My Love Will Never Die

by Mary_S7100

Summary:

This story picks up about three weeks after Dance with the Devil. I suggest that you read that story first if you haven't already.

Lucifer and Chloe are now in a relationship. Things are looking good for them at first, just some usual bumps in the road to work out (it is Lucifer's first actual relationship after all) but then celestial craziness starts to mess with things.
I will introduce more characters from the show and I'll keep twisting some scenes from the show to suit my story.

Tags will be updated as the story unfolds.

Chapter 1: Linda

The club was full of music and people who were enjoying themselves. Only one man was sitting at the bar sulking. Ironically it was the man who had created the place where everyone would be able to have fun without any inhibitions.

Lucifer was not in the mood to party tonight. At first there had been some patrons who had tried to get his attention, but the longer he sat there the more he was giving out the leave-me-alone vibe and no one really bothered him. Only Patrick came by and refilled his glass so it was never empty. This kind of Lucifer was not exactly new to him, but his boss had been happy for about a month now. Ever since the night he had encouraged Chloe to go to his penthouse and talk with him. The talk had gone well apparently since Lucifer and Chloe had been together ever since. Patrick had been a bartender long enough to recognise when a man was drinking because of a woman.

They both seemed so smitten with each other, so Patrick was curious what could have happened. After refilling Lucifer’s glass for the seventh time, he decided to ask, “do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” Lucifer was not in the mood for small talk.

“About why you are sitting alone at the bar on Friday night and not spending it with your girlfriend,” Patrick elaborated.

“Because I don’t think I have a girlfriend anymore.” Lucifer twirled his glass on the counter and stared at the liquid.

Patrick furrowed his brows at Lucifer’s answer. “What happened?”

“Me,” was his curt answer, “I just ruin everything I touch.” Lucifer emptied his glass and Patrick refilled it before other patrons caught his attention.

--------

At the same time three women walked into the club.

“See, that’s him right there,” one of them pointed towards Lucifer. “You’re lucky, he’s alone at the moment. If you wait too long someone else will beat you.” She nudged the shortest woman in the group with her elbow.

“I don’t know… are you sure he would be interested?” She was clearly hesitating.

“Linda, I have seen him partying multiple times. His bed is never cold and believe me, this kind of night is just the thing you need after Reese.”

“She’s right, girlfriend. Even though that idiot husband of yours hasn’t signed the papers yet, you have every right to have some fun. It’s been a couple of months since I hooked up with Lucifer, but as far as I know that guy over there has been taking women and men from his club back to his penthouse since he opened the place.”

“So you suggest that I just go over there and ask him to have sex with me?” Linda had been off the market for some time now, but that seemed a bit too straightforward.

Her friend laughed. “I’m sure he would grant your wish, but you can just go to him and show some interest and believe me, he’ll do the rest. You look hot in this dress, so why wouldn’t he want to have sex with you.”

“Right. Ok, let’s see what happens.” Linda took a deep breath and started walking down the stairs towards the bar.

“Have fun!” her friends shouted over the music.

 

It took Linda some time to manoeuvre between the people to get to the bar. She sat down next to the man in a suit that her friends had pointed out and ordered a drink. It was both for her nerves and an excuse for being there. She drank a little and waited for the man next to her to start a conversation or something, but he was silent and seemed to not have noticed her. The man looked even better up close, so Linda decided to approach him.

“Hi! I’m Linda,” she introduced herself leaning a little closer to the man.

“Lucifer,” he answered without raising his eyes from the glass he was holding between his hands.

You didn’t need to be an expert to understand that this man was not interested in the company. Linda tried to not feel hurt about it because he hadn’t even looked at her, so it couldn’t have been because he didn’t like her looks.

“I’m sorry to have bothered you. My friends said that you are always up to having some fun, but it seems tonight it’s not the case.”

“Your friends must have known me a few months back then. I stopped doing that after I started a relationship.”

“Oh, you have a girlfriend.” That would explain his lack of interest.

“Not sure I have anymore,” Lucifer muttered and Linda might have missed it, but the song that was playing had a more silent part right then.

Linda had come out to party and maybe hook up with someone tonight, but the therapist in her couldn’t ignore the fact that this man seemed to be in need of some help regarding relationships.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Linda asked, raising her voice since the music had gotten louder again.

This time Lucifer really looked at her, his expression puzzled. “Why would I want to talk about it? I don’t even know you.”

“Sometimes an impartial view could help.”

“And you would want to listen about my failed relationship?” Lucifer couldn’t really imagine why someone who didn’t even know him, would want to listen to his problems.

“That’s what I do. I’m a therapist,” Linda explained.

“Well, you see there was this guy …,” Lucifer started to tell the story when Linda stopped him. 

“I’m sorry, but if you want me to listen to you, we need to go to some place that is more quiet. I can see your lips moving but I barely hear anything over the music.” Linda was not sure he could hear her either. They were obviously too close to the DJ.

Lucifer thought about it for a moment. The office was near and it would be much quieter, but he felt that it was going to be a talk that required some amount of alcohol too and there was none in there. So that left only one place where it would be quiet enough and a decent supply of alcohol.

“Let's go up to my penthouse,” he told Linda, leaning closer to her ear to make sure she’d hear him.

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Chloe had been walking around and thinking about their fight and decided to go and talk to Lucifer hoping they could put it all behind them. She stepped into the club and looked around to see if he was there. Chloe stopped when she saw him walking into the elevator with a short blonde woman, smiling at her. Chloe tried to tell herself that there could have been a perfectly normal reason for him to go into the elevator with her and she shouldn’t jump into conclusions. Until she heard two women talk almost next to her.

“It looks like our girl got Lucifer’s attention. I told her that this dress would catch his eye.”

“Good for her. A good fuck is just what she needs right now, and we both know that Lucifer is just the right man for that.” Both of them giggled at that.

So the woman who Lucifer just took to his penthouse was after sex and it sure seemed that Lucifer was happy to give her what she needed. Chloe contemplated whether she should go there to catch him cheating, but then decided she didn’t want the memory of him buried between another woman’s legs. 

She had been so sure that he was different now, that he wouldn’t want to take a random woman to his bed anymore. The disappointment and hurt made her eyes sting with tears she didn’t want to let fall in the middle of his club. Chloe hurried to the elevator and let the tears fall only after the doors had closed behind her.

--------

“Do you want another drink?” asked Lucifer when they stepped into his penthouse. Linda hadn’t had time to finish her drink before they came upstairs so she gladly accepted his offer.

After getting their drinks Lucifer guided them to his coffee table. He sat down on the couch and Linda took her seat on a chair opposite to him. 

After a moment of silence Linda asked, “so do you want to tell me about why you are not sure that you have a girlfriend anymore?”

Lucifer sighed heavily and started to talk, “well, she studies in the Police Academy and last week she went to the graduation of a … friend. I saw the pictures that were taken there today. In one picture she hugged him and the look on his face suggested that the guy is clearly interested in something more than friendship with her. So I told her that. At first she didn’t believe me, so I tried to prove my point. It got a bit out of hand and in the end she said that if I don’t trust her we can’t be in a relationship. Then she stormed out and I don’t know where she went. I checked her apartment, she was not there.”

Thinking about the look on Daniel’s face still made him cringe.

Linda listened to him quietly and took a moment before she spoke.

“Do you trust her?” she asked eventually, seeing that Lucifer was staring at his glass.

“Of course I trust her, there is not a single bad bone in her.”

“So what made you bring up the topic in the first place?” Linda tried to get to the root of things.

“The look on his face. I can recognise when someone clearly wants the other person.”

“But if you trust your girlfriend and don’t think she will cheat on you, then what does it matter?” Linda had the feeling that there was more to it.

“Because…,” Lucifer paused, “because what if she decides that she wants to be with someone who is not a monster.”

“Do you think that you are a monster?” Linda was confused by his allegation.

“Oh I don’t think, I just am. Or have you forgotten that you are talking to the Devil?” Lucifer looked at her and cocked his eyebrow.

Linda took a deep breath. She knew that the man was called Lucifer Morningstar and her friends had also referred to him as the Devil, but she was sure that there was a reason for it. Maybe a past trauma or just parents with a very weird sense of humour. She was sure that the reason for his name was not the fact that he was Satan himself. But apparently this persona went past his name. Linda was experienced enough to realise that it was not something they could fix in one night, so she decided to just play by his rules at the moment and not try to coax Lucifer to drop this persona.

Linda smiled at him, “no I haven’t.” She paused for a moment. “And does your girlfriend know that she dates the Devil?”

“Yes, she knows exactly who I am actually.” The thought made Lucifer smile. Even if they were done now, she had truly accepted him.

“Did she know it before you started dating?”

“She did, actually.” This time he couldn’t keep the pride from his voice.

“So let me get this straight - she knows who you are and accepts that, but you still think that she’ll change her mind just because someone else might show interest in her.” Linda could barely keep the sarcasm from her voice. She knew it was not professional and although she was not actually working right now, it would be better to keep her own emotions out of it.

“Well, yes.” Lucifer could sense that the woman in front of him didn’t really understand the situation. It would probably not help to show her his face right now, so he tried to explain it as best as possible. He stood up from the couch and started pacing. “You don’t know her, Linda. Chloe is so good, she is the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I still can’t believe that she chose to be with me, the Devil. I still feel that I’m unworthy of her. I couldn’t even blame her, if she decided to be with someone better than me. She deserves better than me.” Lucifer stopped behind the couch and put his hands on the backrest. He sighed and kept his face locked on the couch. It felt strangely liberating to get it all off his chest.

Linda considered his words for a moment. “And what would you do if she really decided to be with someone else?”

Lucifer looked at her a bit puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, would you try to stop her?” Linda clarified.

“Of course not. I would never interfere with her free will.” 

“So it doesn’t make a difference whether you bring it up with her or not. When it happens, it happens.”

“I suppose so.” Lucifer sat down again and took a sip from his drink.      

“Wouldn’t it be better then to enjoy your time with her than to think about possible future scenarios when it’s something you can’t control?” The look she gave him suggested clearly that it would indeed be better.

“Do you… do you really think I still have a chance with her?” Lucifer remembered clearly how angry Chloe was when she had left the penthouse that night.

“I think if you play your cards right, you still have a relationship.”

Lucifer perked up visibly. “Please tell me what I should do to get her to forgive me.”

Normally Linda would let her patients figure things like that out for themselves, but technically she was not working. She was just helping out a… stranger she met at a bar, but felt sorry for. And the stranger was clearly inexperienced in relationships. It sounded like he really cared about his girlfriend, so Linda decided to give a very straight answer. “It’s simple actually - apologise your ass off.”

“That’s it?” Lucifer had hoped for something more elaborate.

“Yes, go to her and admit your mistake. Maybe bring her some flowers too. Grovel if you need to.”

Lucifer smiled widely. He would not plead for mercy from his father, but he was ready to grovel in front of Chloe if that meant that he could have her back. He stood up and started to tap on his phone, “do you know where I can get some flowers at this hour?”

“Uhm… are you sure that she is not sleeping right now?” Linda did not expect him to go to her right now.

Lucifer paused and looked at the time on his phone. It was past midnight and Chloe usually slept at this time, unless they were having a night out together. “You're right, she’s probably asleep now.”

“I think it’s best if you wait until morning. It will also give her time to cool down.” Linda could imagine that being woken up at night would not set a good ground for reconciliation.

“Yes, it’s probably better to let her sleep and then go to her and apologise.” Lucifer sat down again.

Linda smiled, pleased with herself. Although she had planned to let loose this evening, the end result of this talk had been fulfilling.

“Thank you so much, Linda. I wish I’d had someone like you to talk to sooner.” 

“Well, I can leave my card. If you feel that you want to discuss something more, you can make an appointment at my office.” Linda placed her card on the coffee table.

“I think I might just do that.” Lucifer took the card and placed it in his pocket.

“All right, I’ll get going then.” Linda got up and started to go towards the elevator.

Lucifer suddenly remembered why she had approached him in the first place. “But you didn’t get what you desired.”

“Oh, I would have never tried to get you to sleep with me if I had known that you have a girlfriend.”

“Well, yes, I can’t offer you myself right now, but the guy who served your drink, Benjamin, is quite skilled in bed. And he rents an apartment in the building. I also know that he likes blondes and he’s single.” Lucifer said it with a smirk and Linda got the message loud and clear.

“I’ll go and order a drink then.” Linda was eager to get to the elevator now.

“I’ll tell him that your drinks are on the house.” Lucifer thought that it was the least he could do after Linda had helped him.

“Thank you!” Linda managed to say before the doors closed in front of her. Lucifer picked up his phone and texted Benjamin right away about her drinks.

--------

Chloe woke up the next morning feeling not good at all. She had not slept well and could feel a headache looming. One look in the mirror confirmed her suspicion that her eyes were puffy. She had tried to keep her emotions in check, but failed miserably and cried last night. Chloe had tried to keep her mind off of Lucifer to be finally able to fall asleep. She had almost succeeded until she heard Benjamin enter the hallway and he had clearly some company. She was glad that the apartments had extra soundproofing. The thought made her think back at the time Lucifer had told her about it. She had been working only for a few months in the bar when one evening Lucifer had told her the story about a fight between his two bartenders. They both rented an apartment on the 5th floor and one night one of them had someone over and they were quite loud while having sex. The other one had to wake up early the next morning and was pissed at the other for keeping her awake and demanded that Lucifer would prohibit having overnight guests at the 5th floor apartments. Of course he could never forbid people following their desires, so instead he made the apartments more soundproof. The memory had made Chloe’s heart ache even more. How could he be so thoughtful sometimes and at other times do something really hurtful? Until now their relationship had been wonderful. Lucifer was really caring and although he never outright said the words to her, she felt loved. Chloe found herself wondering if they could get past this. Would she be able to forgive and forget and would Lucifer understand how much this kind of behaviour hurt her? That thought sparked a little ember of hope inside her and even though Chloe was not sure that they would actually be able to continue their relationship after this, it put her mind at ease and let her fall asleep finally.

Chloe was washing the dishes after eating her breakfast when she heard someone knocking on the door. She dried her hands and took a deep breath to try and calm herself. She had contemplated when to go and talk to Lucifer in order not to stumble upon the woman she had seen last night with him. Her gut feeling told her that it was Lucifer behind the door right now. Just before Chloe reached the door she heard him knocking again.

She opened the door and was met with the Devil like she had anticipated. What she had not seen coming was the huge bouquet of flowers he was holding. Seeing him standing there with flowers made her heart drop. He looked as guilty as one could be and that meant he knew he had hurt her, but did it anyway.

“Good morning, Chloe!” he said with a tentative smile. Lucifer saw that her eyes were a little puffy, so he was certain that she had been crying and knowing that he had caused this made his heart heavy.

“Morning,” Chloe answered him dryly and stepped back a little, so he could come inside. She did not want to have this conversation at the door, because she knew that everyone living on the floor could hear them then.

Lucifer stepped into her apartment and held the flowers towards her, “these are for you.”

“I don’t have a vase big enough for them.” Chloe had crossed her arms on her chest and didn’t move them to take the flowers. She was not so sure anymore that they could salvage their relationship and having flowers at the apartment to remind her of Lucifer would probably not be such a good idea. 

“Oh,” the little smile Lucifer had on his face was wiped away at that. The look on Chloe’s face and her body language suggested that getting her to forgive him might not be so easy. 

“I’m so sorry, Chloe.” Lucifer tried his best to convey how sorry he was with his expression.

“Oh great, you are sorry.” Chloe couldn’t keep the anger from her voice. “And you think that coming here with flowers and saying you are sorry makes everything all right?”

“Well, Linda suggested that it would be a good place to start.” Lucifer was a little bit baffled at her reaction.

“Linda. Is she by any chance a short blonde woman with glasses?” Chloe hadn’t seen that much of the woman Lucifer took to his penthouse last night, but these things she could remember about her.

“You know her?” Lucifer was surprised that Chloe had described her so accurately.

“No, but I know why you took her to the penthouse last night.” Before Lucifer could say something, she continued, “how could you do this, Lucifer? I thought what we had was special.” Chloe took a deep breath before she continued, not willing to spell out what she thought happened at the penthouse the previous night. “But you just chose to… involve her.”

Lucifer furrowed his brows. It seemed that Chloe was upset because he had spoken about their relationship with Linda. He hadn’t thought she would mind, but he had been quite open about the fight they had. Was this another rule about relationships he didn’t know about?

“I’m sorry, Chloe, I just thought a professional would help solve the issue.” 

“A professional?” Chloe couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Since when do you need professional help in that department?”

“You know that I’m new in this whole relationship business. She did help me realise some things. And I thought about starting to see her on a regular basis, but if you think that it’s not a good idea …” Lucifer’s gaze wandered towards his hand that was still holding the flowers. Maybe Linda was not as wise as he had thought last night.

This was getting more and more absurd. Chloe knew that Lucifer hadn’t had a relationship before, but even he could not be that daft. “Are you seriously telling me that you want to keep seeing her while you are in a relationship with me? I told you from the start that I want a monogamous relationship.”

Chloe’s last sentence seemed to refer to something else than therapy. “Hold on, do you think that I had sex with Linda?” 

“I saw you two enter the elevator together and I heard her friends talking about her needing to get laid.”

“Well yes, that’s why she approached me initially, but I told her that I was not interested and she seemed to want to listen to me and give some advice. The club was too noisy for that, so I took her to the penthouse.” Lucifer reached into his pocket and took out Linda’s business card. “She’s a professional therapist.”

Chloe took the card and stared at the text on it. Had she really jumped into conclusions and been wrong? She never really asked him what he had done with Linda, she had just assumed. “So you just talked,” she almost whispered.

“Yes,” Lucifer answered her equally quietly.

“I’m sorry for assuming …,” Chloe felt her cheeks turn red. She wished she could just sink into the ground.

“It’s all right, love. I know it’s something I did in the past, but I’m not interested in having sex with others anymore. Not when I have you.” Chloe looked up and the look on his face and the softness in Lucifer’s eyes made her heart melt. She reached out and caressed his cheek while smiling softly. Lucifer wanted to touch her face too, but remembered then that he was still holding the flowers.

“Will you accept these then?” He lifted the bouquet a little. 

“Yes, of course,” Chloe’s smile widened. She would find something big enough to put the flowers in. Suddenly she remembered what he had said after trying to give them to her in the first place. “But if you didn’t sleep with Linda, why were you apologising?”

“For how I behaved yesterday, you know with the whole thing with Daniel.”

“Oh,” she had forgotten about that already because of the whole is her boyfriend sleeping with other women thing.

“So… are we still… together?” Lucifer needed to know, but was a little hesitant about asking the question, because he was still not entirely sure that the answer would be yes.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Chloe was a bit baffled. He hadn’t slept with anyone else after all.

“Well, you said yesterday that if I don’t trust you …,” Lucifer didn’t even want to finish that sentence.

“But do you trust me?” 

“I do, of course I do.” There was no one Lucifer trusted more.

“Well then,” Chloe put the flowers and Linda’s business card that she was still holding on the nearest table and took his hands in hers, “I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t be.”

Lucifer let out a relieved sigh and leaned his forehead against hers.

After a moment Chloe asked, “did you really think that I would break up with you because of that little fight we had yesterday?” She straightened herself and looked into his eyes.

“Well, I.. uhm… you seemed quite angry when you left the penthouse yesterday.”

Chloe shook her head a little. “You know, for an immortal you are quite silly sometimes.” Lucifer bowed his head and Chloe could see a flicker of shame cross his face. She reached up and put her hands around his neck. “But you are my silly immortal.” With those words she brought Lucifer’s face towards hers and saw a smile there before their lips met. Lucifer relaxed immediately into the kiss. When they parted again, Chloe decided to explain it a little. “Little fights are completely normal in a relationship, you know.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Despite the kiss and her reassurance that they were okay, Lucifer seemed a bit tense, so Chloe decided to lighten the mood. She played with the short hair on his neck a little and said in a low voice, “do you know what else is a normal part of a relationship?” and without waiting for his answer she murmured “make up sex”. This time it was Lucifer who pulled her into a kiss and this time it was filled with desire and heat. A part of Lucifer had been afraid that he’d never get to sleep with her again, so he felt the need to have her stronger than ever. Soon Lucifer’s tongue found its way into Chloe’s mouth. She let out a moan and slipped her hands under Lucifer’s jacket to slide it off him. After freeing his hands from the garment Lucifer pressed Chloe close to him and slid his hands over her ass cheeks until he reached her upper thighs. He swiftly lifted her legs so they were circling his waist and carried her into the bedroom. After settling her on the bed he finally broke the kiss and started to move lower down her neck, trailing kisses there. Chloe wanted to feel his lips on her skin below the neck also, so she reached for the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it off. She might have felt a little shy about the plain cotton underwear and her sweatpants with any other man, but she knew by then that it didn’t matter to Lucifer. The look he gave her was filled with pure desire and admiration and as soon as the shirt was discarded, his mouth was on her again giving attention to every inch of her body while moving lower. Chloe suppressed the urge to push his head straight between her legs, she knew that he’d get there eventually, but she was totally ready for him already. She did let out a needy whimper which made Lucifer smirk against her skin. “Eager, love?” he murmured and looked up at her face. Chloe bit her lower lip and answered “maybe.” Lucifer was actually also eager himself, so he decided to move lower and hooked his fingers under the waistband of her sweatpants, dragging them down along with her knickers. Being a leg man, he could not resist kissing her bare legs after discarding her pants. He started from her ankles and kissed the insides of her legs moving slowly up towards her core. As much as she loved feeling Lucifer’s lips on her skin, Chloe wanted to feel him somewhere else instead. Lucifer took his time moving up her legs, so she let out a “please”. She didn’t need to elaborate for Lucifer to understand what she wanted. He decided to grant her wish and ascended towards her hips immediately, so his mouth was on her sex before Chloe managed to utter another word. Lucifer’s skills made her pant and moan and soon her orgasm hit her with a force she had only experienced with the Devil. It took her a while to open her eyes again and she discovered then that Lucifer had shed his pants already. He settled himself over Chloe and kissed her again. Chloe opened her legs for him and Lucifer slowly slid inside her. He waited for a beat for her to get used to his girth and then started with slow thrusts. The slow pace gave them time to get rid of the last pieces of clothing they were still wearing. Chloe started to unbutton his shirt while Lucifer reached behind her back to open the clasp of her bra. Soon they were both naked and now Lucifer’s hand was free to wander to Chloe’s clit and start working on her second orgasm. Chloe’s hands roamed over Lucifer’s back and when he quickened his pace she dug her nails into his back in ecstasy. That spurred Lucifer on even more and soon they were both tumbling over the edge.

 

Chloe’s head was resting on Lucifer’s shoulder and she was tracing patterns on his chest. Lucifer was caressing her back with gentle strokes. They were both silently enjoying the post-orgasmic bliss, but Lucifer could sense that Chloe’s mind was not at peace.

“I can hear you thinking, love,” he broke the silence.

“I was just wondering…” she paused, “what was Linda’s opinion about the argument we had yesterday.” Chloe was reluctant to call it a fight now.  

“Well, she made me realise that I should be enjoying our time together rather than worrying about you wanting to be with someone more worthy of you.”

“Lucifer,” Chloe pushed herself up from his chest to face him, “you are worthy. You are a good man.”

“You know I’m the Devil, darling.” There was sadness in Lucifer's eyes. “You deserve someone better.” 

“I don’t care who I deserve in your opinion. It’s you I desire.” Chloe closed the distance between their faces and kissed him tenderly.

“Well, then I’m the luckiest man in the universe,” Lucifer smiled, his expression soft.

“Good,” Chloe rested her chin on his chest, “maybe you should start going to therapy. It seems that it might help you see some things from a different perspective.” 

“Yes, I was also thinking after our talk last night that it might do me good to speak with her about some issues.” He paused and looked in her eyes, “you wouldn’t mind if Linda will be my therapist?”

“No, of course not,” she answered and then added with a glint in her eyes, “unless you plan to pay her with sex.”

“Well, that would be a mutually beneficial deal,” Lucifer made it look like he was considering it, “but I guess I’ll be able to afford to pay her with money also.” He smiled looking down at her, feeling delighted that she was able to joke about it already.

“I feel a bit sorry for her that she didn’t get the good sex she was after. Instead she was stuck dealing with our problems.” Something in the voice of the woman’s friends she had overheard last night had suggested that Linda really needed a good shag.

“Actually she might have gotten some.” 

“How do you know?” Chloe knew that the club had been packed yesterday and Linda had looked sexy enough that she could have gotten some other guy also.

“I told her to seek out Benjamin when she left,” Lucifer told her with a smirk.

“Oh,” Chloe replied. The bartender was almost as popular with women as Lucifer had been when he used to entertain new patrons in his bed every night. And then the realisation struck her, “oh!”

“What is it, love?” Lucifer was a bit puzzled about the second oh.

“I heard when Ben came to his apartment last night and he had a woman with him. They were definitely about to have sex. I guess it could have been Linda.”

“Did they keep you awake?” 

“No. I didn’t hear them once they went inside.” 

“You see, I told you the extra soundproofing is essential in keeping everyone happy,” Lucifer grinned at her and earned a similar eye roll to the one he had received when he first told her about the soundproofing. “In fact, we could test how good it really is right now. I’m sure I can make you cry out my name loud enough,” he rolled them so he was on top of Chloe again and kissed her.

“I’m sure you can,” she replied when they broke the kiss, “but I was thinking maybe we could take a shower instead.” Chloe was feeling quite sticky after the first round.

“An excellent idea,” Lucifer grinned, “you know how much I like shower sex.”

Chapter 2: Trouble’s coming

Notes:

Exactly two years ago I posted my first fic here. This is my 10th fic and I have written more than 176 thousand words since then and more than 22 thousand times have people read my stories. I'm grateful for everyone who has read my fics and especially for the comments you left. I have at least 5 more fic ideas already on my mind, but as you know I'm not a very fast writer, so we'll see how much more time it will take to get them all written down.

The next time Chloe was working at Lux it was obvious to Patrick that his boss and Chloe had resolved whatever problem they had, because Lucifer had been sitting at the bar almost the whole evening and looked really happy. And Chloe was smiling all the time and laughing with him and even when she was serving a client, her eyes kept darting back to him. The only time Lucifer had left his bar stool was when he played a set and it was full of love songs and Chloe’s favourite tunes.

Patrick was really happy for them, because it was clear that they were both so in love with each other. In fact Lucifer’s happiness seemed to infect everyone around him, the club seemed to swarm with joy that evening.

There was only one person who wasn’t affected by it. The demon was looking at them with disdain. When Chloe was pouring a drink for a patron Maze walked to Lucifer and asked him feigning nonchalance, “so how was the blonde with glasses you took to your penthouse the other day?” The demon had seen him enter the elevator with a woman who wasn’t Chloe and she had hoped that this relationship or whatever stupid thing her king had with Chloe was finally over. To her disappointment they seemed to be still together, so she had decided to disclose the fact that he had been with someone else or if Decker had finally allowed others in their bed, she hoped to get some salacious details about it.

Lucifer was not fooled by his demon’s seemingly casual tone. He was certain that Maze chose deliberately to ask that question so Chloe would hear it. Lucifer decided to fool her a little. ”Oh she was excellent. She really knew what she was doing,” he replied with a gleeful expression.

“Really?” Maze seemed genuinely interested now. She turned her head to glimpse at Chloe and her reaction. Chloe was still dealing with the customer, but seemed a bit more serious than before.

“In fact, I’m meeting her again the day after tomorrow,” Lucifer added.

Before Maze could ask further questions Chloe was by their side and added, “she is a therapist.” She had heard their conversation as Maze had planned and from Lucifer’s answers it was clear that he was giving her a wrong impression about his and Linda’s encounter on purpose. Chloe did not like the idea of Maze thinking that Lucifer was having sex with someone else beside her, so she decided to clear things up.

“What?” Maze could not believe what she was hearing. “You’re going to therapy?” She stared at her king with a baffled expression.

“Yes, I am indeed,” Lucifer replied with a hint of pride in his voice.

“Pathetic,” Maze hissed and stormed away. She could not believe that the Devil would go to therapy. Being on Earth seemed to have a really bad influence on him.

Lucifer watched his demon storm away with a furrowed brow. He contemplated going after her and telling her not to disrespect him, but he didn’t want to leave Chloe’s side. So instead he muttered “demons” under his breath and downed the whiskey in his class. His other hand was on the bar, so Chloe put her hand on top of his and squeezed it lightly. When he looked at her and saw her smile at him, he couldn’t care less what Maze thought of him. All that mattered was his lovely girlfriend. 

—------

Chloe was slumped against Lucifer’s side on the ride to the penthouse. She was exhausted. Her mother was in town and she had spent the day with her. She loved her mother, but they were quite different and spending that much time with her was emotionally taxing. Luckily Lucifer had joined them for dinner and kept Penelope entertained for most of the night. But still there were moments when she needed to suppress her urge to tell her what she really was thinking in order to not cause a scene. Also Chloe felt that she maybe should have drank less wine. She had told Lucifer that she’d come to his place only if they could just go to sleep. The idea of cuddling next to him while falling asleep did sound good. Chloe was happy with that plan.

When the elevator doors opened to the penthouse they were surprised to find it occupied. There were two young women on the couch who were making out. Both Chloe and Lucifer stared at them at first. One of them noticed that they were not alone anymore and broke the kiss. “Hi, Lucifer! Finally you are here. Me and Samantha got a bit bored waiting for you, so we decided to start without you. But you can now join us.” Her gaze turned to Chloe, “she can join too.”

“Why were you waiting for me?” Lucifer finally spoke.

“Well, you said that we were always welcome here. We are staying in L.A. for tonight, so we decided to have some fun.” The woman had stood up from the couch and was walking towards Lucifer. Chloe noticed that she was wearing a stewardess uniform.

Lucifer turned to Chloe with panicked eyes, “I had no idea about it, I swear, Chloe.”

Chloe did believe him. But she was still too tired to deal with it. “Fine, but it’s still your mess to clear up.” She turned around and headed back to the elevator.

“Don’t go, Chloe, please.” Lucifer’s voice was close to pleading.

The stewardess had reached Lucifer and started to toy with his button, “don’t worry, the three of us can have fun without her too.”

Chloe felt her jealousy spike seeing a beautiful woman putting her hands on Lucifer. She debated staying there and kicking the women out herself, but she just wanted to go to bed. And she did trust Lucifer to not ‘entertain’ the women. “I need to go somewhere where I can lock the door.”

Lucifer moved the woman’s hand from his chest. “No, Jana, the three of us will not have fun tonight.”

 

Chloe went down to her apartment. She slumped on the couch and took her shoes off. She had worn high heels because the restaurant her mother had insisted on going to was not the kind where you’d go with jeans and a T-shirt.

Shoes put aside, her mind went back to the situation at the penthouse. The women seemed not to be from L.A., so they probably hadn’t seen Lucifer with her in Lux. And she had not agreed to let him post all over his social media about their relationship. She still remembered how it was when she was an actress and everyone knew about who she was dating and when she broke up with someone. Chloe wanted a more private life. But it seemed that her no public announcements policy had backfired.

She sighed and got up from the couch to change her dress for a fluffy bathrobe. Chloe took off her makeup and brushed her teeth. She was about to crawl under the sheets when she heard a knock on the door.

It wasn’t hard to guess who that could be, but just to be sure she asked, “who is it?”

“It’s me. Can I please come inside?” a familiar voice with a British accent sounded through the door.

Chloe couldn’t help the smile that crept on her face. She opened the door and let her Devil come inside. “Did the women leave or are they in the penthouse having fun right now?”

“I asked them to leave and told them that the invitation to stop by anytime they liked does not apply any longer,” Lucifer answered her with an apologetic face.

“Good,” Chloe smiled and Lucifer relaxed a little. Still he looked a little apprehensive and hadn’t moved away from the door, so Chloe decided to cut to the chase. “If you want to stay the night, you can come to bed with me, but I want to sleep. Like I said before, I’m really exhausted.”

“Of course darling. I’ll be happy to join you.” Lucifer smiled and started to unbutton his waistcoat.

Soon Chloe’s head was resting on Lucifer’s bare chest and she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

 

The next morning Lucifer started to pepper her body with kisses as soon as she woke up. Not long after they were resting in post-orgasmic bliss. Chloe decided to talk about the reason they ended up in her apartment not in the penthouse. 

“I was thinking that maybe it’s not such a bad idea for you to state that you are in a relationship on social media.”

“Really?” Lucifer was a bit surprised, because when he had asked her about it when they started dating, she had seemed absolutely unshakable in that matter.

“Yes,” after a moment of thought she added, “maybe not really tag me or something, just state that you are in a committed relationship or something like that.”

“Not wanting to let the world know that you shag the Devil every night, do you?” Lucifer teased her a little.

“No it’s not like that,” Chloe blushed. She had explained it to him the first time they had talked about it, but she felt the need to tell him again. “I just want to keep my private life a little more private, okay.”

Lucifer kissed the top of her head. “I know darling, I was just teasing you. I had another solution to avoid having unexpected guests actually.”

“And what was your solution?” Chloe was curious. Knowing the Devil, it could be anything.

“I decided to put a lock on the elevator, so only a few people could freely come to the penthouse.”

“Are you sure about that?” Chloe had not expected that. “I mean you told me once how much you like open doors.”

“I do, but I like to have my private time with you more.” He smiled sweetly at her and Chloe felt that she fell a bit more in love with him.

 

True to his word, soon you could only get to the penthouse if you knew the six digit code. Chloe had half expected it to involve 666 or something like that, but it didn’t. She was a bit curious about the number he chose for the code, so she asked him about it.

Lucifer seemed a bit surprised by her question. “Don’t you recognise the code?”

“No,” Chloe answered, trying to figure out what those numbers could possibly refer to.

“It’s the date of our first date,” Lucifer answered like it was the most logical thing in the world.

“Oh, Lucifer,” was all Chloe managed to say, because she could not think of a good reply to that kind of gesture. She decided to kiss him instead to show him how she felt about it.

 

—-----------

Linda looked at the retreating back of her patient who had just cancelled his appointment. She sighed and closed the door. When she sat down in her chair she could see that her other patient who just happened to drop by her office and take the suddenly open spot in her schedule was clearly anxious. Linda knew her most intriguing patient well enough to know that he most likely paid the other man off so he could have his spot for an emergency session.

“So Lucifer, what brings you here today?” 

“Well, I …,” he was brushing off invisible lint from his trousers, “we had a little disagreement.”

He didn’t even have to say it, Linda knew exactly what the visit was about. Actually she had already anticipated it - every time he seemed nervous when sitting on that couch, it was about Chloe.

“Tell me about it,” Linda said with a calm voice.

Lucifer sighed and took a sip from the glass of water sitting on the table. Another sign that he was nervous. “Ever since her school started again, I have barely been able to spend time with Chloe. She’s either in school or doing homework or working at Lux. And sometimes she even has to do homework on the weekends. I mean Saturday has been our fun day, but this Saturday we had sex only twice. But I’m a ten times a day man, Doctor. Big Ben strikes ten, as they say.”

Linda stared at him with a puzzled expression, so Lucifer decided to add, “I’m Big Ben.”

“Yes, yes, I understood that.” It did make her wonder though, what it would be like, but Linda was a professional and so she pushed aside the thoughts about Big Ben. 

“Right, well I decided that it was unacceptable, so I told her yesterday that she should quit working.”

Linda frowned. “Didn’t you already have this conversation once?” She remembered how Lucifer had told her about Chloe’s insistence to keep working although he’d be more than happy to give her a credit card and pay for anything his girlfriend would desire.

“Yes, we did, but then it was just an option I offered her, but now it leaves us almost no time to spend together at all.”

“But you also spend time at Lux when she is working, don’t you?” Linda reminded him. Lucifer had told her about being at Lux every night she works and Linda had visited Lux again after their first encounter. She had met Chloe there and seen with her own eyes how Lucifer sat by the bar or looked at her the whole time he played his set on the piano.

“I do, but all I can do is look at her. She refuses to take more breaks to go and get some private time somewhere, although I have told her several times that the boss wouldn’t mind.” Lucifer smirked at his joke.

Linda had only met Chloe once, but she was not surprised at all that Chloe didn’t jump on the chance to disappear with her boyfriend/boss during her shift. “So how did Chloe react when you told her that she should quit her job?”

“Well,” Lucifer fiddled with his cufflinks, “she told me she wouldn’t do it and I should already know how important it is for her to make her own money.”

“Did she get mad at you?” Linda tried to get the whole picture.

“No, not mad, but… I could tell that she didn’t like it. I dropped the subject, because I didn’t want to start a fight with her.”

“But it’s still bothering you?” Linda deduced it from her patient’s expression and body language.

“Of course it’s bothering me. I mean … if she didn’t work we could spend so much more time together. And I mean alone time, not us being at Lux and not being able to dance even.” Lucifer’s voice was almost desperate now.

“Were you really surprised that she didn’t want to quit her job? She did explain it to you already the first time you offered. Did you really expect her to change her mind so easily about something so important to her?” Linda’s questions forced Lucifer to really think about it and although he didn’t like it, he had to admit that he had not been surprised about Chloe’s answer.

“No,” Lucifer answered in a hushed tone. After a pause he continued, “but what am I supposed to do then? How could I get more time with her? I mean, I do like to look at her, but those nights of only looking and not being able to properly touch her and kiss her and pleasure her any time I want are pure torture. And believe me, I know torture.”

“I understand that you feel a bit left out, that you don’t get as much attention from her as you’d like …,” Linda started, but was interrupted by Lucifer.

“I’m not a needy teenager, thank you very much!” Lucifer stated indignantly.

Linda continued ignoring his remark, “but I’m sure you could find a compromise to get a bit more of her time, without her having to give up something essential in her life. If you want my advice, talk to her, don’t tell her what to do, but discuss it with her.”

Lucifer nodded. That did sound reasonable, especially since he knew that Chloe was smart. 

—----

Lucifer stepped into Lux and went to the bar to grab a drink for himself. It was still early, so the bar was closed. He poured a generous amount of one of his favourite Macallan’s and made a mental note to order more bottles for his penthouse bar since he had finished them last night. 

Lucifer was sitting by the bar, enjoying his drink and thinking over the solutions he planned to offer to Chloe to free more of her time for him when he heard familiar footsteps. Not long after Maze stomped behind the bar. She seemed to be in a bad mood again, but Lucifer didn’t pay much attention to it. She’s a demon after all and bad mood seemed to be demon's default setting. So Lucifer continued to sip his drink and was lost in his own thoughts when Maze spoke up, “why are you drinking here alone? Having trouble with your girlfriend again?” She said the word “girlfriend” like it was something foul in her mouth.

Lucifer looked at the demon and her insistence that he had trouble with Chloe plus how she had said the word “girlfriend” irked him. “I don’t mind the odd smart assed remark, Maze. They can be quite amusing. But don’t you dare disrespect me,” he said with a warning tone. But Maze seemed to be in a defiant mood, so she continued to taunt him, “or what? You’ll cry real hard on my shoulder?”

That made Lucifer angry. He stood up abruptly, his eyes blazing in hellfire. “You will not speak to me this way!” Lucifer almost roared. Instead of fear, he saw a pleased expression on Maze’s face, “there he is, the Lord of Hell.”

Before Lucifer could say anything he heard someone enter through the back door. He couldn’t help the smile that spread on his face as soon as Chloe stepped around the corner and greeted him happily.

Maze on the other hand was less than happy. “And there he goes,” she muttered, the surly look taking place on her face once again.

—-----------

“Is everything okay between you two?” Chloe asked as the elevator doors closed behind them. She had not missed the tension in the room when she had walked in, nor had she missed the look on the demon’s face. Maze had never been a ray of sunshine, but ever since Chloe and Lucifer had started dating, the demon looked pissed every time Chloe had seen her.

“Don’t worry darling. She just needs to learn her place again. We are not in Hell anymore, but I’m still her King.”

Chloe frowned. She was not sure this was the best attitude to lessen the tension between those two. “Do you think she feels threatened by our relationship? I mean you used to be close, didn’t you?”

“It’s not as if I had spent every minute with her even before I met you. Sure, we had some wild parties from time to time, but it’s not like she can’t find bedmates of her own.” Lucifer was sure that Maze was a big girl and could do well enough without him. He most certainly didn’t want to think about her anymore. “Let’s not talk about Maze any more, hmm.” Lucifer leaned in and kissed her. Chloe kissed him back, but broke it way sooner than Lucifer would have liked. “I still think that you need to have a serious conversation with her.”

Lucifer sighed. “Maybe. But right now I actually wanted to have a conversation with you.”

Right then as if on cue the elevator doors opened to the penthouse and Lucifer gestured them to step inside.

“Would you like to have a drink?” Lucifer offered knowing that he wanted to have one.

“Just some sparkling water.” Chloe suspected that it was not going to be an easy conversation and she guessed that having a glass of water at hand would probably be a good thing.

Lucifer came to the couch where Chloe was already sitting, placed the glasses on the table and sat down next to her. Chloe could tell that he was stalling, so she decided to initiate the conversation. “So what did you want to talk about?”

Lucifer put the glass he was holding on the table and turned to Chloe. He had been confident in what he wanted to ask her down at the bar, but for some reason after he told Chloe that he wanted to have a conversation with her, he started to get nervous. But since she had directly asked him now, Lucifer could not stall anymore.

“Well, you know that I think that we don’t get to spend enough time together anymore.”

Chloe sighed, she really didn’t want to explain again why she didn’t want to quit the job at Lux. “I do,” she answered dryly and took a sip of her water.

“I thought about it a bit more and .. there might be some other options to increase the time we have to spend together than the one I suggested earlier.” Lucifer looked a little sheepish, brushing invisible lint from his trousers.

Chloe looked at her boyfriend. He hadn’t seen any other option when he had suggested that she’d quit the bartending job, so there was only one way he could have come up with other solutions so quickly. “Did you talk to Linda about it?”

Lucifer looked a little startled by her quick deduction, but didn’t deny it. “Yes, I actually did.”

Chloe smiled. Despite how it had started, she was really grateful that Lucifer had a therapist now.

“Anyway, I think that you should move in with me.” Lucifer decided to not skirt around the issue and just ask her.

Chloe’s eyes went big and she didn’t know what to say to that right away. She had definitely not been expecting that. They spent most of their time in the penthouse anyway, but they had developed a routine that she spent the night with him only when she didn’t have to wake up early or when she wasn’t too tired for sex, so she was still technically living in her apartment.

Lucifer felt that he needed to clarify his idea. “Think about it - we could be together any time you are not at school or at work and you don’t have to pay rent, so maybe you could drop a shift or two at Lux so you could have more free evenings.”

“Lucifer, that’s really sweet of you, but I’m not sure,” Chloe didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but at the same time she was unsure about giving up her own personal space. “I mean, sometimes I need to study, did you consider that?”

Lucifer gestured towards the ancient looking desk in the corner of the room, “mi escritorio es su escritorio.”

“Yes, I know that you have a desk, but it also means the place needs to be quiet for me to concentrate. You don’t even have doors in here and I can’t force you out of your home.” She could not picture him staying quiet for hours.

“I promise I will behave. Maybe I could even help you study?” Lucifer did not think of it as an obstacle that she needed to do homework from time to time.

“And I do need to wake up really early sometimes.”

“I know. But you know your way around the penthouse by now, so it wouldn’t be a problem if I stay in bed, would it?”

“But won’t it disturb you when my alarm goes off and I start to get ready?” Chloe would feel bad about disturbing his sleep.

“Waking up next to you or the noises you make will never be a disturbance for me, darling.” Lucifer’s smile was so sweet that Chloe felt her heart swell at both his words and the expression on his face.

“That’s very sweet of you to say, but you do realise that we wouldn’t have time for morning sex when I have early morning classes, right?”

“I can behave,” Lucifer told her with mock offence. Then his face turned more sly, “the real question is, can you?” He remembered clearly some mornings when she was the one taking initiative and claiming that she just couldn’t keep her hands to herself when sleeping in his bed.

Chloe blushed and bit her lower lip. The Devil was really hard to resist, but she was too conscientious to let the urge to ravish him be late to school. “I have no problem with behaving.” She was not entirely sure that it wouldn’t really cause some problems to her, but she did not want to admit that to Lucifer. 

The glint in his eyes implied that she didn’t have to. “So there is no reason for you to not move in then?”

Chloe was not opposed to spending more time with him. She had been feeling a bit guilty about having not enough time for him, but the prospect of losing her own space was terrifying. “I … ah.. I’m still not sure if it’s a good idea.” She always wanted Lucifer to let her know if something was bothering him, so Chloe decided to do the same. Of course it was easier said than done when you were afraid that it might hurt the other.

Lucifer knew Chloe well enough by then to understand that there was something bothering her. “What is it, darling? Tell me what makes you hesitate.” He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Please don’t get me wrong, Lucifer. I do want to spend more time with you and I’m really flattered that you are ready to take that step, but I just …,” she paused to try to find the right words, “I need to know that I have a place to go in case anything goes wrong or if I need to be alone for whatever reason.” She could see that Lucifer was struggling to keep the smile on his face. “Or maybe you need to be alone sometimes and if I have a place to go, you know that you can ask me to go, when you might need it.”

“I don’t see a reason why I would,” Lucifer told her in a small voice.

“And neither can I right now, but we can’t know what the future brings.” Lucifer’s eyes were really sad now. Chloe reached out and started to caress his cheek. “It’s not that I doubt our relationship, but I would just feel much better if I knew that whatever happens I have somewhere to stay. It’s like a safety net.”

“A safety net,” Lucifer repeated.

“Yes. Maybe I’ll never need to use it even.”

Lucifer thought it over. Knowing what Chloe had been through, he couldn’t blame her for wanting to have some backup option. That would ensure that her free will would not be taken away, no matter what happens.

“Alright. You can keep the apartment on one condition. I won’t take rent for it.”

“But Lucifer, …” Chloe started to protest.

“No buts, you won’t be really using it, so I won’t take any money for it and that way you could still give up a shift.”

“Fine,” Chloe smiled. She knew that the man had more money than he could ever spend and she actually liked the idea of having one extra evening to spend alone with him.

“Excellent. Do you want to go and fetch your stuff first or shall we consummate our new arrangement first?” Lucifer’s hand had wandered to her waist and he pulled her close to him.

“Actually, I have a test tomorrow, so I’ll need to study today.”

“But you can’t possibly study being unsatisfied,” he started to kiss her neck, “it would be bad for your concentration.” Chloe could not disagree with him. Deciding by the wetness she could feel between her legs, it would be impossible to study if they stopped now. “Make me come then,” she whispered before crashing her lips to his.

 

After having hot sex on the couch Chloe went to her apartment and gathered the most essential things. She decided to not bother with all her stuff right now to save time for studying. Lucifer had asked her permission to play the piano silently. She had agreed and him playing some classical tunes was actually a really nice background music for studying. At some point he went to the kitchen and prepared dinner for them. Chloe had suggested that they could just order something but Lucifer had been adamant that their first dinner while living together should be something special.

Chloe finished studying early enough for them to have another round of sex and to her surprise Lucifer went to bed the same time as she did. Chloe had been sure that since she needed to wake up early the next morning and therefore had to go to sleep early, Lucifer would stay up later. Instead he came to bed the same time she went and spooned her. 

 

When Chloe’s alarm woke her the next morning, she felt really rested. It seemed that Lucifer was rested too, because he mumbled “good morning, love” as soon as she had silenced the alarm. Chloe turned to him, said “morning” and kissed his cheek. She knew that Lucifer didn’t mind the morning breath, but she didn’t feel so comfortable kissing him before brushing her teeth. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t pepper kisses on his face. Those little pleased noises he made at that and the way he was caressing her back made Chloe realise that it was really harder than she thought to leave his bed without having sex first. Before she even realised what she was doing, her leg was nestled between Lucifer’s and she was grinding her core against his thigh.

“Darling, do we have time for this?” Lucifer really hoped she was not just teasing him, because he wasn’t sure he could stop himself if this continued even a bit longer.

“Yes, if we are quick.” Chloe knew that Lucifer usually liked to take his time with her, but he was willing to make a compromise. And she could skip breakfast if necessary.

Lucifer didn’t need to be told twice. Using his fingers he had Chloe shattering with her first orgasm in less than five minutes. After that Chloe straddled him and rode him into oblivion, he barely managed to make her come again before his own orgasm. 

Although they had been quite quick, Chloe noticed when she checked the time, that even if she took a really quick shower, she wouldn’t have time for breakfast in order to catch the bus.

When she had dressed and descended from the stairs, Lucifer emerged from the kitchen and stated that her breakfast would be ready soon. “I’m sorry, Lucifer, I don’t have time to eat or I won’t catch the bus in time.”

“Nonsense, you need to eat.”

“I will take something from the vending machine when I get to school.”

“Why would you want to eat such horrible things when I have a perfectly good breakfast ready for you?”

“I’m sure yours is far better, but I really need to get going. The bus won’t wait.” Chloe had gathered her bag and went to Lucifer to kiss him goodbye.

“Then don’t take the bus. I can take you,” Lucifer offered.

“It’s nice of you to offer, but we both know that you’d take a lot more time to get ready than I have left.”

“I can be quick.”

Chloe looked at his hair that her fingers had messed up during their morning exercise and shook her head. She knew he would never go somewhere public with hair like that, although she thought that he looked cute like this. And since his car was a convertible, everyone would see his hair.

“No quick enough I’m afraid. You’ll need a long time to tame your hair.”

Lucifer caught a look at his hair from the mirror behind his bar and couldn’t argue with her. 

“But I could fly you,” he offered.

Chloe liked to fly with him, but it was safer to do it when it was dark outside and they landed in a place with no other humans around. “Don’t you remember what happened the last time? We can’t let someone see your wings.”

“Right,” Lucifer did remember how close they got to being seen by a random guy the last time he had flown her to school. “You should have let me buy you a car like I suggested.” Lucifer had almost bought the car as a surprise, but then he started to doubt and had asked her about it and to his disappointment Chloe had deemed it to be a too expensive gift.

“Lucifer, I told you, I can’t accept a gift like that. Even if you have more money than I could even count.” 

“Fine, then just borrow mine,” Lucifer finally suggested.

“Borrow your car?” 

“Yes. This is something that normal people do, right? Borrowing your boyfriend’s car.”

“Well, yes, but don’t you need it yourself.”

“Darling, I have more than 20 cars. If you take one, I won’t even notice.” 

“Right, sorry. Of course you do. I just somehow thought about your Corvette.” Chloe felt a little dumb. She knew that Lucifer had a garage full of cars, but when Lucifer was speaking about borrowing his car, she had automatically thought about the Corvette he was driving all the time.

“You’d want to take my Corvette?” Lucifer was a bit surprised.

Chloe decided to tease him a little. “Well, yes. Would that be a problem?” She made the most innocent face she could.

“No, of course not, darling. You can take any car you want. Just,” he paused for a moment, “be careful with it.”

Chloe smiled. She knew how much he loved that car and his willingness to give it to her if she asked was really heartwarming. “Don’t worry Lucifer, I won’t take the Corvette. But I think it’s actually not a bad idea to borrow one from you.”

Lucifer let out a breath he didn’t even realise he was holding. “Oh, good. I mean I would have given it to you, but …” 

“It’s okay, Lucifer. I would never take away your Corvette.” Chloe rose to her tiptoes and kissed him. 

“Well, then come and have breakfast. After that you can decide which car you want.” Chloe had already set her mind on the Mini Cooper she had already borrowed once. It would be easier to find a parking spot for a smaller car in the school’s busy parking lot.

—------

The next evening Chloe was working and Lucifer was sitting by the bar as usual. Chloe was pouring him a new drink when suddenly the Scotch started to flow very slowly and all the humans seemed to almost froze. Maze was standing nearby and she was the only one besides Lucifer who hadn’t frozen. She looked towards the entrance and saw a dark skinned man in a weird dress-like thing. His strange attire was enough to make her suspect that he was not from this plane, but the dark wings on his back didn’t leave any doubt.

“I think you have a visitor,” she told Lucifer who was still standing with his back towards the entrance.

“Seems so,” Lucifer muttered and grabbed the glass Maze had poured to a patron just before his brother came and slowed time. It would take ages to pour another now. He knew exactly which one of his brothers was the one “visiting”. He turned around and went to meet him near his piano. 

“Amenadiel, how’s it hanging, big guy? Huh?” Lucifer feigned interest, but he was quite sure that the reason for his brother showing up in his club would be less than pleasant. 

Not surprisingly Amenadiel didn’t reply to his greeting, but looked at him sternly and stated, “your return to the Underworld has been requested.”

“Oh, right, okay,” Lucifer put the glass on the piano and started to search his pockets. “Let me just, uh, check my calendar. Yeah, here it is.” He acted as if he was checking a calendar. “Uh, the seventh of never through to the 15th of ain’t-gonna-happen. How does that work for you guys?” Amenadiel was less than impressed by his witty reply and kept looking at him the same way.

Lucifer sighed. “Look, remind Dad that I quit Hell because I was sick and tired of playing a part in his play.”

That made Amenadiel speak up. “I’m gonna warn you against disrespecting our father, Lucifer.”

“Yeah, well our father’s been disrespecting me since the beginning of time, so pot-kettle, don’t you think?” Lucifer replied.

“You are a mockery of everything divine.”

“Thank you,” Lucifer put a hand to his chest as if his brother had just complimented him. “Thank you, but lately I’ve been doing a fair amount of thinking. Now, do you think I’m the Devil because I’m inherently evil, just because dear old Dad decided I was?”

Amenadiel didn’t answer his question, but asked another one. “What exactly do you think happens when the Devil leaves Hell?”  

Lucifer scoffed at that, but that seemed to irk his brother. He surged forward and stopped right in front of Lucifer’s face. “All of those demons, all of those tormented and tortured souls, where do you think they go?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. Not my problem, brother.” Lucifer smiled at him. “So consider the position officially open.” He took his glass and drank from it. “And you, my feathered friend, can go to Hell.”  

That made Amenadiel angry and he swiftly moved his wing in front of him, so the sharp primaries were right across Lucifer’s neck in warning.

Lucifer chuckled. “Yeah, try it. You think Father’s upset now.” Now it was Amenadiel’s turn to chuckle. He withdrew his wing. “You know, he will not be merciful for much longer.” The smile on Lucifer’s disappeared. Amenadiel left and Lucifer stood next to the piano feeling uneasy about the encounter when time resumed at normal speed.

“What the hell?” Chloe’s voice made him turn towards the bar. He quickly strode closer to find out what had upset her.

“You were just standing here and I blinked and suddenly you were over there. How did you do this? Can you teleport or something?” Chloe was wondering if there were some powers Lucifer hadn’t told her about.

“Oh, no. It was much simpler than that. My brother came to see me and he has the ability to slow down time. So while I went over there to talk to him, time moved really slowly for humans.”

“Your brother came to see you?” Chloe clarified, a bit surprised since Lucifer had always told her how none of his siblings showed any interest in him after he was cast out.

“Yes, he tried to convince me to go back to Hell, but I refused, obviously.” Lucifer sounded nonchalant as if it was a totally normal conversation to have with someone.

“Didn’t you say that you managed to strike a deal with your brother so he wouldn’t make you go back to Hell?”

“I did. Unfortunately I have many brothers and it appears that another one of them has taken up the task to force the Devil back to Hell.”

Chloe didn’t like the sound of it. “Did you make a deal with him also?”

“I’m afraid not. It couldn’t make the same kind of deal I did with Michael with Amenadiel for several reasons now.” He didn’t want to have sex with anyone else but Chloe and the thought of sharing Chloe with Amenadiel made him shudder. “I guess I’ll have to find something he desires if he’ll show up again.” He was not even sure that his eldest brother would want to stay on Earth longer than needed for one conversation. His attitude towards the humans had always been haughty.

—----------

Lucifer hadn’t been too worried about the visit from Amenadiel. He was Dad’s loyal soldier and Lucifer doubted he’d do anything but talk about how it was the Devil’s duty to rule Hell as Father had decided. He was already wondering who would show up next if Amenadiel had gone back to Silver City and admitted his failure to force him back to Hell.

Unfortunately his brother was more insistent than he had thought. About a week later Lucifer was in his penthouse when he heard the familiar sound of wings. He looked towards his balcony and saw Amenadiel furling his wings. 

He sighed and cursed silently “bloody hell.”

“Brother, I’m disappointed in you,” Amenadiel told him while walking inside from the balcony.

“What?” Lucifer asked, lifting his glass to his lips. “It’s not as if I can get drunk from a few glasses anyway.”

“You were once the brightest of all of God’s angels, Lucifer. And now, look at you.”

“Look if you’ve come to lecture me, can you just save it for some other time? I’m too sober for that right now and it takes ages to pour a drink when you’re around.”

“Actually I’m here with an offer.” The angel kept walking towards Lucifer.

“Really?” That surprised Lucifer.

“Go back to Hell, Lucifer, and I will speak to Father.”

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” A realisation hit Lucifer. “That if I don’t go back to Hell, you’re gonna have to take over.”

“Oh, that would never happen.” Amenadiel looked so sure of himself.

“Oh, no, no, I mean, it’s not like God sent his favourite son to reign over Hell before, is it?” Lucifer quipped. “Oh, wait, sorry. Forgot.” He rolled his eyes at his brother. “So you can take your ultimatum and shove it up your feathered hole.” 

“Aren’t you tired of this so-called vacation of yours? You need to go back home.” Amenadiel tried once more to reason with his younger brother.

“Home? Hell was never home. And Heaven felt… well like Hell, to be honest. The only place I’ve ever felt wanted or respected is here on Earth. So I am home.” Lucifer had not really thought about it before, but saying that out loud made him really feel that he was home.

“But you don’t belong here. I need to make sure the Devil is where he’s supposed to be.” 

“And who made you the authority on getting me to my “right place”, hmm? Did Michael ask you?” Lucifer didn’t like the idea that Michael could have tricked him. He had promised not to come after him, but asking another sibling to do it for him was not against their deal and Lucifer would be pissed if his twin found a loophole.

“Look, I don’t know how you made Michael stop dragging you down there, but I will do it myself if he doesn’t.” Amenadiel was getting more and more agitated.

Suddenly something dawned on Lucifer. “So, no one really asked you to do it. You just decided that you wanted to earn a gold star from dear old Dad and force the big bad Devil back to Hell on your own.” Lucifer chuckled. That angel was such a daddy’s boy. “Sorry, but you’re not going to get it, because I’m never going back to Hell.”

“I will drag you down if I have to,” Amenadiel snarled and went to punch Lucifer in the face, but Lucifer caught his fist in his. “I hate to break it to you, bro, but this time I’m fighting back.”

He had let Michael drag him to Hell without fighting so many times, but now he had too much to lose. He punched Amenadiel in return, but the angel ducked and hit him again, this time landing one in Lucifer’s face. The hit surprised Lucifer a little and before he could hit back Amenadiel had punched him three times in the face pushing him backwards with every blow so Lucifer was finally against the Assyrian wall. Finally he managed to block Amenadiel’s hand with his arm and push the angel away from him. In return Lucifer managed to land a few punches on Amenadiel’s face. One of them was strong enough to make him fall backwards straight into his coffee table, so the shards of glass were all around the floor. Lucifer took a moment to catch his breath, but that gave Amenadiel enough time to get up. He gave the Devil a head-butt in return and then took advantage of Lucifer being slightly off-balance and threw him on the floor with all his strength. Lucifer was getting slowly to his feet when Amenadiel landed another blow to his face. Lucifer stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, but got up again. He swiped the blood from his nose and punched his brother in return. When Amenadiel tried to return it, Lucifer blocked his arm and hit him in the gut. When the angel was crouched from the blow, Lucifer grabbed his robe and threw him to the wall of liquor, so it shattered. Lucifer realised his poor choice of direction in throwing him when he saw all the bottles fall to the ground and brake. He was distracted by the sight for a moment and didn’t pay attention to his brother getting up from the floor where he had landed.

Amenadiel seemed to have enough of it and tackled Lucifer to the ground. The angel then started to hit his brother in the face, his own face displaying a fury Lucifer had never seen on the face of his usually stoic brother. This made the situation a little amusing to Lucifer, despite the pain the angel managed to cause. “That’s right, hit me, brother,” he started to laugh. “Go on, again,” he encouraged him in between the hits, “become like me, become wrath.” Finally Lucifer looked straight at him and screamed, “fall as I did!” That made Amenadiel pause with his fist in the air. “Come on,” Lucifer urged him, “come on.” Instead Amenadiel moved away from him.

“You never were much of a closer, were you, eh? Can’t stand to get your hands dirty.” Lucifer chuckled while struggling to get up.

Amenadiel looked at him, “this is far from over.” He stood up and told Lucifer in a grave voice, “I’ll do whatever it takes to get you back to Hell.” Then he turned towards the balcony and left the way he came.

Lucifer felt too weak to get up and let his head fall back on the floor for a few moments. He then decided to slide himself towards the bar and managed to sit up leaning his back against it. He felt rather exhausted from the fight. That feathery prick did have a strong punch. 

 

Suddenly the ache got even worse and before he managed to draw any conclusions about the cause of it, the elevator doors opened and Chloe walked inside the penthouse. “What the hell?” were the first words that left her mouth upon seeing the state of the penthouse - broken furniture, the floor littered with shards of glass and the stench of alcohol in the air. It almost looked like Lucifer had had a wild party, but then she noticed him sitting on the floor with his back leaned against the bar. His face was bloody and bruised and the way he was sitting suggested that his body had also suffered injuries. It was clear to her then that it had been a fight that had wreaked havoc in Lucifer's home. She rushed to him immediately.

“Lucifer, what happened? Who did this to you?” Chloe knew that he could be injured when she was nearby, but she had just gotten back from school, so Lucifer should have been invincible in the meantime.

“Just a little scuffle with my brother,” he replied, trying to hide the pain. 

“You look like hell,” Chloe didn’t agree with his assessment that the confrontation had been just a little scuffle. 

Lucifer chuckled. “Well, that’s what he was aiming for - to force me back to Hell.”

“Was he trying to kill you?” Chloe did not know how it would work exactly, but the thought of some angel killing Lucifer so he would end up in Hell made her blood run cold.

“Not sure,” Lucifer thought back at the anger Amenadiel had shown when he had beaten his face, “but he didn’t succeed, as you can see.”

“So this could happen again?” She was not thrilled by the idea of finding him beaten up on a regular basis.

“I don’t know,” he sighed. The look on Amenadiel’s face when he had stopped punching him made Lucifer think that his brother would maybe not try this again. But he had told Lucifer that he’d send him back to Hell at any cost. So Lucifer could not be sure of what he’d be willing to do.

Chloe decided to drop the topic for now, she could see that talking was not easy for him right now. “Okay, let’s get you cleaned up. Do you still have the first aid kit?”

“In the bathroom,” was his curt reply.

Chloe glanced across the room towards the stairs that led to his bedroom. All the way was littered with broken glass. Also the stench was less than pleasant. So she made a decision to try another solution. “Actually, do you think you’ll be able to walk to the elevator?” At Lucifer’s questioning look she elaborated, “I think we should go to my place to get you cleaned up.”

“I’ll manage.” Lucifer agreed that it would be best to leave the penthouse. He could order a cleaning crew from her place too. “I need to take my phone.”

Lucifer was looking towards his piano when talking about his phone, so Chloe looked over there and saw his jacket on the piano. She stood up and went there to search for the phone. It was in the breast pocket and she decided to take the garment with them. 

She helped Lucifer get up and they went to the elevator. He slumped against the wall as soon as they stepped inside. Chloe was a bit worried how they would manage to get to her apartment from the elevator, but Lucifer was able to pull himself together and get there without needing too much help.

He went to her couch as soon as they got into the apartment and almost fell on it. Lucifer closed his eyes and stayed there being glad that he didn’t have to move any more. Chloe found the first aid kit and started to take care of his injuries.

When Lucifer had been able to rest a little, he asked for his phone and called his cleaning company. They promised to take care of it as soon as they could, but told him that it might still take a bit. Lucifer was glad that he had a place to be other than his penthouse at the moment. “I guess you keeping that apartment was not such a bad idea after all,” he mumbled after finishing the call. Chloe just smirked and didn’t comment on it.

—------

A few days later Lucifer was all healed. They were at Lux as usual when Chloe was working. Both of them had eyes only for each other, so neither one of them noticed the dark eyes watching their every move.

 

Notes:

Writing fight scenes is a new thing for me. I mixed the fights from S1E12 and S1E7 as you maybe recognised.

Chapter 3: The Prophecy

Amenadiel had visited Lux several times now. He was confused. Michael had told him that Lucifer is sleeping around with women and men, having sometimes even multiple companions in his bed at the same time. But all he could see was Lucifer talking to the blond bartender. And when she was not working, Lucifer wasn’t at the club at all. Well, one time he had spent his time with a dark-haired woman, but it didn’t look carnal at all. The woman had hugged him, but Lucifer had looked more like she had attacked him than anything else. Then they had interacted with the blond bartender and after a while the dark-haired woman had dragged him to the dance floor. They had danced, but all the time Lucifer kept looking in the direction of the bar. Afterwards the dark-haired woman had found another man to dance with and this time they were dancing much closer and ended up kissing rather passionately. Amenadiel concluded that Lucifer had set his target to that blond woman. The angel was not sure if he had managed to get her or not, because whenever Lucifer touched her, she seemed to like it and she did smile at Lucifer a lot. Amenadiel wanted to know more about their relationship, but he had the feeling that Lucifer would not let him speak to her. Unfortunately the Devil never left her side. Finally one evening a man came to speak to him and they headed towards a hallway that led away from the club. Amenadiel decided to take the opportunity and walked towards the bar. 

He sat down and ordered a drink. Alcohol was a new experience for him, but since he wanted to observe Lucifer as subtly as possible, he had ordered drinks from the waitresses who walked around the bar to not look too suspicious. And the Cosmos were actually really yummy.

Amenadiel waited until his drink was served and then began to talk. “Lucifer seems to be really interested in you.”

Chloe smiled a bit shyly, not feeling too comfortable to talk about her personal life with strangers, but knowing that their feelings for each other were quite obvious to anyone who observed them, didn’t really want to deny it. “Well, it’s mutual.”

“But do you really know him?” Amenadiel tried to sound casual.

“I know a lot more about him than others do. And he is a good man.” Chloe was a bit annoyed at the stranger. “Who are you to question him, anyway?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Amenadiel.” The angel reached his hand over the bar to shake the hand of the bartender in greeting.

That name was unique enough to ring a bell. Lucifer had mentioned a couple of times the name of his brother who had showed up to force him back to Hell.

“Amenadiel?” The angel nodded. “So you are the one who has been harassing Lucifer. You are the one who beat him in his own home and you have the nerve to show up here and talk to me about really knowing him.” Chloe was barely able to hold her voice down and keep her hand from whacking him. She would have liked to punch him, but knowing how strong Lucifer was she assumed his brother was equally strong.

Amenadiel was surprised about her reaction. Had Lucifer really told a human about their encounters? And how come she was so defensive about the Devil? “I just need him to go back where he belongs.”

“He belongs right here with his friends. The only one who doesn’t belong here is you. So you can go back to Heaven or Hell or wherever. Just get the fuck out of here and don’t come back.” Chloe didn’t usually swear, but that so-called angel made her furious and she let out the swear word.

Fortunately Amenadiel relented and stood up. Chloe was following him with her eyes until she heard a familiar voice near her. “Was this my brother?”

Chloe hadn’t noticed that Lucifer had come back from his meeting. The man who had wanted to ask for a favour asked for a more private place to talk about it and Lucifer had led him to his office.

“Yes, but I told him to leave.” Chloe had seen his eyes flicker red for a brief moment. Lucifer was clearly not happy to see his brother in his club.

“I heard that. I didn’t even know you used this word. Outside of the bedroom, of course,” Lucifer smirked.

Chloe blushed a little. “He just made me so angry.”

“Oh, don’t worry, darling. I’m not judging you.” He leaned over the bar and whispered to Chloe’s ear, “in fact, if you would take a break I could show you what you throwing that prick of an angel out of here did to me.” 

Usually Chloe declined that kind of requests from Lucifer, but right now she was feeling a little bit upset about the encounter, so a break did not sound so bad. The club was not too busy at the moment also, so she turned to Patrick, “I’ll take a little break.”

Patrick just nodded with a smile. Lucifer was surprised that Chloe actually agreed to it, but collected himself quickly and took her hand after she had emerged from behind the bar. He led them towards his office again, but this time it was about to be a much more pleasurable visit.

—----------

Amenadiel left the club and was even more confused than he had been before. It seemed that the woman knew about him. But why would she defend the Devil if she knew who he was? Amenadiel concluded that she must not really believe him. Michael had told him that Lucifer told everyone that he was the Devil, but no one really believed him.

The angel was so deep in his musings that he almost didn’t hear the blade flying through the air. Fortunately he did hear it before it could cut him and slowed time to step away from the blade. When the time started with normal speed again, the blade flew into the wall of the building next to him. Amenadiel turned around and saw the demon standing in the alleyway, another blade in her hand. Amenadiel hadn’t officially met her yet, but he knew it was the demon Lucifer had taken with him from Hell and she was there to protect Lucifer. 

Mazikeen stepped closer and raised her hand. The blade that had been buried in the wall flew back to her hand and she aimed to hit the angel with the blade, but Amenadiel blocked her hand with his. She tried to land several hits on the angel, but he was faster than her and every blow from Maze was blocked by Amenadiel’s arms. After several failed attempts of hitting him, Amenadiel turned her around and hit her in the back so the demon flew away from him and hit the ground. 

“I’m an angel,” Amenadiel stated with a calm voice, “you can’t beat me, little demon.”

Maze grimaced and got up.

“Stop and hear me out,” Amenadiel offered.

Maze walked closer, twirling the blades around her fingers. Amenadiel just chuckled at the sight. 

“Men…,” the demon sighed, “they always want to talk.” She charged again with her blades. Amenadiel managed to catch both her wrists with his hands, but she was able to get free from his grip and made a move with her blade that would have cut him in the gut if Amenadiel hadn’t been able to curve his back and move away from it. Maze then grabbed his hand and hit him in the gut with her foot. She landed another one with her fist in his face and then with her shoulder in his chest. The angel wasn’t too affected by her hits though. Maze moved towards the angel, so he was backing into the wall. Maze hit him again in the gut with her knee, but before she managed to press him against the wall Amenadiel grabbed her wrist and turned them around so Maze was the one whose back was pressed against the wall. He placed her wrists above her head and took both of them into one hand. Maze was grunting angrily, but couldn’t free herself. 

“Enough!” Amenadiel shouted. “I’ve watched you in there. You are not happy here, are you?” 

Maze just stared at him and didn’t answer anything.

“We both know that Lucifer doesn’t belong here. We can get him back where he belongs. Both of you. I just need a little information.” 

A flicker of doubt crossed the demon’s face, but she answered “no.”

Amenadiel could tell that Maze was not so sure about it as she tried to seem and continued. 

“We both know that something has changed in Lucifer. Aren’t you at least a little bit concerned?”

Maze was indeed concerned. She had given an oath to protect him and that included also protecting him from himself. “It’s that woman. She somehow makes him vulnerable.” The words came out of her mouth before she even could think about it twice.

“You mean that blond woman from the bar?” Amenadiel clarified, removing his hand from her wrists.

“Yes. Chloe Decker.” Maze paused, “his girlfriend,” she added with disdain.

“Does that girlfriend know who he really is?” Amenadiel hoped that when he’d lose her, Lucifer would go back to Hell willingly and revealing his true nature to a woman who has presumably been sleeping with him would probably not be good for their relationship.

“She knows. She knew before they got together.”

“Hmm… all right." Amenadiel was disappointed to hear that. "But what did you mean by making him vulnerable?” 

“When she is near Lucifer can be harmed by human things. Even get a fucking paper cut.” Maze saw the angel’s brows shoot up at that. He had not expected that.

“That’s interesting,” Amenadiel murmured.

“Ok now, get lost before someone sees us talking.” Maze was getting anxious. She knew if Lucifer knew that she was talking with his brother, she would face some serious consequences. The demon turned around and walked away herself. Amenadiel did the same and walked in a different direction. He had a lot to think about.

—-------------

Amenadiel decided to find a place where he could sit and think in peace. First he tried a coffee shop, but the people there were sometimes too loud and after he had finished his drink just sitting there was apparently frowned upon. So he walked down the street hoping to find a more suitable place when he spotted a church. That would be perfect - a building meant for worshipping his Father would maybe even give him some clarity about how to use the new information he had to get Lucifer to go back.

He walked inside and sat down in a pew. It was mostly quiet and if people talked there, it was mostly about Father. With his celestial hearing he could listen to their conversations even from the far corner of the church where he was sitting. Dressed in a T-shirt and hoodie, he blended in quite nicely. When he overheard some confessions where people were talking about the Devil, he started to listen more intently. Amenadiel decided to learn a bit more about how people saw the Devil nowadays. He hadn’t been down to Earth for a while before he came to take Lucifer back to Hell. And it seemed that they didn’t really talk about his brother that much outside the church. The angel decided to visit other churches too, to get as much information about people’s view of the Devil as he could.

Everything he heard confirmed that humans still saw his brother as the embodiment of evil. That also meant that the behaviour of his girlfriend didn’t make any sense. She knew who he was, but still wanted to be around him all the time. His only conclusion was that maybe Lucifer had somehow misled her about his duties and how evil he was. The only question was, how could Amenadiel manage to convince her that Lucifer really was evil and should be in Hell and not on Earth. It was clear that talking to her himself would probably not get Amenadiel the results he needed. Watching those humans in churches made it clear that priests were well respected among humans.

The angel was pondering which one of those priests to involve in his plan when suddenly he overheard a conversation between a priest and another man that picked his interest.

“I’m telling you, the Devil really is in Los Angeles,” the man looked almost frantic.

“Why are you so sure of that, my son?” the priest asked. He was an older man with a beard and a bald head.  

The other man started to whisper although they were already speaking rather quietly and another human would not have heard them. “Because I saw his face. He showed it to me.” He looked around as if fearing that the Devil would appear suddenly.

“How did it happen?” the priest asked calmly.

“I was just warning people about the Devil on the street when he walked to me. He looked like a normal guy at first but then his face turned to this ugly red monstrosity. I fled as quickly as I could. Somehow it seemed that I was the only one who saw it, because the other people who were around me didn’t react at all.” 

“And could you identify him? Do you remember his normal face?” The priest looked as if he was talking about something totally normal, although his words implied that he did take the other man’s word seriously.

“I… I think so,” he stammered. Then a look of relief crossed his face, “so you believe me, father?”

“I do,” the priest replied calmly.

“Oh thank God. All of the other priests thought I was exaggerating.”

The priest nodded and started to lead the other man towards a hallway, “let’s go to my office.”

Amenadiel got up from his seat and followed them into the hallway as soon as the men had disappeared from sight. He followed the voices he could hear and stood behind a closed door, listening to the men inside.

“Is this the man you saw?” the priest asked. It seemed that he was showing something to the other man. Amenadiel could hear papers shuffling.

“Yes, yes it’s him.” The man sounded slightly afraid. “So you already knew that the Devil is here?”

“Yes, I did. You see, we have been keeping an eye on him. He calls himself Lucifer Morningstar and he runs a nightclub called Lux.”

“Why does the church not do anything about it?” the man wondered.

“You see Mr Williams, the Devil is an immortal being. It’s not so easy to make him leave. And not everyone in the church knows about him. I was sent here from the Vatican to monitor him more closely when we became aware that Lucifer Morningstar really is the Devil. But we have not figured out yet how to send him back to Hell.”

Amenadiel smiled behind the door. This priest was just the ally he needed. The only thing he needed to do was to tell him how to get rid of the Devil and his work would be done. He decided to wait a little until the priest was alone in order not to freak out the other man.

 

The next evening when father Kinley was alone in the church an angel appeared in front of him. He had dark skin and wore a grey robe and had a huge pair of dark wings that were helping him to descend to the floor slowly. Although father Kinley was an experienced man and believed in God the sight before him made him gasp. He had never encountered an angel before.

“Be not afraid,” the angel's deep voice sounded.

Kinley was not afraid, but the sight of true divinity made his mind go blank.

“All of mankind needs your help, father Kinley.” Amenadiel had learned the priest’s name from overhearing the conversation the other day. He figured using his name would make it even more impressive.

“I’m here to serve,” the priest finally found his voice again. A divine task would be something he was practically made for.

Amenadiel smiled at that but then his face became more serious. “The Devil has left Hell and is living in Los Angeles among humans.”

“I’m aware,” Kinley replied.

“There’s a prophecy - when the Devil walks the Earth and finds his first love, evil shall be released. Unfortunately he has found his first love, so he needs to go back to Hell before the prophecy will be fulfilled.”

“What do you need me to do?” Kinley was eager for directions.

“That woman - Chloe Decker, is the key. In her vicinity the Devil can be harmed. You must convince her to sedate the Devil so you could perform this ritual.” Amenadiel handed a paper to the priest. He had figured that it would sound more realistic if it involved a ritual. Basically it meant stabbing Lucifer in the heart when he was lying inside a pentagram, but since Lucifer had made it so difficult for him, Amenadiel decided that he could be tortured a bit for this.

“You must provide her with this sedative,” he handed the priest a small vial. “Remember, she has to be the one to sedate the Devil or it will not work on him. And you have to approach the woman when she is alone. The Devil has seduced her, she knows who he is, but is under the impression that he is good. You must make her see that the Devil poses danger to all mankind while being on Earth.”

The priest bowed a little, “I will make her see his true nature. Can you tell me where to find that woman?”

“She studies in the Police Academy.”

“I will find Chloe Decker and get her to help us.” Kinley assured the angel.

Amenadiel smiled and left with the beat of his wings. He was pleased with himself, certain that Lucifer would be soon back where he belongs.

—-------

Chloe had just exited the school building when a stranger approached her. “Excuse me, are you Chloe Decker?”

“Who’s asking?” Chloe answered, being wary about the man although she noticed the clerical collar.

“I’m Father Kinley. I need to speak to you urgently.”

Chloe had never been a religious person. Since finding out who Lucifer really was she knew that God actually did exist, but she also knew that God probably didn’t care too much about all those churches and priests from what Lucifer had told her. Still, a priest should not have ill intentions, so Chloe decided to listen to him.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“I think it would be best if I explained it with some visual aids. Would you please accompany me to my car?” When Chloe hesitated, he added, “it’s here in the parking lot.”

Curiosity got the best of her and Chloe decided that in the middle of the Police Academy’s parking lot she would be safe enough, so she followed him.

When Kinley stopped next to a car Chloe also stopped, but a little bit further away. He reached into the car and took a rectangular object from there that looked like a photo album with leather covers.

“Okay, so what is this about?” Chloe was losing her patience already. 

“It’s about Lucifer Morningstar,” the man started. Chloe sighed internally. Great. Just what she needed.

“I’m aware that he really is who he says he is and I know that you know it too. He may have tricked you into believing that he is a good man, but I have proof that whenever he has set his foot on Earth, bad things have followed.” 

Chloe crossed her arms in front of her chest. “What proof?” She thought about turning around and leaving, but she was sure Lucifer would like to hear about the “proof” the church had on him.

Kinley opened the photo album and started showing her - Chicago fire, the rise on Nazis and World War II were just the few of them that he had so-called proof on.

“This is all circumstantial. So he was there when the events happened, but he didn’t cause any of them.” Chloe was not sure the man would listen to her, but she couldn’t not defend Lucifer.

“Maybe, maybe not. But it shows that evil follows him. And now there is a prophecy.”

“What prophecy?” Chloe narrowed her eyes.

“When the Devil walks the Earth and finds his first love, evil shall be released,” Kinley said in a serious voice.

Chloe furrowed her brows. Lucifer had not said it to her, but she was quite certain that he loved her. It was a bit too much on the nose.

“And why are you telling me this?” She tried to sound nonchalant, but the prophecy made her feel uneasy.

“Because you are the only one who can help. You are the one who could send him back to Hell and thus save the world.” Kinley’s intense gaze stayed on her.

“You want me to send him back to Hell?” She was really worried now.

“You don’t have to do it alone. There’s a ritual that needs to be performed, but I would do it. You just have to make the first step and sedate him.” Kinley tried to appear as friendly as he could.

“I can’t do this to him.” Chloe could not even pretend to think about it.

“I understand this must be difficult for you,” Kinley remembered the angel’s words that the Devil had seduced her, “but remember, the fate of the world depends on it.” He paused for a moment and took a business card from his pocket. “Think about it and let me know what you decide. Here is my card. You can call me anytime. But please don’t take too long, we wouldn’t want to be too late.”

Chloe took the card and left. After getting inside her car - well, the Devil’s car to be honest - she didn’t drive off immediately. Chloe had to take some deep breaths to calm her racing heart. The priest’s words had left her troubled. Could something evil really follow Lucifer from the Underworld whenever he came on Earth? And how could him having feelings for her cause something evil to be released. It didn’t make sense, but the seed of doubt was there. Chloe was not sure whether she should tell Lucifer about it or not. Could he freak out about the prophecy?

 

When Chloe arrived home she hadn’t made up her mind yet about telling Lucifer about the priest. Of course her attentive boyfriend noticed that she was a bit tense and seemed to be worried about something.

“Darling, has something happened? You seem a bit tense today.” Lucifer’s voice was laced with concern.

“Yes, something happened at school.” That was not really a lie since they had been at the school property when she had been talking to the priest, so technically she could refer to the talk happening at school.

“Is it something I could help you with?” 

Chloe was still not sure she should talk about it with Lucifer, so she decided to distract him - and herself - the best way she knew. “You could help me to make the tension go away,” she said with her most seductive voice and kissed him.

“With pleasure, darling,” he murmured when they broke the kiss and then kissed her again passionately. Chloe was already working on his buttons, so he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom without breaking the kiss.

—-------

Father Kinley was pleasantly surprised when Chloe called him three days later. He had been not so sure after their talk at the Police Academy’s parking lot that she would agree to help without more persuasion. He was already thinking about finding out her number and calling himself to not let her think about it too long and present her with more evidence about all the evil that the Devil represented.

He didn’t want to discuss further details over the phone, so he asked Chloe to meet him in the church.

 

Chloe entered the church and sat down in a pew. There were no other people in the church at that moment. Kinley saw her immediately when he entered the room from the hallway that led to his office.

“Hello, Miss Decker,” he greeted her.

“Hi,” she greeted him back. Kinley thought she looked quite nervous.

“So have you thought about what I told you?” Kinley sat down next to her.

“I have,” Chloe paused. “Are you sure about the prophecy? How do you know it’s a real one?”

“Because an angel told me.” Kinley was not sure he would have said it to everyone, but since she knew that Lucifer was really the Devil, she must have known about angels too.

“An angel? Who?” Chloe seemed surprised.

Kinley realised that the angel had not really told him his name. “He didn’t tell me his name, but I assure you that he was an angel. A divine being.”

“How can you be so sure?” There was doubt in Chloe’s voice. “Did he look like those little angels on Christmas cards?”

Kinley chuckled a little. The angel had looked nothing like those creatures. “No. He was a black man not a white child-like being with curly hair.”

“So how are you so sure that he was an angel?”

“He did have big dark wings and he appeared out of nowhere. Also I could feel the divinity when he spoke to me.” Kinley smiled fondly at the memory.

“So it was an angel,” Chloe mumbled, almost as if speaking to herself.

“Yes, it was. Do you understand now why I take this prophecy so seriously? Why we need to act sooner rather than later.” His voice became more insistent.

“Did he specify what kind of evil will be released when he …,” she trailed off seemingly uncomfortable to say the rest.

“No, but he told me that it needs to be done as quickly as possible to avoid the consequences.”

Chloe looked at him and Kinley could see doubt and hesitance swirling in her eyes. “Why do I need to help you? Why can’t you do it yourself?”

Kinley was not exactly sure if she knew the fact that the Devil can be harmed around her, so he decided to tell her that,

“The angel told me that it has to be you, because the sedative will only work when you are near.” Kinley hoped that this little piece of information would make her see why her participation would be essential for it to work.

“What?” Chloe was surprised. “He told you that?”

“Yes, that is true.”

Chloe seemed confused, but schooled her expression rather quickly. “Are you saying that I should go and acquire some kind of sedative now?”

“No, my child,” Kinley took the vial out of his pocket, “the angel gave me the sedative you need to give him. All you have to do is make sure he takes it.” He reached the hand that was holding the vial towards Chloe. She looked at it and then took it with a slightly trembling hand. “How… how are we going to do it?” She held the vial as if afraid that the substance would hurt her from inside the vial and looked at him with questioning eyes.

“You should put it into his drink. Let me know when you’ll do it and I will be there to perform the ritual,” Kinley instructed her.

“You will come to his penthouse?” Chloe seemed surprised again.

“Yes, I think it would be easiest. It doesn’t matter where I perform the ritual and it would be too much of a struggle to move him.” 

“Okay… uhm… okay… I will call when…,” she stammered. Chloe suddenly looked so pale that Kinley was afraid that she'd vomit. “I need to go now.” Chloe put the vial into her jacket’s pocket and stood up.

“You are doing the right thing, my child,” Kinley tried to encourage her. Chloe gave him a weak smile and mumbled “goodbye” under her breath.

“See you soon,” Kinley smiled.

—---------

Kinley was feeling excited and full of anticipation while riding in the elevator. Chloe had texted him earlier that day that she would do it tonight and 3 minutes ago he got another text from her that she’d given Lucifer the sedative. This was it - finally he’ll be able to send the Devil back to Hell.

His sublime feeling was somewhat tarnished by the man next to him. While Kinley was looking forward to arriving at the penthouse, Williams was almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Kinley almost regretted that he had decided to take the man with him, but he just wanted to be sure that everything would go according to the plan, so he had thought that an associate would be a good idea. Since Williams already knew about the Devil, he was the logical ally to bring with him. The man was sadly still shaken about meeting the Devil, so even though Kinley had assured him that the Devil will be unconscious and they will send him back to Hell, the other man was anxious.

 

When the doors of the elevator opened and revealed the Devil’s lair, Kinley was met with a sight that made him smile - the empty vial was on the floor next to the bar and Lucifer was lying on the floor, Chloe kneeling next to him.

She looked up and furrowed her brows, “I thought it was just going to be you performing the ritual.”

“It’s just a precaution, don’t worry, my child.” 

“Hi!” Williams greeted her, but didn’t step closer. He ran his hand through his hair and Chloe got a glimpse of the gun tucked into his waistband.

“Why did you bring a gun?” she asked, sounding worried.

“As I said, just a precaution,” Kinley repeated his words and then took off the bag that was slung over his shoulder, “let’s begin, shall we.”

He then rummaged around his bag and finally took out a can of black spray paint. “What do you do with that?” Williams asked.

“I need to draw a pentagram. Coal won’t work on these floors, so I’ll use this instead,” Kinley explained calmly.

“Isn’t it like... permanent?” Williams wondered.

“Well, we can’t have that circle disrupted during the ritual. And besides, he will be gone and won't use this penthouse anymore anyway.” Kinley didn’t seem to worry about drawing a permanent pentagram on the floor.

He was about to start when a startled gasp came from Chloe’s direction. Kinley looked towards her and saw that the Devil was now sitting up and hissed irately, “not so fast, padre.” 

Chapter 4: Betrayal

Summary:

This chapter goes a bit back in time to give you Chloe's POV.

Notes:

Marry Christmas to you all!

Chloe discovered that sex as a distraction was a good thing (well, sex with Lucifer could never be called a bad thing anyway), but it worked only for so long. As soon as she had come down from her high, Chloe’s mind went back to the prophecy and the dilemma of telling Lucifer about it or not.

But first she wanted to be sure that the prophecy even involved her. Maybe Lucifer already had had a first love and maybe this prophecy was an old one.

“Lucifer, who would you describe as your first love?” Chloe decided to ask him about it directly.

“I …”, Lucifer was a bit stunned about the question. “I haven’t really understood love in the past. I mean sex was just fun and of course there were people who I enjoyed spending time with and maybe had sex repeatedly, but I would not describe it as love.” 

“Even not your first one?” Chloe looked at him.  

“Eve?” Lucifer’s brows rose. “Well, she was really nice and I liked her, but I wouldn’t say love.”  When Chloe was still looking at him Lucifer went on, “I guess I don’t really know what it feels like to be in love.” He paused, “are you upset that I haven’t said those three words to you yet?”

“No, Lucifer, that’s not why I’m asking.” Chloe had decided a while ago that she would give Lucifer time to come to terms with his feelings and let him speak the words himself before she’d tell him that she loved him. She wasn’t worried about his feelings, Lucifer showed her more affection than any of those men in her past who had claimed to love her. In this case actions did speak louder than words. “I was just curious.” She gave him a smile and caressed his cheek. The gesture made Lucifer’s eyes light up with joy. How could she ever doubt his feelings if a mere touch from her would cause such a reaction.

Lucifer kissed the palm of her hand, “rest assured, Chloe, if I ever fell in love with anyone, it would be you.”

His sweet words warmed her heart, but at the same time didn’t ease her mind. It would mean that the prophecy did involve her. 

 

The uneasiness didn’t leave her all evening. Fortunately she was working, so that distracted her a little, but there were still moments when her mind wandered off to the priest she had met that day. Lucifer, the ever attentive boyfriend noticed that something was off about her. He kept his eye on her, but decided to not approach the subject when she was working.

After her shift ended they rode in the elevator in silence - Chloe was deep in her thoughts and Lucifer was observing her, trying to figure out what could be occupying her mind like that.

When they reached the penthouse Lucifer spoke up. “All right, Chloe, out with it. You have been distracted the whole evening. Please tell me, maybe I can help you.” 

Chloe sighed. Her Devil really was more attentive than any man she ever had known. Except for maybe her father who had also always known when something had bothered her. 

“Are prophecies real?” she blurted out.

Lucifer had not expected that. “I beg your pardon?”

“Well, the thing is that a priest approached me today and he told me there's a prophecy. I was just wondering if it could be true or are they all nonsense.” Chloe tried to ask him without telling him the actual prophecy.

“There have been some of them which were real, those were told by my sister Gabriel who is the Angel of Messages, so it’s literally what she was created for. But I haven’t heard of any of those for a while now.”

“So the one he was talking about is most likely not a real one?” Chloe sounded hopeful.

“I would need a bit more information to tell for sure.” He paused and took a sip from the glass he had poured himself while they were talking. “Let’s start with the prophecy itself. What was it?”

Chloe sighed internally. Of course he would not let it go. “He told me the prophecy was that when the Devil walks the Earth and finds his first love, evil shall be released.”  Chloe looked at him to see his reaction.

Lucifer furrowed his brows a little. “That doesn’t sound like a proper prophecy at all.”

“So we shouldn’t worry about it?” Chloe sounded more hopeful than she intended.

“Did the priest tell you where he got it from?”

“No, I didn’t really ask him either. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, darling. Let’s get to bed, it’s late already. But if you’d like, I’ll happily distract you again from that silly prophecy,” he added with a seductive tone.

--------

Unfortunately not worrying about the prophecy was easier said than done. Lucifer couldn’t get it out of his mind the whole day. When Chloe got home Lucifer was the one who brought it up again.

“Chloe, did the priest who spoke to you about the prophecy know who you are?”

“Yes, he knew my name and he knew that I know who you really are.”

“And he didn’t try to convince you to save your soul and run from me or something?” The thought of Chloe getting into trouble with some priest because she is in a relationship with him made Lucifer feel uneasy.

“He uhm…. tried to convince me that you were evil. He showed me this book with photos from your past visits and some events that happened at the same time. But it was all just circumstantial, I didn’t buy any of it.” She was positive that he had nothing to do with the events and hoped that Lucifer would not be too upset about someone blaming him again for things he had no control over.

“Why did the priest tell you about the prophecy at all?”

Chloe took a deep breath. She had already given him information about, so it probably would be best to tell him everything. “He told me that he needs my help to send you back to Hell. But I told him that I wouldn’t do it.” She added that last part quickly. 

“Did he tell you what kind of help he needs from you?” Lucifer tried to sound nonchalant, but Chloe could tell that it actually was bothering him.

“He told me that I need to sedate you and then he’ll perform a ritual to send you back to Hell.” 

“I see.” Lucifer was quiet after that and Chloe felt the need to assure him that she would never do something like that to him. “I promise, I did not believe him or agree to help him.”

“And he was okay with that?” Lucifer didn’t believe that someone who had gone through the trouble of seeking out a strange woman would give up so easily.

“He told me to think about it and gave his business card, so I could call him.” Chloe had shoved the card into her pocket and not really thought about it.

Lucifer was quiet for a moment, but then seemed to reach a decision. “I think you should call him.”

“What?” Chloe could not believe what she was hearing.

“I know that you are a good actress, so I’m sure you’ll be able to pull off the act of wanting to help him.”

“But why would I do that?” Chloe didn’t understand why he would suggest such a thing.

“I think we should gather more information about the whole thing. I want to know why exactly he thinks he needs your help and if I knew where he got the prophecy from, I would be able to decide if there is some truth to it or not.”

“So you want me to go and lie to a priest?” Chloe looked at him, her face serious.

“You don’t really have to outright lie to him, just let him believe that you are in.” Lucifer tried to make it sound a bit more mellow.

Chloe smirked. “I have no problem with lying to him. But I think I’ll wait a couple of days. I mean, I would get suspicious if someone who said no, would just change her mind the next day. It will be more plausible if I seem to take some time, right?”

“Yes, yes, of course. We can wait a couple of days.” Lucifer was eager to get the answers, but agreed with Chloe. It should be plausible or she wouldn’t probably get any information out of this priest.

--------

Chloe was nervous when she went to the church to meet with Kinley again. Luckily he hadn’t questioned her about changing her mind. She did have a backstory ready if she should need it, but Chloe knew that she was not a very good liar. Lucifer had even helped her to come up with something that he himself would deem plausible. The whole process had reminded her of preparing to go undercover which they had learned about at school. She could only hope that once she’d finished the academy and started working for the LAPD she would have a partner with whom working would be as much fun as it had been with Lucifer while doing this.

 

She was glad that Kinley just asked whether she had thought about what he told her, because she could honestly answer that she really had. Before he could ask another question that might need some lying, Chloe decided to ask a question herself.

When Kinley told her that the prophecy was told by an angel, she immediately thought about Lucifer’s words how his sister was the one who gives people real prophecies. They had both assumed that the priest had read about the prophecy from somewhere, so Chloe was surprised that it was not the case. After the priest had finished describing the angel, she was pretty sure that she had met the angel too. Of course she needed to ask Lucifer about it, but he had referred to Gabriel as his sister, so the male black dark-winged angel could not have been the Angel of Messages.

After getting the information about the source of the prophecy, Chloe decided to try to find out what exactly he knew about the evil that would be released. Unfortunately the priest didn’t have any information on that. She decided that it would be better to move on to another topic that was important to her and Lucifer also, so she asked about the reason she needed to be the one to help him. When the priest told her that the angel had informed him that she must be near for the sedative to work, Chloe was genuinely surprised. How did the angel know about it? She tried to gather her as quickly as possible to get to the point - what was Kinley expecting from her? The thought of having a vial full of some kind of substance meant for her Devil to sedate or maybe even kill him made Chloe’s hands tremble. She almost regretted coming to the church in the first place. Chloe realised that if she wanted to make the priest believe that she was going to help him, she should get proper instructions, so she asked about them despite feeling a bit nauseous. The priest managed to surprise her again when he suggested that she should give Lucifer the contents of the vial in his own home. Chloe had thought that she needed to bring Lucifer to some special place. Then again, if they were in his penthouse, they could maybe prepare for the encounter better. But even the thought of being prepared for when Kinley comes didn’t help with the sick feeling she got from even faking to be a part of a conspiracy to send the man she loves to Hell. She escaped the church as fast as she could. Being out of the church and out of the priest’s presence helped to calm her a little bit but she still needed to gather herself before she was able to drive back home. 

 

Lucifer was eagerly waiting for answers. As soon as she got out of the elevator Lucifer approached her, “well, how did it go?”

“Hello to you too,” Chloe greeted him a bit sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, darling. Hello,” Lucifer bent down to kiss her on the lips briefly. Chloe didn’t let him get away from her, instead she pulled him in for another kiss, a longer one this time. After breaking the kiss she hugged him. Lucifer was a bit surprised by her reaction, but he noticed that Chloe was slightly trembling.

“Is everything alright, darling? Did something happen there? He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Lucifer was worried now.

“No, he didn’t hurt me. It’s just… even the thought of doing this to you made me feel sick to my stomach. I just need to calm down a little.” Her voice was a bit muffled, because she was speaking to his chest.

Lucifer tightened his hold on her. “Take all the time you need.” His curiosity would never come before Chloe’s comfort.

They stood there hugging each other for a minute or so. Finally Chloe took a deep breath and loosened her hold on Lucifer. “I’m afraid I didn’t get all the answers.”

“Let’s sit down and you can tell me about those you got.” Lucifer led her to the couch.

“Kinley told me that an angel told him about the prophecy.”

“Did he describe the angel?” Lucifer didn’t like the sound of it and really hoped it wasn’t the Angel of Messages who had told the priest about it.

“Yes,” Chloe knew that Lucifer was thinking the same that she had at first, “it was a dark skinned male angel with dark wings.”

“That prick!” Lucifer was relieved that it was not Gabriel but also pissed at his brother who now had dragged other humans to his little mission to get him to return to Hell.

“So you think it’s Amenadiel?” Chloe wanted to clarify.

“I don’t think, I know it’s him. There is no other angel to match that description.” Lucifer growled.

“Well, at least it’s not a real prophecy then.” Chloe tried to make him see the silver lining.

“Yes, that is a good thing, but he still got a priest acting on it. And he has directed him to you.” 

“Well, yes… about that. He somehow knows that I make you vulnerable.” Chloe knew that Lucifer would not like that, but she didn’t want to withhold any information she got.

“What?” Lucifer had not really expected that. “How could he know?”

“I don’t know. But he told the priest that the sedative works only when I’m near, so he must know about it.”

“But it doesn't make sense. Only you and I know about it. You didn’t tell him, did you?” Lucifer was sure Chloe wouldn’t do something like that, but he still had to ask.

“Of course not. Maybe he saw something. He was in the club, you know.” Chloe suggested.

“No, it can’t be. I haven’t been hurt in the time he has been here on Earth.” Lucifer had stood up and was pacing in the room. “I haven’t told anyone about it… well, except for,” he paused and his eyes flashed red for a moment when the realisation hit him. “Maze.”

“You think Maze told him?” Chloe was surprised.

“It’s the only logical explanation.”

“But why would she do that? Aren’t angels and demons supposed to be kind of enemies or something?” Chloe was not sure how the celestial relations work, but she didn’t think that angels and demons were usually friends.

“Oh, they usually are. But Maze has been quite moody lately, so I wouldn’t put it past her to betray me like that. She’s a demon after all.” 

“What are we going to do about it?” Chloe wanted him to know that they were both in it together.

“We are not going to do anything. I will have a talk with her.” Lucifer wanted to deal with Maze alone. He was still the king.

“Are you sure? Maybe it would be better if I was also there?” Chloe offered.

“No, darling. I need to do this alone.” Lucifer knew that it could get ugly with Maze and he would not endanger Chloe like that. “Besides, she could hurt me more easily when you are near, remember?”

Chloe sighed. The whole being able to get hurt in her vicinity was what had caused this in the first place. “Fine.”

They were both silent for a moment.

“So did you get any other useful information from the priest? Do you need to lure me into an abandoned church or something?” Lucifer tried to enlighten the mood.

“No, actually he said it would be easiest to do it here.”

“In my penthouse?” Lucifer’s brows shot near his hairline.

“Yes. He said it doesn’t matter where he does it,” Chloe explained.

“And did he give you some instructions on how you are supposed to sedate me or are you free to choose whatever you like?” 

“He gave me this actually,” Chloe took the vial out of her pocket.

“Oh,” Lucifer took the vial and looked at it. “Do you know what’s in it?”

Chloe shook her head. “No, he didn’t tell me. But I think maybe Ella could give me some contacts to get it analysed. I would like to know what’s in it.”

“I could smell it. Maybe I could tell you from the smell.” Lucifer started to take the cork from the vial, but Chloe snatched it from his hand. “No, Lucifer. You will not smell or drink or even touch it until we know what’s in it.” 

--------

Lucifer was playing his piano when the elevator chimed and Maze marched out of it. Lucifer continued to play. He had called Maze last night and left a message that he needed to speak to her urgently. It was afternoon now. Maze had taken her time, so now she could wait a little until he finished the song.

Maze was not happy to be kept waiting. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently. After a minute, seeing that Lucifer had noticed her but kept playing, she lost whatever patience she had. “You called me here, saying it was urgent and now you have enough time to act like that stupid song is more important than whatever it is you wanted to see me for.”

Lucifer took a deep breath and stopped playing. “I called you last night. More than 12 hours ago, so you didn’t exactly rush over.” His expression didn’t change much, but the words carried a menacing undertone.

“Well I was busy last night. Didn’t listen to your message until this morning.” Maze didn’t seem to be worried about Lucifer’s tone.

“And what time did you hear the message?” Lucifer was wondering what her excuse was for not coming to see him in the morning.

“About two hours ago, I think. But I thought it could wait until I’d had some breakfast and a shower. It was a long night,” she smirked.

“Fine.” Lucifer closed the lid and stood up. It looked like she hadn’t avoided him deliberately after all, but that didn’t change the fact that he suspected her of betrayal. Lucifer walked to the bar and poured himself a drink. After taking a sip, he turned around and started casually, “you know, my brother is still in town.”

“I knew he was still here when he was lurking in Lux, but I haven’t kept watch on him.”

“Hmm… but have you spoken to him?” He lifted his gaze from his glass and stared at Maze.

“Why would I speak to him?” Maze said disdainfully.

“Oh, I don’t know… maybe to tell him things about me that are none of his business.” Lucifer snarled.

“What?” Maze looked surprised.

“Don’t play innocent with me, Mazikeen. He has somehow learned that Chloe makes me vulnerable and there were only three people who knew about it and I know for a fact that neither me or Chloe told him.”

“Well, maybe he figured it out himself seeing you being attached to her all the time,” Maze suggested.

“Cut the crap, Maze. Did you tell him?” Lucifer had stepped closer to the demon and stared into her eyes. He was oozing the ruler of the Hell vibes. Maze felt at the same time thrilled and threatened. She knew that it was no point to try to hide the truth anymore.

“Fine. I told him,” Maze said defiantly.

“Why?” Lucifer hissed.

“Because I’m sick of this place. I want to go back to Hell,” Maze spat out.

“So you decided to betray me?” Lucifer’s voice was a mix of hurt and anger.

“I swore to protect you. Even if it’s from yourself. Can’t you see that Earth has changed you? You have gone soft with all those feelings and you can get hurt. It’s not fun anymore.” Maze tried to make him see the reason behind her decision.

“Speak for yourself. I feel more at home here than I ever have.” 

“Fine. Then take me home. I’m done with Earth.” The solution would not be ideal, but Maze had felt so out of place lately. Even all the sex didn’t keep her really satisfied, no matter how wild the orgy was.

Lucifer looked at her and tilted his head. “You just admitted that you have betrayed me, you endangered Chloe in the process and now you expect me to play Uber and take you where you want to go?” 

“Well, I wouldn’t be able to betray you again when I wasn’t on the same plane.” Maze didn’t like the look on Lucifer’s face or his tone, so she tried to make him see the benefits of taking her home.

“Oh, I don’t know, I guess you’d find a way to do that in Hell also if it suited you.” He took a step closer to Maze and was only inches away from her. “You will stay on Earth. If you behave I might take you back to Hell if I ever decide to go back. If you don’t, I’ll leave you here forever.”

“What? You can’t do that!” Maze was horrified.

“Oh, I can. But right now, I want you to get out of my sight. You are not working in Lux anymore and you don’t live here anymore. Go and find yourself some other place to be.”

“But where …,” Maze started to ask but was cut short by Lucifer.

“I don’t care. Just get out of my sight,” Lucifer roared.  

--------

When Chloe got home Lucifer was nursing his whiskey on the balcony. She headed that way and Lucifer turned towards her hearing her footsteps.

“Good news,” she told Lucifer after greeting him, “Ella said she has access to the school’s lab and she can analyse the contents of the vial herself.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Lucifer replied but his voice was less than enthusiastic.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe was now a bit concerned.

“I confronted Maze earlier. We were right. She tried to deny it at first, but it was her who told my angelic brother about the vulnerability thing.” The word “angelic” was said with such disdain as if he was talking about something truly despicable.

“I’m sorry, Lucifer.” Chloe rubbed his forearm a bit with her hand to show her support. She assumed that he must feel hurt about the demon’s betrayal. “Did she say why she did it?” Chloe asked after they both had been silent for some time.

Lucifer chuckled. “Oh, get this, she told me it was to protect me. And then she had the audacity to ask me to take her home. Can you believe this?”

Chloe was a little confused. “But if she really wants to go, maybe it would be best.”

“No!” He looked at Chloe like she had suggested something outrageous. “You told me yourself that you shouldn’t give someone something they want as a reward for behaving badly.”

“I did?” Chloe was not sure when she had said that or in which situation.

“Yes. We were on the Santa Monica pier, having ice-cream. Don’t you remember?” 

“Oh,” Chloe remembered now. They had been on the pier having ice-cream a couple of weeks ago when some toddler had a pretty bad tantrum. Lucifer had been appalled by the noise that the tiny creature could produce and claimed that he never understood the human desire to procreate, because children were hideous little creatures, terrible taxing burdens (at that moment Chloe couldn’t really argue with him, because this kid was really showing everyone the worst side of parenthood). They had understood from the screams of the kid that she wanted another ice-cream, but her mother had refused. Lucifer was about to go and buy one for this screaming toddler in order to get her to shut up, but Chloe had stopped him saying that you shouldn’t reward that kind of behaviour and asked him to let the child’s mother deal with the situation.

“You took what I told you about raising kids and applied it to Maze?”

“Why wouldn’t I? She has been acting quite childish lately.”

“I really hope it doesn’t backfire.” Chloe said thoughtfully. She was a little pissed at Maze herself too and the idea of her returning to Hell gave her conflicting emotions. On one hand it seemed a good idea to send her back home so she couldn’t cause any trouble, but on the other hand she knew that even if they were fighting right now, Lucifer and Maze were close and sooner or later they would probably find a way to mend their relationship. Besides even the idea of Lucifer returning to Hell even just to transport Maze there gave her jitters. But she was not sure a demon who doesn’t want to be on Earth would end well for them or humanity in general.

--------

The next day Ella gave Chloe the results. The vial did contain a quite powerful sedative and even 5 drops of it would knock someone out for at least an hour. The whole amount in the vial would be lethal for humans. Since she had been instructed to give Lucifer the whole vial and they didn’t really know how it would affect Lucifer when she was nearby, it was reasonable to assume that Amenadiel had intended to get Lucifer poisoned and that “ritual” would be just to ensure the end result - killing Lucifer.

When she got back home she had informed Lucifer about what Ella had told her and they discussed the next step. Chloe would have liked to get him arrested, but Lucifer insisted that he could punish the man more appropriately. Besides, it would have been a bit difficult to explain it all to the police since they were not celestial insiders.

After discussing several options they decided to try to find out more about the ritual that the priest was about to perform, so that they could be prepared if Amenadiel would try to trick another priest to do it. Chloe didn’t want to jeopardise Lucifer, so they agreed to have a code word if things would get too risky and Lucifer should stop pretending to be unconscious. Lucifer had suggested monkey bottoms as the code word but Chloe wanted something she could actually use in a sentence with the priest. They finally agreed on Old Scratch.

 

Lucifer took his part seriously and even searched for some techniques on the internet to calm his breathing and appear more convincing at being unconscious. So when the time came to let the priest come up to the penthouse, Lucifer took his position and almost fooled even Chloe to believe he truly was blacked out. Chloe was nervous about the whole thing and seeing Lucifer so still made her worry even more. She went to him and kneeled on the floor to get closer. “I know you are already playing your part, but could you please make some noise if you hear me.” She didn’t want to disturb him too much in his calm state. Lucifer hummed and Chloe was assured that he really was just looking like he was unconscious. “Okay,” she whispered but didn’t stand up.

 

When the elevator doors opened and Chloe looked up she saw two men standing there. Kinley had never said anything about taking someone with him. Kinley told her that it was just a precaution, but Chloe didn’t like it. They had always assumed that it would be just Kinley against the two of them.

To make matters even worse, Chloe soon spotted a gun on the other man. She tried to figure out a way to get rid of the other man or at least get him to give away the gun so she was startled when Lucifer sat up from the floor suddenly.

“Lucifer,” she whispered, “what are you doing?” He was clearly not following the plan they had made.

“I’m sorry, darling, but I can’t let him ruin my floor. It’s Italian marble after all.” He practically whined.

Chloe let out a deep breath and rolled her eyes. Of course he’d be upset about the floor.

Kinley looked at them, “so you never gave him that sedative, miss Decker?” 

Chloe stood up, not wanting to talk to the priest looking up to him. “No, I did not. As I told you the first time we met, I could never do something like that to him. And if you knew him at all you wouldn’t be even considering going through this ritual.” Chloe was aware that there was probably no chance that she could persuade him to drop the plan to send the Devil back to Hell but she had to try.

“Oh, my child, you are still blinded by his lies. Maybe your soul is already beyond saving.” Kinley’s voice sounded almost sad.

Lucifer didn’t like his words. “I do not lie. And her soul has got nothing to do with it.” Those stupid priests and their misconceptions.

Suddenly a trembling voice from the direction of the elevator caught Lucifer’s attention. The man standing there was making a cross sign with his hand and mumbling some prayer. While Kinley seemed not to be too alarmed by the fact that Lucifer was not sedated, the other man was a nervous wreck. It was a true wonder that he hadn’t wet himself yet.

Lucifer looked at him and a realisation struck him. “I know you. You are the man I saw on the street. The one who didn’t believe in what he preached.”

“Stay away from me, Devil.” He sounded desperate.

“Oh, so you are a believer now. Good for you.” Lucifer’s smile was predatory. He didn’t like phoney people, so he was pleased to know that the man had gotten what he was asking for.

Lucifer had moved slightly towards the scared man when he drew the gun from his waistband. “Don’t come closer, Satan. I will shoot you,” he threatened, but his voice and trembling hands gave away that he was far from confident.

Lucifer stopped. The man aimed his gun initially at him, but his shaking hands were moving the barrel and if he fired the gun, it would not be certain where it would end up. He glanced towards Chloe. She was standing not far away from him and next to her was Kinley. Lucifer would have liked to keep her away from that priest too, but it would not be wise to move at the moment.

The street preacher started to move slowly towards the elevator. It was only a few steps away but it seemed as if he was afraid to make rapid movements.

When he pushed the button for the elevator, Kinley spoke up, “what are you doing, Williams?”

“I’m leaving, of course. We can’t do it if he’s not unconscious.” He looked at Kinley as if he had some screws loose.

“You could shoot him. That’s why you brought the gun.” Kinley’s voice was calm and collected as if he was ordering someone to shoot the Devil on a daily basis. 

“No, no. I can’t,” the man took a few quick steps towards the elevator doors which had opened in the meantime. “Let’s get out of here, Father.”

Kinley could see that he would be outnumbered if Williams left, but he couldn’t just leave and tell the angel that he had failed. Kinley had seen how Lucifer had looked towards Chloe as soon as Williams had taken out the gun, so he figured that Lucifer didn’t want the woman to get hurt. So he decided to leave with leverage. He took the knife he had brought from the satchel he was still holding and grabbed Chloe. He was holding her from behind, the knife too near to her throat for Lucifer’s (or Chloe’s) liking.

“Yes, we’ll leave, but she will come with us.” Kinley started backing slowly towards the elevator with Chloe.

Lucifer was standing still like a statue. “Leave her out of it, Kinley. That  prophecy is not true. My idiot brother just made it up to get you to help him.”

“Nice try, Satan. I will not fall for your lies,” Kinley replied.

Suddenly there was a loud clattering noise and Kinley looked behind him. Williams had dropped the gun. Chloe was glad that it hadn’t gone off because of his clumsiness, but she also noticed how Kinley had inadvertently lowered the knife and held it now a bit farther from her. She decided to take the opportunity and elbowed him in the gut. Kinley bent slightly forward but didn’t let go of her. Chloe grabbed the wrist of his hand that was holding the knife and twisted it to get him to let go of the knife. Kinley was stronger than she had thought, so when she finally succeeded in getting him to drop the knife, it fell so that it grazed her leg.

Williams had noticed the struggle and left the gun on the floor and instead pushed the button for the garage. “Come on, Father Kinley. Get in here,” he called.

Kinley who had lost both his knife and his hold on Chloe realised that it would be best to leave. He slipped into the car just before the doors closed.

Lucifer was about to bolt after them, when he saw Chloe collapse on the floor. He rushed to her instead. “Chloe, are you okay?” He saw then that she was holding her hand on her upper leg and blood was slowly oozing from between her fingers.

“The knife cut me a little.” Chloe didn’t think the wound was too deep, but it still hurt. She was sitting on the floor and holding her hand on the wound. Lucifer didn’t want to risk it. “We should go to the hospital then.”

“No, I think it’s not that deep. Just get me the first aid kit and help me bandage it.” She gave him a weak smile, hoping that it would assure him.

“Are you sure?” Lucifer hesitated.

“Yes. Please get me the kit before I ruin your floor with the blood.” 

“All right.” Lucifer stood up and went to get the first aid kit. Chloe took the knife that was lying on the floor next to her and cut open her pant leg. The jeans were ruined anyway and she didn’t want to get up to remove the pants before the wound was taken care of.

When Lucifer returned and started to help her dress the cut Chloe felt bad that she was keeping him there when he could go after this priest and his follower. “You know, you could go after them. I’ll be fine.”

“No. I will not leave you alone here after you’ve been hurt. I’m still not convinced that we shouldn’t go to the hospital.” Lucifer was not a big fan of hospitals but he would never risk her health.

“There’s no need to go to a hospital. Besides, I would not want to explain to the doctors how I got the wound.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t stick to the plan,” Lucifer suddenly burst out. “Maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt if I’d pretended to be unconscious longer.”

“It’s not your fault, Lucifer. I’m not sure how long I would have kept the charade up anyway. The other guy with the gun was a total surprise, I hadn’t seen that one coming. Too bad we didn’t get to know what the ritual actually was.”

“Well, we might still get some information about it,” Lucifer grinned and before Chloe had the chance to ask what he meant, Lucifer had reached out with one hand while keeping the other on Chloe’s back, and retrieved the priest’s satchel.

“Let’s take a peek, shall we.”

--------

Maze was standing in the corner of the hallway, keeping an eye on the office door. She was still pissed at Lucifer for not taking her home and throwing her out of his building. The demon was about to get her payback. She was sure that if she revealed her true face to Linda, she would not welcome Lucifer as her patient anymore.

 

The door opened again and a man walked out. Since there was no one waiting behind her door Maze was quite certain that the Doctor didn’t have any more patients that day. She waited a minute after the man had left and then stepped into the office.

Linda was putting some papers into her bag behind the desk. She looked up when she heard the door click.

“Hello, can I help you?” she asked, a bit confused.

Maze smirked at her, “I think you’ve done enough helping already.” She stalked closer to the desk.

The predatory vibes Maze gave off made Linda alert. Now she recognised the woman. “Oh, you are Lucifer’s bartender, right?” She felt it necessary to let her guest know that she had recognised her.

Maze scoffed, “not anymore.” She had reached the desk and slammed her hands down on it, “He thinks he can just throw me away, but I will show him that he shouldn’t mess with me.”

The other woman was clearly angry and Linda feared that she would somehow be a part of whatever the other woman meant by showing him that he shouldn’t mess with her. And by him the angry woman probably meant Lucifer. Linda used all her professional knowledge about de-escalating a dangerous situation and tried to remain calm.

“Why do you think that he threw you away?” Linda needed more information to analyse the situation better.

“Because he told me that I don’t work at Lux anymore and I need to find a new place to live.” Maze still looked angry.

“Just like that? Without any reason?” Linda knew that Lucifer over reacted in some situations, but she didn’t think that Lucifer would throw someone out without any reason.

Maze crossed her arms on her chest. “I might have told his brother who wants to send him back to Hell something about Lucifer that he can use to hurt him.”

“And Lucifer found out about it?” Linda asked. She was not too surprised that his (former) bartender used the same metaphors as Lucifer himself did.

“I still don’t know how he found out. Maybe that idiotic brother of his told him.” Maze had started to pace in the office.

“Do you want to tell me why you did it?” Linda prodded.

“Because he’s no fun anymore and I think Earth is bad for him. I think we should return to Hell.”

“Is it related to his relationship to Chloe?” She had deduced from her sessions with Lucifer that he and Maze used to be very close. It seemed logical that after Lucifer started to spend most of his time with Chloe, he didn’t give Maze much attention anymore.

“He’s all touchy-feely now. It makes me want to puke.” Maze had sat down on the couch.

Linda stepped out from behind her desk and sat down in her usual chair.

“Tell me, Mazikeen was it?” When Maze nodded, she continued, “do you have any other friends besides Lucifer?”

“Friends? Why would I want to have friends?” Maze looked puzzled.

“To hang out with, to talk to,” Linda listed some reasons.

“I hang out with a lot of people, for sex,” Maze clarified.

“But do they really know you? Can you talk to them when something troubles you?”

“Why would I want to? I don’t do feelings.” Maze crossed her arms again and sat back on the couch.

“But we all have feelings. It seems to me that you need to have some new friends or at least someone you can talk to about things.” She avoided using the word “feelings” again, it seemed to irk the other woman.

“Are you suggesting that I should also go to therapy?” Maze looked at her with wide eyes.

“It’s one option. It would maybe be easier than to find a friend on command.” Linda knew that a true friend was not someone you could just go and pick out.

Maze thought about it for a while. The woman had shown more interest in her during the last 5 minutes than Lucifer had for a month. Maybe talking to her regularly would not be such a bad idea. “Fine. I’ll do it. When do we start?”

“Uhm… I didn’t mean that you must see me as your therapist. I can also suggest some of my colleagues.” Linda was not sure that seeing both Lucifer and his friend who had betrayed him as patients would be a good idea.

“Nah, I like you. I’ll stick with you,” Maze declared.

There was another issue Linda decided to address right away. “Did you already find a new job? Therapy is not cheap to be honest.”

“Can I pay with a credit card?” 

“Yes, we accept credit cards.” 

“Good. He threw me out but he didn’t take away the credit card he gave me, so you don’t have to worry. Lucifer will pay for it.” Maze grinned at Linda. Knowing Lucifer’s attitude towards money Linda was quite sure that Lucifer wouldn’t make a fuss about paying for her expenses even after throwing her out.

“All right,” Linda stood up and walked to her desk. “Let me check my schedule.”

--------

Amenadiel was waiting in the church. He knew that the priest was going to perform the ritual that day. The angel was really pleased about his plan and was expecting to see a victorious priest.

When Father Kinley arrived with the man Amenadiel had seen the first time he had been in the church it was immediately clear that victorious was the last word someone would use to describe him.

Kinley stormed in, looking furious. “Why didn’t you shoot him? You had the gun.” The words were meant for Williams who was two steps behind Kinley.

“He was looking right at me. I was barely able to hold the gun, Father.” Williams was clearly nervous. “I mean, have you seen his other face? It makes you feel as if you are already in Hell.”

“If you are so afraid of him, why did you come with me?” Kinley was less than pleased with the other man.

“You told me that he would be sedated. I would not have come if I had known that I’d have to face him.”

“Had you told me that you can’t even keep a gun steady, I wouldn't have taken you with me.” Kinley threw back at him.

“But he’s the Devil. What would have this simple gun done to him anyway?” Williams took out the gun from his waistband to emphasise his words.

“I told you, he is vulnerable around that woman. That gun would have worked just fine.” Kinley was regretting more and more that he had taken Williams with him at all. He might have succeeded in getting Miss Decker as a hostage if it wasn’t for Williams. Now he would have to face the angel and tell him that he had failed. He needed to come up with another plan soon, before they would run out of time and the evil would be released.

Williams paced agitatedly back and forth. “Do you think he will come after us now? Will he punish us for the attempt at sending him back to Hell?”

“Let's not waste time wondering, we should form a new plan instead.” Kinley was eager to find another way to send the Devil back where he belonged.

“Maybe I should just end my life,” Williams muttered, not paying any attention to what Father Kinley was saying, too lost in his own thoughts.

Kinley was alarmed at his words. “Brother Williams, you know it’s a sin to take your own life. Our Lord will call you away when it’s time. Ending your life by your own hand will send you most definitely to Hell, to the Devil’s realm.” He tried to keep his voice calm, although the mental state of Williams was quite alarming.

“But the Devil is here, so he won’t be down there. I would be safe from him there.” He looked at Kinley with a manic gleam in his eyes.

Kinley reached for his hand to take away the gun, it seemed that this man was about to lose his mind. But Williams didn’t let go of the gun. For him it seemed more and more appealing to take the easy way out. Kinley tried to pry his fingers from the gun. Suddenly a shot rang out in the church. They both looked at each other a bit startled for a moment. Kinley then started to feel a sharp pain in his gut. His legs gave out and he fell on the floor. Blood was flowing out from his gut. Williams looked at the priest and then at the gun in his hand. “No, no, no. What have I done?” 

Kinley was still struggling for breath, but from the amount of blood that was flowing out of his gut it was quite clear that he’d be dead soon. The guilt of shooting a priest was the last straw for Williams. He pointed the same gun that had killed the priest at his temple and shot. This time the death was instant. 

 

Amenadiel had seen and heard all of it from the far end of the church. He was disappointed in those humans. They were useless. Even the demon had been more of a help than those men. He needed to find a way to send his brother back to Hell. He couldn’t actually kill Lucifer himself. Father would not want his angels killing each other, even if one of them was the fallen one. He doubted that Lucifer's right hand demon would really kill him, the information she shared about Lucifer’s vulnerability seemed to have been a moment of weakness. Too bad there weren’t other demons around who wouldn’t hesitate to send Lucifer back to Hell. Suddenly Amenadiel grinned. There might be a way after all. He unfurled his wings and disappeared from the church.

Notes:

So as you see reikimsc and butterfly_gARDEN were right, Chloe was only playing along. Initially I was going to write the story with Chloe's POV from the start but then the plot demons whispered "or... you could give only Kinley's POV first". So I did. 😁😈

Chapter 5: Demons

Amenadiel landed in Hell beside the gate. He looked at it and saw the warding sigils meant to keep demons from possessing human bodies. The angel put his hands on it and concentrated a bit until it started glowing under his palms. When the glowing stopped he took away his hands and smirked.

The angel then went to the corridors of Hell to find certain souls. Since he was not the king of Hell, it took him a while, but finally he found the loop of one Jacob Williams. He hadn’t had any doubt that he ended up in Hell, the guilt of having shot Father Kinley was evident. As he had predicted his loop played the scene of him killing the priest. Amenadiel didn’t stay to watch his loop, as soon as he had determined that it was the right loop he closed the door and looked around for the other one he was almost certain to find. The other loop was not far away. Amenadiel was a bit surprised to find himself also in the loop of Father Kinley, apparently the priest felt guilty about failing the task the angel had given him. Well, it didn’t really matter why the man was in Hell. He closed the door and turned to go find some demons. He didn’t have to wander far before two of them were walking towards him. 

“Hello, demons,” he greeted them.

The demons stopped and glared at him.

“I have a task for you,” the angel went on.

“Why would we obey you? You are not our king,” one of them stated.

“Well, the task is about getting your king back here,” Amenadiel explained and as he had thought the demons seemed instantly more interested in what he had to say.

“Go on,” the same demon spoke who had spoken before.

“You king is currently in L.A. and there are two souls here who just died in that city, so if you take over their bodies you can go and tell your king that he should return to Hell.”

“But Lord Morningstar has banned possessions,” the other demon now spoke in a whining voice.

“I know, but this is a special occasion and this one time you must do it for your king. Earth has changed him, made him vulnerable. He must return as soon as possible. I released the warden for this purpose.”

The demons looked at each other and smiled at that. Amenadiel tried not to let it bother him that those smiles looked outright sinister.

“So where are the souls we will possess?” one of the demons asked.

Amenadiel asked the demons to follow him and when they reached the right doors he pointed at those and told the demons, “one is behind this door and the other behind this one.”

One of the demons went through Kinley’s door and the other stepped inside the other loop. The angel smiled again, pleased about his plan. Then he unfurled his wings and flew back to Earth.

 

The time in Hell goes differently than on Earth, so it had been barely a minute since his departure from the church. The demons had done what he wanted from them, Amenadiel saw them sitting up, taking full control over the bodies they possessed. He walked to them and took a closer look at their appearance. Both of their clothes had bloodstains on them. That would probably be a problem.

“I think you should first try to find some new clothes. And then you should head to the nightclub called Lux. That’s where you’ll find your king.”

 

--------

Lucifer had stepped away from the bar where he usually sat when Chloe was working. There was a patron that needed his attention. They were right in the middle of discussing a business deal when Lucifer suddenly felt uneasy. His celestial senses picked up an odd sensation. Lucifer was thinking about how to end the conversation fast when he noticed the other man looking at one of the women in the club with a longing expression. He seized the opportunity and leaned in to speak in a lower voice, “I can see that you’d rather try to catch someone else’s attention right now. You can leave me your business card and I’ll get back to you at some other time.” He straightened himself with a wink and the man quickly produced a card from his pocket and left him with a thankful smile. As Lucifer had assumed, the man went to talk to the woman he had looked at.

Lucifer straightened his lapels and looked around in the club, heightening his senses. Suddenly he spotted two familiar faces that he had not anticipated to meet again in his building, not after the previous night.

He stepped closer to the booth they were occupying but stopped short in his tracks. There was something about them that felt off. It was odd to find them here in the first place, a priest and his follower in a nightclub that they know for a fact is owned by the Devil. Also the clothes were a bit odd. Father Kinley had a leather jacket and a white tank top on. Of course, it was more suitable than his clerical clothes would be in his club and he didn’t know what priests usually wore in their free time. The phoney priest was wearing a T-shirt and a sweatshirt and for some reason those looked even more odd than the older one’s attire did. Lucifer stood there baffled for a moment and when the men noticed him they grinned widely as if they’d be happy to see him. Lucifer stepped closer and that’s when he realised what his celestial senses had picked up. As if to confirm his suspicion the bearded one spoke up, “Lord Morningstar, finally we found you.”

“Dromos,” Lucifer paused for a moment and looked at the other man closely, “Squee, what are you doing here?”

“We came here to ask you to come back home, my king,” the demon sounded excited.

“How?” Lucifer was confused how they had managed to get past his warden and how they had even found him.

“The dark angel told us where to find you,” Dromos explained.

“And how were you able to possess these humans? You know very well that I banned it a long time ago.” Lucifer was not pleased at all to see a couple of demons topside.

“Oh, the angel lifted the ward so we could come and get you home,” Squee piped up. 

“He did what?” Lucifer hissed.

“When we go back home you can put it back,” Squee said as if it was a piece of knickknack that had been moved and now simply needed to be put back in its place.

“Listen you two, my home is here now and the ban I put on possession still holds. You are not allowed to be here.” Lucifer could barely hold back his anger at what his brother had done.

“But we need a king,” Dromos sounded confused.

“You’ve managed quite all right so far. I’m sure my Father will appoint one of my siblings if he sees that Hell can’t be without a king anymore. I like it here far better.”

Dromos furrowed his brows. “The dark angel was right, you have gone soft.”

Lucifer leaned in and let his eyes shine with Hellfire lowering his voice so it was more like a growl. “Don’t tempt me or I’ll show you the consequences of defying me. You must go back to Hell.” 

They looked intimidated enough that Lucifer hoped it would do the trick. It would not be good to summon his Devil face in the middle of a crowded club.

“Right now?” Squee asked.

Lucifer thought about it for a moment. If they left now there would be two dead bodies and he would have to explain to the police how the two men he was just talking to suddenly ended up dead.

“No, it would be better if you went back to the place where you found the bodies.”

“I don’t know how to get back to the place,” Squee whined.

Lucifer rubbed his forehead. “How did you find your way here anyway?” 

“It took us a whole day. We had to find new clothes first and then we finally managed to reach the place,” Dromos explained.

That explained why they were wearing those weird clothes. Lucifer looked more closely at Squee’s outfit. “Are you wearing women’s clothing?” The T-shirt was clearly fitted, also it had a V-shape neckline and the sweatshirt was too short.

“Yeah, I think it was a female that I took those from.” Squee looked at his clothes mulling it over.

“What did you do to those humans you took the clothes from?” Lucifer was most certain that they hadn’t just politely asked for new clothes.

“Just knocked them out,” Dromos shrugged nonchalantly.

Lucifer flashed his red eyes again. “You do not touch any humans while on Earth, understand?” He realised that it didn’t really matter if they returned to the exact place the bodies had initially been. The crime scene was already messed up (he had learned a thing or two from Chloe).

“Forget the place where you found the bodies. Just go and find a place where no humans are nearby.” It would be too confusing for humans if the demons went back to Hell in front of them causing the bodies they possessed to drop dead on the spot.

“Go now, get out of here.” Lucifer told them in a more commanding voice.

“Yes, my Lord,” they mumbled back and started to move towards the door. Lucifer watched them until they disappeared behind the door. He thought about accompanying them to a suitable place at first, but then figured if there would be someone seeing him with the demons he could become a suspect in a double murder investigation and Chloe would definitely not like that. The demons were not the smartest beings but even they could find a secluded place where no one would see them for a minute or two.

 

Even when he had managed to convince himself that his instructions had been clear, Lucifer was anxious. The fact that demons were on Earth and the ward had been lifted troubled him a lot. He knew that his brother was an idiot but the stupidity of letting demons loose on Earth surprised even him.

Lucifer walked to the bar. Unfortunately Chloe was occupied with other patrons, but at least Patrick was available. Lucifer needed only to hold his hand out and his long time bartender knew immediately what he wanted. Lucifer downed the glass in one go and when Patrick moved to fill it again, Lucifer stopped him. “Forget the glass.” He reached his hand out and took the bottle instead. He could feel that pouring it into a glass would be just a waste of time. He took the bottle and walked towards the elevator. He needed to be alone right now.

Chloe saw him stepping into the elevator holding a bottle. She frowned. It was the first time Lucifer had left the club without telling her anything since they started dating. The look on his face and the bottle he had with him left her deeply worried. Unfortunately the club was really busy at the time and she couldn’t just leave. When Patrick was close enough that she could speak to him without actually shouting, she asked him, “do you know why Lucifer left?”

Patrick shrugged, “no idea. I saw him talking to two guys and then he came to the bar, took the bottle and left. That’s all I know.”

Chloe would have liked to ask more questions about the men, but another batch of patrons wanted their drinks, so they both turned their attention to them.

About an hour later the flow of customers seemed to quiet down a bit. Chloe had been worried ever since she saw Lucifer walk into the elevator. Something was clearly wrong and she couldn’t figure out what it was. They had initially planned to go to the church she had met with Kinley to see if they could track them down, but she had gotten a last minute assignment from school that she needed to do and they hadn’t had enough time before her shift started. Lucifer had been ready to go on his own, but Chloe didn’t want to let him go alone. He probably wouldn’t have listened to her, but she hadn’t told him the name or the address of the church, so he had no choice but to wait for her.

Seeing that the club was not that busy anymore Chloe told Patrick that she needed to take a break. Patrick agreed knowing that she’ll most likely go to the penthouse to check on Lucifer. That was exactly what she did. Riding up in the elevator Chloe kept wondering what was the cause of her boyfriend’s bad mood. She wondered if it had anything to do with the “guests” they had the previous evening or was it some new problem that had made its way into their lives. Because if it was bothering Lucifer so much, it wasn’t going to stay only his problem whether he liked it or not.

 

When the elevator doors opened Chloe saw the Devil sitting in his armchair. An empty tumbler was on the coffee table in front of him. Stepping inside the penthouse she noticed two empty bottles on the bar, one of them probably the one he had taken from Lux.

“Lucifer?” she approached him tentatively. He seemed deep in thought.

Hearing her say his name Lucifer looked up. “You’re home already?” Lucifer had been sitting in that chair for a while. He didn’t know what time it was, but he didn’t think it would be so late already that her shift would be over.

“I took a little break to check on you. Is everything all right?” Chloe had reached the chair he was sitting in. She sat on the armrest.

“No,” Lucifer answered silently. “They are still on Earth.”

Chloe didn’t understand what he was talking about. “Who is still on Earth?”

“The demons.” Before Chloe could ask anything further Lucifer put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands with a heavy sigh. “My idiot brother thought for some reason that it would be a good idea to let a couple of demons loose on Earth. They were in Lux earlier. I told them to go back, but they haven’t.”

“How do you know that?” Chloe put her hand over his shoulders hoping that maybe the physical contact would ease his tension a little bit.

“I went there and checked.”

“Where?” Chloe was confused at first and then she realised, “to Hell?”

Lucifer nodded. 

“Can’t you take them back to Hell yourself? Should we go and look for them?”

Lucifer shook his head. “No. They have to leave the body themselves.” 

“But didn’t Maze ask for you to take her back to Hell?” Chloe was confused again. She hadn’t talked that much about Hell with Lucifer to know all the dynamics.

“It’s different with Maze. I took her with me, she is in her own body. The demons that my brother let come to Earth are possessing human bodies. I can’t take a human body to the other side, only human souls can cross the barrier. They have to leave the bodies and go back themselves.”

“So the bodies the demons are possessing …” Chloe didn’t know how to end the question. She was wondering if the original soul was still in the body.

Lucifer understood what she wanted to ask anyway. “Are dead. They can possess only the bodies of humans who have died recently.” He paused. “And apparently Father Kinley and his friend are dead.”

“What? How do you know that?”

“Because the demons are possessing their bodies right now.” Lucifer lifted his head and looked at Chloe. As he had expected she seemed to be surprised by that piece of information. “So we don’t need to go to the church to look for them after all.”

Chloe was silent for a while, digesting the information. She was a bit relieved that the priest or his associate were not going to be a problem anymore, but the idea of some demons on Earth who are not supposed to be here, was unsettling.

“Do you think that those demons will still go back?” she finally asked.

“I wouldn’t hold my breath, darling.” Lucifer put his hand on her knee and caressed it lightly. He had seeked solitude when he left the club, but now he was glad that Chloe was there. It felt good to be able to talk to her about his worries even if she wasn’t able to really help him.

 

---------

After Dromos and Squee had left the club they started walking in a random direction. 

“Are we really going back now?” Squee asked after they had walked some time.

“Why would we do that?” Dromos smirked.

“But Lord Morningstar …,” Squee started, but Dromos interrupted him.

“... is not our king anymore. He said himself that he didn’t want to rule Hell anymore, so why would we listen to his orders.” Dromos grinned.

“What will we do then?” 

“We take a little vacation too. Why should Lucifer be the only one to get all the fun? We deserve some too.” Dromos told the other demon.

Squee laughed excitedly. He was already thinking about some fun activities they could do on Earth.

 

--------

Lucifer went back to Lux with Chloe after their talk. He figured the distraction would be better than sitting alone in the penthouse wondering what the demons would be up to.

Being at the club helped and Lucifer managed to enjoy the evening a bit. When Chloe’s shift was over they went back to the penthouse and straight to bed. Chloe had to go to school anyway the next day and Lucifer didn’t want to stay up alone either.

 

Lucifer tried hard to act normal the next morning. He made breakfast for Chloe, joked a bit and tried to look as carefree as ever. The truth was though that he was far from carefree. As soon as Chloe had left he got dressed and made another quick trip to Hell to check whether the two demons had found their way back.

The result was unfortunately the same as it had been before - they had not returned to Hell. It was clear that the demons had defied his order and decided to stay on Earth. Lucifer couldn’t help but wonder whether they would have obeyed if he had made them go back right there in Lux or if he had accompanied them to some secluded place where they could have left the bodies without anyone seeing it. Was it his fault that the demons were still on Earth? If he hadn’t been so concerned about the bodies that he didn’t want to be associated with… could he have prevented the demons from roaming freely on Earth?

 

In the evening when Chloe got home she noticed immediately that Lucifer was still concerned. She had noticed him acting differently in the morning too, but didn’t say anything, hoping that he would work it out during the day. Apparently that was not the case. Now she decided to ask about it.

“Lucifer, are you still worried about the demons?”

“Well, they are still on Earth, so yes I am worried. But I’d say I’m more worried about humans than the demons.” He made it sound as if it were just a little problem that would soon be solved. Lucifer didn’t want to worry Chloe too much. He hadn’t figured out yet how to make them go back or how to even find them.

“Is there anything I could do?” Chloe asked.

“No, darling, I’m afraid there isn’t.” Lucifer gave her a sad smile. Of course Chloe would offer to help, he shouldn’t be surprised anymore, but somehow it still amazed him how caring she was.

“Okay then. Uhm… I need to study for tomorrow’s test. Is it ok if I stay here or …” Before Chloe could finish her sentence Lucifer interrupted her. “Don’t worry, darling, I won’t disturb you.” He then grabbed his tumbler from the bar and went to the balcony.

“That’s not what I meant,” Chloe mumbled but Lucifer had already closed the doors behind him. She sighed and went to the antique desk in the corner.

 

By the end of the evening Chloe was getting rather worried about her boyfriend. Usually she would be grateful about the silence in the penthouse when she was studying, but today it somehow seemed oppressing. She even took a break and went to him on the balcony, just to see how he was doing. Lucifer of course told her not to worry. She managed to get him inside at least, but instead of silently watching some TV show (his celestial hearing allowed him to turn the volume down so much that to Chloe it seemed like he was watching it without sound) he decided to read a book. Chloe was not sure he was even reading the book, it looked more like he was sitting with a book, lost in his thoughts and by the look on his face those were not pleasant thoughts. Even when preparing dinner for them, he was quiet and didn’t whistle like he usually did. 

Chloe tried to distract him with sex after she had finished studying. It seemed to work, at least he seemed to be all in and not distracted by his thoughts while kissing her or eating her out or thrusting into her. They even fell asleep together, Lucifer spooning her.

 

The next morning Chloe woke up a little bit before her alarm. The first thing she noticed was that she was alone in bed. Lucifer’s side was cold, so he must have woken up a while ago.

Chloe took a quick shower and got dressed. When she descended the stairs from the bedroom she looked towards the balcony, but didn’t see Lucifer there either. Chloe decided to go and make some coffee first. When she entered the kitchen she saw Lucifer sitting there with one cup of coffee before him and another one waiting for her already.

“Good morning,” she greeted him, “you’re up early.”

“Yes, I didn’t want to wake you.” Lucifer was staring into his mug. Chloe noticed that he didn’t comment why he was up this early. “I heard you taking a shower, so I made you coffee. What would you like for breakfast?” He got up from the chair he was sitting in and walked towards the stove.

Chloe knew him well enough that she could tell he was trying to deflect her from asking about the reason for his lack of sleep, but she had to eat, so she let him feed her. When her breakfast was ready Lucifer handed the plate to her. Chloe was a bit startled by what she saw when he looked up at her. She was not sure if she hadn’t noticed it at first or if he hadn’t been like that earlier, but now he seemed to be angry. Since it had been a pleasurable night and nothing bad had happened in the morning, Chloe was quite sure that he was angry about the demons.

Chloe ate her food silently and Lucifer didn’t really try to engage her in conversation either. After finishing her breakfast, Chloe went back to the living room and Lucifer followed her. She looked him in the eyes again and saw that the anger had not dissipated. 

“Lucifer, I know the situation is bad, but I don’t think it’s healthy to be angry all the time.” Chloe put her hand on his arm, hoping it would calm him a little.

Lucifer seemed confused. “Why do you think I am angry?” He had been feeling a lot of emotions since he woke up hours ago, but anger was not currently dominating among them.

“Your eyes… aren’t they like this when you’re angry?” 

“What?” Lucifer didn’t understand what she was implying at. They were standing in front of the bar so he looked towards the liquor shelf that had a mirror behind it and saw that his eyes were burning with hellfire.

“How can this be?” He was horrified. Chloe had been forced to look into his hellish eyes and he hadn’t even realised that his eyes had changed. That had never happened before. He had always been the one to summon his devilish features and he had always been aware when it happened.

Lucifer closed his eyes and tried to change them back. When he opened them again he still saw red eyes looking back at him in the mirror.

“What is happening? I can’t change them back.” Chloe could hear the despair in his voice.

 “Lucifer, what’s going on? Please talk to me.” It seemed to be time to finally get him to talk about what was troubling him. “Why have you been so quiet lately? Why couldn’t you sleep today?”

Lucifer closed his eyes and turned towards her. “I’ve been thinking about what I could have done differently. How I should have made sure that they obeyed me… how I was not good enough a king for the demons.”

“Babe, that's not true. And I don’t think the what ifs are going to help anything. You have an appointment with Linda today, yes?” When Lucifer nodded Chloe continued, “I think you should talk about those thoughts with her.”

“How can I even go to her office when I can’t change my eyes back to normal?” Lucifer was keeping his eyes closed so Chloe wouldn’t have to look at them.

Chloe sighed. Going outside with those eyes would be a bit of a problem. She looked at the time and figured she had still some time left before she had to go, so she had to try something to make him feel better.

She took Lucifer’s hand in hers and started to walk towards the couch. “Come here.” Lucifer followed her. When they reached the couch she pushed him to sit down gently and then sat on his knee. She started caressing his cheek. “Please don’t let two stupid demons get inside your head. When I get back from school today we are going to figure something out to fix the situation, together.”   

The corner of his mouth tilted slightly upwards, “well, Squee really is an especially stupid one.”

“You are a good king, Lucifer,” she brought her mouth closer to Lucifer’s other cheek and brushed lightly over his stubble with her lips, “they are fools to disobey you, my King.” The last words she whispered in his ear.

Lucifer tightened his hold on her waist. He felt a very pleasant tingle go through his body hearing the words. His voice came out hoarse, “you are not my subordinate.”

“I know, but I want to show you how you should be treated. Is it ok if I call you my King?” Chloe’s whispered words made his cock twitch. Somehow she made the title sound more erotic than he ever could have imagined. His “yes” was barely audible.

Chloe then shifted in his lap and moved her thighs over his legs so she was straddling him. “I think you should be worshipped, my King.” She started to kiss his face and neck. Lucifer managed only to gulp. After several kisses Chloe stood up from his lap. Before he could protest Lucifer heard a soft thud in front of him and next he felt Chloe’s hands on his knees pushing them wider apart. Even though his eyes were still closed he could understand what she was about to do. “Chloe, you don’t have to,” Lucifer murmured.

“Shh,” Chloe put her finger on his lips, “I want to. I want to worship you, my King.” 

Chloe moved her hand to his belt to open the knot. Lucifer hadn’t bothered with clothes when he woke up, he had put on only his black robe with red lapels and since he slept naked, there was nothing underneath it. As soon as she opened the belt the robe fell open. Chloe had felt his cock stir when she was sitting on his lap and now she could see that he was already fully hard. Chloe smiled and moved her lips to the head of his cock. Lucifer let out a deep gasp when he felt her lips on him. 

Chloe used all the moves she knew that Lucifer liked, so the Devil was basically melting under her ministrations. He had been keeping his eyes closed so Chloe wouldn’t have to see his hellish eyes, but now he couldn’t help it anymore - he just had to look when Chloe was on her knees before him and her lips were wrapped around his cock. He was looking at her and enjoying the view when Chloe looked up and smiled around his cock. Lucifer closed his eyes again, partly because he wanted to keep his red eyes hidden and partly because he was getting close to an orgasm. “Chloe,” he moaned to warn her. Chloe understood what he was trying to say and encouraged him, “come for me, my King.” She wrapped her lips around him again and continued what she was doing. Lucifer wasn’t sure if it was because of her words or her skilled tongue, but his release followed shortly after. Chloe didn’t let go and swallowed all of it. When she let go of his cock, she looked at him with a smile. Lucifer had rested his head on the back of the couch, breathing hard. Chloe caressed his thighs with her hands. 

“Lucifer, please look at me.”

Lucifer opened his eyes and slowly tilted his head upright. He was a little confused when he saw Chloe’s smile widen.

“It seems that it worked, my King.”

“What do you mean?” His post-orgasmic brain didn’t catch up immediately.

“Your eyes are brown again,” she explained. When Lucifer didn’t seem to believe her, Chloe took out her phone and opened the camera in selfie mode. Lucifer took it in his hands and chuckled seeing that his eyes were really back to their normal colour. He put the phone aside and pulled Chloe close to kiss her passionately.

“Thank you,” he whispered after breaking the kiss.

“You're welcome, my King.” Then she took the phone and looked at the time, “but now I have to go so I won’t be late.”

“But you didn’t give me a chance to reciprocate.” Lucifer wanted to worship her in return.

“It’s ok, my King. Seeing that it worked is satisfying enough.”

Lucifer couldn’t believe that she had known exactly how to cure his devilish eyes, he would have liked to show his appreciation so much. Also Chloe calling him “my King” was doing things to him.

“If you say “my King” one more time, you’ll definitely be late for school, love.”

Chloe giggled and grabbed her bag. She rushed to the elevator. 

Lucifer sighed and called from the couch, “good luck with your test, darling.”

Chloe looked at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Goodbye, my King,” she called just before the doors closed.

“You minx,” Lucifer said with a smile on his face. He adored playful Chloe and he was planning to show her exactly how much he did in the evening when she got home.

 

Lucifer stayed on the couch for a while, still a bit blissed out from that amazing blowjob. Finally he got up and went to the bathroom. Tentatively he looked in the mirror and was pleased to see that his eyes were still brown. He took his time to get ready. The appointment with Linda was in the afternoon, so he tried to occupy himself with various tasks before it was time to go.

He had managed to keep himself occupied, but there was one thing he had been thinking about. So before he headed out to drive to Linda’s office he decided to pop down to Hell once more to see if the demons were still on Earth.

When he got back all of the good mood he had had since the morning had dissipated. Not only were Dromos and Squee still on Earth, but two more demons had left Hell. He looked in the mirror to check if his eyes were still brown. Although they had not turned red again he decided to take a pair of sunglasses with him, just in case.

 

--------

Linda could see that something was bothering her most fascinating patient as soon as he sat down on her couch.

“So how are you? Is everything alright?” Linda decided to ask right away.

“No,” was his curt reply.

When he didn’t elaborate Linda asked another question. “Did something happen with you and Chloe?” Usually when he was upset it was related to his relationship.

“No, not this time.” He paused and even smiled slightly, “Chloe has been the only good thing in my life for the past few days actually. She even managed to help me this morning in a very pleasurable way.” The memory of this morning made him forget the problem for a second and the tension in his body lessened for a moment.

“What’s the matter then?” Linda was really curious already.

Lucifer sighed and it seemed as the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

“My brother is trying to force me back to Hell and he is using quite unpleasant methods to do that. First he tried to physically force me, then he approached Chloe. When she didn’t want to listen to his nonsense he somehow got Maze to spill the beans about my vulnerability around Chloe and then Amenadiel found a priest who wanted to use her to kill me. He did say it was some ritual to send me back to Hell, but we saw the description of that so-called ritual. That priest would have stabbed me in the heart, so it would have definitely killed me when Chloe was around. But Chloe just fooled the priest, so after that plan failed the feathery prick decided it was a good idea to let demons come to Earth. I don’t even understand how that was supposed to work.”

Linda was trying to understand what was behind the metaphors, but failed to make sense of it. Still, one thing Lucifer said got her really alarmed. “Lucifer, did your brother really try to kill you?”

“Not directly, because that would probably be against dear old Dad’s rules, but yes, he found some humans who were willing to do that for him.”

“Oh, this is awful. Did you report it to the police?” Linda was amazed how calmly he spoke about it. His own brother was plotting his murder and Lucifer didn’t seem to be really upset about it. 

“No we didn’t. There is no point, human laws don’t apply to angels anyway. I planned to go after that priest and his friend, but they are already dead anyway. The demons possessing their bodies are my main concern right now. Or they were, now I have two more problems because the gate is open and there are two more demons on Earth already.” Lucifer dropped his head on his hands feeling so utterly helpless right now.

Linda was getting frustrated with his talk about Hell and demons and angels. But he looked like something was truly wrong, so Linda decided to try to find out what was really happening. “Lucifer, will you please drop the metaphors and tell me what’s really going on.”

“These are not metaphors. I just told you what’s going on. You have to believe me!” Lucifer's voice was insistent. He raised his head and looked at the therapist trying to make her understand without showing her the proof. He shook his head with a sad expression. “Why did I even think that you’d be able to help me when you don’t believe a thing I say?” he muttered.

Linda was confused. Those things he spoke about didn’t seem to be problems that a therapist could help. “Lucifer, what kind of help did you expect? Did you think that I would be some expert on catching demons?” She saw that he was not willing to drop his metaphors and since it did look like he was seriously struggling with something, Linda decided to humour him once more.

“No,” he paused. “It seems that I also have some issues with self control.”

“And how exactly does that manifest?” Linda was glad to finally talk about a problem she felt more qualified to solve.

“I kind of lost control over my monstrous side this morning. Or rather over one part of that appearance.” He brushed off some invisible lint from his trousers. “With Chloe’s help I got it back under control, but it has never happened before. Usually I’m the one in charge over when to show that side of me.”

“And do you think it’s connected to the problem you told me about?” She didn’t really want to bring the outlandish creatures into the conversation again.

“Possibly. It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I saw the demons in Lux.”

“And what have you been thinking exactly?” Linda was not entirely sure what he meant by losing control over his monstrous side, but she was quite sure that it was a result of his inner insecurities.

Lucifer sighed. “That I should have been able to stop the demons. I should have made sure they listened to me. And mostly… that it’s my fault they are here.”

“But didn’t you say that your brother let them come here?” Linda was almost sure he was talking about some thugs who were in L.A. because of his brother.

“Yes, he was the one who opened the gates to them, but it is my realm,” Lucifer felt how he couldn’t hold his thoughts in anymore. He was so agitated that he couldn’t sit still any longer, so he stood up and started pacing between the couch and the window. “If I hadn’t been up here, this would never have happened. I never thought he would do anything so stupid. Maybe I should have gone back when he came to L.A. to force me back there. What if I am truly evil for putting my own pleasure and desires before humanity's safety?” When Amenadiel had first approached him, Lucifer had told him that he didn’t care for what happened in the underworld. It seemed that he did care if it endangered humans.

He stopped his tirade and expected the Doctor to say something to guide him towards some new angle or something, but the office was silent. Lucifer had stopped his pacing standing sideways in front of the couch, facing the window. When Linda didn’t say anything he turned his head to look at her. He frowned when he saw her staring, her mouth slightly ajar and her lower lip trembling. Lucifer was confused. He didn’t understand what could have caused that kind of reaction. He looked towards the wall since it was the direction she was staring and then he realised. In the reflection of the glass that was covering the picture hanging on her wall Lucifer saw his own reflection. His scarred red Devil face. His control had slipped again without him noticing and it had happened in the worst possible moment. Lucifer tried to change back, but couldn’t. He didn’t dare to look at Linda again. 

“I’m so sorry, Doctor,” he mumbled before he dashed out of the office.

Chapter 6: Monster

Notes:

It's been a while. This chapter took me longer than I thought. I do most of my writing on weekends but I have been otherwise busy on some weekends (including the weekend I was at Lux 3, having so much fun even without our favourite Devil being there). The second reason it took me so long to post was because this chapter turned into a monster (pun intended) with ca 10 000 words. It just didn't feel right to split it, so it took me some time to get it done, but it's finally here now.

Lucifer stepped into the hallway slightly panicked. He hadn’t managed to change his face back. Does that mean that he’ll be walking around with the Devil face from now on? He needed to leave, his penthouse would be the only safe place to be. Lucifer wanted to take the elevator to the highest floor and find a way to go to the roof. From there he could fly to his penthouse so no one would see him.

Lucifer was about to go to the elevator when he noticed that it’s moving already, heading to the same floor which meant that someone was coming. He looked around for a place to hide himself. Thankfully there was a toilet right next to him, so he slipped in there quickly and shut the door. 

A sidelong glance in the mirror was enough to confirm that he still had the Devil face on. Lucifer didn’t really want to look at it and turned his back to the mirror. He heard the person who had come by the elevator go inside one of the offices. Lucifer briefly thought about leaving the bathroom, but somehow it seemed safer to stay there. Someone could come out of one of the offices when he steps into the hallway. It would probably be safest to wait until the office hours are over and then try to find his way out of there. He took out his phone and looked at the time. He’d probably be there for a couple of hours then. It was Friday and Chloe would be home sooner than him most likely. Lucifer didn’t want her to worry and sent her a text.

I’ll probably be home a bit late today, something happened at Linda’s.

Lucifer didn’t think that she would see the text immediately, so he was a bit startled when his phone started to ring and the caller ID showed that it was his girlfriend.

As soon as he answered he could tell that Chloe was worried. He scolded himself mentally, it was not his intention to make her worry. 

“Lucifer, is everything ok?” Chloe asked immediately.

Lucifer’s first instinct was to brush it off, to say he’ll be fine but then he felt the overwhelming urge to tell her everything, to have someone who understands listen to him.

“No,” his voice came out sadder than he had planned, “I think I broke my therapist.”

“What happened?” Chloe was clearly surprised but decided to wait for his explanation.

“I was talking about my feelings and I accidentally revealed my Devil face, so now the good Doctor is sitting there catatonic and it’s all my fault.”

“Oh, shit.” Chloe remembered what seeing his face had felt like. “Where are you now? Are you still in her office?” she asked after a little pause.

“Of course not. I left as soon as I realised what had happened. But I can’t change it back so the Devil is hiding in the lavatory as we speak so no one else would get the celestial revelation today.” He started to sound a little panicky,

“All right. Uhm… try to stay calm, ok.” Chloe was trying to think what to do. “Try to think about something that soothes your mind. Maybe find some music on Youtube that would help.”

“I doubt that it will be solved with some mindfulness exercise,” he snapped, being a little more snarky than he had meant to be.

“Probably, but it can’t hurt,” Chloe had no clue how it worked, but the slip in his control seemed to be connected with his thoughts and feelings. “Just stay there and I’ll be over soon. Can you text me the address?”

“Don’t you have more classes today?” Lucifer knew that Chloe was very dutiful and didn’t skip classes.

“Yes, my last one starts in a minute, but this is more important.” During class she would not have checked her phone immediately, but luckily she was just in between classes and had the phone in her hand when it vibrated with incoming message.

“Chloe, you don’t need to skip class because of me. I can wait until everyone leaves the building and then come home without being seen by other humans.”

“I just want to check on Linda.” That was not a lie, she did want to check on her, but she also thought that this was far more important than her lesson (it was her least favourite lesson anyway). Chloe knew her boyfriend well enough to know that he might argue about the importance of this matter when it concerns him, but he would not argue when she told him that she wanted to do it for Linda. “Please send me the address, babe.”

“All right, darling.” Hearing her use the pet name made it even harder to deny her anything. Not that he would have wanted to anyway.

“See you soon.” Chloe had already started walking towards the exit.

--------

When Chloe stepped out of the elevator to the office building where Dr Martin worked, she looked for the toilet sign first. There were two doors next to each other, so she picked one and knocked silently. “Lucifer”, she whispered. It might have been too silent for a human ear on the other side of the door, but Chloe knew that her Devil would hear it. “I’m in here,” Lucifer answered, but it came from behind the other door. Chloe tried the handle of that door, but it was locked. “Let me inside, please,” she asked.

“I don’t want you to see me that way. Go and check on the Doctor instead.” The fright in his voice was palpable. Chloe did understand why he was worried, but she herself was worried about him and wanted to check on him before she went to see Linda.

“I will, but I need to make sure that you are ok first,” she told Lucifer.

“I’ll be fine.” The assurance sounded weak even to his own ears. But he was sure that he would be fine staying inside that small room for a bit longer.

Just then Chloe heard some voices. It seemed that someone was about to step out from one of these offices. “Lucifer, I won’t go until you let me in. And I don’t want to stand here talking to you through the door, so please, just open it. I can close my eyes if you want.” She was certain that she could handle his Devil face now, but if it would make him feel better, she could humour him.

Chloe’s voice was insistent enough that Lucifer gave in. He opened the lock and turned around, facing the wall, so she wouldn’t have to see him. Chloe came inside and faced the door to lock it again. Like she had promised she closed her eyes. “You can turn around, I closed my eyes now.” 

Lucifer glanced at the mirror that was on the side wall and saw that her eyes were indeed closed, so he turned around to face her. Chloe reached her arms out and stepped closer. Lucifer was frozen for a moment, not understanding what she was doing, but when her fingers brushed his body, Chloe took another step and hugged him. Lucifer let out a deep breath he didn’t realise he had been holding and put his arms around her.

“I’m so sorry you have to go through this,” she mumbled inside his shirt.

“Thank you, love. I …,” he wanted to say something more, to tell her how much he appreciates it, but somehow the words got stuck inside his throat. So instead he hugged her tighter.

“I will go and check on Linda now. Please try to stay calm and... I don’t know, think about happy things, maybe look at some cat videos on your phone or something.” Lucifer snorted at that suggestion. “Just remember that I …,” Chloe stopped herself. She almost blurted out that she loved him, but she hadn’t really said those words to him, waiting until he said them first and now was certainly not the moment to freak him out by saying it. So she decided to say something else instead. “I’m here for you, okay. If you need to talk about what’s going on in your mind, please do. I want to help.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” It wasn’t really a promise to talk to her, but Chloe didn’t want to poke him more.

“I will go to Linda now,” Chloe let go of him and turned around, opening her eyes to see where the door was. In her peripheral vision she could see red reflecting from the mirror, but she didn’t pay it any attention.

 

It wasn’t difficult to find the right door, fortunately her name was on a nametag right next to it. The door was closed and the light indicating that she was in session, was still on. Chloe opened the door and peeked inside. Linda was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room and staring at the wall with unseeing eyes and a startled expression on her face. 

“Hi, Linda! Can I come in?” As expected, she didn’t get an answer, but she went inside nevertheless.

Chloe crouched in front of the therapist and touched her hand. “Linda, can you hear me?” 

The other woman blinked and looked at Chloe with a surprised expression. “Chloe? How did you get in here?”

“I came to see how you’re doing.” Chloe understood that Linda was confused about her suddenly appearing in her office, but she wanted to make her understand that she was there for her.

It took a moment for Linda to understand what she was implying. “Did he send you?”

“He told me what happened, I just thought you might want to talk to someone.” 

“He told you about the… the face?” Linda would have thought that the Devil would want to hide what he had revealed to her.

“Yes, he told me that he had accidentally shown it to you. Believe me, he would not have done it intentionally.” He might have wanted Linda to believe him and not think that everything he told her is a metaphor, but Lucifer would have found a less disturbing way to make her see, Chloe was quite sure of it.

“Wait… so you know who he is?” Linda’s jaw dropped.

“I do.” Chloe smiled trying to make Linda see that it was not something scary for her.

“But you… you sleep with him. You call him your boyfriend. Has he somehow bewitched you?” Linda sounded more and more incredulous. Chloe had seemed like a reasonable woman. She was studying to become a cop for Heaven’s sake.

“He hasn’t done anything to influence my decision or my feelings. He is not like the Bible or humans in general make him out to be. He is a good man, Linda.” The therapist looked at her in confusion. Chloe felt her knees getting sore from crouching, so she stood up and rolled the chair that was behind her desk next to Linda’s chair and sat on it.

“I know that his face looks scary. I was scared too when I saw it the first time.” Chloe took Linda’s hand in hers again, hoping it would soothe her a little.

“It was horrible. One moment he was like a normal human and then… then there was a monster standing there instead.” Linda was on the verge of crying.

Chloe sighed. She did remember her reaction to his Devil face, but she also knew that it had nothing to do with Lucifer being really a monster and she didn’t want anyone to think like this about him. “It’s just an appearance, those are more like scars from the time he fell from Heaven and burned. He is not a monster. He is exactly as he appears to be and he has been telling you only the truth from day one. The only difference is that now you believe him.”

“But … but what about my soul? Will I go to Hell now?” A new terrifying thought occurred to Linda.

“He doesn’t decide who goes to Hell and who does not. He says that we decide it based on our guilt. If we feel guilty when we die, we end up in Hell. So as long as you don’t feel guilty about something when your time comes, you will go to Heaven.” Chloe hoped that her explanation will help Linda a little.

“So it’s all real. Heaven and Hell and angels and demons and,” Linda paused for a moment when another realisation hit her. She covered her mouth with her free hand, “oh my God, Mazikeen really is a demon.” 

“Yes, it’s all real and Maze is a real demon.” Chloe found it a bit odd that Linda was so shocked about the bartender she only met once as far as she knew, but brushed it off.

“Huh… that explains some of the things she spoke about,” Linda muttered more to herself than to Chloe.

“I didn’t know you had actually spoken to each other.” Chloe remembered the time Linda came to Lux while she was working and Maze had been there but when Lucifer had introduced Linda to the demon she had basically just ignored her.

“She came here a few days ago. When I think about it, I’m not actually sure what her intentions were initially, but in the end she agreed to therapy, so we have spoken.” It all seemed so unreal to Linda. She is the therapist to the Devil and a demon. All the time she had thought that they were speaking in some weird metaphors, but they were speaking about actual Hell all along. She started to think about all the strange things they had said when it suddenly hit her. “Wait…. so the demons coming to Earth part is also true?”

“I’m afraid so.” Chloe knew that it might make Linda even more scared, but she didn’t want to lie to her.

“But are they dangerous? I mean if Maze is a demon and Lucifer keeps her on Earth why is he upset about those demons?” It all seemed so confusing now.

“Maze is different. Lucifer took her to Earth, she was his right hand demon in Hell, so she followed his command. But those demons who he is upset about, are possessing dead humans and they were not allowed to come here in the first place.” Chloe noticed that it was the first time Linda had used Lucifer’s name since she came to the office, but didn’t comment on it.

“Should I hide in my office then? Is it dangerous to go outside?” Linda started to imagine living in the building for a while.

“I think it’s safe for you to go home. In fact I think you should do that now if you don’t have any further questions. Or if you want we can talk a bit more and I can answer as much as I know about all this celestial stuff.”

“No, I think I’d like to go home.” Linda was already thinking about that nice bottle of tequila in her cabinet at home. 

“Okay… do you need to cancel any appointments you have today?” Chloe thought that it was too early for her day to be finished already.

“Appointments… ah yes,” Linda seemed to have forgotten that she had other patients too. She then glanced at the clock and suddenly remembered. “Roger was supposed to come after Lucifer, but he called this morning and cancelled. But my last patient for today is supposed to come in 18 minutes. I’ll better call her.” Linda knew that she was in no state to do any therapy session today.

After she had called and cancelled the session Chloe asked if she should take the therapist home. Linda hesitated, “I… uhm… I think I’ll call an Uber.” She didn’t trust herself to drive yet but the idea of Chloe finding out where she lived was a bit unsettling. She was not sure if Lucifer wouldn’t be able to find out where she lived by himself if he wanted to, but somehow giving that information away to his girlfriend wasn’t something she was ready to do right now.

“All right. Is it okay if I walk outside with you?” Chloe was not going to push if Linda didn’t want her to drive her home, but she wanted to be sure that the other woman would get safely to the Uber.

“Yes, I’d like that.” Linda wasn’t sure that Chloe would be any help in case the demons would attack her, but still the idea of going out there alone didn’t sit well with her.

 

After making sure that Linda was safely on her way home Chloe came back to the hallway and knocked on the door of the toilet again.

This time Lucifer didn’t hesitate before he opened the door, but still he instructed her to keep her eyes closed. Chloe would have liked to argue, but thought it would be easier to do whatever made him more comfortable right now.

“How was the Doctor?” he asked as soon as the door was closed behind her. 

“Well, she was a bit shocked, but I think she will be alright eventually. And she knows she can talk to me if she needs to. And look at the bright side, now she knows that when you talk to her the things that you say are not metaphors, so she can understand you better.”

“Do you really think she would want to see me again as her patient?” Lucifer was not sure that the good Doctor would be willing to be alone in a room with him ever again.

“I do, Lucifer,” Chloe answered him with a smile. She was sure that Linda would accept him. 

“So do you have any idea how we're going to get you home?” Chloe asked after a few moments of silence wondering how bad it must be for Lucifer right now since he hadn’t complained once about being stuck in the toilet.

“I think most people have left already. I heard six people locking the door besides Linda.” Chloe was a bit surprised that he had counted them, but if she’d be stuck in a toilet maybe she would also count the doors being locked. 

“Okay. I’m not sure how many offices there are. Do you want me to go and check?”

“There are 8 doors in the hallway.” Lucifer saw Chloe’s eyebrows rise a little at that information. “I have been sitting in the hallway waiting for my appointment enough times that I have had the time to look around. And I remember everything.”

Of course. How had she forgotten again, it’s not a regular human she’s dating. “So I should go and see if there’s still someone in one of the offices.”

“Yes, that would be wise I guess. We wouldn’t want someone leaving the office just when I step outside of this bloody room.”

Chloe pursed her lips together to stifle the smile that tugged on her lips. There was the complaint she had been expecting.

Chloe left the toilet and started to knock on the doors to see if anyone was still there. Luckily all the doors were locked, so she concluded that it would be safe for Lucifer to come out now. She was about to knock again and ask him to let her in when the elevator door pinged and a man with a cleaning cart stepped out of it. He saw that one of the toilets was locked and went to the other one to clean it. Unfortunately he left the door open while he did it, so Chloe thought that it would not be safe to try and get Lucifer out of the building before he left. It didn’t take long for him to finish cleaning the toilet, but instead of going to clean one of the offices like Chloe had hoped, he remained standing outside the toilets. Chloe cursed silently in her head and decided to try to make him leave. “My boyfriend is going to need some time in there. Maybe you could clean some of the offices in the meantime.”

The man didn’t seem to be too pleased about her telling him what to do, “I’ll wait.”

“You know, he’s really shy and can’t do it when there are people waiting outside,” she decided to try a different approach.

“Why are you standing here then?” the man snapped.

“Well, he’s used to me by now. I’m the only one who can be there on the other side of the door. Would be difficult otherwise since we are living together,” she tried to joke a little.

The man was not amused. “Then he shouldn’t use public toilets.”

“Oh, he normally doesn’t, but he had a really rough therapy session and it kind of upset his stomach.”

The man let out a curse word and started to complain, “I can’t go to clean the offices with this cart. I have to clean the toilets first and then take a different cart. I don’t want to change it and then have to change it back.”

“But have you cleaned all the other toilets already? I mean there are toilets on the other floors too, right?”

“Fine, I’ll go to the next floor, but he better use the toilet brush after him, I’m not getting paid enough to deal with shit explosions.”

“He will leave everything clean, I promise.” Chloe smiled encouragingly.

The man turned around and started to walk towards the elevator, grumbling silently.

As soon as the elevator doors closed behind the man Lucifer asked from the other side “Is it safe to come out now?”

“Yes, the offices are all locked and the cleaner left too.”

Lucifer opened the door and stepped outside, but when he saw Chloe looking at him, he retreated immediately back there and closed the door. “Why didn’t you close your eyes?” he asked, voice almost panicked.

“Lucifer, I can’t guide you out of the building with my eyes closed. I’m going to have to look at you at one point. And nothing happened right now when I saw you.” She had been busy thinking about the fastest way out of there and had had barely time to register Lucifer’s face before he hid himself in that toilet again. Still, she didn’t feel the horror she had felt the first time she had accidentally seen the face.

“No, Chloe. I don’t want to risk it. You can go, I’ll find my own way out of here.”

Chloe sighed heavily. She wished she hadn’t reacted so bad the first time she had seen it. Maybe then he wouldn’t be so nervous about her seeing it again. “How about this - I’ll step further away from the door and face the other way. You will follow me to the roof and then you can fly away.”

“And you won’t look behind you?” he clarified.

“No, if it makes you feel better, I won’t look behind me,” Chloe promised.

“Fine,” he replied and Chloe stepped away from the door like she had promised.

After hearing him close the door Chloe went to the emergency exit door. She had explored the building a little after making sure that Linda got home. The stairs behind the emergency exit door led to the roof. The door was easily opened from the inside and she led them to the roof. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to make sure that the door stays unlocked so Chloe decided to not let the door close all the way. She pushed the door open wide enough so that Lucifer was able to go past her while she kept her eyes in the other direction from him. As soon as Lucifer had stepped to the roof she heard him rushing away from the door and from the corner of her eyes she saw the wings come out with a woosh. The next moment he was gone. 

Chloe went to the parking garage and drove to Lux. She would need to ask Lucifer the keys to his Corvette so someone could collect his car too.

--------

When Chloe arrived in the penthouse she wasn’t sure that Lucifer had come home. It was really quiet and he was nowhere to be seen. 

“Lucifer?” she called out while walking further inside. When she didn’t get an answer she decided to call him. When it started to ring, she also heard the ringtone of his phone. Chloe followed the sound, it seemed to come from the balcony.

She opened the door but before she could step outside she heard his voice, “please don’t come here. I will stay here for the evening and sleep on the couch after you have fallen asleep.” Lucifer was sitting in a corner so Chloe couldn’t even see him from the doorway. 

The request didn’t surprise her, but she was not going to do it. It would not do him any good to sit out there by himself all evening. 

“No, I’m not going to let you sit here while I’m also alone in our home.” He couldn’t possibly think that she could just go on and pretend that nothing is wrong while her boyfriend is sitting out there.

“Oh, you can go to your apartment or Lux or someplace else also, you don’t need to stay here if you don’t want to.” 

Chloe groaned. He was totally missing the point. “No, what I meant is that I’m not letting you stay here alone. Please come inside and talk to me. Let me help you. Maybe we can figure this out together.”

“I don’t want to terrify you too,” he almost whispered.

Chloe stepped out of the doorway and went to him. Lucifer was sitting hunched on a chair in the corner, his elbows on his knees and his head resting on his hands. His large hands covered almost all of his face, but the backside of his head still showed the hairless red surface.

Chloe sat on the chair next to him. “I’m not terrified. I know I didn’t react well the first time, but I know the truth now and I know that you are a good man, no matter what you look like. Please don’t hide from me.”

Before Lucifer could answer Chloe’s stomach made a growling noise reminding her that it was time for dinner.

“I think you should eat something,” Lucifer commented and it seemed that the noise coming out of her had amused him somewhat, because his tone was much lighter than it was before.

“No, I think we should eat something. I’m not going to eat unless you come inside and stop torturing yourself with bad thoughts.” She didn’t exactly plan it like this, but maybe a small scale hunger strike would make him at least come inside and stop trying to hide from her.

“All right then,” Lucifer agreed and Chloe waited until she had turned towards the balcony door to smile in victory.

“We can order whatever you like, I don’t have any preferences right now.” Since they were obviously not going out Chloe assumed that they would order something.

“Let me see if there is something I can make myself,” Lucifer offered before he disappeared behind the door. After a little while his voice came from the kitchen again, “would pasta bolognese be okay?”

“Yes, that would be nice,” Chloe answered, “can I help you with that?”

“No,” the answer came much quicker than she would have liked. “I can handle this. You just relax, darling.” He tried to soften his initial reply, but Chloe could understand that it was another way to keep himself out of her sight. Well, at least this time he would be doing something productive, so Chloe decided not to disturb him. 

It didn’t take too long before Lucifer called that the dinner was ready. But instead of sitting down and eating with her Lucifer was making himself busy with cleaning the kitchen, saying that he had already eaten a bit while preparing the dinner and wasn’t hungry anymore. Soon he excused himself from the kitchen altogether saying that he needed a shower.

After finishing her meal and washing the plate Chole sat down on the couch and waited for him. She was done letting him hide and had decided to make him stay with her. So when he emerged from the bathroom Chloe asked him to come and watch a movie with her. 

“Are you sure?” was his initial reaction unsurprisingly.

“Yes, I am. I want to cuddle up to my boyfriend and watch a movie,” Chloe told him in a manner that indicated it would be better to comply. He came to the couch but instead of sitting next to her Lucifer decided to sit in the corner and stretched out his legs on the short arm of the couch. Chloe watched him with furrowed brows and then scooted closer. “I told you I want to cuddle with you. I can’t do that if you are sitting far away from me,” she told him before he could ask anything. 

“Right. Maybe you could sit in front of me?” Lucifer then suggested. When Chloe sat down between his legs and leaned her back against his chest Lucifer’s arms wrapped around her and Chloe decided that it was cosy enough and maybe he would feel comfortable sharing his thoughts with her later.

Lucifer was too caught in his own thoughts to pay much attention to the movie. He still couldn’t believe that Chloe would want to stay with him in the penthouse. He had assumed that she’d rather go to her apartment until he’d be able to change back. Instead she even wanted to be close to him. That woman was a true miracle. He couldn’t resist the urge and kissed the crown of her hair.

When Chloe snorted at something Lucifer tried to pay more attention to the movie they were watching. Luckily it was a comedy that didn’t need too much attention to understand what was going on, so eventually Lucifer managed to laugh a little too.

When the end credits started rolling Chloe decided to talk about the elephant in the room. She caressed his hand for a while gathering up the courage to break the bliss they were in at that moment. 

“Lucifer, why do you think the Devil side slipped out again? I mean, you seemed fine this morning when I left.” She tried to sound as casual as possible.

Lucifer sighed heavily. He was not surprised that she wanted to talk about it, although he had hoped a little that maybe he could avoid it. “I went to Hell to check if those demons had returned, but instead … two more demons had left.” His voice sounded pained.

“Oh, Lucifer. I’m so sorry,” she took his hand to her lips and kissed it.

“There’s nothing you need to be sorry about, darling.” The tone of his voice let her guess who he was blaming instead.

“Lucifer, this is not your fault. You are a good king and a good man and those demons are just idiots who don’t know what’s good for them.”

“And now I can’t even go looking for them because I might scare some humans who don’t deserve it.” The anger in his voice was palpable.

“Lucifer, we’ll figure something out, okay. I mean, you were able to contain this side in the morning.” Chloe could understand very well how helpless he felt.

“You mean after you did your magic.” The memory made him feel slightly better. “I was planning to return the favour this evening, but …” 

“But what?” Chloe asked.

“Well, you wouldn't want a monster in bed with you, now would you?” Lucifer was still surprised that she was even willing to sit as close to him as she was.

“Lucifer, I told you, I don’t see you as a monster. If you’d like, we could try to fix this the same way that worked this morning.” Chloe bit her lower lip. Sitting between Lucifer’s legs made her grave him no matter what he looked like.

Lucifer sighed. “As wonderful as that blowjob was, I doubt that it would help this time. And while I was able to close my eyes this morning so you wouldn’t have to look at the Hellfire in them, I can’t hide this face from you.” Despite his protest, the thought made his cock twitch a little.

“I was actually thinking that maybe you’d like to just have sex with me. Any way you like.”

“Chloe …,” Lucifer started to protest, but Chloe interrupted him. “If you want I can keep my eyes closed.”

Lucifer thought for a moment. “Can I put a blindfold on you?” That would assure him that Chloe wouldn’t suddenly open her eyes and startle at seeing him during a moment of passion.

“Only on one condition,” Chloe told him before she turned in his lap and surprised him with a kiss. She felt Lucifer freeze, so Chloe made it just a quick one and moved her lips closer to his ear to whisper, “you have to promise me that you’ll kiss me too.”

As much as he loathed his face, Lucifer couldn’t resist her. Especially when she seemed to be not bothered by his less than appealing appearance. 

“All right,” he whispered back, still not daring to look at her.

 

When Chloe was blindfolded, Lucifer slowly undressed her and guided her to lay on the bed. He decided to worship her like he had originally planned. His cheeks that grazed her inner thighs felt different but his tongue still felt familiar and Chloe was brought to her first orgasm quite quickly. 

Lucifer kept his word and during sex (that felt more like making love to Chloe) he did kiss her. His lips felt different, but still him. She eventually came again and Lucifer followed her with her name on his lips.

