Trouble Lies Ahead

Disclaimer: See prologue

A/N: Well...this chapter was meant to be dark and it turned into..well...ahem i don't want to spoil it for you, but let's take back my original opinion of mushy fics!I've re read this about a hundred times and i still don't know if posting this is the right thing to do, but i'm sure you're reviews will put me in my place. Haha, well...on with the reading! Here's chapter five..

Chapter Five: Routine

Lydia had been home for a week now, and already her and Beetlejuice had formed a solid routine. During the day she would spend time with her parents, going out to the shopping mall, sitting watching television or having regular conversations with them at breakfast, she would spend as much time as she could with the Maitland's, trying to build on their already rocky friendship and at night all her time was dedicated to Beetlejuice.

Lucky for Lydia, the Maitland's, her parents or Juno had not yet found out, that behind their backs, Lydia was seeing Beetlejuice. She had put it down to good luck so far, but every minute she spent with ' The Ghost With The Most ' was a blessing. He made her laugh, he listened to her and when in the poltergeists company she could actually be herself.

Tonight, they had decided to watch a movie. Instead of watching The Exorcist, which Beetlejuice had exclaimed was the perfect comedy, they had chosen to tone down the film genre and watch The Wolfman. It was horror at it's best, but not overtly scary that it would have Lydia clutching onto Beetlejuice, which she KNEW he would enjoy considerably.

They both lay on her bed, a bowl of popcorn sat in the middle of them. Beetlejuice was happy munching away on the buttery kernels, human food was something he enjoyed greatly. Lydia's hand would often wander inside the bowl, lightly touching Beetlejuice's. Every so often, upon the contact, Lydia would let out a little gasp but Beetlejuice being the naive buffoon he was, put it down to the film scaring Lydia.

Once the film was finished, Beetlejuice ate the remaining popcorn and sighed contentedly.

"Ya know Babe, i ain't watched a good flick in ages! And this popcorn stuff adds a nice twist to it."

Lydia stretched and nodded. Beetlejuice watched as her shirt rode up a little, exposing the skin of Lyda's flat, pale stomach. Something within him flared up and his gaze bounced from her face back to her exposed belly.

"Gosh, BJ. I feel so tired, and i've did nothing at all today. If this keeps up, i might have to go back to college to get into the swing of things again."

Beetlejuice's gaze flew to Lydia's face. "College? Why'd you want to go back there?"

Lydia smiled softly at Beetlejuice. "To learn BJ. It's what us mortals do, we get ourselves an education and hopefully it results in us getting a job we enjoy."

Beetlejuice frowned. "Why do ya want a job? They're so boring."

Lydia shook her head. "So i can earn myself money, to by my own house and pay bills."

Beetlejuice just stared at Lydia, with a flick of a finger the television had turned itself off. "Bein' dead is so much simpler, babes. I wouldn't know what to do if i were alive again."

Sitting up, Lydia watched as Beetlejuice floated effortlessly off the bed, hovering an inch above her. "Well, what did you do when you were alive?"

The ghost shrugged and gave Lydia a smug smile. "Same as i do now, nuthin."

"You mean to tell me, that during your living days, you did absolutley nothing? Nothing at all?"

Beetlejuice cackled. "Exactly."

"How did you feed yourself then? Surely you needed money to buy food and drink."

"Sometimes Lyds, you can be utterly clueless. I didn't need to pay for anythin' cause i nicked stuff most of the time."

Lydia's face turned from a curious frown to astonishment in a blink of an eye. "You were a, what? A thief?"

Beetlejuice floated back down onto Lydia's queen sized bed and sighed. "You make it sound as if it was a bad thing! Loads a folks did it, i wasn't the only one. There was a lot of death goin round at the time, you gots to remember that there wasn't loads o' jobs around then as there is now, babe. There was lot's of panic, and no money. We had to steal to keep ourselves alive."

"It obviously didn't work then." Lydia pointed to his ghost form.

"That's a whoooole, different story babes, i might tell it to ya sometime."

