Lucifer sits back in his office chair. Mikey is sleeping under his desk and he feels strengthened by his previous phone calls. He’s surprised that the people he’s called that he’d thought were Charlie’s friends, had actually considered him a friend too. He decides to call yet another number. He probably shouldn’t, but he’s curious. He sits up straight, takes a deep breath, and dials the old familiar number, he knows it by heart even though it’s almost eight years since he last used it. It’s picked up after two rings.

“Thomas Rainsborough speaking.”

“Tom. How’s things?”

“....Nick?”

“The one and only.”

“Wait. Let me just….” Tom says with a lowered voice. There’s a pause, where Luci can hear a door shutting. “Why are you calling me? I thought we agreed you shouldn’t.” he sounds upset.

Luci rolls his eyes, feeling the familiar urge to say something spiteful cling to his tongue. “Oh relax. I just need you to answer a question, and be honest about it.”

“Okay…?” Tom asks, sounding mighty suspicious.

“Did you ever consider us friends?”

“Friends?” Tom laughs a little disbelieving laugh. “Nicky, I doubt ‘friendly’ is the correct definition of our dealings at the time, don’t you think?”

Luci purses his lips thoughtfully and shrugs, despite Tom not being able to see it. “I’m not sure, that’s why I’m asking.”

Tom snorts. “I think my son’s expression, ‘frenemies’, would be more apt.”

“Frenemies?”

“Yes. Did you consider us friends, Nick? Would you have come to my aid if I needed it?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“If you were asking me for help to beat me, or help with literally anything else. In case of the first option, no. In case of option number two, yes. Why? Do you need help? Can I help you with something, Tom?”

Tom is quiet for a beat, then he chuckles. “I never really knew you, did I?”

“What do you think, Tom? I had a reputation to uphold.”

“I never got that. In the moments after, when we talked… When I talked, to be more specific… I think I’ve never had anybody who’s been as good a listener as you… you helped me more than I care to admit. I suppose we were friends. If you don’t count, that I wanted to ram my fist in your face most of the time.”

Luci smirks. “I’d like to see you try.”

“I’m not a violent man. You know that.”

“No. Just a bad loser. How’s Grace?”

“Don’t you bring her into this, Nick. Don’t go there.”

“Fair enough.”

There’s a prolonged pause, when both of them walk down memory lane, starting from the end when Luci had spewed vitriol at Tom, aiming where it hurt, and Tom had told him to burn in Hell and never dare to even think of him again. Winding back through tough negotiations, court battles, to parties at clubs and houses of rich clients, where they’d get hammered and not quite managed to put their differences aside, but still connected somehow…

“You… you want to meet up? For old times sake?” Tom asks, voice slightly muffled.

Tom’s question catches Luci totally off guard. He can see the expression Tom is wearing in his inner eye, biting a nail and talking through almost closed teeth, vulnerable. He sits up straight. “I thought you told me never to…” Luci sighs, relaxes into his seat and runs a hand through his hair. “A couple of months ago I would have said yes. I have missed our... skirmishes. But no. I’m dating someone at your firm.”

“Who? Layla?”

“Tom. You know me. I go for the best.”

“Sam.”

“Bingo.”

Another pause. Luci can practically feel the disapproval through the line. “Is it serious?”

“If I’m lucky, I’ll get to invite you to our wedding one day. I’m head over heels,” Luci confesses. Apparently he has changed. Back in the days he guarded his feelings with spiked armour, towards Tom too, despite how much Tom had opened up to him. Without Tom’s confessions, he might have panicked when Sam told him about his suicide attempt.

“You’re not going to headhunt him from me are you?”

“No. I think that he couldn’t find a better employment than he has right now. He does however deserve a raise.”

“It’s already under discussion.”

“If money’s an object, tell me and I’ll make a little covert investment in your firm. He won’t let me pay off his mortgage,” Luci grouses.

Tom chuckles. “We got it covered. Trust me, the young man won’t argue for his own value, so I’m doing it for him.”

Luci smirks. Knowing Tom, Sam must be making him all starry eyed any time he’s close. “Of course you are. Hey, Tom? I’ve kept your secrets for a very long time now, can you keep one for me?”

“Yes.”

“Very well. If you should change your mind about divorcing Grace, you can safely sign over the firm to her and I’ve got the perfect job for you.”

“I’m not working for Morningstar Law, Nick.”

“I wasn’t talking about that, jackass,” Luci snaps irritably. “You heard of Venus Rising Foundation?”

“Yes, of course I ha― Oh my God! That’s yours?!”

“Keep it down. I still have a reputation to uphold.”

“You should have told me back when―”

“What difference would it have made, huh? You saw me as the big bad, same as all the rest. Just a punk ass hotshot that never lost a case. I survive on that rep. But think about my offer. I don’t care if it takes a year or twenty. The offer’s open. Just give me a call. You’re just the right type of person for the foundation.”

Tom is silent again. Then, “I will. And I might. Thank you.”

“It’s the Christian thing to do,” Luci teases derisively, making fun of Tom’s firm’s motto.

“Shut up,” Tom says, but there’s a smile carrying through.

“Never. Take care of yourself, Tom.”

“You too, Nick. You too.”

A few years down the road Tom called Luci, asking if the offer was still open. It was a tough decision for Tom to divorce Grace after almost 37 years of marriage. True to his generous heart, he let Grace have everything―house, firm, belongings, money. He only kept his clothes, a couple of photo albums, and other small tokens. Luci thought he was exceedingly brave, to start over at fifty five. Unlike Sam, Tom was not too proud to accept Luci’s offered help, and thus didn’t find himself high and dry. Luci gave Tom a job at Venus Rising, as head of the legal department, and included an apartment in the job benefits. Tom and Luci never really spoke much, or met very often. Yet that was how they remained loyal friends, while in person they always ended up arguing.