~Lorelei's POV~

Lucifer was spending the day avoiding me by locking himself in his workshop. On the bright side, Charlie came to visit and brought a ton of drawings and papers and wanted me to help her organize her thoughts on what to say to the higher ups of heaven. Vaggie tagged along looking nervous. I wasn't sure if it was because she was in the King of Hell's mansion or if she was just as freaked out about visiting Heaven as I was.

"I thought my dad would reach out to one of his brothers to get us an invitation." Charlie noted absentmindedly. "I wonder why he didn't...but I'm so glad you know someone up there and were able to score us an invitation."

"Brothers?" I asked curiously. I didn't know he had brothers, though I guess to be fair, religion was never my thing...jokes on me because I guess they're all real. This thought led me to a very worrisome thought and I cast it down the divine tether hoping to get a bite from Lucifer, if all the pantheons exist...does that mean The Flying Spaghetti Monster is real?

There was a long pause and for a moment I worried he wouldn't respond. The subject of the ritual really bothered him but I was starting to get frustrated. Without it, I was pretty much useless.

Yes.

Well, it was something, that's crazy, what is he/they/she/it like?

A flicker of amusement from the bond warmed my heart, that depends on how you feel about tentacle porn.

I nearly choked on a laugh and tuned back into Charlie.

"He has a few, though I figured he'd at least reach out to Uncle Micheael, they are twins after all." Charlie paused and I realized I was staring at her with my mouth agape.

"Michael? Archangel Michael?"

"Yeah...are you okay? You look like you might faint." Charlie panicked and held her arms out around me as if to catch me when I did so.

"Say that one more time." I said in a daze thinking I must have misheard her.

Vaggie and Charlie exchanged worried looks before Charlie spoke softly, "Archangel Michael, is dad's twin brother..."

What in the fucking deep deep south is going on here? Uncle Lucifer, a word please.

I felt a jolt from our bond, a mix of terror, panic, revulsion and so much guilt it threatened to drown me. Never, ever, ever, ever call me that again.

"Lore?" Charlie waved a hand in front of my face. "I'm gonna get Dad, you don't look so good." She turned to go but I felt him as he appeared in the library behind me.

I turned on him with my arms folded across my chest and shot him a glare. "I'm going to make us some lunch." I offered Charlie and Vaggie a smile before exiting into the hall.

"Dad, I think you should go with her, she doesn't seem to be feeling well." Charlie ushered her father after me.

Lucifer joined me in the hall looking at anything other than me.

"When were you planning on telling me?" I asked angrily.

Lucifer was quiet, "I was hoping it could be avoided entirely after I found out."

"What's the ritual?" I glowered.

Lucifer hesitated.

I clenched my fists. "You can tell me or I'm walking out those doors and taking my chances with the city." I scowled.

"Lore." He groaned. I took a step away from him, heading toward the ballroom that opened into the foyer. He reached out and caught my wrist in his hand. "Don't." He begged.

"Start talking." I wrenched my hand out of his grasp.

"...we have to consummate the marriage..." He stared intently up at the ceiling.

"Fuck!" I stormed off to the kitchen. Beating the shit out of some dough might make me feel better.

Lucifer didn't follow me, for which I was grateful. "Ugh, those stupid daytime talk shows would kill for this fucking storyline." I grumbled to myself as I rubbed my temples. Hot tears welled in my eyes. I wasn't entirely sure if they were for the fact that I was utterly fucked or the fact that I was married to my uncle or the fact that I was attracted to said uncle. I punched the pizza dough as hard as I could, missed entirely and punched the very solid counter.

My wrist gave with a crack and I let out a soft whimper of pain before dropping to the floor.

"Lore?" Lucifer appeared in the doorway feeling my pain through our link. "Are you alri-?" he paused as he spotted me cradling my wrist to my chest.

"I'm fine, go away." I lashed out angrily feeling emotionally hurt, angry, slightly betrayed and in a lot of physical pain.

"Let me see it." Lucifer knelt in front of me.

"I'm not going to die from a broken wrist." I shied away from him.

"It's broken?!" He panicked and easily scooped me into his arms.

My heart began to pound in my chest because apparently my stupid fucking body didn't get the memo that we're fucking related. "I don't know. I punched the counter." I hissed and tried to scramble out of his hold. "Put me down."

"Why did you punch the counter? It's solid marble." He asked worriedly as he held me aloft with one arm and reached for my injured hand with his free hand.

I had no idea he was so strong. No! No! No! Shut up stupid brain! "It wasn't intentional, I missed the fucking dough." I growled, irritated, "will you please put me down?" I needed to get away from him. Everything was confusing and weird and I was very not okay.

"I'm sorry." He looked wounded. "I promise, I won't do anything, I just want to make sure you're okay."

Of course he wasn't going to do anything, he made that abundantly obvious but that wasn't the issue! The issue is my stupid body still being attracted to him!

