HAIR OF THE DOGS
"Lucifer." Comes the equally faked-smile answer from the lieutenant. "I need to see Chloe for a moment. Is she awake?"
"She is. But didn't you already talk about the case last night?" He looks at him and smirks. "But I'm afraid she won't be very available today. She needs to go dress shopping for Tuesday night. You know, for the case and all. We were just about to head down for breakfast to meet with Ella, Linda and Maze."
"Weren't they supposed to there on Monday?" He sounds a bit disappointed.
"They were. But since you wanted to start early, I figured, why not ask them to come early to help us." He smiles. "That way we can all get to business in advance. Maze was already in Vegas."
"I know Miss Lopez and Doctor Martin. But who's this Maze fellow?"
Lucifer snickers. "Maze is short for Mazikeen. And SHE is quite something. She's fierce, loyal, with a few exceptions, strong, impulsive and has a penchant for knives, not to mention, stubborn. In a word, demonic. She actually went through the gates of Hell with me and tended my bar for a while." He pauses to gauge Marcus' reaction. When he gets none, he continues. "And she's also the one who tracked the scumbag we're conning tomorrow. O'Doyle's wife hired her."
"Is she a civilian consultant?"
"Maze?" Lucifer laughs at the image forming in his mind when he thinks of Maze working for the LAPD on a day-to-day basis. "The most civilian thing she'll do is babysitting the Detective's spawn. She just made a job out of what she likes."
"So Chloe and her are close?"
"Yes. And Maze is a very fierce friend." His tone is almost a threat.
Marcus chooses to discard the last comment. "You said she made a job out of what she likes. What is that exactly?"
"She's a bounty hunter. And a good one." He says, as if the question was the dumbest one. "But at the same time, she always loved to hunt back in the days. Now she tracks down the scumbags the Police can't catch. And if you're lucky, you can get a confession out of them." He shrugs his shoulders. "To be honest, it really depends on how much you pay. But don't worry. She won't harm you." He smiles "Unless someone puts a bounty on your head at some point."
"Is that a threat Lucifer?"
"Not at all. It's just a joke. You should try it sometimes."
Before Marcus can answer, Chloe comes into view.
"Good morning Marcus."
"Good morning Chloe."
"Finally Detective, you took forever in the shower. What were you doing in there? I know you can't rush perfection, but still."
"Not that's it's any of your business, but I was enjoying the bathtub you installed, or should I say swimming-pool?"
Lucifer's eyes ignite ever so slightly at the thought of her having a bath and the fun times they could have had. "What can I say? I like living comfortably. And as they say, "Go big or Go home", and since I don't intend on going home anytime soon, well I guess I'll just have to go big." He grins. Chloe forces herself to hold his gaze, and tries her best to look stern. She then looks at Marcus and back at the Devil.
"Just stop splashing around and get dressed. We've got work to do before we go shopping."
"Aye, Aye Captain." He salutes her. She rolls her eyes. He chuckles. "Fine. I'll meet you at the restaurant with Ella, Linda and Maze. They're waiting downstairs. He heads for his bathroom, resisting the urge to disrobe himself in front of her. He decides, however, to test Lieutenant Right a bit further. He looks at the pair of them, and more precisely at Marcus. "I'll be in the shower if ANY of you need anything, and I mean ANYTHING." Then he closes the door to the bathroom, smiling.
Chloe rolls her eyes at his antics and Marcus looks around the room, a bit uneasy. He clears his throat.
"Shall we meet them at the restaurant then?"
"After you." Chloe answers, following suit and closing the door behind her.
They walk up to the lift. Once they've entered the lift, Marcus speaks.
"I don't know if anyone told you this, but you're partner is a bit of a freak."
"Marcus," Chloe answers. "We've been over this. Lucifer can be weird from time to time, but he's a good person."
"You do know you could file a harassment suit for what he does. I mean all his innuendos, winks and blatant advances."
