Winterfest with the Morningstars

Vaggie couldn’t say she was completely surprised when she woke up that morning.

Or well, woken up from what little sleep she had been able to get.

About halfway through the night, Vaggie had become acutely aware of a very warm sensation enveloping her, and considering the one thing clinging to her in bed was her girlfriend, she couldn’t help but come to the conclusion the heat was coming from her. She was no stranger to Charlie running warmer than most; she was the Hellborn Princess of Hell, after all, but this was far more than anything Vaggie had been used to. In her half asleep state, she opened her eyes to find the other woman still very much asleep as she still clung to her. She managed to wiggle one of her arms free to check her forehead, cursing silently to herself when it ran hot against the back of her hand. Still, as much as she wanted to wake Charlie up to get her some medicine, she wasn’t familiar with what was available to give her, and her girlfriend looked peaceful. So she told herself it could be a problem for the morning and hopefully she would sleep the fever off.

So needless to say, she wasn’t very surprised to find her girlfriend shivering and still clinging to her the next morning when the sun came in through the curtains. With a sigh, she forced herself to wake Charlie up so she could at least check on her properly.

“Charlie, honey…” She murmured, pressing a kiss against her cheek, that was definitely still very warm under her lips. Said woman grumbled softly as her nose scrunched up, fighting off having to wake up. Vaggie sighed again and managed to free herself from Charlie’s grasp, earning her a whine and an attempt to pull her back down under the covers. If she hadn’t been so worried for her health, she almost would have let her. “Charlie, please. I know you’re a heavy sleeper, but I need you to wake up. You’re worrying me.”

“‘m fine…” Came the mumbled response. If Vaggie looked hard enough, she could see the blonde’s red eyes open just a touch, but it didn’t look comfortable for her to be awake. It was better than nothing though as the former angel ran her fingers through the thick hair in her lap, taking note of the faint dampness from sweat.

“You’re most certainly not fine…babe, I think you’re sick.”

“Can’t get sick…” Charlie groaned softly.

“You can get sick. Remember just last year I had to lock you in our bedroom just to keep you from working through your fever and making yourself worse.” Vaggie chuckled softly. Charlie just wrapped her arms around her waist and buried her face into her side.

“That was different…was overworked…”

“I wouldn’t say it was much different than this, hon.” Vaggie smiled, but it quickly fell. “Really though, I should try and find you some medicine. Do you know where you keep some?”

“Mm…Mom might have some? She can get sick…she’ll know what to do…” Charlie murmured, definitely on the edge of sleep again. Her expression softened as she watched the Princess’ breathing begin to even out again. She supposed she didn’t have any other choice but to search out the Queen, if she was even awake at that hour. Though if she walked around enough, she could always ask one of the members of the staff that seemed to wander around constantly with some job or the other in order to keep the Manor maintained.

“Alright, that means I have to get up now, babe.” Vaggie chuckled softly as her girlfriend clung to her more in protest. That didn’t deter her, though, as she managed to pry herself away and out of bed. “I know you don’t want to spend the rest of our vacation sick in bed, so let me help you feel better. I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?”

She didn’t get a response back as Charlie had fallen asleep again. It made it easier for Vaggie to be able to quickly get changed into something a little more decent before quietly padding out of the room in a pair of slippers. Despite the sun streaming through the tall windows across from where she was standing, the Manor itself was quiet. As much as she thought it would be easy to just find a wandering imp servant, it seemed they were nowhere to be found. Then she quickly remembered that they had been given the last couple of days off to celebrate Sinsmas with their families and she had to resign herself to either running into the Queen or stumbling on some medicine by chance.

Something told her finding the Queen was going to be a lot easier.

Vaggie wrapped her arms around herself as she wandered the large Manor quietly. Despite the lack of servants, she had at least been expecting some music or noise or anything. Perhaps the last couple of days had acclimated her to an environment that felt far more lively because of the festivities, but now it seemed like everything was subdued, as if it was taking just as much of a rest day as her girlfriend was. Not even the colorful decorations lining the hallways seemed as nice, though being next to Charlie always made things seem a lot brighter than they usually were. She hated when her Princess was sick.

