Devil of a Journey

"So..."

Angela looked at Lucifer as he looked at her with a look. His wrists were bound with the angel cuffs, but it wasn't like he would get away with anything. She knew it and he knew it. She would be on his ass before he thought about it. Still, he hadn't done anything worthy of getting a beating though she couldn't resist smirking when Mary punched him in the face. She replied, "So, what?"

"So," Lucifer replied, a little annoyed that she wasn't going to do her read between the lines thing. "You got nothing to say? About me trying to connect with my son?"

"What do you want me to say?"

Angela leaned against the old junker at the salvage yard that brought back memories, good and bad. Even though it wasn't the yard from her world, it still was there. She crossed her arms over her chest, not worried that she was walking with a chakram on her belt, her sword on her back and a gun in a holster on her belt. Lucifer would have no use for those things and he learned the hard way not to mess with Absolution. She looked at the fallen angel with a raised brow.

Lucifer looked at her as she looked at him. So far, the only thing she had done, was give a bland and firm look. She didn't say anything about him nor say anything about his attempts at trying to impress Jack. Rather, she just observed and went about business like nothing was out of place. It was disconcerting. He pushed, "Well… maybe that I'm overcompensating or I'm playing too much the victim. Everyone seems to be saying it lately." He pouted.

Angela's expression turned to a bemused expression as she shifted slightly. "Why do I need to repeat what everyone has been saying?"

"Did you turn into a shrink when I wasn't looking?"

Angela chuckled at that and looked up at the night sky. She shook her head slightly and looked back at the devil, "Lot you can learn when you spend time with people. And it helps when you've gone through something similar."

"What? Feeling like a leper? Shunned by family?" Lucifer looked at her like she couldn't possibly know what it was like.

"The feeling like a leper part," Angela agreed with a nod. "Considering that the choices I've made have made friends and enemies on both sides." She stared pointedly at the devil.

Lucifer scoffed at that and looked away. "Please, considering I know you from way back when." He looked at her. "You don't know the feeling. Dad locking me away for telling the…"

Angela pressed a hand against Lucifer's mouth, giving a gentle expression. She stared him in the eye, leaving her hand against his mouth. "You don't need to repeat it. I've heard it enough." She removed her hand.

"But…"

Angela held her hand up in warning. Lucifer closed his mouth. She waited until she was certain he wouldn't speak to start talking, "You want to know why everyone from Dean to Gabe have been… rebuffing your attempts to connect?"

"I know why. They…"

"You're trying too hard to make yourself into something that more or less is not you," Angela continued as if she hadn't been interrupted.

She didn't have to raise her voice or anything like that. It was simply the tone that it was uttered in. It commanded authority and Lucifer backed down. In normal circumstances, he would have felt slighted for that. Then again he felt trembles every time she opened her mouth. The only time he ever felt completely confident was when he had her restrained in hell. When she said what she said, he felt like a child being berated. Sure Gabriel and Castiel and Dean certainly made their opinions known, but what she said… it hurt.

Angela seemed to sense that and her featured contorted to like that of a mother soothing hurts. She sighed softly and continued, "Making your children proud of you is letting them see and know all of you."

"That's what I'm doing."

Angela shook her head in a disappointed fashion. "No you're not."

Lucifer sighed at that and asked, "Okay, then what should I say? That Dad punished me for mouthing off?"

"You left out the fact that you corrupted humans. Turned them to disobedience," Angela replied softly as she crossed her arms over her chest. She looked at Lucifer with a look of disappointment. "You're trying to make yourself look good."

"Well you sure are doing a great job," Lucifer deadpanned. He gestured at her and added, "You practically got him to call you 'mother'."

"But I didn't lie about who I am and what I am," Angela countered as she pointed at herself. She had leaned forward and stared at Lucifer in the eye. "Jack knows that I have killed people, good and bad. He knows that I can appear ruthless; he has witnessed it here. And he knows that I love my family more than anything and would do anything to protect them. He knows my flaws, my weaknesses and my strengths. In the end… he decided for himself."

Lucifer stared at her as she basically laid down the law with him. He shook his head in disbelief, "So you're telling me that you were just yourself and poof Jack grew attached to you."

"Probably because of the fact that the moment we met I just treated him like everyone else. With kindness and respect."

"Wait," Lucifer waved his hands in disbelief, "You were nice to him?"

"Yeah."

"So just being nice got Jack to…"

"Goes a long way."

"And the fact that he could probably beat you… Didn't it scare you?" Lucifer peered at Angela.

Angela saw the incredulous look and couldn't help but laugh. It was funny and yet not since Lucifer was trying to figure out what she did that made her relationship with Jack what it was. She knew that he heard Jack call her 'Mother' but she didn't say anything and didn't deny it. It was what it was. She frowned a little and her brow raised a fraction, "Scared of Jack? No."

"No?" Lucifer was confused.

