"You know," Ellie remarked one night as she and Lucifer talked in the closet, "Maybe we should stop being selfish and tell certain other people about the mirror trick."
"What other people?" Lucifer asked. "You mean like Dexter and Valerie?"
"Yes," Ellie said. "Who else would I mean? Valerie misses him. She tries to hide it, but I can tell. How's Dexter doing? You're not being too hard on him, are you?"
"No," Lucifer shook his head. "In fact, I'm the one you should be feeling sorry for! Maeve and Dexter have teamed up and keep working against me!"
"Well, maybe if you bring him in here, he won't be mad at you anymore," Ellie shrugged. "It's a thought."
So a few minutes later, both Lucifer and Ellie brought Dexter and Valerie to the mirror, but didn't tell them why.
"Just be patient with me," Ellie told her daughter with a smile. "And hold onto your dad's jacket, would you?"
"Yeah," Valerie huffed, taking it in her fist. "But I still don't know-" She paused mid-sentence and let out a happy shriek when she saw Dexter on the other side of the mirror. Dexter was just as shocked and pleased to see her.
"Valerie?" He got out. "Oh, my...it's you!" He then took off his glasses, cleaned them, and put them back on. "Yep," he nodded and grinned widely. "You're still here. I'm definitely not hallucinating."
"And even if you still thought you were, maybe this would help convince you otherwise for sure," Valerie said with a wink, and then, to her parents' and Dexter's shock, she began stripping in front of the mirror until she was just in her underwear.
"What are you doing, young lady?" Lucifer demanded. "Put your clothes back on!"
"Yeah, get dressed now," Ellie insisted. "Why are you doing this?"
"Well, I just don't want Dexter to forget what he's got at home waiting for him," Valerie explained, her voice showing no hint of shame. "I mean, he's not getting any action on your side of the mirror, is he?"
"No, can't say that I am," Dexter replied to everyone's surprise. Then he continued. "Would you both mind leaving so Valerie and I can be alone?"
Valerie grinned at this and waited for her parents' responses.
Their faces began to twitch and it was obvious to her that the last thing they wanted to do was leave her and Dexter alone, but finally (and resentfully), they left, with her father giving a parting shot of, "Just remember that if you play with yourselves too much, you'll go blind."
When they were alone at last, Valerie finished stripping down and said, "You know, you really surprised me when you stood up for what you wanted like that. I'm proud of you."
"What?" Dexter asked after a little bit. His eyes had been roving over her body and he'd completely missed what she'd said. "Did you say something? Sorry I missed it. My mind was elsewhere."
"Good," Valerie grinned. "I was just saying that I was glad you stuck up for what you wanted like that. It makes me happy."
"Well, like you say, I'm not getting any over here and..." his voice went down to a whisper. "Being with your dad is tougher now that I'm in a place where I don't really have any way to take a break from him."
"Oh," Valerie giggled and then began doing a little dance. "You gonna strip down too? It's only fair."
"Right," Dexter nodded and did just that. "Sorry."
When they were both naked, they stared at one another for several minutes, touching themselves as one whispered sweet nothings to the other until they were rudely interrupted by a knock on the closet door.
"Mom says you can see Dad in there!" Vincent yelled. "She wants me to talk to him now! What are you doing in there, Valerie?"
"None of your business!" Valerie called back. "Go away!"
But the mood was broken. With a sigh, she began dressing again and Dexter did the same. "Now that we know how, we can do it again," he assured her. "Maybe at a time when we'll be certain not to be interrupted."
"That'll be for sure!" Valerie huffed. "It was good to see you, Dexter. Hopefully the wait until our next meeting won't be as long!"
"I hope it won't either," Dexter told her. "I love you, Valerie."
"I love you too," Valerie replied with a smile before blowing him a kiss and stomping out of the closet, throwing the jacket at her brother. "You have to hold onto that to talk to Dad," she snapped. "I hope he yells at you."
She then strode off and Vincent shook his head at her weirdness before heading to the closet himself and finding his father staring back at him from the mirror.
"Hello, Vincent," Lucifer told him. "Are you doing well?"
"No," Vincent sighed. "I'm not doing well at all!" He growled in frustration, a lock of dark hair hanging in his eyes. "I want Lauren and Nick and she is ignoring me! I have half a mind to storm her apartment and bring them home to make her see reason!"
