Chapter Text
‘Lucifer! Would you please stop your sulking?’ Chloe Decker was trying to usher her daughter and her partner through rush hour at Heathrow Airport. Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly now that Chloe thought about it, her nine year old daughter was not the one that needed reprimanding. Rather, Trixie had been on her best behaviour ever since the idea of taking a vacation to London with Lucifer had come up. Lucifer, however, had sported a pout ever since Chloe made it clear that they were not flying in his private jet. Speaking of Lucifer, Chloe threw a quick look over her shoulder to see if the man in question still followed. He did, which actually surprised Chloe.
‘Detec- Chloe, if we had just taken my plane we wouldn’t have to go through all of this bloody nonsense.’ He mentioned around him, gesturing to just about anything in sight. He did not like having to hand off his suitcases and risk losing them. He did not like the stinking, sweaty, hurrying mass of people. And he did definitely not like the radiographic scanning machines, because they somehow detected shadow fragments near the attachments of his wings and would subsequently start making that horrible screeching noise.
‘I already explained to you, multiple times in fact, that I do not want Trixie getting used to that kind of luxury.’
‘But- ’ Lucifer tried.
‘No, Lucifer.’ Chloe intervened. ‘Now be a good devil and go grab our suitcases, will you?’ Chloe smiled, being an insider was nice sometimes, when it did not result in an existential crisis. Without losing the pout Lucifer turned around and stalked away.
‘I’m going with him, mommy.’ Trixie announced and bounced after Lucifer before Chloe had the time to answer. The detective smiled and relaxed. The worst part was done with, she could enjoy two weeks of London before having to worry about the trip back. She watched Trixie grab Lucifer’s hand, the man tried to shake it loose. When that didn’t work he bent down, linked his arm around her waist, and carried her under his arm like one would with a basketball. Chloe could hear Trixie’s giggle even after they had disappeared into the mass of people.
With the increasing distance the taxi put between them and the airport Lucifer’s mood seemed to lighten. By the time they had reached Lucifer’s estate he was back to his normal self. Or rather, more cheerful than his normal self. In the car he had let Trixie doze off against his shoulder. After stepping out he picked her up and put her on his shoulders while carrying the bags inside, risking getting his hair ruined by her restless hands.
Chloe had agreed to stay at Lucifer’s mansion in London. She hadn’t even known he had property outside of Los Angeles, let alone London, until he offered it. By that time Chloe had already been knee deep in researching possible hotels and was grateful to take any option that had a guarantee of quality.
After putting their stuff in the bedroom Chloe looked out the window and realised it was barely noon. In hopes of beating the jetlag Chloe had booked a red-eye flight, something Lucifer fundamentally disagreed with. However, it did mean that they still had most of the day left to start exploring the city. Or follow Lucifer around, because he seemed to know the city much better than Chloe had initially thought.
On the way back to Lucifer’s place, after having had dinner at some kind of fancy Japanese place in Soho, Trixie was trying not to doze off against Lucifer’s chest. He was holding her in one arm like she weighed nothing, his other hand brushing against Chloe’s every once in a while. Now that Chloe thought about it, Trixie probably did weigh nothing to him, super strength and all that.
Lucifer had suggested they’d walk back to the mansion, something about letting the food settle and sleeping better. Not that Chloe worried about not sleeping well, she was exhausted. Trixie was trying to keep herself awake by describing everything she saw at full speed. Right after Lucifer announced they were almost there, she had wriggled herself out of his arm and had bounced up to the door of an old looking bookshop. A.Z. Fell and Co. it read on the sign above the door.
‘Look, mommy, a bookshop! Can we go inside? Please?’ asked Trixie enthusiastically.
‘It’s probably closed, honey. We can come back tomorrow.’ Chloe tried to reason with her daughter, in the meantime shooting Lucifer a meaningful look.
‘Your mother is right, spawn. We will come back tom-’ Lucifer was cut off by Trixie pushing the door, which swung open with a creak of the hinges. ‘It’s open.’ Lucifer finished, looking confused.
‘Please, mommy?’ Trixie pleaded. Chloe really regretted letting Lucifer teach her those puppy eyes.
‘Alright,’ Chloe gave in, ‘but not too long.’
‘Yes! Thanks, mommy.’ Trixie bounced in. Chloe looked to her left, expecting to meet Lucifer’s gaze, but the man was side-tracked by what seemed like an old Bentley parked on the side of the road.
