It had taken Ella and Lucifer a couple of hours along with some help from Raphael and one of Jo's angels to get Trixie to calm down a bit. Meanwhile, the children had been taken back to the suite by Jo and then Alex and Samantha took Ella and Beatrice there as well. Lucifer had to stay a while longer and he understood very well why when he began to feel the pain in his wing. The effect that Decker had on him, making him vulnerable had seemingly not quite disappeared yet hence his wing hurt like Hell. Alexander had enlarged the suite quite a bit that morning on the throne. All the bedrooms were now on one side of the suite, separated by a wall, to get to the children in a hurry if needed, shielded from the rest of the rooms. The spacious sitting area had gained a few more small couches, seats and now had a well-stocked bar. The dining area now included a large open kitchen and he had provided a spacious play area for the children. Alexander and Samantha had wanted to continue working until lunch to lay out the lines for the future, then spend an hour with the kids having a light lunch in the garden and finally Alex would continue working for a few more hours until it was time to cook for the kids, Samantha, Jo and Anna. They wanted a quiet evening after all the commotion of the past few days. It was seemingly out of their hands for now. They sat in the sitting area, Beatrice almost snuggled into Ella. Elise was the first to come to see what was going on. She crawled onto Alex's lap and looked at Trixie. She seemed to be thinking very deeply with a small frown on her forehead. She pointed to the grieving girl, looked at Alex and said:
"Famly daddy, I help."
"Yes honeybee Trixie is family."
She slid off his lap. All the adults had their attention on Elise and Trixie, wondering what would happen. How could the little girl here help? She walked back to the play corner, grabbed her bear and climbed onto the couch next to Beatrice. Elise took Trixie's hand pressed her bear against the grieving girl and said:
"You daddy good, come soon. Daddy make sure..."
With these words the taps opened again on Trixie and she clung to the bear. Elise must have been startled by the effect her words had because she also got tears in her eyes and said:
"please no cry, me sorry."
Beatrice hugged Elise and said:
"It's okay, I know my daddy is coming soon. Thank you for your beautiful bear."
And she gave Elise a kiss on the cheek after which she lit up completely. That was apparently the signal for Sarah and David to also move closer and get acquainted with Trixie. Not much later, all four of them were sitting in the play corner, Elise close to Beatrice. Little by little, Trixie began to get some color back to her face.
Alexander and Samantha wondered how Elise knew something was wrong with Trixie's father. No one had told the children anything about what had happened. Another mystery to solve later. The list of special questions in his notebook, which he could only answer with the help of the throne, grew longer and longer. Lucifer entered the suite, looked worriedly at Trixie in the play corner but a reassuring look from Ella told him she was doing a little better.
"Dad, everything okay?"
"Yes, Raffa did his thing. It will sting for a few more days but it's good. I took care of things on Earth. The department thinks that we are in Belize and will fly back privately and be in LA by the morning. In the meantime Doc Linda is going to do the coordination when things pop up."
The adults slumped down for a moment, themselves taking a moment to recover from the events. He looked at his watch, which was actually totally unnecessary because as God he knew exactly what time it was, wherever it was, it was just one of his regular habits that kept him grounded.
"I have asked Belios and Bearus to come here but also Celine, Michael and Azrael."
Ella looked at him questioningly and he answered the unasked question:
"Daniel is there only because of the commandment. However, that cannot be changed by one person since it was instituted by both Gods in collaboration. I want to consult to see how we can best circumvent that commandment and see if we missed something to bring Daniel here."
At that moment, the others came in in a group.
"Everyone knows everyone I assume. Samantha, Ella these are Belios and Bearus the managers of Hell."
Samantha smiled warmly at them, stood up and hugged the two Demons:
"Hello, so I'm Samantha."
Belios got mischievous pleasure in his eyes and said playfully:
"Hmmm, then you are the one responsible for the many sleepless nights we had because we had to rock the boss to sleep after he was crying for his Samantha yet again. But rest assured he could be so sweet in fetal position with his thumb in his mouth."
"Belios shut up! Or I'll give you to Max!"
Said Alexander with a red head as the rest were giggling. Max who had been following everything looked Alex in the eye and let out his Mutley laugh. Samantha couldn't help teasing him some more:
"Aww that's so sweet of you three, I'm sure the poor baby needed it."
He didn't know how quickly to bring the conversation back to himself:
"Okay, okay, okay enough about me. We have other cats to flog."
