This is the end of Tis is the Season to be Folly series which were my entries for A03 Lucifer Christmas Countdown Challenge. Also if you have read Guilty as Sin you might get now why it ends the way it does.
I have been working on this for over a month and on an idea, I had for over a year. So reviews are very much appreciated if you want to write one that is.
I fell in love with this piece. It may not be perfect for you but I really love this one. Also, there will be an outtake, probably rated M posted tomorrow which will explore what I'm sure you want to know more about.
More notes at the end of the story
On a Wing and a Prayer
Quote from Lucifer (Comic):
Perhaps this is the ultimate freedom, the freedom to leave.
(27th of December)
"You know I still wonder how much of it was planned. How much of it, he knew in advance. I thought I was rebelling. I thought I was defying his rule. No, I was merely fulfilling another tiny segment of his great and powerful plan." His words were rushed and he toyed with the ring on his finger. If he had been a mortal he would have bled by the friction a good while ago.
"Lucifer you will have to wait for next week for us resume our sessions, I'm in the middle of the ocean!" Linda's voice carried anxiously due to his tormented tone.
"I know Doctor! I know… I sent you at this blasted cruise and obviously, I wasn't thinking right! Then again you deserve it… Doctor-" his voice croaked under an invisible pressure. "Lucifer why did you call me?" She asked him in the soothing manner he usually responded to.
"Doctor… I feel I'm forgetting something… something important." His body slumped on the floor as he tugged his hair in aggression. These broken words were the last thing Linda heard before he dropped the call to let the frustration and the despair overcome him.
(20th of December)
The mattress felt heavy over her shoulders. With great reluctance, she kicked the blankets and shivered at the loss of her warm bedding. With several small coughs, she experimentally cleared her throat. So far there was no indication of a cold taking over or a hint of a stuffy nose. Cautiously she moved her arms and feet and all appeared to be fine. With a relief, she got up and her breath hitched at the abrupt painful tingling her torso gave away momentarily. Perhaps it was not meant to be then.
Without caring about slippers her bare feet carried her to the kitchen where she already knew that if she was lucky a grilled sandwich would wait for her. That is if Lucifer didn't have another craving this morning which she wished he had.
"Good morning, child!" His warm voice always relaxed her. Sitting on the stool, he was sipping from their last surviving teacup. Tea-parties had become a bit more adventurous and wild lately with Lucifer much to the dismay of her mum. When she struggled to get to the stool next to him, he noncommittally steadied her by holding her upper arm and pushed her upwards.
"No craving this morning?" She quipped and glared at him.
"Your mother provided me with two sandwiches today Beatrice, therefore no chocolate-chip pancakes for you today." He barely took his eyes from the newspaper yet his lips twitched slightly.
"You could have helped…" she grumbled picking small bites from her sandwich.
"And you could have not ratted us out to your mother." he chided. Putting his paper to the side, he laid his head on his right hand. Patiently he waited for her to finish her meal and his brows knitted in disbelief when she declared she was still hungry. "
Aren't you supposed to be sick Beatrice?" He eyed her speculatively and poured her a glass of cold milk as he had been instructed by the Detective. The child exhaled and her shoulders twitched.
"I have the worst of luck, every year I'm sick around Christmas Eve which is also my birthday!" she whispered with glinted eyes and Lucifer instinctively took a step backwards. He had been there before and this was his last clean homewear.
"Why don't you like children Lucifer?" she asked him full of innocence. He had long ago decided that the best tactic with Beatrice's questions was to tell her only the core idea of the answer or try to avoid giving an answer altogether. The second was, of course, the Detective's strong recommendation.
"I like you." he told her with a hint of surprise in his voice. He actually liked this little child. Still, she was a force of nature and probably he would never cease to feel startled and a bit violated whenever she threw herself on him.
She blinked and rolled her eyes. This was obviously not the answer she wanted.
"Can you imagine Maze as a child?" he decided to approach the subject from a different angle. After almost a month of living with his demon, the child must have had a clearer view of Maze.
"Was she awesome?" Beatrice's eyes sparkled and her features lighted up at the mentioning of her favourite celestial being. Was he supposed to feel jealous? But the devil did not experience jealousy. And yet Linda had proved him wrong once. As for the child, if living with Maze had not been an eye-opener she was more peculiar that he had originally thought. Hence not having the clearer view in his current playing cards now.
"More like downright terrifying and she had thousands of siblings to compete to including my own nephew." Imbriel's little indecency had after all gotten him murdered. His brother's desires had meant the beginning of the end for the peace of the Silver City. But that was a story which Beatrice would have to wait a few good years to hear.
