A/N: Thank you all for not giving up on me! There is nothing that brings me greater joy than writing this story and seeing you love it just as much as I do. Just as a disclaimer, I've never been pregnant, nor been to a pre-natal appointment, so I'm just speculating on what would go down during Izzy and Luci's visit. Some warnings for PTSD and medical trauma on Izzy's part. Hopefully it's not too boring or unrealistic. I hope you loves enjoy! XOXOX


Devil in the Details

Of all the places Lucifer expected to be at noon on a Tuesday, an OBGYN's office was not on his Top Ten list.

It used to be a nightmare of his, a running joke amongst his siblings that he would wind up getting some unsuspecting woman pregnant. Never mind the impossibility of it all, the measures he went to prevent such a thing. That did nothing to stop the taunting, the teasing, the sweat-soaked shouts uttered in the middle of the night.

Lucifer used to equate fatherhood with his own Hell loop. This office would have once served as the waiting room to his execution suite.

Now, with Miss Lightwood seated stoically by his side, his feelings had drastically changed.

"Scared?" Lucifer teased, pocketing his flask. One or two sips of the hair of the dog had been enough to draw hateful looks from every mother, man, and child in the room. And he thought Hell was a judgmental crowd. "I thought Nephilim never felt fear."

"I'm not scared." Miss Lightwood was defensive, her arms wrapped protectively around her middle as she eyed the exit. "I just...don't like medical facilities."

The white lights. The sparse decor. The medical staff in white coats. It made sense, why she'd be nervous. Why certain memories from a not so distant past would be dredged up.

"We can leave, if you like."

Never mind how many strings were pulled to get the appointment. Never mind that he now owed Daniel a favor.

Miss Lightwood stayed silent. She stared ahead of her, at the receptionist on the phone talking in her pleasant, ass-kissing voice and the children playing with the building blocks and cardboard books provided in the waiting room. Their chatter was inane, their occasional cries striating, but Miss Lightwood latched onto them.

"When my little brother, Max, was five he fell and broke his wrist riding his bike. He'd braked too hard and fell over the handlebars. If he hadn't tried to catch himself on his hands, he'd have been fine. But he caught himself, and by the time he got to the infirmary, we could see the bone. I was the one who cleaned the wound, who set the bone and wrapped his arm. I'm the one who drew the iratze above his elbow to numb the pain." She picked at the plastic chair, tearing away tiny chunks until the foamy inside was exposed. "I'm the healer. That's always been my job. It's hard being the patient this time."

"From where I'm sitting, you're doing a remarkable job."

Her smile was thin, but it reached her eyes. She needed to hear that, Lucifer thought. She was so strong, but even warriors needed support from time to time.

"Isabelle Lightwood?" a cheery nurse in pink scrubs called out into the waiting area.

"That's me," Miss Lightwood sighed, standing up rather reluctantly and never straying too far from Lucifer's side.

"Wonderful," the nurse cheered, her blue eyes flashing with joy. She was a petite young thing with blonde hair and wrinkle-less skin. No way she had any children of her own. "Right this way and we will get you checked in!"

There were a litany of mundane tests: weight, blood pressure, urine sample. All of which Miss Lightwood passed with flying colors, relieving the both of them. Lucifer could tell by the way she let out her breath, heavy as if the weight of insecurity had been removed. After all the data had been collected and the necessary questions asked - though Lucifer would never understand why they would need to know about her last menstrual cycle when it was clear she wasn't having one - they were led to a spacious room.

Upon seeing the parchment-lined bed in the center, the monitors attached and the equipment in the corner, Miss Lightwood sucked in a sharp breath. She halted in her tracks, so quick Lucifer nearly barreled over her. The grip on his hand became tight and panicked.

"Just take a seat up there and someone will be with you shortly," the nurse chirped before shutting them inside.

Silence was such a damning thing. Lucifer had experienced his fair share of Hell loops that were nothing but awkward pauses in stilted small talk. It could be quite painful, sat there with nothing but the beat of your own heart, while the person beside you spiraled as well. Societal pressures were nasty things, human emotion even nastier.

Lucifer never removed his hand from Miss Lightwood's grip.

Up on the table, she looked smaller. Like a shell of herself. Like the woman Magnus described to him fresh out of her prison. He didn't particularly like watching strong women crumble, definitely not this one.

A knock on the door had her jumping in her seat.

"Hello!"

