Crossing
The Streams
by Miss Ang
For
your love - I would cry
Even sacrifice my life, wouldn't think twice
Be your fool - I don't mind, it's cool
Everything I say is true
Cuz I'm breaking all the rules for you...
~ 2gether, "Breaking All The Rules"
"Hey, Egon..."
Egon Spengler cringed as he reached for the door to his locker, fighting not to look back over his shoulder. "Janine," he replied, nodding slightly.
"You never ask how I am anymore," she ventured, drumming her red nails on the countertop as she reached out and flicked on her Apple computer.
He sighed, putting a hand to his temple. "Alright, how are you?"
"... I miss you," she said slowly.
"Well," Egon commented, pulling his coveralls out of the locker. His hands tensed as he held the well-worn fabric. He was certain this was the spare suit that she had lent to Tully - that mewling, half-lobed, sycophant - that New Year's Eve. Suppressing his disgust, Egon slipped his legs into the coveralls and pulled them up over his street clothes.
"That's all? Well? ... Egon, if this is about Louis ..." She pouted, chewing nervously on her bottom lip.
Egon zipped up the coveralls, slipped his feet into his boots, and snapped his PKE meter onto the carabiner on his belt. Wordlessly, he headed for the door, where Ray, Stella, and Peter stood waiting on the sidewalk.
"Ready, Egie?" Peter asked, heading for the Ecto-1A.
"Yes," he nodded, sliding into the back seat. He chuckled inwardly as he watched his cousin eagerly take shotgun beside Stantz. The way the two of them were looking at each other .... he'd used to look at Janine that way. It almost hurt. No - it still did. Not that he'd ever tell her it did. Not after what she'd done to him.
They hadn't parted exactly the best of friends - the tight financial situation and negative press after the Gozer incident had taken its toll on them, both as individuals and as a fledgling couple. Janine had left, not feeling the salary Venkman afforded her was high enough when tough times hit. Egon had begged her to stay, but she had refused, saying that even though she did love him, the job wasn't going to keep a roof over her head.
The next time he'd seen her had been when they got back in business. They'd exchanged some terse words - he'd been happy to see her, but she remained strangely distant. Not to mention, her new look had been news for him - that cherry-red dye job, the Dorothy Hamill bob, those kitzchy pop glasses...! Janine had changed, and Egon wasn't sure if he liked it. He'd changed, yes, but more along the lines of confidence...
"Egon," Stella called over her shoulder, interrupting his thoughts, "do you think that you could help me out later today? I want to learn more about our equipment, so I can help you fix things and stuff..."
"Alright," he nodded, putting his hands in his pockets as he turned to look out the window. "Just let me know when."
The trip to the mayor's was uneventful - aside from he and Venkman trading barbs. At least they were good-natured barbs this time, Egon thought, placing his coveralls back in his locker. As he closed the door, he suddenly felt someone's presence behind him.
"Slimer," he admonished, "back off..."
Then he felt the small piece of metal pressed into the palm of his free hand and whirled around to see Janine standing there, her eyes downcast and her hands clasped.
"I still want you to have that," she announced, shifting one toe around on the floor.
Egon lifted his hand and uncurled his fingers to look at the object - yet by its mass and texture, he already knew what it was.
The National Guard swarmed around the Ecto-1 as the four of them prepared to go and face their first "big" problem - Gozer the Gozerian. Egon leant on the outside of the Ectomobile as the other three waited. Tinkering with his PKE meter, he was beginning to wonder if they really could handle a spectre that represented, theoretically, a 32-foot Twinkie. Then she'd run up to him, her head wrapped in a scarf, her eyes bright with worry and unshed tears.
"I want you to have this," she'd said breathlessly, shoving it into his hands.
"What is it?"
"It's a souvenir from the World's Fair at Flushing Meadows," she explained. "It's my lucky coin."
Egon looked at the small coin, then back at her. "I don't believe in luck."
"Keep it anyway," she shrugged. "I have another one at home." Odd, yes, but that was the way she worked, and that was why he loved her.
"Thank you," he said genuinely, hugging her.
"Come on, Spengler," Peter interjected. "Janine, didn't your momma tell you never to get involved with no Ghostbuster?"
As they had faced Gozer, huddled in that corner on the roof of Dana Barrett's apartment against the wrath of Mr. Stay-Puft - Egon still cringed at the irony - he'd begun to think about how they were going to fail, and how the world was going to end. And then his fingers closed around the coin, and he thought about Janine. He may not have believed in luck - but she had believed in him.
Maybe that was enough.
He had to do something - anything - to stop Gozer. Just to save her. And then the wildest, most irrational thought he'd ever had popped into his mind.
"Cross the streams," Ray had echoed his theory, dazed... and smiling. In that moment, Egon realized that sometimes irrational thought - and maybe luck - could be his most precious gift.
"Janine," he said slowly. "Why..."
"I miss you, Egon. I told you so. And I'm sorry." She blinked, letting the glint of the light off her glasses hide her tears. "Isn't that enough?"
It had always been reason over emotion - he was a Socratic man, really. Reason was telling him to push her away - she had shunned him, and it was over. But ... reason had also told him never, ever to cross the proton streams..... And emotion had been what had saved the world in the end.
Slowly, he put his arms around her, letting her rest her forehead on his shoulder.
"Of course it is, Janine," he replied, sighing in relief. "Of course it is."