By Sheila Paulson
Art by Joy Riddle

"So let me get this straight, Melnitz. You want the afternoon off? Boy, your job would be ideal. Here I am, on call 24/7 facing goopers from hell and you take a day off here, a half day off there, come in at ten when you feel like it, take off early so you can go to the opera--the opera, for Pete's sake, with Spengs, who's deranged enough to like it. Gotta say, when I'm out there busting a Class Seven, the perks of your job really look great. After all, you're secretary to the Ghostbusters. Fame and fortune at your fingertips."

"Right, Venkman. Fame and fortune indeed. On that pittance you call a salary? As for 24/7, when you don't have a call, you sprawl on the couch in front of the TV. You're the original couch potato. You're asleep more than you're awake in any given day, and when I need a half day off, you turn into the Grinch who stole Christmas."

Peter ambled out from his office and leaned inquiringly on the gate. "So what's the occasion, Miss Janine? A hot date?" He arched an eyebrow at her. "Should Egon be jealous? I don't know how he'll ever endure it, the way he can't stop thinking about you and hanging out at your desk."

She glared at him. Venkman could be such a jerk! Of course he must know very well that unless she waved a date under Egon's very nose, he wouldn't even notice. Of course if she did that, Egon would probably be jealous, but somehow that didn't seem like playing fair. "Time off means 'private', Peter," she said pointedly. "I don't ask you what you do in your off time. Course that's just sensible. I'm sure I'd rather not know. Something seedy and disgusting, I'd bet."

"Janine, Janine, Janine. I'm the one who signs your paychecks, remember? How do I know you haven't been sending out resumes so you can get a better job--not that there are any better ones than this. You'd never get the perks there. No afternoons off whenever you feel like it. No Egon to ogle."

"I've quit better jobs than this," she said hotly, but Peter was right about one thing. The perks--especially one tall, blond physicist--outweighed the annoyances--notably one green-eyed, vexatious psychologist who deliberately bugged her at every given opportunity. Come to think of it, bugging him back was another of those perks, not that she'd ever let him know that, not even under torture.

"There are no better jobs than this. What other job lets you know the joy of saving the entire planet on a regular basis?" He grinned engagingly. If it weren't for Egon, she might actually rise to the challenge of Peter--but there was Egon, and that was a fact of nature. Besides, Peter was annoying in the way of siblings, though she'd never tell him that she sometimes saw him as a big brother, with all the irritation that went with the position.

It was bad enough that she suspected he knew--and felt the same.

"Yeah, right. With my keyboard? You bet. The thrills and chills just make my life. Come on, Venkman, just give me the afternoon off. What's it gonna cost you? The answering machine can take the calls and it's not like you had anything important to do. I'm not sure why they keep you around here."

He ignored the insult with the skill of long practice and shook his finger at her. "Ah, ah, ah. You're being secretive, Melnitz. You've got a hot date. I know it."

"Yeah, that's it. I'm running off with Tom Hanks." She grimaced. "You're just loving making me work for it. Somebody's gonna brain you one day, Venkman, and it's probably gonna be me."

The grin stretched. "No can do. I can run faster than you, Janine. And I'm quick. I've had to be, with the other three upstairs to keep me on my toes. So give, come on. What's the occasion?" He batted his eyes at her in that little-boy fashion that she hated because it was so hard to resist.

"Okay, if you must know, I have my mammogram this afternoon." There, she'd said it, and she hadn't wanted to. Any second now he'd come out with an offer to help her with her routine breast exam, and then she'd have to kill him.

He didn't. Instead his face changed subtly. Something dark and shadowy flashed in the green of his eyes, something that went away in an instant. "So, you okay here, Melnitz?" he asked with forced casualness.

God, he thought she had cancer. He was actually worried about her. Stunned, she bobbed her head. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. It's routine. Women should have regular mammograms, you know. I had an aunt Ruthie who died of cancer, and so I don't let it go."

She thought he relaxed, though he pretended to be so cool. "Okay. Yeah, Melnitz, you can have the afternoon off." Smart mouth just shut right down. Weird. Who'd have thought Doctor V would be in tune with things like that? "Want a lift? Ecto's just sitting there? And I'm a lot safer driver than kamikaze Ray."

