Daemon, who had also seen Azazeal and Lucifer complain that they missed their children, suspected alternate motives, but when he and Jaenelle watched from the other side of the window between worlds that Lucifer created (which he forgot to close until several minutes later), he saw two men truly delighted at the reunion.
Azazeal beamed at Sara and Malachi with a smile that was second only to those he gave to Cassie. He scooped Sara into his arms for a quick squeeze and then his arms were wrapped around a slightly embarrassed Malachi.
"Did you keep yourself out of trouble?" he asked Malachi when he let him go.
"It's only been a week and a half, dad."
"My point exactly!"
Malachi gave his father his own mischievous grin but said, "Ella and I have been keeping the angels in line for you and other than a few issues that will need Elizabeth or Cassie's assistance, everything's great."
"Good." Azazeal said, like a general having heard a satisfactory report of his troops performance and Malachi looked proud at receiving such a commendation.
Cassie gave Malachi a hug and kiss of her own and then she and Sara began mysterious female conversation that both Malachi and Azazeal knew better than to interrupt.
Lucifer also brightened in a particular way when he saw Luke and Bryan though in his enthusiasm he grabbed both of them at once and ignored their protests of pain and mortification, both of which they exaggerated as much as possible.
This was the first opportunity that Daemon had to see Lucifer as a father in action. Daemon had thought it interesting that while Azazeal would weave a fact-filled story for any question you could come up with, the only stories you were capable of getting out of Lucifer where about his sons. These he shared at random moments when he wasn't offering humiliating advice, causing mischief, talking about Elizabeth or so focused on Elizabeth that no one else existed.
This was the man who had made the world into a personal petting zoo for his boys where the animals came and introduced themselves and would never harm them. This was the guy who had shown them the most remote corners of the world and explained how each natural wonder had been made as if the Earth were simply one large national park and he'd just read up on it on the Internet. This was the father who had given a piece of himself to a woman and still marveled at what she had created with it and that he could see himself in his sons, as if he hadn't been involved in the creation of the very planet they lived on and wasn't aware of exactly how the process worked in mind numbing detail.
And as the window closed, Daemon felt a stirring deep inside and knew it was time to tell Jaenelle what Lucifer had told him. The rut was coming. For all that he knew that it was just a biological imperative he wondered if it was the answer to his confused feelings about having children.
When Cassie saw number of angels Azazeal had 'selected' to assist in their work in Jaenelle's world, she was at a lost for words. Of course, he was quite proud of himself and clearly excited about the prospect of this new project. It was different from those they had completed in her own world because Azazeal and the angels knew the rules and the playing field. This new project would be more challenging.
She had to tell him no, she just had to, but she needed to talk to Elizabeth. She'd just been able to assimilate the advice Elizabeth had given her about Azazeal's…word selection. She didn't trust herself to be able to curb his enthusiasm without crushing his confidence.
"Ah, yes," Elizabeth had said when Cassie had asked her about the things Azazeal had called and the things he had said, "It's all fine while they're following the script and conveniently leaving out the divine bits. It's when they improvise that we have a problem."
Cassie regarded Elizabeth skeptically and she laughed to herself.
"It's not a problem, nothing's going to happen to you or Azazeal, Lucifer's been saying the most ridiculously embarrassing things for years now. Just learn to live with it," Elizabeth laughed again.
"But…I'm not…so it's just…I can't bare to…"
"Cassie," Elizabeth turned serious, "I know how you feel, believe me I do, but trying to discourage it will only make him more desperate. I've had Lucifer breakdown and beg me to give him an errand or tell him any small thing he could do for me as if everything rested on it. I thought the new behavior was to make up for a recent mistake at first and then I thought it was a new game, but really it was me. He didn't understand why I wasn't receptive to his…hoath. So I had to change. "
Cassie lost all heart to complain any further and Elizabeth softened.
"Look, they feel things that we don't and they've decided that some part of us is comparable to the divine. It's not meant to offend," and Elizabeth gave Cassie a meaningful look and pointed upwards and now Cassie laughed, "So, just relax and let him go. I actually helps really."
Of course, now Cassie was afraid to inhibit him in any way and Elizabeth was off taking care of an issue with one of her angelic charges.
Bilarel clung to Elizabeth with a fierceness that belied his gentle nature. His body shook as he cried, bravely unconcerned about the fact that Lucifer might take exception to this appalling informality, because he could not have known that Lucifer had departed shortly after seeing the state he was in.
Bilarel had been left again. It was the fifth time, well the fifth official time, and if Elizabeth could have adopted him into her own heart, she would have, but she didn't really have what he needed…not any more.
The first time she'd felt bad, the second time she'd been angry, and the third time she was so livid that she had futilely questioned any angel she thought might be able to help her find someone better for him next time, but it was a causal remark from Lucifer that told her what the problem was.
"He is comfort to the abandoned," Lucifer had stated simply and shrugged.
Elizabeth had whirled on him and shouted, her emotions giving her quick understanding of how this applied to Bilarel's situation, coupled by the fact that she had acted the same way in the past.
"So, he loves them, he cares for them, and they punish him for it eventually, as if he were the one who'd left them years ago?"
Lucifer looked uncomfortable. He did not know the answer to her question, but she knew she was right. As a real angel, he would not be effected by these losses in the same way. He would be sad but he would move on to the next person who needed his invisible comfort but on the human plane of existence it was very different. Oh, he would move on, the next time he encountered someone who needed him, he would perk up again, but the times in between were tough. Of course, Elizabeth could never figure out what would happen if he actually fixed someone and they stayed with him (she could always hope). Would he move on or would he tell them that he was an angel and make a life with them as so many others had done?
For now all she could do was hold him and remind him that the world was full of people that needed him and that she needed him. And it would work, it had worked before, and he might shadow her for a while, keeping her company when Lucifer was away, taking a small bit of pride in that at least because there was a small bit of her that remembered what it was like to feel abandoned.
When Cassie saw Elizabeth, she knew she needed cheering up. She let her give the news about Bilarel and then she asked, "Do you know how many angels Azazael has decided are necessary to help Jaenelle?"
When Cassie told her, it had the intended effect. Laughing uncontrollably, Elizabeth said, "And I thought we had over exuberance issues!"
"It's not that funny," Cassie said unexpectedly defensive.
"Oh, of course it is, and the best part is that he's doing it for you. Oh, I'm sorry, I really am but I have to laugh at it or it's too much."
This Cassie understood and laughed a bit herself.
"Now for the hard part, dear," Cassie said still in stitches, "How do I tell him no?"
They giggled a while longer before getting down to the question at hand.