Chapter Three

"You're staring."

Ella tries to swallow her mug of eggnog-the family friendly kind as some of the officers in the precinct are earning their chips and more power to them. It's hard to get down and she coughs a little as Chloe glares at her from across the table. It's all set up in the main entrance under the stairs and with the reindeer posters and the fake Saint Nick decorations and, yes, a massive tree in one corner, it feels a lot more festive than the department usually does. It's one of those years where Hanukkah and Christmas don't overlap, but there's a small menorah too on a desk not too far from Dan's own and also a Kwanzaa tableau set out.

It's all perfectly festive, even if Ella isn't necessarily feeling the second rotation of "Rocking around the Christmas Tree" this hour at the precinct.

"I'm not, not really."

Chloe purses her lips and the woman really is gorgeous. Ella saw Hot Tub High School once years ago on cable so all the embarrassing parts were cut out. Well, maybe not all, since the part where Chloe's character barfs chocolate cake on a guy isn't exactly a great thing for your rep, but nothing naked for broadcast, you know? Even then, Chloe was gorgeous and Ella figures that she'd have been really famous some day if her dad hadn't died. Time happens and a kid and the stress of one of the hardest jobs she can think of, but Chloe is still incredibly beautiful.

It makes a fuck ton of sense-miracle or not-that Lucifer was drawn to her. If someone was going to tempt the Devil, then it was going to be one Chloe Decker.

And there Ella goes again, thinking about the miracle thing. Which is weird. Michael swears that Amenadiel only had to touch Chloe's mom's hand to bless her to be fertile and Chloe's dad took care of the rest. It was nothing like apparently how Jesus got here, and Ella is never, ever thinking of the archangel Gabriel the same way. The same archangel who apparently borrowed money from everyone and never even paid it back. The Horn of God who only seemed to lose in his gambling endeavors. And her boyfriend totally preened explaining that part to her.

Brothers.

Always a competition between them, even apparently if there were literally hundreds of them.

So it's fine. It's normal. Totally just regular Chloe. She's not Jesus or part-angel or has magical laser powers. But it's hard to think about without The Big Guy directly ordering it, then her friend wouldn't exist. Okay, so God makes sure all humans exist, but there's something really crazy about being custom ordered and to please an (Fallen) angel no less.

"No, you are definitely staring. So, what gives? Do I have lipstick on my teeth?"

Ella blushes and bites into a sugar cookie that went way too heavily on the sugar. "No, but…look I know that Lucifer and Amenadiel knew this, but I wasn't sure if you had heard that Michael and I are friends." Again, not going to upset Lucifer at the precinct and end up in a shouting match or, worse, with a more mangled boyfriend tonight. Breaking everything to him if she ever bothers to do it, will take planning, and a lot of promises for him not to beat the ever-loving shit out of her boyfriend first. "We hang out a lot now, and I…well, he talks a lot."

Chloe's face sours. "Yeah, he shoots his mouth off and that's his most charming characteristic."

"Maybe, and I know there's so much that went down when Michael first got to Los Angeles between him and his brothers that I don't understand and no one has told me. That said, at least Michael told me the truth."

Chloe stills then and something like guilt maybe (or perhaps that's just Ella's wishful thinking) flashes across her face. "And what's Michael's version of the truth. You don't know any of the stuff he pulled, and a lot of it was really dangerous."

She flinches at that, and it hurts. Ella isn't stupid. She's got terrible taste in men, Michael included, but she's not dumb. She knows enough by now to understand when things don't add up, when there are holes in everyone else's stories. With Mike, she knows he did things to Lucifer, that there is something that made her friend angry enough to lash out and scar his twin's face forever. Ella's been too chickenshit in the last two and a half weeks to have that conversation. Michael swears he's not a killer, and that much she believes. And, ugh, that puts him ahead of Pete in her dating conga line. However, that's not the only way you can hurt someone.

Ella should know.

"I know, and we have to talk about that some day. Not just me and him but you and me too. Chloe, I know."

"About Lucifer? How he's the real Lucifer?"

Ella laughs but it comes out as far more broken than she means for it to. "Yeah, that he's the literal Devil and that I was such an idiot for so long to think that it was method acting, you know?"

Chloe stands up and scoots to the seat closest to Ella. A soft hand is on her shoulder, and Ella appreciates that. She needs it because her head is spinning and spinning. Most of the time, it circles around Rae Rae and Lucifer, how could they possibly have both spent so much time misleading her. Sometimes, though, they circle back to Michael and whatever secrets are in his closet. Or even how an archangel, even one quite obviously on "timeout" as Mike calls it could find anything interesting about her. How four and a Nephilim are always around in her life, Ella really can't fathom.

"Yeah, but if it makes you feel any better, I didn't know until Pierce almost killed me in that shootout."

"The feathers from nowhere make a lot more sense. Finally," she says, grabbing another gulp of her eggnog and wishing to, well, the Big Guy that it was alcoholic. She wonders if it's something Lucifer can do. Jesus could turn water into wine, right? Then, nah, it can't be the same way because he wouldn't carry a flask everywhere if he could just gin what he wanted up. And that gives her quite the idea…

"Yup, and it was a shock cause I saw…Lucifer can look a lot more like the Devil than he does here. It's complicated, and that wasn't the way, I think, to bring me into it. He didn't mean for me to see, but then I freaked out and Rome-"

"And you were visiting priests, right?"