He knew Beatrice was listening even though she was doing her best to hide it so he decided to start with something that would reassure her a little more and make the rest understand why he was asking these questions:
"Belios, Daniel is in level one?"
"Absolutely Alex."
"Bearus, was the marker working the way it was supposed to?"
"Sure. The Angel who delivered him, sorry I don't know his name exactly yet, I think his name is Argo, we also have to get used to it a little bit now that it is no longer Rae Rae alone, he knew exactly what to do. Daniel didn't get anything negative from Hell and now that time is almost at a standstill on level one he won't get anything from it either. To him it will be as if he was delivered to us one moment and taken to Heaven the next."
Beatrice could no longer contain herself. She stood straight and stepped fearlessly toward the Demon who looked built like a linebacker:
"So my daddy is not in pain or suffering and he is not being tortured?"
"Not at all little one."
He thought about his words for a moment, those present noticed from his chosen words for the girl that he was actually one big teddy bear when it came to kids. In contrast with Heaven the city in Hell Dis did has kids and so the general was more then used to them:
"Think of it as taking a nap. You're lying safely in your little bed, close your eyes and before you know it you wake up again and you can continue playing. Your daddy doesn't notice anything, he is taking a nap and once we know how to break or get around that damn commandment he will be here and you can hug the stuffings out of him."
Clutching the bear to her chest, she looked at Alexander:
"Do you promise me you will bring my daddy to Heaven."
He smiled at her and said:
"Your daddy is going to be the very first one I bring to Heaven I promise you that Sunflower."
She heard his pet name for her and a genuine smile appeared on her face again for the first time. Elise had come to stand beside her and grabbed her hand. At Trixie's next sentence, it was as if a thousand-watt bulb went off over her little head.
"I believe you; you are Lucifer's son and you are as good and honest as he is, you never lie like your dad."
Honeybee let go of Beatrice's hand and practically ran up to Alexander. She pointed first to Lucifer and then to Alexander:
"Lufer is daddy?"
"Yes honeybee, Lucifer is my daddy."
She thought for a moment and then pointed to herself:
"Lufer gampa?"
With those two words from Elise, David and Sarah were suddenly very interested in what was being discussed in the sitting area as well and immediately came a lot closer. Except for Lucifer who had gotten big eyes and started wiggling a little nervously next to Ella, all the other adults sat watching heavily amused.
"Actually yes baby. If Lucifer is my daddy then he is your and David's and Sarah's grandpa."
She looked in Lucifer's direction again but this time pointed at Ella:
"El Gama to?"
Ella just about choked on her drink.
"You know what why don't you ask Lucifer and Ella yourself. I'm sure they'll be happy to answer you."
In his head, he heard Samantha laugh:
"Oh how mean you can be Alex no wonder you are the Devil's son..."
He merely winked in her direction. Elise made her way towards the two who were the subject of her conversation with Alex. She curled up on the couch between the two. She looked at Lucifer:
"You Gampa?"
He felt himself being spotlighted by a three-year-old child. At first he wanted to give an evasive answer but then he saw Beatrice's face and brown eyes, he still felt the spiritual connection he had with her. Peace descended upon him and instead as he normally would if he wanted to avoid the full truth he said:
"Yes my little hell-spawn I'm your grandpa."
And gave her a big kiss on the head. She turned to Ella:
"You Gama?"
The little Latina got tears in her eyes and not just because of the reaction and Lucifer's words. She had always wanted a family, a big family and was now being pulled into one by a little innocent girl who had been through so much trauma.
"Yes little Honeybee, I'm grandma."
After a few seconds of silence, they heard Michael's heavy voice:
"It's about god-dammed time!"
There was a moment of laughter but everyone knew they were here for much more important things.
Alexander spoke so that attention returned to the original topic of conversation:
"Okay, we know we can't change the law for now. How do we circumvent it?"
It was Belios who answered:
"That's the problem Alex, no idea. In Hell and Dis we have already circumvented that law as far as we can by manipulating time and by getting tens of thousands of volunteers out of their cells and into the new wing of level one. They are free there up to a certain level. But..."
Lucifer who seemed to know nothing about a new department in Hell asked:
"New wing? What does that mean?"
"Right yes..."
