Everyone gets downstairs, only to find Charlie looking like she's about to lose her mind altogether in front of a very large drawing board with notes and strings pinned all over it.
Angel grimaces, murmuring "Yikes…" He and Husk trade glances when Charlie mutters 'Trust falls every morning…' and unanimously decide to hide behind the couch in case there's a full blown explosion of some kind brewing.
Vaggie asks "Uh, Charlie? You alright, sweetie?"
Charlie lets out a tired, desperate laugh, and says "Nope! I've been up all night trying to figure out some way to make Heaven listen about Sinners not needing to be exterminated, and nothing!" Her Aunt may have steered her towards sanctuary instead of rehabilitation, but if they become better people while they're at the Hotel then that's fantastic! "Adam's a self-absorbed asshole, his…whoever that was with him is no better, and I don't even know how to get in touch with anyone else up there!"
Calli grimaces, and says "And if I'm the one that requests anything, it'll get ignored at best. I'm not particularly popular up there." She could still just kill them when they come down, it's not out of the realm of possibility. Heck, she'd be thrilled to do as much, given how much she really hates Heaven and how they have to continually rub salt in the wounds they gave Lucifer ten thousand years ago.
Vaggie says "Charlie, now might be the time, to…"
"No, please don't say it…"
"Call your dad." Charlie groans, laying one hand on her arm, and Vaggie says "I know you don't want to, Charlie, but we need every advantage we can get!"
"But he let the Exterminations happen in the first place! Far as I know, they just had a meeting and he said 'Go ahead! Kill everyone!' Wait, he could get me a meeting with Heaven!"
Angel says "Yeah, but…you tried that, remember?" And now she's currently freaking out over Heaven being ready and eager to come down and kill everyone again six months early.
"Yeah, with Adam. But he's not in charge of all of Heaven," she dearly hopes, anyway, "we could go to the top! There's gotta be some Angels who will listen!" Whipping out her phone, she quickly scrolls to his contact…but then hovers her thumb over the call button.
Husk asks "What's wrong? Daddy issues?"
Charlie shakes her head, saying "No! We've just…never been close. After he and Mom split, he never really wanted to see me. He calls, sometimes - but only if he's bored or needs me to do something…"
"Yep, Daddy issues."
Calli frowns, saying "Charlie…you were the second light of his life, Lucifer loved you more than life itself as soon as he laid eyes on you. Heck, your birth is what gave him his wings back! I cannot possibly imagine him not adoring you and the ground you walk on…" She gets the feeling Lucifer's going to have a heart attack and a half when Charlie asks him this…if he picks up, that is. And for good reason, to. More specifically, three extremely good reasons and several dozen other good reasons.
Or, his ex-brothers and the Seraphim Court that 'tried' him ten thousand years ago.
Vaggie coughs, asking "Gave him…you mean when he Fell…" Oh...she hadn't known that.
Calli nods, running a hand through her hair, and says "Yeah. They tore Lucifer's wings off before tossing him into a portal here. Among other things, anyway. His body healed, eventually, but it wasn't until Charlie was born that he could manifest his wings again." Lilith handed Charlie over to Lucifer, exhausted after ten straight hours of labor, and Lucifer looked down at the child the three of them brought into the world…and then suddenly tears of joy sprang from his eyes and six massive wings sprang from his back.
Charlie bites her lip, staring at the contact on her phone, then presses the call button.
Lucifer sighs in relief when he sees the odd red-head standing at the edge of a stream - he's been tracking the white bird that's always with her for the past two weeks, ever since he and his older brothers first saw the pair, hoping to introduce himself.
Yeah, she somehow knocked Michael flat on his armored back with a bream of green energy, but then she went on the defensive and didn't strike him again even as he was trying to run her through with his sword. Michael's always been the protector of the four of them, no matter that it's only been two and a half weeks since they all came to be.
Movement by the stream draws his attention, and he sees her turn around to reveal her quite literally wrestling with one of the four black wings as her bird flaps its wings and adjusts its position on her shoulder. And then, suddenly, she screams "Dammit! Why give me these things if I can't even keep up with them! Being able to fly without a broom is not worth this, Fate!"
Blinking at her outburst, Lucifer takes a step forward and accidentally steps on a twig. The red-head and her bird suddenly snap their heads in his direction in perfect unison, and then it's a moment of them staring at the Archangel standing next to a tree.
"Um, h- hey! No, wait!" Flexing his wings, Lucifer takes flight and quickly catches up to the fleeing red-head. "I just want to talk, I swear!"
Thankfully, the red-head slows to a halt - less thankfully, she gets a rod or staff of some kind out of thin air and that bright green energy, shrinks it down to something the size of a small tree branch, and points it at him. "I don't want any trouble, really. What happened before was an accident, but don't think for even a moment I won't defend the two of us if push comes to shove!"
Lucifer holds his hands up placatingly, saying "Like I said, I just want to talk. Can we start over? I'm Lucifer."
The red-head slowly lowers her arm, and says "Calliope. Where are the others?"
Lucifer shakes his head, saying "Just me, this time. They don't know I came to find you, really."
"Why did you come to find me, anyway? You saw me knock the armored one that looks a lot like you flat on his backside in half a second, accident or no accident."
"Because it was an accident."
Calliope raises an eyebrow at him, and incredulously asks "How could you possibly know that, you goofball?! You don't have any proof, just my word on it!"
Lucifer shakes his head, saying "You didn't attack Michael again, just started avoiding his attacks until his sword got lodged in that tree. If you'd meant to attack him, you wouldn't have done that."
Calliope runs a hand down her face, even as her bird starts making some noises, and says "I know, Hed…this is Hedwig, by the way. She's my Familiar. Which, incidentally, means I will very purposefully attack if someone does something to her."
