AN: This story was originally meant to be a oneshot, but I have decided to divide it into three parts. I am still working on part two and three, but I hope I'll manage to upload it in the next few days..after all this is a Christmas story, so it's meant to be read around Christmas. This is set on Christmas Eve next year, so quite sometime has passed since God's visit on earth. As always I am not entirely satified with the way it turned out, but I hope it can make you smile :) Anyway I wish you all a merry Christmas or maybe rather a happy Christmas, as the word happy tends toward quiet contentment, which is more fitting in these times, at least according to my English teacher. Please take care of yourself and stay healthy!
Christmas Eve, December 24th 2021
"Linda, nobody is going to notice!" Amenadiel tried to calm her.
"Nobody is going to notice? Are you kidding me? I forgot to buy the Christmas Stollen! And I can't go to the stores now, because they are all closed." Linda retorted, her arms akimbo, as she was angrily starring at the much taller man, who almost seemed a little bit intimidated by her.
"Hey, hey, this is not my fault, Linda. You told me to stay out of this, remember?" He tried to defend himself and threw his hands up in innocence, "But we still have lots and lots of cookies from when Charlie and I baked biscuits the other day and we also have gingerbread and chocolate. I am telling you, Linda, as long as there is dessert, nobody is really going to notice." he added with a smile, trying to be the voice of reason for a very stressed Linda. Inviting all of their closest friends plus their families did seem like a good idea - once upon a time at least - but cooking for ten people wasn't exactly as fun as Linda had imagined it would be.
Linda sighed. "You are right," she said finally and let her head hang, "Sorry, I am just a little bit stressed."
"It's fine," he said and stepped closer, placing both his hands on her shoulders with a soft smile on his face, "Is there anything I can do?"
Linda slowly shook her head, but before she could even open her mouth to say something, the doorbell rang. Both Amenadiel and Linda sighed, but neither one of them was ready to leave their moment, "I-" Linda started, but was interrupted by the doorbell. When she opened her mouth again, wanting to finish her sentence, she was once again interrupted by the bell, which was continuously ringing by now. "If I had to guess, I would say it's your brother," Linda said over the high-pitched sound, "Just go open the door..then again, if you don't he's probably gonna break it down."
"Amenadiel!" Maze's sharp voice came from the livingroom, "Would you be so kind to open the f*cking door and let that pain in the ass of a brother of yours in?"
"Why don't you open it yourself?" he yelled back, rolling his eyes.
"Because I am busy entertaining your son!"
Amenadiel exhaled deeply, realizing that arguing with Maze would get him nowhere, and flashed Linda a last smile before he went to open the door. And of course, on the other side of the door was standing no one less than his brother Lucifer, Chloe and Trixie. The three of them had become a little family over the course of the year and it showed. Lucifer's finger was still on the bell, causing it to ring another few times, while Chloe had buried her face in her hands, not even bothering to stop him. Trixie on the other hand was standing between her mom and Lucifer, grinning like a cheshire cat and seemingly enjoying the scene that was unfolding in front of her eyes.
"Ah, finally brother!" Lucifer exclaimed and finally removed his finger from the bell, "Are you getting old or what took you so long?"
"Luci, Chloe and Trixie, come in," Amenadiel greeted them with a chuckle, tactfully overhearing Lucifer's comment, and stepped aside to let them enter. Trixie just gave him a quick hug, before joining Maze, Eve and Charlie, who were sitting in a cozy corner of the huge livingroom. Amenadiel just shook his head at the girl, before hugging both Chloe and his brother.
"Thank you again for inviting us." Chloe spoke up and smiled, as she pealed herself out of her coat.
"Yeah, yeah, thank you," Lucifer said almost dismissively, "Uh brother, I need to talk to you. Now." Lucifer grabbed the man by the arm, "Excuse us," he said, turning to Chloe, before pulling a confused Amenadiel with him into Charlie's room.
"Sure..." she replied, with knitted eyebrows, as she watched the door close behind them. For a few seconds she just stood there, eyeing the door, almost as if by staring at it she would somehow be able to see or hear what was going on behind it. Shaking her head, she put her coat in the wardrobe and made her way to the kitchen to greet Linda, "Wow, it smells really great!" Chloe said, barely managing to hide the tad of surprise that was resonating in her voice, when she entered the kitchen.
