Chapter 3 "Under Pressure" (Friday October 5 mid morning)
(Song suggestion "Under Pressure" by Queen)
Peter Venkman
"Pressure… no man asks for," Freddy Mercury sang through the radio on Janine's desk as I approached it after our freshest busts. Ironically, it was me and not Janine singing.
"I guess after a year and a half of working for us, our secretary's habits would rub off of us," I mused to myself.
"There's a man from the EPA here to see you. He's waiting in your office," Janine announced, looking up at me through her thick red glasses. Dazed, I felt empathy with the song's singer about feeling weighed down by one's responsibilities.
Frowning, I peered down at our red-headed secretary, inquiring, "EPA? What's he want?"
"I don't know. All I do know is that I've been working two weeks without a break, and you promised me you'd hire more help," the petite lady responded with a extremely sardonic tone.
Puffing on my cigarette, I felt annoyed by her timing.
"Janine, someone with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job in either the food service or housekeeping industries," I quipped back.
Boisterously, the phone began to sound, " You gonna answer that?"
"I've quit better jobs than this," she heatedly responded, then picked up the phone receiver, "Ghostbusters! Whaddaya want?!"
Meanwhile, I sauntered to my office, ignoring that I provoked our already irked secretary. Even though Janine was a superwoman and did two people's jobs for us, I didn't have time to hire another person at this time. We couldn't afford it after taking Winston on as a fourth Ghostbuster a couple of months ago, and I felt disappointed that I couldn't assist her further at the time, honestly.
This g-man was the last thing I wanted to deal with right now, and I wished Ray was up here to do so since he was the most diplomatic Ghostbuster.
"Can I help you," I inquired politely. Eyeing him up a down, I saw a well-dressed man in a black three-piece suit with a striped maroon and white tie with red hair and blue eyes. As he stood waiting, I observed what looked like a bureaucratic bookworm, and I rolled my eyes inwardly.
"I'm Walter Peck. I represent the Environmental Protection Agency, the third district," he responded snobbily, holding his hand out.
"Great! How's it going down there," I answered; in mock enthusiasm, I slapped his back, forgetting that I had some slime on it.
"Ok, I did that on purpose," I thought and concealed a wry smile.
"Are you Peter Venkman," the prim man inquired, shocked as he cleaned off the slime from his designer suit. This man was pretentious, and I disliked him immediately.
"Yes, I'm Dr. Venkman," I corrected him. To piss him off, I emphasized the word "doctor" while sitting down on my desk chair as I attempted to make the man feel uneducated. The prissy man seemed unimpressed by my advanced degrees and persisted in his line of questioning.
"And would this storage facility be located on these premises?"
"Yes," I reported, using one of Spengler's famous one-word liners, but Mr. Peck was not impressed with my succinctness.
"And may I see this storage facility?"
"No," I smugly returned. Finally, I was getting a rise out of this administrative man as his eyes grew wide in shock at my denial of his request.
"And why not, Mr. Venkman," Mr. Peck inquired, his voice rising because he thought he had "caught" me on something.
"What a jerk," I thought to myself, eyeing this man irritatedly.
With fake modesty, I opened my eyes as wide as I could in mock horror and rejoined, "Because you did not use the magic word."
"What is the magic word, Mr. Venkman," he asked, as scornfully as he could. I thought I had to force this nosy man to leave as soon as possible, or I would lose it.
"Please!" I declared, superciliously, enjoying this exchange finally because Mr. Peck became visibly more tempestuous.
"Yes, asshole. I am humiliating you. You can't come into my place of business and start poking around needlessly," I thought furiously to myself but kept my outward appearance cool as a cucumber. As a result, my facial expression did not betray any emotion.
"You can have it your way, Mr. Venkman," Peck promised me in a threatening way and walked confidently out of the firehouse with a swagger.
Standing up, I flew off the handle when Janine fretfully inquired about the man, but my agitation wasn't really with her. I hurriedly went to the downstairs door to the basement to inform my colleagues about our visit from Mr. Peck.
Winston Zeddemore
"I'm worried, Ray. It's getting crowded in there. And all my recent data points to something big on the horizon," Egon admonished, dressed in his usual gray slacks, white button-down shirt, and sweater vest. To me, he always appeared like a college professor about to give a lecture. Ray and I were downstairs in the basement cleaning the traps from the morning's busts. A package of twinkies was sitting on a table next to him, and Spengler paused to open them.
"What do you mean, big," I inquired innocently as our genius held one of the twinkies out.
"Well. Let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. According to this morning's sample, it would be a Twinkie thirty-five feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds," he held it up for display as an example while divulging. As a result, Ray coughed violently as he inhaled his cigarette down the wrong pipe.
"That's a big Twinkie," I muttered as Egon raised his eyebrows in acknowledgment and took a bite of it. Everyone knew that Dr. Spengler loved his snacks, no matter the time of day.
"We could be on the verge of a fourfold cross rip! A PKE surge of incredible, even dangerous proportions," Ray exclaimed in an incredulous voice before Peter came down the stairs stating, drolly,
"We just had a visit from the Environmental Protection Agency. How's the grid holding up?"
"Not good," Egon reported, concerned, turning his back to us so he could analyze the grid's dashboard settings.
As Ray expounded on the situation that Spengler mentioned earlier, I watched our brainiest Ghostbuter scribble some notes on a clipboard about the containment unit system. There was a sizable frown on his face as he used his finger to push up his glasses from sliding down his nose.
