A/N - A one shot request from another site that I thought I'd share here as well.
I hope you enjoy.
Most Los Angeles residents awoke in the morning to shafts of eternally summer sunlight peeking from between curtains or the furious wailing of alarm clocks. In the Deckerstar household - as Lucifer now referred to it - the inhabitants currently had the luxury of waking to the lovely sounds of retching.
"Chloe? What do you need? I can bring you some water. Do you want a towel? A hot pack?" Lucifer hovered nervously over where Chloe was kneeling before the toilet.
"Lucifer, I'm alright. I just need a minute." Chloe half turned to see him, nearly smacking their heads together as he was so close. "Okay seriously, a little space."
Giving her space was the one desire Lucifer had absolutely no intention of fulfilling, however. Scanning Chloe's face, he noted the sweat dotting her brow, the pale complexion. Nearly every morning for the last two months had started this way, with Chloe vomiting and he helplessly watching over her. Sixty days of staggering to the bathroom in a panic when he heard the first telltale signs of her heaving, smacking off door frames and stubbing toes in his half awake state. Usually, Chloe's stomach had settled by the time he staggered in but occasionally, like this morning, her nauseous feelings resolutely remained.
"Lucifer, really, I'm okay." Bracing a hand against the sink vanity, Chloe made to push herself up.
Instantly he was beside her, one arm looped low across her back as he lifted her carefully to her feet. Chloe rolled her eyes but her smile was soft and he felt some of his worry drain away at the expression. He released her from his hold once she was firmly planted on her feet but couldn't quite keep his hands to himself. As they walked back into the bedroom, he brushed his fingers against her exposed upper arm, savoring the softness of her skin.
"Darling, are you sure you're alright? I could draw you a bath if you wish." Sixty mornings and every single damned time it may as well have been the first. "I can make breakfast in the meantime."
"Lucifer," Chloe grabbed his hand and guided them to rest on her swollen stomach. "Honey I love you, I really do, but you can't keep treating me like I'm fragile."
But you are, he wanted to shout. He resisted though, instead focusing on where his fingers stretched across her stomach. Somewhere beneath his hand, a tiny heart was beating.
When Chloe had first thought she was pregnant, nearly three and a half months ago, Lucifer had treated the possibility with about as much seriousness as he treated anything else. Celestials could not procreate, it was impossible, a safe guard his father had put in place.
Then, Chloe had taken a pregnancy test and the possibility of him fathering the antichrist had become reality.
Surprisingly, Chloe had taken the news of the pregnancy far better than he had. Instead of fear or horror, she had become excited of all things. Perhaps it was seeing Charlie, who was now two and still wingless, have a relatively normal childhood, that caused Chloe to take it all in stride.
Lucifer, however, had needed quite a bit more reassurance. After several weeks of near constant therapy sessions and, even worse, asking Amenadiel for advice, he had finally come to terms with the fact he was going to be a father.
A crash from the kitchen startled the couple.
"Well, I guess Trixie is up." Chloe smiled.
Lucifer reluctantly withdrew his hands from her stomach. "I suppose I'll see to breakfast then. What would you like?"
"Why don't you make what Trixie wants? She's been a little… off the last few days. I'm worried it's about the baby."
"Really?" Lucifer raised a brow. He hadn't noticed any changes in the urchin. In fact, she had spent an exorbitant amount of time with him. He had heard many parents complained their tweens were not interested in spending time with them but he had seen no sign of that in Trixie. Most evenings, the two of them were inevitably joined at the hip, making dinner together while Chloe caught up on paperwork or watching whatever movie Trixie had picked for them.
"Trixie's been an only child for a long time. Sometimes, kids can become jealous when another family member is added." Chloe began to rifle through drawers, picking out her work outfit for the day.
Lucifer watched her openly, feeling no need to hide his wandering gaze. After living together for the better part of a year, there was precious little of her he had not seen… or tasted as it so happened.
"She had no issue with me moving in," he reminded her.
Actually, Lucifer moving in had been cause for major celebration for the Decker women. Despite the fact he had previously spent so much time in their home he might as well have already lived there, making it official had caused a definite sense of giddiness for all three of them. Even Daniel had, mostly, approved of the move.
