A/N I know I've been gone for a while; I needed a break for personal reasons. I don't know if I'm really back yet, but I managed to write this and I wanted to post it.
It's set between seasons 7 and 8, which is why Castiel and Dean are missing.
I hope you like it. Please drop a quick review if you particularly want this to not be a one-shot, cuz it is one now.
"Ouch!" Lucifer yelped.
Michael sat up and looked around in confusion. "Where are we?" he asked. "What happened to the Cage?"
"I think we broke it," Lucifer said worriedly.
"I guess that makes sense," Michael mused. "It wasn't designed to hold two archangels. But shouldn't we have landed somewhere in Hell?"
"How should I know?" Lucifer snapped. "I never broke the Cage."
"This doesn't smell like Hell," Michael noted. "I think we're somewhere on Earth."
"You tell location by smell now?" Lucifer jeered. "That is so dumb."
"Since you start with the postulate that everything I do is stupid, I'm not surprised you think I'm stupid."
Lucifer jumped to his feet. "I'm gonna run around in circles," he announced.
"Why?" Michael asked, baffled.
"I don't know; I just really feel like doing it," Lucifer said, running around the room.
Michael watched him enviously. He really wanted to run around in circles too, but Lucifer had started it so it must be a really bad idea, right? Anyway, there was no point to running like that.
Lucifer darted forward and tapped Michael's shoulder. "Tag, you're it!"
Michael leapt up and chased after him. They played tag for twenty minutes. Michael got tired and sat down. He yawned. "'M tired," he said.
Lucifer ran around him in circles. "C'mon, Michael," he begged. "Play with me. I'm bored."
Michael rubbed his eyes. "I'm gonna take a nap," he said, lying down.
Lucifer sat down next to him, whining in irritation. "But you're a mighty archangel of Daddy," he complained. "You don't get tired, Mika."
Michael sat up. "Right," he said. "We shouldn't've wanted to play tag, either. Brother, what's wrong with us?"
Lucifer looked lost. Michael looked at him more carefully and noticed something.
"Luci, your vessel's little," Michael said.
Lucifer giggled. "Yours is too," he said. "You look like a six year old!"
"Well, you look like a five year old," Michael retorted.
Lucifer looked down at himself in surprise. "Do not."
"Do too," Michael argued.
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do too," Lucifer repeated, smirking.
"Do not," Michael said. "Hey, wait! Cheater."
"You're the cheater," Lucifer argued with fake indignation.
"Am not," Michael said.
"Are too," Lucifer said.
"Are not," Michael said.
"Are too."
"Are not."
"OK, maybe just a little," Lucifer said.
"I win!" Michael cheered happily.
The thought of winning brought another contest into Lucifer's head. "We're s'posed to be fighting the 'pocalypse," he remembered.
"Oh, yeah," Michael said, standing up. "We hafta fight in the apocalypse."
Lucifer took up a fighting stance a few feet from Michael. "Do we really hafta kill each other?" he asked worriedly.
"Course we do," Michael said immediately. "It's a duel to the death."
"OK," Lucifer agreed nervously.
They launched themselves at each other, and the fight began. They fought in an uncoordinated manner for about a minute before Lucifer tripped over Michael's foot and landed on the ground. He scraped his knee.
"Ow, ow, ow," Lucifer wailed.
"Oh, no!" Michael said. He knelt next to Lucifer. "I'm so sorry. Are you ok? Luci, please be ok." He looked like he might cry.
Lucifer's lip trembled. "It's hurts," he complained. "It's bleeding." That was a bit of an exaggeration. The scrape was red and the skin was broken, but it wasn't quite deep enough to bleed.
Michael started crying and hugged Lucifer. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whimpered. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Sorry."
"It's ok," Lucifer sniffled bravely.
"How do I help?" Michael asked helplessly.
"Ice cream?" Lucifer asked hopefully.
