Janine tried hard to concentrate on the case file in front of her. For the fifth time now she re-read the first paragraph. But once more the words slipped right through her mind and did not intend to linger there. She was unable to focus on her work because her thoughts would wander again and again to the conversation she had had with Roger the night before. He had called her late, nearly midnight. His ever so friendly and calm voice sounded annoyed and demanding.

"Janine, we can't go on like that forever!"

"Like what?"

"A long distance relationship is only a temporary solution and you know it."

"But right now, it's the only solution"

"No, it is not – just come here and live with me."

"Roger, I…I have a job here."

"I get paid well enough for both of us!"

"Don't get macho, Roger, I like to work."

"No offense, Janine, but you can work as a secretary anywhere. Here at the university for example…"

"Well, I don't wanna work anywhere, I wanna work at the Ghostbusters Headquarters!"

Even though she did not intend to, she snapped at him, causing a moment of silence at the other end of the line, finally been broken by a cold voice: "It is Dr. Spengler, right?"

"Yeah, Roger, it's Egon! And Peter and Ray and Winston and Kylie. There my friends, my family. Not to speak of the fact that my family-family lives here, too!"

"Janine, if all that can't be outweighed by me and our relationship…"

"Then what?"

"Then I do not believe, it makes much sense to cling to each other."

She was shocked. Not by his words, but by her own reaction. She was not sad, not even angry.

"Yeah, guess that's true…" she heard herself say. Then the line went dead.

Sighing Janine put the case file away.

"Time to look for some work that requires less concentration!" She mumbled to herself.

She decided to take care of the files that already had been reviewed the day before and put them into the filing cabinet.

Try hard, Melnitz, and you might be able to remember the alphabet! She mocked herself and started working on her new task.

Since it had been a very busy month it took her a while to sort everything but after about twenty minutes she had put the last file away. Determined to give the reviews a second try she went back to her desk when she heard the familiar sound of Ecto 1. Kylie obviously had heard it, too, because soon her footsteps were heard on the stairs.

The boys returned and they did not look too happy. Peter, Ray and Winston – for a blind man to see – were frustrated. Egon on the other hand did not show any sign of emotion. He was fiddling with his PKE-Meter.

Sure, Dr. Spengler! Janine thought angrily. Keep staring at that stupid thing! Else you might have to look at a human face or – God forbid – even talk to your friends!

It was kind of funny. Roger basically broke up with her last night and she could not care less, while Egon made her mad by just standing there. But Janine was convinced that she had the right to be angry. Everybody had given up on ever learning what had made Egon distance himself so much from the others but they also had expected him to go back to normal after everything that had happened. Their abduction by the collectors, his time in oblivion, the events surrounding Loftur Thorsteinsen, by God, they literally had gone through hell for him! But the excited audience got nothing more than the well-known Mr.-Spock-performance from Dr. Spengler.

Peter got off the car. He was frustrated, disappointed and angry. As expected the ghost at this florist's was the same damn thing they had encountered in several flower shops during the week. But this time he did not only fool them, no it also confused them. Before today it seemed to be a simple Class Five. An icky blob of ectoplasm just like that accursed Sedgewick Bastard in Egon's Observation Tank, just a different color. While Egon's little experiment "partner" looked like some slimy booger, that new thing's color reminded Peter of something you would find in a toilet. But after what that ghost did today he really wished it would go back to just looking icky. Because all of a sudden that thing started to smell like something you would find in a toilet, too. The new odor was so disgusting that it had paralyzed the surprised ghostbusters. Within this time the blob had slimed almost every single flower in the shop, the plants had absorbed the slime and started to smell just like the blob. Peter still felt sick and fought the urge to throwup. Of course the blob had escaped leaving the ghostbusters behind with a veeeeery pissed shopkeeper.

Meanwhile Egon approached Janine's desk and asked her without taking his eyes from the PKE-Meter: "Did you get the books I need from the library?"

"Yes, of course, Dr. Spengler!" Janine said in a voice that was the most disturbing amalgam of sweetness and sarcasm that Peter had ever heard.

Even Egon did not miss it. With curious eyes he looked at her fake smile while raising an eyebrow. After Janine and Egon had stared at each other a few seconds, that seemed like eternity to all the witnesses around, Egon cleared his throat.

