Chapter Six

As Amenadiel watched his brother, he checked to be sure he hadn't accidentally slowed time again - his powers had been touchy lately, after all. Maybe he'd inadvertently delayed the women and they weren't far enough yet? But, no… time was moving as it should be. Yet Luci's head remained bowed and blood continued to drip ever so slowly as his rasped breath accented its decent. He mentally mapped Lux and the Detective's address, assuming that's where she'd go since she had Maze with her. A sizzle of alarm went through him at the fact they should at least be out of the building by now, even if they were dawdling, and were more likely at least a few blocks away. Why wasn't Luci…

With a lingering glance at his brother and a decision made, he went to his room and gathered some fresh clothes. When he returned, Luci was in the same position and condition.

"Come on, we're getting out of here."

The glance of confusion Lucifer gave him when he pulled him gently to his feet was better than the blank staring, but the lack of questioning or argument suppressed any relief it brought. Holding tight to his passenger and praying again that he wasn't about to embarrass himself, he concentrated. A moment later they were standing in his office - the furthest point of some safety and privacy that he could get from Chloe Decker's home.

Another drop of blood fell from Luci's chin, hitting the carpet silently.

"Brother, why aren't you healing?" Amenadiel said, his frustration leaking through his words.

Looking more like himself than he had all night, Lucifer gave him a dirty look and yanked his arm from Amenadiel's grasp before heading to the couch.

"I am. My body is smarter than you are and repairs the worst of the damage first – you know, things like internal bleeding and brain swelling?" He lowered himself onto the seat slowly and with a slight wince. "Worried about a little blood on your carpet? Then you shouldn't've brought me here."

He was probably ruining the couch, but better here than his apartment. He'd just gotten it furnished…

"No, that's not-" Then he paused as his wing gave a twinge where their Mother had grabbed it earlier and realization came crashing in along with the old memory of crushed feathers and a huddled figure. "It wasn't just the detective, was it? It's because it's Mom that…"

Lucifer shrugged but didn't meet his eyes, instead he closed his and tipped his head back against the cushions.

"The detective being in the vicinity certainly didn't help matters, but yes, one of the joys of celestial motherhood is being able to damage the undamageable."

"It took a while for the bruises from our fight to disappear…"

Amenadiel's body tensed and he wished he could suck the words back in, but instead of surprise from Lucifer all he got was a nod.

"And celestial siblinghood to a lesser degree, apparently."

Amenadiel let out a soft sigh in relief – he'd honestly thought that the length of time it took him to recover from his fight with Lucifer was because of his waning powers. It was part of why he'd kept himself away from Lux after the revelation of their Mother's escape from hell – he hadn't wanted Luci to start asking questions he didn't want to answer. The other part being that he had no idea what to say or do about their escaped, apparently murderous, parent. Guilt gnawed at him as he watched Luci, blood stained and looking exhausted. He was too worried about keeping his own secrets to check on his brother, even though he knew how their Mother felt about him.

"Luci, I'm-"

"Dr. Caanan?" Linda's voice interrupted him, followed by a light knock and the door swinging open. "Or I guess I shouldn't call you Doct- oh my god!"

"Will everyone please stop bringing Him up? It's His fault I'm in this bloody position!"

While it was nice to hear some of Lucifer's old whining about their Father, it was Linda's horrified expression as she stared at him that had Amenadiel's attention at the moment.

"Lucifer- what- what?" Her hands fluttered around her for a second as she searched for words before she darted to his side.

Amenadiel saw the second it took for Lucifer's lazy, slouched position on the couch to snap into a wary tension, so it wasn't a complete shock when he flinched violently away from Linda's hands and made a stumbling retreat to the other side of the office. Not a surprise, but not easy to watch by any means.

Linda froze, hands still slightly outstretched before she slowly lowered them. Amenadiel could practically see the woman's mind working as pieces slid around and she tried to work out what was going on here. Though angelic sons being attacked by a murderous goddesses escaped from Hell probably wasn't the conclusion she'd end up on, Amenadiel knew she'd get as close as she could with a human approximation of the situation.

"Lucifer, please come sit back down, I'm sorry I ran at you like that," she said, moving slowly as she stepped away from the couch and gestured for him to return.

To his credit, Lucifer looked annoyed by the situation, but Amenadiel could see the tightness around his eyes that belied his discomfort as he made a point to move flop back on the couch without so much as a wince.

"Just didn't want you to go poking things. They're just starting to come back together, don't need clumsy human fingers getting in the mix."

Linda just nodded, like that made perfect sense, before glancing at Amenadiel. He knew perfectly well she'd come here to yell at him – he'd tried to manipulate her, lied about who he was, pretended to befriend her. But it hadn't all been pretend, he genuinely liked Linda and he felt a twinge at the cold look she was leveling at him.

"Surprised to see you here. Must be paid up through the end of the month, right? Since there's no need to carry on pretending to be a psychiatrist," she said as he mentally groaned.

How pathetic was it that he'd hoped that his beaten and bloody brother would act as some kind of shield to this confrontation?

"I'm bleeding all over the couch and all you care about is his lying to you? Where's the doctorly concern?"