"What's our schedule like this afternoon," I inquired of Stantz and Venkman.
"Ray, go check; Janine's aggrieved with me already today, and her Brooklyn attitude is showing in full force," Venkman suggested irritatedly.
"I don't want to deal with it today," he added.
"What did you do now," Ray questioned gravely. Usually, Stantz was easygoing, but not at the present moment. His shoulders tensed up at Venkman's comment, and both he and I noticed that Peter did not want to fess up to it. Even the usually oblivious Egon Spengler had turned around, quizzically, to hear the answer.
"Janine asked if we were closer to hiring anyone yet to assist her because she hadn't had a day off for two weeks. I said no, but she's qualified in other areas if she wanted to go," Peter recalled, purposely leaving details out that would piss off our brainiac.
I knew Venkman well enough by this time to see that he enjoyed getting a rise out of people while Stantz and Spengler exchanged agonized looks.
"Venkman, we can't lose Janine," Ray refuted, severely displeased, "she does the accounting, scheduling, and all of the books. Plus, you forced her to push her graduation back a semester. Please don't provoke Janine anymore today.
"What!?" Dr. Spengler exclaimed in stupefaction and moved to face Venkman very rapidly.
"Uh oh, this isn't good," I thought to myself as Peter's face and neck turned bright red in embarrassment.
Egon's hands were clenched into fists, and his jaw gripped tightly as his body language conveyed extreme alarm. The two friends were almost in each other's faces, nearly nose to nose, and I was afraid it was going to come to blows. In fact, I had never seen Egon so pissed off as I had right now. Now, he repeatedly balled his hands into fists and then opened them almost in a way that dared Venkman to provoke him.
As I observed the scene playing out, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.
"Peter," he growled in a deep voice, prompting him to disclose more information.
"Last month, I made a deal with Brooklyn that I would pay her tuition for next semester. In exchange, Janine could work up to ten hours of overtime a week and delay her graduation," Venkman acknowledged.
Even though Peter hardly ever looked fearful, he did now. Spengler's face turned indignant, and sweat appeared on his brow.
"What!?!" The genius exclaimed, his face flushing red..
I, too, was astonished by this information and glanced at Ray for direction on whether it was a good idea to intervene. Stantz didn't look ruffled at the situation, maybe because he knew that Peter's time had been coming for a while. At least Venkman was smart enough to be petrified by his close friend's immense anger.
"Out," Egon commanded, icily, in his gruff voice as he stared murderously at Peter. His voice's chill and harshness were almost reminiscent of my drill sergeant in the army during my basic training days. Consequently, I split the basement quickly with Ray right behind him. When Egon let any of his emotions out, they were particularly fierce. I observed that he seldom displayed emotion during my short employment unless it came to Janine.
"Why did you do that? Do you know how long she has been working on this degree? You may have...," I heard Egon yell as we shut the basement door closed from upstairs. We could listen to our coworkers' distraught voices but not their words as we put our ears to the door to listen, expectantly.
"This was better than one of Maura's mid-day soap operas," I whispered to Ray excitedly, who nodded with equal enthusiasm.
"What on earth are you doing, guys," Janine inquired, disgruntledly from her desk, her head craned around her computer monitor a few moments later. I guess we looked pretty funny pressed up against the door with our ears to it, but our Brooklynite secretary wasn't impressed. The expression on her face was nonplussed, to say the least, and she appeared to be stressed by her workload.
Clearly embarrassed, Ray straightened up first and motioned for us to speak to her after he realized the door was too insulated for us to hear anything.
"Eavesdropping," I admitted sheepishly, with a blush appearing on my cheeks, and Stantz shrugged. We walked gradually to her desk with our tails between our legs, so to speak.
"What's going on," Janine demanded, her eyebrows furrowing as she caught us acting like little children listening to their parents' private argument.
Ray informed her that Peter confessed to requesting that she push off her graduation this semester.
"Oh. That. Yeah, Egon's going to go ballistic on Venkman because he has been encouraging me to finish the degree for over a year," she replied flatly, peering at the computer screen again. Her cute face showed displeasure as she frowned for a moment.
" For the record, I didn't agree or know with Peter's decision to ask you to do that. He is sneaky that way," Ray remarked awkwardly, shuffling his feet. I realized that I did not know about Egon and Janine either- that he had been inspiring her to complete her degree. Now it was quiet again.
I attempted to ease the silence and uncomfortableness by asking, " Other than that, how's it going today, Janine?"
"Not well, Winston," Janine explained Peter's insensitive comments, then focused on her work again. Silence ensued, and I felt embarrassed by Venkman's insensitive remarks.
"I hope Egon pounds, Peter, into the ground for his comments earlier. Man, do I need a day off," Janine muttered as she typed.
"I think I may be able to help you a little. A couple of responsible business students interested in the paranormal at Columbia need to complete internship hours. They could come in one or two afternoons a week if you could sign off approving it. Would that help," Ray inquired, hopefully, and I smiled at the idea as it was a good one.
"Maura might be able to come in once a week for a couple of hours, too," I added. She was a nurse who was a medic in the army, which of course, was how we met.
Maura, my beautiful fiancee, was four years younger than me and nursed me back to health after being shot in the upper leg in combat two years ago. People speak of the Florence Nightingale effect, where nurses fall in love with their patients well, and it was right in our case. She was a nurse on the night shift and would speak to me for hours quietly when I couldn't sleep, and our discussions were something I looked forward to each night.
