Beetlejuice doesn't belong to me. If you want to split hairs, I don't know exactly who he belongs to… Tim Burton, The Geffen Film Company, whoever wrote the myriad of scripts… (Probably not that last.) It's all legal techno-babble to me, and I don't know much about that stuff. I do know enough not to claim he's mine, or try to make money off him, or I'm screwed. Which sucks. I mean, who wouldn't want to make a living doing what they love? But I guess I should just be grateful I can do it at all… Where would I be, if I couldn't? …Probably doing it anyway, but if anyone asks, I'll deny it. You'll vouch for me, right?

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Despite her disappearance from her room, with him actually on the other side of the door… Probably not the most subtle escape she'd ever made… It amazingly hadn't come to another confrontation with her father since. Perhaps more surprising still was the fact that a similar problem hadn't arisen with her mother, over the 'file' Juno had suggested… In fact, much of the week had already passed, without any further significant threat.

At least where her own life was under question. Yet she did consider her father with a glance over the breakfast table that, despite herself, was concerned for the older man. Maybe because for the first time since she'd known him, he actually looked, well, old. He'd become withdrawn, soft-spoken, as if his usual confidence had just been drawn out of him like a stagnant breath… Or more specifically, as if his source of strength all these years had simply, left him.

Lydia hadn't seen her parents together in the same room for more than five minutes at a time since Juno had come, and like her father, it left her with a seriously unsettled sense to her world. The two had never so much as raised their voices at each other, in all the time Lydia had been growing up. Now they simply, weren't talking. Never mind not hanging all over each other, whispering sweet nothings, or exchanging soppy looks, like they usually did. Something had changed. And it wasn'tright.

She didn't want things to stay this way, but more to the point, she couldn't stand pushing a distance towards the man herself, when at the moment, he already seemed so alone in the world. So she considered him across the table, wondering why she didn't feel more alienated too, with just the two of them eating breakfast together, the rest of the family off somewhere else. But she didn't know what to say. What did someone say to a person whose supposedly certain love life had taken an unexpected, and unexplained, shift from the norm? Especially when that person was her father?

"Any plans tonight, Lydia?" He prompted suddenly, breaking the silence instead, as those dark blue eyes lifted to hers with a small, forced smile. It wasn't right, she reflected now, that he ask that question without any hostility. Her protective father, who couldn't stand the mention of a boy being near his daughter, now asking if she had any plans, like it was merely a topic for conversation.

"Not yet." She answered after an awkward moment of uncertainty, deciding the best way to approach this was with humor. "But it's Friday, so I figure five or six guys will ask me out before the day's up. Maybe I'll give you a blow by blow of how I shot them down, when I get home."

Edmond nodded, sort of absently, tucking his fork into the mound of fluffy eggs Barbara had made, before disappearing. "That a girl." He agreed, with a sort of feigned enthusiasm, before falling silent again. It was a long moment before either one of them found anything to say again, but once more, it was her father who broke the silence. "You're not seeing that Vincent boy anymore, are you?"

"No." Her stomach took a dip, but not as drastically as it had just a few days before. She was beginning to come to terms with her decision… As well as simply no longer being part of a 'couple.' It was, oddly lonely, to no longer have that title to cling to. "Don't tell me you're going to start on me about that too… You never even seemed to like him."

"I didn't." Her father answered bluntly, his eyes turning gravely serious for one moment. "Don't get me wrong, he treated you well… Almost too well, to be honest. As if he didn't have a lustful thought in that teenaged head of his. But… No." He looked back down at his meal. "I never liked him. I couldn't really tell you myself, why."

Lydia stared at her father, gripped by the sudden notion that maybe the reason he'd never liked Vincent, was because on some level, her father had known he was a ghost. It made her insides twist unpleasantly, before she simply averted her eyes, and forced herself not to dwell on it. She didn't want to think of her dad like that. So she wouldn't, plain and simple. "You'd feel that way about any boy that might steal me from you." She teased instead, pretending she had no other worries.

There was a pause, and then her father smiled. It wasn't his old smile, but it was a smile. "Maybe." He agreed softly. "You're my only little girl, Lydia. God knows I wanted more." This surprised her enough to make her forget her meal, and stare at him. "I wanted a big family, lots of brothers and sisters for you. It just, never worked out that way." And here he seemed to become introspective again.