"Sure." Michael snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. He snapped his fingers again. Still nothing. Thoroughly confused, Michael snapped his fingers four more times, still with no results.
Lucifer started crying. "No ice cream?" he asked.
Michael couldn't stand having Lucifer cry, so he cast around for another way to get ice cream. "We'll get it the human way, ok?" he said. "We just have to walk to an ice cream shop."
"Oh, ok!" Lucifer said, suddenly cheerful again. "Ice cream!"
Michael looked around. "Which way do you think there's ice cream?" They were in what looked like an abandoned mall. He didn't think there'd be ice cream here.
Lucifer shrugged. "That way!" he said, pointing cheerfully in a random direction and running off.
Michael chased after him. It was easy enough to get out of the mall, and then they were on a road lined with shops.
"Where are we?" Lucifer asked. He tried to sound confident, but he was intimidated and it showed.
"Earth, somewhere," Michael said. His voice was a little smaller than usual.
"Everything looks so much bigger than normal," Lucifer mumbled.
"We're just little," Michael said. "It's- it's not sc-scary at all."
"Course not," Lucifer said. "We're archangels, we aren't scared of anything." But he slid his hand into Michael's for comfort.
"I don't see any ice cream shops," Michael said after a few minutes.
"Let's ask for directions," Lucifer said cheerfully, pulling Michael into a tattoo parlor.
"Luci, I don't think we're supposed to be in here," Michael hissed. He tried to pull Lucifer back out.
Lucifer yanked Michael farther into the shop and found an employee. "Sir, do you know where we can get ice cream?"
"Ice cream?" the man asked, amused. "Two blocks up the street." He pointed back the way they'd come. They must've missed the shop.
"Great," Lucifer said. "Ice cream!" He pulled Michael back to the door.
"Thanks," Michael said over his shoulder as he went outside. They walked two blocks up the street and found a little ice cream shop on the corner.
Lucifer ran inside, then paused shyly in the doorway.
"Ice cream!" Michael exclaimed happily, slipping past him and up to the counter. "Ma'am, can we get ice cream?"
"But, Mika, we don't have any money," Lucifer said, coming to stand beside Michael.
"Oh, right," Michael said, horribly disappointed.
"Where are your parents?" the woman asked. Her name tag said Karen.
"We don't have a mom," Michael said uncertainly.
"And Daddy dumped us and we don't know where he is," Lucifer continued.
"Who are you staying with?" she asked, looking concerned.
"Mika," Lucifer said immediately, motioning to his brother. "He's six; he can take care of us."
Michael tried to look like a competent guardian and not a scared kid.
"How about we go to the police station,"Karen suggested.
Michael felt like he might cry. "But we haven't done anything wrong," he argued. "You can't put us in jail."
"I'm not taking you to jail," she said reassuringly. "Just the police station."
Michael burst into tears. "But I don't wanna go to the police station," he sobbed. "I want Daddy. I want to go back home."
"OK, where do you live?" she said.
"We haven't had a home for ages," Lucifer said. "It's not there anymore. Is there ice cream at the police station?"
"I don't think so," Karen said. "We should really go there."
"Come on, Mika," Lucifer said gently. "The police station will be fine. It's not like the Cage."
"It's- it's not?" Michael asked weakly, sniffling.
"It'll be ok," Lucifer promised. "Trust me."
"OK," Michael agreed, wiping the tears from his cheeks.
Everything was ok until Karen wanted them to get in her car. Lucifer balked.
"Cars are weird," he whined.
Michael climbed in unconcernedly. "Luci, it's not like you've never ridden in a car before. Just get in."
"Well, actually…" Lucifer scowled at the ground and shuffled his feet. "I haven't."
"It'll be fun," Michael promised. "Come on. You need to trust me now."
"OK," Lucifer said uncertainly. He climbed into the backseat, sitting as close to Michael as possible. They figured out their seat belt buckles, and Karen drove them to the police station.