One night before I was released to go home with a discharge, Maura admitted her feelings for me. Even though I already knew: her gentle flirting, the way her eyes dilated when she viewed me, the form should touch my arm or shoulder when she spoke to me, and many other factors. I, too, had fallen in love with her, and we agreed to date, although I was going back home to the City to finish out my tour in a desk job until the Spring of 1984. Maura, originally from Jersey City, had another year of service to complete and was stationed in South America for most of that time in 1982.
The previous year, 1983, was our first year residing together in the same city, and I immediately knew that I wanted to marry her. As a result, we moved in together six months later after I persuaded her of my intent to marry her soon. On a weekend getaway this Spring, before my horrible desk job was finally over, I proposed to Maura in the mountains of the Poconos. I wept like a child after we made love in a heart-shaped tub. Instantly, she agreed, causing me to be the happiest man alive. Our wedding date was tentatively set for Spring of 1986.
Joyfully, Janine rose from her desk and rushed over to give each of us a quick, energetic embrace. We both blushed at her genuine gesture.
"You two are the best," she gushed, her blue eyes twinkling.
"Tomorrow, I want you to take off the whole day and come in late on Monday, like noonish. I can pull some favors with Lucy to help us cover the phones in the morning," Ray directed thoughtfully.
"Don't you need me here," she demanded frustratedly; her blue eyes narrowed into two small slits, then her hands fell to her tiny waist.
"Those glasses really concealed her beauty," I thought to myself, " Why did she hide behind them?"
"Of course, Janine, but your welfare is more important, and you are too significant to us here," he smiled genuinely at her.
"Now that's what I like to see," I interjected, grinning,"family working together."
Again, Janine gave me a high five, pleased with my comment, and I slapped her hand enthusiastically. She and I got along very well, too, and Ray's act of kindness made an immediate positive impact on her mood.
"Thanks, big brother. I need a break from here," Janine responded, strolling back to her desk with an infectious grin on her face, " what can I help you two with?"
"Do you have our schedule for the afternoon," I requested?
At the same time, Ray dialed the phone to call Lucy. She was a full-time graduate student and had more of a flexible schedule. Smiling brightly, Janine handed the worksheet to me.
Frowning, I studied our afternoon: two class five cases and two class twos making it a long day.
"How are you Winston, do you still like the job," Janine inquired, typing on her keyboard without looking up at me.
"I'm well. Yes, still fascinated by the work. Harder than I thought," I retorted, putting the worksheet down and lighting up a smoke with my red BIC lighter. We spoke about non-work topics as the youngest Ghostbuster negotiated with his sister about covering Janine's job on Monday morning.
Five minutes later, Ray was off the phone, nodded, and then announced proudly, " It is done, J."
"Thanks. I owe ya one," Janine responded, winking at us.
Stantz pointed at the schedule, and I handed it to him. Then, he examined it and put the plan in his pocket.
"Ray, please do me a favor and check on those two," she suggested worriedly. It was oddly peaceful downstairs.
Her blue eyes motioned to the basement as she stated, "We can't have Egon beat Peter to a pulp, and I am buried in my work; here, or I would intervene."
"You think Venkman would be smart enough not to piss you off because of last time, last year around this time," he recalled, shaking his head, "but I guess he isn't."
Janine simpered, pushed her glasses up her nose with a dainty finger, and waved goodbye to us as we headed back downstairs.
"What is that all about," I questioned him.
"Too long of a story, and it's not mine to tell. Maybe Egon and Janine will tell you one day," he mused.
Yesterday I saw Spengler and her whispering at the kitchen table while they ate lunch simultaneously. During that time, Egon's face lit up as they conversed. Although I attempted to eavesdrop, I couldn't, but I easily read their body language. Janine would tilt her head to expose her neck, gaze adoringly into his eyes or simper softly. Egon, too, displayed signs of admiration by changing his tone to a softer one when he spoke to our secretary and smoothing his tie-down on occasion.
I described to Ray what I had seen yesterday, and he shrugged.
"Yep, that's the Janine-Iggy relationship for you. You should have seen it last year, six or seven months before they finally admitted their feelings for each other. The flirting was sickening yet cute," Ray admitted, smiling at me.
"Spengler flirts?" I questioned doubtfully, raising an eyebrow, "he barely smiles unless it is at Janine."
"Oh, you better believe it. One day, you will have to ask them about it, and they can tell you their story," he elucidated. Ray snickered to himself with a significant smile as if recalling a private joke.
Ray Stantz
As we descended the stairs, ready to hear an exchange of more upset words, there was only an eerie silence. Winston, or Z as I call him, and I exchanged shocked expressions simultaneously when we reached the bottom of the staircase. The two previously feuding GB ceased speaking when we came down, but the basement's heady tension had reduced to nothing. I could tell that Winston was still preoccupied with the information about Spengler and Janine earlier when I inquired,
"Everything ok?"
"Yes, Raymond," Spengler responded, naturally, like he wasn't about to kick Peter's ass ten minutes ago, and I had to chuckle at his succinctness.
"That was Egon for you," I thought inwardly as he made notes on his clipboard and deep in thought. His usually blank expression returned to his face as he worked. Venkman needed to make things right with Janine eventually. As we all knew, she had been working diligently on completing her degree while working full time for years.
"Dr. Venkman made a house call, Dr.Stantz," Venkman stated, jokingly, in a deep German Sigmund Freud type of voice, "Anyway, what are we in for today?"
"Two class twos and two class five," Winston replied after exhaling smoke above our heads.
