Back with Linda and Samael here. Last chapter with the two together, and the last long 'chatty' chapter before the big storm that's about to come. I feel it is important to mention at this time that I don't write tragedy. Just seems important, no reason. You'll understand at the end of this chapter. %)

Thanks for reading. Thanks for the comments :) Let me know what you think, if you have time. Take care of yourselves!

"Perhaps if I tried to heal again?" Samael said, reaching out with his palms raised.

Linda shrank back against the wall as her heart hammered away in her chest.

"I'd rather you not touch me," she whispered, her eyes wide, her gaze riveted on those hands, on that face, that moments ago had roared in such rage, with such cacophonous strength, that all of the windows had blown out.

The angel slowly pulled back and stood there, frowning.

His eyes were normal now, and the brows above arched somewhere between hurt and confusion. They had not been anything close to normal when he'd destroyed half of the room. They had been blazing, livid, and his mouth had stretched beyond anything she'd ever seen on any human.

She wanted to be somewhere else, very badly.

She might be going into shock.

This was bad.

"I understand," Samael said with a small nod. "I have frightened you."

So calm. How could he be so calm now?! After what he'd done?! And the words he had said before he'd shouted in that impossible language...

How could she help him with that? What was there to say?!

Yes, you're a copy, and sure, you're a copy of the devil, but maybe we could look on the bright side of that?

You can always toast your own marshmallows?

Pain flared in her skull again. Things felt loose and wrong. Wincing, she grasped at her head, and words way too honest tumbled from her.

"Samael, you haven't really stopped frightening me. Could you step back a little more, please?"

The sound of her honesty brought a swell of fear. She shouldn't be saying things like that to this... thing!

God! 'Thing?!'

That was a terrible word to use!

But Samael did, stepping back to the stone pillar, giving her a little more room to negotiate where she was, and where she might go next.

Beyond her knees, curled tight to her chest, the wall opened to nothing. Broken glass rimmed the edge, and spilled over her feet, but there was nothing between her and at least a thirteen-story drop.

She started to shake.

"Why are you trembling?" his voice asked.

So calm, but concerned. He sounded human.

But he wasn't.

None of them were.

"I... I think I'm going into shock," she whispered, unable to pull her eyes away from the outside. "But, I'm also scared of heights, and that's... that's a biiig height. Oh, God."

The shaking worsened.

Her fingers turned to claws against her legs. "I'm not sure I can move."

Samael's voice turned warm and soft. "You can, Linda."

Shaking her head, she looked at him, as tears began to fill her eyes. "No, I don't think I can."

Something happened then, something soft and quite beautiful. Something she'd seen once before, in her office.

Samael's skin grew bright, radiating a warm, clear, shimmering light.

No fire, no roaring flame.

His figure became a beacon of something that felt pure and whole and wonderful.

Love.

She felt love.

And it melted every fear in her heart.

The voice that swelled from the figure wrapped around her like the most comforting hug.

"You can."

Her fingers relaxed against her skin.

Her shaking softened and fell away.

And with a soft "Oh," and a young smile, Linda stood and shifted to face him.

Then promptly shrieked and fell on the bed, grabbing at her foot.

"Ouch!" she yelped. "Glass! There's glass in my toe! Owie!"

The light faded. Samael crouched beside her, reaching to comfort.

This time she didn't jerk away.

"I'm sorry," she said, stilling to look at him. "I'm scared. I'm just human. And you're not. I think I keep forgetting that. I'm sorry I asked you to get away from me."

Samael plucked the glass from her toe, and held the spot for a moment.

And frowned.

"Still not working, huh?"

He shook his head, looking troubled.

"I said something terrible before," he said quietly. "I am concerned I am following in the footsteps of my predecessor."

Linda nodded and offered a small smile.

"I know you don't understand this, but that wouldn't be the worst thing. He was a good ma... angel, in the end."

