"Do you happen to have any children's rooms in this place?"
Sam and Dean exchanged looks and proceeded to do a double take. After Amara's defeat they had thought that everything would return to normal but since when had things worked out in the way they thought they would? Sure Amara was gone, but now they had this.
Chuck looked way passed done, absentmindedly swinging his left arm back and forth as a blonde boy swung back and forth giggling like crazy. On his foot sat a dark haired boy, glaring up at the blonde heatedly. Over his right shoulder was a dark toned child, looking down at the brunette toddler he cradled in the crook of his right arm.
"Ummm...Who..."
He rolled His eyes, stopping his movement when the blonde boy kicked at the dark haired boy, without so much as looking down to see him do it, he lifted the boy up off the ground by the grip he had on his wrist.
"Lucifer do not kick your brother, Michael apologize for pinching your brother"
The smug smile fell from the dark haired childs face and he pouted as he buried his face into the elder man's leg. Lucifer shook his head and shot a heated glare down to his brother from where he dangled in front of his dad. Chuck shook his arm gently and shook his head.
"I won't tell you again"
The blonde swallowed and looked down at Michael, "Sorry Mikey"
The dark haired child pulled his face away from the leg he'd been hiding in and sniffled as he looked up at Lucifer, "Sorry Luci"
Sam was gawking at the blonde boy, his eyes following even as Chuck slowly lowered the child back down to the ground. Dean wouldn't have believed it had he not been there the entire time and heard it for himself, he was still trying to make sure he had heard right. That was Lucifer, and the other was Michael, so that meant that the younger two were Gabriel and Raphael.
And just when you think life can't get any crazier.
"Wait wait wait! Back it up just a minute! That's Lucifer and that's Michael!"
Chuck nodded as if he did not have time for this, "Yes, now if you would please, its passed their bedtime and they start to get cranky when they stay up too late after bedtime"
"I can't believe this! How are they even-"
"Look me and Death had a bit of a chat and agreed on something that does not concern you and he agreed to take Amara for us, so please, just show me to a room that can hold four children!"
Sam and Dean exchanged looks one more time before the younger hunter moved forward motioning for Chuck to follow. The tiny toddler whined angrily and a light bulb exploded. Chuck sighed again and it righted itself; Gabriel was getting cranky. Sam led him down a couple halls, around a few corners, and to a rather large room with a mini kitchen on one end, a sofa in the middle, and a large bed on the other side. The lights were faded and an old fire place was on the opposing wall, it was all in all a warm little room.
"Thank you"
The hunter nodded, watching as Michael stood, took Lucifer's hand, and scurried across the floor to call dibs on the best spot in the bed. Chuck watched them go fondly before turning his attention back to Sam, inquiring about a question before it had even been brought up. Sam looked sheepish at having been caught but Chuck waved it off kindly.
"Michael, Lucifer, do not jump on that bed, please Sam, ask what you wish"
The hunter looked over the mans shoulder at the two children on the bed, watching in amazement and part amusement as they both huffed and fell like rocks down onto the mattress, it was extremely amusing that Chuck did not have to look over at them to know what they were doing.
"With them being kids, why not just return them to Heaven?"
Chuck nodded, indicating that he too had thought of this. Raphael choose that moment to tug on his sleeve, Chuck reached a hand over without so much as a glance and gently lowered the boy to the floor. Gabriel whined at being the only one left and wiggled to be put down, the older archangel held his arms out for his smaller brother, Chuck bent down without breaking eye contact with Sam and placed the tiny toddler into those awaiting arms.
"Careful Raphael," The boy nodded and ran across the floor to his two brothers already on the bed. Over Chuck's shoulder he watched as Michael and Lucifer paused in their playing to reach down and help pull the younger two up on the bed. Lucifer pulled Gabriel into his lap, the baby angel giggling at every funny face the other two made.
Sam was forced to look back at Chuck as his attention was caught by the slight hand motion he had made. He smiled knowingly at the hunter and the younger man blushed at being caught watching the children interact together.
