The Cape Rouge, Saturday Morning

[my_own_advocate]

Haven was even worse than all the stories. And so, after the absolute disaster that had been yesterday and its ensuing revelations and fights, Lucifer had - over Duke's initial protests and then quiet acceptance - thrown everyone into the Rolls Royce and driven them home through a bloody portal.

He'd been keeping it together quite well, all in all, he felt. Compared to both of his partners. He was good at that, occasionally, being the one who didn't fall apart at the sight of personal trauma.

So why couldn't he sleep?

He'd given up the fight at some un-Himly hour. Found himself pottering around, lurking on deck, lurking in other places, drinking. Now he was back in the galley, contemplating the last of their scotch, and the inevitability of their eventual return to Haven.

He almost missed the noise outside.

[[ for the cape rouge dwellers plus one ]]

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[okteiviakom]

"I don't think she's going to tell us where we've been," Octavia said.

Still looking at her pieces of fruit, though she was going to run out of them soon.

[swisflapa]

"Didn't I say spoilers, deimeinontu?" Rory teased. "We've chilled on the Bahamas, don't worry."

[betterthanaplan]

“Ah. Right. Spoilers.”

It didn’t do to know too much about your future. Or fate or whatever. He could just point to Hsven as proof of that, with Audrey and the barn, and Nathan’s demands to die, and the Crocker family curse —

Ah. There was the urge to scream again. Or pour his coffee down this sink and run away. Back to Haven, maybe, to desperately prove he was useful —

He refused to walk out on a kid, though.

“So . . . what do you do for fun?”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's chest ached. First, at that endearment in Trig, and then - much more painfully - at how she could hear Duke trying.

And didn't know what to do about it. There was a distance here that she didn't know how to get over.

And oh, would you look at that?

That was the last piece of fruit she had left, and now it was gone.

[swisflapa]

"What anybody does, I guess," Rory said, with a half-shrug. She wasn't as clear on Duke's tone as Octavia was. "Watch TV, play music, wait until I'm 16 so Dad will teach me how to drive his precious Corvette which I super haven't figured out yet already..."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had to laugh at that. “I taught myself to drive, too.” And, he guessed, had probably started teaching her by the time she was fourteen, if not earlier.

He was quiet for a long moment, watching the handful of tiny bubbles on the surface of his coffee. Trying to decide if he dared to ask what he most wanted to know.

“Are we . . . happy?”

He didn’t quite. That question would have to do.

[okteiviakom]

You're a great mom, Rory had said.

But that wasn't the same thing. So Octavia pressed her hand against the edge of the counter, and listened for the reply.

[swisflapa]

Rory's smile softened.

"Yeah," she said. Wanting to-- say some things she probably shouldn't, about how hard they told her they'd had to fight for it, about the times she'd ask about some of it and one or all of her parents would suddenly go silent.

Wanting to warn Duke, even though she knew it wouldn't help.

"Yeah, after WW2 ended, you guys wound up pretty good."

But that was truth, too.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. Tried to make himself believe it.

She was Lucifer's kid. She probably had at least some kind of complicated relationship with lying as a result.

"Well. Alright then."

[okteiviakom]

Something in Octavia's shoulders relaxed a little.

Like there'd been a test, and they'd passed it.

[swisflapa]

Rory looked from Duke to Octavia to--

She gave Lucifer's arm a little whack. "Are you just going to sit there looking like a deer in headlights forever, dad?"

Lucifer cleared his throat and propped himself up a bit more firmly in his seat. "I am not," he said, "A deer in headlights."

He was still stuck on 'this is physically impossible' and would be for some time.

[betterthanaplan]

"You are absolutely a deer in the headlights," Duke said, glad to have the focus on someone else not handling things for a hot second. "You'll have to forgive him, kid, unlike your mom and I, this is his first time having someone show up and start calling him 'Dad' for a weekend."

[okteiviakom]

If Lucifer was a deer in headlights, then Octavia was probably a creature lurking in the dark woods by the road.

Or at least she was trying to be.

Even though she finally turned around now, having exhausted the things she could do at the counter that would give her an excuse to stay with her back to them.

[my_own_advocate]

"Look, I'm sorry, but you are just completely and utterly impossible," Lucifer said, finally looking at Rory. "Not in a philosophical or aggravating way, but plain biology."

"You're a celestial, Dad," Rory pointed out dryly. "Didn't you and uncle Amenadiel figure out like a million years ago that basically everything about you is mental Play-Doh?"

[betterthanaplan]

. . . Well, there was a mental image.

"Maybe at some point, part of you will . . . want a kid with us."

Yep, okay, that was definitely weird.

[okteiviakom]

"Like she said," Octavia put in, something careful about her tone, like she didn't want to be drawing attention to herself but also couldn't help it, "Amenadiel's already done it."

[my_own_advocate]

"Oh g-- oh m-- oh, for."

Lucifer slumped forward and stared at the table. "Please tell me I haven't impregnated anyone else over the years."

(His brain was probably latching onto this terrible possibility because it was less-terrible than everything else going on around here.)

[betterthanaplan]

"Since you've been in this town as long as I have and this is your first alternate universe kid, I'm guessing no."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia felt slightly uncomfortable in a wholly new way. Maybe she should even have been grateful? It was a distraction from everything else.

She made a low hum of agreement.

[my_own_advocate]

"Should I try canvassing LA just to be sure?" Lucifer asked.

No. No, that would not be a sane thing to do, Lucifer.

[betterthanaplan]

“No,” Duke said simply.

Look, it wasn’t like he hadn’t considered the possibility of his own little brood out in the world somewhere.

[okteiviakom]

"No," Octavia agreed.

Maybe for different reasons.

[my_own_advocate]

"But if I have other children out there, I should..."

Lucifer made a helpless gesture.

"...At least make sure they're financially stable?"

Eventually he'd realize absolutely none of his responses to Rory involved actual terror at having a child as a practical reality. And then he might even realize he didn't mind having her here.

Eventually.