Lucifer called Chloe to ask if he could come. Well he was already in the car but knew it was better to call ahead. That was the right thing to do, correct?
She picked up happy to hear from him. He didn't want to come emptyhanded and bringing wine or whiskey didn't seem like a good idea as she was still on medication due to her injured ankle. So he stopped by to buy some groceries as he hoped he would be staying for dinner. And on a second thought he bought flowers.
Chloe was with Trixie on the couch watching a movie when there was a knock on the door. Trixie jumped from the couch and ran over to open it. She found Lucifer there with his hands full of bags.
"Lucifer!"
"Hello, Beatrice. Could you take this?" He asked and handed her one, smaller paper bag with groceries so he could balance the other two and two bouquets of flowers and close the door behind him.
"What is it?"
"Dinner."
"Nana cooked for us." Trixie said. They were in the kitchen and Lucifer suddenly felt like a complete idiot. Sure, Daniel's mother cooked for them. He should have anticipated it.
Chloe looked at them and had to smile at his posture and facial expression. Like a little kid who just lost his favorite ball. She took pity on him.
"Well I think we can put her box in the freezer…" She suggested and Trixie smiled like on Christmas morning. Lucifer wasn't sure why would she say so.
"I am sorry, detective, I didn't mean to…"
"I'm giving you a chance to impress me." She interrupted him and said this with a gleam in her eyes that made his heart speed up. That little minx!
Then she realized that he didn't even get to greet her properly. She kept on looking at him and failed to notice that her daughter caught up pretty quickly, looking from one to the other, all silent. Trixie was smiling broadly, she knew what it meant. She nudged Lucifer.
"She didn't get the hello kiss from you." She told him and it was barely above whisper.
Lucifer looked at her totally shocked and was at lost for words. Trixie was smiling at him and after a moment he nodded. "I think you're right. I'm sorry." He said and she grinned at him. "Go fix it then!" She said and Lucifer had to appreciate her enthusiasm.
He walked over to the couch and not breaking the eye contact he just smiled at Chloe and whispered hello before kissing her. She sighed into the kiss and had to remind herself that they were not alone. She smiled back at him and with a soft hello of her own let him go so he could cook them dinner.
"Can I help?" Trixie asked.
"I had no idea you'd be interested." Lucifer replied and she looked at him a bit confused.
"I mean that yes, of course you can help me." He said and she smiled. First she went to wash her hands and then she took her own apron from the hook. She handed Lucifer her mother's apron and Chloe had to choke back a laugh when she saw him with that pink cupcake apron. It matched Trixie's.
"If you tell a living soul I might need to shoot you." Lucifer warned her and that was the thing she needed to break – she started to laugh and couldn't stop. And he loved that sound.
Chloe was watching them wash the vegetables, chop it, she heard the pot on the stove and the boiling water but as her painkillers set in she drifted off and fell asleep on the couch.
Lucifer was explaining everything to Beatrice so she would get some proper culinary education and she loved it. She had some questions but mostly she followed his lead and listened to him. They were a good team. She also asked some questions about Marcus and about what happened to them. He was being very careful but soon understood she had been told basically everything and needed only help to sort it all out. She was way too smart for her age it seemed. He was actually quite impressed.
"Look, she's asleep." Trixie said. "Her back will hurt like this…" She pointed out and Lucifer had to admit that the position wasn't the most comfortable one.
"We can't have that now can we…" He asked and Trixie agreed with him.
So Lucifer picked her up bridal style careful about her leg and carried her to her bedroom. Trixie brought the crutches as she knew her mother would need them once awake.
"Cover her, Lucifer or she will get cold. She always says she needs her shoulders covered." Trixie advised him and he nodded and followed her advice. He watched Chloe snuggle into the cover and watched Trixie kiss her forehead. They left then as they had a dinner to finish.
When Chloe woke up it was already getting dark. It took her a moment to figure out where she was. Damn pills! She guessed she had fallen asleep on the couch and Lucifer took her into her bed. He could be such a romantic sometimes.
She used the bathroom, changed into clean clothes and hopped on her crutches to the kitchen. She found the table set and Lucifer with Trixie just finishing up. Dishwasher was running and everything was clean and tidy. She was at loss for words. Her kitchen almost never looked like that.
"Oh hello Sleeping Beauty." Lucifer greeted her and she smiled.
"Sorry… didn't mean to fall asleep on you."
"S'okay mommy, you're hurt."
"Hmm I am also hungry and something smells wonderful here!" She said with a smile and so they sat down at the table, Lucifer gave her a small stool to put her leg on and they had dinner.
Afterwards Trixie surprised them both when she said she was tired and wanted to go to bed early. Chloe helped her with everything and gave her a good night.
"Mom can Lucifer stay?"
"I don't know, monkey."
"Ask him? Please?"
"Sure… why?"
"He said he can make the best pancakes for breakfast." Trixie said with a mischievous smile and her mother could only grin.
"Good night."
"Night mommy." And with one last kiss Chloe closed the door behind her and joined Lucifer back in the living room. She sat down next to him on the couch.
"Is everything all right?" He asked.
"Yes. She wanted me to ask you to stay as you promised her pancakes." She replied and he had the best guilty look she had ever seen.
"I didn't mean it like that…" He said apologetically worried Chloe would get the wrong impression. Well if it can be called that.
"Well if you don't mind, we surely don't. Pancakes for breakfast sound amazing." She told him hoping he would get the hint.