Angela sighed and looked around. She saw Gabriel watching them and he wasn't looking overly pleased. She knew though that he would respect her decision. He didn't always understand the methods to her madness but he trusted her like he was now despite the baggage that the still unspoken between them. At least from his end of things. She looked back at Lucifer and replied, "No. I wasn't scared of Jack when I first met him. I was scared for him." She peered at the devil and added, "That is part of being a parent, Lucifer. You support their passions, be there as a helping hand when they fall and are trying to get up. It's how a person grows. Jack has never needed to prove himself to me or to Sam and Dean."

"So you weren't freaked out if he accidentally sent someone flying through the room?"

"The first time he did it, I told him to stop." Angela peered at Lucifer, gauging his reaction. "I just stepped in the role. I didn't and don't care what he is. I do care about who he is. In the end… it was his choice to call me 'Mother'. He told me that he didn't love his real mom any less and hearing that… made the decision to accept his logic and allow it."

"You always were one to let people make their choices."

"And it's one of the great things about humanity, Lucifer," Angela replied with a pensive expression on her face. "Free will, choices… just shows the range of capability. You were so intent on showing that it was worthless that you failed to see the beauty."

"But they always make a choice that…" Lucifer made a gesture, not really spelling it out but he knew Angela would understand it.

"True. But we try. That is the great thing." Angela shifted and looked at Lucifer before adding, "You want the honest truth about why Jack is accepting and has a relationship with me and the boys, I told you. We explained yes but we gave both sides of things. He knows me for who I am and what I am. The same with Sam and Dean. In the end, he made up his own mind.

"If you want a relationship with your son, then you need to stop playing up to him. He is not an impressionable kid. He is a young man capable of evaluating what he sees and making a decision and if he is confused, he will ask about it and expects a truthful answer. Not the twisted version to make someone look good. If you want Jack to really know you, then you need to let him see you for all you are."

Lucifer looked at Angela as she stared at him, "But… what if he… doesn't like me."

"I would think he wouldn't like you for not telling him everything." Angela put her hands on her hips. She stared at Lucifer with that firm look she did when she was issuing orders to the rebels. "Lucifer, doing what you've been doing… It will not go well for you in the end. A good father humbles himself to admit that he may not have made all the right decisions. The job of a father is to teach his son how to be a man and more importantly a good person." She sighed and shook her head and added, "Look, be angry at Chuck for all you want but don't blame him for the choices you made."

"Easy for you to say. He granted your wish and wiped out everything you were as an angel. He took your grace, your memories…" Lucifer spat back but there was little fire in his retort.

"According to Chuck, and a few others, I wanted it to end. In the end, he didn't grant me my wish but took away the pain I endured. Sent me to earth and I lived obviously as a reincarnated soul." Angela shrugged her shoulders at that. "Makes no difference to me since I don't remember and don't care to. My focus is on here and now. And believe me, it's not easy when you have resentments that pop up."

Looking around, Angela looked up at the night sky. She breathed in the air and tilted her head to listen to the sounds. "Well I better get back to patrolling."

Lucifer watched as she left. He was hesitant but then he called out, "Angela, wait."

Angela paused. It was a first that Lucifer didn't call her a pet name that she hated coming from anyone else but her mate. She turned to look at the devil and asked, "What is it Lucifer?"

Lucifer took in the look. It was not in anger. There was kindness in her expression. He opened his mouth and struggled with what he wanted to say. Finally, he asked, "Will it help? If I really show who I am?"

Angela studied the devil. She could lie and say that it would but that would be a disservice. True she was upset at the bargain she had struck to save Sam, but she didn't sense deception at Lucifer wanting to connect with Jack. She was wary since she had history but… "I can't say for certain. But at least it will be honest with Jack."

"And is that really the best policy?"

"Usually is for all people. Some things are secret for a reason but that is where trust comes in. Trust builds upon what a person knows of another. Of all of them," she answered honestly.

It wasn't exactly promising but Lucifer realized that was all he was going to get from her. "Okay. You better… better get back to patrol. Don't want these people thinking you're a shirker," he said with a grin. He changed it when Angela didn't smile and added, "Not that you would."

Angela gave a slight grin and said, "We may be on opposite sides of the fence, Lucifer, based on past history. But if you are sincere in your desire… consider what I have said and what others have said. Keep an eye out too." She gave a gentle smile and walked away.

Lucifer blinked. That conversation wasn't what he expected from her. He half expected her to be like Gabriel and stick it to him. She had her resentments against him. Oh he knew it and she had wanted to rip him a new one for putting her in the position to agree to help him and he used Sam to do it. Yet, she was… sort of nice about it. She was upset but she still gave him the time of day and when she spoke… He would have to think about it since he wasn't so sure and he didn't have as high of an opinion on humans as she did. He had time even if they were on a clock to get out of this place.

A/N: Angie and Lucifer have a conversation regarding his attempts to connect with Jack. Tag to Exodus.