Chapter Text
When All Is Said and Done
ONE YEAR LATER
When Alastor had first set his sights on show business all those years ago, this certainly wasn’t the sort of entertainment he’d ever thought he’d find himself providing. None of it really had been, but he had to say that sitting at a piano and reeling off showtunes for a pack of highly animated seven-year-olds was by far his strangest gig to date.
He wound down the final bars of “Tomorrow”, crooning out the last lyrics while a surprisingly on-pitch blonde girl belted out beside him on the piano bench.
It was Charlie’s seventh birthday and, Alastor had discovered after meeting her, music was a language they both spoke.
After about six months of dating Lucifer and realizing nothing had gone catastrophically wrong, it had been time to meet his daughter with his ex-wife’s blessing. Alastor had never been as properly nervous as he was about meeting his boyfriend’s little girl, and he’d faced down rooms full of horny men with more money and grip strength than sense. But so much had been riding on this introduction…
Life had, somewhere along the way, gotten good.
As far as partners went, Lucifer was doting without being obsequious and loyal as a besotted golden retriever. He was so content to give Alastor whatever he wanted, even if what he wanted was space. He’d gotten so good at listening after the fight that had nearly brought their existences crashing down around them, and had dedicated himself to communicating before he went haring off on a flight of fancy.
When Alastor had performed his first night at Ozzie’s, Lucifer had been sitting at a VIP table with a single red rose…nothing performative, nothing possessive, just a look of pride in his eyes.
He didn’t hover around Alastor at work either, didn’t try to attend every night or posture at any man or woman who got a little too interested. He was perfectly happy to let his partner shine on his own and trust that he’d still be his in the morning once the stage lights had faded. He’d attend to show support for special events, but otherwise let Al’s business be his business. He’d ask how the show went, offer his boyfriend a drink on the nights they stayed together, and then they’d move on.
Against all odds, Alastor felt more normal and happy than he ever had in his life.
So when it was time to finally meet Charlie, he’d been uneasy. Lucifer had never interfered in Alastor’s relationship with his mother, so if Charlie didn’t like him, he knew he’d have to show Lucifer the same courtesy. He’d been nauseous for a full two days before their scheduled lunch date waiting for the bottom to fall out only…it never did.
As it happened, Charlie was one of those kids who was happy to believe that everyone in the world was her friend, and that included Alastor. She’d actually been excited to meet him, especially because it meant she got to see her father too, so the whole thing had been a rousing success. As it happened, the girl had an ear for music and that had suited Alastor just fine, actually pleased to have something he could connect with her on.
The renewed relationship with his daughter seemed to lift Lucifer’s spirits as well, though they still had to be careful so she wouldn’t end up in a tabloid until she was old enough to understand what was going on. They couldn’t protect her forever, but Alastor agreed she needed a few more years of childhood yet.
Beside him, Charlie threw her hands up in the air and knocked her silly, homemade party hat askew, “Play another one, Uncle Alastor! Please!”
Alastor adjusted his glasses and smiled, “Now Charlie, your Grann is just about ready in the kitchen. Why don’t you and your friends go wash up first and then it’s time for cake and presents.”
Charlie’s eyes, a perfect mirror of her father’s, blew wide and she scrambled down from the bench, shouting, “C’mon guys! We gotta go wash our hands! Nana Del made cake!”
There was a great outcry and then the whole pack was stampeding down Lilith’s very nice hall to surely make a mess in her very nice bathroom while they jostled and jockeyed for position at the sink. Quietly, Alastor closed the piano lid over the keys and smoothed his hands over the varnished wood fondly. Yes, children were loud and messy and this certainly wasn’t something he could see himself doing often, but it was pleasant in its own way.
A svelte form settled on the bench next to him in Charlie’s abandoned seat, “Thank you for that. Annie is her favourite.”
Alastor turned to smile faintly at Lilith, Charlie’s mother and Lucifer’s ex.
She was a stately woman about his height with an Old Hollywood glamour to her and an effortless elegance to match. Her long blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders and the back of the stylish purple sundress she wore, a simple string of pearls sat around her neck, and her lips were done up in a vogue purple that no woman should have been able to make classy but she somehow did. That was just the kind of woman she was…understated and yet somehow devastating.
At first, Alastor had had his confidence thoroughly shaken when he’d met his boyfriend’s bombshell ex-wife. Hell, he’d felt like a country mouse for a little while, or worse. He was sure this woman had never taken her clothes off for men to ogle or been knocked for six by a lecherous employer…
She’d been a little more wary of him than her daughter at the beginning, but Alastor could hardly blame her for it.
