Winterfest with the Morningstars

Everything was as it should be.

Or at least, that’s what Lucifer wanted to tell himself.

It certainly felt like everything was the way it was supposed to be. His wife had come home after seven long years away and had settled right back into his arms the way she always had and his daughter was visiting home for the first time in well over a decade and had managed to convince her girlfriend to visit as well. Yes, everything felt like it had all fallen into place just as he always had hoped they would when things started falling apart initially.

But Lucifer wasn’t stupid.

Underneath an air of perfectionism lay a healing bond that was still fragile, still at risk of completely shattering if someone said the wrong thing or made the wrong move. He was afraid of losing it all once again, or that he would wake up only to discover that the whole thing had been some fever dream created in a moment of desperation.

Still, as he spent more time with his girls, he couldn’t help but let himself relax into the spirit of the holidays. It hadn’t always been an enjoyable time of year, but forming traditions with his wife and daughter of the many centuries of their lives and seeing the sort of fun things that humans had managed to create in order to celebrate had changed his point of view in more ways than one. Though it was truly Lilith that had opened his eyes to the joy of what the holiday could be, rather than focusing on the more religious aspects of it. It had become a time to spend with his family as a father and a husband rather than as a fallen angel or King over a ruined landscape. And for all of their faults that they still needed to work through, the one thing he and Lilith could agree on was pushing aside their issues for the one week they had their daughter with them to give her the chance at a sense of normalcy for once.

It helped that she had brought Vaggie along with her.

It was the third day that the two of them were visiting. The first two had been wonderful, and seeing the other fallen angel become more relaxed was just as exciting to him as it was to Charlie. He had been expecting that third day to be just like the ones before it. That is, until a large storm with rolling thunder and bright flashes of lighting moved in on the city, complete with a healthy amount of acid rain to round out the mess. Now he sat in the lounge watching his daughter pace in front of the large window to the point of wearing down a path into the carpet from her panic. Lilith had taken Vaggie for a proper tour of the castle while he got the task of helping keep their daughter from having a complete meltdown.

“Char Char, it’s not that bad. What’s a little rain to keep us from doing something fun inside of the Manor instead?” Lucifer suggested, sitting up a bit on the couch he had been lounging on. Though he flinched slightly when Charlie turned her attention towards him.

“This week was supposed to be perfect, Dad. We were supposed to do something different every single day we were here leading up to the family holiday party at the end of it. We’ve decorated the tree, we’ve done plenty of baking, and I’m sure if Vaggie hears one more story of me as a child she’s going to lose it.” Charlie ran her hand down her face in exasperation. Lucifer had to keep himself from breaking a smile in an effort to comfort his daughter.

“Well, if it helps, I think Vaggie quite enjoyed those stories of you as a child. Especially when we brought the album out-”

“Dad!”

He knew when to shut up and he quickly shut his mouth to avoid further ire from Charlie. He didn’t know what to do until he watched her shoulders sag as she practically shrank in on herself. With a small sigh, he stood and wrapped an arm around her to lead her to the couch to sit down. There was something more going on, and even if he didn’t find out what was going on, he was bound to make her feel better in one way or the other.

“Char, this is such a small problem…is there something more going on? Did we give you more than you can handle by letting you completely plan the week?”

For a moment, she stayed quiet and he could see it in her face that she was contemplating how best to answer. After about a minute, she finally sighed and shook her head. “You know I like planning these things out. With everything going on at the Hotel and trying to get Heaven to just work with us, taking this on top of it all might have been a little more than I could handle at the moment.”

“You could have just told us and we could have helped, ducky.” Lucifer smiled a bit, nudging her with his shoulder. That at least managed to get a small smile out of her as she looked over to him.

“I know, Dad. I just wanted this week to be perfect because this is the first time Vaggie has ever been here, and I really want her to see the better parts of our family life.” Charlie shook her head and sat back, running her hand through her hair. He frowned a bit in thought. He knew just how important it was to her that Vaggie enjoyed her time away from the Hotel as well as to get the chance to know them outside of what his daughter had told her. It’s part of the reason why he and Lilith had been on their best behaviors in order to make this week special for her. He just hadn’t realized she had been overworking herself in order to make that happen.

Lucifer wasn’t about to let her keep doing that.

With a snap of his finger, he stood up, moving so that he was standing right in front of her. “Alright, what it sounds like you need is a break! Let me take care of today's plans so you can relax a little bit and actually enjoy your time away from your work.”