Chloe frowns at her. "That obvious?"

"It's a place I'd go. I mean, I have sat at confession a few times since Michael told me on Thanksgiving thinking 'Forgive me, Father, but I sometimes do bar trivia with an archangel.'" And makeout with one, but that was neither here nor there. "It's so much that it feels overwhelming. I mean, I always believed except that one, crappy year after Charlotte was killed, but this is different. It's like, okay, I also know the Queen of England exists, but I don't hang out with Prince Harry."

Chloe snorts out a laugh. "Yeah, Michael's hardly like that. Honestly, Lucifer's mostly just the same idiot club owner who wore me down." The words are harsh but she recounts them with a wry admiration in her voice that makes Ella's Deckerstar heart flutter for both of them. "There's a lot more baggage and their dad is-"

"You've met God?"

Chloe quirks her head at Ella. "You have too. Remember about a year ago? The old man with the beard and who loved cheesy sweaters, voice like Amenadiel's."

"Oh! I thought he was just a witness."

"Not at all, and it's complicated. I was an atheist. Can't be now, but I know you have a lot you believe and want to keep believing. I don't think their dad was ever really good for Amenadiel and Lucifer, but it is what it is. He mostly leaves us alone, and I am glad about that."

Ella frowns, and that hurts. She loves the Big Guy and she's always drawn (almost always) strength from Mass and from interactions with her fellow parishioners. But it's obvious all the angels she knows are messed up, and they didn't get that way on their own. She'll have to think about what that means for her faith later.

Like way later.

It's like trying not to drown in the ocean in the middle of a typhoon now that she knows everything. Or, well, the answer to the biggest question of all.

"I know, but Michael's good with me. We hang out and I just…he told me about Lucifer and Amenadiel…all of it. I mean, he mentioned you're a miracle, right?"

Ella feels like an asshole the minute she mentions it. Chloe's shoulders hunch and she doesn't cry as she's too tough for that most of the time, but some bit of light definitely dies from her eyes.

"I am, and that's messed up. I didn't ask for it, and it's weird to know that you exist because you were made for someone else. Really weird. Sometimes Eve and I talk about it. We're not close, but we have that one, super weird thing in common. I mean, in Eve's case, now she has a life on her own terms with Maze. I love Lucifer, and I love being with him, but I want to know that it's because I choose it, deep down. I have had chances to walk away a few times, like with going to Rome. Maybe I could have just never come back. I wanted to start dating him when he got back from down south-"

"Hell as family business?"

"Exactly," Chloe fills in. "But yeah, it makes me feel a little like a puppet or an object. I'm not, but it's a weird kick in the teeth in a way. I gave God an earful about it, and He was mostly mildly amused, like I was some pet kitten trying to scratch Him. Just some much condescension. It was awful."

Ella leans forward and wraps Chloe in a big Lopez hug. She pats her back and lets Chloe sigh a bit before they break apart and the detective she knows best is facing her. All that calm control back in place. "I asked Michael, and this is probably really dumb, but can you do anything?"

"Lucifer's powers don't work on me. In a way, it's good because I can see him exactly as he is. He can't charm his way around me. If you're asking if I'm suddenly psychic and able to win Powerball, no, I'm really not."

Ella shakes her head and finishes her now far-too-warm nog. "That sucks, mi amiga. You should be able to get so much more out of the miracle deal. I mean, you're not like a girl Jesus, but you should still get a cool power, no ve?"

Chloe blanches at that and swallows hard. "Maybe I don't want to walk on water either."

"Meh, but I'm just saying the water into wine thing could be useful. Ooh, making dinner out of like no supplies? Would have to come in handy after a long day at work!"

Chloe nods and chuckles a little. "I asked if maybe I had laser hands or something to Amenadiel."

"If you could have any power, which would you have wanted for being a miracle. Come on, not like God's going to give it out now," Ella pries.

"Really?"

Ella nods. "Totally. I won't tell anyone, even Mike, what you say. Just between us girls."

Chloe leans back and considers the question, her eyes gazing around the room and settling on Dan and then Lucifer (they're arguing about something and Lucifer is gesticulating broadly at his crystal bracelet as they do) before going back to meet Ella's. "I think telepathy. I have been played so many times. I…maybe not even telepathy, maybe just being a human lie detector. I don't want to be deceived again, not like with the Palmetto case or with Pierce and his bullshit."

"Not even with the Celestial in your life?"

Chloe frowns. "You speak like you know. How close are you and 'Mike' really? I mean it; he's a bad guy, Ella. You shouldn't hang around him."

Ella swallows at that but holds her head high. She won't let anyone scare her off. He makes her feel better. Just hanging out with him for movie nights or museum tours made her happy. It's been an, okay, very grouchy island of respite in an otherwise crappy, crappy year.

"I like him, okay? But we just go to museums and do movie nights. It's friendly, you know? It's not more than that."

It's a lie, but it's fair to serve that back to her friends, especially since she isn't sure Lucifer and Amenadiel are ready to hear more and, frankly, not even three weeks into a romantic relationship, Ella has no idea if this is going to last. No need to get a three alarm blaze going between the angels if she and Michael will just end for normal, mortal reasons anyway.

"I just…bc careful."