Michael got more nervous as they neared the police station, and Lucifer got calmer as he got used to the motion of the car. When they got there, Lucifer was asleep. Michael shook him lightly, and he groaned and turned his head to the side.
"Luci, you hafta get up," Michael said. "We got here. Luci, please."
Lucifer groaned. "Mika go way," he mumbled.
"Lucifer," Michael whined. He shook Lucifer's shoulder harder.
"OK, ok, fine," Lucifer grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "But I'm tired, Mika. I just wanna sleep."
"Me too, but we hafta deal with the police first," Michael said. His voice shook a little. Lucifer noticed, and it made him wake up.
"It's ok, Mika," Lucifer said. "The police won't hurt us."
"But what if they put us in foster care and we get attacked by demons and we can't fight back cuz we're powerless little kids and the Winchesters find us and get mad at us cuz we were stupid and tried to end the world and Raphael drags me back to Heaven and makes me rule and I get really confused and it doesn't work and Naomi brain washes me and I kill you and then you're mad at me again and I get bitten by a vampire, turned, and then killed and sent to purgatory," Michael rambled.
Lucifer stared at Michael with his mouth slightly open. "Are you ok?"
Michael shook his head.
"Seriously, Mika, quit worrying," Lucifer said. "It's not gonna be that bad."
"But it could be," Michael said.
"Then I'll smack everybody and it'll be fine," Lucifer said.
"But that won't work," Michael wailed.
"Oh, quit being a wet blanket," Lucifer said.
"I'm being realistic," Michael argued.
"No," Lucifer said. "You're being- you're being dumb."
"Well, you're dumb too," Michael argued.
"Idiot."
"Numbskull," Michael retorted. The brothers smiled at each other.
They got out of the car and went inside the police station. Karen talked to the police officer on duty for a few minutes and left. And then the police officer turned to Michael and Lucifer.
"Hi," he said. "I'm Brandon. Do you want to tell me your names?"
"I'm Mika and that's Luc," Michael said.
"Do you know your father's name?" Brandon asked.
Michael shrugged.
"Daddy," Lucifer said.
"What did your mother call him?"
"We haven't got a mother," Michael said.
"Alright," Brandon said. He looked stressed.
"Can we go?" Lucifer whined. "This is boring."
"We have to stay and- something," Michael said.
"Ugh, fine," Lucifer mumbled.
"Do you have any relatives you could stay with?" Brandon asked.
"No, we don't," Lucifer snapped. "I wanna go back to the mall."
"The mall?"
"It's just someplace we've been staying," Michael said softly. "It's ok there."
"No, it's not," Lucifer spat. "It's stupid. Everything on Earth's stupid. We should just go to Hell."
"Luci, don't say that," Michael said.
"I'll say whatever I want," Lucifer argued.
"No, you won't," Michael said. "Dad left me in charge. Be nice."
"Look, Michael," Lucifer said harshly. "Dad's gone, ok? He's never coming back. Just- give up on following all of His orders and move on with your life."
"No!" Michael yelled. "He's coming back. He has to! Don't talk like that."
"No, He's not," Lucifer said. "And I don't want Him to. And you shouldn't either! Don't you get it? I disobeyed His every order and was as bad as possible. You were the perfect son and tried your best to do every single stupid thing He even recommended. And look where it got you! He dumped us both, and He doesn't care about you any more than He does me!"
Michael launched himself furiously at Lucifer, and an angry fistfight ensued. It was short lived, however, as Brandon yanked them apart.
"No fighting in the police station," Brandon said sternly.
Michael ducked his head. "Yes, sir. Sorry."
Lucifer punched Brandon in the face. Brandon didn't seem fazed. Lucifer panicked, started crying, and ran to hide behind Michael. He'd never had anyone but his Dad be so not affected by his punches. This Brandon guy could probably shred Lucifer in a fight right now, and that was scary. He hid his face in Michael's shoulder.
