Cecile sat across the table from her son, her eyes looking past him to the large beach umbrella on the beach, the sun just peeking up over the horizon. She was a morning person, something she shared with her son. She knew Ellen was not, which is why when she was here they normally met for lunch.

Her eyes drifted back to her son, watching him with a new sadness. She knew him well, or she thought she had. And now he had grown up, fallen in love and she was starting to think maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought she had. It seemed like only yesterday she was ushering him to school, patching up scraped knees and chasing away monsters in the dark. Seeing him seated here she couldn't help but feel like she was part of the reason he had become this way. If she had fought back a little harder, stayed alive a little longer, maybe she could find more of her little boy, behind the smile. Behind the eyes.

She knew he was still there, she had seen it, the soft warmth in his eyes, the smile no longer forced. It was there whenever they reminisced of their time together alive. She had seen it when he looked at Ellen or even spoke of her.

The day before had been a bit of a shock for her, though there was a part of her that felt like she always knew. He never made it to Heaven, and even when she had asked Ellen all those months ago, she could tell the women felt out of place discussing the topic. She had to have known and yet she still managed to find the young boy still in there somewhere. Good for her.

Perhaps she never truly knew Alastor, and as she spent more time with him now, she found that thought didn't sadden her. She leaned back wishing nothing but the best for him, whatever that may be. If he was happy and content, then she was happy. This was never what she would have planned for her son, but it seemed he found his own happiness and if there was anything she could take away from this all; she had raised a fine, strong gentleman, maybe not for anyone in their time, but for Ellen. A woman she had no way of knowing was out there waiting. And she was grateful she had the chance to meet the woman, even if it was only for the brief chance she got.

Her eyes moved back to the beach with a long sigh.

"So this is the woman that has your soul?"

Alastor's face soured as he took a sip of his coffee.

"How do we get it back?"

"There is no 'we'. I'm afraid I've been over the contract many times, there isn't a way out."

"Contract?"

"Everything needs to be on parchment for it to be binding, many don't hold to their words."

"This is something you've done before?"

Alasstor chuckled. "I own a fair share of souls myself, I know my way around a contract. There is only one that I've seen written stronger than this one." He waved the contract up, sliding it to his mother.

"I only wish I would have the pleasure of ending his miserable life myself," he muttered to himself, though she still heard it.

He eyed his mother as she took in the true gravity of what he was really dealing with. She was good with words, though he doubted even she could find a hole in the contract.

"My this is, this is quite precise isn't it? Why would you agree to something like this if you knew there was no escape?" Her eyes moved from the parchment to her son's eyes.

"It was the only way I could get up here."

Cecile gave him a look. "It's not the only way."

"I assure you, as much as I love seeing you, it's not happening. I'm far too gone to entertain that nonsense. I much prefer the fire and chaos anyway. So many souls still to torture for their atrocities."

Cecile chose not to comment on that instead turning back to the contract in her hands.

"Ellen had your soul at one point, how did you manage that?"

"Marriage contract."

"You married her just to get out of a contract?! Alastor you are better than that." Her eyes found the clause outing such. This Lilith woman clearly didn't want that happening again.

He chuckled. "Trust me ma, it benefited her far more than I."

"As it should. Now-" She pushed the contract back to him. "-are you sure this is the best way of going about this? This little trick of yours won't work again. If Ellen were to come here, the only way back would be-"

"Yes I am aware."

Cecile let out a big sigh before getting to her feet. "Alright." He stood before her and she reached up, fixing his lapels, before brushing away some dust.

"Go get your dame back, baby. Make me proud."

"That is always my intent."

Her smile warmed her face. "I know. Now let's get the show started shall we?"

"Don't let the seraphims know of our relation, it may not take well."

"Don't you worry about me, I know how to handle myself."

He only nodded before hugging his mother tightly. He knew she would.

"Be safe mon cher."