"Except when you're late for a date. You nearly took out my desk when you were racing home last week so you could get ready."

He grinned shamelessly. "Stopped on a dime. I didn't come close to hitting you, Janine."

"Not unless you count eleven inches close. Anyway, I don't need a ride. I drove today." She hesitated, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "So the afternoon off is okay?" She hated asking. It went against their unspoken rules. It was giving in. But something in Peter's softer expression told her it was okay to ask and that he wouldn't hold it against her.

"Yeah, sure. Go on. I'll hold down the fort. Give me an excuse not to go up to the lab. Egon's doing smelly experiments and the air's better down here. 'sides, he might want to attach me to electrodes, and I really don't get into his Doctor Frankenstein games."

Janine, who would have played them in a heartbeat if it meant she found herself at the focus of Egon's attention, grinned. "What, afraid his bondage headgear would give you a bad hair day? The stock market would crash at such a catastrophe."

He grinned back, but it was a shadow of his usual grin. "And the seas would boil. Fire and brimstone would fall from the sky." He strove hard for his usual cockiness. "It's tough being a national hero."

"Yeah, when one has the inclination to be a would-be Romeo and the sleep champion of the western hemisphere."

He smiled back. "What can I say? I'm the idol of millions." He struck an annoyingly cocky pose that would have made her teeth itch if he hadn't had to work so hard at it. The smile dimmed. "Well, some of us have to work, Melnitz, even if you're taking time off at full pay." And he zipped back into his office before her jaw could drop.

"Egon, can I talk to you?"

The physicist lifted his eyes from whatever doohickey held his attention. Eight o'clock and he was already up and busy. The monumental snores from the bunkroom told Janine Peter was doing his usual impression of a buzzsaw. He never got up before nine unless there was a bust--or unless the guys dragged him out and braced him up in a cold shower until he screamed for mercy.

Egon put aside his tool. "Of course, Janine. What is it?"

She cast an uneasy glance at the bedroom. "Downstairs, if you don't mind."

Ray and Winston exchanged questioning looks but they didn't object. They even grinned a little in that annoying guy way and would have nudged each other if they'd been in elbow range. Men! Can't live with 'em, can't hide the bodies.

"Of course." Egon rose--she liked watching him move--and followed her obediently.

When they were seated at the dining table with coffee--she would fetch it for Egon but never when Peter could see because he'd complain at full volume for days because she wouldn't fetch it for him--she said, "Egon, I've got a question. You don't have to answer it if you feel you shouldn't, but it's bothering me a little."

"I'll try, Janine. What is it? Are you all right?"

A second expression of concern. In spite of the long hours and the thankless nature of her job, she wouldn't trade it to be Bill Gates' executive assistant. "Yesterday, I asked Peter for the afternoon off, did he tell you?"

"Just that he'd given you the time."

"Well, he was being obnoxious and enjoying making me grovel--you know how he gets."

Egon's eyes smiled with fond exasperation. "I know very well."

"He finally got it out of me that I was going to have my mammogram--"

His voice sharpened. "Are you all right?"

She smiled at him reassuringly. "Yes, fine, it's merely routine. I always do the monthly breast self exams, and the mammogram is a form of protection and prevention. I'm okay."

Egon's eyes automatically went to her breasts. He caught himself doing it and blushed as red as Ray might. Manfully he yanked his eyes back to her face. "Yes, it's very important," he said rather awkwardly. "My mother has her mammogram regularly. All women should once they reach the age thirty-five." He arched an eyebrow. "But you're not that old."

"No, but my aunt Ruthie died of breast cancer, and I suppose it can run in families. They decided to do a preventative screening when I turned thirty. I don't take chances with my health."

"A wise precaution, Janine."

"A vital one. But, Egon, that's not what I wanted to talk about. When I finally told Peter what I wanted time off for he...changed. I had half expected him to, well, to offer to give me a breast exam or something. You know how he is. He wouldn't mean it, but he'd kid about it," she added hastily when Egon's eyes narrowed.

"Yes, I could hear him making just such an offer." But his eyes were grave. He was only saying that because it was logical, knowing Doctor Venkman.

"But he didn't. He even offered to drive me there and he said I'd have the afternoon off with pay. Egon...is there something I'm missing here?"