Answered Alex as he took a deep breath and took a big swig of his mix:
"Because of all the hassle, we haven't gotten to that yet. Broadly speaking the following. Shortly after you came up the last time and decided not to come back I managed after thousands of years and I don't know how many times trying to partially tear the throne loose from the primary throne in Heaven. Just enough so that I gained full control of Hell via the throne but again not so far that Godfry would notice. The result was that I could manipulate Hell on a much deeper level and make it obey me on a much deeper level. For starters, I could put an impenetrable barrier between levels 4 and 5. Any Demon too far removed from what we think of as human were banished to levels 5 through 9. Human should also be taken with a big grain of salt because there are a damned lot of souls in Hell that can make a Demon pale. But you know what I mean."
Lucifer nodded and listened intently. Seemingly his son had found a solution to the problem that he himself had spent thousands of years working on and finally thought was not solvable. That it was some kind of extra punishment from his father. Alexander continued:
"There had to be a compromise, though. If those Demons no longer had access to the upper levels and the souls trapped there then I could do little else but give them a free hand over the souls in the lower levels. Something I didn't have to think long about. If you are already this far into Hell then you have earned what you get. As if anyone would lose even a second of sleep if the souls of Hitler, Mao, Stalin, a bunch of serial killers and thousands of their kind became a new kind of a squeaky toy for the worst Demons in those levels. We will have to check the records of every soul left in the Hell project at the very end, when we have everything digitalized, to make sure we haven't made a mistake or forgotten someone but personally I think it will be searching for a needle in a haystack, nevertheless we will do it just to make sure and to be correct. I do not want to make mistakes and will not allow mistakes to be made out of laziness. Every soul worth saving I want to take to Heaven, no exception!"
Anna had quietly entered the suite during his speech and brought him another drink. He smiled at her and asked her while ignoring the rest for a moment as if she was the most important person in his world at that moment:
"And how was your tour Anna? Enjoyed it?"
"Absolutely MyLord, oh pardon, Alex. Gabe also showed me the park, it was very nice there. I definitely want to go back there with Gabe to see even more of the park."
It was not lost on him that Gabriel was not Gabriel but Gabe and that she relished a repeat. He didn't let anything show:
"I am so happy for you that you are starting to feel at home Anna. Come join us we are big and old enough to take care of our own drinks and we are not at work."
She was uncertain what to do but an unsuspecting Gabriel entering the suite solved that problem as he took a seat himself and Anna quick as a fly sat down close next to him almost immediately, and thus confirming Alex his suspicion which put a warm smile in his brain. Silently, he said to Sam:
"Did you see Anna and her reaction to Gabe?"
He heard the smile in her voice:
"Absolutely."
"Sorry boss. You got too many Angels overenthusiastic this morning. I was bombarded by messages until I implemented rules on how and when they can send messages."
"No problem Gabe, I should have thought of that myself because I could have anticipated they would start flying in the fray like crazy. Okay where was I? Oh, yes phase two in Hell. Now that everything and everyone was where they belonged I could begin with the rest of Hell. The central city, the heart of Hell, Dis is now stuck to level one, and time in the City runs now at about the same pace as here in Heaven. It took me a bit of effort but in Dis and the first four levels no more trace of falling ash and then provide day and night. There is now sunlight in Dis and also a night with stars."
"Do you want to say that again?"
Shouted a puzzled Lucifer. Sunlight and stars in Hell that seemed impossible. With a thick smirk, Alexander said:
"What astonished Lightbringer, did you think your son could not create a few stars? How many have you created and hung?"
Belios could not resist building on that and Bearus was not far behind:
"Now of course it is much more pleasant to lounge under a sun, in one of the parks that Alex created, on our day off and have a family barbecue."
"Yes, but don't forget the bi-weekly outings to the spa as team building, without sunshine it would be dreadful of course."
Lucifer's ears turned red from what he heard and he thought they were kidding him:
"You are pulling my leg, right? Parks, A spa?"
Both Demons looked at him dead serious and Bearus said:
"No kidding, parks and yes a very spacious spa!"