"For once, I think I am," Ella replies. That much is true. They're taking it slowly, and it's oddly novel to do it that way. She likes it-the eager make-outs, the movie nights, and the cuddles-it's so different from falling into bed with so many in the loser parade, and she loves it. "But you know, I get it. I do. It sucks when you realize people lied to you."

Chloe pats her shoulder again. "Ella, it wasn't…Dan only knows because Michael told him on purpose. Hell, it's the only reason I know I'm a miracle."

"Do you think Lucifer would have ever admitted it?"

"I don't know."

"Ah, then that's what that feels like."

Chloe frowns at her, the severity of the gesture aging her a bit. "What?"

"Just you know what it's like to be in the dark a lot, so I get it. But I'm not some kid who needs protection, and I work with him too. I fucking teach Charlie math and science. I go to an angel's house a few times a week!"

"It's Linda's house, technically."

Ella rolls her eyes. "You know what I mean. Still, yeah a power so you never get lied to again would be a good one. I can relate." Maybe if she'd had that, Pete couldn't have…

Except something in her gut had been telling her it was too much, too fast. That it was too perfect and planned out. That a woman like her just didn't deserve that kind of happiness, not after a life of gambling and boosting cars, not with her so-called insanity. If she'd listened to her damn instincts…

"Ella?" Chloe shakes her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I…hey do you want to hear what I would pick?"

Chloe smiles and the looks is both genuine and relieved. Damn it, Ella must have zoned out more than she assumed. It happens sometimes, even now. It's not as bad as it was right after Pete, but sometimes something will remind her too much of him and she'll be back in that fucking hot house with all those lilies.

She shakes her head. That's evergreen candle in her nose and not the sickly sweet scent of lily. Ella takes comfort from her reality and offers Chloe an answer:

"Invulnerability. I wouldn't want anyone to be able to mess with me again. I mean, I'm not the miracle-"

"Overrated."

"Just a happy accident, maybe. Or maybe not," Ella continues. "But if I could be anything, I'd be like Teflon or diamond-anything that couldn't be hurt. It must be nice to go through the world and know so few things can really get to you. I mean, sure, the guys do a number on each other, but they're pretty safe otherwise. It must be nice."

Chloe sighs and stares longingly at Lucifer. "I think it's harder in some ways. He gets really anxious sometimes. Trixie had to get her appendix out last May and he freaked a lot. He's not used to mortality, and it shows. I…maybe it's harder to realize you leave everything behind eventually. I really don't know."

Ella shakes her head and stands up. She has a plan, a brilliant prank plan before she heads to trivia with her boyfriend as promised. But she definitely knows what's the better deal. "Nah, being invulnerable-untouchable-I bet there's nothing like it."

Lucifer has finished his argument with Daniel. It's nothing dire. Their relationship is the best it's been ever, which should be odd considering he's basically a step-Satan to the urchin and is having so much glorious sex with the douche's ex. However, now that Daniel knows and has, to be fair, gotten the whole trying-to-kill-the-Devil thing behind them, they get along famously. Except tonight. There has been a bit of rank pulling, and Daniel has insisted like the stubborn moron he is that Lucifer is to return the new cellphone he got for the offspring.

Just because Daniel is cheap doesn't mean Lucifer should be.

Then again, he knows that neither Daniel nor the detective wanted Trixie to have the newest iPhone. They had set up a system for her to earn and upgrade on her pitiable off-brand phone with enough chores, but it was no bother for him to get what the spawn wanted. So why couldn't he?

Apparently, Daniel didn't approve, and now Lucifer is seriously questioning his taste. Or, to be honest, dreading the possibility that his detective might also hate his inspired present idea. Suddenly parched-and sod the eggnog-Lucifer hunts down his jacket, slung over the detective's chair, and hunts for his flask.

It's not there.

He groans and asks several unis and a rookie if they've seen his flask before García from narcotics is helpful enough to say she glimpsed it in Miss Lopez's lab. Odd, Lucifer doesn't remember leaving it there, but it's been a long night, and he might have taken a bit of (or a Celestial ton of) Molly to help himself get through this dreadful night of holiday cheer.

He has no ill will to his half-brother, but it's hard to swallow one of two days to praise Jesus when the world spends 365 despising him and blaming the Devil for all their own evil deeds. So, again, it all circles back to Dad being a prick and that is assuredly the oldest story in all of history. However, his flask would be enjoyable and he figures being a bit loopy explains why he's misplaced it.

Though he hasn't quite figured out what to procure for Miss Lopez for her present, so he isn't sure why he'd have gone into her lab in the first place.

Small details, nitpicks regardless, and soon Lucifer slips into the lab and picks up his cherished flask. He takes a sip of it quickly, just desperate for a bit of a burn down his throat to chase away the after taste of Daniel's gloomy mood.

That is his mistake.

He coughs loudly and spits into the nearest trashcan, moderately horrified to find something black and thick coming from his mouth. He spits again (how unbecoming), and the lights in the lab come up to full blast. Miss Lopez has walked in and is grinning ear to ear, the first real expression of cheer on her face he's seen in his presence since Thanksgiving.

She hands him a huge cup of water and a fistful of paper towels.

"Sorry, dude, but you have to admit lying to me for almost five years meant you had it coming."

