Notes: As the first one was given as a gift it is only fair for this one-shot to be one as well.
While waiting over an hour for the bus I had this crazy idea. An idea based on some spoilers, speculations and hopes for 2x14. Nothing much, nothing overly good or noteworthy but a fun idea nonetheless. Warning this is supposed to be mostly a sweet fluff story in order to give you some catharsis from the previous one-shot.
60 Years of Pandemonium
The smoke swirled in the air seductively in sight but was unforgiving to his glistering eyes. With his last pack of cigarettes long burned and inhaled over glasses of cheap liquor, he was left to enjoy the stuffy air in this run down strip club of Las Vegas. If the Devil had once dared to dream everything had came down spectacularly in the past weeks.
Rolling the rocks in his whisky, his blank stare came to focus on the swaying bodies in the dim cramped space. Some were strippers experienced with years of sin under their belts, some were clients carrying a one-way ticket to Hell and certain newbies were awkwardly learning the ropes of what Las Vegas offered to foolish dreamers.
"Care for a dance handsome?" She was not the first to approach him. The same revealing clothes, the fake nails and the light of greed shining behind their eyes.
He had no clue on how to turn this off even during times of emotional anguish where the fulfilment of his carnal desires was the last thing in his mind. With a shake of his head, he turned down her advances and nursed some more of his drink. While he was used on neat hard liquor he hoped that watering down his drinks perhaps would miraculously water down his equally strong wretchedness. Weeks of mindless binge drinking should have given him a clue that it was not about to happen anytime soon.
"Lair of sin!" Like clockwork, the crazy preacher barged into the club at six thirty. There was something amusing about a bald guy in his sixties getting into a bar lecture them daily on all things evil only to leave ten minutes later. The novelty of this city he supposed.
"Everybody down!" A woman screeched and launched to the preacher.
At the corner of his left eye, he saw what he had encountered more than once this past year. A small black gun ready to shoot. Weighing his options he missed the soft crackling noise coming from the gripped glass in his right hand.
The cracking sound was not what chilled the blood in his veins. It was the well-known feeling of blood running out of his body by several small stinging cuts. He knew it was not possible. She was not here and yet she had made him more vulnerable than he had ever imagined being even when far away from her. Great farce Dad!
With great agility, the man delivered a club at the platinum blonde woman who had tried to disarm him throwing her away before turning the gun to the bartender.
"Excuse me! Crazy sir!" Hell did not sound that unpleasant place to be these days but he still had a revenge to carry on so survival was not optional anymore.
Wild eyes spoke of desperation and fury. He was the dejected aficionado of his Father's little fan club called religion and how to screw humanity over it.
"What?" He slurred.
Well, someone had a few drinks too many before hitting the bar apparently.
"Tell me, my dear crackpot friend, what do you desire?" The gun was still far out of reach therefore, his best bet was a good deal at this point.
"Order. Divine order." The maniacal grin on his mouth gave away the sight of a set of yellow teeth. Priorities were not this man's best point then.
"And what do you believe will grant this order hmmm? Tell me and it's yours." Getting closer the hands around the gun did not flutter. Damn.
A wrinkled paper was slammed on the bar. Taking a closer look his eyes widened and brows shot up.
"Okay, gentlemen who wants to tight the knot? No pressure just our survival throughout this lovely evening."
Addressing to the bar all the men reached for pockets, wallets or even golden chains. He had never imagined how deep sin run in this city.
"Any way we can wager a different stake?" How the insane man had not fired yet after so many of the entertained hosts had turned out to be cheating spouses he had no idea.
"You."
"I... I what?" He didn't like where this was going.
"Are you married?" The tremor in his voice was not a good sign.
"Technically no, but I believe my Father would disapprove the union either way." No fraternisation with the humans. Ever. That was a very simple rule that he had certainly not followed and neither had Dad after his miracle child move.
"Well, it's your lucky day kid. Pick your bride." The trigger was pressed little by little under his shaking hands.
"Right." Looking around he had no way of getting out of this.
The woman who had been clubbed previously was still on the floor watching through her draped hair, the whole exchange.
"You. Are you married?" Lucifer asked quickly. A negative nod satisfied him.
"No point in dragging this now... Are you ready loco padre?" Grasping the woman's arma he lifted her quickly beside him and made sure for her to not be in the line of fire if things got a turn
for the worse.
"Do you accept this woman as your bride?"
The mock incident of all eternity was unbearable. He knew that somewhere up there his Father was laughing his socks off. His siblings their wings. Well the second was at least an appealing thought.
"Not really given the choice but under the circumstances..." He shrugged lifting his shoulders. What was one more nail in his coffin?
"You princess?" She stood there unmoving. With a kick, he brought her just enough back to earth to give out a yelp of surprise. A yelp that was perceived as a binding between them in the eyes of the earth and Heaven.
"Good sign." Passing the stained document Lucifer could see that it was indeed as valid as they come even with blank wedding licence clipped together.
Bowing his head in defeat he signed everything that would give his new spouse power over everything he owned and he never would. Father must have been waiting for this for so long.
In less than a year he had loved, he had been killed and now was married to a stripper. What was so good with his divine plan? He had told Padre Frank that just because there was one it wasn't necessarily a good one.
"Lucifer Morningstar and... what's your name sweetheart? I see a C here..." For a man on the brink of insanity, he was too much into details for Lucifer's liking.
"C-... Candy." The choked name reminded him of something eerily familiar.
"Lucifer and Candy Morningstar have a great life!" The plastered smile on the preacher's face nauseated him. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and tried to steady himself.