After what felt like an hour, but more realistically was probably only about ten minutes, Vaggie felt on the verge of giving up. The Manor was far bigger than she gave it credit for and despite a proper tour from Charlie’s Mom the day before, nothing really seemed to stick. Now she was walking around a home that felt too big for its own good looking for a woman she wasn’t sure was even awake. Hallways seemed too similar and opening doors was just too intimidating of a task for fear that she would open one to see something she shouldn’t. There was an uncomfortable feeling of familiarity of the vastness of the Manor when it was quiet and still, something almost akin to her former home. Considering who built the place, it didn’t surprise her at all, but without the usual activity, it didn’t feel as welcoming as it had when she first arrived with Charlie.

Pushing aside her feelings of discomfort, Vaggie continued to walk on, determined to find something to help her poor girlfriend feel better by the end of the day. Thankfully, her patience rewarded her as she finally heard some music coming from a nearby room. As she looked around, she realized the hallway she was in did look familiar. The portraits and photos on the wall were ones she had been admiring when Charlie first brought her through to get to the kitchen. Conveniently enough, the music she heard was coming right from within the very room she remembered baking cookies and meeting her girlfriend’s parents for the first time. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself before pushing into the room slowly, unsure of who was inside.

Who was inside surprised her. Not for any other reason than she wasn’t expecting to find the one person she had been looking for in a place like the kitchen. It didn’t take Lilith very long to realize she was there either, as the music was quickly turned off and the Queen turned her attention towards her. “Vaggie? Are you alright?”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry, your Majesty. I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything just now.” She wasn’t sure why she was acting so shy around the taller woman considering she had been nothing but nice during her whole visit. Lilith just shook her head and wiped her hands clean. She then gestured towards one of the barstools, offering her a seat.

“You’re not interrupting anything, dear. I was just working on cleaning up a bit from last night.” Lilith hummed softly in response. Vaggie nodded as she slowly made her way to sit down. “Can I get you anything? Some tea, coffee?”

“Some tea would be nice actually, thank you.” The former angel slid into the barstool, her feet hanging below her and making her feel like she was simply a child being waited on by her mother again. It wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling. As the Queen sat a well-loved kettle on the stovetop to start boiling water, she spoke up again.

“You didn’t answer my question from before…are you quite alright? I figured you’d be off doing something with Charlie considering I hadn’t seen either of you at all so far.”

“Well, about that…I was actually looking for you.” Vaggie admitted as she tried not to fidget with her sweater, but ended up twisting some of her hair around her finger in her attempt to not make her nervousness too obvious in front of the Queen of Hell.

“Is that so?” Lilith turned back towards her, a brow gracefully raised as she pulled out a decent selection of tea. “Is chamomile tea alright with you?”

“Oh, uh, yes please. Charlie actually got me hooked on it…” She smiled fondly as she thought about her girlfriend, but then was violently reminded about the fact that said woman lay sick as a dog in her bed at that moment. “But, yes, I was looking for you because…well, I think Charlie might be sick?”

“Well, that’s certainly not something I was expecting to hear, but I can’t say I’m terribly surprised by it.” Lilith responded.

“You’re not surprised?” This time it was Vaggie’s turn to be confused by Lilith’s words. “What do you mean by that?”

“She’s half human and we had a good few hours in the snow the other day. I know we took care to warm up well after the fact, but her body isn’t quite used to the cold since she’s Hellborn.” The Queen sighed softly as she poured hot water into two mugs over the tea bags.

Vaggie felt stupid for not realizing sooner that their day on Earth in the freezing temperatures might have been the cause for Charlie’s compromised immune system. “I never thought about that.”