It began to dizzying Lucifer but Alexander spared him from any more of these revelations and moved on:
"Long story short, Hell was cleaned up, sanitized and renovated one can say. Souls of levels three and four do not belong in Hell for all eternity either but they have misbehaved enough that punishment is appropriate. We have set up a system so that those souls can work for the community as punishment instead of being tortured uselessly in their cell for all eternity. However, most of them are not suitable and will become residential patients once they are here. I was able to manipulate their hell-loops so that it is less intense for them, though. But still more than enough of them remained to serve as street sweepers, cleaners, window washers, errand boys, dishwashers and so on. The lowest jobs in servitude to the Demons, at least for those souls who held important positions in their lives and treated those lower on the social ladder as slaves instead of human beings. To make them realize their mistakes this way. The more they realize and regret their mistakes during their lives the faster they can advance to a higher level in Hell. This gave the Demons more free time they could devote to their families and their new society. The last thing Belios, Bearus and I have done is to set up a zone where human souls who want to volunteer can move around freely. The main part of that is an administrative center with twenty-five thousand volunteers that are now working on filing all the files of all the souls in Hell in such a way that when those souls are brought to Heaven they can each bring their own file and we also have an electronic database that we can work with in various ways. I took an example of those office buildings on Earth from those major tech companies mixed with what smaller start-ups like to do with their offices. So not just slaving away in a cubicle all day but plenty of room for fun, games, and plain silly things. Arcades, relaxation areas, a giant pool with sun decks, sports areas, gyms, well you get the picture. And most importantly no daily quota that they have to make. They want to take off for a few hours or a few days to just hang about, that's fine. So far, we have now taken out of their cells about a hundred thousand souls and new ones are being added every day."
He drained his glass and said in frustration:
"But for now that was the limit of things we could change. And I unfortunately have not been connected to the Celestial Throne long enough to find a solution to the biggest problem. How the hell do we get rid of the rules and laws those two reptiles put together!"
Samantha asked:
"In my Hell we accomplished what you just described and so much more in five years. You have Dis a starry sky and sun as a parting gift and that without sitting on the throne of Hell or having to be bound to it. How come it is so hard here Alex?"
"Simple answer, Godfry. When it became necessary in your universe for someone to sit on the throne your father did so voluntarily. There is basically no connection between the primary throne in Heaven and his throne in Hell. Because it is simply not necessary. Your mom and dad work together for everything and all big things are decided only after they agree on them together. This is where things went wrong with this Hell before Hell had a king. The throne of Hell is largely connected to the primary throne here in Heaven. Godfry absolutely did not want Hell to change, to improve, so his primary throne prevented any major changes from being made through the throne in Hell. Simply outlined every time the throne in Hell pushed then the primary throne in Heaven pushed back. Since both thrones are anchored to each other it was therefore impossible to disconnect the thrones without his knowledge."
After this explanation, the suite was silent for a while only the sound of the four children could be heard. These seemed to be having a good time. Trixie had quickly adapted to the three and vice versa as well. Samantha broke the silence:
"I know you're frustrated Alexander. But if there is anyone who can find a solution for all those poor souls it's you. Nothing is impossible, nothing! Remember."
Ella added:
"Look what you have already accomplished. You have improved the lives of so many Demons, spared about 100.000 or do I know how many souls from being tortured and saved 9,000 Angels from a Tyrant who might have killed them all. You have only been God for a few days and you have a counsel at your disposal of whom everyone is willing to give the utmost of themselves to help you do the things that need to be done."
There were nods in agreement to those words from Samantha and Ella, Belios said:
"For Daniel, it doesn't come down to a few days, a few weeks or a few months Alexander. He is perfectly safe and free from whatever bad influence there is in Hell."
"Yeah I know. I know we just have to continue raking and raking with our heads up until we clean up the mess."
Concerned, Ella asked:
"Alex when was the last time you had a vacation?"
He looked at her and asked:
"You mean vacation where you don't think about your work and what you want to accomplish and what you need to do to get rid of problems?"
" Yes that is indeed what I mean."
" Hmmmm let me think."
With sad and tired eyes he said:
"That will be six thousand years ago in Sam's universe when we went to her Earth from time to time, and even there it was always nagging at the back of my mind. So a real vacation? Never.."
Ella gulped and Samantha too shifted color.
Before anyone could say anything, Gabriel had shot straight up on his couch:
" Wow that's weird..."
" What's weird Gabe?"
"Cam is in the throne room and he seems to be panicked, terrified even. He wants to see me right now."
"Go get him Gabe I want to hear what he has to say and what scares him so much."
Gabriel looked him in the eye and said simply:
"You! It is you who scares him to death."
"Why am I scaring him? I don't understand..."
Gabriel shook his head and stood up. At the door, he turned for a moment and said:
"I do not think so much that it is you Alex but that this is more of a situation where the bearer of bad news often bears the brunt of that bad news. Our brothers and sisters have been freed from father's oppression for a much too short time. The slightest thing could make them slip back into their state of absolute fear as if they had to face him. No one wanted to give him bad news for fear of being killed. I'll be right back."
