betterthanaplan | Still Haven, Maine, Friday Fandom time

So. Today had sucked. Even more than most days in this town did. Duke had a stab wound in his leg from a pen, and would likely be having nightmares about being possessed by a homicidal 20-something for the foreseeable future. Octavia had a gunshot wound in her arm, and had been locked, however briefly, in a vault. Lucifer had had to watch both of them be retraumatized, unknowing if he'd ever get either of them back whole.

But that was over now, at least. Time to reconnect, reassess, and figure out where to go from here.

[for those in the narrative, and likely slowplay. MMMMM, AFTERMATH]

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From:

betterthanaplan

For Octavia to see if her boys are okay

From:

my_own_advocate

"We're almost there," Lucifer said, his eyes darting towards Duke's leg, not for the first time in the past five minutes. They rounded a corner, and there she was...

Alive and well.

(Not that he'd been worried. Still.)

"Octavia! Duke's back!"

From:

okteiviakom

Alive, though with her right arm in a sling, and her heart in her throat.

Until they rounded that corner.

... Wait, no, the terror was still there. It wasn't enough that Lucifer would say that, not after everything, after the wait. "Duke?"

From:

betterthanaplan

"Sha, natshana." Duke gave her a tired smile. "Ai yu jaka, nou joka."

His eyes flicked to the sling and his whole expression crumpled. "Are you. . . ?"

From:

my_own_advocate

"She'll be all right," Lucifer said. He wished it sounded like less of a question.

He gently guided Duke forwards, until they were stnading in front of her.

From:

okteiviakom

She was sitting down (they hadn't been able to get her to lay down at any point, it was the best anyone had managed), which meant she was now craning her neck to look up at them.

Mostly at Duke.

She gave a shuddery little breath at the Trig, like something in her maybe relaxed a little. "It's fine," she murmured, not even bothering to look at her arm.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Can't believe that fucker shot you two," Duke growled. He pulled away from Lucifer, wanting to pace, but got brought up short by the pain in his thigh from Jennifer's pen. "Almost wish he wasn't dead so I could kill him again on purpose this time."

From:

my_own_advocate

"Will you please just sit down so someone can come have a look at your leg?" Lucifer asked, sounding faintly despairing. Because he was.

From:

okteiviakom

Yeah, now Octavia was looking down at it as well.

"What happened to your leg?" she asked, sounding very concerned. Looked it, too.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke shook his head and shrugged. "Jennifer jammed a pen in it. Tyler was about to try to hold her at gun point, so I figure it's fair."

From:

my_own_advocate

"I'm going to find a doctor," Lucifer told him. "Sit. Down."

He was absolutely going to be like this until the terror wore off.

From:

my_own_advocate - Date: 2022-04-01 09:09 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

betterthanaplan

For Duke, who has some questions for Lexie

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke limped through the Gull, grabbing some provisions for another little private post-trouble tete-a-tete out on the decking, and tried to ignore his brother's hovering. "Wade. You know that wasn't me."

"I should've known it wasn't you when you actually seemed interested in what I had to say," Wade said, frowning. "I did call the cops. I saved your ass. So you could show me some gratitude and tell me what the big secret is about you."

Duke looked back at him and shook his head. "And I am doing you a favor by not sharing it."

Wade scoffed, but let Duke head out — just in time to find Lexie lurking instead.

"So I used to live here?" she asked. "What was I broke? I mean, it's nice and everything. It's a little nautical."

Duke snorted. Well, I'm glad you like it. You owe me six months' rent."

Lexie grinned. "I just tried to save your life. Shouldn't I get the first month free?"

Everyone seemed to be playing that line with him today. Instead of playing ball, Duke took the conversation in another direction. "You know, I've been thinking about what happened down in that basement. How you just stepped aside and let Tyler try to take me."

How she'd been trying to say something to Lucifer while she did it.

Lexie bit her lip, looking down. "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. I just — I — I didn't want to get stabbed. I'm not like your boyfriend. I bleed for more than a minute, you know? I was scared."

Duke nodded slowly. "See, that's where I get stuck. The way you jumped out of that barn, went down in that basement, even without Luce's invulnerability. . . . I guess I'm just having a hard time believing that you were scared." He leaned in a little. "I think you knew that my curse would kick in and save me."

"I really —" Lexie ducked away from him, heading for the door to the bar. "I don't know the first thing about it."

Duke lifted his chin, not following her. "But Audrey Parker would." He turned slowly, saw her frozen mid-stride. "Isn't that right, Audrey?"

She ducked her head. "Damn it, Duke." Then she spun on her heel and was wrapping her arms around him. "Yeah," she said softly. "It's me."

Duke was honestly a little startled to hear her admit it that easily, but he slowly raised his hands to hold her back.

"You can't tell anyone, okay?" she said. "I mean — I don't know if Lucifer has super hearing or something, but — Nathan can't know."

"Audrey —" Duke started.

"Promise me, Duke."

"I." Duke pulled back a little and looked down at her. She was gorgeous, even more so with the dark make-up and piercings, in his opinion, but even without it, she'd always — shone to him. Like a lighthouse. A beacon. "Yeah. Alright."

She popped up on her toes and kissed his cheek, then turned and headed into the bar.

From:

my_own_advocate

"Well, that looked cosy," Lucifer commented idly. He'd been at the bar, pounding back a scotch, and then-- then the sound of voices had drifted his way.

And so now he was ambling towards Duke, fiddling with his sleeve.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had been listlessly looking for ginger ale behind the bar. Her head kind of hurt, and she was tired, and had the use of only her non-dominant arm, and everything still felt like a lot.

Quietly following Lucifer seemed more like reflex than anything else.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Yeah, um. . . ." Duke trailed off, looking where Audrey had just gone.

She really was Audrey. Audrey with a very sexy new attitude, but Audrey nonetheless.

Audrey was back.

And he couldn't tell anyone.

"Yeah, that was." He swallowed, looking at Lucifer. Who hated people lying. Or hiding things. "I just found something out that needs to stay on the down low. I don't -- want to keep secrets from you guys, but I need to know you won't tell anyone else."

There. Now Lucifer had . . . an out. Of sorts.

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer blew out a faintly disbelieving breath. "Who would I tell?" he asked.

(Besides random, completely unrelated people in bars or in Fandom or whatever, had he not been asked to give his word.)

"Of course I won't tell anyone. You have my word."

From:

okteiviakom

This was where Octavia was supposed to say something too, right?

She was just frowning in a faintly confused (concerned?) manner.

From:

betterthanaplan

She was much less likely to blurt anything with or without a promise. Duke still gave her a raised eyebrow before he spoke.

"It's her," he said, voice low. Low enough even they would probably need to lean in to hear him. He ran his hand through his hair. "That's her, that's really Audrey."

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer did lean in, after that first statement.

Nothing really showed on his face, bar the brief twitch of an eyebrow. "Of course it is," he said.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had also leaned in, half just taking Lucifer's lead.

And then she'd blinked.

And now her expression hardened, instantly. Though they only got a second to look at her before she whipped around, and started for the bar.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Tavi, don't --" Duke started, reaching for her -- only to jerk back at the last moment as he realized he was reaching for her bad shoulder. "Look, I get it, okay? Why she lied. And it's how she knew she could let Tyler kill himself and I'd be okay."

Still Haven, Maine, Friday Fandom time

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