"Oww..." Lucifer whined, rubbing his chest where the worst of the pain seemed to have centralized. It seemed like an eternity since he'd last been forcibly ejected from a vessel, and it was not an experience he particularly enjoyed reliving.

"You always did have a remarkably low tolerance for pain." Lucifer stilled as soft feathers brushed over his arm, his visitor landing softly behind him.

He laughed brokenly, "Silly me, and here I thought that daddy dearest's apology was actually sincere. But if he's sent you, then there's no doubt in my mind that everything that came out of that wretched man's mouth was a load of bull -,"

A soft, yet firm voice cut him off. "Did you ever consider the possibility that I'm not here to kill you?"

"You killed me a long time ago, when you held our youngest son in your arms and watched Michael cast me out. You just stood by and let it happen."

"Our son is dead, Lucifer."

"And whose fault is that?"

One glittering, silver wing circled around him, the light reflecting off the metallic feathers dulling the blistering pain that tore through his vessel. He knew from experience that it would be unwise to touch the feathers, especially in his fallen state. Thin as razor blades and ten times as sharp, her wings were perhaps the finest weapon in all of their Father's Creation. One feather alone was strong enough to repel the seraph blade, the entire wing to deflect the archangel blade.

Slowly, he tilted his head back, taking in her vessel's face for the first time. She's wearing Jessica Moore, or rather, what appeared to be a reconstructed version of her. From the report he'd received, their son had done a rather magnificent job of destroying her body the first time around.

It's only natural for her to take that form. Apocalypse or no, Sam Winchester was still his true vessel. Lucifer's mate, then, would be expected to take the form of someone that Sam found to be physically attractive. Lucifer was not particularly fond of this meat suit - he much preferred his wife's true form, with hair so blonde it was practically white and eyes this breathtaking shade of cornflower blue, her smile so bright it had rivaled the light that had once radiated from him -

She's not smiling for him now. Now, she just looked on him in pain, and he wondered why he had to ruin every good thing he'd ever had. It isn't her fault that their son is gone, that three of their six children have entered into oblivion before them. But when he remembered the Fall, all he could see was Heaven being swallowed in dark, angry storm clouds - his wife clutching their fledgling to her breast, keeping silent vigil as he was thrown away for daring to question the Master Plan.

"Amara granted Dean Winchester one favor for helping her to settle her differences with our Father." She said sweetly, her voice beginning to soften. "And Father... he granted you one, as well. Me." Her wing retracted, and Lucifer turned to face her fully. "I did not willfully abandon you for countless millennia, Lucifer."

He felt the mating mark on his wrist begin to tingle, something he'd thought had been burned off after eons in Hell. "You act like I was lonely without you."

Falling to her knees beside him, she cupped his face in her hands and whispered, "The caged bird never sings."

If she noticed how he'd begun to tremble beneath his touch, she thankfully said nothing. Instead, he felt overwhelming love and comfort flood through their bond, such an amazing warmth spreading through his body - he couldn't remember when he'd felt so perfectly whole. Not even when he was inside Sam.

That was what happened when the Father handcrafted your other half. The first guardian angel, meant to guard the heart of his favorite son.

"When they killed Azazel, I..." Lucifer held her gaze, feeling utterly helpless at the sight of tears collecting in her eyes. "He was your baby. Not that you would've been able to tell, with that vessel." Lucifer chuckled wryly, before muttering, "I could feel your heart breaking from inside the cage and I just... I couldn't bear it."

She leaned in and kissed him softly, gently brushing her soft, pliant lips over his chapped, dry skin. She smelled like honeysuckle and there's the faintest trace of cherry on her lips. He's reminded of the fruits and vegetables that grew under their Father's attentive hand in the Garden of Eden, for which his mate had been named. To eat of the food that grows in the Garden was like communing with the divine - it was as close to Heaven as Lucifer would ever come.

As Eden drew back from the kiss, she settled herself on the devil's lap. "You'll be extremely incapacitated for quite some time, thanks to our favorite aunt." She traced a cool hand over his forehead, healing some of the vessel's natural wear and tear. "Father has reassigned me to protect you, and the Winchesters, until -,"

Now it was his turn to cut her off. "What do you mean 'and the Winchesters'? I finally get you back and now I have to share you? With dumb and dumber, no less?"

"I am a guardian angel, love. That doesn't change simply because I might have a conflict of interest with those in my keeping." She said, eyes flashing as her mind once again drifted to Azazel. "In the wake of their numerous dances with death, it's any wonder I'm just getting the assignment now."

"Why did it have to be you?" He asked, a touch petulant.

Here, her face turned cold. "When the angels were exiled from Heaven, most of the guardians perished attempting to save the younger angels from crashing and burning - literally - upon arrival to earth. I'm the only one left, Lucifer."

Lucifer frowned. He'd been there when the new group of angels had been formed by their Father - the last to be formed before humanity. His Father had told him that he had a gift for him, and had handed him Eden's dainty hand. Pale blue eyes had locked on his icy, arctic orbs and she had smiled, before singing to him in that breathtakingly beautiful voice that haunted his dreams and kept the nightmares at bay. She'd sung of her love for him, and the rest, as they say, was history.

There were over one thousand guardians in existence only a short lifetime ago, and now there was only one. His beautiful, majestic Eden...

"I know that look." She patted his cheek, only slightly condescending. "Cheer up, Lucifer, and have some faith. I've been doing this for a very long time. I think I can manage to keep two wayward hunters out of harms way long enough to fulfill my obligation to Father."

Lucifer frowned, "And once you fulfill your obligation to Father?" He didn't like to think that she'd be taken away from him... not again.

Eden pressed a soft kiss to the tip of the devil's nose, before sighing, "Then, my love, we can be together again. Forever."

A/N: This story does not necessarily always follow the show's continuity. For instance, disregarding their cannon backstories (or, adding them into the fold if they haven't appeared in the series): Babylon, Lilith, Ambriel, Azrael, Anna, and Azazel are all Eden and Lucifer's children pre-Fall. So Lilith and Azazel are fallen angels.

Please let me know what you think and if it's worth continuing!