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Just the Way You Are	By : megabsupreme Category: +M through R > Real Ghostbusters Views: 3426 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Real Ghostbusters, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Janine spent much of the weekend catching up on the work that had piled up in her absence. She and Egon were okay . . . not great, but okay. Peter was not being as much of a pain as expected. Perhaps he was still a little wary of her. She hoped that they wouldn’t take too long to get back to their easy, offensive rapport.

Also, Ray and Winston’s constant encouragement was sorely missed. They were both out all weekend, probably with Kel and Alice. Every time Janine thought of the other two women, she had to smile. Alice was already an old acquaintance. She liked to think of her as a close friend now. She was so sweet and Ray deserved a little female companionship. Maybe one day they’d be more than friends. One could hope. And then there was Winston. He and Kel were moving really fast. She was a real knockout, and very sweet.

She had coerced Janine into blowing off work for a few hours on Saturday. They crossed the state line into Jersey to do some serious shopping in Secaucus. “That place might have been built on a swamp,” Kel told her. “But God willing, it will never sink! The prices, Janine! The prices!”

So now Janine was caught up with work and caught up on her guys’ liveShe She was still very angry with Dana, and she was NEVER going to speak to her again, but she had to admit, she felt really bad for Peter. He really loved her and she hadn’t come home or called. Her parents hadn’t seen her, and Oscar was still with Lois. Lois was loving the time with the baby, but Peter was miserable. For that alone, she wished Dana would come back.

So now it was Monday, and back to the old grind stone for all of them. The guys were booked solid all morning, but things had gotten slow by mid-afternoon. Egon had come down from the lab and suggested that they close up early and go see a movie.

“Egon, that’s a great idea! Let’s go see Rain Man. I heard it’s really good.”

“That’s the movie with Dustin Hoffman as an autistic man, correct?”

“Yup. And Tom Cruise plays his brother.”

Peter shouted from his office, “And there you have the true motive, Egon. Tom Cruise.”

Janine frowned and retorted, “The movie is really good, Peter. Tom Cruise is not the only reason people are seeing it. It's already the highest grossing movie of 1988 and it hasn’t been out a whole month.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he quipped as he came out to grab the mail from Janine’s desk. “But our movie grossed higher.”

“Ah. And now we find the real reason you don’t like this film, apart from the fact that Tom Cruise didn’t play you in our movie.”

He stuck his tongue out at her and headed upstairs. “He’s just jealous,” Egon said, shaking his head. “Never could stand for any man to get more attention than him, not even a celebrity. He probably does want to see the movie. He is a psychologist, after all. And I think he once did a paper on savant skills in the mentally disabled for a parapsychology course. He’ll likely go see it when none of us is around.”

Janine chuckled. “Well, that’s Peter for you. But the truth is I want to see it because my sister Monica’s youngest son has autism, and I want to support any film that raises public awareness.”

“Really? I didn’t know that. How very noble of you. Then Rain Man it is. I’ll go get my coat.” With that decided, he went upstairs.

Janine had just put on her coat, when the phone rang. She seriously debated not answering it, especially if it was that woman with the haunted bathroom again. Her conscience told her it could be someone with a real emergency, so she stripped off her coat and answered it.

The last thing she expected to hear was a hysterical woman screaming in Spanish. It had been years since Janine had taken Spanish, so she didn’t have a clue. “Slow down, lady! I can’t understand you! ¿Habla Angles?” The woman just kept screaming in Spanish. She seemed to be crying. “EGON! PETER! HELLO! YOU GUYS ARE THE ONES WHO HABLA ESPAGNOL; NOW GET YOUR BUTTS DOWN HERE AND HABLA! THIS LADY’S GIVIN’ ME A HEADACHE!”

Peter came down the pole and took the phone. Egon meandered down the stairs. He frowned as he descended. He could hear the woman screaming, even from the landing.

“Rosa?” Peter covered the mouthpiece and addressed Egon and Janine. “It’s Rosa, Dana’s nanny. She’s saying something about Dana, but I can’t figure it out.”

