[Lucifer] Ch: 53 [Wings & Linda] (Patreon)

[Morning]

Linda stretched both arms above her head with a lazy smile as warm morning light spilled across the bedroom.

She felt completely relaxed.

Last night had been incredible. The wine tasting had been unexpectedly sweet, their conversation had gone far deeper than she'd expected, and the sex afterward had been even better. Somewhere between the talking, laughing, kissing, and everything that followed, Linda had fallen asleep feeling happier. 

She slowly opened her eyes and turned to the other side of the bed. It was empty. Linda blinked and reached across the mattress. The sheets were still warm, but Lucifer wasn't there.

"Of course," she murmured sleepily. "The one morning I actually wouldn't mind waking up next to someone."

Then she noticed the balcony doors standing open.

Lucifer was outside.

He stood near the railing with his back toward her, wearing nothing except a white towel wrapped loosely around his waist. One hand rested against the balcony while the other held what appeared to be a glass of water, which was probably the most shocking thing Linda had seen him consume voluntarily.

His dark hair was still wet from the shower.

Linda smiled faintly and pushed herself upright. 'Mhm~ Can't believe I fell for him. But he's with Alexandra, and there's that thing with the detective... But he did say, I belong to him. Hmm. I love how possessive he is of me.'

The sheet slipped from her body and gathered around her waist, leaving her naked from the waist up, though she barely noticed. After everything they'd done the previous night, modesty seemed hilariously pointless.

Linda was about to call out his name when something caught her eye. She stopped and focused on Lucifer's back. For a few seconds, she just stared. Something felt off. Then she realized what it was: the scars were gone.

'Huh?!' She sat up straighter.

The first time she'd slept with Lucifer, she'd noticed them almost immediately. Two enormous scars had stretched across his upper back near the shoulder blades. They weren't small surgical marks or ordinary injuries. They were deep, symmetrical, and strangely shaped, almost as though something enormous had once been attached there and violently removed.

She'd wanted to ask about them that very night.

Therapist instincts had stopped her.

Lucifer already carried enough complicated emotional baggage beneath all the jokes, arrogance, flirting, and endless insistence that he was literally the Devil. Whatever had caused those scars clearly belonged to something deeply personal. Linda had decided that pushing him before he was ready would only make him retreat behind another joke.

So she'd waited.

She expected that, eventually, once Lucifer trusted her, he would tell her what had happened. Now, there was nothing to explain. His back was completely smooth. Linda squinted and leaned forward, wondering if lack of sleep affected her eyesight. There were no scars. No faint marks... Nothing. It looked like they had never existed.

"What the..." Linda said.

Lucifer turned his head slightly when he heard movement behind him. “Morning, Doctor.”

Linda barely reacted to the greeting. Her attention remained fixed on his back, and after a few seconds, Lucifer finally noticed the strange expression on her face. He slowly turned around, taking another sip from his glass as his usual teasing smile appeared.

“Well, that’s disappointing. Usually when you stare at me like that, your eyes are directed considerably lower.”

Linda ignored the comment as she climbed out of bed. The sheet slipped completely away when she stood, leaving her naked as she walked toward him. Under any other circumstances, Lucifer would’ve appreciated the sight considerably more, but Linda’s attention had become completely focused on the impossible change in front of her.

His eyebrows lifted as she approached. “Now this is a promising start to the morning.”

She walked straight past him and circled around his body, forcing Lucifer to glance over his shoulder with growing confusion. “What exactly are you doing?”

Linda stopped close behind him and slowly raised one hand. Her fingertips touched his upper back, and the instant they made contact, Lucifer’s body became strangely still. She ran her fingers across the place where the scars had once been, then moved to the other side and checked again.

There was nothing beneath her fingers except perfectly smooth skin.

“Lucifer,” Linda said, and something in her voice wiped most of the amusement from his expression.

She kept one hand against his back while looking up at him. “Where are your scars?”

Lucifer didn’t answer immediately. For once, there wasn’t a joke waiting on the tip of his tongue. Linda watched his face carefully until recognition slowly appeared in his eyes.

“Oh,” he murmured after several seconds.

Linda’s eyebrows climbed. “Oh? That’s what you have to say about this?”

Lucifer turned his head and looked toward his shoulder, almost as though he’d somehow forgotten that humans generally couldn’t inspect their own backs. “The scars.”