Lucifer narrows his eyes at her but chugs down half the glass of water greedily and swipes at his chin and his lips. Glancing down at the towel confirms for him that it comes back covered in inky blackness.

"Did you fill this with the printer toner?"

"Not gonna kill you, right?"

He glares at her and lets his eyes go crimson because there's no reason really not to-if she can spend time around the Angel of Fear and seem functional, she can take a bit of red eyes-and tries to scare her just a little. If only for spite. She doesn't even flinch, and Lucifer regrets just a bit he may have missed his window for her to be awed or even cowed by his powers. It's for the best, but she fed the Devil toner and there should be some comeuppance.

There won't be of course. He could never really prank Rae Rae either, hasn't the heart to leave a snake in her desk as if she were Daniel or some rookie who might have managed to piss him off.

So, finally, after he's done wiping his face and making sure in the reflection of his silver cigarette case that he's clean, Lucifer lets his eyes stop simmering and regards her.

"Well, Miss Lopez, that was quite the maneuver you made. I did not see it coming. Perhaps I should have. You've been pissed with me enough to do such a thing."

She shrugs and shoves her hands in her jeans pockets. The forensic scientist certainly looks innocent enough in her t-shirt with a fluffy cartoon llama on it, covered in tree lights, and with the inauspicious caption of "Fa la la la llama." It is hardly the look of a mastermind who has gotten one over on the Devil, but Lucifer is sure she's one of a few to do so.

Or maybe a bit more.

But she's top of the list for her cleverness, or maybe he didn't expect the Et tu, Brute from her too.

"You earned it, pendejo. You lied for a long time."

He shakes his head and sets the towel on her table besides his flask. It's probably ruined, which is a shame. It was a parting gift long ago and in another life from dear old Oscar, but maybe he can find someone to rid it of that rancid ink taste somehow.

"I have always said I was the Devil. You refused to believe me."

"You knew I assumed you were auditioning but apparently failing like hard to get the part in Diablo." She leans against the table and right up next to him, shoulder to shoulder but there is no Christmas hug for him. No Lopez hug in weeks, and that's how Lucifer knows he's truly in the doghouse.

"Yes well, I still never lie."

"You bluff, dude, or you compartmentalize. However, you see it, you had me bending over into a pretzel to try and make everything fit, and it just didn't."

He looks down at her and hates himself for the watery sheen to her eyes. "Miss Lopez, you need to understand that I didn't tell you because of me and nothing to do with trust in you, not really."

She arches an eyebrow with him and her words are faster than even her usual rapid-fire speak. "But you didn't tell me so you had to think I'd either freak out or that I'd hate you or both or that I'm not your friend and I am! Or I thought I was!"

He tries not to flinch at any use of the past tense with regards to their friendship. It's hard, but he manages. Just barely. "And that's because Linda thought she could take it too, and for two weeks she was catatonic and had fired me as a patient. It drove the detective to Rome and an exorcist."

Ella blinks up at him and coughs out something terse in Spanish about how that can't be at all.

He answers her back that it most surely was in Spanish before switching back to English. "Miss Lopez, those were the better times. Michael, that pillock, told Daniel and he attempted to shoot me. It didn't work, but you know at one time it very well could have after what happened with the siege at Lux. I appreciated what we had, that it was like having a sister again since I'm clearly not allowed home and you know exactly in great, Biblical detail how much my family loathes me."

"Even Rae Rae?"

"We don't talk often. She's rather busy with the grim reaping, essentially, and I think…I think she feels bad she didn't side with me when she could have. I'm glad she didn't, considering it all went pear-shaped and exploded in my face."

"I don't think I'd have shot you," Ella says winking up at him, a bit of her usual smile teasing at her lips.

"If a human drank toner, they might die. You poisoned me and ruined an antique flask so it might be worse than Daniel destroying some Burberry."

She shakes her head and finally, after so many weeks, there's a Lopez latched around his middle. For once, Lucifer doesn't stiffen up but instead wraps his arms around her, embraces her wholly and relaxes into the embrace. A hug he feared might never come again.

"It's a good prank. Dude, I have four brothers. I could do so much worse. I mean, I know where you park the 'Vette."

"How dare you!"

"I could steal from the Devil, help myself to your baby for a few hours."

"You wouldn't!"

"I might. I don't like being lied to, Luce. I don't at all, especially after Pete, but I just…I didn't think about how badly people take it either. I mean, once Michael filled me in, I knew everyone else knew and you still go to therapy and now Decker hardly can keep her hands off of you. Rayos, even you and Dan are doing pretty good for you guys."

"Maybe, he is giving guidelines for what I can and can't buy the urchin for Christmas."

"Maybe not all of a Best Buy then," Ella replies, laughing.

"I am generous as a friend, Miss Lopez, let that always be said of me. After all, what do you want for Christmas. I've lacked the time to inquire with you."

She lets him go and nudges his side with her shoulder (she has no hope of coming even close to his own shoulder, tiny as she is). "Just be honest with me, okay? I get that a lot of shit went down between you and your brothers. I get that now I know the angel thing, then Michael owes me a how did you get grounded explanation too."

"Yes, he very much does."

"But trust that I'm not gonna just run or, ugh, call a priest. Poor Chloe, what a mess."

