Tags: Angst, AU, Pining, Don't mix humans and divinity, Forbidden Fruit, The Fall, Garden of Eden, original sin isn't what you think it is, Paradise Lost, God is never not a dick in my fics, Eve is also kind of a dick, dub-con, abuse of trust, Deckerstar, Season 4
Summary: Season 4, Modern day but mostly flashbacks. Eve has sought out Lucifer at LUX, for her own personal reasons. Eventual Deckerstar.
Top Notes: Not Fluff. So, yeah. This does not really follow the "Biblical" story. I cherry picked ideas to kind of make references to other Bible stories, but in my version, Dad made several people and Eve first, not Adam. So I guess this is AU as hell? I couldn't get the idea out of my head in any case. I've seen other versions where Eve is Lucifer's first, but I haven't seen one like this.
Spoiler: Eve does something to modern Lucifer that could be VERY TRIGGERY - it's kind of a really shit move, and if you want to know what it is before proceeding, Scroll to end notes.
She came.
He didn't know why.
She stood stiffly, warily, like a young deer in a dewy meadow.
Lucifer had several years to acclimate to the world of humans. He had no idea how long she had. How long it would be before someone came for her as they came for him, or even if that was a thing beyond his own experience with being ferried back to Hell like a cat in a carrier.
They'd not crossed paths since the Fall. He'd seen neither hide nor hair of her in all this time. He knew that she was alive, protected, but that was all he knew of her. He never sought to return to Eden any more than he wanted back into the Silver City.
So he told himself.
She stood there in a white dress, modern and stylish, her raven hair hung long and loose and beautiful, like the last time he wove his fingers into it.
He was torn between leaping from the piano to go to her and signaling the bouncer to toss her out on her ass. He did neither. She came. He would hear her out, but not before his set ended.
She obviously had friends in town helping her, or simply knew how to acquire appropriate clothing. Maybe she'd already been in LA and only now appeared to him like mist rolling in.
She nursed a sweet martini with a cherry-on-a-stick garnish.
At least it wasn't an apple slice.
She watched him play, watched him move, waiting for him, unobtrusively.
Again.
He almost didn't recognize her, though she hadn't really changed. He had encountered her descendants, both in Hell and on Earth.
He killed one of them.
She looked at him when she came in - just like the first time she saw him and couldn't believe her own eyes. She'd seen few men at that point, after all, though her husband was equal in beauty to herself, by design of course. Even still, he didn't compare to the archangel. Not by a longshot. No human alive had his aura, his power, his drive.
Lucifer had seen plenty of humans who had her eyes, her features and every time he came across one, it felt like lightning in his veins. But those eyes were from a long time ago. These eyes were different, sure and hard. Calculating.
Inwardly, Lucifer wept a little for the loss of innocence in those eyes. The girl was no more and would not be again.
She came to have words with him. He could only guess what they would be, but it was a pretty good guess.
"Why?"
His Father ignored him, answering to no one. He consulted none of his first children, nor his wife. He simply stepped away and once again, Created. She wasn't happy about it and ignored the humans in turn, for the most part. They were mortal, disposable. If not at first, then they would be mortal before long - Father told them all that much after she raged from one end of the City to the other to quiet her storm. They had nothing on the children she cosmically birthed - more metaphorically than literally, yet Created all the same. This project He went and did on His own.
Her children were not made of dust and spit. Hers were made of light and glory.
The mortals were pale copies of the perfect beings that She made (nevermind Father's hand in it, they were hers, foremost), and everyone knew it, especially Samael, who was the most jealous of his Father's diverted attention to His new playthings.
The humans couldn't even fly, for fuck's sake.
Father made only the two at first. Eve, and then Adam, though those were not their names when He did so. Then He made more pairs, putting them together on one particular planet in a Garden, several Gardens, in fact, a temporary sanctuary of health and abundance.
Maybe the years with no new children from his wife dragged on Him. Perhaps He was no longer content with having Created the universe. The universe itself had settled down quite a bit after 10 billion years, with few new stars to light, fewer older bits tearing itself apart and reassembling via gravity and mass.
No one knew why, in any case. Rumor ran rampant until Michael put a stop to it. Theirs was not to question why.
But some did.
He finished his set, lingering to applause and seriously considering starting another song to put off the meeting. But she would still be there, so there was no point in inventing delays. When she wanted something, well, 'to the ends of the earth' held meaning for them both.
One of the reasons he loved the piano is that there were none in the Silver City. He had hated the mortals to begin with, but even lower mammals and other creatures can be tool-users and creators. Birds, ravens, in particular, were his favorite - he and they shared an affinity for shiny things. They flocked to him, dancing in the air when he flew, before he Fell.
She looked up at him with unblinking dark eyes as he stepped away from his piano, her eyes so much like his own. Old, but not as old as his, but full of age, especially now.
Lucifer often considered that her coloring was deliberate. But back then, he just thought his Father was mocking him. Creating a mortal almost as beautiful as he, as if that was the beginning of him and his siblings not being good enough company.
If he were honest with himself, though, he wasn't great company after she was created. He was willing to admit that now.
She stayed where she was, pretending casualness and waiting for him. Deja Vu washed over him and he shook it off.
Patrick set a glass of whiskey next to her glass and departed again.
He spoke a word to her, her first name, the Enochian word for Dawn. He knew what the mortals called her. He didn't know what she went by these days. It was as much a warning not to use his original name here as it was a question.
She shook her head. "Just call me Eve."
"You accept the name they assigned you?"
"I like it. It reminds me that I may be both the first and the last of my kind. The last night before the last day. Especially since I'm no longer mortal, if I've ever been."
"Why are you here? Have you grown as bored of your perfect Garden as I had of Hell?"
A smile teased the corner of her mouth. For a half-second, she was the woman he'd known. Then the mask fell in place again. "It hasn't been perfect in a while."
She sipped her drink. "Did you know that I live a punishment? As you did?"
"You've never been to Hell, my dear."
She shot back, "you've never watched your daughters die in childbirth. Or war. Or famine. Or anything else."
He conceded the point. "I have no offspring."
Eve eyed him levely. "Maybe a half-angel girl from you would have made my line stronger."
"I didn't even know it would have been possible. That ship has sailed in any case for you, my dear."
"How about anyone not me?"
"No. Even if it wasn't dangerous-"
"For who? How much more can Father punish you?"
"I'd prefer not to find out."
"I don't want any more mortal children. It's too hard watching them die. How do you do it? Knowing all your lovers will perish, and that many have passed beyond?"