Lilith chuckled softly. “Most tend to forget that Charlotte isn’t technically a demon despite being born here in Hell. Enough of my blood runs through her veins to make her susceptible to illnesses that other Hellborn wouldn’t be. Did you ever get sick because of the weather when you were human?”

Vaggie blinked in surprise at the question. She hadn’t expected to be asked about her life before she was an angel. She had never been one to really talk about her life from before. Not even Charlie really knew about her past as a human as it wasn’t one that she could remember well. Though when she thought about certain things, she could pull specific memories from that life and it filled her with so much nostalgia that she nearly cried. “I…I lived in El Salvador so it never got cold enough to experience a proper winter, but…I remember there was one time it was raining so hard outside after a period of time without it. My sister and I ran out to play in the mud despite our Mamá’s yelling at us not to. We didn’t think much about it at the time, but a couple days later landed us in bed with fevers and the sniffles. She never let us live it down after that.”

“Sounds like she cared quite a bit about you if she wanted to protect you from getting sick like that.” The Queen glanced up at her briefly. She listened intently as she finished steeping the tea. She placed a cup in front of Vaggie before placing a variety of sweetener options alongside it. The former angel went for honey, placing a generous spoonful into her drink before taking a sip. The slight apple flavor blended well with the honey, and for a moment, she could pretend it was just like when her own mother would prepare her horchata when she wasn’t feeling good.

“She just didn’t want to take care of two sick girls at the same time.” Vaggie joked back, but it was half hearted. Her memories of her mother were foggy, but she could still remember the care she felt from her.

“Maybe so, but there comes a certain love when it comes to caring for our children that doesn’t often get noticed in the moment.” Lilith hummed softly. While she was talking, Vaggie watched her pull out a large pot, a couple of chopping boards, some chicken, and some vegetables.

“Are you planning on making something?” Vaggie asked curiously.

“Of course. I’m going to make Charlie’s favorite soup to enjoy alongside her medicine. I know how she never enjoyed the taste of it, but it was given specially to us by her aunt in the Sloth Ring. It’ll make her feel better by tomorrow so you two can enjoy the rest of your week.” The taller woman offered her a warm smile as she began to cook.

Vaggie felt herself relax more in the Queen’s presence as she began to work on the soup, which from the looks of it, was a slightly fancier chicken noodle. There was something heartwarming that it was Charlie’s favorite, but the fact that her mother had remembered what it was alongside the fact that her daughter didn’t like the taste of medicine. She still couldn’t help her feelings of frustration towards the woman for what she did in abandoning her family, but that was something that wouldn’t go away for a while. In the end, her opinion of Charlie’s mother and the Queen of Hell didn’t matter. What mattered was that Charlie was getting a second chance to get to know the woman she had practically idolized in her childhood.

“I know you’re probably not the happiest with me.”

Vaggie blinked, her cheeks turning slightly golden as if her own thoughts had been read. Or maybe she had just been that easy to read. Her poker face was slipping, admittedly, but she had tried her best to not be completely obvious about her feelings towards Charlie’s parents during their entire visit. It had been easy, with how nice everything seemed to be going and how busy they’ve kept, but the thoughts crept in regardless and now she was having to face that reality head on.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean the disrespect-”

“It’s okay, really. I understand the feelings you might have towards me aren’t the most positive. I did a lot of terrible things to my family, none the least of which was abandoning them for seven years. It only makes sense that someone close to my daughter might have those feelings towards me.” Lilith shook her head as she slid some carrots into the now boiling water on the stove before glancing back at the angel. “I actually can appreciate the honesty, so if there’s anything you’d like to say, please just get it out there.”

Vaggie blinked for a moment before her face hardened. “I don’t want to spoil the festive mood of the holidays.”