‘Go on, take a look. We’ll be inside.’ She gently nudged him with her elbow before also heading inside. Lucifer watched her go, but his gaze was drawn back to the car and he decided he could leave her alone for a bit. What could happen in a bookshop, anyway?
Aziraphale, who was sitting on the couch at the back of his shop and was rereading Virginia Woolf’s Orlando even though he had read it countless times already, heard the door open and assumed it was one of the few students who sometimes used his shop as a quiet place to study. The angel was already deciding to finish his chapter, or at least a few more pages because it was Woolf and her chapters were quite long, and make some more hot cocoa. The footsteps, Aziraphale noted quickly after, were too light and quick to be a fully grown human. His suspicion was confirmed by a second the time the door opened, followed by a gentle gasp, a little hesitation, and a soft whisper. The child whispered back. Aziraphale would give them a moment to look around, his book was too interesting to close anyway. The angel resumed his reading, one hand holding the book, the other going back to absent-mindedly stroking the mop of red hair in his lap like one would unconsciously stroke a forgotten cat. Aziraphale was quite pleased about the fact that Crowley had grown out his hair again. The angel liked being able to run his fingers through the red locks without entangling them in hair products. It was an added bonus that the demon in question liked the fingers massaging his skull. At this moment, however, Crowley couldn’t care less. You see, Crowley did not completely agree with Aziraphale’s hypothesis. Or rather, he didn’t care what form the life that had wandered into the shop had taken. All Crowley thought about was the wave of dark celestial energy that rolled into the shop and crashed into his chest. With incredible speed Crowley moved to sit up on the couch, knocking the book out of Aziraphale’s hand in the process. The angels gentle exclamation of shock was muffled by one of Crowley’s hands over his mouth and a frantic ‘Ssshhht!’ The look of pure terror on Crowley’s face did Aziraphale reconsider his reaction and he stayed silent, partly also because there was still a hand over his mouth. A small part of the angels mind registered the slight cold emitted by the ring on Crowley’s fourth finger, but most of his brain was greatly concerned by the now completely yellow eyes staring towards the entrance of the shop.
‘I feel him.’ Crowley half whispered, half hissed. Even though he knew whispering wouldn’t make a difference if this really was who he thought it was. Aziraphale, by lack of a better option, nodded. ‘It’s different, but it’s him. Angel, we have to go. Now!’
‘Mmpff.’ was the sound Aziraphale produced. Crowley quickly dropped his hand. ‘Go,’ said Aziraphale, ‘but I can’t leave, there are people in the shop.’ Crowley, now standing and ready to run, responded with bafflement.
‘People in the- Angel, I’m talking about the Lord of Darkness, Satan Himself-’
‘Do you mean Lucifer?’ a small voice said. ‘He’s right outside.’ The angel and demon whirled around and were met with a sight neither of them expected. A little girl with pigtails and a pink shirt that read I’m with Lucifer was stood in the doorway from the shop to the back room. When both men didn’t move a muscle the girl continued. ‘I know I shouldn’t intrude, I’m sorry. But I heard you talking about Lucifer.’ Crowley was the first to unfreeze. Still looking at the girl he said:
‘You feel like-’ before cutting himself off and turning to Aziraphale. ‘She feels like-’ he turned back to the girl again. ‘You feel like him.’ he finished.
‘Well yes,’ the girl said like it was the most obvious thing in the world to have the aura of the devil lingering around you. ‘He carried me from the restaurant to here.’ Crowley, still very much on edge but slightly less terrified now that the source of the celestial energy was identified, was confused to say the least. The hairs on the back of his neck told him the this wave of energy meant the arrival of something Very Bad and strongly recommended he’d bolt out the door as if his life depended on it. His eyes, on the other hand, saw nothing but a little girl. And especially after Adam’s whole I-am-the-anticrist-but-I-refure-to-destroy-the-world-so-screw-you-satan act Crowley firmly believed no child had even a grain of evil in them. Still lost in this duality it was Aziraphale that turned to the girl.
‘Welcome to the shop, my dear.’ Aziraphale gave the girl a soft, but completely fake smile. ‘Are you here all alone?’ That was a question Aziraphale already knew the answer to, after all he had heard a grown up enter the shop not seconds after the child, but let’s just say Aziraphale’s mind was still processing things, so he might have forgotten.