"I recall every taste on my tongue as if it had just been. It's almost like they haven't actually left."
She bit the inside of her cheek. "But they do. I know you're not immune to it. You fell for us a little, before you truly Fell. I think you feel something for every lover you take."
He owed her a little honestly. "The moment is all. I don't think about the future. Or the past, if I can help it. It's true that I can remember everyone who shares my company, I usually choose not to. It sounds cliche but it's as much for them as I. I enjoy fulfilling desires."
She smiled, but it was brittle. "I remember when you didn't fully know what that meant."
"And look where that got me."
"You didn't deserve it. Not then."
"How about now?"
Her glare was ice. "I haven't decided."
"Tell me, darling, what favor do you seek from the Devil?"
She rolled her eyes. It was so much like Chloe he caught his breath. Chloe could be of Eve's line. He pushed the thought away. Most humans were, anyway. Eve looked away. "I can't just come to see you?"
"I dare say you can't. I dare say you don't actually want to to see me."
Eve grunted. "I don't. You killed my son. But then, he killed many of my other children too. It doesn't change the fact that he was mine, and that I loved him. I have that in common with our Father."
Lucifer didn't deny her accusation. He had no children. But if Beatrice came to mortal harm, he would scorch the Earth to rid the world of her killer. He was a little surprised at the thought himself. It had to be more for the Detective's benefit than his own - after all, the spawn wasn't of his blood. Chloe, being a miracle and divinely set upon this earth, made her closer in relation to himself than her naturally born daughter.
The first woman sipped her drink, her eyes welling just a little. "I cannot kill you. I am denied any revenge for the loss of my son. I cannot hold you blameless and hate you for it at the same time, yet I try. I know why you did it and it cannot be undone."
"Your son was a monster."
"Yet I loved him. He was one of my first. What does that make me?"
Samael crouched on a boulder, bird-like, his bright wings extended in half-rest. Father hadn't outright forbidden anyone from visiting His semi-mortals, but it was implied. The others steered clear, having picked up the hint. Samael was ever begging forgiveness rather than permission, so this was no exception.
Samael simply chose to ignore unspoken rules. How important could they be, if they were not at least written in stone?
The first woman wasn't like Sam's sisters, though she looked eerily like she could have been his twin, had angels been created with genetics in mind.
Across the field of short spring grass, she had gathered roots and mushrooms from the edge where trees blended into the shallow green bowl with only sparse growth. There was water in the middle, and she gazed at herself in it.
Vain creatures. Not that he didn't enjoy looking at himself. But he at least was clean.
The first visit, he held himself back, not allowing her to see him. He felt… guilty, for some reason, as she untied her woven skirt and dropped it by the shallow pool. He'd seen all of his siblings nude at some point or another, and there was nothing new here, save a distinct lack of divinity and layers of sweat and dirt and Father knew what else marking her skin.
He didn't know what the layers of grime were at first - it just looked like there was something wrong with her. Angels didn't get dirty and rarely sweaty. This creature was mud-streaked with dirt under her nails. Her hair was tangled and matted. She didn't seem to care or know any different. How did she not care about the dirt and mud?
Right off, he didn't like them. He certainly didn't understand them.
Father wanted this? Did He seek to set Himself even higher with ignorant worshippers bolstering his ego? His children all loved Him, were he and they not enough?
Clearly not, if this was deemed acceptable.
Samael left in disgust.
She clawed up another lump of wet clay suitable for pottery, dropping it in another basket.
They moved up to his penthouse for privacy. Most of his patrons were used to overhearing him say things that sounded preposterous, but the pounding music didn't make it any easier to converse. He still didn't know why she was here.
Part of him desired her still. Those first times, he didn't know the difference between love and lust. Between infatuation and simple desire. Things may have turned out differently if he had. Probably not though.
"He wanted to die, you know."
Eve glared. "You aren't Azrael. Even she doesn't take those before their time."
He sighed, feeling his age. "If I could go back and undo it, I wouldn't."
She sighed too. "I know. I guess I just hoped you felt regret. Not that it would really change anything."
"Regret is a dead albatross around your neck. Besides being unattractive, it's dead weight. There's no changing the past, and someone I-" he stopped and took a long swallow.
Eve had had a very long time to build her perception skills. "Someone you, what?"
"It's nothing. It doesn't matter. What's done is done."
"You care for someone? A mere mortal? Your police partner?"
He shot her a cold look that would have scared the literal piss out of anyone else. "How do you know about her?"
She shrugged, "I read the papers. I even have a laptop."
"As I said, it matters not. Cain was set to marry her, incidentally."
"You killed my son and your partner's fiancee?"
"They were no longer affianced."
"Then why did you bring it up?"
Why, indeed?
Everyone he brought it up to told him to keep his nose out of it. Most knew better than to grumble. He found a few like-minded siblings, ones who resented the diversion of Father's attention - but it was only that. They didn't see the deeper meaning of it all. Samael saw the future, and it was full of mortals, from one end of the universe to another, as uncountable as the stars or grains of sand on beaches.
None of them considered that Father might not be done. None except him.
His Mother was an ally in this, and they ranted together over manna and wine. He was full in his cups when he blurted, "Doesn't He love us anymore?"
She cradled him to her breast, holding him tightly. "My little Lightbringer, I will always love you. No matter what. I love all our children, and He must love all of His, even if they are imperfect and strange."
"You wouldn't have done this."
"No, child, I would not. You and your brothers and sisters are enough for me. Why do you think we've made no more new ones? I have enough. I have you and I love you, all of you."
"I saw her. The woman. She was... " was there even a word for it?
"I saw her as well, once, the filthy thing. Father made her a husband and brothers and sisters too. None are as bright as you. None can hold a candle to any of you. You shouldn't torment yourself with them - it serves no purpose but to worry your mind."
"I cannot dislodge them. I fear-"
"Fear not. We are still His and He loves us as much and more. Stay here with me, put them out of your mind. Attend your duties."
Samael stayed. For a time. The creature covered in dirt taunted him.
Why? What possible good outcome could there be?
He went again, hiding but not concealing himself as with the first time. This time he went to the thicker part of the Garden. He remembered she went to water, so he waited near a clear body of water, larger than the other and close to the settlement. There were berries in the brush around him, so he ate them to pass the time, standing on the ground rather than sitting as to keep the dirt off his heavenly garments. He couldn't resist kicking bits of gravel off his shoes from time to time.
