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Six hours and none of them had killed each other. It was impressive really, that they’d been able to sit in a car for more than thirty minutes or even plan to spend a weekend together, but here all seven of them were.
Lucifer had gotten the invite two weeks before: Christmas dinner at Mama Decker’s cabin in the mountains. It was delivered by a grinning Beatrice and a glowering Detective. Lucifer had smirked and accepted it with a flourish. However his smirk fell flat when he saw the fine print. Bring Maze and Amenadiel!- PD
So two weeks later: here they all were, getting ready to sit down for Christmas dinner. Lucifer scoffed at the very word of Christmas. Birth of Christ his ass. Fuck that guy, he wasn’t anything special.
Lucifer sighed and mournfully watched the rest of the group flutter around the kitchen.He would be helping, and had been for the past hour, had Penelope not ordered him to the table with a polite remark about him being a guest. Lucifer didn’t know what that had to do with cooking. She acted like it was such an inconvenience for him to cook dinner because it’s not like he wouldn’t be doing it anyways if he were home.
Not to mention that Daniel was using the wrong fucking spices on the vegetables. The audacity of some people.
But Lucifer liked to think he was intelligent enough to know that one couldn’t argue with Decker women. So he just glowered from his spot at the table.
Beatrice happily sat in the empty chair next to him.
“Lucifer did you see the snow, Nana says it’s gonna snow all night!” Beatrice chattered.
“I did child,” he replied.
To make his point, he glanced out the window at the snow, mesmerized. Hell never had snow. Sure some parts were frozen, but that’s all it was--frozen, cold, and empty. But on Earth there was snow; soft and silent. If he stayed holed up in the house it was definitely something he could get used to.
A plate being shoved in his face pulled Lucifer out of his trance. Blinking a few times, he took the empty plate from Penelope and refilled his wine glass.
The table was slowly filling with people and food and the wine was going fast. Lucifer had brought four bottles from Lux and they were down to the last two. He’d watched both Penelope and Chloe down at least two glasses already. Like mother, like daughter, he thought. Maze called for the wine across the table.
Just as he handed the bottle off to her, there was a high pitched squeal and the lights flickered out.
“Fuck,” he said into the darkness.
“Please don't swear around my daughter,” came Dan’s reply.
“It's fine Daddy,” Beatrice chirped.
“No honey, it's not,” Chloe chimed in.
“I think we should be arguing about more important things like how we can't fucking see.” Maze cut in.
Lucifer chuckled. How could he not?
“What did I just say!” Chloe chastised, “Look mom's got some flashlights in the drawer--right mom?”
There was the clinking of a wine glass before Penelope replied. “Of course baby.”
Chloe’s chair scraped against the floor, signaling that she’d left the table.
“Actually that won’t be necessary, Detective,” Lucifer said to the shadow he was ninety percent sure was Chloe.
Instead a hand that was definitely not Chloe’s shoved his face away.
“Get the hell out of my face,” Dan snarled.
Lucifer blew him a mock kiss. He rummaged around in his pockets before he found what he was looking for. Igniting his cigarette lighter, Lucifer lit the Jesus-shaped candle that he’d been carrying.
As it began melting the colored wax, he couldn’t help but smirk. He hated that bloody bastard of a half-brother. With all of his “My Father has forgiven you” and “Oh my birthday got a holiday” bullshit. Apparently the bastard missed how Mary was God’s whore, because he went spouting it off left and right. Oh how Mum’s face looked when Father told her about that one.
The small flame threw confused shadows on the room. Lucifer grinned at his own creativity.
“Luci where…and of…why?” Amenadiel couldn’t help but gaze at the candle in disbelief.
“Why are you carrying a Jesus candle?” the Detective finished for him.
Lucifer shrugged and took a swig of his wine. “Remember the lovely ladies from the Dunlear Foundation?”
Dan and Chloe nodded.
“Well it seems a few of them got ahold of my address and they keep sending me Christmas presents. That one--Gale I believe-- gave me this,” he gestured to the candle, “as Maze, Amenadiel and I were heading out the door to come here. Of course at that point I put the monstrosity in my pocket and forgot about it until now.”
“Lucifer it’s so cute! You’re so thoughtful,” Penelope chirped from the shadows.
Chloe just rolled her eyes and ignored his smugness. “I’ll get a few more, one candle won’t cover a table of seven.”
Maze gave Lucifer a wolfish grin and snorted. “Some lightbringer you are.”
Dan spit out his wine. Amenadiel glanced up from his plate.
“Some loyalty you have, Maze,” Lucifer replied smoothly. He glared at her, ignoring Amenadiel and Dan’s muffled chuckles in the background.
Chloe returned and set three snowman-shaped candles on an empty corner of the table. She picked one up and examined it. “These were all I could find, hopefully they’ll light. Lucifer can you--?” She held out her hand for his lighter.
He narrowed his eyes at Maze with a smirk and handed it over, “Yes Maze, some lightbringer indeed.”
After all of the candles were lit, dinner went over smoothly. The power stayed out, according to Penelope it was because of the snow. Dishes were piled high with food, wood was put on the fire, dessert was had. Lucifer should have hated it. But he didn’t. Maze should have hated it, even Amenadiel should have hated it, but neither of them seemed to either. Lucifer wasn’t sure what they thought about it, but he was surprisingly comfortable. He didn’t mind the mindless chatter or even sitting at the same table with Dan. It was just simple and...nice.
