Chloe crossed the office in moments, the rest of the precinct a blur. Her eyes were scanning Lucifer, everything from his expression to the state of his body.

He looked completely fine, smiling roguishly with that carefree façade in place. There were no abrasions, no burns or anything of the sort, about the only thing she could deduce was that there was an ever so slight tenseness to his stance.

She immediately shook herself internally for thinking he'd actually look like what he did in her dream.

Because it was a dream.

In fact, seeing him again made her whirling mind finally settle down for a moment. Because there he was. Lucifer in the flesh. Lucifer her partner and her friend. Not this… angelic being she kept envisioning in her insane dreamland. And there was certainly no way she was about to reveal those dreams to him right now and give him the satisfaction that she may have been considering his delusions to hold anything to reality.

She would approach this as a detective. That at least was something she knew how to do.

She stopped in front of him, a slight frown on her brow, but relief swam in her eyes.

"Detective!" Lucifer said cheerfully as she reached him. "I'm… terribly sorry," he continued, attempting a serious face. "You must have been so worried in my absence."

Chloe frowned at him, her stomaching doing an odd flip as she held his warm gaze; it felt incredibly surreal after those damn dreams. "Absence?" she questioned innocently, her eyes shifting to attempt to look at his back despite her internal protests that the dreams held no merit.

No sign of wings…

"You've only been gone two days, Lucifer…" she continued a little absently this time as she noticed a lot of his straining seemed to be coming from his shoulders, like he was in pain.

Lucifer glanced behind him, frowning a little at the distracted detective. "Yes well," he brushed off lightly. "More importantly than… whatever it is that is so captivating behind me, which should be impossible considering the fact that I'm here," he continued with a smirk and a small chuckle. "We need to find my kidnapper, Detective."

Chloe's eyes snapped back to his. "Kidnapper?" she repeated blankly, but her mind forced an image of him lying in the dessert to flash before her eyes.

"Yes," said Lucifer insistently, in fact so insistently that Chloe could see despite his casual façade he was quite disturbed by this apparent kidnapping. "And I'm quite certain my Father's behind it."

Chloe's stomach tightened at the mention of his father. Just a dream! She internally yelled at herself. "Mhmm…" she murmured lowly. Then, "Lucifer, are you serious?" she asked earnestly. "Did this actually happen or does this just have something to do with that voicemail you left me?"

Lucifer's face fell slightly, "Oh… that message, yes well… we will talk about that," he said rather hastily. "But, yes Detective, I'm quite certain I was kidnapped considering I woke up in the dessert yesterday in nothing, but my pants – I know, a delightful sight – aside from the fact that my…" Lucifer broke off for a moment, clearing his throat. "Regardless, yes, Detective. I'm being entirely serious."

Chloe stared at him for a long moment, her heart thumping in her chest.

Then,

"What the hell are you doing to me?! She hissed suddenly, her voice low and furious. "Is this some kind of… of… fucked up, mind games, voodoo?!" she continued madly, throwing a wild hand through the air and Lucifer's eyes widened at her sudden distress not to mention the fact that he rarely heard her swear.

However before he could ask her to shed some light on her sudden state of insanity the entire precinct when quiet, all eyes turning to somewhere behind them where a middle-age man holding a bike helmet and carrying an air of importance that Lucifer couldn't see was justified just walked in.

"I'm Lieutenant Marcus Pierce," he announced to the quiet office, gazing around at them all with an annoying little smug smirk just tweaking the corner of his lips. "Alright, back to it," he finished simply, his eyes lingering for a moment on Lucifer, before he continued through the precinct.

It took a few moments for the hustle and bustle to pick back up, then Lucifer quickly returned his attention to Chloe. "Well he seems like a right sod," he stated mildly. Then he frowned appropriately when he noticed Chloe was staring at him with that look. The look she had when he'd done something seriously wrong. "Detective," he said quickly, his voice quite concerned. "What-"

But, Chloe shook her head, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm going insane…" she muttered under her breath. "Just, uuh, tell me more. Ok? Who took you? When? I need more information."

