Barbara Maitland stared out the window. Lydia was supposed to be home by now, and Barbara was worried. She was warned many moons ago by what would happen on Lydia's twenty first birthday and she wasn't ready for it.
"Adam!" Barbara called, worry in her gentle voice, "Lydia isn't home yet."
"It's okay, Barbara, Lydia is safe as long as she is under our protection."
"But, what about the contract, I'm sure he knows about it."
"He definitely does, but the marriage was years ago, I doubt he wants to return here."
"I think he wants his freedom more than he wants to stay away from us."
"Barbara!" Lydia yelled as the front door slammed behind her. "You'll love these photos I took on the way home!" Lydia set her bag on the couch and grabbed her camera, she smiled as she went into the kitchen. She stopped, her eyes growing wide as she dropped her camera and stared at the sight before her.
"How's it goin', wifey?" Beetlejuice said, sitting on the counter in the last outfit Lydia had seen him in, his wedding tux.
"Oh my god," She muttered, "What did you do to Barbara and Adam and why are you here?"
"It's your 21st birthday, didn't they tell ya?"
"Tell me what?" Beetlejuice smirked, and got off the counter, taking a step towards Lydia. She took a step back.
"You're married to a ghost, for good now, and uh, you're gonna be a ghost too."
"Beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice," Lydia whispered, her eyes closed tightly.
"That lil trick won't work anymore, girly. Ya got three months, and I'm sure Barbara will explain the rest." Beetlejuice winked and in a blink of an eye, he was gone. Lydia collapsed to the floor.
"Lydia!" Barbara yelled as she came out of the door to the other world. She stood bathed in green light. Adam walked out behind her.
"I'm gonna die!" Lydia cried.
"Maybe not," Barbara whispered. She sat next to Lydia and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Then why did Beetlejuice say that?"
"You'll only die if you don't finish the marriage. But if you finish the marriage, Beetlejuice becomes human again, in a sort of way."
"It's a bit more complicated than him just becoming human," Adam said, sadly, "He'll look human, but he won't be able to die."
"That's bad," whispered Lydia, while wiping away a tear.
"It isn't, actually. If he doesn't fall in love with you, he'll be sent to a type of ghost jail."
"Fall in love with me? He has no soul, he can't fall in love."
"You need to fall in love with him too, otherwise, you'll die." Lydia nodded,
"I think I need some alone time."
"I don't blame you," Adam said, and the ghosts left Lydia sitting in the kitchen.
Lydia stood, went to the living room, and got her bag. She was going to stop Beetlejuice once and for all, if she could figure out how to do that.