Untitled Ghostbusters Fic

Chapter 3: The Call

          Janine yawned as she picked through her key ring looking for the firehouse key. Her hands shivered against the cold metal of the key as she finally found it amongst the many others. Most of which belonged to doors in the firehouse. She grumbled something to herself about not being paid enough to deal with hiking through the cold at 6 AM. She unlocked the door and pushed it open. She pulled off her overcoat and hat and hung them on the coat rack, bent from being hit and backed into by the Ecto multiple times, beside the front door. She huffed and walked towards her desk.

          She set her purse on her desk and pushed the button to turn on her computer. She began typing in the startup commands. "How are you doing this morning?" She asked Egon as she typed. Strangely she was met with no response. She looked up from her desk and towards the back office. She didn't see Egon. "He's always back there in the morning." Janine thought to herself "Where is he?" She stood up and walked away from the computer and peered into the office, just to make sure she wasn't missing the scientist. But he was in fact missing from his usual morning spot. She walked over to the stairwell with her heels resonating on the concrete floor. "Egon?!" She called up the stairs and after waiting a few moments heard no response. He was normally up by now, fiddling around the office.

          Janine started up the stairs and looked around as she reached the second floor. It wasn't like Egon to sleep in. "Maybe he isn't feeling well." She thought to herself. Though in the five years she had known Egon she'd never known him to be sick. She walked around the floor, checking each of the rooms and saying his name. She peered into the sleeping quarters in case he had overslept but he was absent from his bed. She returned to the stairwell and made her way up to the third floor.

           Stepping up into the third floor she finally found him. He was seated at his desk in the laboratory, slumped over asleep clutching a pile of papers as a pillow. Janine sighed and walked over to the sleeping scientist. She rested her hand on Egon's shoulder and gently shook him to try to wake him. "Egon." She said quietly. He didn't stir at her touch. "Egon. Egon wake up!" She shook him harder and he finally started to pull his head up from the desk. "I'm awake, I'm awake." He mumbled sleepily. His hair was frazzled and his glasses sat askew on his face. Reaching up he pulled off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and then returned them to his face. "Are you alright?" She asked him. "It's not like you to fall asleep at your desk. Egon nodded. "Yes I'm fine." He responded "Just up late." Janine nodded. "I'll start some coffee for you." She said.

          Janine walked over to the counter and began to prep the coffee maker. "Why are you sleeping here?" She asked him. "Don't you normally go back to your apartment at night?" Egon stood from his desk and walked over to the sink. He turned on the faucet, took off his glasses and threw some cold water on his face. He cupped his hands and attempted to tame his hair with the water. But found little success. "Working." he finally responded. Janine placed the coffee pot in its maker and switched it on. "Working on?" She asked him. Egon rubbed his temple. "Prototypes." He mumbled. A box of honey buns was sitting on the counter. Egon grabbed the box and pulled out a snack cake. Janine watched as he walked over to the table, sat down and began to eat the snack cake. Janine thought to herself that he seemed off. But she couldn't quite identify how. "You know you're terrible at conveying information right now." She told him.

        In the past, the two had discussed entering into a romantic relationship, but they had ultimately decided they were better off friends. Their relationship never developed romantically and the two had instead become good friends. As much as a friend as you could be with Egon at least. Even after the closure of the first Ghostbusters Corp. in 1984, the two had remained in touch. And Egon had been the one to reach out to Janine in 1989 to return to her secretarial job when the company was reopened.