Peter sat in the backseat of Ecto-1 with dying form of his best friend laying down across the seat and against his lap. Egon was cold, barely breathing and his heart was struggling to beat despite the massive blood loss. Winston kneeled on the floor of the car with one hand pressed against the side of Egon's neck and the other pressing down on Egon's nearly immobile chest.

Blood dripped from the multiple deep lacerations that marred Egon's body. A dried trail of blood ran from Egon's lips and his eye, leaving a dark red stain on his pale, almost blue tinted flesh.

"Hold on, Spengz." Peter begged as he held Egon tightly against his chest. The cold body was almost like holding onto a corpse. "We're here for you, now do your fair share and stay with us."

Winston monitored Egon's pulse carefully. "Don't be afraid to drive faster Ray," he encouraged boldly. "time is running out."

Ray accelerated the car to an alarming speed as he drove to the nearest hospital. His hands were locked in a white knuckle grip around the steering wheel. The burns on his hand throbbed but Ray refused to lessen his grip or slow down, taking sharp turns and weaving through traffic like a man on a mission.

Peter rubbed the dried, sticky blood from Egon's face with his thumb. "Almost there 'Big Guy', just a little longer."

There was no conscious response from Egon to Peter's voice. A slow exhalation of his weak breath made Peter's heart jump.

"Winston?"

Pressing his hand down firmly on Egon's ribcage then slipped his hand down over Egon's bruised, bleeding abdomen. "He stopped breathing. And I cannot find a pulse."

"No way, not like this!" Peter almost growled as he helped Winston to slide Egon down from the backseat and onto the floor of the car. Taking a knee beside his colleague and friend he refused to give up on the dying physicist. "Breathe Egon!"

Winston placed his right hand over his left, interlocking his fingers together, and proceeded to compress rhythmically down onto Egon's battered chest. Compressing fifteen times he motioned for Peter to breathe for Egon. "Two breaths, go!"

On Winston's insistence all four Ghostbusters had taken coursed in emergency first aid and had been trained in CPR. Remembering what he had been taught in those classes that, at the time, seemed superfluous Peter straightened Egon's neck, tilted his head back and pinched his nose as Peter blew two controlled breaths into Egon's mouth.

Ray fought the impulse to pull Ecto-1 to the side of the street and help his colleagues in the back of the car. "Almost there!" Ray called back as he saw the Red Cross symbol of the hospital down the block. "Don't stop!"

"Breathe!" Winston instructed as he completed the second round of compressions.

Peter blew two more breaths and watched as Winston resumed compressions. "Come on Egon!" Too stubborn to simply let his best friend die frustration at his friend's failure to respond to CPR was beginning to set in.

The rear door of the car was pulled open by Ray as a doctor, two nurses and two orderlies towing a gurney filed in behind him. They had arrived at the hospital. Ray had rushed inside to get help while Winston and Peter continued to perform CPR on Egon.

"How long have has he been down?" The doctor asked as he placed the bell of his stethoscope on Egon's chest. She counted the compressions along with Winston who had been silently mouthing the numbers to himself.

"About two minutes." Winston estimated.

Before Peter had the chance to breathe for Egon a nurse placed an ambubag over Egon's mouth and nose and began artificially breathing for the downed man.

The doctor listened to Egon's chest carefully. "Full cardiac arrest; caused by hypovolemia, possible secondary cause hypothermia. If we're going to save him we need to get his blood volume up."

The orderlies and Winston worked together to move Egon from the floor of the car and onto the waiting gurney, a nurse continuously administering air to Egon's starved lungs while the doctor took over chest compressions. Peter, Winston and Ray all watched as the gurney rolled away inside with Egon. The doctor stood on the edge of the gurney while compressing his chest and giving orders while the staff rolled their dying colleague inside the hospital to receive proper treatment.

Standing in stunned silence Peter looked down at his blood covered hands and swallowed the nausea that had welled up inside of him. Turning his hands over he watched as the sticky blood clung to his red stained hands and the sleeves of his jumpsuit. Winston and Ray were also covered in blood; Egon's blood.

"He's going to pull through." Winston finally stated as he stared blankly at the hospital. "I've seen extraordinary men in worse shape come back from the dead, Egon is no exception."

