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

(𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞) Family Values

Lydia giggled amusingly as she ran to hide behind a chair in the living room, a smirking Barbara running after her with an ice cold hand outstretched, laughing quietly as she tried to catch up to the teenager. Adam stood over in the corner, an amused look on his face as he watched his wife and adopted pseudo-daughter have fun. Lydia ran out from behind the chair she was hiding behind and made a beeline for the stairs leading up to the second floor of the house. But it wasn't long before Barbara teleported herself on the stairs in front of Lydia. The female ghost grinned amusingly at the teenager as she came to a stop, reaching out a hand and attempting to tickle her.

But Lydia just smirked playfully at her, moving around her and continuing on her way up the stairs and to her bedroom.

"No fair!" chuckled Barbara, teleporting up to Lydia's bedroom right as she slammed shut and locked the door. "Lydia, are you in there?"

"No...?"

"Yes you are," Barbara said amusingly, phasing through Lydia's bedroom door and finding the teen hiding under her quilt and laughing to herself. A smirk crossed Barbara's face as she levitated the quilt off of the teenager.

"Barbara!" Lydia laughed, climbing off her bed and unlocking her bedroom door again before rushing down the stairs.

Upon hearing faint giggling from the bottom floor of the house, Barbara teleported right back downstairs to find Adam and Lydia covered with blankets in the middle of the living room, staying silent. Barbara chuckled to herself, making her way over to the taller blanket and levitating it off to reveal her now snickering husband. Soon after, Lydia pulled the blanket she was covered with off and threw it to the side.

"What're you two up to exactly?" Barbara asked in an amused tone of voice, rolling her eyes playfully.

"It was all Adam's idea," grinned Lydia, a widened smile on her face.

"Was it now?" remarked Barbara, playfully raising an eyebrow.

"If I recall correctly," Adam suddenly spoke up, looking from Lydia to Barbara and back towards Lydia. "You were the one who asked me to do that, Lyds."

"That was after you threw a blanket at my head with your powers," retorted Lydia with a laugh and an eye roll, causing both Adam and Barbara to roll their eyes in response. Lydia picked up the same blanket that she'd thrown off to the side and a pillow, chucking them in Adam's direction. The male ghost snickered as he turned transparent, causing the blanket and the pillow to pass through him and end up halfway across the kitchen floor.

"Hey now!" Adam teased, the tone of his voice playful as he levitated the pillow Lydia had thrown at him into the air and chucked it back at her. This caused the teen to duck as the pillow sailed back into the living room and landed a few feet from the pristine white rocking chair that Delia had recently bought as an addition to the living room.

Lydia pulled out her phone the moment a ping sounded and opened it up to find a text message from Delia saying that she and Charles would be home much earlier than previously expected. Upon telling the Maitlands, they nodded and put the pillow and blankets back where they previously had been.

Five long minutes had passed, and eventually the sound of Charles' car pulling into the garage was heard, followed by the sound of the garage door closing. Delia came in first, followed by Charles, who had a couple of bags in his hands. He set them down on the kitchen island before turning his attention on Lydia and the Maitlands, who had since joined both him and Delia in the kitchen.

"What's in those bags of yours, dad?" Lydia questioned curiously, looking closely at the bags on the island then turning her attention back towards her father.

"You're going to find out soon, Lydia," was her dad's response.

Lydia nodded in response, moving to sit at the kitchen island. Delia and Barbara went to stand over near the stove, starting on dinner for that night. Barbara used her powers to open up the fridge and levitated out exactly what Delia asked her to, floating it all over to the part of the countertop next to the stove.

Charles and Adam had retreated to the living room, talking about what had happened with Lydia and the Maitlands whilst the older Deetzes were away and about what the older Deetzes were up to that day. Lydia pulled out her phone to message a friend she had made a couple of weeks ago. Barbara used her powers to stir whatever was on cooking on the stovetop at the moment, before eventually turning it off.

Barbara snapped her fingers and the pan emptied it's contents, spaghetti, into the three bowls that were waiting on the kitchen counter; having been put there by Delia just five minutes prior. Delia took the sauce she'd been heating up in the microwave within the last minute and took it over to the kitchen table, Barbara levitating the three bowls of spaghetti over to the table as well, setting them down on the Deetz' usual spots.

The five of them sat around the kitchen table, chatting happily amongst themselves as the Deetzes ate. If it wasn't for Lydia putting spaghetti in her hair (like she used to do when she was younger and her mom was still alive), and all four adults chortling in unison, then that dinner, like most other dinners they had together would've been dull.

Delia and Barbara stood over by the sink, Delia washing the dishes and then handing them over to Barbara, who levitated them back into the appropriate cupboards and drawers. Once done, the two females joined Lydia, Adam, and Charles in the living room, the two bags that Charles and Delia had brought home with them sat on the white coffee table. Lydia had her eyes trained on both of the bags, completely forgetting about the remnants of spaghetti that were still in her hair. At least until Barbara commented on it,

"Do you want me to clean that spaghetti out of your hair, Lyd?"

Lydia turned and looked up at Barbara and nodded in response, allowing the female ghost to snap her fingers and make the spaghetti that had been in Lydia's hair vanish completely. Lydia smiled softly, turning her attention back over towards the two mystery bags on the coffee table as her dad picked up the rightmost one and handed it to her. He then handed the leftmost one to Adam and said that it was for both him and Barbara.

Lydia opened her bag and pulled out a small talisman and a ouija board, looking from her dad and Delia and back again, a surprised look on her face. "Thanks," was all she said as Adam and Barbara opened their bag and Barbara pulled out a set of scented candles, the two ghosts giving Charles and Delia equal smiles.