Lucifer sighed as his son's eyes went red. "I know that's where your head is and believe me, I understand, but...if my experience with your mother and our early difficulties taught me anything, it's that if you try to force Lauren to be with you, you're just gonna lose her. And do you want that?"
"No!" Vincent shook his head. "I do not want that! That is exactly why this whole hellish situation is so hellish! And how come she gets to be the victim and not admit that she did nothing wrong while always treating me like the only bad guy? I know I screwed up! I know I was selfish and impatient...but she was too! It would be a lot easier to deal with if she admitted she did wrong and it wasn't just me!"
"I know, Vincent, I know," Lucifer sighed. "But when you do most of the wrong, the downside is that the other person gets to have the moral high ground automatically." He paused. "But if you give Lauren the time that she needs, maybe she'll soften and admit her part in all this."
"How long will I have to wait?" Vincent asked.
"I don't know," Lucifer shrugged. "It might take a long time. But it'll be worth it in the end. Please don't do anything stupid or rash like you've already done. You'll thank yourself for it."
"All right," Vincent nodded and took a deep breath. "It'll be hard but I'll try and remember that. Maybe I'll enlist Christopher to help me."
"There you go!" Lucifer exclaimed. "That's an excellent idea!" He paused. "Anything else you want to tell me? If not, would you go get Angelica?"
"Sure," Vincent nodded and then bit his lip on a grin. "Be prepared for her to talk your ear off. She's got a lot to say, especially where Grandpa is concerned."
"Oh, dear," Lucifer sighed. "Poor girl."
"Yeah," Vincent chuckled. "Better her than me, though!"
He then left the closet and not long after, Angelica appeared, looking as exhausted as someone who'd dealt with his father should look.
"Vincent says you've seen Dad a lot recently," He told her. "Everything okay?"
Angelica sighed, trying to keep her voice under control. "Does it look like everything is okay, Daddy? This whole separation mess is His fault! And before you ask, no I do not know when He will undo it! He just said to trust Him, as you know, and that's it!"
"Bloody hell, I knew! Doesn't surprise me that Dad did this," Lucifer told her. "I figured as much. But that can't be the only reason why you're so worked up. Wanna talk about it?"
"No, I don't want to burden you with the other things He's doing," Angelica sighed. "It would probably scar you for life and I don't want to do that to you."
"What's happening?" Lucifer sighed. "Unburden yourself. Please."
"He's got the hots for Gwen Hamilton!" Angelica cried. "And He keeps wanting me to find date spots for them! And leave her mushy notes like I'm Cyrano or something! Do you know how damn fucking awkward that is?" Her voice rose substantially as she said the last sentence, and Lucifer could tell she'd been holding in her frustration about this for some time.
"You can say 'No', you know," he told her. "You've said it to me. Saying it to Dad's not much different."
"Yes it is!" Angelica cried. "It's totally different! Who knows what could happen if I tell Him 'No'?"
"Well, I don't think He'll be as tough on you as He was on me," Lucifer tried to assure his angst-ridden daughter who was struggling to breathe again. "Take a deep breath. Grab one of your mother's purses. There has to be one in easy reach."
"Yeah," Angelica nodded and began breathing into a black purse. "Okay."
"It'll be all right," Lucifer continued. "You're a very brave woman to deal with your grandfather as well as you have on your own. I'm proud of you. Hopefully I'll get back soon and we can sort this all out together."
"Yeah," Angelica nodded. "Thanks, Daddy. I miss you. I love you."
Lucifer grinned. "I miss and love you too, darling. But if you ever need to complain, just come in here and grab one of my suit jackets and there I'll be to lend an ear. All right?"
"Good," Angelica nodded. "Okay. That makes me feel better. I'm gonna go take a soak now. Or get someone to give me a massage."
"Go with the massage," Lucifer suggested. "Get rid of all that tension you're holding. It would be good for sure."
"Yeah," Angelica nodded. "I'll go do that now. Bye!"
Lucifer told his daughter goodbye, then Ellie returned and she and Lucifer talked a bit more before Ellie announced that she had to stop by her mother's house to try and get more information on what was going on between Sarah and Junior.
"I...do you really think just going over there and asking will get you the information you want?" Lucifer asked. "Clearly if there is something going on with your parents, your mother wants to keep it a secret."