"Maze is your niece?" She asked in the same disturbingly awed voice which had Lucifer cringing at the very thought but also in admittance that he was indeed envious of his own demon. What was with the Decker women in this house?
"Child if she were really my niece I would indeed be the wicked devil the world believes me to be. Now miss avoidance, are you unwell?"
She gave a half shrug and her shoulders tremored a bit but just enough to make Lucifer in an impulse move to check her temperature with the back of his hand on her forehead.
"I have the dumbest of luck dad says." Getting down from the stool she reached the couch and from underneath the seat cushion, she got a small red book.
"I'm always sick on Christmas Eve so he bought me this" she handed the book to him and this time she used his forearm to help herself up the stool.
"Five steps to not be a Grinch… Does it help?" he questioned in mild interest.
"Never tried it." Her surly tone let him know that Douche's gift had not been so well received. She turned her face away and drank slowly some of her milk only to make a disgusted face.
"Beatrice, I think we have to try this together!" If his determination had not taken her by surprise, him snatching away her cold milk certainly had.
1. Drink cocoa
"First advice, drink cocoa!" her delighted voice laughed as he took out the three needed ingredients.
"As you instruct my lady" he teased her in the same lively voice making her laugh even louder.
"Lucifer you are doing it wrong." she complained while peaking over his shoulder from standing on the top of the counter behind him.
"Beatrice I have cocoa, milk and sugar! What may I possibly be doing wrong?" Sarcasm was always his strongest suit but the look he was currently getting by the spawn, had him for a moment in trance. The child certainly resembled her mother but her cheek was all Beatrice.
"You need cinnamon, vanilla powder and salt!" she hugged his neck from behind and balanced herself between his back and the counter behind him.
"Beatrice initiate me to the Christmas cocoa preparation if you please." Instead of feeling fidgety he welcomed the weight on his shoulders him, as well as, the sensation of her warm tinkling breathed words.
Opening the cupboard he took out each requested ingredient and handed it to her, one at a time to throw into the string by him mixture. Some made in the pot and some just provided the room with a very interesting sweet aroma. The result was a fragrant hot chocolate which made both of them moan at their very first taste.
"My favourite is with rose and vanilla but Mom prefers the orange flavoured one." Setting her cup down after finishing her drink with one last large gulp, she carefully poured herself one more cup under Lucifer's disapproving gaze despite afterwards smirking and getting a refill for himself.
"Lucifer we have a problem." Beatrice lifted the coca's box and with an effective upturn he realised that he had used all the mixture.
"Grandma bought her this from Europe! You had to use the other box!" She hugged herself as the horror set in.
"Bloody F… rack!" he had to fix this promptly.
"That's a bad word." the child reprimanded him with a scowl.
"Really Beatrice? Now? Really?" He jammed his hands into his pocket and took out his phone.
"Harrods Exclusive VIP personal shopper manager how…" the familiar voice greeted him.
"Clive I have a new order for you and I want it by tomorrow morning." This was not an order, though, it was a deliver or perish
"Were the elf shoes satisfactory my lord?" Had that man no life preservation instincts Lucifer had caught himself wondering more than once since he had first met him, years ago.
"Clive forget the blasted shoes! I need all your cocoa variations. Exclusive, common, even the numbered pieces we both know you can get your hands at!" He held out his palm and high-fived an overhearing Beatrice
"Whatever you wish my lord. They will be sent out in less than an hour!" Clive promised him and the call ended with a relieved Beatrice and Lucifer drinking his second cup of cocoa in peace.
2. A Letter to Santa
"Second advice, write a letter to Santa." Carefully she tore two pages from the end of the book and handed Lucifer one of them.
"They provide the required stationary, how extraordinarily thoughtful!" Playing around with the paper he sobered when Beatrice titled her head and narrowed her eyes dangerously at him.
"So I have a wish, I write it down and it is supposed to come true. Isn't that the basic concept? May I ask for a lady to fall head over hills for me I wonder…"
What he desired was the Detective. If such a wish was ethical was of no consequence but Father knew he regrettably needed some divine intervention if he ever wanted progress their friendship. Santa would have to do then.
"Santa is not a Genie!" She told him exasperated with his lack of basic knowledge.
"Elaborate Beatrice!" There was his only hope for accelerating this blasted tiptoeing he had found himself at the moment into with the Detective.
"But if he is… then there are rules and you can't have that." With a thoughtful expression, she held out a pen for him and started writing down her letter.
