A/N: Again, I'd suggest listening to "The Other Side" for this chapter.
Beetlejuice poofed back to an uninhabited wing of the hospital, looking around and trying to find his way to where ever they were keeping Claudia. As he passed a pair of swinging doors, he caught a bit of conversation that made his proverbial blood run cold.
"Did you see the teen they brought in with snakebite?" one doctor asked another as they sipped coffee. The second doctor shuddered and gave his buddy an upset glance.
"Yeah, poor thing. I heard they moved her to ICU a while back. Gave her a few hours left. I hope they find her family. Did they get any leads?"
"Not yet. Last I heard, they were checking dental records."
"Maybe she doesn't have a home."
"It's a cryin' shame."
Beetlejuice tensed up and gave up being subtle. He raced through the corridors, following confusing directions to the intensive care unit. Finally he slid to a very dramatic halt in front of the large, windowed doors. Peering in, he saw a figure lying still on a gurney and his stomach fell.
Slowly, he pushed the door open and looked around for any stray nurses or doctors. Seeing none, he drifted over to the stretcher, his spirit disintegrating. Yeah, he was screwed for sure. Juno would have his ass in Purgatory before an hour was up.
But he didn't really expect himself to feel so bad about accidentally killing her. She was just mortal, after all, and it was inevitable. But to be the one that did it; that was the kicker. "Babes…I'm s-…so-…"
He couldn't get the word out. After not apologizing for anything for years, he was terribly out of practice. It had become a chore over the ages, something he just decided to give up. Being sorry was for wimps who didn't stand by what they did.
But this was different. He had killed a girl! A girl who didn't really deserve it, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that she did. She had kept him prisoner in the model…treated him like a pervert…pretending to humor him by buying that dollhouse…
The more he thought about it, the more lenient her image became. She hadn't really kept him in the closet, she had let him run around and even sleep in her bed after the nightmares he had given her. She'd bought him a place much more comfortable to sleep than a dusty old model. And there was always the fact that she could have always taken the chance to say his name three times and send him back to the next world.
"Clauds, I didn't mean to-…I just…" He knelt down and bent his head, leaning it against the white-sheeted figure. The cold body beneath sent shivers through his spine, and he pulled back, afraid to touch this corpse that only a few hours ago had been a living, breathing person that he had known.
He felt a tickling in his nose and realized he was gonna start crying if he didn't suck it up. Imagine that, the Ghost with the Most, sobbing like a baby! He sniffled and tried to keep the tears back, succeeding enough so that was able to control himself.
Beetlejuice turned away and took half a step, when he heard a weak familiar voice call from the other side of the room, "Is anyone there?"
He froze. There was no way. No freakin' way!
Looking up, he caught the sight of Claudia's pale face propped op against a pillow, her breathing shallow and her eyes unfocused. But she was alive!
"BABES!" he exclaimed, scampering over as quick as his legs could carry him. He got down close to her, overjoyed she wasn't dead. Glancing back, he almost retched at the fact that he had gotten so emotional over some other person's dead body when Claudia had been over here the whole time!
"Oh no. It's you…" she whispered, frightened, and then tried with all her might to move away from him. "Leave…me…alone…" she threatened, failing miserably at moving her own body but not giving up yet.
"Aw, Clauds, don't be that way! Uncle Beej is gonna make you feel all better. Scout's honor!"
She whimpered and bit her lip. "Oh my god. "How…how could you even think like that at a time like this?" Claudia groaned with the onslaught of a headache and coughed. "Go…away!"
Beetlejuice was stunned. Did she still think he was trying to be a lecherous jerk, even when she was dying? "Clauds, I'm not trying to be icky. I really wanna help you. Now be quiet and let me work my magic."
"What magic? Just let me sleep…I feel so…tired…" she sighed, closing her eyes.
"NO! You cannot fall asleep! Wake up!" He shook her a bit and her eyelids raised.
While she tried to keep her eyes open, Beetlejuice focused his energy and desperately tried to remember how to take out snake venom. Finally giving up, he groaned and racked his brain. How do you get snake venom out?
Speaking of the Scouts…He eyed the ankle and saw the twin puncture wounds. They were still bleeding a bit, and the blood was blackish. "They suck the venom out in the movies…" he mused to himself.
His mouth had barely touched her skin when she tensed up and kicked herself away. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she snarled from her perch, leaning up a bit and giving him the evil eye.
"I'm getting the poison out! Now lay still so I can-…"
"First of all, you filthy foot-fetishist, it's been hours since I got bitten, so sucking it out wouldn't help me in the least! Second, they gave me antidote a while ago! And third, what stupid idiot let you in here?"
He was flabbergasted. "I…let myself in."
"Did I ask you how you got in? Did I? I wanted to know where the guards are around this place! Get out. It's your damn fault I'm in here!" she raged. Finally her strength gave out and she fell back, overtaken by exertion. Her head had started pounding again and she just wanted to sleep.
Beetlejuice pouted a moment, trying to decide whether to stay to spite her or leave so she wouldn't start throwing things at him. Finally he decided to camp out in the waiting room, but not before breathing a sigh of relief and going over and patting her head. Thankfully she was already asleep, or she probably would have broken his wrist.
When he had finished, he eased out of the room, closing the door and making a mental note to tell the doctors about the body in there that belonged in the morgue…
A/N: I put that little "suck the venom out" part in there for all you trigger-happy readers out there that wanted to see some lovin' between them lol. And because I thought it would be mad funny.