Gabriel disappeared to pick up Chamuel and Alexander felt a boulder of a headache rear its head. What bad news would land on his plate next. Everyone must have an equally bad premonition because they were all waiting in silence to see what would come, something like the calm before the storm. Alexander didn't even bother standing up to pour a drink at the bar he just let it appear. Out of sheer habit he pulled out his pack of cigarettes but changed his mind. There were children present so he didn't smoke. Samantha had just about come to sit on his lap and he put an arm around her waist. With her in his arms he could handle anything anytime, how they would get that eternity was a problem for later.
Gabriel entered the suite with Chamuel. Cam looked downright miserable and Gabriel was also a little white around his nose.
"Cam please sit down before you fall over and have a drink. Gabe?"
Gabriel pulled Chamuel with him and together they sat down. Anna immediately poured the poor Angel a glass of water which he put to his lips with trembling hands and greedily emptied.
"Okay, Chamuel, what's the matter, why are you so scared? Gabe said you were afraid of me or of my reaction to news you had to bring?"
The Angel struggled to get going, the words stuck in his throat but eventually he was able to speak:
"MyLord, I..., my new volunteers went to the human fields as you asked to start that survey. Soon they returned, one by one they had the same news..."
The Angel stopped speaking and looked at the floor.
"Calm down Cam what is so bad in the human fields then?"
"Humans haven't seen an Angel in two thousand years. It has been two thousand years that they have been left to their own devices MyLord."
Everyone in the room felt that from Alexander's seat two short fuses could explode at any moment. From the play corner a concerned Elise came running toward them and asked:
"Daddy mammy is good?"
The wicks extinguished immediately and Alexander scooped up his honeybee from the ground:
"Of course baby-girl. Nothing wrong just annoying adult work stuff."
"Kay"
She said not entirely reassured and planted herself forcefully on his lap and clung to him. Alexander found his center again and said:
"First of all Cam that's not your fault, you can't do anything about that and so you certainly don't need to be afraid. But this does come as a shock to me and everyone here I think."
From the faces and speechlessness of those present he knew he was right.
"Will you please paint me a picture and use little words like I am very very stupid?"
"People are all alone MyLord. Everything they have to learn alone or learn from each other, even the most basic things like food and drink manifestation. The homes there look more like huts than anything else because they lack the knowledge Angels have to manifest efficient building materials. Their huts are small yet sometimes they are shared with another ten or fifteen people. Very many others just live out in the open. Only the souls delivered by Azrael ended up near their loved ones, but not always either. The others that were processed automatically appeared anywhere in the fields. Because they are so vast, it is simply impossible for them to travel such distances if they were to search for a loved one."
Alexander pinched the bridge of his nose. Put Elise on the ground and said:
"Sorry Honeybee daddy needs to go out to the balcony for a little fresh air."
He stood up and Samantha immediately grabbed his hand. It was unthinkable that she would leave him alone now.
"Gabe, Anna make sure Cam gets something stronger to drink, the poor guy looks gray. And from now on the first person to use the word father to describe that asshole will get a huge kick in the ass. We use Godfry because I'm tired of throwing up in my mouth every time I hear the word father in reference to him!"
With that, he and Samantha stepped out onto the spacious balcony and closed the door behind them. He didn't want to be disturbed by anyone for a while. The only exception he was willing to make were the kids but they would leave them alone for a few minutes. With trembling fingers he took a cigarette out of his pack, put it in his mouth but had trouble using his lighter so much he was trembling with suppressed anger. Sam gently took the lighter from his hands and lit it. After a few deep puffs, he said softly:
"For fuck's sake..."
She laid her head on his chest and heard his heartbeat. In silence they stood there until his cigarette was smoked after which she heard him say:
"Can't I convince you to fly to Vegas, get married and then open a beach bar in Mexico somewhere in deepest secrecy?"
She laughed softly:
"For any of the three you don't have to convince me love and you already know that, you felt that for a very long time. But we can't go anywhere without the children."
"Hey, they have grandparents since tonight, we can dump them there."
Her smile got a lot brighter:
"I think we should train your father as a babysitter first."
"Yep, those kids have been through enough without being exposed to a Devil who panics when he has four kids around him and who thinks the playboy channel is normal pastime."
Now it was really a hoot he heard and that changed his mood completely.
"Come let's go back before they think we really ran off to Vegas."