Lucifer sighs and tries not to think of Kinley even if the sting of betrayal will never fade from him, not completely. "It's been settled. But you can understand how I didn't want to go through that again, Miss Lopez."

"I'm like good friends with your twin brother, we've known each other five years, and I know that you're that Satan. You totally can just call me 'Ella.'"

Lucifer chuckles at that. "I prefer my titles, but hermanita, I can try to find something less formal, but you shall always be 'Miss Lopez' to me. You deserve a bit of additional recognition." He nudges her with his shoulder. "You mean so very much to me, and you're a great friend. I didn't want to lose that."

"I'm sorry people freak out. It's a big thing." She eyes him with brown eyes so wide that even with all his experience, Lucifer can hardly believe they're quite real. "I always said you got a bad rap. I mean, so what? So some lady at an apple. That's not the end of the world."

"I suspect if you've been passing time with Michael, then you've heard by now about the Rebellion. Every side has their take and I just needed Father to let me have Free Will. To have choice is something humans take for granted, but it's the only thing I've ever craved. You lot have no idea how lucky you truly are."

A soft hand is on his arm, and Lucifer stills, scared even now that if he so much as breathes that Ella's acceptance will vanish like morning dew in the sun. "Michael hasn't talked about that. It's only been a few weeks, and I get things in small dollops. I think he thinks he'll break my brain if it's the full enchilada at once. I can't say he's wrong."

"I think that's the same way from me. I was selfish to bluff about myself, but I didn't want to lose this…what we have." He shakes his head ruefully. "Also, I don't relish being shot. I really loved that suit Daniel so thoughtlessly ruined."

"Maybe you need a work wardrobe. I mean, you can have suits you can bear to ruin."

"And where something off the rack? I'd rather be back in Hell!"

Her smile falls. "You were back there, when you were supposed to be in Florida helping family…you were in Hell again."

His shoulders sag a little, but he works to keep his tone glib for her. Hell is hard for all humans, and he doesn't wish to scare her, especially now that after hard fought battles, Father has let him have a reprieve, at least for the duration of the detective's life and Ella's by extension. It's his cross to bear, and he'll shoulder it in silence. "I was, but it was relatively quick business. There were whole centuries I wasn't able to take a holiday on Earth so two months is a snap compared to those."

"I'm so sorry."

"I have ruled Hell-overrated kingdom by the way-for eons. One gets used to it." Which was true, but he'd never had to go back while in love with another. Every second without the detective was agony. Thus, thousands of years was unbearable. He didn't know how he'd deal with her loss, but he had ideas for the ring with Lilith's immortality in it, if only the detective were amenable to it… "But there's more to what I am, and one day, you may no longer feel like being my friend."

"I thought we were like brother and sister," she jokes.

"I do too, although that makes it even more unseemly that you're taking up with that ne'er-do-well, Michael."

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms back over her chest. Lucifer instantly misses the warmth of her palm on his arms. "I'm not going to stop being friends with both of you. If you really wanted to get me a good Christmas present-"

"I might talk Santa into getting you only coal from now on, Miss Lopez."

Brown eyes glitter back at him and Lucifer smirks at the way she bounces. Ella is hardly a child or even a young adult, but she gets so eager over so many things, and that innocence is inspiring. It's also something he feared would be snuffed out after Pete Daly. More than enough justification to show the wanker his entire other form, to relish the screams of the man who dared to touch one of his friends. His family.

But she was better lately, and Lucifer has no idea how to explain that. It couldn't be his weasel-like coward of a twin; it's not possible that Michael makes anyone happy.

Could it?

"Is there a Santa?" she asks, still squirmy and bouncy.

Lucifer's smirk broadens. "It's for me to know which supernatural creatures are real and which are not. As for Saint Nick, well, I can say I have methods to dump a ton of coal on you, especially for the toner stunt. How devious, hermanita."

"Ooh, what about vampires? I admit it. I totally had a Twilight phase when I was younger."

Lucifer groans. "No, nothing undead lingers-not true ghosts, no vampires, and no zombies. There's a system in place for handling that."

"Right," she says, her tone a bit less chipper. "Rae Rae is part of that, right?"

"Yes, and I haven't been able to get her to come to me either. I assume you've been trying since Michael let that pesky feline out of the bag."

"Yeah, she's kind of AWOL."

"Little Sis is a busy psychopomp but saying she has souls to ferry also gives her enough of an excuse to avoid conflict. I'll get her on the line somehow; I swear to you."

"Yeah, we have to catch up like there's no tomorrow, dude, but I just…can you try with Michael? I know I don't understand what he did when he first showed up but-"

"You do not," Lucifer replies, fighting to get the words out through intermittently clenched teeth. He struggles to keep his eyes normal for now because his idiot twin gets under his skin more efficiently than any other, always has. "I shall make a deal with you."

"A deal with the Devil, should be interesting," she says, her words light and kind despite their meaning, despite the fact she now knows what he is. "So, what do you have for me, El Diablo?"

"I will work to reconcile with my twin…at least be decent to him around you for your own sake, hermanita, if you get the full story of his crimes from him. If you still want Michael to be around you then, well, I would rather have you in my life in any way I can than drive you off with ancient feuds."

"Sounds so over the top, buddy."

He sighs. "If only it were. Michael is devious and cruel, and I worry he shall shatter your heart."