Michael was scared on Lucifer's behalf. "Don't be mad," he pleaded. "He didn't mean it. He's just stressed."
"Did too mean it," Lucifer sniffled. He yawned.
Michael rubbed his eyes, exhausted and drained. "You- you were asking about relatives right?" he asked.
"Yes," Brandon confirmed.
"I want Sam," Lucifer said out of nowhere.
"Sam doesn't like us," Michael reminded him. "You were mean to him."
"Yeah, but he's nice," Lucifer argued. His lip trembled. "Mika, please. I want Sam."
"I- ok," Michael said. There was no resisting a five year old Lucifer who looked like he might start crying again. "Can you find Sam Winchester?" Michael asked Brandon hopefully.
"Alright, what do you know about him?"
"He's really tall," Michael said. "Like- six foot five. And he moves around a lot. I used to know his phone number, but I forgot."
Lucifer rattled off Sam's phone number without thinking about it.
"How is he related to you two?" Brandon asked.
"He's our- second cousin once removed?" Michael explained haltingly. "I think? We just call him our uncle."
Lucifer was thoroughly shocked. He hadn't been aware Michael knew how to lie. And he was pretty good at it, too. Well, for a six year old.
"Call Sam," Lucifer said. "Please."
Brandon called Sam. Lucifer sat down on the floor and fell asleep during the conversation, but Michael stayed awake to make sure it went ok.
"Hello, this is Brandon Ellis with the Lawrence Police Station, calling about two children who claim to be related to you," Brandon said into the phone.
Michael waited impatiently while Sam apparently said something.
"Mika, what's your last name?" Brandon asked.
"Angelo," Mika replied calmly.
"They're Mika and Luc Angelo," he said into the phone.
"I don't think they have anywhere to stay. Mika said their father abandoned them," he continued. There was a pause. "A guess? Five and six? They certainly can't live alone."
"Thank you," Brandon said. "We'll hold them until then."
There was another pause while Sam spoke and Michael couldn't hear what he was saying, but it didn't seem so concerning this time. It sounded like Sam had protected their cover and would at least come talk to them, if not help them permanently. He could relax a little. Except Dean would come with Sam, and Dean was probably still really mad about the whole trying to force consent for possession thing. Michael started worrying again and nearly started crying.
"Your Sam wants to talk to you," Brandon said, holding out the phone for Michael. Michael took it hesitantly.
"Sam?" he asked shyly.
"OK, what is going on?" Sam demanded. "Why are you and Lucifer walking around as kids?"
"I don't know," Michael mumbled. "We just woke up and it was like this. And- and I don't know what to do. I- I know I shouldn't've contacted you, but- I don't have anyone else."
"You really are a child now," Sam said.
"Yeah," Michael said. "And I'm helpless, and- it stinks, ok? It's awful."
"What about Lucifer?" Sam asked. "Is he- himself?"
"He's just a kid, too," Michael said. "He's asleep now, and he gets scared and bleeds and begs for ice cream. We're really just both kids, I promise. Help us. Please." He just barely kept his voice from breaking.
Sam thought for a moment. "I'm coming to Lawrence," he said. "I'll be there in ten hours, and when I get there we'll see. Stay at the police station and don't hurt anyone."
"OK," Michael said meekly. "We'll be here. And- thanks."
"Goodbye, Michael," Sam said, hanging up. Michael handed the phone back to Brandon, sat down next to Lucifer, and promptly fell asleep.
…
Michael woke to someone shaking his shoulders. He whimpered and tried to go back to sleep. "Michael," someone said. "Wake up."
Michael forced his eyes open. Sam was standing in front of him. Except, Sam looked three times as tall as he normally did. Sam was normally incredibly tall, but to a six year old he was a giant.
"Sam," Michael said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "You came." He'd known Sam was coming, so he didn't know why it seemed like such a big deal that Sam was here. He almost felt like crying from relief. Michael threw himself into Sam's arms and started hyperventilating.
