Chapter Text
“Good morning!”
“And still with the white dress,” grumbled Lucifer, before saying more loudly, “And a good morning to you, too, brother. May I ask what brings you here so … relatively … early?”
“It’s after two in the afternoon, Luci.”
“My point stands.”
Amenadiel sighed. “I know you didn’t get to sleep ’til late, Luci. I was here, remember? But I have an important favor to ask.”
“Wow, you really are trying to be a different kind of God, aren’t you?”
Amenadiel rolled his eyes. “You hadn’t figured that out yet, Luci?”
“Sorry, yes,” admitted Lucifer, adding a salute in his brother’s direction with the glass of whiskey he held. “And for what it’s worth, I definitely approve of the boots on the ground style of godhood, if not the outfit.”
“Boots on the ground,” said Amenadiel, as if trying it on for size. “I like that. Yes. I believe that’s going to be my approach.”
“Excellent,” said Lucifer, only slightly sarcastically. “So, what sort of actively involved god favor are we talking here?”
“I want you to go to Hell.”
“From anyone else, to anyone else, that would be a highly offensive statement,” said Lucifer. “But from you to me, it’s just kind of obvious.”
“And….”
“Yes?”
“I want you to take Trixie with you.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Not permanently. Just for your first day of work, so to speak.”
Lucifer shook his finger at his brother, then downed the rest of his drink. “That sounds only slightly less insane.”
“I understand, but….”
“For one thing, she might be the child of a miracle, but otherwise, she’s a perfectly ordinary human. I took Chloe, but that was only when she had your necklace to protect her.”
“Listen, she’ll be fine. I’ve extended my protection to her.”
“Well … thank you for that,” said Lucifer, “But … Hell?”
“She’ll be perfectly safe.”
“You swear to this?”
“I do.”
Lucifer sighed, poured himself another drink. “All right. But why? What possible reason can there be to expose the child to … all that? And right now? Right after she’s been through a—nay, I should say several—traumatic experiences?”
“Yes, now.”
“And…?”
“And what?”
“Are you going to tell me why? And what exactly she should be doing while she’s in my gloriously dismal kingdom?”
“Well,” Amenadiel hesitated. Finally, he sighed, his shoulders slumping a little. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
Amenadiel threw his hands out. “No, Luci, I don’t. I don’t know.”
“Why in the name of you or me not?”
Amenadiel sighed again, took the drink Lucifer offered, and sat heavily on the couch. “Listen, this whole omniscience thing isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.”
“No?” Lucifer sat in the chair across from him, twirling his half-empty glass.
“Honestly, I think Father let us think he knew everything just so we wouldn’t give him trouble.”
Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Well, that would be typical, wouldn’t it?”
Amenadiel, usually so ready to leap to their father’s defense, just shook his head. “I don’t know.” He laughed. “And isn’t that something?”
“Great,” observed Lucifer. “You’ve discovered the wisdom of admitting that you know you don’t know everything.”
Amenadiel nodded, his expression serious. “Yes.”
“Okay. So, in that case, what do you or do you not know that’s making you tell me to take a child to Hell with me?”
“So … it’s hard to explain, but I can see certain options, certain outcomes, pathways….”
“Yes, and…?”
“This isn’t improv, Luci. Give me a moment.”
Lucifer snickered. “Improv with God. That should be a thing. I think we could definitely sell it.”
Amenadiel rolled his eyes. “Right. So, the point is, I can tell you that it will help one or the other—or possibly both—of you in a significant way. But I can’t tell you what exactly that is. I’m still figuring this stuff out. Time, and probability, and infinite variations…. It’s complicated. But trust me when I say I’m not trying to give you a command that you should follow blindly, nor am I trying to be … mysterious. I simply don’t know. But I do know that Trixie will be safe, she will not be harmed either physically or emotionally, and something good will come of it.”
