Oh, no I never got over those blue eyes, I see them everywhere.
I miss those arms that held me, when all the love was there.

Chloe threw back the rest of her cocktail, catching the eye of Ella as she stood up from the table. Smiling brightly, the bubbly forensic scientist practically bounced over to the bride-to-be, her face flushed from dancing. "Chloe COME ON!" she squealed, struggling to be heard over the pounding base line. "Come join us!"

Excitedly she grabbed the detective's arm, pulling her towards the dance floor. Chloe smiled at the enthusiasm of her friend, before shaking her empty glass at her. "I need a refill first!" she shouted, gesturing towards the bar. "Look after the drinks yeah?"

"More like down the drinks! WOO!" Chloe watched with amusement as Ella pumped her fist into the air and drained the rest of her bottle, before grabbing what she assumed was Charlotte's glass and heading back into the crowd. She could faintly hear her cry of "Decker's getting marrieeeeeeed!" as she did so, making her all the more glad she hadn't followed.

Reluctantly she took one last look at the booth, knowing she'd not likely get another chance to sit down again tonight. Already those tired of being on their feet were circling, a pack of wolves who were well aware that the club didn't provide many opportunities to catch your breath.

With a small sigh she gathered her things and headed towards some much needed alcohol, groaning internally when she saw the amount of people waiting there with the same intention. Luckily Patrick was on tonight, and when he caught sight of her blond hair through the masses he called her name and waved her to the side.

Ignoring the dirty looks aimed in her direction she edged her way around, relieved at not having to fight her way to the front. "What can I get for you Ms. Decker, or should I say the future Mrs. Pierce?" he said with a congratulatory smile. Chloe felt a small pang across her chest at that, for 'Mrs. Pierce' didn't sound quite right to her ears. In fact, it felt as wrong as the ring did. She wondered how the bartender even knew.

It was doubtful somehow that Lucifer was waxing lyrical about his personal life to staff, and as far as she was aware none of the ladies she was here with tonight had been anywhere near the bar with the exception of Maze. She knew where all the good stuff was hidden after all. From what her ex-roommate had told her about Patrick they'd always preferred activities together that didn't exactly involve talking, so she couldn't see her mentioning it either.

"How did you...?"

She didn't even get to finish her sentence before he gestured at what she was wearing, shaking his head with a small laugh as he pointed out "It's not exactly subtle." Of course. The toilet paper wedding dress she'd been forced to wear earlier was long gone, but she'd completely forgotten about the goddamn awful sash Ella had insisted she put on.

Emblazoned with pink gemstones it announced her impending marriage to the world, with particular emphasis on who exactly she was marrying. Chloe was under the distinct impression that her friend had enjoyed putting this monstrosity together more than planning the entire bachelorette itself. It was another in a long list of reasons she was glad Lucifer wasn't here tonight. She saw no need to rub it in his face more than she already had.

With an embarrassed grimace she ordered her usual, watching with fascination as Patrick continued to juggle multiple drink orders one after the other. From the other end of the bar she heard someone shout, "Pat, do we have any of the Macallan?"

Briefly ducking out of sight he answered quickly, aware that patience was not among the virtues of those waiting tonight. "No, we're out!" came his hurried reply.

Chloe didn't recognise the other man querying about the rather expensive whisky, assuming him to be a new hire. He certainly didn't seem to know how things ran here yet anyway as he shot back, "Seriously?! That's the fifth time this week!" She watched with interest as Patrick immediately sat down the cocktail he was mixing, the easy smile and flirty expression dropping from his face in an instant.

"He owns this place Sam. He can drink what he likes." There was a warning in that voice, an unheard instruction that Lucifer was not to be questioned. 'Sam' shot an apologetic look their way and remained quiet as he returned to serving the masses, suitably chastised.

If she hadn't been listening to their conversation so intently she wouldn't have caught it, never mind picked up on the note of concern there as Patrick muttered to himself "Unless of course he drinks us dry that is."

"And here I was thinking Lucifer had his own bar upstairs!" she jested, trying to lighten the solemn expression that had fallen over the young man.

For a moment she thought it had worked, Patrick flashing her a quick grin as he countered "Not anymore, judging by the state of our stores!"

But the smile failed to reach his eyes and the joke fell flat. As he started to pour another beer she reached out and gently held her hand over his, leaning forward so he could hear her speak quietly. "Is he ok?" she asked, worry filling her blue eyes.

He pulled back from her and shrugged. "I really don't know. He's not been the same lately."

Chloe nodded, for of course she understood why, better than the man in front of her ever would. He continued as he turned away to serve the next customer, "...Perhaps he just misses the music."

