Linda woke up in her own bed with no memory of how she'd gotten home from Lux the night before. Amenadiel was next to her in bed, still asleep.

What had happened?

The last thing she remembered was sitting with Chloe and Ella as they discussed a case, then … nothing. She must have fallen asleep. How embarrassing!

She got up quietly and went to check on Charlie. He was fine. She took a shower and, while the warm water ran over her head, she contemplated the day ahead of her. Client sessions. Notes. Charlie. It all seemed so dreary, so heavy and gray.

She remembered how beautiful and vibrant Chloe had looked last night. Like she didn't have a care in the world. Whereas she, Linda, had nothing but care-abouts. Nothing but obligations and duties and responsibilities. She sighed and frowned. Better get to them, then.

When she came downstairs, Amenadiel had breakfast waiting. He was always so kind and thoughtful! She smiled at him. "Thank you, Amenadiel. I appreciate it."

"Of course, Linda." He smiled back.

"Do I have you to thank for … transport home last night?" He nodded. "And was it-?" He nodded again.

She shook her head. "And to think I slept through it all!"

"You were tired, Linda," he said. "You needed the rest. And if I may say so, you're pushing yourself too hard. Let me help a bit more, especially with Charlie."

She sighed. He was right. "Fine, let's think about how to do that. In the meantime, I need to pump."

While she pumped milk for Charlie and ate breakfast, she filled Amenadiel in on the evening's events—or what she remembered of them. She wondered if Chloe had ever answered Ella's questions. Amanadiel said he hadn't seen or talked to anybody other than Lucifer. "And all he did was wave at me while I picked you up. He was playing his beloved piano, as usual. He didn't say a word."

"Funny he didn't come down to join us," Linda offered.

"No, I think it makes sense, at least to him," Amenadiel replied. "First, it was Chloe's night. He was giving her space to shine. Second, she and Ella were going to have a difficult conversation, right? You know how Lucy hates difficult conversations. From his point of view, a night in playing piano was the best decision he could make."

Linda nodded. "You're probably right. But it's interesting that you would say he was giving Chloe space to shine. I don't think the old Lucifer—the pre-Chloe Lucifer—would have ever felt that way. The old Lucifer was just too self-centered."

It was Amenadiel's turn to nod. "Exactly. My brother as grown so much in the past few years." He looked at her. "Thanks to you, as well as to Chloe."

"And you. I don't think they would ever have gotten together if you hadn't explained to Chloe how her gift worked."

Amenadiel shrugged. "I think they would have gotten together, eventually. But I'll admit I may have helped a little when I explained my father's gift." He hesitated.

Linda noticed that hesitation. "Amenadiel, you told her the truth about the gift, right?"

"I did. I told her about the gift and I didn't lie," he said. "But I … may not have explained the gift completely."

"Oh?"

Amenadiel looked a bit uncomfortable. "It's only a theory, but I think there's another side, another dimension to the gift. I really didn't want to complicate the explanation, so I decided not to discuss it. Poor Chloe was already dealing with as much as she could handle as it was."

"What do you mean?"

"You know that Lucifer has the ability to reflect humans' desires back to them, so that they see in him their deepest desires." He closed his eyes for a second. "Actually, I'm not sure I should even call it an 'ability.' It happens and I'm not sure he has any conscious control over it."

Linda nodded. "Go on."

"And Chloe's gift was that she didn't see Lucifer as a reflection. Or maybe I should say that she didn't see in Lucifer the reflection of her desires. She saw him for who he truly was."

"Yes. I knew all that. But what am I missing?"

Amenadiel looked very uncomfortable now. "As I said, it's only a theory. And it's not built on many data points."

"And your theory is-?"

"Well … remember when you were having sex with Lucifer?"

Linda couldn't help but smile. "Yes, I remember."

"For about how long?"

"Maybe two months."

"And why did you stop?"

"Well, it was unethical. I could have lost my license." She paused. "In fact, I almost did."

"But you knew it was unethical before you started having sex with him, right?"

"Yes … but there was something about him … I couldn't seem to help myself. All I knew was that I wanted him and I didn't care about any stupid ethics rules."

"But you came to your senses. About two months later. Is that right?"

"Yes. After I while I told Lucifer we had to stop. We had to put our relationship on a more professional level."

"And why was that? Why did you suddenly decide, after two months, that you needed to put your relationship on a more professional level?"

"Well … I'm not really sure. I remember I was talking to Chloe at the bar in Lux, and she asked me if we were sleeping together … and I said yes."

Amenadiel nodded. "And then-?"

"And then she said something about ethics, and I realized that, yes, it was completely unethical. And I decided to stop sleeping with him, right then and there. It was like a fog had been lifted from my brain, you know?"

"Linda, don't you see it?"

"Um … not really."