Lucifer's brow was still puckered, his eyes flickering over Chloe making a slight twinge of nervous flitter through her. "I don't know who took me," he said after a moment, then he flashed Chloe a smile. "But," he added too cheerfully. "I can take you to the scene of the crime," he finished, grasping her gently by the forearm and pulling her swiftly with him.

Chloe nearly stumbled to keep up with his fast pace, her heart still thumping as images of Lucifer in the desert kept shooting through her mind. She nearly lost her footing completely when Lucifer threw her a smile over his shoulder as they reached the car, her heart skipping one of those heavy thumps.

When they slid into the car, Chloe did not miss the harsh wince and biting of his lip that Lucifer did the moment his back brushed the car seat.

She didn't say anything. Not yet, she just drove. But, as she drove more of the dreams came back to her. Lucifer's face through every emotion, Amenadiel, Maze, Charlotte, Lucifer, angel wings, Lucifer, angel wings, and then…

That torn, burned face with eyes as red as embers…

Suddenly, Chloe could not breathe. Her chest tightened and her vision went blurry. She couldn't take t!

She slammed on the brakes, pulling over abruptly causing Lucifer to fall back into his seat.

This time he was unable to bite back his cry of pain.

"Detective!" he bit out, calming his breathing and fighting back the pain. "What on earth are you doing?!"

However, Chloe was already getting out of the car. She gasped for air, running her hands desperately through her hair and then she began pacing desperately.

"Detective?" Lucifer hurried around the car, ignoring the pain from the fresh wounds on his back.

He tried to reach for her, but she jumped back. "No!" she gasped, holding out one hand to stop him, the other still grasping her hair. "No, no, no, I can't…" she turned away from him again, trying to regain composure. She took a shaky breath before turning to face an incredibly concerned Lucifer. "What happened?" she asked finally, her voice unsteady. "To… to your back?" she clarified, gesturing vaguely to him.

Lucifer eyed her carefully. Then, he put his hands in his pockets, his face quite serious, one strand of wavy black sweeping across his forehead where the wind hand knocked it out of place. He looked so handsome it hurt. "My father," he said finally.

Chloe swallowed with difficulty, waiting for him to elaborate. "Your father hurt you again?" she urged when he didn't say more. "How?"

Lucifer sighed, "I don't really see the point in this Detective as you never believe what I say," he said dismissively. "But, I didn't just end up in the desert half naked, I also had my wings… forcibly replaced."

Panic nearly overwhelmed Chloe once more, but she swallowed it down, unable to look Lucifer in the eye, so instead she nodded at the ground. She made that little humming sound with her tongue, before suddenly, "Show me," she demanded.

Lucifer stared, for once quite taken aback. "I'm… sorry?" he laughed slightly. "Really, Detective you are full of surprises today."

Chloe sucked on her tongue impatiently, finally looking at Lucifer again. "Show me," she repeated firmly.

Lucifer exhaled slowly. "I… can't," he said after a moment, his dark eyes full of questions.

Chloe stared at him for a minute. Then, "Of course," she snapped quite suddenly, turning away. "Of course!" she threw her hands in the air. "Stupid, stupid," she muttered under her breath, now seriously concerned for her sanity.

"No, Detective," Lucifer said hurriedly, following her as she strode around in anger. "I can't because I… cut them off again. Myself this time. Far more difficult without Maze, I can tell you that."

He had the nerve to flash her a half-hearted smile.

"I can't believe this," Chloe muttered, shaking her head furiously. "I can't believe I actually… for a second," Chloe broke off again, making sounds of disgust at herself. "Unbelievable. Get back in the car. We should… we should go."

"Chloe, wait," Lucifer said earnestly, his brow puckered together in sheer confusion and worry.

Chloe looked at him solely because he'd used her name rather than 'Detective'.

"I'm not sure what…this," he gestured to all of her, "is all about right now. But… if you, well if you really want some clarity I can give it to you."

Chloe frowned at him, "What do you mean?" she asked tersely.