Alastor waved the table and chairs away, turning away from his mother, hoping the consequences wouldn't be too harsh. He knew Lilith would never willingly send him back, so he would have to force her hand and when she found out, it wouldn't be taken lightly. Hopefully it would take awhile before she clued in.

There was a small part of him that enjoyed the fact she was oblivious to it all, to focused on the beach and catching the sun to realize that he had been plotting behind her back the past two days. She hadn't seemed to realize that he was not to be underestimated. That there was always another pawn moving in their never ending game of chess.

His ear twitched behind him as he heard his mother screaming in a panic to capture as much attention as possible. He had made his first move, now he had to wait as the rest of the game played out. He'd be back in Hell before afternoon tea. His grin pulled higher.

Lucifer fell heavily onto his bed, exhausted from the day. He and Ellen had spent over two hours piecing together a plan. While Ellen was more worried about breaking the contract, he was far more concerned with finding a way to get the bastard out of heaven unnoticed.

He hated the idea of bringing Charlie into this, but it seemed the safest option. Now he had to try finding a way of getting her to reach out to Lilith without being obvious. Hopefully history would repeat itself and they could go from there.

If only he could find the right time to bring it up. It had been at least a week since he met with Ellen and her little friend. He knew the next few parts of the plan rested on him getting Charlie to reach out, but every time he tried he would freeze up.

He groaned. How had one little mortal soul completely shaken up the afterlife as a whole? Heaven was sure to reach out soon to inquire what had happened. And now that he knew death was involved only made things worse.

A storm was coming and he had no way of knowing how big it would be. How much did they already know?

He shook his head with a sigh before forcing himself back to his feet to get himself ready for bed. He was either going to sleep well or not at all and he was really hoping it would be the primer.

...

He awoke with a start, his phone ringing loudly in the otherwise silent room. He turned and let out a small yelp finding he wasn't alone in his bed. Sitting on the pillow beside him was his little nemesis, placed to be facing him. He had moved again, after all this time.

Before he could address it, his phone rang again. Without pulling his eyes from the duck, he reached over blindly to grab his phone before answering it, putting it to his ear without looking at the caller ID. That was a mistake. If he had seen who it was he probably wouldn't have answered.

"Lucifer, we have a problem. One of your hellspawn creatures have found their way up here into a part of heaven I didn't even know existed."

He pulled the phone away to look at the time finding it was still relatively early in the morning as Sera continued speaking hotly.

"If some poor woman hadn't been shrieking about it down the promenade I could have handled this discreetly, now I'm stuck having to make a whole investigation. You are going to collect this man and your wife and ensure you find out how it was done. And ensure it doesn't happen again."

That perked his ears up. "Lilith?"

"Yes, and I'm only calling as a courtesy nothing more. Your marital affairs are none of my concern but if they are going to continue stirring up trouble you and I are going to have problems."

A hand ran over Lucifer's face as he tried getting all the information to absorb.

"Yeah yeah. I'll talk to her."

"And the sinner? Alastor?"

Of course Ellen had been right, though he was kind of hoping she wasn't. Bambi made it into heaven of course he just had to stir up trouble while there. A hand ran down his face as he swallowed back a groan. It was too early for this right now.

"I will deal with him." He didn't hide the annoyance in his voice. He would deal with him alright. Beat the guy senseless for being so stupid. He just had to sneak off to heaven. And what the hell did Lilith need him for? First Charlie and now Lilith? This guy was really trying to get on his nerves.

"And where is the mortal girl? Should she not be with this demon?"

He let out a nervous chuckle, his hand moving to hold the little demon duck in hopes of using it to keep his anxious hands busy.

"Yeah so about that. Good news, she uh. She made it back."

"She is back to the mortal realm?"

"Yup."

"Then what is her soul's mate doing in my realm?"

"I-" Did he lie? Claim ignorance? Did Alastor already tell them why he was up there? Probably not, but it would mean he knew she was alive now. Which meant as soon as he was cast back to hell he would be turning up at his door. This was all moving much faster than he thought.