"Lucifer, Trixie has adored you since the moment you two met. It's different with adding a sibling though. Surely you know that. You had, what, a thousand brothers and sisters?"
"I don't know the exact number off the top of my head. We were created in waves once every few hundred thousand years." He didn't add that, after being barred from Heaven for so long, he had begun to forget the faces of his siblings, their images dispersing like handfuls of sand tossed into the ocean. He feared for the day when he simply forgot all of them, when even their names became no more than dreams to him.
Chloe moved back towards the bathroom, a bundle of clothes tucked to her chest. "Well I'm going to shower while you make breakfast. Why don't you talk to her for a bit?"
Lucifer still wasn't sure there was a problem but he relented all the same, slipping into a robe and padding downstairs. He found Trixie, already dressed for school, rummaging through the fridge.
She turned as he approached, a carton of orange juice in one hand. "Is Mom okay?" she asked. "I heard her throwing up again."
"She's fine. Honestly I don't know how she manages it, having her stomach turned inside out every morning." He pressed the 'start' button on the coffee maker as he entered the kitchen, setting aside two mugs for when the machine finished. "Now, as much as I would simply adore discussing your mother spewing bile every morning like a hose, I'd rather start on breakfast. What would you like?"
Trixie wrinkled her nose at his imagery. "Not runny eggs, that's for sure."
Lucifer smirked. "I've become revoltingly familiar with both the texture and scent of stomach acid these last few months and I assure you, nothing about it is even remotely reminiscent of eggs, runny or otherwise."
Hands wrapped around her midsection, Trixie mimed gagging and Lucifer chuckled. He supposed he had Maze to thank for cultivating such a warped sense of humor in Trixie.
"If you don't tell me what you want to eat, you're getting cereal." He reached up threateningly to where the cereal boxes sat atop the fridge. Predictably, Trixie ceased her dramatics.
"Can we have blueberry pancakes?" she asked hopefully, already going to dig the skillet out from its cabinet.
Lucifer nodded, donning an apron and proceeding to make a thick batter. Trixie was at his elbow, assisting wordlessly. They had made pancakes together so many times, the practice had become all but instinctive. He merely had to hold out a hand for Trixie to give him the expected ingredient.
By the time the stairs creaked with Chloe's descent, the Devil and his helper had made a pile of pancakes so large, the plate on which they rested was nearly invisible.
"What is it with you two and pancakes?" Chloe asked, taking a seat at the counter.
"You told me to make whatever she wanted!" Lucifer protested as he set out plates, silverware, and syrup.
"Pancakes are good!" Trixie defended her choice in breakfast food, sliding into her customary seat between Lucifer and her mother.
Chloe rolled her eyes, but took several pancakes for herself anyway. "What am I going to do with the two of you?"
Lucifer had an erotic answer on the tip of his tongue but one withering look from Chloe and he swallowed it down. This was easily the worst bit of Trixie growing older. Those innuendos that had once soared safely over her head could no longer be uttered, least she started asking questions. It made for duller conversation certainly but Lucifer had quickly learned that checking his words occasionally was a small price to pay if it meant Chloe was happy.
"Lucifer, can we go to the aquarium after school? Jessica said they have baby penguins that just hatched and I want to see them." Trixie said as the three of them finished off breakfast.
Lucifer collected everyone's plates, setting them in the sink. "Not today, urchin. Your mother has a doctor's appointment."
"So?" Trixie laced the single word with more venom than Lucifer would have believed possible. "She can go to the doctor's and we'll go to the aquarium."
"Trixie!" Chloe stood sharply. "That was very rude."
"We could watch a movie together tonight." Lucifer offered, bothered that Trixie was so upset. As excited as he was about the doctor's visit, he was anxious to finally see an ultrasound image of the child Chloe was carrying, he didn't want to disappoint Trixie either.
"No Lucifer. She doesn't get rewarded for acting badly." Chloe turned to Trixie. "What has gotten into you recently?"
Huffing, Trixie crossed her arms and looked down.
"We could go to the aquarium after the doctor's visit." Lucifer said, looking between the two of them.
Chloe walked around the kitchen island and to his side. "Stop. You don't need to keep offering compromises." She rubbed his arm gently. "This doctor's visit is important to you. It is to me too. And it's important that both of us are there."
