Winston

After work, Ray and I had come over to the university to help Egon check the equipment. "I still can't believe we're doing this," I said. "I mean, aren't we getting a little old for this?"

Ray shrugged. "Maybe we are, Zedd. But the city needs us."

"But still," I said, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm too damn old to be carrying around a sixty-pound proton pack on my back."

"I know," sighed Ray. "I'm not sure how I'm gonna do this with my bum knee."

"Look, this thing in the park...is it really all that urgent?" I asked nervously. I secretly agreed with Jennifer, we were putting our families in danger.

Ray looked grave. "Believe me, Winston...I'm worried, too. But I just have this feeling...I can't really explain it, but I think that we were meant to get back together."

I thought about that for a second. Maybe he was right.

Egon had been working on one of the packs. He'd very quiet, quieter than usual, I'd noticed. "Hey, man. You alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine." Egon's voice came out flat and kind of bleak.

Ray and I looked at each other. He was obviously not fine.

We'd all known about Egon's feelings for Jennifer...except for her, of course. Jennifer had never had a clue. I guessed something had happened between the two of them.

"So...what did you and Jennifer do earlier?" I asked carefully.

"We checked the packs and Jennifer found a broken wire in one of them," Egon answered.

"And that's all that happened?" said Ray skeptically.

Egon sighed and turned to face the two of us, his face twisted into a grimace. "Fine. I tried to tell her, she got scared and left. Now can we get back to the packs, please?"

He turned his back to us, trying to ignore us. Ray and I shared another look, this time worried. "What do you mean she got scared?" asked Ray.

"I don't know...I guess I just surprised her."

"I don't see how," I sighed. "It was so obvious the whole time."

"Apparently not to her," Ray pointed out. "I can't believe she never picked up on it."

"Yeah, I'm a lovesick idiot, I get the point," grumbled Egon.

"Egon, don't be so down on yourself," I said. "You may not believe it, but she's in love with you too."

"I'm sure," said Egon sarcastically.

"No, I mean it, Spengler," I insisted. "If you had told her how you felt about her before she met that scumbag, she'd have fallen to your feet."

Egon shook his head slowly. "I don't think so."

"Oh yeah?" Ray spoke up. "Ever noticed how every time she was scared, she'd come running to you? How she'd always tell you her problems? Jennifer loves you, Spengs. She just doesn't realize it."

"Then why did she-" Egon's words were cut off as we heard a loud bang.

"What the hell was that?" I exclaimed.

The door to the lab flew open, and in waltzed a smirking Walter Peck, flanked by a couple of secret service men. "Ghostbusters," Peck sneered at the three of us.

"Peck! What are you doing here?" I exclaimed.

"I'm taking Dr. Spengler and Dr. Stantz here to federal prison for violating a restraining order." Peck grinned wickedly at the thought.

"On what grounds?" I demanded.

"I don't have to explain myself to you bozos. I'm head of the CIA and I can arrest whomever I feel necessary," Peck bragged. He turned to his cohorts and pointed to Ray and Egon. "Detain these two!"

The SS troops stepped forward and grabbed Ray and Egon by the wrists. "You can't do this!" I protested.

"I can do whatever I want," said Peck with a smug look. I seriously wanted to smack him. "Take them away."

Ray looked at me. "Winston, you have to call Jennifer."

I nodded. "I will."

I watched as the SS men pushed him and Egon out. Peck was about to follow them out, when suddenly, he turned to me. "You know," he said. "The only regret that I had in this whole thing is that I didn't get to incarcerate Mr. Venkman. It's too bad that he had more sense than the rest of you not to get involved."

He gave me one last smirk and marched out.

Jennifer

I still don't know how I drove home that day without having a serious accident. My head was in a fog.

Egon was in love with me. Egon was in love with me. Egon was in love with me. No matter how many times I said that sentence to myself, I still couldn't believe it.

The crazy thing, I realized, was that somehow, I had already known. Somehow, I'd already known that Egon loved me, yet the concept blew my mind.

Louis Tully's voice from 1989, right before we'd fought Vigo, came back to me: She said something like 'Egon's always had his sights set on someone else' or something.

And even a few days ago, Mrs. Haversham had told me: Oh, if only you could see how much he cares for you, how much he misses you.