Beetlejuice sat in silence and thought about Lydia. She was one hell of a curious girl, wanting to know everything around her. He valued her honesty and enjoyed her company. When she had been younger, he had seen her as a meal ticket to freedom. He'd be able to get out of the Neitherworld and into the real world. But his plan had backfired as the Maitland's ruined the wedding and got him eaten up by a sandworm. Beetlejuice didn't forget things so easily, he still had to pay that dull couple a lesson for causing him so much trouble. But Lydia...there was something about this older version of the gothic kid that had taken an interest in ghosts.

She was stunning, she'd grown up very nicely, she still had that pale face of hers, but her features resembled a grown young woman. She'd out grown her hair, the long tendrils now hung in soft black waves. Beetlejuice liked long hair, and Lydia's was beautiful. Soft and silky. It smelled like peaches and cream and something flowery.

Just being near Lydia sparked something inside him that he hadn't ever felt before. And he couldn't put his finger on what it was he was actually feeling. He was fond of her and knew if she were to stop the contact between them, he would miss her.

In six hundred years, Lydia Deetz was the first true friend he had ever had.

"BJ? You okay?"

Lydia's voice brought him out of his thoughts and back to reality. He looked at her for a moment and nodded. "Sure, babes. Why wouldn't i be?"

Lydia shrugged. "You just seemed...as if you were somewhere else. That's all."

"I'm right here." He cackled, and flicked the television back on.

"BJ...there's something i've been meaning to ask you."

Beetlejuice was busy picking popcorn shells from his teeth, turning he looked at Lydia. "Go ahead, Lyds."

"The uh, first time i called on you, how on earth did Barbara, Adam and Juno know you were right here in my room?"

"Ahh, well as a ghost i uh, give off this energy. And Juno bein' the nosy bitch that she is, she's always keepin' an eye on my energy. When i enter your world, my energy like doubles givin' off some kind of stupid warning. So Juno then knows i'm here, and seein' as you had came back, she musta put two and two together and come up with us."

"So, if she can...what keep an eye on your energy? Why hasn't she come back already to try and send you back?"

Beetlejuice shrugged. "She's did all she can, she's warned Bab's and that fella of hers about me, she's probably got them keepin' an eye on ya, there's nothin' else she can do but check up on me once in a while."

Lydia frowned. "If that's so, you think Juno would warn Adam and Barbara of when your energy would double, so they could check to see if you were here."

"Na, that's too much trouble for Juno, babes. Only thing that woman is interested in is that damned paperwork of hers. Sortin out the afterlife can be really messy."

"Oh." Lydia scratched her head and looked at Beetlejuice. It seemed as if wanted to say something, but couldn't get the words out.

"Do uh, do you enjoy being with me, BJ?"

Beetlejuice's head swivelled around to meet Lydia's face. Her eyes looked almost sad looking as if she expected the worst.

"Well, if i didn't enjoy bein with ya Lyds, i wouldn't be here now, would i?"

"I suppose."

Beetlejuice opened his mouth to ask the question he dreaded the answer to. "Do you enjoy hangin around with me, Lyds?"

"Why wouldn't i?"

Beetlejuice shrugged and looked sheepish for once in his afterlife. "Well, wouldn't ya rather spend yer time with guys yer own age, instead of a six hundred year old poltergeist?"

Shaking her head, Lydia sat up and picked the empty popcorn bowl up, laying it down on her bedside table. "Guys my own age don't interest me, i like spending time with you. You're funny, and smart even though you don't think you are. Things with you are so much simpler compared to living guys and i like that."

"So, you don't have a boyfriend or anythin' then?"

Lydia shook her head and switched the television back on.

Beetlejuice watched the television screen flicker for a few moments and turned back to Lydia, her gaze transfixed to the television.

"You ever HAD a boyfriend?"

"Well uh, you see..." Lydia was awfully flustered at his question.

"It's alright to say no, ya know? You got all yer life ahead of ya for all that stuff."

"Maybe i don't WANT a boyfriend, BJ."

