Half A Chance

"Yeh- Ha!" Ray Stantz cried as he chased after the class 7 on Fifth Avenue. The area was busy this time of day, due to the usual five o'clock rosh hour traffic, and then there was the heavy pedestrian traffic. Dr. Peter Venkman shook his head as Dr. Stantz dashed out toward the middle of the street.

"Raymond!" Egon cried closing his eyes.

Peter laughed, "That boy will give us a heart attack one of these days."

Ray dashed across the street avoiding the Rabbi and the hot dog stand. His beam hit the ghost, but the ghost was able to get free, "Come on you guys!" Ray was beaming with joy, as he always did.

"He's getting away!"

Peter laughed and then the guys followed Ray towards the ghost.

Ray followed the ghost and hardly noticed a bus heading his way. The driver of the bus wasn't paying much attention either because he was reaching for his coffee that was in his cup holder. A cop tried to stop traffic, but the driver flew past him. Ray's beam soon had the ghost in it shortly after Ray caught up to the flying creature.

Egon was staring at the PKE meter, but Peter and Winston were watching Ray.

Ray didn't see the bus heading straight towards him.

"Ray!" Peter cried.

Dr. Venkman found himself in a run straight towards the younger man.

Ray was concentrating on the ghost, he wasn't even aware of the bus behind him.

Peter was yelling for him to move out of the way of the bus. Ray saw Peter, and that was when things moved in slow motion.

Ray had turned his head and saw Peter running towards him; he gasped when he turned in the other direction and saw the bus heading towards him. Ray was frozen. He dropped his beam and the ghost was loose again.

That was when Dr. Venkman had pushed Ray onto the ground football tackle style. Ray barely knew what hit him.

Neither did Peter when he felt the impact of the bus on his side. He let the darkness engulf him.

"PETER!" Egon cried looking up from the PKE meter. Egon watched as the bus rolled over Peter's two legs, and kept going. Once the driver realized what had happened he came to a stop. Egon stared at the scene.

"Egon! The ghost!" Winston cried as the ghost flew past them.

Egon fired his beam and so did Winston. Winston through out the trap and watched as the ghost got sucked into it. The minute the ghost was gone Egon was in a full run towards Peter.

"Oh my God...." Winston muttered when he saw Peter and Ray.

Egon almost had to turn away at the sight. Ray was unconsciousness and leaning against another vehicle, Peter was on the ground....his uniform pants were torn from the lacerations, and his legs were bleeding profusely. Egon held his hand and felt a pulse. Winston ran over to Ray.

"Ray, man...." Winston whispered.

Ray's eyes were slowly opening, "W-Winston?" he gasped.

Winston nodded and pulled the pack off of him, "You'll be fine buddy..."

"Go...help Peter...." Ray whispered standing up.

"Ray, no," Winston said, "I can't leave you here buddy."

"Go Winston," Ray snapped.

Winston shook his head again. He helped Ray stand up. Ray was only winded. Ray hobbled over to Peter who was just starting to become consciousness.

"Oh Peter...." Ray whispered, "Y-You saved my life that was incredible..." his eyes watered.

Peter tried to smile at him but he couldn't. Egon was checking him over and seeing what types of injuries he had. When Egon reached his legs Peter flinched.

"Oh Peter, I am sorry..." Egon said.

"I-It's not that Egon..." Peter whispered, "I-I can't feel them."

He sounded so helpless Egon cringed.

"I-I'm sure it's nothing Peter," Ray said, "P-Probably just fell asleep o-or something..."

"Yeah," Peter whispered. He didn't want to scare Ray anymore than he had to. Egon was frightened because Peter didn't seem to be in any pain, and sometimes that can be worse than being in pain. Egon held Peter's hand tightly.

"You will be fine Peter," Egon said.

Winston came over with a few emergency blankets from Ecto. They often kept them in the back in cases of times like these. Winston handed one to Egon and Egon placed it over Peter. Winston then went to Ray and put it over his shoulders.

"I'm fine," Ray snapped.

"Ray, your going to the hospital," Winston said.

"But you should take care of Peter!" Ray argued.

The ambulance came then and the EMT's interrupted their argument. Four of them ran to Peter, and two of them ran over to Ray.

"No," Ray cried as the blonde haired EMT checked his blood pressure, "Go help Peter."

The women ignored him. "He's going into shock," she announced to her partner.

"Help Peter!" Ray cried getting upset.