Lucifer almost expected it to cure him again, it had felt so intense and good, but to both of their disappointment it hadn't worked and Lucifer was still wearing his Devil face. Chloe managed to convince him that she wanted him to sleep next to her and so she fell asleep while Lucifer was spooning him. The Devil stayed awake long after she had fallen asleep, his thoughts heavy.

--------

The next morning when Chloe woke up Lucifer was already gone. She found him standing on the balcony. When Chloe approached him, she noticed that the part of his neck that was not covered by the shirt he was wearing looked red and spikey. Chloe remembered that last night when she had run her hands over his neck while kissing him, it had felt smooth like usual. That could only mean one thing - the situation is getting worse. She was not sure whether she should tell Lucifer about it or not. There was also a chance that he already knew about it.

“Good morning, Lucifer!” she greeted him as she stepped closer.

“Good morning, love!” His reply was not as cheerful as it usually was and again he was avoiding looking at Chloe.

“How are you feeling?” Chloe hoped to find out whether he knew about it without directly asking him about the condition of his neck.

“Pretty much the same as yesterday. I mean it was a lovely evening thanks to you, but as you can see … in the sense of hiding my Devil face, it didn’t work.” Chloe’s heart almost broke hearing the sadness in his voice.

They stood silently for a while and watched the city in the morning light.

Finally Chloe broke the silence, “so what are we going to do now?”

Lucifer’s shoulders seemed to sink in even more than they were before. “I don’t know. I tried even calling Maze, hoping that she’d be willing to put our differences aside and work with me to solve this situation, but she didn’t answer my call. I left her a message, but …”

“Maybe she’s still sleeping … or partying … or … I’m sure she’ll call you back.” Chloe tried to stay positive, but it was getting harder and harder.

“If she doesn’t then I need to figure out a way to go looking for those demons. I can’t let them wreak havoc any longer. They need to return so I can close the gate again.” Lucifer knew that even if he could find them, getting them to return to Hell would not be an easy task. 

“I think we should eat first. Let’s have some breakfast and I’m sure we’ll get better ideas with a full stomach.” She started to move towards the kitchen and Lucifer followed her feeling utterly unworthy of such a wonderful woman who was able to treat a monster like him with so much kindness.

 

After having breakfast (during which Lucifer avoided directly looking at Chloe again and spent most of the time cooking and not sitting at the table with his girlfriend) Lucifer decided to prepare for the scenario where he’d have to find a way to go outside and not scare every human being he encountered. Chloe tried to tell him that it was still early for Maze and she’ll probably call him back later, but Lucifer just had to do something.

 

Chloe was sitting on the couch flipping through a magazine when Lucifer’s panicky voice coming from his walk-in closet caught her attention.

“No! No, no, no. This can’t be happening.” His tone sounded alarming enough that Chloe immediately put away the magazine and rushed to the closet.

“Lucifer! What’s wrong?” She called even before she reached her distressed Devil.

Lucifer was standing sideways in front of the full body sized mirror without his shirt and his gaze was fixed at the back of his neck. The moment Chloe stepped into the closet she knew what had happened and also that Lucifer had not known that his neck was looking devilish.

“My neck … it’s red, isn’t it?” Lucifer asked as soon as he saw Chloe. This time he was so stressed about the fact that he did not only have a devil face but apparently also a devil neck that he didn’t even try to hide his face or look away when Chloe appeared in the closet.

“Yes,” Chloe answered him.  

“How… how bad is it?” His voice sounded timid.

Chloe didn’t know what to answer. Trying to assure him that it was not that bad seemed wrong, but she couldn’t bring herself to say that it looks monstrous either. She spotted a hand-mirror on the chest of drawers and held it up so Lucifer could see the backside of his neck. Lucifer turned and took the hand mirror, deciding that he needed a better view of his backside in case there were other red spots he was not aware of. He examined his neck from the mirror for a while in silence. For his relief there were no other spots of red, but the look of his neck was rather perturbing - the backside of his neck down to a few inches below his shoulders was red and spikey.

“This has never happened before,” Lucifer finally said silently.

“You mean your neck has never looked… like this?” Chloe was not sure how to really refer to how he was looking right now.

“Yes. It has always been just my face,” he paused for a moment. “Why is this happening to me?” His voice sounded so broken that Chloe decided she had to do something to help him. She was sure that it must have been somehow connected to his emotions. She herself was not really qualified in guiding him through his emotions, but she knew someone who was. Chloe went to the bedroom and opened the top drawer of the nightstand. She remembered that he had tossed the business card there. Chloe took it out and dialled the number. She hoped that it was not too early for the other woman. It was after 10 am after all.

It rang for a long time and Chloe was about to hang up when she heard a rather formal “Linda Martin speaking” from the other side.

“Hello Dr Martin. It’s Chloe Decker. How are you?” Linda sounded ok on the phone, but Chloe thought that Linda probably could make herself sound less distressed than she actually felt.

“Well… I’m still kind of unhinged from that revelation. I mean … I never believed and now … now I know it’s all true, the whole God and Devil thing and … and demons.”

“If you ever want to talk about it, you can give me a call or we can meet somewhere, whatever you’d like.” Chloe had not intended to offer it over the phone, but it seemed that the other woman might need it.

“Thank you, Chloe. I might just do that. It’s so nice of you to check on me and offer your help. And please call me Linda.”

“Well, it would be nice to talk to another human who knows about it actually.” Chloe just realised that up until the accidental revelation, she had been the only human who knew about it all. She paused for a moment and decided to approach the reason she actually had called. “There’s actually also another reason I called you. Linda, I know it’s probably too soon, but we really need your help.”

“What do you mean by “we”?” Linda sounded cautious.

Chloe sighed. “Me and Lucifer. The situation he came to see you about yesterday has gotten more urgent. I think it’s all related to his emotions and you are far better equipped to help him than I am.”

Linda did not say anything for a while. “What exactly is going on? What is so urgent about it?” she finally asked.

“There are now more demons on Earth, so it’s crucial that we stop them as soon as possible, but Lucifer can’t change his face back and it’s even spreading now, so we need to get this under control and him to his normal appearance before we can go and search for the demons.” Chloe let it all out in a ramble.

“Wait, wait … are you saying that he is still looking like what I saw yesterday and you want me to have a session with him? I’m sorry Chloe, but I can’t look at him. Not now at least. If he’d be his normal human-like self I might consider it, but not like that. I’m sorry.”

“Is the way he looks the only reason?” Chloe’s mind started to find solutions, not willing to give up on the only hope they had. “What if you wouldn’t have to look at him?”

“But I would still be in the same place as him… I can’t do that… not yet.” Linda just couldn’t imagine being so near to that monstrous thing she had seen. Her mind might have understood that it was still the same man who had been her patient for some time, but the primal instincts were stronger.

“Well… we could do it online. You’d be in your house and we would be here in the penthouse. Just like now, talking over the phone but with computers you know. Would that work?” Chloe offered another suggestion.

Linda thought about it for a minute. It would be basically the same thing they were already doing, only with Lucifer’s input. “Ok, let’s try it.”

“Thank you so much, Linda. If you feel uncomfortable, we can just end the session.” Chloe wanted the other woman to feel as comfortable as she could in this situation.

About 15 minutes later they were all set up. Chloe’s laptop was on the bar and she was sitting next to it. They had discussed whether Lucifer should stay out of sight, but Linda figured that just hearing him without actually seeing would probably creep her out even more. So Lucifer was sitting in one of the armchairs and wearing a hat to cover his head as much as possible. The rim of it was tilted down to the side closest to the bar, so Linda wouldn’t have to see much of the skin on his face. In addition he held his hand in front of his face, so she would only get a glimpse of the red and scarred visage he had. To be sure that Linda would hear him they had set up the fancy microphone Lucifer owned on the coffee table in front of him (Chloe knew better than to ask why he had bought it in the first place).

“So, uhm… should I leave the room and give you some privacy?” Chloe wanted it to be like their regular session, afraid that Lucifer would not open up otherwise.

“No,” Linda’s answer sounded almost fearful. “I mean, I think you could stay… you know in case we have some problems with the internet or something…,” Linda tried to soften her initial response.

“Would it be okay for you, Lucifer?” Chloe turned to her boyfriend to get confirmation.

“Yes, darling. It’s all right if you’d like to stay.” Lucifer could understand very well that Linda was still afraid of him. He was still a bit unsure if it would even work or would the therapist be too engrossed in her own fears to have a session like they used to have.

A moment of awkward silence followed until Linda picked up the courage to start.

“So Lucifer, do you remember what you were thinking about the last time we met, just before your face… uhm… changed?”

Lucifer sighed. He remembered everything, his celestial memory made sure of it. “I was thinking whether I was to blame for the fact that those demons are here on Earth. That maybe I should have done what my brother wanted and gone back to Hell and… and if it makes me evil that I decided to stay here and enjoy myself rather than return to my duties.” He tried to keep his voice calm and low in order to sound less threatening.

Chloe would have liked to argue with him and tell him that it does not make him evil that he didn’t want to go back to a place he abhorred and had already spent aeons in, but she understood that she should not interfere.

“But you did not directly have a hand in them coming to Earth, yes?” Linda almost laughed at herself thinking back to the metaphors she had assumed he was using when Lucifer first told her about his brother letting the demons come to Earth.

“No. It was my brother who made it possible for them to come here.”

“And your brother is an angel?” Linda vaguely remembered him saying something like that, because it had surprised her why he would refer to his brother as an angel if he did all those bad things Lucifer had described.

“Yes, all my brothers and sisters are angels.”

“And your father is God.” Linda’s voice had a hint of awe in it.

“Yes, but what has that got to do with the demons? I don’t think he is punishing me for it by making me look like the Devil permanently… or do you think He is?

Linda was already having trouble looking past the fact that she was doing therapy for the literal son of God, so the assumption that it could be God’s doing had her feeling even more that she was totally incompetent for problems with this magnitude.

Before she could reply there was a noise coming from the direction of the balcony. Linda couldn’t understand what was going on, but the other people in the room apparently did, because she could hear Lucifer grumble “Bollocks” silently and Chloe muttered, “what the hell is he doing here?”

At the next moment she saw a black man walking inside from the balcony. The fact that he came in from the balcony door and not from the direction of the elevator was already weird, but the fact that this man had big dark grey wings folded on his back was a clear indication that it was indeed something you wouldn’t see just anywhere.

Instead of a greeting he asked with an angry voice, “what are you still doing here Lucifer?”

“Well, I live here, brother.” Lucifer stood up to face the other man.

“What happened to your face?” The angel seemed to have just noticed that his brother didn’t look like his angelic self.

“What? You don’t like to look at the Devil?” Lucifer would have liked to scare his brother away with his face. Unfortunately angels were not so easily scared.

Amenadiel looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment, but brushed it off. “Didn’t the demons come to see you?”

“Oh, you mean the demons that I had locked in Hell and who you let come to Earth? Oh yes, they came to see me.” 

“So why didn’t you go back with them?” Amenadiel sounded genuinely confused.

“Because I didn’t want to.” Lucifer had raised his voice.

“But they need you down there. You are supposed to run Hell.” Amenadiel was trying to sound commanding, but a bit of desperation was palpable in his voice.

“I never understood how this latest plan of yours was supposed to work. The only thing it achieved was demons roaming freely on Earth. And now there are even more demons up here which means that they probably killed a few humans to get their siblings up here.”

“You let them stay here?” Amenadiel furrowed his brows in confusion.

“I ordered them to go back, but they are demons, not really known for their obedience,” Lucifer answered, his tone full of sarcasm.

Amenadiel looked shocked for a moment, but quickly found who to blame it for. “Look what you've done now, brother. More humans are dead because of you.”

“More humans? Are you suggesting that the priest and his sidekick were my fault too?” Lucifer knew that he shouldn’t be surprised about the things he was blamed for anymore, but still he was a bit baffled how his brother was able to twist that to be his fault now.

“They wouldn’t be dead if they hadn’t encountered you,” was Amenadiel’s reply and Lucifer couldn’t do more than scoff at the accusation and roll his eyes.

“I’m going to end this now.” Lucifer was curious what exactly his brother was planning to do when he heard another voice from behind him.

“No, I’m going to end it. Get your feathery ass out of our home right now.” Chloe’s voice was stern and commanding. Amenadiel was clearly surprised. He had been so focused on Lucifer that he hadn’t noticed Chloe sitting by the bar. 

Chloe had initially planned to stay out of it, but hearing the angel blame Lucifer for things that clearly weren’t his fault, she felt that she couldn't just sit there and watch anymore. 

Lucifer was about to tell Chloe to stay away from his brother, afraid that the angel might hurt her, but to his surprise Amenadiel seemed to be intimidated by his fierce girlfriend.

“This isn’t over yet,” Amenadiel brandished his finger towards Lucifer, but turned around and left through the balcony door to Lucifer’s relief. 

The sight of spreading his wings and flying away was kind of spectacular even if Chloe didn’t like the angel even one bit.

After they had witnessed Amenadiel fly away Chloe stepped closer to Lucifer and put her hand on his back, “are you okay?”

Lucifer let out a breath he didn’t realise he had been holding. “Well, we now know how many things I’m to be blamed for.”

“Lucifer, you know he’s wrong. And so do I.” Chloe tried to make him feel better, not failing to notice that he didn’t answer her initial question.

“Is he though?” Lucifer questioned. He brought his hand up to start to gesticulate while elaborating his thought, but noticed that his hands were now also red and instead of his perfectly manicured nails he had rather monstrous talons.

“Bloody hell,” he cursed and fled from the living room to hide in the bedroom.

Chloe had noticed his hand the same time Lucifer did and couldn’t help but curse Amenadiel silently in her head. 

She went back to the computer where Linda was looking at the screen with wide eyes. 

“What was that?” the therapist asked.

Chloe was not sure what exactly she was asking about, so she decided to explain it all.

“Well, that was the asshole brother who made it possible for the demons to come to Earth in the first place and now tries to blame Lucifer for it. And it seems to be working because now Lucifer's hands have also transformed.” Chloe rested her head on her hand feeling how every hope of having a therapy session that might help Lucifer evaporated. Lucifer would probably refuse to show Linda any more of his devilish self.

“Well, he’s clearly gaslighting Lucifer. This is a dysfunctional family if I’ve ever seen one.” Suddenly the problems Lucifer had didn’t seem too big anymore. They might be celestials, but the problems seemed all too human. “Did I hear him correctly and Lucifer really questioned if he should be blamed for the things his brother did?”

“Yes, he did,” Chloe sighed.

“I think this might be the problem. Maybe he really thinks that all these things are his fault.”

“Should I go and try to get him back here, so we could continue the session?” Chloe perked up.

“No, I think it’s not what he needs right now. Doing it through the screen is not the right way to deal with it.” Linda realised that although the barrier was rather necessary for her at this point, it was not helping her patient.

“So what are you saying? Do you want to come over?” 

“No.” Linda looked a little guilty. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable around him yet. I think you should go and talk to him. Without me.”

“But I’m not a therapist,” Chloe objected.

“But you are his girlfriend. You know him better than anyone. If anyone can make him see that he is not to be blamed for other people’s actions, it’s you.” Linda was glad that Lucifer had someone like Chloe at that moment. 

Chloe reluctantly ended the call on her computer after thanking Linda for her input. She was not sure that she'd be able to really help him.

 

When Chloe stepped inside the bedroom she saw Lucifer sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to the doorway. Or at least she assumed it was Lucifer because instead of the suit clad back she was expecting she saw two leathery wings folded against a red scarred back. The hat he had been wearing was on the floor together with his jacket. Some torn pieces of fabric were on the bed and they looked like the shirt he had been wearing.

“Lucifer,” she tentatively called out.

“Please don’t come in here. I don’t want you to see me like that.” His voice sounded weak and defeated. Lucifer’s elbows were placed on his knees and his head was resting on his hands. The sight made Chloe’s heart clench in sorrow. 

“Lucifer, you don’t have to hide from me,” Chloe told him as she stepped closer. “I want to help you.”

“How? I’m a monster. This is who I truly am now.” His voice sounded a bit lower than usual.

“No, you’re not.” Chloe had reached his side and stood there looking at him. His upper body was bare, showing his red and scarred skin. The bones under the skin were clearly visible. The sight was far from his usual handsome appearance and Chloe needed to steel herself for a second before she could continue. “I’m sure we can find a way to bring your normal looks back, but you need to let me in.”

“Why are you even doing this?” Lucifer looked up and met her gaze for the first time since the therapy session started. “You should be fleeing from here. You shouldn’t have to look at this monstrosity,” he gestured towards himself. “My father named me as poison of God and he was right - I ruin everything I touch.” With those words he stood up and rushed to the corner of the room that was farthest from the bed and stood there facing the window.

“Lucifer, you haven’t ruined anything. I’m not crumbling to pieces after seeing you in this… form.” Chloe felt the urge to go to him and hug him despite his not so cuddly looking form, but remained standing where she was. She had a feeling that he needed the space right now.

“You are not to be blamed for the things you had no control over. Amenadiel is the one who caused the mess with the demons and you didn’t let them stay. They disobeyed you after you told them to go back to Hell. It is not your fault. I know you would never endanger humans like that.”

Lucifer stood there quietly. Chloe decided to ask the question she thought could be the key. “Do you think it’s your fault, Lucifer?” 

Silence filled the penthouse for a while and Chloe already thought he would not answer her at all when Lucifer finally spoke. “I can’t help but think that none of this would have happened if I had returned to Hell right after Amenadiel first showed up. Four people would still be alive. The gate would still be locked and the demons wouldn’t have the possibility to come to Earth. It was my job to rule over them and I abandoned them.”

“But you had been here on Earth for about 5 years before that asshole showed up and everything had been fine until that.” Chloe really, really wanted to punch Amenadiel. Or even shoot him.

“Still, I should have known that my brother wouldn’t just let it slide. I was just too selfish to leave it all behind and go back to that wretched place.” Leaving Chloe and going back to Hell hadn’t even crossed his mind as a possibility back then.

Chloe understood that she could not convince Lucifer that it wasn’t his fault. “All right, let’s say that you could have done something differently. But do you really think that it helps if you stand there and blame yourself? I remember what my father used to tell me when I was a kid and had done something I felt bad about. He said that I can continue to feel sorry about it or just forgive myself and move on. And I think that is what you should do too. You should forgive yourself and then we can start to do something about it and find a way to fix this mess.”

“It’s easier said than done,” Lucifer muttered.

“I know it’s not easy but you should still try it,” Chloe was hopeful since he hadn’t argued about doing it.

“It’s not that I don’t want to do it,” after feeling guilty for several days, Lucifer would have really liked the feeling to stop. He turned around, hoping that Chloe might be able to guide him through it, “I just don’t know how.”

Chloe noticed the change immediately. It started around his eyes where it all had begun and continued further. His normal skin was starting to take over again.

Lucifer was confused when he saw her grinning widely but when she muttered, “I think you just took the first step,” he looked at his hands and saw that the red skin was disappearing. He touched his face and found that it felt like his angelic form again.

“We did it, Chloe,” he chuckled.

“I’m so proud of you,” Chloe stepped closer to Lucifer who now was completely back to looking like his normal self.

Lucifer closed the distance between them and pulled her into a tight hug. “Thank you, my love. Thank you so much,” he whispered, voice thick with emotion.

Notes:

I just couldn't leave a hug out of the end. Although it's a wonderful scene in the series (I'm referring to 4x09 ending), for me there is at least a hug missing from there.

Chapter 7: Back to Hell

The hug lasted for a while. Lucifer was overwhelmed with gratitude towards this wonderful woman who had been there for him through the whole ordeal even though he had tried to spare her from witnessing his monstrous side. He pressed a kiss on top of her head with another murmured "thank you" and was a bit surprised when she reciprocated with a kiss to his bare chest. Lucifer looked down when he felt Chloe lift her head from his chest where it had been resting through the hug. Seeing her sweet smile was all he needed to lower his head and meet her lips in a kiss. It was sweet and short, but when he broke the kiss, their eyes stayed locked and this time it was Chloe who decided to pull him in for another kiss. She relished the feeling of his smooth skin under her hands when she slid them from Lucifer’s back to his neck and thick hair. This time the kiss turned to something more heated. Soon Chloe was freed from the blouse she had been wearing and Lucifer started to back them towards the bed. They landed there with a soft thud and continued the task of ridding each other from clothes. Chloe had just opened his zipper when the sound of Lucifer’s phone interrupted them. Lucifer was planning to ignore it and continue with their activities, but Chloe was clearly disturbed by it.

“What if it’s something important?” She wasn’t a cop yet, but the habit of always answering her phone was already rooted in her.

“I can call back when I’m done with you,” Lucifer whispered in her ear in between kisses. Chloe couldn’t deny that the sound of his phone had not extinguished the heat in her core, so she was glad when the ringing stopped and Lucifer kissed his way down her abdomen. He had just opened the button of her jeans when the ringing started again.

“Bloody hell,” Lucifer grumbled, “I’ll just turn it off.” He reached for the phone on the nightstand, but then saw the caller ID.

“Who is it?” Chloe saw that Lucifer was staring at the phone, clearly debating whether to turn it off or answer it.

“It’s Maze.” Seeing that it was Maze reminded him that there were still rogue demons on Earth.

“You should answer it.” Chloe didn’t need to debate over it. He had called the demon earlier and for a good reason. They could postpone the celebration sex until after the demons were back in Hell.

“Of course the demon finds ways to torture me even through the phone,” Lucifer muttered realising that he would have to deal with blue balls for now when he saw Chloe rising from the bed and heading to the direction of her discarded blouse.

“Hello, Mazikeen!” he greeted, “so nice of you to call back.” The sarcasm in his voice was palpable.

“What took you so long to answer?” The demon sounded annoyed.

“I was busy,” was Lucifer’s curt reply. He might have complained to Maze about cock-blocking him, but he knew that Chloe didn’t like it when he talked about their sex life with others and he was still not feeling too friendly towards the demon anyway.

“Should have turned your phone off then,” she commented nonchalantly.

Lucifer sighed. “There is a reason I called you, but I think it would be best if you came here to talk about it.”

Maze hesitated. “I thought you didn’t want me near Lux anymore.”

“I’m aware that I told you that, but this is an emergency. I wouldn’t have called otherwise, I haven’t forgotten your betrayal. This is your chance to sort of redeem yourself.” Maze knew as well as he did, that angels didn’t forget anything.

“Fine,” was the demon’s only reply before she hung up.

“Is she coming?” Chloe asked, putting her blouse on.

“Yes, but unfortunately I’m not sure how long it will take her to get here, so I should also probably change into something more presentable.” His trousers had stayed intact, but they still suffered some damage from his changed form, the seams were all stretched out now because of his Devil form’s bigger size. 

Lucifer got up from the bed and went to the closet to change. Chloe finished buttoning up her blouse and picked up the hat and jacket from the floor. She followed Lucifer into the closet. 

“Where should I put the hat?” 

Lucifer turned towards the doorway. “Ah, thank you, darling. I will put it away for now. Since I have hair again I don’t need it anymore. It would just hide my majestic hair.” Lucifer looked at the mirror again. “Speaking of, I should groom my hair too after I finish dressing.” He had managed to put on new pants and slide on a shirt, but it was unbuttoned. Also Lucifer needed a new belt since his waist had stretched the other belt too much.

“And the jacket?” Chloe raised the hand holding his discarded jacket.

“This one should be okay, I took it off before I shifted to the Devil form.” Lucifer put the hat away and stepped closer to retrieve his jacket for a closer inspection. “Yes, I think this one survived the whole ordeal.”

 

When Lucifer stepped out of the bathroom 15 minutes later, he looked like his normal self with perfectly coiffed hair and impeccable suit. He went to put away the hat to its right place when he noticed the key to his Corvette on top of the chest of drawers and it reminded him that his car was still in the parking lot of Linda’s office building. Since he wasn’t sure how much time it would take for Maze to arrive, this was a problem for later.

About five minutes later the elevator doors opened and his former right-hand demon walked out of it. She walked straight to the sitting area and flopped down to one of the armchairs, legs hanging over the armrest.

“So what’s the emergency?” Maze asked without wasting time on greetings.

Lucifer took the glass he had been pouring himself with him and went to sit on the couch opposite of his demon. 

“Some of your siblings are here on Earth currently,” he informed her dryly.

Maze was obviously confused about what Lucifer had said. “How is it possible? You banned possession ages ago.”

“I did. But your new feathered friend decided to make a trip down to Hell and open the gates for them.” Lucifer kept his voice devoid of emotions although underneath he was brimming with anger.

“What? Why would he do that?” If the situation hadn’t been so bad, the demon’s expression would have made Lucifer laugh for sure.

“For some reason he thought that it would make me go back to Hell if some demons came looking for me,” Lucifer shrugged his shoulders. 

“How many of them did this dickhead set free on Earth?” Lucifer quite liked her attitude towards his brother now.

“He sent two of them to get me. They found me here, but instead of going back like I ordered them, they have invited at least two more topside.”

“So there are demons possessing human bodies right now on Earth who defied your direct orders?” Maze summed it up.

“Mh-mm,” Lucifer confirmed. The demon knew how to get to the point.

“Which of them are so dumb?” Maze knew that most of the demons were not too bright, but usually they would not defy a direct order from their king.

“Dromos and Squee.” 

“Ugh… no one likes Squee, he’s a slippery ass kisser. And I guess Dromos has always been a power hungry son of a bitch,” Maze grimaced.

“And yesterday I discovered that they in turn brought up Ustroz and Morrad”, Lucifer added.

“You went down there to check?” There were only two ways to know for Lucifer - either he went to Hell and checked or he had encountered them on Earth, but Maze doubted that they’d be still on Earth if he had indeed encountered them.

“Yes, I wanted to check just in case they had decided to return, so I could close the gate again.” He didn’t need to explain to Maze that he could only close the gate again when all of the demons were back in Hell.

“But instead there are at least two more missing now,” Maze continued, implying that the demons could summon even more of their siblings topside.

“So you understand why I referred to it as an emergency.”

“Mh-mm,” Maze hummed in agreement, “but why wait until today? Did you try to find them on your own already?” She could understand that Lucifer was still pissed at her, but still he could have started to resolve the problem on his own.

“I had my reasons,” was Lucifer’s reply. He did not want to elaborate further about the issues he had been struggling with. It was hopefully over by now, so there was no need to give the demon a reason to tease him about it.

Maze looked at him a bit sceptically but didn’t pry further. “So we need to find a way to force them all to go back at once and then you can pop down there and close the gate behind them.” She thought for a few moments. “I could throw my knives at them, to all at once, it would be almost simultaneous.”

“Assuming we would get them all in the same place at once.” Lucifer was not so sure that they would be so lucky.

“Can’t you just buy an abandoned warehouse or something like that and we catch them all and bring them there. Then we could kill them all. Maybe set the building on fire so they’d all burn in there.” Maze was getting already excited imagining the screams. 

Lucifer sighed. “I hate to spoil your fun, but do I need to remind you that just killing them might not do the trick? If they find another freshly deceased body soon enough, they could just switch the body.”

“Oh, right. A lot of people die in L.A. every day.” The demon fell silent for a while. “But still, we should go and find them.”

“Yes, you’re right about that. I don’t suppose you’d still be able to scent them.”

“No, not after several days. But I might have a few ideas where to start looking for them. I guess it would be more efficient if you and I went to different places. It’s a lot of ground to search for only the two of us.” 

“I can join the search,” Chloe piped up. She had been sitting silently by the bar listening to their conversation, but now she needed them to know that she also wanted to help.

Lucifer looked at her, his brow furrowed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, darling.”

“Why not?” Chloe rose from her seat and walked towards the couch where Lucifer was sitting.

“Because they are dangerous and for a human eye they look like other humans. I’m not sure you’d recognise those demons.” Lucifer felt an unease ripple through him at the thought of Chloe anywhere near those rogue demons. 

Chloe reached the couch and sat down next to Lucifer. “Well, I could come with you then. Help you search.”

“I appreciate your willingness to help, but unfortunately I’m vulnerable around you and I can’t be sure that they won’t attack me if I order them to go back to Hell.” Lucifer put his hand on hers and rubbed circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. He could understand her need to do something, but he’d be much more at ease if he knew that she’s somewhere safe.

“Yeah, and if we need to transport those assholes somewhere, the Corvette has no room for a third passenger,” Maze added.

“The Corvette,” Lucifer suddenly exclaimed. “It’s still at Linda’s office.”

“Why is it there?” Maze was puzzled. Lucifer ignored her question and went to his phone. He dialed the man he could always count on and again he didn’t disappoint. Patrick was just nearby and since his girlfriend was with him, Patrick didn’t think it would be too much trouble to drive the Corvette back to Lux and let his girlfriend drive his car.

“We’ll need to take a little break. I need to get the keys to Patrick and then we can continue,” Lucifer informed Maze when he came back to the sitting area.

“I can give him the keys,” Chloe offered. At least then she could do something. They could get on with discussing their plans without Lucifer having to leave. If she could drive the stick she would have brought the Corvette back yesterday and left the Mini there, but since she hadn’t learned that, Lucifer’s beloved car stayed in the office building parking lot.

“Thank you, darling,” Lucifer gave her a soft smile and a brief but passionate kiss on the lips.

“Will he come by the bar or should I meet him somewhere?” Chloe asked before she took the keys Lucifer held out for her.

“He’ll be at Lux in about 5 minutes.”

“Okay.” Chloe took the keys and went to the elevator.

 

--------

 

Chloe had been twirling the key ring for the Corvette around her finger for about 2 minutes before she decided to have a drink. She poured herself a glass of juice and had finished about half of it when she heard some noise from the direction of the back door. As she had assumed it was Patrick, who appeared in the club a few moments later. 

“Hi, Chloe! Is the boss here?” Patrick had expected to see Lucifer waiting for him.

“Hello! No, he’s in the penthouse. I came down here to deliver the keys myself.” Chloe held up her hand with the keys.

“Oh, thanks. Do you know the exact address where the car is?” Lucifer had not given Patrick all the details during their phone call.

“Yes, I know exactly where the car is. I can send you a text with the address,” Chloe offered.

“Yeah, sure. It would be great.” 

Chloe took out her phone and forwarded the text with the address for Linda’s office that Lucifer had sent her the day before. She added a little description of exactly where he had parked the car, so Patrick would find it more easily. When his phone pinged with the sound of an incoming message Patrick thanked her and left.

Chloe stayed there and finished her drink. After washing the glass she rounded the bar again to head to the elevator when she heard steps coming from the direction of the back door again. At first she thought that Patrick came back to ask something but instead a stranger emerged from the shadows. There was something strange about the man, but Chloe couldn’t really decide what it was that made him seem a little off.

“I’m sorry, but the club is closed right now. You need to leave and come back later,” Chloe informed him.

The man looked around and didn’t really pay attention to her. “Excuse me, do you speak English?” He looked a bit like someone who was not used to what he was seeing.

Suddenly the man turned his attention to her, “they said that Lucifer Morningstar is here.”

“If you are looking for a favour, you need to come back some other day or better yet, make an appointment. He’s busy tonight.” Chloe was not sure how long it would take for Maze and Lucifer to deal with the demon problem, but she was quite sure that he would not be interested in doing favours tonight. 

“You know him,” the man said in a way that it sounded more like a statement than a question. When he stepped closer to Chloe she felt the hair on her arm stand up. When the man seemed to sniff the air, Chloe decided that it was about time that he left.

“You should leave right now,” she said in a stern voice.

Instead of going away the man surged forward wrapping his hands around Chloe’s throat and started to strangle her. Chloe tried to get the hands off of her, but he was much stronger than he looked. Soon the world around her went dark.

 

--------

 

Bernard was just coming back from the toilet when he heard the alarm blare in the security room. He took the last few steps faster than ever and saw that it was Chloe’s bracelet that had triggered the alarm. A quick glance at the screen showed that she was currently at the club. Bernie took off and despite his rather big belly arrived quickly in the club room. As soon as he spotted a man with his arms around Chloe’s neck he shouted for him to let her go. It seemed to startle the man. He took away his hands and Chloe slumped down, but instead of just running away the man grabbed Chloe and tossed her over his shoulder. He ran towards the back door. Bernie debated over trying to shoot him, but there was a chance that he could hit Chloe, so he decided against it. Instead the security guard ran after him, but the man was faster and also had managed to turn over some crates that were lining the hallway towards the back door. Bernie stopped by the crates, panting and started to search for his phone. He supposed it was time to call the police. He couldn’t find it and started to go back to the security room where he had left it. Bernie had just reached the bar when the door to the stairs burst open and Lucifer stormed through it, Maze on his heels.

“Where is she? What happened?” Lucifer asked in a panicked voice.

“I’m sorry boss, but I lost her. The man was too quick,” Bernie apologised.

“What do you mean you lost her?” Lucifer asked, feeling like his blood had turned to ice hearing that the security guard had lost Chloe.

“I saw the guy strangle her and then he grabbed her and ran away taking her with him,” the other man explained hoping that Lucifer would not fire him for it.

“Someone came here to strangle Chloe and then kidnapped her?” Lucifer wanted to make sure he had understood it correctly.

“Yes, I was just heading to the security room to get my phone and call the police.”

“No need,” Maze said, “we can handle it.”

“Are you sure?” Bernie looked at his boss and the scary (former) coworker. “I’m really sorry, boss.”

“It’s not your fault, Bernie,” Lucifer offered him a tight smile. “You can go back to the security room and resume your shift.”

“Okay, boss.” Bernard started to walk towards the security room thinking that they probably would try to find the guy themselves and punish him without getting the police involved. 

Maze kept her eyes on the security guard’s retreating back until he was out of earshot and then turned to Lucifer. She was a bit surprised to find Lucifer looking at his phone.

“I know who it was,” Maze informed him. “I can sense him.”

“So it was one of the demons?” Lucifer had suspected it after Maze had told the security guard that they’d handle it.

“Elmer,” was Maze’s answer.

Lucifer sighed, “so there are more now.” This one had not been among the first four, so it meant that the demons had been summoning others.

“But the good thing is that now we have a fresh trail. I can find him easily if I follow it.” She hesitated before asking, “do you think she was…”

Before Maze could end her sentence Lucifer interrupted her, not wanting to hear the question. “She was alive, but unconscious. The app for the bracelet shows her vital signs.”

“Good, I’ll go after him then.” Maze started to move towards the elevator and Lucifer followed her. 

“Didn’t you mean to say that we are going after him?” 

“No, I didn’t. If I had meant to say it, I would have.” Maze didn’t slow her stride.

“You can’t seriously think that I’ll just stay behind when they have Chloe?” Lucifer wondered indignantly.

“Yes you will. I’ll be much quicker on my motorcycle, but I don’t want you there behind me distracting me. I’ll find them and call you. When you use your wings, you’ll be there in a few seconds, right?” 

“Yes, I will, but,” Lucifer started to protest.

“No buts. Stay here and I’ll call you soon.” They had reached the elevator and Maze stepped inside the carriage pushing the button for the garage.

Lucifer didn’t like it, but the demon was right. She’ll probably be faster going alone and he’d be there almost instantly after getting the location. He waited for a few minutes until he was sure that Maze had reached the garage and then called the elevator back up to go to the penthouse. 

He couldn’t help but replay the moment in his head when they had heard the alert of Chloe’s bracelet go off. They had decided to take the stairs because they knew that the elevator was currently on Lux’s floor and it would have taken extra time to get it to the penthouse and then back down. But if he had decided to fly instead and maybe landed by the backdoor, he could have caught the bastard right there. Maybe if he had kept his eyes on the app and seen her location changing, he could have known that someone was trying to kidnap her. 

The thoughts about what he could have done to prevent it happening swirled in his mind and Lucifer tried to chase them away with some whiskey. He gulped down two glasses and then decided to retreat to the balcony. It would be the best spot to take flight as soon as Maze called and told him where those demons were.

 

Lucifer felt as if he had waited there for at least an hour, but when he checked the time, it turned out that it had been about 15 minutes since Maze had left. He started to regret that he had let Maze go alone. Anything would be better than just waiting here doing nothing to save the woman that he lo… His mind screeched to a halt. Did he love her? Lucifer was not sure, the concept of love had been completely foreign to him until he had met Chloe. But one thing he was sure about - he would do anything to keep her safe. He had not asked his Father for anything for a long, long time, but now he raised his eyes towards the sky. “Please, keep her safe. I’ll do whatever you want.” As usual he was met with silence. He had not really been waiting for an answer or anything like that, he just hoped that his Father would listen this one time. 

Lucifer spent a couple more minutes there in silence until a sound that he had definitely not been expecting caught his attention. The flapping of wings alerted him that he had a celestial visitor once again. When he looked towards the sound he was greeted with dark grey wings and a bald head that gleamed under the sun.

“Two visits in one day? Are you really so desperate?” Lucifer was about to mock him some more, suggesting their Father had not let him into Silver City when he had no results to show, but then it occurred to him that Amenadiel could be here with some offer from Father in turn for keeping Chloe safe.

“No, brother. I came to…,” the angel seemed to struggle with what he had to say and somehow it made Lucifer even more nervous about the reason Amenadiel was at his place again. “I came to apologise,” he finally got the words out and at the same time rendered his brother speechless. Lucifer just stared at him for a while, not really trusting his ears.

“What did you say?” Lucifer finally croaked out, feeling a lump in his throat for some reason. 

“I am sorry for blaming you for the demons and also for the dead priest and his friend. It was not your fault, it was mine.” It seemed that after his initial struggle to get out the word “apologise”, the following words had been easier to Amenadiel. The angel looked ashamed and Lucifer was realising with astonishment that his brother was being sincere. The Firstborn was really apologising for accusing him for things that were not his fault. 

“Did you hit your head or something?” Lucifer went for a joke, deciding that it was safer to tread that situation cautiously.

The corner of Amenadiel’s mouth tipped up, but the smile was rather sad. The joke didn’t really surprise him, especially coming from Lucifer, but Amenadiel realised that his brother had every reason to suspect that he was not in his right mind. That’s how poorly he had treated him. “No, Lucifer. I just had some time to think about the whole situation. I think I might have gotten lost at some point. Focusing on the task of getting you back to Hell and not thinking about the means I used to achieve it. I’m not sure Father would approve of the way I handled it.” Amenadiel lowered his head again, reminding Lucifer of a child who had done something bad and asking for forgiveness from his parents.

Lucifer was not surprised that one of Amenadiel’s concerns about what he had done was that Father would not approve. He had always been a Daddy’s boy. But the apology still baffled him. He huffed. “I don’t think dear old Dad is happy about you letting the demons loose on Earth.” Lucifer turned fully towards Amenadiel and his voice now sounded rather menacing. “And neither am I. If anything happens to her you are going to be sorry that you ever left the Silver City.” His eyes flashed red.

The angel was confused. “Happens to whom?”

“They took Chloe,” Lucifer growled. 

“I’m so sorry, brother.”

Lucifer didn’t answer him, because at the same time his phone rang and he fished it immediately out of his pocket. “Yes, Mazikeen,” he answered in an urgent tone.

“They are at the Mayan,” Maze told him as a reply, getting straight down to business. 

“The Mayan?” Lucifer was a bit surprised. “Are they attending a concert?”

“No, there is a church convention. Apparently a lot of guilty souls.” Her tone was sour. 

“Bollocks,” Lucifer understood that there were now a lot more than five demons possessing humans. “I’ll be right there.” He disconnected the call and placed the phone back into his pocket.

“I need to go and sort out the mess you caused, so if you’ll excuse me.” Lucifer spread his wings and was relieved to hear the sound of feathers.

“Can I help?” Amenadiel’s voice sounded almost pleading.

Lucifer considered for a moment. They were clearly outnumbered, so one additional set of hands (and wings) would be helpful even if he was reluctant to accept help from his sibling. But Chloe’s safety was on the line, so he decided to take it. “Fine. Follow me,” was Lucifer’s curt reply before he took off and the other angel followed him.

 

They landed near the Mayan shortly after. Maze’s eyes narrowed with suspicion as soon as she saw Amenadiel. “What’s he doing here?”

“Oh, my brother has realised that letting the demons roam the Earth might have not been a smart move and he wants to help us in getting them back to Hell.” Lucifer’s tone was as patronising as it could be.

“And you trust him? How do you know that this is not another ploy to get you to leave Earth?” Maze stood arms crossed over her chest and her glare was stating clearly that she didn’t trust the angel.

“I trust that he does understand the situation and I have warned him about the consequences if things do not turn out as well as I’d like.” Lucifer didn’t want to analyse at that moment whether he trusted his brother or not and he did believe that the warning he had given his brother would be intimidating enough for the angel to not want to deceive him.

“But let’s not waste any more time”, Lucifer turned his attention to Mazikeen. “So the demons are all there and inviting new siblings to Earth, right?”

“Yeah… as far as I understand they crashed this church convention and started killing people who were there, resulting in more bodies to possess for those idiot demons.” Maze’s contempt for the demons who had decided to ignore their king’s rule was palpable.

“But if they are Christians shouldn’t they go to Heaven not Hell?” Amenadiel was confused.

“Those priests you like to conspire with are very good at making ordinary people feel guilty about not being as devout as dear old Dad supposedly wants them to be, hence most of them feel guilty when they die and end up in Hell.” Lucifer felt a kind of satisfaction seeing the mild horror on Amenadiel’s face, who obviously had started to understand that life was not as black and white as he had imagined it to be, but that there were a lot of grey tones involved.

“And did you see her too?” The question came out more wary than he intended.

“Not really, but Elmer is here, so she must be too.” Maze was sure that she would have noticed if the other demon had dropped Chloe off somewhere.

Lucifer then remembered something. He took out his phone and opened the app for the bracelet and refreshed it. It connected to the bracelet showing that it must be near enough. Right now it didn’t give out the alert, so Lucifer decided that it was a good sign, showing that she was not under direct threat from the demons. Satisfied with what he was seeing, Lucifer put the phone back into his pocket and started to move towards the building, “well, I think it’s time to kick some demon ass.”

 

They moved through the halls with carved walls silently and finally reached the main hall where they saw about 10 demons. Lucifer spotted Dromos right away, standing in front of the room on a dais that looked a bit like a temple the incas used to build.

“Dromos,” Lucifer shouted out, “I told you to return to Hell.”

Dromos looked at the Devil and just smirked. “Now you see, the thing is, I don’t take orders from you anymore. Not since the whole abdication thing. So as far as I’m concerned, we don’t have a king anymore and can do what we want.” The other demons seemed to agree, deciding from the noises they made at Dromos’s words. “You know, you've got to admit you’ve been a bit of a selfish king. Keeping the whole Earth thing to yourself. But luckily that angel over there,” he pointed to Amenadiel, “saw things differently.” Dromos gave Amenadiel a smile that looked downright creepy.

Lucifer ignored the remark about his brother. He was sure that it was made in hopes of turning them against each other. 

“You were never supposed to stay here. All I asked was for you to talk to Lucifer. You should return to Hell now.” Amenadiel did his best to sound as commanding as he could.

“Over my dead body,” Dromos didn’t look too worried about facing the Devil or the other angel. “Oh, that’s right, it’s already dead. So… you’re gonna have to get creative.” His voice turned more serious with the last sentence. He looked really determined to remain on Earth.

It was clear that the demons would not go willingly and so all three of them understood that it was time to start fighting. Maze whipped out her blades and moved towards the closest demons while Amenadiel headed to the other side. Lucifer continued to walk towards the dais, he wanted to fight Dromos himself. Two other demons had joined Dromos on the dais and tried to kick Lucifer but the Devil easily avoided their kicks. Those were definitely not very skilled fighters, but the idea that Dromos had managed to turn them against him angered the Devil.

“You are going to pay, Dromos,” he promised.

“Really?” Dromos stood a few feet behind the other demons and seemed sure that he would win this fight, “my money is on me, pal.” 

The demons kicked again towards Lucifer. He blocked the first blows with his arms, but then one managed to land a blow at his midsection. Although Lucifer didn’t let it bother him much, Dromos watched it with contempt. “You’re getting soft. Getting all mushy with the humans. It’s disgusting.”

Lucifer didn’t answer him, but fought with more vigour and managed to kick one of the demons off the dais and the other one landed on his back so hard that he didn’t stand up afterwards. Now it was just him and Dromos. The demon managed to land a blow to the Devil’s face, but Lucifer gave back twice as hard, making Dromos spin on the spot from the force of it. It was followed by a head butt that made Dromos fall down. Dromos just laughed and spit out some blood.  

Lucifer glanced around and saw that Maze and his brother had defeated the other demons who had been in the room. 

“There’s no one left, Dromos. Party’s over.” The demon had gotten up from the floor and was standing again. Amenadiel and Maze rushed to the dais to join Lucifer. All three of them were now against the leader of this mutiny. Lucifer let his voice sound more devilish, “I think it’s time you went home.” 

“Make me,” was the demon’s answer.

“Very well,” Lucifer said while removing his jacket to prepare himself for what he was planning to do. Maze and Amenadiel moved closer to Dromos and captured the rebellious demon between them. Lucifer let his demon eyes glow red while he was getting closer to Dromos and grabbed the other demon blade from Maze who was holding one of her blades against Dromos’s throat. 

Lucifer was just about to get creative like Dromos himself had suggested when he heard a familiar “I need help” coming from the direction of his jacket. Lucifer started to look around searching for any sign of Chloe. When he didn’t notice any, Lucifer turned to Dromos again. “Where is the woman Elmer brought here earlier?”

Dromos smirked. He had not thought that the woman was someone special, although she had smelled a bit like their (former) Lord. It seemed though, that she could be used as a leverage. “What are you willing to do for that information?” Dromos asked instead of answering.

Lucifer had opened his mouth to tell the demon about all the ways he could torture the information out of him when he heard footsteps coming towards the hall. The footsteps sounded all too familiar and Lucifer immediately descended the stairs that led to the dais they were standing on. As soon as he reached the doorway to one of the hallways someone came running and barreled right into the Devil’s chest. Lucifer’s hands closed around the person almost instinctively. At first she tensed in fear, thinking that she had run into an enemy, but as soon as the familiar scent reached her, Chloe realised that it was Lucifer she had encountered unexpectedly. She looked up and saw the familiar warm brown eyes looking down at her. “Lucifer,” she whispered. It was all she could say before melting into his embrace.

“Chloe, darling, are you all right?” Lucifer was holding her as tight as he could without actually hurting her.

“I think so,” she mumbled into his chest.

Lucifer was so happy that Chloe was back at his side and safe from the demons that he had almost forgotten that they weren’t alone in the room. 

“You see, that’s exactly what I was talking about. It’s so sweet I’m gonna puke.” Dromos’s voice reminded Lucifer what he was about to do before Chloe suddenly appeared. 

“You are lucky that she is all right, otherwise you’d be suffering way more than you will for disobeying me.” Lucifer had let go of Chloe and turned his body towards the dais again, shielding Chloe from Dromos’s sight. The demon smirked, “who said she can’t be harmed still.”

Suddenly the main hall was filled with demons, coming in from the same hallway that Chloe had appeared from and all the other ones too. Before Lucifer or Chloe could react, Dromos’s voice sounded loud and clear, “get the woman.” All the demons then headed towards Chloe. Lucifer punched a few of them in the face, but there were too many. The demons surrounded Chloe, Lucifer was trying to hold on to her but her grip on Lucifer’s hand was loosening. “It’s amazing how many guilty souls you can find from a church convention,” Dromos laughed.

Lucifer understood that he could not fight them all at once to free Chloe. There were no more demons coming into the room, but it seemed that they had summoned at least 50 demons to Earth. 

To Chloe’s horror, Lucifer let go of her hand and moved towards the stairs. She reached out her hand and yelled “Lucifer”, but the Devil quickly continued his path towards the top of the stairs. Panic and confusion washed over her until she saw Lucifer transform into his full Devil form. His shirt did not survive the shift and Lucifer ripped the shreds from his body with a roar. 

“You’ll bow down to your king,” he ordered in a growling voice. The demons all reacted to the commanding voice of their king and the full demonic form with leathery wings and they all bowed. Even Dromos, although his expression was anything but submissive. “You do not belong here,” Lucifer continued, “go home!” Lucifer observed the room and saw all demons leave the bodies they had been possessing. Then he took flight and disappeared just to reappear after a few seconds, still in his demonic form. He shifted back into his usual angelic form before he dared to look towards Chloe.

Chloe just stared towards the dais with her mouth slightly open, not fully comprehending what had happened in the last 30 seconds.

“Did you close the gate?” Amenadiel asked, breaking the silence.

“Yes, I did, brother.” Lucifer saw relief wash over the angel’s face.

“And were they all inside?” Amenadiel asked a bit more tentatively.

“There would not have been much point in closing the gate if they weren’t,” Lucifer replied a bit sarcastically.

“So they are all gone?” Chloe was standing right next to them now on the dais. Lucifer hadn’t even noticed her coming up. 

“Yes, darling, they won’t hurt you again.” Lucifer had noticed the bruising on her neck, definitely from Elmer’s attack.

“Thank you!” Chloe hugged him again.

“What should we do about the bodies?,” Maze asked, gesturing with her head towards the room that was covered with dead bodies the demons had possessed.

Chloe looked at the room without letting go of Lucifer. “I’m not sure we could come up with a story that would seem plausible. And we know that Lucifer doesn’t lie, so I think there is only one option.” Everyone looked at Chloe, curious about that option. “We need to leave and let those who’ll find it deal with it.”

“Or we could torch it, destroy all the evidence.” Maze suggested.

“No, the fire could go out of hand. I think we should make sure that there is no evidence that would tie us to the scene and just leave. That way no one else will get hurt.” Chloe knew that it might not be the most ethical solution, but she could not risk police suspecting her or Lucifer of killing about 50 people.

After a quick look around they left, Lucifer flying Chloe back to the penthouse, Maze riding away on her motorcycle and Amenadiel flying also off somewhere (Lucifer was not really interested where his brother went).

 

--------

 

Lucifer was sitting in the office and writing something when Maze walked in. She had driven to Lux after leaving the Mayan. The demon had figured that she could ask maybe Lucifer her old room back now, but wanted to check first whether it was still available or had he rented it out to someone else already.

Maze had not expected the Devil to be in the office. She had assumed that he would be glued to Chloe’s side after the run in with the demons. Deciding by the look on Lucifer’s face when he saw Maze walking into the office, he had not been expecting her either.

“What are you doing here?” the demon asked.

“I have some things I need to do,” Lucifer answered vaguely. Maze narrowed her eyes, scrutinising the Devil. He looked a bit nervous, as if he was hiding something. She stepped closer to the table and looked at the paper he was writing. “What is this?” She snapped the paper from the table since Lucifer didn’t answer her.

Looking at the document she asked again, with a more insistent voice, “Lucifer, what is this?”

Lucifer sighed. “A letter to my solicitor with some new arrangements.” He paused for a moment. “For when I’m absent.”

“Where are you going, Lucifer?” Her voice was icy, not liking what Lucifer was saying.

Lucifer was silent for a moment and looked at his hands on the table. “I need to protect her, Maze.”

“And going away will protect her?” Maze was confused about his logic.

Lucifer looked up from the table and locked eyes with the demon, “they need a king. I can’t have them threatening her again.”

The look in his eyes and his voice didn’t leave any doubt. “You are going back to Hell, are you?”

Lucifer gave her a slight nod.

“Great!” the demon huffed and threw up her hands. “Just when I start to get used to Earth. Now you want to go back.”

“Maze, I’d like you to stay here.” Lucifer was relieved about her statement, hoping that she won’t put up a fight about staying on Earth.

“Hold on! Are you still mad at me about the whole dickhead brother thing?” 

“No, Maze. It’s not to punish you. I need you to stay here to make sure that Chloe is all right. If you really want to return to Hell, you can ask Amenadiel to fly you down there after a couple of days or so.”  

“So you’ll escape and I need to stay and clean up your mess?” Maze lifted her eyebrow sarcastically.

“I just need to know that she is safe.” Lucifer expression was pained.

“Fine. So when will you leave?”

“As soon as I finish this,” Lucifer gestured towards the paper Maze had put down on the table again.

“And what does your girlfriend think about your plan to protect her?” Maze found it hard to believe that Chloe would agree with it.

Lucifer looked uncomfortable and didn’t answer, focusing on the document again.

“You haven’t told her,” the demon exclaimed. Lucifer didn’t deny it, so Maze knew that she had been right. “Are you insane? If you go without telling her, I’m not gonna be the one to tell her and I’ll find your stupid brother immediately so he can fly me to Hell and I can kick your ass there.”

“I left her a letter. If I go up there and see her again, I’m not sure I’ll be able to leave,” Lucifer admitted.

“So, maybe this is not a good idea if you are not sure about being able to go,” Maze tried to make it sound nonchalant.

“I am sure. This is the only way to keep Earth safe from them.” Lucifer had thought about it while he was in Hell closing the gate.

“So, you’re just a coward and rather hurt Chloe even more with leaving without a proper goodbye than man up and see her before you go,” Maze taunted him.

“I’m not a coward,” Lucifer spit back.

Maze just stared at him. Lucifer finally sighed and mumbled more to himself than to Maze, “I need to say goodbye.” 

 

--------

 

Lucifer was standing at the balcony and looking at the sun that was about to set. He guessed it would be a long time before he’d see his favourite star again. Chloe emerged from the bedroom and headed to the balcony after her long soak in the bath. She had been a bit disappointed when Lucifer hadn’t joined her in the tub, but she had enjoyed it nevertheless.

“Hi!” she greeted Lucifer and the Devil turned around to look at her. Chloe noticed that Lucifer looked a bit worried. She smiled at him, hoping to make him feel better, “so, the demons are back in Hell and thanks to you Earth is safe again. From them anyway,” she chuckled. Humans themselves managed to make it dangerous enough.

“I’d say yes, but I’d be lying and we both know I don’t do that,” Lucifer answered with sadness in his voice that made Chloe worry.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

“Today we won, but we just plucked one hole in a very flimsy boat. Now the demons know that I have no intention of returning, they’ll continue to defy me. It’s only a matter of time until they find a way to come to Earth again. I have many siblings who can be as dumb as my brother was and open the gate for whatever reason. I can’t risk them harming you again.”

“So what are you saying?” The tone and the look on Lucifer’s face made Chloe really uneasy.

“I have to go back.” The look on Lucifer’s face suggested that he wasn’t exactly looking forward to it.

“For how long?” Chloe tried to steady her voice, but failed. “A couple of weeks? Or a month or …?” She desperately hoped that he was only talking about spending some time in Hell.

“I need to keep them contained. They must have a king.” Although Lucifer's answer was rather vague Chloe understood that he was not planning to return to Earth.

“No, Lucifer. You can’t leave me.” She was sure that there must be another way.

“I’m sorry, darling. I can’t risk your safety, so it’s at the same time the hardest and the easiest decision I’ve ever made.” Lucifer looked at her with the soft expression he reserved only for her.

“Please don’t go. I… I love you.” It was definitely not how Chloe had envisioned telling him that she loves him for the first time. She had waited for the right time, but it seemed that it was now or never. “I love you, please don’t leave,” Chloe repeated, hoping that it would make him stay.

Lucifer gave her a watery smile while he stepped closer to her and moved his hand to her cheek. “You know, as stupid as my brother was, he figured one thing out straight away. That you were my first love, Chloe. You always have been.” He then pulled Chloe closer and kissed her, pouring all of the emotions he couldn’t voice into the kiss. When he broke the kiss Lucifer caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Goodbye, my love!” he whispered in a broken voice.

Chloe had one final look at his sad smile before Lucifer unfurled his wings and took flight, unable to say anything herself. The gust of air from his wings seemed to shatter her internally. Suddenly all the strength left her body and Chloe sank on the balcony floor, tears streaming down her cheeks.

 

--------

 

Maze looked at the time. It was almost an hour since Lucifer had gone back to the penthouse. She was quite sure that he had left already. Maze had talked to Patrick and told him that he needed to find someone to take over Chloe’s shift for the night; she knew that the other woman would probably not be in the mood to tend the bar that evening.

The demon stepped inside the elevator and pushed the button for the penthouse. When she stepped out of the carriage it was almost silent. Listening more intently she could hear the faint sobs coming from the balcony. Maze found Chloe huddled on the balcony, shivering slightly. The sun had set already and it was a little chilly outside. Maze practically dragged Chloe inside and made her sit on the couch.

Chloe barely registered what was going on around her. When Maze put a bottle of expensive tequila and two shot glasses on the coffee table with a loud clunk, Chloe finally looked up at the demon. Something in the demon’s expression told Chloe that she knew why Chloe was crying. Knowing that Maze had wanted Lucifer to take her back to Hell not so long ago, Chloe was a little surprised that the demon had not gone back with him. Maze started to pour the alcohol into the glasses. Chloe stared at the liquid flowing into the glasses, “what’s that for?” She wasn’t in the mood to party and would certainly tell the demon that if she suggested something stupid like that.

“To numb the pain,” said Maze as she handed one of the glasses to Chloe.

 

Notes:

One of the reasons I named this fic "My Love Will Never Die" is this chapter. Since I planned to include this scene it seemed fitting.

Chapter 8: Things have changed here

Lucifer landed with a thud on the balcony. He didn’t furl his wings right away, instead he let them bask in the warmth of his favourite star for a while, absorbing the heat that had been absent for so many years Lucifer had spent in Hell.

Another reason for keeping the wings out was the ash still clinging to them. Lucifer shook them a little, to get some of the ash away from the feathers. He knew that it would not be enough to get them clean, it would need a soak in the water. Lucifer’s eyes landed on the hot tub he had on the balcony. It was covered with a lid, apparently no one had been using it for some time, so they had decided to put the lid on so it wouldn’t get too dirty. He went closer and peeked under the lid, the water had also been drained, so no soaking the wings in the hot tub right now. Lucifer sighed and furled his wings away. He headed towards the balcony door. The door was closed, but it was no problem for Lucifer. As he had assumed after seeing that the door was closed, the penthouse was empty. Well, it made sense actually. Although he didn’t have a clock at hand, the fact that the sun was high up in the sky suggested that it was sometime during the day and if it wasn't the weekend, Chloe would be at school.

Lucifer decided to take a shower. He could still feel Hell on his skin and that suit was definitely ruined. Just to be sure he looked into his closet and found that all his suits were hanging there just like they were the day he left.

The shower felt really good after having lived so long without one. Lucifer didn’t know exactly how long he had been in Hell. At first he had kept track. He had punished all the demons who had dared to defy his ban of possessing humans. Of course Dromos and Squee had suffered the worst since they had been the initiators. Without them defying a direct order from him, there would not have been that kind of demon rebellion. And Chloe’s safety would not have been threatened. Elmer, the demon who had hurt her, was also punished accordingly. It had to be done, but unfortunately it did nothing to lessen the ache of leaving Earth, leaving her behind. So finally when every day he counted reminded him of the time he had been without her, without a kind word or a kiss from her, Lucifer stopped counting. He did everything to not notice the time that was passing, causing the time he spent in Hell to feel like a blur, the years melting together. So now he had no idea how long he had been away in Earth time. A year? Maybe more? And he had no idea how Chloe would react. He had said the final goodbye the last time he had been standing on the balcony. Or at least he had thought it would be the last time he'd ever see her. 

At first Lucifer had tried to accept the fact that he’ll be spending another eon in Hell, not daring to leave until Chloe was safely in Heaven. He had visited the Hell loops to pass the time and get his mind off of the happiness he had lost. Finally a conversation in a Hell loop from ancient Rome got him thinking. Maybe it would be possible to have some demons rule over the others. They can’t take the throne since only an angel can take it, but maybe he could find some demons loyal enough who could oversee the other demons and Hell itself while he is away.

It took him some time to find suitable demons and to train them properly. He sought out some more Hell loops with rulers and generals from the ancient times to gather some more knowledge of different strategies.

When it looked promising enough, he decided that the gate itself needed some better security. He found an old sorcerer who taught him some of her magic. Lucifer was not sure that it would hold celestials but they had conducted an experiment with him and it turned out that it was powerful enough to work even on celestials. So in addition to the warding sigils that other angels could remove, he added some more magic to make sure that only he could ever open those gates.

After he was satisfied with the demons he had decided to name his generals (it seemed safer to have multiple demons watching over Hell than to have a single one acting as his deputy), he promised to check in regularly and left Hell.

The hot water and his expensive shower gel had managed to get the stench of Hell off his skin. After also washing his hair Lucifer felt like the time spent in Hell had been long ago. He dressed in a clean suit and styled his hair before setting on to the most important task - finding Chloe.

 

The antique clock on his desk indicated that it was early afternoon, so he assumed that Chloe was in school. Now when he was all cleaned up, Lucifer had time to look around. The penthouse looked rather abandoned. Everything was too neatly in its place, no signs of someone hurrying in the morning. Just to be sure, Lucifer took a second look into the closet. There weren’t any of her clothes. Lucifer also went to the kitchen and looked in the fridge - no fresh food. So it was clear that she didn’t live in the penthouse anymore.

It was also possible that she had moved back to her old apartment, so Lucifer decided to stop by there. Knock on the door went unanswered. He debated over going inside and taking a look around, but decided against it. He knew that Chloe valued her privacy, so it just didn’t feel right.

 

Lucifer then decided to go and look at the schedule for the bar, see if she’ll be working in the bar that evening. After reaching the office he went straight to the top drawer, it was where the schedule had always been kept, but for some reason it was not there. He rummaged around a little wondering why they had decided to move it, when an unfamiliar voice interrupted him.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my office?”

Lucifer looked up and saw a man in a slightly ill-fitting grey suit standing at the door. Since he never forgot a face Lucifer was certain that he had never seen the man before.

“Sorry, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Lucifer Morningstar. I just wanted to look at the schedule for the bar tonight.”

“Well, Mr Morningstar, this is not a room for customers and you don’t have any right to go through those papers. You need to leave or I’ll call the police.” The man was stepping inside the office with determination.

“What? This is my club. Now listen, Mr …” Lucifer looked questioningly at the other man.

 “I am Richard Grayson and I’m the manager here.” The man looked rather cocky while saying it.

“Well, Mr Grayson,” Lucifer would have much rather called the man Dick, but he needed to keep their relationship as friendly as possible since he needed information, “I need to know whether Chloe Decker is on the schedule tonight.”

“First of all, I don’t give information about the schedule out to strangers and second, we don’t have anyone with that name working here,” the man replied.

“What? She doesn’t work here anymore?” Lucifer didn’t like the idea. Had Chloe been so upset about his decision to go back to Hell that she had abandoned Lux altogether? That would explain why the penthouse looked like no one had lived there for a long time. He thought for a moment what to do next. “Is Maze here?” Lucifer didn’t have his phone, so he had no way of contacting the demon to find out why Chloe had quit working at Lux.

“If by Maze you mean Miss Smith, then she is in Canada, bounty hunting.” The manager had heard sometimes that people called the woman by a nickname.

“Who?” Lucifer had no idea about whom the man was speaking.

“Miss Mazikeen Smith, the woman who hired me to be the manager. She was the manager here, but she had been too busy with the bounty hunting, so she needed someone to do the job instead.” The man looked entirely satisfied with himself.

Lucifer was perplexed. He needed someone to tell him what was going on, but this guy was utterly useless. Suddenly he had an idea. “ Is Patrick still working here?”

“We do have a bartender named Patrick,” the man admitted, “but I won’t give information about his schedule to you.”

“Fine, but could you please call him and let me talk to him?” 

“Why would I do that?” the manager rolled his eyes.

Lucifer sighed and pulled out a wad of cash, being thankful that he still had the habit of putting cash in his pocket without even thinking about it. He pulled out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to the other man. The sight of it put a smile on Mr Grayson's face immediately. He took out his phone and dialed a number.

“Good afternoon, Patrick. There is a man, uhm… someone called Morningstar, who claims to know you and wants to talk to you.” He looked at Lucifer, “do you want to talk to him?”

Lucifer was getting impatient. His celestial hearing allowed him to hear that Patrick had already agreed to speak to him, so he pulled the phone from Grayson’s hand and took over the call.

“Hello, Patrick,” he could barely keep in the excitement of talking to someone familiar at last. 

“Boss, is this really you?” sounded Patrick’s surprised voice from the speaker.

“Yes, I’m back in L.A.” Lucifer couldn’t keep the smile from his face.

“But they said that you are gone for good,” the bartender sounded slightly confused.

“Well, I found a way to come back.” He paused for a moment. “So how are you?” 

“Oh, you know, almost the same as when you left. Not much has really changed for me. Still working at Lux,” he chuckled.

“There seem to be some changes though… with the management.” Lucifer wanted to know what was the deal with this so-called manager, but since the man was standing right next to him, Lucifer tried to be subtle.

“Ah, yes. Miss Mazikeen hired him. Sometimes it feels like she did it only to torture us.” Well, it seemed that Lucifer was not the only one who was not too impressed with the guy.

“Well, that does sound like Maze.” The demon would find ways to torture others even without physically hurting them. “But what’s with that bounty hunting thing?”

“Oh yeah, she’s been cleaning out the streets from scum that the police couldn’t get. Ever since she found out at one of their Tribe nights that you can get paid for turning in some criminals, she has been doing it. So she has been spending a lot of time outside of L.A. hunting those thugs and that’s why we have a new manager.” It did sound rather logical, but something had caught Lucifer’s attention.

“What is that Tribe night you mentioned?” 

“Ah, that’s how the girls call their nights out. Usually they do it at Lux, since the drinks are free. I mean they are all on the comped list anyway.” Patrick was pretty sure that Lucifer would not mind them getting free drinks.

“Hold on… Maze is having girls nights?” Lucifer could not really picture her hanging out with a bunch of girls. Maybe for some orgy, but not just having some girl talks.

“Yeah, I know,” the bartender chuckled, “but they had been hanging out together anyway. I mean Ella didn’t really know Miss Mazikeen before, but Chloe did. And Linda too, as far as I know.”

“So she has been hanging out with Chloe, the Doctor and Miss Lopez?” Maze had not been too friendly with Chloe before he had gone away and Miss Lopez was kind of the polar opposite of Maze. But the information that Maze had also been hanging out with dr Linda was most significant to him. When she was okay with hanging out with the demon, would the Doctor be also okay with doing sessions with him again?

“Yes, they have been meeting regularly. Well, recently they have not met very often, but still, it seems that they are all friends.” 

Lucifer was somewhat relieved to hear it. He had been wondering when Maze hadn’t shown up in Hell. Hearing that she had friends now, he was not surprised that she had changed her mind about wanting to go back to Hell.

His eyes landed on the manager again and he seemed impatient, so Lucifer decided to get to the point, the real reason why he had wanted to talk to Patrick.

“So… I heard that Chloe is not working here anymore..” Lucifer wasn’t sure he wanted to hear why she had left the job at Lux.

“Well, yeah,” Patrick sounded a little baffled why he was asking that, “she worked at Lux until she graduated from the Academy and then she went to work for the LAPD.”

“She graduated,” Lucifer was a bit surprised. He thought that she still had some time left to go to school.

“Of course. I mean it has been a while since you went away, almost…” Before Patrick was able to finish his sentence Lucifer’s eyes had landed on the calendar and he realised what year it was, so he muttered almost to himself, “almost three years.” 

“You really have not been in contact with anyone from here?” he asked.

“No, I’m afraid I haven’t,” Lucifer replied remorsefully.

“Well, Chloe graduated and works for the LAPD like she always wanted.” 

“And that means she also doesn’t live here anymore?” Lucifer asked just to be sure.

“Yes, she has an apartment somewhere. I’m sorry I don’t know the address, boss.” Patrick would have given it to him instantly had he known it. “But you could call her, tell her that you are back,” he suggested.

“I’m afraid I don’t have my phone right now. Otherwise I’d be calling you from my own phone,” Lucifer explained.

“Oh,” Patrick thought for a moment. “I think she gave her new address at some point… it should be somewhere in the drawers.”

“Unfortunately things seem to be re-organised here and I don’t think I’ll get much help finding it from here,” implying that the manager would not very likely help him to find it.

“Let me talk to him.” Patrick had learned how to make that guy listen.

Lucifer handed the phone back to Grayson and tried to look nonchalant while he could hear how Patrick explained to the manager how well connected Lucifer was and how he wouldn’t want to make an enemy out of him. The man was clearly drawn to power and money since after ending the call with Patrick, Mr Grayson was much more friendly towards Lucifer. He helped him find the address, although it took them a while.

 

Lucifer was not familiar with the neighbourhood Chloe was now living in. He didn’t have his phone and so no way to navigate easily through the town. So the fastest way to get there seemed to be Uber.

“Could you please order me an Uber there?” he asked Mr Grayson, plastering on a polite smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“If you really are the owner, why don’t you take one of the cars from the garage?” The man seemed suspicious again.

“Because I don’t know exactly where the building is and I don’t have a phone right now to help me navigate. And there’s another 100 hundred dollar bill involved for you if you do it.”

That answer seemed to satisfy him, because he started to tap on his phone and soon announced that his ride would be here in 4 minutes.

“Thank you, Dick,” Lucifer told him as he handed the bill over. He would definitely have to do something about the man. Grayson really seemed to be a dickhead.

“You’re welcome, Mr Moringstar,” the other man happily answered, clearly swayed by the money he had gotten out of the brief interaction with Lucifer.

 

The Uber driver dropped him off in front of the house where Chloe now lived. Lucifer paid the man and left him a hefty tip telling him to keep the change. He went to the door of Chloe’s apartment and knocked. When no one answered he knocked again. It seemed that she was not at home. Lucifer was not sure how long the work days for police officers were, but it could be that she was simply not home yet (he had gathered that it was currently Wednesday), so Chloe was probably working.

Lucifer went outside and started to walk down the street. A bit further away he spotted a stand where they sold newspapers. He bought one to acquaint himself with some things that were going on in the world and also found out the time from the nice lady who sold the newspapers. It was quarter past four and Lucifer assumed that he had been right about Chloe being still at work. So he decided to wait for her while reading the newspaper. He stood under a tree across the street from her house and read the paper, leaning against the tree. Every time a car stopped nearby, he looked up from the paper, hoping to see a familiar woman with blonde hair coming home.

The more time passed, the more anxious Lucifer became. He started imagining what Chloe’s reaction would be when she opened the door and saw him. Would she be mad at him for leaving? Would she be happy to see him or would she slam the door in front of him? It had been almost three years since he had left and Chloe had not been happy about him leaving. Would she look the same or would she have changed something about her appearance. Maybe it would be better to approach her right on the street after she steps out of her car? Would she still drive the Mini he had lent her or would she have some other car? There were so many questions racing through Lucifer’s mind regarding Chloe that he could barely understand the news article he had started to read.

 

Finally he saw the woman he had been waiting for step out of a car. An unfamiliar car, so that answered the question about the Mini. Lucifer froze on the spot. He had been waiting for it, had dreamed about meeting her again for thousands of years in Hell, but for some reason the sight of her made his heart pound like crazy and palms sweaty because of nerves. Lucifer tried to gather himself, taking a deep breath, but before he could move, he saw someone else getting out of the car she had arrived with. It didn’t take him long to recognise this person as Dan, that douchy guy Lucifer had met when he had needed to get the tickets for the ball he took Chloe to.

Lucifer watched from the spot he had been standing as they both reached for some grocery bags from the backseat, hoping that the other man was just a friendly colleague who had come to visit Chloe. He could hear Dan saying, “... of course I’ll help you. I wouldn’t be much of a boyfriend if I didn't.” Dan then smiled and leaned in to press a kiss on Chloe’s mouth. It was a brief one, but a kiss nevertheless and the smile Chloe gave him after Dan broke the kiss didn’t leave a doubt - Chloe was dating Dan now.

Lucifer could feel his blood turn cold when the realisation struck him. He moved to the other side of the tree as if fearing she might spot him standing there otherwise, not ready to face her right now. Lucifer then spotted an alley nearby, leading away from the street. He waited until he heard her go inside her apartment and started walking towards the alley. Reaching the end of it he spread his wings and flew away.

First he planned to go back to the penthouse, but then he got another idea. Instead of the penthouse he flew back to another building that had become quite familiar to him in the few months before his departure to Hell. Landing on that roof brought back some bittersweet memories, but Lucifer pushed them away and went to the door leading away from the roof. Soon he was on the floor he knew well. He noticed that the light next to her door was on, indicating that she was still in session with someone. Lucifer stepped further away, still not entirely sure the Doctor would want to see him at all. Knowing that she had no problem with hanging out with Maze although she now knew that she really was a demon, gave him hope that maybe she would be okay with him also. At least he was in his angelic form and not wearing the face that scares every human being.

After about ten minutes the door opened and a man with glasses came out. He waited for a moment and when he was sure that no other patient had shown up, Lucifer went to her door.

He hesitated for a moment and then knocked on the door. He could hear the shuffling of the papers stop inside the room and also Linda’s silently muttered “now what?”, but after a moment she started walking towards the door.

Lucifer waited patiently until she reached the door and opened it. As soon as she opened it, he greeted her with “hello, Doctor” putting on his warmest smile. Linda’s eyes widened almost comically. “Lucifer,” she breathed out incredulously. Linda just stared at him for a while, not saying anything further, so Lucifer began to think that it had not been such a good idea to come here in the first place.

“Is it okay if I come in?” Lucifer asked when the silence started to feel uncomfortable. He also didn’t want to talk in the doorway, but rather than stepping inside without her invitation, Lucifer wanted to make sure she would be okay with him in her office.

Hearing his question Linda seemed almost like waking up from a dream. “Yes, yes, of course, come in.” She opened the door further and Lucifer walked inside. 

Seeing that Lucifer was adjusting his cufflinks which she knew was a sign that he was a little nervous, Linda felt the need to explain. “I’m sorry I just didn’t expect to see you again. They said that you left for good.”

“I did,” Lucifer confirmed, “but I found a way to come back again without the demons having a chance to repeat their stunt.”

“That’s wonderful, Lucifer,” Linda smiled and seeing her genuinely happy to see him made Lucifer finally feel a warmth inside he hadn’t felt since leaving Earth.

“So, you are not afraid of me?” he still needed to get confirmation from her.

“No, Lucifer. I mean, I've been friends with a demon for almost three years now and she is much scarier than you. So no, I’m not afraid of you and if you want to start having sessions with me again, I’m more than happy to do that.” Linda laid her hand on his to emphasise the fact that she really was not afraid of the Devil anymore.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Lucifer smiled and felt his eyes get a little moist.

“So,” Linda hesitated trying to figure out how to phrase it the best, “who else knows that you’re back?”

“So far only Patrick,” Lucifer answered. He doubted that Linda had meant that dick Maze had hired as Lux’s manager.

“You haven’t seen Chloe yet?” Linda clarified, wondering why he would come to see her before Chloe.

“I have,” Lucifer told Linda since had seen Chloe earlier.

“But you said..,” Linda started to ask, clearly confused about the information Lucifer was giving her.

“Well, she was with her… uhm… Daniel and I didn’t want to impose.” Lucifer was clearly uneasy about the information, adjusting his cufflinks.

Linda was sort of relieved that he had found that out already, so she didn’t have to debate with herself whether or not it would be best to tell him, but she also felt bad for her patient, knowing how much he had cared (and probably still cared) about the woman.

“I’m so sorry, Lucifer.”

“No need to be, Doctor. A woman as good as Chloe deserves someone better.” He had always thought that Chloe was far too good for the Devil, but he was not sure that that douche was as good a man as she deserved.    

“Lucifer, there are things you need to know.” Linda hesitated for a moment, not sure how to tell him. “About Chloe too.”

“Well, I’m all ears,” Lucifer had nothing better to do anyway, so he started to move towards the couch.

Linda looked at the clock. “Actually, I need to go home.”

Lucifer was disappointed, but tried to hide it. “Oh, all right. Should we schedule some other time then?”

“No, you are coming with me.” Linda went to the desk and grabbed her bag.

“Are you sure?” Lucifer had definitely not expected an invitation to her place.

“Yes, come on.” Linda walked to the door and opened it.

 

They drove to Linda’s in her car since Lucifer had used his wings to get to her office. Linda had been a bit overwhelmed about the fact that he had flown there, but quickly pushed the information aside and started to drive towards her house. 

Lucifer was still a bit baffled about Linda inviting the Devil to join her. He had been unsure whether the Doctor would even want to talk to him, but now he was sitting in her car while they drove to her house.

“Doctor, are you absolutely sure about it? I mean, you can tell me what you think I need to know some other day too.” Of course Lucifer was curious about the information the Doctor had, but for some reason he had a feeling that he might not like it too much, so he wasn’t really sure if he was trying to stall or was he just trying to make absolutely sure that Linda really wanted him in her house. 

“I think it’s better if you hear multiple sides.” Linda’s answer was rather cryptic.

“What do you mean? Are you having a party there?” Lucifer didn’t understand what she was talking about.

“No party. You’ll understand soon enough.” She looked at him and smiled before turning her attention back to the road. Lucifer understood that she didn’t want to have the conversation in the car.

Not long after that they reached her house. As soon as she opened the door Lucifer could hear some annoying children’s song playing. But more surprising than the odd choice of music was the fact that Lucifer saw his brother there.

“Amenadiel,” he gasped, “what is he doing here?”

He looked towards Linda and she smiled at him a bit sheepishly, “he lives here too.”

“What? Why?” Lucifer could not understand why his brother would live here on Earth rather than in the Silver City. Was it some new scam of his?

Before Lucifer could even start to wrap his mind around it, his brother was walking towards them holding a toddler in his hands. “You’re back, Lucifer.” Amenadiel seemed a little surprised, but smiled and looked actually pleased to see his brother. The child reached towards Linda and his whole face lit up with a smile. It was clear that the child was Linda’s. 

“You have a spawn.” Lucifer was saying it more like a statement than a question. “And you are letting Amenadiel babysit your spawn?” Lucifer asked disbelievingly. He could not figure out how or why she would let the angel anywhere near her child. Surely Chloe must have told her all about that angel. 

Linda had taken the child to her arms and she locked her gaze for a moment with the angel, both looking a little uncomfortable.

“No, Lucifer,” she paused for a moment. “Meet Charlie, your nephew,” she turned a little with the child as if to show him more fully to Lucifer.

“My what?” Linda was dropping one bomb after another on him and Lucifer seemed to have lost the ability to form any longer sentences.

“Better come sit down, so we can talk about it,” Linda gestured towards the couch. Lucifer walked to it and sat down, still looking shocked. 

Amenadiel sat down next to Lucifer while Linda went to the corner of the room where some complicated looking gadget was standing and put the child down next to it.

“How, brother?” Lucifer looked at the angel eager to get some explanation.

“Well, I doubt I have to explain to you how a baby is conceived, brother,” Amenadiel smiled a little.

“Yes, of course I don’t need an explanation about how to make a baby,” Lucifer scoffed, “what I’d like to know is how an angel and a human can have a baby together.”

Amenadiel sighed and lowered his head. “Luci,” he paused, “I fell too.”

“What do you mean? I went back to Hell, so Dad should have been pleased with you.”

“Apparently not, because I lost my wings and ability to slow time after you left.”

“Why?” Lucifer tilted his head to the side

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe for letting the demons on Earth, maybe for getting the priest and his friend involved and not stopping them from killing each other or maybe because a lot of people were killed by the demons. Take a pick brother. Father didn’t exactly tell me why.” Amenadiel sounded sarcastic.

“So you basically turned into a human after I left?”

“Yes, I lost my abilities and as you can see, I am now able to have a baby.” The last word put a smile on Amenadiel’s face. “I’m still stronger than humans, but that’s it.”

“I still don’t get it…,” Lucifer muttered.

“What’s there to understand? I lost my angelic powers and …,” Amenadiel started to explain but Lucifer stopped him.

“Yes, yes, I get it. Dad wasn’t pleased with you and took your powers. But how on Earth did you make it into Linda’s bed?” Linda had seemed like a smart woman, why would she want to shag his boring brother.

Amenadiel smiled again, thinking about that memory. “Well, after I discovered that my wings were molting and I couldn’t slow time anymore, I needed some therapy. So I ended up on Linda’s couch and eventually we fell in love.”

Linda looked at them from the corner of the room where she was entertaining their child, but obviously also listening to what they were talking, since she smiled lovingly at Amenadiel.

“We didn’t really plan for a child, but I love being a dad.” Deciding from the look on his face, the angel was really happy to play house with the Doctor.

“So let me get this straight - you have been here on Earth for almost three years. What have you been doing here? Besides shagging the Doctor of course.”

“Lucifer,” Amenadiel admonished his brother. “Actually I worked at Lux. Maze hired me as a security guard at first, then I was the head of security, but after Charlie was born I have been at home, at first helping Linda with the baby and now taking care of him when Linda is working. I was thinking about going back to work as a security guard at night when Linda is home, but the new manager was not really keen to hire me back.”

Lucifer groaned. He really had to do something about that guy. He was more and more sure that the demon had deliberately chosen that dick to work there to torture everyone. Speaking about Maze… a sudden thought occurred to him.

“Hold on… you lost your wings right after I left?” Lucifer narrowed his eyes.

“Yes,” Amenadiel nodded.

“So you would not have been able to take Maze to Hell even if she wanted to?” That didn’t sound good.

“Uhm… she actually came to me a few days after the fight in the Mayan and asked me to take her to Hell. She said that she had started to like it on Earth but she couldn’t just let you stay down there alone. I would have brought her to you, but when I opened my wings… half of the feathers were already missing and I wasn’t able to fly anymore.” The memory made sadness shadow Amenadiel’s joy that had lit his face when he had talked about Linda and Charlie. Thinking about the moment he had discovered that Father had punished him, was still painful. 

“Bloody Hell,” Lucifer rubbed his forehead, “so she wanted to come to Hell, but wasn’t able to. She must have been furious.”

“Yeah, she was at first. But after a while she seemed to accept it. As a matter of fact, she was the one who told me to go see Linda, said she might be able to help me cope with it.” Those were not the exact words Maze had used, but Amenadiel thought it would be better to use some more child friendly words.

“Did she kick your ass at least?” Lucifer thought that for all the mess his brother had caused, he would have deserved a bit of beating from the demon.

“ She didn’t,” Amenadiel paused and when Lucifer looked at him questioningly, continued, “but Chloe did.”

“Did she now?” Lucifer couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah… I went to see her, but she punched me in the face and threw me out. She was really angry with me and I couldn’t exactly blame her for it.” Somehow Chloe’s punch had felt worse than a thorough beating from the demon would have.

Oh, how Lucifer would have liked to see it, but the only possibility was to imagine it. He had been pissed at Amenadiel too at first, but the longer he thought about it, the less angry he felt. It seemed that Amenadiel had basically pointed out just a security flaw that Hell had. Any of his siblings could have opened the gates back then and he had helped to clear out the mess with the demons in the end. So, by the time he was ready to leave Hell, his anger had dissipated. But the mentioning of Chloe reminded him of something else.

“Doctor, you told me that there is something I needed to know about Chloe.” He looked questioningly at the woman sitting away from them. Linda sighed and walked towards the couch and sat down in an armchair opposite to Lucifer. She paused as if collecting herself before she started to tell the story.

“After you left we started having those girl’s nights out we call Tribe nights. It’s me Chloe, Maze and Ella just hanging out and having a good time. Essentially it was for Chloe to feel less lonely, but we all kind of bonded over time and now it’s more about just hanging out together. Most of the time we have met at Lux, but sometimes we go to other places.”

Lucifer looked at Linda, trying to figure out what exactly is the piece of information he needed so badly to know about all this. 

Even if Linda noticed the confusion on his face, she didn’t let it bother her. “About six months ago we had another Tribe night, but Lux was reserved for that night for a private party, so we went to another bar. We had a good time, some drinks and a bit of dancing, but then we discovered something.”

--------

A slightly tipsy Ella came back from the bathroom and stopped in front of the wall with pictures, looking more closely at one of them. She narrowed her eyes and took the photo off the wall, chuckling to herself.

“Well, it looks like your man has been here before,” she said as she reached their table again and gave the picture to Linda.

“What?” Linda had finished breastfeeding 5 days prior and this was her first chance of drinking alcohol after finding out about her pregnancy, so she was definitely not sober at that moment.

“Amendadil…no… Amenadiel,” Ella cursed to herself a little in Spanish before going on (why had his parents named him with a name that was impossible to pronounce when you were not sober). “He was here with a woman.” Ella grinned. It seemed that the man wasn’t such a saint after all. She then noticed that her glass was somehow empty again and she went to the bar to get a new one.

Linda had to concentrate a little before she could understand that it was really Amenadiel sitting right in this bar with a red haired woman. She was a bit baffled. Linda knew that Amenadiel had not had much interaction with humans before he lost his wings. Also that picture looked a little old.

Linda was staring at the picture trying to make sense of it when Chloe leaned closer to her to look at the picture too. She had been drinking not as much as her friends, so she immediately recognised the people in the picture, both of them. “What the hell?” She grabbed the picture and stared at it. “What is he doing here with my mother?”

“Your what?” Linda had some trouble understanding what her friend was saying. 

“He is sitting here with my mother,” Chloe explained, sounding angry.

“Are you sure? She looks young.” Linda had met Penelope a few times and the woman looked really good for her age, but this was a much younger woman staring back at her from the picture.

“Yes, I’m sure. She's younger on the picture, but it’s still her. I have even seen pictures of her wearing that same dress. So, why was she sitting here with Amenadiel?” Chloe still didn’t like him that much, although she tolerated him for Linda’s sake. 

“We need to ask him.” Linda took out her phone, eager to get the answers right now rather than wait until she got home. 

Amenadiel picked up after 5 rings. “Hi Linda! Charlie is sleeping,” were his first words, thinking that Linda was worried about their son.

“Good, but is not why’m calling.” Linda slurred her words slightly.

“Is everything okay?” Amenadiel got a little worried.

“Yes.. well, it’s… I mean… we need to ask something.” Linda wanted to ask about the picture when the music got louder and she couldn’t hear a thing anymore. Chloe grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door, hoping that it would be more silent outside.

“Linda?” Amenadiel was getting more and more confused on the other end.

“'M going somewhere more silent, hold on.”

Outside of the bar it was more silent and Linda put the phone on speaker so Chloe could hear too.

“So we found a picture of you here in the bar,” Linda started to explain.

“Me?” Amenadiel sounded surprised.

“Yes you. With a woman.” Linda continued.

“Linda, that must be someone else. I haven’t been to a bar with anyone else since we have been together.” 

“It looks a bit older than that actually.” Linda could understand that the angel thought she was accusing him of cheating, but she had no doubts about his fidelity.

“Why were you here with my mother?” Chloe just couldn’t wait anymore and asked the question that was bothering her.

“Your mother? Chloe, why would I be in a bar with your mother?” Amenadiel was even more confused now.

“I don’t know. You tell me, because it’s you in that picture, not me.” The ire about it was palpable in her voice.

“Linda, you said it looks older. Can you ask someone when this picture was taken?” 

“Uhm… I guess I could go back inside and ask,” Linda offered.

Chloe took the picture from Linda and looked at the backside. “Twenty five years ago.”

“That picture was taken twenty five years ago?” Amenadiel asked to clarify.

“Yes, the year is written behind it,” Chloe confirmed.

Amenadiel was silent for a while.

“Well, I’m still waiting for an explanation,” Chloe got impatient.

“I… uh… I think it’s better that you come by tomorrow and I’ll explain it in person.” Amenadiel had put two and two together when she told him it had been 25 years ago and when he remembered in which bar the women currently were.  

“No, I’ll come by tonight, Amenadiel. Let’s go, Linda.” Chloe started to march towards the door.

“I’ll see you soon,” Linda muttered to her boyfriend before she disconnected the call.

When Linda went inside Chloe was already at their table, looking less than happy. She reached the table at the same time Maze did, looking smug and satisfied.

“What happened to you, Decker?” Maze noticed the sour look on Chloe’s face. “If you want to get laid, I can point out a guy who knows what he’s doing,” she poked her tongue inside her cheek with a grin.

“No, thanks,” was Chloe’s curt reply.

Linda considered it for a moment and then told her friends, “I think I need to get going.”

“I’ll come with you,” Chloe replied quickly.

“What? Don’t go so soon,” Ella whined. 

“Sorry, I think I’ve had enough for today,” Linda said apologetically.

“I’ll make sure she’ll get home safely,” Chloe put a smile on her face that didn’t reach her eyes, but fooled the not so sober human and a demon.

“Is it about the picture?” Ella’s eyes landed on the picture at the table. She wished she hadn’t even noticed the picture on the wall.

“Don’t worry, Amenadiel and I are still good,” Linda tried to calm her friend. She was quite sure that whatever the reason was for Amenadiel to be in that bar with Chloe’s mother, it would not cause trouble in their relationship.

As Chloe and Linda were walking towards the door they heard Maze’s voice, “come on, Ellen, let’s go to the dance floor.”

--------

 

“So why were you in the bar with Penelope twenty five years ago?” Lucifer turned to his brother.

Amenadiel sighed and looked at his brother. He knew that Lucifer would not like it. “Twenty five years ago Father tasked me with blessing a couple who had trouble conceiving a child. And that couple was Penelope and John Decker.”

Lucifer stared at his brother like he had two heads. “What are you saying, brother?”

“I’m saying that Chloe is a Miracle, brother. Created directly by the order from God.”

“But why?” Lucifer’s voice was almost pleading, needing to get some answers.

“I don’t know, Luci. I never asked, I just followed orders.” Amenadiel really wished he had any idea why Father had given him the task. Just as Chloe had demanded answers from him, his brother did too, but Amenadiel had none to give.

Lucifer rested his head on his hands and was silent for a while. Both Linda and Amenadiel looked at him with worry in their eyes, but didn’t say anything.

“And you told her too?” Lucifer finally broke the silence.

“Yes, I did,” Amenadiel confirmed. Chloe would not have left their place without his explanation that night.

“How did she take it?” he looked up from the floor, switching his gaze between his brother and his therapist.

“It was quite difficult for her,” Linda answered. “She struggled quite a while with that new information.” Although Chloe wasn’t her patient they had had long discussions about what that meant for Chloe, the poor woman had felt rather lost and helpless in the beginning. Both of them wished Amenadiel could give them more than just “Father gave me a task” as explanation. Even though there was no doctor patient relationship between the two women, Linda didn’t feel comfortable giving out more detailed information about the struggles Chloe had had back then.

Lucifer swallowed and shook his head. The last thing he ever wanted for her was to be another puppet in his Father’s stupid games. He then fixed his gaze on Amenadiel, “do you think that’s why she makes me vulnerable?” They had never figured out why she had that effect on him before Lucifer went back to Hell.

“It seems like it. I mean no other human has that effect on you and as far as I know, she is the only Miracle on Earth right now,” his brother answered. 

Lucifer had so many questions running around in his mind about the purpose of creating that Miracle, but there seemed to be no point in asking them aloud. His brother had already told him that he didn’t know why Father gave him the task. 

Amenadiel could understand by the look on Lucifer’s face that he was having hard time to cope with the idea that Chloe was a Miracle, so he decided to distract him from it for a bit.

“Uhm… Lucifer. Are you back for good now?” Lucifer turned his head towards Amenadiel and was clearly a bit confused about the question. “Don’t get me wrong, brother, it’s good to have you back, but is it safe? Is it all back as it should be down there now?” This time Amenadiel also had people he cared about on Earth, so the idea of another demon rebellion didn’t sound good at all.

“Yes, I plan to stay here now. I will make short trips down there to check on things, but I found a way to keep the demons contained even without my presence in Hell. Also I learned some new magic that helped me to reinforce the guard on the gate.” 

Amenadiel felt a little twinge at the mention of the gate, but tried to ignore it. He put his arm on Lucifer’s shoulder and gave him a warm smile, “I’m proud of you, brother.” 

Lucifer looked at him, baffled about the words and the gesture. Never in a million years would he have expected the same brother who had been hellbent on getting the Devil back to Hell to say to him that he was proud of him for finding a way out of there. Even though he had spent tens of thousands years in Hell, Lucifer could still remember clearly the last days on Earth before he left. The man sitting next to him right now seemed to be so very different from the angel he had been back then.

Linda could see how confused Lucifer was and decided to assure him, “we all are happy to have you back on Earth, Lucifer.” As if on cue Charlie had decided to join his parents in the seating area and Amenadiel decided to point out again that Lucifer had a new family member. “Charlie is also glad to meet his uncle, aren’t you son?” He picked Charlie up and seated him on his lap. It was clear that Charlie was way too young to understand the concept of having an uncle, but he looked at Lucifer curiously and something in his gaze made Lucifer think that the child had some kind of idea that they were related. 

“So, your son… is he like any other human spawn or does he have some angelic abilities too?” Lucifer was suddenly curious.

Amenadiel sighed. “It seems that he’s like other children. He even had a cold some months ago.” It was quite clear that the former angel was disappointed that his son didn’t have any celestial qualities.

“And I think that’s a good thing,” Linda supplemented with a stern voice. It seemed that it was not the first time they had that discussion. “I was certainly glad that he didn’t have wings while he came out of my uterus.” That mental image still made Linda shudder. They had been clueless if it would be an issue or not before the birth. The only thing calming Linda down a little had been the fact that none of the ultrasounds showed anything out of ordinary.

“Yes, that was a good thing,” Amenadiel agreed, but he still looked disappointed.

They were all quiet for a while after that, all of them deep in their own thoughts. After some time Linda broke the silence.

“So, Lucifer, what are you going to do now?” the therapist asked.

“I guess I’ll be managing my nightclub again. Everything will be back the way it was before …” Lucifer didn’t finish the sentence. He would have liked to say “before I went back to Hell”, but he knew that things could not go back to that anymore. He would not have Chloe by his side anymore. And it wouldn’t really be the same as it was before he had met her, because he was not the same Devil anymore. Even if he went back to the same lifestyle, he now knew what it feels like to have sex when you had feelings for your partner.

“When will you tell Chloe that you are back?” Linda knew that it would be a shock to her. None of them had thought that they’ll see him again, but it will certainly be more difficult for Chloe.

“I uhm… haven’t really thought about it,” Lucifer answered, adjusting his cufflinks. “I need to get a new phone and then I can text her or something.” His celestial memory made sure that he could remember her number easily.

“Are you seriously telling me that you plan to tell Chloe that you are back over a text?” Linda couldn’t believe her ears.

“Well.. I…,” Lucifer was a bit baffled about her reaction, “yes, I think it would be best.”

“You don’t think she deserves that you tell it to her in person?” Linda frowned.

Lucifer gulped. Of course he thought that she deserved it, in his opinion she deserved all the best things in life, but he wasn’t really sure she’d want to see him or if he’d be able to handle seeing her with her boyfriend again. Not yet at least.

“I do. But do you think she’d want to see me? I mean, she was rather upset when I left.” Lucifer tried to find an excuse that didn’t make him look like a weak human.

“Of course she was. And that is exactly why you have to go and tell her in person.” Linda could guess why he was reluctant to go and see her, but she was sure that Chloe would be ten times more upset if he informed her about his return via text message.

“All right,” Lucifer sighed, “I will go and tell her that I’m back.”

“Tonight,” Linda added.

“What? Why does it have to be tonight?” Lucifer was confused.

“Because I don’t want to keep a secret about it. We do talk quite frequently and it would not be a good thing if I accidentally let it slip during a conversation.” Linda knew that if Lucifer was hesitating to go and see her, it could take some time until he decided to stop hiding his head under the sand.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind if you told her, you know.” Lucifer saw that as a win-win actually, he wouldn’t have to face her and no one would be upset about him telling her over text.

“I would. So you need to go and tell her tonight, Lucifer.” Linda stood up indicating that he should start to go now.

“You mean right now?” Lucifer felt totally unprepared for it.

“Yes, I think you should just get over with it.” She smiled, hoping it would encourage him a little.

“But isn’t it too late already?” Lucifer tried to wiggle his way out of it.

“It’s not even 8 PM yet. Quit finding excuses and go tell her.” Linda wanted to push him out of the door already.

“Lucifer, what are you afraid of?” Amenadiel had listened their conversation and couldn’t really figure out why his brother didn’t want to go and see the woman he liked so much.

“I’m not afraid,” the Devil said indignantly. He then stood up and tugged at his lapels. “Fine, I’ll go and see her right now then.” He hoped that Amenadiel didn’t have his celestial hearing also anymore or otherwise he’d most certainly hear how his heart was hammering in his chest.

Notes:

The next chapter might take a while since I'm going to be rather busy until the end of May.

Chapter 9: The Reasons

Summary:

This is going to be rather angsty, so be prepared.

Shortly after leaving Linda's place Lucifer landed again in the alley he had used to escape the area after seeing Chloe with Dan. He walked towards the house while his heart was beating like a racing horse. Lucifer was at the same time reluctant to see Chloe with Daniel again, but looking forward to seeing the woman again. After all it had been a really long time for him and the brief glimpse he'd had before had certainly been not enough. So a part of him was glad that Linda had convinced him to come back while another part felt like a man forced to go into his Hell loop.

After crossing the street Lucifer decided to listen to what was going on in her apartment, so he wouldn’t catch them during something that would twist the knife currently lodged between his ribs too much. He remembered the number of the apartment and quickly determined a window that belonged to her apartment and decided to stand near it for a moment to listen. 

“It’s ok Dan, I understand. I know how it is, don’t worry about it.” That was definitely Chloe’s voice. 

“Thank you, Chlo. Still, I was looking forward to a quiet night with you and going to work with you together in the morning.” Lucifer recognised Dan’s voice and he also recognised sounds that indicated that they were kissing. Then the man sighed, “I really wish Mendez hadn’t fallen ill tonight and I didn’t have to go on that stakeout instead of him.”

“Me too, babe,” Chloe answered and Lucifer could hear a longing in her voice.

A car stopped in front of the building and Lucifer heard Dan say that his Uber was here. Lucifer peeked around the corner and saw Dan get into the car soon after, which meant that Chloe was alone now. 

Suddenly Lucifer realised that it would make things a bit more difficult for him. Before he had thought that Dan would be there when he will see Chloe, but now she was alone and Lucifer was not sure he had the self restraint needed to keep his distance from her. The memory of her soft lips was so inviting. Oh, how he would have loved to go in there and kiss her senseless… among other things. But he knew that she would not want that. While he had met a lot of women in his life who had gladly enjoyed his skills in bed while being in a relationship with someone else, he knew Chloe well enough to know that she would never cheat on her boyfriend. 

Lucifer needed some time to compose himself. He exhaled slowly before he finally rounded the corner to go to her door. It took Chloe only a few seconds to open the door after Lucifer finished knocking. She opened the door smiling but after seeing who was standing there, her smile dropped and she stared at him for a few seconds, mouth slightly agape. “Lucifer? Is that really you?” Chloe finally muttered.

“Yes, it’s me,” was Lucifer’s reply. He was standing there still as a statue, awaiting her reaction.

“Uhm…. come in,” she finally seemed to snap out of it and realised that they were still standing in the doorway.

Lucifer nodded his head slightly and stepped inside the apartment. Chloe closed the door and remained standing there, her back pressed to the door. She just looked at him for a moment. He looked exactly like he did before he left - a perfectly tailored suit, coiffed hair. “How are you here? Didn’t you say that you’ll have to stay there?” The thought that he had planned to go away for only a few years and she had just misunderstood him made her nauseous.

“I did say that, but I found a way to come back,” Lucifer explained, looking a bit uncomfortable. Chloe seemed to be shocked and Lucifer was starting to doubt whether she even wanted to have him back on Earth.

“I’m glad you did,” Chloe said silently and Lucifer saw a tear run down her cheek. She moved closer to Lucifer and he had to clench his fists to keep him from closing the distance and enveloping her in a tight hug. Since she was in a relationship with someone else, Lucifer thought it would be best if he didn’t initiate any physical contact between them. He certainly wouldn’t refuse any if she did it (although letting go of her afterwards might be a bit of a problem). So instead he gave her a small smile and didn’t move from the spot.

Chloe stopped a short distance from him, not wanting to get too close. Still it was close enough for her to smell the familiar scent. She was debating over if it would be too inappropriate to hug him while hoping Lucifer would do it himself instead, when Lucifer suddenly turned from her to inspect her apartment.

“So, I understand that you work for the LAPD now,” Lucifer stated and took a few steps away from her.   

“Uhm… yes. I graduated and went to work for LAPD.” Chloe was confused about him keeping a distance from her.

Lucifer hummed at that and kept his gaze on the apartment, stepping slowly further away from her. He would have wanted nothing more than to look at her and never avert his gaze, but Lucifer felt that the longer he looked at her beautiful face, the harder it was to keep his resolve and stop him from doing something they both would probably regret later.

“You got what you desired then,” Lucifer said and couldn’t hide a hint of sadness in his voice. It was not like he didn’t want her to get what she desired, just he felt that there was nothing that would tie Chloe to him anymore.

“I guess so,” Chloe agreed while she was watching him, still confused about his rather formal way of speaking to her.

“Do you live alone here?” Lucifer asked as he saw a set of stairs going up while there was another door on the first floor which indicated that the apartment had multiple bedrooms.

“I do right now. I had roommates but they got another job in New York and moved out and …” she stopped, not wanting to really discuss the plans they had for the apartment.

“No boyfriend living here, eh?” Lucifer had turned and looked at Chloe now with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“No, he still has his own apartment,” Chloe replied before she could stop herself. When she realised what she had said, Chloe sighed and decided to outright tell him, “Lucifer, I do have a boyfriend.”  

“Of course you do,” Lucifer replied and kept the smile plastered on his face. It could have fooled anyone else, but Chloe could see that it was not a genuine one.

“Lucifer, you need to understand …, “ Chloe wanted to explain herself, but Lucifer didn’t let her.

“No need to explain. Why wouldn’t a woman as beautiful as you have a boyfriend.” He paused for a moment and felt the need to go. He didn’t have it in him to talk more about her new relationship. “I’ll better get going now,” Lucifer said as he was heading towards the door.

“What? Already?” Chloe was disappointed that he wanted to go so soon.

“Well, Lux needs my attention after all this time,” was Lucifer’s reply. He stopped at the door to say “Goodbye, Miss Decker” and then he was gone.

Chloe was so baffled about his sudden departure that she had barely time to reply to his goodbye. But the fact that he had called her Miss Decker again pissed her off. It felt like a slap on the face, as if all the time they had spent together as a couple before he went to Hell had meant nothing to him. 

Chloe sat down still staring at the door. She felt so many emotions at once. She was happy that Lucifer was back on Earth, but at the same time felt a bit guilty because she had not waited for him. She regretted a little that she had not initiated a hug or some other form of physical contact herself because she had missed him so much, but Lucifer had acted like he wanted to keep his distance (which he never did), so she probably would have made a fool of herself if she had hugged him. But the way he had acted just now had hurt.   

--------

Two days later Chloe was sitting in their usual booth at Lux with Linda. They had already a Tribe night planned before Lucifer had surprised them with returning to Earth. Maze was out of town for longer than she had initially planned (apparently this bounty was not that easy to catch and Maze had seemed delighted about it and insisted that they should still go and drink without her this time). Ella had not arrived yet, so Chloe and Linda had some time to talk.

“So, how are you feeling?” Linda asked. She would have liked to talk to Chloe earlier, but she had had a long day on Thursday and Charlie had been a little fussy in the evening, so when he eventually had fallen asleep, Linda was too exhausted to do anything.

Although the other woman didn’t specify, Choe knew exactly what she was asking about. She thought a bit before answering. “Honestly… I don’t know. I mean, yes it’s good that he is back, but the way he acted… I’d say I’m rather pissed at him.” She took a big mouthful from the wine glass that was on the table.

“What do you mean?” Linda was a little confused. Her schedule for the rest of the week had been packed, so she hadn’t seen Lucifer again, but she didn’t think it would be that bad.

“I mean… he was so distant, so formal. It was as if us, our relationship had never happened.” Chloe was glad that she finally had someone to talk to about it. She hadn’t said anything to Dan, not sure how to bring up the subject of her former boyfriend being back in town.

“Oh,” Linda didn’t know what to say to that. She suspected why he had behaved like that, but Linda wasn’t sure if it was her place to say anything about it to Chloe.

“Yeah, oh,” Chloe repeated sarcastically. “I mean, he was the one who left, so if anyone, I would have the right to act cold and distant.”

“Chloe, I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt you. I think you two need to talk about everything.” Linda knew Lucifer well enough to know that hurting Chloe had definitely been not his intention, but there were issues they both needed to face.

“Well, when he acts like that it’s not possible to talk, really.” Chloe could already picture him giving some elusive answers to her questions and brushing any serious topic off as a joke. 

Linda wanted to reply and say something that would hopefully make it better, but just then Ella arrived and they were distracted by the greeting hugs Ella gave every time they met. Before Ella had finished her greetings Patrick appeared at the table bringing Ella’s usual order with him. Another perk of meeting at Lux - the service was always impeccable.

Soon they were chatting cheerfully and enjoying themselves and Chloe had almost forgotten all her complicated feelings that had been troubling her since Lucifer’s visit. The alcohol she drank helped too, of course.

Ella soon wanted to dance and when the others were not too enthusiastic about the idea, she started to look around hoping to find someone who would catch her eye. Suddenly someone familiar caught her eye and made her jaw drop.

“Oh my God! Is that Lucifer?” she pointed towards the bar where the man in question was standing, his arm around a beautiful brunette with a short tight dress. Lucifer was saying something to the woman and leaning really close to her. By the looks of it, she was enjoying his closeness.

Chloe looked towards the bar and felt her anger rise. She didn’t think that he would be that petty and start hitting on other women right in front of her.

“Chloe, did you know that he is back?” Ella asked, looking at her with wide eyes.

“Yes, I did,” was her curt reply. She had felt so conflicted about it all that she hadn’t told Ella about Lucifer’s return even though they were best friends and worked together in LAPD now.

“What? Why? How long has he been back?” Ella was shooting questions like an automatic weapon.

“He has been back for just a few days and… things are a bit complicated,” Linda answered instead of Chloe, who was still staring in the direction of Lucifer, her jaw clenched so tightly that Linda was afraid something would break.

Chloe had secretly hoped that Lucifer would come to the club that evening. She had even picked a much sexier dress for Tribe night than she usually did. But in her imagination Lucifer would come to their table and talk to them, maybe even dance with them. She had secretly hoped to be able to ignore him a bit, to get back at him for how he acted while he was in her place. For some reason Chloe hadn’t even imagined the possibility of Lucifer having some other woman by his side while she was in Lux. Seeing him flirting with that woman made her feel stupid and jealous and she was angry both at herself and Lucifer. Maybe it was the alcohol she had drunk or something else, but Chloe decided that she would not just sit there silently and watch him. 

“Excuse me for a moment,” she told the others while she rose from her seat.

“Chloe, are you sure it’s a good idea?” Linda asked worriedly.

“You’re the one that suggested we should talk,” Chloe snapped at her, the anger in her making her lash out on the therapist, “I’m just taking your advice.” Chloe turned around and started to walk towards the bar.

“I didn’t mean right now,” Linda shouted after her. The music was loud, so Linda was not sure that Chloe had even heard her, but she suspected that Chloe had just ignored her comment and kept walking.

 

Chloe reached Lucifer and the sexy brunette just when they had turned towards the elevator, clearly intending to go up.

“Really classy, Lucifer,” Chloe said as loud as she could.

Lucifer turned towards her and looked genuinely surprised to see her. “Chl…,” he started to say, but corrected himself immediately. “Miss Decker, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, are you trying to tell me that Patrick didn’t tell you about the Tribe night we had planned for tonight, Mr I-know-everything-that-goes-on-in-my-club?” Chloe crossed her arms on her chest and looked rather belligerent. She remembered how Lucifer used to brag about knowing everything that was happening in his club.

“Indeed, I was not aware of your little gathering tonight,” Lucifer answered, a little baffled about Chloe's attitude.

“So you are expecting me to believe that you just happened to flirt with her at the same time I’m here?” Chloe pointed at the other woman.

“Well, I am a free Devil now, so I don’t see where’s the problem here,” Lucifer was getting a bit irritated himself. It had not been his choice to be single again. Also he had noticed the dress Chloe was wearing and he was not sure which was worse - the possibility of her wearing it for someone else or wearing it for him to see while she was off limits for him.

“Of course you don’t see,” Chloe threw her arms in the air. She was about to say something more, but the music got louder and she realised that it was not a conversation that she wanted to have with him in the middle of Lux.

“We need to talk,” she jabbed her finger to his chest.

“Well, I’m all ears,” Lucifer answered drily.

“Privately,” Chloe added, glancing towards Lucifer’s date or whatever she was.

Lucifer sighed. The office was closer to the club, but he had a feeling he would need something to drink while having that conversation.

He turned to his companion, “I’m sorry, darling. I’ll get this over with and then we can go on with our initial plan.” The last words were accompanied by a salacious grin, so you didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what their initial plan had been.

The woman said with a little pout, “make it quick then.”

Lucifer leaned closer to her and whispered to her ear, “I’ll do my best.”

“We can talk in the penthouse,” he told Chloe before he started to walk towards the elevator. Chloe followed him, the memory of him whispering in the other woman’s ear and calling her darling twisting her gut. 

Luckily the elevator doors opened as soon as Lucifer pushed the button and he gestured for Chloe to go in first. The ride up was filled with uncomfortable silence. They were both tense and looked anywhere but at each other. Chloe was quite sure that Lucifer had somehow made the elevator slower than it used to be, because she didn’t remember the ride ever taking so long.

Finally the doors opened and they stepped inside the penthouse. Lucifer went straight to the bar and poured himself a drink. He offered one to Chloe too, but she declined, feeling that she already was a bit more drunk than she should be for the talk.

Lucifer drank half of the glass he had poured and turned to Chloe, “so, what was so important that you needed to drag me away from my lovely companion.”

Chloe knew him well enough to recognise that he was clearly wearing a mask, hiding whatever feelings he had right now. He sounded polite, but distant and that reminded Chloe exactly why she had wanted to talk to him and what she needed to ask.

“Why are you acting like that?” she blurted out.

“What do you mean?” the expression on Lucifer’s face didn’t change.

“I mean that you act like I’m nobody, a stranger. You keep yourself locked up around me. Don’t I deserve some emotions after all this time?” Chloe almost shouted. The fact that he had been like his usual self with that other woman in the club, had made his distant behaviour towards Chloe even more hurtful to her.

“I apologise, that was not my intention. I simply tried to be respectful.” Lucifer was confused. He had thought that him being more distant would be a good thing. That she would not have to worry about him trying to disturb her current relationship.

“Respectful? That’s what you call it? I call it cold and distant. And knowing how warm and welcoming you usually are with people, even with strangers, makes it worse.” Chloe didn’t see the point of trying to hide her feelings. She really wanted him to understand how his visit had affected her. 

“I have not had any experience with girlfriends or ex-girlfriends, as you know,” Lucifer defended himself, emphasising the word “ex-girlfriend”.

The way he used the word “ex-girlfriend” made Chloe realise something. ”You knew that I’m with Dan now before you came to see me.” It was phrased more like a statement than a question, but Lucifer nodded anyway.

“So what?” Chloe crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Now that I’m in a relationship with someone else, you treat me worse than a stranger?” She had not expected Lucifer to be so petty. 

“No, that just means that I have to restrain myself,” Lucifer tried to explain calmly, but spelling that out for her made things somehow worse. Now it seemed even more real and her standing there demanding an explanation felt almost like salt into the wound.

“Restrain from what?” Chloe could still not see why he couldn’t act like a friend with her.

Lucifer clenched his jaw and closed his eyes, trying to stay calm. He was getting more agitated, but he didn’t want her to know how much he still wanted her.

“Restrain from what, Lucifer?” Chloe wanted to hear it. She had an idea what he could mean, but she needed him to say it. She was now standing in front of him and looking right at him.

Lucifer opened his eyes and seeing her looking at him expectantly made him snap. “From kissing you breathless and fucking you senseless against your front door,” he spit out looking right into her eyes.

Chloe couldn't help but have that mental image form in her mind straight away and she felt heat rise in her lower regions. Unfortunately she knew exactly how good it would have been if he'd really done that. 

They stared at each other in silence for a while, Chloe not knowing how to respond to his confession. She had wanted to know that he hadn’t forgotten her, that he still felt something for her, but she had not expected something like that. In hindsight, he didn’t lie and he did like sex, so Chloe shouldn’t have been surprised by his confession.

Lucifer could see her eyes dilate from desire and it confused him even more. He had thought that she would get mad at him or chastise him right away for even thinking about it.

“Is that what you would have desired? For me to fuck you first and then ask if it’s even okay?” Lucifer finally asked, breaking the silence. The sarcasm in his voice was palpable.

Yes, Chloe’s traitorous mind screamed at her. “No,” she answered, averting her eyes. She was not a cheater and that would have been cheating. Even if she could have said no to him at any time and she knew that Lucifer would have stopped, Chloe suspected that if he had come to her place and so much as kissed her, she would not have been able to say no. 

Lucifer huffed knowing a lie when he saw one and turned towards the bar. After taking a sip from his glass, he spoke. “Since you came here asking questions, do you mind answering one for me?” 

“Of course not,” Chloe answered, still a bit conflicted about her reaction to Lucifer’s admission before.

Lucifer turned around and faced Chloe again. “Did you even mean it?” Lucifer asked in a calm voice that was clearly hiding more fiery feelings.

“Mean what?” Chloe didn’t understand what he was asking about.

“What you told me the night I left,” Lucifer explained, hoping that he wouldn’t have to spell this one out.

“You mean about loving you?” Chloe had thought about that night and what they had said to each other so many times that she knew it all by heart.

“Yes,” Lucifer answered, looking at her intently, hoping that she would be truthful this time.

“Of course I did,” Chloe felt a bit offended that he would even ask something like that.

Lucifer hummed while he put the glass towards his mouth again. “And how long did it take to stop loving me?” he asked bitterly.

Now it was Chloe’s turn to clench her teeth and close her eyes while tilting her head towards the ceiling.

“Answer me, “ Lucifer’s voice was commanding.

“I can’t,” Chloe whispered, barely holding back the tears that threatened to fall. 

“Happened so quickly that you didn’t notice, eh?” Lucifer tried to sound sarcastic, but Chloe could also hear hurt behind the words.

“No,” Chloe told him, sounding a little affronted.

“Then why?” Lucifer kept prodding.

“Because I never stopped loving you,” Chloe threw at him in a watery voice, a tear slipping down her cheek.

Lucifer was baffled by her reply. He stared at her with knitted brows and had to clench his fist that was aching to wipe away that tear from her face. If she still loved him, then why…

“Well, you have a funny way of showing it,” Lucifer finally said.

“You were the one who said goodbye, making me think that I’ll never see you again, Lucifer,” Chloe suddenly felt the need to defend her decision to be with another man. “I begged you not to leave. Did you really imagine that I’ll be single for the rest of my life? And it was not like I jumped to another relationship as soon as you were gone. I was alone for more than two years, missing you every day.” More tears fell down her cheek with that admission. “And even after getting together with Dan I thought about you every single day.” She took a deep breath after getting it all out.

“How often did you think about me?” Chloe asked in return.

“Every day,” Lucifer answered silently, “for about 50 000 years.” Her little speech had made Lucifer realise that he was indeed the one who had broken them up. He had no idea that he’d be able to find a way to come back, so he had really thought that he’d never see Chloe again. And of course it would be foolish of him to expect her to stay single. She was a beautiful woman who deserved to be loved. 

“What?” Chloe was confused, “you were gone for less than three years.”

“On Earth, yes. But as I’ve said before, time runs differently in Hell.”

“But 50 000…,” Chloe couldn’t even imagine that amount of time.

“Give or take a few years, but yes,” Lucifer had calculated how much time he had spent in Hell once he figured out how long he had been there in Earth time. And even though he had tried to keep himself busy and not think about her that much, he knew for a fact that he had been thinking of her at least once a day while he was in Hell.

It made Chloe feel sick. There she was complaining about missing him for less than three years, but he had been alone in Hell and missed her for 50 000 years. She now really felt like a cold hearted bitch who had traded him for another one in a heartbeat. But then she remembered something else, the real reason she had even started thinking about having another relationship.

“I’m actually surprised that you would even want to be near me, considering …,” she didn’t know how to really phrase that.

“Considering what?” Lucifer was confused why she’d think that he didn’t want to be near her.

Chloe looked at him curiously and narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t Amenadiel tell you?”

“Tell me what?” Lucifer was still not following.

“About my… uhm… origin.” Chloe didn’t know how to define it better. She didn’t like to refer to herself as a Miracle like Amenadiel had.

“Oh,” Lucifer now understood what she meant. Since he had known that she was with someone else when he had heard about Chloe being a Miracle, he hadn’t even thought about how it would affect her feelings towards him. Lucifer had only been upset about his Father having messed with Chloe, but now after she had brought it up, new questions formed in Lucifer's head. Had her feelings towards him been even real? Did she only think that she loved him? Was it all just an illusion created by his Father? And why? 

Chloe watched the realisation sink in, this time Lucifer’s expression was not guarded behind a mask like it had been in the beginning of their talk and she could clearly see it all from his face.

“I mean, if God created me, or to be more specific, gave orders to bless my mom, so I would be born, then how much of my life is even my own? How much of it is predestined? Are my feelings even my own?” She didn’t need to say it, Lucifer understood with that last question that Chloe had thought along the same line as he - her feelings towards Lucifer must have been manipulated.

“So you wanted to make your own decision,” Lucifer concluded.

“Yes,” Chloe exclaimed a little too enthusiastically. “I mean, you are probably the only one who understands how it feels to be manipulated by God.” Chloe had felt so alone after finding out about her being a Miracle. No one had understood how it felt to be a pawn created by God. Amenadiel had even tried to tell her that it was a good thing.

Lucifer sighed, “I do.” He turned around and poured himself another glass. When he turned back holding his glass, he continued. “I guess I should have known that someone like you could never want the Devil, not by your own free will anyway.”

“No, Lucifer, that’s not what I’m saying,” Chloe frowned. She had been excited that he would finally understand her, but now he had twisted it into something far worse.

“Well, but that was what you meant, wasn’t it,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“No, I meant that if I was put purposefully on your path and we were probably destined to be together and I just want to feel like I control my life, that’s all. I’m not doubting my feelings towards you.” That was the truth. She might have questions about how it all came to be and what was the endgame, but she knew what she felt.

Lucifer looked at the whiskey in his glass and thought about her words. “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. You have made your choice and I would never want to compromise your free will.” Chloe’s words about knowing what she felt towards him should have made him feel better, but they didn’t. Somehow it made the loss feel even worse. If she did really love him, but his Father had ruined it all… maybe this was it, the purpose of it all was just to show him what he’d never have again. The thought made all the fight leave him. Lucifer sank to the bar stool and turned his back towards Chloe again.

Chloe had been watching him and the hurt on his face was palpable. Clearly the fact that she was created by God had not had the effect on him that Chloe had thought. She assumed that Lucifer would run far away from her, to get away from anything remotely indicating that his Father had manipulated his life once again. She wanted to make him feel better about the fact that they couldn’t be together. So she decided to reveal another reason that she had not dumped Dan the moment she had learned that Lucifer was back.

Chloe stepped closer to the bar, “there’s one more thing.”

Lucifer just raised his eyebrow and tilted his head a little, indicating that he was listening.

“Dan and I have decided to start a family,” she paused for a moment, “we want to raise a daughter together.”

Lucifer knitted his eyebrows and turned his head, looking at Chloe more closely. He didn’t know too much about pregnancy, but he thought that you’d have to be further along to know the sex of the baby.

“How do you know you are having a daughter?” he finally asked.

Chloe was confused for a moment. “Oh, no I’m not pregnant,” she clarified. “We decided to adopt. Or at least we are trying to adopt. There was a double homicide last week, a couple was murdered during a robbery gone wrong. Their daughter was luckily at a sleepover, but then it turned out that she was adopted and now she needs a new family and we decided to apply.”

“Is it a common practice that LAPD adopts a child once their parents have been murdered?” Lucifer wondered. 

“No, not really. But there was something about that girl. We kind of clicked and I have heard plenty of stories about adoptive parents who are not treating their child well. I mean she was lucky the first time, her parents were well off and she had a nice room and she is really smart and …,” Chloe suddenly stopped, realising that she was babbling. But she couldn’t really help it, every time she thought about that little girl, she got so excited. They hadn’t really discussed having a family with Dan until that point, but when she had suggested it, Dan had not needed a lot of convincing.

“So you see, I need a boyfriend with whom I can raise that girl,” Chloe explained.

“Well, it’s a good thing you have Daniel then,” Lucifer told her, saying “Daniel” with a sarcastic tone. “No one in their right mind would let you adopt a child while living with the Devil, would they?”

“Lucifer, it’s not about you being the Devil, it’s about you not liking children. What did you call them, terrible taxing burdens, was it? Would you really want to live with one?” Chloe asked him directly.

“No, of course not.” Lucifer was certain that even Chloe would not have been able to convince him to even be in the same room with a child for more than absolutely necessary, let alone live with one.  

“I’m sorry, Lucifer, but that’s how it is. I want to give that little girl a home filled with love and I know that Dan is ready to do that too.” Chloe desperately wanted him to understand, to feel less hurt about her decisions. She would rather even see that mask hiding his emotions on Lucifer’s face, because the hurt mirroring from his whole being was shattering her heart at the moment.

“But we could still be friends, Lucifer. Just because we can’t be in a relationship…,” she started, but Lucifer cut her off.

“Save your pity for someone else,” he spat, rising from his seat. “Are you going to invite me over for some family dinner with Daniel and your sticky urchin, so we can all sit together at the table and pretend to tolerate each other just so you could feel better about yourself?” he asked angrily.

Chloe didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t really thought about how exactly they would be spending time together as friends, she had just suggested so she could keep Lucifer in her life.

“I was fine before I met you, I will manage just fine without you in my life again,” he told her, his voice dripping with spite.

“But Lucifer ...,” Chloe tried to reason with him, but he interrupted her once more.

“I’d like you to leave now,” Lucifer turned his face away from her and sat back down. His voice was shaking a bit and Chloe had the feeling that he was barely holding it together at the moment. To be honest, she was herself on the verge of shattering, so she decided to do as he had asked.

After pushing the button for the elevator Chloe asked, “should I send the woman from Lux up here?” Right now the thought of him being alone was even worse than the thought of him in someone else’s arms. 

“No,” was the only answer Lucifer gave her and even though it was only two letters, Chloe could hear so much angst in it that she couldn’t keep her tears from falling as soon as she stepped into the elevator.

Somehow the ride down felt much shorter again, and Chloe barely managed to stop her tears in time. She did not want to cry in the middle of Lux. Chloe planned to head straight home, but then she remembered that she had left her purse at the booth, so she changed direction and went to the booth she had been sitting earlier.

Her purse was still there, but so were Linda and Ella.

“Chloe,” the latter exclaimed happily. Chloe tried to put on a more neutral face, but her friends were not fooled so easily.

“Are you okay?” Linda asked as soon as she laid eyes on Chloe.

“Fine. Just tired,” Chloe didn’t want to discuss it at the moment, so she tried to brush them off. “I’m heading home. Good night!” She grabbed her purse and turned away from the table.

Linda and Ella shared a look. They were not fooled and could tell that she was not alright, but it seemed that Chloe wanted to be alone at the moment, so they let her leave.

“I should have stopped her from doing it,” Linda muttered looking at her friend leaving the club in a hurry, feeling bad that she had not intervened when Chloe had decided to confront Lucifer while being a bit tipsy and not in the best state of mind. 

Notes:

Their talk in the penthouse has been living in my mind rent free for quite some time now. Every now and then it came to me again and to be honest sometimes got a tear or two out of me. Even when I wrote it, I got a bit teary. To be honest, I am really easy to bring to tears, but I was wondering... did it make some of you tear up too? You can tell me in the comments if you like.

Chapter 10: Aftermath

Notes:

I know, it's been a while. I had a really busy May, so I didn't have much time to write.

But the angsty part is not over yet, so prepare yourself.

Chloe managed to keep it together until she got home. Well, almost managed, but she was quite sure that the driver hadn’t noticed the tear that slipped through during the ride. But as soon as she closed the door to her apartment, the dam broke loose and Chloe didn’t even try to stop those tears. She was alone in her home and didn’t need to pretend anymore. Dan had his own boys night with some friend who had come to visit from out of town and needed to spend the night at his place. Right now Chloe was grateful for that.
Chloe leaned against the door and cried. At some point she felt all the strength leave her and she slid down until she was sitting on the floor, her back against the door.
Chloe wished that she would have swallowed her pride and hadn’t confronted Lucifer. She had just wanted the confirmation that Lucifer had thought about her and had missed her while he was gone. Thinking back to it, Chloe realised that it had been foolish to think that he had forgotten about her. She should have trusted her gut, but the way he had been acting while visiting her the other day had caused so many conflicting emotions and confusion that she had started to doubt.
A small part of her was glad that he had thought about her, like Chloe had assumed, but knowing how long it had been for him, made her heart ache. Chloe couldn’t really shake off the feeling that she should have stayed single longer. It’s not like she jumped into someone else’s arms as soon as Lucifer was gone. She had not wanted to hear about dating someone else although her friends started to suggest it after a year or so. Chloe probably would not have even thought about having another relationship (at least not anytime soon), but after they had discovered that she was not only a miracle in her parents eyes (they had always referred to her that way since they had tried for a long time before Penelope got pregnant), something changed. Chloe was really lost at first, feeling like she had no control over her life and not knowing if anything in her life was real or was it all planned by some higher power (probably God since he was the one who had given Amenadiel the task). So when Dan asked her out Chloe accepted. Dan was a decent guy and she had enjoyed herself on their date. Soon there was a second date and the third and the rest is history. Dating Dan had given her back a feeling of control. Now she had feelings for him too and the thought of just breaking up with him because her previous boyfriend was back seemed just wrong. Even if there wouldn’t be the issue of being put on Lucifer’s path by his father, Chloe cared too much about Dan to hurt him like that.

When Chloe had brought up the issue of her origin during their conversation in the penthouse, she was really surprised that Lucifer had not yet resented her for being a puppet designed by God. She remembered how much he had hated it when he was convinced that someone was manipulating him. Lucifer had even told Maze to cut off his own wings to show his Father that he couldn’t manipulate him. Again, she was torn about Lucifer’s reaction. She was glad that he didn’t resent her for being created by God, but it also made her wonder if she had overreacted. After she had found out, Chloe had wondered what would have happened if Lucifer had still been on Earth when they discovered that she was the one whose mother Amenadiel had blessed. Chloe was rather certain that it would have caused serious issues in their relationship. In a way she was glad that there was no relationship to ruin at that time. Knowing how well he handled bad news, Chloe could imagine how Lucifer would have fled the town for days or even weeks. But now she was not so sure anymore. Lucifer had not seen her being a Miracle as a reason to stay away from her. And of course when she had tried to explain it to him, Lucifer had immediately assumed that her feelings were manipulated, that she couldn’t possibly love him for real. Chloe did not want to believe it. She had thought about it after finding out and all the evidence pointed in the opposite direction - she had been the only one to resist him at first, all the other women had fallen to his feet immediately. It had not been love at first sight, she had grown to love him as she had gotten to know him. Chloe just couldn’t see how this could have been a manipulation. So she had shut down that train of thought and concluded that her love for Lucifer was indeed real even though the reason she was created in the first place still remained a mystery.

Chloe had been sitting on the floor and crying her eyes out for some time. Her bum was starting to feel sore and she wanted the thoughts and regrets running through her head to stop. Chloe got up and remembered that she had a box of wine somewhere. They had bought it together with Dan because it had been on sale, but it had not tasted that good, so they had both taken just one glass and the rest of it left untouched. Chloe decided that now would be a good time to give the wine another shot. She took a glass, filled it up and took a hefty sip. Yep, it still didn’t taste that good, but tonight it didn’t matter. Chloe took another gulp and filled the glass again. She started to head to the couch but then stopped and returned to the kitchen to grab the box of wine also with her. She would not want to go back and forth when she needs to refill.

Unfortunately the first glass had not stopped her from thinking about Lucifer and everything that had been said in the penthouse, so Chloe continued at a much quicker pace than she normally did. As she was drinking, her eyes landed on a picture of her and her parents, taken when she was about 10 years old. That in turn made her thoughts drift to the little girl who hopefully would be living in this apartment soon. Well, she’d probably not be drinking like that after becoming a parent. Without even realising it, Chloe’s mind went back to their talk in the penthouse again and how Lucifer had assumed that no one would want to raise kids with him. Chloe was certain that he would be a decent father since he had been a very attentive boyfriend, but she also knew that Lucifer disliked children. She didn’t really know why, because they had never really discussed it, but whenever they had met a kid somewhere, Lucifer had not held back on the disdain he felt for kids. For some reason the kids they encountered had always been on their worst behaviour - screaming, having tantrums, etc. Then again, if the kid was quiet and behaving nicely, they hadn’t probably just drawn their attention. But Chloe had not really worried about Lucifer not wanting kids, because she herself had not thought about kids at that point, being in her early twenties. Lucifer had mentioned though that he would not be able to procreate since he was a different species. That had made Linda’s news about having a baby with Amenadiel even more surprising. But as the former angel had explained, he was now almost human. So Chloe thought that Lucifer wouldn’t still be able to have children, to his delight. That was one more thing totally different about Dan - he liked kids and when Chloe had told him about wanting to adopt that girl, he had not needed any convincing. He had met the girl too and they seemed to get along. Chloe was not sure what she would have done if Lucifer hadn’t left and they’d be still together. Knowing how he felt about kids, she probably wouldn’t have even suggested adopting that little girl. The possibility of Lucifer agreeing to something like that just to please her would have been too high and she would never want Lucifer to do something so life changing without really wanting it.

Finally the amount of alcohol Chloe had drunk while reliving the conversation in the penthouse and trying (and failing) to not feel guilty about it all, took its toll. Chloe managed to put the glass on the coffee table, before she fell asleep on the couch.
Around 5 am she woke up, sore from the not so comfortable position she had fallen asleep in, and decided to go to bed. She took the almost empty glass and almost empty box of wine to the kitchen and dragged herself into her bedroom. She hoped to fall asleep as soon as she had done it on the couch, but this time she laid awake in her bed for a while. Finally she fell asleep again.

--------

Lucifer waited about a minute after the doors had closed after Chloe and then went to the elevator to lock the doors. He was glad that he hadn’t deinstalled the lock although he didn’t have anyone living with him anymore. Right now he wanted to be alone.
He went back to the bar and poured himself another glass. And then another. When he started to pour the third glass, Lucifer noticed that the bottle was empty. Even though he had more bottles lined up behind the bar, somehow it seemed like the universe was laughing at him and Lucifer got angry. He hurled the empty bottle in the direction of his desk and heard something break there when it hit the target. Whatever it had broken had probably been expensive, but at that point Lucifer didn’t care. He threw his empty tumbler at his Assyrian wall and watched it shatter into tiny pieces.

Lucifer walked to his wall of bottles intending to shatter some more, but then decided against it. He might still want to drink them. Instead he grabbed the closest bottle and went to the balcony. After drinking about a third of the bottle, he looked up to the sky.
“Is this what you planned all along?” Lucifer suddenly yelled. “To make me want her, want to have something real with her, just to rip it away from me?” He took another swig from the bottle. “I must say, that was quite clever. I mean, I know torture and this certainly is one. You think I haven’t suffered enough, that I need to be punished more for my little rebellion, eh?” Lucifer listened for a moment, but of course his Father never spoke back. If he was even listening at all.
“But if you think that I’ll return to Hell now, you’re wrong. Even without her, it’s still better than Hell.” Lucifer had thought about returning to Hell for good when he had left Chloe’s apartment, but decided against it. At least he had other distractions here, in Hell he would be alone with the memory of her and nothing there to comfort him.

He drank the whiskey he had brought with him until the bottle was empty and then let it fall to the ground. He watched the tiny pieces of glass cover the area around him on the balcony floor and felt as if it had been his heart that had shattered there. Lucifer sat on the ground and was all aware how the pieces of glass didn’t affect him at all. Unlike that piece of glass that had cut him years back when Chloe had been working in Lux and accidentally broke a tumbler. Right now that memory cut way deeper than that piece of glass ever did. “Why her?” Lucifer whispered in a broken voice. “Why did you have to involve her in your bloody games?” He knew what it felt like to be his Father’s puppet. He would not wish that to anyone, especially not to someone as good as Chloe.

The anger he had felt was suddenly gone and all that was left was hurt and sadness. Lucifer’s vision started to blur and he felt tears slide down his cheeks. He didn’t have the strength to fight it anymore, so Lucifer allowed himself to cry. Cry for the crushed dream of returning to a happy life with Chloe after leaving Hell behind, cry for the fact that he had hurt her again (his celestial hearing had allowed him to hear Chloe sobbing in the elevator) and for her being manipulated by Dear Old Dad.
Lucifer was not sure how long he cried there, but the pain he felt was much worse than any physical pain he had endured in his life. Finally he decided that he couldn’t take it anymore and decided to turn to his familiar coping mechanism - numbing the pain with drugs and alcohol. He stood up and went back to the penthouse. His stash was still there, so he was good for some time. The amount he used would probably have killed a human, but for him it was a pleasant buzz that was a welcome distraction and allowed him to forget about his pain.

--------

Chloe woke up with a headache. It was almost noon already, luckily she didn’t have to be anywhere. She dragged herself to the bathroom and took a shower. It made her feel slightly better. After showering and brushing her teeth Chloe went downstairs. The wine glass she had used the previous night and the box that had held the devious liquid seemed to mock her on the kitchen counter. Chloe washed the glass and decided to throw the box of wine away although it was not all finished yet. She could probably never drink it without remembering the night she had anyway.

Chloe had just made herself a cup of coffee and was deciding whether she would be able to eat something or would it just exit her from the wrong end if she did, when the doorbell rang. She dragged herself to the door and found Dan standing there, smiling.
“Hi, babe,” he greeted her immediately and gave her a brief kiss on the lips.
“Hi,” Chloe answered with a smile and stepped aside so her boyfriend could enter.
“Sorry I didn’t come earlier, but Carol just left and I came here immediately.” Dan went to the kitchen counter and set down a paper bag. “But I got you some lemon squares.”
“Thanks, babe,” Chloe said, although she thought that it would be probably best if she didn’t eat them right now. Those were her favourites and she wouldn’t want to throw them up. “It’s alright, I just woke up anyway.”
Dan looked at her closer. “It seems that you had fun last night, huh?”
Chloe didn’t know how to describe last night, but fun was not the word she would use. “I got a bit carried away,” she told him instead and went back to the cup of coffee she had been drinking.
“You should have told me, I could have brought something for you to cure it. My mom has a secret recipe for a drink that really helps. I have a few bottles stashed away at my apartment. Do you want me to go and get one for you?”
“No, it’s ok, I’ll manage,” Chloe declined. She didn’t have hangovers often and she didn’t like to make a big fuss about it. “I just need some painkillers.” Her head was feeling like someone was inside there pounding with a sledgehammer. Dan watched a bit worriedly while she was searching for the painkillers and after finally finding them, took a couple of pills with water.
“You know, if you take some painkillers before going to bed, it usually reduces the headache in the morning,” Dan told her.
“Okay,” Chloe muttered as an answer. She was not thinking about the consequences of drinking that much last night. She doubted that she would have thought about the painkillers even if she had known about the lifehack last night. And right now that just sounded like an irritating hindsight, but she didn’t really want to snap at Dan. It was not his fault that Chloe felt like crap.
“Have you eaten already?” Dan asked.
“No,” was Chloe’s curt answer.
“You know what is best if you have a hangover? Greasy food. It really helps to feel better,” Dan suggested.
Chloe felt her nausea rise even at the thought of something greasy. “No, thanks,” she shook her head and regretted it immediately. The movement had not helped.
“You sure? It has always helped me,” Dan didn’t let go of the idea. He knew that Chloe usually didn’t drink that much and he had more experiences with hangovers.
“I’m sure,” Chloe confirmed.
“Okay, maybe we should start with a toast then,” Dan moved into the kitchen and made her a toast.
Chloe was not sure she wanted it, but she agreed that she probably should eat something, so she decided not to protest and try to eat. After eating about half of it, she felt that it had not been a good idea since the nausea had intensified. Chloe stood up abruptly and rushed to the toilet.
Dan was about to follow her and ask if she needed help when the doorbell rang. Since Chloe was occupied, Dan decided to go and see who was at the door.
“Hola, Dan!” Ella greeted him cheerily as soon as he opened the door.
“Hi, Ella!” Dan replied. “Come in.”
“Thanks. I just wanted to check on Chloe.”
“Oh, that’s nice of you. She is not feeling well, but luckily I’m here to help,” Dan told her.
“That’s really good. I was a bit worried about her. It’s good that you are here.”
“Yeah, I have had a lot of experience with hangovers, we’ll get her better in no time.”
“Hangover?” Ella sounded surprised. “She didn’t drink that much in the club.”
“Well, she seems to definitely have one. Why were you worried then?” Now it was Dan’s turn to be confused.
“Because of how upset she seemed after talking to Lucifer,” Ella explained.
“Lucifer?” Dan’s jaw almost dropped. “That piece of shit is back?” Dan’s voice was filled with contempt.
“You have no right to insult him,” Chloe had returned from the toilet and heard his last words. She knew that Dan didn’t like Lucifer, but she couldn’t let him deride Lucifer when he knew absolutely nothing about why he had left in the first place.
Dan clenched his jaw. “Why didn’t you tell me that he’s back in town?” He looked at Chloe and then at Ella. They worked together, so she could have told him too.
“Hey, don’t look at me, I just found out yesterday at Lux,” Ella put her hands up in a surrender gesture.
“You knew that he was back and you went to his club to party?” Dan just couldn’t believe it.
“We have Tribe nights almost always at Lux,” Chloe told him as she walked past Dan and Ella and sat on the couch.
“But you knew that he was back? How long have you known?” Dan threw the questions at her.
“A few days,” Chloe answered in a weak voice.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“What difference would it have made?” Chloe asked. She knew that Dan would probably find out someday, but right now she was feeling like shit both emotionally and physically and she was too tired to defend her decision.
Dan was silent for a moment. He could see that his girlfriend was still upset about it. “What did that …,” he was about to say “bastard” but stopped remembering that Chloe had not liked him insulting Lucifer, “... Lucifer say to you?” Dan used a calmer tone this time. When Chloe didn’t answer him, Dan looked at Ella questioningly.
“I don’t know. They talked in private,” Ella shrugged. She felt guilty that she had spilled the beans about Lucifer being back and got Chloe in trouble.
“Chloe?” Dan looked at his girlfriend again hoping to get an answer.
“I don’t want to talk about it, ok?” Chloe looked at Dan and was trying her best to keep it together, but one tear still slipped past her defences.
Dan noticed the tear running down her cheek and could hear the plea in her voice, but seeing her so upset got him worried. “Did he hurt you?”
“He would never lay a finger on me. We just talked.” Chloe was sure that Dan meant hurting her physically and she didn’t like that Dan would even suggest that. “But it’s more likely that I hurt him,” she added silently.
Dan just watched her for a moment trying to figure out what to do and Ella saw it as an opportunity to finally take her leave.
“Okay, I need to go now, I have this... thing… anyway. I hope you feel better soon, Chloe.”
Chloe turned a little on the couch to face her friend. “Thanks, Ella.”
After Ella had made her slightly awkward exit, Dan sat down on the couch. He looked at Chloe and suddenly another question popped to his mind. “So do you really have a hangover or is it all just emotional stuff that makes you feel bad?”
“Yes, I have a hangover,” Chloe confirmed.
“But Ella said you didn’t drink that much…,” Dan tried to make sense of it.
“I drank some more after I got home,” Chloe explained, glad that the topic had changed. “That boxed wine we bought the other day is gone now.”
“That awful tasting stuff? Wow… you must have needed some alcohol really badly.”
“Yeah… but I didn’t think it would be this awful today,” Chloe groaned, holding her head in her hands.
Dan put his arm around Chloe and pulled her gently into a side-hug. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” When Chloe didn’t answer immediately, Dan kissed the top of her head and asked, “do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” was her almost immediate answer. “I don’t want to think about anything.”
“Okay,” Dan put a pillow on his lap and pulled Chloe’s head onto it, “let’s just watch something silly on TV and not think at all.”
“Thanks,” Chloe muttered.

--------

“Bollocks,” Lucifer cursed silently when he didn’t find anything from the bottom drawer either. He went to the cabinet in the corner of the room. This was the last place where he hadn’t yet looked. But he didn’t find anything there either. He let out some words in Lilim that were not really translatable.
“What are you doing here?” A voice from the direction of the door interrupted his swearing session.
“Looking for my stash,” Lucifer narrowed his eyes at that manager Maze had hired, standing in the doorway, “do you know anything about it?”
“If you mean the narcotics that were hidden in the drawers then yes, I got rid of it,” Richard stated proudly. “I do not want to risk any charges from the police because there are some hidden drugs here somewhere.”
“Tell me you at least got high from them,” Lucifer didn’t think he could dislike the man even more, but he had been wrong.
“Of course not,” the other man sounded affronted, “I’m not some drug addict.”
“You imbecile, it was good stuff. And I think taking something that doesn’t belong to you is called stealing, isn’t it?” Lucifer clenched his jaw in anger. He was this close to showing Dick his Devil face.
“It was illegal and it was in my office, so I think I had every right to destroy it.” Dick sounded smug.
“Well, guess what, it’s not your office anymore,” Lucifer spat.
“What do you mean? You can’t just …” the smug grin was gone immediately.
“Yes, I can and I just did,” Lucifer interrupted him. “Get the Hell out of here.”
“But.. but I have rights. And you didn’t even hire me… and,” the man stammered.
“I am the owner and I’m back now, so I will manage my club myself which means your services are not needed anymore.” Lucifer could see that the other man was still ready to argue, so he decided to coax him a little. “I will give you a month’s salary as a fee if you leave now and never bother me again.”
“I think since it was so sudden, I should get a fee of two month’s salary in addition to the money I have earned this month.” Mr Grayson didn’t seem so reluctant to leave anymore.
“Fine,” Lucifer agreed. He was more than happy to pay to get rid of the man.

After Dick was gone, Lucifer grabbed some bottles from the bar and went back to the penthouse. Even though he was glad that the annoying greedy man was gone from Lux, it didn’t change the fact that he was all out of drugs. He had used all he had in the penthouse and also the little amount he had been able to get from his usual supplier. Since he had been gone, the dealer didn’t have his usual amounts at hand anymore and would need a few days to get some more. He had tried calling Maze, hoping that she would have something, but it went to voicemail.
Throughout the night he’d managed to have a decent buzz that helped him not to think about the previous evening. In the morning when he had finished his supply, he turned to alcohol until his dealer got to him and gave Lucifer the drugs he had at the moment. Unfortunately those didn’t last very long. It was afternoon now and Lucifer drank one bottle after another in order to get a little drunk.

Lucifer had just opened another bottle when the elevator doors opened and Maze stepped inside the penthouse.
“Finally!” Lucifer exclaimed. “I’ve been calling you. Good to see you again, Mazey.” Lucifer slurred his words a little.
Maze could see that he was a bit drunk. Even if she hadn’t noticed it in his behaviour, the amount of empty bottles she could spot would have been a solid hint.
“What’s up?” Maze walked past him and sat on the couch. “Having a party I see,” she observed. The demon was glad to see her king again, but she was a demon and demons didn’t show feelings.
“Well, I’m back and there’s nothing stopping me from partying as much as I want and I want to party.” Lucifer took another hefty sip from the bottle in his hand. “Oh, do you have some drugs? I’m all out and that idiot you hired threw away those I had in the office.”
Maze frowned at that. “Stupid humans.”
“And by the way, I fired him.” Lucifer was slightly swaying on his legs. “What were you thinking when you hired him anyway? Did you want to torture everyone?”
Maze grinned diabolically. “You know me, I’m good at torture.”
“Oh yes, you are.” Lucifer chuckled a little. “So, do you have drugs?” Suddenly he remembered the most pressing issue.
“I might have something…,” Maze drawled. “But it’s gonna cost you.”
“Fine, you know I have money. Bring it here,” he ordered.
Maze rolled her eyes and got up. It was clear that he was not in the shape to have a serious conversation. The demon was not surprised to find him like that. She had arrived back to LA last night and had hoped to maybe catch the others still at the Tribe night, but when she had called Linda the therapist had told her what had happened and that she and Ella had headed home shortly after since neither of them were in the mood to party after Chloe’s departure.

 

Lucifer had just taken the drugs Maze had brought him and was enjoying the high when his phone rang.
“Hello, Doctor!” he answered after staring at the screen for a while. The device seemed suddenly quite fascinating.
“Hi Lucifer! How are you?” Linda greeted her and any sober person would have heard the worry in her voice.
“Marvellous. I only wish that damn celestial metabolism would not burn the high away so quickly,” Lucifer answered in a dreamy voice.
“I can see that you have turned to your usual coping mechanisms. I just wanted to tell you that if you want to talk, I’m here for you. And I have an opening in my schedule on Monday morning if you want to start with your therapy sessions again.”
“Why would I need to talk? All I need is to not think about any of it and I’m all good. Talking makes it only worse.” Lucifer’s voice was almost accusing.
“Lucifer, I’m just trying to help,” Linda tried to reason with him.
“Help? If you want to help you can bring me more drugs. Do you have some, Doctor?” Lucifer sounded rather hopeful. Well doctors usually had drugs, right?
“I’m not that kind of doctor and I wouldn’t give them to you even if I had some,” Linda answered.
“Buzzkill,” Lucifer whined, “I need to hang up before you kill the buzz completely.” Lucifer’s mood had soured during the call. He had felt much more content before that call.
“Lucifer …,” Linda tried to continue the conversation, but Lucifer hung up. He hid the phone between the couch’s cushions and tried to concentrate on his buzz again.

Some time later he decided to take a shower and change so he’d look good enough for Lux. Lucifer went to the club and partied like he used to - heavy drinking, some more drugs (one bartender had some even though Dick had forbidden them) and making out with pretty women. He even had sex with a few of them in the restroom. And he ended up inviting a man and a woman with him to the penthouse for the best night of their lives.

--------

The next morning Chloe felt much better. The hangover had started to disappear around 4 PM on Saturday, but she had still felt a bit exhausted from all of it and ended up going to bed early. Dan had spent the night at her place so they had woken up together and had cuddled a bit which had eventually led to sex.

After eating a decent breakfast Chloe felt like a new person. They had decided to go to the beach afterwards. Dan had planned to do it on Saturday, but after seeing the condition his girlfriend was in, it got postponed.

Chloe had just finished washing the dishes (Dan had made waffles for breakfast, so it was only fair that she did the dishes) when her phone rang. It was charging in the living room, but Dan was watching his favourite show on TV, so Chloe unplugged it to go to the other room and talk there. Dan offered to turn down the voice, but Chloe told him that she wouldn’t mind talking in the other room. The truth was that she preferred to talk without Dan listening since she had her suspicions about the reason her friend was calling.
“Hi, Linda!” she answered as soon as she had closed the door behind her.
“Hello, Chloe! How are you doing?” the therapist asked.
“Good actually. Much better than yesterday.” It was strange how you needed a really crappy day to appreciate feeling normal.
“Ah, yes. Ella told me that you were not feeling well.” Ella had actually used a much more colourful expression to describe her condition.
“Yeah… I drank some more after getting home on Friday and I paid the price yesterday. I hadn’t felt that bad in ages.” Chloe still felt a little shudder even thinking about alcohol.
“It must have been really bad if you felt like drinking alone on Friday.” Linda paused for a moment, “do you want to talk about it?” she carefully asked.
“No,” Chloe sighed. “I mean I probably should at some point, but right now I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole. I don’t think I’ll be able to do it without crying and feeling...," Chloe had to pause for a moment, "I just… I can’t right now. Sorry, Linda.” Chloe could already feel moisture in her eyes.
“It’s okay… just whenever you feel that you want to talk about it, you can come to me.” Linda still felt a bit guilty that she hadn’t stopped her from confronting Lucifer like that. Deciding by the condition Lucifer was in, she had the feeling that their talk had been hard on both of them.
“Thanks, Linda. I’ll keep that in mind.”
They said their goodbyes after that. Chloe needed a moment after finishing the call to collect herself.

As soon as she opened the door she almost ran into Dan who had been walking towards the room Chloe had been talking in.
“Ah, good, you’re finished. My TV show also finished, so I thought we could head to the beach now.” Dan seemed really eager to get going.
“Yeah, ok. Just let me grab my things.” Chloe headed to the stairs to go and get the things she needed for the beach.

--------

Lucifer was the first to wake up. For some reason he didn’t feel comfortable lying there with those strangers he had picked up from Lux the previous night, so he got up, put his robe on and headed to the balcony. The floor was still covered with broken glass, but that didn't hurt him.

He had done it countless times before - taken someone or multiple persons to his bed and woken up next to them the following morning, but there was one difference. All of the other times had been before he got together with Chloe. Then it all felt so normal, a part of having endless fun and parties, but now… now he knew what it felt like to wake next to someone that you care about and having some strangers there felt just so hollow.
But that part of his life was over now. Lucifer was quite sure that he’ll never find someone like her again. So it was either waking up alone or with strangers. At that moment Lucifer was not sure which option was better. Last night he had wanted the company, but now he felt that he’d rather have the penthouse to himself.

Lucifer stepped to the doorway to listen if his guests had started to wake up. He had still manners and waking his guests up to throw them out would be impolite.
His eyes then landed on the shards of glass near his Assyrian wall. Lucifer looked around himself and saw further reminders of his anger. He decided to clean up and started to brush the glass from the floor. Lucifer was not sure if he had been a little too loud while cleaning or would they have woken up by themselves, but as he finished with the cleaning, he could hear some noises from the bedroom.

After his guests were gone Lucifer resumed his task to remove the reminders of his anger outburst. He found that the bottle he had thrown had knocked off and broken the statue Napoleon had given him from the desk.
“Bollocks,” he muttered after finding the pieces. Lucifer had liked that statue, he now regretted that he had thrown that empty bottle towards the desk at all.
Lucifer picked up the broken statue and watched it for a while, his brows furrowed. Suddenly he got an idea. He put down the pieces of the statue and went downstairs to the office. He didn’t care that he was still wearing only his robe, there was no one who would mind anyway. When he got to the office, he turned the computer on and opened a page for a black market auction. Lucifer knew that the statue he had was not the only one, there were at least 12 others like that in the world. Maybe he would be lucky and someone would be wanting to sell one. He discovered that there was an auction scheduled soon, but among the items were no statues like his. Only some religious artefacts that he was quite sure were fake, some paintings, a Fabergé egg (he was not sure if it was a Fauxbergé or not) and some jewellery. One of the necklaces on the page made his mind go into places he had been trying to avoid. It was rather modest but yet a delicate and high quality piece and Lucifer couldn’t help but think that it would have been perfect for Chloe. But that also reminded him that it was not his place to give her gifts anymore. Well, he doubted that Daniel would give her something like that either. He closed the page and the computer and headed back to the penthouse.

Lucifer felt how his mood had sombered again. After stepping out of the elevator his eyes landed on the piano and Lucifer decided that music was exactly what he needed that moment. He went to the piano and without even thinking about it his fingers started to glide over the keys.

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you
And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

Lucifer had never thought of himself as someone who would play sad love songs, but right now he didn’t even have to think about it, as soon as he finished one song his fingers started another without any pause in between.

Why do the birds go on singing
Why do the stars glow above
Don't they know it's the end of the world
It ended when I lost your love

I wake up in the morning and I wonder
Why everything's the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it does

Suddenly it felt like every song that involved heartbreak and losing someone you love, was written about him. So it was no wonder that the songs just kept coming to him. He didn’t keep track of them, so he had no idea how many songs he had played until he sang the heartbreaking ballad from Les Miserables.

And still I dream she'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed

Those last words made it impossible for him to keep singing. Lucifer could barely keep his voice from shaking, somehow this song had touched him way deeper than he would have liked. So he decided to stop singing, but still he didn’t want to leave the piano. Fortunately there were enough classical masterpieces that did suit his current mood. He started with Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata and kept going after he finished it.

By the time Lucifer decided to stand up from the piano bench, it was already evening. He ordered some food since he didn’t want to go out that night and poured himself a glass, mulling over what to do next. The music had left him feeling a bit raw, so he wanted to do something that would keep him and his mind occupied, but wouldn’t require too much from him. Finally he decided to turn on the TV and look for a movie that would meet his demands. To his delight Lucifer found two new Weaponizer movies he hadn't seen yet. He made himself comfortable with some snacks and drinks.

Lucifer watched both of the movies in a row and when the last one ended he started to speak about his opinion of it aloud. After a few sentences he realised that he was just talking to himself because he had no one to share the experience with. If he still had Chloe she would have watched it with him although she did not like this movie franchise as much as Lucifer did. Now he realised that this could have been something they could have done together as friends. She had offered her friendship, but Lucifer had turned it down quite rudely.
“You idiot,” he muttered to himself. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that they could have made it work. Finally Lucifer couldn’t take it anymore and decided to call her to apologise. When he grabbed his phone, Lucifer noticed that it was already past midnight. Well, that would not be probably the best time to call her. He knew that Chloe usually went to bed rather early, especially when she had to get up early the next morning and since the next day was Monday (well, technically it was already Monday), he assumed that she did need to get up early. Calling her in the middle of the night while she was asleep would not bode well. He’d probably piss her off and not get her to forgive him. So Lucifer decided to go to bed himself and call her the next day.

Lucifer had a restless night and woke up early the next morning. He was anxious about the call. He had woken up around 6.30 and was not sure if it would be too early to call. Lucifer tried to occupy himself with other things like making coffee and smoking, but by 6.45 he decided that she must be up already and dialled Chloe’s number.
His heart was beating like a drum while he listened to the phone ringing. But she didn’t pick up. Lucifer waited until the calling sounds stopped. He had not expected that she wouldn’t even pick up when he called. Unless she had deleted his number after he left for Hell and didn’t want to answer unknown numbers. Lucifer decided to text her and typed “It’s Lucifer. I need to speak to you. Please pick up.” He hit send and waited for her reply. Lucifer stared at the phone for a few minutes, but it didn’t show that she had seen the message at all. Lucifer was getting more and more anxious. Did she see it, but didn’t want to let him know? Or was she not working today and therefore still asleep? Or was she otherwise occupied and couldn’t pick up? Well, that last thought was making him feel a bit nauseous. He knew how he would have liked to occupy her every morning, but picturing Dan doing it was not a pleasant thought.

Lucifer waited a bit longer and then decided to try again. This time it rang only a few times and then the call got disconnected. Lucifer stared at the phone for a minute trying to figure out if he should leave her alone or not, but then decided to try again, hoping that maybe it was just some trouble with the connection. This time her phone was turned off. Now it was clear that Chloe didn’t want to talk to him.

Lucifer didn’t know what to do. He had to make it right, but how could he do it if she wouldn’t even talk to him. Then it occurred to him - he must ask someone who always knew what to do. He picked his phone up again and dialled the number. As soon as she picked up Lucifer started talking.
“Doctor, I need your help. I think I have made a terrible mistake.”

Notes:

I really want to emphasise that I do not see neither of them as "the bad guy". They both suffer and it's more because of the circumstances and less because of their actions. I hope I managed to show their inner struggles a little.

This fic is now officially my longest one. I guess it's going to be over 100K by the time I finish with the story.

Chapter 11: Detective

“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice,” Lucifer thanked Linda as greeting the moment he stepped into her office.

“You’re welcome,” Linda answered, stepping out from behind her desk and heading towards her chair. She thought about commenting on his change of heart about talking being a buzzkill, but Lucifer had seemed almost desperate on the phone, so Linda decided to drop it. Linda waited until Lucifer had settled down on the couch before she started. “So, I understand there is something specific you need my input with.”

“Yes,” Lucifer sighed. “I’m afraid Miss Decker is mad at me and I want to make it good again, but she won’t even speak to me.”

Linda was a bit surprised at that. During the phone call she had with Chloe on Sunday Linda hadn’t gotten the impression that she was mad at Lucifer. Her friend had sounded hurt, but not the way Lucifer described it. “I think it would be best to start from the beginning. Does she have any reason to be mad at you?”

“Well, I basically threw her out of the penthouse after she had told me all her reasons why she can’t be in a relationship with me anymore. And when she offered her friendship, I accused her of pitying me.” Lucifer brushed some invisible lint off his trousers and didn’t look at Linda while telling her this.

“Do you really think that Chloe would offer to be friends just to pity you?” Linda was not surprised that Chloe would want to keep Lucifer in her life and she was rather sure that it would not have anything to do with pitying him.

“No.” Lucifer gave her a sad smile. “I was just angry at… everything.” Lucifer wasn’t even sure at whom or what he had been angry at the time. He just remembered that it had felt as if all the world was against him and that had included Chloe. “Now I’ve had time to think about it and I do want to be her friend. Even if I don’t know how exactly that would play out. I mean it was much more simple when she was working at Lux. But I really don’t want to lose her completely. I understand that she has a boyfriend and that sets some limits.”

Linda could see that Lucifer was struggling and spoke up. “Well, you don’t have to make an appointment or anything right now. I think if you agree that you’d be friends then it will be enough for the start. You can figure it out as you go as long as you are on the same page about your relationship.”

“Are you sure?” Lucifer could feel his hope blooming again.

“Yes, I am. I’m sure if you spoke to Chloe, she’d agree with you.” 

“I called her to apologise, but she didn’t pick up. And when I called her again, her phone was switched off,” Lucifer explained bitterly. 

“When did you call her?” Linda asked. She has received a few calls in the middle of the night from the Devil in the past, so she wouldn’t be surprised if Chloe had switched off her phone when Lucifer was calling at 2 AM.

“This morning. Around seven I think. I assumed she’d be going to work and be up early," Lucifer clarified.

“I see,” was Linda’s curt comment. The hour sounded reasonable. It wasn’t really like Chloe to switch off her phone to avoid answering a call. “Well, you could go and see her. I think it would be even better to talk to her face to face,” Linda suggested.

“Yes, I could try that. But are you sure she’d be home at the moment?” Lucifer was eager to go and settle this.

“Oh no, I’m pretty sure she’s at work right now.” Linda had no reason to think that Chloe wouldn’t be at work already as it was Monday.

“Bollocks. Do you know what time she gets off?” 

“Uhm… I’m not sure. Sometimes she stays a bit longer as far as I know. I guess if she doesn’t have any pressing matters she could be home by six. Or seven.” Linda knew her friend was very committed to work.

“But it’s hours until then!” Lucifer whined when he looked at the clock on her wall. “I already waited the whole night. I can’t wait that long. It would be a torture.”

“But you have no choice, Lucifer. If she’s not picking up, you can’t talk to her until she’s home again.” Linda felt a bit sorry for him, but there was nothing she could do to change it.

“Maybe I should commit a murder, then maybe they would send her to investigate and I could talk to her,” Lucifer muttered almost to himself.

“Well, if you want to be her friend then committing murder is definitely not the right way to do that.” Linda really hoped he was just joking, but she could not be 100% sure.

Lucifer was quiet for a few moments, but then sat up straighter with a gleam in his eyes that Linda knew too well.

“Hang on, I could go to her. I can get into the most prestigious restaurants in no time, I’m sure getting into a police precinct is not that hard.” Lucifer grinned happily, pleased with his brilliant idea.

“Are you sure it would be the best solution?” Linda was not sure letting Lucifer go to Chloe’s workplace was the best idea.

“Yes, of course. That way I don’t have to wait for hours.” He took the phone from his jacket pocket and started to type. After a minute he stared at the cellphone with a small frown. “Did you know that there are several police stations in L.A.?” Before Linda could answer Lucifer had a so-called solution for the problem. “I know, I have to commit some crime and then they will take me to the station, right? I’ll just have to tell them that I won’t say anything unless Miss Decker interrogates me.” Lucifer seemed to like his idea more and more.

“No, Lucifer! That is not the only way to get to the right police station.” She sighed and stood up to write down the address from her notebook. “I can give you the address, but you have to promise me that you will be respectful and just apologise like you planned to do on the phone. Nothing more. That is her workplace.”

Lucifer stood up and went to the desk. “Thank you, Doctor! Now I just need to find a decent bouquet of flowers and I’m good to go.”

“Stop right there. No flowers,” Linda was about to give the paper with the address to Lucifer, but stopped her hand in mid-air.

“Why not?” Lucifer was confused.

“Because her current boyfriend works also in the same precinct and that could send out the wrong message,” Linda explained.

“All right. What should I give her then?” 

“Just your apology. A sincere one. Trust me, it’s all you need with Chloe.”

---------

Lucifer had no trouble getting into the precinct. The lady at the front desk was very helpful and pointed out the direction of Chloe’s desk. The first thing that he noticed when walking into the bullpen was the smell of burnt coffee and body odour. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and walked in the direction Mindy had pointed out (Lucifer had used her first name to charm her).

He found the desk with a name tag of Dt Decker on it, but it was not the woman with honey coloured hair sitting at the desk whom he had been hoping to see. Instead he saw a dark haired girl sitting at the desk. Lucifer stopped at the desk, “excuse me, I’m looking for Miss Decker.”

The girl looked up from the paper in front of her (it seemed to be a crime scene photo that she was colouring) and corrected him, “it’s Detective Decker.”

“Fine. Do you know where Detective Decker is?” Lucifer asked again.

“She’s talking to the Lieutenant,” the girl pointed to an office in the corner of the room with her thumb. The girl then tilted her head, “what do you want with her?”

Lucifer was a bit confused about getting interrogated by a small human, but decided to answer her, “I need to talk to her.”

“Is it about some case?” the girl perked up a bit.

“No, it’s personal.”

The girl was silent for a few moments and then asked another question. “What’s your name?”

“Lucifer.”

To his surprise that answer seemed to excite the little human. “Like the Devil?” she asked half whispering.

“Exactly,” Lucifer replied. He wouldn’t have probably admitted it out loud, but her reaction pleased him. The adults usually either didn’t react at all or started making cross signs in front of them when he told someone his name.

“And who are you? Detective Decker’s secretary?” Lucifer didn’t know that much about police work, but he was rather sure that usually there were no little girls sitting at detective’s desks.   

“My name is Beatrice, but everybody calls me Trixie,” the girl answered with a more serious expression.

“That’s a hooker’s name,” Lucifer replied. He was puzzled why someone would call the girl by a hooker’s name instead of Beatrice.

“What’s a hooker?” Trixie furrowed her brows a bit.

“Ask your mother,” Lucifer suggested. She was probably one of those people who called that little girl by a hooker’s name since she had told him that everybody calls her that.

Trixie’s cheerfulness was gone in an instant and she replied silently, “I can’t. She was murdered.”

“Oh. My apologies,” the instant sadness he could see on her face made Lucifer feel uneasy and he wished he could take back his words. 

“It’s ok. You didn’t murder them,” the girl gave him a sad smile.

“Them?” 

“Yes, both of my parents were murdered,” she clarified.

Lucifer stood silently for some moments. He didn’t know what to say to that. Lucifer didn’t care much for his parents, but he knew that human children usually wanted their parents around.

“Why are you here then? Are you a suspect?” Lucifer was getting curious why the girl was in a police station.

“No, dummy. They think that I saw the guy. Or one of them at least. They had some guys in the lineup earlier, but I didn’t see the same guy there. And now I’m waiting until Chloe finishes talking to the Lieutenant.”

“You seem familiar with Detective Decker,” Lucifer couldn’t help but comment, noticing that the girl had used Chloe’s first name.

The girl nodded enthusiastically and beckoned Lucifer to come closer. Lucifer leaned over the table a little and Trixie half whispered to him, “she might even adopt me.”

“Oh,” Lucifer said while straightening himself again, surprised that he had met the girl Chloe had told him about. He was about to say something when a voice Lucifer unfortunately knew interrupted him.

“What are you doing here?”  

Lucifer turned around and faced the man who had spoken to him. “Hello to you too, Daniel!”

Dan wasn’t bothered by the fact that Lucifer had hinted at his impoliteness. He crossed his hands over his chest, “I asked you something.” 

Lucifer sighed. “I need to speak to Miss…,” he then glanced at Trixie’s direction and remembered how she had corrected him about her title, “Detective Decker.”

“Why? So you can make her feel bad again? You already ruined her weekend. Do you want to cause a scene in the middle of the precinct now?” Dan was clearly not happy to see Lucifer.

“No, I just want to apologise,” Lucifer tried to assure him. The fact that Chloe had been upset after their talk added only to his anxiousness.

“I don’t think she even wants your apology. It’s better if you leave right now,” Dan spat out.

Lucifer tried not to let it show how much Dan’s words hurt. Even the thought that Chloe might not want to see him made his blood run cold. “I think it should be up to her to decide whether she wants to hear me out or not.” Lucifer tried not to think about the possibility that she’d tell him to leave too.

“What are you trying to accomplish here anyway? Do you really hope that she’ll take you back after you apologise?” 

“No, Daniel, that is not why I’m here.” Lucifer could see the wisdom of Linda’s advice to not bring flowers clearly now. Dan was obviously feeling insecure. Lucifer did not really like Dan, but since he was Chloe’s boyfriend and Lucifer was trying to get into good graces with her, it would be better if Dan would not feel so threatened by him. “I know it’s you she needs, not me. I assure you I am not trying to get back together with her.”

Dan was clearly relieved to hear that. “Really?”

“Yes, really. I just…,” before Lucifer could finish his sentence he was interrupted once again, but this time he didn’t mind it at all.

“Lucifer, what are you doing here?” To Lucifer’s relief she sounded more surprised than angry.

“Detective Decker… I… I wanted to talk to you.” The fear of her refusing to speak to him made Lucifer stutter a little.

“Here?” Chloe was not sure she’d want to have a conversation with Lucifer in the precinct.

“Well, is there some place more private we can go to?” Lucifer hadn’t really thought about the fact that she might not have a private office where they could talk without others listening.

“I’m actually a bit busy right now.” Chloe was torn. She was afraid that she’d be too emotional to function properly after another conversation with Lucifer, but at the same time she really wanted to hear him out.

“Just for five minutes,” Lucifer pleaded. “Please, Chloe.” 

Lucifer giving her the puppy dog eyes and using her first name made it impossible for Chloe to say no. Still, she had something she needed to take care of first. Chloe didn’t answer right away and turned her eyes towards her desk.

“Hey, Trixie, do you know where Miss Miller is?” She had intended to talk to the social worker after she left the Lieutenant’s office.

“She went to the bathroom. You can talk to Lucifer until you wait for her to come back,” Trixie added with a knowing smile.

Chloe had to suppress her own smile at that. “I’ll be back soon. Please tell her to wait for me if she comes back before I do.”

“I will,” the girl said cheerfully.

Chloe turned back to Lucifer, “come with me.”

Lucifer followed her and they went into a room where you could see an empty interrogation room behind the class window.

Chloe let him step inside the room and closed the door. “So, what did you want to talk about?” 

“I just wanted to apologise.” Lucifer decided to get to the point immediately.

“Apologise?” Chloe was a bit surprised. “For what exactly?”

“For basically throwing you out and for not accepting your offer for friendship.” 

“Lucifer,” Chloe sighed. “I know you were hurt after… everything. There’s nothing to apologise for.”

“So you are not upset with me?” Lucifer asked to be clear.

“Well, I was upset after the talk, but I wasn’t upset at you,” Chloe hated the thought that she had caused even more pain for Lucifer.

“But why didn’t you answer my call then?” Lucifer was confused.

“What call?” It was Chloe's turn to be puzzled now. 

“This morning. I called you but you didn’t pick up. And when I called you again, you had switched off your phone,” Lucifer explained.

Chloe had pulled her phone out of her pocket while Lucifer was talking. When she tried to unlock the screen, it didn’t react. “Oh shoot!” Chloe used the curse that Lucifer found rather adorable, although there was no one here who would have frowned if she had said “shit”. “The battery must have died.” She remembered that she had put her phone to charge on Sunday, so it shouldn’t have died, but then she recalled that she had also disconnected it a bit later to talk to Linda in the other room and had not plugged it in afterwards. 

“Lucifer, I would not switch off my phone to avoid talking to you.” Chloe looked him in the eye, hoping that he would see that she meant it.

“You wouldn’t?” Lucifer sounded uncertain.

“No.” Chloe smiled at him.

“So could we be friends then? Like you suggested on Friday?” Lucifer was now hopeful after learning that she had not intentionally refused to talk to him.

Chloe bit her lip and didn’t answer immediately. “Lucifer… you were right when we talked. I had not thought it through, so I’m not sure how exactly we would be spending time together as friends.” She had thought about it a lot during the weekend and as much as she hated it, Lucifer didn’t really fit into the future she had planned for herself. She knew he didn’t like Dan or children and her going to Lux alone to spend time with Lucifer would most certainly cause trouble between her and Dan.

“But we don’t have to settle on anything right now. If we just agree to be friends, it would be enough for me. I just want to be a part of your life, to have the opportunity to see each other again.” Lucifer used the same reasoning Linda had used. Seeing that Chloe was not entirely on board with it he decided to ask the most important question. He looked into Chloe’s eyes and asked, “do you still want me in your life?”

Chloe smiled a little, “I do, Lucifer, I do. I just don’t want to disappoint you when I don’t have as much free time to meet with you as you’d like.”

“I promise you, Detective, I will not bother you too much." Lucifer found that her work title was a good middle ground for him to use since her first name was something he had used when they were together and she seemed not to like him calling her Miss Decker now. "I know that you have work and a boyfriend and probably an Urchin soon to take up most of your time. I’d be happy to see you at Lux for Tribe nights or give you a birthday present..”

Chloe interrupted him to clarify, “nothing too expensive, though.”

Lucifer didn’t comment on that and continued, “... and if you ever need a favour, you just need to ask.” 

“Well, I think it sounds reasonable when you put it like that.” Chloe was a bit surprised how well he had thought it out, but it did sound good. She really hated the thought of not having Lucifer in her life at all.

Lucifer smiled and suggested, “if you need some help with adopting Beatrice, I do have a few judges that owe me a favour.” He was quite satisfied that he had come up with some way he could be useful for her this quickly.

“No!” Chloe said abruptly as soon as Lucifer had suggested it.

Lucifer’s smile faded immediately. Chloe saw that Lucifer had probably misunderstood the reason for her decline and clarified, “thank you for the offer, but I really need to do it the right way. I can’t risk that someone discovers some foul play and she’ll be taken away from me.”

“There wouldn’t be any foul play,” Lucifer felt the need to explain.

“Still… I need to do it on my own, Lucifer.”

“All right,” Lucifer bowed his head a little. “So… friends?” he asked again to be sure.

“Friends,” Chloe confirmed, giving him a soft smile that Lucifer immediately reciprocated. Seeing her smile at him like that warmed his heart more than he could have imagined.

“But I need to get back to work now,” Chloe started to walk towards the door.

“Yes, of course,” Lucifer agreed and followed her. 

As soon as Chloe exited the room she saw Miss Miller talking to Trixie, so she hurried towards her desk. Lucifer intended to follow and say goodbye before leaving, but he was stopped by Ella.

“Oh my god, Lucifer. What are you doing here? Did something happen?” Ella looked at Lucifer with wide eyes wondering what the man was doing in a police precinct.

“Ah, no. Everything is fine. I just needed to speak to Detective Decker.” Lucifer stopped when he noticed the Latina, knowing that if he got too close, she might want to hug him. “What are you doing here?” he asked in return.

“Duh, buddy. I work here,” Ella answered. “This is my lab,” she pointed towards the room with blinds behind her.

“Oh, yes, of course. You’re a forensic scientist.” Lucifer was glad for his angelic memory right now, otherwise he would probably not have remembered what the woman had studied since she had told him that more than three years ago.

“The coolest job ever,” Ella beamed. Then a beeping noise came from the direction of her lab and she turned towards the lab. “It was nice to see you again, Luce,” she called before she disappeared into the lab.

Lucifer chuckled, that woman hadn’t changed one bit during his absence. He started walking towards Chloe’s desk again. Chloe had finished talking to Miss Miller and she and Trixie were starting to leave. Trixie had already hugged Chloe and when she noticed Lucifer nearing, she called out “Bye, Lucifer” and waved at him.

When Lucifer reached the desk Chloe smirked, “I think she likes you.”

Lucifer wasn’t sure what to answer, so he decided to turn to his cockier side, “well, what’s not to like?” He adjusted his lapels and smirked to emphasise his statement.

Chloe rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the smile that was turning the corners of her mouth up. She preferred the bit cocky Lucifer to hurt Lucifer anytime.

Chloe then remembered that she had a charger in her drawer and went to plug her phone in. One of her folders had ended too near to the edge of her desk, so when she went past it, the folder fell to the floor. Lucifer saw that and picked it up to put it back on her desk, but when he lifted it up, a picture fell out from it. He bent down again and picked up the photo too, but was a bit surprised when he saw what was on it.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were interested in Fabergé eggs, Detective Decker. I must say, the Rose Quartz is a nice one, I checked it out yesterday too,” Lucifer commented while putting the paper on Chloe’s desk.

“This is for a case, I could never afford one I think.” At least not with a police salary if the price she had found from Google was correct. “Wait… what do you mean you checked it out yesterday?” Chloe suddenly realised what Lucifer had said.

“I was checking out the items that are on an auction tomorrow and that egg is one of them,” Lucifer explained.

“What auction?” Chloe had searched for any clues to find that egg but had come out empty handed.

“Uhm… it might be an auction for selected members only,” Lucifer tried to find ways to make it sound a bit better.

“So a black market auction?” Chloe knew very well that Lucifer had every kind of connections.

“Well… yes,” Lucifer realised that now that Chloe was a Detective, he should be more careful with some subjects around her.

“And you are sure that it’s the same egg? And a real one?” Chloe seemed suddenly really excited about it.

“The description said it’s real, but you can never know unless you have seen it. Or have some expert prove it.” Lucifer would probably be able to tell if it’s a Fauxbergé or not. He had seen the jewellers at work after all.

“Would it be possible for you to see it?” Chloe knew that Lucifer could access many places that others could not.   

“I’m afraid not. They won’t let anyone see the items in real life until the auction itself takes place. Then they will be presented of course.”

“But there you could see it and verify if it’s the real thing or not?” Chloe kept questioning.

“Well, it’s not quite so easy. The items are presented on a stage, too far to examine closer. If the buyer has any doubts that the item is real, they can pay an expert to verify it. If it turns out that it’s not what the seller said it is, they will pay for the expertise and you can discuss the price if you still want to buy it. But usually if they say that it’s authentic, the item really is. In this world you can’t afford to have a reputation for selling fake items as originals.”

“So we can’t be 100% sure that it’s the original?” Chloe could see the ray of hope fading.

“No, not 100%.” Lucifer was getting more and more curious why she was so interested in that egg. “Care to tell me why you need to know it so badly?”

Chloe sighed and started to explain. “The egg was stolen during a robbery. Sadly the previous owners were also killed during it. They were Trixie’s parents. Right now we have no leads to crack the case. Trixie probably saw one of them lurking around the property, but we have had no success in identifying that guy either.”

“And you are certain that the stolen egg was a real one?” Lucifer asked.

“Yes, they had a certificate to prove it. But this was stored separately in a safe and was not taken along with the egg. The egg had been a family heirloom and was displayed in their living room.”

“So if the egg that is on sale at the auction is real, it must be the stolen one and the one who is selling it, is probably the killer or knows who the killer is,” Lucifer concluded.

“Yes, that sums it up,” Chloe nodded. “Maybe if I tell them that the items at the auction are usually authentic, I could get the search warrant,” she mumbled more to herself. “What time does the auction start?” Chloe asked with a louder voice.

“It starts at seven, but I’m quite certain they have secret hiding places and if you show up with a warrant, they'll manage to put all the artefacts safely away before you even enter the premises.”   

“And the only way to be able to examine the egg is if you win the auction,” Chloe summed it up. “How much is the starting price?” 

“450,” Lucifer answered.

“450 dollars?” Chloe was surprised, because her research had shown that the price for that egg was much higher.

“No, darling,” Lucifer chuckled, “450 thousand.”

“Damn, there’s no way LAPD can give out that much.” There went her idea that she could maybe bid on that auction.

