Chapter title by Paloma Faith. Have any of my American readers heard of Paloma Faith or has she not made it across the pond? Hope you enjoy this chapter. It's weird writing from Lucifer's POV all the time but it's nice getting him to interact with other characters apart from Chloe, though she will return soon! Enjoy :P
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After disappointing results chasing a limited number of leads, coupled with the fact Amenadiel seemed to be concealing something about his powers, Lucifer was left feeling rather pessimistic about the whole situation.
Which led him to his current position. Outside Linda's office. Surely one person who would be glad to see him. Even with her memory altered.
Chloe's police precinct all seemed to be under the impression he had been away on family business, per the plan. But instead of Chloe having told them they all somehow believed that he had himself come into the precinct to declare the news, and for some reason had done so without Chloe's presence.
Following a rather interesting conversation with Olivia, with him sitting behind and her half climbing over the desk, he had learned that the Douche had been fully reinstated as a Detective (Olivia seemed oddly foggy on the precise details of how on Earth that had been accomplished) and was subsequently partnered with his ex-wife. Once again Olivia was unsure how this had come about when he prodded her for further information, as such an arrangement would go against precinct policy. Definitely a case of memory alteration. Someone seemed to have gone to a lot of effort to make his return thoroughly unpleasant.
Thankfully, from what he could tell, Chloe was not officially back together with the Douche, though they were friendlier than they had been since Lucifer was first partnered with Chloe. Something Dan seemed to take a particular vindictive pleasure rubbing in his face.
When he'd gone to the precinct to see Olivia, the Douche lingered a little too long in the Detective's space as he leaned in to hand her a file, watching him all the while.
If this wasn't all a lie Lucifer was fairly certain the Douche would be missing at least an arm as of this moment. And if time travel were available Lucifer would surely go back and ensure he did not receive such stellar legal assistance during his trial. Rather he would let the Neanderthal burn. At least Chloe still seemed friendly towards him though, no matter how much he attempted to delusion himself, it was impossible to prescribe feelings of love coming from her. That much had been firmly removed much to his chagrin.
One thing was for certain. Once he found out who was responsible someone was going to pay. With blood.
Although as his family were likely involved that part was practically guaranteed, there would be no peaceful settlement. Though of course his Father would not ordain himself to become entangled in such affairs, even though he could undo all of this in an instant. No. He always had to send in his children to do the dirty work, didn't he? Something Amenadiel could do to be a little more irate about, but rather his Father-forsaken brother dashed about following any lead that could lead to Mother, desperate to fulfil Father's command. Pathetic.
Of course the only person, on his side, who was akin to this was also the most unsympathetic creature known to existence. Mazikeen. His Mother's torturer.
Which had led him here. To his therapist who was convinced he was utterly delusional. But she was still the only person around with anything near a level head. At the very least he may get some sympathy about Chloe.
Slamming the door open he rolled his eyes as one of her patients practically dove under the table in fright. Of course the table was only around two feet tall, and he only succeeded in whacking his head. Obvious nut case.
"Lucifer!" Linda cried, leaping out of her chair and staring at him with mild shock before hurrying to comfort her slobbering mess of a client. "What are you - no. How many times do I have to tell you to make an appointment before bursting in here! You know I have other patients."
"Yes, yes." Lucifer said, approaching the man who cowered in his presence. His eyes nevertheless brightened when Lucifer extricated a rather substantial stack of money from his inside pocket and threw it into the man's fumbling hands. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind rescheduling, would you?"
"N-no."
"Good chap. Off you pop then." He grinned, throwing himself onto the couch. Linking his hands behind his head he shot Linda a wink. "Miss me?"
The door shut. "You are unbelievable."
"I know. Why don't you take a seat?"
With an odd expression, which Lucifer seemed to recollect represented anger, Linda sat back down in her usual seat. "I thought you left town?"
"Ah, so you got my message."
"It was very short."
"Well I was in a bit of a hurry. I had to return to Hell."
She looked at him sharply. "You went back home?"
"Yes. To Hell." Honestly, the Doctor always focused on the wrong part of a sentence.
"I see. And how did Chloe respond to you leaving?"
"Chloe?" Lucifer frowned.
"Yes. You were in a, dare I say, committed relationship for a few weeks before you left. How did she respond to your absence?"
