I came into consciousness before dawn, but I kept my eyes closed. I wanted the moment where my mate was willingly in my arms to last forever.

I hadn't held him for long when I felt how warm he was. Like, warmer than any human would normally feel. I tried to pull away from him to get a better look at him, but when I tried, he clutched onto me. I loosed his arms gently, careful not to wake him. Luckily, he was a very heavy sleeper. 

Once I got away from him, I observed him. His face was very pink, which was weird because he didn't have any reason to be blushing. His breathing was very shallow, and I could hear the wheezing of air in his chest. 

I put a hand to his forehead, only to find his temperature had risen as we had slept. I didn't panic. I knew he was going to get sick eventually. His body had to adjust. 

Before I could get up, Lucifer's eyes opened. They were glazed from the fever, eyes unfocused. But instead of the silver eyes of Ezekiel, I was met with the crimson of Lucifer. I was a bit saddened to know that the more willing part of my mate was gone. But the look Lucifer was giving me wasn't his usual guarded one. It was more... trusting.

"My head hurts," Lucifer murmured, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to sit up. I gripped his shoulder and gently pushed him back down. 

"I know. Here, drink this," I said as I materialized a glass of water. Placing a hand on the back of his neck, I lifted his head and held the glass of water to his lips. He took a few sips before turning his head away. I laid his head back down, and made the glass disappear. His eyes slipped back closed as I got up from the bed. 

I tried to walk to the bathroom, so I could get him some pain pills, but a finger hooked into the hem of my pants before I could. Lucifer was pouting at me, as if I had betrayed him by not bringing him with me. I gave in to his pleading gaze, and lifted his feverish body to mine. He wrapped his bare legs around my torso and his arms around my neck, clinging to me tightly. I lowered my body temperature for him, so he didn't get even hotter from being against my skin, as I was still shirtless.

I carefully moved to the bathroom while carrying him. I switched in the lights which proved to be a mistake when he flinched. He must've had a headache then. He burrowed his head in my neck, hiding from the glare of the bathroom lights, which I lowered. I tried to set him on the counter, but he refused to let go of me. Sighing, I let him koala cling to me as I opened the medicine cabinet, and got out the cold medicine, and some Tylenol for his headache. I poured some of the grape-flavored medicine into a spoon, and then nudged his head with my softly, to get him to sit up. He looked up at my blearily, looking annoyed. I held the spoon to his lips. 

"Drink," I ordered softly. Lucifer accepted the spoonful of medicine, causing his expression to screw up in disgust. He frowned even further when I put the tiny cup of Tylenol near his lips. It was the required amount, and having never taken Tylenol before, I assumed that it had no taste. But Lucifer wouldn't have it. He kept turning his head, dodging the cup. 

I sighed. "Come on love. Don't you want your headache to go away?"

He let out a low whine, letting me know he really didn't want to. But he still opened his mouth slightly, allowing me to put the cup to his lips and tilt it back, so the medicine poured into his mouth. He swallowed loudly, sticking his small pink tongue out right after. I stroked his head, letting him lay it on my shoulder again. I placed all of the supplies back into the medicine cabinet.

Walking out the bathroom, I decided to let him cling to me. I didn't care who saw us, and at that moment, neither did Lucifer. 

"Are you hungry Luci?" I asked him.

A quick shake of the head was my response. Of course, he wasn't hungry. Who is when they're sick? But he still needed something to sustain him until he got his appetite back. Taking a seat in one of the black love seats, I used the pad on a nearby coffee table to order some porridge. It was light, and easy to take in. Something he could eat without a problem. 

A bowl of warm porridge appeared on the black surface of the pad. I turned Lucifer's legs so he was sitting on my lap instead of facing me. He refused to turn fully around, so his right side was smooshed into me. Then I took the bowl of porridge from the coffee table. The arm that was encircling Lucifer held the bowl, while the other held the spoon. I scooped out little bits at a time, and Lucifer accepted them. The feeding process went on until Lucifer got full. He turned his head away when I held the spoon to his lips. It worried me that he ate less than half, but then again, he was sick. 

Knocking on the door made me look up from putting the bowl back. 

"Your Majesty, you have a visitor!" A maid's voice called through the door. 

I internally groaned, having completely forgotten about my meeting with some elf. "Tell him I'm busy right now!" I called back. My Luci's health was far more important to me than some trivial matter. 

"Ah, but- No, sir, you can't enter!" 