“Well, it wouldn’t even matter if LAPD would give you that much because they won’t let just anyone participate. You would have to be already in the inner circle to be able to attend it,” Lucifer explained.

“But how do you get into that inner circle? I mean, you obviously are familiar with them. You have access, right?” Chloe really needed to get to that auction since it seemed to be the best lead she’d had about the case.

“I would be able to attend, yes. The admission process would take much longer than we have until the auction, but I can offer a much quicker solution,” Lucifer smiled. He saw an opportunity to help her and was eager to do it. “I can go there and take you with me as a plus one. Most of the men attending have beautiful women with them, so you’d fit right in.”   

“But wouldn’t it mean that you’d also have to bid and try to buy that egg?”

“Yes, that would be the idea if you want to make sure if the egg is authentic or not,” Lucifer agreed nonchalantly.

“You do realise that if it turns out to be the real thing, I’d have to confiscate it and give it back to the family. You’d lose that 450 thousand.” Chloe knew that he had a lot of money, but still it seemed far too much to just throw away.

“I doubt it would be just 450 thousand. The price will most certainly rise much higher.”

“It’s kind of you to offer, but I can’t let you do it, Lucifer. Besides you are a civilian and I don’t know if we’d be able to flush out the killer anyway. I mean, the auctioneer has the egg, right?” Chloe started to back down from the plan. It just seemed too much.

“Well, I’m sure if you tell Carmen that he is a suspect himself, if he doesn’t tell you who gave the egg to auction, he’ll sing like a bird. And yes, I am a civilian, but I’m also the Devil.” Lucifer put on a devilish grin that emphasised his words.

“I don’t know… are you really sure you’d be ready to do it? To probably lose the money in the process?” Chloe was torn. She did want to catch the bastards who had killed Trixie’s parents, but it seemed like a mighty sacrifice from Lucifer.

“I wouldn’t have offered it if I wasn’t sure, Detective. Besides, the killer should be punished and I’m really good at punishment.” Lucifer turned his expression cocky again, feeling confident that this was really something that he was good at.

Chloe chewed at her inner lip for a few moments and then reached a decision. “Okay… I’ll go and talk to Lt. Monroe. Wait here,” she instructed Lucifer before she started to walk towards the Lieutenant’s office.

Chloe had to knock only once before her boss called her in.

Monroe was a bit surprised to see her again. “Decker, did you forget something? I have to be in a meeting in half an hour.”

“Not really, but I might have a lead on the Carltons case.”

“Okay… so why don’t you follow it then?” Monroe was a bit confused why she needed to run it by her first.

“It kind of involves a sort of going undercover. With a civilian,” Chloe tried to explain it.

“A bit more details, please,” the Lieutenant had not gotten a clear picture of what she had in mind.

“Well, the Fabergé egg that was stolen from the Carltons might be in an auction tomorrow. It’s a black market auction and there’s no guarantee that it’s the stolen egg but I know someone who could get me in and if we get to see it close enough we might be able to determine if it is the real egg and if we find the person who gave it for the auction, we’ll likely find the killers too,” Chloe summed up the lead.

“So you have a contact who can get you to the black market auction and also find the person who had the egg?” Monroe looked a little doubtful.

“Yes, he thinks that if he buys the egg, we’ll be able to flush out the seller,” Chloe confirmed.

Monroe was now even more suspicious. “Let me get this straight - there is a man who is not only able to get you to the auction but also wants to buy the egg for the case.”

“Yes,” Chloe nodded.

“Do you know him well? Can you trust him?” The Lieutenant did not want to risk the well-being of a good detective over this and quite frankly it sounded a bit too good to be true.

“I trust him completely,” was Chloe’s honest answer.

“And he knows that if he buys it and it turns out to be the stolen egg, he has to give it back to the family?” 

“Yes, I explained it to him.” Chloe was not surprised that it sounded rather incredulous to the Lieutenant.

“Where did you find this guy?” Monroe was curious.

“He’s an old friend actually. And he has a lot of money, so…,” Chloe shrugged.

“All right. If you trust him and he has that much money, then go for it. Hopefully we’ll catch those bastards who killed the Carltons.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Chloe excused herself and went back to her desk.

Lucifer had dragged a chair to the opposite side of her desk and sat there playing something on his phone when Chloe came back from Monroe’s office. As soon as he heard her footsteps Lucifer looked up. “Well?” he asked while putting away the phone.

“The Lieutenant agreed, so I guess we are going to the auction tomorrow.”

“Excellent,” Lucifer smiled widely. “I’ll pick you up at half past six tomorrow.”

“No, it’s okay, I can drive myself if you tell me where it is.” Chloe didn’t want to be a burden.

“Nonsense, Detective. We want them to think that you are my date, so why would we arrive in separate cars?” Lucifer found the idea absolutely horrendous. 

“Oh, well, if you put it that way,” Chloe could see his reasoning.

“I will pick you up. It’s a black tie event, so you’ll have to dress up.” Lucifer couldn’t deny that he was already looking forward to seeing her in a fancy dress.

“Okay… I’ll try to find something,” Chloe started to think what she could wear, mentally going through her closet.

“If you need I can get you something,” Lucifer offered.

“No. I will find something,” Chloe assured him, “you’ll probably have to spend enough already, I don’t want to add any more expenses to it.”

“All right,” Lucifer rose from his seat. “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he smiled softly.

“Yes. Goodbye, Lucifer,” after a moment she added, “and thank you.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for yet. Let’s see if we’ll catch the miscreant,” Lucifer answered before turning towards the stairs.

When Lucifer walked out of the precinct he felt more content than he had since returning from Hell. Helping the LAPD to catch a killer was definitely something new for him. New and exciting.

Notes:

I've waited so long to get to the part where Lucifer can call her Detective. I've had to correct myself so many times when I accidentally made Lucifer call Chloe Detective because I'm so used to it, but she wasn't a detective yet.

Chapter 12: Working a case

Notes:

I thought I would have more time to write in the Summer, but it turns out that it's quite the opposite - I find even less time to write. I meant to end this chapter in a different place, but I thought it would take way too long before I get to it, so I decided to split it.

Lucifer stopped in front of Chloe’s apartment building a few minutes earlier than he was supposed to pick her up. He checked his hair from the mirror and adjusted the lapels of his tux. It should have been nothing too special to him since it was hardly his first rodeo, but for some reason he felt nervous and also a bit giddy.

Lucifer checked the time once more and decided that 6.29 would not be too early, so he got out of the car and headed towards her apartment. He didn’t have to wait too long after knocking, but the sight he was met with almost knocked the breath out of his lungs. Chloe was standing at the door in a long black dress that had sleeves made of lace and a plunging V-shaped neckline. Her lips were red and hair fell down in soft waves. She hadn’t used heavy make up, just a bit to accentuate her eyes, but it was enough to make her look absolutely stunning in Lucifer’s opinion.

Chloe was a bit confused about him staring at her, so she was the one who spoke first and broke the awkward silence.

“Hi, Lucifer! I hope this is okay for the auction,” she gestured towards her dress.

Lucifer finally got his voice back. “Hello Detective! This is definitely more than okay. You look breathtakingly beautiful.” His voice was full of awe and his smile so genuine that even if Chloe wouldn’t know that Lucifer never lied, it would have been clear that he meant every word he said.

Chloe blushed a little, “thank you! Let me get my clutch and we’re good to go.”

“Sure.” Lucifer watched her step away from the door and only now noticed the high heeled shoes she was wearing. The sight made his cock twitch a little. He probably should try to think about something that turns him off really quickly or he’d have a real hard time at the auction. Quite literally. 

Lucifer let his mind drift to the fact that he should go and check on Hell soon. It had been almost a week since he had returned to Earth. Everything should be in order down there, so it should be only a short visit, but you can never know with those demons. He had thought about the need to go and check on Hell earlier that day, but decided to do it after the auction, just in case something was wrong and he needed to stay longer.

Thinking about Hell had done the trick and killed his almost boner. Unfortunately it had also ruined his mood a bit and Chloe had noticed it.

“Lucifer, is everything okay?” she asked when they reached the car and Lucifer hadn’t said a word since leaving her apartment.

“Yes, yes,” Lucifer answered. Chloe’s question had made Lucifer push aside the thoughts for now.

“Are you having second thoughts about the auction?” Chloe asked. Considering the amount of money he was about to spend she couldn’t have blamed him if he changed his mind.

“No, of course not.” Lucifer opened the door for her. “Just some personal things… but let’s concentrate on the auction right now, shall we?.” He didn’t want to let his duties spoil the night.

“Okay,” Chloe agreed a bit hesitantly.

They had been driving for a few minutes in silence when Chloe couldn’t help it and asked again. “So you are okay with buying the egg if it’s necessary?”

“I already told you so, Detective. It’s only money. And it’s for a good cause.” Lucifer looked at her briefly and smiled.

“And you are absolutely sure that the only way to get to know the identity of the person who brought the Fabergé egg to the auction is by buying the egg first?” Chloe knew that he didn’t care too much about money, but knowing that he would probably lose it if this turned out to be the real egg, she wished there was another way.

“Based on my previous experience, the information about who gave something for the auction is very confidential. It’s probably the reason why this auctioneer has the most prominent items always on sale. So no, I don’t think there is another option.”  

“Okay,” Chloe relented. “What about the auctioneer? Are you sure that we can persuade him to tell us the name?” She didn’t remember the name of the auctioneer, but she was quite certain that it was a man.

“Oh, I don’t think he would risk going to jail to protect someone’s identity. And if he doesn’t want to give up the name willingly, there are other methods of persuasion.” Lucifer smirked at that.

“What methods?” Chloe was not sure he meant something they could use in a police investigation.

“Well, one thing I’m sure about is that Carmen Grant is a man who believes in the almighty dollar. For the right price he will even sell his own grandmother.”

“Carmen is an unusual name for a man,” Chloe wondered.

“You humans are weird with your names - you give girl’s names to boys and call girls with perfectly good names by hooker names,” Lucifer scoffed.

“What hooker names?” Chloe was confused.

“Young Beatrice said that everyone calls her Trixie and that is a hooker’s name,” Lucifer stated.

“According to you,” Chloe remarked. She did remember how Lucifer had referred to it as a proper hooker’s name the first night they had met. Suddenly a thought hit her. “You didn’t tell this to Trixie, did you?” Chloe asked with a hint of fright in her voice.

Lucifer was quiet, but looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so Chloe didn’t really need him to say it to know that he did exactly that.

“Why would you say that to a seven year old?” Chloe threw her hands in the air disbelievingly.

“She had the right to know,” Lucifer tried to justify it, but deciding by the look on Chloe’s face, she didn’t agree with him.

Chloe was about to lecture him about why you shouldn’t teach this kind of words to a child when Lucifer exclaimed “and here we are.”  Lucifer was relieved that they had reached their destination, hoping that she would drop the subject.

Chloe looked around and was a bit surprised. She had been expecting a pompous building, but it looked nothing special from the outside. 

“This is it?” she asked to be sure.

“Oh, don’t let yourself be fooled by the first impression, Detective,” Lucifer told her with a smirk.

As soon as they had entered the building, Chloe understood why. Inside of the building was even more extravagant than she had imagined. Crystal chandeliers, gold and marble, painted ceilings were the first things that caught her attention.

“Wow,” was the only thing she could mutter while looking around the place.

“Told you,” Lucifer told her silently, that smug smirk still on his face.

“But why haven’t they made it look better on the outside?” Chloe wondered.

“Well, these auctions are not exactly a public event, so it would not be wise to draw too much attention to the place. But once you are inside, the venue needs to look like money in order to make people want to spend their money. If you ask me, some of it feels a bit too excessive.”

Chloe hadn’t even grasped the whole room yet when everyone was told to go to the next room where the auction was about to begin. She did notice though that the items were not on display.

“I can’t see the egg anywhere,” she whispered to Lucifer while they were heading to their seats.

“They’ll present them one by one on the stage,” Lucifer answered and pointed towards the front of the room where she could see the stage. Well, there went the hope to get a look at the egg before the auction started.

The bidding started with a few paintings. Chloe was quite certain that she had read about one of them being stolen from some country in Europe about a month ago. After that came a few items of jewellery and then it was finally time for Rose Quartz, the Fabergé egg they were looking for.

Unfortunately the egg seemed to be rather popular. Before Lucifer could even start bidding, the price was already 490 000 dollars. The price kept rising and a few of the people who initially had placed their bids, had given up. By the time the price reached 640 000 dollars, there were only Lucifer and an older lady who were still bidding. Until then they had raised the price by 10 000, but Lucifer got tired of it. He knew that he had to have it, so he stood up and shouted “700 000”. The auctioneer looked towards the older lady, but since she stayed silent, he called the price three times and then announced it to be sold to the gentleman with number 69. Chloe was quite sure that Lucifer had paid someone extra to get that particular number.

“What now?” Chloe asked when Lucifer had sat back down.

“Now we wait until all the items are sold,” Lucifer replied and turned his gaze back to the stage where the next item was on display. It was a pair of shackles with some chain links attached to them and the auctioneer announced them to be the Lost Chains of St. Paul.  

“Well, those are clearly fake. Paul’s wrists were too thick to fit in those chains. That man never could pass on a dessert. He should have been the Saint of Honey Cakes,” Lucifer whispered to Chloe and made her chuckle, although it was weird to think that he actually knew these historic figures. 

After all the items were sold, they went to collect the egg. Lucifer wrote the check and after handing it to a woman who worked for the auctioneer, he took the egg, examined it closely and then announced “Miss, I will need to speak to Mr. Grant.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but he is busy right now,” the woman replied apologetically.

“This is important, my dear,” Lucifer looked straight into the woman’s eyes.

“What… what is it about?” the woman stammered under the Devil’s stare.

“It’s about the authenticity of the egg that I purchased,” Lucifer replied.

That seemed to get the woman moving. She made a call and soon after she told Lucifer to head down a hallway to Mr. Grant’s office.

When they started moving the woman seemed to be surprised that Chloe wanted to join Lucifer. “Your companion can wait here while you talk to Mr. Grant,” she suggested.

“My companion will join me,” Lucifer stated while holding his hand out for Chloe. Clearly the woman thought that Chloe was just another arm candy, so Chloe didn’t really hold it against her, but she was really pleased about the firm tone in Lucifer’s voice when he told the woman that Chloe will join him.

 

Carmen Grant’s office matched the style of the rest of the building - a massive antique desk, an expensive looking carpet, replicas of famous paintings (or were they replicas?) on the walls and armchairs covered in dark leather in front of the desk.

“I understand there is an issue with the authenticity of the Fabergé egg, Mr. …” The man seemed to be eager to get the matter settled as soon as possible and went straight to the business.

“Lucifer, Lucifer Morningstar,” the Devil introduced himself.

“Mr. Morningstar, let me assure you, this egg is the real thing. I can also give you the contact of a recognized expert who can verify it for you. But you’d need to pay for the expertise yourself.” The auctioneer barely paused to listen to Lucifer’s name before he continued. 

“There’s no need for that, Mr. Grant. I know that the egg is real,” Lucifer placated him.

“But I was told there’s an issue with the authenticity,” the other man was confused.

“Yes, the issue is that it is the real Rose Quartz. The same one that was stolen during a double homicide.” The room fell quiet for a moment after those words, Carmen staring at Lucifer with wide eyes.

“I didn’t murder anyone,” Carmen finally found his voice again. “I’m just the auctioneer, the egg was given to me to put on the auction.”

“Yes, we figured as much and that is why you will give us the name of the person who gave this egg to you.” Lucifer leaned closer to the other man placing his hands on the desk. Carmen Grant was sitting on his chair, so the Devil towered over him rather threateningly. 

“I can’t do that… we have a confidentiality agreement, I’ll lose my reputation,” the auctioneer started to list the reasons he couldn’t do it.

“Hmm… is that so… Well, I’m afraid you’ll lose something else if you don’t give us the name.” Lucifer straightened himself again and turned half way towards Chloe who had been standing a few steps behind him observing the situation. “Allow me to introduce my beautiful companion,” he gestured with his hand toward Chloe, “this is Detective Decker.”

Carmen’s eyes widened even more. Chloe stepped forward and started to speak, “it’s quite simple actually, you either tell us the name or I’ll arrest you for obstructing a murder investigation.” To emphasise her words, Chloe opened her clutch and took out a pair of handcuffs. Lucifer’s eyes lit up seeing those, “my, my, Detective. Had I known you had these in there…” Chloe chose to ignore the remark. 

Carmen Grant seemed much less pleased about the cuffs. “Hold on, now. Don’t you need some warrant or something to do that? I think I should call my lawyer…,” he picked up the receiver and started to dial a number.

Lucifer disconnected the call, “Carmen, Carmen… Do you really want an official investigation involving an item from your auction? I’m sure we can come to an agreement. A mutually beneficial one.” Lucifer smiled devilishly.

“What kind of agreement?” The other man was now curious.

“If you’ll give us the name and contact information, you’ll get the 700 000 I offered for the egg. I’m sure you’ll get a hefty commission fee from that. And tell me, if we put the previous owner in jail, don’t you get to keep the whole amount?”   

“Well… there might be a clause in the contract that if the other party fails to collect the money in a month, they’ll lose their right to it,” Carmen admitted.

“So as far as I can tell you have now two options - one, you give us the name, the egg will be sold and you’ll get your commission or maybe even the whole amount or two,  I’ll withdraw my offer and the lovely Detective here can have her way with you.” Lucifer enjoyed the innuendo.

“I will get a warrant and start an official investigation against you, probably arrest you also. And unfortunately these investigations could take months,” Chloe clarified quickly what “her way” meant. She knew that it was not 100% sure that Grant’s lawyer wouldn’t find any loopholes to stop them or some other obstacles wouldn’t cause them to lose that lead, but she hoped that the auctioneer wouldn’t know that and tried to sound as confident as she could.

“Fine,” Carmen Grant relented, “I’ll  give you the name.” He took a piece of paper and a pen, ready to write the name down.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Lucifer stopped him, “we’d like to see the contract. The information we need is written there, right?”

“It is, but I can write it down …”

“Show us the contract,” Lucifer repeated the request in a manner that made it sound more like a command.

The auctioneer sighed and opened a drawer. After a minute of going through some papers, he pulled out a contract and put it on the table. Lucifer and Chloe both looked at it to make sure that it was for the egg. Chloe then put the handcuffs back to her clutch and took out her phone instead. She snapped a few pictures from the front page and last page where the contact information was.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you,” Lucifer told the man with a smile after Chloe had put away her phone.

“Wait a minute, what about the money?” Carmen asked.

“I already wrote a check and gave it to the nice lady who called you earlier about us wanting to see you.”

“Hold on, until I confirm it.” Carmen knew that they should not have been able to even look closely at the egg if they hadn’t paid the money, but he had the feeling that Lucifer Morningstar could persuade people to do whatever he wanted. A quick phone call assured him that he had given the check for 700 000 dollars already. “Okay, it seems that you told the truth about the check.”  

“Of course I did. I never lie.” With that Lucifer and Chloe exited Carmen Grant’s office with a solid lead on her case.

 

When they were leaving the auction house Chloe asked, “do you really think that he would have given us some other name?”

“Maybe, maybe not, but the only way to be sure that he’d give us the actual name was to take a look at the contract,” Lucifer explained.

“So, what now, do we pay a visit to our possible murderer?” Lucifer asked when they had reached the Corvette. The excitement was palpable.

“It’s late already,” Chloe had just checked the time. “I’ll give the details to some unis and they can bring him in. We’ll question him the first thing in the morning.”

“All right,” Lucifer didn’t argue, but it was clear that he was ready to continue with the case right now, “what time should I come to the precinct?”

“Uhm..,” Chloe was a little surprised that he wanted to continue to be a part of the investigation. “By “we” I actually meant me and my partner, my real partner who actually works for the LAPD.”

“What partner?” Lucifer was a bit confused. He hadn’t noticed anyone who looked like they’d be working closely with Chloe. Only Daniel had seemed very protective of Chloe. Were they also partners at work?

“Every detective has a partner. Lenny was at the dentist yesterday when you were at the precinct, but he works with me on this case,” Chloe explained.

“But I was helpful today, wasn’t I?” Lucifer had liked working together with Chloe and he was also eager to find the perp. “And who knows, maybe you’ll need my help again during the questioning.”

Chloe wasn’t sure what the Lieutenant would think about involving a civilian during the interrogation, but she couldn’t deny that Lucifer had been really helpful and the hopefulness in his voice made her relent. “Fine, you can come tomorrow.”

“Excellent,” Lucifer beamed while opening the car door for her.

 

When Lucifer stopped in front of her house he asked again, “you didn’t tell me what time I should be at the precinct tomorrow.” 

“I start at 8 in the morning,” Chloe informed him. She could see from the look on his face that he was not happy about it. “Is that a problem?” she asked a little mockingly. Chloe remembered well what Lucifer had thought about early mornings before he went back to Hell.

“No, not a problem. I’ll be there,” Lucifer replied. “Goodnight, Detective!”

“Goodnight, Lucifer!” Chloe said back with a smile which Lucifer returned. Chloe watched him drive away and felt happy. She was happy that they had finally gotten a solid lead in the case and that she and Lucifer had managed to work together so well. She had been a bit nervous about it before the auction.

 

As soon as Chloe got inside her apartment, she kicked off her shoes. They looked good on her, but were not exactly comfortable. Getting rid of those was feeling like utter bliss right now.

She let herself fall on the couch and just sat there for a few minutes. Then she decided to look again at the name they had gotten from the auctioneer and noticed that Dan had texted her asking to let him know how the auction went.

“It went well, we got a lead,” Chloe replied to Dan. 

“Did Lucifer cause any trouble?” Dan asked after a few minutes.

“No, he was great,” Chloe answered him. It did bother her that Dan was even suggesting that.

“Good,” was Dan’s curt reply to that. “When will you be at home?” he asked after that.

“I’m already home,” Chloe typed and then added, “I think I’ll go to bed early today, I’m quite tired.”

Chloe saw the dots appearing and disappearing, indicating that Dan was typing and deleting something. A few minutes later a question appeared, “do you want company?”

“Sorry, babe, but I think it would be best if I slept alone tonight. I need to be well rested for tomorrow.” She didn’t really know why, but the thought of having him there tonight wasn’t very appealing.

“I could just sleep next to you,” Dan offered.

Chloe started feeling a bit bad about not letting him come over, so she decided to try to boost his ego a bit. “I might not be able to just sleep next to you,” she texted and added a winking emoji.

“Okay, I’ll let you rest,” Dan texted back and added a laughing face to it.

“Goodnight babe,” she wrote and added a kissing emoji.

“Night, Chlo,” Dan replied and added the same kissing emoji.

Chloe sighed in relief and put the phone away.

________

 

Chloe was rather surprised the next morning when she saw Lucifer already chatting with Mindy at the front desk when she walked into the precinct a few minutes before 8 AM. She was glad that he had made the effort to be there early. When she walked closer and heard the flirtatious tone Mindy used with Lucifer, she was not so happy.

“Good morning!” she greeted as soon as she was closer to them, “Oh, Mindy, how did that anniversary dinner go that you talked about?” Chloe felt that she should remind Mindy that she was married. The woman had talked about a week ago about the anniversary dinner her husband had planned to anyone who wanted to listen (and also to those who really didn’t want to) and now she flirted with Lucifer like a horny teenager.

“Oh, it went well. The restaurant was really nice and we had a great time,” Mindy replied and didn’t seem to realise that her behaviour hadn’t been appropriate for a married woman.

“Did you also have a good shag after the dinner?” Lucifer asked with a grin.

Mindy blushed a little, but before she managed to answer Chloe rolled her eyes and muttered “gross” before starting to walk towards her desk.

Lucifer quickly said goodbye to Mindy and followed her. “Is something wrong, Detective?” he asked after watching her walk slightly angrily. When she didn’t answer right away, he continued, “has it something to do with Mindy?”

Chloe stopped suddenly and turned to him, “first of all, she is married.”

“So? It has never stopped women before,” Lucifer shrugged. Chloe continued to look at him with a displeased expression and Lucifer corrected himself, “well, except for you of course. Not that you’re married, but you have a boyfriend and …” Chloe stopped him before he could explain it in too much detail.

“Yes, I get it. Other women just throw themselves at you.”

“They do indeed,” Lucifer agreed with a cocky grin.

“But that doesn’t mean that you have to flirt back with them,” Chloe tried to argue.

“Whyever not? It’s just harmless fun. It’s not like I was about to take her to the pound town in the supply closet,” his grin suddenly widened, “actually, do you happen to know when she’ll have a break?”

“No,” Chloe said firmly, “you are not doing that in the precinct.”

“No?” Lucifer asked, almost surprised.

“No, or I’ll send you home right away.” Chloe crossed her arms in front of her.

“Fine. I promise I will not shag her in the precinct.” Lucifer promised with a sigh.

“Or anyone else I work with,” Chloe added.

“Spoilsport,” Lucifer muttered, but then agreed, “fine, I won’t have sex in the precinct. But I would like to know …”

Before Lucifer managed to end his sentence a voice interrupted them, “good morning, Chloe!”

“Morning, Lenny!” Chloe answered with a smile. She was really glad to change the subject. A man who seemed to be in his fifties stopped by their side. “So, how did that auction go yesterday?”

“Great, we got a name and he’s in interrogation room one, waiting for us.” She had called from the car to get an update on their suspect and they had told her that the man is ready to be interrogated.

“So that rich guy really did it, huh?” Lenny had been a bit sceptical about a random guy just willing to spend a great deal of money to help them catch a killer.

“Indeed, I did it. The egg is right here.” Lucifer had been holding the Rose Quartz the whole time and now brought his hand up in front of him. Chloe had suggested that he’d keep it for the night and bring it to the precinct in the morning, she wouldn’t have felt comfortable knowing that there is something so expensive in her apartment (knowing that two people already lost their lives because of it didn’t help).

“Oh, sorry,” Chloe suddenly realised that they hadn’t met yet. “Lenny, this is Lucifer Morningstar. Lucifer, this is my partner Lenny Holloway.” The men shook hands. Lucifer eyed the other man, feeling an odd satisfaction from the fact that her partner was old enough to be Chloe’s father, had a wedding ring on his finger and to be fair, was not a very attractive man.

“Thank you for the help, Mr. Morningstar!” Lenny told him after their brief handshake.

“It was my pleasure. The killer must be punished after all.” Lucifer flashed a devilish smile.

Lenny frowned a bit and then turned to Chloe, “so, should we go and talk to our suspect now?”   

“Yes, let me just get his file from the night shift.” They had pulled up all the information available about their suspect. Both Lucifer and Lenny watched her, but didn’t say a word. After getting the file Chloe walked straight towards the interrogation room. Both men started to move in that direction too. When Lenny noticed that Lucifer was also heading there, he stopped. “Where are you going?” he asked.

Lucifer had already walked past Lenny, so he stopped and looked at the other man in confusion, “is that not where the interrogation room is?”

“Yes, it is, but why are you going there? You’re not a cop,” Lenny explained his reasoning.

“Of course not, but Detective Decker allowed me to take part in the interrogation,” Lucifer stated proudly.

“Why?” Lenny was even more confused.

“Lucifer has some skills that could be helpful,” Chloe explained. The men had talked loud enough that she had heard them.

Lucifer grinned at her reply and opened the door for the detectives. All three of them entered the interrogation room where a man was sitting at the table. He seemed to be about mid-thirties, had very short hair and a beard.

Chloe and Lenny sat down at the other side of the table, Lucifer remained standing. 

“Darren Davies, hello,” she greeted the man, “I’m Chloe Decker, this is my partner Leonard Holloway and this is Mr. Morningstar.” The man just looked at them but didn't say  a word.

“So, Mr. Davies, where did you get that egg?” Chloe used her stern cop voice.

“What egg?” The suspect chose to play dumb.

“Rose Quartz,” Chloe took a photo from the folder she had placed on the table and put it on the table, “the one you gave to Carmen Grant to put on an auction.”

“I uh… I found it. Yes, I found it.” It was clear that the man was lying, but he seemed to hope that the cops would believe him.

“All right, where did you find it then?” Chloe played along to see how well he had thought it out.

“In a dumpster on Melrose Avenue,” the suspect told them.

“And why were you going through the contents of a dumpster on Melrose Avenue?” Chloe pried.

“I was just walking past it and then I saw it,” Davies tried to explain.

“You walked past a dumpster and saw what was in it?” Chloe had a hard time to even act as if she’d believe him.

“Yes… no, I mean, it was next to the dumpster, that’s how I saw it,” the suspect stammered.

“But you said that you found it in the dumpster,” Lenny interfered. The other man fell silent trying to think of a way to explain it.

“Oh, for Dad’s sake, this is taking forever,” Lucifer groaned. “Detective, may I speed things along?” he turned to Chloe.

“What do you have in mind?” Chloe asked, not sure if she’d get into trouble for allowing Lucifer to interrogate the man or not.

“I just want to ask him a question,” Lucifer answered with a wolfish grin.

“All right, you can ask him a question,” Chloe gave her permission, albeit a bit hesitant. Lenny frowned, but decided to trust Chloe’s judgement.

Lucifer stepped closer to the table, bent a bit so he was almost eye level with Mr. Davies and asked, “tell me, Darren, what is it you desire?”

The man looked at him and seemed to go into a sort of trance, “I want to get away from Juri. I need the money from the egg to pay my debt and move away from L.A., so I’d be free of him.” After finishing the sentence, Darren realised what he had said and looked at both of the detectives with a bewildered expression. Lenny was equally stunned, but Chloe knew exactly what had happened. Lucifer straightened himself wearing a satisfied grin.

“Did you and Juri steal the egg together?” Since Davies still seemed to be shocked about his revelation, Chloe used the moment to ask what she really wanted to know. 

“Yes,” the man broke down. “He said that it was going to be an easy job, that no one was going to be home and we’d just get in and take the egg and that would be it. He has ties to the Russian mob, so saying “no” is not an option with him. He knew that I had connections to Carmen, so selling the egg was my job.”

“But the Carltons were home.” Chloe knew already that they were supposed to be out that night, but Mrs. Carlton had gotten a headache and they had stayed at home.

It seemed like a dam had broken after Lucifer had used his mojo. Davies looked at his hands on the table and told the rest of it. “They surprised us. Juri had a gun and … the husband tried to stop us when he realised that we wanted the egg. Juri shot him and when the wife started screaming, he shot her too. Said that we can’t leave witnesses. She could have recogniced us, since we were not wearing any masks.” He paused for a moment and then looked at the detectives, “I swear I didn’t want to do it and I didn’t kill anyone.” At this point the man sounded desperate.

“Why did you go to the second floor?” The forensics had found smears of blood on the stairs and behind the door of Trixie’s room.

“Juri said that when he had been checking the place up, a girl had looked out of the window. He said he didn’t want any witnesses, so he went upstairs, but didn’t find anyone else …” 

Chloe felt her blood run cold. They had suspected that the murderer had wanted to make sure that no one else was there, but to know that he had intended to kill a little girl was rather horrible.

“Can you tell us Juri’s last name?” Chloe tried to force the quiver out of her voice.

“He’ll kill me, if I tell you,” the man looked really frightened.

“Come on, I know you want to tell us,” Lucifer leaned closer to the suspect once more. The man tried to look elsewhere, but Lucifer locked his eyes with Darren’s.

“Petrov,” he whispered, “his name is Petrov.” When Lucifer broke eye contact, Davies looked still frightened. “You have to protect me now. If he finds out I told you, I’m dead.” 

“Oh, don’t worry, you still committed a crime when you participated in the robbery, so we’ll lock you up,” Chloe told the man with a sweet smile. She started to gather the papers into the folder when she remembered something.

“How did you find out about the egg anyway?” Mrs. Carlton’s sister had told her that they had kept the egg on a display, but put it away every time some stranger came to the house, so Chloe suspected that the robbers must have gotten the info from someone familiar with the Carltons.

“I don’t know,” Davies shrugged, “Juri said that someone had tipped him off, but he didn’t say who.” 

 

Soon Chloe had the address of Juri Petrov and the three of them were driving towards his house. Chloe had not intended to take Lucifer with them, but he was again insistent and Lenny wasn’t really opposed to the idea. They went in separate cars anyway since they wanted to bring Petrov back to the station with them. Chloe and Lenny drove in their police cruiser and Lucifer followed them in his Corvette.

The detectives drove in silence for a while, but Chloe could tell that Lenny was a bit tense.  Finally he broke the silence.

“That was an interesting trick that Morningstar used with Davies,” he started cautiously.

“Yeah, it’s a useful one sometimes,” Chloe agreed.

“So you knew he could do something like that?” Lenny asked.

“I have seen him doing it before,” Chloe admitted, trying not to say too much. She knew that her partner was old-school and insisting that Lucifer really was the Devil would only cause the older man to doubt her sanity.

“Is it something he has learned or… how does he do it?” the man was curious.

“It’s a gift from God,” Chloe replied with a smirk remembering how Lucifer had described it to her.  

It seemed that Lenny wanted to ask something more, but then Chloe’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and frowned in confusion.

“Hi, Lucifer!” she answered it.

“Hello, Detective. Is everything alright with you and your partner?” he asked.

“Yes, we are ok. Why do you ask?” Chloe was still confused why he was calling her.

“Because your partner drives like an elderly turtle. It feels like we’re never going to arrive at the suspect’s home this way.”

“In case you haven’t heard, there is this little thing called the speed limit and some of us abide by it,” Chloe answered while rolling her eyes.

“But Detective, you have those flashing lights. Why don’t you use them? We could get there really fast. And perhaps you could turn the siren on too?” Deciding by the sound of it, the Devil was really excited about the possibility of driving behind a police car with flashing lights and sirens on.

“No, Lucifer, we are not using any of it right now. We are just driving to the suspect’s house, there is no emergency.” Even the idea of using the sirens and the lights at the moment sounded absolutely ridiculous to Chloe.

“But …,” he started to protest, but Chloe decided to end it.

“No but. See you soon,” she disconnected the call. She sighed and started to put away her phone.

“What was that about?” Lenny asked, glancing in her direction.

“Nothing. It was just Lucifer being… Lucifer,” she didn’t really know how to describe to someone who didn’t know the Devil.

It was clear that Lenny was not satisfied with that answer, but luckily they arrived at their destination soon.

Unfortunately their suspect was not home. Chloe decided to put a BOLO out for him, but there was nothing they could do at that moment, so Chloe and Lenny headed back to the precinct. Lucifer wanted to go back there too, but Chloe told him that it could take some time until the man is found, so he might have to wait for a long time there. Lucifer made Chloe promise to call him as soon as they caught the man before he got into his Corvette.

When the police cruiser had left, Lucifer took out his phone and dialed a number.

“Hello, Mazikeen. I have a job for you.”

Notes:

I got the impression from the comments of the last chapter that some of you were excited about the auction. I hope you are not too disappointed. I didn't plan it to be too significant for Deckerstar, it was more about the case and helping it forward.

Chapter 13: Hello, murderer

Lucifer had been about an hour in the penthouse when his phone rang. He smiled when he looked at the caller ID.

“Hello Detective!” he greeted her. 

“Hi Lucifer! It seems that you didn’t have to wait that long after all. We have Juri Petrov in the station.”

“Excellent! I’ll be there soon.” He disconnected the call and headed to the garage.

 

When Lucifer marched into the precinct he spotted the Detective at her desk right away. 

“I’m here, so we can start with the interrogation,” he stated cheerfully right after reaching her desk.

Chloe looked up from the papers she had been reading, but remained sitting. “Not so fast, buddy. First I have some questions for you.” Her voice was stern.

“Oh?” Lucifer was surprised. It sounded like he had done something wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what.

“Do you happen to know how the man suddenly appeared by the front desk, his hands cuffed?” Chloe had called Lucifer as soon as they had told her that her suspect was in the precinct. Only after the call had she found out how the man had been found.

“Well,” Lucifer shrugged. “I guess someone just delivered him here then.”

“And do you happen to know how that someone even knew that we were looking for the man?” Chloe was quite certain that the man was delivered by Maze.

Lucifer fiddled with his cufflinks. He didn’t think that he had done anything wrong, but the tone in Chloe’s voice made him uneasy. “I might have mentioned it to Maze,” he admitted. 

“Lucifer, you can’t just go and send her after random people. That's not how it works.”

“But we wanted the man here and now he is here. I don’t see where the problem is.” Lucifer was a bit perplexed by her reaction.

“The problem is …” Chloe couldn’t really explain what the problem was, but this just wasn’t the way things were done. She had always done things by the book. Finally she thought of something that really could be a problem. “... they hadn’t even put a bounty out for him. So if Maze is hoping to get money for him, she’ll be disappointed.” Well, disappointed would probably be too mild of a word for it.

“No worries, Detective. I promised to pay her for that guy,” Lucifer told her nonchalantly. “Can we go and punish the man already?” he added after a short pause.

Chloe sighed and rose from her seat. “Fine. I’ll go and find Lenny.” Chloe needed a moment away from Lucifer. She had been a bit upset about him sending Maze after their suspect (of course she had figured it out immediately, why their suspect had suddenly appeared in the precinct), but in the end Lucifer was right - they needed to question the man and now he was here. She just hoped that it wouldn’t cause any legal issues.

 

A few minutes later the three of them entered the interrogation room. A bald man with a lot of tattoos was sitting there, looking rather pissed. He looked towards the door when he heard it open, but didn’t say anything.

Chloe introduced them all and started questioning the man.

“Mr. Petrov, where were you between 8 and 10 pm on the 11th this month?” 

“I was at home,” the man answered, speaking with a strong Russian accent.

“Is there anyone who can confirm it?” Chloe asked again.

“I was alone. My girlfriend was out of town,” Petrov answered. To the detectives it sounded a little too smooth - the man didn’t even stop to think about the date or what he was doing on that evening. 

“So you don’t have an alibi?” Being alone at home was one of the classics among criminals.

“Why do I need an alibi?” Petrov asked, sounding smug.

“You are a suspect in a robbery and double homicide.” Chloe hoped that it would wipe off that smug expression from his face, but clearly it was not his first time in an interrogation room. She slid the pictures of the victims in front of the man to watch his reaction, but the guy was either really innocent or had seen too many dead bodies to even react to them. Chloe suspected the latter.

“We have a witness who saw a man looking like you lurking around the house prior to the murder and also your accomplice testified.” The sketch of the man Trixie had seen was very similar to Petrov and they planned to put him on a line up as soon as Trixie arrived at the precinct.

“It is not a very good case you have then,” Petrov was still looking arrogant. Unfortunately Chloe had to agree. The evidence they had against him was not that solid. Davies and his testimony was their strongest lead, but she knew that witnesses could be influenced or in the worst case scenario even killed.

“That crazy chick who brought me here took away my gun, so you can test it if you can get it from her. I didn’t kill those people. I have many enemies, maybe one of them wants to get me locked up,” Petrov shrugged.

The fact that Davies owed Petrov made it look worse - the jury could be convinced that he just wanted to get him locked up so he’d be free of his debt. Chloe didn’t doubt it though, she knew that Lucifer had the ability to make people spill their secrets and to be honest, Juri did look like someone who could kill two people just to get away with a robbery.

Chloe realised that she might need his help again, so she glanced over her shoulder in the direction of Lucifer. The Devil was leaning against the wall behind her and if looks could kill, their suspect would probably be dead already. He was staring at Petrov with pure disdain. Clearly he didn’t think that Juri was as innocent as he tried to make it sound. Chloe managed to get his attention and when Lucifer looked towards her, she gestured with her head, signaling Lucifer that it was his turn now.

Lucifer grinned devilishly and stepped closer to the table. 

“I also have a question for you, Mr Petrov.” Deciding by the tone of his voice, he would have liked to call him with a much more degrading term than mister. Lucifer leaned closer and looked Petrov straight in the eye and asked, “what is it that you truly desire?”

“I want to punish the man who gave you my name,” Juri answered. Contrary to Davies, he didn’t open up more after realising that he had said something he hadn’t intended. That did wipe the smug grin from his face, though. He broke eye contact with Lucifer and looked at Lenny instead. “I want my lawyer now.”

Realising that there was nothing more they could do now Chloe gathered the photos she had laid on the table and stood up. All three of them left the room.

 

“Shit,” Chloe said angrily when she reached her desk. Lucifer agreed. Well, he might have used a bit different word or words, but generally he understood what she meant.  

“I guess we need more proof,” Lenny stated. 

“Let’s go see Ella and ask about the gun,” Chloe suggested and all three of them walked to the lab.

“Hi, Chloe. Lenny. Lucifer,” she sounded a bit surprised seeing the Devil in her lab.

“Ella, did they give you the gun that Juri Petrov had on him?” Chloe went straight to business.

“They sure did.” 

“Did you manage to test it?” It was their last ray of hope at the moment.

“Didn’t really need to if you want to know if that could be the murder weapon of the Carltons. It’s not the same model.” Ella knew it was not what Chloe hoped to hear, but sadly it was the truth.

“Dammit,” she cussed again.

“Not surprising considering he suggested that we test it. I’m sure he has multiple guns.” Lenny had seen enough criminals during his days in the LAPD to know that Petrov probably had a stash of guns somewhere. “But I think you should test the gun anyway. Maybe it matches some other unsolved case,” he suggested to Ella.

“Sure. It would just take some time, there’s some stuff I need to finish first,” Ella answered a bit apologetically.

“It’s ok,” Chloe told her. She pinched the root of her nose between two fingers and sighed heavily. “I think we need to strengthen the security of Davies. Petrov probably knows that he was the one who told us about him and we all heard that he wants to punish him for that.” She had specifically avoided telling his name to Petrov, but since there weren’t other witnesses it was no rocket science to figure it out.

After leaving Ella’s lab Lenny went to get a coffee, Chloe and Lucifer went back to her desk. 

“Detective, I think I should go and talk to him. Alone.” Lucifer’s voice was full of menace, so Chloe doubted that whatever Lucifer had in mind would be quite legal.

“You can’t do anything to him, Lucifer. The interrogation room has a camera on the other side of the mirror and if you harm him, it could blow the whole case up.”

Lucifer was about to argue when a chirpy voice interrupted them. “Chloe!” the dark haired girl barreled into her.

“Hi Trixie!” Despite the case being in danger of collapsing, Chloe’s mood was immediately perked up by the girl’s presence.

“Hi Lucifer!” Trixie seemed to have noticed the Devil just now.

“Did you catch the bad man?” Trixie looked up from her hugging position with hopeful eyes and it almost broke Chloe’s heart to know that they did catch him, but he might easily slip away from the punishment. Even if Trixie recognised him, that would just prove that the man was near the house, nothing more.

“I think we did,” Chloe told the girl while stroking her hair. “Are you ready to do one more of those line ups?”

“Sure, if it helps to catch him.” Trixie didn’t seem to be bothered by it.

“Good. I’ll let them know that they should set it up.” Chloe disentangled her from the girl’s grip and noticed that Lucifer was gone. She didn’t really think much of it, assuming that maybe he also went to the breakroom to get a coffee or a snack. But when a scream sounded from the interrogation room and an officer informed her that the interrogation room was closed from the inside, she rushed to the observation room, knowing exactly who was behind it.

Lucifer had felt bad that this time all his ability to draw out people’s desire had accomplished was to know that their key witness really was in danger from the real murderer. And he had no doubt that Juri Petrov really was the murderer. He had tried to think of a way to get him to tell the truth, but all he could think of was to give him Hell. He didn’t want to do it without Chloe’s permission though. She had been a bit reluctant to let him take part in the investigation after the auction in the first place. So when she turned his request down, he had been ready to let it go and follow her lead, but seeing that hopeful look in the girl’s eyes and knowing that a good lawyer could probably make Juri a free man, Lucifer decided to take matters into his own hand.

Luckily the Detective was distracted with the girl, so he slipped into the interrogation room and broke the handle so they wouldn’t be interrupted.

“Hello, murderer,” he greeted the man with a devilish smile.

“I told you, I won’t answer any questions without my lawyer,” Petrov stated.

“Oh, I'm not here to ask you questions. I’m here to show you where you’re headed.” Lucifer started to walk towards the table where the other man was sitting and he could see that Petrov was now feeling less confident. Lucifer looked like a predator closing in on his prey and Petrov shifted slightly towards the other end of the chair he was sitting on.

Lucifer turned his head a little, so his face would not be seen from the mirror and let his eyes flash red for a moment. Juri instinctively moved further away from him and since he had been already sitting on one side of the chair, he fell down from it. Juri started cursing in Russian and when Lucifer reached him he crouched down so the table was partly hiding him from the mirror and told him in Russian, “you will go to Hell.” He let his face change for a moment and that earned him a loud scream from Juri. To Lucifer’s satisfaction he started to babble about having killed the Carltons.

Suddenly Lucifer heard the Detective over the intercom, “Lucifer, what are you doing?” Her voice sounded alarmed.

“I believe this man has something he wants to say,” Lucifer announced, standing up and adjusting his lapels.

“What did you do?” Lenny asked from the observation room. He had rushed there after Chloe as soon as he had heard that the door was locked and saw her going into the observation room. They had seen Juri on the floor and Lucifer crouching in front of him.

“I just told him where he’s heading,” Lucifer answered innocently. “I think you should come in and listen to what he has to say now,” the Devil grinned and walked towards the door. He knew very well that after seeing his face, humans would do anything to get away from him, so he planned to leave the room.

Lucifer opened the door with the handle he had broken off and let the detectives in.

“What happened to the door?” Lenny asked, eyeing Lucifer sceptically.

“Sorry about that, I must have closed the door with too much force,” Lucifer shrugged and gave the broken handle to Lenny.

Chloe went to Juri and helped him sit up again. “I’ll tell you everything, just keep him away from me,” the man told her. He had definitely lost that smug expression from his face that he had earlier. Chloe looked him over and saw that there were no signs of physical contact between him and Lucifer. 

As soon as he was sitting again on his chair and both of the detectives were also seated, Chloe started interrogating him again. This time the answers were different. He told them that he had indeed gone to the Carltons with the plan to take the Rose Quartz, but they had been surprised by the owners and he had shot both of them. He confirmed that he had planned to kill Trixie too. The whole time they were sitting there, Petrov’s eyes flicked towards the door, probably fearing that the Devil would show up again.

“How did you find out about the egg?” Chloe finally asked. It had been bothering her since the beginning after she found out that the Carltons usually hid it from strangers.

“Friedman told me,” Petrov answered. “He owed me and told me as payback.”

“Howard Friedman?” Chloe asked to clarify.

“Yes,” Petrov confirmed.

Chloe cursed internally. In a way it had been an inside job then after all. Now that they had everything they needed, both of the detectives rose from the table and headed out of the door. Lenny told an uni to take Petrov to a holding cell. 

 

Lucifer had been watching Petrov’s confession from the observation room. As soon as he exited it, he went to Chloe. “So, I guess the case is closed now?” he asked, the pride in his voice evident. 

Chloe sighed. “Not quite.” Seeing Lucifer’s puzzled expression, she elaborated, “the man who had told Petrov about the egg is late Mrs Carlton’s brother-in-law."

“Oh,” Lucifer now understood. “We must pay him a visit too, then.”

Chloe was not sure they should take Lucifer to meet Friedman and she was about to tell him that when Lenny’s phone rang and he stepped a bit further away to take the call. 

Chloe walked to her desk and as she had expected, Lucifer followed her. She glanced quickly around and when she saw that no one was paying attention to them, she asked half whispering, “Lucifer, what did you do to him?”  

“Oh, nothing much,” he replied, adjusting his cufflinks. “I just showed him that hell is in fact, real.”

Chloe furrowed her brows, thinking for a moment. “You showed him your Devil face?” 

“Yes, I did.” Lucifer was a bit nervous. He was satisfied that he had managed to get the murderer to confess, but he wasn’t sure the Detective approved of what he had done.

“Do you think it will show on the tape?” Chloe knew that it would be really hard to explain if it had recorded his face changing.

“I don’t think you have to worry about it, Detective. I’m sure the table obstructed the view of my face sufficiently. And even if it didn’t, as far as I know it’s not possible to record it when I flash my Devil face. It should show as a blur or something like that.”

“Okay, that’s good.” Chloe hoped that no one would find anything against protocol from the tape. As long as Lucifer had not touched him, everything should be fine.

 

“Chloe, I’m sorry, there’s a family emergency I need to take care of.” Lenny had finished the phone call and had come to Chloe’s desk. Lucifer noticed that the man eyed him a bit suspiciously. “Amy needs to go to the doctor, but her husband is out of town, so I must take her.”

“Yes, of course Lenny,” Chloe answered. If his daughter needed him, she didn’t want to keep him from it.

“Maybe you should take Dan or some other detective to go with you to talk to Friedman?” Lenny suggested.

“There’s no need,” Lucifer interrupted, “I can go with her.”

“But you are not LAPD,” Lenny protested.

“It’s okay, Lenny. I can take Lucifer. You go and make sure Amy is okay,” Chloe smiled at him assuringly. Dan was not around at the moment and Lucifer was involved in the case already anyway.

“You’re sure?” It was clear that Lenny didn’t want to let Chloe go there with Lucifer alone, but Chloe seemed to be sure, so there was nothing he could do about it. 

“I’m sure,” Chloe replied.

Lenny left after that to take care of his daughter. Lucifer was about to follow him, thinking that they would leave too, but Chloe sat down at her desk instead.

“Detective?” he asked, a bit baffled. “I thought we were going to question the brother-in-law.”

“We will. I just need to check something,” she answered. “Give me ten minutes, please.”

“All right,” Lucifer answered and went to the break room. He had seen a vending machine there. Some snacks would be nice while he waited for the Detective.

The Friedmans were both at home when Chloe and Lucifer went to see Howard.

“Mr Friedman, we need to speak to you,” Chloe told him.

“What is this about?” Mrs Friedman asked them.

“I think it would be better if we spoke with your husband alone,” Chloe told the woman. She didn’t think it would be necessary for her to hear them accuse her husband of plotting the theft of the Rose Quartz.

“Whatever you need to talk about, you can talk in front of my wife,” the husband assured them. Chloe was quite sure he’d be regretting that decision soon enough.

After they had all sat down in the living room, Chloe started with the questions.

“Mr Friedman, do you know a man named Juri Petrov?”

The man controlled his emotions quite well, but both Lucifer and Chloe noticed the brief moment of panic in his eyes before he pushed it down and answered, “no, doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Interesting, because your bank records say that you have borrowed money from him. A rather large sum of money.” 

“Howard?” his wife turned towards her husband, a surprised look on her face.

“He must have used a different name then,” the man tried to find an excuse for his lie.

“Why did you need to borrow money?” his wife couldn’t contain her curiosity anymore.

“Just some business stuff, honey,” Howard answered, but didn't seem that relaxed anymore. It was clear that the man was getting anxious.

“And why would you let him transfer the money to your personal account not the company’s account?” Chloe asked, knowing that the man had borrowed the money for his own needs.

“I.. uhm… what does it have to do with anything anyway? I thought you were investigating the murder of my sister-in-law and her husband?” Howard was struggling with finding answers to the questions.

“Actually it has a lot to do. Juri Petrov is accused of murdering them. The only question was, how did he find out about the egg that he stole from them,” Chloe explained.

The man went a shade paler after hearing those words. “How dare you come to my home and accuse me of having a part in the death of my own wife’s sister?” Apparently he had come to the decision that the best defence is offence. 

Lucifer had watched it silently, letting the Detective do her thing, but he was getting bored. The man was clearly lying and he was eager to make him tell the truth.

“Detective, may I step in?” he asked, looking at Chloe.

“All right,” Chloe agreed. Clearly they were going in circles.

Lucifer grinned and leaned a little forward. “Howard, tell me what you truly desire?”

Howard stared at Lucifer’s eyes and his expression went blank. “I wanted to sell that stupid egg, so I would be free of my debt. I had lost so much money gambling.”

“And let me guess, you borrowed money from Juri Petrov, hoping that your luck would turn and you could pay him back?” Lucifer had heard that kind of story so many times.

“Yes, and I almost could, but then my luck turned again and I lost everything.” He paused and buried his head in his hands. “When I found out how much that stupid egg cost, I tried to convince them to sell it and give us half the money.” He lifted his head and looked at Chloe trying to make her understand, “I mean, it was a family heirloom. So why could only they decide what should be done with it? It would be only fair to sell it and share the money, right?”

“I told you that it would always stay in the family, we would never sell it. It always went to the oldest child.” Mrs Friedman looked at her husband, tears running down her cheeks. “So you are the reason my sister and her husband are dead?”

“It’s not my fault. If they had only listened to me, none of this would have happened. Nigel was almost on board with the idea of selling it, but your sister refused.” Howard kept trying to justify his actions. “So I told Juri that I’d give him the location of the egg and all he had to do was steal it. If they hadn’t been home like they were supposed to, everything would have been alright.” It was clear that the man did not see his own fault in any of this.

“Only the egg would be lost to the family who had owned it for almost a century. And what would have happened after you lost money with gambling again?” Chloe tried to make the man see the flaws in his logic, that it would not have been alright if the Carltons hadn’t been home that fateful night.  

“No, I would have been more careful from now on,” Mr Friedman answered.

“Are you kidding me? After everything you are still gambling?” his wife could not believe what she was hearing. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

Chloe figured that it was enough. The man had confirmed her suspicions, it was time for him to meet the consequences. “Howard Friedman, you are under arrest for aiding a robbery and withholding information in a murder investigation.” If he had come clean about his involvement right after the murders, they would have caught the culprit much sooner. Chloe cuffed the man and led him towards the door. Before exiting she turned to Mrs Friedman, “I’m so sorry for everything.”

“Thank you,” she said through the tears that were falling freely from her eyes. “So, you caught the murderer?”

“Yes, we did. And we also got the egg. As soon as we finish with some procedures you can have it back.” Chloe looked at Lucifer during the last sentence, as if to get the final confirmation that the woman could at least get the egg back. Lucifer gave her a slight nod. It was the least he could do for that poor woman.

 

Lenny was back at the station before Lucifer and Chloe were back with Howard Friedman. He reviewed the tape that showed the moment when Lucifer had stepped alone into the interrogation room where Juri Petrov was sitting, but it didn’t make sense to him. Petrov was a cold blooded criminal, but for some reason he was so afraid of that man in a three-piece suit that he fell off the chair and when he crouched in front of him, Petrov started screaming. The table was hiding some of it but as far as Lenny could tell, Lucifer had not even touched the man. He could not figure out what the hell had Lucifer done to Petrov. And now he was alone with Chloe. He was itching to call his partner, but knew that Chloe would not like it if she felt that Lenny was acting like a mother hen, like she sometimes accused him.

Suddenly Ella’s cheerful voice reached his ear and Lenny decided to go talk to Ella about this strange man. He knew that Chloe and Ella were friends, so maybe she knew something about that mysterious man too.

Ella was putting some samples into one of her machines when Lenny knocked softly on the doorframe to prevent her from startling when he stepped into her lab.

She turned her head and saw the detective. “Oh, hi Lenny. What brings you to my lab?”

Lenny closed the door behind him. “You and Chloe are friends, right?” That was actually a silly question since everyone in the precinct knew that Ella and Chloe were friends, but he needed to start somewhere.

“Yes,” Ella drew out. She was a bit suspicious of the reason Lenny was there.

“You see, we had some help in the Carltons case from this man… Morningstar. I was wondering if you knew something about him.” Lenny felt a bit uncomfortable prying on his partner’s life, but he was worried.

“Lucifer? Of course I know him. He owns this great nightclub called Lux and he’s actually a real softie underneath that playboy appearance.” Ella was relieved that he was the subject Lenny wanted to talk about. She had feared it would be something more awkward.

“Lux? Is this where Chloe used to work during her time in the Academy?” She had told him once or twice about things that had happened in the nightclub while she was working there.

“Uh-uh, and Lucifer used to be her boss. Well, in the end he was also her boyfriend. Let me tell you, those two were just made for each other. It was the sweetest relationship I had seen.” The memories made Ella smile wistfully.

“What happened then?” Lenny knew that Chloe was dating Dan now and he had never heard about Lucifer before he suddenly appeared participating in their case.

“I don’t know exactly, but one day he just disappeared. Chloe said that it was a family business or something like that he had to take care of and she told me that he would be gone forever. She was really devastated.” Ella’s voice was full of sadness for her friend. She paused for a moment and then continued, “and then about a week ago, he came back. Only now Chloe is with Dan and things seem to be a bit complicated.”

Lenny listened, his brows furrowed. Lucifer didn’t seem to be Chloe’s type. Although she seemed to put a lot of faith in that man. “Do you think he’s dangerous?” Lenny finally asked the question that had bothered him the most.      

“Lucifer? No way. Maybe if you are a bad guy. I mean he is strong and doesn’t really like people who do bad things. I haven’t really seen him fight or anything, but I’ve heard some stories.” Ella saw that her answer had not soothed Lenny’s concerns. “But if you are worried about Chloe, then she’s totally safe with him. Lucifer would never harm her. He has protected her from bullets with his own body in the past and I’m pretty sure that he’d still be willing to risk his life for her.”   

“Are you sure?” Lenny was still not entirely convinced.

“Yes, I’m sure. Stop worrying,” Ella smiled at him encouragingly.

“Okay,” he finally relented. “But don’t tell Chloe I asked you about that… man. She already thinks that I worry about her too much.”

“Well then don’t. She’s a big girl.”

“I know but I can’t help it. I remember her from when she was a little girl. Her father loved her so much. He was a good man. John can’t look after her anymore, so I try to do my best to do it for him, you know,” Lenny confessed. He had been friends with John Decker and thinking of him made Lenny a bit emotional.

“Aww,” Ella’s heart went out for him and she stepped closer to the man spreading her arms wide. Lenny recognised that he was about to receive an Ella hug and he embraced the woman back. He never minded an Ella hug.   

 

As soon as Lenny stepped out of Ella’s lab he saw Chloe walking into the precinct holding Howard Friedman by his arm. Lucifer was following them. He went straight to them and asked Chloe “So it was him who tipped Petrov off?” 

“Yes, it was,” Chloe answered. “Could you bring him to the holding cell?” she looked at Lenny.

“Yes, of course,” Lenny agreed immediately. He was feeling a little guilty that he wasn’t able to go and question the man himself.

“Thanks,” Chloe smiled at Lenny. Then she turned to Lucifer, “This is it. The case is officially solved now.”

“I guess that means my work here is done,” Lucifer said. 

“Unless you want to help with the paperwork,” Chloe teased him. She knew that Lucifer didn’t like paperwork.

“Not really,” Lucifer told her honestly. He had no desire to fill out boring forms.

“Do you want me to walk you to your car?” she offered. Chloe wanted to talk to him privately, but the precinct was too crowded for that.

Lucifer had no trouble finding his car on his own, but he would not turn down a chance to spend more time in Chloe’s presence. “Sure,” he answered.

As soon as they were out of the precinct Chloe started to talk, “I can’t thank you enough, Lucifer. I’m not sure we would have been able to solve the case without your help.”

The smile she gave him was more precious than anything anyone could have offered him. Lucifer felt a strange rush at knowing that he had been helpful and done something really good. “You are welcome,” he answered a bit shyly. “Besides, those men deserve punishment and I’m good at it.” Lucifer adjusted his lapels with the last sentence. The way Chloe was looking at him made Lucifer want to hug her and kiss her and he needed to distract himself. After a moment he added, “and I did quite enjoy it. Even though you didn’t allow me to enjoy even more fun activities in the precinct.” He prodded his cheek with his tongue to make it clear which activities he was referring to.

Chloe blushed a little remembering her little outburst of jealousy after seeing Lucifer flirt with Mindy. “I’m sorry about that. I mean I do think that it’s inappropriate to sleep with married people or have sex in the precinct, but I know it’s not my place to tell you who you can or can’t sleep with.” Chloe had been wanting to say that for a while now, but she hadn’t had the chance before.

Lucifer didn’t know what to say at first. Seeing Chloe acting jealous after seeing him flirting with Mindy had been kind of satisfying for him. Even though she had confessed that she still loved him and he had seen the desire in her eyes when he had asked if he should have fucked her first when he went to tell her that he’s back, she seemed to be able to keep him in the friend zone rather well. 

“But you do realise that I am having sex now I'm here on Earth again, right?” Since they were talking about him sleeping with others, he wanted to be sure that they were on the same page about his sexual relations and it wouldn’t hurt their friendship.

“Yes, of course,” Chloe answered. She knew how much Lucifer loved sex and would have been cruel to expect him to give it up now. “But I would really appreciate it if you'd be a bit more… uhm… subtle about it,” Chloe told him avoiding looking straight at him. Talking about sex was not really natural for her, but she needed to tell him that since they were friends now. She did remember how he used to be anything but subtle about his sexual adventures when she was working at Lux and they had been friends then too.

“Subtle?” Lucifer raised his eyebrows a little.

“Well, yes, I mean I don’t need to hear about the details or see you do things,” Chloe couldn’t help but blush again. Lucifer was quite enjoying seeing her so flustered. “And I promise I’ll keep the PDA with Dan to a minimum in front of you.” Chloe wasn’t really a fan of PDA anyway, but it seemed fair to offer something in return.

“Alright, it’s a deal,” Lucifer agreed. The idea of seeing Dan getting too handsy with Chloe didn’t seem too appealing for him either.

“Okay, it’s settled then,” Chloe was relieved that the conversation was over. “And thank you again for your help.”

Lucifer smiled and opened the door to his car. “If you ever need a little help from the Devil again, you only need to ask.”

“Good,” Chloe nodded and gave him a little wave, “bye, Lucifer!”

“Goodbye, Detective!” Lucifer answered before he started the engine.

 

Before Chloe could reach the door to the precinct she could hear someone coming after her at a quick pace. She looked over her shoulder and saw Dan rushing towards her. 

“Hi, Chlo!” he greeted her immediately.

“Oh, hi Dan,” she answered and slowed her pace.

“So, Lucifer left, huh? Did he get bored?” Dan asked. He had seen them talking next to his car and Lucifer driving away.

“No, he left because we solved the case,” Chloe explained. “Now it’s just paperwork that has to be dealt with.”

“And he didn’t want to help with that?” Dan faked surprise.

“He’s not officially working for LAPD, so he doesn’t have the authorisation to do it anyway,” Chloe chose the formal answer. Dan’s animosity towards Lucifer was really starting to annoy her.

“I was just joking,” Dan could hear the slight irritation in her voice and decided to back down. “I’m glad you managed to solve the case.”

“Me too, Dan,” Chloe replied.

Chapter 14: Conversations

Summary:

I didn't initially plan to have a chapter with only talks between different characters, but they all just kind of piled up and needed to be addressed at this point. I hope it will still be enjoyable for you.

Maze sauntered into the penthouse, but she could tell instantly that Lucifer was not there. She was disappointed. Patrick had said that he’d come back some time ago and he hadn’t seen Lucifer leave. Well, Lucifer could have taken the elevator straight down to the garage without Patrick realising that he left, but Maze had parked there and saw his Corvette. The demon had fully expected to meet the Devil in his club or the penthouse. She went through all the rooms to check just in case, but her initial feeling had been right - he was not there.

Maze huffed in annoyance, took a bottle from the bar and plopped down on the couch. She had nowhere she needed to be, so Maze decided to wait for him right there.

Maze hadn’t even drunk a quarter of the bottle when she heard a quiet whoosh from the balcony. The demon realised instantly that the sound came from wings. A glance towards the balcony assured her that it was Lucifer who had landed there. That explained why Patrick hadn’t noticed that he had left, Lucifer had just flown away. Maze was rather surprised. She didn’t know that he had a habit of flying around the town at night.

Lucifer entered the penthouse and saw Maze sitting there with a bottle of tequila.

“Hello, Mazikeen!” he greeted the demon and went to the bar to get a drink for himself too. Even though he had other kinds of alcohol on the shelves, he always preferred Scotch. After filling his glass, Lucifer went back to the coffee table and sat down in one of the armchairs. 

“So, is there a reason you’re here or did you just decide to take advantage of my liquor shelf?” he asked, drinking from his own glass.

Maze took another swig straight from the bottle before she answered. 

“I was just wondering… how was it?” she seemed a bit hesitant to ask.

“How was what?” Lucifer was a bit confused.

“Down there,” Maze clarified.

“Oh, you mean Hell?”

Maze nodded.

“Well, you picked the right moment actually. I just came back from there,” Lucifer stated.

“What do you mean? You came back last week,” Maze was baffled.

“I left a few demons in charge and to be sure that no one would decide to defy me again, I decided to make occasional visits every now and then,” Lucifer explained.

“So that’s how you managed to come back?” Maze had wondered how Lucifer had managed to make sure that the humans were not in danger of another demon outbreak after he left Hell. She had intended to ask about it on Saturday, but Lucifer had not been in any shape to have a normal conversation.

“Yes, it took me a while to find suitable demons and to train them, but eventually I felt that they were as good as they would get and could manage to keep things under control while I was away.”

“And everything was ok right now?” Maze had a hard time believing it. They were demons after all.

Lucifer sighed. “Mostly yes. There were some minor issues that I needed to address. I planned to make it a much shorter trip than I actually had to.”

“How long were you there?” she wondered.

Lucifer checked his phone. “About two hours.”

“So a few years in Hell’s time,” Maze did quick math in her head.

“Yep,” Lucifer popped the p and finished off his drink.

They were both silent for a moment. Maze wanted to know how he was handling the whole situation with Chloe dating another man and knowing that she had been put on his path, but she had never been good with emotions or talking about them.

“So… what now?” she finally asked.

“Now? I think I need to shower… I still reek of Hell,” Lucifer smelled himself and wrinkled his nose.

“No… I mean… you and Chloe…,” she struggled to make her thoughts clear.

“The Detective and I are good, I even helped her solve a crime,” Lucifer stated, the pride in his voice palpable.

“Huh,” Maze didn’t know what to say to that. She had noticed that Lucifer seemed to be in a much better mood than he had been on Saturday, but that was unexpected. ”So you’re playing cop now?”

“Not exactly. It was a one-time thing. Although I told her that if she ever needed my help again, she just needed to ask.” Lucifer noticed that the demon didn’t seem to be too happy about him helping the police, looking rather disapproving. “I don’t think you’re in the position to judge. You are the one who helps them catch criminals on a daily basis,” Lucifer said, narrowing his eyes.

“Well, yeah. I mean they pay me for hunting down humans. Who knew that this was a real job,” she visibly perked up, happy to have found such a great occupation.

Lucifer chuckled, seeing her excited about it. “I’m glad you found something satisfying to do while I was away.”

“Yeah,” Maze played with the label on the neck of the bottle she was holding.

“Look, I’m sorry I left you here. If I had known that my brother had lost his feathers and didn’t have the ability to fly you down, I would have taken you with me if you had wanted it.” Lucifer had left thinking that Maze would be able to join him if she really wanted to.

“I guess it’s really not your fault,” Maze muttered. She had been furious at first when she found out that Amenadiel had lost his wings and she was stuck on Earth, but Linda had managed to make her see that it was not Lucifer’s fault. If he had returned after a few months Maze would probably have punched him, but now Linda had worked her magic and dampened her anger. Besides, she was rather satisfied here now and going back didn’t seem that appealing anyway. Then a thought occurred to her. “So you thought that I had just decided not to join you?” 

“Well, how could I blame you? If I had the choice I would have never willingly gone back there.” Lucifer had felt a twinge of disappointment when Maze didn’t show up in Hell, but he hadn’t really been mad at her, more like just missed her.

“I would have joined you if I could,” Maze assured him. 

Lucifer couldn’t deny that he would have liked her company, but there was no reason to dwell on it. “Well, it doesn't matter anyway. I’m here now and don’t plan to go back for longer than absolutely necessary.”

--------

The next morning Lucifer was back in Linda’s office. Since their session on Monday had been about how to set things straight with Chloe, Linda had insisted that they meet soon for another session where they could have a real talk about Lucifer. The Devil usually didn’t mind talking about himself, but he was a little nervous. He was almost certain that this session would be much harder than the previous one had been.

“Good morning, Lucifer,” she greeted him.

“Good morning, Doctor,” Lucifer greeted her back with his usual bravado, hiding the uneasiness successfully.

When they had both settled in their seats, Linda didn’t waste any time to pick up from where they had left the last time.

“So, how did it go with Chloe?” To be honest, she was really curious. She’d had a few very busy days in the meantime and also nights with interrupted sleep thanks to Charlie, so even though Linda had thought about it, she hadn’t had a chance to call Chloe and ask her about it.

“Good actually,” Lucifer smiled. “Turned out that she wasn’t avoiding my calls after all.”

“Oh?” Linda wasn’t really surprised since it had seemed out of character for her, but she was curious why she hadn’t picked up when Lucifer called then.

“Her phone had died. And she hadn’t heard the first call, so she hadn’t intentionally ignored me.” Linda noticed that Lucifer looked much more confident in comparison to Monday.

“That’s good. And did you work out how to proceed with your relationship?”

“Well, she did accept my apology and agreed that we could be friends.” Lucifer paused and leaned forward a bit, “and I also helped her solve a crime.” Now his expression was full of pride.

“You did?” Linda was surprised to hear that.

“Yes, there was a couple that had been murdered and their Fabergé egg had been taken.” Lucifer launched into a detailed description how he had taken Chloe to the auction and how he had participated in the interrogation of both Davies and Petrov. He finished with how they had also arrested Mr. Friedman for giving the tip to Petrov and withholding information in a murder investigation.

“Well, I’m impressed, Lucifer,” Linda admitted. “You did really well.”

Lucifer smiled almost shyly. “Thank you, Doctor!”

“And how did it make you feel?” Linda asked.

“To be honest it gave me a kind of rush. When the Detective thanked me, it felt really good. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt like that before.” Lucifer seemed to be baffled about his own reaction. But after a moment he added, “actually there was one time I felt similar. It was when she worked at Lux and we were just friends and I didn’t take advantage of her when she was drunk and upset, knowing that she wouldn’t sleep with me if she were sober.”

“It seems that putting someone else’s needs before your own makes you feel good,” Linda summed up.   

“I guess so,” Lucifer agreed. He seemed to think about it or something else rather deeply, his brows furrowed a bit. 

Linda decided to break the silence after some minutes. “Lucifer, I noticed that you referred to Chloe as “the Detective” earlier. Why are you calling her that?”

“She is a detective, isn’t she?” Lucifer seemed to be surprised that Linda was even asking him about it.

“She is, but I still call her Chloe and so do her other friends.”

Lucifer sighed. “I started to call her Chloe when we were together and now it seems too…,” he didn’t really have the right word for it. Intimate? Special? So he left the sentence hanging and continued, “anyway, before that I called her Miss Decker. She had said that we were friends back then when she worked at Lux and she seemed to not mind that I called her Miss Decker. But when I did that now after returning to Earth, it upset her. So calling her Detective seems like a good middle ground. She has earned that title and should be proud of it and always remember that she can achieve anything when she sets her mind to it.”

“That’s really thoughtful of you, Lucifer,” Linda was again pleasantly surprised. Lucifer smiled briefly.

Linda saw an opening to the topic she really wanted to talk about with Lucifer, so she started to steer their session towards that direction. “Did Chloe tell you that it upset her when you called her Miss Decker after your return?”

“She accused me of being cold and distant when I went to see her. But I was just trying to keep my distance. I have had no experience with ex-girlfriends before, so I thought that I was being respectful of her new relationship. I mean, she didn’t really initiate any physical contact herself either. How was I supposed to know what she expected of me?” Lucifer was getting agitated. He remembered the hurt in Chloe’s voice when she had thought that Lucifer was treating her coldly on purpose and although they were good now, it still upset him that he had failed to behave the right way.

“You don’t have to justify this to me, Lucifer. I imagine it must have been really difficult for you. How did it really make you feel when you learned that she has started to date someone else?” Linda hoped that Lucifer had lowered his walls enough already that he was ready to talk about it. 

Lucifer was silent for a while, pushing off some invisible lint from his trousers. Linda was beginning to think that he wouldn’t answer the question, when he finally spoke “it felt like someone had dropped a bucket full of ice cold water on me. I… I don’t know why I hadn’t even thought about the possibility that she had moved on. I mean, it was foolish of me not to consider that possibility. When I left Earth, I told her that I wouldn’t come back, so it should have occurred to me. The Detective is a beautiful young woman after all.”

“Lucifer, it’s perfectly normal not to expect to find your girlfriend with another man,” Linda tried to assure him. “And it’s also normal to feel hurt or sad about her having a new boyfriend.”

Lucifer scoffed, “and to add insult to injury, it’s Daniel of all men.” Lucifer looked at Linda, “you do see the irony, right?”

“Yes, it seems that you were right about him,” Linda agreed. She remembered her first encounter with Lucifer and what his first fight with Chloe had been about. To be honest, she was pretty sure that Dan had wanted more than friendship with Chloe long before she showed any interest in him romantically from the few times Dan had been invited to hang out with them.

“I do want her to be happy, to have a man who deserves her. We both know that I couldn’t be that man,” Lucifer told this like it was a fact, but the sadness in his voice was unmistakable.

“Why do you think that?” Linda asked, a little surprised that he sounded so sure of it.

“In case you have forgotten, I am the Devil. A monster who could never be worthy of such a good person as the Detective. And also, she doesn’t deserve to be a puppet in my Father’s bloody game. She should have free will, not wonder whether her choices are her own.”

Linda wrote to her notebook that they should definitely discuss the topic of him seeing himself as a monster again at some other session, but right now she let it slide. “So you think that because of her being a Miracle, God controls her life?” Linda wanted to clarify.

“What else could he have made her for?” Clearly it was obvious for Lucifer. “And in order for her to have free will, I can’t be too involved with her.”

Linda was no expert on celestial matters but she was not so sure that it would mean no free will for Chloe if she’d be together with Lucifer, so she decided to take it further. “But why be friends with her then? Why not disappear from her life entirely?” The therapist hoped that the question wouldn’t backfire. She didn't really think that Lucifer should leave the people who cared about him behind, she just wanted to provoke him a little.

“Because…,” Lucifer paused to search for a valid reason, “because I don’t want to. As long as she is okay with me being in her life, I won’t leave. I already spent thousands of years without her in Hell, I’d rather not continue it. At least as long as I don’t have any reason to believe that me being her friend violates her free will too.”

“And if somehow it turned out that even being her friend means that she has no free will, you’d cut any contact with her?” Linda asked to clarify.

“Yes, I would. Even if it would be extremely hard for me, I would,” Lucifer stated.

“Her free will seems to be very important to you,” Linda noted.

“Of course it is. Free will is the one truly precious gift my Father gave humans. Asking for free will for angles too was the reason I fell, Doctor. It means everything to me.” Lucifer was a bit baffled that Linda didn’t understand that.

“And how does it make you feel knowing that your Father created Chloe?” When Lucifer had found out about Chloe’s Miracle status they hadn’t talked about how it made Lucifer feel, so Linda thought it was about time they did.

“Feel?” Lucifer asked and Linda could already tell that there was nothing good he was feeling about it. “I’m bloody furious. I am used to his games and him using me and my siblings as puppets, but doing that to a human, to a wonderful human being…,” he shook his head. “That’s a bastard move, even for him.”

Linda had to agree. Finding out that Chloe was a Miracle had caused her only grief and sorrow.

Before Linda could ask anything else, her phone dinged, indicating that their time was up.

--------

 

Dan was currently feeling like on a rollercoaster and he hated rollercoasters. On Monday after Lucifer had told him that Chloe needed Dan not him, Dan had felt really good. A lot more secure than he had felt since he found out that Lucifer was back in L.A. He had left the precinct shortly after their talk and he had been in such a good mood that even his partner had wondered what made him so cheerful. Dan had first brushed it off, but after a while he couldn’t keep it to himself anymore and had told his partner about Chloe’s rich but dickish ex being back in town and how he had told Dan that he knew that Chloe needed Dan, not him.

To Dan’s surprise his partner had commented that it was an odd choice of words, that she had used ‘needed’ not ‘loved’. Dan had reasoned that maybe Chloe had told Lucifer that she didn’t need him anymore in her life and the man had just interpreted it like that. Just after that they had arrived at their witness's workplace and they had dropped the subject.

But Dan’s mind kept going back to it. On Monday evening they were both busy so he didn’t think too much about it. He had hoped to see Chloe on Tuesday evening, but it turned out that Chloe had to go to an auction with Lucifer for the case she was working on. To be honest, Dan was not too happy to learn that Chloe was going to use Lucifer’s help to solve the case. He was not sure the man could provide any help whatsoever. When Chloe had told him not to visit her after the auction, the conversation with his partner about Chloe needing and not loving Dan had started to trouble him. He tried to convince himself that Chloe was really just tired and there was no other reason for her to decline his suggestion that he could come over, but a little voice in the back of his mind kept wondering if it was a coincidence that she didn’t want to see Dan after spending the evening with Lucifer. Or was it just the evening? Maybe Lucifer went to her place after the auction? But that thought was put to rest soon. Dan did trust Chloe and knew that she would never cheat on him. 

To Dan’s disappointment Lucifer was at the precinct on Wednesday and although Chloe’s partner was also on the case, it didn’t sit too well with Dan. He had been busy with his own case and hadn’t spent much time in the precinct, but he had seen them interact from afar and the way Lucifer had looked at Chloe did nothing to ease Dan's mind.

Dan was still convinced that the weird club owner had no business being involved in the case. He had been waiting for the elevator when that awful scream was heard all over the precinct and seeing Chloe rush towards the interrogation room, he was sure that Lucifer was involved. Too bad that he had to rush out for his own case, otherwise he would have rushed to the interrogation room himself too. Fortunately he could see that Lenny was also there. Dan knew that he could trust that man.

When Dan had arrived back to the precinct and saw that Lucifer was leaving he was relieved. But his attempt at a joke that Lucifer left because he was bored did not sit well with Chloe. After Dan sensed that his attempt to joke did not go as planned, he backed down. To be honest, Dan was a bit impressed that Lucifer had really helped to solve the case, he knew that Chloe had hit a lot of dead ends with that case.

Unfortunately he needed to go to a stakeout that evening. And of course that was the night when his partner had some relationship issues and spent almost the whole night texting with his girlfriend which left Dan alone with his thoughts. He tried to focus on watching the building they were there for in the first place, but his mind kept going back to Lucifer and Chloe and what Lucifer had said to him on Monday. He really wished he hadn’t told anything to his partner because what he had said about it was like a bell you couldn’t un-ring.

To make things worse, their stakeout had been unsuccessful and that meant they had to go again on Thursday evening. Dan debated whether to talk about all of it with his partner, but decided against it. He didn’t want to explore his relationship with Chloe too much with his partner since Chloe also worked in the precinct and he knew that she valued her privacy. Besides, he didn’t feel too comfortable explaining to his partner that Chloe had not said the three words to him yet while he had done it already. Chloe had explained that she was really not there yet and he should give her time. Dan had been fine with it then, but it had been more than a month ago now. So he spent again a few hours stewing in his thoughts but fortunately this time the stakeout was successful and he was free on Friday evening.

 

As Chloe also had a free night on Friday, they went to Chloe’s after work. Dan was not sure whether he should initiate a talk about their relationship or not. It had been a long week for him and eventually he decided to just enjoy his time together with Chloe. But l etting it go proved to be not so easy after all. Usually Dan fell quickly asleep after having sex, but this time he stayed awake. Chloe had fallen asleep a long time ago, but Dan still kept thinking about Lucifer’s words and Chloe’s feelings towards him. Finally he decided that he would talk to Chloe the next day. It was clear that he could not just forget about it.

 

They had finished doing dishes and Chloe thanked him for his help with them.

“Of course I help, Chlo. I love you,” Dan replied to her. Chloe smiled and kissed him briefly on the lips. Usually Dan would just leave it at that, but now he decided to ask.

“Aren’t you gonna say it back?”

“Dan, we talked about it. I will say it when I’m ready,” Chloe replied. She was a bit surprised that Dan was pushing it.

“Is that why you told Lucifer that I am the one you need, not him?” Dan had planned to keep the conversation calm but he sounded rather agitated.

Chloe frowned at the question. “How do you know what I said to him?”

“Lucifer told me when he was looking for you on Monday.”

“Yes, I guess I said something like that to him last week when we talked. But you make it sound like it was a bad thing.” Chloe had noticed the slightly accusing tone when Dan had asked about it. “I just explained to him that I’m in a relationship with you and it won’t change.” 

“I still don’t understand why you need to explain anything to him. He left and you moved on. It’s simple, isn’t it?” 

“No, it’s not that simple.” Chloe couldn’t really explain to him that Lucifer had left to protect all mankind (and that included also Dan) from demons. 

“Why not? What more is it then?” It was becoming more and more clear that Dan would not just drop the subject. Chloe really hated it when she had to defend Lucifer’s actions to someone she couldn’t tell the whole truth to, so she didn’t answer, but that didn’t seem to discourage Dan at all

“And now he’s weaseling himself into your life again.”

“He’s not weaseling anything,” Chloe was now getting more and more upset herself. “I suggested that we could be friends. I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t be. I can’t understand why this is such a big problem for you anyway.” Dan had never really liked Lucifer, but this started to go way out of line.

“I saw the way he looked at you.” Dan pointed his index finger at Chloe. “I’m telling you, he’s not over you.”

“So what? You don’t trust me enough to believe I could say no to him even if he would make an advance?” That question made Dan stutter.

“N-no, I’m not saying that I don’t trust you, just …,” Dan had to gather his thoughts for a moment to express his concerns without making Chloe think that he doesn’t trust her.

“Just what?” she crossed her arms on her chest. “And for your information, he would never make a move after I told him that I chose you.”

“Don't you mean ‘need you’?” Dan couldn’t help that remark.

“What is it now with the word? Why is it such a bad thing that I chose the word ‘need’?” Chloe was rather puzzled. Dan was reacting as if she had said something bad.

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the fact that you told your ex that you needed me, not that you loved me?” Dan spat out.

Chloe rested her head on her hand briefly and took a deep breath. “I thought it wasn’t a problem that I wasn’t there yet. Did you lie to me when you told me that it was okay?” She did not appreciate it being thrown in her face like that.

“Did you love him?” Dan asked.

“Yes,” Chloe answered after a moment of hesitation. She didn’t want to lie about that even though she had a feeling that it would make things worse right now.

Dan nodded his head slightly. His gaze wandered in the room for a moment before he looked Chloe straight in the eye and asked, “do you still love him?”

Chloe felt trapped. She didn’t want to outright lie to Dan, but this was really going out of hand. She clenched her jaw and looked towards the ceiling, trying to figure out how to respond to this.

Her silence was already enough of an answer for Dan. He then asked in a silent voice, “why are you not with him then?”

“It’s complicated,” was all Chloe could respond. Telling him the real reasons was not an option.

“So, what? I’m the non-complicated option you chose to play house with instead? I mean, you told me you want to adopt a child together. Why would you do that if you are still pining for him?” Dan was getting more and more confused until it dawned on him. “Or is this why you need me? To adopt Trixie, because no one in their right mind would let you adopt a child with a crazy club owner? And after that you would just dump me, huh?” It all started to make sense in Dan’s head now.

“No, I would never do that,” Chloe was appalled by that suggestion.

“But that is why you need me, isn't it?”

“I thought you wanted to do that with me too, to start a family together. You agreed to do it when I asked you.”

“You always seemed more invested in it than I was,” Dan said bitterly.

“Well, I’m sorry if I want to give a home to a girl who cruelly lost both of her parents,” Chloe defended herself.

“But that’s just it - it’s all about giving her a home, not starting a family with me. I’m just a means to an end,” Dan ran his hand through his hair agitatedly.

“No, it’s not like that,” Chloe tried to argue, but Dan didn’t listen.

“How could I not see it before? You will never love me, because you still love him and you just needed me so you could adopt Trixie. I have been such a fool,” Dan scoffed bitterly.

“So what are you saying?” Chloe felt a cold dread in her stomach.

“I’m saying that we’re done. I might not be as handsome or rich, but I still deserve someone who loves me and wants to be with me because she loves me.” Dan had pursued Chloe for such a long time, but oddly enough saying that out loud felt kind of liberating.

“Dan, can’t we just take a break and think it over?” Chloe tried to reason with him.

“There is nothing to think about. You either love me or you don’t. Can you give me one good reason right now why I shouldn’t walk out of this door and be done with this relationship?” There was still a part of him that hoped she would give him a reason and stop him. Chloe on the other hand realised that Dan had been right. She could probably not love anyone else the way she loved Lucifer, still loves him. Chloe realised that it hadn’t been fair towards Dan, she should have never allowed this relationship to happen in the first place. So she didn’t answer Dan. Chloe could see clearly the look of hurt on Dan’s face when she didn’t say anything. 

“That’s what I thought,” he muttered before he turned and walked out of the door.

 

Chloe stared at the door for a while, trying to make sense of what just happened. How had a slightly heated conversation turned into a break up? At first she felt numb and just ran the things that were said through her head. Then the whole thing sunk in and she went to the couch where she sat down as tears started to flow down her cheeks. She let them flow, crying silently, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt that the main reason for her sadness was the fact that it would probably be impossible for her to adopt Trixie now. 

After a while her mind drifted to Lucifer. Was it really that obvious that she still loved him? But a part of her couldn’t help wondering if Dan breaking up with her was also a part of a bigger plan for her. It took care of two reasons out of the three she had told Lucifer why they couldn’t be together anymore. And by doing that it also made the remaining reason even more stronger. Right now Chloe felt helpless again, as if she was not in control of her own life, like someone else was calling the shots and deciding what will happen in her life and what not.

Chapter 15: The Secret

Notes:

I want to thank you all who have commented on this story. The discussions that formed in there have really motivated me to try and find more often time to write. It's great to read your opinions and thoughts about what I have written.
I do apologise in advance if your possible comments on this chapter won't get a quick reply by me, because I'll be busy this weekend meeting the Devil himself and some other Lucifer cast at CrossRoads 9. 😄

On Monday morning Chloe went to work a bit reluctantly. She still felt a bit raw from the weekend and the prospect of seeing Dan didn’t make it better. On top of it all she had to face Miss Miller and tell her that she and Dan will not hand in the application to become Trixie’s parents. 

Mindy’s cheerful voice brought Chloe back to the present. She was currently chatting with officer Roberts, but still managed to notice her coming in.

“Good morning, Decker!” she greeted her. “Good morning,” Chloe answered, trying to look a bit more cheerful than she was actually feeling.

“Alicia here was just telling me about her daughter’s school play,” Mindy informed her. 

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Chloe decided to engage in the conversation, “what play was it?”

“It was just a silly fairy tale, but she did remember her lines,” Alicia smiled, “all three of them.”

“Well, you gotta start somewhere, eh?” Mindy added.

“I guess so. But I don’t think she really wants to be an actress. Lately she’s been talking about becoming a scientist, like her dad was.” Alicia’s voice took a sad note while talking about her late husband. Chloe remembered that it had happened not long before she joined the LAPD. The woman was left with two kids she had to raise alone now. Since Chloe had also lost her dad, it hit a bit too close to home and she was not in the state of mind to handle it right now. So she excused herself, saying she needed to get to work. But the thought of officer Roberts being a single mom and as far as she knew handling it rather well made her think about her situation from a different angle. Would she be able to raise Trixie alone? But the problem was that they usually didn’t give children for adoption to single parents. 

 

As soon as Chloe sat down she noticed the folder with the adoption papers on her desk. She had actually intended to take those home with her on Friday, but had forgotten. Chloe contemplated calling Miss Miller and telling her to come and collect the unfilled form right away, but then decided against it. She wasn’t really keen to talk about the reason why she will not apply on the phone. Besides, she noticed Dan across the room and she definitely didn’t want to make the call while he was nearby. So Chloe put the papers in a drawer and busied herself with work instead.

 

Fortunately Chloe was rather busy with her ongoing case and that managed to keep her mind off from her personal problems. That was until late in the afternoon when she made a break to get a cup of coffee from the break room and bumped into Dan who had just taken a pudding from the fridge.  

They both stood still for a moment and then greeted each other awkwardly. They hadn’t really talked about it, but it seemed that neither of them was interested in announcing their breakup to the whole precinct. So they had to act civilly to keep up the pretense. Chloe was glad that she had insisted on keeping the PDA on minimum levels at work, so it didn’t look weird when they weren’t holding hands or touching each other all the time.

Dan was almost out of the room when Chloe suddenly remembered something.

“Hey, Dan?” she spoke.

Dan stopped immediately and turned around to look at her. “Yes?”

“I put your stuff that was at my place into a box. Do you want to come by my place to collect it or would you rather I bring it with me tomorrow?”

It seemed that Dan had not expected that. His face had shown a ray of hope when Chloe had spoken, but as soon as she mentioned the box, his mask was back on, trying to look as indifferent as possible.

“You can bring it tomorrow,” Dan answered and turned around immediately to head to his own desk.

“Okay,” Chloe muttered. She really hoped that in time they would be able to work together like normal colleagues.

 

Chloe went back to her desk with the coffee, but her good work flow had been ruined now. She couldn’t really concentrate, her mind drifting back to Trixie every now and then. Soon others started to head home, but Chloe had been too distracted to finish what she intended for the day. Lenny had seen that she was still working and offered to stay and help her, but she refused. It was not his fault that she had been unable to do it on time.

By the time she was done, the precinct was almost empty. Chloe on the other hand was not in a hurry. She took out the folder with the adoption papers again and decided to look up Trixie’s birthday, hoping that she could maybe stay in contact with her and at least give her a card or a present for her birthday.

Chloe opened the folder and when her eyes fell on her birth date, she froze. Was it really a coincidence? She then searched for information about the town where she was born from the papers and when she found it, Chloe felt like her heart would jump right off her chest. This couldn’t be, could it? There were no further details about her birth or birth parents, so she had nothing more to prove or refute her suspicions.

Chloe started to put the folder back into the drawer, her hands shaking slightly, when something pink caught her attention. It was a pink hair tie with a Hello Kitty figure. Trixie had forgotten it one time when Miss Miller had redone her hair at the precinct and used ultimately less hair ties than she had on her. Chloe had noticed it when they had left and put it into her drawer, intending to give it back the next time she saw the girl, but had forgotten about it. Now it was staring right at her. Under the hair tie were some papers and against the white background Chloe could clearly see a few dark hairs that had been caught in between the cat figure and the rubber. Chloe looked up and saw that Ella was also still working and an idea formed in her mind. She took two little bags that were meant for evidence from another drawer and put the hair from the hair tie to one of them and then pulled out one of her own hair and slid it to the other bag. She rose from her desk and walked to Ella’s lab.

The other woman was looking at some samples through the microscope and humming to herself.

“Hi, Ella!” Chloe announced her presence.

“Oh, hi! Why are you still here? I thought you went home already,” Ella was a bit surprised to see Chloe there.

“I just needed to finish something,” Chloe explained. “Are you very busy right now?”

“Well, there is some evidence I still need to process since I had some personal business this morning and arrived later, you know. Those murders aren’t gonna solve themselves, right.” Ella could see that Chloe wanted something, but was holding herself back for some reason. “But I can always find time for you,” she smiled encouragingly.   

“There is actually something I need you to test for me,” Chloe held up the two evidence bags. “I need to know if the owners of these hairs are related.”

“Sure,” Ella took the bags. “For which case are those?”

“Uhm… they are not actually related to a specific case, it’s more like… a personal thing,” Chloe tried to explain as best as she was able without revealing the real reason she needed that answer.

“All right,” Ella answered, eyeing Chloe a bit suspiciously. “How quickly do you need it?” the forensic scientist asked, although she could already guess the answer.

“As soon as possible,” Chloe told her, looking a little apologetic.

“Okay, the analysis takes about 45 minutes. I can prep the samples right away.”

“Thanks Ella, I really appreciate it.” With that Chloe left the lab and went back to her desk. Although she couldn’t be 100% sure yet if Trixie was really who Chloe thought she was, Chloe needed to find out if there was any chance at all that she could still adopt her.

 

Chloe decided to give Miss Miller a call after all. The social worker greeted her happily.

“Hi, Miss Miller. I was just wondering… do they let single parents also adopt children?” Chloe asked, getting right to the point, afraid that she would chicken out otherwise.

“Well… there have been some rare occasions, but generally they want the kids to have both mother and father.” She paused for a moment and then asked, “did something happen with your boyfriend?”

Chloe sighed. There was no point in hiding it from her. “We kind of broke up,” she admitted, “but I still would like to adopt Trixie.”

“Are you sure you’d be ready to raise her all alone?” Miss Miller asked. “I know that you like her and she likes you too, but it’s a big responsibility.”

“I know,” Chloe told her. She had no illusions that it would be all rainbows and sunshine.

“Well, you can fill out the application if you’re sure, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”

“I won’t,” Chloe answered. Then another thought occurred to her. “There was actually another thing I was wondering about. What about her birth parents?”

“What about them?” Miss Miller asked, wondering where she was going with that. 

“I mean, what if they show up? Would they be able to just take her back or something like that?”

“It’s not that simple. They could start the process of getting custody of her, but since they checked the box that they renounce the right for custody of her, it would be a long process and would actually need Trixie’s consent eventually. So I don’t think the people who’ll get to adopt Trixie would need to worry about that.”  

“Thank you for the information,” Chloe didn’t want to clarify the intent behind her question and was relieved that Miss Miller had assumed it wrong.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Miss Miller said before saying goodbye to Chloe.

The conversation left Chloe in an even bigger mess than she had been before. Some of Miss Miller’s answers had resulted in new questions for Chloe, questions she could ask only one person.

Before she could overthink it, Chloe picked up her phone again and dialed another number. She let it ring for a long time, but no one answered. Chloe was staring at her phone trying to figure out if she should try again or wait for her to call back when an officer from the night shift walked by her desk. “Falling behind with your paperwork, eh?” the woman asked.

“A bit,” Chloe answered with a tight smile. She then realised that even though the precinct was mostly empty, there were still people there who could hear something they are not supposed to if she’ll ask the questions she needs to over the phone right there. So Chloe decided to head home.

She stopped by Ella’s lab first.

“Sorry, Chloe, it will take another 23 minutes,” Ella told her while glancing at the screen of a machine.

“It’s okay, but I need to go now. Could you text me the results?” 

“Sure,” Ella agreed. “And have a lovely evening,” Ella winked at her. Since no one knew about her breakup with Dan Ella probably assumed that she was going to spend the evening with him.

“You too, Ella,” Chloe replied. “And don’t spend all night here.”

“Oh, I won’t. I need to feed Margaret or I’ll regret it in the morning. Believe me, I’ve been there.”

“Who’s Margaret?” Chloe was confused.

“My bathtub chicken. A rather mean little birdie when she’s hungry,” Ella explained.

“Oh. Well, goodbye Ella!” Chloe gave a little wave with her hand and headed home.

 

Chloe was making her way home through the traffic when she heard the beep that indicated that she had gotten a message. Chloe was sure that it was from Ella but didn’t want to check it while she was driving. Her heart was fluttering from the thought of what that message could mean for her.

Chloe was simultaneously eager to look at the message and reluctant to do that. Her hands were even shaking a bit when she opened the door to her apartment, so she had a bit of trouble inserting the key to where it was supposed to go. Finally she decided to take out her phone and went to sit on the couch. Chloe opened the message that was indeed from Ella and read “The owners of the hair are definitely related, 96,4% probability that they are parent and child.” 

Her hunch had been correct, Trixie was indeed her own flesh and blood. No wonder she felt a connection between them. Chloe sat there looking at the message for a while, feeling a slight panic creep in. Suddenly the phone in her hand started to ring, startling Chloe so she almost dropped it.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself a little, she answered it.

“Hello, pumpkin!” her mother’s exuberant voice greeted her from the other end.

“Hi, mom!” Chloe said in a much more timid voice.

“I saw that you called me earlier. I’m sorry I couldn’t answer then. I had to practice my lines with my co-star and had the phone on silent. You know how these things are.”

“It’s okay,” Chloe managed to say before her mother went into a detailed description of her co-stars and other crew. Chloe wasn’t really sure how long she had been on the phone already when her mother suddenly realised that her daughter had initially called her. 

“But enough about me, why did you call me in the first place?”

Chloe was silent for a moment. Listening to her mother had made her almost forget the issue she was struggling with at the time.

“Are you still listening?” Penelope asked, a bit alarmed from the silence from the other end.

“Yes, yes I am, just …” Chloe chewed on her lower lip, a habit for her when she was nervous. And talking with her mother made her always nervous, let alone now with a topic like that.

“I’ve been thinking about the baby we gave away for adoption,” she decided to rip the band-aid off.

“What about her?” Penelope’s cheerful tone was instantly gone.

“Well, maybe I should try to find her. Make sure she’s okay, you know.” Chloe didn’t intend to tell her mother that she had in fact accidentally found the girl. At least not until she knew how much their futures will be entwined.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” Penelope admitted. “Besides, you wouldn’t have any rights regarding her anyway.”

“Why is that?” Chloe decided to let her mother tell herself what she had already found out through Miss Miller.

“We renounced the right for her custody before giving her away,” she admitted.

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Chloe wanted to clarify.

“Well, you were not in a state of mind to fill out any forms after the birth, so I filled it, but you signed it.”

Chloe didn’t really remember all the details from that time, but she was quite sure that her mother had not told her about it. “Why did you do it?”

“They said that it made the adoption easier. It would give the new parents a sort of certainty that the birth parent or parents would not come knocking on the door one day and take away the child that was part of their family already. Besides, I didn’t think you’d ever want to find her.”

“Well, I do actually,” Chloe said a bit more angrily than she had intended.

“Why would you even want that? I’m sure she has a wonderful life, maybe her new parents haven’t even told her that she is adopted. You would just ruin their lovely family. You are young, you can have more babies. Babies you can raise yourself from the beginning." They were both silent for a minute. Suddenly a thought occurred to Penelope, “does Dan have fertility issues?” 

“No,” Chloe almost shouted. Well, she didn’t know for sure, but that was irrelevant right now. “That is not why I’m asking, mom.”

Penelope sighed, “it would be a bit difficult to prove that you are her mother anyway,” she said.

“Why?” Chloe asked suspiciously.

“Well, I didn’t sign you in there as Chloe Decker. I used my maiden name,” she confessed.

“What for?”

“There had been a case recently where an employee of a beauty clinic got fired or something and she wasn’t happy about it, so she disclosed a bunch of names who had used their services. I didn’t want it to happen to you, so I checked you in as Chloe Kline just in case.”

“So, even if I started the process of proving that I am indeed that girl’s mother, the clinic’s records will not show that it was me who gave birth to her,” Chloe concluded.

“At the time the only thing that mattered was that it would stay a secret and the baby would get a good home. Frankly, I didn’t think you’d ever want to find her,” Penelope tried to make her daughter see the motivation behind her actions. “Are you seriously planning to find her?” Penelope asked a little worriedly.

“I don’t know,” Chloe answered. It wasn’t a lie, she figured that it would be rather difficult to prove that she is Trixie’s mother since for an official DNA test she would need Trixie’s consent. And based on the new information, just with documents it would be nearly impossible to do it.

After that Penelope talked a bit more about one of her co-stars whose sister had adopted a child, but Chloe didn’t register much of it.

When the call finally ended, she opened the folder with the adoption papers she had taken with her and started filling them out. The whole time she did it, only one thought was hammering in her head - she really needs to get the right to adopt Trixie. Chloe tried to figure out ways to improve her chances when suddenly she realised that there is someone who might be able to help her.

 

Chloe parked outside the club and went straight to the door. Some people who were standing in the line protested and some of them commented on her outfit. Her casual shirt and blue jeans didn’t bother the bouncer though. Luckily it was Mark who had been working at Lux for about six years, so he knew Chloe and let her in without any questions.

It was still early for nightlife, but the club was far from empty. Chloe looked around and soon noticed the man she had been looking for. Lucifer was by the bar and a beautiful blonde girl was flirting with him. Successfully it seemed, because Lucifer’s hand was around her waist and he was whispering something in her ear when Chloe reached them. She debated for a moment whether she should wait until he saw her, but then deemed the reason she needed to speak with him too important to wait.

“Lucifer,” she started, hoping to get his attention. Although the music was quite loud, Lucifer reacted instantly. He stiffened and moved away from the blonde. When he turned his face towards Chloe, she could see that he looked almost panicked.

“Detective, I didn’t know you were coming tonight, I swear,” Chloe was confused for a moment as to why he was apologising, but then remembered their talk about PDA in front of each other.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t exactly plan to come tonight, but I really need to talk to you.”

Lucifer could see that something was worrying her. “Is something wrong, Detective?”

“Could we talk in private?” Chloe really didn’t want to discuss it in the middle of his club.

“Of course.” Lucifer almost started to move towards the elevator when he remembered what his intentions had been before Chloe showed up. He turned towards the blonde woman once more, “I’m sorry, darling, we have to continue this another time.” Before the woman could protest, Lucifer and Chloe were already on their way to the elevator.  

The ride to the penthouse was silent. Chloe didn’t want to start talking about her issue in the elevator and didn’t really feel like small talk. Lucifer stood there watching her and trying to figure out what it was that had brought Chloe to him that evening.

 

When the doors opened Lucifer walked straight to the bar. “Can I offer you a drink?” He was definitely going to pour one for himself.

“No, thanks, I have to drive back home also,” Chloe declined the offer.

“What about juice then?” Lucifer offered.

“That would be nice actually,” Chloe decided to accept.

Lucifer poured her a glass and Chloe was not even surprised to discover that it was her favourite.

“So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?” Lucifer was really curious.

Chloe took a deep breath before she spoke. “I need that favour you offered.” 

Lucifer furrowed his brows for a moment and Chloe thought it would be better to clarify, “the one about helping me adopt Trixie.”

“Really?” he had not been expecting that. Lucifer still remembered her abrupt “no” when he had initially offered it a week ago. “What about doing it by the book and not risking losing her when someone discovers my involvement?”

“Well, things have changed,” Chloe answered a bit hesitantly.

“Care to elaborate?” Lucifer asked while sipping his drink.

Chloe chewed on her bottom lip and walked towards the couch. When she reached it, she turned around to face Lucifer. “Dan broke up with me.”

“He did what?” Lucifer was genuinely surprised. “I knew the man was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but why on Earth would he do that?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Chloe didn’t want to get into the details of their break up right now. “What matters is that now I need your help to adopt Trixie. Were you serious about being able to make it happen?”

“It might be more difficult with a single parent, but I’ll do my best,” Lucifer promised.

“Thank you,” Chloe gave him a warm smile.

“But are you sure this is what you desire? I mean, I’m no expert, but as far as I understand, raising a child alone is not the easiest thing.”

“I know, but I can’t just …,” Chloe stopped, not sure how much she wanted to tell him.

“Can’t what?” Lucifer could see that there was something else behind it and he was curious.

“I can’t lose her again,” Chloe blurted out.

“What do you mean?” Lucifer furrowed his brows. As far as he knew they had only just met.

Chloe could feel the tears well up in her eyes. “She’s my biological daughter,” Chloe almost whispered before slumping down on the couch. She rested her head on her hands and tried to regain her control.

Lucifer walked to the couch and placed the juice she had left on the bar in front of her on the coffee table. He then quietly sat down in the chair opposite of Chloe, giving her some time to collect herself.

They had both been silent for a while when Chloe lifted her head from her hands and started talking. “I had just turned 17 when I got together with my first boyfriend. He was also my first… sex partner. After a while I found out that I was not the only girl he had sex with at the time. When I confronted him he acted like I was the crazy one, like we were supposed to be casual and it was okay for him to sleep around. After that I was really sad and felt like a complete idiot. My mother also noticed my bad mood and at some point she decided that a party in Hollywood would be exactly what I needed. At first I didn’t want to go, but she insisted that it would be good for my career and also help to lift my mood. So eventually I went to this party where the other guests were actors and movie directors and other people from the industry. I was all dressed up and since my mother helped me pick the dress it was way more ‘mature’ than I normally would wear.” Chloe added air quotes to the word mature. Lucifer’s thoughts instantly went to the backless dress she had been wearing when they spent the first night together. He knew that her mother had picked that one for her too, so he guessed that the dress she wore to that party was something as sexy as that one. 

“At first the party was a bit boring for me. Then at some point my mom was talking to some people and I went to get some snacks. And that’s where I met Nicholas. He was a movie director. At first we just spoke briefly, but later he found me wandering in the garden and we spent most of the night talking. He was good looking and charming and treated me like an individual, not just Penelope Decker’s daughter. He kissed me on the cheek before he left and it felt really sensual. Nicholas left before my mother found me, so she never saw us talking since she had been distracted by some other guests when we met by the snack table.

A few days later Nicholas called me and we met again. I didn’t tell my parents who I was meeting with. He was married, but told me that he was unhappy and was planning to leave his wife. He told me that it was better if we were not seen in public together, so he met me a few streets away from my house and we drove to a secluded beach. Again we spent most of the evening talking and laughing, but this time he also kissed me properly. It was so romantic and of course I fell in love with him.

After a few meets we also started having sex. So, I became the mistress. I never told my parents that I was meeting him when I went out. My parents didn’t really suspect anything, they seemed to be happy that I was not sulking anymore. This time I needed to rein in my cheerfulness, so they wouldn’t suspect that I was actually in love.

About three months later he suddenly told me that we had to end it. He said that his future would be at risk if we continue this. Needless to say I was devastated. I had really thought that we would have a future together and my heart was truly broken. I had to lie again to my parents. I told them that I had a fight with my friend in order to explain why I was crying. On some days I even felt physically sick. Well, I thought it was because of the heartbreak, but later I understood that it was not the real reason. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of being pregnant. He had used a condom every time, but I guess it can happen even then sometimes. I don’t know how long I would have been in denial, but one morning I was really sick and my mother heard me throw up. She asked me what was wrong and I tried to assure her that it was just food poisoning, but I don’t know if she has a sixth sense about it or was it some other reason but she told me that I needed to take a pregnancy test. I didn’t really have the strength to fight with her, so I agreed, although I tried to assure her even while we were waiting for the result that it was impossible. Well, I was proven wrong because the test was positive. I took another test at home and of course that was positive too. Finally mom took me to a doctor and then it turned out that I was indeed pregnant and that I was already more than 12 weeks along. It had been about two months since I had last seen Nicholas, so I was already pregnant when he called it quits, but neither of us knew it. Unfortunately that also meant that it couldn’t be terminated.

When we drove back from the doctor’s appointment, I was truly shocked. My mother questioned me about how I had missed the signs, but I couldn’t really explain. And the worst part was that we also had to tell my dad. I was so ashamed. Finally came the most important question - who was the father. I tried to avert from answering it, but you can’t really do that with a cop and my mother against you. So I told them that it was Nicholas. My mother set up a meeting with him as soon as I revealed the identity of the father and went to talk to him. I guess a part of me hoped that the news about a baby would get him to come back to me, but that was sadly not the case. He wanted nothing to do with the baby. My mom told me that his wife had found out about him having an affair and since they had a prenup and she was the one with the money, she had threatened him that she would leave him penniless and also would pull out any money from the projects he had going on. I guess that was what he had meant that his future would be at risk. At that point I was rather certain that he had never meant to leave his wife for me, he had just fooled me.

I was still a child myself, so I was not prepared to raise a child of my own. And neither my mom or dad were interested or able to do it either. Dad was a cop with long hours at work and my mom was sometimes away for weeks because of some movie she had part in, so I couldn’t really count on them being able to help me whenever I need. The only option left was to give this baby away for adoption.

My mother had told Nicholas that he needed to pay to keep it a secret. We tried to conceal the pregnancy as best as we could - I started wearing clothes that were not very tight and when someone told my mom that I had gained weight, she told them that I had an eating disorder. For the last months of the pregnancy she took me to a small private clinic away from L.A. with the money that Nicholas had given. The eating disorder story was a good excuse why I needed to go away and mom was being a good mother who got me help and supported me through my illness. To be honest, she really did support me and visited me there as often as she could. Dad visited me also a couple of times, but we spoke on the phone almost daily. Finally I gave birth to a healthy baby girl and after a few weeks it was as if it had never happened. I hoped that she got adopted by good people and had a good life and tried not to think about her, because it was easier to not think about it than deal with the guilt about abandoning her.”

Chloe finally raised her eyes from her hands. She had been fiddling with her fingers through the whole story. To her surprise Lucifer seemed rather angry and Chloe was afraid that he would be mad at her since his father had also abandoned him.

“You need to tell me this maggot’s last name who dared to use you like that and took no responsibility for his actions,” he growled, “so I can go and teach him a lesson”.

Chloe was relieved that he seemed to be angry at Nicholas and not her. “Well, that might be difficult. Last year there was an accident on a movie set where he was directing. He rushed in to rescue an actress from a falling decoration and got caught underneath it. At first the doctors said that he was going to be fine, but two days later he was dead. Apparently there had been some internal injuries that hadn’t been discovered at first.”

Lucifer grinned at that, “even better, I can go and give his Hell loop an extra twist.”

Chloe tilted her head. “How can you be sure that he’s in Hell?”

“Oh please,” Lucifer scoffed, “if using you didn’t make him feel even a little bit of guilt, he must have been a true sociopath and somehow I don’t think you would have been enamoured by someone like that. And besides, he agreed to pay for your hideout in a private clinic, I think that speaks about a guilty conscience too.”

“Well, he wasn’t really willing at first. My mom didn’t tell this to me, but I overheard her talking to my dad and she had threatened to take this to the police since I was still underage and this could mean going to jail for Nicholas. That had made him far more generous than he had initially been.” Chloe didn’t really know how to feel about it. She had been hurt over Nicholas’s actions and had sometimes wished he’d suffer like she did, but knowing that he’s in Hell suffering for all eternity… that was a whole other level of torture.

“Would you like me to check the next time I go down there?” Lucifer offered. He could see that Chloe was conflicted over it.

“The next time?” Chloe was confused. Was he going to leave again?

“Yes, I make short visits down there every now and then to check that everything is in order,” Lucifer explained.

“How short?” Chloe wanted to know.

“Well the last one was a few years in Hell’s time. That makes a couple of hours in Earth time,” Lucifer replied.

“Oh,” Chloe was glad that it would not be months or years in Earth time.   

“So if you want to know if and how the maggot is tortured in Hell just give me his full name and I’ll check it out.” Lucifer was rather curious about his destination in the afterlife himself.

“To be honest, I’m not sure I want to know.” Chloe sighed. Discovering who Trixie really was and telling the whole story to Lucifer had brought back memories she didn’t really want to relive. Lucifer was now the only one besides her and her mother who knew it since Nicholas and her dad were both dead. 

“I’m curious though, can’t you just tell them that she’s biologically yours and skip the whole adoption thing?”

“It’s not that easy since I disclaimed the right for custody when she was born. Oh, and also my mother signed me into the clinic under a false name,” Chloe added sarcastically. She was still a bit upset that her mother had done that.

“I see. Well, like I said, I will do my best to make this adoption happen,” he promised.

“Thank you! I’ll owe you one.” Chloe could feel the tears prickling in her eyes again. It was overwhelming how easy it was to speak to Lucifer about important things and how he was always on her side when it really mattered. 

“Nonsense, you don’t owe me Detective. I’ll do it as a favour for a friend. Besides, I offered it myself, didn’t I?” The last thing Lucifer wanted was for her to feel like she was pushed into a deal with the Devil.

Chloe bit her lower lip for a moment, a bit nervous to touch the subject. Finally she spoke up, “Yes, friends. I think that’s what we should remain. Even though I’m not together with Dan anymore, but with all that Miracle stuff and …”

Lucifer gave her a smile that seemed a bit practiced. “I agree, Detective. The best way to keep my Father’s manipulations to a minimum would be staying just friends.” 

Chloe should have been more relieved that he had agreed with her, but a part of Chloe was disappointed that he didn’t want to convince her otherwise. Silence fell over the penthouse again and Chloe glanced at the clock.

“Oh, I didn’t realise how late it was already. I should get going.” Chloe got up from the couch.

“Yes, of course,” Lucifer stood up too.

Halfway to the elevator Chloe suddenly turned around. “What I told you tonight must stay just between us, okay? You can’t tell anyone about this. Not even Linda,” Chloe knew that Lucifer could keep a secret if needed, but she felt the need to emphasise how important it was that he would not tell a single soul about it.

“My lips are sealed,” Lucifer mimicked closing his mouth with a zipper.

Chloe smiled and continued her way towards the elevator. “Goodnight, Lucifer!” she said to him after stepping into the carriage and turning around to face him.

“Goodnight, Detective!” Lucifer replied with a soft smile. As soon as the doors closed Lucifer went to his desk and took out the ledger with all the names of the people who owed him.

Notes:

The idea of Trixie being Chloe's daughter who she gave away for adoption has been living in my head rent free for almost as long as I've had the idea of writing this story. So it's no wonder that I managed to write it a bit quicker than other chapters.

I have no idea how the adoption process really works, so what I wrote is just the product of my imagination.

Chapter 16: New case

Chloe checked three times that she had the adoption application before leaving for work the next morning. She put the folder in her drawer as soon as she got to work and tried to concentrate on solving her latest case. Fortunately Lenny arrived soon after her and discussing the case with him kept Chloe focussed.

A few hours later Miss Miller arrived. When Chloe gave her the papers Miss Miller looked at her with a slightly concerned expression, “are you completely sure you want to go through with it?”

“Yes, I am. I know it’s not usual, but I really want to adopt her. People raise kids as single parents all the time, right?” Chloe tried to sound as confident as she could. To be honest she was not feeling all that confident about really pulling it off, but letting Trixie go again was not an option. At least not without a fight.

“All right then,” the social worker replied with a sigh, “I wish you luck. I will deliver the papers to the adoption office.” With that the woman left and Chloe followed her with her gaze. She couldn’t help but smile a little, although her heart was fluttering inside. When Chloe moved her gaze back from Miss Miller, her eyes landed on Daniel who was standing a few meters from her table. Deciding by the look on his face, he had heard their conversation. Chloe hoped that he would not make a scene and quickly looked down at her desk. A few moments later her ex-boyfriend was by her desk.

“Are you really still trying to adopt Trixie?” he asked, sounding a bit flabbergasted.

“I am,” Chloe answered curtly, still not making eye contact.

“Are you insane?” Dan asked, not believing his ears. “What the hell has gotten into you? Why are you so obsessed with her?”

Chloe now looked straight into his eyes. “You are not my boyfriend any more, so what I do or don’t do is none of your business.” She tried to keep her voice down, but Chloe was actually rather pissed that Dan had the audacity to come and question her decisions like that. If they hadn’t been in the precinct, she would have definitely not held herself back. Still her voice was loud enough to draw the attraction of yet another person. Chloe suddenly noticed that Ella was standing half way from her lab to Chloe’s desk, looking a little uncomfortable. Chloe glared at Dan for a moment and then greeted Ella. “Hi, Ella! Did you have something for me?”

“Uhm.. y-yes. Yes, I have,” Ella stuttered a little.

“Great, let’s go to the lab,” Chloe rose from her desk and started walking towards Ella, not giving Dan another glance.

“Sure,” Ella had been coming to show Chloe the results that she already had in her hand, but she could tell that there might be some things that should not be discussed in public. Her lab was one of the most private places in the precinct.

As soon as they stepped into the lab, Ella asked, “what was that all about? Did you and Dan break up?”

“We did,” Chloe answered. She never really intended to hide it from her friends. 

“What happened?” Ella asked, concern evident in her voice.

“I’ll tell you later,” Chloe really didn’t want to get into the details at the moment. Also knowing Ella, all of it would probably be hard for her to keep it to herself. “But right now it’s best if our colleagues would not know about any of it, alright?”

“My lips are sealed,” Ella promised and mimicked locking her lips and throwing away the key.

“Thanks,” Chloe smiled. “So, what did the test results say?” she decided to change the topic and actually get back to work.

--------

 

Dan sat at a bar drinking beer, lost in his thoughts when Amenadiel walked in. He spotted the other man immediately and walked up to him but Dan was staring at his beer and didn’t notice the angel at first.

“Hello, Dan!” he finally spoke and Dan lifted his head.

“Oh, hi man,” he greeted Amenadiel in return.

“Is everything all right?” Amenadiel asked while taking a seat next to his friend. The way he seemed lost in thought didn’t really look alright even to Amenadiel who sometimes had a hard time understanding humans.

Dan was silent for a moment and then admitted, “me and Chloe broke up.”

“I’m so sorry, Dan,” Amenadiel felt more than a little out of his element. He was  still learning about humans and their feelings. But living with Linda had taught him something so he asked tentatively, “do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know,” Dan twirled the beer bottle between his hands. “I mean, it’s actually about your brother, so if you really want to hear about it, you must promise not to tell him anything about it.” Amenadiel was one of his best friends and Dan actually wanted to speak about the whole mess he found him in, but he had no idea how close Amenadiel and Lucifer actually were.

“Don’t worry, we don't speak about that kind of things,” Amenadiel gave him a little smile. He could not really imagine going to Lucifer to tell him what Dan had confessed.

Dan sighed and started to speak, “I think Chloe is still in love with him. I don’t know what exactly is going on between them, but I know that she doesn’t really love me. At least not the way I love her. The funny thing is that I was not even planning to break up with her, I just wanted to know how she felt and then suddenly I realised that I would always live in his shadow, but I think I deserve to be loved too, you know.”

“Of course you do, you’re a good man, Dan,” Amenadiel agreed easily.

“Thanks, man," Dan paused for a moment. "I don’t really get it. I mean, yes he looks good and he’s rich, but he left her and she said that he’ll never come back. Why would she even want him after that shit he pulled?” Dan was getting agitated.

“Well, Lucifer didn’t really want to leave her,” Amenadiel tried to explain gingerly. “And they seem to have a special bond.” The angel couldn’t explain more to him, since Dan didn’t know about the celestial side of things.

“But why not just break it up with me and get back together with him?” Dan started gesturing with his hands. “I mean, Lucifer even told me himself that he’s not trying to get back with her and according to Chloe the man never lies.”

“That’s true,” Amenadiel confirmed.

“Do you know what’s going on with them?” Dan narrowed his eyes and looked at the other man.

“Uhm… it’s complicated,” was all that Amenadiel could say to that. Even if he could have explained it in more detail, he was sure that it was not something he should do.

Dan looked at the angel even more suspiciously, “she said the same thing.” Amenadiel looked like deer in the headlights, so Dan decided to not grill the man over it, but there was still one thing bothering him. “Do you know if it has something to do with that girl?”

“What girl?” the angel was genuinely confused.

“The girl she wanted to adopt with me. It did make sense to me, that she just wanted to stay with me so she could adopt the girl who lost both her adoptive parents in a robbery gone wrong, but now I found out that she’s doing it anyway, trying to adopt her as a single parent. It’s like she’s obsessed with her.”

“I don’t know anything about a girl,” Amenadiel said earnestly, relieved that this time he really didn’t have any inside information.

“I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. It seems that she’s just fine with us breaking up. A part of me hoped that she would try to stop me when I suggested it or that she’d think about it for a few days and want to get back together, but no. I’m such an idiot.” Dan shook his head, looking rather defeated.

“You are not an idiot, Dan,” Amenadiel tried to assure him. He didn’t like to see his friend so sad.

“You know what the worst part is?” Not waiting for Amenadiel’s reply he continued, “if she would have suggested that we’d work it out and get back together, I would have agreed to it immediately. There are moments I regret ever starting that conversation with her. I’m so fucking pathetic.” Dan still remembered the surge of hope he had when Chloe had spoken to him at the precinct the other day but then it turned out that she just wanted to give his stuff back that was still in her place. the disappointment he had felt had been excruciating.

Amenadiel could see a tear run down Dan’s cheek. He was really tempted to call Linda and ask for her advice but that would have been awkward, so he tried to think what Linda would say to someone in this kind of situation.

“I think you are just hurting right now. They say that time heals all the wounds. I guess it should get better in time.” He patted Dan on the back a little awkwardly.

Dan wiped his eye and sniffed. “Sorry man, I didn’t mean to get so emotional.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Amenadiel smiled.

“Thanks for listening. You are a really good friend.” After a moment Dan frowned, “I hope we get to stay friends after this.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” the angel was confused. Dan was his best friend and he was not about to let this change.

“Well, Linda and Chloe are friends. I hope she won’t see it as a problem that I hang out with you,” Dan explained.

“I don’t see why it should be a problem,” Amenadiel was still confused.

“I know some guys who have lost friends that way. Some girl code or something.”

“I don’t think Linda would do that,” Amenadiel assured Dan. 

“Let’s hope so. You are a good man. It’s hard to believe that you and Lucifer are brothers.” Dan took another swig from his beer.

“I guess we are quite different,” Amenadiel mused.

Linda was washing dishes when Amenadiel got home. 

“Hi,” Linda greeted him in a silent voice. “I just got Charlie to sleep,” she added to explain the tone of her voice.

“Did you have a fun evening?” Amenadiel asked, knowing that Charlie could be a bit moody sometimes.

“It was alright. How was your evening?” Linda asked in return.

“Uhm… Dan told me he broke up with Chloe.” 

“He did?” Linda was surprised.

“Yes,” Amenadiel paused for a moment and then decided to ask what was most important to him. “You don’t mind that I still hang out with Dan even though he’s Chloe’s ex now, do you?” He had told Dan that he didn’t think Linda would try to keep him from hanging out with Dan, but there was still some doubt in his mind, so he decided it would be best to ask her.

“No, I don’t. I’m sure he needs friends right now. I mean at first it’s probably best to not invite them both at the same time to spend time with us, but overall I don’t think it would be a problem if you still spend time with Dan.”

Amenadiel smiled and kissed her.

“What was that for?” Linda asked, smiling, after he broke the kiss.

“I’m just happy to have such a wonderful girlfriend,” the angel replied, relieved that he had been right about Linda.

--------

 

“Hello, Doctor!” Lucifer greeted Linda when he entered her office for their next session.

“Good morning, Lucifer!” the woman replied.

“So, how have you been?” Linda asked after Lucifer had settled on the couch.

“Good,” Lucifer answered, sounding casual. “I’ve been a bit busy the last few days,” he added.

“Busy with what?” Linda was curious.

“I needed to cash in some favours,” Lucifer explained. “I do hope those were enough to get her what she wanted.” The last part was said more to himself than Linda, but the therapist caught it anyway.

“Who was that favour for?” It seemed more important than his favours usually seemed to be for Lucifer.

“It’s for the Detective. She came to me on Monday evening and asked for it. Well, I did offer it to her first, but then she declined it. But since Daniel was foolish enough to break up with her, she needed my help with the adoption.” Linda was glad that Lucifer already knew about the breakup since she had been contemplating about telling him, but at the moment something else he had said seemed far more important.

“Hold on, are you telling me that she is still trying to adopt that girl who was connected to her case?” Linda knew that Chloe had been planning to adopt that girl when she was together with Dan and even then the therapist had her doubts about that decision. 

“Yes, that’s what I just said. It’s much more difficult to adopt as a single parent, so she asked for my help,” Lucifer explained again. “I just hope that those favours were enough.”

“Why would she want to adopt her when she’s single now?” Linda was puzzled over her friend’s motivation.

“She has her reasons,” was Lucifer’s curt reply. It was good that Chloe had made him keep her real motivation behind it a secret, otherwise he could have spilled something accidentally.

Seeing that Lucifer, who was usually sharing more than she sometimes would have liked, was tight lipped about it, Linda understood that he was not going to reveal her reasons. Instead she focused on her patient again. “And you offered your help to make it happen?”

“Well, yes. I offered it at first when I told her that I want to be friends with her, as a little bonus of sorts. She did say that she wanted to achieve it without my help, but now that the situation has changed, she came to me and asked for that favour,” Lucifer explained.

“So you knew that Chloe and Dan had broken up, but you still agreed to help her adopt the girl although you don’t like children,” Linda summed up the situation.

“Yes, that’s what she desired,” Lucifer answered, a bit puzzled about Linda’s incredulous tone.

“You do realise that you probably helped to put another obstacle on getting back together with her right after another one was removed?” Linda knew that Lucifer and Chloe still loved each other, even though sometimes it seemed that they were both in denial about that.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lucifer told her in a strained voice while brushing invisible lint off his trousers. “There is still the fact that dear old Dad is meddling with her life and we both agreed that it would be best that we stay just friends.”

“Is that what you really want?” Linda asked. He had given that reason in another session already, but Linda was interested in what the Devil himself desired.

“What I want doesn’t matter,” Lucifer answered her agitatedly. “I need to protect her from that bastard and his big plans as much as I can. She doesn’t deserve to be a puppet in his games. She deserves to have free will,” he declared, voice getting a bit louder than usual. After a moment of silence, he added in a much softer voice, “she deserves someone better than me.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Linda stated calmly. She didn’t miss the fact that Lucifer again referred to himself as unworthy of Chloe, but right now she was trying to get Lucifer to admit his feelings toward the woman, so he would be at least honest with himself.

“Of course I bloody want her,” Lucifer blurted out, seeing that Linda was not letting him distract her by not answering the question. “But she needs someone who would want to raise that child with her. And maybe even have more kids,” he added with a sadness in his voice.

“Would it really be so awful to have a family with her?” Linda wondered.

“Do you honestly think that the Devil would be fit to be a father?” Lucifer asked in return, sounding a little baffled. “I never had a decent father figure, mine threw me out as soon as I asked some uncomfortable questions and as if that wasn’t bad enough, he also spread lies about me being evil. Needless to say, the time I spent in Hell didn’t really contribute to developing any parental skills, although some children do resemble demons with all the screaming and temper tantrums. But yes, I think it would be awful to force a child to be raised by a monster like me.” The way he explained it all gave Linda the feeling that he had thought about it before.

“Lucifer, we really need to talk about you viewing yourself as a monster,” Linda informed him. He brought it up quite often, so Linda was rather worried. She didn’t think he had a reason to think so badly about himself.

“What’s there to talk about? Or have you already forgotten my Devil face?” Lucifer seemed to have put up his defences once again.

“Nope, haven’t forgotten. I don’t think I ever will,” Linda admitted. Although she now knew that the man behind it is not evil and she has nothing to worry about when it comes to him, the face itself was carved in her mind. 

--------

 

Chloe walked into the latest crime scene and even though she wasn’t a big fan of cars, the silver vintage looking car made her go “wow”.

“I know,” Ella agreed, looking like a kid on Christmas morning. “Sweet wheels, right?”

“Mm-hmm,” Chloe hummed her agreement as she was bending forward to look closer at the body lying next to the car.

“A Mercedes 300SL Gullwing,” Ella informed her, “you do not see too many of these babies. Guy had his own home car wash equipment for it.” The forensic scientist pointed to the items next to the body. “Victim’s name is Derek Lee. He still had his car keys, phone and wallet on him. And the house hasn’t been touched, so this was definitely not a robbery.” Ella listed the details about the crime that had been already revealed.

Chloe looked around, scanning the crime scene while listening to Ella.

“Cause of death was this,” Ella lifted up the nozzle of the washer, “killer jammed this in his throat and went full blast. He literally drowned.”

“So we can assume it’s personal,” Chloe concluded.

“Yeah. I mean personal lives can get pretty sticky.” Ella gave Chloe a side look after saying that. “Are you and Dan still on rocky ground?”

“I think it’s best if we try to stay out of each other's way as much as possible,” Chloe stated.

“Are you sure it’s really over?” Ella wanted to see her friends happy, she could see how tense they were around each other. Chloe had told her a bit about the breakup and the reason behind it.

“I think it’s for the best,” Chloe answered. “But right now, let’s just focus on the case. Any witnesses?”

“Uh, yeah. Those two heard arguing,” Ella pointed towards a man and a woman who came closer, so they could speak to the police.

“Hi,” Chloe greeted them. 

“I was halfway up the block when I heard a guy yelling, “How much for the car?” You know something like that. I don’t know,” the man started to talk.

“He was asking how much was the car,” the woman interrupted. “I heard it all from my window.”

“And you live next door,” Chloe asked to be certain.

“Mm-hmm,” the woman confirmed.

“Did you see anything?”

“No,” the woman answered and then added, “but I told him parking that car in the driveway was just asking for trouble. He should’ve listened to me.”

“Excuse me,” Lenny came into the courtyard where the murder had happened and stopped in front of Chloe.

“So, apparently the killer was asking about the value of the car, so why not just take it?” Chloe told her partner the thing that seemed odd about the case at the moment.

“I think I’ve got an answer for that,” Lenny replied. “Uh, Derek was a collector of vintage cars. And it looks like he just won a big one at a private auction. Check out these,” he lifted up the victim’s phone. “Messages he was receiving from the guy he outbid.”

“I’m killing you. Before you pick up that car, you’ll be dead,” Chloe read from the message. “Well, this is great,” Chloe was happy about a solid lead. “Do we know who he is?”

“No, the messages are anonymous,” Lenny answered, regret palpable in his voice. “But according to this, Derek was supposed to get possession of the car this afternoon at some collectors’ event called Malibu Motor Enthusiasts,” Lenny read from his notepad.

“Did you just say the MME?” Ella interrupted.

“Uh, yeah,” Lenny confirmed, a bit puzzled over her reaction.

Chloe also turned around to face Ella, clearly interested in what she knew about the event.

“No way, they are uber exclusive. Even I can’t get in there, and I know my cars.” Ella was clearly disappointed by the fact that she couldn’t participate in that event. “Plus, they’re just shady and grey market enough that if you show up to serve a warrant, they will literally stall you at the door while everyone scatters.”  

“So, then, how do you get in?” Lenny asked.

“Oh, the only way is to show up with your own set of vintage wheels. That’s how they know you’re in the club,” Ella told him with a smirk on her face.

“Okay, I can see if we have any vintage cars in our impound,” Lenny suggested.

“Wait, wait. I know someone who can help,” Chloe stopped him. It had worked with the auction when they needed information about the fabergé egg, so Chloe’s mind went to Lucifer as soon as Ella said that the only way in was to show up with a set of vintage wheels. She knew that Lucifer had more than one vintage car in his garage and she was eager to have a reason to contact him again. She hadn’t really spoken to him since she visited him in the penthouse and told him about the reason why she had to adopt Trixie. It was not that she didn’t want to speak to him, but since she had said that they should be strictly friends, Chloe was a bit worried that if she was too eager to initiate contact, it would give him the wrong idea and she didn’t want to do that. She had hoped that maybe Lucifer would contact her instead, but he hadn’t. A case where he could help the LAPD again would be the perfect excuse to contact him.

“Who?” Lenny looked suspicious.

“Lucifer,” Chloe told him and then added, “Mr Morningstar. You know, the man who helped us with the Carltons’ case.”

“Yeah, I remember who he is.” Lenny didn’t look too happy about the perspective of having him on their case again. “Are you sure it would be wise to involve him again?”

“I know for a fact that he has more than one car that would grant us entrance to that event. And he was helpful last time, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t ask him.” Chloe was rather sure of herself.

“Fine. Go and ask him then,” Lenny agreed.

Chloe thought about it for a moment and then decided that she’d better call ahead first and then go and ask him in person. She took out her phone and dialled his number.

After only ringing a few times Chloe heard the familiar voice with British accent, “hello, Detective! What can I do for you?”

She couldn’t help but smile, both because she had missed that voice and also because he was actually right assuming that there was something he could do for her.

“Hi, Lucifer! Actually there is something you could do for me… I mean for the LAPD. Is it okay if I come over right now?” She didn’t want to assume that he’d be available all the time like he’d have no life on his own.

“Of course, I’ll be waiting,” Lucifer agreed immediately.

“Great! See you soon.” Chloe ended the call and pocketed her phone.

“Can you text me the address for this MME event? I will meet you there,” Chloe told Lenny.

About 30 minutes later Chloe stepped into the penthouse. Lucifer was coming out of the bedroom, adjusting his cufflinks.

“Ah, Detective,” his face beamed with genuine joy of seeing her again. “Let’s take a seat and you can tell me all about how I can help you.” Lucifer gestured towards the couch.

“Thanks,” Chloe smiled in return and took a seat on the couch. Lucifer sat down in the armchair facing her.

“A man was murdered today and our prime suspect is someone who he outbid on an auction. But Ella says that the only way to get into an MME auction is if you show up in a vintage car. So I was wondering if we could use one of your cars.”

“Ah, so you want to use my assets, I see,” Lucifer grinned, clearly satisfied with his innuendo.

“We would like to use your car, yes,” Chloe tried really hard not to blush. His innuendo had served its purpose and made her think about his other assets.

 “And which one did you have in mind?” Lucifer asked.

“Well, I think the Corvette should grant us entry,” she didn’t really know all the models he owned. She knew that he had a garage full of cars, but Lucifer only used the Corvette and she had used the Mini, so she had never paid much attention to his other cars.

“I think we should use another one. Something a bit more exclusive. After all, Ms Lopez was right about the MME, they are not so easy to impress.”

“So you are familiar with the MME?” Chloe wondered.

“I have been to their events a while ago, when they just started, but lately haven’t really needed to attend their auctions,” Lucifer explained. “So what time should we be there?” Lucifer put his hands together, ready to go. The spark in his eyes told Chloe that he was excited about it.

“You want to come to the MME event yourself?” Chloe wanted to be absolutely sure that he’d be willing to sacrifice his time for the case again. 

“Well, I would not mind you driving any of my cars, but unless you have learned how to drive stick while I was away, I’d say that it won’t be you driving my car to the MME event,” Lucifer smirked.

“No, I haven’t learned to drive the stick,” Chloe shook her head.

“Well, then the Devil comes with the car. A package deal, so to say.” They both stood up and went to the elevator. Lucifer pushed the button and extended his bent arm towards Chloe , “shall we?” She looped her hand around his elbow and they stepped into the elevator.

“So what car did you have in mind?” Chloe asked.

“I think the Aston Martin would be more suitable,” Lucifer answered while pushing the button for his garage.

Chloe felt how his excitement was infecting her. Too bad that this would probably be an easy one, since the suspect had clearly promised to kill the victim. Although solving a case as quickly as possible was always Chloe’s main goal, deep down she hoped that it wouldn’t be as easy as it seemed right now and they could spend a bit more time on chasing the murderer together with Lucifer.

Notes:

Chloe should be more careful with her wishes. 😉

Chapter 17: Hostages

Summary:

As you probably already guessed from the end of the last chapter, this one is going to be another scene from the series that is a bit changed to fit my story. I hope you don't mind the parts where I literally wrote the dialogue from 4x05, but I needed to write it all so I could add or change stuff. And maybe if you haven't watched 4x05 lately, you don't remember it that well, so it's not too tedious to read the exact lines from the show in this fic.

Lucifer and Chloe drove in the red Aston Martin to the MME. The roof was down, so it felt similar to driving with the Corvette which reminded Chloe of the time when they were together, going almost everywhere with the Corvette.

Lucifer was clearly in a good mood, so the drive was full of jokes and laughter (and some eye rolls that seemed to amuse Lucifer).

As they had thought, the car granted them access to the MME auction. Lucifer handed the keys to his car to the valet with a warning. “Return it with so much as a scratch and I’ll see you in Hell.” Even though there should be people who knew how to handle cars one could never be too careful.

They met with Lenny who was waiting for them and all three entered the building.

Chloe started to sum up the case for Lucifer. “The case seems to be very straightforward. We found a threatening text from the victim’s phone. We couldn’t trace the text sent to our victim, but if the killer murdered Derek just to win the auction, we should be able to catch him.”

They reached the floor where the auction was held. “Okay, the car that Derek won was a Tucker 48. If we find the car, then whoever it’s being handed off to may be our killer.” Chloe started to look around trying to locate the winner of the auction.

“Found it,” Lucifer shouted and started to move in the direction of the car. He was clearly more familiar with vintage cars than Chloe or Lenny. “And I suppose that poor pencil-neck soul is our killer,” he added after they had reached the right car and saw a skinny man to whom the keys and a certificate were handed.

Lucifer and Chloe pushed through the crowd that had gathered there to watch. “That man is wanted by the police,” exclaimed Lucifer in a loud voice as soon as they reached the front. He was too excited to keep it calm and approach the man silently. Hearing that, the winner of the auction ran in the other direction. Chloe started to run after him, but Lucifer stayed put, observing. Running was not his favourite pastime.

Fortunately Lenny had seen it coming and while Chloe and Lucifer had approached the man through the crowd, he had moved to the other side and was able to catch the man easily by tripping him over with his foot. He was already cuffing the man when Chloe reached them. Lucifer strolled closer without any hurry and reached them when the detectives had already helped the man upright again and were questioning him.

“I hated Derek but I would never kill anyone, I swear.” The skinny guy denied having killed the victim.

Lucifer sighed. “Detective, would you mind if I make him talk?” he asked Chloe.

“Mm. Go ahead,” Chloe agreed.

“So, tell me, what is it that you truly desire?” Lucifer asked while looking deep in the suspect’s eyes. “Power? Wealth? Better dress sense?” The man was wearing a dreadful not so white anymore T-shirt and gray cargo shorts, not to mention socks with sandals.

“I …” the man stammered. Lucifer intensified his gaze and the man practically melted. “To tell the truth, so I don’t go to jail for murder.” That surprised all of them.

“If that’s the case, then why did you run?” Chloe asked, not hiding her confusion.

“Because I thought you were here about the kit cars,” the man explained.

“Kit cars? You mean those awful replicas that only look vintage? Those don’t fool anybody with taste,” Lucifer was certain. 

“True. But you can make a ton of money selling them to goobers who can’t tell the difference. It’s not like it’s illegal.” The guy seemed to be still under Lucifer’s influence, telling more than he probably would have normally.

“Sounds illegal,” Chloe noted.

“Um, it-it is illegal. But it’s not murder,” their suspect corrected himself.

“Listen, we saw the messages. You said that you wanted to kill him before he could collect on this auction,” Chloe laid out all that they had against him.

“Kill his reputation,” the man corrected her. “I was gonna tell everyone I sold him a couple of kits. Your rep is all you have in our world.” The suspect looked totally serious telling them all this.

“Yes. What a tragedy to lose the respect of these, uh… people,” Lucifer gestured around them, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 

“Look, he was killed this morning, right? I was selling a kit Porsche 550 to a guy up in Fresno. I just flew back two hours ago,” the man pulled his final card.

“All right, we’ll check that out,” Lenny told him. “But unless you have any other information, then …”

“Uh, wait,” the man stopped him. “You should check out this guy Derek’s been hanging out with. Scary dude. Shaved head,” the man gave a description in a manner of a cheap horror movie, then lowered his voice to add, “tattoos.”

“Do you have the scary dude’s name?” Chloe asked.

“I never saw him myself,” he admitted then suddenly remembered, “uh, but I saw his car. He has an awful ‘92 Geo Metro in Polynesian green.”

“Oh,” Lucifer did find the sound of it quite awful.

After that the man was taken away by a couple of unis.

“So, let’s go and catch this “scary dude”. He sounds like a proper killer,” Lucifer suggested enthusiastically.

--------

“Detectives! Any news on our scary dude?” Lucifer asked nearing Chloe’s desk. Chloe and Lenny had been working on the case while Lucifer had been going around the precinct, socialising with everyone he deemed interesting enough.

“Yes,” Chloe answered, “these 16 individuals drive Geo Metros in the tri-county area.” She moved the screen of her computer a little so that Lucifer could see the pictures of the Geo Metro owners.

“Oh, Mike Tyson here, very scary-looking,” Lucifer pointed out a picture of a guy who did resemble the famous boxer.

“Now, what about this guy and the jailhouse tats?” Chloe asked. They had acquired the information with Lenny only a few minutes ago, but that picture stood out to her.

“That is Sid Kluge. Well, I think you hit the jackpot, Decker,” Lenny commented, reading his information. “Yeah, rap sheet full of B-and-Es and aggravated assaults.”

“What are we waiting for then? Lets go and pay him a visit,” Lucifer clapped his hands together and started moving towards the exit.

“Who made him the one in charge?" Lenny asked a bit grumpily.

“He’s just excited. I mean, for us it’s usual business, but for Lucifer it’s still new I guess,” Chloe tried to explain.

 

 

They took the police cruiser this time and left Lucifer’s Aston Martin in the parking lot even though Lucifer tried to protest over it. Chloe didn’t see any point in driving there separately when they didn’t need to.

As soon as they arrived, Lucifer hurried out of the car but stopped before reaching the house of the suspect.

“I don’t believe this.”

“What?” Chloe asked, a bit confused what had caused him to stop.

“That geek was right about the car,” Lucifer pointed towards the Geo Metro standing next to the house, “it’s the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen. Still, at least we know our killer’s here.”

“Or not,” Chloe muttered after looking more closely at the car. Right next to it she spotted some red liquid on the pavement.

“Hold on,” she took the gun from the holster and Lenny followed suit. Both of them started to walk slowly following the pattern that was most likely blood. Lucifer went right after them.

A few metres behind the car was a small yard with plants and a dead body. Chloe and Lenny looked around to make sure that the killer was not around.

“Well, it looks like this case might not be as straightforward as you thought,” Lucifer commented.

--------

 

Back in the precinct Lucifer and Chloe went through the crime scene photos.

“Huh. No way it’s a coincidence that our number-one suspect in Derek’s murder turns up dead hours later. There has to be a connection.” Chloe was trying to see the missing pieces of the puzzle. Lucifer couldn’t help but admire the way she concentrated on it.

“I think I found something,” Lenny entered the room. He put another picture on the table. It showed three men in army uniforms. “There’s Derek, Sid and you recognise that third guy?”

“Yeah. One of the witnesses we talked to,” Chloe picked up the photo to look at it closer.

“Yes. Marco Franklin,” Lenny added a file on the table that had the information about Franklin. “All three of them served in the Explosives Ordnance Division in Iraq, but that’s not all. Marco was just released from prison two days ago after serving a nine-year sentence for bank robbery. He bombed his way into the vault, got caught coming out, and it is suspected that he had two other accomplices, never apprehended.”

“So Sid and Derek were his partners, he gets caught, they don’t. Maybe they double-crossed him, so now he’s out and …,” Chloe paused for a moment.

“Looking for revenge,” Lucifer added.

“I guess it’s solved then,” Lenny summed it up.

“Well, right now that’s all just a theory. We have no proof, so the killer could be anyone.” Chloe did see all the evidence pointing towards Marco Franklin, but she was a bit disappointed that the solution had come so quickly, ending the case.

“Witnesses saw a man matching Marco’s description attacking Sid in front of his apartment.” Lenny added another thing.

“That sounds a little circumstantial,” Chloe shrugged.

“Oh, Chloe, you are very thorough today, respect,” Lenny wasn’t wavering. “The striations on the shell casings found at the scene match Marco’s nine-millimetre. I made sure all the bases were covered,” Lenny smiled proudly.

“Ok, I guess we should go and bring him in then,” Chloe finally gave up. It seemed that the case was already solved. She looked at Lucifer, hoping that he would want to participate in the interrogation.

“Yes, let’s go and punish the murderer,” he agreed enthusiastically. 

Chloe started to gather the pictures that were spread around on the conference room table. Lucifer started to help her, but suddenly his phone rang. He pulled it out from his pocket and looked at the caller ID.

“Excuse me, I need to take this,” he apologised before answering it. Lucifer moved a bit further from the table to talk. The detectives went on with clearing the table and putting all the pictures to the files.

A few minutes later Lucifer returned to the table, looking apologetic. “I’m so sorry, but there’s an emergency at Lux. I’m afraid I need to go and deal with it immediately.”

“Oh,” Chloe was a bit disappointed, but it was understandable. He did have a nightclub to run after all. 

“I hope it won’t take me too long to fix it. Maybe you could wait a bit with the interrogation? I mean last time I was able to get you a confession after all,” he sounded proud about the last bit.

“Sure,” Chloe agreed readily. “I mean, it will take some time until we drive there and bring him in and there will be some procedures we need to do before we can start to interrogate him anyway.”

“Excellent! I’ll be on my way and you’ll call me when he’s brought in, so I can give you an estimated time of when I’ll be back, alright?” Lucifer was already at the door, ready to leave as soon as possible.

“Sure. I’ll give you a call,” Chloe agreed, pleased that he wanted to be part of the investigation until they had truly finished it.

“Are you sure we should wait for Mr. Morningstar before we start the interrogation?” Lenny asked when they were driving to Marco Franklin's house. He hadn’t brought it up when Lucifer was still around, but he had his doubts about it.

“Yes,” Chloe took no time to think about it. “He was helpful the last time and even though it seems that the evidence against him is strong enough, we never know what they might come up with as an excuse or he might just lawyer up, you know. It’s always better to have a confession,” she listed the reasons Lucifer’s presence would be useful.

“I guess you have a point,” Lenny agreed a bit reluctantly.

Soon after, they reached the address from Marco’s file. They knocked, but no one answered. They knocked again and called out that it's the police and asked to open the door but were met with silence. Instead a door opened from across the hall. “I saw the man leaving with a bag about 10 minutes ago,” an older woman who peeked out from the apartment told them.

“Right. Thank you, madam,” Lenny thanked her for the information and they went back to the car. “I guess we have to put a BOLO out for him then.”

 

On the drive back Lenny saw a diner and suddenly remembered that they hadn’t had lunch yet. 

“I think we have time for a lunch break now. Let’s go to Carl’s Diner,” he suggested.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Chloe realised that she was rather hungry herself. She had been about to call Lucifer to tell him that they couldn’t bring Marco Franklin in yet, but it could wait a little.

The place was not crowded, only four other customers beside them since it was already past normal lunch time, so they both hoped to have a quick lunch before going back to the precinct.

They were about to order when another person came in and commanded in a loud voice, “attention, everyone. Do what I say and no one needs to get hurt.”

Both the detectives looked towards the door and saw the very man they had been looking for. Marco Franklin was standing there, aiming a gun towards everyone. “You two, put your guns and phones on the counter,” he said, looking right at the detectives. Apparently he recognised that they were from LAPD since he had spoken to both of them at the first crime scene. 

Chloe and Lenny both obeyed and held their hands in the air after placing down their guns and phones, hoping to placate the man.

“You, behind the counter, get over there with the others and you, go and close the blinds and then join the others,” Marco ordered the people working in the restaurant. Both of them raised their hands and did what they were told. “All of you put your phones on the ground and push them away from you.” He waited until everyone’s phones were on the floor and barked another order, “nobody moves.”

“What do you want, Marco?” Chloe asked him, hoping that they could somehow resolve the situation without causing harm to anyone.

“I'll tell you what I want. I want to speak to your superior,” Marco answered.

“My superior?” Chloe was confused.

“Yes. I need something and I they better do it. Tell me the number of your superior.” He had spotted a phone behind the counter and lifted the receiver.

Chloe told him slowly the number of lieutenant Monroe and their suspect called her.

--------

Olivia Monroe was looking through some important but tedious papers when the phone rang. She sighed, she needed to concentrate and a phone call was the last thing she needed right now.

After about fourth ring she picked it up, “LAPD, lieutenant Monroe speaking.”

“This is Marco Franklin, I have two of your detectives and six other people as hostages. If you want them to leave here alive, you need to find my wife.”

This was not what Monroe had expected when she had picked up the phone. “Can I speak to my detectives?” She wanted to get a better picture about what was going on.

“No, you can’t,” was his terse reply.

“But how do I know that you have them there or any other hostages?” Monroe tried to get some proof that the man was really doing what he claimed.

“What are your names?” the man asked, his voice directed away from the phone. Monroe could faintly hear other voices, so she already knew who was there when the man spoke to the phone again, “detectives Decker and Holloway.”

“And you are armed?” Monroe asked, aware that if her detectives were not speaking for themselves, there must be a reason.

“I have a gun, so you better do what I want,” the man was getting more agitated.

“Why do you need us to find your wife?” Monroe tried to understand his weird demand.

“When I went away, my wife changed her name and I-I can’t find her now. When I went to prison for robbing that bank, it ruined her. You know, sh-she disappeared. And-and I understand. But… but I just… I just want one chance to look her in the eye and tell her that… I just want to tell her that I’m sorry. Her name was Leona Franklin.”

“I will do what I can …,” Monroe wanted to ask him to let some of the hostages go in show of good faith, but suddenly the man started shouting, his voice directed away from the receiver.

“What are you doing? I said nobody moves,” Monroe heard first and then she heard a shot. “Shit,” the man cursed and then the call was disconnected.

Now it was clear that the man had a gun. Monroe wanted to know what had happened and pushed the button on her phone that allowed to call back to the latest number. After a few rings the phone was picked up. “The place is closed,” Franklin answered the phone, sounding annoyed.

“It’s lieutenant Monroe, can you tell me what just happened?” Olivia tried to sound as calm as she could.

“You need to teach your detectives how to listen when someone tells them not to move, so they wouldn’t get shot the next time.” The call got disconnected again before Monroe could ask for more details. She tried to call back again, but the line made a sound like it did when it was busy. 

“Shit,” Monroe cursed, took a deep breath and rushed out of her office to find someone who could find the woman they needed.

--------

 

Lucifer was looking at his phone impatiently. He had dealt with the broken pipe problem his security guard had discovered in the men’s room earlier and was expecting the Detective to call any minute now. How long would it take to bring the suspect in?

He poured himself a drink and tried to be patient. Should he just go back to the precinct? But the Detective had promised to call. Finally Lucifer decided to call her instead. The phone rang, but she didn’t pick up. He frowned and placed his phone on the counter. After five minutes he tried to call again and when she still didn’t pick up, he sent her a message. The message was unread even after several minutes.

Lucifer decided to call Ella instead. “Hello, Miss Lopez. Do you know if the Detective has brought this Franklin guy in yet.”

“No, Lucifer,” she sounded uncharacteristically unhappy. “Chloe and Lenny are being held hostage by that same man.”

“What?” Lucifer almost shouted to the phone.

“They are in Carl’s Diner along with some civilians,” Ella explained.

“Are they okay?” Lucifer asked.

Ella hesitated for a moment. “We don’t know exactly. Monroe heard a shot over the phone and the man implied to her that one of the detectives is hurt, but we know nothing more.”

Lucifer felt his blood turn cold. Chloe might be hurt or even worse. He had to do something.

“Thank you, Miss Lopez,” he muttered before he disconnected the call.

“Lucifer,” Ella tried to get his attention, before he ended the call, but the call ended before she could tell him not to do anything stupid.

“Damn it,” Ella was quite certain that Lucifer would show up there. She decided to go herself and make sure that he would not make things worse.

 

Lucifer didn’t bother to take the car, he wanted to be there as soon as possible, so he decided to fly and landed in an alley nearby. He hurried towards the diner when some police officers stopped him. He could have overpowered them easily, but decided against it and walked back a little. He was trying to figure out another way to get in when he heard a familiar voice.

“What are you doing here?” Dan was the last person Lucifer would want to see at the moment, but there he was.

“The Detective is in there, of course I’m going to be here,” Lucifer answered him indignantly.

“Are you two dating now?” Dan asked. Since he and Chloe didn’t really talk right now, he had wondered about it.

“No. She is my friend,” Lucifer stated. It still felt a bit weird saying that, but it was true. “And why are you here? You’re not even her boyfriend anymore,” Lucifer spat back at him.

“I’m a detective, so I have every reason to be here,” Dan crossed his arms on his chest.

“Really? They didn’t have anyone more competent to send here?” Lucifer glared at him.

“Listen, you dick …,” Dan stepped closer to Lucifer and pointed his finger at him.

Before he could finish Ella suddenly appeared beside them, “stop you two! This is not the time or the place for your pissing contest.”

“He started it,” Lucifer muttered, but stepped away from Dan.

“You two fighting does not help,” Ella continued, looking sternly at both of them alternately..

“Well, they wouldn’t let me go inside,” Lucifer told her a little apologetically.

Ella looked at him baffled, “are you insane? You can’t go in there.” But she realised that he just wanted to help. “Look, if you really want to help then maybe you can find Leona Franklin, Marco’s wife who changed her name when he went to prison.”

“Why would we need to find his wife?” Lucifer didn’t understand.

“Because that's what he wants,” Ella told him.

“So all of this is because of his wife? Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Lucifer grabbed the phone from his pocket and called the best bounty hunter he knew.

“Maze, I have a job for you,” he told her as a greeting while walking away from Dan and Ella.

“Well, I’m busy right now,” Maze answered him.

“I don’t care what you’re doing, this could be a matter of life and death.” He paused for a moment, “the Detective’s life.”

Maze understood that if it was about Chloe, Lucifer would not accept a “no” as an answer. “Sorry, but I’m out of town right now.”

“I can come and get you. Where are you?” Lucifer headed towards the same alley he had landed before. He could get to Maze in no time by flying.

Maze told him where she was and soon they were both back in L.A. Maze knew where to find the man who had most likely created a new identity for Franklin’s wife. Since getting information from people was her and Lucifer’s expertise they had her new name soon enough. Maze wanted to go and find the woman's address to drag her to his husband, but Lucifer stopped her.

“I think it’s best if we go back to Miss Lopez with that information,” he suggested.

“Why? We can do it quicker this way,” Maze didn’t understand why Lucifer was stalling.

“Need I remind you how we got here? I can’t just fly her to the diner.” Lucifer didn’t like that they couldn’t go and take the woman with them right away, but showing up at her door without any transportation might raise a few questions too much. 

“Fine,” Maze grumbled and they flew back to the diner.

Lucifer practically ran to the diner from the alley they landed. He found Ella talking to Dan there.

“Miss Lopez, I know the new name of Franklin’s wife,” Lucifer told her as soon as he reached her.

“How did you find out?” Ella was surprised. LAPD hadn’t had any success finding a trail of her.

“I used the best resources,” Lucifer stated proudly, gesturing towards Maze who was nearing them.

“But I thought she was out of town,” Ella muttered. She had thought about calling Maze to get her help, but she knew that Maze was after a bounty out of town.

“Well, she’s back now and we found out his wife’s new identity,” Lucifer didn’t want to explain how exactly she had gotten back to town.

“What’s her name?” Dan interrupted them.

“Amy Harris,” Lucifer gave the name. He still didn’t like Dan, but he assumed that he would have the best means to get her address as soon as possible. 

Dan made a phone call and three minutes later they had the address. “Okay, I’m heading there,” Dan started moving towards his car. “I’ll come with you,” Lucifer decided that it was a task too important to let him handle alone. Dan did make him promise though that he would let Dan take the lead. Fortunately Franklin’s wife didn’t live very far away, so they didn’t have time to start fighting again.

--------

 

Franklin’s wife was not pleased to hear what they were asking of her.

“I spent years building a new life here. I have a job and a boyfriend. He doesn’t know anything about my past,” she explained.

“Leona…,” Dan started.

“Amy. My name is Amy now,” the woman corrected him.

“Amy. Sorry,” Dan apologised. “Look, after everything you went through, I’m sure this is probably your worst nightmare. But we only need you to talk to Marco.”

“I’m sorry, I just …,” she paused, looking distressed. “I don’t think I can face him again.

Lucifer then decided to speak up. “Look, I know this is a lot to ask you. But there are lives at stake. People I care about are in that diner. And to be honest with you, I don’t think I could handle it if anything should happen to them.” He hadn’t even thought about it before, but he really didn’t want to see Lenny get hurt either. “Look, I’m trying so hard to do things the right way. And maybe it’s not right for me to ask this of you, but you can help them. And you may be the only one who can.”

Whether it was Lucifer’s charm or his speech, the woman finally agreed to come with them.

At first they thought it would be safer if she talked to Marco over the phone, but Leona didn’t think it would work.

“Hearing me on a phone isn’t going to be enough. I need to go in there.” She seemed to have thought about it during the ride to the diner.

“No. It’s way too dangerous,” Dan disagreed.

“No, I know that he wants to see me. Those people in there, the ones you care about, this is how we save them,” she was adamant.

--------

 

Chloe was pressing down on the bullet wound to stop the bleeding as well as she could. Lenny tried to hold still and make a brave face, but Chloe could see that he was not doing good.

She wondered a little why he had gone to the pregnant lady and tried to help her get out when Marco was on the phone earlier, his back to them. Clearly Lenny had hoped that he’d be distracted enough to not notice, but Marco had turned and noticed what he was doing exactly at the wrong moment.

After the shot he had ordered one of the workers to lock the door, so no one could escape unnoticed. Chloe had pleaded with him that he’d let Lenny go, but Marco had ordered her to shut up. “It’s his fault. I didn’t want to do it, but he didn’t listen,” he tried to justify himself.

The mood in the diner was tense. Marco was pacing back and forth like a caged tiger, keeping a close eye on all of them.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Marco ordered one of the customers to go to the door and ask what they wanted.

“Your wife is here to see you,” the customer told him after speaking to someone briefly through the door.

Marco threw the key to the customer and ordered to let her in and close the door after her.

 

Moments later a blond woman walked into the diner tentatively.

“Marco,” she stood by the door and looked at the man. 

“I-I can’t believe it. You’re actually here,” Marco looked a little baffled. He didn't even shout at the customer who had opened the door, just motioned to her to sit down again.

“I’m so sorry. I know that all of this is my fault. Everything is my fault,” the woman started to walk slowly towards Marco, her voice full of regret.

“No …” Marco just looked at her.

“No, no, no, just let me … let me say this. I have made so many mistakes,” her voice was nearly breaking. “You didn’t deserve what happened to you, Marco.”

When Marco just looked at her, she continued, “I am so sorry.” She had reached him and when Marco just kept looking at her and sniffled, the woman suddenly hugged him. 

It seemed that maybe everything would be good now when suddenly Chloe heard the sound of a blade cutting through flesh. The woman stepped away from Marco, slipping his gun to her own hand and Chloe could see the handle of a knife sticking out of Marco’s abdomen. Marco looked at the knife for a few moments and then fell on the floor on his back.

Chloe told the customer who was sitting nearest to them to keep pressure on Lenny’s wound and stood up.

“Okay, Leona, give me the gun,” she reached out her hand, hoping that this would be all over now. “It’s okay, I’m a cop.”

“Yeah, you’re a cop,” Leona’s expression was suddenly much more serious. “And I don’t know what Marco told you, so …” to everyone’s surprise the woman raised the gun and pointed it at Chloe.

“I can’t take any chances,” she said to Chloe.

Leona then looked around and told all the others to stay where they were. Then he looked down at Marco, who was gasping on the floor.

“Is he still alive?” she asked, not a trace from the apologising wife she had pretended to be when she came in. “Yeah, he always was tougher than he was smart.”

“You were involved in the robbery,” Chloe concluded. She realised that they were still in trouble, probably even in a bigger one than they were before. Chloe glanced towards the counter where her gun was, but it was too far away. But she noticed something else. The counter had some reflective panels and from one of them she could see the sun reflecting. That meant that there was a gap in the blinds. Maybe she could use it. She started to move slowly to get into the right position.

“I wasn’t involved in the robbery. I masterminded it. This idiot and his Army bros couldn’t plan a trip to the beach,” the woman practically bragged.

“So Marco never wanted us to find you so he could apologise, he wanted us to find you to take out his final partner,” Chloe finally understood his intentions. 

“Yeah. I mean, it was a pretty good trap. Force the police to find me. If I don’t show he blows my cover. And if I do, well …,” Leona looked at the gun and raised an eyebrow. Then she looked at Marco, “I mean, that was the plan, wasn’t it, Marco? You weren’t expecting me to play on your emotions, were you? You always were such a softie.” Leona then put her foot on the knife and pushed it deeper, causing Marco to scream in pain.

“What now?” Chloe asked, stepping closer to Leona. “You go outside and tell them Marco apologised and let you go? But first you shoot all of us and blame it on Marco?”

“Sounds like a pretty solid plan to me,” Leona shrugged, instinctively stepping back, further away from Chloe.

“You don’t need to do this, Leona,” Chloe tried to change her mind. 

Leona just laughed. “Sorry, I have worked too hard to go to jail now, after rebuilding my life.

“Don’t you think that the police will come inside when they hear the gunfire?” Chloe continued to step forward. “And how will you explain the knife?”

“Nice try. You’re not getting in my head that easily. You’re not gonna talk me down,” Leona told her while moving backwards.

“I’m not trying to talk you down, I’m trying to get you to the right spot,” Chloe muttered to herself. Glancing at the counter she saw that Leona was blocking the reflection from the sun. Right then she heard the glass break and she ducked down just in case.

The next moment she heard the gun drop to the ground and Leona cried out in pain. She dropped the gun as she grabbed her shoulder and Chloe leaped to get a hold of it. Fortunately Leona was distracted by her bleeding shoulder, so Chloe managed to get it. She pointed it at Leona and told one of the diner staff member’s to open the door and tell them to send medics in.

“Lenny, stay with me,” Chloe told her partner. She could see that the man was starting to lose consciousness. “Help will be here any minute now.”

Moments later both medics and the SWAT team ran into the diner. Leona was cuffed before medics started to tend her wound. Lenny was immediately surrounded by medics and soon they transported him out of the diner to get him to the hospital as soon as possible. Marco was barely alive, so they didn’t bother cuffing him before he was also taken away on a stretcher. 

Chloe slumped to the nearest seat, it was finally over.

Notes:

I have been writing that fic for over a year now. My average writing speed has been about 300 words a day. I'm reading the biography of Terry Pratchett right now and he had a similar goal (about 300 words a day) when he was working full time and writing was something he did in his spare time. So maybe not so bad after all (I still admire those writers who are able to post stuff weekly or even more frequently than that).

Chapter 18: Partner

Summary:

I discovered that I missed my fanfic writing anniversary again - I started posting on AO3 three years ago, on 14th of November. A few days late, but still, let's celebrate it with a new chapter of this fic.

Lucifer was pacing anxiously outside of the diner. The wife had gone in there, so all of it should be over soon, right? The minutes stretched by, but everything looked the same. Unfortunately the blinds were closed, so they couldn’t see what was happening inside the diner.

Suddenly he heard a scream from inside the diner. It sounded like a cry of pain. No one else heard it, because it wasn’t loud enough to be heard by humans, but his celestial hearing allowed him to hear it. He didn’t recognise the voice, so he was sure that it was not Lenny who had cried out. Was it one of the hostages? He went to the SWAT team leader and told him that he had heard a scream from the diner. Of course none of them had heard it.

“I’m telling you that something is not right in there,” Lucifer tried to make them listen. If they’d let him go near the diner, he could tell them exactly what was happening there, but since he was forced to stay away from the building, it was the only sound he had heard.

“Sir, we will keep an eye on things, just stay calm and let us do our job,” the man was not willing to discuss much of it with Lucifer.

“But you can’t even see what’s happening there,” Lucifer was not convinced that they had any of it under control.

“We found a small opening in the blinds,” the man told Lucifer, hoping that he’d leave them be afterwards. He glanced behind him, where the rest of the SWAT team was positioned and told Lucifer that he needed to get back to work.

Lucifer nodded in understanding, but didn’t go far. That way he was able to hear what they were saying.

“Jason, do you see anything?” the chief asked as soon as he joined his team.

“I think the perp is down. I can only see a part of him, but it seems that he’s lying on the floor,” the man holding the sniper rifle answered him.

“So, why are they not coming out?” the chief wondered.

“I think the woman who went in is holding the gun now,” the sniper said. “I’m not entirely sure, the reflection is a bit blurry, but that would explain why they haven’t come out yet.”

“Shit.” That was not good. “So no clear visual of her?”

“Not yet, but it seems that she is moving,” the sniper sounded hopeful.

“When you have a clear shot, disarm her,” the chief gave the order, knowing that the opportunity might present itself only for a few seconds, so there might not be enough time to check with him when it happens.

They all went silent after that, the air tense. Lucifer was not sure how much time passed, it felt like hours, but it might have been a minute or less. Eventually he heard the sharp sound of breaking class and the sniper’s silent “got her.”

“Is she disarmed?” the chief asked.

“Yes, sir. She dropped the gun,” the sniper replied, not taking his eye from the diner.

“Okay, let’s go inside,” the chief ordered the rest of his team.

 

As the SWAT team moved towards the diner Lucifer followed them. The team was ready to break the door when someone suddenly unlocked the door and told them that they needed medics. The chief shouted for medics and people from an ambulance nearby started to run towards the diner. Since they already knew that someone had been shot, they went in with a gurney.

Lucifer would have liked to storm in, but he was still not allowed to go inside. The Devil had to try real hard not to force his way inside. A few minutes passed and the gurney was wheeled out of the diner. Lucifer rushed to it, not even looking properly who was lying there. “Detective,” he almost shouted, “are you okay?” He finally reached the gurney and took a good look at the person who the medics were transporting. Realising that it was Lenny not Chloe who was injured filled him with relief, but he didn’t want to seem rude, so he stood there and looked at the older detective with a concerned expression, letting the medics believe that he had been asking about Lenny. The man had an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, but he seemed to be conscious since his eyes moved towards Lucifer. “We need to get him to the hospital as soon as possible,” one of the medics replied and then hurried to wheel him towards the ambulance.

Lucifer glanced towards the door longingly but the officer who was guarding the perimeter shook his head as soon as he saw Lucifer looking at him. It seemed that he had to wait a bit more to be absolutely sure that Chloe was okay. 

When he saw another gurney wheeled out of the diner, his heart almost stopped, but luckily he noticed the dark hair of the person lying on the gurney soon enough. To Lucifer’s relief it meant that whoever was taken to the other ambulance was not Chloe.

 

Finally he saw Chloe on the door. She walked out of the diner and looked all right, at least physically. Lucifer started to move towards her instantly.  

Luckily Chloe had already walked past the officer who had already stopped Lucifer from going too close to the diner, so he wasn’t stopped this time. Chloe had walked straight to their cruiser that was parked just outside the diner. She was leaning against the side of the car, looking distressed when Lucifer reached her. He would have liked to hug her and never let go, but held himself back, not knowing if Chloe would want him to hug her. “Detective,” he spoke up after stopping right in front of her, “are you alright?”

Chloe looked up, “Lucifer, what are you doing here?” 

“I heard that you were held hostage, so of course I came,” Lucifer answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

Chloe realised that she was actually not surprised that Lucifer came after hearing that she was in trouble, but more about how he had found out about it. “How did you hear about it?”

“Oh, I called Miss Lopez when I couldn’t reach you and she told me,” Lucifer explained. Chloe remembered that her phone had rang during the hostage situation, so Lucifer probably had called her.

Lucifer kept looking at her with a concerned expression. “You didn’t really answer my question,” he pointed out, knowing exactly why he sometimes avoided answering some questions. “Are you alright?” he asked again.

Chloe didn’t really know how to answer that. “I wasn’t harmed physically,” she started, “but I …,” she didn’t know how to continue. Her partner had been shot pretty badly, she had been held at gunpoint by two different people, but in the end she and the other hostages had made it out without a scratch. There was no easy way to describe how she was feeling.

“Is there something I can do for you?” Lucifer asked, understanding that it must be difficult for her. His sessions with Linda had taught him that sometimes emotions are the hardest thing to really put into words.

“I don’t know,” was the honest answer. “I want to go check on Lenny, but I guess I should also go to the precinct to start with the paperwork.”

“Would you like me to drive?” Lucifer asked, seeing that Chloe was obviously too shaken up to drive herself, but whatever destination she chose, she’d need the car to get there.

“Uhm… yes, I think that would be better,” Chloe agreed. Her mind was a bit too preoccupied with everything else, so she’d probably have a really hard time concentrating on the traffic. “But what about your car?” she asked.

“Oh, I didn’t drive here,” he answered nonchalantly. When Chloe didn’t seem to catch on right away, he added, “wings, remember.”

“Right, of course,” she understood now. Well, it seemed that she definitely wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed right now, so it would be better to stay off from the steering wheel. Chloe started to search for the car keys, so they could get going.

“Shit,” she suddenly realised where the keys were.

“What’s wrong?” Lucifer was instantly alarmed.

“The keys. Lenny was driving when we got here, so he had the keys,” she explained.

“Luckily you got the Devil at your service,” Lucifer grinned.

“I can’t just fly away with you and leave the car here,” Chloe lowered her voice even though no one was near enough to hear them.

“I wasn’t referring to that actually,” Lucifer informed her. He reached around her and opened the car door. 

“Just opening the doors won’t be enough, we need to be able to start the car.” Chloe still didn’t see how his abilities could help in this situation.

“Well, you know me, Detective, I can turn anything on,” Lucifer said with a smug grin.

“Are you saying that you can turn on a car just like that?” Chloe had never seen him do that.

“I haven’t done it in a while, but yes,” Lucifer couldn’t hide the pride of knowing that he had managed to surprise Chloe with a new ability.

He started to concentrate to get the engine started, but Chloe stopped him, “wait!” At his puzzled look, she explained, “I think it’s better if you got in the car first.”

“Right,” Lucifer agreed. It would probably be odd if someone noticed that the car had started while no one was inside. He went to the other side of the car and opened the driver’s door as if it had never been locked. Chloe got inside too and he concentrated again. Even though he'd done it only one time before that moment the engine started purring in no time. “Still got it,” Lucifer smiled.

“So, have you decided where you want to go?” he asked Chloe.

“I guess I need the keys, so let’s go to the hospital first.”

 

They had been driving for a while when Lucifer asked tentatively, “would you like to tell me what happened in the diner?” He had been curious about it from the start, but wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk about it.

“Well, our suspect wasn’t home, so we were driving back to the precinct and Lenny suggested we should get lunch. We went into the diner and suddenly Franklin turned up, wielding a gun and demanding to get to speak to his wife. Lenny tried to help one of the hostages out of the door while Franklin had his back towards us, but he turned suddenly and noticed what he was doing, so he shot him. When his wife finally showed up she first seemed to be all remorseful about everything, she hugged him and all, but I guess it was all just for show, because she stabbed him with a knife. Then he took the gun from him and pointed it towards us, saying that she didn’t know how much Marco had told us. The truth was that Franklin hadn’t told us anything, but she then admitted herself that she had been the mastermind behind the bank robbery that Franklin had been in prison for.”

“I’m sorry, Detective,” Lucifer told her, looking regretful.

“For what?” Chloe was puzzled. His expression hinted that he was truly apologising for something.

“For aiding that woman to get into the diner. She fooled me completely, I didn’t even think that she could have played a part in that robbery.”

“You helped the LAPD to find Franklin’s ex?” Chloe asked to be sure.

“Yes. Well, actually Maze found out her new name, but I helped to convince her to talk to Franklin and I didn’t suspect that she had any ill intentions even when she insisted that she should go inside the diner, not talk to him over the phone.” Lucifer couldn’t help but think about how his actions had put the Detective in more danger.

“Hey,” Chloe put her hand on Lucifer’s arm, “you can’t blame yourself for that. We don’t know what would have happened if his ex hadn’t been found. And I don’t think it was entirely your call to let her inside the diner or keep her out of it. You helped to solve the situation. So, thank you!” She squeezed his arm a little for emphasis. 

That seemed to ease Lucifer’s mind a little, at least he smiled briefly. “You’re welcome.”

“Did she kill Franklin?” Lucifer asked after a few moments of silence. 

“No, I think he was still alive when the medics came.” Chloe remembered his groans. Lenny had been much braver.

“I guess he was lucky too that one piece of the vertical blinds in the diner was twisted, so there was a gap that allowed the sniper to shoot the woman.” Chloe didn’t want to even think about what would have happened if there hadn’t been an option for the sniper to resolve the situation.

“So, I guess it was not a coincidence that the woman moved to the right spot?” Lucifer wondered.

“I might have guided her a little,” Chloe admitted with a smirk.

“Clever Detective,” Lucifer muttered, this time smiling more fully.

When they arrived at the hospital it turned out that while Lucifer was able to stop the engine, they could not lock the doors, so Lucifer stayed in the car while Chloe went inside to get the keys and hopefully also an update on Lenny.

Unfortunately, it was not that easy. Since she was not a family member, the nurse at the counter did not want to tell her anything, not to mention giving her permission to take something from his belongings. Chloe was about to go back to the car and ask Lucifer to go and work his magic on that nurse when Lenny’s wife arrived. They learned that Lenny was still in surgery. The nurse didn’t know more, but at least Mrs. Holloway was able to get the nurse to bring the stuff Lenny had with him when he was brought in, so Chloe could get the car key. She offered to stay with Lenny’s wife and wait for the news, but she told Chloe that her daughter would arrive soon and she’ll update Chloe about his condition as soon as they gave her some news.

 

Lucifer drove Chloe to the precinct next and probably would have insisted that he’d stay with her until she’d be finished with the paperwork, but just as he parked the car he had gotten a rather angry phone call from Maze demanding to know where the hell he had disappeared to. Since Lucifer had flown her there, she needed him to get back also.

“Go ahead, I’ll be fine,” Chloe assured him when he told her what the phone call had been about.

“Are you sure? I could drop Maze off and then come back,” Lucifer suggested.

“It’s not necessary. I’ll be surrounded by police, nothing bad will happen.” Chloe could see that he had switched into the worried mother hen mode, but she felt much calmer now.

“But would it be okay for you to drive home yourself?” He would happily offer his services again.

“If I feel that I’m not quite fit for driving, I’ll give you a call, okay?” Chloe was rather certain that she wouldn’t call him, but it seemed to be the best way to stop him fussing over her.

“Alright, I’ll go and transport my demon back before she gets really mad and decides to punish me.” Lucifer started to get out of the car, but Chloe stopped him.

“Thank you again. For everything.” Chloe knew that she had already thanked him once, but felt that she needed to say it again.

“It was my pleasure, Detective.” Lucifer gave her a warm smile this time. 

 

A few hours later Chloe got the call that Lenny was out of surgery and the doctors had managed to save him. Since he was resting after the surgery Chloe decided to go and see him the next day. The news about her partner surviving this and the time spent in the precinct had helped ease her mind, so Chloe was feeling good enough to drive when it was time to go home.

--------

 

The next day Chloe went to the hospital to visit Lenny. The whole precinct had signed a ‘Get well soon’ card and they had also sent a fruit basket to him. Chloe wasn’t sure if he’d be able to eat something already so she decided to also get a balloon that said ‘Get well soon’.

She knocked silently on the door and peeked inside. At first she was not sure if he’s awake, but slowly he turned his head and even smiled a little seeing that it was Chloe.

“Hi!” Chloe greeted him in a silent voice.

“Hi! Come in,” Lenny answered.

Chloe stepped into the room and placed the fruit basket with the balloon on the small table that was placed next to the bed. Lenny gave her another weak smile when he saw the gift.

Chloe sat down next to him in a plastic chair. “How are you doing?” 

“I’ve been better,” Lenny answered. “And I guess it would be worse without those painkillers.”

“Is Patricia also here?” Chloe was half expecting to find his wife in his room.

“She was here all night. I told her to go home and rest a bit, the staff takes good care of me. But I guess she’ll be back after a while.” Lenny paused for a moment, then asked, “can you tell me what really happened after the ex wife came? It’s a bit fuzzy for me.”

“Yeah, sure. The ex wife acted all regretful and nice and hugged Franklin, but it was all just a show because she stabbed him. And then she pointed the gun at us, because she had been really the mastermind behind that robbery all those years ago and she thought that Marco had told us about it, so she wanted to shoot us to protect the secret,” Chloe recalled the events.

“Did he tell us about the ex wife’s involvement?” Lenny asked. He didn’t remember that, but thought he could have missed it because of the pain from the bullet wound.

“No, he didn’t. If she hadn’t confessed everything herself, she could have claimed that she wanted to save us or whatever and would have probably gotten away with that. But she decided to reveal everything and now she’ll face jail for sure.” Chloe was quite sure that the woman would have been capable of deceiving them.

“How did you get her to surrender?” That part had been lost to Lenny. He vaguely remembered that someone else had pressed on his wound and at some point the paramedics were there and that was it.

“I discovered that there was a gap in the blinds. One piece of those vertical blinds had been screwed the wrong way. So I figured that if they had followed the standard procedures and there would be a sniper outside, they probably would have discovered it also. I decided to try and get her to move to the spot where the sniper would have a clear shot and fortunately I had been right. The sniper was able to shoot the woman in the shoulder, so I could get the gun myself.”

Lenny looked at her with an awed expression. “That was excellent police work. Your father would be really proud of you.” Chloe smiled at that and felt how her eyes started to get wet. “But I messed up yesterday,” Lenny added in a much more morose tone before Chloe could even think of what to say to his previous sentence.

“Well, I mean you did try to help that woman out of the diner, so …,” Chloe started to console him. She thought that feeling guilty about trying to help an innocent woman out of a mad man’s sight wouldn’t do good to Lenny. Chloe was curious about his motivation though, since they had both been trained to stay calm in these kinds of situations and do what the perp with the gun says.

