Chloe leaned against the bedroom doorframe. She smiled as she watched Lucifer pacing around the room, singing softly to the child in his arms. Seeing how gentle Lucifer was with him, despite his insistence that he still disliked children, was heartwarming to her and she never tired of seeing the look in his eyes when he was holding their son or interacting with Trixie. Though he always claimed he was simply being kind to her for Chloe, she knew that he loved Trixie and would do literally anything for her, though he made a conscious effort not to over step for Dan's sake. Chloe also recognized that there was no difference in the pride she heard in his voice whether he was talking about Trixie or Lucius. In his mind, they were both his children. She sighed contentedly.
Lucifer glanced up at the sound and smiled back at her. He crossed the room and leaned over to kiss her. "Good morning, Detective," he said quietly.
"So, this is what letting Lucius sleep in his crib looks like, huh?" Chloe asked. Her grin shifted into an actual smile as she said her son's name. Trixie was the one who had suggested it when he was born. She'd been researching names and discovered that Lucius meant Light. She'd reasoned that since Lucifer meant Light Bringer, it was the perfect name for his first-born son. Chloe had repeated the name and as soon as she had, little Lucius had stopped fussing and sighed as he relaxed against her chest. Trixie had insisted it was because he already recognized his name which had settled the discussion.
"He did sleep in his crib," Lucifer insisted as he shifted the baby so that he was cradled against his chest. He rubbed his back gently as he swayed back and forth slowly.
"Uh-huh. For how long?"
"A while," Lucifer stated evasively. "You see, he began fussing. Since I didn't want him to disturb you, I figured the best option was to come tend to him myself."
"Right, that's the only reason," Chloe remarked.
"Well, perhaps not the only reason, but it was the most pressing one," he countered.
"What am I going to do with you?" Chloe rolled her eyes then chuckled. If someone had told her on the day that she first met the man standing before her that this would be her life one day, she'd have had them drug tested.
"I have a suggestion," Lucifer told her as he raised an eyebrow and shot her a smile that made her stomach do a little flip.
"Your suggestion to that question is what led to that little angel existing, remember?" Chloe teased.
"One of my best suggestions yet," he commented as he smiled down at Lucius. After a moment he shook his head. "I can't imagine Beatrice ever having been this small."
"She was," Chloe confirmed. "She wasn't this quiet though."
"Chatterbox from the start then, was she?" he asked as a wide smile came to his face. Chloe's stomach flipped again.
"Oh yeah, she has always made her presence known," Chloe nodded. She held her hands out to take the baby from him.
"Well, I'd suggest we simply enjoy the quiet while it lasts because I'm certain this little devil will be raising Hell before we know it. Possibly, quite literally," Lucifer commented.
"He's almost a year old, do you think we'll know if he's inherited any celestial abilities?" she asked as she gently took the baby and held him to her chest.
"Hard to say; the only other half-human, half-celestial I've ever even heard of is Charlie and given that he was conceived when Amenadiel appears to have been more mortal than celestial, I don't know that it's even a proper comparison."
"Maybe it'll be like a puberty thing? Like they'll manifest celestial abilities when they start moving into adulthood…" Chloe mused.
"Right. Raging teenage hormones, 'no one understands me' angst and possibly unpredictable celestial powers. Just a thought; let's hope for that particular maelstrom to not happen," Lucifer quipped.
"Yeah, that does not sound like a fun time for anyone," Chloe wrinkled her nose. "Teenage years are challenging enough as it is."
"Hey, I don't know what you're talking about, I'm a delight," Trixie commented as she appeared in the hallway behind Chloe.
"That you are, my little Urchin," Lucifer smiled at her.
"I swear you're part cat the way you sneak up behind me," Chloe teased her. "Back from your run already?"
"Yeah, Amber and Jenna are both hungover so they tapped out early, which meant I didn't have to hold back on my second lap. Shaved almost thirty seconds off my best time," Trixie smiled.
"Well done," Lucifer remarked as he patted her shoulder.
"Thanks," she grinned at him. She turned to go take a shower and froze. "Woah," she breathed as she looked at Lucius.
Lucifer looked at his son and gasped. Chloe was about to ask them what was going on when she turned her eyes to Lucius and her jaw dropped.
Lucius had woken up as they spoke. His eyes, which were normally the same dark, warm brown as Lucifer's were shining a brilliant electric blue with a rim of shimmering silver around the outside of the irises. He smiled up at Chloe for a moment then his little face scrunched. His small body shuddered slightly as he sneezed. When he did, a tiny set of soft, white wings unfurled.
