Disclaimer: I do not own Beetlejuice or related characters, he belongs to Tim Burton. I do not own Beetlegeuse. I don't own Betelgeuse? I don't own any of the weird spellings for his name.

Betelgeuse?

Written By: Melanie Ray

Chapter 21: Benny Juice

"How?" Vernie looked toward Juno and then toward his partner. "How?"

Juno just looked at the intruders in her office. "He disappeared. He was between the decision pathway, and then I could not find him. For months he'd been gone."

"And you didn't bother letting us know?"

"You specifically said that Lydia Deetz was safe, and you didn't want to know anything else about him." She pointed her cigarette at him. "You said you wished you never even met him. The less you knew, the better."

"Well, things change." Vernie was far from happy as he stared at Juno. "Where are they?"

"They who?"

"You know who," Vernie's partner accused her. "Lydia Deetz, BG Deetz, and Benny Fernake are missing. Along with Delia Deetz, Charles Deetz, and-"

"I am not dealing with you. I have nothing to say to you." She gestured up in the air. "Higher ups say the neitherworld is no longer cooperating with you."

"No longer cooperating?" Vernie raised his eyebrow. "We are the World Defender and Protectors. We work everywhere."

"Not here anymore."

"Why?"

"I am not at liberty to say."

"Something stinks. Something bad." Vernie gestured to Juno. "BG was born. This should have been the end of all of this secret business. At least for Lydia Deetz." He counted on his fingers. "I even had two more days of approval before I was allowed to cancel all the support on her."

"Canceling support?"

"Yes. As long as she wasn't involved with Beetlejuice anymore, there was no concern. There didn't seem to be any concern." Vernie sucked his lip. "Something's wrong." He held his hands out. "Unofficial. Please. Do you have any idea how and where she could have gone?"

"Unofficial." Juno tapped his cigarette into her ash tray. "Why when their friendship was so dangerous, and is still dangerous, would your superiors approve of that? Unless he was not a problem. And how could he not be a problem? Unofficial. What can you say?" She stuck her cigarette in her ash tray. "That's what I thought. The neitherworld is not working with the WDP anymore. Get out."

"I can't question that," Vernie spoke.

"Only the WDP could locate him. Only they would know where he went if he didn't come back to the neitherworld. Something happened. He disappeared. All communication between us stopped. Now, get out."

Knowing they had no choice, Vernie and his partner disappeared.

Juno sighed. A mess. A horrible mess the likes of which the neitherworld had not seen for at least a millennium. Donny Juice had brought down four visitors, all related to Lydia Deetz' incident with a story that was hard to believe.

Beetlejuice had been half reincarnated, and he had joined his 'other' living self. His power had increased, the three times name spell no longer worked, and he was with Lydia Deetz. She had approved life for him, while he was still living. If it hadn't been so secret, she would have been fired on the spot. But anger . . . couldn't factor in considering Donny's words.

There was a spell placed on the baby to take it's soul away. Without knowing how to harness its own magic, it could be done while it was very young. Rip out its soul, and that was the end.

For once, Beetlejuice was actually doing something good. She turned around and looked down the hall at Donny Juice. "Any more news?"

Donny sighed. "No."

"You know where they are?"

" . . ." Donny shrugged his shoulders weakly.

"Good. I was making sure you didn't," she smirked.

Beetlejuice yawned and looked at his watch 11:00. It felt later than that. He scratched the side of his neck and looked over to the other bed. Lydia was sleeping safely. "Everything will be fine. Don't get jumpy." A soul hadn't been torn apart and brought back into two in who knows how long, but no need to get hysterical. He hadn't mentioned one thing to Lydia about his own feelings about it because he wanted her to feel better again.

Last time he came to life, he screwed it up. He never thought someone was gunning for him. She and the kid were fine now, and she needed to know that. Everything would be~~~~~~~~~~~~!

A ringing sprang into Benny's head as he fell out of bed. "Ow." He rubbed his head on the floor where he landed. "I need to . . . uh?"

"Babe!"

"Yo, Kath."

"Don't fall to pieces just for me."

"Beattlejuice!"

"Benny, what have I told you about getting mittens wet!"

"What do you think, Mr. Beetleman?"

"You are not charging twenty bucks for that, Benny!"

Benny grabbed his head. BJ tried to hold his head steady. "Uh . . . did anyone get the name of that bus?" Benny shook his head. "Man, this ringing is driving me crazy." He looked at his finger. "Could this do anything? No, it can't do anything. Of course it can do something, it's my finger." BJ squeezed his head harder. Benny fell on the floor, curling up in a ball.

He had been eating spaghetti with the girl next door, and then he was on a motel room floor. He was trying to piece the events together.

He had lost his way back to Lydia, got shot, something in the . . . hell? He took over Benny.

Something took over him.

" . . ." His eyes stopped spinning as he concentrated on the crib ahead of him. "Mom would freak if she knew where I was." He got up and limped over to BG. He was awake in his crib. "Hey, BG, it's Benny." He gestured to himself. "And I'm your dad too." He reached out to touch BG's arm. "You know, I didn't know how to act the first time I met you. Which was tonight. But it wasn't 'cause I remember that stench. That five chimichanga stench." He laughed oddly. "I . . . I can actually fix stuff, instead of break it. Pretty funny, huh? But, not really. No big deal." He looked over toward Lydia. "This just got way complicated."

Benny remembered everything. He remembered the neitherworld, Jacques, Ginger, Juno. He remembered creating Doomie. He remembered playing Betty Juice. He remembered Lydia's awkward birthday party.