“Give it here,” Egon held out his hand for the receiver. He spoke fluent Spanish. Big shock.
//Hello Rosa. This is Egon. Do you remember me? That’s right the tall man with glasses. I’d like to know what happened, but I need you to calm down for me, okay?// Rosa stopped screaming, but she was still crying when she answered him. //Okay, now tell me what’s happened.// He listened for several minutes. His expression went through many changes, from mild interest to intense curiosity to total surprise. He frowned about halfway through, and his frown deepened to a scowl. //Okay Rosa, I want you to take your family and go to a relative’s house, okay? Someone who she doesn’t know. Can you do that?// He waited for her reply. //Yes, you did the right thing. We’ll take care of it. Just get your family to safety. Are you sure your son and your husband are all right?// Another pause. //Okay then. Go ahead. Don’t wait around to pack a lot. Just take enough for a few days. You’re all still on winter break, right?// She said they were. //Good. And don’t worry. It’s under control. Bye now.// He hung up.

Peter and Janine were looking at him anxiously. He sighed heavily. This wouldn’t be easy for either of them. He briefly debated which one to tell first. He finally decided on the psychologist. He walked over to the firepole. “SLIMER!” he bellowed up to the higher floors. The little ghost poked his head through the ceiling above them. “Come here Slimer. I’d like you to do something. It’s very important.” Slimer flitted down to hover in front of the physicist, thrilled to death (no pun intended) that he was going to be given an important task. “Okay Slimer, I want you to go be a lookout. I want you to fly around the building really fast, over and over, and look for any signs that someone is trying to get in. I want you to come tell me if you see anyone coming from far away. If someone is really close by, I want you to come in, and grab Janine’s hand and hide. And I mean anyone, even friends. Consider everyone who is not in this firehouse right now to be an enemy. The two of you should be safe in the utility closet in the basement. If you go there, be very quiet and don’t come out until one of us comes and gets you. Do you understand?” Egon gave Janine a significant look. She nodded her head slowly. Slimer saluted and took off through the wall above the front door.

“Egon, what the hell’s going on?” Janine demanded.

“I’ll tell you later. Just stay here. If Slimer comes and gets you, go with him. If anyone comes in even if Slimer doesn’t, go hide. And I mean run.”

“Egon, you’re scaring me.”

He hugged her tightly. “Don’t be scared. Everything will be fine.”

She stepped away from him and slumped down into her chair, terrified in her ignorance of what was happening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Egon went to the lockers and grabbed two proton packs. He handed them to Peter, and then took two more. He led Peter up the stairs and into the rec room. Winston and Ray were there already, laughing their heads off at some movie on cable called I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. Egon’s very serious expression caught Winston’s eye. He nudged Ray, who looked up, saw his friends, and turned the TV off. Egon and Peter sat down on the couch with their friends. The other three turned expectantly to Egon.

“This is not easy, and I don’t think we have much time, but I don’t want to just announce this because I doubt you’ll believe me.”

They all nodded their assent.

“Just tell us however you think is best, Spengs.” Peter sounded patient, but he was not feeling as calm as he sounded.

“Okay. Peter already knows that there was a phone call. It was Dana’s nanny. She was very upset. It seems that Dana and Louis came to her house demanding Oscar. When she told them that she didn’t have him, Dana grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up off her feet.” All their eyes widened. No one knew what to say. Ray and Winston both glanced at Peter. He looked like he was going to be sick.

“Egon, are you sure? I mean, Dana would never hurt anyone, least of all Rosa.”

“I know how it sounds, Ray. Just let me finish telling you what I know, and then I’ll tell you all what I think. Okay?” The others nodded and fell silent again.

“Okay. When Rosa’s oldest son saw what was happening, he ran over to help his mother, but Louis hit him. It was at that moment Rosa’s husband came out of the bedroom. He rushed Louis and Louis threw him across the room.”

“What?!?” Winston demanded.

“Okay, that’s bullshit! Louis couldn’t throw a Frisbee across the room, let alone a guy as big as Rosa’s husband!” Peter exclaimed.

Ray looked at him curiously. “How big is he?”

“About 6-4, 300 pounds.”

“Oh!” Ray couldn’t bring himself to say more. There was no way Louis could have done that.