There was scuffling noises, during which I stood up. Lucifer wrapped his legs back around my waist, and his arms encircled my neck and held it tightly. I held him to my hip as my door was flung open, revealing a very angry elf. He had traditional white hair, and stormy dark blue eyes. He was quite tall, almost as tall as me. Almost. He was also quite built, which was rare to see on an elf.

I raised a brow at my doors that were ripped of their hinges. "Yes?" I asked, my voice dripping sarcasm. 

"You said we would meet today, so we are," the elf said, his angry tone making me feel disrespected. And I hated feeling disrespected. I felt my eyebrow twitch, the only portrayal of my annoyance. 

"Alright then, take a seat," I said, sitting back down in the black love seat. The elf plopped down in the two cushion couch opposite of me. I didn't turn Lucifer back around. Not like I could even if I wanted. He kept his warm face buried in my chest, eyes closed. 

I looked up at the elf who was staring quizzically at Lucifer. "Name?" I inquired. 

"Haldir. Your "helper" here prevented a needed battle between mine and a rival elf's clan, on your orders. I'd like to know why," the elf stated, looking very annoyed.

I sighed, leaning back in the seat. "I have long since banned any skirmishes between the elves, correct? And I'm sure you know why."

Haldir's eyebrow twitched. "But that was a decade ago! There's no way it'd happen again!" He protested. 

"And yet, there are still some areas that haven't recovered from the aftermath," I retorted. "So why don't you both sit down and deal with things civilly. We are not like the mortal realm. We will not solve our problems by going to war. I'm sure you could both come to a reasonable agreement."

Haldir looked as if he wanted to argue some more, but I held up a hand. "Look, you either solve this yourselves, or I personally will have to get involved."

That was enough to make him shut up. Begrudgingly, he stood, gave me a half-hearted bow, and walked to the doorway. To the maid, I said, "Please show him out." She bowed before hurrying after the angry elf.

 I waved my hand, repairing my doors. The entire ordeal had pissed me off. He had shown no respect, as if he was talking to one of his buddies instead of me, basically the king of this entire realm. The way he thought that I would just give him permission to do what he wanted was enough to make me want to throw him out the window and plummet to his death. 

Just as I was about to try and set him on the bed, Lucifer finally stirred, having napped during the whole ordeal. He looked around blearily as he yawned. I felt his head once again, checking his temperature. It was a little cooler than before but still too high to be healthy. 

"Bambi," Lucifer said suddenly, making me look down at him quizzically. 

"Bambi?" I parroted, trying to understand what he went. 

Lucifer frowned. "Bambi!" He repeated, louder. 

It took me a moment, but then I got it. "Oh, you want to watch Bambi. Sorry babes, not until you get better. You need to sleep."

Lucifer's bottom lip started quivering. "Bambiii!" He wailed, sounding as if he just got the news his mother died. Tears started gathering in his eyes, startling me. It was the first time I had ever seen him cry. The built up tears soon began to flow down his cheeks, sobs making his face flush even further. 

I cupped his cheek, brushing away his tears with my thumb. "Alright, alright. We'll watch Bambi. So stop crying."

With that, Lucifer sniffled, his tears magically stopping like that. He then looked at me expectantly, so I had to go through with it. I stood up, him still koala clinging to me. I walked out of the room and to the living room area the was right next door. I had plenty of lounges in the castle. 

Inside, I grabbed the remote for the huge flatscreen TV that was on the far wall before sitting down on the large, black "U" shaped couch. I turned the TV on, then flipped through everything until I finally found a place to buy Bambi. Once it started playing, Lucifer calmed down considerably. He exhaled slowly, his body untensing and sunk into mine. 

Barely a few minutes in, I saw how he was turning his neck to see the TV without moving his body away from mine. Realizing how he'd never fall asleep like that, I turned us so I was laying on the couch and he was laying on my chest, still staring at some rabbit teach a deer words. I didn't understand why he loved the unrealistic movie so much. As far as I could tell, it was some sappy movie about a baby deer that was neglected by his father. That was it. There was no other development whatsoever. 

Those were my original thoughts. I wouldn't lie, the mother dying was an unexpected plot twist. Usually, Dinsey movies didn't kill off such important characters. It made me hate the movie a bit less. 

By the time the credits started rolling, Lucifer was knocked out, his breathing finally becoming steady. 

I ran my fingers through his silky black hair, allowing the softness to lull me to sleep along with him. 

~