"Oh, hey Chlo," Linda greeted her, as she was rummaging around, trying to make a few last adjustments, "Thanks, I guess," she added and stopped in her tracks to look up from the food, "Where are Lucifer and Trixie?"
Chloe nodded with her head to the adjacent living room. Trixie and Charlie were sitting on the couch, buried between cushions and blankets. Their eyes were glinting excitedly as they were listening attentively to some story Maze was telling them. Despite their huge age difference, Trixie and Charlie absolutely adored each other and really enjoyed spending time together and with Maze.
"Sometimes I wonder if all the time Charlie spends with Maze will leave permanent damage. Just a few days ago she showed him her knife collection." Linda mumbled at the sight, "He is only two!"
Chloe nodded understandingly, after all Maze had once lived with her and Trixie. "But for some reason the kids love her." Chloe said and she couldn't help the small smile that formed on her face at the sight. It was only when she turned back around to face Linda that she remembered the woman's initial question. A heavy sigh escaped her mouth. "And Lucifer... well, he is talking to Amenadiel. Alone."
"You sound confused." Linda said matter-of-factly, being ever the therapist. Even without making eye-contact, she could tell that something was going on.
"No. I mean it's perfectly normal that Lucifer wants to talk to his brother. Alone." Chloe conceded, "It's just... Lucifer has been behaving kind of secretively these past few days... and I guess I am just worried that he is keeping something from me. You know, I just... I guess I just thought we were past that point."
"So what do you think he is keeping from you?"
"I don't know I," Chloe trailed off and contemplated for a few beats, "I guess I am just worried that there's something going on... you know, something bad that he doesn't wanna tell me about."
"You two have been through a lot," Linda said and put the cutlery away to make eye contact with Chloe, who nodded vehemently.
"Yeah." Chloe agreed, "Yeah, we have."
Their relationship had been off to a rocky start with the looming presence of Michael and then of course the arrival of God on earth. But, with Chloe by his side, Lucifer had finally managed to put this endless feud with his dear old dad to rest. And ever since God had returned to heaven and Lucifer's focus had shifted back to his relationships here on earth, he and Chloe were working really hard to make things between them work.
"I guess it's just... things have been so good for us lately, you know? I am just worried that there's already another storm brewing."
"I get that, I really do. But you know, there isn't always another storm brewing. Sometimes life is sunshine and rainbows... because for all the bad, there is also so much good in the world, you know?" Linda added with a dreamy look in her eyes, as she momentarily caught sight of her son, before she locked eyes with Chloe again, "And you know... Lucifer is always gonna be... well, Lucifer. He does... weird things sometimes. He is-"
"Incredible." Chloe whispered under her breath, finishing Linda's sentence.
"Yeah, I mean it's not the word I was looking for, but I guess that's one way of putting it." Linda agreed and chuckled lightly, "Point is, after everything you two have been through it's normal to get suspicious, when nothing bad happens. I think maybe you should just wait and-"
"No, you are right, Linda." She interrupted Linda and nodded slowly, suddenly determined. "You are absolutely right. We are incredible. And I just have to remind him of that. I need to show him just how great we are together!"
Linda opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. "That's not- you know what, sure." The therapist gave in with a sigh. "You are not gonna listen to me anyway. How am I even still surprised?" she mumbled, rather to herself than to Chloe.
"What was that?" the younger woman asked, even though she already seemed to be somewhere else mentally.
"You have nothing to worry about, Chlo. You and Lucifer still fit perfectly." Linda said and shook her head in a mixture of disbelief and laughter. Chloe chuckled somewhat nervously, but before she could answer, the doorbell rang again. "Could you just open the door real quick? I am kinda in the middle of something," Linda said and nodded with her head to the vast number of cutlery, pans and pots.
"Merry Christmas!" exclaimed Dan and Ella cheerfully, when Chloe opened the door.
The detective smiled, before cocking her head when her eyes fell on Ella's fit for the day: The brunette was wearing a radiant red knitted pullover with a big Santa Claus embroided on her chest along with matching pants and even a matching bobble hat. All kinds of Christmas motifs, from Christmas trees to reindeers, were covering the clothes from head to toe. Long story short: One probably could have placed her in the front yard with all the other Christmas decoration and people wouldn't have noticed.