She glares up at him, and there's a ferocity in her eyes that wasn't there before Pete. That's eat at him too. She shouldn't have to be that strong or that ready to fight. He should have known what Pete was, should have paid bloody attention. But it's too late for that now. After all, even Amenadiel can't rewind time.

It's certainly beyond the Devil himself to do it.

"I can handle it. I've had the worst thrown at me in Detroit and everywhere else, and after-"

He hugs her with one arm slung around her shoulder then. "Pete shall face all the wrath Hell has for him, believe me."

"I don't want that," she admits, perhaps surprising them both. "I just meant that I'm not fragile and I don't have to be treated like fine glass. Mike's been good to me, and if after I hear all the things about him, well, I don't feel safe, I won't stay."

"I hope that you don't."

"I hope that I can. He's really…in some ways, he does remind me of you."

He laughs and arches one eyebrow up at her. "Miss Lopez, I'd no idea you fancied me."

"Eww, gross. You're like Jay to me." She answers, and he lets some of it pass. He doesn't wan t to ruin her relationship with her eldest brother, even if Jay Lopez hardly merits the hero worship. "But you have to know that Michael has this whole other side to him, and it's…it's been nice. Llena de tenura."

"I hope that you're correct, Miss Lopez, and he's trying something different. I know Michael well, and the long game has always been his specialty."

She pulls away from him and busies herself gathering up her purse-and it has large, green fake ears, and Lucifer has fuck all idea which show or movie is from as he can't keep track of her varied and very nerdy interests-and then her jacket. "I don't think it is this time, and if I'm right, then you have to be nice to him!"

"You've my word. If you still want to associate with him after learning about all he's done in Los Angeles, then I shall be civil with Michael whilst around you. Shall that suffice."

"It's not exactly what I wanted, but I'll take it."

He bows a little, offering her some courtly manners. "Then, as always, hermanita, it's my pleasure to draw up a new deal."

"Because you're the Devil."

"Yup, and now you're finally getting it."
**

"And the grand final answer is 'luminol.' That's what forensic techs use to search for blood in crime scenes!" The trivia host announces, and Michael chuckles while heading up with Ella to collect his winnings.

Usually, trivia poses more of a challenge but the murder documentaries from streaming category as well as the actual Christmas story questions have worked in both their favors. It's a shame they won't win more for winning by an ass-kicking fifty points over every other team, but he's still raking in five hundred for the night and the spring is evident in Ella's every step as the host hands them five Benjamins. She squeals, and, okay, Michael flinches a little because Celestial hearing is sensitive after all. But it's worth it. Every time he sees her smile broadly, it's worth it. And when it's because of something he had a hand in, well, it feels as close to the Silver City as he's likely to get.

Maybe as he'll ever get again.

"Sweet, so I am buying another margarita."

He takes the five bills from her and shoves them in his pocket. "Nah, enjoy the haul, Lopez. I'll treat you to the next dose of Tequila for your liver."

"I thank you," she says. "my liver probably doesn't!"

They make their way to the bar and he orders her a strawberry margarita that comes not with a small umbrella or anything vaguely tropical in it but a wrapped candy cane (the type that's fruit-flavored and not traditional peppermint at least) looped over the glass rim. Michael asks for a water. Drinks here are like ten bucks minimum, even a plain shot, and anything mixed is an arm and a Dad-damned leg. He will take water thank you, since he can't get drunk on human amounts and doesn't have the bank account to clear out a Celestial quantity here.

Ella happily sips at her monster drink for a while before finally eyeing him. Michael shifts nervously in his seat. Even though she's helped kick major ass tonight since she slid in a round late from the station Christmas party, Lopez has been subdued. That worries him. Truly it does. A quiet Ella might be one who's thinking to much about Pete.

He knows about fear, knows even the most innocuous looking thing can set off memories. Currently, he can't feel anything Pete related from her. When she's most worked up, the hot house lamps are practically burning on his skin, and his scent of lilies turn his stomach. So, no, it can't be Pete. However, as he lowers his walls, he notices that she's anxious, that there's a chill still easing up her spine.

Michael hopes it's not about him.

"Are you okay?" he prods. "You don't seem like you. Was the Christmas party that boring?"

"No, but I had a long talk with Lucifer."

"Oh, that would do it. My twin can be a real fun suck."

She snorts into her drink which bubbles ominously before she speaks. "Yeah, Lucifer Morningstar, least fun person in Los Angeles so like no one ever. It's not that."

"It's something. Are you two still fighting about the truth bomb? I don't…you like him, and I want you to still have your friends, even if Amenadiel and Samael drive me nuts," which is an understatement for the violence between the three of them. "…well, they're your friends and what I feel doesn't have to cloud that."

She shakes her head and haphazardly blows a spare bit of bangs from her eyes. "No, just compartmentalize which angels I'll hang out with and when. You three are all about landmines and stuff you won't say."

Ah, so that was it. Sam had shot his mouth off. Fuck, did Lopez know about even the kidnapping Chloe Decker part? Assuredly, not his finest moment.

"What did Sam ramble on about? He always was great at pompous speeches," Michael gestures toward the bartender and orders a Vodka and soda anyway.

Apparently, twelve dollars for a drink will be something he's willing to shell out for today. Even a fraction of warmth in his belly to take the edge off whatever this is about to be. The bartender is efficient, a relief, and soon Michael has a shot glass to play with to keep his mind focused and his growing anxieties from overwhelming him.

