"Someone needs to keep a tighter hold on your leash," Cassie imitated Sara and snorted with laughter. Sara just stared at her mother.
"That was great," Cassie continued, "He deserved that. Bravo!"
"He's not that bad, mother."
"Oh, yes he is. He's always getting me caught in my own words."
"That's just…you don't understand him. He's fond of all of us."
"Wait, a minute ago you looked like you were about to smack him and now you're his biggest fan."
"Mom, I think dad wants you," and Cassie turned to see Azazeal who gave her the come over here look. Cassie turned back to look at Sara, who was now intensely involved in her book, and then left her.
"That child is a weird one," Cassie said to Azazeal a short time later, "Her mood changes at the drop of a hat. I think she needs to settle down and get a steady boyfriend."
"Don't you worry about that," Azazeal said and began to nibble at her neck. "You know what we need, don't you?"
"Hmmm," was all Cassie could manage.
"We need," he went on slowly in a sexy low voice, "a new project. Something fun and complicated and intricate, like that environmental thing."
Cassie only sighed.
"Oh, and Ramiel's back from whatever he was doing while we were gone and he wants in too."
Cassie knew that it was pointless to try to think about this now so she turned and kissed him instead. She would worry about their next undertaking later and she would make it a good one, but for now all she wanted was his body.
Lucifer watched Elizabeth carefully the rest of the day and when they went to bed, he gathered her up in his arms and watched over her all night long. To stay in this human form he did need to sleep but not as much as he actually got. It was just another human pleasure, like sex, food, and cigarettes, and he enjoyed it immensely, but tonight he did not indulge himself.
Elizabeth did not have the dream that night, probably because of his comforting presence, and she slept well, waking up full of energy and cheerful. She was still not as perfectly happy as she had been before the thoughts of Lucifer leaving her in the end had entered her mind but she managed to continue on with him with the same confidence and skill as before, most of the time. She felt that he deserved her help regardless. Besides, she thought to herself that she would inevitably forget about this as you eventually do when you torture yourself about your new boyfriend's ex and then after a few years you find yourself not caring anymore.
Late one night about a week later, Sara found herself outside Luke's door and then to her horror…she knocked at it. He opened the door, wearing only the boxer shorts he usually slept in and said, "Hi," waiting for her to speak.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"For what?"
"For ignoring you."
"Come in," Luke said reluctantly, standing aside to let her enter, something he had told himself he wouldn't do. But she'd said she was sorry.
She sat on his chair and he sat on the foot of his bed and they sat in silence for a few moments.
"What have you been up to?" She asked.
He stared at her wide mouthed, "I've been miserable, that's what…How can you…?…I've been working on that stupid English paper, alright," he finished shaking his head.
"Luke…" Sara started and then stopped.
"Luke, since I came of age I've been wanting someone to be so intimate with that we don't need to speak, someone who needs me so much that we cannot be parted, someone who adores me and who I can love with out reserve."
This speech was irritating Luke because he thought he knew where it was headed but he only glowered at the floor.
"And you," she continued her voice now filled with amazement, "you gave that to me in one night like it was nothing. I was…I am terrified. Aren't you?"
A smile slowly crept across Luke's face and he looked up from the floor, "Love, emotion, intensity…these things do not scare me. Being alone, that scares me. Having no one who understands and loves me…That's terrifying."
They looked at each other for a moment and then Sara went over to him and pushed him back on the bed, silently indicating that he should scoot up and get under the covers. She striped down to her underwear, turned out the light, and nestled her self next to him where both of them fell asleep in short order.
Eventually, Lucifer began to feel the same subtle worry in Elizabeth again. He did not always pay this close attention to her moods, but since this worry was starting to effect her connection to him, he could feel the difference. He spent another night watching her sleep, this time catching the dream, and greeting her with a small smile when she woke to find him watching her.
"You're jealous," he said, "For real this time. How adorable!"
"It's not adorable to me," she said a bit sadly, "It's just a reality I have to come to terms with."
"You don't believe it do you? Don't be silly," he said still amused by her dream.
"Lucifer, when you told me how you would try to get back to me if I died…I started to realize that what you must feel for God. I'm happy…no delighted to help you get back to heaven, but you're fooling yourself if you think I'm ultimately more that just a placeholder."
She said this as gently as she could because she didn't want him to worry about her, it would do them no good, but this immediately infuriated him.
"How can you say that?" he said with a raised voice, "I have not done all the good things that I have for a stand-in, I've done them for you."
"You have to believe that for this to work," she said carefully but this only made him angrier at the suggestion that he couldn't resist God…that he wouldn't choose her instead.