"I'll find it out," Ellie proclaimed, eyes narrowed. "Even if it kills me, I'll find out what they're up to."
"Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that," Lucifer said. "But good luck!"
"Thanks!" Ellie gave him a smile. "And don't miss me too much!"
"I'm always gonna miss you," he told her. "As long as you're not here, I'll miss you, Eleanor."
"Good," Ellie said. "Cause I really miss you too."
"How was your visit with your mother?" Lucifer questioned Ellie the next night. "Have you found anything else out, Eleanor? Or are you still in the dark about their alleged affair?"
"No, damn it!" Ellie cursed and stamped her foot. "Still in the dark! Every time I'd try to get her to talk about it, she'd just change the subject!"
"Well, it's easier for her to do that when she doesn't have Junior right in her face!" Lucifer pointed out. "Find some way to get them together and then the looks on their faces when they see one another should at least give you more of an idea."
"But how would I get them together?" Ellie sighed. "I'd have to lie, there's no doubt about that!"
"Well, yes but would you rather lie and get the answers you seek or not lie and continue to be ignorant?" Lucifer questioned. "Now, what's one thing that would get both your parents to you without any hesitation?"
"I could pretend I was sick again," Ellie said. "Call Mom and call Junior saying I need their help cause I was horribly ill. That would work! I'll do it!"
"That's not gonna work," Lucifer shook his head. "You're a vampire and your parents know that. They're not gonna fall for the fake sick routine."
"Oh, I think you underestimate them," Ellie said. "I come from a family with overdeveloped parental instincts. If there's even a chance that something is wrong with me, Mom will at least want to investigate. She wouldn't just ignore it. And Junior's a doctor with babies, so that would heighten his parental senses. It'll work."
"I don't know," Lucifer was still doubtful. "But I guess we'll see, won't we?"
"Yes we will," Ellie nodded. She paused. "Now enough about me. Anything you wanna report?"
"No, not really," Lucifer sighed warily. "My first vegetable crop should be coming in soon and I know I'll have fun with that, but it's not the same as being with you."
"It's nice to know I'm better than drugs," Ellie said, biting her lip on a smile.
"Well, of course you are! You know that!" Lucifer told her. "Maeve and Dexter are really boring. All they do is complain about wanting to go home when they know very well that we can't. Cause Angelica says Dad set this all up, like I suspected."
"Yep," Ellie sighed. "She told me that. All I know is this better go back to normal soon before I have another freak out."
"If you have to, it's fine," Lucifer assured her. "You don't even have to clean up the piano keys if you don't want to. I might like my furniture to have a touch of the macabre."
"Seriously?" Ellie asked. "Cause I can clean the blood up. That's fine."
"Whatever you want," Lucifer shook his head. "However you deal. Doesn't matter to me. Do whatever you need to do to try and be okay."
"You too," Ellie told him. Then she heard a beep. "That's my phone alarm. Gotta go take care of Noah before I go to Mom's. I might be back to talk after though."
"All right," Lucifer smiled. "Sounds good. Just don't forget to eat. And good luck getting stuff out of your mother."
"I won't," Ellie swore, reaching out to put her hand on the mirror. "I promise. And thanks for the encouragement about Mom. I think I'll need it."
Ellie made the calls as planned, trying to sound as weak and pathetic as possible so her parents would come to the house to see her, then put on a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers and stuck a thermometer in her mouth. She had to make the ruse at least seem believable. It wasn't long before both her parents appeared, zapping themselves into the living room at the same time. Sarah held a microwavable container of soup and Junior was wearing his work jacket and a tongue depressor in his hand and a stethoscope around his neck.
"What's wrong?" They asked at the same time, running to her, then bumped into one another, and started.
"What are you doing here?" Sarah asked Sean, wide eyed. "She called me!"
"Well, she called me too, and I'm the doctor!" Sean told her. "So you can take your soup and your-" he sniffed. "...eau de Snickerdoodle and leave! How dare you show up somewhere at the same time as me and smell like cookies?"
"I was baking when Ellie called!" Sarah yelled. "What, I'm not allowed to bake now?"
"Not when you know you're gonna be anywhere near me, you-" Sean began, then reached out to grab her, nearly kissing her before he pushed her away. They stepped away and took a deep breath. The air was thick with lust. Ellie could feel it.