“I noticed that she was pregnant,” Lenny started to tell without her even asking. It seemed that he wanted to get it off his chest. “And I know that stress can cause miscarriage, plus we couldn’t be sure if Franklin would let any of us go eventually. I just… I kept thinking what if this was my Amy. She had a miscarriage a while ago and the doctors said it could have been due to stress. She had a very difficult time at work back then.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that. Poor Amy.”

“Actually she’s pregnant again. And this time she is much further along already, so we think that this time it’s going to be alright,” Lenny told her with a proud smile.

“That’s wonderful news.” Chloe was happy for him. She was sure that Lenny would be a lovely grandfather.

Lenny sighed. “I’m really looking forward to meeting my grandkid, to be a grandpa, you know. But I can’t do that when I’m dead.”

“Patricia said that you’ll be alright, that the doctors expect you to recover from this.” Chloe was puzzled. Was there something they hadn’t told his wife?

“Yes, this time I will. But what about next time?”

“What are you saying?” Chloe was still not following.

“I think it’s time for me to do something less dangerous, Chloe. I want to quit homicide. Maybe transfer into a different department or if that’s not possible, do something different.”

“Are you serious?” Chloe couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I’ve had some time to think about it and the more I think about it the more sure I am,” Lenny told her. “I’m sorry, Chloe,” he moved his hand to cover Chloe’s which was resting on the edge of his bed, “but I guess you need a new partner.”

“You don’t need to decide that just yet. It will take some time until you recover, you can still change your mind,” Chloe suggested. 

“I won’t. So they better find you a good partner. I mean they need to assign someone as your partner right now anyway since I’m stuck here, but I think it’s better if you know already that it’s not going to be temporary.”

Chloe still hoped he’d change his mind, but decided not to push it right now.

--------

 

Chloe’s phone started ringing just as she was unlocking the door to her apartment. She decided to first open the door and then answer the phone, since she wouldn’t want to have a conversation just outside her door. As she made it inside, Chloe dropped the grocery bag she was holding off to the kitchen and started to take out her phone. Of course the zipper of her jacket pocket jammed a little, so the phone had been ringing quite a while by the time she finally reached it. Chloe answered it as soon as she finally got the phone out of her pocket, not even looking at the caller ID.

“Hello,” she said to the phone, a bit out of breath from all the fussing.

“Detective, finally. Are you alright?” Lucifer’s concerned sounding voice greeted her.

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Chloe was a bit surprised by the worried tone.

“Well, you didn’t answer my texts and it took you forever to answer the phone right now,” Lucifer explained.

Chloe rolled her eyes and swallowed a sigh. She had heard some text message notifications while driving home, but the phone had been in her pocket, so she hadn’t been really able to look at them. “Lucifer, I was driving home,” she informed him.

“So?” he didn’t seem to understand why she couldn’t have answered him.

“So, it’s illegal to text and drive,” she told him a bit sarcastically.

“You humans and your silly rules,” Lucifer huffed.

Chloe decided not to go down that rabbit hole with him. “What was so important that it couldn’t wait for half an hour for me to answer anyway?” she asked instead.

“Uhm, it was not that important… I just thought I’d call since I didn’t get an answer from you,” Lucifer explained a bit sheepishly.

Chloe then realised that he was checking on her. Lucifer had been texting her every night since the hostage situation at the diner. First night he texted her asking if she got home alright, the next day there had been some silly videos he had thought that she definitely needed to see. Chloe was a bit curious what his texts had been about this time.

“Lucifer, you don’t have to worry about me as soon as I can’t answer you straight away. It’s not like I’m glued to my phone all the time and I do have to work you know.”

“Yes and that work seems to be rather dangerous,” Lucifer thought it was necessary to remind her.

Chloe sighed. “I know that the hostage situation was quite frightening, but in the end we all survived. I heard that even Franklin will survive it although it was a close call.” A part of her thought that he might have deserved to die after all he did, but the other part was glad that he’ll go back to prison and serve his sentence there.

“So Lenny will be okay then?” Lucifer asked and Chloe could hear a genuine interest in his voice. She decided to tease him a little. “I didn’t know you cared about him that much,” she told him a bit mockingly.

“Well.. I …,” Lucifer stammered, “he’s your partner, so that means his well-being is important to you and therefore to me also.” Lucifer was not really sure why the fact that Lenny will be alright mattered so much to him, but that seemed like a plausible explanation.

“Unfortunately not anymore,” Chloe muttered. Lucifer mentioning that Lenny was her partner reminded her of the fact that Lenny was planning to quit. 

“What do you mean?” Lucifer had heard her muttering and was now confused.

“I went to visit Lenny yesterday. He told me that he wanted to quit the job. Or at least transfer from homicide to a less dangerous department. I hoped that maybe it was just a thought that would pass, but today he called the Lieutenant and told her the same, so I guess he has made up his mind about it.” Chloe couldn’t keep the sadness out of her voice. She really liked Lenny as a partner.

“Maybe he has a point. I mean you could also …,” Lucifer would not be against Chloe choosing something less dangerous.

Before he could even finish his sentence Chloe interrupted him, “I will not quit my job over this. I love police work and being a detective. This has been my dream. I will continue working for homicide whether you like it or not.” Her voice was full of resoluteness. 

Her tone and words left no doubt that the job was what she desired and Lucifer was the last person to dissuade someone’s desire, so he decided to back down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you should give up your dream.”

“It’s okay. I know that it can be dangerous sometimes, but someone’s gotta do it.” Chloe had briefly thought about the dangers, but her desire to help people get the justice they deserved was stronger than the fear that something like the incident at the diner might happen again.

“So who will be your new partner?” Lucifer was curious.

“I have no idea. Everyone else has a partner right now. And it’s not like you just go and take anyone as your partner. You need to trust that person, you need to have each other’s back. I guess it’s up to the Lieutenant to assign someone to me or maybe they’ll hire someone to fill Lenny’s position and that person will be my new partner.” That was the other negative effect that Lenny’s decision had - she couldn’t really picture herself partnering up with anyone else from the precinct right now and if they’d hire someone new it would be a total stranger who she’d have to get to know first.

“But that’s terrible,” Lucifer didn’t bother to hide his displeasure. “Do you want me to go and talk to Lenny? Maybe he’ll reconsider.”

“No. Don’t go to persuade him. I mean it, Lucifer. Promise me you won’t do that.” Chloe knew that someone who didn’t want to be a detective anymore would ultimately not be good at the job. It was a tough job that required that you really wanted to do it.

“Fine, I promise,” Lucifer grumbled.

“Look, I’m sure everything will turn out fine, you don’t need to worry about me.” Chloe was not exactly sure how things were going to turn out, but you got to be positive, right. Besides, Lucifer worrying even more about her than he already did, would not be good for either of them.

 

But Lucifer couldn’t let it go. Even after the phone call was finished, his mind kept going back to the fact that Chloe had no partner even after Lenny was out of the hospital. Since he had given his word, he couldn’t go to the hospital and talk Lenny into not quitting (or offering him a favour in return). Suddenly he had an idea. Lucifer went to his office downstairs in the middle of the night, to do a little research. He was excited about it and would have liked to talk to the Detective about it right away, but he was sure she’d be asleep and decided to speak to her in the morning instead.

--------

 

Chloe was about to step out of her car the next morning when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She got out of the car and answered it, locking the doors and starting to move towards the precinct while talking. 

“Finally! Detective, where are you?” came Lucifer’s panicked voice from the other side as soon as Chloe had answered the call.

“I’m in the parking lot, just about to enter the precinct,” Chloe answered, a little confused why Lucifer would even ask where she was.

“But it’s almost half past nine, doesn’t work begin at eight?” Lucifer admonished her.

“I was at the dentist’s. I told the Lieutenant about it,” Chloe defended herself.

“You could have answered the phone and told me where you were,” Lucifer whined.

“I had the phone on silent, so it wouldn’t irritate me when it rings while I’m sitting there unable to speak or answer my phone,” Chloe informed her. That was something she had learned by experience. Plus the dentist always looked a bit annoyed when her phone kept ringing during the visit, so she had the habit of turning the sound off before going to the dentist. She had forgotten to check if there were any missed calls and turn the sound on again after the appointment.

Chloe had reached the stairs and was descending to the right floor when something occurred to her, “hang on, how do you know I was not at the precinct?”

“Because I am,” Lucifer informed her just as Chloe reached the spot where she could see her desk and indeed there was the Devil himself in a three piece suit sitting on the edge of her desk.

Chloe ended the call and put her phone back to her pocket while hurrying towards the desk. Lucifer had turned his head towards the stairs, so he saw her coming towards him.

“What are you doing here?” Chloe asked as soon as she was near enough. She could not come up with a good reason in her head why Lucifer should be there.

“I wanted to tell you about the wonderful idea I had about how to solve your partner situation. Or lack of a partner to be exact,” Lucifer explained with pride in his voice.

“What?” Chloe was simultaneously surprised and apprehensive. It was not Lucifer’s problem to solve and she knew him well enough to know that his solutions may not be entirely appropriate in these kinds of situations.

“Well, I was watching this …,” he started to explain when the door to Lieutenant Monroe’s office opened and she appeared in the doorway, telling in a loud voice, “Mr. Morningstar, I’m able to see you now.”

“I’m sorry, but I have an appointment I need to keep,” Lucifer looked more apologetic than Chloe thought he should have any reason to. He hurried towards Monroe’s office before Chloe was able to stop him.

“Lucifer!” Chloe called after him in a warning voice, but he was already inside the office, giving her a smile that looked rather satisfied and closing the door behind him. 

“Shit!” Chloe muttered to herself. She really wished she knew what he was plotting there.

 

“So, Mr. Morningstar, what can I do for you?” Olivia asked as soon as she sat down behind her desk.

“Well, it’s actually more like something I can do for you,” Lucifer smiled broadly.

“Go on,” Lieutenant Monroe was clearly intrigued by his statement.

“I heard that Detective Decker is currently without a partner. I’d like to offer myself as her new partner.” Lucifer gestured with his hands toward himself for emphasis.

“Do you have any police training?” Monroe asked, not so impressed with his offer.

“No, but as you know I have worked on a few cases with Detective Decker already and I do have some previous experience with punishments,” Lucifer pointed out his expedience.

“You have worked in a penal institution?” Olivia asked to clarify.

“Sort of,” Lucifer tried to avoid pointing out the kind of “institution” his previous job was at.

“Mr. Morningstar, I understand that you have a lot of money and you are probably used to getting what you want, but this is a police department, we can’t hire someone just because they think they want to play a cop,” Monroe told him exasperatedly. She had seen enough rich people who were used to getting what they wanted, regardless how it affected others around them.

“Isn’t there a possibility to hire civilian consultants to help with cases?” Lucifer had done some research last night and discovered that there had been an initiative to hire people without police training to consult on cases. It started a few years ago, but he hadn’t found anything about ending the initiative, so he believed that it was still a thing.

“It was meant more like we can use some experts with cases where we need some specific information to help us solve the case. For example some engineers or other kinds of specialists,” Olivia explained.

“But is it forbidden to hire someone to consult permanently?” Lucifer asked, hoping to find a loophole.

“No, but the budget we have for this barely covers two full weeks of the pay of a qualified specialist per year. I doubt we can afford you for much longer.” Monroe was reluctant to waste it all on Lucifer knowing that sometimes they did need an expert from outside the department to give their assessment on some aspects of the cases.

“That won’t be a problem, I would not be doing it for money. I have enough on my own, you can keep yours.” 

“So you just want to help the police for free?” Olivia asked him to be sure that she had understood him right.

“Yes,” Lucifer nodded.

Lucifer could see that his statement about willing to do it for free had tipped the scales for his side, but there seemed to be still some doubt, so he decided to do what he did best. Lucifer leaned forward and looked Lieutenant Monroe straight in the eye.

“Tell me, Olivia, there must be something you desire,” Lucifer asked in a voice that was practically dripping with honey.

“I.. I want...,” she tried to resist his pull, but eventually gave up, “I want to make a career in the police force. To become a captain first and maybe even higher.”

“An ambitious woman,” Lucifer said with appreciation. “I’m sure I could help you with that. I do know a lot of people and besides, I’m sure that if I’ll be a consultant, the solve rate will be very high.” Lucifer had already used his mojo to get confessions out of suspects, so he knew that it would be very helpful when solving murders.

Olivia seemed to be considering it. After some while she tilted her head and asked, “If not for the money, why would you be doing it?”

“I just think I would be a good partner for Detective Decker,” Lucifer explained.

“And was it your idea or Decker’s?” Monroe was wondering how much of it was Lucifer’s initiative.

“It was entirely mine,” Lucifer stated proudly. “But the Detective herself said that a partner should be someone you trust and I do believe she trusts me.”

The way Lucifer said it made the Lieutenant understand that it was indeed Lucifer’s idea. Olivia then smirked and asked, “she doesn’t know about it, does she?” 

“I did plan to tell her before I spoke to you, but she wasn’t here when I arrived this morning,” Lucifer defended himself.

Monroe glanced briefly at her calendar at the desk. “Ah yes, she had that dentist appointment this morning.” Chloe had informed her about it a few weeks ago and Monroe had written it down, so she wouldn’t forget it.

“I guess we need to ask her too, then,” Olivia said, clearly amused about it. She got up from the desk, prepared to go to Chloe and ask about it when her phone rang. Monroe looked at the caller ID and told Lucifer, “I need to take this.”

 

Lucifer marched straight to Chloe’s desk. Fortunately she was sitting right there, so now he could inform her about his brilliant idea.

Before he could say anything Chloe asked him, “what was this about, Lucifer? What did you two talk about?”

“I told the Lieutenant that I’m willing to be your next partner,” Lucifer told her with a proud smile.

“You did what?” Chloe couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Lucifer was a bit put off by her reaction. “But I thought you liked working with me,” the disappointment was evident in his voice.

“I did. But having you helping with cases and having you as a partner are two different things. I need a partner who will show up every workday and who’d help me with paperwork.” Chloe had a lot of doubts about it. 

“Of course I would come here every day and I can help you with paperwork if that’s what you want,” Lucifer tried to assure her.

“My partner needs to start at eight, like I do,” Chloe pointed out.

“Well, I was here at eight this morning, unlike you,” Lucifer deemed it necessary to point out in return.

“I mean every morning at eight, not just one morning of your own choosing,” Chloe didn’t want to explain again how she was at the dentist.

“I can be here at eight every day,” Lucifer answered her, sounding almost offended.

“Oh, please. I remember someone calling starting a morning early a crime,” she reminded him. Chloe usually tried not to think too much about those mornings when she used to wake up next to Lucifer and he wrapped his hand around her waist trying to keep her longer in the bed. Well this time it was relevant to the topic at hand, so she did let her mind wander.

“I can be a morning person if I have a reason to,” Lucifer stated. He decided not to point out that the reason he loathed early mornings when they were in a relationship was that she had to leave the bed early and they didn’t have time for morning sex. But if the reason for getting out of bed early was to come to the precinct and spend time with Chloe, he wouldn’t mind.

Chloe just stared at him for a while, before she decided to ask, “why do you think that it would be a good idea anyway?” 

“Because someone needs to protect you and who would be better to do that than the Devil himself.” Lucifer gestured at himself with his hands.

Chloe lowered her voice a little, “do I need to remind you that the Devil is vulnerable around me, so you could be hurt as much as any human.” The thought of Lucifer getting hurt during some case was her least favourite part of the idea.

“I do remember that. But unlike any human I still have celestial hearing and strength even around you. Also I heal faster than humans and if you go far enough, I’ll heal in no time.” Lucifer suddenly got another idea. With a spark in his eyes he suggested, “we should actually experiment on how far you have to be for me to become invulnerable again.”

Chloe couldn’t deny that he had some good arguments, but there was still something that bothered her a lot. “I can’t understand why you didn’t discuss this idea with me first.”

“I wanted to. I came to the precinct this morning for that, but guess who wasn't here and also wouldn’t pick up her phone,” Lucifer said accusingly.

“I already explained why I wasn’t here. But why did you set up the meeting with Monroe when I wasn’t here?”

“I had already called her on my way here and she said that 9.30 AM would be her only available time today. Tomorrow she’ll be at a conference out of town and I didn’t want to wait until next week.” Lucifer knew that it wasn’t the ideal way to go at it, but at the time he hadn’t known that he wouldn’t be able to speak to the Detective before speaking to the Lieutenant.

Chloe thought back at the word Lucifer had used when he came back from Monroe’s office for a moment and she realised that Lucifer had only said that he had offered his services. “Did Monroe even agree to this?”

“Well, she seemed to warm up to the idea,” Lucifer answered a bit vaguely. 

Chloe tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “You offered her a deal, didn’t you?” It was more like a statement than a question. Lucifer looked a bit guilty, but before he could say anything Monroe walked out of her office and straight to Chloe’s desk.

“So, I assume Mr. Morningstar already told you about his offer to become a civilian consultant and your new partner,” Olivia said looking at Chloe.

“Yes, he did,” Chloe answered.

“And, what do you say?” The Lieutenant had no time to beat around the bush.

“Well, it’s kind of sudden. I think … I might need some time to really think about it.” Chloe was still not sure if it would be a good idea. 

“Hmm,” Monroe seemed not to like her indecisiveness. “I mean the main problem here is that you don’t have a partner. Mr. Morningstar was kind enough to offer his services. I think if you don’t want to partner up with him, maybe we could partner him up with someone else from the precinct and you can have their previous partner,” Olivia suggested, glancing around the room. Monroe’s voice was loud enough that it had attracted some attention from the detectives nearest to Chloe’s desk and it appeared that the Lieutenant’s last words had garnered even more interest, especially from the female detectives. Lucifer was rather confused about the offer, but before he could voice his objection Chloe already spoke up.

“No, that’s not necessary, I’ll be happy to partner up with Lucifer.” She had noticed all the interested looks from other detectives and the realisation that if Lucifer was really going to be a civilian consultant for the LAPD, he should be her partner and no one else’s, had hit her.

“Good. That’s settled then. I’ll get the paperwork set up and your consultant can start tomorrow,” she told them before heading back to her office. When Monroe's back was towards the Detective and her new partner, she smirked. Monroe didn’t know exactly what the deal was with those two but her gut had told her that a little jealousy would help Decker decide if she wanted him to be her partner or not.

 

Lucifer was about to comment on how Chloe had made up her mind rather quickly after all when she pointed the pen she was holding at him and told him to shut up.

“I didn’t say anything,” Lucifer said, trying to look innocent. 

“But you were going to,” Chloe told him. She had already seen the smug smirk on his face, knowing that she’d get a comment about her change of heart. Her stern look made it clear that she didn’t want to hear his comments right now.

“I rather like this bossy side of you,” Lucifer couldn’t help but point out.

“Well, get used to it, because you are going to follow my lead, whether you like it or not.” She was still a bit worried how their partnership would work.

“Got it, partner,” Lucifer replied smiling.

“Good,” Chloe told him and sat down on her chair. She kept her face serious while she tried to get back to work, but Lucifer using the word “partner” had made her feel rather warm and happy inside.

Notes:

And we finally reached another important point in the story - Lucifer and Chloe working together as partners.

Chapter 19: Doubts

The next morning Lucifer was at the precinct at eight in the morning.

“Good morning, Detective,” he greeted her in his usual cheerful tone.

“Good morning, Lucifer,” Chloe replied, looking up at him. She had arrived a bit earlier than usual, not wanting to hear again from Lucifer how she was late to work.

“I brought you something,” Lucifer told her a bit tentatively.

“Oh? Is it a cup of better coffee than the one we have in the break room?” Chloe was sure that Lucifer already knew that calling this liquid coffee that the machine in the break room made, was a bit of a stretch.

“Uhm… no. But if you want I can go and get you something,” Lucifer offered.

“No, it’s ok, I was just kidding,” Chloe stopped him before he could run out of the door.

“Oh.” Lucifer dragged a chair to the opposite side of her desk so he could face her while sitting down. As soon as he was sitting, he started to speak, “I found something from Lux that actually belongs to you.” 

“Really?” Chloe was surprised. She didn’t remember that she’d left there something that was hers.

Lucifer pulled out of his pocket the safety bracelet that she had designed for the staff at Lux and the women working on the 6th floor. He placed it on the desk and said, “I believe this is yours.”

Chloe took it in her hands. She had indeed left it behind when she moved to her apartment. “I thought they would give it to someone else.”

“No, they didn’t. It was in one of the drawers in my office. I thought since we are working together again, you could use it. It’s still connected to my phone, so it works as it did in Lux when I’m near enough.” 

Chloe kept looking at it and caressing the bracelet with her thumb. Since she hadn’t put it on or said anything to the idea of her wearing it again, Lucifer started to backtrack from the idea. “But if you don’t want to wear it you don’t have to. You can just have it back. It’s yours anyway. I don’t want to give to anyone else.” He couldn’t imagine seeing that bracelet on anyone else’s wrist. Every bracelet had a unique design so he would always recognise this one as Chloe's.

Finally Chloe spoke up, “yes, it’s a good idea, I’ll start wearing it again.” As if to prove her words she slipped it on her wrist. It looked beautiful. She had always liked it and had thought about taking it with her when she moved out from the room in Lux she had been living in. Ultimately she decided not to take it with her since she feared that every time she’d look at the bracelet she would be reminded of Lucifer and everything she had lost when he left. But now he was back and having it again would actually be a good idea. You never knew when it could become handy.

Lucifer was happy that she had put it on. “Excellent! Now if you switch it on, I can check if it connects with my phone.” He took out his phone and waited until Chloe had switched it on. The device connected automatically and Lucifer’s face lit up with a smile. “Now I’ll know exactly when you are in trouble, partner.”

When he first discovered the bracelet from his drawer, he never would have thought that they’d be using it again one day. Of course he discovered it first when he was searching for the drugs at his office in Lux. At that moment he had been certain that he would never see Chloe again. Seeing that bracelet had been another blow for him. Knowing that she had left it behind had been like another statement that she wanted nothing to do with the Devil anymore. So he had closed the drawer quickly. Yesterday when he had opened the drawer again for some reason and had seen it, he had immediately thought that it could be useful now. Lucifer had tested it to see if it still worked after all this time, so he was not surprised that it connected without any problems today also.

--------

 

Based on the first few weeks their partnership seemed to work rather well, at least in Lucifer’s opinion. Some of the cases they’d had so far had been a bit boring but he managed to spice them up a little with his comments. Chloe rolled her eyes at his comments mostly, but Lucifer liked that reaction. It reminded him of the time she was working at Lux. And he could tell that sometimes she had to stifle a laugh to look more professional or something. In Lucifer’s opinion she could have laughed freely, the dead body was just an empty shell anyway and wouldn’t mind if she had some fun while solving their murder.

The Detective had made him do paperwork at first, but after he got creative with it, she said that she'd rather do it herself than waste both of their time by rewriting something he had already filled out. Lucifer wasn’t exactly sad about it, although he had thought that the drawing he made to illustrate what had happened, would be helpful. And he had tried to make it sound less boring by using much more colourful expressions than she did in those reports. So he tried to keep himself entertained with something else while the Detective filled out paperwork. Most of the time she allowed him to leave when she had only paperwork left, but sometimes she did it while they were waiting for something and he couldn’t leave.

Lucifer sometimes popped into Ella’s lab when he had nothing better to do. He tried to make sure that Miss Lopez would be busy with some machine, so she wouldn’t attack him with one of her hugs. She always seemed to be in a good mood and appreciated his jokes. Sometimes she told Lucifer about some science stuff and although he didn’t always follow her, it was kind of fun listening to her.

The only one who didn’t like him was Daniel, Chloe’s ex. Lucifer thought that he was a douchebag and started to call him detective Douche. He tried to insult Lucifer back, but he managed to not react at all or reply with something that made the Douche uncomfortable instead. For example, when the other man had called Lucifer an asshole, he had replied that he must not worry, he won’t ever see his hole, because even the Devil has better taste than that. That had made the Douche look a bit confused at first and finally a little affronted. Last week he had discovered a new way to annoy detective Douche. The man stored some pudding in the department’s fridge and Lucifer stole one of them occasionally. He wasn’t even sure which was better - to eat the stolen pudding or watch the other man go around the precinct and ask who had taken his pudding. Dan even started labelling them, but that didn’t stop the Devil of course.

So their partnership had worked rather well, until today at least. Since this morning the Detective had been in a strange mood. No usual eye roll at his puns, no smiles. Most of the time it looked like her mind was somewhere else instead. Lucifer had asked her if something was wrong, but had gotten a terse “everything’s fine” as a reply. He tried to think if he’d done something wrong the previous day. He had left early on the previous day, because he had some business to attend to at Lux, but Chloe had seemed to be fine with it, since there was only paperwork left to do. Just to be sure, Lucifer decided to apologise for leaving early the other day and tell her in more detail about the reason he had to go. Apparently it didn’t help, because all he got was a snarky comment about not everyone being a rich club owner.

Lucifer was at a loss. He was sure that something was wrong, but he had no idea what. The Detective was currently searching some information from her database and Lucifer decided to go and try to get information from another source. He went to the lab and was relieved to find that at least Miss Lopez was in her usual chipper mood.

“Hello, Miss Lopez!” Lucifer greeted her in a loud voice since the forensic scientist was listening to some music from her headphones while working.

“Oh, hi Lucifer,” she turned and took the headphones off. “Sorry, I don’t have the results for your case yet.”

“It’s all right, I didn’t really come to get them,” Lucifer answered a bit hesitantly.

“What can I do for you then?” Ella could see that he hadn’t come to just chat with her.

“Do you know what’s wrong with the Detective?” Lucifer asked, lowering his voice a little, although the door to the lab was closed and no one should have been able to hear them.

“What do you mean?” Ella was a bit baffled at this kind of question.

“Well, she seems to be in a bad mood today and I wondered if I had done something,” Lucifer confessed.

“Hmm… I have been stuck here all morning, so I haven’t really seen Chloe much today. When I greeted her this morning, I didn’t really notice anything.”

Ella could see that the answer had not been what Lucifer had been hoping for. She felt bad for him and decided to suggest some solution. “Have you tried talking to her about it?”

“I asked, but she says she’s fine when clearly everything is not fine,” Lucifer gestured with his hands in agitation.

“Well, maybe it’s something she doesn’t want to talk about in the precinct,” she presumed. “You could try to talk to her in a more private setting.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Lucifer perked up. “Thank you, Miss Lopez,” Lucifer smiled at her.

At the same moment the door to the lab opened and Chloe was standing in the doorway. “Have you forgotten that we have an appointment scheduled with the victim’s brother in half an hour, Lucifer?” she asked, looking annoyed with him.

“No, Detective, just lost track of the time. Let’s go.” Lucifer looked at Ella pointedly as if to say ‘see what I mean’ and then turned towards the door to follow the Detective who had already started to move towards the elevators.

“Something’s definitely going on with her,” Ella muttered when Chloe and Lucifer were out of earshot.

--------

 

Lucifer thought about trying to talk to her again in the car, but decided against it. He figured it would be better to have her undivided attention. Lucifer waited until they were heading back to the precinct and suggested that they’d get lunch from a diner that was on their way. At first Chloe was not eager about having a lunch break.

“We should head back and not waste time,” she snapped at Lucifer’s suggestion to have a lunch break before they get back.

“Eating is not a waste of time, Detective. Humans can’t function without food,” he reasoned.

“I can get a sandwich from the vending machine at the precinct,” Chloe didn’t want to budge.

“Why would you rather eat something that looks like the entire periodic table of elements is staring right at you, when you can have some real food instead?” Lucifer sounded almost horrified. 

“Well, not everyone is a snob like you,” Chloe snapped.

Lucifer tapped on his phone for a moment and then announced, “the Clark Street diner is right on our way. Didn’t you tell me once that you used to go there with your father?”

“I did,” Chloe answered silently.

“Please, Detective,” Lucifer put on the puppy dog eyes and pleading voice.

“Fine,” Chloe grumbled and changed lanes to be ready to stop soon. She did feel hungry and that was one of her favourite diners. 

 

As soon as their drinks were served Lucifer decided to break the silence that had fallen between them from the moment they sat down. “Will you please tell me what’s bothering you?”

“I already told you everything is fine,” Chloe answered, not looking at Lucifer.

“And I know that everything is not fine. I also know that it’s not this time of the month either, because that was last week,” Lucifer pointed out.

“How did you know that?” Chloe was surprised, because Lucifer was right about her getting her period the previous week.

“I still remember the little signs,” Lucifer shrugged as if it was normal for a man to know exactly when a woman gets her period. “But that is beside the point. Detective, I thought we were friends and friends tell each other when something’s wrong.” Lucifer knew that it was not entirely fair of him to play that card, but he was worried. 

Chloe was silent for a while, playing with the corner of the menu. Lucifer waited patiently and started to think that she would not answer him at all, when she finally spoke.

“I got a call yesterday, regarding the adoption,” she started.

“Oh,” Lucifer realised that it must not have been good news. “I’m so sorry, Detective.”

“Why are you sorry?” Chloe wondered.

“Well, they must have told you no, since …,” he didn’t really know how to point out the bad mood so she wouldn’t be offended.

“No, they said that they’ll bring her over on Friday. I get to adopt her, but they will observe us closer than usual for six months.”

Lucifer was even more confused than before starting this conversation. “But why are you not happy about it then?”

Chloe sighed. “Well, I was at first. I started to think about everything I needed to do to get her room ready and I called Mrs. Friedman, the sister of the late Mrs. Carlton, asking if I could get some things for Trixie. We had talked about it briefly after we solved her sister’s murder and she said that she’d be happy to give all the things from Trixie’s room to her new home. She agreed to show me her old room yesterday and said I could take whatever I needed to make her feel at home. I went there hoping I could take the bed and a desk and maybe a wardrobe from her previous home, but she had a huge four poster bed and a large antique desk and a walk-in closet in her room. Her bed alone would fill the entire room I have at my apartment. There was only one chest of drawers that I could actually fit in the room. So now I need to get her all new things by Friday and I don’t have money for it. All I could buy her is a mattress.” Chloe rested her head on her hand, looking rather miserable.

“If that’s your only worry, then I can give you the money, no problem,” Lucifer told her, relieved that he had managed to get her to tell what was bothering her and that it wasn’t his fault.

“No, Lucifer. I know that you mean well, but I can’t run to you every time I have a problem. I need to solve it myself, you know. If I can’t do it, how am I going to take care of a child?” Chloe seemed adamant. Lucifer had always admired her stubbornness, but right now he wished she would relent and let him help. 

“I have heard that children are rather expensive to keep. Maybe you should think about a career change?” Lucifer suggested cautiously.

“That’s not really the problem. I had to pay the rent for this month just last week and well, it’s too expensive for me alone. The plan was that Dan would move in with me, but now… I need to find a roommate.” Chloe sighed again. She had no idea where to find a roommate who she’d be okay with, especially when Trixie is also living with her.

“I still think that anyone would be better than Daniel,” Lucifer didn’t hide his disdain for Chloe’s ex.

Chloe let the comment slide. She knew that Dan disliked Lucifer as much as Lucifer disliked him, if not even more. “Well, I need to find someone who I know and trust. Even when I didn’t have Trixie, finding a roommate was practically impossible. I tried after my former roommates left. I even asked Ella, but she has a bathtub chicken and my lease says no pets.”

“A bathtub chicken?” Lucifer had never heard about such a thing.

“Yeah. Don’t ask.” Chloe didn’t really know much about the bird either.

“I can’t just put an advertisement up at the precinct since there are some people that I know I couldn’t live together with and since they seem to be always searching for roommates, I guess others can’t either.” Some of their habits grated on her nerves even during the short time she saw them in the precinct, Chloe couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live with them. “When Dan heard about my struggles with finding new roommates and suggested that he’d move in with me after his own lease ended, it seemed like a good idea. I mean we were together anyway.” For some reason Chloe felt the need to explain why she had been planning to move in with Dan. “But I guess we were lucky that his lease didn’t end sooner. Otherwise it would have been even harder after the breakup than it is now.” Seeing Dan every day at work still seemed a bit awkward and having Lucifer also there didn’t really help.

Before Lucifer managed to comment again they were interrupted by the waitress who brought the food they had ordered. 

“So, what do humans usually do when they need money for something?” Lucifer asked as soon as the waitress had left.

“I don’t know. Borrow from someone I guess.” That seemed to be the quickest way. The only problem would be finding that someone to borrow from. “Friends or family usually.”

“Can’t you ask your mother then?” Lucifer was sure that a successful actress like Penelope Decker would have enough money to lend her daughter.

“No,” Chloe answered without even thinking about it.

“Why not?” Lucifer was surprised. “Don’t you think she would want to help you get things for her granddaughter?” Lucifer didn’t care about children, but he was under the impression that people generally liked them, especially if they were grandkids.

“Maybe,” Chloe moved the fork around in her plate absentmindedly. “But I haven’t really told her about Trixie yet,” she confessed. “I wanted to wait until I knew that I would be able to adopt her. I can already imagine how she’d say ‘oh pumpkin, raising a child is such a hard job, are you sure you can do it’.” Her impression of her mother was not really accurate but it was rather amusing, so Lucifer couldn’t help but chuckle a little. 

“And if I called her now then I’d be practically proving her right. So no, I will not ask my mother.” Any other solution would be better than asking her mother for the money.

“That leaves friends then,” Lucifer concluded.

“I’m not sure about that either. Ella told me a few days ago how she bought something related to Star Trek that was really expensive and she will be on a tight budget until the next payday, but she said it was worth it. Honestly, I didn’t even understand what it was that she bought.”

“What about Linda?” Lucifer asked.

Chloe made a face at that, so Lucifer asked to clarify, “you two are friends now, right?”

“We are, but … she didn’t seem very supportive of me adopting Trixie,” Chloe confessed, looking at her plate.

She still remembered how Linda had asked her a few days after Chloe had told Lucifer about the real reason she needed to be able to adopt Trixie, if she was really sure about it. Even after Chloe had assured her that she is certain that she wants to do it, Linda had kept telling her how hard it is to raise a child and doing it all by herself would be so much harder. Chloe had tried to argue that Trixie is not a toddler anymore and therefore some of the things that Linda mentioned wouldn’t really apply to her situation, but in the end she felt that Linda thought Chloe was not in her right mind if she did it. So asking Linda for help was not what she felt comfortable doing right now.

“Why wouldn’t the Doctor support the idea?” Lucifer asked, baffled by the suggestion.

“I don’t know. She has mentioned that Charlie has been rather difficult lately, I guess she doesn’t think I could raise a child alone.” Chloe shrugged. She tried to convince herself that Linda’s attitude towards the idea was because of her own problems, not because she thought that Chloe would be a bad parent, but it was difficult. “Anyway, they might not even have extra money, since Amenadiel is not working right now.”

They ate a minute in silence and then Chloe decided to ask, “would it be a very bad idea to borrow money from a demon?” Maze was the last member of the Tribe and outside of it Chloe had no good friends.

Lucifer put his fork aside. “I have never heard of Maze lending money to someone. But before you go down that road, there is another option.”

“And what would that be?” Chloe asked incredulously.

“Well, you have another friend sitting right here,” he gestured towards himself in case Chloe didn’t get who he meant.

“Lucifer, I already told you …,” Chloe started to argue, but Lucifer stopped her.

“You said that you wouldn’t take my money. Since you are ready to borrow money from friends, why don’t you borrow from me?”

“Because…,” Chloe started to answer, but then realised that she didn’t have a good answer.

“I’ll give you exactly the amount you need to buy your spawn the furniture she needs and you’ll pay me back. Someday.” Lucifer would most definitely not ask for it, but if Chloe wanted to pay him back he would let her since at least this way he could help solve the problem she was currently struggling with.

“Fine. I guess it would be easiest. And I will pay you back,” she declared. 

“Excellent!” Lucifer beamed. “I know a guy who owns a place, I’m sure he’d give us a good price. We can go tonight if you want to.” 

“Sure,” Chloe agreed, but her voice was not showing any excitement. She continued to eat and Lucifer kept watching her. 

“You don’t seem too happy about my suggestion. I mean, if you don’t want me to go with you I can just give you my credit card and you can go by yourself.” Lucifer was not sure why the solution to her monetary issue didn’t make her happier.

“No, we can go together. I just …,” Chloe bit her lip and fumbled on her plate with the fork. She wasn’t sure she should mention it at all, but it had started to weigh heavily on her, so Chloe decided to lay it out too. “All this made me think that maybe I made a mistake. Trixie has been living in a much wealthier family, what if she wants to keep living a certain lifestyle and I can’t afford it.”

“Well, she knows that you are a cop, but she seemed to be happy about the idea of you adopting her,” Lucifer pointed out. 

Chloe was too caught up in her own mind that she didn’t really pay attention to what Lucifer had just said. “And she isn’t even living with me yet, but already I have problems. What if I am not cut out for this?” She hadn’t really intended to, but suddenly all her insecurities started pouring out.

Chloe stopped talking and stared out of the window, her eyes a bit wet. She was afraid that if she’d continue talking she might end up crying.

“Detective,” Lucifer started but when Chloe didn’t react and kept looking out of the window, he decided to use her name. 

“Chloe,” he said and that indeed made her turn her gaze at Lucifer, “I don’t know anything about children, but I do know that you are an amazing woman and any child would be lucky to call you mother.” He reached out and covered Chloe’s hand with his, “I am certain that you will be a great mother to young Beatrice.” 

Chloe turned her hand around and looked at him with a teary eyed expression. “Thank you, Lucifer!” she said, squeezing his hand a little. She should have known that the Devil would always support her. Lucifer gave her a soft smile and suddenly their connected hands made her feel like the heating had been turned up in the room. Chloe cleared her throat and said, “I guess we should finish lunch now and go back to the precinct.”

“Yes, of course,” Lucifer agreed, albeit reluctantly and removed his hand from Chloe’s so she could finish her lunch.

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Dan was sitting at the bar, alone. Amenadiel hadn’t been able to come and keep him company, but Dan felt that he really needed a few drinks. And drinking alone at the bar was still slightly better than alone in his apartment.

To be honest, he felt that he needed a drink almost every night after work. It wasn’t easy seeing Chloe there every day, barely noticing him at all and to make matters worse, now she had somehow partnered up with that asshole ex of hers. How did the guy convince Monroe to make him a police consultant was beyond him. Dan guessed that money could buy you anything after all.

Somehow it was even worse for him that Chloe and Lucifer were just partners and not in a relationship, because Dan still sometimes regretted his decision to break up with her. If she’d be together with Lucifer now, it would make more sense to Dan, but now seeing at work every day how they were ‘just friends’ when clearly he had seen that look full of longing in both their eyes at times, it felt a bit like torture. Also lately his favourite snacks had been disappearing from the break room fridge. Dan couldn’t be 100% sure, but he had seen Lucifer smirk at least once when he had asked who had taken his pudding, so he was suspecting that the new consultant was behind it.

 

Dan was busy wallowing in self pity when he heard a woman’s voice right next to him asking for something stiff from the bartender. Dan turned his head and saw a gorgeous blonde standing there. Maybe it was the alcohol that had made him bolder than usual, but for some reason he asked, “having a hard day at work?” The woman was dressed in a tight pencil skirt and an expensive looking blouse with long sleeves, so it did look like she came straight from an office. Usually women like her would not really pay attention to Dan, so he was rather surprised when the woman answered.

“Work’s fine, it’s the ex or soon to be ex husband to be more precise, that is the problem.” She got her drink and sat down right next to Dan.

“Yeah, dealing with an ex can be difficult,” Dan muttered, twirling his beer bottle.

“Are you also going through a divorce?” the woman asked.

“No, I’m just working together with my ex-girlfriend. We broke up almost a month ago and it’s still awkward,” Dan explained.

“Yeah, getting together with someone you work with is always a little risky.” She took a sip from her drink and smiled at Dan.

“The worst part is that now her ex, who I know she still has feelings for, is also working with us.” Dan knew that he probably should not be spilling his guts to a stranger, but he really needed to vent and she seemed to be interested in what Dan had to say. “And I don’t think he even has police training, he somehow just managed to weasel his way in. And he does some weird stuff too. I’ve seen suspects literally scared out of their minds after talking to him.” Dan paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, you probably didn’t want to listen to my problems.” He was afraid that he had scared her away with his babbling and she’d get up and leave any minute now.

“Oh, it’s okay. Don’t take it wrong, but sometimes it’s good to hear about other people’s problems, so you have a chance to forget about yours,” she smiled a little apologetically. 

“Well, I hope you’re not in a hurry then,” Dan grinned. Then he suddenly remembered that he didn’t even know the name of the woman who was sitting next to him. “I’m Dan, by the way,” he introduced himself, hoping that the woman would do the same.

“Hi, Dan. I’m Charlotte,” the blonde beauty told him, smiling. “Now, you were telling me about that weird guy at work.”

Chapter 20: Family

Ella was observing Dan through the blinds of her lab. Since they had broken up with Chloe Dan had been in a rather somber mood all the time, but today he was whistling and smiling broadly at everyone, laughing more than he had during the last month. Something was definitely up. Ella was trying to find a moment when he was alone to approach him and ask when she saw that the man in question was heading towards her lab. Ella hurried to her microscope, trying to hide the fact that she had been watching him.

“Hi, Ella!” Dan greeted her cheerfully after a few moments.

“Oh, hi Dan,” Ella acted as if she was surprised to see him there.

“Do you have the results for me?” he asked, stepping into the lab.

“Yes, just a moment,” she started to search for the file she had on his current case. Ella decided that it would be just the perfect moment to ask about the reason for his current mood. “So, you seem to be in a good mood today.” The woman looked at him while flipping through the papers.

“Just a beautiful day,” Dan tried to brush it off.

“Uh-uh,” Ella said sceptically, not believing that there was no reason behind it for one second. “Look, I’m glad that you are not sulking anymore, you’re my friend too. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine, I won’t pressure you.” She handed him the papers.

Dan looked down at the papers Ella had given him and a smile was tugging the corners of his mouth upwards.

“Okay, I’ll tell you,” he looked at Ella, “but don’t tell anyone else about it, okay.”

Ella mimed closing her mouth with a key and throwing it away, happy that she was probably about to hear something juicy.

Dan looked behind him and after affirming that he had closed the door behind him, he looked at Ella again. “I met someone yesterday at the bar. And she was really gorgeous and witty,” he paused for a moment contemplating whether to tell her more, “and really great in bed.” He had been dying to tell someone about it all, so he was actually glad about Ella's curiousity.

“Good for you,” Ella was happy for her friend. “I knew you’d find someone else.”

“I still can’t believe it happened,” Dan was grinning from ear to ear. “I mean, she's way out of my league, but she was really interested in me and listened to me patiently. I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman who wanted to listen to me that much when meeting me for the first time.”

“You’re a good man, Dan, you deserve someone who really likes you,” Ella squeezed his arm a little in a supportive gesture.

--------

Chloe was checking her place over again for the umpteenth time. She had been cleaning the whole evening yesterday and today after work she had gone over her apartment to make sure that it looked nice and clean. Trixie’s room was ready for her. Chloe had bought the furniture she needed with Lucifer the same day she had told him about her money problem. She suspected that Lucifer had gotten her some special deal, but she hadn’t asked about it. Chloe was just glad that she had gotten the whole room furnished with far less than she had been prepared for. Of course she’ll still pay Lucifer back for all of it, like she promised.

Chloe had also visited Trixie’s former home again and took all her things that Mrs. Friedman had packed. The woman seemed to feel a little guilty for not giving Trixie a new home herself, but to be honest she didn’t seem to be in a good shape herself, still grieving both her sister and her marriage. Apparently she had filed for divorce after finding out about her husband’s involvement in the murder. Chloe had barely managed to fit all the suitcases and boxes in her car, she really hoped that they’d be able to fit all this into Trixie’s new room.

 

Chloe looked at the clock again. They should be arriving any minute now. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and her hands were sweating. Although Chloe knew that Trixie had been happy about the idea of Chloe as her new parent, she felt nervous. Would she be a good mom and would Trixie be okay living in a not so fancy home? Even the suitcases where Mrs. Friedman had packed her clothes in, were Tumi, which was a rather expensive brand (Chloe only knew that because her mother had once told her about buying a Tumi suitcase and of course mentioned also the price).

Chloe had been staring at the clock for some minutes when she heard knocking. She let out a deep breath and went to open the door. As expected behind the door were Trixie and a woman Chloe had never seen. 

“Hello, I’m Susanne Roberts from the adoption agency,” the woman introduced herself. “Are you Miss Chloe Decker?”

Deciding from Trixie’s smile and loud “Hi Chloe” the last question should have been not necessary, but they probably had to ask it, so Chloe answered that question anyway.

“Yes, I am. Please come in,” Chloe opened the door further, so they could step into her apartment. The woman from the adoption agency was pulling a larger suitcase behind her and Trixie had a smaller one.

Chloe showed them both Trixie’s room. “Why are there those suitcases?” the woman asked, pointing at the bags Chloe had brought from Trixie’s old home.

“Those are Trixie’s things from her previous home. I thought it would be better to unpack them together,” Chloe explained. Deciding from the woman’s face, she didn’t really like the idea. Fortunately Trixie didn’t seem to mind. “Okay,” she commented cheerfully.

“I guess they already explained it, but since we are dealing with unusual circumstances, I will be visiting you occasionally during six months,” Roberts told Chloe.

“Yes, I know. Will you call before the visits or …,” Chloe wanted to know.

“No. Those will be unannounced visits,” the woman replied a bit irreverently. 

“Oh, I see. But what if we’re not at home?” 

“Then I’ll come back another time,” Roberts informed her.

“I’ll be looking forward to them,” Chloe tried to smile, hoping it wouldn’t feel too fake. She could sense that the other woman was not excited about her adopting the girl nor the visits she had to make during the next six months. Quite frankly, Chloe was not looking forward to those visits either, but she thought it would be better if she tried to act like it would be totally normal that the woman would be checking in on them. 

 

When Roberts was gone Chloe asked Trixie what she would like to have for dinner. She had thought about preparing something, but she didn’t know what Trixie would like, so Chloe decided that it would be best to let Trixie tell her what she would like and they could order in or go to eat somewhere. So, by Trixie’s request they ended up having pizza that evening and ice cream for dessert.

They decided to leave the unpacking for the next day and took out only some things that Trixie needed that night. Their first evening together was spent watching Trixie’s favourite animated movie which was Frozen. Trixie had seen it a number of times before and she had some interesting comments about the characters as well as favourite parts which she pointed out for Chloe. It felt really nice and cozy, Chloe even had to fight some tears of happiness watching her little girl on her couch.

 

The next day they started unpacking all Trixie’s things and putting them away. Chloe was glad that she had decided to do that together with the girl instead of putting everything away herself. Trixie had her own ideas about where something should go and she seemed to be pleased that Chloe let her place everything where she wanted.

To Chloe’s surprise most of her clothes were skirts and dresses. She had seen Trixie wear only jeans and T-shirts so far. 

“You have a lot of nice skirts,” Chloe said, looking at the contents of one of the suitcases.

“Yeah,” Trixie drawled, “Kitty insisted that I wear skirts and dresses. She said that jeans are not girly enough.”

Chloe remembered that Mrs. Carlton’s first name had been Kitty. “But you like jeans more?” Deciding by the contents of the suitcase Trixie had brought with her, skirts were not her favourite.

“I like to climb trees sometimes or run around and do other fun stuff. With skirts you have to worry about not showing everyone your underpants when you have fun. Of course Kitty didn’t like me doing any of those things either,” the girl continued.

Chloe frowned hearing that. It seemed like the Carltons had had their own idea what kind of girl Trixie should be, not caring about the things she wanted.

“Well, from now on you can wear jeans and climb trees as much as you want,” Chloe promised her. Trixie smiled widely at that. “Great. You can throw away the skirts then.”

“Uhm… are you sure? They look very nice, it would be a shame to throw them away.”

“I won’t wear them anyway,” Trixie shrugged.

“Why don’t you pick out a few that you like most and we’ll give the rest away. It would be good to have some skirts in your closet in case you want to look more girly for some occasion,” Chloe suggested.

“Okay,” Trixie agreed with a sigh. She ended up picking out 3 skirts and 4 dresses she liked the most and the rest of them were boxed for donation. That also eased Chloe’s worry that all her clothes would not fit in the wardrobe she had bought. After a few sweaters and blouses also landed in the donation box, the wardrobe had even room left for new clothes if she should require them.

By the time they had finished putting the clothes away, it was already time for lunch. To Chloe’s relief Trixie didn’t have a fancy taste, the spaghetti with meatballs Chloe had suggested for lunch were met with an enthusiastic nod. 

 

While preparing the food, Chloe’s mind kept wandering to Trixie’s life with the Carltons and what she had learned about it so far. She contemplated whether to ask her more about it. The fact that Trixie had called Mrs. Carlton by her first name and not used the word “mother” kind of bothered Chloe. 

When they had already sat down to eat, Chloe decided to ask. “So, did you always call Mrs. Carlton by her first name?”

“Mhmh,” Trixie nodded while taking a bite from her meatball.

“You never called her mother?” Chloe wondered.

“I did when I was smaller. But when I got older I called them Kitty and Norman. So did Miss Catherine, my babysitter,” the girl explained.

“Did you spend a lot of time with the babysitter?”

“I think I saw her more than Kitty or Norman. Catherine was the one who drove me to school or ballet lessons or piano lessons. And she also made sure that I had done my homework.”

Chloe didn’t know what to say about that. As far as she knew Mrs. Carlton had not worked, so it seemed odd to her why she didn’t spend more time with Trixie.

“Did you have a good relationship with Mr. Carlton’s parents?” Chloe had been wondering if she should let her visit them sometime. She had been their granddaughter for seven years after all. Chloe knew that Mrs. Carlton’s parents were dead, but Mr. Carlton’s were still alive.

“We visited them a couple of times. They are old, so they didn’t want to travel and we had to go to their house. But I don’t think they liked me much.” 

“Why not?” Chloe frowned.

“I don’t know,” the girl shrugged. “I remember the last time we were there. They didn’t really talk to me much. And I overheard how the woman said to Norman that he should have married someone who could have given him his own child.”

“That’s horrible,” Chloe blurted out. She didn’t really know them, but they seemed like despicable people.

“What about your parents?” Trixie then asked.

“My father died when I was 19 and my mother travels a lot because of work,” Chloe told her.

“What kind of work does she do?” 

“She’s an actress.”

“That’s cool,” Trixie exclaimed with a smile. “Do you think she will like me?”

“I’m sure she will,” Chloe assured her with a smile, but at the same time she realised that she will have to tell her mom soon about the girl. She did not look forward to this conversation, but it was necessary. 

 

Chloe waited until Trixie had gone to bed and decided to get it over with. She went to her room and dialed the number. It was past 9 PM, but Penelope was never asleep at this hour, so Chloe was sure she wouldn’t mind her calling that late.

“Hello, Pumpkin!” her mother’s exuberant voice greeted her soon enough.

“Hi, mom!” Chloe was feeling rather tense, but she was always much more subdued than her mother, so Penelope didn’t notice it.

“It’s good that you called. You won’t believe what happened to me today on set,” Penelope started and went into a detailed description of an incident on set that didn’t sound too extraordinary for Chloe. She tried her best to insert some reactions into the conversation from her side.

Finally her mother had finished telling her story and Chloe decided to remind her that she had called her and for a reason.

“Mom, there was actually something I wanted to talk to you about,” she started.

“Oh, of course, honey. What is it?”

Suddenly Chloe didn’t know what to say. She had practiced in her mind how to start the conversation, but now her mind was blank. Nothing seemed to be good enough for easing her into the topic.

Chloe hadn’t really noticed, but she had been silent for a bit and her mother started to worry a little. “Chloe? Is everything alright?”

“Uhm… yes. Yes, I’m okay. I just…,” she then reminded herself that she is an adult who is currently responsible for raising a child and Chloe decided to rip the bandage off, come what may. “I adopted a girl.”

“What did you say?” her mother sounded baffled and Chloe was quite certain that she had heard her, just couldn’t believe what she heard.

“I adopted a girl,” Chloe repeated herself and added, “she is 7 years old and really smart and a great kid.”

“But why?” Penelope sounded incredulous. “Was I right about Dan having problems with fertility?”

“No,” Chloe replied, but then started to backtrack a little, because she really didn’t know. “I don’t know and it’s not relevant anyway. We’re not together anymore.”

“Since when?” 

“About a month,” Chloe answered and then realised her mistake, because her mother was not pleased with that.

“You broke up a month ago and you didn’t tell me?” Now she sounded really upset.

“It just never came up,” Chloe tried to defend herself. They had talked a few times in the meantime, but there had always been other topics. She really hadn’t deliberately hidden it.

“So you two adopted a child and then broke up?” Penelope asked.

“No, we were planning to adopt her, but then we broke up and I decided to adopt the girl alone.” Chloe could already imagine what her mother’s reaction to that explanation would be.

“Why on Earth did you want to become a single mother? Can you really handle her alone? You don’t know anything about raising a child.” Yep, her reaction was just like Chloe had imagined it would be.

“I had my reasons,” Chloe tried to be vague. She was not sure anymore if she should tell her mother about Trixie’s true origin just yet.

“What reasons would be good enough to do something so extreme?” 

It appeared that Penelope would not be convinced so easily, so Chloe decided to reveal the whole truth. “I found out that she really is my daughter.”

There was a pause and then her mother asked, her voice much calmer than before, “what… what do you mean by that?”

“I mean that it’s the same girl I gave birth to, mom.” Suddenly Chloe felt her voice break. She wasn’t really sure where the emotions came from, but she could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

“Oh, honey…,” Penelope could tell that her daughter was overwhelmed by the fact that she had found the child she had given up almost 8 years ago. “How did you find her?”

“Through a case actually,” Chloe had gathered herself a little and was able to tell the story without the fear that she might just start crying. “Her adoptive parents were murdered in a robbery gone wrong and she had seen someone lurking close to the house before that night. I really liked her from the start and since she needed a new family, I asked Dan if he’d consider it and he agreed. So we started the process.”

“Did he know that she was really yours?”

“No. I found out myself after we already broke up. I was about to give the application forms back to the social worker, but then I saw the date and place of her birth.” Chloe still remembered the feeling when she realised who that little girl might be.

“Are you sure that it really is her? I mean it could be just a coincidence,” Penelope was clearly not convinced by her evidence.

“I’m sure, mom. Firstly there were no other births in that clinic that day and I don’t think there were other clinics or hospitals in the area. And second, I had her DNA tested,” Chloe paused before adding in a more silent voice, “unofficially.”

“All right then. But I’m still surprised that they allowed you to adopt her as a single mother. Don’t they usually require a dad also?”

“They do. I uhm… had a little help with it,” Chloe confessed, knowing that her mother wouldn’t let the subject go.

“What do you mean by ‘help’?” Penelope asked, sounding suspicious.

“Lucifer called in some favours,” Chloe told her and almost held her breath, waiting for her reaction. As she had anticipated, the reaction that followed was not aimed at the favours, but the man who had requested them.

“Lucifer? But you said that he went away and we’ll never see him again,” Penelope sounded confused.

“Well, he found a way to come back,” she summed it up.

“And how long has he been back?” The reprimand in her voice was palpable.

“A little more than a month,” Chloe answered. She didn’t want to lie about it even though she knew that it would get her in trouble.

“Over a month? And you didn’t tell me that the man you claimed to have been the love of your life and just left you out of the blue for some urgent family business is back in town?” This time Penelope sounded outraged. “Chloe Jane Decker, what else have you hidden from your mother?”

Chloe sighed. “I haven’t hidden it from you. It just never came up.” She didn’t want to point out that they had only talked a few times during that month and her mother had the ability to turn every conversation about her. Usually Chloe just went with it and if she really had something important to tell, tried to just say it as soon as possible so that the rest of the conversation could be about her mother’s favourite topic - herself.

“How can you tell me that it never came up? It’s something you should have told me instantly.” She paused for a moment and then asked in a bit calmer voice, “but if he’s back, why are you saying that you are a single mother?”

“Because we are not back together,” Chloe explained.

“Why not? You broke up with Dan, so what’s the problem? Does he have someone else?” Before Chloe could answer anything, Penelope continued, “well, it’s no wonder, being such a handsome and charismatic man.”

“Mom, he doesn’t have someone else. We decided it’s best that we are just friends,” Chloe tried to sum it up without adding any celestial details.

“Doesn’t he want you anymore?” Penelope sounded disappointed. She really liked Lucifer and they got on very well, even a bit too well in Chloe’s opinion.

“No, it’s not that.” Chloe knew that Lucifer still had feelings for her. “It’s complicated, but it’s for the best.”  

“Now you don’t make any sense. How can it be for the best when you two were such a great couple? And if you didn’t want to get back together with Lucifer, why did you break up with Dan in the first place?” Of course her mother had already concluded that the break up with Dan happened because Chloe wanted to get back together with Lucifer.  

“I didn’t break up with him, he broke up with me,” Chloe clarified. She wanted to add that it had nothing to do with Lucifer, but it wouldn’t be exactly true. While ultimately the reason was her feelings for Dan (or rather the lack of them), it was connected to Lucifer.

“Really?” her mother was surprised. “What did you do then?” The question sounded a bit salacious, so Chloe already guessed where her mind was going.

She sighed and decided that it was better to tell her the real reason. “I didn’t really love him. Not like …" Chloe stopped, trying to figure out if it would be wise to clarify, but it seemed that it was not necessary.

“Like you loved Lucifer?” her mother picked up the thing she left unsaid. 

“Yes,” Chloe almost whispered.

“Oh, honey. You should really reconsider that ‘being just friends’ nonsense. Maybe you should just spend more time together, I’m sure it would rekindle that old flame,” her mother suggested.

“No, mom, it’s not about that. And we already spend enough time together.” 

“Oh,” Penelope sounded intrigued now. “Does he initiate those times you meet?” It seemed like her mother was determined to give her some unneeded love advice.

“Sort of,” Chloe figured that it would probably come out eventually, so she might just tell her now. “He became a civilian consultant.”

“A what?”  

“Lucifer works for the LAPD now. He’s my new partner,” Chloe summed up the most important part.

“Your new partner? Lucifer is your partner at the LAPD now and you still didn’t mention it before today? I can’t believe it. You called to tell me about Lenny being in hospital and that he probably would quit being a homicide detective. Why didn’t you mention it then?” Penelope asked her accusingly.

“I didn’t know that he would insist on being my partner when I told you about Lenny,” Chloe defended herself. Frankly, she hadn’t been sure what her mother’s reaction would be at Lucifer being her new partner. When she had told her about Lucifer leaving abruptly, Penelope had not been happy with the man. Her mother had promised to punch him when she’d ever see him again. Now somehow she seemed to be his biggest fan again.   

“So he deliberately wants to spend every working day with you, huh? Pumpkin, I really can’t understand why you are going with this single mother thing when you have a perfectly eligible man right there under your nose.” Somehow Penelope didn’t seem to understand when Chloe told her that they are just friends now. Chloe knew that it was a bit too personal information, but she hoped that it would stop the matchmaking her mother seemed to be doing. “Lucifer doesn’t want children, mom.”

“Really? So does it mean that you had to choose between the man you love and your daughter? Oh, honey, that’s really tough.” Chloe didn’t clarify that it was not the only reason they weren’t together.

“Well, I think Trixie is worth it,” she tried to move the focus of the conversation back to her daughter.

“Is that her name?” Penelope asked and Chloe realised that she hadn’t told the girl’s name to her mother earlier.

“Yes. Her real name is Beatrice, but everyone calls her Trixie.” 

“What does she look like?” her mother was suddenly curious.

“Well, she’s got brown eyes and dark hair, so she got that from her father. I think she’s really cute.” 

“Do you have any photos of her?”

“Yes, I have some on my phone. Do you want me to send some to you?” Chloe was glad that her mother was showing interest in her little girl. It would be devastating if she’d be as indifferent as the parents of her adoptive father had been.

“Of course. I want to know what my granddaughter looks like.” Penelope paused for a moment. “Oh, I’m going to be a grandma. Well, I’m too young really for that, but luckily you officially adopted her, so others will have the impression that I’m not really her grandmother.” There was another pause. “By the way, have you told her that she is really yours?”

“No, I haven’t. I mean, she just moved in yesterday. I want her to get used to her new home and me first. But one day I will tell her.” Chloe knew it would be the right thing to do, the girl deserved to know, but at the same time she was a bit scared of the girl’s reaction to the news, so right now letting her get used to her new home was as good of an excuse as any.

“Yes, now would probably not be the best time to tell her, but you can’t wait too long. She has a right to know.”

“I know, mom.” Chloe was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by her mother’s sudden yelp.

“Oh my God. Look at the time. I’m sorry Pumpkin, but I need to go now. I’ll be meeting my co-stars for drinks in half an hour and I haven’t gotten ready yet. You really have to call me more often, especially with that kind of news you have been hiding,” Penelope admonished her daughter.

Chloe just sighed. It seemed to be fruitless to point out again that she wasn’t deliberately hiding anything from her. Well, mostly anyway. 

“Are you going to be in L.A. sometime soon?” she asked instead. It would be nice for Trixie and her mother to meet.

“No, I’m sorry. We will be shooting here for a while longer.” Penelope sounded really apologetic.

“We could make a video call sometimes, if you’d like,” Chloe suggested.

“That’s a wonderful idea. Let’s do it tomorrow. I will call you when I have a break, okay.”

“Okay, mom. Good night!”

“Bye, Chloe!” her mother’s cheerful voice sounded from the other end before she disconnected the call.

--------

By Sunday afternoon Chloe had overcome almost all of her worries. Her mother had called earlier and they had made a short video call. Trixie had expressed a sufficient amount of awe at Penelope’s acting career, so Chloe could tell that her mother already liked Trixie. Chloe hadn’t even realised before calling her mother the previous night how much keeping it from Penelope had weighed on her.

Now there was just one last thing that troubled Chloe when it came to Trixie and she decided to address it.

“Are you excited about starting in a new school tomorrow?” Chloe asked when they were watching TV.

“Uh-uh,” Trixie replied, not taking her eyes off the screen.

“Did you have friends you’ll miss in your old school?” Chloe tried to keep the conversation going.

“Not really. I had a friend there, but she moved away from L.A. about two weeks ago. So she won’t be there either.”

“And what about the ballet class? Are you friends with any of the kids there?” Chloe kept prodding.

“Nope,” Trixie replied curtly, her attention back on the screen.

Chloe was a little bit relieved to hear that since it made the suggestion she wanted to make a bit easier. “You know I was thinking… the dance school where you’ve had the ballet lessons is quite far from here. What do you say if we try to find another place where you could take ballet classes that is in this area, so we wouldn’t have to waste so much time on driving?” Of course the dance school where Trixie had been going was a really expensive one also, but Chloe didn’t want to point that out. The place really was literally across the town, so the commute would be a nightmare.

“Okay,” Trixie answers, but her demeanor indicated that she wasn’t really enthusiastic about it.

Chloe started to have second thoughts about the idea. The girl was already changing schools because Chloe lived in a different part of the town. Was it really wise to take her away from all familiar places? “But if you really want to go to the same place, I’m sure we can figure something out.”

“No, I can go to a different one also,” Trixie told her, but still she didn’t seem happy about it.

Chloe got up and took her laptop. When she sat back on the couch she suggested that they could search for some ballet classes in the area right away. That got Trixie a little more interested, she sat closer to Chloe and kept her gaze on the computer screen.

Chloe searched for ballet classes, but as usual with search engines got also some other results. She had clicked through some of them when she started to offer some options.

“I think this one looks nice,” Chloe pointed to one of those results she had for her search and then to another, “or that one.”

Trixie looked at the screen and then pointed with her finger to a third option, “what about that one?”

Chloe clicked it open again and tried to find any information about their ballet classes, but it seemed to be one of those results that didn’t have what she was actually looking for. “I can’t find information about ballet classes from their webpage,” she said a little apologetically.

“But they have soccer,” Trixie pointed out. She was much more enthusiastic now.

Chloe looked at the girl and then it dawned on her, “would you rather go to soccer than to ballet?”

“Mh-mh,” she nodded, looking rather excited now.

“But you have been going to ballet since you were 4 years old,” Chloe was a little confused since the social worker as well as Mrs. Friedman had told her that Trixie should definitely keep going to ballet and she loved it.

“Yes, but I didn’t like it that much. Kitty insisted that I should go there and when I told her that I didn’t like it that much, she said that I needed to practice more to get better.” The girl let out a heavy sigh.

“In that case, let’s check out the options for going to a soccer practice,” Chloe offered. She would never force her little girl to have a hobby she didn’t really like.

That offer was met with an enthusiastic “yay” and so Chloe changed the search from ballet to soccer.

--------

On Monday morning Chloe arrived at work in a good mood. She had dropped Trixie off to her new school and the headmaster had seemed okay. Her teacher had assured Chloe that Trixie will be welcomed in her new class. It also helped that Trixie seemed to be looking forward to meeting her new classmates.

She arrived a bit later than usual due to the stop at Trixie’s school, but Chloe had informed Monroe and also her partner about it (she didn't want to hear the Devil whine about it for at least half the day). Lucifer was sitting already at her desk when Chloe stepped into the precinct.

“Good morning, Detective,” Lucifer greeted her with a happy smile and her favourite coffee. “I believe it should still be warm enough.”

“Hi Lucifer! I didn’t expect to see you so early here.” Which didn’t mean she wasn’t happy to see him earlier than she thought she would.

“Well, you didn’t specify how much later you’ll come in, so I thought it would be better if I’d just come at the normal hour,” Lucifer explained.

Chloe started to move around her desk to sit down, but Lucifer’s next words stopped her. “Actually Lieutenant Monroe asked me to tell you to go see her in her office as soon as you arrive.”

Chloe frowned. “Did she tell you why?” They already had a case that still needed solving, so Chloe had no idea what it could be about.

“Nope,” Lucifer popped the ‘p’.

Chloe sighed and headed towards Monroe’s office. The Lieutenant really seemed to have been waiting for her, because as soon as she knocked on the door Monroe asked her to come in.

“Good morning!” Chloe greeted the other woman and tried to not let it show that she was a bit nervous. “Lucifer told me that you wanted to see me.”

“Morning, Decker. Yes, there is something I need to discuss with you. Sit down please,” Olivia gestured towards the chairs in front of her desk. As soon as Chloe sat down she continued. “We received a request this morning from a lawyer at Richards & Wheeler. They want us to give them the tape of the interrogation of Juri Petrov.”

Chloe frowned. “But Petrov confessed everything. Why do they need it?”

“I don’t know,” Monroe shrugged, “but we have to give it to them.” She paused for a moment. “I did review it. It doesn’t look too good. I mean, Morningstar didn’t physically attack him, but you can tell that he was not supposed to be alone with Petrov in that interrogation room. And the change in Petrov’s demeanour is remarkable, so I guess he did something there.”

“He didn’t do anything illegal,” Chloe defended her partner.

“Perhaps. I guess it will be up to the jury to decide if there was something illicit there or not.” Monroe really hoped the jury would find the man guilty. “I have to warn you though, Charlotte Richards is known to be a real shark in the courtroom.”

“Since when does Petrov have a lawyer anyway? Didn’t he turn down the offer for a lawyer?” Chloe remembered clearly how Petrov had pleaded guilty and said that he didn’t need a lawyer.

“I looked around on social media after receiving that request. It seems that Petrov’s sister is friends with Charlotte Richards. I guess the sister wasn’t too happy about Juri’s confession.”

“Shit,” Chloe cursed silently.

“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. I guess you’ll be asked to attend the court hearing also,” the Lieutenant said before turning her attention towards the papers on her desk. “That would be all.”

Chloe stood up and left the office. 

 

Lucifer noticed that Chloe was in a considerably worse mood when she reached her desk.

“What happened, Detective?” he asked right away.

“It turns out that Petrov has a lawyer and she requested the tape of his interrogation.” Chloe paused, wondering if she needed to clarify why it was a bad thing. She looked at him pointedly and that was enough for Lucifer. He remembered that maggot very well and also what he had done to get the confession out of him.

“I’m sorry, Detective,” he said, looking almost ashamed.

It took a minute for Chloe to understand why he was looking like a puppy who had broken a vase that his owner cherished.

“No, Lucifer, you don’t need to be sorry for that. You did what you had to do. Without you he probably would have escaped any punishment.” Chloe rested her hand on Lucifer’s arm and looked him straight in the eye, so he’d understand that she really meant it. “I’m just pissed that some lawyer is trying to use it to get that murderer to walk free.”

Lucifer gave her a slight nod, but Chloe had the feeling that he didn’t really stop thinking that it was his fault. But there was another thing that was bothering her.

“I don’t really understand where the lawyer got that idea to ask to see the recording anyway. Usually when the suspect pleads guilty they don’t find it necessary.” Chloe thought about it for a moment and then lowered her voice a little. “Do you think that Petrov said something about… you know?” she gestured towards her face.

“I highly doubt it,” Lucifer replied. “Usually humans don’t tell others about it after seeing it.” He had seen enough reactions to seeing his face to state that. They tended to confess their sins, not go around telling that they had seen what’s coming for them in the end.

“So you think it was someone else?” Chloe let her eyes roam around the precinct briefly to indicate that she was questioning whether someone from the precinct had tipped the lawyer off.

“That would seem more likely.” 

Chloe sat down and typed ‘Charlotte Richards’ in the search field. She opened the lawyer's social media pages and started to search some familiar faces to find out who could have talked to her. As they were looking through some photos Dan walked by Chloe's desk. He glanced briefly at her computer screen and stopped in his tracks.

“Who’s that?” he asked, trying to hide the surprise in his voice at seeing the woman he had met a few days ago staring back at him from his ex’s computer screen.

“Just a greedy lawyer who has no morals and is trying to get a murderer to walk free,” Chloe replied with as much venom in her voice as she could put in there.

“Who… who is she representing?” Dan stammered a little. He had no idea that Charlotte had any active cases with any of the criminals someone from the precinct had caught. Hell, he hadn’t really asked what kind of lawyer she was. 

“Juri Petrov,” Chloe replied curtly.

“Oh, fuck,” Dan muttered to himself and then added in a more louder voice, “that sucks,” and hurried away. Lucifer and Chloe were both too concentrated on the images on the screen to notice Dan’s discomfort.

Dan hurried to the evidence room, hoping that there was no one else at the time. It was empty, so Dan went to the back of the room and let his emotions out.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he repeated. “She played me, didn’t she?”

Notes:

I have to agree with Joe and Ildy, it is fun to torture Dan (they have told in some interviews that they liked to torture Dan in the show). 🤭

Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for all your kind words in the comments. Those have definitely brightened my year.

Chapter 21: Babysitter

Dan told his partner that he needed to run some errands and left the precinct. He googled the address and drove straight to Richards & Wheeler. Dan hoped he could march straight into Charlotte’s office, but of course they had a receptionist, so he had to wait in the lobby until Mrs. Richards would grace him with her presence.

Dan sat there for at least 30 minutes, all the time trying to find some excuse why it was just a big misunderstanding and the woman really was interested in him. But the more time went by the more he doubted it. Dan was sitting there with his head resting on his hands, staring at the carpet, so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Charlotte approaching him.

“Detective Espinoza? What brings you here?” she asked in a voice that had no warmth in it.

Dan almost startled hearing her voice. He scrambled to his feet. “Uhm.. hi, Charlotte. I…,” he looked around and when he was sure that no one was near enough to hear their conversation, he decided to ask straight away. “Why didn’t you tell me that you are the lawyer of Juri Petrov?”

“You never asked,” she answered unconcernedly.

“And so you just let me babble about the investigation. Is this even legal?” Dan was dazed seeing Charlotte talk about it with no palpable shame. He had decided to confront her in person rather than text or call just for this reason - hoping to see some remorse about how she had used the information that Dan had confessed to her.

“Well, if a man in a bar wants to share some information, it’s not illegal to listen, is it,” she smirked.

“You just used me,” Dan felt like she was a totally different woman than the one he had met in the bar.

“Oh, don’t tell me you didn’t get anything out of it. ‘The most amazing sex in your life’ I believe was the term you used,” the smug expression never left her face. She leaned a bit closer to Dan and said in a more sensual tone, “I mean, with that much useful information as you gave me, you did deserve the reward.”

Dan had never felt so dirty about casual sex as he did right now. “You are an evil snake. One day you will get what you deserve,” he spat pointing his finger towards the woman.

“Thank you,” she smirked. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a case to prepare for,” Charlotte turned back towards her office and walked away.

Dan just stood there for a few minutes looking at her, too bemused to move himself. Finally he got some sense back and went to his car.

 

During the drive back Dan kept chastising himself for not realising that Charlotte was not really interested in him but in the information he was too freely sharing. He felt rather dumb now thinking about how he had been so glad about the fact that Charlotte had been listening to him like no other woman before. He should have probably realised that something was not right after her only responses to his texts during the weekend were laconic messages about working on a case and not having time to meet. He had tried to not be disappointed about it, assuring himself that she is just busy and not once had he thought that she had just used him for getting information. The worst part was that he really had thought that it had been the best sex he had ever had. Of course it had been different with Chloe since he had thought about sex with her as making love, but the moves that Charlotte had… uh, he had never met a woman like that. But now knowing that she had considered it as reward for the information he had given her, it made him feel unclean. If that killer walked free because of him, Dan really couldn’t imagine what he would do. Even though he was sure that Lucifer had done something to Petrov, he was sure that the man actually had killed the Carltons and deserved to rot in jail. Dan didn’t know how he could ever look Chloe in the eye again if the worst happened and the man would be let go. The only good thing was that he had not told people about Charlotte. Well… he had told Ella, but she had promised not to tell anyone about it. Dan really hoped that she had kept her promise.    

--------

Dan tried not to think about Charlotte but he just couldn’t escape the guilt. He was holding his breath every time he heard Chloe talk about trying to find out who had tipped Charlotte off. It seemed that Ella had kept her word and not uttered a word about him meeting someone in the bar. A few days later Dan even considered telling Chloe himself, hoping that it would ease the guilt maybe. In the end he chickened out and decided that it would be better to keep his mouth shut.

Finally Dan started to see it from a different angle. If Lucifer hadn’t done anything weird, he wouldn’t have had anything to tell. So he figured it was not his fault alone, Lucifer was also to blame. Seeing the man walk around the precinct like he owned the place only fueled Dan’s anger towards Lucifer.

 

One morning when he saw Lucifer entering the precinct after 10 am, Dan snapped. He had started the morning earlier than usual because they needed to go through a lot of phone records before speaking to their suspect. They had finished with the papers and gathered all the information they could and now Dan was heading out to go and interrogate their suspect. His partner had left a little earlier to smoke a cigarette before meeting Dan by their car. 

Lucifer was walking down the stairs looking self-satisfied and Dan just couldn’t keep his disdain from spilling over.

“Look, who finally decided to grace us with his presence,” he muttered when he passed Lucifer.

A human might have not heard it, but Lucifer’s celestial hearing allowed him to hear it perfectly. “Is there a problem, detective Douche?” Lucifer stopped walking and turned towards the detective who had already passed him.

“You have been working here long enough to know that work starts at eight,” Dan snapped at him.

“Not that it’s concerning you but I had an appointment this morning and the Detective was doing the paperwork, so I was not needed earlier,” Lucifer informed him in a calm manner that was clearly exaggerated.

Dan was keen on trying to show Lucifer that he was not a good enough partner for Chloe, so he decided to latch onto the fact that Lucifer was not helping her with paperwork. “Real partners help each other with everything, including paperwork,” Dan lectured him. “Too bad Chloe didn’t get a better partner.”

“I’ll have you know that we have the best solve rate in this precinct,” Lucifer tried to brush off Dan’s remark about him not being a good partner.

“It’s no use if the perps will not be found guilty at court,” Dan continued. He had gotten really good at blaming what was happening with Petrov on Lucifer.

Lucifer felt that his patience was almost snapping. He glared at the other man and was about to tell Dan exactly what he thought of him when he heard another voice next to them.

“What’s going on here?” Chloe demanded to know. She had been in the break room getting some coffee and when she had started to walk back to her desk she saw Dan and Lucifer having a rather heated conversation. She had heard Dan’s assumption that Petrov will likely walk away from the court as a free man. 

“Detective Douche was feeling the need to share his thoughts about me even though no one really asked,” Lucifer answered her.

Chloe placed the hand not holding the mug with her coffee on her hip. “Why don’t you tell us both then?” she asked, glaring at Dan. She had spent too much time to get Lucifer not blaming himself and would not have it all ruined by her ex for whatever reason.

Dan opened his mouth trying to think of an answer, but fortunately he was saved by the bell, so to speak. In reality it was his phone. Dan answered and heard his partner ask if he was coming soon. “I’m on my way,” Dan told him quickly and turned towards the exit. “Sorry, my partner’s waiting,” he shouted over his shoulder.

“What happened?” Chloe asked in a more lighter tone, turning towards her partner.

“Honestly I don’t know. I just walked into the precinct when the Douche decided to criticise me for coming in later and also for other things,” Lucifer explained, adjusting his cufflinks.

Chloe furrowed her brows. “Why can’t people just mind their own business,” she scoffed and then added, “come on, let's get to work.” Chloe would have liked to say a few words to Dan herself, but the man had fled from the precinct, so getting back to work was the only sensible thing to do.

 

Lucifer tried to forget about the encounter with Dan, but that damn celestial memory didn’t let him. It seemed that it had also upset the Detective, so for revenge Lucifer ate two of Dan’s puddings. Still, it didn’t make him feel as good as it should have. Lucifer almost managed to push the topic aside for the day, but in the evening when he was sitting alone in his armchair at the penthouse, the thing that bothered him the most resurfaced - was he good enough as a partner for the Detective?

Chloe had assured him again that she doesn’t think that Lucifer did anything wrong when it comes to Petrov, but still Dan’s accusations seemed to have hit the nerve. Would the Detective be more satisfied with him if he’d help to fill out the paperwork. Sure, the Detective had kept him away from it after his one and only attempt to do it, but should he offer his help again? Maybe she feels that Lucifer isn’t really as helpful as he has thought himself to be.

 

The next day when Chloe sat down to do some paperwork until they were waiting for the victim’s sister to have time for them, Lucifer didn’t go to find something else to do. At first he was quiet and Chloe didn’t even realise that he was sitting in his chair at her desk. After a while Lucifer started to give suggestions about what to write in the report Chloe was writing. Unfortunately his suggestions were anything but useful and made it more difficult for Chloe to concentrate. Finally, as she was getting really annoyed with her partner, Chloe decided to let him know what she thought about his ‘help’.

“Lucifer, why don’t you go and do something else?” she suggested rather sternly.

“But I wanted to help you with the paperwork,” Lucifer protested.

“You are not helping,” Chloe burst out. “It would be much easier if you just went to find some other amusement in the precinct like you usually do. That way I could concentrate and finish it much faster.”

“I see,” Lucifer replied. Chloe could see the hurt reflect in his eyes before the mask was back on. She didn’t mean to make him feel bad.

“Look, I understand that you want to help, but it would help me more if you let me do this on my own, okay.” She smiled at Lucifer, hoping that it would make him feel better.

“As you wish,” the Devil replied with a tight smile and left her desk. Chloe cursed silently. She could see that he was still tense although people who didn’t know him as well might have been easily fooled by the easy manner he was talking to officer Cacuzza in the break room. Chloe knew that although she had not intended to do it, her dismissal had hurt her partner. She decided to address it sometime soon to make sure that he knew she appreciated his attempt to help, but right now it would be best to finish the paperwork.

--------

“So, how is your partnership with Chloe going?” Linda asked during their next session.

“Fine,” Lucifer answered and tried to look as nonchalant as possible.

Linda knew her patient well enough to know that there was something that bothered him. She just raised her eyebrow and looked at him pointedly to indicate that she didn’t buy that ‘fine’.

Seeing that his therapist was not fooled, Lucifer sighed heavily. “I’ve been wondering whether I am a good enough partner for her.”

“And why are you questioning that?” Linda wanted to know the reasoning behind it.

“Someone suggested recently that I was not a good partner since I don’t contribute to the paperwork,” Lucifer confessed.

“I assume that’s something both partners usually do, right?” Linda asked to clarify.

“I did try to help her with that but the Detective didn’t like what I wrote there and ended up redoing it. And when I tried to suggest some improvements while she was writing a report the Detective literally told me that I’m making it more difficult for her. So how can I be a more useful partner?” The last question came out more pleadingly than Lucifer would have wanted.

“Have you tried to do it the way that Chloe does it?” Linda asked.

Lucifer scoffed. “The language she uses is really boring. I would fall asleep in the middle of the sentence if I’d tried to write it like that.”

“Just to be clear, was that someone who suggested you should contribute to the paperwork someone other than Chloe?” Linda wanted to be sure before giving him any other advice.

“Yes,” Lucifer confirmed.

“And what does Chloe think? Have you talked to her about it?” Linda had a feeling that Chloe might be more okay with him not helping with paperwork than he might think.

“Not directly,” he admitted. “I mean, she kind of suggests I could help with the paperwork sometimes, but I don’t think she really wants me to do it. Not unless I write it as mind-numbingly boring as the rest of them.” Lucifer paused for a moment, pondering something. “Do you know if they teach people to write like that somewhere?”

Linda couldn’t really imagine Lucifer writing a decent police report. It just wasn’t his style, so she decided to suggest something else. “I’m sure there are other ways you can help your partner, Lucifer. If the paperwork is not your cup of tea, you’ll just have to find something else to make up for her doing all the paperwork.”

Lucifer furrowed his brows thoughtfully. The Doctor might be on to something.

--------

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Is it bad?” Chloe asked while on the phone.

Lucifer who had been playing Candy Crush on his phone looked up with a frown. He focused on the voice he could hear from her phone. When he couldn’t recognise it, Lucifer turned his attention back to his game. If he didn’t know the person, it would probably not affect him.

Chloe talked a while longer and when she finished the call she let out a few cuss words under her breath. Although the word were rather silent, Lucifer heard her and now his curiosity was piqued again. The Detective rarely used that kind of words, especially at the precinct, so something important was going on.

“What’s wrong, Detective?” Lucifer asked when he saw that Chloe rested her head on her hands in distress.

“That was Olga, my neighbour. She was supposed to watch Trixie today while I attended the seminar this afternoon, but she slipped and hit her head pretty badly, so they are keeping her in the hospital overnight.”

“So you are not going to the seminar?” Lucifer asked tentatively.

“I have to. I promised Monroe weeks ago. She said that the Captain made a remark about our department being the least active in attending those kinds of events and that puts her in a bad light. So me and Ella and a bunch of others all promised that we will go this time,” Chloe explained.

“Well, can’t you just leave the Urchin at home on her own?” Lucifer wondered. 

“No, Lucifer,” Chloe said sternly, “I won’t leave a seven year old alone at home for hours. She just recently moved in with me, someone has to make sure that she does her homework and besides, the woman from the adoption agency might drop by without notice and I’m sure it would not look good if they find Trixie on her own.”

“I see.” Lucifer didn’t fully understand why a seven year old should not be alone at home, but the Detective seemed to think that it would be bad, so he didn’t argue. She knew more about children anyway.  

“How will I find someone else to watch her on such short notice?” Besides, Ella, who could have also been an option, was going to the same seminar, so there were not many options. 

Lucifer suddenly remembered how Linda had suggested that he should find other ways to help his partner since she didn’t want him to help with the paperwork.

“Don’t worry, Detective, I’ll help you,” Lucifer stated with a proud expression on his face.

“You? How?” It was clear that Chloe was not sure about it.

“I’ll help you find a babysitter,” Lucifer beamed.

Chloe narrowed her eyes. She was quite sure that Lucifer didn’t have a list of babysitters he could call any time. “It should be someone Trixie knows and also someone I would trust with her, so your overnight guests wouldn’t do.”

“Oh,” Lucifer’s face grew more serious. He had thought about some of his overnight guests who had seemed more fond of kids. Some of them even had children of their own. But Chloe’s terms made the list substantially shorter. “And you would have trusted that Olga with her?” Lucifer asked a little suspiciously.

“Yes, she has lived in the building longer than I have, so I have known her more than two years, Trixie likes her and she is a nice lady who has a little grandkid of her own,” Chloe listed all the reasons, stretching her fingers from her fist with each of them.

“I see,” Lucifer muttered. He was silent for a few minutes, but then an idea striked. “Didn’t she have a babysitter when she lived with the Carltons?”

“She did,” Chloe drawled, “but as far as I understood, she was there all the time. I’m sure she has a new kid to take care of now and I doubt she would be available for hire by the hour.” Chloe didn’t want to add also that she was sure that babysitter would charge an insane amount of money.

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask, would it?” Lucifer suggested with a beaming smile. “Do you have her contacts?”

“I have to look.” Chloe started searching from the file she had on the Carltons’ murder. The babysitter was one of the witnesses they interviewed since she spent so much time with the family. Finally she found the number. “Here it is, Catherine Sands.” She showed the number to Lucifer and he typed it straight to his phone.

“Let’s find out, shall we,” he smirked and started the call. A moment later he frowned. “Her phone is switched off right now. I guess I’ll have to try later.”

“Well, I don’t have time to wait. I need to leave in …,” she checked the time and let out a cuss word, “I need to leave now. I still have to pick Trixie up from the school and drive her home. But if I don’t have a babysitter, I guess I need to tell Monroe that I’m not able to go.” Chloe glanced towards the Lieutenant’s office. She didn’t like to break her promise, but it seemed that there was no other way.

“Nonsense Detective. I told you I’ll handle it. You go to your boring seminar and I will make sure that your child will be looked after.” When Chloe looked at him a bit suspiciously, he added, “by someone she knows and you would trust.” He planned to pay that Sands girl whatever she demanded.

Chloe then remembered that she had promised to drive Ella also to the seminar. She went quickly to the lab.

“Hi Ella,” Chloe greeted her friend from the doorway.

“Oh, hi Chloe,” Ella replied while she was looking at one of her machines intently.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Already?” Ella didn’t seem too happy. “We’ll drive about an hour there and I need at least half an hour to finish here.” She checked the time, “it’s still early, we should be fine if we leave in 40 minutes.”

Chloe felt that she really really wanted to curse right now. With strong words. But she held herself back. “I need to go and pick up Trixie from the school, so I have to leave already,” Chloe explained.

“Maybe you can go and pick her up, take Trixie home and then come back here? I’ll be ready by then," Ella suggested.

“There’s not enough time. My apartment is in the other direction, it would take too long.” 

“I could drive her to your place,” Lucifer’s voice came from right behind her. Chloe hadn’t even noticed the man coming to stand there.

“Fine, let’s go,” Chloe turned abruptly, grabbed his forearm and started walking towards the exit, Lucifer in tow.

“Ehm… I thought you were going to bring her here,” Lucifer protested mildly.

“You might as well come with me to the school and drive her home from there. There’s no need to drag her here,” Chloe shrugged.

“But I don’t even know where her school is,” Lucifer argued.

“You can drive behind me,” Chloe said, not slowing her stride.

“But you drive like an elderly turtle,” the Devil whined.

“Too bad,” Chloe quipped.

—----

When they reached the school it seemed that most of the other parents had already picked their kids up, because the parking spots right in front of the school were available. Chloe had kept her eye on the rear view mirror for the whole ride, to be sure that Lucifer was following her. Now he parked his Corvette right behind her. Chloe got out of the car and spotted Trixie sitting on the stairs, talking with another girl. Lucifer appeared right beside her and started immediately complaining about the agony of driving at such a slow speed in a car that was meant for driving fast. Chloe didn’t pay any attention to him and focused on Trixie. The girl spotted her and started immediately walking towards Chloe and Lucifer smiling broadly.

“Hey, Trix. I’m sorry I got here a bit late,” Chloe said as soon as Trixe had reached them and hugged her daughter. Lucifer started to grumble about how he would have made it in time if he had the address and wouldn’t have had to follow Chloe's car.

“It’s okay,” the girl didn’t seem to be upset about it. “I was talking to Cheryl while I waited. She’s nice.”

“Listen, Olga had a little accident today and can’t watch you while I’m at the seminar. We’re trying to get your old babysitter to come instead,” Chloe informed Trixie.

“Okay,” Trixie drawled.

“And since I have to go back to the precinct before I can go, Lucifer will take you home,” Chloe added.

Trixie tilted her head and looked towards Lucifer. “Is this your car?” she asked Lucifer, the excitement in her voice palpable.

“Yes, it is,” Lucifer confirmed and Chloe could have sworn that he seemed proud that the girl was impressed by it.

“That is so cool,” Trixie exclaimed and hurried towards the Corvette.

“Just be careful and don’t touch anything,” Lucifer warned her.

“Well, it seems that you have everything under control,” Chloe smirked, seeing Lucifer so flustered about the girl in his car.

“Bye, Trixie,” Chloe gave a little wave to the girl who was already sitting in Lucifer’s car. “Tell the babysitter to make sure that she has done her homework and give her dinner, okay. And keep me posted,” she told Lucifer before saying goodbye and getting in her own car.

Lucifer took out his phone and tried to call Miss Sands again, but her phone was still switched off. Lucifer decided to send her a message, saying that she should contact him immediately when she gets the text and that it was about Beatrice. 

Finally he sat on the driver’s seat and started the engine. Trixie was beaming with delight. “This is so cool,” she muttered and Lucifer couldn’t help but smile. For some reason it pleased him that the girl was so excited about his car. And unlike her mother the girl seemed to like speed - her smile grew even bigger when Lucifer drove a bit above the speed limit. 

In Trixie's opinion they reached the apartment building where she now lived with Chloe too quickly, she would have liked to stay longer in the Corvette.

“Alright child, let’s get you inside,” Lucifer urged her to get out of the car as soon as he had parked the car.

“Did Chloe give you the key?” Trixie asked when they walked towards the house.

“No,” Lucifer answered. He hadn’t even thought about it when they parted with the Detective.

“How are we going to get inside then?” the girl wondered.

“You don’t have a key?” Lucifer asked in return.

“No,” Trixie shook her head. She looked a little bit worried now.

“Well, it doesn’t matter, we’ll be fine,” Lucifer told her nonchalantly. Trixie furrowed her brows in confusion. “Are we going to break in?” she asked after a moment with a bit of awe in her voice.

“There’s no need,” Lucifer said just as they reached the apartment door. He reached out his hand and opened it.

“How did you do that? I remember clearly that Chloe locked it this morning,” Trixie’s was baffled.

“The perks of being the Devil,” Lucifer smiled and they went inside.

Trixie was about to enquire further about it when Lucifer’s phone rang. He took it out from the pocket and looked at the number calling. “Finally,” he muttered with a pleased look and then he answered it saying “Lucifer Morningstar speaking.”

“Uhm.. hello. It’s Catherine Sands. You sent me a text to call you,” a woman’s voice sounded from the other end.

“Yes, I did. I have a proposal for you. You see, we are in dire need of a babysitter for young Beatrice right now. The cost won’t be a problem, we just need you as soon as possible.” Lucifer decided to skip small talk and get right to the point.

“In L.A.?” the woman asked.

“Yes, I can text you the address. Or if you don’t have a car I can also arrange a car to pick you up,” Lucifer offered.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Morningstar, but I’m afraid I can’t help you. You see, I just landed in Chicago,” Miss Sands informed him, sounding a bit apologetic.

“Oh,” Lucifer had not seen that coming. “What if I arrange a private jet to fly you back to L.A.? And I would pay you whatever amount you want” he offered. It would still take some time to get the woman to L.A. but he couldn’t exactly offer to fly her himself (although that would have been the fastest way).

“I would still say no. I came here to meet my boyfriend and we have plans for tonight. Sorry, but you just have to find someone else.” Her voice sounded rather resolute now. 

“Right, well, have a nice day then.” Lucifer finished the call muttering “bollocks” to himself.

“What’s wrong?” Trixie asked, seeing that the man was not so happy after the call.

“It seems that your old nanny is not coming to look after you today,” Lucifer informed her.

“And who will stay with me then?” the girl inquired.

Lucifer was quiet for a moment, thinking who could meet the criteria that Chloe had set for the babysitter. “Do you know Dr. Linda Martin?” he finally asked.

“Chloe’s friend Linda?”

“Yes.”

“I haven’t met her, but I have heard Chloe mention her,” Trixie told him, not sure why he was asking.

“Excellent.” If she has heard about Linda, that would qualify as knowing about her, so technically it is what the Detective demanded. And Lucifer was sure that Chloe trusts Linda.

So the next call went to the Doctor.

She picked up after a few rings and Lucifer didn’t waste any time, telling her right away why he was calling.

“I need a favor, Doctor. You see, the Detective went to a work thing and I promised to make sure that her Spawn is looked after. Unfortunately the babysitter I had in mind is not able to make it. You have a child yourself, so you know what to do with them and I’m sure the detective would trust you with her.”

“You want me to babysit her daughter right now?” Linda asked in a surprised voice.

“Yes, please keep up.”

“I’m sorry, Lucifer, but that’s not possible. I still have clients today, one of them should be here in 5 minutes. And after that I need to go home to my own son, because Amenadiel has some plans.”

“But can’t you just reschedule their sessions and tell my brother that he needs to stay home tonight?” Lucifer whined.

“No, Lucifer, that’s not how it works. Why did you promise to make sure her kid has a babysitter if you didn’t even know that you could get one?” Linda was surprised.

“Because you told me that I should find some other ways to make up for not contributing to the paperwork. So, in a way it’s your fault,” Lucifer tried to guilt trip her.

Linda just sighed. She wasn’t even surprised anymore that he had managed to shift the blame to her. “My answer is still no,” Linda told him, not bothering to respond to him blaming her advice for the situation he was in.

“But what should I do then? Where will I find a babysitter that the child knows and the Detective would trust?” Lucifer would have really liked some good advice at least if she wasn’t going to babysit the girl.

“It seems that you’ll have to do it yourself then,” Linda concluded and bit her lower lip, so she wouldn’t sound too amused. The truth was, she was finding it rather funny.

“But I don’t know anything about children,” the Devil sounded desperate.

“Oh, you’ll be fine. At least there are no dirty diapers.” Linda heard a knock on her door then. “My patient is here, I’ve got to go now. Bye!” she ended the call sounding a bit too cheerful in Lucifer’s opinion.

Lucifer uttered a goodbye and lowered the phone, his face troubled. “Bollocks,” he muttered again. It seemed to become the word of the day. He looked at the girl who stared at him with an expectant expression.

“Well, it seems that I have to stay here with you myself,” Lucifer told her and smiled a little uneasily.

“Cool,” the girl chirped and went to the couch.

Lucifer focused on what Chloe had told him before she left and decided to start with that. “So, I understand that there is some kind of homework you need to do.” He tried to sound not too uncertain. Lucifer had thought that he would only need to pass the message on and the babysitter would know what exactly that homework was that the girl needed to do. Luckily Trixie seemed to understand what he was referring to.

Trixie let out a sigh, “yeah, I know.” She had already picked up the remote control, but now set it down.

“Go on and start doing it, then,” Lucifer waved his hand towards her room guessing that it would be probably the right place for it.

“Okay,” the girl obeyed and picked up the backpack that she had set on the floor after entering the apartment.

After she had disappeared to her room, Lucifer leaned on the breakfast bar and let out a sigh. He had no clue what to do with her and also he was not sure how the Detective would feel about him watching after her daughter. He only hoped that he wouldn’t mess it up. At least he had filled his flask in the morning and he still had most of it. Lucifer took a sip of the whiskey. If he’d been in the penthouse right now, he would have drowned at least one glass if not two, but he was quite sure that the Detective didn’t have any quality whiskey in her apartment and he had to spare what he had because it would have to last for a while.

A bit unsure what to do, the Devil sat down on the couch and flipped through a magazine that was lying on the coffee table. He had just found an article that seemed somewhat interesting when his phone rang. Lucifer put the magazine away and took the phone out of his pocket. He looked at the caller ID and frowned a little, wondering what she could possibly want.

“Hello Mazikeen,” he answered the phone, trying to sound as casual as possible.

“Where are you?” the demon asked immediately, sounding annoyed and forgoing any courtesy as usual.

“Well, you should already know that these are working hours for me,” Lucifer tried to answer her without revealing his present location.

“No shit. But I’m in the precinct and you are not here,” the demon stated.

“Police work often leads us away from the precinct, you know,” Lucifer continued with non answers.

“Yeah, but usually when Decker leaves, you do too. They told me that she went to some seminar or whatever. You were not at Lux, so where are you?” 

Lucifer was trying to think of an answer that would keep his exact location a secret, but before he could say anything Trixie called from her room, “I finished my homework. You can come and check it.”

Lucifer hoped that the demon did not hear it, but he was not that lucky.

“Was that a child’s voice?” Maze asked, sounding rather baffled.

“There are children living in this city, Maze,” Lucifer tried to brush it off.

Since Lucifer didn’t answer her or didn’t come to her room, Trixie strolled out of it and demanded, “you are supposed to come and check my homework, Lucifer.”

Of course Maze heard that too from the other end of the line. “That child is talking to you,” she stated incredulously. “Who is this?” Maze demanded to know.

Lucifer sighed. It seemed that he could not avoid telling her. “It’s the Detective’s Spawn.”

“But they said that Decker went to this police thingy,” the demon was confused for a moment, but then the realisation hit her and she could barely hold her laughter. “Are you babysitting her child?” The word babysitting sounded from her mouth like something really vile. 

“I’m just watching her until the Detective gets back,” Lucifer tried to smooth it, but to no avail.

“Oh, I’ve got to see this,” Maze sounded uncharacteristically gleeful and before Lucifer could tell her not to come, she already hung up.

“Bollocks,” Lucifer muttered again. At this point it seemed that he should just make a sign and hang it around his neck, so he wouldn’t waste his breath saying it all the time.

Trixie had finally noticed that Lucifer was talking on the phone and she had been waiting for him to end it. As soon as she saw him putting the phone away, she decided to repeat her request. “Come and look at my homework now.”

Lucifer sighed and stood up. He might as well do what the girl wanted, his reputation was ruined anyway. And that way there was a chance that he wouldn't screw it up too badly. 

After he had finished checking Trixie’s homework (and being rather baffled by how trivial things they were learning), Lucifer remembered the other thing the Detective had told him. 

“I guess it’s time for dinner then. Let’s see what ingredients you have.” Lucifer opened the fridge and tried to think of something he could do with what it had.

“We have some leftovers from yesterday,” Trixie told him, not sounding too excited about eating them.

Unfortunately the Detective didn’t have a lot in her fridge he could work with. “I guess you have to eat the leftovers then,” he concluded.

“Or we could order some pizza,” Trixie suggested.

Pizza did sound better than leftovers, so Lucifer relented and took out his phone. “Fine. Let’s have pizza then. Which one would you like?”

“If you order from Pizza Hut, my favourite …,” Trixie started, but Lucifer interrupted her.

“I will not order from Pizza Hut,” he sounded rather affronted, “Pizzana has authentic Italian pizzas and that’s where we’ll order.”

Trixie shrugged, she didn’t see the difference. Even the Carltons had not been that picky about pizza.

After a brief argument about which one to take, Lucifer placed the order for two pizzas, so they both could have what they wanted most.

“So, dinner is ordered.” Lucifer was a bit uncertain what they should do now.

“Can I watch TV?” Trixie asked immediately.

“Go ahead,” Lucifer agreed.

Trixie went happily to the couch and turned on the TV. She started to surf through channels until she finally settled on some cartoons. Lucifer was not interested in it, so he sat on the couch and played Candy Crush on his phone instead.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

“Did the pizzas arrive already?” Trixie was surprised.

“I doubt it. It’s been only about 10 minutes since we ordered.” Lucifer was quite sure that he knew who it was. Unfortunately.

He got up from the couch and went to open the door, walking as slowly as he could. Before he got to the door, they heard knocking again. When Lucifer opened the door, he was not surprised to find Maze on the other side.

“Took you long enough,” she huffed instead of a greeting and practically pressed herself inside.

“Hello to you too,” Lucifer said sarcastically.

“Yeah, yeah,” Maze dismissed him and headed to the couch where she spotted the girl. The demon stood in front of the couch, her hand crossed in front of her chest and stared at the child intently. “So you’re the kid Decker took in,” Maze said, narrowing her eyes.

The girl looked at the demon with a friendly expression, “my name is Trixie. What’s yours?”

“Mazikeen.”

“Are you friends with Chloe?” Trixie asked.

“Friends?” Maze seemed a little affronted. She leaned over and told her in a dramatic voice, “we are Tribe.”  

“What’s a Tribe?” the girl inquired.

“That’s even stronger than friends. We made a blood pact and everything,” the demon stated proudly.

“Cool,” Trixie smiled excitedly.

“So, how did you get the Devil to babysit you?” Maze asked the girl, her attitude towards her visibly friendlier after her reaction to the blood pact.

Before Trixie could answer Lucifer interrupted. “I’m not babysitting, I’m simply making sure that she will be alright until the Detective is back home.”

Maze grinned and looked at Trixie, “he’s babysitting you.” Trixie nodded happily. What Lucifer just said was called babysitting in her book.

“Anyway, was there a reason you called me earlier in the first place?” Lucifer asked agitatedly. He did not like his demon getting too friendly with the Detective’s offspring. 

“Ah, yes.” Maze opened the backpack she was carrying and took out a bottle of vodka. “I found this new brand of vodka. It’s a good one. I think we should order it for Lux too.” She held the bottle out towards Lucifer so he could see it better.

“And that couldn’t wait until I’m back at Lux?” Lucifer asked sarcastically.

“It’s good stuff,” Maze claimed, not bothered by the Devil’s obvious annoyance.

The demon walked into the kitchen and rummaged around in the cupboards a little until she found some tumblers. Maze took two of them and set them on the kitchen counter. She poured vodka into both of them. Lucifer tasted and had to agree with Maze. “Yes, it’s pretty good for vodka.”

“What do you mean ‘for vodka’?” Maze sounded as if she was personally offended.

“You know I prefer whiskey.” Lucifer had never made a secret about his favourite choice of alcohol.

“Your loss,” Maze shrugged and finished the vodka in his glass herself. After that she also drank what she had poured into her own glass.

“Actually, I think I could use two fingers of it right now,” Lucifer stated and took out his flask. Since he already had a glass he decided to pour the liquid in it. 

“What does it mean?” Trixie suddenly asked. Her cartoon had finished and she had turned her attention towards Lucifer and Maze.

“It’s a way to measure how much whiskey you pour, it means the width of two fingers,” Lucifer explained. “Don’t they teach you things like that in school?” he wondered.

Trixie shook her head and got up from the couch. “I’m also thirsty.”

Lucifer looked at her a bit unsure, “I don’t think you are supposed to drink alcohol.”

“Of course not, dummy,” Trixie rolled her eyes, looking very similar to the Detective, “I wanted to get some apple juice.” She went to the fridge and took out the juice carton. After placing the carton to the breakfast bar, she asked Lucifer to get her a tumbler too. She couldn’t reach that cupboard herself.

Finally they were all sitting at the breakfast bar, Lucifer and Trixie on one side and Maze opposite to them. Trixie took the juice carton and started to pour but then paused, “how can you use your fingers for measuring if you are pouring?”

“Well, those who measure it usually can pour with one hand,” Maze smirked and filled her tumbler again with vodka, holding the bottle with one hand.

“Oh,” Trixie seemed a little sad, that she can’t try it, so Lucifer offered, “I can lend you my fingers. Yours are too small anyway, you’d get only half a sip with your fingers.”

“Thanks, Lucifer,” the girl said and continued to pour while Lucifer was holding his fingers against her glass.

“All right, that’s enough,” Lucifer told her when the liquid had reached the upper side of his fingers. Since Lucifer and Maze were not interested in drinking juice, Trixie decided to put the rest of it back in the fridge.

“Did you really make a blood pact with the Detective?” Lucifer asked after the girl had left the table. He had been wondering silently in his mind if the demon had exaggerated or not.

“Of course we did. Me, Decker, Ellen and Linda, all of us,” Maze was clearly proud of it.

“How do you make a blood pact?” Trixie asked. She had climbed back to her seat.

Maze grinned. “You take a blade,” she took out one of her curved ones and twirled it around her finger, “then you cut yourself a little, so there’s blood and then you also cut the other person or persons and then you all make a pact.” The demon was a bit impressed by the sheer curiosity the girl showed. “I can show you if you want,” Maze offered.

“No, no one is making a blood pact with the Urchin unless the Detective approves,” Lucifer interfered. He was quite certain that Chloe would not want Trixie to make any blood pacts.

“Fine,” Maze huffed and placed the blade on the breakfast bar.

“Why don’t you go and watch some more cartoons?” Lucifer asked the girl, thinking it would be better to keep her a bit further away from Maze.

“The one I watched ended and now there’s some crime show that I don’t watch. Besides, I'm a bit hungry now,” Trixie told him, not wanting to leave the breakfast bar.

“I’m sure the pizzas will arrive soon,” Lucifer reassured her.

“We could watch Frozen after we eat,” Trixie proposed cheerfully.

“What’s Frozen?” Lucifer was confused.

“It’s a movie about two princesses who lost their parents and one of them can make everything freeze, but she can’t really control it ..,” the girl started to explain enthusiastically.

“Never mind, sorry I asked,” Lucifer tried to shut her up quickly.

He was just taking a sip from his glass when they heard knocking. “I guess that’s the pizza boy,” Lucifer said and got up from his chair with the tumbler still in his hand. 

“It’s about time. I hope they are really as good as you said, I’m sure if you’d ordered from Pizza Hut we would have had them much sooner,” Trixie quipped.

“Oh, I assure you, those pizzas are worth the wait,” Lucifer told her while heading to the door.

“Worth starving us?” Trixie asked jokingly. “Because you are starving us,” she added, trying her best to keep her voice serious.

Lucifer was already opening the door, but turned his head towards her and said, “stop complaining and drink your two fingers, child.” By the time he turned towards the door again, it was almost fully opened. He looked at the person on the other side of the door and frowned. There were no pizzas and that woman didn’t really look like she would deliver pizzas.

“Can I help you?” Lucifer asked.

“Is Chloe Decker home?” the woman asked. “My name is Susanne Roberts. I’m from the adoption agency.”

“No, the Detective is at a seminar, so I guess you should come back some other time,” Lucifer suggested.

The woman glanced inside the apartment and had a clear vision of Trixie and Maze sitting at the breakfast bar and the bottle between them.

“But it seems Trixie is here, so I can still do what I came here to do.” The woman’s voice was probably the most unfriendly Lucifer had ever heard. He realised that it must not look good from her point of view.

“Of course,” Lucifer replied, trying to put on a smile, but in his mind the only word was ‘bollocks’. He really should have made the sign earlier.

Notes:

I hope you liked the Trixie/Lucifer interaction, there will be more in the next chapter.

Chapter 22: Desires

Trixie recognised the woman as soon as she saw her through the doorway. Her gaze landed on the bottle of vodka in front of her and the girl realised that it would not look good to others.

“Hide the alcohol,” she whispered to Maze trying to look casual, so the lady from the adoption agency wouldn’t notice.

“What? Why?” Maze was confused.

“Hide it. Quickly,” Trixie insisted. Maze then obeyed and tucked the bottle back into her backpack. The girl had not been scared when she had talked about blood pacts, so there had to be some serious reason for her demand.

Trixie wanted to add that Maze should also get rid of the vodka in the tumbler in front of her, but it was already too late, Susanne Roberts was practically pushing herself past Lucifer and into the apartment.

The woman glanced towards the living room to check whether there were more people in the apartment and noticed the television screen where at the same moment a gruesome crime scene was displayed. Roberts turned her eyes towards the breakfast bar again and only now registered the sharp looking blade on top of it.

“So, since Miss Decker is away I assume one of you is the babysitter,” the woman looked between Lucifer and Maze.

“Take that back,” Maze narrowed her eyes at Roberts and drowned the contents of her glass in one gulp. The other woman looked a bit puzzled at that.

“I’m just staying here to make sure the Urchin is alright until the Detective returns,” Lucifer tried to explain, not liking to be called a babysitter either.

The woman looked at the Devil with a judgemental expression. “What is your name Mr?”

“Morningstar. Lucifer Morningstar,” Lucifer introduced himself. He hoped to get some usual reaction from her by looking deep in her eyes, but the woman looked down at the clipboard in her hand and started writing.

“So I understand that you are not a hired babysitter. How does Miss Decker know you? And how long has she known you?” The woman had her suspicions about the nature of Chloe’s and Lucifer’s relationship.

“Well, we met about four years ago in Lux. She ended up working for me,” Lucifer couldn’t help but smile at the memory. “As a bartender,” he added quickly, seeing that it hadn’t softened the woman’s expression one bit.

“So you own a bar?” Roberts tried to wrap her mind around who this man in an expensive suit really was that had been trusted with looking after Trixie.

“I own Lux - the best nightclub in town and there is also a bar,” Lucifer explained. The woman wrote something on her paper and Lucifer had a feeling that everything he said made things only worse.

“Look, Susanne,” Lucifer put on a charming smile, “I’m sure we can come to an agreement regarding this house visit.”

The woman’s pupils dilated a bit and Lucifer was already thinking that he had succeeded in charming her, but then she looked away from his face. “It’s Mrs. Roberts for you. I’m a married woman and this flirting is not going to work with me. My only interest is the well-being of the child.” She turned towards Trixie then and asked her in a much gentler voice, “can we go and talk in your room maybe?”

“Sure,” Trixie answered and went to the other room with the woman.

 

“Bollocks,” Lucifer muttered after Trixie slid the door shut. He finished off the glass of whiskey he was still holding in one gulp and placed the tumbler on the breakfast bar. Maze was looking at him with a grin on her face.

“What?” he snapped at the demon.

“Nothing. I was just enjoying the sight of the Devil being tortured,” Maze told him.

“You may laugh now, but when that woman takes the child away and the Detective finds out that you were also here, she’s going to make you pay too.” That wiped off the grin from the demon’s face. 

Lucifer couldn’t bear not knowing what the woman was talking about with the child, so he decided to eavesdrop. He went closer to the room and concentrated. Lucifer hadn’t even heard a full sentence when he heard his phone chime with a text message notification. At first he didn’t want to react to it, but something told him, he’d better check who it’s from. 

Lucifer didn’t think things could get any worse, but it seemed that it was still possible. The text was from the Detective.

“Is everything ok with the babysitter?” Lucifer read from the screen.

The honest answer would have been a big fat ‘no’, but Lucifer hadn’t given up the hope to be able to fix it. At first he thought about not giving her any answer, but then he realised that she can see that he has read the message and not answering would certainly give her the feeling that something is wrong. So Lucifer typed an answer.

“Don’t worry, Detective. The child is with a professional right now.” Well, he at least assumed that the lady from the adoption agency was a professional, so he was technically not lying to her. The answer seemed to soothe Chloe’s worries, because she reacted with a thumbs up emoji and didn’t write more.

Lucifer could now again concentrate on the conversation in the other room.

“... leave you with babysitters?” Mrs. Roberts asked.

“Uhm… this is the second time,” Trixie answered.

“And was the other time also with that man?” The disdain in the woman's voice was clear. 

“No, last time our neighbour Olga was here with me. She’s a nice lady. She was supposed to watch me today also, because Chloe has this super important thing where she has to be, but Chloe told me that she had an accident and couldn’t come," Trixie explained.

“I see,” the woman replied. “Have you had any contact with that club owner before?”

“I met him first in the precinct where Chloe works,” Trixie told her with a smile.

“And that woman who was sitting in the kitchen? Do you know who she is?” Mrs. Roberts kept the questions coming. 

“Mazikeen is Chloe’s friend,” the girl told cheerfully.

“Hmm,” Mrs Roberts frowned. She wasn’t sure that a woman raising a small child should have that kind of friends. “And is it common for her friends to come over and drink alcohol in front of you and have sharp objects lying around?”

“Oh that blade? It was a souvenir from uhm… sorry, I forgot the country. It was somewhere where those ancient cultures lived. It looked sharp, but actually it wasn’t. She just wanted to show it to us. She said it was really expensive.” Trixie knew how most adults were rather afraid of sharp objects near children, so she thought that a little white lie would benefit the situation.

“Really?” Mrs. Roberts couldn’t argue with showing souvenirs from foreign countries to kids. “But she was drinking alcohol, right?” the woman kept prying.

Trixie frowned. “Have you ever seen someone drink alcohol like that?” She had never seen someone swallow a full tumbler of vodka. Usually in movies and whenever she had seen adults do it, there were small shot glasses, she hoped that Mrs. Roberts was equally amazed by that.

“No.. I haven’t. But I could smell alcohol when I came in,” the woman didn’t let go of it.

“I think that was that hand sanitizer. It smelled awful, but Mazikeen said that we’d have to sanitise our hands before we touch that souvenir.” Trixie was rather proud of the explanation she had come up with.

Now Mrs. Roberts was confused. Had she really misinterpreted the situation? She had been so sure that she had seen a situation totally unacceptable around a young child, but her explanations seemed genuine.

“But the man …,” Roberts started.

“Lucifer,” Trixie added.

“Lucifer,” Roberts repeated doubtingly, “he was drinking whiskey. And I also heard him tell you to drink your two fingers.”

Trixie sighed and looked at the floor. “That was actually my fault. I asked him about it. He mentioned ‘two fingers’ and it reminded me of Norman.” Her voice sounded really sad now. “He also used that phrase, but I never knew what it meant. So when I heard it again, I asked Lucifer and he told me. I did try to pour two fingers of apple juice for myself. It kind of made me feel closer to Norman, you know.” Trixie looked at the woman, her eyes wet. 

“I am sorry, Trixie,” the woman put her hand on the girl’s shoulder in a show of support. “You must really miss them.”

Trixie just nodded.

“So do you like living here with Chloe?” Roberts asked, sounding rather sweet.

“I do,” Trixie smiled. “She is really nice to me. And she allowed me to go to soccer lessons instead of ballet.”

“But you had been going to ballet for many years,” Roberts was confused why the girl was happy about the switch.

“Yes, but I didn’t really like it. When I told that to Chloe she said I don’t have to go to the ballet anymore. I feel that she really listens to me.” Trixie hadn’t even realised how true it was until she said it.

“Well, that’s good,” Mrs. Roberts muttered. She was still conflicted about what she had seen and what the girl was telling her.

 

Lucifer was rather impressed by Trixie’s responses. He had managed to hear most of it. Only when Maze had left (she got tired of just sitting around) and nearly bumped into the pizza boy who had finally arrived with their pizzas, had he turned his attention away from the conversation to pay for the food.

The door to Trixie’s room opened and both Mrs. Roberts and Trixie emerged. The woman looked around, “where is the woman?” She had hoped she could ask to see that souvenir closer to determine if it’s sharp or not.

“She needed to be somewhere else,” Lucifer explained. The demon had scoffed about needing some action before she left, so technically she needed to be somewhere else where she could have more excitement than sitting silently at the Detective’s kitchen could provide.

“Hmm…,” the woman frowned, “I had hoped to speak with her too.”

“Look, Mrs. Roberts …,” Lucifer looked right at her, holding her gaze.

“Are you trying to flirt with me again?” the woman asked, her voice holding equal parts of warning and excitement. 

“No, I simply want to ask you a question,” Lucifer answered, smiling innocently.

“Oh,” both relief and disappointment were evident in her reaction.

“Tell me, what is it you truly desire?” Lucifer’s voice was dripping with honey.

Mrs. Roberts looked him in the eye and stammered a little. “I…,” she seemed to fight the urge to tell him and Lucifer intensified the look. “I want to be a dancer,” Mrs. Roberts then uttered. “I love dancing, but that doesn’t really pay the bills. I do it as a hobby, but it’s the only thing that brings me real joy.”

Lucifer grinned victoriously. “Well, as I said before, I happen to own a nightclub. And I have also dancers working there. I do believe that what I pay them covers their bills.”

“But you wouldn’t hire someone my age. All the professional groups want women in their twenties not mid thirties like me,” the woman said disbelievingly.

“If you are a good dancer, it doesn’t really matter how old you are. Besides, you are a beautiful woman, my dear.” His smile turned a bit flirtatious, but this time Mrs. Roberts didn’t mind. Instead she blushed and thanked him.

Lucifer took out a business card from his pocket and held it between two fingers. “Let’s make a deal - you’ll come to audition in my club and I’ll hire you or find you another place where you can dance and earn a living if what I offer doesn’t suit you and in return you’ll write a positive report about this visit.”

Mrs. Roberts was torn. Her dream was right in front of her, but she was still a bit unsure if it would be the right place for a young girl to grow up.

Lucifer saw her hesitation. “I know I’m not someone anyone should trust their child with, but I swear I would never harm young Beatrice. I’m only here because the woman who was supposed to babysit her had a medical urgency and couldn’t be here. I tried to find someone more competent, but unfortunately that wasn’t possible on such a short notice. I simply tried to be a good partner and keep my promise that the child will be looked after until the Detective gets home.” Lucifer was almost pleading with her trying to make her understand that the Detective was not at fault in this situation.

“Partner? Are you in a relationship?” Mrs. Roberts asked.

“No, we are partners at work. I am a civilian consultant for the LAPD,” Lucifer explained.

“Really? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” the woman asked and Lucifer felt kind of dumb that he had introduced himself as a club owner and never thought about mentioning working for the LAPD.

Lucifer didn’t know what to answer, but he realised that getting paid by the LAPD clearly made the person look more trustworthy to that woman, so he added, “Mazikeen, the woman who was here earlier, also works for the LAPD.”

“Is she also a civilian consultant?” Mrs. Roberts asked suspiciously.

“No, she is a bounty hunter. She brings in the bad guys who try to flee from their punishment,” Lucifer clarified.

The woman seemed to have an internal struggle for a few more moments before she said, “all right, I will keep the alcohol and souvenirs and inappropriate TV shows out of the report.” She took the business card that Lucifer was still holding.

“I assure you that you don’t have to worry, the Detective is the best woman to raise that girl,” he gestured towards Trixie who had been listening to their conversation with interest, ready to tell the woman again how much she likes living with Chloe.

“I hope you are right,” Mrs. Roberts said, her conscience a bit more eased now.

 

As soon as Mrs. Roberts had left, Lucifer pointed out the pizzas that were waiting on the breakfast bar.

“Now we can finally eat, child. I’m sure you must be really starving now.” Lucifer remembered how she had complained when they first thought that the food had arrived.

“Nah, it’s okay,” Trixie shrugged but walked towards the kitchen counter anyway.

“What? Earlier you accused me of starving you because I ordered quality pizzas instead of some cheap American knock off.” Lucifer was rather indignant.

“I was just messing with you,” the girl smiled victoriously.

“Oh, you little …,” he grunted but decided to drop it and start to eat. 

They were eating in silence for a while until Lucifer noticed that Trixie was looking at him, her head tilted to the side a little.

“What?” he asked, “do I have some pizza on my face?” He started wiping his face with a napkin before the girl could say a word.

“No,” she replied after a few moments. “I was just wondering what you did to her.”

“To whom?” Lucifer had done many things to many women, so he was not sure who she meant right now.

“To Mrs. Roberts. So she would tell you what she desired,” Trixie explained.

“Oh, that. Well, that’s another perk of being the Devil. The Detective calls it my mojo,” Lucifer told her with a hint of pride in his voice.

“And you can ask anyone what they desire and they will tell you?” 

“Well, almost anyone. Your …,” he wanted to say ‘mother’, but hesitated. “The Detective is so far the only one whose desires I can’t draw out.”

“Does it work on children too?” Trixie kept prodding.

“I think so. I haven’t really needed to use it on children to be honest,” Lucifer said thoughtfully.

“So what does it feel like? Does it hurt?” Trixie seemed to be really interested in it.

“I’m not sure what it feels like since I haven’t really experienced it myself. But I'm quite sure it doesn’t hurt. I guess you just feel the need to tell me,” Lucifer shrugged.

“Do it to me,” the girl suddenly demanded.

“What?” Lucifer froze in surprise, the slice of pizza he was about to put in his mouth stopped half way.

“I want to know what it’s like,” the girl stated, making it sound so simple.

“I’m not sure that it’s such a good idea,” Lucifer didn’t share her enthusiasm. He put down the piece of pizza. “I might draw out something you don’t really want to tell me.”

“You did it to Mrs. Roberts,” she argued. “And besides I don’t have any secrets.”

“I did it to her because it was necessary. Usually people don’t really request it,” Lucifer explained.

“Please, Lucifer,” the girl made her best puppy dog eyes.

“Fine,” Lucifer relented, thinking how bad could her desires be anyway. “Let’s find out what you desire then.” He leaned a little closer to Trixie who was sitting opposite to him behind the kitchen counter and asked, “tell me, Beatrice, what is it that you truly desire?”

The girl stared at him with big eyes for a moment and then said, “I want to know why my real parents didn’t want me.”

“Oh,” Lucifer almost startled at that. He didn’t think that her desire would be related to her real parents. Now he regretted giving in to her pleading and doing it in the first place.

“I guess I really want to know,” Trixie continued with a sadness in her voice. “I usually don’t think about it, but sometimes I wonder.”

“Have you told the Detective this?” Lucifer asked tentatively.

“No,” the girl shook her head. “I asked Kitty once, but she said that it wasn’t probably a good idea, because they might not want me to reach out in the first place.”

“I think you should talk to the Detective about it,” Lucifer suggested.

Trixie shook her head again. “I just moved in with Chloe, I don’t want her to think that I want to be with my birth parents instead.”

“I’m sure the Detective wouldn’t think that,” Lucifer tried to encourage her.

“No, I don’t want to tell her. At least not yet. And you have to promise me that you won’t tell either,” she demanded.

“But …,” Lucifer tried to argue but Trixie stopped him.

“Promise me, Lucifer.” Her voice was rather insistent.

“Alright, alright. I promise I won’t tell her that it’s what you really want.” Just like he had promised to the Detective that he won’t tell anyone about her secret child whom she gave away. If they would just talk to each other about it…

“Thanks,” Trixie seemed happy about the promise. “And it was a weird feeling.”

“What was?” Lucifer didn’t understand right away.

“When you asked me. I felt like I could share anything with you and you would keep my secrets safe,” Trixie explained.

“I see,” Lucifer had never thought about what it felt like to those whose desires he pulled out. Suddenly he could better understand the shock on people’s faces when he used his mojo during their murder investigations and the perps realised that they just told him about their desires in front of the Detective.  

He didn’t really want to dwell into it further, so Lucifer decided to change the subject.

“You were rather clever with your explanations to Mrs. Roberts,” he complimented the girl.

“Thanks,” she grinned, but then her smile dropped, realising that Lucifer shouldn't even know what they had been talking about. “Were you behind the door listening?”

“No, I was just sitting here in this room. Celestial hearing,” he gestured towards his ear.

“You’re like Superman,” Trixie exclaimed excitedly.

“I beg your pardon?” Lucifer was offended, “I am not someone who flies around not knowing on which side of clothing the underpants are worn and thinks just putting on glasses hides your identity from everyone.”

Trixie giggled at his response. 

“Did the two fingers comment really remind you of the late Mr. Carlton?” Lucifer was curious.

“I had heard him say it, but I might have exaggerated that a bit,” Trixie put her index finger and thumb rather close together to indicate how much she had overdone it.

Lucifer was quite impressed. He had not seen her, but it had sounded rather sincere to him. “Aren’t you an actress,” Lucifer smirked, “I guess it runs in the family.”

“What do you mean?” Trixie was confused.

“Well, you are living with an actress,” Lucifer told her. It had made much more sense in his head, but he couldn’t really tell her that she might have been born with the talent.

Trixie frowned, “Chloe’s mom is an actress, but she doesn’t live here. And Chloe is a detective.”

“She used to be an actress,” Lucifer informed her.

“Really?” the girl seemed excited.

“Yes, and I think she was a really good one.” Lucifer still thought fondly of the movie.

“Can we watch her work?” Trixie asked. She had finished eating and wanted to watch something anyway. She would be prepared to swap Frozen for a movie Chloe plays in.

“Uhm… I’m not sure we can.” Lucifer started to realise that it might not have been the best idea to bring up Chloe’s movie career. He didn’t know much about children or what was appropriate for them to watch, but even he would have been uncomfortable watching that particular movie with a little girl.

“Why not?”

“Well… I haven’t seen it on Netflix,” Lucifer tried to find reasons not to watch it.

“Do you think Chloe maybe has the DVD?” The girl left the table and started to walk towards the living room, intending to look through the DVDs in the house.

Lucifer didn’t know if she had it. He knew that unlike him Chloe was not very fond of the movie, but she still might have a copy since she played in it.

“Let’s watch something else instead,” he suggested.

“You don’t want to watch it?” Trixie sounded a little surprised. “But you said she was a good actress.”

“I did,” he sighed. “Just that the movie is not a children’s movie.” He hoped that the girl would just leave it at that, but he was not so lucky.

“Is it a horror movie?” Trixie asked, sounding even more interested in it.

“No, it’s not a horror movie,” Lucifer answered.

“Does it have a lot of violence in it?” she kept prodding.

“Not exactly,” Lucifer drawled. Before the girl could ask another question about the movie, Lucifer added, “I think it would be best for the Detective to decide whether or when you’ll see the movie.”

Trixie sighed, “okay.” She went to the TV and after searching a bit found a movie to watch. Seeing the Disney castle appear on the TV Lucifer concluded that it was probably suitable for children. Trixie then looked at Lucifer, “come and watch Frozen with me.”

“Alright,” Lucifer got up from the breakfast bar and joined the girl on the couch. “Let’s see what kind of nonsense this is then.”

“It’s not nonsense,” Trixie was almost offended, “it’s a very good story. And it’s also funny. You’ll see,” the girl was convinced that Lucifer would also like the movie.

Lucifer thought it better not to argue, unless she’d start asking about the masterpiece Chloe was in again. But then he remembered something.

“Child, I think it would be best if we didn’t tell the Detective about the visit of Mrs. Roberts, okay?” He was not entirely sure that the Detective would be happy about the fact that it was him watching after her daughter that evening and didn’t want to make her worry about the visit from the adoption agency lady on top of that.

“Sure,” Trixie replied, her attention already on the screen where a bunch of guys were cutting ice and singing.

 

Chloe parked in front of her apartment building and was a bit surprised to find Lucifer’s Corvette parked there. Had he come to drive the babysitter home maybe?

When she opened the door to her apartment Chloe saw Lucifer sitting on the couch and commenting on something that was playing on the TV. 

“Well, that was a good punch, I didn’t think the girl had it in her. I mean he flew right off the ship.” Lucifer seemed rather passionate about whatever he was watching. Chloe frowned at first wondering what kind of movie it was he was watching there, but stepping closer she recognised the end of Frozen. She had watched it with Trixie two times already.

“Hi,” Chloe greeted them when she had reached the couch.

“Oh, hello Detective!” Lucifer greeted her back.

“Chloe!” Trixie exclaimed happily and jumped up from the couch to hug her.

Chloe hugged her back and asked, “so did you have fun with …” she looked around in search of the babysitter but didn’t see anyone else in the apartment besides Lucifer and Trixie. “Where is Miss Sands?”

“Unfortunately she couldn’t come,” Lucifer said, “she was out of town.”

“Who was watching her then?” Chloe asked, a little alarmed.

“Lucifer was,” Trixie told her cheerfully.

“What?” Chloe couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The man who couldn’t stand children had apparently spent hours alone with Trixie. 

“Yes, well, I had promised that she would be looked after by someone she knew and I couldn’t get anyone else, so …” he explained apologetically.

Chloe didn’t really know what to say. The girl seemed fine, Lucifer also and her apartment was also intact, so it seemed that all of them had survived the evening. Just to be sure, she asked “did you do your homework?” Trixie nodded. “And did you have dinner?” she continued. 

“There are a few pieces of pizza left if you want,” Lucifer offered. Chloe looked towards the kitchen and noticed now the pizza boxes on the kitchen counter.

“You were supposed to eat the leftovers from yesterday,” she told her daughter rather sternly. 

“But I really wanted pizza,” she smiled, looking a little sorry.

Lucifer then stood up, “I guess I better get going then.” Chloe noticed from the corner of her eye that the movie had ended.

Before Lucifer managed to get to the door, Trixie asked, “Chloe, can we watch your movie someday?”

“What do you mean ‘my movie’?” Chloe wasn’t following.

“The movie where you played. Lucifer told me that you used to be an actress,” Trixie explained.

Lucifer froze on the spot. He probably should have discouraged the girl from asking Chloe about the movie. 

“And why would he do that?” Chloe’s gaze turned to Lucifer and he would have liked to be somewhere else at the moment. 

“It kind of slipped out,” Lucifer offered as explanation. Chloe’s stare didn’t really soften at that.

“So can we?” Trixie asked again, not seeing the expression on Chloe’s face.

Chloe sighed. “We’ll talk about it some other day,” she answered. “Now go and brush your teeth, it’s almost bedtime,” she urged the girl towards the bathroom.

Lucifer had reached the door and was about to exit. He was a bit afraid that Chloe would scold him more thoroughly for his slip up after the girl left the room, so the best option would be to leave as fast as he could. “Good night, Detective,” he said silently and opened the door when Chloe stopped him.

The look on his face made Chloe realise that she had maybe overreacted about the revelation of her acting career. Trixie used the internet from time to time, so it was quite likely that she'd find one day some information about it anyway, so maybe it would not be so bad to tell her on her own terms. Staying with Trixie had been very sweet of him.

“Wait,” she went to him and looked him in the eye with a soft expression. “Thank you for staying with her, partner.” Chloe had a suspicion that the reason he had been willing to make sure that her daughter will be looked after tonight had to do something with whatever had been going on lately making Lucifer try to help her more than he usually did.

“You’re welcome,” Lucifer bowed his head slightly and smiled. It seemed that the Detective was not upset after all about not having had a professional babysitter but the Devil stay with her daughter instead. And her emphasising ‘partner’ was kind of reassuring that maybe he was a good one after all.

“See you tomorrow,” Chloe smiled at him.

“Until tomorrow,” Lucifer said and turned to walk away.

Chloe closed the door and shook her head in disbelief. The Devil as babysitter, who would have guessed.

 

Lucifer walked towards the Corvette feeling strangely happy, he was even humming a tune to himself. He had kept his promise to the Detective and he hoped that everything was sorted with Mrs. Roberts. The girl had been content with the Devil watching her and the movie had also not been too bad. For a children's movie. As he sat behind the wheel he realised that the tune he was humming was “Let it go”, a song from the movie he had just watched with the girl. “Oh, bloody Hell,” he muttered before starting the car. 

—-----

“So, I need to go and pick up Trixie from her soccer practice. You can also go home in the meantime, but we’ll meet here again at 7 PM. Okay?” Chloe asked for confirmation.

“And you’re positive that there is no other way than the stakeout to catch that murderer?” Lucifer asked just to be sure.

“Yes, I’ve already told you that. And no, someone else is not going to do it, because it’s our case,” Chloe already anticipated his next question since he had already suggested it.

“Fine,” Lucifer grumbled. That was definitely the less fun part about the police work. “I guess I’ll have time to sort out some things at Lux for tonight then.” 

“Great, see you at 7 then,” Chloe started collecting the papers on her desk to organise them in preparation to leave.

Lucifer said his goodbyes and started walking out of the precinct while digging out the phone from his pocket. He called Maze and told her to meet him at Lux in 40 minutes. The demon was as gruff as always, but told him that she’d be there.

 

Lucifer had just found the papers he was looking for when the door to the office opened and Maze strode inside.

“Ah, Maze, just in time,” Lucifer said.

“What’s up?” the demon asked, sitting down on the chair.

“There is a delivery coming tonight, I need you to be here and check that everything we ordered is there. And also the bottles need to be put away in the right places, you know the drill.” Lucifer handed over a paper with their order.

“What time?” Maze asked, skimming over the list of alcohol they had ordered.

“The delivery will be around 7.30 PM as usual,” Lucifer clarified.

“Can’t do it then,” Maze put the paper back on the table. “I need to catch a plane at 8 PM.”

Lucifer furrowed his brows. “No, you need to be here. You can go later wherever it is you want to go.”

Maze didn’t like that answer. “No, I go and catch my plane, so I can catch that bounty I’m after and you can deal yourself with your stupid delivery,” she spat leaning forward in her chair.

“I can’t be here, I need to go on a stakeout with the Detective, so we can solve a murder,” Lucifer shot back, emphasising the last words.

“You shouldn’t have fired the manager then. It worked just fine, I was able to hunt my bounties whenever I needed and he kept the things going here,” the demon said accusingly.

“We both know very well that you hired that dick to torture everyone.” Lucifer didn’t think he had met anyone else ever before whom he immediately disliked. 

“And you said that you are back now and don’t need a manager, so deal yourself with your stupid bar,” Maze was not about to miss her flight to deal with some delivery at Lux.

“Well, tonight I have more important things to do and I can’t be in two places at the same time,” Lucifer tried to make her understand.

“So you’re saying that your consultant job is more important than my job as a bounty hunter?” Maze asked, getting more agitated.

“Of course it is. And I’m your boss here, so you need to be at work when I tell you,” Lucifer was also starting to lose his patience. 

“Fine, I quit then. I’ve had enough of working in this place anyway,” Maze stood up.

“You can’t do that,” Lucifer protested.

“Watch me,” Maze hissed.

“You need to give notice before you can quit the job. Two weeks at least,” Lucifer was grasping at straws. 

“And if I don't, what will you do? Fire me?” Maze grinned triumphantly.

Lucifer saw that the demon was not obeying him and that angered him. Maze was a demon and he would not tolerate that kind of insolence from her. He stood up from his chair. “Yes, I will fire you. And since you don’t work here anymore, find yourself also a new place to live,” Lucifer snarled. “I want your stuff out of the apartment today or I’ll throw it all away,” he threatened her.

“I don’t need your fucking apartment anyway, asshole.” With those words Maze marched out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

 

“Damn it,” Lucifer growled. He was pissed and the fight with Maze still left him with the problem of needing someone trustworthy at Lux at the time of the delivery.  Some stocks were almost used up and knowing how tight the company’s delivery schedule was, it was not possible to get the stuff delivered sooner. So it had to be today at 7.30 PM. 

Lucifer went to the bar and poured himself a drink to calm down a bit. He finished the drink and sighed, there was only one option left and although he had told him to not put him in charge again, he had no other choice.

Notes:

What do you think - will they manage to keep the visit from Mrs. Roberts a secret?

Chapter 23: New roommate

Chloe looked at the time again and frowned. It was already 7.14 PM and they were supposed to meet at 7. She was about to call him when she heard a familiar sounding engine. Chloe was actually surprised that she could tell the difference from the sound of a car engine, but somehow that car sounded different than the others. Less than a minute later she got the confirmation that she had indeed recognised the sound of Lucifer’s car when the black Corvette sped around the corner.

Lucifer parked next to her car and almost hopped out of his car. “I’m so sorry, Detective. I had some unexpected problems with my staff,” he said apologetically.

“Whatever, just get in the car,” Chloe said, eager to get going. Lucifer didn’t argue and sat on the passenger seat.

She wanted to get it done as fast as possible. While Olga had assured Chloe that she wouldn’t mind to stay as long as it was needed (Chloe was sure that her neighbour was feeling guilty over letting her down the other day although Chloe had assured her that it had been not her fault), Chloe would have liked to be home before Trixie went to bed.

 

The drive to their stakeout was quiet, but she could see that her partner was uneasy. Chloe figured that they could talk about it when they reach their destination, they’ll be stuck in the car for a while anyway. As soon as she parked the car, Lucifer broke the silence himself and blurted, “it’s Maze’s fault that I was late.” Before Chloe could even ask, he told her about her disobedience and continued to complain about how awfully disrespectful the demon was. Chloe listened to him for almost half an hour and then decided to intervene.

“So let me get this straight - you just told Maze that she needs to be there for the delivery without even asking her if she had other plans,” Chloe summed it up.

“Well, I’m her king. I’ve never needed to ask for her plans, if I tell her to do something she is supposed to do it,” Lucifer confirmed, a bit confused about her questioning tone.

“Lucifer, you are not in Hell anymore. Here she has her own life, another job now too,” Chloe tried to make him understand. She was not surprised that Maze had reacted the way she did.

“Are you taking her side now?” Lucifer asked, clearly offended.

“I’m not taking anyone’s side, I’m just trying to look at this from an outside perspective,” Chloe explained.

“It sure sounds as if you are taking her side.” Lucifer apparently didn’t want to look at it from an outside perspective. 

“Well, Maze is my friend too and I happen to know that she loves her bounty hunting job much more than managing Lux,” Chloe got a bit defensive herself. Just because they are partners doesn't mean that she is supposed to approve of everything he does, especially if he mistreats friends.

“Since when are you such besties?” Lucifer asked, a bit alarmed that Chloe seems to know more about Maze than he does now.

“It came up on a Tribe night. That’s one of the reasons she hired that Grayson guy to manage Lux,” Chloe explained.  

Lucifer huffed. “That man was hired to torture everyone. I’ve never met a bigger dick than him and I do not mean it in a good way. I’m sure everyone was relieved when I fired him.”

“But he did the job as far as I understand. Why didn’t you hire someone else when you fired him?” Chloe looked at him questioningly.

“Well, I never needed a manager for Lux. Me and Maze always managed things just fine.” Chloe could have sworn that she heard a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

“But now both you and Maze have other jobs besides Lux. So unless you want to quit your job as a consultant, I think you should hire a manager again,” Chloe suggested.

Lucifer gave her an odd look and suddenly Chloe started to doubt if he’d choose Lux over his job as a consultant.

“You don’t want to quit, do you?” she asked, trying to steady her voice.

“Of course not,” Lucifer confirmed. “Unless you want me to,” Lucifer added after a short pause.

“No, I don’t. As long as you like the job,” Chloe added. She would never want him to do something that he didn’t want to do just because of her.

“I like the job very much,” Lucifer told her with a soft look. Chloe looked straight back at him and the way he looked at her made Chloe feel warm inside. The air was suddenly thick with emotions and Chloe was afraid she’d do something stupid if it lasted any longer, so she cleared her throat that had turned a bit dry and repeated her suggestion.

“So I think it would be best if you hired a new manager.”

Lucifer turned his head to look outside the window. “Maze may come to her senses and want to come back.”

“But that doesn’t mean you won’t have this kind of scheduling conflict again,” Chloe tried to convince him.

“Maybe, I’ll discuss it with Maze when she apologises and comes back,” Lucifer surmised.

Chloe looked at him and frowned. Why didn’t he want to do the reasonable thing here? For some reason he seemed to be avoiding hiring someone. It couldn’t be because of money, Chloe knew that he was loaded. Suddenly it hit her.

“Lucifer, have you ever hired someone yourself?” She knew that Maze used to be the one who did the job interviews when she was working at Lux.

“Of course I have,” Lucifer looked at her again, “or have you forgotten that I hired you.”

“I haven’t forgotten it, but I also remember that you offered the job to me after I told you about my situation and the only thing that was even remotely related to the job was asking to pour you a drink.” The memory was a fond one, because that evening had definitely changed her life. Nevertheless, right now it proved that her assumption had been right.

“So you have never conducted a normal job interview, have you?” Chloe kept prodding.

Lucifer considered giving some elusive answer, but then decided against it. He started to see that she was probably right about him needing to hire a new manager. Besides, Patrick had said the same thing after Lucifer had called him, threatening to quit if he had to do some managing stuff again, because he didn’t like it. 

“No, I haven’t,” Lucifer answered in a silent voice, adjusting his cufflink.

Chloe understood that admitting it must have been a bit difficult for him. She put her hand on his forearm in a supportive gesture. “Okay, tomorrow at the precinct we can look into some sites where you can advertise a job and I’m sure we’ll find some handbooks online to help you determine the best questions to ask during a job interview.” 

“You’d do that for me?” Lucifer couldn’t hide his surprise. He had feared a little that the Detective would think that he’s incompetent, but he should have known better.

“Of course I would, Lucifer. I’m your friend. And partner,” she smiled at him.

“Thank you,” he muttered, a bit overwhelmed still by her kindness. He really didn’t know what he had done to deserve such a kind soul in his life.

“But now, partner, let’s catch that perp.” Chloe realised that they had neglected the job a bit, being more focused on their conversation than what was happening outside the car.

--------

Ella approached Chloe’s desk with the lab results. She couldn’t help but notice that the Detective was looking at some venues from her computer.

“Are you looking for a place for your birthday?” Ella asked excitedly.

Chloe startled a little, not having heard her friend coming. “No, I was looking at them for Trixie. Her birthday is in three weeks.”

“Oh, yeah, right. It would have been a bit weird to have your birthday in a place with a bouncy castle, huh.” Ella didn’t want to seem weird, but she would have totally liked that kind of party. It’s never too late to embrace your inner child. “So what are you planning for your own big day then?” She had been curious about it for a while now, but somehow the topic had always been evaded by Chloe.

“Uhm… nothing really.” Chloe blushed a little. Ella was her friend, but it was still a bit of a sore subject. She lowered her voice and added, “I can’t really afford it.”

“You haven’t found a roommate yet?” she asked. Ella had tried to help her find a suitable roommate among their colleagues, but hadn’t succeeded.

“No, I haven’t. And I have to pay the rent in two days, so …” Chloe sighed. She looked at her friend with a hopeful expression then, “maybe you could reconsider moving in with me?”

“Sorry, Chlo. I can’t just abandon Margaret. And besides,” Ella looked a little sheepish, “I’m not sure you’d want me as a roommate when you have a little girl.”

“Why not?” Chloe was surprised.

“Well, I tend to bring home guys from bars or nightclubs. I don’t want to go to their place, I feel safer at my own home, if you know what I mean. I’m not sure that would set a good example for Trixie.” Ella knew that it was probably not good for herself too, but she couldn’t really help it, the guys she liked usually had some issues and were not boyfriend material, so she landed with the next one and so on. But she was still young and didn’t really worry about not having a serious relationship right now.

Chloe had to agree that having different men over every now and then would not be something she’d like to show Trixie. And it would be out of line for her to persuade Ella to move in with her and then demand that she’d stop living the life she wants. So she decided to change the subject.

“So, did you have anything for me?” Chloe had noticed that Ella had a folder in her hand, so she assumed that the forensic scientist had come to her desk with another reason besides discussing her birthday or living arrangements.

“Yes, I have,” Ella answered, but hesitated for a moment. “Do you want to wait for Lucifer too or should I tell you what I found out?” Ella had noticed that Chloe’s partner was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s okay. He has an appointment with Linda today, so it’ll be a while until he'll be here. You can tell me what you found.” 

“So, I tested the blood and our suspicions had been right, he had …” Ella started, but was interrupted before she could get any further.

“Yo, bitches. What’s up?” Maze suddenly appeared next to them and sat in the chair Lucifer usually occupied, putting her feet up on Chloe's desk.

Chloe frowned on the boots at her desk, but didn’t say anything. Luckily the important files were on the other end of the desk. “Hi, Maze. What are you doing here?” she asked instead.

“I just delivered one of your perps and I’m waiting to get my check,” the demon shrugged.

Chloe suspected that there was something else behind it. Usually Maze didn’t come to see them when she delivered a bounty to the precinct.

“Besides, I could use some advice,” Maze added, trying to look as nonchalant as possible. Chloe had to press her lips together in order to suppress the smirk tugging on her mouth.

“Of course, Maze. Tell us what you need,” Ella responded immediately.

“You two rent your apartments, right?” the demon asked, pointing her index finger to Ella and Chloe intermittently.

“Yes,” Ella answered, drawing out the ‘e’, a little suspicious where this was going.

“Well, since the whining idiot you call partner,” Maze looked at Chloe pointedly, “threw me out of my apartment, I need to find a new one.”

“What?” Ella was confused.

“Maze and Lucifer had a fight the other day,” Chloe explained and then turned to Maze. “Are you sure you need a new apartment? Maybe you’ll reconcile.”

Maze huffed. “That arrogant dick will have to apologise first. But even if he did, I would still move out. It’s the second time he has thrown me out and I’ve had it. He can keep his stupid apartment to himself.” Maze seemed to be rather determined.

“Do you need us to help you find advertisements for apartments?” Ella asked, trying to understand what kind of help Maze needed.

“No,” Maze answered, sounding a little offended. “I can find the places, I just can't get them to rent them for me,” she admitted.

Ella and Chloe looked at each other, both confused about what the exact issue was. “And why is that?” Chloe asked when Maze didn’t elaborate.

“How the Hell should I know? I mean that one guy asked if I was planning to have many friends over. I told him that I haven’t got many friends, but I plan to have frequent orgies. I even offered him to join sometimes, but I didn’t get that apartment anyway. And then another landlord was telling me how good and sturdy the walls were, so I commented that those would probably be okay for me to practice my knife throwing. The woman went pale and told me that she will not rent the apartment to me. So when I went to see a third apartment it seemed to go rather well, but then the woman started to warn me about a neighbour. I took out my blade and offered to deal with them right away, but she threatened to call the police. I mean, really, how am I ever going to get an apartment when all the landlords are idiots?”

Chloe and Ella were both listening with astonishment. They could easily understand why she couldn’t get an apartment.

“Yeah… uhm, there are some things you shouldn’t really tell a landlord when you are trying to rent an apartment,” Chloe decided to try and explain.

“And what are those?” Maze inquired.

“Well, those that you already learned I suppose and other things that would imply you’d be disturbing the neighbours or damaging the property or threaten neighbours.” Chloe realised that she could never make a list of all the things that Maze shouldn’t say to a landlord.

“A few knife holes won’t damage anything and she started to whine about the neighbour. I thought she wanted my help,” Maze explained her point of view.

Ella wanted to add some topics and opened her mouth to speak when another detective came to them and asked, “hey Lopez, do you have the results for my case yet?”

Ella looked at the clock and realised that she had been standing at Chloe’s desk for longer than she planned. “It will be ready in three minutes,” she answered. 

“Great, I’ll grab a coffee and meet you in the lab then,” the man started to walk towards the break room.

“Sorry guys, I have to get back to work. Good luck with your apartment problems, to both of you,” she said as a goodbye.

“What do you mean by both of us?” Maze was confused.

“Well, Chloe hasn’t found a new roommate yet so she has apartment problems too,” Ella explained before she turned around and started to walk towards her lab.

Maze turned to Chloe, “you are looking for a roommate?” By the tone of her voice it was clear that the demon was not pleased that she hadn’t known about it.

“Uhm, yes. I am,” Chloe answered. To be fair, she hadn’t intentionally kept it from her. At first she didn’t think about her because Maze already had an apartment and now… well, she didn’t seem like someone who would want to live with a child for starters.

“And you didn’t tell me because …?” 

“I didn’t know that you’d want to share an apartment with someone,” Chloe tried to find a reason that would sound most plausible.

Maze shrugged, “I could try that.”

“But you do realise that there is also a child living in my apartment?” Chloe realised that the demon was actually thinking about moving in with her. 

“She’s alright for a little human,” Maze told her like it was not a big deal.

“Wait… have you met her?” Chloe didn’t remember Maze meeting Trixie.

“Yeah,” Maze smirked. “I went over that day when the Devil was babysitting for you. Had to see that with my own eyes.” 

“Oh,” was all that Chloe could say to that. So Maze had met her daughter without her even knowing it and no one had bothered to tell her.

“So when can I move in?” Maze asked, breaking the silence. It sounded as if it had already been decided that she will be living with Chloe and Trixie.

“Now hold on. Living with a child means also rules, like no parties late at night, especially no orgies, no sharp objects around her and so on,” Chloe couldn’t think of more things right now, but she was sure that there would be other rules she’d need to set for the demon if she moved in. Chloe suddenly realised that a part of her was really entertaining the idea of letting Maze move in with them. 

The demon seemed to mull it over for a few moments. “Fine. I can go to their places to have sex. And I guess all my weapons wouldn’t fit in my room anyway, so I can keep most of them in the storage facility they’re in.” She then looked at Chloe and tilted her head a little, “is there a lock on my room’s door?”

“Yes, but …,” Chloe wanted to correct her that it’s still just a room, not her room, but Maze continued.

“Good. I don’t want you or your kid touching my stuff when I’m not there,” the demon brandished her finger at Chloe.

Chloe was too taken aback to respond, so Maze asked a little impatiently, “can I move in then?”

“Uhm… actually, I want to talk to Trixie first,” Chloe admitted.

“Why?” Maze was a bit confused.

“Well, it’s her home too and I want to have her opinion before someone moves in.” Chloe had planned to ask her girl regardless who this new roommate would be.

Maze nodded approvingly. “I can respect that. You go and ask her and then let me know,” she practically ordered.

At the same moment someone called her name and the demon stood up. “I’ll be waiting,” she said before starting to walk away.

“In the evening, Maze,” Chloe told her. “I’ll talk to her in the evening.” Maze had already turned her back on Chloe, so she wasn’t 100% sure that the demon had understood it. Chloe sighed, having a bit conflicted feelings about all of it. If Maze moved in that would solve her roommate issue, but it was Maze, a demon who had thought that the best way to deal with an annoying neighbour would involve knives.

 

When Chloe drove home that night, her mind was again occupied with the pros and cons of living with Maze. About 15 minutes after Maze had left Ella had come by again and told Chloe finally what she had found and after that she had been busy with the case, her personal issues put aside. The funny thing was that somehow that idea didn’t seem so outrageous as it had been at first. If she’d be able to set some rules and Maze would follow them, maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. But first she had to talk to Trixie, it wouldn’t be fair to her if she had to live with someone she’s not okay with.

It turned out that she didn’t need to worry about Trixie being not okay with Maze. The girl had found the demon cool and seemed to be rather excited about the possibility of her living with them. But still, Chloe didn’t contact Maze right away. She kept herself busy with Trixie and chores she had to do around the house until it was bedtime for Trixie. When she finally didn’t have any excuses left, Chloe let herself look deeper inside her to figure out why she was still hesitating. Then she realised that she had been worried about Lucifer’s reaction. He had accused Chloe of being on Maze’s side when Chloe had tried to make him look at things from Maze’s point of view, taking her in after Lucifer had thrown her out would sound much worse. But what Chloe had said to him after his accusations was true - Maze was also her friend. So she’s allowed to help her other friend too. Besides, it would be as much her helping Chloe, since she did need a roommate. Suddenly Chloe felt some kind of clarity and the decision to let Maze move in with her seemed just right. And even if Lucifer was someone very important to her, he didn’t have a say in that, it was Chloe’s life after all. So she sent Maze a text saying she can move in with them if she still wants and that they’d discuss the details the next day. The demon replied with a thumbs up emoji and a message that said “Now you’re finally gonna have fun in your life”. Chloe smiled despite the doubt she had that fun was not exactly the right word for what was coming.  

--------

Lucifer was chatting with officer Cooper in the breakroom. He didn’t care that much about what the man had to say, but Lucifer wanted to distract himself. They’d have to leave soon to head to the courthouse and he didn’t want to think about the trial.  Even the thought that Petrov could walk away from this after he had literally confessed to murdering the Carltons made him angry again. The Detective was reviewing some paperwork and he didn’t have anything better to do right now. So Lucifer needed a distraction and officer Cooper just had to suffice since everyone else seemed to be busy. Unfortunately the man couldn’t distract Lucifer for long since he got a phone call and hurried to his desk.

The Devil sighed and looked over at the desk where his partner was sitting. Right now she was talking about something with Miss Lopez who had appeared next to her desk. Lucifer took a few steps in their direction and then stopped. He had assumed that Miss Lopez wanted to talk about Petrov or their current case, but it seemed that the conversation was about something else entirely. Lucifer always tried to not listen to private conversations, but he couldn’t help paying closer attention when he heard Miss Lopez use the word ‘demon’.

“... she’s still our friend and I’m sure everything will work out for you and Maze. And I don’t have to feel guilty now for not being able to be your roommate myself.” He had not heard the beginning of that sentence, but what he heard made Lucifer frown. Why on Earth would Chloe’s living situation have anything to do with Maze? A beeping sound coming from her lab made Ella leave Chloe’s desk, so when Lucifer reached it, Chloe was alone there.

“What did you and Miss Lopez talk about?” Lucifer tried to ask as nonchalantly as possible.

“Oh, just… you know… girl stuff,” Chloe was rather evasive with her answer.

“What girl stuff?” Lucifer didn’t want to let her get away that easily.

“Oh, look at the time, we should get going,” Chloe changed the topic and before Lucifer could really protest she was heading towards the exit.

Lucifer followed her, his gut telling him that she was hiding something from him. The worst part was that he had his suspicions about what it was and he didn’t like them one bit.

 

Chloe tried to steer their conversation towards other topics during the drive, but Lucifer was adamant about finding out what she was hiding. He let her finish telling about a new restaurant she had heard of (it wasn’t actually that new, Lucifer had already eaten there) and then asked calmly, “so have you succeeded in finding a roommate?” He looked at her closely to make sure that she was not lying to him.

Chloe was silent for a moment and Lucifer could tell that she was a bit nervous. “Uhm.. yes, I have.” She finally answered, keeping her eyes on the road.

“And who is it?” Lucifer continued with the questioning.

“It’s not Dan if you are worried about that,” Chloe tried to joke, but it didn’t sound very natural.

As avoiding answering the question in order not to lie was something Lucifer was very familiar with, it got him even more worried about the reason Chloe didn’t want to tell him. Lucifer decided to ask again. “I get that it’s not Dan, but I asked who it is?” This time he sounded more stern.

“Does it really matter?” Chloe still avoided both eye contact and answering the question. That could not mean anything good, but Lucifer was getting even more anxious about what she was hiding.

“Who is it?” Lucifer emphasised every word.

Chloe realised that Lucifer wouldn’t drop the subject and decided to tell him. He would find out eventually anyway, Chloe had just thought that it wouldn’t be so soon.

“Maze,” she answered silently.

“Are you out of your ever-loving mind?” Lucifer exploded next to her. “You are not doing this!”

“Yes, I am,” Chloe answered in a calm voice, hoping that it would placate her partner too.

“No, no, no, no, no and have I mentioned ‘no’. And also ‘no’.” Lucifer expressed his opinion.

“Why are you so against it?” Chloe decided to try and talk to him instead of just hearing his disapproval.

“She’s a bloody demon. Have you forgotten about it?” Lucifer asked, being rather confused about the question. 

“And you are the Devil,” Chloe said automatically. Then added quickly before Lucifer could take it the wrong way, “she is a demon but she’s also my friend.”

“Why on Earth are you thinking it’s a good idea to let a knife wielding, heavy drinking, orgie loving demon live with you and your child?” Lucifer asked her incredulously.

“I have already addressed those topics and I set some rules she has to follow,” Chloe explained.

Lucifer just huffed to that, “oh, and the demons are well known for their obedience to rules.”

“She knows what’s at stake, she has to follow the rules or must move out,” Chloe tried to sound firm and confident, but she did have some doubts herself about the demon’s ability to control herself.

“And you think you can kick her out?” Lucifer asked, sounding almost mocking. “I mean, you are a capable woman, but she’s still a demon. If she doesn’t want to go, she won’t.” He didn’t mean to sound arrogant, but that's just how it worked. No human could defeat a demon.

Chloe realised that they were going in circles, but they would soon arrive at the courthouse and she didn’t want to continue the conversation there.

“Look, Lucifer. I know you are probably just worried about how it’s going to work out, but it’s my apartment and my choice, so I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but I am living with Maze now and that’s it.” She hoped she wasn’t too harsh with him, but she did feel a bit like when she was living with her mother who always questioned her decisions and she didn’t want to be doubting herself again.

“Fine,” he snapped. “But don’t come crying to me when your life becomes unbearable because of her.” Lucifer turned his head and stared out of the side window.

“I won’t,” Chloe promised, while trying to dampen the thought that she might need someone who she could vent about Maze at times.

“Fine,” he repeated and Chloe could hear the anger in his voice Lucifer was trying to suppress.

The rest of the drive passed in silence, a rather tense silence. When they reached the courthouse Chloe parked the car and they got out. Chloe realised that she hadn’t thought about the case since Ella came to her desk. So there was a silver lining to all this.

They stepped inside the building and Chloe glanced at her side. Lucifer was still looking displeased, it kind of looked like she was walking alongside a thunder cloud. The sulking Devil was silent during the time they sat in the courtroom. Chloe started to worry that he would not say much when it was his time to testify, but she should have known better. As soon as he walked up to the stand, his mask was on - a smile that might have looked genuine to anyone who didn’t really know him. And with the mask also his usual gleeful no care in the world attitude. But at the moment Chloe was grateful for his ability to hide behind that mask.

The prosecutor let him tell about the case and what role he played in finding out that Petrov was the culprit. Lucifer was using his charm to appeal to the jury. Most of them were women and they seemed to be rather taken by him.

And then it was time for Petrov’s lawyer to question him. Charlotte Richards rose from her seat and moved closer, looking like a predator closing in on her prey.

“Mister Morningstar,” she started, “what exactly was your intention going back to the interrogation room alone after you, detective Decker and detective Holloway had already finished the interrogation of Mr. Petrov?”

“I felt that I needed to say one more thing to him,” Lucifer answered.

“And what was that?” the lawyer continued.

“That he is going to Hell,” Lucifer stated matter of factly.

“So you were threatening him that you will put him through Hell if he didn’t confess to the murders,” Charlotte Richards concluded, wearing a smug grin on her face.

“No,” Lucifer stated calmly, “I simply said that he is going to Hell. As in after his demise.” At that, some chuckles were heard from the room.

“And why did you feel the need to break the door handle?” the lawyer continued.

“Well, the quality of things is not what it used to be, you know. I mean, they used to build things like the Colosseum which has lasted nearly two thousand years. If they would build something like that today, it would be rather miraculous if it lasted 60 years.” Lucifer didn’t lie, so he avoided a direct answer to that question.

“So you deny locking yourself in the room with Mr. Petrov on purpose and threatening him?” she asked, the smugness on her face considerably lessened.

“It’s not threatening if you state a fact to someone,” Lucifer told the woman, sounding a little patronising. 

“And how would you know that he’s going to Hell?” Charlotte decided to play along.

“Well, he did murder two people.” Lucifer paused for a second and added, “at least. Even if the system is flawed, he would not get into Heaven.”

“So you’re a believer,” the lawyer stated.

“I beg your pardon?” Lucifer would be offended if she decided to compare him to those overzealous Dad worshippers who did despicable things in His name.  

“You believe that God and Heaven and Hell are real,” Mrs. Richards clarified what she meant.

“Oh they are real,” Lucifer stated.

“And given that your name is Lucifer, were you telling him that you’d drag him to Hell if he didn’t confess to those murders?” She still tried to go with the idea that Lucifer had somehow threatened Petrov.

“I might be the king of Hell, but I don’t decide where the souls end up,” Lucifer clarified. “It’s all up to you people.”

“The court?” Besides the lawyer, even the judge looked at Lucifer in confusion.

“No, no. The people decide for themselves. If they feel guilty they end up in Hell, if not, it will be the boringly blissful afterlife in Heaven.”

Charlotte Richards could tell that this line of questioning got her nowhere, so she decided to change the direction a little.

“So you say you didn’t threaten him in any way, but how do you explain that the man is so terrified of you that he refused to leave his holding cell when he heard that you’d be also attending the court?”

“I guess you can’t be liked by everyone, can you?” Lucifer brushed the question off with a smile.

“Is screaming loudly a usual reaction by the people who don’t like you?” Charlotte asked sarcastically.

“Oh, I’ve made plenty of people scream,” Lucifer said with a salacious grin that didn’t leave any questions about what kind of activities were causing the screams. Again there were some chuckles heard inside the room.

“He screamed in terror and is still terrified of you.” The lawyer clarified exasperatedly. She was apparently not amused by Lucifer’s earlier remark.

“Why don’t you ask him why he screamed? I can’t read people’s minds. I’m not a jedi,” Lucifer told her nonchalantly.

The lawyer finally gave up, understanding that she’d get nowhere with him and ended the questioning.

 

Next it was Chloe's turn. Again she gave the jury an overview about the case and how they came to suspect Petrov. The prosecutor guided her with some questions to make sure that the jury knew the most important details.

And then it was time to hear the questions of Petrov’s lawyer. Again Charlotte Richards rose like a shark from the table and walked closer to the witness stand.

“Tell me, detective Decker, is it common to let random people participate in interrogations?” 

“It’s not common, but it was not the first time we had someone who was not LAPD attend it.” Chloe could see where she was getting at.

“Did your Lieutenant give permission for it?” the lawyer continued.

“Lieutenant Monroe approved Mr. Morningstar’s participation in this case. Since both me and my partner at that time, detective Holloway, were both present during the interrogation, I didn’t see any problem with that,” Chloe answered, trying to sound as confident as possible.

“But you did see a problem when Mr. Morningstar decided to go back to the interrogation room alone, didn’t you?” the woman continued.

“Well, I heard a scream and they told me that the door is closed, so of course I was worried,” Chloe told her.

“And we can hear from the recording that you are rather alarmed when, I quote, you ask ‘Lucifer, what are you doing?’. So would you please explain why? Were you worried that he would harm Mr. Petrov?” Charlotte Richards seemed to be totally in her element. 

“I couldn’t see exactly what was going on, since the table was concealing them both a bit, so of course I wanted to know what was going on.” Chloe wasn’t sure how well she had succeeded in making it sound as neutral as possible.

“And you thought that he was doing something illegal, weren’t you?” Mrs. Richards kept pushing.

“No,” Chloe answered quickly. The truth was she didn’t really remember what she had been thinking at the moment, but she knew that Lucifer wouldn’t go and beat him up or anything like that. “I didn’t know what he was doing there, so I asked.” The prosecutor had advised her earlier to try to give answers that wouldn’t give the lawyer possibilities for additional questions, so Chloe thought that it should answer the question without leaving any loose ends.

“We have here a written statement from detective Holloway, who couldn’t attend the court due to health issues and he says, I quote, ‘detective Decker seemed to be worried when she rushed to that observation room’. So if you say that you were just asking because you didn’t know what Mr. Morningstar was doing in there, why were you worried then?” She narrowed her eyes at Chloe as if she could see inside her head if she looked more intensely.

“Well, we heard a scream from the interrogation room and there was a man who we suspected of committing a double homicide, so why wouldn’t I be worried,” Chloe explained. To be honest, she was not worried about Lucifer since she knew well enough that he was stronger than Petrov, but they didn’t have to know that.

“So you believe that Mr. Morningstar didn’t threaten Mr. Petrov?”

“I do,” Chloe answered. She knew that he had just shown the man that Hell is real, it could be described rather as warning not threatening.

“And how do you explain the scream you heard from the interrogation room?” the lawyer kept the questions going.

“As you know I wasn’t in the room, so I didn’t see what caused it.” Chloe tried to answer so that she wasn’t technically lying.

 

When the questioning was over Chloe was finally able to go back to her seat. Lucifer seemed still upset with her. A few times during the questioning she had tried to find Lucifer’s gaze, but it seemed he had been avoiding looking at her, occasionally looking at his phone and other times just somewhere else in the room than her. It was starting to get to her. Although she thought both her and Lucifer’s questioning had gone fairly well, the whole thing was emotionally draining and she would have liked to have the support of her partner.

Soon it was time for the closing statements from the prosecutor and the lawyer. The prosecutor emphasised how Petrov had admitted to killing the Carltons and would have also killed a 7 year old girl if she had been home. Besides his statement they also had other evidence supporting the idea that it was really Petrov. Charlotte Richards was still trying to convince the jury that Petrov had confessed only because of Lucifer’s threats in her speech. After the final statements were done the jury went to make a decision.

 

Chloe and Lucifer were both in the hallway when the prosecutor came to talk to them. He commended them for their good performance during the questioning. 

“So what do you think the verdict will be?” Chloe asked, hoping that the man would have enough experience to predict the outcome.

“I’m sorry, but you can never tell. I hope they will understand that Petrov is a murderer, but I have seen some truly surprising verdicts before.” The man looked a bit apologetic, but Chloe appreciated the honest answer. It would have been worse if she had gotten her hopes up and be disappointed by a ‘not guilty’ later.

They talked a bit more and just as the prosecutor was about to leave the bailiff called that the  break would be over in 5 minutes. The jury had certainly made their decision more quickly than Chloe had anticipated. The prosecutor seemed also surprised.

“Is this a good sign?” Chloe asked.

“You never know,” the man shook his head.

Chloe headed back to the courtroom. Lucifer had stepped away from them earlier and was tapping on his phone when Chloe left the hallway.

Lucifer went to sit on his chair next to Chloe a few minutes later, but didn’t pay much attention to her. He was trying to figure out how to convince the Detective that it was not a good idea to live with the demon. If not for her sake, she should think about her child. Lucifer was even contemplating over whether to tell her about the visit of Mrs. Roberts and how she had reacted to the demon. If she’d be living there, it could jeopardise her chances of keeping the girl.

Chloe sat on her seat and felt like there was a rift as big as the Grand Canyon between her and Lucifer although he was sitting right next to her. She couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if Petrov was found not guilty. Suddenly a terrifying thought popped up in her mind - would he try to go after Trixie? Chloe felt her palms getting sweaty and her heart starting to race at that thought.

Lucifer was keeping his gaze fixed in front of the room. Suddenly he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He had been texting during the break and thought it was another text. The jury was not back yet, so he decided to check it. But it wasn’t a text, it was a notification from the app for the bracelets. It gave an alert that Chloe was panicking. Lucifer was surprised, the Detective was sitting right next to him, she was in no danger. He glanced at the Detective and noticed that she seemed extremely tense. He listened a bit closer and could tell that her heart was racing. Lucifer was starting to understand what a jerk he had been. It had been basically his fault that the lawyer had any reason to make a case at all and he had told the Detective that he would support and help her with it. Instead he had been ignoring her the whole time that they were in the courthouse. Lucifer wanted to apologise for his behaviour, but he didn’t really know what to say. At the same moment the jury came in and Lucifer realised that even if he knew what to say, it was not the right time to do it. So he decided to simply put his hand on hers. Chloe’s fists had been clenched on her thighs, but as soon as Lucifer covered her hand with his, she straightened her palm and squeezed Lucifer’s fingers a little. When Chloe turned her head a little to look at her partner Lucifer gave her a little smile. Chloe smiled back, feeling that she could breathe again.

Fortunately she didn’t have to worry about Trixie’s safety much longer - the jury found Petrov to be guilty.

 

When they left the room Lucifer decided that now was the time to apologise, so she stopped Chloe in the hallway.

“Detective,” he started, “about my behaviour earlier, I wanted to …” but didn’t get further before a familiar voice interrupted.

“Detective, Mr. Morningstar,” Charlotte Richards appeared right next to them. “I guess I should congratulate you now.” The tone of her voice suggested that it would not be heartfelt at all.

“You know, we could use someone like you at my firm,” she turned to Lucifer.

“Sorry, not interested,” Lucifer told her, not really bothering to make it sound as if he was flattered by the offer.

“I’m sure we could pay you much more than LAPD,” she didn’t let go.

“I’m not helping the LAPD for the money,” Lucifer informed her.

Charlotte took a step closer and ran her hand along his lapel. “I could also offer some other benefits,” she said, her lips parted a little and tongue running along her front teeth. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what kind of benefits she had in mind.

“Still not interested,” Lucifer told her while removing her hand from his lapel.

“Are you sure? According to detective Espinoza I’m much better in bed than detective Decker,” Charlotte said with a smug grin.

“That’s impossible,” Lucifer muttered while Chloe could only say “what?” 

“Oops, did I say that out loud?” the lawyer feigned innocence. “Well, anyway, say hi to Dan from me,” she waved her fingers a little and walked away.

“What the Hell?” Chloe said angrily, looking after the woman who was hurrying away. “I can’t believe it.”

“Me neither. I mean, she is clearly out of his league,” Lucifer furrowed his brow.

“That’s not what I meant, Lucifer. Dan watched us trying to figure out who had given her the tip while it had been him all along,” Chloe hissed through her teeth.

“It sounds like he gave her more than just the tip,” Lucifer couldn’t help the innuendo, but Chloe didn’t react. She was already heading to the exit, so she could confront her pathetic ex as soon as possible.

Notes:

So what do you think will happen to Dan now?

Chapter 24: A drop of blood

Lucifer was looking at Chloe with curiosity and a mild arousal. He could tell that his partner was angry and somehow that raw emotion turned him on, maybe because he knew that it was not directed at him.

“So, will you need help with hiding the body?” Lucifer asked after they had been driving in silence for about 5 minutes. He was really curious about what the Detective was plotting.

“Maybe,” Chloe muttered, smirking a little. The thought of ending Dan’s miserable life did seem a little tempting.

“Well, I own multiple properties, so we could hide it in any of those. Or even better, I could fly to Antarctica and drop it there … or in the Mariana Trench maybe,” Lucifer kept coming up with suggestions.

Chloe couldn’t help but smile a little at his eagerness. “Thanks, Lucifer!” With a deep sigh she added, “but I guess we both know I’m not going to really end him. I just … I can’t believe he would really do something like that.” After a moment she glanced over at Lucifer, “do you think Mrs. Richards could be lying?”

“Well, I do find it hard to believe that a woman like that would be willing to sleep with detective Douche and I’m pretty sure she lied about her being better in the sack than you,” Lucifer pondered.

“Okay, I should confront Dan first then. Find out if it’s true what that lawyer said.”

“And if it is true?” Lucifer really wanted to know what kind of punishment she had in mind, because he was sure that the Douche would not get away with it.

“Then… I don’t know. I mean I would like to do a number of things, but harming him physically could jeopardise my career in the end, so I probably shouldn’t do anything like that.”

“Right… so some more creative punishment then,” Lucifer would have liked to inflict a proper amount of physical pain to the other man, but he understood that it could backfire spectacularly. “I could put some laxatives into his pudding. Or maybe put a snake in his drawer,” the Devil brainstormed.

“A live snake?” Chloe asked, alarmed.

“Yes, of course.” Lucifer answered in a tone that suggested it should have been obvious.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Chloe was already imagining the snake slithering around the precinct. She knew that Dan was not a big fan of snakes, but neither was she.

“Hmm… you might be right. I mean, the poor snake did nothing to deserve it,” Lucifer agreed with her, although Chloe had not been considering the snake’s perspective at all.

“Let’s just talk to him first and then we can decide what to do about it.” A part of her really wanted to believe that Charlotte had just messed with them, but her gut told her otherwise. Still she firmly believed that you should hear out the other person before a verdict.

 

Dan was sitting at his desk when they reached the precinct. Chloe went straight to him. “Dan, could we speak to you?” She tried to keep the anger that had not really dissolved since they had left the courthouse, out of her voice.

Dan looked up at them in slight confusion, not sure what this was all about. “Yeah, sure.”

“Let’s go to the observation room,” Chloe said and started to walk towards it. She thought it would give them the most privacy.

Dan followed her and Lucifer stayed behind him, just to make sure the Douche wouldn’t suddenly change his mind and bolt.

As soon as Lucifer had closed the door Chloe crossed her hands on her chest and the neutral mask she had kept on with great effort slipped from her face.

“So, what’s up?” Dan asked in a rather upbeat voice. Choe was wondering if he didn’t notice the expression on her face or he thought that he could make it better with his unconcern.

“As you know we went to court today, for the Petrov case,” Chloe began.

“Oh yes, how did it go? Did they find him guilty?” Dan asked.

“They did. But afterwards we had a chat with the lawyer, Charlotte Richards. She told us to say ‘hi’ to you.” Chloe watched his reaction.

“She did?” Dan perked up for a moment and then realised that he shouldn’t have done it. “I mean, I … I don’t know why she said it.” Dan stammered a little and a blush crept to his face.

“Cut the crap, Dan. You were the one who tipped her off, weren’t you?” Chloe lost her patience.

“No, I didn’t,” Dan tried to deny it but Chloe kept giving him the death glare and he understood that there was no way to get out of it. “Fine, I did,” he relented. “But I didn’t know who she really was,” Dan tried to defend himself.

Before Chloe even realised what she was doing her hand shot out and she slapped Dan. It echoed through the room and Dan’s head went to the side from the impact. Lucifer’s eyes widened in surprise and amusement.

Dan covered his cheek with his hand. “I’m sorry, Chloe. She came to talk to me and I just needed to vent. I really didn’t mean to jeopardise your case. She played me, Chloe. I thought she was interested in me, but she only wanted information.” Dan’s voice was pleading, but it didn’t erase Chloe’s anger.

“You stood by watching us trying to figure out how she got the information about how we got Petrov’s confession and you said nothing,” Chloe brandished her finger in Dan’s face.

“I know, I was a coward,” Dan admitted, looking at the floor.

“Yes, you are a coward,” Chloe agreed and walked out of the room.

Lucifer stayed in the room, looking at Dan. “What?” the other man asked, feeling uncomfortable under his stare.

“I really can’t understand how you could think that a woman like Charlotte Richards would be genuinely interested in you,” Lucifer shook his head.

“Shut up,” Dan said to him angrily.

Lucifer stepped closer to the detective. “You got away with only a slap this time, but rest assured if you ever pull anything like that again, you’ll have to answer to me.” His voice was calm, but the threat in it was palpable. 

“What would you do then? Kill me?” Dan tried to keep his voice steady, but he could feel cold sweat caused by fear creeping up his spine.

“Oh, you will be wishing I’d kill you when I’m through with you,” Lucifer’s voice was low and menacing. Dan didn’t have anything to say to that, he just gulped, watching the Devil leave the room.

--------

Lucifer was sitting in a booth at Lux, the table in front of him covered with papers. It was definitely not how he would have liked to spend his Saturday, but unfortunately he had to do it. The papers in front of him were resumes, a lot of them. On one hand it was nice that so many people were interested in the job he had advertised, but the task of selecting the ones who he should invite to an interview was tedious. He had tried to get Patrick to help him, but the man had claimed that he hadn't got time for this. Patrick did agree to be there for some of the interviews, but told Lucifer that he would have to pick out the candidates himself. At first Lucifer had thought he could invite them all to an interview, but soon understood that he would not want to make 68 interviews. Patrick had advised him to pick out not more than ten people, so now he was trying to decide who would be the lucky ones. The problem was that all those resumes were so similar, how was he supposed to know who would be a decent person to manage the club. One of the sites that the Detective had suggested to him had listed also a motivation letter as possible documents to ask from applicants, but Lucifer had thought that even more papers would not be a good idea. Right now he was thinking that maybe it would not have been so bad if he had something more creative to base his decision on.

He had even thought about just choosing random people from the stack of papers, but one of the resumes he chose that way had a rather hideous picture on it. And when he looked closer at the previous jobs the man had, Lucifer was even less impressed. So he decided that he will go through all the resumes and choose people who he thinks would be suitable. That was also one of the reasons he was doing it in the club, not in the office - the bar was much nearer. A nice bottle of Glenmorangie was also set on the table with a tumbler that Lucifer had filled already four times.

 

Lucifer was just trying to concentrate on a resume that again seemed to blend in with all the others when a familiar voice greeted him.

“Hi Luci,” his brother’s angelic voice made Lucifer look up from the paper. He was a bit surprised to see Amenadiel in his club.

“Amenadiel, what brings you here?” Lucifer asked, not hiding his surprise.

“Can’t a man just come to visit his brother?” the angel asked, not really answering as Lucifer noticed. Lucifer stared at him suspiciously, not believing that there was no ulterior motive behind the angel’s visit.

It didn’t take long for Amenadiel to give in and admit, “fine, I just wanted to be around adults for a while.” He sat down, sighing heavily. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my son, but sometimes I just want to be around people who use real words, you know.”

“Oh, you don’t have to explain to me wanting to get away from your spawn. I mean, I don’t think I could ever get through a whole day with a small human who can’t really communicate and craps his pants.” Lucifer shuddered at the thought. “But still, I am wondering why you are here.”

“Well, I called Dan first, but he didn’t answer,” Amenadiel confessed, looking down at his lap.

When Amenadiel fell quiet Lucifer furrowed his brows. His brother had still not explained how he ended up visiting him. Then it dawned on him.

“You don’t have other friends beside Dan, do you?” Lucifer asked a little bit mockingly. 

“No, I don’t,” Amenadiel admitted reluctantly.

