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Just the Way You Are	By : megabsupreme Category: +M through R > Real Ghostbusters Views: 3491 -:- 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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It was with heavy hearts that the Ghostbusters and Alice left the hospital the next morning. Janine had still not awakened and although she was stable, she showed no signs of improvement.

“We have to go, Egon. Zuul and Vinz are still out there,” Ray protested when Egon tried to stay behind. “We need you, E.”

Peter pulled Egon into a headlock and gave him a noogie. “Quit your moping. If Janine saw you, she’d slug you.”

Egon twisted to get out of Peter’s grip. He and Peter exchanged a look that silently relayed their feelings about their altercation of the previous day. They smiled at each other and Egon clapped Peter on the back companionably. “Now I know why you hate that so much.”

Back at the firehouse, they immediately got to work. Ray found a picture of Dana and Janine that was taken just before Dana dumped Peter. They were standing arm in arm and blowing a kiss at the camera, which Peter had been holding. Ray put it into a frame and placed it on the table in the lab as inspiration. It worked. Peter and Egon were more diligent than ever. In a matter of a few hours, they had formulated a plan to get Dana and Louis back, with Alice’s help.

The Ghostbusters worked to the wee hours on the equipment they would need. They finally retired, but they were too wound up to sleep, so they just sat up and talked, mostly kicking around ideas about the battle that was to come.

“Egon, do you really think Alice’s spell will work?” Winston asked. “No offense, Ray.” He had noticed his friend’s wounded expression. “She’s a very gifted necromancer, but I mean this is something she even admits she’s never done or seen done.”

“The theory is sound.” Egon took a hefty bite of his Twinkie and then a swig of soda. All of his colleagues smiled. Egon eyed them each in turn then raised a curious eyebrow. “What?”

Peter laughed. “Hearing you say that is all we needed to know that this will work.”

Egon snorted and rolled his eyes. “Right. Any other time you complain about my saying that.”

Winston leaned back comfortably against his bed rail. “Yeah, man. We do. But we’re just trying to keep you from getting a swelled head. Truth is, any time you say that, the plan always works. If you say the theory is sound, then it’ll work.”

Egon looked surprised, and then blushed modestly.

“So here’s the deal, brainiac,” Peter cut in. “Maybe you can answer something for me now.”

“I’ll try.”

“What did Zuul mean by that crack about Oscar being her lovechild with Vinz Clortho?”

Egon flushed. He hadn’t wanted to talk to Peter about that until it was absolutely necessary to do so. “Uh, I’m assuming that she was suggesting Oscar was not fathered by whom Dana thinks.”

“Yeah, I got that. But I don’t see how that’s possible. Dana would’ve had to been pregnant for like three years.”

“Yes. I think perhaps she was.”

“That’s not even remotely funny, Spengs.”

“It wasn’t meant to be, Peter. I think it’s quite clear what her meaning was. When the Gatekeeper and Key Master had intercourse, Zuul was impregnated, and seeing as she was in Dana’s body at the time Dana was also impregnated by Louis.”

Winston looked from one to the other. “Egon, that’s impossible!”

“I would have thought that you would have realized by now, Winston that few things are impossible. Demons are immortal, so they likely have a longer gestational period.”

“But Dana’s mortal!”

“Yes. She’s also been possessed for the last four years. She thought she was pregnant with Peter’s baby after she left him.” At Peter’s hurt glare he added. “I only recently found out, Peter. She confided this to Janine years ago. When she didn’t get any bigger, she assumed that she either had a hormonal imbalance that caused a false positive pregnancy test or a miscarriage. She swore Janine to secrecy, but Janine was angry and told me in a fit of bitterness a couple of days ago.”

“So she lost my child?” Peter looked as if his heart was going to break.

“No. I don’t think Dana was ever pregnant with your child. I believe she was pregnant with Oscar for a very long time, and didn’t know it, even before you two . . . um, well, you know.” He blushed a bit, but Peter just nodded. He still looked heartbroken. Egon continued to relay his theory. “Dana now assumes that Oscar is her ex-husband’s son, but I don’t think he is. I think Oscar is a vessel for the child of Zuul and Vinz Clortho, and that’s why they want him so badly.” His colleagues looked skeptical. Egon sighed in frustration. “Look, I know it sounds a little odd, especially with Dana being pregnant for so long, but it all fits. There’s never been a record of a pregnant human possessed with a pregnant demon. We don’t know that it isn’t possible. The demon might have been able to stunt Oscar’s development. Or perhaps he really is her husband’s child and Zuul was just waiting for her to get pregnant. Who knows?”