She looked up at him incredulously. “A-Are you sure? I really don’t mind figuring something out. Like you said it’s really not a big deal-”

“Nonsense, enough of that. I should have recognized you were stressed and done something sooner.” Lucifer waved off any argument she might have tried to come up with. Though instead of trying anything, her expression simply softened into one of appreciation.

“Thanks, Dad. I…I really do appreciate that.” Charlie got up to hug him, and while it initially shocked him that she was willing to step aside and let him take charge of something, he would never pass up the opportunity to hug his little girl. Conveniently at that moment, Lilith and Vaggie were returning, laughing about something one or the other had said before entering the room.

“You two couldn’t have had better timing!” He grinned over at the two women who had stopped when his attention shifted to their entering. Lilith’s brow raised a bit in curiosity as to where he was going with his words. She nodded subtly, indicating for him to continue, which he was more than happy to do. With a snap of his fingers, the four of them were changed into clothes more appropriate for winter weather, which Hell was notorious for not having. Charlie gave him a look that was like a mix of curiosity and wonder for if he had finally lost his mind.

“Where are we going that we could need this? Last time I checked none of the Seven Rings had the ability to even produce weather cold enough for clothes like this?” His daughter questioned, beating his wife to the punch.

“Well, there is one place I could think of like this in Hell, but I’d really rather not deal with that particular demon at this time.” Lucifer frowned a bit before shaking his head, his smile returning. “No, where we’re going is much better, and might be slightly illegal, but I could care less right now. It’s the holidays, I’m sure we can get away with it for a few hours at least.”

“Lucifer…” As expected, it didn’t take Lilith very long to figure out what he was scheming. He just shot her a grin to combat the look of concern on her face. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“No, but come on Lili…what’s a few hours going to do to us if we’re not being seen directly by others?” Lucifer knew he didn’t have to beg for her approval. He was going to do it whether she agreed or not, but it was important to him that she felt comfortable with his decision. Especially considering everything that had happened. For a few tense moments, he wasn’t sure she was going to, but eventually she did finally relax.

“Alright, fine…but only for a few hours. I don’t exactly want to push our luck more than that.” She sighed. Charlie just furrowed her brows and looked between the two of them.

Ignoring his daughter’s questioning gaze for the moment, Lucifer grinned and held out his hands, focusing his power on where he wanted to go. It had been a long time since he had attempted going to Earth, and he wasn’t fully sure if he could still do it, but after a few minutes of concentrating on his power, a gold portal opened in front of them. With a grin, he turned back towards his family. “Ta-dah!”

“Oh my God, Dad!” Charlie gasped as she looked at the sparkling portal. The other side only showed sparkling white, which wasn’t too far off for where they were going anyways. “Are we really going to Earth?”

“Well, like your mother said, it’s only for a few hours, but yes. That’s the hope at least. I’m still not a hundred percent sure whether this opened up where I wanted it to or not.” He laughed sheepishly before gesturing to the open portal. “But no better way to find out than by stepping on through. Ladies first!”

Charlie grinned, taking a moment to pull him into a tight hug before rushing through and disappearing in a cloud of sparkling glitter. Vaggie, after giving him a suspiciously hopeful look before stepping in behind her. Lilith followed last, kissing his cheek sweetly before following his other two girls. For a moment, he hesitated in stepping in as well, as he hadn’t been on Earth in a very long time, but he wanted to give Charlie a chance to experience something she never had before. A chance to enjoy being with Vaggie and not worrying about having to plan the next thing they were going to do. That was what fully convinced him to do this in the first place, and he couldn’t back down at that point. So with a deep breath, he followed the other three through the portal, letting it close behind him as he stepped into the glittering white land before him.

To avoid being seen by the general public, Lucifer had brought them somewhere a little more secluded in the Northern part of North America. It was the first place he could think of where the sun would still be able to offer a little bit of warmth while they enjoyed the crisp coldness of the snow. Trees surrounded the little clearing they were in, and for a moment, he was brought back in time to when the world was first being created. Undisturbed snow covered the ground in front of them, shining almost blindingly bright as the sun reflected off of it. In the distance, dark clouds were sitting, waiting to cover the land in another layer of snow and ice. Everything was peaceful, as it had always meant to be, and Lucifer couldn’t help the moment of longing he felt for a return to something that he thought he had moved past a long time ago. Before he could get too caught up in his feelings, however, a loud squeal of delight knocked him out of his thoughts.

