AN: This chapter's kinda cheesy, but it's Christmas, so it works. All I'll say is...the Devil exists in this universe, so why not Santa?

Also, the gift Lucifer gets from Chloe at the end of this chapter actually exists. Just visit the jewellery website Pyrrah and see for yourself.

"Lucifer?"

The Devil glanced up from his book and his gaze fell on Trixie, who was stood before him in her pyjamas, slippers and dressing gown. A teddy bear was clutched tightly to her chest.

"Offspring. What are you doing awake at…" He looked at his watch, "…quarter to midnight?" he finished in surprise. He had only been planning to read until the Detective was changed and in bed, but had clearly lost track of time.

Trixie hopped onto the couch next to him, and Lucifer quickly shuffled away from her a few inches. "I couldn't sleep. I heard Mommy and Grandma fighting earlier before they went to bed."

On Christmas? "About what?"

The girl averted her gaze to her lap. "Grandma said I'm too old to believe in Santa. Mommy said I'm not, and that it's good for children to believe in magic. They were both talking like that; like Santa's not actually real. But he is real! Isn't he?"

Lucifer almost laughed. "Of course he's real! Your mother and grandmother have no idea what they're talking about."

"Really?" Trixie brightened up.

"I don't lie, Beatrice," he said. "I'm well acquainted with old Saint Nicholas. Do you know that it was my Father who gave him the job of delivering all those presents?"

"Really? Cool!"

"It's a rather long story, but I'll try to keep it short." The girl crawled across the couch to sit on his knee, and strangely enough, Lucifer was perfectly fine with the action. "You see, Saint Nicholas was a bishop who lived a very long time ago. Back in the fourth century, I believe. But during his life he would give all the children of Myra – the town where he lived – a gift one night every year. My Father thought this was an excellent idea, so after old Nick died and went to Heaven, my Father gifted him with Angelic powers."

"Cool…"

"It is." Lucifer continued, "And with these gifts, my Father asked Nicholas to give gifts to all the children in the world. He then gave Nick a magic sleigh that can hold an uncountable number of presents – think back to what happened with the Feeding of the Five Thousand – and a Heavenly deer in order to pull it."

"A reindeer?"

"I suppose they look a lot like reindeer," said Lucifer. "But Heavenly deer are entirely white and have wings which allows them to fly. Nicholas had only one at first, but when more and more children were being born, he needed more deer to help pull the sleigh."

Trixie bounced up and down with excitement. "Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen!"

"And don't forget Rudolph." Lucifer playfully tapped her nose. "He's the latest edition, created especially so Saint Nicholas can see through fog and storms. His nose lights up."

"Duh. Have you not heard the song?"

"I certainly have." Lucifer looked at his watch again and grinned. "In fact, Old Saint Nick should be stopping by very soon. Would you like to meet him?"

The child squealed. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Lucifer placed his finger to his mouth and shushed her. "We can't wake the others up. This will be our little secret."

Trixie grinned and nodded excitedly, before she hopped down from his lap. Lucifer rose to his feet, and together they made their way over to the front door, though didn't dare go out until they were wrapped up in their coats. The Devil helped Trixie put her snow boots on before the pair headed out into the night.

After glancing at his watch and noticing it was one minute to midnight, Lucifer glanced down at the child by his side. "Now, Nicholas has special powers – one of which is to slow down time. Amenadiel can do it as well, or at least he used to be able to do it, but that's another story. But if we're not careful, you'll get caught up in his…slowing down of time, and you'll miss him completely. Fortunately for you, his power doesn't work on me – and if you hold my hand, it won't work on you, either."

"OK." She gripped his hand tightly and bounced up and down in the snow. Lucifer couldn't stop his eyebrows from rising in amusement.

He counted down silently in his head, and when the clock struck midnight, everything appeared to draw to a halt. Not completely; the snowflakes around them were still falling, just so slowly that they appeared still unless one squinted.

Lucifer looked down to see if Trixie was with him, and when he saw her quick realization of what was happening around her, he knew it had worked and deemed it safe to let go of her hand. She was gasping in awe at the stilled picture around them when the sound of Heavenly bells caught her attention.

"Turn around," Lucifer instructed.

She did…and she gasped again, much louder.

It was a sight right out of a Christmas card. On the snow-covered rooftop of the cabin sat a beautiful red and golden sleigh, with nine pure white Heavenly deer harnessed in front of it. On each deer's back were a pair of magnificent feathery white wings, and Lucifer forever questioned how the wings didn't get in the way of each other. It was a testimony of just how graceful the deer were in flight, he supposed.