Ella eyes him, and his breath hitches at how beautiful she is, even toward the end of the night and clearly tired from two long events. Even in a dumbass llama t-shirt, Ella Lopez is one of the most gorgeous humans he's ever come across, and Michael's pretty sure she has no clue exactly how precious and rare she is.

"Lucifer and I hashed it out. I'm still upset he lied, but I get it. Apparently everyone he shows goes postal, and I guess he wasn't ready for a fourth friend to start grabbing for holy water." She laughs, and it's the best sound he's heard in eons. "Oh, and I filled his flask with printer toner. That prank? So worth it!"

He laughs and drains his shot in one sip then orders another. Ella may have made up with his fucking brother, but Michael can feel it. Samael has said something, and Michael's already terrified that she's turned against him as everyone always does. It's not without cause, and he's pulled some crappy stunts or he'd be allowed back in the Silver City by now, even he can admit that. But he doesn't want to lose her. Dear Dad, please don't let him run her off too.

"Tell me you have pictures."

"I got a few with my cell, and I might even show them to you."

"I'm splitting our haul, 50-50. For two hundred and fifty big ones, I want you to print a pic out, frame it, and I'll put it on my mostly pointless in Southern California mantel piece."

Lopez nods. "You have a deal. Totally ruined a suit for him, the idiota. I just…I'm over being angry about everything, but he still needed to realize that since everyone else knew, it was time for me too."

Michael shrugs and, for once, is defending Sam. Maybe his twin's former domain is freezing over because it's the last thing Michael is likely or would want to do. "Yeah, but to be fair, Espinoza only knows cause I took great joy in showing him. It's not like he went all red-faced and burned for the precinct as a floor show."

Ella chokes into her straw and coughs beside him. He rubs her back in small, calming circles until she gets her grip. "Wait, what?"

"He explained when you talked that he can look different, right?"

"Sure, but I figured it was mostly that red eye thing he did…possibly horns."

"Yeah, none of those."

"But he's red and burned? I mean, totally quemado?"

"Lake of Fire, Lopez. That part is apparently accurate. Seen the face myself, far from pleasant. You can see why Sam doesn't like spreading the proof. I mean, he could do the wings too, but deep down, there's a gross underbelly to being the Devil, and it's why Chloe Decker ran for Italy."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

She shakes her head and plays with the candy cane between her fingers but doesn't unwrap it. "I didn't really guess there was that part to it. He was so mad about the implications of horns that I figured a lot of the stuff was bullshit."

"Not the burns, no. It's complicated. If that's all what Dad wants or if it's psychosomatic is kind of a hard call. Maybe it's both; I dunno." Michael shrugs. "Either way, self-actualization is a real bitch, and what's left of either of us isn't great to see."

A soft hand is over his and Michael sighs. Ella's eyes are so wide and brimming with that sincerity that snuck through his defenses. Maybe that's her superpower. He wouldn't be surprised. "I'm sorry your dad pitted you against each other. That sucks. It really does. I'm the only girl, but sometimes I see how César and Alejandro get really competitive to please mom. Not that you can please mamí, but you know what I mean."

"If I hold my tongue sometimes on how I really feel about Dad or Samael cause it would hurt you, then you really don't want me to get started on Raquel. I have so many thoughts about the shit she says about you, Lopez."

She sniffles beside him but doesn't drop her hand. "Mamí's not wrong. I mean, as far as she knows, I am loca. Not like she knows I'm apparently some kind of angel magnet."

"Meh, I'm not a very good angel and Sam's not one at all and Chucky doesn't have powers so maybe more like a wonky angel magnet."

She slaps him lightly on the arm. "Are you really serious?"

"Look, I have no idea why you were the first human Rae Rae followed around like a puppy. I really don't, but it's not about you being wonky or weird or a miracle, as far as I know. You just got lucky."

Ella laughs at that and does unwrap her fruit-flavored candy cane and shoves it in her mouth. She sucks on it absent-mindedly for a while and Michael's both far too warm in his turtleneck and, damn it, if his shoulders aren't twinging. Finally, she must have gotten her fill of the candy as she takes it out and gestures wildly with it as she speaks. "Maybe, but it's still weird. The Angel of Death has been my bestie since I was eight. The Devil works with me, and I tutor a Nephilim. Kind of."

"I knew Chucky mostly just drools over whatever 'science' stuff you pretend to show him."

"I try, but he really loves the small test tube kit I have. It's just mixing food coloring and water and practicing measuring with plastic tubes, but he totally goes crazy when I make purple. Kid loves it!"

"Good to know," Michael is finally given his drink and the traffic in the bar is picking up as the night drags on. The Vodka is a relief on his tongue. He still can sense that dark cloud over Ella, and he knows his twin said something. Tit for tat. "Oh, and don't leave off your boyfriend is the Angel of Fear. That's top line on my resume."

She sets the candy cane down on a napkin and grabs a quick sip of her rapidly melting drink. "Sword of God?"

"Long, long time since that, chica," he adds, and he can't keep the bitterness from creeping over him. Well, more than its usual. "Sam saw to that."

"I'm sorry."

"Hey, it was a battle and that's what happens. People get hurt so when idiots lead Rebellions, angels die or Fall. It was…Samael was never a planner."

