Hi, there!
So, how did you guys like that season 4? I loved it! I thought they did a wonderful job with all the characters and I can only hope they renew the show for a fifth season. As far as this fic, thank you all for the wonderful feedback! I'm so happy you are liking the story. Your comments always put a smile on my face. I'm going to pace the story by posting once a week for two main reasons: 1) there are 19 chapters plus an epilogue and I'd like it to last because S5 is soooo far away! & 2) there are a couple of issues in the final two chapters that I'm trying to work through, and the tweaking process is taking a while.
You'll see some parallels between this fic and S4, but that's how the cookie has crumbled. I wrote it before the season dropped, so those elements have been purely coincidental. Still, it was fun to see the writers going in a different direction than I had in mind after Cain's death. :)
SirCalvin – Not really a cuddly fic. There's quite a bit of angst coming. I'm glad that fact does not disappoint. I hope readers don't feel misled by the summary. I tried to make it as true to the plot as possible. ;-)
Devil'sMiracle – Yes. Deckerstar was finally set in motion this past chapter. ;-)
A very special thanks to my two wonderful betas ariaadagio and BelenP, for always keeping me honest and not holding back any punches.
Please be warned that, while there is nothing explicit, the story touches upon the issue of child abuse.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
The Vault
A number of somber-looking attorneys lined up the hallway that led into the Orange County courthouse. Neither Chloe nor Ella paid much attention to lawyers. Ella sat on one of the plastic seats playing chess on her phone, while a balding man clutching a leather briefcase sat next to her. He was trying his hardest not to fall asleep, jolting awake every time gravity pulled his head towards his chest. Chloe stood near the door, her thoughts swinging from Lucifer's collapse at the holding cell, to the information he had shared with her regarding Bill's grandson.
Chloe had just hung up with her mother. The sensitive nature of the issue had prevented her from getting into any specific details. The whole conversation had been vague and contrived. Thwarting Penelope's questions had not been easy. In the end, Chloe had invited her mom over for dinner to discuss Trixie's situation in regards to the sixteen year old in a more private fashion. Uncomfortable as it was to tackle the subject, the problem had to be addressed sooner rather than later. Of course, there was always the possibility that Lucifer was wrong about what he "saw" in Trixie's eyes. Who knew how his mojo worked? But Chloe was not about to take any chances. Not when it came to her daughter's safety.
"I knew I would find you here."
Chloe turned at the sound of Morena's voice, who was approaching with a cup of coffee in one hand, and a stack of folders under her arm. Her mood ring shone dark blue under the filtered light coming from the window panels at the end of the hallway.
"Rena, hi!" Chloe tried to return the smile, but her mind was way too preoccupied with a thousand other things to be able to pull one off naturally.
"How are you holding up?"
"I'm… fine," Chloe replied. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Morena gave her a look that spoke volumes. Her friend could read through people with psychic-like precision. Except, unlike Lucifer's mojo, Morena's confounding "super-power" did work on Chloe.
Giving up on all pretense, Chloe decided to cut to the chase. "He'll be able to post bail. Money's not an obstacle to him."
"Right." Morena nodded. Whatever was crossing through her mind at that time, she didn't share.
"I'll convince him to get an attorney the second we get out of here."
"That's probably the best thing you can do for him."
Chloe could sense Morena's disapproval at her choice in relationships. Or, at least, when it came to this particular relationship—if one could call it that. Her colleague had always liked Dan. In her eyes, Dan was safe. He was a cop. There was a kinship there that didn't exist with Lucifer. Before the whole Palmetto fiasco, Dan had been the "golden boy" of the 16th precinct. But, as experience had proved many a time, one should not judge a book by its cover. Dan had hurt Chloe in ways Lucifer never had.
"Try not to judge him just by reputation," Chloe felt the need to say. "He's… He is a great partner."
"I'm not judging him, Chloe. Nor you, by that matter," Morena assured her. "And, whatever there is between the two of you is really none of my business. I just want to make sure you're okay."
That now familiar pang of anxiety flared to the surface for a brief second, and the threat of tears prickled the back of Chloe's eyelids. "I will be."
The affirmation was an attempt to convince herself as much as Morena. An unspoken agreement solidified to lay the matter to rest.
"Anyway, I better get these filed before noon," Morena said motioning to the stack of files under her arm. "Good luck with the hearing. If you need to talk about… anything, just give me a call, alright?"
Chloe promised to keep her posted, though she was not one to overshare in the "personal" department.
