You're busy taking out the turkey when the doorbell rings.

As the other occupants of the house are too busy trying to look, well, busy, you sigh at the girls' antics, hurrying to the door and pull off your oven mittens.

Unusually late for a Christmas caroller, but you don't mind.

And that's why when you open the door, you didn't expect to be greeted with what looked like a woman with an extreme case of resting bitch face. Holding a package underneath her arm, she's dressed with a short bob haircut, a rigid stance and a glare that seems to freeze you in your steps. You don't have to try very hard to guess who she is. After all, you don't know many people who can fly.

Or have glowing riding crops.

Or wings.

Or a halo.

Oh dear.

With a regal air surrounding her, she steps in the house, unbidden, and strolls right on through.

The awkward silence is broken when Malina walks by, having retrieved her phone.

"If it's another caroller, tell them to fuck off-"

And promptly pales when she notices who she just told to do so.

The others, intrigued by the mysterious person who could render Malinas' famous potty mouth speechless, peer around the corner.

Beelzebub, from behind the portal, chokes on the very air she's breathing.

Cerebus promptly walks away.

Pandemonica decides that she needs more coffee.

Zdrada chokes on the cigarette she just inhaled.

Modeus is determined to only look at her book.

Justice merely looks at her coolly.

And when Azazel makes a little sound that sounds reminiscent of a puppy being trodden upon, Judgement takes a clear step protectively in front of her.

That's when Lucifer steps into the living room, and starts choking on fury and the wine she just drank.

The mysterious stranger opens her mouth in greeting, for the first time since she arrived.

"Hello, Lucifer."

Lucifers' still choking on fury and wine, so while she can't triple-choke, she does a admirable job trying.

You pat her on the back, as Lucifer splutters with anger and points to the stairs.

"Out. Now."

The rest of the occupants make haste to leave.

You stay.

When Lucifer glares at you, you merely raise a unimpressed eyebrow. She grinds her teeth, but with the rest of the group gone, she gathers her composure and turns to focus on her sister.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

The note of danger in his voice is gentle compared to what her enemies get, and Lucifer carefully controls it as it trickles into her voice.

It4s sharp. Its piercing. It leaves no room for negotiations, lest they try her temper. When she's loud, she's bluffing. When her voice goes flat and calm and there's a cool detachment in her gaze?

Then she's terrifying.

But she's not calm. She's not in control. She's feels anger. She feels betrayed. She's feeling things she think she would ever feel again, and it comes out when her fists shakes and her breath comes out ragged and raw.

It's the first time the angel looked uncomfortable since she's stepped in the house.

"I just wanted to talk-"

"Talk?" She scoffs, "Talk? You just want to talk?"

Lucifer draws in a breath, clenching her fists.

"Four thousand and a hundred twenty eight fucking years and not a single how do you do? And the moment I come back up and try to keep a single, minute, iotaof fucking happiness, you decide you want to talk?"

With each word, Lucifer doesn't with anger, but with something that leaves her fresh with grief and frustration.

"But you, you don't have to care, do you?!" Lucifer snaps. "After all, you think you're perfect! Miss fucking perfect, following all the rules because she's oh-so perfect and knows everything and has everything, and needs nothing! And Miss perfect can't have a sister who's not, so you pretend she doesn't exist!"

Gabriel's face doesn't budge, but her shoulders slacken slightly.

"I never said I was perfect."

Lucifer flares up at that. "No, but by god, do you think it."

"…I'll just leave."

And she does so.

It takes some time before Lucifer is able to speak coherently through the sobs and wracking body.

"-she betrayed me!"

"Beelzebub raised an army, tried to usurp you, and banish you to the abyss," you point out, "But you still talk to her."

"That's different. We were only friends back then. Gabriel is-was my sister." She chokes on the last word. "We were sisters, through and through! She was my best friend! I trusted her with everything! I looked up to her!"

"And what, you'll go on another four thousand more years of silence?"