The others looked slightly more accepting of the latter possibility. That gave Egon all the encouragement he needed to continue. “I believe that’s why Vigo wanted Oscar, too. We assumed that Janosz suggested Oscar to Vigo, but Dana told us that the painting began smiling at her before Janosz started behaving strangely. I think Vigo was aware of Zuul’s presence in Dana. He was most likely communicating with Zuul telepathically, perhaps even taunting her about how he planned to take Oscar for his own use. Dana was just unable to hear them.”

“And then he placed the idea of Oscar into Janosz’s mind.” Ray looked despondent.

“Well, it’s possible, but as Janosz has no clear memories of what happened while he was possessed, we can’t be sure if that was within Vigo’s power.”

“I can,” Ray whispered.

“Come again, Raymond?”

“I said, I can be sure. I remember what it was like, being possessed by Vigo and all.”

Egon’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh? You never said . . .”

“Yeah. Was trying to forget.” He smiled sheepishly. “Well, he was able to pick my brain and he put things into my mind, too. He could see what happened in Arkham, and I could see us ruling the world together. It’s weird ‘cause it felt kinda right, if for nothing else but his promise to make my nightmares go away.”

Winston and Peter exchanged a look that spoke volumes. They’d both seen Ray tossing and turning in the night over the past couple weeks. “Ray,” Peter began cautiously. “Why don’t you tell us what happened in Arkham? You know Alice isn’t the only one who’s been acting a little off. What’s been bugging you? We wanna help, but we can’t unless you talk to us.”

Ray took a deep, sorrowful breath. “The battle is what’s important right now. We’ll talk about this later.” At Peter’s impatient frown, he added, “I promise. I’ll tell you all, including Janine. She grilled me for info about a week ago.”

The others had no choice but to accept, so they continued to discuss their battle plans.

“So Egon,” Ray smiled excitedly. “What you said about Oscar makes sense, but I just had a thought about something else. Didn’t Zuul say that Oscar was a product of her love for Vinz and their love for their master? Maybe little Oscar is supposed to be the vessel for Gozer.”

Egon’s jaw dropped and then he beamed at Ray. “Raymond, you’re brilliant! That’s it! That’s the connection! We destroyed the gateway to Gozer, so they would need another gateway. Oscar is that gateway. The negative slime, the taunting from Vigo, the emotional roller coaster of Peter and Dana getting back together, they all must have contributed to waking the terror dogs from their sleep inside Dana and Louis. They want to bring back Gozer! That must have been their plan all along. They would have known that night that Zuul was pregnant, perhaps Gozer could only stay permanently with a host.”

Peter’s eyes widened. Then he flopped back onto his pillow. “Damn. That means Louis really is the father, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, I suppose it does.”

Peter looked thoughtful for a while. In respect for letting him absorb all this, his friends were silent. He finally sat up and looked at them. “You know, Dana mentioned having nightmares. Maybe Zuul’s been trying to drive her batty so she could take over.”

“That’s precisely what she’s done.” Egon pushed his glasses into place.

The phone rang. Ray answered it. “It’s the hospital Egon.” He handed the phone to him. Egon listened for a little while. He smiled broadly. When he hung up, Ray beat him to the punch. “She’s awake?”

“Yes. And already giving the nursing staff hell.”

“At-a-way, Janine.” Peter chuckled. “What do you say we go pay her a visit?”

“Sounds like a plan, m’man!” Winston stood and grabbed the keys to Ecto-1 from his nightstand. They all tossed on jeans and sweaters and headed downstairs.

They hadn’t planned on waking Alice, but she was waiting for them next to the car. “Well? Whre yre you all gaping at? Janine is waiting. Let’s roll!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that night . . .

It was nearly the new day, and Kel was only just leaving her restaurant. It had been a good week, and she had been able to pay off enough of her back bills not to have to shut down yet. She felt that she was merely delaying the inevitable, but she didn’t care. Her mother’s dream would live on for as long as possible.

She was just locking the door when she heard something behind her. She turned quickly and surveyed the street around her. It was empty. Her adrenaline was pulsing through her veins. When she was certain that there was no one about, she finished locking up and turned to get in her car. She unlocked the door and then nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice. “Excuse me, Miss. Do you have some change?”

She slowly turned around, trembling miserably, her eyes shining with fresh tears. She fully expected to see heuld-uld-be rapist standing behind her. Instead, she found Dana Barrett and a short man with glasses she’d never seen before. She could only assume that the man had spoken.

“Dana? What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to see you.”

“Why? Is something wrong with Winston or Peter?”

“No.” She smiled companionably, but it was very false, causing Kel more unease than not.

“Dana . . .”

“You keep calling me Dana.”

“Well . . . yes.” Kel stared from one to the other, confused and very frightened. “It’s your name isn’t it?”

The other woman stopped smiling. “No.” The man came forward and covered Kel’s mouth just as she was about to scream.

And then she knew nothing but darkness.
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Just the Way You Are