LIGHT ME UP ↝ Lucifer Morningstar

TWENTY-ONE.

"DON'T BE MAD", Izzy's voice was pleading as she eyed Benjamin cautiously, easy to notice the shock dawning on him. "I—I was just doing what Dan asked me to. I mean, I don't want to blame this on Dan, but it was his idea and I just—", she began to ramble whilst her fingers flew through her cropped waves shakily, but before she could finish, Benji had stepped forward and wrapped his muscular arms around the woman, closing her in a tight, but gentle embrace. Resting his jaw on the tall deputy's shoulder, Benjamin sucked his bottom lip in and blinked a couple of times, merely to avoid the fall of incoming tears — it did seem impossible to keep his emotions at bay, however. After all, his brother, and the girl he was starting to consider one of his best friends, had teamed up to find his father, his real father, and there were no words to express all the gratitude Benjamin felt for that.

He hadn't thought about doing this on his own — well, he had wondered where his father was, who he was and if he should make an effort to reach out, but he had never planned on taking action. Frankly, if it wasn't for Izzy and Dan, this probably would have never happened. They had taken the step that Benji was too scared to take by himself, and for that, he was immensely appreciative.

"Thank you", he murmured softly, still hugging Izzy who had melted into the gesture, her own arms wrapped around the man's leather jacket while she nodded softly.

"Of course. I know this would have eaten you alive otherwise. Do you, uh, want to hear what I've found out so far?", she inquired once they had let go of each other, and in response, Benjamin cleared his throat and nodded eagerly. Frankly, he was sort of scared to figure out what kind of a man he was related to, and he had no idea what to expect, but Izzy never stopped checking if he was okay, never stopped radiating with warmth and support and reassurance. Not to mention the coffee that Diane had made for them, the mug warming Benji's hands and making him feel even luckier. So far, he was truly enjoying his visit at the Holts.

Izzy handed Benjamin a small stack of files from the big mess spread out over the kitchen table, which meant that she had been digging for a while now, and perhaps she had gotten quite deep already. While sipping on his coffee, Benji flipped through the thin papers curiously but warily, as he was trying to maintain his thirst for knowledge, but there was no denying the smile that crossed his lips when he spotted a name. "Chase Allen", he spoke quietly, staring at the picture in front of him. With a smile on her lips, Izzy nodded.

"That's him", she whispered, before looking over to the file wide open in her own hands. "He was born in February, 1967. Says here he lives in San Diego with his wife. No kids. Except for, well..", Izzy looked up briefly to nod towards Benjamin, who returned the gesture curtly and leaned over to the file to see for himself. "Then again, I wasn't able to access all the files, and these might need some updating so who knows", she shrugged, "concluding from the criminal record though, he's a lot like you", before flashing a grin.