"You remember that the Detective and I were in a relationship?"
"Yes, you talked about her quite a bit in our sessions."
"No, no. You know Chloe and I were together?"
"Yes." Linda said, looking utterly bewildered.
"Doctor. Chloe does not remember that we were a couple."
"You're saying she's left you?"
"No. I'm saying she does not remember that we were ever connected romantically."
"Lucifer, given your predisposition towards concocting elaborate stories to cover trauma, maybe we should delve deeper into this. Your absence probably had a profound effect on Chloe after she allowed you to integrate yourself into her life. But the relationship could still be salvageable, but you need to work on entrusting people with the reality."
He sighed heavily. "You know what Doctor, maybe you're right."
Linda smiled. "Excellent. I think with some time we could make significant progress if you just start to challenge some of the things that you..."
"Doctor." Lucifer started, leaning forwards in his chair. "You don't have any heart problems do you?"
"N-Why?"
"And you're fairly level headed."
"Lucifer what are you talking about?"
"Well." Lucifer said with a grin. "You may want to brace yourself."
/ / /
Closing the office door to conceal the hyperventilating therapist, Lucifer crossed the hall into an empty consultation room. After assuring himself that no one else was around Lucifer sat in a chair, crossing his legs on the table.
"Amenadiel."
He barely waited a second before a hand settled on his shoulder making him flinch.
"Lucifer." Amenadiel said, moving from behind him to sit across the table. "Have you found any information on Mother?"
"Unfortunately no. Although, I believe I have found a weak link in the plan of whomever altered the memories of people I know."
Amenadiel looked around suspiciously. "Aren't we in Linda's building?"
A wolfish grin crossed his face before he answered. "Yes. It appears my adversary failed to research me thoroughly. Doctor Martin's memory is still intact."
"And what is that going to help us accomplish?" Amenadiel asked slowly.
"Well she can help us restore everyone's memory."
"Except she does not believe anything you say."
"She does now."
Amenadiel's face darkened. "You didn't."
"I just flashed her my true form for a second. She's taking it pretty well. Not as well as Chloe did..."
His brother jumped to his feet. "Luce. Are you out of your mind!"
"Well she can help our cause now."
"Mortals cannot be made aware of divinity. It is enshrined in Father's commands. Do you have idea of the chaos such an act could cause?"
"She's one woman."
"One woman! One woman that could be our undoing. She must forget."
"Not possible."
"We can..."
"We can't do anything, Amenadiel." Lucifer said, standing up. "You can no longer speak to Father and cannot carry out this act without violating more of His precious commands. And I am no longer able to rewrite memories, I can only make suggestions."
"Then suggest to her that you were lying! That it was some kind of mask. Something, Lucifer!"
"No."
"Lucifer..."
"I'm telling you she can help."
"You are allowing your desperation to cloud your judgement."
"Oh please. We both know full well that I never had any sense of good judgement, otherwise I wouldn't have been sent to Hell in the first place."
Amenadiel turned away from him and paced the room.
"Where is she now?"
"She's in her office, taking a moment."
"This isn't going to end well."
"I don't care."
"Lucifer!"
"I said I do not care!" Lucifer said, his form shifting for the second time that day. Angrily he stalked forward, not caring to look down at his burned skin. He couldn't yell but the force was clear behind his words. "Chloe gets her memory restored or I won't take Mother back to Hell. Instead I will destroy anyone who was even remotely complicit in this. Even if that means marching on Heaven with my armies. I might not win but rest assured I'll take as many of our siblings down with me as I can. Do I make myself clear, brother?"
"Humans cannot be made aware."
"Chloe was."
"Chloe was not human."
Lucifer shifted back slowly. "Linda can help us. She can profile people we suspect Mum has possessed. And she can assess the memory alterations of everyone. She might even be able to convince me not to kill you." He smirked. "Though I doubt even she is that good."
"If you expect me to help you on this then I have one condition."
"What?"
"When this is over I alter her memory."
"What if she proves she won't be a threat?"
"Doubtful. But if so, we cross that bridge when we get to it. Deal?" Amenadiel asked, extending his hand.
Lucifer eyed it warily before taking it in his own. "Deal. Shall we?"
"Lead the way."