"Okay, here's another question to ponder. Think about Ella. Ella who is in contact with Lucifer on a daily basis. She doesn't seem to be affected by Lucifer. Not at all. So tell me, Linda, why is that?"

"You know, you're right about Ella. You're absolutely right. She doesn't seem to be affected in the slightest. And I've never noticed it!"

"But why? Why is Ella immune to Lucifer's so-called 'charms'?"

"I have no idea!"

Amenadiel sighed. "Okay. Ella is seemingly immune, and you weren't immune, but then you were. Just woke up out of a fog, as I think you put it. So tell me, Linda. What do you both have in common?"

Linda thought about it but couldn't grasp what Amenadiel was saying. "I still don't have any idea."

"All right. I'll tell you what you both have in common: Chloe Decker."

"I'm still not seeing it."

"Look. Chloe spoke to you for—what—three minutes? She asked you a couple of questions, and then—boom! No more sleeping with Lucifer." He paused. "Or—perhaps more accurately—no more having your desires reflected and amplified back to you by Lucifer."

"Yes, I see that. But Ella?"

"Well, I don't know this for certain, but I think it's a reasonable guess that Chloe met Ella before Lucifer did. Maybe a day or two before; maybe an hour before. And they spoke."

"I'm sure they did speak. And you're probably right about Chloe speaking with Ella before Lucifer did. But what that has to do with me …"

"Don't you see it? The immunity you and Ella have is from speaking with Chloe. That's the other part of her gift. No only is she immune to Lucifer, she can confer that immunity to others." He paused. "She's like a vaccine. A Lucifer desire vaccine."

"Are you sure? Because the whole thing sounds crazy."

"No. How can I be sure?" Amenadiel sounded frustrated. "We're talking about celestials and a human who has a gift from God. There are no written rules about this stuff. So how can I be sure?"

Linda thought about it. "Maybe you're right. I don't know. But do you think Chloe should know?"

Amenadiel shrugged. "I don't see why she needs to. Either I'm right and it just happens without her conscious thought, or else I'm wrong and she won't miss what she doesn't have."

Linda nodded. "That makes sense; I agree." She paused. "Now, with that settled, I have patients to see." She smiled at Amenadiel. "And if you have time, I would appreciate it if you fed and changed Charlie. Maybe take him to the park for a while, while I deal with my patients."

"I'd be happy to do that. I'm always happy to help you, Linda. I just wish you would let me do more."

"You already said that. And I said, I'll see if I can find a way for you to do so."

With that, Linda headed upstairs to her home office, where she turned on the laptop and prepared for another remote therapy session. Who was she seeing today? She looked at her calendar app and saw that she had four patients. Four hours of trying to help people sort out their feelings and deal with their traumas, followed by at least two hours of session note-taking, followed by another hour of DSM billing notes. A seven-hour day—at least. And this was "part-time!"

She sighed but it was mostly for dramatic effect. This was her life. She was a psychiatrist—not that she called herself that to her patients—and she was pretty good at her chosen profession. If only she could get out of this funk she was in! Be more like Chloe: be vibrant and put-together—at least on the outside.

Linda contemplated shutting her practice down for a while. Take a hiatus. Get her groove back. But even if she didn't practice therapy, she'd still have to take care of Charlie. That meant no Jamaica. She'd be lucky to have a weekend in Laguna Beach.

What could Amenadiel do? He'd offered, but she was honestly at a loss as to how to shift more of the load his way. He couldn't breast feed, that was for sure. What if she took Charlie off breast milk? No, she couldn't do that. So many studies had shown that breast-fed babies were healthier in the long-term. So breast-milk it was, at least for a few more months.

She looked back at her calendar app. Four patients, 50 minutes each. Oh look! There was Chuck again. "Chuck the Dick." She wondered what today's crisis would be. No, stop that! She thought. I have to come from a supportive place, if I'm going to help him.

It occurred to Linda that her life kind of sucked right now, and maybe that her situation was manifesting in her patient interactions. She didn't want to have her patients suffer from her sorrow at how hard her life was at the moment. "Linda's Lament" was not an appropriate name for her professional practice.

But maybe … maybe there was one thing she could do: she could lighten her patient load. Instead of seeing four patients, maybe see only three, or maybe even just two? Cutting back would seriously impact her income but, honestly, what was she spending money on these days? Her grocery bill seemed to be at least fifty percent diapers and baby wipes. She could cut her income and still make ends meet—easily. And it might help her regain some semblance of balance in her life.

In fact, she could start by firing Chuck during today's upcoming session. Of course, she wouldn't say she was firing him. She'd say something about him finding another therapist who could better understand him and his issues. Yes, make it about him, not her. He was so narcissistic that approach should work nicely. She'd offer a referral, perhaps to Darlene Corden.

And there were a couple of other patients with whom she'd been struggling. She could fire those patients tomorrow, or later in the week. She found herself suddenly looking forward to those sessions.

Just thinking about letting them go made her smile.