"I didn't think he could get up there," he mumbled.

"You knew he would try? And you didn't keep a closer eye on him?!"

He pulled the phone away cringing at the volume

"I'll handle it."

"Lucifer I don't think I need to remind you the seriousness of-"

"-no I know. I assure you I'll handle it right away."

"Good. They were sent to that Hazbin hotel an hour ago-"

Lucifer eyes popped from his head, jumping to his feet in a panic.

"What?!"

"Don't mess this up or we're going to have bigger problems on our hands."

She didn't bother with a farewell simply hanging up leaving him standing in the middle of his room heart racing. Shit.

He dressed quickly before portaling down to the lobby. If he was fast enough he could find Lilith and Alastor before the rest of the residents or more importantly, Charlie got up and found them.

The lobby was eerily empty considering it almost nine. Was it a weekend? Had he been too late and Charlie already found the guests? No, not likely she probably would have broken his door down if she had. So where were they?

He turned to find a shadow moving along the floor before it stopped in front of him taking the dark form of its missing master.

"You're got to be kidding me." The king's shoulders slumped. This would take forever if he was stuck having to play guessing games with the shadow.

"They're together, Alastor and the Queen?"

It nodded.

Well at least he didn't have to go in a wild goose chase for each one.

"Where?"

The shadow frowned. It likely understood this was not going to end well. It shifted to look like some sort of building.

"Hotel? Building? House?"

Each guess seemed to add to both party's frustration.

The building extended long towers.

"Castle?"

The shadow popped out of shape, nodding.

Castle? There wasn't a castle in Hell, only the palace. Oh. He should have guessed that's where they'd be.

He waved the shadow to him as he opened a portal, making sure they were both through before closing it behind him.

He found the two sitting comfortably by the fireplace in the sitting room. He was about to announce his presence when Simon bolted in, took one look at him and squeaked in surprise before falling to a knee, the bottle of wine and glasses he was precariously balancing shattering onto the floor from his sudden drop.

"Your majesty."

Lilith turned to look, only sparing him a glance before refocusing on her nails. "I was wondering when you'd show up. Simon another bottle and get that mess cleaned up before it stains the floor."

The servant jumped to his feet hurrying from the room. Lucifer snapped his fingers to clean the mess before moving further into the room taking a seat so the three could talk.

He wrung his hands nervously as the silence built. It had been years since he had spoken with Lilith and here she was, as beautiful as ever, just waiting. What does one say after such a long absence? He had to say something, the silence was stretching on uncomfortably. Was she expecting him to say something?

"H-heeey."

Idiot! He turned to glare daggers at the Radio Demon who snickered at him. Lilith only raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, it's just- it's been awhile since we-"

"Shh. I haven't had my wine yet. You know I don't like these dreary conversations without a glass."

His eyes shot back to Alastor for a second wishing he wasn't there so he could speak freely with his wife without the stupid smug look on the others face.

The three waited in silence, everyone seemingly enjoying it except the king. It felt uncomfortable and tense to him, the sound of the fireplace crackling filling the room.

Finally Simon returned and one look at the bottle and Lucifer knew what was going to play out. A favourite of Lilith's, to get the conversation started and usually to stir up some trouble. She wanted answers.

Simon popped the cork grabbing one of the glasses and started pouring.

"None for me, Simon."

Lilith raised her hand and Simon stopped pouring. "Oh? You aren't going to join me?"

His eyes moved back to the bottle. There was too much at stake right now to be so careless. The less that knew the better.

"No thank you. I think there is a lot that we need to discuss without-" His gaze turned to the unwanted company "-going into inapt details."

She hummed in thought before picking up the glass Simon had started. "Keep your secrets then." She held it out to sinner. "Alastor?"

"I prefer a good whiskey or rye myself."

"It's already been poured, can't have it going to waste now can we?"