“Well, luckily for you I was in the middle of a task so boring that even you showing up here is a welcome distraction.” Lucifer brought the tumbler he had been holding to his lips and took a gulp.

“What are you doing, brother?” Amenadiel eyed the stacks of papers curiously.

“Trying to find a new manager for Lux,” Lucifer told him. “Who knew that finding staff could be so tedious.”

“What happened to the previous one?” Amenadiel asked, a little surprised.

“I fired him. He was a massive dick. I’m quite sure that Maze hired him to torture everyone else,” Lucifer explained.

“Yeah, I guess he wasn’t a pleasant person,” the angel agreed.

“That’s putting it way too mildly. You don’t have to sugarcoat it, brother. We both know that he was an asshole.”

“You’re right, he really was an asshole.” Amenadiel had not liked the guy either.

“Thank you! And now I have to find someone who isn’t,” Lucifer sighed and filled his glass once more. “If you want one too, you can take whatever you like from the bar,” Lucifer offered. He knew that his brother was not a fan of whiskey, so he thought that it would be best to let him choose what he wanted.

“Thanks, but I’m good.” Amenadiel was not really accustomed to daytime drinking.

They sat in silence for a moment and Amenadiel took a paper from the table and looked at it. “I guess I might need one of those myself,” he said more to himself than Lucifer, but of course the Devil heard it.

“What do you mean?” he asked, clearly curious. 

“I’ve been thinking that maybe I should get a job again. We could hire a babysitter or put Charlie in the daycare, you know,” Amenadiel confessed.

“Getting sick of being a stay at home dad, I see,” Lucifer smirked.

“Maybe just a little. I just want to contribute to the household too. I know that looking after my son is also important, but I want to do more.” The angel was pouring his heart out and Lucifer didn’t really know how to react to that. It was not something they usually did and he didn’t know whether he was supposed to give some advice or just listen.

“So what kind of job did you have in mind?” Lucifer asked in order to steer the conversation to a less touchy feely ground.

“Well… uhm…. Actually, I was wondering if you’d have an opening in your security staff. I worked here as a security guard for a while.” Amenadiel was pretty sure that Lucifer knew that, but added it just in case to make his point.

Lucifer was not really surprised to find out that there was indeed an ulterior motive for his brother’s visit. “Sorry, brother, but I have enough security guards right now,” he informed Amenadiel.

“Oh. Okay, I guess I’ll try to find something else then,” the angel replied. He had hoped to avoid official job searching since he didn’t have much to put on his resume.

Lucifer eyed the stack of papers on the table and wished finding staff would go that easy - someone would just walk in from the street and be the right person for the job, so you wouldn’t have to deal with all this tedious paperwork to find someone. Suddenly an idea striked. Why couldn’t it be that easy?

“But I have a better idea,” Lucifer told his brother in a cheerful tone. Amenadiel had been sitting silently, staring at the distance after Lucifer’s reply to his inquiry about the job in his security staff but now looked at Lucifer, a little puzzled. “I could hire you as the manager of Lux,” the Devil suggested.

“A manager?” Amenadiel was baffled. “But I don’t know anything about managing a nightclub.”

“Well, neither did me or Maze at first. You’ll learn it, I’m sure.” Lucifer brushed off his brother’s concerns.

“But don’t you want someone more experienced to do it? I’m sure there are very capable people among those applicants,” Amenadiel pointed to the resumes on the table.

“They might be, but they might also turn out to be assholes like that Grayson guy was. I mean, you might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but at least I know you. And you know me, which means that I don’t have to explain how I can drink as much as I do or why the drugs don’t affect me as much as they affect humans.” The more Lucifer talked the better he liked the idea.

“I don’t know …,” Amenadiel was still not sure if it was a good idea.

“Oh, come on. You came here hoping I’d offer you a job and I’m offering. Just a different one.” Lucifer nudged his brother’s shoulder. There was no point in pretending he hadn't understood the real reason Amenadiel had come to see him.

“When would you need me to start?” Amenadiel asked after a short pause.

“As soon as possible. I could start showing you some things right away.” Lucifer had been hoping to spend the rest of the day in more interesting ways, but he would be ready to make a compromise if it meant that he could escape doing those interviews altogether.

“I think I should talk to Linda first. We don’t have a babysitter, but someone must look after Charlie if we are both at work,” the angel hesitated.

“Well, the hours are flexible - you could work in the evening when Linda is home. And I guess you could do some of the work at home also, like managing the schedule for the bartenders or something like that,” Lucifer offered some solutions.

“You really want me to do it?” Amenadiel asked, a little baffled. He was surprised that Lucifer would want him to take over the job so badly.

“I do,” Lucifer answered earnestly. By now he was convinced that it would be the best solution.

“All right. Fill me in a bit more about what you need me to do and I’ll do my best to get Linda on board with that.” Lucifer seeking his help was something very rare, so Amenadiel didn’t want to decline the opportunity. He was just a little worried about what Linda would say, since he hadn’t seriously talked to her about the idea of him finding a job, it had been just an idea that would probably happen sometime in the future.

“Excellent. Let’s go to the office and I’ll show you the ropes,” Lucifer beamed and stood up from the booth.

--------

Chloe arrived at work feeling still rather moved. It was her birthday and Trixie had given her a card that she had made herself. Chloe could see the care and dedication she had put in it and it had made her tear up. She had hugged her little girl and thanked her. The truth was that her living with Chloe was the greatest present Chloe could have ever asked for.

As soon as she had reached her desk Dan approached her, holding some flowers and a cardboard box in his hands. 

“Happy birthday, Chloe!” he said when he was standing in front of her desk.

“Thank you!” Chloe replied, accepting the flowers and the gift. She felt a bit unsure what to think of the gesture. They hadn’t interacted much after she had confronted Dan about tipping off Charlotte.

Apparently Dan understood Chloe’s restraint, because he started to explain his intention.

“I hope you still like lemon squares,” he pointed towards the box he had handed her. “It’s kind of a peace offering. I really am so sorry about what happened.” Dan did look apologetic saying it.

Chloe sighed. She didn’t really like holding grudges and Petrov had ended up in jail after all. “Okay, I accept it. But if you ever do something like that again …” she let it hang there, hoping it would sound threatening enough without her actually making a threat.

“Oh, believe me, I won’t,” Dan assured her. After a short pause he added in a more silent tone, “your partner already gave me a warning, saying that he’d make me wish he would kill me.” Dan looked rather uncomfortable saying that. “Do you think he would actually do something like that?” he asked Chloe.

Chloe was not really surprised that Lucifer had given Dan a warning. She had wondered why he hadn’t followed her out of the observation room as soon as she had walked out after confronting Dan. Of course she would most likely keep Lucifer from really harming Dan even if he’d do something stupid again, but she was not about to tell him that.

“I guess you better not find out,” she told Dan with a slight smirk.

“Yeah,” Dan agreed, not feeling too comfortable about it. “I’ll get back to work now,” he said, gesturing towards his desk a bit awkwardly. 

 

Chloe had just gotten back to her desk from the break room where she found an empty jar that was used as a vase around the precinct to put the flowers in when she suddenly heard a piano. Chloe looked at the direction of the sound and saw her partner standing right there, holding his phone in front of him and grinning from ear to ear. She had been arranging the papers on her desk to make sure they were far enough from the vase (just in case), so Chloe had not noticed when Lucifer came in. She suspected that Lucifer had intended to get to her desk without her noticing. Chloe now realised that the music coming from Lucifer’s phone was an elaborate piano version of ‘Happy Birthday’. Chloe listened to it with a smile. It was longer than the usual ‘Happy Birthday to you’ that people sang and at some point it turned to a cheerful jazz version. When it ended Lucifer finally spoke. “Happy Birthday, my dear Detective!” the Devil said and brought his other hand that had been behind his back during the piano concert in front of him and revealed a large bouquet of different kinds of flowers.

Chloe’s mouth fell slightly open at the sight. “Oh my gosh, Lucifer. They are beautiful,” she took the flowers from him and smiled. It was the biggest bouquet she had ever received.

“Thank you so much! And that birthday song was also really good,” she realised that she had not yet commented on the song.

“Well, thank you. Although I have to admit that I found the arrangement on the internet but it was performed by yours truly,” Lucifer stated proudly. “Since you don’t have a piano here, I had to record it this morning and play you the recording.”

“That was very nice of you. Although I would have been happy with you singing a simple Happy Birthday song also,” Chloe told him. She knew that he’s a skilled piano player, but she also knew how beautiful Lucifer’s voice is, so she would not have minded at all if he had sung to her.

Admiring the beautiful flowers again, Chloe suddenly remembered that the jar she took from the break room was the only one available right now and that meant she had no vessel to put that gorgeous bouquet in. “Oh shoot!” she cussed to herself.

“What’s wrong, Detective?” Lucifer asked, alarmed. 

“I just realised I don’t have a vase for the flowers,” Chloe admitted. She kind of expected Lucifer to give his opinion about how poorly equipped the precinct was, but instead the Devil smiled and looked towards Ella’s lab. Chloe followed his gaze and saw the Latina coming towards them, holding a vase in her hands.

When Ella reached them, she put the vase down on Chloe’s desk and hugged her tightly, rocking them slightly from side to side. 

“Happy Birthday, Chloe,” Ella chirped and finally loosened her grip.

“Thank you, Ella!” Chloe paused and looked at the empty vase on her desk. “Why do you have a vase?” she asked curiously.

“I asked her to keep it in her lab until we need it,” Lucifer answered instead. “You see, I saw that there were no real options for storing a large bouquet, so I bought a vase and Miss Lopez was kind enough to store it in her lab.”

Chloe should not have been surprised anymore. She knew that Lucifer was capable of being very thoughtful if he wanted, but she somehow managed to forget about it sometimes until he made another small but sweet gesture.

 

Ella had hurried back to her lab to finish some analysis, so Chloe and Lucifer were standing by her desk alone now.

“Detective, there is actually something else …” Lucifer started to speak, but was interrupted by officer Cacuzza who came to wish Chloe a happy birthday. Somehow it seemed to open the gates and half of the precinct now decided to show up at her desk to do the same. 

When all of her coworkers had finally gotten back to their desks Lucifer decided to try again. “Detective, could we go somewhere private to speak for a moment?” Lucifer asked, not wanting to risk someone interrupting them again.

“Sure,” Chloe agreed, but she was surprised why Lucifer would need the privacy. “We could go to the observation room,” she suggested.

“Excellent,” Lucifer smiled. They had just turned towards the observation room when Lieutenant Monroe’s voice stopped them, “Decker, Morningstar, a new case just dropped.”

Chloe turned immediately towards the Lieutenant and took the folder she was holding out. Monroe then started to give them the details about the case that she knew so far. Lucifer on the other hand didn’t turn around to face Monroe right away. He looked briefly towards the sky and wondered if his Father was tormenting him. Lucifer knew that dear old Dad didn’t usually deal with such matters, but it did seem that someone was trying to prevent him from having a moment alone with the Detective. Well, fortunately he had something special planned for lunch.

 

Right after getting the new case from Monroe they headed out to go to the crime scene. After getting back to the precinct they needed to go through a stack of papers to find out if any of the victim’s colleagues would have a reason to want to hurt him.

Chloe sighed heavily after sitting down at her desk. “We better get started or we won’t manage to go through them all today.”

“But we will have time for lunch, right?” Lucifer asked a bit worriedly.

“Sorry, but I don’t think we can go anywhere today. I don’t want to stay late since Ella and Linda are supposed to come over,” Chloe explained.

“I have a reservation for lunch, it’s your birthday and you should be able to have a nice lunch” Lucifer tried to protest.

“Well, you know how the job is. Even on my birthday the murders won’t stop," Chloe shrugged. Lucifer had hinted about plans for lunch since she had said that she doesn’t want a big party and she was really sorry that they couldn’t go, but she had plans that evening and couldn’t stay too late at the precinct. Initially she had not planned to have any guests over, but on their Tribe chat it had somehow happened that the evening of her birthday was turned to a girl’s night at her place.  

“Fine, I’ll cancel our reservation then,” Lucifer sighed and stood up to go and make the call. He didn’t want Chloe to overhear it, because he had another idea already forming in his mind. Unfortunately the restaurant couldn’t do a delivery on such short notice. Lucifer ended the call and huffed in frustration. He wanted to do something special for the Detective’s birthday. Besides, he knew that if he didn't provide some normal food, the Detective would eat something from the vending machine and those sandwiches contained more chemicals than the periodic table of elements. An even more horrifying thought was that maybe she would insist that Lucifer also ate some poisonous vending machine sandwich instead of going out and finding decent food. 

He started to Google places that he found decent that would deliver. Suddenly he stumbled on the page of Freddie’s burgers. He remembered how they had eaten those burgers a few times when they were together with Chloe and she had told him that those were probably the best burgers she had ever had. Well, that would be a nice surprise for her birthday, wouldn’t it. Unfortunately the food truck was nowhere near the precinct, but Lucifer was sure that this time money could solve the issue. So he made another phone call.

 

Chloe was a bit surprised how much Lucifer was helping her while going through the papers. She was a bit suspicious though, usually he had some ulterior motive when he wasn’t complaining about boring stuff they needed to do. And he had been checking the time on his phone at least 5 times in the last 10 minutes. So Chloe was quite certain that something was up.

When Lucifer checked the time for the 6th time, Chloe asked him, “are you waiting for something?”

“Kind of,” Lucifer answered a bit hesitatingly. “Isn’t it time for lunch yet?” he asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Lucifer,” Chloe sighed, “I told you we won’t have time to go anywhere today.”

“I know. But we still need to eat. Why don’t I go and get something for us?” Lucifer suggested.

“It’s nice of you to offer, but I can’t have you disappear for an hour right now. We can take something from the vending machine.” Chloe didn’t want to disappoint him, but they really needed to keep their lunch break as short as possible and she knew that those places that Lucifer would like were at least half an hour drive away.

“It won’t take that long. Ten minutes tops,” Lucifer promised.

Chloe furrowed her brows in disbelief. There was no place with decent food where you could get in five minutes. “Where would you go?” she asked, trying to understand what he was planning.

“Trust me,” Lucifer smiled at her, but didn’t answer her question. He started to walk away and when he saw that Chloe was still looking at him, Lucifer turned to face her, held up all his fingers and mouthed ‘ten minutes’.

 

Since Lucifer had been so adamant that he’d be back in ten minutes, Chloe checked the time when he left. To her surprise it was only eight minutes later when he was at her desk again, holding a paper bag and a cup holder with two cups. The bag didn’t have any logo on it, but it smelled delicious. When she opened the bag Chloe discovered two burgers in a wrapping that she recognised.

“Freddie’s burgers,” she stated surprised, “where did you get those? The place is at least half an hour drive away from here.”

“Well, they do have wheels on that food truck, so it can be moved,” Lucifer told her proudly.

“They delivered the burgers?” Chloe knew that he could pull off things that others couldn’t but that seemed too much even for him.

“They did, but the only condition was that I would have to buy at least 50 burgers,” Lucifer admitted.

“Fifty burgers,” Chloe was shocked. “We can’t eat that much.”

“We can’t, but there are more people than just us,” Lucifer told her with a smirk. “In fact, I have an announcement to make.” He cleared his throat and turned around to face the precinct. “Attention everyone! As you know today is the lovely Detective’s birthday and to celebrate it I have arranged Freddie’s burgers food truck in the precinct’s parking lot for an hour. And if you tell them the magic word ‘Detective’, your order will be free.”

There had been a few appreciative noises at first, but when he got to the part that their order would be free, the whole precinct erupted with cheers.

When Lucifer turned back to Chloe’s desk, beaming with satisfaction that the other members of LAPD had appreciated his gesture, she looked at him with a fond smile. “That was very kind of you.”

“Well, as you pointed out, we could not eat 50 burgers alone,” Lucifer told her, feeling a little flustered. Whenever Chloe looked at him like that it reminded him of the times she had told him that he was a good boyfriend. It caused a strange kind of ache in his chest and Lucifer didn’t know what to do with it.

Chloe just hummed at his reply, but kept smiling at him. Lucifer gestured towards the food and suggested, “we should dig in. You said it yourself that we shouldn’t waste too much time on lunch.” 

“Right,” Chloe agreed, a bit puzzled why Lucifer had seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden, but she couldn’t argue with the suggestion to start eating. The smell coming from that bag was reminding her how hungry she was.

--------  

“Okay, that’s it,” Chloe said, putting away the pen she was writing with. “We have gathered all the information we could from the papers and we can question the board members tomorrow morning.” She stood up and started gathering her things. “I have to get going. It’s already a bit later than I planned to leave.”

“Of course, Detective,” Lucifer didn’t argue. He knew that she had guests coming over. “Can I walk you to the car?” Lucifer asked when she rounded the desk.

“Sure,” Chloe agreed, but noticed that Lucifer looked a bit nervous. There was something that was on her mind too. After a few steps toward the exit she decided to speak up. “Listen, I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t invite you over tonight. It kind of ended up being a girl’s night. Well, a rather tamed version since Trixie will be there also.” The detective had liked the idea when her friends had come up with it, but she was afraid that her partner may be a bit hurt over it. Especially after all the trouble he had gone through with their lunch, not to mention that gorgeous bouquet she was carrying to her car right now along with the flowers that Dan had given her. They had eaten the lemon squares he gave her for dessert after devouring the burgers.

“Oh no, it’s quite alright, Detective. In fact, I already have some previous engagements for tonight.” He had made those a while back, assuming that the Detective would not celebrate her birthday in the middle of the week, but rather on the weekend.  

“Oh. That's good then,” she said and tried to quell the bit of disappointment she felt for not having him there. It was stupid, since she had agreed to the no men night (it’s not as if she would have any other men to invite anyway). 

They walked in silence until they reached the parking lot. Chloe’s car was not far away and she decided to make sure he knew how much she appreciated all his efforts. “Thank you again for the flowers and the burgers,” she smiled at him.

“You’re quite welcome, Detective,” Lucifer gave her a warm smile in return. 

“It was definitely a much better celebration than last year. Can you believe that Ella hired a stripper who jumped out of a giant cake in the middle of the precinct? It was so embarrassing.” Chloe had had a serious talk after that with Ella about how she does not like these kinds of surprises.

“I’m sorry I missed it,” Lucifer chuckled. Ella had warned him not to do anything outrageous when they had spoken about the Detective’s birthday.

Meanwhile they reached Chloe’s car and she opened the back door to place the flowers on the back seat.

“Listen, Detective, there’s something else I wanted …,” Lucifer started, but was interrupted by her phone that started to ring. Lucifer clenched his jaw and cursed in his mind the person who had invented those darn things.

“Sorry,” she apologised, getting the device out of her pocket. “It’s Trixie,” she said looking at the caller ID and answered it.

“Hi, Trix!”

“Hi, Chloe! I just wanted to ask if I should ask Lindsay’s mom to drive me home or should I wait for you?” Lucifer heard the girl asking.

“I’m sorry, I had to finish something so I’m just getting in the car. I’ll be there in 20 minutes if you want to wait. Besides, it would take me some time to get home because I still need to get a cake for tonight. You’d have to wait with Olga for a bit,” Chloe explained.

“What cake are you going to buy?” the girl’s interest piqued right away.

“Well, I was actually planning to go to the baker’s that’s near your soccer practice. If you want to go with me we could pick something out together,” Chloe suggested.

“Okay, I’ll wait for you,” the girl chirped.

“Great,” Chloe smiled. She knew that Trixie would want to pick out the cake with her. “Why don’t you start with your homework while you wait for me?” She knew that Trixie had gone to soccer practice right after school, so she had all her school stuff with her.

“Okay,” the girl agreed in a less enthusiastic tone.

“I’ll see you soon. Bye!” Chloe finished the call so she could get to her girl as soon as possible.

“Sorry, Lucifer, but I really need to go. Trixie is waiting for me,” Chloe explained apologetically while she got in her car.

“No worries, Detective. Enjoy your evening!” Lucifer didn’t want to keep her from getting to her daughter.

“See you tomorrow!” she said and closed the door of her car. 

Lucifer watched her drive away from the parking lot and looked skyward again. “You’re enjoying it, aren’t you?” he asked bitterly. He knew that his father had probably nothing to do with it, but all the interruptions that had prevented him from having a private moment with Chloe that day felt kind of deliberate.

--------

Chloe closed the door to Trixie’s room with a smile on her face. The evening had been fun. Trixie had liked her friends. Of course she had met Ella in the precinct back when she had not lived at Chloe’s place yet, but they hadn’t interacted that much then. Linda she hadn’t met before. Fortunately Trixie was not too shy around adults she didn’t know well, so the night had been full of laughter and fun. Since Maze had been away bounty hunting, the evening had been rather child friendly. They had played a board game that Trixie had suggested and afterwards when the adults had just chatted, Trixie went to her room to play. They had opened just one bottle of wine since they all had to work the next day and also Linda claimed to be a real lightweight after having Charlie. 

It might have been a little too domestic for a birthday of someone in their mid twenties, but Chloe was feeling content about it. She had been too focused on Trixie to organise a bigger party right now and most of the people who were important to her had been there anyway. The previous years her friends had tried to get her to celebrate with more booze and wilder parties, but she had always felt a bit empty afterwards.

Another thing that might have been the reason for her feeling that good right now was the fact that Linda had whispered “She’s a great kid, I’m glad you didn’t listen to me and chose to adopt her” when she hugged her before leaving. Chloe hadn’t even realised how much that conversation they had when Linda had found out about her idea adopting Trixie alone was still affecting her. After Linda’s words she felt like a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Chloe had felt her eyes get a bit teary and she was afraid that her voice would break if she tried to say anything to her friend, so she had just squeezed her a little tighter.

 

Chloe had just finished washing the dishes they had used when she heard someone knocking at the door. She dried her hands and rushed to the door. Even though the person behind the door was knocking rather softly, she was afraid that it might wake Trixie. She opened the door just a little first, but seeing who was on the other side, she opened it wider.

“Good evening, Detective! I hope it’s not too late.” It was her partner who was behind the door, looking a little hesitant.

“Hi, Lucifer! Uhm… well, I hadn’t gone to bed yet, but I was planning to, soon,” Chloe answered him, not sure how to define ‘too late’ in his question.

“It won’t take long,” Lucifer told her.

“Okay, come in then,” she opened the door fully and gestured to her partner to walk inside and closed the door behind him. 

“I do apologise for disturbing you so late, but I wanted to give you this before the day ended,” Lucifer reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small rectangular box that had a little bow on top of it. “I wanted to give it to you today at the precinct, but every time I tried to get a moment alone with you, someone intervened.” He extended his hand with the gift towards Chloe and she took it.

“Oh, Lucifer, you didn’t have to. I mean you already brought me flowers and those delicious burgers for lunch.” Chloe really hadn’t expected him to get her anything else.

“Well… this is something you were actually supposed to get three years ago. I had already ordered it, but it was not finished before… before I had to go.” Lucifer had been thinking about Chloe’s birthday gift months in advance back when they were together.

Chloe didn’t know what to say to that. She remembered how sad she had been that first birthday after Lucifer had left. Even though it had been a few months away, Lucifer had already suggested some ideas about what they could do that day before things had gone south. She had of course rolled her eyes at his more outrageous suggestions, but when the day came and instead of celebrating with her Lucifer was in Hell. Chloe remembers thinking that she would have done anything he suggested, if only he could have been there with her.

“Open it.” Lucifer’s soft voice pulled her back from the trip down memory lane.

Chloe did as he suggested and found a thin gold chain with a drop shaped pendant in the box. She took the necklace out and let it hang from her hand to get a better look. “It’s gorgeous,” she said when the light shone through the pendant that had a reddish hue to it. She was wondering what kind of material was used for the pendant, so she asked, “what is it?”

“It’s made of the glass that I used when I first tried to show you that I’m invulnerable. And the red comes from my blood,” Lucifer explained.

“What?” Chloe was surprised. Had the glass remained bloody from when he cut himself?

“I gave them a bit of my blood, so they could give colour to the pendant. It was meant to symbolise how you can make me vulnerable, so it only felt fitting that the drop should be red rather than transparent,” Lucifer elaborated.

“Thank you, Lucifer!” Chloe whispered, feeling a lump in her throat. It was the most thoughtful gift she had ever received. She opened her arms wide and luckily Lucifer understood her intent and stepped closer so she could hug him. Chloe wrapped her arms around Lucifer and he rested his hands on her back, feeling relief wash over him. 

“I’m glad that you like it,” Lucifer whispered into the crown of her head. He had been a little worried whether she’d like it. That’s why he had deemed it best to give the gift to her in private.

“I love it,” Chloe whispered back.

Notes:

You can hear the version of Happy Birthday I imagined Lucifer playing here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr1EaQGa-yI
I hadn't intended to make him play it at first, but by coincidence I was writing the birthday part when my own birthday came around and the first birthday greeting I received had this link in it. I listened to it and as it happens every time I hear someone play piano very well, I imagined Lucifer playing it. So I just couldn't help it and included it in the story.

Chapter 25: Deadly kink

Chloe was prepared to have a paperwork day. They had solved the murder she got at her birthday the previous day, so there was only the paperwork left before they could fully close the case. She had even contemplated telling Lucifer not to come since he didn’t really help her much with paperwork or rather not at all. Still, Chloe liked having him around, so she let him come to work as usual.

She had been writing the report for about half an hour when Lieutenant Monroe appeared next to her desk.

“Morning, Decker,” she greeted Chloe. “Is your partner also around?”

“Good morning, Lieutenant!” the Detective replied. “Yes, he’s around here,” Chloe glanced around the room to find where her partner had wandered and spotted him in the break room.

“Good. A new case just dropped,” Monroe let the file drop from her hand to Chloe’s desk.

“But I haven’t finished the paperwork of our last case yet,” Chloe informed Monroe. Usually they weren’t assigned a new case before the paperwork was finished.

“I know, but I have two detectives down with the flu and sadly the murderers don’t take sick days. You can finish the paperwork sometime later. Right now I need you two go to the crime scene.”

“Yes, Ma’m,” Chloe obeyed. She finished the sentence she had been writing when she was interrupted and then went to fetch her partner.

 

Oddly Lucifer was not that excited about a new case and told Chloe that he had counted on a quiet day at the office, so he had downloaded a new game on his phone and had been looking forward to playing it all day long.

Chloe rolled her eyes, but didn’t comment on it. She remembered how it had turned out when Lucifer had tried to help her with paperwork and how she had herself finally suggested that he’d better find something else to pass time with.

 

The house they were heading to was not hard to distinguish among the rather similar looking houses on the street. It had several police cars in front of it and also yellow tape preventing the neighbours who had come to see what was going on from getting too close. When they exited the car Lucifer looked around and commented, “the neighbourhood looks quite boring. I’m pretty sure the murder is also boring.”

“Stop complaining, we haven’t even seen the crime scene yet,” Chloe chastised him.

Lucifer didn’t say anything else, just held up the yellow tape like he usually did and they entered the house.

When they entered the bedroom where the body was found, Lucifer's eyes lit up immediately. “Well, I stand corrected. This murder doesn’t seem so boring after all.” On the bed lay the body of a naked woman.

“Oh, hi!” Ella greeted them. She was currently examining the body.

“Hi, Ella!” Chloe returned her greeting. “What do we have here?”

“Doris Kaufman, 29 years old, died around 11 PM last night. The cause of death is strangulation.” Ella pointed at the marks on the victim’s neck, “in the front it seems like markings from a chain, but at the sides it’s different, more like a belt or a collar. Also there are some weird scratches at the sides,” Ella leaned closer to get a better look.

“Are there any signs of a sexual assault?” Chloe asked since their victim was naked.

“It seems that she was having sex at the time or just before she died, but there are no signs of a struggle. I did find something underneath her fingernails. It looks like skin particles, but I’d have to examine it in the lab to be sure.”

“Breath play gone wrong, it seems,” Lucifer muttered.

“Could be,” Ella agreed. 

Chloe looked around the room. Nothing seemed knocked over or out of place. There were clothes on a chair near the bed that were neatly piled there, so it looked more like she had undressed herself.

“There are also no signs of a forced entry and two wine glasses on the coffee table in the living room. So my guess is that whoever was here, was invited,” Ella gave Chloe and Lucifer further details that she had already found out.

“So, who found the body?” Chloe asked next.

“The husband, Max Kaufman” Ella answered, emphasising the word 'husband' in a way that suggested that he was not the one who had been part of the action in the bedroom. “He’s in the guest bedroom,” she gestured in the direction where they could find the man.

“Thanks, Ella,” Chloe said to the forensic scientist and then turned towards her partner who had been inspecting the marks on the victim’s neck with curiosity, “let’s go talk to him.”

 

The man was sitting on a bed in the guest bedroom.

“Max Kaufman?” Chloe asked entering the room.

“Yes, I’m Max,” the man answered in a watery tone. His eyes were red and the expression on his face suggested that he was trying really hard not to cry.

“I’m detective Decker and this is my partner Mr. Morningstar. We’d like to ask you some questions,” Chloe introduced them.

“Yes, of course,” came the answer in a quivering voice.

“Can you tell me about finding the body?” Chloe asked, trying to sound as  gentle as possible.

The man inhaled and exhaled deeply before answering. “I was out of town for business. When I booked the flight back home I couldn’t get the late one last night, so I took the first flight this morning. I arrived home around 8.45. The door was unlocked. We usually lock the door, but Doris has sometimes forgotten it, so I didn’t think much of it. But when I got to the bedroom …,” Mr. Kaufman’s voice broke and he fell silent, looking down at his lap. “I called the police as soon as I realised that she was dead,” the man added silently.

“I’m going to need the details of your flight and the name of the hotel you were staying in,” Chloe told him. She needed to check his alibi, although her gut told that this time it was not the husband who had killed this woman.

The man just nodded, trying to compose himself.

“Do you have any idea who could have been with her last night?” Chloe continued with the questions.

The husband shook his head.

Looking at the man Chloe felt really bad about it, but she had to ask the questions. “Did you know that she was seeing someone else?” She had deliberately avoided the word ‘cheating’ because the man looked rather broken.

“No,” Mr. Kaufman said silently, “we were happy.” Then he looked up from his lap, “but it’s all my fault.” 

“Why do you think that?” Chloe was a little surprised.

The man sighed and after a pause started to explain. “A few months ago Doris told me that one of her ex boyfriends used to choke her sometimes during sex and she liked it. She asked me to do it also. I tried it, but… I just couldn’t. I was so scared that I’d hurt her… I could never hurt her. I told her that I wouldn’t do it again. If I had only done what she wanted, she wouldn’t be dead now,” the man finished, tears running down his cheeks.

“Mr. Kaufman, it is not your fault,” Chloe told him in a firm voice. “Do you know of anyone she could have confided in about the man who she met last night? A sister or a friend maybe?” 

“Doris didn’t have any sisters. If she did tell anyone about the man, it would be Sandy or Janice. They were her best friends.”

“Do you have their contact information?” Chloe took out a notepad to write it down.

“Yes, sure, I have their numbers,” the grieving husband took out his phone and started to search for the contact information.

“Do you also know the passcode for Doris’s phone?” Chloe was hoping they could get something from there in case the victim had not told anyone about her affair.

“I do,” Mr. Kaufman said. “I can write that down for you.”

After writing down all the information that the man could provide Chloe and Lucifer walked out of the room.

Chloe was a bit surprised that Lucifer had kept quiet the whole time, but she assumed that even he had sensed that the man was devastated about the death of his wife.

 

They stopped in the living room, but the officers who had inspected the area told them that there was no evidence that could help the investigation. Even the glasses were not much help, because the one that hadn’t lipstick marks on it was wiped clean. As the victim had been wearing lipstick, that meant that there was no DNA of the other person to be found. Chloe asked an officer about any information they had gathered from the neighbours, but unfortunately no one had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. Not even a strange car parked outside of the victim’s house. That meant that they had nothing so far. Chloe decided to go and talk to the friends and called them both. She could reach only one of them, but that was a start at least. The woman was fortunately free at the moment, so Chloe and Lucifer headed to the car.

 

After getting inside the police car Chloe didn’t start the engine right away. She sat there for a moment and let out a heavy sigh.

“What is it, Detective?” Lucifer asked.

“I feel really bad for the husband. He didn’t seem even angry about the fact that she had cheated on him, he was just so devastated about losing his wife,” Chloe admitted to Lucifer. She had put aside her feelings while interrogating the man, but the sight had really affected her. 

“Well, I do hope that he will get over blaming himself for her actions. We both know where that would lead him eventually, but it seems that he might have no actual reason to go there,” Lucifer added. That man’s sorrow over losing his wife had seemed genuine, so he was pretty sure that he had not been the one who had strangled the victim.

Chloe started the car, but there was something that she had been wondering.

“Have you ever done this kind of breath play?” she asked Lucifer, remembering what he had called it. When they were in a relationship Lucifer had introduced a number of new things to her in the bedroom, but that had not been one of them.

“Yes, of course,” Lucifer answered as if it was something totally natural to do. “It can be quite enjoyable.” After a short pause he continued, “not getting strangled is usually the reason why it’s suggested that you don’t do it alone, but somehow in this case it didn’t save the woman.”

“Do you think it could have been an accident?” Chloe wondered. 

“It could,” Lucifer answered thoughtfully, but Chloe was under the impression that he didn’t really believe that it could have been an accident.

 

The friend they met couldn’t help them much further. She was devastated about her friend’s death and confirmed that the marriage had seemed happy to her. Janice found it hard to believe that Doris would cheat on Max. 

 

After talking to Janice they went back to the precinct. Chloe checked the flight information and the hotel which name Max Kaufman had given them and both of them confirmed his alibi - the victim’s husband was out of town when she died. Chloe wasn’t even sure yet if it really was a murder or just an accident and the other person just panicked and fled the scene.

Lucifer had been checking something on his phone for some time. Chloe didn’t pay much attention to it, because usually when she needed to confirm someone’s alibi, it was her who did it and Lucifer occupied him with something else. The Detective assumed that her partner was again playing some game on his phone, but this time it was not the case.

“I think I found it,” Lucifer suddenly exclaimed.

“Found what?” Chloe didn’t follow.

“The murder weapon,” Lucifer clarified and showed Chloe the search results on his phone. It was opened on a site that sold sex toys and sexy laundry and stuff like that. Lucifer’s search result was a necklace/collar that had a chain in front of it, so that the leather collar covered half the neck and in front it was connected only by the chain that hung there in two lines.

“Are you sure?” Chloe asked. It looked rather loose to her.

“Yes, when you pull the chain, it closes the collar. Usually it’s used just to subdue the other person, but our killer pulled it with enough force to strangle the woman,” Lucifer explained.

“Let’s go and show it to Ella.” Chloe wanted to know what the forensic scientist thought about it.

 

“Oh, I was just about to come to you guys,” Ella seemed a bit surprised to see them in her lab. 

“Do you have something for us?” Chloe’s voice sounded excited.

“Yeah. I analysed the substance I found underneath the victim’s fingernails and it is skin.”

“So she scratched the killer?” Chloe asked to clarify, the hope evident in her voice.

“Not exactly. I tested it and it was her own skin,” Ella informed them with a heavy expression.

Chloe furrowed her brows in confusion.

“The little scratch marks I found around her neck were from her own fingernails,” Ella explained.

“She was trying to get the collar off,” Lucifer said almost to himself.

“I agree, I think she tried to get whatever was around her neck off when it became too tight,” Ella confirmed Lucifer’s assumption.

“So it was a murder,” Chloe concluded.

“I’m afraid so,” Ella agreed. After a short pause she asked, “and it could have been a collar. Besides her own skin there were also particles of processed animal skin that are used in making leather items, including collars.”

Lucifer turned his phone screen towards Ella, “I think it might have been something like this.”

The forensic scientist took the phone to examine the picture closer, zooming it in. ”It seems to match the markings on the victim’s neck,” Ella commented. “Are those custom made?”

“No, I’m afraid everyone can purchase one from this site. Or from some other similar site,” Lucifer had to admit.

“So it doesn’t really help us further,” Chloe stated bitterly.

Everyone fell silent for a moment. It was suddenly broken by the sound of Chloe’s phone. The Detective looked at the screen and answered with a formal greeting since it was a number she didn’t know. It turned out to be Sandy, the other good friend of their victim. She had been in a meeting earlier when Chloe had called and was willing to help them in any way she could, so she agreed to meet them right away.

 

Sandy seemed also devastated about the news of her friend’s death and assured them that Max loved her very much.

When Chloe asked whether she knew with whom Doris was cheating, Sandy hesitated. Chloe insisted that it could be very important information and the other woman relented.

“Doris found an app for people with kinks,” she started fiddling with her hands nervously. “She started to talk to someone there and he was interested in the same stuff she was.”

“Breath play?” Lucifer asked.

“Yes,” Sandy confirmed. “She told me that she just wanted to experience it once again. Since Max didn’t want to do it, Doris had to find another way.”

“Do you know who the man was?” Chloe asked.

“No,” Sandy shook her head. “I know that they met in a coffee shop once and were supposed to meet again for … doing it. She said that he seemed very understanding about her situation and she had explained to the man that she is not planning to leave her husband.”

“Do you know where they met?” Chloe continued with the questions.

“Gustavo’s,” Sandy told her, “she usually didn’t go there, so it seemed a good choice. Doris didn’t want to go to some place where the staff would recognise her.”

“Did Doris tell you anything else about the man? His name or what he looked like?” 

“She told me the first name. Or at least what he had given her. I mean, he could have used a fake name.”

“And what was the name?” Chloe had her notepad ready to write it down.

“I’m not sure. I think it started with an ‘S’,” the other woman looked apologetic. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t really want to know much about this… thing. I mean, Max is such a great guy, I didn’t like that she did this. Doris said that she didn’t want to hurt him, but she just couldn’t let it go and that it would be just a one time thing. She made me swear I wouldn’t tell anyone about it.”

“And you don’t think she could have told anyone else?” Chloe would have liked to have more details about the man Doris met.

“No, she said that I was the only one she told about it. Even Janice didn’t know.” Chloe had wondered if Janice had lied about not knowing, but it seemed that it was not the case. 

“Alright, if you think of anything else, please let us know,” Chloe handed the woman her business card.

“Okay,” Sandy said while taking the card.

 

Back in the precinct they went to see Ella again.

“Do you have the victim’s phone?” Chloe asked as soon as they had entered the lab. “I think there might be some valuable information.”

“Yes, it’s here,” Ella gestured towards the device. “And the passcode that her husband had worked. I tried it earlier.”   

“Great,” Chloe took the phone and typed in the numbers to unlock it. 

“What are we looking for?” Ella asked, stepping closer to Chloe and Lucifer who were looking through her apps.

“The victim’s friend said that she used some kind of app for connecting other people with kinks,” Chloe explained. Unfortunately Sandy had not remembered the name of the app either.

“That one,” Ella suddenly exclaimed. When Chloe looked at her a little surprised and Lucifer smirked, the forensic scientist backtracked, “just a guess. I mean the name does sound a bit like… you know.” Ella was visibly flustered, but Chloe decided not to comment.

“KinkedIn,” Chloe read the name of the app Ella had pointed out and opened it. It seemed to be the right one. Soon they found private messages between Doris and a user named Dark Knight. They had set up a meeting in Gustavo’s 8 days ago and planned to meet again the previous night. There was no doubt that this was the man who had been with Doris the night she was killed. From the messages it was clear that the sex had been consensual and that Dark Knight had told her about some special gear he had for the asphyxiation.

“We need to contact the people who manage the app, see if they have some way to connect the user with the real person behind it,” Chloe said as she put down the phone and started to head to her desk. She then noticed that Ella was looking kind of distracted. “Is everything alright?” Chloe asked her friend.

“Yes, I just can’t shake the feeling that it sounds kind of familiar. I’m gonna check the database, see if I can find something,” Ella offered.

“Okay, we will go and contact the owners of the app,” Chloe nodded and left the lab with Lucifer.  

 

It turned out that it was not so easy to contact the people in charge of the app. The contact information they found on the internet led them to a customer service person, who didn’t have any knowledge or authority to help them further. After explaining who she was and why she needed the information, Chloe got the number of the head office. Unfortunately the secretary who answered told them that the CEO was at a meeting and they should try again in 1,5 hours or even later. Chloe thanked her tersely and groaned after ending the call.

“Not much luck, eh?” Lucifer asked, a bit amused seeing Chloe’s reaction. She was usually rather composed.

“I’m sure you heard it,” Chloe glared at him. She knew that his celestial hearing allowed him to hear both ends of the conversation during a phone call. She had seen the amused expression on his face when the customer service man had given her an extra dumb answer, so Chloe was quite certain that Lucifer had paid attention to the calls she had made.

“Maybe,” he chuckled. “You were definitely much more patient than I would have been.” Seeing that Chloe was standing up from her desk Lucifer wondered, “what should we do now?”

“We’re going to go to Gustavo’s. Maybe someone remembers something or they have security cameras.”

Before they could move any further Ella came from her lab at a quick pace. “Hey, guys, there’s something I need to show you,” she beckoned them towards her lab again.

When Chloe and Lucifer entered the lab, Ella had some pictures printed out on the evidence table alongside some papers.

“I did some digging and this is not the first murder with that MO. About 5 months ago in San Jose there was a similar one - a woman was found on her bed naked, strangled during or after sex, with the same kind of markings on her neck.” The forensic scientist pointed to a picture of a dead woman’s neck that looked very much like the one they had seen this morning. “During the investigation they also found out that she had used the KinkedIn app. The woman was in a bit of a rocky relationship, they were on and off with her boyfriend. First they suspected the boyfriend, but he had been with another woman at the same time, so he had an alibi. The killer was never found,” Ella concluded the introduction of the case she had found.

“But that’s not all. About 6 months before that there was another case in Sacramento. This time it seems that the strangulation was done using his hands, but again naked on the bed and post coital. There had been reports of domestic abuse, so again the husband was suspected, but there were two beer bottles at the table in the motel room where she was found and the fingerprints didn’t match the husband, so ultimately he was not charged. The case is unsolved.”

“Did they find fingerprints from the San Jose crime scene also?” Chloe asked hopefully.

“No, but they did find a hair on the victim’s body that was not hers. It was a male hair, light brown, but since they had nothing to compare it with, it didn’t help much. Only helped to clear the boyfriend, because he had dark hair and they also compared the sample to his DNA which didn’t match, so it indicated that there had been someone else, since the hair was on her naked body.”

“So we have fingerprints from one scene and a hair from the other, but nothing to compare them to,” Chloe summed it up, “and it’s possible that we’re dealing with a serial killer here.” After a short pause she asked, “did the victim from Sacramento also use the app?” 

“No idea,” Ella said, looking through the case notes that she had printed out. “It says that according to a friend of the victim the woman had found out her husband had been cheating on her, so she had decided to cheat in turn. They questioned all the likely male acquaintances, but everyone had an alibi, so they finally concluded that she had picked up someone random at a bar that evening and things had gone a little rough.”

“It happened almost a year ago, I could ask if they still have her phone, but I doubt it,” Chloe muttered. Usually these kinds of things are given to the relatives after they finish processing them, unless no one wants it.

“Thanks, Ella,” Chloe said to the other woman, but her expression was even more worried than before. “Let’s go to Gustavo’s,” Chloe told Lucifer before she stepped out of the lab.

Lucifer stayed right behind her. The worried look on his partner’s face had not gone unnoticed by the Devil.

When they reached the elevator Lucifer decided to ask, “is everything alright?”

“Yes,” Chloe answered on first instinct, because it was just another workday and there was nothing specifically wrong if you didn’t count the murder, but after a pause she added, “no.”

When Lucifer looked at her with a confused expression, she elaborated, “it’s not alright that we have possibly a serial killer on the loose and so far we have no leads on his identity.”

“The coffee shop might have some security cameras and we could get something from there,” Lucifer tried to be optimistic.

“Yeah, maybe,” Chloe agreed, but didn’t sound too enthusiastic.

 

Unfortunately Chloe had been right, they didn’t get a new lead from Gustavo’s. The place did have security cameras, but the killer had apparently known how to avoid them or just been incredibly lucky (lucky for him and unlucky for LAPD) in his choice of seating. He had been wearing a baseball cap when he came in with the victim and sat just outside of the area that the security cameras covered. They could see Doris and that the man was sitting opposite of her. Chloe could even see that he had taken off the cap and placed it on the table, but she couldn’t see the man’s face. When they left he put the cap back on, so the Detective and Lucifer were left with nothing.

Chloe decided to ask for a copy of the security footage nevertheless, just in case it could maybe come in handy after all. Luckily the manager of the coffee shop was cooperative and didn’t object to the police getting a copy of the footage.

 

Walking to the car Chloe checked the time and noticed that it would be time to call the app management again. Hopefully with better luck this time.

This time the secretary informed them that the meeting had ended and she forwarded the call to the CEO.

Chloe introduced herself and asked if they could stop by to ask some questions.

“I’m sorry, but I’m heading out in ten minutes. Tomorrow my schedule is full, so maybe the day after tomorrow,” he suggested.

“Could I just ask some questions over the phone then?” Chloe asked. She didn’t want to wait two days until the man had time for her.

“Sure, go ahead,” the CEO agreed.

“I will put you on speaker, so my partner Mr. Morningstar can also hear us.” Chloe decided it would be easier, in case Lucifer wanted to ask something himself.

“As I told your secretary already, a woman was found dead this morning and she was using your app to find people with similar interests as her. According to the messages she was supposed to meet with someone she met through this app. We would like you to help us identify the person behind the username.”

“I’m sorry, but that might not be possible,” the man informed her, not sounding too apologetic.

“Why not?” Chloe inquired.

“When the users register, they have to put in a name and e-mail address, but we know that most of them put in a fake name, just in case. We don’t ask for any social security number or anything like that. I can give you the name of the user, but I can’t guarantee that it’s the real name. It’s all about anonymity for the users.” 

“Can you check the name anyway?” Chloe tried to hide her frustration about hitting another snag.

“All right, tell me the user name,” the man agreed.

“Dark Knight is the username,” Chloe replied.

They could hear the sound of typing from the other end and after a while the man spoke again, “yeah, it seems that he has not used a real name or even if it is his real name, good luck with finding the right person. It says that his name is John Smith.”

Chloe clenched her jaw, biting back the cuss words she would have liked to let out. She did not believe that it was the man’s real name and the CEO was right, even if it would be that user’s real name, they would probably never find him based on the name.

“Do you know if he has also talked with some other users?” Chloe tried to get as much useful information from the guy as possible. It occurred to her that the killer might be searching for other victims now.

“No, we don’t monitor private conversations. There are log files from the chat rooms, but I’d have to ask my coworker to get them. I don’t deal with those myself.”

“Please let me know when you have the log files. Is there anything else you can do regarding that user?” It was rather frustrating to know that they basically know who the killer is, but they just can’t get to him.

“What do you want me to do? Ban him from the app?” the CEO started to sound a little impatient.

“No,” Chloe answered thoughtfully. “He might do another account then and we wouldn’t even know. Could you just monitor him from now on?” 

The man breathed out heavily. “I’ll see what we can do. But I have to go now. Leave your contacts to my secretary and we’ll get back to you.”

“I’ll do that. Thank you!” Chloe thanked the man although she had hoped to get more information regarding the suspect from that CEO. The call got directed back to the secretary and Chloe gave her phone number and e-mail address to the woman.

Chloe didn’t even try to hide her disappointment and frustration after disconnecting the call. It looked like they would not catch the bastard, not until he’d make a mistake and so far it didn’t seem like he had.

“Are you alright?” Lucifer asked tentatively after they had been sitting in silence for a few minutes. He could see that the Detective was upset, but he had no idea how to make it better. To be honest he was also feeling rather helpless.  

“I feel just so…,” Chloe couldn’t find the right words to describe her feelings so instead she let out a growl and fisted her hands.

“I understand,” Lucifer smiled at her, “I feel the same.”

“I guess we should review the case files from the previous cases more thoroughly, maybe we’ll find something,” Chloe suggested.  She needed to have some plan to move forward.

Lucifer sighed, going through some papers was not his favourite part of the work, but he understood that there was nothing else they could do at the moment.

“But it’s late already. I guess we’ll leave it to tomorrow. Let the dead speak, like Ella says sometimes,” Chloe continued. It was already almost 5 PM and they needed to drive to the precinct first.

The drive to the precinct was rather quiet. It wasn’t uncomfortable though, they were both busy with their thoughts. In Chloe’s mind her own words echoed, wouldn’t it be great if the dead really could speak to her. That led her to thinking about the afterlife and suddenly an idea occurred to her that she couldn't shake anymore. She wasn’t sure though if Lucifer would be comfortable with that.

When they reached the precinct Chloe decided to ask. She parked the car and before Lucifer could exit, Chloe started to speak.

“Listen, I was thinking… do you think Mrs. Kaufman was feeling guilty when she died? About cheating for example,” Chloe asked in a thoughtful manner.

Lucifer frowned a little at the unexpected question. “I suppose she could be. I mean, people feel guilty about much less, so if she really was otherwise happy in her marriage, the having sex with another man part would most likely make her feel guilty.”

“And if she did feel guilty while dying, it would mean that she’s in Hell now?” Chloe continued with the questions. Lucifer had explained the system to her, but she wanted to be sure that she’d gotten the situation right.

“That’s correct,” Lucifer said while eyeing her a bit suspiciously. He didn’t understand the reasoning behind these questions.

Chloe decided to explain her idea to him. “I was thinking… if she’s in Hell, would you be able to find her?”

“You want me to go down there and talk to our murder suspect?” Lucifer said with obvious surprise in his voice. He had not seen that one coming.

“You said that you go down there regularly to check on things,” Chloe answered, not wanting Lucifer to think that she’d force him to go to Hell if he didn’t want to. 

“I do,” Lucifer answered, not sure how he felt about her idea.

Seeing that Lucifer was not too excited about it, Chloe started to backtrack. “But if you don’t think it would be a good idea, then it’s okay, just forget I said anything.”

“Well, I mean, I was planning to go check on things tomorrow or the day after that, but I guess I could go tonight also. And I should be able to track down her loop,” Lucifer was thinking about it out loud. “I need to go to that wretched place anyway, so why not try to get something useful out of it.” Lucifer smiled at the Detective. The thought of being able to help her in a way no one else could made the suggestion sound better the more he thought about it.

“So you’d be okay doing it?” Chloe sounded hopeful.

“Yes, Detective. I will track our kinky Doris down and try to find more information about the killer,” Lucifer promised.

“Thank you!” Chloe felt tears prickle in her eyes. It gave her a ray of hope where there had been none and it made her a bit emotional.

“You’re most welcome,” Lucifer answered before putting his hand on the door handle, “I guess I’d better get going now.”

“See you tomorrow,” Chloe said rather cheerfully.

“Good night, Detective!” Lucifer looked at her with the soft expression he seemed to reserve only for her.

 

A little more than an hour later Lucifer finished the last of his drink and stepped onto the balcony with a sigh. He had changed into the suit he had been wearing when he went to Hell more than three years ago. When he had returned Lucifer had sent the suit to the dry cleaners, but he could still smell Hell on it. At first he had planned to throw it away, but then he realised that he’d have another suit ruined if he’d go down there in a different one. So he kept it in a garment bag and only put it on when he was going back there on his weekly visit.

Even though so far the visits had gone okay and hadn’t lasted that long (in Earth’s time anyway), he felt a bit nervous every time when he was about to go. This time at least he had a better reason to go than just check on those bloody demons.

With a well practiced move Lucifer let his wings unfurl and a moment later the balcony was empty, only a gust of wind remaining of the Devil and his magnificent white wings. 

--------

Dan was walking towards his car after the improv class. He had had a good time again, so his mood was rather good. The evening was nice so he didn’t mind that he had to walk quite a distance to his car. That was the only downside about the improv class - the location was in an area where parking spots were hard to find. It wasn’t that much of a problem when he had enough time to find a parking spot and walk to the class before it started but a few times he had been kept longer at work than he had planned, so the fact that there were not enough parking spots near the building where the classes were was annoying. But even then the class itself helped. 

Dan was glad that he had discovered the ad for the classes and that he had worked up the courage to go and try it. After the fiasco with Charlotte he decided that he needed something else to keep him occupied during the evenings than hanging out at some bar. For some reason he had thought that people would think that he’s weird for going to an improv class, so he hadn’t told anyone about it. Not even Amenadiel. One time Dan had even lied to him about why he couldn’t meet, because the real reason was that he wanted to attend improv class instead. Dan hadn’t felt good about it and to be honest he would like to share it with someone, so he was thinking that maybe he should tell Amenadiel. The man had not judged him before, so Dan had actually no reason to think that Amenadiel would make fun of him or anything like that.

Dan had almost reached his car when suddenly a familiar figure caught his attention from across the road. He stopped in his tracks and looked closer. There was no doubt, Charlotte Richards, dressed in a white button up shirt and tight black skirt was right across the street. She was looking at something on her phone, so she didn’t see Dan. One part of him was glad that she didn’t notice him, but the other, pathetic part wanted her to see him. Dan still remembered the surge of hope he had gotten when Chloe had told him that Charlotte sent her greetings, before he realised what that meant. Dan couldn’t help but wonder what she was up to. When he noticed that the woman entered hotel Gleam Dan immediately assumed that she was probably meeting with someone. What other reason would she have to go to a hotel when she lives in the same town? Both jealousy and hope of a vengeance surged through him and before Dan even realised it, he was crossing the street to follow her. 

Chapter 26: News from Hell

Notes:

This chapter turned out longer than I expected, but I didn't want to stretch that case into another chapter, so bare with me.

Dan stepped into the hotel lobby and saw Charlotte by the elevators. He quickly moved to the side of the room where he could see the floor number where the elevator went. As soon as the door closed he hurried to the stairs and practically ran to the third floor where the elevator took the lawyer. 

Dan wasn’t really sure what he was doing or why. He kept telling himself that she could be fooling someone else and it’s his civic duty to stop her. It was not about him being jealous of her. He had no problem with her sleeping with other men. No problem at all.

When he reached the third floor, Dan stopped for a moment and peeked into the hallway through the glass pane on the door. He could see Charlotte walking to one of the doors and knock on it. It seemed to be the last one down the hallway. After she had stepped inside Dan entered the hallway himself and started walking towards the room Charlotte had gone. With every step Dan started to doubt more and more whether he should really knock on the door or not. It could be perfectly innocent, she could be just meeting with a friend or relative, not another unsuspecting prey like Dan had assumed initially. Pondering what to do Dan kept walking, but his pace was much slower now. When he reached the door, Dan just stood there, coming to the conclusion that it had been a crazy idea to follow Charlotte. Just when he turned to leave Dan heard a cry for help. It was rather weak and he wasn’t sure if it was Charlotte’s voice or not, but it definitely sounded like a female voice. Dan stepped closer to the door to listen and heard sounds that indicated that there was a struggle inside. After another cry of pain coming from the room Dan decided to take action. He knocked on the door, “LAPD, open up.” No one opened the door. He listened again closely and could hear a faint ‘help’ from inside. Dan tried the door and it was locked. He kicked the door as hard as he could and it flew open. When he entered the room he saw someone climb out of the window. Dan was about to go and chase after the person but then he noticed the other person who was lying sideways on the floor. It was Charlotte with a big screwdriver sticking out from her neck. 

“Shit,” Dan rushed to the woman and checked her pulse. It was weak but still there, so she was still alive. Dan immediately called 911 and stayed there to wait for them.

--------

After landing in Hell Lucifer immediately concentrated to find Doris Kaufman. It would have been easier if they had met while she was still alive, but her name and face from the photo Lucifer had seen in her house were also sufficient to find the soul. It just took a bit longer to locate her loop without having actually met her and being familiar with her energy.

When Lucifer stepped inside the woman’s Hell loop he entered the same bedroom he had been in this morning. Two people were on the bed having sex. He recognised Doris and then looked closely at the man who was pounding into her. He looked rather ordinary. The man wasn’t ugly, but there was nothing special about him. His hair was light brown, as the hair they had found on victim number two’s body suggested and although it didn’t look like he had been to the gym lately, he didn’t look overweight either. Lucifer also noticed that he had been right about the murder weapon - the same kind of collar he had found was around Mrs Kaufman’s neck and the man was holding the chain. At this point they both seemed to be enjoying themselves. As a matter of fact the woman was about to climax. The man tightened the chain and Doris came with a cry. Usually the hold around the neck would be loosened after a climax, but in this case the man tightened it even more. Lucifer could tell when the woman realised that the collar was tighter than it should be. As they had suspected, she started to claw on the collar, trying to get it off. “I can’t breathe,” she wheezed in a silent voice, but the man just grinned at her.

“All cheating sluts must die,” he said to the struggling woman. “Don’t you agree?” he asked then, looking towards the corner of the bed where suddenly Max Kaufman was standing.

“I do,” he said in a stone cold voice, quite different from the tone Lucifer remembered hearing from him during the questioning this morning. “I think she got what she deserved,” the husband snarled.  

“You heard it, slut? Even your man agrees, that trash like you should not be living,” the man who was still thrusting into Doris said and pulled the chain harder. The woman stopped breathing and the loop restarted.

The surroundings changed and they were now in the living room. Doris was alone, setting two wine glasses and a bottle onto the coffee table. Lucifer considered stopping the loop, but just then someone knocked at the door and Lucifer decided to wait a little, hoping to gather some information about the killer.

The woman opened the door and greeted her killer, “Hi, Stephen!”

“Hello, Doris!” the man answered.

“Come in. Take a seat,” Doris invited him in and gestured towards the couch. “I hope you like red wine. I thought we could drink something first,” she said. It seemed that Doris was a bit nervous.

“Yeah, red is fine,” Stephen told her and sat down on the couch.

The woman sat also and Lucifer noted that she was bouncing her foot up and down quickly. He guessed it was a sign of her being nervous. They were sitting in silence for a few moments “So, did you get the brakes repaired?” she suddenly asked.

“No,” the man replied. “I didn’t want to risk it, so I took an Uber here,” he continued.

They kept talking about mundane things and Lucifer felt a bit bored, so he decided to stop the loop. With a sweep of his hand the man froze and Doris looked surprised. “Stephen!” she called and tried to shake the man.

“Don’t bother,” Lucifer told her, stepping closer. “Take a break, Gromos,” he said to the demon acting as Stephen. The demon nodded and left.

“What is going on? Who are you? How did you get in here?” Doris was baffled and started to panic.

“Do you realise where ‘here’ is?” Lucifer asked while sitting down next to the woman.

“What do you mean? You are in my house,” the woman stated.

“No, my dear. It just looks like your house. In reality it’s just a replica and you are in Hell,” Lucifer told her calmly.

“What? Are you insane? No, it can’t be,” the woman refused to believe him. “Why would I be in Hell?”

“Because you are dead. And it seems that you felt guilty when you died, so your guilt dragged you down here.”  

She looked at Lucifer in disbelief. “And who are you then?”

“I’m the Devil, darling,” Lucifer smiled at her.

The woman stared at Lucifer for a few minutes in silence, her brows furrowed. “How did I die?” she finally asked in a silent voice.

“The man you invited in your house and shared wine with strangled you,” Lucifer answered her.

“But he said he was experienced in it… I specifically searched for someone who would know how to do it,” Doris was confused.

“I’m afraid it wasn’t an accident,” Lucifer told her.

“What do you mean? Did he want to kill me? But why?” the woman kept shooting questions at Lucifer.

“It does seem that he intended to do it. I don’t know the ‘why’ part. In fact, that’s one reason I’m here right now. You see, I have been living back on Earth for a while now and I happen to help a detective in L.A. to solve murders and currently we are working on yours. So, if you could tell me all you know about this man, it might help us to catch him and punish him for what he did to you.”

“I don’t really know much about him. We kind of agreed that we keep the information about each other to a minimum, since I made it clear that I was interested only in a one night stand and after that we’d cut contact.” Doris sounded apologetic.

Lucifer sighed. “Well, any information you have about him could be important.” He didn’t want to go back to Earth with nothing to give to the Detective.

“Uhm… his name is Stephen. I found him from the KinkedIn app. His username is Dark Knight. He sounded rather experienced in these kinds of things. I don’t think he has a girlfriend.” The woman told Lucifer what she knew, but it was not much.

“And he drives a red car,” Doris added one more thing she had remembered.

It reminded Lucifer of a thing he had heard during their conversation that had made him wonder. “Why did you ask about his brakes?”

“Oh, when I was waiting for him in front of Gustavo’s he was backing into a parking spot and almost hit the building. I didn’t know that it was him at the time, but it caught my attention. I saw him coming out of the car and wearing the cap he had told me that he’ll be wearing so I’d recognise him. Stephen noticed that I had been looking and told me that something must be wrong with his brakes and that’s why he almost hit the building. That’s also why I know that he drives a red car.”

“You don’t happen to remember his licence plate, do you?” Lucifer asked, not really hoping that they’d be that lucky.

The woman shook her head.

“Or the model?” Lucifer tried his luck once more.

Again she shook her head, “sorry. I’m not so good with cars. It seemed like an older one, I think.”

Lucifer frowned. It was not what he had hoped to get out of her. He was trying to think of anything else to ask when Doris broke the silence.

“Does my husband know about… what I did?” she asked, looking worried.

“Yes. He was the one who found you.” Lucifer could see that it was not what she had hoped, but the Devil didn’t lie.

“And I was …,” Doris couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.

“You were naked on your bed when he found your dead body,” Lucifer clarified.

“Oh, God,” the woman buried her face in her hands. “He must hate me now.”

“I don’t think he does,” Lucifer told her. “He seemed really devastated about your demise.”

“But he knows that I cheated on him. I invited another man into our bed,” tears were flowing down her cheeks and her voice was full of desperation.

“He seemed to blame himself for it, for not being able to fulfil your needs,” Lucifer told the woman.

“What? No, no, it wasn’t his fault, it was mine. I was just…,” the woman paused to think it over. “I don’t know… I just wanted to experience it once more. We were talking about starting to try for a child and I figured with a child it would be much harder to do it.”

“I’m sorry,” Lucifer put his hand on her shoulder in a show of support. The loss of her life seemed even more unfair now. “We will do our best to catch this vile creature and punish him.”

Lucifer stood up and with another gesture of his hand the demon was back and the loop resumed.

 

Since he was already in Hell Lucifer went to see how the demons who he had left in charge were doing.  They were demons after all and that meant that they tended to forget the bigger picture and get stuck in petty grievances. Lucifer had to remind himself several times that it was worth it, that coming down here to solve the problems was better than to be stuck here for eternity. It took him some time to get everything sorted, but finally he was ready to head back to Earth. 

Lucifer was just walking towards his throne which was the best place to spread his wings and fly off when he felt a familiar energy. He stopped and looked around. Next to him was a door that seemed to be rather new.

Although he was eager to get back to Earth, Lucifer could not leave without checking the loop first. He opened the door and stepped inside. He was first met with a scene that reminded him of an idyllic Sunday morning he had seen in some movies (his mornings were usually a bit different). Charlotte Richards was sitting behind a table with a man and two kids, they were chatting and the mood in the room seemed more appropriate for Heaven than Hell. But soon it all changed. Suddenly the door was flung open and a man was standing in the doorway. His arm was raised and holding a gun that was aimed towards the table where the lawyer was having breakfast with her family (at least it seemed to Lucifer that it was her family). “Thank you for your help,” the man said to Charlotte in a calm voice and then started shooting at her husband and children. Charlotte screamed “no” during the shooting, but it didn’t seem to affect the man. Just three shots killing the three people around the table and leaving Charlotte to witness the destruction. After that he lowered the gun and disappeared. Charlotte was now holding the bodies of her children and crying in anguish. After a few minutes the loop started over. 

Lucifer watched the blissful morning routine for a minute and then decided to pause it. Although the loop seemed to be cruel enough, Lucifer decided that he should make sure that the woman knows exactly where she is.

Charlotte was clearly confused why everything around her just stopped suddenly. As she was trying to get the attention of her son, Lucifer stepped out from the shadows.

“Hello, Charlotte!” he greeted her with a tone that sounded polite, but not exactly friendly.

“Mr. Morningstar?” Charlotte was clearly surprised to see Lucifer. “How did you get in here?”

“The more important question is, do you realise where ‘here’ is?” Now his grin had turned rather devilish.

“We’re in my house,” the woman answered but the doubt in her voice was palpable.

“Not exactly,” Lucifer smirked, “we are in my domain.”

Charlotte must have understood what that meant on some level, because she looked rather spooked. “What… what do you mean?” she stammered.

“I mean that you are in Hell, darling.” Hearing his words, Charlotte started to look around her frantically. “This is just an image Hell has created,” Lucifer explained.

“No, no, no, it can’t be. I can’t be in Hell,” she protested. “Please get me out of here,” she started to beg suddenly, probably realising that it really must be Hell.

“I might be the Devil, but you have only yourself to blame for ending up here. And by the looks of it, you do deserve it. So, enjoy!” The last sentence was followed by a flash of Hellfire in his eyes. With a sweeping gesture the loop resumed and Lucifer walked towards the door. As much as he enjoyed that the lawyer got what she deserved, he was eager to leave Hell behind. For a little while at least.

--------

The next morning Lucifer told Chloe all that he had found out about the killer they were searching for. Unfortunately there was not much to use as clues. Lucifer knew what the man looked like, but first they had to find him somehow.

“Maybe I could go to the sketch artist and give him a description. If he draws the picture maybe someone will recognise him,” Lucifer suggested, still a bit disappointed in himself that he couldn’t give the Detective more information.

“A sketch would probably help, only there’s on big but,” Chloe paused and looked sternly at Lucifer who was about to make a pun, “how would you explain knowing what he looks like?”

Lucifer furrowed his brows, trying to think of something. He couldn’t tell them that he saw the victim’s Hell loop, unfortunately. So until they had no way to find some suspects, his knowledge about what that bastard looked like didn’t help them at all.

“I think we should go to the conference room and start writing down what we know about him,” Chloe suggested. She noticed the mood shift in Lucifer, so she tried to assure him that his effort in questioning the victim had been valuable. “And thanks to you we have a little more information now.” She put her hand on Lucifer’s for a moment, to show her gratitude.

“Well, I guess the trip down there was not a complete waste after all,” Lucifer mumbled. Suddenly he remembered something, “actually there is something more I learned.”

Chloe noticed that he seemed to perk up at the memory. “Another piece of information about our killer?” she asked. 

“No, it’s not connected to the case, but I do think you find it interesting as well.” The expression on his face showed contentment, so Chloe was getting curious about what he had found out while being in Hell.

“Tell me what it is then,” she insisted, a little impatient herself. 

Lucifer leaned closer and lowered his voice conspiratively, “Charlotte Richards is down there,”

“What?” Chloe was obviously surprised, “she’s dead?”

“It seems so, otherwise she wouldn’t be in Hell, would she?” Lucifer beamed with satisfaction and a little pride at her reaction.

“What happened?” Chloe was eager to find out.

“I don’t know. Her loop wasn’t about that. But I assume we will learn soon enough what happened to that guilty lawyer.”

“Wow, I did not see this coming,” Chloe mumbled.

“I bet neither did she,” Lucifer quipped.

“But back to our case, let’s head to the conference room,” Chloe told her partner while gathering all the papers connected to this case.

Lucifer stood up, but before Chloe had finished putting the necessary papers into the folder she intended to take with her, Monroe stopped by her desk.

“Good morning!” she greeted them, “how is your case going?”

“Uhm… we were just about to go to the conference room to brainstorm some ideas,” Chloe answered. She didn’t like to tell the Lieutenant that she had no solid leads yet, but she didn’t want to lie (and she couldn’t also tell her that Lucifer had seen the murderer).

“So no real leads yet?” Monroe quickly deduced.

“Not yet,” Chloe had to admit.

“I just got off the phone with the Sacramento police department, I understand that there are some similarities between your case and one of their cold cases,” Monroe said.

“Yeah, Ella showed us some information about some cases that have the same MO. There was one in San Jose too.” Chloe hadn’t wanted to go with that information to the Lieutenant before she had some leads, but the cat was already out of the bag, so she decided to fill her in.

“We could be dealing with a serial killer then?” Monroe asked.

“Yes, it’s most likely,” Chloe agreed.

The Lieutenant sighed. “Maybe we should give it to the Feds then?”

“Why would you want to do that?” Lucifer asked, sounding confused. He had been listening silently to the conversation, but now he had to speak up.

“They have more means than us and it involves cases in different cities which means different jurisdictions. I understand that you want to catch the killer yourself, but this way it could be more likely that it gets solved,” Monroe reasoned.

“Just give us a bit more time to try and solve it ourselves. We haven’t gotten the chance to work it through yet,” Chloe pleaded.

“Fine, I will wait for 24 hours. If you still haven’t got anything by then, I will have to inform the FBI.”

“Thank you!” Chloe knew that it was general practice to involve the Feds when cases in different jurisdictions were connected, but they had information that the Feds didn’t have and they would not be able to give it to them in a way that would have any explanation, unless you were a celestial insider.

Monroe was about to say something else when Dan walked inside the precinct. Chloe and Lucifer noticed him too and Lucifer remembered the time Dan had reprimanded him about being late. “Look who decided to show up finally,” he scoffed.

“I believe he has a good reason for it,” Monroe said, her eyes fixed on Dan. The man had noticed her and for a moment it seemed that he was heading towards the Lieutenant but then had decided against it and turned towards his own desk.

“Morning, Espinoza!” Monroe greeted him, raising her voice a little to make sure that Dan heard her. “Did you stop by the hospital?”

Dan realised that he couldn’t escape the conversation and came closer. “Good morning, Lieutenant! Yes, I went there.”

“Why would Dan go to the hospital?” Chloe wondered aloud. Dan had seemed fine the previous day and even though they had not the best relationship right now Chloe still cared about him as a coworker.

“Because detective Espinoza happened to intervene in an attack yesterday. And he went by the hospital to check the status of the victim,” Monroe explained and added with a smirk “I think you’d be interested to know that the victim in question is Charlotte Richards.”

“Oh,” Chloe managed to act surprised. “What happened?”

“She was stabbed with a screwdriver in the neck,” Dan told them.

“And what did the doctors say about her condition?” Monroe wanted to know.

“Well, she’s alive, but her condition is critical.”

“That can’t be!” Lucifer exclaimed, knowing that the woman’s soul was in Hell already.

When Monroe and Dan looked at him surprised, Lucifer tried to smooth it, “I mean, screwdriver to the neck sounds like something you wouldn’t survive.”

“It was a close call. They said that if she’d been bleeding out a bit longer she would not have survived. Her heart stopped for a few seconds in the operating room, but they managed to revive her,” Dan explained.

Well, that did explain it to Lucifer. Apparently he happened to be in Hell just when she was down there for a quick visit.

“She was really lucky that you happened to be next to the hotel room, wasn’t she,” Monroe said with a bit of sarcasm evident in her voice. 

“What hotel room?” Chloe asked confusedly.

“The woman was stabbed in a hotel room and Espinoza just happened to be close by and heard her cry for help.” It was clear that the Lieutenant found it rather suspicious that Dan happened to be there.

Lucifer glanced over in Chloe’s direction and saw that she was staring daggers at Dan. He was not surprised, Lucifer himself was also not pleased about the fact that the man just happened to be ‘near her hotel room’ (or wherever he really was). 

Before they could go into more details about the attack Monroe’s phone rang and she hurried to her office.

“Dan, could you come with us to the conference room?” Chloe asked as nonchalantly as possible when she stood up from her desk.

“Sure,” the man agreed. Lucifer wasn’t sure if the man was stupid enough not to notice how Chloe had reacted to the information about Dan being near Charlotte’s hotel room or he was braver than he had thought and was ready to take on what was coming.

Just in case detective Douche would change his mind before they got out of the earshot of other colleagues, Lucifer stayed behind Dan, determined to stop any possible escape.

They let Dan step into the conference room in front of them and as soon as Lucifer had closed the door, Chloe’s demeanor changed. Dan had glanced around the room, apparently thinking that they really needed his help with something.

“So what do you need?” he asked while turning around to face them.

Chloe was standing with her hands crossed in front of her and the look on her face was outright dangerous.

“I need you to explain why you were near her hotel room yesterday,” she said in a stone cold voice. Lucifer was really glad that he wasn’t the one at whom it was directed.

Dan’s face fell instantly. “Look, Chloe, it’s not what you think,” he started to defend himself.

“So tell me what it is then,” she said mockingly. 

Dan sighed. “I saw her on the other side of the street and just followed her to the hotel,” he started to explain.

“For what? Did you hope she’d sleep with you again out of pity?” Lucifer couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

“No,” he fended, “I just… I don’t know… I thought that maybe I could stop her from doing to some other guy what he did to me. That if I’d show up behind the door and tell whomever she was meeting what she did to me, then maybe she wouldn’t be able to deceive them.” Dan wasn’t sure he had succeeded in explaining what had gone through his mind when he had followed Charlotte. The truth was that he hadn’t really thought why, he had just acted.

“So you think that since she shagged you once, you now have the right to stop her from having sex with others?” Lucifer kept taunting him.

“I don’t think that,” Dan denied quickly. He didn’t really want to think about that pang of jealousy he had felt at the thought of her going into the hotel to meet with some man and having sex with him. “I just wanted to get back at her,” Dan looked at Chloe hoping that she would understand.

“So revenge sex,” Lucifer mused.

Before Dan could reply, Chloe told him, “that’s enough, Lucifer.” She did believe that Dan had not been with Charlotte in that hotel.

“So did you get a good look at the perp?” the Detective in her could not refrain from asking.

“No,” Dan shook his head. “After I kicked in the door he escaped through the window.”

“Did he jump?” Chloe was a bit confused.

“There was a fire escape. He climbed down from there and by the time I had called 911 for Charlotte and went to the window again, he was gone.”

“You could have left the cold hearted bitch to bleed out and followed the murderer instead. Isn’t it your job to catch murderers?” Lucifer asked, not pleased that the lawyer was still alive.

“It’s our job to try and save a life whenever it’s possible,” Dan answered. “I had to call for help.”

“You did the right thing, Dan,” Chloe assured him. They had both given an oath when they became police officers.

“Yeah, I know,” Dan didn’t sound too enthusiastic, “but we don’t have much to begin with to catch the guy.”

“Well, as far as I understand he’s not really a killer right now, is he?” Lucifer still wished that the perp had succeeded.

“No, but he still assaulted her and might be dangerous to others, so we should try to find him.” Dan was determined to catch him, since he felt a bit guilty that the attacker got away in the first place.

“Maybe don’t try too hard. He might finish the job,” Lucifer quipped, reaching for the flask in his pocket.

“Lucifer!” Chloe admonished him. She was not a big fan of Charlotte Richards herself, but she did not wish for her death either.

“You’re right!” Dan exclaimed and Lucifer froze in the middle of taking a sip from his flask. Since when did Daniel agree with him? “We should put an officer to guard her in case the attacker decides to come for her again,” Dan finished his thought and Lucifer groaned. 

“I’ll go and talk to Monroe,” Dan said and left the room.

“That was really helpful,” Chloe said to Lucifer mockingly. She knew very well that Lucifer had not intended to suggest that they should guard her hospital room.

Lucifer glared at her, “and since when are you such a fan of Mrs. Richards?”

“I’m not, but our job is to save people, even those who might not really deserve it,” Chloe explained. “And speaking of the job, we should get back to our case now.”

“Yes, let’s do that,” Lucifer agreed. It would probably help to distract him from cursing Dan in his mind for being such an idiot and interrupting the murderer when he was about to do the world a service.

“So,” Chloe took a sharpie and stood in front of the white board, “let’s write down what we know officially about our murderer.” She thought for a moment and wrote ‘Name - S’ on the board. “Sandy remembered that his name started with ‘S’,” she explained.

After writing down hair colour, his KinkedIn username and the date and time when he met with Doris in Gustavo’s Chloe couldn’t think of anything else they did know about the guy that didn’t come from Lucifer’s visit in Hell.

“This is not enough,” she looked at the information and shook her head. “We need to get more.”

“How about the red car?” Lucifer asked.

“But how would we know about it?” Chloe knew that she would have to explain how they found out about the colour of his car if they’d use it in finding him.

Lucifer sighed, he didn’t have anything more to offer.

Chloe watched the board and tapped her lower lip with the sharpie. “We should go and talk to Sandy again. Maybe she’ll remember something,” she suggested after a few minutes of silence.

“Alright,” Lucifer agreed.

 

Luckily Sandy was available at the moment, so they didn’t waste any time and drove to her workplace.

“What can I do for you?” the woman asked in a shaky voice. They hadn’t really explained on the phone why they wanted to talk to her again.

“We were wondering if maybe you could remember anything about the man Mrs. Kaufman met. Anything at all would be helpful,” Chloe told Sandy.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t really thought about it. I mean… there are so much more pleasant memories to remember her by,” the woman’s eyes filled with tears.

“I understand, but it would be very helpful if you could remember anything she might have told you about him.” When Sandy didn’t say anything, Chloe kept digging. “You said that his name started with an ‘S’. Can you remember what it was?” 

Sandy shook her head while drying the tears in her eyes with a tissue.

Chloe didn’t want to give up so easily and decided to give some suggestions, “was it Sean or Sam or Stephen or …” Before she was able to continue, Chloe noticed a change in Sandy’s expression. “I think it might have been Stephen,” the woman said thoughtfully. “I can’t be sure, but somehow the name sounds familiar.” Chloe tried not to smile too hard at that victory and went for another piece of information.

“Did Doris say anything about his car? Maybe the colour or model or anything at all?” 

“No, I’m sorry but she didn’t say more than his name. Maybe she would have, but I didn’t really let her. I wish I had, so I could be more helpful, but …,” Sandy’s voice broke and she didn’t finish the sentence. It was clear that she was fighting with tears again. 

“It’s alright,” Chloe tried to assure her.

“If I had only stopped her from going through with it. I should have changed her mind, if I had Doris would still be alive now,” Sandy said silently, looking at the floor.

“No, no, no,” Lucifer intervened. He went to the woman and put his hand on hers. “You are not to blame for this. The only one at fault is the despicable human who killed her, okay?” Lucifer kept his eyes on her until she looked up at him. “Please don’t feel guilty about it.”

Sandy locked her watery eyes with Lucifer’s and nodded.

 

When they were leaving the building where Sandy worked, Chloe couldn’t keep quiet. “It was very nice of you,” she complimented Lucifer.

“I couldn’t have her being dragged to Hell over this. The killer has already done enough damage I think,” Lucifer replied, adjusting his cufflinks. It was still baffling for Chloe how a man who appeared so confident and even smug at times, seemed to get a bit uncomfortable every time someone gave him genuine praise.

 

Back in the precinct they went to the conference room again. They could now add ‘Stephen’ to the board. Chloe had really hoped that Sandy would know about the car also, but unfortunately she didn’t. That meant that they had to connect the man to the car some other way. 

“Let’s check out the CCTV footage from Gustavo’s once more.” Chloe connected the flash drive to the computer and they were able to view it on the big screen. The coffee shop had given them footage of several hours. Chloe winded the video to the moment their victim walked in with her murderer and then re-winded it from there.

“What are you searching for?” Lucifer asked not really understanding why she re-winded.

“You said that he backed the car almost into the coffee shop, so I thought maybe it was caught on camera.”

Chloe stopped the video about 7 minutes before Doris and Stephen entered and let it play with normal speed. They both looked at it intently. Suddenly Chloe exclaimed “there” and stopped the video. “This car seems much closer to the window than other cars,” Chloe pointed out a vehicle on the screen. She re-winded a few seconds and let it play again. Indeed, a car was backing very close to the window. When the car stopped Chloe paused the video. “Damn it, I can’t make out the licence plate, but the car seems to be red.”

“But how can we connect the car to the murderer?” Lucifer asked. 

“Let’s see if we can see him getting out of the car,” Chloe said and pushed ‘Play’ again. Unfortunately the front of the car was too far away from the window and they could not see who got out of it. Chloe let it play on until they saw Stephen and Doris walk in.

“Bollocks!” Lucifer muttered, “we can’t see him get out.”

“No,” Chloe said thoughtfully, “but there is also no one else coming in.”

When Lucifer looked at her a bit sceptically, she elaborated, “after we saw the car almost backing through the window no one else walked into the coffee shop, so it had to be them. And we know that Doris doesn’t drive a red car, so it has to be the man she was meeting with.”

“You’re right,” Lucifer perked up.

“If only we could see the licence plate clearly.” It would make it so much easier if they also had a licence plate instead just the colour of the suspect’s car.

“Maybe Miss Lopez could do something with it,” Lucifer suggested.

“That’s a good idea, we should take this to Ella, maybe she can do something with the reflection.” Chloe closed the video and they took the flash drive to the forensic scientist.

 

Ella did what she could but she was only able to get the last two digits of the licence plate.

“Sorry guys, I wish I could do more, but I just can’t see the full plate.” 

“I wonder how many cars there are in L.A. that are red and end in those digits,” Chloe thought out loud.

“I’m on it,” Ella told her while her fingers ran over the keyboard of her computer. After a few minutes she gave them an answer, “3584 cars.”

“Can you tell what kind of car it is from the video?” Chloe asked hopefully. She knew that Ella was much more familiar with different types of cars.

“Not really, the shape of the lights is not so clearly seen,” Ella shook her head.

“Damn, I hoped we could narrow it down with the model.” Chloe thought for a second and then said, “what about only men with the first name Stephen who own the car?”

“Okay, I can do that,” Ella started to type again. “526,” came the answer shortly after.

“Still too much,” Chloe frowned. “We need to get more information.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you further. Maybe they have another camera with different angle?” Ella suggested sounding apologetic.

“It’s okay,” Chloe didn’t want her to feel bad about it. “Thanks for trying.”

They left the lab and went back to the white board in the conference room. Chloe wrote down the new information they got to gather her thoughts.

“I don’t think they had another camera in the coffee shop,” Lucifer said remorsefully.

“No, they didn’t. I asked when I saw that the face was out of the frame. But let me check if there are other options.” Chloe pulled up the map of the area and zoomed in on the area where the coffee shop was.

“Damn, no cameras on the other side of the parking lot either.” She had hoped that maybe there’s another business on the other side, but there wasn’t. Chloe stared at the map for a while and then got an idea. There were four bigger intersections that the perp would have had to cross driving to the cafe, so he would likely be caught on a traffic camera. 

“We need to get the recording from those traffic cams,” she pointed out to Lucifer. He looked at the map and agreed, “you are right, he must have crossed one of those intersections. Good thinking, Detective!”

Chloe smiled, clearly pleased, but didn’t want to get her hopes too high before they had seen what the cameras had caught. “I’ll ask for the recordings. I think 15 minutes before they stepped into the coffee shop would be enough.”

“It would take less than five minutes to drive to Gustavo’s from any of those intersections, so I guess that would be enough.” Lucifer hoped that the man had not visited some other place near Gustavo’s or been there much earlier for some other reason.

 

Half an hour later they had what they needed and started to look through the material. Lucifer was so invested in finding the perp that he didn’t complain about the tedious task. First two cameras had recorded a few red cars during the time of interest, but the licence plates had different digits than Ella had told them.

The third camera finally brought them what they had hoped for - a red car with a licence plate with matching numbers. Lucifer looked at the driver when Chloe had paused the video and confirmed, “that looks like the guy I saw in her Hell loop, Detective.”

“And we have a name - Stephen White.” Chloe had pulled up the information about the owner and his driver’s licence.

“Oh, yes, definitely the same guy,” Lucifer said, looking at the photo on the driver’s licence.

Chloe smiled in satisfaction and pushed ‘Play’ on the traffic camera video.

“Why do you keep watching it? We found the guy,” Lucifer was perplexed.

“We know that this is the right guy, but officially we can’t be sure yet. We should watch all the recordings to be sure that there is not another red car with a similar licence plate,” Chloe explained after pausing the video once again.

“Is this really necessary? We have already spent so much time on it,” Lucifer was not happy about the prospect of watching more cars drive through the intersection.

Chloe rolled her eyes at the familiar whining. “Yes, Lucifer, it is necessary,” she answered, emphasising every word.

“Fine, you can do that, I’ll go and find something else to entertain myself,” Lucifer said, turning towards the door.

“Sit down,” Chloe said in a stern voice. “You will stay here and watch it with me, partner.” The emphasis on the last word was enough to kill any protest Lucifer had in mind, reminding him that he should help her also with the boring tasks.

Lucifer sat down with a pout. Chloe didn’t say anything and started the video again. She kept glancing at Lucifer to make sure that he’s looking at the screen.

Finally they had worked through all the material. “Happy now?” Lucifer asked a bit sarcastically.

“Yes,” Chloe said with a smile. “Thank you for staying,” she added. Lucifer himself did not seem happy, especially since they had not noticed another red car with the same last digits, so he still saw it as a waste of time. 

“Well, that’s what partners do,” Lucifer muttered in response to Chloe.

“Can we go and arrest the man now?” he then asked more enthusiastically.

“Actually I think we should try to get a search warrant. If he really is a serial killer, they are usually not so easily swayed and it would be better if we had some leverage. Maybe the murder weapon or at least his phone with the app or something like that.”

“Well, I’m sure I can get him to confess,” Lucifer said smugly, adjusting his lapels.

“Maybe, but I don’t want it to really become a pattern that you go and scare the truth out of our suspects and then some greedy lawyer finds a reason to question the confessions we get.” Chloe was thankful that Lucifer had helped to get Petrov to confess, but she had not liked the fear that it all may fall apart if the jury thinks that Lucifer did something illegal while talking to the suspect by himself.   

“And how long will it take to get the warrant?” Lucifer asked, hoping it wouldn’t take too long until he could find out the man’s deepest and darkest desire.

Chloe glanced at the clock before she answered. “I doubt we’ll get it today.” After a short pause she added with a sigh, “which means we will not be able to solve it in 24 hours. We should go and talk to Monroe before she calls the Feds.”

Lucifer didn’t look too happy about things moving so slowly, but didn’t say anything and followed Chloe to Monroe’s office.

 

Luckily the Lieutenant was free at the moment and told them to come in right after Chloe knocked on the door.

“Ah, Decker, Morningstar. Did you solve the case already?” Monroe asked jokingly.

“Not exactly,” Chloe answered, “but we have a suspect. I’d like to get a warrant to search his place, so I won’t be able to bring him by tomorrow morning I’m afraid.”

“Why not just bring him in for questioning?” the Lieutenant wondered.

“If he really is a serial killer, I doubt that he’ll confess that easily. I want to catch him by surprise and gather any evidence that will tie him to the murders from his place,” Chloe explained.

Monroe’s brows lifted for a moment in surprise, but she let it go quickly, putting back the professional mask. “So what ties him to the murder?” Olivia was curious about how they had found a suspect.

“Well, we spoke to the victim’s friend again and she remembered that the first name of the guy Mrs. Kaufman met through the app was Stephen. We also looked through the surveillance camera footage from the coffee shop where they met and saw a car that parked rather close to the window. After the car was parked only the victim and her companion came into the cafe, so it must have been him. We were able to identify the last two digits of the licence plate and after that we looked through the traffic camera recordings from the nearest intersections and found a car with matching colour and licence plate. The owner’s name is Stephen White.” Chloe finished her explanation and looked expectantly at Monroe, waiting for her reaction.

The Lieutenant had been listening, her fingers touching by the tips and expression thoughtful. “So you have nothing to prove that he went to the Kaufman house on the night of the murder?” Monroe finally asked after thinking it over in silence.

“No,” Chloe admitted.

“No one saw the car in the area that night?” 

“No,” Chloe said again, her former cheerful mood declining significantly.

“That’s not good. They might say that your evidence is circumstantial,” Monroe reasoned.

“Why are you trying to prevent us from getting the warrant?” Lucifer couldn’t just watch Monroe sink their case.

“I’m not trying to prevent you from anything, I just want to make sure that there won’t be any repercussions.” Monroe knew that you had to be careful with that.

“Like there were with the Stinson case,” Chloe said understandingly.

“Exactly, we don’t want the legal shit hitting the fan again,” Monroe was relieved that Chloe understood what she was thinking about. “So it would be helpful if you’d find someone who saw his car in the neighbourhood on the night of the murder.”

Both Lucifer and Chloe knew that it was not possible.

“What if he took an Uber there?” Lucifer asked suddenly.

“Why do you think so?” Monroe didn’t follow.

“Well, no one saw his car there and by the looks of it he may have some car trouble,” Lucifer tried to make a plausible connection. “You know, because of the way he backed towards the building, not stopping soon enough.” 

Monroe mulled it over, “okay, if you get confirmation that this Stephen White was in the area around the time of the murder, either through a witness who saw his car or by Uber history, request the warrant and I won’t call the Feds until you have had the chance to search his place.”

“Thank you!” Chloe smiled and turned to leave, Lucifer following her.

 

“What was that Stinson case about?” Lucifer asked as soon as they had left Monroe’s office.

“Oh, it was back when Lenny was my partner. Not our case, but some other detectives from the department requested a search warrant also by circumstantial evidence and the judge granted it. Unfortunately the suspect’s brother was a lawyer and argued that they had no real grounds to issue the warrant. To make matters worse, the suspect was a black guy and it later turned out that he was indeed innocent. It was such a mess, I can understand why Monroe wants to avoid it ever happening again.” To be honest, Chloe herself would not want to be in that kind of legal mess also.

“So it would be essential to get the confirmation that our suspect was in the area of the murder from Uber then,” Lucifer concluded.

“Yeah, I’m gonna make the call right away,” Chloe went to her computer to look up the number she needed to call.

Fortunately it wasn’t so hard to get the information about the ride from Uber since now they had a full name and also his home address.

Chloe stood up from her desk to go to Monroe again when the door to the office opened and Monroe strode out.

“Ah, Lieutenant, we got confirmation from Uber - Stephen White went to the area that evening. He gave the driver an address a few houses down the street,” Chloe told her before Monroe would get busy with something else. 

“Close enough,” Monroe was satisfied with the information. “Put in the request for the warrant and let’s see if you’ll catch the bastard.”

“I’m on it,” Chloe sat down again and turned towards her computer.

 

The next day they got the warrant. Chloe had used the time they were waiting for it to catch up with the paperwork she’d had to postpone because of the case. As soon as they had the paper, Lucifer and Chloe headed to Stephen White’s home with some unis. It was clear that the man was surprised to see them. And they had been successful - he still had the collar that had been used as a murder weapon. The man was brought back to the precinct in cuffs and they took the collar, his phone and laptop also to the precinct.

Just as Chloe had suspected, the man denied everything. Ella was still processing the collar to determine if it was the same that was used to kill Mrs. Kaufman. Also he refused to give the passcode for his phone or laptop, so they couldn’t tie him to the account of Dark Knight on KinkedIn just yet.  

Chloe was eager to get started with the interrogation, so Ella promised to show up with the results as soon as she had them. To her irritation Stephen White denied both being at Gustavo’s and knowing Doris Kaufman. His demeanor was calm and rather indifferent and Chloe inwardly groaned in frustration after yet another question was met with an answer she was not pleased with.

“Why did you take the Uber to Russell Avenue three days ago?” she had asked.

“Who says I did?” Mr. White asked instead of answering.

“Your Uber account,” Chloe told him, her patience wearing thin.

“I went to visit a friend,” he then told them smugly.

“Does the friend live at the address that you gave to the Uber driver?” Chloe asked then and waited eagerly for his answer.

“Yes,” he confirmed curtly.

“That’s funny, because no one living at that house knows you. I showed them your picture and they didn’t recognise you. And before you start telling me that your ‘friend’ lives at the next house and you mixed up the addresses, don’t bother, because we already questioned the neighbours too.”

That earned her a glare from the man. Chloe smiled triumphantly. She had finished the paperwork before the warrant came in and decided to prepare for the interrogation. When she tried to think about possible excuses he could give them, it occurred to her that the murderer might claim to have some other reason to visit the area. To make sure that he couldn’t hide behind that excuse she and Lucifer had gone to the area and showed the picture of Stephen White in the houses on Russell Avenue. No one had recognised him.

Since the man was being stubborn, Lucifer decided to intervene. “May I ask him something, Detective?” he asked Chloe.

“Of course,” Chloe answered. She also felt that it was time to cut the crap.

Lucifer grinned and turned to Stephen White, “tell me, what is it that you truly desire?”

The man stared at Lucifer and tried to resist, but soon blurted out, “I want every cheating slut to get what they deserve.”

“So you killed Mrs. Kaufman because she cheated on her husband?” Lucifer clarified.

“Yes. I did the man a favour,” Mr. White claimed.

“And what makes you the authority on deciding how people should be punished for cheating?” Lucifer asked icily. 

“No one wants a cheating woman,” the man tried to argue.

“You had no right to take her life. The punishment did not fit the crime and you were in no position to even have a say in it,” Lucifer hissed. He despised it when humans tried to take punishing upon themselves outside the justice system since they usually got it all wrong. 

“Is that also why you killed Isabella Hunter and Mary Winters?” Chloe took out the photos of those unsolved crimes in Sacramento and San Jose that had the same MO. They had taken his fingerprints and hair sample after arresting Stephen White and it had been a match with those found on both crime scenes.

“They were also cheaters,” the man said, but his voice wasn’t so smug anymore.

“Tell me, why do you think it’s your job to punish them?” Chloe was curious. When the man didn’t answer, Chloe kept prodding. “Did someone cheat on you?”

“She got what she deserved too,” the murderer muttered.

“Did you kill her?” Chloe asked, wondering if they should charge him with four murders not three.

“No, I didn’t,” the man said and this time looked straight into Chloe’s eyes. Something in the way he said it bothered Chloe, so she decided to try and find out what she could about that case too after they finished the interrogation.

There was a knock on the door and Ella walked in to hand them over a paper with the test results. It showed that the skin particles that she had found on the collar were indeed Doris Kaufman’s. There was no question about it now - Stephen White had been the one who strangled Mrs. Kaufman. 

 

After Mr. White was back in his holding cell Chloe decided to look up what she could find about him and his former girlfriend. She found out that the woman had been killed in a mugging gone wrong. It had been discovered during the investigation that the woman had been heading home to White from a dinner with another man, who confessed during the investigation that they had an affair. Stephen White had been questioned, but he had a solid alibi, being across the town at the time of the murder. Since he had been in a store that had security cameras, his alibi was not questioned.  The killer of Stephen White’s girlfriend had not been caught. Chloe sighed, it seemed that White had indeed not killed his girlfriend although her gut told her that there was something about it that she was missing.

Monroe had called the FBI, since the man had committed murder in different counties, it was a matter of the Feds now. Chloe provided them with all the evidence they had gathered and they thanked her for her good work.

“Let’s hope that the Feds will not mess this up and he’ll rot in jail for a long time,” Chloe told Lucifer when the FBI agents had left the building with White.

“If they do mess up, I’ll pay him a visit. You have my word,” Lucifer assured her. Chloe smiled. It was a relief knowing that even if the justice system failed to punish some of the felons, the Devil would get them even before they ended up in Hell. There were definitely upsides of having the Devil as a partner. 

 

Notes:

I have actually the story about Stephen White and the death of his girlfriend all in my head, but writing the full story here felt like getting away from the main plot too much, so I just included some general facts about it. There is a chance I might post it as a separate story one day.

Chapter 27: I am the Devil

Lucifer looked at the paper in his hand, but didn’t really see the numbers written there. His mind kept going to other places. He was so deep in his own thoughts that he didn’t register the first time Chloe said his name.

“Lucifer!” Chloe called out louder and this time the Devil did react.

“Yes, Detective?” he looked up from the paper.

“You have been staring at that page for the last 10 minutes. Did you find something relevant there?” Chloe asked, a little bit of hope shining through her voice.

“Oh,” Lucifer looked down at the paper as if seeing it for the first time, “no, sorry. I didn’t.”

“You don’t need to memorise the numbers, you know,” Chloe tried to joke a little.

“I know,” Lucifer replied. Seeing the expectant look on his partner’s face, Lucifer decided to reveal the reason for his drifting thoughts. “Do you think I should have asked Charlotte who tried to kill her?” he asked in a low voice, knowing that the question would sound more than a little odd to those not in the celestial insider club.

“No,” Chloe answered without thinking. “I mean, you didn’t even know what happened to her. And besides, it would have been really hard to explain how you know who it is. This case is not even ours. It was difficult enough to find the connections with our case, I think Dan or his partner would not be too happy if you went there and told them who did it.” Chloe knew exactly how she felt when someone else was trying to solve her case for her. It happened sometimes when she was a rookie.

“In fact, I don’t think we should do that backwards crime solving again. Unless we have absolutely no other option,” she informed Lucifer, keeping her voice also low.

“Why?” Lucifer was a bit surprised.

“Because it didn’t feel right. It was almost as if we’d have fabricated the evidence.” Even though they had solved the case and everything they came up with was legit, Chloe felt a bit strange about the whole process. She had thought about it a lot after she had watched the FBI taking that serial killer away.

“But we didn’t,” Lucifer exclaimed protectively.

“I know, it just felt like it. I can’t really explain. But my point is, I’d rather solve our cases traditionally, okay?” she tried to placate her partner.

“As you wish,” Lucifer didn’t argue, even though he did like the idea of providing help in a way that no one else could.

Lucifer had just turned his attention to the phone numbers on the paper when Dan’s voice caught his attention. “Let’s go,” he shouted to his partner, “Charlotte Richards is awake and ready to be questioned.”

“It looks like she can now tell herself who attacked her,” Chloe muttered, having also heard Dan’s words.

“Yes, it would seem so,” Lucifer agreed.

When Lucifer had still been looking at the same page of the phone records, Chloe became worried. “Lucifer, what’s wrong?” To be sure that she got his attention, Chloe touched his arm this time.

“I was thinking that I should visit her,” Lucifer revealed the destination of his train of thoughts.

“Who?” Chloe was confused.

“Charlotte Richards,” Lucifer elaborated.

“Why?” The explanation had not lessened Chloe’s confusion.

“I haven’t met a human who has been to Hell and is alive again before, Detective,” Lucifer told her in a hushed voice. “I want to know what it’s like.”

“But will she even know that she was in Hell? Maybe she’ll just think it was a bad dream.” 

“I doubt it,” Lucifer told her, adjusting his cufflinks.

“Why?” Chloe narrowed her eyes. She knew him well enough to recognise that there was something he was not telling her.

“Well, when I saw her in Hell I didn’t just observe her Hell loop. I stopped it and told her that she’s in Hell,” Lucifer admitted a bit reluctantly.

“Lucifer,” Chloe groaned.

“I just wanted her to know that it was all real and her own actions had dragged her there. Some souls who are down there don’t even realise where they are and why,” Lucifer explained with a shrug.

“So you think that showing up when she knows that you are indeed the Devil is the best course of action?” Chloe asked disbelievingly. 

“It would at least make her rethink her life choices.” 

Chloe realised by the look of his face that Lucifer had made up his mind. And he could have a point there too, but Chloe was a bit worried what kind of impact it would have on the woman’s mental health. “At least give her a few days to recover. She just got well enough to speak to the police.”

“Fine, I’ll drop by tomorrow then.” Lucifer was rather impatient.

Chloe sighed, it was not exactly what she had meant, but didn’t see the point in arguing with him about it. “Could you please concentrate on our case now? You were supposed to help me with those phone records,” she decided to divert his attention where it would be useful right now.

“Yes, yes, Detective, I’m on it.” Lucifer picked the paper up from the table again. After a short pause he asked, “what are we looking for again?” 

--------

Charlotte was resting in her hospital bed. Her whole body felt sore and she felt tired even though she had not done much else than sleeping and eating a little. The previous day the detectives had stopped by and she had given them the name of that bastard who had stabbed her. It had been her own coworker who had lured her into that hotel room and then attacked her. Even thinking about it now made her angry. She hoped that the police would catch him. She had given them all the information about him she knew.

Even though it had been just a small hole that Liam had made to her neck, the effects were still rather severe. The doctor had told her that it was normal after that kind of surgery she had. The doctor had suggested she rest as much as she could, so she should sleep, but Charlotte didn’t want to fall asleep. She did feel tired, but she was afraid that she’d dream again and that was not a good perspective. That nightmare she'd had felt too real.

 

A knock on the door caught Charlotte’s attention suddenly. “Come in,” she said in a hoarse voice.

She had expected it to be a doctor maybe, so Charlotte was rather surprised to see Lucifer Morningstar standing in the doorway.

“Hello, Charlotte,” he greeted the woman in a syrupy voice.

Charlotte could feel her heartbeat quicken, but tried to not let it show. She did not want to explain to the man why his mere presence affected her so much.

“Mr. Morningstar,” Charlotte said trying to sound casual, “what brings you here?”

“I just wanted to see how that little trip to Hell made you feel,” Lucifer told her nonchalantly.

Charlotte stared at him for a moment. She tried to assure herself that he had probably just meant the getting attacked part. That was not something you’d really wish to experience, so describing it as a trip to Hell would be appropriate, right? 

“I’m getting better,” Charlotte said. She didn’t really want to get into her feelings with that guy whom he barely knew, in fact she had difficulties making sense of them in the first place.

Lucifer looked at her intently. It seemed that she was in denial about having been to Hell, so he decided to rectify it.

“I’m not talking about you being in the hospital, I’m talking about your Hell loop. You know, the one where your family was shot by a criminal over and over again.” Lucifer kept his voice and expression casual like he was talking about something trivial.

“What…. How do you know about my nightmare?” Charlotte knew that she had told no one about what she had experienced. Was the man some kind of mind reader?

“It might give you nightmares now, but this was your Hell loop, darling,” Lucifer told her again in a sultry voice that reminded her of a wolf asking to be let in by piglets or sheep.

“No… no, it can’t be. There’s no such thing… and I’m not dead… am I?” Charlotte began to doubt everything.

“Oh, believe me, Hell is real and you did take a brief trip down there since you died, but then the doctors were able to revive you and so you’re back on Earth,” Lucifer explained, sounding casual again.

Charlotte stared at Lucifer, fighting in her head about believing him or not. “How do you know all this?”

“Don’t you realise who you’re talking to?” Lucifer was a bit disappointed that he hadn’t made a lasting impression on her. “I told you when I stopped the Hell loop, that I’m the Devil.”

The memory of the same man in her nightmare telling her that she was in Hell came back vividly. Could it be real after all? 

“What do you want from me?” Charlotte asked in a weak voice. She felt tears prickle in her eyes.

“Well, it’s not common for a soul to return to Earth after being in Hell, so …” Lucifer paused for dramatic effect, but Charlotte interrupted him.

“Are you here to take me back to Hell?” A tear slipped out of her left eye.

“Why would I do that?” Lucifer was confused. Although he had been annoyed when he had learned that Charlotte was not dead after all, he had no intention to take her back there.

“Don’t you collect souls or something?”

“Why on Earth would I collect them? Souls are not expensive cars or well aged whiskeys, I don’t care how many of them are in Hell.” Lucifer was rather affronted by the idea.

“So I can stay on Earth?” Charlotte’s mood improved significantly, hope evident in her voice.

“For now, but we all know that humans die at some point,” Lucifer added just in case she’d get the foolish idea that she’s somehow bound to Earth forever now.

“But after I die, will I go back there?” The fear was back. She did not want to relive what she had experienced.

“Well, it’s all up to you,” Lucifer shrugged.

“What do I have to do to never go back there? Do you want money? I can pay you,” Charlotte offered.

“Why would I want your money?” Lucifer was baffled.

“Or do I have to sleep with you?” Charlotte offered herself up. To be fair, she had propositioned him already at the courthouse and with his looks it would not be anything she’d do against her will.

“I do not need to make deals with women to have sex with them,” Lucifer spat, clearly offended. “Like I said in that courtroom it’s up to you where you end up. And apparently you felt guilty when you died and that guilt dragged you down.” It was exhausting how people just dismissed him when he explained it. “Didn’t you pay any attention to what I said when I was giving my statement?”

Charlotte hadn’t thought about his words too much. She had been only interested in getting her client off the hook. Now, when she thought about it, she did remember that Lucifer had said that it was up to them where they ended up. “So how do I avoid going there again?” she asked in a small voice.

When Lucifer had come to the hospital he had intended to make sure that she had the proper amount of fear of Hell still in her and make her suffer during the rest of her life, but now seeing her so vulnerable and nearly broken, he decided to give her some advice. “I guess you should rethink your life choices. Avoid doing things that made you feel guilty in the first place, so maybe next time there won’t be any guilt when you die.”

“But I don’t know why I felt guilty. I haven’t done anything bad,” Charlotte tried to defend herself and the way she had led her life.

The brief glimpse into her Hell loop was not enough for Lucifer to determine what exactly had been the root of her guilt, but he had an idea how to find out.

“The man who shot your family, did you know him?” 

“Yes, Vincent Valletti, he was one of my clients. He allegedly beat his wife so bad that she ended up in the hospital. When she was able to talk she said that she didn't remember anything. Her daughter said that the husband had beaten her up, but the husband claimed that someone had broken into their home and did it. During the trial the key witness, the daughter, went missing, so the prosecutor’s case fell apart and the man walked free. Two months later the man attacked his wife and she killed him in self defense, admitting that he had beaten her up also the first time, but she was afraid to admit it. She also claimed that she had found out that her husband had sold the daughter to human traffickers so he could pay for a good lawyer.” Charlotte looked out of the window while telling the story. She had been trying to convince herself that she had been just doing her job and it was not her fault when she found out about it, but deciding from her Hell loop, deep down she did feel guilt over helping that man stay away from prison.

“That does sound like something you should feel guilty about,” Lucifer told her. He felt the urge to go and visit that guy the next time he was in Hell. “Was it just that man?” Lucifer asked, he doubted that she had defended only one scumbag during her career.

“No, there was a new guy killing my family every time. They were all men I had helped to get free of charges or at least minimise it,” Charlotte admitted. 

“Well, I’d suggest starting there. Don’t help scumbags get away from punishment anymore,” was the advice Lucifer gave her.

“Would this really keep me away from Hell?” Charlotte asked, wanting to be sure that she’d be doing the right thing to save her soul.

“I can not guarantee anything. The human mind is a complex thing, but it seems it would certainly be the right path.” Lucifer had learned during his time in Hell and on Earth that humans could feel guilty over the tiniest things and it would be enough to drag them down. The system clearly sucked.

Charlotte was apparently not too pleased about the answer, but before she could ask further questions there was a knock on her door and a nurse walked in.

Lucifer said his goodbye and left the room, his emotions all over the place. 

--------

Lucifer and Chloe were discussing their case (or rather she was trying to come up with possible suspects and motives while the Devil by her side was making inappropriate jokes about them) when suddenly Monroe walked into the bullpen, cleared her voice and said in a louder than usual tone, “attention everyone! I have some news for you. I have just been offered a position as police Captain and I’m going to take it.” That earned a reaction from most people in the precinct. Some were clapping hands, some were whistling and some calling out congratulations.

Lucifer and Chloe clapped their hands in support, but they both were rather surprised. Chloe because she didn’t know that Monroe was aiming for a higher position and Lucifer because he realised he hadn’t really spoken to anyone from LAPD’s brass while he was a civilian consultant like he had hinted he would when he had convinced Monroe to let him work as Chloe’s partner.

When the cheering had mostly died down, someone asked, “but who’s going to be our new Lieutenant?”

“I don’t know yet. I will be still here until the end of this week, but I just wanted to let you all know. As soon as I know who’s going to be the new Lieutenant, I will make sure that you know too,” Monroe promised. “And now, back to work,” she said before turning towards her office.

“Wow, that was kind of sudden. I had no idea that she wanted to climb higher,” Chloe admitted to Lucifer. “Did you?”

“Yes, I knew that,” Lucifer answered absentmindedly.

“Did you have something to do with it?” Chloe lowered her voice and asked, because that was the kind of thing that Lucifer could probably help someone with, knowing all the important people he knew.

“Not really,” Lucifer said in a thoughtful tone, his brows furrowed. He realised he had not exactly kept up his end of the bargain. He just hoped it would not jeopardise his position as a consultant for LAPD.

 

On Thursday Monroe made another announcement - a farewell party was going to be held at 2 PM on Friday. After the announcement she walked to Chloe’s desk.

“I hope I’ll see you two also there,” she said to Chloe and Lucifer.

“Uhm… as you know I was planning to take some personal time off tomorrow afternoon,” Chloe responded. She had asked about it last week and Monroe had told her that she could take the time off, since she had quite many hours of overtime.

“I know, but I hoped that you could spare a few hours still. I know it’s short notice, but I wasn’t really sure how quickly I’d be able to organise everything I needed to and if I’d even have time for a get-together. Fortunately things have been running smoothly and I wanted to say a proper goodbye to all of you.” Monroe felt the need to explain why she hadn’t said anything about a party when she first made the announcement of leaving the precinct.

“Oh, come on, Detective, we can’t let Lieutenant Monroe go without a proper goodbye, now can we?” Lucifer tried to get Chloe to agree to attending the party.

“Well, me not attending doesn’t mean that there won’t be a party, Lucifer,” Chloe didn’t really feel that her presence would be essential.

Unfortunately Monroe didn’t have time to stand there and convince Chloe. She turned towards her office, but when she passed by Lucifer, she whispered to him, “I hope you’ll get her to come to the party.”

“I’ll do my best,” Lucifer promised and Olivia smiled at his response before hurrying away.

Chloe hadn’t heard exactly what Monroe had whispered to Lucifer, but she had heard that she did say something to him. So when Lucifer turned back to her and started to say something Chloe beat him to it.

“I won’t change my mind,” she told Lucifer before he could get a word out.

“But Detective, don’t be such a spoilsport,” he whined.

“Lucifer, you know perfectly well why I’m busy tomorrow afternoon,” Chloe said to him a bit accusingly. When Lucifer looked at her with a mild confusion, she decided to make sure he hadn't forgotten. “You do remember that tomorrow is Trixie’s birthday?” Lucifer had always bragged about his eidetic memory, so he should remember.

“Yes, but that’s at 7 PM, right?” Lucifer was sure that they had told him 7.

“The party starts at 7, but there are preparations I need to do before the party. A lot of them,” she explained.

“Can’t you hire some party planner to do it?” Lucifer asked. He had some contacts he could recommend.

“No, I won’t hire a party planner for my kid’s birthday at my house, because a) it would be too expensive and b) I don’t want strangers in my home when I’m not there.” Chloe wasn’t even surprised at the suggestion. Sometimes Lucifer was absolutely clueless how normal people did things.

“I could pay for it,” Lucifer offered.

“No,” Chloe told him firmly. “Even if I did let you pay, I still don’t want any strangers alone at my home. End of discussion,” she turned towards her computer, signaling that she was done with the topic, although her stern voice should have been indication enough.

“What if I help you with preparations?” Lucifer offered as a last resort.

Chloe turned back to face him, clearly surprised by the offer. “What did you say?”

“If you agree to attend the party for a bit, I’ll help you with whatever it is you need to do before the party,” he clarified his proposal.

“Even if it involves shopping at a supermarket?” Chloe asked. She knew that Lucifer usually avoided those, ordering whatever he needed mostly online or going to some special shops with much higher price range than a supermarket.

Chloe saw a flicker of hesitation in his face, but then he seemed to make a decision and answered, “yes.”

She narrowed her eyes at him a bit suspiciously, “why is it so important to you that I attend?”

“Because you need to be more social. Life should be more than just work. And besides, Lieutenant Monroe has done a good job and deserves to be sent off properly,” Lucifer listed the reasons he could think of.

“Well, you can send her off for both of us,” Chloe didn’t want to give in so easily.

“It’s not the same,” Lucifer argued. He paused for a moment and added a bit sheepishly, “it wouldn’t feel right to attend without you, partner.”

Chloe could feel her resistance melt away at his last statement. Of course his promise to help with the preparations sounded also tempting, so Chloe decided to give in.

“Fine. But we’ll leave no later than 3 PM,” she said using her mom voice. “And you won’t complain about any of the preparations we have to do,” she added as an afterthought.

“Excellent,” Lucifer beamed. “I’m sure you won’t regret it.”

“We’ll see. But now let’s get back to work or I’ll buy face paints and tell Trixie that she can paint whatever she wants on each guest’s face.”

“You wouldn’t!” Lucifer's expression was downright horrified.

“I suggest you better not find out,” Chloe grinned. Sometimes it was too easy to tease the Devil.

So the next day instead of leaving around 1 PM like she had originally planned, Chloe stayed longer. Until two o’clock she worked, since she was in the precinct anyway. Lucifer wandered around the precinct and chatted with people, clearly in a good mood. Since Chloe was doing paperwork, it wasn’t much of a problem.

Suddenly Ella appeared next to her desk. 

“Hey, Chloe! I was wondering, does Trixie have a computer?” Ella asked a little tentatively.

“Yeah, she actually does.” It was another thing that was bought by the girl’s adoptive parents.

“Would you mind if I gave her some of my computer games that I don’t play anymore? They are really child friendly, that’s part of the reason I don’t play them myself anymore, since, you know, not really a kid anymore and my brother’s kids are also too old for them now, so I thought maybe she’d like them.”

“I think she would like it. I may have to limit the time she plays them, but I’m sure she’d like the gift. If you are sure that you’re willing to give them away,” Chloe asked to be sure that her friend wouldn’t regret her decision.

“Yeah, totally. They are just collecting dust at my place. And in addition I could buy her some headphones so she wouldn’t drive you mad with those game noises. I know how annoying those can be for the people around you. Also I don’t want Trixie to think that I got her only my old games as a present,” Ella explained.

“I’m sure Trixie would appreciate only the games also, but I guess headphones are not a bad idea.” Chloe knew that Trixie didn’t really value material things, but knowing how annoying some game sounds could be, she wasn’t opposed to the idea of giving the girl also headphones.

“Cool!” Ella said with a grin and headed back to her lab.

 

Soon it was 2 PM and everyone paused their work to say goodbye to Lieutenant Monroe. She had been their Lieutenants for almost 10 years and it was rather strange to think that she won’t be here anymore starting from next week.

Monroe was a rather tough woman (at least from the outside), but even she seemed to be a bit emotional over it. But even though her voice quivered a little when she gave her farewell speech, she didn’t cry. Chloe and Lucifer had been specifically mentioned in Monroe’s speech with their great solve rate and some other detectives and officers too, who had managed to do something notable during the time Monroe had been working here.

Chloe would probably never admit it to Lucifer but she was glad she decided to come to the farewell party, Monroe had been tough but fair and Chloe was glad that she had been her first Lieutenant. As much as she thought Monroe deserved the promotion, Chloe was a bit sad that she was leaving.

After the speech Monroe urged them all to feast on the snacks she had ordered and the drinks (all non alcoholic of course, to Lucifer’s great disappointment).

While most people were trying to get ahold of the best snacks before those were gone, Lucifer stayed away from the table and eyed the star of the party, hoping to get ahold of her. He had been trying to get to speak with her since Monroe had announced her promotion, but of course she had been all too busy those last days. Lucifer had assumed that the party might be his last chance, so he had been adamant about attending.

Finally it seemed that Monroe had a moment when she was not talking to anyone else and Lucifer hurried towards her.

“Olivia! Congratulations once more,” Lucifer started with a smile on his face as soon as he was near enough. He already gave his congratulations when the Lieutenant had made the announcement, but he decided it would be better to butter her up just in case.

“Ah, Mr. Morningstar,” Monroe smiled back.

“Oh, please Olivia, like I have said to you already, you can call me Lucifer,” the Devil put on his most charming smile.

“All right, Lucifer. Thank you!”

“I.. ehm… I wanted to apologise for not keeping my end of the bargain,” Lucifer went straight to the point, because the woman was in high demand and he didn’t want to be interrupted before he could get to say what he needed.

“What are you talking about?” Monroe was a bit confused.

“I haven’t had the chance to meet with the LAPD brass since I started my job as a consultant. I just thought I had time. But it appears you didn’t really need my assistance anyway,” Lucifer states a bit nervously.

“Lucifer,” Monroe put her hand on his forearm assuringly, “you and Decker, or more precisely the good work you do, are the main reasons we are having this party today. The fact that you two solve crimes as quickly as you do has increased the solve rate of the whole precinct above any other in town, not to mention catching a serial killer that the police department of San Jose hadn’t even noticed was a serial killer. That had brought the precinct and with that also me in the sphere of interest. So of course they thought of me when Captain Renard decided to retire for health reasons.” That was actually one of the main reasons she really wanted both Chloe and Lucifer at the party, it would have felt a bit wrong without the ones who had played the main part in her career change. Or at least it happening so quickly.

Lucifer was visibly relieved hearing that. “So, you don’t think I’ve let you down?” He had been rather worried about it these last days.

“Of course not,” the woman chuckled. “Helping me with the solve rate was way better than just playing golf with the brass and praising me for no reason.”

“Well, it would not have been for no reason,” Lucifer couldn’t stop complimenting her.

“Anyway, don’t worry, your position as the consultant of LAPD is safe,” Monroe assured him again.

Lucifer let out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. That had been his main concern.

“And to make sure that whoever becomes the new Lieutenant could not change that I let the legal department go over your contract, so even if the new person would be foolish enough not to see your worth, unless you screw up monumentally or Decker decides that she wants a new partner, your position is safe.”

“Thank you,” Lucifer said, a bit awed. He had always bragged about being a great asset to LAPD, but having it confirmed by the Lieutenant felt oddly touching. “So if the Detective wants me gone …,” he added as an afterthought.

“Well, would you really want to work with some other detective?” Olivia raised one of her eyebrows questioningly.

“No,” Lucifer confirmed. Monroe had assumed correctly, he would not continue working as a civilian consultant if Chloe ever decided she didn’t want to work with him anymore.

“Now, let’s go and see if there’s any food left,” Olivia suggested. She hadn’t had the chance to eat yet also.

 

As promised Chloe and Lucifer left the precinct a little bit before 3 PM. She had suggested that Lucifer should come to her place in the morning and leave his car there so he could ride to work with her. It would be much easier to navigate the errands driving one car instead of two. Lucifer had agreed, with only slight complaints directed at her driving, so they were now driving together in Chloe’s cruiser, heading towards their first stop - the supermarket. 

Chloe had seen Lucifer talk to Monroe at the party and she was curious what it was about.

“So, what did you and Monroe talk about during the party?” she decided to not beat around the bush.

“I just wanted to make sure that her leaving would not affect my contract as a civilian consultant,” Lucifer admitted adjusting his cufflink.

“Oh,” Chloe had not believed it to be any problem, “we have the best solve rate in the precinct, I didn’t think that any Lieutenant would be foolish enough to let you go thanks to it.” 

“Well, yes, Monroe said something similar. And she assured me that unless I screw up in a big way or you get tired of me, my position is secure.” Lucifer had the feeling that he might have been worrying a little too much about it in the last couple of days, but it’s important to him, so better safe than sorry.

Chloe furrowed her brows at that. “So, if for some reason I don’t want to be your partner anymore, you’d just quit?” Chloe had never thought about it like that but she had assumed that Lucifer liked to work with LAPD and would do it even if he’d be partnered with someone else.

“Yes, I wanted to be your partner, not someone else’s,” Lucifer said as a matter of factly. 

“Oh,” was all Chloe could say to that. Internally she promised to never take advantage of it, even if for some reason they might have some disagreements.

 

As Chloe had suspected the ‘you’ll not complain’ part about their deal was the hardest for Lucifer. As soon as they arrived in the store’s parking lot, Lucifer found things to whine about. When Chloe reminded him that she had told him he couldn’t complain about the errands, Lucifer argued that he had never explicitly agreed to it. That earned him a stern look from Chloe and he relented, muttering, “fine, I’ll suffer in silence then”.

“You do that,” Chloe agreed with a smirk. The Devil could be such a drama queen.

 

At some point they were choosing between a candle shaped like number eight or 8 small candles and Chloe mentioned her daughter needing to blow them out and make a wish, which caused Lucifer to think about the one thing the girl truly desired. They hadn’t talked about it recently, but now Lucifer couldn’t resist bringing the subject up again.

Well, he managed to wait until they finished shopping (with him pointing out the lack of quality in some items, not complaining, thank you very much) and headed towards the Detective’s place until he brought it up.

“Have you thought about telling Beatrice about the true nature of your relationship, Detective?” Lucifer tried to sound as casual as possible when he brought it up.

--------

Maze was waking up from her nap on the couch. She hadn’t really intended to take a nap, but the TV show she had watched somehow lulled her to sleep. Well, it had been refreshing. She just arrived from her latest bounty hunt this morning. A successful one of course. When she dropped the guy at the precinct it had been too early for Decker to be there yet, but when she had reached home, she and Trixie had already left. Maze had taken advantage of being alone in the apartment and spread herself out on the couch, switching on the TV and watching whatever interested her.

Now though her bladder was forcing her to get up. “Stupid Earth,” she growled. Since you didn’t eat or drink in Hell, you didn’t have to pee there also, but here on Earth when you drink you have to pee. Right now it was rather annoying, otherwise she could have lounged on the couch a little longer.

The demon had just finished her business in the bathroom and switched off the light, about to open the door and exit the room when she heard the front door open. When the first voice she heard was not Decker’s but Lucifer’s, Maze stayed put. She had wondered why Lucifer’s Corvette was parked outside the building. At first she thought that Lucifer had stopped by and they hadn’t left for work yet, but when she entered the apartment and it was empty, she just shrugged it off. Now though, her first thought was that maybe they had gotten over their issues in the few days she had been away and were boning again. Well, she’d love to see that happening. Maybe they would get down to business right on the couch. Maze pushed the door almost shut so she could peek out, from the bathroom she had a clear view to the couch. Luckily she had switched off the TV before she went to the bathroom, so they wouldn’t realise that she was there. Maze knew that the Devil wouldn’t mind if she watched them but Decker was a bit prude.

“... all I’m saying is that she deserves to know,” Lucifer sounded agitated.

“And I’m saying that I’ll tell her when I think it’s the right time. Just before her birthday party is definitely not the time to tell Trixie that I was the one who gave her away after giving birth to her. Even you should understand it,” Chloe sounded even more upset.

“I’m not saying that you should tell her today,” Lucifer tried to reason, “I’m merely suggesting …”. Before he could finish his sentence Chloe stopped him, “will you please let it go already. I know I need to tell her at some point, but it’s not happening today and I have too many things to do before the party to waste my time arguing about it with you.” The tiredness in her tone was palpable. “If you can’t drop the subject, you should go and I’ll do the preparations myself.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” the Devil immediately apologised, “I won’t say a word about it anymore today.”

“Okay then, let’s go and bring the remaining bags in from the car.” Chloe sounded relieved.

If it hadn’t been for the topic of the conversation Maze had overheard, she would have probably rolled her eyes at how quickly the Devil was ready to apologise to Decker when he realised that he had upset her, but now she could only think about what she had learned. As soon as Chloe and Lucifer had left the apartment Maze slipped out of the bathroom and ran up the stairs to her own room. She sat down on her bed, still a little shocked. “What the fuck, Decker… you abandoned your child?” she muttered to herself in disbelief. 

Chapter 28: Party

Chloe was looking at the decorations they had put up around the room while preparing the food. She hoped that Trixie would like them. There were colourful letters spelling ‘Happy birthday’, several balloons floating around and also a balloon shaped like number 8. Right now the apartment was quiet and Chloe enjoyed it, knowing that soon enough the room would be filled with people and quiet would definitely not be the word to describe it.

To be honest, Chloe had been surprised when Trixie had told her what kind of party she really wanted for her birthday. Chloe had done some research and found some places you could rent out for kids birthday parties. She had then asked Trixie where she would like to go. The girl had not been too enthusiastic about the options Chloe had presented, so she had finally asked what she would like to do (hoping silently that it would not be something too extravagant but at the same time she would have done anything in her power to make it happen). To her surprise Trixie had admitted that since there were only three girls whom she really liked at school, she would like to invite them to her home and have the party here. Chloe had asked if she really would like only three guests to come over to which Trixie had thought a little and then announced that she had liked Chloe’s friends too, so she wouldn’t mind if they came also. When Chloe asked who exactly the girl had meant, she listed Ella, Linda, Lucifer and Maze (who would be there anyway if she wasn’t out of town). Finally the list was extended to include Penelope also. Chloe was slightly surprised that her mother had actually promised to be there when she had invited her. It seemed that Penelope was eager to meet her granddaughter in person (so far they had only had virtual interactions). Chloe was glad that they would finally meet in person, but knowing that her mother will be attending also put an additional stress on her. Penelope tended to find things to criticise every time Chloe organised something.

Thinking back to when she had invited Lucifer to Trixie’s party made Chloe still smile. Lucifer had been baffled at first why the girl would want to invite him to her birthday party. The confused puppy look he gave Chloe after she told him about the invitation was just adorable. When she had explained that Trixie had also invited Ella and Linda and her mother, Lucifer had put on the smug mask and stated that he would attend since it would certainly be a snooze fest without him. But Chloe knew him well enough to see that he was actually flattered that the girl had thought of him too while listing Chloe’s friends who she liked.

Suddenly Chloe was brought back from her musings by footsteps coming from the direction of the stairs.

“Hi, Maze! I didn’t realise that you were home already,” Chloe greeted her roommate.

“I was upstairs. Took a nap earlier,” the demon told her. “You alone?” she asked, glancing around.

“Yes, but Lucifer and Trixie should be here soon,” Chloe explained. The Devil had gone to pick up Trixie from her soccer practice and they’d have to also pick up her cake on their way back. It had saved Chloe a lot of time, but to be honest it hadn’t even been her idea to start with. Since they had agreed the day before that Lucifer should leave his car at her place in the morning, the Devil showed up with a colourful bouquet to wish Trixie happy birthday. This time he had sung the birthday song himself and the girl had been grinning from ear to ear at that. Chloe then explained why Lucifer will be leaving his car in their parking lot for the day and Trixie had suggested that Lucifer could come and pick her up from her practice. Lucifer had tried to protest, but the birthday girl had done her best puppy dog eyes impression and Chloe had agreed that it would indeed be rather practical if he did it. Lucifer could not resist two Decker women and relented.

Maze just hummed at Chloe’s clarification and headed towards the front door.

“Don’t forget that Trixie’s birthday party starts at seven,” Chloe reminded her before she could disappear.

“I’ll be there,” Maze replied and left, closing the door with a bang.

Chloe just sighed, it was not unusual behaviour for the demon.

 

About twenty minutes later a little dark-haired hurricane burst through the door, followed by the Devil.

“Hi, Chloe!” the girl greeted her cheerfully.

“Hello, Detective! The birthday girl is delivered,” Lucifer informed her, “and so is the cake.” He set the cardboard box at the counter.

Chloe then noticed some brown crumbs around Trixie’s mouth and felt instantly a little alarmed. “You didn’t taste the cake on the way over, did you?” she asked, trying to sound way calmer than she felt at the thought.

“Wasn’t I supposed to?” the girl asked in return, having the most innocent look on her face.

“No, you were not,” Chloe answered, feeling the panic creep in.

“But I was really hungry and it’s my cake, isn’t it. And Lucifer said that if I really desire it I should be able to have it.”

“How could you allow it?” Chloe glared at Lucifer and only now noticed that he had some dark crumbs around the corner of his mouth too.

Lucifer just shrugged nonchalantly. Chloe wanted to see for herself how bad the situation was and opened the box, her hands shaking a little. To her surprise the cake was untouched. “What the …,” she looked at it in confusion and then heard a giggle behind her. She turned around and saw the Devil and her kid high fiving.

“I bought us some muffins from the bakery, Detective,” Lucifer explained and then narrowed his eyes at her, “how irresponsible do you think I am?”

Chloe felt her face go red, she really should have more faith in her partner. But then she realised that they had eaten muffins in Lucifer’s car. “Wait, you let her eat a muffin in your Corvette?” The Devil has always been against eating anything that would leave stains or crumbs in his car.

“Well, I thought I must have the car cleaned anyway after her sticky fingers have been at every surface possible,” Lucifer explained, adjusting his cufflinks.

“And then you thought, what the Hell, let’s give Chloe a heart attack just before the party,” Chloe asked sarcastically.

Trixie giggled again. “It was actually kind of my idea. But your face was really funny when you thought I had actually eaten the cake,” Trixie told Chloe, smiling widely.

Chloe just sighed. How could she be mad at her when it had turned out to be just a harmless prank and the girl looked so happy? “Okay, you little prankster. Go and wash your face if you want to get your present,” she told the girl pointing her towards the bathroom.

After Trixie had gone to the bathroom, Lucifer quipped, “maybe next time you reconsider before you decide to make the Devil a chauffeur for the Urchin.”

Chloe just rolled her eyes at that. She was quite certain that the ride had not been that awful. Those two seemed to get on rather well, despite Lucifer’s claimed aversion to kids.

When Trixie returned from the bathroom with a clean face Chloe gave her the present that had been waiting for her. They had agreed that it would be better not to give it to her right in the morning since they really didn’t have time for opening presents on a school day morning. Well, just opening would have probably not taken so long, but Trixie had agreed that she would probably want to play with her present immediately.

The girl tore away the glittering pink wrapping paper and her eyes lit up with joy, “A new All-American doll. Awesome! Thanks, Chloe!”

Chloe couldn’t help but smile at her reaction. She knew that Trixie wanted the doll and although it was a bit expensive, Chloe decided that having the party at home instead of some place you could rent would save her enough that she could splurge this time.

Trixie and Chloe had both been so caught up in Trixie opening the present from Chloe that neither of them had noticed Lucifer going outside for a moment. Now he stepped back into the apartment and held a big box in his hands.

“Right, I suppose that is the appropriate moment to give you my present also,” Lucifer held out the box that was wrapped in red paper and had a big white bow on top of it.

“Thank you, Lucifer!” Trixie smiled.

“Now, be careful with this one. It’s fragile," Lucifer suddenly realised that it might be too heavy for the girl. "Maybe I’ll just put it on the floor.”

Chloe eyed the gift a bit suspiciously. She had no idea what he bought for Trixie. She had brought up the subject after a few days had passed since she invited Lucifer to the party, fearing a little that he might get her something not so appropriate for an 8 year old. To her surprise Lucifer had simply stated that he already knows what he’s going to get her because apparently he had sent Trixie a text and asked her what she wanted. Chloe had not even known that Lucifer had her number, but the Devil just shrugged and told her that they had exchanged numbers the night when he was looking after her.

Chloe had returned to the preparations, since it was getting closer and closer to seven, but she kept an eye on Trixie while she was peeling off the wrapping paper of her present. Finally with a loud gasp she exclaimed, “a telescope. I can watch the stars now.”

Lucifer seemed pleased with her reaction, looking at the girl with a soft smile on his face.

Chloe was a bit conflicted at seeing the gift. Trixie seemed really happy about it and Chloe knew that she had dreamed about having a telescope since her friend had told her about star gazing with her uncle who had a telescope. Chloe had even done some research about them herself, but all those that seemed to be worth buying were definitely out of her budget. So she knew quite well how expensive that present was. It didn’t feel right to let Lucifer give her such an expensive present, but Chloe couldn’t really tell her little girl that she should give it back. Besides, she knew that Lucifer could easily afford it.

Lucifer was now pointing out some features about the telescope and Trixie was listening to him with an awed expression. They looked rather adorable together, but Chloe noticed that the living room now had two piles of torn wrapping paper that didn’t really belong there.

“Trixie, I think it would be best if you take the gifts to your room now and put the wrapping paper in the trash bin. The guests will arrive soon.”

“Okay,” the girl agreed and started to gather the wrapping paper. Chloe went to help her and suggested that Lucifer should carry the telescope in her room. Trixie soon followed with the doll.

When Lucifer came back from Trixie’s room, Chloe said to him silently, “you shouldn’t have spent so much money on her.”

“Nonsense, Detective. You know I have more than enough money,” Lucifer brushed her off and after a pause he added a bit sheepishly, “besides, how can I refuse to make a gift that allows the Urchin to watch my stars more closely.” 

Chloe hadn’t even thought about that. She knew that Lucifer had made the stars, but it just hadn’t occurred to her that he might be touched about Trixie’s interest in them.

 

About five minutes before seven the guests started to arrive. Chloe had finished with the preparations on time, thanks to Lucifer’s help. Soon most of the guests had arrived. Trixie and the girls she had invited went straight to the girl’s bedroom to play and Chloe was able to enjoy spending time with her friends.

Penelope Decker arrived about 15 minutes after seven. She said that the reason for her late arrival was the traffic, but Chloe knew that her mother liked to make a big entrance and tended to arrive ‘fashionably late’ as she called it. Trixie came out of her room to greet her guest and the first meeting of her daughter and her mother made Chloe’s eyes tear up. Penelope had a genuine smile on her face when she saw the girl and opened her arms wide, gesturing to Trixie to come and hug her. The girl did just that and Chloe was not sure she remembered the last time she had seen a smile that happy on her mother’s face.

When they broke the hug, Penelope looked at her, still smiling, “you look even prettier in person than on the computer screen.” 

Trixie just giggled in response. After Penelope had given her the present she had brought, the girl ran back to her friends.

“Shouldn’t you have rented something fancier for her birthday,” Penelope asked Chloe as soon as Trixie was out of earshot.

“It’s what she wanted, mom,” Chloe replied, trying to suppress her annoyance at the fact that the first thing she said to her after not seeing her for months would be some kind of critique, “I would have rented some place where you can have parties if she would have wanted that.”

Her mother just hummed at that and glanced around the room. Suddenly her eyes fell on the only male guest.

“I see you invited Lucifer too,” she commented, clearly excited about it. Chloe was not sure whether her excitement was about seeing Lucifer again after such a long time (they always got along better than she would have liked) or just because she read too much into the fact that Lucifer was attending the girl’s party.

“Trixie wanted to invite him,” Chloe tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Oh, so you have introduced them?” Penelope sounded even more excited.

“Actually Trixie met Lucifer even before I adopted her. They met at the precinct when we solved the murder of her adoptive parents,” Chloe explained with the tiniest hope that maybe her mother would not play matchmaker this time.

Suddenly the Devil they were just talking about, was standing right next to them.

“Hello, Penelope! You look even better than I remembered,” Lucifer greeted Chloe’s mother with a sappy compliment.

“Oh, hello Lucifer,” Penelope beamed at him, “you don’t look too bad yourself,” she added flirtatiously.

“So tell me, what are you up to these days? Any new projects we should be looking forward to?” Lucifer started to guide the woman towards the couch but first glazed around his shoulder towards Chloe and winked at her. Chloe smiled at him in return. Lucifer always seemed to know when she needed rescuing from her mother.

Chloe sighed in relief after the rescue and checked the time. It was almost 20 minutes past seven, but Maze was still not there. She knew that Trixie would be disappointed if the demon didn’t show up at all, so she decided to call her. Just as she had taken the phone in her hand the door opened and Maze walked in.

Chloe briefly thought about chiding her about not being on time, but the look on the demon’s face told Chloe that it might not be wise. Besides, Trixie who had been heading to the snack table when the door opened, was pleased to see Maze and didn’t seem to mind her lateness.

“Hi, Maze,” the girl smiled widely.

“Hey, kid,” Maze replied. She then handed over a gift bag she was holding. “For you,” was the only thing she said when handing the gift over.  

“Thanks,” Trixie replied and instantly looked inside. She took the gift out and seemed a bit disappointed to see that it was a toy kitchen set with a plastic knife, cutting board, whisk, measuring cup and some other utensils. “That’s nice,” she said as a comment, but her voice lacked any enthusiasm about it.

Chloe was relieved to see such a normal present from the demon. She had been a little worried about what Maze might get her daughter. By Trixie’s reaction to what she got, Chloe suspected that she had also thought that Maze would bring something different, but unlike Chloe she had been looking forward to it.

Chloe then joined the adults who were gathered around the coffee table, having a good time talking about fun things that had happened on a movie set (it was no surprise to Chloe that her mother was thriving being in the center of attention) or at a crime scene (when others got the chance to speak). Well, almost all the adults, because Maze kept her distance. Chloe wondered briefly  about it, but it was not uncommon for Maze to act strange, so she let it slide.

Maze lingered around the snack table and the next time Trixie came over to get something, she told the girl to follow her. Trixie obeyed and they headed towards the stairs. Maze stopped in the area next to the stairs, out of sight from the people in the living room, and turned towards Trixie.

She took out a knife, handed it to Trixie and said, “happy birthday!”

She looked at the knife with an awed expression, “so cool.” Then she looked up at Maze and thanked her in a much more enthusiastic voice than it had been after seeing the kitchen set.

“That plastic kitchen stuff was just for decoy, I’m sure Decker would not have let you keep the knife if I had given it to you in front of her. So keep that safe and I’ll find some time to teach you how to use it,” Maze explained.

“Really?” Trixie was now even more excited about her present.

“Sure. But we can use the knife that’s in the kitchen set also, it’s about the same size as this one, so we can practise some things with that one. Took me some time to find something with the right kind of plastic knife in it.” That explained both the odd gift and her being late.

“Now hide it and go back to the others before anyone starts to look for you,” Maze instructed the girl. Trixie nodded and slipped it inside her shirt’s sleeve. Thankfully she was wearing long sleeves and the knife also had a sheath around the blade, so she didn’t risk hurting herself while taking it to her room. The girl was already thinking about places to hide it.

 

Maze didn’t really want to talk to Chloe right now, so she kept her distance and stayed near the snack table. Suddenly Lucifer was standing beside her, reaching for the Cool Ranch Puffs (he had convinced Chloe that she needed to buy those also, so at least something useful had come out of the torturous trip to the supermarket).

For a few moments they were standing there side by side both minding their own business when Lucifer decided to end the tense silence.

“Mazikeen,” he said, acknowledging finally the presence of the demon.

“Lucifer,” she replied in a similar manner.

“So, how is living with humans?” Lucifer asked, turning to face Maze.

The demon shrugged, “fine.”

“Really? You’re fine with all the rules the Detective has?” Lucifer knew about some of the rules, but he was sure there were more of them. And he also knew how bad demons generally were in following rules.

“I manage,” was the terse answer Maze gave to the Devil. After a pause the demon added, “I’m surprised you didn’t tell Decker to throw me out as well.” The accusation about throwing her out of the apartment in Lux was evident.

When Lucifer said nothing to it and started to pile more Cool Ranch Puffs onto his plate, Maze realised what he was not saying.

“You did tell her to get rid of me, didn’t you?” she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Well, you remember what happened with that lady from the adoption agency. I was merely thinking about the well-being of the Detective and her Urchin,” Lucifer tried to justify his actions.

“But Decker told you to shove your opinion up your ass, didn’t she,” Maze grinned. Although she was right now kind of pissed at Chloe, her respect towards her grew a little.

“She doesn’t use this kind of language,” Lucifer said, affrontement evident in his voice, “but she is her own person and decides herself how she wants to lead her life and who she chooses to be her roommate.” 

“And how is the bird brain handling Lux?” Maze asked after another, slightly less awkward pause. She had heard about Luicfer hiring Amenadiel as the new manager of Lux.

“Well, there have been some bumps in the road, but generally quite good,” Lucifer told her.

“At least you finally got the message that I’m not interested in managing Lux,” Maze quipped.

“Yes, Maze, that’s why I hired Amenadiel,” Lucifer said, stating the obvious.

“But I still drink for free at Lux,” the demon declared in a slightly threatening tone.

“Yes, you do,” Lucifer confirmed. He let his other friends drink for free, so there was no reason to exclude Maze from it. Besides, he was quite sure Maze would be able to intimidate most of his bartenders to give her free drinks even if he should tell her no.

Trixe had showed her other presents to the girls with whom she was playing in her room and they all thought it would be cool to test the telescope, so Trixie decided to go and ask.

“Chloe, can we try the telescope,” the girl suddenly appeared next to Chloe with pleading eyes.

“I don’t know… I’d have to read the instructions to make sure we’d do everything right,” Chloe was not certain that it would be a good idea to do it right now. She would have preferred to test it when she had time to read the instructions carefully, not during the party she was hosting.

“Detective, if you’ll allow me, I could help with it,” Lucifer, who was standing nearby offered. He had a pretty good idea how to set it up since he had read about them when he searched for the best one to give to the Urchin.

“You wouldn’t mind?” Chloe asked to be sure that the self proclaimed party king was willing to step away from it to fulfil the girl’s needs.

“Not at all,” Lucifer assured her and followed an excited Trixie to her room to take the telescope before going towards the door that led to the patio.

Luckily the night was not too cloudy and soon the telescope was ready to be used. Lucifer stayed outside and pointed out some more interesting stars and also some planets that were visible from Earth. All the girls were admiring the stars and Lucifer felt pride swell in his chest. Although the girls didn’t know that they were his creation, it felt good to hear his stars praised for their beauty.

After the girls went inside, Lucifer stayed on the patio and decided to look closer at the stars himself. He was just studying a Red Giant Star when he suddenly heard Penelope’s voice next to him.

“Are you trying to find some new star?” the actress joked.

“No, I was actually looking at one that is about to become extinct,” Lucifer explained, straightening himself.

“Really?” Penelope sounded a bit surprised. She apparently hadn't thought that Lucifer knew much about the stars.

“Would you like to take a look?” Lucifer offered.

“Sure,” the woman agreed and looked through the telescope. She didn’t spend much time looking at it though. After taking a brief glance at the star, she straightened herself and looked at Lucifer. “I wanted to thank you,” she said in a serious tone.

Lucifer didn’t quite follow. “For showing you the star?” he asked.

“No,” she chuckled, “for helping Chloe reunite with her daughter.”

“Oh, that,” Lucifer adjusted his cufflink, “well I think she’s a good mother and the girl is lucky to have her in her life again.”

“Chloe was right about you. You are a good man,” Penelope said then.

“She said that?” Lucifer asked, feeling his ears turn a little red.

“She did,” the woman confirmed. “Although at the time I didn’t believe it, because you had left out of the blue and left Chloe heartbroken.”

Lucifer averted his gaze, “believe me, if I would have had another choice …” but before he could finish, Penelope interrupted him.

“Yes, she told me that you didn’t do it willingly, that you had to go and take care of something important. I must say that I wasn’t your biggest fan back then,” Penelope admitted.

“It wasn’t easy for me either,” Lucifer told her silently, still not looking at her, the memory of that night on the balcony about three years ago coming back to him as if it was yesterday.

“But now you’re back and helping her with something like that even though you are not even together anymore.” Lucifer finally looked back at her direction and saw Penelope looking at him with a genuine smile. 

“Well, we’re still friends and I care a lot about her,” he tried to explain without revealing exactly how much he really cares about Chloe.

Penelope looked at him with her eyes narrowed and shook her head a little. “I still don’t get why you two are not together. I mean, I have watched you two tonight and I can still see so much affection between you.”

“It’s complicated,” was all Lucifer could give her as an explanation. The woman does not know about anything celestial and he thought that it would be better for it to stay that way.

Penelope huffed, “that’s what Chloe said too, but I still don’t see why it should be.”

Before Lucifer could answer the patio door opened and Chloe appeared there, “here you are. Come inside now, Trixie is ready to blow the candles.”

“Ah, splendid. Then we can finally take a bite from that cake,” Lucifer told her, smirking.

Chloe shaked her head, biting back a smile. Looking back it was a bit funny how they played her, making her believe that Trixe had tasted her birthday cake on the way home.

Trixie was already next to the cake, eager to taste it. They had already put the candles on her cake (Chloe and Lucifer had taken the 8 small candles instead of one candle shaped like number 8), but hadn’t lit them yet. “Come here already, I want to taste the cake,” Trixe urged them on.

“First you have to blow the candles,” Chloe told her, taking out a lighter and starting to light the candles on her cake.

“We should sing too,” Ella suggested and started the tune. Everyone joined in and Trixie grinned from joy even though it meant that she had to wait a bit before she could blow out the candles and get to eat her cake.

As soon as the final note of the song was sung, she took a large breath and blew out all the candles. “Did you make a wish?” Chloe asked. Trixie nodded. She didn’t need to think about what to wish for, she already knew it.

Finally they could eat the cake and it really was worth the wait. “That is the best chocolate cake ever,” Trixie exclaimed and most of the people agreed with her.

Well, Lucifer actually had had even better cakes during his long life, but he didn’t want to spoil her joy, so he kept his mouth shut this time. It was full of cake anyway. 

 

Soon after they had eaten the cake it was time for Trixie’s friends to go home. Their parents came to pick them up and the other guests followed soon after. Penelope was the last one to leave.

“It was really lovely to meet you in person, Trixie,” she said to the girl as she was leaving.

“You too, Grandma,” Trixie replied. They had agreed during one of the video calls, that Trixie can call her Grandma. “Will I see you more often now?” the girl asked, voice full of hope.

“Unfortunately I have to fly back to the set on Sunday,” Penelope informed her. “But if you’d like, you could come tomorrow to my house for lunch,” she offered, looking at Chloe.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Chloe agreed. As much as spending too much time with her mother exhausted Chloe sometimes, she thought it would be good for them to have more bonding time. During the party Trixie had spent most of the time with her friends, so they didn’t have much chance to interact. And since there had been other people too, Chloe herself had not been yet overwhelmed by her mother.

“Great! I’ll see you both tomorrow then,” Penelope beamed and turned to leave.

 

Later, when Chloe was saying good night to Trixie, she asked her how she liked the party.

“It was the best birthday ever,” she told Chloe with a big smile that was followed by an equally big yawn.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Chloe smiled in return and kissed her good night. “Sweet dreams!”

Trixie hugged her new doll closer and whispered, “good night, Chloe!”

--------

Detective Griffin was filling in for the Lieutenant until the new one arrived. Although he was the one with the longest tenure of office, the man was not exactly fluent with paperwork. There had already been a number of mixups, so Chloe was not really surprised when she found out that the file she should have gotten had ended up with Dan. Knowing that they’ll get a new Lieutenant soon, Chloe just sighed and started to walk towards Dan’s desk. 

She had only taken a few steps when Dan’s phone rang and for some reason he turned towards the wall after checking the caller’s ID.

Chloe was a bit conflicted about whether she should wait until Dan finished the call, but she really needed the file, so she decided to go and try to retrieve it as soon as possible. Since Dan was facing the wall, he didn’t see her and unfortunately Chloe didn’t spot the file either. So she stood nearby and waited, hoping the phone call wouldn’t take too long. Suddenly Dan’s words caught her attention.

“Okay, Charlotte, see you on Saturday then,” he said smiling while he turned back towards his desk. He had just disconnected the call when he noticed Chloe and froze.

Chloe looked at him, her eyebrow raised and arms crossed on her chest. “Charlotte?” She hadn’t really meant to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t not hear that name.

“It’s … it’s not what you think,” Dan stammered with a startled expression.

“Uh-uh and what exactly is it then?” Chloe asked sceptically.

“She just wanted to apologise and asked me to go to lunch with her,” Dan explained.

“Just like that?” Chloe found it a bit hard to believe.

“Yeah… last week when I went to visit her in the hospital to tell her that we had caught Liam Pickering, the coworker who had tried to kill her, she seemed… I don’t know… different. She was… remorseful. She told me she was sorry for how she had used me and wanted to make amends and asked if we could meet for a coffee or something when she’s out of the hospital.”

Chloe listened to him, her brows furrowed. She had an idea what could have caused that change of heart. Dan interpreted her thoughtful face as disbelief. “I swear, that’s all it is. And I’m not going to talk about anything related to work. So there’s no need for your partner to go to avenging angel mode on me.”

“I’m not an angel, but who do I need to avenge exactly?” Lucifer was suddenly standing next to Chloe, looking between her and Dan curiously.

“Jesus Christ,” Dan exclaimed, being startled by Lucifer’s sudden appearance.

“Wrong deity again,” Lucifer said to Dan and then turned his attention to Chloe, “Detective?”

“Apparently Charlotte Richards wants to apologise to Dan for using him to get information,” she told the Devil, a bit curious about his reaction.

“Is that so?” he said calmly. “If she’s sure it will help,” he muttered more to himself. “But I wouldn’t count on her wanting to have apology sex with you, Daniel,” he said more loudly. 

“I wasn't expecting her to,” Dan mumbled, blushing.

Chloe wasn’t really interested in discussing possible activities Dan and Charlotte could do together, so she told Dan that she needed the file that Griffin had given to him by mistake. After receiving it, she went back to her desk. 

Lucifer had been standing on the same spot the whole time and eating something from a plastic cup. Now he was finished with it and scraped the bottom. Dan hadn’t paid attention to what Lucifer was doing before, but the sound caught his attention.

“Hey, isn’t this my pudding?” Dan asked, displeased.

Lucifer just shrugged and drooped the empty cup into the waste bin next to Dan’s desk. Dan looked at the cup and saw that the lid had indeed DAN written with a black sharpie on it.

“I knew it was you stealing my puddings,” he said angrily. Dan had had his suspicions, but no actual proof before now.

Lucifer just put the spoon that still had some pudding on it in his mouth and pulled it out slowly with a moan that was most definitely not suitable for work, “mm… delicious,” he added.

“Gross, man,” Dan wrinkled his nose in disgust.

Lucifer just smirked at him and winked before turning around and walking to the Detective’s desk, chuckling to himself. 

When Lucifer reached Chloe’s desk, she was not sitting there, her nose buried in the file, but instead she was looking at him expectantly. Lucifer felt a bit uneasy under her stare.

“Detective? Everything alright?” he asked, trying to hide his nervousness.

“Was it your doing?” she asked in a low voice.

“Was what my doing?” Lucifer didn’t quite follow.

“That Charlotte asked Dan to an apology lunch,” Chloe explained. Both the change in Charlotte’s behaviour and the fact that Lucifer had not seemed to be surprised by it, had made her think that he had something to do with it.

“Well, I did not tell her to go and have lunch with Dan, but I might have pointed out that she should rethink her life choices if she wants to stay out of Hell in the future.”  

“So you ended up giving her advice on how to end up in Heaven after she died?” Chloe asked and now she was rather amused by it, especially remembering Lucifer’s initial reaction to the news that Charlotte was alive after all.

“I didn’t go to the hospital to do that, but… I guess in the end I might have given her some suggestions. That way she might reconsider keeping criminals from getting their deserved punishment in the future,” Lucifer reasoned.

“That sounds actually like a good idea,” Chloe admitted. She had been a little afraid of what kind of effect Lucifer’s visit would have on Charlotte, but it seemed that he had managed to turn it into something good and constructive. To be honest she was not surprised, knowing that underneath it all the Devil has a heart of gold.

--------

A few days later the whole precinct was buzzing with expectation. Monroe had finally sent them all an email about getting a new Lieutenant and he was supposed to start today at 9 am. It was almost 9, so people were ready to greet him. Some more than others. Ella seemed to be the most excited.

“OMG, I’m so excited. Are you also excited?” she asked Chloe almost bouncing on the spot.

“Yes, it will be good to get a new Lieutenant,” Chloe agreed, but her voice was much calmer.

“Yes, yes, of course, but I’m talking about getting him as our new Lieutenant. I can’t believe he transferred here. We are so lucky,” Ella gushed.

“Uhm… what’s so special about him?” Chloe let the name of the new boss through her head again, but didn’t find anything to be that excited about.

“Oh my God, haven’t you heard about him? The guy is a serious rock star. I saw him speak at a police conference last year. The Red Tape Beyond the Yellow Tape,” Ella moved her hands across the air mimicking tape. “Riveting.”

“Yeah, sounds riveting,” Chloe was glad that Ella thought he was a good cop, but she still didn’t share her friend’s excitement.

A few moments later Lucifer joined them (he seemed to keep his distance from Ella whenever the woman was really excited to avoid being attacked with a hug) and all the others who had started to gather near the stairs. Ella was chatting with another detective and didn’t pay them attention, so Lucifer whispered to Chloe, “what is Miss Lopez so excited about?”

“She says that our new Lieutenant is some kind of superstar among cops,” Chloe whispered back.

“That sounds interesting,” Lucifer mused.

 

Precisely at 9 am a burly man with light brown hair walked down the stairs, holding a motorcycle helmet in his hand. He stopped a few steps from the stairs and looked around the bullpen.

“I’m Lieutenant Marcus Pierce,” he paused for a moment to look around him and then added, “all right, back to work.” 

Other people seemed to be a bit abashed about the short introduction, but Ella clapped her hands enthusiastically. Some of the other people also started clapping, but with far less enthusiasm. Pierce just walked into his office and didn’t pay any attention to the clapping.

Lucifer and Chloe both looked at Ella a bit surprised. 

“Did she hear a different introduction?” Lucifer wondered, his impression of Lieutenant Pierce was not exactly flattering. He thought the man was kind of rude.

“Well, he does seem to act like a cocky rock star, full of himself,” Chloe said. She remembered people like that from her acting days and those were never pleasant to be around.

 

Notes:

I know that most of you are not fans of Pierce, but I have my reasons why I did bring him in. I hope you won't be disappointed and still continue to read the fic.

Chapter 29: Revelations

Notes:

This one got a little out of hand again. I thought it would be a normal 5000-6000 words chapter, but somehow it ended up close to 10 K.

Detective Griffin gave the new Lieutenant an overview about their current cases. After he was finished Pierce exited from his office with him. 

People tried to catch his attention and introduce themselves while he was walking around the bullpen. Finally he ended up beside Chloe’s desk. Lucifer was standing right next to it and smiled when he noticed the new Lieutenant approaching.

“Hello! I’m Lucifer Morningstar,” he introduced himself with a polite smile and extended his hand. Pierce shook it briefly and studied him with a strange look.

“Crime solving Devil,” he finally muttered.

“It makes sense,” Lucifer shrugged, wondering a little how easily the man had concluded that he was the Devil. “Don’t overthink it,” he added when Pierce was still looking at him.

Pierce hummed and turned towards Chloe.

“Hello, sir! I’m Chloe Decker,” she introduced herself as she stood up from her seat.

“Lucifer’s partner,” Pierce concluded.

“Well, he’s actually mine,” Chloe clarified. She was the one with police training among the two of them after all. “My consultant, civilian consultant,” she added after a pause.

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Pierce furrowed his brow. Without saying anything else he turned and started walking towards his office. Chloe stared after him dumbfounded. Lucifer stared too, but he was kind of intrigued with the guy.

--------

Dan and Charlotte were eating lunch in a rather fancy Italian restaurant.The food was good and also quite expensive, but Charlotte had insisted that she would pay and Dan had not argued.

“So how are you feeling? Physically I mean,” Dan asked in between bites.

“The doctors say that I’m healing well. I still have some side effects, but overall not so bad considering how bad it was,” Charlotte admitted. Her face then turned a bit more serious. “I don’t think I can ever thank you enough for saving me,” Charlotte said to Dan, her eyes a little watery.

“Technically it wasn’t only my effort, the doctors were the ones who brought you back to life,” Dan countered.

“But if you hadn’t found me in time …” Charlotte didn’t even want to think about the horrible eternity in Hell that her soul would have had to endure if that had happened. Then she tilted her head in curiosity. “But you never told me why you were there in the first place.”

“Uhm, yes …. I…I,” Dan stammered, trying to find some plausible excuse for him being in the hotel. Unfortunately Dan was not so good at making up stories. He sighed heavily and decided to tell the truth instead.

“I was actually following you. I saw you going into that hotel and I went after you,” he admitted shyly.

“But why?” Charlotte was confused. 

“I thought,” Dan stared at his plate like it would hold all the answers, “I thought that maybe you were meeting someone else you wanted to use like you used me and I wanted to prevent that from happening.” He lifted his gaze after a few moments had passed, finally mustering up the courage to look Charlotte in the eye.

To Dan’s surprise Charlotte looked amused by his admission. “So taking advantage of you might have saved my life,” she summed it up with a smirk.

Dan huffed a laugh in return. “It seems so.”

They ate in silence for a while until Dan couldn’t reign in his curiosity anymore.

“Can I ask you something?” he asked.

“Sure,” Charlotte gave him permission without second thought.

“Why the change of heart? I mean, you didn’t seem to regret it when I confronted you in your office after I found out.” The question had been in his mind since she had apologised at the hospital.

Charlotte sighed heavily. “I’ve come to an understanding that the life I have led so far, has not been a good one, so I need to change it.” She was not sure how Dan would react if she admitted that she went to Hell when she was dead for those few seconds, so she decided to be a bit vague about it. “Apologising to you is just a start, I should do so much more, regarding my job, my family.”

“Do you regret getting a divorce?” Dan asked tentatively.

“No,” Charlotte answered, sounding convinced. “My ex is a good man, but we are not right for each other, so divorcing him was the right decision. But the custody agreement is not what it should be.” Charlotte fell silent and looked at her hands that were folded on the table. When she continued, she sounded ashamed. “He wanted a shared custody, so that they’d live with him half the time and me the other half. But I pushed for him having the majority of time and me having them only every other weekend. I thought it would help me to focus more on my career if I didn’t have them so often.” The Hell loop where she had witnessed her family die over and over again by the hand of her former clients, had made it much more clearer what was really important in life.

“Well, I’m sure he’d be happy to grant you more time with your kids,” Dan assumed.

“Maybe,” Charlotte didn’t sound so sure. “Or maybe it’s too late and they don’t even want more time with me. When they visited me in the hospital, it was a bit awkward… as if my kids were not sure they should even be there with me.”

“Look, you are their mother, you have every right to be with them. And I’m sure that they would be happy about it, even if it feels weird at the beginning.” Dan remembered how he had had some difficult times with his mother, but in the end he still loved the woman. He was quite sure that it would be the same for Charlotte’s children.

Charlotte smiled at him. After a moment of silence she said, “you are so different from the people I’m used to being around. I feel like I don’t have to be so poised when I’m with you. I can be more at ease.”

Dan smiled back at her. It felt good to help her loosen up.

“Would it be okay if I called you sometimes when I needed to talk?” Charlotte asked tentatively.

“Yeah, sure,” Dan agreed without having to think about it.

“Good,” Charlotte smiled at him again and Dan couldn’t help but admire how beautiful her smile was.

--------

“Okay, you can play until dinner is ready,” Chloe gave in. Trixie wanted to play a computer game that Ella had given her for her birthday. “And wear the headphones also,” she added. Trixie had once played the game without them and even though the door had been closed, the sound was really annoying.

The girl nodded and put the headphones on before starting the game.

“I’ll call you when the food is ready,” Chloe said, but Trixie didn’t react. “Trixie,” Chloe tried again with a stronger voice, but still no reaction. She tapped on her shoulder and Trixie removed the headphones from one ear and looked at Chloe questioningly. “I’ll come and tell you when it’s time to eat,” Chloe told her daughter. Apparently calling her would not be enough with those headphones.

“Okay,” the girl chirped and placed the headphones back on.

Chloe sighed and went to the kitchen, closing the door to Trixie’s room behind her.

 

Chloe had started with the preparations for dinner when Maze came downstairs. The demon went to the fridge and grabbed a can of coconut water.

“I’m making dinner, if you want …,” Chloe started, but Maze interrupted her with a sharp “no”.

Chloe frowned. She knew that Maze had never been the epitome of politeness, but for the past few weeks she had been rather rude towards Chloe. It seemed as if she personally had done something to Maze, because she was fine with Trixie, she even spent more time with the kid than she had before. Chloe could not think of anything she could have done to upset the demon, but it had started to bother her. So she decided to try to talk to her.

“Maze, what’s going on with you?” Chloe asked.

“Nothing,” Maze answered without looking at Chloe.

“It does seem like something. Have I done anything to offend you?” Chloe didn’t believe that nothing was wrong.

Maze was conflicted about what to say. She would have liked to tell her what she thought about her abandoning her child, but she hesitated. Three years ago Maze would have confronted her the same day she found out about it, but having a therapist as a best friend and being friends with humans did leave its mark. First of all Maze knew that she was not supposed to hear her conversation with Lucifer at all and eavesdropping was frowned upon by humans. Also Maze was not sure how it all would affect Trixie. She had become quite fond of the girl and doing something to upset her would not be something the demon would want to do. She had given Trixie the knife for her birthday so she could use it to protect herself or attack someone who was threatening her. That was the only solution she had come up with. Maze had even managed to teach her about using it under the pretence of playing with the girl in her room. The demon had also tried to ask Linda for advice, but since she couldn’t give Linda much details, the advice had been useless for her. 

Maze internally cursed those stupid emotions, life had been so much easier without them. Since she was conflicted about whether or what to answer Chloe, Maze stayed silent.

Unfortunately Chloe was not having it. “Okay Maze, cut the crap. I’m tired of your silent treatment,” she got agitated. Maze had basically avoided her or interacted only in short sentences with her for the past two weeks or so. “If you want to live here, you have to handle your problems like an adult and that means talking about whatever issues you have.” 

Although Chloe had not directly threatened her, Maze felt the hidden warning in her statement and it made her hackles rise.

“So what, if I don’t do what you want you’ll just throw me out like a piece of garbage?” Maze narrowed her eyes at Chloe.

“No, I didn’t say that,” Chloe argued. She didn’t want to make Maze think that she had to mold herself to someone she was not, but being angry without the other person even knowing what it was all about was kind of immature. “I just wanted to make it clear that there are better ways to deal with your problems.”

“Oh, and who made you the expert on it?” Maze asked mockingly.

“I’ve been dealing with emotions my whole life, as most humans. And I do think that I’m not bad at solving problems.” Chloe didn’t mean to brag, she was just trying to make the demon understand that humans generally understood emotions better than demons.

“Yes, you are good at abandoning your problems,” Maze snapped. 

“What is it about throwing out and abandoning with you today?” Chloe had noticed that it was a recurring theme her roommate mentioned. “Who have I abandoned?”

“Like you don’t know yourself,” the demon sneered.

“No, I don’t,” Chloe was confused about what she was talking about.

“The Hell you don’t!” Maze slammed her hands down on the kitchen counter with force. “I know that you gave her away.”

“What are you talking about?” Chloe asked, a cold feeling creeping in her gut.

“Don’t play innocent with me, I know about Trixie. How you abandoned her after birth.” Maze just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Seeing the colour drain from Chloe’s face felt good.

“How do you know that?” Chloe asked in a weak voice. “Who told you that she’s my biological child?” She had thought that between her mother and Lucifer the secret was safe.

“Doesn’t matter,” Maze dismissed her. “What matters is that you are a deceiving bitch who didn’t care about her kid.”

“Maze, I was really young and I thought it would be better for her,” Chloe tried to explain.

“A mother should never abandon her children,” Maze spat and stormed out of the door. She was afraid that she would punch Chloe if she didn’t leave. While it would certainly feel good for her, it might have some unpleasant consequences (for example a pissed off Devil who would definitely punish Maze for that).

 

Chloe looked at the door and cursed silently, “shit, that was just what I needed right now.” She contemplated going to Trixie’s room to check on her to make sure that her fight with Maze had not reached her ears, but decided against it. The headphones muffled the voices even if you were in the same room, so if she went there to check on her, it would probably make her only curious. So she decided to finish making the dinner and then go and get her girl.

 

When dinner was ready Chloe went to Trixie’s room. She expected to see the girl sitting behind the computer, but when Chloe slid the door open she didn’t see her. Chloe stepped inside the room and looked around. “Trixie!” she called out, not seeing her anywhere. Then her gaze landed on the half open window and panic started to set in. “Trixie!” she called again in a louder voice. “If you are hiding somewhere it’s time to come out now,” she said, trying to sound calm and looked inside the closet, under her bed and other places where the girl could have been hiding. Chloe had been facing the door to her room the whole time, she could not have slipped out of the room without her noticing, but just in case Chloe went through the house, calling her daughter’s name. No answer came. She went outside and called again, but the result was the same. Chloe went back inside and looked around the room. This time she spotted a few items that were missing, starting with her favourite backpack. Chloe tried to call her daughter’s phone, but it was turned off. It finally sunk in - her little girl was missing.

--------

Trixie had been playing on the computer for a bit when she felt thirsty. She decided to pause the game and go get something to drink from the kitchen. Trixie removed the headphones and took a few steps towards the door when she heard agitated voices coming from the other side. She realised that Maze and Chloe were arguing. Trixie stopped in front of the door of her room and contemplated whether to exit or not. She didn’t like to intervene with arguing adults.

Suddenly the words from the other side of the door caught her attention. She heard Maze say, “don’t play innocent with me, I know about Trixie. How you abandoned her after birth.” Trixie’s eyes widened at that. Why was Maze saying that Chloe had abandoned her after birth? Trixie moved her ear closer to the door, trying to hear better over her hammering heart. “How do you know that?” she heard Chloe’s voice, that was much more silent than Maze’s had been. “Who told you that she’s my biological child?” Those words from Chloe didn’t leave any more doubt - Chloe was indeed Trixie’s real mother. She backed away from the door, feeling trapped. She wanted to flee the house, but that would have meant facing Chloe and Trixie did not want to do that. Luckily her room was on the ground floor and so she decided to climb out of the window. She took her favourite backpack and put there a few snacks she had hidden in her room, the knife Maze had given her and her favourite plush toy. Finally Trixie took all the cash she had and climbed out.

 

She walked away from the house and went down the street, not really knowing where to go. Unfortunately her friends from school lived too far away for her to walk to them. Suddenly she remembered that she still had the Uber app on her phone. The credit card that had been connected to the app was not working anymore since it had been late Mrs. Carlton’s, but she could pay by cash. The only problem was that she didn’t know the addresses of two of her friends. She had visited one of them, but Chloe had driven her there and she didn’t pay attention to the address. Trixie was already starting to type the address of her third friend that she did know, but then remembered how her friend Tamara had told her that they were going out of town for the weekend and were supposed to leave right after her parents finished work. Trixie cursed silently and tried to figure out what to do.

Suddenly she had an idea where to go. The girl typed in the address and five minutes later an Uber was picking her up. The driver had looked a bit sceptically at her when he had realised that there was no adult, but then drove her where she wanted to go.

 

Trixie exited the car in front of the building. She looked at the entrance and nodded appreciatively. The girl pulled open the big door but then a security guard stopped her.

“What are you doing here, little girl?” the burly man asked her.

“I’m here to see Lucifer,” she looked at the man as if it should have been obvious why she was there.

The man narrowed his eyes at her and then took out his phone. “What’s your name?” he asked and Trixie realised that he was probably about to call Lucifer and ask if he should let her in. 

“Miss Decker,” she answered. It was better to be safe than sorry.

The security guard dialled the number and started to talk after a few moments. “Hello boss! There’s a Miss Decker here to see you.” After only a short moment he spoke again, “understood, boss.”

After ending the call, the security guard stepped aside and gestured for her to go inside the club. Trixie wandered in, looking around in awe. Soon she spotted the elevators and went towards them. Luckily Lucifer had told her that he lived in the penthouse, so she had no trouble guessing which button to push in order to visit the Devil.

 

Lucifer was sitting behind his piano. He had been playing when the security guard had called and announced that Miss Decker was there to see him. Lucifer had instructed him to let her in immediately. The man had been working as a security guard for a few months only, so he guessed that he had somehow missed the memo that they should always let her in without asking any questions.

When Lucifer heard the elevator doors open, he started to speak before he had fully turned around on the piano stool, “My apologies Detective, it seems that …” Lucifer fell silent when he saw who was emerging from the elevator.

“Beatrice? What are you doing here?” he was baffled.

“Hi, Lucifer!” the girl chirped. “Wow! I like your place,” she said looking around, not answering Lucifer’s question.

“Wait, the Miss Decker Brandon called me about, was you not the Detective?” Lucifer asked to clarify.

“Yep,” Trixie answered nonchalantly, wandering around the penthouse. “Ooh, you have steps to your bedroom,” she stated cheerfully and ran up those steps, then made a spin and ended up in a pose, exclaiming, “like a princess.”

“Like a what?” Lucifer asked, sounding rather offended.

Next she ran down from the steps and darted towards his bookshelf, “you have so many books,” she noted and started reaching for them. Lucifer sprang up from his seat and hurried to her. Before Trixie managed to touch anything, Lucifer grabbed her hand and stepped in front of her.

“You didn’t answer me earlier. What are you doing here?” Lucifer looked at her intently, hoping that it would make it clear to her that he wanted an answer this time.

Trixie pursed her lips, thinking for a bit.

“If I tell you, you have to promise that you won’t call Chloe,” the girl demanded.

“Fine,” Lucifer agreed, eager to find out why there was an 8 year old in his penthouse on a Friday evening.

Trixie almost started to tell him, but then she thought about a loophole she had left him. “And you won’t text her,” she added to make sure that her whereabouts would stay secret.

“Fine,” Lucifer repeated, not happy that she had also noticed the loophole in her first demand.

“I ran away from home,” Trixie then admitted.

“Why?” Lucifer was genuinely surprised. To him it had seemed that Chloe and Trixie got along just fine.

Trixie didn’t say anything, just looked away from him. Seeing the girl who was usually rather chatty getting tight-lipped at that, Lucifer realised that it must be something serious. 

“Come on now, let’s go sit and you start telling me what’s going on,” Lucifer started to guide her towards the couch.

“What if I don’t want to tell you?” Trixie protested, but let him guide her to sit on the couch.

“Well, I can always drive you back home,” Lucifer stated.

“But you promised …,” Trixie started to argue, but then realised that she had not made him promise that, so she fell silent. She was still wearing her backpack, but it prevented her from sitting comfortably, so she removed it and set it next to her. 

“Well?” Lucifer reminded her that he was waiting for an explanation.

Trixie opened her bag and took out the stuffed toy she had put there before leaving home. She felt that right now she needed the emotional support it always provided her. Trixie hugged her toy, Miss Alien, close and told Lucifer in a silent voice. “Chloe lied to me.”

“She did?” Lucifer asked, even more surprised than he was earlier.

Trixie nodded and played with the ear of her strange looking toy. This time Lucifer didn’t press, he could see that she was struggling with whatever it was that had happened between her and the Detective. He just waited until the girl was ready to elaborate.

“She was the one who gave me away after birth,” Trixie mumbled finally. 

“Oh,” was the only thing Lucifer said. 

Trixie looked at him, furrowing her eyebrows. She had been expecting a different reaction. “You knew it,” she stated. It was the only explanation for his reaction.

“Yes,” Lucifer admitted. There was no point in lying to her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Trixie got even more upset and hit the couch with her fist in anger. “You knew that I wanted to know who my real parents were,” she said accusingly.

“In my defence I promised the Detective that I wouldn’t tell anyone,” Lucifer raised his hands in a placating manner, “just like I promised not to tell the Detective about your desire to find out who your biological parents were.” 

Trixie wasn’t happy with the explanation and stared at him with furrowed brows.

“It was a very difficult situation for me too. I tried to convince the Detective to tell you,” Lucifer kept on explaining.

“Why didn’t she tell me then?” the girl asked.

“Uhm… she thought it would be too much after just moving in with her or something like that,” Lucifer answered. He was about to say something else about her reasoning, but then he realised something. “Hang on, how did you find out?” Lucifer suddenly realised that the girl had implied that Chloe hadn’t told her.

“I overheard Chloe and Maze argue about it,” Trixie admitted.

“Maze? Who told Maze?” Lucifer was baffled. Why would the Detective tell Maze about it? He didn’t think that the demon was friends with Penelope and no one else knew about it.

Trixie just shrugged. “It doesn’t matter anyway. What matters is… even Chloe didn’t want me.” The last part of the sentence was barely more than a whisper. Sitting here in the penthouse it finally started to sink in. She had thought that Chloe really liked her and cared about her, but now it turned out that she had been the one who hadn’t wanted her as a newborn baby. Trixie had always tried not to think about it too much, but deep down the feeling of not being wanted was rooted in her. She lifted Miss Alien closer to her face and buried her nose in the toy’s soft head. Trixie felt tears welling up in her eyes. She closed her eyes, trying to keep them at bay, but it didn’t work. First a few tears flowed down her cheeks and then she started crying.

Lucifer sat there and watched the girl who had always been so cheerful sob into her weird looking toy and it felt like someone was squeezing his heart painfully. He would have liked to go and punish the one who had caused sorrow to this innocent little girl, but the thing was that it wasn’t really Chloe’s fault either. She had been in a difficult situation and did what she thought would be best for the girl. Besides, even if she would have intentionally hurt her offspring, Chloe was the one person Lucifer would never hurt intentionally. Well, the only one who could be blamed for this situation was the maggot who had used Chloe and did not care that they had created a child together. Now he absolutely has to find out more about the guy so he could pay him a visit the next time he’s in Hell and make his Hell loop worse.

But right now Lucifer felt helpless. He had no idea how to make things better. His first instinct was to call Linda, but then he would have to explain why the Urchin was in his penthouse, crying her eyes out.

Finally Lucifer decided that there was only one person who could tell him what could help in this situation. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” he asked the girl, putting his hand gently on her knee.

Trixie continued sobbing into her toy and shook her head.

Lucifer didn’t give up. There had to be something that could make her feel better, so he started to give her suggestions.

“Maybe you’d like something to drink?” Well, he usually drank when he was upset, but it wouldn’t probably be the same for the girl since she didn’t drink alcohol yet. The suggestion had not gotten any reaction from Trixie, so Lucifer went on. “Or something to eat perhaps,” was his next suggestion.

That got her attention. Trixie suddenly remembered that she had left before dinner and she was a bit hungry. “Do you have chocolate cake?” she asked in a weak voice, not lifting her head from where it was leaning against the toy still clutched at her chest.

“Uhm.. no, I’m afraid not.” He looked at the clock, “and I’m afraid your favourite bakery is closed already.” Besides, he figured that ordering a chocolate cake would probably mean that she’d continue crying until the cake arrived. Lucifer wanted to improve her mood a bit quicker.

“What do you have then?” Trixie asked. Talking about food made her feel hungry.

“I have chocolate chip cookies, Cool Ranch Puffs, gummy bears, ice cream, potato chips,” Lucifer started listing the things that might interest the child.

“What flavour ice cream?” the girl inquired.

“I have rum raisin, rocky road and mint chocolate chip,” the Devil answered.

“I want rocky road,” Trixie said, happy that Lucifer had her favourite ice cream.

“Coming right up,” Lucifer told her while standing up from the couch. Before he headed to the kitchen Lucifer stopped by the elevator and locked it. The last thing he needed was for someone to show up unannounced when the Detective’s offspring was there.

A few minutes later he placed a tray on the coffee table that was loaded with everything he could find that might appease Trixie (or his own appetite). He handed a spoon and the container of rocky road ice cream to the girl and took a mint chocolate chip ice cream container for himself.

For a while they ate in silence. Lucifer glanced at her direction every now and then. He was pleased when he saw that her tears had subsided. The toy was now sitting next to Trixie and if not for the tear streaks on her cheeks or slightly red eyes, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that a few minutes ago she was crying. The only question was, would her better mood persist when she has satiated her hunger. Lucifer decided that he would need more distractions for her until he could persuade her to go back home.

“So, do you maybe want to watch something?” he suggested. To his knowledge the girl was quite fond of cartoons so they should be good enough for distraction.

Trixie looked around the room, then at him and frowned, “but you don’t have a TV.”

“That’s where you’re mistaken, child,” Lucifer smiled. He put the ice cream on the table and wheeled in his TV set.

“Why do you keep it hidden?” the girl asked.

“Well, it doesn’t really fit with the overall style of the penthouse. So, I put it away when I don’t use it,” he explained while stopping in the right spot. “Here you go,” he handed the remote control to Trixie, “you may choose what you want to watch.”

“Which streaming service do you have?” she asked while turning on the TV.

“All of them,” Lucifer answered smugly.

“Cool,” Trixie smiled and Lucifer felt that he had not been that relieved to see something for a while. He would happily endure even a tedious children’s movie or a cartoon with stupid catchy songs that would probably become earworms for days for him if it meant that she would smile again.

Trixie had just started to browse through the options Lucifer had when his phone started ringing. Lucifer went to the piano where he had left his phone after ending the call with Brandon earlier and picked it up. When he saw the caller ID he decided that the call would need some privacy.

“I’ll go and talk on the balcony. You can start to watch whatever you like,” he told Trixie and went outside. Lucifer closed the door behind him and immediately answered the phone, “hello, Detective!” Lucifer tried to sound casual, although he had a feeling that the phone call was not going to be casual at all.

“Lucifer!” Chloe sounded relieved that he had answered. Since he wanted privacy, Lucifer couldn’t answer it as quickly as he normally would have. “I know you probably have much better things to do on a Friday evening, but I need your help. Trixie is missing. She just vanished from her room. I’ve called all her friends whose numbers I knew and I don’t know what to do. Maze won’t pick up and I can’t really go to the police, since this way the adoption agency will find out about it and then they are definitely going to take her away from me. If Monroe was still our Lieutenant I might consider asking for help, but with Pierce it’s not very likely that he’d keep it off the record.” 