It was an odd notion, her family being any bigger than it was. Her mother barely knew what to do with her, though there was no question the woman loved her. But a big family… Maybe someday, it would be nice. When she started her own family. So she smiled, teasing him with, "Maybe you'll end up with lots of grandkids instead, right? Even better, all the fun, none of the responsibility."

Edmond groaned softly, shaking his head in denial. "I am not ready for you to grow up, Lydia. Grandkids or no. Try to take it slowly, for my sake?"

She couldn't help but laugh, which seemed to ease the strain around her father's eyes. As if things could just go back to normal between them, without a word about what had happened. Any hard feelings, swept under the carpet, and all for the best. "I better get to school," She informed him with a wry twist to her lips, "Or mom and them aren't going to let me grow up."

Lydia got to her feet, and threw an arm around her father's shoulder, giving him a little squeeze. Without really thinking about it, she even dropped a light kiss on his cheek… Somewhere in the back of her mind, wondering when the last time was, that she'd done that. But if he'd never needed her before, he seemed to need her now… That was all that mattered.

But it still needled at her, as she left the big old house, even if she tried to ignore it, squinting at a sun that seemed brighter than it had just a week ago. Spring was somehow into full life, just that quickly… She reflected with a little sigh that she was going to miss the gloomy, overcast days of winter.

Beetlejuice's entrance, once again, caught her by the surprise, in a way the Maitlands' never had. He threw his arm around her shoulder, out of nowhere, a devilish grin set on pale, amused lips, and considered her with eyes that once again, peered into her depths as if she simply had no secrets from the guy. But if he saw her subdued mood there, he didn't comment on it, saying simply, "'Bout fucking time, babes! I was getting ready to check out without you! What the hell, are you actually doing the 'family-time' thing now?"

She grunted, giving his arm a little push, like she was trying to shrug him off… But not attempting it further, when his arm stayed stubbornly in place, even giving her a little squeeze in defiance. "I am so not trying to talk to you about family time." She muttered under her breath, lidding her eyes in a way that pretended to be annoyed.

He just cackled away, and dropped his cap on her head with his other hand, pulling it down to cover her eyes. She couldn't remember when he'd started doing that… But it was long enough ago that it no longer made her scalp crawl with all sorts of imagined nastiness, when he did.

Instead she just pushed it back so that she could see, and gave him a little sideways grin. "What has you in such a good mood?" She muttered, amused. "Someone cook breakfast for you, naked?"

Beetlejuice waggled his eyebrows at her, in that positively indecent way he had. "Anytime you wanna offer, babes…" He murmured silkily, leaving her torn between blushing, and laughing along with him. "Anyhow," He straightened, reclaiming his cap from her, and pulling it down in a sly way, "That's a secret, doll. I'm kinda working on a surprise."

"Hmm." Lydia narrowed her eyes at him, utterly failing to look suspicious. "I'm not sure your surprises could bode well… But for the sake of humoring you… What the hell are you up to about now?"

"Nope." He looked pleased that he'd piqued her interest, lips set into a smug curl. "Gonna have to wait like everyone else, babes. Let's just put it this way… It'd be better if you didn't make any plans for tonight. We're gonna be busy." When she just lifted an eyebrow at him quizzically, he did his best to look even more mysterious… Even if he was about as mysterious to her as a can of paint. "You just wait, babes. You won't be disappointed."

Intrigued despite herself, Lydia finally just threw him off… For about ten seconds, before his arm snaked back around her, this time enfolding her waist. Rolling her eyes, Lydia decided to let it go, even if she was doing her best to make certain he knew that she was just humoring him. From the satisfied look on his face though, it seemed that would do… Even if she was enjoying the way he pressed her to his side, more than she cared to admit.

But then, she'd had a lot of time in the past week to reflect on how things had changed between them, since before her conversation with Ginger really, and had come to the conclusion that even though she wasn't about to let the poltergeist have his way with her, she could still enjoy the attention while it lasted. Certainly nothing her ex had done had ever made her feel so damn desired… It was kind of nice, feeling sexy for a change. Not that she really believed she was… But as long as Beetlejuice did, that was fine too.

She dogged him about it for about as long as it took to reach the bridge, then pointedly didn't say another word to the ghost, pretending to fall into a pout. From the way he kept chuckling to himself as they walked along though, glancing at her, and winking from time to time, he wasn't fooled. At last she just gave it up, and grinned like a fool herself, figuring that arguing with him on the matter was pretty pointless. "You're impossible." She informed him, with just a trace of affection.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Lydia for once not noticing the strange looks they still got, after all this time walking these sidewalks together. An amused little twist to her lip, hair falling over her eyes in a sultry way, the poltergeist clinging to her possessively… It just no longer seemed strange. And if Beetlejuice noticed? He was too busy grinning his ass off to care.

