"How am I going to stop Cain from killing people and stealing the magic from their demon deals if he's unkillable and super strong?" I asked Lucifer.

"He's doing what? And he's super strong? Explain," Lucifer said.

"Yeah, so the Steves and I detected some unusual murders occurring on Earth. Famous people were dying in droves and they had no connection to each other aside from being famous. So we figured out all the victims had demon deals," I said.

"Then when I was reading a handbook, I realized you can steal the magic from a demon deal, but it results in the death of the human and the demon involved. And a ton of demons have been dying in the Circles of Hell lately with no apparent cause."

"It all lines up to say he's stealing the magic and keeping it for something big. I don't know what it is, but it can't be good and it might be apocalyptic, so I have to stop him. And he has a super strength medallion. What do I do?"

"I don't know what you can do, but one idea would be to get that medallion away from him. Once you do that, he's a normal strength invincible dude. Then you can just throw him in the ocean or something," Lucifer said.

"That's easy to say, but the first time I fought him, he punched a hole in my stomach and crushed my spine. I don't know if I can get the medallion away from him. I wish I knew what he was trying to do. That might give me another avenue to pursue," I said, rubbing my chin.

"I can tell you that. That part's easy to figure out," Lucifer said.

"Yeah? Do tell," I said, leaning forward and regretting it. It hurt to try to use my abdominal muscles or what was left of them.

"He hates my father for the curse he put on him. He's trying to get rid of the curse," Lucifer said.

"The curse?" I asked.

"The curse of true immortality. The Mark of Cain, as it's called," Lucifer said.

"Oh. So he wants to die?" I said.

"Yeah. He's wanted that for millennia," Lucifer said.

"Ok. What happens if he removes the mark?" I said.

"I don't know. You'd have to ask my father that," he said.

"Right. I'm in no shape to travel to Heaven right now," I said, coughing.

"I can see that," Lucifer said. "What are they going to do for you?"

"They're making replacement parts right now, but they're demon parts. They said they need time to figure out how to synthesize human parts for me," I said.

"Interesting. I wonder what that will do," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, demons aren't humans, so you might have some side effects. I just don't know what they could be," he said.

"Great," I said.

"Hey, maybe you'll grow a second one," he said, excitedly.

"Do demons have two?" I said, worried.

"No," he said plainly.

"Then why would I grow a second one?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "I don't know. It was just a thought. Don't bite my head off."

"Ok. Hey, I've been meaning to ask you what happened to that woman you stole from Heaven?"

"Linda? She's in Heaven now. My father made her a perfect place by a lake. She's at peace now," he said.

"Did she forgive you for what you did?" I asked.

"I didn't ask her forgiveness yet," Lucifer said, looking away.

"Why not?" I asked.

"I don't think I could handle the rejection if she says no," he said.

"You can ask your father for forgiveness, but not a human woman?" I asked.

"Exactly! I knew my father would forgive me. He is the embodiment of love and forgiveness itself. A human woman, even one who made it to heaven, can still choose to hold on to a grudge. I just can't deal with that right now," he said.

"Why? What's happening now?" I asked.

"I don't know. Some guy keeps trying to summon me, and he won't leave me alone. It takes my full concentration to deny a summon with as much sophistication as the ones he's making," Lucifer said.

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"Why don't you just go and talk to him? Do you even know who he is?" I asked.

"No! That's why I don't want to go! What if he tries to trap me or something?" Lucifer said.

"I guess that's a valid concern," I said. "I understand. Take your time asking Linda for forgiveness, but please do it eventually. Can I ask that of you?"

"Yeah, ok. I'll do it eventually. Right after this guy stops 'missed calling' me," Lucifer said.

"Deal?" I said, putting out my hand.

"Deal," he said, starting to move his hand towards mine. Then he paused. "Ah, I see what you're doing. You're trying to make a binding deal with me, so I have to do it."

"Is that so wrong?" I smiled innocently.

"Yes, it's wrong! I can't believe I'm having to tell you this to you, of all people, Dave. Manipulating people with or without magic is wrong," he said.

"If you say so," I said, looking at my fingernails. I really needed to clip them.

"Don't you 'if you say so' me! I invented that!" he yelled.

"Ok, ok. I'll try my best not to manipulate you in the future," I said.

"Deal?" he said, putting out his hand.

"Wait a minute. You're trying to do the exact thing you just scolded me for!" I said.

"And?" he asked.

"And you're a hypocrite is what!" I said.

"I may be a hypocrite, but at least I'm willing to admit it," he said.

"Are you implying I'm a hypocrite?" I asked.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"That's not answering the question," I said.

"I think we're at an impasse, so I'm gonna go," Lucifer said, pointing behind him with his thumb.