"Yeah, that so hasn't changed," she adds, her hand on his good shoulder. "It's weird that I still get so much strength from your dad but it really hurts that he let you two go at it, that he basically made you hurt each other. It's just messed up."

"Can't be helped now. I tried to get even, and that just blew up in my face."

"We have to talk about that someday and soon, you know?" she says, her voice so small and unsure. He hates that, but he did spend a while trying to hurt Samael-really hurt him-and that made everyone from Chucky to even Lopez in a way collateral damage.

If Sam has hidden his nature from her, then Michael can admit he's guilty of whitewashing all he's done.

It wasn't going to last. He knows by now with as much as he lies, even as fun as it can be, that the truth always finds a way to come out.

"Do we have to do it before Christmas? I thought you were on a quest to teach me the true meaning of everything?" He dares to glance down at her and hates the serious expression on her face.

"Well, it's only a few days away. I would rather enjoy our next holiday together and have it so not involve my family at all."

"Or mine."

"Duly noted. Not a peep about Linda's dinner, promise."

"Good," he says, finishing the last of his drink and deciding against a third. It's too fucking expensive even if he likes the warmth of it. And they're almost ready to leave. "But?"

"We have to talk about what you did when you came to Los Angeles because I have fuck all clue, dude, and that's…I can get from Chloe and Lucifer both it was a big fucking deal."

He sighs and scratches at his face, wincing a little as his fingers graze over the scar he's still not quite used to finding there. Seriously, fuck you too, Sam. "What if you don't like the answers?"

"Well, you won't lie with me, will you?"

"I want to. I usually do," he admits, slipping off his stool and straightening out his blazer.

He leaves a couple of bills on the table to close out their tab. Lopez takes the hint and drinks the rest of her margarita-she was down to the dregs anyway-and slips less than gracefully off her seat. She's so tiny that it makes him smirk a little to see her struggle with the stool's height. Lopez is a bit like a yappy dog, maybe a yorkie or a Jack Russell terrier. She has all this energy and all this gravity to her, but at the same time, she's still freaking tiny.

The world could knock her back so hard.

Mostly thanks to Pete and her family, it already has.

And here she is, still ready to fight anything into submission, well, in her own sunshiney way. He admires her for it. That resilience.

"But will you lie to me?" she asks, even as he helps her into her hoodie.

Michael shakes his head. "No, partly because my family's done far too fucking much of that to you, especially Azrael. But also, yeah, Sam or Chloe Decker will just tell you everything from their perspective if I don't."

"Not winning me over there, Mike."

He sighs as they make their way toward the main door and soon to the parking lot. "I'm not looking forward to it, chica. I…it wasn't murder or something, but they weren't exactly good things either. You probably won't…it was nice having a friend…having someone more while it lasted."

They stop under the awning between the bar's dining room and the waiting area where the hostess is frantically writing down names for the nine o'clock rush. Ella turns to face him and brings her hand up to stroke his left cheek, and he appreciates it. Appreciates that she has no hesitance to touch his weak side or his scar, but that she only does if he's up for it. It's nice to know his ugliness and his flaws don't bother her, but that she doesn't overfocus on them either.

"Don't write me out yet, okay? It's just…there's a lot to think about. We went from museum buddies to this to angelic secrets all so fast. I'm going to hear you out. Trust me, I have four older brothers and I spent a lot of time pranking Ricardo. Like a lot."

"How bad could anything you have done been?"

"He legally cannot enter the state of Nevada."

"Holy shit. You are a dangerous woman," he says, feeling his eyes go wide.

"Definitely." She laughs and tilts her head up as she does it. Then, Lopez regards him again and turns that megawatt smile on at full blast. "Cool, look at that."

He arches his neck to find a few twigs and berries lashed together with a bow above them. It's just more evergreen crap, isn't it? He has no idea why Ella looks like she won the lottery just to be under it. "Yeah, no clue why this is a big deal."

"Mistletoe?"

"I don't get around that much. I mean, last time I was around for more than a day or two was the '20s…uh, the other '20s…and I wasn't taking notes on how the little half-brother was being cheered on."

She shudders a little. "I cannot believe Gabriel did that."

"You should. He might be even hornier than Sam. Now that Samael is a one detective-Devil, Gabe's definitely more of a horn dog. Guaranteed."

She rolls her eyes and gestures to the twigs above. "Well, if you've been too busy and up in the Silver City to get up to date on human tradition, let me explain. This is for…well, if you're under it, you kiss who you're with."

"Always?"

"Well, not like tongue action with a relative or something. It's in reason, but," she adds, her smile growing coquettish and his shoulders are so pinched and tight and if they don't get back to his house soon there is going to be forty feet of angel wings crammed in this bar. "it's a tradition you should learn."

"Meaning?"

Ella steps up on tiptoe and he takes pity on her and bends toward her as well. After all, she'll never compensate for the foot between them unless she bends too. "Merry Christmas, Michael."

And her lips are so soft and inviting on his own, and Michael can't help but love it and her.

Now, if only the truth of all he's done won't drive her away. He's far from sanguine about that, but, for now, he has her arms wrapped around him and her tongue teasing his own under the mistletoe, and it's the best Christmas tradition he's experienced so far.

By a damn mile.