A perky woman with lines around her blue-grey eyes smiled as she walked in. She rubbed hand sanitizer on her thin hands before going to shake Isabelle's, then Lucifer's. Peak professionalism without being overbearing or terrifying. Not that a short, older woman could hold a candle to Lucifer's supernatural strength.

"I'm Trina, I'll be your ultrasound technician today. I hear this is just a routine check up?"

"Yes," Miss Lightwood replied softly.

"First time mom?" Trina asked kindly, her smile never peeling off her face. It was unnerving and Lucifer would have been suspicious had he not the strong belief that anyone who worked in pediatrics was unnaturally cheerful.

Miss Lightwood only nodded this time, her grip tightening on Lucifer's hand.

"It's okay to be nervous," Trina assured, snapping on latex gloves and running sanitizing pads over her various equipment. "This may all look scary, but I do this all the time. We will be in and out in no time, and you'll have pictures of your little bundle of joy to coo over all the way home."

Lucifer very much doubted Trina had had anyone quite like Isabelle Lightwood on her table, but he had to admit that her aura was pleasing. Miss Lightwood followed instruction and laid back on the table. She pulled up her shirt, exposing the skin of her belly. It was more obvious without the barrier of clothing that she was pregnant. Little lines had started pulling at the edges of her skin, the darkest going from her belly button to down below the waist of her yoga pants.

"I'm just gonna lather some goo on your tummy to help the machine along. It might be a little cold, okay momma?" Trina asked.

Isabelle nodded. She flinched when the goo touched her skin, goosebumps puckering along every inch of her. Lucifer held her hand and let her adjust, let her regulate her temperature and slow her pulse. There was no danger here. He had to be the calm one so she could do this.

The lights in the room had dimmed so that Trina could better read the grey and white screen. Truly, Lucifer had no idea what he was looking at - just blobs wiggling around. Those blobs changed shape as Trina moved her wand slowly around Miss Lightwood's stomach, pressing in certain places where the baby could be.

Then, suddenly, the blobs started to look more cohesive and less abstract.

"Looks like you're about twenty-four weeks along," Trina announced, beaming with joy and pride as if she were Miss Lightwood's own mother (an improvement in Lucifer's opinion).

"Can you see the wings?" he asked, cocking his head as he studied the indecipherable image.

"Wings?"

"Oh, you know, every parent thinks their child is a little angel," Izzy covered quickly with a nervous laugh. Thankfully, Trina played along and laughed too.

"Of course," she indulged with a smile that spoke of years of gentle guidance. "Well, there's no wings, but there are four well-developed limbs, a normal head, and ten perfect fingers and toes."

That was assuring, if not bland news. Lucifer knew his child wasn't going to be born like any other human or Nephilim. They were going to be special. To have them described in such mundane - pardon the pun - ways was slightly infuriating.

Then, Trina asked, "Would you like to know the gender?"

Isabelle looked to Lucifer, lost.

For so long, this baby had been a nebulous 'it'. Genderless. Some abstract thought that would become real at the end of Miss Lightwood's pregnancy. And now, to attach another layer of reality to it was overwhelming. Terrifying.

Lucifer inclined his head to hers, deferring to her judgement. He meant it when he said he would not push, he would not demand. Everything was her choice. He would follow her lead, even if he could not conceal the curiosity, the desire in his eyes.

Trina waited patiently for Izzy to make up her mind. Everyone was waiting on her.

Miss Lightwood nodded, unable to say the words aloud. If possible, Lucifer held her hand even tighter. He wasn't sure who was clinging to who at this point.

"Congratulations, you're having a girl!"

All the noise in the room whooshed through Lucifer's ears, leaving them ringing and his head spinning. Everything faded out of view save for the blob on the screen, wiggling in shades of grey and white.

A girl.

Lucifer was having a daughter.

Ten fingers and toes all wrapped in a pink little bow. She was real, and she was waiting there inside Isabelle's belly, almost ready to say hello.

Would she have his eyes? His nose? His chin? He hoped she got her mother's strength, her attitude, her smile. Break hearts left and right, this one would. Between Lucifer's perfection and Miss Lightwood's good looks, how could she not be the most beautiful, most perfect girl in the world?

This had to be some kind of cosmic retribution, a punishment for all his womanizing ways. To have a daughter - something small and feminine and delicate to look after was both terrifying and euphoric. Already, something strangely akin to affection tugged at his chest, drawing him closer to Miss Lightwood with the urge to protect.

Trina got up and patted Isabelle's hand. "I'll go get the doctor for you."

Doctor? What did they need a doctor for? They had everything they needed already.