Lilith still clearly cared about Lucifer and here Alastor was fifteen years his junior and a nobody besides. Alastor would have been suspicious too in her shoes and he actually appreciated that she cared enough about her ex-husband to keep an eye on him. That had been what finally bonded them after a slightly frosty getting-to-know-you period…their mutual understanding that Lucifer Morningstar was an affable idiot who needed to be protected at all costs.
“Luckily,” Alastor said, turning in his seat to give her his full attention, “Charlie and I have similar tastes. How are her music lessons coming along?”
Lilith chuckled and rested her elbow on the lid of the piano, far more casual around Alastor now with half a year in the rearview, “Two steps forward and one step back, so not bad. She has an excellent ear, which unfortunately means she doesn’t see a point in learning to read the music. Her teacher hasn’t quite learned that yet and still plays the song for her first.”
“Do you intend to tell the poor woman?” Alastor chuckled.
“I’m waiting to see if she figures it out first,” Lilith curled a sly smile at Alastor, “How’s work? Ozzie still treating you well?”
“I don’t think the man would know how to mistreat an employee even if he wanted to,” Alastor replied, “We’re working on scripting for the annual Christmas Gala, actually. Ozzie would like a more…general audiences alternate version this year so we can have our families in for a show or two. Would you like for me to reserve two tickets for you and Charlie?”
“We’d love that, thank you,” she said graciously, tipping her head, “And Luci?”
Here Alastor sighed and looked to the kitchen where Lucifer was dutifully helping his mother set up the cake, “Overall? He’s doing well. Things are hectic right now, though. One of his major defense contracts is winding down and he’s not renewing. The Board is eating him alive over it, but he’s holding firm. I’ve had to search the penthouse for snack caches again to avoid him stress-eating himself into a diabetic coma.”
“That man…” Lilith sighed and followed Alastor’s eyeline, “Watch him for insomnia when it gets like this.”
“We’re working on it,” Alastor confirmed, “We’re actually at a bit of a crossroads there, however.”
“Oh?”
“Maman’s cancer has improved so much, but I still don’t like leaving her alone at night very often. The nights I do stay with Lucifer it’s a hellacious drive to get to the diner in time for opening. I don’t like the penthouse, but my apartment is far too small for three people even though maman adores having Lucifer over,” the younger man explained, drumming his fingers on the key cover.
Lilith’s big eyes softened at him and she lowered her voice, “You haven’t told him something.”
Alastor’s lips quirked to the side, “There’s a townhouse on the same street as Lakay that’s come up for sale. I’d be near to maman whenever she needed me and near to the diner. I toured it and there’s office space for Lucifer…a yard for Charlie for when she comes over. I think it would be good for Lucifer to have a degree of separation from his work, as well.”
“Why haven’t you told him?” Lilith inquired, “It seems reasonable.”
“It feels…presumptuous of me to have gone looking at houses behind his back,” the younger man said quietly, looking away from the kitchen as if Lucifer would sense if he paid too much attention, “I’d be furious if he did the same.”
A slim hand landed on his shoulder and Alastor looked up into Lilith’s face as she spoke gently, “Alastor…you and Lucifer aren’t the same person and you won’t be upset by the same things. As for him, I think he’d be touched that you care enough about being with him that you’re looking for a home. Luci is a nester, you know. He lost that part of himself when the work got too demanding and I wasn’t the person to bring it back for him. I was too overwhelmed and I missed the man he had been too much to really focus on what he needed…”
Alastor stared at Lilith, rapt. She was rarely so vulnerable. Normally, Lucifer’s ex-wife was an unassailable bastion of grace and calm.
“The point is, dear, that Lucifer feels safe knowing that his partner is actively working on the relationship. Talk to him. He’d be over the moon knowing you were thinking about houses even if this isn’t the one.”
A squeal sounded down the hall the children had disappeared into and Lilith unfolded from the piano bench, “Oh dear. I had best make sure Charlie and her friends are actually washing up instead of turning my guest bath into a water park.”
And then she was gone, slipping away in a soft cloud of lilac perfume.
Alastor looked down at his hands before pushing himself up from the bench as well, walking towards the kitchen (too woefully modern for his tastes) with a busy head.
He knew perfectly well why he hadn’t spoken to Lucifer about the little townhouse he’d found and the presumption of it all was only part of it. Alastor still had problems letting himself trust a good thing - to dream. He’d spent so long hanging on by a thread with his nose to the grindstone, making just enough to keep his head above water. He’d gotten used to it…so used to it in fact that this life he was living now seemed delicate as a soap bubble some days.
In a way, he was still waiting for it to pop.
The framework of the life he’d lived before was still there, after all. Frequency was still in operation and Vox was still at the helm. Alastor’s mother was still sick, though the odds were getting better and better that she’d beat it for good this time. He still spent time at the diner and was as busy as he ever was. All it would take was one bad day, one misstep, one miscalculation and it felt like all of this improbable happiness could vanish.
