the crowded room. I laughed over Lucy’s antics, “See what I mean!” I chuckled. “Yeah!”

All too soon the evening was almost over and some of the older ladies started to drift away. The room started to feel more cosy and romantic. We’d sat down again and I watched as Lucy decided to call it a day, I waved her and her new ‘friend’ goodbye.

“See ya” I called after her. Peter waved too, and then turned to me. “I’ve had a really good time tonight.” “I must admit I wasn’t sure what would happen, especially when I saw all those older ladies, it scared me a little!” I laughed and reassured him, “Guess I rescued you then?” He smiled, “Mmm…” and picked up my hands again.

We were staring into each others eyes and we both got lost in the moment. He made circles on my palms with his thumbs, which made my skin tingle! I could feel my temperature beginning to rise and I’m sure he noticed this. He leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips. I was too stunned to return the gesture, but I felt overwhelmed by it.

He pulled away and I smiled again and looked at him with half closed eyes. Before I realised quite what was happening he brushed the hair off my face with the back of his hand and kissed me again, harder this time. I kissed him back, absorbed in the moment.

The next thing I can recall clearly was standing on the pavement outside my apartment while Peter paid the taxi driver. “Nice place,” he commented as we walked up the steps to the front door. “Thanks, I’ve only lived here a few months” I replied.

“Sit yourself down” I said. “Would you like a coffee?” “Please.” We sat on my sofa with our drinks and had a pleasant conversation about vacations of all things.

I was quite thirsty and quickly finished my drink and leaning forward I placed my mug on the coffee table. “I wonder what Lucy’s up to right now?” I laughed.

“I dread to think!” Peter giggled back. “Yeah, it was a bit painful, goodness knows what she thought of us though?” “I mean we didn’t exactly behave ourselves!”

Peter tilted his head and smiled at me, “I don’t regret a minute of it” he replied. “Neither do I.”