Hey guys! So far the comments from this story have been good and super supportive, and I don't know how I feel about this chapter, so let me know what you all think.

~O~O~O~

On the sixth day, Azrael was discharged. It happened early in the morning, in a whirlwind of paperwork, reminders about upcoming check-in appointments, goodbyes from some of the nurses and a watery cup of coffee from the hospital cafeteria before she found herself bundled into Thomas's car and speeding along the highways to his house in the suburbs.

She didn't say much- her brain wasn't able to function that early in the morning. She just sipped her coffee and watched the traffic and scenery as it sped by.

Thomas barely spoke either. It seemed he had realised she wasn't a morning person and wasn't going to try and engage her in conversation until she had fully woken up. He had forgotten to shave, and he was wearing glasses. It made him look ten years older than he was. Apparently, the morning brought out everybody's worst appearance.

The traffic flow gradually got lighter, the roads smaller, and the houses larger as they left the city. Eventually, Thomas slowed to a stop outside of a blue house in the middle of the street.

"This is it," he said, turning off the engine. He looked over at Azrael, who was staring at the house.

"Your house is big," she said.

"It's no mansion, but yes, I suppose it is," he chuckled.

They both got out of the car, Azrael retrieving the small bag of the medical supplies the hospital had given her for the treatment of her head wound, as well as the small ring that she had been wearing at the time of the accident. Her clothes had apparently been unsalvageable when she went into surgery, so that morning they had given her a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt and an oversized red hoodie that had come from the lost property for her to wear after being discharged.

The front door of the house opened as they made their way up the path. Frantic barking could be heard as an energetic blur sped out from the house.

"Jenny, no!" Thomas shouted as the blur barrelled into Azrael, knocking her back a few steps.

A very happy beagle jumped up on her legs, yipping excitedly as Azrael leaned down to pat her.

"Don't get too close, she'll lick you to death," the lady on the porch warned.

"Azrael, this is my mum. She's sorted everything out for you so that you feel right at home," Thomas said, stroking the top of Jenny's head.

"Call me Kelsey," the woman said, smiling at Azrael. "Come on, I'll show you around the house."

Her room was green- a calming green- and she saw a neat pile of clothes folded at the end of the double bed that sat in the middle of the room.

"I went shopping for you- I took my niece with me to get the clothes for you, so hopefully you'll fit in at school," Kelsey said from behind Azrael.

She jumped. "When does school start?"

"As soon as you're ready," Thomas said. Jenny barked and jumped onto the bed, upending the neatly folded clothes whilst making a mess of the painstakingly arranged pillows.

"She really has the run of the house, doesn't she?" Azrael remarked wryly as Jenny stared at the three of them, tongue lolling out the side of her mouth.

"She'll be your best friend, I promise. She sleeps with me most nights, but I think she's found a new pillow," Thomas said, grinning as Azrael fondled Jenny's floppy ears while staring at the dog in adoration. "And as for school, you can go whenever you feel up to it."

"I'm actually really curious as to what school is like," she said excitedly. "Is it fun?"

Kelsey snorted, and Thomas managed a pained grimace. He was the one who answered her question. "It's okay, I guess. Nothing too exciting."

Azrael perched on the bed, scratching behind Jenny's ears.

"I don't know if I would like it."

"I'll let you be the judge of that when we get to school. Now, you have two options at the moment- you can either hang out here with Jenny while Mum and I go to church, or you can come with us."

Azrael looked at the dog and then back to the two humans watching her expectantly. She guessed human friends were better than animal friends because they could talk back.

"I'll come with you," she said, pulling on her shoes.

~O~O~O~

Azrael was bored out of her mind.

So as not to spook her too much, Kelsey and Tom had sat her at the back, away from people. This was good, because the minister was almost possessed by his sermon about the 'sinners', and had drenched the entire front six rows with his saliva.

It was not good, because she had no one to talk to and nothing to stare at except the stained glass window of a man hanging on a cross.

She blew out a sigh and mentally crossed off the eighth time the minister had said 'hellfire' in the past minute.

The squeaking of the door behind her made everyone- including her- turn and stare at the back of the church.

A man wearing a bulging vest, with shiny metal knives and a dull matte thing held in his hands- a gun, that's what it was called- stood at the exit.