She came. With more baskets and with gourds. This time she had sandals, which she kicked off when she reached the water's edge. She filled her gourds with water first and set them aside. She dipped the baskets in the water, examining them for who knows what, then leaving them there in the water. Then she took tufts of grass from the edge of the lake and smiled at her reflection.
As before, she dropped her skirts, revealing a long, slender body. It was possible she was slightly cleaner this time. He tilted his head, again feeling a nagging sense of odd guilt for not announcing himself. He wasn't afraid of her, he merely wanted to observe without disrupting either of them. He pushed the feeling aside as she drank first from the water with a cupped hand, then stepped in until the water came to her waist. She couldn't know it, but she swayed through the water in his direction.
She sank backward, fully submerging and coming up again to float on her back, smiling to herself. Bizarrely, she simply floated for a full degree of sun's movement in the sky, tits up, in the water, looking at the clouds between overhanging leaves. She finally dropped her feet into the sand under her and stood, drawing herself upright. She wiped a few layers of dirt off her skin using the clump of grass, working with determination.
She washed her hands under the water, picking at her nails with a stick. Water rolled off her in beads as she dipped and came up several times. It streamed off her breasts and the view did something to him, but he couldn't name it. She finally turned and went back to her supplies. Her round bottom was as tan as the rest of her.
Samael turned to go, moderately comforted that the mortals at least seemed to know how to care for themselves, he stopped when he noticed she wasn't done.
The truly fascinating part was when she washed her hair. She drew out a lump of something pungent and a carved shell. She dunked her head in the water again, down current from the baskets she left out. She worked her fingers through her black hair, washing out the dirt. She took time to pick apart the tangles with her fingers, then went after knots with her shell comb. It seemed like it took ages to do all that, but he couldn't make himself stop watching. Her hair was nearly dry by the time she finished, and she looked at her reflection in satisfaction for a long moment, her breasts hanging over the clear water.
He wondered what it felt like. If a mortal's hair felt any different than theirs.
She pulled some leather thongs out of her pack and tied her hair back and up - more practical but not as nice looking when it was loose. He forgot all about her body as she tied it up carefully. When his sisters styled their hair, it was never practical. He both mourned the loss of the visual of her long waves and admired the thought that went into her new, tight bun at the back of her head. It revealed her lovely neck as well.
He could begin to see it now that she was clean. She was beautiful, in a non-Celestial sense. The black hair and deep brown eyes were so like his own that he wondered if Father intended the resemblance. Was He thinking of him when He Created her? She was willowy like him, slender and beautiful, like him.
Yes, it could be on purpose. Was she made to mock him? Did Father intend this, to make them so much like His first children as to make a lesser set? Had he disappointed His Father so much that He felt the need to Create replacements?
Samael's admiration turned to anger. He stewed in his own thoughts until the woman spoke aloud. "It's rude not to show yourself."
He startled.
She kept talking, looking in his direction. "I wonder which of my brothers is fooling around, waiting to steal my catch. Perhaps it's only one of my sister's husbands, hoping for a tumble. Well? Who is it? I know it's not you, love, you would have taken me by now."
The bushes parted for him as he stepped out of them - it wasn't all that far, more calm river than lake at this end of it.
He showed himself, his wings mostly obscured by the brush around him. They caught and pulled and he nearly flapped them free, but then she stood still in shock as she looked pointedly but excitedly at him. "I don't know you! Who are you? Are you a new brother? A mate for one of my unwed sisters? Did Father send you?"
He grimaced. "Be not afraid. I'm none of those things." He stood straighter, taller than her and proud. "Don't tell your husband you saw me." He didn't know why he said that. It felt like an instruction to lie. His feathers ruffled, tense. She mentioned his Father as casually as the wind. One acknowledged His status when even discussing Him, not...this.
Pulling free of the brush, he flapped his wings once, throwing wind at her. He didn't mean to.
She fell to her knees and looked up at him in awe. "They're beautiful."
Samael blinked a few times. None of his siblings looked at him the way she was looking at him now, eyes wide and full of something other than simple adoration or friendship.
Something new stirred in him, but he suppressed it quickly. "Yes. They are."
"Do you fly like the birds? Can I see?"
Who was he to refuse a direct request to show off?
When he landed again, it was with ravens. He held one out to her, and it hopped on her hand, to her delight.
She said, "I will show him to my husband!"
For some reason, the statement made his chest tight. But then she smiled, and it was full of light and joy.
Eve had never truly been afraid of him. Shocked, yes. Alarmed, yes. Afraid? No. But then, she'd never been attacked by anyone or anything then. The creatures they killed for food and supplies fell with little effort. The colony of mortals never wanted for anything, but they still had to work for it, to some degree. Once in a while, they even lost a few people, experiencing death due to drowning or falling. There was no sickness, no infection in those days, but there remained no small litany of dangers. Father had warned them these things were possible, even storms could be deadly, predators hungry for the prey they collected.
Lucifer didn't know it at the time, but He was preparing them for life outside of Eden. Lucifer didn't know if He was truly omniscient - He never actually claimed to be, after all, but He was had lived a very, very long time before He and She Created Lucifer. Or more accurately, Samael.
She pushed her hair back behind her shoulders, long and loose. He couldn't help but think of the contrast between her and Chloe. When Eve looked at him here and now, it was with something hidden behind her eyes. They'd lost a lot of light since they parted. She was still there though. She'd lost children - to both the Silver City and to Hell, yet she survived.
They looked at each other for a long time. Eve's eyes wandered over him like she was thinking of the past, clothing him in his old raiments instead of the suit. "Are you at least going to apologize?"
"For killing Cain? No. But I am sorry his loss hurts you. I'll not ask your forgiveness, and I don't expect it."
She wiped her face, looking away from him. "I never forgave my son. But I hoped. I hoped perhaps that I would still have one child when all this ends." When the world turns to ash.
"Do you still have...?"
She sucked in a breath, keeping her head down. "We don't speak much. Adam has become bored and dull. He doesn't want to leave but I might make him come with me next time."
He quipped, "I know a good therapist."
"The world has changed a lot, hasn't it?"
"It has."
Amenadiel found him. Samael perched atop an outer building. He liked perching on things. There was no sun in the sky, no night, no moon, but there was something...nice about being in high places, relatively speaking.
The oldest had always been good to him. He was nice to everyone, of course, but he seemed to always make time for Samael. This time, Amenadiel sought him out, probably because he hadn't joined the choir or family dinner recently. Samael gave his brother a dark look and ran his fingers through his black curly hair. "What do you want?"
"Nothing, Sam, save your company. I grow concerned for you. I haven't seen you in some time."
