A Fair Trade - Ch 8

Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with the Beetlejuice franchise nor do I make any money from this.

-Since this week is Thanksgiving, I'm uploading this chapter early. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving and for those who don't do Thanksgiving, well, have a good week! :) -

Chapter 8

"Betelgeuse, we are not juicing to my parent's house." The obviously annoyed woman stood in the kitchen with both hands on her hips, as she shook her head at her husband sitting at the table.

The poltergeist's bottle green eyes turned up from his newspaper and gave her a pointed look with raised brows. "Why the hell not?"

A sigh fell from her pink lips, before she answered him. "I'm not that far along and we don't even know if it's safe for me and the baby. I don't want to risk it, Betelgeuse." She didn't mean to make it seem like his power would hurt them, but the truth of the situation was that she shouldn't even be pregnant. She didn't want to do anything that could jeopardize the pregnancy.

Betelgeuse set the paper down, clearly irritated with the assumption that his juice would hurt his wife and unborn child. His lips curved into a frown, as his tone heated slightly. "My juice is fuckin' safe, Babe. Ya know I'd never put either of you in danger." Letting out a huff, he made a point to remind her that she let him juice with their daughter all the time and she never said a lick to him about it. "You let me juice with Bug all the fuckin' time and she comes back in one damn piece just fine."

Running her hand through her raven locks, she let out another sigh and tried to unruffle her husband's feathers. "I know you wouldn't hurt us, honey, but I'm a little nervous." Hell, she was more than a little nervous. Her mind couldn't help but go to all of the things that could go wrong and there were a lot of things. She should have never started reading that damn pregnancy book. "A lot of things can go wrong in the first few months, Betelgeuse." She put a hand on her stomach, her tone dropping softly "I just don't want anything to happen to the baby." The pregnancy may have been unexpected, but it was most definitely not unwanted.

Standing up, the poltergeist pulled his nervous wife to him and hugged her tenderly. "Sweets, that kid of mine ain't goin' nowhere. You got nothin' to worry about, ya hear me?"

Her face buried into his shoulder and took in his earthy scent, before she pulled back a little to look at him with puppy eyes and a nod. "Yeah, I hear you, but I'd still feel better if we drove to my parents."

A sigh of resignation left the poltergeist and his expression softened at the sight of those damn puppy eyes his little wife was sending his way. "If it will make ya feel better, then we'll drive there, but under one condition, Babe."

She raised a black brow and asked what the man wanted. "And that would be?"

His green eyes twinkled in amusement and a sly grin slid on his rugged features. "I get to drive."

Lydia let out a snort, while shaking her head at the dead man. "I've heard about your driving, so no not happening." She was not letting this man behind the wheel, not after what Barbara and Adam had told her. How could she trust him to drive a real car, when the man couldn't even drive a toy one? Seriously, crashing into a goddamn fire hydrant.

His grin fell at his wife's rejection and he let out a cry of protest. "Awe come on, Sweets. That was a long time ago and I was under fuckin' duress."

Duress! HA! Who the hell was he trying to fool? Her brows went up once again and another snort rang from her. "Duress, my pregnant ass! You were pissed off."

The poltergeist's face clouded at the memory, then contorted into anger. "Damn right! That would've been one of my best if it hadn't been for those goody goodies"

Didn't he realize that if his plan would have gone the way he had planned it, the chance of them being like this might never have happened? Lydia's chest just hurt thinking about not being with this poltergeist. If it weren't for him, where would she be? Most likely dead, because there was a big chance that she would have still had her photographs shown at the same gallery and she would have still met Luke.

She saddled closer to her husband, her hand resting on his chest, as she peered up at him with big doe eyes and a small frown marring her lips. "If it hadn't been for them, you most likely would have scared us off and there's a good chance that we wouldn't be here right now."

His large hand slid up to her cheek and cupped it tenderly, as he spoke with such utter confidence coloring his tone. "Naw, if you'd had run, I would have found ya."

Lydia leaned into his touch and questioned her confident husband with a smile playing on her lips. "Oh yeah, why is that?"

Betelgeuse flashed his beautiful wife a blinding smile. His voice dropping low and huskily, while moving his face closer to her own so that he was staring into her dark eyes. "Cuz Babe…You had my attention."

