WHO: Kate Beckett and Lucifer Morningstar
WHEN: 2265.0103
WHERE: The Deck Five Lounge
RATING: Low
STATUS: Complete
SUMMARY: Beckett horrifies Lucifer with the news that she’s pregnant.



“You know, I think it says something that I don’t even bother to check your room when I want to talk to you,” Kate said as she walked into the lounge, aided by the card in her hand that allowed her security clearance even when the place was closed for business. “Do you even stay in there beyond changing clothes?”

Though, really, it wouldn’t surprise her to learn that Lucifer had a closet of suits stashed in the room behind the bar. But even so, she meant what she said, if she was looking for him, she started in the Lounge and then went to the gym before trying his quarters.

"Good morning to you too," Lucifer said cheerfully, reaching for both a glass and an unlabeled bottle. He poured himself a drink and then produced a second glass. Only that one he filled with ice and water before sliding it over to Kate.

"Sometimes I do sleep," he pointed out. "Though since I made a rule of not sleeping with anyone on this ship it's all been a bit too dull, so I may need to revise that somehow. Surely most travelers aren't going to be quite as… Lady Maryish as Lady Mary?"

“The idea of you sleeping is oddly creepy,” she replied as she took a seat on the barstool that she always chose when it was just the two of them in the Lounge. “It’s weird to think of you as still and quiet.”

Reaching for her water with a slight murmur of thanks, Kate sipped at it before flashing him a grin. “Celibacy is getting to you, huh?” she asked as she placed her glass back on the bartop. “I think…...no,” Kate said honestly, thinking back to Mary and the weeks after she and Lucifer had sex. “In Mary’s case, I think it was a combination of a lot of things, including the time period she was raised in and the standards expected of someone of her station at the time. But not everyone is going to have that reaction, there are some women who would be fine with sex just being sex, no strings attached. Men, too. Hell, probably more men than women,”

Was that a stereotypical thing to say? It was, and Kate absolutely knew it. Just like she knew that stereotypes existed for very good reasons. All too often, they were painfully true.

"You're not wrong," Lucifer agreed with a smirk. "On the men aboard who'd be fine with no strings attached sex. Women as well." Only he'd been far more hesitant after his previous encounters.

"And on the celibate thing too. I'm the one who always encourages people to go after their desires, not suppress them or try to drown them out with alcohol."

“Well,” she said after a brief pause, “At the risk of regretting that I suggested this to you later, what’s stopping you from doing exactly that? Find someone that’s open to that sort of thing and have fun. Just don’t brag about it later or let them stay over.”

Lucifer raised a brow. "You're familiar with the expression, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? Not entirely accurate, but it does give me pause." Of course, that wasn't the entire truth, but he'd never forced himself to consider what other motivations he might have had in self-imposed restrictions and now was not the time or place to dive into those.

"So what brings you by, anyway? Other than to tell me that sleeping makes me creepy?" He'd not forgotten that comment.

“Yes, but not all women,” she replied with a quick shrug of her shoulders. “I never had a one night stand with a guy and expected that he’d cuddle with me afterward and make me breakfast the next day.” Nor had she wanted that to happen. One night stands had been just that, sex and then getting dressed in the dark and going home.

“Because I need to tell you something,” Kate answered quickly, lightly drumming her fingers against the smooth surface of the bar. “And I figured the sooner, the better.”

If Kate hadn't been Kate, Lucifer would have taken the opportunity to ask if she was offering. Fortunately, he was saved from making any other inappropriate comments by Beckett informing him that she had something to tell him.

He was hoping that his own suspicions were completely wrong.

"Oh?" he asked, refilling his drink.

“This conversation we’re having about one night stands that you’re deflecting isn’t finished, by the way,” she told him, “We’ll get back to that eventually.”

But her lips twitched in amusement as Lucifer refilled his drink as if his subconscious was already preparing him for the news he didn’t want to hear. She knew that he wouldn’t be happy about it, Lucifer hated all children and merely tolerated the daughter that his partner Chloe had with her ex-husband, but Kate at least hoped that he’d be happy for her and Castle because they were happy, if not about the kid itself.
“I’m pregnant,” Kate told him simply, unable to stop the silly grin that spread across her face when she told him. But, even so, she knew her audience and she gestured toward the drink in his hand. “Go ahead, slam it down, I know you want to.”

Even though he had braced himself for the news, Lucifer's eyes widened at the announcement, and he certainly didn't hesitate once Kate had given him permission to knock back his drink. Once it was empty, he refilled it.

"So that was morning sickness?" he asked. He had suspected as much but hadn't asked because he didn't really want to know the answer at the time.

“It was,” she agreed with a nod of her head. “Well, I’m assuming it was. It could have been something else, but morning sickness is definitely a thing I’m dealing with.” Thus far, the smell of cooking meat and eggs were more enough to set her off, but, on the opposite end, her heightened sense of smell meant she was like a bloodhound when it came to smelling coffee - coffee which she could no longer have. “I don’t sleep that much, either,” Kate added after a moment, “I can’t get comfortable and then when I finally do, I usually have to get up to relieve myself.”

"And this is something that you've willingly done to yourself?" Lucifer prompted, letting the question hang for a moment before he relented. He took another drink, only a sip this time, before saying, "Well. Congratulations then." And in case there was any doubt over his sincerity, which even he found himself doubting, he still smiled at her. "I mean, I don't understand the desire to bring someone completely dependent on you for far too long into the world, but it is what you desired, after all."

There was something to be said for that. And it wasn't as though Kate would ever be foolish enough to trust him to babysit, let alone ask.

