They had their final ingredient for the antidote. But the day was not yet saved.
Dan was flooring it, speed limits be damned, to get back to the station. They still had a long way to go. Ella was next to him, holding on to the vial with ZX-3 for dear life. His phone rang. Chloe's number. Ella grabbed it before he could activate the speakerphone.
"This is Ella. Hit me." After a few seconds, she did a triumphant fist-pump "Lucifer got the formula," she told Dan, while starting to dig in her pocket for writing implements. She spoke into the phone again. "Hold up, lemme write this down."
The vial of ZX-3 landed in her jacket's chest pocket, while she started to scribble on Dan's notepad. "Whoa there, slow down. It's no use if we get this wrong."
She made Lucifer repeat the instructions twice, then repeated them back to him. Dan couldn't make heads or tails of it, but they clearly made some sort of sense to Ella. "Okay, the hospital might have most of this stuff, so tell them too. I've got all of it at the station. I just need to get to my lab. We'll get you the antidote fast as we can, allright? Hang in there."
She hung up, then shot Dan a look. "Don't you have a siren on this thing?"
Lucifer let the phone drop, allowing himself a second to take a deep breath. It was still unsteady. Damn mortality. Dying took a lot more out of a person than you'd think.
He didn't have time for this. Chloe – the Detective was still poisoned and it might yet take some time before she could get the antidote. Her symptoms had already progressed to seizures. She wasn't safe yet.
He started after the distant commotion that was the Detective being moved. Her doctors would be with her. Miss Lopez's advice to pass on the instructions for the antidote was sound. Amenadiel caught up with him halfway down the corridor. Maze had managed to follow as well.
Amenadiel caught his arm. "Maybe you should get away from here, Luci."
Lucifer shook his head " I'm not leaving her alone while she's still in danger." He pulled himself loose from Amenadiel, only to find Maze in his path.
"You just had about a dozen electric shocks, and not the fun kind. You should at least try to recover."
"Not now." Lucifer drew himself up. "I am not arguing about this. Get out of my way or be removed." He looked from face to face, into both their blank expressions. They both stepped aside. "Thank you."
The orderlies and nurses in the Detective's new room were a little less cooperative. But Lucifer dragged the doctor aside and made an… arrangement. A surprisingly simple one, actually. Just money. A lot of it, but just money, nonetheless. He had a place at her bedside.
The seizure that had prompted the nurses to remove the Detective to this ward had passed, but she still didn't look good. They had hooked up extra IV's and monitors, but it only served to highlight the discoloration of her skin and the limp jumble of her limbs. He took her hand in his and laid his fingers on her wrist, searching for the pulse the beeps of the monitor were telling him was there.
Her hand was cold. He could feel no pressure in her wrist other than the thready throb that was his own blood flowing through his fingers. So small and weak. What a contrast the animating spirit could make.
She stood on her own, did the Detective - and she stood tall. She'd accept help, but only on her own terms. Only if she chose to accept it. And that choice had been taken away. Not just hers, but his own too. Father's manipulations, putting them together and putting her in danger.
That was not going to happen. He wouldn't let that happen. She wasn't going to die here, all choices moot. He took her hand in both of his. He could feel a heartbeat under his fingers now. Good.
Of course, he couldn't stay. That would be playing straight into his Father's plans, and he'd have taken the Detective's choices away as surely as he would by letting her die. Even if she hadn't known - even if that one moment that had seemed so real actually had been real – it was all the result of Father's manipulations.
Someone came into the room, said something to him. He ignored them, still focusing on the Detective, on making sure the pulse he felt stayed strong.
Maybe he should stay. Leave even the lies of omission behind and reveal the Jedi truths he'd used to assuage his own pride that he would always speak the truth without truly doing so. Show himself to the Detective, tell her the whole story and let her decide from there.
But he couldn't do that, either. She had seen enough of his actions, knew enough about him, that she should know already. And yet she had told him multiple times, herself, that she didn't believe him to be the Devil. He wasn't sure even revealing his true face would shatter that illusion, or if he'd even be able to. If she didn't believe it, how could she make an informed choice?
