Marion sat on the bed in her room. She'd sent Guthrie to find Crowley, but she was running out of patience. As she was about to leave anyway, her door opened and Crowley walked in. "What do you need, darling?"

"Time. I have to... the couple God chose to take Celeste, they're praying to me. They haven't seen me since I've been here, they're nervous. I have to go calm them."

"That's fine. I'll come with. Love to meet 'em."

Marion laughed, nervously. "Um... these women, um, they are... they're not gonna want to meet you. Demons make them nervous. Please, just..."

"Not happenin'. If you want to go, I'm coming with you. You've barely told me anything about these women and they are going to be raising my daughter. That is something I care about, even if you don't think so."

She could tell he wasn't going to back down, so she grabbed his shoulder and flew them to the little apartment in Indiana. Claire and Lily looked over at them from their couch. "Marion!" Claire said, standing. As soon as her eyes fell on Crowley, her breath caught.

Marion smiled, softly, stepping forward to take Claire's hands in her own. "I'm here."

"Is that him?" Lily whispered from her spot on the couch.

"Yes." Marion said, taking a deep breath and turning to present Crowley to the witches. "This is Crowley. Celeste's father."

"Why did you bring him?" Claire whispered.

"He insisted. He... wanted to meet you."

"You've been vetted by God and the lovely Marion, but I wanted to get my own impression of you girls. You will be raising my daughter. I should know more about you than 'lesbian witches God likes for the job'. Don't you think?" Crowley asked, looking around the living room. He stopped at their movie shelf, examining the titles. "'Clueless', really?"

"I'm sorry. He's a bit... rude sometimes."

"Is this where you plan to raise 'er?"

The witches looked between themselves. "Ye-yeah."

"No." Crowley said, looking around. "It's tiny. My daughter will need room to grow. You need something bigger."

"We can't afford-" Lily started.

"She did mention that this child is royalty, right?!" Crowley exclaimed. "If you can't afford to take care of her-" He started, walking toward the witches. Marion stepped between them.

"I'll provide housing, if you can't afford more room. She should have all the finest... everything." He finished.

"That isn't necessary." Marion said, putting her hand on his chest. "I don't want her spoiled."

"She's the heir to Hell. You don't want her spoiled? You're kidding."

"I am not. I had a modest upbringing, just as my brothers did. It makes us more down to earth. It makes us better people."

"She's not a person! She's a nephilim. She's a bloody princess! She should have-"

"No. She shouldn't have. Just because she's Hell royalty doesn't mean she needs to be an entitled brat. She will have nothing and like it." Marion pulled her hand back.

"I had nothing. I had nothing worse than you. I had nothing 400 years ago and I never liked it!"

Marion pulled her lips tight together. "I know. I know, Crowley, but... I don't want her to grow up knowing money. We can provide things, we can give them a larger residence, but I don't want her to have all the finest. Okay?"

Crowley nodded and Marion smiled, sweetly before turning to the witches. "Crowley is right. It is a bit small. We will have to find you a house. A proper house with a yard. I never got to run around in the sun when I was young, but... God says people are built to need sunlight and fresh air. I assume she'll have a similar design."

"I'll have my people get right on that. Anything else you might need? Crib, clothes, one of those special rubbish bins for diapers?"

The witches looked between each other and shook their heads. "No. I, uh, think we're good." Claire answered.

"Right. Nice meeting you. Might want to start packing. We'll have a new place for you soon." Crowley said, before snapping his fingers and disappearing. Marion smiled at the women before flying back to Hell.

"I'm sorry about that, Crowley." She said, stepping to him.

He turned and wrapped his arms around her. "I just want her to have everything I never had. Everything I deprived Gavin of."

"I think a set of parents who love her is a good place to start, don't you?"

"That's a lot more than I ever had." Crowley said, before placing a kiss on her forehead. "You know, she'll have it twice as good as I did. Two sets of parents who love 'er."

Marion leaned her head up and captured Crowley's lips in a gentle kiss. "We will be amazing parents by proxy."

"Yeah, we will." He agreed with a chuckle.

Marion found herself in a semi-familiar black landscape. Fear hit her stomach.

"Wow! Pregnant looks good on you! Who would have thought?" Marion turned to Lucifer, who was smiling at her and dragging his eyes down her body.

"I'm... confused."

"You're... asleep." He said, mocking the cadence of her words.

Her brow furrowed. "Asleep?"

"I know. It's been a long time since you had to sleep. Your mostly-human body must have just gotten too tired to fight your pregnancy exhaustion. You look great. Who would've known this would be my fetish?" He said suddenly.

"Look, I remember who you are, Lucifer. I remember what you did to me . Do you think I'm going to fall for your charm again?"

"I could hope. I'm lonely, and you are just great. Such a good soldier. Went and got pregnant by the King of Hell just 'cause God wanted it." Lucifer put his hand on her belly. "I could take great pleasure in turning you against Him."

"She isn't yours to turn."

"I was talking to you. Come on! You can't deny our chemistry. And your programming has been mostly replaced. You are almost yourself again, with the added benefit of being an angel now. Who gave you that benefit? Me."