As if he was being pulled on a string Peter began walking toward the doors of the hospital with Ray and Winston at his sides. It was chaos inside the hospital as Egon was wheeled into an emergency trauma bay for examination.

Winston took charge of the situation, keeping his friends as calm as possible while checking in at the nurse's station for any information on Egon. When the police arrived to question the incident Winston and Ray had to explain the situation in an honest, yet not entirely accurate manner. Foregoing the mention of the two ghosts Ray told the officers that some maniac took off with Egon after hiding out in the firehouse and attacking Janine. Winston explained how they had found Egon in the abandoned Baltic Hotel strung up in chains and that they had also found two bodies while looking for Egon.

Peter watched as the responding police officers took down statements and shook hands with both Winston and Ray before leaving the hospital to check out the scene of the crime.

"Did you lie?" Peter asked as Ray took a seat beside him in the waiting room.

"A little." Ray admitted. "I don't think the cops would be interested in a ghost story."

"They never are."

Winston joined his friends in the waiting room. "As soon as the police find the bodies everything will be handled." Looking at his friends he could see the emotional and mental strain the kidnapping had taken.

Ray was pale, his eyes dark and posture slouched. Peter was uncharacteristically tense and restless, neither man could seem to sit still in the generic gray chairs that lined the walls of the waiting room.

"When's the last time you had your hand cleaned out?" Winston asked as he took Ray's arm in his hands and examined the dirty bandages. "I don't want to see you admitted for an infection."

"It's been a few hours." Ray pulled his hand back from Winston. "But it's not bad."

Winston patted Ray's shoulder. "There's nothing more we can do for Egon but wait," he mentioned calmly. "in the meantime let's get you cleaned up."

"I'm fine." Ray insisted but the look in Ray's eyes told a different story.

Without another word Winston pulled Ray up from his seat and guided him over to the nurse's station to ask for some help.

Peter was left alone in the waiting room; left alone with his dark thoughts and the horrifying image of seeing Egon slipping away in his arms and feeling his cold body growing heavier as he fell closer and closer to death. Winston's words echoed in Peter's memory when he declared that Egon had stopped breathing and he couldn't find a pulse. It was almost too much for the normally emotionally steeled Ghostbuster to handle.

Feeling his self control fading quickly Peter took the opportunity to isolate himself from the rest of the world while he regained his resolve. Taking the elevator to the top floor of the hospital, fortunately the elevator car was unoccupied, Peter found the roof access and stood alone at the top of the hospital. The city was dark save for the glow of the street lights and buildings. Sirens echoed in all directions as police officers responded to citizens in distress and ambulances raced toward the hospital with victims of life fighting off death.

Taking a deep breath Peter ran his hands over his face as he stared up at the black sky above. A slight breeze picked up enough to rustle his brown hair as he remained statuesque and on the brink of an emotional collapse.

Peter shut his eyes slowly as he tried to compose himself but all the pain that he had tried to ignore, all the denial he allowed himself to live in when it came to concern for the safety of his best friend was crushing down on his very soul. Tears began to stream down his face as he a single sob escaped in a loud gasp.

Ray unzipped his jumpsuit down to his waist and slipped his arms free of the sleeves. His white t-shirt was dirty from walking through the dusty hotel and small stains of sweat had formed around the collar and under his arms. Tying the sleeves of his jumpsuit around his waist he watched as the young doctor cleaned up his burned hand and replaced the dirty gauze bandage with a fresh roll.

"How's his hand look, doc?" Winston asked curiously as he observed the burns being tended. "Any sign of infection or necrosis?"

"Fortunately no." The young doctor was fresh out of medical school. His short brown hair was combed back neatly and his brown eyes were bright and alert as he worked skillfully to take care of Ray's hand. "Despite the dirty bandages and what looks like inconsistent aid it appears as though the initial treatment was enough to prevent any bacterial infection from setting in through the dead tissue."

Ray let out a small sigh. "Egon took care of it for me."

"That explains it." Winston stood up straight and looked over at the clock on the wall. It had been hours since Egon was admitted, since they had seen their friend as he fought for his life. "Wish you would let us help you out Ray, you know it isn't a burden to help a friend."

"I know." Ray felt a twinge of guilt as he realized that he had been pushing his friends away as the night went on. A part of him believed he deserved to be punished for failing to keep the containment unit stable. The painful burn wasn't a suitable enough punishment for his mistake. "I just didn't think anything of it."

