Lute stared in shock at Adam's grinning face. How was this happening? She had seen Adam die right in front of her eyes.
Adam smirked, "Let me guess, you're wondering how I'm still alive?"
Lute nodded needing a moment before she spoke, "Nifty killed you, I saw it myself this can't be possible".
"Oh but it is possible, or you know you could be hallucinating", Adam snickered.
Lute crossed her arms and glared at Adam, "That isn't funny, I know you are real I can tell reality from hallucinations".
"Fine you got me I'm real. But I'm afraid I can't tell you how I survived and before you object, I have a very, very, very, very good reason why".
Lute rolled her eyes at Adam's antics. While she was elated that Adam was alive, she was losing her patience with him. She had almost forgotten how annoying he was, though she refused to admit she enjoyed bickering with him.
"And I suppose you won't tell me the reason".
"Actually, I will in due time but first we need to come up with a new plan to get revenge on Vaggie because your stupid plan clearly isn't working", Adam said with a condescending smile.
Lute growled, "It was working perfectly well, but for some reason Vaggie is afraid of me even though I wiped her memories".
Lute was still furious that things weren't going the way she planned. Even though Adam was alive, she still wanted to hurt Vaggie and Charlie. They had ruined the extermination and she had still not forgiven Vaggie for disobeying and saving the demon child.
"We need to fix that, maybe there is a way we can implant false memories into her mind and make her think you two were in a relationship".
Lute grinned at that the thought of Vaggie thinking she loved her. While she didn't approve of Vaggie's relationship with Charlie she loved the thought of Vaggie being dependent on her and the look on Chalie's face if she was to see them kissing.
"So how do we do this?"
"No clue", Adam said casually with a shrug as though this wasn't important at all.
"Seriously Adam!" Lute yelled in frustration.
Meanwhile Lucifer was on his way to Ozzie's, he felt uncomfortable with the number of people gawking at him along the way. Ever since it was reported that he had helped in the fight against Adam, Lucifer was in the spotlight again and he hated it. Lucifer wished Alastor was with him so he could scare the onlookers off, especially the ones that tried to invade his boundaries.
The thought of Alastor made Lucifer's heart ache. Lucifer had allowed himself to feel the thrill of a crush again only to be heartbroken by Alastor not wanting to show affection in front of Angel. Lucifer knew Alastor had a reputation to uphold, but Angel was their friend. It hurt that Alastor didn't even want to be seen by someone close to them being affectionate with him. Was Alastor embarrassed by him? Lucifer tried to shake that thought and focused on the journey.
Lucifer soon found himself in Ozzie's club, the usual rule was that only couples were allowed in. But as he was the King of Hell and Ozzie's close friend, he was the exception to the rule. So, he was immediately let in.
Lucifer tried to navigate his way to Ozzie, trying to sidestep people flirting with him. Though a particular shark demon wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Your Majesty, it would be a pleasure to dance with you, the name's Chaz".
"Thank you but um, I'm actually meeting someone I'm sorry", Lucifer said and tried to leave but Chaz grabbed his arm.
"We could have so much fun together", Chaz purred as he forced Lucifer so close that he was pressed against him.
Lucifer panicked when he couldn't get out of Chaz's hold, "I'm sorry I really need to go".
Chaz ignored him and crashed his lips against his ignoring Lucifer struggle. Lucifer tried to shove Chaz off him but he wouldn't budge. Chaz moved them so Lucifer was backed into a wall.
"Let's have some fun", Chaz said with a wink.
"No please I don't want this", Lucifer said in a panic, and he felt a spike of fear when Chaz snaked his arm under his shirt.
"Get off him!"
Lucifer looked around Chaz in relief to see Ozzie who was furious. Ozzie was in his full demon form, he was much bigger than his usual size and he was alight in blue and pink flames.
"Come on, we were just having a good time", Chaz whined.
"I heard Lucifer telling you no and you ignored him. I don't accept any acts of forced lust, get out of this club now before I kill you".
Chaz panicked by Ozzie's demon form and everyone staring at them reluctantly left .
Ozzie returned back to his normal form and gently placed his hand on Lucifer's shoulder, "I'm so sorry about Chaz, are you okay Luci?"
"Yeah I'm okay thank you for saving me", Lucifer said shakily. Lucifer was feeling anxious about Chaz coming back for him. If Ozzie hadn't come when he did, Lucifer was afraid Chaz would have raped him.
Ozzie smiled sadly at Lucifer, "Would you like to come upstairs for a cup of hot chocolate? I know how much you love it".
Ozzie was feeling terrible that he had put Lucifer in a dangerous position. He had known Chaz had been causing trouble and he had wanted to kick him out yesterday when he tried to forcefully kiss his beautiful Fizz. But Fizz had persuaded him not to as he didn't want to cause a scene. Now Ozzie wished he had kicked him out to prevent this happening again.
"I would really like that thank you and there's something I need to talk to you about".
Lucifer followed Ozzie as he made his way round the club to his private residence. Lucifer knew Ozzie had his tower as well, but he figured this made it possible for Ozzie to spend all night at his club if he wanted to.
Lucifer felt safer walking with his friend, though he still had to quickly move away from other people trying to also force him to the dance floor. Ozzie glared at every person that tried it and it had them scurrying away to Lucifer's relief.
