||Devil's Advocate||Betelgeuse x Adam x Barbara

(𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞) Call to Mind

The Maitlands and the Deetzes spent the weeks that followed everything that had happened as a result of Betelgeuse's doing getting to know one another and getting used to being a household consisting of three living residents and two deceased residents. Though it would be, and was, considered unusual to be living with the dead, the Deetzes didn't seem to think so.

Lydia loved having the Maitlands around, and so did Charles and Delia. It might have been strange, at the very least, but it was never boring. Sometimes, Adam and Barbara would provide some entertainment to the Deetzes, using whatever new powers they had recently learned about via reading through the Handbook for the Recently Deceased or through some help given to them from Lydia.

Last week could be taken as a sort-of example, whereas Adam and Barbara spent one hot evening following dinner showing off the teleportation that they had mastered just that very morning. Though it had unfortunately ended with Lydia nearly ending up somewhere that was not a location that the Maitlands had had in mind, none of the living was that upset with the two ghosts and all was forgiven almost immediately.

The following day for the Maitlands had been spent by them playing games that involved the use of their powers with Lydia and Charles and Delia had initially returned home to a giggling pile of two ghosts and a teenage girl (when they asked what had gone on, the response had initially been laughter from the lot of them followed by a hysterical recount of the day's events by Adam and Barbara - neither of whom was even able to suppress a giggle or two as they spoke).

Speaking of the two ghosts....

Adam joined Barbara in the kitchen as the bright light from the sun filtered in from the windows of the dining room. It was early in the morning on a Saturday in mid-July and Charles and Delia had initially said that they would be out for most of the day, leaving the house to the Maitlands and Lydia. And Lydia herself had made her way downstairs and into the kitchen not too long after Adam had, sitting herself down at the kitchen island and awaiting her breakfast.

She looked up at Barbara, who was in the middle of making pancakes. "Good morning, Barb. Adam."

Both ghosts turned their attention onto her, a small smile forming on Barbara's face as she levitated a plate of fresh made pancakes onto the kitchen island in front of the waiting teenage girl. "Morning, Lydia. Sleep well?"

"Well, I didn't have any nightmares of the sort like I've been having on a nightly basis. So yeah, I guess I slept well."

"That's good to hear," Barbara commented, levitating over and setting down a fresh glass of milk for the teenager, her and Adam sitting on either side of her as she started up on eating her pancakes.

Barbara and Adam remembered the nightmares that Lydia had been experiencing every night over the last few weeks, which seemed to be the exact same one based on what she had mentioned to the two of them every day for the last few weeks. The previous night, Lydia had awoken in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, letting out a loud, piercing scream that had sent the Maitlands running down the stairs and phasing through the door to Lydia's bedroom. They had found the teenager sat over near her pillow and curled up in a ball with her arms wrapped tightly around her legs, rocking back and forth and breathing heavily.

Barbara had sat down on the bed next to the teenager, running a hand up and down her back as she calmed her down and let her know that everything was alright. When Lydia had calmed herself down just enough, Barbara asked her what had happened.

She'd gone into full detail of the nightmare she had had the morning after the first night she had had it, explaining everything from how it had gone from her being stuck inside of the Netherworld with little to no way out to her suddenly being back at the Maitland-Deetz house trying to get away from Betelgeuse, who was holding what appeared to be the exact same bad art that she had used to kill him.

Lydia finished up the last of her pancakes and placed the empty plate and glass inside the sink to be washed later on in the day. As she headed back up the stairs to her bedroom for a little while to have some time to herself, she could faintly hear the voices of the Maitlands as Barbara went to wash both dishes.

However, that time didn't last that long...

Barbara's ever-so-familiar gentle knocks sounded on Lydia's bedroom door and the teenager sat herself upright on her bed, turning her attention over towards the door. "You guys can come in if you want."

Barbara phased through Lydia's bedroom door first, with Adam following closely behind. They found the teenage girl sat on her bed, both looking at and scrolling through her phone. Adam immediately snapped his fingers and made her phone go a little haywire. Lydia set her phone face down on her bed, directing her attention onto the Maitlands.

"Hey!" she exclaimed rather playfully, letting loose a little laugh. "What on Earth did you do that for, Adam?"

He shrugged. "Remember when you told us that ghosts could tamper with electronics?"

"When did I talk about that?"

"Yesterday afternoon. You were reading about ghosts on your phone."

"Right...."

"So, anyway," continued Adam, looking over at Barbara before returning his attention to Lydia. "We wanted to see if we could really do that, hence why I made your phone go haywire."

"Can you return it back to normal please?" Lydia asked, rolling her eyes playfully as a semi-amused smile crept across her face. She picked up her phone, which was still opening random apps on its own, and handed it to Adam. He focused his energy on fixing Lydia's phone and it immediately went back to normal as he handed it back to her. "Thanks. Maybe next time, you don't do it just for your fun. Except maybe as a prank towards my dad or Delia."

"Great idea. Maybe we'll do it to your dad's computer at some point in this afternoon. Make it seem like the power went out," Adam suggested, exchanging a sly look with Barbara before returning his attention to Lydia again.

Lydia chuckled as she turned her attention over towards her alarm clock. Deducing that it was time for a mid-morning snack, headed downstairs, leaving Adam and Barbara to discuss making Charles' computer go haywire.