Lucifer's face suddenly flushed scarlet and I realized with much horror that my raging thoughts had slipped down the red ribbon connecting us. He parted his lips to say something and I hurriedly clapped my good hand over his mouth. He gently caught my good wrist in his free hand and pulled it away from his mouth. My heart nearly catapulted out of my chest as a jolt of electricity shot through me from where our skin made contact.

"We should talk about this." He said quietly.

"I kind of liked your 'let's avoid it' approach." I said shakily as my heart thundered in my chest.

"After Charlie leaves. We should talk." He gently set me on my feet and allowed me to scramble away from him.

"I'm going to invite her to stay with us for the next century." I tried to duck past him, but he placed a hand on the door, halting my escape.

"Lore."

"Don't." I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to hear his rejection. I knew this was not okay and I should be hella repulsed by him but...I'm not... and that scares me and if he rejects me, I might break.

He placed a hand on my shoulder and swiftly spun me around to face him.

My heart lurched in my chest and I felt something stir within me as my face flushed with heat as I found my back pressed to the door and Lucifer caging me in with his arms. With all the smut I consumed in my lifetime, one would think I'd be prepared for this exact scenario and handle it in a calm cool collected manner. One would be wrong because I am a fucking moron and I fucking swooned. I hurriedly clapped my hands over my mouth, wincing when my wrist protested.

Lucifer's eyes widened and I hurriedly looked away, unable to bear seeing disgust, rejection or judgment in his gaze. His hand gently grabbed hold of my arm and he pulled it over to him so he could inspect my wrist. He let out a soft sigh of relief after a moment of poking and prodding. "Not broken." Some bandages appeared out of nowhere and he carefully bandaged my wrist to offer it some extra support. "I'll make lunch. Why don't you go back. Charlie was worried about you."

Charlie...my stepdaughter and cousin...right. My head was pounding.

Lucifer gently pat me on the head. "It's going to be okay." He opened the door for me and I staggered back to the library in a confused daze.

"Lore?" Charlie looked worried as I returned and dropped onto the chaise lounge closest to the fireplace. She eyed the bandages on my wrist suspiciously.

"Lucifer offered to make lunch." I murmured.

"Are you two fighting?" Charlie asked worriedly.

I shook my head. Saying it's complicated sounded like a brush off but it really was complicated so I said nothing.

"Alright, so here's the rough draft." Charlie began. Her opener's were all quotes or definitions but she had a lot of heart and passion for what she was saying. I managed to calm down enough to listen.

"I think there might be a few too many quotes and definitions in your opening statement. Is it safe to assume those present are educated enough to already know the definitions of the words?"

"With Adam present, who knows." Vaggie muttered.

"Adam?" I asked, confused.

"The first man and commander of the exorcists." Charlie grimaced.

"Exorcists?" I asked.

"Oh. Right. Sorry, you're a fresh soul. So once a year Heaven sends exorcists to thin hell's population, but now they're moving it up to every six months." Charlie explained.

"That's fucked up. Are we sure Heaven is the good place?" I frowned.

Vaggie smiled at this.

"So Adam is an insufferable fuckboy?" I guessed.

"Yeah, that about sums it up." Charlie laughed.

"Great. Well he probably won't be listening to the definitions anyway." I sighed.

"Or anything." We all said simultaneously before erupting into a fit of laughter.

Lucifer poked his head through the door and saw us all laughing. He smiled softly to himself and retreated back to the kitchen. I felt bad for snapping at him and shoving him away. It wasn't his fault. He didn't ask for this. Neither of us did. The only person at fault was Michael. He'd set this all in motion, but was it to kill Lucifer?

Would he go through that elaborate of a plan to kill his own brother using his own daughter as a sacrifice. I thought back on our conversation. He'd sounded nervous when I called him, and he'd rambled a little in the beginning like Lucifer did sometimes with Charlie. I grimaced, ew no, no, no, stop finding similarities. Did he care? Was I just a pawn? Were the two mutually exclusive? I frowned.

Him inviting me to Heaven alongside Charlie when he knew the ritual wasn't complete could definitely be seen as a trap. But Lucifer seemed to think he would protect me. I let out an audible sigh and shook my head trying to get the thoughts to fly out of my brain with each shake. I no longer wanted to waste time or energy fretting about it.

"Lore?" Charlie placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Sorry...I'm very scatterbrained today..." I apologized.

"You must have complicated feelings about visiting Heaven." She glanced at the black halo hovering above me, "you were meant to go there when you died, but someone took that away from you."

"Oh." I offered her a smile, "don't worry, that's not really a concern of mine. When I was alive, I honestly didn't believe in Heaven, Hell, angels, demons, so I don't really feel like I'm missing out on anything."

"Oh good." Charlie breathed a sigh of relief, "well not good that you died or had it taken away from you! Good that, you won't resent Dad."

I threw her a curious look.

"I haven't seen him as happy as he was with you in a very long time. I was worried he was lonely. We didn't really talk. And I can see he's really trying to be better and more supportive and I think a lot of that might be your influence in such a short amount of time. I think you two are good together." Charlie rambled.

Vaggie laughed and pat her on the shoulder, "Sweetie, you're rambling."