Those dark eyes rose to her with such terrible longing she felt her heart twist in her chest.

"Was he?" he whispered.

Linda's mouth fell open.

Was Lucifer still in there?

She wanted so much to say his name then. But she bit it back.

She nodded instead, and gave a small smile. "Yeah."

The eyes shifted slightly, growing conflicted again, and what she'd seen of her old friend was lost.

She tried not to let that hurt.

"What did you say in your language, just now?" she asked.

His gaze grew haunted and fell to his hands.

"I cannot say it again. It was terrible."

Linda smiled very gently, and reached to grasp his hand. It was warm, but limp. There was a great deal of shame here, in his posture, his manner, his voice.

She took in all the pieces of their conversation. She drew upon her many moments with Lucifer, and all of his yearning pain.

"It was about your father," she said.

His dark eyes rose to her, wide.

"You understand celestial?" he whispered, fear and awe in his voice.

Linda snorted. Her eyes grew wide, and she immediately tried to cover up the snort with a cough, which turned into a real cough when she went a little too far, and soon she was hacking up a lung and tears were streaming from her eyes, and she was yelling at herself inside.

Stop that, Linda! Get a hold of yourself!

"You are breaking?" he asked, grasping her shoulder. "Do you need aid?"

Shaking her hand in the air, she finally got herself under control.

"Jesus, sorry."

"That is not my name."

That almost started her on another round of snort coughing. Perhaps she was slipping into shock...

Clearing her throat a few times, she took a deep breath in and tried to take command of the situation again.

"Samael."

"That is my name."

"Yes, I know that."

"You seemed confused before."

Linda sighed, wearily, and refocused.

"Ah, you are rolling your eyes again. I have learned that means you are irritated."

"You're angry at your father. I understand."

Samael stiffened. Shaking his head quickly, he stared pointedly out the window.

Right back where we started.

Time to be a little more direct.

"It's perfectly nor-mal," she said, emphasizing the word, "for children to be angry at, and even hate, their parents, when they feel wronged by them."

The look Samael gave her, as his head snapped back to face her, almost set her on a chain of snort coughing again.

It reminded her of those animal videos, where an unfortunate cat or dog ended up with a slice of cheese on their face.

He was, quite simply, stunned, but in a way far beyond simple human expression.

Which left her a little stunned, honestly, when he didn't move at all.

He didn't breathe. He didn't blink.

And it heightened the alien-ness she'd felt from him before.

A stunned celestial.

What had she done?

"Samael?" she finally asked. "Are you... okay?"

With a look of sudden anguish, Samael's great wings unfurled...

...and he vanished.

Linda blinked, staring at a now empty room as her hair settled back over her shoulders.

"What... the... FU-"

She clamped her hand over her mouth.

She couldn't say that word! What if he was still here? What if he'd just gone... invisible?

Talk about epic avoidance issues!

"Samael?" she whispered, staring about herself.

Amenadiel hadn't mentioned anything about invisibility, but his talent almost made him invisible - was it like that?

Amenadiel...

Charlie?

A terrible, unwanted dread gripped her, as something stabbed through her head, a pain that made her grasp at her skull.

"Owww, god..."

Something dripped onto her leg. Something warm.

Something red.

"Oh."

She raised a hand to her nose, as another drop splashed into her palm. Then another.

"Oh."

She'd never had a nosebleed in her life.

The flow continued, as her head throbbed.

Fear scrapped across her skin. This didn't feel good at all. What was she supposed to do? Tilt her head back, right?

She did so, pinching her nostrils, and felt the blood draining down the back of her throat.

"Gah, that's awful."

There was a flurry of wingbeats with a sudden burst of wind, and Samael stood before her, his gaze lowered, looking terribly contrite.

"I am sorry. I am not behaving as I should. I am running from my feelings, instead of facing them."

Linda stared at him.

Unbelievable! It only took a complete remaking of Lucifer to get him to realize what he was doing!

