Back to Lucifer's POV per the request of audra626. The title is a Prince song, I was going to use a different song but with his passing I wanted to pay my tribute. The song is actually quite fitting so I urge you to listen to it.
So this took a while to write, and it's one of my shortest chapters yet. For some reason I feel like I was trying to get blood out of a stone when writing this, I had to keep restarting it. Lucifer's POV is so hard!
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"Lucifer!" Doctor Martin screeched. "It's three in the morning!"
Yes, yes." Lucifer hushed her, moving across the threshold of her house. "But you see you weren't answering your phone."
"So you just decided to break into my house!"
"Yes. How else was I supposed to reach you." Lucifer said, slowly. Why Linda and Chloe chose to dwell on these things so much was simply a mystery to him. He tried to call first. What else could he have done?
"You could have waited until the morning!" She threw her hands up before crossing over to close the door behind him.
"But that wasn't convenient for me, I need to speak to you now." He pressed on, going to sit in a chair in her living room.
"Well just make yourself at home."
Lucifer quirked an eyebrow at her sarcastic tone but chose not to comment, preferring to move onto his own business.
Pushing the tousled hair from her face, Linda flopped down on the sofa opposite him. It was quite amusing to him, for some reason, that she sat on the couch while he sat in the chair.
"Well?" She asked.
"Well. Since last we spoke there have been some developments."
Linda straightened in her seat. "You've heard from your brother?"
Ah, the reason he hadn't been to see her of late.
"No, I've seen neither hide nor hair of him since our last encounter. Not that he has much hair to see." Lucifer smirked, running a hand through his own, delighting as Linda followed the movement. Spending so much time around the immune Chloe Decker, it was almost a relief to be around people on whom his abilities worked correctly.
"He hasn't been around the office either." Linda told him. "I talked to the building's supervisor and he said he hasn't heard anything from him. They're going to let out the office space next week."
"I'm not surprised. Even if he has somehow escaped the wrath of my Father and returned, I doubt he would attempt to contact you again. He is aware that I now know of his attempts to get information from you. You are of no use to him now."
"You confronted your brother?" Linda asked. Her fingers twitched, like she was desperate to take notes.
"Yes, yes. But that's really not what I came here to talk about." Lucifer insisted.
"Then what would you like to discuss?" Her voice had become more clinical now, her interest in his case winning out over her earlier irritation.
"Ms Decker."
"Ah. Has your relationship progressed anymore since we last spoke about her? I asked you if you considered her a friend, and you were unsure."
"Mazikeen and I..."
"So you've worked through your issues together?" Linda interrupted.
"Yes, yes, she's been attempting to win back my favour and I have forgiven her conditionally."
"Conditionally?"
"Yes. I've forgiven her on the condition she never do it again, otherwise I will banish her to Hell and remove her from her position of stature. But back to Chloe..."
"You've figured out what she is to you?"
"Well, Maze and I have begun to suspect that the lapses in my immortality are caused by Chloe's presence."
They had undergone an extensive test earlier in the day in which Maze attacked him with a variety of weapons, all of which failed to injure him. Except the demon dagger, which he refused to allow Mazikeen to use on him. There was no need to be completely reckless.
"So you feel that Chloe causes you to be vulnerable."
"Yes." Was he speaking in tongues? "The only time I have been physically hurt is when she is in close proximity. Whenever she is not around and someone attempts to hurt me, they fail."
"Well when you become intimate with someone it can feel like that."
Honestly, he going to have to change in front of her too. Her ability to find metaphors in everything he said was truly exasperating.
"I'm being literal here, Doctor."
"It can feel scary, when you start to open up to someone you truly care about. But there are benefit's when you open yourself up to someone."
"My physical safety is at risk."
At least that's what Maze kept drilling into him.
Chloe. She'd asked him to call her by her first name, she obviously was not concerned about becoming more emotionally open to him.
Physically he wanted her. He recognised that, he was well familiar with that urge. But there was also a constant desire to make her happy, and keep her safe. And that desire even extended to the people she cared about. Lucifer would have been more than happy to allow the Douche to rot in jail for the rest of his lifespan before raking him over the coals in Hell. Not only for placing his child at risk to protect himself, but also for the pain he had caused Chloe throughout their marriage. And yet when he had seen Chloe worry for her child's happiness, and her infuriating feelings of obligation to the man, he had immediately called in some favours with the DA, the station's Captain, and to secure him an exceptional lawyer, for a fee his unsuspecting family could afford.
"Alright. Then stay away from her. Stay away from Chloe." Linda said flippantly.
His mind rebelled against the idea. And there was this odd sensation in his chest that protested at her words.
"I don't want to do that."
"And do you understand why you can't stay away from her?" Linda said. Was it his imagination or was there a faint smile playing around her lips.
"No, that's what I pay you for isn't it? Tell me why this mortal is able to affect me? It seems my brother played no part in sending her, but Chloe seems clueless as to why she is able to change me. At first I thought maybe she was lying, but if she has an ability she seems wholly unaware of it."
"I think if you two are ever going to figure out why you affect each other you are going to need to talk about it. Start to understand your relationship, how you both feel about each other. Begin to see each other more, outside of your work place."
"Well we already do that." Lucifer sighed. "Although I have seen considerably less of her with her ex-husbands trial approaching."
"Her husband has been arrested?" Linda said, sounding shocked. Lucifer then remembered they hadn't seen each other since the Douche had turned himself in.
