This is the chapter that Lucifer goes from being occasionally annoyed at Deans behaviour to flat out not liking him at all. Lucifer will rant on about Dean a lot in this fic. There's two main reasons for it and only one of them is brought up in this chapter.

Episode Four – Metamorphosis

Sundays were going to decidedly get worse for Lucifer.

Or, more precisely, they were going to get a lot more annoying.

Why did he ever decide watching an episode of a show like Supernatural a day would be a good idea with Ella of all people.

Ella, the devoted church goer, who went to her church on Sunday nights because she worked during the days. Who, because she refused to rest on Sundays like any normal person would on the weekends and do fun things during her nights, decided to either not watch on Sundays or drag him to church with her and go back to his afterwards.

Isn't this sacrilegious? Surely it's got to be. Dad should really not approve of this.

But here they were, the first Sunday of regular church for him and he was hoping to not be thrown into an even bigger of a low than he already was after having to put up with a priest who kept looking at him near Ella and crossing himself.

Well, at least he knew Ella was going to a good church, since only priests who truly believe and are good people tend to be able to actually tell who and what he was on sight.

Ella said she'd introduce him to Father Maloney next week. Oh joy...

The ride back to his place had been uncomfortable and silent. But, at least he had something to do that would probably give him an excuse to get angry and complain. He was definitely seeing a lot of complaining on Sunday nights from now on.

So, he quickly got the fourth episode up and running, confused over the title.

"Metamorphosis? Okay, who is changing into what? Last time it ended, Dean was going to watch Sam exorcise a demon. Is that it? Sam turning into the king of Hell? Well, it would at least be interesting!"

Ella laughed as he hit play and they watched the Then sequence. "I don't think that's it, but it definitely has something to do with the episode. Now shut up and watch."

"Ooh, so bossy!" he stated, his bad mood oddly lifting. Maybe he wouldn't hate this episode so much if it focused more on Sam and his awesome demon exorcising powers.

He watched as Sam exorcised the demon and listened to what was going on and his face immediately fell. "Oh no, Sam, please tell me you're not having sex with the demon. I mean, sure she's hot, but...possession. That poor person can't consent. No Sam, bad Sam."

Ella patted his shoulder. "You'll learn more about that later on too."

He pouted at the screen until it showed that Dean had witnessed it and hit pause. "Ooh, okay, now things are going to get messy. I am going to get a drink for this. Want one?"

Ella shook her head, so he went and poured himself a single glass, before joining her back on the couch.

He let it play through the confrontation between Sam, Dean and Ruby, before pausing it again and scowling at the screen. "Wait... Sam is literally saving lives by dragging demons out without hurting the host body and Dean is pissed at him because of it? Why?! Far as I see, Sam is doing pretty damn good work. Isn't hunting about saving people? That's what Sam is doing. And doing it in a way that doesn't hurt the body too."

Ella rolled her eyes at him. "I don't think that's what Dean's angry at, but oh yeah, he'll try to stop it all he wants."

His jaw dropped open at that. "That... okay, my opinion of Dean is dropping."

Ella blinked and frowned at him. "Why?"

"Sam is doing things Dean doesn't like, so Dean has to stop him from doing it, because he said so. Dean is turning into John point Two here..."

Ella nodded. "Ah, okay. And yeah, you said how much you don't like John."

He nodded and pushed play again, before his Dad could be brought back up.

He paused it again the moment Dean punched Sam. "Okay, yep, I don't like Dean. Goodbye any like or sympathy I had for him."

Ella sighed out loud. "Dude, will you quit pausing it like that?!"

He frowned. "Right now I don't even want to turn it back on! I don't...I don't like this..."

Ella hugged his side. "Come on, the angels are what is supposed to make you stop watching, not Dean."

He slumped and leaned into her side. "True. Fine."

He switched it back on, sure he would be doing a lot of stopping and starting through this episode.

And, yep he was right. He refrained from stopping at the second punch, even managed to not hit the pause when Dean was reaming Sam off for saving more people without having to kill them because the power was used with his mind.