And in the sleigh sat a bearded fellow dressed in red and white, though it wasn't the traditional Christmas get-up that was worn by the many Santas across the world; it was an Angel's robe, and the hat was small but bishop-like. The kind, warm light in the man's eyes was welcoming even to Lucifer.

Nicholas climbed out of the sleigh before walking along his line of deer. When he reached the deer at the end – Rudolph, obviously – he undid the harness and hopped onto the deer's back. He whispered something in the deer's ear, before the animal spread his wings and leapt from the roof, soaring in a circle through the air before landing a few feet away from Lucifer and Trixie. The child was in awe.

"Nicky," Lucifer greeted him, nodding his head.

Saint Nicholas nodded back. "Lucifer. I must say this is a surprise."

"Santa!" Trixie couldn't contain her excitement anymore and rushed forwards. Lucifer flinched, recalling all the times he'd been tackled by the overexcited spawn, but Nicholas wasn't like him. He simply returned the hug when she reached him and patted her head with a smile. He didn't even mind the name, having long ago accepted it.

"Hello, Beatrice," he said. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

She looked apologetic. "I'm sorry. But I overheard my mommy and grandma fighting, and they were talking like you weren't real, and I wanted to stay up and prove to them that you are…"

"There are rules at Christmas," Nicholas explained. "One of those rules is simple: Adults cannot know about me. A few do here and there, and that in itself is harmless, but they cannot know as a collective whole."

"What is it you do again?" Lucifer spoke up. He hadn't moved from his spot a few feet away. "Alter their memories so they think they got the presents that you got the little hellions?"

Nicholas rose an eyebrow in the Devil's direction. "I never thought I would see the day when the Devil himself finds it in his heart to make a child's Christmas wish come true."

Lucifer avoided eye contact. "Well… That is to say…"

"You know," the Saint continued, "if I actually had a Naughty and Nice list like everyone says I do, you would be on the Nice list for the first time in centuries. Mazikeen too, for that matter."

"Yay!" Trixie sprinted back to him and attached herself to his leg. Before the Devil could attempt to ply her off, she pulled back herself and grabbed his hand. "Come on! Come on!"

"I…don't think that's such a good idea, child," Lucifer tried to protest, but Trixie was already tugging him towards Nicholas, and he was helpless to stop her. Nicholas chuckled in amusement, and Lucifer barely contained the urge to glare at him.

They came to a halt, and Trixie looked hesitantly at the deer. "Can I stroke him?"

"Of course, Beatrice." Nicholas held out a hand.

The girl let go of Lucifer's hand and took the Saint's, who then led her around to the deer's front. The deer lowered his head in response, allowing Trixie to pet his nose, that was softly glowing red. She giggled when he snorted a small gust of gentle wind in her face.

"He feels like a fluffy cloud," she said.

"Because Heavenly deer are made from the clouds," Lucifer told her. "Well, the clouds in Heaven, anyway." He took a few steps closer. "And Rudolph here was given a red star as a nose."

The deer turned and snorted at Lucifer, far less gently than before, and the Devil leapt back in surprise. Trixie giggled again and patted the deer's side. "Silly Rudolph. There's no need to be scared. Lucifer may be the Devil, but he's my friend. He won't hurt us."

Lucifer could only stare at the child as her words sunk in. Wait…does she…does she know? "You…know who I am, Beatrice?"

She frowned. "Of course I know, silly! You told me!"

"I…told you?"

"You tell everyone all the time!" she explained. "And you said that you never lie, so you have to be telling the truth, so you have to be the Devil."

It sounded so…innocent, how she accepted the truth of his many statements simply because he said he'd never lie. But what really had him shocked (and awed, he had to admit) was her lack of reaction; she knew he was the Devil, and yet she wasn't afraid. If anything, she was treating the fact that he was the Devil as if it were just a weird personality quirk.

"You're…not afraid of me?"

"No," she replied, as if Lucifer had asked a stupid question. "You're my friend. Why would I be afraid of you?"

And then she leapt upon him, wrapping her arms around his waist like she always did when she hugged him. And like always, the hug made him uncomfortable.

"Well, there's no need for this," he protested. "I thought you were my friend."

"Friends hug each other, Lucifer."

"I don't care what you call this…attack on my personal space. Every time you do it, you crease my suits. Dad only knows why I still bother to iron them."

"But you let Mommy hug you that time."

"That was completely different."

"Because you're in love with her?"

Lucifer's jaw dropped.

And Nicholas was chuckling again.

"Oh, I'm glad you find this funny." The Devil finally managed to detach Trixie from his person. "Don't you have a schedule to keep?"