"Just because he made a joke while looking at you, doesn't mean he's gonna act on it." She looks at him. "Before you say anything, he's not harassing me. He just gets easily distracted and tends to find a carnal sense in a lot of things. I admit it can sometimes be annoying, but it's harmless. And he does that to everybody. It's more of a second nature for him. Just give him time. You'll like him. Even Dan got around it."
"We'll see about this. I'll still need to see his credentials though."
"You will. Don't worry."
Suddenly the doors open and Red M&M's enters.
"Morning."
"Morning." Chloe replies.
"Aren't you that girl from last night? Where's your friend. Lucifer was it?"
"It was me. How did your night go." She asks, glad for the diversion.
"It was unexpected and surprising."
"She kicked you out, didn't she?"
"We decided to just remain friends and she stayed inside while I stayed outside of the door."
"I'm sorry." Chloe answers.
"It's Okay." He says. "But if you ever get bored of your friend, we can always keep each other company." He winks.
Chloe smiles "Thank God Lucifer isn't here at the moment, or he would have scared him to death." Instead she smiles and says "I'm fine. I'm meeting some friends for breakfast."
"Your loss Chloe." He answers before exiting.
Chloe smiles then stops. "Wait!" She calls after him."How do you know my name." But the redhead is already gone. She looks a bit lost and pensive.
"You alright?"
"Yes."
"I wanted to ask you…" Marcus carefully asks as they head to their table. "How well do you know this Mazikeen. Lucifer told me you were pretty close."
"We're friends. But don't worry, she's a little bit rough on the edges, but she's grown to be one of my very good friends and she always has my back. She's actually my roommate."
"Oh I see. So no boyfriend then?"
Before Chloe can answer to this, Maze comes up to them and greets them.
"Finally Decker, I was starving!" She smiles. "Did Lucifer…"
"Maze!" Chloe says, hugging her to stop the rest of her sentence. "Lucifer did nothing. And when did you get here?" She pauses and lets got of her friend. "That's Marcus Pierce. The new Lieutenant and my new boss."
Maze takes Chloe by the arm and leads her away from Marcus and towards the table. "Wait." She smiles. "THAT'S Marcus? The Marcus Lucifer has been telling me about yesterday."
"Yes. But how do you know? What do you mean?"
"He must be furious. I mean he was pretty pissed when he called me from Eden, but now that I saw him…" She smirks.
"He was mad. But we cleared things up and I was kinda counting on Linda to give me a hand for the rest. He doesn't handle jealousy very well." She pauses. "What did Lucifer tell you exactly?"
"Not much. Just that some "arse named Marcus just complicated everything"" She says, mocking his accent.
"So you just assumed he would be mad?"
"Come on Decker, he's one very enticing guy and from the way he looks at you, he's clearly into you. And if I can see it, so can he." Chloe sighs. "Wait there's more, isn't there?"
"Well…"
"No way Chlo'!" She smirks. "Did you guys hook up at some point?"
"Yes. But it was ages ago, at the Academy."
Maze laughs wholeheartedly. "He must have been beyond furious. You're lucky Marcus is still alive." She finishes sitting down with Chloe.
Soon after, Marcus sits down and Lucifer joins them about 30 minutes later. He comes into the restaurant with a black 3-pieces suite and a dark blue shirt underneath. They all pause for a brief second and exchange greetings. Then Lucifer comes back to the table with some breakfast. He sits beside Linda, as far away as possible from Marcus. Strangely, the conversation between all of them is cordial, but remains mostly about ongoing cases. After a while, Lucifer stands up.
"Detective." He leans closer. "We should get going, or we're going to be late for our appointment."
"Our appointment?"
"Yes. To find you a dress." Chloe looks surprised. "Did you really think we were going to walk miles looking for a dress."
"Actually…"
"I've made sure the different dresses come to us. Beside, it's better for the undercover op. I mean, he probably has someone watching us from afar and what kind of fiancé would I be if I let you walk from shop to shop, looking for a dress." He smiles and extends his hand. "Now come on, you've got a dress to find."
"Fine." She agrees and she stands up, but she doesn't take his hand.
