A/N: Part four. One more piece to go!
Sam is finding more and more parallels between himself and Lucifer. Is there more to this so-called 'coincidence' or is it just Sam's imagination?
(Any italics during Sam and Lucifer's conversation indicate a flashback of Sam's)
o-o-o-o-o
Fast-forward a few months. Lucifer had gone away on a long hunting trip a week or so prior. I hadn't heard anything from him since he left. He wouldn't answer my calls or my texts. My email inbox remained empty. Any other hunter would have gotten suspicious and gone out to try and find him, but I knew Lucifer, and he'd be pissed if I tried to involve myself so I stayed at home. I made sure my phone stayed charged and on the highest volume though, just in case.
Nothing ever came.
Fast-forward another week, give or take a few days. Things were getting really weird. People who saw me out and about began to greet me as 'Mr. DuBois'. That's not my name, it's Lucifer's. I brushed it off the first few times, assuming that Lucifer knew them and that he had been asked about me living with him. Maybe he had been telling them that I was a visiting relative, I don't know. All I knew was that the hellos didn't go away. They got more frequent. Eventually I had had enough and I was going through Lucifer's room. His trip had gone on long enough.
I went through his drawers and found nothing, not even a hint of where he went. In fact, most of his drawers were empty save for a spider or maybe a dead cockroach. There was a lone sock in one drawer but I dared not touch it. I was about to give up hope when I spotted a stray piece of paper peeking out from under his bed. It was a sticky note with the words 'hotel reservation' and an address on it.
"Bingo."
The hotel listed was a Hilton Suites, a state over. It took me a little bit to get there since I had to take the train but I made it all the same. I grabbed a cab and made my way to the hotel on the sticky note. When I stepped out of the car I whistled low. It was a damn nice hotel, very uncommon for a hunter. A hunter's usual place of temporary stay was a shady motel on the side of the highway. This was the fucking Hilton Suites. Lucifer was definitely not trying to keep a low profile. It made me wonder what kind of job he was working.
I entered the main foyer and the receptionist at the desk looked up, smiling at me.
"Welcome back, Mr. DuBois."
I stopped, staring at her. Now the people at home I could understand, I mean they knew Lucifer more than likely, but this woman was in a totally different state and I had never met her before in my life. It's not likely that he told her about me since he probably wasn't expecting me to show up, so how was it that she—
I felt myself pale. I had a theory as to why all of this was happening but it was heinous and I could hardly believe it myself. Well, more like I didn't want to believe it. I would just have to piece the puzzle together slowly, not rushing anything.
I approached the front desk with a smile.
"Hi, uh, I'm really sorry but while I was out I lost my room key. Do you have a spare by any chance?"
She nodded and handed me a new key, smiling and telling me to be more careful. I smiled back weakly and went to the elevator. I felt like my organs were lodged in my throat as I opened the hotel door and entered the lavish space. I stared around for a moment, trying to make sense of it all when I realized something. Lucifer wasn't there.
I was starting to really get nervous so I did something I thought I'd never do. I called Gabriel. I don't know how I knew his number. I had never called him before but that wasn't important at the moment. I just dialed and waited.
He picked up after four rings.
"Yea?"
His voice was bored.
"Gabriel it's me. Have we ever done it?" I asked, not bothering to say my name because he knew my voice.
"Done what?"
"Have we ever had sex?"
"What kind of stupid question is that?" He sounded exasperated.
"Is it stupid because the answer's yes or because the answer's no?" My stomach clenched when he laughed at me.
"Is this a trick?"
"No Gabriel it's not a trick, I need to know—"
"You mean you want to know if I think we're just having sex or making love?" He sounded like he was mocking me but regardless I felt my stomach flutter.
"So we did make love…"
"Is that what you're calling it?" Back to irritated. That worked because I was getting annoyed too.
"Just answer the question Gabriel, please. Did we do it or not."
He hissed his reply at me.
"You fuck me then snub me. You love me, you hate me. You show me your sensitive side, then you turn into a total asshole, is that a pretty accurate description of our relationship, Lucifer?"
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
"… What did you just say?..." I managed to choke out.
"What's wrong with you?"
"What did you just call me? Say my name." I said desperately. I heard Gabriel sigh.
"Lucifer DuBois, you weirdo. What the hell is going on?"