Chloe was rambling, clearly upset. “Detective, please calm down,” Lucifer tried to placate her.

“I can’t calm down. How could I calm down? She’s missing, Lucifer. She could be anywhere doing who knows what. Or maybe even someone took her and … I can’t even think about it,” Chloe was on the verge of crying.

“She’s okay, I promise you,” Lucifer told her calmly.

“How can you promise me that?” Chloe was surprised to hear it since she knew that Lucifer doesn’t lie and usually he didn’t give out such kind of promises unless he could be absolutely certain that he can keep them.

“Because I know that she’s okay,” Lucifer told her and added after a moment, “physically at least.”

“How do you know?” Chloe was still confused how Lucifer could know that her little girl was okay.

“Because I’m watching her sitting on my couch and watching that movie about those two princesses and a talking snowman again.” Lucifer sighed internally. He had hummed that song from the movie for days after he first watched it with Trixie.

“She’s in the penthouse?” Chloe asked to be absolutely certain.

“Yes,” Lucifer confirmed and before he was able to add anything, Chloe interrupted him.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I’m going crazy here worrying about my little girl and she’s been with you all the time! How did she even get there?” Chloe was both relieved to finally find out where her daughter was and angry at Lucifer for not telling her sooner.

“In my defence I wasn’t able to get a word in first and to answer your second question I do not know how she even got here. She just showed up,” the Devil explained.

“But why didn’t you call me? Did you honestly think that I would have let her come to your place alone?” Chloe knew that Lucifer was sometimes clueless about things that were related to raising a child, but this should have been obvious even for him.

“Beatrice made me promise not to do it,” Lucifer admitted.

“Why did she ran away like that?” Chloe’s heart sank. She had been conflicted about not wanting to believe that her sweet little girl would do something so reckless and the other option for her disappearance, that someone had taken her. Now it was clear that she had left by herself which left Chloe questionsing about the reason. Had she done something wrong? Everything had seemed fine when she had left Trixie in her room before starting to prepare the dinner.

Lucifer sighed. This was not going to be easy. “Because she overheard your argument with Maze.” Lucifer hoped that the Detective would figure the rest of it out herself.

“My argument…,” Chloe didn’t connect the dots right away, “what did she…” Before Chloe could finish her sentence she realised what Trixie must have heard. “No. Oh my God, she didn’t hear about …” Chloe almost pleaded.

“I’m afraid so,” Lucifer understood from the tone of Chloe’s voice that she must have come to the right conclusion. He could understand that she was upset and this time let even the calling to dear old Dad slide.

“But she was in her room, she had those headphones on that keep her from hearing anything, how could she hear us?” Chloe sounded desperate. She had been so sure that it was safe to talk to Maze. She had even tried to keep the demon from speaking too loud although from her experience you’d have to scream from the top of your lungs while being right next to the person for them to hear anything with those headphones.

“I’m afraid I don’t have all the details. I just know that she now knows that you are her real mother.” Lucifer kept his voice calm and soft, hoping to alleviate her panic.

“She must hate me now,” Choe said in a quivering voice.

“She was rather upset, but I don't think she hates you, Detective. This was unexpected for her and I’m sure if you can talk about it and explain your reasons she will understand.”

“Do you think I should come over so we could talk?” Chloe asked in a hopeful tone.

“I’m not sure,” Lucifer answered. He still remembered that the girl didn’t want Chloe to know initially where she was. He also didn’t want to let the Detective worry about the girl’s whereabouts so he had decided to exploit the loophole Trixie had left him - he had only promised not to call or text Chloe, no promises were made about telling her in general (like in the case she called). “Maybe you should wait until she’s ready to come back,” he suggested.

“And you’re okay with her staying there until then?” Chloe asked, a little surprised that Lucifer had let Trixie stay there in the first place with all the complaints he usually made about children’s stickiness.

“Well, I can’t just throw her out now, can I?” Lucifer sighed theatrically. “It’s safer that she stays here and I’ll do my best to convince her to go back home. I can assure you that I have no interest in being subjected to her cartoons that will make you sing their awful songs in your head any longer than absolutely necessary.”

Chloe snorted a little laugh at this. She was not sure Lucifer was actually that much against watching those cartoons as he claimed to be.

“Speaking about torture,” Lucifer continued, “how come you were talking about it with Maze anyway?” He had been curious about it since Trixie told him about overhearing the demon arguing about it with Chloe.

“She had been acting weird for a while and when I asked her about it she started to accuse me about abandoning people and then told me that she knew I gave Trixie away after birth,” Chloe summed up their argument.

“How did she know about it?” Lucifer wondered.

“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me,” Chloe answered, sounding a little wary. To be honest, she had been wondering about it too. Since Lucifer had promised her that he wouldn’t tell anyone about it, Chloe didn’t think that he would have told Maze, but then again, who else could have told her? Penelope didn’t even interact with Maze as far as Chloe knew. 

Lucifer picked up from the tone of her voice, that Chloe must have some suspicions about it.

“Detective, I didn’t tell her, I swear,” he felt the need to assure her even though he had already promised to keep her secret when Chloe first told her about it. And his word was his bond. “I haven’t even thought about it since the last time we spoke about it before the Urchin’s birthday party.”

Chloe sighed, “I believe you. I just can’t figure out …” She stopped mid-sentence. Maze had been acting strange ever since the party. And the reason for her strange behaviour was the fact that Chloe had given Trixie away for adoption after her birth.

“Lucifer, can demons hear as good as you do?” Chloe asked, her mind starting to connect the dots.

“No, they don’t have celestial hearing. But their senses are sharper than human’s. Why do you ask?” Lucifer didn’t understand why it was suddenly important.

“Because Maze was home when we spoke about when I should tell Trixie about her being my biological daughter. Could she have heard us from the second floor?” Chloe inquired.

“Well, it is possible if she was sitting there in silence, listening to the sounds coming from the kitchen.”

“I think that’s it. That is how she found out. She told me later when she came down that she took a nap, so she must have woken up when we arrived and then she heard what we were discussing,” Chloe’s detective mind was pleased that she had solved the mystery.

“I’m sorry, Detective. I didn’t know that she was listening,” Lucifer felt the need to apologise.

As much as Chloe didn’t want to blame this on Lucifer, a little spark of needing to blame someone for it had ignited itself inside her. “Why did you bring it up anyway?” Chloe asked, unable to keep the accusation out of her voice.

“Because I knew that Beatrice wanted to know who her real parents were,” Lucifer admitted.

“She told you that?” Chloe was surprised. “Why didn’t she tell me about it?” Chloe felt a little hurt that Trixie would speak about something so important to Lucifer but not to her.

“She didn’t really mean to, it just turned out that it was what she desired,” Lucifer told her, hoping that Chloe wouldn’t feel bad then about the girl not telling her this.

“Wait, are you telling me that you used your mojo on my daughter?” Chloe was clearly unhappy about it.

Lucifer realised that he should not have insinuated that he had used his ability on a child. But the cat was already out of the bag, so he tried to salvage as much as he could.

“She actually asked me to do it. I swear if I had known what her desire was, I would not have used my mojo on her. I thought she’d want a pony or something like that.” He really hoped that it would make it not look so bad.

“Why would she ask you to use your mojo on her?” Chloe was again confused. How had Trixie even known that he had this ability?

“She saw me use it on Mrs. Roberts and then she wanted to know what it feels like,” Lucifer explained.

“Mrs. Roberts from the adoption agency? When did you use it on her?” Chloe had a feeling that she was missing some crucial information here.

Lucifer realised that he had accidentally revealed another thing that he hadn’t intended. He tried to figure out a way to get out of this mess, but Chloe was growing impatient.

“Lucifer, answer me,” she demanded in a rather stern voice.

Lucifer sighed. “She came for a visit that evening when I was watching Beatrice.”

“So she came by when you were alone with Trixie?” Chloe tried to get the picture.

“Not exactly, Maze was there too,” Lucifer didn’t see any point in hiding things anymore. Chloe might as well know all of it.

“Oh my …,” this time Chloe was able to stop herself from referring to Lucifer’s dad. “What happened?” she asked with bated breath realising that she hadn’t seen Mrs. Roberts since then. 

“Well, she kind of misinterpreted some things she saw. I tried to make it better and I asked her what she desired.”

“And what did she desire then?” Chloe asked, getting a little curious herself.

“She wanted to become a dancer, so I offered her a job,” Lucifer explained.

“Wait… is she dancing in Lux now?” Chloe asked to clarify. She suddenly realised something.

“Yes, I hired her. She’s actually really good, but some oafs had dismissed her because of her age.” Lucifer found it always weird how obsessed some humans were with age.

“Huh… I thought one of your dancers looked like her, but I assumed it could be someone related to her or just looking very much like her.” Chloe had planned to ask him about it when she saw the woman, but Lucifer had distracted her with something else and later she had forgotten about it.

“But why didn’t you tell me that she came over?” Chloe asked then, the accusation evident in her voice.

“I didn’t want you to worry about it,” Lucifer tried to excuse himself. 

“You should not have kept it to yourself, Lucifer,” Chloe said sternly. She did not like to be kept in the dark about something like that.

“I’m sorry, Detective,” Lucifer apologised. “It won’t happen again.” He didn’t think Chloe would let him ever babysit her child again, so there would not be any chance of something like that happening again.

Chloe could hear the remorse in his voice and she believed him when he said that he wouldn’t do something like that again. To be fair, Lucifer fulfilling the deepest desire of Mrs. Roberts had meant that they had gotten a new supervisor from the adoption agency and she was much less invested in visiting them unexpectedly. Chloe could already guess when her next visit will be.

There was a pause in the conversation and Lucifer looked towards the doors, to check what his guest was doing. He had expected her to be engrossed in her cartoon, but instead he noticed that the cartoon was paused and Trixie was looking at him.

“I’m sorry, Detective,” Lucifer broke the silence, “but it seems I should finish the call and see how the child is doing.”

“Of course,” Chloe replied, the sadness in her voice palpable.

Lucifer noticed it. “I’ll give you my word that I will do anything in my power to convince the Urchin to come back to you as soon as possible.” Aside from not being interested in keeping the girl in the penthouse any longer than absolutely necessary, Lucifer understood that Chloe was worried.

“Detective,” Lucifer suddenly had a thought, “if the girl asks me about the adoption, do I have your permission to share the information I have?” Lucifer had given his word not to speak about it to anyone, so technically he should not discuss it even now.

“Yes, if she asks, you can answer her,” Chloe agreed. There was no point in hiding anything from Trixie anymore. “Just keep it PG rated, okay.”

“I’ll try,” Lucifer answered in a tone that didn’t give much hope about him trying hard enough to accomplish it.

After saying goodbye Lucifer ended the call and went back inside the penthouse.

“Do you have anything to drink?” Trixie asked as soon as Lucifer had entered the room.

“Yes, of course,” the Devil was relieved that it seemed to be only a matter of getting thirsty why the girl had stared at him through the balcony doors. “I have orange juice, apple juice, cranberry juice, some sparkling water,” Lucifer started listing the options while looking at the contents of the fridge behind the bar.

“Apple juice, please,” Trixie asked politely. Lucifer filled a glass and brought it to the table.

After taking a sip from her glass Trixie said, not raising her eyes from the glass, “you were talking to Chloe, weren’t you?”

Lucifer’s first instinct was to try and weasel out of answering it directly, but then he realised that the girl deserved a straight answer. “Yes, I was.”

“But you promised that you wouldn’t tell her I’m here,” she said, clearly disappointed in Lucifer.

“You made me promise not to call or text her, which I didn't, since she called me. So I haven’t broken any promises,” Lucifer defended himself.

“But you knew what I meant when I made you promise it,” Trixie protested, her expression getting sombre.

Lucifer sighed heavily. Of course he had understood what she really meant, but at the same time he could not have let Chloe go crazy looking for her child while he was hiding the little miscreant. “She was really worried about you. I didn’t want her to call a big rescue party to try to find you,” Lucifer explained, hoping that the girl would agree with him.

Trixie was silent for a few moments. “Is she coming here now?” she asked, feeling disappointed that her little flight would end soon.

“No, I advised her to wait until you’ll be ready to return,” Lucifer informed her.

“Really?” Her excitement was evident in her voice and in the grin that adorned her face now.

“Yes, really.” Lucifer was pleased that his instinct had been right. “But I hope you realise that I’m not planning to let you hide here forever. You need to go back at some point and talk to the Detective about it.”

“I know,” the girl sighed dramatically. “But I’m not ready yet. I still need to process it.” Trixie was not 100% sure what it meant, but she had heard adults use that expression in situations like this, so she deemed it appropriate. “And watching my favourite cartoons always helps,” she claimed then and pressed ‘play’ on the remote. “You’re lucky, it just got to the best part,” Trixie told Lucifer as she settled to watch the rest of the cartoon.

Lucifer hadn’t really paid attention at which scene the cartoon was paused on, but now he recognised the snowy mountain and the beginning notes of the song that the girl in the cartoon was about to sing. Lucifer groaned to himself. He was quite sure that the little minx had paused it on this particular spot on purpose. 

 

They watched the rest of Frozen together and again Trixie enjoyed it much more than she would have when watching it alone or with someone else. When the movie ended Lucifer hoped that he might be able to convince the girl to agree to returning home. But Trixie was not even thinking about leaving. She announced happily that there is also a second part and started Frozen II before Lucifer had the chance to say anything.

When the second movie ended it was pretty late already.

“All right Beatrice, I think it’s bed time for you now,” Lucifer said before she could start another cartoon.

Trixie wanted to protest, but a big yawn stopped her and she had to agree with him. “Okay.”

“Shall I drive you home now?” he asked.

“No,” the girl answered in a resolute voice.

Lucifer was a little surprised at her reaction. Usually she liked to be driven around in the Corvette.

“I don’t want to go back there,” she continued before Lucifer had the chance to ask about how she would like to go home then.

“But child, you can’t stay here forever,” Lucifer explained.

“I know,” Trixie said, “but I don’t want to go home tonight. I’m too tired to talk to Chloe and it would be weird to be there and not talk to her about it. I would feel uncomfortable like that,” she reasoned. “Can I stay here instead?” Trixie looked at Lucifer with pleading eyes.

Lucifer frowned. He had not thought that she would stay for the night, but he found it rather difficult to say no to her. “Only if the Detective agrees to it and you’ll let me drive you home in the morning,” Lucifer said finally. He was quite certain that Chloe had also thought that the girl would return home by the night.

“Fine, ask her then,” Trixie succumbed.

Lucifer took his phone and, considering the time, decided to text her. There was a possibility that the Detective could be asleep herself already.

Hello, Detective! Would it be alright if Beatrice stayed here for the night?

Apparently Chloe was not asleep, because almost instantly he got a reply. Would it be alright with you?

I would be willing to sacrifice one night. She agreed to come back to you in the morning. Lucifer hoped that knowing the girl would be back in the morning would help the Detective sleep peacefully in the night.

All right. I’m okay with the sleepover at the Devil’s then. Chloe’s reply left Lucifer gasping for air. He didn’t have sleepovers, thank you very much.

“What’s wrong?” Trixie asked worriedly, seeing his reaction at her last text.

“The Detective refers to it as a sleepover,” he told her indignantly.

Trixie just shrugged, “I think it is a sleepover.”

“How dare you!” Lucifer sounded offended, but Trixie found his face rather funny right now and started to giggle. Lucifer huffed and stood up, so the girl would not see his face softening at the sound. He went to the bar and poured himself a drink.

“All right, I’ll show you where everything is in the bathroom so you can get yourself ready for bed,” Lucifer said after finishing his drink. “I’ll set the couch up for you in the meantime.”

“I have to sleep on the couch?” Trixie pouted.

“Uhm.. yes. You’re much smaller and fit better on the couch,” Lucifer defended his offer.

“But I want to sleep in that enormous bed,” the girl argued. She would have been okay with the couch too, but the bed looked really awesome, so she decided to give it a shot.

“Like you said, the bed is big, the couch is smaller. Hence the big Devil gets the big bed and the small child gets the smaller couch,” Lucifer explained his logic one more time. 

Trixie didn’t have any good counter argument, so she decided to pout a little and started to move slowly towards the bathroom, dragging her feet.

Good manners have always been important to Lucifer and he realised that not giving the girl his bed might make him look like a bad host. Well, he had never had this problem before since usually his guests spent the night in his bed together with him. Except for one time when a certain drunk bartender/friend whose advances he had refused, hogged his bed. He sighed and muttered to himself, “what is it with you Decker women and hogging my bed.”

Loudly he said, “fine, you can have the bed.”

Trixie stopped in her tracks and looked at him, beaming. “Thanks!” She quickly turned her face in another direction to hide from him the victorious smirk that followed. Sometimes it was just too easy.

“Do you have sleepwear and a toothbrush in your backpack?” Lucifer asked then.

“No,” Trixie admitted. She hadn’t really planned to stay away from home for the night. And even if she had, she could not have gone to the bathroom to retrieve her toothbrush without anyone noticing.

“I have spare toothbrushes, but with sleepwear it might be a bit trickier.” He would have to think of something that would fit the girl better than his shirts, those would literally swamp her.  

When they reached the bathroom Trixie first stared around in awe. “Wow, this is the coolest bathroom ever.”

“Of course it is, it’s mine after all,” Lucifer stated proudly and took out a toothbrush from a drawer. “Here, you can use this while I go and search for something you could wear.” Lucifer left the bathroom and went to his closet. He remembered that he had a stash of clothes for Chloe he had bought before he went back to Hell that were still there. Those had been bought before she moved in with him, to be used as replacements whenever he was too eager to get her naked and ruined something in the process. The Detective hadn’t known about those, so she hadn’t taken them with her when she moved out. Lucifer found a T-shirt that might work as a nightgown for the girl.

 

After Trixie had settled in the bed Lucifer wished her goodnight and went to the balcony with a tumbler of whiskey, so he wouldn’t disturb the girl. He had thought about going to Lux, but the idea of leaving her alone in the penthouse didn’t sit well with him. It was a clear night, so Lucifer watched the few stars he could see with all the lights from L.A. About half an hour later he assumed that the girl should be fast asleep and Lucifer went to refill his glass. When he reached the bar Lucifer listened closely to make sure that the girl was sleeping peacefully. To his surprise Lucifer heard noises that were definitely not coming from a sleeping human. It sounded more like a muffled giggle. He went silently to the bedroom and saw that Trixie was fully under the covers, even her head, and her breathing indicated that she was very much not asleep.

“What are you doing, child?” Lucifer asked in a soft voice.

Trixie drew in a startled breath and peeked out from under the blanket. “I couldn’t sleep,” she said, sounding a little apologetic.

“And decided to do what?” Lucifer asked, tilting his head.

“I was watching some videos from Youtube,” Trixie admitted.

“I doubt this will help you sleep.” Lucifer was no expert, but in his experience watching something funny from Youtube would not make someone fall asleep. 

Trixie sighed and put her phone on the nightstand. “No it didn’t.”

Lucifer sat on the side of the bed. “Do you want to talk about what’s keeping you awake at this hour?” He was certain that it was past the normal bedtime for the kid.

“It shouldn’t be hard to guess,” she looked at Lucifer a little reproachfully, but still decided to elaborate, “the thing I learned today, of course.”

“Yes, I understand that, but is there something more specific that’s bothering you?” Lucifer asked her. The Detective had said that he could answer her questions.

“I don’t know,” the girl shrugged. There were many questions in her mind, but one thought seemed to be louder than the others. “I think I caused all that happened today myself.”

“How so?” Lucifer was puzzled at the thought.

“When I blew out the candles on my birthday cake I wished I would meet my real parents,” Trixie told him, fidgeting with the edge of the blanket. “I guess that’s what they mean when they say ‘be careful what you wish for’,” she mused. Trixie had never understood the saying before, but now she got it. Even though she had wished to get to know who her biological parents were, the shock of finding out that Chloe was her real mother was not what she had had in mind when she made that wish.

“I highly doubt that you blowing out the candles on your birthday cake influenced somehow what happened today. Come on now, close your eyes and go to sleep.” Lucifer adjusted the blanket a little after Trixie had settled her head on the pillow.

“Could you sing me a lullaby?” the girl asked, hoping that it would help her sleep.

“I’m afraid I don’t know any lullabies.” Lucifer had never needed one before. His mother had sung them some songs that could be described as lullabies, but Lucifer did not want to think about those times or those songs, it revoked too many bad memories. “But I could play something on the piano if you’d like,” he offered, seeing the disappointment on Trixie’s face.

“Okay,” she agreed.

“Right, but you have to keep your head on the pillow and your eyes closed,” he demanded.

“Okay,” Trixie agreed again. “Good night, Lucifer!” she said, closing her eyes.

“Sweed dreams, child,” Lucifer replied and went to the piano.

Lucifer chose the softest melodies he knew and tried to keep the sound as silent as possible. After half an hour he stopped playing and listened. This time he could hear deep rhythmic breathing coming from the direction of the bedroom, indicating that Trixie was really asleep now.

“At least she didn’t inherit her mother’s snoring,” he chuckled to himself.

 

Notes:

The barrel of gun powder we had been sitting on (aka Maze knowing about Chloe's secret) was finally ignited and had a wider blast range than you might have expected (aka Chloe learning things about the night Lucifer was bebysitting Trixie). I hope you like the outcome.

Chapter 30: Wings

When Chloe woke up on Saturday morning, it felt like a normal sunny day on the weekend for a moment. Then everything came back to her. She was actually surprised that she had managed to fall asleep at all, but it seemed that knowing that her daughter is with someone she trusts and his promise to bring her back to Chloe, had helped. Chloe had been mentally so exhausted that she fell asleep rather quickly. 

As soon as Chloe blinked her eyes fully open, she reached for her phone and checked if Lucifer had sent her any texts. The last one was from the previous night when he had asked permission to let her stay the night. Chloe smiled a little at the memory of teasing Lucifer about it a little. She maybe shouldn't have done it, but the idea of Trixie staying with the man who claimed to dislike children seemed really funny.

Chloe thought about texting Lucifer herself and asking about the time he’d bring Trixie back, but didn’t want to push it. So she decided to wait until they reached out, even though Chloe knew that she would be checking her phone every five minutes.

When she heard the notification sound of an incoming text, Chloe picked it up as fast as she could. To her disappointment it was from Maze. “Won’t be home for a few days,” was the only thing that the demon had written. They had agreed when Maze moved in that she should let them know when she was away hunting bounties. It seemed that the demon was keeping to the rules, although Chloe wasn’t sure that Maze was bounty hunting this time. She might be just staying away from Chloe.

Chloe had already folded all the laundry and cleaned the kitchen more thoroughly than usually when she finally heard another text coming in. She tried to not get her hopes up while reaching for the phone, but this time it was what she was expecting. “Good morning, Detective! We are on our way,” the Devil had written. Chloe felt relief washing over her. Trixie was coming home. A part of her had been worried that even Lucifer might not be able to convince her to come back. But now another kind of worry crept to her mind. What is she going to tell Trixie? How will she justify giving her away? Chloe started to imagine her daughter’s possible questions and what she would answer.

At some point she noticed that they should have arrived already. Chloe knew exactly how much time it would take to get to her place from Lux and that was by her driving. Lucifer always drove much faster.

Chloe was about to call Lucifer to find out where they were and what took them so long when the door opened and Trixie strode in, the Devil on her heels.

“Hello, Detective! Sorry that it took so long until we arrived, but someone,” he threw a pointed look at Trixie, “blackmailed me into driving to a certain bakery.” Chloe now noticed the cardboard box in his hands.

“I didn’t blackmail you,” Trixie defended herself, laughter evident in her voice.

“Oh yes you did. It’s called emotional blackmail. With your pleading eyes and everything.”

Chloe looked at those two and felt a bit odd. It was nice that Lucifer and Trixie got along, but right now, she had no idea where she was standing with her little girl. Trixie hadn’t really greeted her when they arrived.

Lucifer set the cake on the kitchen counter and turned to leave. “Right, I’ll better get going then.” He could sense a bit of nervousness coming from the Detective and decided it would be better to leave them alone so they could have a much needed conversation.

Chloe followed him to the door. “Thank you for letting her stay,” she said silently before Lucifer managed to slip out of the door.

He turned and smiled at her softly, “you’re welcome, Detective.”

When Chloe closed the door, she took a deep breath first and then turned around. Trixie was standing in the middle of the room, looking also a little awkward.

“Are you ready to talk?” Chloe asked.

“I guess,” Trixie answered, sounding not so sure.

“Let’s sit down,” Chloe suggested and they both sat down on the couch. Chloe wasn’t really sure how to start the conversation. After a brief pause she asked, “do you have any questions for me?”

“Why didn’t you want me?” Trixie asked silently, still avoiding eye contact.

“It’s not that I didn’t want you. I just wasn’t ready to have a child. I was barely an adult myself. I thought that people who would be ready to be parents could give you a better life than me. I really thought that it would be best for you.” 

“And what about my dad?” Trixie continued with the questions. She had been wondering about her father.

Chloe chewed her lower lip nervously. It was not an example she’d like to set for her daughter, but she deserved the truth. “By the time I found out that I was pregnant, we were not together anymore.”

“Why?” the girl kept inquiring, finally looking at Chloe.

“Because,” Chloe paused and looked at her fingers she was fidgeting with, “he was actually married to another woman. At first he told me that he wanted to leave her and be with me, but then he changed his mind and broke up with me.”

“Did you tell him when you found out about being pregnant?” Trixie asked next.

“We did. I mean, I didn’t exactly tell him, your grandma did,” Chloe explained. She assumed that Trixie might ask about his reaction or something like that, so she thought it would be best to make it clear from the beginning that she wasn’t really there when he found out. 

“And he didn’t want me?” Trixie asked, just to be sure.

The look on her face was full of sadness and it broke Chloe’s heart to have to tell her this, but she didn’t want to lie either. “It would most likely have meant an end for his marriage,” Chloe tried to explain.

Trixie fell silent for some time, thinking it over. “Do you think he would want to meet me now?” she asked finally.

“I’m sure he would have loved you once he met you, but sadly he died last year in an accident.”

Trixie sighed. She had really wanted to meet her real father also some day. The girl then decided to ask about another thing that was bothering her, maybe even the most about all of it. “Why didn’t you tell me that you are my real mother?” She crossed her arms on her chest and looked at Chloe with the same expression a parent would look at a child who has been caught doing something wrong.

Chloe looked down at the couch, feeling reprimanded. “I didn’t plan to hide it from you,” she said, looking at her daughter again, “I just thought that it would be too much all at once, you know. You just moved in and …” Chloe fell silent, seeing that Trixie looked like she didn’t really buy it. “And I was afraid that you’d hate me for giving you away,” Chloe added silently. Even when she told herself that it would be best to wait a little, before turning the girl’s world upside down again, deep down Chloe knew that she was afraid of her reaction.

Trixie looked at her, not saying a word and then turned her gaze away from her. Choe couldn’t really understand from her expression what she was thinking and didn’t want to pressure her by asking about it. So they both sat in silence for some time.

“I don’t hate you,” the girl finally muttered. “I want to play with my toys now,” she then added in a louder voice and stood up intending to go to her room.

“Sure, you can play until lunch is ready,” Chloe said, understanding that Trixie didn’t want to talk anymore about it at the moment. She decided not to pressure her and went to the kitchen instead to start with lunch preparations.

 

Chloe didn’t expect Trixie to bring it up anytime soon, so she was rather surprised when in the middle of eating lunch the girl suddenly asked, “should I call you mother now?”

“Uhm… you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Chloe answered. 

Trixie just hummed thoughtfully at that and continued to eat.

 

Throughout the rest of the weekend Trixie asked some questions randomly and Chloe answered all of them as best as she could. Chloe was glad to do it in her way, hoping it would make it easier for the girl. When Chloe had tucked her in on Sunday evening Trixie muttered, “goodnight, mommy.”

Chloe just smiled at her and left the room. After closing the door she let the tear fall that she felt coming. Even though she meant what she said and didn’t want to force Trixie to call her anything she didn’t want to, hearing her daughter call her mommy meant the world to her.

--------

Chloe and Lucifer were reviewing some of the crime scene photos from their latest case, searching for something they had missed. Chloe decided that she needed some coffee and stood up to go to the break room. Just when she had stretched herself and taken the first step towards the break room, Lucifer noticed something in the photos. 

“Oh, what do we have here,” he exclaimed cheerfully.

“Did you find something?” Chloe’s interest was instantly piqued and she took a step closer to her partner to get a better look at the photos.

Lucifer started to show her what he had seen, but Chloe’s eyes drifted up from the photos for a moment. The Lieutenant’s office was in her sight and she noticed Lieutenant Pierce looking at them. Again. It was not the first time Chloe had caught him looking. Or rather staring at them. She felt a bit creeped out by it. Chloe knew that it was their Lieutenant and they were in the middle of the precinct, but still, she didn’t like it.

She had tried to talk about it with Ella, wondering if she had noticed something also, but the forensic scientist took it the wrong way when Chloe told her that she had caught him staring. Ella started babbling over Pierce being totally into Chloe and there being some kind of heat between them. Eventually Ella started making some rather obscene moves indicating her putting out fire in her loins. Chloe just rolled her eyes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whenever she talked to the Lieutenant he was as cold towards her as towards everyone else. Whatever the reason was why he kept an eye on them, it wasn’t because he liked her. And every time she had caught the man staring, she had been with Lucifer, never when Chloe was alone.

Chloe debated in her head whether she should tell Lucifer about it, but she knew that her partner had sometimes the tendency to overreact and she didn’t think that it would be good to cause hard feelings between her boss and her partner.

 

A few days later, when they were driving to their latest crime scene, Chloe decided to approach the subject.

“Uhm, Lucifer, what do you think about our new Lieutenant?” Chloe asked, trying to be as subtle as possible, hoping that maybe Lucifer had noticed something himself.

“He doesn’t seem like the most pleasant guy, but I guess not everyone can be as charming as me,” he smirked.

“So you haven’t noticed anything… odd,” Chloe went on with the inquiry.

“No,” Lucifer furrowed his brow, “should I have?”

Chloe sighed. Lucifer was eyeing her suspiciously, so there was no point in denying it anymore. “I have caught him staring at us on several occasions,” she admitted a bit reluctantly.

Lucifer just shrugged, “maybe he’s just fascinated by us.”

“I don’t know…,” Chloe was not ready to brush it off.

“Or by me,” Lucifer smirked.

“You think he’s gay?” Chloe was a little surprised. She didn’t think she had a supreme gay-radar, but she usually could tell when a person was gay.

“It doesn’t matter if he isn’t. I’m so good at flipping men, that they used to call me the skillet,” Lucifer grinned. Chloe just sighed and rolled her eyes.

 

Before Chloe could think of anything else to point out about their new Lieutenant’s behaviour they arrived at the latest murder scene. As usual Ella was already there, taking pictures of the body.

Lucifer had stopped to chat with an officer, so Chloe was the one who approached Ella and asked about the victim. It turned out to be Emily Coddard, a 23 year old counselor at the rehabilitation facility they were at. Her body was found in the trough, but apparently she didn’t drown. The evidence suggested that she was stabbed in her office on the second floor of the nearby building and then took a tumble out of the window and landed in the water.

Just when Ella was examining the wound in the victim’s abdomen, Lucifer reached them.

“Firehawk Ranch Transformational Centre,” he read from the sign on the building. “That sounds like nonsense,” he scoffed.

Before Chloe could ask why he thought it was nonsense, a dark haired man approached them.

“Hi, I’m Jerry Blackcrow, the founder of Firehawk Ranch Transformational Centre. We run a high-end reform program for juvenile drug offenders and addicts. Emily was one of our best counselors. The kids are devastated.” The man introduced both himself and the facility they were at.

“Not the kid who murdered the best counselor,” Lucifer couldn’t help commenting.

“You really think one of the kids did this?” The man seemed surprised at the assumption.

“We can’t say anything until we have conducted an investigation,” Chloe tried to smooth it out. It wasn’t exactly the first time Lucifer made an assumption about the murderer before even really beginning an investigation. 

“The kids here walk the Firehawk path, they are on the way to reforming themselves,” Blackcrow added.

An officer stepped closer and showed a tool belt they had found from the dead counselor’s office. It seemed that one tool was missing. Blackcrow identified the missing tool as a pruning saw and by description it matched the wound the victim had. All the belts had identifying numbers, so they went to the stables where they kept the records of tool belts and their respective possessors.  

 

While a kid who lived at the ranch was going through the records to find out who that specific tool belt had been given to, Lucifer noticed a pin on the guy’s jacket that was shaped like wings.

“What is that? The badge?” he asked Jerry, pointing to the pin.

“Those are Colin’s Firehawk wings. It’s the highest honor here,” Jerry explained proudly.

Lucifer was appalled by the idea. “Wings as an honor? Is this a joke?” For him wings had never been an honor. In the end they had been a symbol of his Father’s ability to control him.

Jerry went on, unaware of Lucifer’s complicated relationship with wings. “No. It’s part of the reward system. The better the residents behave, the more benefits they earn. Wings are only given to those who have truly reformed. They get the most sought-after privileges, like computer time, phone calls.”

Lucifer listened to his explanation and became more horrified with each word. “So, let me get this straight. You curtail the free will of these rebellious souls by making them follow your rules, and then you trick them into thinking they’ve changed by giving them wings? This is clearly a manipulation. A vile one,” Lucifer concluded, disgust evident in his voice.

Jerry wanted to argue, but Colin interrupted them, “I found it. The toolbelt was assigned to Tyson Chase.”

They went to the room where Tyson was living right away, but the boy was gone. Since their suspect had clearly left the ranch and by the looks of it didn’t plan to return (all his belongings were gone too), Lucifer and Chloe drove back to the precinct.

 

Chloe started to look through the databases to find out as much as possible about Tyson Chase. “Father in jail, mother is dead. Foster care. In and out of juvie since he was 7," Chloe read out loud. “The record is sealed since he was a minor when he committed the crimes.”

“Can’t we get it unsealed?” Lucifer asked.

“It might take a couple of days,” Chloe said with a sigh. 

Lucifer frowned and stood up. “I’m gonna get some snacks”, he told Chloe and walked away. 

Chloe decided to check camera feeds of metro stations, hoping that maybe the kid had used public transportation to move around.  

Suddenly she heard Pierce call out, “Hey, Decker, how’s it going with the Firehawk case?”

Chloe turned around in her chair and saw the Lieutenant standing a few meters away. “Very well, sir. Uh, murder weapon is still missing. Although, we’ve identified the suspect. Tyson Chase. He’s a resident. There’s a BOLO out.” They had issued it as soon as it was clear that Tyson had left the ranch.

“So no one’s in custody yet?” Pierce asked.

“Not yet,” Chloe answered.

“Thought you’d be further along,” Pierce commented, disappointment palpable in his voice and started to walk towards his office.

“What the hell?” Chloe muttered to herself. As much as she had thought that Monroe had deserved the promotion, she couldn’t help but miss her old Lieutenant on moments like that. Monroe had never made such comments.

Suddenly Dan’s voice sounded next to her, “don’t worry, he seems to be a dick to everyone.”

When Chloe turned her head towards the man, he added, “can you believe that he calls me Esperanza?”

Chloe chuckled lightly at that. “Well, for whatever reason he seems to be extra dickish towards me,” she noted. In her own mind she added creep to it also, but she was not sure that discussing the fact that she had caught Pierce staring at her and Lucifer several times, would be the best idea.

“Well, maybe it’s not because of you,” Dan suggested and when Chloe looked at him questioningly he cocked his head towards the break room where you could clearly see Lucifer pouring the contents of his flask into his coffee.

Chloe knew very well that the whiskey in his coffee would not affect Lucifer even a little bit, but others in the precinct did not know that. Did Pierce really judge them by Lucifer’s behaviour instead of the results their partnership brought?

Dan saw Chloe staring at Lucifer with furrowed brows. He glanced over at the direction of the break room again and saw that the man in question was walking towards them. Dan didn’t want to be too close when Chloe berated her partner, so he decided to sneak away.

 

Lucifer neared the desk with a bright smile on his face, carrying a cup of coffee in one hand and a bag of Cool Ranch Puffs in the other. When he saw the expression on Chloe’s face, his smile was gone.

“Is everything alright, Detective?” he asked, the worry palpable in his voice.

“You should maybe cut down the alcohol while working,” Chloe snapped.

Lucifer looked at her puzzled. “But you know that doesn’t even give me a buzz, even when I’m around you. I simply enjoy the taste.”

“I might know that, but others don’t,” Chloe pointed out in a silent voice.

“Fine,” Lucifer said, although the tone of his voice suggested that it wasn’t really fine.

“So, have we made any progress on the little miscreant?” Lucifer asked after he had sat down in his chair.

“We haven’t made anything since you were in the break room. I have been looking through camera footage from metro stations and …,” her voice trailed off.

Lucifer leaned closer to see what she was looking at so intently. “It seemed that he exited a metro station in Hollywood.” Chloe had clicked the play button on the camera feed she had been looking at before Pierce had interrupted her and noticed a young man that matched the description of Tyson Chase. Unfortunately they couldn’t see where he went from there.

“Damn it, he could be anywhere by now,” Chloe stated unhappily, “we have no way of knowing where to look for him.”

“Catching this little degenerate is quite simple. Whatever Tyson’s sin was in the past, he’s back at it,” Lucifer said smugly.

“How can you be so sure?” Chloe wondered. 

“People don’t change, Detective,” Lucifer told her with a devilish smile.

Chloe wanted to argue, but there was no point, because they didn’t even know his past crimes. “Maybe, maybe not, but that doesn’t change the fact that Tyson’s records are sealed.” And that meant they had to find some other way to catch him.

But Lucifer had other ideas. “We’ll see about that.” He rose from his seat with those words and added, “if you’ll excuse me, I have some errands to run.” Chloe looked at him, a little surprised, but before she was able to say anything, Lucifer was already walking towards the exit.

 

Luckily quite a few judges in L.A. had requested favours from him in the past and were still owing him a favour in return. One of them would certainly get the records unsealed. He took out his phone as soon as he was out of the building and started calling the judges. In less than half an hour Lucifer had the records unsealed. It was a good thing that he had insisted that he’d be granted access to the database from his phone, so Lucifer didn’t have to go back to the precinct in order to see what kind of trouble Tyson had caused to get himself into that Firehawk facility. He grinned when he looked at the records - he knew exactly where he’d find that kid. That would show them that a pair of wings as reward would not change someone.

This time Lucifer was right. Tyson was about to steal a fancy car from a spot where he had done it many times. With a little bit of intimidation on Lucifer’s part, the young man had agreed to come to the precinct for interrogation.

 

Chloe had not expected Lucifer to show up with their main suspect, but there he was, dragging a bit scared looking young man with him. She was a bit suspicious about how he had found Tyson, but decided to not question Lucifer about it right now, but instead start to interrogate the man. The Lieutenant was breathing down their necks after all, waiting for results.

Tyson confessed that they had been fighting with Emily (like one of the other kids in the ranch had heard) because Emily wouldn’t talk to him. Tyson had turned 18 already and didn’t have to stay on the ranch anymore. He wanted Emily to go with him.

Hearing that Emily was dead seemed to be a shock to the young man. At some point Tyson concluded that Emily would be still alive if he hadn’t left. For a moment that statement filled Lucifer with satisfaction about being right about the uselessness of that reformation program. But then the man elaborated that he thought he could have protected her and told Chloe and Lucifer that Emily had been worried about expelling a resident, she had said that everything had gone to Hell, but she hadn’t told Tyson more, so they had fought about it before he left.

Pierce was apparently so interested in the case that he had watched the interview from the observation room. Chloe and Lucifer joined him after they left the interrogation room.

Lucifer still insisted that Tyson had done it but Chloe’s gut told her that the boy was innocent. Her gut feeling was also supported by the fact that Tyson seemed devastated about the fact that Emily was dead. Chloe pointed out that they should try to find out who the resident was who Emily wanted to expel.

Pierce was listening to their argument about whether Tyson is guilty or not with his usual unimpressed look.

“I doubt I could be less impressed by the lack of consensus here. All we have now is no murder weapon and a possible motive,” the Lieutenant stated. Chloe felt like she could not do right by him no matter what she did.

Without looking at Pierce Chloe added, “we have to cut him loose.” Hearing Pierce’s displeased scoff she turned towards him and added, “without a murder weapon we don’t have enough evidence to keep him in.”

Before Pierce could say anything they heard Lucifer’s voice from the intercom. He had slipped out of the room and was urging Tyson to embrace his true self and admit that he was a murderer. Tyson begged Lucifer to leave him alone, but Lucifer held the man by the collar and told him that he won’t leave him alone until he tells the truth. The young man promised that he had changed.

Chloe was mortified. That was exactly the opposite of what she needed right now. She was so shocked that it took her a while before she reacted and opened the intercom to command Lucifer to let Tyson go. 

She turned to Pierce, trying to save what was left, “I take full responsibility for his actions. This won’t happen again.”

To Chloe’s surprise Pierce looked almost amused. “Why not? Kid turns out not to be the murderer, your friend just scared him straight.” Then he turned on the intercom again and said, “well done, Lucifer! Way to be a good influence.”

Lucifer felt like he was slapped on the face. He had tried to be the big bad Devil, not a bloody role model. “How dare you say that?” he spat, looking at the one way mirror over his shoulder.

He left the interrogation room after that and was met with an angry looking Detective. 

“Lucifer, I think you should leave now,” Chloe said in a stern voice, barely keeping herself from shouting at him. Despite Pierce finding it useful that Lucifer had scared the kid, she found it unacceptable. Besides, they couldn’t really do much more about the investigation until Miss Coddard’s files were sent over, so she could determine who could have been the resident she wanted to expel.

“Gladly,” Lucifer responded, for once not caring about the fact that he had upset the Detective. He was more concerned about Pierce’s comment.

 

As soon as Lucifer had walked into the penthouse, he went to the bar. Unfortunately, the whiskey didn’t help much, his thoughts were still spiralling. Ever since Jerry Blackcrow had told them about the badge with wings being the honor everyone apparently wanted, Lucifer had been thinking about his own wings. Or rather trying to not think about them, but failing. He couldn’t help but wonder, had the returning of his own wings been an attaboy from his Father. Lucifer hadn’t really spent much time thinking about the reason his wings had returned. At first he had been occupied with getting them to heal properly after shielding Chloe from the bullets that Jimmy Barnes fired, then Chloe had asked him not to cut them off again and Lucifer had decided to keep them. Since shortly after that he and Chloe had started dating, the wings had been always a reminder that he had been able to protect her with them. And of course they had become a part of their sex life at some point. But now Lucifer had gone down this rabbit hole and there didn’t seem to be an end to it. Lucifer remembered that he had been willing to return to Hell if Chloe would have asked this. Could this have been dear old Dad’s way of saying that he really should return? He hadn’t returned to Hell right then, because Chloe had not told him to (instead she had been willing to start a relationship with him), but later he did go back to protect her and the rest of humanity. Without his wings he could not have closed the gate to Hell after the demons had returned and he wouldn’t have been able to return to Hell himself. At least not as their king.

After Chloe had touched his wings and he had flown her to the Police Academy to help her get to her class on time Lucifer had accepted his wings, but now he would have liked to call Maze and ask her to cut them off again. There was only one problem - he needed them for his weekly check ups in Hell. So cutting them off again was not an option. Lucifer needed to regain the control of his life some other way. He needed to do something in order to not feel like a puppet, a pawn in his Father’s sick game. Finally it dawned on him - he needed to fully embrace the Devil he used to be.

--------

The next morning Chloe had started early with the files that the victim had on the residents. After several hours of work (that she did alone, because her partner hadn’t shown up) she found out that Emily had discovered that a resident had been running a drug operation. Since she couldn’t find out who that kid was from the files, Chloe decided to go back to the ranch. As soon as she reached the facility, she saw a familiar black Corvette. Deciding by the strange way Lucifer had behaved the previous day, Chloe had a feeling that it was not a good sign that Lucifer was in the ranch by himself.

So, instead of going to see Mr Blackcrow or trying to talk to the kids, she went to find her partner first. Chloe had been imagining several scenarios about what Lucifer could be doing there, but when she found him, the sight was something she could never have imagined. Lucifer was teaching the kids who were in a reform program how to deal drugs. That was so far beyond appropriate that Chloe was speechless. To top the mindblowing sight in front of her, Lucifer himself was sitting on a white horse in his usual suit, smoking pot while offering advice for the kids. Chloe was surprised that Lucifer had managed to get ahold of a horse, the animals seemed to be kept apart from any strangers on the ranch. Lucifer had somehow gotten one, but when Chloe had inquired about it, he didn’t seem to realise that he was even sitting on one. By the amount of drugs surrounding them, Chloe was not that surprised. She was sure that Lucifer had been smoking it in amounts that would cause serious harm to any human.

It turned out that Lucifer had achieved something useful among it after all. When Chloe informed him that the counselor was planning to expel someone because they were running a drug operation, Lucifer called Carly her prized pupil and the girl didn’t even deny that she had been doing it, unfortunately she refused to say anything without a lawyer.

Since they now knew which kid Emily had wanted to expel, there was nothing more to do in the ranch for them. Lucifer wanted to drive his Corvette back to the precinct, but Chloe put her foot down. She was sure that this time Lucifer was high and letting him drive would be illegal.

“You are riding with me, pal,” Chloe said, pointing her finger at Lucifer.

“What about my Corvette?” Lucifer whined.

“You can come back to get it when you are not high anymore,” she spat and sat on the driver’s seat.

“So bossy,” Lucifer muttered, but did what she told him.

The ride back to the precinct was rather tense. Chloe was really pissed off and kept her mouth shut, afraid that she might say something she’d regret later.

Lucifer didn’t seem to really catch her mood. At some point he started to ask if she had anything to eat in her car.

When Chloe answered with a terse ‘no’, Lucifer asked if they could make a stop at some store.

Again he received a ‘no’ as an answer. It seemed that he did manage to read the room enough to not press further. Instead he started to hum cheerfully.

 

When they were back in the precinct Chloe started to search for information about Carly Glantz, the girl who had used the nutritious soil of the ranch to grow weed. Lucifer went off to the break room for a bit and came back with different snacks he had gotten from the vending machine.

After a while the Lieutenant was again at her desk.

“How are we doing on the investigation?” he asked, sounding like he was expecting to learn that they had not gotten anything new. 

“Well, the investigation has smoked out Carly Glantz. Rap sheet a mile long. Made no progress at reform. Working theory is that she found out Emily was about to expel her,” Chloe listed what they had found out since interrogating Tyson Chase.

“So she killed her to protect herself and her drug operation,” Pierce concluded.

“And then Carly lawyered up before we could get to her,” Chloe quickly added before the Lieutenants could ask them why she wasn’t interrogated already.

Pierce frowned at that. “Still no murder weapon?” he asked. The murder weapon could help them to gather more evidence than just a possible motive against their suspect.

Chloe shook her head and added, “and no evidence tying her to the murder scene.”

Pierce then looked at the Devil who was currently dipping some chips into a jar of chocolate spread. “Lucifer, any thoughts?”

Before Lucifer could say anything, Chloe said in an annoyed tone, “Lucifer is not in the state of mind to offer any constructive advice right now.”

Lucifer didn’t seem to be bothered by her comment and said, “reach for the unexpected and allow yourself to be surprised. Like crisps and chocolate. The results can be quite pleasing.”

To Chloe’s surprise Pierce seemed to agree with Lucifer’s drug induced thoughts. “That's good advice. Decker, throw out the manual, think outside the box.”

Lucifer was happy about Pierce’s comment. “Yes, Lieutenant,” he reached out his hand for a fist pump, but Pierce didn’t respond.

“What? I’m sorry, what are you asking me to do?” Chloe was baffled by Pierce’s words, “because Carly isn’t gonna talk.”

But it turned out that she was wrong about that. A few moments later Carly walked into the precinct with her lawyer. “I want to talk,” were her first words when she reached Chloe’s desk.

“Well. Allow yourself to be surprised indeed,” Lucifer stated with a wide smile.

 

After they had all settled in a conference room Chloe asked, “so, you wanna make a statement?” 

Carly seemed a bit hesitant, but started to talk. “Yeah, so … I guess I’ve been enlightened by the Firehawk path. And I know I can’t find my happiness if I don’t present my truth. The night of the murder, I saw Tyson Chase digging by the sundial, burying something.”

“Burying what?” Chloe wanted her to be more specific.

Carly just shrugged. “Don’t know. It was dark and I was looking through a window. Geez, do I have to do all your work for you?” she finally remarked snarkily.

Mr Glantz, who was both her lawyer and her father, didn't like her attitude. “Carly, tone,” he said in a stern tone.

“Should I roll over and fetch too, Dad?” the girl added in the same tone.

“Parents. Am I right?” Lucifer mused at that.

“So how do we know you didn’t kill Emily?” Chloe tried to bring the questioning back to the track.

This time Mr Glantz responded. “Because Carly has an iron-glad alibi. During the murder she was in the shared room, on a computer, video chatting with her boyfriend. Now, instead of harassing my daughter any further, I suggest you go and see what’s under that sundial.”

 

After Carly and her father had left Chloe went to ask Ella if she had any shovel Chloe could use to go and dig by that sundial. Lucifer followed her to the lab and when Ella gave them a small shovel, Lucifer took it in his hands to inspect it. 

“We should go and dig out some of Carly's plants too,” he said cheerfully, making some shoveling movements. “I could start a little plantation of my own.”

Chloe noticed that Pierce was watching them through the open door and felt that regardless how Pierce had reacted to Lucifer’s ‘setting Tyson straight’ or to the advice Lucifer’s drug filled mind produced, him implying to start a cannabis plantation with the plants from the ranch crossed a border even Pierce couldn’t ignore. She yanked the shovel out of Lucifer’s hand and hissed, “ you are not going anywhere.” 

“Ouch,” Lucifer suddenly exclaimed. The metal edge of the shovel had been a bit sharp and cut Lucifer a little. “You wounded me,” he complained.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Chloe said, being too angry at him to care. She then looked at the forensic scientist, “Ella, would you have time to go and dig up some evidence?”

“Sure,” Ella agreed. 

Ella grabbed her bag and all three of them stepped out of the lab. Pierce was eyeing them intently.

“Me and Ella are going to the ranch to see what was buried by that sundial,” Chloe said as an explanation.

Pierce gave her a curt nod and turned his attention back at Lucifer who was sucking at his injured finger.

“You okay?” Chloe heard the Lieutenant ask as they were walking towards the exit with Ella. A quick glance behind her confirmed that Pierce was talking to Lucifer, seemingly concerned about the bleeding finger. She knew she should have been glad that the Lieutenant hadn’t made a big fuss about Lucifer’s behaviour, but it infuriated her how differently he was treating her and Lucifer. She wasn’t sure if he was a misogynistic prick or he didn’t like Chloe specifically for some reason.

 

It didn’t take long for them to find the buried pruning saw that had Tyson’s tool belt number near the sundial. They bagged it and brought it back to the precinct. Ella soon confirmed that it had the victim’s blood on it.

When Chloe told Pierce about their findings, he summed it up. ”The blood on Tyson Chase’s pruning saw matches the victim. Carly Glantz puts the bloody saw in his hands after the murder.”

Chloe’s gut feeling told her that she’s missing something, that Tyson was not the killer. Lucifer on the other hand was happy about the results. “See, I told you that people won’t change over some crappy wings.” 

Chloe gritted her teeth, not understanding why Lucifer was so keen about proving that those kids were not able to do better. Then suddenly it occurred to her. “Wait, what if Lucifer really is right.”

Lucifer sensed that the Detective didn’t agree with him, so he was pleasantly surprised by her sudden change of heart. “Oh, go on,” he said with a smile on his face. 

Chloe continued her thought, “then if, per Lucifer, people don’t really reform, that would also apply to Carly Glantz. Once bad, always bad, right?”

“Right! Finally you get it.” That was exactly what Lucifer had been wanting to hear. That him getting his wings back had not changed him from the Devil he used to be, that he had not become his Father’s pawn again.

“So, then, how the Hell did the worst kid in the program, on the verge of expulsion, earn highly-coveted computer privileges to video chat with her boyfriend?” Chloe asked in a challenging voice.

This was not going in the direction Lucifer had been hoping for. “I don’t know. Sexual favors?” he suggested. That was what he would have done in order to get what he wanted.

Chloe’s gut told her that there was something fishy about it. “Well, I want to go back and talk to Jerry Blackcrow, ask him some more questions. Something doesn’t add up.”

Pierce, who had been listening silently, asked then, “you think Blackcrow is involved?”

Chloe didn’t want to jump into conclusions before talking to the people involved. “I don’t know. Maybe. I want to know why Carly is getting these privileges,” she told the Lieutenant. Then she turned to her partner, hoping that the drugs would have worn off by now and she could work with her partner again, “Lucifer, you coming?” 

Lucifer wasn’t really keen on going back to the ranch. He had just planned to go and get something other to eat than those snacks from the vending machine when Chloe and Ella had returned. He had been curious about the murder weapon though, so he had stayed. But now, in his opinion the case was closed, they had their culprit and it didn’t matter why Carly had been able to use the computer (she was a good looking young woman and didn’t appear to be shy, so he was pretty certain she had used her body to get the privileges). “No, I was planning to go and get some burgers actually.” He really felt a craving for some burgers now.

Chloe was disappointed in him. “Great. Are you really not coming?” she asked one more time, giving him the chance to reconsider.

 “We both know this case is already solved.” Lucifer tried to justify his reluctance to go with the Detective.

Pierce then intervened and told Lucifer to go, saying that he had earned some time off.

“Ah, well. Thank you, Lieutenant,” the Devil smiled at Pierce. “See?” he turned to Chloe, “great judgement.” Not wanting to waste time, he started to walk towards the exit.

Chloe saw it as a sign that Pierce didn’t think her doubts were justified, so she told the Lieutenant, “I don’t care what you say. I’m gonna keep digging on this.”

Pierce’s next words were not what Chloe had expected. “I think it’s time I ride along with you,” the man said.

Chloe could not make sense of it. The only reason he could want to come along was to keep an eye on her. The man seemed to think that she’d mess things up if she went alone. “Frankly, Lieutenant, just because you and I disagree does not mean I need a babysitter.” Chloe knew it wasn’t the wisest move to disagree with her boss openly, but she was a big girl and a good Detective, so she didn’t need a man watching over her back.

Pierce didn’t react to her words. He was already walking towards the exit. “You coming, Decker?” he said after Chloe had finished talking. Chloe clenched her jaw and followed the man silently.

 

Chloe and Pierce were walking towards the office of Jerry Blackcrow in the Firehawk Ranch. Pierce was a few steps behind Chloe, tapping on his phone.

“You sure this is the right way?” Pierce broke the silence.

Chloe rolled her eyes and answered, “positive.” After a short pause she added, “I’m a badass, you know.” She had talked with Ella about it earlier. When she had confessed to her friend that she felt like Pierce didn’t think she was good at her job, Ella had told Chloe that she’s a badass.

Pierce was a bit confused about her claim. “Excuse me?”

“Even though you don’t trust me,” Chloe added.

“What makes you think I don’t trust you?” Pierce asked.

“Oh, let’s see,” Chloe paused as if she was thinking about it briefly before she started listing the things. “You’ve only been breathing down my neck this entire case. Any time Lucifer sneezes, you praise him, you berate me. You chose to ride along so you could check up on me.”

Pierce chuckled at that and took a few longer steps so he’d stand in front of her. “The only reason I came here was so I could finally see you in action firsthand,” he explained.

Chloe furrowed her brows at that, but before she could say anything they heard a door open in the distance. Both of them turned to look at the direction of the noise. Chloe recognised Jerry Blackcrow and also the item in his hand. Before she could react Pierce yelled, “Decker, gun,” and pushed her down.

At the next moment Blackcrow started shooting. Pierce was hit and fell on the ground. Chloe crawled quickly behind a truck that was right next to them. She took out her gun and peeked out from her hiding spot, but the shots had stopped by that time and Blackcrow was nowhere to be seen. Soon after she heard a car speeding away in the distance.

Chloe realised that the suspect was gone and turned her attention to her boss. Pierce was still breathing, so Chloe took out her phone and called for help immediately.

 

 

Lucifer had enjoyed the burgers he ate. In addition to that he had met some nice young ladies in the diner and handed them business cards for Lux. Deciding by the desire in their eyes he had noticed, he’d be seeing them in Lux tonight and maybe also later in his bed.

There was just one thing he had to do first. The Corvette was still at the ranch since he had been so hungry earlier that he hadn’t wanted to waste time getting his car and he had walked to the nearest diner. Now it was time that he’d retrieve his car, he assumed that the drugs he had consumed this morning had fully left his system. Not that it would have been a problem if they hadn’t since he could always bribe any officer who’d pull him over, but still. 

He flew to the ranch. Lucifer expected the place to be quiet this time of night, but instead it was filled with red and blue lights that turned out to be police cars and an ambulance. As soon as he saw it, he had a bad feeling about it. Lucifer had to land a bit further away, to not attract attention to his landing and almost ran to the parking lot. 

“What happened?” he asked from the first officer he saw.

“The ranch owner shot at LAPD,” the man answered. Lucifer felt a cold dread settle in his stomach. Since the officer was called away by someone Lucifer walked quickly in the direction where most people were going or coming from.

Finally he saw the Detective. She seemed to be okay, but Lucifer wanted to be sure.

“Detective, what happened?” he asked worriedly.

“Blackcrow shot at us and escaped,” Chloe basically repeated what the officer had already told him.

“Are you all right?” Lucifer let his eyes roam over her.

“Yes, Pierce saved me and took the bullet. He was taken to the hospital already,” Chloe told him. She noticed the worried look on Lucifer’s face and assured him again. “I’m okay, Lucifer. Luckily Pierce was here.” She did not want to think about what could have happened if she had come alone. 

An officer called her name then and Chloe excused herself. Lucifer didn’t really notice. “But I wasn’t,” he muttered without even realising it. All he could think about now was that he had not been there to protect Chloe, protect her partner. It was his job and he had neglected it.

 

He didn’t really know how long he had been standing there. At some point he heard someone say that they had found a bag full of cash in Blackcrow’s office. That got Lucifer’s attention. Another officer commented that it would make it hard for him to escape.

“A wise dealer never keeps all his cash in one place,” Lucifer repeated silently one of the lessons he had taught the kids this morning. Suddenly he remembered something his prized pupil Carly had told him and Lucifer now had a pretty good idea where Blackcrow might be heading.

“I didn’t protect the Detective, but I will make sure the maggot who shot at her will be punished,” he smiled devilishly and started to walk towards his Corvette in quick stride.

--------

The next day Chloe stepped silently into Pierce’s hospital room and set a gift basket on the table. She tried to be silent, thinking that the Lieutenant was sleeping, but when she looked over to him, she saw that his eyes were open and he was watching her silently.

Chloe smiled. “I wanted to say thank you for what you did,“ she said, twisting her fingers a bit nervously.

“It’s just part of the job, it’s not a big deal.” Pierce sounded as if it really wasn’t a big deal.

“No. It’s a huge deal,” Chloe argued, “you saved my life. I’m so grateful.”  

“And you saved mine. We’re even,” Pierce replied, but there was a hint of sadness in his tone.

The silence that followed felt a bit awkward. “Have you been injured on the job before?” Chloe asked. Deciding by the way he downplayed the seriousness of the situation, Chloe thought that he must have had some similar experiences before.

“I’ve had a few scrapes,” Pierce admitted. “The possibility of death has never felt … so real before,” he added with a strange look on his face. 

“Yeah. I can imagine how terrifying it must be.” Thankfully Chloe had never been hit herself, but she remembered well the close calls she had thanks to Jimmy Barnes and also the hostage situation when Lenny got shot.

Again there was a long moment of silence, so Chloe decided to let the Lieutenant rest. “I should get back and finish Blackcrow’s arrest sheet. Uhm.. I don’t know if you heard, but he turned up half-beaten and hogtied in Malibu. Karma, I guess. Anyhow, thanks again for the … whole lifesaving thing.” She smiled at Pierce.

This time Pierce smiled in return. “Couldn’t let anything happen to my best detective.”

Chloe looked at him incredulously. “So now I’m your best detective?”

Pierce just shrugged. “I didn’t want you to get all full of yourself,” he explained with a smirk. “I can see why Lucifer is so affected by you,” he added with a more serious expression, “it’s because you’re special, Decker.”

 

Notes:

I hadn't done a full episode twisting in a while, I hope you won't get bored with all those re-written parts, but I felt that those are necessary for the plot (I can't assume that everyone knows all the episodes by heart). I did shorten a few parts where I felt that it would not be so important for the plot. Also I skipped my favourite one line joke from the show (What horse?), but I didn't really want to write the whole teaching how to deal drugs part in this chapter.

With this chapter the word count of this fic reached 200 K. I know that there are writers who can write more than that in no time, but for me this is a big milestone. Before starting to write these fics I never would have thought that one day I'd be able to write a story that long, but here we are. And also thank you all for reading and commenting, it means a great deal to me.

Chapter 31: Cain

Notes:

Another chapter with a case from the series. This time I twisted it a little more and added some things from other episodes, so it's kind of a mix.

Chloe and Lucifer were sitting in her car keeping their eyes on a building nearby during their stakeout. They had been sitting in silence for a while now. It was a comfortable silence, but eventually Lucifer decided to break it anyway.

“So, how are things going with the Urchin now?” he asked. They hadn’t really spoken about the situation after Lucifer had brought Trixie back to Chloe’s house.

“Pretty good, I think. I mean, she still asks some questions every now and then, but she seems to be okay with all of it now,” Chloe told him. After a pause she added, “she even started to call me mommy.” She couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face after that admission. It still made her heart swell every time she heard it.

“That’s good to hear,” Lucifer smiled at her, genuinely happy that it all worked out. “And how are things going with your roommate?” he then asked.

“I don’t know,” Chloe said thoughtfully. “I mean, we haven’t really talked about it, but she seems to be her normal self again. As normal as a demon can be,” she chuckled. “Maze was gone all weekend and came back on Monday. She didn’t talk about the fight we had, but Trixie told me that she knew that Trixie heard us when she got back.” Choe furrowed her brows, that part still puzzled her, but Maze had never liked to talk about emotions, so whenever she tried to bring that topic up, Maze brushed her off.

“Ah, yes, that’s on me,” Lucifer admitted, adjusting his cufflinks. “I found her sitting in Lux, drinking away my liquor when I returned from driving the Urchin home. We talked and I told her what had happened. I hope it was okay,” Lucifer looked suddenly a bit unsure.

“Yes, of course,” Chloe assured him. Since Maze knew about her secret anyway there wouldn’t have been any reason to keep from her the fact that Trixie now also knew. 

“It’s good that the two of you are also getting along again,” Chloe commented. 

Before Lucifer could answer her, his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. “Sorry, Detective,” he said apologetically and took the device out of his jacket pocket. He looked at the caller ID and frowned slightly before answering it.

“Hello, Patrick. Is everything alright at Lux?” Usually when he called after Lux had already opened, it meant some kind of trouble.

“Hi, boss. Yes, everything is alright. But there’s a lady here who asks about you and wants to know when you’ll be back.”  

“Not for another hour at least. I’m working on a case right now,” Lucifer answered him, but curiosity got the better of him and he added, “and who this impatient patron might be?”

“Uhm… she’s dressed as a stewardess, long dark hair, beautiful,” Patrick started listing what he had noticed about the woman.

Lucifer sighed. “You have to be more specific than that. Can you ask her name?” There were more than one women who he knew and who would match that description.

“Hold on,” Patrick said and went back to the bar to ask. After a short while Lucifer heard the man say, “her name is Jana.”

“Ah, Jana,” Lucifer smiled, remembering the last time she had been in his penthouse. “Well, tell her that I’ll make the wait worthwhile if she’s willing to stay and wait for me.”

“Okay, boss,” his bartender replied and ended the call.

“Do you need to be somewhere?” Chloe asked tentatively.

“No, Detective, this is more important,” Lucifer said in a serious tone while putting away his phone. Another unit was scheduled to switch with them in 45 minutes, unless there would be some action that needed intervening.

Chloe smiled. Ever since the Firehawk case Lucifer had been glued to her side. She didn’t really mind. That case had been really weird, with Lucifer’s inappropriate behaviour and the shooting that had put the Lieutenant in the hospital, but now Lucifer was again taking the job seriously and the Lieutenant was nicer towards her. Well, Pierce had only just gotten back to work after recovering from his injury, but still.  

--------

About 1,5 hours later Lucifer stepped into Lux. He went straight to the bar, hoping to see the gorgeous stewardess waiting for him, but didn’t see her.

“Patrick,” he turned to his bartender, “didn’t Jana want to wait for me?”

The other man furrowed his brow. “She said she would. At some point she went outside for a moment, for a phone call I think. I guess she hasn’t returned then.” The bartender had been too busy to keep his eye on the woman.

Lucifer hadn’t seen her outside of the building. “When did she go outside?” he asked.

“I don’t know… maybe 15 or 20 minutes after I called you,” the bartender shrugged.

Lucifer frowned. It was about an hour ago, if she went outside to talk on the phone, surely she’d be back by now.

“Oh, and Amenadiel asked me to remind you that he left some papers for you to sign in the office,” Patrick suddenly remembered what the club's manager had told him before he went home.

“Yes, yes, he sent me a text also,” Lucifer sighed and rolled his eyes. He should teach his brother how to forge a signature, so he wouldn’t be bothering him with those all the time.

He was about to go to the office to sign whatever Amenadiel had left for him when two young women appeared at the bar, standing at his sides.

“Hi, Lucifer!” they said in unison.

“Hello, Britney!” he looked at one of the women, “hello, Brittany!” he turned his head to the other side to greet the other woman too. “You two look lovely as always,” Lucifer scanned the short dresses both of them wore that didn’t leave much room for the imagination.

The girls giggled in unison again and started to pull him towards the dance floor, both holding one of his hands. “Come dance with us,” they said in a sweet voice. 

“How could I resist such an invitation,” Lucifer grinned and followed the women. Soon they were dancing, or rather rubbing against each other on the dancefloor.

--------

The next morning Lucifer was getting ready to go to the precinct when he got a call from the Detective. She told him that they had received a new case (the stakeout they had been on the previous night had been for a case that was not theirs, they had just helped out some other detectives) and since the crime scene was near to Lux, he should meet her there.

Lucifer agreed and soon he received a text from the Detective with the address of the crime scene. The Detective had been right, that was really close to Lux. 

“How convenient, now they are choosing to murder people in a walking distance from my home,” he huffed and continued with his morning routine.

 

When he arrived at the crime scene in a parking garage Chloe was crouching by the body. Lucifer stepped closer, greeting her and Miss Lopez, who was on the other side of the body with her camera, in his usual exuberant tone.

“So, what do we have here, Detective?” he continued then, not yet taking his eyes off his partner.

“The victim was shot. She seems to have been strangled and beaten before she was killed, and she has lost one shoe,” Chloe started to tell Lucifer what she had already learned about the body.

“Deciding by the bump on her head, she was first knocked unconscious, maybe brought here and then …,” Ella finished her sentence with a sigh. A young life ended too soon again.

“And you didn’t find any ID on her?” Chloe asked.

Ella shook her head. “Nope,” she said and added, “that’s another reason it seems that it started somewhere else - she has no belongings on her.”

Lucifer had focused on the Detective and Miss Lopez so far, only now looked down at the body and took in her features - the long dark hair, her flight attendant outfit and the face that she looked familiar. “Jana?” he breathed out in a startled tone.

The two women looked at him questioningly. “Did you know her?” the Detective asked.

“Yes, she was waiting for me at Lux yesterday. You know, when Patrick called during our stakeout. But she was gone when I got back to Lux.”

Lucifer continued to stare at the body and a terrifying thought occurred to him. Would she be still alive if he had come to Lux as soon as Patrick called him?

“Ella, what was the time of death again?” Chloe asked to be certain.

“Around 8.30-9 PM last night,” the forensic scientist answered.

“Okay, we finished the stakeout about 8.45 and we were half an hour drive away, maybe 20 minutes by your driving, but still, that gives you a solid alibi,” Chloe concluded almost automatically.

“Why would I need an alibi?” Lucifer was confused.

“Just to clear you in case someone decides to question your connection to where she was just before her death,” Chloe assured him. She was 100% certain that Lucifer had nothing to do with it, but she had seen cases fall apart because of that kind of doubt.

“So, can you tell me her last name?” Chloe had taken out her notebook and was ready to write down information.

“Not really,” Lucifer furrowed his brows.

“But you knew her?” Chloe was a bit confused.

“Yes, we had met once before and spent some time together, but we hadn’t really shared our life history with each other.”

“So we still need some ID to determine her last name,” Chloe sighed.

“I suggest we start with the area around Lux. Patrick said that she went outside for a phone call, maybe she was first attacked there.” Lucifer’s tone was bitter. He had taken every possible measure to make his club as safe for everyone as possible. He couldn’t control what happened around the place, but still it bothered him that Jana must have been ambushed near Lux.

It turned out that his assumption had been correct. They found Jana’s missing shoe, her phone and purse from an alley next to Lux. And the dumpster had a little smear of blood on the corner. Probably the spot where Jana had hit her head.

Chloe started to go through the phone. “Hmm… last calls are missed calls from the same number. And here are also text messages from the number,” she scrolled through the messages with her gloved finger. “Ditch the loser from Lux. Answer me now, or you’ll be sorry , ” Chloe read out loud. “We need to find out who sent those messages. Let’s head back to the precinct.”

 

As soon as they arrived in the precinct, Chloe started to search both for the owner of the mysterious number and any information she could get about Jana Lawrence. She soon found out that the number belonged to Andy Kleinburg, a wealthy Silicon Valley guy.

Lucifer and Chloe went to question him and found out that Jana had been the flight attendant on his private flight the previous day. Kleinburg had called her to get her to come to his place and the ‘or you’ll be sorry’ meant that she would not be invited to his parties anymore. To Lucifer’s horror ‘the loser from Lux’ was him. Andy had thought that Jana was meeting a DJ named Lucifer there. Chloe had to stop Lucifer from going after Kleinburg for such words.

The man had an alibi for the time of the murder since he had also asked other girls to come to his place and unlike Jana they had agreed to it and spent the evening and night with Kleinburg.   

 

From Kleinberg’s villa they drove back to the precinct. Chloe continued to search for information about the victim, Lucifer decided to go and raid the vending machine. When he stepped into the break room he spotted Dan who was on the phone.

“I’m sure there are also other options,” he said to the other person on the line. “I have faith in you, Charlotte.” Although his back was towards Lucifer, he was certain that the man was smiling.

Lucifer stood still, interested in what they were talking about, but Dan turned a bit and noticed that he was not alone anymore.

“I gotta go now, talk to you later. Bye!” This time Lucifer saw the smile on detective Douche’s face.

“Still trying to get back between that lawyer’s sheets, are we?” Lucifer teased the man.

“No, I’m not,” Dan answered, a bit flustered.

“And why are you here talking secretly to her then?” Lucifer kept mocking Dan.

“Look, we’re friends, okay. And I don’t care if you have a problem with that,” Dan said defiantly. “If I can help her get her life back together by just listening and giving advice to her, I will do it, no matter what you or anyone else thinks.” 

“Oh, a knight in shining armor,” Lucifer grinned. He then proceeded to get some snacks he had come for. Dan was getting coffee, so he was still there when Lucifer started to leave from the break room. Suddenly he had a thought and paused.

“You know, when Charlotte wants to talk to someone who can really understand what she went through, she should talk to Linda,” he said, this time in a serious tone.

Dan looked at him a little surprised. “Isn’t she your therapist?”

“Yes and that’s why I know that she’s good at this. And she knows about everything.” Lucifer knew that he couldn’t explain what he meant by that to Dan, but he hoped that he’d give the message to Charlotte and she’d understand what he meant.

Lucifer started to walk towards the Detective’s desk, Dan followed him, heading towards his own desk. 

“I’ll give the suggestion to start seeing Linda to Charlotte. She has been a little hesitant to go and see a therapist so far,” Dan said when they had reached Chloe’s desk.

“Like I said, she has seen it all,” Lucifer assured him.

“Well, she’s seeing you, so …,” Dan tried to tease Lucifer back.

Lucifer just hummed. “I’m sure Charlotte’s condition is not so bad anyway. I mean she already has been smart enough to not sleep with you again,” he remarked.

“Screw you, Lucifer,” Dan blushed and turned his back on Lucifer, heading towards his own desk at a quicker pace.

“No sane woman would willingly sleep with you anyway,” Lucifer called after him, pleased that his words got a rise out of him.

Lucifer sat down on his chair and then turned his head towards the Detective, still grinning. When he noticed that the Detective was looking rather gloomy, he immediately asked, “what’s wrong, Detective?”

“So now you think that I’m not a sane woman?” Chloe asked in a bitter tone.

“What? Why would I think that?” Lucifer was baffled. Chloe was the most sane person he knew.

“You do realise that I was in a relationship with Dan and we did have sex. Willingly.” She emphasised the last word before Lucifer could make some inappropriate joke about being forced to sleep with Dan. Chloe didn’t really think that Lucifer would think that she was not sane, but his words had rubbed her the wrong way, so she couldn’t let it slide. In addition his claim about no sane woman willing to sleep with Dan had been rather loud and at least half of the precinct had definitely heard. Everyone knew about her and Dan being exes, so Chloe was sure that some of her colleagues had come to the same conclusion that she had about Lucifer’s opinion on her sanity.

“I didn’t mean …,” Lucifer started to explain, but failed to find any good explanation. He had only thought about teasing Dan, momentarily forgetting his previous relationship with Chloe.

“Just let’s get back to work,” Choe said sternly, knowing that Lucifer could not wriggle his way out.

“Yes, Detective,” Lucifer agreed in a humble manner.

 

They worked in silence for a few minutes until the Lieutenant appeared by their desk. “I have a new body for you,” he said and put a folder on the desk.

“But we just got a case this morning,” Chloe pointed out, the confusion evident in her voice.

“I know. At first I assigned this one to Porter and Robinson, but the ballistics shows that the victim was killed with the same gun as the victim on your case, so I think it would be best if you handle this one too,” Pierce explained.

“Of course,” Chloe agreed. It would be stupid to have different detectives work these murders if the gun that was used is the same, which most probably meant that the killer was same too.

“If you hurry, you can still take a look at the scene before they take away the body. I told them to wait a bit with that after the ballistics came in.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you,” Chloe smiled at him. “Let’s go, Lucifer,” she commanded and soon they were walking out of the precinct.

--------

The second murder had taken place in the victim’s apartment. He had just come out of the shower and was still clad in only a towel.

Detectives Porter and Robinson were still there and gave Chloe and Lucifer a quick overview of what they had learned so far. “So, it seems that the man was beaten up before he was killed. And by the looks of the marks around his wrists, he had been tied up,” Robinson told them.

“It looks as if he had been tortured,” Porter added.

“Do you have an ID?” Chloe asked while crouching down to look closer at the body.

Before the other detectives could answer she heard Lucifer say, “Raj… always so fit.”

All three detectives looked at Lucifer in surprise. “Did you… know him too?” Chloe asked, a bit baffled.

“Well, I occasionally have male lovers too, you should know that,” Lucifer defended himself, thinking that Chloe must have forgotten that he had sex with men too by the tone of her voice.

Chloe stood up and took Lucifer to the side. “I know that you sleep with men too, I just didn’t expect both of the victims to be someone you have slept with.”

Chloe went back to the other detectives to get some more details. She wrote down what she thought to be important, but all the time her mind couldn’t let go of the fact that two people who had sex with Lucifer had turned up dead.

When Porter and Robinson had left, Chloe decided to address the subject. “The fact that they were both your sex partners is not a good sign,” she told Lucifer.

“Why?” Lucifer didn’t really follow.

“Because it seems that the murders have been personal and we have found no other connection between the two of them. Could someone be murdering your previous sex partners?”

“What? Why would they do that?” Lucifer asked indignantly.

“I don’t know. Maybe someone got jealous or something,” Chloe shrugged.

Lucifer didn’t think that any of them had a reason to be jealous of others. There would be only one of his previous bed companions who would have any reason at all to be jealous. “Are you jealous, Detective?” Lucifer tilted his head and looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes.

“No,” Chloe said defensively. “But we should warn them maybe.” Chloe took her notebook out again. “So did you sleep with Jana and Raj after you returned from Hell?”

“Yes,” Lucifer answered, not sure where she was going with that.

“I think we should make a list of all of the people you have slept with since you returned and then try to speak with them. Find out if anyone would want to hurt others and if they don’t then warn them,” Chloe explained her thought.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Lucifer asked a bit worriedly. He still remembered how she had asked him not to talk about his sexual endeavours in front of her and now she wanted to get a list of all of them and even talk to his former bedmates.

“It doesn’t matter if I want to or not, we have to think about the victims, Lucifer. We need to find the murderer before anyone else gets hurt, okay?” Chloe considered herself to be a professional and personal feelings would not get in a way to solve a crime for her.   

“Alright then,” Lucifer decided not to argue anymore. He took a moment and started listing the people who he had had sex with since he came back to Earth. “Alice, Sam, Kacey, Georgina, Emilia, Alyson, Sally, Oscar, Emily, Sarah, Eve, Grace, Madeline, Sara, Mark, Corrinne, Martha, Miranda, Vicki, Natalie, Marianne …”

“Slow down,” Chloe stopped him suddenly. She had been a bit baffled about the fluency Lucifer had just started naming them, so Chloe had to collect herself a bit before she managed to stop his tirade. “Do you know their last names? Addresses or phone numbers?” she asked before she started to write down anything.

“Like I already mentioned, we didn’t really talk much. Aside from them telling me what they desired of course,” Lucifer added with a smirk. Some of them had told him a lot of things in that regard.

“So how do we contact them?” Chloe was at a loss.

“Well, I do have some numbers. But I guess most of them follow me or Lux on social media. If they have pictures on their profiles I’ll recognise them and I can leave them a message. What do you want me to say?” Lucifer had taken out his phone already and began scrolling through his contacts.

“Ask them to come to the precinct in an hour, tell them that their help is needed with an ongoing investigation.” Chloe didn’t want him to give out too many details at first. “Let’s get back to the precinct, you can start with the texts in the car,” Chloe told Lucifer and headed to the car.

 

An hour later the precinct started to fill with beautiful women and a few good looking men. All the other detectives and officers looked at them curiously.

The Detective was in the interrogation room with the first one of them and Lucifer was standing in the observation room, listening. Suddenly the observation room door opened and Dan stepped inside.

“Are they all here for your case?” he pointed towards the door, indicating to all the people waiting outside.

“Yes, the Detective thought that one of my previous sex partners might have something to do with the double homicide we are investigating,” Lucifer explained, not turning his eyes off of the one-way mirror.

“Those are all your… you’ve slept with all of them?” Dan asked, a bit surprised.

“I did, yes. Well, those outside are only about a fifth of them. Others couldn’t make it today,” Lucifer added.

“How many are there altogether then?” Dan’s surprise only grew. He had always thought that Lucifer was exaggerating about his body count.

“Ninety two,” Lucifer answered him nonchalantly. 

“You have slept with ninety two people?” Dan’s jaw was nearly dropping.

“In the time I have been back in L.A., yes. I’ve been taking things a bit slower since returning,” Lucifer felt the need to add.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You want me to believe that you’ve had 92 partners in 4 months?” This was getting more and more absurd for Dan.

“I don’t lie and I don’t see why I should joke about it right now,” Lucifer frowned. He didn’t really understand why Daniel found it so hard to believe.

Since Dan stopped asking questions and just stood silently now, Lucifer turned his attention back to the conversation in the other room.

“It was the best night of my life,” the woman on the other side of the glass confessed.

“Unbelievable,” Dan muttered, shook his head and left the room.

Lucifer just shrugged and kept listening to the interview. He didn’t mind hearing his former lover praise his sexual capability, he knew for a fact that he was good. When Chloe started asking questions about the emotional connection or if the woman would hurt someone over Lucifer, the answer stung. The woman had looked at Chloe like she’d be out of her mind and scoffed that Lucifer was just a meaningless one night stand.

The pattern repeated itself with all the others - they all praised the sex but none of them considered him important enough to hurt someone else.

Lucifer stood in the observation room listening and started to hate every moment of those interviews. Even the claims of having had the best night of their lives did nothing to lift his spirits in the end. All Lucifer could think about was that he was reminded over and over again how he had lost the one person who had cared about him. Well, they were still working together and still friends, but he could never experience meaningful sex or waking up next to someone he truly cared about again. Lucifer did not believe that he could ever meet someone else like Chloe and have a real relationship again.

 

After the last person had left the room, Chloe stood up and left too. She was glad that only 18 of Lucifer’s previous partners could come today, because she wasn’t sure she could have handled more. She knew that she had come up with the idea to interview them herself, but right now she really regretted it. Even if she knew that Lucifer was having sex regularly, talking to those people and listening to them reminisce about the best night of their life, was discomforting. Chloe hated the way they spoke about Lucifer, like he had been just a means to an end, all of them were using him for their own pleasure. And even though Chloe didn’t really want to force a life of celibacy on him, she didn’t like to know so much about his overly active sex life, even if the sex didn’t mean anything. What was even worse, she had only had her toys to help her unwind since she and Dan had broken up over three months ago. So this parade of people Lucifer had had sex with felt like mockery of her non-existent sex life. And now, being a single mom, it would be even more difficult to find someone. She felt like she’d be forced to celibacy herself. Well, at least until Trixie will be all grown up.

 

As soon as Chloe stepped out of the interrogation room, she could see Lucifer saying goodbye to the last woman she had interviewed. Chloe waited a moment until the woman had turned to leave and stepped closer to her partner.

Before Chloe could come up with anything to say, Lucifer turned a bit and asked, “did you get what you wanted?”

“No,” Chloe sighed. The fact that none of the interviews had helped them along with the case was making it all worse. “I guess we have to invite another bunch of them for tomorrow,” she added, a part of her hoping that Lucifer would protest about it.

“If you must,” Lucifer just shrugged and started to walk towards her desk. His tone suggested that he was not happy about it either, but Chloe was too stubborn to just give up. Besides, they didn’t have any other clue right now.

“It’s not like we have anything else to go by right now,” Chloe said a bit defensively. She was about to suggest that they should try to find other connections between the two victims when Ella rushed to them.

“Guys, I think I have something for you.” She looked excited, holding a smartphone in her hand. “A proof that the victims knew each other,” Ella added.

Chloe almost snatched the phone from her friend’s hand. “Show me what you found,” she requested.

Ella opened the gallery and clicked on a photo. “This one was taken yesterday,” she explained. It was a selfie with both Jana and Raj, both of them wearing flight attendant outfits.

“Raj was also a flight attendant then,” Chloe concluded from the photo on the man’s phone.

“It seems so,” Ella confirmed. “Maybe he did it as a side job or something,” she suggested. They had looked into Raj and officially he had been working for a catering company.

Chloe started to go through the pictures on the phone. “Wait, there is another man who is also in several pictures with Raj and Jana.” She turned the phone a bit, so Lucifer would get a better look. “Do you know him?” Chloe asked him.

“No, I have never met him,” Lucifer told her.

“We should try to find out who he is,” Chloe suggested. She was grateful that they might have another lead.

“I can run the facial recognition programme in my lab,” Ella offered.

“Great, let’s do that.” Chloe started to walk towards the lab with Ella.

 

Lucifer was about to follow the women when a familiar voice called his name.

“Luci!” Amenadiel sounded upset. “Why are you not answering your phone?”

“Hello, brother!” Lucifer greeted him with a smile that was not really genuine. Whatever problem his brother had could wait. “I had my phone on silent so I wouldn’t be disturbed during the interrogation that lasted for hours,” he explained.

“And why didn’t you sign those papers I asked you to? I sent you a text, I told Patrick to remind you. What more must I do so you’d do what I ask?” Amenadiel asked him heatedly. He was holding some papers in his hand. Lucifer assumed that those were the same papers he was supposed to sign. He furrowed his brow for a moment. He did remember that Amenadiel had asked him to sign something and he also remembered that he had intended to do it as soon as Patrick told him. Then a smile crossed Lucifer’s face, remembering who had dragged him to the dance floor instead. “I meant to do it, but I got distracted,” Lucifer informed his brother, not wanting to go into more details (the "distractions" had ended up in his penthouse eventually).

His holier than thou brother was looking at him rather angrily. Lucifer sighed. “What was so important anyway that you couldn’t wait til I'm back at Lux?”

“Your alcohol licence renewal,” Amenadiel put the papers on Chloe’s desk with force. “It has to be handed in today and the office closes in 45 minutes.” 

“Why didn’t you just say so?” Lucifer immediately took a pen from the Detective’s pen holder on the desk and started to sign the forms. 

Amenadiel rolled his eyes and kept his attention on the papers to make sure that there wouldn’t be any spots missed.

“Here you go,” Lucifer finished signing and handed the papers back to Amenadiel. “Go and hand in the forms now,” he turned the other man slightly so he’d face the exit.

To his surprise Amenadiel didn’t move, instead he was standing still like a statue, staring towards the elevators.

“Brother?” Lucifer asked a bit worriedly.

“What is he doing here?” the man finally managed to get words out.

“Who?” Lucifer didn’t understand who he was talking about.

“Cain,” Amenadiel explained.

“What are you talking about?” Lucifer was still confused.

“The man in the black shirt, who is talking to the lady in uniform,” Amenadiel pointed towards the elevators.

“That’s Lieutenant Pierce,” Lucifer said, baffled.

“No, Luci, I’m telling you, that’s Cain,” Amenadiel insisted.

“Are you sure?” Lucifer still didn’t quite believe his brother.

“Of course I’m sure. I put the mark on him.” Amenadiel turned to his brother. “What are we going to do about it?” He looked to be ready to go over to the man and call him out.

Lucifer realised that right now was probably not the best time to do anything about it. If it really was Cain, they had to be clever about it. “I’ll arrange a meeting in private, then we can confront him. But right now, you need to hand in these forms and I have a case to solve.” Lucifer was getting curious himself why the world’s first murderer was posing as a police Lieutenant, but he didn’t want to lose his alcohol licence over it either.

 

It turned out that the other man whose pictures were on Raj’s phone was Tim Pickman - a pilot who had a record for drug related crimes. Due to being arrested, he was fired from the airline he was working for and now he was flying rich dudes on small jets. All the routes he flew frequently were hot spots for drug smugglers.

“It looks like he could be smuggling drugs. Maybe Jana and Raj found out about it and he decided to silence them,” Chloe thought out loud.

“Well, let’s go and drag him in for questioning then,” Lucifer clapped his hands together, happy that they had a real lead finally.

“Uhm… guys, he just got a permit to fly out in 45 minutes. To Argentina,” Ella informed them.

“If he’ll go there, we’ll never get him,” Chloe frowned. The man looked more and more guilty.

“Well let’s hurry then,” Lucifer urged Chloe to get moving.

“It’s too far away, we won’t make it,” Chloe didn’t think they’d be able to get to the airport in time.

“Oh, we’ll make it,” Lucifer smirked, stepping into the elevator. Chloe followed him, not sure what he had in mind. When he pressed the button for the roof, Chloe started to understand. “You want to fly there?”

“It will be the quickest way to get there,” Lucifer smiled, but seeing the doubt on the Detective’s face he continued, “unless you don’t want to fly.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to… just how will we explain how we got there? Or what if someone sees us?” They hadn’t done this for a case before and she was a bit afraid that it could backfire.

“Hmm… you’re right. I guess we should drive to some other place first,” Lucifer agreed. If someone saw both their cars at the parking lot when they were supposed to chase after a suspect, it could raise some questions.

They ended up driving Lucifer’s Corvette to a nearby alley and flying from there to another quiet street near the airport. That gave them enough time to catch Tim before he was boarding the plane.

When Chloe called out his name, Tim tried to run, but they had anticipated it, so Lucifer was standing right on the way and caught him easily.

To their surprise the man was relieved when he learned that they were LAPD, having feared that they were trying to kill him too. He told them that he was planning to flee the country because his two closest friends were dead and he was afraid that he’d be next. He confessed that he knew his clients smuggled drugs to the country and that the young women, like Jana, were used as mules. A guy named Burt was the one who hired the women, promising them wealth and a good life in exchange.

“Apparently on yesterday’s flight a package went missing,” Tim admitted finally, looking a bit ashamed about his whole operation.

“That’s why they were tortured before killing,” Lucifer exclaimed with excitement. “The killer wanted to get the package back.” Tim paled even more upon hearing it.

“Who were on the flight besides you?” Chloe asked, shooting Lucifer a glare for sharing confidential information with a potential suspect.

“Jana, Raj, a new flight attendant Cheryl and Andy Kleinburg, the client who had ordered the flight,” Tim counted all the people from the flight.

“And this Burt?” Chloe wanted to clarify.

“He’s not on the flights,” Tim shook his head, “they put the packages in a storage locker in the airport and then he comes and takes it from there.”

“Do you know his last name?” Chloe asked hopefully. 

“They only call him Burt,” Tim shrugged. “I haven’t talked to him or met him myself.”

Chloe frowned. That would make it so much harder to find this Burt. Suddenly she had an idea.

“This new flight attendant you mentioned… does Burt know her?” Chloe asked Tim.

“I don’t think so,” Tim said thoughtfully. "It was only her second flight, I don’t think he has managed to get her into his scheme yet."

Chloe let out a pleased hum. “And would you be able to get a message to this Burt somehow?” she continued with the questions.

Tim was clearly confused, but told her that he would probably find a way.

“Great! I will let you know if we’ll need you to do that,” she said then. “Don’t leave the country,” Chloe said before turning around, leaving the perplexed pilot staring after them.

“Care to share what your plan is?” Lucifer asked as soon as they were out of earshot from Tim.

“If Burt doesn’t know the new stewardess who was on the flight, we could get someone to pretend to be the stewardess and tell Burt that she has the package. When he shows up to receive it, we can arrest him,” Chloe explained.

“And do you have someone in mind?” Lucifer asked cautiously. He was on board with the idea, but didn’t want to see the Detective put herself at risk again.

“Actually, I do,” Chloe drawled, looking at Lucifer a bit nervously. She was not sure that Lucifer would approve.

It turned out that Lucifer agreed that a demon would be a perfect choice for the decoy. Luckily she was not away bounty hunting at the time, so Chloe talked to her as soon as she got home. The demon’s first question had been if she could torture him. Chloe didn’t want to encourage it, but she did think that he’d deserve it, so she gave her a vague answer that she would be alone with the guy until they arrived. That made Maze gleefully agree with the idea and after that she took off immediately, saying that she needed to get a slutty uniform for the job.

--------

Lucifer and Amenadiel were sitting in the penthouse when Lucifer received Chloe’s text saying that Maze was on board and they would set up the meeting between her and Burt the next day. Without even realising it Lucifer smiled while reading it. 

“From Chloe?” Amenadiel asked, seeing his brother’s genuine smile.

“Yes, she just texted me some information about the case we’re on,” Lucifer explained and went to refill his glass.

“Are you sure he’s coming?” Amenadiel then asked, changing the subject. They had been waiting for a while already.

Before Lucifer could answer the elevator made a sound and the doors slid open to reveal Lieutenant Pierce.

“Lucifer, what did you need to talk about?” the man got immediately down to business.

“Ah, Lieutenant Pierce. So glad you could join us,” Lucifer smiled politely.

“Well, your text was quite insistent,” Pierce replied.

“Hello!” Amenadiel then spoke, not sure how he should address the man.

“Ah, yes. This is my brother Amenadiel,” Lucifer introduced, eyeing Pierce closely. “Maybe you remember him?” he asked then, looking for some recognition in the other man’s face.

“No, I don’t think we’ve met before,” Pierce said, his face betraying no emotions. 

“We have met, Cain,” Amenadiel said crossing his arms on his chest. He didn't like the way he lied.

“What are you talking about?” Pierce frowned slightly.

“Well, my brother here thinks that you are Cain, son of Adam and Eve, the first murderer, who was cursed to walk on the Earth for eternity,” Lucifer said with a dramatic note in his voice.

“Is this some part of your Devil thing? That you include others around you in your Biblical allegory?” Pierce asked with a bored expression.

“There is no allegory. I am the Devil. And if you’d reveal your right arm, we would have the confirmation we need,” Lucifer told him. He knew that the mark he was carrying as the punishment for killing his brother was on his right biceps. Unfortunately he was wearing long sleeves, so it was not visible right now.

They were all standing in silence for a few moments before Pierce broke it. “No. I don’t have to show you anything,” he said and turned, clearly planning to head to the elevator and leave. 

Lucifer didn’t like being lied to and he was quite certain that the man was indeed Cain. So, he decided to prove it in another way. He quickly reached behind his bar, grabbed an ice pick and plunged it into Cain’s heart. The man gasped in pain and fell to the ground.

“Luci!” Amenadiel shouted in horror.

“What?” Lucifer asked innocently. “You said you’re sure that he’s Cain. We gave him another opportunity to prove it, but he declined.”

“But what if ….” Amenadiel couldn’t even finish the sentence. The possibility that he had been mistaken and Lucifer had just murdered a man was too horrible to even say out loud.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” Lucifer shrugged, eyeing the dead man on the floor. He downed his drink and kept stealing glances at Pierce/Cain, Amenadiel on the other hand was staring at the man on the floor with eyes like saucers. Lucifer wondered how long it could take for him to heal, he had thought that it would take less time.

The silence in the penthouse was tense. Suddenly it was pierced with a loud gasp, sounding like someone would draw a breath after being too long under water. Cain was now sitting upright, clutching the wound in his heart that still oozed blood. 

“Welcome back, Cain,” Lucifer said with a mocking glee.

“Son of a bitch,” Cain cursed. “It still hurts, you know.” He managed to get himself off the floor and sat on a barstool next to Lucifer.

“It would have been easier if you hadn’t tried to lie to us,” Lucifer informed him condescendingly, pouring himself another drink.

“You could at least offer me a drink too,” Cain said, the pain evident in his voice.

“Of course, how rude of me,” Lucifer exclaimed and reached for another tumbler. He turned then to Amediel, checking if his brother had decided to have a drink after all, although he had initially declined his offer when he had first arrived in the penthouse. Amenadiel shook his head at his offer.

“So, Cain, care to tell us why you are in L.A. pretending to be a police Lieutenant?” Lucifer asked casually after pouring drinks for both Cain and himself.

“I’m not pretending. I am a Lieutenant. And right now my name is Marcus Pierce,” Cain defended himself.

“Don’t you think it’s a funny coincidence that there are suddenly two immortals in one precinct?” Lucifer asked, his voice tinged with sarcasm.

Cain sighed. “It’s not a coincidence. I heard about the Devil being vulnerable around a woman and when the spot for the Lieutenant of the precinct opened, I used my connections to get it for myself.”

“Why?” Lucifer’s face was dark like a thunder cloud.

“Because I wanted to know if it would work on me too. When I saw with my own eyes that you really were able to get hurt when she’s near, I tried to get killed in her vicinity too,” Cain explained.

Lucifer was puzzled at first. Had the man tried to kill himself in his office? “You…,” he started to ask and then it dawned on Lucifer. He grabbed the man by his collar, wanting to hurt him over and over again, “you put the Detective in danger on purpose. I’m going to make you pay for it,” he snarled.

“Lucifer,” Amenadiel intervened, stepping in between them and trying to get Lucifer’s hands off of Cain.

“She wasn’t in danger. I knew that the guy would try to get rid of us and I was alert, ready to take the shot,” Cain tried to calm Lucifer down.

“That’s no excuse!” Lucifer was not easy to calm down. “Why would you risk her well being?”

“Because I want to die,” Cain shouted out. He looked desperate. It was the first time Lucifer saw any genuine emotion on his face. “I didn’t deserve the punishment. Even serial killers get only a certain amount of years in prison, but I’m doomed for thousands of years, without the possibility of ever getting out of it for killing someone who would have killed me if I hadn’t reached for that rock and killed him first.”

Lucifer looked at the man in confusion. He knew very well that his Father could be unjust in his punishments. He wanted to be angry at him, but he knew very well what it meant to desire something that seemed to be impossible to get.

“If you knew that I am really the Devil, why didn’t you come to me. We could have found a safer way to test if the Detective’s ability to make me vulnerable would work on you too?” he asked in a calmer tone.

“I didn’t want anyone to know who I really am. That’s why I didn’t want to show you my arm either. I hoped that I could avoid it, but I should have known that you’d find a more painful way to make sure.” Cain grunted in pain again, almost like emphasising his point. “And now you have to promise me not to tell anyone,” Cain looked from Lucifer to Amenadiel with an intenseness in his eyes.

“But…,” Lucifer started to argue, but Cain stopped him.

“No buts,” he said sternly and after a moment of thought added, “unless you want me to make another immortality test around Chloe.”

The threat was loud and clear. Lucifer would do anything in his power to make sure that the Detective was safe, so he agreed. “You have my word.”

Cain looked at Amenadiel next and he also promised not to tell anyone.  

“So, are you really sure that nothing can kill you?” Lucifer then asked curiously.

“Yes,” Cain sighed, “I’ve tried everything.”

“Even cutting yourself in pieces?” 

“Yes,” Cain answered, a bit of weariness evident in his voice.

“Does that create more Cains?” Lucifer continued with the questions.

“No, only one part grows back into full human,” Cain explained.

Lucifer thought for a second. “Have you tried demon blades?”

“No,” Cain answered, this time clearly interested in the topic. “Do you think they would work?”

“Well, they can hurt me too even when the Detective is not around, so I think it would be worth a shot,” Lucifer smirked. Getting to end an unjust punishment that dear old Dad had put on someone sounded like a good way to flip him a bird again.

“Do you have one?” Cain continued with eagerness Lucifer had not really seen from the man before.

“No, but Maze has,” Lucifer explained. “I can give her a call,” he took the phone he had set down earlier and dialled the number. It went to voicemail. “Hmm… she’s not answering.”

“Can’t you go to her place and just borrow one?” Cain urged him.

Lucifer looked at the other man like he had just told him that Hell was a prime holiday destination. “You might have a death wish, but I don’t. You don’t take a demon’s weapons without their permission. Ever.”

Amenadiel was relieved that Maze was not picking up. He decided to speak up, “do you think it would really be wise to do it? I mean even if it would work, what then. We’d be sitting here with a dead police Lieutenant and you’d tell the LAPD that everything is alright because he wanted to die?” The angel had thought about what would happen next during the long minutes they waited for Cain to come back from the dead.

“Well, if you put it that way…” Lucifer drawled.

“Right, I would need to make some arrangements first. And it would be best to make it look like a suicide,” Cain agreed reluctantly.

“I tell you what, you go and make your arrangements and let me know when and where, I’ll bring the demon blade,” Lucifer suggested cheerfully.

“Deal,” Cain smiled. This time it looked genuine.

--------

The meetup between Burt and the "stewardess" was set for the next evening. Since neither Maze or Lucifer have had actual LAPD training, they had to include at least one other detective in their sting. They decided to ask Dan, as he was at least partly familiar with Maze.

The meeting point was in a hotel bar. Dan and Maze were both there, while Lucifer and Chloe were in a van on the street. Maze was wearing a microphone so everyone could hear everything she and whoever she was talking to said.

They were waiting for Burt to show up when Lucifer’s phone rang. He took it out, intending to switch it off, but seeing that the caller was the Lieutenant, Lucifer decided to answer. The only problem was that it would not be good to talk to him in front of Chloe, so he decided to go outside the van to talk.

 

A few minutes later a man showed up in the hotel bar and introduced himself as Burt. Maze smiled and asked the man in a sweet voice to go with her to her hotel room. Both Dan and Chloe were surprised that Maze even had that kind of sweet voice inside her. Everything seemed to go according to the plan until Maze apprehended the guy and he squealed that he was actually not Burt. By that time both Chloe and Dan were in the hotel room, their guns drawn. 

Maze was holding the man down with one knee, a manic glee on her face. Chloe had to tell her to let the man up, so he could explain. He told them that a guy had offered him money for going into that hotel bar and saying he’s Burt. When they asked where this man himself was, the guy just shrugged and said that he had gone after a tall man in a suit. “Lucifer,” Chloe whispered before darting out of the room and running towards the exit.

--------

“Hello, Lieutenant!” Lucifer answered the call in his usual exuberant tone as soon as he was outside of the van.

“Hi, Lucifer!” Pierce’s tone was as flat as always. “I got the arrangements done. Can you come to my place tonight? Around 10 PM maybe?”

“Oh, eager, are we?” he teased the other man, but then continued, “I think we can make it work.”

“We? Is Amenadiel coming too?” Pierce had not expected the angel to want to take part in it.

“No, we don’t need that buzzkill. But when I asked Maze about borrowing her blade, she insisted that she’d want to do it herself. So, I’m bringing the owner along with the blade,” Lucifer explained.

“Fine, doesn’t really matter who does it.” Pierce paused for a moment and then added, “but you should come through the balcony door. And don’t leave your car near the house. I have security cameras and if it works, you don’t want to be seen around the house tonight.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Lucifer smiled. They could go there without the car as well.

“Great, see you tonight then,” Pierce’s voice sounded now almost cheerful.

 

Lucifer put away the phone after the call ended and reached for a smoke when he heard the metallic click of a gun near his head.

“Where is the package?” a male voice asked.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together. Lucifer turned around and asked with a smile, “Burt I presume?”

“I asked you something,” the man didn’t seem to be in the mood for smalltalk.

“Why do you think I have your precious package?” Lucifer was a bit baffled.

“Because I saw Jana go into Lux and stay there for a while. When she came out, she didn’t have it with her. And Raj didn’t have it either. So, where is it?” The man was getting more and more anxious.

“Was this package really worth it? Killing two people in cold blood,” he wondered, looking at Burt intently.

“You don’t understand. It’s not about the money. The delivery was for someone who does not forgive something like this. If I don’t find it, I’m dead myself. I’m not going to be killed by Sinnerman just because this bitch couldn’t keep her hands from it,” he spat.

Lucifer didn’t really appreciate how he spoke about Jana or how the gun was shoved in his face. He didn’t know if he was far enough from the Detective to be invulnerable, but he was definitely still strong. Lucifer moved his hand to the gun and before the man could do or say anything, bent the barrel, so the gun was now just a useless piece of metal.

“Wh-what?” the man spluttered looking from his hand at Lucifer and back.

“No, you don’t understand, Burt,” Lucifer put as much disdain in his voice as he could. “You’re a bad man,” Lucifer told him icily, “but I’m not. I’m much, much worse.” Lucifer flashed his red eyes at him and Burt dropped the mangled gun and backed away from him.

“What was that?” the man asked, his voice weak and frantic.

“Oh, that was nothing yet,” Lucifer gave him a devilish smile, “this is what you should be afraid of.” Lucifer let his Devil face flash for a moment. It was all that it took - the next moment Burt was curled into himself on the ground and begging for mercy.

At the same moment Chloe appeared from around the corner. “Lucifer, are you okay?” she asked breathlessly before she managed to take in the scene.

“Oh yes, Detective, everything is dandy,” Lucifer told her, adjusting the lapels of his jacket carelessly. “And I caught the killer,” he then pointed to Burt who was still on the ground.

Chloe looked at the babbling man and then at Lucifer. “Did you …?” she didn’t really know how to phrase it, but it wasn’t necessary, Lucifer understood very well what she meant.

“He deserved it,” he stated.

Before Chloe could argue, Dan also appeared, so Chloe dropped the subject and went to handcuff Burt.

Lucifer looked around, when he didn’t see Maze anywhere, he asked, “and where is our undercover flight attendant?”

“She stayed in the hotel room with the guy who pretended to be Burt,” Dan explained.

“You left her there alone with him?” Lucifer asked, surprised.

“What? Do you think she’s not safe there alone with the guy?” Dan started to doubt whether he should have stayed back, but he had thought that since the man was only trying to make some money, he wasn’t dangerous.

“Oh, she’s safe. The question is will he be safe,” Lucifer smirked and headed towards the hotel. He was a bit curious what Maze was doing with the guy. And also he needed to talk to her about their appointment later in the evening. 

--------

Lucifer landed onto the balcony with Maze in his arms. As soon as he had made his wings disappear, they stepped inside the house and found themselves in an office.

Cain was sitting at the desk, looking up from the paper he was writing when they stepped inside.

“Good, you’re here,” he said instead of a greeting.

“As I promised,” Lucifer pointed out, not wanting anyone to doubt that he was a Devil of his word.

“I’ll just finish with this and then we can begin,” Cain turned his attention back to the paper he was writing.

Lucifer and Maze looked around the room. The demon’s gaze soon landed on the kitchen knife on the desk. “What’s that for?” she started to reach for it, but Cain stopped her. “Don’t touch it. Unless you want your fingerprints on it.”

“Why do you need this one? I brought my demon blade,” Maze said, sounding a little disappointed.

“Unless you plan to leave your blade here, we need another weapon to make it believable,” Pierce explained, setting the paper he was writing and the pen aside.

“So what’s the plan? Maze stabs you, then we also plunge that kitchen knife into you and leave you here to bleed out?” Lucifer asked, head tilted a little.

“Yes, something like that. I also wrote a suicide note,” he gestured towards the paper on the desk. “If you can keep your hands off of things that you don’t need to touch and leave through the balcony like you came, then it should look like suicide even for the LAPD.”

Lucifer made an approving hum and Cain decided that it should be enough for instructions. Lucifer should know pretty well how it worked.

“Alright, let’s do it then,” Cain said, shifting the letter on his desk a little, so it would be more noticeable. Then he took the knife from the desk and stood a few paces away from it. “Do your best,” he said to Maze with a faint smile on his lips.

The demon stepped closer to Cain with a gleeful glint in her eyes and stabbed him swiftly in the gut. After she yanked her blade out of Cain’s body, Maze held him up until Cain took the last strength he had and stabbed himself again with the kitchen knife. As soon as Maze let go of him, the first murderer fell to the ground.

Lucifer and Maze looked at the man on the floor, his eyes staring lifelessly at the ceiling.

“Do you think he managed to get the knife deep enough?” Lucifer wondered. He knew that if Miss Lopez would examine the scene she would definitely notice if the wound was deeper than the length of the blade inside the man.

Maze pushed the knife further inside Cain with her boot until the hilt was touching his stomach. “Now it’s enough.” 

“Should we wait to see if it worked?” Lucifer wondered. He was quite sure it should work but you never knew with those curses.

“Whatever,” Maze shrugged.

“Let’s wait a little. Just don’t touch anything,” he reminded the demon. The only question was, what to do while they were waiting. Lucifer’s eyes landed then on the note Cain had written and he started to read it, careful not to move it.

“No wonder he wanted to die, that sounds absolutely awful,” he muttered. Maze didn’t react and kept cleaning her blade with a cloth she had taken with her for that purpose.

Lucifer had finished reading and looked around the room. There was nothing more for him to do from that side of the room. He could not step into the puddle of blood that was growing bigger next to Cain, so going to the other side of the room was out of the question. 

“Right, I think it has been enough time, if he’d wake up again, he would have done it by now.” Lucifer decided that they had waited enough. Cain had woken up much earlier when Lucifer had stabbed him in the penthouse. Lucifer took his pocket square in hand and reached for the handle of the balcony door when he and Maze heard a loud gasp behind them.

“Bollocks,” Lucifer sighed. He had really hoped the demon blade would work.

“Fuck, it didn’t work,” Cain cursed, sitting up and holding a hand to his stomach. “Get me some towels,” he ordered grumpily. “The bathroom is that way,” he nodded with his head in the right direction and Lucifer decided to go and get them. Even though he didn’t need to worry about forensic scientists anymore, Lucifer stepped carefully around the puddle of blood. There was no reason to ruin his Louboutins.

 

Holding a towel to his gut wound, Cain tried to get up from the floor. Lucifer helped him to sit in a nearby chair and sat in the other chair himself.

“I guess we need to think of another way to kill me then,” Cain said through gasps of pain.

“But you said that you already tried everything, what more could we try,” Lucifer was confused. As far as he knew the demon blades had been the last resort.

“Well, you’re the Devil, don’t you know something else we could try?” Cain had already gotten his hopes up and didn’t want to quit so easily. 

Lucifer frowned at him. “If the demon blade didn’t work, I don’t know what will. I don’t have any more celestial or infernal weapons here.”

Cain just groaned at that. The wound hurt like a bitch.

“And maybe you just need to learn how to enjoy life. I mean, I have been alive much longer than you, but I have no wish to die. You should come to Lux, I can show you how to have a good time,” Lucifer suggested with a grin.

“I’ve tried all of it, I’m sick of it. I just want it to end,” Cain gritted out.

“Lucifer, how long are we going to sit here and listen to him whine? Unless he wants me to stab him again, I got better things to do,” Maze intervened, clearly getting impatient.

Lucifer patted Cain on the shoulder “sorry, Piercy, got to go now.” Lucifer stood up from the chair and added, “but my offer still stands if you want to learn to have some real fun. See you!” With that both the Devil and the demon walked out of the door.

Cain stared at the direction the Devil and demon had went for a while. He figured that Lucifer might still have some tricks up his sleeve if he only bothered to put his thoughts into it. “I guess I just have to make the Devil want me to die, then,” he mused. Then a faint smile crossed his lips. “Luckily I know his biggest weakness.”

 

Chapter 32: Playing Games

Notes:

This time it took me a bit longer to update, but I've been travelling a bit (without my laptop this time), so I couldn't spend as much time writing (and some of that free time I did have when I was home, I spent watching Washington Black). I'm afraid the next one might also take some time, because I won't have too much free time this week also.

“I can hear you thinking, Detective,” Lucifer said after he had looked at his partner for several minutes. He knew what that little frown meant.

“Sorry, it’s just…,” she trailed off. “Do you think that this Sinnerman is real?” Chloe finally voiced the thought that had conquered her mind.

“I’m not sure. I have never heard of him. And neither has Maze.” Lucifer had asked her about it after Burt had said the name during their little confrontation.

“I’m just afraid that there might be more dead bodies because of that missing package of cocaine,” Chloe admitted. Burt had confessed that he had killed both Jana and Raj since he was desperate to get the cocaine back. According to him, it was not so much about money, but the fact that the crime boss the delivery was for would not tolerate stealing from him.

“So what do you suggest?” Lucifer knew that his partner usually had a plan in these kinds of situations.

“I think we should talk to the new stewardess who was on the plane. Maybe she knows something and we could find the package,” Chloe suggested.

“Alright, let’s talk to her,” Lucifer agreed.

 

Cheryl was currently away from town, so they set up a video call with the woman. Even though she hadn’t known Jana and Raj that long, she was rather shaken about their violent deaths. The woman had only nice things to say about her fellow flight attendants, but when it came to their client, Andy Kleinburg, she was not so positive.Cheryl described the man as a creep who had bragged about all women wanting him and being great in bed. He had also invited Cheryl over to his mansion, but she had declined. There was nothing appealing about this man in her opinion. 

When they asked if she had seen someone behaving suspiciously or trying to hide something on the plane, Cheryl recalled that she had seen Andy doing something suspicious where the flight attendants kept their bags. She hadn’t seen exactly whose bag it was that Andy had peeked into, all of them were next to each other and when Andy had noticed that Cheryl saw him, he had given some lame excuse about searching for something he had dropped. Cheryl had looked into her own bag and checked that nothing was missing, but she had forgotten to tell about the incident to the other flight attendants.

 

After talking to Cheryl, both Chloe and Lucifer agreed that the most likely suspect for taking the package of cocaine was Andy Kleinburg. Chloe started to search for his contact information when Pierce approached their desk.

“Morning,” he greeted them. “What’s the status of this double homicide you’re investigating?” Pierce asked.

“Well, we caught the killer,” Chloe began.

There was a hint of hesitation in her voice, so Pierce decided to ask about it. “Why do I sense a ‘but’?”

Lucifer opened his mouth to make a pun about it, but Chloe glared at him, already anticipating the word ‘but’ triggering some kind of joke and she didn’t think it would be appropriate for work.

“The motive was a stolen package of cocaine, but neither of the victims had it. It’s still missing,” Chloe explained.

“And you want to find it?” Pierce asked, sounding slightly amused.

“We think that the man who had ordered the flight, Andy Kleinburg, took it,” Chloe told the Lieutenant, to show that they already had a lead.

Pierce furrowed his brow. “Last I checked you two solve homicides not thefts.”

“I know, sir, but I think it’s important that we make sure no one else would be killed over it.”

The Lieutenant sighed. “Alright, bring the man in for interrogation then.”

“Thank you, sir,” Chloe smiled.

Pierce just nodded slightly and went back to his office.

“Let’s pay him another visit then,” Chloe said with renewed vigour and quickly wrote down the address before heading towards the exit, Lucifer on her heels.  

 

Unfortunately the man wasn’t home and also calling him didn’t give them any results since he didn’t pick up. Chloe left a voicemail, asking him to call her back. There was nothing else for them to do than return to the precinct.

Chloe started with the paperwork for Burt’s arrest, but the longer her phone stayed silent, the more worried she became.

After a few hours, when she had finished with the report and Kleinburg still hadn’t called, Chloe decided to ask Ella to track the number. Her gut was telling her that something was not right. Tracking gave them the same address he lived in. 

“But we already went there and he didn’t answer.” Even Lucifer was confused.

“Maybe he was away from home and has now returned,” Chloe suggested.  

Even though the thought of sitting through the traffic once again didn’t really appeal to either of them, they still decided to go and give it another try. Unfortunately knocking on the door didn’t give them a better result the second time around.

“I don’t like this,” Chloe muttered and called Ella to see if she could track him down again.

“He’s still at the same address,” Ella replied.

Chloe tried calling the man again. “Lucifer, can you hear his phone ringing?” Chloe asked her partner while listening to the sound of ringing on the other end.

Lucifer concentrated a bit and then nodded, “the phone is definitely here.”

“I don’t think he left his phone at home,” Chloe said, now certain that it meant trouble. 

“Should we check?” Lucifer asked.

Chloe knew very well that locks were not a problem for Lucifer. It was better than breaking down the door, so she agreed and they entered the mansion. Chloe called out that they were the police, but the house was silent. After a quick look around the house it was clear that Andy Kleinburg was not at home.

Back at the precinct Chloe decided to put a BOLO out for the man, although she had a suspicion that they wouldn’t be able to interrogate him anymore when he’d be found. Her gut told her that the man had not just accidentally left home without his phone.

 

It was close to the end of the workday when Pierce stopped by her desk and asked if she had finished the paperwork for the case.

“Sir, I still haven’t been able to question Kleinburg,” she answered apologetically. Most of the paperwork was done, but she wasn’t able to really finish the case until all the puzzle pieces were in their place.

“Why not?” the Lieutenant asked, clearly not pleased with the answer.

“The man is missing. I put a BOLO out, but he has not been found yet,” Chloe explained.

“So that drug thief is now preventing you from closing the case,” Pierce concluded in a displeased tone.

“I think it’s not entirely done until we determine who took the drugs that were the motive for killing two people. There might be more bodies,” Chloe implied not wanting to outright tell him that she’s afraid that Kleinburg won’t turn up alive.

“Let’s speak in my office, Decker,” the Lieutenant said and started walking towards the said office himself.

Lucifer, who was sitting in his chair on the opposite side of her, looked at Chloe, slightly surprised about the request. Chloe tried to smile reassuringly and rose from the desk.

 

When she entered the office, Pierce was already sitting at his desk. He waited until Chloe had closed the door before starting to speak.

“I’ll give you two days. If that thief does not turn out, you need to finish the case without talking to him.” His voice was firm, making it clear that it was an order, not a request.

“Yes, sir,” Chloe complied, not sure why he couldn’t have said this by her desk.

Her expression must have revealed that she was not entirely pleased with it, because the Lieutenant elaborated, “the murderer of the victims in the case is in custody, so he could not have killed anyone else. There’s no point in holding the case over for it.”

Chloe couldn’t really argue with that, so she answered again, “yes, sir,” this time sounding a bit more accepting.

“Is this all?” she asked after a beat of silence. Usually Pierce told her that she’s free to leave whenever he had finished talking to her in his office. This time it seemed that he did not want her to leave yet.

“Actually there was something else I wanted to talk to you about,” he started.

“Okay,” Chloe replied, wondering what it could be, because Pierce looked slightly less sure of himself than he usually did.

“There’s this banquet on Friday evening to celebrate the anniversary of the LAPD. I’ve been invited,” he started.

Chloe didn’t really understand where he was going with that, so she just stayed quiet and waited for him to go on.

“The invite is for a plus one also. I don't have a girlfriend, but since I don’t really know so many people in LAPD yet, I was thinking that I should bring someone with me, so I would have someone familiar there. A detective from this precinct maybe,” Pierce explained. 

It seemed as if he was waiting for her to say something, so Chloe decided to comment on that. “I think it sounds reasonable.”

“I was, uhm, thinking about my best detective.” Pierce looked pointedly at Chloe, but she didn’t want to really assume anything although Pierce had called her that in the hospital after getting shot. 

Seeing that Chloe didn’t react to his words, Pierce sighed and decided to spell it out. “I’m asking you to come with me.” The Lieutenant was slightly flustered, which was something new, because the man was always so calm and collected.

“Well, I’d be honoured, sir. I’d have to check with my babysitter though,” Chloe smiled at him.  When her answer caused a slight smile to tug up the corner of his mouth, Chloe found it rather adorable.

“Let me know then,” Pierce told her, still looking much softer than usual.

“I will,” Chloe promised before she left the room.

 

“What did he say to you?” Lucifer asked as soon as Chloe reached her desk. 

“You didn’t listen?” Chloe asked instead of answering him. She knew that his celestial hearing would have allowed him to hear their conversation.

“Detective Hernandez stopped by and started to chat with me, so I couldn’t concentrate properly,” Lucifer explained, fidgeting with his cufflink.

“Oh,” Chloe smiled at Lucifer’s explanation. “Well, the Lieutenant said that we have to close the case in two days, whether we find Kleinburg by then or not.”

“That’s it? Why didn’t he say that here?” Lucifer was baffled. He had been afraid that there would be some kind of trouble for them.

“Well, he also invited me to this banquet on Friday that’s held to celebrate the anniversary of LAPD,” Chloe admitted.   

“Why would he invite you?” Lucifer looked confused.

“He said he wanted to take his best detective with him,” Chloe said a bit defensively. Lucifer’s expression left her feeling a little like she would not be good enough for this kind event.

“That I can agree on.” After a pause he asked, “what did you say?” 

“I told him that I need to check with my babysitter, but if Olga is available I will go.” Chloe was sure that it would be good for her career in the long run, if she’d be familiar with some higher ranking members of LAPD.

“Are you sure you want to go?” Lucifer started inquiring. “I mean, those are usually rather boring events. And Pierce seems kind of dull himself.”

“Yes, I want to go,” Chloe told him in a firm tone.

Lucifer could understand that she didn’t want to discuss it further, but he still felt uneasy about it. For some reason it just didn’t feel right. He wondered if the Detective would still want to go if she knew who their Lieutenant really was. Too bad he had promised not to tell anyone about Cain’s true identity.

 

Lucifer tried to not think about it, but failed miserably The next day he decided to talk to Pierce. He waited until the Detective was out of sight and went to Pierce’s office.

“Lucifer. What do you need?” the Lieutenant asked in the same dreary voice he used with everyone.

“Listen, I know we had a deal, but I think the Detective deserves to know who you really are,” Lucifer decided to get to the point right away.

“Like you said yourself, we made a deal. All she needs to know is that I’m Lieutenant Marcus Pierce, the rest is not relevant.” Pierce looked at Lucifer with stone cold eyes.

“Well it is relevant if you take her to parties,” Lucifer snapped, irritated that the caveman didn’t share the idea that the Detective is not just anyone and should know about him being Cain.

“This event on Friday is work related, so I say it changes nothing.” Seeing that Lucifer was not happy with his reply, Pierce added, “and if you don’t want to see me try again if she can make me mortal, I’d suggest you honour our deal. Now, if that’s all, I have a lot of work to do,” he said smugly.

Lucifer gritted his teeth, but left the office. Unfortunately Chloe’s bathroom break had been quicker than he had hoped and she saw him coming out of the Lieutenant’s office.

“What were you doing there?” she asked as soon as Lucifer reached her desk, suspicion evident in her voice.

“Nothing important,” Lucifer tried to brush her off, plastering a smile on his face that did not reach his eyes.

“Was it about the event tomorrow?” Chloe narrowed her eyes.

“Not exactly,” Lucifer tried to wriggle himself out of it, but the Detective knew him too well.

“Why are you so against it? Do you really think that I’m not good enough for it?” Chloe couldn’t really mask the hurt that the latter thought caused her.

“No, of course not.” Lucifer’s earnest look cleared that thought off the table at least, but she still couldn’t figure out what was going on with her partner.

“Then what is it? Are you jealous that he asked me and not you?” Chloe came up with another explanation for his behaviour.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the Devil scoffed. When he saw that Chloe was looking at him expectantly, he decided to try another route. “I just think that there are much better ways to spend your Friday evening.”

“Such as?” Chloe crossed her arms on her chest, knowing that Lucifer’s idea of good time did not always match hers.

“Well,” Lucifer had to stop to think for a moment. He knew very well how he would prefer to spend a Friday night, but he also knew that Chloe probably would not share his preferences, so he tried to think quickly about something she would like. “I’m sure the Urchin would like to spend tomorrow night with you instead. Playing some games or watching those cartoons together,” he suggested.

“And since when do you think that playing board games with my child is a better way to spend a Friday night than going to a party?” Chloe wondered. Usually Lucifer would suggest the exact opposite.

“Well, sometimes I like to spend a quiet evening too,” Lucifer told her and then an idea striked. “In fact, why don’t I come over and join in.”

“Hold on, are you telling me that you want to play board games with Trixie now?” Chloe could hardly believe her ears.

“Yes, indeed,” Lucifer adjusted the lapels of his jacket. “Don’t look so shocked, I have a domestic side too,” Lucifer said, sounding almost affronted.

Chloe looked at him in disbelief for a moment and then reached a decision. “Well, if you really insist, then I guess I should cancel my babysitter for Friday.”

“Excellent,” Lucifer beamed. “Should I bring pizza?” he then asked.

“Yeah, I guess you could,” Chloe agreed.

--------

Lucifer knocked on Chloe’s door exactly at the time she had told him to come. Trixie was the one who opened the door and greeted him happily. “You brought pizza,” she exclaimed after she noticed the boxes in his hand.

“Hello, child! Yes, we agreed with your mother that I should bring the food,” Lucifer told her, stepping inside the apartment.

“Where is she, by the way?” Lucifer asked, looking around the apartment.

“She’s upstairs, getting ready,” the girl informed him.

Lucifer set the pizzas on the breakfast bar and was about to go and sit down on the couch when he heard footsteps on the stairs. He looked in the direction and his jaw nearly dropped. Chloe was walking down the stairs wearing a dark pantsuit with an ivory coloured pocket square tucked in the breast pocket and high heels. 

Lucifer was too stunned to say anything. Chloe noticed that he was standing there. “Hi, Lucifer!” she greeted him, trying not to sound nervous.

“You look pretty, mommy,” Trixie said as soon as she had taken in her outfit.

“Detctive! You look absolutely stunning. Should I have dressed up for the evening?” Hearing the Urchin’s comment had made him find his tongue again, but Lucifer was still baffled by her outfit.

Chloe snorted. The man who was wearing a three piece suit that costs probably more than the rent for her apartment for half a year was worried that he was underdressed. “No, Lucifer. If anything, you are overdressed, but you always are.” Chloe did not know another man who would dress like that for a game night.

“Don’t get me wrong, Detective, I love your outfit, but you on the other hand usually wear much more domestic clothes,” Lucifer couldn’t help his curiosity. “So why are you dressed up tonight?”

“Because I need to look good for the banquette,” Chloe replied, trying not to show that she was nervous about Lucifer’s reaction.

“What?” Lucifer had not expected that. “But you said that we’d stay here playing games tonight.” Confusion and disappointment were both evident on his face.

Chloe turned to Trixie and asked her to go to her room for a while. After Trixie had shut the door to her room, Chloe turned back to Lucifer and told him, ”I said nothing about staying home tonight. You said that you wanted to play games with Trixie, so I thought I’d grant you some time with my kid while I go to the work event I was invited to.” 

“You know bloody well that I meant playing games with you and the kid even when I didn’t specify it,” Lucifer spat. This was not what he had wanted. He had been so sure that his plan had worked and Chloe would not go to the event with Cain.

“Maybe,” Chloe agreed reluctantly, but then added in a more heated tone, “what I don’t know is why you are so against me going to the event that you tried to manipulate me to not go using my daughter to do it.” She looked at Lucifer expectantly, even though she didn’t really believe she’d get an explanation from him.

“I wasn’t …,” Lucifer tried to deny, but Chloe was not in the mood to listen to it.

“Oh, yeah? Then how come you never offered to spend Friday evening with us until the one time I had other plans?” Chloe looked rather feisty.

“Because you don’t really know the Lieutenant,” was all Lucifer could say about Pierce without breaking his word.

Chloe groaned in frustration. “For the last time, it’s just a work thing and it doesn’t matter what the man is like after hours, he’s my boss and he asked me to go with him because he wanted company and it could also be helpful for my career in the long run.” Lucifer looked as if he wanted to argue, so Chloe decided to add, “and you have no right to decide with whom I spend my time with, since you spend time with people whose last names you don’t even know almost every night.” She would probably have used another expression for ‘spending time’, but Chloe didn’t want to risk Trixie accidentally overhearing it.

Lucifer clenched his jaw, so he wouldn’t blurt out why it was totally different with the Lieutenant, but he didn’t want to risk the Detective getting hurt if Cain would indeed try again if he’d be able to break his curse in her vicinity. They were both silent for a moment.

“Are you seriously telling me you expect me to babysit the Urchin while you go out?” Lucifer then asked, deciding to address the other obvious flaw in her plan.

“You’ve done it before and it has worked out,” Chloe shrugged.

“But not willingly,” Lucifer pointed out. 

“So you lied to me when you told me that you wanted to play board games with Trixie?” Chloe asked him, not believing that Lucifer would actually lie.

“You know I don’t lie,” Lucifer said, clearly offended by the assumption.

“Good. You’ll stay here with her then?” Chloe raised her brow in question.

Lucifer didn’t answer right away. He was rather torn - he did not like to be manipulated into being a babysitter, but he also didn’t want Chloe to think that he lied to her.

“And if I don’t stay, what will happen then?” Lucifer asked after a moment of silence. There was a glimmer of hope that if he wouldn’t stay, Chloe could not go.

“Then I’d have to tell Olga that I need her tonight after all,” Chloe answered calmly. She was prepared for Lucifer not wanting to stay.

“Fine, I’ll stay and entertain your offspring,” Lucifer said at that. If she’d go either way, he could at least be at her place when she got back from this bloody banquette.

“Good,” Chloe said with a smile and Lucifer felt his irritation at the whole situation dissipating a little.

Chloe then went to Trixie’s room to say goodbye to the girl. Hearing the girl rejoice when Chloe assured her that Lucifer will be staying with her, made him smile a little.

When they both exited from the room Chloe’s phone pinged with an incoming text. She read it and then announced, “I got to go now. Bye Trixie, bye Lucifer!” Chloe took her purse and was about to leave when Lucifer decided to warn her, “I won’t put her to bed. She’ll stay up until you get back.”

Chloe just smiled at that and answered, “noted.”

After a moment Lucifer could hear a car stopping in front of the building. He went to the kitchen window and looked out. Pierce had apparently arrived in an Uber. When Chloe got in the car, Lucifer muttered, “he didn’t even open the door for her. Such a caveman.” Lucifer kept staring at the driveway even when the car had already left, lost in thought until he heard Trixie speak.

“Can we start to eat now?” The girl had already climbed onto a chair at the breakfast bar and opened one of the pizza boxes.

“Yes, of course child,” Lucifer answered. He turned away from the window and joined Trixie. They ate in silence for a while.

“Are you mad that you have to be with me tonight?” Trixie broke the silence with her tentative question. Lucifer was unusually quiet, so she assumed that the man was upset.

“It’s not that, just…. She tricked me,” Lucifer blurted out, still not comprehending how the Detective could have done such a thing.

“Yep,” Trixie agreed, popping the p. Chloe had explained a little to her, not wanting to see her disappointed in case Lucifer would have refused to stay. The rest of it she had gathered from their conversation that had not been that quiet, so she had heard it in her room.

“Why didn’t you want her to go to this party?” Tixie asked then, munching on a cheese string that kept stretching from the slice of pizza.

“It’s not about the party, but the man who went there with her,” the Devil admitted.

“Didn’t she go with your boss?” Trixie furrowed her brows.

“Yes, but he’s…,” Lucifer trailed off. He searched for a way to explain it to the child. “I don’t trust his intentions.”

“You think he wants to date mommy?” Trixie asked with the innocence only a child could have asking that kind of question.

Lucifer sighed. “I don’t know.” He was not sure what that cursed man was planning, but his gut told him that he was planning something.

Lucifer was about to sip from his flask that he thankfully had brought with him, when Trixie decided to ask another question.

“Do you want to date mommy?”

Lucifer froze, the flask midway to his mouth. The honest answer would be yes, he would like to date her again, but it didn’t matter, because they had agreed that it would be best to be just friends.

“I can’t,” he told the girl, not directly answering the question.

“Why not?” Trixie was curious.

Lucifer sighed again. “It’s complicated,” was the only explanation she could give to the girl.    

“Adults are weird,” she stated.

Before Trixie could ask more uncomfortable questions, Lucifer decided to distract her. “So what kind of game would you like to play tonight?” He had promised to entertain the child, so he would do it. He had no idea what kind of games the kid would want to play but he hoped it would be better than getting an earworm from some cartoon princesses again.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. Most games are more fun when there’s more people playing. Trixie thought a little while she finished the piece of pizza she was eating and then suggested, “I think we should play a card game.”

“Oh, what do you have in mind? Poker? Blackjack?” Lucifer asked, his interest piqued.

“I was thinking about Uno, but we could play those too if you teach me,” Trixie was eager to learn new games.

Lucifer suddenly realised that those games are played in the casino, a place where children were not allowed, so he was not sure that the Detective would like him teaching those games to her kid.

“I’m sorry, child, but I don’t think your mother would want me to teach you those games.”

“But she doesn’t have to know about it,” Trixie said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Lucifer smirked at her deviousness. He was about to agree when he had a thought that dampened his enthusiasm. “But I don't lie. If she asks me what we did tonight, I’d have to be able to say something.”

Trixie mulled it over for a while and then chirped, “okay, I’ll get the Uno then.”

 

Soon they were sitting at the coffee table and Trixie explained the rules for Uno. They had been playing for a few minutes when the girl announced, “okay, now let's put the cards down on the table.”

“Why?” Lucifer was confused. She hadn’t told him anything about setting their whole hand down at some point during the game.

“So you can teach me Poker,” Trixie said matter-of-factly.

“What made you change your mind?” Lucifer wondered. He had thought that the Urchin had dismissed the idea of learning the game when he had pointed out that her mother would probably not approve of her learning it.

“I didn’t change anything. I just wanted you to have the opportunity to say that we played Uno without lying,” she explained.

Lucifer’s brows shot up in surprise. That girl was really smart. He could now indeed say that they had played Uno if the Detective should ask. 

“I need to get the playing cards from my room,” Trixie said and got up. Lucifer reached for the Uno cards, intending to put them away, but the girl stopped him. “Let the Uno cards stay like that.”

“And why is that?” Lucifer was sure that she had a good reason for it.

“Because when mommy arrives we can hide the other cards and continue with the Uno game, dummy,” she smiled at him.

“You have really thought it through, haven’t you.” Lucifer was truly impressed. “Where did you learn to think like that? Not in your day prison, I assume.”

“Not in this school. My previous one and also the shelter I was before I came to live here,” Trixie explained. The kids in that private school were quite the masters of deception and she had indeed learned a thing or two from them. “Now, don’t touch anything, I’ll be right back.”

Lucifer raised his hands in surrender and leaned away from the table.

 

After a few minutes she was back in the living room, carrying a cardboard box in addition to the playing cards. When she set the box down Lucifer could read the word Monopoly on it.

“What’s that for?” he asked, quite sure that there must be a reason behind it too.

“Poker is a game you play for money, right?” When Lucifer nodded, Trixie continued, “I wanted to make it look more real, you know. But I don’t have that much money, so I thought we could use Monopoly money.”

“All right,” Lucifer agreed. Since she was only just learning the game it would be unfair to play for real money with her anyway.

Trixie handed him the cards and put the same amount of Monopoly money in front of them both. Lucifer started to explain the rules and wasn’t surprised at all when she seemed to grasp them rather quickly.

 

They had finished a few games when Trixie was able to win one. The girl got really excited about it and looked at the pile of money in front of her. “Wow, I’d be rich if it was real money.”

“Well, you would have to have almost half of it from the start since you’d have to place bets first to win that amount,” Lucifer explained, gathering the cards from the table in order to shuffle them.

“Yeah, I guess,” the girl sighed. “Still it would be cool to play for real money.”

Lucifer didn’t really disagree, but he knew that he was skilled enough to take all of her money. “Would you be prepared to lose it all too?”

“I don’t have really much right now,” Trixie admitted. She had no problem with receiving less pocket money from Chloe that she had gotten from the Carltons, but right now the amount she had would probably seem ridiculous to a rich man like Lucifer.

Lucifer shuffled the cards thinking it over. Playing for real money was always more exciting. Well, for him not so much, because he had more than he ever could spend, but for humans it usually was different if the stakes were more significant. Then he had an idea.

“Since I have much more than you do, it would be fair that my bets would be higher than yours. One to hundred, maybe?” He looked at the girl to see if she’d like that idea.

“You mean like I would bet 1 dollar and you’d bet 100?” Trixie asked to be sure.

“Mh-mm,” Lucifer confirmed.

“I’ll go get my wallet,” she jumped up and ran to her room. Lucifer smirked. He wouldn’t mind losing a few rounds to her. 

--------

Chloe found the event surprisingly less boring than she had feared. They had mostly talked with members of the LAPD brass and now were enjoying some snacks standing at a high table.

Since they were not in active conversation right now, Chloe’s mind began to drift towards her child and the ‘babysitter’. She wondered how they were doing and how upset Lucifer was with her. Chloe knew very well that she had tricked her partner and couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty about it, although she felt that he had deserved it for trying to meddle with her life. And she had given him an option to say ‘no’ (she had told Olga that she might still need her), so technically he had chosen to spend the evening with her daughter. Still, she was feeling a little worried and checked her phone to make sure that neither of them had called and she just hadn’t heard.

“Is everything alright?” Pierce suddenly asked.

“Yes, yes, I was just checking, to make sure I had no missed calls," Chloe explained, smiling a bit nervously.

“Worried about your kid?” the Lieutenant continued.

“Sort of,” Chloe was not sure she wanted to explain it.

“She is not used to being left with someone who is not you?” It seemed that Pierce was in the mood to keep the conversation going.

“It’s not that,” Chloe told him, for some reason not liking the idea of making Trixie look clingy, “she’s not with her usual babysitter tonight, so you know… he might have some questions or something.” 

“You have a male babysitter?” Pierce looked surprised.

“Uhm… Lucifer agreed to stay with her tonight,” Chloe admitted. 

“Huh… I thought I saw his Corvette parked by your apartment building,” the Lieutenant mused.

Chloe didn’t really want to elaborate and just nodded before taking a bite of her canape.

But Pierce apparently seemed interested in the topic. “You two seem closer than other partners,” he noted.

“Yes, we are friends. Even before he became my partner, we were friends.”

“Just friends?” the man kept prodding.

“Why do you ask?” Chloe got suddenly a bit defensive.

“He just seems to be really protective over you and sometimes he looks at you like you’re more than a friend,” Pierce explained his question, making it sound like it was not a big deal. “Besides, he doesn’t seem like a guy who’d offer to babysit, so there has to be a good reason for it.” Pierce attempted to joke a little.

“We did date a while ago,” Chloe decided to tell him, “but now we are just friends.” She suddenly realised that she had said that multiple times already.

“Why did you break up?” Pierce asked her immediately.

Chloe was not sure she should discuss that with her boss, so she hesitated. Pierce noticed and started to explain the question. “I don’t mean to pry on your personal life. I just think it would be good to know what kind of dynamic the teams have in my department. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Chloe sighed. It wasn't really a secret and if he was really interested, she could give him the general picture. “He had to leave L.A. about three years ago and thought he would not be able to come back and then when he got back I had started dating someone else.”

“But you’re single now?” Pierce wanted to clarify.

“Yeah… Dan and I broke up a while ago.”

“Dan? You dated Espinoza?” Now Pierce looked really surprised. Chloe was not really sure why. She just nodded as an answer to him.

“Huh,” was the only thing Pierce said further about it. “But you didn’t get back together with Lucifer?” the Lieutenant kept questioning her.

“It’s…complicated.” Chloe gave him the standard answer. 

“How so?” Unfortunately Pierce didn’t drop the subject. Chloe was not sure if it was the champagne she had drank or if she was a bit flattered that the Lieutenant was showing interest in her personal life, but she decided to elaborate.

“I found something out that concerned me and him while Lucifer was away and… it complicated things,” Chloe said, toying with the glass in front of her. She believed it was vague enough that it wouldn't make the Lieutenant think she’s crazy.

The man looked at her, frowning a little, but didn’t ask further and for a while neither of them spoke.

“So what about you? Did you leave someone behind in Chicago?” Chloe asked to break the silence that felt a bit awkward and to not be the only one sharing information about them.

“No, I didn’t,” Pierce answered without much emotion. “I haven’t had someone in my life for a long time,” he added, this time with a twinge of sadness.

Before Chloe could figure out something else to ask him, a man was approaching their table, wanting to greet Pierce.

--------

“Here’s your fifty and I raise another fifty,” Lucifer said, placing a 50 dollar banknote on the table. Trixie was about to respond with her bet (in cents), but Lucifer suddenly stopped her.

“Hold on, I think your mother is coming home,” he said. Lucifer had been so absorbed in the game that he hadn’t heard the car that had brought her home, but he would always recognise her footsteps.

“I don’t hear anything,” the girl frowned.

“Well, I have celestial hearing and I’m telling you she’ll be here soon,” Lucifer told Trixie.

“Okay, let’s put the game away then.” Trixie pushed all the money that had been in front of her into the Monopoly box that was sitting there beside the table and Lucifer collected the cards. He then looked at the pile of coins that he had won from Trixie.

“Urchin, I think you should take those too,” Lucifer pushed the coins towards Trixie.

“But it’s yours. You won it,” the girl was confused.

“I know, but I don’t carry coins in my pockets. The Detective would surely become suspicious if I’d be walking around jingling like a bloody reindeer at Christmas.”

Trixie giggled and didn’t argue anymore. She could now also hear approaching footsteps from the hallway. So she pushed Lucifer’s coins also to the Monopoly box and closed the lid. 

“Pick up the Uno cards and let’s continue the game we left there,” the girl nodded towards the cards that were laying face down on the table. 

Lucifer obeyed. They had each managed to play one card when Chloe opened the door and walked inside.

“Hi!” she greeted them cheerfully.

Trixie dropped the cards that were in her hand and rushed to her mother. “Hi mom!” she said before wrapping Chloe in a hug. 

“So, how was your evening?” Chloe asked, hugging her back. 

“We had fun,” Trixie said.

“That’s great, but now it’s time to get ready to go to bed, sweetie.”

“Okay,” the girl sighed and let go of her mother to head to the bathroom.

Lucifer stood up from his seat and walked towards the door. “I guess I’m free to go then,” he said to Chloe with a tight smile.

“Yes, of course,” Chloe told him with a much more genuine smile. “And thank you for staying with her,” she said, putting her hand on his arm. Even though she had set him up for trying to intervene with her personal life, she was feeling a little guilty about it and wanted him to know that she really appreciated that he had agreed to stay after all.

“You’re welcome,” Lucifer answered. Seeing the gratitude in her eyes made him feel uncomfortable. She had trusted him but he had done something that he knew she would not approve of. Lucifer wondered whether Chloe would feel any gratitude towards him if she knew that he had taught the girl how to play poker. “Sorry, I need to go now,” he excused himself and hurried out of the door.

Chloe frowned at that. It was rather odd for him to run away like that.

 

Later when she had finished reading a bedtime story for Trixie she asked if everything had gone alright.

“Mh-mm,” the girl nodded. 

“And did Lucifer also seem alright?” she specified. Chloe realised that it was possible that Trixie had fun, but Lucifer did not really enjoy himself.

“Yes. Although he was a bit upset about you going to that party at first,” she admitted after thinking about it a little.

Chloe sighed. She didn’t really understand why Lucifer made such a big deal about it. “I don’t know why he was so upset. It was just a work thing.”

“Do you sometimes go on dates too?” Trixie asked, looking innocent like only a child could.

“I haven’t been on a date for a while now. And I’m not really interested either. I mean, I have you and my work, so I don’t have much free time anyway.”

“I wouldn’t mind if you went on a date, you know,” Trixie then said, surprising Chloe. The girl had started to suspect that Lucifer couldn’t date her mother because of her, so she wanted to make it clear that she wouldn’t mind it.

“Is that so?” Chloe smirked and ruffled her hair a bit. “Well, it’s good to know, but I really wouldn’t want to meet with random guys from some dating app.”

“You could always date someone you know,” Trixie suggested.

“Why are you trying to get me to date now?” Chloe asked with a chuckle.

“I’m not. I just wanted to say that you can if you want to,” the girl shrugged.

“Good to know, but now it’s really time for you to go to sleep. It’s pretty late already,” Chloe said, looking at the clock.  

Notes:

A lot of you assumed after the last chapter that the missing package contained poison, but in this story it was really just drugs and there will be no doctor Carlisle. I hope you're not too disappointed about that.

Chapter 33: The Sinnerman

Notes:

I used again a case form the original series in this chapter (I believe many of you can guess which one). I hope it won't be too boring.

The following week Chloe and Lucifer got a case where a body had been found under the pier.

“The victim has been in the water for several days. It doesn’t look like drowning, though. He has a bruise in the back of his head and some marks on his forearms that indicate he was bound before death. And as you can see, both of his hands are cut off,” Ella explained to them as soon as they arrived at the scene.

“Do we have an ID?” Chloe asked.

“No documents on him,” Ella shook her head. “And of course we can’t use his fingerprints to identify him since there are no fingers.”

Chloe frowned. “Were the hands cut off after his death?” She wondered if it was done to hide the victim’s identity.

“Nope,” Ella answered, “the poor guy was still alive when he lost his hands.”

Lucifer looked at the body and something in his clothing seemed familiar. He focused at the face more intently and suddenly it hit him. “Detective, isn’t this Andy Kleinburg?”

Chloe then looked closer at the victim's face and despite it being pale and a bit bloated from being in the water, she now saw that it was indeed the man they had been looking for.

“I think you’re right,” Chloe answered. 

She had closed the case of Jana and Raj since the deadline Pierce had given her had passed. Chloe had feared that they wouldn't be able to talk to Kleinburg at all and her gut feeling had been right again.

 

As they were driving back to the precinct, Chloe voiced her thoughts. “Do you think Andy Kleinburg was killed because of the drugs too?”

“You think that the Sinnerman or whoever ordered the drug shipment found out that Andy took one of the packages and killed him for it,” Lucifer clarified.

“Yes, I think that is exactly what happened,” Chloe nodded.

“A rather severe punishment for stealing,” the Devil noted. He wouldn’t let anyone steal from him too, but this seemed a bit too extreme.

 

As soon as they got confirmation on the victim’s identity from dental records Chloe and Lucifer went to speak to his neighbours and people who were working in his mansion. Unfortunately no solid leads came from any of it. The only thing one of the neighbours could say was that she had seen a black SUV in his driveway. After some thinking the woman said that it had been on the same day Chloe and Lucifer had come back to Kleinburg’s house wanting to talk to him. Unfortunately she didn’t look at the number plate or notice anything else that could help identify the vehicle, so that didn’t really help in finding the perp.

 

By the end of the next day they were no closer to finding Kleinburg’s killer and Chloe felt helpless. Lucifer could see that she was frustrated. “Are you alright, Detective?” he asked, looking at her gloomy expression when they entered the elevator.

“I can’t help thinking that if we had gone to him sooner, maybe he’d still be alive,” Chloe admitted.

“Detective, you can’t blame yourself for not wanting to interrogate him sooner,” Lucifer told her. He did not like the thought of her feeling guilty over something like that. 

Chloe didn’t say anything to that and they stepped out of the building in silence. 

“Do you want me to go and have a word with Kleinburg?” Lucifer offered, breaking the silence.

Chloe mulled it over. She had told him that it was not a good way to solve murders since they still need a chain of evidence that leads to the killer and can be presented in court, but she was rather desperate for a lead. “Maybe it would not be such a bad idea,” she said finally.

“Alright, I’ll pop down there tonight,” Lucifer promised, pleased that he could do something to help.

 

He had no trouble finding Kleinburg’s Hell loop once Lucifer was in Hell. Unfortunately when he stepped inside the loop he didn’t find himself in the middle of the events that had led to the man's early demise. Instead Lucifer found a much younger Andy who had cheated on his girlfriend once he had earned his first million and women started to flock around him while he spent it. Lucifer waited until the loop was finished and when it started again with the same woman and a younger version of their victim, he decided that a talk with Andy would be more useful.

When he stopped the loop and sent the demon who played the poor girl away, Kleinburg was confused.

“Hello, Andy,” Lucifer greeted him in a syrupy voice.

“He-hello,” the man answered, a bit startled. “Who are you?”

“Lucifer Morningstar, the Devil,” he introduced himself.

“Wait, you are one of the detectives who asked about Jana,” Kleinburg suddenly remembered.

“A civilian consultant, to be exact,” Lucifer corrected him.

“I told you already what I know,” the man said, clearly not pleased about Lucifer’s presence.

“No you didn’t really but the truth already cost you your life, I’m afraid,” the Devil stated, making Andy’s eyes widen in confusion.

“What?”

“You died and ended up in Hell. Me and the Detective are trying to find your killer and since your Hell loop is not helpful, I need you to tell me who killed you,” Lucifer told the man a little impatiently.

Andy looked at him and slowly the confusion started to fade and memories of his last days started to come back to him. “I don’t know. I had never seen them before,” the man finally admitted.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” Lucifer urged him, hoping that he would remember something useful.

“A man came to my house and told me that the Sinnerman wants his package back. I told him that I don’t have a package, but then he pointed a gun at me and told me that they know I took the cocaine. So I went to my safe and gave him the cocaine, hoping that he’d leave me alone after that. But he hit me and when I woke up I was tied to a chair in some big room and they ….,” Andy looked at his hands before he continued, “they cut off my hands. Who does that?” With the last sentence Kleinburg looked at Lucifer with a bewildered expression.

“Apparently the Sinnerman does,” Lucifer shrugged.

“Did they say anything to you?” he then asked, hoping that whoever had killed the man had spilled something useful in front of a man that they were about to kill.

“They said,” Kleinburg furrowed his brows in thought, “that no one steals from the Sinnerman and I need to be taught a lesson. And then they just cut off my hands and left me there,” the man was getting more agitated by telling that. “I just bled. I screamed for help but no one came.” It seemed that the memory was now hitting him with full force.

“Can you tell me anything about the room where you were held?” Lucifer asked, channelling his inner Detective.

“It was big and dark,” Andy shrugged, seemingly not caring much about the room.

“Anything a bit more helpful?” Lucifer tried to get some more information.

“I didn’t really look, man, I was in a fucking agony.” The soul was clearly upset now.

Lucifer sighed and tried a different angle. “What can you tell me about the man who came to your house?” 

“He was tall and wore a hoody and a baseball cap.”

“What about his hair colour? Eyes? Any tattoos or scars?” Lucifer urged the man to remember something more useful.

“I didn’t see any scars or tattoos. And I didn’t look in his eyes,” Andy huffed. “I think his hair was brown. Like I said, he was wearing a baseball cap, so I didn’t see much.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes, this was not really helpful information. “You said that they cut off your hands. How many men were there when you woke up?”

“Two,” Kleinburg answered easily. “The one who was in my house and a black guy.”

“So the one who kidnapped you was not black?” 

“No, he was white,” the man said. “Or maybe a bit hispanic or something. Or maybe he was just tanned,” he started to doubt.

Lucifer groaned in frustration.

“Do you feel any guilt over taking the drugs?” he tried one last straw. If he’d feel some guilt Lucifer might try to change his Hell loop to bring them into the right moment. 

“Why should I?” Andy got defensive. “Look I made some bad investments and I needed the money. They fucking killed me over it. Tortured me. They should feel guilty, not me,” he raised his voice.

Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered, “bloody useless.”

The man looked like a petulant child and Lucifer had enough. There was no point in talking to him longer.

“Since you are so utterly unhelpful I’ll let you get back to your Hell loop,” he said and waved his hand. Immediately the Hell loop started again and Lucifer stepped into the hallway.

--------

The next day Lucifer walked to the precinct, feeling like he had failed the Detective. Again. First with babysitting, now with helping to find the killer. To make matters worse, she was looking at him expectantly, hoping to get something to help them on.

“So, did you manage to visit him?” Chloe asked in a half whisper as soon as she had greeted him.

“I did,” Lucifer answered quietly. “But I’m afraid he couldn’t really give me anything useful. I’m sorry, Detective.”

“Oh,” Chloe’s face fell, but she tried to hide it. “It’s okay. At least you tried.”

“I only got confirmation that Kleinburg was the one who stole the cocaine and this Sinnerman had him killed because of it. They cut off his hands and let him bleed out. Unfortunately Andy couldn’t give me any useful information about the guys who did it,” Lucifer explained.

“You couldn’t see them yourself?” Chloe asked, remembering how he had talked about seeing the killer of poor Doris.

“No, because that maggot didn’t feel guilty about that part. His Hell loop was about some girl he had dumped for stupid reasons.”

Chloe let out a breath. “I guess we have to try and find some clues on our own then.”  

 

Unfortunately it was not that easy. The next morning Chloe was examining the photos from the crime scene once again when Pierce came to Chloe’s desk to ask about their progress on the case and Chloe had to admit that they had nothing. Lucifer had his weekly therapy appointment that morning, so Chloe had to face the Lieutenant alone.

The expression on Pierce’s face didn’t change much after Chloe’s admission of not having anything on Kleinburg’s murder. So Chloe was rather surprised when Pierce told her to follow him to his office.

The man himself quickly turned around and started walking, so Chloe did not have much time to process why he’d want to talk to her in private.

After she closed the door of the Lieutenant’s office Chloe just stood near the door, waiting for him to say what he wanted to say.

Pierce was already sitting at his desk and for some reason didn’t start talking right away. Instead he took out an envelope from his drawer.

“I wanted to ask you something, Chloe,” he said, looking finally at her.

“I’m listening,” Chloe told him, not being able to guess what exactly he wanted to talk about.

“You see, I got these concert tickets. They were a gift, I didn’t buy them. I thought I should go maybe, but I think it would be better if I take someone with me.” Pierce paused, but seeing that Chloe was still looking at him expectantly, he decided to voice the question he had so clumsily tried to ask. “Since I had a good time last Friday with you I wondered if you would go to the concert with me?”

“What concert is it?” Chloe asked, trying to hide a smile. Pierce, who was usually so confident and didn’t show much emotion, had been quite adorable, all flustered and a bit nervous when he talked about the tickets.

“Oh, it’s Axara’s concert,” Pierce answered her.

“And when is it?” was Chloe’s next question. She wasn't a big fan of Axara, but she thought the singer had some decent songs.

“On Saturday, at 8 PM,” Pierce informed her.

“I need to ask my babysitter, but if she’s available, I’d like to go with you,” Chloe said with a smile. Pierce smiled back at her, a sight you didn’t see that often. “Great! Let me know.”

“I will,” Chloe promised and walked out of the office to call Olga. 

Even though the short notice her neighbour was available and Chloe informed Pierce that she’d be able to go. Pierce hadn’t really specified it, but this one felt like a date to Chloe and she felt a bit giddy about it. The Lieutenant was a handsome man and Chloe did not mind spending time with him after hours, not at all.

 

By the time Lucifer got to work Chloe had again dug into the information they already got, hoping to find any clue that would help to identify the man who had kidnapped Kleinburg from his home. To make matters more difficult, her mind kept wandering to Lieutenant Pierce and the concert invitation. She decided not to tell Lucifer about the invitation since he had tried to dissuade her from going with Pierce even to a work event, so he’d probably do something stupid if he found out about them going to a concert.

--------

On Monday they got a new case. Since they hadn’t had any success with Kleinburg’s it was now put on the shelf.

The crime scene was in an apartment which didn’t look too fancy. The victim was a young man. There were two clearly visible gun wounds in the chest and his legs were in an unnatural position.

Before Chloe could even ask Ella anything, Lucifer gasped in disbelief, “not again.”

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asked. Usually Lucifer was rather cool-headed at crime scenes. 

“I know the victim. Again,” he was clearly getting frustrated about it.

“Was he also one of your …,” Chloe asked cautiously, not even wanting to finish the thought out loud.

“No,” Lucifer understood what she meant. “This is Joey Pileggi. I did him a favour,” Lucifer clarified.

Chloe took him to the side, out of earshot from the other policemen in the apartment.

“Tell me what you know about him,” she insisted.

“He came to me a few months ago and asked for a favour and I granted that to him,” Lucifer said, not revealing too much.

“You are doing that again?” Chloe was a bit surprised.

“Well, yes. Not as much as I used to do, but after word got out that I’m back in town, people started seeking me out again. Now that I’m working with you, I have less time for it, but I haven’t stopped completely.”

“Okay. So what kind of favour did you do for him?” Chloe hoped that maybe it would help them solve the murder more quickly. She was still feeling bad about not being able to solve Andy Kleinburg’s murder.

Lucifer hesitated for a moment, but then started to tell. “His desire was to become a new Godfather, a Scarface to millennials.”

“You introduced him to the mob?” Chloe asked, baffled.

“I may have gotten him an internship,” Lucifer admitted. “It was before I started working for the LAPD,” he added.

Chloe just rolled her eyes and went back to the body. 

Ella told them that the cause of death were the two gunshots to the chest and the reason why his legs were looking unnatural was because both of them were broken. The weird part was that the killer had broken his legs postmortem. 

“That seems like a message,” Chloe suggested.

“Could this be a message for me?” Lucifer asked, slightly horrified by the idea.

“Why would it be?” Chloe was a bit confused.

“It may be a commentary on the job I got for him. As a runner for the mob,” Lucifer clarified.

 

On the way back to the precinct Lucifer was quiet and seemed to be deep in thought. Chloe didn’t disturb him, but when they were back at her desk and he still didn’t say anything, she asked.

“What’s on your mind, Lucifer?”

“I’m wondering about the message,” he said. “There is one thing I found out about the Sinnerman last week when I asked around, hoping to get some useful intel about him.” Chloe knew that Lucifer had reached out to his connections to get information about the Sinnerman and his possible associates, but he said that he had found out nothing useful.

“What was it?” Chloe asked.

“That he also grants favours,” Lucifer said in a grave tone.

“And you think that killing Joey was what… a warning for you not to do that anymore?” Chloe frowned.

“I don’t know,” Lucifer blurted out. “But the more I think about it, the more likely it seems that this has something to do with that Sinnerman also.”

“I’m not so sure,” Chloe shook her head. “He still feels like a myth to me,” Chloe admitted. She had been working for the LAPD for several years now and before that guy Burt mentioned him, she had never even heard of a criminal with that name.

“Anyway, let’s go and see what Ella has for us,” Chloe stood up from the desk and started to walk towards the conference room where Ella had laid out the evidence. It didn’t really matter if this was connected to the Sinnerman or not, she was determined to solve this case.

Before Lucifer managed to take a step, his phone started to ring. He took it out and looked at the caller ID. It was an unknown caller, so he decided not to answer. He was not in the mood for people he didn’t know.

 

They settled in the conference room and Ella started to fill them in on what she had discovered. First she told them about the expensive shoes Joey had been wearing. That was a surprise since usually runners didn’t get that much money.

Before Ella could tell them more about her findings, the door to the conference room opened and they got another surprise - Charlotte Richards walked into the room and greeted everyone like she belonged there.

The other three people in the room all looked surprised. Ella had never met the woman in person, but she had heard enough about her.

“Charlotte, what are you doing here?” Lucifer was the first to get over his surprise and ask the question everyone was thinking about.

“Isn’t it a bit early for a lawyer, we haven’t got a suspect yet,” Chloe couldn’t help but remark even before Charlotte could answer Lucifer.

The woman smiled sweetly and explained, “actually I quit my old job.”

“Good for you!” Lucifer commented. “Had enough of life as a corrupt defense lawyer, have you?. That’ll help to keep your ledger clear.”

Charlotte’s smile took a bit of a forced look, but she continued with her explanation. “Today is my first day in the district attorney’s office… as a prosecutor. I’m on your side now.” When everyone was silent, she added, “surprise.”

“Okay,” Chloe finally said, sounding a little sceptical. “Let’s get back to the case. Ella what else did you find?”

“Right,” the Latina collected herself, “in addition to expensive shoes the victim had a real Rolex,” Ella showed them an evidence bag with a watch in it, “and I also found ten grand stashed under his bed.”

Chloe frowned. She was not all too familiar with how mob families worked, but it didn’t seem right. “Runners don’t usually make that kind of money, maybe he was skimming off the top,” she suggested.

“Mafia bosses do not like that kind of thing, people get executed for things like that. I know how these kind of guys work, I have represented them for years,” Charlotte added.

Chloe turned to Lucifer. “Who did you introduce Joey to?”

“Frankie the Knife,” Lucifer answered and added, “sweet chap.” That earned him a look from Chloe.

 

They left the conference room soon after and Lucifer couldn’t help his curiosity. “So tell me Charlotte, how did you come up with the idea of a career change?”

“Well, I couldn’t keep doing what I had before the attack if I wanted… you know.” Charlotte didn’t want to say out loud that she wanted to avoid Hell since there were too many people around.

“You could have chosen different clients,” Lucifer mused.

“I tried, but Richards and Wheeler is too expensive for people who have a clear conscience,” she sighed. “And I’m not really into environmental law or something like that, so district attorney seemed the best choice.” With the last sentence she glanced briefly in the direction of Dan’s desk. The man was sitting there, trying to look like he was not paying attention to them.

Lucifer didn’t miss the glance. “I guess you had someone suggest it,” he smirked.

“I might have,” Charlotte shrugged with a smirk of her own.

To be fair, Lucifer was quite impressed how the little trip to Hell had made the stone cold lawyer turn into a much more pleasant human being. And it appeared that Daniel of all people had helped her do it.

“Okay, I spoke to Frankie, he’ll be here soon,” Chloe informed them. While Lucifer had been talking to Charlotte, she had called the man from the mob.

“Would it be okay if I joined you in the interrogation room?” Charlotte asked. “I know them and maybe we could use it to our benefit.”

Chloe looked at Lucifer and when she didn’t see any objection in his expression, she agreed.

 

Soon Frankie was sitting in the interrogation room and all three of them entered the room to question him. At first Frankie denied knowing Lucifer or Joey, but Lucifer changed that with his mojo. To everyone’s surprise Frankie wanted to find who killed Joey and have revenge. Apparently the young man had been loved by everyone in the family and all the expensive stuff had been given to him as gifts. Frankie even offered to help find the murderer.

Chloe didn’t really doubt that Frankie had not killed Joey (or ordered anyone else to do it), but she still needed to check his alibi. Just as she had confirmed that it was a solid one, they were informed of another body that had been killed with the same MO as Joey.

 

This time the victim was in a high end hair salon. The body of a woman was hanging from the ceiling and as was the case with Joey, the woman had been shot to the chest two times. And again Lucifer recognised the victim.

“Bloody Hell,” he cursed as soon as his eyes landed on the victim’s face. “This is Frieda Marquez. I did her a favour too. This isn’t just a murder, it’s another message for me,” he exclaimed, voice filled with anger.

“It does seem like a message. The noose was made of her own hair, but hanging wasn’t what killed her,” Ella said, pointing at the visible gun shot wounds on her chest. “She was shot dead and the killer must have arranged her afterwards, just like with Joey.”

“And what was the favour you did for her?” Chloe asked, believing that there really was a connection.

“Frieda wanted to become a hairstylist to the stars, so I made a few choice introductions, that’s all,” he answered. 

“And how long ago was that?” Chloe continued with the questions. She doubted that having a high end salon like that would be possible in a few short months.

“Years ago,” Lucifer told her, “before I had to leave.”

Well, that made much more sense to her. But at the same time it meant that not only his recent favours were in the killer’s interest, but every single person who had ever received a favour from him could be in danger.

“I’m really worried what this all could mean,” she voiced her concern.

“I wish I knew,” Lucifer said bitterly, “they didn’t deserve that.”

 

Back in the precinct they practically ran into Lieutenant Pierce. He was about to go into his office when they arrived, looking rather somber.

“I understand you managed to land another double homicide,” he told them after greeting them.

“Yes, it seems that it might have been the same killer in both cases,” Chloe said.

“And do you have a motive?” Pierce asked.

Chloe looked at Lucifer and decided to tell Pierce about their theory. “I know it might sound like a myth, but we think that it was the Sinnerman who’s behind it and both of them were a message to Lucifer.” Chloe had been a bit afraid that Pierce would dismiss their theory, but instead he told them something they hadn’t known before.

“Sinnerman is not a myth and he is very dangerous. His organisation has been wreaking havoc in the Midwest for years. I ran into him in Chicago. I couldn’t get my hands on him.” He then went silent for a moment and then continued, “the thing is this does not seem like the Sinnerman. He kills for power and influence. Taunting a nightclub owner seems petty, small.”

“And yet, he’s doing it,” Lucifer added with sarcasm. He wanted to add that he didn’t really care what his usual MO was, he only cared about punishing him, but Chloe spoke before he could say anything else.

“Regardless, I think we should treat it just like any other case - follow the evidence until it leads us to the truth,” Chloe suggested, not wanting to add to the discussion of Sinnerman’s MO, since neither she or Lucifer really knew the guy.

Pierce agreed with Chloe and turned to leave. Chloe and Lucifer had been standing in the middle of the precinct to talk to Pierce. Chloe started to walk towards her desk and Lucifer was about to follow her when he was interrupted by his phone. Lucifer took it out of the pocket and frowned, seeing that once again it was from an unknown number. He declined the call, not wanting to deal with a possible salesman when he had much more important things to think about. Unfortunately he was distracted by it and didn’t notice officer Cacuzza walking towards him. The woman was holding a coffee cup and looking sideways, to say something to another officer when she bumped into Lucifer. As a result her coffee sloshed over and Lucifer now had a big brown stain on his blue shirt on top of it all. As if he hadn’t already had a rather horrible day.

Cacuzza started to apologise, but Lucifer just brushed her off. There was nothing she could have done to save his shirt anyway.

Lucifer walked quickly to Chloe. “I’m sorry Detective, I need to go home and change,” he gestured at his chest in case Chloe didn’t realise why he needed to change.

Chloe had seen their little collision, so she was not surprised by it. Any normal man would have probably just gone to the bathroom and tried to get the stain off with cold water as much as possible, but Chloe knew her partner well enough to know that Lucifer would never sit around with a stained shirt. 

“Okay, but try to make it quick,” she told him.

“I will,” Lucifer said and rushed towards the exit.

--------

As soon as Lucifer was in the elevator at Lux he took out his phone and dialled Maze’s number. It was time to set a bounty hunter on the Sinnerman’s tail.

By the time Lucifer reached the penthouse he had all the most important details listed to her and had also assured that she’ll get paid at her usual rate. He stepped into the penthouse and finished the call even before he reached the bar. With a sigh he put the phone on the bar and started to unbutton the shirt he was wearing. He was opening the second button when his phone rang. Thinking it was Mazikeen who wanted to clarify something, he grabbed the phone and started talking, putting it between his ear and shoulder so he’d have free hands to continue unbuttoning his shirt.

“What is it, Maze?” he asked without even looking at the caller ID.

“I’ve never been called that before,” a male voice answered instead. A voice he had never heard before.

Lucifer furrowed his brows and took the phone in his hand. “Who is this?”

“Someone you’ve been looking for,” the man answered, sounding rather smug. Lucifer didn’t quite understand who this was at first, but before he could ask any further questions the stranger went on, “how did you like the messages I left for you?”

Now it was clear who was calling him. “Sinnerman,” Lucifer said into the phone.

“Aren’t you a smart Devil,” the man praised him mockingly.

“What do you want?” Lucifer asked, not pleased about the tone of the conversation.

“I want to meet,” the man answered.

“When and where?” Lucifer asked immediately. He would happily meet the murderer and let him feel what the Devil thought about killers.

 

As soon as Lucifer had changed his soiled shirt he went back to his car and started driving to the address the Sinnerman had given him. It was a good thing he wanted to meet right away because he would not have had the patience to wait around for it. The punishment was long overdue. He heard his phone ring in his pocket when he was almost at the address the Sinnerman wanted to meet at, but he ignored it, not wanting to get distracted. There'd be enough time to call back after he had dealt with this maggot.

When he reached his destination Lucifer didn’t bother with opening the padlock of the chain that held the gates together, he just tore the chain off, itching to get to the crime boss.

The location was an abandoned industrial building. Lucifer walked inside and started to call for the Sinnerman. After a few minutes he heard the same voice that had spoken on the phone call for him. Lucifer entered the room where the voice had come from, but didn’t see anyone. Walking further into the space he saw an old TV set in the corner. That confused him, but before he could voice it, he heard the steel door of the room close.

At first Lucifer laughed at that, saying out loud that the Devil was not so easily detained. Unfortunately when he reached the door it was clear that opening it from the inside was not that easy, because there was no lock on the inside. Also the door didn’t even dent under his force when he punched it.

“Luckily I have some tricks of my own - double enforced steel,” the now familiar voice sounded through the space.

Lucifer looked behind him and saw that the TV set was now showing an image of a black  man with hideous clothes who was wearing sunglasses.

“Too much of a coward to face me yourself?” Lucifer asked, walking towards the TV set. The man just sat there with a smirk on his face that Lucifer really wanted to wipe from his face.

“I have you just where I wanted,” he finally said when Lucifer was standing right in front of the TV.

“Why don’t you take off those glasses and let me find out what you truly want,” Lucifer said, trying to sound as pleasant as possible even though he would have liked to smash that TV.

“I’ll save you the trouble - I like strawberries, women with red hair and long walks on the beach,” the man kept taunting Lucifer. Then turning a bit more serious he added, “I know all your tricks, Devil.”

Lucifer was angry and confused. He had never heard of the man before the idiot who had killed Jana and Raj started blabbering about him, how come the Sinnerman knew so much about him? 

“Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?” he blurted out, not trying to conceal his anger anymore.

“Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough,” the man replied.

“And why did you target Joey and Frieda?” Lucifer asked another question that had been bothering him for a while.

“Well, I needed a bait to lure you in my trap,” the Sinnerman grinned. “And it worked,” he continued.

“I’ll give you my word that one day I’m going to find out what it is that you really desire and then I’m going to use it to destroy you,” Lucifer said in a steely tone.

“We’ll see,” the man said with a smile, not concerned about the Devil’s threat even one bit. “But now I need to run some errands. Enjoy your stay!” he said cheerfully and the screen went black.

Lucifer let out a roar and punched the nearby wall in anger. He was furious that this maggot had managed to trap him. Lucifer went to the door and tried to get in open once more, but it was fruitless. It seemed that there was a latch outside that held the door closed. Of course the place also had no signal, so he could not call anyone to come and help him. So he was left alone with his thoughts and questions this hort interaction with the Sinnerman had brought. Who was this man and why had he targeted Lucifer? How had he gotten all his information about him? Since most humans didn't really believe him when he said that he was the Devil, it had to be someone who knew. Maybe one of his siblings? Could it be that this is another attempt to force him back to Hell?

 

Lucifer was not sure how long he had been in that damned room when he heard footsteps. At first he thought that the Sinnerman had returned, but then he realised that it sounded more like women’s shoes with high heels. He also realised that he knew the sound of these footsteps. 

“Maze! Is that you?” he started shouting.

The footsteps came closer and to his relief he heard his demon’s voice. “Lucifer? What are you doing in there?” she sounded confused.

“I’m trapped. Can you get me out?” he shouted back.

He didn’t hear a reply, but he did hear some movement outside and soon enough the door opened. “Finally! Thank you, Maze. How did you find me?” Lucifer asked as soon as he was out of the room.

“I was driving by and noticed your car in front, so I came here to see what you’re up to,” she shrugged. “Who trapped you?” she asked with a smirk.

“The Sinnerman,” Lucifer replied bitterly.

“The same you sent me after?” Maze was a bit surprised.

“Exaclty. But now I need to go, I’ve wasted enough time here already,” Lucifer started to rush towards the exit.

“Wait, does that mean I don’t need to look for him anymore?” Maze called behind him.

“For now, yes. I’ll let you know when I need you again,” Lucifer shouted back and stormed out. He figured the search for him would be more efficient if he’d manage to get a photo to give to her or at least a portrait from a sketch artist.

“Like I have nothing else to do than wait for your assignments,” Maze huffed. "Well, I guess I should go home now," she said to herself then and started to walk towards the exit.

--------

About an hour after Lucifer had left Ella came to Chloe’s desk and asked her to join her in the lab. She told Chloe that Frieda had been a fighter - she had managed to scratch her killer. Ella had analysed the fingernail scrapings and found blood and skin cells, so they had now the Sinnerman’s DNA. It turned out that it matched a hair that was found in Joey’s apartment. Also she had contacted some colleagues and found out that the DNA matches a blood spatter found in an old Sinnerman case in Chicago.

Chloe thanked her friend for the information and went back to her desk. She tried to call Lucifer and ask how long it would take for him to get back to the precinct, but he didn’t answer. She hoped that it meant he was driving back already (although most of the times he answered his phone even when driving although Chloe had told him multiple times that he shouldn’t use his phone while driving when he didn’t have hands free).

She sat down at her desk and started to search for some information that would help them get closer to Sinnerman. She already had an idea how they could use Frankie to get to him.

“How’s it going with the case, Decker?” Lieutenant Pierce had come to her desk.

“Ah, good, I guess. We got his DNA and I have a plan to get Frankie to help us get to the Sinnerman,” Chloe explained.

Pierce looked around. “Where’s Lucifer?”

“Uhm, he had to go away for a bit, but I’m sure he’ll be back soon,” Chloe said. 

“Do you need me to go with you?” the Lieutenant offered.

“No, I’m good,” Chloe declined. Ever since the concert they attended together she’s been feeling a bit awkward around Pierce, not really knowing where they stand now and being alone with him would only make it worse. Her eyes then landed on Charlotte who was still in the precinct and was currently talking to Dan. “Actually I think it would be good if I take Charlotte with me. She seems to be familiar with the Ferrante family.”

“Okay,” Pierce said and walked away.

Chloe went to Charlotte and told her about her plan. The other woman was thrilled that Chloe wanted her to help. With an encouraging smile from Dan towards Charlotte the two women left the precinct.

 

They drove to a restaurant that was known as the centre of operation for the Ferrante family. Chloe talked Charlotte through her plan on the way. They told Frankie that their main suspect was a crime boss called the Sinnerman. Frankie denied having ever heard about him, but Chloe didn’t believe him. Charlotte tried everything she could to get some information out of the man, but his answer stayed the same. Chloe had to actually calm Charlotte down a bit and they left.

The former lawyer felt that she had failed Chloe, but the Detective assured her that she was certain that Frankie would reach out to someone. Chloe told Charlotte that she was planning to stay there and keep an eye on the restaurant. Charlotte unfortunately couldn’t stay since she had other obligations that evening. Chloe looked at the clock and realised that she didn’t have that much time either until Trixie would be home from her soccer practice (good thing that one of her teammates lived nearby and her mother was kind enough to pick up both of the girls after the practice). She called Maze to ask if she would be home around 6.30. Thankfully her new supervisor from the adoption agency had asked what time they’d be home on weekdays and stated that she wouldn’t be visiting later that 6 PM, so it wouldn’t be a problem to let her girl be home alone with Maze if the demon was there. 

“I dunno, maybe. I’ve got some shit to do right now” was the answer she got from the demon.

“Sorry, Maze, but I need to know if I’ll have to ask Olga for help or not,” Chloe was not satisfied with it.

“Fine. I’ll be home,” Maze relented, figuring that Lucifer wouldn’t mind if she stopped the search for a bit in favour of Chloe and her kid.

“Thank you, Maze!” Chloe said before her roommate disconnected the call. Chloe was not surprised, the demon had never been much into smalltalk. 

Chloe tried to call Lucifer again, but his phone was still switched off. She was starting to worry about him and thought about calling Maze again to ask if she’d heard of him, but decided against it. Chloe was about to put her phone away when it suddenly rang, her first thought was that Lucifer was calling her back, but to her surprise the caller ID showed that it was the Lieutenant.

“Are you still on the Sinnerman case?” Pierce asked when Chloe had answered the call.

“Yes. We spoke to Frankie and now I need to keep an eye on the restaurant in case he has reached out to someone,” Chloe explained.

“It’s a good thing I brought food then,” Pierce said and when Chloe looked around, puzzled, she saw the Lieutenant on a motorcycle nearby, holding a take out bag in his hand.

Chloe couldn’t help but smile. She had no idea how long she'd have to be at the stakeout and she was starting to get a little peckish already.

 

They had finished the food that Pierce brought and were now sitting in Chloe’s car, waiting to see if there would be some movement that could lead them closer to the Sinnerman. The silence felt a bit awkward. 

“Have I done something wrong?” Pierce suddenly asked.

“No,” Chloe answered quickly.

“Really? Because it feels like you’re uncomfortable around me,” the Lieutenant stated.

“I’m not,” Chloe denied. Well, she tried not to be, but apparently wasn’t succeeding. But she wasn’t ready to approach the topic of their maybe date just yet, so she thought of another topic that had made her curious. “I was just wondering why you’ve been so adamant to join in on this case?”

Pierce sighed. “This case is a bit… personal. I didn’t just run into him in Chicago.” He paused for a moment and Chloe watched him intently, wondering if he’ll elaborate. “The Sinnerman killed my brother,” Pierce told her. 

“I’m so sorry,” Chloe said sympathetically.

“One of the reasons I came here was to get away from it all, but it seems that I can’t run from it, so I need to find him and make him pay for what he did,” Pierce said in a serious tone. 

“So what are you planning to do if we catch him?” she was now curious. Chloe had heard stories of police officers and detectives who made stupid decisions because of revenge.

Pierce shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I think you should do the right thing, it’s not worth ruining your career over him,” she offered advice.

“Maybe,” Pierce muttered and they fell silent again.

“Was this really all that was bothering you?” the Lieutenant asked after a couple of minutes of tense silence.

Chloe couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she finally admitted, looking down at her lap, “I was just wondering… about that concert the other day.” She paused and Pierce looked at her expectantly. “Was that a date?” Chloe blurted out and looked at Pierce.

“Did you want that to be a date?” Pierce answered with a question and Chloe felt that she had maybe understood it in the wrong way after all. He had kissed her goodbye (on the cheek) and held her hand when there was a big crowd, so they wouldn’t lose each other, but it could still be that she was reading too much into it.

“It did feel a bit like a date,” Chloe said silently, not really answering his question.

“Hmm… I guess I should do better then and take you out on another date,” Pierce told her with a light smirk. “To a restaurant this time, so we’d be able to talk.”

Chloe chuckled. “Yeah, it was pretty loud there.”

“Oh yes,” the man agreed. “So you’ll come with me on a second date?” Pierce asked to be sure.

“Yeah,” Chloe smiled with relief. “But after we have caught the Sinnerman,” she added. Chloe suspected she wouldn’t have time to go out if the case was not closed.

“Of course,” Pierce agreed.

Chloe then noticed some movement outside and focused her attention on that. There was a man going to the restaurant. 