The mechanics of human health care were a mystery to Lucifer. Still, he waited patiently, staring at the screen (now blank due to a lack of Trina and her magic wand) and replaying the moment his entire existence shifted. He wondered if Miss Lightwood could feel it too, that imperceptible change that let them know their lives would never be the same again.

Another knock on the door meant more guests.

Trina was back with someone new in tow. The doctor was an older, sterner woman with steel-grey hair and round glasses that nearly fell off her nose. Her white coat was covered in pins: puppies, rainbows, unicorns, you name it and she had it. A strange combination for someone who looked better suited to shush noisy patrons inside a library.

She carried a clipboard with her, a clipboard she kept her eyes glued to, as if she could absorb its secrets through osmosis.

"Miss Lightwood? I'm Doctor Chen. Given this is your first pre-natal visit, we need to collect some blood and some amniotic fluid to run a couple more routine tests to rule out any kind of risk for genetic malformations," she explained, her tone gentle yet firm. "Normally these would be done much sooner, but given your situation we would rather do them now so you can prepare than wait until delivery."

"Are they absolutely necessary?"

"She has a history of poor medical care. It's left her quite hesitant, you understand. If she'd have it her way, she'd deliver at home and have her mother catch the thing on the way out. Just getting her here was quite the feat."

"I understand," Doctor Chen said sympathetically. She lowered her clipboard and held it behind her back, as if direct, intense eye contact would sway them. Lucifer liked her significantly less than Trina. "Of course we will not force you to get any medical procedure done against your will, but I do highly recommend them. Ultrasounds, while good for visualizing shapes and hearing tones, can only tell us so much. Blood and amniotic fluid helps give us the whole picture."

Doctor Chen painted a pretty picture. Logically, it all made sense. That didn't stop Lucifer from grinding his teeth at the idea of someone else handling Miss Lightwood. She had only just escaped an experimental nightmare, poked and prodded like a lab rat. These people wanted to do the same thing, their rationale be damned.

If Isabelle gave the word, Lucifer would unleash Hell. He would fan the flames in his eyes and make them all cower in fear of him. He would carry her out of this place and take her and the baby somewhere safe.

But the hand on his arm was steady and firm. He looked down, and while Miss Lightwood was clearly scared, she did not shy away. She stood her ground and swallowed her fear.

"Okay. Take it."

The doctor must have seen the track marks inside Isabelle's arms, scars of pinpricks unable to be healed the Nephilim way and left to close in their own time. There was no telling what Doctor Chen must have thought of Isabelle, what assumptions she was making between Miss Lightwood's young age and her aversion to needles. Thankfully, she kept them to herself as Trina took the required sample.

The whole time, Miss Lightwood turned her head and kept it buried in Lucifer's arm, squeezing his hand like a vise. It was amazing how much raw strength her body still possessed. She was a marvel, and Lucifer could not help but stand in awe of her.

"There, all done," Trina said with a smile, placing a floral bandaid over the cotton ball keeping Isabelle's blood inside her vein.

The amniotic fluid bit was more uncomfortable, more terrifying than a bit of blood. There were instruments involved that looked practically mediaeval. Lucifer was not proud, but he had to look away.

They were shooed away with promises to come back in two weeks and a phone call about test results, as well as photos of their little blob of joy. Truthfully, Lucifer heard none of it. He was too busy making sure Miss Lightwood didn't collapse on her way out. She was frighteningly pale.

Outside the office, the sun shone its non-artificial light, and Miss Lightwood allowed herself a moment of weakness. She let herself fall into Lucifer, let him take her weight for a moment as she leaned into him. It wasn't quite a hug, but there was no better word for it. She was so small, so short. He had to lean to place his chin atop her head.

"Do you think I made the right decision?" she asked, painfully young in this very moment.

"I think you have done what you always do: protect yourself and your family to the best of your ability." He found the truth easier to say when he couldn't look her in the eye. "You are remarkably strong Miss Lightwood, even for a Nephilim."

Miss Lightwood sniffled, then pulled back.

"Thank you, Lucifer."

He wasn't sure he deserved her thanks. After all, it was she who had done all the hard word. He was just the miserable sod who put her in this impossible position.

"Enough of this dreadful business." He clapped his hands together, then offered Isabelle his arm. "We are having a daughter. I think that calls for celebration."

"Celebration?" she asked, confused but pleased. "What kind of celebration?"

Lucifer let his smile eclipse his face.

"How do you feel about Thai?"