Rounding the corner to the kitchen from the den, Alastor paused at the sight waiting for him.
Lucifer stood at the central island in front of the beautiful, tiered cake Delphine had made just for Charlie’s birthday. There was a piping bag in his hands full of fluffy pink frosting that he was using to add little flowers to the smooth white crumb coat. His expressive golden eyes were intent on his task and there was a little smudge of something on his cheek. The sunlight streaming in from the wide window behind him caught in his hair and cast the slowly advancing grey streak at his temple in silver.
At his back, Delphine was humming while cutting up fat, juicy pieces of watermelon and putting them into a bowl - just…existing in harmony with the man Alastor was pretty damn sure he loved.
He could have this.
He could have this in his own kitchen, in his own house, if he just trusted the dream a little longer.
Drawn like a magnet, Lucifer looked up to see him standing there and his features split into that special smile he saved just for Alastor…the joyful, slightly surprised one that looked like he was rediscovering him all over again.
“Hey Bambi,” Lucifer said, the nickname far softer than it had been two years ago when he’d first used it to get under his future partner’s skin.
“Hello,” Alastor greeted quietly, firmly pretending he didn’t see the little smile his mother slipped the both of them before returning to her work.
Lucifer laid down the piping bag and beckoned his partner over, “Lili with the kids?”
Alastor abandoned his place in the doorway and crossed the kitchen, letting Lucifer reel him into his side with a gentle arm around the waist. It was remarkable to Alastor still how very strong he was from years of working with machinery and parts, but also how much care he took with that strength.
“For the moment. I fear they may have turned hand-washing into a competitive sport, but we’ll be overrun shortly,” he said and leaned his hip into Lucifer, “Is the cake ready?”
“Yeah, Del really outdid herself this time. We should get a picture before cutting it,” Lucifer said, his whole being lighting up at something as simple as Alastor choosing to lean on him.
“Did you bring the Polaroid?” Alastor asked, already knowing the answer.
Lucifer shook his head with a boyish grin, “I don’t know why you insist on that kitschy, old thing. The phone is faster.”
“Some of us,” Alastor snipped and adjusted his glasses, “Prefer tangible memories.”
“Oh don’t you two start,” Delphine chuckled and wiped her hands on a tea towel, “I have it in my purse, ti sef. I wanted some new pictures to hang up in the restaurant anyhow.”
Alastor suspected Lucifer had been the one to put the camera in her purse.
He was like that sometimes, the ridiculous man. Lucifer still loved to tease and harass Alastor to this very day, but underneath it all was a much deeper consideration. He knew his partner preferred the dated Polaroid and by God he’d give him a hard time about it, but it always seemed to appear on their outings.
Just another part of the dream Alastor wanted to hold on to.
As his mother pulled the camera out of its safe spot in her purse and Lucifer pulled him closer so they could pose with the cake before a pack of children tore into it, Alastor extended his trust just a little bit further.
“I’ve been thinking we might need a new place to put up all of these pictures,” he hummed, “Someplace far away from all the stress of your office and not cooped up in my old apartment. Something for us.”
Lucifer went still beside him, “Al?”
“There’s a building that just opened up down the street from the diner. It has a little backyard. We could see about putting a swing set there for Charlie when she visits. I had an impulse and toured it. It’s older, but luckily the neighborhood hasn’t gentrified it out of my price range if you were interested in looking at it…”
He heard the click as his partner swallowed thickly, “...Damn, and here I thought the ring in my pocket was going to be the big surprise today.”
Alastor blinked.
Blinked again.
Slowly, he turned his head to find Lucifer staring at him in wonder and said, “Lucifer Morningstar, you were not planning to propose to me at your daughter’s birthday party.”
Lucifer had the grace to look a little embarrassed as he said, “I was actually planning on surprising you over dinner after your show tonight, but when you go and say things like that…”
“Oh, give me the ring, you fool.”
It was the most emphatic ‘yes’ he could have given with the way his heart was pounding.
Lucifer fumbled in his pocket like the overeager puppy that he was, managing to produce a little velvet box one-handed. Inside was a slim band, clearly an antique, that had been buffed back to a high shine. It was simple and timeless, exactly the way Alastor would have wanted if he was choosing for himself. As it slipped over a very important finger on a very important hand, his blonde beau leaned up to press a kiss that tasted like sugar and awe to his lips.
The click and whirr of the polaroid went off.
In that moment, it occurred to Alastor that this life he was living now wasn’t the dream. It was him finally being allowed to awaken clear-headed and open-eyed into a better day.