Disclaimer: Ok, first things first I don't own RGB (I really wished I did, because Egon & Janine would have been together [married?? on the show and we all could have avoided the whole Slimer and friends episodes altogether.) Sony/Columbia is their mom and pop. I write for my own personal release therapy. So here we go…

Backwards Soul

By: Decipher

Chapter 1

Another grueling day had come and gone and the resident secretary of the Ghostbusters, Janine Melnitz was ready to call it a day. She had been busy all day, unable to take a moment or two to even think about her beloved physicist Egon Spengler. Calls were coming in back to back, and to make matters worse the computer crashed just as she was cataloging some old files. "I can't believe this!" Janine screamed out loud. She glared an evil look at the computer that betrayed her, not the first time this has happened.

Janine knew immediately that she was going to give Dr. Venkman an earful the next time she saw him. "I swear that man can be so cheap at times," she said.

Just as she was getting ready to gather up her things for the day, she heard the sound of Ecto-1's engine and thought she better wait and check on the guys. Of course, one particular guy stood out more in her mind than the rest. She glanced up from her desk to see the guys coming out from the car one by one with the most disgusted grimaces on their faces. They all looked like they just came from hell and back again, which again would not be first either. Peter Vankman's jumpsuit was reaped in the front and it revealed he had taken a rather hard blow to his chest, because a faint stain of blood was cascading down his jumpsuit. Janine immediately sprung from her desk to appraise the situation closer.

Janine was sincerely concerned over Peter's injuries, and yes it's true that they argued like cats and dogs; what family didn't from time to time? "Are you okay?" she inquired. "Yeah, this right here is nothing; I'll clean it up in a second, but your guy Egon…that's who you need to check on." Peter stated to Janine, while at the same time giving Egon a hard once over glare. She turned her eyes towards Egon and he just seemed to be completely out of it. His focus was on his broken PKE meter and he just kept shaking his head from side to side. He mumbled something that sounded like 'I didn't even see it coming…I didn't even see it… ' and he kept on shaking his head.

"Egon, are you alright?" Janine stated with deep concern in her voice. He just ignored her and kept walking past, as if he didn't hear her question. She was somewhat hurt by the way he just ignored her completely. However, she decided to over look that, because it wasn't in his nature to be so rude, so something must be wrong with him. While, there appeared to be no visible injuries, she had a sense something was really, really wrong. "Egon, do you hear me? Are you okay?" she attempted once more. Still, no response from him, by this time Winston walked up to Egon and placed a hand on his shoulder, and attempted to get his attention. "Hey, man!!! Are you in there? Did you hear Janine talking to you just now?" Winston stated. Egon turned on his heels to face Winston head on, and the look he gave him could have stopped time itself. Winston took in Egon's attitude and took a couple of steps backwards.

"What do you want!!!?" Egon bellowed. He seemed to be annoyed at all of them, for no explainable reason. "What's your problem you've been snapping at everyone, since the last job right after lunch!" Winston retorted. "We're just concerned about you." Ray stated calmly, not wanting to further agitate Egon. "I'm fine, there, ok, satisfied now. If, you'll excuse me, I'll be in my lab, repairing my meter" Egon huffed. He tuned away and headed towards the stairs.

"What the hell is his problem!!!?" Peter exclaimed. He was clearly the most disgusted at Egon's behavior. "We've been dealing with this crap for hours, and I'm tired of it! He needs to get his sh$# together and quick! I'm going to get cleaned up and go out to get a bite to eat for dinner. Maybe by the time I get back, our very own personal Mr. Hyde would have turned back into Dr. Jekyll." Peter shouted his last comment up towards the stairs. "I'll come with you." Winston responded. "Count me in too; I'm not used to Egon acting like this." Ray declared.

Janine was dumbstruck at the events that had just taken place. She had never seen Egon act so nasty to them like that before. It was nothing like him to be so cold and harsh. While the other three men decided to take hands off approach, Janine decided to stick around for a little while longer to get to the bottom of what was going on with Egon. She waited till Peter, Winston, and Ray left for dinner and decided to go upstairs to the lab to check on Egon.

As Janine approached the door of the lab, she was conflicted at whether she should knock on the door, or just come right in. She decided on the latter. She notice Egon had his head down on the table and appeared to be asleep. So, she quietly walked up next to him and got about a foot away from him before he rose up with a sudden start that scared Janine senseless. "Do you need something Ms. Melnitz!!!?" Egon yelled at her. Janine was taken aback by his behavior, but decided she was not going to be detoured by it. "I just wanted to make sure that you were alright? You don't seem to be acting like yourself. Is something wrong, you know you can talk to me?" Janine stated.

Egon had a smirk on his face that made Janine uneasy, he stood up completely and she was acutely reminded of his height advantage over her. She was never before uncomfortable around Egon, but now all of a sudden she wasn't feeling that same level of familiar comfort. He looked down at her in a demeaning manner. He then took a couple of steps towards her to further emphasis his point of superiority over her.

"You really think you know me? How could someone like you even begin to comprehend a person like me? You're so simple. I thought I was rather explicitly clear with everyone downstairs, that I was fine. However, if that was above your head let me make it crystal clear to you. If, there was something wrong with me, I doubt you would be the one who could fix it, or any of you for that matter. I realize you have this school girl crush on me and up till now I've been able to ignore it. But truthfully it's getting on my last nerves. We don't ever stand a chance at becoming anything more than bed buddies, so if that's what you want from me, than we can go at it right here and now on the lab table. But, please don't try and act as if it will lead to something more, because it won't. If, you can deal with these terms lets go for it." Egon stated with a sadistic smirk.

Janine eyes started welling up with tears; it was as if each word of his comments were reaping into her soul. She did not have a clue whom this person was in front of her right now, but it could not be the same person whom she thought she loved and admired for years. The eyes of the person facing her were icy cold blue voids of cynicism and ridicule. Janine felt herself starting to shake, and her mind wanted to state some sort of rebuttal, but her heart wouldn't let her mouth speak.

So, she simply stared Egon up and down and walked out of the lab without saying a word, before any tear drops fell from her eyes. "Too bad, it might have been fun?" Egon announced towards her. Egon smirked inwardly that his comments achieved its objectives and he was free again to be alone in his lab.