Dr. Linda Martin's office, LA, Saturday afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was deeply uncomfortable. Which led to a lot of fidgeting and smiling a bit to bright at everything in the cute little office. He picked at lint on the couch on either side of his legs, read all the certificates and things on the walls, and just generally did not look Linda in the eye for a good long while.

"You're, uh. Definitely not a murderous shapeshifter, right?" he asked, a nervous laugh under his voice. "Because let me tell you, that'd be just my luck. . . ."

[For the Devil's therapist and all the slowplay. NFB due to distance]

Comments

[exasperangel]

"Would it really help you if I told you I wasn't?" Linda asked, with a faint smile.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke chuckled. "I, uh. No. I guess not."

Oh hey, a loose thread.

"So," he said. And then didn't know what to say next.

[exasperangel]

"So," Linda said, "You're still scared of imposters, but you decided you wanted to see me anyway." She folded her hands together. "Did something happen recently that you need to talk about?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke rubbed his hand over his face. "You know that -- insight thing you guys do, therapists, you know that's creepy, right? People shouldn't get other people that quickly."

Stop deflecting, man, you asked her for this. Made an appointment and everything.

"Lucifer thinks he's incapable of love. Which -- you probably knew already."

[exasperangel]

He had made an appointment and everything and shown up. It didn't take much of a therapist to figure things out from there.

Linda smiled faintly. "I do," she said. "What I don't know is how you feel about it."

[betterthanaplan]

“I’m—“ heartbroken “—pissed,” Duke said. “His dad just. Showed up here. Messed up everyone’s worldview, and honestly I don’t know if the guy even cares that he’s nearly ruined everything good Luce has found for himself.”

Being angry at God was easier — and way more familiar— than being angry at Lucifer. For nearly letting his dad ruin things.

[exasperangel]

"Everyone's worldview?" Linda prompted. "Did something change for yours, too?"

[betterthanaplan]

“I met an actual diety.” Duke shook his head. “I mean, I’ve known about magic and funky powers and shit forever. But he’s actually a god.”

[exasperangel]

Linda would appreciate it if Duke didn't mention her own reactions to that fact at dinner.

"And that deity is the parent of your boyfriend," she said, "And disrupting your relationship."

[betterthanaplan]

“Worst. Meet the parents. Ever,” Duke said. “You know he showed up in Luce’s bedroom the other day? Woke us all up. Now, I’m as happy to be naked in public as anyone but that was a bit much.”

[exasperangel]

"Does that make you feel... maybe not trapped, but-- stalked?" Linda said. "Even if it is technically Lucifer he's... visiting."

[betterthanaplan]

“You know what? Sure. Yeah. That’s a good way to explain the creepiness, yeah.” Duke shook his head. “I mean it was bad enough back in Haven walking out of the shower to find my own dad lurking. At least Simon Crocker wasn’t omnipotent.”

[exasperangel]

Linda frowned. "...Did he do that a lot?" she asked. "Because that does sound, uh. Creepy."

[betterthanaplan]

“Just the once, last year,” Duke said. “He died when I was eight.”

There was a whole other story here he hadn’t gotten into yet, Linda.

[exasperangel]

"So I guess you're something of an expert on absent fathers," Linda said. Her ability to blink at this stuff had really broken down lately, she reflected. "Have you and Lucifer talked about that at all?"

[betterthanaplan]

“Having absent dicks for fathers?” Duke asked. “Yeah, actually, it’s one of the first things we bonded over. That and having feelings for detectives that didn’t ‘get’ our real selves.”

Yup, those were finger quotes.

[exasperangel]

"I mean... recently," Linda said, watching his face. "What was it like when you saw your dad again?"

[betterthanaplan]

“He tried to talk me into murdering people. It’s not quite the same thing.”

[exasperangel]

"It sounds like he tried to convince you to do something that was against your nature," Linda said. "How did you deal with that?"

[betterthanaplan]

“I told him off. Repeatedly. Helped that he was a ghost and I could just walk right through him.”

And then the Rev had blackmailed him into position for a guy — a kid, really — to commit suicide by Duke, and he’d ended up killing someone anyway.

Fate was a bitch.

[exasperangel]

"Do you wish you could tell God off?"

[betterthanaplan]

“I wish I could tell him off and have it work,” Duke said. “I wish — I wish my town’s stupid ‘God is righteous and vengeful’ preacher wasn’t kinda right. He also wanted me to kill people, by the way. Said it was my destiny and my righteous holy duty and shit.”

[exasperangel]

"So you've always fought it, this thing these high and mighty people wanted you to be," Linda said. Should she stick with Duke here, or take this back to the problem at hand?

She didn't want to spook him. And he had come here with a very specific issue. "And so does Lucifer. Loudly."

But perhaps not enough, right now.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded slowly. “I know,” he said. “It’s practically his raison d’etre.”

[exasperangel]

"And yet he's letting this get to him," Linda said slowly. "Get to you."