And what if she did believe it? What then?
There wouldn't even be the illusion of choice where he was concerned. All the consequences of who he was - of who his Father was - would also fall to her. Especially because his Father's hand in bringing them together had already been revealed. It made him sick to his stomach.
No, leaving was the only option. Once Chloe was safe.
He squeezed her hand in his and bent his head. There was nobody to pray to, to save the Detective's life. But what strength he had, he directed to her.
Dan parked his car right in front of the door to the police station, despite the no parking signs. It wouldn't be there long. Ella was out of the car before he'd pulled the parking brake. She'd been on the phone the entire trip, making various arrangements. Now she was booking it to her lab.
When Dan caught up with her, she was already transferring the ZX-3 to two new vials. A Styrofoam box had been set up on the bench, with more bottles and vials in it. An arrangement of similar bottles lined the bench in front of her.
"What can I do to help?" Dan asked.
Ella filled the second vial and ejected the pipette tip into a waste container before answering. "You," she said as she stoppered the vial securely, "can take these to the hospital lab." She slotted the vial into a space in the Styrofoam box and closed it. "They're expecting you."
"What about the antidote?"
"This is a two-pronged approach," Ella said. "Look, I'm going to do this and be awesome– I have a procedure I can follow and all the stuff is here. But I'm a forensics expert. My degree was in Analytical Chemistry, not Pharmacology. I have to follow this procedure to the letter because I don't know enough to know where deviations matter and where they don't. That's going to take some time. The people at the hospital do know all that. They might be able to do it faster and cleaner. But only if they have all the ingredients." Ella pushed the box at him again. "Get moving."
"So how will you get the antidote to the hospital?"
Ella shot him a Look. "Did I not tell you a few hours ago that I used to race stolen cars? I can get there faster than you, buddy. Go! Let me work."
The doctors came and went. Lucifer ignored them and they mostly ignored him.
Maze came in and talked to him a few times, trying to get him to leave. He ignored her the first time. The second time, he forcibly removed her hand from his arm. The third time, he very nearly threw her across the Detective's bed as he pulled loose from her grip. Maze left him alone after that.
Amenadiel only came in once. He just talked. That didn't work either.
Dan broke his previous record time to the hospital – the record he'd set earlier today when Lucifer had called to tell of Chloe's collapse. There was a lab worker waiting for him at the ER entrance. After he'd handed her the box with antidote ingredients, she sped off, leaving him at a loss.
Chloe was no longer in the room she'd been in previously. It took Dan fifteen minutes to track down an orderly who could tell him where she'd gone.
Time was running short. Chloe had been poisoned late in the afternoon yesterday. It was early evening now. By all accounts, she was almost out of time. If it wasn't too late already.
As soon as he stepped into the waiting area for the ward Chloe was in, Trixie jumped up from where she was sitting with Maze and someone else. "Daddy!" She ran over to hug his legs. "Did you come to help?"
He got to his knees to give his daughter a hug. "I've done all I could. Now we have to trust all the doctors and nurses here. They'll do a good job, I'm sure."
Maze and her friend had gotten up and followed Trixie. Now Dan recognized Amenadiel, Lucifer's brother. There was a story there worth exploring at some time, for sure. What family gave their kids biblical names but then named their adopted son after the Devil? No wonder he'd started acting out.
Trixie must have seen him looking at Amenadiel. She tapped his hand. "Amenadiel is mommy's Guardian Angel. Lucifer asked him."
Dan glanced at Amenadiel for further explanation. The big guy gave a sheepish half-smile and shrugged. "I stayed with her while Lucifer got the formula for the antidote."
"How is Chloe?"
Amenadiels eyes went for the clock. "She had a seizure a little over two hours ago. That's when they moved her up here. Nothing that they've told us about afterward."
Well that seemed encouraging, at least. Dan nodded to acknowledge the statement. "And where's Lucifer now?"
