When Elizabeth had discovered that Cassie's birthday was approaching, she made them all agree to come to her house for dinner to celebrate the day. So it was settled that the three couples would meet at her house in the late afternoon for a little party. Sara however needed a baby sitter for the evening and after much debate it was decided that Ardousius and Haniel…and Araqiel and Ramiel would stay with her while all others would need to find another haunt for the evening.

Early in on the morning of her birthday, Cassie woke up and looked over at Azazael, who still had his eyes closed, and smiled before moving to get up. Just as the last covers were slipping off of her body, she felt firm hand grab her waist and pull her back into bed.

"Where do you think you're going?" Azazeal said in a raspy voice as he pulled her close.

"Good Morning," she said after they smiled at each other for a few minutes.

"Morning," he said and his smiled widened, "Happy Birthday!"

Cassie made a funny face and Azazael said, "What?"

"It's just weird to hear you say that, that's all? Too normal."

"I am normal," he insisted playfully.

"Well, yes, sometimes you are endearingly and annoying like a regular man but….you know I love you and love my work with the angels, but…my best friend is Lucifer's girlfriend and our little girl makes her toys move with her mind. Normal is not a word I would use to describe my life."

"Why would you possibly want to be just like everyone else?" he said, wonderfully unphased by her remarks.

"You're right…I don't know," she said.

"Cassie, you should accept the extra things that are added to your life because of me and learn from them. And let yourself appreciate the human things that are natural to you more instead of letting them make you uncomfortable."

She smiled back at him impressed, "And where did this wisdom come from?"

"From you," he replied.

Pressing closer to him, she said, "Thank you! And she thought to herself that she had never thought of him as feeling out of place with her due his angelic nature as she had sometimes felt being a human among angels. He had, she realized, until more recently, kept his displays of power in her presence to a minimum, in sharp contast to the flamboyant Lucifer and the other angels who saw little reason not to be just as they were around her. She now regretted giving him such a hard time the few times he'd tried to teach her how to expand her powers. She should have followed Elizabeth's example, and even Ella's, in their acceptance of what life was like with these strange beings. Both of them had the ability to move seamlessly from the most supernatural experience right into a completely human situation. She'd have to work on that…and her powers.

Later that morning, when Azazeal finally released her, Cassie found Lucifer sitting in the front room reading the newspaper, Cassie asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I've been banished," he said with a quick smile and continued to read his paper.

"Get in her way, did you?"

He lowered the paper and licking his lips suggestively said, "More than once."

"Too much information, way too early in the day," Cassie said with a good-natured look of disgust on her face.

"You, my dear, are not eligible to cast the first stone today, as you well know," he said retuning to his reading. She wondered how he always knew the strangest and most inappropriate things.

Elizabeth had risen early to get started on the preparations for the party. She had started with a little yoga to get her going, only to be snatched up mid-pose and taken giggling back into the bedroom. It wasn't this that had gotten him kicked out, so much as it was the amount of time he'd spent tormenting her. She'd probably have found a reason to get rid of him anyway (she worked quicker alone) and while she wouldn't have said the time she's spent captivated by his touch was wasted, she did now feel a little behind on her plans for the day.

In the afternoon, when Haniel reported for babysitting duty, Cassie noticed that Lucifer went over to her and the two spent a few moments looking at each other, his hand on her shoulder. Later when she'd ask him about it, because she was aware of what Haniel had experienced when she'd seen him last, he said typically, "Nothing appropriate for your innocent little ears." But she'd seen Haniel's smile after their exchange and thought he must have issued some sort of apology.

Earlier, she'd also noticed that for about a half an hour, Sara had claimed Lucifer as a new playmate, as she often did to unsuspecting angels, and rather than trying to extricate himself, he'd seemed happy to oblige and naturally good at keeping her wandering attention. Granted, he'd now taught her how to move more than one object at a time with her little mind because he could see how annoyed she was that she could only manage three toys at a time (one in each hand and one with her mind). But Cassie had given up trying to limit the things Sara was taught behind her back. She'd be more than a little girl in no time.

When Cassie and the rest of them finally arrived at Elizabeth's house, they were greeted with the wonderful smell of home cooked food from the kitchen. Elizabeth simply loved to cook and she couldn't think of anything better than having a small dinner parting on a warm California evening for her best friend's birthday. She came out of the kitchen to say hello and Cassie immediately hugged and thanked her.

"You haven't even tasted anything yet." Elizabeth laughed.

As Azazeal, Lucifer, Ella, and Malachi made themselves at home and chatted in the living room, Cassie cornered Elizabeth in the kitchen under the pretense of wanting to get a glass of wine.