"Have you seen them? The mortals?"
He smiled. "No, not since they were Created, at least, when our Holy Father invited us all to see them. They're very different, aren't they?"
"Why did He do it though?"
"Ours is not to ask, Sam. It will come in time, I'm sure. He will tell us when we need to know. Do not test our Father over nothing."
"Do you think He will stop?"
"Stop what?"
"He hasn't, you know. I've been to some of the stars I put in the sky. There are more mortals than the first, in different states of existence, some less developed than the humans who look like us. Some do not look like us at all."
Amenadiel frowned gently, as he did often. "You shouldn't stir up trouble where none exists. Father has a plan. He will inform us when it is time."
Samael crossed his arms and hunched. His feathers fluffed out. Amenadiel silently moved behind him and started running his fingers along his wings, saying nothing more, confident and sure.
None of them saw what was happening.
Still, he started humming a hymn in contentment. Avoiding gatherings meant some of his feathers had gotten out of alignment. They weren't bad enough to warrant seeking out help just yet though. They lay uncomfortable, but not painfully so. It would take more inattention to get them to a disrespectful state.
His brother radiated annoyance at the mild neglect but didn't chastise him further. They sat there while Samael sang softly, a common refrain from a chorus. He was one of a few who sang outside of the gatherings and Amenadiel had always enjoyed listening to him. They took comfort in each other; the soothing of the wings calmed his nerves. Mostly. Made him pliant.
He was not put off the discussion, however. "What do you think of them?"
"Well, I wouldn't guess to imagine their purpose in all this."
"Yes, but what of them? Forget the why if you must, how do you feel about them?"
"They're what Father made them to be. They figured out a few things on their own, apparently. I hear tales of their minor exploits. They appear to be quite creative."
"I thought you said you hadn't visited them?"
"I have not. But you aren't the only one who has," he shifted, finished with the wings and moving next to his brother, "I'll tell you what I told the others who asked questions; don't put your nose where it doesn't belong. Leave them be. Father doesn't want them to be disturbed."
Samael scoffed, "He hasn't made a blanket statement to the effect."
"He shouldn't have to. I urge you not to meddle with them until Father tells us his plans and what he wants us to do with them."
"You believe He has such plans?"
"I do. I believe we will be their shepherds when the time is right, an influence."
"Against what?"
Amenadiel tilted his head. "You know our great City is separate from the world of the new mortals, in all senses, correct?"
"Of course I do."
"Did you know there are other Cities? Ones that are not Silver, but realms that are not here, and also not mortal. Instead of light, some are in shadow. They, too, have an influence on every realm that will one day die, just as we have influence. Father created the universe for mortals. You hung the stars at His direction for mortals," he smiled eagerly, looking to the future. "It just wasn't ready for them until recently."
Samael grunted. "You make it sound like I only made my bed. I hung them for Father. Not for them."
"And Father will do as He sees fit. He Created us too, if you remember."
Eve wore a gold bracelet on one small wrist. She played with it. "How long have you been here, how long has it been since you left Hell?"
"A little over seven or so human years, this time. I keep believing Amenadiel will come back to push me back to Hell again, now that he is no longer one of the fallen, but he hasn't yet."
"When did you meet...your human?"
"The Detective and I met when someone I cared for was murdered. She was on the case, and I tagged along for the ride. I enjoyed the work so much I decided to keep at it. She and I are quite good together."
Eve gave him the first real smile he'd seen from her today. "How good together?"
"Well, not like that. We're partners, she and I. She's getting over the whole Devil thing as we speak. It's taking her a bit of time, and I don't know if I'll see her again should she come to her senses about having a working relationship with a fallen angel."
"Did she know who my son was?"
"Not at first. I tried to tell her once, but she didn't believe me. That was before she saw...what I truly was."
"If she loves you, she'll recover."
He shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know about love. Seems a strong term."
"How long have you been working together?"
"Two years, abouts. She has an offspring and an ex-husband. The offspring looks so much like me that it gave me the willies for ages. She takes after her ex's parents, skipped a generation apparently."
Her smile was brittle again. "Do you like her? The 'offspring?'"
Lucifer glanced at his phone where he had more photos of the three of them together than he would ever admit to anyone. Sometimes even the four of them, with her ex-husband on family outings. "I find her tolerable, most of the time."
Eve's eyes sparkled. "So you love her, too. This child."
He cleared his throat. "How long have you been away from Eden?"
That eye-roll appeared again, but she allowed the change in subject. "Long enough to begin to miss it. It usually takes more than a year for that. The simplicity of it is what usually draws me back there. It's quiet there. Safe. Protected even still. You should come see it again sometime."
"Has it changed?"
"No, not at all."
This time, he found her waiting for him.
She lay naked under the sun and open sky, along the edge of the water, stretched out. She had cleaned again before he arrived, her shape was slightly different but he couldn't pin down why or how exactly. She saw him arrive this time, as he meant her to see.
She didn't get up. She wiggled her fingers at him in a strange gesture. When he didn't move, she spoke gaily, "be not afraid."
He huffed a laugh. He held his wings behind him, hiding them from her view, mostly anyway. He approached until he stood close with long steps. She patted the grass next to her. "Come, sit."
Samael frowned. She had woven a mat made of rushes and lay on it, but it was only big enough for just herself if she were spread-eagle. He shook his head. "I'd rather stand."
When he lifted the edge of his robe to keep it off the ground, she giggled. "Just take it off then. Sit."
That seemed reasonable.
Instead of dropping his robes anywhere on the ground, however, he simply flitted back to his rooms in the Silver City, stripped, and returned. It necessitated the spread of his wings and she looked at him in awe again when he returned, eyes wide. It wasn't something he did often, but he furled them away to keep her from looking at him like that. She gasped in delight, getting up to look at his back to see where they'd gone, like a damn raven trying to find the shiny thing.
He rolled his eyes.
Then she touched his bare skin. He jumped as she pawed his back like he was some common pack animal. He hissed at her, "stop that!"
She bit her lip. "Will you sit? Then I'll stop."
He grumbled and sat cross-legged on the mat. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but it was no golden fleece either. She sat next to him, her legs tucked under her butt so that she leaned towards him. "What's your name, pretty bird?"
It was odd. Everyone knew his name. He knew the names of all his brethren without introduction. To be fair, he didn't know hers. He hadn't actually paid attention when Father made her, if He had named her. It was a very strange feeling, to not know something. He answered, "Samael."
