Double Duty
by
Owlcroft

Beetlejuice's parents were hosting a small anniversary get-together in their backyard and of course Lydia had been invited as well as a few of their relatives. Beetlejuice was just as thrilled and excited about it as Lydia had expected him to be.

"Do we have to go?" he whined.

"Yes," she said patiently.

After pouting for nearly twenty minutes, he looked at his watch then held up a hand with fingers about to snap saying, "Gotta meet somebody. Later, babes."

Before he could vanish, however, she grabbed his sleeve and asked, "Who? You won't be long, will you? We have to leave for your parents in an hour, you know."

"It's just somebody . . . somebody I know." He shifted uncomfortably and looked away from her. "Nobody important," he added evasively.

She gave him a suspicious look. "Beej, you aren't planning to play a prank on anyone at the anniversary party, are you?"

"Moi?" He splayed a hand over his chest and managed to look incredulous. "Would I do that?"

She merely gave him The Look and he gave in. "Okay, fine. Babes, it's just Donny –" he tried to suppress a shudder, "I'm meeting up with. We have to come up with something special for Ma and Pop, that's all; so we have to talk about it before we go. Really, that's all it is!"

Lydia gave him a speculative look, but it was a reasonable – and possibly the only – explanation, so she let it go and bade him goodbye, after getting an assurance that he would arrive on time.

ooooo

Lydia waited in front of the Juice household for a few minutes, then knocked, thinking perhaps Beetlejuice was already there and waiting for her inside. He wasn't, although she was made very welcome by his parents, Bea and Nat. She knew them well enough that she wasn't uncomfortable on her own, and soon spotted Beetlejuice's favorite relative – Auntie Em – and went to speak to her.

Finally the ghost himself showed up, oddly enough with Donny accompanying him. Donny went at once to greet his Aunt Lucy and Uncle Victor and, as usual, they showered him with hugs and cries of delight. Beetlejuice headed right for Lydia, scowling and looking ill at ease.

Lydia gave him a smile and took his arm. "Nice of you to show up," she told him with a twinkle.

"Yeah, well, my stupid brother took forever to agree with what I wanted to do." The ghost slouched moodily, watching said stupid brother being lavished with doting praise.

Lydia stared at him, pulled on his arm to make him face her. "Beej?" she said uncertainly. "No. No . . . it's . . . you didn't!" She looked at him, then at his brother, then back at him with awe in her face. "Oh, tell me you two didn't!"

"Now, Lydia," said her escort, then he chuckled and shot a glance at the small crowd gathering about his grinning sibling, "would we do something like that?" He nodded his head. "Yes, I guess we did. How could you tell? We practiced everything – the way we move, the way we talk – we even fooled Ma!"

"I don't exactly know what it was. I just felt it wasn't you. And of course it isn't you! I mean, that you're not you – no, that you're not . . . him." She looked at the other ghost being feted by his relatives, wearing Donny's familiar brown pullover and smiling cordially at everyone. "And then who else could it have been?"

The black-and-white figure next to her chuckled again. "He thought you'd know, somehow."

"I can't believe it. You're both perfect!"

At that moment, 'Donny' noticed his Uncle Sid unobtrusively swapping sauce-covered marbles for the cocktail meatballs and gave a singular cackle of laughter, which was uncannily echoed from the other side of the room. Heads swiveled as the two brothers squawked and hooted, then their clothing seemed to shimmer, wavering and changing. 'Beetlejuice's' hair shrank into two small curls on the top of his head and his teeth magically became bright white, while 'Donny's' hair grew out into a familiar mane and his teeth were suddenly algae-green.

When it was obvious that Beetlejuice was standing next to his previously-doting aunt and uncle and Donny was next to Lydia, both pranksters shrieking with laughter, the rest of the family joined in, except for Victor and Lucy. They were rigid with affront and moved away from their despised nephew quickly.

"So this was the surprise you two promised us," said an extremely amused Bea, joining Donny and Lydia. "Well, dear, I must say it was a surprise!"

Nat dragged a still-cackling Beetlejuice over from an appreciative family group. "Donny, you and Junior – I can't believe it," he shook his head in amazement. "Well, Mother, how proud are we of our two boys?"

She gave him a look and a wink and they both suddenly spun their heads at top speed, crowing with laughter. The brothers looked at each other, then at all the rest of the relatives, and immediately Lydia's was the only head not spinning.

The rest of the evening was hilarious and noisy. Victor and Lucy missed a very good time, although they were not missed at all.

ooooo

"You see, you did manage to have a good time at your parents party." Lydia was trying not to be smug, but she couldn't resist a playful punch to his arm.

Beetlejuice's reaction was to scream in pain, doubling over and keening in agony. When he heard her laughing, he straightened up and cackled himself. "Actually, it was Donny's idea, you know. I think he wanted to prove he could be a world-class prankster, too." He burnished his red nails on his lapel in fake modesty.

"Well, you both were incredible. You must have really concentrated on each other's mannerisms and speech patterns. I was very impressed." She smiled at him in affectionate admiration.

He shrugged. "Ah, his were no big deal to imitate – just smile and bob my head and seem like a sap."

At her knowing look, he grinned. "But I'm telling you, babes, he had the hard part. I'm so well-known, such a famous –" When she cocked her arm again, he shrieked, backing away in fake terror. "Okay, okay. He practiced, too. He did say it was easier than he thought it would be. It was the laugh he had to work on a little."

"I thought it sounded just like you. Was that the signal for you two to . . . to turn back into yourselves?"

"Yep. We knew we couldn't keep it up forever. And I was starting to get queasy with all the sappiness and mush from Uncle Victor and Aunt Lucy. How Donny can stand it, I don't know." Beetlejuice scowled for a moment, then asked, "So, babes, how did you know it wasn't me?"

"I'm still not entirely sure. Maybe it was your – his – posture: not enough of a slouch. Maybe it was that you – he – didn't seem to be so desperately unhappy to be there. Or maybe, I just knew. Something that I can't really describe." She fell silent, thinking. "But I did know. I could just tell."

He went quiet on the instant, pressing his lips together in a frown. "I would know you anywhere." He turned away from her, face wrinkled in discomfort. "If I was blind and deaf and chained in a pit, I would know if you were near me."

It was the merest murmur, but Lydia heard it. She stood for a moment, then went to lay a hand on his arm and say quietly, "Let's not ever find that out, okay? Let's just be together – be ourselves, together – as much as we possibly can."

"Yeah, well," he essayed an uneasy little laugh, "something like that's not likely to happen, huh? Besides, if it did, you probably wouldn't even miss me." And that was the wrong thing to say.

She grabbed him immediately, holding him in a fierce hug, saying, "You tell me so often – at least you try to – that I'm important to you, that I'm necessary to you. But, Beej, you don't let me tell you the same thing! You shut me down, change the subject, shake your head at me and disbelieve me. Listen to me, you big goof! You're everything to me. I don't know what I would do without you. Without you being here for me, every day, helping me, making me laugh, just being with me. I need you with me, Beej. Please don't ever, ever . . . leave me, stop being with me, go away from me."

He remained silent, although he did put his arms around her.

She burrowed into his shirtfront. "How do you think I knew it wasn't you? My heart told me. And we should always listen to our hearts."

Beetlejuice said nothing for a long moment, but then she felt him tense just slightly and give a tentative nod. "Whatever," he murmured, then sighed, "yeah." After that show of emotion, he shook his head, dropped his arms, and stepped back from her, looking at her severely. "But I really need to teach you to spin your head."