His words caused a rush of happiness to consume her and a silly smile to grace her lips. She should have known that she had caught his attention, after all, he had wanted to marry her. Granted, a huge part of that had been for his freedom, but maybe on a subconscious level it had been more. Her lashes fluttered, and she gave him a flirty grin, as she spoke. "Do I still have your attention?"

The poltergeist's eyes flared with heat and he gave her that predatory grin of his, as he ran a thumb along her bottom lip. "All the motherfuckin' time, Baby." He swiftly leaned in and kissed her soundly, before pulling back and wiggling his brows and giving her another grin.

A laugh broke out of her, as her cheeks warmed, and her hand grasped onto his clothed chest. What could she say? When this man kissed her like that, well, she can't help the giddy feeling bubbling up inside of her. "Fine, you can drive." She knew he would never intentionally hurt them, and it was ridiculous to rely on something that happened in the past. So, she caved and waited for her husband to crow loudly.

His face flashed with surprise, as he stared down at his small wife. "No shit?" His grin became even wider and kissed her again.

She drew back and laughed at the poltergeist, as she pointed her finger and poked him in the chest "Yeah, but if you crash I'm kicking your ass."

"Deal Babes." He gave her a wink and then laughed, before kissing her once again.

The couple broke apart when a cry sprang out from the baby monitor resting on the table. Both parents turned to the monitor then back to each other, while the child's crying increased with every call for her father. "Daaaaaaadaaaaaaaa!"

"I guess that little nap didn't help her mood any." Lydia sighed to her husband, who nodded his head in agreement and released his hold on her.

He blew out a large breath, before stepping back and turning away from her to make his way quickly out of the room. She hurried to catch up with him and paused in Lucy's doorway to watch as her ghostly husband approached their upset daughter.

In a few steps the poltergeist was next to the crib and gesturing out to the sitting little girl, as he gently called to her "Come here, Bug."

Her watery hazel eyes look up at her father, while she crawled to him and said his name. "Daaadaaa."

Betelgeuse leaned in and snatched her up in his arms, cooing softly to her. "Sssh…I know kiddo. Daddy's here." He pulled her snuggly to his side, one arm holding her, while the other hand went to rub her back.

Her little lip wobbled, and she tugged on her ear, as she stared at her father and called out to him again. "Daadaa."

The poltergeist continued to rub his daughter's back, as he whispered to her. "Sssh…Daddy's here now." Lucy let out small whimpers, then rested her blonde head on his shoulder. More soothing words came from the rough poltergeist and unconsciously began to rock her back and forth. "Sssh…It's okay, Bug."

Lydia's gentle tone came filtering into the room, as she made her way to her husband and child. "I think she may be coming down with something."

"Hmm…Lil Bug hasn't been actin' like herself. It must be somethin'." His gaze drifting to his wife then back to their daughter, as he continued to sooth the cranky child.

Lydia's hand reached out and slowly stroked her daughter's head. "Do you think we should cancel? We can do it another time?"

Her poltergeist scoffed and turned his gaze back to hers. "You ain't getting out of this one babe. Lil bug will be fine and if she ain't better by the time we get there, then we'll quickly tell your folks and cut it short."

"If you think it's okay, then fine we'll go. Can you help me with the bags after you get her dressed?"

The poltergeist snapped his fingers and smirked down at his wife, while he moved around the room to get Lucy ready for the trip. "Done, Sweets. Now go get your coat and other shit on, so we can hit the road."

It must be nice to snap your fingers and get things done in a blink of an eye. That would be nice for when she can no longer see her feet. How many times while pregnant with Lucy did she have mismatched shoes on? A snort left her as she thought to herself. 'Too many fucking times to count.' "Wish I could do that?" She grumbled loudly to herself as she left her husband and child to go get the last of her things ready.

It took about an hour to drive from their place to her parents. By the time that they were driving up the winding driveway, their temperamental child had fallen asleep once again.

As they stopped in front of the house, Lydia turned to her poltergeist and gave him a serious expression, when she spoke. "Betelgeuse, remember you promised to behave."

He rolled his eyes, as he shifted the car into park and said drily, "Yeah, I remember. No scarin' no one. Wouldn't want to give daddy-in-law a good ole heart attack. I'll be good. I swear it Babe. Scouts honor." He made the hand gesture of the boy scouts to her, as he winked and bent around the seat to release and grab a sleeping Lucy from her car seat.

