Alexander began to wake up from a deep, dreamless sleep and felt anything but okay. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and how he ended up there. In a deep sigh, a few words escaped his mouth:
"Oh poop..."
He thought he heard a voice in the distance, didn't really understand the words, but answered out of sheer habit:
"Five more minutes, Mom..."
Ella, who had noticed that he was waking up and was now standing next to him at the piano, had to smile when she heard the words. Softly she said:
"Are you awake, Alexander?"
Who answered without opening his eyes:
"No..."
She had to chuckle at that answer and said:
"Eyes open, kid, I want you to sit up so I can check your ribs."
However, he remained lying with his eyes closed and said, whimpering:
"Can't because I'm dead..."
With the pleasure audible in her voice, Ella said:
"Okay, Alexander the dead, hop up and let me check your ribs."
With a sigh, he opened his eyes and sat up wearily. Questioningly he said:
"Why is it that most grown women, when they see a hurt kid, immediately turn into a mother hen?"
Ella began to loosen the bandage around his ribs and said:
"Because baby chicks like you need someone to look out for you. Before you know it, you'll be lying on a piano wrapped up like a mummy. That's the same reason women live longer than men, because you menfolk manage to walk in seven ditches at once."
He looked at her and said:
"Pfff ... Celestial, immortal, you know."
The bandages had been removed, and what Ella saw was nothing short of miraculous to her. The cut Mazikeen had made was already gone; the staples they had used to close the wound were lying loose in the bandages, and his rib cage no longer looked dark blue. More yellow and green, a clear sign that the healing process was already well advanced. Softly she said:
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't be able to believe it. You really are healing at breakneck speed."
He nodded:
"Yep and in adults, it goes a whole lot faster still."
"Speaking of mother hen, what would your mom have done if she'd seen you so battered?"
His face contorted, and he went a little paler. He looked her in the eye and said softly:
"Whatever happens, if you ever meet her, please don't tell her how bad it was. If she had been there, she would have patched me up first, and once she was sure I was all right, she would have killed me. The chances that she will still do that when she finds out are very high."
A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of having to face his mother if she knew how wrong his landing had been. Ella got a sneaky smirk on her face and said mysteriously:
"Good to know."
Before Alexander could respond to this, Lucifer appeared in the living room. For a change, he was somewhat presentable with his black silk pajama pants and a red silk dressing gown hanging open. Ella thought he looked pretty cute with his sleepy head. His normally slick hair had given way to a curly mess. Lucifer still struggled to maintain his composure in the presence of the young celestial. The fact that yet another attempt at a first date with his detective had been thwarted this time by the boy's unlikely appearance didn't help his brain either. Silently he looked at Ella and Alexander, and it was the boy who said with a smirk:
"A good morning to you too, Lucifer..."
The Devil blinked his eyes uncomfortably for a moment and replied:
"Hmm, yes, good morning."
Swiftly he shuffled toward his kitchen and said just before he disappeared:
"I'm going to, hmmm, make coffee..."
Ella looked at him strangely, and Alexander gently shook his head and muttered:
"And that's supposed to represent the big bad Devil...pfff..."
After Miss Lopez also checked his knee and arm, she helped him step down from the piano. With the little Latina's support, he shuffled toward Lucifer's bathroom so he could take a shower. Ella sat on the foot of Lucifer's custom-made big bed and waited for Alexander to be able to help him back to the living room. Suddenly she heard a loud bang in the bathroom, and in no time she stormed in. Alexander was lying on his back amid hundreds of tiny pieces of safety glass from what had once been the shower wall. He was bright red in the face and muttering under his breath in a language she didn't recognize. Startled, she asked:
"Are you okay, Alex? What happened?"
Ignoring the still running water, she sat beside him on her knees and helped him sit up, getting fully wet in no time. He sighed and said:
"No worries Miss Lopez I just proved through scientific experiment that Celestials are not related and clearly inferior to flamingos. Apparently we can't stand on one leg in the water very well."
She smiled at his words and at the same time felt something sticky and warm on her hand and looked at his back. Apparently some of the small shards had penetrated his back, and he was bleeding from a few wounds.
"Okay, on your feet, kid, and out from under the water. You have shards in your back. I'm going to have to remove those and take care of the wounds."
He sighed deeply and muttered:
"The concept of vulnerability is beginning to irritate me. At home I'm just invulnerable to this kind of hassle, and here it apparently takes me a while to get adjusted..."
With difficulty, he got up and let Ella lead him into the bedroom. She set him on the edge of the bed and handed him a towel to cover himself somewhat:
"Stay here for a while; I have to get out of this wet stuff first."
She opened Lucifer's huge closet, looked around, and found some bathrobes. She grabbed two, threw one on the bed, and took the other into the bathroom. A few minutes later she reappeared. A towel twisted around her head hid her wet hair.
"'Right back, Alexander, just getting my kit."
Lucifer stood behind his home bar with a mug of coffee in hand. Well, coffee, it was more whiskey than coffee. The elevator doors slid open, and Chloe stepped into the penthouse. The Devil got a faint smile on his face when he saw his detective:
"Good morning detective, would you like a cup of coffee?"
Before Chloe could answer, Ella came running down the steps in her bathrobe and covered hair. The detective's facial expression changed instantly, and she exclaimed indignantly:
"ELLA!"
