"How bad is the school here?" asked Alex, sitting down next to her mother

"I only went to high school here" said Lydia "Go ask Adam or Barbara" Alex got up and started to walk upstairs but was stopped by Lydia calling out to her again "Actually, I think Adam moved here when he was in like the second year of middle school, Barbara's your best bet"

"Kay! Thanks mum!" Alex raced off upstairs, leaving her mother laughing and going back to her computer. Alex walked into the attic and saw Adam sitting reading a book. "Adam I need your wife"

"I say that a lot" muttered Beetlejuice from his place on the ceiling "never works"

"Uhh... Barb?" Adam called out to the opposite side of the attic. The female ghost emerged from behind the wall carrying a box.

"Whats up sweetheart?" she asked, putting the box down

"Oh nothing" said Beetlejuice, flipping onto his back and looking at the Maitlands upside down "I'm fine"

"Alex wants to talk to you," said Adam. Barbara smiled at the young girl and looked back at her two boys.

"Ok, we'll go talk downstairs. Don't break anything and Beej, remember boundaries" she kissed Adam on the cheek "Love you"

"I love you too" said Adam

"I love you more"

"I love you most"

"Bleh, stop" said Beetlejuice, flipping over onto his stomach and gagging. The Maitlands laughed and Barbara walked off with Alex, blowing a kiss to Adam. They made their way to the young girl's bedroom and closed the door behind themselves.

"So, whats up?" asked Barbara

"What's school like here?" asked Alex, flopping onto her bed and looking at Barbara, who smiled and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Well, from what I remember and my experience, it was ok" said Barbara, crossing her legs and looking at her niece "I mean, I was teased in my first year of middle school but apart from that, I enjoyed school"

"You enjoyed it?" asked Alex, raising an eyebrow, making Barbara laugh

"I enjoyed it as much as it is possible to enjoy school" said Barbara "I mean yeah, sure it was hell at times, but it wasn't too bad"

"Because Adam was there?" teased Alex

"Once he arrived, it got better, but I didn't talk to him until 11th grade" said Barbara

"You two didn't talk at all?" asked Alex

"I mean we had hellos and goodbyes in class and in the hallways but we didn't properly talk until we had a drama project together" she smiled at the memory, which made Alex smile.

"How long have you two been married?" she asked, leaning into her pillows and looking at her dead aunt

"Well when we died it was going to be our 12th anniversary" said Barbara "So you can do the math, because I don't want to"

"Don't you count any more?" asked Alex, also not wanting to do maths

"We do" said Barbara "But time works differently when you're a ghost, so we when Charles and Delia moved out, we didn't have a proper way to keep an eye on the date"

"How does time move differently?" asked Alex

"Well, when we died we became ghosts and apparently it'd been a far few months since we died because your mum and grandparents were moving in"

"Oh wow" said Alex "That must've been weird"

"It was" agreed Barbara "But your mum was really nice, and eventually your grandparents warmed up to us"

"So you're just stuck here?" asked Alex

"Well, we could go to the Netherworld, which is the afterlife, but we wanted to stay here for Lydia and now for you guys too" Barbara smiled at Alex, who smiled back. They chatted for a bit longer and Alex wasn't so scared of school anymore. 

"Thanks for this Barbara" said Alex, standing up when Lydia shouted from downstairs for her to come down "It made me feel better"

"No problem sweetie" said Barbara, flicking her hand and making the door open "I'm glad I helped you" the two walked out of the door and were met by Adam, Will, Victoria and Beetlejuice also coming downstairs. 

"You good now Alex?" asked Adam, taking Barbara's hand in his own and giving her a kiss on the cheek. 

"Yes" nodded Alex. They all walked downstairs and saw Delia and Charles sitting on the couches talking to Lydia. 

"Grandma! Grandpa!" Alex and Will ran to hug their grandparents and Victoria scrambled off Beetlejuice's back and followed her siblings. 

"Hey guys" said Delia, hugging them tightly, then she spotted Beetlejuice, Adam and Barbara watching with smiles. "Adam! Barb! Beej! I haven't seen you guys in forever!"

"Hey Delia" said Adam "How have you been?"

"Good actually" said Delia "The cats finally adjusted to the new house"

"Oh how is Benny?" asked Barbara, coming downstairs and standing behind Lydia's chair

"Oh he's good, just missing you two for company"

"We miss him too," said Barbara, putting a cold hand on the exposed area of Lydia's back, making the woman jump. She turned around and looked at Barbara with a frown

"I thought you'd learned to control your body temperature"

"We have" giggled Barbara "I just wanted to surprise you"

"Well, maybe that's how you can wake up the kids in the morning when they're lazy and don't want to get up" said Lydia, looking pointedly at her daughter and son

"Oh Barb woke me up that way the other day" said Alex "I didn't appreciate it"

"It was funny" said Barbara "I used to wake Adam up the same way"

"Her and her cold hands" sighed Adam "Not nice in the winter time, I'm telling you that much" 

"Anyway" said Charles, looking at his grandchildren "Ready for school tomorrow?"

"I dunno" said Will

"Yes" said Alex confidently. This made Barbara smile. The family settled down to have afternoon tea together and then decided to bring out some old board games. It was monopoly, Adam and Charles favourite. It was actually quite funny seeing the two men play against each other all these years later, and still see them being just as competitive as before. 

"Adam" groaned Alex, as she and Victoria, who was playing with her, got bankrupted by the ghost "No far" 

"Sorry" shrugged Adam, handing the dice to Lydia over his sulking wife, who'd already been bankrupted "Monopoly's the only thing I'm not kind with" Barbara nodded sadly in confirmation. 

"Meany" muttered Victoria. This made Lydia and Delia snort and go into a silent fit of giggles. Victoria crossed her arms and frowned at her mother and grandmother "It's not funny, Adam's a meany bum, in-fact..." she turned to look at the ghost "That is your nickname, meany bum"

"Victoria" said Lydia with a warning edge to her voice 

"Fine, just meany" said Victoria 

"Tori" said Lydia 

"Fine" groaned the three year old, flopping onto her grandfathers shoulder "Just Adam"

"Good girl" said Lydia, throwing the dice and moving her counter, only to land on her fathers biggest property "No!" 

"Cough up sweetheart" said Charles, holding his hands out. Lydia handed over all her money and shuffled her seat over to Beetlejuice's, planning on helping him. 

"Adam, Charles you two had better watch out" said Delia, looking at her grandson with a smile "He's just as good as you" 

"It's his father" said Barbara, Lydia looked at her "I told you about Liam didn't I? Him and Adam's competitions?"

"Oh yes you did" said Lydia "I'd love to see them 4 play against each other, it'd be quite entertaining" 

"It would" agreed Alex, then she yawned and so did her little sister.

"Bed time missy" said Lydia. "Barbara wanna come?"

"Sure" smiled Barbara "Why not"

"Ok, say goodnight guys" Alex and Victoria gave everyone at the table, excluding their brother, a kiss and a hug goodnight before Alex climbed the steps with her mother and Victoria looked sleepily up at Barbara. The female ghost gently picked up the child and carried her upstairs. Adam watched with a smile as the 3 year old laid her head on Barbara's shoulder and waved sleepily at them.