"Well I… it's what I was going to talk to you about the other night anyway, and I suppose…" Lucifer was the one that couldn't hold her gaze this time. "I suppose I should follow through on that promise…"

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest, her heart picking up speed again while apprehension built back up in her chest. "Ok," she said evenly, looking at him pointedly to get on with it. "I'm listening."

Lucifer breathed out slowly, looking at her with a nervous apprehension Chloe had never seen in him before. It made her heart soften beneath those firmly folded arms and unwanted images of those dreams flew before her.

"Well it's more of a… show you sort of thing…" Lucifer muttered quietly. Chloe didn't say anything, she just waited, heart clenched. One more breath.

Then,

Lucifer was staring at her intensely, his face shaking, and a low… growl coming from the back of his throat.

Chloe waited longer.

He kept going.

"What are you doing?" she demanded finally, a bizarre feeling of disappointment flowing through her, quickly to be followed by hurt and anger.

Lucifer looked confused. He glanced at the tinted car window beside them, then turned fully to look at himself, his hand coming up to his cheek, "It's not working…" Chloe heard him say under his breath.

But, she ignored that, shaking her head in angry disbelief while most frustratingly hot tears prickled behind her eyes. Twice. What was wrong with her? They were dreams. That was it. Some crazy coincidence that he'd ended up in the desert…

"Get in the car, Lucfier," she said firmly, blinking back the tears and putting a block on her emotions.

"Detective, you don't understand this is wrong!" Lucifer sounded seriously upset. "It can't be gone!"

"Get in the car!" Chloe's voice nearly cracked this time. But, she'd had it. Enough was enough. She'd deal with the crime of the kidnapping because she was a cop. It's what she did. But, no more insanity. No more delusions.

Lucifer slid into the passenger seat carefully, warily eyeing Chloe who waited without looking at him in the driver's seat. "Detective, I swear, I-"

"I don't want to hear it, Lucifer."

Lucifer frowned, his own mind in turmoil about all that had happened to him, the pain from his freshly slaughtered wings truly quite unbearable. But he hid it. "What-"

"I do not want to talk right now, Lucifer, OK?" Chloe snapped, pulling out and keeping her eyes fixed on the road. "We'll go to the 'scene' as you say. We'll look for clues, then we'll come back to the precinct and work it out like any other case. And that's it."

Lucifer wanted to speak again, ask her where all of this was coming from. But, he didn't. He'd never seen her like this before. He wasn't sure how to respond. So he studied her face and posture. Her eyes were tense and strained, her lips pulled into a tight line while her hands gripped the steering wheel like a vice and her left leg, though taught and tense like the rest of her, kept jittering ever so slightly.

Something had happened.

After more silent driving that then turned into a fair amount of silent desert walking… Lucifer had them back at the spot where he'd awoken.

"This is it, Detective!" he said with jovial seriousness. He turned to her, hoping she'd calmed a little from before.

But, she wasn't moving. Well, her body wasn't. Her eyes however were darting around the place in a panicked sort of way.

"Detective..?" began Lucifer slowly.

Chloe just shook her head. Enough already! This was the exact spot form her dreams. It was far too eerily familiar. The dry shrubbery, that old tree, the dunes…

But then, her darting eyes caught sight of something that had definitely not been in her dream.

An arm reaching from the heavens and sticking up from the sand, buried from the elbow down.

"We need to call this in," was all she said, turning away and pulling out her phone. When she'd finished making the call, she swung back to look at Lucifer. "They're tracking my GPS signal to find us. We should… look for more clues."

Lucifer nodded slowly, his eyes creased with concern. "Very well…" he said quietly, following her cue to look around.

They did so in more silence until finally the other showed up. Chloe didn't speak to him alone again, she even somehow convinced Dan to take him back to the precinct rather than ride with her.

Nor did she show up at the precinct herself.

Lucifer should have been preoccupied with the case. Who'd kidnapped him. Who'd done these things to him. The wings, his face… But, all he could think of was Chloe. Something was seriously wrong.

