Late June 1999
Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline Year Sixteen
“Alright Egon the babies are asleep and I am going to bed. Are you coming?”
Janine was standing in the doorway of the lab. She had just come from the bedroom of Johnathan Spengler where Egon and Janine had decided both Johnathan and Eden would sleep until they were a little older.
“Yes, yes. I’ll be finished with this test run in a few minutes then I will come to bed.”
“Alright.” Janine turned to leave, but then hesitated and faced Egon again. “Hey, ya’ know, this is the first night that we’ll be alone with the twins since we got home from the hospital, so don’t expect to get too much sleep.” She winked at Egon in a ‘just kidding’ manner and left Egon to his experiment.
It was an hour later when Egon finally made his way into his bedroom, he had shut off his experiment and silently crept into the room where his newborns slept, they were both laying on there stomachs, Eden’s arm had somehow made its way onto the top of Johnathan’s head. He could hear their rhythmic breaths and, satisfied that they were alright, went to bed.
Janine was already half asleep when he stepped in to the bedroom, but the light from the hallway roused her awake. “Egon, would you mind setting the alarm clock and making sure the baby monitor is on before you come to bed?” Egon paused in front the dresser across from the bed; keeping the clock across the room was a trick Janine used to ensure that she would not fall back to sleep in the mornings. “It seems that you already set the alarm…for 3a.m.” He paused and looked at the light on the baby monitor. “The monitor is on, I see the light blinking. I just looked in on them, they are asleep.”
“Good. Maybe they will stay asleep for a few hours, we need to keep them on a 3 a.m. feeding, hopefully they won’t wake up hungry before then,” She temporarily stopped talking to suppress a yawn, “Good night Egon.”
“Goodnight Janine, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
*****
Egon awoke with a start, which wasn’t at all unusual. Egon looked at the clock, it was 2:45. In his younger days he would go down stairs and enjoy a hot cup of cocoa, many times Peter would join him, just coming in from a late date, or following him down after hearing him get up. He thought about going downstairs for cocoa and thought against it as he saw the blinking light on the baby monitor; through it he heard a soft cooing noises coming from the nursery. He decided to go in and check on the twins. On the way the out of his bedroom he turned the alarm on the clock off.
When he checked on his newborn children he found Johnathan awake and stirring slightly. He thought back on Janine’s words and decided that he would feed the babies by himself. ‘They’re my children and I will learn how to take care of them without help.’ These were Egon’s thoughts as he made his way to the kitchen, and heated up two four ounce baby bottles with formula.
As he mixed the formula into the bottles he remembered the friendly teasing that had gone on the day before and smiled. Ray had casually brought up the fact that Egon was the only original Ghostbuster left that didn’t have extensive training in childcare, when they were discussing pacifier options. He recalled Peter’s remark that for the first time he could remember he actually knew more about something than Egon did.
Now Egon was wishing desperately that they were still here as he searched for the bottle warming section of the child care book he and Janine had been given at a shower.
‘Check temperature by dabbing formula on inside of arm. Hmmm, seems right enough to me.’ Egon skimmed the next few sections concerning the proper way to feed and burp a baby then grabbed the bottles and made his way upstairs.
Just as he was about to open the door to the nursery, Slimer appeared beside him. Bringing the infants into the firehouse had been an adjustment for Slimer, for the first time ever, he had to learn things, like don’t touch the babies and don’t make noise around the babies. Now he was being told again, “Slimer you may come in but you’ll have to remember to be quiet and not touch the babies, they aren’t used to you yet understand?”
Slimer nodded as simply as he could manage, and followed Egon into the room.
When Egon peered into the crib he saw that both Eden and Johnathan were now awake and lying quietly. Egon turned on the mobile above their heads, sat the bottles down and placed a towel on his shoulder, following Janine’s earlier example and not wanting spit up on his nightshirt.
‘Okay, Egon you can do this. I just have to pick the baby up, watch her head, make my way over to the chair, sit, take the bottle and hope for the best.’
By the time he had thought the actions through he was seated in the rocker and ready to feed Eden. She quietly began drinking the formula and Egon watched her with wonder. She had already gotten bigger, two weeks ago at the hospital she had weighed in at four pounds six ounces, slightly smaller than her brother and Egon remembered how she seemed to fit in the palm of his hand.
She didn’t have any hair yet and everyone suspected that she would inherit Egon’s blond hair, his mother had said his own hair had taken a long time to grow, and he had turned five before his eyebrows grew in, “which he promptly burned off, when he blew up our garage” Katherine had remarked, also deeming it “baby’s first lab accident”.
Egon also noted Eden’s little nose with curiosity, it reminded him of Janine’s, her real one, the one she had before the lotsabucks changed it.
When he and Janine had first discussed having a child he had wondered which of Janine’s characteristics the baby would receive and assumed it would be Janine’s ‘made-over’ features, being that the creature had altered Janine’s cellular structure, but looking at Eden it seemed as though he had assumed wrong. He knew that only time would tell for sure, but he hoped silently to himself that the children would look like the Janine he remembered from so long ago.
Through all of his thoughts Eden had finished eating and Egon burped her, took one more long look at his tiny daughter and put her back in the crib. Slimer was still hovering overhead as Egon went to pick up Johnathan. ‘One down, one to go.’
Egon looked up at Slimer as he held his son, “See Slimer, I can do this, piece of cake.” Slimer nodded again in confirmation, still not sure if it was okay to make noise, he was too curious to leave.
He fed his son in the same manner but noted that Johnathan was certainly more wiry than his sister as he wriggled in his arms, ‘He gets that from his mother’, he thought with an audible smirk that made Slimer jump. John spat out the bottle. ‘Hmm, maybe he’s finished.’ Egon tried to give him the bottle once more and he accepted it, trying to get the nipple into his mouth while looking with fascination at everything around the room. “When you are both older I will make sure you have answers to the questions you minds thirsts for. No matter what you may choose to do with your lives I promise I will love you unconditionally.” The infant just looked at him and Egon smiled at his innocence.
John finally rejected the bottle for the last time and Egon placed the baby on his shoulder to burp him, his hand completely cradling the tiny head underneath, ‘It’s interesting how John received Janine’s hair color, red hair is usually a recessive trait, but I like it, it makes him distinguished’.
He kissed the top of his son’s head and closed his eyes.
Egon subconsciously decided to rock him to sleep. Not only did the constant rocking motion put son to sleep, but father as well.
*****
Janine awoke to the sound of the garbage truck backing up. She was in bed, alone, and two thoughts struck her, ‘Why hadn’t the alarm gone off, and why hadn’t the babies' crying gotten her up.’ She slung the covers off and made her way over to the nursery. ‘Where is Egon? He should have gotten me up if…’ Janine’s thoughts were interrupted as she looked in the nursery and saw her husband asleep in the rocking chair with their son asleep in his arms. Slimer was still overhead and he put a sticky, slime covered finger in front of his mouth to remind Janine to be quiet.
Janine smiled and admired the scene before her. She had always known that Egon would make a good father; she had felt it in the very fabric of her soul, and in seeing him holding Johnathan at that moment, she knew that her life was now complete. Since Eden was also asleep she silently crept out of the room and made her way to the kitchen where she made Egon and herself a large cup of hot cocoa. Through the years she had despised his nightly cocoa fixes, knowing it was just another part of his life she had no part of. He had finally taught her the recipe after they were married, and since then they had shared the ritual together. She smiled at the thought, maybe it could become something they could share together in the mornings; it seemed that Egon had found himself a new nightly ritual.
Eden and Johnathan are from the great imagination of Fritz Baugh.
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