Lucifer was surprised to find the sinner's eyes shifted to him for the briefest moment. Even more surprising was the fact he subtly shook his head insisting the sinner not take it.

Alastor cleared his throat, grin pulling a little tighter. "It would be a shame to waste such a fine vintage on a simple sinner like me. I am afraid I must decline."

Lilith's eyes narrowed. "Alastor, I will not ask again."

Lucifer gave her a confused look. "If he doesn't want-"

"He doesn't get a choice, he's going to drink it. Isn't that right, pet?"

Lucifer watched as Alastor grabbed the glass downing it in one gulp before the glass was placed harshly on the table next to him. He was glaring daggers at Lilith.

"Good," she cooed. Lilith leaned back, getting more comfortable.

"Now my dear husband, since you don't want to open up I don't care to hear a word from you. I'm looking for answers and if you don't want to be honest I don't see the point in asking."

"I have never lied to you Lilith, I don't see why now you think I would."

She ignored him, turning her body away from him and toward Alastor.

His eyes narrowed at the sinner wondering what secrets he would learn, stuff to keep the bellhop in check. Good luck asshole you can't lie now.

"Tell me Alastor, how did we get found in my little oasis?"

"I had my mother direct the seraphim's attention to it." His eyes widened in shock. Before he even had a chance to register why he had so openly admitted it, he was yanked from his seat onto his hands and knees on the floor by the gold collar on his neck.

"The wine," Alastor muttered to himself, realizing what was going on. Of course. He should have known, though he didn't really have a choice. He did have a better understanding now of what Ellen had meant. There was no time to change or tweak answers, it was simply expelled from him without thought. He didn't like that. There were far too many things he'd like to keep to himself and with no control of his answers it put a lot at jeopardy.

"Yes, the very same I insisted that foolish girl of yours take. Though she was a lot less entertaining." Lilith stood above him glaring. "Now, why exactly would you do something like that?"

"It was the fastest way back into Hell."

Lucifer watched horrified as Lilith took her heel and crushed the hand in front of her, the heel skewering it to the floor. The Radio Demon made not a sound, glaring at the shoe with hatred, ears pinned back. He had to hand it to the overlord, he took it like a champ.

The shadow stayed by the chair glaring at the woman that had his master in chains. He hated this woman, she was cruel and wicked, a stark contrast to his previous soul owner. He missed her but all he could do now was watch helplessly from the sidelines, unable to assist his master in any way, aside from angry chitters and daggered looks.

"Plotting behind my back, were we?"

"Ye-" He didn't get to finish the word before his head was yanked up by the hair to look at Lilith, the look of hatred mirrored between the two.

"And what else have you been planning behind my back, hmm?"

"Breaking the contract."

Lilith leaned back laughing, throwing his head down to the floor. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"I don't think it can be done."

She leaned down towering over the sinner, her foot twisting sharply in his hand, the action making a sickening sound.

"It can't," she assured him.

Lucifer bit his tongue, turning away. It was possible, something else he kept to himself. He didn't need sinners lining up at the gates begging him to break them out of their deals. They were to live with their own choices and consequences. As the silence stretched on he turned back to the others but his eyes were fixed in a scowl somewhere on the floor.

"It can."

He didn't need to look to know he had acquired the full attention of both.

"You cannot break this contract, I made sure it was unbreakable."

"You know that I can." He finally looked up. To no surprise Alastor's face remained neutral, unreadable. Lilith on the other hand had her gaze narrowed at him, daring him to continue.

"Well don't get his hopes up, tell him what happens if you were to do it."

Lucifer's face grimaced slightly, knowing if he had a choice, Alastor would probably choose to stay with her, the price far too great. Had he been almost anyone else, it would have been a no-brainer, but an overlord? He shook his head and Lilith's expression shifted to one of dark satisfaction. She knew it was likely Alastor wouldn't take him up on the offer. He remained quiet.

"Very well, I'll tell him."