Beetlejuice remembered everything. He remembered how his mom nagged him to death. He remembered how his father left him at seven years old. He remembered how mittens looked after he got wet after Benny did dishes. He remembered the hot girl picture in the pink bikini he had hanging up in his room.

He remembered how he said he didn't care about Ben-Ben's problems.

He realized how offended he was by his own name calling.

"I hate when souls recombine." Benny looked at his hand. "What do I go by?" He shook his head. "Which one came first?" Okay, it wasn't the only strange thing that ever happened in his life. Or his afterlife. A part of him felt like he was Beetlejuice, and then Benny's short lifespan was taking place until he just woke up and realized he was Beetlejuice. Another part felt like Benny was first, only Benny, but then he'd been swamped by memories of long ago. "Ah, figuring this out could give me a headache."

Yeah, it would. Trying to give some kind of timeline feel to himself wasn't possible because he'd been both. "Soul splitting sucks. Don't ever try it, BG."

He held his hand out toward Lydia. "Mondo shit." Lydia was his best friend in the afterlife. He'd been hanging around her since her early teen years. He shared parties, holidays, and even shared friends with her. In his afterlife, she was his life. When they took her away, it ripped everything apart from him.

It wasn't until that moment, that moment that he knew both sides of himself that he really knew why. "Ah, crap." He was in love with Lydia Deetz. He'd always been smack dab in a love obsession with her ever since he first set eyes on her. He'd been dead though, she'd been young, century old guys don't mix that way with young girls, and, yeah, that dead thing really got in the way.

When he was Benny, that barrier was gone. They were even the same age group then. He took straight to her the first time he walked by and saw her having trouble with her sink. Even when he found out she somehow had a kid, he still couldn't bring himself from leaving her. In fact, as soon as he'd met BG the first time, it just felt right. He'd babysitted all kinds of brats before BG, but . . . he was different.

And now he knew why. "Soul splitting sucks. There's no way to describe it. Don't even try it." He zapped some formula over BG, just out of grasp. "Come on, you've done this before. I remember just last week you showed me another magic trick."

BG reached for the bottle but still couldn't bring it close. Of course. The spell hadn't started being used against him back then yet. "Let me tell you something about magic, BG." He twirled the bottle in the air several times. "It's a hell of a lot easier than that mushy thing called love." He twirled it right into his mouth. They would have to start with the simplest magic out there. "Feet. Come on, little feet on it." He grabbed the tiny feet that were laying limp and placed them on the bottom of the bottle. "There ya go, more body pressed against it, the better the chances. Now, do something. Impress Benny. BJ." Whatever. "Impress me."

BG held the bottle by his feet and hands and sucked, not doing anything.

"Come on. Look." BJ pointed his finger at the formula, making it change colors. The most simplistic of magic. He stopped changing it colors. BG still wasn't doing anything.

BJ sighed as he looked at his clothes. BG wasn't used to him. He never used magic for him, but he knew Benny. Zapping his own self, he put himself back into his old living clothes, complete with black hair. He looked back over the crib and gestured to himself. "Look, it's Benny underneath. See? Now, come on. Show Benny a cool magic trick. I won't tell your mom."

This time, BG looked at his bottle and changed the liquid inside of it green. His feet fumbled on the bottom of it as he tried to turn it a purple color too, but managed to only make it half purple before back to green.

"One color change. Both feet. One object." BJ grabbed his forehead. The WDP really messed up BG. Lydia's boy. His babysitting ticket . . . his son. "My . . . he can't even . . ." Man, they would regret the day they messed with him. "Good job, BG. You'll get there, man."

Still, BG was the easy one. He looked back toward Lydia. Best friend. His best friend for so many years. He was helping her get everything back to normal. Helping her to get back to her parents and her friends once it was safe. Then, they could just be friends again. He could zap her family and friend's minds clear of him again if he wanted to, he had enough power now.

He could do just about anything. Except . . . "Friend. Best friend. Best friend for years. Years and years." He looked at his hands. "She likes BJ, as a friend. A friend." He held his hands tightly. "I can do this. I have to do this." Forever. At least for now. Forever. At least for now. Always friends.

Yeah, right. He remembered the words he'd been told. Soul mate. Soul. Mate. "Lydia." Even demons from hell knew what he couldn't understand. He shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter."

She had rejected him, but it was only because he reminded her of himself. Ha, ha. Talk about irony. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe she was perfect for him, but maybe it wasn't two ways. I was sure before that Benny had no chance.Oh, why did he even have to care so much? It wasn't like she had a boyfriend anyhow. I can't mess up years of friendship. Not to mention she's known me for years as just a funny dead guy.No, no he couldn't destroy that bond, for what? Maybe some . . . he looked at the crib pathetically. This didn't even matter in the grand scheme of things. The only thing that was important was teaching BG magic and making sure Lydia was safe. That was it.

He'd tackle the rest later, right now he knew what Lydia needed. Her best friend. Nothing but her best friend. "Give Benny a high five, dude." He took BG's hand and slapped it against his own. "Look." He zapped himself back to his old black and white striped outfit. "I'm kind of new to this thing, so don't blame me. And, um, if I don't get so close to you as fast, it's not 'cause you did anything wrong, Bud." He gulped. "I don't want Lydia to think more of me as Benny than BJ right now. Your mom doesn't need that confusion. So, let's just call me BJ. Okay?"

BG looked over at him from his green milk. And burped.

BJ burped back at him and gave him a thumbs up. Good, it was a deal.