“Well…” Lilith murmured as she finished adding ingredients into the large pot to let cook. She picked up her mug of tea that had been magically kept warm as her fingers curled around its warmth. Her violet eyes felt like they were piercing right into her soul, but not in a cruel way. More in a curious way that was curious as to what Vaggie might have to say. “It’s just the two of us right now. Charlie is ill and Lucifer is…not quite feeling himself at the moment either. I think this is the best time if you want to clear the air between us. I promise it will not change my opinion of you, but I would hope it could help you feel a little better when you’re around me.”

The former angel swallowed thickly before finally nodding. “Okay…” She responded, but it was quiet and mostly to herself. “If you really want to know…I hated you for a long time. When I first met Charlie, she would still call you every single day and leave you a voicemail of whatever was on her mind. I watched her go from calling you every day, to only calling you for important moments in her life, to ultimately never calling. She never said anything, but I could see it in her face that she missed the family you three used to be, and with the King all but disappearing from her life as well, it wasn’t hard to miss the loneliness in her face.”

“I…kept all of those voicemails.” Lilith interjected quietly. Vaggie gave her a look before continuing.

“Despite everything, she never gave up hope that you’d come back and you could be a family again. I swore to protect her dreams from the very beginning, and that included the one of being able to see you again. When you came knocking on the door to the Hotel, I had never seen the same kind of light fill her eyes when she saw you again. From there, I knew I could never truly hate you. I just…It’s going to take a lot for Charlie to forgive you, and even longer for me to do the same. That being said…I can put aside my feelings for her, especially for the remainder of our visit. I can see that you’re making an effort to be more present in her life again, and for me…that’s what’s most important.”

Lilith took a moment to study her quietly before a small smile graced her lips. She took a sip of her tea as if to contemplate how she wanted to reply. “Thank you.”

“I just told you I hated you for a long time, why are you thanking me?” Vaggie deadpanned in surprise.

“I told you that I can appreciate honesty. Not a lot of people have the courage to say anything to me, but I’m glad you did. I already knew you were perfect for Charlotte, but I know even more now that you’re perfect for this family.” Lilith replied before turning back to the pot of soup on the stovetop. She must have been using magic to speed up the cooking process because she was already pouring some into a bowl. Vaggie stared at her dumbly for a moment, her cheeks once again taking on a golden hue.

“Thank you…I think?”

The Queen laughed softly as she got two bowls of soup, a mug of tea, and a small bottle of medicine set up onto a tray for her to take back with her to Charlie’s room. “You don’t have to thank me. Just keep taking care of her the way you have been. That’s enough for me.”

Vaggie took the offered tray, confusion still present on her face, but she shook the feeling away in order to focus on her next goal: trying to find her way back to Charlie’s room from the kitchen. Sensing her concern, Lilith smiled and opened up a portal that led directly right in front of the bedroom door.

“I’ll never go directly into her room as a matter of principle, but this should save you the time of finding your way back.” Lilith hummed. She turned back to the stove to pour a few more bowls of soup, presumably for her and Lucifer so Vaggie muttered another ‘thank you’ as she hurried through. She was grateful that the portal closed behind her to save her the pain of potential further embarrassment in front of her girlfriend’s mother.

Vaggie pushed into the room as quietly and carefully as she could with the tray in her hands, temporarily holding it with one hand and hoping it didn’t spill before she could make it back to Charlie. She was surprised to find her girlfriend awake, looking dazed and confused as she sat up in bed.

“Vaggie?” She called out, her voice hoarse from disuse and illness. The angel gave her a pitying smile as made her way back over to the bed.

“I’m right here, hon.” Vaggie reassured her and sat the tray down on the bed before ushering the blonde into a better position leaned up against some pillows. “I told you I just went out to get some medicine for you. I just so happened to also bring some more stuff as well.” “Aww, babe, that’s so sweet of you.” Charlie teared up as she looked at the offering before her. She laughed softly as she was pulled into a tight hug.

“Alright, Charlie. You always get more emotional when you’re not feeling yourself. Let’s get you fed and taken care of so we’re not stuck in bed tomorrow, okay?”