The two EMT's put Ray on a stretcher even as he protested. Winston stayed next to him.

"Egon, I'll go with Ray, you go with Peter, and one of us has to call Dani and Janine," he said.

Egon nodded too shaken up to say anything. The EMT's dodged through rush hour traffic the best they could to get to the hospital. Egon was holding Peter's hand the entire time he was being checked over.

"Spengs....I didn't want to scare Ray," he whispered, "I-I can't feel anything....waist down..." his eyes watered.

Egon held his hand tighter, "You'll be fine Peter, you hear me?"

Peter nodded shakily, "Egon...I-I'm scared...." He whispered.

"You'll be fine," Egon repeated.

They arrived at the hospital and the lobby was just as packed as the streets were outside. Egon followed Peter as far as he could until a doctor turned around and told him he couldn't go back to the exam room yet. Egon stood outside the double doors feeling helpless. He shakily sat down in one of the chairs. He didn't even realize that his hands were shaking until Winston grabbed one and squeezed it.

"They'll be okay Egon," Winston said, "They're both fighters. I called Dani and Janine, they're on

their way over."

Egon nodded, "Thank you Winston that must not have been easy..."

"It wasn't, but Dani's strong, and so is Janine," he said. "And I'd rather you didn't have to make that call."

Egon nodded grateful, "Thank you Winston."

A few hours later Egon was pacing around when Janine and Dani came running inside.

"We came as fast as we could!" Dani said, "Traffic was horrible."

"I believe it sister," Winston said hugging her.

"Egon, how are they? How's Ray? And Peter?" Janine asked.

Egon shook his head, he was still shaky over the incident. Winston put a hand on Janine's shoulder.

"Janine, Dani, Ray's fine, he's just getting looked at, and Peter....he couldn't feel his legs when he got here...." Winston trailed off.

"Oh no...." Dani gasped.

Janine was silent. All four of them turned around when a doctor came out. Egon noted that the brown haired doctor didn't look all that happy.

"Dr. Spengler?" Egon looked up as he heard his name.

"I'm Dr. Steve Rosenburg," he shook Egon's hand, "I need to speak to you all about your friends conditions."

Egon nodded.

"Raymond is fine, he has a few bruised ribs from the fall, but otherwise he is ready to go," he said.
Dani sighed of relief. Janine hugged her.

"Peter is still in intensive care, we are working on him now, I still have more tests to run, but otherwise he is awake and was asking for you." He smiled.

Egon nodded. Egon looked at the others.

"You go Egon," Winston said, "We'll be alright, and Dani is going to see Ray."

Egon smiled and followed the doctor. Egon stopped at the door when he got to Peter's room and took in the scene. Peter was in bed, with an IV running into his arm. There were monitors over most of his body. Egon sighed when he heard them beeping due to Peter's breathing. Egon walked over to Peter and held his hand. Peter looked up at him weekly.

"Hey buddy...." Peter whispered.

"Oh Peter...." Egon said. He didn't want to loose it, not now, but what he had seen.....he couldn't seem to help himself.

"It's okay Spengs..." Peter said softly, "Let it go."

Egon shook his head but realized he had no choice. He let the tears come. He held Peter as close as he could and cried in his arms. Finally his breathing calmed down and the tears stopped, not completely but enough for him to regain control.

"I am sorry Peter," Egon said.

"For what?" Peter asked, "I scared you, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," Egon held his hand. "Are you in pain?"

Peter shook his head, "No, and that's what scares me," he muttered. "With what happened, you'd think I would be, and I can't seem to get a simple straight answer from anybody."

Egon nodded, they wouldn't tell him anything, not until they know for sure what was wrong.

"I can understand that Peter," Egon said.

"How's Ray?" Peter asked worried.

"A few bruised ribs, that is all, Peter, you saved his life," Egon smiled.

Peter smiled too, "Better me than him, if something ever happened to that kid, I don't know what I'd do."

Egon nodded and continued to hold Peter's hand.

Dani headed to Ray's room with her thoughts not only on her boyfriend, but as well as Peter. Both were injured, but her cousin was seeing to the psychologist and it seemed to be her job to check on the engineer. Dani knocked on the door. There was no answer so she opened it. Ray was sound asleep. She walked over to him and picked up his hand.

"Oh Ray," she whispered kissing his hand.

Ray slowly opened his eyes and smiled.

"Hi," he said.

He had a breathing tube in his nose for oxygen, and an IV in his arm. Dani smiled a little.

