Chapter Text
The initial grief, anguish, and yes, ANGER following the death of a loved one is insufferable; that is a fact that no one can rightfully deny. And when that loved one is needlessly, senselessly ripped away from the ones they loved, well, that only makes the feelings that much worse. The initial feelings following Detective Daniel Espinosa’s murder, were not the worst part of the ordeal, however, as Chloe well knew from past personal experience, because following the death of her ex husband, dearest friend, and father of her child came the inevitable litany of Firsts: the first Father’s Day without a father to wine and dine, the first last day of school when Dan wouldn’t take the day off to take his daughter surfing, the first Fourth of July cookout without Dan manning the grill, the first of Trixie’s birthdays where both of her parents wouldn’t take the day off from work together to take her on the outing of her choice, the first Thanksgiving where Dan wouldn’t carve the family turkey, and the first Christmas where Dan wouldn’t come early to make waffles and watch his daughter open her gifts. It was a void, a large empty void that could never be filled. Eventually, Chloe and Trixie would establish a new normal, because things would never be the same-could never be the same, but it hurt, dammit, it hurt so much. Now, they were facing the last of the Firsts, the first anniversary of Dan’s death. When a loved one dies, ‘First’ doesn’t mean ‘Best’. It never means ‘Best’.
Chloe had offered Trixie the chance to skip school for the day, but her daughter had declined. “No thank you, Mommy,” she had said, “I think I should just go to school. I think it will help me not think about it so much.” Yup, Trixie was definitely her daughter. How many times in her life had Chloe chosen to throw herself into work to distract herself from thinking about a painful situation? Too many to count, frankly. Chloe had nodded in understanding. So, she dropped her daughter off at school, then drove to the penthouse to distract herself from thinking about Dan.
True to her word, Chloe had thrown herself into helping Lucifer with his newly acquired work as God. Her partner...was God. Even a year later, she found she couldn’t completely wrap her head around that one-and she thought wrapping her head around Lucifer being the devil was mindboggling! They both knew and accepted that they wouldn’t see each other as often any more, especially when Lucifer was just getting started. The universe was a tad larger than Hell, after all, and relations between Lucifer and his siblings remained...strained, to say the least. That was the polite phrase. The truth of the matter was, the majority of his siblings refused to assist him, and went as far as to refuse to do the jobs their Father had entrusted to them, which left Lucifer essentially running the universe by himself without much assistance. (Thank...well,...his Father for Zadkiel! Lucifer would have been so screwed without Zadkiel and Amenadiel’s help!!!) Lucifer, however, refused to fall into the pattern that had destroyed his Father’s relationships with His family. Lucifer always made time for Chloe and Trixie. Every night, he was home for dinner, slept with Chloe-even if he had meetings to attend in the evening-and, of course, Friday was ALWAYS Game Night with his Decker girls.
However, for most days, Lucifer commuted to the Silver City for work. In his absence, Chloe did whatever administrative tasks Lucifer needed her to do. Occasionally, he joined Chloe in the penthouse when he needed to brainstorm with her, and Chloe cherished those days, frankly. They reminded her of their time together at the precinct, when they worked side by side to solve whatever homicide had come their way. Chloe looked forward to the day when she and Lucifer would be able to get his own personal projects up and running. Hopefully, they would be able to spend more time doing the planning together.
Today, while seated at Lucifer’s antique mahogany desk in his library, Chloe distracted herself from her grief by spending time taking care of Lux. Mindless bookkeeping, permit renewals, basic utlity bills, and alcohol requisitions were enough to keep her occupied. She had just hit ‘send’ on an email to a DJ who was contracted to work later that week when her Pocket of Escapism was disrupted by a single noise coming in from the glass doors leading to the balcony...whoosh.
Chloe looked up at the angel who had just whooshed her way into the penthouse and now stood before the desk where she was seated. Fuck my life, said her inside voice, which had absolutely NO filters on its vocabulary, just what I DIDN’T need today, of all days.
“Saraqael,” she acknowledged with a calm, professional demeanor, “How can I help you, today?” she continued, closing the screen on her Surface Pro.
“I need answers,” the angel replied, presumptuously seating herself in the leather seat in front of the desk and crossing her legs.
“Oh, okay, I’ll see what I can do for you. Would you care for something to drink before we get started?”
“Some of Lucifer’s Macallan would be great,” Saraqael answered.
