The Whole Being Alive Thing

Riotous Living

On their way back to the car, a few bags of supplies in their hands, Charles and Delia were fuming and Lydia looked sheepish about helping Betelgeuse make a mess of the store.

For Lydia, knowing full well that her dad and Delia were going to talk to the Maitlands about everything once they got home made her nervous. For Betelgeuse, he seemed amused about everything as if being banned from the store was not as important to him (which it wasn't, the chaos that he and Lydia had caused cracked him up and he kept saying he wanted to make a mess of the next store he and the Deetzes went to. And, to that, the older Deetzes told him 'no'.

Betelgeuse climbed into the backseat of the car followed by Lydia, both of them buckling their seatbelts as Charles and Delia placed the bags into the car's boot and closed it before getting into the car themselves and pulling out - starting on their way home. Or they were until Lydia said she was hungry, which led Charles to go out of his way and go to the closest restaurant he could find.

Parking, Charles adjusted the rear view mirror and looked pointedly and directly over at his daughter and at Betelgeuse. "Why did you two go ahead and make even more mess of the store after Delia and I told you not to?"

Lydia and Betelgeuse turned to look at one another, then back at him.

Lydia pouted, giving her dad her best puppy dog eyes. "Dad, can we talk about this when we get home?"

He considered things for a brief few moments, then sighed quietly to himself. "Fine! But know now that you're both in trouble. And, once we go inside to eat, just know that there will be no causing chaos."

Lydia and Betelgeuse looked down in unison, closing their eyes. "We know."

They got out of the car, heading inside the restaurant. If there wasn't a long line, then they both wouldn't have gotten that bored quite that easily. Betelgeuse, being as impatient as he always was, was starting to grow tired of having to wait - tapping his foot. He groaned loudly to himself, forgetting that he wasn't a demon anymore and therefore didn't have his powers anymore when he closed his eyes and snapped his fingers.

He opened them again, looking around and then towards Charles and Delia - who were giving him equal incredulous looks before he finally focused his attention onto Lydia - who was laughing her head off and trying and failing to control it.

"D-did you just forget that you weren't a demon anymore, Beej?!" she managed to say in between her laughter - only stopping when her dad and Delia each raised their eyebrows whilst looking amused. Everyone else in the restaurant seemed to be looking at the four of them and giving them concerned looks.

Betelgeuse shot his best friend a teasing, amused look, earning him a light punch in the arm from her.

When he and the Deetzes were called and stood up to go to their table, Betelgeuse wouldn't stop making loud noises - even after Charles and Delia had each asked him to stop multiple times - noises that continued even after the four of them sat around the circular table they were led to. As a waiter came up, Charles quieted Betelgeuse down. After the Deetzes told her what they each wanted - Betelgeuse claimed that he wasn't that at all hungry - the waiter left. Their food and drinks came fifteen minutes later and the Deetzes ate quietly.

After they were done and back in the car on their way back home, Lydia and Betelgeuse would not stop with their constant play fighting and teasing one another. Not even when Charles or Delia tried to get them to stop. As soon as Charles pulled into the driveway of their house and stopped the car, Lydia and Betelgeuse took the opportunity to get out of the car and run straight for the garden hose.

As Charles and Delia headed inside with all the shopping bags in tow, Betelgeuse leapt and reached a hand out to grab it, but Lydia grabbed it first and aimed it at him as she turned it on - spraying him in the face like she said and causing him to sputter as he held his hands up in front of his face.

"Hey! No fair!" he teased, trying to grab the garden hose from Lydia. Or he would've if Lydia wasn't holding it out of his reach and spraying him with it any and every time he tried to grab it from her.

"I said that I was so going to spray you with it when the two of us, my dad, and Delia got home didn't I?"

Before he could respond, the front door opened to reveal Charles and Barbara standing there and looking over towards Lydia and Betelgeuse with looks of unhappiness. The two of them stopped, Lydia letting go of and dropping the garden hose and turning it off as she and Betelgeuse looked back towards them with sheepish looks.

Things went silent briefly, then Barbara was the one to speak up.

"Could you two come inside? We need to talk."

Knowing what this was about, Lydia and Betelgeuse could only sadly nod in response as they headed inside, Barbara using her powers to close the door behind her. They turned a corner and walked into the living room - where Delia and Adam were already sat on the couch and waiting for the rest of the family.

And, like Charles and Barbara, neither one of them seemed to be that happy with them.

An unwanted tension filled the living room briefly, not one of the six of them speaking a single word. Well, at least until Betelgeuse was the one who spoke up as his attention focused solely on the Maitlands.

"Did Chuck and Delilah tell you everything?"

Barbara folded her arms, gazing solidly at Betelgeuse. "Yes. First, Charles is right. The living usually don't and will not gnaw on sticks as a way of comfort. And we need to help you get rid of that habit as well as everything else. Second, why did you and Lydia decide to make a mess of that store you went to instead of staying with Charles and Delia?"

"Because it was way more fun. And I would rather do that than adjust to being human."

"Well, from now on it's less causing chaos and more focusing on you adjusting to being human," Barbara spoke up, her tone of voice sounding stern. "We can't have you causing chaos and not learning how to control your strengthened natural abilities and adjusting to being human."

Betelgeuse didn't answer, only nodding in response. And, after a brief few minutes, Lydia chose to be the one who spoke.

"We're not in trouble, are we?"

Barbara's expression softened and a smile crossed her face as she let out a laugh and rested a hand on Lydia's shoulder. "No. You're not in trouble."

Lydia and Betelgeuse breathed sighs of relief at that.

"So," Adam said, him and Barbara each now resting a hand on Betelgeuse's back as they led him upstairs with the Deetzes following closely behind them. "Shall we work on helping you get your strength under control or...?"