"Well that is indeed unacceptable" he murmured to himself. So what he could ask for then? His head loomed over Beatrice and she covered her letter quickly. He had only gotten the Dear Santa part out and that left him with no idea on what he should write about.
"Were you good this year Lucifer?" Beatrice asked him with some hesitation.
"Not really… Is that a hard rule?" He asked and heated his third helping of hot cocoa at a fresh cup in the microwave. Without waiting for her to ask for her third serving, he took out one more cup and filled it with the now lukewarm beverage.
"It's supposed to be." Her list of naughtiness this year was endless he had to admit pondering all the past events.
Regardless of what he approved he guessed that according to the Detective's perception of right and wrong the child had not been that good this year. Hitting a bully, maiming her doll, taking bribes of cash and chocolate.
"What is the worst that can happen?" he looked heavenward. Famous last words he supposed.
"Humiliation, embarrassment, fire, explosions, collisions, tears, nudity, and death. But that was just bad luck involving a battery operated doll last year and it's very unlikely to happen twice." His encouraging smile slipped and drew back from the terrifying creature in front of him.
"Kidding! You get a lump of coal." she said without much care and wrote down the last lines of her letter.
"Worst case scenario Beatrice, we will have a Christmas Day barbeque." His eyebrows waggled and she batted her eyes in return. Father, he liked this child.
Folding his letter carefully, later on, he felt liberated. He had not asked for something special nor for something he could not purchase by himself. On the contrary, a dozen of clothes was not of any consequence on his finances. The child-proof feature though was a game changer for him.
Since when was he so accustomed to small hands touching him? When had the child managed to compete her mother on this newfound experience of his called affection? He pushed his neatly folded paper and she put them in separate folders. With the writing, task finished Beatrice opened her little book and turned the pages until she found the one she was searching for.
3. Bake
"Advice three, bake." Her forehead puckered and her face fell. If the burned cookies Chloe had brought with her on their trip to the mountains as a snack were anything to go by, his little human was not particularly skilled in baking. Then again Maze always had a tendency of not distinguishing the fine difference between baked and burned.
"Have I ever failed to deliver? Have you ever been unsatisfied with your breakfast?" Granted he had little to no experience in baking but he was sure he could pull this off better than his demon.
"No." she admitted and her eyes searched his for something.
"Have you ever failed?" The settled gravity on her features unsettled him a little and not the question itself.
"Plenty of times." He took the book from her hands and scanned the page for the required ingredients. The instructions were clear and everything they needed was in the cupboard he had previously opened for the cocoa. With a few adjustments, they would be able to make more than enough.
"But I do not intend to fail today." And yet he partially did fail. The mixture was lumpy and no matter how hard he whisked, it stubbornly remained so. Yet Beatrice seemed to be more than pleased with the result. He couldn't help but wonder, just what Maze had scarred her with during their baking session a few days ago.
"All it needs now is kneading and then to roll out the dough!" She said at her clapping, a cloud of flour raised in the air. Both had been covered in flour, egg whites and what he had an inkling was cocoa from the last hot chocolate bunch she had asked him to make before starting the baking process.
"Don't!" She slapped his hands inches away from the dough giving him a disapproving piercing look.
"Jewellery off!" she ordered him and pointed his ring.
"I think not!" he admonished holding protectively his right hand close to his chest effectively smearing his top white the sugary substance he was whisking before. The staring contest had a winner and a crestfallen Lucifer handed his ring to Beatrice.
"You can wear it around your neck with the string." At the tips of her toes she reached for the butcher's string and made a long chain for his ring. When she settled again on the stool she gestured him to duck in order to pass the makeshift chain through his neck. Lucifer chuckled and taking it from her he passed it through her neck instead.
"There is something inside the rock." she murmured examining the ring in the sun lighten kitchen.
"Indeed there is." With his finger freed of his ring, he expected the feeling of suffocation to come back to him as that had been the case for years. He slowly worked the dough, retrieved the rolling pin and the cookie cutters only to see Beatrice still playing with the jewellery.
"What is it made of?" The child wore the too broad for her ring at her petite finger and then let it fall on her chest where it suspended from the thin string around her neck. Lucifer placed a damp towel over the dough and turned to have her full attention.
"This is a material of what my old home used to build things with." He pointed the sliver band of the ring. The Silver City was not just a pretty name, it was a blindingly beautiful place. At least at the beginning.