Once they were in Ozzie's private meeting room and they were both sitting with a mug of hot chocolate Lucifer explained Charlie and Vaggie's situation.
Ozzie frowned feeling his heart ache in sympathy for Charlie. He had met her often and being Lucifer's daughter, he considered her his family too. He would be devestated if Fizz lost his memories of their love.
"I'm so sorry your daughter is going through this. I wish I could help but I think the only way to retrieve Vaggie's memories is through love".
Lucifer felt his heart sink. The problem was that Vaggie didn't have her memories and so she couldn't return Charlie's love.
"Is there no other way?" Lucifer asked hopefully, "Vaggie doesn't love Charlie as she doesn't remember their relationship".
"I'm sorry but if there was a way I would know", Ozzie said gently. "Retrieving memories is a difficult thing, it can only be done naturally. This happened to a friend of mine, he tried to get his lover's memories back through force and it just made things so much worse".
Lucifer curled his hand around his mug hoping the warmth would help comfort him. The mug had cute little ducks around it, Ozzie had bought it for him and always kept it here especially for him.
"If Vaggie becomes close with Charlie, do you think it's possible she could love her again?"
Ozzie gently squeezed Lucifer's free hand in comfort, "Yes, I think it is possible. Especially given the way Charlie has talked about Vaggie with me, I can tell they shared a strong bond of love".
"Thank you, Oz. I'm sorry for troubling you I should probably go now".
"It was no trouble babe, it's late I don't mind if you want to stay the night with me", Ozzie said with a suggestive wink.
Lucifer rolled his eyes, "Okay I'll stay but only if you and Fizz don't try to get me to join you in bed again".
Ozzie sighed sadly, "The three of us would have been great together but fear not. I would never force you to do anything you don't want to".
Lucifer smiled fondly at his friend. In the past Ozzie and Fizz had often tried to persuade him to join them in bed but never forcefully. They always respected his boundaries when he said no. It was one of the things he loved about Ozzie, he was the embodiment of lust but cared greatly about consent unlike Valentino. Lucifer shuddered at the thought of the moth demon who had tried to make him sign a contract to work for him many times before.
The next day when Lucifer returned to the hotel from Ozzie's he was suprised to see Alastor waiting for him in the lobby. Lucifer had been hoping to go to his room without running into him but luck was not on his side.
"Um hi Alastor", Lucifer said awkwardly, "I need to talk to Charlie is it okay if we talk later?"
Alastor moved closer to Lucifer, he was feeling terrible for the hurt look on Lucifer's face when he saw him. Alastor normally wasn't one to apologize to people, but Lucifer had healed his wounds without wanting anything in return which was something that never happened in Hell. Alastor had been completely at the king's mercy, he could have used the opportunity to make him do anything as he was dying from the wounds.
Yet Lucifer had chosen to be kind instead. Alastor still didn't understand why Lucifer was so kind to him. He didn't believe his story about healing him for Charlie, he was sure there was more to it than that. Alastor had wanted to hate Lucifer when he arrived. Alastor had worked so hard to build a friendship with Charlie and now Lucifer was taking Charlie's focus away from him.
Alastor hated to admit it but he cared for Charlie, she was one of his few friends and he had felt jealous when Lucifer tried to take her attention away from him. But now Alastor found himself wanting Lucifer's attention as well. Alastor had almost kissed Lucifer when he had healed him, he was going to give in to his temptation but when Angel came in Alastor was brought back to reality. He hadn't meant to hurt Lucifer and he hated himself for feeling this remorse.
"Wait, I want to apologise to you".
Lucifer looked up in suprise not expecting that, "I thought you didn't do apologies".
Alastor crossed his arms defensively, "Normally I wouldn't but I have found myself caring about you and your daughter. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push you away like that last night. I was caught off guard when Angel came in".
"I understand if you don't want to be seen with someone like me, even Lilith became tired of me in the end", Lucifer said, trying unsuccessfully to stop his voice shaking.
"What do you mean you understand not wanting to be seen with someone like you?" Alastor said in confusion. He didn't understand why Lucifer would think so low of himself.
Lucifer curled his arms around himself, "I was never good enough for Lily. She always ignored me when I tried to talk to her about my ducks. I didn't expect her to always love my ideas but I was hoping she would at least listen to me. She used to get so angry that she would..." Lucifer trailed of feeling unable to say it.
Alastor used to tell himself he didn't have a heart, but he felt his heart sinking as he had a bad feeling of what Lucifer was going to say.
"Lucifer, did Lilith hit you?" Alastor said in a soft voice that he only ever used for people he cared about.
Lucifer flinched and nodded, "Please don't tell anyone, Charlie doesn't know. I tried to protect her from it so she wouldn't hate her mother".
Alastor cupped Lucifer's face, "Even after what Lilith did to you, you still wanted to protect Charlie's image of her. You never cease to amaze me Lucifer".
Lucifer blushed and looked away but Alastor gently gripped Lucifer's chin to turn him back to face him.
"I promise I won't tell Charlie and if Lilith ever comes back, I won't let her hurt you".
Lucifer felt his heart warm at Alastor's words, "Thank you Al, that means so much to me".
Unbeknownst to Lucifer and Alastor, Charlie had heard everything.