Work Text:
*ding*
Rory walked into the penthouse still amped up from the morning sparring session with Auntie Maze and spotted her little brother JD sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone. "Hey, where's Mom and Dad?" she asked after noticing how quiet it was.
He looked up from his phone and said "I think Mom had to run to the station to do something quick, and Dad went to get food to cook for dinner tonight."
Rory smiled. "Perfect." she said as she started shifting the coffee table out of the way "I just learned a new move and I want to test it out. Spar with me."
JD smirked, "Okay, but no wings this time. Mom lost it when she saw the cuts from last time." He thought he could win no problem if her extra sharp wings were out of the equation.
"Fine." Rory agreed.
He put his phone down and stood up. They were only two years apart, but at sixteen, he was already taller than her. They started circling each other. They both loved testing their strength with each other in this way because they couldn't really go full strength in their "human" lives, there was no one else like them except for their cousin Charlie, so the three of them regularly found fun ways to test their limits.
JD finally lunged to grab Rory. She gripped his arm, turned her body and used the leverage to flip him on his back. She then put him in a hold that had his own arm wrapped around his neck.
"Ha, it worked!" Rory laughed.
Just then, with a small flash of light, JD zapped her grip with his lightbringer power.
"Ouch! JD!" she let him go and looked at the burn on her skin. She turned to glare at him even though it was already starting to heal.
"What? It's not my fault you lost out in the powers department, we only said no wings." JD said with a raised eyebrow as he got to his feet.
Rory went still. "Wait, You think your power is better than mine?"
"Well, yeah. You win in the wings department, they are pretty badass, but when it comes to powers, you can't really use yours in a fight, and I've got fire and light at my fingertips." he said snapping his fingertips alight with a white flame. "Even Charlie's "I can feel your feelings" power can have a bad guy lying on the ground purring like a kitten in the sun if he touches them. How would you even weaponize your time jumping? The best you can do with it is a quick getaway. It's kind of lame. Face it Rory, I've got you beat on powers." JD smirked.
Rory looked her brother up and down and got a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
"Oh really? You want to bet?" Rory asked, dead serious.
JD knew that look, that tone. She was scheming, but he didn't think that she could prove her power could beat his, so he said "Sure. Fifty Bucks."
Rory nodded, "Fifty Bucks." She turned around, time jumped, and was gone.
Less than a minute later she jumped back into the room with a book in her hands. She tossed the book to him with a smile and said "Pay up."
JD looked at the book in his hands. It was a photo album. He opened it and started flipping through it. At first it seemed normal, Mom holding baby Rory while T kissed her on the head, Rory's first steps, her first Halloween, but as he turned more pages through years of birthdays, school plays, holidays, and graduations, he realized that he was no where to be found. He was not there. He was never born. He sat down hard on the couch, stunned. She used her power to wipe him from existence. This wins, she wins. Her power is so much more than he realized. It's actually scary."Yes... you win." he said still shocked.
"Face it little bro, you only exist because I allow it. You're lucky I like you." she said with a devilish grin.
He kept flipping through the pages and realized that someone else is missing from the album, and he went pale. "Please tell me that you didn't kill Dad to win fifty bucks."
"What? No! I just got him to go to hell for like fifty years."
*ding*
Chloe and Lucifer entered the penthouse carrying bags of groceries and walked towards the bar/kitchen area.
"Rory, that's like half a million years hell time!" JD said in disbelief.
"Half a million years hell time? What exactly are we talking about guys?" Chloe said, curious about why they seemed so riled up.
JD and Rory looked towards their mother and froze, they both stammered a bit, but said nothing, and stood there looking guilty. Then JD tried to casually hide the album behind his back, but Chloe caught the motion.
She held out her hand and said "Whatever it is, hand it over."
JD reluctantly gave her the album.
Chloe started flipping through it. She smiled at the first few pictures, but as she turned through more pages, the smile fell away. Looking at the pictures of a life she lived without Lucifer, without her son, physically hurt. Tears started to well as she stared at her own face as a single mom in a family portrait that was missing so much of her family. She looked at her daughter and in her scariest Mom voice said, "Aurora Jane Morningstar, what did you do?"
Lucifer stopped unpacking groceries and peered at the book over Chloe's shoulder to see what could be so upsetting.
"JD said that my power was lame because I couldn't use it in a fight and that his was better, so I bet him fifty bucks that my power was better." Rory said as if that were a reasonable explanation.
"You erased your father and brother to win a bet?" Chloe was stunned.
"I only erased JD."
"As if that's better. So you what? You just broke up your Dad and Me?" Chloe's emotions swirled through a combination of anger, hurt and disappointment.
"Not completely. Don't worry Mom, he still had cartoon hearts in his eyes for you. I swear." and in a much smaller voice Rory said "I just sort of sent him to Hell until you died. But it only happened once, I put it right back. I fixed it! You guys are standing right here!"
Chloe closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Rory doesn't understand what she did. She felt Lucifer's hand touch her shoulder and turned to him, putting her her forehead to his chest and her arms around his waist to center herself.
Lucifer hugged Chloe to him and said "Rory darling, you are distressing your Mum. You have a very powerful gift that isn't meant to be taken lightly. I do not want to have to involve your Uncle Amenadiel in cleaning up any time jump shenanigans."
"But Dad, I already fixed it." Rory said rolling her eyes.
Chloe gathered her patience. The betting and the rivalry were much smaller issues than Rory not understanding. She released Lucifer and picked up the album. She opened it to one of the family portraits and stood before Rory. "Rory, I need you to really think about and understand what I am about to say." She pointed to herself in the portrait. "This person is me. There is no fake me. This is our family. They are real people. Just because you took it back doesn't mean that this wasn't their life, their reality. That their suffering wasn't real. You had us all live out a life where your Dad spent half a million years in Hell without us and without your brother at all. And what was it all for? I want you to really think about it. Think about the things you choose to do to the lives of the very real people you encounter when using your power."