"You are wrong! He may be my creator but He abandoned me, for whatever reason, and you have not. It's simple, very simple. Where's your faith in me?" He hadn't thought of it until know but was actually slightly worried that she might be right. Althought, it just didn't make any sense to him that he could love her so much and then when presented with the two he would pick the one who had hurt him, even if his natural inclination would be towards Him.
"I believe you are capable of great things but you yourself have told me how weak you are when it comes to … the person who controls you."
He narrowed his eyes at her, "Yes, I am insanely devoted to you, but I'm also stronger than you think now because, for you," he said a little snottily, "I've actually tried to live in this new state I've found myself in rather than just wallowing in self pity."
"And I'm proud of you…"
"I'll show you that I don't need the control," he said proudly now, "We'll go on working with Azazeal and Cassie, because I do get bored, but I'll do it myself. And since you're a disbeliever, no sex for you, and when you come begging for it, and I know you will, I will gloat excessively."
"Alright," she said with a smile, "We'll see what happens."
This challenge amused her and she was surprised at how seriously he was taking her suggestion that he would leave her in the end. It made her love him all the more that even if it were true that he could not resist his built-in attachment to God, for now at least, he was offended by the thought of it.
So Lucifer continued on with his assignments from Azazeal without relying on Elizabeth to ensure that they got done or that a bit of evil didn't wiggle its way in and he did very well all by himself. They sometimes worked together and sometimes apart, and they went home together every night like a normal couple. Azazeal did notice Elizabeth's lack of involvement with Lucifer and when he asked her about it she said with a mysterious smile, "We've got a bit of a bet going and I think he's winning."
Lucifer didn't tell Elizabeth that he'd developed enough of a bond with her now that just her strong presence was sufficient to keep him on the straight and narrow for quite a while because even God hadn't kept tabs on him constantly. He did prefer her direct interaction with him because he was not perfect and was prone to getting lonely, bored, and distracted so he could stray at anytime. But there were other things that he would miss more than her constant attention, which could present a bigger problem.
Cassie had been getting a bit frustrated that they weren't making as dramatic of an impact as she had hoped, but Azazeal had just smiled at her and told her that God had thousands of angels basically working on similar things and they weren't making much of a dent either.
"Cassie, there's only so much we can do, are allowed to do because of the rules. But don't think that we're not helping."
"I know. I just wanted to…you know…change the world."
"If I could do that for you I would," he said sincerely, "but we can only work with what we are given."
"Well, you work wonders and I am grateful."
"I'd rather have you naked."
"Hey, focus," Cassie said with a slight blush and when on to describe what she wanted their little crew to do next.
Several weeks later upon arriving at the church with Elizabeth to see what Cassie had cooked up for them next, Lucifer stomped over to Azazeal and sat angrily down in the chair next to him.
"What's wrong with you?"
Lucifer glared at him with glowing irritation, "I'm withholding sex. It's a long story…don't ask."
"And what is that supposed to accomplish exactly?" Azazeal asked, wondering if this was tied to the on-going bet with Elizabeth.
"I don't remember anymore," he growled, but he knew perfectly well why he'd started this.
"When Cassie was pregnant with Sara, I had a rough time with that."
"It's not just the sex," he practically yelled at Azazeal, whirling to glare at him again. He'd had plenty of sex before Elizabeth and none of it had done him any good.
Azazeal tried to suppress a smile and luckily Lucifer found it funny too.
"Sorry! Isn't there someone I can torture or something just to take the edge off," he laughed.
"I'm afraid not, my friend."
But Lucifer wasn't really paying attention to him, "But the way she feels, the way she tastes, that little moan she makes when I…"
"Yeah," Azazeal interrupted, "I get it."
Lucifer narrowed his eyes at him, "And most of all…I NEED to worship her."
"I know," Azazeal said, understanding perfectly how essential that was to Lucifer in particular, it was like a mental orgasm that released the tension that built up from living in a world that Lucifer was not made to exist in. It was a time when they were most themselves but for some reason none of them could initiate it themselves, "Which is why I don't understand…"
"She's jealous," Lucifer interrupted and stated this like it explained everything.
"Of who?"
"You know who," he snarled and nodded upwards.
Azazeal chuckled, "She has a point."
"NO, she doesn't!!" Lucifer yelled and stood up to go because obviously he wasn't getting any support here but then sat back down again because he had nothing better to do at the moment.
"She doesn't get sex because she doesn't believe that I could choose her and that is insulting. I'm trying to prove that I can put my foot down."
"That's ridiculous."
"I know," Lucifer laughed at himself, "I wasn't thinking." He paused and added, "But she has to believe in my love for her."