"Hey, Mika, it's ok," Sam said gently.
"I'm just really glad you came," Michael said. He tried not to sound too pathetic, but it didn't come out quite like he wanted.
"Don't worry," Sam said. "I'm staying."
"Good," Michael mumbled.
Sam shifted Michael so that he was easier to carry and brought him over to the desk. The man there wasn't Brandon, so Michael supposed there'd been a shift change. A few minutes later Sam carried Michael out to Dean's Impala and settled him in the backseat.
"Where's Lucifer?" Michael asked.
"Right inside," Sam said. "I'm gonna go get him now. Stay here, ok?"
"OK," Michael agreed.
Sam went back inside. Michael waited. And he waited. And he started panicking. What if something really bad had happened with Lucifer, and one of them was hurt? What if the police had figured out that all of Sam's documents were fakes and he was locked in jail? What if Lucifer had said something stupid or attacked Sam and Sam was so mad he left? What if somebody evil came and kidnapped Sam and Lucifer while Michael was away? What if somebody came and kidnapped Michael while he was waiting and Sam thought Michael was being bad and had disobeyed him? What if Sam got mad at him? What if Sam had planned to abandon him the whole time? It would be fair, after the whole apocalypse thing.
Michael panicked and thought up a whole book of possible disasters while Sam was gone. It felt like hours. It was probably only about half an hour, and he knew that, but it felt like forever. He started crying. Something awful must've happened. He had to go back in and see if Sam and Lucifer were still alive.
Except, Sam had ordered him to stay in the car. So he had to stay in the car, or Sam would be mad and Michael would have disappointed him and everything would be awful. He couldn't disobey orders. So then there were two conflicting things he felt like he absolutely had to do, and he couldn't handle it at all.
Still crying, Michael left the car and slunk towards the building. But then he felt really guilty for disobeying Sam and couldn't bring himself to go in. He panicked, ran off to the side, and hid in the bushes. He made sure nobody could see him in his hiding place and waited. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for. He couldn't come up with any ways that the situation could get worse. Michael tried to keep his crying quiet enough that nobody would hear him and peered out at the path.
Sam walked out of the police station, carrying Lucifer. Lucifer looked unconscious, or dead. Michael couldn't help letting out a little sob he was pretty sure was audible from where Sam was. Sam paused, and his eyes scanned across the bushes. Then he walked over to the car.
Sam hadn't been able to wake up Lucifer, not that he'd tried all that hard. The poor kid looked so exhausted and fragile, asleep curled up on a chair, with only a thin blanket protecting him from anything. So he'd cleared everything up with the police and carried the still sleeping five year old out to the car.
He heard an odd noise like a sob while he was walking, but he didn't see anything and passed it off as unimportant. And then when he got to the car Michael was missing. It was a little nerve wracking. There were, of course, plenty of reasonable explanations, but he already felt protective of the kids and he didn't like not knowing where Michael was.
Sam settled Lucifer in the back seat and made sure he looked comfortable before looking around to see where Michael could've gone. He'd only been gone ten minutes tops, but it was possible Michael had gotten worried and gone in to find him. But then he should've crossed paths with him at some point.
So maybe Michael had seen something interesting and meandered off. He was at the right age for it. The other possibility was that Michael had been kidnapped by someone who realized that he was an archangel, but Sam really didn't like that idea and didn't want to believe it until he had to. And it seemed pretty unlikely that anyone could know. Heaven was in chaos, Crowley was probably pretty busy with Kevin, most hunters wouldn't consider a human looking kid who hadn't done anything a threat. Sam was only here because Michael had called him, after all.
So hopefully Michael had just left without thinking. Sam would find him, make sure he was ok, give him a mild scolding, and that would be that. Sam looked around, trying to think like a six year old archangel. It wasn't working too well. His ears, tuned to small sounds from years of hunting, caught something coming from the bushes. And then he remembered the sob he'd heard earlier.