By the time people were finally allowed into the tiny courtroom, Chloe's anxiety levels had risen considerably. But that's the weird thing about anxiety—it's often impossible to put a finger on its exact cause, and Chloe could blame her suffocating chest constriction on a laundry-list of reasons. Her concern for Trixie made up a large percentage of her distress, but she couldn't deny being worried about Lucifer, especially after the strange episode he'd suffered earlier while in the holding cell. Chloe couldn't remember him feeling sick before, which should have raised a few red flags, particularly after the flu outbreak in the winter of 2018, which had pretty much incapacitated the entire precinct. Chloe, herself, had been unable to get out of bed for two days straight. Charlotte had followed suit a couple of days later. Dan had ended up in the ER with severe dehydration. Ella had had a reaction to the medication she had been taking.
Lucifer hadn't even caught the sniffles.
Chloe pulled out her phone and checked the time. The judge was running a few minutes late, so she began sorting her gallery for lack of a better pastime. She flipped through a year worth of pictures, from Trixie's recitals and soccer games, to objects of interest during investigations and pricing on products at the supermarket. She had just deleted a series of shots of her current apartment right before she and Maze had moved in, when a picture of Lucifer popped up. The picture had been taken inside the forensics lab. He'd seemed to be unaware the picture was being taken. He'd stood next to Ella, who'd appeared to be telling him something fascinating about the piece of red cloth she'd been holding. A relaxed Lucifer had listened to her with a faint grin on his lips. The Devil was as photogenic as he was magnetic. But it was the warmth in his eyes that made Chloe break into a tender smile. She wasn't even sure why she had taken the picture, but it had captured her partner's angelic essence. It was the side of the Devil no scripture ever talked about.
"All rise!" the bailiff's voice boomed throughout the room, pulling Chloe out of her reverie. "Honorable Judge Mary-Louise Clapper presiding."
The bond-hearing docket moved along smoothly. Chloe and Ella sat on the second pew, right behind the defendant's attorneys. People quietly filled the cramped courtroom. A gaunt young woman walked in about twenty minutes after the court had been in session. She sat at the back of the room, a couple of pews behind Chloe and Ella. Her stringy hair fell down the sides of her face, making her look mousy and unkempt. She wore loose jeans and an oversized Lakers jumper that had seen better days. The girl looked gaunt and haunted, like someone with a million secrets bottled up. Her rigid back never touched the pew as she sat rod-straight, completely unaware of Chloe's scrutiny. Her pale round eyes were fixed on the judge.
"That's Audrey Reynolds," Ella whispered. "What's she doing here?"
Chloe shook her head slowly. Her response was cut-off by the announcement of the next defendant.
"Lucifer Morningstar," the judge read out loud. Squinting at the file, she adjusted her glasses, making sure she had read the name correctly. "Well, that's a name one doesn't come across every day."
Lucifer was brought into the room, hands cuffed at his lap, by the same large, mustachioed cop who'd been leading in defendants all morning. Chloe managed to make eye-contact with Lucifer for a fleeting second, but his expression remained impassive as he took a stand before the judge.
"It says here you've waived your right to an attorney, is that correct?" Judge Clapper asked.
"Yes, your honor."
"These are serious charges, Mr. Morningstar, are you sure—"
Before the judge had a chance to finish the sentence, a violent tremor shook the building. People who were standing were knocked off their feet, a deep gash opened on the far wall near the judge's podium, and the huge window panels cracked into a web. Walls crumbled to the tune of a stampede of people rushing to the nearest emergency exits.
Someone elbowed Chloe in the ribs hard enough to make her eyes water. Ella grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her into the panicking crowd in search of a way out of the building. Turning her head, Chloe searched for Lucifer, but the swarm of people kept pushing her in a single direction amongst desperate wails and cries for help. They started trampling over each other as they reached the stairway, flooding the tight space in a frantic wave. Another violent tremor sent most people tumbling down the stairs. Chloe and Ella were caught in the human avalanche, getting separated as they fell down several steps.
"Ella!" Chloe's shout was drowned by the shrieking crowd.
A pillar toppled down in front of Chloe, crushing two women and one man right before her eyes. The building was collapsing, and she wouldn't have enough time to make it out alive. Her thoughts were in a jumble as she rushed with the flow of people towards the elusive exit, fearing the worst. Chloe watched with impotence as another enormous pillar began toppling down, this time right above her head. Unable to escape, she whimpered with fear. Trixie's smiling face was playing in her mind's eye as she braced herself for the inevitable.
