Ella Next

Lucifer was snoozing after being groomed. Lying face down on his deck chair designated for feather care. Dan had thought it weird to begin with that Lucifer had begun using this one chair for this one purpose, but he no longer felt so.

Lucifer when it came to his wings was very routine oriented. Thankfully, he wasn't like that with everything. From chats with the girls, it seemed to be a natural part of an angel's life when it came to flock and grooming.

Dan wished he could put a routine in place which would make the stubborn angel show Ella and Chloe the face behind the good looking human mask he showed in public. He was seriously beginning to get pissy from Lucifer's constant refusal.

Linda had suggested he talk to Lucifer after grooming a week since their chat. That meant tonight. A whole week of not saying anything about scars or showing his face or anything Lucifer could take to mean any of those things.

He suspected Ella was getting sick. She didn't look too good, but she had perked up slightly when Dan had come back for his grooming duties.

"So! Wanna tell me just why you've been gone so long?" she asked, after folding the right wing up to lay in a resting position across Lucifer's back.

He had finished before her after a week off. It was a bit odd. Usually she was much faster than he was.

"It wasn't so much me staying away, as Lucifer forbidding me to go anywhere near him. Remember when he was learning to fly and he implied that he did have scars from when he Fell, but he refused to show us? Yeah, I got a look at those scars."

Ella gasped and leaned towards him. "Oh, shit dude! What does it look like?"

Dan shook his head. "I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone what they looked like. He'd probably be upset with me just mentioning I saw them but...I think you and Chloe should at least know. It's...it's really bad."

Ella nodded. "Yeah, Linda told us girls on one of our nights out that he proved he was the devil to her by showing those scars. She said it was utterly horrifying to see and she froze."

Dan nodded. "Yeah. He's really reluctant to show anyone he actually likes, because he sees it as a torture technique. A way to punish bad guys. He doesn't seem to get that to the people he cares about it's not a punishment to us. It's not horrifying because of how scary it is, it's horrifying because of how bad it is."

"For someone who said you wouldn't tell me, you sure are spilling your guts all over me about it. And yet I still have no idea what to expe..."

A loud sigh was heard from the deck chair before Ella could finish her sentence. "Do you two really have to gossip over this? I don't want to show you. Why can no one accept that?!"

Ella turned to him and frowned. "This is one of those things you should talk about but don't because of shame isn't it?"

Lucifer sat up and ruffled his feathers, before moving his wings to a more comfortable position. He shrugged his shoulders. "Yes."

Ella nodded. "Then you should show me and let me make up my own mind. Once done, you never have to ever again."

Lucifer crossed his arms and glared. "Yes, I will. Because I'd also have to show the Detective!"

Dan sighed loudly. "We're trying to get you to see that we don't care that you have scars, man. We accept you as you, no matter what you look like."

Ella nodded enthusiastically at that. "And I promise to only talk to those who have already seen, so no talking to Chloe about it if you don't want me to. Promise."

And Dan knew then that they had cornered Lucifer. If he didn't show, he'd think himself a bad friend. If he did show, he'd be doing something he didn't want. And guilt suddenly made itself known. Maybe it was wrong to push him into doing this...

But by then it was too late. Lucifer had made the choice to be what he'd consider a good friend. He cared for his flock too much to think of losing any of them.

"Fine. But only a peek, not for long. It can make people lose their minds."

"So can your wings and I'm fine with them!" Ella replied.

And suddenly it was like a light switch had been thrown. One second, Lucifer was stand in front of them, his face the same human looking mask he always wore and the next his face was basically gone in favour of a mass of muscle and bone. Dan noted that his eyes were red when his mask was off and he let out a "Huh!" at that discovery. He hadn't noticed the first time he'd seen.

It was no less horrific to see though.

Ella put a hand over her mouth and began to silently cry, before throwing herself at the mass of red that was Lucifer. Skin was back in place before she touched him and he managed to grab her, before she bumped her head hard against his chest.

Lucifer stared over at him, begging him to help out with the crying woman. He shrugged back, knowing that there really wasn't anything he could truly do to make Ella feel better.

""Oh, shit, Lucifer. I'm so sorry!" Ella managed to get out in between sudden loud sobs.

Lucifer just held onto her and patted her hair in that grooming pattern he had with Trixie. Yeah, that was definitely his way of calming others and himself down.

Soon enough Ella had stopped crying and was clinging to him, letting him play with her hair. Maybe she had also cottoned on to the fact it was a calming technique.

They were silent for quite a while after they had all settled down onto the couch inside. They had moved there when Lucifer got suddenly paranoid about them flinging themselves off his balcony.

Ella broke the silence a half hour later after a quick shake of her head, still leaning against Lucifer's solid and perfect looking body. "Is it all over?" she asked.

Lucifer sighed softly, no doubt surrendering to his fate of endless questions about his...skin condition.

"Yes. All over. Except my wings. I lost the feathers, but not the skin. The plumage must have been thick enough back then to act like a buffer. I had to pluck a few feathers when I landed in Hell to stop the burning spreading to the wings themselves, but I managed to stop the spread to only the skin of the rest of my body."

She reached out and cupped a cheek. "Does it hurt when you're touched?"

He shook his head. "No."

She sighed in relief and cuddled further up to him. "Good."

And with that said, Ella's questioning was over.

He hoped that Lucifer was taking note of how similar both his and Ella's questions were.

Well, one down, one to go.

Dan knew he'd have his work cut out for him when it comes to getting Lucifer to show Chloe. But still, he had seen Ella not have a seriously mind melting reaction. And him for that matter. Hopefully that would make things easier.

He'd wait for tomorrow's Netflix night before they began watching more Lost.