"Die, you sinners!" he bellowed, opening fire on the congregation. "May God throw you from Heaven into the deep pit of Hell!"

How ironic that he interrupt a sermon about sinners and call them the same thing, Azrael mused, before realising the situation when everyone hit the ground- some dead, some still alive- to avoid the bullets.

She heard Thomas yell her name and watched as he started running toward her, before his chest was torn apart by the rounds being fired into his chest, red mist exploding into the air around him, and he collapsed on the floor, lifeless.

She heard Kelsey wail as she ran to her son's body, the shooter taking her out too.

Azrael felt a surge of panic claw at her chest, before pain hit her too.

She looked down to see a patch of red on her shirt, seeing the lifeless bodies of the congregation around her. The woman who had been standing before her toppled to the ground. It was her blood on Azrael's shirt. The minister was lying over the top of an older lady in the front row, seemingly protecting her. She couldn't bring herself to look at Kelsey and Tom, both of whom she knew- painfully, achingly knew- were dead.

Her head whipped around to face the shooter, who had a manic grin on his face.

"Silly girl," he said. "You should have played dead."

She stalked toward him, ignoring the pain in her chest as she approached. The gunshots rang through the church, echoing loudly.

"They were INNOCENTS," she roared, with a power she had never felt before.

The man paled and fell to his knees. "Please, oh my God, please…"

The fear on his face was genuine, as he grasped his gun, placing it under his chin, and stared at her one last time.

And then he pulled the trigger.

~O~O~O~

The Los Angeles Police Department seemed more subdued than usual when Lucifer Morningstar strode casually yet confidently down the corridors of the large building.

As he rounded the corner to Chloe's office, he noticed the grim look on her face and the set of her mouth.

He knew the detective well enough to be able to read her beautiful face. Evidently, the morning had not been off to a good start.

He sauntered in, sitting on the chair opposite her and propping his feet on Chloe's desk.

"Lucifer, not now, it's not a good time," she said, not looking up from her paperwork that she was intently studying.

"Well, who died?" he demanded.

She paused, her head snapping up to look at him. "It's not a matter of who died Lucifer, but how many," she retorted, her tone cold. "Someone decided to open fire in a church full of people before killing himself. One survivor out of seventy-six."

"Well, he is definitely going to Hell, if that makes you feel any better," Lucifer said, attempting a dashing smile, but it fell flat on the detective.

"We just have to tie up the case- one of the victims and the only survivor- said that he turned the gun on himself after he finished."

"What? Why?" Lucifer asked in confusion. "Somebody who shoots up a church generally does it for a reason and wants the fame and notoriety that comes with it."

Chloe stared at him in horror. "And how many churches have you shot up, Lucifer? Should it concern me how well you can get into the bad guy mindset?"

"What can I say, Detective?" he said, shrugging. "I'm the Devil. They're my advocates."

"Seriously? You're still using those metaphors?" she groaned, before standing up. "C'mon, we have her in one of the interrogation rooms. We just have to take her statement and then we can wrap this case up."

"So one nice old lady managed to survive a hail of bullets out of seventy-six?" Lucifer asked as they walked to the interrogation rooms.

"She's not an old lady. She's actually quite young," Chloe said, glancing sideways at Lucifer. "And no, you cannot sleep with her."

"But Detective, I only have eyes for you," he said, smirking at the blush that spread across the usually stern detective's face.

"Yes, well, keep those eyes on the paper, because you will be writing out the statement," she said, shoving the manila folder into Lucifer's arm while retrieving her passkey to unlock the door.

The detective blocked Lucifer's view of the person in the room as she fiddled with the air conditioner in the door frame, but he could see a young woman with bright red hair and fair skin seated at the table that was in the middle of the room.

"Hello, I'm Detective Decker, but you can call me Chloe, and this is my partner, Lucifer," Chloe said brightly as she crossed the room to sit opposite the woman.

"Pleasure to meet you," the woman said, her voice causing Lucifer to pause.

"No," he whispered, staring at the woman in shock. "There's no way he would have-"

"I'm Azrael," the woman said.

That was when Lucifer fainted.

~O~O~O~

THEY FINALLY MET! What do you all think?