The Latina looked her in the eye, and what she read there was enough to change her facial expression as well, and certainly not for the better. She was furious, and she had no time for the wrong conclusion Decker had apparently drawn from the fact that she was wearing only a bathrobe in Lucifer's penthouse. Spitefully, she said:
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Decker! Alexander fell in the shower and needed help."
She walked over to the piano where she had left her kit the night before, grabbed it, and, without another word, wanted to disappear back toward the bedroom to nurse Alexander's new wounds. Before she had taken the first step of stairs, however, she looked angrily at Lucifer and said:
"Thank you for running over to help Lucifer!"
After which she disappeared into the bedroom. Both Chloe and the Devil had to swallow for a moment. They realized that Ella was angry with both of them and rightfully so. At him for not rushing over to help and at her for not thinking and coming to all the wrong conclusions. The gaze of an angry Miss Lopez was anything but pleasant to get directed at you. Alexander could clearly see that Ella was annoyed as she walked into the bedroom bristling, put her suitcase on the bed, and went to work. A few minutes later, she heard him ask with pleasure in his voice:
"How about it, Miss Lopez? We leave those two idiots alone for a while, and we go shopping and do some sightseeing?"
She thought for a few seconds and replied:
"That sounds fun, but I'll have to wait a while for my clothes to dry."
He turned his head slightly in her direction. She saw a mischievous grin appear on his face, and his eyes lit up like floodlights. He snapped the fingers of his right hand, and two piles of clothes appeared on the bed. One obviously for him and one for her.
"Growing up in a house with older sisters has its advantages, Miss Lopez. I don't know if this will fit perfectly; I don't work for Prada."
Ella looked at what had appeared out of nowhere on the bed and stammered:
"How... how did you do that?"
He grinned:
"A simple explanation would be that I can manifest what I imagine in my mind. A complicated explanation, more in line with your scientific approach, would be a much too long exposition on the rearrangement of molecules and atoms."
She shook her head and smiled back:
"Nice trick!"
He chuckled and said:
"You have no idea how much it can drive someone mad in Hell and Heaven and how much fun one can have with it..."
Ella laughed:
"I guess I'd better be careful with you, Alexander."
About ten minutes later, they both entered the living room in their new outfits. Alexander noticed immediately that the atmosphere between Lucifer and Chloe was extremely nervous, even tense. He had absolutely no desire to get involved in whatever they were discussing, and so he announced:
"Miss Lopez has kindly offered to accompany me on a shopping trip into town as I need some new... well, stuff. If you could arrange for everyone in Lucifer's secret insiders in the celestial fan club to be here at 1600, I can make a statement and not have to repeat myself a dozen times. Please don't forget Miss Beatrice, because contrary to what you two may believe, she has known from day one that Lucifer is the one and only Devil."
That last bit made the two of them open their mouths in surprise. Alexander, however, had no patience to answer the questions that would undoubtedly follow if he gave them a chance. The lift door slid open, and he stepped in with Ella. Just before the door closed, he said icily:
"You two need to talk and try to do it without acting like idiots!"
They stepped out of the lift into the underground car park. The garage was actually a private car park for Lucifer's small collection of cars, those of Lux's staff, and the sporadic VVIP who was allowed to use it. Ella preceded him to an old, dilapidated Honda Civic and already wanted to open the door. Alexander remained as if nailed to the ground, looking at the car in horror. After a few seconds, he asked softly:
"What the frack is that thing?"
Ella replied dryly:
"My private car for my days off. On the other days, I drive a car from the lab."
He got a wrinkle in his forehead:
"Miss Lomez, I don't know what to say except to quote my favorite comedian. That's not a car, that's the product you get when a Volkswagen Beetle F..., hmm, did the naughty with a golf cart! This is a deathtrap on wheels. If it had been a horse someone would have put it out of its misery a long time ago. No, no, nop, this is not how we're going to go into town for what is supposed to be my first visit to Earth."
Alexander turned away from the little car and let his gaze wander over Lucifer's collection. His gaze fell on a well-defined car, and he managed a rather mischievous smile:
"Miss Lopez, I think that one over there has our names written all over it..."
He walked towards the exclusive car with Ella in his wake.
"Just what I thought. A cross between Cherry red for you and Hell red for me. Perfect!"
Ella looked wide-eyed at the car Alexander had apparently set his sights on. With a dry mouth, she said
"This is an exclusive Aston Martin, Alexander! I don't think Lucifer will appreciate it if we take it."
He laughed softly and asked:
"Hmmm, Miss Lopez, have you somehow forgotten how much fun a joyride can be? Given your history with cars, I'm honestly surprised."
"Oh, I would absolutely love to drive this one. If given the chance as a teenager, I wouldn't have hesitated for a second. However, the grown-up version of me says this is an Aston Martin ONE SEVEN SEVEN, limited edition, in perfect condition; the price tag must be somewhere close to two million and a half, if not higher."
He turned to her, made the car key appear in his hand, and held it out in front of him:
"Are you sure I can't tempt you into taking a ride?"
The special way he phrased his question caused Ella to open her eyes wide for a moment. A warm glow of recognition appeared in her eyes; she nodded and said:
"Let's Go..."