“Yes, Lucifer, the scars. The two massive scars that used to cover half your upper back.”

He remained quiet while Linda studied him, trying to understand why he seemed almost as surprised as she felt.

“I noticed them the first time we slept together,” she continued.

That finally made his eyes return to her. “You did?”

“Of course I did. They weren’t exactly subtle.”

Lucifer’s expression shifted into something more thoughtful, and Linda’s voice softened when she continued. “I wanted to ask you about them, but I decided against it. They looked personal, and whatever happened to you clearly wasn’t something you were ready to talk about. Pushing you before you were ready wouldn’t have helped either of us.”

For once, Lucifer simply listened without interrupting her.

Linda looked at his back again before placing a hand against his shoulder. “But they were there, Lucifer. I’ve seen them more than once, and now they’re completely gone.”

“Well, Doctor,” he said after taking a slow breath as he turned toward her, “it appears my body has been going through a few... renovations.”

Linda stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Renovations?”

“Celestial renovations.”

Her expression remained completely unchanged, and Lucifer gave a resigned sigh. “Yes, yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds.”

“You told me you were the Devil, God is your father, angels are your siblings, and you ruled Hell for millions of years, reborn as a human and then back at being the Devil,” Linda replied. “I’m well past using ‘ridiculous’ as a useful diagnostic category.”

A genuine laugh escaped him, although Linda didn’t join him. She stepped behind him again and carefully traced the place where one of the scars had once stretched across his skin.

“You told me you cut your wings off.”

The laughter vanished immediately.

Linda felt the muscles beneath her fingers tighten, and that small reaction told her more than any joke or carefully chosen answer could’ve managed. She slowly lifted her eyes toward him.

“Those scars were where your wings were, weren’t they?”

Lucifer stayed silent, his gaze drifting toward the city beyond the balcony. Linda already knew what that silence meant. She’d spent enough hours sitting across from him in her office to recognize when she’d touched something he desperately preferred to hide.

Her voice became gentler. “What happened to them?”

For several long seconds, Lucifer said nothing. Los Angeles stretched beneath them, bright morning sunlight spilling across buildings and streets while distant traffic filled the silence between them. Linda kept her hand against his back and waited without pressing him further.

Eventually, Lucifer lowered the glass in his hand.

“They came back.”

Linda’s fingers stopped moving against his skin. She stared at the back of his head, certain she must’ve misunderstood him.

“They what?”

Lucifer slowly turned around until he was facing her completely. The usual amusement was gone from his expression now, leaving behind a seriousness Linda rarely saw outside their most difficult sessions.

“My wings, Linda.”

His eyes held hers as he spoke the words plainly.

“They grew back.”

Linda stared at him for several seconds, waiting for the familiar smile that would tell her he was turning the conversation into another elaborate metaphor.

It never came.

He simply stood there looking completely serious.

Linda slowly lowered her hand from his shoulder. “Okay. Stop.”

Lucifer’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “Stop what?”

“The metaphors. The jokes. The half-answers where I have to spend three therapy sessions figuring out what you actually meant.” She took a breath and folded her arms across her chest. “Just stop doing that for five minutes and talk to me.”

Lucifer flinched a bit.

Linda watched him carefully. “I know you’ve told me things. You’ve told me about Hell, your father, your brothers, your mother, the rebellion, and whatever happened to you before you became Lucifer. You’ve told me more than you probably intended when we first met.”

She paused, choosing her next words more carefully.

“But every time we get close to the part where I might actually understand who you are, you pull away. You turn it into a joke, say something outrageous, flirt with me, or give me another answer that sounds like something I’m supposed to interpret.”

Linda stepped closer.

“And I’m tired of interpreting you.” Her voice softened. “Because somewhere along the way, this stopped being just therapy.”

Lucifer didn’t move.

Linda swallowed before continuing. “I care about you. More than I should’ve allowed myself to, probably, considering how we started. And after yesterday, I can’t keep pretending this is casual for me anymore.”

Lucifer’s eyes remained fixed on her.

Linda felt her heartbeat speeding up, though she forced herself to keep going.

“I’m in love with you, Lucifer.”

The words landed between them without any room for misunderstanding.

Lucifer’s expression changed immediately.

For once, there was no clever reply waiting for her.

