Extreme Ghostbusters:Courage
By A. Rhea King

Chapter 1

Eduardo climbed the stairs with boxes balanced precariously in his arms. He walked slowly toward the workshop doors, feeling the boxes starting to slip.

"Should'a waited for Roland," Eduardo muttered, turning into the workshop.

Suddenly his feet flew out from underneath him. The boxes flew out of his hands, arching gracefully towards Janine. She looked up with a horrified expression as the first box hit her shoulder, knocking her off balance. The second box hit her leg and the third box neatly knocked the coffeepot out of her hand. Cold water splashed down the front of Janine as the coffeepot started its own arch towards Egon's project: a hard drive with open wires and power cables exposed. Egon leapt back as the pot hit the edge of the hard drive casing and shattered. Shards of glass and water flew everywhere and there was a huge noise as sparks flew and the lights went out.

"Eduardo!" Egon said in tense voice.

"It wasn't my fault! I slipped on some—ewwwww! Slimer!" Eduardo yelled.

"You should have been watching," Egon flicked on a flashlight and shined it on Eduardo. "Where you were going."

"I waaaas," Eduardo looked over the beam of light. "I—"

"What happened to the lights?" Kylie asked. She and Roland stopped before they stepped on Eduardo.

"Eduardo, go downstairs, get the fuses, and go change the fuses in the breaker."

"Bu—"

Egon held out the flashlight. "Now, Eduardo."

Eduardo sighed, getting to his feet. He skidded on the slime a second before getting his balance, grabbing the flashlight and pushing past Kylie.

"You two have a call," Janine told the two. "It wasn't an emergency so I left it down on the desk."

"All right," Roland said.

He and Kylie left together.

Janine grabbed another flashlight and walked up to Egon. He grabbed a hold of it but Janine didn't let go.

"He didn't mean it, Egon," Janine said. She pulled the flashlight from Egon, flicked it on and shined it on the slime. "Slimer was laying there before he came up. I told you to clean it up before Eduardo got up here so he wouldn't slip in it. You said you would."

Egon pulled the flashlight from Janine, turning to leave. Janine laid a hand on his chest, stopping him.

"When are you going to tell him Egon?"

"Tell him what?" Egon looked at her.

"How angry you really are. I know you are. You're short tempered with him, you order him around and you haven't even asked him why he hid all this witch business from us. Or why he made us forget. Or tried anyway. You haven't even given him a chance to explain."

Egon walked away. Janine sighed, putting her fists on her hips.

"Someday you'll wait too long for something and regret it," Janine threatened Egon. "Some things aren't meant to harbored until you forget about them. And this is one of them." Janine turned on her toe and left the workshop.

Egon didn't look up to watch her leave. He had too much on his mind to listen to Janine's ranting about how he should handle his anger.

#

Kylie stepped into the doorway of the workshop, watching Eduardo a moment. He was rubbing a cloth along the barrel of his proton gun, but it was obvious his mind was miles away.

"Eduardo?" Kylie said.

He looked up at her.

"We have a call."

Eduardo started assembling his gun.

"You know…if you want to…you know…talk…I…"

"No," Eduardo said.

It wasn't an angry 'no,' but it was the kind that said he'd never talk to her about it. He'd just shove it aside like he always did and try to forget about it.

"Hurry up," Kylie said, walking down the hall.

"You're driving," Eduardo called after her.

Kylie stopped. "What?"

"Just you, me and Garrett, right?"

"Yeah."

"You're driving. I don't feel like it."

Kylie smiled a little. "Okay," She kept walking, whispering under her breath. "Apology accepted."

Kylie had just got into Ecto-1 and was adjusting the seat when Eduardo came sliding down the firepole. Eduardo got in front with her, shutting the door without a word.

"Try not to kill us, Speed Racer," Garrett said.

"I'll do my best to," Kylie teased, glancing at Eduardo beside her.

The faint smile on Eduardo's lips lightened her mood some. She put it in reverse and backed out of the Firehouse. Kylie pulled a slip of paper from her glove and read it.

"Central Park, here we cometh," she joked.

"You're just the comedian today, aren't you?" Eduardo said with a chuckle.

"Amazing what a full night's sleep will do," Kylie replied, glancing at him.

He was slouched down in the seat but still smiling. Kylie looked in the rearview mirror at Garrett. He gave her a thumb up for her accomplishment. Kylie looked back at the road, still smiling.