Cassie and Azazeal did eventually make it out of the house and Azazeal was slighted annoyed but indulgent of Cassie's insistence that they start their escapade by simply visiting various interesting cities. Lucifer's words had made her cautious, though she didn't know why. The only thing she could think of was that she didn't want to know if there were things about him she wouldn't be able to accept. But after some additional consideration and an email conversation with Elizabeth, she decided to throw caution to the wind. Elizabeth had told her that she herself was rarely prudent so she might not be the best advisor, but in this instance she thought Cassie really needed to find out all she could about him, damn the consequences.

"Alright, I know you're bored," she said to Azazeal, "Tomorrow, I'm all yours."

"That's more like it," he responded, "Where has your adventurous side been, hmmm?"

"Let's just say I'm ready for some mischief of my own now."

He laughed and began thinking to himself what would be the best way to start her education.

Sara was becoming quite a horsewoman under Elizabeth's guidance. Of course she relied too much on communication directly with the animal.

"Sara, I know you can just ask her to trot but her new owners won't be able to do that."

"Sorry!"

And she slowed the mare to a walk again to ask her properly with the phyical aids.

"Good, that's perfect."

"Aunt Elizabeth, when will Luke be grown?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but I sure it will take him about the same time as it takes you. Why?"

"I'm going like him, I can tell, but it's weird with him being so young."

"Well, you'll both have your whole lives to be the same age and get to know each other."

"Good."

Elizabeth found this conversation strange, but she didn't doubt Sara's feeling. And she certainly hoped Luke would turn out to be someone she would like.

Cassie had no idea where they were but it looked like what you'd expect Africa to look like. It was the warm late afternoon and it would be sunset soon. Azazeal said nothing but took her hand and led her to a near by watering hole. The animals there raised their heads to look at them but did not run off. Cassie smiled at him because she'd actually always wanted to see Africa and for whatever reason she didn't think she would have thought to ask to just walk around a place like this. Azazeal smiled back but both of them remained silent and moved quietly.

They moved around the water to the other side and a little ways off from the animals gather there, they abruptly came upon a small pride of lions. Cassie was ready to stop short of them or quietly move away, but Azazeal tugged her closer. The lions were staring at them and had started to make half-hearted roars at them. Cassie was prepared to bolt at any time and froze when one of the females rose and came over to them.

"Cassie, you're being ridiculous."

"Have you noticed that they're lions? Hungry lions?"

But he just laughed and when female reached them, like a house cat she purred and rubbed against Cassie's tense legs. Cassie began to relax but tensed again when some of the others started approaching.

"So you're telling me that they listen to you?"

"Cassie, I'm still an angel in many ways," he said, smiling at her reluctance.

She narrowed her eyes at him and then her rebellious side came out and she released his hand to squat down to the now three lions that surrounded her. The one continued to rub against her, almost knocking her over. Another rolled on her back and swatted at the air, seeming to want to play, while still another sat on her haunches observing her. Cassie reached out and scratched one behind the ears and the cat closed her eyes and moved her head to make sure Cassie got the right spot.

"Actually, they don't listen to me so much as…become peaceful," Azazeal said.

"How did you know I liked cats?"

"I didn't. But once you'd played with lions, I was sure you'd be up for anything," he chuckled.

After a few more minutes with the playful lion pride, they moved on and were soon surrounded by a herd of curious gazelle. Somehow it was almost more impressive that these naturally skittish creatures were bumping up against them and smelling them with great interest. That day they also met some friendly elephants and a pact of silly hyenas.

This experience was a perfect choice on Azazeal's part as it served to reassure Cassie rather than just impress her. Now, she was looking forward to what she'd see next.

Luke cried out loudly and then began to cry. Elizabeth looked over and saw him crumbled in the dirt with a small dust cloud surrounding him. Her initial thought was to run over to him, but she forced herself to just walk briskly. The unfortunate boy was too inexperienced for his growing body and was now able to get moving fast enough to hurt himself. She squatted down next to him and, as she suspected, he'd managed to skin both his knees quite impressively.

"Hey, you're alright," she said, pulling him up to a sitting position, "But it hurts doesn't it?"

He sort of nodded but was still crying a little, so she hugged him. He hadn't had the opportunity to hurt himself really well yet.

Then she looked up and saw Lucifer looking down at them. He said, "Here, I'll fix it."

But Elizabeth shook her head.

"But it hurts," Lucifer said.

"You can't just make it go away," she smiled, giving him a look that she hoped conveyed her meaning. He could but he shouldn't.

She looked back at Luke and considered picking him up but he was getting too big for her. So, she got him standing.

"Let's go get you cleaned up, Evil Kanivel," she said and they walked together in to the house.