They don't have to walk long. All they need to do is cross the hotel lobby and enter the private salon Lucifer booked for a few hours. Geoffrey, the hotel concierge, welcomes them at the door.
"Mr and Mrs Morningstar."
Chloe smiles at the title. "Not quite yet Geoffrey."
"But very soon Geoffrey." Lucifer adds. "Is everything ready?"
"Yes Sir, this way." Geoffrey says, leading them to the rack where the dresses are.
As Chloe checks out the dresses, Lucifer sits down on a huge leather armchair. Chloe makes her selection in the different dresses, although she almost has her mind made up about one. After all, Lucifer put a lot of effort in this, she can at least play along for a bit. She heads for the changing room to try on the first one. When she opens the curtain, Lucifer's eyes ignite. He gives her a huge grin.
"So you like this one?"
"Somehow, I think it's going to be hard to decide which one to take. But it's definitely going to be fun trying to."
"Ok. How about I try on another one?"
"By all means, feel free." He answers, his eyes filling up with lust at the idea of her modeling for him.
Chloe tries on a few more of the ones she selected. For each, Lucifer has the same hungry look and a sexy comment each time. She has 2 more dresses to try on. She decides to try the one she liked best on the rack. The dress is a shade of deep red and falls a bit below the knee. The material of the dress is very feather-light and flows around her hips. The V-neck of the dress stops just above her cleavage, and a slit goes up the right leg to stop mid-thigh. She looks at herself in the mirror and finds herself pretty sexy. She smirks, imagining Lucifer's reaction. She slowly opens the curtains and walks out. When Lucifer sees her, his jaw almost drops on the floor and he can't find any sexy comment to say. The blonde detective chuckles and comes closer to him. She leans in.
"So I guess I found my dress." She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. "You can stop staring and close your mouth now." He finally comes back to reality and clears his throat. He stands up and brings Chloe flush against him. He kisses her deeply. Then he turns to Geoffrey.
"Can you please make sure this is delivered to my room."
"Certainly Sir." He looks at Chloe. "Shall I deliver the item you gave me earlier on Miss."
"What second item?" Lucifer asks.
"It's a surprise." Chloe answers. "So no peeking." She looks at Geoffrey. "And yes, that would be lovely. Thank you."
"Lovely." Lucifer says. "Should we grab a late lunch?"
"We can eat a quick lunch, but then we need to work for Tuesday. You need to rehearse your part."
"Right." He winks at her. "I have a few ideas in mind to help us get into character."
She rolls her eyes. "I'm serious Lucifer. We need to work. We have to be convincing."
"But can't we have fun now and work later on?"
"Nope." She says. "I can't. I'm meeting the girls at 6:30pm for a night out."
"I see." He sighs. "Work now, fun later then." He grins. "Just try to remember the way back. If I recall, last time you had a night out with the girls, it was quite intense."
"It was not intense. I just had a problem with a potential suspect, and I suffered a mild memory loss. Now let's go eat. I'm famished."
After a quick lunch at the hotel restaurant, they head back to the suite. While Chloe fetches the case files and the information Ella sent over, Lucifer sits at his piano and starts playing whatever melody comes to his mind. Chloe comes out of the bedroom with the files in hands. She stops at the door and enjoys the sight of her Devil playing on the piano. The time where he was really free and relaxed were very rare, and she really likes it. She finally decides to break this moment after a few minutes. She sits down on the couch and calls out to him.
"Lucifer. Can you come over here? I have the case files."
He softly closes the lid on the ivory keys and joins Chloe. "So what's my name code name then?"
"Lucifer Morningstar." She answers. "Since you're the buyer, you don't need a fake name."
"I know that." He replies, ironic. "But don't I get a code name?" Chloe looks at him, puzzled. "You know like they have in movies." He puts one hand to his ear and takes his best new-york accent "The eagle entered the nest. It's green light. I repeat, the eagle entered the nest." And so I thought my code name could be Dracula. Means Devil in romanian."
