Sara hurried into French class, rushing right past Luke without a glance and sat in her seat two rows in front of him. She really wanted to look back at him but she wouldn't let herself give into the urge. Besides what was she going to do, grin at him like a dope? It had been three days since they had come back from Paris together and she'd managed to avoid him so far. He hadn't made it easy but she had won.
Their parents were apparently still indisposed because they'd been given a stern talking to by the principal for disappearing but they hadn't heard a peep from the people who would be the most annoyed by their little excursion. Well, Lucifer would defend them, it had been his idea anyway, and it wasn't the wrath of her parents for this bit of fun that she was worried about.
Luke felt Sara brush past him before he saw her, but this time he made no attempt to stop her or talk to her. If she wanted to avoid him, that was just fine. She'd come around. He was certain now that she loved him too but she was just valiantly fighting against it. It was the why that escaped him, but it didn't help to worry about that. All he had to do was sit and wait for her to crumble. He wouldn't have taken as much pleasure in her struggle as he did, if she wasn't making him miserable in the process.
Luke cursed his own single-minded pursuit of her since they'd come back but he knew where it came from so he couldn't hate it too much. He just hoped that whatever was keeping her from letting go wasn't stronger than his desire to be with her. But he doubted it. He suspected that her humanity was rearing its ugly head and that she was just scared. After all, he wasn't your typical boy and she wasn't your typical girl. She knew very well that what would happen between them would be different from anything she'd felt before. So he thanked his capacity for steadfast affection and waited.
After Lucifer had left them at the café in Paris, they had walked along the Champs Elysee and seen the sights of the city that had not been the focus of the night before. They visited the parks, museums, and shops, where both of them had bought a peace offering for their respective mothers, who would be the most irritated when the school called to inform them of their disappearance. They were so engaged in their conversation and wanderings that by the time they looked up it was getting dark and they decided to stay another night rather than having to pack up their stuff and leave.
Rather than finding a place for dinner they had ordered room service and watched a strange French movie before turning in for the night. They only had one room and a large king sized bed, that they had already slept next to each other on, but now it seemed much more forbidding since they were on their own. Both had considered suggesting that they go back, but neither wanted to be the one to speak up.
The next morning Sara slowly became aware of the light coming in from the windows and the rising sound of traffic from the street before she noticed the strong arms firmly wrapped around her and the body pressed against her. She carefully turned her head to confirm that it was indeed Luke, which wasn't a great surprise considering the fact that she now remembered just how close they had gotten last night. She gently twisted underneath his arm, careful not to wake him in the process, and ended on her back with his arm still across her stomach. She ran her eyes over his brown hair, lightened by the sun like his mother's, and his exposed back, thinking about what his skin felt like, how green his eyes were, and how soft his lips had been.
Breaking her from her reverie, he opened his eyes and smiled, "Good morning."
"Morning."
He let her go and rolled onto his back and left Sara irritated by her urge to follow him and put her head on his chest.
"I think we should get doing, don't you?" Sara announced.
"What's the hurry?" He asked pleasantly, but his happiness merely fanned her embarrassment about the reaction she'd just had to what had happened last night.
"I'm happy that your curiosity has now been satisfied, I suppose it was bound to happen, but I have things to do."
"Hey," he said lifting up on his elbow to look her in the eyes, "That was not just to satisfy my curiosity. Besides," he added with a smug grin, "You certainly showed quite an interest in my body as well, if I remember correctly."
She gave him a scathing look.
"But then again," he continued, "I was quite distracted so maybe I'm not entirely clear on what happened."
"That's just great, fine, make fun of me," Sara said and got up to start getting her stuff together. She was, of course, completely naked but it wasn't until she'd leap out of bed that she fully realized it and was forced to decide not to let it stop her.
Luke watched her for a moment and then got up himself to follow her lead. The next few minutes were spent ignoring one another as they gathered their things, with Luke choosing to make putting on his clothes the last thing he did and making sure that he gave her plenty of opportunities to get a good look at what she was treating with such scorn.
Finally, Luke broke the silence and said, "I don't understand why you're so angry. I thought…"
"I'm not angry, I just…"
"I'm in love with you, Sara," he burst out, and if it was possible, he was more surprised by this declaration than she was.
She stood stock-still and stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "I have to go," disappearing back to school.
She had left Luke in shock at her reaction considering the tenderness of last night, but he quickly recovered to follow her back to school, although he didn't start trying to talk to her until several hours later.
That night when they had settled into bed they had innocently ended up facing each other in the dark.
"I had a good time today," Sara had said.
"Me too," Luke had responded.
