Side fic of my Lucifer's Flock series. This goes between chapters 3 and 4 of Learn to Fly!

Reality

Linda heard a soft knock at her door and for a second thought Lucifer may have accidentally left something behind. It took her a bit longer than it should have to remember that he hadn't had anything on him except his keys and phone, and neither was in her office with her.

"Enter!" she called out.

And it wasn't until her colleague Matthew poked his head around the door, before slowly stepping fully into the room.

Linda smiled. "Dr. Holloway, what can I do for you?"

He blinked at her, before closing the door behind him and walked over to sit on her couch. "You said you would explain at the end of the day. It's the end of the day."

Closing her eyes, she sighed. "Yes, I did. Sorry, I've been in the middle of nowhere for most of the day and forgot due to...well, reasons."

And then he said something that absolutely shocked her, before remembering something very important about Lucifer.

"Do you know your angel client is the devil?"

Yeah, he's a public figure, who is very popular with the patrons of his club. She forgot that she had seen Matt in Lux one or two times, but stayed away from him when he was.

"Yes, I am well aware of who he is. And what he is. Are you?"

He leaned forward, his hands digging into his knees. "He's bad news."

And that made her angry. "Oh, is he? How well do you know him? Or are you going by biblical sense, or his public persona as the playboy?"

"Both! He isn't safe."

She glared at him, crossed her arms and almost growled out her next words. "And you know him so well. He can be reckless, but usually at the expense of his own life. All sex he has is safe, sane and consensual. He's not trying to birth the antichrist or anything stupid like that. During the days, he works with the police to catch killers. He's an officially licensed civilian consultant to the LAPD, and got the position legally. He hates stealing, he hates liars and most of all, he hates being portrayed as the bad guy when he isn't one."

"But how do you know he isn't tricking you?"

She rubbed at her forehead and sighed loudly. "Matt, I've been his therapist for over a year now. Trust me, at this stage I know him better than almost anyone. He is incapable of lying to anyone but himself. And try getting him out of the deep dark pits of denial he's so happy to crawl into. He's the bluntest, most honest person I know. And his eyes...look him in the eyes and tell me that he's bad, or evil, or here to end the world."

Matt got quiet at that, letting go of the death grip he had on his knees and flexing his hands. "So...how did you get the position of therapist to the devil anyway?"

She smiled at the thought. "He was working a case with his partner, and they spoke to me about the death of one of his friends who happened to be a client of mine. He'd never even entertained the thought of therapy until I caught him out on something and peaked his interest. He took me as a good therapist and decided later on to set an appointment with me. The rest is history. Out of all this time, there's only been two weeks he missed an appointment. One he cancelled because of personal reasons and the other I cancelled because I was...well, let's just say he showed me he was the devil, and that does stuff to a poor human brain."

"Seriously? He knew you for a grand total of two minutes and he had already thought you suited him?"

"He can be the densest person on the planet, except maybe for his brother who also hangs around. And no, I'm not saying any names here. But sometimes he can just look at someone and know they're the right person he is looking for. Intuition at its finest. I wish he'd use it a bit more often, but he'll get there eventually. He mainly uses it to pick people up, or to know who is who in a murder investigation. And no, he doesn't always get it right. He's just as capable of silly, little mistakes as the rest of us."

"Wait...that time you locked yourself in your office and was paranoid to the point we all thought you needed therapy, until one day you came out and faced the world again. It was because of him?'

She closed her eyes. "I asked him once to strip away the metaphors in his sessions or I couldn't have him as a client anymore. He's comfortable with me. He stripped the metaphors alright, by proving without a doubt that everything he said in session was truth. It was...horrifying."

He leaned forwards, triumph in his eyes. "So he did hurt you! Se, he's no good."

She shook her head. "He didn't mean to. He sometimes takes things a bit too literally and at that stage he didn't have a pretty set of wings to flash at me. He had to show me something else to prove who he was. It isn't necessarily what he showed that got my mind stuck, it was knowing it's all real and true. Reality is scary. I've seen angels, demons, hell I have talked with the Goddess of all Creation. I stood by the side of a literal Goddess and partook in the great pastime of small talk. Trust me, you either get used to it, or you go mad. It took me a few weeks, but I got there in the end and was able to go back to working with him."

He leaned forwards even further and Linda wondered if he was about to fall out of the seat. "How?"

She shrugged. "It was a bit hard to stay in denial over it. And given what he showed me...I couldn't ignore it either. You're lucky. You can if you decide to. The small flash you got wasn't enough to do much damage, because his wings can inspire divine madness in people. Hence his offer to pay for the therapy bills if you or your client was so taken by them you needed it for what you saw."

He shook his head. "Yeah, I don't think I am quite ready to believe in things like that..."

Linda nodded. "No one is. No one human anyway, with a very few special people who can just take things. And children. Children love him."

The look of horror that crossed Matt's face at hearing that little titbit was almost comical, if she hadn't just tried to convince him that there was nothing evil about the devil.

"You let him near children?!"

And that was comical. She giggled and shook her head. "Not exactly me. His partner has an 8 year old child. She does not miss an opportunity to hug him. It's actually quite adorable."

Matt shook his head. "Maybe you should talk to his partner? Get him away from the kid."

Linda shook her head. "Wouldn't work. She knows who and what he is and trusts him around her daughter. In fact, she sometimes purposefully leaves the two of them alone just to take pictures. It's hilarious, really."

She got a double blink at that answer. "How is it hilarious?"

"Well, it's not a secret and it isn't something he has ever talked about in session, so a little gossip here. He's really uncomfortable around kids. He has no idea how to act with them. He either treats her like a dog, or like a fully grown adult. He doesn't understand children. But that makes sense. I doubt very many children end up in Hell."

Matt shook his head and closed his eyes. A long, low sigh escaped his lips. "You speak so easily of Hell. Aren't you scared of it?"

She nodded. "Yes, of course. And it's worse knowing both Heaven and Hell are actual real places you go to when you die. Lucifer says it's unlikely I will wind up in Hell, but...well, he doesn't know everything about me. And my life isn't over yet. Still plenty of time to do a lot of wrong things. But from what he says, I would prefer to not go there."

With that, Matt leaned forward, and for the first time since entering her office, there was a look of genuine curiosity gleaming in his eyes. "How much do you know about Heaven and Hell?"

She shook her head at that. "Not much and what I have been told falls under doctor/patient confidentiality. Trust me, you don't want to know."

Slumping back into the couch, he nodded his assent to that. "Yeah, probably a good idea not to spread that kind of information around. And you're sure he's safe?"

Linda smiled and nodded. "Yes. Watch him at Lux. Go on a weekend and hear him sing. He does sets then. And sometimes accompanies guest singers on the piano. Don't touch the piano though. You may have noticed most people tend to steer clear of it but him and a select few others. He's territorial of his instruments."

Nodding at her, he got up off the couch and stretched. "Okay, I'll do that. Make a little assessment of my own and try not to judge on bible terms. Good night Linda."

"Night Matt. And, if you need to talk about it, I'm here. I know how hard it can be to know this kind of thing. And I had no one to talk to about it. You're lucky."

He stood still for a moment, before nodding and walking to the door. "I'll take that under advisement. Have a drink for me."

She grinned. "I will."

Linda watched as her colleague slowly and gently closed the door behind him, before letting out her breath. She shook her head and rubbed at her forehead with her fingers.

"Oh, Lucifer. I hope you're not going to get me into trouble for this..."

With that said she turned back to Lucifer's file and went back to writing out the information from that day's failed attempt at flying and his general mod over it.

Things were going to be hard for him until he got over his fear enough to take that leap he would need.