Chapter 32: The Ugly Truth

"I-I'm sorry..." was all she could bring herself to say. She couldn't even look at him, for fear of seeing his anger, or worse, his hatred. Sure, she was used to his tantrums over previous, stupid things, but this was his dream. And she'd ruined it. Forever.

"Alright Junes, why is Deetz wearin' that? Is this some kind of trick to get me to behave or some shit? You talk her into backstabbin' me so I wouldn't break the law again?" he growled, and Lydia sensed his anger. She felt it. It flowed through her like hot electricity. She also felt something different. Something very strange.

"No, Juice. Frankly, I could care less about tricking you. I came here to get you to stop this mess, so you wouldn't wind up in solitary for a good thousand years. I had no idea Mrs. Juice was already wearing your ring. As a matter of fact, I just discovered that one, myself." she explained, sucking on her cigarette, the smoke from it burning Lydia's nostrils and adding to her nausea.

"Mrs. Juice?!" he yelped, the tone of his voice exasperated and perhaps defenseless. Maybe even horrified. Beetlejuice. Horrified. Lydia tensed, never thinking she'd see that day, let alone be the cause of it. "Lydia, that true? You took my ring? That hag's lying, ain't she?"

As soon as he'd asked those questions, Lydia could hear the faint sound of sirens coming from somewhere unknown, causing her to tense even further. She didn't want to look at him, let alone tell him.

"Lydia?" he asked again, seeming completely baffled, and causing another strange tingle to run through her body, pooling up inside her chest.

"Hurry, Mrs. Juice. Tell him before the cops arrive. They're almost here." Juno said from beside her.

Lydia sighed in defeat, looking up and meeting his eyes. His face was blank and virtually unreadable, but the strange, hot electricity still pooled inside her chest. "I did put it on...I had no idea it had any power, or I wouldn't have stopped you. I didn't mean to do this, BJ..."

Lydia, who had dropped her gaze back to the ring, briefly glanced up to see his eyes narrow, as if he were deliberating on something unknown to her. "Why'd you do that?" he asked, low and emotionless.

Shit, this was scary. "Um...I got really wasted while you were away, and I wanted to try it on..." she pathetically explained, noting that he still didn't look satisfied by her answer.

Lydia jumped slightly, as the sirens began to grow louder and louder.

"C'mon, why'd you put it on, Lydia...I'm runnin' outta time, here!" he demanded, his voice rising over the sound of sirens, as his expression grew a bit fearful.

Lydia felt like a cornered animal at this point, bracing herself and closing her eyes tightly. "Shit! Fine, BJ! I was drunk and pretending to be married to you, so I put the stupid ring on! I'm sorry I fucked you over! You can tell them it's my fault if you want. I'm the one that ruined everything!" she admitted, feeling completely and utterly dejected and foolish.

Sirens. The only thing Lydia could hear was the blaring sound of sirens, as a ghoulish squad began to materialize in the room. She looked to Juno, who's eyes were fixed upon Beetle, who stood up by the altar, his eyes fixed upon Lydia herself.

Shit. She was in for it. He'd probably have her thrown in jail now because she'd thoroughly pissed him off. But then again, she did ruin his afterlife forever. Maybe her sentence wouldn't be too long, given this was her first offence. Maybe. Then again, she'd already been penalized coming into the afterlife. On second thought, she may have been fucked.

Lydia gulped as the police swarmed around Beetle, telling him to put his hands up. The same went for Lydia, who quickly complied. "Okay, what's happened here, Juno? What crime did you call us over for?"

Lydia watched, as Juno calmly sucked on her smoke. "Mr. Juice was scaring mortals on the other side, which he is strictly prohibited from doing, as he is on probation."

Lydia's eyes grew wide, realizing that it was Juno herself who admittedly called said police in the first place, possibly to protect herself since she was his case worker, after all. Even more of a shock to her, was that Juno was blatantly omitting parts of the truth in order to protect Beetlejuice. It was all so strange, as Lydia was sure that those two hated each other. Maybe it was just to reduce her workload. Who knew?