Sarah then paused. "I don't even know what we're so worried for! She's a vampire! She can't be sick randomly! And she knows that!" She put her hands on her hips and faced her daughter. "What's going on, Eleanor?"
"I just wanted to talk to you two," Ellie told her. "And I knew I wouldn't get you both here unless I lied."
"Well, if you don't need us, we'll just be going then," Junior replied. They were both blushing because of their daughter's trick.
"Oh, no, you're staying right here!" Ellie told them and took the robe off to reveal her jeans and shirt. "Come with me to my closet, please. I have a surprise for you."
"We can't," Junior said, trying not to touch Sarah, even though her skin looked very soft and she smelled like cookies, as he'd noted before. "We're very busy today. We-"
"Closet," Ellie said firmly. "Now."
"Why?" Sarah asked after zapping the soup into the refrigerator. "What do you want us in your closet for?"
"Just go with it, okay?" Ellie snapped. "Don't ask questions!" She crowded her parents into the bedroom and then ordered them to sit down on chairs in front of the mirror before asking them to hold onto Lucifer's coat. After that, Junior opened his mouth to ask why, but quickly shut it when Ellie gave him a look. "It's called a surprise," she said. "So I can't tell you a thing, can I?"
Her parents sat in awkward silence, trying their best not to look at or touch each other, their widening in shock (and possibly fear), the few times their fingers inadvertently brushed each other. As they had a history of avoiding one another, this could have just been shrugged off as normal behavior, but Ellie sensed there was more. That the lust she felt wasn't just a fluke.
It didn't take long after that for Lucifer to appear. "Well, hello there, you two," he said with a grin. "Eleanor told me I'd be seeing you. So glad it worked out. We really need to have a chat, don't we?"
"No, we don't!" Sarah shook her head and faced her daughter. "What's he doing there? I thought you two were separated!"
"Well, we found a way to talk to each other," Lucifer said. "Isn't it wonderful?"
"Oh, yes, I'm very happy for you," Sarah replied and tried to get up. She was blushing furiously. "Now, if that's all you wanted to say, I should be on my way now. So many things to do!"
"Sit back down in the chair!" Ellie commanded forcefully and then said in a much nicer tone, "Please." Then she gave her mother a gentle push back into the chair, and Junior was smart enough to stay right where he was.
"I'm not going anywhere," he assured her. "I promise."
"Sorry about that," Ellie apologized. "it's just that...I wasn't done talking yet. I think there are things you both need to get out into the open with me, right? Some secret you're hiding? Come on, you can tell me. I bet it's not that bad!"
"Nothing is going on!" Junior tried to assure her. "Your mother and I are just busy, that's all. And with our history, you know things can be weird between us! That's nothing new! We're not hiding anything."
"I call bullshit on this, Eleanor," Lucifer told her. "Don't believe a word of it. He's hiding something from you for sure. Can't you feel it?" He then grinned at his in-laws. "Sorry for interrupting," he said pleasantly. "Please, go on."
But instead of speaking, they just stared at him in shock, shaking their heads, their lips pursed.
"What do you mean?" Ellie asked Lucifer, wanting to give him the chance to say what she knew about her parents' lust because he seemed to want to so badly. "If they won't tell me, will you?"
"I don't want to hear this," Sarah huffed and got up. "I'm leaving."
"Can you feel the sexual tension in the room?" Lucifer asked Ellie. "It's such an enclosed space that it should be obvious that your birth parents still have feelings for each other that they don't want to deal with out in the open."
That made Junior rise, his voice full of indignation, his hands balled into fists. "How dare you!" He got out. "If you weren't somewhere else, I would punch you in the face for that!" He tried to relax his body, but it didn't work. Sarah put a hand on his arm and tried to pull him away from the mirror before he punched it and hurt himself.
"It's okay," she said. "We need to go now." They were still blushing as she pulled him away. Then Ellie got it. She turned to meet Lucifer's eyes, her own bright. "Are you saying, are they...really?" Her tone was extremely exaggerated as she spoke.
"Are they having sex, fucking, doing the nasty...whatever you want to call it, yes they are!" Lucifer exclaimed.
"Oh, my gosh!" Ellie burst out laughing and slapped her forehead continuing to act as if this was all new to her. "Of course they are! I can't believe...I mean, I suspected, but..." She grinned at her parents, trying to show them she wasn't horrified, disgusted, or angry.