She repeated it, smiling, placing a hand on his leg. What was she doing? The stirring he felt before, on his last visit, came back full force. He swallowed on a dry throat. "What is yours?"
Her name for herself was not in his language, but he knew what it meant. The mortals had begun creating their own words. Clever little things.
"Samael, do you have a wife yet?"
"Why would I need a wife, woman?" He stumbled over a specific word for not-mother and not-sister. It was there though, in the language of the Celestials. Huh. What other words had he not thought to look for?
"Father has not seen fit to provide you with one? That is a shame. A man as handsome as you should have a wife." She smiled slyly. "Or a husband, I suppose. A mate of some kind to keep you warm at night."
Mate. He'd seen the animals rutting in the Garden and outside of it, naturally. Why would he want that? For one thing, he didn't reproduce. Most of the time, the animals resisted copulation with each other, usually the female running from the male - it didn't look appealing, for either participant. Sometimes the males even mounted each other, in a display of dominance. He shuddered.
Besides, everyone in the Silver City was family. He could take none of them as a mate, nor did he want to. The mere idea of rutting with one of his sisters was appalling. The stirring he felt before vanished entirely. He still wasn't sure how it was related but it wasn't a pleasant sensation that replaced it.
Her lips turned down at the corners. "Am I not beautiful?"
He had no idea where she got that idea from. "What has that got to do with anything?" He looked at her again, her slightly swollen breasts and drew back suddenly in realization. They were beasts after all, it seemed. He leaned away from her. "You bear an offspring." He frowned at her. For some reason, he didn't like to think of her in the position of a horse or boar or anything else, her skin marred by bites, held down while her 'mate' rutted her. His stomach turned.
Yet she smiled widely. "I do. My husband gave me this gift. He has given me many children. I need only to ask and he gives me my pleasure. Sometimes I take my own pleasure too." She gasped like when she saw his wings. "You don't have a mate at all, do you? You haven't lain with anyone?"
Pleasure? "How can rutting like deer be… pleasure?"
She laughed and he wanted to hear it again. She gathered her legs, spread them and much to his alarm, sat on his lap. "I can show you."
The stirring returned. Conflicted, he resettled her weight. With shock he found his toes in the water, curling into the mud and slickness. She touched her lips to his face, her breath warm in contrast to the cold mud. Everything pressed against him softly, every part.
Once, he'd gotten in a water fight with Azrael. They used their wings to throw bath water at each other until she pushed him down and sat on his stomach, laughing to the point she almost couldn't stop. This was nothing like that at all.
It was nothing like the deer either.
Flesh he'd found no previous use for swelled against her underside. His pulse raced like he was flying fast between the stars.
This was very much different.
He liked kissing her. So he started it this time, but quickly pulled back with a mild look of confusion. He thought he would be confused for days. "You're already with child, why do you want this?"
She laughed brightly and it rang like the bells of the Silver City. "Because I enjoy it."
"This brings you pleasure?"
"Yes. Often. Doesn't it feel nice?" She reached between them, touching his quickened flesh.
It did.
He touched her hips in a way he would never do with his sisters. She guided his hands to her breasts, thrilled with his careful touch.
His breath caught again. "Now what?"
She showed him what to do. And it was good.
A stiff breeze kicked up so Samael loosed his wings in response to brace them both.
She had eyes only for his face.
It wasn't something he did well; offering comfort. He tried anyway, extending a hand. Knowing it was just as likely to be bitten as accepted. With good reason.
Eve stood against him, wrapped her arms around him, and cried.
He stood still, not really wanting this, but not knowing what else to do. He waited until her sobbing eased off.
She sniffed against his shoulder. "Thank you."
"For what? All I did was stand here like a bloody Tower of Pisa."
She opened her mouth and closed it. She wanted to tell him something. She had that look in her eyes like she didn't want to fight him over it. She bowed her head without saying whatever it was aloud.
It wasn't the first time such a thing had happened. He was the Devil after all, why trust him with anything? He could have used his power on her, to try and draw out what she clearly wanted to say. But it felt wrong. She wasn't a suspect and she wasn't a bad person.
Her eyes met his again finally, shimmering with wetness, pupils flicking back and forth like she wanted to say whatever it was that held power in her brain. Finally, she licked her lips. "My daughter looked just like you, the one I had right after you were taken from me. I named her after you."
His jaw tightened. "You shouldn't have. She wasn't mine."
"It was my right to name her as I saw fit. I never forgave Father for not letting me - us - say goodbye to you. For not making her-" She turned her head away from him, not finishing the sentence.
"Eve. Don't. Don't do this to yourself. I am an expert in pain and self-punishment. You need to let go of the past, of both what was and was not and will never be."
"You're saying you have no regrets?"
"Darling, I have so many 'what-ifs' that I could drown the earth in floods with them. I never forgot you or what you gave me, you and Adam. I am forever grateful for that. I hold you blameless, even if Father does not."
She just looked at him until he relented.
"I do have regrets. But I don't wallow in them."
They fell asleep prone, his wings wrapped around her body. She woke him sometime later, with fingers through his curls.
He started at the unfamiliarity of a nude body next to his, touching him intimately. She pulled him on top of her and he followed her directions, watching her face as she shouted and then relaxed. The first time she made those noises, they set his skin on fire. She had ridden him to completion, gasping the whole time. The second time, he moved with her, drawing it out longer.
It was like nothing he'd ever felt before.
She rolled her hips under him, her skin flushed and her eyes dancing. She pushed her arms up against his chest, shoving him up. "See? Very nice. We will do this again."
He didn't sweat, but his knees were dirty. He retreated to the water to scrub himself, furling his wings once again. She sat on her mat of rushes, with her knees together and admired him from a few feet away. "You're well made. I like your manhood."
Man was for men. He wasn't that. But it did look the same as the first male humans his Father had made. It sounded a little wrong, but these mortals hadn't met anyone Celestial but Father and Mother before, that he knew of. When He showed off his new Creation, He hid his children from the humans. The wrongness bit at him like a gnat, if it could pinch his skin. She didn't know who really was, did she? Even with his divinity, she thought him another Creation, to be added to their whole. Did she not sense his holiness?
She held her hand out to him. "Come with me. I want you to meet my husband."
A weird sort of panic came with that statement, at least in his head. Again he had that sort of nagging sensation he'd done something wrong. The terms she used that he never heard before - husband and wife, meant something, a pairing. "Is that wise?"
"He will want you too. But you're mine first. My next child will be yours and he will be as beautiful as you."
Now he was very confused. "Are you able to gestate more than one spawn at a time?"
