Lucifer wished there was some way to get Pierce to see things from his perspective, make him understand that there was more between them than immortality and a hatred for dear ol' dad. The mind-blowing sex wasn't enough to convince Pierce though, nor was meaningful conversation, home cooked meals, gifts or doing a good job on a case. He thought maybe just showing him that he could be a caring and thoughtful partner in a relationship would help, but no, Pierce just seemed more uncomfortable than anything. Lucifer was running out of options. How was he supposed to get Pierce to fall for him the way he had for the big, buff, well (very well) endowed, stoic, enigma of a man.
Pierce had kept a subtle eye on Lucifer, he could tell what the Devil was thinking about; he always got this adorable pout on his face when it was about 'them'. He didn't want to lead Lucifer on constantly, but he was still on the fence. Should he call it quits or let himself fall in love one last time? Keeping it as purely casual sex had been working well for a while, that was until Lucifer had spilt the beans and professed his true feelings. Pierce didn't doubt the devil could love, he doubted whether he himself was capable of falling in love again. He'd been there, done that before, too many times; it never ended well.
A car horn thrust both men back into reality and realisation hit that they had arrived back at the hotel carpark. Their odd band of people watched Dean's car zoom past them and into a parking spot. Lucifer had to admit it was genuinely a nice car, but he was still fonder of his corvette. Five people exited the car and wandered over to the five already waiting on the grassed area. Hang on. Didn't they split into groups of six and eight?
Dean and Castiel shared a brief kiss before consulting with their brothers as they all gathered on the grass. Everything seemed darker now that it was late afternoon, or maybe it was just Lucifer's mood, he wished things could be that easy between him and Pierce. He had been observing the other couples and they all seemed so in tune with each other, like a well-oiled machine.
"Looks like we picked up a few extras," the Doctor commented as he sauntered over with Rose.
"Stephen! Nick!" Bruce called out as he waved and moved through the group to the two men, they seemed happy to see each other.
"And they seem to know each other," Pierce observed, watching the four men greet each other.
"It turns out that Stephen and Nick are experts on these portals, 'anomalies' they called them," the Doctor informed Lucifer and Pierce.
"Ah, of course, Bruce and Tony mentioned that they had met up with some experts," Lucifer put two and two together.
"Who has a phone that works?" Sherlock yelled over the crowd.
"Over here, Sherlock, use mine," Rose offered. She put her hand up so Sherlock could find her, "It works out in space, so it might work through different universes, it's your best chance anyway," she told Sherlock as he stood in front of her hand out. She handed the phone over to the consulting detective and he immediately typed a quick message, sent it then handed the phone back to her when it didn't rebound.
"Thank you," John smiled.
"Rose, would you mind if I sent a quick message also?" Lucifer asked. Pierce gave him a questioning look, "I'm just letting the Detective know that we're alright," he explained.
Pierce was surprised, that was very responsible of Lucifer, he just nodded in response.
Rose handed him the old, beat up phone, "Of course, I know how hard it is to be away from home without contact, that's why the Doctor fixed up my phone."
"How did you two meet, since the Doctor said that he's an alien?" Pierce inquired.
Rose and the Doctor glanced at each and smiled, then laughed, "That's a long story and a whole regeneration ago," was all she told them before kissing said alien.
Lucifer finished off his message with a devil emoticon and sent it. His message didn't rebound either, so he handed the phone back to Rose and thanked her. He wondered if anything would change when they returned home, how long could he take Pierce keeping him at arm's length? Surely there would come a time where he had to give up and accept it was never going to happen between them. Maybe that time had to come sooner than he thought.
It was only when Pierce nudged him that Lucifer realised that Sam was talking to the group, "We understand that these anomalies aren't going to stay stable for much longer, and we don't want for you all to get trapped in a different universe. We also know now that an overwhelming accumulation of the Earth's energy in this town is the most likely cause for the anomalies. The werewolf has been identified, and I think the best thing would be to get everyone home."
"Remus and his family need to be filled in, we should come clean with them," Bruce announced.
"They will need help to get back to the port-anomalies, I agree with Bruce, we need to go back to the hospital and explain the situation," John agreed.
"It is the logical thing to do," Spock acquiesced.
"Lupin never admitted to being a werewolf," Sherlock commented.
Dean made an annoyed noise.
"Remus' answers fit perfectly with werewolf lore," Castiel explained, his fingers tangled with Dean's, perhaps to sooth him, perhaps to keep him from doing anything stupid; Dean seemed like a 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of guy.
"Listen, it's understandable that some of you are sceptical, having never seen a werewolf before, but this is our universe, and we're telling you that they are very real, we've hunted many of them over the years," Sam tried to reason with the group.
"I'm sure some of you never believed in angels or aliens before now, yet here we stand, is it really that much more far-fetched that werewolves exist too?" Gabriel put forward.
Sherlock hmphed and crossed his arms, a pout appeared on his face and Pierce thought that he looked like a bratty child, all that intelligence and he acted like this, it was a shame.
"It is difficult to believe in something you have never seen, but some things are almost beyond human comprehension. Some of the things I, Spock and my crew have seen out in the universe; I cannot say I would have believed possible if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," it was easy to see how Kirk was a captain, even at a young age.
"I believe our course of action should be to return to the hospital and convince Remus and his family to return to their own universe sooner rather than later," the Doctor expressed his agreement for the original plan.
"We'd better move fast," Merlin said rubbing his arms, "the sun is setting, we don't want to be wandering through the forest in the dark," there was concern in his body language.
"Don't worry, we have torches, angels and weapons, we'll keep you safe," Dean assured him, confidence in his voice; there was no doubt that he did this all the time.
"I think it would be best if Stephen and I went straight to the anomaly site, we will be able to analyse how stable the anomalies are, give you an estimate of how much time you have to get everyone back," Nick submitted.
"Cas and I will drive you back to the site, we'll contact Sam with any news," Dean offered to the anomaly experts, then he added, "you lot head back to the hospital, do what you have to, just get them back to us," he handed Sam a gun and told Gabriel, "keep him safe."
"Don't I always?" smirked the archangel as he twirled a red lolly pop between two fingers. Lucifer smiled to himself, his own brother Gabriel had an affinity for human sweets too. Some things would always remain the same it seemed.
"We would like to come to, if that's permitted?" Merlin asked Dean as he pushed to the front, pulling Arthur by his hand.
"Sure, come on, you two ride up front, I don't want you messing up in the back," Dean told them and headed for the car.
"Right, let's get moving. To the hospital then," Sam announced and started leading the way back up the path, his fingers hooked with Gabriel's.
Lucifer's stomach clenched; he was beginning to realise that he was becoming jealous of watching all these couples be…well, in love. He glanced around at the rest of the couples as they followed Sam and Gabriel, everyone was happily paired off; holding hands or bumping each other, laughing or smiling, sharing a kiss or whispering to the other. He looked to Pierce who was ahead of him and sighed, once they were home, he knew he would have to call it quits; unrequited love was just too hard to live with.
Pierce looked back to see where Lucifer was, there was that pout again, however it wasn't soft and adorable this time; it was melancholy, defeated and somewhat absolute – something had changed. He bit his lip in concern, "Coming Lucifer?" he offered out his hand as an olive branch, but the Devil strode past him and struck up a conversation with Bruce and Tony.
There was no quip or argument; it was unlike Lucifer to just ignore him. He had an uneasy feeling in his gut, maybe he had been on the fence too long. Had he taken their time together for granted? Maybe he had, it was easy to pretend it was all casual and fun until the other shoe drops and you realise you might have made a huge mistake. The problem was; how do you choose between what you should do and what you want?