Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree2, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, CherylB1964, Nicolene B, SummerMistedDragon, Crazy as a Cheshire Cat, LeeMarieJack, Lady Grelka and QuietCrahs for last chapter's reviews!
Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!
Lucifer had to admit that the infant's room was nowhere near as tacky as he had feared it might be. In fact, Gabrielle Lucia's bedroom looked less messy and colorful than Grace's this far. No doubt because the kid was too small to cause that much of a mess or ask for toys.
Lucifer unceremoniously handed the Hulk plushy he had bought for his niece to Michael while Hope lifted the baby from her crib. Grace said that all babies were the Hulk now and then, so the toy was absolutely appropriate for her. Besides, the Hulk was an underrated member of the Avengers or some such nonsense. Lucifer admittedly didn't listen to or remember everything Grace rambled on about any given day. He made sure to listen to everything that was really important to Grace, which should be more than sufficient. At least, it was more than a lot of parents did in Lucifer's experience.
The frown already on Michael's face since he received the toy deepened when he squeezed the plushy's middle and activated some sort of speech mechanism that immediately announced 'Hulk smash!' Still, it was the thought that counted, so Michael placed the toy -after reading the label to make sure it was approved for babies and not only older children- next to Gabriel's teddy bear on the armchair.
"She is very small... and cute," Lucifer stated matter-of-fact when Hope presented their daughter to the visitors. Lucifer remembered Gabriel's threat that he would regret not admitting how adorable Gabrielle was just in time to add such a sentiment to his statement. Not that Lucifer was afraid of anything Gabriel might do to him -if he ever found out in the first place- but it was true and thus could be stated. There was something else that was undoubtedly true and needed to be said as well, "Doesn't look like you at all."
Nadine would blame the chuckle that threatened to escape on the shock factor of Lucifer's statement. Maybe they should have gone over some things to say or not to say to new parents before coming here, but then it was quite likely that Lucifer would have only gotten ideas from that.
"Why does everyone say that?" Michael asked with a groan. He really valued that everyone seemed to agree that Gabrielle was a very cute baby, but it was baffling at best and somewhat insulting at worst that all his brothers had to add her dissemblance to Michael right afterward. If Michael were one to look for negative connotations, he would take this as his brothers saying that he was everything other than cute. Not that he necessarily wanted his brothers to call him cute...
"Your brothers are evil teases, no way around it," Hope shrugged, clearly amused though. She would have cuddled Michael a little to make up for the evil teasing, but Lucifer declined her offer to hold Gabrielle which left Hope with her arms occupied.
"I thought it would be somewhat comforting to know that your offspring does not resemble a Winchester," Lucifer explained with a frown. At least, Gabrielle did not look like any of the Winchesters Lucifer knew this far. Which was not to say she might not show some physical -and/or other- Winchester traits later in life. Depending on which traits exactly she might adopt that could count as good or bad, but Lucifer assumed that Michael would be a little relieved not to have a constant reminder that he himself resembled a Winchester staring him in the face.
"I've seen the Winchester offspring, I wouldn't mind my kid having some of those genes," Hope laughed, which only got a silent groan out of Michael. Maybe he had heard that stupid joke once or twice before. At least Nadine seemed to agree with the statement. You could say what you wanted about the two Winchester brothers -and one Milligan- but they were good looking.
"Can I hold her?" Gracie suddenly asked, pulling on the hem of Hope's purple shirt. Lucifer may not have wanted to hold the baby, but Gracie sure did. It wasn't that often she got that close to a baby, this was Gracie's chance to find out if having a baby around was nice even for a short amount of time. You never knew what you could use that knowledge for later.
Hope smiled and told Gracie to sit in the armchair before she carefully put Gabrielle into the little girl's arms.
Otheos watched the scene critically, but didn't say anything. Hope knew what she was doing and Grace was careful with the baby. Besides, Otheos didn't have to let them know that he felt very protective of the child, they would find out just how protective if Balthazar ever dared to get anywhere close to Gabrielle.
"Are you relieved that she doesn't have any nephilim traits?" Samandriel suddenly asked, too silently for any of the humans around to hear. It seemed unlikely that Gabrielle would be anything other than fully human, but stranger things than Michael's child being a nephilim had happened in this family before.
"Not as relieved as you're going to be," Otheos retorted looking from Samandriel to Lucifer and Nadine. Granted, nephilim were -supposedly- bad news either way, but somehow the thought of the -former- devil fathering a nephilim seemed worse than the -former- commander of heaven's child being a nephilim.