"Linda," he said, his eyes widening as he looked up. He rushed to sit beside her. "you are bleeding."

"Very... astute," she mumbled against her hand, in the voice of a muppet, since her fingers were still clamped over her nose.

"I must be able to heal again, Linda. You are not well. I could not finish before and you are still hurt."

She blinked, swallowing the blood as it slipped down her throat.

"Before?"

And it came to her then, all of the moments he'd talked about how he'd failed her, how damaged she had been. Waking up here when... when she'd been... where had she been before?

Where's my baby?

The pain doubled, and she grasped her head with a groan.

"I.. I can't think right," she murmured. "Something's really wrong..."

"He did great damage to your mind. I did what I could but, clearly, it was not enough."

Linda winced up at him. "He?"

"The dark child." Samael released a heavy breath. "Lucifer's son. Though that is not all he is."

"Oh," she whispered, blinking through the pain. "Oh."

The blood was not stopping. Why wasn't it stopping? Was it meant to leak this much?!

"You were right, Linda."

"Was I?" she mumbled, staring at the blood drying on her fingers.

"Yes. I am angry at my father for what he did. I... I hate him for it."

"That's normal," she whispered, tilting her head up again.

With a queasy lurch, the room spun with the motion, and she fell backwards.

Samael caught her and held her.

"I do not believe your hospitals will understand this damage," he said softly.

"Oh, great," she muttered, staring up at his dark eyes.

And she smiled.

Because she hadn't been this close to Lucifer for a long time.

It'd been a long time since she'd kissed those delicious lips.

Grimacing, Linda shook her head, which just hurt more.

This isn't Lucifer. Stop it.

"Does recognizing that I hate my father fix the issue?" Samael asked, earnestly, much like he'd asked before.

Linda swallowed the blood dripping down the back of her throat and shook her head with a smirk. "If it was that easy I'd be out of a job."

He looked confused, but she didn't have the energy to explain the career path of a therapist.

Or how long it could take someone to forgive another.

She tried very hard to think.

Her mind kept hanging on the moment he'd pressed his hand to her chest and that beautiful warm glow had appeared.

Not unlike the light he'd shone with to pull her up out of her terrible fear.

She frowned.

"The light," she murmured. "Where does it come from?"

Samael stared down at her. "What do you mean?"

"It's like ETs finger, right? Gzap?" she said, poking Samael's forehead. She giggled, but it turned wet and she coughed a small glob of blood against her palm.

"Crap."

He stared down at her, his expression grave.

"If you die, I will take you to Heaven myself, do not fear."

The words sank in and dropped like a stone to her gut.

"Don't say that," she mumbled. "I'm not dying."

He said nothing.

Fear swamped her suddenly. "I'm not!"

The force of her words sent her into another coughing fit, one that left her dizzy.

"Oh no," she whispered, staring up at his dark eyes.

"What did you mean 'the light'?" he asked.

"Is it an awful thing to die?" she murmured, suddenly terribly, horribly afraid.

A soft smile spread on his face and his eyes grew warm and bright.

"No, Linda. I will take you to my Father's kingdom. It is a place of great beauty and joy."

She frowned up at him, her eyes wide.

She wanted to cry.

"But... Samael..." she whispered. "I don't think that's where I'm going."

The look in his eyes shifted, uncertain, but he shook his head.

"The light, Linda, you mentioned light? Did you mean when I pulled you away from the wall?"

Linda nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

The motion brought a wave of nausea.

Am I dying?

Oh God

"Do you take confession?" she asked suddenly, swallowing another dribble of blood in the back of her throat.

Samael raised an eyebrow. "Confession?"

His gaze swept away, then returned. He quickly shook his head. "No. That is not something we do. It is a human creation. Well meaning, but unnecessary."

Linda scowled. "Typical... shared all of those shitty secrets... with Father Clancy... didn't mean a damned thing."

She didn't feel well.