"No, not that I've ever seen. I'm simply going to keep you with me until this one is born, and when I can bear another, you will come to me and it will be your child."
The sinking, unpleasant feeling was back.
He spread his wings and flew home.
He held himself tightly on his bed, his clothes bunched at his feet where he'd discarded them.
What had she done to him?
Was Father right after all to want to keep them away from each other?
Could he tell anyone about it?
After a time, he examined his memories more closely. The act was not something immortals did with each other. Telling anyone else was out of the question, at least not until he found more information. He would have to see if anyone else had done it.
In the meantime, he decided that the act was a gift from her, and he could accept it as such. A bit later, he decided he wanted to try it again.
Her hair fell over his hands. He patted her shoulder, bare in the sleeveless halter dress. "Why did you come? Do you need money?"
She shook her head, her hair shining in the low lighting. "No, I'm not as connected as you are, but I have...friends. I'll be back in the Garden soon enough anyway. I'm going back home tomorrow. You don't have to worry about me sticking around."
"Stay as long as you like, I have space here for you."
"No, thank you. There's something there I need to get back to. Adam and I still tend to the Garden, to keep it healthy. If either of us is away too long, it will begin to die, and us with it. We've both lived too long to be ready for that. I may never be able to let it truly fall into neglect."
Lucifer stroked her hair. "Your punishment sounds far easier than mine."
"Tell that to my dead children."
She stopped again, sorry she'd said it. Hell must be a miserable place, and she would not have reversed their positions. At least she'd had children. He had no lines of his own.
"Is there something I can do?"
There was. She touched his face. "Give me a child. I won't have another with Adam."
After an amount of time he couldn't define, he found one of his siblings who had visited the humans without asking permission. Gabriel had always been impulsive. He, like Samael, didn't ask either. He just went. It took careful questions to even find out that much, so when Sam visited Gabe at his home, he brought quite a bit of wine with him.
They spoke of upcoming events and contests for a time, until Samael spoke casually, "The new Creation of Father's are interesting, aren't they?"
The problem with Gabe was that he was also one of the smarter ones. "I thought you hated them?"
"Well, once you see them up close…"
He frowned. "I never saw them up close. I watched from outside their village. It's nothing like the City."
"Oh." Well. That was very true.
"You sound disappointed. Well, you should be. They'll never compare with us. Father has plans for them, but the mortals will never exceed His first children."
Samael turned his wine into water and drank deeply. "Of course not, but they are strange, aren't they? Did you get close enough to watch them interact with each other?"
Gabe matched him with a long drink, unaware of Sam's trick with his own goblet. "Oh yes, Father paired them up in sets, but they behave like hares, frolicking about with each other like it's nothing." Samael spirits rose, then dashed, when he continued, "when Father notices, He's going to be unhappy they are not following His plan. I won't be the one to tell Him though."
Then, although Samael hadn't had enough drink to rattle his wits, he said something borderline treasonous. "How do you know that's not the plan?"
"Of course it's the plan, He Created them and matched them. Why bother with such a system at all when He invented it for the mortals? He built them to breed, clearly, so they are doing that much. There are dozens or probably hundreds more than when Father started them out at any rate."
Gabe was deep enough in his cups that Sam risked another question. "Do you think Father would give us mates?"
Gabriel laughed until he cried, pounding the table between them. "What for? Oh, Sammie, you are always the trouble maker, aren't you? Hah. Maybe you should go ask for one, see what happens."
"Well, why not?"
He continued to wipe tears from his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. What would you do with a wife?" He sobered a little, still amused. "You have your entire family, Samael, you have all of us. Father didn't intend for us to make children."
He decided not to ask why both genders of angels came 'equipped', or why there were even genders at all. If Father never intended such things, why did his children look so much like the biological creatures He created later. He must have done something like this before. Sam must have muttered something under his breath.
Gabe took a long swallow and wiped his mouth. "What was that?"
"Nothing. You're right, of course. If Father wants us to be aware of something, He'll tell us."
Probably.
"You know I won't."
"But you could...Sa-"
"Don't."
She fell paused. She pulled away from him and took another drink, holding the glass up between them. She closed off, but persisted. "You could."
"It's possible. But I never have with anyone else and I won't with you." He made his face soften with an effort. There were still some things he could do right, any of them might be helpful - a place to stay long-term, transportation, a job if she wanted it, and of course, sex. Just not the kind that would result in anything. "I'll take you to bed if you wish and you can want a child all you want, but you won't get it, not from me."
Her spine stiffened and she looked at him angrily. "You owe me blood. Blood for blood."
"I do not owe you a replacement offspring. I'm sorry. If there is anything else I can do, am willing to do, I will."
"It was Abel."
"I'm sorry?"
"The child I was carrying when you found me."
"I'm...sorry." He knew it was one of the early ones, as much as he knew it wasn't Cain. "More than that, I'm sorry you've lost many children. If anything, my Father - " He spoke carefully. Technically, He was her immediate Father as well but she wasn't an angel and he wasn't a human, " - owes you many more over. It's a debt He cannot repay and I'll not even attempt to."
She wiped her eyes, smearing mascara. "It's not fair."
"It never is."
Very quietly, and after a long, cold moment, she said, "yours wouldn't be the first of that kind of child, that I would carry."
He ground his teeth. He didn't know it when he met her, not really, but there was a reason Nephilim were more than frowned upon. "Does he or she live? Who is the father?"
"No, and I won't tell you who. Just as I would never tell anyone else it was yours if you gave me a child."
"That doesn't change my answer."
"She was more human than angel. She lived a good life, but died a natural death after the usual amount of time. She was not able to bear children - I think that was part of my punishment. But I was able to protect her. I would be able to protect yours."
"Why would that be part of your punishment?"
"She looked so much like you. I hoped it would be a legacy."
She would not leave off this, would she? "That at least narrows it down to a few of my brothers it could have been, but I won't guess. I haven't seen enough half-angel children to know how much human genetics plays into it. How would you even know she took after one of my siblings who looked like me, and not yourself? You and I have similar features."
"Because she had your eyes." She looked away, tears welling up once again.
Not unkindly, he said, "Michael has my eyes too, but I doubt very much it was him. My brothers and sisters and I look very different from each other, but most of us have the same eyes - in shape if not in color. I think that was my mother's doing." He cupped her face with his hands. "I can offer you anything I have at my disposal. But not that."
I won't replace your lost son with another monster, he didn't say.