"Maze, I just need to know if… I don't know, anything weird happened the last few days?" Lucifer was saying through his phone to Mazikeen.

"Lucfier, I haven't been there. I'm busy, bounty hunting's blowing up right now."

Lucfier exhaled in annoyance. "Well in your absence something seriously wrong has happened to your house mate. And as you are her housemate I currently hold you fully responsible."

"Decker's a weirdo Lucifer. But, you're worse. If you think there's something wrong with her, it's probably you who's got the problem."

"Very funny, Maze. This is serious," he paused irritation tickling him. "Though you are… as it happens, correct. I… something is wrong with me too."

Maze laughed through the line. "Add it to the list, Lucifer."

"My devil face is gone Maze. And my wings are back."

Silence

Lucifer cocked his head smugly at her lack of speech. "Told you," he said simply. "This is serious. And ever since that happened… well for a moment, Chloe seemed to actually believe who I-"

"Who did this to you?!" Maze cut in, her voice harsh, angry and… scared.

"I don't know, Maze," sighed Lucifer angrily. "Though all bets point to dear old Dad at the minute. Look, when are you getting back?"

There was a moment of silence. Then, he heard Maze sigh roughly. "Fuck it. Fine. I'll be back tomorrow. Count yourself lucky I give a shit. This job's worth a lot more than you've ever paid me."

Lucifer went to reply, but Maze had already hung up. He looked at his phone for a moment, eyeing Chloe's phone number with the ID 'The Detective' above it. He felt the need to prove who he was to her more than he ever had. Free will, yes. Choice, yes. He had to give that back to her. But, he also needed to know what had happened to her over these last few days. If it had anything to do with his father…

His eyes would have previously flashed red, instead he just felt a flare of anger.

But how could he prove it? She needed physical proof. Evidence. He could… bring his freshly carved wings and show her the matching, bloodied wounds on his back?

He shuddered at the thought.

Then again, he was going to show her his devil face and that was… surely worse.

He nodded to himself, tucking his phone away and scurrying home to his penthouse. It was the only way. Gruesome and sickly, yes. But… well he had no other choice. How she would come to terms with it… well that was up to her. Free will, that's what he was about wasn't it?

However as he impatiently waited for his elevator to rise, he felt an itching in the wounds on his back. Hell it was awful. Like something was moving… crawling from beneath his wounds. He grabbed at his back, pulling his jacket off in alarm.

Then just as he nearly fell out of the opening doors:

Whoosh!

"Oh for…" Lucifer bit his tongue in fury. "What is this?!" he demanded throwing an angry glance to the ceiling as his newly unfurled pearly white feathers fluttered out around him.

After he swallowed down his immediate anger and refrained from immediately seeking out Maze's knives, he reasoned with himself. At least… this was a rather nicer way to prove to Chloe what he was.

Though she'd better not think him a damned Angel. He'd ensure to prove her wrong of that, then immediately chop them off again.

"Right…" he muttered, shrugging his wings away from sight once more, still feeling quite irked about their rebirth again, but that feeling was quickly becoming overwhelmed by apprehension for what he was about to do.

He grabbed a bottle of whiskey from his shelf, downed to shots, threw his jacket back on and headed straight back to his car once more.

But, when Lucifer finally arrived at Chloe's, nerves at a peak, wings at the ready, what he'd entirely forgotten about was…

"Lucifer!" Trixie's far too happy voce squealed.

"Agghn," Lucifer blurted out uncomfortably as Trixie tackled his legs for a cuddle. He looked back at the angry Chloe was holding the door open. "Ah, yes, I quite forgot your spawn lived here…"

Chloe shot him a furious look. "Yes, Lucifer. My 7 year old daughter lives with me. How shocking," she said in irritated sarcasm. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," Lucifer began nervously while attempting to pluck Trixie from his body. "I can better explain myself now so…"

"Lucifer," Chloe tried to talk calmly so as not to alarm Trixie. She glanced down at her beaming daughter. "Monkey, have you taken your lunchbox out of your bag yet?"