Sara had smiled a bit too happily because she was starting to have feelings for him and Luke had not been able to resist her unknowing invitation. He had slid forward and deftly taken her mouth in his and, as before, this kiss had felt more right than any other they'd ever had with anyone else. What had happened next was exquisite. Neither of them had to put the thought into this act of passion that they always needed to put into their other sexual escapades, and they effortlessly followed the age-old ritual of love. It was simple and beautiful and left both of them contented. Or so Luke had thought.
This was not going to be fun, Luke thought to himself when he got the word that he and Sara were to go to the Church after their last classes of the day. Their parents had finally gotten around to calling them in to discuss their "behavior." Normally, these half-hearted scoldings were quite amusing but after a few more days of Sara avoiding him, he was not in the best of moods.
Luke arrived at the church to find Sara already there, sulking in one of the chairs reading a schoolbook and both sets of parents talking happily at the other end of the church. When she noticed him, she glanced up and put her book down to join him in confronting their parents.
Cassie started by saying, "Whatever were you two thinking? You're in school. It doesn't matter that you're both smart enough to skip a few days, the teachers will really freak out of you just disappear like that."
"We're sorry," Luke said evenly just trying to get this over with.
"No, we're not," Sara started angrily with a glance at him. She was strangely feeling that she should defend them both and was irritated that, considering their proximity, Luke had not yet tried to talk to her. She'd gotten quite used to his attempts to win her over and now felt slighted which was ridiculous but she couldn't help it. "It's Lucifer's fault, Mom, he just came and…,".
"Honey, I'm not to be trusted, you know that," he said, with a smirk.
"Lucifer, you are partly to blame," Azazeal said.
"I usually am," he responded, "I was merely pointing out that one should consider the source when one decides to listen to me."
"You got us into this," Sara shot back to everyone's surprise. "And I think someone needs to keep a tighter hold on your leash," she exclaimed, taking out her frustration on him because he'd lead them on the path that had ended with her feeling like she did now.
All eyes but Elizabeth's were on Lucifer at this last remark but there was no response from the usually talkative Elizabeth, who seemed distracted by something else.
"Temper, temper," Lucifer said after an uncomfortable pause, giving her an amused but questioning look, "Where is this coming from, hmm?"
"Dad, we promise to never listen to you again, okay?" Luke interjected simply.
Cassie and Azazeal turned their attention to him, but Lucifer still stared at Sara who turned away, embarrassed now because Lucifer would surely know something had happened between her and Luke now.
"Well," Azazeal said, "there's no point in lecturing them."
"I suppose not," Cassie said looking at Azazeal, ready to get back to their prior conversation, and they were let go.
Luke and Sara shyly peeked at each other and then quickly walked in separate directions, with Lucifer noting their strange interaction.
"I'd like to go home, I think," Elizabeth announced suddenly coming out of her silence.
"Sweetie, we haven't even been here more than an hour."
"I'm tired, I haven't been sleeping well. Can we go?"
"Of course," he said concerned that he hadn't noticed this, but they said their goodbyes and headed home.
In the few days since she had become immortal, Elizabeth had started having a recurring dream or nightmare depending on how you looked at it and it didn't make sleeping easy.
In this dream, she and Lucifer stood hand in hand before God who appeared to Elizabeth as a man surrounded by a brilliance of white light. At first she thought it strange that this was just how she'd always envisioned He would look and then realized that this was exactly why He looked like that (this was a dream, after all). She felt love, welcome and happiness coming from the man and she was pleased because it appeared that she and Lucifer had made it to heaven together. She would wonder what would happen next but she never wanted to be the one to speak first, so she would just look at Him for a few moments before drawing back her attention to Lucifer.
Lucifer was always staring fixedly at the figure and had taken a half step forward towards Him but had not released her hand. His eyes were soft but intent, his lips were slightly parted as if he might speak, and his body was almost imperceptibly inclined towards Him. He looked content but she could not tell what he was thinking or feeling. Lucifer just stood there, they stood there, for what seemed like a very long time with Lucifer enthralled by His presence, not moving in even the slightest way.
Neither of them spoke and it never took long for Elizabeth to decide what she should do, the same thing every time, because there seemed to be no other option. She would slowly begin to release her grip on Lucifer's hand and he would have no reaction. She was disappointed even though she hadn't expected him to react, but would comfort herself that this was for the best. She would gradually slipped her hand out of his and step back, pausing for a second to look at his back before turning to go. She would have cried if she could but the tears didn't come, although her heart would always ache.
She would generally wake up at that point, unhappy, but resigned to the fact that this may very well end up happening. But then she would feel him next to her, he was always closer to her then he needed to be in their large bed, and she would remind herself that she had him for now. It never helped really but it seemed like the best thing to do because if Lucifer was ever in God's presence again, she couldn't compete with that.