He went back one more time, in disguise, in case Gabe or anyone else came to watch. Sam's skin itched under the falsehood. He dropped the glamour right outside her doorway as he approached. None of the buildings had solid doors, though most had brightly woven fabric curtains draped across the threshold. He breathed out as he knocked on the frame.
She threw her arms around him and kissed him when he came to her door. They seemed to be having a busy day. He noted she was not currently pregnant, though he wasn't certain how many days or months had passed since he last saw her. There was blood painted on the outside of her door frame, along with those of the other buildings. "What is all that?"
"A celebration - a year has passed once again since our Creation and it's to honor Father. My husband is out hunting and I have many things to do today."
She invited him in and she offered him smoked ram's meat and crude beer. She chatted on endlessly while she wove new rush mats and moved to and fro. Once, a child came in, small and gangly. He had startlingly black hair and equally startling blue eyes. He took one look at Sam and tackled the angel's leg fiercely in a tight hug. She laughed, beckoning the child to her. He went - Jacob, he was called, and not hers, but that of another.
He froze up, never before having been accosted by such a thing in his entire life. She sensed his discomfort and got up and pulled him away, bouncing him on her knee until his mother came to collect him. The woman passed an eye over Samael, but said nothing, reminding him again that he needed to confess to this mortal woman the truth about himself.
She smiled at her, unknowing and trusting of him. "I missed you. I was afraid I'd frightened you off."
She had, but he didn't say that. It felt like another lie to not say it. Instead, though, he said, "I missed you too." Because that was the truth.
He didn't desire to stay for the celebration. She asked him to meet her at the Tree of Knowledge outside of the village later that night. He knew where it was - at the very center of the Garden. Every Garden had one.
Lucifer took the drink from between them, pulled her face up to his and kissed her, offering the only comfort he knew how to give.
Eve accepted it. There was a moment where she kissed him like the first time, and then it passed. She touched his face. "Can I see your wings again?"
"I"d...rather not."
"I heard rumors about your life here. Someone said one of things you told people was that you cut them off. That you had scars where they were. They were so beautiful, did you really do that?"
"I did. Mazikeen did, the first time. Maze is...was...my right-hand demon in Hell. She followed me out, served me faithfully for a very long time. I cut them off so I couldn't return there. It meant I couldn't return her back to Hell either. They were restored to me, over my objects, but I've learned to live with them. They're a reminder of what I used to be." A reminder of that last day.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he undid the clasp of her dress behind her neck. "You had another form didn't you?"
He stilled. "Where did you hear that?"
"I heard...that you have a special talent for making people talk at your...job."
"I do that too. I was forced to wear a new form in Hell. It's not pleasant to look at. It can be entertaining to scare the daylights out of bad people though."
"Tonight, I want to remember you as you were then, before you were scary. I don't need to see your wings again, but I'm glad you got them back."
"I"m not."
Eve's lips twitched. She wanted to beg to see them, but she did not. Instead, she kissed him again, softly and pulling back. "Have you thought about the fact that neither of us ever had a childhood?"
He had not. At the time of their Creation, there had never been children. The first one he ever saw was Jacob.
She added, "the first time I fell pregnant, it was a joy. I knew what had happened, I knew what to do. Adam knew what to do too - he was a good father to all my children. There were many things we had to learn on our own, but we Knew what to do with this gift that grew inside me."
Lucifer tried to change the subject. "I was given knowledge as well. There were very few things I had to learn after I was made." He grinned down at her. "But you taught me a few new things."
Her dress fell liquid-like from her neck, pooling at her feet in a white puddle of lace and silk.
His eyes widened, taking her in. She didn't have any scars or even stretch marks, despite giving birth to many children. He opted not to ask how many. He decided to stop thinking about it. "You haven't changed a bit."
She smiled, kicking it aside. "I've learned a few more new things we parted."
Lucifer was back in his element. He embraced it eagerly, happy for the distraction. "So have I. Shall we compare notes?"
Samael froze under the Tree. A man was there too. He and the woman he met were rutting up against it, writhing together. She breathed a name on the man's lips. She pushed away from him when she saw Samael, her eyes shining under the night sky. Without stepping away, she held a hand out to him, wiggling her fingers like when she first saw him. The man looked very relaxed, smiling sleepily at Samael, undisturbed by the intrusion. He looked more like Gabe, blond and blue-eyed and pale skinned. Her name for her husband was similar to her own, meaning 'daybreak.'
He touched Samael's clothing, his face, his look questioning. Samael kissed him.
Explanations could wait until morning.
When Eve woke up in his arms the next morning, she smiled. Rolling over, she pressed her backside into him, relishing the feel of silk sheets and a warm body. She remembered his vow and sighed. Looking back over her shoulder, she almost changed her mind. Almost.
He tucked his arm around her waist, all parts of his body awakening at the same time. "Good morning."
"Good morning, Lucifer."
She moved against him, hoping for another round.
He rolled on top of her, touching her. She kissed him, wondering if this would be the last time.
It didn't go well. On so many levels.
Dawn and Daybreak didn't understand. They tried to. Why would it matter to them that Samael was not of their world? They were as ageless as he, if not truly immortal. The only thing that really changed in the village was that children grew up and became adults and began to have their own children. They were already well and thoroughly exposed to divinity.
Well, he did try, even if they didn't understand either why Samael would not give her a child, why laying with her would not produce one. It was one of those things he simply knew how to avoid, as surely as laying with Daybreak would not produce one either.
The two of them were thrilled to find out he seemed to have no limit to his pleasure, nor tire as they did. They showed him how to please them both, something that occurred in the village often. In the beginning, desire helped produced the first children and many more, and then after that, the mortals just discovered it was an entertaining way to pass time.
Dawn was certain her next child would be from him, though Samael knew it would not be, but from her mate. He couldn't explain it well enough. It became obvious that there were simply many things that Father had given him from the start that He hadn't gifted his mortals.
Samael felt a little superior for that, prideful. He tried to quash it, really, he did, but the many differences he discovered between himself and the latest Creation only served to make him feel better about himself and his siblings - these new creatures were evidently inferior, in so many ways, having to learn everything on their own.
Then why did he come back? Why didn't he leave?
He clasped her hands to his chest when she mounted him again. Looking up into her eyes, he knew he could get this from no one else. While the pair of them were willing to share their lives and bed with him, he was not truly theirs, and could not be. He was neither husband nor wife, spouse nor true partner.
Some of the other mortals were interested in him as well, but all of them were paired up, mated, wed, or not yet of age.
Not that he was actually interested in wedding one of them. They thought him very beautiful and desired him. And why shouldn't they?