She snored loudly, while she opened her door and stepped out. "When have you ever been a Boy scout?"

Betelgeuse peered over the top of the car and smirked. "I've been many things, Sweets."

"I'm sure you have. You've been around for ages after all."

"That makes me older and wiser than."

"You got the old part right." She laughed as she approached the door, but was stalled by her husband's hand on her wrist.

His cool breath tickled her ear, causing a gasp from her and a chuckle from the devious specter. "Baby, that's not what you were saying early this morning as I was poundin' into that tight little pussy of yours. As I recall, it was don't fuckin' stop and harder Betelgeuse. I didn't hear nothin' about me being old."

Her face flushed with color as she did indeed remember their morning activity and the things she had said during the heat of the moment. There had been a lot more than just those two things to come out of her mouth. Her poltergeist seemed to draw out aspects of herself that she never thought was possible.

Lydia tilted her head back, so that she eyed her husband, while her pink tongue came out to lick her lips slightly as she purred at him. "Honey, I never said being old was a bad thing." She drew closer to his cool lips and coasted over them, as she continued. "Some things get better with time." Right before she was going to move in to touch their lips together, she pulled her body away from him and winked.

She heard him growl loudly as she made her way to the door. "Fuckin' tease."

"Only to you baby." She gave him another wink, before letting out a giggle and knocking on the door. When nobody came, Lydia opened it and stepped inside, calling for family "Dad? Delia?" She looked around the room and called some more "Barbra? Adam? We're here!"

Delia's voice floated out of a room, followed by the clicking of her heels, as she hurried toward them. "Lydia my dear, I'm coming!" Her stepmother came out looking down at the towel as she wiped her hands. When she finished, she turned up to look at the waiting couple and screamed bloody murder. The towel fell to her feet, as Delia scrambled backwards and her back hit the wall. She pointed a shaky hand at the poltergeist and stumbled over her words. "W…w…what is HE doing here?"

Before Lydia could open her mouth to respond, her father came rushing out of another room. At the sight of them, he let out a scream of his own, while making a beeline for his terrified wife.

Lydia watched as her parent eyed her husband in both terror and confusion. Well, this was going better than she had thought. She turned to her poltergeist, who was just grinning madly at the whole situation. Of course, he would be enjoying this. The dead man thrived on shit like this.

They heard the voices of Barbara and Adam from the staircase. "Charles? Delia?" The young mother and poltergeist waited for the ghostly couple to make their appearance. They watched as Barbara and Adam flew down the stairs, only to pause when the couple spotted the poltergeist.

Barbara's eyes enlarged than her mouth was open, and she was quickly yelling the specter's name. "Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse!"

The two scared couples waited on baited breath, but quickly released that nothing was going to happen when the poltergeist remained. Betelgeuse gave them all a huge grin, before speaking his thoughts "Sorry to disappoint you all, but that shit doesn't work anymore. I'm a free man. Well as free as a married man with a wife and kid can get, but free, nonetheless."

Lydia elbowed her husband in the stomach and turned to glare at him. "Gee, you make it sound like we are some kind of burden."

Betelgeuse scoffed and narrowed his green eyes at her "Woman, don't be puttin' words in my mouth. I didn't say shit about ya guys being a burden. You know I'm with ya cuz I want to be." His hand snagged out and pulled her to him, both forgetting about the other people in the room. "Now don't get your panties in a bunch. It's not good for you to get upset and it's most certainly not good for the baby, Babes."

Despite being scared and really confused, Delia was the one who question them. "Baby? What baby?"

Lydia gave Betelgeuse a pointed look, then turned to her family. Well…they were already upset. It couldn't get any more worse than this, so what the hell... "We're having a baby."

"WHAT!?" "But he's dead?" "How is that even possible?" The two couples yelled in unison and watched Lydia and Betelgeuse with a mixture of horror and shock.

"Oh, it's possible." A raspy voice cut in through the chaos and out of the shadows stepped the elderly case worker. "Geuse is a very powerful poltergeist and can do a magnitude of things. Though the power to reproduce is very rare and can only be achieved if the entity cares deeply for the one they are with." Her eyes flicked over to Betelgeuse, before going back to the others "I thought Geuse might have the ability, but I wasn't too worried since he only cares about one thing, Himself."