“Look, someone is here,” Chloe urged Pierce to look too. “He doesn’t look like a mafia guy, maybe he’s an informant,” she mused looking at the black man in a bit of strange clothing.

Before Pierce could say anything, Chloe’s phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, she was relieved.

“Lucifer! Finally, I’ve been trying to reach you for ages. What happened to you?” Chloe answered her phone, demanding an explanation from her partner.

“Hello, Detective! Unfortunately I was trapped by the Sinnerman and there was no signal,” he told her.

“What?” Chloe couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.

“Yes, I’m fine. Where are you?” Lucifer was not sure what kind of errands that bloody Sinnerman was running, but he’d feel much better if he’d be by his partner’s side.

“We are on a stakeout by the restaurant that the Ferrante family owns,” Chloe told him. “But what kind of trap was it? Did you see him? Did you get to look him in the eye and talk to him?” Chloe continued to pour questions at him. She didn’t really want to spell it out in front of Pierce, but her last question was actually about Lucifer being able to use his mojo on the Sinnerman.

“I did see him, but only through a TV screen and the bastard was wearing sunglasses. I did see that he’s black, maybe early forties, oh and he dresses dreadfully. Can you believe he wears a sweater vest? I mean, from the way he dresses you’d guess he’s at least 80,” Lucifer scoffed.

Chloe listened to the description and her eyes widened in realisation. “It’s not an informant, it’s him,” she muttered as she understood that the description matched exactly with the man they had seen walking into the restaurant just minutes ago.

Pierce was looking at her in confusion, but before Chloe could explain, they heard gunshots from the restaurant.

Chloe let the phone drop from her hand and both she and Pierce exited the car as fast as possible, drawing their guns from the holster.

Lucifer had also heard the gunshots through the phone. Chloe hadn’t ended the call, so Lucifer yelled “Detective!” hoping to get some more information from her, but there was no response. “Bollocks!” he cursed and ended the call, stepping on the gas to get to the restaurant more quickly.

 

When Chloe and Pierce entered the restaurant they saw the Sinnerman standing in the middle of the room and pointing a gun towards Frankie. His other associates were already killed.

“Put away the gun. You’re under arrest!” Chloe called out.

The Sinnerman looked at their direction and ran to the back room. Chloe followed him. She tried to get him to surrender by telling him that the building was surrounded by police units, but the man was not deterred by it.

Finally the Sinnerman ran out of the back door. As soon as the man was out of the door, Pierce tackled him down. When Chloe exited the door she saw Pierce holding the Sinnerman at gunpoint.

“I know it’s tempting, but he’s not worth it, Pierce,” Chloe said from behind him.

The Sinnerman looked at Pierce as if he was prepared that the other man would end him. Pierce stood there for a few more moments, not moving a muscle. Finally he lowered the gun and told Chloe to cuff him. While Chloe was arresting the man, Pierce called it in.

 

Soon after the police untis and EMTs arrived Lucifer’s Corvette stopped in front of the restaurant. 

“Detective! Are you okay?” Lucifer rushed to her, relieved that she seemed to be unharmed.

“Yeah, I’m okay. We caught him,” she said with a smile.

“Where is he?” Lucifer asked, anger palpable in his voice. “I need to have a word with him.”

“He’s right there,” Chloe pointed in the direction of an EMT machine.

Lucifer looked at the direction and locked eyes with the man, who was not wearing sunglasses anymore.

He was about to start going in his direction when Pierce stopped him. “I think it would be best if we did the interrogation in the precinct,” he said, standing between Lucifer and the Sinnerman. Lucifer looked at the Detective, but she seemed to agree with Pierce, so Lucifer relented.  

“Fine,” he said tersely.

 

Lucifer reached the precinct sooner than the Detective. He had followed the car that transported the Sinnerman to the station closely, Chloe had left the crime scene a little later and hadn’t rushed through some red lights like Lucifer.

The Devil was not known for his patience, so when Chloe stepped into the precinct her partner rushed to her. “Finally! Let’s go and interrogate him now.”

“Hold on a moment, Lucifer. I need to use the bathroom first,” Chloe told him.

But Lucifer had had enough of waiting. As soon as Chloe had disappeared into the hallway that led to the bathrooms, he went to the interrogation room.

The Sinnerman was slumped on the chair, facing away from the one-way mirror.

“Hello, Sinnerman!” Lucifer said with as much venom in his voice as he could muster. “Remember, I told you I’d find out what you truly desire,” Lucifer stepped closer to the table, removed his jacket and draped it over the other chair’s backrest. “Now is the time,” he said, “so, look at me.”

The man didn’t move, but Lucifer suddenly noticed that one of his hands was hanging limply next to him and dripping with blood. While he stared at it, the Sinnerman finally turned his head.

The sight made Lucifer gape in horror - the man had dark holes filled with blood instead of eyes. “Now you’ll never find out what I desire,” he said in a weak voice.

 

Chapter 34: Tell Her

Chloe stepped into her apartment, calling out “Hi! I’m home.” When at first no one answered, she called out again, “Trixie! Maze!” To her surprise they both emerged from Trixie’s room after that. 

“Hi mom!” her little girl said in her usual cheerful tone and came to hug her.

“I thought you’d be gone longer,” Maze commented.

“I would have, but plans changed a little,” Chloe admitted, trying not to think about the reason she was home earlier than she had assumed. She didn’t succeed entirely, because the demon looked at her and asked, “what happened?” The brief expression of unease told her that it must have been something good.

“Uhm… the bad guy needed to go to the hospital, so we couldn’t question him,” Chloe tried to give a child friendly explanation.

Maze wanted to ask more details, but Chloe decided to change the topic. “So what were you two up to?” she asked, looking at her daughter.

“We played with the birthday gift Maze gave me,” the girl announced with a smile.

“Oh,” Chloe was a little surprised, “that’s nice.” Chloe couldn’t really picture Maze having a tea party with Trixie, but it was good that they were doing something age appropriate for a change. “And have you done your homework?” she added.

“No,” Trixie dragged out, looking a little apprehensive.

“You should go and start doing it then. I’ll start with dinner.”

Trixie let out a sigh that sounded like all the weight of the world was on her shoulders and headed to her room.

Maze looked at the retreating girl and as soon as she had closed the door, the demon turned her attention to Chloe, “okay, spill. Who sent your perp to the hospital?” 

Chloe glanced at the direction of her daughter’s room for a moment and seeing that the door was closed, she decided to tell Maze.

“The guy did it to himself. He poked his eyes out,” Chloe answered in a lowered voice, not wanting to risk Trixie hearing about it.

“Hm.. that’s kind of impressive. Did he scream while doing it?” Maze was clearly interested in all the details.

“No. He was in the interrogation room and no one suspected a thing until we saw him like that.”

Maze hummed appreciatively. “Why did he do it anyway?”

“It seems that he did it to avoid Lucifer drawing out his desire. He was the one who first found him like that. I went into the room a little bit later and I could see that even Lucifer was rather horrified by the sight.” Chloe remembered vividly the look on Lucifer’s face when she had stepped into that interrogation room.

“And he thinks that the man did all this to avoid him using his powers?” Maze didn’t seem to believe that anyone would ever do something like that to escape Lucifer’s mojo.

“Lucifer said that the Sinnerman had taunted him about not getting to know what his desires are, so I think it is possible,” Chloe figured. She really wished they would have let Lucifer mojo the man right there on the crime scene.

Maze furrowed her brows and was about to ask something else when Trixie appeared at the door of her room. Chloe noticed her first and asked, “already done with homework?”

“No, I need your help,” the girl said.

“Okay, let me put the water to boil and then I’ll come to you,” Chloe offered. She had only managed to take the pasta out of the cabinet while telling Maze about the Sinnerman.

“Okay,” Trixie shrugged and went back to her room.

Chloe took a pot and set the water on the stove. Then she turned to Maze, “please keep an eye on it.” 

Maze looked at her confusedly. “What?”

Chloe sighed. The demon didn’t really cook, so she decided to make it really simple for her. “Just call me when the water starts to boil, okay.”

When Maze still looked at her like she suddenly grew a second head, Chloe added, “you know, when the water starts bubbling.”

“You think I don’t know what boiling water looks like?” Maze asked incredulously.

Chloe just smiled and decided not to answer the question. “Please call me if I’m not back by the time then,” she said instead while she was heading to Trixie’s room.

The demon scoffed, but stayed in the kitchen.

--------

After dinner Maze went to Lux. She wanted to hear Lucifer’s version of the events that night. Like she had guessed, the Devil was in Lux, drinking. To the demon’s delight Lucifer was in a talkative mood and told her far more gory details than Decker had. As Maze had suspected, Lucifer was rather pissed that he won’t be able to use his mojo on the man now.

“How am I going to find out now how he knows all about me and why he targeted me? Why did he choose Joey and Frieda to hurt me?”

“Well, if he really wanted to hurt you, there are other things he could have done to you,” Maze mused, taking another gulp of her vodka.

Lucifer looked at her a little puzzled.

“I’m talking about your life in L.A. The club, your job,” she paused for a moment, “Chloe.”

“I won’t allow it,” Lucifer told her, the threat palpable in his voice. “I can assure you, the only threat the Sinnerman poses from now on is that ridiculous name. They’re bringing him in for questioning in the morning, so I get what I need to break him then.”

“He’s blind now, so you can’t mojo him,” Maze tilted her head, looking at him like he’d said something rather stupid.

Lucifer seemed suddenly quite confident. “I don’t need eyes to find out the Sinnerman’s desire, ergo his weakness. There are other ways to learn what someone wants.”

“What ways?” Maze had not seen him use other ways before.

“Just, ways,” Lucifer didn’t really want to elaborate. Before Maze had the chance to pry a little more, a woman in a short tight dress came to the booth and coaxed Lucifer to come to the dance floor. With a smile the Devil granted her wish. 

--------

Chloe had arrived in the precinct a little earlier than usual. She was in Ella’s lab when Pierce started to bark out orders in anticipation of the Sinnerman’s return. Among them was the rule that no one talks to him alone.

Pierce seemed to be calm and poised, but Chloe was wondering what was really going through his mind. Since this case was personal, she was quite sure that he was battling with some emotional turmoil. 

When the Sinnerman was brought in, he acted all smug and not at all worried about being arrested. Chloe was certain that the case was over, since they had more than enough evidence pointing at him.

 

The Sinnerman was now sitting in an interrogation room, Pierce and Chloe were both in the observation room, discussing who should go to talk to him. Chloe had assumed that it would be her and Lucifer, but for some reason Pierce thought that he would be the best person to talk to the man. Just as they were discussing it, Lucifer walked into the observation room.

“Sorry, I’m late. The traffic was even worse than usually. Ah, our blind perp is here, I see. Let’s go talk to him, Detective,” Lucifer gestured to the Detective.

“No, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I will go and talk to him,” Pierce stopped him.

“What? You are no way impartial in all this,” Lucifer argued.

They kept on arguing a bit more until they heard a voice through the intercom. Chloe had slipped out of the observation room and went to talk to the Sinnerman by herself. He was still acting all smug and Chloe didn’t really know how to feel about it.

Suddenly Ella walked into the room, holding a phone in an evidence bag in her hand. The Sinnerman suggested that she should pick it up. The phone stopped ringing before they managed to answer it, but there was a video message. To both their horror it showed a woman tied up in a reservoir that would fill with water soon.

“The only way to save that woman is to take me to her. I’m the only one who knows where she is,” the Sinnerman said with that same smug smile that had not left his face since he had been brought back to the precinct.

 

Looking into it they found an emergency call where a woman was shouting that she needed someone to help her, afraid that someone would kill her and then the line dropped with her scream. The owner of the phone was identified as Maggie Cole. 

Since the Sinnerman was already in custody when the woman was kidnapped, they were all convinced that he must have had an accomplice. Unfortunately Sinnerman’s phone tracking to find out where the message was sent led them nowhere and Maggie’s phone was switched off. 

The situation seemed rather hopeless, so Lucifer suggested that they should maybe take the Sinnerman to the woman, but Pierce was strongly against it. That left Chloe and Lucifer only the option of trying to find out more about the victim.

Looking at the photo of Maggie, Chloe noticed a badge that gave her a clue about where she used to spend her free time. Her hunch was correct and they found her teammates in the roller derby ring. Questioning them gave Chloe and Lucifer an idea where Maggie’s car could be parked. Unfortunately the car exploded as soon as Lucifer tried to open the door that was connected to a hand grenade underneath the car. Lucifer and Chloe managed to get away unharmed, but it meant that whatever clues they hoped to find from the car, were now destroyed.

 

When they returned to the precinct Chloe admitted that busting out the Sinnerma might now be their only hope. Lucifer was rather surprised by her change of heart, but Choe explained that she decided to have her partner’s back at this. It seemed that Chloe had been thinking about it for some time because she already had a plan on how to get the perp out of the precinct. Their plan worked and they got the Sinnerman out of the precinct in a bomb squad uniform, but to their surprise Pierce had figured out what they were planning and was sitting in the front seat of the bomb squad car. Instead of telling them to return to the station, he drove them all to the place the Sinnerman told them they would find Maggie. 

 

The reservoir was not close to the road, so they had to walk the last part. Chloe held on to the Sinneman’s arm tightly during their walk, both guiding him and making sure he wouldn’t escape. Lucifer and Pierce walked a few steps behind. The Devil was curious why Pierce had suddenly changed his mind about taking the Sinnerman to the victim, so he asked the Lieutenant about it. Pierce claimed that it was the best way to find the missing girl and since it was clear that the Sinnerman wanted freedom, Pierce wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t escape during the rescue mission. It became clear that Pierce suspected that the whole thing was a trap.

 

A few meters later Chloe stopped, telling everyone to listen. A woman’s voice could be heard screaming nearby. Chloe and Pierce rushed towards the voice. When they got to the reservoir the woman was already almost under water. Chloe lifted her head out of the water while Pierce cut the ropes that were tied around her hands and the weights that kept her from getting up. Chloe was relieved that they managed to get to Maggie on time. Suddenly she realised that only her and Pierce were there, Lucifer and the Sinnerman were gone. Pierce concluded that he had been right about the trap and the Sinnerman had managed to escape after all. Chloe was worried about Lucifer since it seemed that they had taken him too. The fact that he was not picking up his phone was not helping.

 

They questioned Maggie, hoping to learn something about the accomplice. What they learned instead was that Maggie had abducted herself. She admitted that she had asked the Sinnerman for help to get the position of the lead jammer on her team and in return she was asked to fake the kidnapping and make that 911 call. The woman was afraid that if she had refused, the Sinnerman would have killed her.

Maggie’s confession made Chloe realise that there was no accomplice. She knew that Lucifer had wanted to be alone with the Sinnerman, so the logical explanation for their disappearance was that Lucifer was the one who had taken the Sinneman.

--------

Lucifer enjoyed the view from his property, it could be such a beautiful day, but unfortunately things were not going how he would have liked. He had managed to snatch the Sinnerman, but he refused to give him any answers about the reasons he had targeted Lucifer or who had given him all the information about his mojo and strength. Luckily he still had some aces up his sleeve. For example Hell’s best torturer. To his disappointment not even Maze was able to get the results he wanted.

“Are you sure he’s not a celestial?” Lucifer asked when Maze informed him that she had not been able to break the man’s will.

“Are you questioning my expertise?” the demon asked him fiercely. “He’s definitely human.”

Lucifer frowned at that. “And you tried waterboarding?” He started listing things he knew that usually worked.

“Twice,” was Maze’s curt reply.

“Bamboo under the nails?” Lucifer suggested another method of torture he was sure should have worked.

“Do I look like an amateur?” Maze sounded rather offended already.

“Nickelback on repeat?” Lucifer didn’t let go.

“That’s where I started,” the demon told him. 

Lucifer was getting really agitated already. “Well, what kind of demon can’t procure answers from one puny human?” He didn’t want to entertain the idea that the Sinnerman was too strong of an opponent.

“You wanna give it a try?” Maze asked, not liking what Lucifer was insinuating. “Be my guest.”

“Gladly,” Lucifer answered. He decided that maybe he should give it a try himself. Lucifer hadn’t tortured anyone in ages, but he was sure it would be like riding a bike. He reached out his hand for the knife Maze was holding, “hand it over.”

To his surprise Maze didn’t do it. “No. I’ve pushed that guy to his limit. Anything else might kill him. You and I both know -”

“Angels aren’t allowed to kill humans. Yes,” Lucifer finished the sentence with a sigh. There were not many cases where he found that angels should be able to kill humans, but the Sinnerman really deserved to die. Both for the lives he himself had already taken and for the chance he was working with one of his siblings (it would be the most obvious answer for where he got all the knowledge about the Devil). But the question was, did the Sinnerman also know this. “Or are they?” Lucifer suddenly said with a grin. If the Sinnerman would believe that he could kill him, maybe he’d spill his secrets to save his pathetic life.

Maze looked at him, alarmed. “Lucifer, don’t be an idiot. I’m a demon. Big fan of death and destruction. But killing a human is angel no-nos 101. Look at your brother. Total power loss and he only got murder adjacent.”

Lucifer knew that Maze was right, but he suspected that the Sinnerman was still listening despite looking worse for wear, so he decided to try to sell the idea of him possibly killing the miscreant for the demon too. “If I don’t stop him now once and for all we don’t know who he might take from me. As you can see, he managed to get out of the precinct without much trouble. I’m pretty sure a human prison won’t hold him even if he gets to one.” To be fair, he thought it would be a real possibility that this man could cause trouble even after they put him away. If the rumours about his organisation were true, his influence was big enough. And the thought of him taking something, or worse, someone from him as a payback for helping to put him away… well, let’s say he’d rather not think about it.

But Maze wanted nothing to do with it. She handed Lucifer the blade she was still holding. “Text me when you’ve done the deed,” she said and turned to leave. Lucifer looked at her with a bit of disappointment. He had hoped that the demon would stay with him. After a few steps, Maze turned around, “actually I’ll be able to tell by the plague of locusts.” 

Lucifer just huffed at her remark. 

--------

Chloe and Pierce were back in the precinct and tried to figure out where Lucifer had taken the Sinnerman. They had sent some unis to Lux just in case, but of course he was nowhere near Lux or the penthouse. Unfortunately Chloe knew that Lucifer owned many properties, even around Southern California. If he had used his wings he’d be able to go all over the world with his prisoner. Chloe hoped that he’d kept them on the ground and they only needed to search the places he owned in the area.

After pulling up the list of Lucifer’s properties in California her eyes landed on a place she had visited herself too. The Hills estate was a place with a stunning view. Chloe’s gut told her that this is exactly the place Lucifer would take a blind man. Especially after he had made a remark earlier that day how he couldn’t imagine living in L.A. and not being able to enjoy the sunset.

--------

Lucifer’s idea about making the Sinnerman afraid for his life hadn’t played out as well as he had hoped. The man was still weak from the torture Maze had inflicted. Lucifer talked about needing to kill him, but the reaction he got from this miscreant was rather scarce.

Lucifer even started to list the ways he could kill him, but even that didn’t make the Sinnerman more willing to give the information Lucifer was seeking.

“I think you’re just stalling,” the man suggested in a weak voice.

Lucifer couldn’t let it show that he wasn’t really about to kill the man. “Don’t be preposterous. I have waited for revenge and now I’m simply savouring the moment. I want you to feel your failure, the knowledge that long after you are gone, I shall continue to live here however and with whomever I choose.” Lucifer put every ounce of superiority in his speech that he could muster. Still, it didn’t seem to work.

“Or you don’t have what it takes to kill a man. Not many people do. Perhaps you’re a coward,” the Sinnerman said. It seemed that he was regaining his strength.

Hearing this irritated Lucifer. He could not let that blind barbarian talk to him this way.

“Oh, you just won the grand prize at the Painful Death Raffle. So, unless you want a bonus round for being a loudmouth, I suggest …,” Lucifer continued with the threat.

“Me? You’re the one doing all the talking,” the Sinnerman interrupted him.

“Actually, you know what? I’ll boil you alive. Top most painful way to die, according to Buzzfeed. Right. I’ll need a pot. A big one,” Lucifer tried again, hoping the man would get at least a little afraid. To emphasize his intention he started to rummage around the cupboards in the kitchen.

The Sinnerman had his own suggestions though. “How about drowning me with flood? Or strike me with lightning? What cheesy metaphor would you prefer? Apple? Tree? A chip off the old block? Like father, like son?”

That hit a nerve and Lucifer grabbed the knife he had put down on the counter before he rushed to the Sinnerman. “Enough!” he yelled and held the knife to the man’s throat.

“Pull the string, puppet master,” he whispered, still looking rather smug.

Holding the knife that close to his throat Lucifer realised that for some reason it didn’t have the effect on the Sinnerman that he had hoped and he was tired of pretending.

“No. I do abide by that one rule. I won’t kill a human,” Lucifer admitted as he was letting go of the Sinnerman. Lucifer was expecting another mocking comment from the man, but instead he was met with a totally different reaction.

“No. No, wait. You have to do it,” the man started pleading.

Lucifer looked at him, puzzled and then it hit him. “Hold on. I wondered why you, the evil genius, hadn't sprung a more clever trap.”

“It has to be you,” the Sinnerman insisted.

“I was the trap,” Lucifer realised. “You never wanted freedom. Your true desire was to die and for some reason you need me to do it.” No wonder his threats to kill him hadn’t gotten him any results.

“Yes,” the Sinnerman admitted, “you supposedly believe in free will. Then honour mine!” He grabbed Lucifer’s hand that was holding the knife and put it on his throat.

That left Lucifer with another question he wanted answered. “Why do you need me to do it?” The Sinnerman didn’t answer and Lucifer raised his voice, “why?”

Suddenly all his hopes of getting answers from the Sinnerman were erased by gunshots. 

“No. No!” Lucifer shouted, but the man was dead. 

When Lucifer looked at the direction where the shots had come from, he saw Pierce standing there, holding a gun in his hand. 

Lucifer had not heard him come to his house, probably because all his focus had been on the Sinnerman.

The next moment Chloe arrived. When she crouched next to the Sinnerman, she confirmed what Lucifer already knew. “He’s gone.”

Lucifer directed his angry gaze to Pierce. He had no reason to shoot the Sinnerman, now Lucifer had no way of getting the answers he needed. But Pierce didn’t seem to feel threatened by him at all. He looked back with the same emotionless expression as he always did.

Chloe took out her phone to call it in. She and Pierce moved further away to discuss the official statement they would give about everything that had occurred that day while Lucifer stayed by the balcony railing, gathering his thoughts about everything that had happened. Finally Pierce went outside to meet the police squads that were arriving. Chloe was about to follow him, when Lucifer called out.

“Detective! Can I talk to you?”

Chloe took a deep breath, but went to him.

“Something very strange just happened here,” Lucifer told her with furrowed eyebrows.

“Um, a ‘Thank you for saving my life’ might be appropriate,” Chloe suggested. She hadn’t heard Lucifer thank Pierce.

“Actually I wasn’t the one in danger,” Lucifer stated.

Chloe didn’t react to that, knowing that as long as she was not there, Lucifer would have been invincible. “I figured out that you’re the one who grabbed the Sinnerman. Clearly things went south.”

“No. Let me explain what happened,” Lucifer tried to tell her that the Sinnerman’s death was absolutely unnecessary. 

Chloe was too upset with Lucifer to listen. “What happened was you didn’t follow my lead and did whatever the hell you wanted,” she told him angrily.

“Detective, I understand that my interest in getting our blind barbarian alone might have been a tad selfish. But it turns out, I was the pawn,” Lucifer tried to make her see what was going on.

Chloe just shook her head. “I don’t have time for this.” She turned and started to walk away.

“It was the Sinnerman’s plan to be snatched by me all along. He wanted to die,” Lucifer said in a louder voice, hoping that she’d listen to him.

Chloe turned to face him again. “Pierce will smooth things over if that’s what you’re worried about. The official statement will say that you were grabbed in an escape attempt.”

Hearing her say ‘Pierce’ irritated Lucifer. “You think I care what Pierce thinks?” he spat.

“Right now, I don’t think you care what anyone thinks,” Chloe said in a bitter tone.

“That's not true,” Lucifer’s tone changed immediately, seeing how pissed she was with him. “I did this for us.” At least now the Sinnerman won’t be able to take her away.

“For us? For the team?” Chloe couldn’t believe what she was hearing, so she decided to spell it out for him. “I had your back on this, Lucifer, and for whatever reason you still felt the need to go behind mine.” Realising that Lucifer had gone behind her back had hurt a lot and Chloe decided to leave before she’d say something she would regret.

--------

Lucifer brought a lemon square with her morning latte when he arrived at the precinct the following morning.

“Detective, I apologise for going behind your back. I shouldn’t have done it,” Lucifer said to Chloe as soon as he had handed over the coffee and the snack.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have,” Chloe replied. The hurt was still a bit too fresh to let it slide over a latte and a lemon square. Chloe had thought that Lucifer trusted her, but kidnapping their suspect without telling her didn’t really speak of trust.

“I was just trying to protect you,” Lucifer tried to explain his motivation. When Chloe looked at him with an are-you-serious-expression, he elaborated. “I thought if it would go badly then you could say without lying that you didn't know that I planned to take him away.”

“We already smuggled him out of the precinct, so we were already in it together. Yet you still had your own agenda, that you chose not to share with me.” Chloe was clearly not satisfied with the explanation Lucifer had given her.

Lucifer could see that Chloe was angry with him and he didn’t know what to do to make it better. He just stood there silently while Chloe was doing paperwork. The longer she ignored him, the more an unpleasant thought started to worry him. Finally he asked the question in a quiet voice.

“Do you still want me as your partner?” Lucifer was a bit afraid of what her answer would be, but if she didn’t want to work with him anymore, he would leave and not bother her again.

Chloe sighed and started to talk without looking up from the paperwork. “I need a partner who I can trust and who trusts me,” she paused and then looked at Lucifer, “so if you promise me not to go behind my back ever again we can still be partners.”

“I promise, Detective. It won’t happen again,” Lucifer said immediately. He finally dared to sit down in his chair. Since she hadn’t thrown him out of her life, Lucifer thought he should share his observation about Pierce too. “But I think we should talk about what happened before Pierce shot the Sinnerman. You see, -” he started to tell, but Chloe interrupted him rather harshly.

“No. Another condition for us to keep working together is that we don’t discuss what happened yesterday more than is needed for the report. I really don’t want to dwell on it.” Chloe wasn’t sure she could keep the hurt at bay if Lucifer started to discuss it in detail. She needed to brush over some details anyway to make it look better on paper, so it wasn’t really necessary to talk about it.

“But Detective," Lucifer started to protest.

“I said no,” Chloe told him again, using her most stern mom voice.

“Fine,” Lucifer relented and they were both silent for a while.

“Do you need my help with the paperwork?” Lucifer asked to make him more useful. Usually it didn’t bother him when Chloe was doing paperwork and he did anything else besides helping her, but usually Chloe wasn’t mad at him.

“No,” was her curt reply.

Lucifer was starting to feel uncomfortable with the ice cold attitude and decided to go and find something else to do.

 

At some point he wandered into Ella’s lab. Unfortunately it seemed that even she was not his biggest fan at the moment.

“What you did was not cool, Lucifer,” she told him as sternly as it was possible for someone as cheerful as Ella.

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” Lucifer replied and Ella could see that he was really regretful. She had also noticed that Lucifer seemed to be avoiding Chloe’s desk at the moment.

“Decker is giving you a hard time, eh?” she asked, feeling a bit more sympathy for her friend.

“It seemed that she’d be better left alone right now,” Lucifer answered, adjusting his cufflinks.

“I’m sure she’ll be able to forgive you eventually,” Ella tried to console Lucifer.

“I hope so,” he said, wondering how long it would take.

Officer Gavin then opened the door to the lab. “Hey, Ella, we found the Sinnerman’s place. Let’s go and take a look.” 

“Okay, let me grab my gear,” Ella replied and started gathering her things.

“What was he talking about?” Lucifer asked the forensic scientist, a little puzzled.

“Oh, we wanted to search his place, to make sure there are no other clues about previous crimes or something he might have been planning, since, you know, crime boss and all,” she explained to Lucifer.

The Devil perked up at that. It seemed there was a chance to get some answers after all. “May I tag along, Miss Lopez?”

“Sure, I guess,” she agreed. “I’ll ask Chloe just in case.”

As she was walking toward the exit, Ella stopped by Chloe’s desk. “Chloe, is it okay if Lucifer comes with me to take a look at the Sinnerman’s place?”

“Yes, just make sure he doesn’t do something stupid behind your back,” Chloe answered.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Ella chirped, letting slide the remark about Lucifer possibly doing something behind her back.

As they were walking out of the precinct, she remembered that Lucifer didn’t like rubber gloves. “But you need to wear rubber gloves while we search the place.”

“Fine,” Lucifer agreed begrudgingly.

--------

Unfortunately the place where the Sinnerman had stayed in L.A. was a seedy motel room and didn’t have much of his belongings. Ella reached out to some of her colleagues in Chicago since Pierce had said that the Sinnerman used to operate there. She found out that they had already located the man’s house, but since most of the crimes had taken place in Chicago, the local police department wanted to go through all his things themselves first. Ella was able to convince them to send the things over after they had processed them, but as she informed Lucifer, it might take a while.

 

On top of needing patience to wait for the Sinnerman’s belongings, the air between him and the Detective was still tense. They talked about case related things almost normally, but aside from that there was no real interaction. More often than not the car rides were filled with tense silence when there was nothing they needed to discuss about their current case.

--------

“Hi, Trix!” Chloe said after picking up her phone.

 Lucifer tried to respect her privacy and not listen in, although he happened to be sitting right across from her when her phone rang.

“No, I haven’t forgotten. I’ll just wrap this up here and come pick you up. Don’t worry, you will make it to your sleepover just in time.” Chloe couldn’t help the fond smile on her lips. The girl’s excitement was really sweet.

“See you soon, bye!” she ended the call, still smiling.

Lucifer didn’t even need to listen to what was said from the other side in this conversation, it was clear that the Urchin was going to a sleepover. That gave Lucifer an idea about improving his current relationship with the Detective. At first he had tried to be patient like Linda had suggested and give her time. During this week’s appointment when he had mentioned that Chloe seemed to be still mad at him, Linda had suggested that he could somehow show to her how much he values Chloe. Now it seemed that Chloe had an evening free of her offspring, so it would give him an opportunity to invite her over without her having to worry about babysitters or bedtimes.

“The Urchin is going to a sleepover?” Lucifer asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Yes. She’s really excited about it,” Chloe answered. Her tone was friendlier than it had been since the Sinnerman fiasco and Lucifer felt encouraged by that.

“Why don’t you come to Lux tonight then? I will be playing a set or two tonight and maybe after that we could… talk,” he suggested. He had already thought of a few songs she would definitely like and maybe some with a message directed to her. 

Chloe looked a little apologetic when she answered him. “Sorry, but I already have plans for tonight.” The truth was that she felt a bit stuck. She would have liked to be as friendly with him as they had been before Lucifer kidnapped the Sinnerman, but she didn’t know how to approach the subject. Every time there was this tense silence, she was trying to find something neutral to talk about, but had failed so far. She also didn’t want Lucifer to think that all was forgotten, but she would have liked to start mending their relationship. So she was actually sad that she wasn’t free to go and spend some time at Lux that night.

“I see,” Lucifer replied, clearly disappointed.

Chloe didn’t really want to elaborate on what her plans were, so she directed her attention back to the paperwork she was trying to finish as quickly as possible.

 

Lucifer decided to go and talk to Ella instead. As soon as the forensic scientist saw him entering her lab, she asked, “are you here to ask about the Sinnerman’s things again?”

Lucifer had been asking about them rather frequently, despite Ella telling him that she’ll let him know when their colleagues in Chicago would send them over.

Lucifer sighed. It had been more than a week and he really wanted to see if he could get some answers from there. “I was indeed planning to ask you,” he admitted. 

“Sorry, buddy, haven’t heard from them yet,” Ella told him, her voice sounding cheerful as ever.

Just as Lucifer opened the door to step out of the lab, he noticed Lieutenant Pierce walking to Chloe’s desk. He closed the door behind him and decided to concentrate and listen in. The Lieutenant might have something important to say regarding their cases after all.

“I just wanted to warn you that I might not make it by seven, but I’m certainly coming over tonight,” Pierce told her.

“Oh, no worries. We have the whole evening. And the lasagne probably won’t be out of the over by then anyway,” Chloe assured him with a soft smile.

“Good. I’ll bring the wine?” Pierce asked and a hint of a smile was on his lips.

“Okay,” Chloe answered, her face radiating with happiness.

Lucifer stood frozen at the same sport from where he had started listening to their conversation. This time there was no doubt - this was not a work thing, the Detective had a date with Cain.

Lucifer looked at the direction of Chloe’s desk without really seeing anything, trying to calm the storm raging inside him. As he finally noticed that the Detective was gathering her stuff, Lucifer started moving and was back by her desk with a few long strides.

“You have a date with Pierce?” he asked as soon as he reached her, not being able to think of a more elaborate way to approach the subject.

Chloe was startled by his sudden appearance and looked at Lucifer with a deer-in-headlights expression for a moment. She knew that Lucifer would probably not like it (that’s why she hadn’t told him earlier what her plans for the night were), but she didn’t want to lie to him. So there was no other way, but to admit it.

“Yes, I have,” she kept her answer short.

“No. No, no, no. You can’t do that. You don’t know him,” Lucifer started protesting.

Even though Chloe had anticipated something like that, she did not like anyone telling her who she could or could not date. Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him sternly. “I think I know him better than you. I have gotten to know him a little bit already and he is a decent man.”

Lucifer felt his stomach drop at that. “It’s not your first date, is it?”

“We have been to a concert and last week we went to a dinner together,” Chloe told him. She hadn’t really planned to hide it from him, it just didn’t come up. Okay, maybe she had been avoiding telling him about her and Pierce, but only because she knew that he would probably have some crazy reaction, so she was waiting for the right time. Unfortunately, right now was definitely not the right time, since she had to leave in a few minutes.

Lucifer didn’t think it was possible for him to feel his stomach drop further, but it did when the realisation hit him. “So it’s your third date?” he barely managed to hold his voice steady.

“When you insist on counting them, I guess it is,” Chloe shrugged, as if it meant nothing. But she knew as well as Lucifer what that meant. And even though she was telling herself that she’d just let things flow naturally and it would be okay if he wanted to get more intimate and also okay if Marcus didn’t want to take it further, she had bought a box of condoms. Just in case.

Before it could get awkward, Chloe excused herself. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t have time to discuss it with you right now. I need to go, so I can keep the promise I made to my daughter. Goodbye, Lucifer!” With those words Chloe hurried out of the precinct.

 

Lucifer sat down in his chair, needing to think. His gaze landed towards the Lieutenant’s office. He’d have to make sure that Chloe will learn about Pierce being Cain and sooner rather than later.

He would have liked to storm into Pierce’s office right away, but there were other people talking to him in there, so he had to wait. It seemed as if the Lieutenant had known what Lucifer was planning and as soon as one left another one stepped into his office.

Finally the precinct started to grow more quiet as people left and Pierce was alone in his office. 

Lucifer entered it without knocking. “We need to talk, Cain.” He didn’t waste time on pleasantries.

“Can’t it wait until Monday? I was about to leave,” Pierce didn’t seem too happy to see Lucifer in his office.

“No, it most certainly can’t.” Lucifer paused for a moment and then said it out, “you need to tell her.”

Pierce cocked his head to one side and looked at Lucifer with a bit confused expression. “Tell what to whom?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb with me. You need to tell the Detective who you really are,” Lucifer was quite certain that Cain had understood perfectly what he was talking about.

“No,” was his simple reply and as if he was thinking the conversation was over with that, Pierce stood from his chair and grabbed his jacket.

“You can’t go on lying to her,” Lucifer exclaimed agitatedly.

“I’m not lying to her,” Pierce said defensively.

“Oh, yes you are. You are lying by omission.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you agreed to do the same when you figured out who I was.” Pierce’s tone was a bit mocking.

“I didn’t willingly agree, as I’m sure you remember. Besides, things are different now. You are not only her boss anymore, you are trying to get involved with her. Romantically.” To be honest Lucifer did regret ever giving the man his word.

“Well, you said it yourself that I should enjoy life. So now when I’m following your advice, you have a problem with it,” Pierce told him condescendingly.

“I have a problem with you keeping things from the Detective,” Lucifer said through his gritted teeth.

“And you didn’t?” the Lieutenant sounded a bit defensive.

“What?” Lucifer furrowed his brows, not quite following what Pierce was referring to.

“Did she know that you’re the Devil while the two of you were dating?” the other man clarified what he was hinting at.

“She did actually. We started our relationship after she had learned the truth about me.” Lucifer couldn’t help the note of pride in his voice. It still amazed him that Chloe had been willing to date the Devil.

“Really?” Now it was Pierce’s turn to furrow his brows. “But then what did she find out that kept you two from getting back together?” He was curious.

Lucifer sighed. He was at the same time irritated and satisfied that they had apparently talked about his relationship with Chloe at some point. He didn’t want to go into detail though, so he just told him, “it’s complicated.”

Pierce didn’t pry further. Whatever it was, it seemed to keep them from getting back together, but the Devil was clearly jealous. Still, he found what he had learned about Chloe rather interesting. “So she willingly dated the Devil,” he muttered to himself.

“She did, but I wouldn’t count on her willingly dating the first murderer,” Lucifer reminded the other man of the reason he was in his office in the first place.

Pierce just stared at him and didn’t say anything. 

“Still, you have to tell her,” Lucifer insisted.

“I already told you, I won’t,” Pierce replied, losing some of his usual stoicism.

Lucifer felt that he had had enough of that caveman telling him what he could or couldn’t tell his partner. “Fine. I will tell her then.”

“So you’re not a Devil of your word then,” Pierce glared at him. 

“This is too important,” Lucifer said and felt that he should have thought about it and told Chloe earlier. 

“I thought her safety was also important,” Pierce taunted him.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll tell her what you did and warn her to keep away from you,” Lucifer smiled with a mock sweetness.

Pierce again stared at Lucifer and clenched his jaw. “Fine, I’ll tell her myself.”

“Tonight,” Lucifer pushed further.

Pierce glared at him, not liking how he was telling him what to do. Lucifer matched his stare and put even more menace in it.

“Okay,” Pierce finally said, realising that Lucifer probably wouldn’t budge.

“Great.” Lucifer wasn’t really sure the man was about to keep his word. He needed some way to make sure that he would tell her. Suddenly he got an idea.

“You know, it’s not easy to tell something like this to someone you fancy. As a fellow celestial who was shunned by that wretched book, I think we should support each other.” Lucifer enjoyed the confused look on Pierce’s face a moment and then continued, “I will come with you to the Detective’s house to be there for you.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Pierce tried to dissuade him.

“Oh, I think it is,” Lucifer insisted in a syrupy voice.

Deciding by the look Pierce gave him, Lucifer was certain that the neanderthal had not intended to tell Chloe that evening.

“And look at the time,” Lucifer glanced at the clock on Pierce’s wall. “We should get going or we’d be terribly late.” The Devil ushered Pierce out of the office, while grinning victoriously.    

--------

Chloe was about to set the table when she heard the knock on the door. Glancing at the clock she was surprised that Pierce was almost on time, it was only a few minutes after seven.

She opened the door and greeted her date with a smile, “Hi, Marcus!”

Chloe knew that the Lieutenant was not someone who liked to show emotion or smile too much, but the expression on his face seemed a bit too serious for the occasion. “Hi, Chloe,” he said and after a pause added, “I’m sorry.”

Chloe was about to ask why when an unexpected visitor stepped into view. “Hello, Detective!” Lucifer greeted her.

“Lucifer? What are you doing here?” Chloe asked, looking confusedly from Lucifer to Pierce. The latter just sighed. He had thought about losing him by driving through the red light, but in the end didn’t see the point of it, since Lucifer knew where Chloe lived and would turn up there either way. Then he had thought about not going to Chloe’s at all, but he was certain that Lucifer would go either way and at least now he could tell everything from his own perspective.

Since Cain was silent, Lucifer decided to explain his presence himself. “Well, Pierce here has something he needs to tell you and I came for moral support,” he announced with a proud expression.

Chloe was even more confused. What could Marcus possibly want to tell her that needed Lucifer as support? Still, she moved aside and gestured to the men to come in. Chloe had no doubt that this was not a conversation she wanted to have in the hallway.

All three of them stood a bit awkwardly near the door for a moment, before Chloe asked impatiently, “well?”

Lucifer looked at Cain, trying to convey with his expression that if he will not say something soon, Lucifer himself will.

Cain let out a breath and started. “My real name is not Marcus Pierce. It’s Cain.”

“Okay…. so your parents had an odd choice for name,” Chloe didn’t see what the big fuss was about.  

“I am the Cain. My parents are Adam and Eve and I killed my brother Abel. It did not happen the way the Bible describes it, but I did kill him,” he explained further.

“But this happened like thousands of years ago.” Chloe was puzzled. How could Cain be still alive?

“After Abel’s death an angel came to me and put a mark on me, so I would walk the Earth for eternity as a punishment.” To prove it, he took off his jacket and rolled up the sleeve to show his mark.

Chloe looked at his upper arm, stunned. “So you’re the first murderer?”

“Yes, I am,” Cain confirmed with a sigh. Although he had pointed out that it wasn’t exactly like the Bible had described it, he didn’t see a point in arguing about it at the moment.

“I can’t believe this,” Chloe shook her head. “Is L.A. some kind of a hot spot for Bible figures? Should I watch out for Jesus next?” 

“I don’t think you need to worry about my half-brother, Detective, but Cain here did come to L.A. with a purpose,” Lucifer chimed in.

Cain shot Lucifer a glare. He hadn’t planned to tell her about it, but now Chloe was looking at him with an equally fierce and expectant expression, so he decided to shed light at the reason he ended up in L.A.

“I came here to test a theory. I had heard that the Devil was in L.A. and he was vulnerable around a woman, so I came here to see if having you close would affect me too. But it didn’t.” Cain couldn’t help the pang of sadness washing over him at the memory. He had been so hopeful that it would work.

“Hang on, are you telling me that getting shot at the Firehawk Ranch was not a coincidence?” Chloe had figured out what Cain was referring to when he said that her closeness hadn’t affected him.

“I did arrange it, but you were never in danger,” Cain assured her.

“The Hell I wasn’t! I was standing right next to you,” Chloe brandished her finger at Cain.

“I wouldn’t have let you get hurt,” Cain told her, but Chloe just stared at him.

Cain didn’t have anything to say that could make it better. He was sure that there was no point in him staying longer. “So, I guess our date is cancelled now,” he asked tentatively.

“You think?” Chloe answered sarcastically.

Cain just muttered “goodbye, Chloe” and left.

 

Lucifer had been watching Chloe’s reaction. Even though he had pushed Cain into telling her, he hated to see Chloe hurt or angry.

“Are you alright?” he asked after Cain had left.

“No, I’m not,” Chloe didn’t see the point in pretending she was okay. “How long have you known?” she then asked him in a cold tone.

“Amenadiel recognised him during the case with Jana and Raj,” Lucifer admitted.

“Amenadiel? Why did he recognise Cain?” Chloe was baffled.

“Well, he was the one who placed the mark," Lucifer clarified.

Chloe huffed. “Why does that not surprise me.”

“What can I say? He used to be dear old Dad’s loyal soldier.” Lucifer hoped they could joke about Amenadiel to lighten the mood. Unfortunately Chloe’s face grew more serious.

“Why didn’t you tell me? You knew for weeks.” Her voice was silent, but the disappointment was still evident in it.

“I wanted to but he made me promise not to tell anyone. He threatened to try again if you’d make him vulnerable too, otherwise.” He hoped that Chloe would understand the difficult position he had been in.

“And you couldn’t find a loophole around it to let me know?” Chloe was apparently not happy with his reason.

“I…,” Lucifer didn’t know what to say to that. He hadn’t really thought about finding any loopholes, too afraid that Pierce would do something that would be dangerous to Chloe if she learned about Pierce’s true identity.

“Why now? Why did you suddenly decide that I’m worthy enough to know your big secret?” Chloe was suddenly feeling angry. She had a feeling that she knew the answer already.

“I thought that he was just our boss when I gave him my word about keeping the secret. I tried to stop you from going to that work thing with him if you remember. And when I learned that you have a date… I couldn’t let him keep lying to you,” Lucifer confessed.

“No, what you should have done was let me know as soon as you found out,” Chloe didn’t agree with him, “but instead you decided that the best moment to let me know was the one night in a long time I had planned something nice.” Chloe hadn’t meant to spit it out, but she had really hoped that this night would be special. 

“I was just trying to protect you,” Lucifer tried again to make her understand.

“Do me a favour and stop protecting me,” Chloe practically yelled at him. She knew that she was killing the messenger right now, but she was just sick of that excuse. “You are making me feel like a child whose parents are keeping things from her, so she’d be protected from the big bad world. I’m not a child, I don’t need it.”

“Of course you’re not a child,” was all Lucifer could say to it. He looked hurt and lost at her words and Chloe started to regret being so harsh with him. Still, she was too hurt and angry herself, so she wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep from lashing out again and decided to ask  him to leave instead.

“I’d like to be alone now,” she said quietly, looking at the floor.

“As you wish,” Lucifer replied and walked out the door. 

After locking the door Chloe let out a loud “fuck”. She didn’t curse usually, but right now it seemed more than appropriate. This was not how her night should have turned out. She turned around and looked towards the ceiling. “Are you trying to make me become a nun, huh?” she asked (not expecting an answer of course). “Asshole,” she added, just in case He was listening. She’d rather suffer a disastrous love life than start worshipping Him.

Chapter 35: Apologies

Chloe was standing by the door, unmoving, trying to process what she just learned when the ding announcing that her lasagne was ready brought her attention back to the present. She went to the oven and took the food out, she needed to eat after all. To be honest she’d rather drink right now, but Marcus, or rather Cain, was supposed to bring the wine and he didn’t even do that. Chloe ate a little and already planned to look for some booze she knew that Maze kept in the apartment, but then she realised that if she got drunk, she’d have a hangover the next day. And having a hangover and an 8-year old to take care of is not a good idea. So instead she took some ice cream she luckily had in the freezer and went to the couch. Chloe found some silly comedy and sat there, eating her ice cream. Her thoughts didn’t let her pay much attention to the TV anyway.

The whole weekend was a struggle. Trixie started to worry a little about Chloe when she caught her mother staring seemingly at nothing again. After that Chloe tried to push away anything biblical for the time and be present around her child.

So in the evening when Trixie was put to bed, the thoughts returned with vengeance and hopped from Cain to Lucifer and back. When her thoughts went to Lucifer, the guilt reared its head. Her anger towards him had dissolved and Chloe regretted being harsh with him. She picked up her phone and almost called Lucifer, but then decided that it would be better to apologise face to face. Besides, even though he would probably be still awake, Chloe was a bit hesitant to contact him because of the activities he might be engaging in. That was the other topic regarding Lucifer that kept her mind occupied. She knew that he was jealous of Cain and it gave her conflicting feelings. One part of her was glad that Lucifer was jealous, because that meant that he still had feelings for her. She surely still had feelings for him. Sometimes when they walked next to each other she almost slipped her hand into his, because it felt so natural. But she knew that she couldn’t do that. Even though Chloe longed to be with him, she would never force him to endure manipulation by his Father. She still remembered the times when he had ranted about hating being a pawn in his Father’s game both before they got together and after that. When she had suggested that they’d remain just friends after she and Dan had broken up, Lucifer had not protested about it or tried to convince her otherwise. Even though Chloe had been the one to say that they’d remain just friends, a part of her had expected, or rather hoped, him to object, but he hadn’t. That clearly meant that he’d rather keep his distance. 

Then again, another part of Chloe was not happy about his jealousy. She didn’t intend to stay single forever and if Lucifer would go crazy every time she had a boyfriend then it would make things even more difficult for her. Still, she wanted to keep Lucifer in her life. As a friend at least, if they couldn’t be anything more. The past week and half had been really hard for her. She was both mad at him and missed him. Even though it had hurt her really badly that Lucifer had kidnapped the Sinnerman behind her back, when he had asked whether she still wanted him as a partner there had been no doubt in her mind. She did want to keep their partnership, but she couldn’t just brush it off, like some of his antics.

Since she had already made up her mind about apologising to Lucifer for her words on Friday, her train of thoughts stopped now in station Cain. If he had lied about his true origin, what else that he had told her about himself had been a lie? Chloe was also disappointed that she hadn’t sensed that something was wrong. He had seemed so trustworthy and Chloe had believed that he had finally started to open up with her. And the fact that he had orchestrated the shooting at Firehawk Ranch was just unbelievable. She had started to warm up to him after that, so was this also part of his plan?

The next day Chloe found herself googling Cain. The detective in her had been wondering about Cain’s claim that killing his brother had not happened like it was described in the Bible. She knew well enough that the book did get things wrong (like they did with the Devil), so she was curious about what had really happened. Unfortunately in this case the internet search was even less helpful than with the Devil back in the days when she had found out about Lucifer’s true identity. 

 

On Monday morning Chloe got a message that a body had been discovered and she was assigned the case, which meant that she’d drive straight to the crime scene. She was glad about it for two reasons. One, she could avoid meeting the Lieutenant again for a few hours longer and two, the drive to the crime scene would go past Lux.

--------

Lucifer had been in a sour mood the whole weekend. He really regretted ever giving Cain his word to not tell anyone about his true identity. He should have pushed harder about Chloe needing to know. Or at least told her as soon as Pierce started showing interest in her. That way they could have avoided the disaster from Friday. Lucifer hadn’t even thought about how finding out like she did would affect Chloe. He had been just glad that she’d finally learn the truth. A little naive part of him had even hoped that after the date was off the table, maybe she would join him in Lux that evening. He had not been prepared for her anger, but the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that she had every right to be angry at him. Again. Even though he always proudly announced how he didn’t lie, he had been keeping a lot from Chloe during the past few weeks. 

Lucifer wished he could make it better somehow. A few times over the weekend he picked up his phone and even typed some apology, but they all seemed not enough, so he didn’t hit send.

 

On Monday morning Lucifer went through his usual morning routine with a trepidation. He wondered how angry the Detective would be and if he had managed to strengthen the invisible wall that seemed to be between them ever since he kidnapped the Sinnerman instead of tearing it down or at least cracking it as he had hoped to do on Friday before everything went south.

Lucifer was just applying his usual hair product when he heard an incoming text message. At first he didn’t let it disturb him, but shortly after he heard another soft chime that indicated a second text. With a sigh he went to the bar where he had left the phone and picked it up. When he saw that the messages were from the Detective, he felt his gut churn. With trembling fingers he opened the text thread and felt his jaw drop.

The Detective: “Hi! We got a murder, so we need to go straight to the crime scene.”

The first message was not unusual, but the next one was very unexpected considering the circumstances.

The Detective: “Lux will be on my way. Would you like me to pick you up and go to the crime scene together?”

Lucifer stared at the words and just blinked. Did she really want to drive together to the crime scene? Finally he realised that she was waiting for his answer and typed a reply.

Lucifer: “Yes, of course, if it’s not too much trouble.” 

It seemed that she had been waiting for his answer since almost instantly after his reply he could see the dots appear that indicated she was typing something.

The Detective: “Ok, I’ll see you in 20 minutes then.”

The smile on Lucifer’s face was instant. Of course there was the possibility that she’d want to read him the riot act, but the way her message was worded made it seem unlikely. Lucifer felt a weight lift from his shoulders. Apparently a few days had let her anger dissolve. The only downside of her picking him up would be that he won’t be able to show up with her favourite latte since there were no Starbucks near Lux. But then again, he did have superior means of transportation if needed to be. Lucifer checked where the nearest Starbucks was and determined that if he flew there, he’d be able to be back at Lux in time. 

When Chloe stopped next to Lux, Lucifer was standing there with a smile and a coffee cup.

“Morning, Lucifer!” she greeted him as soon as he opened the passenger door.

“Hello, Detective!” Lucifer replied and got in the car. “For you,” he held out his hand that was holding the coffee towards Chloe.

“Oh, Lucifer, you shouldn’t have,” she told him while she put the cup to the cup holder. It made her feel even more guilty than she already had.

The expression on her face must have shown some distress, because Lucifer noticed. “My apologies, Detective, it seems that I really shouldn’t have,” he said in a sad tone.

Chloe realised that he must have interpreted her reaction wrong. “No, I didn’t mean it like that,” she rushed to explain while she was pulling into the traffic again. “I just feel like it should have been me who brought you something.” Chloe glanced towards him. “I’m sorry about what I said to you on Friday. I was too harsh and I know you mean well. I was just really upset and I …,” she didn’t really want to spell out that she had lashed out at the person that she felt safe with, because she did not want him to think that she saw him as her punching bag. She sighed, not finding the correct term and rewirded it, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” 

They stopped at a red light and Chloe looked at Lucifer who hadn’t said anything. During the apology she had looked at the road, both because she wanted to pay attention to the other cars and because she found it all a bit easier to say if she didn’t look at him. 

Lucifer was looking at her with wide eyes full of disbelief. Meeting Chloe’s eyes, his vocal cords finally started working again. “There’s nothing to apologise for, Detective,” he said in a soft voice, “but thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” she smiled at him, “but like I said, I had enough to apologise for.”

“Let’s agree to disagree,” Lucifer said, smiling, clearly not wanting to argue over it anymore.

Chloe returned the smile and kept driving towards the crime scene, feeling that the wall that had been standing in between them since the Sinnerman case was falling down like the Berlin Wall in the beginning of the nineties.

--------

After their work on the crime scene was done they returned to the precinct. Chloe dropped Lucifer off at Lux first, so he could drive the Corvette to the precinct (she unfortunately didn’t have time to drive him home after work).

When Chloe walked to her desk, she was deliberately not looking towards the Lieutenant's office, planning to avoid him as much as possible. Unfortunately the first thing she noticed on her desk was the report from Friday that she had finished, but not given to Pierce since she was in a hurry. She glanced in the direction of Pierce’s office and confirmed that he was there. She would have waited until the man was out of the office and slipped it onto his desk then, but Pierce had the habit of locking his door when he was not there. So the only way to take it to him would be when he was sitting right there in the office. Chloe briefly considered asking Lucifer to take it to Pierce’s office once he arrived in the precinct, but then decided that she would not be afraid of the Lieutenant. It was her precinct first and she would not hide from that man. Chloe grabbed the folder, let out a sharp breath and walked towards the corner office.

She knocked briefly and then entered the office, like she had done so many times before. Chloe tried not to think about what the man inside the office might think about her.

“Hello, Lieutenant!” Chloe kept her voice as neutral as possible. She’s just a detective who’s bringing over a case report. No big deal.

“Hello, Decker!” the man greeted her back in his usual emotionless tone.

His casual act irritated Chloe a little, but she decided to let that frustration out somewhere else, at some other time. So she walked over to his desk and put the folder on it. “I finished the case report,” she said while placing the folder on his desk.

Pierce made just an acknowledging noise and continued with his own paperwork he was currently doing.

Chloe was almost out of the office, when Pierce spoke again. “Chloe!” She stopped, clenched her jaw and closed her eyes for a moment before turning her head and looking towards him. This time the tone of his voice was different, it was almost pleading, so Chloe knew that he was about to say something not work related.

“I’m sorry!” he said, looking suddenly rather remorseful.

“For what?” Chloe asked after a moment, her voice not overly friendly.

“You know… for what we spoke about on Friday,” he answered confusedly, seemingly considering whether she had hit her head during the weekend and suffered a memory loss.

“I just meant are you sorry that your lies came to light or are you sorry about lying in the first place?” Chloe clarified in a cold tone.

Pierce sighed. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you who I really was and that I put you in danger,” he elaborated. Suddenly he looked almost as old as he was supposed to be.

Chloe watched him with a neutral expression, not smiling or letting it show in her demeanor whether she would accept his apology.

“I hope we can still work together professionally,” he said tentatively, seeing that she didn’t really react to his apology.

“Yes, sir,” she replied and asked, “am I free to go now?”

Pierce sighed again and answered, “yes, Decker.”

Chloe walked out of the office, her head spinning a little. She needed to gather her thoughts.The sincerity of his tone and the way he looked while apologising didn’t really fit into the narrative she had about the man.

Chloe was so deep in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice Lucifer arriving at first. So she was a little startled when she suddenly heard his voice next to her desk, “what did he want?”

Chloe didn’t quite follow at first, “who?”

“The Lieutenant,” Lucifer clarified and added gesturing towards his office, “I saw you coming out of there.”

“Ah, yes. Well, I just gave him the report from our last case,” Chloe said.

“Oh. And how was the ol’ Ham Hands?” Lucifer cocked his head.

“Uhm.. his usual self,” she replied. “He did apologise,” she added after a pause.

“Did he now? As if it would make everything right,” Lucifer scoffed.

Chloe didn’t really answer, but after Lucifer had sat down, she lowered her voice and asked, “can I ask you something?”

“Of course, Detective,” he smiled at her and the familiarity she had missed these past weeks made her feel warm inside.

“Do you know what really happened between him and his brother?” she asked, curious to get to know the real story.

“Not really. I wasn’t around anymore when it happened,” Lucifer started. When he understood from her expression that she didn’t quite follow, he added with a bit of sadness in his voice, “having received my own punishment already.”

“Oh,” Chloe now understood why he said that he wasn’t around at the time.

“But from what I have heard, they were always fighting with each other, so it probably was a result of a fight not a premeditated murder.” Lucifer didn’t really care about cleaning Cain’s record, but he did like to show how wrong that wretched book was about everything (including himself). “Maybe Maze could tell you more, she did torture Abel in Hell.”

“Wait, what? Abel is in Hell?” Chloe had not even considered this possibility.

“Mh-mm,” Lucifer nodded. “That is already quite telling, don’t you think?” 

“I guess so,” Chloe agreed, wondering if Maze would give her some more information about Abel’s Hell loop.

Before they could continue the conversation Ella appeared by her desk with information about the latest case and for the rest of the day they didn't talk about Cain. But that didn’t mean Chloe didn’t think about him. She was still curious about what really happened between him and his brother and she started to suspect that Pierce would be the only one who could give her the truth. Also his apology seemed to be sincere and that made Chloe think that maybe she had been unfair to him since she hadn’t even given the man a chance to explain anything.

After debating with herself for the whole evening Chloe had reached a decision by Tuesday morning.

It took her a while until she had gathered enough courage and until Pierce was alone in his office (it had seemed like every time she wanted to go to him, someone else beat her to it). Chloe knocked on the door and entered.

“Do you have a moment, sir?” she asked politely.

Pierce glanced up briefly. “What is it, Decker?”

Chloe exhaled sharply and started to speak, “I was just wondering if everything you told me during our dates was a lie.”

Pierce looked at her for a few moments and then he put down the paper he had been looking at. “The only thing I wasn’t being truthful about was my real name and the fact that I was cursed to walk on Earth forever. Everything else I told you was the truth.”

“So, you do know how to make good lemon squares?” Chloe asked another question.

“Yes,” Pierce answered, a bit baffled why she fixated on this piece of information suddenly.

“Okay, so if you’d like to tell me your side of things I could come to your place on Thursday evening if you’ll make lemon squares,” Chloe made an offer.

Pierce looked at her for a long moment, as if to decide if she was just messing with him. Finally, a little smile appeared on his lips and he answered, “okay.” 

“Good,” Chloe stated and left the office leaving a rather bemused Lieutenant behind.

Lucifer had been talking to an officer in the break room and hadn’t seen Chloe’s venture to the Lieutenant’s office. At first Chloe thought that she shouldn’t tell him about it until she has had the chance to hear Pierce’s side of the story. But on the next day when they were driving back from an interview with a friend of the deceased and Lucifer started to draw parallels between their victim and Pierce since they’d found out some secrets he had been hiding, Chloe decided that it would be best to inform him.

“Lucifer, I think you should stop vilifying Pierce,” she suggested.

“Why? I think we have established that he is a villain,” Lucifer didn’t agree.

“No, we have established that he is Cain. Someone who is mentioned in the Bible.” This was a fact.

“And we know that Cain murdered his brother and was punished for that. And he tried to hide his true identity,” Lucifer listed the things that warranted the man’s bad image.

“We know that he killed his brother. You said it yourself, that they were always fighting and his brother ended up in Hell, so he must have felt guilty about something,” Chloe tried to reason.

“Detective, why are you suddenly defending him?” Lucifer asked, alarmed. He didn’t like it one bit.

“Well, I decided that I want to hear his side of the story too,” Chloe admitted.

“So what, you’re going to walk into his office and start interrogating him?” Lucifer asked in a sarcastic tone.

“No,” Chloe chewed on her lower lip for a moment and then added, “I’m going to go to his place tomorrow evening.”

“Are you insane? Why are you going to his place?” Lucifer couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Oh, come on! What do you think he’s going to do? Kill me too?” Chloe rolled her eyes. She didn’t think their Lieutenant was actually dangerous.

“Have you already forgotten that he arranged for a man to shoot at him when he was right next to you?” Lucifer was clearly agitated.

“No, I haven’t forgotten, but he did apologise for that and I don’t think he’s going to do it again. Besides, it didn’t work anyway,” Chloe tried to assure him. And herself too, just a little.

“Fine. But I’m coming with you then,” Lucifer declared.

“No, Lucifer, you are not coming with me,” Chloe was adamant.

“Why not? If you think you need answers, we can both go and ask them. Besides, I can tell you when he’s lying.” Lucifer figured he could probably come up with some questions himself too.

“Because I think it would show him that I trust him if I don’t take a bodyguard with me. And I think he’d be more open this way. And..,” she considered for a moment whether to add it or not, but Lucifer was already curious.

“And?” he asked impatiently.

“And if you come too, it will likely turn into a pissing contest. I’ve seen the looks you two have been giving each other. I can’t really imagine a calm conversation when both of you are involved.” She didn’t add that some of the questions she wanted to ask were a bit personal, hoping that Lucifer would be satisfied with the answer she gave him.

Lucifer just huffed at that. “Well, maybe you should take Maze with you then,” he suggested.

“Nope. She will be with Trixie,” Chloe told him.

“Leaving your child with a demon while you go talk to the first murderer. What’s gotten in you, Detective?” Lucifer frowned and Chloe could hear a little worry in his voice.

“Oh, come on Lucifer. You should know better than anyone else that you can’t trust what the Bible is saying about someone. It’s kind of the reason I want to hear his side of things. I know how wrong humanity has been about you, so why can’t the same apply to him?” Chloe did see some parallels in their stories.

Lucifer didn’t say anything to that and sulked silently for the rest of the ride.

--------

Chloe arrived at Pierce's place a few minutes early on Thursday evening. She knocked on the door, feeling a little nervous. It was not that she was afraid of him, she was a bit nervous about getting the answers she craved from him.

Pierce opened the door and greeted her. By the smell she could already tell that the man had kept his promise and baked lemon squares.

About five minutes later they were sitting on the couch, a steaming mugs of tea in front of them next to a big plate full of lemon squares. Chloe didn’t want to make it look like an interrogation, so she started with tasting one of the deliciously smelling cakes. Pierce had not been lying about knowing how to bake them at least, the taste was great.

The man had been watching her while she tried the lemon square.

“So, you approve?” he asked after Chloe had tasted it.

“Yes, you can bake some decent lemon squares,” Chloe answered, using the same phrase Pierce had used when he had told her about his baking skills.

Chloe hadn’t thought that the man needed someone else’s approval, but her words made his eyes soften a bit with relief. 

Silence fell over them for a few minutes, filled with only the sound of eating.

“So, you had some questions,” Pierce was the first to break the silence.

“Yes. You said that what happened with you and your brother wasn’t like it was described in the Bible. So can you tell me what really happened?” Chloe started with the question that had made her the most curious.

“We didn’t really get along with Abel. I’m not really sure why anymore, but we fought constantly. And back in the day, things were a lot more brutal, so you hit the other one with whatever you got your hands on. So, on that day we were fighting again and I was on the ground, Abel on top of me. He had a sharp stick that he was about to stab into me, I think he was aiming at my eye. I reached my hand out to get something that would give me leverage and I felt a rock on the ground. I grabbed it and hit him on the head. He fell off of me and I ran away. I didn’t even know at first that I had killed him. A few hours later our parents asked where he was and I went to look for him. When I arrived at the same place where we had fought I saw him lying on the ground on the same spot where he had fallen. There was blood on his head and some coming out of his nose. I guess I must have caused some kind of head trauma, because he was dead.” Cain finished telling the story and looked at Chloe as if waiting for additional questions.

“So it was like self defence?” Chloe clarified.

“I guess you could say that if it had happened nowadays,” Pierce shrugged.

“And no jealousy over God accepting his sacrifice and not yours?” Chloe wanted to be sure.

“No. That’s all made up by whoever wrote the Bible,” Cain confirmed.

“But if it was just self-defence, why did you get such a harsh punishment?” Chloe didn’t understand.

“I’m not the right person to answer that. I mean, ask your partner about it and I’m sure he can tell you how fair his Father is. All I know is that suddenly there was an angel…,”

“Amenadiel,” Chloe muttered mostly to herself.

“Yes, Amenadiel,” Pierce repeated. Although Chloe had said it rather silently, Cain had caught it. “And he placed a mark on me. At first I didn’t even realise it was a curse. Only after everyone I ever knew had died around me and I was left alone, did I understand what my punishment was.”

“And you’d do anything to get rid of it,” Chloe said. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

“Believe me, I have tried everything. And even though I don’t die, I still feel pain. Growing half of your body back is not fun, that I can tell from experience,” Cain said, remembering the time when he had tried to end his curse by letting a man cut him in half.

“I get it, ending your curse is all that matters to you. I mean, even serial killers are not sentenced to prison for that long. But still, you shouldn’t endanger other lives by trying to end yours,” Chloe quipped.

Pierce sighed. He hadn’t really understood Chloe’s comment about him willing to do anything to get rid of his curse first, now he did. “Again, I’m sorry for putting you in danger. You’re right, at the time I didn’t think about possible consequences for you. I just wanted to try it as soon as I saw with my own eyes that the Devil could bleed from simple injuries when he was around you.”  

“And how do you think I would have felt if your plan had worked? Don’t you think that I would have kept going over and over in my mind if I could have done anything to save you?” Chloe could already imagine the guilt she would have felt if she had survived the shooting and Pierce hadn’t, not ever learning that he actually wanted to die.

“I really didn’t think about it at the time,” Pierce admitted remorsefully.

Chloe didn’t have anything to say to that, so they were both silent for a few moments until she remembered another thing that had puzzled her after finding out who Pierce really was.

“There’s one thing I don’t understand. When we were at the stakeout by the Ferrante family restaurant you told me that the Sinnerman killed your brother, but your brother has been dead for a long time.” Chloe’s voice had a suspicious edge to it.

Cain’s face had an odd expression. He didn’t answer right away. Chloe started to think that he wouldn’t answer it at all, but then he started to talk. “When you have lost everyone you’ve ever cared for a couple of times, you tend to avoid caring about people. Just some acquaintances, nothing more. But every now and then you meet someone who just worms their way into your heart and becomes a brother that you never had. I mean I did have a brother, but we didn’t have a real brotherly bond with each other. So even though he was not my brother biologically, I have always referred to him as my brother. Using the word ‘friend’ would not convey the relationship we had. I didn’t mean to confuse you.”

“It’s okay,” Chloe replied, “thank you for explaining. And I’m really sorry about your brother. I mean you already knew that you’d outlive him, but now he was taken before his time.”

“Yeah, it really sucked to lose him,” Pierce commented.

“So, if you usually avoid caring about people, then why did you ask me out?” Chloe couldn’t help but ask.

“I guess I realised that sometimes it is worth it even though you know you’ll be left behind in the end if you get to make some memories together,” Pierce said with a soft smile.

Chloe felt her heart flutter at the implication that she’d be worth suffering the loss if he’d get to have memories about the time spent with her. “But were you ever going to tell me the truth about yourself?” she asked in a low voice.

Pierce looked apologetic. “I didn’t know if it would even work out with you. I guess I would have told you if it got more serious, but I don’t know… I just thought that I wouldn’t have a chance with you if I told you too early. First of all, you’d probably think I was crazy and if you did believe me, then that would probably be the end of it. I mean, who’d want to date Cain from the Bible.” The last sentence was told with a scoff. 

“Someone who knows that the Devil is real would believe you,” Chloe told him. “Of course it was a little unbelievable at first since I had no idea that you’re still alive, but knowing all this stuff is real, it’s not crazier than the rest of it.”

“In my defence I didn’t know how much you really knew at first. And when I started to realise that you do know that Lucifer really is the Devil, I thought that his true identity is the reason you two are not together,” Pierce admitted.

“No, that’s not it. I knew who he really is before we got together in the first place,” Chloe confirmed.

“Yes, Lucifer told me that before we came to your place on Friday. Maybe if I had known it all along I would have been more brave and told you sooner,” Pierce mused.

“Would you have believed that I’d want to date Cain then?” Chloe wondered, addressing the rhetorical question Pierce had asked earlier.

Pierce sighed at that. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess a detective dating a murderer would have still been a no.” 

“That’s not what I wanted to say,” Chloe said and put her hand on his to emphasize her point. “Given what I know about the Bible and God who is not as benevolent as people think and also considering what really happened between you and your brother, I would say that maybe it’s not so impossible to imagine.” Chloe smiled at him and Pierce looked at her baffled.

“You really would want to date me knowing who I am?” he asked to be sure that he hadn’t misunderstood her.

“Only if you want to,” Chloe responded. “If you are sure that you want to have that emotional connection with someone again, even though you’ll outlive me,” she added remembering when Pierce had told her about being forced to watch his loved ones die.

Pierce took her hand fully in his. “You are a very special woman, Chloe. I’d be honoured to have a place in your life and in your heart. If you are willing to give me a second chance I’ll do anything to not ruin it. We can go at whatever pace you want.” The man was beaming. Chloe didn’t remember ever seeing him so excited and it made her heart flutter to know that she had made the man so emotional. To surprise her even more Pierce suddenly lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. Chloe felt her cheeks heat up at that. It was really out of character for him, but Chloe liked it.

“Can I ask you out already or is it too soon?” Pierce asked, still holding her hand in his.

“We can set a date if you want to.” Chloe couldn’t really see the point in dragging it out. The truth was that she had liked the dates they’d had and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that throwing it all away because he had accidentally killed his brother during a fight long, long time ago, would be too harsh. Yes, he had lied to her by omission, but she did understand in a way why he had not told her at first about his true origin.

--------

The next day Lucifer started questioning Chloe about her meeting with Pierce as soon as he arrived in the morning. Chloe was glad that she had kept her promise and texted Lucifer that she was okay after she got home (Lucifer had made her promise to do it on the previous day and Chloe deemed that to be a reasonable demand if it kept him from texting her every 10 minutes to check on her). 

“So, how did it go?” he seemed really curious.

“Ah, it went well,” Chloe said, not sure how much she should share with him.

“Did you get all the answers you needed?” he kept prying.

“Yeah.. I guess I did.” She had managed to ask every question she had thought about.

“So are you done with him now?” Lucifer asked, hoping that now her curiosity was satisfied, they could leave that neanderthal behind. Well, not entirely, because he was the Lieutenant, but still.

Chloe was a bit uncomfortable. She had hoped that Lucifer wouldn’t ask a question that made her spell it out right away, but then again, she had decided to not keep things from him, so she might as well rip the band-aid off. “Actually, I want to give him a second chance,” she confessed tentatively.

“What do you mean?” Lucifer was confused.

“I’m gonna go on a date with him,” Chloe answered, ready to face the storm that was undoubtedly coming.

“Why would you do that?” her partner asked indignantly. “He’s a murderer. And a liar.”

“Because I don’t think he should suffer for all eternity for one mistake. And he didn’t murder Abel, it was self-defence and he didn’t mean to kill him,” Chloe explained.

“But he meant to kill the Sinnerman,” Lucifer said in a gloomy voice. “There was no need to kill him, he didn’t pose any threat to me.”

Chloe sighed. “Maybe he had a good reason to do it. I mean that man had hurt many people already. He didn’t shoot him outside the restaurant when he also had a chance, but I guess after the Sinnerman managed to get out of the precinct again, he just couldn’t risk it,” she reasoned. After seeing Pierce talk about losing someone who was as close as a brother to him (well, much closer than his actual brother), she could understand how this kind of situation would make him snap. She remembered how she had sometimes fantasised about killing the man who had shot her father.

“But Detective,” Lucifer started to protest, but Chloe stopped him.

“I think you should give him a chance too. I mean you of all people should understand what it feels like to be shunned by the Bible, to pay for eons for one mistake,” she looked at Lucifer challengingly, “so stop being so suspicious about him.”

The Devil clenched his jaw. When she put it like that it was impossible to argue with her. He should have known that someone as good as Chloe would find it in her to see good in Cain also. But Lucifer didn’t like it. He couldn’t really explain it. Maybe it was a gut feeling like the Detective got during their cases, but her getting close to the man didn’t sit well with him.

--------

Lucifer could see that Chloe seemed to be happy. More than once she smiled sweetly while looking towards the Lieutenant’s office. He knew he should be happy for her, he wanted to be happy for her, but… he couldn’t. Lucifer wasn’t even sure if it was because he didn’t think that caveman was worthy of her or was it because something else. He thought briefly about talking about it with Linda during their next session, but then decided against it, a bit afraid of what might come out of it.

 

When Ella told him that the stuff from the Sinnerman’s home in Chicago was brought over to LAPD, it was a welcome distraction and Lucifer spent quite a lot of time inspecting the things, hoping to find some answers.

Sadly the man had been either very paranoid, fearing that someone would find his personal items, or very good at hiding things, because there was almost nothing that indicated he was a crime lord. Lucifer was getting more and more frustrated with every item he inspected. Luckily for him he didn’t need to wear those awful gloves at least, because it all had been already processed.

When he got to the journals the man had been keeping, Lucifer hoped that now at least he would get a peek inside his mind. Sadly the peek was not what he had been expecting. Mostly boring stuff about inner struggles. Then at some point he started referring to someone he called “C” and was apparently his mentor. Lucifer was puzzled. If the Sinnerman had a mentor then who was he? Shouldn’t he be an even bigger crime lord? On the last pages the man had written about going to L.A. and doing a grand gesture for C to get him back. That again was entirely unhelpful. Lucifer closed it and was about to toss the useless journal back to the box when a picture fell out. There was a black kid with a big smile in an embrace of a white man with rather big arms. The top of the picture was cut off, so you couldn’t see the face of the man in the picture, but Lucifer didn’t need to see the face to recognise him. The mark on his arm peeking out from the short sleeve of his shirt was enough for identification - it was Cain. Just to be sure, Lucifer dug out a photo album Ella had shown him earlier. There was a picture of the Sinnerman, or Kevin as that was his real name, in a yearbook. Lucifer looked at the two pictures side by side and there was no doubt - the boy in the picture with Cain was the Sinnerman as a child. Lucifer opened the journal again and started to read it all over again with a different prospect. What if the “C” referred to Cain? Some of it started to make so much more sense now. The more he read it the more it sank in - that Kevin guy had not been the real Sinnerman, but a mere copycat and the real deal was pretending to be a police Lieutenant right under their noses. Oh, that was devious.

Lucifer pocketed the picture, but put back the journal since he had promised Miss Lopez to not take anything listed as a belonging of the Sinnerman away from the precinct (he hadn’t seen the photo listed anywhere). The forensic scientist had left a while ago since it was Friday evening after all. Lucifer had been hoping to finally get some answers, so he had stayed, not caring about the time. His first instinct was to go to the Detective’s place and tell her about what he had found, but when he looked at the time, he saw that it would probably not be a good time to go to there since it was almost the Urchin’s bedtime already. 

Lucifer decided to go to Lux and maybe text the Detective, asking if he could come over. To his surprise his brother was still there.

“Lucifer, finally. Where were you for so long? I was just about to call you,” Amenadiel started to question him as soon as he noticed his younger brother.

“I was at the precinct,” Lucifer sighed. “Why are you still here?” His brother didn’t usually wait for him to have a chat or drink with him, Amenadiel always found some boring stuff to bother him with.

“We need to go over those tenders I got for the maintenance service,” he said almost excitedly, like he would be asking him to look through a catalogue of sex toys. Noticing Lucifer’s bored look, he added, “you know, after our last service provider was arrested.”

“Ah, yes, too bad for Juan. Despite his side business, his men always did such good work.” Some of the workers had sadly stolen stuff from their client’s homes while doing maintenance work, but they had not been stupid enough to steal from the Devil, so Lucifer regretted losing a good service provider.

Amenadiel practically pushed him towards the office to show him the tenders. He laid the papers in front of him and started to go through them, but Lucifer’s mind was elsewhere.

“Luci! Are you even listening to me?” The angel had noticed that Lucifer was not paying much attention.

“Apologies, brother, I think we need to do it some other time,” Lucifer told him.

Amenadiel was about to admonish him about not caring enough, but something in Lucifer’s expression alarmed him. “What’s wrong?” he asked instead.

Lucifer pondered for a moment about it and then decided that he should tell his brother.

“I just found out that Cain, who you made immortal,” Lucifer couldn’t help but point out his brother’s role in all this, “is the crime boss called the Sinnerman.”

Amenadiel furrowed his brows. “But didn’t you guys catch him and didn’t he get killed or something?” The angel had read about it from a paper.

“We caught a man who called himself the Sinnerman and Cain later killed him. In cold blood,” Lucifer explained. “But today when I went through the dead man’s things I found this,” he took the picture from his pocket and put it on the table. “Does this look familiar to you?” he asked, pointing at the mark on the man’s arm in the picture.

“Yes, it does look like the mark I put on Cain,” Amenadiel admitted, “but why do you think he’s the Sinnerman?” He couldn’t really see the connection.

“Because, this boy here is the alleged Sinnerman as a kid. And in his journal he spoke of him as a mentor. So I think that Cain is the real Sinnerman and this man was just trying to accomplish who knows what with stepping in his shoes for a moment,” Lucifer explained.

Amenadiel didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know brother, it sounds kind of circumstantial to me.”

Lucifer’s brows shot up at his brother’s use of police jargon. 

Amenadiel seemed to understand what had surprised his brother and explained a little sheepishly, “I have heard Dan use the word.”

“But it makes sense. And why would he not tell anyone that he knew the man, if he didn’t have anything to hide?” Lucifer tried to argue.

“There might be some other explanations too.” Amenadiel paused for a moment. “Did he write in his journal about Cain being the Sinnerman or what did you mean by mentor?”

“No, he referred to his mentor as “C”, but it’s clear that it stands for Cain,” Lucifer was getting a bit agitated. “Are you telling me that you think I’m lying about it?”

“No, of course not,” Amenadiel tried to placate his brother. “All I’m saying is that you don’t have enough proof to go around accusing a Police Lieutenant of being a crime boss.”

As much as Lucifer hated it, he started to think that his brother was right. Chloe’s words about needing to be less suspicious about Cain suddenly rang in his ears. It became clear to him that he couldn’t go to Chloe with the circumstantial evidence he had right now, he needed some solid proof first.

--------

On Monday morning Lucifer stepped into the DA’s office. He had sent the Detective a text about running a little late that day, because he needed to run some errands first. Luckily the Detective had not asked him about what exactly he needed to do, because telling her that he needed to get some help to prove her boyfriend was a crime boss would not have boded well with her.

After a brief knock the familiar voice called out, “come in.”

“Hello, Miss Richards!” Lucifer greeted her in a charming voice as soon as he stepped into her office.

“Mr. Morningstar. That’s a surprise,” Charlotte said, furrowing her brows. “Is there a case you need me for?” she asked briefly wondering why detective Decker had not shown up then.

“Call me Lucifer,” he told her and added the answer to her question, “and yes, there is something I need your help with, but it’s not an official case.”

Charlotte cocked her head. “I’m listening.”

“You see, there is someone in the police department who I suspect is hiding some criminal activities,” Lucifer began, trying to get a feel for her willingness to help.

“Isn’t this the case for IA then?” the woman was confused.

“Not really,” Lucifer replied. He had read the information Chicago PD had about the Sinnerman and knew that he had connections, but he had no idea if or who from the police force was also involved in his network.

Charlotte had put away the case file she had been reading earlier and looked at Lucifer with an expectant expression.

“I’m not sure who is involved," Lucifer elaborated and after a pause added, “besides, there are some biblical aspects at play.”

“What do you mean?” Charlotte wasn’t sure she liked where it was going.

“Before I tell you everything I know I need to know if you’re on board,” Lucifer told her. He decided that although he had promised to not tell anyone about Cain’s true identity, he needed to tell about it to the person helping him expose that bloody caveman. So Lucifer wanted to be sure that if he was going to break his word it would be for a good reason.

“Why me?” Charlotte was suspicious why the Devil had come to seek her help.

“Because I'm sure you have some tricks up your sleeve of how to get some proof and I need someone who knows about Heaven and Hell being real,” Lucifer explained.

“Would it help to clear my ledger?” the woman asked after a minute of thinking.

“I’m sure it won’t hurt it,” Lucifer said. There was no way he could be absolutely sure what would help with her guilt and what not, but he couldn’t see how helping to uncover a crime lord could make it worse.

“Count me in then.” That answer was good enough for her. And quite frankly she had been a bit bored in her new job, so a little change would be welcome. “And who is this criminal who is posing as a policeman… or woman?” Charlotte then asked with interest.

“Let’s start with the fact that Lieutenant Marcus Pierce is actually Cain. From the Bible. And I suspect that he’s also the Sinnerman. The real one. The one he killed was a copycat.” The statement was followed with silence.

“Well, you certainly don’t bother with the small fish, do you?” Charlotte said eventually. “Tell me exactly what you got then.”

Notes:

As some of you already figured in the comments of the last chapter, Chloe is a good person and sees good in others too. So it seemed likely that she would find it in herself to see past the one mistake Cain made and is being punished for (as far as she knows he's just Cain).

Chapter 36: Unexpected

Summary:

I know, some of you hate the Chloe/Pierce relationship, but just bear with me for a bit longer.

Notes:

I posted the first chapter of this fic exactly 2 years ago. 🎉 Dont't worry, I don't plan to have another anniversary with this one, it should be finished by then. As you can see I figured out how many chapters there will be in total (the number might change a little if it turns out that I need to split some chapters).

Lucifer went to work after his talk with Charlotte Richards with a much lighter heart. He was glad that he’d had the idea to ask the former lawyer for help. He knew that she had been good at getting dirt on people and background information that wasn’t shared with her officially back when she had been working for Richards & Wheeler. Charlotte had found a way to get information about their interrogation of Juri Petrov after all. Lucifer was sure that it would be just a matter of time when she’d find bullet proof evidence that Cain is really the Sinnerman.

Unfortunately it turned out that he had overestimated Charlotte or underestimated Cain. Either way, she couldn’t find any solid proof even after surveillance.

“I watched him the whole evening,” Charlotte told Lucifer when he called her for updates again. “I don’t know if he knows he’s being followed or he’s taking a break from his criminal activities.”

“Bollocks,” Lucifer cussed under his breath. Could it be that dating Chloe made Cain turn a new page and drop the Sinnerman persona?

“I did some digging though, there are still whispers about the Sinnerman, so I don’t think he has quit altogether,” Charlotte added as if reading his mind. “A tiger never loses its stripes after all.”

“So do you have any ideas what to do now?” Lucifer asked.

“I could keep stalking him, but it might take a while until I get anything useful. It would be good if we’d be able to figure out the place where he keeps his ledger or something like that. I’m sure a man who has been around longer than electricity must have at least some things on paper.”

“Well, he does lock the door of his office every time he leaves it for a longer time,” Lucifer mused. The locks didn’t obviously stop him, but it would raise some questions if he’d be seen there snooping around. 

“You think he’s keeping incriminating stuff in his office in the precinct?” Charlotte didn’t really want to believe that.

The tone of her voice suggested that she didn’t think so and Lucifer had to agree. “I suppose not. Maybe at home then?”

“That’s more likely. But the problem is that he has no hobbies or anything that would keep him out of his house for a certain time. He just goes home from work and that’s it.” Charlotte had been rather bored when she had followed him.

“He’s in the precinct during the day,” Lucifer said, insinuating that she could go and search his house then.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t leave the office during working hours,” Charlotte said apologetically. She would have liked to snoop around in the Sinnerman’s house instead of being in the office, but she was still a newbie and didn’t want to make them question her abilities to do the job.

“That’s all right, we just need to find out when he’ll be out of the house.” Lucifer figured that the man must be doing something else too during the evening. If needed they could wait until some police event came up again. He just hoped that it wouldn’t take too long.

--------

Chloe walked into the precinct feeling a bit giddy. Her and Pierce had had a few dates since she decided to give him a second chance and last night they had taken a step further and had sex. They were at Pierce’s place. This time he had cooked dinner and it had been good. Chloe had been prepared to let things get physical if the mood was right, so she had been wearing a nice matching set of underwear and had shaved before the date more thoroughly. 

The whole thing had been… nice. Not as mindblowingly good as it had been with Lucifer (well, she was quite sure that no other man could match the Devil when it came to sex), but it was satisfactory. A small part of Chloe had wondered since Pierce had been around for thousands of years, would he be as experienced as Lucifer was, but it seemed that Lucifer's skills were not only due to him having been around for a long time. 

Chloe was contemplating if they should fill the papers for HR already to state that her and the Lieutenant were in a relationship when a familiar voice brought her out of her musings.

“Hello, Chloe!” the man she had just been thinking about greeted her with a tone much softer than he usually used in the precinct.

“Hi, Marcus!” Chloe said in return and felt heat creep up her neck, the memory of his naked torso rushing to her mind.

“Can you come to the evidence room?” the Lieutenant asked.

“Sure, let me just put my bag at my desk,” Chloe replied, not sure why he wanted her to go to the evidence room with him.

As soon as they were both in the evidence room, Pierce locked the door. Before Chloe could ask why, his mouth was on hers, kissing her with more passion than their previous kisses had been.

Chloe did respond to the kiss after the initial surprise had passed. His hands caressed her sides and upper back and Chloe slipped her own hands around Pierce’s neck. He started to walk them deeper inside the room until Chloe felt the table that was on the other side of the room touch her buttocks. Marcus pushed her bum on the table so Chloe was sitting there and stepped between her legs. She could feel the bulge in his pants. Pierce’s hands had roamed under her blouse and Chloe started to wonder how far he was going to take this. As if to answer the question in her mind she felt him suddenly open the button of her jeans. That made it quite clear what his intention must be.

Chloe broke the kiss and put her hand on his chest. “Marcus, what are you doing?” she asked, a bit alarmed.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked and kissed her neck while pulling down the zipper of her jeans. “I thought we could christen the room so to speak.” 

Marcus was about to put his lips on her neck again but Chloe pushed at his chest. “I’m not going to have sex with you here,” she said sternly. She had not expected him to even want something like that.

“Why not?” he asked, looking genuinely puzzled.

“Because we’re at work. I told you yesterday that I don’t want PDA at work, so why do you assume that I’d be okay with having sex with you in the evidence room?” To emphasise her standpoint, Chloe pulled the zipper up again.

“Come on, Chloe. Let’s be a bit adventurous. I’ve heard others do it here also,” Pierce put his hand to the zipper again, but Chloe moved his hand away.

“I said no,” she told him in a voice that didn’t leave much room for arguing. “I don’t care what others do, I’m not doing it.”

For a moment Marcus looked at her like he was thinking about doing it anyway, but then he took a step back. “Fine, have it your way.”

Chloe immediately hopped off the table and closed the button he had opened. She ran her hands over her blouse too, making sure everything was as it was supposed to be and started walking towards the door. Chloe paused for a moment before opening the door and let out a deep breath to calm herself. Pierce walked to her and said, “we should walk out together.”

“Okay,” Chloe agreed. It would make sense that if they had walked into the room together and looked at some evidence, they would also walk out of the room together. She did her best to channel the actress in her and look as normal as possible. Luckily it seemed that others who had already arrived at the precinct didn’t pay much attention to them.

Still, Chloe felt a bit uneasy and wanted to get away from prying eyes. She decided to go to the lab and ask if Ella had managed to get some results on their latest case.

“Hi, Ella!” she greeted the forensic scientist stepping inside the lab.

For some reason Ella looked at her with an odd expression. “Oh, hi! I didn’t expect to see you here so soon, Decker,” she said as a reply and now Chloe was really confused.

“Why? I’m always at the precinct around this time.”

“Oh, don’t play coy with me. I saw you two go into the evidence room,” Ella said and winked at her friend.

Chloe felt her face turn red. “I… we needed something from there,” she stammered.

“Uh-uh. What exactly did you need?” Ella couldn’t help but tease her.

“Uhm… it was.. uhm,” suddenly it felt like her memory was wiped clean of any case names and she couldn’t produce anything believable as an answer.

Ella looked at her, smirking and Chloe decided to relent. “Fine, he kissed me there, okay.”

“Ooh, I’m so happy for you guys,” Ella was grinning from ear to ear. “You two are so hot together.”

“Thanks,” Chloe said with a little smile. It was nice that she was supporting them so much.

“Although I did expect you to do a little more than just kissing in the evidence room, if you know what I mean,” Ella winked at her again, smirking.

Chloe couldn’t believe that her friend would think that she’d be up to it, so she decided to play dumb. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on. You must know that people go there to do the old no pants dance.” Ella pointed then towards a wall where a shelf full of beakers was positioned, “whenever things get heated up in there, that shelf will shake. I’ve even lost a few beakers when the thrust has been really hard,” Ella explained with a grin on her face.

Chloe tried to look mildly interested, but inside she was rather horrified about the idea that she and Marcus could have caused some of the beakers to break if she hadn’t stopped him and Ella would have known all about their activities in the evidence room. 

To distract herself from those thoughts Chloe steered their conversation towards the evidence she had initially wanted to ask about.

Unfortunately Ella didn’t have anything for her yet, so Chloe walked back to her desk after a few minutes. As soon as she had reached it her phone rang. It was their victim’s co-worker who had been away the previous day and was reaching out now. Chloe spotted Lucifer walking down the stairs as she was talking, so she arranged a meeting with the man as soon as possible and was relieved to have a reason to get out of the precinct. Even though they had technically just kissed and weren’t that long in the evidence room, Chloe couldn’t shake the thought that other co-workers might be thinking along the same line that Ella had been and assumed that she and Pierce went in there to have sex.

 

Chloe and Lucifer had just gotten back to the precinct when the Lieutenant told them to step into his office and asked about the progress they had made so far with the case. Chloe told him what they had discovered so far and Lucifer added some comments like he always did. They were about to leave when Pierce spoke, “can I have a word with you alone, detective Decker?”

“Sure,” Chloe agreed and turned to Lucifer, “go ahead.”

Lucifer didn’t look happy about it, but complied. “Very well,” he muttered and stepped out of the office, closing the door behind him.

“Sorry for the official tone, I just thought you might want it to look professional,” Pierce said as soon as the door was closed.

“It’s okay,” Chloe assured him. “What did you want to talk about?” she felt a bit nervous, thinking it would probably be about the incident in the evidence room.

“I just wanted to make sure everything is okay,” Pierce told her.

“Yes, yes, it’s fine. As long as you accept my boundaries. And this is a red line.” After her talk with Ella, Chloe swore to herself that she would never ever have sex in the precinct.

“I understand,” Pierce said. After a beat of silence he asked, “did you manage to find out if your babysitter can watch your kid on Tuesday?”

“Yes, I can go out with you on Tuesday,” Chloe said in a more cheerful tone. They had discussed when they’d be able to go out again last night and she had told Marcus that she wouldn't be able to see him during the weekend due to other plans. He had then suggested Tuesday, but Chloe had not been sure if she could get a babysitter. After going home she had texted Maze and the demon had assured her that she’d be back in L.A. by the lunch they had scheduled as a Tribe meeting and would be home for at least half of the week.

“Good. I was thinking about going to Caffe Pinguini,” Pierce said with a little smile.

“That sounds good.” Chloe hadn’t been there, but she had heard that it was good.

“I’ll make the reservation for seven and pick you up half past six,” Pierce offered.

“Okay,” Chloe smiled at him.

To anyone else at the precinct it seemed like Lucifer was playing some game on his phone while waiting for Chloe. In reality the game was just a distraction. He was listening to the conversation that was taking place in the Lieutenant’s office. He was wondering what kind of boundary the Detective was talking about. But more importantly he was pleased to discover that on Tuesday evening Cain would definitely be away from home thus making it possible to go and take a look around his house. Lucifer immediately texted Charlotte to ask if she’d be available on Tuesday evening. He figured that the man should leave home around six to get to Chloe’s place in time.  

--------

Linda stared at the text message she had just received and cursed under her breath. She typed a reply, but the answer she got didn’t help at all. The therapist was so focused on her phone that she didn’t notice her two friends approaching.

“Hi, Linda!” Chloe greeted her while Maze looked at Linda’s expression and asked, “who do I need to stab?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Linda didn’t understand why Maze was talking about stabbing someone.

“You look like someone stole your favourite toy,” the demon explained.

“No, you don’t need to stab anyone. Me and Amenadiel just have a scheduling conflict, that’s all,” Linda explained. Then she tilted her head and looked at Chloe, “are you perhaps free on Tuesday evening?” Although Trixie was much older than Charlie, Linda was sure that Chloe could handle a few hours with a toddler also.

Before Chloe could respond, Maze said with a wide grin, “she’s going to shag her boss on Tuesday evening.”

“No, Maze, I’m just going on a date,” Chloe corrected her, heat creeping up her neck.

“You’re dating someone?” Linda was baffled.

“Yes, Marcus Pierce, our Lieutenant.” She hadn’t meant to keep it a secret from her friend, but somehow it hadn’t really come up. Well, they hadn’t had a Tribe night for a while and Chloe just wasn’t someone who would call her friend just to announce her new relationship.

“Wow, I had no idea,” Linda said. And since she really had no idea, she couldn’t help but wonder, “does Lucifer know?”

“Yes, he knows,” Chloe replied curtly. To be honest she had assumed that Lucifer had talked about her relationship in therapy, but apparently he hadn’t.

Maze could see from Linda’s expression that she was going to talk about some feelings and the demon stood up to head to the bar. Although they were meeting for lunch this time, she planned to have some alcohol. 

“I’m surprised he hasn’t mentioned it,” Linda said out loud what they both were thinking.

“Well, he’s not too excited about it,” Chloe admitted, fiddling with her fingers.

“I can imagine,” Linda mused. After a beat of silence, she decided to ask, “have you two talked about this miracle thing? I mean, really talked.”

“We talked about it when we first talked after his return,” Chloe said, feeling a bit uncomfortable about the topic.

“You mean when you were a bit tipsy and you both had so many pent up feelings that you ended up hurting each other?” Linda was quite sure that whatever they said during that particular conversation couldn’t be considered a peaceful conversation.

“Still, we talked. And after Dan broke up with me, he didn’t really show any interest in getting back together,” Chloe said defensively. It had been rather clear in her mind so far, Linda’s questions sounded like she didn’t think it was so clear.

Before Linda could say anything else, Chloe stood up from the table, saying that she needed to use the restroom. Well, she did need to use it, but she also felt that she didn’t want to discuss this topic any further. Everything had finally started to settle for her, but Linda’s words threatened to tear things apart again.

Maze was walking back to the table with a tumbler at the same moment. She frowned, seeing Chloe flee the table, but didn’t ask.  

After the demon had sat down, Linda looked at her, a new solution to her problem raising in her mind. “Uhm, Maze… you have watched Chloe’s kid, right?” Linda remembered Chloe mentioning that.

“Yeah,” Maze dragged out, not sure where Linda was going with this.

“Well, would you mind watching Charlie too? Just a few hours.”

“Yes, I would mind. I won’t do it.” Maze’s tone didn’t leave much room for arguing.

“Why not?” Linda was not happy with her answer.

“Because he can’t hold a knife,” the demon shrugged.

“Excuse me?” Linda was not sure she had heard right.

“Believe me, I’ve tried to give your kid a knife, but he just can’t hold it. When I can’t teach him how to defend himself, what would be the point of being alone with him.”

Linda’s mouth dropped open. “You are letting Trixie handle knives when you watch her?”

“Yeah, she needs to learn. Decker’s not teaching her, so I have to do it for her.” Maze explained it like it would be the most natural thing on Earth.

“Well, can’t you just watch Charlie without the knife part?” Linda asked.

“Nope,” Maze replied and took a sip from her drink.

“Why?” Linda pressed on. 

“Because I don’t deal with shit,” Maze said sternly.

“What do you mean?” Linda asked, feeling a bit offended. It did sound like her friend just called her son a shit.

“I mean Trixie wipes her own butt. Unless Charlie has learned to do that during the few weeks I haven’t seen him, he doesn’t. And I don’t wipe butts. Especially male butts, even if they are just little humans,” Maze explained.

“Oh,” was all Linda could reply. This was actually a valid reason. She didn’t really enjoy that part either. They were currently potty training Charlie, but these things take time and even if he’ll learn it anytime soon, he’ll probably need some help with wiping for a while. Realising that Maze would not be an option, Linda felt defeated. She rested her forehead on the table, “what the hell am I going to do now. I really need to go to that meeting with the daycare people if I want Charlie to be admitted there and they specifically told me that this meeting is meant to be parents only, no kids, because that would distract the parents too much. And I can’t just leave him with strangers.” 

Ella arrived during Linda’s ramble, but since she was mostly muttering to herself, the Latina was confused why Linda was sitting there with her forehead on the table while Maze was sipping her drink next to her nonchalantly.

“Hey, what’s going on?” she looked at Maze and then directed her gaze towards Linda.

“She needs to find someone who’d take her kid,” Maze said casually.

“What?” Ella couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Linda lifted her head and gave a more accurate explanation. “I just need a babysitter for Tuesday evening, but no one I asked can help me. Amenadiel has to be at Lux in the evening, but I need to go to a meeting with the people from daycare. That appointment was really hard to get.”

“Well, I could watch Charlie if you want,” Ella offered.

“Really?” Linda asked excitedly.

“Yeah, I have watched my brother’s kids from time to time. And Charlie is such a cute little boy, I’m sure we’d be fine.”

“Oh my God, you are an angel,” Linda exclaimed, not caring that both Amenadiel and Lucifer would have had their own opinions about that expression. Since neither of them were in the vicinity, that sentence earned just an eyeroll and scoff from Maze.

--------

Charlotte parked the car when they were close enough to Pierce’s house. Lucifer wasn’t sure how far the surveillance cameras would reach, so to be sure they decided to leave the car a bit further away. 

“I think you should keep watch and I will go into the house to investigate,” Lucifer proposed. “Oh, and here is your ear-piece,” the Devil pulled a small microphone and speaker set out of his pocket, offering it to Charlotte.

The woman furrowed her brows. “We could also use phones if we needed to tell something important to each other,” she suggested.

“No, no, no, this is a proper mission, not just a random stumble in someone’s home. This needs to be done right,” Lucifer said. If he’d had more time to prepare, he was sure he could have managed to get some real James Bond worthy gadgets.

“Fine,” Charlotte relented. 

“All right, let me know if you see anything suspicious,” Lucifer told her before he left the car. Knowing that the balcony was outside of the field of sight for the cameras, he decided to fly straight there. Lucifer was about to enter the house when he heard car noises. Peeking around the corner he saw Pierce driving out of the garage. Lucifer checked the time again. “Leaving so late?” he wondered, “he’ll never make it on time to the Detective’s house,” he muttered. Honestly, that neanderthal couldn’t even bother to show up on time for a date.   

Lucifer used the fancy headset he had bought and let Charlotte know that Cain will drive past her shortly. Charlotte had just barely enough time to duck her head, so it would seem that the car was just parked there. She waited until she couldn’t hear the sound of the engine anymore before sitting up. “He’s gone now,” Charlotte reported back.

“Good, I’ll go inside then,” Lucifer said into the tiny microphone and opened the balcony door.

The room looked the same it did when they were trying to kill Cain with demon blade. Lucifer assumed that it was Cain’s office. There was a pile of papers on the desk, so Lucifer decided to start with those. To his disappointment there was nothing of interest. All of it seemed to be official police work. It seemed that the man was taking work home and apparently working on them behind this desk.

Next Lucifer turned his attention to the shelves. There was a section with books, so at least the man reads. Most of them were crime novels and murder mysteries. Lucifer chuckled, wondering if Cain read those for inspiration. There were also some rocks (really?) and other knick knacks there that didn’t look important to him. On a lower shelf Lucifer spotted something that looked like a photo album. Since his first clue about Cain’s secret activities had come from a photo album, Lucifer decided to take a look at it. He flipped through some pages that were unfortunately filled with boring pictures of Cain in various places. Lucifer was already sure that it was unhelpful when he spotted a familiar picture. This time the top of it was not cut off and he could see the smile on Cain’s face. That was a sight you didn’t see much. Cain’s expression didn’t change that much usually and Lucifer was not sure he had ever heard the man laugh or seen him smile. So it meant that the boy was someone who could make that caveman smile.

Lucifer contemplated what to do. His first instinct was to take the picture, but then he figured that Cain might discover it was missing and start to suspect maybe that someone had been in his house. So Lucifer decided to take a picture of it instead. One up close and the other so that the other photos on the pages would be seen too, because those all featured Cain and it would be clear that this was his photo album. After he had taken the photos, Lucifer put the album back. His attention was at the desk drawers next. One of them had a lock, so this was promising. He was about to open it when he heard Charlotte speak in an alarmed tone, “Lucifer, he’s coming back.”

“What? So soon?” he was surprised. Cain should not be home yet. 

“I just saw him driving past me. Get out of there,” Charlotte ordered.

Lucifer sighed and went to the balcony. He could hear the bang of the car door and Cain practically running to the house, cursing to himself.

“Fucking idiot.” Cain sounded distressed and angry at someone. Lucifer stood by the balcony door and listened. He seemed to come upstairs, because his voice came closer, but fortunately he didn’t enter the office.

“Hi, Chloe. I’m so sorry, but I had a little accident.” Cain had apparently called Chloe while Lucifer could hear him shuffling around.

“No, nothing serious. Just an idiot cut in front of me while I was taking a sip from my coffee and I had to come back home so I wouldn’t look as if I’d peed myself,” the man grumbled.

“I can’t make it to your place in time. Could we meet at the restaurant instead? I think I’d make it in time for the reservation,” he suggested.

“Great, see you soon,” Cain’s voice had perked up.

Lucifer heard him shuffling around the room a bit more and then he rushed down the stairs. Before exiting the house, Cain stopped by the door. Lucifer could hear him mutter, “I can’t believe I forgot to activate the security system before.” After that there were some beeping sounds and then the man left again.

Lucifer said to his microphone that Cain left again, so Charlotte would be aware that he’d be driving past her once again.

The last thing Lucifer had heard Cain say made him worry. If the house had a security system, that would mean he couldn’t go inside again without activating it. The front door was directly in the field of view of one of the surveillance cameras, so entering from there would mean he'd be definitely caught on it. Also Lucifer wasn’t sure he could deactivate the system even with his powers. It was not a lock, those would be no problem for him. Besides, he would need to turn it off, not on which was also not his forte.

It seemed he had no option to go inside again, so he decided to go back to Charlotte.

 

The woman was surprised when Lucifer opened the passenger door and got in. She had been looking at her phone, a smile on her face.

“What happened?” she asked when she saw the Devil climb back inside her car.

“He activated the security system this time,” Lucifer said in a gloomy voice. “I couldn’t risk going inside again”

“Did he come back to do just that?” Charlotte asked. It would not surprise her that much if the man would risk being late for a date only to make sure that his lair was protected.

“No, apparently he spilled some coffee on his trousers and needed to change,” Lucifer told her.

“Did you manage to get anything at all?” Charlotte asked hopefully. She knew that Lucifer had only a small amount of time to look around.

“Only this,” he took out his phone and showed her the photos he had taken.

“That’s the same picture the fake Sinnerman had,” she recognised the photo.

“Yes, only this time the upper part is not cut off,” Lucifer added.

“What do we do now?” Charlotte asked. If the house had that much security they needed to make a plan B.

“I don’t know,” Lucifer said, sounding defeated. He'd had such high hopes of finding evidence in Cain’s home.

The following silence was disturbed by the sound of an incoming text on Charlotte’s phone. She was still holding it in her hand and looked at the message. It made a smile tug on her lips.

Lucifer looked at her and he could recognise what that kind of smile meant.

“Is the text perhaps from detective Espinoza?” Lucifer asked her.

Charlotte blushed a little. “Yes, I told him that I had to work tonight, so he thought I might need some perking up.”

“How are things going between you two?” Lucifer was curious. 

Charlotte sighed at that. “They are good,” she said, but the tone of her voice made Lucifer think that there was more to it.

“But?” he asked.

“But I can tell he wants to be more than friends and I have been ignoring the hints and holding it back,” she admitted, looking down at her phone.

“I can’t blame you for not being interested in Daniel romantically,” Lucifer shrugged.

“That’s not the reason. I mean, I do think he’s attractive, I just…,” she trailed off. “He seems so kind and a good man and I’m not sure I’m someone he should date. I was a real bitch before the attack and I’m not sure how much I’ve changed since that.”

“He seems to want to be with you regardless. I mean he knows first hand what the old you was capable of,” Lucifer said. He did not disagree with Charlotte’s assessment of herself before the trip down to Hell.

“Sometimes I think that he sees me through some glasses that make everything seem better.”

“So what are you planning to do? Let him hope that he’ll have a shot with you one day or crush his dreams once and for all?” Lucifer questioned. Even though he was not a fan of the Douche, he almost felt bad for him since both of the options would be hard on the man.

“I was actually thinking that I try to avoid the topic and maybe if I work on myself hard enough, I’ll be ready to take that step one day. By the way, thank you for suggesting Linda as a therapist. She’s been such a big help.” Charlotte had been meaning to thank him for a while.

“You’re welcome,” Lucifer smiled. “And to me it seems that you have changed quite a lot, maybe you are better than you think.”

--------

Ella had been having fun with Charlie. The boy had been in a good mood in the evening despite the initial sadness over his mother leaving, but Ella had managed to distract him soon enough.

Now it seemed that the boy was getting tired and his mood started to change. A quick glance at the clock told Ella that Linda should be home soon. Five minutes later it was clear that this time her distraction tactics weren’t working anymore. Chsrlie wasn’t interested in any game Ella tried to play with him.

It was time to use the emergency candy. Linda had told her that in case Charlie’s mood got too sour, she could give him a candy. But only one, especially if it was close to bed time, which it was now.

Ella went to the kitchen and took out the bag of candies from a shelf where it was hidden behind a box. She hoped that she could take one from the bag and put it back before the kid noticed it. Unfortunately he had padded to the kitchen as soon as Ella had touched the bag of candies. As soon as Ella had taken a candy from the bag she heard an eager sound beside her.

“Oh, you like those, don’t you?” she asked amusedly, seeing the little grabby hands reach towards her. She quickly unwrapped it and gave the candy to Charlie. While the boy was devouring it, Ella watched him with a smile on her face.

As soon as Charlie was done with the candy, he reached his hands out, clearly wanting more. The bag was still on the counter and Charlie seemed to hope that he could reach it.

“Sorry, buddy, but your mommy said that you can have only one,” Ella explained, but that didn’t seem to matter to the toddler who kept reaching for the bag, making sounds that sounded a bit like ‘give me’. Even though he was still too short to get anything from the countertop, Ella thought that it would be probably better if the bag was even further out of reach and moved it to the top shelf. That didn’t really lessen the boy's enthusiasm about trying to get it.

Attempting to get his attention away from the sweets, Ella stepped away from the counter and called Charlie’s name, hoping that he’d divert his attention to her instead. It didn’t work, Charlie was too invested in trying to get the rest of the candy. Ella was slightly amused by the sight of the boy trying to reach the shelf that was more than twice the kid’s height and watched it with a smile on her face. Until one moment there was a whoosh and two small light gray wings popped out of the boy’s back.

Ella’s eyes went big and her jaw dropped. She kept staring at the boy who was flapping with the wings frantically and as a result of that managed to lift himself up from the floor a few inches before falling back. It seemed to amuse the kid and his whining sounds from before had turned to excited squeals.

“Ay dios mio,” was all Ella could mutter at the sight. She was so transfixed by the unusual sight that she almost didn’t hear the front door open.

Linda and Amenadiel both walked in, having coincidentally arrived home at the same time. “We’re home,” Linda called out when she didn’t see anyone. When she heard excited noises coming from the kitchen she headed towards that direction.

Hearing footsteps nearing, Ella realised suddenly that the kid’s parents were home and panic settled over her. What was she going to tell them? How would she explain it? She looked towards the doorway where her friend was standing now, looking surprised.

“I…,” Ella stammered, not knowing what to say. “I… I don’t …”

Before she could finish her thought or even decide what to say, Linda looked at her, concern evident on her face and asked, “are you okay?”

Ella furrowed her brows, not understanding why her friend was worried about her and not her son, when she noticed Amenadiel step to the boy with a big grin on his face. He scooped Charlie up and said with reverence, “you have wings, my son.”

That confused Ella even more, but before she could say anything, Linda had stepped beside her and started to guide her towards the couch, “let’s go and sit down, Ella.”

“Okay,” she muttered, feeling that maybe sitting down would not be a bad idea.

“How are you feeling?” Linda asked in a soft voice when they were both sitting on the couch.

“Me? Why are you asking about me? You kid just sprouted wings. Wings!” Ella couldn’t keep her bafflement inside any longer.

“Well,” Linda glanced at Amenadiel who was twirling with Charlie in the kitchen, “we kind of expected that.” They had not been sure if the boy would have wings, but it was not too surprising to learn that the son of an angel, even if the said angel had lost his own wings, did have wings.

Ella had followed Linda’s gaze and was now staring at Amenadiel’s reaction. “What does it mean?” 

“It means that Amenadiel is an angel and therefore Charlie is a half angel,” Linda explained.

Ella was silent for a while. “So everything I have believed in is real?” she whispered finally, clutching the cross that was hanging on a chain around her neck.

“Yes,” Linda confirmed. “It’s all real - angels and God and Devil and demons.”

“It’s all real,” Ella muttered, staring at the direction of Charlie and Amenadiel.

Linda decided to let her friend process it for a while and just sat next to her. She looked towards her kid and boyfriend again and saw that Charlie had started to rub his eyes. 

“Amenadiel, I think you should take Charlie upstairs, get him ready for bed,” she said to him in almost a whisper, trying not to disturb Ella. Amenadiel nodded and headed towards the stairs.

Ella and Linda sat in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly Ella remembered something Linda had said. “Wait. If the Devil is real too, is Lucifer really the Devil then?”

“Yes, he is. But he’s not what people believe him to be. He’s a good man,” Linda assured Ella, knowing that Lucifer would be devastated if Ella would be afraid of him now.

“I know he’s a good man. But… shit, I always thought he was a method actor or something.” Ella felt rather foolish right now.

“People usually don’t believe him when he says he’s the Devil, you shouldn’t feel bad about it,” Linda consoled her. She hadn’t believed him either until she had seen the Devil face.

--------

Lucifer had spent a few hours after that failed attempt to find more proof in Cain’s home in Lux, trying to distract himself, but his mind was too occupied with how to get the proof he needed and he decided to go to the penthouse instead. He had just finished pouring himself a drink when his phone rang. Looking at the caller ID he saw that it was Amenadiel. Lucifer sighed. It usually meant something incredibly boring when his brother called. He briefly thought about not answering at all, but then decided that his evening was a disaster anyway, so why not add a splash of boring on top of it.

“Hello, brother. What boring reasons do I owe the interruption this time?”

“Hi Lucifer!” Amenadiel said and then hesitated. “I have some news,” he finally told his brother, but didn't elaborate.

“And? Do you want me to guess what news you have?” Lucifer wasn’t in the mood for dragging it out.

“No, I…,” Amenadiel stammered. He wasn’t sure how his brother would take the news and that made him hesitate.

“What is it? Did something bad happen?” Lucifer was getting unsettled.

“Well… actually… Charlie got wings,” Amenadiel decided to start with the better part of what he had to tell his brother.

“Oh, congratulations I guess. Or not?” Lucifer assumed that his brother wanted Charlie to have wings, but the tone of the conversation made him doubt it now.

“Thank you! I’m really happy about it,” he admitted.

“Then why are you sounding like a teenager who has to tell her parents that she’s pregnant?” Lucifer wondered.

“Because… Ella was watching Charlie tonight. She saw them and now she knows everything,” Amenadiel finally said what he had been holding back.

“Oh,” Lucifer now understood what the problem was. “And how is she?”

“I just drove her home, she wasn’t in the shape to drive herself. I think she might need a few days, but I think she’ll be fine in the end,” Amenadiel told him. The angel did think that Ella would be okay rather sooner than later, because she already believed in Heaven and Hell.

Lucifer sighed. At least she hadn’t been subjected to his Devil face unexpectedly. But he did realise that accepting the Devil might still be difficult for her. “Thank you for telling me, brother,” Lucifer said. Even though the thought of losing a friend (temporarily) was not what he had needed right now, he was grateful that Amenadiel had filled him in.

--------

Lucifer had been keeping an eye on Pierce the entire time he was in the precinct the next day. He hoped to see something that would give him an idea how to get some evidence of his criminal activities. Wanting to keep an eye on the man was also the reason he hadn’t left the precinct yet, although there was only paperwork left for the day.

Chloe was writing and Lucifer sat on the other side of the desk, tapping on his phone for change, so it wouldn’t be too obvious that he’s watching the Lieutenant. From the corner of his eye he saw the Detective look up from the paperwork at some point and looking at something on the other side of the room with a fond smile on her lips. Lucifer glanced over his shoulder and was not surprised to see that it was the Lieutenant she was looking at.

“So how are things going between you and Pierce?” Lucifer decided to ask. They hadn’t really talked about Chloe’s relationship that much. Lucifer feared that he wouldn’t be able to control his jealousy if she started gushing about the neanderthal and hadn’t asked much. Even now, the question sounded a bit forced.

“Good,” Chloe replied, turning her attention back to the papers in front of her. “We’re planning to have a game night on Friday,” she added after a pause.

“Playing some adult games?” Lucifer arched his brow in surprise.

“No,” Chloe blushed a little, “child appropriate games. Trixie will be there too,” she explained.

“You’re letting your child meet him?” Lucifer asked, surprised. He felt his gut churn. For some reason the thought that the Urchin will be meeting the Sinnerman made him nauseous.

“She’ll have to meet him eventually and I want the three of us to have some quality time together.”

“No. It’s a bad idea,” Lucifer tried to argue.

“Why?” Chloe looked up from the papers and her gaze was challenging, expecting Lucifer to explain his statement.

“You don’t know him that well,” Lucifer tried to come up with a valid reason.

“I know him well enough, Lucifer,” her voice was stern. 

Lucifer could see that he needed to make a stronger case if he wanted to stop her from inviting Cain to a game night with her child. So he made a decision.

“Detective, there’s something I need to tell you,” he began.

“So tell me,” Chloe replied, keeping her eyes on the papers.

“In private,” Lucifer said, not wanting to risk the Lieutenant overhearing them.

Chloe rolled her eyes, not too happy about his theatrics. She considered telling Lucifer that he should just say what he needed to say, but there was a look in his eyes that made her pause.

“Fine,” she glanced at the side, “let's go to the observation room then.” 

Chloe crossed her hands on her chest and stayed by the door looking at Lucifer expectantly as soon as the door closed behind her.

Lucifer had entered first and walked to the middle of the room. He turned to face the Detective before he started to speak. “I discovered something about Pierce,” Lucifer began.

“Really?” It was clear from her voice that Chloe was not pleased about the direction the conversation was going.

Lucifer sighed. He knew that he didn’t have enough proof, but he needed to make her believe him.

“Look,” he took out the photo from the pocket inside his jacket, “I found this among our so-called Sinnerman’s belongings.” He held out the picture and Chloe stepped closer. She took the photo in her hand and frowned. She didn’t really understand what the big discovery was.

“And?” she asked questioningly.

“Look at the arm,” Lucifer tapped on the arm that was draped around the smiling boy in the picture, “does it look familiar to you?”

Her brows furrowed even more. It did look like the mark on Pierce’s arm, but she wasn’t 100% sure. He didn’t really like it when she looked too closely at it, so Chloe had tried to respect his boundary and didn’t really study it when they were together and his shirt was off. “A little,” she admitted eventually.

“Well, I remember it clearly and this is the mark on Cain. And that means, it’s him holding young Kevin in his arms.” When Chloe still didn’t look too impressed by the revelation, Lucifer added, “you know, the man who called himself the Sinnerman.”

“Yes, I understand who the boy is, but why is it so important?” Chloe didn’t understand.

“Because,” Lucifer paused, “I think Kevin was not really the Sinnerman.”

“He admitted to killing Joey and Frieda, you heard him yourself.”

“Yes, I did. And I don’t doubt that he did it, I just think that the rest of the crimes that have been connected to the Sinnerman were not his,” Lucifer explained.

“And you believe this based on that picture?” Chloe was more than confused.

“Not only. I also read his journal. He had a mentor, who he referred to as “C”. And I believe he is really the Sinnerman.” Lucifer paused and looked at the Detective, hoping that she would catch on what he really was trying to say.

“Why are you telling me this then? Shouldn’t we discuss it with the Lieutenant?” 

“No.” Lucifer’s voice came out a little harsher than he had planned. “Can’t you see the connection?” He tapped on the photo again, “the mentor he called “C”. As in Cain.”

“Wait? You are not seriously suggesting that Marcus Pierce, our Lieutenant, is actually the Sinnerman?” Chloe asked incredulously and dropped the picture to the table next to her. 

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying,” Lucifer confirmed in a serious voice.

“Are you out of your mind?” Chloe raised her voice. “Based on a childhood picture and a letter in his journal?”

“I tried to find more evidence, but I have not succeeded so far,” Lucifer had to admit. “I was planning to tell you after I found it, but -” he trailed off.

“But what?” Chloe crossed her arms again.

“I couldn’t let you bring him home to your child,” Lucifer blurted out.

“You’re unbelievable,” Chloe threw her hands in the air. “Are you really that jealous that you’ve become delusional?”

“I’m not delusional. This makes perfect sense. It’s why he killed that fake Sinnerman in the first place - he couldn’t have someone pretend to be him and the man clearly knew too much about him to let him stay in jail.” Lucifer was getting agitated, seeing that Chloe didn’t believe him. “I’m telling you, he’s dangerous.”

Chloe huffed and shook her head. “And I’m telling you that he’s a good man and you should stop this witch hunt.”

“This is not a witch hunt. He’s a crime boss, you have to believe me. You know I don’t lie,” Lucifer was getting desperate.

“Yes, I know that. I can see that you believe it for some reason, but I can’t see any proof here.” Even though he’s her partner, this sounded far too outrageous for her to just believe him.

Lucifer raked his hand through his hair in desperation. “You don’t see it because you are not looking objectively at him. You see him like some sort of hero, but he’s lying to you. He’s hiding his true persona from everyone.”

“Stop it!” Chloe barked at him. “I don’t want to hear it anymore.”

Lucifer could see that he had failed in convincing her. A surge of helplessness crashed over him. “Fine,” he said, clenching his jaw, “I have told you what I know, I guess the rest is up to you now.” He tucked the photo back in his pocket and walked out of the room.

Lucifer stormed out of the precinct and didn’t stop until he was outside, wanting to get away from it all as soon as possible. He didn’t notice the pair of blue eyes watching him through the blinds in the Lieutenant’s office.

Notes:

One of the reasons I decided to go with the Chloe/Pierce relationship was to fix some scenes. Their eveident room sex scene is my least favourite scene in the series. I did tell this to Joe and Ildy also when we were on a fan meet with them during a convention. They didn't even try to defend it. 😂

The idea of Ella getting the celestial reveal by seeing Charlie's wings pop up while babysitting him is actually from Joe and Ildy. That was one of the ideas they had for the show before they got season 6. I liked it, so I decided to write it.

Honestly, I was just contemplating over whether or not to include Chloe's assessment of Pierce's sexual abilities and some comparison to Lucifer when I read the comment from Joshuamoss1123 on chapter 32, so it became clear that I needed to include it. 😄

Chapter 37: Fixing it

Notes:

I finsihed the last chapter a bit earlier than I posted it (I waited for the correct date), so I started to write this chapter before I posted the last one and that's why I managed to finish it much quicker after the last update.

Lucifer exited the precinct feeling a sharp need to punch something to relieve the frustration bubbling inside him. He briefly considered punching the precinct wall, but then remembered that there are cameras overlooking it and discarded the thought. He was not interested in explaining why or how he punched a hole in the wall of the building. Lucifer stomped on towards his card when he heard his phone ring. His first thought was to ignore it, but then a small flicker of hope rose in him - what if that was the Detective and she had changed her mind and wanted to discuss the Cain problem. So he decided to just check who was calling him, intent to ignore it if it wasn’t the Detective.

The hope proved not to be justified - it was not the Detective, but the name on his screen made him pause. It was a woman he had thought he’d not see or hear from anytime soon. Lucifer cleared his throat and answered his phone.

“Good evening, Miss Lopez,” he said in a casual voice.

“Lucifer,” although she had called him, Ella sounded a little startled. “Hi! Uhm… I uhm… I need answers, dude.”

“What kind of answers precisely?” Lucifer tried to sound as non threatening as he could.

“A lot of answers. I have a ton of questions and you owe me answers.” It seemed that her initial fright had left her and she was talking quicker than usual.

“All right. What do you want to know?” The precinct parking lot was not the ideal place to answer the ton of questions she had, mostly because his flask was almost empty and he had no way to get more at the moment, but Lucifer was willing to tell her everything she needed to know.

“No, not on the phone. You need to come here,” Ella sounded a little nervous, but determined.

“Are you sure about that?” Lucifer was surprised. Not only did she want to talk to him only a day after finding out about the truth, but she asked to meet him face to face.

“Of course I’m sure,” she scoffed. “I wouldn’t have asked otherwise, silly.” Right after the word had left her mouth, Ella realised that she had just called the Devil silly. “Oh God, I didn’t mean it, I…”

“Ugh, could we keep dear old Dad out of it?” Lucifer huffed, a bit amused about her being flustered about calling him silly.

“Sorry, I didn’t think…,” she seemed to get even more anxious.

“Where do you want to meet me?” Lucifer decided to try to stop her from spiralling and steer the conversation to another track.

“Oh, right, yes. I’m home. Come to my place.” 

“Your place?” Lucifer was even more surprised than he had been before. Was she seriously asking the Devil to come to her home? 

“Yeah, I’ll text you the address right away,” she didn’t seem to catch on why Lucifer was baffled about her invitation. “Oh, and could you bring some booze?”

“Of course,” Lucifer couldn’t help but smile. He was planning to do it anyway. “Any requests?”

“I just finished my tequila, so I guess it would be smart to continue with that unless I want to puke my guts out tomorrow,” Ella answered.

“Tequila it is then,” Lucifer confirmed.

As soon as they ended the call Lucifer got into his car. He drove off, heading towards a liquor store nearby that sold decent stuff, not only cheap swill. A few minutes later he heard an incoming text. The thought that Miss Lopez had invited him to her home still baffled him, but he didn’t want to dwell on it. The call had improved his mood immensely. Whatever questions she’d have, he would happily answer them all, a welcome distraction from the ‘conversation’ he’d had with the Detective.

--------

Chloe stood in the observation room for a while after Lucifer had left. She was too upset to go to the bullpen just yet. Ten minutes ago she had thought that everything was fine - her relationship with Marcus was moving towards something more serious and Lucifer seemed to have accepted the fact that she was dating someone. She didn’t really talk about her relationship with Marcus when Lucifer was around, but Chloe had thought that mentioning that Trixie will meet her boyfriend soon would not be a big deal. Maybe some quip about Marcus not being as much fun as he was or something similar, but never had she thought that it would end like that.

This time Lucifer had gone overboard for sure. Accusing their Lieutenant of being a crime boss was just absurd. And without any real evidence.

Finally Chloe inhaled deeply, let it all out and exited the observation room. Glancing at the clock she realised that it was time for her to go home already. She gathered her things and left. Still, she couldn’t shake the confrontation with Lucifer from her mind. Chloe almost ran through a red light and then decided that she had to shove it to the back of her mind or she won’t make it home in one piece.

At home the thoughts kept popping up whenever her mind started to wander even a little bit. Even Trixie noticed her troubled expression at some point and asked if everything was alright. Chloe didn’t want her daughter to worry about her and assured her that everything was alright.

They were watching TV when suddenly Trixie asked Chloe, “could we ask Lucifer to join us on Friday for game night?”

Chloe, who had been playing their talk in the observation room over again in her head, was rather startled by the question. “Why?” she furrowed her brows.

“He makes everything more fun,” the girl shrugged innocently. “Besides, most games are more fun with more people playing.”

“Uhm… well, I’m sure Lucifer has other things to do on Friday,” Chloe tried to shoot the idea down gently.

“You should ask him anyway,” Trixie insisted.

Chloe could have said that she’ll ask and then told her later that he couldn’t come, but that would have been lying and doing that to her kid seemed just wrong.

“I don’t think he’d want to join us on Friday,” Chloe tried another approach.

“Why not?” the girl was baffled.

“Because…,” Chloe started, but then paused. “Because we had an argument this evening,” she finally admitted.

“You mean, like a fight?” Trixie wanted to clarify.

“Uhm… yeah, I guess you could call it a fight,” Chloe had to admit.

“What was it about?” the girl was curious.

“He… uhm… he kind of accused a coworker of some bad stuff,” Chloe tried to present it as child friendly as possible.

“But Lucifer doesn’t lie,” Trixie said.

“I know, but I think even if he believes it’s true, it just sounds a bit unbelievable,” she explained to her daughter. The word she really wanted to use was ‘nuts’.

Trixie was silent for a while and then asked, “was it about the man you are dating?”

Chloe was again surprised how perceptive her little girl could be sometimes and she really didn’t want to lie to her child, so she had no other option than to confirm.

“Yes, it was.”

“And this thing that Lucifer said about him was bad?” Trixie kept prodding.

“Yeah, really bad.”

After that Trixie was silent for a while. Chloe already thought that the conversation was over.

“Mom,” Trixie said in a wary tone, “could I just be in my room on Friday?”

“Why?” Chloe was surprised. Trixie had seemed to be excited about the game night when Chloe had asked her at first.

“I don’t want to meet him if Lucifer thinks he’s dangerous,” the girl admitted in a small voice, avoiding looking at Chloe.

“No,” Chloe answered immediately and Trixie looked at her with an expression that was filled with sadness and fear. Chloe felt her heart shatter at Trixie’s request and she took her daughter’s hands in hers while turning her body towards her. “If you don’t want to meet him, we won’t have a game night at all. It’s your home too and I can’t have someone over if he’s making you feel uncomfortable, okay.” She looked intently at her daughter and to her relief the emotions that had been there earlier were replaced by a lovely smile again.

“But I thought you wanted to have a game night with him,” Trixie wondered.

“I did, but we can postpone it. Don’t worry about it.” Chloe pulled the girl into a hug. “I love you sweetie and no man is ever more important than you. I want you to remember that.” She emphasized her words with a kiss to the crown of her head. 

--------

Ella answered the door after the first knock. 

“Hello, Miss Lopez,” Lucifer greeted her.

“Hi! Come in,” the woman opened the door wider.

Lucifer stepped inside her tiny apartment, holding a brown paper bag in his hand. As soon as Ella had closed the door and turned towards him, Lucifer reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle.

“The tequila, as promised.”

Ella’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. Is this Adictivo?”

“Yes, they didn’t have Casa Dragones unfortunately. I hope this will be acceptable,” Lucifer said a little apologetically.

Ella huffed a laugh. “Of course.” She took the bottle that Lucifer held out and set in on the coffee table.

“Good. I brought some Scotch for myself,” he reached into the bag again and took out another bottle.

As soon as Ella had provided them with glasses, they sat down on the couch and Lucifer filled the glasses with their preferred choice of alcohol. There was a beat of silence and Lucifer was about to encourage her to ask anything she wanted when Ella blurted out, “so, what is the Devil doing in Los Angeles?”

“Well, Hell is a dreadful place, so I decided to take a vacation,” Lucifer answered.

“You can do that?” Ella was surprised.

Lucifer sighed. “It’s not like I handed an application to dear old Dad and requested a vacation. I just decided to take one.”

“And the Big Guy is okay with it?” Ella asked, frowning a little.

“The truth is I don’t know. It’s not like He tells anyone what He thinks. And He has personally never tried to take me back there. My siblings have tried. In the past I let them force me back after some periods of time, but then I decided that I’ve had enough. I managed to make a deal with Michael who was at first the one who kept bothering me until I went back just to get rid of him. I was living peacefully on Earth for about 5 years, but then Amenadiel decided that he is a good loyal soldier and must take his wayward brother back to Hell. Only I had built a life here already and I didn’t want to go back this time.”

Lucifer took a sip of  his whiskey and considered whether or not to tell Ella what his attempts had caused. 

“So how are you still here then?” Ella was clearly interested in the rest of it.

“When his other attempts failed, Amenadiel decided to let some demons from Hell come to Earth. For some reason he thought that if they came here and told me that they wanted me to go back there, I would.” Lucifer scoffed at the memory. “Of course that didn’t make me go back, but unfortunately those demons didn’t want to go back to Hell either. They stayed and brought others up here too.”

“How many demons are there in L.A. now?” Ella interrupted him.

“Only one. The one I brought with me and who is now LAPD’s best bounty hunter,” Lucifer answered.

“Maze,” Ella whispered. She had figured out during the day that if Lucifer really is the Devil then Maze must really be a demon too.

Lucifer nodded briefly and continued. “You see, only when I or some other angel brings a demon to Earth can they be here in their own form. But Amenadiel unfortunately sent those demons to Earth through possession.”

“So someone was really possessed?” Ella gaped.

“They can only possess people who have recently deceased. Very recently. Which meant that those demons who were first here started to kill people to have fresh bodies for other demons to enter. Eventually I managed to send them all back, but to make sure that they wouldn’t do that again, I did go back to Hell.” There was sadness in Lucifer’s voice. He hadn’t thought much about his return to Hell and what he had lost because of it, but now it hit him again.

“Is that where you were those three years?” Ella put the picture together immediately.

“Yes, Miss Lopez, that’s where I went,” Lucifer confirmed.

“But you didn’t stay there.” It was more like a statement than a question, but Lucifer decided to explain it, to make sure that Ella wouldn’t be afraid of more demon possession.

“No. I managed to find a way to make sure that the demons wouldn’t be able to defy my order to never possess anyone ever again. I still go back to check on them every once in a while and so far it seems that everything is in order.” Lucifer had checked on them just a few days ago.

“You haven’t missed work or anything. Do you make weekend trips?” Ella was curious.

“Not exactly. You see time runs differently in Hell, so if I go there for a few hours in Earth time, I spend a much longer time there in Hell’s time.”

“How much longer?” the woman wanted to know.

“Years,” Lucifer answered rather vaguely.

“Holy shit!” Ella was surprised and downed the shot of tequila from her glass.

Lucifer only chuckled and before he could say anything, the cogs in the forensic scientist’s head had been turning and brought her to another realisation. “Wait, but then when you spent three years there in Earth time, then in Hell it was how long?”

“About 50 thousand years,” Lucifer answered with a sad smile.

“Oh my God,” Ella said, her jaw dropping. She was silent for a while, but then another realisation hit her. “Hold on. Is Amenadiel trying to force you back again?” she asked with a frown. 

“Not really. He realised that he had made a mistake before our final showdown with the demons. And even though I did return to Hell, he had some consequences of his own. You see, his attempt to force me back there cost a number of human lives and apparently dear old Dad didn’t really like it, so He took my brother’s wings and he can’t leave now. Although, seeing that he has a family now with the Doctor, it turned out to be not much of a punishment after all.” The last sentence was rather bitter. Of course that kiss-ass would not receive a real punishment from their father.

“So, Chloe knew where you went, right?” Ella had always felt that Chloe hadn’t told her the whole truth about Lucifer’s sudden departure, now she understood why.

“Yes, she knew by then who I am and why I needed to leave,” Lucifer said, fiddling with his cufflinks. The memory of the night he left made his chest ache even after all the time that had passed since then for him.

“But when you started to date, did she know?” Ella was curious.

“Yes, as a matter of fact she did. She found out that I had always told the truth about who I am before I asked her out the first time.” There was still a hint of awe in Lucifer’s voice. He thought that he would probably never really get over the fact that someone as good as Chloe would agree to date the Devil.

Ella tilted her head and looked at Lucifer for a while. Suddenly an understanding dawned on her. “Tell me, did she find out about you when she briefly moved back to her mother’s house?”

“She did.” Lucifer’s answer was rather curt. That was not his fondest memory.

“Oh man, no wonder she was so upset. I mean I figured out that you two had some fight or something but that was not in the scenarios I had formed in my mind about the reason.” Ella shook her head. 

“She talked about it with you, right?” Lucifer remembered that Chloe had mentioned talking to Ella about the whole Devil reveal.

“Uh-uh, she was suddenly curious about God and other religious stuff. I first assumed that she wanted to start going to church or something.” Ella took another shot and after taking a bite from the lemon, she asked, “did she see your wings when she realised that you really are the Devil?”

“No, quite the opposite actually. She accidentally saw my Devil face. I didn’t even have wings at the time,” Lucifer explained.

“What do you mean Devil face?” Ella was confused. 

Lucifer sighed. “I have this other face, that I usually reserve for those who need to be punished. It’s monstrous, so I keep it hidden most of the time.”

“Can I see?” Ella asked excitedly.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said that it’s monstrous. When I accidentally showed it to Linda, she went catatonic. I don’t want to damage you, Miss Lopez.” The last part came out in a softer tone than Lucifer intended.

“Come on, man. You said that Chloe and Linda have seen it and they are fine. I really want to see it,” she almost begged him.

“Why?” Lucifer couldn’t fathom why anyone would willingly want to see it.

“I don’t know. I’m curious,” Ella shrugged nonchalantly, like she had just asked to see the photo gallery on his phone.

“Maybe you’ve had enough to drink already,” Lucifer frowned. He knew that people could make weird demands when they were drunk.

“Well, I have been drinking the whole day, but I’m not asking because I’m drunk,” Ella reasoned. “Please, Lucifer. Let me see. Just one peek,” she pleaded, looking a lot like Trixie while she did it.

Lucifer was perplexed. On one hand he wanted to fulfil her desire, but on the other hand he was afraid to scare her. 

Lucifer wasn’t entirely sure what made him do it, but he finally gave in. “Fine, but don’t say that I didn’t warn you when you run screaming.”

“I won’t scream,” Ella promised with a smile.

“You should sit a bit further away,” he suggested. Ella had been sitting right next to him on the couch. She obeyed and moved a bit further away. To Lucifer it seemed not far enough, so he decided to move as much as possible until he hit the armrest.

He let out a sharp breath and looked at Ella. “Ready?” he asked and when the forensic scientist nodded enthusiastically, Lucifer let his face change.

For a moment everything was silent and then Lucifer heard her whisper, “so cool.”

Lucifer had been staring in front of him, so he could at least spare her from looking into his eyes, but now he turned his head towards the woman, dumbfounded by her comment.

She had crawled closer on the couch. “Can I touch it?” she whispered.

Lucifer stared at her baffled, his mouth slightly ajar. When he realised that the woman was looking at him expectantly, he nodded. Ella came even closer and touched his cheek tentatively with one finger. When Lucifer didn’t move away or hissed in pain, she got more bolder and now she was sliding her hand over the side of Lucifer’s face. He had closed his eyes, both because he didn’t want to draw out her guilt and because he was enjoying her gentle touch. It wasn’t the same feeling that he got when Chloe had touched him in this form, but Ella’s touch was friendly and gentle, something he was not used to experiencing in his Devil form. 

When Ella removed her hand from his face Lucifer let his Devil face disappear and opened his eyes. Ella was staring at him with a dopey grin. “That’a a really cool trick.”

Lucifer furrowed his brows. “It’s not a trick. That’s the face of a monster.”

“Pfft, you are not a monster, buddy,” Ella dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

Lucifer kept looking at her intently for a while, not sure how to respond to her easily dropped assessment. “Are you alright, Miss Lopez?” he finally asked, deciding to divert the topic to Ella.

“I may be a little tipsy, but I think I’m okay,” she answered with a shrug.

“But you didn’t come to work today,” Lucifer pointed out.

“Yeah… when I woke up today my mind was filled with questions and all the things I realised. I would not have been able to concentrate on work today, so I called and told them that I’m not feeling well. And then I took the bottle of tequila that I had and drank a little, then wrote down some questions and then took another shot and wrote some more questions and so on until the bottle was empty and I decided that I should get some answers also.”

“Well, fire away then,” Lucifer urged her to ask the questions she had written in her notebook.

“So, now I know that all this celestial stuff is real, what about other creatures from mythology? I mean, zombies, werewolves, vampires and so on,” Ella asked, clearly excited about the topic.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but those are all just fiction. Although, when a demon possessed someone who had just died, it could have started the myth of zombies,” Lucifer pondered.

Ella was a bit disappointed by the answer, but then quickly thought of another question that had popped in her mind repeatedly after learning the truth. “How bad must one be that they’re destined to Hell? I mean, if I lie a little to get a day off from work, that doesn’t condemn my soul yet, right?”

“Unfortunately, the system is not that black and white. The thing that drags your soul to Hell is guilt. So, please, do not feel guilty about skipping work for a day or two, it’s definitely not worth it.” Lucifer would really hate it if Ella would be heading to the infernal plane for such a trivial reason. 

“Hang on, are you saying that it doesn’t matter how many sins I’ve committed or how good I have been, all that matters is guilt?” Ella had not expected that.

“That is exactly how the system works. Although, Heaven has an additional system for those who are really bad and their soul is too dark to pass through the gates. They get sent to Hell even if they’re not feeling guilty about what they have done and they are the ones who get physically punished by the demons, not a guilt based Hell loop like the others do,” Lucifer explained.

“What is a Hell loop?” Ella furrowed her brows.

“It’s a loop that plays out the thing you feel guilty about, over and over again. It’s usually not an exact replay of the event, Hell adds a twist to it, to make it even more torturous for the soul.”

“So, if you feel guilty when you die, you go to Hell and relive the same thing you felt guilty about over and over again and if you don’t feel guilty, you go to Heaven,” Ella summed it up.

“Yes, that’s basically it. And even though I find Heaven to be rather boring, I do hope that all the humans I care about will end up there and not in Hell.” It would mean that he would never see any of them again, but that was the price he was willing to pay. The alternative would be a torture to himself too.

“But why do some souls stay on Earth?” Ella asked her next question and earned a puzzled look from the Devil.

“No soul stays on Earth, after their demise everyone is headed either up or down, there’s no inbetween.” 

“I know for a fact that some souls stay here, as ghosts” the woman argued.

“That’s impossible,” Lucifer disagreed. He knew that his sister would make sure that no one was left behind.

“But I’ve seen one,” Ella said stubbornly.

“Are you sure that it wasn’t just a trick your mind played?” Lucifer doubted that she could have really seen a ghost.

“No, she’s not a trick of my mind. She comes to visit me from time to time. For a while Rae-Rae was my best friend.”

That made Lucifer pause. “Rae-Rae?”

“Yes, she’s been hanging around since I was a child and she told me that she’s a ghost,” Ella told him, a bit frustrated that even Lucifer didn’t believe her.

“Has she now?” Lucifer asked with an odd expression. “And tell me, does that ghost of yours is about your height, has a dark bob and a bit Asian looking features?” For a reason Ella didn’t understand Lucifer’s voice held a hint of sarcasm.

“Yes, that’s her. Oh my God, do you know her?” Ella was now excited again.

“Only since she was created,” Lucifer huffed. “Tell me, when did you first meet her?” the Devil was curious.

“I was in a really bad car accident when I was a kid. They say that I was really lucky to have survived it. I saw her for the first time at the scene of the accident and then she just kept appearing every now and then, but no one else could see or hear her.”

“Yes, that would make sense,” Lucifer muttered.

Ella looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. “If you know her then why do you say that there are no ghosts?”

“Because, my dear Miss Lopez, Rae-Rae is not a ghost, she’s my sister,” Lucifer explained.

“Your sister… you mean like an angel?” Ella was clearly surprised.

“Yes, Azrael, the angel of death, to be more precise.”

“Oh my God, my friend is the angel of death!” Ella exclaimed. “Holy shit! But why did she tell me that she’s a ghost then?” That part still puzzled her.

“You have to ask her that, I’m afraid I can’t give you an answer,” Lucifer smiled wryly.

--------

Lucifer stepped into Linda’s office on time for his weekly therapy session the next morning.

“Good morning, Doctor!” he greeted her in his usual style. Thankfully he didn’t have to put a mask on, the talk with Ella that had lasted almost until midnight, had made him feel much better than he had been before he got a call from the woman. 

“Good morning! Take a seat, Lucifer,” Linda greeted him and they both sat on their usual spots.

“How are you?” Linda started with the general question as soon as they had both settled down.

“Fine,” Lucifer answered. He was feeling alright at the moment.

“Is there anything you’d like to discuss with me?” Linda tried to direct her patient in a certain direction.

“Weren’t we supposed to continue with the seeing myself as a monster thing?” Lucifer was a bit puzzled. He remembered clearly that the Doctor had told him last time at the end of the session that they’d continue today.

“Yes, we were, but,” Linda hesitated for a moment, but then decided that it was much too important to ignore and continued, “I’ve learned something in the meantime.”

“Oh? And what is that?” Lucifer was curious. Then an idea sparked. “If it’s about Miss Lopez finding out then I think she’s handling it pretty well.”

“You talked to her?” Linda was a bit surprised, considering that Ella only learned about it less than two days ago.

“Yes, she called me over to her place yesterday and we had a rather lovely Q&A session.” The corner of Lucifer’s mouth curved up a little at the memory.

“That’s great!” Linda exclaimed, but then remembered what she actually wanted to address. “But that was not what I was talking about.”

“No?” Lucifer furrowed his brows a little. Now he had no idea what the Doctor was talking about.

“No. I found out that Chloe is dating someone,” Linda said and let it hang in the air between them.

“Oh,” was the only thing that Lucifer said and busied himself with pushing some invisible lint off his trousers.

“How do you feel about it?” Linda asked when it was clear that the Devil himself was not going to say anything else about it.

“If you’re asking to find out if I’m jealous of that dullard, then currently it’s not really relevant. The bigger issue is that the man is living a double life and the other one is a crime lord.” Lucifer was suddenly transported back to the previous evening and his less than pleasant conversation with the Detective.

“What? Does Chloe know?” Linda had not expected that.

“I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t believe me, because I don’t have enough evidence,” Lucifer answered, feeling helpless again. “I’ve been trying to get the evidence, but sadly so far we haven’t had any success.”

“How do you know that he’s a crime boss then?” Linda was confused.

“Because I do,” he spat out impatiently. Realising that he had raised his voice at the Doctor for no reason, he calmed a little. “There was a photo and a journal of the fake Sinnerman and it all just made sense. Call it a gut feeling if you will, but I know I’m right.”

“Wow,” Linda didn’t really know what to say to that. But exposing criminals was not her job, so she decided to try and get back to the topic she wanted to discuss with Lucifer. “Okay, let’s put that aside for now. Let’s pretend that the man Chloe is dating is a good guy. How would you feel then?”

Lucifer shrugged. “I would be happy for her, I guess. That’s what friends do, right?”

“Yes, friends would do that, but that was not what I was asking about. I wanted to know how it would make you feel. And I mean for real, not what you think you should feel.” Linda looked at him intently. She knew that Lucifer would probably want to do the right thing, but she wanted to know what he really wanted.

Lucifer clenched his jaw and looked towards the window. He was silent for a while and Linda began suspecting that he wouldn’t answer at all.

“Thinking about her with someone else makes me feel an ache in my chest, a very unpleasant one,” Lucifer finally said in a silent voice, still looking towards the window.

“Is that why you haven’t brought up the subject of Chloe dating someone yourself?” Linda had also learned during their Tribe lunch on Sunday that Chloe and Marcus had been dating for a while now.

Lucifer sighed. “Why would I want to talk about the Detective and her boyfriend?” The last word was said with a venom in his voice. “I prefer not to think about him or any other man laying a finger on her, thank you very much.” Even saying those words made his gut churn a little. 

“So, I understand that your feelings towards Chloe haven’t changed and if you could you’d want to be in a relationship with her,” Linda summed it up.

“Of course I would, but you know as well as I do that I can’t,” Lucifer was getting a bit agitated. He couldn’t understand what was the point of this. It wasn’t like the Doctor to just rub salt in the wound. 

“Do I?” Linda asked, tilting her head.

“Has shagging my brother finally melted your brain? Have you forgotten that by the hand of your baby daddy Chloe’s birth was orchestrated by dear old Dad?” Lucifer asked incredulously.

“No, I haven’t forgotten, but I also remember that Amenadiel doesn’t know what the purpose of this miracle was,” Linda said calmly.

Lucifer huffed. “What’s there to know? He’s just trying to manipulate me, like always.”

“But you don’t know for sure,” Linda didn’t relent.

“Maybe I don’t know the whole purpose, but I know enough to not let the Detective be used as a pawn in His sick game,” Lucifer snarled.

“Still, you don’t know exactly what the rules of the game are and whether you are unknowingly playing it or not,” Linda kept going.

“What are you saying?” Lucifer didn’t like the direction where this was going, “that I shouldn't be in the Detective’s life at all?” Even the thought seemed rather horrible.

“On the contrary, I think you two should have a real conversation about what her miracle status could mean for you and how much hypothetical manipulation are you willing to endure.” Unlike Lucifer, Linda was not so sure about the extent of the manipulation or if there even was one.

“I think the Detective has made her opinion on the subject perfectly clear,” Lucifer said wryly.

“So you’ve had a real conversation with her?” Linda asked, not believing that it was true.

“After they broke up with detective Douche she told me that we’d still be just friends,” Lucifer told her.

“And did you just accept it or did you two talk about it?” Linda asked, although she knew the answer already.

“I honoured her request,” Lucifer said defensively.

“So you two just assume that you know what the other one wants.” Linda almost rolled her eyes.

Lucifer could hear the reprimand in her tone and he didn’t like it. Besides, there was another obstacle to consider. 

“Don’t you think it’s a bit too late now?” Lucifer told the Doctor sarcastically. “She has made her choice already.”

Linda sighed. “Yes, it would have been better if you had this discussion earlier, but I thought we’d have more time to approach the subject.” She hadn’t thought about Chloe finding someone already, otherwise Linda would have pushed them to have a real conversation earlier. She had thought that it would be best if Lucifer first dealt with the whole seeing himself as a monster problem, so if they decided that the miracle thing would not stop them from being together, Lucifer would be more open to the idea of Chloe wanting to be with him. “About her choosing someone else… can you really say that she chose someone else if she didn’t think that she even could choose you?” Linda asked. 

Lucifer didn’t know what to say to that, but he still found the timing of this issue rather atrocious. “Like I mentioned earlier, I tried to tell her yesterday who Pierce really is, but it didn’t go well. I’m pretty sure she’s mad at me right now.”

“Well, then maybe wait a little bit before having this conversation,” Linda suggested, remembering what the results of their last too emotional conversation had been. “But not too long,” she added, still convinced that it should happen as soon as possible.

“I’ll try,” Lucifer agreed a little reluctantly.

 

Walking towards his car Lucifer felt conflicted. He really wished that he had talked to Linda about Chloe dating someone as soon as he found out. Maybe then he would have been able to keep her away from Cain by throwing his hat into the ring. This would have given him more time to find the evidence and at the same time maybe kept her from getting too close to that caveman. Now he had angered her and maybe even pushed her closer to Cain.

Lucifer had reached his car and sat behind the wheel, but before starting the car he started to doubt. Would the Detective even want him at the precinct or would she rather not see him today at all? The thought was unpleasant, but he felt that it would be even worse if she’d like him to stay away and he just showed up.

There was only one way to find out, so Lucifer took out his phone, but before he could pull up the contact list, a notification for an incoming message caught his attention. It was from the Detective. Lucifer opened it and felt his heart sink.

Detective: Don’t come to the precinct after your session.

--------

Chloe had spent the previous evening going over everything she knew in her mind. After Trixe went to sleep she had nothing to keep her distracted and the thoughts started running wild.

Her daughter’s unwavering trust in Lucifer’s opinion had her questioning her own reaction too. Had she been too harsh with Lucifer? Should she have believed him too, even without any proof? But her detective mind couldn’t allow her to believe such grave accusations toward another member of the LAPD when she didn’t have solid evidence.

 

When she walked to the precinct the next morning, Chloe knew two things - she needed to postpone the game night and she had to try and find out the truth about Sinnerman herself. Her initial plan had been to go and tell Pierce about not having a game night first thing in the morning, but unfortunately someone was in his office already. Chloe had no other option than to wait for the opportune moment. For some reason it seemed that everyone needed to speak with the Lieutenant that morning. And if there wasn’t another detective in his office, the man himself was on the phone.

At first Chloe used the time she had to wait to go over in her head what exactly she wanted to say to him. Taking back an invitation was not something she liked to do, but in this case she had no doubt that it would be the right thing to do. The trickier part was the reason. She didn’t want to tell him that Trixie didn’t trust him and didn’t want to be around him. Chloe was going over different excuses in her mind when she suddenly remembered that Marcus had told her that he’d be willing to move at her pace. That would be a reasonable explanation and not entirely wrong also, she did want to slow down right now.

Feeling ready to go and talk to him, Chloe moved her gaze towards the Lieutenant’s office again, but this time it seemed to be empty. Chloe groaned in frustration and decided to start with the other task on her to-do list. She went to Ella’s lab first. Luckily the woman seemed to be feeling better and was at work that day.

“Hi, Ella!” Chloe greeted her when she opened the door to the lab.

“Oh, hi Chloe!” Ella returned the greeting. “Sorry, I don’t have any results for you yet. I have a backlog from yesterday to sort through and I haven’t been able to analyse yours yet.” The woman was hurrying around the lab.

“Oh, it’s okay, I didn’t expect you to have them yet,” Chloe explained. Since she saw that the woman was really busy, she decided to get right to the point. “I was wondering if I could take a look at the stuff they brought from the Sinnerman’s house.”

“Uhm, sure, but I gave all of it to evidence. I was done with going through with them and the boxes were in my way.”

“Right, of course. I’ll go and look from there.” Chloe turned around and went to the evidence room. Unfortunately she didn’t find the things from there. She looked from where they were supposed to be according to the system they had, but they were not there. Chloe checked the register and saw that Ella had turned them in like she said. Chloe kept looking through the entries and soon found out why she didn’t find anything - all of it had been checked out, taken by none other than the Lieutenant himself. “Crap,” Chloe cussed under her breath. There went the idea of looking at the Sinnerman’s journal herself without anyone knowing. If Marcus had them, she would have to ask him to get her hands on them and he’d probably want to know why she’s suddenly interested in them. 

Chloe went back to her desk and after about ten minutes she finally saw that Pierce was alone in his office and not on the phone. It was already almost 10, so Chloe decided to seize the opportunity and headed towards the Lieutenant’s office. She really wanted to get it over with before Lucifer arrived.

After a soft knock she opened the door.

“Hi, Marcus! Do you have a moment?” Chloe asked as she peeked inside the office.

“Hi, Chloe! Sure, come in,” Pierce told her. He seemed to be rather engrossed in the files on his desk, but it seemed that he didn’t mind the interruption. “What’s up?”

“Uhm… it’s about the game night we had planned for tomorrow,” Chloe started, but seemed to be a bit lost. Taking back your invitation wasn’t easy for her, no matter how good the reason was.

“Ah, should I try to learn some rules beforehand?” Pierce asked, smiling at her. 

That made it even harder for Chloe, but she knew that she had to do it. So she decided to just rip the band-aid off. “No. Actually I was thinking that maybe we should cancel it.”

“Why?” Pierce sounded surprised.

“Well, I think maybe we’re not there yet. We haven’t been dating that long and it’s a big step,” Chloe explained.

“But you said that your kid agreed to it,” Pierce didn’t seem to want to cancel it that easily.

“I know, but I feel that we need to take a step back.”

Pierce looked at her, his expression unreadable. “What did he tell you?” he finally asked in a cold tone.

“What? Who?” Chloe didn’t follow.

Pierce scoffed. “The Devil of course.”

“This is not about Lucifer,” Chloe told him fiercely.

“Oh, isn’t it? I saw you two going into the observation room yesterday and how Lucifer stormed out of there like his ass was on fire. And today you want to take a step back in our relationship. Do you think I’m stupid?” Pierce’s face didn’t show too much emotion like most of the time, but his eyes were filled with contempt.

“This was my decision, not his,” Chloe told him. “Besides, what happened to you being willing to go at my pace?” Chloe asked accusingly and crossed her arms on her chest. She hadn’t expected that much fighting back from Marcus.

“We can go at your pace when your mind is not being poisoned by the Devil,” Pierce spat. His tone was irreverent and the look in his eyes made Chloe feel uneasy. She had never seen a look like that in his eyes before. There was a callousness in his gaze that made a cold shiver run down her spine. Suddenly she realised that she really had made a mistake and she needed to fix it.

“You know, I think you are right, we shouldn’t take a step back,” Chloe said, trying to keep her voice even.

Pierce was obviously pleased to hear it. “I’m glad you see sense,” he stated smugly.

“I think we should end it,” Chloe continued with what she wanted to say before Pierce interrupted her.

“What?” Pierce’s face twisted in irritation. 

“I want to break up,” Chloe repeated in other words, wanting to make herself clear.

“Over a stupid argument?” Pierce asked in disbelief.

“Not that I need to explain myself, but I don’t like it when people don’t listen to me and try to force their will on me.” That wasn’t entirely wrong, but she couldn’t just admit that he had let his mask slip and Chloe didn’t find it so unbelievable anymore that he could be a major crime boss.

“Lucifer’s the one who’s forcing his will on you and you don’t even realise it,” Pierce accused the Devil.

“No. Lucifer has always been an advocate to free will,” Chloe defended her partner. “It’s over, Marcus,” she added and turned towards the door, not wanting to continue this argument any longer.

“You’ll regret it,” Pierce hissed and Chloe felt a chill run down her spine. She would have liked to slam the door shut and run far away from him, but she needed to keep it cool and walk calmly to her desk.

 

“Fuck,” Cain cursed after Chloe had left. He clenched his jaw in anger and thought for a moment. He then took out a paper with a licence plate number from his pocket and opened the database to search for the owner of the vehicle. The result made him smirk. “Look, who’s helping the Devil,” he mumbled and took out a burner phone from his desk drawer.

The call was answered after ringing twice. “I need to send a message,” he said into the phone.

--------

Chloe tried to keep it cool after leaving Pierce’s office, but she was feeling unsettled. She didn’t want to look towards the office, but she felt as if his eyes were still on her. Chloe glanced at the time. It was still about half an hour until Lucifer would arrive at the precinct, it was the morning when he had his weekly therapy session. Chloe now regretted talking to Pierce before Lucifer arrived. She would feel so much better right now if Lucifer was there already. Half an hour seemed far too long to sit there, being under the scrutiny of her ex-boyfriend. Chloe tried to bury herself into work. An e-mail she had received from the victim’s best friend gave her an idea. 

She gathered her things and walked towards the exit. Pierce didn’t need to know that she would be far too early to the meeting. Now she needed to let Lucifer also know that he should meet her in the office building where Mr. Reynolds, the victim’s friend, worked. Chloe took out her phone and started typing a text to Lucifer as she was walking. She hit send just as she arrived by the elevators. At the same moment officer Cacuzza materialised next to her. She was in a chatty mood, like always and Chloe didn’t want to seem rude, so she put her phone away for the time being.

When Cacuzza had left, Chloe took her phone out again and frowned a little seeing Lucifer’s answer to her message.

Lucifer: “As you wish, Detective.”

Even though the answer seemed a bit dramatic, Chloe let it slide and typed the next message: “I arranged a meeting with the victim’s friend. Meet me at his office building.” Since she wasn’t sure how much attention the Devil had paid the previous day and whether he remembered where that man worked or not, Chloe then also added the address of the office building they were supposed to go to into their text thread.

Before she started driving, Chloe checked the message thread and saw that there was no indication that Lucifer had seen her last messages. Chloe found it odd. She had decided to make a stop at a Starbucks, so she thought that if he hadn't seen the messages by the time she stops there, she’ll call him. It was clear that he was not in session anymore since he had seen the first text.

Since the drive to the office building was much shorter from the precinct than it would be from where Linda worked, Chloe figured she’d have enough time to enjoy a coffee. By the time she arrived at the Starbucks Lucifer had seen the other texts she sent. A “See you soon. 🙂” was looking back at her when Chloe opened the text thread in the coffee shop. That meant she didn’t have to call him and could just enjoy her beverage. Except she was not really peacefully enjoying it. Her mind was a mess right now and she still felt a chill down her spine when she thought about the confrontation with Marcus. Chloe didn’t doubt that she had done the right thing, but she knew that she’d need a serious conversation with Lucifer sooner rather than later. She didn’t feel it would be safe having it in the precinct though, remembering that Pierce had apparently observed them the previous day. After hours at Lux would be best.

Chloe figured she could ask her roommate if she’d agree to watch Trixie that evening and sent her a text. The demon had arrived home late last night, so Chloe hoped that she hadn’t planned another bounty hunt outside of the city so soon. If Maze could watch her daughter, Chloe and Lucifer could talk in peace. In fact, if Lucifer would agree, they could talk about the miracle thing too, besides the Sinnerman thing.

--------

Lucifer was about to speed to the office building as fast as the Corvette would go, but then he realised that the Detective would probably not appreciate that. So he had to slow down, crumbling to himself about those stupid speed limits. But his mood was still joyous. 

After the initial shock of the first text he got from Chloe Lucifer had put the phone away and thought about what to do or where to go. Finally he decided to head out of town, planning to just drive as fast as possible to nowhere in particular when he heard another message notification from his pocket. At first he ignored it, but then his curiosity got the better of him and at the next red light he did check it. He was so surprised that he kept staring at the text that indicated the Detective wanted him to come to work, but just had arranged for an interview outside the precinct. Lucifer even missed the fact that the light had changed and the driver behind him honked at him. Lucifer then drove on and parked at the next possible spot to text her a reply and check the address of the office building. He had been driving a bit in the other direction, but he was still sure he’d make it in time. Even staying within the speed limit.

 

When Lucifer reached his destination and saw the Detective just pulling into a parking spot, he was relieved. As soon as he had found a parking spot for the Corvette, he practically jumped out of the car to join her. Lucifer couldn’t keep the smile from his face when he reached Chloe.

“Hello, Detective!” he greeted her in his usual sing-song voice.

“Hi!” she answered, but looked at him a little puzzled. “You seem happy today.”

“Well, it’s a beautiful day, isn’t it,” Lucifer said, adjusting his cufflinks. He did not want to let the Detective know that he had assumed the worst after reading her first text and was so relieved to be still her partner that he might have done even some paperwork (in the boring way that she did it) if she had so much as hinted at it.

Chloe didn’t seem to be entirely convinced about it, but she decided not to dwell on it. “Let’s go inside then.”

 

After they had finished talking to the friend of the deceased and maybe even gathered some useful information, they walked back outside. Chloe had gotten a text back from Maze during their interview, so she knew now that she’d be free to talk to Lucifer in the evening and decided to ask him.

“Lucifer, are you free tonight?” she got straight to the point.

There was a party in Lux as usual, but he didn’t have any specific plans or promised someone a set. “For you always, darling. What did you have in mind?”

“I think we need to talk,” Chloe said and looked at Lucifer pointedly. She didn’t want to mention the Sinnerman in public. You could never know who was overhearing them.

“I see,” Lucifer replied, not sure what the talk would be about since the Detective seemed to be not affected by their talk in the observation room at all. Still, even as partners, coming from a woman these words sounded ominous.

“Maze can watch Trixie, so we could talk in the penthouse if it’s okay,” Chloe asked, not wanting to impose herself.

“Ah yes, you have other plans tomorrow,” Lucifer couldn’t help but remark.

“Actually, I cancelled the game night with Pierce,” Chloe informed him. “In fact,” she started to tell him about their break up too when her phone started to ring, interrupting her.

Chloe saw that it was Ella who called her and answered it. “Hi, Ella. What’s up?”

“Hi! I just found something interesting I want to show you. When are you coming back?” the other woman demanded to know.

Chloe had a feeling that Ella had drank a bit too much coffee that morning since she was talking even faster than usual. “We just finished an interview and are heading back to the precinct,” Chloe said calmly.

“Oh, good, good. Hey, is Lucifer with you?” Ella then asked to Chloe’s surprise.

“Yes, he’s right here. Do you want to talk to him?” Chloe asked, a bit confused why Ella would ask about Lucifer.

“Yes, but not on the phone. I just have some more questions for him, but they can wait until he’s here.” 

Chloe was about to ask what kind of question she had, but then she heard a sound in the background and Ella exclaimed that she needed to go.

Chloe stared at her phone a bit baffled for a moment before she put it away. “Do you know why Ella has questions for you?” she asked Lucifer.

“I guess she has more questions about the celestial,” Lucifer shrugged like it was his regular job to answer questions like that.

“Wait, what? What do you mean she has questions about the celestial?” Chloe had to restrain herself to keep her voice down and not draw too much attention to them.

“Ah, yes. Apparently my nephew decided to grow wings at the precise evening when Miss Lopez was watching him, so she is in the know now.” Lucifer gave her a small smile.

“Holy shit!” Chloe couldn’t help herself.

“Yes, quite accurate,” Lucifer quipped.

“How is she handling it? I mean she looked okay this morning. Was that why she was not at work yesterday?” Chloe kept firing questions.

“Well, she did need some time to adjust yesterday. And make a list of questions that she asked in the evening,” Lucifer explained.

“Hold on, she found out on Tuesday evening and yesterday she already asked you questions?” Chloe was surprised and felt a little bit guilty, remembering how much time she had needed before she was ready to confront the Devil.

“Believe me, I was also surprised when she called me yesterday. But then again her proof was a pair of fledgling wings not a Devil face.” Lucifer wasn’t sure the woman would have been so eager to talk to the Devil if she had seen his monstrous side as proof of the celestial like Chloe and Linda had.

“Well, I’m glad she’s also an insider now. I always felt a little bad that she was the only one who didn’t know about all of it during Tribe nights.” Chloe had even thought about filling her in a couple of times, but felt like this was not her truth to tell.

“So, I guess we’d better go to the precinct now and find out what Miss Lopez has to tell us. And what kind of questions she has,” Lucifer suggested since they had already stopped next to Chloe’s car.

“Right, let’s get going,” Chloe agreed. She had briefly thought about continuing the talk about Pierce and telling Lucifer that she had ended the relationship, but felt that it was not the right time. Lucifer seemed to be eager to start moving anyway.

 

Chloe was relieved that they had a reason to spend some time in Ella’s lab when they had reached the precinct. She glanced briefly towards the Lieutenant’s office and noticed that Pierce was there, seemingly engrossed in paperwork, but Chloe wasn’t sure that he was not observing her and Lucifer at the same time. She had thought about telling Lucifer about their break up once they were back in the precinct, but then decided against it. She wasn’t sure how Lucifer would react if she described the whole conversation from the morning, so it seemed to be safer to tell him while they were not in the precinct. Since they had already planned to meet in the penthouse and talk, it didn’t seem like a big deal if she’d wait a few hours before telling him.

They managed to finish the day without any interaction with Pierce although they stayed a bit longer than usual to finish checking some clues. Chloe was really glad about not having to talk to the Lieutenant. The relief drowned out any nervousness she felt about her talk with Lucifer.

 

They had decided to stop for dinner before heading to the penthouse. After a stop to eat some burgers and fries, they drove to Lucifer's place. Chloe parked in her old spot in Lux' parking garage that she hadn’t used for a while. They were walking towards the elevator when Chloe’s phone rang. She took it out of her pocket and was a bit surprised to see that Dan was calling her. He had definitely left before Chloe and Lucifer so whatever the reason was, it was probably not work related. 

“Hi, Dan!” Chloe answered the phone.

“Chloe,” Dan’s voice sounded strained. “I need your help.”

“What’s wrong?” Chloe stopped walking, sensing that it was something serious.

“There’s been a murder and I know it’s not your case, but you and Lucifer are the best in the precinct and I need you to look into it.” He was talking rather silently, as if afraid that someone might overhear him.

“You want us to take a look at someone else’s case?” Chloe asked to clarify. It did happen sometimes, but she knew very well that the detectives who were on the case would probably not like it.

“Yes, I know that it’s not the standard procedure, but it’s…,” he paused for a moment, “it’s for Charlotte.”

 

Notes:

In the series the party bus driver was the one who made Chloe see reason, but I didn't see a way to include that kind of scene here, so it seemed fitting to make Trixie the one who can make her see things from a different perspective. 🙂

Chapter 38: A Warning

Notes:

It's been 84 years.... just kidding, it's been just 4 years.
I've been posting on AO3 for 4 years now (and more than half of it has been this fic 🫣). I'm very grateful for every one of you who has read my stories and even more grateful for those who have left kudos and/or commented. Seeing that people are interested in what my plot demons have come up with really motivates me to spend more of my free time writing.

Dan had left the precinct a bit earlier than usual. Their investigation had come to a point that there was nothing more they could do that day and his partner had some personal issues he needed to deal with, so they had decided to finish for today and continue tomorrow.

Dan knew exactly how he would have liked to spend his evening, but the problem was that the woman whose company he desired was probably working late again. Still, he decided to grab his dinner from their favourite Chinese restaurant. As he walked in, Dan got an idea.

To be sure that his surprise would go as planned, he decided to check and texted Charlotte, asking if she’d meet him for dinner. As he had thought, she replied that she was still at work and would be there probably for a few hours more. When Dan texted her asking if she’d had something for dinner, Charlotte wrote that she had a proper lunch that day, so Dan was sure that she hadn’t had anything for dinner yet.

 

Dan had been to her office before, so he knew exactly where to go. He stopped by Charlotte’s door and knocked.

“Come in!” came Charlotte’s voice from the other side.

Dan opened the door and went in, holding his hands behind his back.

“Dan? What are you doing here?” Charlotte seemed surprised, but deciding by the smile on her face, it was a good surprise.

“If the mountain will not come to Muhammad…,” Dan smiled back at her and held up his hand with the take-out bag. “I brought the dinner to you.”

“You didn’t need to,” Charlotte said.

“I know,” Dan shrugged, “but I wanted to.”

Charlotte rose from her desk and walked to the couch on the side of the room. “Come and sit then,” she patted on the couch. There was also a small coffee table in front of the couch and Charlotte figured it would be better to eat there, so they wouldn’t accidentally drop any food on her files.

They ate and chatted, generally having a good time, just like Dan had intended. Charlotte seemed to be a bit off from time to time, her mind drifting somewhere else. When Dan asked about it, Charlotte brushed it off, saying it was nothing, so Dan didn’t pry.

Charlotte had already finished her meal and Dan was eating his last spring roll when the ringing of Charlotte’s phone cut through the silence that had momentarily fallen. The woman rose and went to the desk where her phone was. Dan saw from her expression that she was a bit surprised when she saw who the caller was.

“Hello, Ivy,” she answered the phone, wondering why her daughter was calling her.

“Hi, mom,” the girl greeted. “Listen, can you order us a pizza or something and send it to dad’s place?” she continued in a hesitant voice.

“Why?” Charlotte was suspicious. Her ex-husband was usually more than capable of feeding their children.

“Dad’s not home yet and we can’t get a hold of him and we’re getting hungry,” the girl admitted. Although she tried to sound casual, Charlotte could sense a little worry in her daughter’s tone.

Her gut told Charlotte that something was wrong. She might not have gotten along with her ex-husband in the end, but she knew that the man was a good father. Not being home at this time of day and not answering his phone when his kids called him was not like him at all.

“You know what, why don’t I come over and bring you the pizzas myself? Just tell me what you want to have and I’ll be there soon,” Charlotte suggested in a cheerful voice.

“Okay,” Ivy said a bit hesitantly. “But only if you promise that you won’t start fighting with dad once he gets home,” she demanded.

“I promise,” Charlotte agreed, feeling like a little vice was tightening around her chest. Of course their children had noticed who had been the one who had started most of their fights.

“What’s going on?” Dan asked when Charlotte had ended the call. He could see from her face that something was not right.

“It’s Elliot, my ex. He has the kids but he hasn’t come home yet and I have a bad feeling. He works as a real estate agent and his workdays are never too long. And even if something had come up, he would let the kids know.” 

“I’m sure everything is okay,” Dan tried to reassure her.

Charlotte didn’t say anything. She tried to call Elliot too, but when he didn’t answer Charlotte went to sit down behind her desk, looking at something on her phone and then wrote a few lines on a paper. “I still have access to his car’s location,” she then explained. “I need to go to the kids and bring them food. Could you go to this address?” She handed a piece of paper to Dan. “According to the app his car is there, so maybe he is too.”

“Okay, I’ll go and check,” Dan agreed, always ready to help Charlotte. He was sure that there was a perfectly good reason for her ex-husband temporarily being out of reach, but he hadn’t anything else planned that evening, so it was not a problem for him.

Charlotte started to gather her things and Dan threw the take out containers in the trash. Soon they were both walking out of the office. 

“Call me when you’re there. Even if he’s not,” Charlotte said before they parted, both heading towards their own car.

“Sure,” Dan smiled. He had planned to do it anyway.

Soon he was on his way. The house was in a nice neighbourhood. Dan had a bit of trouble finding the right place, but finally he found the house which address Charlotte had written down. There were cars parked on the street, so Dan parked his car and got out. He checked from the paper where Charlotte had also written down the registration number of his ex-husband’s car. Dan found the car parked on the side of the street, just like Charlotte’s app had told her. The car was empty, so he looked around hoping to see the man somewhere. The street was also empty, but in front of a nearby house there was a sign that said that the house was for sale and the realtor’s name was Elliot Richards. Dan knocked on the door of the house, hoping that the man was in there. No one answered. He knocked again and called out. When he still didn’t get an answer Dan tried the door. It was unlocked, so he went inside, calling out that he was entering the house. Everything seemed quiet, but to be sure Dan walked around the house, switching on the lights as he went from room to room. The house was empty. There was only one door left in the kitchen that he hadn’t checked. Dan assumed it was a door to the garage, but to be thorough he decided to go there too before calling Charlotte.

As soon as he switched on the lights he saw someone on the floor in the middle of the empty garage. Dan rushed closer and realised that he had found Elliot Richards. A dead Elliot Richards, his unseeing eyes staring towards the ceiling and a pool of blood next to his head.

“Oh, fuck,” Dan cursed, clapping a hand in front of his mouth. Even as a detective, finding a dead body like that was always unpleasant. His detective training took over and Dan called it in.

He didn’t stay in the garage to wait for the police to arrive, instead he was waiting in front of the house, pacing like a caged tiger. Although he had promised to call Charlotte, Dan decided to wait until officers arrived and someone searched him for an ID. Dan didn’t have any gloves with him and he didn’t want to risk ruining the evidence without them. And since he hadn’t checked the ID, there was always the possibility that this was not Charlotte’s ex. Maybe it was someone who just happened to look like the man in the picture on the ‘For sale’ sign. Dan didn’t really believe it himself, but he felt it would be better to wait anyway.

 

Soon the police arrived and confirmed that the ID from the victim’s pocket said that his name was Elliot Richards. Dan sighed heavily and took out his phone. He walked a bit further away from the murder scene and called Charlotte.

“Dan! Did you find him?” Charlotte asked as soon as she picked up.

“Hi, Charlotte!” Dan began, searching for the right words. “I, uhm, I did find him,” he confirmed.

“And?” Charlotte wanted to know what was going on.

“I’m so sorry, Charlotte, but he’s dead,” Dan said after a beat of silence.

“Oh, no,” the woman muttered. For some moments both of them were silent. “What happened?” Charlotte finally asked, breaking their silence.

“It seems that he was murdered. A blunt force trauma by the looks of it,” Dan gave his initial assessment.

“Do you know who’ll investigate it?” Charlotte then asked. Dan was a bit surprised by the question.

“Uhm, no. Not before the case is given to someone and they start to investigate.”

“Could it be given to Lucifer and Chloe?” Charlotte wondered.

“I don’t think so. They have an active case already and they are most likely done for the day, it’ll probably go to someone who’s on call today,” Dan explained. Right after he had said that, he saw a police cruiser stop on the street and two men he knew well climbing out. “Ugh, I think I have an answer to your question,” he said to Charlotte. “It seems that Graham and Paolucci are here.”

“Are they good?” Charlotte asked curiously.

Dan sighed. He didn’t want to speak ill of his colleagues, but he wouldn’t really use that word with those two guys. “They have a tendency to go for the easy answer,” Dan tried to give a politically correct answer.

“We need to get Lucifer on the case,” Charlotte stated.

“Why?” Dan was a bit baffled.

“Because there are some things he knows that others don’t,” Charlotte answered a bit vaguely. Dan then heard some commotion in the background. “Look, I need to go now, can you please call Lucifer and tell him what happened?” Charlotte’s voice was urgent.

“Charlotte, that’s not how we do things. It would mean interfering with someone else’s case,” Dan tried to explain to her the aggravations that kind of request would arise.

“Please, Dan,” Charlotte pleaded. “I really need to go now. I have to look after my kids and find a way to tell them why their father is not coming home.”

“Charlotte,” Dan tried again, but she had disconnected the call. Dan sighed. The woman didn’t plead usually, it meant that it was really important for her. 

Before he could make another call though, the detectives who were working the case had spotted him.

“Hey, Danny boy, decided to take on the role of a witness now, did you?” Malcolm Graham’s voice reached him.

 

After Dan had given his statement to Graham and Paolucci he decided to call Chloe. Charlotte had asked him to get Lucifer on the case, but Dan didn’t have his number and besides, Chloe was the detective among them after all, so Dan thought that she should also be involved.

He looked around to make sure that the detectives whose case it officially was, wouldn’t be close enough to hear him and dialed the number. Dan was nervous about the call, knowing that it was not a common thing to ask. When he heard Chloe answer, Dan forgot to greet her and blurted out that he needed her help. His voice must have sounded bad enough that she realised immediately that something was wrong.

Knowing that Chloe’s and Lucifer’s solve rate was the best in the precinct, Dan decided to bring it up, hoping that it would make more sense for Chloe to agree to what he was asking.

Chloe didn’t sound as if she was eager to take a look at the case, so Dan decided to reveal that it was a favour for Charlotte.

“Tell me what happened, Dan,” Chloe demanded to know.

“Charlotte got a call from her daughter who said that her dad hadn’t come home and no one could reach him by phone. We were eating dinner with Charlotte when she got the call, so she asked me to check the location where she knew her ex-husband’s car was. When I got here I found his body. Charlotte’s ex-husband has been murdered,” Dan summed it up.

“Oh, shit. I’m so sorry.” Chloe didn’t swear often, but right now she couldn’t stop the reaction.

“Yeah, it’s tough, especially for the kids,” Dan sighed. He didn’t envy Charlotte for having to break the news to her children.

“Do you know who the detectives are who are on this case?” Chloe asked.

“Graham and Paolucci,” Dan informed her.

“Damn, that’s not good.” Chloe didn’t think too highly of those two. After a beat of silence she had reached her decision, “we’ll look into it.”

--------

When Chloe ended the call Lucifer didn’t need to ask what that had been about. He had been close enough to hear the other side of the conversation too, even without making any special effort to do that.

Chloe could see from his expression that he had already learned what Dan had to say, so she just asked, “you don’t mind us looking into it, do you?”

“Of course not, Detective. But I think we need to talk to Charlotte.” He pulled out his own phone and called her.

“Hello, Charlotte! I heard about what happened to your ex,” he said as soon as she picked up, not wanting to waste any time beating around the bush.

“I don’t think it was just a random thing,” she said as a reply. “There was a warning.”

“Do you think it might be connected to …,” Lucifer let it hang in the air, hoping that Charlotte would understand what he meant.

