Betelgeuse-A Beetlejuice Novel

Chapter 12: Once Upon A Beetle Bottle

Disclaimer: I do not own Beetlejuice or related characters, he belongs to Tim Burton. I do not own Beetlegeuse. I don't own Betelgeuse? I don't own any of the weird spellings for his name.

Betelgeuse?

Written By: Melanie Ray

Chapter Twelve: Once Upon a Beetle Bottle

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The Living World/Lydia's room...

"Yo."

Lydia mumbled something in her sleep.

"Babe."

Lydia slowly opened her eyes and turned around. There he was. Well, the situation wasn't going to solve itself. "Hey, BJ. Sorry, I just get tired sometimes."

"Makes sense." Beetlejuice nodded, being as supportive as he could. He noticed his old baby bottle lying near her nightstand. "Beetle bottle?"

"Gift from Donny," she informed him. "He said it used to be yours."

Beetlejuice shrugged his shoulders. "Heh. Well, I guess that's okay. It's not like I use it." He snorted. "Besides, this won't change anything between us. I'll still come see you as often as I can. And, well, I guess the kid can tag along."

Lydia didn't know how to take that. Everything was still new to her, and she wasn't ready to start discussing the actual baby. She didn't even know if it would be a human baby, or what. "Anyhow, how is everyone?"

Beetlejuice clicked his tongue. It was probably a new concept still to her. She didn't want to think about it much more than him. "Jacques is still a bonehead. The Monster Across the Street still owns that annoying Poopsie. Ginger still sucks at tap dancing. Nothing new in the neitherworld."

"Good to hear." Lydia patted her pillow. "It's nice to know others are okay. That their days are still normal and ordinary. Plain and simple."

"But that is boring." Beetlejuice said trying to cheer her up. "Sure, okay. Mommy thing is new, sure, but hey. You're already having one heck of an adventure. Me too, I'm alive. There's a new adventure there. Trust me, Babe, same old same old gets old. We've got new things going on."

"Whatever you say, BJ," Lydia said non chalantly.

Getting Lydia's dad back to her side would take time. He'd probably come back to Lydia on his own. Beetlejuice needed to work on another pair right now. "Although, I'm sure you'd be better off if you had a couple more supports? Named, I don't know. Bertha and Prudence?"

Lydia shook her head. "No. Not them, I did so much to them. Besides, they're better off without me." She yawned.

"Still tired, huh?" Beetlejuice chuckled. "It's okay." Beetlejuice turned into a light bulb and turned himself on cheerily. "By the time you wake up, things will be looking a little brighter."

"Much brighter if you would just leave."

Beetlejuice immediately turned back and saw who spoke. He saw two WDP's walking toward him. "You."

Lydia could sense the dissonance between the trio. "BJ. Don't do anything, these are good guys."

Beetlejuice crossed his arms and snorted. "Depends on your definition of good. If you mean idiots with no fashion sense or brains, you're right."

"You may have made it back to her, but there's no way you are ever taking her to the neitherworld!" One of the WDP's yelled at him.

Beetlejuice shrugged his shoulders. "Fine."

Lydia shook her head. "BJ would never put me in danger like that."

Danger? Beetlejuice frowned. Like he would be taking her anywhere in her condition right now? Trips to the neitherworld wasn't on his agenda, he fought hard just to get back to her world. "I'm kind of alive, don't really need to go there. If I had to, I'd be extra careful."

"Extra careful nothing! You can never take her back," The second WDP shouted.

Lydia held up her finger to her lips. "Quiet. My mom and dad are just downstairs."

"Yeah. Pfffttttt." Beetlejuice blew his tongue out at them and then changed to a cowboy suit along with a hat. "So skedaddle you varmints. I'm the hombre who's taking care of Lydia."

Lydia smiled widely at Beetlejuice. It felt so good inside to finally be near her best friend.

"Now, now. Beetlejuice, let's all get along."

Beetlejuice groaned as he saw Donny show up from behind the WDP's. "Not you."

"I've been taking really good care of her," Donny assured him.

"Yes, excellent care." The WDP on the right of Donny replied. "And you will continue doing such care."

Beetlejuice showed his disagreement of that as he turned back to his original self.

"With your help of course," Donny said. "You really did need to see Lydia." He waved cheerily over to her. She was lit up with such happiness again, he could feel it far and wide. He looked over at the WDP's on each of his sides. "Beetlejuice is alive now. There's not much we can do. Besides, I promise I'll never let him take her to the other side."

The WDP's both growled.

The WDP's both pointed at Beetlejuice and said in unison, "We'll be watching you."

Beetlejuice pointed at both of them, turning them into watches. "Well, I'll be 'watching' you too."

Lydia tried to hide her giggle as her and Donny saw the big, bad WDP's turned into big watches. Their faces looked angry. Especially when the second hand hit their nose or eye. It only lasted a few moments though before they turned themselves back to normal.