She sat him on the closed toilet seat like her mother had always done and got out what she needed. As she did she thought to herself how lucky he was, because when she was little, her mother used alcohol to clean her cuts and scraps, but now they had less painful things for this. He was still sniffling, so she said to him, "You know, you're not on your way to becoming a grown up until you've got a few scars to show for yourself."

"Really?"

"Really!" she said and she showed him a few of hers. This seemed to make him feel better and by the time she'd finished patching him, he was ready to get back to having fun. She smiled as he happily left to go make more trouble. Lucifer had been watching this and said to her, "You're good with him."

"I try," she said simply. Never having any brothers or sisters or any younger kids around when she was growing up, she felt woefully inadequate for this but she did her best.

"Why couldn't I just heal him?"

"We've got to let him be a real kid. He's got to learn how to take care of himself the way the rest of us do. Then you can teach him what you like."

Upon waking alone in an unfamiliar room, Cassie smiled to herself and got up to explore her new surroundings. She couldn't find Azazeal but eventually went to the window to find that they were in Venice, Italy. After a few minutes of enjoying the view, she realized that people were not wearing the clothes that they should be. She went back into the room surprised but not entirely shocked. She found him in the bedroom, where she was sure he wasn't just a little while ago.

"And how do you explain this?"

"What?"

She just cocked her head and gave him the 'you know that I mean' look."

"It wouldn't be as fun if you know exactly how."

"I suppose."

"We're going to have to get changed if we want to go outside."

"Oh, so we have clothes too?"

"Of course."

They both changed and after Cassie had a laugh at seeing Azazeal in a different outfit, they headed out to explore the city. It was kind of like being in a period movie only much more real. At first Cassie didn't want to speak to anyone but Azazeal had no problem interacting with the people they met on the streets or in establishments. There was a lot more time hopping after that and as they did it more Cassie got comfortable with the concept.

It was interesting to Cassie how the people they met were drawn to Azazeal. He had a natural charisma when he chose to use it, but it could, quite quickly, turn into manipulation. In some ways it was nice to know that it was just part of his personality and how he'd acted towards her initially was nothing out of the ordinary, but it was disturbing that he could so easily get his way and he didn't seem to be bothered by it. Even Lucifer didn't act this way, of course his actual face to face interaction with humans was minimal because he pushed them in a more generally way towards some grand scheme or another. Azazeal was not unkind to those he manipulated (usually) he was just too good at it. But when he spoke to her and when they were alone, Cassie didn't feel manipulated. She decided to observe him more and try to understand this, because despite all of her love for him, it was her greatest fear in their relationship.

Elizabeth was getting quite busy with Luke, Sara, and the ranch, but she did still have plenty of time, she thought, to pay attention to Lucifer. However, as they had settled in to a more regular routine she had noticed that he seemed a bit more restless. He couldn't steal her away like he use to because someone had to be with Luke and she'd stopped having time to keep him occupied. She had been continuing to send him on missions to try to alleviate the tension in some areas of conflict in the world (it turn out this wasn't a easy as tempting humans to evil), but she didn't anymore. It was tricky because she needed to be very specific with him and he wasn't good with standing orders, everything was day to day. He would only do what she told him to, no more, no less, but this was not because he didn't like doing things for her (he really did), it was just how he worked. So, though he would do anything for her, he still needed to be watched carefully.

She didn't start to get concerned until began to expand his repertoire of activities to include evil things he hadn't done in a while. However, she chose to give him some leeway because, with all that had happened, she couldn't be sure what his normal range would end up being. He'd also gotten rougher with her in bed, which in and of itself was not a problem, but he alternated between that and being completely submissive, as if he was trying to get some kind of reaction out of her.

Cassie lay against Azazael as they sat on a bench outside their Australian get away spot. The warm evening air was pleasant after being so cold earlier in the day. They had been to the North Pole that day, just for a few minutes, because with Christmas fast approaching, Cassie wanted to check on Santa Claus. Of course, the hilarity of this was lost on Azazeal.

"I wish we could do this forever," Cassie said happily.

"We will," Azazeal responded, in a tone that held too much certainty to be romantic.

"What do you mean?"

"You will be mine forever and we will have plenty of time to indulge ourselves."

"Really?" She was annoyed but he didn't notice.

"Yes," he said as he stroked her hair.

She moved to look at him

"How is it that I'll be with you forever?" She asked suspecting she wouldn't like his answer.

"When you're ready, you will be made immortal. You didn't think I'd let you die did you?" he said arrogantly.

"How exactly?"

"You don't need to worry about that."

"When were you going to share this information with me?"

"It didn't seem relevant."

"Relevant? What if I don't what to live forever?"

"Why should we ever be apart?" Still not taking her seriously.

"No, no, answer the question."

"I don't understand."

"Couldn't you just ask me, 'Hey, Cassie do you want to live forever?' instead of just telling me."

He smiled at her amused and that didn't go over well.