Lucifer nods, saying "Cool, cool…does that include petting? How 'bout complimenting? Or both?"
Calliope stares at him in disbelief, and says "I just not-so-subtly threatened you with severe bodily harm if anything happened to Hedwig…and you want to pet her." Running the fingers of the hand Hedwig's closer to through her white feathers, Calliope says "If she lets you, sure. Hold your arm out like this," she sticks her arm out to form a place for Hedwig to land on it, "and if she flies over than you can pet her. If not, she'll snap at your fingers should you try anyway."
Lucifer holds his arm out like Calliope did, and Hedwig gazes at him for a moment before taking off and landing gently on his arm. Nipping at his fingertips is the most that happens when Lucifer runs his free hand through her feathers, and he starts gushing over her immediately.
Which seems to be the way to go, as Hedwig fluffs up at the praise - looking, for all the world, like it's her due, hilariously enough.
After a few minutes of the petting, Hedwig returns to Calliope's shoulder. Clearing his throat, Lucifer glances at the messy-looking black wings and asks "You want some help with those? Wing preening is generally more of a group activity than a solo one."
Lucifer groans as his eyes open and consciousness returns to him - why, oh why couldn't that memory have actually been reality? Back before his Fall, before humanity, back when he first met his best friend and her Familiar? If he could do everything over…well, he'd still tell Calli about Eve's state, he'd just make sure nobody saw him plant the apple with a small note saying 'Eat me!' for Eve to find instead of handing it to her. Gods, though, does he miss his best friend.
Glancing at the small rubber duck he made in her likeness to talk to, he murmurs "Miss you, Calli. Wish you were here…"
Rolling over to the other side of the bed, Lucifer dredges up every ounce of willpower and forces himself out of bed - he's got that rubber duck design to finish, after all. And, when Calli comes back, he can show her each of them!
Because she's absolutely coming back - she promised she would, and she's never broken a promise to him in all the time he's known her.
He's just put the finishing touches on the Fantastical Back-Flipping Fire-Spitting Rubber Duck when…his phone rings. Checking it again to see if it's the mystery number that's been calling for the past few months- "Daughter call- Daughter, daughter calling!" Nearly dropping the phone in his panic, Lucifer tries to practice answering before taking a deep breath…and blurting out "Hey, bitch!"
There's silence on the phone for exactly two seconds, before Charlie's voice says "Hey, dad!"
"Hey, how are ya!" Great start, Lucifer, keep going! Um… "Wh-where are ya, these days…?"
Charlie's voice sounds a little annoyed as she says "You know where I am, Dad, I told you before…" Lucifer laughs nervously - fucking it up, he's FUCKING IT UP, he's good at that, keep it together it's Charlie! - and Charlie adds "I told you when you called me five months ago? Or did you not listen?"
Lucifer quickly says "No, I was! I just, you know, forgot. Been busy with," he glances down and sees he's about to step on one of the rubber ducks littering his room, and kicks it into a bin filled with more of them, "you know, King-things."
"Well, I'm actually running a hotel, trying to…originally, it was rehabilitating Sinners, redeeming them. Now it's more of a sanctuary. Maybe you saw our commercial?"
Lucifer grimaces, and says "Sorry to say, I missed it. Haven't been watching much TV lately, rots the brain…"
Snapping his fingers, a cup of Apple juice appears in front of him as Charlie says "Well, Dad, I've got…kind of a big ask."
Lucifer quickly nods, saying "Yeah! Of course, anything in my power is yours, Applepip! Say the word, and-"
"I need you to set up a meeting with Heaven - whoever's in charge above Adam."
Lucifer promptly spit-takes his apple juice, feeling his back starting to ache and his body burn at the mere thought of Heaven - and a pit of utter dread at the thought of any of them even glancing at Charlie - and quickly says "No, no, absolutely not, Charlie, you're going nowhere near Heaven. Nononononono- No."
Charlie glances at the phone in her hand as her Dad keeps saying 'no' like his life literally depends on it, Vaggie giving her some silent support by taking her hand - Alastor led Calli away when she first started the call, she's not sure why - and says "Dad, please, I don't ask you for much - I never have before. But this? This is really important to me, it's probably the most important thing I've ever done. And, I…need your help. I need you, Dad."
"I…I don't know, Charlie…"
"Please, Dad? Just…come over, I'll show you around, and you'll see why this is a really good idea. Heaven is bound to listen if the meeting request is coming from you!"
"Charlie, Heaven has never lis- wait. You're INVITING ME OVER?! ABSOLUTELY!"
Charlie winces at the sheer volume, and says "Yeah! And, I'm sure Aunt Calli would love to see you to-"
Lucifer's voice suddenly goes distant as he lets out a startled noise followed by a crash, yelling "CALLIOPE'S BACK IN HELL?!"
Charlie nods, saying "Um, yeah, Dad…she's been back since about a week or so after you called. I know she's tried to call you, more than once. Not sure how many times…"
Up in his workshop/room, Lucifer quickly scrolls through the many missed calls, all from the same number. More calls than his phone can actually store, he's fairly certain it's been over 400 at this point…uh-oh.
Big uh-oh.
Hell-sized uh-oh, no less.
Was that Calliope all this time?! He didn't recognize the number, so he just couldn't muster up the energy to actually answer. It wasn't Charlie, it wasn't one of the Sins...so the unknown string of numbers wasn't enough to pull him out of his perpetual depressed funk.
Scrambling to his feet from where he tripped and snatching up his phone from where it landed when he dropped it, he quickly says "I'll be there in an hour!" Charlie wants to see him, and Calliope's back?! BEST DAY EVER! Take that, Depression!