Linda passed her office in panic. It was mere minutes before her session with Lucifer and… God. "What was I thinking? What made me think I could counsel God? Sure, I counsel the Devil every week, but this is God. I am about to literally question God's parenting skills. I could be damned within the hour. Although, given his opinion on humans right now, that could happen anyway."

Linda's rant to herself was cut off when she heard the door open and then close. She tensed before turning around to see that it was Lucifer, and then relaxed.

"I can't believe I agreed to this," Lucifer grumbled as he came in and plopped down on the couch.

"That makes two of us," Linda muttered to herself.

"This is a waste of time. You and my father are both insane for thinking therapy can fix things between God and the Devil," Lucifer ranted.

Linda forced herself to pull it together and remember why she suggested. She still wondered if she'd regret this, but she'd suggested it to help a father and his son. That was how she had to look at it. She needed to set aside the supernatural aspect and think of it as just helping another father and son. "I've done family counseling before. It can be very effective when the parties participate."

Lucifer snorted. "Yes, well, you've never handled issues like ours before. I doubt any other patient you counseled was sent to Hell by his father."

Just then there was a knock on the door

Linda stiffened in nervousness, but took a deep breath to calm herself and prepare herself. It wouldn't do to pass out in front of God before they even got started. "Come in."

Lucifer turned in time to watch his father enter the room. He watched as the man smiled at them. "You knocked."

"Of course. I expect you to knock when entering my office. Why would I not give Doctor Martin the same courtesy."

Linda could do nothing but stare at God awestruck. It didn't matter that she'd known he was coming. She still wasn't prepared. He appeared normal enough, but she knew better. It was like she could sense the power coming off of him.

God smiled at Linda as he approached her. "Hello, Doctor. It is wonderful to meet you."

Linda mindlessly shook his hand as she kept staring at him. "H…Hello."

"I had hoped to meet you soon, though I hadn't imagined it would be this way, however, I'm honored all the same," God said.

"You are? I…I didn't think you thought much of humans currently," Linda said as she began to pull out of her trance slightly.

"Oh, you are different, my dear. You're the mother of my grandson, and you've been a wonderful friend to my sons. I'm sure you've heard of the dilemma I find myself in, but let me assure you, I will cause you no harm," God promised.

"Just the rest of humanity," Lucifer mumbled, though he knew his father would hear him.

God turned back to his son and walked towards him. "That's a conversation for another time, I think. We are here for a different reason," he said as he sat down next to his son.

Linda cleared her throat and took her seat across from father and son. "Yes, we should get started. Would either of you like to start?"

"This is stupid. It won't solve anything," Lucifer said.

"Well, not if you don't want it to, but I think you do. You wouldn't have come if you didn't want to try to resolve things with your father," Linda said.

Lucifer scowled. "Why would I want that? He sent me to Hell!"

"Samuel, I understand…"

"Lucifer!" he cut off sharply.

"Alright, I'm sorry, but you need to give me a little time to get used to it. I've only ever called you by the name I gave it," God said.

Lucifer didn't say anything in response.

"Listen, I understand why you're so angry. I've done you a disservice, many in fact. I've made so many mistakes. I'm here because I want to try to fix them, son. I'm very sorry. When I found out what was happening in the Garden, I should've…"

"I don't want to talk about that! This isn't about that," Lucifer said.

"Lucifer, I'm not sure that's true," Linda told him. "What happened to you has affected a lot of your life. I have no doubt that it has had one of the biggest impacts on many of your relationships, including the one with your father. I don't think one can be discussed without discussing the other."

"I don't want to discuss it," Lucifer said with a lot of anguish in his voice.

"She's right, Sa… Lucifer. I think our relationship started to decline long before you even considered rebelling. It started with those two… animals. I created them and I put them under my protection without realizing what they were capable of. That's when all of it started," God said sadly.

"Do you blame your father for what happened to you, Lucifer?" Linda asked.

"Sometimes," Lucifer said after a few moments of silence. "I shouldn't. I know he didn't know."

"But I created them. Worse, I instilled such fear in you regarding them that you felt you couldn't come to me when they began hurting you," God said. He did blame himself, and he felt he deserved that blame. He should've been more careful. He should've been sure his children would be safe from the things he was creating.

"Adam said you'd blame me. I had no reason to believe anything different. I was confused. I didn't really know what was happening to me or whose fault it was. It felt like it must have been mine. Adam kept saying it was," Lucifer said as he looked down at his shaking hands.

"Lucifer, he said that to control you. He said it because he knew if you did tell anyone, he would've been the one to suffer the consequences," Linda said.

"Would it have been?" Lucifer asked, gazing at his father just briefly. Even now, with his father contemplating the end of humanity of what happened to him, it was hard to imagine his father not blaming him for it all.

"Yes. I would never knowingly allow anyone to hurt you. I may not have understood myself at the time what was happening even if you'd told me. This is something that would've even been foreign to me, but if you'd told that what they were doing was hurting you, they would've suffered," God assured him.

"Then it's my fault, not yours," Lucifer said quietly.

"No! Don't you ever think that! Look at me," God instructed.

Lucifer turned his head towards him, but couldn't bring himself to look his father in the eyes. He was ashamed. He always had been. A part of him had always blamed himself, even though a part of him also blamed his father, and even as a bigger part of him blamed Adam and Eve. He still felt that he should've done something different.