“Oh my god, this is so much better than I could have ever imagined it!” Charlie ran ahead, disturbing the peace of the snow in her joy, but it was far better than he could have ever imagined her reaction being. Lilith moved closer to his side, taking his hand as the two of them just sat and watched their daughter find happiness in the clearing they were standing in.

“Charlie wait-” Vaggie quickly chased after her, a look of amusement clear on her own face as she crashed into the blonde, sending them both tumbling into a pile of snow.

“You know, just seeing her reaction has already made this worth it.” Lilith murmured, lacing their fingers together. Lucifer smiled up at her, squeezing her hand gently.

“I couldn’t agree more. I know we’re playing a risky game by being here, but given the time of year, I could only hope they’re turning a blind eye to a little bit of fun in the winter weather.” Lucifer sighed out, his breath coming out in white puffs as it hit the much colder air. Lilith nodded a little in agreement as she watched Vaggie run from Charlie as she chased her with a handful of snow in her hand.

“Remember when we first came to Earth?” Lilith looked back down to meet his gaze before looking up into the sky. “You brought me somewhere similar. Charlie hadn’t been born yet and it was much later in the evening, but I remember a clearing much like this one. It was clear, with a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, and as we sat close watching the stars start to appear in the sky, a beautiful array of colors lit up the sky.”

“The Aurora Borealis…the northern lights.” He smiled, looking up with her as if the colors would make a sudden appearance. In his memories, they did, and he could almost imagine manifesting them right then and there for all four of them.

“They were breathtaking…” His wife whispered, just loud enough for him to hear it, and when he shifted his attention to her, he could see it in her face that she was reliving the experience just as much as he was.

“Not as breathtaking as you were standing there with the colors practically reflecting right off of you.” Lucifer reached up to brush a piece of her hair out of her face, his breath catching in his throat when he saw just how much her eyes were shining with love. At that moment, nothing had changed between them. There were no problems, and it was just the two of them standing there enjoying the beauty of Earth for the first time since the Garden.

“Lucifer…” Lilith leaned into his touch ever so slightly and he couldn’t help himself when he guided her down into a kiss. Though just as the two of them were meeting in the middle, something cold and wet landed right on the top of his head startling him out of what he was doing. He looked over at Charlie, who was staring at him with wide eyes and a grin that was covered up by her hands.

“Dad, I’m-”

Her words were interrupted as he quickly picked up his own fistful of snow and sent it flying back towards her, effectively cutting her off as it landed on her face. At first, he was afraid that maybe he might have gone too far, but her laughter as she wiped it off was all the reassurance he needed to know that she was alright. Charlie was quick to pick up some more snow, but not as quick as he was to do the same.

“I’ve always read about snowball fights in books, but I never imagined how fun they could actually be!” She laughed, dodging another ball of snow that he threw back at her. Vaggie joined in on grabbing snow, adding to what was being used to attack him. Lucifer glanced back at Lilith pleadingly.

“Oh no, I’m curious to watch where this goes.” Lilith laughed softly as she took a step back to avoid being hit with the snow. The betrayal hit him immediately as he felt two more fistfuls of snow land on his back and hair.

“Now you’ve done it-!” Lucifer laughed as he turned back to the other two girls, rejoining the fight as he started forming more snowballs to keep the fun going for as long as possible. It was moments like this, where the only magic being created was the joy of spending time with his family, that made him appreciate what he had and the second chance he had been given to have it again. Things were not perfect, and they wouldn’t be for a while, but for just that moment, he could pretend that they were.

Another couple hours passed before the three of them were too tired to continue their war of throwing snow at each other and he and his daughter collapsed into the soft snow. Vaggie had moved over to stand by Lilith shortly after he had rejoined them, leaving just him and Charlie going after each other until they had exhausted themselves out. As they lay next to each other, soft white flakes started falling from the sky as the dark clouds from earlier had finally covered the sun, dropping the temperatures drastically. Very shortly, they would all be back at home in front of the fireplace with hot chocolate and blankets as they warmed themselves up once more, but he wanted to take in this exact moment for just a little bit longer. Lucifer looked over at Charlie with her red cheeks flushed more than usual and a goofy, tired smile on her face.

“Dad…thank you so much for this.”

“Oh ducky…I would do anything for you. I love you so much.” He whispered, reaching over to brush some snow from her face. She looked so much like his baby girl in that very moment and he could feel a tightness in his chest that only came from the adoration he had for her.

“I know, Dad. I love you too.”