"The black rock is a mixture of a certain kind of ash and a very rare liquid, which reminds me where I was sent to and why." The black stone glimmered in the light and his eyes caught what he knew there was inside but as he never took the ring off his finger, he hadn't taken a good look of it in years.
"As for what is inside…" He trailed with the memories of when he decided to craft this ring for his peace of mind. For some reason, he could not part from that small object for long which had resulted on a jewellery being made to keep it on him at all times.
"Is it valuable?" Beatrice asked and relaxed her head back on his chest while they were both looking at the faint shape of a small shadow inside the obsidian jewel.
"Something tells me that it is dear. Something tells me that it truly is." Lucifer held the ring for a few more moments the air before placing it on the child's chest and tapping it lightly conveying with the gesture that he was trusting her to keep it safe for the day.
"If we make some holes we can cheat a bit with the fourth advice" She recommended whilst rolling with vigour the pin over the dough. Lucifer winked at her and passed her a straw and a ginger man cookie cutter. Seven baking sheets later and a near call of fire, they had several good bunches and two entire sheets of burned to crisp black gingerbread men.
"You said we wouldn't fail today." she accused him poking the burned cookies.
"And we did not." he stubbornly told her. "I had a tree delivered to the penthouse today and it needs ornaments! A lot of them…" Six dozens of small black cookies would not be enough to decorate a 6' 4" Christmas tree.
Whilst wondering whether he should have to cancel or not the decorator from taking over the trimming, his little darling presented him with two very interesting bags.
"Fourth advice?" He guessed despite not being able to understand how these two bags could help.
"Yep!" Beatrice cheered and threw the small bag to him. He caught it midair grinning at her apparently contagious enthusiasm.
"Advice four, decorate!" they squealed together.
4. Decorate
"Are you sure this is supposed to go like this?" Lucifer licked his lips and tried to pass the needle through the popped corn without breaking it in half.
"You are asking me after a seven feet garland?" She signed and quickly painted one more bottle cap.
The Detective had persuaded him that a Christmas tree would have been a good idea even if he wouldn't be at home this year, because of replacing his bleach vandalised bathtub and all that. Yet a Christmas tree trimmed of burned cookies, bottle caps painted by Beatrice and corn had not been his initial plan when he caved to the suggestion.
Wanting to distance himself from the holiday, he found it difficult to do so with this child and her mother constantly around him. Therefore, he had carefully placed all the strings on the burned cookies to avoid upsetting Beatrice. He had also accidentally pricked his fingers countless of times, thankfully without being a mortal around the child. Finally, they had used her 'Recycle caps for wheelchairs' stash for building up the number of his tree's ornaments. Not to mention that Maze would be furious with the lack of corn for her movie night tomorrow.
Gladly defeated, he popped a couple of popcorns in his mouth and joyfully returned to his task when he felt a wet trail on his left cheek.
"No eating the decorations!" she ordered him for the hundredth time that evening but now there was a paint brush on his cheek leaving a trail of blue paint down to his chin.
Being faster than her he dipped his fingers in the orange paint and left several spots on her forehead and nose. In less than five minutes they were both panting. Beatrice was sporting several more colourful spots on her nose and cheeks while Lucifer had a small green handprint on his right cheek.
"Fifth Advice?" Lucifer offered as a form of surrender.
When his demon child nodded he let out a shaky breath and raised his thumb into the air.
5. Wrap the Presents Yourself and be the Gift this Christmas
The lock jammed a bit but under her persistence, it gave away and the door opened widely. Nothing appeared to be amiss and for that she was thankful. A lingering sweet smell was still in the air and the soft buzzing from the television was the only sound that could be heard in the dark living area.
With some difficulty, she could see that the kitchen was not exactly the disaster area she was expecting it to be. It was clustered with plates and hundreds of bite-sized cookies. Colourful caps were everywhere and a large bowl was filled with an insane amount of popcorn.
Tiptoeing behind the couch she saw the two culprits curled together sleeping peacefully. The large green loungewear robe was securely wrapped over Trixie and a large arm was holding her securely from falling from the couch's edge.
The soft light from the Grinch movie gave away enough light for her to see the paint on her daughter's cheeks and soft hair. Lucifer, on the other hand, was sporting the curliest hair she had seen on him up to this point highlighted with several strikes of blue and green.
"Lucifer how many cups of cocoa did you drink?" She demanded to know and ruffled in a gentle manner both his and Trixie's hair. If the cups in the table were anything to go by, they had gone through all the cocoa there was in the house but hopefully not hers.