The doctor finished wrapping up Ray's hand and gave him a nod of approval. "Keep it clean, keep it covered. If you experience any pain try aspirin or ibuprofen."

"Thanks, doc." Ray hopped down from the exam table. "Wonder if there's any update on Egon?"

Winston held open the door for Ray as the duo exited the small room. "I could check with the nurses desk if you want."

Ray contemplated it for a moment as he rubbed at his sore hand. "I think I'd rather know everything at once at the end, not bits and pieces throughout the night."

"Same."

Returning to the waiting room Ray and Winston noticed that Peter was gone and a small family was now sitting against the far wall together.

"Where'd Venkman go?" Ray asked quietly.

"Maybe he went to check on Janine." Winston shook his head. "Man, I almost forgot about her. Should we tell her about Egon or wait?"

"I'd wait." Ray admitted timidly. "But we should go and see her."

"I think Dana is staying with her still." Winston made his way over to the elevator with Ray trailing behind him. "Hopefully Peter is with them."

Alone on the roof Peter fought hard against his emotional outburst in a futile attempt to regain control over himself. The tears he shed over Egon were justified and he knew his reaction was healthy, but allowing himself to emote so freely and without any means of stopping it made the reclusive man feel exposed, vulnerable.

Wiping away his tears as leaned against the edge of the roof and looked down at the parking lot far below.

"It's fine, everything will be fine..." He told himself, his voice was shaking and sounded unfamiliar. "Egon will pull through. Egon doesn't give up, neither can we. Egon knew we'd find him, he... he thanked us! He... No, it wasn't 'goodbye', it wasn't!"

Feeling his legs buckle Peter kneeled down on the hard rooftop and pressed his forehead into the cold concrete edge as he submitted to the emotional turmoil that threatened to tear himself apart.

"He thanked us..."

Ray and Winston knocked on the opened door leading to Janine's room. The two Ghostbusters masked their fear for Egon's life as they visited their injured friend who had been out of the loop since she had been admitted with her head injury. Janine was laying her bed comfortably while Dana was sitting in a chair beside the bed. The two quickly took notice of their visitors.

"Hey Janine." Ray put a comforting hand on her arm while Winston discreetly sat beside Dana and whispered into her ear. "How do you feel?"

Looking up at Ray with an unamused gleam in her brown eyes she answered honestly. "I feel like a damn fool."

Ray patted her arm gingerly. "You're not a fool. You're bold! Big difference."

"That's a nice way of saying 'idiotic', right?" She leaned back heavily into her pillows. "I knew better than to go down into the basement alone. I should've called you guys over the radio."

Ray looked over at Winston who had wrapped his hand over Dana's and squeezed lightly indicating that he had told Dana about what had happened to Egon. The distant stare in Dana's eyes betrayed her otherwise calm exterior disposition.

"Janine, even if you did call us first you would've checked out the basement anyway. And odds are the ghost would've ambushed you even if you hadn't gone downstairs."

"I still should've told you guys as soon as things started acting up." She turned away from Ray and stared out the window into the night sky as she felt tears of remorse beginning to well up in her tired eyes. "It's my fault Egon was taken."

"No." Ray responded quickly and firmly. Sitting on the edge of the bed he leaned in toward Janine as he spoke. "If anyone is to blame it's me. I was responsible for checking in on the containment unit, I was the one who didn't finish replacing the gasket, I'm the one who... I was careless. I burned my hand and then I became distracted. I'M the one at fault."

"It was an accident." Dana rose from her seat while Winston continued to squeeze her hand. "Ray, Janine, stop blaming yourselves over this. It's horrible yes, but trying to pin blame on someone is going to make things any better."

"She's right." Winston agreed wholeheartedly. "We all know that neither of you would ever do anything to intentionally harm another person. Accidents happen. They happen all the time!"

"I'm going to find Peter." Dana's voice was growing heavy with worry. "I'll be back soon Janine."

"We don't know where Peter went." Ray replied curtly. "He's not in the waiting room and we know he wouldn't leave the hospital."

"I think I know where to look." Dana reciprocated Winston's kind gesture by squeezing his hand in return. "I'll find him."

...to be continued...