It was only as they reached the all-girl's school that it even occurred to her the sight they must be, largely because they suddenly became a far more direct focus of attention, as teenage girls stared and whispered without caring either way if they were seen. Lydia sighed, finally throwing Beetlejuice off, and turned to him with a look of thin amusement. "You better get out of here, before people really start talking." She noted wryly, only to have him shrug, like he couldn't care either way. "I mean it," She pressed, a little more seriously now, "If my folks find out…"

This was all she said though, as her teacher Miss Shannon seemed to be making a beeline towards them, her disapproving features set into an even primmer expression than usual. This time she gave him a more solid shove, hissing at him to scat, giving her time to adjust her jacket, and pretend she didn't notice the teacher's frown.

"Ms. Deetz," The woman frowned, dark gray eyes boring into the girl before her, who couldn't seem to be bothered to meet them, "Was that the Halloween caterer, escorting you to school?" Lydia made an absent sound, making a move to press past her, only to have Miss Shannon catch her by the arm, pressing her point again. "Ms. Deetz! I hardly think it appropriate company for a young lady to this school, to be escorted to class by a man twice her age!"

A slow, unpleasant smile, stretched tightly across Lydia's lips, and she made no more effort to get away, tipping her head back instead, before turning her own intimidating gaze to her teacher's face. She didn't say a word until the woman began to look uncomfortable, giving the impression she was rolling the question over in her mind, before answering.

"Beetleman's an old friend," She said at last, as if this was just an aside to the question the teacher was really asking, "But yeah, he throws a hell of a Halloween party. I think we should get him to do Prom, actually… It's not Halloween, but if it's creepy, over the top, and slightly inappropriate, he's the guy that can pull it off. Sort of a 'Night of the Living Prom Queen,' kind of thing, you know?" Speaking of inappropriate, the fiendish grin she was currently offering could really be called nothing else… She felt like she had years before, when Claire Brewster was still attending the school, facing off with her right before things got really nasty. Sort of a willingness to claw the teacher's eyes out that she really shouldn't be feeling.

And from the look Miss Shannon gave her, she really had no idea what to do with such a completely blatant show of challenge, over something she probably expected to be unquestioned in. "Such a, friendship itself, is something to be concerned over," She argued at last, looking somewhat flustered, "He is hardly appropriate company for a girl your age, and a disreputable fellow for a woman of any age to associate with, if half the stories I've heard of him are true! What precisely was he doing in your company, young lady?"

This was probably the point where she should demure, promise to keep her distance from him… Anything to avoid further suspicion, or danger from the woman. The fact was, she knew her next words were a mistake long before she said them… But then, that rarely stopped her. "I think he was looking for an excuse to see the seniors in those little plaid skirts." She informed the woman with straight-faced nonchalance, brushing past her as Miss Shannon's mouth moved uselessly in an effort to find a response to this. "Come on, we better get to class… The bell's going to ring any minute."

And damn, she knew she was going to pay for that later… But if she'd ever been the sort to listen to common sense, she never would have made friends with Beetlejuice in the first place, would she?

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It ate at her a little, all day really, wondering what the ghost with the most had up his striped sleeve this time… Certainly she glanced at the clock a lot more than usual, chewed her eraser to pieces, and doodled his initials in the corners of her papers a lot. And if these were symptoms similar to ones a girl might display before an especially anticipated date… Well, she was going to ignore that for now.

Of course, things were only made worse when school finally did let out, and there was no sign of the poltergeist to be seen. It wasn't like him to lay low, even after the close call they'd had that morning, though oddly again Miss Shannon chose not to press it, so she could only assume he was still up to whatever secret he'd been keeping since that morning. And she could only continue to assume it, the long walk home, alone. By which point she was pretty much as annoyed as excited.

What did the ghost with the most do though, when he got it in his mind to surprise someone? She bit her thumb, slowing as the tall house came into sight, and for one brief instant, considered turning around, and heading back into town. Pretend she'd had detention. Lie through her ass. What was she doing, letting him scheme with her this way? It had to be a date he had planned… Wouldn't going with him kind of be leading him on? Just turn around, pretend you never got this far…

The front door flew open at this point, and safely behind the thresh-hold she could never cross, Barbara waved at her with a big, honest smile, calling her name. "Lydia! I just finished making those dark chocolate chip cookies you love! With walnuts! Come try them!"

