Iris

10. Congratulations! It's a...

"Next!" A crabby lady behind the bakery counter called. Linda was next in line and she was here to pick up the cupcake for the gender reveal; she had put an order in for two dozed small cupcakes and one special one last week. Today was the day that everyone had been waiting for: Baby Deckerstar's Gender Reveal.

Ever since Lucifer had sent out a mass-text announcing a "small" get-together at the apartment, everyone was having baby-fever. There had even been two group chats made within twenty four hours of the invite being sent out. This all started when Maze created a group chat - that became co-run by Lucifer - called Team Girl. Out of spite, Chloe made another one shortly after with everyone else who wasn't on Lucifer's group text and called it Team Boy.

Upon arriving to the party, everyone's shirt was supposed to match whatever team they were on.

Linda, however, was not taking part in the "teams" being that she was the only one in the group who knew for sure what Baby Deckerstar was, so she was wearing a neutral white blouse. Oh and yes, the entire family had begun to refer the baby as Baby Deckerstar.

In the one session they had before the reveal, Lucifer had tried so hard to pry the gender out of Linda, but she remained firm in her promise to Chloe not to tell anyone until after the cupcake at the party. He was persistent as always, but she changed the subject back to how he felt about either gender (she kept her reactions neutral, of course, so that he wouldn't try to read anything into it). Don't put it past him, he definitely tried to judge her reactions and guess the gender, but ultimately failed.

He hadn't changed much on the worry that a son would be an ironic kick in the stomach from his father, but a girl, well, girls were impossible all grown up! How was he supposed to raise a small one? What was he supposed to do with either gender before they were old enough to go to strip clubs? He assured her that he's not a PTA kind of devil.

Linda has tried to explain to him over the past five months how it's different for fathers during a woman's pregnancy and after birth. There will be a wave of emotion and he'll just...get it. He'll understand why the baby is a good thing. He obviously didn't understand and decided not to take her advice about seeing the positive things a new baby could bring. He decided to dwell on the crying, spitting up, diapers, and not sleeping.

She walked up to the crabby lady, gave her name and ticket with the order on it, and the lady returned with three big boxes a few moments later. One held the cupcake that was going to actually reveal the gender, and the others held mini cupcakes for the rest of the party to have with a certain color frosting on top.

***

Chloe felt frantic as she finished cleaning the apartment that early afternoon before all the guests arrived.

"Detective, relax. Everything is under control!" Lucifer assured her as he finished placing appetizers on the counter.

"Ugh. I just don't like hosting. It stresses me out."

"Which it shouldn't!" He pointed out. Here was another difference between the two of them. Lucifer enjoyed a good party; he loved being a host, but Chloe definitely did not. He urged her to let him take the reigns on this party, but if she fully gave it over to him, this simple gender reveal she wanted might just become a tabloid party-of-the-year.

Lucifer stopped messing with the food and walked over to a very on-edge Chloe. He gently placed his hands on both of her tense shoulders, instantly feeling them relax under his touch and he began to massage every knot he found. He smiled and looked gently into her wild blue eyes as she looked back at him.

"Darling, please don't stress. It's not good for you. Let's just have fun today, okay? We can kick everyone out whenever you get sick of them, I promise."