"Did you go out last night?" 

That was the line I was greeted with by my dear sister.

"Hello to you too, Paris."

She groaned on the other side of the phone, well aware of my answer to her question without needing me to confirm it out loud.

"Come on, Syd!" She exclaimed, "How will you find someone while sitting in your home?"

By black magic, apparently.

"Actually," I began, "That is what I had called to talk about-"

"No, I won't let you come without a date! Even if I have to bribe one of Oliver's brothers or friends! I don't think Percy would say yes, again, but there are others!"

I sighed.

Lucifer was due to show up any time now, and I had ended up calling my sister when the anticipation of his return started becoming too overwhelming.

I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. I would be adequately distracted, and she would also be updated about a potential candidate to be my date.

Of course, it was certainly settled that I was going with him, but I couldn't spring that up on Paris, directly. She would ask me to start showing my bank statements to prove he wasn't a male escort hired for service.

She was my sister, after all.

"That's not it, Paris!" I whined like a small baby. "I called to tell you that I actually did start talking to someone."

There was a heavy pause at the other end and I wondered if I had accidentally said something suspicious.

It would be just like me to give away the entire arrangement in the very first line.

"What?"

"Yeah, I-"

"WHAT?" There was another pause before, "How? Who? When?"

I took a deep breath. 

She really did not need to sound so surprised. It wasn't as if I had led a life of extreme chastity and celibacy up until now.

"Sydney Janice Hartley, you tell me everything right now!" Her voice deepened with command.

I winced at her use of my middle name. This was how we had been since we were kids. She would corner London or I, whenever something happened, and she would use the same tone that drove the two of us up the wall with nerves.

During high school, when London had been bullied by a girl in our class, Paris- who had come home from college for a long weekend, had gathered every little secret about the girl that she could. The girl had never looked at London, again.

She had also made London write on every wall of her room how Paris was always right and how she would never hide anything from her big sister again. Aunt Madeline's heart had almost stopped beating when she had seen the crime scene the next morning. She had thundered down the stairs, screaming something about calling a priest and exorcising a demon. (London had used black oil crayons, and her entire room was covered with her worm-looking handwriting- which incidentally did look a lot like Lucifer's signature.)

Paris could be incredibly intimidating when she wanted to be.

Before I could actually tell her any details, she interrupted me again, "Oh no, wait! Let's add London and Ambrose on the call, too!"

Ambrose, Aunt Madeline's only child, lived all the way in Germany. I did not really want to calculate the time difference and disturb him randomly.

I also did not want to waste time adding the two of them and waiting to see if they could even talk at the moment or not, specially since I had a date with Lucifer. 

Not a date. Just a meeting at a fixed time with a man who I was supposed to bring to my sister's wedding. The same man who had also kissed me. The same man who was also off-limits.

"Paris!" I raised my voice, getting her attention before she could invite the entire family for their good 'ole intervention that I did not need right now, "I am meeting with him in some time, so maybe we can fill the others in later?"

I could hear Paris squealing at the other end, calling for Oliver to bring two glasses of wine pronto. 

Apparently Oliver was being updated real time, even if no one else was.

"Okay! We're ready now," She finally said after a few long minutes of clinking of glasses and pouring of liquor that I had started to hear, "What is his name? What does he do? How did you meet him?"

It was a good thing that I had spent a big chunk of my morning thinking about what the answers to all these questions could be. My imagination had run as far as making Lucifer a beret-wearing Frenchman, but berets had to go with moustaches, and I was not a moustache person.

"His name is Lucien-" I said, only to be startled by a sudden weight on the other side of my bed.

Suddenly, Lucifer poked his head out of the blanket, and I stifled a scream. 

At least I tried to.

"Sydney? What happened?" Oliver's concerned voice crackled through the speakers of my phone, "Are you okay?"

I glared at Lucifer, and he only grinned back boyishly, settling into my bed like he had owned it his entire life. He stretched out both his hands and placed them behind his head, signalling at me with his eyebrows to continue talking.

There was no way in hell I was continuing, now. (Perhaps I shouldn't use that statement anymore. If Lucifer ever heard me saying such stuff, he would take it as a personal challenge.)

"Oh, it's just that Luci-en is here!" I had almost slipped there. Lucifer eyed me curiously, raising an eyebrow and making a face at his new name.

Aw, you don't like it, buddy? Suck it up.

"Oh, already? Can I talk to him?" Paris asked loud enough for Lucifer to hear.

He nodded sagely, leaning forward to take my phone, but I angled away.

"No, sorry, not yet! Gotta go, now! I love you! Bye!"

I cut the call before she could reply at all.

"Now, that wasn't very polite," he chided, falling back on the bed.

My eyes flashed, "Polite? POLITE? Ringing the doorbell to someone's house is polite! Asking for their permission to enter their house is polite! You clearly don't get a say in this."

He only rolled his eyes at my outburst, further fuelling my rage.

"I wished myself at your side," he simply said, "It's on you, really, to still be in bed when I told you I would be coming back at the same time as yesterday."

So now, this was my fault?

He did not stop there. "If you're trying to convey a message," he winked, "We can rip up that contract right away."

I groaned. I was already having a hard time keeping him away from my thoughts and my imagination, and here he was, trying to rip in even more.

Maybe I could alter the contract and add 'No flirting when all alone' to it. 

While that would certainly be helpful, I wasn't sure if I wanted him to stop flirting. 

His words made me feel seen. They made me feel desirable.

Just shoot yourself in the head at this point, Sydney. Don't you dare fucking say that out loud.

Miraculously, I managed to keep my mouth shut.

He stared at me in surprise, as if unable to come to terms with the fact that he hadn't been able to get a verbal rise out of me.

I decided to move on before he took that as a challenge, "We need to get our story straight, first. I was thinking about telling my family that you're my supervisor."

He sat up, leaning his back against the headboard. 

He had chosen to wear a white shirt similar to the one he had worn yesterday. Sleeves rolled up to his elbows, first few buttons at the top- open.

"They won't think it's inappropriate?" He inquired, making me drag my eyes back to his face from his hands and his veiny forearms. 

He either had very less body fat, or he had decided to hit the gym right before getting here. 

"Huh?"

The infuriating smirk was back on his face, completing the look, "Won't they think I'm taking advantage of my position?"

I shrugged, "We'll say that I'm not on your team, and I don't work under you directly. Morally and socially speaking, we're in the clear with that. I actually want to know what we shall tell Lilith, before going any further."

He grinned, "That you summoned me."