As more and more angels flooded in to their little church Cassie and Elizabeth became extremely busy especaily now that Malachi was in school with Ella. But they were happy to help and enjoyed the extra time they spent together and Cassie was excited to see Elizabeth's belly grow each day.
Their lives continued on pleasantly with Cassie learning more and more each day under Azazeal's guidance and him freely using his powers around her. Cassie made sure to encourage this and pay attention in their little lessons, even though, much like Malachi, she still prefered to learn things on her own. Azazeal became quite a show off actually and occasionly there was a little rivalry between him, Lucifer, and Malachi when they were all together. Malachi never won, but he didn't care.
Sara was almost at the age Malachi would remain at but was happily much less trouble. She shared a special bond with her father, which Malachi tried to be jealous of but just wasn't. He'd always gravitated towards his mother who had spent more time with him and had instilled in him a sense of kindness and an abhorrance for cruelty. However it may have been the fact that he was also so much like his father that kept he and his father from being closer. Like Azazeal, he enjoyed those wonderfully human pleasures that weren't always acceptable and didn't care how he got them. Luckily, Ella, having lived on the edge of society most of her like, was not opposed to most of these things, especaily since Malachi showed more restraint than his father. Malachi and Ella insisted that they were just "dating" but no one believed them. They were not madly in love, they were too new to love for that, but they were growing closer. They had never decided who had won the fight between them and they both threatened to give in another try, but they never got around to it.
His sister was growing into a beautiful young woman with her mother's blond hair and her father's bluish gray eyes. She had the appearance of having more power than Malachi, but that was because she had more focus and control and she'd had the opportunity to learn from Lucifer and others from childhood. She had a pleasantness about her that drew people to her and she brought out all that was kind and good in Azazeal. This was the main reason for him being to attached to her, beyond the simple fact that she was his child. Cassie did bring these things out of him too, but she also brought out such love and desire that it had a way of flustering him. He sometimes wanted to reminded himself that he could still feel kindness and goodness, so that he would not become so hateful again.
Cassie was now enjoying how special her life had become and could not wait until Elizabeth had a little one of her own. Elizabeth was excited too but she was not your typical mother-to-be. She was looking forward to the grown child more that the cute little baby, but that was just her.
When her time came, Elizabeth had insisted that only Cassie and Ardousius be with her when the baby was born. Lucifer, Azazael, and others waited impatiently but happily outside while the miracle of life unfolded. Eventually, Cassie came out of the room and approached them, but when she looked at Lucifer, her eyes told him that something was wrong. He looked disappointed and Cassie dropped her head not able to look at him. Then sharp sound of a baby's cry came from the other room and Lucifer's head turned quickly towards the sound. Looking back at Cassie, he saw that she was shaking with sobs and a horrifying realization struck him. He walked slowly and deliberately towards the room with Azazeal and Cassie trailing behind him. When he entered the room, he stopped midway between the door and the bed and sort of stumbled like he might fall, but then just stood there. He stared at her as she lay there, her eyes closed and motionless, and tried to fight the feeling that she was gone, but he knew better. The baby was still wailing but he did not acknowledge the sound in any way so Ardousius hurriedly left with the child. Azazeal moved to the other side of the bed and watched him, while Cassie remained tense in the doorway. He did not move or cry or do anything for a few minutes, but let his heart slowly break inside him, hoping that it would eventually tear him apart so that he could feel nothing. Finally, he moved towards her and reached out a trembling hand to touch her very lightly.
Cassie watched them both from the doorway, waiting for something to happen. Then she saw Azazael wince and back away. He turned to look at her with a pained expression and then walked over to her and led her back to the front of the church. He sat them on the couch and she could now see that he was crying. "What's going on?" she said. With his head in his hands and through his tears, he tried to speak, "He…he…he calls to her but she is not there." "We have to do something," she said but she received no response and he put his head in her lap and continued to cry. She looked around and all of the angels were crying and milling about in discomfort. Lucifer was apparently uncontrollably broadcasting his anguish. All of a sudden they appeared to relax slightly only to collectively shudder, their faces showing increasing sadness and distress. She got up, leaving Azazeal huddled on the couch, and walked back to the room. When she looked in she saw that Lucifer was now laying in bed with Elizabeth, holding her body delicately in his arms, his eyes half-closed. There was still not a tear in his eyes and he was eerily still. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Lumiel. Even he had tears in his eyes and he was the most rational and unemotional angel she knew. She asked him, "Why do you cry?" He responded, "There is so much pain and confusion," he shook his head. "He searches for her, cries out to her, offering up his sorrow and despair, begging her to return...as if...," then with a breaking voice, "He will not accept that she was mortal. She had become...everything to him." And then it seemed that something new struck him and he calmly but painfully updated her, resigned to the fact that there was nothing they could do to stop this madness, "He prays for death now…he prays to her."
Lucifer awoke crying. It took him a moment to realize why, but when he did, his heart ached. Slowly he realized where he was...in her house, in her bed. He shut his eyes tight and wondered how he'd gotten there. He slowly became aware of soft voices in the front room and became annoyed, but he got out of bed and put on some clothes to confront them.
When they turned to him, their faces, which were already filled with concern, grew pained when they saw him, his face wet with tears and a drawn with grief.
They stared at each other until all of a sudden Lucifer swept forward and took Elizabeth in his arms, holding her so tightly that she thought he might break her. But she did not protest because Cassie and Azazeal had told her what they had seen. Eventually, Lucifer looked over her shoulder at Azazael who said, "We had the dream too. The three of us," indicating himself and Cassie.
"It was a warning." Lucifer agreed, "from them."
"Well, don't you think they should have warned us before I got pregnant." Elizabeth interjected.
Lucifer looked down at her terrified, but she refused to be worried. She didn't have much longer to go and she felt fine, so she was not about to let a silly dream ruin her happiness. Of course, part of this confidence was just to keep him from falling apart completely.
Over the next few weeks, despite her fun-loving nature, she did not tease Lucifer when would he silently refused to leave her side for several days at a time. Unlike Azazeal, he could not keep away from her body as her time neared, but used alternate methods to give and receive the sensations that he just could not survive without in his current state of mind.
When the day came, Elizabeth spent more time reassuring him than should have been the case, but she did not mind. She told him that she wanted him to stay with her despite the fact that she would have wanted it just as they had described in the dream. He didn't want to be there, he didn't want this anymore at all, but it felt right that he should do something different from the dream, as if it could break the spell.
Despite all the worry and distress in the room, the event proceeded quite uneventfully and in the end Elizabeth produced a wonderful baby boy, who Lucifer still ignored, as he intently watched her to make sure she didn't die. They never knew that it had been Selith who had pleaded for her life, who had been ready to fight whatever angel they might have sent to take her. She would only have been taken as a pawn to hurt Lucifer, but once He was finally convinced to looked down and saw what Lucifer had become for her, He took pity and sent them only the warning, allowing their boy Luke to become their joy.