Maze answered. "He's with her. Can't get him out." She shook her head in what looked like annoyance. But Dan had gotten to know Maze a little better than that, by now. She might feign irritation and she might no longer work for Lucifer, but however hard she tried to deny it, she still cared a lot about her former boss. And she cared about Chloe and Trixie, too, or she wouldn't be here. "Thanks, Maze."
There was a slight twitch of her lips, but Maze waved the thanks away. "Go see her." She pointed out a door. "She's in there."
"Thanks."
Chloe looked pretty OK, all things considered. She was pale, her breathing was shallow and the beeps from the heart monitor came slowly, but she was sleeping quietly and the only visible blood was a tiny crust under her nostrils; no bloody tears yet. Dan had seen the body of the first victim. By the ME's account, at this time after his poisoning, he hadn't been alive anymore. He hadn't died this cleanly. The doctors must be doing something right.
Lucifer, on the other hand, really didn't look good. He'd been tucked in a corner next to Chloe's bed. He'd sat there so quietly, Dan had almost failed to notice him. Very uncharacteristic of him. Lucifer usually dominated any room he walked into. And didn't even notice it, the bastard.
If he'd noticed Dan coming into the room, he wasn't giving any indication of it. He had his hands folded over one of Chloe's and just sat there, his eyes focused on nothing. He'd gone almost as pale as Chloe. His usually impeccable clothing was creased and his shirt was buttoned up crooked. His head drooped forward a little. He was clearly exhausted.
And yet his back was still straight. That creased shirt pulled up tight against the ridges of the scars on Lucifer's back. Whatever it was that had caused them had also instilled good posture at all costs. Even now, Lucifer still sat as if there was a heavy weight hanging off his shoulders, pulling them down and forcing his back straight.
"Hey," Dan said softly, trying to get Lucifer's attention. It took a while. Lucifer raised his head, eyes still at infinity. It took three of Chloe's heartbeats for any kind of focus to become evident, and even then it was on some distant horizon, not anything in the room. Three more, and Lucifer seemed vaguely to be aware of Dan's existence.
He frowned. "Daniel," he said, and then actual attention rushed in. Lucifer looked up at him, and then at Dan's hands. "Did you get the antidote together?"
"We got the ingredients, yes," Dan confirmed. It felt good to be able to report progress to someone, even if he'd rather be reporting it to Chloe. "Ella's working on the antidote. So's the pharmacy here. We're close now."
Lucifer nodded. "Thank you." He turned back to look at Chloe. His hands, still around one of Chloe's squeezed together. "Looks like we might still be in time."
Lucifer thanking him. That might actually merit its own commemorative plaque. But thanks needed to go two ways, here. "Thank you. Without that formula, everything would have been useless."
Lucifer shook his head as if to refuse the gratitude. "It needed to be done."
"You look like hell." A brief flash of humor played across Lucifer's face. "What did you have to do to get it?"
Lucifer let go of Chloe's hands and sat back. His hands were shaking , just a little. "It's a heart-stopping tale, to be sure." Lucifer paused as if to go on, but the next words froze on his lips. He took another breath before he could continue. "But it's one that will have to remain untold, I'm afraid." He sank further down in his chair.
He really didn't look good. "Don't you think maybe you need to take a rest? You've done all you can, it's up to the doctors, now."
Lucifer's expression hardened. "And leave her alone with you?" He sat up straighter, trying to mask his tiredness. "Not yet," he bit out. He pushed himself up out of the chair, mouth opening prepared for a further tirade.
He was forestalled by Chloe's heartrate monitor. Its steady rhythm sped up, then became irregular. Chloe went into convulsions.
Dan leapt for the alarm button. Lucifer, anger immediately deflected, grabbed Chloe's hand. He remained standing over her, gently brushing her forehead with his other hand.
The seizure had almost passed by the time the doctors came in. One of them bore the badge of the pharmacy lab. She was also carrying a big syringe filled with orange liquid. The other one was the regular CT doc.