Her girlfriend nodded and allowed Vaggie to move the tray onto her lap. Before anything else, she took the bottle and held it up. Charlie’s face immediately scrunched up, causing her to let out another soft laugh.

“Listen, your mom said this would help, but also made your favorite easy to eat comfort food, okay? Just take this and you can chase it down with some chamomile tea and chicken noodle soup.”

“Ugh, if I have to.” With a slight whine, the blonde took the bottle, uncapped it, and downed it all in one go. A shudder ran through her body as it traveled down her throat, and she did immediately pick up the cup of tea to take a drink from it, but Vaggie was happy it didn’t take more convincing for her to take it. She leaned up to kiss her girlfriend’s cheek before moving to climb back into the bed with her. The former angel picked up her own bowl, letting Charlie keep the tray just in case she couldn’t finish the soup. Upon taking an initial bite, her whole body warmed up pleasantly as familiar flavors hit her tongue.

“I think I remember some of the Sinners mentioning something about spending the day in bed and calling it “bedrotting”. If it’s all the same to you, I don’t think I’d mind it if we did something like that today.” Vaggie smiled up at her. When Charlie looked back down at her, there was a certain warmth in her face that hadn’t been there this morning, and it wasn’t because of the fever.

“If you don’t mind spending a day of our vacation doing nothing but rotting in bed, then I’m completely down for it as well.” The Princess grinned. “I’ll just have to make sure we do something extra fun tomorrow to make up for it, and then we’ve got the Morningstar family holiday party the day after that.”

Vaggie nodded as she listened to her girlfriend immediately jump back into planning mode. It still amazed her how quickly her attitude could change in an instant, and she wasn’t entirely sure if it was just the medicine working that quickly or not. Leaning up against her a bit, she continued to enjoy the soup the Queen had made for them. “Slow down there, babe. We can plan all this out a little bit later. Just enjoy your soup and tea before it gets cold. Your Mom made it special for you.”

Charlie laughed, coughing a little from the effort before taking another sip of her tea to ease the fit. “I meant to ask…what were you up to with my mother while you were gone? Outside of asking for medicine for me, of course.”

She took a sip of broth, pondering how she wanted to answer her question. Charlie would no doubt be delighted to hear that the two of them had spent the past hour bonding over the fact that Vaggie was airing out her grievances, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to admit that so openly when they had silently agreed not to bring up any hard feelings during their visit and during the holiday season.

“I was just taking the time to get to know her a little bit more.”

“Oh that’s great! I was really hoping that you would get the chance to bond with my parents over the course of the week, so that makes me really happy to know you had the chance to sit down and talk to her.” Charlie beamed. Her energy was definitely making a comeback, and the more she moved, the more Vaggie was concerned something would actually spill into the bed. She just shook her head in amusement.

“It wasn’t much, but…I do think we both got a better sense of each other in that time span.” She murmured in response, setting down her bowl for the inevitable hug that would follow. Like clockwork, she was pulled into a tight embrace, nearly knocking the tray to the side, but Charlie had been smart enough to move it to the nightstand before she could do any damage.

“I’m so happy that my two favorite women are getting along.” Charlie whispered softly. Vaggie could only bury her face into her girlfriend’s shoulder as she let herself be held for as long as she felt fit. While Vaggie had aired her grievances, she did also feel a little lighter getting her feelings towards the Queen off of her chest. It made it even better that Lilith, herself, had insisted on hearing the truth directly from Vaggie. She had a feeling it would be a far more relaxed atmosphere between the two of them, at least for the remainder of their visit, and she could honestly live with that. Forgiveness would come in time, but she could at least let herself enjoy the time spent around Charlie’s family, and knowing how much that meant to the woman was enough for Vaggie to get by. Pulling back a bit, she cupped Charlie’s cheek with a small smile, happy to feel the skin was no longer burning.

“Anything for you, hon. Anything for you.”