[IC] Stranger Beetles

[Metronome]

Barbara heard the bathroom door open, and was going to ask Lydia what hair type she had, but paused. The girl had wandered up the hall and stumbled upon their would-be nursery. The girl seemed afraid upon noticing she was there, but Barbara just gave her a soft, if not a bit forced, smile.

"It's okay, hun. We don't go in there much anymore." She leaned over and pulled the door shut. "Do you think you'll be okay staying in that room by yourself?"

Beetlejuice missed the scene as he floated up, and broke the tone as usual. "Couldn't find a single damn sex toy in this whole house. These two have got to be the most vanilla couple I've ever seen!"

Did Beetlejuice adore Lydia? Of course. Would he do everything in his power to keep her safe and happy? Absolutely. Was he a good parental role model? Hell no.

[Beetlejuice96]

"Yeah, I'll be okay." Lydia replied before noticing Barbara's expression. She looked...sad. She knew she shouldn't pry, but she wanted to at least say something to maybe comfort the woman.

"You...don't have any kids...do you?" She asked softly, looking up at her.

"That's why you're so caring; you just want to be a mom."

[Metronome]

A tear sparkled in Barbara's eye, and she reached a hand up to wipe it away. Beetlejuice seem to catch on that his wildly inappropriate behavior was even more inappropriate right now, and clammed up.

"We've tried," Barbara said softly. "But we can't seem to make it happen." She didn't particularly want to talk about this subject with a child she just met. "Maybe that's why you found us." She smiled down at Lydia, brushing her hair out of her face. "Why don't you head to bed, sweetheart?"

Beetlejuice followed Lydia up the hall, waiting until they were in the guest bedroom before breaking the silence. "Well that was morbid," he said, crossing his arms. "And what did Babs mean by "maybe that's why you found them"? We aren't staying here. This is just a temporary gig."

Was it possible that Beetlejuice was...jealous? Afraid, maybe, that the Maitlands made insanely better guardians than he did? Which they did. Afraid that Lydia wouldn't need him anymore? That maybe he'd be forgotten when she realized how much she preferred other humans over the gross demon of highly questionable morals?

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia nodded silently before wishing her good night as she headed to her room, keeping the door open. She had enough of closed doors to last a lifetime. "Beej...what if we did stay?" She asked, looking over at him as she crawled into the giant bed.

"They're really nice, maybe to the point of being the human versions of cinnamon rolls, but they mean well. You saw how doting they are. They just want that chance to be a family, taking care of a kid." She sighed softly.

"I don't fucking know. But what I do know is that they won't betray us."

[Metronome]

He hovered near the ceiling, pouting. Because he knew she was right. These people could take infinitely better care of her than he could, and he knew it.

"We'll...we'll just have to see," he finally said. He watched her crawl into bed, comfortable for the first time in years. He couldn't take that from her, not even for his own selfish gain.

Beetlejuice sighed softly to himself. "If you need me, you know the magic words. I'm gonna go snoop some more."

[Beetlejuice96]

"Night, Beej." She muttered softly as she finally fell into a deep sleep surrounded by softness. Surprisingly she slept well with no nightmares or troubles of any kind. She woke up a little confused, looking around before remembering what had happened the other night.

She smiled a little before slipping out of bed, stretching a bit. It was the best sleep she had in years. Her stomach grumbled a little as she smelled something cooking in the kitchen, heading towards it to figure out what it was.

"Morning." She greeted as she walked in, unaware that her newly clean hair was now a giant puffball of curls.

[Metronome]

"Kid, you won't believe the spread these two made. They got eggs, they got bacon, they got toast-" Beetlejuice proceeded to rattle off the buffet of food the Maitlands had prepared.

"Oh, Delia, you're awake!" Adam chirped. "We weren't sure what you'd like, so we made a little bit of everything!" His sheepish grin was adorable.

"And I drove to the store this morning and bought you some clothes to wear, and some hair products I saw online. I could try to braid it if you want, hun." Barbara was clearly very excited at the prospect.

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia blinked at the swarm of affection that attacked her. She was never around people who actually cared about her wellbeing, it actually overwhelmed her a little to where she wanted to be reclusive. "I...uh...thanks, guys." She said with a little smile, still a little whelmed.

"I've never had my hair braided since..." She said, again shutting down. She was going to say since her mom used to. But that was years ago. She even wondered if her hair would be tamed enough to stay braided. She shook her head of the thoughts.

"Breakfast smells great. What did you make?" She asked, even though Beetlejuice spoiled some of the surprise already.

[Metronome]

"Just a little of everything, hun. Help yourself." Adam was flipping some french toast. Barbara went to look up what braid she wanted to try for the twelfth time.

Beetlejuice was hovering over the table. "They sure know how to put up a guest, don't they?" He sounded a little glum, but forced a smile. He was still stuck on the idea that, with all this, Lydia wouldn't need him anymore, and he'd be right back to being a useless, invisible demon.

