Barbara walked through the door to the attic and collapsed onto the bed face first. Adam turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Anything wrong honey?" he asked and only got a groan in return. Adam stood up from the box he was looking through and walked over to his wife. "Barbara?" the female ghost rolled onto her back and looked at her husband. "What's up honey?"
"Lydia" said Barbara
"What's wrong with her?" asked Adam
"She's getting frustrated about maths and won't let me help" sighed Barbara. Adam smiled gently and rubbed his thumb down her cheek. Barbara leant her face up against his hand and smiled at him.
"She'll come around" said Adam "She just needs time" Barbara nodded and sat up. Adam took his hand away from hers and looked at her. "Hey, can I show you something I just found?" Barbara nodded and Adam went over to the box he was looking through and brought it over to her. She peaked into the box and gasped.
"Adam!" she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly "I thought we'd lost these"
"So did I" said Adam, reaching into the box and grabbing the first stack of photos. Barbara laid her head on his shoulder and together they looked through them. "Oh my god, these are all your show photos"
"Oh wow" said Barbara. The first photo was her in a white dress, dark brown (nearly black) hair and pale make up "That's when I was a ghost" then she deflated "and now I am a ghost" she sadly sighed and Adam put an arm around her. "I'm sorry"
"It's alright hon" said Adam "You have every right to feel sad" he looked at the next photo and Barbara started laughing. The photo was of Adam in the sound tech box, he looked so bored. "Those glasses..." said Adam
"They were cute" said Barbara. Adam blushed slightly and Barbara giggled, she found it adorable how much Adam blushed and how cute he was when he did. She leaned up to him and kissed each of his cheeks.
They continued to look through the box of photos, reliving all their happy (and sometimes sad) memories. They didn't realise just how much time had passed until Lydia knocked on the attic door.
"Barb?" came her small voice from the other side of the door.
"Come in sweetie" said Barbara, putting the last few photos back in the box. Lydia walked in and gently shut the door behind her. She was in black sweatpants and an oversized jumper which everyone knew was her mums. She looked ready for bed because her hair was in two braids that ended in pigtails and she looked sleepy. The teenager looked over at Barbara with a concerned look. "Hey Lydia"
"Hi" said Lydia while fiddling with the sleeves on the jumper. Barbara knew this was a nervous habit of the teenagers (she did it too) and wondered what was wrong.
"What's up Lydia?" asked Barbara, linking her hand with Adam's, them both turning towards the teenager.
"Are you mad at me?" asked Lydia. The Maitlands gave her confused looks "I was annoyed about maths earlier and took it out on you and you left and didn't come down for dinner or anything and dad and Delia said it was probably nothing but I feel really bad about it and I hope you're not mad and I'm really sorry" she said this all in one breath and then looked at the floor. Barbara gently got up and hugged Lydia tightly. The teenager was stiff for a moment before relaxing into the hug.
"I'm not mad honey" said Barbara "We just lost track of time I guess" she glanced over at her husband and he smiled back at her. Lydia pulled away with a smile.
"Oh, thank god" she grinned "Beej told me you guys must've been really mad at me and was saying you guys had left before dad told him to shut up"
"We'd never leave you" said Barbara "and if we did, we'd say goodbye first" Lydia smiled and hugged her tighter. After a long time, Lydia pulled away and looked over at Adam.
"What were you guys doing up here then?" she asked with a smirk. Adam looked at her with wide eyes while Barbara laughed.
"We were looking through photos" said Barbara, walking over to Adam and sitting next to him, holding his hand again.
"Ooh, can I see?" asked Lydia. She was very curious about the Maitlands lives when they were alive. She'd heard about them at school and around town because everyone knew she'd moved into their old house and would tell her stories; the people of Winter River were very friendly. But that was only the public side of the Maitlands, she was curious about everything to do with them and jumped at the opportunity to learn more.
"Yeah honey, come here" Barbara gestured to the box on the end of the bed and Lydia looked through it. The Maitlands sat up by the headboard and occasionally gave Lydia context if she wanted it, happy to be sharing their past with their adoptive daughter.
