Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or its characters - these were created by Eric Kripke – nor The Tiger Who Came to Tea written and illustrated by Judith Kerr. I'm just borrowing them. I'm not making any commercial gain. No harm or infringement intended.
One evening, Sam and a small, strangely familiar boy receive a ferocious visitor. Events go oddly well. Canon divergent. Set pre-season 6. With thanks to the FicWise writing group.
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The Tiger Who Came to Tea
When Sam thought to poke his head around the door to the nursery it was just normal, parental anxiety. When he saw the looming figure standing in watch over the small sleeping boy of about five or six years old, it sent an icy chill of near-incapacitating terror shooting up his spine.
Adrenaline pumping, he threw himself into the room with a soundless cry frozen on his lips, fists clenched and ready to fly. He came to a sudden stop as the brooding figure turned to regard him with cold, pale blue eyes and smiled.
No, smirked, corrected Sam.
"Hello, Sam," said Lucifer.
Heart still pounding-although with the wind now taken out of his sails-Sam positioned himself between his old adversary and the child's bed.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice, while his body shook with a combination of anger and fear.
"Oh, part of me is always with you," said Lucifer idly, making a show of inspecting his fingernails and generally giving a terrible performance of trying to look innocent.
Sam stiffened, thinking of all the previous instances of possession, dream invasion, and attempts to drive him insane. The unsubstantiated threats of violence he was formulating in his mind were forgotten in the same instant he noticed the boy in the bed stirring.
The child awoke and, on seeing Sam, grinned, his light blue eyes twinkling with delight. A moment later the look was replaced with one of intense curiosity on spying Lucifer. "Who's that?"
Sam ruffled the boy's hair. "Sorry, tiger. I didn't mean to wake you. This is..." He paused and sighed as he attempted to concoct a suitable lie. "...a friend. He was just visiting, but now he's gonna go."
Lucifer broke into a wide, cheesy smile and gave the boy an exaggerated wave. "Oh, but I don't wanna go, I just got here," he answered in a goofy voice. The child was immediately enamored and sat up and giggled.
"No one ever visits," complained the boy. His face lit up in sudden realization. "Have you come for tea?"
"Tea?" repeated Lucifer, blinking in astonishment as if he'd never heard of such a thing.
Sam tried, but he couldn't help but laugh at the archangel's expression. "No. It's late," he explained to the child, once he'd got himself back under control. "Go back to sleep."
The boy stifled a yawn. "But I can't sleep," he whined. "Read me a story... please?"
Sam gave a good-natured, but long -suffering, sigh and rolled his eyes. "All right then, just one and then it's straight to bed. Okay, tiger?"
The boy's sigh was a perfect mimic of Sam's from earlier. "'Kay, promise."
"Atta boy," said Sam, planting a kiss on top of the child's head. "Go pick a book, then."
The boy jumped out of bed and darted across the room to a small book case. Without even seeming to pause for thought, he plucked a specific book from the shelf and held it aloft for inspection.
"Again?" groaned Sam, as he recognized the all-too familiar cover.
The child shook his head and pointed an unerring finger at Lucifer. "I want him to read it to me."
"Maybe it is time for me to go," started Lucifer, trailing off under the combined glare of adult and child. Ceding defeat, he dropped himself down onto the well-worn, scruffy-looking loveseat in the far corner of the room. "It's like talking to myself. Come on then," he grumbled, seeming to avoid meeting Sam's surprised gaze.
The boy didn't need to be told twice, and jumped onto the sofa as a prelude to clambering onto the waiting lap. Lucifer winced. "Careful, kiddo, you know it's not true what they say about angels," he drawled, giving Sam a lascivious wink.
Sam glared, but ruined the effect by sniggering at Lucifer's pained expression as the boy continued to fidget until he'd achieved a more comfortable position, before handing over the book.
"The Tiger Who Came to Tea?" queried Lucifer, doubtfully.