"Son, you can blame anyone else you like, but don't you ever blame yourself. If you didn't feel you could come to me, that was my fault and theirs. I'm sorry. I assumed that you children couldn't possibly be in danger from humans because you were so much more durable. You had strength they didn't. That's why I made the order that you weren't to harm them. I didn't think they could ever hurt you. It didn't occur to me that my orders would've made you so frightened that you felt you couldn't defend yourself," God said with regret laced in his voice.

"I figured you cared more for them," Lucifer said.

"No, son. They were nothing compared to you. I love you very much.

Lucifer began to get angry. His father telling him he loved him was something he'd waited eons for, but it seemed untrue, and Lucifer hated lies. "Don't tell me that. It's a lie! You sent me to Hell!"

God sighed sadly. He would always regret that choice. He regretted it before he realized the true reason for his son's rebellion. Now, he hated himself even more for it. "I didn't send you to Hell because I didn't love you. I was very angry, and I decided to punish you harshly in that anger instead of allowing it to dissipate before making a decision, as I should've. I am so sorry. You didn't deserve to be punished that way. I know now that you didn't deserve to be punished at all, but even before I knew the truth, I realized I'd been too harsh. I should've realized that much sooner than I did. I admit, my stubbornness didn't allow me too for quite a while. When I did realize it, I didn't know how to approach you."

"Is that why you put the detective in my path?" Lucifer asked with some anger in his voice.

"That was never what you thought it was, Sam… Lucifer. I didn't have Chloe Decker created to manipulate you. It wasn't about changing you, nor about forcing you to be with someone. Anything you've felt for Chloe Decker was what you chose to feel. Same for her. I simply wanted to give you some happiness. I hoped she could help you, but I never had any hand in how your relationship might progress. I simply wanted to create someone who would see you for you," God explained.

When Lucifer stopped to think about it, that actually made sense. The detective didn't see him the same way that everyone else did. She didn't fall for his charms, nor was she affected by his desire gift. She'd always seemed to look at him differently than everyone else. That was what had originally drawn him to her.

"I made many mistakes, son. I reacted badly to your rebellion. I'm sorry," God said.

"All I wanted was to make my own choices," Lucifer said bitterly.

"Why wasn't he allowed to have Free Will?" Linda suddenly asked God. "I think Lucifer needs to understand why you were so against it when you freely gave it to us. I think it has a lot to do with why he thinks you value humanity over your children."

God sighed. He did owe his son an answer to that. He should've actually told him when he started rebellion, although, God wasn't sure it would've made a difference. His son rebelled because he was in pain, and likely because he was also afraid of something terrible happening to him again. "This is going to sound very callous, Doctor Martin. Allow me to apologize in advance. Free Will was an experiment, so was humanity for that matter. I wasn't sure if either project would succeed. I'm still unsure of that, to be frank."

"So, you were worried I'd ruin your experiment?" Lucifer asked angrily.

"I didn't say that, Lucifer. Please stop jumping to conclusions," God said in a slightly stern tone. "I created humanity with the goal of free will in mind."

"Free will was the real experiment then?" Linda asked. She was trying hard not to think about the fact that her entire species were nothing more than test subjects, but it was very difficult. People in church were taught that God created them because he loved them. That didn't seem to be the case.

"Yes. Again, I apologize. Please understand that this was before any human had actually been created. I don't mean to be cruel, but humans were nothing more than idea at the time, one I hoped would be successful, but one that I hadn't had a big reason to concern myself with long term. My opinion changed over time," God explained. Of course, his opinion changed many times, but until recently, he'd wanted the best for humanity. He wanted them to continue on because he did care for many of them. Now, he was no longer sure if he wanted that because of the damage that was done to his son by them.

Linda couldn't really judge God for that, even though his words did unnerve her. Humans experimented all the time. It was just that God had made people his experiment and his test subjects. But to him, it wasn't that simple. Humans were entities that he hadn't yet created or had barely created. He had not yet seem them as people. "Go on."

"Let me be clear. Every creature is born with the capacity for free will. You had it, Lucifer. I just tried to keep you from using it. My law was all you knew, so there was no reason to seek anything else out. Not until humans were given it anyway. As I said, choice was an experiment. When you asked to be given it, it was very new. It wasn't something I was willing to test on my own children," he continued.

Lucifer was speechless. He never really considered that his father might have a real reason for denying him free will, other than that he preferred humans to them and didn't want them to have the same gifts he gave humanity. He realized now that he never even really bothered to find out why his father denied him his request. He'd been too angry, and it wasn't just about free Will. He'd been angry since the Garden. "So, you were protecting us."

"Yes, son. That's all I've ever wanted. I wanted to protect you. I didn't realize I'd already failed," God said sadly. He risked putting a hand on his son's shoulder, and was relieved when Lucifer didn't pull away.

Lucifer didn't know what else to say. There was so much that his mind was trying to process and it was beginning to overwhelm him. He'd just learned so much that he hadn't considered before.

Linda could tell that Lucifer was at his limit. He needed time to process what was said today. "I think we should stop now. I think a lot of progress was made today, and you should both think about it. Would you be willing to come back to talk again?"

God nodded. "If my son agrees, I will gladly come back. I was skeptical, but I believe coming was beneficial."

"I guess," was all Lucifer said. It was all he could say. His mind was far away right now.

"Okay. I'll call Lucifer later to set up an appointment," she said.

Father and son got up and both headed for the door.