Samandriel only frowned deeply in answer. He didn't think that Lucifer and Nadine were even thinking about considering to procreate... but then again, stranger things had happened in this family.
Lucifer honestly didn't understand Michael's fondness of ice cream, but since his brother suggested the ice cream parlor they of course had to try it out on the way back to the hotel. Maybe Lucifer made a mistake when he let Grace choose the flavor he would go with, because the little girl immediately pointed at the blue flavor called 'Smurf'. Of course, Grace got chocolate chip ice cream for herself and admitted she only wanted a firsthand report of what exactly Smurf tasted like -and maybe steal a bite or two. Artificial blueberry bubblegum was the best description that came to Lucifer's mind.
Lucifer was looking for a trash can -preferably one close enough that he could dump the disgusting, melting, so-called treat without much ado- when his eyes landed on something else entirely.
"Grace, would it be acceptable if Samandriel brought you to the hotel by himself?" Lucifer asked with a small, nearly devilish smile on his face. Every now and then Lucifer found he loved to surprise the people around him and this would definitely come as a surprise!
"Why?" Gracie pouted automatically. She didn't like being ditched, though sometimes there were good reasons for it. Gracie wouldn't make a big fuss if there was a good reason, but she wanted acknowledgement for her sacrifice either way. After all, it was already evening, which meant that Gracie would most likely miss out on her good night story. At least, Lucifer wasn't going to read it to her then. To be fair, it was easier to convince Samandriel to read her another story after the first and then just one more after the following three than it was with Lucifer.
Lucifer only nodded toward the bar they had just passed by. There weren't too many people around, but the music was nice enough and a few couples seemed to be dancing.
"Are you serious?" Nadine asked as her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"You seemed to enjoy it, I'm just trying to be nice," Lucifer shrugged. He had made the effort to surprise Nadine with a nice suggestion, now it was up to her if she would take the offer or leave it. Lucifer could live with both options to be honest.
"Okay," Gracie immediately agreed, after it became apparent what Lucifer was planning, "But only if you promise to have fun."
Samandriel was fairly sure that being on vacation to a different state didn't automatically mean that Gracie was allowed to watch TV before bed, but then again Nadine wasn't around and 101 Dalmatians was a nice movie. Now that they had started it, they also had to watch until Cruella got her rightful punishment apparently, or else they would be left without closure and that was always dissatisfying.
"Mandy?" Gracie asked when Samandriel finally brought her to bed and was about to pull the covers over her body, "Is heaven a big place?"
Samandriel considered the question for a few moments as he tucked Gracie in. Heaven was hard to describe to people who had never been there. Actually, it was hard to describe to anyone who wasn't an angel. They only saw glimpses and parts of it, but heaven was much more than that. Samandriel would go as far as to say that heaven wasn't only a place either, because he didn't feel like he had been estranged from home for months, even though he hadn't set foot in heaven for quite some time. It was unlikely that Gracie would consider any of that a satisfactory answer though.
"It's hard for me to say what you would find big or small," Samandriel finally admitted, before he smiled and added, "But heaven is... pretty damn big."
Gracie nodded thoughtfully, before she fixed her big brown eyes on Samandriel and asked, "Have you seen it all?"
"No, my duties haven't led me everywhere yet," Samandriel answered, though there was also the part about the map of heaven ingrained in his very being that would let him find pretty much anything he was looking for. Again, that didn't seem like something Gracie would be able to process properly and it surely wasn't something that would help her put her mind to rest and sleep. Instead Samandriel chose an easy answer that should tell the little girl what she wanted to know, "But I can find my way around, if it is necessary."
"Could ya find someone up there?" Gracie shot up into a sitting position, undoing all the careful blanket tucking Samandriel had done just a minute earlier. Kneeling on the bed, Gracie played with the blanket between her fingers for a few long moments before she explained, "I just thought... maybe if you could find my daddy, you could tell him something."
"I would have to..." Samandriel started to reply automatically, before he even remembered that the decision was his to make. He didn't have to ask anyone for permission anymore. This was well within the parameters for free will Castiel and Balthazar had established for all angels. It was a favor for a friend that would not hurt anyone or disturb the great balance in any way. Samandriel could follow his own preference in the matter without a doubt, so he agreed, "I can do that."
"Just... maybe tell him we love him and think of him a lot," Gracie mumbled, as she hugged Samandriel tight. The little girl took a deep breath, before she raised her head and looked the angel directly in the eyes, "And then tell him mommy is dancing again."