"Why did you tell my mommy that you'd give me piano lessons?" Trixie asked. It had been a burning question in her for a few days now. She wasn't sure what had inspired their fun day together last week and she was even more perplexed as to why Lucifer would offer up an hour every few days to be her music tutor. It was plain to see that Lucifer was fond of her. She knew he didn't want to be and making someone like you when they don't want to is fun... but it still didn't make much sense. Him begrudgingly agreeing to babysit her in an emergency, she could understand. This, not so much.

"Your mother's a cop, yes?" He asked. Trixie nodded confirmation. "So then I'm guessing you may have heard the phrase 'Confidential Informant' or 'C.I.'."

"I've heard Daddy say 'C.I.' before but I don't know what it means."

She sat on a large sofa in Lucifer's living room. She had learned that he lived above the place he owned called LUX. Her mommy had left just a few minutes ago muttering something about a piano in an empty brothel being better than one in a bar. Lucifer was getting a few bottles of water out of the fridge and then moving over to the piano to set up what he called 'Sheet Music'. Apparently you could read it like a book or something.

"Well, little Beat, it m-"

"Little Beat?" She interrupted him.

"Yes, I refuse to call you that atrocity your parents deem suitable. What do you think?"

Trixie thought about this for a few moments and then lit up with a thought. "So when we're playing," she momentarily looked at the piano in the middle of the room, "you could say 'stay with the beat, Beat' or 'you beat me, Beat'".

Lucifer tried to hide a smile. "That last bit will never happen, child. I assure you; but you have the right idea."

"I like it," she made a mental note to refer to herself as 'Beat' in her head from now on and shuffled over to the bench to sit beside him. "You know, I would give you a nickname too like 'Lucy' but I don't think that fits you. Lucifer is a really good name already. Anybody calling you Lucy would just sound ridiculous." She began to swing her legs.

Lucifer looked down at her as her mommy sometimes did. When Beat said or did something really good and mommy was surprised. "You know, I think I might need you to tell a certain tall, dark gentleman with wings that one day." They smiled at each other and then Lucifer cleared his throat as though getting back down to business. "Now, a C.I. is someone that tells you things you don't have any other way of knowing. They help solve cases."

"Okay," Beat said slowly.

"Ugh, so much like your mother. Instantly suspicious." Lucifer rolled his eyes, a little exasperated. "Look, I just mean that I want you to be my C.I."

"What case do you want me to help you solve? Is it one of mommy's?"

"No. The case IS your mummy." She gave him her best Dwayne Johnson eyebrow lift instead of asking a question. "I'll teach you to read music, to play piano and even the fiddle if you like, and all I require of you is for you to tell me things about her."

"Like what things?"

"Just anything that comes to mind. Your mummy is a very hard woman to sort out and I need your help if I'm going to do it."

"Do you like my mommy? You know like, 'like' like her?" Beat asked.

"If I said 'yes', what would you say?"

"I'd say I'd be your C.I." A satisfied look graced her smile. But then it was replaced by a troubled one. "So that's why you took me out of school and all that? To get me to tattle?"

Her disappointment seemed to concern Lucifer. "Yes, of course, but also because it annoyed her beyond belief and the thought of being a mischievous influence on you is quite appealing. I've never had a protégé before." She began to open her mouth to ask but he beat her to it. "'What is a protégé', you ask? Well, it is someone who you teach to follow in your footsteps. Now, if I've satisfactorily answered all your little questions, let's get started shall we?" and gestured to the piano in front of them.

The next 45 minutes were filled with Beat learning about five lines called a 'staff', symbols called 'clefs', and how to tell what note a dot was depending on which line it was on. Lucifer explained that there was much more to it but they would have to take things very slowly. All this was interspersed with telling him all about how Daddy was in the house when he shouldn't have been and how he's keeping something else from mommy but Beat didn't know what. Lucifer seemed very interested in that. He also seemed pleased when Beat told him about how frustrated mommy was that she couldn't figure out if he was a magician or not and how he did tricks.

When Mommy came to pick her up, she excitedly told her how she could now play D,C,B and A in 'whole notes', 'half notes' and 'quarter notes'.

"Alright, Trixie Babe, sounds g-"

"No, Mommy. That's not my name."

"What?"

"My name is Beat. Or 'Little Beat'. Lucifer came up with it. It's better than being called a hooker." She informed.

Her mom looked up to the 6'3 devil. "Is that right?" She was angry but Beat didn't care. Lucifer was right, it was fun to tease mommy. "Hey, munchkin, will you wait for me downstairs? Mommy needs to talk to Lucifer for a minute."

"There's no need to talk to me in the third person, Mommy. I'm not a baby." Lucifer had briefly coached her on that.

Mommy just smiled but it looked like it almost hurt her to. "Alright, well, just wait for me by the elevator door at the bottom and I'll be right there, okay?" Beat nodded and headed for the elevator but when it opened, she popped in, pushed the first floor button and popped right back out again. She ducked down just outside of it and let the doors close because she wanted to hear what mommy and Lucifer were going to say. They had been far enough away and weren't paying any attention to her when she did this and now there was a kitchen island blocking their view of her.

As soon as the elevator sounded on it's descent, mommy started in. "We agreed on piano lessons, not you teaching her how to be a smart ass teenager a half dozen years too soon."

"Deciding she likes being called something else that more closely resembles her real name and informing you to speak to her as befits her age? I'd say both make perfect sense, Detective. Nothing smart ass about it in my opinion."

"Yeah, well, your opinion doesn't really matter, does it?"

Beat heard Lucifer sigh. "Not to you apparently," he said a little softer and he sounded like he had turned to face away from mommy.

Mommy released a breath. "Lucifer, I didn't mean it to come out like that. It's just-"

"No, no, I understand. I'm just a means to an end, right? With work and with your offspring." Beat had to hand it to Lucifer. He knew how to make mommy feel really bad about something. She was feeling a little bad for him right now too. Mommy should be nicer to him, with everything that he offers to do for her when he doesn't have to and all.

"Don't act like you're not getting what you want out of this."

"Well," it sounded like Lucifer had turned back to her mother, "now that you mention it, I suppose my services are owed payment."

Mommy took a big breath and huffed it out. "One lesson, one kiss. I remember." Beat could barely keep her mouth shut from surprise. She almost squeaked at what she'd just heard. Her eyes were big and her hands were clamped over her mouth. Lucifer was getting much more out of this than he had told her.

She heard some movement and then a funny sharp inhale from mommy. A sound like you'd make if you were eating really good food and then some kissing noises before-

"Okay, okay." Mommy sounded breathless. "We said a kiss not- that."

Beat wanted to see what was going on so she peaked out from behind the counter and was spotted by Lucifer before she ducked back into place. She had also seen that mommy was about to head to the elevator but then Lucifer stopped her.

"Uh! Detective. You might want to take a look in the mirror before heading down. The bathroom's right over there." Mommy gasped. Was there something on Mommy's face? "Or, you know, there's also one above the bed but-" Beat heard mommy rush off to the bathroom before Lucifer could finish.

A few quick steps from Lucifer and he was right there hauling Beat up, pushing the button for the elevator. "Alright, you little miscreant, down you go. And no more spying on the adults." He lightly shooed her into it when the doors opened and pressed the floor she should have gone down to in the first place. The doors closed and Beat let out a disappointed sigh.

I guess Lucifer really does like Mommy, she thought.