Egon was silent a long moment, thinking. His face was grave and there was a look in his eyes that she didn't like. God, could Peter have cancer? Her heart leaped into her throat.

"Egon, you're scaring me."

"Janine, please don't bring this subject up to him--but Peter's mother died of breast cancer."

Her hands came up to her mouth. "Oh, god. I didn't know..."

"He doesn't talk about it. But evidently, she had never had a mammogram, and she didn't do breast exams. She found the tumor when it had grown and metastasized. She had radiation and chemotherapy, but by then it was too late. She died within six weeks of learning what was wrong."

"But she died after I started working here. Nobody said anything about her being sick, and then suddenly she'd died and Peter went off to the funeral and you went with him. I never knew what she'd died of, and he would never talk about it. He changed the subject the few times I brought it up so I left it alone."

"No, he doesn't talk about it."

"But--oh, god, that's why he was so quick to be sympathetic to Mrs. Faversham, said you'd do her bust for free, because she reminded him of his mom. And that wasn't very long after his mother died. You guys went for that so quick and I heard him say that."

Egon's face was full of sympathy and understanding. He could do that so well. "It was a hard time for Peter. And to answer your question, no, he would never stand in your way of anything that is designed to prevent cancer. And you should have known that."

"Well, you know how he is. Besides," she added awkwardly, "it's not something you talk about." Especially to guys. She didn't say that aloud.

"Maybe it should be," Egon replied.

And that was unanswerable.

"Egon?"

"Yes, Janine?"

"Should I say anything to Peter about...about, you know..."

He pondered it then he shook his head. "No, Janine. There's no need. If the subject comes up, take it naturally. And, next time, just tell him what you want the time for up front. He'll never make trouble about it."

"It'll be the only thing he won't," she said with careful lightness, but she felt bad for Peter, for his mom who hadn't troubled to check until it was too late, for any woman who didn't take the necessary precautions that might save their lives. "Don't worry, Egon, I won't embarrass Peter. I might drive him up the walls and bug him and love every second of it, but the game has rules and neither of us will violate them."

"You love him," Egon said gently.

"Not like..." She let that trail off. "He and Ray and Winston...they're sort of brothers. Peter most of all. And if you ever tell him I said that, I know just how to make your life miserable, Doctor Spengler."

"I don't reveal secrets," Egon admitted. Yeah, he wouldn't. He probably knew just exactly how Peter had felt over the loss of his mother, had been there with him every step of the way but he wouldn't say anything to Janine about it. Neither did he question that she had excluded him from 'brother' status. She didn't want Egon for a brother, not at all. Which meant he probably wouldn't tell her if Peter had ever claimed Janine as his 'kid sister'. He added hastily, "When do you get your test results back?"

"In about a week."

"You will let us know the results?"

She bobbed her head obediently. "Of course I will, Egon."

He put out his hand and covered hers with it.

"Aha! Caught in the act! Nookie at the breakfast table!"

A tousle-haired and sleepy Peter stood ogling them. His eyes went to their joined hands, causing Egon to snatch his away as if scorched and to redden again. Just as well Peter hadn't been here for the first blush. He'd never let either one of them live it down.

"Wonder of wonders, you're up before nine," Janine challenged him hotly. "You're a fine one to talk. I'm sure there's no place sacred for you when it comes to nookie."

Peter's eyes warmed reminiscently and he opened his mouth.

"Don't encourage him, Janine," chided Egon hastily before Peter could begin with a grandiose boast. "Or he'll tell you about every single one."

She pretended to shudder. "Please. I haven't even finished my coffee yet." She jumped up. "I'll leave you to it. Some of us have to work."

Peter rose manfully to the challenge. "Some of us take time off at the drop of a hat."

"Rank has its privileges." She smiled at him sweetly. He couldn't take her to task, and if she didn't tease she'd be coming on too sympathetic, and she couldn't do that.

He glanced pointedly at her hand and Egon's. "Rank? Is that what they call it?" and vanished into the kitchen, whistling through his teeth. She decided when her test results came back, Peter would be the first one she told about them. Egon would understand.

And for once in her life, she got up, trailed him into the kitchen, and, while he was busy sticking toast in the toaster, she poured him a cup of coffee, then fled downstairs before he could notice.