"Not to worry Detective, an adequate supply has already been ordered to satisfy you and both your munchkins." He lisped a few words sleepily and tightened his hold on Beatrice before relaxing again and he let sleep overtake him.
"That's a sugar crash for you mister!" she laughed softly leaving the pair to take an evidently by their day's adventures much deserved nap.
(24th of December)
Three boxes of her favourite promptly delivered imported hot chocolate brand had not appeased the dear Detective. With a dirty look, he stole a glance at her drinking her morning coffee in the kitchen while he was confined under piles of photos. She had said it was time to carry his weight around. Yet arranging her photos with Detective Douche was a low blow of her.
Penny had already arranged a couple of large photo albums but he had to look though years of marriage, courtship and Beatrice's birth to arrange them according to the year they were taken. Sometimes he caught himself lingering over pictures of a carefree Chloe and at the silly expressions Beatrice made for the camera as a toddler.
"He said he would be here half an hour ago!" Chloe impatiently threw the rest of her coffee to the drain and run to the door to check outside for their impending guest.
"We still have fifteen more minutes." Penny informed her by checking her watch. The Detective closed the door and went back to the kitchen to pour herself a new cup of coffee. Before she added the sugar a sharp knock was heard and both Penny and the Detective flew at the door.
A short plump man walked inside the apartment and left his black umbrella near the door. His old-fashioned bowler black hat was lifted to reveal a descending pure white hairline. He politely smiled to the two women and set down the large leather bag he was carrying. He raised his sleeve and checked his golden watch and his large moustache twitched in satisfaction at his punctuality.
"Ten more minutes to go." The voice was warm and pacifying but a chill crept down Lucifer's back. "
To the room Doctor?" Penny suggested and took the bag from the old man.
"Is she still like a clockwork?" He asked following the two women.
"Always," Chloe told him and chewed nervously her right thumb's nail. Surely enough a small whimper was heard at 10:30.
Lucifer raked his fingers through his hair and followed the noise to the child's room. At the door, the Detective was holding the handle for dear life while Penny was helping the doctor to set everything near a whining Beatrice.
"It always begins like this. About an hour before her birthday then it becomes worse. Every freaking single year!" She whimpered as the spawn tried to take far away from her a little from the doctor who drew with quick expertise some blood for testing. What worried him most though was some of the instruments laying around the room.
The child's breath grew laboured with every passing minute and at every tremble, Chloe and Lucifer jumped slightly to check on her. He clenched his fists in synch of Beatrice's every hitched breath which was accompanied by the almost inaudible escaped sob from her mother.
"How long have you treated her?" His voice came out harsher than he had expected but it had no apparent effect on the Doctor who continued to check the child every once in a while.
"Since she was born." The Detective replied for him.
"There is nothing wrong with the child Mr.-" the deep voice inquired and the unsettling feeling returned.
"That is not nothing" He extended his hand and showed him the suffering Beatrice.
"Everything has come back clear. Every test prescribed and not has been done up to this point and two hours per year is not considered a threatening condition." The Doctor probed his fingers on the small chest and put the stethoscope in his ears.
What he heard must have good because he gave an encouraging smile to the Detective.
"Everything except something was missing." Penny pressing her hands on her cheeks had the need to talk about this in the open no matter how trivial it was.
"True. But she is not the first case and is of no consequence on what she is now experiencing." The Doctor supplied adjusting the most disturbing for Lucifer item that had come out from his bag.
Unclenching his fists in an effort to relax he realised that he had trapped between his fingers a few old photos he was supposed to put into order some time ago. Chloe looked at him to see the damaged photos and a ghost smile made its appearance. There in the middle of the photo were her and Dan at their very first night with the whole gang before they got together.
"We had just finished our advanced training abroad." She traced the photo in which she had a lazy grin and was ogling Dan's bare back as he drank from his beer can.
"The next day we were together…" He knew she needed the distraction but he doubted she knew how much this was bothering him. He had not forced his hellish past on her so why was she forcing him the equally hellish to him past of hers now of all moments.
"It was an impulse and it did not end well. I can't do impulsive anymore Lucifer. Do you understand me?" She whispered although he was sure that Penny and the Doctor had heard everything and understood the meaning of her words better than he did.
He drew a long breath and took her hand in his to apply an affirmative pressure. His smile was mirrored in hers and he knew that a new breakthrough with Linda would have to be discussed soon.
"Doctor… What is your name?" He asked him still holding Chloe's hand in one palm and the photos at the other. "Gibhor Voight but you can call be Gabe!" he replied cheerfully and checked his watch again.