“Mmm, it would seem so,” she said with a laugh. “But, to be fair, I’ve never had a kid before, so some of this is a surprise.” Of course, Kate had done a lot of reading to prepare herself, but there were some things that just weren’t covered in books or from Castle sharing what it had been like for his ex-wife Meredith when she had been pregnant. “But thank you, I appreciate that. I won’t pretend that you’re thrilled about it, I know how you feel about kids, but as long as you are happy that I am happy, I think that will be enough.”

"I am happy that you're happy," Lucifer agreed and that was genuine. "I'm also terrified." Lucifer didn't understand children, and he'd come to an acceptance of the detective's spawn, but this was going to be the littlest sort and that was scarier than anything.

“Of what?” Kate asked with a laugh, though she was definitely surprised Lucifer was scared. Of all the emotions she had banked on in reference to him and her kid, fear wasn’t one.

"Children are horrifying," Lucifer replied as if it were obvious. "Especially that little, with their nonsensical crying and inability to look after themselves or communicate properly." It was all he could do to keep from visibly shuddering.

At his answer, Kate’s laugh only grew, with an amused shake of her head added in. “You do realize that you were once one of those children, right? Your parents managed not to kill you before you were able to look after yourself, so I think it’ll be fine.”

“Besides,” she added, pausing long enough to sip her water, “it’s not like I’m going to ask you to babysit. At least not until this kid can walk and talk and tell me everything you did that you weren’t supposed to do. That’ll be years from now.”

"Right. And then my father kicked me out and my mother let him do it, and I ended up killing my brother so I wouldn't use that as an example of parenting done right or growing up unscathed," Lucifer pointed out. "Besides, angels are different and that was eons ago."

But then he did shudder as she mentioned babysitting. "You'll never trust me that much," he said, somewhat gleefully at the realization.

“Mmm, I wouldn’t say that,” she replied with her own grin. “I trust you plenty, and if I had to leave my kid with you, you’d do the best you could. You wouldn’t purposefully do anything to hurt a baby, that’s not who you are.”

An accidental injury was an entirely different story, though if she ever actually needed him to babysit, she would require some training of what to do and not to do. “But like I said, it’d be years and, by that point, the kid is probably going to be babysitting you versus the other way round.”

Lucifer had to smile at that because it was undoubtedly true. "And then eventually the kid will be an actual human and that will be fine."

It was weird though, thinking about days and months turning into years. "Think they'll let us off the ship by then? I know where I'd like to live."

“They’re more fun when they walk and talk and have personalities,” Kate agreed, though she knew that it wouldn’t matter. From the moment she’d gotten the test results, she’d been in love with her kid and because of that, she didn’t really mind the crying and the feeding and the diaper changes that were coming her way.

With a sigh, she glanced around the Lounge, her eyes lingering on the grand piano and the empty tables. “I hope so,” she replied, glancing back over at Lucifer. “I’ve been here almost a year, and I think at least 10 months of that have been spent on this ship.” The stay in Risa and their two and a half week leave on Earth had been the longest time away from the Enterprise since Kate had arrived. And three weeks into their latest trek, she was already feeling the itch of cabin fever.

“I can’t think of a place better suited for you than Risa,” Kate told him with a roll of her eyes. She had no doubt that if Lucifer was ever let off the ship, he’d head straight to the planet and never leave. If anyone wanted to see him, they’d undoubtedly have to visit him there.

"I picked a hell of a time to come back," Lucifer smirked. "Can you imagine if I found my way back here afterward? That would have been tragic for the devil to never have found his way back to paradise."

He took a long drink and then changed the subject back to Kate. "Am I supposed to still tolerate you when you become insufferable in the next few months?" he teased.

“Yes, and take pity on me because I’ll be miserable,” she said with a grin. “Though I’d place a considerable bet that you are far too afraid of what’s happening to me to bother commenting on how grouchy I’ll be.”

Lucifer had yet to come across her first thing in the morning when her body was desperate for a huge cup of coffee that she could no longer have. Kate was trying her best to be gracious about it - she had chosen to get pregnant after all - but caffeine withdrawal was no joke. The headaches, the lack of focus, the fatigue and, oddly enough, fidgeting in the week-plus since she had cut coffee from her diet had been a very real thing.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Kate flashed him a grin. “I mean, just wait till we get to the end and this kid starts moving around. Sometimes you’ll be able to see a hand or a foot slide across like there’s a little alien living in there and trying to get out.”

She was probably right, and both her and Lucifer knew it. And then she went on to describe a baby moving and his eyes widened and he stared at her. "Really? You had to put that image in my head first thing in the morning while expecting me to be happy for you? It's like every B horror movie involving pregnancy ever in my brain right now."

Oh, yes, this was going to be fun, Kate thought as she finished off her water and slid the glass across to him.

“Well, if you think about it, pregnancy pretty much is a horror movie,” she said, her voice completely serious. She didn’t believe a bit of what she was about to tell him, but it was so easy to wind Lucifer up when it came to pregnancy and babies that she couldn’t resist. “You’ve got a parasite growing inside you, eating your food, using your energy and your body to help itself grow and develop. You can’t do anything but give in to its demands and then, after nine months, it comes slithering out with a whole lot pain and all kinds of body fluids.”

“I mean, honestly, where do you think the idea for all that stuff came from?”

Lucifer remained silent, staring at Kate for a long moment before he finally glanced down at his drink, decided the glass was not full enough and thus remedied it, before taking a long sip.

"So," he finally said. "What sort of deal do I have to make to never be reminded of this conversation again? Because you're proving to be far eviler than the devil, you know."

That made her laugh, a loud one that had Kate tipping her head towards the ceiling as she chuckled. “Oh, I don’t think there’s anything that will get that image out of your head, which was pretty much the point,” she said with a smile as she got to her feet. “If I have to suffer, you might as well suffer with me.”