“Sure. Do you drink it neat?”
“I do, yes.”
Saraqael watched as Chloe walked over to the bar and filled a tumbler, bringing it and a bottle of water for herself over to the desk. Settling back in her chair, Chloe cracked open her water bottle and took a sip before resuming the conversation.
“You said you need answers?” Chloe asked.
“Yes. I need to know when Lucifer is planning on destroying the Silver City. It’s been almost a year already and he won’t tell Gabriel anything. It’s only fair that you tell us when he plans on doing all that so we can pack up and leave.”
“Excuse me?” Chloe stared at her incredulously. “Where on earth did you ever come up with that idea?”
“Michael told us,” Saraqael replied. “He promised us that if Lucifer assumed the throne that our lives, as we knew them, would be over, that Lucifer would decimate Heaven.”
“Oh. Of course he told you that,” Chloe said, icily.
“Michael said that if Lucifer became God, he would finish what he started with the Rebellion and burn the Silver City to the ground. There’s no stopping Lucifer now that he’s God, but we demand to know when it’s going to happen, and I know you know, Human. For whatever reason, he chose you to be his consort, he tells you everything.”
“Michael lied to you, Saraqael, and I can’t believe you haven’t accepted that, yet,” said Chloe intentionally overlooking Saraqael’s demeaning remarks. “Michael said things like that to frighten you into giving him your support when he went to war against Lucifer. Lucifer has no plans to burn down the Silver City at all. He’s learning the administrative procedures his Father put in place so he can continue running it.”
“Michael had experience running things, at least,” Saraqael replied snarkily. “Lucifer has NO experience whatsoever. I swear, waiting for him to tear everything down is like waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“Lucifer is not entirely without experience, Saraqael, and you know it,” Chloe said with an even tone that belied her growing exasperation. “He ruled Hell for thousands of years. From what I have been told, he was a very capable administrator, and he was very just and fair in his dealings. He worked out equitable treaties between warring factions. He ensured that all classes of demons received decent wages and that food and water were available to all of them. He taxed fairly, and used that revenue to build better roads, maintain public buildings, and provide education for his subjects,...or did you just assume that he spent his days plucking eyeballs out of wayward souls?”
“Fine. Whatever. But you’re making Lucifer out to be a kindhearted, benevolent king, and you know he wasn’t. He was a cruel overlord. He knows no other way to rule, and that’s how he’s going to rule Heaven, once he gets his act together. You’re lying to me, Human! I should have known you’d be useless.”
“Lucifer ruled over DEMONS.” Chloe shouted as she slammed her hand down on the desk to emphasize her point. “He HAD TO be harsh with his subjects. Demons have no respect for gentleness; it’s considered a sign of weakness. He HAD TO be cruel with his punishments. It was the only way for him to maintain authority. If he wasn’t brutal when he was repressing insurgents, the demons would have eventually poured out of Hell and destroyed the universe-destroyed your Father’s creation. Earth would have been their first conquest. They would have stopped at nothing to attain their goal. Is that what you wanted? To have your Father’s heart broken? He was never mindlessly cruel, he never punished his subjects unless their actions warranted it. He NEVER wandered about aimlessly wantonly killing demons as a pasttime.”
“And yes, yes, he oversaw the torture and tormenting of the damned souls. That was the job your Father “blessed” him with. Your Father MADE him cruel, FORCED him to take brutal actions against the worst of humanity. THAT was the kingdom your Father “rewarded” [air quotes] your brother with. Even then,...even THEN, he tried desperately to earn your Father’s approval. He hated the job, but he did it anyway with ruthless efficiency, hoping against hope that your Father would forgive him and allow him to leave...but He never did. And every time that Lucifer took a break and came to Earth, your Father had Amenadiel drag him back. He was as much of a prisoner as those damned souls-and he was treated no better than any of them...by his own family, no less. Lucifer did it until he couldn’t stand it any more. He was at his breaking point when he left. He wasn’t harsh and cruel by nature, he was harsh, and cruel, because he HAD TO be. He’s only cruel when you give him cause.”