"I will go change," Iggy stated, walking up the stairs with his clipboard in hand, making some calculations.
"Is it true that Egon flirted with Janine," Winston questioned Peter skeptically after the tallest GB was safely upstairs with a loud bang of the door. Venkman answered,
"Spengs? Oh yeah, he had this goofy middle school kid look on his face. I used to call it the 'Gee isn't Janine wonderful' expression."
Peter demonstrated the look. He loved having an audience and elaborated by showing Janine's countenance "isn't Egon wonderful look," too.
"I think I have seen those looks on their faces before a couple of times. What's their story," Z questioned.
"Too long to tell. Let's just say Egon's a genius in many areas. Still, he's an idiot when it comes to Janine," Peter summarized, pulling a cigarette out of his pack.
"One day, you should ask them about it when all of the drama is over."
"How do you know their drama is going to be over," Winston questioned our leader and then peered over to me, baffled.
"It's Egon and Janine; those two are meant to be together. It's like peanut butter and jelly," I compared, grinning at Z.
"True, Ray. But I called it the first day of Janine's interview. Now that's a good story," he admitted proudly, with a significant smile. Laughing, I slapped Venkman's back as we all meandered towards the stairs.
"Let them tell Winston that story, too," I replied, chuckling.
Peter Venkman
Everyone's resentment and stress came to a head later that day. It didn't help that the ridiculous EPA man visited to search for nonexistent problems. Once again, Janine was yelling at me about needing two different people to do her job. Meanwhile, even with four Ghostbusters, we were struggling with our caseload. Plus, with our brand gaining popularity and notoriety, the media wanted endless interviews and pictures.
On top of everything, I had an excruciating headache after Walter Peck visited. I went off on Janine on a rampage because I couldn't take another round of her complaining about her workload. Even though I knew I was tempting fate with Egon by increasing my chances of getting a beat down, I did it anyway.
"You answer the phones, Janine," I explained, my blood pressure rising, "that's your job."
"Oh no! I don't just 'answer the phones', Dr. Venkman. I do the scheduling, filing, accounting, plus your personal errands. Do you want to start doing those things too? This is a two-person job," our petite secretary questioned angrily, rising from her seat with her hands on her hips.
We were downstairs in my office having a meeting except for Winston, who was upstairs eating lunch. Since he wasn't a business partner, he did not need to be in this meeting. I stood up from my chair, and we were facing each other.
"Don't take your poor career choices out on me," I countered, pointing my index finger at her because she hated it, "just complete your job and shut your mouth."
Indignantly, Janine glared at me for a long time before sitting down on her chair, which surprised me because she usually was ready for an argument. She usually didn't back down so easily. Stantz walked towards me, put his arm around my shoulder, and urged, attempting to diffuse the situation,
"Venkman, come on, let's go upstairs and have some coffee."
Ray was a couple of inches shorter than me. However, he had a more rotund stature, and he attempted to corral me towards the stairs and away from Janine. Unfortunately for our peacemaker, I shrugged him off. I walked towards our secretary, where she sat brooding in her chair quietly.
"Say what you wanna say, Peter Venkman. Get it all out," Janine stated coldly, her very noticeable Brooklyn accent evident as her displeasure rose rapidly and she folded across her chest. Our secretary, irritatedly, tapped her foot on the floor, awaiting my answer.
"You have somehow single-handedly dismantled the best member of our team this year. Now we're not 100% as a team," I yelled, my face flushing with heat and my palms sweating. I was scared, and I didn't look at Spengler because I knew he was already pissed.
"Yep, Egon, I have infuriated you twice today. Are you going to beat me up," I wondered but kept my eyes steadily on our secretary, whose mouth dropped agape. Her infamous temper flared as evidence of her widened eyes and the transformation of her pale face to a bright red one. Janine automatically jumped up from her seat in front of me, placing her hands on her hips, ready for action. We were standing toe to toe now.
When Brooklyn was enraged, I teased her once that she was like a tornado all wound up terrorizing the firehouse with her sharp sarcasm and caustic tongue. Needless to say, she wasn't amused by my analogy.
"This was not the time to mention the tornado comparison," I reminded myself, even though I felt something inside of me, poking at me, saying, "Go ahead, Peter. She's already furious."
"Dr. Venkman, I've been doing my job the best that I can. If you want me to quit, please just say so. I attempted to quit in May, but you begged me to stay, remember," Janine reminded me, slowly, after taking three deep breaths to assuage herself. Her face had turned almost reddish, and her pretty blue eyes narrowed while she spoke very slowly like I was an idiot.
"Oh, Janine knows that I hated when she did that to me, damn it," I thought inwardly, my face twisting into a grimace as my head thumped agonizingly. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I argued with her.
Turning around resentfully, I explained exasperatedly, "not if you are going to demolish our team."
"What does that have to do with me," whined Janine, vexed.
"You know damn well what it means. Spengler is a disaster," I admitted, staring down at her, "because of you."
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Egon finally spoke, clutching his fists and fuming with smoke coming out of his ears," I hate that."
"That's his problem and not mine. He dumped me; it wasn't the other way around. YOU also know that. Why are you blaming this on me? YOU hired me, and YOU did so blame yourself, not me," Janine screamed as her voice became hoarse.
