Ray sat alone in the hospital waiting room. In his hands was a package of Twinkies and a bouquet of generic flowers. He did not know why he had gotten the flowers, but they seemed appropriate when he had walked by the shop.
It had been two days since the incident and he had not seen Egon since. He was not sure if he ever wanted to see him again after what he had done. Even just sitting in the hospital filled him with guilt. He was in the middle of convincing himself to leave when a nurse put her hand on his shoulder and told him that Egon could see him now.
"Thank you." Ray murmured and followed the nurse to the room. On the way she told him about the injuries the doctors had taken care of or identified. A shattered nose, stitches around his eyes, a bruised rib and throat. The list was short, but every word the nurse said about it made Ray feel worse and he couldn't muster up the voice to tell her to stop.
When they got to the room Ray said another thanks and the nurse left. Ray was left alone again in the hallway. With a final sigh, he opened the door and slipped into the room.
"Hello Ray." Ray flinched at the sound of Egon's voice and he felt as if he might faint from guilt. Slowly, he brought himself to look at Egon, who was sitting in a chair with a book in his lap. He had no glasses on, the ones that had been smashed were his only pair, bandages where all around and covering his left eye, where most of the glasses had been shattered, a sort of brace covered his nose, and there was a terrible bruise on his throat.
Actually seeing the damage he had caused made him crack. A pathetic whine escaped him and he fell down to his knees, dropping the Twinkies and flowers as he went.
"Oh god, Egon. I'm so sorry." He sobbed and curled up on himself. A moment later Egon was at his side, wrapping an arm over his shoulders.
"Please, Ray. Don't blame yourself."
"But it's my fault. I did this. If I hadn't gone into the lab. If I'd cleared out that closet for the slime like I said I would. If... if." Ray fell back into sobs.
"Ray... Ray stop. I need you to stop and listen to me." Egon said and began to gently rub Ray's back. "There is absolutely no reason for you to blame yourself like this. Slime is a paranormal substance that can cause you to act completely unlike yourself. You and Winston tried to kill each other the first time we had close contact."
"No, no, no. This is different, Egon I hurt you. I almost killed you!"
If there was one thing to be said about Ray, it was that his feelings were highly contagious. And no one had ever seen Egon cry, except perhaps his mother, but he felt as if he might begin sobbing was well if he could not calm Ray. So without a word he picked up the fallen flowers and Twinkies and placed them on a table. Then he pulled Ray to his feet and made the man sit on the bed with him. They just sat there, Egon with his arms around his distraught friends waist and rocking gently back and forth. An action he knew that would eventually calm Ray, as it was the motion that was generally used when trying to put babies to sleep.
Nurse Candice walked down the hallways of her hospital with a wheelchair. She was being sent to inform a patient that he was free to go now. "Alright Mr. Spengler, the doctor says you... can..." She trailed off when she saw two grown men curled up together on the hospital bed, sound asleep. "I'll just come back later." She whispered as she switched off the lights in the room, and left the two men to their nap.