The poltergeist glared at the old dead woman and snarled at her. "Yeah, proved that shit wrong, now didn't I Junie?"

Juno just shrugged her thin shoulders and puffed on her lit cigarette "We will see about that."

Lydia felt a sudden burst of anger as she stared at the old woman and listened to her talk to her husband like the old bat knew what she was talking about. The tiny woman shook off her husband and stepped towards the elderly one. Who the hell did the stupid bitch think she was? Lydia gave her a glare and a snarl of her own. "What the hell does that mean, Lady? He may be a pervy asshole at times, but he has been nothing but good to Lucy and me. You all look at him like he's some kind of monster, but I've seen what live monsters can do and he is fucking far from it!" Lydia's throat tightened as she forged on "If it hadn't been for him, we would be dead. He saved us, even when he could have refused. He saved us because he wanted to!"

"He saved you because he wanted something from you." Juno cut in and Lydia turned a Betelgeuse like sneer in her direction. "I called him, because I fucking wanted something! I had known exactly what he wanted before I called him. I wasn't naïve to that. His offer had been marriage, and I accepted what he had offered. And you all want to know what, I don't regret it, not one single fucking bit. It was like destiny or some shit like that."

Betelgeuse let out a loud snort as he pulled his irate wife against him. "Hey Babes, that's my line."

She crossed her arms under her chest and huffed, while tilting her head up and looking him in the eyes. "Well I'm your wife, I can borrow your lines if I need them."

He tried to hide the amused expression that wanted to break through, as he kissed her temple and attempted to pacify his angry wife "Sure Sweets, anytime ya want." The poltergeist then whispered in her ear. "Seeing you go all bitchy mode on someone other than me was so fuckin' hot, Babes." Of course, he would think it was hot. Only her husband would find her bitchiness remotely sexy. Her anger washed away with the onset of her amusement. A giggle bubbled forth and she shook her head at the dead man, as he grinned down at her with wiggling brows.

A throat cleared, and all eyes were drawn to the young deceased woman. She gave them all a hesitant smile and motioned to an open doorway "Maybe we should take this to the sitting room, so we can get the full story on what is going on."

Everyone in the room shook their heads in agreement and slowly made their way to the sitting room, so the unexpected couple could explain just what the hell was going on.

Minutes later, they were all watching the new couple anxiously, as they waited for them to speak.

The poltergeist reclined back against the couch cushions, his sleeping child in one arm and his tiny wife in the other. Lydia gave her husband a nervous smile, which he returned with an encouraging smirk of his own and drawing her closer. She let out a sigh and rested her head on his shoulder as she spoke. "The night I called on Betelgeuse was the night Luke had broken into my home and tried to kill not only me, but Lulu as well."

The couple heard the intake of sharp breaths from the other occupants, but they didn't interrupt the young woman. "He must have planned the break-in, because he had cut the phone lines so I couldn't call for help. If I had known that, I wouldn't have run with the phone to the bathroom to hid and call the cops." Lydia buried her face in her husband's shirt and took in his earthy scent, before she pulled away and continued. "If I hadn't called on Betelgeuse, Luke would have killed us. I asked him to get rid of my problem and he did just that."

Barbara was the first one to speak "So, you called him, and the deal was struck. What do mean by get rid of? Did he…kill him?"

Lydia caught the dead woman's eyes and shrugged, then rested her head on her husband's shoulder. "Honestly I don't know what Betelgeuse did to Luke and I'm not going to ask either. All I care about is that he is gone and out of our lives."

Barbara turned to her husband and gave him a worried glance, before she went back to the young woman. The dead woman's husband cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up, as he spoke this time. "But Lydia, it's wrong to just murder someone, even if they do deserve it. You shouldn't be okay with it."

Delia spoke out while she sneered and sent a hot glare at the dead couple. "You say it's wrong, but I can't help but be thankful knowing that he will never hurt my daughter and granddaughter again." She shrugged her shoulders and sneered some more. "So, the rat bastard is dead. Good riddance. One less abusive asshole out there."

The poltergeist let out a bark of laughter and directed a smirk at his pissed off mother-in-law. "My thoughts exactly, Red."

Delia's head shot to the poltergeist and her eyes widened, but didn't say anything to the dead man. She just jumped nervously and went back to huddling in her husband's embrace.