"Yes, he's on trial for some trivial matters. What he really deserves to be punished for is the suffering he's caused his family. An inherently selfish creature."
Who deserved to be punished. Ideally with fire.
"And for the record it's her ex-husband. They've signed divorce papers. The last I saw Chloe she was taking the papers to her lawyer."
"Interesting." Linda nodded. "I notice you now call Detective Decker, Chloe. You used to primarily refer to her as Detective."
"She asked me to call her by her given name." Lucifer nodded. He still called her Detective on occasion, and he would continue to do so at work to avoid causing a scandal as Chloe was so certain one would break out if her colleagues heard the name change. Humans were so silly. How could calling someone by their first name be indicative of anything scandalous. He couldn't even get her to kiss him. Yet. And if they wanted a scandal...
"I see. And when do you plan to see her next?"
He sighed again. Lucifer had never sighed so much until he met Detective Decker. Even his brother couldn't create this much exasperation in him.
"She calls me every day. Or I call her."
"That's good. What do you talk about?"
"Oh, trivial matters. Work, the trial, her child."
"Have you been assigned any cases together yet?"
"No, though I suppose it's only a matter of time." At least he wouldn't have Detective Douche interfering with their work anymore.
"And are you planning to make any social plans together?" Linda continued.
"You're not getting jealous are you, Doctor." He grinned. "I suppose we are a little overdue with our payments aren't we."
She blushed but continued with her clinical detachment as best she could. "Our arrangement can end anytime, Lucifer, if you start to feel uncomfortable continuing on as your relationship with Chloe continues to evolve."
He rolled his eyes. "She won't even let me kiss her yet, Doctor. I wouldn't worry about something as drastic as a relationship."
The Devil couldn't be in a relationship. He would lose the respect of his followers for doing anything so, domestic.
The Devil engaged in elicit affairs that lasted the night and ended with sunrise. Lucifer played with every sex, he enjoyed sex with multiple partners, he participated in sex in every way known to man. He had done things over the course of his lifetime that would make even the most seasoned swinger blush from head to toe. Limiting himself to one woman? It was an impossibility, surely.
His sexual relationship with Doctor Martin was testing his usual practises as it was. Only his demons had the pleasure of regular attention from the Devil.
"You're not open to a relationship with Chloe?" Linda asked.
"The Devil is not known for monogamy, Doctor."
"I see. So you are open to the idea of Detective Decker seeing other men?"
She was definitely smiling this time.
"Because if I recall you never took her ex-husbands advances very well. In fact I seem to recall you saying seeing them together was like having a fat man sit on your chest." She quoted at him.
It was true, seeing them together did cause a pressure on his chest not altogether unlike having a fat man sitting there. And the thought of her interacting romantically with other men caused a similar sensation. How curious.
"I believe what you are experiencing here is jealousy. Again." Linda threw out unhelpfully. After their last discussion on the feeling it had become clear to Lucifer that he was experiencing jealousy. What still remained to be answered was why.
"And while you may not have to worry about Detective Espinoza," Linda continued, "Detective Decker is an attractive woman. It's only a matter of time before someone else begins to show her attention. And you have to ask yourself, are you sure you only want a physical relationship with her? Do you still believe you can cleanse her from your system? Or do you want something else?"
She tried to stifle a yawn, covering her mouth as she failed to do so. "Also, do you see yourself leaving my house in the imminent future? Because it's still ridiculously early."
"Yes." Lucifer said, standing. "It is. I'll leave you to your beauty sleep. Until next time, Doctor." He shot her his signature grin before making his escape.
Quickly making his way to his car he began to drive in his usual reckless manner through the quiet early morning streets of LA.
He decided to make this simple.
Does he want to fuck Chloe every way to Friday?
Yes.
Does he want to keep her?
Maybe.
Perhaps.
Probably. He admitted to himself reluctantly, even if the potential of that admission could have dire consequences for them both.
Does he like the idea of her getting hit on by some delinquent ignominious?
No.
Does he want her to start a relationship with some unworthy, pitiful mortal?
No.
Was he happy when she divorced the Douche?
Yes.
Did he enjoy her admitting that she found him attractive, even if she undermined the compliment by adding unnecessary conditions to it?
Yes.
Could he tolerate the tiny human if it meant spending more time with Chloe?
Probably.
Was he well and truly fucked?
So it would seem.
His Father and brothers above must be pissing themselves at his expense. Surely this must be their work. Someone like Chloe couldn't occur naturally. She was the only woman he had ever met on the mortal plane immune to his powers. Either she was sent here, unknowingly, or has been granted immunity for some reason.
At least now she knew the truth about the world it would be easier for him to find out the truth. He could question her, experiment to see how much she could affect him.
It would be dangerous for both of them to continue in each other's company. With his powers weakened by her presence he was at risk of death and so was she, as he would be powerless to protect her. The sheer number of people he could think of, just off the top of his head, who would be willing to take advantage of that fact.
Staying apart would be the safe option, Lucifer thought, as he ploughed through a red light. But since when did the Devil play it safe?
Besides, he grinned wickedly, he'd already promised her a date.
/
Let me know what you think because I'm still not sure of my abilities when it comes to writing Lucifer, he's such a tricky character to get in the head of.
I will apologise now because next week is going to be chaos so chapter posting may be sketchy. I'll try to post the next chapter Sunday/Monday then I won't get another chance to write until next Friday, I have so many events on (and none of them are fun so pity me a little).
Look forward to hearing from you guys, you're all so sweet 3