"Come on, tell me, what do you think, Decker?" Ella asked excitedly and proudly showed off her outfit by posing like some kind of model.
"You look, uh," Chloe started and exchanged a glance with Dan, almost as if she was asking him for help. But he just shrugged his shoulders, wearing the hint of a smile on his face. "Very christmassy." she said finally.
"Well, that's the spirit!" Ella agreed with a happy smile and pulled Chloe in for one of her famous hugs, before stepping inside. "Oh my god, this looks amaze-balls!" Ella exclaimed, as she let her eyes gaze over the fairly well decorated living room.
Under an imposing and beautiful tree that was reaching almost to the ceiling about a dozen neatly wrapped gifts were laying. From big boxes to small circular packages it was all there. The stockings by the fireplace had been hung with care and a long light chain was ranking through the whole room, illuminating it in a warm light. It was fairly obvious that Linda and Amenadiel had invested a lot of time and thought into their decorations.
"The only thing that's missing is some good music!" Dan exclaimed and made his way to the stereo. Moments later, Justin Bieber's song 'Mistletoe' was echoing from the walls of the living room and Chloe started counting down from three in her head, already knowing what was about to happen. Precisely at the count of zero, a door flew open.
"Who put on this god-awful song?" Lucifer's voice thudded through the room and Chloe couldn't help the grin that formed on her face, as Lucifer was scanning the room for the responsible person. "Ah, of course, Detective Douche, who else?"
"Hey man, I know it's not a classic, but come on, that song isn't half as bad," Dan tried to defend his choice.
Lucifer's face cringed in disgust, "Ugh, you've got to be kidding me." he pressed out and sneaked the remote control from Dan, who huffed annoyed, but didn't do anything to get it back. Mere seconds later, Michael Jackson's 'Heal The World' was filling the room. "Good man, never really understood why he ended up in hell," Lucifer said and shook his head, as if in disbelief.
Dan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but closed it again. He was still throw off track sometimes by the ease with which Lucifer, as well as all his other friends were talking about heaven, hell, god and of course the devil.
"Not that guy again!" Maze groaned, while skillfully veering round the dagger she had pulled out for her story, almost as if she was ready to fight Lucifer.
"What's so bad about him?" Eve asked.
"Lucifer loves him," Maze explained, "He actually loves him so much, he occasionally had us halt our punishment so he could hear some live music. After a few eons it felt like we were the ones being punished by having to listen to that dude over and over."
"Well, Mazikeen, if you can't appreciate good music, I really can't help you," Lucifer responded from the other side of the room, causing Dan and Amenadiel to exchange an amused glance, while Maze just rolled her eyes.
Chloe used the moment to pull Lucifer aside and met his lips with an eagerness that was untypical for her, especially in front of their families and friends. He was surprised, she could tell that much, but he seemed to recover pretty fast as he kissed her back with the same passion that had first driven her into his arms. He sounded almost a little bit out of breath, when they parted.
"What was that for?" he asked with a grin, "Not that I am complaining or anything."
She bit her lip, as she was softly caressing his seven-day stubble with her fingertips. "Can't I kiss my boyfriend whenever I want?" she asked, almost teasingly.
"Sure, but you don't. Normally." he replied with an arched eyebrow.
"I just-" she trailed off, seemingly contemplating. But before she could speak up again, Lucifer's eyes seemed to have caught sight of something else behind her. Following his gaze she spotted Linda, who had just entered the livingroom, wearing a simple, yet extremely elegant figure-hugging grey dress and a beautiful smile on his lips.
"Woah doctor, don't you look exquisite?"
"Thank you, Lucifer."
"Like a princess!" Trixie agreed and Amenadiel nodded softly, when his eyes met Linda's. But before either of them could say something, Charlie called for them... and the moment was gone. Picking up the young boy from the couch, Linda and Amenadiel announced that the food was ready now.
"Well," Chloe spoke up, "Let's go eat, huh?" Without waiting for his reaction she turned away and went to sit down at the huge wooden table that was now covered by a cheesy goldish-sparkling table cloth. Lucifer knitted his eyebrows, as he didn't really understand what had just happened, but followed her soon enough.