He did hit the pause button when Dean said, right to Sam's face, that if he didn't know him, he'd hunt him.

He managed to not throw the control against the wall. Instead he turned off the television. He remembered what it felt like to have family turn on him. The damage that kind of shit can do to a person. Hell, he was scarred over his entire body because of what happened to him. The last time anything like that had hurt him as much as it had was when Amenadiel had asked for his help when his precious necklace from Dad was stolen.

When he was helping, Amenadiel had seemed surprised and grateful and said to his face he didn't expect someone so evil to help him as much as he did.

Different emotions were being expressed, but the hurt was just as hard.

Because neither he nor Sam was evil. Neither of them deserved Hell yet both seemed to have gotten it.

Okay, maybe Sam was his favourite because he could relate so much to him.

Up to and including a family that says they love him only to throw that in his face every available chance they got.

He let his wings unfurl and turned to Ella. "I'll be back. I need to not be here right now..."

Ella looked at him with huge dark eyes and nodded. "Okay, I'll be here waiting for you to get back."

He nodded, before he went out to his balcony and took off for a fly to clear his head and calm down.

By the time he got back home, he'd been out for two hours. And he still had most of the episode left to go. He honestly didn't know how he'd get through it, but he wasn't going to lose this stupid bet because of his stupid family problems.

Ella was waiting for him, the television back on, but the DVD still paused. She was watching Daredevil of all things on Netflix.

"Oh! Hey. You're back. Enjoy your flight?"

He scowled. "Not really. Let's just...get this episode over with."

With that he sat down, aware only after he did he hadn't brought his wings in again and winced as feathers were pushed out f place. He should rally take a long cool shower too, to help ease his muscles from the unfamiliar workout they just got, but he couldn't be bothered right then when he was sure to want to just fly right back out the window.

He turned the television back to the right channel and pushed play.

The rest of the story was actually pretty much interesting, but he couldn't really concentrate on it too much. He liked Sam sticking up for the poor guy turning into the Rougarou. He had been a seriously good guy until the hunger took him, and even then he was fighting it for all he was worth.

He didn't pause again, because he just wanted to get through the episode as fast as possible.

He didn't like Dean doubting everything Sam did or said. He didn't like Travis and the way he worked. He did like Sam sticking up for himself and telling Dean what his problem was.

But a lot of the episode just did not register, even if he did find it interesting.

Damn it, this here was the reason he was in therapy...

He'd call Linda when Ella left. Set up an appointment for tomorrow morning.

"So! It got better on the Dean front."

He shook his head at Ella. "No, it didn't. That's going to happen again and again and again. Even if Sam never uses his powers again, which is hugely unlikely, Dean will never, ever let him forget or move on. That's not how people like him work."

Ella sighed and shook her head. "You aren't giving Dean enough of a chance."

He shook his head at her before looking away. "You give him too much of a chance because you like how he looks. You forgive him his behaviour. You play it off like it doesn't matter because he's fictional. But it does mater. Or maybe I am just way too sensitive about it. So, maybe it only matters to me."

Ella looked at him then, really looked and he saw when she understood. "Oh. I'm sorry. Maybe I do give him too much of a chance because I like him, but it doesn't mean I like the way he acts. Dean doesn't treat Sam well at all the next two seasons because of...well, the demon blood and another reason you'll find out later on."

He shook his head. "I'm going to go to bed early tonight. Alone. I just really want to be by myself right now. Sorry..."

Ella shook her head and smile sadly up at him. "Nah, don't apologise. I get it in some ways. I have four brothers and they're all pretty protective over me, but not to that point. I'll leave you on your lonesome to figure out your thoughts then. Night."

He sighed and nodded at her. "Thanks. Goodnight."

And with that, Ella turned her back to him and walked to the lift down. She turned and waved at him with another smile, this one not sad, before the door closed behind her.

His flat suddenly felt twice as big and just as empty.

He made that call to Linda.