It was probably Michael. Sam headed towards the bushes. He found Michael curled up in the brush, sobbing.
"Mika?" Sam asked gently. "Are you ok?"
"P-please don't be mad," Michael wailed.
"Why would I be mad?"
"Because you said stay in the car and I didn't," Michael whimpered. "And I didn't mean to, well- I guess I did, but- I got worried because you were gone for hours and I thought monsters must've attacked and you and Luci were both dead, and it was awful and I couldn't-" he cut off when Sam picked him.
"Hey, Mika, it's ok," Sam said gently. "Luci and I are both fine, and I'm not mad at you, ok?"
"OK," Michael said weakly. He hugged Sam and started calming down. "I guess I kinda overreacted."
"There's nothing wrong about overreacting," Sam said. "You're six. It's really ok to act like it. And I won't leave you in the car by yourself if it scares you."
"I don't like being alone, and I don't like not being sure that everybody's ok," Michael admitted. "I don't know how to handle it."
"You don't have to be alone," Sam promised. "Luci and I'll stay with you, and you'll know we're ok. Let's head back to the car."
They walked back to the car, and Michael sat next to Lucifer in the backseat where he could constantly confirm that Lucifer was definitely breathing and fine. He was just scared, because Lucifer seemed so fragile and human and childlike. It wouldn't take much to hurt him.
Michael's stomach started hurting. He wasn't sure why, but it had started last night and only gotten worse with time. It made a weird rumbling noise.
"Sam?" Michael asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, what is it?" Sam asked.
"I think there's something wrong with my stomach," Michael explained. "It feels weird and I don't like it."
"When's the last time you ate anything?" Sam asked.
Michael thought back. "Uh, the 1820s? 1830s, maybe? It's been a while. We couldn't get ice cream cuz we didn't have any money."
"And how long have you been on Earth as a child?"
Michael bit his lip, thinking. His memories kept getting blurrier and blurrier as he became a six year old human more completely. "I dunno. Yesterday," he said.
"I think you're probably hungry," Sam explained gently. "Have you tried enough food to know what you like?"
Michael shook his head. "Not really. I just like fruit. It's all I've really tried."
"I'll find a fast food restaurant," Sam said. "There ought to be one somewhere around here. The food won't be great, but it'll be edible."
"OK," Michael said.
Sam found a Taco Bell in a little town that didn't seem to have much of anything. It was probably the only option. "Taco Bell ok?" he asked.
"Um, I have no idea what that is, so- yeah, I guess?" Michael said.
Sam ordered a breakfast quesadilla and orange juice. Michael only wanted half the breakfast quesadilla, but he really liked the orange juice and drank the whole thing. Sam figured they'd save the rest of the breakfast quesadilla in case Lucifer was hungry when he finally woke up. Lucifer slept for another two hours.
Lucifer was confused by the rocking of the car when he woke up. He didn't initially know where he was, and he got scared. He'd expected to be in the police station, or he thought maybe the whole thing was a trick by the Cage and he'd wake up there. A car was- unexpected. Michael was sitting next to him, and he looked calm, so maybe it was ok.
"Mika?" Lucifer asked softly. "Where are we? What happened?"
"We're on a highway in Sam's car," Michael said. "I like looking out the window," he admitted shyly. "The trees are pretty."
"W-wait- Sam?" Lucifer asked fearfully.
The man in the driver's seat moved a little, and Lucifer recognized him as Sam. He couldn't really remember all that had happened between them, but he knew it was bad and it was all his fault. Sam must hate him. Lucifer sniffled and hugged his arms to his chest.
"Is that ok?" Michael asked worriedly. "You're the one who asked me to call Sam."
Lucifer felt more miserable. He also felt very small and fragile, much more like a five year old than he'd felt yesterday. He started crying. "H-he's gonna be mad at me cuz I was m-mean in the C-cage and ch-chased him 'round with hollow- hallus- hallucindacations- I can't s-say it-"
"Please stop crying, Luci," Michael begged, sounding close to tears himself.