"Gibhor?" Lucifer tensed and only relaxed at the startled yelp Chloe let out when he clenched his fists.
"I was named by peculiar people I suppose."
"Yes, it certainly holds an interesting divine meaning … And what does Beatrice miss according to your tests Doctor?" Suspicion was flooding him but he knew better than believe that the self-righteous bastard would ever take the form of such a pathetic creature to meddle with his life.
"Nothing much just her rhesus antigens. All 61 of them are absent." At that information, Lucifer abruptly stood up and towered the old man. "That is not possible," Lucifer growled through clenched teeth.
"I said the same thing." Chloe lifted the haze from his mind meeting his now wild dark eyes.
"They say it is inherited like blood groups but neither I nor Dan has a family history of lacking all rhesus antigens. At least one of us should have the same rarity. I even tasted my father's bloodied clothes for this!" She was near hysterics as she was reliving the frustration over Trixie's peculiarity.
Thankfully, the little girl was unaware of the discussed topic. Lucifer rubbed his forehead and leaned back on the wall closing his eyes.
"Lucifer would you please bring me some water?" Penny asked him trying to defuse the tension in the room. He mumbled something and was out of the room before he would be asked something else.
He threw the photos on the counter and took two glasses out of the cupboard. The cold water was refreshing him as it slide down his throat. Taking some time for himself he filled his glass again and wanting to release some of his aggravation he slammed his hand on the counter with a much controlled force. He couldn't imagine the chores he would be assigned if he broke the kitchen counter.
Taking his phone he dialled the only one who would confirm his suspicion.
"Luci! So glad you called this trip is awesome!"
"Brother.. Have mother and Maze killed each other yet?" He asked knowing fully well he was chit chatting instead of asking what he wanted urgently to know.
"Not yet but close. We are not welcome on the upper deck anymore and Linda has us on cruise probation! "
"Amenadiel... A question... Is any of the 43 related to Beatrice?" Fear gripped him at the possibility of divinity existing in such a small body. The descendants of his little brother still plagued humanity. Although their diluted blood was only capable of showing one little detail. They all had Rhesus null. Exactly like Beatrice. Divinity was a tricky force to withhold in a human body and if he was right her body was experiencing a very difficult growing spurt adjustment yearly. The pain though was not part of the equation.
"Lucifer only nine are currently alive and the last report placed them all in two families. One is in Europe and the other in Asia. There is no remote possibility for the Detective's child to have any connection with these two families."
"Then I was mistaken..." Or the Doctor had screwed up. That was the most plausible possibility for him. With an eased mind he wished his brother to have a great time chastising himself on overreacting and overthinking the child's condition.
With the water cup in his hand, he gathered the photos from where he had scattered them carelessly before and placed them on top of the half filled album he and Penelope were working on, only to freeze in his tracks.
With a shaking hand, he lifted at the same picture Chloe was talking about previously. Everything was the same aside from a very little detail he had failed to notice before. Quickly he tucked the photo on his shirt's breast pocket and took the water in Beatrice's room.
"It's starting, let me go!" Chloe cried out as she was dragged out of her daughter's room from Penny. Lucifer helped Penny to carry a kicking Chloe outside the room and closed the child's door behind him, leaving him in the room with the Doctor and a convulsing Beatrice.
"Help me immobilise her!" The Doctor was wrestling with her small arms to place the breathing mask on her nose and mouth. The gasping sound she was making materialised Lucifer's fears over the need for the small oxygen tank the Doctor had placed on the bed earlier.
His hands tried to stop her shoulders from moving and effectively pin her down but that made her thrashing more violent underneath him. She wanted to turn to her stomach and regardless of what the Doctor had told him, he helped her turn earning a sigh of short-lived relief before she spasmed again.
"Good intuition she seems to be more comfortable that way." Lucifer's palms run over the small clothed shoulder blades and lower back soothingly.
At the next jerking, he felt something bulging and retreating repeatedly underneath his probing fingers. He closed his eyes and bite his lips enough for the first time in his life to draw blood. The rustic taste was familiar from millennia ago but the sense of his Father's betrayal was unbearable this time around.
Cursing he made contact with her bare back and focused on rubbing over her upper spinal cord. That act alone rendered her limp and she relaxed completely under his ministrations.
"I don't know what you are doing boy, but it's working." With a quick examination of the girl's relaxed state he slapped lightly his left shoulder and opening the door, he left the room. After a few minutes, Beatrice responded more naturally and with tentative sluggish movements expressed her desire to be hell. He was powerless to refuse her.