Lucifer set aside his drink, steepled his fingers, and leaned forward to look at his brother intently. “I do trust you, brother,” he said. “And I do appreciate your … candor. But I think in this case, it’s not me you need to convince.”
“No?” asked Amenadiel, then shook his head. “Of course, I would not ask you to do this without Chloe’s approval.”
“Hello?” Chloe said, coming down the steps, wrapped in one of Lucifer’s robes, while toweling her hair dry. “Amenadiel.” She nodded in greeting. “And just what is it that I need to approve?”
“Just a little field trip for the spawn,” drawled Lucifer.
“Field trip?” Chloe winced a little as she sat on the chair next to Lucifer, half on his lap, and ducked under his arm to be tucked against him.
He frowned down at her. “Are you still hurting?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said.
Amenadiel leaned forward, put out a hand across the coffee table, hovering it over Chloe’s wounded shoulder. “May I?” he asked.
Chloe sighed, trying unsuccessfully to hide another wince. “Sure,” she said.
Amenadiel put his hand just above the wound, and Lucifer saw a faint glow, felt the warmth of power. “Better?” he asked.
Chloe’s sigh this time was of relief. “Yes,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Yes, brother,” said Lucifer. “Thank you.”
Amenadiel nodded, smiled. “Of course.”
“Could you—” Chloe began.
“I’ve already done the same for Beatrice,” said Amenadiel, sitting back. “I did it last night, actually.”
For once, Lucifer wasn’t inclined to call out his brother’s meddling behavior. “Thank you,” he said instead.
“Of course,” repeated Amenadiel. “I didn’t want the child to stay in pain. I’m sorry you all had to go through that. If there had been a way to avoid it, I would have….”
“You have already saved us a great deal of grief and suffering, brother,” said Lucifer. He couldn’t even express what it meant to him that Amenadiel had spared them the forced separation that had seemed inevitable last night. “I am eternally in your debt for what you did for us—for Rory.”
“You owe me no debt, Luci,” said Amenadiel. “You know I did it out of love for you and yours.”
“I … I….”
Chloe saved him from having to come up with the words by crossing over to the couch and throwing her arms around Amenadiel and giving him a fierce hug. “We know,” she said. “But thank you anyway, and whatever it is you’re asking of us now, of course we’ll do it.”
“I … am grateful for the sentiment, Chloe,” said Amenadiel once she’d released him and gone back to Lucifer. “But it does involve your daughter, so perhaps I should explain….”
“What about me?” demanded a new voice as Beatrice peeked her head out at the top of the stairs, rubbing her eyes.
Amenadiel smiled at her as Chloe rushed up to put a hand to her daughter’s cheek and ask her quietly how she was feeling.
Lucifer closed his eyes briefly against the sudden swell of feeling that washed over him at the sight. He still couldn’t quite believe that he was allowed to stay and be a part of their lives—be a part of Rory’s life too. The sympathetic look Amenadiel aimed him would, at one point in time, have provoked his ire, but he found himself grateful now, and not just because of his brother’s actions last night, but because of the way their whole relationship had evolved. He even returned his brother’s slight smile, though he did add a bit of a smirk at Beatrice’s enquiring look. Go ahead and explain to the Decker women why you want one of them to go to Hell, he thought.
“You said something about me?” asked Beatrice again.
“He wants me to take you to Hell,” drawled Lucifer.
“What?” demanded Chloe.
Beatrice just blinked. “Hell?” she asked. “I can see Hell?”
“Briefly,” exclaimed Amenadiel, holding his hands up defensively as Chloe rounded on him. “You’ll hardly even know they’re gone.”
“Oh, I’ll know,” muttered Chloe, before taking a deep breath. “Okay,” she said finally, turning back to Amenadiel, keeping an admirably even tone. “What exactly is going on here? What on earth—I mean, what in all the realms—are you thinking? Why does Trixie need to go to Hell for any amount of time?”
Amenadiel sighed, and Lucifer almost felt sorry for him.