“And look at the lot of you angels, so arrogant, so sanctimonious. Flitting about claiming to be the superior beings. You bent the knee after Lucifer defeated Michael, but you had no intention of recognizing his authority, DID you. And you call ME the liar? Despite the fact that he is now your king, you refuse to do anything he demands of you. He’s come home almost every night, exhausted, because you angels refuse to do anything. You’re the same group of crybabies who piss and moan because your Father left you. ‘Father’s gone boo hoo hoo. I miss Father, waah.’ And yet, you won’t even get off your butts and perform the assigned tasks that your Father created you to do, so way to go honoring his legacy. Good on you,” she added sarcastically.
“And yet, despite the fact that you refuse to help him, he’s been patient with you for almost an entire Earth year, even though he’s had to rule the entire universe, do almost EVERYTHING himself. Despite the fact that you deserve disciplinary action for your insubordination, he hasn’t been cruel to ANY of you, but you’re ungrateful for the mercy he’s shown you, for the mercy he showed Michael. Lucifer was cast out of Heaven for behaving the same way YOU all are acting, and YOU are too ungrateful to acknowledge it.”
“You angels, so haughty, so full of yourselves. Do you REALLY think you’re better than any other species? DEMONS are far superior than you. THEY do their jobs. You can’t even be bothered. I’d LOVE to see the look on your Father’s face if he ever finds out how despicably you’re behaving, because I doubt he would be as patient and accepting as your ‘evil’ brother!”
Chloe paused for a moment before continuing in a far calmer voice, “And yet...despite everything he went through, despite everything his Father forced him to do, Lucifer is still kind. He still cares. And...he still loves. So don’t you dare sit there and tell me he’s incompetent. He’s short-staffed,” she glared at Saraqael, “but he’s not incompetent. If he had a little help,” she glared at the angel again, “He might actually be able to move forward with his projects. He’s not the same angry, rebellious angel who was cast away by your Father, far from it. And,...he doesn’t deserve the lot of you.”
“Oh, and just for the record, my ‘dear Saraqael’,” she sneered, “Michael gained his experience after gaslighting your Father into believing He was getting too old and senile to do the job Himself. Do you honestly believe that your Father would be pleased with how Michael manipulated circumstances to defeat Lucifer? By filling your minds with fear, so you would side with him to avoid retaliation? Or murdering a human, and murdering your sister not to protect himself or his loved ones, but for personal gain? And let’s not forget, indirectly causing the death of three other people, including my daughter’s father? That was a year ago today, by the way. Thank you for your kind expression of sympathy.”
“Do you honestly believe that your Father would be pleased with the outcome that you wanted? Of having an amoral sociopath ascend to the throne? Are you seriously going to sit there and tell me that a being who could eradicate the universe on a whim, because he felt like it that day, was the better choice for God? Do you honestly believe that a malevolent universe, powered by fear and the loss of free will, is the legacy your Father wanted to leave behind?”
“He-he killed Remi? NO! No...you’re lying. Lucifer killed Remi. Michael told me as much. Lucifer wanted the key to the flaming sword. He killed Remi because she had it.”
I just yelled at her, Chloe thought to herself, I just ranted at her, and THIS is the detail the idiot picked up on?
“No, Saraqael, that’s not what happened,” said Chloe, very firmly. “Michael and your siblings were at a brewery because T.J. Ross, the man who actually had the key, was hiding out there. Michael and some of your siblings tracked him down. When Remiel tried to get to Lucifer and warn him, Michael stabbed her to death with Azrael’s blade to stop her. She lived long enough to fly to the penthouse before she collapsed and died. Right. Over. There.” Chloe pointed to the spot on the floor. “I was here with Lucifer when it happened. When Reziel and your brother, What’s His Face, couldn’t get the key away from Ross, Michael slit Ross’s throat and grabbed the key. Michael killed Remiel and a human, Saraqael, not Lucifer.”
“That’s impossible! Michael would never do that!” Saraqael cried. “He wouldn’t...no! I don’t believe you.”
“It’s the truth, Saraqael, I’m sorry. Michael was looking for Ross to get the key so he could get the flaming sword to work. He even hired a group of mercenaries to track the man down. Those men murdered two innocent civilians while looking for the key. And then,” Chloe swallowed hard, “and then they kidnapped Daniel Espinosa. On Michaels’ orders, they killed him. He...he died in my arms one year ago today. So, you’ll have to excuse me because I can’t really deal with your bullshit right this moment,” Chloe’s uncensored inside voice bleeding through. Chloe reached for her tissue box.