"We've got the antidote, sir, thanks to your efforts. Now if you'll please let us work…" The pharmacologist said. It was a dismissal. They were ordering Dan out of the room. They didn't seem to be making any efforts to get rid of Lucifer, however. The other doctor added her firm insistence that he leave.
When Dan joined the little group in the waiting room, it had received another addition. "Doctor… Martin, isn't it?" Dan vaguely remembered the woman working as the court-appointed psychiatrist on one of Chloe's cases. He'd been too busy to assist on that one. The doctor's hair was pulled back into a tight bun, still wet. She was dressed professionally, with her heels still just barely bringing her up to Amenadiel's chin height. But she seemed to have missed out on her pantyhose.
"Linda, please," she responded as she took his extended hand. "How is Chloe? Alarms can't be good."
Dan shook his head. "She just had a seizure. But they've also prepared the antidote. So hopefully everything will be fine."
Doctor Martin's face brightened. So did Maze's, standing behind her. "Oh, that is good news," Doctor Martin said. Then she looked around. "Where's Lucifer?"
"Still in there," Maze supplied. "He hasn't left her side since…" Maze cut off that sentence with a glance a Dan.
"Oh my." Linda looked at the door to Chloe's room. "Is he OK?"
She'd asked the question of Maze, who only shrugged. Dan decided to pitch in. "He didn't look great. But he was still walking and talking."
"Hmm," Linda frowned. "Maybe I should talk to him. I'll see if the doctors will let me in."
The doctors who came in to treat the Detective's seizure had also brought the antidote. Lucifer could leave. The Detective would be allright. But it didn't feel that way, not just yet.
The seizure had struck as soon as he'd let go of her . Now Lucifer felt afraid that if he let go again, so the seizures would return. Just a little longer. Just until she was really safe.
Someone entered the room. A woman, from the clicking of her heels on the floor. She approached Lucifer from behind. Only when her hand came to rest on his arm did she come into view. Doctor Martin. Linda.
She crouched beside him, looking up into his eyes. "How are you doing?"
He looked away ."I'm fine."
Linda left a pause there. It was the same kind of pause she'd occasionally let fall during their sessions, after he'd uttered some particularly extravagant 'metaphor'. "Lucifer, you just had the equivalent of a heart attack. At the very least, you should be resting."
He didn't dignify that with an answer. He'd have plenty of time to 'rest' when he was on his way, far far away from here.
Linda had moved away from him to study Chloe's chart. "It says here she's responding well to the antidote." She put the chart down and addressed Lucifer directly again. "There are four more people out there to keep her company, as well as her doctors. It's OK. You can let go for a bit."
"Just a little longer."
He heard Linda sigh. "Lucifer, have you seen yourself? Are you sure you want Chloe to see you like this?"
The doctor might have a point, there. His jacket was gone, lost somewhere back in the depths of the hospital. His shirt had come untucked and was full of unsightly creases. He ran his free hand through his hair and over his face. It wouldn't do indeed to present this kind of image when the Detective woke up. What would she think?
The heartbeat under his fingers was getting stronger, that was true. Perhaps he could leave now.
He unwound his fingers from around the Detective's wrist. He let his hand linger next to hers for a few seconds, waiting for the monitor to give its alarms. But its beeps stayed reassuringly steady. Good.
Lucifer pushed himself up from the chair he'd been sitting in. His back hurt, and his knees were cramping. Confounded mortality, even in its simple forms. Perhaps it was better if he got out of here. He stretched to get the general cramps out his limbs. Pins and needles set in from his extremities but soon closed in on his eyesight. He had to catch himself on the edge of the bed to keep from tipping over.
"Whoah." Linda was at his side immediately, supporting him as best as she could. "Let's keep the number unconscious people in the room to one, OK?"
The faintness had been temporary, but it left behind a bone-deep weariness. He righted himself so he was no longer leaning on Linda. He took another second to put his shirt and hair into a minimum semblance of order, then headed for the door.
"Thank you, Doctor Martin."