"Don't feel too bad, they are adorable its hard not to watch them play together, as for your question, I would be more then happy to return them to Heaven and raise them up there, however considering everything that has happened I do not think it is wise to return them just yet, also, I do not want them around whilst I am rebuilding everything and do not have anyone to watch over them when I am unable to"
He could see where this was going and he knew that Dean would not like it, but they owed Chuck one (and you simply don't say no to God) Chuck glanced over his shoulder finally at the bickering that filled the quiet room.
"Now, it was nice talking to you, and thank you for all your help concerning my sister, but it is way passed time that they got to bed."
The hunter nodded in understanding bidding them all a nice night as he turned to leave the room for the last time that night. Chuck sighed heavily through his nose, pinching at the bridge for a moment before turning around and waving a hand. Four sets of pajamas appeared on the bed before the bickering sleepy children. Raphael pinched Gabriel hard as a response to his kicking him in the leg as hard as he could (and being a small toddler as he was it wasn't very hard, but it was the principle apparently).
"None of that now, apologize you two," He crossed his arms sternly waiting for them to do as they were told, slowly but surely they turned to one another and ground out begrudging apologies, after that Chuck clapped his hands together moving them right along "Alrighty, pajama time boys"
Michael and Lucifer raced each other to see who could change the fastest, Raphael had a bit of trouble with the buttons on his top, but Lucifer was right there to help him when he needed it. Michael helped Gabriel pull his shirt off and then his pajama top on, the bottoms following soon after. Raphael giggled as he jumped from the bed and ran across the floor.
"Daddy!"
Chuck swooped down to scoop the miniaturized archangel up, he'd never admit it but he sure missed them being this small, back before this entire thing between him and his sister had started. When it had just been the six of them and the boys would run away from Daddy before bath time or nap time and hide in Auntie Amara's shadows or when they were meant to be eating their vegetables and they would attempt to appeal to her better nature and convince her to sneakily turn them into sweets.
Back when things had been easy.
He was torn from his memories by the small hand tapping his face gently.
"Earth to Daddy!"
Looking down he came to gaze into Raphael's chocolate eyes, shining with that sort of love only a child could have.
"Yes kiddo?"
"Daddy will you tuck me in?"
He cradled the tiny archangel in his arm, pretending to think it over a bit only to see him start to pout. When his daddy didn't immediately consent his giving to tucking him in the tiny archangels smile began to fall, a pout beginning to take its place at the aspect of being put down and ordered to bed. Looking down at his son slyly, fingers wiggling in between the buttons on his tiny top into the tiny pudgy belly it covered. Raphael squeaked into high pitched giggles and shoved at his daddy's hand with all his might.
"I'd love to Little One"
Another smile broke across the child's face, even as he retracted his hand and cradled him closer as he made his way across the room. Michael and Lucifer looked up at him as he approached, and he smiled indulgently at baby Gabriel when he made grabey hands at him from his spot on the bed.
"Alright boys, bedtime, climb on down under those blankets"
The two eldest climbed under the blankets and looked up at him from their spot snuggled down in the pillows. Gabriel, however, whined in irritation at not being picked up and another bulb out in the hallway noticeably exploded. Chuck set Raphael down in the blankets as well, tucking them up to his chin. Another crash from outside had him turning to the tiny trickster and giving him the sternest look he could think of, a finger wagging at the tiny child.
"That's enough of that Gabriel, or instead of playing tomorrow you can start your day by going straight to timeout"
Those whiskey eyes widened, watered, and a bottom lip began to wobble. But he was not giving in to the tantrum of a child not getting his way (he hadn't with Lucifer the first time and he sure as heck wasn't going to start with Gabriel now).
"No what do you say?"
Again tiny arms were raised into the air, tiny feet kicking at the bed, hands making more grabey motions, "Pwease Daddy!"
"And?"
"I's sorrys Daddy! Pwease!"