Dark chocolate chip cookies… With walnuts. Damn. Lydia shook her head, resigned to being unable to escape, and ran up the front steps into the ghost woman's arm, like she was still twelve years old. Barbara gave her a hard squeeze, and Lydia breathed in her smell… Like white clover and sunlight. And cookies. It was a more motherly scent than any her real mother had ever offered her, always wearing strange sharp perfumes…

"Hey, Barb." Lydia murmured, tucking her head into her godmother's shoulder, briefly, before drawing away. "What's the special occasion?"

"Oh," A distracted, uneasy look crossed Barbara's face, and she forced a little laugh, dismissing it, "I just had nothing better to do, you know. Decided to get my mind off my mind." She tugged her through the doorway, putting her body between Lydia and the outside, like she was physically shielding her from whatever was bothering the woman. "Your mother loves them too, you two are so much alike…"

How much alike she and her mother were, had long been a source of contention… But Lydia had decided long ago that they were different where it really counted, so she was able to let the comment slide a lot more easily than she used to. "Mom having a hard day?" She asked aloud, wondering only after she asked the question, whether she really wanted to know the answer.

Barbara hesitated, which was really more than she wanted to know, then went on anyway, quietly. "Your mother and Edmond had an argument after you left for school." It was said so simply that it took Lydia a moment to understand why it bothered her… Then she knew. Barbara had said, your mother and Edmond, not your mother and father. It was such a little thing… But it made Lydia's skin tingle with warning.

She didn't want to know any more. Not just then. Not with Beetlejuice's surprise still waiting. "Still warm?" She asked instead, easily turning the subject back where she wanted it, which seemed to relieve the ghost woman as much as herself.

"Still warm," Barbara agreed, dropping a kiss to the crown of her head, "Just don't eat so many that you make yourself sick." Then she sort of ushered her towards the kitchen, before turning herself, and going up the stairs. Giving Lydia free rein over the cookies. And probably going straight back to her mother…

"I'm being bribed." Lydia muttered under her breath, grabbing a handful of cookies off the warm plate, and taking a savage bite of the first almost immediately. "With cookies. And I'm strangely okay with that." Now she just had to get to her room, preferably without running into any more of her parents…

Approaching the stairs almost guiltily, she put her weight onto the first step in a ginger manner. As if after all this time walking up and down those stairs, she expected them to start squeaking now. But no one emerged back into the hall as she ascended, slowly at first, then more hastily, suddenly worried about being caught… Going to her own room. Life had officially reached the point of insanity.

She moved through her door as quickly as possible, and pushed it shut behind her, loudly enough to make her hair stand on end. Swallowing hard, she stood there with her back pressed hard against the door, a handful of fresh cookies melting guiltily in her hand, as she wondered nervously if she'd been heard. Sneaking out again would require a lot less explanation, if no one knew she'd retreated to her room to begin with… And she had more than a small suspicion that sneaking out was exactly what Beetlejuice had in mind.

"Okay," Beetlejuice interjected, having apparently been waiting on her dresser for her arrival, "What'd you do, and who's after you?" Lydia blinked, and looked at him uncertainly, as he lifted his hand before she could answer, and gave it a roll at the wrist, "Hold on, reverse that. Tell me who's after you, first." Of course he spoiled the whole, 'ready to save her ass' thing, by grinning like an idiot as he said it…

"My parents are weird." She answered flatly, relieved, against her better judgment, to see him waiting, and surely ready to whisk her away from her problems for a while. Not that it wouldn't just cause new ones.

"Ah, spoken like a hundred generations before you babes…" He mused, dusting his knuckles off on his lapel, as if inordinately proud of something he'd just done. "But in your case… Hell, I gotta agree with you, Lyds. Your folks are basket cases."

"Now!" He slapped his knee, hard, making her jump a little, and leered toothily at her. "I know what you're thinking, babes. You've spent the whole day trying to figure out a way to worm yourself out of the little plans I've made… But no deal." He pointed at her, adding evilly, "You owe me." When she would have protested, he sighed, and ran his fingers along his chin, making her words die in her throat. "Hell of a right hook you got babes, but I gotta tell you, it's gonna be worth it." He fixed his gleaming green eyes on her, adding with a menacing smile, "I'm calling in that rain check, now. Got it?"