Chloe wasn't quite sure where the shadow that stood above her crouching body had come from. She felt the warmth of a body shielding hers, heard the strident sound of the pillar smashing into pieces all around her, the yelps of the crowd. She gasped, unable to understand what had just happened. Someone was kneeling at her back, holding her, shielding her… Chloe didn't need to turn around to know who had just saved her life.
"Lucifer," she whimpered.
"Come on!" Lucifer pulled her up by the wrist, almost dislocating her shoulder in the process.
Chloe tripped over the debris that plagued the hallway, nearly falling a couple of times.
"Wait!" she panted. "The exit is that way!"
"We'll never make it," Lucifer replied, dragging her into the evidence room. "Inside the vault! Now!"
Easier said than done, Chloe thought. They'd need the security code in order to…
Oh! Okay.
It took a single extra turn of the lock-wheel for Lucifer to break the bolts within as if they were made of plastic. The door to the vault slid open. He practically shoved her into the steel-covered space while thick chunks of ceiling rained all around them.
"Ella is still out there!" Chloe cried in a panic.
"I'll try to find her," Lucifer told her. "Just, stay here!"
"Lucifer!" Chloe called as he turned to exit the vault. "Be careful, okay?"
She hadn't been able to keep her voice from shaking. Or the rest of her body, for that matter. The surprise on his face was evident as he turned to her. With a nod and a small smile, he disappeared into the storm of dust and debris that swirled all around their reinforced-steel shelter. Chloe thought about closing the door to prevent the toxic air from entering the vault but, one, the darn thing was way too heavy to be pulled from the inside and, two, there was a high probability that the entrance would get blocked by falling debris. Plus, it would be easier for Lucifer to enter the vault upon his return.
Chloe caught herself praying for the Devil's return. She prayed to a God she had never before acknowledged. She prayed for Ella to be okay. She prayed for Trixie, and her mother, and Dan… She prayed like the world was about to end.
Metal beams and chunks of concrete kept falling outside the unintended shelter. Chloe's eyes and lungs burned. A coughing attack racked her body, stripping her throat raw. She kicked herself for not holding onto the bottle of water she had purchased earlier outside the courtroom. Pulling her shirt over her nose and mouth, she scooted back quietly in the darkness as the world fell silent around her.
No! Where was Lucifer? Why wasn't he back?
Only the flimsy blue light of her phone seeped through the darkness. Dust particles floated all around the tenuous glow, which barely managed to illuminate her surroundings. There was zero cell tower reception, and the battery was at 27%. Chloe felt small and alone, but fear had never thwarted her survival instinct so, clamping down on her despair, she assessed her surroundings.
The entrance was partially obstructed by debris, but there was room for a medium-sized person to squeeze through the opening. Whether the path to the building's exit remained unobstructed was another story. The entire building seemed to have collapsed in itself. Chloe pointed the phone to the inside of the chamber. Two rows of shelves stacked with countless evidence bags and boxes lined up the walls of the vault. She waited a few minutes to make sure the tremors had ceased. No point getting out of there only to be crushed by a chunk of building on her way out. Or, at least that's what she kept telling herself. The truth was that she still clung to the hope of Lucifer's return. Wiping a stray tear from her cheek, she made her way to the opening.
A rustling sound came from the other side, faint at first, then more distinct. A person slid through the tight space into the vault, except it seemed whoever was coming in was being pushed through. Chloe's eyes widened, and she let out a strangled whimper when her phone shed light on the person's face.
"Ella!"
The lab tech appeared to be unconscious. Her forehead was covered in blood, where an ugly gash ran from her eyebrow to her hairline. Her nose and cheeks were covered in ash, and soot, and dust. Her limp body entered the vault followed by Lucifer, who squeezed through the opening with difficulty.
"She's still breathing," Chloe choked. She was trying hard not to break down. "We need to get out of here."
"There is another earthquake coming," Lucifer informed her. "If it happens before we make it out to the street, we'll be buried under the rubble."
Chloe's eyes filled with tears. "But she needs help!"
"I know," Lucifer said somberly.
"How do you know there's another earthquake coming?"
Lucifer just looked at her, but did not reply. Of course he knew. The Devil would know, she supposed.
Chloe tried hard to hold back tears. Her trembling fist pressed against her mouth in a futile attempt to keep her emotions in check. Lucifer's arm slid over her shoulders, gently nudging her into him, and she lost the battle. Pressing her face against his chest, she thought of the possibility of never seeing Trixie again, and cried until her tears ran dry.
[To Be Continued…]
See you next Thursday, guys! Please drop me a line if you're still on board and liking the fic. As you know, it makes my day to hear from you. ;-)
