A/N : This is my very first Lucifer fan fiction and my first attempt at writing a supernaturally amped crime-drama. So please be gentle and patient with me. I definitely love getting reviews. Any and all ideas and constructive criticism that pertains to plot structure, character development and grammar errors will be welcomed. This story takes place a month after the events in the episode "Take Me Back to Hell." and will be exploring Lucifer's inner turmoil, as he struggles to come to terms with the unfamiliar feelings he's experiencing as a result of what happened during his final encounter with Malcom. I'm really hoping that with the help of his friends, Lucifer will be able to grow and evolve from this experience and rise higher then ever before by the end of this story. Lucifer's mother will be making an appearance and so will several of his brothers. The TV show Lucifer and it's canonized characters are exclusively owned by DC comics, Vertigo and the Fox network. I only own my own story ideas, plot and characters.

So please enjoy...

Lucifer

The Long Journey

Chapter- 1 To Help or Not to Help

It was a clear and sultry summer's night in the city of Los Angeles California. Unfortunately, the attractive sixteen year old girl of average height with waist length jet black hair, almond shaped ice blue colored eyes, long and lean leggy build (who cautiously made her way down the deserted back street alley) was far to worried about getting back to her parents home to admire the urban scenery around her. This, of course, wasn't the first time that she'd ever snuck out of her bedroom window, while her parents were in bed fast asleep. However, there was just something forbidding in the air of this particular night that made everything seem that much more desperate and dangerous.

The young girl stopped for a few moments and looked around in order to get her bearings. The calm and quiet alley she was in seemed threatening. She was beginning to feel like she was being watched. it was almost as if there were a pair of eyes fixed on her from all directions. The teenaged female took a deep breath and set off again, as she desperately tried to push those negative feelings aside and concentrate on the task at hand. The young girl silently promised herself that if she were to make it back to the safety of her parents, she would never sneak out after dark again.

Sadly, her ambition would never be realized. Just as the young girl was about to reach the end of the alley, she heard a sudden creaking noise that made her stop dead in her tracks and frantically look around her environment. The girl was then startled, when an unfamiliar voice asked curiously, "Have I frightened you, my dear?" The young girl spun around and was surprised to find a tall beautiful long blond haired woman dressed in a black leather body suit with a lean muscular build and hawk shaped piercing violet colored eyes standing behind her with a mockingly sympathetic smile on her face.

The strange woman seemed friendly enough, but there was a slight hint of malice underneath her honeyed words that made the hairs on the back of the young girl's neck stand up on end. Every instinct the girl had was telling her to run for her life, but the blind panic she felt kept her immobilized. After a few moments went by, the young girl swallowed hard and replied in a voice that was calmer then she really felt, "Yes, you did, just a little. I've never been to fond of dark alleys. Who are you?" The strange woman laughed and replied with a psychotic grin, as she reached over and grabbed the young girl by the throat with lightning speed and lifted her 6 feet into the air, "I was your beginning, my dear, and now, I am your end."

The young girl watched in utter amazement, as the stranger slowly transformed into an exact replica of herself. With a single deft move, the strange woman snapped the young girls neck in two before she even had a chance to scream. She then tossed the girls lifeless body across the road and caused it to land right beside a dumpster. Satisfied with the success of the first phase of her plan, the woman moved her gaze up towards the star filled night sky and announced with an arrogant smile, "I'm coming for you, my sweet Lucifer."

At that moment, across town, the night club known as Lux was in the middle of one of it's busier nights. It seemed to Maze (who had her hands full with pouring drinks for customers) that her bosses close call with the LAPD had actually been surprisingly good for business. It was as though their usual patrons actually lived for the danger. They now had twice the number of customers, and she wondered if it was a good time to hire an additional bartender to give her a hand with the book keeping and inventory. She only wished the same could be said for her boss's mental state.

For the past week and a half, Lucifer had been exhibiting erratic mood swings and would jump whenever he heard a sudden noise or she would appear right next to him unannounced. He had also been keeping more and more to himself lately, and now it had become something of a rare event for him to actually leave his loft and come down to the bar room to see how things were progressing. The female demon didn't know what had happened during Lucifer's final encounter with Malcolm, but the end results of that encounter were really starting to worry her.

Maze had questioned Lucifer about the events of that night on several occasions in a desperate attempt to get him to open up. No matter how many different ways that she approached the subject, all Lucifer would say was that Malcolm had been handled and that he no longer wanted to talk about it." Maze thought about asking Dr. Martin, but she doubted that she'd get anywhere. Maze even went so far as to question Amenadeil only to find that he was just as much in the dark as she was. The female demon figured that the only one who could give her the real story would be detective Decker, but she was afraid that her probing would get back to Lucifer and decided not to venture down that road.

