Just a little 'What If' I thought up one day when watching 'Vegas With Some Radishes', in Season 3. I love that whole episode, but I love the ending, especially thinking that Lucifer deliberately kept this bullet and hung onto it for two years before making a necklace for Chloe. How sentimental of him! Anyway, this is just what I thought might have happened. I hope you enjoy this little one-shot. Thanks for reading!
Reviews/Comments welcome & encouraged!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. I'm just playing with the characters.
"Since it's likely I'll never get to penetrate you, I thought I would commemorate the one time you penetrated me." Lucifer says with humor to avoid the true emotion behind his birthday gift to Chloe. He starts chuckling a little after she starts laughing. Heavens, but he loves to make her truly laugh, the kind she can't hide that makes her shoulders shake and makes her cover her mouth. He was always proud of himself when he managed that.
Chloe can't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of her partner, especially hearing him say all those things that she knows he never would have said if he knew she was awake. His hand on her back had been so gentle, so tender. She knows the reason she came to his penthouse was to be closer to him even if he wasn't around because she wanted to spend her birthday with him. After everything that has happened recently, she knew things were settling into a good place with them. She also knows that there are some feelings that just aren't going away no matter how much she wants them to. And it's moments like these that she knows there is more to Lucifer then the front he puts up every day. She knows that for whatever reason, caring for someone else is not something he's used to and that's why he acts out and runs away from those emotions.
"Come here." Chloe says, holding her arms out to him after she calms herself down, watching him scoot over and then hugging him. He is often awkward in hugging when there's any sort of emotion around it, but this is one of the times he seems perfectly alright with giving and receiving a hug. She puts her head down on his shoulder and rubs his back a little as she makes a decision, letting the hug last for few minutes before she slowly starts to sit back, resting her free hand against his cheek when she sits back far enough to look at his face. "Thank you, Lucifer." She says, hesitating before she leans forward and gives him a soft, rather chaste kiss.
Holding Chloe is bittersweet for Lucifer. He enjoys it more than he should, he knows, because he's been delegated to the category of 'friend'. Purposely, on his part, since he doesn't want Chloe to be bound to him when she has no choice in the matter. But his detective has a way of messing with his best laid plans. He responds to the kiss, but being kissed by her breaks his heart a little all over again. Not knowing what emotions may lay behind it is difficult for him, but to have one more memory of their lips together is something he knows he will always cling to.
Sitting back a little after the kiss, Chloe gently puts the necklace back in the box and puts it on the night stand before she moves over closer to the middle of the bed. "Come on." She says, lifting the edge of the covers, then she holds up a finger before he gets the wrong idea. "If you just got back in, you must have been driving for a while. There's not really any other place to sleep, I don't need this entire bed to myself and I think we're good enough friends, and adult enough, that we can sleep next to eachother." She explains. In all honesty it's something she's thought about. What it might be like to sleep next to Lucifer's warm body and wake up to his devilishly (pun intended) handsome face. And she's sure he's noticed by now that she stole one of his shirts, so he already knows what she is and is not wearing. Yet he's been a perfect gentleman. There is definitely more to her partner than the flirty playboy persona that he projects to everyone else.
"Very well, Detective." Lucifer says as he leans over to remove his shoes and socks, before he stands and disappears into his closet to remove his jacket, vest, shirt and pants. He does put on a pair of pajama pants because he doesn't want Chloe to feel completely uncomfortable after things have gone so well between them tonight. But he really has no shirt to wear so she'll just have to deal with that. Slowly, he steps back out of the closet and over to the bed, hesitating as he looks at Chloe for a reaction, before going to slip into the bed.
Having laid back down on her side, Chloe watches as Lucifer approaches the bed, looking much younger than he usually does and almost as if he's expecting her to say something bad. "I don't bite." She teases a little to try and erase the uncertainty on his face, scooting back a bit to give him plenty of room because she doesn't know how he likes to sleep.
Lucifer chuckles a little as he lays down on his back, resting one hand across his stomach, the other behind his pillow. He's long since gotten used to sleeping on his back, though usually he has one or several lovers pinning him down. "Oh, come now, Detective. I'm sure you could be a biter in the throes of passion. You're a very passionate woman in general." He points out playfully, adjusting the covers around himself before he settles down, head turned toward her a little.
Once he seems settled into a comfortable position, Chloe scoots slightly closer again, and she rests her hand lightly on his bare shoulder with a little smile. "I guess you'll never know." She teases him in return, smiling a little as her thumb rubs the outside of his shoulder. "Thank you for the necklace, Lucifer. It really is beautiful, and very thoughtful. I think I'm most surprised to know you held onto that bullet at all, much less for three years." She keeps her voice quiet, not wanting to wake Dan and Linda, but she also wants to keep this intimate moment for just them. Especially since he hasn't said anything about the kiss to make it weird.
"Yes. Well. You're welcome, Chloe." Lucifer says quietly, but he looks away from her, embarrassed to have been caught out in a sentimental move. "Go to sleep. You've clearly had an eventful night that I hope you'll tell me about in the morning." He says with a little smile as he looks over at her again.
"I had a good birthday. But it would have been better if you had been here, so don't miss my next one, ok?" Chloe says as she looks at him, squeezing his shoulder a little before she closes her eyes, leaving her hand against his skin as she gets comfortable.
Lucifer watches her for a moment and he shakes his head finally, before he dislodges her hand. "For goodness sake, Detective." He says with a little bit of exasperation, lifting his arm and moving a little closer to her. "Come here. You clearly want to." He notes as he looks at her, moving his arm around her shoulders a little.
Opening one eye to look at Lucifer when her hand is moved, she blushes a little, and opens her other eye to roll them at Lucifer a little. "Yeah. /I'm/ clearly the issue here." She says before she shakes her head. "Fine. You'd probably secretly try to cuddle me in my sleep anyway." She teases, but she moves over next to him, resting her head on his shoulder and draping her arm across his stomach. Maybe she's still a little tipsy and maybe she's just tired, but it's easy and it's comfortable, and Lucifer is always so very warm, so at the moment she decides not to overthink it. "Goodnight, Lucifer." She mumbles softly, not taking long before she drifts off.
Although he wasn't really thinking it would be that easy, Lucifer is pleased when Chloe cuddles up to his side, and he places his arm firmly around her. For once he doesn't attempt anything more than just to hold her, and while there have been lots of women to be at his side at night over the years, Chloe is the only one who matters to him. After feeling her drift off, he turns his head and presses his lips to the top of her had, taking in her scent for a moment. She may sneak off in the morning, refuse to acknowledge that this ever happened, but Lucifer has a very good, very long memory. This will definitely be one thing he will never forget and never wish to forget. With the comfort of her in his arms, the feel of her soft breathing against his skin, and her scent surrounding him, it's not difficult for him to fall into a deep sleep.
And if Dan and Linda wake early to see the two cuddled up peacefully in bed, they neither wake them or choose to make any mention of what they saw. They both know, some buried more deeply than others, that Lucifer and his Detective both needed this after the day/night they had, and more than that, they need to get over themselves and realize what they could have.
The morning will carry with it many things, but in the pre-dawn light, the two are safe and content in their dreams, and the safe, warm cocoon they have created for themselves.