Lucifer goes silent, and you take that as sign to keep going.

"Maybe this is a chance to reconcile."

She immediately scoffs. "She doesn't deserve another chance."

When a unsteady hand reaches for her wine glass, you firmly but gently put it down.

"Maybe, maybe not." You hum in thought, taking her words in. "But you definitely do."

She glares at you, but beyond the fury glimmering in her eye, and the exhaustion lining her brow, there's a spark of hope. She fumes and clenches her jaw, and with a swirl of shadows, she disappears.

Gabriel Morningstar is not one to be rejected, but there's a first time for everything. It shocks her on how such a small meeting could cut so deep. Gabriel isn't…. good with words. She's the opposite of her sister in that regard.

Lucifer has a way with words, a way to communicate with others - and normally all of it is utterly fake. Lucifer organized her expressions the way people organized their windows for appearances. Not for malicious purposes, no, but because she was never good at recognizing emotions like others could, her feelings mixing and writhing like worms under the surface of her skin.

But there's always a hint of whatever she's feeling if you knew what to look for.

Seeing her sister lay out her emotions like that is jarring, because she wasn't hiding anything. Seeing the hatred and grief flow so freely, means that these were one of the few times she could understand what she felt at heart.

So to hear such vitriol from her sister?

And all of it well deserved, A small voice in her head supplies.

It cuts especially deep.

Gabriel, on the other hand, feels very little. She can't put her feelings into words, because she felt so little she couldn't emote. Her face stays neutral at all times and will only speak in curt, short, sentences; unable to trust herself in showing or even understanding others emotions. She throws herself into work, following the rules to a T, because that was the only thing she could trust she could understand.

Well, that, and her family.

So she didn't come here to try to take away Lucifer. She couldn't. One of the very few things she understands is that she loves Lucifer. And Lucifer was happy. Lucifer being happy was a good thing. And to see her sister happy after so long? After what had happened?

She thought she could share in that joy.

Ahead of her, a figure steps out of the shadows, wreathed in black, inky wisps of smoke.

Gabriel paused as Lucifer threw herself towards her, arms raised with the intent to strike. Unhelpfully, her mind reads her movements, telling her a nudge there, a raised arm here, or a simple sidestep could incapacitate her, where she could retaliate.

But she doesn't.

She closes her eyes because understood she deserved the hit. She deserves a lot more than that, and she hopes that it makes Lucifer feel better.

But the attack never comes.

As she opened her eyes, she felt her chest suddenly constrict. Lucifers' voice chokes as she gripped her, the sobbing grow louder and louder and turned into a heartbreaking wail that she had never heard before, filled with so much raw emotion that it makes her pause in thought.

"Please, just stay there, let me hold you like this for a while, just a while…"

Gabriel didn't know what to say, because no words could comfort her at the moment. Gabriel still doesn't know how she should respond. So she says nothing. All she can do is what she feels is right right now. Hesitantly, haltingly, she wraps her arms around Lucifer's back.

She doesn't know herself what that movement, what that impulse means, but…

Her chest feels warm.

That alone she can be sure of.

Lucifer looks horrible. The tears tracks are still on her face, her makeup smudged, and she glaring at her with a look that would make any lesser man cry.

"…there will be no talk of business at the table, and you will not harass my employees nor their significant others. This is not me forgiving you, this is me giving you a chance. Is that understood?"

Gabriel swallows a response, and nods mutely.

"…leave your coat and cap at the door. Dinner is nearly ready."

Oof. Not entirely happy with this chapter. I wasn't able to put in a better conversation between Lucy and Gabby, mainly because I'm a shit writer, and i don't trust myself to write something so raw and filled with emotion.

Anyhoo, please leave a few ideas in the comment. My bad year, mixed with my sickness and the resulting shit body I have now really sapped me of my creative juices. it's not completely empty, but it's running dangerously low.

Seeya guys later!