At this point, everything Saraqael had just found out about Michael had her head spinning. It made no sense. Why would Michael violate so many of their Father’s commands? He had assured-no, promised his siblings that he intended to rule over the universe the way their Father had. But Father wouldn’t indiscriminately take the lives of humans, not without provocation. In fact, he had forbidden any celestial from killing humans. But if what Lucifer’s consort had said was true, Michael had killed a human, and caused the deaths of three others for his own personal gain. And then he murdered Remi? No! This just wasn’t right. It couldn’t be right.
Chloe watched the shock and confusion play over Saraqael’s face. She was what?...the Angel of Snotty Bitches? And she had no immediate snotty bitch rebuttal for what Chloe had just said to her? Chloe could almost hear the gears grinding in the angel’s head. Saraqael was beginning to realize the full extent of Michael’s treachery, how badly he had betrayed his siblings. Well, as the saying goes, the truth hurts, and if it hurt Saraqael? So what? She needed the wake-up call, and she had picked the absolute worst day to confront Chloe.
Having composed herself, Chloe glared at the angel who had remained seated in front of the desk. “When I broke down in tears because of the horrible memories you dragged up? That was your cue to leave. Don’t you have a chef or someone to fuck?” her inside voice helpfully provided to her TED talk?
“I’m not done yet,” replied Saraqael, defiantly, pushing aside the revelations that Chloe had just shared with her. “I haven’t gotten the answers I came for. Even if Michael actually did all those horrible things, it doesn’t mean he was lying. Look, no offense (which meant every offense intentionally given), but I’ve known Lucifer a lot longer than you have. He always has an ulterior motive behind everything he does. He might make it seem as though he’s not planning to raze the Silver City because we’ve only seen him doing the mundane tasks, but we know he’s up to something. How do we know he’s not just lulling us into complacency before he launches his attack? So again, Human, I demand that you tell me his plan!”
“Well,...right now, he can’t do much of anything, because you guys won’t do your jobs, so he has to do everything himself. But if he finally gets the help he deserves, his priority will be reforming how the penalty loops work in Hell. There are people trapped in Hell who don’t deserve to be there. If anything, he plans on maintaining Heaven the way it is now. His only long-term goal at the moment is ensuring that all deserving souls would be able to live there after they died. That’s all your Father wanted, and that’s all Lucifer wants, too. Lucifer believes that every soul who deserves Heaven should be there. In fact, you could say he desires it,” answered Chloe.
“Now I know you’re lying, Human. The souls in Hell belong in Hell; they deserve it. That’s why their guilt dragged them down.” After a moment of reflection, she continued, “Ooooookay, I see it now. Clearly, Lucifer is planning to release all the evil souls so they’ll help him destroy Heaven. And you have the gall to say he’s changed. He hasn’t changed a bit. He’s going to retaliate against us for siding with Michael by destroying our home, the only home we’ve ever known. Then who knows? He’ll probably throw us all down into Hell. He just hasn’t punished us yet so we think we’re off the hook. I knew it! Now if you’ll excuse me, you’ve given me valuable information I need to relate to my siblings,” said Saraqael, rising out of her chair.
“SIT. DOWN.” Chloe commanded. Stunned, Saraqael sat, wide-eyed, watching Chloe’s face. Regardless of how she felt about humans, Chloe was Lucifer’s consort. If she chose to disobey, she knew that it wouldn’t bode well with her brother. Lucifer accepted his siblings’ disrespect when it was directed at him, but he would never allow any of them to disrespect Chloe.
“Listen here, Seroquel,” Chloe began, sternly.
“It’s Saraqael,” the angel interjected.
“I know what I said,” Chloe retorted. “There are people in Hell who led good and decent lives, but felt guilty because they stole a candy bar when they were a child. Are you seriously going to sit there and smugly tell me they deserve an afterlife of pain and torture? There are women in Hell who died in childbirth, but felt guilty because they left their newborn children behind with a dubious chance of survival. Do they deserve to be damned because they didn’t have access to medical care, or because they lived in a time in history where there was no medical care at all? How are they to blame for that? There are people in Hell who were murdered by their spouses or domestic partners, who feel guilty because they blame themselves for making their partners angry enough to murder them. They were the victims, they don’t belong there. There are people in Hell whose sexual identity made them outcasts by society and they felt guilty because they were “different”, that they were deemed unacceptable, unworthy of love. Should they really be damned because they were viewed as perverts and abnormal, rejected by their familiy and friends? Should they have been condemned because your Father created them in His image and his ‘priests’ rejected them anyway? Why aren’t those hypocritical ‘men of God’ down here for denouncing them like that? For treating Children of God as an aberration?” At that point, Chloe began crying again. “And when he died, Dan was so overcome with guilt he was carrying that he ended up in Hell. Dan was a good, good man, and a supportive, loving father to our daughter. He didn’t deserve the death he received at Michael’s hands, and he didn’t deserve Hell. Don’t. You. DARE. Sit there and sanctimoniously tell me that every soul in Hell deserves to be there, because that’s the lie.”