By the time the table was cleared and hot chocolate was had, it was nearing nine. As they spread out through the cabin, more and more candles were lit.
Maze and Amenadiel had disappeared to who knew where. Well, Lucifer had a few ideas, most involved no clothing.
Dan had gone to put Beatrice to bed-- apparently it was human custom to go to bed early on Christmas Eve. Lucifer liked to call himself well versed in all things human, but he wasn’t really sure how that one worked.
With nothing left to do, he wandered into the kitchen doorway, searching for the Detective. All he was met with was Penelope at the sink. She glanced up from the mug she was drying with a smile.
“Are you coming to help or are you looking for Chloe?” she asked sarcastically. Her usually bright eyes were hazed with wine.
“Unless she’s fallen down the drain, I’d say the latter.”
Penelope offered a hopeless look. “Check upstairs is all I can say, I haven’t seen her since dinner.”
Just as he turned to go, Lucifer came face to face with the Detective. Or rather chest to chest was a better term. Lucifer had all but ran into her on his way out.
He tossed out a hasty grin to cover his nervous excitement at their proximity. “Detective, there you are.”
Chloe blushed and took a step back.
Lucifer didn’t miss how her eyes protested at the movement.
She held something shiny out to him. “Yeah I was just looking for you, here’s your lighter. I think I’ve lit every candle in the house with it,” she said with an embarrassed smile.
Lucifer grabbed the lighter, trying not to focus on how warm her hands were. Shoving it in his pocket, he mustered up an excuse.
“Right well,” he clasped his hands, “I'd best be on my way. Thank you, Detective.”
“Yeah no problem,” she said quickly.
Lucifer cleared his throat and began to head back to the living room just as Chloe escaped further into the kitchen.
“Where do you two think you’re going?” Penelope called behind them. He cringed and paused at her steel-tipped tone.
Lucifer turned to face her. Penelope pointed above Chloe’s head. Both of their gazes shifted to the door frame where a sprig of mistletoe hung.
“Oh--no Mom,” Chloe protested.
Lucifer shifted uncomfortably. He was certain his Father made mistletoe poisonous for this very situation.
“No, it’s tradition. Come on, everyone has to do it,” Penelope urged again.
Chloe gave him another sidelong look and he pasted on a smirk to hide his beating heart. “Detective--”
Something dark flickered in her eyes and it wasn’t from the wine.
She closed the remaining space between them and twisted her fingers into his open collar; catching Lucifer off guard. He couldn’t help himself, her fingers were hot against his thundering pulse and her big blue eyes bore into his soul. It was a gaze so full of passion and fire and white hot light. Light that was like the candles that flickered around them. Their flames reminded him of the light he used to have.
He was barely aware of being shoved into the door frame because all Lucifer could focus on was Chloe .
Chloe, with that glint in her eye. The glint that painfully reminded him of his stars in the sky. Chloe with that sexy self-assured smirk of hers. The one that wasn’t far off from his own. The way he could so get used to letting her dominate him. Sexually, metaphorically, he didn’t care which, Lucifer just wanted to give her that power over him. There was no woman that he’d rather willingly submit to. No, there was no one he’d rather submit to, period.
“Detective,” he rasped in warning. The bloody woman grinned and Lucifer’s knees went weak. His breathing grew hot as her hands skipped up from his chest to cup his face. Gently, she brought his face down to hers. The tender moment broke as soon as Lucifer was soundly cut off by Chloe’s lips against his.
His hands found her waist and Lucifer pulled her closer to him, his breath stolen in the moment. He open himself to her completely. With his walls laying destroyed at their feet, he let her divinity overwhelm his senses. Subconsciously, his palms slunk up to run over her shoulder blades, half expecting wings. Instead he was just met with the ends of her soft hair and it was then Lucifer realized what he found most intoxicating about Chloe. It wasn’t the softness of her lips or the hints of a smile he could feel on them. No, when he called her divine somehow she was warmer than the cold detached beauty of his siblings. The softness of her skin was more delicate than the harsh lines than those made of the divine. Her curves more exotic and beauty more fragile.
No, Chloe wasn’t divine; she was human. A bottomless pit of emotion that writhed and washed over him with love greater than his Father’s had ever been.
Her free will made her lie, cheat, even defy; and that enchanted him.
She was flawed, so humanly flawed. Designed to die and fail. But Lucifer found himself looking past it all, because it was so different than anything he’d ever experienced before. She was new and exciting and Lucifer had been alive so long that he’d forgotten what that felt like.
Lucifer teased her mouth open wider and deepened the kiss. It was an unconscious urge to show her that he finally understood. That he was ready to Fall and hang the stars all over again, only if it meant that he could worship her.
Then there was a smash and Chloe ripped her lips from his. Once her eyes settled on the source, she sprung back.
Lucifer reluctantly tore his gaze from her swollen lips and followed her line of sight to where Penelope Decker still stood. An explosion of ceramic lay scattered at her feet, but none of them were focused on it.
Chloe stared at Penelope, who gawked at Lucifer, who in turn, gazed at Chloe in wonder.
Father, what a mess this was. Lucifer had forgotten about Penelope. His legs finally began cooperate and he drew himself up to his rightful height.
They remained in the thick silence for two beats more until Penelope cleared her throat.
“So...who wants eggnog?”