I couldn't have answered if I tried.
"That's it I'm coming over."
"No wait Gabriel I'm not there—"
He hung up on me.
"Hey buddy."
I jumped at the voice, dropping the phone and standing up quickly. Lucifer himself was sitting in the chair adjacent from the bed on which I had previously been sitting. He looked… different. He wasn't in his jeans. He was wearing a white suit with a red tie and black dress shoes. He had a red rose tucked into his breast pocket. Very formal, very put together, and very much freaking me out.
"Lucifer what the fuck is going on here? Why do people think I'm you?"
Lucifer didn't say anything, only looked at me.
"Answer me!" I pushed, feeling my body getting jittery. Lucifer squinted at me before folding his hands in his lap.
"… Sit." He said, motioning to the bed. I did.
"Answer me, why do people think that I'm you?" I repeated.
He had that predatory grin on his face again.
"I think you know." He said vaguely.
"No I don't." I lied. He saw right through me as always, because he chuckled.
"Yes you do. How could anyone possibly confuse you with me?"
"I don't know." I said. Suddenly an image flashed before my eyes.
The vampire that Lucifer had killed a month or so back lying at my feet, not his.
I stared wide-eyed at him. His smile widened.
"You've got it."
"No…" I said disbelievingly.
The shape shifter's skin coming off in my hands and not Lucifer's hands.
"Say it." He prompted me. I took a deep breath.
"Because…"
Me firing the gun with the silver bullet that killed the werewolf, not Lucifer.
"Say it." He said again, still smiling at me.
"Because… we're the same person." I finally said, feeling my stomach turn when Lucifer nodded.
"That's right."
I felt the panic rising up in my throat along with bile. I raked my hand through my hair, holding it in my fist.
"I don't understand this." I looked up as Lucifer pulled the rose from his pocket, spinning it slowly between his fingers as he looked at me in turn.
"You were looking for a new chapter in your life. Yes you were." He insisted as I shook my head. He continued.
"You wanted something new, something exciting. Everything you wanted in life, that's me. I act like you wanna act, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly," he leveled me with a stare. "I am free in all the ways that you are not."
I was shaking my head again, feeling lightheaded.
"No this is impossible. This is crazy."
Lucifer looked amused.
"No. People do it every day. They talk to themselves and interact with people who simply aren't visible to other people. They don't have the courage to do what you did and just run with it."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Naturally you're still struggling with it so," he shrugged. "Sometimes you're still you."
At the bar the night I met Lucifer, I'm talking to an empty seat and pouring beer into my own glass, refilling twice as often.
"Other times you imagine yourself watching me." He continued.
The werewolf from a few months ago. I could have sworn Lucifer had been the one to shoot her.
"Little by little, you're just letting yourself become Lucifer DuBois." He said with a grin. I still just couldn't even believe it.
"No. No, you have a house."
"Rented in your name." He answered as he began pulling the petals off of his rose, dropping them one by one onto the hotel room floor.
"You have friends, you have a whole life." I insisted. Lucifer shrugged.
"No you have friends from out of town because of how often you travel."
I was getting desperate. I scooted forward on the bed, looking at him imploringly.
"But Gabriel, you're fucking Gabriel, Lucifer."
Lucifer stopped pulling the petals off to smile at me.
"Technically you're fucking Gabriel, but it's all the same to him."
I was between Gabriel's legs, thrusting into him as he laid on his back half-way off the bed, one hand over his eyes and one hand buried in the sheets, moaning softly.
My stomach dropped out again.
"Oh my God…"
Lucifer spread his hands, keeping the rose between his fingers, expression falsely grim.
"Now you see our dilemma." He said dramatically.
My heart was beating erratically in my ears, sweat was gathering on my brow, my hands were fisted in my hair, and everything was too brightly colored. I was having a panic attack and Lucifer knew it based on how he was watching me. I swallowed the lump in my throat noisily.
"This is bullshit, I'm not listening to this! You're insane!" I said, turning to him, my eyes wild. Lucifer chuckled and stood up, dropping the rose.
"No, you're insane, and we simply do not have time for your crap."
My vision went black and I passed out.
It's called a change over. The movie goes on and nobody in the audience has any idea.
o-o-o-o-o
A/N: YAY! Almost finished with this!
