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A lone, forlorn looking hula girl sashayed her hips erratically as the car slid back into park.
Perhaps “slid” was the wrong term.
The engine whined and groaned, the transmission struggling to switch gears as Trixie threw the shaft back into first, her foot slamming down on the clutch. The car lurched and came to a sudden stop as the engine stalled.
Lucifer’s jaw muscles twitched as his teeth clenched together. Even for an immortal, that had been quite enough of that. Surely her foot had gone straight through the floor board.
Trixie, using her free hand to swipe her thick bangs from her forehead, gave a huff of an annoyance as she turned in her seat.
“The stick thing keeps getting stuck, this is not MY fault.”
The parking lot was empty aside from the car they were in and a few light poles. The sun was just beginning to set from behind them, basking the lot in a warm orange glow. Summer was coming to an end with just a few days before Trixie’s second year of high school would begin. As she had blown the candles out over her cake a few days prior, she had opened one of her eyes into a squint - her open, mischievous eye settling directly on to Lucifer.
Within seconds of the flame being snuffed, she had clapped her hands together and thrown her head back into a jubilant laugh.
“Fifteen! FINALLY.”
Chloe had rolled her eyes at that particular moment, which Lucifer should have garnered was a warning that the Decker women had indeed been in cahoots about whatever was surely going to become his problem.
“Monkey, we talked about this, remember? Sixteen was what we had discussed.”
“So, Lucifer, do you remember the first ever deal we made?” Trixie sung, leaning over the cake and plucking out the candles. Her tongue sneaked out and she licked the chocolate remnants from each candle before dropping them to the counter.
Lucifer had felt his eyes narrow at that particular moment. Of course he remembered.
And he was, after all, a devil of his word.
Lucifer let out a sigh as he reached his hand out to pull the gear shaft into park. He itched to grab at his flask.
Trixie let her head drop with a heavy sigh towards the steering wheel, a loud beep emitting from the horn as she let out another frustrated sigh.
“Why can’t we just learn on a regular car? And not this heap of an ancient mess.” Her hand jabbed at the shiftstick, poking it nearly into the next gear.
Lucifer closed his eyes and counted to three just like Linda had instructed him to do whenever he became perplexed by the Spawn and her moods. She had become a foreign creature over the last few years, an unrecognizable young woman with demands and interests suddenly other than chocolate cake. She was taller than her mother, towering a few inches over her these days. Purple and pink streaked the otherwise dark curly strands that heaped atop her head. Gone were the days of family game nights and unicorn face paintings, instead this brooding, moody being had taken over. Sticky hugs had been replaced by doors being slammed in the Decker household and insolent looks shot towards himself and the Detective.
His hand reached towards his suit jacket, fingers gingerly poking around for the flask he knew wasn’t in there per Chloe’s instruction that there was, under no terms, to be alcohol within the premise of the vehicle. Lucifer let out his own sigh.
Trixie’s head snapped up at the movement from Lucifer, her eyes narrowing.
“Look, just forget it then, if you don’t want to be here. I don’t want to learn how to drive your stupid car, this isn’t even fun.”
“Urchin. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be—“
“Sure, whatever Lucifer.” Her arms crossed her chest, tightly hugging herself as she dropped her chin against her chest. The silence between them suddenly stretched out infinitely, deafening.
“I mean it, Child. I promised you I’d teach you to drive and learning, as you so eloquently put it, with this “ancient heap” or as we call it a manual, is a vital skill to be had. I do not mind. And as we know, I do not lie.”
The sun had dropped finally below the horizon. The loud chirping of cicadas echoed across the otherwise silent parking lot, humming and thrumming as they sung from the tree line. There was a chill in the air as the crisp breeze blew in through the open windows of the stalled vehicle.
The back of her hand wiped against her face when suddenly a loud sniffle left from her.
Lucifer gingerly moved his hand slowly towards her shoulder, hesitating for a brief moment, before he let it drop to her thin frame. Her shoulders wracked with silent sobs.
He hadn’t the slightest idea what to do - but perhaps he could reach for his phone without the spawn realizing and call the Detective, or maybe Linda, and surely they would know what to do. Or perhaps he could have one of LA’s finest decadent chocolate cakes delivered to this very parking lot—
“I just wish my dad was here, you know?”
Lucifer froze. He felt his jaw work, opening and closing, as he searched for something - anything - to say. Trixie looked up, tears streaming down from her large chocolate brown eyes. Another sniffle.
“He should be here to teach me.”
“Child…Beatrice, I know that dear Daniel would’ve loved nothing more than to teach you all of the things he knew. I know that I cannot replace him, nor would I ever want to, but I hope you know…I hope you know that I very much enjoy our moments together. Watching you become the young woman you are has been one of the best things that has happened to me in the many, many years I’ve been alive. Your father is very proud of you, Beatrice, believe me.”
Trixie turned further into her seat, “Really?”
“A devil of my word, right?”
Suddenly her tiny frame lurched across the console, her small head burrowing itself into Lucifer’s side as she let out another sob. Her thin arms pulled him tightly into a hug. Lucifer felt himself tense in a panic before he relaxed and eased into the hug. His own hand found the back of her head as he pulled in her in close.
He held her until the cries quieted down into sniffles.
Slowly she pulled herself back from Lucifer, her eyes rimmed red and swollen from the tears. Using the back of her hand, she wiped the last of the tears away, before giving Lucifer a watery smile.
“I ruined your jacket, I think.” She gestured towards his jacket, where a large damp spot stood stark against the navy fabric.
“Just a jacket, darling. Are we ready to try again?” He flicked his eyes towards the gears.
Trixie let out a small laugh as she turned the key into the ignition, her foot pushing down quite aggressively on the clutch once more.
“Oh, we are ready!”