Linda had prepared a roasted turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes as well as all sorts of vegetables, which was accepted quite happily. Napkins in the form of angles were sitting on expensive white tableware and throughout the entire evening, the scent of almond cookies, gingerbread and vanilla scented candles was dangling in the air. The sound of a fireplace crackling in the background mixed with some gentle Christmas music was filling the room, as conversations about anything and everything arose and died while they ate and drank.
"Luuuucifer?" Trixie piped up all of the sudden. "Can you let it snow?" she asked, giving him the best puppy dog eyes she had to offer. Much to Lucifer's dismay, everybody knew that he had a soft spot not only for Trixie's mother, but also for the girl. "I mean can you arrange something to, you know, let it snow?"
"Spawn, I told you before. I am not Elsa, I can't just let it snow," he replied and snickered.
"Yeah, but you're an angel!" the girl exclaimed and suddenly all the conversations around them died down, as they were all interested to see where this talk was headed, "Please, Lucifer, pleeeease! I have always wanted to have snow for Christmas!"
"Urchin I-"
"Wait, I am sorry, but everybody here knows...the truth?" Ella piped up, looking pretty damn confused, as everybody just nodded slowly. She had only found out about a few months ago, shortly after God's arrival on earth. And it had quite literally swept her of her feet, not only having been friends with the actual devil for so long, but also the fact that she had met God. Like, the actual God. The God she had spent most of her life believing in. It changed everything. And at the same time it didn't change a thing. "Even uhh..Trixie?" she whispered, as if it was a secret not meant to be heard by everyone.
"Sure," the girl replied, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world for her, and leaned towards Ella. "You know, sometimes I take extra long in the morning so Lucifer has to fly me to school." she whispered into Ella's ear.
"Oh my god that is so cool!" Ella exclaimed.
"You do what?" Lucifer exclaimed and looked back and forth between Chloe and Trixie, who barely managed to cover up their giant smiles, "What, you knew?" he asked Chloe, feeling a tad offended.
"Are you kidding me? As if you didn't know," Chloe replied and chuckled at how he genuiely seemed upset. Chloe had known all along and honestly, she couldn't even blame her daughter. Flying with an actual angel was something pretty damn magical - she had felt it numerous times herself after all.
Lucifer just scoffed and returned to eating, feeling a bit snitty, as his two favorite ladies had once again sweared themselves against him - or that's at least what it felt like to him. The others exchanged an amused look, before returning to their conversations and the food in front of them, too. Just like Amenadiel had prophesied nobody really noticed Linda's tiny mistake. Lucifer had even bought a whole package of pudding for his beloved detective douche, which the latter couldn't really accept without suspicion.
"You spit in it, didn't you?" Daniel asked and narrowed his eyes to a slit, as he inspected the pudding a bit more closely.
"I did not!"
"He spit in it." Dan repeated, this time turning towards the others.
Their relationship had hit a snag after Lucifer's unwanted face reaveal, but over the course of the year they had slowly found their way back, as Dan had realized that while Lucifer might be the devil, he was still the man he used to know.
At some point during the evening they moved to sit around the Christmas tree and simply enjoyed each other's presence and the peacefulness of the evening - which, admittedly was a rarity after everything they had been through in the past few years. They laughed and shared stories from previous Christmasses and at Ella's request Amenadiel and Lucifer even gave some insight in the story of Jesus, who, technically, was another brother of them.
Maze was sitting on Eve's lap and seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood, as she only complained twice that this was way too corny for her. Chloe was snuggled up against Lucifer's side, watching as Charlie and Trixie were making faces at each other. The sound of their laughter filled the room and her heart. It was only when Lucifer's grip on her arm tightened, as if he was reminded of something bad, that she noticed the weird glances Lucifer and Amenadiel were shooting each other.
"Hey," she said and softly nudged him in the side. Their eyes locked and for a few seconds that felt like minutes, she just stared at him, as if she was trying to figure him out. "We are incredible, aren't we?" she blurted out all of the sudden. The insecurity in her voice wasn't able to be overheard.
"We are," he replied with a softness in his voice that surprised her every time she heard it.
"We are." she repeated, almost as if she needed to remind herself of that yet another time. "So then tell me, Lucifer, what is going on with you... and Amenadiel?" she asked and sat up, winding herself out of his embrace. She had about enough of this. "Just tell me-" she started again, but this time she got interrupted by a high-pitched scream.
TO BE CONTINUED...