“Peter, please. Let me finish. Now, Rosa didn’t tell them where the baby is. She told them that we had him, so they’re likely on their way here. We need to be ready. Hence the proton packs. And no, Peter, I’m not suggesting that we harm Dana or Louis, but that’s hardly common knowledge. Now, I’ve told you what I know. What I think is not going to sit well with you.” He paused, taking a moment to figure out an easy way to tell them. “Okay, I want you to think back to the night we battled Gozer. What happened to the terror dogs?”

Winston spoke up. “They were destroyed.”

“Incorrect.”

“But Egon, they were toast. Burnt to a crisp.”

“Their bodies were burned, yes. But since when are demons purely corporeal beings?”

Ray slapped his forehead. “Of course! Why didn’t we think of it?”

“Think of what, Ray?” Peter’s tone had lost all signs of patience.

“Peter, where were Dana and Louis after Gozer was gone?”

“Inside the terror dogs.”

“Then I’ll ask again,” Egon added. “Where were the terror dogs?”

“Egon. Please just tell me.”

He sighed. “Peter, the terror dogs didn’t die. Terror dogs are demons, and demons are immortal. They were no more dead than Stay-Puft. He seemed to have been destroyed by that blast, but we caught him a couple days later in Central Park, didn’t we? So if they didn’t die, and their bodies were gone, then where were they?”

Peter stared at him, tired and clueless as to what he was getting at. Ray smiled and shook his head. “They retreated, Pete. Into their hosts.”

Understanding dawned on Peter’s face. He turned to Egon, who nodded in agreement. “Yes Venkman,” he responded to his friend’s silent question. “They sacrificed their corporeal forms to keep from being destroyed. If they’d been destroyed, Dana and Louis would have been destroyed as well. Demons do not form around their hosts like nougat inside ady bdy bar. They morph into their true forms, forcing the host bodies to change shape. Dana and Louis’s bodies were not inside them, they were them. We assumed that the crossing of the streams killed them, but I don’t think that’s the case or Dana and Louis would have been dead, too. I think that Vinz and Zuul did that. There were two stone statues in the blueprints of the rooftop of the Ivo Shandor building. Those statues looked like terror dogs. Perhaps they were inside, sleeping. I’m assuming that to be the case, and I think they turned themselves to stone when we crossed the streams, hiding their living essence in the one place they knew they’d be safe. Inside their hosts, where they could sleep and replenish their energy. We were all so happy Dana was okay, I suppose we just ignored the unlikelihood of what transpired.”

Peter paled. Then he flushed with rage. “No! No, Egon!”

“I’m sorry, Peter. I think perhaps the exposure to Vigo and the negatively charged slime might have awoken them. That night was the beginning of their strange behavior, remember?”

“Well, that doesn’t add up.” Ray scratched his head. “The first thing they did was to cause trouble for you and Janine. Why would they do that?”

“That I can’t figure out.”

“I have a theory.” Winston wasn’t the resident mystery buff for nothing. “Egon was the one who came up with the idea of crossing the streams. Maybe they figured he’d be the one to figure out what they were up to. Maybe they wanted to distract him so he wouldn’t do it again.”

Ray nodded. “Yeah. That actually makes a lot of sense.”

Peter was on his feet pacing. “So what are we supposed to do, genius? We can’t blast them!”

“I know.”

“So then what do we do when they get here?”

“We fight with what we have.”

“Like what?” Peter asked skeptically.

“Gozer the Traveler.”

“Come again?”

Ray smiled broadly. “We’ll need to get down to the basement so we can do this.”

“Yes.” Egon checked his watch. “We’d better get going. We’re running out of time.” He stood and grabbed Peter by the shoulders, forcing him to look at him. “I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am that this has happened, Peter. Please know that I won’t let anything happen to her.” He turned to Ray. “And we will never tell them where Oscar is.”

Ray swallowed hard and stared back at Egon in wide-eyed bewilderment. He hadn’t even thought about that. He made a mental note to buy Rosa a big bouquet of flowers. She could have just told them where the baby was, and then Lois and Alice would be in mortal danger, but she had risked her own safety and the safety of her family to protect them.
“O
“Okay, let’s go.”

They all went to the firepole. Winston stood at the top, but did not go down the pole. “Egon? Why do you think they want Oscar?”

“I don’t know. But whatever it is, they can’t have him.”

“GHOSTBUSTERS! COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!” Dana’s voice carried up the stairs.

And so it began.
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Just the Way You Are