Betelgeuse rolled his eyes at their jumpy and twitchy behavior. Seriously, he hadn't done anything yet, so why would he do something now? Plus, he promised his little wife and he wasn't about to back out on his word.

"What about Lucy? What are you going to tell her?" Adam questioned as he eyed the couple and waited for their response.

The poltergeist glared at the man, as he tightened his hold on his child and wife. "We ain't tellin' her shit. To Bug, I'm her daddy and that's the way it's gonna stay. She's my kid, not that Guttercunts!"

Barbara's lips twisted in displeasure and glared at the dead man. Her tone sounded patronizing as she spoke. "Yes, through marriage you are, but you're not her biological father."

The poltergeist's face contorted in fury and went to open his mouth to retort back, when Juno cut him off. "Actually, Geuse is correct. He is now that child's paternal parent. It's what you get when you marry a breather. Once you say I do, you take responsibility for any children that the breather has."

Betelgeuse sneered at the boring goody goodie and ground out his response. "I told ya the kid was fuckin' mine. Talkin' like ya fuckin' know what your fuckin' talkin' about. When we all know that you ain't been around long enough to know shit, you stuck-up bit…"

Lydia's loud yawn interrupted the pissed off specter and drew his attention from the young dead woman to the tiny woman in his arms. His anger seemed to melt away when his bottle green eyes landed on her and squeezed her to him, while he gently spoke to her. "Babes, You okay there? You gettin' tired or something?"

Her drowsy eyes stared up at him and gave him a weak smile, then yawned loudly again. "Yeah, I'm suddenly really sleepy." She yawned again and went back to rest her head on his shoulder. He lightly kissed the top of her head and asked her what she wanted to do. "You think ya want to take a nap, Sweets?"

Lydia nodded tiredly, as her heavy lids slid closed and her words slurred slightly. "Yesuuure." She yawned again and snuggled closer to her husband.

Betelgeuse snorted in amusement then turned his attention the other people in the room. "Well folks, I guess we have to cut the inquisition short, cuz my little wife says she wants a nap and a nap she'll get." He turned from them and shook his little wife, causing her to jump up groggily. "Come Babes. Let's get you and Bug to bed for a little bit."

Her husband helped her to stand and she pulled on his coat to draw his attention. His green pools met her chocolate ones, and she gave him wide puppy eyes, while her bottom lip went between her teeth. "Will you come and take a nap with us?"

He drew her into his arms, while he leaned in and kissed the top of her head softly, then quietly answered her. "Sure, Babe. If that's what ya want?

She nodded, as a drowsy smile graced her lips and her head went to rest against his chest. "I would like that very much."

The poltergeist kissed her head again and whispered just so she could hear. "Me too, Sweets."

Her gaze went to her family and offered them a weary expression. She wasn't sure how they were going to respond, since she knew that they wanted some answers. But the sudden wave of exhaustion had suddenly wiped her of her energy and all she wanted to do was get some rest. The young mother hoped that her family would understand and wouldn't try to stop them. She wasn't sure what her brash and vocal husband would say or do if they did. Most likely nothing good and they would probably be on their way home. "Sorry you guys, but I'm suddenly really tired. This pregnancy is already sapping my energy. Do you think we can talk about all this when I get up?"

Delia offered her pregnant step daughter a reassuring nod, while she eyed the poltergeist warily. "Sure, my dear, I gave your room a good cleaning, so the bedding is clean, and I set up Lucinda's crib as well. Go take a little nap to recharge and then we will talk." Her father bobbed his head in agreement with his wife. "Yes, like Delia said, go take that nap pumpkin. We can talk later."

Relief washed over the exhausted woman and she turned her gaze to her ghostly parents. They both gave her a nervous smile, though their eyes flicked to her husband and gave him a dirty once-over before their attention came back to her. Barbara sent her a soft and reassuring look, as she spoke. "Lydia, go take a nap, and we will talk to you in a little bit." Adam inclined his head in agreement and took his wife's hand. "Yes, go get some rest. We can finish this later."

Lydia threw them all another drained smile and lifted a tired hand to wave goodbye. Her husband, who to her surprise didn't say a lick to either couple; just led her out of the room and up the stairs to get some much-needed rest.

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