"Chloe…"
She just shushed him and leaned for a kiss. The past experience showed her that life was indeed too short. And so she didn't want to waste any minute. Lucifer forgot that they wanted – and needed – to talk and lost himself in that kiss as well. It was something they both needed.
When Chloe finally settled by his side he dared to hold her hand.
"You asked me if I could forgive you."
"Yes."
"It's… forgiven."
"Lucifer…"
"No matter what you do or what you say. I will always forgive you. I realized that a long time ago." He told her sincerely and she was grateful for it.
"Don't think I take you for granted."
"You could."
"How? Why?"
"I believe you haven't really noticed, darling, but I'm all yours." He said and Chloe had to admit that when he was saying things like that, looking at her like that, she was lost. She looked again at the flowers on the table and she loved the evening more and more.
"We have to talk."
"I know. And I'm here. Where do you want to start?"
"In the beginning."
"Whoa detective, that would be a veeery long story!" He was truly shocked and she just chuckled.
"Okay, start with your family then. We can go from there." She offered and he nodded with approaval.
And so he told her all about his father, his mother, his siblings. Very reluctantly he told her also about Uriel. He didn't want to have any secrets.
Chloe listened patiently and couldn't quite believe that something like that would not shock her. It was like some part of her has already accepted it all that and now it was more about clarifying things than revealing some hidden truths.
She knew he had been telling her the truth. She knew it. She couldn't quite grasp the whole concept yet but she believed him. And so this talk was very important to them.
"That was when I told Linda. She said she needed the truth if she was about to keep helping me with my issues with humanity."
"You thought you broke her."
"Yes. She didn't get the nice and fluffy wings version."
"Your devil face. She saw your face."
"Yes. And it took her quite some time to come to terms with it."
"I wish you would have told me… showed me…"
"I can't undone the past, Chloe. But I can learn from it." He said and she didn't expect such deep wisdom. But he was right, totally right. And so she hugged him and let him take comfort from her.
"Have you forgiven yourself about it?" She asked him after a moment.
"Not quite. He was my brother." He replied and she could tell he was not telling her everything.
"Lucifer? What is it? Tell me…"
And with a deep breath he told her the rest of the story about his guilt keeping him in hell when he was supposed to be saving her. When he confessed he had to die to save her she almost threw up. She got physically sick and he wasn't quite sure what to do.
She needed a minute and then she gave him piece of her mind about it. He was quite surprised to see her being that coldly angry at him.
"You would have died otherwise." He tried to defend his actions.
"You saved my life that day and when I wanted us to take another step you left to Vegas and came back with Candy." She said matter-of-factly with a hint of hurt and disappointment in her voice and he winced.
"I should probably tell you the truth about Candy." And he did just that. He told her about the marriage and he also told her about the second trip there on her birthday – which ended with her in his bed wearing his shirt.
"Which was by the way one of the most erotic things I've seen." He confessed and enjoyed seeing her blush.
He tried to explain everything about her being a miraculous child and about him wanting to give her the free choice option. He tried telling her but in the end he found himself merely apologizing for leaving her and hurting her and asking her to forgive him.
"I forgive you, Lucifer…" She said softly, taking his face in her hands. "All the bad and good we have been through brought us here, right?"
"Yes."
"So we're good. Right where we need to be." She smiled at him and he couldn't but wonder how was it possible for her to be like that.
"Detective…"
"Just you and me." She continued not paying attention. "And now you know your father has nothing to do with this, correct?"
He nodded. "I should thank him for helping your parents." He added and she hit his arm playfully.
"Chloe, right now..." And yes, he was about to say something but then she interrupted his trail of thoughts as she kissed him. He kissed her back and tangling his fingers in her hair he felt blessed.
When they broke apart they were both grinning happily.
"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" She asked him out of the blue.
"No, not really." He replied. "Just the usual around Lux."
"Stay with us…"
"Chloe…" He tried to argue that it was not a good idea.
"We can have those pancakes in the morning. I just have to get up a bit early so Trixie doesn't miss her bus."
"I can drive her."
"You don't have to."
"I know." He replied and she could only nod.
"Thank you…" She said and he put her hair behind her ear in a tender gesture then.
"And if you don't have any plans you can come back here and we can talk some more." She offered.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive." She assured him. She would call Dan to ask when they should be in to give their statements.
"Do you believe me now?" He asked after a moment. He just needed to hear it.
"Yes. I believe you." She confirmed and settled back into the couch. It wasn't comfortable anymore so she let Lucifer help her to her bed. At first she thought he would just assist her but he scooped her up and she snuggled closer to him, loving the feeling.
"You don't have to carry me you know."
"I know... but I wanted to."
"That's good because I'm quite enjoying it." She whispered into his ear and nuzzled his neck and he had to take a deep breath. Lucifer put her down to her bed and tucked her in as Trixie had instructed him earlier. Chloe seemed happy although she was very tired.
"Is there anything else I can do for you?" He asked.
"Stay." She was half asleep by then.
"Chloe…"
"Hold me, Lucifer." She asked and he couldn't deny her. So undressing a bit so he would feel comfortable he lied down next to her and let her show him what she needed. And so he ended up in her bed after all those years and despite them not being intimate it actually felt more intimate than anything he had done before.
The love of his life wanted him to hold her. And so he did just that.
The End
I always need to have my shoulders covered. My partner makes fun of me because of it. Just a small silly thing :) Hope you enjoyed this story. I think there will be a sequel as I have an idea stuck in my head but I didn't want to prolong this anymore. So I might add and epilogue or post a sequel. We'll see ;)