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia smiled before playing herself some French toast, bacon, eggs, and some milk to drink it down. She hummed softly as she ate, the food was so flavorful; not that bland mush she usually had. "So good..." She said over a small mouthful of food.

She looked over at Beetlejuice as he spoke, pausing in her feasting to sign at him. "What's wrong?" She asked him, trying not to draw attention.

[Metronome]

Beetlejuice was so busy pouting that he almost didn't catch her hand movement. Luckily, he did.

"Nothing," he said quickly, feeling dumb and a little embarrassed. But he knew that she would know better. "It's just...I dunno...I guess I'm afraid that with these two taking care of ya', you'll forget about ol' uncle BJ." He paused. "I know it's kinda dumb." He rubbed his neck nervously.

[Beetlejuice96]

"I could never forget my best friend." Lydia signed, smiling at him. "You've been with me through the good, bad, and questionably scarring." She added.

She stopped signing once Barbara and Adam joined her at the table. She shifted a little in her seat, unsure of what to say. "So...um...what do you guys do exactly?"

[Metronome]

Beetlejuice smiled at that. "Damn right, kid. Thick and thin, right?" He seemed a little less pouty now as the Maitlands came to sit.

"Oh, I own a hardware store in town," Adam said with a smile. "And Barbara does pottery classes."

"So what do you want to do today, hun?" Barbara sat down with her toast and eggs. "Do you want to go into town, maybe? Charles is our chief of police. We could go talk to him about what happened if you want. I'm sure he could help."

"Hell no!" Beetlejuice perked up. "No cops! And no town. Those bastards are bound to be out looking for us. Unless...you could disguise yourseld somehow."

[Beetlejuice96]

"NO!" Lydia shouted, probably frightening the poor couple at her outburst. Her heart pounded in her ears at the thought of seeing the cops. She didn't want to go back. Her chest tightened as everything around her closed in, trying to squeeze the life out of her. She gasped for air, never seemingly getting enough.

"I can't...I can't breathe." She said, panicking more.

[Metronome]

"Oh my gosh!" Adam stood, whipping out his phone to call 911.

"No!" Beetlejuice flew toward him, and swiped his hand through the phone to short circuit it. He then flew over to Lydia, alongside Barbara. "Kid, you gotta calm down. Slow, deep breaths, okay?"

"Oh, honey, we don't have to see him," Barbara said, backpedaling. "It was just a suggestion. We wouldn't force you!" She didn't know what to do, and was clearly panicking herself.

Beetlejuice did his best to make his hands solid, and gripped Lydia's hands under the table. "Lyds, just listen to me and keep breathing."

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia nodded slowly in reply, listening more to the demon than the two actual humans beside her. She took in slow breaths, letting them out after a while. "I'm sorry," She said after she had calmed down. "It's just I can't trust the cops right now. I only trust you guys."

She gave Beetlejuice's hand a little squeeze of silent thanks. He was always there for her when panic attacks kicked in. "We can go into town, just...no cops. Please."

[Metronome]

"Atta girl," BJ smiled when she finally calmed down and was able to talk. Barbara visibly relaxed, and Adam was still trying to figure out what was wrong with his phone.

"Okay Delia, no police," She promised. "We'll just go to a couple stores, okay?" She rubbed the girl's back gently to comfort her further.

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia nodded in reply, smiling a little bit at her. She felt horrible for freaking out on them, but she couldn't risk being tricked into false security. "You can braid my hair if you want." She offered, knowing it might calm both of them down further.

"Then we can go into town. Deal?"

[Metronome]

"Absolutely, sweetheart!" Barbara looked so excited. She brought her laptop into the kitchen and set it on the table, pulling up a video she'd watched to reference. She armed her shelf with a brush, a comb, and a giant tub of hair product before going to town on the girl's head. Beetlejuice watched for a while, amused at how concentrated the woman was. He didn't get it, honestly. His hair just did whatever it wanted.

Eventually, Beetlejuice got bored and floated off to find what Adam was up. He liked to watch that sexy nerd do that thing where he polished a crib they were probably never going to use. Was that too harsh? Probably.

"So, Delia," Barbara asked, once she got the hang on the braiding and wasn't quite to intensely concentrated. "What to you like to do, hun? Do you have any hobbies? Maybe we can pick you up some things to keep you from getting too bored around here."

[Beetlejuice96]

I went on top secret missions with my best demon friend most of which included him brutally killing people in horrific, Lovecraftian ways, learned self defense from said demon. Oh, and he's the one who's responsible for my foul language. Yeah, that'd go over well. Lydia thought to herself.

"I don't really have any hobbies. They never really gave me anything to do but sit in my room until they called for me." She replied before a faint memory appeared. It was of her mother doing something with a clear crystal no bigger than one of her fingers. Lydia had played with them before.

"But...I do remember something about a crystal." She said before describing the crystal she remembered.