Trixie ducked her head, the motion caught in Lucifer peripherals. "I'm sorry, Mommy."
Chloe opened her mouth to respond but Lucifer spoke before she could manage to get out a word. "Trixie," and it was the use of her real name more than anything else that conveyed how serious he was being, "having the baby… it's not going to… nothing's going to change."
"Yes it is!" Trixie shouted, eyes bright with moisture. "Cause this baby is yours too!"
Lucifer faltered, not sure what she meant. Obviously the baby was his, it took two sets of genitals to create life. Though with the way science was going, babies could be grown in labs. That wasn't the case here, that much he knew, having been one of the active participants in said procreation.
"Trixie, you know Lucifer loves you right?" Chloe, as she often did, knew exactly when Lucifer was floundering and she needed to step in.
"But now he's going to have his own kid! He won't need me anymore!"
Lucifer flinched at her words, his gut heavy. How could she think that? He may not be listed as the father on Trixie's birth record but that didn't change the way he felt about the girl. She had believed he was the Devil the very first time they met and instead of running away in blind terror, she had said he was funny. And since that first meeting he had believed it to be his duty to protect her. That wasn't to say Daniel was a subpar father, far from it, but the laws that stopped most were merely slight inconveniences to Lucifer.
He took care of the bullies, bought her favorite snacks on his way home after late nights at Lux, and had played every board game imaginable with her. It was more than his own parents had ever done, more concerned with creating a new world to pay any mind to the children they'd neglected.
He'd promised himself to never be that way when he and Chloe had officially become a couple. Knowing you had lost a parent's interest was a burn, a brand beneath the skin that ached and throbbed relentlessly no matter how many years passed.
But he must have done something wrong if Trixie felt her place in his life was so fragile she could ever be replaced.
"That's not true," he sputtered, unable to voice the numerous thoughts cramming his skull.
Trixie did not find him convincing. "A girl in class, her parents got married and they had a new baby together. Now they don't care about her anymore!"
A small bit of Lucifer's brain, the piece not currently struggling to make sense of everything, recalled how Trixie had practically hung onto him ever since the announcement that Chloe was pregnant. He had enjoyed the time spent together, never questioning why she would elect to spend an evening at home rather than go to a friend's house.
"Trixie, listen to me, please." He leaned over the counter, putting them nearly nose to nose. "You are irreplaceable, understand? I don't lie, it's my cardinal rule." He sighed heavily, bowing his head. "It's my fault you have this doubt. I don't tell you that I love you often enough. I rarely ever heard it until I met your mother and it's not… instinctive for me, I suppose, to say it to others." He looked up sharply, meeting dark eyes drowning in tears. "But I do love you Trixie Espinoza."
She sniffled once. Twice.
Then small arms were wrapped around his neck and his sight was lost to a bush of wild hair. She cried quietly into his shoulder, small body shaking, and he gripped her in a secure hold.
There was more Lucifer wanted to say, more he wanted to tell her, but the simple hug they shared demonstrated more than any words could.
A sudden wailing startled them out of the hug as they looked for the source of the sound.
Twisting to see over his shoulder, Lucifer realized the sobbing was coming from Chloe.
"Chloe, darling, what happened?" Lucifer approached her alarmed.
She shook her head. "How-how dare the t-t-two of you do th-this and fuck with my hor-hormones!"
Lucifer was torn between hugging her and laughing at the rare use of profanity. Laughter won out, the sounds clawed up his throat, bubbled unbidden from between his lips. He bent at the waist from the force of the laughter, tears collecting in the corners of his eyes.
"Don't la-laugh at me!" Chloe admonished, but her own tears had turned into giggles.
Trixie joined them, her own laughter higher and louder than the two adults.
Nothing about the noises were melodic in any musical sense but to Lucifer, it was the most wonderous composition he had ever had the privilege to partake in. Soon, they would have to stop and continue on with their day. Trixie would go to school. Chloe and himself would head to the precinct. But right now, in a moment of beauty grown from hurt and angst, all Lucifer knew was the present.
It occurred to him then, as he gasped for breaths, dizzy, that there was no real reason for him to have ever feared fatherhood.
He already was one.