The next day, Lily brings Sharkie to Hell and shows her the Hellp Desk. Lucifer later appears, and they visit one of the schools for demon children, which Sharkie decides to attend the next day. She enjoys her time there, and she and Lily speak on what it means to be scared and how fear can, at times, stem from caring. Lily differentiates that kind of fear from Sharkie’s fear of her foster mother and the pastor who abused her, as that fear was related to her self-preservation.

Bel returns from his mission, aching and bruised. He informs Lily, who, relieved, invites him over. She meets him at the stone arch to the non-denominative Paradise hall and escorts him to her Paradise. Lily feels vulnerable at showing him her private Paradise.

Bel loves everything about Lily’s Paradise; it feels like home to him. When he points out the photo of her and her brothers, Lily is visibly troubled. He asks about them, and she tells him how she feels she abandoned them and lied too often in her final days, especially in how she would haunt them and steal their socks. She hasn’t been able to watch them through the Afterlife portal, MortalTube. Bel reassures her that her brothers know she loved them, and they hug.

Eventually, Lily shuffles Bel to the couch, and as she and Sharkie fuss over him, Lily believes their relationship is morphing into something beyond friendship. She and Bel fall asleep on the couch. When she wakes, she struggles with her sexual desire for Bel and her secret dreams of becoming a mother (which would require reincarnation). When he wakes, they talk about her eventual departure from the Afterlife. Bel is adamant that he wants to be happy with her as long as she’ll have him, and to love like mortals do. They share a kiss. Sharkie walks in, and after some fumbling, they decide to have breakfast together.

While alone in the kitchen, Lily and Bel discuss what to tell Sharkie about their relationship and how said relationship will work. They decide to take things slow, and as they eat, they banter together. After being shown her personal library, Bel asks to borrow some of her books, specifically the romance ones she likes. Though slightly embarrassed, she agrees.

When they prepare to leave for the day, Bel tells Lily about his mission: Another Universe is hoping to steal the power generated by souls from their Universe, since its denizens depleted their own. Their victory was hard-won. Lily worries, as Bel does not regenerate like mortal souls do, but does not ask him to stop since being a general is who he is. As they leave for Hell, Lily and Bel disclose their relationship to Sharkie. She was already aware.

Later, at the Hellp Desk, Lily deals with an entitled soul and thinks about the kindness and happiness she’s experienced from the demons. She finishes dealing with the soul and remembers the sexual tension of visiting Bel at the training grounds days prior.

Lily is randomly greeted by a teenage demon she’s never met. Persephone and Aphrodite then arrive and invite her to participate in their trivia team. The goddesses have a plan to play dirty through what they call sexual psychological warfare to beat the men’s team. Lily agrees, and they make arrangements for Sharkie to sleep over with Persephone’s daughter.

As Bel and Greg train together, Greg reiterates his worry over Bel’s relationship with Lily. When Bel reassures him that they’ve discussed Lily’s prospective reincarnation and he’s accepted the future pain it will cause, Greg relents, but asks if Bel’s told her about his history of being abandoned. Bel confirms he hasn’t for fear of inadvertently pressuring Lily to stay. Greg insists he should try, and maintains he’s happy Bel has found some happiness. They talk of the last time the women’s team had gone on a distracting sexual offense, and they commiserate.

Lily tells Sharkie about the sleepover and makes sure she feels comfortable with the arrangement. That evening, she drops her off, and she heads over to Aphrodite’s, finding her in the Universal Hallway, waiting for her.

When Lily arrives at the pub, her tailored and beautified appearance has an immediate effect on Bel. When she joins the other women, they laugh at the success of their wiles while playing the trivia game. Meanwhile, the men’s team have an understanding that only one of them can stare at their respective love interest while the others focus on the game. When it is Bel’s turn, the sexual tension is cloying, and he cannot take his eyes off of Lily. When she goes to the bathroom, he follows her inside. They share an intimate moment just short of having sex together.

They rearrange themselves before leaving the bathroom, but when they return, most of their companions have paired up and left. They go to their respective teams, and the women joke about their and their friends’ active sex lives. They lose at trivia in the end, and the remaining women on Lily’s team leave.

Bel finds her again. As they walk to the Universal Hall, Bel teases Lily about her choice of romance novels. When they pass near Heaven’s arch, she tells him how small Heaven makes her feel, as if her existence is sinful. Bel reassures her. Lily solicits him for sex, but he turns her down gently, as she is inebriated. He invites her to his home, however, and she agrees.

Like Lily, Bel feels nervous showing her his home, but she is amazed by it. He guides her through it, and they go to bed together to sleep. When she wakes up, she is lying on top of Bel’s wings and tries to extricate herself. Looking at him, she appreciates his physical beauty but notices his freshly healed wing from his previous mission. She worries she’s never expressed how much he makes her happy and endeavors to do so the moment he wakes up. She mentions that she knows he was left behind before and tells him how proud she is of him and that he does not feel “temporary” either. They share another sexual moment.

Just as they are about to have sex, they are interrupted by Bel’s phone ringing for work. He invites her and Sharkie to a family gathering the following week. Lily accepts.

When she next works at the Hellp Desk, Lily reminisces on her time with Bel. She worries about him again because he’s on another mission. After dinner, a storm begins, and Lily realizes she is becoming used to the sensation of happiness.

When she finds Sharkie looking at birds playing in a puddle, Lily invites her out to do the same. Sharkie is initially hesitant because her foster mother would scold her, but Lily reassures her, and they play in the rain. Sharkie announces that she likes herself and Lily.

That night, Sharkie comes to Lily’s room, distraught and asking why her biological mother didn’t love her enough to stay—a thought she’s had since the sleepover, where she saw all the other children with their mothers. Lily reassures her and tries to explain that her mother, from the little she saw from Sharkie’s file, most likely did the best she could and hoped a foster home would be a better environment for Sharkie. She states that they are a family, and it includes Bel and Lucifer, too.

Bel returns to his command post after nine of his soldiers have died on the battlefield. A gegony, a monster from the other Universe, had surprised them. Though they managed to kill it, Bel was injured.

As he undergoes painful healing, he thinks of Lily, their last conversation, and time spent with her and Sharkie. When they are finished, he thanks the healers and privately vows to keep Lily and Sharkie safe.