Chuck sighed as he sat down on the edge of the bed and reached out to pull the tiny child into his lap. Gabriel sighed in contentment and snuggled closer to his daddy.
"Daddy, you pwease sweep wif us tonight?"
He pressed a gentle kiss to the baby's temple, "Oh alright"
Michael and Lucifer scooted over happily and smiled the same smile as he climbed in in between them. Raphael snuggled up under his other arm, Gabriel settled comfortably on his chest, Lucifer under his right arm, and Michael attacked to his bicep. He'd never felt more at peace then being surrounded by his children.
Even if Gabriel's knee was digging into a place that a knee was not meant to be digging into.
"This isn't over! I'll come back! You'll pay for this!"
He backed away as she stalked closer, darkness swirling around her entire form, her eyes bearing into him. She knew he was terrified that he was frightened beyond belief, that he was powerless. Let it be said that Amara never used her circumstances to her advantage.
She smiled evilly, scarily, at him as she thrust a hand out. Darkness swirled down her arm, through her fingers, out into the air surrounding him from every direction. He couldn't scream for help, couldn't move, couldn't do anything but watch as the darkness slowly sunk into his skin, his essence. She smiled sweetly as he screamed in pain, the darkness slowly destroying him from the inside out, he twitched and jerked around trying to get it off of him but it was of no use.
Its going to destroy him and no one is going to come save him, no one is left to save him. He can feel his grace trying to fight off the darkness but it was fighting a losing battle. Its tearing him apart and all he can do is scream and fall to the ground in agony.
Her sick smile is going to be the last thing he sees.
"Lucifer"
He can hear his daddy's voice, its so close, but even he knows its too late.
"Son, wake up!"
He wants to shout back, scream for his help, for his comfort.
"Its just a dream, you have to wake up Kiddo!"
Bright red eyes shoot open as he jumps up from where he'd been sleeping with a choked scream. Before he can take in his surroundings tears cloud his vision, his face screwing up, harsh sobs taking control of his body. He shakes by their force, his chest heaving. Large hands were pulling the blankets away from him, taking the warmth with them. The warmth replaced as the hands grabbed at him, in his dazed frightened state he panicked slightly lashing out at whomever it was grabbing at him. But the hands held strong and lifted him away from the bed, away from his brothers.
"Hey hey Son, its alright, your ok"
He hears the voice, he knows the voice. Chuck carried the mini morning star away from the bed, away from his brothers so they don't wake them. Michael twitches at his younger brothers absence but his eyes remain closed other wise. He can feel the shivers rolling off the small boy, watching as Lucifer turns to look up at him with large red eyes, sniffling hard before his face screws up once more and tears begin to fall from his eyes once more. Lucifer latches onto the front of his Dad's shirt sobbing his small angel heart out, burying his face into the mans chest underneath him.
His shoulder's heaved harshly as his sobs rocked his entire body.
Chuck hummed under his breath, filling the fire place in front of them with dancing flames with a mere look. He may not be dad of the year but he knew his children better then they thought he did, Lucifer was always easy to calm when he was warm and snuggly, as he had a cool core, it was a nice change. He wrapped a fluffy blanket around the small child, sitting on the couch and settling the boy in his lap.
"Shhh its ok, shhhhh, calm down now"
He rubbed gentle circles in the child's back, pulling the blanket around his shoulders a tad bit more. Lucifer's sobs didn't calm in the slightest, in fact it was quite the opposite, they got more ragged by the minute until he was heaving so painfully hard that he was concerned he might make himself gag. Gently pulling the boy away from his chest he held his face in both hands, wiping the tears as they fell with gentle thumbs.
"Lucifer, you need to calm down, your going to make yourself sick"
The boy hiccuped once, twice before sniffling again. Tears glistening in his eyes as they prepared to fall once more. Thumbs wiped them away before they got too far.
"No no, no more of that, tell me whats wrong son, tell Daddy what has you so upset."