Saraqael’s face was deathly pale. The room started swimming as the nausea built up in her stomach. Fighting back the urge to vomit, she said, “That-that can’t be true. Father would never allow such an injustice to occur.”
“It happened, your Father allowed it, and furthermore, He did nothing about it,” said Chloe, quietly. “It’s haunted Lucifer since the day your Father cast him out. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get those souls to release their guilt and go to Heaven. The only thing he could think of to do for them was to create Hell loops that showed them the happier, more peaceful moments of their lives. He absolutely refused to allow his demons to torture them.”
“When your beloved Michael MURDERED me,” she glared at the angel, “and Lucifer risked his life to bring me back here so my daughter wouldn’t lose both of her parents, he discovered what he hopes is the key to redeeming and releasing those souls so they can enjoy the eternal life that they actually deserve. So when I tell you that Lucifer has no intention of destroying the Silver City, it’s because he has NO intention of doing so. What he intends to do is ensure that all souls worthy of Heaven can live here after they die-in an unrazed, undamaged environment.”
“Lucifer doesn’t care about the Silver City at all, and seeing how you all are treating him, I can’t say I blame him too much for that. But what Lucifer does care about, is passionate about, in fact, is justice. That’s why he started working with me in the first place. He seeks justice, fairness, and he goes out of his way to see justice prevail. I’m telling you, the way the afterlife currently operates is unjust. It’s unjust, and Lucifer hates it. All he wants to do is reform it, all he wants is justice for humans in the afterlife. Is that really such an abhorrent concept to you?”
Saraqael sat in her chair, unable to move. She’d brazenly approached Chloe for information, but what Chloe had told her was completely overwhelming. She wasn’t fond of Michael, to be sure, but she had no idea of the extent of his depravity. What did it say about her that she had supported him? That even though she bent her knee to Lucifer, she was barely cooperative with him almost one year later? What did it say about her Father that He allowed souls to damn themselves for minor offenses-or worse, no offenses at all. How could her Father overlook such a grievous flaw in the system? It’s always a shock to children when they discover that their parents aren’t perfect, even if the children are billions of years old. Eventually, she said, “May I-may I have another drink, please?”
“Of course,” Chloe replied, fetching the decanter and bringing it to the desk. “Help yourself.” The angel’s hands were shaking so badly that she could barely pour. Noticing her distress, Chloe reached across the desk and steadied her hand as she poured. Not that she would ever admit it, but Saraqael was greatly touched by Chloe’s gesture. She had demeaned the woman, accused her of being a liar, yet despite how she treated her, Chloe was kind to her. She began to understand what Lucifer saw in her. And at that moment, Saraqael began to fill with regret-regret and shame. She’d greatly misjudged her brother; he really HAD changed, and a lot of it had to do with the woman seated at the desk.
“Lucifer and I were really close once, you know,” Saraqael began.
“Yes, he-he told me,” Chloe replied, gently.
“I fought at his side when he rebelled. I was so sure he was the one to follow.” She shook her head sadly. “It was so rough after he left. He wasn’t the only one to get punished, you see. Father allowed me to stay in Heaven, but gave me the silent treatment ever since that day. He made it a point to do it, even in public”
“Did He do that to punish you, or was He waiting for you to admit to Him what you did and apologize?”
“Both?...maybe? I don’t know. Lucifer claimed responsibility for the entire rebellion, and I was such a coward. I didn’t come forward. I didn’t say a thing. I was so angry at him for failing that I just let him take the blame. And now? I can’t even bring myself to apologize to him. How can he ever forgive me? Especially now with everything that happened at the battle between him and Michael.”