Like a caged animal, I lashed out at her, but I didn't care. I knew I was doing the wrong thing by poking the bear, metaphorically, because Janine had made some real sacrifices for us. She even agreed to take her last class to complete her degree in the upcoming semester because of the increased number of our clients. Still, Janine was disheartened because she wanted to graduate in December. I persuaded her to do so because she felt obligated to us since we were like a family. Moreover, I promised to pay Brooklyn's tuition for the semester in return as a bonus and gave her a quarter raise per hour. That placated her, but she wasn't thrilled about the situation.
Earlier, I told Iggy that I would somehow make it up to Janine to push off her graduation date a semester. Still, I had no idea how I was going to do it. Honestly, I felt like I had been pushed out to the edge of a cliff, and I was about to jump. The pressure was too powerful.
"You are fired, Janine," I calmly instructed.
"What!?" She squeaked in a high-pitched voice then instantaneously started to sob as she sank into her chair. Janine covered her face with her tiny hands, weeping loudly.
"Damn," I thought, "just what I needed for her to do. Cry."
"Go home; you are fired," I repeated firmly. I felt absolutely out of control of the situation and my emotions as I felt my whole body shake in stress and frustration. My outrage was on several items: not helping Janine by hiring another person, Egon's stupidity with her, our client workload, my irritation about not persuading that delightful Dana Barrett on a date yet, the media pressure, and overall fatigue. The shock of my actions mystified my business partners, Egon and Ray.
"Peter, this conversation has to stop; it's not productive," Iggy interjected, still balling up his fists. He appeared to be incandescent but in control until Janine began crying. Spengler walked towards me once her floodgates opened, bearing his teeth with his jaw clamped down tightly. I knew he was about to start whaling on me, but Ray moved to swiftly stand in front of us. Honestly, I almost wished Ray would get out of the way and let it happen.
"Peter, you are jumping the gun here," he replied anxiously, "you are exhausted. We all are."
"Go ahead, slam me against the wall, Egon, just like last time. If I could, I'd fire you, too," I sneered, meeting his eye as Spengler stood toe to toe.
"Peter, damn it, take it back," he stammered, putting his hands on my collar ready to engage in a physical act. Horrified, I jumped back and turned my back to them as I headed toward the front door.
"Fuck you, every one of you. I have had it, do whatever," I yelled, anguished.
Next, I stormed out of the firehouse and slammed the door clamorously.
Egon Spengler
"Janine, please don't quit. Normally, we have to decide as a group," Ray begged, perplexed as I was at Venkman walking out on us.
Unable to move at first, my heartbeat raced, and my hands were shaking. When I could, I turned to face Janine. She shielded her face by putting her hands over it, but the sounds of her weeping made me feel powerless.
"Yes, please don't listen to Peter. He's mad at me and just took it out on you because he knew it would hurt me," I explained, stepping towards her gingerly. My heart ached at seeing her disconsolate, and I was irate at Peter for causing her such distress so I returned to my office.
Ray Stantz
Peter exaggerated his claims about Egon's lack of concentration, the number of mistakes, and ruining our best team member. In fact, it was so much more prevalent when he was indecisive about his own feelings about Janine last year.
The big difference was that Egon had grown as a person during his courtship with Janine. It was all for the positive except that Iggy didn't know how to deal with his emotions for Janine and his work. He never had to divide his focus on more than one thing. While the two were together earlier this year, Iggy learned how to do both, not entirely but with much improvement. Finally, I think Spengler realized that he needed and wanted Janine in his life now without any doubt that she was actively dating others. I know it injured him deeply when she went on dates.
"Of course, this is all speculation," I pondered until our sorrowful secretary turned her chair around to face me. I noticed that the skin around Janine's eyes was a bit swollen. She used a white Kleenex to dry her eyes and wipe her nose a little. I put my hand gently on her shoulder and gave her an empathetic grin.
"So I am ruining Egon's life and the Ghostbusters business," Janine inquired. Her sad blue eyes opened as they could be after giving me a slight grin at my attempts to console her.
"No, Peter is exaggerating," I responded with a small smile.
"This hasn't been easy for me either, Ray," J confessed, her blue eyes filling with tears, "Being in love with someone who can't make up his mind about you, and he is my boss! Peter acted like I single-handedly destroyed Egon. Well, in some ways, he did the same to me. Despite my attempts to get over him and date others, it hasn't worked, and I still love him tremendously."
"I know, J. I don't know what to say. With all of the media attention and so much supernatural activity right now, we are all strung out," I answered, nodding my head at her remark. At the same time, Janine threw her Kleenex away after blowing her nose again.
"Peter really hit below the belt," she admitted, removing her purse from a drawer and removing a compact, "and I am incensed with him."
J began to powder her face and especially the area underneath her eyes to disguise the fact she had been weeping. Then she admitted,
"My life won't go back to normal until I leave here, and my heart won't be able to recover from Egon until I do. He won't go back to his usual either until I am gone from here."
"Iggy can't go back to 'normal' as you say- he's changed for the better because of you," I informed her, patting her back lightly.
Shrugging, she reapplied her lipstick and then put her cosmetics back up without responding verbally.
Thirty seconds later, Janine abruptly informed me, " I need to take a walk."
"Keeping Janine here when she was so anguished was wrong," I thought as I sat at her desk, "Maybe I should check on Iggy."
Winston Zeddemore
As some Ghostbusters' dirty laundry aired, I sat upstairs, perplexed. Since I was new to the team, I didn't have any say in the matter, nor did I want to. I felt very awkward being in the middle of conversations that didn't technically apply to me. When I heard Janine leave the firehouse crying, I felt sympathetic. Before I met Maura when I had completed my first tour in the army, I had fallen in love with a beautiful lady who couldn't make up her mind about me. It drove me crazy for months.