She can't help the laugh. "You didn't need a catch phrase when we had this case, and you don't need a code name now. We're just going undercover for a few hours, and as far as I know, you're not the president."
"What's your name then?"
"I'm Chloe Williams, soon to be Chloe Morningstar." He smiles. "The techs and Ella created a fake profile for me. According to what I have, I'm an independant lawyer working for petty criminals. This way, it explains why I may need to go to the LAPD from time to time."
"And who am I then?"
"You're Lucifer Morningstar, lucky fiancé of mine, and a very successful owner of 2 nightclubs in LA and Vegas. And also a civilian consultant on the side."
"So I'm me." He thinks. "At the same time, I'm already living the dream and I'm on top of it all, so why bother creating a fake life for me." He looks at her. "But aren't you worried that the part about me working with the Police might freak him out a bit?"
"It might. But it's a public information, so he knows about it. Hiding it would only make him suspicious. Besides anyone in the business knows your reputation and the shady deals you make at Lux."
"OK. But if he looks me up, he's bound to recognize at some point. I mean, we spend a lot of time together."
"Ella has made sure my appearances as a cop in the news, LAPD files or anywhere public has been reduced to a minimum. But that's a risks we have to take. Now regarding our background story."
"I'm listening."
"We met a few weeks ago at your club and we heated off right away. 2 weeks later, you proposed to me because you realised it was time for you to settle down. And to celebrate this enlightened decision, as well as our 3 months anniversary, you're buying me a gift, which is…"
"So it's not so far from the truth then." Chloe looks at him expectantly. "I'm still not telling you what I'm buying."
"Fine. Now all we have to do is convince him."
"Indeed."
They talk a bit more about how they met, and what happened and a few other details. Chloe even gives Lucifer a pop-quizz to make sure he memorized all the needed information. When he passes with flying colours, Chloe looks at him impressed. Lucifer simply asks her, mischief evident on his face.
"Are we done with work now?
"Almost. We just have one last thing to go over."
"What's that?"
"Ground rules for the mission."
"Ok…" He says answers, curious.
"First, scaring suspects to death or to madness is out of the question."
"Sure."
"Then. When we're undercover, I call the shots. No stunt like the one you pulled when you looked for your doppelganger because you thought your plan was better."
"He was not my doppelganger. And..."
"Lucifer. I mean it. My job is on the line here. If we don't get him, I'll be the one responsible for the failure. Lieutenant Monroe made it clear, it would be my success, or failure."
His face grows serious. "You have my words Detective. I will not let you down and I'll be a perfect Devil." Then he's playful again. "Was that all?"
"Yes."
He moves closer. "So now we can have fun."
She mirrors his grin. "We can."
Before they can begin the fun, both of their phones go off. They laugh and look at their phone. They say at the same time.
"It's Ella. She must have gotten the result for the cave and the case" Chloe says. She walks to their bedroom.
"It's Maze". Lucifer stands up and goes to his bar.
They come back there after a few minutes.
"So?" They ask.
"Ladies 1st." Lucifer says.
"Ella says she was able to trace the black box to the manufacturer. But she couldn't trace it back to its user, or users. The name of the company is Eagle Eye. They specialise in surveillance devices such as this one. It's mostly for private customer. She said they mostly supply organisations such as neighborhood watch. Usually, those movements detector are connected to their lights or video cameras. Ella also found it weird the device was used this way, and according to her, whoever installed it is quite a tech. This person reprogrammed and rewired the whole device. And guess what?"
"What?"
"They have their main office in Los Angeles and sub-branch in Vegas."
"Interesting. I guess the Devil and his partner in crime will pay them a visit in the very near future."
"Once we're done with this operation, I intend to look into this company a bit more and see what they're hiding. So what did Maze say?"
"She wasn't as thorough as what Ella apparently found out. Before we came here, I asked her to keep an eye on O'Doyle, and to call me if there was any movements. As it turns out, we were right to play the happy couple. He hired a PI to check us out, or at least you. And he's good at his job. Despite all the precautions you took, he found out you were Chloe Decker, distinguished detective at the LAPD." Chloe's eyes fill with worry. "But Maze made sure he wouldn't babble about his discoveries."