"Fall down!" Eyes still shut, he was tackled on the floor's filthy carpet. Clicking sounds were heard over him making him opening his eyes in horror.
"It was empty. God, it was empty!" The mumbled words on his chest echoed piercing his very soul.
"Chloe?" Pulling gently the fake wig he revealed a mess of dirty blonde hair. With her face still buried on his vest, he remained motionless waiting for her to confirm what he already knew. The stinging in his hand was the first clue as the small pieces of glass made their way through his flesh minutes ago.
"Let's get up Detective." He should have felt dejected and yet things were equally gloomy and bright when he saw his future now.
"You left." She made no move to get up. Clenching her fists on the sides of his vest she was apparently not ready to let him go yet.
"You found me." Encircling his hands around her he ignored the weird stares they were getting or that he knew he reeked nothing but cigarettes and alcohol.
"I looked at your phone's GPS." He gave her a tight squeeze and prompted her to get up. Under all that make-up and her ridiculous provocative clothing, his Detective was right there. Bossy, demanding and not that forgiving.
"You found me, you married me and now I'm yours. Good job Detective I expected nothing less from you." His tone did not hold a hint of sarcasm and that seemed to trouble her.
"It's not a legal one Lucifer." She patted the dust from the sleeve of his black shirt.
"Dear Mrs Morningstar, that loon ran from here like Speedy Gonzales. Believe me, within the next hour this wedding will be legally binding." With a sigh, he took some paper towels and under her worried gaze cleaned the little trickle of blood from his palm.
"So what do we do now?" Giving him the lead was a first but she had done enough for one day he supposed.
"We go back to L.A. We talk about how you got here and where do we go from here. Preferably together."
"Do we talk about the hospital's surveillance cameras?" His movements slowed and the sober expression on her face told him that a certain discussion was long overdue.
"Will you accept that tonight was my Father's way of a shot-gun marriage sans the bun in the oven?" She didn't laugh at him nor did she rolled her eyes. Taking his hand she laid him out of the club and to his car. Without a word, she took her seat and waited for him to start the engine.
"You know... Out of everything that worries me is that you still have not demanded your first night of marital bliss." Turning to look at her he found Chloe looking at him deep in thought. If he didn't know how her laughter lines wrinkled near her mouth when she was fooling around with him, he would have been offended.
"Have a mercy on me Det-, Chloe..."
"Lucifer Morningstar denies sex to a woman. Twice!" She sang and never stop studying how his features changed by the melting tension drop from his body. This was her Lucifer. There were no words to explain or define them at the moment and yet everything they had this moment was enough.
His groan was muffled by the engine coming to life and the tires screeching on the sharply taken turn.
"I'm new to this. You have some douche experience, now let the poor Devil wrap his mind around what this entails. Sex aside." His honesty never surprised and neither did that evening. She just hoped Linda had enough open slots in her calendar.
"It means you and me under one roof for a very long time."
"The two of us.." The thought had him thinking of all the pleasant possibilities and then she had to go and ruin everything.
"Three..."
"I'm a step-dad!" His horror had him pushing the break a little too hard making both of them humph at the sudden stop.
"You love her." she said softly
"Does she need to know that?" He whined horrified at the reaction of Beatrice knowing he had a soft spot for her.
"Too bad for you that she already does know." Lucifer groaned internally at the hugs he would have to flee from in the confining space of her apartment.
"How long do marriages last anyway?" He muttered. His parents had a few good millennia and then all Hell literally had to break loose for him to reign.
"In my family? My father's parents were together for 60 years give or take." She did not give away any hint of regretting their current situation and for the time being he had no heart to regret this either. Father's plan or not he would finally get what he could and really wanted for as long as she would have him. Some love, a ready-made family.
"60 years of pandemonium" He whispered in the warm air that whistled between them as he sped up a little.
The offspring shouldn't have to suffer a separation from her mother because of him after all. Perhaps being the right male model for the child would benefit her future. Her mother had managed to go from Douche to Devil. That was not a good record in his book.
The hours passed with no more words being exchanged. The difficult questions would come soon enough but for tonight they were driving back home and that was enough. For tonight, he would not question his Father's involvement and enjoy being hers. For once he would stay for as long as he would be granted to remain by Chloe's and her spawn's side. Because it was his choice, as it was hers as well. Circumstances be damned they still had that.
"Is everything okay?" Her sleepy voice rang clearly as the sun was making its appearance down the San Fernando valley.
Taking her hand to his, he raised it and kissed her palm relishing on her warmth. For as long as they had then, be it 60 seconds or 60 years.
"Yeah... Everything is fine. Everything is finally real." The End
The End
End Notes:
1) In 2x11 Chloe found Lucifer at the beach through his phone's GPS so here you go another tiny detail or trivia. Chloe can find poor Lucifer whenever she wants to... She just decided to give him some space. Good for her I guess.
2) Pandemonium literally means in Greek: All (pan) the Demons (demonium). I thought it was fitting and a good contradiction to the word silence.
3) I wrote this because I had this idea while I was cold and munching some cookies. I know it's silly and weird but it was just an idea. The bus never came by the way I had to find another way to get home.
4) I'm a religious person but I see no problem in playing with everything I can reach so now you know where I'm standing on this matter.
5) I don't intend to write anything else in this universe. Alis Grave Nil is already enough for me at the moment and it's my "serious" fanfic. I'm currently changing the summary there and writing the 7th chapter... That's all I have the time for to be honest.