"Well, where are they?" He asked and looked around.

"In your laboratory, Dr. Spengler." She paused before adding: "As you requested!"

"Ah, right, I said that. But since everybody is here right now you could get them down here and…"

"Oooooor…", she said. "I get myself a coffee and you get these precious books yourself!"

The men and Kylie watched as Janine went up the stairs. For a while everybody remained silent but finally Peter clapped his hands and started to give orders.

"Okay, Ray, you and the kid, search these books and look for anything that might help us. Winston, please find out why Ecto makes weird noises whenever I take a left turn. And Egon…" He paused. "Whatever there is wrong with you and Janine – fix it! She is supposed to be at MY throat not at yours. I'm getting jealous here."

Egon raised an eyebrow at Peter: "I do not think that I am the reason for her behavior. She is quite emotional due to the recent… events. You're the psychologist, Peter."

"Well, I don't see her ripping anybody else's head off!" Peter stated. "So her general emotional state probably is NOT the reason."

"But…" Egon tried to argue further but Peter cut him off.

"Fix. This. Now." The psychologist insisted, pointed upstairs and Egon sighed in defeat.

He took the old stairs not nearly as fast as his now healed leg would have allowed him. He was in no hurry to talk to Janine. Peter probably was right. The secretary was not just emotional or exhausted because of their latest experiences. It was something about him that made her angry or upset but how could he "fix it" as Peter demanded if he did not even know what exactly was broken?

When Egon entered the kitchen Janine was sitting at the table. In front of her lay what normally probably was the complete content of her purse. He stepped closer but she was so engaged in whatever she did there that she did not pay attention to him.

"Stupid tissues!" She cursed – barely audible but he could hear her.

Therefor he grabbed a pack of tissues from his overall's Pocket and handed them to her. Obviously unaware to his presence until now she swung around startled. Even though she was not crying, Egon thought he saw tears in her eyes.

"Thank you!" She said quietly, took the tissues and turned away again.

While Janine was pretending to have gotten something in her eye Egon skimmed through the items on the table. Mascara, a little mirror, lipstick… suddenly his eyes locked on a small metal object he recognized immediately.

"You still have that?" He took the tiny ghostzapper in his hand and looked at Janine, surprised.

The secretary looked up and managed to smile, obviously remembering the day she got the tiny weapon.

About five years ago, Egon had started to worry, Janine might get attacked while being alone at the firehouse. And since he could never come up with any good ideas for birthday presents anyway he had decided to build that little device. It was pretty easy to activate without the risk to go off unintentionally. A paranormal creature would be stunned for a few seconds up to a minute – depending on the power of the entity - giving the user (hopefully enough) time to escape. It had been an interesting gift table that year: a book, a scarf, a vase with flowers, candy - and a miniature nuclear weapon. But even though his present had been the most unusual, Egon was the one who had gotten a kiss.

"Why wouldn't I?" Janine asked – her expression much softer than a moment ago.

"Pardon me?" Egon was confused.

"You seemed surprised that I still have the ghostzapper." She explained and then repeated: "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, I gave this to you during a time you were more or less helpless when the others and I were out on a job. Now you do have access to much more powerful weapons."

"I do not think a proton pack would fit in my purse, Egon!" She stated dryly.

"But didn't Mr. Alexander build a similar device for you? Even more powerful?"

"Egon, I never needed this one, nor the one Ron made for me. But I am keeping yours because it was a birthday present. You gave it to me to keep me save."

"Yes, out of practical reasons, so it seems rather irrational to choose it over the one Mr. Alex…"

He stopped talking when he noticed her smile fading.

"Not every decision is driven by rationality!" she stated coolly. "At least this is true for most people."

After a moment of silence she smiled again, but this time it was a sad smile. She got up and turned to leave. Without looking at him she said in a bitter voice: "Maybe I am keeping it as a souvenir… You know as a reminder of the good old times when you cared…"

Now Egon was fast. Within the fracture of a second he stood next to Janine and grabbed her arm, keeping her from leaving. Apparently she had not seen that coming because she gasped in shock. When he saw her flinch he realized that his grip was much tighter than he wanted it to be and he loosened it a little.

"Cared?" He asked.