It seemed odd that Egon wasn't resolute in his decision-making as he always was for the business. I guess that didn't include his personal life. Shocked, I couldn't believe that this work-obsessed genius had a secret life at one time.
After hearing Ray and Egon go into the latter's office, I descended the stairs to operate the phone at Janine's desk. Luckily, there weren't any calls at the time. All three of them, Janine, Ray, and Egon returned to her desk simultaneously about twenty minutes later, all calm like nothing had happened. I stood up to give our secretary her chair back with a smile. Returning my grin, she lowered herself down in it and questioned us, attempting to maintain professionalism although her expression remained unsettled,
"What about Peter? You have a busy afternoon."
"We'll go on the busts without him as we still have three of us, and we don't have any evening clients, so that we will be ok. What do you think, Spengler," Ray questioned the brainiest Ghostbuster.
Egon curtly nodded, watching Janine instead of paying attention to him. She didn't make eye contact with him and had gone back to disregarding him. We had fifteen minutes until it was time to leave for the busts, so we prepared as if nothing had happened and as if Venkman was with us.
Needless to say, the busts were successful, albeit tricky, because the two experienced members of the team were still frazzled from the fight earlier. Plus, I noticed that Venkman really did add to the group by taking the leader's role during a bust and directing the other's attention. The fact that Peter wasn't there either made the busts last longer than usual too. We arrived at the firehouse at seven oh seven.
Surprisingly, we discovered Peter sitting at Janine's desk, swiveling in her chair and flipping through a psychology magazine.
"Where's Janine," Spengler inquired, looking mystified as to why she wasn't there.
"Relax, Tex, Your beloved is ok," Peter declared, with a grin.
"A few hours ago, I came back to apologize to Janine and offered her some free therapy. Next, I made an appointment for her to get a massage from a friend. Then I gave Brooklyn the rest of the evening off," my boss happily responded, pleased with himself, " I hope that I made it up to her some."
"Way to go, man," I complimented, giving him a high five and a smile, both of which he returned, "Now that's class."
"Janine deserves it after you went off on her earlier," Egon quipped sharply as his brown eyes flashed anger at Peter.
"Yes, you are right, Iggy. I have been resentful with you for fucking up with her so badly that you are both completely out of sorts," Peter agreed, and he rose from the chair.
Venkman strode over to Spengler out of the blue and then apologized for his comments earlier, offering his hand out for the tallest GB to shake as a peace offering. Egon glared at Pete for a second but shook his hand emphatically with a small smile. Then he mumbled something quietly to Venkman about talking to him later privately about Janine.
" I'm sorry, Spengs. I had just lost it after that EPA buffoon, Walter Peck, was looking for trouble earlier," he admitted before apologizing to Ray and then to me. I didn't feel like I deserved one and told him so.
"Maybe, but we are all close like family here. Usually, we don't have blowouts like that one."
"Ok, then I accept," I answered, shaking his hand. Peter asked me about the busts, and I began to tell him after our brainiac spoke, clearly lost in thought,
"As Ray said earlier, we are all under an immense amount of pressure with our caseload. I wish I could figure out the reason there are so many spirits around right now."
"This is ourselves under pressure," the band Queen sang on the radio in the background indicating the pulse of the Ghostbusters as they did.
Egon Spengler
After crunching some data for our business regarding September's busts, I discovered pictures Ray sorted on the kitchen table. Now he watched the Yankees lose to the Red Sox at home again for the second day in a row.
"Stupid Yanks, why do I even watch them," the youngest GB asked rhetorically as I sat down with a notepad, taking a break from working on my latest experiment.
We had ordered some Chinese take-out, and I was working on eating some of the leftovers. Peter was on a date, and Winston had left for the day, so it was just the two of us.
"How are the Indians doing," he inquired of me, handing me a big stack of photos of Janine and me to scour through. Sighing heavily, I took the pictures and felt weary about looking through them.
"I am not sure," I answered, studying the first picture. Ray referred to the Cleveland Indians and knew that my Dad, brother, and I occasionally went to the games as I grew up. Watching baseball with them was OK, and I didn't mind the statistics of the sport. Truthfully, I preferred keeping track of them.
"These are from the end of last year, so you may not have seen them," Ray informed me, lightening up a cigarette, " I was going to give them to you earlier this year, but..."
Stantz's voice trailed off, indicating that Janine and I had broken up. The first few photos were of Janine and me after I confessed that I was in love with her for the first time on a snowy day in December. Little did we know we had an audience who witnessed the whole scene as we passionately kissed after I begged her not to go. Peter and Ray hollered encouragement and clapped loudly like they watched a baseball player hit a home run to win a game. Of course, we didn't hear anything because we were too busy engaged in a series of kisses, each more zealous than the last one.
The deep-rooted love that I felt for Janine in my heart produced tears in my eyes that I attempted to conceal from Ray, and my heart tinged in pain vigorously. I took my dark circular frames off my face to wipe my tears away with my hand and quickly put them back.
The next picture occurred after she forgave me with us holding hands, going back to my office with broad smiles on our faces like we had won the lottery. In a way, we had with the prize our love for each other. Subsequently, I recalled what happened afterward when we made it to my office.