Lucifer hiccuped once more, his tiny hands grabbing at one of his Fathers and latching on to it. Holding it as tightly as he could as if should he let go he would be swallowed up and never seen again. That's when it hit him. He knew exactly what had happened, it had been the same after the first time they had locked his sister away, Lucifer had proceeded to sleep in his room with him for the following month before moving to Michael's for another.
"Lucifer, you do know that there is no way for her to get you, right?"
He shook his head, eyes scanning the room as if searching out any moving shadows, Chuck drew his attention back to him once more by rubbing at his cheek with a knuckle.
"But Daddy she was right there! It hurt so bad! Th-The darkness was everywhere and I couldn't see and it was so cold and I couldn't move and I was so scared Daddy!"
He pulled him in closer, wrapping his arms around him loosely, "Shhh, I know you were, I could feel it you were so scared, but I made sure she can never hurt you and your brothers and sisters ever again, everything will be alright now"
The little boy snuggled closer, playing with the fingers of the hand still in his grasp, "Really?"
"Yep, I gave her to your Uncle Death to watch over, he trapped her in the Empty where she can be as free as she wants but can no longer return to this realm, nothing comes back from the Empty, why do you think I'm always telling you guys to be careful where you play?"
"She stuck in the Empty?"
He knew what that was, Daddy always warned them to stay aware from there, and he'd been really mad when him and Mikey had snuck down there to peak at it and Uncle Death had found them, dragged them by the ears back to Heaven where Daddy had been waiting for them, they hadn't sat right for a week and to top it had been grounded for what felt like forever, an eternity.
"Oh you bet she is, and she was not a happy camper, but your Uncle has her sealed there, there is nothing she can do to you anymore, she can never touch you again"
"Promise?"
Not that he didn't believe him, but better safe then sorry.
"Promise"
He smiled faintly when Lucifer yawned and laid his head back on his chest, nuzzling his tiny cheek against his shirt. Chuck laid a hand out flat in his lap, above it a brilliant show of faint lights danced in the air. The Aurora Borealis had always had a calming affect on the child, when he had been no more then a babe the first time, back when it had just been the three of them (Him, Michael, and Lucifer [and Amara, he thought begrudgingly]) he used to have it shine above his crib at night. Lucifer watched the twisting and turning of the lights with half lidded eyes, his small hands holding onto his daddy's fingers.
They sat in silence for a long time after that, Lucifer lightly dozing off as he stared at the lights, transfixed. Chuck ran his fingers through and stroked the child's wild blonde hair with gentle fingers, enjoying the moment for what it was. After everything that had happened in the last couple days, he couldn't think of a better way to end it all but being here with his four sons.
Especially Lucifer.
Their relationship had not been as great as he had wanted it to be, as it had been before all of that mess, and now he had a second chance to make up for it. To make it better again, and he would be damned if he didn't take that chance to make up for his shortcomings.
Scratching at the boys scalp gently, he leaned down to whisper in his ear, not wanting to wake him from his half sleep state.
"Do you want to go back to bed? I'm sure your brothers miss you."
Lucifer whined faintly, his grip tightening around his fingers to the point that the knuckles cracked. Chuck stood from the couch, lowering the flames a bit but not putting it all the way out in order to provide a sort of nightlight and to keep the warmth for his frightened child. He slowly walked them back over to the bed, smiling at the way Gabriel had curled up around Raphael like a little monkey, the two heading for the well placed pillows on the floor at any moment. Michael was sprawled on his back, one arm flung out, the fingers curled slightly away from where they rested on Raphael's cheek; the Healer to be was clinging to Gabriel as if he were a living breathing teddy bear.
Lucifer whined again, wrapping his legs around his waist, "Daddy noooo"
He hushed him gently though, climbing back into the bed and settling the boy on top of his chest, forcing Michael to move his arm. The elder archangel, all the age of 8 mumbled incoherently in his slumber and rolled over. He pulled the blankets back up around them, added more pillows to the growing pile underneath Gabriel and Raphael with a flick of his free fingers, and pressed his lips against Lucifer's cool forehead.