Opening the door for his brother, Lucifer gestured to Linda's office which Amenadiel moved purposefully towards. He paused for a second next to the door before tapping lightly and entering with Lucifer at his heels.
Linda was pacing around her desk and whitened as Lucifer entered.
"Amenadiel?" She said, eyes focusing on him. "Are you-" Linda looked back at Lucifer for a moment. "A demon?"
"No."
"Yes." Lucifer said at the same time, grinning.
"I'm an Angel."
"Which I technically am too." Lucifer added. "I was just sent to the naughty corner."
"Doctor Martin." Amenadiel said, leaning closer to her. "Are you alright?"
"Oh lay off Amenadiel, she's not five. She can handle it."
"Really?"
"Sure." Linda squeaked. Clearing her throat she tried again in a more natural voice. "Sure." She went to sit back down in her chair, her leg bouncing. "So what can I help you both with?"
"Like I said, Linda." Lucifer said, easily throwing himself onto the couch while Amenadiel hovered, worrying. "Chloe does not remember our romantic attachment. We think," motioning to his brother, "that a member of our family has tampered with the memories of those around us."
"And why would they do that?"
"To get back at me, of course."
Amenadiel sat next to him, scoffing at his response for some reason. "You always were so self centred."
"Eh, no. I believe you are mistaking me with Father. He could never get enough of himself."
Linda's head fell in her hands.
"This took a lot of effort. It's more than a cheap shot. It's likely a piece of leverage. Something Mother will use against us."
"Your Mother?" Linda asked, slowly looking up. She looked exhaustedly resigned to the whole matter. It was really quite adorable.
"Yes. She's escaped Hell." Lucifer answered, grinning at the obvious questions crossing her face. No doubt trying to remember a part of the Bible describing a Mother of all creation. "It's our task to recapture her."
"And how do I fit into all of this?"
"Well you are going to help me to make Chloe remember. And then if Amenadiel is correct, and that is a big if," Lucifer ignored Amenadiel rolling his eyes, "then we take that advantage away from the enemy."
"You're doing this from a solely tactical perspective? Not because you want Chloe to remember your relationship?"
Honestly the narrow minded nature of humans. "Of course I want her to remember that. Trust me. If you'd had sex with Chloe Decker you would want her to remember. Such an imagination..."
"Luce."
"Right-o. But Mother is a significant threat, particularly to you fragile mortals, and she remains an important priority. Protecting Chloe is my main concern, but I can't let my Mother just start unleashing plagues on unsuspecting folk. Chloe would be really mad at me if I did."
"Not to mention we need to break any influence over Chloe before Mother realises she's not human." Amenadiel added.
"Don't worry about that now, Linda." Lucifer said, trying to keep her mind focused. Anyway, Mother probably already knew. Given Chloe's immunity to divinity.
"So. How am I supposed to make them all remember? Exactly."
"Well now you're in the know you can help us to start challenging Chloe's version of events. Chloe is special, not completely human, I won't bore you with the details." He answered, causally waving a hand, not wanting to get dragged into giving details.
"In theory," Amenadiel took over, "that should make it easier to weaken the version of events she currently believes. If we can appeal to that side of her."
"Although that may mean invoking her divine aspects which, while derived from the Heavens, won't be pretty if done incorrectly. You will be very helpful in controlling her if that should come to pass."
"If you can handle this."
Linda looked between them both, jaw slightly slack. "Okay. I guess."
"Excellent." Lucifer said, clapping his hands together as he jumped up. "We'll be in touch. I need to get Chloe alone first."
"I must emphasise before we leave that you cannot disclose what has transpired here to anyone." Amenadiel said sternly. "It would have. Dire consequences."
"Don't try to be threatening, Amenadiel." Lucifer tutted, not seeing Linda's little tremble. "You'll only embarrass yourself."
/
Hope you enjoyed this, as always let me know what you think about Linda knowing. There's a split over Amenadiel's interaction with Chloe in 2x01 but personally I think there would be some code in place stopping mortals learning everything was true for a fact. I just read through Take It To The Limit to make sure my continuity was okay (oh and found out between two sites the story has been read by 120,020 people - WHAT?!) and Chloe did a small speech about not letting humans know the truth or there would be chaos. Anyway, tell me what you thought of that scene and this chapter. Hope you're all well, will hopefully update soon!