“I think you’ll find,” said Chloe, “that one of the most spectacularly beautiful things about your brother is his ability to forgive. I was horrible to him when I discovered that he wasn’t lying about who he was. I out and out betrayed him by believing something a total stranger said about him. I hurt him so badly. And he forgave me, even though I didn’t deserve it. I think you’ll find that if you apologize to him, he’ll forgive you, too, without any passive-aggressive silent treatment. Lucifer and ‘silent’ rarely go together in the same sentence, anyway.”
“I know, right?” agreed Saraqael as the two shared a laugh. “Listen, I-,” Saraqael began, “what I mean to say is, I was way out of line earlier. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” said Chloe, “a lot of you angels are real jerks to humans. I’ve grown used to it.”
“But, that’s not really fair, you shouldn’t have to gotten used to it. We shouldn’t be treating humanity like that. It’s just that we were always told that angels were superior beings, that we were stronger, had greater abilities, greater intelligence…we were raised with the belief that we were made perfect-and it went to our heads, inflated our egos. Our mother hated humans, never hid her disdain.”
Chloe nodded. “Racism is a learned behavior. No one is born a racist. Racist attitudes come from the environment. If you are raised to feel superior to another race of beings, you are going to believe that you are.”
“Lucifer was no different than the rest of you when I first met him. In fact, he didn’t’ respect humans at all. He was confused by our behavior, our emotions, our motivations when he first arrived here. I get it, though. For millenia he was surrounded by the worst of humanity. His view was skewed because of what he was exposed to, the most depraved humanity had to offer. He didn’t realize that most humans didn’t behave that way. But even in Hell, he was always kind to the souls who didn’t deserve to be there. He was a torturer, but more importantly, he has always been instilled with a strong sense of justice.”
“I remember what he was like before he fell. He was always very kind. I’m glad Hell didn’t take that away from him,” said Saraqael, in a softer voice.
“Me too.”
"He was always very arrogant, though.”
“Still is,” Chloe had to agree.
Saraqael continued, “And very self centered.”
“Much less so, now,” Chloe replied. “He’s learned to put others first. The last time he went to Hell, he did it for us, to keep us safe. It absolutely broke my heart, and yet, I have never been more proud of him.”
“He’s changed a lot, for the better. That’s all on you, Chloe.”
“I might have been a positive influence on him, I might have been his motivation, but you have to give Lucifer the credit. He did all the hard work himself. And he has a very devoted therapist. She’s helped him a lot. But the thing is, your brother was willing to change, to become a better man. He’s not the angel your Father tossed into Hell.”
“No, no he’s not. He’s much much more,” said Saraqael. She quietly sipped her drink for a moment before adding, “You’re very protective of him.”
“Well,...yes, because he deserves it. He more than deserves it. He’s always had my back, and my daughter’s back as well. He’s given his life for me more than once. And most of all, he had faith in me at a time in my life when I didn’t even have faith in myself. I love him, I’ll always be there for him.”
Saraqael sat quietly, lost in thought. At last, she spoke. “So, when he returned to Hell, it wasn’t just to keep you and our nephew safe, was it. It was to protect all of humanity.”
‘ “Yes,” Chloe replied.
“And when he told Zadkiel that he wanted to become God for love, it was mostly for you, but it was also for the love for humanity?”
“Yes.”
“So everything he’s doing, he’s doing out of love for humanity as a whole.”
Finally, she gets it, Chloe thought to herself. “Yes.”
“That was Father’s motivation, too, so in retrospect…” the angel looked at Chloe and smiled, “Lucifer is definitely the right one for the job.”
After a few moments of companionable silence, Chloe spoke, “I, uh,...I’m sorry, but I really have to get going. I have to pick up my daughter from school. We’re going to the cemetery to put flowers on her father’s grave. Feel free to stay as long as you like, and help yourself to some more scotch, if you want to.”
“Oh! Oh yes, of course. Lucifer brags to everyone about how devoted you are to your daughter.”
Chloe stood up to leave as Saraqael continued, “I overheard Lucifer mention to Zadkiel that he’s often been a little envious of your daughter because she has such loving parents.”
Chloe nodded, “Human parents love and nurture their children. Most human parents, anyway. It’s been more difficult for me this year because her father’s gone, but if nothing else, Trixie knows she’s loved.”
Saraqael smiled and nodded, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as the two walked over to the elevator together. What would it have been like for her, for all her siblings, if her parents were more loving? If their home had been filled with “I love yous” and “I’m proud of yous” rather than the perpetual shouting matches between her parents? Would things have been different? Perhaps angels were not as superior as they would like to believe.