A cop looked over to Lydia. "And who is this? Did she play a part in all of this?"

Juno shook her head, blowing smoke. "No. She's just another client that was with me when I made the mandatory police call. I took her with me so we could continue our work when all of this was finished. It's all unrelated."

"Alright then. As his case worker, I'll just need you to sign here and here." another cop continued, walking up to Juno with a clipboard, as she signed the designated areas.

"Okay, Mr. Juice. We'll need you to come with us." A cop stated, cuffing him with some strange, glowing handcuffs, as another read him his rights. The whole time, Lydia watched as he calmly surrendered, which was completely uncharacteristic of someone like him. Soon, a strange police car formed in a cloud of smoke, and just before Beetle was escorted in, he turned and met eyes with her one final time.

Lydia was frowning, as her eyes caught hold of his own, and he was surprisingly, very, ever so slightly smirking. That worried her to no end.

And before she could say another word or make another movement, the car, cops and all, had vanished, leaving she and Juno alone. In silent darkness.

"C-can I come out now?"A timid voice quipped from a shadowy corner of the apartment.

"Come on out, Gerald Lunder. He's gone." Juno ordered, as the portly little man emerged from the shadows, where he'd apparently been hiding.

"S-so, is my problem solved?" he asked, wiping at his sweaty brow.

"They won't be back. Believe me, once Juice has left his mark on an area, they stay away. Your sentence will be served here in peace, Mr. Lunder. Now, c'mon Mrs. Juice. Let me escort you home." Juno stated, and in a puff of cough-inducing smoke, they both vanished.

It was night in the Neitherworld, as Lydia appeared outside the Roadhouse with Juno at her side. The smoke from her cigarette filled the air, as Lydia gazed at Beetle's home.

"Well, here you are, Mrs. Juice." she stated plainly, stepping up to the door.

Lydia paused, feeling deeply troubled for her friend. "Is he going to be locked away for a long time for this?" she asked, braced for the horrible answer to come.

"Nah...Not with the evidence I'll present in court. By law, I have to call the cops when I get a complaint on one of my clients. Since he technically was only tormenting people and not trying to jump into the living realm since you had his ring, he'll probably get a decade or so at best." she explained calmly, blowing smoke into the night air, as Lydia watched it rise up.

"A decade?!" Lydia gasped. Thank goodness it wasn't longer, but ten years seemed steep just for scaring people.

"Yes! A decade! And, believe me, that asshole deserved a lot more! I know what he's been up to this whole time - fooling around with you, wreaking havoc on your ex-fiance! Yes, I knew about that, too! He's just lucky that I don't have time to fool with his ass! And he's damned lucky to have you, Lydia Juice! You may think you ruined his afterlife, but you really saved his hide. Even if the nincompoop had made it out, he'd be thrown in solitary as soon as his little joyride ended. With his record, he'd get the steepest penalty imaginable. The judge has seen his ass enough times to want to personally exorcise him. I know he thought he could just keep scamming the living to keep out of here, but it would only last so long...Believe me, Lydia. Time is different here. Ten years is like ten months. You'll see him again in no time." she explained.

"I...don't know if he'd want to see me again, after all that." Lydia admitted, feeling guilty as she eyed the ring on her finger.

"Oh, I think he will. Besides, you have to help me testify against him in court. You were a supposed witness, along with myself. You have no choice but to see him very soon, Mrs. Juice." she declared, causing Lydia's insides to twist.

"Oh god...Against him? He'll hate me forever, now..." she moaned, rubbing her forehead in frustration.

"No, Juice won't hate you. Believe me. He's been a con artist for centuries. He knows what I'm doing is saving his sorry ass! He won't say a word. If he's smart." she snorted. "Well, enough of this chit-chat. I have a stack of paperwork at the office that isn't filling out itself. I'll notify you when to show up and I'll brief you on what to say."

And with those words, she dissipated, leaving Lydia alone with her confusion.