He didn't know then his effect on mortals, merely that they were piling on adoration as they should, being lower beings.
The attention fed into the cycle, and he didn't look past his own enjoyment of their praise.
Eve dressed quietly, gathering her things. She pressed her hand to his smooth chest while he slept. She liked his look now. His eyes had never changed, but he wore his hair differently, and when she met him, he had kept his face smooth without stubble. She liked the stubble. He had lines around his eyes now that relaxed when his face went slack. She didn't know if he did it on purpose, but she liked it. He could decide to look like a teenager if he wanted too, but he seemed to like appearing this way - somewhere between ageless and world-weary. Maybe he didn't even realize he was doing it.
Other parts of them were not as perfectly groomed back then either, but then, fashion and trending appearances weren't really a thing just yet.
She completely forgot to ask him about the accent he chose. She liked that too.
But, it was time to go. She didn't wake him.
He might see the guilt in her eyes if she did.
Father was outraged. "No, I will not Create a mate for you. My Plan does not include such things, for any of you. I need your attention focused on your duties, as they always have been before."
"But-"
"You will not visit the mortals again."
There was no room for negotiation or discussion.
Mother sat silently by Father. He looked to her desperately. Surely, she would understand. She and Father were husband and wife, after all.
She bowed her head and said nothing, her face looked pained and jaw worried, tight and grinding. She had the look of someone who might say something in private. She would not here. It gave Samael some hope. He would go to Her later. Perhaps he could make his case that way.
Samael returned to the Garden one more time. He had not spoken to Mother yet, out of fear and out of pride.
He had to at least say goodbye, he told himself. He owed them that much.
He stood under the Tree where he'd seen them last, after the celebration. Did Father even pay attention to his newer Creations? Surely if He had an issue with His mortals, He would intervene.
Wouldn't He?
Sam pulled a fruit from the Tree, eating it. The juice was sweet. He recognized the fruit as one of the same kind they had up in the City. He wondered why it was here on the mortal plane.
Dawn appeared, smiling brightly at him. Her stomach bulged with child, more heavily than any time he'd seen her. She was beaming with surety, and he couldn't quite figure out why. She kissed him soundly, the taste of her mingling with the juice of the fruit. She pulled back. "I told you that my next child would be yours. Are you excited?"
He smiled gently at her enthusiasm. "It's not mine. I told you that it would not be."
Her smile never wavered. "But it must be. I've been eating the fruit of the Tree. Father told us not to do it because it comes from Heaven, that this is God's Tree - His holy place here in the Garden. But you told us that you come from there too, so I ate it to make sure the child would be yours."
Heaven? She must mean the Silver City. He looked down at her, alarmed. "Father told you not to?"
They fucked under Father's own Tree?
He reached out to touch the bark of the Tree, and then he Knew. Father had known what he was doing all along. He suddenly Knew Father had told her to avoid him as well, and she ignored the instruction, as surely as he did.
Without even a second of warning, the Tree split up the middle from the roots with a great thundering crash, scattering limbs. Samael lunged for her, unfurling his wings around her to protect her. He didn't know if it would even work, but it seemed to. Sticks, limbs, fruit and leaves alike showered over them, striking his exposed back but doing no damage to him.
She cried in abject terror, holding on to him for dear life, her swollen belly sheltered between them.
The day faded to darkness.
He felt the protections of the Garden drop like cold rain. She shuddered in his arms.
Father stood before them, a towering inferno. It was a form Samael had seen before, but she had not. She dropped to her knees.
He addressed them both. "You were told not to return."
Samael remained standing. Sheltering her as much as he could. "She's done nothing wrong."
"A punishment will be dealt to you both, and to the other mortals. You should have listened to me."
"All I wanted was a choice."
"Is it? And had I made you a mate, what would be her choice? Would you deny her that?"
He didn't have an answer for that but the question rocked him to his core.
"I did not build you to make choices. I built you to fill a place. You had enjoyment, you had a place in your family, you had the love of your siblings and your Mother."
Had?
Father moved him back to the Silver City to face his punishment. Samael never believed it would be as bad as it turned out to be.
Eve took the elevator down, biting into a ripe fruit as she walked out of LUX.
Chloe nodded. "So there really was an Eve?"
"The Creation story wasn't even written until a few hundred years ago. There was no apple, as you think of it, but that doesn't mean I haven't had fun with imagery from time to time. Eating a whole apple between two or more people-" he stopped at her look with a smirk. "Well, you get the idea. If you must know, I can actually turn into a 'serpent', or more accurately, make you believe that's what you're seeing. You may be immune to it though."
She smiled. "But you don't do it anymore because illusions are lies?"
"I used to be quite immature if you can believe it."
She shook her head, a teasing grin on her lips. "Nooo, I can't imagine it at all."
"Detective, I think you're mocking me."
"Never." Chloe leaned against his side, soaking up the warmth of his body. He was still wearing his waistcoat on movie night, but at least he was here with her. "Will she come back?"
"I don't know. I didn't even notice her leave. It was a little odd, actually."
She snorted.
"What?"
She knew it was a risk. She knew neither of them wanted to crack their fragile friendship, not after she accepted him for who he was, and not when he still hadn't really accepted her acceptance.
Damn, that was a mouthful. Well, he wouldn't be Lucifer without his constant concern over her state of mind. He still worried that he affected her, in spite of her so-called 'miracle' status. That was their word for it anyway, not hers. Now that she knew, really knew, everything, it all made sense in context. Even if it took her a while to accept that context, she'd always accepted him. She licked her lips, put down her cheap wine and reached over to touch his leg. "If you ever want to get back to where we were before, you should probably stop shagging every person who walks into your club. Ex's and otherwise."
He didn't respond right away. His whole body sighed with his breath.
Damn.
Then he said, very carefully, "you still want to?"
Chloe moved her hand to wrap her arm around his waist, pulling herself snuggling against him even closer. "There's a Devil put aside for me."
He smiled, leaning into the top of her head, just smelling her hair. "It's going to be hard. And it won't be...normal."
"I've had normal. I'm done with it. Had the wedding, had the marriage, had the kid - my card is full." She grinned against his shoulder, going for it. "I won't ask you to marry me in a church."
The snort was full of amusement. "I should hope not, I-"
She shut him up with a kiss.
It was the longest they'd ever shared. He held her like she might dissolve into dust in his arms. By the time their lips parted, he'd forgotten what they were even watching.
End Notes: The very strong implication is that she's at the minimum attempting to get pregnant without his consent and against his will.