"Is it over?" The tiny voice could be barely heard so he lifted her body just enough for her head to rest on his shoulder and next to his right ear.
"When it stops, it stops for good?" His hands still roamed her warm back with tenderness and a plea to be wrong.
"Yeah, at noon and then I have cake." He could feel her expanding her lungs with great apprehension at an impending pain and kneaded his fingers more forcefully at the point that might have protested at the movement.
"It's not noon yet cheeky little devil" Truer words were never spoken from his still slightly bleeding lips. Her little giggle was muffled by his shirt's collar and relieved he readjusted her more comfortably over him, running hands never ceasing their movements.
"She laughed!" An awed Detective leaned on the white doorframe and watched the two interact but betraying her presence to them both. With the Doctor leaving Trixie's room she had immediately come back to find Lucifer and her daughter interwind talking in soft tones.
"She is just tired she will be under soon." His smile promised her that there was no reason to worry for the rest of the day. Bending she placed a soft kiss on her daughter's hair.
The proximity of her neck and hair to his face reminded him that the possibility was still there. Her scent was familiar. Her presence as influential to him as the very first time. The possibility gave away to a very likely probability and while waiting for paralysing fear to cripple him, he felt more whole than he had felt in aeons.
"I'll leave you to take a nap then." With no hesitation after kissing Beatrice between them, she placed a small kiss slightly over his mouth making his lips twitch on missing out. The door closed behind her and small fingers tapped lightly his chest in content.
"Want to hear a story?" He asked her and sadness clouded his features.
"I'm too old" She insisted she was too old for everything lately but they both knew better.
"It will be a good one. Promise." Lucifer coaxed and gave her a half-smile. With a shrug and a huff he knew he had won this round and covered them with the small light blue blanket.
"There was a boy once who wanted to go on a much-deserved vacation." His voice remained neutral and the gentle palpitations of the child could be felt rhythmically over his shirt.
"But he didn't know where to go. So he decided to get what he was missing for many-many years. He wanted to go to the seaside."
"I like the seaside." Beatrice yawned and snuggled deeper into his body.
"So one night he found himself on a beach on Christmas day."
"He has no family to spend it with?" She asked curiously with the prospect of sleeping forcefully being dismissed.
"He had, but things happen love" Explaining a dysfunctional family as his was not easy during his therapy sessions needless to say to a child of eight today.
"Like with Dad today?" He could sense her pout at Douche's managing to miss Christmas Eve and her birthday today over a new case.
"Dads... Tend to work a lot, Beatrice. They also make mistakes. Sometimes things don't just happen but also change." He needed to warn her of a change which would happen at some point in her life. A very much anticipated change. "The story Lucifer."She signed and resettled her head on his shoulder.
"The story... Yes, so it was a dark night and decided to look around for the perfect place to begin his vacation. His first choice was going Australia and learning more about a culture called humanity." His first trip to this place was full of fragmented memories which he attributed to the hefty return. Now he knew better.
"In the dark, he met someone that night who taught him what humanity was all about. Desire, passion and of course life." The memories of that particular event were the most difficult to retrieve and he knew that by the end of the day all would be lost again. Lost along with the majority of the memories of this day. Father was simply not tolerant of messing with his plan. A literal motherfucker.
"Was it a girl?" The child asked impatiently.
"Well, yes, it was a girl and she made him curious about life. Therefore, he tried to learn as much as possible following that night. After a mere two hours later the boy unfolded his white wings and vowed to return. If not for seeking his freedom then for her." Why did everything make sense now? How he had missed this detail and how he had lost his wings, not as an act of defiance but to rid himself of the unknowingly lingering ache.
"He had wings?" She had been excited by this turn in the story.
"Would you like wings, Beatrice?" He asked her carefully and he grinned when he saw her nose crinkle.
"No." She gave her definite answer.
"You would be able to fly." He tried again to persuade her even though he wanted to do the exact opposite.
"Why wanting to fly when I can walk between Mummy and you?" She scratched her nose and closed her eyes deeming their story-telling over and a nap next in order.
Taking out the wrinkled photo from his pocket without disturbing the child he could clearly see that it held more than he had previously thought, and all had been hidden by his very own thumb. There was Chloe leaning on the bar in a very relaxed state, Dan clueless of her existence behind him and at the far end in the right down section of the photo was him with a dreamy expression adorning his features.
