Thanks Given
by
Owlcroft
"So what is that anyway?" Beetlejuice fidgeted with Lydia's hairbrush as he watched her carefully place pins in pattern paper and fabric.
"Can't you tell?" was the response.
Beetlejuice scrunched up his face in thought, then offered, "A shirt?"
Lydia finished one part of the pattern and straightened up to stretch her back. "And what makes you say that?"
"Well, the fact that it has sleeves for one thing. Not that I know anything about sewing." He put her brush down and picked up her comb, juiced up a piece of paper to wrap around it, and played a few bars of 'Alice's Restaurant'. "How much longer we got, babes?"
"Only about five more minutes, I'm afraid. Beej, you're lucky they believed I needed your help. And that they thought I had a deadline for finishing this." Lydia gave him a look of combined affection and commiseration. "Oh, and you told me to remind you to walk and not float, okay?" Lydia gripped several pins between her lips and went back to work.
"Hmm." Beetlejuice inspected the bookshelves as if something new might have appeared in the last few minutes. Apparently, nothing had. So he moved to the window and stared out at the pastoral landscape, marred by the three rental cars parked by the garage.
It was Thanksgiving Day and Beetlejuice was spending it with Lydia's entire family – some from the other end of the country – twelve of them in all, and all eager to meet Lydia's fiancé. Much as she hated to do it, Lydia had asked him to do his best to get along with everyone and to tone his sense of humor down a little and, as always, he had done as she asked. Fortunately, she did have a project to finish over the holiday and they had both used that excuse to take a break from the reminiscing and sentiment going on downstairs before the meal.
ooooo
For the Thanksgiving dinner itself, Delia had seated all the couples opposite each other and alternated male and female. Beetlejuice was between Aunt Zipporah and Aunt Winnie, across the table from Lydia, who was surrounded by her uncles. Small talk was made, with 'BJ' contributing only when asked a direct question. Once the meal was served, things were easier as he could concentrate on playing with his food and hiding it when no one was noticing. Lydia watched him anxiously, knowing he was on edge in this situation and when she noticed a small spot of gravy next to his mouth, she tried quietly to get his attention.
"Beej." When he looked up, she tapped the corner of her own mouth with a significant look.
He immediately rose and circled the table to her and kissed her right where she'd tapped. "There you go," he said with a smile.
Lydia smiled back at him lovingly and caressed his face, casually wiping off the spot of gravy with her thumb, and said, "Thank you, my darling," before he returned to his chair.
Every wife at the table envied Lydia and every husband at the table knew it.
Still, the meal finally ended, with the whole family groaning about how much they'd overeaten. Lydia immediately volunteered herself and her fiancé as kitchen helpers to everyone else's relief. She even managed to convince Delia that she'd done enough of the work for the day and shooed her out to spend time with her relatives while they cleared up and packed leftovers for everyone to take away.
"Oh, Beej," Lydia sighed and fell into his arms. "You were wonderful. So polite and so . . . boring. I can't thank you enough for this."
Beetlejuice hunched his shoulders up as well as he could with an armful of Lydia. "Always said 'anything for you, Lyds', right? And this wasn't even as bad as . . . as . . . well, it was just about as bad as anything I can think of, actually."
"I think Uncle Clyde and Aunt May liked you. You seemed to have something to talk about with Uncle Clyde, at least." Lydia kissed his cheek, then reluctantly pulled away to start on the dishes.
"Yeah, we got started on how pigs don't really smell bad and went on from there." Beetlejuice was idly juicing various leftovers into plastic containers. "I remember Auntie Em's farm and how great everything smells there and Clyde's place smells a lot like that. Hey, you think Chuckie wants any of Delia's cooking for later, or should I just give it to – " he changed his voice to Aunt Zipporah's clipped upper crust tones, "the relatives who matter."
Lydia snortled. "Please just pack it all away. Most of it will probably be thrown out, but maybe Uncle Clyde's pigs will like it."
ooooo
After two final hours of shared family memories and antacids, hugs were distributed and goodbyes said and the visiting relatives left. Upstairs, Beetlejuice slumped against one of Lydia's bedposts and moaned. "Babes. We don't have to do this every year, do we?"
"Oh, no. Certainly not!" Lydia pushed him gently to sit on the bedside. "This was just one large get-together so everyone could meet you before the wedding. We'll probably never see most of them again, or at least we can hope so." She plopped down beside him and threw an arm over his shoulders. "Have I told you yet how grateful I am to you for doing this?"
He snaked an arm around her waist and leaned against her. "Yes, you have. But you could do it again." He looked at her hopefully.
Kissing followed, as a matter of course. Then Lydia put her hand on Beetlejuice's lapels and pushed him back a bit. "Beej, I have to thank you – "
"Thought that was what you were doing," he murmured and leaned in to try for another kiss.
"No," she laughed. "I do that because I want to. I have to thank you for . . . for so much, starting with today, for playing along for my relatives and being so . . . nice when it was so hard for you. And then there's all the times you've been there for me, whenever I have a problem or need some help or just someone to listen to me. Beej, I owe you so much. Thank you for everything you do for me." She tucked her head against his collarbone and under his chin.
Beetlejuice snuggled her close and kissed the top of her head. "If we're going to thank each other, babes, it would take me a long time." He fell silent and just held her for a while. Finally, in a whisper, "Thank you, Lyds."
She tilted her head to look at him. "I'd say you were welcome, but Beej . . . you give me so much. What can I possible give you that comes close to that?"
He pulled her back against him and rubbed his cheek on her hair. "How about . . . everything." He took a deep breath, let it out, then said, still softly, "Everything, babes. When we met, when you became my friend, it made everything mean something. There was something important every day because of you." He paused for a moment, then continued. "Lyds, it's so hard for me to tell you this stuff. I can't find the right words, but . . . All I did was make you laugh, and you gave me everything." Beetlejuice shook his head a little, then kissed her hair. "Maybe I'll get better at this mushy stuff. But probably not."
Lydia took his hand from her cheek and kissed the palm. "I think you do just fine." She stood, pulled him to his feet and grinned. "Which is why, since you ate almost nothing at our Thanksgiving dinner, I saved you the turkey liver and heart and giblets."
Beetlejuice grinned back. "Thank you!"