"Are you two going to have a baby?"

"What, were did that come from?"

"Well, you're back together…um he's a boy, you're a girl."

"You're not making any sense."

"You should have seen him today, he was so cute with Sara. You know how she likes to have new playmates, and he just…"

"Yes, we've talked about it." Elizabeth admitted a little embarrassed.

"Really!"

"Why are you so excited?"

"I don't know, why aren't you?"

"Well, I actually never intended on having children, never thought I'd find a guy that I'd care about enough. But it's a strange desire and I actually teased him so much about not having his 'devil child' that I don't think he really believes me anyway."

"I knew one of these days you'd pay for all your teasing."

And they opened some wine and re-joined the group, but Elizabeth was still thinking about what Cassie had said about a baby and how Lucifer had been with Sara.

A little later, when Elizabeth went to check on something in the kitchen she was approached by Malachi and she was beginning to wonder who would be next.

"Hey!"

"Hey, Malachi, what's up?"

"Nothing."

"Do you need anything?"

"Nope," he said but he moved closer and seemed to want to say something.

"Are you flirting with me?" She said to shock him and because she had noticed that he'd being paying more attention to her since the night of the infamous bet.

He smiled with more confidence that someone of his age should have, "If it were safe, I probably would, but I do have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"Lucifer said that you could tear me apart."

"Ah, is that what started the betting frenzy?"

"Yes," he said surprised and how quickly she made the connection, "And I had thought he meant, you know, in a fight, but I don't think that's what he meant."

"Like I said, I'm not a fighter, but I do have a vicious temper," she smiled.

"I have to know…why." He'd been obsessed with it since that day, the thought that he wouldn't be able to handle her, because he was to young and full of himself to accept that there was anything that was too much for him.

"You're so young, Malachi. I know I'm only a few years older than your mother and than you look, but the difference is I've lived all of those years and you haven't. That's why you and Ella are so perfect for each other. So much knowledge, but not lot of experience in real life. Besides, I've become a little bitter over the years about being so different from everyone else and I didn't handle it as well as your mother."

"I still don't see the problem," he insisted. "I'd be willing to learn," he added smugly.

"Okay," she started and then lowered her voice to be suggestively intimidating, "Could you make me believe that you loved me enough so that I don't feel the deep-seated need to run you ragged to prove it to myself?…Could you deal with my independence without feeling the least bit pushed away, which is far more irritating than cute?…Could you look in my eyes as you came for me so that I could see the pleasure destroy you?" She was now too close for comfort now but really not very close at all.

"Um, I guess not," Malachi laughed as casually as he could.

She reached over and kissed him on the cheek, "Ella's your girl, Malachi. She has plenty of challenges for you."

When they all sat down to a pleasantly "normal" dinner it would have been hard for an outside observer to notice that these were not regular people. Mid-way through Cassie smiled to herself at all of this normalcy and allowed herself to appreciate it and enjoy it.

After dinner Elizabeth sent them all out to the backyard patio to smoke and continue their conversation while she straightened up a little and put desert together. Lucifer, feeling neglected, slipped away and came up behind her as she was putting the leftovers away. He put his arms around her waist and his lips to her ear.

"Just wait 'til I get you alone, again," he rumbled and began to play with her ear with his tongue.

"Mmm, you're insatiable," she replied leaning back against him.

Then in a pleading voice he said, "Make them go," as if she was the only one who could make that happen.

"They're our guests," she replied with fake surprise that he would suggest such a thing.

Outside, Ella and Malachi announced that they wanted to take a walk and got up to leave. As Cassie turned back to Azazeal after watching them go, she saw Lucifer and Elizabeth through the kitchen window and smiled.

Azazeal finished a cigarette and said, "Come here," it that low bedroom voice of his.

Cassie walked over to him and sat astride his lap, her knees on either side of him in the big chair where he sat.

He said, "When Sara's old enough, why don't we get away and spend some time alone?"

Her eyes glittered, "That's sounds perfect," and she kissed him sensuously.

Ella and Malachi had not made it past the side yard before they were locked together and spent a few minutes kissing enthusiastically. When they came up for air and decided to return to the back yard, they found Cassie and Azazeal oblivious to their surroundings, pressed together and kissing passionately. Then Ella tugged on Malachi's arm and pointed to the kitchen window where you could see that Lucifer had Elizabeth precariously placed on the edge of the sink and was proceeding to ensure that there would be no desert and that the dishes would not be done until morning. They looked at each other, shrugged, and returned to the side yard to continue where they'd left off.