I know, I know, it s been forever, but here it is, finally! Another chapter! So far my efforts to buy the characters from Geffen and co. for the cost of a bag of gummy worms are still unsuccessful, so they belong still to them, and not me . Such a pity (Hint at the next thing I m doing!)
Enjoy!

Beetlejuice slumped at the bar, nursing his whiskey. The bartender had arched his eyebrows at the pretty blonde ordering such a strong drink, but had poured it and left him, err her or whatever.

He scowled and thought about what he had learned. He had spent the past week around Winter River learning everything he could about what had happened with her in the past ten years. He was formulating a plan of approach.

"Hey! Hiya Lyds! Remember me? That ghost you used to hang out with and who tried to marry ya?" wasn t going to cut it, especially since he was stuck in this (admittedly hot) girl form.

"Hey, are you ok? Did it hurt?" asked a voice from behind him. He turned to take in a large muscular man in a Patriots shirt and grungy jeans.

"What?" He asked, no idea what the man was getting at.

The man surged forward, putting his hand on BJ s shoulder and pressing his face close.

"Did you get hurt when you fell from heaven?"

Beetlejuice panicked for a moment. How did this guy know he was dead? Sure he had the details wrong about WHERE he had come from, but how? Then it dawned on him. It was a pickup line! This guy was HITTING on him!

He pushed the man away. "Look bub, I don t swing that way."

"You just haven t had the right man then. Let me help you, baby I can show you a REAL good time" The man leaned closer and wrapped an arm around Beetlejuice's waist with a slimy smile.

Beetlejuice shoved the man off and glowered at him. "What the fuck, man! I said no! What are ya, retarded?"

"Ohh FIESTY! I like it! Come on baby, you're too pretty to be a dyke." the man closed the distance between them again and grabbed Beetlejuice with both hands at the waist, pressing against him with obvious intent to grope.

"That s IT!" Beetlejuice hauled back and punched the man in the face. He stumbled back and fell to the ground, out cold. BJ went back to his barstool and his drink. The bartender gaped at him.

"What? Never seen a girl defend herself before?" he sneered. The bartender looked away, suddenly finding the polishing of glasses to be VERRY interesting. Beetlejuice sulkily finished his drink and walked into the night to plot.

Beetlejuice floated invisible outside of Lydia's Workroom window, watching her pin a swathe of black and white striped fabric around her dressmakers form. The obvious influence of his fashion sense on her creations was not lost on him and gave him a secret bit of hope.

He was startled form his rumination when he suddenly dropped into the bushes below the window, his powers drained completely. He looked up to see Lydia leaning out of her window spraying black paint onto a bunch of silk flowers. He had been so lost in thought he hadn t noticed her coming close enough to trigger the goddamn bracelet.

He stood and brushed off, deciding that he had had enough of skulking around. He walked away from the house far enough to juice himself a mirror and straightened up. He didn t make a bad chick, in his own opinion. He carefully smoothed his hair down into its twist and applied a fresh coat of red lipstick before snapping his fingers and banishing the mirror and makeup. He walked right up to Lydia s front door and knocked.

It took a moment for her to open the door. There was a smudge of black paint on her cheek and it matched her lipstick. Beetlejuice s lips curled into an amused smile. It was still the same Lyds, no matter that she had grown up, and done so quite nicely.

"Hello? Can I help you?" she asked, gazing at poltergeist on her doorstep. The moment stretched as Lydia tried to figure out where she knew this person from and Beetlejuice mentally begged her to remember.

Finally he gave up and swooped her into a huge hug. "Oh my god! Lydia! It s me! Betty! Remember? From Miss Shannon's? I heard you had gotten back into town and had to come say hi!"

"Um hi..." Managed Lydia, pressed between Betty's ample bosoms. She vaguely remembered a Betty from school. A dirty and rude girl who had nevertheless been a good and loyal friend. And there her mind went into fog again, teasing her and taunting her with the edged of things she knew she should remember. She hugged the woman back awkwardly and was eventually released.

Lydia looked the woman over. Her hair was still that light blonde, her eyes still green, but she was now the picture of a polished and sophisticated lady.

"Why don't you come in, would you like some tea or coffee?"

"Coffee would be great!" Beetlejuice watched appreciatively as Lydia walked in front of him to the kitchen, motioning to a seat at the table and pulling out a tin of coffee. "So, what have you been up to, Lyds?"

"Well I went to school and became a fashion designer, I also write."

"Yea! I read your latest! Really great stuff!" he actually had read everything she had published when he had learned she had made it in the literary sense. He was particularly proud of how morbid she had turned out.

"Oh thank you!" Lydia was blushing a little, just at the tips of her ears, where no one who didn't know her would have noticed it. Of course, Beetlejuice noticed it and smiled.

"What have you been up to, Betty?"

"Oh this an that. I did some modeling over at GQ" she smirked.

Lydia turned and raised her eyebrows "Don't they do mostly men's fashion?"

"Well yea, but they liked the idea of a cute girl to switch things up." Beatlejuice winked at Lydia and the blush spread.

"Um yea..." she handed Beatle a mug of steaming black coffee and put a jug of milk and some sugar on the table. "Want to see what I'm working on?"

"Sure sounds great!" Beatle put a few scoops of sugar in the coffee and followed her up those familiar stairs to the attic. She showed him the dress, now decorated with the painted black flowers and draped stripes.

"What do you think?"

"It's great really... deadly vou, as you used to say?" Lydia blushed a bit more and Beatlejuice inwardly smirked. If he had her blushing some part of her must know him. He just had to push the right buttons and she would be his Lyds again in no time. An idea struck him that would buy him all the time he needed with her to make it happen.

"Say, do you want to see it on a real person? I am a model after all!" He grinned wide and Lydia lit up.

"Oh my goth! That would be perfect! It s so hard to find a model willing to come out to Winter River to help me! Are you sure?"

"You betcha! I haven t got anything to do and this stuff is real great!"

In a few minutes Beetlejuice sashayed out of the bathroom and into the front room of the house where Lydia was setting.

"Iiiitttttssss shhhoooowwtime!" He growled and Lydia clapped her hands ecstatically.

"It s perfect! You're perfect!" She circled him, tucking that, pining this, and admiring her work on a real body. "It suits you, but then, I noticed you were wearing black and white stripes when you came."

There was that blush again. Beeatlejuice was now uncertain what that could mean. Lydia smoothed her hands over the fabric one last time and then pulled a camera off the shelf. "Would you mind posing some for me?"

"Umm sure." Beatlejuice allowed her to pose him how she liked and then she took her photos.

Lydia focused her camera, her palms sweating. She felt strange. Seeing Betty in that dress had made her heart skip a beat. Everything the girl said had her blushing and feeling like her brain was filled with sticky taffy. She had never been attracted to a girl like this before, but then again she had also not been attracted to a man like this either. As Betty posed she let her eyes wander in hungry sweeps over the tall blonde. Great ass, legs to her chin, fantastic chest and everything in wonderful proportions and on top of it all she could not remember ever being at such instant ease with anyone else ever before.

Could it be? Was she falling for a girl?