As she waited with Chloe for the elevator to arrive, she said, “Thank you for speaking with me today, Chloe. What you said was hard to hear, but I needed to hear it. So, thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome here any time, Saraqael,” Chloe replied.
As the elevator doors slid open, Saraqael did something she had never done before in her entire life-she gently placed a hand on a human’s arm. “And Chloe? I am so very sorry about Dan.”
With tear-filled eyes, Chloe smiled and said softly, “Thank you.” As the doors began sliding shut, Chloe added, “And Saraqael? Apologize to him, and then please, just do your damn job.”
“I will, Chloe, I promise,” she answered as the doors slid shut.
******
Later that night, long after Chloe and Trixie had placed their flowers on Dan’s grave, long after they had met up with Lucifer, Amenadiel, Linda, Ella, and Maze and had dinner at Dan’s favorite cantina, long after Trixie voluntarily had gone to bed without the usual bedtime routine, Chloe stood between Lucifer’s legs as he sat on the bed, buttoning up what was now her white dress shirt that he had slipped over her shoulders. As he gazed up at her with the same pride-filled expression that he wore the day she had bulldozed her way over to his Father and dressed Him down for being such a terrible parent, Lucifer quietly told her about his day. So when Lucifer told her that Saraqael had approached him at their afternoon assembly and knelt down before him, apologizing for everything-from failing to confess to their Father about her role in the Rebellion, to siding with Michael, and to her most recent acts of insubordination, well, Chloe wasn’t surprised. She also wasn’t surprised that Saraqael had promised that she would perform her duties from now on, even going so far as to swear an oath of fealty to her brother of her own free will. Shortly after that, dozens of other angels had followed suit.
“You truly are a remarkable woman, Mrs. G,” he said, reaching up and squeezing her hands.
“All I did was talk to her, Lucifer. Well, yell at her, mostly,” Chloe said.
Lucifer stood up and walked with Chloe over to her side of the bed. He held back the covers so she could slide in, then gently covered her, tucking her in. Sitting down, next to her, he said, “I speak every language,...but I can’t communicate.”
“That’s...remarkably self aware of you, Mr. G,” Chloe said, reaching up to stroke her lover’s face. He smiled, leaned down to kiss her forehead.
“The perks of being omniscient, Mrs. G,” he replied, turning off the lamp on the nightstand on her side of the bed before walking over to his side.
After getting into bed and shutting off the last remaining lamp, he reached over and drew Chloe into his arms. As she nestled into his side, her head on his chest, he continued as he stroked her hair, “Think about it, Mrs. G. I’ve watched you for years, I’ve seen you talk people down when they were holding guns...fully prepared to shoot. You’ve always been able to speak to people, get them to do the right thing. Your words have even influenced me, they got me thinking, got me to act differently. You tamed the devil with your words, Chloe, and then you taught him how to love. Words are your superpower. Maybe that’s not as awe-inspiring as laser beam hands, but it’s a power you truly possess nonetheless.”
“I-I just never thought much about it, Lucifer. I definitely never thought about it as my superpower.”
“You just cowed an angel, Darling...and an archangel at that. You had no celestial weaponry, no demon blades at your disposal. You have the power to tame celestials with words alone. And now, thanks to you, things are finally getting done in Heaven. Perhaps I should call you the Angel Whisperer.”
“Angel Whisperer,” Chloe mulled, “that has a nicer ring to it than ‘Miracle’.”
“You’ve always been more than that, my Angel Whisperer,” said Lucifer, bending forward to kiss the top of her head, “You’ve always been more than just a miracle to me.”
That much is true. She had been Lucifer’s goddess long before he had assumed the mantle of God. He had found her fascinating from the moment they met. Through the years, she had become his inspiration, creating an inner desire to change for the better, and he had loved her long before he could even admit that he did. The phrase ‘trials and tribulations’ didn’t even begin to describe everything they had endured together; there was always something or someone determined to get in their way. Yet, through it all, he and his Angel Whisperer prevailed. And now, with the power of her words alone, Chloe had prevailed over the very angels themselves, returning the Silver City to status quo. What Lucifer had stated to Zadkiel about Chloe’s miracle status over a year ago was still true today. Her name is Chloe Decker and she’s much more than that.