"Why are you grinning?" Lucifer asked her. "You're not supposed to grin!" He was half-joking. "Remember your decision to make them endlessly itchy!"
"I thought you said that was a wimpy punishment!" Ellie told him.
"Well being relentlessly itchy, even for only twenty-four hours, is no picnic, so I'll let it slide," Lucifer told her.
"What are you telling our daughter to do to us?" Junior raged. "When you get back here, I'm definitely kicking your ass."
"I'd like to see you try," Lucifer told him smugly. "You can't do me any real damage, can you?" He paused and then grinned at Ellie. "Isn't it nice to see him finally protecting your mother's honor, though? It's a lovely change from the past for sure."
"You told me I can't smile or be happy about this," Ellie reminded him. "Make up your mind, would you?"
"Eleanor, make him stop right this minute!" Sarah demanded of her daughter. The situation was tough enough without them being made fun of for it.
"I will if you can look me in the eye and swear to his Dad that you're not doing what he says," Ellie told her. "Can you do that?"
Sarah and Junior both looked at one another, then at Ellie, and tried to open their mouths, but quickly hung their heads instead, glad to be looking at the floor for once and not their daughter.
"Oh, my gosh!" Ellie began dancing around and clapping. "It's true! It's true! I knew my radar wasn't on the fritz!"
"What did I tell you?" Lucifer asked. He was grinning too.
But it didn't take long before Ellie realized something that made her glee disappear. "But what about Josh and Hannah? What about Maeve and the girls?" She asked. "This is bad. This is very, very bad!"
"We know, which is why we're really trying hard to kick the habit," Junior assured her. "We know it's bad. We know it has to stop. We're not idiots."
"Well, good!" Ellie told him. "You keep working on that because if you had to come down to Hell, I don't think it would be fair for me to give you special, easy treatment just because I'm your daughter. That's a road I really don't want to go down."
"Actually, it's really not that hard to confine your troublesome parent," Lucifer told her helpfully. "I did. I have no regrets."
"Well, yeah, but you hate your mother so that's different," Ellie reminded him before turning her attention back to her parents. "All right, now that I have all I need, you can go about your business."
That was something Sarah and Junior were all too happy to do. They left the house and when the door closed behind them, Sarah got out, "Well, that was embarrassing."
"I know, but don't you feel better that it's out in the open now?" Sean got out. "I sort of do." He paused, reaching out to move a strand of Sarah's dark hair out of her eyes. "You know, you smell nice," he got out, running his hand down her arm.
"Oh, don't do that!" Sarah countered. "Remember we promised Ellie we wouldn't!"
"What's one more time?" Junior asked, his voice intimate and seductive. "Then that'll be it, I swear!"
"Fine," Sarah sighed. She felt well enough so why not? "One more time and then it's absolutely the last!"
"Right," Junior nodded. "Exactly!" He took her in his arms and zapped them both home. Soon they were both naked and rolling around on his bed, with her stretching in all different ways. But as she rode him, she was overcome by a wave of nausea. Not being able to get to the bathroom on time, she threw up all over Junior and the bed, effectively killing the mood.
"Oh, geez!" Junior cried as she apologized profusely. "Oh, damn!"
"I know that was gross," she said. "I wouldn't have agreed to this if I'd known I was gonna be sick! I felt fine before! I've not felt sick for days!"
"You've been feeling ill?" Junior asked, going to clean himself off and then putting his doctor hat on. "What are your symptoms?"
"Headache, nausea, dizziness, pain...and I think...I think..." She took several breaths. "I think I don't need to say what I've been without for the last month. Me being sick like this proves what's going on, doesn't it?"
"Yeah," Junior nodded. Then he grinned. "But you and Josh are having a kid, so...that's good, right?"
Sarah burst into tears then. "I haven't slept with Josh!" She got out. "This can't be his. Oh, geez! I can't do this again! I just can't!"
"What? It's mine? Why the hell isn't it Josh's?" Junior got out, his eyes widening. He wanted to feel happy, but the idea of being happy also made him feel guilty because he and Sarah weren't even together and Josh was a good man. Then he saw the look on Sarah's face, the one of fear that she was gonna be abandoned again and pain about being alone, and changed his tune, giving her a smile. "It'll be okay," He said, putting his arms around her. "I'm not going anywhere. Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it."