Alastor's ear twitched toward Lilith, the only sign he was listening as his eyes remained on the King of Hell, darkening as she explained.

"If you did decide to break the contract this way then you lose every other contract you have. You'll go back to being nothing, starting from the bottom. No more overlord status, no more fear and respect. You lose all the power you've gained from them. Which I'm sure you don't need reminding, is the only thing that keeps people alive down here. Not a very smart move is it?"

Lucifer jumped in hoping to play to the dealmaker's interest. "We can make a deal. I break the contract and in return, a favour of my choosing."

Alastor didn't respond but Lucifer knew he was mulling it over. The guy always had to make sure there was no funny business. To be honest, he'd rather have Alastor take his time, not respond here. Maybe the two could discuss it in depth later.

Lilith chuckled, pulling harshly on the chain around Alastor's neck causing him to have to shift to stay balanced, the heel in his hand stretching the hole wider from the movement.

"You know nothing of Alastor. He won't do anything unless there is something of great value for him. You may be the King-" her tone shifted to one of mocking. "-but you have nothing he wants."

Lilith was right, he needed something to sweeten the deal. Of course Alastor wanted out of this deal, but in exchange for all his other deals, power and status, it was too steep a price.

He quickly sifted through ideas and thoughts trying to find something that would entice him to do it. It only took a few moments before the answer came to him. The cause of both of their problems.

"Ellen's alive."

"You knew?!" It was like a switch had been switched, the composed and refined sinner now a flustered, angry mess. Alastor tried getting to his feet but didn't make it, as Lilith pulled her heel from his hand and kicked his chest, causing him to land on his back. He pushed back to his knee glaring at the King.

Alastor's shadow seemed excited to have it confirmed, the reaction a sharp contrast to its master. It whizzed around the chair, chittering excitedly. The sight momentarily brought a grin to Lucifer's face. It seemed Ellen had captured the heart of more than just the Radio Demon, his shadow looking like an excited puppy.

Alastor took no notice, his mind and thoughts elsewhere. All the emotions he had refused to even acknowledge seemed to be rising up from his chest. He had spent months scouting all of Hell and devising a plan to get into heaven and here Lucifer never once thought it would be wise to tell him that she was alive, she was okay? What else was he keeping? He was going to find out even if he had to torture the information out of him.

His jaw clenched, eyes narrowed at the short king who was now trying to avoid his gaze. The little snake knew more than he was letting on.

"How long? How long did you know?"

Lucifer really tried to keep his gaze from the sinner on the floor, but he couldn't help it, his eyes darting back to him on their own accord. He knew from the moment Xander was born but to say that would admit there was indeed a child and that would lead to more questions from Lilith and right now with Alastor unable to keep things to himself, he needed to be careful with his answer.

He swallowed nervously hoping he wasn't about to mess this up even more.

"Since she died."

Alastor felt burning in his chest as his anger built. He knew all along and said nothing, leading them all to believe she was forever gone. "You insolit, callous little-"

"I'm sorry," Lilith interrupted, gaze flipping between the two. "She died in some capacity, you couldn't have sold your soul otherwise. So how is it she is still alive?"

Lucifer opened his mouth to reply, unsure how he was going to lie his way through it when Alastor spoke up first.

"I don't know."

That was a much better answer than what he would have come up with, and it seemed to be enough to silence Lilith for the time being.

The room became quiet, some heavy breaths from Alastor the only real sound to be heard. Lilith fell back into her chair with a huff, waving the chain away.

"Sit," she gestured for Alastor to get up off the floor and retake his seat.

With the chain finally vanished, Alastor brought a hand to his neck, taking a few seconds to recover from the tightness that was no longer present before slowly dusting himself off and falling back into his seat. His gaze was focused on the hole in his hand that was slowly closing itself.

Lucifer's eyes locked onto the hand-shaped blood stain on the carpet for a few moments before he followed the others taking a seat, waiting to see what would happen next.