"I'm s-sorry," Lucifer sobbed. "I know I'm a-awful and I beat everybody up and I sh-shouldn't've been the d-devil-"
"Don't say you're awful!" Michael wailed, starting to cry. "You're n-not. You- you- you can't've meant it."
"But I d-did mean it," Lucifer protested miserably. "I'm totally evil and- and awful and everybody should h-hate me but I'm s-sorry."
The car stopped, and Michael noticed they were at a rest area. "S-Sam?" he asked.
Lucifer started crying harder and hid his face in his hands.
"Hey, Mika," Sam said gently. "How about you go for a walk and stretch your legs. Just stay in the rest area, ok?"
Michael considered for a moment. He didn't know how to help Lucifer, and Sam might be better at it. And he really did want a break to stretch his legs and calm down. Watching Lucifer cry was scary. "OK," he said, undoing his seatbelt and climbing out of the car. He ran off to the sidewalk.
"Mika," Lucifer whimpered pitifully, knowing it was much too quiet for Michael to hear.
Sam got out and opened Lucifer's car door. Lucifer cringed away from him like he expected to be hit.
"Hey, Luci, it's ok," Sam said reassuringly. "I'm not gonna hurt you."
"But you're m-mad at me," Lucifer sniffled confusedly. It was too big and cold in the backseat all by himself. He wanted Sam to hold him, but he was too scared to ask.
"Lucifer, I'm not mad at you," Sam said.
Lucifer looked up at him, baffled. "W-what?"
"I'm not mad at you," Sam repeated patiently.
"That's impossible," Lucifer mumbled miserably. "Y-you're l-l-lying."
"Luci, look at my face and tell me if I'm lying," Sam said. "I know you can do that."
"C-can't anymore," Lucifer sobbed. "I'm just h-human now."
"Would I lie to you?"
Lucifer considered that for a moment. He didn't think so, but he couldn't be sure. He'd lied to Sam a lot, so it would only be fair for Sam to return the favor now that he could. Lucifer didn't know what to think. Maybe he didn't care.
"Pick me up?" Lucifer asked hopefully, holding his arms out to Sam.
Sam picked him up and held him. And Lucifer felt safe and warm, and he finally managed to stop crying. He relaxed and cuddled Sam. Sam walked back and forth with Lucifer for a while before sitting down on a park bench.
"You feeling better, sweetie?" Sam asked.
Lucifer looked up at him, confused. "Sweetie?" he asked.
Sam thought Lucifer looked absolutely adorable when he was puzzled. "It's your new nickname," Sam informed him.
Lucifer smiled sweetly. "I like it!" he said happily.
Michael came up to them timidly. "Luci, are you ok now?" he asked, sniffling.
"Yeah," Lucifer said. "Are you?"
Michael shrugged miserably.
"Come sit with us," Sam said gently, patting the park bench next to him.
Michael sat down hesitantly, not really looking at either Sam or Lucifer. "I'm worried," he admitted.
"What about?" Sam asked.
Michael shook his head, still not looking at them.
"Hey, it's ok, you can tell us," Sam said.
Michael's lip trembled. "I guess I'm just worried Luci's gonna start killing people again, or you're gonna throw us back in the Cage if we do something wrong, or something else awful will happen. And what happens when we grow up?"
"Please don't cry, Mika," Lucifer pleaded. "I promise not to kill anybody. Just please don't cry."
"And I'm not throwing either of you in the Cage again," Sam said.
"Promise?" Michael asked.
"Promise," Sam agreed.
"OK," Michael said. He leaned his head against Sam's shoulder.
Sam had always wanted a real family. It was why he tried to quit hunting so many times. And he'd never gotten one with ordinary humans; they all just seemed to die around him. But now, with little Michael and Lucifer, he felt like he had a real family for the first time in his life.