"You couldn't turn me against God. I may not have been there when Our Father created humans and you rebelled, but I was there when you promised to kill everyone on Earth. I was there when you sent a demon to take over my body and use it to watch my brothers. I was there when you faked a friendship with me so that you could convince me to pull you out of the Pit, an action that could have killed me long before the marks you placed on my soul had the chance to do their work. And I was there when you drove my baby brother insane from the Pit, making him question everything in existence."

Lucifer grinned, proudly. "You have to admit that was clever, though!"

"It had nothing to do with cleverness, and if I hadn't been overwhelmed with grief over Castiel's supposed death, I would have figured out your parlor trick back then. Driven insane by your torture in the Cage, he was in a waking dream state, which you exploited to invade his consciousness. It was one step above what you are doing to me now."

"You know, I told Sam all about the marking ceremony. When you asked him, I gave details. Honest to a fault, you know me." Lucifer shrugged as Marion showed her disgust. "And when you abandoned us, I had to keep busy somehow. I told him everything. How you taste, how much you liked it when I pulled your hair, the bite marks I left on your... well, let's just say, baby brother knows all about your kinks, Mare-bear."

"Are we friends, Luci? Drop the cute nickname. I'm not so starved for attention that that's gonna win me over this time. I have family, I have God. I'm at a good place with Sam, and once I have this baby, Dean and I can atone for our slights against each other. I don't need you."

"You forget to mention your demon boy-toy on purpose? Yeah, I know about those meaningful glances you two have been exchanging, the sweet words you shared about the person you have to be conflicting with the things you want. Come on, if you're gonna get in bed with evil, at least make sure he's the same species."

"Yeah, because a demon who used to be a human is so much different than an angel who used to be a human."

"He will never be human again, and he will never be an angel. You are better than him."

"Wow. You really are lonely. Chatting up another guy's pregnant girlfriend."

"Do you think he would call you that, Mare?"

"Does it matter?"

"It does. See, you have a habit of believing in a relationship with very little real evidence. You think Charlie really loved you? You think Castiel ever cared? Of course not. Why would they? You were a 35 year old infant when I found you."

"Lucifer plants the doubt and waits for it to bloom. Charlie loved me. She was amazing and nice. She didn't care about my money or my body. She waited patiently. And love is patient and love is kind, is it not?"

"I was patient with you."

"But you were never kind."

There was a moment of silence before Lucifer clicked his tongue. "I dunno. I think I liked the old dynamic better. When you were begging for a friend and were just so happy to be around me."

"Then, you shouldn't have called me a monkey to my face... with my face. You shouldn't have marked me. You should've left me a 35 year old infant. But then you wouldn't have been able to get what you wanted out of me."

Lucifer nodded. "You're right, of course. You've always been the smart one. But, now, what do we do for the rest of the time you are asleep?"

Marion pulled away from his touch. "Don't."

Strong hands grabbed her hips and pulled her back against his body. "Come on, Marion. We both know that I was the best you've ever had. Better than my brother. Better than that lackluster roll in the sheets with Castiel. And, I know Crowley gave me a run for my money, he's a demon, they take a lot of time with the pleasures of the flesh, but... I know I did it better." He whispered in her ear.

Marion grabbed both of his thumbs and pulled his hands off of her. "Don't touch me, Lucifer." She walked forward and turned. "And for the record, Charlie was the best."

Marion woke up in her bed, Crowley sitting next to her, staring down. "You okay, Pony?" He asked, softly.

She liked this Crowley. He wasn't quite the demon King of Hell, but he wasn't quite Fergus, the human tailor, either. He was a powerful, scary man, who just happened to feel like family to her.

She nodded, sitting up and pushing her hair out of her face. "I... dreaming is... disconcerting. I haven't... Lucifer was there." She finished.

"What did he say?"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course, it does. Look at you. You were shaking. You aren't rested. What did you dream?"

"He... made me question."

"Question?"

"What are we doing here, Crowley? I'm an angel. You're... not. We share kisses and sneak away to pretend we aren't who we are. You have little nicknames for me that fill me with happiness. I'm 5 months pregnant with your daughter, but no one in your... kingdom knows you're about to have an heir. I want to think you could give a damn about me, but... you're a demon. So, what are we doing?"

"I..." Crowley stood. "Lucifer invaded yer dreams to convince you to... break up with me?" He said the last few words slowly, like he wasn't sure they were the right words.

"He wanted me to question. Like I didn't do with Castiel. Like I didn't do with him. So, I'm questioning."

"You know it's more complicated than that. Don't act like you don't. I am the King of Hell. You are... a hunter. You are an angel. Anything we have... has to be hidden. I can't tell my demons that you are carrying my child, because they know who you are. Would you have told yer brothers? If Dean hadn't overheard you tellin' me, would either of them know? Does Castiel know?"

Marion hung her head. "I would have hidden until the birth, then ignored her existence after I handed her off."

"So, get off your high horse, darling. This is us. We hide from the people who'd judge us harshest. We hold each other when we can. We imagine a world where we could be together and raise Celeste... together, but we don't pretend this is simple. Because it never will be."

Marion nodded, then smiled. "You called her 'Celeste'. You haven't done that, before."

Crowley chuckled. "Look. Unorthodox though we may be, I think we are good together. I like what we have. Don't question a good thing."

Marion nodded, standing and wrapping her arms around Crowley's chest. He kissed her forehead and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.