The sound of wings had everyone looking towards the balcony to see Charlie landing with a surfboard in one hand. He could of course sense the tension and decided to break it. "Hey guys. Hey Aunt Chloe, Uncle Luci." he said with a small wave.
Chloe sighed.
"Hey Charlie, how are you, how's your mom doing?" Chloe asked.
"She's good, I think she might be getting a little bored since she cut her hours back." Charlie replied, shrugging his wings away.
"Actually, I might be able to help with that, I have a few Hell cases I want her to look at for me, at her convenience of course." said Lucifer.
"That actually sounds perfect, I'll let her know." Charlie said. He looked back and forth between his cousins and said "Are you guys ready to go?"
"Go? Go where?" Rory asked.
"Charlie said he found a spot with twenty footers, and every once in a while two will combine into a sixty!" JD explained with excitement. "Are you game?"
"Hell, yeah! I just need to get changed." Rory said as she took off towards her bedroom.
"Is it alright if we go?" JD turned to his parents.
"Yes." Chloe said. Just as he starts running off to grab his gear, she says "Wait. Come back here a second. I would like a word with you first John."
He trotted back to his mother trying to hide a smile.
She looked up at her son. He was still boyish looking, a skinny, teenage Lucifer with her and her dad's sandy hair and blue-green eyes, and looking at those pictures without him in them hurt her heart. And he was still trying not to smile.
"And what exactly is so amusing kiddo?" she asked.
"It's just one of my favorite things, when you are the most powerful being in a room full of celestials." JD smiled and kissed her cheek.
"It really is awe inspiring, isn't it?" Lucifer said to JD with a smile.
God, she loved them. "Alright, enough distracting me you two." Chloe picked up the album and held the portrait out to her son. "Tell me you understand the full gravity of your sister's power now."
"Yes Mom, believe me, I really do get it. No more bets about powers." he said as he looked at the creepy picture. He looked around to see if Rory was in earshot, "She's actually a little scary to me now." he whispered. He gave his mom a quick hug, then went to grab his gear and gestured for Charlie to follow him.
Rory was about to walk back into the room, but stopped just to watch her parents for a moment. She had started thinking about what her Mom had said about it really being them in that timeline.
Lucifer came up behind Chloe, wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled into her neck and said "Oh Captain, My Captain are you alright?"
"Mmm, after looking at that album, I might need to be clingy for the rest of the night." she said relaxing into his embrace.
Lucifer practically purred "Cling as much as you like Detective."
Chloe turned in his arms and just started looking at him. She raised her hands to touch his face. She ran her fingertips through his hair. She loved him so much. She tilted her head to one side, "You know, I think maybe it's time to sprinkle some greys at your temples."
"But Detective, we are only just starting to look like a cougar and her boy toy!" Lucifer objected.
Chloe rolled her eyes and giggled. "It's not about that, I'm just thinking about when you stop by the station. I know most people are oblivious because of your magnetism, but just in case someone notices. After I retire, I won't care."
"Deal!" Lucifer said with a huge grin.
"Wait, what exactly did I just agree to?" she said searching his eyes.
"That when you retire we can go full boy toy cougar role play." he said happily.
Chloe laughed and gave him an eskimo kiss in response.
"So what's on the menu tonight in the "culinary food odyssey around the world" you have planned for me?" Chloe teased.
"You cannot blame me if I want that delightful tongue of yours to experience all of the pleasures that the earthly plane has to offer, can you?" he said with a leer and a boop on the nose. "However, tonight we will be taking a break from where we were with European cuisine because the Urchin is visiting. I asked her if there was anything that she wanted me to make especially for her, and can you believe she asked for the mac and cheese I made for them when they were small? I swear she delights in trying to trip me up. Needless to say, of course there will be mac and cheese, and the only acceptable dish to go with it is to go full barbecue."
"Mmm, that sounds really good actually." she said as she snuggled deeper into his arms.
Rory would never admit it out loud, but she loved how adorkable her parents were over one another. As she observed their interaction now and thought about it actually being them in that timeline, she finally felt a pang of remorse. She realized that what she did to them was horrible. Cruel even. Guilt hits her full force.
"Okay, fine! I get it!" Rory burst into the room startling her parents. "If they are really you, then what I did was wrong, and I'm sorry. No more unnecessary suffering, I promise."
"That's good to hear honey, thank you for promising." Chloe walked over and hugged her daughter. Rory hugged her back.
JD and Charlie came back into the room, ready to leave.
Chloe and Rory exchanged smiles. Rory wiped her eyes and threw her "Not Today Satan" shirt over her swim top and went to leave with them.
"You guys need to be back by five. Trix is coming for dinner, and she really wants to see you. You too Charlie, if you're free." Chloe said as they grabbed their boards and prepared to take off from the balcony. "Oh, and can you guys please stop telling her that you can just take her into space, because last time I checked neither one of you are NASA engineers, and she is a human being."
Rory and JD both smiled at that and said "Yes Mom." And then they took off.
Lucifer wrapped his arms around her once again, "You were incredible with them love, they really were the devil's spawn today."
"They are good kids, they weren't intentionally doing harm, but JD's not wrong about her power being scary." Chloe leaned into him.
"The scariest bit is how easily she outfoxed "past" us. That was a manipulation worthy of my Dad."
Chloe pulled him close and locked her arms around him, she looked at the album on the counter and said "I wasn't joking about being clingy. She got you to leave me. She somehow sent you to hell and you went. I'm never letting you go. You belong right here with me."
"Heart and soul, Detective." He said and kissed her with all the love he possessed.