Beetlejuice frowned at that and began to watch some television show, the people on screen were obviously friends, the jokes were lame and the background laughter was obviously forced. He wondered how the living could watch this sort of drivvel and enjoy it.

"What about you, no girlfriend back in the Neitherworld?"

Beetlejuice laughed. "Me? Naaa. Nobody would have me! That's not to say i've had my fair share mind you."

Lydia giggled. He loved to portray himself as a ladies man, when infact he was probably too nervous around women to ask them out.

"What you laughin at? Bet you ain't even been kissed."

Lydia stopped laughing and gave Beetlejuice a withering look. "Have too."

"Yeah, well prove it."

Lydia was taken aback at the turnaround of the conversation. He wanted her to prove that she'd been kissed? How on earth would she be able to do that?

"And how, pray tell am i meant to prove to you that i've been kissed, BJ?"

Beetlejuice was quivering on the inside, he knew he was probably about to go too far. But the urge to continue this game was too strong.

"Well, here's how it goes. I'll let ya kiss me, and afterwards, i'll tell ya if you've kissed someone before."

"And what if i don't want to kiss you? Does that somehow prove that i've never been kissed?"

Beetlejuice smirked at Lydia, his smug smile confusing Lydia by the second. "You said it, Babes."

Lydia stared at Beetlejuice and gave him a look that warned him he was nearing the too far point. "Alright, i'll kiss you. But one kiss, that's all you asked for. I still don't see how this proves i've been kissed."

"Lyds, do ya trust me?"

Lydia sighed. "I certainly do not!"

Beetlejuice cackled. "Thought not. But you know i wont hurt ya, babes. One kiss, that's all."

"Alright."

There was silence in Lydia's bedroom as both ghost and mortal got ready for the kiss. Inside, both were as nervous as they could be, Lydia knowing she hadn't kissed a boy before knew that Beetlejuice would know. She was inexperienced and didn't know HOW to kiss. Getting it wrong was not an option, for Beetlejuice to be proven right would be a living hell, she wouldn't ever be able to live it down.

Beetlejuice on the other hand was nervous for a whole other reason, in his six hundred years plus of being dead not once had he came into romantic contact with a living person. This would be a once in an afterlife experience, one he hoped not to mess up.

Lydia licked her lips and moved closer to Beetlejuice. "Remember, it's just one kiss."

"Yeah, you've said that about a thousand times now Lyds."

"Yes well...kissing a dead person doesn't exactly seem...pleasurable."

Beetlejuice smiled at her nervousness. She was talking way too much. "Just shut up and kiss me Lyds, let's get this over and done with."

As Lydia neared Beetlejuice, he suddenly backed out of the idea. He shouldn't be doing this, Lydia was his friend. It was a joke, and it had suddenly turned serious within a blink of an eye. Lydia was so close he could feel her breath on his face.

"Babes, i dunno if this is such a good idea...you know, i was only joking. Maybe we should -"

Before Beetlejuice could finish his sentence, Lydia's soft pliant lips met with his cold dry ones. A spark of electricity ran through them both. Lydia pulled away and looked into Beetlejuice's green orbs.

"Lyds..."

And before either one of them knew it, their lips were back again, carressing each others. Lydia was the first to deepen the kiss, her lips opening up and caressing Beetlejuices tongue with her own, the sparks flew as both consumed each other with their mouths. This wasn't supposed to be happening, it was just meant to be one kiss, a joke that had gotten out of hand, all thoughts were erased as Lydia's tongue joined with his.

Lydia's mouth was warm and soft and so full of life, she tasted of vanilla and popcorn. Beetlejuice lapped her taste up as he would a fine meal, their bodies crushed together, Lydia had somehow ended up beneath him.

Her skin, like her mouth was soft. Beetlejuice caressed the piece of skin that was on show not that long ago, his even strokes causing a moan to squeeze from Lydia's throat.

And in the darkness of Lydia's bedroom, the television their only source of light, both woman and ghost were too busy with each other to notice a grim Juno, cigarette in hand watching the couple. Things had definately gotten out of hand.

TBC...