They came back whit his hand on the small of her back. When they had taken their seats he said:
"Okay folks this throws everything upside down. More than eighty billion and that is a minimal estimate and it could be as many as one hundred billion souls left to their fate in Heaven for the last two thousand years, two and a half billion souls in Hell who have to go to Heaven and hundreds of millions of them will need medical care and a planet with eight billion souls doing their utmost to kill their one and only planet."
No one knew what to say; the numbers were astronomical. At their first meeting this morning everything had seemed so positive but now a tremendous downer had come down.
"Good we can't change anything right now. Gabe send a message to everyone please, another general meeting tomorrow. If this news has not spread like wildfire by then I will notify everyone personally. Michael all your people are going to assist Cam in the human fields starting tomorrow. Gabe, the same with everyone from BAM and every Angel who has nothing urgent to do at the moment. The survey itself will be pretty useless since we can already think what the greatest need is but the point is for people to see and be able to address Angels. Let them spread the news among the people that we are under new management, let people spread that news further among themselves so it will spread faster. That it is our top priority to solve the previous idiot's shit as soon as possible. The rest we will align in counsel tomorrow. I'll see you guys tomorrow; I need some time to think."
Everyone started to stand up leave.
Alex said:
"Ella, dad..."
With a small nod, he pointed to Beatrice in the play corner:
"We have some talking to do I'm afraid."
Everyone left the suite except Jo and Anna. Jo because she was staying near the children for now. Anna because, according to Alex and Sam, she was a full member of the family. Alex also saw Azrael leaving the suite busy talking to Bearus and wondered what was going on there.
"Miss Beatrice, could you come here for a moment please. We need to have a word with you."
Trixie lowered her head and stayed close to the sitting area:
"Is this the time you are going to say I have to leave. That I have to go live with Grandma Penelope?"
She asked with tears in her eyes. Alexander asked softly:
"Is there something wrong with your grandmother then?"
She softly shook her head before answering:
"Not really. She's nice when she visits and stuff but she always wants me to do things I don't like to do like acting like she does and then she drags me everywhere."
He nodded.
"Okay Sunflower, you are old enough to have a real conversation so please sit down."
She did as she was asked but was still convinced she would be sent away. Samantha said:
"Trixie a lot has changed for you today. You know you can never go back to your mother after what she did today? Hurt your father and hurt you? You understand that she will be punished and Alex is going to do that?"
She nodded softly yes:
"I know. She is still my mother but she hurts people every time. First Lucifer because he's the Devil and she didn't believe he's good. Then Dad because he stayed friends with Lucifer, then she shot at Lucifer. They have said very often that when bad people do bad things they should be punished. So yes she should be punished but I don't have to like that."
"No you don't have to like that honey but I'm glad you understand why it has to happen."
Alexander interfered in the conversation:
"Unfortunately then we have a problem Beatrice. You don't want to go to your grandmother and you can't go back to your mother. Who would you want to live with then?"
She looked uncertain. There sat God with all his power, asking her a child for her opinion and what she wanted, as if she were an adult. She was pondering when Elise crawled onto the couch with her and snuggled up against her. She looked at Lucifer and Ella who were now clearly together. She loved Lucifer and also Ella but they were more like a uncle and aunt. The fun uncle and aunt where you could go crazy when you went to stay. Without thinking she put an arm around Elise as she had been doing all evening and looked for a moment at David and Sarah who were following the conversation with full attention. Finally she said so softly that it was almost unintelligible:
"I would like to stay here until my dad comes back. I know it might take a while because I heard your conversation but that's okay because he's okay. So yes here if you guys would like me."
Tears streamed down her face. Samantha stood up and got down on her knees in front of Trixie. She took her head in her hands, wiped away the tears with her thumbs and kissed her forehead. Emotions took over again and Trixie dropped into Samantha's arms. The latter said softly:
"You are welcome here Trix, always."
While Trixie was laying in Samantha's arms Ella asked:
"What about the LAPD and the FBI?"
Alexander nodded and answered:
"Like Lucifer said for the moment they think the two of you are in Belize. But that will not hold up for more than 24 hours, maybe. First the nightclub with dozens of bodies and no one who can even remotely explain how the heck those got there. Now, Decker who shot Daniel has disappeared from the map with Trixie. All they now is somehow she and Lucifer are connected to that bizarre club and now you are all the sudden in Belize with Lucifer. Anthony is in full swing at the moment with his assets in our human organization. Tomorrow around noon we will be back at Lux for a first chat with internal affairs of the LAPD and probably their counterparts of the FBI."
