Huh, just realised the other three chapters before this one are the unedited ones. Will need to edit that...

Talks

Ella was up and aware before Dan was as the shock was a little less for her than it was for him. All Lucifer could do really was hope the man didn't faint on him again once he woke up. Because he realised in short order, he'd have to give The Talk to them both, before they got down to helping him.

There was also the possibility that Dan would flee from him screaming in terror by the time he woke up and that made him sad.

"All those times you said you weren't acting, you really meant it. Huh," Ella stated, sitting on the couch and staring with open adoration at his ugly, pin covered wings. They were nothing to look at right now.

"Of course I meant it. I don't lie." He was repeating himself, but with humans he could never tell if they actually fully heard a sentence or not half the time. He suspected Chloe may actually be hard of hearing with how much she repeats things he said or asks him to repeat himself.

"Huh," Ella repeated back.

Seriously, the whole thing was reminding him of parrots.

As he thought that, Dan shifted and groaned from his prone position across the futon of his lounge. "I think I am going to lie down and never get back up again..." Dan mumbled into the leather, before he shifted to his side so he could stare openly at what made him collapse to begin with.

"Hello Dan! Welcome back to the world of the living."

Dan stared at him, opened his mouth, closed it again, before letting his head fall back to the couch. "Oh, Hell," the human man stated, making Ella snort in amusement.

"Yes Dan. Hell. Is not here, and that is good. Wakey wakey." His wings shifted slightly to compensate for the change in position as he bent down to ruffle Dan's hair.

Dan closed his eyes, before reopening them. "No, not imagining it. You really do have wings."

He stood up straight and spread them out, in a way to prove that, yes, they really do exist and not at all because he was showing them off. "Now imagine how impressive they'll be when the feathers actually grow in."

Ella lifted a hand and he jerked away from her, his wings coming in tight to his back. "Not yet! Far too sensitive. They need to be cleaned first. I actually set up a hose out on the balcony. I cannot stand being touched right now."

"Oooh, ouch. You're that kind of moulter. You have my sympathies, dude."

He grinned at that. "Sympathy for the devil. Good to know!"

Dan moaned. "You really are the devil? But...why?!" he asked.

Lucifer blinked and cocked his head to one side in confusion. "Why what? I have no idea what you're asking? Why am I the devil? Because daddy dearest kicked me out of the house and told me to do this job for him."

Dan shook his head. "No! Why are you here?!"

He perked up at that. "Oh! Got bored, moved to L.A for the food, the sex and the pun. Seriously, where else would I go? Honestly, I just needed a vacation. I liked the place so much, I decided to stay. I love it here. Heaven's boring and Hell's...well, unwanted work. I much prefer punishing people here on Earth than in Hell."

Ella leaned forward her eyes filled with, as odd as it looked to Lucifer, joy. "Why help out at the station?"

He grinned at her. "Miss Lopez, I'm disappointed in you. I am an angel. Angels are hard wired to do their duty. I'm no different. I am the Punisher, it's what I do. I punish souls for their wrong doings. Doesn't matter how I do it or where, just as long as I do. Running the club is fun and was great for a bit of R and R, but as soon as I started chasing down Delilah's murderer, I knew I needed to keep doing it, so I did."

Dan snorted and a smirk crossed over his face. "Yeah, he bugged the hell out of Chloe, followed her around on crime scenes until he was officially sworn in as a civilian consultant."

"And I didn't even get the gig by having sex with the lieutenant! I just...gave her a leg up in a work related way instead."

Ella sat back and shook her head, while Dan rubbed a hand down his face at that. And he was glad to see that his plan had worked. Both of them had a freak out, and while things were still up in the air of what Dan will be like come the next day, right at the moment he seemed fine if a little wary of him. Ella seemed fine, yet again at their first meeting she had stated she saw the devil pretty much as he was.

Ella already accepted him.

He truly hoped Dan got to that stage soon.

"So, wash the wings and then what?' Ella asked peering at where his wings were clinging to his back.

He relaxed slightly, but was itchy and sore and stressed and nervous and... "Uh, I was thinking maybe just to preen them really. Not much else to do."

And it was that which got Dan perked up and interested. It was what he came for. A chance to learn on real feathers how to look after his bird when it went into moult. Well, sort of.

"Do you have preening glands?"

He turned around and lifted his wings up a bit, so the base of them, the part where flesh of his back met with the powerful muscles that worked the wings. "On the base of each wing. Oil based, not powder. The feathers grow in hard, not soft and fluffy. Well, for the most part. And before you ask, no it isn't sexual so get your minds out of the gutter."

Ella snorted at that, humour evident in every move and sound she made. "Dude, you know how weird it is to hear you of all people say that?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Oddly enough this isn't something I joke about. Incest is not something I am interested in. At all. Ewww." He shuddered at the thought.

"What?" Dan asked.

"All angels are related. We're siblings. For us, this isn't something to be done between lovers like it can be in birds."

That seemed to have done something interesting as both of them relaxed a lot more at the mentioning of this being a non sexual act rather than a sexy one for him. Seriously, he did not understand humans sometimes. Still, he took it as a good sign, because Dan was beginning to act more like himself and not some scared little kitten that pretends to have fearsome claws. His wings relaxed against his back, so they weren't hugging his skin. It felt nice to be able to relax with his wings out.

"So! Can we do this or not? Because I am two seconds away from scratching myself red raw and bloody."

Ella smiled widely at him and nodded. "Sure! I'm ready."

Dan reluctantly nodded, staring at the quilled appendages and took a deep breath. "Sure, man. Though it feels weird giving someone a hose bath."

He grinned. "If it helps, the water is warm. I don't take too well to cold."

While Ella jumped readily to her feet and immediately walked towards the doors leading outside, Dan stayed sitting down, taking his time to get up. Thankfully, the man didn't faint on him again.

"You alright, Dan? And why didn't you bring your bird with you?"

Dan sighed, shook his head and got to his feet. "I'll be fine. It just takes a while to get used to. I don't know if I really believe it yet, you know?"

He nodded. "Talk to Doctor Linda. She knows. And she's good with that kind of thing."

Nodding, Dan stretched himself out, before turning towards where Ella was feeling the water temperature outside. "As to why I didn't bring the bird. Bed time. He's in his cage with a blanket thrown over it."

Lucifer blinked at that. "Oh. Well, next time we could do this at your flat."

Dan looked at his wings, looked him in the eyes and an expression in between a mix of amusement and annoyance made its way across his face. "Lucifer, you won't have much room spreading those things out when they get their feathers in."

He shrugged. "Well, until then. I haven't seen your flat yet. Call me curious."

Dan sighed, threw his hands in the air and walked towards Ella.

Lucifer grinned. Yeah, next time, definitely at Detective Douche's place.

He soon followed the human pair outside.