The boy nodded eagerly.
"It's his favorite," offered Sam, leaning against the doorjamb and settling in to watch the bizarrely domestic proceedings.
Lucifer shrugged and commenced reading, before pausing to comment after only a couple of pages. "Tigers are wild animals; you can't tame them. You might think you do, but don't be surprised when they take your hand off."
"That's not what happens in the book," corrected Sam, with a warning edge to his voice.
"The tiger's really hungry, but they take care of him and feed him lots of love." The boy laughed at his mistake. "I mean lots of lovely food!"
Sam raised an eyebrow and cast a significant glance in Lucifer's direction. Unbowed, the Lord of Hell rolled his eyes but continued to read the rest of the book without further comment.
"Well, I suppose we should be glad the tiger found such a loving family," said Lucifer, on finishing the book and closing it, but retaining a tight hold with both hands. "Even if he did eat and drink everything they had."
Sam blinked in surprise, the devil's voice sounded tight and liquid. Was the scourge of heaven really choking up over a children's book?
"They don't mind, they can go to a café for their tea," piped up the child. He turned a pair of fiercely intelligent eyes on Sam. "Can we go to a café, one day?"
"One day. Come on, bed," ordered Sam, overwhelmed with a profound sense of pride as the boy groaned but obeyed, but not before adding a quiet 'thank you' and planting a quick kiss on the devil's cheek.
"Nothing like you, or your oaf of a brother," commented Lucifer, seeming to read Sam's mind. He paused and the smirk that was never very far away crept back to his lips. "He's an angel. Yours, is he?" he asked slyly, seeming amused by the confusion that visibly flashed across Sam's face.
"Yes," declared Sam, shaking his head a little to try to clear the fog from it. He glanced over at the boy, who was once more back in his bed and had, by some minor miracle, already succumbed to sleep. "I take care of him and that's all that matters."
Lucifer held his hands up in a gesture of surrender and changed the subject, making a conspicuous show of looking all around as if searching for something. "So, where's your brother?"
Sam took an instinctive look around in response, but with considerably less confidence. "He's... not here right now. I'm just staying here until he comes and gets me..." he added, trailing off.
"They do say one man's Hell is another man's Heaven," said Lucifer, taking another, less sarcastic and more penetrating glance around. "But I've no idea what it is you've created here."
Sam's face twisted in sudden irrational anger. "A safe place," he replied through gritted teeth. He pointed to the sleeping child. "So he has a childhood; not like mine. No hunting, no demons, and certainly no angels."
Lucifer chuckled. "Such a capacity for love! What a magnificent creature you are Sam Winchester... for a human."
Sam settled down, it was odd, but he decided to just take the strange, backhanded compliment. "He's all that's important," he said, nodding to stress the importance of the point.
"Thank you," said Lucifer, returning the nod and looking oddly touched, before that same old mischievous expression slid back across his face. "Sorry, what did you say his name was again?" The look became intensely curious.
Sam's face twisted in confusion as his brain and mouth struggled against one another. The name flittered through his mind and settled just on the tip of his tongue.
"Forget I asked," commanded Lucifer, seeming to chicken out of whatever point it was that he'd been going to make. He got to his feet, slapping his thighs for emphasis as he did so. "Well, I think I'd better go now; things to do and cage bars don't just break on their own. I'll check in on you again, soon," he said, smiling with an impish affection. "See you later, Dad."
Sam scoffed and turned back to the sleeping child in the bed as his visitor vanished, already forgotten. His face softening, he gently stroked the boy's sandy-blond hair with one large, protective hand.
"Sweet dreams, Lucifer."
(;,;)
Audio reading of The Tiger Who Came to Tea: www (a dot) youtube (another dot) com/watch?v=BUOEGwCdYaE
Judith Kerr and the story behind The Tiger Who Came to Tea: www (a dot) bbc (another dot) co (a final dot) uk/news/magazine-25027090