Perchance to Dream
by
Owlcroft

Lydia arrived at the Roadhouse that afternoon looking weary and dragged out. "Sorry I'm late. I just seem to be moving so slow today," she told him with a peck on the cheek.

"Babes?" said a concerned Beetlejuice as he returned their customary kiss of greeting.

"I'm sooo tired." She plodded in and headed right for the wooden couch. "I don't know when I've ever been this tired." She plumped herself down and sighed.

"Stayed up too late studying for that test last night, and then you probably didn't sleep, right?" He studied her, arms akimbo. When she nodded, he continued, "So we'll do something quiet today. Or maybe you could take a nap?"

"A nap! BJ, after you waited all day for me to get here so we could do something fun? That's not fair to you." She yawned, then sighed again.

"What?" He looked at her, astonished. "You think I only . . . that all I want . . . Lyds! That's not why – I mean, yeah, okay. I want to see you, to know you're okay, to be with you." He looked at his boots, wiggling first one then the other. "And I want to make you smile and all. But we can do something quiet. That would be fine with me." He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels, trying to look nonchalant as he said, "It's all about you, babes. You could take a nap. I could take a nap. We could take a nap!" He smiled at her.

She laughed. "It does sound good, but I don't think a nap would exactly be fun."

He pulled out a hand out of a pocket and extended it as if to touch her cheek, then pulled it back and said softly, "But you look so tired."

"I am," she said, just as quietly. "Oh, Beej . . ." She shook her head. "That is so sweet of you, but –"

"No, it isn't! Lyds, you're not listening to me. Or," he had a sudden thought, "you don't believe me." He went back to studying his boots. "I really did mean it, you know. What I said. Before. It's all about you," he repeated in a mutter.

Lydia thought about that, warmed and gratified that he could say that much to her, then took his hand in hers. "I do believe you. Honest. But it just doesn't seem right somehow for me to disappoint you like that after you waited all day for me."

"Okay then, how's this? We can watch a movie, one we've seen before. And if you start feeling sleepy, you can catch a few winks without missing anything." He sat next to her, snapped his fingers to produce the beetle-decorated cushion she'd made for him, then offered it to her.

"Oh, Beej," she smiled, "I'm not that tired." Then she yawned again.

ooooo

Beetlejuice opted for a repeat of "Lunchtime of the Deadly Living", which had a relatively quiet first twenty minutes.

And Lydia almost managed to make it through those twenty minutes of the film, with her head gradually coming to rest on his shoulder. Then, as she drifted off, she slowly slid down 'til her head was on his rib cage.

"Here, babes," he whispered and put the cushion on the side of his thigh. Without coming fully awake, she dropped her head onto the cushion and started snoring quietly. He muted the movie, watching her to ensure she didn't wake, then cautiously touched her hair. Breathing quickly, eyes tender, he ran his finger over a tress, then took a gentle hold of it and began his favorite daydream.

He was standing in front of her. "You know how I feel about you. Do you think you could you ever feel –" He broke off as she embraced, then kissed, him.

"You know I love you, Beej. I've told you that more than once." She smiled up at him adoringly.

He bent his head to kiss her, this one lasting quite a while longer than the first one and her arms came up to twine around his neck as he held her close. When the kiss finally ended, he whispered, "I was afraid it was just a friend thing. I wasn't sure if it was more than that."

"Oh, it's so much more than that." She ran a tender hand down his face then lifted hers again.

As he once more brought his lips to hers, he whispered, "My dearest," and his kiss expressed everything he felt in his heart.

And, as always, the dream ended there. He simply couldn't imagine what would follow that, and it was enough in itself. He ran through it again, with a subtle variation in dialogue and kisses. Dreaming the kisses themselves was enough sometimes. Finally, though, he sighed and leaned his head against the back of the couch. Dreams were fine, but weren't you supposed to have some hope they might come true?

ooooo

More than two hours later, several minutes after the movie had ended, Lydia woke up. She realized almost at once what had happened and looked at the blank TV screen to see Beetlejuice reflected in it, asleep himself, with one hand still gently holding a tress of her hair. She smiled drowsily, then tried to decide the best way to wake him.

After a moment, she slowly slid her hair from his loosened grip. Then she gently thumped her head on the cushion against his leg, yawned and stretched elaborately. "Oh, Beej, I did fall asleep. I guess I really needed that nap." She smiled up at a groggy Beetlejuice. "I do feel a lot better now. It's not too late to go somewhere and have some fun."

He blinked a few times then shrugged lightly. "This was fun."

"Oh, no. I'm sure you must have been so bored." She stretched again and sat up, as close to him as she could get.

"Bored?" He looked at her with an odd expression, then a soft smile crept across his face. "Nah. I wasn't bored at all." He looked away then and added disingenuously, "There was a movie on, remember?"