"I never said anything about letting you go, no shh, go back to sleep baby boy, you've more then earned it"
Lucifer was already out.
(And because I can't help myself for fluff lmao)
Lucifer was the first to wake the next morning, he had always been an early riser. He himself could not be the only one awake this early and there for shot his elbow back into Michael's stomach. The elder archangel at the tender age of 8 huffed on a breath as his eyes shot open and he let out a small yelp of pain.
Glaring at his smirking brother from over their daddy's arm he whisper yelled in his anger, "Luci that hurt!"
He thrust a finger up to his lips hushing his big brother up real quick, pointing with that same finger towards their still sleeping Father, still oblivious to the world around him, as far as they knew anyway. Gabriel and Raphael had at some point curled up together and wandered down to the pile of pillows and blankets that had accumulated on the floor at the side of the bed nearest the warm blazing fire.
"I dare ya to draw on his face!"
Michael giggled behind his hand, snapping his fingers for a sharpie to appear in his palm. Lucifer giggled in tandem as he reached for the marker in his big brothers hands.
"I dare you to give a mustache!"
"Only if you give raccoon eyes!"
Lucifer and Michael giggled together as they crawled up on their knees, uncapped the marker, and was inches from using Chuck's face as a canvas. They let out twin screams of fright when his eyes shot open and he stared up at them. They stared at one another for a long moment, Chuck's eyes narrowing as he took in the large sharpie marker still held up in Lucifer's hand.
"You weren't going to draw on my face, were you?"
They both shook their heads and he stared at them intensely for a moment, "No Daddy!"
Both boys exchanged looks quickly, he shook his head slowly arms coming up to wrap around the two small bodies, "You little liars!"
They were spun around, backs hitting the bed, their daddy on top of them, fingers wiggling everywhere. Their laughter filled the room quickly as fingers traveled up and down their sides and around their tummy's. He went for maximum kill as he aimed for Michael's lower ribs and Lucifer's hip.
"Trying to draw on your fathers face! And thinking you can lie about it!"
Their twin squeals of laughter woke Gabriel and Raphael up from their spot on the floor, the two youngest archangels exchanged looks, and with a battle cry of their own launched themselves at their daddy for their big brothers rescue. Chuck let out a momentary yelp of surprise but quickly caught himself, switching to use one hand on both of his elder sons in order to reach back with the other and pull the younger two forward.
Raphael and Gabriel's eyes widened as their plan at an attempt of rescue was quickly over come and the tables were turned. Chuck laid them down in between their big brothers, and with his two hands reduced all four of them to tears.
Digging into the youngers belly's, sneaking a hand up under their shirts to get at the bare skin. Focusing on Lucifer's hips until he was begging for mercy. Counting and recounting and rerecounting Michael's ribs until he couldn't form coherent sentences any more.
His laughter, deep and majestic, mixing with theirs when Michael squealed out in protest.
Previous nightmares were long forgotten, everything was in the past.
All that mattered was the here and now, what happened in this moment, and the ones that followed.
And he's be damned if he didn't make every single one of them count.
So not to give spoilers or anything cause I hate it when people do it to me, but I'm basically ignoring everything from episode 22, cause something occurred to me and I decided to act upon it..
Thought: If Amara wants to be free, which who can blame her, then why not drop her in the Empty, as Billie said nothing comes back from the Empty and if Death was able to harm/reap (i guess) God then can't he do the same to Amara? And if that is true, Death being immortal (cause Lucifer simply trapped him in that body right? So that wasn't really Death but a mere 'vessel' you could say), wouldn't he be able to send Amara to the Empty where she can be as free as she wants but not be able to harm another creation? Instead of locking her in the mark, throw her into the Empty, its a nothingness that exists and she can't escape from.
Anyway...
Sorry for my rant!
Hope you enjoyed it! Tell me what you thought!