Fifth Avenue

When the Lights Go Out

You strolled across the main floor of the library past the damage. "Delacorte is going to have a conniption fit when he sees this," you noted, picking up a stray book before setting it on a nearby table. 

You opened the doors, it felt like ages since you'd seen the sun and gotten some fresh air despite having only been a few hours. In the streets people were cheering, playing music on their speakers, passing around cans of soda and beer. 

"We really survived a disaster straight from the Bible didn't we." joked Greg. You said your goodbyes and the others went their ways. 

But you didn't really know where to go. 

You knew where you wanted to go, to go find Egon. Suddenly it occurred to you that you didn't even know if he was alive. 

"Excuse me," you asked a man who was cheering in the street. "Do you know if the Ghostbusters survived this or..." 

"Hell yeah they survived! They blew up that godforsaken Stay Puft man and sent it back to Hell where it belongs. I was a quarter mile away but still, marshmallow everywhere. I still got some on my back," he said, turning around to show you. 

"Ok well thank you very much!" you said, beginning to head to the apartment building. You vaguely remembered the address from when you got the blueprints. You walked briskly, not wanting to miss them. 

It was obvious when you got close, crowds of people, reporters, police, fire department, and tape blocking off the giant crack in the road. You struggled to push your way through the crowd but you didn't see any sign of Ecto 1 or its drivers. 

"Hey watch where you're goin!" you heard a familiar voice say from a foot or so away. 

"Janine!" you yelled after her, pushing towards her. 

"Oh my God Y/n what are you doing here?" 

"Well I was at the library not far from here and thought I'd check it out. Make sure everyone is ok." 

"Yeah everyone is ok, are you ok? You look a little... spent." 

"Ah yes- we had a few ghost situations at the library," you said smoothing your hair. "So, anyways, are they still here?" 

"The guys? No, they got whisked off to some press conference and some meeting with the mayor, they'll be gone for who knows how long. Hope they find somewhere to stay, the firestation is a MESS." 

"Oh ok, well.." 

"Ya know what I think you should do? Go home, if your place survived that is, take a bath, drink some wine, and watch The Days of Our Lives, that's what I'm going to do. Worry about them later, I'm sure they're enjoying their moment of fame. Little do they know I'll be asking for a raise after this." 

"Yeah you're right, and OH- shit I need to check on my cat- ok bye Janine! Let's get coffee!" you said frantically, waving goodbye. 

You managed to get back to your apartment and were absolutely thrilled to see that your apartment- and your cat- were all in one piece, aside from a few decorations having fallen down. 

You did just as Janine suggested (except you watched on Murder She Wrote instead) and plopped on the couch in your bathrobe and a face mask. "I'm sorry I didn't come right here, Didi," you said in a baby voice, snuggling your cat. You called to check on your friends and family, then went to bed which was well deserved.

About two weeks had passed since then. 

All the news talked about was the event, about the Ghostbusters, but now it was already starting to slow down and life was almost starting to seem a little normal again. You saw them all over the news, interviews etc. but you yourself couldn't get a hold of them. 

You'd tried calling the station (a few more times than you would like to admit) but it must've still been out of commission. You had no idea where they were staying, or how to reach him or- them. You were genuinely worried about all of them, but you were obviously very anxious to see Egon. 

"Try to put him out of your mind, take care of yourself, and if it's meant to happen it will. Is the library still a mess?" your friend Diane said over the phone while you sat on the couch painting your toes a dark mauve color. 

"They have a work crew there every day, we're only allowed in a small area, everything else is blocked off. One of the ghosts literally ate his way through the ventilation system so they're having to redo it all! I have no idea when we'll be back to normal operation, right now we're just sorting what we can and letting guests return books." 

"Sounds fun! Ah- well I better go, my dog is begging to be let out and you know how I am about my carpet. And stop thinking about- what's his name? Igor?" 

"Egon." 

"Egon. I promise, if you stop giving it all of your attention, he'll reach out. Let yourself be a little unavailable." 

"That might work for you but 'playing hard to get' never gets me anything!" you said, earning a laugh from Diane. 

"Ok, well goodnight, thank you for the advice." You put down the phone and admired your freshly painted toes.

The next day at work you were at the front desk, one of the few areas that was not blocked off for construction. You were attempting to sort the filing system, which was all out of order once again. 

You sipped your coffee and took a deep breath at the sight of all the work still left to be done. "This is far from ideal, but it could be a lot worse." you said passively to Sandra. 

"A ghost could be spitting bullets at us." she said, the two of you laughing. 

Sandra looked up suddenly. "Well I'm going to go sort those books over there." she said, raising her eyebrows. "Hm?" you replied confused when a voice interrupted you. 

"Nice place you've got here, I love the way you've redecorated." 

You turned abruptly to see none other than Peter Venkman and behind him, Egon.