This is an idea I had for a long while and nothing special really. Just a small thing I wanted to post today as a small gift.

And yes, I know AGN is pending for an update. I'm almost there... Almost...

A Heart's Arduous Return

It was the small things. It is always the small things after all. It began with a small bar of milk chocolate on the kitchen counter. A single rose on her car's windshield. An uncommon quiet day at work. Her vacant eyes were staring at the stairs for a solid four hours while she had been sitting on her desk. There was no case. No reason to get out and forget what grounded her in this place more than her actual job. A hope that perhaps he would make an appearance if only for a day.

The fragrance of spring was slowly creeping its way to the always sunny Los Angeles but the change did not seem to affect her as it always did. The sun was shining dull, there was no real warmth to be felt under its gracious rays.

"Everything okay?" Dan asked her and she clicked her pen twice. There were no papers to be filled, no real reason for her pen to hover over the desk. Swallowing thickly she plastered her best smile and nodded. She could not fool him. Or perhaps she could.

"Time is but a number on a calendar, Chloe!" He teased her in good humour but he had no idea how wrong he was. The marked calendar, next to her monitor was counting exactly 55 days. 55 days which seemed to have lasted more than her 36 years on this planet.

"Thank you for the cool ranch puffs." She had enjoyed these little devils for the past half an hour while counting down the minutes for picking up Trixie and getting back home.

"No idea what you are talking about." Dan gave her a small encouraging smile before turning to leave

"Oh and I got Trixie from school, she is waiting in the Lab with Ella. Happy Birthday!" He told her hurriedly and left before he could see her eyes sparkling dangerously.

"For how long?" She shouted at him but he never gave an answer.

"An hour mommy…" Trixie chirped from behind her chair.

"Let's go home baby." She sighed and before taking her daughter's hand in hers, she looked at the stairs again. There would be no Italian leather shoes with red soles walking down these stairs this afternoon. How foolish was she really?

Taking the snack bag out of her bag, she gave it to Trixie only for her to pass the offer. From the dark smudges in her grinning gums, she had consumed something far more interesting before making herself known.

The ride home was uneventful and the house quiet when they returned. Maze was probably out there hunting down her latest booty. Lucifer's absence had thrown several people off their loop. Chloe rarely saw Maze without a glass of hard liquor or blood stains on the clothes inside her laundry basket. Everyone dealt with his absence in the best way possible but he didn't seem to be set on returning.

"Baby I'll have a shower and then start our dinner, okay?"

"Okay, Mom!" Trixie called from the couch already engrossed on the television's screen.

The water run hot over her hand. Satisfied she removed her clothes ready to jump in before realising she had forgotten to get a fresh towel. Groaning she closed the tap and made her way to her room. The towel was waiting for her carefully folded on her bed. She would have sworn that she had not taken it out of the closet.

Trixie's hushed voice was never hushed it was practically inaudible. On the couch, her daughter was hunched over the phone chattering quietly. She would have certainly missed Trixie's unsupervised phone escapades if she had been in the shower.

"More cake?" She asked and Chloe had half a mind to take the phone, where surely Dan was bribing their daughter with more cake. What was that man thinking?

"Lucifer… When are you coming back?" The little girl asked as brokenly as her mother felt over his departure.

He had called. His voice was just a few feet away from Chloe's trembling naked body. Now that would have been a great irony for him, she thought while choking something between a laugh and a sob.

"Yes, silly I did everything you told me! Yes, I'll be a good spawn for her birthday!" Trixie laughed.

The chocolate bar, the rose even the blasted puffs or even the towel had come her way under his instructions. She should have seen that coming only she had been lost for so very long.

"Love you too…" She heard her daughter and Chloe shook her head. Of course, Lucifer had loved her daughter. That man was capable of love, she knew at least that.

She would have taken the phone off her child's hands and demanded from him to get his arse back. She would have threatened to cut his average balls before slapping him silly. She would… But she would not. What was the point of forcing him back? He cared. He had to find his way back alone otherwise what was the bloody point? All she hoped was that whatever kind of relationship they had 55 days ago, would still be enough for him to find his way back to her.

"To the Silver city… , Hell…, stars…. and all the way back again." She heard Trixie murmur while repeating to his rolling tones, through the speaker. After a short tentative bye, she hung up the phone with a heavy sigh.

And all the way back again…

Back again…

'Please be back again.'

The End

1) Cool Ranch Puffs. There are at least two episodes in which Lucifer declares that he loves them and even steals them from the L.A police station in 2x06.

2) I just thought that Lucifer could not stay away from her for long. even indirectly he would have done something. Just a thought there really...