‘No,’ the girl said, ‘my mum is here too. And Lucifer is right outside.’ At the mention of his boss’s name Crowley’s back straightened and his jaw clenched.
‘Well, I’m afraid we have to close.’ Aziraphale started, ‘There is some place we have to be. But you’re welcome to come back any time, my dear.’ The girl nodded. Aziraphale turned to Crowley and grabbed his hand in an effort to comfort.
‘Is he alright, mister?’ the girl asked, sounding genuinely concerned. ‘He looks like he’s seen a ghost.’
‘He will be fine-’ A man appeared behind the little girl. And Aziraphale very nearly discorporated from just the presence alone. The ethereal power the man exuded was immense, the angel barely restrained the sudden urge to fall to his knees at the man’s feet. He felt Crowley’s knees buckle and was just in time to catch him before he collapsed. The man, however, didn’t even seem to notice them.
(Of course Lucifer did notice them. He had felt the ethereal presence the moment he had entered the shop. Which is why he was much more concerned about the wellbeing of Chloe and her spawn then he was intrigued by the actual ethereal presence.)
‘Spawn,’ A small voice in the back of Aziraphale’s mind noticed that was a very odd thing to call a little girl. ‘Are you alright?’ the man asked. Aziraphale’s mind provided him with the information that this was not just a man, this was Satan-with-a-capital-S, the Lord of Darkness, the First Fallen Angel.
‘Lucifer!’ the girl exclaimed and attached herself to the man’s hip before answering his question. ‘I’m fine. But I think mister Bookshop-owner is not.’ The girl mentioned to the pair still standing on the other side of the couch. Lucifer followed her finger and his eyes landed on Aziraphale shoving Crowley behind him and looking defiantly at the man in the doorway. Multiple scenario’s ran through the angels mind in a matter of milliseconds, none of were going to end well. What happened, however, was not calculated in any of those scenarios. First of all, Satan-in-human-form did not move, aside from picking up the girl and putting her on his hip. Secondly, the girl wrapped her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder. Thirdly, Satan spoke in a soft, slightly confused, and decidedly not satanic voice.
‘Crowley,’ he said, ‘is that you?’ Aziraphale felt Crowley move out from behind him, but refused to let go of his hand.
‘Yes, boss.’ was all Crowley said.
‘Boss?’ Satan-in-human-form chuckled, ‘We both know I’m not your boss anymore, Crowley. Please just call me Lucifer.’ For the first time since Satan-in-human-form, or Lucifer, came in Crowley looked up. Aziraphale felt a bit of the pressure leaving the room, the urge to fall to his knees disappeared.
‘Lucifer …’ the demon tasted the word, but otherwise kept silent. Aziraphale took the lead.
‘Look, I don’t know why you’re here or what it is you want, but if you want Crowley you will have to go through me.’ It all sounded a lot braver than Aziraphale felt at that moment, but this was about Crowley, and nobody touched his Crowley.
‘What would I want Crowley for? And why would I want to go through you?’ Lucifer questioned.
‘I’m not letting you- wait, what?’ Aziraphale realised mid-sentence that Lucifer did not say what Aziraphale had expected him to say.
‘Why would I take Crowley?’ Lucifer repeated, looking befuddled. ‘I didn’t even know he still existed until a minute ago. No offence.’ That last part was directed at Crowley, who answered automatically.
‘None taken.’
‘Then why are you here?’ Aziraphale asked slowly.
‘I’m on vacation.’ Lucifer said as if it explained everything. After a moment of complete silence he continued, ‘I promised the spawn a vacation to London, so here we are. I’ve always loved London.’ The last part he said more to himself than to anyone else. A woman appeared from behind Lucifer and put a hand on the child’s back, who, Aziraphale noticed, had dozed off on his shoulder.
‘Lucifer, I think we should go back before she uses you as her pillow.’ Aziraphale watched as an expression of pure love spread across the devil’s face when he smiled down at the woman and nodded.
‘Of course, love.’ was all he said, before looking back at the black and white pair. ‘We have to take our leave now, but we will be back tomorrow. I’d like to have a word with you both.’ A look from the woman made him add a little ‘If you don’t mind.’ Crowley and Aziraphale could do nothing but watch them leave. With another creaking of the hinges the door closed behind them.