Hell, Egon had even told me himself once, on the rooftop when we were fighting Gozer. I'd always thought he'd meant it completely platonically, but now, I realized, he had been expressing his love. And I'd completely ignored him.

How could I have been so Goddamn stupid?

I felt disgusted with myself. I'd known the whole time, and I'd completely ignored the fact that Egon was in love with me. He'd had to watch me marry Alex and hadn't said a word. Instead, he'd walked me down the aisle. Egon had escorted me to marry another man. How could I have been so cruel to put him through that?

Egon had always been there for me when I needed a friend. Even when it could have put him in jail, he still rushed to my aide.

He was always willing to listen to me. He was the most brilliant person I'd ever met. He respected me enough to tell me the truth, even when he knew it would hurt. He never judged me. He had beautiful brown eyes that saw everything about me, good and bad.

I felt something stirring inside me. It made me feel ecstatic and terrified and stricken all at the same time. My heart was thumping like crazy. I felt tears well up in my eyes.

Oh my God. Oh my God.

I loved Egon. I was in love with Egon Spengler.

The realization hit me like a truckload of bricks.

I was in love with him. The thought scared the shit of me. Egon being my friend, my secret keeper, my shoulder to cry on, that had always been something that I could believe in. In a way, I'd always relied on that fact to keep me sane. When everything in my life had been altered, I always had that fact to rely on.

And now I couldn't even rely on that.

This revelation, that I was in love with him, told me that I could truly believe in nothing. It was almost as if everything I knew was really something else. What other facts about my life were a lie?

I cried. I cried and cried and cried.

After a while, I sat up and drove myself home. "You're being melodramatic," I muttered. "Suck it up, Colby."

I pulled up in front of my apartment building and rode the elevator up to my floor. I hoped Alice wouldn't notice I'd been crying.

When I walked inside our apartment, I heard voices coming from the living room. "Alice?" I called.

I walked into the living room and got another surprise. Just what I needed today.

A red headed, freckled boy and a broad shouldered black boy were sitting on the couch, while a sandy blonde, hefty boy was on the floor, sifting through a backpack. Alice was standing in the middle of the room, guilt scrawled all over her face.

I stared at each of the boys. I didn't know who they were, but I had a pretty good guess.

"Uh, Mom...these are some of my friends from school," Alice tried to explain.

I nodded. "Yes, I know who they are."

She sank to the ground. "Oh. Great."

The ginger boy pretended to look at his watch. "Well, would you look at the time? Look, it's been fun, but uh, I gotta get going. C'mon, Graham," he said quickly, grabbing the black boy's arm.

"You tell Peter I said hi," I called after him. He froze for a second, then quickly started heading for the door again.

"Uh yeah, I have to go to," said the blonde boy. "I gotta help my dad at the store." He hopped up and hurried after the other two.

I heard the door slam shut. I stared down at my daughter. She looked up at me sheepishly.

"Mom...have you been crying?" Alice asked concernedly.

"Don't change the subject."

Alice looked down at the floor. "Sorry."

"Look," I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "I can't tell you who to be friends with. In fact, I'm glad you've made some. But it...it's just not a good idea to go down that road."

"Uh...what road?" Alice asked as if she didn't know what I was talking about. Which she did.

"Alice, you're not an idiot, so don't pretend to be. I know who those boys are. If you try to open Ghostbusters, you're only going to be putting yourselves in danger."

She stood up. "Mom, I can take care of myself. I really think we can help you guys. Just tell us what's going on, please!"

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let you get in trouble."

Alice gave me one last look. "Why can't you just trust me?"

And with that, she ran out of the room.

I groaned and sat down. Why can't my life just be normal?

Suddenly, my cell rang. I looked at the caller ID: Winston. I opened the phone. "Hey, Zedd," I said. "Look, this isn't the greatest time right now-"

Winston cut me off. "Jennifer, the guys have been arrested."

I froze. "Wait...what?"

"Ray and Egon, Peck took them away!"

No. Not...Egon! "Alright, I'll be at your house right away."

Hint, hint: the return of some old characters will be appearing soon! :)

Oh, by the way, I'm considering doing a Part 4, about the kids. What do you think, should I just finish and leave at this? You tell me. Comment please!