He looked Lucifer sternly in the eye and said:
"Under no circumstances will you speak to the police on your own. Either an attorney or I will be present at all times. Understood!"
The devil looked at him without understanding. Alex sighed and said:
"For heaven's sake, Dad, you can't lie! If you skirt around the pot to avoid the truth, you're as transparent as a window. They will see immediately that there is much more to this than we want them to think. We will bury the lies in the truth. A truth that seems so outlandish and utterly crazy that they will not see the forest through the trees."
Ella said quietly:
"Lu, you know by now that the police can ask questions in such a way that could get you stuck because you never lie. As you just heard from Cham, we, Alex, already has more than enough problems to solve. This is something that should quietly and serenely disappear into the archives somewhere and not end up on Alex's desk any longer than necessary. So please Lu, help your son, do as he say and keep quiet during these interrogations."
The Devil thought for a moment and then nodded gently:
"I could do that, keep quiet. What is that outlandish truth then that I must keep my mouth shut about?"
"Since you arrived in LA, I've had Crowley build a legend for you. A story that is close enough to the truth. You are the son of the leader of an organization that is very important and very protected by many alphabet agencies worldwide. You wanted to get out of that dark world and you took a new name. Anyone in the last years who has tried to find out who you were before you officially adopted the name Lucifer Morningstar here in LA has run into a concrete wall. They have been warned in no uncertain terms never to ask such questions again. The conclusion they have drawn from your accent is that you are British, SIS, the CIA's counterpart, but so damn important that they allowed you to choose such an eccentric name instead of saddling you with something like John Smith. Because your papers and made-up background are that good it could not be anybody else but the government who did the work. Ironically, they actually did do the work because Anthony has people everywhere. This case should be closed as if it were a group of deranged zealots under the leadership of Kinley and his puppet master in The Vatican who went crazy and actually thought that the owner of a famous LA nightclub was the biblical Devil instead of an eccentric rich man who assumed a new identity to build a legend and a debauched lifestyle in the City of Angels. Sort of an elaborate innocent play for a rich eccentric to pass the time. Fortunately, you've built up so much goodwill in LA and even worldwide over the past few years with your philanthropic work that this will be more than enough to make them cut you and Ella loose. Ella as a person of no interest, who does not have an idea what was playing in the head of Decker. You because we will paint you as the possible victim, the main target of these crazy cult members. We have enough to push them in the direction of the Vatican when it comes to Decker. That alone will make Washington DC hit the breaks really hard really fast. The last thing the powers to be in DC want is to tango with Rome. Things like that never end well for DC. Washington lives in cycles of four years, Rome is eternal and they have proven to have the patience, the means and the assets to strike back at an administration at the worst possible time for that administration. A large part of our truth will be the fact that Kinley and Anderson, not only wanted to kill you because that little cult within the Vatican walls are convinced that you are the Devil. But that they also wanted to bring down the group you left behind to start a new life because they are convinced that this group is working for the Antichrist, me, to take over the world. That's why I'm going to be there. Not only to talk to them but also for the ceremony for Daniel."
He took a big gulp of his drink and said with pain audible in his voice:
"I made a big damn mistake and we lost Daniel because I did not think straight or far enough ahead. I should have taken into account that Decker might snap and do something really stupid! It's the least I can do."
Samantha said sharply:
"Stop that right now Alexander! You are not to blame here, you did not harm Daniel, she did. It was her free will to do what she did remember that. You had already more than enough on your plate. Was it not you that when you where thirteen proved that even Gods are not perfect and cannot know or foresee everything when you told mom and dad that you had just tossed the ten commandments in the dumpster?"
Elle nodded so hard hearing the words of Samantha that her ponytail started to bob up and down and chipped in:
"Sam is right Alex; you have to let this one go. This one is not on you. This one is one Decker and Decker alone."
She turned to Samantha with a big smile and said:
"But I so definitely want to hear that story of how this God when he was still a half-pint Antichrist threw the commandments out the window!"
This made Samantha laugh hard and Alex sat there shaking his head knowing that Sam had just opened the door so she could launch into a bunch of stories about him and not all of them would be flattering. A small smile around his mouth betrayed that he did not really was all that against going down memory lane with Ella and Lucifer. It would at least take his mind off what happened with Daniel for a while.