Lydia's mouth opened and shut uselessly… She wasn't sure exactly when she'd agreed to that, or even if she had, but arguing anything with the mule-headed poltergeist was pretty much a futile effort. At last she shrugged, narrowing her eyes just a little, to show she wasn't up for just anything he had in mind… "So what were you planning?" She asked warily.

"Ah! That's the ticket!" He slapped his knee again, this time jumping to his feet, and fixed her with a look of pure, wicked glee. "See, the way I figure it, you're mine babes, at least 'til the sun comes up. You gotta come with me wherever I tell you, and one way or another, I am gonna make you have a good time tonight." He jutted his hand out with just a touch of a leer, adding smoothly, "Deal?"

Lydia laughed, it wasn't her first instinct, which was pretty much to kick him, but faced with the familiar offer, she wasn't about to take it at face value again. Not for this. "I'll go wherever you want," She agreed, after her snickering died away, her chin tilted in challenge, "But I will not do anything you want. Deal?" And this time she stuck her hand out, not quite grasping his.

If anything, his grin just split wider. "Hell babes, what kind of challenge would that be?" And he grabbed her hand, pumping it twice, firmly. She wasn't sure if she expected some kind of binding this time, there really was no telling with this guy, but it seemed he took her at face value for once… Either that, or he knew it would be a bad way to start their date.

Which was, she supposed, what he was proposing. But she was a little distracted as, at that moment, she felt his energy rise up and around her, kind of touching her everywhere at once, and she drew back her hand with a little sound of protest, before realizing what he'd done. Without a word of warning, he'd wrapped her in a form-fitting dress, striped red and white like a candy cane, with a sweeping skirt, and boots that wrapped softly to her calves. A gauzy red scarf wrapped her throat, and long fingerless red gloves embraced her gently to the elbows, leaving her, roughly, dressed like some glamour model from the twenties. "Beej…" She protested softly…

Only then getting a good look at him. He was wearing, she thought the term was a 'zoot suit,' red and white like hers, thick stripes like his black and white number. White leather shoes gleamed, freshly polished, underneath his long pant legs, and both his cufflinks and his buttons were pearly white beetles. To top it off, he had a wide-brimmed red hat, with a pristine white feather jammed almost comically into the brim… And the whole effect of course, was utterly compounded in sheer abnormality by his own dead appearance, as he grinned at her with jagged teeth, eyes lit like a demon's from some deep level of hell.

Oh god, what was she getting herself into? She smoothed her gloved hands slowly along the amazing material she was wrapped in, looking for something like the right words. "Nice Beej, I gotta say… But I think these clothes might have gone out of style a few decades ago." She didn't look at herself in the mirror, not yet. She couldn't possibly look right in an outfit this fancy…

"Class never goes out of style, babes." He assured her, looking pleased at the entranced light to her eyes. "Besides, where we're going, no one's gonna look at us twice." A pause then, almost casually, "'Cept maybe you, cause I gotta tell you Lyds… You look damn hot."

"Yeah right." She muttered, still not lifting her head to look past him. "Well, at least you left me my bra, I'm kinda surprised that…" She paused suddenly, shifting her weight, and abruptly her face turned bright red. "Where are my underwear?" She hissed, both humiliated, furious... and god help her, trying not to laugh.

A slow pout forming across his face, Beetlejuice sighed, and pulled a silky pair of red undies out of his pocket. Her red undies. Which she'd just been wearing. "I was gonna save 'em for a souvenir…" He muttered, looking slighted. "Damn babes, lighten up."

Lydia snatched them from his grimy fingers, briefly debating a retreat to put them back where they went, then briefly considering just leaving them off… But no, he'd enjoy that way too much. "Stay right there!" She growled at him, turning her back to the ghost, and working her underwear on as modestly as possible. Over boots, under skirt… God, he better not be peeking…

She smoothed her dress as she stood, looking back at him with just a trace of a frown, though she didn't really feel it. "You're an ass." She informed him flatly, just making him cackle, cock his arm at her with a little roll of his eyebrows, and offer smoothly-

"Shall we, babes?"

Lydia considered him with a long, weighing glance. If she was smart, she wouldn't do it. There was no telling where he was taking her, what he had planned, or where the night might end. But hell if she didn't need something to take her mind off her life for a while, and god knew it would be fun, whatever it was…

And what kind of person would she be, if she started listening to common sense now? "All right, Beej," She agreed, hooking her arm into his, still not sparing a glance at the mirror, "You've got one night. Blow my mind."

And then she was swallowed up by darkness, fire, and ice… Andgod only knew what was waiting beyond...

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