A sudden coughing sound suddenly ripped Maze from her train of thought, and she looked up to find the subject of her distress sitting on a stool on the other side of the bar and looking back at her with a concerned frown on his face. Maze smiled and declared nonchalantly, "Well, I see that you've finally decided to come down from your fortress of solitude and rejoin the rest of the world for a while. What's the special occasion?" Lucifer gave her a fake smile and replied solemnly, "I kind of ran out of scotch upstairs. I came down to see if I could get a few bottles from you."

Maze placed a comforting hand upon Lucifer's left arm and was a little stunned, as she felt his body start to tremble. The female demon cleared her throat and replied in as gentle of a voice as she could, "Look, I've got no idea what in the hell has been going on with you lately, but your weird behavior has really got me worried. I want to help you, but I can't unless you tell me what the problem is." Lucifer took a deep breath, counted to ten and said in a calm and even tone of voice, "I promise you that there really is no problem, Maze. I'm doing just fine. I would really appreciate it if I could get those bottles now."

The female demon let out a long sigh, reached under the bar, pulled up three bottles of scotch whiskey and set them down right in front of her boss. Lucifer nodded a quiet thanks. picked up the bottles , got back to his feet and calmly walked away heading back up to his loft. Maze watched him go now more concerned than ever. She folded her arms and secretly promised herself that she was going to get to the bottom of this strange situation one way or another.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, homicide detective Chloe Decker was at that very moment sitting at her kitchen table on her laptop quietly reading an article on the psychological damage suffered by trauma victims with an expression of growing interest while her daughter Trixie was tucked up in her bed fast asleep. During her most recent string of murder cases, Chloe had noticed with mounting concern that a wild change in Lucifer's demeanor had occurred. She remembered how forward, arrogant, self-centered and shallow Lucifer was when they had first met.

She thought back on how outgoing and talkative he used to be and how much he enjoyed being the center of attention. But recently, it was as if all of those qualities of his personality had been either placed on the back burner, or they had been switched off completely. Lucifer was now quiet and shy around her. He now seemed more than willing to do whatever she told him and follow her lead on everything. He was even letting her handle all questioning when it came to interrogating witnesses and potential suspects.

At first, Chloe had been a little stunned by the sudden shift in her partner's behavior, but she just chalked it up as a part of the growth he'd been experiencing ever since the beginning of their partnership. For at least a little while, the youthful homicide detective found the return of her leadership role rejuvenating and quite refreshing. She thought that maybe he had realized the need to take a step back in an attempt to learn the basics of police investigation by quietly watching her while she worked.

As time went on, however, it slowly became apparent to her that he had withdrawn into himself. There had been quite a few moments that she was able to see the abject terror and sadness glistening in his dark eyes and the slight tremble that his body had gained whenever they were back at the police station or they were both around her fellow officers at a crime scene when he was unaware that she was watching him.

Chloe was completely aware of the fact that Lucifer didn't like to appear weak and emotional in front of anybody, and she wondered if he was even remotely aware of his own current emotional state and how it made him look to other people. She also wondered how long it would be before her partner suffered a full nervous break down. Chloe thought about pulling Lucifer aside and having a lengthy heart to heart chat with him, but she was afraid of frightening him away and making his inner turmoil worse.

Chloe only hoped that her decision to do nothing would allow Lucifer to come out of his shell on his own, but she also promised herself that if she noticed one more glaring sign of weakness appear in his personality, she was going to intervene. After another few moments had passed, she closed her laptop and was on the verge of calling it a night, when she suddenly heard an excerpt of Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is." coming from her cell phone.

Chloe picked up her cell phone and answered with a calm smile, "Decker." Chloe was silent for a moment and then said sympathetically," I totally understand where you're coming from, Maze. I'm just as worried about Lucifer, as you are. I've also noticed some obvious changes in him. Have you been able to get him to talk about it?" Chloe again was silent for a few moments and then inquired with a frown of mild surprise, "Have things really gotten that bad?" Again Chloe went silent.

A moment later, the youthful homicide detective cleared her throat and declared in a calm and decisive tone, "Maze, I promise you that taking Lucifer out of the city not to mention out of the state isn't only completely unnecessary, but it'll do him more harm than good. It might even cause him to have a complete psychotic break. Placing your boss in a new and strange environment will cause him to become even more untrusting and fearful. Tomorrow's our day off, so I'm going to drop by in the morning and spend the entire day with him. maybe you and I can both have a long and serious talk with Lucifer and successfully get through to him. If that doesn't work, then I'm going to share our concerns with Dr. Martin. Maybe she'll be able to get him to open up about what happened and help him to process his feelings."

After another few moments of silence, chloe nodded and said calmly, "All right, Maze. I'll see the two of you tomorrow. Good bye" Without another word, Chloe hung up, placed her cell phone down on the dinning room table and made her way to her sofa bed to try to get a good night's sleep.

A/N : So, how did I do? I really hope that I didn't make this chapter to simplistic or complicated. As I mentioned earlier, I just love reviews, and I would just love to have some input. So, please tell me what you think...