"That I do," said Nicholas, before turning to smile down at Trixie. "Merry Christmas, Beatrice. And no peeking while I'm delivering your present."

"I won't." She hugged him again, and Lucifer couldn't understand how the man could cope with constantly being attacked by small humans. "Merry Christmas, Saint Nicholas." She turned and moved back to Lucifer's side, taking his hand in hers. The Devil didn't mind. At least she wasn't hugging him again.

Nicholas turned to him. "Keep up the good work, Lucifer."

"Now you've said that, I'll have to sin through all of January in order to counterbalance."

"I'm sure you will." Nicholas climbed onto the deer's back before returning to the roof. Trixie waved, and when Saint Nicholas was gone – after delivering Trixie's gift into the cabin, and the Devil made sure the girl didn't look – Lucifer relented to her tired yawn and carried her inside.

She was fast asleep by the time he tucked her into bed.

The jumper was itchy.

But Lucifer couldn't find it in himself to complain because, well, it was Christmas, and he knew enough about the holiday to know that there shouldn't be any fighting. Even without the Detective's warning.

And no one else was complaining about their jumpers. Maze's was red with a picture of a reindeer head on the front (she'd also bought a pair of antlers, and it shocked him how into the Christmas spirit she was), Linda's was a picture of an elf's green shirt (with an elf hat on her head, and she was probably the reason for Maze's Christmas spirit), Dan's was a picture of Santa's red coat (he had a hat as well, but his Santa hat looked ridiculous because unlike Maze and Linda, he couldn't make it work), Trixie's was white with a picture of a fluffy penguin on the front (which she had named Percy like it was one of her stuffed toys), Ella's was dark blue with a furry polar bear on the front (which she had named Thompson, and Lucifer was certain she was too old to be naming her jumpers), Amenadiel's was red with a Christmas tree on it (which apparently lit up, but he took out the batteries and refused to put them back in, much to Maze's displeasure, for she had bought it for him), Penelope's was light blue with a white sparkly snowflake embraided into it (and was no doubt expensive), and Chloe's was red with a robin on the front (so simple and yet it made her look beautiful, in Lucifer's opinion).

The Detective rolled her eyes at his jumper, to which he said, "It's a Christmas jumper, and it's black. This is the best compromise you're getting from me, Detective."

It wasn't long before they were all sat on the couch, unwrapping presents.

Lucifer couldn't help but watch everyone's reactions to the presents he'd bought them. He was captivated by the looks on their faces; their surprise and looks of wonder (or pure shock in Dan's case). It made him feel…warm inside. It was the same feeling he'd experienced months before when he had turned a drunk Chloe down for sex, and then again when he caught the murderer on the case soon after.

Only the feeling had increased. It felt…marvellous.

Though he could've done without Trixie tackling him when she unwrapped her present – and Ella joining the tackle after unwrapping hers.

His favourite reaction, however, was Chloe's. With a warning of, "This had better not be real diamonds, mister," she unwrapped the small package, removed the lid off the box, and gasped at what was inside. "Oh Lucifer…"

She removed the necklace and held it up for everyone to see. It was a simple chain, and from it dangled two pendants: the symbol of the Morning Star, and a heart with a twisted loop woven through it.

The symbol of Eternal Love.

"I'm glad you like it," was all he could say, and he hoped that she understood what it meant; hoped she realized that the heart represented his own, and that it beat only for her.

Soon it was his turn, and the wonderful feeling of being included overwhelmed him as he unwrapped his gifts. He received a new toy from Maze (which he quickly had to hide from Trixie's innocent eyes), a gold and white friendship bracelet from Trixie (the girl had made many at school, and everyone in attendance had received one), a book from Ella about faith (not strictly religious, which he appreciated), special piano polish from Penelope (she loved hearing him play), a book from Linda about finding oneself (he wondered if she'd been talking to Ella), wine from Amenadiel (his favourite, as well), and an amusing novelty apron that said "Hell's Kitchen" from Dan (he had a good chuckle over that).

And Chloe's gift…

It was a small box, obviously jewellery, and curiously Lucifer opened it – and found a ring inside. A talisman ring, he realized, silver in colour. In the circle on the top were two wolves, one in the bottom centre and the other top left, which was rearing on its hind legs. There were patterns around them; leaves and branches from the look of it.

"Look at the card," said Chloe.

Lucifer noticed a card in the box, and pulled it out.

Heart of the Wolf: This talisman features a wolf, a feared and misunderstood creature of high intelligence, fierce loyalty, and deep compassion.

The symbolism wasn't lost on him, and Lucifer realized that while Chloe didn't believe he was the Devil, she still listened to him. She still understood.

And that was a better gift than the talisman itself.