Linda gave a nervous little laugh and rubbed one hand over her forehead. “There. I said it. Apparently dating my patient wasn’t enough of an ethical disaster, so I figured I might as well completely destroy the handbook.”

Lucifer still didn’t say anything.

Linda’s smile faded.

“And that’s why this matters,” she continued. “Because I’m standing here telling you I love you, and I still feel like there’s a wall between us. I don’t know whether you’re scared I’ll leave, or whether you don’t trust me enough, but I need you to stop deciding what I can handle.”

Lucifer slowly inhaled.

Linda held his gaze. “If you’re telling me your wings literally grew back, then tell me what that actually means. If you’re really who you say you are, stop giving me pieces and expecting me to build the entire picture myself.”

She stepped even closer.

“Trust me enough to tell me the truth.”

Lucifer’s jaw shifted slightly.

He looked toward the balcony again, then down at the glass still held loosely in his hand.

Linda had seen him nervous before, although he always disguised it beneath arrogance or humor. This felt different. He looked genuinely uncertain about what came next.

After several seconds, Lucifer released a long breath.

“Bloody hell.”

Linda waited.

Lucifer walked past her and set the glass on the small table beside the balcony doors. When he turned around again, his expression had become strangely calm.

“All right, Doctor.”

Linda blinked. “All right?”

“You want complete honesty.”

“Yes.”

“You want proof.”

Linda hesitated for only a moment. “Yes.”

Lucifer nodded slowly. “Then I suppose it’s time I stopped asking you to believe me simply because I said so.”

Linda’s stomach tightened. Something about his voice told her this wasn’t another joke.

Lucifer glanced toward the bed before looking back at her. “You should sit down.”

Linda frowned. “Why?”

“Because what I’m about to show you may be rather difficult for your wonderfully rational human brain to process, and I’d prefer you didn’t collapse dramatically onto the floor."

“Lucifer.”

“I’m serious, Linda.” His tone was enough to stop her, and he gently pointed toward the bed. “Please.”

Linda studied him for another moment before finally turning away. She walked back into the bedroom and sat near the edge of the mattress. Lucifer followed her inside, though he stopped several steps away rather than coming any closer.

Linda kept her eyes fixed on him. “Are you going to do something?”

“Yes.”

“Is it dangerous?”

Lucifer considered the question for a moment before answering. “Not to you.”

The reassurance didn’t seem to ease her nerves, but Linda stayed where she was while Lucifer slowly rolled his shoulders and closed his eyes.

He’d originally considered showing her his Devil face. It would’ve been simple. One flash of burned flesh, red eyes, and ancient horror would erase every remaining doubt she had about what he truly was.

But Linda had trusted him, and scaring her half to death felt like a poor response to that trust.

So Lucifer chose something else.

He concentrated on the familiar weight beneath his shoulder blades. For several seconds, nothing happened, and Linda simply watched from the bed. Then the muscles beneath his skin shifted unnaturally. Two shapes began pressing outward beneath his shoulder blades, slowly growing larger until Linda’s expression changed completely.

Her breathing stopped as Lucifer opened his arms. A faint glow appeared behind him, spreading across the room before his wings appeared.

The right wing unfolded in a sweep of brilliant white feathers, spreading outward until the morning sunlight pouring through the balcony doors caught across its surface. The entire room seemed brighter around it as each feather settled into place.

Then the second wing followed.

Deep crimson feathers stretched from Lucifer’s left side, their color darkening toward the edges until several appeared almost black where the morning light failed to reach them. Both wings continued expanding behind him until they filled most of the space, enormous enough that the air displaced by their movement sent the curtains fluttering toward the balcony and lifted the loose sheets across the bed.

Linda remained completely still. She didn’t blink as she stared at the impossible sight before her, every thought inside her head seemingly disappearing beneath the sheer reality of what she was seeing.

Lucifer opened his eyes and looked toward her.

His wings remained fully spread behind him, vast and unmistakably real. The white feathers glowed softly beneath the morning sunlight while the crimson wing shifted almost imperceptibly beside it, a striking contrast against the brightness filling the room.

Lucifer watched Linda, searching her expression before finally speaking without even the smallest trace of humor.

“So, there’s the truth.”

Linda remained completely frozen.

--

AN: I think I'll wrap up the Malcolm part and then move to the celebrity part.