At all.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

"The light is a physical manifestation of love, Linda," Samael said above her.

"Mmm, that's nice," she murmured, resting against his chest.

"In that case, I displayed my love for you as a way to reassure you. Your eyes, your senses, interpret that energy as a warm, nurturing light. My Father, in his pure form, is made up of what you saw, only amplified beyond any human measure. His love is a force of creation."

Linda nodded slowly, with no interest in opening her eyes.

"What about... when you heal?"

Samael sighed.

"You are very intelligent, Linda. That light is not quite the same. It is the love from my being, yes. But it is twined with the love of my Father. I am the conduit for his energies when I heal. It is an act of immense love and creation."

Linda frowned.

The words he spoke were slippery in the dark where she was growing comfortable, but something was nudging her to hold onto what he had said about his Father.

This was important.

She clawed her way up from the dark and blinked up at his troubled face.

"When you healed Chloe... you weren't angry at your father."

The troubled expression grew.

Wow. He understood.

Why was therapy so much easier with Samael?

"More angry you are... less you can heal. Now you hate him... no healing."

Samael nodded. "Yes, Linda. I see that now."

"That'll be five hundred bucks," she whispered, and laughed.

A soft spray of blood sprinkled her shirt.

Crap.

"Linda."

She blinked, snapping back up from the dark.

"How do I stop hating my father? I must forgive him, yes? How do I do that now?"

"Takes time," she whispered. She swallowed another thin stream. "Need to see... from his angle."

"He explained his 'angle'. I am still angry."

She nodded listlessly.

"Then..."

"Then?"

"Then..."

"Sister, you are not welcome now. Leave."

Shaking followed, snapping her from the dark again.

Linda blinked up at him, and her eyes shifted to the woman standing just beyond the bed.

The young woman's haircut was awful.

The woman frowned.

Really? I thought it made me approachable.

"Then, Linda?"

The woman drew closer, and Linda found herself caught in those dark eyes.

Swirling galaxies of stars...

"SISTER! You WILL STAND BACK! You will give me this TIME!"

The contact was broken, and the young woman in black turned to look at Samael.

"We don't have time, brother."

Samael ignored the woman, staring down at Linda intently. "Then, Linda! Tell me! What do I do!"

Linda stared up at his beautiful face and smiled.

"It's not about him, Samael. It's about you."

The angel's eyes were lost.

"Me?"

"Chasing your father's love... forever. Holding onto pain he caused... forever."

Samael's eyes grew dark. "You are not speaking of me, human, you speak of Lu-"

"Same... hate. Same pain."

"No! Not the same! I was not exiled!"

"Brother, please listen!"

The face above her roared a sound of crystalline thunder across the room at the woman standing there.

Linda sagged against his arms.

She was tired.

But there was one more thing to say.

"Let your Father go, Samael. Find what you want from him... from everyone... in yourself. Find it for yourself. Find.. your own love and healing... for... you."

Textbook stuff. Damned easy to say, and so damned hard to do.

But she'd finally given him the message she'd been wanting to share all this time.

It felt like closure.

And maybe that was alright now?

Her eyes closed, and two voices chased her down into the dark.

"I do not understand, Linda. This fixes nothing." He sighed. "Sister... I apologize. You may take her now."

"I was trying to tell you, brother. I'm not here for her. I need you."

"She is not about to die?"

"Of course not. She has a bad concussion from the Third's work and your constant yelling, and a bloody nose from her snorting coughing fit before. Lean her forward and stuff something up her nose. If reality survives you can take her to a hospital. She'll be fine."

"Oh. I feel foolish. I... I have scared her again, making her think she was going to die."

"You're young brother. You didn't know. We have bigger issues."

"I cannot defeat the child, Azrael, my attack meant nothing to him."

"Sammy, we have to try. We've got no other choice."

As Linda passed out, rather peeved about everything now, the woman's voice grew sharp.

"The Third has our Father."