"He's still alive, isn't he?"
"Of course he is." Chloe sighs. "Killing him would have only resulted in O'Doyle growing suspicious about the disappearance of his PI." He grins. "She just made sure he was more scared of her than O'Doyle." Chloe looks at him, still not convinced. "She can be very persuasive when needed. Just ask your Dad's killer. Wait no, you can't."
"Did Maze have anything to do with it?"
"Really." He looks at her. "Did you really think the russian mob found him because of a lucky guess."
"No. But…" She pauses. "I guess I kinda knew it. Somehow I can't bring myself to feel sorry for him."
"And you shouldn't. I wish I were down there to give him a proper welcome. And if it had been up to me, his fate would have been way worse." He loses his eternal smile for only a blink. "But enough about work. I believe you bought a surprise for me, and I'd like to see it."
"I'm not sure you deserve it." She teases back. "Besides, look at the time! It's almost 6:30 pm. Maze, Linda and Ella are gonna be here any minute now." She stands up to go to the bedroom to get dressed. He takes her by the waist and pulls her to him.
"Tease!" He holds her closer "What if I don't let you leave the room? I have a few ideas to keep you entertained. You might need to lend me your cuffs though" He finishes.
"Although this is very tempting..."
Lucifer raises his eyebrows. "You naughty minx. Didn't know you were into this"
"Why not?"
"Well. You're always so in control of everything thing. You almost always think things through before doing anything. So this is a surprise, but a very good one, mind you."
"I' m glad I can surprise the Devil. I guess I never found someone I trusted enough to let go of the control." She replies, sincere. Then she goes back to her first thought. "As I was saying. As tempting as it sounds, I don't think you want to face Maze, Linda and Ella at the same time. You know they'll get me out of here, no matter what."
Lucifer shivers at the thought of the 4 girls teaming up against him, and not in a pleasant way.
"As you wish. But we'll definitely revisit this little kink of yours. And I remind you that this kink works both ways." He reluctantly releases her.
As if on queue, Linda, Maze and Ella barge into the suite.
"Come on Decker!" Maze says.
"Yes, come on Chloe. We're going to be late! The show's about to start." Ella adds.
"I'll be just a minute. We got caught up in work."
"Yeah work!" The 3 girls say.
"What show?" Lucifer asks.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Maze teases Lucifer.
"As a matter of fact I would!" He simply answers.
Linda decides to end Lucifer's suffering. "We booked a karaoke booth for us to start our night. And then we go to Eden to dance…"
"And drink." Ella cuts in.
"And drink the night away." Linda finishes.
"We might hit the hotel Casino as well, depending on how lucky we get."
"And the best part is, it's on you Lucifer." Maze adds.
"What on Earth are you talking about?"
"Well you're buying tonight."
"I'm most certainly not. I said Chloe qualified as a VIP for life, but not you 3. And especially not you Maze."
"You did Lucifer." Ella simply says.
"And when was that Miss Lopez?"
"Back when you bet Maze to get me drunk so I would leave you alone for a bit." Comes the voice of Chloe from behind him. She now wears a simple light blue shirt and white summer skirt. She let her hair loose.
"What?"
"I believe your exact word were, and I quote: "If you manage to snap a picture of the Detective drinking and having fun, you and all your girl tribe get to drink free of charge for life at my club." Chloe smiles, victorious.
"How do you know about this?"
"I recorded it for posterity." Maze says.
"I meant Lux." He weakly says.
"You should have been more precise in the conditions of your deal. I believe it's what you call a loophole."
"Fine." He scuffs. "Just try not to empty my whole stock. I do have to make a living, and as fun as being the Devil is, money doesn't grow on tree."
The girls exits the room. He looks at Chloe and holds her back to his chest. "And you, Miss Decker, are in big trouble for using loopholes against me."
"I guess you're rubbing off on me." She kisses him and hurries to join the rest of her tribe. She gives Lucifer one last look before closing the door.