"You are like a penny from heaven little one... Do you know that?" he whispered in her hair sighing. They had been warned about the possibility procreation but it would require a touch of divinity which Chloe apparently had. The child had to take a full year round from the sun to be released in the world and no matter how planned the Detective thought her daughter to be early in her relationship with Dan, Beatrice had already existed before the Douche made a move to woo her.
Lucifer had been warned that night. An act of redemption will always be followed by salvation. Had he really redeemed that night? Was this fragile little being his salvation?
His rubbing never ceased as for the next hour they were left undisturbed until after the clock rang noon he decided to join the others. Carefully he raised himself along with the soundlessly resting child on his chest and walked to the living room. He was broken and exhilarated. Liberated and lost. That much he could tell with absolute certainty.
Chloe was not surprised to see Lucifer carrying Trixie on his hands when he entered the living room. Her mother and the Doctor were having a smoke outside while she was trying to get a hold of Dan over the phone. For once, their daughter had escaped her hour of torture which had been subjected for over eight years. His absence should have stung and infuriated her but everything in her told her that everything was as they were supposed to be.
"Care for some company Chloe?" The use of her name signified a change despite knowing that he would still be using Detective with the same frequency in the future. Lucifer's posture as he walked closer became more difficult to decode. His hold on the child tightened and when he kneeled between her legs she let him take comfort from resting his head in the crook of her neck.
When circumstances overwhelmed him she knew he needed something more than a hug. He needed her attention and it appeared that Trixie's health issue today had crumbled him more than she would have ever thought possible. Giving him the time he needed she drew her arms around him and played with the soft curls at the end of his neck's hairline.
"Please don't let me forget tomorrow." He pleaded and nuzzled his face into her neck. A wet trail was the only evidence of his spilling emotions. What a contradiction this man was. When he drew back tears shone in his eyes while he leered on for a soft kiss near her lips mimicking her kiss previously. Intimate but innocent.
"But even if I do forget, rest assured, I'll always be coming back to you." He vowed with a sad smile whilst encircling his free arm around her waist to hold her as close as he was holding his deeply sleeping Beatrice.
Someday soon, we all will be together, if the fates allow.
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Sanoiro: What is the point of giving a gift only to take it back?
The Father: To have your child grow enough to cherish it and not destroy it.
The End
Notes:
1) Songs used for this entry:
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland (cover by Ella Fitzgerald) /watch?v=uTV1TwGJK0I
Take Care of Me - Savvopoulos (english lyrics) /watch?v=c2ANcv_nDCw
Yet I was listening beloved by all cover of this song in order to write the ending of this entry: /watch?v=2GHBtKQ32bw
I've Seen Hell - North South BBC - /watch?v=pPAy6RqIIek
Ti Scatero Una Foto - Tiziano Ferro - /Vimeo /80525567
In my Sleep - Austin Hartley, Leonard Kendall Jane Meade - /watch?v=96C1V8zu_ys
2) Some more notes might be posted in time. I used many things from the comic and a quote from Miranda. Can you guess which one is it?
3) In the comic Maze is the daughter of Lillith and sister to a little abomination according to his angel father Imbrael. That little abomination murdered him along with Maze. That is also supposed to be the reason why Lucifer started to distance himself from the Silver City. In short, Imbrael had been instructed to not let Lillith and her children in the second Silver City he was building... It's a long story but fun.
4) God appears in the comic but I'll not disclose anything about that yet.
5) Lucifer near the end of the series and before Maze scarred his face tells to Maze that their union is a marriage... But in the tv series, this does not happen of course. That's fine by me as I enjoy Chloe Decker a lot!
6) Certain details of the Ring and Australia will be given to you through the outtake I'll post hopefully tomorrow. The M rating is for the intimacy part. I have never written smut so I'll go with whatever I feel comfortable there but it is not my intention to write an outtake just for the sex.
7) Lucifer in the comic according to many does not engage in sexual relations. That's actually false. Genitals do not appear in the comic but he is known to be sexually attracted to Lillith although he refused her and after the second earth/universe he is shown having relations with Izanami, the Japanese goddess of destruction... Fitting huh?
8) The Japanese/Asian culture appears quite a lot in the comic so I expect you will see more of that in the tv series.
8) There are many spoilers for the next episodes and they are all great. Unfortunately, after this chapter's outtake I'll not write something new for a long time. Of course, I might an inspiration or decide that poor Lucifer needs to have a multichapter after this little revelation I left you with.
9) Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and I really hope you liked this story. If you feel the urge to review please do it. I have a fragile self esteem lately and I'll get whatever you are willing to give. Until tomorrow I guess. :)