DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BEETLEJUICE OR ANY OF THE ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS.

A/N: My first Beetlejuice fanfic. Hope you like. :3

o-o-o-o-o

The giant sandworm reared its head and swallowed Beetlejuice, plummeting through the newly created hole in the Deetz's living room floor. Lydia jerked awake with her heart pounding against her ribs. She released the death grip she had on her sheets and sighed. Sitting up and stretching, she rubbed her face wearily. Night after night, the scene from that fateful night plagued her dreams. In the dream, she found herself powerless to do anything…

Five years… it had been five years since that horrible incident. Lydia's tired eyes scanned her room, pausing to rest on her jewelry box, where she knew a certain ring was hidden. She bit her lip and slowly pushed her sheets back, eyes locked on the black box on her vanity. She padded quietly across the floor and looked at herself in the mirror. She could hardly believe that the young woman staring back at her was really her.

Taking a deep breath, she tore her eyes away from the image in the vanity mirror and stared instead at the little black container. The lid creaked slightly as she opened the since-forgotten treasure trove. A soft smile touched upon her lips as she looked inside. Such treasures, most of which she had forgotten about. A plastic heart necklace from her 8th birthday, her first pair of real earrings, a ring from a boy who liked her in 3rd grade. She took them out one by one and placed them gently on the vanity.

Her smile slowly faded and her heart began to pound again. Sitting in the bottom of her beloved jewelry box, buried under her childhood memories, was a gold band. To anyone else, it looked like a normal ring. But Lydia knew better. That ring held more memories for her than anyone could understand; ghosts in the attic, locked doors, town models, killer shrimp, and a certain poltergeist in a black and white striped suit.

Of course, the color that stood out in her memory was red. The suit he wore was red, the bouquet she had was red, the bow in her hair had been red, and the giant flamboyant dress he had created for her had been red. She swallowed hard as her eyes traveled to her closet, where yet another forbidden treasure from her past was hidden.

Her parents had insisted that she throw it away, and she promised she would… but for some reason she just could not bring herself to throw the gorgeous article of clothing away. When the trashmen came, she hid the dress in the back of her closet and put an older dress in a garbage bag, speaking with an air of disgust about "the atrocious thing". She had continued her charade until she made it to her bedroom.

Lydia put the ring down gently and walked over to her closet. She opened the closet and touched the still-soft cloth of her would-be wedding dress. For some reason, an involuntary smile graced her face when she thought about it.

Her wedding dress.

She bit her lip again and looked around the room, even though she knew no one was watching. She slipped off her nightgown and took the dress off the hanger cautiously. A small smile formed on her lips as she pulled the dress over her head. She was amazed to find that it still fit. Lydia had grown in multiple ways sine she was 15. She had grown taller, by 2 inches at least, her hips had widened, and her bra size had jumped from an A to a C (thank God).

So how was it that the dress still fit her? She continued to stare in disbelief. The dress showed no change in length. Even though her height had increased, the hem still touched her ankles, just as it had during the ceremony. Suddenly, Lydia chuckled to herself. She felt silly for unconsciously thinking it was an ordinary dress.

All at once, the memory of her first meeting with… him… flashed through her mind.

"Are you a ghost too?" She asked warily.

"I'm the Ghost with the Most, babe." He smiled saucily.

She chuckled softly and shook her head. "He wasn't kidding…" She whispered, giving a quick twirl, watching the dress spin around her. All at once she stopped. His arrogant face appeared in her mind, sending it reeling and twisting her stomach in knots. She slumped to the floor frowning. Her dress puffed out around her like a rose, and she smoothed out a wrinkle. She sighed.

"Beetlejuice…"

Lydia covered her mouth at the sound of the banned name escaping her lips. She took a glance at her dress. Feeling bold, she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"… Beetlejuice…"

She felt stupid. She knew he wouldn't come. With a little flicker of the flame of hope in her heart, she squeezed her eyes shut and spoke one last time.

"Beetlejuice."

o-o-o-o-o

Beetlejuice lay on his back floating over his bed lazily smoking a cigarette. He groaned and turned over, leaving the cigarette to dangle from his lip as he drummed his fingers on the air, looking more irritated than usual.

He groaned again. "There's gotta be somethin' to do around here…" Not even 2 seconds later, he fell out of the air holding his head in surprise. It had been a while since he had felt that familiar jerk at the base of his skull.

He stood up, still shocked. A brief period later, another harder tug traveled down the length of his spine.

"Someone's… summoning me?..."

One final pull and Beetlejuice found himself tumbling through the portal between the Neitherworld and the Otherworld. He could have sworn he heard a gentle whisper as he fell.

Beetlejuice…

The echo surrounded him as the colors and shapes zoomed around him. The bizarre beautiful scene ended abruptly as the ground rushed up to meet him.

o-o-o-o-o

Lydia jumped as she heard a thud behind her. Slowly she turned and her eyes almost popped out of her head. Beetlejuice stood up cursing under his breath. "Damn portal… Where the hell am I?" He looked around the room, noticing how familiar it looked to him. "What the…"

Lydia's mouth hung slightly open and she felt like her body was frozen.

'He… he came. I don't believe it…'

Beetlejuice was in the process of brushing his suit off when he noticed the quiet sound of breathing. There was a breather in the room? He turned and fully faced the woman he now noticed was on the ground. "That dress…" He breathed.

She blushed (yep, definitely a breather) and stood up slowly. "Oh, this… Uhm… Yea…" Beetlejuice raised an eyebrow.

"Where did you get that dress? How did you know my name?" He asked, mildly annoyed.

The woman stared at the floor and fidgeted with her thumbs. "You had me guess, remember?"

In truth he didn't.

"And the dress. Well. I never got rid of it…"

Beetlejuice's mind was blank for a few seconds before both of his eyebrows shot up.

"… Lydia? Lydia Deetz?..."