Apparently, Luci had hoped he'd be a shield as well? But he sounded more like his old self in his indignation, so maybe it was fine. Looking at Linda it clicked that maybe this was what she was hoping for – that maybe Lucifer, who usually basked in the spotlight, didn't want to be the center of attention at this moment.

"I understand you're upset I told you I was a therapist," he said, bracing himself for this conversation.

"Maybe you are one," she said with a sarcastic little laugh. "Because your intuition is uncanny."

Lucifer barked out a laugh and Amenadiel felt some of that tightness in his chest loosen with the sound, even faced with Linda's disappointment in him.

"I did what I had to do. I didn't have a choice-"

"Yes. You did. You used me, you didn't have to do that. I'm used to my patients lying to me-"

"Hey!" Lucifer gave an indignant squawk which was ignored.

"-not my colleagues-"

"Not really your colleague either," Lucifer helpfully put in.

"Not my friends," she said, her voice softer and hurt. "I confided in you; trusted you. And you betrayed that trust."

"It's difficult to explain, but things have been very trying for me."

"Maybe if you didn't think so much about yourself, and a little more about how you treat others things wouldn't be so trying."

"…you're right. I'm working on that."

He glanced at Luci and noticed he was looking better now -still bloody and bruised, but more alert and his posture was less slumped.

"Oh, looking to me to put in a good word?" He asked, misinterpreting his glance. "Fine, fine. Yes, Doctor, he's proved himself to be less of a selfish prick today."

"Really," she said dubiously, sitting on the arm of the couch with a glance at Lucifer's reaction to her proximity that he didn't notice.

"I know, hard to believe, isn't it?"

"It is, how exactly did he do that?"

"Well, my mum and I were in a bit of a tussle, as you can see. Nothing I couldn't handle, of course, but my dear brother here actually got a little mouthy with her for it."

Despite the careless tone, Amenadiel could see genuine gratefulness in Luci's eyes when he glanced at him, even past the cocksure attitude he was putting on display.

"Hmm, well, I guess that should count for something," she said after a beat, not reacting to the fact Luci had revealed their mother was behind his injuries other than a slight tightening of her jaw.

"Yes, so forgive the poor sod so we can move on to bigger issues."

"Which would be?"

"Well, a miracle for this suit, for starters" he said, looking down and plucking at the crusty fabric. "A shower. A stiff drink. Oh, a little cocaine wouldn't be amiss."

"Yes, yes it would," Linda said flatly.

"Oh, come on! I have to hunt my evil Mum down, how can I do that without a little chemical assistance?"

For a split second Amenadiel mentally echoed that sentiment, but then he realized that anything that dulled their senses in Mom's presence could very well cause maiming and shook his head.

"Why do you have to hunt down your mom?" Linda asked. "If she did this to you then the police will look for her."

"Mum's not something the police can handle, being an ultra powerful goddess and all."

Linda glanced at Amenadiel, maybe looking for a translation. He just shrugged.

"He's not wrong – the police won't be able to contain her."

"And you think the two of you will be able to?"

The silence that sat in the room was heavy as the brothers avoided looking at one another. Amenadiel was right in the fact the police wouldn't be able to contain her. But Linda's question was a valid one -how exactly were the two of them going to contain her?

"How am I supposed to do that?" Luci said, brows furrowed as he looked at the wall. "I don't have the power to banish her to Hell, just the power to keep her there. Maybe. I didn't expect her to escape those chains…"

"If Father gave you the task, then there must be a way," Amenadiel said, his calm conviction surprising himself given his doubts about their Father lately.

"Or maybe He gave me the bloody task because He knew it was impossible!" Luci yelled, his fury sudden and startling as he jumped to his feet. "She's a goddess! I'm-"

His voice cut off abruptly and Amenadiel wondered what he was going to say, then decided maybe he didn't want to know after all…

"There's a way," he said, still seated calmly while his brother paced the room. "She's not at full strength either or she never would've left tonight."

He knew he shouldn't have let that "either" slip into the sentence, but Luci looked thoughtful instead of wrathful. While Lucifer was still powerful now, he was a mere shade of his former winged self. And even then Mom hadn't had a problem reducing him to…

He took a deep breath to force away the anger and found Linda staring at him thoughtfully.

"Maybe he never meant for you to do it alone," Linda said, causing Luci to pause his pacing. "Maybe he wanted you to confront your mother, your past with her, with your brother. Or brothers? Aren't there more of you? Maybe confronting your feelings about-"

Amenadiel let Linda's calm voice drift out of his focus as he thought of his other Brothers. There was no doubt that most of them disapproved of Luci and his lifestyle choices, but did that mean they wouldn't help against Mom? And even if some of them did, would it matter? What could they-

"We need Azreal's blade."

The words cut through his thoughts as surely as the blade would cut through a body and he froze in shock, eyes slowly raising to meet Lucifer's. The blade wouldn't take her back to hell, it would-

"That would end her."

"I know."

And what was most surprising to him wasn't the idea of using the Blade. It was the fact that the suggestion had come from his own mouth and that Luci was the one looking shocked at suggestion.

And more than that, the thought of using it to kill their mother… didn't really bother him at all.