Trixie sighed dramatically. "No, mummy…"

"Can you go do that please? Then start your homework in your room, ok? Mummy will come help you soon."

Another woeful sigh. "Ok…" moaned Trixie. Then, "Is Lucifer staying for dinner?" she added with sudden excitement.

"No, sweetie," Chloe said quickly. "He won't be here long. Now go on, please."

Trixie left with one last sigh and Chloe turned back to Lucifer with a frown. "Lucifer," she said quite seriously. "I've had enough of your explanations. OK?"

"Detective, just listen," Lucifer cut in quickly in earnest. "Please, I'm concerned some very serious foul play is at work here. I need your help. And I… I can prove myself to you. A-actually this time."

He breathed out and Chloe's glare faltered. But then, she shook her head again. "No, please just, just stop! We've been through this. We'll work out what happened with your kidnapping, but-"

"Chloe," Lucifer took a step closer, his eyes boring into hers. "Have I ever lied to you?"

Chloe blinked, then swallowed. "I… Lucifer, this isn't about that-"

"It is," said Lucifer lowly. "Please. Trust me, Detective and let me explain."

Chloe hesitated for a long moment, her resolve wavering the longer she held his gaze. Then, "Fine!" she gave in angrily, stepping aside to let him in. "But this is it, Lucifer. I swear if you pull some-"

"I won't, Detective, trust me," Lucifer said idly, grinning now as he slid past her into the house. "However, I think it would be best… definitely best if you had your spawn shipped off somewhere. Perhaps Detective Douche?"

Chloe looked at him with disbelief. "No, Lucifer. Trixie is not getting shipped off to anyone. Just tell me what you're going to tell me."

But, Lucifer shook his head. "I… really think this is a little too intense, Detective," he explained quietly, his eyes shifting to Trixie who was over in the kitchen trotting her lunchbox to the sink.

"Lucifer-"

"I swear to you, Detective, this is far more for your sake than mine," Lucifer cut in seriously.

Chloe grit her teeth in irritation. "Are you kidding me?" she hissed finally. "Are you seriously asking me to kick my kid out for you to tell me something?"

"Yes," said Lucifer immediately. Then his expression softened and he looked almost desperate. "Please… Chloe."

Chloe shook her head in disbelief before walking off and pulling out her phone.

A few minutes later after getting Trixie she came back over with the same disapproving look.

"Detective Douche on his way?" smiled Lucifer.

Chloe shot him a look. "Dan will be here soon. You're lucky he's doing this," she added sternly. "Go sit down or something, would you?" she added, still annoyed. "You're too tall to be looming in the hallway like that. I'm going to pack Trixie some things."

Lucifer chuckled in response, watching Chloe walk away again before he settled down at a stool by the bench.

Dan didn't take long and Chloe managed to evade most of his questions for now, but she knew she'd have to face him in the morning. She turned back, desperately hoping Lucifer could actually give her some damn answer after all this.

She crossed her arms and looked at him pointedly. "Happy?" she snipped at him.

Lucifer didn't smile this time, instead he let out a long breath, standing up slowly. "Mixed feelings, I'm afraid," he said simply. Then, he shot her a nearly blazing look. "Are you ready?"

Chloe huffed in annoyance. "Lucifer, I swear if you don't get on with it-"

"Yes, yes, very well," said Lucifer quickly, making calming gestures with his hands. "Honestly, Detective you are quite demanding," he paused. "Perhaps you should sit down."

"Lucifer…" Chloe warned lowly.

"Fine, fine!" Lucifer took a deep breath, looking from side to side to make sure he had enough room.

Then,

A very familiar whooshing sound, to both parties in the room, surrounded them. Lucifer let his shoulders roll back, his eyes closed as he released those pesky, tenacious white wings filling the room with a subtle glow and warmth from his divine feathers.

He exhaled slowly, opening his eyes and said, "They grew back you see. Clingy bloody things…"


A/N Thank you so much everyone for all the faves/follows and all of the lovely feedback from the reviews. Seriously means a lot and I hope you're all still enjoying the story so far!