Janine shut the door closed tightly, closed the blinds, and turned the door's lock with a seductive smile on her face as I went to the sofa shivering from the cold. She meandered to where I sat, removing her jacket and her snow boots, then sat on my lap, and I pulled her as close to me as she would go. Next, I planted a very sensual kiss on her lips as she felt my chest through my shirt then wrapped her arms around my neck.
"I will warm you up, Dr. Spengler, " Janine whispered up to me afterward. Her blue eyes twinkled like stars in the night sky, and I grinned mischievously at her before crushing her lips with my own for another impassioned kiss. We kissed and fondled each other through the clothing as foreplay, thoroughly enjoying our time together as it had been a couple of months. Janine's groaning and moaning only intensified as I reached down her leggings and to the area between her legs, desiring to give her pleasure.
" I want you so badly," I admitted, revealing my vulnerability in her ear first. I nibbled her earlobe as I rubbed her genitals through her clothing.
My fingers began pulling at the top of her leggings, removing them gradually, revealing her creamy skin as she kissed me deeply with her tongue. Afterward, my Angel moaned delightfully agonized,
"Ohhh, Egon. I want you too, but our first time together isn't going to be in your office, darling."
"Iggy, did you hear me?"
"Huh," I questioned him, lost in my daydream. I suddenly sat up and found myself at the kitchen table with Ray, not with Janine clad, only in a dress and her matching panties on my sofa. My business partner studied my blank expression curiously.
"Shit!" I thought to myself, noting my aroused manhood.
"Don't worry; you two are meant to be together. It will all work out," he said, picking up a stack of photos and shuffling them like cards.
Nodding, I let myself wander back into the dream.
"No, I don't want it to be here either, my love, but there are other things we can do," I suggested, raising my eyebrow.
" I like the way you think."
Before I could speak, she squeezed my erect penis with her right hand and then used both hands to unbutton my pants. Janine's eyes met mine as she pulled them down and used both to fondle my aroused sex carefully.
"Ohh, mmmm," she said, seductively licking her lips, " you are so massive, Egon!"
"Ahhh," I sighed as she began to stroke my thick shaft slowly at first, then more speedily, causing my breath to increase. Janine watched my face as I became more and then sweetly kissed my lips. I returned it using my tongue to stimulate her, and then she used her fingertips to tease my head by lightly touching it. A bit of cum erupted from my opening, and my Angel used that to stroke me harder and faster again.
"Wait," I said, panting, "I have an idea."
Ray kept requiring my attention so that I couldn't finish the memory, but it was probably for the best as it was about to be X-rated. I vowed to bring that memory back to bedtime when I was alone.
Instead, I exhaled deeply and focused on the following picture: eating lunch with Janine, sitting side by side and leaning down to kiss her cheek. Janine exuberantly grinned her million-watt bright smile at me. Fondly, I caressed her cheek in the photo remembering her skin's softness and how that smile always brightened the room. Another sharp pain stabbed at my heart, and I wondered if it was a good idea to continue to view the photos.
"Too late, Spengler," I said, flipping to the next one.
Next, we were dressed in formal wear, Janine in a sparkly off-the-shoulder sequined gold floor-length dress and me in a tux. We went to a classical music concert after eating dinner at the hotel overnight. After the show, we spent the night together for the first time and made love. New, fresh tears filled my eyes, and I took off my glasses to wipe them quickly as I didn't want to think about how magical that night was with her.
Flipping the picture, I saw the four of us plus Ray's date and one of Peter's girlfriends at our Pre New Year Eves party. Janine looked fabulous, of course, and stood in front of me with her arms wrapped around mine, which was around her waist. We were sublimely happy, and I remember her persuading me to stand in Times Square with everyone else in New York at midnight. She insisted that I had to do this since I was from Cleveland, mainly since I lived here for ten years without going. Personally, I didn't give a damn about seeing the ball drop, but I loved being with Janine, so I did it. The best party of the evening was counting down with the infectiously energetic crowd and watching my Angel's face light up excitedly.
After we got to zero, I grabbed her tightly and kissed her like there wasn't any tomorrow.
"Happy new year; I love you to the moon and back, Egon," she whispered up to me.
"Happy new year, angel; I love you. I'm so ecstatic I get to be here with you," I confessed, honestly. Janine kissed me again, pressing her heavily jacketed body against mine, then shivering from the cold.
" I told you that you would enjoy coming here," Janine teased me, her breath visible from the cold as she jumped up and down to keep herself warm. I chuckled at her.
"You were right," I agreed, grabbing her arm and kissing her soft lips quickly, "let's go home and warm up."
Back in reality, I felt the shiver from the magic of our kiss travel down my spine and sighed heavily. Finally, in January, the last picture was one of us when we were at a science lecture at the American Museum of Natural History with Ray. He took a picture of us examining an engineering challenge, where I explained to her how to work. I asked Stantz if I could keep the images, and he agreed. Then I put them into my room in a drawer where I had other pictures, except for the picture of us in our formal wear, and kept that picture to where I could see it from my bed.
In the lab alone sometime after midnight, I recalled the memory of Janine and me alone in my office after we declared our love for each other in December. Ray was asleep, and Peter wasn't back from his date yet. As I lay down on the sofa, I unzipped my pants and pulled my penis out of my underwear. Shutting my eyes, I imagined us back on the couch in the nude. We each fondled the other's body in a teasing yet compelling manner while kissing. I recalled every curve of her voluptuous body from the top of Janine's body down to her feet. I soon stroked my penis from the shaft to the head and thought about the rest of the afternoon.