"How are you?" she whispered.

"Had...better days..." he muttered. "Got the wind knocked out of me..."

Dani nodded, "I know," she said, "God Ray, you scared me."

"Sorry," he lowered his head, "Peter....how is he?"

"We don't know yet, all the doctor told us was that he's in Intensive Care, he's doing fine, but they're running tests, you know how it goes. Egon went into see him." she said.

"My fault..." Ray whispered.

Dani stared him in the eyes, "I didn't hear that Ray." She said. "According to Winston, the ghost went out towards the road, you followed it to keep people safe, it's not your fault, you hear me?"

Ray didn't say anything. He started to sit up.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I want to see him," Ray answered weekly.

"No Ray, the doctor wants you in bed," she said.

"I have to Dani, please, help me out of this," he said. "I'll do this on my own if you don't..."

Dani sighed. She took the monitors off of him, and helped him out of the IV and everything.

"I could get in trouble for this you know," she said with a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"I know, thanks," he said. She smiled at him and they headed to Peter's room. Dani stayed outside knowing that Ray needed this time with him and Peter alone.

Egon heard a knock on the door a little while later.

"Come in," he said.

It was Ray. Ray slowly walked in. His face was black and blue too, Egon noted it must have been when he hit the side of the vehicle.

"Oh Raymond," Egon whispered.

"I-I'm fine," Ray muttered. He walked up to Peter and clutched his hand.

"Hey Tex," Peter smiled weekly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine Peter," Ray's eyes watered, "I'm so sorry."

"Hey, kid, listen to me, it's not your fault," Peter held Ray's hand.

Ray nodded. A doctor also entered the room.

"You are not supposed to be in here," he said, "One person at a time, and when did I give you permission to get out of bed? You're still on oxygen."

Ray looked down, "I-I'm sorry..." he apologized. "I had to see him..."

The doctor nodded, "Very well, but go back to your room, you need to rest before we can release you."

Ray shrugged, "Bye Peter, I'll come back tomorrow."

Peter nodded, "Take care Tex."

Ray tried to smile as Dani walked him back to his room. The doctor checked Peter over.

"Peter, we're still running tests, as you know, we will hopefully know something by tomorrow, okay?" the doctor said.

"Sure Steve," Peter said. Peter had gotten to know the names of his doctor and nurse's already.

Egon smiled. Winston Janine and Dani all came into see him, but by the time they left he was sleeping.

The next morning Peter was moved out of Intensive Care, but they were still performing tests on him to make sure he didn't have any internal injuries. Egon and Ray were with Peter when the doctor was checking him over. Winston, Janine and Dani had gone home to get some rest since it was mostly Egon and Ray who have been seeing Peter for now. The doctor started poking and prodding Peter's foot. Peter just sat there. The doctor looked at him.

"Do you feel that? At all Peter?" he asked.

Peter shook his head trying not to loose it.

"N-No..." he whispered.

Ray's eyes watered.

"Gentlemen," the doctor said, "Might I have a word alone with Peter?"

"Certainly," Egon said.

"O-Of course..." Ray said.

"Oh, and Raymond, I want you back in your bed," the doctor said, "I want to hook you up to another

IV, your looking weaker again, not stronger, and that bugs me."

Ray sighed but agreed. Egon helped him out of the room. The doctor watched the two men leave.

"Y-You don't look happy doc...." Peter muttered.

"I can't say that I am Pete, it's been three days now, and no sign of recovery in your legs, at first I thought it might be shock from the crash, but now....I don't know what to think," he sighed, "Peter, I want to put you through more tests tomorrow, okay?"

Peter nodded looking scared, "Steve.....what...." he didn't care if his voice cracked, "What are my chances of walking again?" he whispered.

Steve looked at him, "Peter, I'll be honest; I'm going to say 50/50. It was a nasty fall Pete, your lucky your even alive, now I'm going to recommend the best rehabilitation specialist to take care of you, I suggest you do everything they say in order to get your legs working again. In the meantime, I'm going to let your friends have extended visiting hours," he smiled, "I know you boys too well, and I'm not going to argue about that this time. You need your friends now Pete, let them help."
Peter nodded unable to speak.

"Can I get you anything?" Steve asked.

Peter shook his head. Steve walked out. Peter looked down at his legs. 'Me? Pete Venkman? Stranded in Bed?" he thought, 'This isn't happening.' He stared at his legs a while, and then he broke down and cried.