Confusion furrowed her brow as she started to ask him what he meant, only to be met with his back as he was whisked away to deal with yet another drink related crisis. How could he miss the music? This place was never without it. She didn't understand, so she moved onto the next item on her list, finding her supposed companions for the evening. Leaning back against the bar she slowly surveyed the area, trying to identify where they had gotten off to. At least that what she told herself, because she most definitely wasn't on the lookout for a certain club owner.

Charlotte and Ella were still in the midst of it all, the technician lost in her own world, the lawyer surrounded by men trying to get into hers. Maze and Linda were nowhere to be seen. Chloe hoped that they were off somewhere making amends. Maze's life had spiralled out of control after they'd stopped speaking to each other, and while rekindling their friendship wouldn't necessarily fix everything, it would at least be a start.

In the end it had been almost a relief when Maze moved out, especially when her self-destructiveness began to affect Trixie. She really was making an effort though lately, and if she could manage to resolve things with Linda then she was sure her daughter wouldn't be far behind. She had a lot to thank her for after all, because if it wasn't for Maze she might not even be here right now, celebrating her recent engagement. Wearing this stupid sash.

Tugging at the plasticky material she was momentarily tempted to rip it off and put it in the trash where it belonged, but when she caught sight of Ella waving at her from the centre of the dance floor she couldn't bring herself to do it. It had been bad enough seeing the disappointment on her face just because of her refusal to wear a pink wig, never mind this.

She raised her glass and smiled to herself as she watched the pair move together. At first she'd thought it an odd coupling, but while the world's greatest forensic scientist was considerably the friendlier of the two, Charlotte genuinely seemed to hold the young woman in high regard. Their recent friendship had been growing strong by the day.

As for her, she'd found herself warming more and more to the defense attorney, at least until today that is. Whether it was because of her own divorce, or as his stepmother she was looking out for Lucifer in some strange way she didn't know, but she couldn't help feeling that the older woman had spent most of the evening trying to talk her out of the idea of marriage. Which was the last thing she needed. Not when she already had enough doubts of her own.

Before she could even start to think about what on earth that was supposed to mean, the world around Chloe ground to a halt as the reason for exactly why Lux felt so different tonight suddenly hit her. She was looking at her friends dancing in the centre of the club. The centre. Where they shouldn't have been able to dance.

"Patrick." She felt, rather than saw the bartender appear behind her. It was somewhat reassuring to know that even with everything that had happened lately, she was still very much on the 'serve first at all costs' list at Lux. What she wanted though was information, not alcohol.

"Where is the piano?"

"Ah." A troubled look passed over the bartender's face as he ran his fingers through his hair, carefully considering his reply. A sense of dread began to settle in her stomach. "Boss had it put into storage. Bad for business."

"What?" Chloe breathed. That couldn't be right. People came here because of Lucifer, they weren't driven away by him. She'd seen it for herself as she watched him play, surrounded on all sides by men and women who would gaze at him with awe as they imagined what those long nimble fingers could do for them, if only he'd say yes.

Patrick slid a shot glass towards her, sympathetic in her confusion. "It started a few weeks ago. The set list changed, the customers stopped coming. These lot," he waved a hand in front of him, "they come here for a good time, not to hear song after song about lost love." She felt the blood in her veins turn to ice at that, the rest of the conversation blurring into the background.

She knew. She knew how this was affecting him and yet she still hadn't had a clue just how much he was hurting. He loved that piano, lived for the times he would play and the club would fall silent under his spell. For a man without any kind of grip on his emotions, he'd been able to pour them into his music like nobody else she'd ever heard. And now he'd given that up. It was unsurprising really that he'd chosen to drown himself in amber liquid to numb the pain instead.

Guilt gnawed at her soul. Why had nobody told her? How long had this been going on? She'd barely seen him lately, but surely somebody else should have noticed. Her partner had been suffering, because of her, and she'd all but ignored him. What kind of friend was she? What kind of person?

The sound of someone clearing their throat brought her back to herself and she realised that she hadn't said anything for several minutes. "Is he in tonight?" The question left her lips before she could even think about it, all notions of avoiding him long gone.

"I don't think so" he replied. "Pretty sure he took off as soon as you ladies rocked up."

Chloe nodded at that and pushed herself away from the bar. She needed some fresh air, some space to think.

No.

What she needed was to talk to someone who knew what was going on, someone who could help her make sense of it all. Maze was no good, her and Lucifer had been on the outs lately for some unknown reason and she wasn't exactly much help with things like this. Charlotte was likely too protective of him to divulge anything, and besides, she'd rather not risk starting up another conversation about divorce statistics right now.

That left her with one choice, a long shot at best. It would be difficult, but the doctor had been known to let her ethics slide in the past, and she'd certainly had enough to drink tonight to help things along a little. It was an invasion of privacy, that she was sure of, but she had to do something, and Lucifer wasn't going to be talking to her any time soon. Which gave her no other option.

Linda. She had to talk to Linda.