June

Beatie was staying late at school to finish a special project for the end of the school year, but Beetlejuice brought Chazz home on time and they decided to get his homework done before dinner. Both blond heads were bent over Chazz's workbook on the kitchen table when suddenly they looked up, shot alarmed glances at each other, and disappeared.

Lydia felt a clutch of fear at her heart and whispered, "Beatie?" then she was plucked away to the human world where she saw her daughter in Beetlejuice's arms.

Chazz ran to her at once and said, "She's okay. Those guys were fighting," and pointed to two frozen, battered, terrified teenagers on the ground. "Beatie used my juice to stop them, and I think it scared her." He looked at the ground then, unhappy and unsure if he was in trouble or not.

Lydia gathered him to her and cuddled him a little. "Papa told me about how you gave her a little of your juice just in case she ever needed it. Did you ever tell her about it?"

"Huh-uh," he whispered. "I think I was afraid to. That she'd think it was silly."

"Well, I didn't think it was silly. I thought it was very sweet of you to do, honey. But maybe Papa and I should have told her. It's certainly not your fault." She led him over to Beetlejuice who was making sure his daughter was feeling better.

"There's no burn on your hand," he said after looking at it closely. "Did you feel anything else? Does anything hurt?"

"No," Beatie said, sniffing just a little. "It didn't really hurt, Papa. It was more like a . . . buzz." She looked at him hopefully. "I was scared and I yelled at them to stop because they were hurting each other and it just came out. And then I was scared because of what happened," she added with an attempt at a smile.

Beetlejuice passed her over to her mother and picked up Chazz and held him close. "You okay, too, chick?" When Chazz nodded, his father asked him, "You ever tell your sister about loaning her some juice?" A headshake answered him. "You maybe should have. See, I thought you were going to, but it's my fault that I didn't make sure you had. So you're in the clear on this." Chazz looked at him mutely. "No, really. This isn't your fault. In fact, it worked just the way it should, right? Beatie was scared and she used your juice to make what was wrong stop. See?"

Chazz nodded, clearly thinking it over. "She's okay?" he asked hopefully.

"Yep, she is." Beetlejuice set him down. "You go check with her yourself while I take care of those two." He pointed at the two teens still lying on the ground, bruised and bleeding and fearful.

Beetlejuice floated, not walked (he had worked hard to train himself to walk in that world – 'I've got centuries to float, heart, it's no big deal') over to them and stared at them menacingly. "How old are you?" he barked.

Neither could manage to answer, so he did it himself. "You're kids. And you're acting like little kids. Stupid little kids." He floated over them, shaking his head and looking as angry as he could. "I don't know why you were fighting and I don't care. You scared my little girl!" He put his hands on his hips and glared at them. "Do you have any idea what I could do to you, right here and now?" He loosened the control on them just enough for them to answer.

One of them managed to say, "Please, mister," but the other stayed mum.

"Yeah, right," Beetlejuice sneered. "'Please, mister,'" he mocked. "You two airheads could have really hurt each other. You could've gotten in trouble for fighting on school grounds. You did get in trouble with me." He pointed a thumb at his chest. "Nothing you were fighting about is worth that, believe me. I'm not going to tell you to shake hands and forget about it. I'm not your father. But you two better straighten things out between you, and I mean right now. You look at each other and think about what would have happened if one of you had hit his head on this pavement. If one of you had been concussed or even died. Don't look at me – look at each other and think about that."

There was a long silence, then the boy who'd spoken before muttered, "We were sorta dumb, huh?" to the other one.

The second boy sighed and hung his head. "I guess so. Just got carried away, I guess. Jim, you know I didn't really mean it."

Beetlejuice floated back silently, never taking his eyes from them as they talked to each other, hesitantly at first, then more easily.

When he'd reached his family, he held his finger to his lips and motioned for them to gather around him. Then he took them home.

ooooo

Beatie had been comforted (as had Chazz) and dinner was long over. Everything was quiet as homework was finished up and Lydia thought this was a good time to compliment her husband on his handling of the situation.

"I always said you'd be a wonderful father. And you were exactly the father those two boys needed this afternoon."

He frowned and shrugged self-deprecatingly. "Nah. Somebody else would've done better. All I did was get mad."

"You said exactly what they needed to hear and I am so proud of you. And you made Chazz feel better and took care of Beatie. Come to think of it," she paused and cocked her head at him, "I think I'm the only one you haven't taken care of today." She grinned as he immediately took her into his arms. "But, Beej, floating?"

"Ah, it gives them something to remember and talk about. And they can't talk about it to anybody else, 'cause who'd believe them? Makes a bond between them. They might even end up friends." He rubbed her nose with his and grinned at her. "But that's enough about those two would-be delinquents. Let's get the kids to bed and then . . ." The grin changed to a leer. "Then I'll take care of you."