"Well, I guess that answers the question of whether or not he has any celestial gifts," Chloe muttered as she marveled at the tiny, fluffy appendages that had just appeared from her son's back. His feathers weren't the same pure, snowy white as Lucifer's, Lucius's seemed to have an almost opalescent sheen to them. Though these were clearly baby feathers, they were downy and soft, not flight feathers, so maybe the color would change as he grew.
"They're so fuzzy!" Trixie exclaimed as though her brother sprouting wings were the most normal thing in the world. She wanted to reach out and touch one of the wings, but she wasn't sure if that might hurt him. She looked at Lucifer to ask him when she noticed he seemed to be in shock. "Are you okay, Lucifer?" she asked as she touched his arm gently.
"Yes, dear one, I-I'm fine. I just was not expecting that," he commented as he pointed at Lucius.
"I feel like it's a pretty safe bet to say that makes three of us," Chloe commented. "You're just full of surprises this morning, aren't you?" she said to the baby.
Lucius giggled and grabbed at her nose. As he did, the little wings fluttered a few times then disappeared, tucked back away.
"Aw," Trixie muttered.
"As he gets older he'll learn to control them and not have them just pop out and in like that," Lucifer commented. "I'm presuming."
"Presuming?" Chloe asked. She looked at Lucius's eyes to see they had shifted back to his natural brown.
"Well, Mum and Dad didn't exactly do the celestial no pants dance to bring the rest of us into existence. It was more of a," he snapped his fingers then, "'we'll call this one Amenadiel' type situation. We all came to exist fully grown. Cherubs aren't an actual thing, they're just something a drunken Italian painter came up with one day," Lucifer told her. "Or at least they weren't a thing until now."
Lucius scrunched his face and sneezed again, his wings reappearing and his eyes shifting back to blue when he opened them.
"Does he have a cold?" Chloe asked concerned.
"Impossible, if he's celestial he can't catch mortal viruses or diseases," Lucifer commented absently.
"Yeah, and celestials and mortals can't procreate and angel babies don't exist," Chloe remarked.
"Fair point," Lucifer's forehead wrinkled as he watched Lucius. He looked like he was trying to flap his wings already. When they came forward, they brushed against his arms and he giggled. One little hand grabbed hold of a few of the delicate feathers. "Don't let him –" Lucifer began saying, but Lucius had already stretched his wings back, inadvertently pulling one of his feathers out. He whined for a second before he started crying.
Chloe shushed him as she began bouncing up and down slightly. "You're okay, sweet boy," she cooed then looked at Lucifer. "He is okay, right? I mean, he's not actually injured, is he? He didn't just permanently damage his wing, did he?" she asked as she tried to examine the wing looking for traces of blood.
"He's fine, pulling out a feather is somewhere between plucking several hairs from your head at once and stubbing your toe. Uncomfortable but certainly not debilitating. Amenadiel and I were fighting one day when he ripped about twenty of mine out in one good yank. They grow back in," he assured her. He gently touched Lucius's head. "Enough with this fussing now, my little Hell spawn. You're distressing your mother," he whispered before he kissed the top of the baby's head and within a few moments, he'd calmed down.
Lucifer looked at Trixie now. She was staring at Lucius's wings with an obvious look of trepidation. "You needn't be afraid of your brother, my darling little Urchin."
"Oh, no, I'm not afraid of him, I'm afraid of hurting him," Trixie admitted. "I mean, I was going to ask if I could touch his wings, but I'm scared I might hurt him or something."
"So long as you're gentle, you won't hurt him," Lucifer assured her. He held his hand out toward her and after a few seconds she put her hand in his. He guided her hand to the top of Lucius's right wing and brushed her fingertips through the feathers and along the ridge at the top edge. He smiled warmly and nodded to her as he withdrew his hand and she continued to stroke her fingers through the fledgling feathers.
"They're so soft," Trixie whispered as she ran her fingers down the outside edge.
Lucius began squealing and giggling. Lucifer chuckled as he watched the two children interact. He beamed with pride as he saw the love in the way she looked at her baby brother and the caution in her touch. Without thinking, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rested his other hand on Chloe's where she held it against Lucius's back just below his wings. Trixie ran her finger down the outer edge of his wing again and another burst of laughter bubbled up from him.
"I do believe he's ticklish," Lucifer observed.
"Like father, like son," Chloe commented. She shook her head for a moment as she imagined what her family would look like to anyone who looked in and saw them. Their household was certainly unlike any other; a detective, a devil and two point five children. She smiled and decided she'd wait to share that bit of news with Lucifer later. For now, she reveled in the feeling of bliss that had washed over her as her family stood there holding onto one another.