"Don't you dare—" Lucifer teleported out of the room, "leave," I said.

I heaved a long sigh. Even with a ton of therapy, Lucifer was still Lucifer. That was something I could rely on. If only Margaret could rely on me. I've proven to be a fairly unreliable partner over the last three years, and I didn't like where it left us.

I wanted to be the man she wanted me to be. I wanted to be responsible and prioritize our relationship, but emergencies always came up. I didn't know what to do. Would I have to choose my relationship over saving the world sometimes?

That's what it looked like I'd have to do. And that wasn't easy. It's not like God or Keir was getting on my case about it much. But I always felt the need to solve the world's problem just in case it became apocalyptic. Maybe I needed to let the world solve its own problems sometimes.

If I kept trying to save the world every time it stubbed its toe, I would not only lose Margaret but also our future child. And while I never considered myself responsible enough to be a father, now I had no choice. I had to be a father, and I had to be a responsible one.

I wasn't going to end up a depressed divorced dad who never gets to see his kid because he squandered all the opportunities he had to show up as a husband and a father. I wouldn't allow it. I refused.

Maybe I needed to let this Cain thing go. All he was trying to do is removed a mark that made it so he couldn't die. That wasn't apocalyptic. The thing that bothered me the most was he was killing humans and demons.

I'd text Officer Drew and inform him of the situation and give him a list of the names of people with demon deals in the area. Maybe he could get the people to a safe place to prevent Cain from getting to them.

On that note, I pulled out my phone and texted Officer Drew. I told him everything I told Lucifer and even had the Steves send him a list of the demon deals in the area to protect them. I made him promise me he wouldn't punish them for having deals, and if he did, there would be severe consequences.

After that I called Margaret. She answered on the third ring. "Yes?"

"Margaret, I'm sorry I let you down all the time," I said.

"You're always sorry. What makes this time any different?" she said.

"I'm sorry, and I don't want to be sorry anymore. I want to be different. I want to be a proper partner. I called the police and gave them everything they need to stop the killer. I'm taking myself off the case. As soon as I'm better, I'll be by your side until our child is born," I said.

"I promise for real this time. I don't care what happens. I will be there for you. Even if the apocalypse truly does happen, I will stay because you are far more important to me than the world. You are my world. I love you and I want you to feel safe and cared for. Please, give me one more chance. I won't let you down."

"Wow. I've never heard you be this serious before. Are you sure you're alright? Did they give you any drugs?" she said.

"No. And I feel fine. They have me hooked up to this machine that's acting as my damaged organs. They're going to replace them in a couple hours," I said.

"With what?" she asked.

"Demon organs. Apparently, they can't synthesize human organs yet, but when they figure it out, they'll replace the demon parts with human parts and I'll be back to normal," I said.

"Huh. What's the success rate of an operation like this?" she said.

"I don't know. They didn't say. I assume I'll have to take antirejection meds, though," I said.

"Make sure you ask them what they think the chances of success are. If they say anything less than 70%, I wouldn't do it," she said, sounding worried.

"Babe. I'm hooked up to a massive machine. It's either demon parts or I have to stay in the ICU until they figure out how to make human parts. And who knows how long that will take? I could miss the birth of our child," I said.

"If it'll get you to me faster, I suppose it's alright," she said.

"Ok. I'll let you know how it goes," I said.

"Good. And yes, I'll give you another chance. Thank you for finally understanding you need to change," she said. "I don't know how much more I could handle of you always leaving and not knowing if you'd ever come back."

"Thank you. I'm sure it was hard," I said.

"It was. Well, I have to get back to pooping. I have to make room for my next meal," she said.

"Gross!" I said.

"Oh, shut up," she said, and hung up the phone.

I guess that was that then. In under two hours, I'd go in for surgery to get my organs replaced and I'd be able to spend the rest of the pregnancy with Margaret. I was excited.

We hadn't been able to spend quality time together in a while. I was always either away working or working from home in my study. I was a busy man, but I realized now that I was simply putting too many things on my plate. It didn't have to be like that.

I spent the next two hours looking up demon handbooks on my hell phone and reading bits and pieces of them. Eventually, I'd have to sit down and read them from beginning to end, but I didn't have the attention span for that right now.

Before I knew it, two hours was over and the nurse came back in to the ICU. "Have you decided if you're going through with the surgery?"

"Yes. I want to go through with it," I said.

"First, I'll take a bit of your blood for our human organ synthesis research. It won't be much. Not enough to negatively affect the surgery. We'll be taking all the damaged organs we're replacing for our research as well," she said.

She took my blood, and then she wheeled my bed down some hallways into the operating room. They put me under anesthesia for the surgery. I closed my eyes and waited for unconsciousness to come, hoping I'd be opening my eyes again very soon.