Shirley Edison had been a principal for over a decade. She loved her students and her students loved her. She had started as a teacher over twenty years ago. She had met a lot of different types of children and parents over the courses of her career. Rich and poor. Hardworking and lazy. Well behaved and those with behavioral problems. The point was if a child had a problem, you could bet that she had seen it before. No child or parent had surprised her in years.
Until she met the Morningstar twins.
And their father.
Oh, their mother was normal enough. She was an LAPD Detective in the homicide division who was kind and courteous to the fellow parents. She attended PTA meetings and volunteered at the school when she wasn't busy with work or her children.
The father was something else entirely. First of all, he ran one of the most talked about clubs in L.A. The man had no brain-mouth filter. And for someone with kids of their own, she had never seen someone so awkward with children. He called them "spawn" and "offspring" on a regular basis.
He tried to reward his children's teachers by giving them several hundred dollar tips at the last parent-teacher meeting.
And than there was that incident in September.
She shuddered.
He seemed to find any normal developmental milestone his children achieved to be astounding. It would have been endearing if it wasn't so strange.
She had seen parents guilty of special snowflake syndrome but this was far from it.
It was like he had never experienced any of the quintessential human moments himself.
So today she had a problem.
The normally well-behaved but mischievous twins, Leo and Trixie, were sitting outside her office. They had gotten into a scuffle with an older boy. The twins were seven and in first grade and the older boy was Dominic Davis, a fifth grader well known for bullying the younger kids. In traditional bully fashion, he particularly liked to steal food and money from his victims. Today was not the first time Dominic had an incident with younger children and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. Dominic being older and bigger and having a history of bullying would normally be in her office with her discussing what happened.
He couldn't today though.
He was in the ER.
Somehow the child had been knocked down and he now had a concussion. His parents had left him at the hospital with a family member and they were now here demanding financial compensation from the Morningstars for pain and suffering and medical bills.
Which of course meant she had to call the parents Morningstar.
She hoped this could be settled with just Mrs. Morningstar, she didn't need Mr. Morningstar adding grease to the fire. She picked up the emergency contact list for Leo and called the number listed for his mother.
Chloe picked up on the third ring. "Detective Decker, LAPD. What can I do for you?"
"Hello Mrs. Morningstar. This is Mrs. Edison from the school. We've had an incident with your children."
Chloe groaned. "Oh no, both of them?"
"I'm afraid so. I'm going to need you to get down here ASAP. The parents of the other child involved in the incident are demanding to speak with a parent."
"What did they do?"
"I'm afraid the other child has been sent to the ER with a concussion. It's quite serious."
"Are they hurt?"
"The other child is the only one with injuries."
"Okay I won't be able to get down there for a couple of hours. I'm in the middle of handling a suspect. I might lose my job if it's not handled."
"I understand the difficulties of a working parent Mrs. Morningstar but this is a rather time sensitive issue. And we both know how Mr. Morningstar might handle it."
Chloe winced. She didn't want a repeat of the incident from September.
"What if I send the children's godfather? His name is Dan Espinoza. He's listed on their emergency contact sheet."
"I'm afraid it must be a parent or legal guardian. Does Mr. Espinoza have the legal power to act as a guardian?"
Chloe sighed. "Only when Lucifer or I are incapacitated. Look let me call him myself okay? I'll get him down there and I'll make sure he's on his best behavior and I'll send their godfather down with him."
Mrs. Edison was skeptical, but this needed to be solved and what other choice did they have?
"If you think that's best. Please tell him to meet me in my office."
"Will do."
Chloe hung up with the principal and immediately dialed Lucifer's number.
"Hello my love." His voice answered huskily over the phone. "Heading home early?"
"Lucifer, something happened with the kids."
All signs of flirting disappeared as Lucifer's voice changed to alarm. "Where are they?"
"It's not life or death. They had an incident with another child at school and the other child has a concussion. They're both fine. I need you to go down to the school and meet with the principal Mrs. Edison."
Lucifer was already grabbing his keys and making his way out of Lux. "I'm on my way."
"No! Listen Lucifer. This is very important. Are you listening?"
Distracted by preparing to leave Lucifer mumbled at her. "Uh-huh."
"Lucifer!"
"Yes, fine I'm listening."
"I need you to be on your best behavior. I'm sending Dan with you and you're going to wait outside of the school in your car until he's there. Do. Not. Go. In. Alone. I do not need a repeat of the incident from last September."
Lucifer snorted. "It's not my fault that teacher was so sexually repressed. I didn't encourage her!"
"That's neither here nor there. Just don't go into the principal's office alone. If you do there will be no sex for a very long time."
Lucifer sighed. "Understood. I promise I won't go in alone."
Chloe sighed. "Thank you. Please just wait for Dan and don't talk to the other parents without him there okay?"
"The douche will be included."
"Take the kids with you when you're done."
"Of course. Love you."
"I love you too."
Lucifer made his way to his "child-friendly car" Chloe tried to make him drive when he had the twins with him. The douche would tattle on him to Chloe if he took the corvette to the school to drive the kids home in.
His kids had never been called into the principal's office before and for an incident with another child?
Lucifer's eyes blazed red.
He could tell someone had messed with his kids and they were going to pay.