"You are so naughty, Dr. Spengler," Janine replied with a sultry smile. I had just suggested we do a variation of the sixty-nine position, so we received and gave sexual pleasure simultaneously. I raised my left eyebrow as a result, and she kissed me as an affirmative response then laid on her side with a dazzling smile on her face. As I positioned myself over her womanly parts, Janine gently kissed my inner thighs up to my ball sack and cock.
"Ohh, baby, that feels so... unbelievable," I groaned.
Next, Janine clasped my erection firmly and brought it down to her sensual mouth. She gradually licked it from the bottom to the top and down the other side.
With sinful pleasure, I moaned gutturally and began to alternate nibbling and kissing her inner thighs until my mouth was in between her legs. There, I eagerly licked her labia slowly like an ice cream teasing her with my tongue. Janine arched her back into the sofa, throwing her head back for a second and noisily groaning hedonistically. Finally, she used the tip of her tongue to trace circles on my penis, causing me to huskily moan her beautiful name again and again.
As I bit down gently on her clit, Janine called my name out breathlessly, "Egon," and writhed on the sofa, happily. She placed her lips on the tip of my head and sucked it noisily.
"Ohhh," I moaned, biting my bottom lip, imagining that she was next to me, sucking my penis as I was about ready to erupt, " Ohh, baby, yes! I need you, Janine."
Meanwhile, Janine shook slightly with her upcoming orgasm in my memory as I put two fingers inside her.
"You are so wet, Janine, mmm. I love that you are ready for me, baby," I mentioned excitedly, prepared to tease her with some more licking. Instead, I moved my index and middle fingers in and out as she swallowed more of my cock in her throat, deeply.
"Ohhhh, God!" Janine shouted, releasing my penis from her lush mouth for a second as I quickly moved my fingers to please her further.
Remembering how much I loved the feel of her trembling under my touch, I started to shudder as I closed my eyes, enjoying the glorious feeling. Janine persisted in moaning in her soft voice, which became louder as she came closer to her orgasm and began to use her nimble hands to pleasure me.
"Egon... I can't hold...on...much...longer.."
"Same," I growled, feeling empowered by knowing she was about to cum by my actions, "I want you to come for me, Janine, baby."
She sighed loudly as I began finger fucking her more rapidly as she started going down on me with my dick at the back of her throat, making it feel more enthralling. Janine came first, and I did shortly after her, both yelling each other's names as we reached the apex of our delight.
After succumbing to my orgasm, I gradually opened my eyes to see that I was in the lab. I was not in my office with a warm and glowing post-orgasm bliss Janine, naked in my arms and snoozing with a beaming grin on her lips. Instead, I felt cold and alone.
It wasn't the sex I missed; it was the intimacy, but so much more, too. I longed to feel Janine's tender touch on my skin, to hear her laughter, charm, and sassiness, and to view the way she looked in the morning when she woke up. It was also the way she said my name or how her voice sounded when she stated she loved me, the way she would run her fingers through my hair, the twinkle in her eye, and the whole package that was Janine Melnitz.
" Maybe I'll be able to win her back," I whispered.
Janine Melnitz
Dr. Peter Venkman could be a real class act when he wanted and show great maturity, too. Although these were not characteristics that I wouldn't always attribute to him, he displayed them today. Peter shocked me by apologizing for his outburst by handing me a bouquet of goregous yellow roses while I was in the middle of doing some accounting work.
"Janine, I am extremely regretful for all of my false accusations. Furthermore, I should not have taken my bad mood out on you, nor should I have asked you to push one of your biggest accomplishments off a semester. I behaved very poorly earlier and would like to ask for your forgiveness. I consider you like a sister and value your contributions to the company and you as a person. I am very sorry for causing you so much stress," Peter confided earnestly, handing me the flowers, much to my surprise.
I felt tears fill my eyes as I attempted to find words to respond to this unexpected kind gesture from him.
"Speechless? Must be one of the first times ever," my partially bald headed boss remarked nervously as I took the flowers and brought them to my nose to inhale their lovely aroma. I still couldn't speak, but I rose from my chair with my flowers indicating friendship by their color to thank him with a hug. As I came around my desk, a tear or two came across my cheeks, and then I gave him a quick sisterly embrace.
"Thank you," I whispered up to him afterward, sniffing my flowers again with their scent producing a wide grin on my face.
"You are welcome, Janine. Would you please put the answering machine on and save the work you are completing on the computer so we could speak privately in my office," Peter questioned sincerely.
"Of course," I replied, bringing the flowers with me.
We spoke about numerous topics, including his poor professional behavior from earlier, but also about Egon. Peter divulged that he had continuously been anguished with his friend's choice to throw me, in his words, "the best thing that has happened to him," away.
Also, he admitted that it must have been exceedingly a challenge for me to work with Egon. I revealed that my feelings hadn't changed for him despite my attempts to move on, and I doubt they would. Then we spoke about what happened between us a month earlier. Our interactions had grown more flirtatious for a short while but then seemed to cool off again.
" Even after everything this summer, Egon can't make up his mind about me, Pete," I replied tearfully.
Venkman spent a great while attempting to dissuade me of my thoughts but to no avail. Then he gave me the evening off and made an appointment for a Swedish massage from a friend of his in a day spa a few blocks away. Again, I thanked him for the heart-to-heart talk, the flowers, the evening off, and the massage. I told him that I felt very appreciated. Peter acknowledged it with a slight nod then reminded me that I had an appointment in twenty minutes with an impish grin.