Lucifer decides to get back to his piano to kill time while waiting for Chloe to be back. He takes a glass of scotch and starts to play a slow melody, his mind focusing on the drawing in the cave. After an hour of playing and thinking, he decides to take a break and chooses a book. He settles in his couch while waiting for Chloe to come back. He falls asleep, his book beside him. Suddenly, he's woken up around 3 am by a loud crashing noise, followed by the door slamming shut. He makes his way towards the origin of the noise and is welcomed by a very drunk, almost wasted, Chloe shushing her shoes because they might "wake up the Devil". He can't resist laughing and gets closer to her.
"You know Darling, I'm already awake. No need to scold these poor souls any longer."
Chloe jumps, her reflexes very slow. She staggers and turns back. She moves closer to him and puts her hands on his shirt.
"I missed you, you know."
"I'm sure you did!" He chuckles "But despite the awful hole I left in your heart, you seemed to have had an amazing night. Why don't you tell me about it?"
"I will. But 1st, I'm gonna have some crazy sex with you, Mister Devil!" She walks him back. Lucifer sits down on the sofa and waits for Chloe to join him.
"You know I'm a man of action, Love. But a man loves to be romanced from time to time."
She looks at him with a weird face. He smirks at her weird expression. She straddles him, pauses and thinks for a bit, at least as much as she can in her current state. "You know, you're so much better than Marcus."
"Let's not bring him into this, shall we? It was fun up until now."
"You're sexier, and taller and richer as well."
He decides to stop her crazy rambling and kisses her. It works and Chloe focuses again on grinding onto him. She fumbles his shirt buttons. As she kisses him again, Lucifer smiles against her lips.
"What!" She says, almost sad.
"You smell stronger than a distillery Love! I like it." He switches their position so he can be on top of her. He starts moving the hem of her skirt up, but stops when he hears a not so light snoring. "Of course this had to happen. At least she didn't throw up on the floor." He thinks. He finishes to undress her so she'd be comfortable to sleep before he brings her to bed. He puts her down gently and kisses her temple.
Monday morning - Around 8:30 am
Chloe awakes with a groan and one of the biggest headache ever. She opens her eyes and squints a few times. Then she sees Lucifer, sitting in an armchair opposing to Chloe.
"Welcome back Love."
"Morning."
"Triple Espresso or Hair of the dog?"
"Dejà-vu." Chloe says.
"Indeed. Except this time I'm dressed."
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Chloe says, before standing up and running to the bathroom.
"That's going to be both I guess." Once the worst is over, he heads to the bathroom. "Feeling better?"
"I feel like I've been hit by a train and my head's about to explode."
"Drink this." He says, giving her the glass. "You'll feel better."
"What is it."
"I give you a remedy of my own. Hair of the Dogs. Perfected it myself in Hell. With coffee, it'll help with the headache and the rest. It almost tastes as bad as it smells. But it's extremely efficient."
Chloe winces but takes the cup and downs it in one gulp. She suppresses a burp. "So what happened last night?" She asks.
"You tell me. All I know so far is that you came back around 3:30 am, shushing your shoes so they wouldn't wake me up."
"I do that, sometimes." Chloe answers, her cheeks reddening just a bit.
"Then you proceeded to undress me. But then you compared me to Marcus. So I kissed you to shut you up, but then you fell asleep on the couch. So I put you to bed. And by the way I repeat my previous statement. When drunk, you snore like an albanian wench field." He gives her his best smile. "Now why don't you tell me what happened between 6:30 pm and 3:30 am. I'm dying to know." He finishes leading her to the kitchen to have breakfast.
Chloe sits down, takes her coffee and says one word.
"Maze happened."
So this is the new chapter. I hope you enjoy it. I've started to work on an original story of mine, so I'm juggling the 2. I think I'll wait for the new episode to air to see how I can link the rest of my plot with it. But there should be an update very soon.
Once again thanks for all you kudos, comments, reviews, likes, faves and everything. It means a lot.