"Yes!" She nodded and added coldly: "You know, 'to care' as in 'to have an interest in someone's well-being'."

"I am familiar with the semantics of 'to care', Janine." Despite his best efforts Egon heard annoyance echoing in his voice. He could not help himself and added: "Even though I am no English professor!"

"Oh really, Egon?" She challenged him. "Ya wanna go down that road?"

"No, I…I apologize. But why do you use 'to care' in the past tense?"

"Do I really have to answer such an unnecessary question?"

Egon tried to stay calm but he felt the anger rising. And he was well aware that Janine knew too much about him as not to notice. She was doing that on purpose.

"Alright!" Egon gathered his patience. "Why do you think I do not care about you?"

"Hmm, lemme think…" Sarcasm dropped from her words when she looked to the ceiling pretending to think hard about his question. Finally she returned to look at him and said very slowly: "Maybe because you show no goddamn sign of it?"

"Janine, you could have talked to me almost the whole time. If you wanted to speak with me…"

"Yes, because the last dialog we had was so joyful!"

"What do you mean?"

"The last time we talked for more than a few seconds, you acted like… an avatar of vanity, stupidity, and… and asshollery!"

"'Asshollery' is not a word, Janine!"

"Oh, but I think the 'semantics' are clear." She paused. "Even though you're no English professor!"

"Now you are heading for that road!" He stated.

"No, I am heading home!" She said and tried to free herself from his grip.

Although unwilling to hurt her he held on to her arm tighter again.

"Tell me, Janine", he demanded. "What did I do that was so vain, stupid and…well, you know…"

"Asshollerish?"

"Yes!"

"Egon, you asked me, whether I was with Roger only to make you jealous!"

"I had my reasons to consider this a possibility." He shrugged. "You were the one becoming aggressive."

"Of course this made me aggressive!" Her voice became louder but suddenly she fell silent. She took a deep breath and started talking again, now calmer while looking directly at him, her emerald eyes never leaving his: "Egon, Roger wasn't a flirt at the bar. He was my boyfriend. Hell, I slept with this guy."

Egon flinched. Of course it was obvious that Janine and Professor Baugh had shared a physical relationship, but he did not want to hear about that.

Janine continued: "Not only did your question imply that my whole world revolves around you and whatever I do I do to get your attention. No, you also seem to think that I would be cruel enough to use a very nice men AND would be willing to whore myself out to accomplish that!"

Suddenly he understood how much his question had hurt her and he did not have an answer for her when she asked him with a sad and slightly shaking voice: "How could you think so poorly of me?"

He wanted to say something but struck by the realization and the feeling of shame and guilt he was at loss of words. After a while he blurted out: "You are neither cruel nor a whore!"

Janine stared at him in disbelief.

"I am so glad, we established that!" She stated sarcastically. Finally she sighed, shook her head and asked in a neutral voice: "Would you mind letting go of my arm now, Egon? I really want to call it a day and get home. "

Not knowing anything he could say or do he let her go. He watched in silence when she gathered her belongings from the table and left the kitchen.

Peter's curiosity won the inner battle against his ethics (again) and he decided to get a little closer to the kitchen. Only a few steps to make sure Egon would not make things worse. The guy just had a talent for this.

Carefully Peter took the first steps just to be almost knocked down the stairs by Janine. The redhead bumped into him and he barely managed to balance himself out and to grab her so that she would not fall either.

She looked at him with shocked and watery green eyes.

"S…sorry, Peter!" She stuttered. "I wasn't paying attention!"

"Yeah!" He grinned. "I noticed that…"

She opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it again. After a moment of awkward silence, staring at each other, his arm still around her waist, he asked: "Are you alright?"

She got back on her own feet and freed herself from his arm. Without looking at him she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little headache. So, if there is no paranormal emergency I would like to go home!"

"Of course. Have a nice evening!"

"Thanks!" She said, still not looking at him, and hurried to the exit.

Peter watched her leave and sighed. Egon HAD made things worse. After thinking about it for a second Peter jumped down the stair and followed Janine.

Author's note

I hope you like the first chapter. As always: Let me know if I mispelled something or messed up commas (I swear, I'll never learn how you English speaking people decide when and where to put a comma ;) )