“Yes, I think it’s his doing. Could you come over here to talk, I don’t want to do it over the phone.” Charlotte had no idea if the phones were safe or was someone listening in.

“Yes, of course. Just tell me where to come.” 

“I’m at our old house with my children right now. I’ll text you the address,” she said before ending the call.

 

“I need to go see Charlotte,” Lucifer said to Chloe when the call was over.

“You’re not going alone, I’ll come with you,” Chloe said decisively.

“Are you sure? It seems both her and I suspect the involvement of a certain immortal in all of this,” Lucifer was a bit hesitant since he didn’t know Chloe's stance about their Lieutenant being the real Sinnerman. She told him that she had cancelled their game night, but what about the rest of it. Did she believe him?

“That’s the more reason I need to come with you,” Chloe just shrugged. “Let’s take my car.”

 

Lucifer put in the address that Charlotte had sent him so Chloe would have the directions to drive there. He waited until there was a longer stretch where she didn’t need to concentrate on the directions before he started to talk.

“Detective, since we’re likely not able to talk in the penthouse tonight, I must ask you,” he paused before asking the actual question, “are you not thinking anymore that I’m delusional? About the Sinnerman, I mean.”

“No, I don’t think you’re delusional,” Chloe had to admit. Right now she was a bit ashamed that she had said it to him in the first place. “But I’m also not 100% convinced. I mean I do believe that Lieutenant Pierce is not who I thought he was, but …” Chloe sighed. Even after she sensed that the man was probably dangerous, it was still a bit difficult to believe that he could pretend to be a straight-laced policeman when in reality he was a crime boss. And what was up with that man who had been arrested as the Sinnerman and later killed by Pierce himself. It was all just such a mess.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Lucifer said. “I guess we need to talk more about it, but it’s a start at least.”

“I tried to get that journal our so-called Sinnerman had so I could read it myself today, but apparently Pierce had checked it out and I didn’t want to go and ask him to have it,” Chloe admitted.

“Wanting to do your own research, I see,” Lucifer smirked. It didn’t surprise him that Chloe had wanted to look at the evidence he had talked about with her own eyes.

Chloe debated with herself whether it would be the right moment to talk about her also dumping Pierce, but before she could reach the decision they reached a turn that she had to take and after that she had to keep her attention on the map so they wouldn’t miss any turns. 

 

When Charlotte opened the door she seemed a bit surprised to see Chloe there also, but she schooled her expression quickly and invited them both in.

“Dan is still at the crime scene,” she said as she was leading them into the living room. “And we should keep our voices down, my children are upstairs in their rooms. I haven’t really told them yet, I…,” she trailed off. “Even though we divorced he was a good father and they are going to be devastated about it.”

“I’m so sorry, Charlotte,” Chloe said. It was clear that even though they were not married anymore, Charlotte was shaken by her ex husband’s death.

“Thank you!” 

“So, care to tell us why you think that it might be connected to the Sinnerman?” Lucifer asked.

Charlotte looked at Chloe for a moment, clearly not knowing whether or not she should say anything in front of her. “Oh, don’t worry, she’s aware that our Lieutenant might not be who he appears to be.” Lucifer had noticed her uneasiness and decided to reassure her.

“Oh, that’s good, I guess.” Charlotte then went to her phone that was laying on the table and opened a text. She turned the phone so that Chloe and Lucifer could read it. “I received this today. It’s from a number I don’t know.”

Chloe read out loud, “stop snooping around or you’ll be next.”

“At first I thought it was about a case I’m working on at the DA’s office, but I couldn’t figure out what they were referring to exactly. When my daughter called me and said that Elliot hadn’t come home and they couldn’t reach him, I had a bad feeling instantly.” She then looked at Lucifer, “I think he saw me on Tuesday.”

Wanting to have the Detective in the loop Lucifer explained, “I tried to get some more evidence from his house on Tuesday evening and Charlotte was keeping watch.”

Chloe just nodded in understanding, that would explain the comment about snooping.

“He must have figured out that I’m on to him,” Lucifer mused.

“He saw us going into that observation room yesterday and figured that you must have told me something about him,” Chloe then explained, feeling that she needed to tell them everything she knew.

“How do you know that?” Lucifer asked.

“Because he asked me what you told me to change my mind about the game night when I cancelled it.”

“What did you tell him?” Lucifer asked and Chloe could tell that he must have been worried that she might have told him something about what they really had talked about.

“I told him that it was my decision to not have the game night.” The relief in Lucifer’s face was palpable. “And later I told him that we were over,” she added after a moment.

“You did?” Lucifer was surprised.

“Yes,” Chloe smiled at him. “But he didn’t like it and since he already believed that you had told me something, I think it’s my fault that he went after Charlotte’s ex.” Chloe couldn’t help but think that Elliot Richards would be still alive if she hadn’t dumped Pierce.

“You can’t blame yourself, Detective. If anyone should blame himself it’s me. I was the one who asked Charlotte to help me get evidence and put her in danger,” Lucifer’s voice sounded sad.

“Stop that, both of you,” Charlotte intervened. “None of you killed him, it was Pierce, or rather one of his goons, I guess.”

“So how do we make him pay for it?” Lucifer asked, looking a little chastised.

Before anyone could answer there was a knock on the door. Charlotte went to open it and shortly after that appeared again with Dan on her heels.

Dan greeted both Chloe and Lucifer and then added, “I came as fast as I could, but I wanted to see what Malcolm and Tony gathered from the scene.”

“So what did they find?” Chloe asked.

“They found his notebook with the name of the person who he was showing the house to and they went to talk to him. I couldn’t go with them, so I’m not sure what they found there, but I asked them to keep me in the loop.” Dan wished he could have done more.

Chloe frowned. “Do you think that the person who he was showing the house to did it?” It would be a bit too easy, wouldn’t it?

“I don’t know. Killers do stupid stuff sometimes,” Dan shrugged. “Did your ex have any enemies?” he then turned to Charlotte.

“I don’t think so,” Charlotte replied and then looked at Lucifer. Dan was already involved a little, so she didn’t think it would be wise to keep everything from him. Lucifer nodded subtly, understanding what Charlotte was asking.

“I think it wasn’t really about him,” she started explaining.

“What do you mean?” Dan was confused.

“I mean that it was more like a warning meant for me,” she said and showed Dan the text she had received earlier that day.

Dan read it and furrowed his brows. “Why didn’t you tell me that someone threatened you?” The instinct to protect her was evident.

“I wasn’t sure what that was about, but now… I’m pretty sure he was killed because of me,” Charlotte told Dan and despite her composure, her voice wavered a little.

“You should show that to the detectives who are on his case,” Dan suggested.

“No,” Charlotte shook her head, “we suspect that it might be connected to a dirty cop and I can’t be sure who is connected with it and who’s not.”

Dan looked lost for a moment. “Wait, is that why you wanted Lucifer and Chloe on the case?”

“Yes, I know that they are not connected,” Charlotte confirmed.

Dan was about to protest, saying that he was also not connected, but he then realised that there must be something more going on. “But are you safe here? I mean they already killed someone.”

Lucifer usually didn’t agree with Dan, but this time he found that the man had made an excellent point. “I think it would be wise for you to leave the town for a while,” he suggested. “I can give you access to some of my properties, just tell me where you’d like to go.”

“And you think they wouldn’t find me if I hid in one of your houses?” Charlotte asked, looking at Lucifer with a raised eyebrow. “Besides, I can’t just run away the minute there’s some trouble.” After a moment she added, “and I can’t leave my kids right now.”

“How are they?” Dan asked.

“I didn’t tell them yet,” Charlotte admitted.

“Maybe it would be safer if you took your kids with you,” Chloe suggested. 

Charlotte thought it over for a few moments. “I could take them to Elliot’s parents. They might not want to see me, but I think they’d want to spend time with their grandkids after this. I could stay in a hotel under a fake name if necessary.”

Charlotte was barely able to finish the sentence when Dan’s phone started ringing. He stepped a bit further to talk.

Chloe and Lucifer both agreed that Charlotte’s plan to go out of the town with her children would be wise.

A few minutes later Dan had ended the call and came closer to the rest of them again.

“They arrested someone already,” he said.

“So quickly?” Chloe was surprised.

“Apparently they found the murder weapon in a trash can in front of the man’s house who Elliot had been showing the house to,” Dan explained.

Lucifer and Chloe looked at each other, frowning. It sounded incredibly easy. “We should go back to the precinct and take a look at the evidence, see what they got,” Chloe suggested.

“Okay. I should go and tell my kids now,” Charlotte said, not looking forward to delivering the news to her children.

“Do you want me to stay?” Dan asked. 

“No. I need to do it alone,” Charlotte was adamant. “I’ll call you if I need anything,” she added, seeing that Dan was eager to do something.

 

They had all stepped outside together and after Chloe and Lucifer said goodbye to Dan, they started walking towards Chloe’s car. Chloe kept playing all the information she had learned in Charlotte’s house in her head and it all led her to one conclusion. “He really is the Sinnerman, isn’t he,” she said silently as they stopped beside her car.

“I’m afraid so,” Lucifer confirmed. Even though he was glad that Chloe did believe him now, seeing the crestfallen look on her face, he wished that it wasn’t true.

Chloe suddenly felt nauseous and she put her hand on the car to balance herself.

“Detective, are you okay?” Lucifer asked, worried when he saw her looking a little pale and leaning on the car.

“Yeah,” Chloe answered, her voice weaker than normal. She didn’t want to fall apart in the middle of the street, she had to try and gather herself.

“Would you like me to drive?” Lucifer asked when he saw that she was probably not as okay as she claimed to be.

Chloe nodded and handed him the car keys before climbing to the passenger seat.

 

The thought that Elliot Richards had been murdered because she had dumped Pierce hadn’t left Chloe’s mind. Knowing that Pierce, or rather Cain, could do something like that just as a warning led her to wonder what he would have been capable of if they had remained in a relationship and she had angered him somehow. Or what would have happened if they had moved in together and Trixie had done something that he didn’t like. The thought seemed outright horrifying.

Lucifer kept glancing towards the Detective during the car ride. She was silent and kept looking out of the side window, turned away from him. He didn’t like it. It looked like she wasn’t okay at all, but since she had dismissed him earlier Lucifer wasn’t sure if he should try to get her to talk or leave her be. When he saw a tear run down her cheek, Lucifer decided that he needed to know what was going on. He pulled into the first parking lot he saw and stopped the car. Chloe was deep in her thoughts, so at first she didn’t even notice that the car had stopped.

Lucifer killed the engine and turned towards Chloe, “Detective, what’s going on?” The worry was clear in his voice.

Chloe was silent and closed her eyes, but that caused only more tears to fall from her eyes. “I was such a fool,” she whispered at last, still looking towards the window. “I shouldn’t have trusted him.”

“Why did you?” Lucifer asked softly. He didn’t want to accuse the Detective of being too naivé or anything, but he had been wondering why she was so eager to trust the man.

“I don’t know,” she said, turning her eyes towards her fingers while she was fidgeting with them. “I guess I thought he was like you, a man who had been shunned without knowing the true story,” she admitted in a trembling voice. “I was so stupid,” she added after a beat of silence.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself, Detective. The man has lived thousands of years, apparently he has learned how to manipulate people.”

“But I’m a cop, I should know how to read people,” Chloe didn’t give herself any break. “I almost let my daughter near him,” she added, voice breaking once again.

Lucifer couldn’t just watch her break down because of that damn neanderthal. He leaned over the center console a bit and reached for the Detective to pull her into a hug. Chloe didn’t protest. She leaned into his chest and Lucifer wrapped his arms around her as best as he could in that a bit awkward position. The safety of his embrace made the floodgates open even further and soon Chloe was sobbing openly. The familiar feeling of the hug made her realise that there had been another reason she had been so eager to not only believe everything Cain had told her, but also have a romantic relationship with the man. She had been trying to find someone who was like Lucifer since she couldn’t have the Devil himself. The similarity of their situation (getting a severe punishment for one mistake) made her draw parallels and attribute the same qualities that Lucifer had to Cain also. Sadly the first murderer was nothing like Lucifer as it turned out.

Lucifer just tightened his hold and kissed the crown of her head, feeling his own chest tighten painfully at the sight of her pain. He didn’t mind the wetness he could feel on his shirt that was caused by her tears. Lucifer would have sacrificed a hundred shirts if it could take away her hurt. He would have liked to assure her that she’s safe now, but he couldn’t be sure about that. The Sinnerman was still out there and they had to find a way to take him down. 

He waited until her sobs had quieted and then asked in a soft voice, “are you feeling better now?”

Chloe pulled away from him slightly and nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

“Any time, Detective. What are partners for, right?” he smiled, hoping to lighten the mood a little.

Chloe smiled back at him. “Let’s go to the precinct now.”

Lucifer let go of her, immediately missing having her so close. He started the engine again and they drove in a much more comfortable silence for most of the way. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Lucifer asked when they were almost there.

“Dan said that they have a suspect already. I guess they brought the suspect in and are questioning him. I think we should try to get to the observation room and listen in.” 

 

The precinct was rather quiet, most of the people had left already, only the night shift was left. Thankfully the Lieutenant’s office was dark too which meant that the man had left for the day.

Lucifer and Chloe went to the observation room that was overlooking interrogation room one, which was occupied. On the other side of the glass they saw a man sitting at the table, holding his head in his hands.

Lucifer was a bit puzzled that there were no other people in that room. “Why are they not questioning him?”

“I guess they are letting him wait on purpose. To make him more nervous,” Chloe explained. She usually didn’t like to use that tactic herself.

“If they won’t talk to him, maybe we should,” Lucifer suggested.

Chloe shook her head. “No. I want to know what they have first.”

Lucifer sighed and they stood there waiting. He was about to suggest that they’d leave since it was getting boring when he heard footsteps approaching the room. “Here we go,” he commented.

A moment later the door to the interrogation room opened and detectives Graham and Paolucci walked inside. Malcolm was holding a folder in his hand.

“Are those the imbeciles I met at that Police Academy ball?” Lucifer asked, recognising the men immediately.

“That’s them,” Chloe confirmed. She remembered very well how those idiots started to keep their distance after the ball, even though their interaction with Lucifer was rather short.

“How come I haven’t noticed them here?” he asked, sounding puzzled.

“Well, they transferred recently from Vice. We got an e-mail about it.” Chloe was quite certain that Lucifer hadn't bothered to read any e-mails from HR. 

“So, Mr. Chamberlain, where were you this afternoon between 3.45 and 4.30?” Malcolm asked the man after sitting down.

“I told you already, I was at home,” the man answered agitatedly.

“And not meeting Mr. Richards for a house viewing?” The sentence was more like a statement than a question. It seemed that they had already talked about it.

“No, I told you. I got a call and the meeting was cancelled and I stayed home,” the man explained.

“So, no alibi,” Paolucci chimed in. “Too bad, because the murder weapon happened to be in a trash bin in front of your house.” He placed a hammer on the table. The tool was in a plastic bag, but you could see that it was smeared with blood.

“I told you, I haven’t seen that thing before,” the man sounded desperate.

Graham opened the folder and took out photos from the crime scene. He placed them in front of their suspect and from the look of it, those were not something for the light hearted. Mr. Chamberlain turned his head away, not wanting to look at the pictures. “I didn’t do it, I swear,” he said.

“That’s too bad, because the evidence points right at you - you had an appointment, the murder weapon with Mr. Richards’ blood on it was found in your trashcan, it doesn’t look good for you.” Graham used a mockingly sympathetic tone, but it was clear that he was enjoying the man’s suffering.

“It’s quite circumstantial,” Chloe mused.

“Who would be stupid enough to throw the murder weapon away in front of your own house?” Lucifer wondered.

“I’ve seen people do that actually,” Chloe said, “but I think it’s a bit fishy.” She looked at the interrogation room where Graham and Paolucci were trying to get a confession out of the man and said, “I think we need to get him alone, so we could get the real story from him.”

“Those two don’t look like they’d be willing to give up so easily,” Lucifer pointed out.

“I know,” Chloe sighed. It would be so much easier if they were officially on that case. She looked at the time and startled. “Shoot, I didn’t realise it was so late already. I need to go home, it’s school night and Maze doesn’t care about bed times.”

“Alright, let’s go then,” Lucifer didn’t object.

“You don’t want to stay and try to talk to him?” Chloe asked tentatively.

“No. I think we should do it together, tomorrow morning perhaps?” Lucifer suggested.

“Yes, that sounds great. Let’s go then.”

They hurried out of the precinct. Chloe assumed that she’d need to drop Lucifer off too, but he didn’t seem to want to get into her car. “Don’t you need a ride home?” Chloe asked puzzled.

“You go and put your Urchin to bed. I’ll find my way home,” Lucifer smirked.

Chloe frowned for a moment, wondering if he’d get an Uber or something, but Lucifer looked at her pointedly and she finally understood that the Devil was about to fly home.

--------

The next morning Chloe and Lucifer were both in the precinct a bit earlier than usual. They went to the holding cells immediately and soon they were in front of Steve Chamberlain’s cell.

“Good morning, Mr. Chamberlain,” Chloe greeted him.

He looked up at them for a moment and then bowed his head back down, staring at the floor like he had before she spoke to him.

“Who are you?” He muttered, not too loudly.

“I am detective Decker and this is my partner Mr. Morningstar,” Chloe introduced them.

“What do you want?” he grunted, apparently not too happy about another pair of detectives bothering him.

“We want to know what really happened,” Chloe said.

“I’ve already told you guys exactly what happened and you cops just don’t believe me,” the man got agitated. “What’s the point?” The last sentence came out in a more resigned tone.

“You haven’t told us yet,” Chloe said in a calm and pleasant tone.

“What difference does it make?” Steve huffed, keeping his eyes on the ground.

“Let’s just say that we don’t think you did it,” Chloe said, hoping that revealing their stance would make the man more willing to talk to them.

The honesty paid off. The man in the holding cell looked up at her, surprise and hope mixed in his expression. Still, the interrogation he had endured the previous day had apparently made him wary enough and he narrowed his eyes before asking, “what kind of game are you playing?”

“We’re not playing any games,” Chloe assured him, “we just want to know the truth.”

The man sighed and started to tell the story once again. “I was supposed to meet Mr. Richards for a house viewing yesterday at 4 PM. Around 1 PM or so I got a call from his office telling me that he had to cancel it due to some personal obligations. I was working from home yesterday, so I just continued to work. My fiancee is out of town, so no one can verify that I was at home that time. I swear I was nowhere near that house yesterday and I haven’t touched a hammer in months.”

“Who called you about the cancellation?” Chloe asked, holding her notepad open, ready to write down any useful information.

“I don’t know. I’m not sure she even introduced herself, I think she just said that she’s calling from Robins & Partners.”

“So it was a woman,” Chloe concluded.

“Yeah, definitely a woman,” Steve nodded.

“Anything else you remember? Something about her voice maybe?” 

Steve was quiet for a while, but then shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t pay much attention to it.”

“Is it usual that someone else calls if the realtor has to cancel?” Chloe asked next.

“I don’t know. We just started to search for our dream house and I haven’t had much experience with realtors before,” Steve admitted.

So far Lucifer had just listened to the conversation between the Detective and the suspect. Since both of them thought that poor Steve had not killed Charlotte’s ex there was no need to mojo the man. He knew that Sinnerman dealt in favours (a fact that irritated him a lot) and he was trying to figure out how exactly had the crime lord made that man the scapegoat.

“Does the name Sinnerman say anything to you?” Lucifer asked.

“No,” Steve answered, “never heard of him.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us? Something odd that happened yesterday?” Chloe then asked, hoping to get something more out of the man.

“Sorry, I can’t think of anything else,” he said, looking truly sad. 

Chloe wasn’t happy that they hadn’t gotten anything more, but she tried not to show any disappointment, the man was already stressed enough. “Thank you for the information you gave us, we’ll do our best to clear your name,” she said before they turned to leave.

“Thank you for believing my story,” the man replied, his voice wavering a little.

 

When Chloe headed towards her desk and not the exit, Lucifer was confused. “Detective,” he asked silently, “why are we not going out and trying to find whoever called Steve Chamberlain?"

“We will, but just not yet,” Chloe replied. When Lucifer seemed still confused, she elaborated. “First of all, this is officially not our case and I don’t want Pierce to know that we are working on it, so we need to make headway on our actual case. And that means we can’t go until we have a reason with that case too.” Even though Lucifer responded with a “right”, to her explanation, Chloe didn’t stop. “Also, I don’t think a real estate company is even open yet.”

“I guess we can google it and check,” Lucifer suggested.

“We also need the address anyway,” Chloe added. “And maybe Ella can get some information on that number we got from Charlotte.” Chloe had written down the number from which the text had been sent to Charlotte.

 

They picked up from where they had left their own case the previous day. It took some time before they had a reason to leave the precinct. 

“We could have just made it look like we are leaving for our case and came here earlier,” Lucifer remarked when they parked in front of Robins & Partner’s office. It was almost noon already.

Chloe sighed. “The victim from our case deserves justice too and I didn’t want to stall our actual investigation because we are working on another one on the side. Besides, now I’m pretty sure that the whole company knows about their co-workers death, so it makes it easier to question them.” She would not have felt right informing them of the tragedy when it was not their case.

Lucifer didn’t say anything. He knew that the Detective was right again, but he didn’t want to admit it.

When they stepped into the office Chloe’s eyes immediately landed on the woman at the front desk. She made her way towards the woman, Lucifer right behind her.

“Hello! I’m detective Decker from LAPD,” Chloe introduced herself and flashed her badge, “and this is my partner, Mr. Morningstar,” she finished the introduction. Lucifer flashed the woman one of his radiant smiles and the young woman couldn’t tear her gaze from the Devil.

“We have a few questions regarding Mr. Richards,” Chloe continued tentatively, testing if the woman had heard about his colleague's untimely death.

“Oh god, yes we heard the news, it’s so horrible,” the woman immediately reacted. Chloe was wondering if Graham and Paolucci had even visited the victim’s office, but so far there was no indication that anyone else from the LAPD had been there.

“Can you tell me about Mr. Richards’ schedule for yesterday. Which houses he showed and to whom?”

“Uhm, yes. Just a moment, I’ll open the calendar.” She clicked on the computer a few times and then started reading it out loud. Chloe listened patiently, although she wasn’t really interested in the whole schedule. Finally she heard what she had been interested in - the appointment for 4 PM was still there. Chloe and Lucifer shared a look when they heard the woman read out the appointment with Steve Chamberlain.

“Tell me, can you see the appointments for all the realtors?” Chloe continued with the questions.

“Yes, we have a shared calendar. We can filter it so we can see only the appointments of one realtor, but generally yes, I can see all the appointments,” the woman explained.

“And can all the other realtors see each other’s calendars too?”

The woman thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I think they can. Sometimes when someone can’t make it to the showing and another realtor takes over, it’s good when you can access the calendar and see who you're meeting and where the house is,” she explained before Chloe could ask why they can access each other’s calendars.

“So when one realtor can’t make it, another one steps in?” Chloe asked to be sure how the work was organised in that company.

“Yes, usually someone else can do the showing instead,” the woman said, a little pride in her voice evident.

“But if everyone else is busy too, do you call the showings off too sometimes?”

“Well, if really no one could go, I suppose we would call the showing off, but I’m not sure when the last time was when something like that happened.” 

“And who usually calls the clients about the changes?” Chloe asked, trying not to sound too interested in that topic.

“Every realtor handles it themselves,” the woman shrugged.

“So you don’t call on behalf of them, ever?” Chloe inquired.

The woman furrowed her brows, “maybe once or twice, when they’re like sick or something and can’t come in and it’s a new client and they don’t have their contacts saved on the phone yet.”

Lucifer looked at the woman intently. “So you haven’t called any clients on behalf of someone else recently?” The woman looked back at him and shook her head, not hesitating one bit. “No, I haven’t,” she said a bit dreamily, her pupils dilating in desire.

Her behavior didn’t give neither Chloe nor Lucifer any doubt that she wasn’t the one who called Mr. Chamberlain yesterday, so they needed to keep looking.

“Where can we find other realtors who work here?” Chloe asked the woman who was still looking dreamily at Lucifer.

“The realtors work there,” she gestured towards glass doors that were at the end of the hall, “and Mr. Robins works in his office.” She pointed towards a dark wooden door with a nameplate next to it.

“Thank you,” Chloe thanked the woman before she and Lucifer headed towards where the realtors were working.  

“You think that it was some other realtor who works here?” Lucifer asked in a whisper before they could reach the door.

“It would be the most logical option,” the Detective answered silently.

 

When they entered the open office where all the realtors were working behind their desks, both of them began to scan the room. There were three female realtors and three desks were currently empty. They hoped that the right one was at the office.

Lucifer let the Detective decide where to start and she went to a desk where a dark haired woman was sitting.

“Hi! I’m detective Decker and this is my partner, Mr. Morningstar. We want to ask you some questions in relation to Mr. Richards’ death.” Chloe didn’t want to waste time on small talk and got right to business.

“Oh, of course. Such a tragedy, Elliot was always so nice,” the woman began. The name tag on her desk read “Molly Murphy”.

Chloe started to ask questions about Elliot Richards, in order to not reveal the real reason they were here too soon. She wanted to get as much information as possible about the dynamics in the office and slipped in a question about calling clients on behalf of other realtors like an afterthought. The woman claimed that she had never contacted other realtor’s clients.

Lucifer let the Detective do the questioning and scanned the room instead. Not surprisingly they had garnered interest from other realtors in the room also, most of them throwing occasional glances towards them. One woman drew Lucifer’s attention though. She was not looking at them, seemingly immersed in some papers, but her posture was tense and Lucifer was sure that she was actually listening. When he listened closely he could hear her heart hammer in her chest. Lucifer decided to speed things along a bit so they could go talk to that one next.

“Excuse me, Molly,” Lucifer interrupted the women and waited until Molly was looking at him, “tell me, what is it that you desire?”

“I.. I want to make my parents proud,” was the answer she gave rather easily. “I want to become a partner here one day,” she continued to elaborate her desire.

“Well, good luck with that,” Lucifer said, not too interested in the woman’s desire since now he was convinced that Molly was not the one they were looking for.

“Let’s go to that one next,” Lucifer pulled Chloe away from Miss Murphy’s desk and started to walk towards the desk of the woman who had seemed rather suspicious to him. Before they could reach it, the woman sitting there stood up and started hurrying towards the exit. Chloe and Lucifer shared a look and followed her.

They caught her just as she had exited the room.

“Excuse me, Miss, we’d like to speak to you,” Chloe said when they had reached her.

“Sorry, I need to go to the toilet,” she tried to excuse herself.

“I’d like to ask you a question first,” Lucifer decided to jump into action before the woman could flee. “What do you desire?” he asked, looking intently at the woman.

Her jaw went slack and she stared at Lucifer, before admitting, “I want to keep my brother safe.”

“Do tell,” Lucifer urged her to talk further with a grin.

Chloe looked towards the other end of the hallway where the receptionist’s desk was and saw that she was not sitting there, so it seemed that it was safe for them to continue the conversation where they were, so she let the woman speak.

“He was owing some bad people money and he heard from a guy who grants favours and he went to him to get them to go away. But yesterday he got a call that said I need to call Mr. Chamberlain and tell him that Elliot can’t show him the house. I didn’t think it would be such a bad thing, I just wanted to make sure that my brother was safe, I swear. I never wanted something bad to happen to Elliot.” The woman was in tears while telling them all this.

“Is there somewhere we can go and talk where we’ll be alone?” Chloe then asked. They seemed to have caught the right person and even though the front desk was empty right now, the woman they had spoken with before might come back any second. She didn’t want to risk her safety just in case someone else from that company was also involved with the Sinnerman.

“We could go to the break room,” the woman suggested.

“Let’s go then.”

The break room was empty. They sat down and began with the questions. “What can you tell us about the man who granted your brother the favour?” Chloe asked.

“Uhm, not much. My brother just said that he wanted a favour in return and he was not the kind of man you’d say no to.” The woman had taken a tissue from a tissue box that was on the table and started drying her eyes.

Lucifer and Chloe both frowned. That was not very helpful.

“Could you give us the contacts of your brother?” Chloe wondered. A person who had gotten a favour from the Sinnerman could maybe give them some information they could use.

“Why? Is he in trouble now?” the woman wondered.

“No, we just want to talk to him. I promise he won’t be in any trouble because of it.” She hoped that they could keep the fact that they were talking to that man under the radar, so he wouldn’t get in trouble with the Sinnerman also.

The woman still looked a little unsure. “You want his number? Or address?” she asked in a wavering voice.

“If you could give us both, it would be really helpful,” Chloe told her while taking out her notepad.

“Just one moment.” The woman opened her phone that she had been holding all the time. After tapping on it for a few moments, she gave them both his number and address.

“And what is his name?” Chloe then asked.

“Jason. His name is Jason.”

“And your name is?” Chloe remembered that they had never asked the woman’s name, but it probably would be helpful if Jason knew that his sister had given them his information.

“I’m Beth,” she replied.

“Thank you so much, Beth,” Chloe put her hand on Beth’s arm in a reassuring gesture, “you’ve been very helpful.”

“And please don’t feel guilty about making that call to Mr. Chamberlain yesterday, you didn’t know what would happen,” Lucifer added. He could see the guilt in the woman’s eyes. Although she had aided to lure Elliot Richards to meet his killer, she herself had not done it and therefore should not feel guilty about it.

 

After they left the building Chloe tried to call the number they had gotten from Beth. Unfortunately no one answered it. Chloe decided to try again later and they went to speak to a suspect in their official case next.

The rest of the day they focused on that case, but tried to get a hold on Jason every now and then. By the time they had managed to arrest the killer of their official case, it was almost the end of the workday, but Chloe still hadn’t managed to talk to Jason. She didn’t try to call him while they were in the precinct, fearing that Pierce might find out about it.

Unfortunately the phone number they had given to Ella didn’t help them forward either. As Chloe had suspected it was from a burner phone.

“Do you think we should go and pay a visit to Jason?” Chloe asked Lucifer in a silent voice after they had arrested the killer on their own case.

“You’re not going to do the paperwork?” Lucifer acted shocked. He had already taken out his phone and was ready to use it to keep himself entertained while the Detective did the paperwork of another successfully solved case.

“I can do this on Monday, but I really want to talk to Jason as soon as possible,” Chloe answered. Yes, she knew that she should start with the paperwork, but she wouldn’t be able to finish with it before going home anyway.

“All right, let’s go and talk to him then,” Lucifer agreed and stood up from the chair.

 

As they were walking towards her cruiser Chloe realised that the drive to Jason and talking to him would take long enough that she wouldn’t make it home before Trixie arrived from her training. Another kid’s mother had agreed to take Trixie home when she picked up her own kid from the training, but someone had to be home since Trixie didn’t have the key and Chloe would not feel comfortable letting her 8 year old come home to an empty house anyway.

That left only one option. Chloe took out her phone and dialled her roommate.

“What’s up?” came the curt reply from the other end after three rings.

“Hi, Maze! Are you home right now?” Chloe asked.

“I might be,” the demon answered, clearly sensing that Chloe wanted something from her.

“I’m sorry to ask you again, but can you stay home until Trixie arrives? Me and Lucifer have to go and question someone and it will take some time so I won’t be at home in time,” Chloe explained.

“I already watched her yesterday,” Maze grumbled, but there was no real heat behind it.

“I know, but it’s really important. I will make it up to you,” Chloe offered, not wanting Maze to think that she’s taking advantage of her.

“How?” Maze seemed interested.

“I don’t know,” Chloe didn’t really know what to offer, “but I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

“Fine, I’ll wait for her then. But don’t be too late, it’s Friday evening and I’m not going to spend it all with the kid.”

“I won’t,” Chloe promised. “Thank you so much!”

“Whatever,” Maze huffed and ended the call.

Chloe let out a sigh of relief, she really hoped it wouldn’t take too long before she’d be home. 

 

Chloe felt a bit nervous while they were driving to Jason’s place. In addition to feeling a little guilty about leaving her daughter in someone else’s care for the second night in a row, she couldn’t help wondering if talking to Jason would even help them further. Would the man even talk to them and would he know what the Sinnerman looked like? She tried to remember if she had any photos of Pierce on her phone that she could show him, hoping he could recognise Pierce and confirm that he really was the Sinnerman. 

Lucifer on the other hand seemed more at ease. He was  checking his phone most of the time and occasionally wrote something on it. Chloe didn’t like how he seemed to be distracted.

“Do you need to be somewhere else instead?” she asked, her voice a little edgy.

“No, of course not. Why do you ask?” Lucifer was confused.

“Oh, I don’t know, you seem to be more interested in your phone than in the conversation we’re going to have with someone who has actually met the Sinnerman.” Chloe shrugged a little too exaggeratedly. 

“I’m sorry, but my useless brother needs some guidance,” Lucifer explained. He hadn’t even properly finished that sentence, when his phone buzzed with a notification about an incoming message again. Lucifer looked at the message, answered it and then decided to put his phone on silent.

“There, I silenced it, not even a vibration for incoming texts” he informed Chloe and put the device in his pocket.

“Thank you,” Chloe said and felt a bit silly about making a fuss when he was just managing Lux. “I just didn’t want it to distract you while we talk to Jason,” she offered as an explanation.

“I understand, Detective. Besides, I can answer Amenadiel’s boring questions after we’re done with Jason,” Lucifer said with a smile. 

 

Soon they reached the address Beth had given them. Chloe parked the car and they got out. There didn’t seem to be much movement in the house. Chloe knocked on the door and they waited for a while, but no one opened it. Before she could knock again, Lucifer decided to do it himself and knocked much louder. Still, there was no answer. Lucifer concentrated and he could hear some movement.

“I think someone is in there,” he said silently.

“Do you think we should go and take a look?” Chloe whispered back.

Lucifer nodded and put his hand on the door knob. It opened without resisting. They stepped inside and Chloe announced their presence, “Jason, we’re from LAPD, we just want to ask some questions.” They were met with silence.

“Go and check upstairs, I’ll check this floor,” Chloe suggested silently.

“Why can’t we check them together?" Lucifer whispered.

“Because he might be here and run. We have a bigger chance of catching him if we separate,” Chloe explained.

“Fine”, Lucifer said and headed towards the stairs.

Chloe went around the rooms silently, checking every corner in case the guy was hiding. When she entered the last room, Chloe had a feeling that someone else was there. Before she had a chance to look around she felt cold metal press to her head. She hadn’t managed to switch on the light yet, but the light from the other room illuminated it enough so she could see a man who held her at gunpoint and lifted his finger in front of his mouth in a shushing gesture.

“Detective, where are you?” came Lucifer’s voice from the other room.

“Make him leave,” the man whispered in a barely audible voice.

“I’m almost done. You can go and wait in the car,” Chloe said out loud, feeling her heart hammering in her chest. 

“I can wait here,” Lucifer said instead. 

The man clearly didn’t like Lucifer’s answer and pressed the gun harder into Chloe’s head. “No, it’s okay. You can go to the car and continue chatting on the phone,” Chloe said, trying to make her voice as authoritative as possible. 

“Fine.” Lucifer’s voice sounded a bit offended. A moment later she heard the front door open and close.

An evil looking grin spread over the gunman’s face.

“Good girl. We’ll go on a ride now. And don’t worry, my car is parked near the back door, so your partner won’t get in our way.” 

 

Notes:

As you can see, those of you who doubted that it was Charlotte who was killed, were right. I didn't want to kill her in my fic.

And yes, Dan's call ruined their plan to talk. Unfortunately.

Chapter 39: Ultimatum

Notes:

I decided to spilt this chapter and so the total chapter count went up a chapter. Originally I planned to end this one in a different place, but the second half of the chapter still needs work and I didn't want the time between posting chapters to be too long. So here it is.

Chloe didn’t see any other option than to comply and started walking in the direction the man had gestured to. She figured that her vitals should definitely show signs of panic, but unfortunately Lucifer had silenced his phone when they drove to the house. At that moment Chloe was rather pissed at herself, why had she complained about him being on the phone in the first place? She had tried to subtly hint Lucifer that he should check his phone, but there was no guarantee that he’d do it before it would be too late.

Chloe walked as slowly as she could without making it look too suspicious to the gunman, but unfortunately the back door was not far away. As soon as she opened the door she could see a white van parked near the back gate, facing the other way on a side street. Chloe realised that it would mean that the van could drive off without Lucifer even realising that something was amiss.

 

Lucifer stepped out of the house feeling a bit offended. He couldn’t understand why the Detective had asked him to leave. Her tone had been insistent enough that he had left the house. And why on Earth was she so fixated on him using his phone? That was the whole purpose of the device, to use it. Lucifer thought again about what the Detective had said and he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was almost insisting herself that he should go back to chatting on his phone. He sighed and pulled the device from his pocket. As soon as he opened it, he saw the notifications coming in from Chloe’s bracelet that was sending alerts. 

“What the Hell?” Lucifer muttered. He was about to run back to the house when he realised that Chloe had sent him away for a reason. Lucifer decided to try and get as much information as he could about what was going on. He remembered the direction where her voice had come from and rounded the house, peeking in from the windows. It didn’t take long before he could see two figures moving in the direction of a back door. Chloe’s hands were raised and Lucifer saw the gun pointing at her head. The sight made his blood boil, but he decided to use the element of surprise to lessen any danger to the Detective.

He moved quickly towards the back door and stopped just next to it.

Soon the door opened and Chloe was the first one to step out, the stranger with a gun right behind her.

“Hello, bad guy!” Lucifer said and as soon as the man looked at his direction, he hit him square in the face. The force was enough to knock the man over and the gun fell from his hand. Chloe quickly grabbed it, to make sure that the man would not be able to shoot her or Lucifer.

Lucifer had hit the man hard enough that he was now lying on the ground unconscious. That gave Chloe an opportunity to turn her attention towards partner.

“Thank you, Lucifer!” she smiled at him.

“Of course, what are partners for, eh,” Lucifer smiled back, tugging at his cuffs.

“I guess you did see the alerts from the bracelet?”

“Yes. It was clever of you to tell me to use my phone. If I hadn’t …,” Lucifer didn’t want to end the sentence, he didn’t even want to think about it.

“Yeah, I don’t know where he wanted to take me, but it was all planned. He had a van parked near the back gate,” Chloe gestured towards the white van, “ready to leave through the side streets.”

“Did he say where he tell you why he wanted to kidnap you?” Lucifer wondered.

“No, he didn’t talk much.” To be fair, Chloe was equally curious about the whole thing.

“I think we need to ask him when he wakes up. Properly ask.” Lucifer’s tone was menacing and Chloe had no doubt that he was not planning to ask nicely.

“You want to talk to him here?” 

“No. I think we should bring him to Lux. But you should cuff him first,” Lucifer suggested.

“Gladly,” Chloe smirked as she was reaching for the handcuffs. 

After a brief stop at the precinct so that Lucifer could take his own car home too, they reached Lux. The man who had tried to kidnap Chloe was still in handcuffs and tucked away in the trunk of Chloe’s car. Neither of them wanted the man inside the car, so Chloe had not objected when Lucifer had suggested this mode of transportation for the guy. They had inspected briefly also his van that was parked near the house, but they couldn’t find anything that would give them a clue about his original plans.

Lucifer opened the trunk and found the man regaining consciousness. Since it would be easier to move him around if he wasn’t awake, Lucifer hit him again before pulling him out, hauling the guy over his shoulder like a bag of flour. When they entered the elevator Lucifer pushed number 9. Chloe had never been on that floor, so she was curious.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Let’s just say that there are some rooms that were originally meant for other activities, but I think one of them can be used for this occasion too.” His answer was rather cryptic, but Chloe could already imagine what kind of rooms there could be.

 

After reaching floor number 9, Lucifer stood in the hallway for a moment, mulling over which room to use and finally decided on room number 907.

As they entered Chloe could see that her suspicions had been right. It looked like something one would use for BDSM sessions. In the middle of the room was a sex rack. Lucifer deposited the man on it and fastened the bindings on his legs and arms.

“I wonder how long he’ll be out.” Chloe didn’t want to waste too much time on waiting for the man to wake up.

“Let’s speed it along, shall we,” Lucifer suggested and before Chloe could ask what he had in mind, he had disappeared in a bathroom that was next to the room. Lucifer emerged with a glass of water and threw it in the man’s face with force. It made the man start to stir, but Lucifer decided that he should add another glass of water. When he had filled the glass again and walked out of the bathroom, he noticed that the Detective was looking at him with slightly furrowed brows.

“Oh, I’m sorry, would you want to do the honours?” Lucifer asked.

Chloe was about to say that she didn’t think that they should keep throwing water at the guy, but suddenly the idea seemed rather tempting. “Why not,” she shrugged and snatched the glass from Lucifer who only grinned at her reaction.

Chloe went closer to the guy and threw the water at his face, wetting the front of his shirt even more. 

The man gasped and opened his eyes. “What the fuck?” he exclaimed, trying to free his hands.

“Welcome back, Jason,” Lucifer greeted the man with a wolfish grin.

“Who’s Jason?” the man looked at him puzzled.

“Ah, so you are not Beth’s brother I presume,” Lucifer concluded.

“No,” the man looked at Chloe and Lucifer like they had suggested he was Santa Claus.

“Who are you then?” Chloe asked in her interrogation voice.

The man seemed to realise that his words might have consequences and he decided to not cooperate.

“I won’t tell you shit,” he said.

“Is that so?” Lucifer asked and started walking closer to the man, menace exuding from him.

“Yes,” the man squeaked and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Look at me,” he ordered and grabbed the man’s face, squeezing his jaw between his thumb and fingers.

“No,” the man whispered.

It seemed that he knew the dangers of looking Lucifer in the eyes. Lucifer was getting pissed. If he didn’t want to answer the questions in an easy way, there were other ways to make him talk. He let go of the man’s jaw and turned towards Chloe. 

“Detective, I believe it’s time you went home and relieved your roommate from babysitting duties. I could use her assistance here.”

“Are you sure?” Chloe asked silently. “I could try too, you know.” She was reluctant to leave.

“Detective, believe me, it would be much more efficient if Maze did it. Besides, I believe you promised to make it up to her for staying with the Urchin tonight. I’m sure giving her the opportunity to interrogate this man would count as making it up to her.” Lucifer could already imagine the glee on the demon’s face.

Chloe was well aware that interrogation in Maze’s book was torturing the information out of the guy. As much as she would have liked to hear the man tell them what they wanted to know, she definitely didn’t want to witness how exactly Maze got the man to talk.

“Fine, I’ll go home and send her over,” Chloe relented.

--------

“Took you long enough,” the demon complained as soon as Chloe walked into the apartment.

“Hello to you too,” Chloe said with a little sarcasm. Even though she knew that Maze had never been too polite, Chloe couldn’t help but try to teach her about manners every now and then.

“Hi mommy!” Trixie greeted her cheerfully and it never failed to make Chloe feel warm inside.

“Hi, Trix!” she answered. “What are you guys up to?”

“We’re watching Frozen,” the girl announced. Chloe wanted to roll her eyes. The girl had seen the cartoon at least 20 times already and Chloe was quite sure that she knew every line by heart now.

“And there’s some pizza left for you,” Trixe added after a moment, just as Chloe had noticed two pizza boxes on the breakfast bar.

Before Chloe could say anything, Maze spoke. “The kid was hungry and I don’t cook.”

“I know, thank you.” Chloe was glad that Maze had taken the initiative and made sure that Trixie was fed. When she had made the call to Maze she had thought that she’d be home sooner and would be able to cook something for them before it got too late.

“Could you come here and we could discuss the repayment,” Chloe asked, hoping that Maze would understand that she was not talking only about paying for the pizzas.

Maze rose from the couch and walked to the kitchen. Chloe went further into the kitchen area, planning to have a conversation about the guy who had some information they wanted, but trying to keep that conversation from her daughter.

The demon looked at her suspiciously, sensing that there was something else too. “What’s up?”

Chloe lowered her voice. “A guy tried to kidnap me tonight. Fortunately Lucifer was able to stop him, but we need to find out what he was planning and who he was working for.” Chloe was quite sure that the man didn’t plan to kidnap her on his own.

“Where is he?” Maze asked, buzzing with anticipation.

“We took him to Lux, to room number 907. We thought that you could help with the interrogation.”

A wide grin spread over Maze’s face. “Oh, I’ll definitely help.” She went quickly upstairs and a few moments later came back downstairs, wearing a leather jacket and carrying a bag that clinked suspiciously. She was almost out of the door when Chloe remembered that she needed to actually pay her for the pizzas.

“You didn’t tell me how much I owe you for the pizzas,” Chloe reminded the demon.

“Consider it my treat and the babysitting part made up for,” she answered before she slipped out of the door.

--------

Lucifer sat in the other corner of the room and watched Maze torture the man with enthusiasm. It was clear that the demon had missed that part while on Earth. Every time the man refused to speak, her face showed glee over the man’s decision. She had always loved the difficult ones. 

Maze had been torturing him a bit more than an hour when he finally said the magic words, “okay, I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

Maze huffed and looked at the device she was about to use on the guy with disappointment. She had really wanted to use it, but they had agreed that she’d be free to use any of her devices or techniques on the man as long as he refused to give them information. Now that he was willing to speak it was Lucifer’s turn.

The Devil had already stood up from his chair and was now draping his jacket over the back of it. The man was bleeding enough that there was a possibility that some of it would get on Lucifer’s clothes when he went closer. There was no need to ruin a perfectly good Tom Ford. 

“So, are you ready to tell me why you were trying to kidnap the Detective?" Lucifer asked as soon as he was closer to the would-be kidnapper.  

“It was my order from the boss,” the man said weakly.

“And your boss is?” 

“The Sinnerman,” the man almost whispered.

Lucifer gritted his teeth. He had suspected that the man was working for the Sinnerman.

“As I understand you are not Beth’s brother Jason,” Lucifer continued.

“I don’t have a sister. And I’m Keith.” Apparently Maze had made him much more talkative.

“Why were you in that house then?” Lucifer wondered.

“The boss sent me there. Said I need to take the female detective with me and keep away from her partner,” Keith confessed.

“And where were you supposed to take her?” Lucifer asked, hoping to catch that bloody immortal there himself.

“I don’t know,” Keith shrugged and then immediately groaned. Any movement after Maze’s touch didn’t seem to be very pleasant for him.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Lucifer asked agitatedly.

“I was supposed to call him after I’m in the van with that detective.”

“Well, call him now then. Ask where you need to take her,” Lucifer insisted.

“But I don’t have her,” Keith protested in a weak voice.

“Well, you need to pretend then,” Lucifer growled. Maze sensed that the man was beginning to be difficult again and added, “I can gladly motivate you to cooperate,” wearing a devilish grin.

“No,” the man almost shouted. “No, I will call.”

“Good,” Lucifer said approvingly.

“But I need my hand,” Keith wiggled the fingers on his right hand, indicating that he’d need his hand let loose from the bindings in order to make the call.

“No need for that,” Lucifer informed him. “Where’s your phone?” 

“In my jacket pocket,” Keith said.

Lucifer had removed his jacket before fixing him on the rack. He went to the garment that was lying on the floor and found the phone in there. Lucifer put the phone in Keith’s hand. “Now dial him,” he instructed.

Keith did what he was told and Lucifer put the phone near his ear.

“Yeah,” a grumpy sounding voice answered after a few rings.

“It’s me. Keith,” the man said. Apparently Sinnerman’s goons were not into pleasantries. “I got that detective. Where should I take her?” To the man’s credit he sounded almost nonchalant.

“Hold on,” the voice on the other end said and Lucifer could hear that he was telling someone else that Keith is calling and asking where to take the detective. The other voice was muffled, so Lucifer could not hear what was the answer he got, but soon the other guy was back on the phone. “Why didn’t you call sooner?” he asked.

Keith was silent for a moment. Lucifer looked at him threateningly and he stammered, “she didn’t come here until just 10 minutes ago.”

There was a beat of silence on the other end and then Lucifer could hear a familiar voice on the other end, “give the phone to Lucifer.”

Keith looked like a deer in the headlights and Lucifer put the phone next to his own ear with a sigh. “Hello, Cain,” he said with disdain.

“Good help is hard to find these days, isn’t it,” the first murderer said instead of a greeting. “I figured things had gone wrong after I didn’t hear from him.”

"So what happened to Jason?" Lucifer wondered.

"Giving you the address was part of Beth's payback to me. It's not Jason's house." There were multiple pieces of information in that sentence that made more questions arise, but Lucifer decided to not dwell on them right now. 

“And how did you know that we didn’t go to the house just 10 minutes ago?” Lucifer wondered. Even if Cain knew that they had the address, they could have gone there later too.

“I have eyes everywhere,” Cain bragged.

“Why did you want to kidnap the Detective?” Lucifer then asked the most important question. He had been wondering about it. Even before Keith had started talking, he suspected that it was all the Sinnerman’s doing.

“To use her as bait,” Cain answered as if it was a totally normal thing to do. “But now I have to adjust my plan a little.”

“What plan?” Lucifer was sure that he would not like this plan one bit.

“Look, I haven’t gotten where I am by playing some stupid cat and mouse games. I think it’s time we end this, don’t you?”

“Oh, I would gladly end you,” Lucifer snarled.

“Yet you didn’t see the need to try and find a way when you had the chance,” Cain said mockingly. Lucifer did regret not trying to find a way to end that neanderthal once and for all after they had tested the demon blade. “And now it’s you who’s going to die.”

“Is that so?” Lucifer let out a laugh, albeit a little forced.

“Yes, I’m going to give you an address and you are going to meet me there at midnight,” Cain said matter-of-factly.

Although Lucifer wanted nothing more than torture the man to death over and over again, being told what to do was something that his very nature was always fighting against.

“And what makes you think that I will come?” 

“You see, Lucifer, your problem is that you’re too soft. You care about all those humans and that makes you weak. You want to protect them all, but you can’t be everywhere at once.”

Lucifer didn’t see the connection there. “What are you rambling about?”

“If you don’t come, the people you care about might get hurt. Accidents happen all the time and sometimes houses catch on fire or just some gunmen happen to shoot someone.” Cain used the same emotionless voice like he was using every day at the precinct and it made the threat sound even more horrifying.

“You would hurt innocent people just to get to me.” It was more like a statement and not a question. He had already killed Elliot Richards, who had nothing to do with all this.

“It’s all in your hands. Be a good Devil and show up and I won’t have any interest in going after them. Oh, and bring Decker with you,” Cain added like an afterthought.

“What? Why on Earth would I do that?” It would mean putting the Detective at danger and himself too, since Lucifer would be vulnerable. 

“Because you can’t protect her when you’re away from her,” Cain said with a threatening tone. “Either she’s with you or I consider it as you not doing what I said and I already told you what would happen then. Even if you hide her for tonight, it wouldn’t mean she or her kid is safe.”

“You bastard,” Lucifer growled into the phone and his eyes flashed red. “So this you dating her was just a part of a plan, hm? You never cared about her?” Lucifer couldn’t imagine threatening someone he cared about like that.

“We were doing fine until you poisoned her mind and turned her against me. She picked her side and now there are consequences,” Cain said with a more ferocious voice.

“I didn’t poison anything, I just told her what I knew,” Lucifer spat. The hint that he had forced Chloe's hand in dumping him didn’t sit well with him. “If you had been honest with her in the first place, she would have never even gone on a date with you.”

“Enough of the chit chat. You know what you have to do. Be at the house on the corner of 10th and Swanson at midnight or I’ll give the order to hunt down everyone you care about.” With that Cain ended the call. 

Lucifer stared at the phone for a while, his face furious.

“What did he say?” Maze finally asked.

Lucifer was about to tell her when his eyes landed on Keith. He decided not to talk about any of it in front of one of Cain’s goons.

“Let’s go,” he said to Maze, tone firm and put his jacket back on.

“What about him?” the demon gestured towards Keith with her head.

“He will stay here and think about his life choices,” Lucifer said and left the room. Maze was a bit disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to torture the man any further, but followed Lucifer.

“Where are we going?” Maze wanted to know when she had reached Lucifer in the hallway.

“Back to your place,” Lucifer answered, stepping inside the elevator.

“Why?” the demon narrowed her eyes.

“Because we need to plan.” Lucifer pushed the button to the penthouse.

“Why are we going up when you want to go back to my place?” Maze was confused.

“Because I don’t want to waste any time. We’ll fly there,” he explained.

“You can fly, I’ll take my bike,” Maze crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at Lucifer with a determined expression. She didn’t like to be left without any means of transportation and since she drove to Lux, her bike would stay there if they flew.

Lucifer looked at her, ready to argue, but then decided against it. He knew very well that Maze was as keen on ignoring the speed limits as he was and he could start without Maze there. “Fine,” he said then.

When the elevator stopped in the penthouse, Lucifer walked out of the car and headed straight to the balcony. Maze didn’t waste any time either and pushed the button to the parking garage.

--------

Lucifer knocked softly on the door, not wanting to wake the Urchin since he was sure that the girl had already gone to bed. 

Soon Chloe opened the door and seeing that it was her partner, she invited him in. “You need to be silent, Trixie’s sleeping.”

“Yes, of course,” Lucifer smiled.

“What’s going on? Did you find out what that guy was planning and where he was going to take me?” Chloe was sure that Lucifer wouldn’t have shown up at her place this time of night if he didn’t have something important to tell her.

“The man was working for the Sinnerman aka Cain,” Lucifer started.

“Are you sure about that?” Chloe asked. She had accepted that Pierce was the Sinnerman, but they had been dating a few days ago, so him trying to get her kidnapped sounded a little bit too wild.

“Unfortunately, yes. I spoke to him over the phone.” Lucifer stopped, but Chloe could tell that he was hesitating.

“And?” she urged him to speak further.

“He demanded that we go and meet him at midnight.”

“But if we go together then you’re going to be vulnerable,” Chloe frowned. She was sure that it wouldn’t be just a social meeting between two biblical figures.

“Yes. I suspect that’s exactly what he wants,” Lucifer agreed.

“Well, then I won’t go and you’ll be invulnerable.” Chloe still didn’t like the fact that she made Lucifer vulnerable and meeting a crime lord who has ill intentions is definitely the wrong place for invulnerability.

“Unfortunately he would make us suffer for it,” Lucifer said, looking away from her. Even thinking about Cain’s threat made him feel uneasy.

“How?” Chloe asked warily.

Lucifer sighed. “He threatened everyone I care about if we don’t show up.” He didn’t tell her that Chloe was specifically mentioned.

They were both silent for some time. “So what should we do?” Chloe asked finally.

“I don’t know,” Lucifer said, sounding almost desperate. Right now he was glad that Maze was not there yet, he would have never allowed himself to show how helpless he felt.

“There must be something we could do,” Chloe didn’t want to give up.

“Maybe I could fly you and the Urchin somewhere safe. Maybe to one of my properties in Europe. I doubt that the Sinnerman network would extend there,” Lucifer suggested. He started to like that idea.

“I wouldn't mind a trip to Europe, but how long would we be hiding? And what about all the others? You said that he threatened everyone you care about. You can’t just hide them all away,” Chloe pointed out the flaws in his plan.

Lucifer just clenched his jaw and didn’t say anything. Considering what the Sinnerman had done to Charlotte, he would have to take away all the loved ones of his friends too and flying people who didn’t know about the celestial to Europe could get tricky.

“So I guess we need to go,” Chloe said almost to herself. She didn’t need Lucifer to speak, it was evident from his expression that he didn’t have an alternative solution.

“But that would mean walking into the lion’s den, both of us fully vulnerable,” the Devil almost whined.

Chloe didn’t get to answer before they were both a little startled by the opening of the apartment door. Fortunately it was just Maze who had arrived. She stomped into the apartment with her usual speed but somehow managed to do it silently.

“So, what did that caveman want?” she asked as soon as she had reached the breakfast bar.

“He wanted me and Chloe to meet him at midnight,” Lucifer summed it up.

“Okay,” she crossed her arms on her chest, “I’ll go get the knives then.”

“No,” Lucifer said, “you need to watch the Urchin.”

“What?” both of the women said at the same time, surprised by Lucifer’s words. Chloe had already felt relief that they’d at least have Maze there to help. 

“Detective, you didn’t plan to leave the Urchin all alone, did you?” Lucifer turned to Chloe.

“No, but …” Chloe hadn’t really thought about that at the moment. It would not be ideal to go to Olga and ask her to stay with Trixie this late, but she could say that it’s an emergency (which it was) and her neighbour would probably understand.

“Cain did mention your child too,” Lucifer interrupted her. “We can’t leave her with someone who couldn’t defend her. I don’t trust that neanderthal to keep his word and not come after her even if we show up.” Lucifer knew very well that if Cain really wanted to hurt him then hurting young Beatrice would serve that purpose twice - Lucifer would never want anything bad to happen to the girl and hurting her would in turn hurt Chloe which is something Lucifer desired even less.

Chloe wanted to argue, but the more she thought about it, the more she had to agree that leaving Trixie with someone who could defend her if necessary would be the only way to keep her mind on the task and not worry about her daughter while confronting the Sinnerman. To her surprise Maze didn’t argue after Lucifer had spoken. She looked like she had eaten a whole lemon, but seemed to agree with Lucifer that she’d be the best option to stay with Trixie.

“So what, you’re going alone against him?” the demon asked sarcastically.

“Actually, there is someone else I was thinking about,” Lucifer said a bit hesitantly. It was not someone who’d be his first choice, but right now there didn’t seem to be another option.

--------

“You are quiet today,” Amenadiel commented as he was sipping his cocktail.

“Sorry, man. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that you were able to meet me tonight but I’m worried about Charlotte, you know,” Dan admitted.

“It must have been tough for her.” Dan had told Amenadiel about her ex-husband’s murder.

“It’s not only that it’s hard for her and the kids, she might be in danger,” Dan told his friend.

“What do you mean?” the angel was surprised.

Dan lowered his voice just in case. “She thinks that Elliot’s murder was a warning to her. Some dirty cop was behind it, I guess she was investigating him. And now she left L.A. with her kids to keep them all safe.”

“Did she leave L.A. for good?” Amenadiel asked a bit worriedly. He could see that his friend was very fond of Charlotte and would definitely be devastated if he couldn’t spend time with the woman.

“No, it’s only temporary,” Dan said. “She went to Winchester, so her kids could be with their grandparents, her former in-laws.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Amenadiel was relieved.

They sipped both their drinks in silence for a few moments before Amenadiel’s phone rang. He took the device out of his pocket and was surprised to see that his brother was calling.

“Hello, Luci!” he answered the call.

“Hi, brother, I need a favour,” Lucifer went straight to the point.

“I’m listening,” Amenadiel sharpened his hearing, so the noise in the bar wouldn’t distract him.

“Remember I told you about my suspicion about Cain. Well, I was right and unfortunately the man is more dangerous than I thought. Long story short he already killed Charlotte’s ex-husband and -” before he was able to continue, Amenadiel interrupted him.

“Wait, he’s the dirty cop who got Charlotte’s husband killed?” the angel exclaimed.

“How do you know about it?” Lucifer was surprised.

“Dan told me.”

“Oh, right.” That did make sense. “Anyway, he wants me and the Detective to meet him at midnight or else he’s going to hurt some more people.”

“That’s terrible,” Amenadiel commented.

“Yes, of course it is. So I thought that maybe you could help us. You do still have celestial strength, right?” 

“Yes, I have and of course I’ll help you,” Amenadiel assured him. “What do you need me to do?”

“Where are you right now?” Lucifer asked.

“I’m in a bar right now,” the angel answered, a little proud of the fact that he was not staying at home on Friday evening.

“Yes, I gathered that much,” Lucifer rolled his eyes. He had heard the background noise quite clearly. “In which one are you?” Lucifer enunciated so his brother would understand what he wanted to know.

“In The Paddock, it’s a bar on the 12th Street,” Amenadiel informed him.

“Excellent, meet us in front of it in 5 minutes,” Lucifer told him and hung up, before Amenadiel had the chance to tell him that Dan was with him and now the man was clearly interested in what Lucifer had told his brother.

“What’s going on?” Dan asked with a frown as soon as Amenadiel had lowered his phone.

“Uhm… it was Lucifer. I need to meet him outside in a few minutes,” Amenadiel said a little apologetically.

“It’s about that dirty cop isn’t it?” Dan kept inquiring.

“Yes, but -,” Amenadiel was trying to find a way to keep Dan out of it.

“No buts, I want to know what he knows,” Dan was determined.

“I don’t know exactly what he knows,” Amenadiel tried to wriggle himself out of it.

“Fine. You are meeting him outside, right? I’ll come with you and ask him then,” Dan didn’t let the angel get away with excuses.

“I’m not sure it would be such a good idea,” Amenadiel tried one last time, already guessing how Lucifer would react to Dan being there when they met.

“Come on, man. The guy hurt Charlotte, so I want to know who it is.” Dan was starting to get a bit worked up.

“Fine,” Amenadiel relented. “Let’s finish our drinks and then head outside to meet Lucifer and Chloe.” He proceeded to finish his cocktail while Dan was draining the last of his beer.

 

A few minutes later they were standing in front of the bar. Both of them were silent. Dan was eyeing the street wondering if he should look for the Corvette or Chloe’s car. Amenadiel looked in another direction. He was quite sure that they wouldn’t drive there. Soon the angel saw them approaching from around a corner.

“Why didn’t they park here?” Dan wondered when he noticed them too. There were some free parking spots by the side of the road.

Amenadiel didn’t answer. He was tense, wondering how angry Lucifer would be with him.

“Brother,” Lucifer nodded to Amenadiel when they were closer, “I don’t remember telling you to bring the Douche along.” Chloe was also worried about Dan being there, but didn’t say anything.

“He overheard us,” Amenadiel started to explain, but Dan interrupted.

“I have a right to know too if you know who did this,” he pointed his finger first toward himself then Lucifer, emphasizing the ‘I’ and ‘you’ in his sentence.

Lucifer sighed. “This is not about you knowing something, it’s far more dangerous.”

“I don’t care,” Dan snarled.

Lucifer clenched his jaw and looked towards Chloe. She didn’t look too pleased either about getting Dan involved in all this, but the man seemed rather determined to find out what was really going on. Chloe gave Lucifer a small nod.

“If you must know, we were right about that dirty cop - he was behind the death of Charlotte’s ex,” Lucifer started a bit vaguely.

“Okay, so do you have proof? Can we make a case against him?” Dan sounded hopeful.

“Not exactly,” Lucifer admitted.

Dan looked a bit disappointed. “So why are you asking Amenadiel for help?” He had heard his friend tell Lucifer on the phone that he’ll help. “I mean, how can he gather evidence against him? And who is it anyway?” There were still far more questions than answers for Dan.

“We are not about to build a case against him. We’re about to confront him,” Chloe answered instead of Lucifer.

“Why?” Dan was now gobsmacked.

“Because he gave us an ultimatum.” Lucifer looked sour saying this. He was not a fan of ultimatums.

“What kind of ultimatum?” Dan couldn’t still really grasp it.

“Either we show up or he’ll keep hurting people. And he hinted that even leaving L.A. wouldn’t save them. That bastard’s network seems to be wider than that.”

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Dan had picked up on the word that Lucifer had used.

“We as me and the Detective,” Lucifer admitted reluctantly.

“Are you insane? This guy is dangerous and you’re bringing Chloe to the confrontation?” the protector in Dan raised its head again.

“It’s not something I want to do. He didn’t give me any choice,” Lucifer explained agitatedly.

“I can’t just hide from him,” Chloe added.

“Actually I’d still like that idea more. What would you think of some time away in a nice little villa in Tuscany, Detective?” Lucifer looked at Chloe with a small hope that maybe he could still fly her there and keep her far away from the Sinnerman.

“We talked about this. I will come with you,” Chloe said sternly.

Dan knew better than to argue with Chloe when she was using that tone. But he still tried to find another way.

“But can’t we just call for backup or something. If he’s going to attack you, we could arrest him,” he offered an idea.

“We can’t do that,” Chloe shook her head.

“Why not?” Dan didn’t want to give up on his idea. “I know it’s not an active investigation, but I’m sure you could convince the Lieutenant that it’s necessary.”

Lucifer and Chloe looked at each other. It seemed that there was no way to beat around the bush anymore.

“That is exactly the problem,” she admitted.

“What?” Dan didn’t follow.

“Pierce is the one we’re after.”

“You can’t be serious. Pierce, our Lieutenant, is behind the murder of Elliot Richards?” Dan’s voice started to raise and Lucifer shushed him, there was no need to let some strangers who happened to be on the street know everything they knew.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Lucifer still couldn't entirely shake the guilt he felt about Charlotte and her kids paying the price for helping him.

“But why? Why would a police Lieutenant want to threaten Charlotte?” It seemed rather unbelievable to Dan.

“Charlotte was trying to help me find proof of who Pierce really is. He found out about it and decided to make her suffer.”

“So it was your fault?” Dan directed his ire at Lucifer.

“No, Dan, it was not Lucifer’s fault. He didn’t do anything wrong, Pierce did,” Chloe said using her stern voice again. “Besides, he did it only after I broke up with him, so you might as well blame me.”

“So the rumours were true, you were dating him?” Dan hadn’t really had the guts to ask Chloe about it, but he had heard the rumours. Since Chloe and Pierce avoided PDA at the workplace, Dan hadn't been 100% sure.

“Yeah, I did,” Chloe answered, feeling now ashamed of it.

They were all quiet for a moment.

“So what’s the plan?” Dan was the one to break the silence.

“My plan was to ask my brother to help us, be our back-up so to speak,” Lucifer informed them.

“I will help you,” Amenadiel replied with pride. He was God’s greatest warrior after all.

“Me too,” Dan added.

“Daniel, it’s too dangerous. You should keep away,” Lucifer suggested.

Dan just scoffed at that. “Somehow your brother who doesn’t carry a gun or have a police training is fit to help you, but I’m not?”

“I have fighting skills,” Amenadiel defended himself. Even though he knew very well that Dan just didn’t know this side of him, the angel felt a bit offended.

“Sorry, I just meant that I have a gun and I know how to use it. I can be helpful.” Dan was now glad that he had left the gun in his glovebox. “Where were you planning to do this?”

“He told us to meet him at the corner of 10th and Swanson at midnight.”

“Okay, so we still have time,” Dan checked and saw that it was a little past 11 PM. “Do you know that place?” 

“No, never been there,” Lucifer said.

“We could check it out from Google street view,” Dan suggested. From the looks he got, no one else had thought about doing it. After a few minutes he had the place on screen and others leaned closer to look at it. “Okay, there seems to be a back yard that has some bushes.” The quality was not ideal, but Dan could see that from the picture. “Maybe we could sneak in there and take a look inside the window, maybe get an idea how many people there are waiting for you.”

Lucifer didn’t really want to admit it, but it was not the worst idea.

“All right, but who should go? I mean, they’d probably notice if we all went there.” Lucifer was sure he could assess the situation better than anyone else, but he was a bit reluctant to leave the Detective’s side right now.

“I’ll go,” Dan volunteered.

“Are you sure?” Lucifer furrowed his brows.

“Yeah. Look, if you want I can take pictures of what I see.” Dan assumed that Lucifer’s reluctance to let him go was tied to him wanting to see for himself.

“Maybe it would be better to record, that won’t make a sound,” Chloe suggested and Lucifer looked at her in wonder. He hadn’t even thought about it. Such a clever Detective.

“Okay,” Dan agreed and turned in the direction of 10th Street.

“If they have guards outside and it’s not safe, then abort the mission,” Lucifer said before he managed to take more than a few steps. Dan looked at him, a little surprised. “You know, there’s no use to let them know that we are trying to use backup,” Lucifer said as an explanation while adjusting his cufflinks. Chloe pressed her lips together to hide her smirk. She knew that despite everything, Lucifer did care what happened to Dan.

 

As soon as Dan was outside earshot Amenadiel turned to Lucifer. “What does Cain really want?”

“He wants to end me,” Lucifer answered drily.

“So that’s why he wants Chloe there,” Amenadiel now understood.

“Yes, I suppose that’s the idea,” Lucifer admitted uneasily.

“You can’t do it,” the angel said almost pleadingly, which surprised Lucifer who was still not used to having a brother who cared about him.

“What choice do I have?” Lucifer asked agitatedly. “Need I remind you that among the people Cain could hurt are also my nephew and my therapist?” Lucifer was sure that Cain knew about them.

A horrified look passed over Amenadiel’s face and he was silent for a while. The silence was too tense for Lucifer’s liking, so he decided to try to change the topic a little.

“So, when you lost your wings, did your invulnerability stay or did you lose that too?” Lucifer suddenly remembered that they had not talked about it.

The angel furrowed his brows at the question. “I don’t know,” he finally said.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Lucifer was puzzled.

“I haven’t been injured,” Amenadiel said after thinking about that for a moment.

“And you haven’t tested it?” Lucifer asked as if it was the first thing he should have done. Well, Lucifer would have definitely tested that immediately. In fact, he did test his own ability to withstand Earthly weapons as soon as he was able to after cutting off his own wings.

“I was trying to get my wings back when it happened, I didn’t even think about vulnerability back then. And it wasn’t really important afterwards,” Amenadiel explained. 

Lucifer sighed exasperatedly. “Haven’t you cut yourself accidentally with a knife or something like that?”

“No,” his brother shook his head.

“Bloody useless,” Lucifer muttered.

“I’m sorry, Luci.” Amenadiel now felt bad that he hadn’t been more curious about it.

Lucifer just huffed. But then he got an idea. “Maybe we should test it right now,” he suggested.

“With what?” Amenadiel asked.

“Detective, shoot him,” Lucifer turned to Chloe.

“No way!” Chloe exclaimed.

“Why not?” Lucifer sounded genuinely disappointed.

“Because we don’t know if he’s vulnerable or not. If he is, he will be injured and we need him uninjured right now,” Chloe explained.

“Can’t you just graze him or something?” the Devil asked to be sure.

“No, it would still need treatment and we don’t have time for that right now.”

“Fine,” Lucifer said with a pout.

 

They were all relieved to see Dan returning about 10 minutes later. As soon as he had reached them, he took out his phone and they all gathered around him.

“I managed to sneak into the back yard. There were some bushes that I used for cover,” Dan told them with pride.

“What did you see?” Lucifer and Chloe asked at the same time.

“There was a guy by the front door. I walked past it on the other side of the road and he didn’t pay me any attention, so I was able to get past him and climb the fence at the back of the house.” Dan was clearly enjoying telling them the story, but Lucifer was getting impatient.

“And what did you see inside the house?”

Dan opened a video on his phone. “There’s a back door that leads directly to this room.” They could see 5 men in a room with a few chairs, a table and a rather large cupboard. Near the cupboard was another door.

“Did you see Pierce anywhere?” Chloe asked.

“Nope, but I guess he’s in some other room,” Dan shrugged.

“Okay, this gave us some idea, but we still don’t fully know what to expect.” Lucifer didn’t sound too confident.

“I think it would be good to separate them. I’m guessing those guys are meant for back up,” Chloe suggested.

Lucifer furrowed his brows and looked at the video again. “That cupboard looks rather heavy. If you’d push it in front of the door, brother, then those goons would not be able to leave the room.” He looked at Amenadiel, waiting for confirmation that he’d be willing to do that.

“The only problem is that they all seem to have a gun nearby,” Dan marked. “I mean, I have my bullet proof vest in my car, but there’s only one,” he looked at Amenadiel apologetically.

“It’s alright, you can wear it,” Ameadiel smiled at his friend.

“So, it’s settled then - you two will go and try to keep those guys in that room and me and the Detective will go and face Pierce along with the goons he already has with him.” Lucifer tried to make it sound cheerful, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. Even Dan could understand that the situation worried him.

“We have only 14 minutes til midnight, we don’t have time to come up with another plan,” Chloe said, putting her hand on Lucifer’s arm. She didn’t like their odds either, but there seemed to be no other choice.

Lucifer sighed and put his hand on top of Chloe’s.

“So what should we do until then?” Dan asked. 

“Go get your vest and gun, we should get moving,” Lucifer said to everyone’s surprise.

“But it’s only a few minutes away,” Dan was confused.

“I think we should surprise them a little,” Lucifer explained. “Make sure that those men in the backroom will be there when you enter the room and maybe catch Pierce a little bit off guard.” Also Lucifer was getting anxious and wanted to get it over with, but he didn’t say that out loud.

“Okay,” Chloe agreed and Amenadiel nodded silently.

 

After Dan and Amenadiel had headed towards the backyard of the house Lucifer and Chloe continued to walk towards the front. Suddenly Lucifer stopped. “Detective,” he turned towards her and paused, “Chloe,” he said then. “I wanted you to know,” Lucifer started with a solemn expression, but Chloe stopped him.

Seeing the look on Lucifer’s face Chloe felt a dread in her gut. It was as if he was saying goodbye and Chloe couldn’t handle it. “Don’t,” she said and put her finger on Lucifer’s lips. “Whatever you want to tell me, you will tell me after we deal with him, okay?” she looked at him intently. “Please promise me that you will tell it to me afterwards,” she insisted, knowing that it would mean promising that they’d both be still alive after it.

Lucifer looked at her with a sad expression for a few moments. “Alright,” he then said, “I will tell you after.” Chloe did notice how vague it was, but she couldn’t blame him. She knew very well that he could not promise her anything about the outcome, but a part of her hoped that if there were things he still needed to tell her, he would try harder to be able to tell them.

“So do you have any idea how we’re going to deal with an immortal crime boss?” Chloe then asked just to change the topic and started to walk again. 

“Ah, yes, about that. I actually had an idea. I couldn’t really discuss it in front of Daniel, so I didn’t say anything earlier, but if we manage to kill him temporarily, I could fly him away from Earth altogether.”

“To where?” Chloe was curious.

“I don’t know. To the Moon maybe,” Lucifer shrugged. It didn’t really matter as long as Cain would never hurt anyone else.

“What would happen to him there?” Chloe wondered.

“I think he’d die over and over again,” Lucifer grinned. “Of course, I’d need to drop him on the dark side of the Moon, so no astronomer would accidentally see him with a telescope.”

“So all we need to do is kill him and you could just whisk him away.”

“I wish I had thought about it before,” Lucifer admitted. 

“Well, there would still be the issue of explaining his sudden disappearance,” Chloe tried to soothe the guilt that seemed to start taking root again.

“Are you saying I shouldn’t do it then?” Lucifer asked hesitantly.

“No, I’m saying that you shouldn’t feel bad that you didn’t think of it earlier. There will probably be some issues if we go through with this, but he has become too dangerous, so I think right now it’s worth the trouble.” Chloe looked at him and smiled reassuringly.

“Good.” Lucifer was relieved to hear that. “Do you have your handcuffs with you? I think it would be best to cuff him before I fly him away.” Lucifer didn’t know exactly how long that neanderthal would stay dead and the flight to the Moon did take some time.

Chloe pulled aside her jacket and showed him the cuffs that were hanging on her belt. 

“Excellent,” he gave Chloe a bright smile.

They had almost reached the street corner and all they’d need to do was turn right to reach the gate. Chloe took out her phone and texted Dan that they were near the front of the house. They had agreed that Dan and Amenadiel would enter first and Lucifer and Chloe shortly after.

“Going in,” Dan answered her text.

“Let’s go,” Chloe said and both of them started walking slowly towards the place where they'd meet the real Sinnerman.

Notes:

About half of the next chapter is already written, so I hope that the next one will be posted a bit sooner.

Chapter 40: The Confrontation

In front of the house there was a guard. He tried to look casual, like he was just hanging out by the gate, but there was no question that this guy had been placed there with the aim to make sure that no one would enter the house unnoticed.

“Hello!” Lucifer greeted him. Instantly he dropped the pretence of just hanging around and his hand moved to the waist. “I believe your boss is waiting for us,” Lucifer continued, seemingly unbothered by the man’s menacing stance.

The guy looked at both Chloe and Lucifer, then grabbed a walkie talkie from his waist and said “tell boss, that Morningstar is here already.” Lucifer could faintly hear that someone asked about the Detective on the other end. “Yes, the chick’s with him,” the goon answered, completely unbothered that Chloe was standing right next to him.

A few moments later he lowered the walkie talkie and told Lucifer and Chloe to go inside while he followed them. Chloe wasn’t entirely sure if it was to make sure that they’d find the right room or to make sure they wouldn’t try anything.

After entering the house Lucifer and Chloe found themselves in a narrow hallway, one door on each side. “Go straight ahead,” the man who was escorting them said. The hallway wasn’t long and soon they were standing in the doorway of a much larger room. It looked like a living room, but there wasn’t much furniture. A couch was on the other side of the room and in the far corner there was a desk that looked quite massive. In front of it were two chairs. 

Cain was sitting behind that desk and stood up as soon as Lucifer and Chloe entered. Two men were standing near the couch and held them at gunpoint.

“Barry, go back to your position,” Cain instructed the man who had escorted them before he turned his attention towards Lucifer.

“You’re early,” he noted.

“We didn’t see any point in dragging it out,” Lucifer said, adjusting his cufflink.

“You’re right, we might as well get it over with.” Cain’s expression didn’t show much emotion. If Chloe hadn’t known better she would have thought that the man was talking about a boring document, not the possibility of ending someone’s life.

“Now, Decker, I know you’re carrying your weapon. Place it on the floor and slide it over,” Cain ordered. The two gunmen pointing their weapons at the direction of her and Lucifer didn’t leave her much of an option, so she did what the first murderer had ordered.

“And you back up gun,” Cain said with a bored voice.

“What do you mean?” Chloe tried to pretend that she didn’t know what he was talking about.

“I mean the gun that you have hidden in your left boot, Chloe,” Cain smirked. “Or would you rather prefer one of my men to pat you down?”

Chloe seethed, but reached for the gun he was talking about. She regretted deeply at that moment that she had let the man into her life. Even though it was customary for cops to have a spare gun somewhere, the fact that she had told Pierce herself where she kept it and the man clearly was enjoying using that knowledge was making Chloe's stomach churn. She put the gun on the floor and kicked it only lightly towards Cain’s gunmen. 

“Call the others here,” the Sinnerman told his lackeys and one of them took out a walkie talkie. “Time to come to the main room,” he said and waited for a few moments, but didn’t get an answer. 

Cain sighed. “Go and get them then.”

“Yes, boss,” the man replied and disappeared through a doorway that led to a different hallway than the one Chloe and Lucifer had entered from.

There were still two guns pointed at Lucifer and Chloe, since Cain had taken out a gun too and pointed it at them now. They were all silent and not far away all of them could hear pounding on a door and the same guy that had left the room saying, “open the door. You need to come to the main room.”

Lucifer of course could hear much more now that he listened and he had a pretty good idea what was going on in the room.

A bit later the guy appeared again in the room and told Cain, “boss, I can’t open the door and it sounds like someone’s fighting in there.”

Cain obviously didn’t like it. “Idiots,” he muttered. “Doesn’t matter, we can handle them by ourselves too,” he smirked then, looking a bit suspiciously at Lucifer.

--------

Dan had been ready to kick down the door if necessary, but he tried the handle first and surprisingly the door was open. When he and Amenadiel entered, the men inside the room were clearly surprised to see them.

“Who are you? What do you want?” a few of them asked at once. One man rose from his seat.

“Hi! Sorry to bother you, but we’re looking for Frankie and they gave me this address. Is he here?” Dan decided to go with some improv and act a bit stupid at first. Amenadiel wasn’t sure what to do, so he just stood there and kept his mouth shut. He did let his eyes roam around the room and he noticed that the door of the cupboard was slightly open and it looked like this was a cabinet for guns.

“There’s no Frankie here. Get out!” the man who was standing didn’t seem to like the intruders.

Dan took a few steps inside the room. “Hey, there’s no need to be rude. It must be the wrong address then, maybe you know where Frankie lives? He’s about my height, blond hair, very friendly,” Dan described the imaginary man they were looking for and slowly walked closer to the table. He noticed the guns on the table. It seemed that the men had put them there while they were sitting around it. One man had reached for his weapon on the table. He was also now standing up.

“Are you deaf or something? I told you to get out,” the man snarled.

Dan just smiled. He waited until the other man had put his gun between his belt, so he wouldn’t have it in his hand anymore, then turned to him and hit him right in the face. Dan’s right hook had been mighty enough and unexpected that the man stumbled back. 

Amenadiel, who was closest to the man who had been speaking to them, copied Dan a moment later and hit that guy. The angel’s strength was enough to send the man flying across the room. The others were stunned momentarily and Dan decided to make sure that no one else could grab his gun. He took hold of the edge of the table and lifted it in a sudden movement so that all the guns clattered on the floor along with the walkie talkie that had also been on the table. Amenadiel took a few quick strides towards the cupboard and moved it in front of the door with a mighty twirl so that the cupboard’s door was against the room’s door. This way they couldn’t grab a new gun from there.

The other men had gotten over their initial surprise and were now attacking them. Two guys were going after Dan and one tried to knock out Amenadiel by hitting him with a chair from behind. That didn’t really affect the angel. He turned around and hit the man so that he too was flying towards the wall and eventually landed in a heap on the floor.

Amenadiel could clearly hear someone pounding at the door from the other side, but the cupboard that was in front of it, muffled the sound a little and all the Sinnerman’s goons seemed to be too occupied to pay any attention to it.

Dan now had to deal with two men at once. One had managed to land a blow to his face and they were holding him between them while the man who had been hit first was stepping closer to Dan with a growl. Dan suddenly tilted himself and kicked him hard in the chest. The ones holding Dan got rather angry at that. One let go of his arm while the other one grabbed the same arm and locked Dan towards his chest. The other guy was about to kick Dan when Amenadiel reached them and grabbed him from the collar. He yanked the goon towards him and sent this one flying too with a mighty blow under the man’s chin.

Dan now started backing quickly towards the wall and soon he hit it with a loud thump. The man who had been holding his arms locked in a tight grip was left breathless from the blow and released his hold. Dan immediately turned around and hit him in the face with his elbow, breaking the man’s nose. He doubled over in pain and Dan once again used his elbow to hit him hard on the back of the neck. The man fell over and ended up lying there unconscious.

Both Dan and Amenadiel looked around the room and were satisfied that they had managed to neutralise all the men in the room. 

“We make a pretty good team,” Dan beamed.

Before Amenadiel could answer, a loud bang made him pause. He didn’t feel any pain, but the rustle of his hoodie made him realise that the bullet must have missed him. The angel turned around and saw the guy Dan had kicked earlier holding a gun. He fired once again, this time the bullet was aimed straight at Amenadiel, but he felt only a light pinch. It appeared that he was indeed invulnerable to bullets still. He smiled deviously while the guy who had fired the gun looked at him with wide eyes and then turned his gaze towards the gun in confusion. Even though the weapon couldn’t harm him, Amenadiel thought it would be best to keep it away from the man and kicked it out of his hand. By the sound of it he might have broken a finger or two in the process. Amenadiel crouched down to the man and hit him in the neck with skilled movement, keeping the force down so he wouldn’t kill him. It was enough to render him unconscious.

When Amenadiel stood up again and turned towards Dan he was surprised to see his friend kneeling down on the floor. He frowned and rushed to him. “What’s wrong Dan?”

“I think I got hit,” he whispered.

At first Amenadiel wasn’t worried, knowing that Dan had a bulletproof vest on, but then Dan added, “in the neck.”

Now Amenadiel could see the blood that was seeping through Dan’s fingers where he was holding his hand on his neck. Just as the angel reached his friend Dan’s legs gave out and he collapsed in Amenadiel’s hands. Seeing Dan’s face get paler with every heartbeat Amenadiel realised that it was a very serious injury.

“What can I do, Dan?” Amenadiel asked, worry evident in his voice. 

“Pressure,” Dan whispered.

Amenadiel decided that holding some fabric against it would be more effective than just hands and laid Dan gently on the floor so he could remove the hoodie he was wearing. He crinkled it into a ball and pushed it against Dan’s neck. The man’s eyes were now closed. “Dan,” Amenadiel called out. “Dan!” he tried again when the man in his arms didn’t respond.

--------

“Whatever you did it won’t help you, I’ll kill you anyway,” Cain said to Lucifer and let his eyes roam to Chloe, smirking in victory. Chloe felt helpless. It was her fault that Cain was even able to hurt Lucifer.

“Oh, come now, Cain, I’m sure there must be something else you desire than just killing me,” Lucifer said in a sickly sweet voice.

“Not really,” Cain replied, unaffected by Lucifer’s charm. Suddenly two shots rang out, coming from the direction of the room where the other goons were, along with Dan and Amenadiel. They all looked towards the noise and Lucifer listened in. When he heard his brother’s panicked voice calling out for Dan, it was clear who had been shot. Lucifer cursed himself that he had agreed to let Daniel come along with them in the first place. But now was not the moment to let regret take over. He decided to do something about their shitty situation. “Get on the ground, Detective,” he whispered to Chloe before Cain and his men had their full attention at the room again.

Chloe didn’t know what he was planning, but did what Lucifer had told her. The other men in the room noticed it, but before they could ask what she was doing, Lucifer’s wings unfurled with a whoosh and he moved them to the front rapidly, causing a gust of wind that was so strong it flung the two gunmen several meters back against the wall. Both of them collapsed on the floor unconscious from the collision with the wall. Unfortunately Cain was standing in the middle of the room, where also a pillar was, so he was moved only a little bit and the impact didn’t affect him much. Still, he was distracted by it and Chloe tried to use his moment of confusion to get to her gun that unfortunately had also been pushed a little further by the force of Lucifer’s wings. She scrambled up and rushed towards the nearest gun, but as she was reaching for it, she heard Cain’s voice along with a sound that she knew too well - the click of a gun’s safety lever being pulled. “I wouldn’t do that,” he said in his usual dull voice.

Chloe looked at him and indeed the man had pointed his gun towards her, finger ready on the trigger. She straightened herself from the half crouch she had been in. “Hands in the air,” Cain ordered her. “And you, pull your wings back in,” he continued with the commands, this one directed at Lucifer. He glared at the first murderer, but obeyed since the barrel of his gun was pointed directly at Chloe.

“Now, Cain, let’s be civil and discuss our little situation,” Lucifer tried once again while taking a few slow steps towards the man.

“Stop right there or I’ll put a bullet into Decker’s pretty head,” Cain threatened.

“Oh, come on. I thought you liked her,” Lucifer tried to distract him, still inching a little closer.

“Doesn’t matter. She chose you, so I might as well kill her,” he shrugged. Chloe felt sick to her stomach. She couldn’t believe that she had dated the man and believed that he had genuine feelings for her. Right now it was a stone cold killer talking. She could never be so cold towards someone that she had been in a relationship with only a few days ago. Not even after they had broken up with her and crushed her heart in the process. Chloe felt rage and helplessness wash over her and it caused tears to start to prickle in her eyes.

“I don’t believe you want to kill her,” Lucifer said, hoping to keep the Detective safe if he reminded Cain that he still cared about her. The Devil didn’t believe that anyone could really not care about her after spending some time with her.

Cain clenched his jaw while looking at Chloe. Lucifer took advantage of the fact that he was not looking towards him and took a few more steps towards Cain, hoping to get close enough to disarm him. Unfortunately the man was not distracted enough. He suddenly turned and pointed the gun at Lucifer. “I might not want to kill her, but I don’t have that problem with you,” he snarled. Lucifer reached out to try and take the gun from him, but he didn’t manage to do it before Cain pulled the trigger. Lucifer had managed to change the angle of the gun so the shot hit him in the stomach not in the chest.

“Lucifer!” Chloe cried out when his hand pressed on his abdomen and blood started seeping through his long fingers.

Chloe grabbed the gun from the floor, planning to shoot Cain, without thinking what would happen next, but Cain had already decided to use Lucifer as a human shield. He had stepped behind the injured Devil and pulled his back to his front, holding the gun to his head.

“Drop it or I’ll put the next one in his head,” Cain said in a steely voice.

Chloe let go of it and the weapon fell on the floor with a clank. She couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, seeing her partner bleeding in the arms of a crime lord. The way Cain was acting now was rather hurtful and she couldn’t help but wonder if anything they shared had been real at all.

“Why are you doing this? Was all we shared really just a game to you?” Chloe asked before she could even think it through.

“Me? You were the one who broke up with me, remember? I was hoping we would share our lives together, but you left me for the fucking Devil,” Cain shot back. This time there was hurt in his voice too.

“No, I left you because you didn’t respect my boundaries and because you are a fucking crime boss,” Chloe said angrily. 

“You taking back your invitation wasn’t about boundaries, I know it was Lucifer’s doing. He always gets his way when it comes to you,” Cain didn’t relent.

“If he would have gotten his way, I wouldn’t have started to date you in the first place,” Chloe said angrily, wishing now that Lucifer would have gotten his way. Maybe then he wouldn’t be bleeding, barely being able to stand. If Cain hadn't been holding him right now, Chloe was quite sure that Lucifer would not be standing. “All the time you were just lying to me,” Chloe said silently in a teary voice. Even though Cain was a scumbag, it still hurt how he had used her.

“No I wasn’t,” Cain defended himself. “What I told you about myself after you found out that I was Cain, it was true.”

“Right. You just left out that tiny little part of you being the Sinnerman,” Chloe said sarcastically. “Did you arrange Andy Kleinburg’s murder?” The unsolved case was still bothering her.

Cain just smirked. “I should thank you for the tip about Kleinburg stealing from my shipment.”

Chloe felt anger bubble inside her. She had told him about her suspicions about Kleinburg being the thief unsuspectingly, believing she was just sharing her theory with her Lieutenant, but instead she was inadvertently handing the information to a ruthless killer. “So you ordered your men to torture him and leave him to die painfully over a package of cocaine?” 

“No one steals from the Sinnerman,” Cain said in a hard voice. It was clear that he didn’t see anything wrong with his punishment.

‘What about the sad story about having someone as close as a brother?” Chloe wondered. She figured it must have been a lie after she had realised that Marcus really was the Sinnerman, so she wanted him to admit that he hadn’t been as truthful with her as he claimed to have been.

“Kevin was like a brother to me,” Cain said at that, sounding regretful. 

“Kevin?” Chloe was confused. “You mean the man who said he was the Sinnerman?” That man was the only Kevin she knew who was connected to Cain.

“I couldn’t let him do it, tainting the Sinnerman’s name with his own petty agenda, even if he said it was for me.”

“But when we spoke in the car he was still alive,” Chloe was even more confused, remembering their conversation before they went after the fake Sinnerman.

“He was, but I knew what I had to do, so it was just a matter of time. He contacted me earlier that day, for some reason he thought I’d be happy about what he had done.” Cain shook his head in disbelief. “I would have shot him outside that restaurant, but I hesitated and then you were standing right behind me and it would have seemed suspicious,” Cain explained. “Luckily he took precautions before Lucifer could get anything out of him.” Now there was pride evident in his voice. Chloe thought about the horrible sight after Kevin had poked his eyes out and it made her nauseous.

“You see what caring about someone does to you. It makes you weak,” he hissed into Lucifer’s ear.

“Not true,” Lucifer managed to answer weakly. His feet started to give out and he was losing the strength to stand up. Cain’s left arm was around his neck and his hold was tight enough that it was getting hard to breathe now that he was not really supporting his own weight anymore. Lucifer tried to get back up and grabbed his captor’s right hand to help heave himself higher since his left was pressed to his wound trying to slow the bleeding. Lucifer didn’t quite succeed in getting himself higher and his grip on Cain’s arm was slipping, so he tightened his hold on the man’s shirt, but when Lucifer tried to straighten himself again the fabric ripped.

Cain didn’t really let it bother him, making sure that he had a good grip on the Devil, not really caring about Lucifer’s comfort or his own clothes. 

Chloe kept a close eye on the two men. Her eyes had followed every movement Lucifer made. After the fabric of Cain’s shirt ripped, the upper part fell down. Like always, he had a T-shirt under the long sleeved shirt, but there was something different. Chloe suddenly realised what. “Your arm is bare,” she whispered in a surprised tone. She remembered that a part of the mark had been visible from under his T-shirt’s sleeve.

Cain looked to his right bicep and realised that the sleeve had fallen off enough that the place where his mark should have been was now on display.

“Yes,” he answered curtly, there was no need to deny the obvious.

Chloe looked pointedly at Lucifer, but the blood loss apparently kept him from realising what it meant. “So you’re not immortal anymore?” she asked, trying to not sound too excited.

“I guess it was God’s warped sense of humour,” Cain said. “Just after I had shown you the mark, it disappeared the same evening.”

“But you never told me.” Chloe remembered that he hadn’t really liked to talk about the mark and had kept a bandage over it saying that he didn’t like to look at it. Chloe had never questioned it, since it apparently had caused a lot of grief for him in the past. Well, now it made sense that he kept a bandage over it since it turned out that he was hiding the fact that he didn’t have it anymore.

“I wasn’t sure I should,” he shrugged. “It seems I was right not to tell you.”

Chloe realised that the man never trusted her fully. She now regretted not being more curious. Maybe if she would have been and peeked under the bandage, she would have discovered that the mark was gone and they would have known that he was now mortal.

“But it doesn’t matter, I’m getting out of here and I’m taking him with me.” Cain jabbed his gun harder into Lucifer’s head to emphasize who he was taking with him. “You can say goodbye to the Devil now, I don’t think you’ll be seeing him anymore,” the former immortal smirked. 

“What are you going to do with him?” Chloe asked. If Cain took Lucifer far enough from her, Lucifer could heal and fight himself free. 

“That depends on you. If you try something, I’ll put a bullet to his head right here. If you behave, I might let him live. Today at least,” Cain said smugly.

“Can I say goodbye to her at least?” Lucifer asked and Chloe could see that getting the words out was not easy for him at the moment.

“Sure, but don’t take too long,” Cain said magnanimously.

“Detective, I’m too weak right now, but you...” Lucifer paused as if gathering his strength. “Remember the times we had, like those when we watched TV in the penthouse,” he continued. Of course Chloe remembered those times, it had been when they were still in a relationship, but she found it a bit odd that Lucifer pointed this out at the moment. “I want you to remember that it’s hard but I’ll die for you.” After his last words Lucifer gave her a pointed look and then his gaze flicked to the gun at the floor.

Chloe was certain that he was trying to tell her something. She tried to pick out the words that could mean something. It seemed that he was referring to a movie they had watched together.

Lucifer must have realised that Chloe hadn’t figured it out, so he added, “you’ll be like John, I know that.” Then it clicked. The John in the movies who Lucifer liked best. Also he had used die and hard and for and suddenly she knew what he was trying to tell her. But that sounded rather crazy. They had argued about that particular scene when they watched the movie, Lucifer had found it brilliant but Chloe not so much. And now it appeared that he wanted to do the same trick. The only problem was, he apparently didn’t have the strength to do it and he wanted Chloe’s help. Deciding by the way he looked at the gun on the floor and him telling her that she’d be like John, it was clear that she was supposed to be the one to shoot Cain. 

“That’s your goodbye? Telling her that she’d end up dead on the job like her father?” Cain mocked Lucifer.

Lucifer didn’t pay any attention to his words. He was looking at Chloe, trying to understand if she had figured out what he wanted her to do.

“It’s a lot to ask of me,” Chloe muttered.

“Please,” he almost whispered and Chloe gave him a subtle nod.

That was all Lucifer needed. Gathering his last strength, he yanked Cain’s hand away from his head and shifted to the right, as much as his weakened state and Cain’s hold let him. Chloe used the distraction from the commotion and grabbed the gun from the floor and aimed it at Cain. Lucifer was still in front of him, he had only managed to shift a bit, but it was their only chance, so Chloe took the shot. The bullet went through Lucifer’s left shoulder and stopped in Cain’s chest. The former immortal had his attention on the gun that Lucifer had tried to direct away from him. The sudden pain came as a surprise to him. His left arm went limp beside him, causing Lucifer to slump on the ground since no one was holding him up anymore and he now had two gun wounds. Cain looked at his chest and the rapidly growing blood stain on his shirt. “You shot me,” he mumbled and fell to the floor.

“Damn right I did,” Chloe said in a cold tone. She stepped closer, her gun trained on Cain, just in case he needed a bit more help with dying.

“I… I,” Cain tried to say something, but couldn’t form the word anymore.

“Rot in Hell,” Chloe snarled looking right into his eyes one last time before the look in the man’s eyes turned vacant. Chloe crouched carefully and put her fingers on his neck to make sure there was no pulse. She didn’t find any. Cain was dead.

Now the threat was eliminated (she quickly glanced towards the men who had been thrown to the wall by Lucifer’s wings and confirmed they were still out) Chloe turned her attention to her partner. Lucifer’s head was turned to the left, so she rushed to that side.

“Hey,” she said gently, “how are you?” and brushed her fingers over his cheek.

Lucifer made a humming noise and turned his face up so he’d be able to see her. “Been better,” he mumbled and tried to smile, but didn’t really manage to.

“Do you need me…,” Chloe started to ask, but noticed that Lucifer’s expression changed suddenly and he looked alert. “What’s wrong?” she asked instead.

“Coming here,” he managed to get out before Chloe could also hear footsteps. She then remembered that there was also a man keeping watch in front of the house. Chloe quickly grabbed the gun again that she had placed on the floor earlier and aimed it at the doorway.

After a few tense seconds the man who had shown them in appeared on the doorway. He held a gun in his hand but Chloe was quicker. “Drop the gun,” she yelled as soon as the man came to view. Apparently the goon had not been prepared to be held at gunpoint as soon as he set his foot in the room. He lowered himself slowly and put the gun on the floor while holding up the other hand in a placating manner.

“Now lie on the floor, face down,” Chloe barked another order while getting up from the floor herself. The man obeyed and Chloe took the handcuffs from her waist. She cuffed his hands behind his back quickly and after a moment of thinking, she decided to hit him in the head with the handle of her gun. She figured he probably deserved it and also she wanted some privacy for her and Lucifer.

She went back to the Devil and lowered herself on the floor again. It took Lucifer a moment to fix his eyes on Chloe. She waited until he focused on her and then tried again, “do you need me to leave so you can heal?” She didn’t like the thought of leaving him alone like this, but if he needed it to heal then she’d do it.

Lucifer didn’t respond right away. Finally he mumbled, “it’s too late.”

Chloe felt her blood freeze in her veins. “What?” she said, “what are you saying?” She could hear the app in Lucifer’s phone sending him notifications, which meant she was panicking right now.

Lucifer blinked a few times. “Can hear sirens,” he said, looking like he was listening intently.

“What are you talking about?” Chloe couldn’t understand who the sirens were. He had never mentioned them before.

“Ambulance,” he muttered, his eyes drifting close from exhaustion.

“Oh,” Chloe finally understood. “You can hear the sirens of an ambulance. You think they’re here soon.” When Lucifer only hummed weakly, Chloe tried to get his attention. “Lucifer, open your eyes. You need to stay awake for me.”

Obediently he opened his eyes again. “Bullet’s inside anyway,” 

Chloe then realised that the bullet that was causing most damage was still inside his stomach and if she left, his body would heal around it.

“So you ..,” Chloe started to ask to be sure, but before she could even finish the question Lucifer said, “stay,” in a pleading tone.

“All right, I’ll stay. But I need to keep pressure on your wound, she said and took off her jacket to press it on his bleeding abdomen. Lucifer hissed in pain at the increased pressure and Chloe apologised for that but they both knew it was necessary.

Fortunately she started to hear the sirens now also which meant that the help was close. But Lucifer seemed to be in really bad shape. His eyes started to close again.

“Lucifer, stay with me,” Chloe said in a trembling voice. “Help is near, just talk to me.”

“Daniel,” he muttered. “I think he was shot.” Lucifer suddenly remembered what he had heard before the squabble started.

Chloe frowned. “You mean the gunshots we heard from the other room?”

“Yes,” he whispered. When he fell silent again, Chloe could feel tears form in her eyes. What if the medics won’t be there in time? Maybe she should still leave and allow him to heal?

“Lucifer,” she said, not able to hold her voice steady.

“Chloe,” he whispered back and his hand shifted towards her. Chloe grabbed his hand with one of hers, using the other to hold pressure on the wound.

After a few agonising moments that felt like hours she could finally hear cars stopping in front of the house. “Lucifer! Lucifer!” she called out a bit louder than necessary. “Help is here.” When he didn’t respond Chloe slid her fingers to the inside of his wrist. It was weak but she could still feel his pulse.

“Come on now,” she said as if it could urge the EMTs to come in faster.

At last she could hear the front door open and police officers storm inside. Chloe knew the protocol, so she reluctantly let go of Lucifer’s hand and for a brief moment let go of the pressure on his abdomen too. She raised her hands and rattled off her name and badge number before saying that they need to get medics right away because her partner has been shot. Luckily the police officers reacted accordingly and called in the EMTs. As soon as they arrived Chloe stood up and let the professionals do their job while observing from nearby. A police officer started to take her statement about what had happened there while his colleagues checked on the unconscious men in the room. Chloe told them as much as she could, keeping out the part about Marcus Pierce being Cain. After telling them what had happened in the room they were standing at, Chloe told the officer also about another room in the house and that there was possibly another victim with a gunshot wound.

 

When the EMTs took Lucifer to the ambulance Chloe went outside too. She kept an eye out for whom the other team brought out from the back room. To her surprise there were only the thugs who seemed to have only some concussions and black eyes. Chloe stopped an officer who was coming from the backside of the house.

“I’m sorry, how many people were there in the other room?” she asked.

“Five,” he answered.

“And was anyone shot?” she wondered.

“Nope. We did find some casings and a small puddle of blood, but no wounds,” the man shrugged.

Chloe was confused. Where had Amenadiel and Dan disappeared then? And whose blood was it? Was Lucifer right and Dan really was shot? She would have liked to see the room for herself but there was no time. The EMTs started to leave and Chloe hurried to their car so she could ride along with them to the hospital.

Seeing Lucifer so pale and barely conscious was hard. Chloe held his hand for the whole ride, occasionally checking his pulse. As soon as they reached the hospital Lucifer was wheeled away to an OR and Chloe had to stay in the waiting area. She only hoped that she was near enough to keep Lucifer vulnerable so they could operate on him.  

 

Chloe sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair, her head resting on her hands when suddenly she heard a voice she hadn’t expected.

“Chloe?” 

Chloe looked up and indeed, there was Amenadiel holding a granola bar in one hand and a clipboard in another. “Amenadiel?” she replied in an equally surprised voice.

“What are you doing here?” the angel asked first. When his gaze drifted to her hands and shirt that had blood on them, he added, “are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Chloe replied. “Well, physically anyway. Lucifer was shot,” she added. Amenadiel was Lucifer’s brother after all, so he had a right to know. “But what are you doing here? How did you get here?”

For a moment a look of pride rolled over the angel’s face, but then concern made his brows furrow. “Dan was shot too,” he said in a grave voice.

“But he had his vest on,” Chloe said a bit uncertainly. Amenadiel’s face was way too serious for him to be here only for a bruise on Dan’s body.

“Yes, but the bullet hit his neck.”

“Oh shit!” Chloe exclaimed before she could stop herself.

“It was pretty bad,” Amenadiel agreed. Chloe looked at his T-shirt that had some smears of blood, but not much. Not enough for someone who had contact with someone with a neck wound. “How did you get here? Did you call an ambulance?” Chloe didn’t think he did, but she knew that neither his or Dan’s car were near that house.

Amenadiel’s eyes suddenly shone with glee and he sat down next to Chloe. “I flew him here,” he said silently.

“Excuse me, what?” Chloe didn’t quite follow. If the medics had used a helicopter she would have heard it.

“I got my wings back,” Amenadiel clarified, barely able to hold back a smile.

“You did?” Chloe was dumbfounded.

“Yes. Dan was bleeding and his pulse was so weak. I was holding him and suddenly I had wings again, so I flew here as fast as I could.” Then his glee vanished. “The doctors took him to an OR instantly and I’ve been waiting here ever since. Oh, and they gave me this,” he held out the clipboard, “do you know something about his medical history and insurance?” 

Chloe sighed. She might not know everything but she definitely knew more than Amenadiel about these kinds of things, so she reached out and took the questionnaire. While she started filling it out Amenadiel offered the granola bar to her too, but Chloe declined. She was too nervous to eat. 

“So what happened with Cain?” Amenadiel wanted to know.

“He shot Lucifer in the gut and tried to escape holding him as a human shield, but then I shot him and now Cain is dead and Lucifer has two bullet wounds,” Chloe summed it up, not feeling the energy to explain it in detail right now.

“But Cain is immortal. He’ll come back to life.” Amenadiel remembered how he had woken up in the penthouse after dying for a minute or so.

“Nope,” Chloe said casually, keeping her eyes on the paper she was filling out, “he lost his mark and now he’s dead dead.” She knew that she should probably feel guilty about taking a life, but that bastard had truly deserved it.

“What?” Amenadiel couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “How?”

“I don’t know exactly. He just said that it had happened the same night he told me about the mark.”

“Wow,” Amenadiel said silently. He had thought that the mark would stay there forever.

They fell silent after that. Amenadiel remembered the granola bar he had bought from the vending machine before seeing Chloe and asked once again if Chloe would like to have it. When she declined it again Amenadiel ate it himself.

Chloe had filled the form with medical and insurance data about Dan and took it to the receptionist. When she returned to her seat she discovered that she had nothing to focus on anymore. Chloe started fidgeting with her fingers, her mind occupied with thoughts about Lucifer and whether he’d be alright.

“Was he hurt very badly?" Amenadiel suddenly asked. He had noticed how on edge Chloe was and assumed it was because she was worried about Lucifer.

“The gut wound was pretty bad,” Chloe admitted. “He asked me to stay after Cain was taken care of but maybe I shouldn’t have. What if the doctors can’t save him?” Chloe voiced her biggest concerns.

“Why did you stay?” Amenadiel wondered. His brother acted strange sometimes, but as far as he knew Chloe was always the sensible one.

“Because he said that he could hear the ambulance already and he was worried what would happen if I left and he healed so that the bullet stayed inside him,” Chloe said, still looking at her fingers. She then turned her face towards the man beside her and admitted another reason, “and I couldn’t leave him there alone when he was in such bad shape. I just couldn’t.” Tears welled in her eyes when she thought about the state he was in before the medics arrived.

“It’s okay,” Amenadiel said and smiled gently at her, “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” Chloe wasn’t so sure about it, but she didn’t want to think about the other option. “I can leave after he’s out of surgery. They’ll take the bullet out and then it would be okay for him to heal.” Not that she wanted to leave so soon, but him getting better as quickly as possible was more important.

“I don’t think you should,” Amenadiel said thoughtfully. When Chloe looked at him questioningly the angel explained. “If he’ll heal too fast, it would raise questions. I think you should stay here until we can take him home.”

Chloe furrowed her brows. “I think they’ll want to keep him here for a while.”

“I’m sure, but I know my brother would hate to stay here longer than absolutely necessary, so I think we can get him out of here as soon as he’s strong enough.”

Chloe thought about it and had to agree. Lucifer would probably complain about the sheets and food and every other possible aspect of being stuck in a hospital bed. If they told the doctors that they were taking him into a private facility, it wouldn’t be that hard to believe. And then Lucifer could go home and heal while she went back to her daughter. That thought made Chloe think of the demon who was currently watching over her child and she decided to update Maze about their current situation.

 

Finally a doctor came and gave them the good news. The surgery had gone well and Lucifer was now in his room and one person could go and see him. Chloe looked at Amenadiel to make sure that he’d be okay with her being the one who got to see him. The angel just smiled at her. “Go and make sure he’s alright. I’ll stay here and wait for the news about Dan.”

Chloe had momentarily forgotten that another ex-boyfriend of hers was also being operated on at the time. “Text me if you get some news about Dan,” she told Amenadiel and then followed the doctor to a hospital room.

On the way to Lucifer’s room the doctor gave her an overview of the state her partner was in. Luckily there weren’t any complications. They had difficulties determining his blood type, so they had given him 0 negative blood to be safe.

After a while they reached the room where Lucifer was. As soon as the doctor had left, Chloe went to her partner. He was still much paler than usual and currently unconscious from the anesthetic but he was breathing. Chloe took his hand and caressed it with her thumb. She would have stayed there like that longer, but suddenly she felt so tired. It was way past her usual bedtime and the evening or rather night had been quite eventful. So she sat down in the plastic chair that was nearby. Unfortunately it was not a very comfortable chair even for sitting, so sleeping in it was even worse. Chloe moved the chair closer to Lucifer’s bed and rested her head on it.

She woke when the nurse came to check on Lucifer. Chloe looked at the time, it was 7 AM, so she had probably slept only a few hours, but it had been enough to make her feel stiff. Lucifer hadn’t woken up yet, so the nurse didn’t stay long. Chloe flexed her aching joints and looked at her partner. She could see the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, so it was probably just a matter of time until he’d wake up. Still, Chloe had heard of people not waking up after a surgery, so she felt a bit uneasy and didn’t feel like going back to sleep. The position had been awkward anyway.

Chloe took out her phone to check if Amenadiel had texted her and saw that only an hour ago had the angel messaged her that Dan was out of surgery. He wasn’t really out of the woods yet, but for now he seemed to be stable. Chloe sighed in relief. At least he had made it through the surgery.

Chloe sent another text to Maze, telling her that she’d be home as soon as they got Lucifer out of the hospital. Her attention was on the phone, so she missed the moment Lucifer started waking up.

Lucifer opened his eyes slowly. At first he was sure that he was dreaming, seeing the Detective by his bedside. “Dec’tive,”  he mumbled dreamily.

Chloe looked at him immediately and seeing his warm brown eyes looking at her, she smiled. “Lucifer,” she said, relief evident in her voice and slipped her phone back to the pocket.

“You’re here.” Lucifer started to understand that it wasn’t a dream and Chloe was really sitting there. His voice was rough from not using it and the words sounded a bit wry.

“Yeah, we thought that it would be difficult to explain if you healed too quickly, so I stayed,” Chloe explained, afraid that he might not be happy about her presence since it made his injuries hurt more.

“I’m glad,” Lucifer said, sensing that she thought she shouldn’t be there.

“I didn’t want to go until I knew you were alright,” Chloe admitted and put her hand on top of his. “I’m just sorry, that it causes you to suffer more.”

“Don’t worry,” Lucifer answered and turned his hand so he could squeeze her fingers lightly. “I don’t mind a bit of pain if it means that your lovely face is the first thing I see after waking up.”

Although it sounded a little cheesy, Chloe could see from the expression on his face that he meant every word of it. She felt the urge to kiss him, but they were just partners at work. And friends. Chloe then remembered that Lucifer had wanted to tell her something before they went to meet the Sinnerman.

“Lucifer, remember you wanted to tell me something before we went to meet Cain and I stopped you?” She waited until he gave her a small nod. “Could you tell me now?”

Lucifer was silent at first. “All right,” he then said. After another beat of silence, he started to speak. “Detective, I wanted to tell you that,” he paused and sighed before continuing. It seemed that he had some trouble finding the right words, but Chloe waited patiently. “I just wanted to say,” he started again, but was interrupted by a light knock on the door. Chloe wanted to shout that whoever it was should come back later, but Lucifer looked a bit relieved at the interruption.

Soon a familiar face was peeking inside the room.

“Oh good, you’re awake, Lucifer!” Amenadiel smiled seeing his brother’s eyes looking back at him.

“Brother!” Lucifer sounded surprised.

“They said that Dan would probably still be sleeping for several hours, so I came to check on you,” the angel explained with a happy expression.

“Daniel?” Lucifer was puzzled.

“Didn’t Chloe tell you?” Now it was Amenadiel’s turn to be puzzled.

“I didn’t get to it yet, he just woke up,” Chloe explained apologetically. To be honest she hadn’t really thought about Dan since Lucifer woke up.

Amenadiel then started telling Lucifer about everything that had happened in the back room where he and Dan confronted Cain’s goons. Chloe saw the little eyeroll Lucifer made when Amenadeil told him excitedly about the return of his wings. Still, he managed to congratulate his brother and it sounded rather genuine. 

When Amenadiel started telling Lucifer about the plan to get him out of the hospital as soon as possible so Chloe could go home and his celestial healing could finally kick in, Lucifer was impressed.

“I had no idea you knew how itchy those hospital bedsheets were,” Lucifer said, grinning. Although he liked having Chloe there with him, the idea of going home as soon as possible did sound appealing.

Of course Lucifer knew a guy who could help with the transportation (they wanted it to look as real as possible) and Amenadiel was tasked to go back to the penthouse to get cash to pay the hospital bill.  

As they had assumed, the doctors were not happy with the idea of Lucifer going anywhere so soon, but he used his charm and both he and Chloe assured that he’d be taken to a private facility to heal. Well, they expected Lucifer to heal and the penthouse was private, so technically it was all true. After a while, they started with the paperwork to get him released. Soon Amenadiel was back and after a few hours and Lucifer’s signature that he’s leaving against the doctor’s orders they were all set. Lucifer agreed to a wheelchair to make it look more authentic and Amenadiel pushed him out of the door to the ambulance car that was already waiting for them.

Since they hadn’t taken Chloe’s car the other night Lucifer insisted that they should make a detour to the Detective’s home and drop her off. Amenadiel, who had flown to the hospital and also to the penthouse to get the cash, went to retrieve his own car from near Paddock first and then promised to drive to Lux, to make sure Lucifer was all good. 

When the ambulance stopped in front of Chloe’s house and she said goodbye to Lucifer, she had conflicted feelings. She was glad that Lucifer would be able to heal now, but it made her a bit sad that she wouldn’t be able to see him for a few days. It meant that they couldn’t have the much needed conversation too before she could see him again, because that was definitely not a phone conversation. So she had to wait a little more before they could finally have a real conversation.

 

Notes:

I wasn't really planning to write conversations at the hospital but they had other ideas, so this chapter ended up much longer than I thought it would. And I hope that no one's too disappointed that Cain didn't get a one-way ticket to the Moon after all.

I'm doubt I'll be able to get another chapter out this month, so I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a wicked New Years Eve in advance.

Chapter 41: Obstacles

Summary:

This one turned out a little longer than I thought it would, but I didn't want to split it. Only one more left.

When Chloe stepped inside the apartment, Trixie was already waiting for her.

“Mommy!” she ran to her immediately and Chloe had to brace herself so the girl wouldn’t tackle her to the ground.

“Hi, Trixie!” Chloe hugged her back.

“What happened? Where were you?” the girl started to question her mother.

Chloe looked briefly at Maze and the demon just shrugged. It seemed that this time she had been tight-lipped about the reason Chloe wasn’t home.

“Sorry, sweetie, we needed to take care of something,” Chloe explained vaguely.

“Was Lucifer really hurt?” Trixie looked up at Chloe with big eyes, a flicker of fear evident there.

“Unfortunately yes, but he’ll be alright. I was with him at the hospital and he was released already,” Chloe said, not mentioning that the doctors didn’t really want him to leave the hospital.

“Can we go and see him?” Trixie asked hopefully.

“Not yet. He needs to rest for a few days.” Seeing that her words were met with a sad expression, Chloe tried to cheer Trixie up again. “Maybe after he has had time to rest we could go,” she suggested, hoping that a few days would be enough for him to heal.

 

Maze had been dying for a more detailed story about what exactly had happened, but she understood that Chloe couldn’t really tell her in front of the child. So when Trixie asked permission to play on the computer, Chloe agreed but told the girl to wear her headphones. Now she could finally tell Maze about everything that had happened.

“If I had known that Cain lost his mark, I would have gutted him already days ago,” Maze said with regret.

“Well, it seems he didn’t trust anyone and kept it a secret,” Chloe commented, still feeling disappointed that she also hadn’t known about it even though they were dating.

Suddenly Chloe remembered something. “What about that man who we captured?” she asked with a gasp.

“What about him?” Maze asked with an almost bored expression.

“Is he still in that room at Lux or… what happened to him?”

“We left him there yesterday,” Maze shrugged. “I’m sure he hasn’t moved an inch.” The grin on her face suggested that she had everything to do with the reason the man wouldn’t be moving.

Chloe started to grab her phone, “I should ask Lucifer about him.”

“No need,” Maze stopped her hand. “I’ll go and take care of it. You already had all the fun while I was here babysitting.” She was out of the door before Chloe could say anything else.

“That was not what I call fun,” Chloe muttered when the door slammed shut after the demon. Still she felt the need to contact Lucifer. Just to be sure he was doing alright and healing like he should. Chloe took her phone, typed a message and left the phone on the kitchen counter while she checked the fridge to decide if she needed to go to the store before dinner or not. Soon she heard the sound of an incoming message and a smile spread on her face, but when she looked at her phone it disappeared again. The message was not from Lucifer. Instead Amenadiel had texted her telling that Lucifer was sleeping and assured her that he was healing. She figured that Amenadiel must have seen her message to Lucifer and decided to text her instead so she wouldn’t worry, which was nice of him, but she did hope that she’d hear from Lucifer himself soon.

Not long after Maze left Trixie finished her game and Chloe spent the rest of the day together with her, which kept her distracted enough. She didn’t check her messages until she was in bed already. Chloe hadn’t heard a notification for an incoming message since the text from Amenadiel, but she still checked, just to be sure she hadn’t missed it. It turned out that she hadn’t missed anything, her text to Lucifer was still unread. Chloe sighed and put the phone away. It wasn’t that late yet, but the previous night had been rather short, so she went to bed right after she had finished reading a bedtime story to her daughter. 

 

The next morning she saw that Lucifer had answered her after 11 PM, saying that he was feeling alright, but Chloe had been fast asleep by then and hadn’t woken up. She decided to have breakfast at first and then maybe try to call Lucifer.

Chloe had barely finished breakfast when her phone rang. When she checked the caller ID, it turned out not to be the Devil she hoped it would be, but instead the caller was Captain Monroe. Her former Lieutenant informed her that she’d fill the position of the Lieutenant until they’d find a permanent solution and that Internal Affairs would be looking into the case of Marcus Pierce. Chloe was not surprised when Monroe informed her that IA wanted to talk to her on Monday.

On the previous day Chloe had been both tired and a bit worried about Lucifer, so she hadn’t really thought about what would happen next. Now she couldn’t escape those thoughts anymore. She knew that Lucifer hadn’t succeeded in finding solid proof that Cain really was the Sinnerman. They had those thugs who were in that house with Cain, but would they talk or claim that they knew nothing? Also there were some details that she had to discuss with Lucifer, so that their stories would match, because IA would definitely want to talk to Lucifer too.

Since now she had more reason for calling Lucifer than just to check on him, Chloe dialed his number right away and walked to her bedroom, so Trixie wouldn’t accidentally overhear anything she shouldn’t be hearing.

It rang for a long time before Lucifer’s sleepy voice answered with “Hello!”

“Hi, Lucifer! Did I wake you up?” Chloe asked, immediately regretting not texting first to check if he was awake.

“It’s alright, Detective,” Lucifer answered, sounding already much more awake. “You’re welcome to wake me anytime.”

His reply made her smile, but still she worried that he might need the sleep right now. “Are you sure? I mean I can call back later.”

“Don’t be silly, Detective,” he said while Chloe could hear a yawn. “I can go back to sleep later, I’d much rather be talking to you right now.”

Chloe decided to make the phone call as short as possible and got straight to the point by telling him what she had heard from Monroe.

“Since they want to get my statement tomorrow, I thought that we should synchronize our stories, just to make sure we don’t raise suspicions, because we obviously have to keep silent about the fact that Pierce was Cain.”

“Yes, of course Detective,” Lucifer agreed. After a moment of thought he asked, “what time should I come to the precinct?”

“Lucifer, you can’t come in tomorrow,” Chloe replied, a little baffled about the suggestion.

“Why not?” Lucifer was clearly not happy about her refusal.

“Because you were just shot. Twice. And you should be healing,” she explained.

“But I’m healed already,” Lucifer pouted.

“Yes, because of celestial healing powers. Humans would still be not even getting up from a hospital bed, definitely not coming to work looking like nothing had happened. And the last thing we want right now is someone questioning the fact that Cain did shoot you.”

Lucifer sighed. It was clear that the Detective had thought it through. “Alright. I’ll stay away from the precinct.”

“And from Lux. We don’t need someone posting a photo from a party at Lux where you are showing up like nothing has happened,” Chloe added.

“Are you saying that I can’t leave the penthouse at all?” Lucifer asked, appalled.

“Yes, Lucifer, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Chloe said calmly, knowing that he’d not like it, but it was necessary.

“For how long?” he whined. 

“At least two weeks.” Chloe estimated that after that time they could maybe claim that he healed well and Lucifer could hold himself more stiffly than normal to make it look like he still feels the effects of the gunshot wounds.

“What the Hell am I supposed to do here for two weeks?” Lucifer asked, clearly horrified by the idea.

“I don’t know. Play piano, read books, watch TV,” she suggested.

“I’ll be bored in no time,” Lucifer claimed.

“I could come visit you,” Chloe offered.

“Promise?” Lucifer perked up a little.

“I promise,” Chloe said. She had planned to visit him anyway.

 After that there was a beat of silence.

“What should we do with the guy who tried to kidnap me?” Chloe asked to fill the silence.

“Well, we don’t need to do anything, Maze is doing plenty to him right now,” Lucifer chuckled.

Chloe sighed. She didn’t really feel sorry for the guy or anything, but she was a bit worried. “But maybe we should have used him to testify about Pierce being the Sinnerman?” Chloe wasn’t sure how much evidence they would find.

“We could still do that,” Lucifer stated.

“Is he even… able to talk?” Chloe wondered. She had no doubt that Maze’s techniques would be rather physical.

“The last I checked, he was,” he said thoughtfully. “But the things Maze has done to him have left some marks indeed.” Lucifer understood where she was going with this. “I guess I should tell her to back down,” he mused. Although he knew that the demon would be able to persuade the guy not to tell anyone about the origin of his injuries, it would still raise too many questions if he showed up in a police precinct like that.

--------

On Monday morning Chloe went to the precinct feeling quite nervous. They had gone over some details about their stories over the phone with Lucifer, but she still didn’t feel too confident or particularly looked forward to the interview she was about to have.

Another thing she was wondering about were her colleagues and their reactions. Would those who worked for the Sinnerman be accusing her of something sinister or would they be quiet and try to make it look like they didn’t know anything? She let out a slow breath and then entered the precinct.

It seemed that her co-workers had heard about what had happened. Some were openly staring at her, others were trying to sneak a look and many of them were whispering among each other. Chloe didn’t have much time to look around, Monroe appeared next to her when she was on her way to her desk.

“Morning, Decker! Come with me, please,” the woman said in a firm voice.

“Yes, Captain,” Chloe replied and followed Olivia. To her surprise they didn’t go to an interrogation room, but to another office on the floor above the precinct. Two guys with suits were already waiting for her. As she had assumed, the men were from IA.

The interview lasted for almost two hours. Chloe was grateful for Monroe’s presence. Well, she would have preferred her partner to be there, but it was currently not an option. Of course the guys told her that they wanted to speak to Lucifer too. Chloe informed them that he was healing at home and wouldn’t be able to come to the precinct.

As Chloe had suspected, Marcus Pierce being a crime lord was not something that was easy to believe for the men in the room. Hell, she hadn’t believed it at first. But at least it was grounds enough to go and search his house. Olivia had already discovered a locked drawer at the desk in Pierce’s former office and was waiting for a locksmith to open it since the key was nowhere to be found.

The men hadn’t yet spoken to those guys who had been apprehended from the house at the corner of 10th and Swanson, but it seemed that there were enough reasons to keep them locked down - some of the weapons they had in the back room had been illegal and a few of the guys had been on parole. 

After they left the office, Monroe told Chloe that she was suspended until they found more evidence. Chloe had known that it would probably come to that but it still wasn’t a pleasant feeling. She gave her gun and badge to Monroe and when they reached the precinct again Chloe went to her desk to grab a few things. Walking to her desk she had been in her thoughts and hadn’t noticed the lab door opening.

“Oh my God, Chloe. Are you okay?” Ella’s voice suddenly sounded next to her, almost startling Chloe.

“Hi, Ella. Yes, I’m okay,” Chloe told her friend. “Suspended for now, but okay,” she added.

“You need to tell me everything,” Ella stated or almost commanded, grabbed Chloe’s hand and started walking towards her lab again. Chloe didn’t protest. It would be better to talk to Ella behind closed doors.

As Chloe had thought, Ella was devastated by the fact that Pierce had been leading a double life, being a police Lieutenant and also a crime lord. She had looked up to the man, calling him a superstar.

“I can’t believe this. And here I was admiring him, praising him,” she muttered, slumped on a chair, her eyes on the floor. Then she looked up, “I even rooted for you and him to get together. I’m so sorry, Chloe.”

Chloe could see that Ella’s eyes were shining with unshed tears. It broke her heart that even after his death that bastard managed to hurt her friend.

“It’s okay, Ella. I made my own choices, you don’t need to feel guilty about it.” Knowing how much Ella liked hugs, Chloe decided this time to initiate one herself. “I should be comforting you, not the other way around,” Ella mumbled.

“Your hugs are always a comfort,” Chloe smiled.

After a while they broke the hug and Chloe went on with the story. It turned out that Ella hadn’t known about the fact that Chloe made the Devil vulnerable.

“So Lucifer’s life was really in danger? Like, he could have really died?” the woman asked astounded.

“Yeah, he was in a really bad shape,” Chloe said, trying not to think about the exact memory of Lucifer bleeding on the floor, looking pale and weak. “But he’s all healed now,” Chloe quickly assured Ella, seeing that the woman looked rather shocked.

“So he just needs to be away from you and poof, he’s all right again?”

“Yeah, that’s how it works,” Chloe confirmed.

“Wow, that’s really messed up,” the forensic scientist frowned.

“Tell me about it,” Chloe rolled her eyes.

“But why didn’t he come in then?” Ella was wondering.

“Because others don’t know that he’s not human and already healed from the two gunshot wounds. I told him to stay in the penthouse for two weeks,” Chloe explained.

Ella nodded approvingly, “right.” After a moment she chuckled, “I bet he didn’t like it.”

They continued to talk for a while. Chloe also told Ella about Dan getting hurt and now being in the hospital.  

By the time Chloe left the precinct it was already lunch time and she went to a nearby diner, feeling too hungry to wait until she got home. When she finally did reach home, Chloe fell asleep on the couch, being exhausted from the interview in the morning. Luckily she woke up about 40 minutes before she needed to go pick up Trixie from school.

 

The next day she decided to go and see Dan in the hospital. She wasn’t sure if he’d be sleeping or not, so she opened the door quietly. It turned out that Dan was not sleeping. And he was also not alone. Charlotte was in his room and was currently kissing Dan, on the lips. Chloe smiled at the sight. It had been clear that they had gotten quite close after the woman’s trip to Hell. She silently pulled the door closed again and waited a beat before knocking on it to announce her presence.

“Come in,” came Dan’s voice.

Chloe opened the door and greeted them both.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said, not sure if Dan would even want her there right now.

“No no,” Charlotte replied, “I was about to go and see what the cafeteria here has to offer anyway.” She smiled at Dan and left the room.

“So, how are you?” Chloe asked.

“Not too good, but I guess I’m lucky to be alive,” Dan answered with a wry smile.

“But the surgery went well?” Chloe asked. It was not surprising that Dan was not feeling so good yet, but she hoped he’d be making a full recovery.

“Yeah, the doctors say that I’m healing well,” Dan replied. After a beat of silence, he asked, “what happened with Pierce? Amenadiel only told me that Lucifer was hurt too, but he didn’t know what actually happened.”

Chloe then told him about everything that had happened in the other room. Well, almost everything, she didn’t tell him about Lucifer knocking those other goons out with his wings.

“If I was in better shape I’d go and see him,” Dan said a little apologetically.

“Oh, he’s not here anymore,” Chloe told him. Seeing Dan’s baffled expression, she added, “the bedsheets were not fine enough, he’s healing at his penthouse now.”

“Such a snob,” Dan smirked.

There was a moment of silence after this and Chloe decided to satisfy her own curiosity. “So, Charlotte came to see you,” she started, hoping that Dan would fill the rest. She didn’t want to let him know that she had seen the kiss.

“Yeah. Apparently Lucifer had told Amenadiel to call her and tell her about my injury. She came here as soon as she could.” A goofy smile spread over Dan’s face.

“Such a good friend,” Chloe remarked.

“Uhm… actually, we are more than friends now,” Dan confessed. “She said that she had realised that life is too short to let some stupid fears hold you back and she said she’s ready to take the next step with me if I want to.”

“And you did?” Chloe asked, barely able to hold back the smirk from her face.

“Yeah,” Dan sighed. “To be honest I wanted for us to be more than just friends for a while now. At least that’s something good that came out of the whole thing.”

“I’m happy for you two,” Chloe said, feeling that she genuinely was. Dan was a good man, she had just not had those kinds of feelings for him. Charlotte seemed to take her second chance at life seriously and now didn’t try to deceive Dan, so Chloe was sure that they would be good for each other.

They talked a few more minutes before Charlotte came back. “I found your favourite pudding from the cafeteria,” she announced with a smile, making Dan’s face light up with a smile too. Chloe assumed that it was both for the pudding and for the woman bringing it.

They talked a bit about how Charlotte’s children were coping with their father’s death and then Chloe decided to leave.

After leaving the hospital Chloe decided to go to the penthouse. She thought about calling first, but then figured that she could just leave if Lucifer needed rest. He had assured her on Sunday that he was fully healed now and Chloe was welcome to come over. Chloe had been a bit surprised that he hadn’t reached out the day before. She had fully expected him to do it after she didn’t manage to go and visit him. Chloe was a bit worried that he might be hurt about her not showing up after she had promised to go and see him when she had ‘grounded’ him. So she half expected to find a pouting Devil in the penthouse, but instead when the elevator doors opened, she found a binge watching Devil.

Apparently he had discovered a show called Bones and had been watching it since Sunday evening. He had barely any idea that it was Tuesday already. Lucifer was really excited about the show and compared the main characters - Booth and Brennan - to him and Chloe. There was something about the excitement he had about the whole thing that Chloe found quite endearing, so she agreed to watch some episodes with him. Unfortunately Lucifer was so engrossed in the series that all her attempts to have a conversation with him that was not about Bones failed.

Finally Chloe had enough so she stopped the show and took away the remote. When Lucifer protested Chloe told him sternly that it was not healthy to watch something without a pause for almost 40 hours without a proper sleep or meals (popcorn and other snacks Lucifer had been eating during his binge watch didn’t count as a proper meal). Among other things it seemed that Lucifer had not showered since Sunday and now that the show was not distracting him anymore, he decided to remedy that. After his shower and the meal Chloe had made him order, it was time for Chloe to leave. Before Chloe left she made him promise that he would take breaks between watching the show from now on. 

 

On Wednesday Chloe hoped that they’d be finally able to have that conversation that was long overdue. Lucifer had sent her some messages with apologies for not paying more attention to her when she had visited the previous day, so Chloe was certain that he wouldn’t be distracted by a TV show this time.

Soon after Chloe had arrived came another kind of distraction. Ella had decided to come and see how Lucifer was doing with her own eyes. Apparently there was a crime scene near Lux and Ella had taken advantage of that, making a little detour to Lux. It was nice of her and she seemed genuinely worried about the Devil so neither of them wanted to tell her to leave. Chloe figured that there would be enough time for them to talk after their friend left, but she was mistaken once again. Apparently it seemed to be a visiting day for Lucifer since Amenadiel also showed up, shortly after Ella had left. This time Lucifer was annoyed and didn’t bother to hide it, but according to Amenadiel Linda was a bit worried and made him check on his brother.

The elevator doors hadn’t even fully closed behind the angel when Lucifer’s phone started to ring. He answered it in a weary voice, tired of all the interruptions, but it turned out that it was rather convenient since the caller was from IA. Lucifer agreed for them to visit him in the penthouse the next day.

As they were going over some details about what Lucifer should do in order to look like he’s truly still healing from two gunshot wounds the elevator doors opened again and this time Maze walked out. Chloe hadn’t seen her roommate for a few days and she had thought that the demon was out of town, but apparently she had been spending time with Keith the kidnapper. Maze informed them that Keith would do or say anything they wanted him to. She had dropped him off at home but whenever they needed his help to prove who the Sinnerman really was, he would help them.

By the time Maze left, it was time to leave for Chloe too if she wanted to reach Trixie’s school in time like she had promised.

 

They had agreed that Lucifer would let Chloe know when the IA guys had left, so she spent Thursday morning in her house, cleaning and doing other chores she usually didn’t have that much time for. Every now and then she checked the phone, afraid that she might have missed a text or a call from her partner. The interview took much longer than she had anticipated. When Lucifer finally let her know that the coast was clear Chloe finished putting away the laundry as quickly as she could and headed straight to Lucifer’s. Her hopes of getting some privacy so that they could have a conversation about her miracle status and other important things, were unfortunately crushed again. Lucifer had even locked the elevator after she got to the penthouse, so that unexpected visitors wouldn’t interrupt them, but his phone did the part this time. Apparently there were some issues at Lux that needed to be dealt with. Since Lucifer was grounded in the penthouse for two weeks, he had given Amenadiel the weeks off and now had to give his attention to the club. He was apologetic towards Chloe and tried to get it over with as soon as possible, but still it ruined their chance of having a conversation yet again.

 

For Friday Chloe had a meeting with a therapist scheduled. It was standard procedure for cops who had killed someone and mandatory if she wanted to get back on duty again. She had scheduled it on Tuesday and there were not many open slots to choose from, but if she had known that she and Lucifer would still be in dire need of a conversation in private by then, she would have chosen an earlier timeslot, so she could get it over with and then go and see Lucifer. Chloe figured that they wouldn’t be able to talk if she’d be constantly checking the time, afraid to miss her meeting, so she decided to go and see Lucifer after the session. Unfortunately the appointment didn’t start on time and it took longer than she had expected, so when she finally got to the penthouse it was less than an hour before she had to leave. Lucifer was disappointed and didn’t try to hide it, so Chloe promised to come by the next day too.

 

She did go to see Lucifer on Saturday, but she didn’t get to do it alone. Chloe had hoped that she could convince Maze to watch Trixie for a few hours, but the girl had refused (the demon had not). Trixie had been asking about Lucifer’s condition and on Saturday morning she stated that she wanted to go and see him. Even though both Chloe and Maze told her that he was fine, the girl was adamant. So they went to the penthouse together and spent the day there playing board games that Trixie had grabbed with her before they left. Even though it ruined their chance of a private talk again, Chloe was enjoying herself. As did Lucifer by the looks of it. They argued with Trixie from time to time over some game rules and it looked so much like they were just some bickering siblings, not the Devil and a child.

Before they left Lucifer asked Chloe to have dinner with him the next evening, just the two of them. Chloe agreed, although she told him that she’d need to check with Maze first.

As soon as she got home, Chloe asked Maze if she could watch Trixie the next evening. Maze agreed, but informed her that she needed to catch a flight in the evening, so it had to be an early dinner, which was fine by Chloe since she wanted to be able to read the bedtime story for her kid and since Monday was school day, Trixie couldn't be up too late. When Chloe told Lucifer about it he had no problem with having an early dinner.

 

On Sunday Chloe got a call just after they had finished eating breakfast. Chloe’s heart started to beat a little faster when she saw that the caller was Captain Monroe.

“Good news, Decker, you’ve been cleared for duty,” Olivia informed her in a cheery voice right after greeting her.

“Really?” Chloe was surprised. She had thought that it would take some time until it would happen.

“Yes, they found tons of evidence of Pierce’s criminal activity from a locked cabinet and a safe in his house, so it seems that you did the world a service by shooting him,” Monroe explained.

“Well, that’s great,” Chloe said. “So I need to come to work tomorrow?” she asked to be clear. 

There was a pause before Monroe spoke again. “Actually, I need you today,” she told her.

“What do you mean?” Chloe asked, a bit baffled.

“You see, there was a murder this morning. I know that you usually don’t work on weekends, but since there are a few detectives suspended due to their connections with the Sinnerman, we are short staffed and I thought you’d maybe want in after being away for a week.”

“Who were the detectives working for him?” Chloe couldn’t help but ask.

“Uhm, detectives Malcolm and Paolucci and some other new guys he had brought in. I’m actually glad that they were not detectives who had worked in the precinct when I was the Lieutenant,” Olivia confessed.

“You know, I think someone should look into the Richards’ case Malcolm and Paolucci were working on. I know that they thought they had an open and shut case, but I think they got the wrong guy.” Chloe couldn’t miss the opportunity to get real justice for Charlotte’s ex.

“I already did assign the case to another detective, one that was approved by the IA. And that’s the other thing, since the Sinnerman had his claws in the department also, they’ll need to check all the detectives and officers in the precinct. So you are one of the few who’s in the clear right now. If there’s any chance you could help me out today, I would be very grateful.”

Chloe felt how her resolve was melting away. It was partly her fault that there were only a few detectives who could work on cases right now and she was really grateful for the support Olivia has shown her during all of this.

“Okay, I’ll do it,”  she agreed.

“Great! I’ll meet you at the crime scene to bring you your badge and gun,” she said happily.

“But I don’t have a partner right now. I mean, Lucifer is still healing.”

“You can have whoever you want as a partner,” Olivia told her. “Besides, we don’t even know whether you’ll need a partner during this case. It’s a dead nun after all.”

“What?” Chloe couldn’t believe her ears.

“I know. Someone apparently killed a nun. I’ll text you the address of the nunnery as soon as we finish the call,” Monroe promised.

“Okay, I’ll talk to my roommate about babysitting my daughter,” Chloe replied and a few minutes later she had the confirmation that Maze would stay at home for the day and a promise from her child that she would do her homework too not just watch movies with Maze all day long. Although Chloe hoped that it wouldn’t take that long for her to finish for the day. Maybe she’d be able to make it to dinner with Lucifer too.

 

Being in a nunnery felt a bit odd to Chloe. She knew that the God those women worshipped was real indeed, but in her opinion He was not someone those women or anyone else should worship. Ella seemed a bit flustered too, but she expressed her excitement, looking up to those women. Chloe didn’t know exactly what Lucifer and Ella had talked about, but apparently her opinion about the Big Guy hadn’t changed that much.

Their victim was a woman who had recently joined the Order, not even taken her final vows yet. Unfortunately someone had killed her early that morning. Or at least that’s what all the other nuns told her. Chloe wished she would have her partner there, he could have used his mojo on them and quickly found the murderer. Then again, maybe they would sense that Lucifer really was the Devil and not speak to him at all. That thought gave her another idea, maybe she could use the help of an angel instead, so Chloe decided to call Amenadiel. As soon as she said that she needed his help, Chloe heard a familiar whoosh and the angel was standing next to her, a big grin on his face. The man apparently liked to use his wings now that he got them back.

Chloe wasn’t entirely sure what kind of help Lucifer’s brother could be, but she assumed that he could at least see their perspective since Amenadiel still seemed to think very highly of his father. Unexpectedly it turned out that Amenadiel had far more influence on the women than either of them had thought - they were drawn to him, almost like other women were drawn to Lucifer. The fact that those nuns all wanted to talk to Amenadiel and simply ignored her, was a bit frustrating, but Chloe was willing to endure it if it helped the investigation.

At some point Lucifer called her to ask about what she’d prefer to have for dinner and Chloe had to confess that she was working on a case. She did tell him that she believed she’d be able to make it to dinner. They had just arrested sister Angelica, who was the head of the convent. Chloe also admitted that she asked Amenadiel to help her. She had a feeling that this was the part he disliked the most. After promising to text him if there was anything he could help with, Chloe ended the call and went to interview sister Angelica. 

Her hopes of being able to close the case soon were shattered when it turned out that sister Angelica had not had a motive to kill the victim. At least she got another lead from sister Angelica. It turned out that the pop star Destiny Page was interested in buying the convent. Amenadiel told Chloe that the star’s latest album was a testament to her new-found faith and that she was working on a new album that was supposed to continue in that vein. When they went to question her, it turned out that she was not a true believer, because unlike the nuns who were ready to tell Amenadiel anything when he had asked, Destiny was not interested in talking to them. Still, they were able to find out that Victoria Reynard, the woman who had been murdered, was sent to the convent as a spy by Destiny. To the pop star’s disappointment her spy decided to join the convent in the end and stopped giving information to Destiny.

When they had finished talking to Destiny Page Ella called and told Chloe that she wanted to show her something, so Chloe drove to the precinct. Amenadiel went back home, but promised to be there if Chloe needed him again.

Chloe had just parked her car when Maze called and informed her that she needed to leave in 50 minutes to catch the last flight available on that day - there was a criminal on the run and she wanted to be the one to catch him. Chloe hadn’t even realised that it was so late already. Even if she tried to get Olga to watch Trixie, she and Lucifer wouldn’t really have time to talk before she’d have to go home.

With a heavy heart Chloe called Lucifer.

“Hello, Detective!” Lucifer answered, sounding happy.

“Hi, Lucifer!” Chloe hesitated before continuing. “I have some bad news.”

“Don’t tell me that you want to make my brother your partner,” Lucifer said and Chloe wasn’t entirely sure that he was joking.

“No, of course not,” Chloe replied instantly. She could hear him sigh in relief.

“What is it then?” he asked, sounding more curious than worried.

“I won’t make it to dinner,” she admitted. “Following our new lead took longer than I expected and Maze needs to go out of town for a bounty hunt.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Lucifer said and Chloe was partly relieved that he wasn’t mad at her and partly ashamed that Lucifer had already anticipated it.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to make it up to you,” she offered, feeling that she had let him down.

“Hmm… funny you should say that, because I know exactly how you could make it up to me.” Chloe could hear the grin in his voice.

“I’m listening,” she said hesitantly.

“You’ll come with me to Javier’s tomorrow night,” he announced.

“What? Lucifer, we agreed that you won’t leave the penthouse for two weeks, but it’s only been a week,” Chloe protested.

“Yes and I feel like I’m suffocating here. Please, Detective, you have to let me get some air. Just a few hours and then I’ll be sitting in the penthouse like a good Devil again for the rest of the week.”

Chloe could imagine very well how hard staying put for so long must be for Lucifer, but she was afraid it could backfire if she agreed for him to go out.

“I don’t know. Someone might see you there and start questioning the whole story,” she voiced her concerns.

“I’ll go straight to the garage from the penthouse and I’ll take even a different car, not a convertible so people wouldn’t recognise me on the street. And I doubt that we’ll meet any other LAPD members in that restaurant. Please, Detective.” The last words were in a pleading tone that was most certainly accompanied by puppy dog eyes. And he was probably right about the restaurant being too fancy for LAPD members. Besides, Chloe felt guilty about not being able to make it today, so she finally relented.

“Okay then.”

“Excellent,” Lucifer said and his voice sounded instantly much happier. “I’ll be at your place at 6.30 tomorrow evening. Goodbye, Detective!”

Chloe could barely utter a goodbye herself before Lucifer ended the call. Chloe figured that he might have been afraid that she’d change her mind if the call lasted longer.

Chloe then hurried towards the precinct, not wanting to waste any more time. She needed to get home before her babysitter left. Suddenly she realised that she had made arrangements to go out the next day, but she didn’t have a babysitter for Trixie since Maze would be gone for several days. During the call she had been so focused on the dangers of Lucifer leaving the penthouse so soon that she had totally forgotten about her need to have a babysitter for her kid.

Chloe immediately took her phone out again and not stopping her stride dialled Olga.

“How are you doing?” Chloe asked after greeting the woman.

“Oh, I’m good. My grandchild is such a great kid and Seattle is nice,” the woman replied and Chloe suddenly remembered that the woman had mentioned at some point that she’ll visit her daughter soon. Of course it had to be now. 

“That’s great!” Chloe said, summoning the actress inside her because in reality Olga being out of town right now was the opposite of great for Chloe. “I’m so happy that you’re having a great time there. How long will you stay there?”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll be back in time. You don’t need to worry about Friday,” the woman said in a reassuring tone. Chloe was confused for a moment, then she remembered that she had asked about a week ago if Olga could watch Trixie on Friday because they were supposed to have a Tribe night. Somehow Chloe had almost forgotten about it.

“Oh, that’s good. So, you’ll come back on Friday?” she asked to be sure.

“No, my flight is on Thursday, so there won’t be any need to worry about delays,” Olga replied. 

Now it was clear that the woman would not be able to watch Trixie tomorrow. Chloe would have liked to end the call and let out some swear words, but she didn’t want to be rude, so she listened while Olga talked about all the things she had done together with her family in Seattle. Luckily the call didn’t last too long, because Olga had to go at some point. 

By the time the call ended, Chloe had already reached Ella’s lab. Seeing that Chloe was on the phone, Ella busied herself with one of her machines. Even though Chloe wasn't alone when she lowered the phone from her ear, she couldn’t help herself and let out a frustrated “shit!” Neither Maze or Olga was able to stay with Trixie tomorrow which meant that she’d have to call Lucifer back and disappoint him once again. She hated the fact that she had to choose between being a good mom and a good partner/friend.

Her outburst had gotten Ella’s attention. “What’s wrong, Chloe?” she asked worriedly.

“I promised to go out with Lucifer tomorrow, but I don’t have a babysitter. But we really need to talk and I just feel like the universe is deliberately stopping us.” Chloe usually would have said that everything’s fine, but right now it felt good to just let it all out.

“Well.. if you want, I could watch Trixie tomorrow evening,” Ella offered a bit tentatively. When Chloe looked at her with a surprised expression, Ella added, “I mean I’ve babysat my brother’s kids sometimes.”

“You’d do that?” Chloe asked, not really believing her luck.

“Sure. I mean, Trixie is a great kid,” Ella said with a shrug, but then she suddenly frowned, the earlier smile dropping from her face. “She’s not gonna…” the forensic scientist gestured towards her back with her fingers. Chloe looked at her puzzled, not understanding what her friend was trying to say. “She doesn’t have wings, does she?” Ella voiced the question that formed in her mind, having remembered what happened the last time she was babysitting a friend's kid.

“Nope,” Chloe shook her head, “no wings.”

“Good,” Ella smiled, but then backtracked a little. “I mean, wings are cool, I just.. you know… it’s just good to know what you can expect.”

"Don't worry, she comes from human parents,” Chloe assured her again.

“You sure about that? I mean, she’s adopted after all,” Ella seemed to be still a little suspicious.

“Trust me, she doesn’t have wings,” Chloe stated.

“Okay. Well, if you want I’ll come to your place and watch her,” Ella repeated her offer.

“You’d be a life saver,” Chloe smiled, feeling immense relief.

“Hey, what are friends for, right?” 

Chloe then remembered that Ella said she had something for her. “So, what did you want to show me?”

“Oh, right.” Ella took out a photo of the victim’s neck. “You remember that bruising on her neck that left us confused.” Chloe hummed an affirmative and Ella continued. “I remembered that I saw something similar in goat yoga the other day.”

“A what?” Chloe wasn't sure she heard correctly.

“Goat yoga, it’s a yoga class where you do yoga while goats go around the room. And those animals eat everything. I mean everything. Anyway… a woman who also goes there carries her engagement ring on a chain around her neck during class, because if she had it in her pocket and it fell out, those animals would eat it. But the other day when she was changing clothes after the class the chain got stuck on her training shirt and she ended up strangling herself a little bit before she managed to get the chain off the shirt. Since the pattern that woman had on her neck after accidentally doing it to herself was so similar to our victim’s, I figured that maybe she was carrying a ring around her neck too.”

Chloe looked at the photo of the bruising on the murdered woman’s neck and had to agree, it could have indeed been a ring that had caused the puzzling pattern. Still, there was the question why carry a ring around the neck.

“But why carry it around her neck?”

“That’s a good question. I mean they are allowed to wear rings as far as I know,” Ella said.

“No one said anything about a ring around her neck, so I guess it was worn under the garment. I think she didn’t want others to see that ring,” Chloe thought out loud. “And the murderer took it since we didn’t find it, so maybe they didn’t also want us to see that ring.” Chloe paused and tilted her head. “What if that was also an engagement ring around the nun’s neck?”

“But no one we spoke to said anything about her being engaged.”

“No they didn’t,” Chloe agreed and added thoughtfully, “so maybe no one knew. Maybe the only other person who knew about it was the killer.”

“So if you find the one she was engaged to, you’ll find the killer?” Ella asked.

“It does seem like that.” Chloe checked the time again. “But I have to go now, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Even though Chloe left the precinct, her mind kept going over the facts she had on the case. She kept wondering where Victoria could have been meeting with her fiance. It was clear that they would not arrange a meeting in the courtyard where they had found her, it had to be some secret place. The nunnery was an old building, so maybe it had some secret rooms. Chloe decided to write an e-mail to her acquaintance in the city hall and ask if he could get her the blueprints for the building. She also texted Amenadiel, telling him that she might need him again tomorrow.

 

Chloe did manage to get the blueprints from the city hall and she had been right - there was a hidden room. Amenadiel met her at the nunnery and they went to check it out themselves. They found evidence that the room had recently been used and just as Chloe was about to bag the mug they had found there, Destiny’s bodyguard Hank appeared, holding a gun in his hand. He was about to shoot them both when Amenadiel whipped out his wings and neutralised the man with a powerful flap.

“I guess the wings are useful for more than just flying,” Chloe smirked when they watched Hank being taken away by some unis.

“Yes,” Amenadiel agreed with a smile. Then he turned to Chloe, looking more serious, “can I talk to you, Chloe?”

Chloe looked at the time and decided that she could spare a few minutes before she’d have to head home if she wanted to be able to get ready for the dinner that evening in time, so she nodded her consent.

“I talked to Linda about what happened yesterday with the nuns, how they were drawn to me,” Amanadiel told Chloe, “and she thought that their reaction might have to do with their faith. I mean other people have not reacted to me that way, only the true believers. So, her theory was that they saw their love for my Father reflected back by me. Much like Lucifer reflects back people’s greatest desire to them.”

Chloe looked at the angel, trying to figure out how to politely tell him that it was all interesting, but she didn’t have time for a self-reflection with Amenadiel right now. 

“And that gave us an idea about the Miracle thing,” Amenadiel continued and now Chloe was fully invested in what he had to say. “We think that you being able to resist his mojo was the gift I passed to you when I blessed your mother.”

“Just that? Not some grand scheme of influencing him somehow?” Chloe wanted to be sure that she had understood him correctly.

“Yes, I think it was just your ability to see him for who he truly is, regardless of your desires.”

“But what about him being vulnerable around me?” Chloe then asked. They had always assumed that it was connected to the Miracle thing.

“I think that is not connected to you being a Miracle at all,” Amenadiel replied.

“What? But he’s not vulnerable around anyone else, that doesn’t make sense.”

“We discussed that too with Linda and I’m pretty sure that Lucifer self-actualised vulnerability around you,” the angel said with a smile.

“You can do that?” Chloe asked, surprised.

“Yes, it seems we can influence ourselves subconsciously. Think about it. Both me and Lucifer regained our wings when we needed them the most - he when he was protecting you and me when I wanted to save Dan’s life,” Amenadiel explained.

“But he didn’t even want them,” Chloe was still confused. She remembered clearly that Lucifer initially planned to cut them off again after they had re-appeared.

“Maybe, but he needed to protect you from bullets and wings were the best option, so his subconscious made the wings appear again,” the angel explained.

Chloe thought about it a little. “But you always wanted your wings back. Why didn’t you get them back sooner then?”

“I guess it’s not just about wanting it. It’s something deeper. Like I said, we figured it’s controlled by our subconsciousness so we can’t just command it. Or at least not as easily as just wanting something.” Amenadiel had spoken with Linda about it the previous night quite thoroughly.

Chloe looked at him, taking in the smile on the angel’s lips. “You are really happy about getting your wings back, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I really am. Especially now when Charlie has wings too,” the angel admitted.

“How so?” Chloe didn’t instantly see the connection.

“Because now I get to teach him to fly myself. I mean, I don’t see Luci as evil or anything, but the thought of him teaching Charlie how to fly…,” he paused and sighed, “it would have not felt right.”

“I understand,” Chloe said with a knowing smile. There were some milestones you wanted for yourself as a parent.

There was a beat of silence and Chloe’s mind went back to the issue they had been talking about. “Okay, I get that he needed wings to protect me from bullets but the vulnerability still doesn’t make sense to me. Why would Lucifer want to be hurt when he’s near me?”

“I’m not really sure, but Linda thought that he might have just wanted to lower the walls around you and since emotional vulnerability is even more difficult for him than physical vulnerability, he self-actualised this instead.” Amenadiel noticed that Chloe looked at him with a little uncertainty. “When was the first time he was vulnerable around you?”

“Uhm… it was one evening at Lux. I was working and accidentally broke a glass and when he tried to collect the pieces with his bare hands I tried to stop him. He then convinced me to cut him with a piece of glass so I could see that he wouldn't be harmed by it. I might have been a little upset with him, so I listened to him and cut his palm. He didn’t expect it to make him bleed, but it did,” Chloe reminisced.

“And how long had you two known each other by then?” Amenadiel asked, tilting his head a little.

“Maybe a couple of months,” Chloe shrugged.

“Were you two already friends by then?” the angel pried further.

“I’m not really sure what we were by then. He usually came to the bar and talked to me every time I was working and it was fun, but I’m not sure I would have been able to put a label on our relationship at the time.”

“I think he cared about you enough to want to lower his walls back then already,” Amenadiel smiled knowingly.

“Do you think he could reverse it? Make himself not vulnerable around me so he wouldn’t get hurt?” Chloe wondered. She would really like to not see him bleeding from a gunshot ever again.

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” the angel shook his head.

--------

Chloe had a lot to think about when she drove home. A part of her was even glad now that they hadn’t had the opportunity to talk about the miracle thing during the previous week. Now the conversation would be a lot different. They wouldn’t need to worry about God’s big plan anymore. It would just be a matter of letting Lucifer know what his brother realised and hoping he would agree.

Knowing that the evening could end with them getting back together Chloe took extra care when getting ready - a little bit more effort in her make up and a dress that should definitely catch Lucifer’s eye.

Chloe had just applied the last touch on her make up when she heard Lucifer knock. Her heart started hammering excitedly in her chest at the thought of seeing him and finally being alone with him for a serious conversation.

Trixie had opened the door for Lucifer and when Chloe walked down the stairs, his reaction was exactly what Chloe had hoped for. Lucifer stared at her, his mouth slightly open. The black dress with red pattern on it reached to the middle of her thigh, leaving enough of her legs visible to be admired and her high heels made them look even more sexy. Chloe had used a bright red lipstick and dark eyeshadow to match her outfit. The necklace Lucifer had given her for her birthday was around her neck. It might not be that prominent due to the pattern of her dress, but she knew that it would be significant for both of them if she’d wear it.

When Chloe was already standing in front of Lucifer and greeted him the Devil finally got a word out.

“You look gorgeous, Detective,” he uttered.

“Thank you! You don’t look bad yourself too,” Chloe complimented him back with a smile on her face. Well, Lucifer always looked handsome and today was not an exception. He was wearing a black suit and waistcoat with a dark red shirt. They hadn’t agreed on it, but their outfits matched since both of them were wearing red and black. 

“You look really nice together,” Trixie said happily.

“Thank you, sweetie. Did you finish your homework?” Chloe asked. She had told Trixie to finish it before Ella got to their place. Speaking of… Chloe glanced at the clock and furrowed her brows. Ella should have been there already. She had told Chloe this morning that she’d be there at 6.15 PM. Chloe had lost track of time a little, too concentrated on getting everything right with her looks. It was already 6.30 PM now, Lucifer had been on time like always.

Lucifer noticed the frown on Chloe’s face. “Is everything alright, Detective?”

“Uhm… Ella promised to watch Trixie today, but she’s not here yet.” Chloe took her phone and started dialling, “I’ll call and ask where she is. Maybe she got stuck in the traffic or something.”

It rang for a while before the call was answered. “Hello!” came from the other end with an unusually weary voice.

“Hi Ella! Is everything alright?” Chloe was instantly alarmed hearing the always exuberant woman sounding so weak.

“Chloe, I’m so sorry. I don’t think I’ll make it. I’ve been throwing up for hours. I felt a bit off since lunch and I came home early, hoping a nap would make it better, but it only got worse. What time is it anyway?”

“It’s already 6.30,” Chloe told her.

“Oh, shit. I’m so sorry.” She sounded miserable and Chloe felt bad for the woman.

“It’s okay, try to get better soon,” she tried to make Ella feel a bit better, although she really wanted to curse at someone. And maybe even punch something.

“Thanks,” Ella said weakly.

It was good that Chloe’s back was turned towards the others in the room while she was speaking on the phone. After she ended the call, Chloe took a deep breath and closed her eyes in an effort to suppress her true feelings.

When she turned around Lucifer watched her with a worried expression. “Miss Lopez is not coming, right?”

“No. Unfortunately she got sick,” Chloe said. She was sure that Lucifer already knew what the problem was, but Trixie had been looking forward to spending the evening with Ella, so the girl deserved an explanation too.

“Oh,” Trixie did sound disappointed. “Who’s going to stay with me then?” she asked.

“I guess I’ll be staying at home then,” Chloe said and made no attempt to hide the sadness she felt over it. “We could order something,” she said, turning to Lucifer. “I guess I should change then,” Chloe added more to herself than anyone else.

“Absolutely not!” Lucifer said in a firm voice.

“You want me to stay in this dress?” Chloe asked, not really surprised.

“No, I want us to go to Javier’s,” Lucifer explained. “You look too good to just stay at home.”

“But I can’t leave Trixie alone here. Maze and Olga are both out of town, so I don’t have another option right now,” Chloe told him, a bit frustrated that he would still insist on going.

“I understand that,” Lucifer replied and then turned his attention towards the girl. “Tell me, Urchin, do you know how to use a knife and fork?”

“Of course I do, Kitty taught me when I was 6,” Trixie answered defiantly.

“Hmm… I haven’t seen you eating with anything else than your hands,” Lucifer commented.

“That’s because I always eat pizza when you are around, dummy,” the girl explained.

“Why are you asking this?” Chloe wondered.

“Well, since we can’t leave her here on her own, I think we should take her with us,” Lucifer said.

“To Javier’s?”

“Yes,” Lucifer confirmed. Seeing Chloe’s bewildered expression, he added, “if it’s okay with you, that is.”

Trixie apparently liked the idea. “Can I come, mommy?” she turned to Chloe, seeing that she hadn’t answered yet.

“Uhm… okay, if you’re sure.” The last part was directed more to Lucifer.

“Well, that way we can still enjoy the meal at Javier’s, although with a slightly different company,” he said, adjusting his cufflinks. He then looked at Trixie and tilted his head, “do you have something a bit nicer to wear?”

“We did keep some of her dresses,” Chloe said and turned to her daughter, “it’s a fancy restaurant, I think this time you should wear a dress.”

“Okay,” the girl agreed, too excited about the prospect to go to a fancy restaurant with her mom and Lucifer to complain about wearing a dress.

“Excellent!” Lucifer smiled. “How long would it take for you to get ready?” he then asked.

“We’ll be ready in 10 minutes,” Chloe answered.

“Alright. I’ll phone the restaurant and tell them to add a chair to our table and that we’ll be running a little late,” said Lucifer, already taking his phone out of the pocket.

9 minutes later Trixie and Chloe stepped out of the girl’s room. Lucifer looked at Trixie with a soft smile. “Well, you look almost as pretty as your mother.” The girl beamed at the praise. She had insisted that she should wear her red dress, so she’d match with both Chloe and Lucifer and her hair was loose instead of her usual pigtails.

“It’s a good thing I took a car with a back seat today,” Lucifer remarked when he was ushering the women out of the apartment.

“We won’t go with the Corvette?” Trixie asked disappointedly.

“You should be glad we don’t, Urchin, otherwise I would have had to put you in the trunk while driving to the restaurant.”

Trixie giggled at Lucifer’s statement, but Chloe gave him a stern look. “What, Detective? You know as well as I do that the Corvette does not have a backseat.”

“I also know that my car has a backseat,” she pointed out.

“Yes, well, but the Devil arrives in style,” Lucifer said smugly and gestured with his hand toward the shining Audi A6 that was standing in the parking lot.

 

When they reached the restaurant Javier greeted them all personally. The man was especially charming towards Trixie, earning some giggles from her.

After they were seated at their table Lucifer started to explain some of the meals to Trixie, so she would know what was in them and could decide which one she wanted to order. Even though Chloe was disappointed that she didn’t get the chance to be alone with Lucifer that evening, the sight of her two favourite people discussing meal options and interacting so effortlessly warmed her heart like nothing else ever had. There was something special in spending time together, just the three of them.

While they waited for the food Lucifer told amusing stories from his past (luckily he had some that were child appropriate), so Trixie giggled or laughed out loud for most of them.

With Lucifer’s help Trixie had managed to order a meal she really liked and Lucifer was pleased to see that the girl had not been lying about knowing how to use a fork and a knife while eating.

After ordering desserts (when Trixie found out that behind one fancy name was chocolate molten lava cake, there was no doubt what she’d like) Lucifer continued with the stories, earning another bout of laughter from Trixie.

Lucifer looked at her grinning, pleased that his audience was so easily amused when his brows suddenly furrowed. At first he assumed that maybe he had not heard correctly, but when he listened more intently it was clear that some of the patrons were not as pleased as he was about the Urchin’s joy. He looked towards the voice.

“I didn’t come here to listen to some stupid kid laugh like a donkey,” a woman from a few tables over complained to the man she was having dinner with. “If I wanted to hear annoying children I would have gone to McDonald’s.”

Lucifer's expression sombered instantly. How dare she talk like that about the Detective’s daughter? 

Chloe noticed the change in Lucifer’s mood and asked, “Lucifer, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he answered and then stood up. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said and walked to the table where the woman was eating.

When Lucifer walked to the table the woman looked at him smugly. Lucifer did his best to keep his emotions under control, otherwise he would have flashed his red eyes to that shrew. But since he tried to stay under the radar that evening, he hid his true emotions behind a mask.

“Excuse me, but I think you need to apologise,” Lucifer said as soon as he had reached the table.

“I need to apologise?” the woman sounded upset. “It’s your brat who disturbs other people when she’s being so loud, right, Harold?” The last words were directed to the man at her table. At least the man looked apologetic and only muttered something under his breath that was hard to understand even for Lucifer.

“Her laughter sounds a thousand times better than any sound you can produce,” Lucifer snapped. Clearly their interaction had caught the attention of other tables around them too, because Lucifer could hear someone chuckle behind him.

“How dare you?” the woman fumed. “I’ll have you thrown out for insulting me,” she threatened and started snapping her fingers to get the waiter’s attention.

A few moments later the same waiter who had been serving Lucifer’s table appeared next to him.

“Is there some problem?” he asked politely.

“Yes, this man insulted me and that kid at his table disturbs everyone with the noise she makes. I want them removed from this restaurant,” the woman barked at the waiter, looking like someone who is used to getting what she wants.

“Excuse me, Mr. Morningstar,” the waiter turned to Lucifer then, “is this woman bothering you?”

“If she could keep her opinion, that no one else wants to hear anyway, to herself I wouldn’t have a problem,” Lucifer stated calmly.

“Why are you asking him about having a problem?” The woman was clearly annoyed that the waiter had addressed Lucifer and not her. “Is this because he’s a man? Can you believe this, Harold?” She was trying to find support from her companion, but without waiting for an answer from him, she continued pointing her finger at the waiter, “I will report your misogynistic behaviour.”

“I’m sorry Madam, but I was asking Mr. Morningstar because children are allowed to enjoy themselves in our restaurant and also because Mr. Morningstar is our chef’s personal guest,” the waiter said calmly.

“So others just have to endure shrieking children? This is outrageous!” the woman kept going.

“You are free to leave if you don’t like it here,” the waiter said with a polite smile that infuriated the woman even more.

“Are you throwing us out? You can’t do that! Harold, I refuse to be treated this way. We are leaving!” she barked, then narrowed her eyes on the waiter and continued to point her finger at him. “You will receive no tip from us,” the woman hissed.

Lucifer had watched the interaction between that crazy woman and the waiter silently. Now he leaned closer to the man and muttered in his ear, “I’ll double mine.”

It seemed that the waiter had it under control, so Lucifer decided to head back to his own table. He was half way there when he heard someone say, “excuse me.”

Lucifer turned towards the voice, mentally prepared to fight another battle to defend Beatrice and her right to be joyful. An older woman smiled at him.

“It was spectacular how you defended your daughter to that old hag,” she said, sounding proud. 

Lucifer was flustered. “I.. ehm, thank you, but Beatrice is not my daughter. I’m… I’m just here with her and her mother,” he felt the need to explain.

“Well then I’m even more impressed,” the lady replied. 

Lucifer was a bit baffled by the woman’s reaction, but didn’t really want to dwell on it and excused himself to get back to his table.

Chloe and Trixie both looked at him questioningly. “What was that about?” Chloe asked as soon as he had sat down.

“Some people just need to be taught some manners,” Lucifer said dismissively, not wanting to discuss what that mean woman had said in front of Trixie.

“And the other woman who stopped you when you were heading back to our table?” Chloe continued her questioning.

“She just agreed with my opinion on the matter.” Lucifer wanted to discuss what the old lady had told him even less than the initial comment. Luckily their desserts arrived then and it saved Lucifer from further questions.

After finishing her dessert Chloe went to the restroom. She had almost finished washing her hands when a woman started to talk to her.

“Excuse me, are you the woman who’s with that handsome man who defended the little girl when that obnoxious woman was making mean comments?”

Chloe was a little surprised and just nodded.

“I know it’s not my business, but I just wanted to tell you that this man is a keeper. I mean he defended your daughter and he isn’t even the girl’s father. Isn’t this kind of behaviour what all single mothers should be looking for in a spouse?” The lady smiled sweetly at Chloe and she figured it must be the same woman who had stopped Lucifer while he was returning to their table. Chloe hadn’t really seen her face because the woman had been sitting with her back towards their table, but the hair colour was the same.

“Yes, he’s a good man,” Chloe replied while blushing. Even though her plan to talk to Lucifer while in the restaurant had failed it was really nice to hear other people recognising his good heart too.

 

After they arrived home Chloe immediately sent Trixie to change into her pyjamas and then brush her teeth.

“Thank you, Lucifer! For everything,” Chloe said to Lucifer as soon as they were on their own.

“It was my pleasure,” he replied with the soft smile that seemed to be reserved for the Decker women.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk tonight,” Chloe felt the need to apologise.

“It was not your fault, darling,” Lucifer brushed her off.

“I know, but..,” Chloe fidgeted with her fingers, debating if she should try to get him to stay and maybe talk to him after Trixie has fallen asleep. Before she managed to finish her thought Trixie came back to the room.

“Good night, Lucifer!” she smiled brightly at the Devil.

“Good night, Urchin!”

Chloe sent the girl to her room, promising to join her in a few moments, but before she had the chance to ask whether Lucifer would wait until she had finished the bed time story for Trixie, she yawned. 

“I guess it’s bedtime for all good detectives too,” Lucifer smirked.  

Chloe wanted to argue, but he was right. She did feel quite exhausted from the long day.

“I’ll come see you tomorrow,” Chloe promised.

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Lucifer said with a pleased expression.

--------

Chloe had finished her report for the murder she and Amenadiel had solved together. She planned to take it to Monroe and ask if she could leave a little early, but when she looked up from her desk, she saw that the office was empty.

Chloe contemplated what to do and decided to go and ask Ella for help. The forensic scientist had shown up a little late for work, but seemed to be doing better today. Apparently it had been just food poisoning, not some stomach bug.

“Hi, Ella!” she said as she was stepping into the lab. “Could you give this report to Monroe and tell her that I left for the day?”

“Yeah, sure,” the other woman agreed. “Is everything alright?” she then asked, knowing that Chloe didn’t usually leave early.

“Yes, I just,” Chloe thought it over and then decided to tell her, “I need to go to Lucifer. It’s kind of urgent.”

“Is he okay?” Ella was instantly worried.

“Yes, we just need to speak, you know, privately and every time I intend to do it, something comes up and I just can’t wait anymore,” Chloe blurted it all out.

“Oh,” Ella’s face fell. “I’m really sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have eaten those sausages for breakfast. My neighbour gave them to me and I don’t even really remember when it was, but I didn’t have much else in the fridge yesterday morning and …,” she would have probably told Chloe all about it, but she stopped Ella from talking.

“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault,” Chloe tried to assure her once more. When she saw from her friend’s face that she still thought that she was to blame, Chloe pointed out the most important aspect. “Please don’t feel guilty about it.”

It took a few moments before Ella realised why Chloe had stressed it. “Oh, right. Because of the Hell thing.” When Chloe nodded Ella added, “I’ll try, but I still feel responsible.”

“If you want to ease the guilt, just give this to Monroe and tell her I had to leave,” Chloe found a solution. She really wanted to leave already.

“Right, will do.” Ella took the folder from Chloe and the latter went straight to her desk to pick up her things and leave the precinct.

 

Chloe could hear the piano even before the elevator doors opened. As she stepped into the penthouse she saw Lucifer sitting behind the instrument and playing. His shirt sleeves were rolled up and Chloe stared briefly at his arms before stepping forward.

“Hi, Lucifer!” she greeted him, knowing that he would hear her even over the music.

“Detective!” Lucifer sounded a little surprised. “I didn’t expect you so soon.”

“I left a bit earlier today,” Chloe admitted, blushing slightly.

“Ooh, aren’t you a little rebel,” he smiled, pleased. Lucifer then moved to the side a bit so there would be room for Chloe too.

Chloe sat down and got straight to the point. “We need to talk about the miracle thing.”

“Yes, I agree.”

“You know, Amenadiel actually figured out finally what it must have been about,” Chloe told him.

“He did?” Lucifer said, visibly surprised. He hadn’t thought his brother capable of this.

Chloe was glad that she had already told Lucifer via text how the nuns had reacted to Amenadiel so now she could get straight to the core of it. “Yes. After those nuns reacted to him, they talked about it with Linda and he thinks that the gift he gave me was the ability to withstand your mojo. Only that.” She looked pointedly at Lucifer, waiting for his reaction.

He frowned a little. “You mean that there wasn’t a big plan from my father connected to your existence?”

“No. He doesn’t think there was and I agree,” Chloe replied.

“But what about your ability to make me vulnerable to human weapons?” Lucifer had always figured that it was connected to Dear Old Dad’s plan somehow.

“He thinks that you did it yourself.”

“I what? Why would I do that?” Lucifer found that theory a bit outrageous. “And how even?”

“Well, Amenadiel told me that angels can self-actualise. He thinks that you both self-actualised your wings when you needed them the most. And he thinks that you made yourself vulnerable in my presence because you wanted to lower your walls.” Chloe stopped talking and looked at Lucifer, trying to understand what he might think about all this.

The truth was that Lucifer didn’t really know what to think. If God’s only gift to Chloe was that she wasn’t affected by Lucifer’s mojo then it meant that she was not manipulated by Dear Old Dad after all which was a relief. But him making himself vulnerable? That was a bit harder to believe. Also the idea that he had given himself wings again when he wanted to protect Chloe from the bullets Jimmy Barnes had shot at her, that sounded a bit unbelievable at first. But the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. 

“I’ll be damned,” he finally muttered, “he might be right.” He looked at Chloe and said a bit tentatively, as if afraid she might not agree after all. “So you always had free will when it came to me?”

“Yes, Lucifer. All the decisions, all my feelings, they have always been mine, not directed by your father,” Chloe smiled.

Lucifer swallowed, feeling a little overwhelmed. Everything they had been afraid for, it had been for nothing. Apparently Chloe and her decisions were never manipulated after all.

“So there is nothing that’s stopping us from being a couple again,” Chloe suggested, breaking the silence that had fallen upon the penthouse again.

Lucifer’s eyes brightened at that, but then he frowned. There had been a third reason for them not to be together when they had that fateful conversation right there in the penthouse after he came back.

“But you have a child,” he blurted out.

Chloe was taken aback. “You see Trixie as a hindrance?” She knew how Lucifer had felt about kids before, but she was sure that Lucifer actually liked her daughter.

“Of course your offspring is a hindrance. Why would you want to raise a child with the Devil?” Lucifer looked at her as if it should be obvious.

“Why wouldn’t I want to raise a child with the Devil?” Chloe rebuffed.

“Because I don’t know anything about them or parenting. My own parents were the worst ever, so no role models to learn from. I would probably end up corrupting her.” There was a hint of sadness and regret in Lucifer’s voice when he finished. It seemed as if he had thought about it and didn’t like the prospect of causing any harm to Trixie. Chloe felt her heart break a little for this man and also anger simmering deep inside her towards Lucifer’s parents for causing him to see himself as a lost cause when it came to parenting.

“That’s not true,” she said fiercely. “Just because you had shitty parents doesn’t mean that you should fail as one. That only makes you an expert on what a parent or parental figure shouldn’t do.” 

Lucifer still looked at her with a sad expression, so Chloe continued. “I have seen you with Trixie and there’s no reason to believe you’d corrupt her. Just yesterday you protected her from a woman’s evil remarks. You have spent evenings alone with her and Trixie has enjoyed the time with you. Hell, she came to you when she was upset with me and ran away from home. And despite you claiming not to like children I do know that you like Trixie.”

“Well, she’s not entirely awful,” Lucifer said and smiled a little, but he still seemed to be doubting himself and Chloe couldn’t help but think that maybe he just didn’t want to be burdened with a child. She started fiddling with her fingers and looking down at them she mumbled, “but I understand if you don’t want to date a single mom.”

“Detective, what are you talking about? I thought we’ve established already that there is no chance of me not wanting you. With or without your spawn,” he said, not wanting her to think even for a moment that he didn’t want her.

“I want you too, Lucifer,” Chloe confessed in a whisper.

Lucifer seemed a bit baffled over her admission. He looked at her almost as if searching for something in her eyes. Finally he started leaning slowly towards her and Chloe mirrored him by leaning in his direction. When their lips met it was soft and a bit tentative, as if Lucifer was still doubting whether it would be okay for him to kiss her. Far too soon in Chloe’s opinion he broke the kiss. Without saying anything he looked at Chloe once again. Chloe couldn’t really hide the desire in her eyes. Although the kiss had been brief, it had brought back memories of his mouth and what it was capable of, causing her insides to flutter with anticipation.

The familiar spark in her eyes assured Lucifer and he reached out his hand to place it on the side of Chloe’s head. He used it to pull Chloe closer again and this time when their lips met there was much more intent behind it. After a few moments Lucifer deepened the kiss and slipped his tongue in her mouth which elicited a pleased moan from Chloe. That sound sparked even more desire in Lucifer and he pressed his other hand into Chloe’s lower back, drawing her even closer to him. Chloe then raised her own hand and placed it on the back of Lucifer’s head, threading her fingers into his hair. When she pulled his hair a little Lucifer groaned and suddenly Chloe was sitting in his lap. The move had been so swift that Chloe hadn’t even realised that he was moving her until she found herself in a position that was much more favourable for her current mood. She knew that they should talk about their relationship, iron out some details so they’d be on the same page, but currently she didn’t care about talking. Chloe had been dreaming of having that man between her legs again for more than 3 years now. Even the first tentative kiss they had shared a few minutes ago had ignited her carnal desire, but now the need for this man burned like a wildfire inside her. 

Chloe grinded her core against Lucifer and let out another pleased moan when she felt how hard the man was already.

Lucifer broke the kiss and looked at her, panting. “How much time do you have?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

“A couple of hours. Susan’s mom took the girls to soccer practice and will bring her home too,” Chloe answered him.

Lucifer then moved his hands across Chloe’s body to her shoulders and slipped her jacket from her shoulders. Chloe removed her hands from Lucifer’s body to let the jacket fall on the floor and then her hands were back on him again, this time landing on the top button of his shirt. Their mouths joined in a heated kiss once more and Chloe started to undo his buttons while Lucifer slipped his hands under her blouse. Maybe it was the excitement or she was just clumsy, but Chloe felt that it took too much time to get the buttons undone. She figured it would be much faster if she just ripped the shirt open. Chloe took hold of Lucifer’s collar with both hands, imagining already a pleased comment about her eagerness, when she was stopped by a sound that was most unwelcome at the moment.

Her phone was ringing.

Notes:

Some parts of this story have been living in my head already since before I finished writing Dance with the Devil, but some parts still need to be worked out, so I can't promise very quick updates, but I do know where I want to end up with the story.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 3 of Follow your desire