"Beetlejuice," Donny warned him as he pulled out two presents and handed them to the WDP's. "That's not nice. They just want to protect her too."

The WDP's both looked at the gifts. They were different than the other WDP's that worked with Donny. They had never met him before and didn't quite understand what it was about.

"Sure." Beetlejuice just looked at his nails like a teen girl and pretended to blow on them. "Whatever, Donny."

Lydia didn't exactly know who to side with. The WDP had only meant to protect her, but they had made her keep Beetlejuice away. Now, it looked like things would be fine with him there. Nah, it didn't take long. Lydia got out of bed and stood near Beetlejuice, making her own point clear.

"You really want him near you?" One of the WDP's growled. "He is the one who caused all this."

"Hey, I didn't plan on this happening," Beetlejuice protested. It wasn't his fault. They were desperate to figure out what was going on and a Ouija board had seemed like a good idea at the time.

"He's right," Lydia said firmly. "It's not his fault. I want BJ to stay."

"Fine!" One of the WDP's said grumpily. They'd keep their eyes on him though. Donny along or not, they'd keep their eyes on him.

Beetlejuice chuckled slightly as he pointed to one of the presents a WDP was about to open.

"What the-?!" Little letters of the alphabet started to jump out of the gift and started barking and biting at the WDP's ankle.

"I'm sorry," Donny apologized to the attacked WDP. He just groaned at his brother. "Beetlejuice."

"What?" Beetlejuice just smiled. "A little revenge never hurt anyone." He snapped his fingers and the r-e-v-e-n-g-e all came in single file over to him. He opened up his suit pocket and they jumped in. "A little revenge in the pocket, never know when that comes in handy."

"You are solucky you are alive," One of the WDP yelled. "Otherwise that would have been a one way trip back to the neitherworld!"

Beetlejuice just chuckled. He knew there was nothing they could do. "Yeah, yeah quit the yappin' already. I'm here and I'm staying here. So, nyah."

"I will come back later to check on you Lydia." Donny smiled as the two angry WDP's disappeared. "I know you'll take good care of her, Beetlejuice. Remember to make sure she eats lots of beetles." He handed Beetlejuice a gift. "There's about a hundred in there for a start. Share and share alike."

Beetlejuice watched as Donny disappeared, and turned back to Lydia. "You've had a bunch of help, haven't you?"

"Yeah," Lydia admitted. "But, I couldn't help missing my 'ghost with the most', the most of all."

"Ghost with the most." Beetlejuice started to think. "Not a ghost anymore though. I've gotta find a new catch phrase."

Lydia chuckled. "That's right, you are alive. Well, I guess you have the rest of your life to figure out that puzzle."

Beetlejuice nodded as he smiled at Lydia. It was nice to see her cheerful face again, but there was still too much to do before he could really relax.

"Lydia?" Delia called through the door.

Beetlejuice turned into Mr. Beetleman quickly before Delia opened the door.

Delia smiled kindly at Lydia. "Lydia? I think we still have more to discuss."

"I'm tired mother," Lydia replied. "This day's been hard enough."

"I know, and rest is important too, I agree," Delia said. "But Lydia . . . about the father?"

"That isn't important," Mr. Beetleman said confidently. "Lydia doesn't need some random one night stander. She's a brave girl, she can do it on her own."

Lydia smiled with relief. Beetlejuice was helping out her story. Maybe Delia would drop it then?

"Mr. Beetleman?" Delia frowned. The handy dandy repairman seemed a bit hot under the collar. She looked over at Lydia. "He does have the right to know."

Just a one night stand. Just some boy that demon... Mr. Beetleman tried to control himself. For now. "She'll tell him when she's good and ready."

Lydia looked a bit puzzled at Beetlejuice's expression. Apparently, he wasn't as comfortable with the idea as he was pretending to be. "When I'm ready," Lydia assured her mother.

"Alright." Delia sighed. "I'm here no matter what. Okay?"

"I know." Lydia smiled gently. "Thanks, Mother."

Delia nodded politely at her and Mr. Beetleman. She was so glad he was back. Mr. Beetleman was one of the closest friends Lydia had anymore. And with just his presence, she could see a happy gleam in Lydia's eyes again.

As she started to leave, Lydia sighed. "That won't be a fun conversation to figure out."

Doesn't need to be a part of it, Beetlejuice thought as he changed back to his original black and white stripes again. Whatever kid it was, it doesn't matter. It was a one night thing, he's got no business being here with her. He tried to stifle his anger and smile back at Lydia. "So, Babe? I'm finally back, those WDP's are off your back for now, so what do you wanna do?"

Lydia just laughed and grabbed his hand. So much pressure was finally off of her. "The Movies. A walk. Anything. I just need to get out." Yeah, with everything that had happened a little R and R with good ol' Beej would be a great thing.